《TranXending Vision》
Chapter 1 - Unexpected Calamity
¡°Something¡¯s happened!¡±
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s eye got hit by the electric arc! Someone, help!¡±
The construction site was full of shouting and people running about while some used their phones and anxiously called for an ambnce. Chaos reigned on the construction site.
In the site¡¯s welding area, Xia Lei curled on the floor, his left eye a ckened hole. The smell of charred flesh hung in the air. A mix of blood and dirt covered his face, adding to a spectacle too horrible to endure.
¡°Tsk, a healthy young man like him. So, so young... practically a babe, and his eye¡¯s been destroyed. What a waste,¡± sighed someone.
¡°He still has a little sister who¡¯s going to university soon. How is she going to attend university if he goes blind?¡±
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s a good person who always works hard and gets along well with others. How can this sort of thing happen to him? The heavens are really unfair.¡±
Several people sighed over Xia Lei¡¯s sad fate.
Xia Lei¡¯s mother had sumbed to her illness when he was a child and his father had disappeared five years ago. That year, Xia Lei had been epted into Jing-du University but when he thought of his sister Xia Xue, who was still in junior high, he tore his eptance letter to pieces with tears in his eyes. When his sister asked him about it, he told her that he had failed by just a few marks. After that, Xia Lei started to work in factories, willing to do whatever work he was offered to earn money. Now, his sister Xia Xue had been epted into Jing-du University as well, but this ident had happened...
The shock wore off and waves of intense pain crashed into Xia Lei. His body twitched and his vision faded to ck as he lost consciousness.
There was someone shouting his name in his ear but Xia Lei could not hear him. He was floating on a river of darkness, drifting, drifting to hell.
The passing of time went unnoticed for one unconscious.
Xia Lei opened his eyes after some time. He saw some light, then a pudgy face which belonged to his childhood friend, Ma Xiao-An. Xia Lei could only open his right eye, and he was seeing blurry doubles.
¡°Lei, you¡¯re awake!¡± Ma Xiao-An¡¯s voice trembled ever so slightly, betraying his emotions.
¡°I... What is this ce?¡± As he spoke, Xia Lei seemed to remember something and he reached to touch his left eye. His eye was covered in bandages and burning pain bloomed at his touch.
Ma Xiao-An caught Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The doctor said you may not be blind in your left eye. Rest, and it will definitely recover.¡±
¡°May? What does he mean by ¡®may¡¯?¡± Xia Lei grew anxious and panic started to set in.
Ma Xiao-An was quiet. It looked like he knew something but was hesitant to say it.
¡°Say it!¡± Xia Lei grew even more anxious.
At this moment, a middle-aged man walked through the door. He was dressed in a designer suit, had expensive essories and was starting to put on weight. It was the constructionpany boss, Chen Chuan-Hu.
Ma Xiao-An made space when he saw Chen Chuan-Hu enter.
Xia Lei struggled to sit up in bed and greeted, ¡°President Chen, why...¡±
He was cut off mid-sentence by Chen Chuan-Hu. ¡°What is wrong with you, Xia Lei? Was it not enough for you to ruin an electric welding machine? You had to ruin a transformer too! Do you know how much an electric welding machine and a transformer cost? That aside, who¡¯s going to be responsible for dying the projectpletion date?¡±
Anger flooded Xia Lei. He thought Chen Chuan-Hu hade to see how he was doing, but this bastard came to seekpensation!
Ma Xiao-An couldn¡¯t take it either and he retorted, ¡°What do you mean by this, Chen? My friend has a 90% chance of his eye going blind and you¡¯re saying things like this. Don¡¯t you have any empathy?¡±
Xiao-An¡¯s words hit Xia Lei like a freight train and he gaped.
Ma Xiao-An suddenly realised that he had let slip the bad news, but he couldn¡¯t take his words back. He stood still, not sure how he shouldfort Xia Lei.
Chen Chuan-Hu justughed coldly and said, ¡°So what does his eye going blind have to do with me? Did we have an employment contract? No? Try and sue me then, I¡¯m not afraid of awsuit!¡±
Xia Lei was so angry his face had changed colour and you could hear him grinding his teeth.
Chen Chuan-Hu added oil to the fire. ¡°I had you sent to the hospital since you were so pitiful. I¡¯ve paid the hospital fees of 10,000 so get discharged when you want to. I¡¯ll say one thing more - this 10,000 ispensation. So, the case is closed and don¡¯t bother me after this. It¡¯s no useing after me anyway.¡±
¡°Bastard!¡± Ma Xiao-An said angrily, ¡°his eye has been blinded and you want to call it even with 10,000 yuan?¡±
Chen Chuan-Hu pointed at Ma Xiao-An¡¯s nose as he replied nastily, ¡°This doesn¡¯t involve you, small fry. If you¡¯re looking for trouble then I¡¯ll give you trouble, you little shit! Don¡¯t you know what sort of person, I, Chen Chuan-Hu am? If you dare cross me I¡¯ll tear you apart!¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei suddenly grabbed the water ss on his bedside table and flung it at Chen Chuan-Hu.
A thunk sounded as it struck Chen Chuan-Hu, who had no time to block. A gash appeared on his head, dripping blood and instantly wetting hisrge, fierce face.
¡°Fuck! You dared to hit me!¡± Chen Chuan-Hu was hopping mad.
Two tall, skinny young men rushed through the doorway. They had tattoos, pierced ears and aggressive gazes - you could tell from just one look that they were hoodlums from bad society.
¡°Beat him up!¡± screamed Chen Chuan-Hu as he pointed to Xia Lei, who was lying on the hospital bed.
The two youths charged.
Ma Xiao-An used his own body to shield Xia Lei and clenched his teeth, bearing his pain as the two young men¡¯s blows rained on his head and shoulders. He was protecting Xia Lei and also pressing him down to stop his from doing anything rash.
¡°What are you doing?¡± A nurse pushing a trolley appeared in the doorway. She was shocked for a bit, then quickly shouted, ¡°Help, somebody! They¡¯re fighting!¡±
The nurse ran to call security.
¡°Just you wait, you little shit!¡± Chen Chuan-Hu threw onest threat before he walked out the door, followed by the two young men.
Only then did Ma Xiao-An let go of Xia Lei. His head was starting to swell and he grimaced in pain.
¡°Why did you stop me?¡± Xia Lei did not seem to be in the right state of mind. ¡°I want to kill him!¡± he yelled.
¡°Kill him? He¡¯s just one rotten person. You, on the other hand, still have your sister to take care of. He can have all the booze and partying he wants but you have yet to have one good day. Is it worth it?¡± sighed Ma Xiao-An. ¡°Calm down, Lei!¡±
Xia Lei was not an impulsive or reckless person. His parents¡¯ absence had made him independent and mature but the events of that day were too despairing for him to bear gracefully. There was no calming him at the thought of his eye having a 90% chance of going blind.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Xiao-An...¡± Xia Lei could not finish what he was about to say; his thoughts were a mess.
Ma Xiao-An patted Xia Lei in the shoulder. ¡°Why so formal between us friends? You would do this for me too, won¡¯t you?¡±
When Ma Xiao-An was bullied in the past, Xia Lei would always rush to protect and defend him at all costs.
¡°Want me to tell Xue?¡±
¡°No, no... Don¡¯t tell her,¡± replied Xia Lei nervously. ¡°She¡¯s in school now tutoring someone. If she knows about this, she¡¯ll be worried.¡±
¡°But she¡¯ll know sooner orter.¡±
¡°When that timees...¡± Xia Lei bit his lip. ¡°When that timeses, we¡¯ll talk.¡±
Just then, the nurse walked in with a security guard. The guard asked Xia Lei some questions about the incident while the nurse tended to Ma Xiao-An¡¯s head wounds. The nurse and security guard left, but the matter was still left hanging.
Ma Xiao-An stayed by Xia Lei¡¯s side till sometime in the night. After he left, Xia Lei was unable to sleep. Thoughts ran round and round in his head. He thought of the hospital fees, his future, his sister Xia Xue and her dream of going to Jing-Du University. Finally, exhaustion overcame him and he closed his eyes.
After sleeping for some time, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye begun to itch and he woke up. It was difficult to describe the itch - sometimes piercing, sometimes annoying.
Xia Lei called for the nurse but nobody responded. He looked for the call button on his bed and pressed it, only to discover that it was broken.
¡°Bad luck. Till when will I have this bad luck? What lousy hospital is this?¡± Xia Lei was depressed. He crawled out of bed and walked cautiously to the door.
He¡¯d wanted to go to the nurse station but he stopped when he was by the door.
¡¯The doctors and nurses here know I have no money, and Chen Chuan-Hu also came by to make a ruckus during the day. They know that I definitely can¡¯t afford the hospital fees. They would ignore my request to check and clean my injury for sure since it¡¯s in the middle of the night. They may even roll their eyes at me. Forget it, I¡¯ll just bear the pain for a while longer.¡¯ With these thoughts running through his mind, Xia Lei turned back to his bed.
The door to the toilet was open and Xia Lei saw his reflection in the mirror.
He was rather handsome - delicate features which were quite desirable and a height of 180cm. He had a strong, defined body and was considered a bright and dashing young man. Unfortunately, this was all in the past. If his left eye went blind and he was left with a huge scar, women would surely keep their distance from him.
His reflection made him feel sad.
A wave of itchiness suddenly hit him, interrupting his thoughts. He pondered, ¡¯An itching wound is a sign that the wound is healing, but I was injured during the day. Why is it itching at night? No... This is my eye. I have to see what¡¯s happening with my eye.¡¯
Xia Lei entered the toilet and stood before the sink, facing the mirror. He reached to unravel his bandages.
Layer afteryer of bandages fell away, till thestyer was gone and Xia Lei could see his left eye. He was shocked by what he saw.
His left eye was covered by a thickyer of white ointment, which seemed firmly glued to his eye. What was strange was that when he observed his left eye, he faintly felt that it had seen the toilet light through the thickyer of ointment, but what it saw was very blurry.
¡°How... How is this possible?¡± Xia Lei was stunned.
Under normal circumstances, even if his left eye had not been injured it would have a thickyer of ointment covering it, making it impossible to see anything. However, he had seen the light!
What¡¯s happening here?
Chapter 2
X-ray Vision
After much hesitation, Xia Lei quashed his curiosity and did not remove the ointment on his left eye.
He re-bound the bandages on his head and returned to bed. Xia Lei kept thinking and thinking till he fell asleep at 1:00 a.m.
When he awoke, it was already past 8:00 a.m. and he felt no pain or difort at all in his left eye. He went to the toilet again and removed his bandages in front of the mirror.
His reflection showed a thinyer of ointment and the feeling he had of seeing through the ointment was stronger.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Is my left eye fine now?¡± This thought made Xia Lei quite excited and he could not hold back his curiosity any longer. He used his bandages to carefully dab at the ointment and removed it from his left eye.
The dabbing made his left eye ache but the pain was bearable.
With the ointment gone, light entered his eye and Xia Lei could see himself and his left eye clearly in the mirror. The iris of his left eye was as healthy and shiny ck as before the ident and there didn¡¯t seem to be any obvious injury to his eyeball. Only the area around his eye socket had traces of burnt skin.
Xia Lei stood nkly for a while, then suddenly clenched his fists and eximed in excitement, ¡°My eye¡¯s not blind! It¡¯s not blind! Haha, my eye¡¯s not blind!¡±
At that moment, the doctor on duty walked into the ward with a nurse and saw Xia Lei dancing for joy in the toilet.
¡°Hey! Why did you remove your bandages?¡± The nurse spoke fiercely. ¡°Are you mad? Don¡¯t you want your eye anymore?¡±
Xia Lei did not seem to have heard anyone speaking behind him.
¡°Hey, you! If you don¡¯t follow the doctor¡¯s instructions we can¡¯t care for you here.¡± The doctor on duty was also unfriendly. ¡°Did you hear me?¡±
¡°Forget it. He needs at least 200,000 topletely fix his eye. You think a person like him can afford a sum like that?¡± said the nurse mockingly.
Xia Lei came to his senses and turned around. In that instant, his left eye throbbed ever so slightly, and he thought he saw the nurse¡¯s perky buttocks - her bare perky buttocks. The snowy fullness of it surprised him, but when he tried to look again, the sight had disappeared and all he saw was her skirt-covered bum. She had a nice curve to her bum, but it waspletely different from the bare buttocks he had seen.
¡°This... This must be a hallucination. Why am I hallucinating?¡± Xia Lei was both shocked and curious.
¡°Hey, I¡¯m talking to you! What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± The nurse was annoyed.
Then, the doctor realised it and reacted before the nurse did. He gaped at Xia Lei, then pointed to his left eye and asked, ¡°Your... Your eye! What¡¯s going on with your eye?¡±
The nurse reacted next and her jaw dropped to the floor.
Xia Lei smiled widely. ¡°My eye healed by itself. I really can¡¯t pay so much for the hospital fees so I don¡¯t want to stay here any longer. I¡¯d like to be discharged.¡±
Doctor and nurse looked at Xia Lei like he was some sort of strange creature. The one most shocked and bewildered by all this was the doctor, who had personally checked and confirmed that the eye would be blind. He had said that there would be a small chance for it to recover but that was because he intended to get more money from treatment fees. However, Xia Lei was now looking back at him with two wide open, perfectly working eyes!
It seemed only the gods could exin what happened to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei left the hospital an hourter. He had only used 1,000 of the 10,000 Chen Chuan-Hu gave him, so he was left with 9,000. The money went in his bum bag -pensation for his troubles.
The piercing sunlight outdoors didn¡¯t suit Xia Lei¡¯s left eye, so he gave up on his idea of going to Ma Xiao-An and took a taxi home.
The home his parents left him was modest - 75 square metres, three small rooms and a living room. He had no expensive appliances or electronics and everything in the t was at least a few years or over ten years old. These things were old but they lent Xia Lei somefort and held memories of his parents.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye felt better at home, out of the strong sunlight.
¡°What the heck is going on? It¡¯s like I had a strange dream...¡± After Xia Lei had settled down, he started to mull over his situation.
He wanted answers but had none.
¡°Lei, are you home?¡± A female voice called from downstairs.
He was pulled out of his thoughts. Xia Lei grunted in response and went to the balcony.
A young policewoman looked up at him from downstairs. She had a beautiful face and a luscious figure. Pale peaks peeked seductively from her open cor. This woman¡¯s name was Jiang Ru-Yi, a pencil-pushing police officer who lived below Xia Lei. Ru-Yi and Lei were childhood friends who yed in the sandbox and yed hide-and-seek together; they had always been close.
¡°Oh, it¡¯s you, Ru-Yi. What¡¯s up?¡± Xia Lei smiled as he greeted her.
¡°Can you help me change my water tank? I hurt my hand so I can¡¯t lift it,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be right down.¡± Xia Lei left his balcony.
Downstairs, a ray of sunlight suddenly hit Xia Lei in his left eye and it felt like a needle had plunged into his eye. The terrible pain made his vision go ck in his his left eye and he could not see anything. Xia Lei had a stab of panic before his left eye regained sight without him having done anything.
Jiang Ru-Yi, who was not far away, was suddenly ¡®pulled closer¡¯ by his left eye. The clothes she wore seemed transparent and floated about her body like gossamer, as if her youthful energy beneath was revealing itself to him. The gossamer vanished in the next blink and she waspletely naked to his eye.
A slim waist, shapely hips, amazing chest and a nosebleed-inducing... Xia Lei, who had never seen a woman¡¯s naked body, froze in ce and his body had a very natural male reaction.
Xia Lei suddenly remembered seeing the nurse¡¯s buttocks in the hospital. That wasn¡¯t a hallucination - it was real! What he had seen in the hospital was just a glimpse of what he could actually see now!
¡°Wha, what¡¯s going on? Jiang Ru-Yi is wearing clothes but my left eye shows her naked. Is this because of the electric arc? It must be!¡± Xia Lei thought in astonishment.
After being injured by the electric arc, the doctor had diagnosed blindness in his eye but his eye was not only fine but it had gained this miraculous ability. It seems fortune and misfortune are co-dependant - being hit by the electric arc was a misfortune yesterday but it became his fortune today!
¡°Lei, are you okay?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi thought Xia Lei was acting strange today, especially the way he looked at her.
¡°Eh? I¡¯m fine,¡± replied Xia Lei nervously. Naked Ru-Yi disappeared from his left eye¡¯s sight at his nervousness.
¡°Lei, why are you so unsettled today?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi spoke teasingly, ¡°Tell big sister about it. Do you like someone?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯re a month younger than me! When did you be ¡®big sister¡¯, huh? Besides, I¡¯m just a poor boy. Which woman would stick by my side?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short. You¡¯re a good man so there must be a woman out there who will like you,¡± Jiang Ru-Yi replied.
Their banter made Xia Lei rx and his eye moved unintentionally. He saw through Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s clothes instantly. This time, he saw it all close up and it was all Xia Lei could do to not spurt blood from his nose. He did not have a nosebleed but the material of his trousers was stretched tight.
Two consecutive incidents made the rules of this ability a little clearer to Xia Lei. Desires seemed to be the trigger to the ability. As long as he had a desire towards the target in his sight, his left eye would activate this X-ray ability.
Xia Lei helped Jiang Ru-Yi change the water tank of her water dispenser and when he moved the tank behind the machine, he felt strangely faint. He was dizzy and his body weak, muscles soft andcking strength.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°I suddenly feel tired and sleepy. It¡¯s as though I haven¡¯t eaten or slept for two days. Is this rted to me using the X-ray ability? It seems this ability can¡¯t be used frivolously and I need to use it in moderation.¡±
¡°Lei, here¡¯s a drink for you.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi walked over with a Pepsi and held it out to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei turned to look at her and a strange scene met his eye. He saw Jiang Ru-Yi in a red bikini, smiling at him with ae-hither gaze. She was more alluring than the main female lead in an adult movie.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei was stupefied.
¡°What are you doing? Take the c.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi gave the Pepsi in her hand to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked at Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s hand and backpedalled, horrified. What he saw was not a can of Pepsi - it was a condom.
The teeny tiny red bikini and colourfully wrapped condom were obviously not real, but it looked very very real to Xia Lei¡¯s eye. It was not just his eye seeing things - in his mind, another realistic scenario was ying. In his thoughts, Jiang Ru-Yi opened the condom wrapper, and very tenderly put it on for him...
¡°Lei? Are you okay? Is there a problem?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi asked curiously.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice woke Xia Lei from his fantasy. He shook his head hard and the images disappeared. Right after his vigorous head-shake, his knees went weak and he copsed in Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s arms.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s bosom was soft and smelt great. Xia Lei felt like it was a great sea that could amodate all desires.
What made it worse was that Xia Lei¡¯s lips had stuck to Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s cheek when he copsed in her arms. Her sweet and tender face felt like a vani cream cake.
Jiang Ru-Yi was so nervous her face was flushed. She moved away instinctively but Xia Lei¡¯s body leaned with hers and the feeling of those damned lips grew stronger!
¡°Lei, what are you doing?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was flustered, nervous and her legs grew a little weaker.
Xia Lei hurriedly removed himself from Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s arms, his face red. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m so sorry... I tripped.¡±
¡°You did that on purpose, didn¡¯t you? Huh, Lei?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi red at Xia Lei. Her gaze was full of disgust and annoyance.
Xia Lei backed off quickly and said awkwardly, ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. That... It wasn¡¯t on purpose. I¡¯m sorry.¡±
He was quite sure now - using the X-ray vision would use up a lot of his spiritual energy and cause him to have strange hallucinations.
¡°You¡¯re so weird today, Lei.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was not satisfied with Xia Lei¡¯s exnation.
¡°Ru-Yi, if you have nothing else, I¡¯ll go back now. Um, just give me a call the next time you want me to help change the water tank.¡± Xia Lei did not dare to stay any longer; he turned and left.
¡°Thanks, Lei.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi saw him to the door.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Go back. There¡¯s no need to send me off. We¡¯ve known each other for over twenty years so what¡¯s with the formalities?¡±
A trace of a smile yed about the corners of Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s mouth. ¡°Can¡¯t I pretend to be all formal with you? And! I¡¯ve long told you to go get a regr job. Don¡¯t go to construction sites anymore - those are not long term jobs.¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly, nodded and left.
Who didn¡¯t want a better life? Living in a bigfortable house, driving a good car, walking around with head held high, to be respected and not have people roll their eyes at you... all these were possible only with money, and Xia Leicked money most.
¡°Chen Chuan-Hu paid 10,000 in hospital fees but I have 9,000 since I discharged myself early. This should be enough to pay for my sister¡¯s school fees but she¡¯s going to need more for student hostel and living expenses. These expenses are not going to be low, so I¡¯ll need to get at least 20,000 for her. I¡¯m still short 11,000. What should I do?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s brain ached at the thought of money.
Xia Lei walked out of his neighbourhood without realising it.
Sunlight sshed across his body as cars zoomed past on busy roads in Hai-Zhu City. Strangers bumped his shoulders as they passed in the hustle and bustle.
¡°Hey, I have X-ray vision now. Do I still need to work at a construction site? Why not use my ability to make money? My sister and I will definitely be able to lead better lives!¡± At that thought, Xia Lei looked up at the southern end of Hai-Zhu City, which led to Macau. A bold n was hatching in his mind.
Chapter 3
Not Tempted
The evening sea breeze brought some coolness to Hai-Zhu City.
¡°What? Xia Lei was discharged?¡± Ma Xiao-An was so surprised his mouth hung open as he stood at the Nurses¡¯ Station in the hospital.
¡°His eye is fine and the hospital is short of beds, so we let him be discharged,¡± said the nurse.
¡°His... His eye¡¯s fine?¡± Surprise upon surprise was sprung upon Ma Xiao-An.
¡°What¡¯s with you?,¡± grumbled the nurse as she then said impatiently, ¡°If you have any questions you can ask him directly. I¡¯m busy here, so don¡¯t interrupt my work.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Ma Xiao-An turned to leave. He fished his mobile phone out and made a call to Xia Lei but Xia Lei had his phone switched off.
Ma Xiao-An stopped at the lift doors, mumbling to himself, ¡°What is this guy doing?¡±
The lift doors opened suddenly and Chen Chuan-Hu stepped out with some young men.
At the sight of Chen Chuan-Hu, Ma Xiao-An nervously turned to leave but he was surrounded by the youths Chen Chuan-Hu had brought with him.
¡°Wh-What are you doing?¡± Ma Xiao-An¡¯s voice was shaky.
¡°Doing?¡± Chen Chuan-Hu smiled meanly. ¡°Fuck, you and Xia Lei worked together to cheat me of my money. I just called to ask the doctor about him and he told me Xia Lei¡¯s eye had no problems at all and that he¡¯s been discharged. He ruined my electric welding machine and my transformer. He even cheated me of 10,000 in hospital fees. What do you think I¡¯ll do?¡±
¡°This is... is a misunderstanding.¡± Ma Xiao-An bravely ventured.
¡°Misunderstanding? Fuck you!¡± Chen Chuan-Hu said angrily, ¡°Beat this guy up first, then take him and look for the other bastard, Xia Lei. He couldn¡¯t have gone very far!¡±
The youths converged, punching and kicking Ma Xiao-An. They were merciless and brutal and Ma Xiao-An soon fell to the ground. However, they did not lessen their assault. The youths surrounded Ma Xiao-An and kicked at him aggressively.
Ma Xiao-An held his head in his arms and curled up and he silently thought, ¡°Lei, run away quickly... Don¡¯t stay at home...¡±
Xia Lei could not see what was happening. At the time of Ma Xiao-An¡¯s suffering, Xia Lei had just walked through the doors and into the hall of Hotel Lisboa¡¯s Casino in Macau.
Hai-Zhu City and Macau were separated by just a body of water and it was easy to get to Macau. Even if you did not have documents to cross, you can pay 200 to cross illegally on a boat. Xia Lei had gone to Macau via one of these boats. He had also switched his mobile phone off before leaving Hai-Zhu City as he did not want anyone to know he had gone to Macau.
Coming to Macau¡¯s casinos was the quickest and most direct way to make use of the X-ray vision.
Xia Lei exchanged 8,000 for chips and headed to the ckjack tables.
A woman in a ck evening dress was ying at the table and she had excellent curves on her waist and bottom. She was cool, beautiful and sexy but too aloof for people to approach easily. Xia Lei did not dare to look at her too much lest he triggered his X-ray vision and waste his chance to earn money.
The woman in the ck evening dress nced at Xia Lei, but only for a second. Xia Lei was quite handsome but he was dressed too inly to warrant a second look.
When Xia Lei walked over, she had just finished ying one round with the dealer. The dealer had 19 while she had 17. The dealer won.
¡°What bad luck! I didn¡¯t win even once. I¡¯m not ying anymore.¡± The woman in ck grumbled to herself, frowning. She looked quite dissatisfied.
Xia Lei sat at the table and ced his 8,000 yuan chips carefully on the table.
¡°Would you like to y, sir?¡± The female dealer smiled.
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Please ce your bet.¡± The female dealer maintained her smile.
Xia Lei did not hurry in cing his bet but stared hard at the card shuffler in front of the female dealer. In that instant, his left eye saw through the card shuffling machine and he saw the first card. The back of the card wavered between opaque and transparent as the numbers and card suit shed in and out of his sight. The first card was an ace of spades.
¡°Sir?¡±, prompted the dealer, ¡°Please ce your bet.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I¡¯m thinking how much to bet.¡±
The female dealer looked at his pathetic pile of chips and the corners of her mouth turned down in despise. To her, Xia Lei looked like a young worker from the maind, here to try his luck. These sort of people always took a long time to think and consider before betting because the money they bet was their life and blood and if they lost, they would have nothing.
While the dealer was quietly looking down on Xia Lei, he was using his ability to look at four cards in the card shuffling machine. First was an ace of spades, nine of hearts second, king of spades third and ace of hearts fourth. ording to the sequence of dealing cards, he would get a ckjack and receive triple the payout!
Xia Lei looked away from the card shuffling machine and pushed all his chips forward. ¡°8,000. All in.¡±
The creases in the corners of the dealer¡¯s mouth grew deeper. She dealt the cards to Xia Lei, all the while envisioning him leaving the table in defeat.
Xia Lei knew what his cards were going to be but he still pretended to be a gambler. He covered the hidden card with the upturned card and slowly inched the upturned card away while chanting to himself, ¡°Ace of spades, ace of spades...¡±
The woman in the ck evening dress looked at Xia Lei with a trace of mockery in her gaze.
¡°Ha-ha! ckjack!¡± Xia Lei revealed his hidden card excitedly.
The female dealer looked at her cards and saw that she had 20 points. She looked as if she had swallowed a fly.
8,000 had be 24,000 - this money came easily. However, if hecked the X-ray vision ability and had not seen the cards in advance, Xia Lei would never have dared to go all-in from the get-go.
¡°Sir, please ce your bet,¡± said the female dealer.
Xia Lei turned his gaze to the card shuffling machine again and looked at the cards on top. He discovered that he would get a six of diamonds and a seven of clubs while the dealer would get nine of hearts and queen of diamonds for a total of 19 points. If he hit, the card he would get was nine of spades and he would go bust.
This game was a sure-lose.
Xia Lei put the smallest chip value allowed on the table - 500.
¡°Sir, your bet is very low for this round,¡± said the dealer, ¡°You seem to have good luck and you had a ckjack earlier. Are you sure you want to bet just 500 for this round?¡±
¡°Just 500. Please deal.¡± Xia Lei was undeterred.
The female dealer propped her elbows on the ckjack table and leaned forward. Her open cor revealed a deep valley and snowy rounded tforms as she smiled seductively, ¡°Sir, please believe me. You have such good luck! Betting more will also mean winning more. It¡¯ll be such a waste not to take advantage of your good luck.¡±
A faint smile graced Xia Lei¡¯s lips as his left eye swept over the female dealer¡¯s bosom. He had a clear and uncovered view of her breasts, which were given volume by pads. Her actual size was much smaller. What wasughable was her trying to tempt him into betting more using her position as a dealer.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Fake. Too small.¡±
The female dealer paused. ¡°What did you say?¡±
¡°Nothing. 500. Please deal,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Jerk!¡± The dealer cursed Xia Lei silently and dealt the cards.
Xia Lei went bust on purpose this round and lost 500.
The dealer¡¯s brows were furrowed as she took Xia Lei¡¯s 500 yuan chip. She had won this round but was not happy about it at all.
In the third round, Xia Lei suddenly pushed all his chips into the betting box.
In that round, he had 20 points while the dealer had 19 points. His winnings doubled again.
The woman in the ck evening dress did not leave and she started to look at Xia Lei strangely.
Just like that, in a short span of over ten minutes, Xia Lei bet 11 times; he lost six, won five. The gambling chips in front of him totalled 210,000.
Whenever he lost, his bet was just 500 and when he won, he went all-in.
The big pile of chips in front of Xia Lei made the female dealer break out in sweat. This was not because she was shocked by 210,000 worth of chips but because the young man was just too strange. She could only get 500 when she won but he always raked in thousands and tens of thousands when he won. How could this keep happening?!
Just as the female dealer was about to press the button to call for a more skilled dealer, Xia Lei stood and said, ¡°My luck isn¡¯t too good today. Forget it, I¡¯ll stop gambling.¡±
The female dealer red at Xia Lei. His words were like a burning p to her pride!
Xia Lei wanted to win more money too, but using his eye for over ten minutes had driven him to the brink of exhaustion and he could not use his ability any more. Another reason for him stopping was that he knew the money was easy but he could not be too greedy. The casino didn¡¯t care if he won 200,000 but if he won millions or tens of millions, they would definitely take notice.
200,000 was enough for Xia Xue to go to school and just thinking about it made Xia Lei happy.
After changing his chips to cash, Xia Lei immediately put the money in two cards. One card had a value of 180,000 while the other had 30,000.
Xia Lei walked out of Hotel Lisboa¡¯s Casino. A cool sea breeze kissed his cheek and his head cleared a little. His left eye had started to see hallucinations during hisst round with the female dealer. She had obviously dealt paper cards to him but he had seen a vibrating egg - and a pink vibrating egg at that.
Good thing these hallucinations did notst long and disappear quickly.
Xia Lei got off the steps and looked about to hail a taxi to the harbour, where he could take a boat back to Hai-Zhu City. A woman also got off the steps and stood by the road, seemingly to wait for her ride. She was tall, and her heels made her as tall as Xia Lei. Though she was tall, she was not gangly and had all the right curves of a beautiful body.
Xia Lei looked at her more closely and suddenly discovered that this was the woman who had been watching him and the female dealer gamble.
¡°Does she have some sort of bad intention since she saw me win 200,000?¡± A thought popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. However, when he spied the Louie Vuitton bag on her shoulder, he dispelled that ridiculous notion. Her bag alone was worth tens of thousands - why would she have evil designs on his 200,000?
The woman neither spoke nor looked at Xia Lei.
¡°So icy and arrogant! I don¡¯t know which man would be able to stand her.¡± Xia Lei thought to himself.
At that very coincidental moment, Xia Lei¡¯s line of sight suddenly lit upon the rooftop of a high-rise building across the road and stayed there, refusing to budge.
A man wearing a baseball capy on the building¡¯s rooftop, a sniper rifle in front of him. He was aiming at the woman in the ck evening dress next to Xia Lei!
¡°Watch out!¡± Xia Lei grabbed the woman¡¯s waist and they both tumbled to the ground.
Just as they hit the ground, a bullet smashed into the spot where the woman had stood, sending sparks flying in all directions.
Chapter 4
Complex Woman
The woman¡¯s first reaction was to p Xia Lei when he jumped on top of her but before her p could connect, she saw the sparks from the bullet striking the ground. In that instant, she seemed to understand what was going on. She suddenly spread her legs and wrapped them around Xia Lei¡¯s waist, then flipped them both so she was on top and Xia Lei below.
A man lying below a woman - the woman¡¯s shapely snow white legs were exposed and her ckce panties were showing too. Her open-legs posture pulled thece panties tight, clearly outlining the sight of something nosebleed-worthy right in front of Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. Xia Lei grew even more nervous.
The woman¡¯s legs suddenly tightened around Xia Lei as she rolled herself and him to a flower bed next to them.
TZING! Sparks flew in the spot they¡¯d just vacated as they rolled behind the flower bed. The bullet ricocheted off the road and shattered the ss window of a shop by the road.
Xia Lei broke out in cold sweat.
The pedestrian walks were full of people running away, diving to the ground for cover and screaming.
With the flower bed for cover, Xia Lei and the woman were safer for now.
¡°Who are you?¡± The woman¡¯s voice was as cold as she was.
Xia Lei stared nkly at her for a bit, then replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know you but I saw someone aim a gun at you so I pushed you out of the line of fire.¡±
¡°I saw the building. It was quite far away, and dark too. I couldn¡¯t see anything, but you did. So, how did you see it?¡± Her gaze bored into Xia Lei, and it was as though she could see into his soul.
Xia Lei being able see the sniper on the rooftop was all thanks to the power of his left eye, of course. His eye could not only see through people and objects, but also zoom in on far-away things so he could see them clearly. He had actually seen the sniper very clearly and if the sniper didn¡¯t have a baseball cap covering most of his face, he would have been able to see his face too!
¡°Answer me!¡± The woman¡¯s voice became moremanding.
His left eye¡¯s ability was a secret; Xia Lei would definitely not tell this woman. Her attitude also made him very ufortable. ¡°I saw what I saw. It was just a coincidence, so what¡¯s so strange about it? And! Do you n to keep straddling me?¡±
The woman then realised she had been on top of Xia Lei since earlier, and her face was almost touching his. She awkwardly crawled off Xia Lei¡¯s body but did not stand. She crouched next to Xia Lei and reminded him, ¡°Stay low, don¡¯t move.¡±
Xia Lei kept still - he did not want to experience having his brains blown out. He started to regret saving the woman in the heat of the moment. He didn¡¯t even know her name. Wouldn¡¯t he be screwed if the sniper thought he was her ally?
¡°Thanks for saving me just now.¡± The woman extended a hand, ¡°I¡¯m Long Bing¡±
Just as he was thinking about how he didn¡¯t know her name, she introduced herself. Xia Lei was pacified somewhat and he stretched his hand out to shake hers. ¡°I¡¯m Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Where are you from?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated before answering, ¡°Hai-Zhu City. You?¡±
¡°I knew you were a mainder when I saw you in the casino.¡± Long Bing replied, ¡°I¡¯m from Jing-Du.¡±
¡°Why did that sniper want to kill you?¡± Xia Lei looked at her, eager for an answer.
Long Bing¡¯s brows wrinkled slightly. ¡°You have no need to know.¡±
Just then, the sirens of some police cars wailed in the night, growing louder as they drew closer. The sound made people anxious.
¡°He¡¯s gone,¡± said Long Bing suddenly.
¡°How do you know that?¡± Xia Lei was disbelieving. He became more and more curious about Long Bing¡¯s identity.
¡°I just know from experience,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei crawled forward two metres and carefully poked his head out of the flower bed to look at the rooftop of the building opposite. The sniper was gone, and he had no idea when.
¡°Believe me now?¡± Long Bing got up from the ground and patted the dust off her evening dress.
¡°What the heck do you do?¡± Xia Lei was sure that this woman before him was not a normal person, simply because she could tell that a sniper was gone from experience. If she were normal, would she have this sort of experience and confidence?
¡°You¡¯ll know if you get a chance to know. Go now, quickly. You don¡¯t have travel documents. You¡¯ll get in trouble if you¡¯re caught,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was astonished and he thought to himself, ¡°This woman is so prickly!¡±
¡°Hold on, this is my namecard. If you need my help with anything you can call this number,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei held her card and looked at it. There was nothing on the card besides her name and phone number. ¡°Weird people have weird name cards too,¡± thought Xia Lei. Though he was thinking that, he pasted a smile on his face and said, ¡°All right then, I¡¯ll invite you to tea someday.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken. I¡¯m just repaying the favour,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei¡¯s smile froze on his face. He shrugged, embarrassed, then turned to leave.
As soon as he left, a few police cars stopped by the road. The police officers who alighted from the cars all carried guns and they had their cars positioned to make a barrier. They looked nervously about, clearly unsure of the situation.
Long Bing looked up at the building opposite and at the rooftop, but all she could see was a blurry outline. She could not even see the fence around the edge of the rooftop, let alone a person hiding there.
Long Bing looked away from the building and in the direction Xia Lei had left. After a beat, she spoke. ¡°I have perfect 20/20 vision and I couldn¡¯t see anything up there. How did he see it? Is his vision better than 20/20? How is this possible? His behaviour in the casino was strange too... This man... I must investigate his background!¡±
Xia Lei could not hear Long Bing. He was in a taxi, headed for the harbour.
When he had arrived, Xia Lei had only 9,000+ yuan but he was leaving now with 210,000. This was peanuts to the rich but it was a fortune to Xia Lei. He could pay for Xia Xue¡¯s education now and use the remainder to do some small business or change something in their lives - there were many possibilities.
When he stepped onto the jetty at Hai-Zhu City harbour, Xia Lei switched his mobile phone on and saw that he had several missed calls from Ma Xiao-An. He grinned and thought to himself, ¡°That fatty must have gone to see me at the hospital and got worried about me when he couldn¡¯t find me after I got discharged. I should buy an iPhone 6 Plus for him when I get back and make him happy.¡±
Xia Lei was using a cheap, lousy locally-made phone himself but he was good to his friends and was willing to spend on them.
While waiting for public transportation by the road, Xia Lei called Ma Xiao-An. ¡°Hello, Xiao-An? It¡¯s me, Lei. Where are you? I¡¯lle get you and we¡¯ll go for a drink.¡±
¡°Drink... drink...¡± Ma Xiao-An¡¯s voice seemed disjointed over the phone, as if he had something in his mouth. ¡°Drink, my... my foot! I¡¯m in... in... hospital.¡±
¡°You¡¯re in hospital?¡± Xia Lei was surprised. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What happened? Which hospital are you in?¡±
¡°The... the one you left... you... be careful... when youe here... Don¡¯t get discovered...¡± Ma Xiao-An started to wheeze before he could finish one sentence.
¡°Wait for me! I¡¯ll be right there!¡± Xia Lei hung up and rushed to hail an iing taxi.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei arrived at the hospital he had left that morning. He went to the nurses¡¯ station to inquire and found Ma Xiao-An¡¯s ward.
Ma Xiao-An¡¯s head, arms and legs were bound in bandages and the half of his face that could be seen was swollen. You could tell from one look that he had been beaten up severely by someone.
¡°Xiao-An, tell me who did this to you!¡± Xia Lei was anxious and angry all at once.
Ma Xiao-An smiled bitterly, ¡°Who... else could it be?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly thought of a person. ¡°Was it Chen Chuan-Hu?¡±
Ma Xiao-An nodded, then told Xia Lei what had happened in short bursts.
It turned out that Chen Chuan-Hu wanted to beat Ma Xiao-An up, then make him bring him and hisckeys to Xia Lei¡¯s ce. Hisckeys, however, had been too enthusiastic in their beating. Ma Xiao-An vomited blood and could not even walk. Chen Chuan-Hu had left the hospital with hisckeys while Ma Xiao-An was left to lie in the hospital¡¯s bed.
¡°Bastard! Who gave him the right to do this? Is he above thew? Is there no one who can keep viins like him in check?¡± After listening to Ma Xiao-An, Xia Lei could not control his emotions and punched his fist in the hospital bed.
¡°Law?¡± Ma Xiao-Anughed bitterly. ¡°Lei, you know what...? After Chen Chuan-Hu had me beaten up... he said... He said his uncle was the Chief of Police and we can try to sue him any-anytime.¡±
¡°So he can do as he pleases because his uncle is the Chief of Police?¡± said Xia Lei indignantly.
¡°I called the police... An officer came, asked a few questions and left... He had ab-absolutely no intention of looking into Chen Chuan-Hu...¡± Ma Xiao-An continued, ¡°Afterwards, an... old doctor told me that Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s uncle is Li Qing-Hua, the Chief of Police of this area. Chen Chuan-Hu always has some construction business going. Li Qing-Hua is actually the mastermind and Chen Chuan-Hu just runs errands for him. The two of them have mutual interests since one has manpower and one has authority... they profit legally and illegally. We can¡¯t win... Be careful, he said you cheated him of 10,000 in hospital fees and he wants you to pay for the electric welding machine and transformer too... Lei, take Xia Xue and hide for a few days.¡±
¡°Hide? Why must we hide? I was injured at his construction site. If I hadn¡¯t been lucky I would have lost my eye - can 10,000 buy me my eye? Furthermore, he had you beaten till you ended up in this state. It¡¯s him who is wrong, not you, not me and not Xia Xue. Why must we hide? I¡¯m not afraid of him. I¡¯ll seek justice for you!¡± Xia Lei got more and more worked up as he spoke.
¡°Lei... you... you listen to me...¡± Ma Xiao-An said worriedly, ¡°For-forget it... I¡¯m fine.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Rest and recover here in peace,¡± said Xia Lei.
Just then, a nurse walked in. She took one look at Xia Lei and asked, ¡°You¡¯re the guardian of Bed 19? You¡¯d better pay the fees owing for treatment or the pharmacy will not dispense medication.¡±
¡°How much do we owe?¡± Xia Lei knew without asking that Chen Chuan-Hu had not paid a cent fornding Ma Xiao-An in hospital.
¡°You owe 1,200 but he still needs further medication. I rmend you pay a little more - 7,000 is best,¡± said the nurse.
¡°The money... I¡¯ll find some way... Lei, don¡¯t mind it.¡± Ma Xiao-An was in so much pain he had to force words past his clenched teeth.
¡°I¡¯ll give you guys 8,000. Take better care of my friend.¡± As he spoke, Xia Lei took the bill and went to pay it.
Tears filled Ma Xiao-An¡¯s eyes. ¡°Lei... Don¡¯t... That money is... for Xia Xue¡¯s school fees...¡±
But Xia Lei had already walked out the door without looking back.
Chapter 5
Call Me Big Sister
It was already dark when Xia Lei left the hospital.
He arrived home and just as he stepped into the living room, his sister, Xia Xue, walked out of her room.
Xia Xue was 18 this year and looked simr to Xia Lei. She was 170cm tall and had long legs and a good height. She was a big girl loved by all.
¡°What have you been busy with the past two days, big brother? I tried to call you in the afternoon but your phone was off and I couldn¡¯t find the construction site either. I was so worried!¡± Xia Xue was scolding her brother but every word she said bore her concern for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯ste and you¡¯re still awake. Were you waiting up for me?¡±
¡°That goes without saying. How can I sleep peacefully when you haven¡¯te back?¡± Xia Xue¡¯s lips lifted in a small pout. Xia Lei was the only family she had left in the whole world and he was the only one she could rely on - how could she not be concerned about him?
¡°It¡¯s nothing... I, um, had extra shifts at work,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Sit down, big brother has something to tell you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Xue sat next to Xia Lei and looked curiously at her brother.
Xia Lei took out his wallet and put a card in Xia Xue¡¯s hand. ¡°There is 30,000 in this card. Use this to pay for your school fees.¡±
¡°30,000 yuan?¡± Xia Xue was shocked. ¡°Big brother, where did you get this much money? Did you do something bad? Huh?¡±
Xia Lei pretended to be offended. ¡°What are you saying, girl? Is your brother the type to do such things? What happened was that I coincidentally saved someone today. That person was honorable and rewarded me 50,000. I think this is all because our mother is looking out for us. No need to imagine silly things; Don¡¯t worry and take it.¡±
¡°Who did you save, big brother?¡± Xia Xue was clever. Xia Lei¡¯s exnation made sense but she did not believe it easily.
Xia Lei expected his sister to be doubtful so he had been prepared. He took out the name card Long Bing had given him and passed it to Xia Xue. ¡°Here¡¯s her name card. Oh, she¡¯s from Jing-Du, so if you run into any trouble there you can call her.¡±
Xia Xue believed him then. She heaved a sigh, then smiled, ¡°Heh heh... It¡¯s a woman, big brother? Is she pretty?¡±
The image of Long Bing¡¯s icy face shed in his mind and he absently said, ¡°Pretty, very pretty.¡±
¡°Oooh, such praise! She even gave you her number. Isn¡¯t this a signal?¡± Xia Xue smiled teasingly, ¡°You¡¯re no spring chicken either, big brother. Take the initiative! Invite her for tea, to the movies, or something. Turn her into a sister-inw for me quickly.¡±
¡°Turn her, my foot. No making fun of your big brother.¡± Xia Lei continued to pretend to be offended, ¡°Also, you stay in school for the next few days. Don¡¯te back.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Xia Xue was not too willing.
Xia Lei said, ¡°What¡¯s that...¡±
Xia Xue giggled and said, ¡°I get it. You want to bring my future sister-inw home, so you don¡¯t want me to be a third wheel, right? Okay, I got it. I¡¯ll stay in the hostel with my ssmates tomorrow.¡±
Xia Lei had not been sure how he would persuade her to stay away from home but she had persuaded herself, saving him the trouble. Chen Chuan-Hu would not let him off and he could not let Chen Chuan-Hu go unpunished either. Making Xia Xue stay on school grounds for a few days was a safety measure.
¡°You haven¡¯t eaten yet, have you, big brother? I¡¯ll cook some noodles for you.¡± Xia Xue started to show concern again for her brother, this time for his stomach.
At her words, Xia Lei¡¯s stomach suddenly growled. He had not even had a drop of water to drink since returning from Macau and he was long overdue for a meal.
¡°I see. I¡¯ll go cook some noodles for you now.¡± Xia Xue got up and walked to the kitchen.
Xia Leiy on the sofa and finally rxed. His gaze rested on a picture of their whole family on the TV cab. His mother, father, sister and himself were in the picture, cheek to cheek and smiling blissfully...
¡°Where did you go, Dad? Do you know how we¡¯ve been living these past few years?¡±, cried Xia Lei in his heart.
Xia Lei went back to his room after eating his noodles. He was so exhausted from using his X-ray vision consecutively that he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He slept till afternoon the next day and he slept so deeply that he did not even know when Xia Xue left.
A bowl of rice porridge and a te of fried vegetables sat on the dining table. Next to them was a ss bottle with a note under it.
A white capsule sat in the ss bottle and the sight of it made Xia Lei think of his father, Xia Chang-He.
Xia Lei could still clearly remember that five years ago, the same year his father disappeared, his body was very weak. His father obtained this bottle of medicine from who-knew-where. There were only 20 white capsules in the bottle and his father only let him eat one every month. The effects of the medicine were great - his body¡¯s condition improved a lot after eating the first capsule. His father disappeared around the time he ate the 19th capsule, and thest capsule went missing.
Now, the ss bottle had appeared in front of Xia Lei again. The 20th capsule sat quietly in the ss bottle.
Xia Lei pulled the note from under the ss bottle. It was from Xia Xue and it read, ¡°Big brother, I found this bottle of medicine when I cleaned Mum and Dad¡¯s room this morning. It still has thest capsule you didn¡¯t eat, but you¡¯re all strong and healthy now so you probably won¡¯t need to eat this kind of medicine anymore. It¡¯s something Dad left for you though, so you can keep it as a sort of memento, maybe.¡±
¡°This girl... I don¡¯t know which lucky man will have the fortune to marry her in the future, but I must guard her well as a big brother.¡± Xia Lei smiled. He put the note and the ss bottle behind the family picture on the TV cab, then went back to the dining table to have his breakfast and lunch.
Xia Lei went out after eating.
When he went downstairs, he saw Jiang Ru-Yi sitting on her balcony, staring into space. His heart thumped as he walked to her.
Jiang Ru-Yi did not see Xia Lei at all. She sat with her sweet cheek resting in her hand, gazing at the cup on the table. Perhaps she was daydreaming of some scrumptious food, or some scrumptious man.
¡°Stick yer hands up!¡± A voice suddenly snarled.
Jiang Ru-Yi was startled. When she raised her head and saw that the person standing beyond the railing was Xia Lei, she red and said, ¡°You wanna die? How dare you scare me like that!¡± She reached to smack Xia Lei but he dodged.
¡°Ru-Yi, can I ask for a favour?¡±, asked Xia Lei.
¡°What favour?¡±, asked Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Well, you work in the Police Department so do you know a guy named Li Qing-Hua?¡±
¡°He¡¯s our Chief. How can I not know him?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi stared hard at Xia Lei, and probed, ¡°What are you asking about our Chief for?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°I have to contact him for something. Hey, can you tell me where he lives and his phone number?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi cut him short. ¡°Why are you asking these questions?¡±
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°You think I¡¯m going to do something bad? Even if I am going to, I won¡¯t be so stupid as to look for the police, right? It¡¯s my friend who has a problem so he wants some help from connections. You know how it is in this world - it works through connections.¡±
¡°I see.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi took her phone out of her pocket and opened her contacts window, then knelt on her balcony to hand her phone to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked at Li Qing-Hua¡¯s picture, his phone number and home address. He remembered the details and returned the phone to Jiang Ru-Yi, then said, ¡°Thank you.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi put her phone away, then pursed her lips and smiled, ¡°Thanking me is so tacky. Just call me big sister.¡±
Her smile was mesmerising. Xia Lei was about to go off but he paused to stare at her a little longer and his eye just happened to look at her waist and buttocks. The short uniform skirt and T-shirt Jiang Ru-Yi wore turned into gauze that soon disappeared. The most secret and sacred ces of Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s bodyy bare to Xia Lei¡¯s eye. Her breasts, her buttocks, her long, long beautiful legs, white and soft... Xia Lei¡¯s heart pounded faster and his breath quickened.
¡°I... really shouldn¡¯t.¡± Xia Lei shook his head to hear it then lightly pped himself, hitting his bad thoughts out of his head.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked at Xia Lei curiously.
¡°Um... Nothing...¡± Xia Lei was so embarrassed he could die but an idea hit him and he quickly said, ¡°It was a mosquito. I was hitting a mosquito.¡±
At that moment, a real mosquito actuallynded on Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s petite waist, as though to prove him right. Xia Lei did not want Jiang Ru-Yi to get bitten so he swung his hand and smacked her waist.
SMACK! The flesh of her waist rippled and the impact made her other soft parts jiggle too. Jiang Ru-Yi was in shock and her face was flushed red. She stared at Xia Lei, and her delicate mouth opened but no words came out.
Xia Lei held out the offending hand to Jiang Ru-Yi and opened his fist, revealing a ttened mosquito.
Jiang Ru-Yi red at Xia Lei resentfully.
Xia Lei clumsily exined himself, ¡°A mosquito. Mosquito! It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s dead.¡±
At that moment, another mosquito flew in front of Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s eyes. Slowly andzily it flew, then settled on her bum. Jiang Ru-Yi looked at the mosquito on her bum, then looked at Xia Lei. She did not speak but the look in her eyes spoke volumes. -- You like hitting mosquitoes, don¡¯t you? If you dare hit this one, I¡¯ll crush you!
Xia Lei raised his hand, but did not hit. He waved his hand and chased the mosquito away.
He could hit the mosquito on her waist but did not dare to hit the one on her bum. That area was too sensitive. Besides, if he, as a man, hit a woman¡¯s bum, what would that make of their rtionship?
¡°Okay, I¡¯m off. See you.¡± Xia Lei did not dare to linger and got ready to scram.
¡°Chief Li likes to drink tea at Ju Shan Garden Teahouse. His favourite is Tung-ting oolong tea from Taiwan. Tell your friend that if he wants favours from the Chief he should buy some good oolong tea and bring it with him. Today happens to be a weekend, so tell your friend to look for him there and he¡¯ll definitely find him.¡±
¡°Hm, got it.¡± Xia Lei waved and walked off.
¡°You haven¡¯t called me ¡®big sister¡¯, you rascal!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi voice came from behind.
¡°Big sister!¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly and he quickened his steps.
¡°Remember, oolong tea!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice again.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°Oolong tea? Bastards like Li Qing-Hua should get treated to piss!¡±
Chapter 6
Catch the Wolf by the Tail
The sun had not set but themps around the high-end area where Ju Shan Garden Teahouse was located were lit. Themps were antique pcenterns and the surrounding ancient-style courtyard and pavilion made it look like an ancientpound, extravagant and luxurious.
ces like these were not patronised by regr folk.
A taxi stopped along the road and the door opened. A suit-d Xia Lei alighted from the taxi.
At 180 cm tall with a slim physique and nice body line, plus a handsome charismatic face, Xia Lei looked like an elite member of the workforce.
Xia Lei walked through the entrance of Ju Shan Garden Teahouse.
After he was in, Xia Lei ordered one of the cheaper Bitan Snow Teas and chose a seat a little further off to the side.
There were many people enjoying their tea, some in the hall, some in private rooms. It seemed quite lively. Xia Lei looked carefully at those around him but did not see Li Qing-Hua. He then used his left eye¡¯s X-ray vision to search the private rooms for Li Qing-Hua.
The private rooms had wooden walls and opaque bamboo curtains. Under normal circumstances, there was no way one could see what was going on in the rooms but the walls and curtains were nothing to Xia Lei. He saw everything in those rooms.
A minuteter, his gaze stopped on a room not far from where he was seated.
A man and a woman were in the room.
The man looked over 40, and he was pudgy. His mannerisms and way of speaking looked very much like he was putting on official airs. The woman looked about 27 or 28 and had a good face and body, which could be considered beautiful.
Xia Lei quickly identified the man as Li Qing-Hua. As for the woman, he had no idea who she was. The woman looked nervous and her movements were stiff and awkward. She gave off the feeling that she was not very willing to have tea with Li Qing-Hua. In contrast to the woman¡¯s stiffness, Li Qing-Hua was rxed and smiling. His eyes roamed over the woman¡¯s chest, waist and bum, and he did not seem to be hiding his desire.
At that moment, Li Qing-Hua reached out and caught the woman¡¯s hand. He caressed her hand and said something. The woman turned red and bent her head. She did not dare look Li Qing-Hua in the eye.
Xia Lei could not hear what he said but he could guess. ¡°This situation looks like Li Qing-Hua used his authority to either bring a subordinate or a woman asking for a favour to this ce to take advantage of her. If this is what¡¯s happening, it¡¯s a good opportunity...¡±
Xia Lei had an idea.
A few minutester, the bamboo curtains of the room parted and Li Qing-Hua walked out with the woman. The woman followed Li Qing-Hua silently and she covered her face often, not looking at others and avoiding the eyes of others.
Xia Lei also vacated the tea table and walked to the cashier counter. He paid his bill and quickly left the teahouse.
Under the streetmps, Li Qing-Hua wrapped his arm around the woman¡¯s little waist and walked along the pedestrian pathway, heading west. Li Qing-Hua did not detect Xia Lei tailing him at all. His hands stroked her waist and buttocks unscrupulously as he spewed lewd flirtatious words. The woman was so embarrassed that she did not resist and let Li Qing-Hua¡¯s oily hands roam her body.
A few minutester, Li Qing-Hua and the woman entered a hotel and checked into a room.
Once they checked in, Li Qing-Hua could not hold back and he embraced the woman, kissing and touching her in a horny hurry.
¡°Chief Li, please wait. I¡¯ll take a shower before I take good care of you, okay?¡±, said the woman flirtatiously.
Li Qing-Hua chuckled, ¡°What a good girl! Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care of your husband¡¯s matter. It¡¯s just a simple change of post.¡±
¡°You¡¯re generous.¡± The woman moved to Li Qing-Hua and kissed him, then stripped and walked to the bathroom.
Li Qing-Hua also stripped andy naked on the bed. He lit a cigarette and contentedly waited for the woman to wash herself clean before she serviced him. He had no inkling that at that moment, a young man was standing right outside his room door, and that young man was staring intently at the door.
The door did not exist at all to Xia Lei. He saw Li Qing-Hua lying on the bed and the situation in the bathroom.
The ss door of the bathroom was not closed properly and there was an inch-wide gap. The pale-skinned woman could be seen showering through the gap. The water danced on her head and flowed along her skin, past her little waist, past her buttocks and down her legs to pool on the floor. The sight was tititing.
Xia Lei closed his eyes at that point.
No hallucinations had appeared when he used the X-ray vision this time, making some rules clearer. As long as he did not use his X-ray vision for certain period of time but used his physical and spiritual energy, he would not have hallucinations.
Li Qing-Hua waited and Xia Lei waited.
The woman exited the bathroom a few minutester wrapped in a towel. Her pale skin and full figure,bined with the towel half-covering her body made Li Qing-Hua¡¯s desire re immediately.
¡°Oh, baby, I can¡¯t hold back any more!¡± Li Qing-Hua jumped off the bed impatiently and pulled off the woman¡¯s towel, pushing her onto the bed and pouncing upon her like a hungry wolf...
Bang! The room door suddenly burst open and Xia Lei charged into the room with his mobile phone.
The mobile phone was recording and the image of Li Qing-Hua and the woman pressed together showed so clearly on the screen it was blush-inducing.
The woman saw Xia Lei first and she screamed, ¡°Ah..! Someone¡¯s here!¡±
Li Qing-Hua looked behind at Xia Lei, who had suddenly burst in. He was stupefied for a moment, then shouted angrily, ¡°Who are you? Who let you in? Stop recording!¡±
Xia Lei ignored his shouts and continued recording the video. Throughout all this, Li Qing-Hua and the woman stayed in their ¡®nut-and-bolt¡¯ positions.
¡°Damn you! Do you know who I am?¡± Li Qing-Hua lept off the bed and rushed to grab Xia Lei¡¯s phone. He was panicky and afraid.
Xia Lei did not wait for Li Qing-Hua to set his hands on him. He lifted his foot and kicked Li Qing-Hua in the stomach.
¡°Argh---¡± Li Qing-Hua screamed andnded heavily on the ground.
The woman on the bed frantically snatched up the phone on the bedside table, and made to call the police, but after pressing two ¡®1¡¯s, she stopped. Why? Simple. Li Qing-Hua was the Chief of Police and if this person had the gall to kick the Chief of Police to the ground, wouldn¡¯t it be smashing her own foot with a rock if she reported what she saw?
Xia Lei stopped recording and pocketed his mobile phone. He had what he wanted and there was no need to record more.
¡°You...¡± Li Qing-Hua got his breath back and he looked at Xia Lei nervously. ¡°Who are you? What do you want?¡±
Xia Lei moved a chair, seated himself opposite Li Qing-Hua and the woman and spoke leisurely, ¡°You asked if I knew who you were. I¡¯ll answer. I know who you are - Li Qing-Hua, Chief of Police of Hai-Zhu City North Police Station. Am I right?¡±
Li Qing-Hua neither confirmed nor denied it. He watched Xia Lei closely, trying to figure out his motives.
¡°I was forced toe here by you and forced by you to do these actions,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re bull-¡±, he suddenly saw the anger in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes and swallowed the unfinished ¡®shitting¡¯ word, and changed his words. ¡°That¡¯s nonsense. I don¡¯t recognise you - how am I forcing you? Give your phone to me. We can negotiate. I can pretend this never happened.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Li Qing-Hua, you don¡¯t understand the situation, do you? Anti-corruptionws are strict now. What do you think will happen to you if I give this video to the relevant organisations or to the media?¡±
¡°You... Name a price.¡± Li Qing-Hua did his best to push down his rising panic.
¡°I don¡¯t want your money. I want a bit of justice,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Justice?¡± Li Qing-Hua looked slyly at Xia Lei. ¡°What justice?¡±
¡°You have a dear nephew named Chen Chuan-Hu. I worked at his construction site and my eye was burnt by an electric arc. He paid 10,000 for my hospitalisation fees but the actual cost was 200,000. The doctor even said that my eye would 100% go blind.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t your eye fine?¡±
¡°I was lucky and my eye did not go blind, but my vision is not a third what it used to be.¡± Xia Lei looked steadily at Li Qing-Hua. ¡°Do you think that 10,000 is enough?¡±
Li Qing-Hua yed along. He shook his head, ¡°Not enough, not enough.¡±
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth turned up in a small smile. ¡°I was actually not going to pursue the matter with Chen Chuan-Hu. I paid my bill and had myself discharged and I even had 9,000 left from what he gave me, which I kept as a recuperation fee. However, your dear nephew brought his friends to look for me, asking me to pay for his electric welding machine and transformer. Isn¡¯t that too excessive?¡±
Li Qing-Hua nodded, ¡°Excessive, excessive.¡±
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Lucky for me I was discharged early and he did not find me but he had my friend beaten up so badly that he¡¯s still lying in the hospital bed now. I also bore the 8,000 hospital fee. Tell me, how should this matter be resolved?¡±
¡°This...¡± Li Qing-Hua was an old fox and he did not make a stand on the key issue.
¡°This matter here, Chief Li. How can it be resolved?¡±, asked Xia Lei.
Li Qing-Hua thought for a bit. ¡°When I get back, I will get someone to arrest him and all the assants. You can keep your 9,000 and you won¡¯t need topensate him for the electric welding machine and transformer. As for your friend¡¯s 8,000 hospital fee, I¡¯ll be generous and pay 10,000 out of my own pocket. Will that do?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°No.¡±
A sh of anger appeared in Li Qing-Hua¡¯s eyes but he was good at hiding it. There was a smile on his face as he said, ¡°Okay, boy. Tell me then, how do you want it resolved?¡±
Chapter 7
Kneel, Even if You Don¡¯t Want To
¡°I can put aside the matter regarding my eyes. I won¡¯t bother him and he won¡¯t bother me either. However, my friend¡¯s serious injuries cannot be overlooked. I want Chen Chuan-Hu to apologise to my friend. Tell him to go to the hospital now and kneel to my friend, and have a photo of it sent to me. Additionally, he should pay fees for my friend¡¯s nutrition, mental health, loss of ie and medical fees, which add up to 50,000. Ask your dear nephew to prepare 50,000 in cash and bring it to the hospital. If you do this, we¡¯re even,¡± said Xia Lei.
Li Qing-Huaughed coldly. ¡°Boy, you¡¯re still young - you don¡¯t understand the workings of society well. I advise you to be less vicious and leave some wiggle room. Haven¡¯t you heard of the phrase ¡®leave a man a way out and you shall meet again on good terms¡¯?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard of it but I don¡¯t want to see you again.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°If you don¡¯t agree, I¡¯ll post the video I just recorded on inte forums.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t...¡± Li Qing-Hua became nervous. ¡°How about this, boy? Money is no problem but can you do without the kneeling? Chuan-Hu has a reputation and image to maintain. He is unlikely to agree to you making him kneel in a ce such as a hospital and sending the picture to you.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll post it on the forums, then,¡± Xia Lei unlocked his phone and added, ¡°Oh, I can also call the anti-corruption hotline tomorrow.¡±
¡°You fuc--¡± Li Qing-Hua forced back his curse again. He got to his feet and tried to negotiate. ¡°Don¡¯t be hasty, young man. I¡¯ll call that bastard now and get him to prepare 50,000, kneel before your friend and send the picture to you. Satisfied now?¡±
Li Qing-Hua¡¯s voice contained barely-controlled hate but Xia Lei was not bothered by it at all. He knew very well that even if Chen Chuan-Hu did not have to kneel before Ma Xiao-An and if he did not ask for 50,000, Li Qing-Hua would not let him off. A vengeful person like Li Qing-Hua could not stand to have someone offend him.
Xia Lei was not a fool either. While Li Qing-Hua was retrieving his phone to call Chen Chuan-Hu, Xia Lei swiftly uploaded the video to the Cloud Drive on his Baidu ount. With this backup copy in his possession, he had nothing to fear from Li Qing-Hua!
Li Qing-Hua pressed the digits of Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s phone number.
Xia Lei spoke. ¡°Put it on speaker mode.¡±
Li Qing-Hua looked back at Xia Lei with mes in his eyes but he still did as Xia Lei said.
Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s voice could be heard over the phone. ¡°What is it? Speak, dammit!¡±
¡°I am your uncle! You bastard!¡± Li Qing-Hua¡¯s anger red and he cursed when he opened his mouth.
¡°Huh? Uncle... It¡¯s you! I¡¯m driving now so I didn¡¯t see the iing call screen. What¡¯s up, Uncle?¡± Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s attitude quickly took a 180-degree turn.
¡°Did a worker at your construction site injure his eye from an electric arc?¡±
¡°Yeah. Why are you asking me about small matters like this, Uncle?¡± Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s voice continued, ¡°That worker¡¯s name is Xia Lei, and he¡¯s an idiot. What - did he run to you to report me?¡±
It¡¯d have been great if it was just a report.
¡°Report, my foot!¡± Li Qing-Hua unleashed his anger on Chen Chuan-Hu. ¡°Did you also beat up his friend, and is that friend now in hospital?¡±
¡°I say, Uncle... What¡¯s up with you today? You never used to bother with small things like this before.¡±
¡°Bastard! Did you or didn¡¯t you?¡±
¡°I did.¡± Chen Chuan-Hu seemed to sense Li Qing-Hua¡¯s anger and found the situation a little fishy.
¡°I¡¯ll give you 20 minutes now. Bring 50,000 in cash to the hospital and kneel in apology!¡±
¡°Uncle, this...¡± Chen Chuan-Hu was quite obviously not willing to do so.
¡°Do as I say if you want to keep doing what you¡¯re doing!¡± Li Qing-Hua¡¯s words carried a threat, ¡°And send a picture of you kneeling. I want to see it.¡±
There was silence for about ten seconds on the other end, then Chen Chuan-Hu spoke again, ¡°Did I offend the child of some bigwig, Uncle? Did that guye to my construction site to work on purpose, to experience normal life?¡±
¡°Experience, your ass! Hurry! Twenty minutes!¡± Li Qing-Hua shouted at the phone.
¡°I¡¯ll go now, I¡¯ll go now.¡± Chen Chuan-Hu hung up.
Li Qing-Hua turned to look at Xia Lei, then held out a hand, ¡°Satisfied? Give me your phone.¡±
Xia Lei gave a shortugh, ¡°Chief Li, I can¡¯t trust you. Let¡¯s just wait till your dear nephew has finished what he should do, then we can talk.¡±
¡°You...! Think carefully about what you¡¯re doing!¡± Li Qing-Hua had never been so angry in his life. Xia Lei was the first to have dared to provoke him like this!
Xia Lei shrugged casually. ¡°I think you should put some clothes on first. I¡¯m not used to seeing naked men.¡±
Li Qing-Hua stared at Xia Lei icily, his eyes cold as a snake staring at prey.
The woman hid in the nkets with aplicated expression on her face.
Twenty minutester, Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s phone rang and he picked up. This time, Li Qing-Hua turned on speaker mode without Xia Lei¡¯s prompting.
¡°Uncle, I¡¯m at the hospital. I gave the 50,000 to that guy¡¯s friend already, but...,¡± Chen Chuan-Hu spoke uncertainly, ¡°Do I really have to kneel in apology, Uncle?¡±
¡°You think I¡¯m joking around?¡± Li Qing-Hua roared at the phone, ¡°DO AS I SAY!¡±
¡°Okay, I... Dammit, I¡¯ll kneel!¡± Chen Chuan-Hu got on his knees very unwillingly, and his voice could be heard over the phone apologising to Ma Xiao-An. ¡°Brother, I, Chen Chuan-Hu and a sightless man, I beg your forgiveness for the wrongs I havemitted. This is 50,000 for your medical fees. Please, ept it.¡±
Ma Xiao-An¡¯s voice could be heard faintly over the phone, ¡°This... You...¡±
He wasn¡¯t in the hospital room but Xia Lei could guess what Ma Xiao-An¡¯s reaction was like. He must be so astonished that he couldn¡¯t believe the situation unfolding in front of him.
A minuteter, Li Qing-Hua received an MMS.
¡°This is what you wanted. Look. Happy now?¡± Li Qing-Hua showed his mobile phone to Xia Lei.
On the phone screen was Chen Chuan-Hu kneeling by the hospital bed of Ma Xiao-An. Five bundles of money sat by his pillow.
Ma Xiao-An had a strange expression on his face - he was surprised but happy and trying not to show it. He did not dare express his emotions. Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s expression was spectacr too - he was reluctant and seething but kneeling.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Okay, this settles it.¡±
¡°Give me your phone!¡± Li Qing-Hua demanded coldly.
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei shrugged and gave his phone to Li Qing-Hua.
Li Qing-Hua deleted the video but his anger was not sated. After deleting the video, he smashed the phone to the ground and stomped on it. Xia Lei¡¯s phone was stomped to bits and there was no way any repair service could recover anything from it again.
Xia Lei walked over.
Li Qing-Hua subconsciously took a step backwards. ¡°What do you want?¡±
Xia Lei bent and picked up his SIM card, then smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, I¡¯m just getting my SIM card. I won¡¯t hold it against you for breaking my phone. Goodbye, Chief Li.¡±
¡°You have guts, you little twerp. We¡¯ll see,¡± said Li Qing-Hua ominously.
Xia Lei paused at the door and looked back at him with a smirk, ¡°Chief Li, if you want revenge on me I advise you to give up on that idea. If I can get you once, I can get you a second time. You got through it the first time but it won¡¯t be so easy next time - I¡¯ll crush you!¡±
Li Qing-Hua stared back expressionlessly till he opened the door and left the room. When he disappeared from sight, Li Qing-Hua spoke, ¡°You¡¯re finished if you dare go up against me, twerp! I¡¯m not a Li if I don¡¯t destroy you!¡±
Li Qing-Hua picked up his mobile phone and called a number...
Once out of the hotel, Xia Lei¡¯s anger and resentment dissipated and his body rxed.
An hourter, Xia Lei walked into Ma Xiao-An¡¯s hospital ward with a mobile phone box in his hand. He¡¯d wanted to buy an iPhone 6 Plus for Ma Xiao-An on his way back from Macau and he did.
When he saw Xia Lei, Ma Xiao-An was excited, ¡°Lei, guess what...¡±
Xia Lei smiled and cut him short, ¡°I know. Was it exhrating?¡±
¡°Yes!¡± Ma Xiao-Anughed, ¡°If you¡¯d seen how that Chen Chuan-Hu guy was kneeling before me in apology... Wait, was... was this your doing?¡±
Xia Lei patted Ma Xiao-An on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t ask. It¡¯s good enough for you to know the result. Here¡¯s a mobile phone for you. Take a look - it¡¯s gold. Didn¡¯t you always want one? It¡¯s yours.¡±
Only then did Ma Xiao-An notice the Apple box in Xia Lei¡¯s hand. He stared nkly for a while, then shook his head and said, ¡°Are you crazy? Why buy me a phone when you haven¡¯t settled your sister¡¯s school fees yet? I was just about to call you to give you some money. Right, I¡¯ll keep 20,000 of this 50,000 and you can take the rest for Xia Xue¡¯s school fees.¡± He took three bundles of money from his bedside and reached to press them into Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
Xia Lei stopped him and smiled as he said, ¡°Would I buy a phone for you if I had no money? I didn¡¯t just buy one for you - I got one myself.¡± He took out a brand new XiaoMi 4 and waved it about in Ma Xiao-An¡¯s face. ¡°See this? I got a new one too. I don¡¯t like Apple phones since I find them troublesome or I would¡¯ve got one too.¡±
Ma Xiao-An was gobsmacked and he was quiet for a beat. ¡°Lei, you... How did you suddenly get all that money?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t bother about it - just focus on recuperating. Keep this money and buy what you want with it. I¡¯ve given my sister her school fees so don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°You robbed someone?¡± Ma Xiao-An stared at Xia Lei with wide eyes.
Xia Lei smacked him on the head. ¡°What rubbish are you spouting?¡±
¡°Ow...¡± It hurt so much that Ma Xiao-An groaned but he was happy.
At that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s phone suddenly rang. He looked at the screen but it said ¡®unknown number¡¯. The phone rang for the third time and he rejected the call.
¡°Who was that? Why didn¡¯t you pick up?¡± asked Ma Xiao-An.
¡°It¡¯s an unknown number - probably insurance or whatnot. I¡¯m not going to bother. All right, it¡¯ste so I¡¯ll go home ande visit you tomorrow.¡±
¡°Lei, I can¡¯t ept this phone. Take it back with you and give it to Xia Xue,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei red at him. ¡°You want me to smack you again?¡±
Ma Xiao-An shut up but thought to himself, ¡°Wait till I get discharged. I¡¯ll buy Xia Xue an Apple Notebook for her studies at Jing-Du University! Ha!¡±
Chapter 8
Cover Up With Just a Hand
A police car approached just as Xia Lei walked out the doors of the hospital.
At the sight of the police, Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank a little but he quickly pushed away his doubt. ¡°Even if Li Qing-Hua wanted revenge, surely it wouldn¡¯t be so quick? This should be a patrol car.¡±
The car zoomed over, barely missing Xia Lei, and stopped in front of the hospital doors.
¡°It wasn¡¯t Li Qing-Hua after all,¡± thought Xia Lei. He walked to the road.
A that moment, the police car suddenly turned around, engine revving and a police officer poked his head out the window. ¡°Stop!¡± he shouted.
Xia Lei stopped walking and his heart gave a quiet cry of despair.
¡°It¡¯s him!¡± The police officer with his head out the window looked at the paper with a printed image in his hand and looked excited. ¡°Xia Lei! He¡¯s the one the Chief is after!¡±
Gravel crunched as the car stopped next to Xia Lei. The doors opened and four police officers alighted, immediately surrounding Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was calm and spoke coolly, ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Are you Xia Lei?¡± asked the officer in charge.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I am. What business do you have with me?¡±
¡°Business?¡± The officer in charge shed a warrant and smiled coldly. ¡°Xia Lei, you are suspected for extortion. This is a warrant for your arrest. Come with us!¡±
¡°You¡¯re mistaken! Who did I extort?¡± said Xia Lei.
The officer in charge pped Xia Lei in the back of his head and spoke fiercely, ¡°You know very well who you extorted! Pshaw, you have the balls to try and mess with our Chief. Wash your ass and wait to be sent to prison - you¡¯ll have rough days ahead of you! Take him away!¡±
Xia Lei was mad and he scoffed, ¡°Arrest me? Tell him this - You better not regret it!¡±
¡°This guy¡¯s still talking back! Cuff him!¡± said the officer in charge.
A police officer did as he said and cuffed Xia Lei, then pushed him into the police car. Xia Lei did not resist and got in.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei was brought to the North Police Station and locked up in an interrogation room. His mobile phone, wallet and other possessions were confiscated.
A young police officer entered the room, mmed the notebook in his hand on the table, then sat opposite Xia Lei. ¡°Own up. Save us the trouble.¡±
Xia Lei was not nervous at all. He spoke calmly, ¡°Own up to what?¡±
¡°You know very well what you did! Own up to extorting money from our Chief!¡± The young police officer hit the table aggressively, ¡°You¡¯d bettere clean!¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll own up,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°that today, I met Li Qing-Hua - Chief Li - at Ju Shan Garden Teahouse. He was with a woman, and he brought her to a hotel and got a room...¡±
¡°Nonsense!¡± The young police officer cut Xia Lei off. ¡°Keep talking nonsense and I¡¯ll start being nasty! Let me remind you that what you¡¯re doing is framing someone and this is illegal. Do you want to add to your offence?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t you want me to talk? What I said was the truth.¡±
The young police officer turned his head to look at the window, then pointed at the camera in the corner. He did not speak but his intent was clear - he was telling the people outside to switch the cameras off.
The indicator light of the camera went out.
This young police officer was obviously one of Li Qing-Hua¡¯s men. Xia Lei looked at the nametag on his chest - Hu Bin.
Xia Lei then looked at a ss wall of the interrogation room. It was easy to tell that people from outside could see into the room but people in the room could not see outside. This was no obstacle to Xia Lei, however and when he used his ability, he saw Li Qing-Hua and Chen Chuan-Hu standing next to him.
Li Qing-Hua and Chen Chuan-Hu were talking in hushed tones. Chen Chuan-Hu kept nodding like an obedient servant. It was easy to see that Li Qing-Hua was telling Chen Chuan-Hu how to frame Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and a trace of a smirk appeared around his lips.
He had intended to just let the matter rest but Li Qing-Hua was unexpectedly thirsty for revenge and sent his men to arrest him that same night. He quietly congratted himself for uploading the video to his Baidu Cloud Drive in the hotel room. With that video in his hands he was calm and unafraid.
¡°I¡¯ll let you be arrogant for a bit,¡± thought Xia Lei.
The police officer named Hu Bin spoke, ¡°Let¡¯s begin. Tell me, how much of the 50,000 you extorted did you receive?¡±
¡°Let me correct you on that. That was not extortion. It was medical fees, loss of ie, nutrition fees, mental health and other expenses, all added up. I did not take a cent. My friend was beaten up by Chen Chuan-Hu. Shouldn¡¯t Chen Chuan-Hu pay for it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Medical fees?¡± Hu Bin scoffed. ¡°Save that for the courts. If the judge believes you I¡¯ll write my own name ¡®Hu¡¯ backwards. The situation we have now is that you extorted money from Chen Chuan-Hu. Ah, that¡¯s right. Your eye¡¯s fine but you used your eye as an excuse to cheat Chen Chuan-Hu out of 10,000. Do you confess?¡±
Xia Lei yawned. ¡°I¡¯m tired and sleepy. Write it however you want. You won¡¯t believe what I say anyway. You¡¯ll just follow what your Chief Li told you to do and write my statement yourself. So, why are we wasting our time on this?¡±
¡°Huh. You¡¯re a cocky little bastard, aren¡¯t ya? So you confess to extortion?¡±
¡°Do you have proof?¡±
¡°You motherf-¡± Hu Bin got to his feet in anger, his hands ready to grab Xia Lei.
Xia Lei made no move to dodge. He had the video and was not afraid of Hu Bin.
Just then, Hu Bin¡¯s police radio crackled and he lowered his hands. He lifted his radio, pressed the button and Li Qing-Hua¡¯s voice came over the speaker, ¡°Lock him up for a night. He¡¯ll get his statement taken tomorrow. Even the Heavens won¡¯t be able to save him now.¡±
¡°Yes, Chief Li, sir! I¡¯ll bring this fe to the cells and lock him up.¡± Hu Bin¡¯s words were dripping with ttery.
Xia Lei was brought to the cells and locked up.
There was a bed in the cell but no nket and the ground and walls were dirty. The acrid smell of pee hung in the air, and the smell made Xia Lei wrinkle his brows.
Xia Lei could not sleep one wink in an environment like this. He first thought of how he was going to deal with Li Qing-Hua, then started to practice with his left eye¡¯s ability. Practice makes perfect - this reasoning could also be used on his miraculous left eye.
The night of trial and error led Xia Lei to discover that his X-ray vision was not so simple after all.
He could exert some control and make his eye see things a distance away, just like he had in Macau, when he had spotted the sniper on the rooftop when Long Bing could not.
He could also control his vision and make it into a ¡®microscope¡¯ of sorts, erging things which normally could not be seen with the naked eye, like the dust particles floating in the air.
These discoveries kept him up and he practiced and practiced till he finally fell asleep, dizzy and exhausted.
Early the next day, Xia Lei had his first visitor - Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi was in her summer uniform, which highlighted her curves beautifully. Her waist looked soft and slender, her bum plump and perky, and her breasts full. Her sexiness was as one could see and very nourishing for the eyes.
When Xia Lei first saw her, he almost used his ability to feast his eye on her charms, but he did not. He firmly mped down his perverted desire. He had reaped some benefit from the practice he didst night and was better able to control his X-ray vision.
¡°You! What good can I say about you?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi spoke angrily as soon as she came, ¡°I even asked you yesterday and you said you were asking on behalf of a friend so I told you where Chief Li was. I never expected you to extort money from Chief Li! I was so wrong about you!¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly, ¡°Is this how you see me?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not about how I see you, it¡¯s about you doing illegal things.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi became angrier and angrier as she spoke. ¡°Have you ever thought about what Xia Xue would do if you went to prison?¡±
¡°Of course I have, so I won¡¯t do anything like that,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Ru-Yi, let me ask you - Have you seen me do anything bad, from childhood to adulthood?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi shook her head. Xia Lei was not such a person.
Xia Lei spoke again, ¡°Now consider this - am I a stupid person?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°What I mean is, I¡¯m not a bad person and I¡¯m not stupid. Am I so stupid as to extort money from the Chief of Police? Hai-Zhu City has millions of wealthy folk. If I wanted to use this method to get money then why didn¡¯t I choose to target those wealthy folk? Why choose to target someone like the Chief of Police?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi was silent for a while before she spoke, ¡°That¡¯s what I can¡¯t figure out, so I came to see you. Tell me, what is this really about? Tell me and I¡¯ll definitely help you if you really didn¡¯t do anything illegal.¡±
Xia Lei told her about him getting injured at the construction site and Ma Xiao-An getting beaten up by Chen Chuan-Hu, and finally told her about going to look for Li Qing-Hua and himpensating 50,000 in apology.
¡°Hold on...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi thought of something, ¡°When you asked me for Chief Li¡¯s contact details yesterday, you were actually going to reason things out with him, right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°So you reasoned with him and he made Chen Chuan-Hupensate your friend 50,000?¡±
Xia Lei nodded again.
¡°You didn¡¯t threaten him?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face was disbelieving.
¡°When I went to reason with him, he was with a woman and I coincidentally recorded them in the act,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi facepalmed and the expression on her face wasplicated.
¡°That woman seems to be the wife of one of your colleagues and she was requesting Li Qing-Hua for a change in her husband¡¯s post or something.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi face-palmed with both hands. She went up to the bars and gave Xia Lei a smile. ¡°Do you still have the video? Can I have a look?¡±
¡°Lend me your phone. I¡¯ll make a call before I tell you where you can watch the video,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi looked around to make sure no one wasing before she slipped her mobile phone to Xia Lei. As she handed her phone to him, she asked, ¡°Where is the video?¡±
¡°On my Baidu Cloud Drive. The login ID is my name spelt phically and the password is my birthday. The video is very important so don¡¯t delete it.¡± Xia Lei spoke, then dialled a number.
Chapter 9
Faster, Faster, Much Faster!
¡°Who are you calling? Xia Xue? Or Ma Xiao-An?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was very interested to know who Xia Lei could be calling at this time.
¡°A friend you don¡¯t know. Don¡¯t ask,¡± said Xia Lei as he waited for the call to connect.
There was no ringing - the person on the other end picked up after five seconds.
¡°Hello? Who¡¯s this?¡± A female voice came over the line. It was cold as ice, probing and full of suspicion.
¡°It¡¯s me, Xia Lei,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°remember me?¡±
¡°Of course. I called youst night but you didn¡¯t pick up.¡±
Xia Lei then remembered the caller with the unknown number fromst night when he was at the hospital. He¡¯d thought that was from some insurance person but it was actually Long Bing. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know it was you so I didn¡¯t pick up,¡± he said.
¡°So why are you using someone else¡¯s phone to call me now?¡±, asked Long Bing.
¡°Well, you see...¡± Xia Lei hesitated, then said, ¡°I¡¯m in a spot of trouble, and I¡¯m wondering if you could help me.¡±
¡°Where are you?¡±
¡°Hai-Zhu City North Police Station.¡±
¡°Wait for me. Fifteen minutes.¡± With that, Long Bing hung up.
Xia Lei stood, waiting. He still had the phone to his ear and did not react for a while. Wasn¡¯t Long Bing going to ask him what trouble he was in? She didn¡¯t ask anything except for where he was and said she would being. Did this mean that whatever trouble he was in was nothing to her?
Xia Lei¡¯s decision to call Long Bing was a spontaneous one. Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s appearance made him think of her. Long Bing¡¯s reaction during the shooting, her calm and collected manner all pointed to traits of an extraordinary woman. More importantly, she was not afraid of the police. When the police had arrived, she let him leave quickly too, so she was not a bad person. Based on these two facts, he could say that she was not one of themon folk and could possibly help him in his situation so he had made the call.
It looked like he had made the right choice. And she must be in Hai-Zhu City too, if not she wouldn¡¯t have said that she¡¯d be here in fifteen minutes.
¡°Who is that? You¡¯re being so secretive,¡± probed Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei handed the phone to Jiang Ru-Yi and smiled as he said, ¡°I said it was a friend. A friend you don¡¯t know.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re trying to be mysterious now? I was going to help you think of a way to get out of there with that video but it looks like I was being a busybody, huh? I¡¯ll not bother to help you and just leave you locked up in here, then.¡±
¡°Stay out of this for now. You work here, so Li Qing-Hua coulde after you.¡±
¡°You dummy. You¡¯re too kind. You¡¯re already in this state and you¡¯re still thinking of my welfare? Society will chew you up and spit you on the streets.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s words were harsh but she was secretly d that Xia Lei cared.
At that moment, Hu Bin walked over and spoke gruffly, ¡°Jiang Ru-Yi, what are you doing here?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi looked over her shoulder at Hu Bin, then spoke quietly to Xia Lei, ¡°Lei, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll get you out.¡±
¡°Jiang Ru-Yi, I asked you a question. Didn¡¯t you hear me?¡± Hu Bin sounded a little angry.
Jiang Ru-Yi turned around and smiled as she greeted him. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Team Leader Hu! Good morning, Team Leader Hu.¡±
¡°I asked, what are you doing here?¡± Hu Bin looked at Jiang Ru-Yi and Xia Lei suspiciously.
¡°Oh, nothing. I know this guy so I was just asking what he got locked up for,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°You know each other?¡± Hu Bin was surprised.
¡°That was over ten years ago. I thought he looked familiar just now, so I asked and he turned out to be a schoolmate from my old school,¡± said Jiang Ru-YI.
Hu Bin suddenly spotted the mobile phone in Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s hand and his face darkened, ¡°You gave him a phone to make calls?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was flustered, ¡°No, no. Why would I? I didn¡¯t.¡±
Hu Bin red at Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°You¡¯d better not be so foolish. What are you still doing here? Go back to work!¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi gave Xia Lei a look before she left, her head low.
Hu Bin opened the cell door and growled, ¡°Move it!¡±
¡°Where are we going?¡±
¡°Are you allowed to ask questions? Be quiet! Move!¡± Hu Bin shoved Xia Lei roughly.
Xia Lei was brought to the same interrogation room fromst night.
In the interrogation room, Hu Bin mmed his notebook heavily onto the table. ¡°Chief Li was being kindst night and didn¡¯t ask for you to be taken care of. Know your ce and confess to your offence, then sign and nothing will happen to you. If you give me attitude again likest night... Humph!¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying if I don¡¯t confess and don¡¯t sign, you¡¯ll torture me for a confession?¡±
¡°Looks like you won¡¯t obey unless you get roughed up!¡± Hu Bin turned and gestured to the ss wall.
The indicator light of the camera on the wall quickly went out.
Xia Lei used his ability on the ss wall and it disappeared under his gaze. He saw Li Qing-Hua and another police officer who looked to be in charge of recording behind the wall.
Li Qing-Hua was watching the proceedings in the interrogation room with a smirk on his face.
Hu Bin suddenly kicked Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had no time to defend himself and he fell to the ground.
Hu Bin had no intention of stopping there. He followed up with another kick aimed at Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen.
Xia Lei rolled on the floor and barely dodged. He got to his feet trying to back away but found himself pressed to the wall.
¡°Still dodging, motherfucker?¡± Hu Bin¡¯s fist flew at Xia Lei¡¯s face.
At that critical moment, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye jumped and a strange thing happened. Hu Bin¡¯s swinging fist suddenly slowed. The speed and trajectory of the punch and position of where it wouldnd on his face were instantly clear to him!
Xia Lei adjusted himself ordingly and easily dodged Hu Bin¡¯s fist.
¡°You dodged, motherfucker?¡± Hu Bin was flushed with humiliation and rage. He aimed another punch at Xia Lei¡¯s head but missed again. His left fist went swiftly towards Xia Lei¡¯s chin.
Xia Lei dodged again.
Hu Bin was going mad with rage. He chased Xia Lei with both his fists, pummelling hard. However, no matter how quick his punches were and how varied his punching angles, not one punchnded on Xia Lei. Xia Lei looked like a drunkard swaying and staggering all over the ce but every movement he made seemed to coincidentally and easily bring him out of harm¡¯s way.
Hu Bin had undergone training in grappling and wrestling but Xia Lei looked like a professional boxer.
Xia Lei was not a boxer, of course. He had never gone through any sort ofbat training. He was able to dodge everything due to the power of his left eye. If he hadn¡¯t had the ability to slow and predict the punches, he would have been beaten to a pulp long ago!
¡°Faster! Faster! Much faster!¡± The handcuffed Xia Lei mocked Hu Bin as he dodged, ¡°Did you get any energy from breakfast?¡±
That line almost pushed Hu Bin over the edge. He was the best fighter in Hai-Zhu North Police Station and even ced third in grappling within the Hai-Zhu City Police. However, up against Xia Lei, Hu Bin found himself looking like an inexperienced child!
Beyond the ss wall, Li Qing-Hua was shaking with rage. He shouted, ¡°Call more men! This bastard... If we don¡¯t destroy him today he¡¯ll see this ce as an amusement park!¡±
A few policemen immediately rushed into the interrogation room and they drove Xia Lei into a corner.
Li Qing-Hua entered the interrogation room too and gave Xia Lei a frosty stare. ¡°Twerp, I don¡¯t know how you¡¯re so brave but I can tell you that you¡¯ll not be leaving here on your feet. Get him!¡±
The policemen moved to attack.
¡°Stop!¡± A clear voice suddenly came from the doorway of the interrogation room, and Jiang Ru-Yi appeared.
Li Qing-Hua turned to see Jiang Ru-Yi, his face dark.
Hu Bin and the few officers who had jumped in to help all looked at Jiang Ru-Yi with astonishment. In their eyes, Jiang Ru-Yi was just a pencil-pushing, deskbound female officer with no real power or position. A person such as her actually dared to tell Chief Li to stop! Did she get the courage of a leopard or something?
Jiang Ru-Yi became a little nervous almost instantly but she steeled herself and spoke bravely, ¡°What are you doing? As officers of thew, how can you torture a suspect? This is illegal!¡±
¡°Jiang Ru-Yi, what are you doing here? Stay in the Archives Room!¡± Hu Bin responded first, ¡°Scram! You have no say here!¡±
¡°I, I...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face turned red. ¡°I cannot let you do this!¡±
¡°Jiang Ru-Yi!¡± Li Qing-Hua finally spoke. ¡°You¡¯re suspended! Go home and reflect on yourself. Come back to work after you¡¯ve thought it through clearly!¡±
¡°What are you basing the suspension on? I haven¡¯t done anything that would warrant this, and I haven¡¯t done anything illegal either!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice grew louder with each word, ¡°Unlike some people who use their position for personal gain!¡±
¡°What rubbish are you spouting?¡± Her words had stabbed Li Qing-Hua in his weak spot and he turned his shame into anger as he shouted, ¡°Get out!¡±
¡°I¡¯m not leaving! I¡¯m staying here!¡±
¡°Take her away!¡± Li Qing-Huamanded.
Hu Bin and another officer moved towards Jiang Ru-Yi, and they were prepared to use violence.
Jiang Ru-Yi took a step back subconsciously but gathered her courage and moved back to her original spot.
Hu Bin reached out and grabbed Jiang Ru-Yi by the cor.
A hand suddenly appeared in the doorway and grabbed Hu Bin¡¯s wrist, followed by a leg in high-heels, which buried itself in Hu Bin¡¯s lower abdomen.
Bang! There was a dull thud as Hu Bin¡¯s body lifted off the ground before it was mmed heavily into the floor.
All eyes went to the doorway of the interrogation room. Beside Jiang Ru-Yi stood a woman who was a head taller than her. She had ck hair, wore a ck traditional dress, ck high heels and had a ck clutch - She was mysterious and profoundly ck. She was elegant and aloof, and her appearance was like the Siberian frost, freezing everything in an instant.
Fifteen minutes, she¡¯d said. And she was here, exactly fifteen minutester - not one minute more, not one minute less.
Chapter 10
Chief? Kick Him to the Curb!
Long Bing¡¯s appearance was moving yet shocking at once to Xia Lei. She kicked a Police Team Leader to the ground immediately - before even speaking a word!
Li Qing-Hua stared nkly, then snapped back to himself, flustered and shouting in exasperation ¡°Is this a revolt? Cuff her!¡±
Police officers ran at Long Bing.
Long Bing swiftly lifted the skirt of her dress. A sh of her snow-white thighs could be seen as a handgun she had strapped to her thigh fell easily into her hand. She had it pointed at Li Qing-Hua¡¯s head in the next second.
The police officers froze in their tracks. Li Qing-Hua¡¯s face looked drained of blood.
Long Bing spoke with ice in her voice, ¡°Cuff me? You¡¯re not qualified.¡± Her voice grew harsh andmanding, ¡°Move back, all of you! Release him!¡±
¡°You... If I may ask... Who are you?¡± Li Qing-Hua was no fool. A woman who could brazenly point a gun at the police was not an ordinary person - she must be someone with backing. He dared not make any false moves before figuring out her background. Li Qing-Hua¡¯s attitude took a 180 degree turn.
Long Bing was unmoved. ¡°You¡¯re not qualified to know my identity.¡±
¡°Well then, we have a problem. This guy here has been arrested for extortion, and this is a serious crime. Even if he has some backing, he still has to answer to thew, doesn¡¯t he? Do you mean to just take a criminal out of the police station with no exnation?¡± said Li Qing-Hua.
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Did you really do it?¡±
¡°He¡¯s lying. I didn¡¯t.¡± Xia Lei pointed at Li Qing-Hua. ¡°But he used his position and authority to extort sexual favours. He also enables his nephew, Chen Chuan-Hu tomit crimes. He has a monopoly on projects and does illegal demolitions, which are economic crimes.¡±
¡°Rubbish!¡± Li Qing-Hua was ovee by anger and he grabbed a chair and made to smash it on Xia Lei¡¯s head.
¡°Stop!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly shouted, ¡°What Xia Lei said is true! I saw the video of you and that woman!¡±
Li Qing-Hua froze. The chair he held stopped mid-swing above his head.
Xia Lei looked at Jiang Ru-Yi in astonishment. He knew that she had just thrown her career and future away by doing that.
A faint, strange smile appeared on Long Bing¡¯s lips. ¡°No wonder you arrested him. Was it to get your hands on that video?¡±
¡°Nonsense!¡± Li Qing-Hua fought down the rising despair and panic. He red at Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°Jiang Ru-Yi, do you know what rubbish you¡¯re spouting? Where did you see this video?¡±
¡°I...¡± She had spoken in a rush when she saw Li Qing-Hua try to bash Xia Lei¡¯s head in with a chair. Now, faced with Li Qing-Hua¡¯s wrath, her courage shrivelled and the words she wanted to say stuck in her throat.
Li Qing-Hua put the chair down and continued to put pressure on Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°Think about it, Jiang Ru-Yi. You are an officer of the North Police Station. Are you taking the side of a criminal?¡±
¡°I...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi lowered her head, too afraid to meet Li Qing-Hua¡¯s fierce gaze.
Long Bing patted Jiang Ru-Yi on the shoulder. ¡°Is what you said true, miss officer? Don¡¯t be afraid, if what you say is true I can guarantee that he won¡¯t be your Chief anymore in five minutes. You have no need to fear him.¡±
All eyes turned to look at Long Bing. Dismiss a Police Chief in five minutes? What sort of outrageous im was that?!
Jiang Ru-Yi looked at Xia Lei and seemed to gain courage. ¡°I watched the video on Xia Lei¡¯s Baidu Cloud Drive. Xia Lei has been unfairly used,¡± she said.
¡°Jiang Ru-Yi!¡± Li Qing-Hua¡¯s humiliation fuelled his anger. He charged forward, his hand outstretched in a p intended for her cheek.
Long Bing moved her arm and the gun in her hand pressed against Li Qing-Hua¡¯s forehead. ¡°Try moving again and we¡¯ll see what happens.¡±
Li Qing-Hua dared not move and he broke out in cold sweat. In his head, his mind raced, trying to guess the identity of this woman but he could find no answers.
Long Bing opened her ck clutch and took out her phone, then dialled a number. ¡°Hello, Uncle Li? Could you call the Anti-Corruption Department of Hai-Zhu City and ask them to take care of the matter of North Police Station¡¯s...¡± She covered the phone microphone, looked over at Xia Lei and asked, ¡°Right, what¡¯s this guy¡¯s name?¡±
¡°Li Qing-Hua. He¡¯s the Police Chief of Hai-Zhu North Police Station,¡± supplied Xia Lei.
Long Bing uncovered her microphone and continued, ¡°His name¡¯s Li Qing-Hua. Sexual favours, corruption, bribery and some work-rted offences. There¡¯s proof.¡± There was a pause and she spoke again, ¡°Mm. Tell them to be quick, I¡¯m in a hurry.¡±
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. ¡°Who the hell is she? She just called like that to make the Anti-Corruption Department in Hai-Zhu City do her bidding? She¡¯s so young! She doesn¡¯t look like she could be high-ranking,¡± thought Xia Lei.
Long Bing put her mobile phone back into her clutch and looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Five minutes. Five minutes and you leave with me.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Lei replied, his heart full of gratitude.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Li Qing-Hua guffawed. ¡°What are you trying to pull? Five minutes? The Anti-Corruption Department you spoke of is at least half an hour¡¯s drive away from here! You¡¯ve revealed yourself, huh! You¡¯re pretending to be some big shot because you want to rescue Xia Lei, aren¡¯t you? Ha! You¡¯re just here to stir up trouble!¡±
Long Bing said nothing. She looked at her watch.
¡°What are you standing around for? Cuff the three of them!¡± roared Li Qing-Hua.
The police officers looked at each other but did not move.
Li Qing-Hua targeted Jiang Ru-Yi again, shouting, ¡°Jiang Ru-Yi, Imand you to delete the video! Right now!¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi did not move either.
Everyone could see that though Li Qing-Hua looked normal on the surface, he was panicky and terrified inside.
Li Qing-Hua pointed at Long Bing. ¡°You said I¡¯d be removed in five minutes, didn¡¯t you? Fine. How many minutes have passed? If nothing happens to me after five minutes, I¡¯ll be sure to make you suffer!¡±
The words had just left his lips when a female police officer appeared in the doorway with a fax in her hand and the situation in the interrogation room gave her a shock. She paused, then shoved the fax into Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s hands and spoke nervously, ¡°Ru-Yi, this... this came from your fax machine. You... You take care of it.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi scanned the fax and a smile bloomed on her face. She spoke excitedly, ¡°This is from the Anti-Corruption Department! It allows us... allows us...¡± She pointed at Li Qing-Hua and said, ¡°The Anti-Corruption Department wants us to have him arrested. This is a warrant for his arrest.¡± She raised the fax in her hand.
It was indeed an arrest warrant, written in ck and white with the Anti-Corruption Department seal.
Li Qing-Hua suddenly made a run for it.
Xia Lei raised his leg and kicked Li Qing-Hua in the back, throwing him off bnce and making him crash to the floor.
Li Qing-Hua red at Xia Lei. ¡°You motherf-¡±
Long Bing kicked Li Qing-Hua in the head and cut him off mid-curse.
The police officers pretended not to see Li Qing-Hua getting knocked out. None came forward to get him off the ground either. When Li Qing-Hua was Chief, they had all danced to his beat. Now that he had fallen from Police Chief to criminal, they immediately cut ties with him.
¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Long Bing asked Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi hesitated. ¡°Jiang Ru-Yi. And you are...?¡± As she spoke, she shot a look at Xia Lei from the corner of her eye. In her head, she thought, ¡°When did this guy get to know such a weird woman?¡±
¡°Who I am is not important. You¡¯re not bad - a person like you shouldn¡¯t just be a clerk,¡± said Long Bing.
Jiang Ru-Yi quietly tried to decode the meaning of Long Bing¡¯s words.
Long Bing looked at her watch again. ¡°Five minutes are up. Xia Lei -e with me.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and left the interrogation room with Long Bing, then walked out of the building. Outside the police station, the sun¡¯s rays warmed his face and he felt his body rx as he regained his freedom.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei looked at Long Bing with eyes full of sincere gratitude.
¡°You helped me and I helped you. We¡¯re even now,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Okay, we¡¯re even. But really, thank you for just now.¡±
¡°Long Bing¡¯s brows wrinkled slightly. ¡°You like to say ¡®thank you¡¯ a lot, don¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, embarrassed. He did not know how to speak to her. To him, Long Bing was strange and not easy to get along with.
¡°I looked into you. You have a younger sister preparing to attend university and you have no steady job. Do you need help getting a job? I can introduce you to one much better than what you get at construction sites.¡±
Xia Lei made no outward reaction but he was surprised. He had not expected her to investigate him so thoroughly. Hepletely believed in her ability to make good on her word when she said she could help him get a job but he had his own ns. ¡°No thanks.¡±
¡°Are you going to earn money in Macau? You can¡¯t win every time.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°That was my first time in Macau, and most likely myst. I have no intention of gambling for a living.¡±
¡°What are you ns, then?¡±
¡°To do what I want,¡± said Xia Lei. He was not worried about his future at all. He was sure to carve a paradise for himself with the power of his left eye!
Long Bing was silent, as though thinking of something, then she spoke. ¡°I¡¯m going back to Jing-Du in the afternoon. You know how to contact me. Call me if you need help.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll call.¡±
¡°And if I need your help?¡± Long Bing suddenly asked.
Xia Lei was struck dumb for a bit, thenughed. ¡°Call me, then! Haha... If it¡¯s within my capability to help, I¡¯ll help for sure. But you¡¯re so well connected that you¡¯d probably not need my help much, right? What the heck do you do?¡±
¡°That night in Macau - How did you see the sniper on the roof?¡± Long Bing did not answer his question but asked one of her own instead.
Xia Lei grew quiet and Long Bing refused to talk about her identity or job. The two of them had questions, and they wanted answers but neither of them would speak. It was like a cycle of mystery between the two of them.
At that moment, Jiang Ru-Yi ran out of the police station, calling as she came closer, ¡°Lei,e here for a bit. I need you to exin some things.¡±
Xia Lei grunted a reply, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be right there.¡± He looked at Long Bing. ¡°Let¡¯s chat next time. Goodbye.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but no words came.
Long Bing¡¯s dress : Google ¡¯traditional chinese dress ck¡¯
Chapter 11
A Feast for the Eyes
Li Qing-Hua was under investigation and Chen Chuan-Hu had been locked up. The video Xia Lei shot of Li Qing-Hua epting sexual favours was just the tip of the iceberg; further digging revealed Li Qing-Hua and Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s crimes one by one. Harsh justice awaited the pair.
A week had passed in the blink of an eye. Ma Xiao-An was discharged from hospital and he really did buy a MacBook Pro and brought it to Xia Lei¡¯s home. Xia Lei refused to ept it from him but he shoved it in Xia Xue¡¯s hands, insisting that she take it.
¡°Brother, what do I do? He...¡± Xia Xue looked to Xia Lei for help.
¡°Keep it. He¡¯s already purchased it and it¡¯s troublesome to get a refund,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you, Brother Xiao-An!¡± Xia Xue beamed. She actually really wanted theptop.
Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°Go fry up some dishes, girl! Xiao-An will have lunch with us. He¡¯s been in the hospital for a week - he must be hankering after real food!¡±
¡°Sure! I¡¯ll see what¡¯s in the fridge. I¡¯ll go to the supermarket if we don¡¯t have enough,¡± said Xia Xue.
Ma Xiao-An grinned, ¡°I was really craving proper food the past few days. Hospital food is just terrible. Xue, you must cook some red braised pork! I love your red braised pork.¡±
¡°Red braised pork when you¡¯re already so chubby? Never mind, I¡¯ll still make it for you,¡± said Xia Xue.
Laughter filled the t. This home had not had this much cheer in a long time.
Ring, ring! Xia Lei¡¯s mobile phone suddenly rang.
It was Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°Lei, where are you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m at home. What is it?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Come down quickly. I¡¯ll be waiting at the entrance. Big sister needs you to do something,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Okay, wait for me. I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei hung up. ¡°Jiang Ru-Yi needs me for something. I¡¯ll go see what it is.¡±
A police car was parked at the neighbourhood entrance and Jiang Ru-Yi stood next to it. Her female police uniform, curvy full figure and small waist were a delight to see.
It was strange - whenever he saw Jiang Ru-Yi he would have an urge to use his X-ray vision on her but he had no such urge when he saw Long Bing.
¡°What took you so long?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi started criticizing Xia Lei as soon as she saw him. ¡°It¡¯s so hot today and you made me wait so long! How are you going topensate your great Big Sister if my skin gets darker?¡±
Xia Lei gave her a thin smile. ¡°You called me down to talk about your skin?¡±
¡°It¡¯s an important matter.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi opened the car door. ¡°Get in. We¡¯ll talk on the way there.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± asked Xia Lei. ¡°Ma Xiao-An is still at my ce and I told him I would treat him to a meal.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi pushed Xia Lei towards the car. As she pushed, she said, ¡°You and Ma Xiao-An eat together all the time. You¡¯re not going to miss out on much if you skip one time. My matter is way more important so this big sister is taking you with me no matter what you say.¡±
Xia Lei grabbed onto the roof rack and asked awkwardly, ¡°Ru-Yi, what¡¯s going on? Can¡¯t you tell me now?¡±
¡°Get in the car.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s middle and used all her strength to try and cram him into the car.
Xia Lei was flustered by having two soft mounds pressed on his back all of a sudden. He loosened his grip on the roof rack and was shoved into the front passenger seat by Jiang Ru-Yi. Xia Lei was suddenly reminded of when they yed together as kids - Jiang Ru-Yi always used this sudden hug from the back to throw him on the ground or into the river, thenughed as she watched him il about. That was when they were kids though. She¡¯s all grown up now, so why is she still doing the same thing?
Jiang Ru-Yi got in the car, started the engine and drove off.
A meal with Ma Xiao-An was now impossible. Xia Lei gave him a call to tell him to have lunch with Xia Xue and that he was noting back. He thought Ma Xiao-An would hold a grudge against him for it but he just chuckled in a crass way. What was heughing about?
Xia Lei felt more at ease after making the call. ¡°Ru-Yi, can you tell me what this is about now?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi opened the glovepartment and took out a bundled stack of money. She put it on Xia Lei¡¯sp.
It was 10,000 yuan, so fresh from the bank that the paper band holding it together had not even been scratched. Xia Lei stared at it dumbly, then joked, ¡°Ru-Yi, does this mean you¡¯re going to be my sugar mummy?¡±
¡°Huh? Ew, what sugar mummy?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face turned red. ¡°I¡¯m still waiting for my sugar daddy! Fat hope, you gigolo wannabe!¡±
¡°So what¡¯s this 10,000 for?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°This is the reward money I just received for the Li Qing-Hua and Chen Chuan-Hu case,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°I see. But this is your reward! Why did you put it on myp? I don¡¯t want your money,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi red at Xia Lei. ¡°Who said I was going to give it to you? I have it all nned! I¡¯ll buy a make up set from L¡¯Or¨¦al Paris, beautiful dresses, Brazil nuts, beef jerky, durian... Buy, buy, buy! I¡¯ll buy whatever I like!¡±
¡°So why put it on me?¡± asked Xia Lei gloomily.
Jiang Ru-Yi pursed her lips, ¡°Well, you did y a crucial part in me getting this reward money so I was thinking of treating you to a good meal.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Great, you still have a conscience. Let¡¯s go to a nice restaurant for Western cuisine - I still haven¡¯t had Western cuisine at my age.¡±
¡°In your dreams. I¡¯m only going to spend 200 yuan. Let¡¯s go to a Sichuan ce,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Jiang Ru-Yi hit Xia Lei andughed, ¡°Ha! Still so gullible, believing everything I say. I didn¡¯t just get you toe with me because of the reward money. I have something important to share with you too.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me - you finally found your other half?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was annoyed. ¡°What ¡®finally¡¯? That sounds so ugly! Am I the sort of woman who can¡¯t get a boyfriend? Let me tell you, if I were bothered, there would be a phnx of suitors after me!¡±
¡°Yes, yes... A phnx, sure.¡± Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Tell me your great news, then. What is it?¡±
¡°You won¡¯t believe it even if I tell you.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi hesitated, then spoke earnestly, ¡°An exception was made and I was promoted to North Police Station¡¯s Chief. I took over Li Qing-Hua¡¯s job.¡±
¡°Wha-?¡± Xia Lei was so surprised his mouth wouldn¡¯t close.
¡°But there¡¯s a three-month probation period. If I do well during this period, the position of Chief is mine.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just part of the process. No worries, you¡¯ll do fine,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yiughed. ¡°Hee hee. Big sister likes to hear nice words. Let me guess - this is inrge part due to your friend. What do you think?¡±
Xis Lei shook his head. ¡°I know nothing about this so I can¡¯t make any guesses. If you think so, it must be so.¡±
¡°Who the hell is she?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi shot Xia Lei a look. ¡°Is she your girlfriend?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled dryly, ¡°Would a woman with such amazing abilities fall in love with a poor peasant like me? Stop joking. I¡¯m not on close terms with her.¡±
¡°Not close?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was surprised. ¡°Not close but she charged into a police station for you. And pointed a gun at the Police Chief¡¯s head. Not close?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not what you think. I coincidentally helped her a week before so she was returning the favour,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What did you help her with?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was very curious.
¡°She doesn¡¯t want it known, so stop asking,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hiding and covering... You two must have serious problems.¡±
¡°Hey, did you ask me out to question me or treat me to a meal?¡±
¡°Treat you to a meal, of course.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi stopped the car at a Sichuan restaurant by the road.
¡°Are we really having Sichuan food?¡± Xia Lei was a little dumbfounded.
¡°Get out of the car. What else do you want to eat for 200 yuan? It¡¯s better than me treating you to in rice.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi alighted and stretched but she looked grumpy.
At that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s eye throbbed. Jiang Ru-Yi was naked under the sunlight - she had all the right curves and was slim but full-figured. Her sexiness was through the roof. Xia Lei¡¯s gazed lingered on areas it shouldn¡¯t linger on, like a bee buzzing around the centre of a flower, intoxicated by the sweetness of its nectar.
¡°Why are you looking at me like that? Get out.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi had no idea what she looked like in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes and shooed him out of the car.
Xia Lei snapped back to reality and averted his gaze, then smiled wryly. Why couldn¡¯t he control the urge to look at Jiang Ru-Yi?
Jiang Ru-Yi locked the car and started walking towards the restaurant while Xia Lei followed, trying his best not to look at her perky bum, wrapped gorgeously in a uniform skirt. He was afraid his eye would be triggered again. If sexiness was edible, Jiang Ru-Yi was always whetting his appetite - it was a problem with no solution.
Just then, an old man applied paste on an electric pole by the roadside and stuck an advertisement on it.
The electric pole was at least 20m away from Xia Lei and the text on the advertisement should be unreadable under normal circumstances but Xia Lei¡¯s eye throbbed and the advertisement seemed to be instantly pulled in front of him, the text on it clear as day.
The advertisement was a notice of ownership transfer for a machine shop.
Xia Lei was interested. ¡°I¡¯ve learnt welding andthe operations at construction sites and I just so happen to have some money. Why don¡¯t I try setting up my own shop? I would be a worker bee my whole life if I stayed on at construction sites. If I open my own business, I would be the boss no matter how much or how little I earned. Moreover, my eye has such a wonderous, special ability - I will definitely do better than I had.¡±
With these thoughts in his head, Xia Lei grew more keen and moved to ask the old man more questions about the machine shop.
¡°What are you doing, Lei?¡± called Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°Come on, hurry up and order something! I¡¯m starving! You have to apany me to shop for clothes after eating, too. Move it.¡±
Xia Lei gave a small sigh, made a mental note of the contact details and address and entered the restaurant.
After their meal, Jiang Ru-Yi was all set to drag him shopping. Xia Lei was trying toe up with an excuse to get himself out of it when she received a call from the police station, requesting her to look into a case that had cropped up.
¡°Argh, what bad luck! Why do I have to go back to work when I¡¯m on a break?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was a picture of unhappiness after she ended her phone call.
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re Chief now! Go back and solve the case - work is important.¡±
¡°How are you going back?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi asked, ¡°How about I send you back before I go to the station?¡±
¡°No need. It¡¯s not far so I can just walk,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay. I¡¯m off. Remember to go clothes shopping with me tomorrow.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi pressed her finger to Xia Lei¡¯s nose. ¡°Don¡¯t find an excuse - there are no excuses.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 12
Perfect Welding
The setting sun cast long shadows in the streets and alleyways, making everything look like it was encased in a steamer basket. Xia Lei finally found the machine shop in the advertisement at dusk. It was at the mouth of an old battered alley but faced a main road and had easy vehicle ess.
Another copy of the advertisement was on the machine shop door. The old man who had put the poster up on the electric pole in the afternoon was in the shop clearing things away. He had not noticed Xia Lei peering into the shop in the doorway.
Xia Lei surveyed the condition of the machine shop quietly. He found that though the location was a little out of the way, vehicle and human traffic were still quite good. The shop had a Golden Pheasant CS6140Bthe which looked to be 60-70% new. He had used thisthe before for processing smallponents in one of his previous jobs - its precision and practicality were not bad. The machine shop also had a welding machine and cylinder cutter and other tools which made up a goodprehensive set-up. Based on what he could see, he could open for business with little preparation once he transferred ownership.
After observing the equipment, tools and shop location, Xia Lei made some mental notes, then walked into the machine shop.
The old man saw Xia Lei then and looked at him spectively before asking, ¡°You here to get some machining done, young¡¯un?¡±
¡°No, I came to discuss something with you,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I saw your machine shop ownership transfer advertisment and I¡¯m interested.¡±
A faint smile appeared on the old man¡¯s face. ¡°So you want to buy the shop? All right, let¡¯s talk. Have a seat.¡±
¡°I¡¯m fine with standing.¡± Xia Lei did not want the old man to see that he wanted very much to have the shop, otherwise he would be at a disadvantage when negotiating the price.
¡°Sure, standing is fine too. What¡¯s your name, young¡¯un?¡± asked the old man.
¡°Xia Lei,¡± replied Xia Lei, ¡°What is your name, uncle?¡±
The old man smiled. ¡°My surname is Jiang. Just call me Uncle Jiang.¡±
¡°Uncle Jiang, why don¡¯t you want to run the shop anymore?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°As you can see, I¡¯m getting on in years. I¡¯ll be 60 this year and I can¡¯t move like I used to. My eyesight¡¯s declining too so I make mistakes with the parts I process. I have no energy to keep going either - I¡¯d like to go back to my hometown and y with my grandchild. Heh. I¡¯ve toiled for so long it¡¯s time to rx.¡± Uncle Jiang was open about his reasons to give up the shop.
¡°How is the business doing?¡± Xia Lei asked another question.
¡°Not too bad. After the rent, utilities and other expenses you can still make eight to ten thousand. If it weren¡¯t for my bad eyes I wouldn¡¯t bear to give up the shop. Young¡¯un, if your workmanship is good I believe business will pick up.¡±
Xia Lei grinned and said, ¡°Business would definitely pick up if the workmanship¡¯s good. Uncle Jiang, let¡¯s not beat around the bush - I want to take over ownership of your shop. How much are you letting it go for?¡±
Uncle Jiang stroked his chin. ¡°Hmm, how about this...¡±
At that moment, a man and a woman suddenly walked into the shop and Uncle Jiang stopped talking.
Xia Lei looked at the pair. The man¡¯s suit had crisp lines; he looked about thirty, was built solidly and had a fierce, tough countenance. The woman looked about 25 and had a mature sex appeal. She wrinkled her eyebrows as soon as she walked in, as if the environment and people had made her ufortable.
The suit-d man spoke, ¡°Who¡¯s the boss here?¡±
Uncle Jiang replied, ¡°I am. Why do you ask?¡±
¡°I have something that needs to be welded.¡± After he spoke, he shot a look at the sexydy. She opened a red cloth pouch, revealing the item inside. It was a very old key made of pig iron, about seven inches long with strange patterns all over its surface. The key had been broken in two and the break looked old - there was no telling how long ago it had been broken.
¡°Can this be welded?¡± The sexydy asked. Her voice was soft and pleasing to the ear.
¡°Let me see.¡± Uncle Jiang walked forward and stretched his hand out for the pig iron key.
The suited man suddenly grabbed Uncle Jiang¡¯s wrist. ¡°This is a very important item. Our request is not just a simple welding. The patterns on the key must not be damaged. The welding must also be done just right - not too much, too little, too high or too low. You understand me? ept this job only if you have the confidence to do so.¡±
Uncle Jiang paused and said, ¡°Sir, your requirements are too high. I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to do this. Please find someone else.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve asked around and they all say that your workmanship is the best in this area. If you can weld this key as I¡¯ve asked I will pay you 5,000,¡± said the man.
¡°Five... Five thousand?¡± Uncle Jiang was shocked.
He had to work hard day in and day out to get eight to ten thousand a month - five thousand for welding just one key? For the amount ofbour needed, this job was very attractive.
¡°Can you do it?¡± The suited man took two pieces of pig iron from the woman¡¯s briefcase. ¡°If you can, weld these first. If your work is satisfactory, I¡¯ll let you have the job.¡±
The pig iron pieces in his hands had simr twisting patterns which looked quiteplicated.
Uncle Jiang examined them, thought for a bit and shook his head in the end. ¡°Thepensation you offer is very attractive but your requirements are too high. Even if my eyes were as good as they were when I was a youngd, I would not dare to ept this job - even less so now since I¡¯m old. I cannot ept this job. Please look for someone else.¡±
¡°You aren¡¯t even going to try! What is your shop open for then?¡± The sexydy¡¯s eyes were full of contempt.
Her words were disrespectful but Uncle Jiang bore it quietly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m not doing it. Ask someone else.¡±
The suited man was disdainful. ¡°This shop should just close for good. Why keep it up?¡±
Uncle Jiang was a good man and he bore those words quietly as well.
At that moment, Xia Lei spoke. ¡°Let me take a look.¡±
¡°Who are you?¡± The suited man red at Xia Lei, alert and on guard.
Uncle Jiang interjected, ¡°I am actually going to stop running my business. This young man is here to negotiate the takeover of my shop. I cannot do the job but maybe he can. Give it to him and see.¡±
¡°Can you do it?¡± The suited man did not trust Xia Lei¡¯s workmanship. To him, Xia Lei looked like a fresh-faced 20-something year old with no real skill.
¡°I won¡¯t know until I try. I can weld these two pieces first and you decide once you¡¯ve seen my work,¡± said Xia Lei.
The suited man and sexydy exchanged nces and the suited man handed the pieces to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei first inspected the patterns on the pieces and the thickness of the pig iron, then walked to the welding machine and started it up before he added a piece of pig iron to the welding mp.
¡°Can you really do it? Don¡¯t try if you can¡¯t,¡± said the sexydy. She did not believe in Xia Lei¡¯s ability either.
Xia Lei said nothing. He put on safety goggles and started welding.
Welding pig iron was not difficult - those who could weld could do it. However, matching the patterns on the pig iron and welding them together exactly was not something everyone could do. A task of this difficulty would make even the elite master craftsman welders hesitate to say they can do it! The reason was simple - a human eye could not see the cracks and patterns under the shroud of strong light. The cracks could be welded by relying on past experience but the patterns were another matter. One had to use his own eyes to look at the patterns.
This was an impossible obstacle for normal welders but to Xia Lei it was as easy as stretching out his hand. His left eye could see through the goggles and see the patterns on the pig iron clearly!
Szzt szzt szzt, szzt szzt szzt...
A light glowed under the welding pincers and it was so bright the suited man, sexydy and Uncle Jiang could not look at it directly. Xia Lei, with goggles muting the power of the light, stared right at the centre of it with his left eye. The chinks and patterns in the pig iron were as clear as day to him. He moved the pincers delicately and welded the pieces together.
¡°Can he really do it?¡± The sexydy mumbled, ¡°Looks like he¡¯s just pretending to know what he¡¯s doing.¡±
¡°He¡¯d better not be duping me, or...¡± The suited man did not finish his sentence but his tone was decidedly unfriendly.
Xia Lei pretended not to hear the two of them. He had not volunteered to try welding for the 5,000 yuan but to test if his eye could be used effectively in his job. Furthermore, since he was going to assume ownership of the shop, he did not want the pair to leave the shop telling others it was useless.
Minutes passed and Xia Lei put down the welding pincers.
The suited man and sexydy drew close, leaning to look at the welded pig iron piece.
The two pieces were welded together and the patterns showed no welding marks on them. Every pattern on the pig iron matched and there was a line which showed where the pieces had been welded together but the welding was smooth - not too much or too high. It was as if the pieces had been glued together!
There was no question - this was a perfect welding!
The suited man, sexydy and Uncle Jiang were dumbstruck.
¡°I¡¯m done welding. Are you satisfied?¡± asked Xia Lei.
The suited man snapped out of it and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Ho ho, the little Master has great workmanship. I¡¯ll tell you this - I¡¯d asked a welding engineer to do this beforeing here and he had no confidence in welding it properly. I never expected to find a Master in a small machine shop like this. How about this - weld this key together for me and I will give you 1,000 more.¡±
Xia Lei just grinned. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t say I would weld your key for you. I¡¯ve only welded these two pieces of pig iron together - no charge.¡±
¡°You-¡± Anger shed across the suited man¡¯s face before he forced it under control. He was all smiles as he said, ¡°Ho ho, little Master... why say that? We can negotiate if you aren¡¯t satisfied with the amount. How about this - name your price.¡±
¡°You heard us just now. I¡¯m not the boss, I¡¯m just here to talk about taking over the shop.¡±
The sexydy moved in front of Xia Lei and spoke sweetly, ¡°Help me out on this, please little Master? If you help this big sister, you will definitely not lose out.¡±
Her bone-weakening soft voice and sexy body triggered Xia Lei. His eye throbbed and the sexydy¡¯s clothing dissipated like dew in the morning. Xia Lei was thunderstruck and small beads of sweat popped out on his forehead. This woman was very open - she wore no underwear under her clothes.
¡°Okay?¡± The sexydy slid her hand onto Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and shook gently.
Xia Lei took a step backwards and said, ¡°I can do the job but the two of you must first apologise to Uncle Jiang. You said some rather disrespectful things earlier.¡±
The corners of the suited man¡¯s mouth twitched but he faced Uncle Jiang and said, ¡°Uncle Jiang? I apologise. We were at fault earlier. Please ept our apology.¡±
¡°It... It¡¯s, er, okay. Heh heh.¡± Uncle Jiang smiled as he spoke and gave Xia Lei a look of thanks.
¡°Hand it to me.¡± Xia Lei extended his hand.
The sexydy looked to be full of anticipation as she handed the pig iron key in the red pouch to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked over to the welding machine once again and picked up the welding pincers and goggles. He had welded the pig iron pieces together earlier; welding this pig iron key was no different.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 13 - The Lady Chief Can Act Spoilt
Chapter 13 - The Lady Chief Can Act Spoilt
Szzt, szzt, szzt, szzt, szzt, szzt...
With some prior experience, Xia Lei was able to weld the key together more quickly than the pig iron pieces. He finished welding it in under five minutes and the result was even better than the first time.
The suited man used the red cloth and grasped the still-hot key in his hand excitedly as he inspected the welding and the pattern. He then spoke to the woman, ¡°Give him 6,000. Let¡¯s go.¡±
The sexydy handed Xia Lei 6,000 yuan immediately.
Xia Lei offered the money to Uncle Jiang but he waved it away. ¡°No, no, no. How can I take this money, young¡¯un? I¡¯d have no ce to hide my old face in shame if I take it. You earned it, so you keep it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll keep it, then.¡±
During their exchange, the suited man and sexydy had left without saying a word.
¡°So secretive. Who knows what they¡¯re up to,¡± grumbled Uncle Jiang.
Xia Lei found it strange too. ¡°That key looked like it was a few hundred years old. Why was it broken? And why did those twoe to such an out-of-the-way ce to look for a welder?¡± he thought.
¡°Come, young¡¯un. Let¡¯s continue our talk,¡± said Uncle Jiang.
Xia Lei smiled as he spoke, ¡°Yes. Name your price, Uncle Jiang.¡±
¡°I was originally thinking of selling this ce for 110,000 yuan. You¡¯ve seen it yourself - the price is justified by this equipment, business traffic and two years¡¯ rent. However, after seeing you at work, this old man is impressed by your skill. I¡¯ve been in this line of work for my whole life and I¡¯ve never seen anyone with better workmanship. Leaving the machine shop I spent half my life building to you must be some sort of fate. How about this - I will ept 105,000 yuan.¡±
¡°Deal. Thank you, Uncle Jiang.¡± Xia Lei agreed quickly.
The sun was almost gone from the sky when they were done with the paperwork. Xia Lei called Ma Xiao-An down to the shop and told him what had transpired. Ma Xiao-An was shocked.
¡°My goodness! Where did you get so much money? You took over this shop just like that? Isn¡¯t this too sudden?¡± Ma Xiao-An¡¯s expression wasplicated.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about the money. I¡¯m only asking if you are interested in running this business with me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course! I go where you go, as it has been the past few years. We brothers are always together! Why go work for others when I can work for you?¡± eximed Ma Xiao-An happily.
¡°Then let¡¯s run this business together. You don¡¯t work for me, though. We shall split the profits evenly,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, that¡¯s not right. The machine shop is yours - how can I take half of the profits? How about this - give me more when you earn more, less when you earn less and if you make a loss, I don¡¯t want any money,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
¡°You joker, you. Okay, then it¡¯s settled. I¡¯ll add some equipment to the set up and do some simple renovations to the shop and we can open for business,¡± grinned Xia Lei.
¡°Have you thought of the name?¡± asked Ma Xiao-An
Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°Hm. My name means ¡®thunder¡¯ and your surname means ¡®horse¡¯, so let¡¯s call it ¡®Thunder Horse Workshop¡¯.¡±
¡°Nah,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
¡°Got something better?¡± Xia Lei looked at Ma Xiao-An curiously.
Ma Xiao-An grinned as he said, ¡°You¡¯re ¡®thunder¡¯ and the future missus Jiang¡¯s surname is ¡®river¡¯ so you should call it ¡®Thunder River Workshop¡¯.¡±
¡°Fuck off!¡± Xia Lei made to smack Ma Xiao-An but he was prepared and avoided it.
The two of them were overjoyed to have their own workshop. It was like finally finding a home after drifting around for a long time.
They cleared the garbage, then went about cleaning up the workshop till Xia Xue called and reminded them to eat dinner and they went home on a battered Qianjiang 125 motorcycle.
That evening, Xia Lei spent thousands more ordering several pieces of equipment and tools online. The money he had earned in Macau was almost gone but he had a greater peace of mind. He may not earn a lot with his own workshop but the work and ie would definitely be more stable than it was before. More importantly, he would be able to do great things and make a name for himself in his line of work using the power of his eye!
That night, Xia Lei had a good dream. He dreamt of Jiang Ru-Yi and of Long Bing. Snowy but firm skin, pink and soft - his eyes feasted on every nook and cranny. Afterwards, he shamefacedly changed into a fresh pair of underwear...
The next morning, Xia Lei went out after having a simple porridge breakfast. He was going down the stairs when he ran into Jiang Ru-Yi heading up and if he hadn¡¯t moved aside, she would have crashed into his embrace.
¡°What¡¯s wrong, Ru-Yi? Why are you so distracted in the morning?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Ah, I was going to your ce to talk to you about something.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi shed a smile when she saw Xia Lei.
¡°Uh oh. Don¡¯t smile at me - smiling at me means trouble for me,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that I¡¯ve got no time to go shopping and buy clothing with you today. If you really need someone to go with you, you can take Xue.¡±
¡°Buy clothing? This big sister won¡¯t be happy even if you get me empress gear.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi frowned.
¡°What happened?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi spoke quickly, ¡°Remember the call that I got about a case after we had lunch yesterday? The case is hard to deal with and the higher-ups have decreed that it has to be solved in one week or I¡¯ll lose my Chief position.¡±
¡°What case? Surely it can¡¯t be that serious?¡±
¡°How is it not? Professor Zhang Bo-Qing, leading schr of Hai-Zhu City¡¯s archaeologicalmunity was murdered in his home two days ago. His maid found his body when she returned from her hometown yesterday. The murderer seems to be a professional - there were no clues left at the crime scene. Even the surveince monitors were taken. I have no leads at all!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked like she was about to burst into tears. ¡°What should I do, Lei?¡±
¡°This does seem like a big problem but I can¡¯t be of help¡±, said Xia Lei.
¡°Who says you can¡¯t? I¡¯m here because I want your help.¡±
Xia Lei was surprised. ¡°Me? I¡¯m neither a police officer nor a private investigator, so what help can I give?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you know a powerful woman? That woman who pointed a gun at Li Qing-Hua¡¯s head. I spent the whole ofst night thinking - she¡¯s impressive and has great backing so she can definitely get me through this difficult case.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Help me, please, Lei? You wouldn¡¯t bear to see me be Chief for just one week, would you?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi held onto Xia Lei¡¯s hand and swayed it gently, pleading sweetly.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to react. ¡°I¡¯m really not that close with her. She can¡¯t help you like this either, can she?¡± He suddenly remembered something and asked, ¡°Hold on, you said that an item was missing. What is it?¡±
¡°A key.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped as he anxiously asked, ¡°What sort of key?¡±
¡°It looks like a metal key hundreds of years old.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Why are you asking?¡±
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°I just so happened to have seen that key.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was surprised, ¡°You saw the key? How?¡±
Xia Lei recounted the events of yesterday.
¡°Quick, quick! Come with me!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi pulled Xia Lei towards the carpark.
¡°Where are you taking me?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi spoke excitedly, ¡°To the station! I have pictures of the key in my office and some of Professor Zhang¡¯s research information on it that you can take a look at. More importantly, I need you to describe those two people so we can get a sketch.¡±
Xia Lei sighed inwardly. He wanted to go to his workshop but it looked like he wouldn¡¯t be going now.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei and Jiang Ru-Yi arrived at the North Police Station. Every police officer¡¯s gaze was on them once they stepped into the police station, and quite a few seemed to be rejoicing in Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s misfortune. If she lost her position of Chief after just one week, these people would have a lot tough about for a long time.
¡°Move, move. I don¡¯t like these guys.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi prodded Xia Lei quietly.
¡°You¡¯re their Chief - their superior! How can a Chief be threatened by subordinates? You should be firmer with them.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll talk about threats after this case is solved.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi pushed Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and kept walking, ignoring the unfriendly stares of her colleagues.
In her office, she took out a document file and handed it to Xia Lei.
The file contained some photographs of the body, the crime scene and the key.
When Xia Lei saw the key in the photograph, he was shocked.
The length, the colour, the patterns - all were exactly the same as the key he had welded yesterday!
An image of the suited man and sexydy appeared in his head. Their clothing, height, appearance, stance and everything appeared in his head. It was like he had returned to the day before and was looking at the two of them in Uncle Jiang¡¯s machine shop!
¡°What¡¯s going on? How can I remember so clearly? It¡¯s like looking at a photograph... even if I have a good memory it shouldn¡¯t be so detailed, right?¡± Xia Lei was shaken.
Jiang Ru-Yi stared keenly at Xia Lei. ¡°Did you think of something?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t seem to have heard her. He closed his eyes and tried to recall the patterns he had welded. The image of the key appeared in his mind and the theplicated patterns were as clear as day. Every detail was as crystal clear as he if he had a high quality picture of it!
Xia Lei opened his eyes 30 secondster and looked at the photograph of the key. The patterns on the key he had recalled were exactly the same as in the photograph, and his memory had left out nothing about it!
He suddenly understood that it was not his memory but his left eye. It had saved all images he had seen. He just had to recall an image for it to disy a crystal clear picture of it!
He had unexpectedly uncovered another ability - eidetic memory!
Be a Patron!
Chapter 14 - Godly Window to Academics
Chapter 14 - Godly Window to Academics
¡°Did you discover something?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s actions made Jiang Ru-Yi look at him curiously.
Xia Lei smiled but said, ¡°Nothing much. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s this key.¡±
¡°Do you still remember what that man and woman looked like?¡±
¡°Of course I do. I¡¯ll describe them to you. Can you sketch them?¡±
¡°Of course I can! I learnt how to do it in the Police Academy and even got a prize.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi found some paper and pencil and seated herself in front of Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m ready. Let¡¯s begin with the male.¡±
Xia Lei slowly described the suited man and Jiang Ru-Yi sketched stroke by stroke.
If there were a machine that could print the image directly from Xia Lei¡¯s mind, they would have a photograph of the suited man and sexydy in one second. Unfortunately, an invention like that had yet to exist.
While he described the people to Jiang Ru-Yi, Xia Lei was also mentally analysing his ¡®eidetic memory¡¯ ability. This ability had actually surpassed eidetic memory, since even those with eidetic memory could not remember everything they had seen and all the seen features and details of a person. His left eye could ¡®save¡¯ everything he had seen as photographs and he only had to recall them to see it all again.
¡°With an ability like this, memorising vocabry would be no problem at all if I tried to learn English or other foreignnguages. Why don¡¯t I try?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s greed for knowledge grew at the thought.
Jiang Ru-Yi finished two sketches - one of the man and one of the woman.
Xia Lei put the sketches next to each other for a look. The likeness was above 95%. A sketch was not a photograph but this degree of uracy was impressive enough.
¡°Is it them? Can you confirm it?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi watched Xia Lei¡¯s reaction.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°It¡¯s them.¡±
¡°Have a seat and wait. I¡¯ll get someone to enter these sketches into the database to look for matches.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi picked up the sketches and walked towards the door.
Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Can I take a look at the information on the key?¡±
¡°Sure, look all you want.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi left the office.
Xia Lei held Professor Zhang¡¯s research paper in his hand and read half the page before he had an idea. ¡°Why don¡¯t I try out my new ability?¡±
Based on what he had figured out so far, he could rule out the possibility that the ability stemmed from his own memory. It was all thanks to his left eye¡¯s ¡®image-saving¡¯ ability.
Thinking about it that way, he no longer needed to read like normal people did - he could just flip through pages and pages of information. Things which ordinarily would have taken about ten minutes to read were done in under a minute. When he was done, he closed his eyes and started to recall the details.
Line after line of text and pictures suddenly appeared in his head and not one word was left out, not even punctuation such asmas and periods! The pictures, too, were clear and a 100% match!
The key in Professor Zhang¡¯s research paper was an antique from the Ming Dynasty and it was over 600 years old. ording to his research, it was most likely used to open the doors of an ancient library or warehouse. The patterns on the key were not only for opening the door but were also part of a map...
This was very mysterious.
Xia Lei could not contain his excitement at having recalled everything andughed out loud. ¡°Unbelievable... What am I waiting for? I should go to the bookshop to buy learning materials for English, German, French, Japanese, Russian... Anynguage I want! There would be no foreignnguage I can¡¯t learn in this world!¡±
He had no idea what other hidden abilities his eye had but from those he¡¯d already discovered, the ¡®image-saving¡¯ ability and X-ray vision were most practical.
A person would have to spend a long time, effort and energy to learn something proficiently but with this ability, all the difficulties of learning were drastically reduced. His left eye had opened a godly window into the field of academic greatness and he did not just get to peek at a ray of sunshine - he could see the entire sun!
¡°What are youughing at? Are you falling ill?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi walked into the office and stared at Xia Lei weirdly.
Xia Lei stopped his train of thought and grinned. ¡°Yep, I¡¯m ill and it¡¯s bad.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi stepped in front of Xia Lei and reached out to touch his forehead. ¡°It¡¯s not hot. You don¡¯t have a fever. Are you mentally ill?¡±
She was close and pleasant wafts of perfume came from her body. A pale, deep ravine could be seen inside her cor, white, soft... Xia Lei was that close to looking at her with his X-ray vision. He looked away and stood up. ¡°Okay, I helped you get sketches of the two suspects. You don¡¯t need me anymore, right? If there isn¡¯t anything else, I¡¯ll just be on my way. I need to go to the machine shop and sort out matters to open for business.¡±
¡°I¡¯d love to take a look at your little shop.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi smiled and said, ¡°This is good. Operating your own business is better than going to construction sites for manualbour work. Tell me, where did you get the money to open a shop?¡±
¡°It¡¯s funds I¡¯ve saved up for when I get a wife, okay? I¡¯m not hanging around to chat anymore. I¡¯m off. Good-bye.¡± Xia Lei walked off.
¡°Lei, if I crack the case I¡¯ll treat you to a meal,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei turned to look at her. ¡°That Sichuan restaurant again?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi shook her head, ¡°No, we¡¯ll go to another Sichuan restaurant.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
At that moment, a middle-aged police officer appeared in the doorway of the office, blocking Xia Lei¡¯s way.
Xia Lei moved aside courteously and looked at his badge while doing so. The middle-aged police officer was named Huang Chang-Hai, and the bars on his uniform showed that he was of the same rank as Jiang Ru-Yi.
Huang Chang-Hai was the Deputy Chief of the station and was expecting to be promoted to Chief when Li Qing-Hua was removed but the higher-ups had done something radical and promoted a little girl over him. Of all the people in the station, he was the one most against her bing Chief.
Huang Chang-Hai nced at Xia Lei, then strode into Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s office and mmed two photocopies of the sketches onto her desk. ¡°Chief Jiang, you have no evidence to support issuing arrest warrants. This is against procedure!¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s slim shoulders shook ever so slightly at his aggressiveness and her voice seemed to tremble as she said, ¡°Officer Huang... What further evidence do we need? My friend saw them himself. It can¡¯t be wrong.¡±
¡°Your friend?¡± Huang Chang-Hai turned to look at Xia Lei and suddenly remembered - wasn¡¯t this youngster the one who caused Li Qing-Hua to lose his position?
Jiang Ru-Yi waved Xia Lei over, ¡°Lei, tell Officer Huang what you know of the situation.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and thought to himself, ¡®You good-for-nothing Chief! Acting like a tigress in front of me but a rabbit before others. I¡¯ve got to hand it to you...¡¯ He grumbled to himself but did not let anything show on the surface. ¡°These two suspects came to me yesterday and I welded a key for them which turned out to be the key that was missing from Professor Zhang¡¯s home.¡±
¡°What do you know? Who are you? Did I ask you?¡± Huang Chang-Hai spoke down to Xia Lei, pelting him with ire.
Xia Lei froze for a moment before he red up too. ¡°Was I talking to you? Who the hell are you? I am talking to Chief Jiang, so what does it have to do with you? I will only speak to the Chief. I can¡¯t be bothered with a Deputy or whatever.¡±
¡°You -¡± Huang Chang-Hai was so angry his fat face looked like a shade of pig liver for a moment. He hated being called Deputy but being called Deputy by this twerp was like rubbing salt on his wound!
¡°Lei, don¡¯t...¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi awkwardly.
¡°And you!¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯m not pointing fingers but as Chief you outrank him, yet hees and throws a fit in front of you. What right does he have to do that?¡±
Huang Chang-Hai pointed right at Xia Lei¡¯s nose. ¡°You¡¯d better show proper respect, boy!¡±
¡°I only give respect to people who deserve respect. You? Forget it. You think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re thinking? You¡¯re afraid Jiang Ru-Yi will crack the case in a week after finding a lead and secure her position. If that happens you will have no hope of getting the position of Chief, am I right?¡± sneered Xia Lei.
The corners of Huang Chang-Hai¡¯s mouth twisted twice but he could not say anything. Xia Lei had guessed right. He had panicked after Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly obtained sketches of the suspects so he came to her office to create trouble and hinder her progress in the case.
¡°You draw a sry from citizens but you focus more on furthering your own goals than on solving the case. I feel shame for people like you. Why are you a police officer if you don¡¯t want to solve crimes? Do you know why the higher-ups chose Ru-Yi and not you? With your mindset you¡¯ll never in your life make it to the position of Chief,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Fine! We¡¯ll see! Solve the case yourself, Jiang Ru-Yi!¡± Huang Chang-Hai snatched up the copies of the sketches he had mmed on the table, crushed them into a ball and threw it into the paper bin. He left the office in a huff, shooting a re at Xia Lei on the way out.
Jiang Ri-Yi and Xia Lei were the only ones left in the office and atmosphere was a little depressing.
¡°Lei,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi after a while, ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were so good with words. Howe you always lost when we argued?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°You¡¯re in a very disadvantageous situation now and you¡¯re still in the mood to joke?¡±
¡°How is it disadvantageous?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked puzzled.
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what Huang Chang-Hai said? Solve the case yourself. Don¡¯t you understand the meaning of that sentence? It¡¯s difficult for you to order the people in this station to do as you say. Even if you bring them to assist you in the case they will only do a perfunctory job, not their best.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was stunned.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°You¡¯re too naive. It¡¯s like helping to count the money after you¡¯ve been sold. Think about it - how many people in this station would listen to you after being promoted suddenly from a desk clerk to Chief of Police? After Li Qing-Hua¡¯s fall, the next person whose words actually carry weight is that Huang Chang-Hai, not you. He has the prestige he¡¯d built up over the years and people he¡¯s nurtured but you have nothing. Furthermore, everyone in this police station thinks you¡¯ll be axed in a week and Huang Chang-Hai will be the one to take over. So do you think they¡¯ll listen to you, or to Huang Chang-Hai?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi, however, shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you. Work is work and there are people who will adhere to their principles. Even if I get axed in a week, I am still the Chief now. I don¡¯t believe that I cannotmand them. Come with me, I¡¯ll prove you wrong.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯ve worked in the real society these past years and I¡¯ve long seen through the workings of this world so there¡¯s no need to prove anything to me. I¡¯ve done what I could. I can¡¯t help you with this, so I¡¯ll be on my way.¡±
¡°Oh! This won¡¯t take long.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand and pulled him towards the cubicles of the other police officers.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 15
I Didn¡¯t See Anything
Jiang Ru-Yi paused before the police officers¡¯ cubicles.
The entire office was empty save for a few female desk clerk officers.
Jiang Ru-Yi walked to a female officer¡¯s desk and asked, ¡°Wang, what¡¯s going on? Where is everyone?¡±
The officer called Wang replied, ¡°They were all sent out by Deputy Huang.¡±
¡°Sent out to do what?¡±
¡°Some went to investigate old cases, some went on patrol and some went to follow up on a report of burry which came in a few minutes ago.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was pale with anger, ¡°Rubbish! The higher-ups told us to crack the case in a week! How can they be out chasing petty thieves at this time?¡±
¡°Ahem.¡± Huang Chang-Hai appeared in the office with a beautiful baro cup in hand and a gloating look on his face. ¡°Wang, go make me a cup of tea.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡± Officer Wang stood from her desk right away to make tea for Huang Chang-Hai. Her attitude towards him was obviously more respectful than towards Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°What is the meaning of this, Deputy Huang? Who is going to investigate Professor Zhang¡¯s case if you send everyone out?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi angrily.
Huang Chang-Hai answered leisurely, ¡°Me. I¡¯ll investigate. I¡¯ll personally lead a team of our best to investigate the murder of Professor Zhang.¡± He paused, then smiled as he continued, ¡°Chief Jiang, you¡¯ve never led a team nor cracked any case. You have no experience in this, so you can just waitfortably in your office for my good news. I¡¯ll be heading out after I finish my tea.¡±
¡°Huang Chang-Hai! You¡¯re doing this on purpose!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was quivering with rage, ¡°I¡¯ll report you to the higher-ups!¡±
Huang Chang-Hai chuckled. ¡°As you wish. I¡¯m leading an investigation team for Professor Zhang¡¯s murder. What more do you want? Do it yourself if you¡¯re so capable.¡±
¡°You...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was so mad she couldn¡¯t say a word.
¡°What? Do you mean to say you have no ability to solve a case?¡± Huang Chang-Hai¡¯s words were fully intended to provoke her.
Xia Lei had not wanted to get involved but he could not watch by the sidelines anymore and spoke out, ¡°Huang Chang-Hai, you think you can stop Ru-Yi from cracking the case by getting in her way? It¡¯s no use, I tell you. The suspects¡¯ faces are already known - this case is actually already half-solved.¡±
Huang Chang-Hai smirked. ¡°These two supposed suspects were provided by you, weren¡¯t they? How can a little construction worker like you meet the suspects of Professor Zhang¡¯s murder? How trustworthy can your words be? Do you have proof? I think you produced these two suspects so you can get closer to Chief Jiang and woo her - am I right?¡±
Xia Lei also gave him a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t count your chickens before they¡¯re hatched. You canugh only after Ru-Yi gets axed after a week. You should start crying if she cracks the case this week and secures the position of Chief. I was going to take care of matters at my shop but this guy is just too detestable. Ru-Yi, I¡¯ve decided to help you with the case.¡± He looked at Ru-Yi, ¡°But you have to promise to stick him in a little guard shed first chance you get.¡±
¡°Yes, I promise!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice was thick with emotion. A smile appeared on her lips. She looked at Xia Lei gratefully and felt some anger leave her.
¡°Hah! We¡¯ll see who gets stuck in a little guard shed!¡± All smiles were wiped off Huang Chang-Hai¡¯s face.
Xia Lei could not be bothered with him any more. He smiled and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, Ru-Yi.¡±
After walking out the doors of the police station, Jiang Ru-Yi pulled the still forward-striding Xia Lei to a stop. ¡°Lei, just now... Thank you. I would have lost my pride and reputation if not for you speaking up for me.¡±
¡°You were being bullied - of course I¡¯d help you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi gave him a pretty smile and asked probingly, ¡°Just now, Huang Chang-Hai said you... you want to woo me. Is it true?¡±
¡°Wha-?¡± Xia Lei reacted like he¡¯d been kicked. ¡°No way! I wouldn¡¯t go after you even if you were thest woman on Earth! I totally gave up on you after you snitched on me eating sweets in ss to the ss monitor in Primary Three.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi punched Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re still holding a grudge over something from Primary Three? You¡¯re so petty!¡±
Xia Lei dodged her next fist,ughing as he said, ¡°Okay, okay... I¡¯ll stop joking. Let¡¯s work on the case. What are your ns, Ru-Yi?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s mood plummeted again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do either. That Huang Chang-Hai was right - I have no experience solving cases...¡± She looked at Xia Lei, ¡°Tell me, do you think I¡¯m useless?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t underestimate yourself. The higher-ups must have seen something in you they liked to have selected you to be Chief. I don¡¯t know what your good points are yet but it seems your boss has some idea.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi fixed Xia Lei with a re. ¡°Are you praising me or dissing me?¡±
¡°Praise, of course,¡± said Xia Leiughingly, ¡°Okay, take me to Professor Zhang¡¯s home to have a look around. I did say I¡¯d help you solve this so I¡¯ll help you.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi frowned. ¡°Professional teams have already gone through the crime scene and found nothing. We¡¯ll just be wasting our time.¡±
¡°What if they missed something? Let¡¯s go take a look around - maybe we will find some other clues if we¡¯re lucky.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi considered it. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go. I don¡¯t know where to begin looking for those two suspects anyway.¡±
Xia Lei got into Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s car and called Ma Xiao-An to let him know which shop matters to take care of.
Ma Xiao-An giggled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll handle it. Rx and enjoy your date with your future wife. Remember to bring a condom! Haha!¡±
¡°Bring, my foot!¡± growled Xia Lei quietly. He hung up.
Jiang Ru-Yi eyed Xia Lei in the passenger seat and asked, ¡°Who did you call? What did he ask you to bring?¡±
¡°That was Ma Xiao-An. He was reminding me to...¡± Xia Lei almost let it slip. ¡°To bring some cash with me.¡± He quickly changed the end of the sentence.
¡°Bring cash? What for?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly smiled sweetly. ¡°Lei, are you going to treat me to a meal? Bring me to a Western-style restaurant - I know one that has good steak.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Dream on. Just concentrate on driving.¡±
¡°Scrooge.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi then grumbled, ¡°This big sister here is teaching you how to woo girls. How are you going to get a girlfriend with your miserly ways?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Professor Zhang¡¯s home was a standalone vi in a high-ss neighbourhood. His other half had passed away a year ago and they had been childless, leaving the property in empty loneliness after his death.
Jiang Ru-Yi tore away the police tape and brought Xia Lei into the house. Under normal circumstances it was not allowed to destroy or damage police tape but she could do it as Chief, and it was for the purpose of cracking the case, too.
The living room was spick and span and everything was in its ce.
¡°Was this ce cleaned up afterwards or was it like this before the crime?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°It was like this when we rushed here after receiving the report. The maid who reported it said she was getting ready to wake Professor Zhang before cleaning and found him dead in his bedroom. She called the police right away and ims to have not touched anything after that,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Take me to the bedroom.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi guided Xia Lei to a bedroom on the second storey.
There was not much disturbance in the bedroom and no obvious blood stains on the floor. One corner of the nket had been pushed aside, as if the master had just got out of bed. The things in the room looked normal too - neither damaged nor strewn. It gave the overall impression that the old master of the house had just got out of bed to tend to his flowers or walk his dog, and would be backter.
The only thing out of ce was the painted outline of a figure on the pinewood floor. The outline was close to the windows, which was most likely where Professor Zhang had met his demise.
Jiang Ru-Yi let out a small sigh. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look like the scene of a murder at all. I can¡¯t think of how those two suspects did it without leaving a trace.¡±
¡°Even the wind leaves dust in its passing, let alone humans. The murderer must have left some traces - it¡¯s just that your people haven¡¯t found it yet,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Our technicians are all professionals with specialised equipment. They¡¯ve swept this entire vi and not found anything. We have nothing to work with here; what can we find?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei did not bother to debate the usefulness of their search with her and asked, ¡°Oh, right. There isn¡¯t any trace of a murder, so how did you guys confirm that Professor Zhang¡¯s death was a murder?¡±
¡°It was his body, of course. His neck was broken neatly and cleanly,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°If not for this distinct characteristic, we would probably not be able to ascertain if it was a murder.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take a look for myself.¡± Xia Lei walked to the windows and looked closely at the painted outline of the body. He spent one minute crouching as he looked. Another minute passed as hey almost t on the floor staring at the gaps in the floorboards, his face almost touching the floor.
The professional police technicians had equipment like magnifying sses and fluorescent powder but he didn¡¯t - he had his eye. If he so wished, he could see dust floating in the air. His eye was much more useful than the technicians¡¯ equipment!
Jiang Ru-Yi looked at Xia Lei curiously. ¡°Lei, what are you doing?¡±
¡°Looking for clues,¡± replied Xia Lei as he looked at another gap in the floorboards with his left eye.
¡°You look like you¡¯re hunting for ants,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi. She sneakily raised a leg and aimed a kick at Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks.
Xia Lei suddenly looked behind himself and saw Jiang Ru-Yi poised to kick his butt. Her leg was raised higher than usual and she was in a skirt. In that moment, he caught a glimpse of a slender strip of purplece. A mature image met his eyes - just a little translucent, with a dent and some shadows. His view was sharply interrupted by a hot pain in his lower abdomen.
¡°You wanna die?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face had be as red as ripe persimmons after she suddenly found Xia Lei staring up her skirt. She quickly put her pretty legs together and held them tightly closed, as if afraid something would bury itself between them.
Xia Lei coughed awkwardly. ¡°Um. I didn¡¯t see anything.¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was so embarrassed she could die and wished for the ground to swallow her.
Xia Lei closed his mouth but thought, ¡°Your clothing won¡¯t matter if I wanted to look at your body. You just don¡¯t know that...¡±
The atmosphere became awkward in an instant. Xia Lei eventually lost to Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s killer re and got to his feet. He went to the windows and observed the area around it before pushing them open.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 16
I Didn¡¯t Think You Were So Mean
The windows had a view of a corner of the neighbourhood and some streets in the distance. The streets were busy with vehicles and people zipping along them. Men had built the city but be lost in their creation.
¡°Lei, have you discovered something?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was losing a little steam.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, but I still feel like something¡¯s off.¡±
¡°What¡¯s off?¡±
¡°This ce is too clean. There isn¡¯t any extra dust in the floorboard gaps; it¡¯s as if the floor had been vacuumed,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Didn¡¯t Professor Zhang¡¯s maid say she hadn¡¯t cleaned yet?¡±
¡°She didn¡¯t but who¡¯s to say the murderer didn¡¯t either? The murderer could have been worried about leaving evidence behind and cleaned up the areas he¡¯d been in after killing Professor Zhang. That may exin why your technicians didn¡¯t find anything with their equipment,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°There is this possibility, but...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked at Xia Lei strangely. ¡°The gaps between the floorboards were so small - can you really see how much dust was in there?¡±
Xia Lei avoided her question and said, ¡°Where¡¯s the vacuum cleaner? Take me there.¡±
¡°It¡¯s in the utility room. I¡¯ll take you there.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi did not press the issue of how Xia Lei was able to see the dust and brought him to a storeroom in the vi.
The storeroom had cleaning supplies, a mop, a vacuum cleaner, pails and the like, as well as some bits and bobs, all neatly ced.
¡°Did your police technicians check this ce?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi thought for a bit, ¡°A colleague came to take a look but not very thoroughly.¡±
Xia Lei walked to the mop and his eye twitched. The wooden handle of the mop was suddenly erged and every detail, every grain of wood was crystal clear to Xia Lei. He did not have a magnifying ss but his eye more than made up for that.
The mop handle was very clean - so clean it had no fingerprints or watermarks.
Xia Lei grew more convinced of his suspicion that the murderer had cleaned up the crime scene and wiped every single one of the cleaning supplies used for the coverup. This was the only exnation, because if it were Professor Zhang¡¯s maid, she would have wanted to rest after cleaning, not wipe the mop handle.
¡°Lei, you¡¯re acting weirdly today. Youy t on the floor earlier and now you¡¯re observing a mop here... Are you really helping me crack the case?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s curiosity grew.
¡°Shush.¡± Xia Lei went to the vacuum cleaner.
Jiang Ru-Yi made a moue of dissatisfaction. ¡°You look like you¡¯re investigating it but you¡¯ve never done this before, right? Can you really do it? If you didn¡¯t find anything, let¡¯s just go out for a walk. We may get lucky and run into those two suspects. Hey! I¡¯m talking to you... Do you hear me?¡±
She wouldn¡¯t shut up but Xia Lei held his tongue. He finished inspecting the vacuum cleaner handle while Jiang Ru-Yi was still nagging him and the result was the same - it had been wiped as clean as the day it was shipped from the factory. His gaze alighted on the internal vacuum storage and the ck stic disappeared under his gaze. The contents of the vacuum cleaner wereid bare to his eyes.
The vacuum cleaner had not been emptied out and still had garbage in it like dust and carpet fibers. A small piece of fingernail with a hair embedded in it suddenly entered Xia Lei¡¯s sight. Not just that - he could even see a trace of dried blood on the fingernail!
The murderer was sly and meticulous but he had still left evidence!
Who else but Xia Lei, with the power of X-ray vision, could have found evidence like this?
Xia Lei could not stop a smile from forming on his lips. He was not a detective and had no experience investigating but he was a natural-born Sherlock with the power of his left eye!
¡°What are you smiling about?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi curiously.
Xia Lei said nothing. He removed the dust collector from the vacuum cleaner and walked out of the utility room.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi followed him out.
Xia Lei went back to the living room, found a newspaper and dumped the garbage out onto it. He then carefully swept away the dust and carpet fibers, revealing the small piece of fingernail.
¡°Say something!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi had not yet discovered the fingernail and couldn¡¯t understand what Xia Lei was doing.
Xia Lei used a piece of tissue paper, wrapped the fingernail piece delicately and handed it to Jiang Ru-Yi, smiling as he said, ¡°See this? This is the evidence left by the murderer.¡±
¡°This... You?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi goggled at the fingernail nestled in tissue paper.
¡°The trace of blood on this fingernail should be from the murderer. There¡¯s a strand of hair there too. You can get the DNA of the murderer from these two things and look for a positive match in your police database to get the murderer¡¯s identity. With evidence like this, you can write a detailed report to the higher-ups. You¡¯ve got both suspects and physical evidence now so the case is cracked for sure,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi nked out for a bit, then suddenly hugged Xia Lei andnded a kiss on his cheek with a loud smack. ¡°I knew it, I knew it... Haha, Lei, you are my lucky star!¡±
Warm yet soft pressure and a hint of sweet perfume assaulted Xia Lei¡¯s senses. He froze like some kung fu master had hit his vital points. It was bad. Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s sexiness, coupled with her closeness... He was a man who¡¯d never touched a woman but even those with experience would have a reaction. In two seconds, a certain part of him was standing proudly and obviously.
Jiang Ru-Yi, who was half-wrapped around Xia Lei, suddenly felt something strange prodding her below, and it was pressing into her very sensitive part, too. She looked down and quickly pushed Xia Lei away. Her pale face was flushed with red. ¡°You, you.. What are you thinking?¡±
Xia Lei turned away, embarrassed. ¡°No-nothing,¡± he said.
¡°You think I¡¯m blind? You ass! You must be thinking something perverted! Gross!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi scoffed and her face grew even redder.
Xia Lei hurriedly tried to divert her attention. ¡°Uh. You¡¯d better do what you should be doing.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi took out her phone. ¡°I¡¯ll call the technicians. It should be easy to find the identity of the murder with this important piece of evidence.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly turned back and grabbed her hand, ¡°No, dumbass! If you call them, Huang Chang-Hai will try to hinder you. He can easily tell the technicians to take their time analysing and you¡¯ll be axed after a week. He can then use the evidence we found to crack the case and take credit.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi frowned. ¡°What do I do then?¡±
¡°Call your boss and ask him to send someone over. You can alsoin about what that Huang Chang-Hai was doing. Don¡¯t you want some revenge on him for going against you all the time? This is your chance,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Heh heh, Lei, I didn¡¯t think you were so mean. I¡¯ll call Director Xu right now.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi grinned and started to dial another number.
Xia Lei looked at Jiang Ru-Yi on the phone and his left eye twitched on its own. Her clothing faded away and a flowery, snowyndscape met his sight. Her breasts were full yet perky and her measurements were astounding. She was radiating sexiness. Her waist was slender-soft, tummy t but smooth, with a hint of baby fat. Her lovely legs were long and slender but notcking in fullness, shaped lovingly like jade. Legs like hers could be yed with for a whole year without getting tired of them. Plus, the mysterious electric quality of her perky buttocks and...
Xia Lei¡¯s mouth was as dry as sandpaper in under a minute. A raging fire had been lit in his lower body and his entire body was in yearning agony. If he kept looking he would lose all rationality and do something bad. He pinched his thighs hard in an effort to dispel his burning desire but the effect was minimal.
¡°I¡¯ll take a look around in the study.¡± Xia Lei did not dare look at Jiang Ru-Yi again and didn¡¯t want to hang around so he made his way to the study beside the living room.
The study had an ancient-styled desk made of gold-brushed Chinese cedarwood, and two big bookcases of the same material. The wood was glossy with gold and reflected the light smoothly. You could tell that it was a considerably expensive piece of collectors¡¯ furniture at first nce.
¡°These desk and bookcases must have cost hundreds of thousands. This Professor Zhang was very wealthy¡± thought Xia Lei. He walked to the bookcases.
There were many books on the shelves. Books specialising in archaeology, well-known ssic literature, scientific journals and many other genres.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts turned quickly to the case ¡°Professor Zhang died because of a key. How valuable must it be for those two suspects to kill someone for it? The research Ru-Yi let me read said it was possibly used to open a library or warehouse, and the patterns were likely part of a map... Professor Zhang would surely have more information and research on such aplicated thing, wouldn¡¯t he?¡±
His job was actually done after finding the evidence left by the murderer. However, he had started to gain an interest in the key. He could not help recalling the time when he welded the key and the faces of the suited man and sexydy. Standing in Professor Zhang¡¯s study, Xia Lei had a strange feeling that Professor Zhang was hiding something - something which neither the police nor the murderer found.
¡°Since I promised Ru-Yi I would help, I may as well help her to the end. I found the leads so she can catch the culprit. I did see her everything after all, so this can be considered a viewing fee.¡± Xia Leiughed at himself, then his eye jumped and everything in the study turned translucent...
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Chapter 17
Letting out the Tigress
With his left eye activated, everything in the study, whether obvious or hidden, was immediately visible to Xia Lei. His gaze quickly alighted on a book titled ¡®Archaeological Discoveries¡¯. What attracted his attention, however, was not the book but a piece of paper between its pages.
Xia Lei removed Archaeological Discoveries from the shelf and took out the nicely-folded letter.
The letter read: I took a look at the map that person brought and the patterns on the key were indeed a part of it. From what I gathered when the two were put together, the wreck should be close to Jiu-Wei Ind in the East China Sea. He wanted to work with me but I refused. The cultural relics on the ship belong to our nation and should not belong to an individual. I shall go to the Cultural Relics Bureau tomorrow and make a report so the search for the wreck would be sped up. I believe that it will make a great impact on the archaeologicalmunity if all goes well.
¡°Jiu-Wei Ind?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s pulse quickened. ¡°That man and woman killed Professor Zhang and stole the key! Since I welded the key for them, they would most likely be close to Jiu-Wei Ind looking for the wreck! They would surely not expect me to help the police crack the case so quickly and catch them.¡±
At that moment, Jiang Ru-Yi walked into the study, all smiles. ¡°Lei, I called Director Xu and told him I found important evidence. Heh, I also made a little report about Huang Chang-Hai. Muahaha! The thought of it is so satisfying.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°How should you thank me?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi walked over and looked Xia Lei right in the eye as she asked teasingly, ¡°How do you want me to thank you?¡±
¡°I want... Forget it. I don¡¯t want to eat Sichuan cuisine.¡± Xia Lei gave up.
¡°Great! I saved 200 yuan,¡±ughed Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei put Professor Zhang¡¯s letter in Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s hand. ¡°You¡¯re a cheapskate but I¡¯ll be a good guy till the end. This is a letter left by Professor Zhang. It mentions a location, so you¡¯ll probably catch the suspects there if you bring a team to search there.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi opened the letter and read its contents.
¡°I¡¯ll only help you to this point - you¡¯ll have to do the rest yourself. There¡¯s no use in me hanging around so I¡¯m off. Just give me a call if you need my help,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Wait.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi called for Xia Lei to wait, her face full of bewilderment. ¡°How did you find this letter? How is it that our police technicians could not find such an important thing while you can?¡±
Xia Lei gestured at the bookcases. ¡°I was actually just looking for a book to read and I stumbled upon this letter unexpectedly.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t this... too much of a coincidence?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi still looked bewildered.
Xia Lei grinned, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say it yourself? I¡¯m your lucky star. I¡¯m also like a blind cat running into dead ends. It¡¯s just coincidence.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was still looking at him suspiciously and was afire with questions. The professional police team hade up with nothing but Xia Lei had just turned up, found evidence and even a lead to catch the perpetrators. When did he be so amazing? He¡¯s like Sherlock Holmes!
Noise could suddenly be heard from outside and Huang Chang-Hai¡¯s voice followed, ¡°Jiang Ru-Yi! You¡¯re breaking rules one after the other as Chief! This is a crime scene - how can you bring in an outsider?!¡±
Xia Lei and Jiang Ru-Yi froze, surprised.
¡°Why¡¯s that annoying guy here?¡± Xia Lei asked, ¡°Ru-Yi, are you sure you called Director Xu?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi nodded her pretty head, ¡°Yes, how can I not be sure of who I called? Director Xu said he would send someone to assist me right away.¡±
¡°Then, did he send Huang Chang-Hai?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think so. I have a feeling that he doesn¡¯t have a good impression of Huang Chang-Hai, or I wouldn¡¯t be Chief otherwise.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi stamped her foot in vexation. ¡°But why is that Huang Chang-Hai fellow here?¡±
Huang Chang-Hai appeared in the study doorway just as her words escaped her lips. Behind him were a few other police officers who avoided her eyes awkwardly when they saw her.
¡°De-Deputy Huang, why are you here?¡± For some unknown reason, Jiang Ru-Yi shrank when she saw Huang Chang-Hai and looked guilty.
Huang Chang-Hai smirked. ¡°You are aware of what ce this is, aren¡¯t you, Chief Jiang? How can you bring this fellow inside? You are contaminating the crime scene!¡±
¡°I...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was about to speak when Xia Lei, who was behind her, pinched her thigh hard. Her mouth shaped the O for ¡®orange¡¯ but no sound came out.
Xia Lei spoke softly in her ear, ¡°If you tell him about the evidence and letter I found, he will take credit for them.¡±
¡°You wanna die? That hurts. Can¡¯t you pick somewhere meatier to pinch...¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi through clenched teeth. Only she and Xia Lei could hear her words.
Meatier? Did she mean her buttocks?
Xia Lei did not dare. ¡°Why are you so afraid of him? You dumbass, learn from your mistake! He is your subordinate. You have the evidence and leads to crack the case in your hands now. Why don¡¯t you have the courage to be fiercer to him?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi looked nk for a bit. ¡°Yeah, why don¡¯t I? I¡¯m the Chief!¡±
¡°Do you hear me, Chief Jiang?¡± said Huang Chang-Hai aggressively, ¡°I¡¯m waiting for your exnation!¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi took a deep breath, then unleashed her fury. ¡°I¡¯ll exin nothing! Huang Chang-Hai, you shut your mouth!¡±
Huang Chang-Hai paused and the study was silent. The police officers looked at Jiang Ru-Yi - this was unquestionably the first they had seen of their ¡°Chief Jiang¡± throwing her weight around. It was enough for them all to freeze in surprise for a few seconds.
¡°Jiang...¡± Huang Chang-Hai tried to speak but was cut off by Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°I told you to shut your mouth. I am the Chief and you are just one of my deputies - a spare tire. This is not under your jurisdiction. So what if I brought someone? It is for cracking the case! Take a look at yourself - what can you do other than getting in my way?¡±
Her mouth was like a mini gatling gun at full st, and her spittle the bullets shooting forth!
Jiang Ru-Yi pointed towards the study doorway andmanded, ¡°Huang Chang-Hai, you go back to the station now and be on standby. The rest of you, stay and assist with the case.¡±
The police officers looked at Huang Chang-Hai, as if awaiting his instruction. They were trying to observe and gauge the situation so they would know which camp to pick.
Huang Chang-Hai shook off his surprise andughed derisively, ¡°Jiang Ru-Yi, I, Huang Chang-Hai will not be ordered around by a temporary Chief like you!¡±
A male voice suddenly came from beyond the doorway, ¡°What big words. If she cannot order you around, how about me?¡±
A tall and slim policeman appeared in the doorway to apany the voice. The silver olive branch of a Second-ss Police Supervisor was sewn on his shoulder. His calm belied his anger.
Xia Lei had never set eyes on this person before but he could guess who he was from the insignia on his shoulder - Director Xu. As expected, he quickly spotted his name tag, which read ¡®Xu Zheng-Yi¡¯.
Xu Zheng-Yi did note alone. Behind him were several police officers, technical staff carrying toolboxes and gun-toting criminal investigators. The few police officers in the doorway from North Police Station moved aside right away at their arrival and stood a distance away.
Huang Chang-Hai paused when he saw Xu Zheng-Yi, then moved to wee him with a smile on his face. He reached out both hands and spoke tteringly, ¡°Director Xu, are you here to guide us in our work?¡±
Xu Zheng-Yi walked straight past Huang Chang-Hai and did not shake his hand.
Huang Chang-Hai flushed red and retracted his hand, embarrassed. ¡°Director Xu, I was discussing the progress of the case with Chief Jiang just now. We have obtained important information and the characteristics of the suspects. Look, Director Xu, these are sketches of the suspects.¡±
Huang Chang-Hai held out the two sketches which Jiang Ru-Yi had done.
Jiang Ru-Yi angrily said, ¡°Huang Chang-Hai, have you no shame? These suspects were described by Lei, and drawn by me. When did it be information that you¡¯ve obtained?¡±
¡°Chief Jiang, I do understand your eagerness to gain merit but some things cannot be rushed,¡± said Huang Chang-Hai brazenly.
¡°You...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was rooted by anger.
Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Deputy Huang, you said you obtained important information, so you must know the identity of those two suspects, yes? And you also know where these two suspects are hiding and what they are nning to do, right?¡±
¡°I...¡± Huang Chang-Hai could not say anything either.
Xu Zheng-Yi¡¯s gazended on Xia Lei. It was strange but he seemed to be sending an encouraging look.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Deputy Huang, you are not putting any effort into the case at all but into thinking of ways to hinder Chief Jiang so she would be forced to step down, aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Rubbish!¡± Huang Chang-Hai could not stay calm any longer.
Xia Lei had a slight smirk on his face as he said, ¡°Chief Jiang knows what you don¡¯t. She has actually already cracked this case.¡±
¡°Hm? What¡¯s going on?¡± Xu Zheng-Yi looked very surprised.
Jiang Ru-Yi hastily ced the items Xia Lei had found on the desk and started to exin, ¡°Director Xu, this is evidence left by the suspect. This piece of fingernail has a trace of blood on it and a hair. We can use a DNA analysis to find out the identity of the murderer. Additionally, this is a letter left by Professor Zhang. It points to a location the suspects will most likely be at. There¡¯s no time to lose - I think we should work in two teams; have one team analyse and match the identity of the suspects and the other team work on arresting them.¡±
Xu Zheng-Yi looked at the fingernail nestled in tissue paper and the letter left by Professor Zhang and smiled. ¡°Well done, Ru-Yi. How did you think ofing back to the crime scene to look for evidence?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi nced at Xia Lei and could not help but let a small smile on her lips, ¡°I thought that no matter how discreet and clean the murderer was, there was sure to be something left behind that was rted to him. We were not meticulous enough when we searched the first time. I took a closer look this time and found this piece of fingernail in the vacuum cleaner. Then, I found a letter written by Professor Zhang in a book.¡±
¡°Good, very good. I did not go wrong in my judgement.¡± Xu Zheng-Yi was delighted.
Jiang Ru-Yi nced at Xia Lei again, her pretty eyes full of joy and gratitude.
Xia Lei was d too. He did not mind Jiang Ru-Yi taking all the credit since it was no use to him anyway but it was very important for her future.
Xu Zheng-Yi looked at Huang Chang-Hai and spoke frostily, ¡°Huang Chang-Hai, return to the station. I will have a talk with you when this case is closed.¡±
Huang Chang-Hai drooped. It was clear that whatever Xu Zheng-Yi had to talk about was not going to be good.
While Xu Zheng-Yi was making a call for reinforcements and the technical staff were dealing with the evidence, Jiang Ru-Yi moved to Xia Lei¡¯s side, reached out and pinched his butt.
Xia Lei was not expecting that and hissed through clenched teeth, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°You pinch me, I pinch you. We¡¯re even.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi giggled quietly, ¡°This big sister will treat you to Western cuisine when we go back. It¡¯s not a joke this time and definitely not 200 yuan Sichuan cuisine.¡±
She pinched Xia Lei¡¯s butt again, hard.
Xia Lei grimaced in pain and itched to reach out and pinch her butt a few times in revenge. That meaty ce must feel very good to pinch, eh? However, he did not dare to put his thoughts into action. What made him depressed was that a certain part of himself had been awakened by Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s pinches and the fabric of his trousers strained to conceal its aggressiveness...
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Chapter 18 - Beautiful Sister-in-law
Beautiful Sister-inw
Chapter 18 - Beautiful Sister-inw
The police caught the two suspects on the night the evidence was found. Jiang Ru-Yi sent pictures of the scene to Xia Lei via WeChat and it was indeed the suited man and sexydy he had welded the key for.
The case was cracked at this point and Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s position as Chief secured. As to what sort of relics were in the ship - it was hard to tell. Xia Lei was not concerned about it at all since all his attention was now on learning.
He had gone to a bookshop and purchased books worth thousands of yuan when he had returned from Thunder Horse Workshop in the afternoon. English, German, Japanese, French and other books on learningnguages, plus specialised books on machine processing. These tens of books upied tworge boxes. A normal person would require at least ten years of effort to study and master their contents.
Xia Lei, however, did not need more than ten years to learn. In the hour since receiving the pictures from Jiang Ru-Yi, he had finished reading ¡®The English-Chinese Dictionary¡¯. His way of reading was unique too - he did not concern himself with understanding the meaning of the words. He just swept his gaze over the pages and was done with it.
Xia Lei closed the book and shut his eyes. Images of what he had just read surfaced in his mind, and every piece of writing, every paragraph, every line, even all the punctuation were all in his head!
The hardest part of learning a foreignnguage was memorising the vocabry but he¡¯d just memorised the entire English-Chinese dictionary in an hour. With progress such as this, there was no need to spend years to master a foreignnguage like English.
¡°Big Brother? Your room light¡¯s still on. What are you doing up sote?¡± Xia Xue¡¯s voice came from beyond the door.
Xia Lei looked at the rm clock on his bedside cab and found that it was past midnight. ¡°I¡¯m reading,¡± he said.
¡°Sleep earlier. You still need to go to the shop early tomorrow, so don¡¯t tax yourself,¡± chided Xia Xue.
¡°Mm, I¡¯ll be going to bed. You should, too.¡± Xia Lei switched off the lights.
¡°Big Brother, I¡¯ll go to the shop to help out tomorrow,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°No need. There¡¯s not much else to do in the shop. Xiao-An and myself are enough,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll go to school for extra lessons.¡± The sound of slippered feet could be heard stepping away beyond the door. Xia Xue had gone back to her room.
Xia Leiid on his bed and closed his eyes, still recalling the contents of The English-Chinese Dictionary. He was too excited to sleep.
Early next morning, Xia Lei brought several books with him to Thunder Horse Workshop and found Ma Xiao-An already busying himself about the shop.
¡°Why are you so early?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
Ma Xiao-An smiled as he said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep. We can open for business sooner if I finish up what needs to be done quickly. Heehee, I can¡¯t wait for that day to arrive.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°I think so too; we brothers are of one mind. Thunder Horse Workshop will definitely seed.¡±
Ma Xiao-An¡¯s gaze alighted on the pile of books in Xia Lei¡¯s hands and he asked curiously, ¡°What did you bring all these books for? What sort of books are they?¡±
¡°These are reference books like ¡®Welding Engineer Handbook¡¯ and ¡®Precise Machine Processing¡¯ and others. I n to read these when the renovation guyester.¡±
¡°Can you finish reading all these? You brought so many.¡± Ma Xiao-An¡¯s eyes were full of doubt. People normally brought just one book and that was enough - who would bring so many thick books at once like Xia Lei did?
Xia Lei just smiled and said nothing. Inside, he wondered, ¡°Would you still think that way if you knew I memorised the entire English-Chinese Dictionary and English Grammarst night?¡±
The two busied themselves with work till the renovator arrived in a three-wheeled cargo vehicle with all his tools and renovation materials.
Xia Lei¡¯s n was to re-paint the walls and change the ceiling tiles to new gypsum boards to create a clean and tidy look. The tools and equipment would also be rearranged to optimise the use of space in the shop. The overall aim was to improve the image of the shop; it would no longer be a little roadside shop but a trustworthy, tasteful establishment.
It held no meaning for Xia Lei to run a machine shop just to weld some ratty-tatty cars or fix broken rice cookers. He wanted high-end orders likeplicated welding, precision mechanical parts processing and so on. This was also his original intent in establishing Thunder Horse Workshop.
Xia Lei moved a chair out to the entrance for reading when the renovator entered. Ma Xiao-An had nothing else to do so he started to do odd jobs to help the renovator.
An afternoon passed just like that and Xia Lei finished two thick machining specialisation books.
Just as Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An were about to invite the renovator to join them for a meal at a little restaurant nearby, a red Volkswagen Polo stopped by the side of the road.
Jiang Ru-Yi alighted from the car dressed in a white short-sleeved round-necked T-shirt and tight ck short skirt, matched with flesh-coloured stockings and ck high-heels. She was like a refreshing vision in summer, pleasing to the eye.
What Xia Lei saw was not just that - he also saw ckce underwear and a purple bra. These then vanished before his eyes, and Jiang Ru-Yi seemed to have be a primitive tribal girl,ing out of a cave to pick a leaf to shyly cover her body...
A patch of material on Xia Lei¡¯s body slowly stretched tight and he quickly looked away. Too bad the image of a beautiful palendscape still lingered in his mind. After seeing her naked several times, he came to the conclusion that Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s buttocks were very sexy.
¡°Why can¡¯t I ever control the desire to look at her with my X-ray vision?¡± thought Xia Lei. He still couldn¡¯t figure it out.
Ma Xiao-An clicked his tongue in appreciation, then spoke in a low tone to Xia Lei, ¡°Sister-inw¡¯s got a good figure! Looks like you won¡¯t be joining us for dinner. Go, go. You should focus on wooing your future bride. I¡¯ll entertain the renovator.¡±
¡°Sister-inw, my foot. How many times must I tell you for you to believe me? There¡¯s nothing between us.¡± Xia Lei had nothing more to say about it.
Ma Xiao-An chuckled, ¡°I won¡¯t believe you even if you deny it 10,000 times.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Lei!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi walked over, a sweet smile on her face, ¡°Is this your workshop? Not bad.¡±
¡°It¡¯s so-so.¡± Xia Lei gave her a look. ¡°Don¡¯t you have work today? Why are you dressed like that?¡±
¡°The higher-ups gave me three days off for cracking the case. I¡¯m off duty now. Why? Do I look bad in these clothes?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei smiled as he replied, ¡°You look good but you don¡¯t look like a Police Chief.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Who still wears their uniform when they¡¯re not at work? When I¡¯m off duty, I¡¯m a beautiful young woman so of course I¡¯ll wear nice clothes. It¡¯s a waste if I don¡¯t since I have such a nice body, don¡¯t you agree?¡±
¡°Agree, my foot. You¡¯re praising yourself!¡± thought Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An put on a ttering smile, ¡°Sister-in... Uh, Big Sister Jiang, hello.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi smiled back. ¡°Ma Xiao-An, weren¡¯t you saying you were going for a meal with the renovator? Why are you still here?¡±
Ma Xiao-An was speechless.
A few minutester, Ma Xiao-An and the renovator disappeared from Jiang Ru-Yi and Xia Lei¡¯s sight.
Xia Lei voiced his question then, ¡°Why did you chase Xiao-An away?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yiughed, ¡°How can I invite you to a Western meal if I don¡¯t chase him away? I¡¯d have to spend a lot more money with an extra person around.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°It was just casual talk... Are you really treating me to Western cuisine?¡±
¡°Of course! Did you think I was joking?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi took Xia Lei¡¯s hand, ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ve already booked us a table.¡±
Xia Lei held back. ¡°You¡¯re dressed nicely but I¡¯m in work clothes. It¡¯s not appropriate.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I brought your clothes. They¡¯re in my car so you can get changed in there,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was surprised, ¡°How do you have my clothes?¡±
¡°I got them from your ce, of course. Your sister was home. How else did I know where your workshop is?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi pulled Xia Lei forward.
Xia Lei bit the bullet and got into the car. There was indeed his suit on the seat and even his leather shoes. Jiang Ru-Yi was a woman who paid attention to detail.
¡°Hurry up. What are you waiting for? Get changed,¡± urged Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°How am I supposed to change with you watching?¡± asked Xia Lei embarrassedly.
¡°I¡¯ve seen your bare butt before, so what is there to be shy about?¡±
¡°That was when we were kids!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s face was red.
¡°Isn¡¯t the body you had as a child still your body?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stared back at her, mute. He wanted to say that his little soldier was the size of a ck-eyed pea back then but it wasn¡¯t like that now. The ck-eyed pea had changed into a banana - was that still the same?
¡°Gah, you¡¯re so troublesome. Fine, I won¡¯t look at you, okay? Hurry up.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi turned her head away.
Xia Lei sighed, then reached to pull off his shirt. Jiang Ru-Yi was true to her word and did not turn around. After he took off his work-pants and was left in his briefs, however, she suddenly turned back to stare at him.
¡°Haha!¡± Jiang Ru-Yiughed, happy that her evil n had worked. Her gazended on that ce and that ce was standing proud and tall. Seeing it seemed to touch a nerve and her pink face flushed red as she scolded, ¡°Did all your nutrition go to that one ce? Pervert!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Though she called him a pervert, her gaze did not leave that perverted ce.
Xia Lei was pissed and threw caution to the wind. He grasped the stic band of his briefs and pulled it downwards as he said, ¡°You should have brought my underwear too, right? If you want to look, I¡¯ll change into it for you.¡±
¡°Bleurgh! No way! My eyes!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi became embarrassed and turned her head away.
Xia Leiughed. He¡¯d found Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s weak point. His eye twitched and her clothing evaporated like mist, leaving a bare view of a slender waist and perky butt. Since she molested him with her eyes, he should repay her the favor, shouldn¡¯t he?
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Chapter 19
Supercilious Punk
Half an hourter, Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s car pulled up to a Western restaurant by the sea. There were not many diners in the afternoon and the restaurant had only around ten people.
Jiang Ru-Yi and Xia Lei sat at a table close to the French windows, where they had a nice view of a stretch of clean beach and blue sea.
Xia Lei was a little clumsy since it was his first time eating a Western meal but he quickly adjusted.
¡°Lei, I really must thank you,¡± Jiang Ru-Yi raised her ss of red wine, ¡°A toast, to you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Order a lobster if you really want to thank me.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly took off her high heels, raised a leg and kicked at the space between Xia Lei¡¯s thighs.
Xia Lei had no time to dodge so he hurriedly pressed his legs together as he spoke anxiously, ¡°What are you doing? This is a restaurant.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi retracted her kicking leg but Xia Lei kept his legs closed in fear of another attack. The two of them pushed and pulled and neither side could tell what the other was going to do. It was so embarrassing they could die but it was also nerve-wracking. After a few bouts, Xia Lei suddenly loosened his thighs. Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s leg swung down due to inertia and smacked Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®that thing¡¯ hard.
There were no meteorites or explosions at contact between the sole of the foot and the not-foot, but it was like a violent chemical reaction and the movements of the two of them stilled in that moment.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mouth opened but no other words came out. The foot on his manly region did not give him an ufortable feeling. It was toofortable, too stimting, such that he could not speak.
There was no spot left on Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face that wasn¡¯t red. She froze, then hurriedly retracted her foot and avoided Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. She looked down but found herself thinking of the strange feeling that had gone through her at that contact. It was like an electric shock - numb and tingling. Images of certain vegetables and fruits popped up in her pretty little head, like bananas, cucumber, and the like.
In the midst of their extreme embarrassment, a suit-d young man walked over to their table.
The handsome and elegant youth looked to have a good temperament and a charming smile. Even his voice had a maic, charming quality, ¡°Ru-Yi, it really is you! You¡¯ve be so beautiful I hardly recognised you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked at the handsome young man¡¯s face, then remembered and spoke delightedly, ¡°Xu Lang! It¡¯s you! Where did you get assigned to?¡±
¡°I was assigned to an office in Jing-Du after graduation. I¡¯ve transferred back this time.¡± Xu Lang maintained the charming smile. ¡°I hear you cracked a big case and also became the Chief of North Police Station. That¡¯s amazing! Why didn¡¯t we see you disy your greatness during our time at the Police Academy?¡±
From their conversation, Xia Lei gathered that this Xu Lang guy was Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s university ssmate. He was a little out of ce with the two old ssmates. He shot a look at Jiang Ru-Yi and was preparing to find an excuse to leave when Xu Lang held out his hand to him.
¡°Are you Ru-Yi¡¯s boyfriend?¡± Xu Lang spoke elegantly, ¡°Hello, I am Xu Lang. May I ask your name, sir?¡±
Xu Lang was standing so Xia Lei did not feel right sitting down and stood out of courtesy. He stretched out his hand and shook Xu Lang¡¯s hand as he said, ¡°Spare the formalities. I¡¯m Xia, Xia Lei.¡± He smiled and added, ¡°But I¡¯m not Ru-Yi¡¯s boyfriend. We are childhood friends who yed together since we were kids.¡±
¡°I see. Nice to meet you.¡± Xu Lang released his hand. His mouth spoke politely but his eyes were scrutinising Xia Lei¡¯s palms.
Xia Lei was not a rich man¡¯s son nor was his line of work of the rxing office variety since his palms were thickly callused. Observant people could easily tell the nature of his work, guess his rank in society and his worth.
Xu Lang seemed to have guessed all of the above and his brow wrinkled slightly.
This change in expression was slight but Xia Lei¡¯s current eye power was not normal. He caught the expression change when Xu Lang looked at his hands and understood what it meant.
What supercilious behaviour had he not seen in the years spent working in the real world? This Xu Lang was courteous in the beginning but frowned when he discovered his calluses - was this not looking down on blue-cor workers like himself? However, he did not mind it. He had tolerance.
¡°Sit and chat.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi invited Xu Lang to take a seat at their table, ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten yet, have you? Let¡¯s eat together, then. My treat.¡±
Xu Lang smiled, ¡°It should be on me, then. How can girls do the paying? I¡¯m not alone, though; I¡¯m waiting for my uncle.¡±
¡°Your uncle?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi thought for a bit. ¡°I remember! Isn¡¯t your uncle Director Xu Zheng-Yi? Is heing too? Where is he?¡±
At that moment, Xu Zheng-Yi walked through the doors of the restaurant. Xu Lang waved and he spotted him, and he made his way toward them.
¡°Hello, Director Xu.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi stood and greeted Xu Zheng-Yi.
Xu Zheng-Yi waved it away and spoke softly, ¡°Don¡¯t address me so formally outside the workce. It doesn¡¯t look good.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi smiled awkwardly and moved a chair for Xu Zheng-Yi.
Xu Lang spoke up, ¡°Uncle, I did not expect to bump into Ru-Yi here. We were ssmates in the Police Academy. Why don¡¯t we sit together?¡±
Xu Zheng-Yi nodded and seated himself. He looked at Xia Lei but did not greet him.
Xia Lei was about to greet him but thought twice, since they had only met once before and he did not even greet him the first time. He had his pride too. He would not specially try to curry favor even if Xu Zheng-Yi was a Governor.
Xu Lang waved and a waiter brought the menu.
¡°What would you like to have, sir?¡± The waiter was very respectful.
¡°Three lobsters and a five-year-old red wine - Edinburgh will do,¡± said Xu Lang.
¡°Of course, sir. Noted.¡±
Xu Lang then looked at Xia Lei and said, ¡°Mr. Xia, it¡¯s our first time meeting so I don¡¯t know your preferences. What do you like? I¡¯ll order it for you.¡±
Xia Lei spoke calmly, ¡°Thank you but I¡¯ve already eaten so there¡¯s no need.¡±
¡°That¡¯s all, then,¡± said Xu Lang to the waiter.
¡°Very good, sir. I shall tell the kitchen to prepare it right away.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi stopped the waiter as he was about to leave. ¡°Hold on. Remove one lobster from the order, please. I am also quite full and don¡¯t wish to eat anymore.¡± She smiled and added, ¡°I may put on weight if I eat any more.¡±
Actually, if Xu Lang had simply ordered four lobsters and Xia Lei not refused, she would have epted the meal. The look Xu Lang gave Xia Lei was interesting. He was polite on the surface but she was not a dumb woman and could tell that Xu Lang was looking down on Xia Lei and that made her dissatisfied.
¡°Ru-Yi, we have not seen each other for two years. We will be colleagues since I¡¯ve transferred back from Jing-Du, too. Come, humour me - eat some more and let¡¯s drink a little wine,¡± said Xu Lang awkwardly.
¡°I...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei, however, was thinking of an excuse to leave and didn¡¯t notice her.
Xu Zheng-Yi spoke then, ¡°That¡¯s right, Ru-Yi. Xu Lang will be working in the Technology department after his transfer and you will be colleagues. Outside of work, we rarely gather together like this so don¡¯t be a wet nket.¡±
Since Xu Zheng-Yi had spoken, Jiang Ru-Yi had to show him respect and she nodded.
Xia Lei had alsoe up with an excuse, ¡°I have some matter to attend to at my shop, so please take your time, the three of you. I¡¯ll excuse myself.¡±
¡°Lei...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi wanted to say more but hesitated. She did not want Xia Lei to leave.
Xu Lang smiled, ¡°We won¡¯t see you out, then. Till next time, perhaps.¡±
Xu Zheng-Yi just looked at Xia Lei. He had not spoken a word to him the whole time.
Just then, a woman came leisurely down the aisle. ck dress, ck low-heeled shoes, ck sunsses and handbag; her height and long legs made her look like a female assassin from the movies. She exuded iciness and danger. Her gaze seemed to be locked on Xia Lei and everyone else in the restaurant did not matter and were not worthy of a second nce.
Though the sunsses covered her eyes and part of her face, Xia Lei recognised her at once - Long Bing.
¡°Why did she turn up here?¡± Xia Lei found it so strange he forgot about leaving.
Xu Lang, however, had not spotted Long Bing. He stared at Xia Lei and spoke in an annoyed tone, ¡°Mr. Xia, weren¡¯t you leaving?¡±
Xia Lei snapped out of his distraction and was about to reply but Long Bing had already walked to their table. Long Bing kept staring at him and the words he wanted to say ran back down his throat.
Xu Lang, Xu Zheng-Yi and Jiang Ru-Yi saw Long Bing then.
Jiang Ru-Yi had aplicated expression on her face right away because she had seen Long Bing before and knew what a mysterious and powerful woman she was. She was about to greet Long Bing when she found that she was only looking at Xia Lei and had not spared her a nce.
¡°May I ask who you are, miss?¡± Xu Lang was astounded and his eyes held a bit of a stunned look.
Xu Zheng-Yi suddenly stood up, looking nervous. ¡°M, Miss Long. To what do we owe this pleasure?¡±
Only then did Long Bing look at Xu Zheng-Yi. Her voice was icy, ¡°Ah. Director Xu. I¡¯m here to talk about something with Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Uncle, you know each other?¡± Xu Lang smiled. ¡°Why don¡¯t you introduce us?¡± He, too, stood up and reached his hand out to Long Bing elegantly. ¡°I am Xu Lang. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you. May I ask your name, miss?¡±
Long Bing did not extend her hand but pulled a chair out from beside Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was uprehending. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t treated anyone to a meal in three years. I¡¯d like to give you a treat today. Take a seat,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei hesitated as he contemted sitting.
Xu Lang flushed red and a trace of anger crept over his face; he seemed ready to act on his anger. Xu Zheng-Yi suddenly kicked him under the table, then anxiously sent him a re.
Xu Lang was no fool and understood right away. A woman who could make his uncle quietly warn him so nervously must be someone he could not afford to offend! What puzzled him was seeing a woman so mysterious and powerful be so polite and respectful towards a young punk with callused hands. It was unfathomable!
¡°Sorry, can you move? I want to talk to Xia Lei alone,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Erhm...¡±Xu Zheng-Yi¡¯s old facial muscles couldn¡¯t hang on anymore but he was still all smiles as he said, ¡°Of course. Take your time. We won¡¯t disturb you and we¡¯ll move to another table.¡±
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Please, sit.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, then sat. He tried to guess Long Bing¡¯s purpose ining to look for him but could not think of anything.
In the aisle, Xu Lang asked quietly, ¡°Uncle, where is this Long woman from?¡±
Xu Zheng-Yi lowered his voice, ¡°I don¡¯t really know but one phone call from her and the previous Chief, Li Qing-Hua, was axed in twenty minutes. She also pointed a gun at the Chief of Police in the police station. Where do you think she¡¯s from?¡± He paused, then moved closer to Xu Lang¡¯s ear and spoke even more softly, ¡°And, Ru-Yi bing Chief was her idea ording to the rumours I¡¯ve heard. You be careful. Don¡¯t ever get on her bad side.¡±
Xu Lang felt a chill on the skin of his back.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 20 - Compass: Application Unknown
Chapter 20 - Compass: Application Unknown
The waiters cleared the table and even changed the tablecloth.
Xia Lei had no appetite though the lobster and red wine looked delectable. The way Long Bing was looking at him made him ufortable; her gaze was special and seemed to be able to look into his soul and see all his secrets.
¡°Weren¡¯t you in Jing-Du? Why are you back in Hai-Zhu?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence between them.
¡°I came back for you,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Regarding what matter?¡± Xia Lei seemed to have been affected by her and his words became concise and to the point.
Long Bing opened her handbag and took out an ancient-looking pig iron key.
Xia Lei froze in surprise. The key she was holding was the same Ming-dynasty key he had welded!
¡°Did you weld this?¡± Long Bing stared steadily at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I did, but... Why do you have it?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been keeping an eye on you. I know all that you¡¯ve been up to,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°You have me under surveince?¡±
Long Bing neither confirmed nor denied it. She changed the topic, ¡°Hai-Zhu City¡¯s police caught the two suspects who murdered Professor Zhang Bo-Qing and also recovered this key. A professional took a look at the welded key and proimed it a miracle. He said this sort of welding was impossible even for Masters with over ten years of experience. How did you do it?¡±
¡°Did youe here to ask me this?¡± inquired Xia Lei.
¡°This may seem like a childish question but I truly wish to know the answer. I¡¯m getting more and more curious about you.¡± Long Bing¡¯s gaze was sharp and a little suspicious.
Xia Lei could not help but to let out a littleugh. ¡°Great. I¡¯m getting more and more curious about you too. You tell me your real identity and I¡¯ll tell you how I did it. You can¡¯t be the only one asking questions, right?¡±
¡°It is not yet time to let you know. Do not bring this up again. I¡¯ll let you know when you should know,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°How insincere.¡± Xia Lei knew she would say that. ¡°However, I¡¯ll still answer your question though you didn¡¯t answer mine. I used welding tongs and pig iron electrodes to weld the key.¡±
Long Bing paused, then an unprecedented smile appeared on her face. ¡°You think me a child?¡±
Xia Lei thought she looked rather nice with a smile but did not dare to voice his thought.
The two drank a ss of wine.
Long Bing put her ss down, ¡°I am actually here today to ask you for help.¡±
¡°What do you want me to do?¡±
¡°It¡¯s rted to Professor Zhang Bo-Qing¡¯s case,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°Archaeologists have already located the shipwreck and found a metal cabin. They opened it with this key but did not find the presumed exquisite porcin, gold or silver treasures. They found apass.¡±
¡°Apass?¡±
¡°Yes, apass. A very strangepass.¡± Long Bing described it, ¡°It is actually a very sophisticated instrument, much like a watch. There¡¯s pointers on thepass but some parts of it have been damaged and it doesn¡¯t work. I would like to ask you to help repair those damaged parts with your welding and rework them so that thepass will work again.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I¡¯m not a watchmaker. The welded parts would also be heavier and affect the uracy of thepass. Can modern parts be integrated with an artifact hundreds of years old using athe? Furthermore, why do you trust me so much to be willing to hand me the task of repairing such an important artifact?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want excuses, I want an answer. Give me one response - will you help, or not?¡± said Long Bing.
Overbearing, as usual. Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°Yes, since you trust me so much. It wouldn¡¯t be right if I refused. Where¡¯s thatpass? I¡¯d need to take a look at it first.¡±
Long Bing stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s go, then.¡±
Xia Lei looked a little reluctantly at the untouched lobster on the table, thinking ¡°That¡¯s a lobster! To leave without even taking a bite... I wouldn¡¯t have ordered them if I knew. What a waste!¡±
He bemoaned the lobster in his heart but still rushed to get the bill. It cost him over 1,000 yuan and poor Xia Lei¡¯s heart hurt at the price. He caught sight of Jiang Ru-Yi at the other table and she red at him.
Xia Lei responded in kind and red back. However, the re made his eye jump and Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s clothing vanished. Her breasts, buttocks, waist and long legs were revealed to him and her buttocks pressed against the chair was like a huge jelly; it had a tender and exquisite property which stimted him.
¡°Hm?¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei strangely. ¡°Do you want to go over and talk? I can wait.¡±
Xia Lei came to his senses and quickly looked away. ¡°No, no need. Let¡¯s go.¡±
They left the restaurant, got into Long Bing¡¯s car and arrived at Hai-Zhu City Archaeological Bureau. It was an oldpound with a four-storey brick-and-mortar building, plus a bungalow.
As they walked into the office, Xia Lei could not contain his curiosity and asked, ¡°Miss Long, Professor Zhang¡¯s case has been solved. The nature of this matter is also archaeological now, so why are you still involved in it?¡±
Long Bing gave him the impression of someone who worked under a hail of bullets and he¡¯d spected that she was a high level agent of some kind. Why would a person like her seek him out to weld apass? Even if they did want him to help, shouldn¡¯t someone from the Archaeological Bureau be asking?
¡°This case is moreplicated than you think. You¡¯re not police and you¡¯re not our people either so I cannot disclose too much. Don¡¯t ask anything about the case - just help me repair thepass,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled and shrugged, ¡°Sure, lead me to it.¡±
Long Bing brought Xia Lei to a disy room.
An old man and a young woman were in the room. The old man was about 60, with white hair and colourless spectacles. He had a schrly air. The woman looked like she was in her twenties; slim, tall, oval-shaped face, colourless spectacles. She seemed educated and graceful.
The old man and young woman were discussing something. Next to them on the disy table was apass and several pieces of broken parts.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on thepass and he was momentarily absorbed. Thepass on the table looked like an erged watch withplicated insides. It was a miracle that this intricatepass could be made with the resources of the Ming dynasty. A question surfaced in his mind - What in the world is thispass for?
Long Bing walked over, ¡°Professor Huang, Doctor Ning, good afternoon. I¡¯ve brought the Master to repair thepass.¡±
It was only then that the old man and young woman realised others hade in and their gaze moved to Long Bing and Xia Lei. They recognised Long Bing but expressions of surprise appeared on their faces when they saw that the ¡®Master¡¯ she had brought was so young.
¡°Let me do the introductions. This is Huang Wei-Guo, Professor Huang, a prominent professor in the national archaeological circles. This is Ning Jing, Doctor Ning. She is a proud disciple of thete Professor Zhang Bo-Qing.¡± Long Bing then pointed at Xia Lei as she said, ¡°This is the man who welded the key, Xia Lei, owner of Thunder Horse Workshop.¡±
The introduction made Xia Lei feel a little embarrassed. He was no Master. He actually only had a welder¡¯s certificate and was a regr little worker ant. His Thunder Horse Workshop was also just a small, newly re-established shop by the roadside with no real reputation. Long Bing¡¯s way of introducing him was obviously meant to raise his status.
Xia Lei kept his cool and spoke politely, ¡°Good afternoon, Professor Huang and Doctor Ning.¡±
Professor Huang Wei-Guo shook Xia Lei¡¯s hand and smiled as he said, ¡°Master Xia, I wanted to meet you after I saw the key you welded. I¡¯d imagined you to be in your forties or fifties before I met you. I¡¯d never expected that you would be so young! The younger generations will indeed surpass us in time.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Professor Huang, you¡¯re too kind.¡±
Ning Jing, who was next to the professor, smiled and said, ¡°I say, enough pleasantries. Let¡¯s get down to business.¡±
Ning Jing looked quiet and sweet and her voice was also soft and pleasant. She had the air of sweet-tempered gentleness all educated women had.
Xia Lei had a good impression of the two of them and he dispensed with the courtesies and went straight to the table to observe thepass.
Ning Jing went to Long Bing¡¯s side and spoke, ¡°Miss Long, he is so young... Was he really the one who welded the key?¡±
¡°Doctor Ning, you are around the same age as him, too. Are you not also one of the important people in the archaeological circles?¡± said Long Bing.
Ning Jing lowered her voice, ¡°My situation is different from his. People in his line of work must have years of experience to make it.¡±
Long Bing did not reply.
Xia Lei had actually overheard Ning Jing and Long Bing¡¯s conversation but he did not mind Ning Jing¡¯s suspicions. His attention was all on thepass.
Thepass was about the size of the modernpass used by Daoist masters to read Feng Shui but it was divided into threeyers; top, middle and bottom, like an almost-round sandwich biscuit. There was a golden pointing needle on its surface which had stopped moving. Strange patterns covered the surface of thepass and they were allpletely symmetrical but it was hard to tell if they held any special meaning.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye twitched, and the middleyer entered his field of vision with no obstructions. The middleyer consisted of over a hundred gears of different sizes and axes of rotation. Some gears had bits of sediment that the naked eye could not see between them. He looked at the bottom of thepassst and saw four Chinese characters - Yong-Le the Great.*
*Emperor Yong-Le, reign name of the third Ming emperor, Zhu Di, who reigned 1403-1424.
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Chapter 21
Ning Jing¡¯s Tummy
Yong-Le the Great was Zhu Di, a very famous historical figure. The period he ruled in the Ming dynasty was also the most powerful, so it was also known as the ¡®Golden Age of Yong-Le¡¯.
However, this was all he knew from the history textbooks. Xia Lei could not even begin to guess at the rtion between Emperor Yong-Le and thispass, let alone the application of thepass.
¡°Master Xia, can you repair thispass?¡± Huang Wei-Guo¡¯s voice interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts.
¡°It will beplicated,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°But I can try.¡±
¡°Thispass is very important and its value is difficult to estimate. I do not want a half-hearted response - I need an exact answer. Master Xia, are you confident?¡±
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t pressured before but Huang Wei-Guo¡¯s words put a weight on his shoulders. He thought ¡®There is no need to emphasise how important thispass is; it must be the only one in the world! It¡¯ll be a disaster if I make a mistake. Should I reject this? ept it?¡¯
Ning Jing spoke up, ¡°Master Xia, you have to think this through carefully. Miss Long rmended you, so don¡¯t bring her any trouble. If you can, you can. If you can¡¯t, you can¡¯t. We require a 100% guarantee on this matter. 99% is not epted.¡±
Xia Lei understood then that he was able toe here all due to Long Bing. Long Bing had rmended him to the people in-charge, Huang Wei-Guo and Ning Jing. They might even have had some guarantee arrangement between the two sides. If he messed things up, Long Bing would most probably have to take responsibility for it.
XIa Lei could not help looking at Long Bing and wondering why she would rmend him.
Long Bing¡¯s face was a mask of cool as always.
¡°How about this - Master Xia, we will give you half a day to consider it carefully and analyse if it can be done. Give us a reply if you can,¡± said Ning Jing. It seemed she refused to believe that a person as young as Xia Lei could be so skilled right from the start and was even more doubtful of his ability to repair thepass.
This female Doctor was so unfriendly!
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze turned to Ning Jing. Perhaps it was because he thought her unfriendly that his eye suddenly twitched and Ning Jing¡¯s clothing dissolved like mist. She looked quiet and slim but her body had substance, especially her breasts and buttocks, which gave the impression of firm flesh that was just right and they were fairly seductive. Her buttocks had a patch that looked like a maple leaf in vivid colour and shape but it was not a tattoo ¨C it was a natural birthmark. The special birthmark made an impression on him.
¡®So she has a hidden side; you really can¡¯t tell. Who else can see such an interesting birthmark other than me?¡¯ A small smile appeared at the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He had used his X-ray vision on her with the intent of punishing her and when that was done, he felt much better.
¡°What are you smiling at?¡± Ning Jing asked suspiciously.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye. ¡°Nothing. I feel you do not believe me and I understand your worry. How about this ¨C you can look for some simr parts to let me try my hand and I will ept the job only if you feel I can do it. If you don¡¯t, you can look for someone else to do the job.¡±
Huang Wei-Guo and Ning Jing exchanged nces, as ifmunicating with their eyes.
Xia Lei took it in his stride and kept quiet. He had gained an understanding of the situation by now. He surmised that before Long Bing had rmended him, Huang Wei-Guo and Ning Jing had already asked for the most elite Master welders and they had refused. Long Bing had rmended him because he had repaired the key before and that made her more confident of his abilities. However, Huang Wei-Guo and Ning Jing doubted his skill due to his age and were trying to give him the opportunity to back away from the difficulty of the task.
Xia Lei had his own ns. This job would be a troublesome one but it was a great opportunity. Fixing thepass was equal to making a name for himself and he would naturally have customerse to him. If he refused the job, he would lose the opportunity and spoil things for Long Bing and that was why he had already decided to ept the job.
Huang Wei-Guo and Ning Jing seemed to have exchanged opinions via eye contact. Huang Wei-Guo spoke, ¡°Master Xia, we will follow your suggestion. I shall look for a welding machine and some parts for you to give it a try and we shall decide whether we will hand thepass to you for repairs afterwards.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
Huang Wei-Guo left the disy room and Long Bing walked to Xia Lei¡¯s side. ¡°All good?¡±
¡°No problem. Don¡¯t worry,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing nodded, ¡°Then good. Wait here. I¡¯m going out to make a call.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei escorted Long Bing out with his eyes. Her back was beautiful but he regarded her with great reverence and never had a desire to look at her with his left eye.
Ning Jing walked up to Xia Lei and smiled slightly as she asked, ¡°How old are you, Master Xia?¡±
Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°Almost 24. You?¡± He was actually just a little over 23 but for some reason, he told Ning Jing he was older.
¡°So you¡¯re just 24. I¡¯m two years older than you,¡± smiled Ning Jing.
A Doctor in the archaeological field at 26 ¨C she was indeed an amazing woman. Unfortunately, it seemed she had spent her youth on studies and work. It was easy to see how naive she was when she revealed her own age since women would usually try to make themselves seem younger than they were.
Xia Lei had no interest in discussing age with her and changed the topic, asking, ¡°Doctor Ning, what is thispass used for?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you honestly that we don¡¯t know either. We¡¯d only just discovered it yesterday. Unearthing this surpasses everything we know about the crafting abilities of the Ming dynasty. As for what it does ¨C we¡¯ll still have to wait for you, little Master, to repair it before we can find the answer.¡± At that point, she stared Xia Lei in the eye, ¡°Master Xia, tell me honestly ¨C can you fix it?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Would you believe I could fix thepass if I were an old man in his fifties or sixties and I came to you with my certifications, then?¡±
¡°Master Xia, I had no intention of... I was... Forget it. If you can fix thispass, I will give you an embroidered banner.¡±
She really was a bookworm with no real-world experience. People would normally offer to treat one to a meal or give a valuable gift but she thought of an embroidered banner. Her way of thinking was really different from other women. Xia Lei suddenly thought of the maple leaf-shaped birthmark on her buttocks and could not help but wonder if that was the most special thing about her.
¡°I¡¯m serious,¡± added Ning Jing after seeing no response from Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you. I will definitely hang the embroidered banner on the wall of my machine shop if you give it to me. Anyone who goes in will see it right away.¡±
Ning Jing seemed to be imagining her embroidered banner on the wall and a nice smile appeared in the corners of her mouth.
¡°Oh, right, Doctor Ning,¡± Xia Lei probed, ¡°do you know what Miss Long does?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I was about to ask you,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei sighed internally and felt full of disappointment. Long Bing¡¯s identity and profession was bing a sort of preupation which wouldn¡¯t go away unless he found an answer.
Just then, Ning Jing frowned and copsed in a squat, holding her stomach.
Xia Lei quickly reached out and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling to the ground, asking nervously, ¡°Doctor Ning, what¡¯s wrong?¡±
¡°My... My... Stomach hurts... Argh... Ow...¡± Ning Jing groaned in pain. Her face had drained of colour and turned ashen in a second.
¡°Doctor Ning, are you sick? I¡¯ll call the ambnce right away. Hold on, don¡¯t be afraid.¡± Xia Lei was getting scared by Ning Jing¡¯s condition and hurriedly pulled out his mobile phone, prepared to call the ambnce.
Ning Jing, however, grabbed his wrist. ¡°No... It¡¯s just acting up again. I¡¯ll be fine in a bit.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t be fine in a state like that! It¡¯s best you go to the hospital. Let me make the call,¡± said Xia lei, concerned.
¡°No, it¡¯s really fine... Professor Huang will be back soon. I¡¯d also like to take a look at your workmanship.¡± Though she insisted she was fine, she frowned as she spoke and ground her teeth in an obvious disy of attempting and failing to bear her pain.
¡°Is your health more important or your work?¡± Xia Lei tried to persuade her to go to the hospital again.
¡°Bo-Both are important.¡± Ning Jing clutched at Xia Lei¡¯s arm as she tried to pull herself to her feet slowly. She crouched in a squat again halfway up, her forehead beaded with sweat. Ning Jing smiled weakly, ¡°Give me a hand. Get me to the sofa so I can lie down.¡±
Xia Lei put one arm around her little waist and the other behind her knees, lifting her in one move, then headed towards a sofa in the corner of the room. Ning Jing looked thin but he felt the weight when he carried her - it felt like he was carrying between 45 and 50 kilograms. The weight proved again that there was an ¡®amazing woman¡¯ hidden in those clothes.
Ning Jing did not expect Xia Lei to do that and shey on Xia Lei¡¯s chest; that strong, muscled chest pressing on her soft skin and that manly smelling from his body made her nervous. She half-forgot her pain and a blush bloomed on her ashen face.
Xia Lei ced Ning Jing on the sofa and asked, concerned, ¡°Do you feel better now?¡±
Ning Jing avoided Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°I.... feel better. It¡¯s just my illness. It¡¯s okay. I just have to rest a bit and I¡¯ll get better.¡±
¡°What illness? Have you had it checked at the hospital?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a womanly problem. You won¡¯t understand.¡± Ning Jing looked embarrassed.
Xia Lei did not probe further after hearing her say it was a womanly problem but he said, ¡°I still think you should get yourself examined at the hospital; the condition you were in was terrible to see. If it¡¯s not an old illness like you say, it will be dangerous to dy treatment.¡±
There was a trace of a smile on Ning Jing¡¯s lips as she said, ¡°You¡¯re quite a caring one, aren¡¯t you? Are you so nice to all the girls?¡±
Xia Leiughed awkwardly, ¡°I have a sister and I take care of her a lot, so maybe that¡¯s why.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not your sister... Argh...¡± Ning Jing¡¯s stomach suddenly hurt again while she was speaking. She curled up on the sofa, her hands weakly and clumsily rubbing her stomach. She looked to be in greater pain than before. ¡°If... If only my mother were here. My pain always went away when she rubbed my tummy...¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, then bit the bullet and reached over...
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Chapter 22
Seeing into the Belly
A man touching the stomach of a woman he¡¯d just met was an extremely awkward affair but this was a special circumstance. Xia Lei could not bear to see her suffer any longer and wanted to do what little he could to ease her pain.
Ning Jing¡¯s stomach was very soft. Beneath a thinyer of fabric was soft, delicate skin that gave off a faint heat and subtle scent, making Xia Lei nervous. The hand froze on her tummy upon contact. He¡¯d thought of this matter too simply and only found out about itsplications when he touched her tummy.
¡°You...¡± Ning Jing also froze and stared at Xia Lei, bbergasted.
¡°Uh. Just think of me as your mum,¡± said Xia Lei, as he leapt into the breach and massaged her stomach gently.
Ning Jing did not refuse him but she looked even more nervous than Xia Lei. His hand seemed to have a magical power - it had not only chased the pain away but also brought a miraculous feeling. That miraculous feeling made her feel excited and bashful all at once inside. Strange sounds came from her throat, low and vague. Her expression turned strange too; her face disyed both pain and delight at the same time.
¡°Do you still feel pain?¡± asked Xia Lei in concern.
¡°Mm, no.¡± Ning Jing¡¯s answer was ambiguous. It was all the fault of Xia Lei¡¯s hands! His care and concern for her also made her feel all messed up.
Ning Jing¡¯s ambiguous answer deepened Xia Lei¡¯s worry. A thought suddenly came to him ¡®Maybe my left eye can see the situation in her stomach and find the root of her illness. If her condition is serious I must send her to the hospital whether she agrees to it or not.¡¯
Looking into the body of a person was way more difficult than looking through clothing. Seeing through clothing was like running on a running track with appropriate footwear, letting him easily and quickly get to the finishing line. Looking into the body was like trekking through a muddy marsnd - more strenuous in every aspect. That was why he needed to maintain the highest level of concentration. It wouldn¡¯t work if his mind was full of flowery, snowy images.
Having made his decision, Xia Lei called forth the power of his left eye without a second thought. The clothing on Ning Jing¡¯s body disappeared quickly, no longer able to hide her body. Though he was ying the role of doctor, the sight before his eyes still set his heart aflutter.
¡°Steady, steady... I¡¯m looking for her illness. Nothing else.¡± It was a critical moment. Xia Lei shook his head hard to clear it of jumbled thoughts. He had one goal - look into her stomach to see the situation within. With this goal in mind, his left eye drew strength from his body and increased its X-ray power.
He was soon rewarded for his efforts. The skin on Ning Jing¡¯s belly slowly turned translucent before disappearing and the situation in her stomach was clearly visible to Xia Lei¡¯s eye. He could see her small intestine,rge intestine, kidneys, liver, spleen and other innards. Xia Lei was thunderstruck. He had never imagined that his eye could look into the human body like a medical device.
His gaze quickly stopped on Ning Jing¡¯s galldder. The small galldder was filled with several little stones and its walls were red. It looked inmed but not particrly serious.
This looked to be the cause of Ning Jing¡¯s pains. Xia Lei stopped using his eye and his body sagged, as though drained of energy, and he copsed on Ning Jing. His face also coincidentally buried itself in her softest spot.
¡°You...¡± Suddenly being crushed by Xia Lei and having the smell of a man in her nostrils made Ning Jing so nervous she felt she could die. ¡°Wh,What are you doing?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, that wasn¡¯t on purpose.¡± Xia Lei hurriedly pushed himself away from her body and tried his best to look normal. Unfortunately, the nice feeling from earlier made his face and ears turn red and he was short of breath.
Ning Jing¡¯s face was even redder. She wanted to condemn Xia Lei but could not find the words. Additionally, the sudden body-crush by Xia Lei made her pain go away. She thought it fairly strange but couldn¡¯t figure out why.
The air was filled with embarrassment and uncertainty. Silence ruled supreme.
At this moment, hallucinations appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s eye. The sweet and gentle Doctor Ning rose from the sofa, swaying softly and dancing a pleasing dance.
Xia Lei shook his head to clear it but this time, the hallucination did not disappear as he¡¯d expected. It became more vivid and even started to interact.
¡°Don¡¯t touch there,¡± said Xia Lei, pained.
¡°Don¡¯t touch where?¡± Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei curiously, her face getting redder, ¡°I didn¡¯t... Didn¡¯t even move!¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s voice brought him back to reality in the midst of his hallucination. He pinched himself hard on his thigh and the pain chased the hallucination away.
¡°Are you all right?¡± This time it was Ning Jing showing concern for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei took a deep breath to calm himself before replying, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I didn¡¯t have any ill intentions earlier. I mean...¡± He had no idea how to exin why he said that so he changed the topic. ¡°Doctor Ning, you really have to go to the hospital for treatment. There are stones in your galldder and it is inmed. If you leave it like that, it will get worse.¡±
¡°How do you know I have galldder stones?¡± Ning Jing was shocked.
Xia Lei paused. Yeah, how did he know she had galldder stones? He obviously couldn¡¯t tell Ning Jing he saw through her abdomen and saw the galldder stones. He thought for a bit, then smiled as he said, ¡°I have a friend who also had galldder stones. Your symptoms are simr to his so I think you have galldder stones. Doctor Ning, this is serious. You must hurry to the hospital for treatment.¡±
¡°Do I really have galldder stones?¡± Ning Jing was still disbelieving.
Xia Lei could not say it outright, so he said, ¡°Eighty to ny percent, probably. Trust me, go to the hospital.¡±
¡°Okay. I¡¯ll go to the hospital for a check-up after you repair thepass.¡± She smiled, ¡°You looked and sounded like a doctor just now.¡±
¡®I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any other doctor out there who can use his eyes to look directly for the root of his patient¡¯s illness. If I could prescribe medicine as well, I¡¯d be an excellent doctor¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Just then, Long Bing and Huang Wei-Guo walked into the room, followed by a archaeological staff member who wheeled in a miniature precision welding machine. A bag and a very precise electronic scale sat on the machine. The three of them looked at Ning Jing and Xia Lei once they entered the room.
¡°What are the two of you doing?¡± asked Huang Wei-Guo.
Ning Jing got up from the sofa awkwardly and nervously, ¡°N,Nothing.¡±
Even if there really was nothing, her reaction made it seem like something happened. Xia Lei was embarrassed and he stood up, saying, ¡°Doctor Ning¡¯s stomach was hurting just now so I helped her to the sofa for a bit of a lie-down.¡±
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei and Ning Jing with her special gaze.
Huang Wei-Guo, however, was not interested in what they were doing on the sofa and was just asking. He gestured at Xia Lei, ¡°Master Xia, I¡¯ve brought the things you need. Pleasee and try your hand.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and walked over.
The archaeological staff member connected the precision welding machine to a power source and opened the bag. He took out several small parts and other things like welding tongs and electrodes, which he ced on the floor.
Xia Lei looked at the parts on the floor. They were made of pig iron and there were gears, connecting rods and shafts that looked like rough workmanship, seemingly parts taken from a water meter tap. The pieces all had signs of damage - some had cracks while others were broken in two or three.
¡°Just these?¡± Xia Lei was a little disbelieving. He¡¯d thought that it would be a very difficult test but this was easy. Welding these parts was as easy as pie to him.
¡°Just these,¡± said Huang Wei-Guo, ¡°but don¡¯t take it too lightly, Master Xia. I have measured all these parts. I would like you to weld them together without exceeding two grams of their original weight.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s brow wrinkled. Welding would definitely add weight to an item. Huang Wei-Guo¡¯s request to weld them together within a weight limit of two grams added some difficulty to his task.
¡°Master Xia, can you do it?¡± Huang Wei-Guo looked straight at Xia Lei as if he could get an answer through his eyes.
¡°It¡¯s all right, Master Xia. These are the parts for the test. I believe you can do it,¡± said Ning Jing.
Huang Wei-Guo looked at Ning Jing, astonished. That was weird... Wasn¡¯t she doubtful of his ability earlier? Why is she now encouraging him?
Xia Lei said nothing but he squatted and picked up the welding tongs and goggles with practised ease. He first tested the welding tongs on a piece of iron, then inspected the thickness of the welding-scar on the iron piece. He picked up two halves of a gear next, andid them t on the floor while he welded them with a welding mp.
Blinding arc light lit the disy room. Long Bing, Huang Wei-Guo, Ning Jing and the staff member turned away, unable to look at Xia Lei welding. Unbeknownst to them, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye looked through the goggles and arc light, to the heart of his welding!
No words could describe the miracle. The goggles blocked light that was harmful to the eyes but Xia Lei¡¯s eye saw right through them to see the gear and electrode contact point with no obstruction!
The difficulty in weldingy in not being able to see the contact point of the electrode and item to be welded - when one could see it all, and even zoom-in on top of that, what difficulty was there in welding?
Perfect welding!
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Chapter 23
First Bit of Business
The blinding light red in fits and starts and around 15 minutester, Xia Lei put down the welding tongs, grasped the welded gear with his gloved left hand, and ced it on the dish of the electronic weighing scale.
Huang Wei-Guo and Ning Jing moved closer, and Long Bing and the staff member gathered too. Four pairs of eyes rested on the welded gear, first showing curiosity, then shock and finally looking stunned.
The gear Xia Lei welded was smooth and not a trace of welding could be seen on its surface. What was most praiseworthy was that Xia Lei had not done tig welding but spot welding. The gear was held together at three points - two at each end of the split and one in the middle. Every spot weld was precisely controlled at around 0.8 mm; it was very urate.
This was a clever way to approach the task as three spot welds held the gear together while not increasing the weight of the gear by much. More importantly, the welded gear looked very strong, not at all like it would fall apart at a touch.
¡°Ch-check the weight.¡± Huang Wei-Guo urged the staff member.
The staff member plugged the electronic weighing scale in, and it disyed the gear¡¯s total weight - 11.5g.
He matched the gear number and spoke excitedly, ¡°Professor Huang, this gear was 10g. It increased by 1.5g.¡±
Huang Wei-Guo required the weight to not be over two grams of the original. The increased weight on the gear Xia Lei welded was 1.5g - it not only met his requirement, it exceeded expectations. What was more amazing was that he had welded three spots and every spot weld had been kept at 0.5g. His hands were like precision instruments!
It looked like a simple gear-welding on the surface but these numbers proved how amazing Xia Lei¡¯s workmanship was.
Huang Wei-Guo excitedly snatched up the gear from the scale. It was still quite hot but he did not seem to feel the heat in his hands. He used all his strength to try to break the welded gear but it did not move and held strong. He raised it high above his head, then smashed it to the floor but the gear was still intact and showed no sign of splitting in half.
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°Professor Huang, you are handing me apass hundreds of years old. It can also be considered a precision instrument, so it would probably not have to withstand a lot of force when it is moving and that was why I chose to do spot welding. If there were no other important requirements, I would do a tig weld but that would increase the weight significantly and that would affect the uracy of thepass. Am I right?¡±
¡°Haha!¡± Huang Wei-Guo gave Xia Lei a hug, losing decorum in his excitement. ¡°Master Xia, your workmanship is so wonderful it¡¯s beyond words. Your idea was also a good one. Less added weight would mean greaterpass uracy. The possibility of us uncovering the secrets of thispass has increased greatly.¡±
¡°Professor Huang, are you saying that the job has been handed to me?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Huang Wei-Guoughed, ¡°Of course! There is no need for further testing. Welding that key was already enough to meet our requirements but Ning Jing and I decided to test you for the sake of knowing if you were dependable.¡±
Ning Jing spoke then, ¡°Professor Huang, I¡¯ve just thought of a better idea.¡±
Huang Wei-Guo turned to look at Ning Jing, ¡°What idea?¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t Master Xia have a workshop? He can definitely produce the same parts and we can ask him to reproduce the broken parts, and at the same time repair the original broken parts. In this way, we will have two options. We can use the original parts and also try to use the new reproduced parts,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then interrupted, ¡°Doctor Ning, you mean to process the same material and make equally weighted copy parts, yes?¡±
Ning Jing quirked her lips in a smile, ¡°Yes, that is what I mean.¡±
Huang Wei-Guo pped in delight. ¡°Great, let¡¯s do that. Ning Jing, I¡¯ll let you handle this. Please bring the parts needing repair to Master Xia¡¯s workshop and have them copied after repairs as you said. We can unlock the secrets of thepass with these two sets.¡±
¡°You can count on me,¡± Ning Jing quickly agreed.
¡°That¡¯s right, Master Xia, what should we pay you?¡± Huang Wei-Guo suddenly remembered about remuneration.
¡°Just pay me what you feel is right, Professor Huang,¡± said Xia Lei smilingly.
¡°How can that do? Let¡¯s see... The Archaeological Bureau shall pay you 50,000 after you repair thepass. Will this do?¡±
¡°Yes, it will do.¡± Xia Lei agreed quickly.
50,000 looked like a big number but Xia Lei was not profiting greatly. If Huang Wei-Guo requested this same thing of an elite Master welder, the Master might not even be bothered with this sum of money. Most importantly, even if an elite Master welder were to do the job, he would not be able to reach the degree of perfection that Xia Lei had.
The one profiting from the deal was the Archaeological Bureau, with Huang Wei-Guo as representative, not Xia Lei.
However, Xia Lei was not greedy either. Thunder Horse Workshop had yet to open for business and it had already got a 50,000-yuan-worth bit of business, and that made Xia Lei happy. His career was just beginning so he did not expect a mini-windfall like this.
¡°There¡¯s no time to lose; Ning Jing, please pack the things and go to Master Xia¡¯s workshop,¡± said Huang Wei-Guo.
¡°Yes, of course.¡± Ning Jing went to work immediately, gathering the broken parts andpass into a safe.
At that moment, Long Bing¡¯s mobile phone suddenly rang and she walked briskly to the doorway to take the call.
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing in the doorway. ¡®She looks like she has a hectic lifestyle. What is she so busy with? Was her rmending me to the Archaeological Bureau something she did because it was convenient?¡¯
¡°I¡¯m all packed. Let¡¯s go, Master Xia,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Okay. Let me carry the box.¡±
Ning Jing, however, refused. ¡°No, I¡¯ll carry it. I can only feel safe if it¡¯s in my hands.¡¯
¡°What? You afraid I¡¯d grab the safe and make a run for it?¡±ughed XIa Lei
In the midst of his joking around, Long Bing re-entered the room and walked straight to Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ve something urgent to attend to so I won¡¯t go to your workshop. I¡¯ll look for you again when you¡¯ve finished this.¡±
¡°Okay, sure, since you¡¯re busy with something,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing wasted no further words. She turned and left the room.
Xia Lei followed her out of the room with his eyes and more questions surfaced in his mind. ¡®Look for me again when I¡¯m done with this - why look for me? She seems to have been keeping an eye on me since Macau. What is she up to? Argh, what a headache.¡¯
¡°Master Xia, she left. Why are you still spacing out? Let¡¯s go,¡± urged Ning Jing.
Xia Lei smiled awkwardly and followed Ning Jing out of the disy room.
Ning Jing drove her car and arrived at Thunder Horse Workshop. A look of shock spread over her face when she got out of her car and saw the little roadside shop which was still under renovation.
¡°This is your workshop, Master Xia?¡± The little shop before her eyes was a far cry from the grand workshop she had imagined.
¡°Yes, this is my workshop. Isn¡¯t it written on the signboard? ¡®Thunder Horse Workshop.¡¯ ¡±
¡°I thought...¡± Ning Jing was about to say something but she closed her mouth again.
Ma Xiao-An walked out of the shop and saw Ning Jing standing next to Xia Lei. He looked at Xia Lei and said, ¡°Lei, thisdy here is...?¡±
¡°This is Doctor Ning from the Archaeological Bureau,¡± said Xia Lei. He pointed at Ma Xiao-An and introduced him, ¡°This is my partner, Ma Xiao-An.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you, Master Ma.¡± Ning Jing took the initiative and reached out her hand for a handshake.
Ma Xiao-An stretched out his own hand but found that it was greasy and covered with paint, while Doctor Ning¡¯s hand was pale a delicate. He retracted his hand and gave an honest, sincere smile, ¡°Hehe, my hand¡¯s dirty so let¡¯s not shake.¡±
Ning Jing took her hand back. Girls like cleanliness so if Ma Xiao-An really used his greasy, paint-covered hand to shake hers, she would have been disgusted. She looked at Xia Lei, who was standing next to her out of the corner of her eye. She said nothing but she had made aparison in that one look. They were both Masters but one was dirty and chubby while the other was dashing and clean. Why were they so different?
¡°Xiao-An, please tell the renovator that he can stop for today. I need to use thethe, so ask him toe back tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll tell him right away. There isn¡¯t much more to do anyway.¡± Ma Xiao-An went into the shop to talk to the renovator.
¡°Master Xia, your workmanship is excellent. You should have a better starting tform for your skill. This workshop is too small; it will bury your craft,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°Eh?¡± Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°A better tform? I don¡¯t know many industry people, so you could introduce me to someone.¡±
¡°We aren¡¯t strangers anymore, are we? Stop being so formal and calling me ¡®Doctor Ning¡¯. I¡¯m older by three years, so why don¡¯t you call me Big Sister Ning?*¡± Ning Jing, too, had a sweet and pleasant smile on her face.
¡°Sure, Big Sister Ning,¡± said Xia Lei right away.
Ning Jing giggled happily but said, ¡°You can call me Big Sister but I can¡¯t really help you on this since I don¡¯t know many people from the industry either. I was just suggesting that you need a better tform to grow in your career.¡±
There was no one who didn¡¯t want to grow in their career and lead a better life. Xia Lei, too, wished for a better tform for his growth but found it useless to dream in his current situation. This was a realistic andplicated world and those with the skills may not necessarily do well in life while those without skills lounge at the top, living the good life. However, Xia Lei was contented. He was already doing much better than he was before. He also had his own life n and would take things as theye as he was in no hurry.
Ma Xiao-An quickly finished his talk with the renovator and he left on his three-wheeled cargo vehicle after greeting Xia Lei, not bothering to put away the tools and materials lying about. Xia Lei brought Ning Jing into Thunder Horse Workshop, prepared to start work.
*Xia Lei said he was almost 24 in Chapter 21, and Ning Jing said, ¡°So you¡¯re just 24¡±. She is 26. Later in this chapter, she says she is 3 years older when she thought he was 24... So technically the author was right when he wrote ¡®I¡¯m older by three years¡¯ for Ning Jing since Xia Lei¡¯s age is 23 after all, but she was under the impression that Xia Lei was 24...? I may just be nitpicking here but small things like this drives me nuts sometimes.
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Chapter 24
Foreign Languages are Actually Easy
Xia Lei worked from afternoon to night.
Ma Xiao-An could not help and he had to get up early the next day to open for business so Xia Lei asked him to go home. He continued using thethe to process new parts. He had already finished welding all the broken parts in the afternoon and he was now left with the other pieces. He would be finished with the job once these were done.
Ning Jing had nothing to do, so she sat at Xia Lei¡¯s desk, browsing through the books he¡¯d brought. She flipped through two books on machining, then held up ¡®Contemporary German for University¡¯ and spoke in surprise, ¡°Master Xia, are you learning German on your own?¡±
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s always good to expand one¡¯s knowledge,¡± replied Xia Lei offhandedly.
¡°Sprechen Sie Deutsch?¡± Ning Jing spoke German all of a sudden.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the matching words in German appeared in his head as well as the pronunciation and grammar. It was fascinating. This was his first time hearing someone speak German but he understood what Ning Jing was saying. She said: Do you speak German?
¡°Sprechen Sie Deutsch?¡± repeated Ning Jing, this time with a hint of a challenge in her voice. She obviously didn¡¯t believe that a welder could understand German.
Xia Lei thought of an answer. There was no book in front of him, but his left eye disyed word after word of German, and the appropriate grammar and pronunciation appeared in his head, joining together to form a sentence. This was an extremelyplicated and miraculous process but it took only a few seconds.
A smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth as he said, ¡°Ich kann Deutsch, aber ich spreche nicht sehr gut.¡±
He said: I can speak German but not very well.
Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei in surprise and was still for a bit before she spoke again, ¡°You really can speak German. What made you want to learn German? It¡¯s not amon foreignnguage - you should pick English if you wanted to learn a foreignnguage since it is used more widely.¡±
A few minutester, Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Mademoiselle, je parle un peu le fran?ais.¡±
¡°You...¡± Ning Jing could sit still no longer and she stood, gaping at Xia Lei with round eyes. ¡°You just spoke... French?¡±
Xia Lei grinned, ¡°Yes, I said I also speak a little French.¡±
¡°Heavens! You have such hidden depths! I know English and German but not French. You¡¯re more amazing than I am!¡± praised Ning Jing. She was starting to look at Xia Lei in a whole new light.
¡°How can I be? I¡¯m just learning some simple phrases because of boredom. You earned your Doctorate at such a young age - you¡¯re the amazing one. I really admire you.¡±
¡°Oh, no, no, no, I should be the one admiring you. You have such great workmanship at such a young age and you even taught yourself German and French. This shows how clever and ambitious you are in improving yourself. Such a positive attitude towards life is something I should emte,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°Hehe... Are we going to keep going?¡± Xia Lei grinned, then turned his attention back to the work at hand.
Ning Jing kept staring at Xia Lei, unable to tear her gaze away from him. ¡®It¡¯sughable that I did not believe him one bit when I first met him. I actually looked down on him. It is rare to find someone of his skill in this entire country and on top of that he also taught himself German and French. Other than my Doctorate, what do I have that is better than him?¡¯ thought Ning Jing.
She was full of admiration and just a touch of shame.
She had no idea but the man she admired now was just a diamond in the rough. No one can tell how Xia Lei will grow and develop in the future!
¡°All right, finally done.¡± Xia Lei switched off thethe, removed the gear he had been working on and put it under themp for inspection.
Ning Jing cleared her head of her jumbled thoughts and moved to Xia Lei¡¯s side to look at the gear. ¡°Is this thest part?¡±
¡°Yes, it¡¯s thest one,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You finished the job more quickly than I¡¯d expected. I thought it would take the whole night.¡± Her lips quirked, ¡°I was going to ask you where I could sleep for the night.¡±
¡°You weren¡¯t thinking of spending the night here, were you?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t even have a bed here. There isn¡¯t a ce for me to sleep even if I wanted to.¡±
Xia Lei was about to say that he had a foldable bed but stopped himself from saying it for fear that it would lead to a misunderstanding. He changed his words, ¡°I¡¯ll send you home, Big Sister Ning. Are you going home or back to the Archaeological Bureau?¡±
Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei, all smiles, ¡°Are you going to send me home, and have me drive you back?¡±
Xia Lei then remembered he did not have a car. Heughed awkwardly and didn¡¯t mention sending her home again.
¡°Apany me to the Archaeological Bureau, then. I need your help,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°Are you going to put it together and make it move tonight?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Ning Jing nodded. ¡°It is a marvel. I can¡¯t wait to unlock its mysteries.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go with you to the Archaeological Bureau.¡± He wanted to know the answer to the origins of thepass and its secrets too.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei and Ning Jing arrived at the Archaeological Bureau. This time, they went to an archaeological studio instead of the disy room.
The studio was fairlyrge but it was filled with artifacts waiting for restoration such as porcin, stone and other relics, making the space seem cramped and small. Ning Jing cleared a worktable to make space, then gingerly ced thepass, repaired parts and copies of parts on it.
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to call Professor Huang, Big Sister Ning?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Ning Jing considered it and said, ¡°It¡¯s toote. Forget it. He¡¯lle in early tomorrow anyway. I am not good with machines, Master Xia, so can I ask for your help in assembling thispass?¡±
¡°Of course,¡± replied Xia Lei quickly.
¡°I¡¯ll make a cup of tea for you,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t stand on ceremony, Big Sister Ning.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make some tea to chase away your sleepiness. Go about your work, then. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Ning Jing walked out of the room.
Xia Lei looked away from her slim, retreating back and started to work on reassembling thepass.
This was his first time doing work that was so simr to watchmaking so he had no prior experience to draw from. However, he had his great advantage - his eye. Using his eye, he could recall all the original ces of the parts and easily see areas others couldn¡¯t to put everything back in its proper ce. Thus, though it was his first time doing this, he raced along like a seasoned professional, skilled and smooth.
By the time Ning Jing entered the room with a cup of Pu¡¯er tea, Xia Lei had already installed thest piece in thepass.
Strangely, the golden pointer on thepass started moving right after thest piece was put in ce. It pointed north.
Xia Lei dusted off his hands and grinned as he said, ¡°Done.¡±
Ning Jing walked briskly over, her gaze fixed on thepass on the worktable. ¡°How are you so quick?¡± she eximed delightedly.
Xia Lei smiled but said nothing. He had actually slowed down for safety¡¯s sake while putting thepass together. If he wanted speed, he would have finished it while Ning Jing was still boiling the water.
¡°It¡¯s moving. Did you use the repaired parts?¡± Ning Jing held her spectacles higher up the bridge of her nose but could not see which parts Xia Lei had used in the reassembly.
¡°I used the repaired parts. I felt that we should try with the original parts first, then with the copies and let you see which would give the better result,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re so thoughtful. Oh dear, I forgot to give you tea.¡± Ning Jing remembered about the Pu¡¯er tea she was holding and shoved it into Xia Lei¡¯s hands before rushing to examine thepass.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t actually thirsty. He took one sip before putting it aside and going to Ning Jing¡¯s side to watch her fiddle with thepass.
Ning Jing¡¯s body fragrance smelt great. She was totally unaware of Xia Lei next to her and did not see that her forward-leaning posture revealed snowy peaks below the V-neckline of her top.
Under the white light, the young and beautiful Doctor, mesmerising fragrance, seductive view and mysteriouspassbined to give Xia Lei a strange feeling. It was as if something was getting restless, threatening toe out - it was hard to describe it.
¡°Master Xia, please install the new copies in thepass. It may give us a different result,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°No problem.¡± Xia Lei was faster this time when exchanging the parts.
However, thepass did not move at all after the copies were put in.
Ning Jing inspected it quickly and mused, ¡°How strange. Why is it like this? Master Xia, can you please put the original parts back in?¡±
Xia Lei thought it was strange too but he didn¡¯t ask any questions and changed the parts. This time, thepass moved again and the golden pointer pointed straight north.
¡°I think... Thispass looks like it¡¯s made with pig iron but it must have some other special material inside. It¡¯s amazing,¡± said Ning Jing admiringly.
¡°You guys need to study it more closely then. My part of work is done.¡±
At that moment, the room door was suddenly pushed open by someone and a familiar face appeared in front of Xia Lei and Ning Jing.
Expressionless Long Bing of the icy aura had arrived. She nced at Xia Lei and Ning Jing before her gaze went to thepass.
¡°Why are you here?¡± Xia Lei broke the eerie silence.
¡°You¡¯re done, so I came.¡± Long Bing walked to the worktable, reached out and took hold of thepass and turned around to leave.
Ning Jing grew anxious and hurried to block Long Bing¡¯s way. ¡°Miss Long, what are you doing? You can¡¯t take thepass away!¡±
¡°Your opinion does not matter. Your Bureau Chief has no say either. Move aside. Don¡¯t hinder my work,¡± said Long Bing frostily.
¡°No, no! You can¡¯t take it away! Exin yourself!¡± Ning Jing stubbornly stayed put.
Long Bing suddenly delivered a knife chop to Ning Jing¡¯s neck. Ning Jing let out a soft groan as her head tilted back and she copsed backwards.
Xia Lei quickly ran forward to catch Ning Jing to stop her from hitting the floor. ¡°Why did you do that? She was no threat to you!¡± he eximed in shock.
¡°She will wake in fifteen minutes. Take care of her. Our cooperation ends here this time. I shall contact you the next time I need your help,¡± said Long Bing calmly.
¡°Aren¡¯t you even going to ask if I will agree to it? And I fixed thepass like you¡¯d asked. Can you tell me what it does?¡± asked Xia Lei depressedly.
¡°Don¡¯t ask about things you shouldn¡¯t know. Goodbye.¡± Long Bing turned and left without wasting any further words.
Xia Lei held the unconscious Ning Jing in his arms and stared at the empty doorway. He was motionless for quite a while.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 25
Picked Up a Good Girl
Long Bing appeared without a sound and disappeared without a trace. Xia Lei was ustomed to it. He wasn¡¯t overly concerned about whether the Archaeological Bureau would go after Long Bing for taking thepass away either.
Thunder Horse Workshop opened for business three dayster. Business was not as good as they¡¯d thought but it wasn¡¯t bad. Ma Xiao-An took on the normal tasks and Xia Lei handled the difficult jobs; their division ofbour was clear. At the end of the day, after taking out the cost of materials, utilities and rent, they made 1400 yuan.
¡°It¡¯s a tad little,¡± said Xia Lei, feeling a pang of dissatisfaction.
Ma Xiao-An, on the other hand, was happy. ¡°Lei, be content. We didn¡¯t do that much and still made 1400 yuan. We only made this much after working a whole week when we worked at the construction site.¡±
The two of them used to make an average of 100 yuan a day at construction sites, needing a week to make 1400 yuan. To be making this amount in one day now was a huge improvement.
Xia Lei felt better after thinking about it. ¡°If the Archaeological Bureau paid us, we would have made 50,000 more. We would have to work for almost a year to make that amount in the past,¡± he said.
¡°The Archaeological Bureau is a government agency - it won¡¯t stiff us on the bill. We¡¯ll get paid sooner orter,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Just then, a woman appeared in the doorway. She was young - early twenties, apple-shaped face and big eyes. She was wearing a colourful short-sleeved checkered shirt on top, which was pulled tight by a huge chest. Her bosom was sorge the straining buttons seemed like they would pop off any moment. On her bottom was a pair of cheap denim shorts, and her bottom itself was rounded and quite attractive. On her shoulder was a bundle wrapped in worn blue cloth and a dirty-looking white towel peeked out from a corner of the bundle. Her way of dressing immediately told everyone that she was from the countryside.
¡°Excuse me, are you looking for something?¡± enquired Xia Lei.
¡°I...¡± The woman looked nervous. ¡°Who is the boss here?¡±
She had an ent which sounded like she was from Sichuan.
Before Xia Lei could speak, Ma Xiao-An pointed at him and said with a smile, ¡°Girl, this is our boss. What are you looking for him for?¡±
The woman gathered her courage, looked straight at Xia Lei and bowed clumsily. ¡°Boss, I... I... Are you hiring? I can do anything. I¡¯ll wash dishes, stack tes, cleaning, cooking...¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°We aren¡¯t running a restaurant so we don¡¯t need someone to stack tes or wash dishes. I¡¯m sorry, please ask at a restaurant.¡±
The woman bit her lip but did not press the issue, and turned and left.
Xia Lei looked at her feet and saw that she wore plimsolls. Footwear like this was umon for women, even in the countryside. Perhaps he was moved by the plimsolls, but Xia Lei¡¯s heart softened and he called out to the woman, ¡°Hold on. Can you tell me why you¡¯re looking for work?¡±
The woman looked at Xia Lei, then looked away from his eyes and spoke carefully, ¡°My father is old and cannot work. My younger brother wants to go to school but we have no money and I don¡¯t want him to drop school so I¡¯m looking for work.¡± When she got to that part, her eyes filled with tears, ¡°B-But... I have no skills and all the restaurants have enough staff. It¡¯s also not the hiring season at factories... I¡¯ve used up all my money and I don¡¯t know where I¡¯ll sleep tonight. I...¡±
Xia Lei stopped her mid-sentence, ¡°Stay, then. I will pay you 3,000 a month, including room and board.¡±
¡°Wha-?¡± The surprised exmation came not from the woman looking for a job but Ma Xiao-An.
The woman looked at Xia Lei in gratitude, so overwhelmed she could not speak.
Ma Xiao-An pulled Xia Lei to one side and whispered, ¡°Hey, Lei, why are you taking her in? I know you feel sorry for her but there are plenty of sorry souls out there. What can we do with our limited resources? Even if you take her in, you needn¡¯t give her so much money. A country girl like her would be happy with 1,500, including room and board.¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t she need to support her little brother¡¯s studies? We can take less profit and give her a little more so her family can lead better lives. What¡¯s so bad about that?¡± said Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An sighed. He knew that Xia Lei had changed his mind and given the girl such a high wage because of her simr circumstances. He was against hiring because he wanted to save money but the boss of the workshop was Xia Lei. He had no further argument against Xia Lei¡¯s decision.
The woman spoke only then, ¡°Boss, Big Brother, I, I will start working now. What can I do?¡±
¡°Are you afraid that the boss would regret it? Don¡¯t worry, your boss is a good man. He¡¯s very kind and won¡¯t chase you out once he¡¯s taken you under his wing,¡± said Ma Xiao-An snappily.
The woman let out a breath and quickly said, ¡°Thank you, Boss! Thank you, Big Brother!¡±
¡°We¡¯ve been thanked. Don¡¯t be so formal. Oh, right, what¡¯s your name? I¡¯m Xia Lei and he¡¯s Ma Xiao-An,¡± smiled Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m Zhou Xiao-Hong,¡± she said, then seemed to suddenly remember something and added, ¡°Greetings, Boss Xia! Greetings, Big Brother Ma!¡±
Ma Xiao-An was ufortable about hiring her but when Zhou Xiao-Hong started sweetly saying ¡®Boss¡¯ and ¡®Big Brother¡¯, his heart softened. Zhou Xiao-Hong was also a young and pretty countryss - a big man like him couldn¡¯t keep being mean to her, could he? That was so ssless.
¡°You don¡¯t have a ce to stay?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Zhou Xiao-Hong hung her head and spoke sheepishly, ¡°Um, my money... is gone. The hotel owner threw me out early this morning.¡±
Xia Lei considered some options and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you stay in the shop for now. We have a foldable bed in here. I¡¯ll order some delivery for youter so you¡¯ll have to make do with it for now. I¡¯ll help you think of something once you¡¯re settled.¡±
¡°You¡¯re truly a good person, Boss Xia. Thank you, thank you!¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong thanked him repeatedly again.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°There you go again. Don¡¯t be so formal anymore.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong smiled awkwardly, then said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to order delivery food for me. Y-you can just give me instant noodles.¡±
¡°How can that suffice? Xiao-An, get her some take-away from the Sichuan restaurant opposite our shop. I¡¯ll set up her sleeping arrangements.¡±
¡°Okay,¡± grunted Ma Xiao-An, but he went close to Xia Lei and spoke in a low voice, ¡°Don¡¯t you have a spare room at home? Bring her home, then! Heh heh.¡±
Xia Lei stomped on Ma Xiao-An¡¯s foot. ¡°What rubbish! Get out!¡±
Ma Xiao-An was in tears and grimacing as he went to get some take-away for Zhou Xiao-Hong. He was actually joking since he knew Xia Lei was not that kind of person. He wasn¡¯t that sort either, or he wouldn¡¯t be friends with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei unfolded the foldable bed and put a cotton padding and nket on it. This foldable bed had been left behind by Uncle Jiang. Xia Lei had bought new bedding and intended to use the bed for sleep when he worked overtime, but had not expected that a country girl would move in after their first day. It was a good thing she could use it.
¡°Boss Xia, how can I let you do the work? Let me set up the bed.¡± While Xia Lei was setting it up, Zhou Xiao-Hong pushed him away.
Xia Lei saw her agile hands and pondered what work to assign her tomorrow. Paying her 3,000 including room and board was partially because he felt sorry for her but he could not just hand her the money for nothing. ¡®Interaction with customers will be handled by her, definitely, but this is not enough work. What if I teach her metal-working? She¡¯s young so she will learn quickly and can start working independently in two months. Yep, let her take care of customers and clean up around the shop first and teach her welding andthe processing in our free time.¡¯
¡°These are new, Boss Xia! Can I really sleep here?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong was finished but did not dare to lie on it.
¡°Why not? Just stay here for now and look for something else when your situation gets better.¡±
¡°Yes, Boss Xia! You are truly a good person,¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong added, ¡°I... I haven¡¯t thanked you.¡±
Xia Lei was tickled by her simple honesty andughed, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you thank me, I just don¡¯t want you to be so formal. Oh, right, I have an idea but I don¡¯t know if you¡¯d agree.¡±
¡°What idea?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong grew nervous. She unconsciously pulled at her half-open cor, as if trying to cover up some secret.
It was normal for her to have that sort of reaction when a strange man suddenly said he thought of something and asked if she would agree. Xia Lei, on the other hand, found her more and more interesting. He grinned and said, ¡°I was thinking of letting you learn metal-working, welding andthe processing. If you are diligent, you will have some marketable skill set even if you go back to your hometown. Do you want to learn?¡±
¡°Oh, you mean that?¡±
¡°What do you think I meant?¡± Xia Lei chuckled at her.
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s cheeks were stained red and she hurriedly said, ¡°N,nothing. Of course! I¡¯ve always wanted to pick up a skill but had no money to learn. My hometown is a farmers¡¯ vige and my family has no skilled workers so I could never fulfill my wish. If you are willing to teach me, Boss Xia, I will learn with all my heart.¡±
¡°That¡¯s decided then. You tend to the customers when theye tomorrow. Pour them a drink and ask what they need. If you have nothing to do, stick close to either myself or Ma Xiao-An and learn some metal-working."
¡°Will B-Big Brother Ma be willing to teach me?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked intimidated at the thought, ¡°I¡¯m a little afraid of him.¡±
Ma Xiao-An walked in at that moment with the take-away, ¡°Afraid of me? Will I eat you up?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong saw Ma Xiao-An and anxiously waved her hands. ¡°No, no, no, I don¡¯t mean that! I mean...¡±
Ma Xiao-An put the take-away in Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s hands and smiled as he said, ¡°Rx. As long as you¡¯re willing to learn, I won¡¯t hold back and I¡¯ll teach you everything I know.¡±
¡°Thank you, Big Brother Ma.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong rxed only then.
¡°And, I¡¯m a kinder and cuter person than your Boss Xia. You¡¯ll find that I have uncountable good points.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong looked at Ma Xiao-An, then looked at Xia Lei. She pursed her lips and said nothing but she did not feel that it was so. She could tell just from their eyes that they were very different.
After helping Zhou Xiao-Hong settle in, it was dark when Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An left Thunder Horse Workshop. Ma Xiao-An sent Xia Lei home on his ratty tatty motorcycle, then puttered off.
Back home, Xia Xue had dinner all prepared and was waiting for him to start dinner.
After dinner, Xia Lei switched on the television and selected an English channel to watch.
Xia Xue stared curiously at Xia Lei as she put the dishes away. ¡°When did you start to like to watch English channels, Brother? Can you understand it?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Of course I understand.¡±
Xia Xue snorted, ¡°Yeah, right! If even I don¡¯t really understand it, how can you?¡±
Xia Lei did not bother to exin himself. He watched the programme and learnt as he went, absorbing how the people on the telly spoke. He had already memorised all the words in the dictionary and the associated grammar so he was justcking the speaking factor. Once he got past this barrier, he would, unquestionably, be a human trantion machine. Of course, he couldn¡¯t tell Xia Xue this.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 26
Actually A Bad Person
The night grew darker and Xia Xue had long gone to bed but Xia Lei still sat on the sofa, diligently watching English programmes on television.
His learning ability was beyond description. When the person on television spoke, his left eye sent the matching vocabry and grammar to his brain, so no matter how long or foreign the phrase was, he only needed a split second to have it tranted. What was more frightening was that his eye was also recording every mouth-shape needed for each word¡¯s pronunciation he saw on television. His brain only needed to send the appropriatemands to his eye for them to automatically appear in his mind. If his brain could be described as aputer, his left eye was, unquestionably, the microchip processor.
¡®Too easy! Learning a foreignnguage poses no difficulty for me. I should be able to speakfortably with English native speakers now. I may be even better at text-based trantion.¡¯ It was almost midnight but Xia Lei had no intention of going to sleep. The rapid absorption of and advancement in the Englishnguage made him too excited.
The sound of car brakes suddenly came from downstairs and a white light beamed through the window.
¡®Was that Ru-Yi? It¡¯s sote now... She must¡¯ve been investigating the theft of thepass.¡¯ Xia Lei got up from the sofa and walked to the balcony beyond the dining room.
It was Ru-Yi - but she was not alone. Xu Lang was with her. The car was also not Ru-Yi¡¯s Volkswagen Polo but a higher-grade Audi Q5.
¡°I¡¯m not drunk, really, not drunk...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi staggered out of the car, slurring her words.
Xu Lang helped Ru-Yi andughed as he said, ¡°Yes, yes, you¡¯re not drunk but I¡¯ll still help you back home to rest, ok?¡± He put his arm around her little waist, holding her close like a lover.
Ru-Yi pushed Xu Lang and giggled, ¡°D,Don¡¯t say that... This Big S-Sister is not stupid. I¡¯m n,not falling for it.¡±
¡°What are you saying, Ru-Yi? Stop being silly. I¡¯ll send you home.¡± Xu Lan held Ru-Yi firmly around the waist and entered the stairwell.
They started climbing the stairs and disappeared from view. Xia Lei frowned. ¡®This Xu Lang is obviously taking advantage of Ru-Yi. There¡¯s no way he had pure intentions when he made her drunk and sent her home. I couldn¡¯t care less if it were someone else but this is Ru-Yi - I have to help.¡¯
If Xu Lang were a man Ru-Yi fancied and was in a loving rtionship with, Xia Lei would definitely not interfere in this matter. However, the situation before him was clearly not like that. The girl he used to y hide-and-seek and in the sand pit with was about to be dishonoured - how could he just stand by without doing anything?
Xia Lei left the balcony and headed down, running to Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s t.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s t was on the first floor and was only half a flight of steps up. By the time Xia Lei got to the door, it was shut. He could vaguely hear Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s muttering and Xu Lang¡¯s voice through the door.
¡°No... I don¡¯t want you here... I can take care of myself... I¡¯m not drunk...¡±
¡°Ru-Yi, you smell of alcohol. Why don¡¯t I remove your clothes? I¡¯ll help you take a shower and you can have a nice,fy sleep afterwards.¡±
Xia Lei cursed the shameless man. His left eye twitched and the situation in the t appeared in his vision.
Jiang Ru-Yiy on the sofa like a lump of jelly. Xu Lang, who had just helped her to the sofa, knelt and reached to pull her shoes off. The bastard held Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s pale and delicate ankle, smilingsciviously as he sniffed her jade-like foot, intoxicated.
¡°Go away, go away...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi kicked at Xu Lang but her body was limp and weak. The bit of resistance she disyed did nothing at all.
Xu Lang made no move to leave. He put down Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s foot and reached to undo the buttons on her police uniform.
Bam, bam, bam! Bam, bam, bam!
Violent, urgent knocks suddenly interrupted Xu Lang¡¯s advancement.
Xu Lang looked back at the door. He did not get to his feet, nor did he make a sound.
Bam, bam, bam! Bam, bam, bam!
Xu Lang¡¯s brow wrinkled. The fellow outside the door seemed to be intent on getting in his way. However, he was good at bearing things patiently; he continued to pretend not to hear and watched, waiting.
¡°Who...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi slurred.
Xu Lang then reached his hand out to cover Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s mouth. She struggled, but was unable to rid herself of his hand; she could not make a sound.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye saw everything and he understood Xu Lang¡¯s intention. That bastard was trying to create the illusion that no one was home!
Xu Lang waited till there were no more knocks, then reached for Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s chest again.
Bam, bam, bam! Bam, bam, bam!
The knocking came again.
¡°Fuck! Who is that?¡± Xu Lang could not hold it in anymore. That person outside the door must be going up against him deliberately!
Xu Lang was stunned when he opened the door. It was the person he did not want to see the most - Xia Lei.
Xia Lei red icily at Xu Lang without a word.
Xu Lang quickly calmed himself and shed a pleasant smile, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Master Xia. What is it?¡±
¡°Nothing,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nothing?¡± A small twist of anger showed at the corner of Xu Lang¡¯s lips but it disappeared in a second. The pleasant smile stayed on his face. ¡°If it¡¯s nothing, you should go home. Ru-Yi and I still need to discuss some work matters so we can¡¯t entertain you.¡±
Xia Lei suddenlyughed.
¡°What are youughing at, Master Xia?¡± Xu Lang kept a civil air but he was cursing him inside.
Laughing, Xia Lei said, ¡°Inspector Xu, I¡¯ve seen many shameless people but it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen one as shameless as you.¡±
Xu Lang¡¯s face changed in anger, ¡°You! The one surnamed Xia*! What did you say? I dare you to say that again!¡±
¡°Haven¡¯t I made it clear enough? I¡¯ll say it again - listen up. I said, you are a shameless bastard!¡±
Xu Lang raised his fist angrily.
Xia Lei did not bat an eye. ¡°Inspector Xu, think things through before you act. If we doe to blows, you can beat me up or I can beat you up. Don¡¯t think I¡¯m afraid of your status. I won¡¯t be afraid to blow things up too.¡±
Xu Lang slowly lowered his fist. He knew that it was true that he intoxicated Jiang Ru-Yi with the intention of getting her body. If something like this was revealed, the one who¡¯d suffer was him and not Xia Lei.
¡°Get lost if you¡¯re not going to fight. Don¡¯t let me see you again,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xu Lang pointed angrily at Xia Lei, ¡°Fine, fine... You have guts. We¡¯ll see about that.¡±
Ptui! Xia Lei spat on the ground in response.
Xu Lang departed, hopping mad, and hit the flower bed with his car. He could be heard cursing from about ten metres away, his elegance totally lost.
Xia Lei closed the door and went to the sofa to look at Jiang Ru-Yi in exasperation. ¡°Are you stupid? You let yourself get so drunk while drinking with a person like that! Good thing he brought you home - it¡¯ll be a disaster if he brought you to a hotel.¡±
Xu Lang would definitely not dare to check into a hotel with his status, so that was a stroke of luck for Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi opened her drunk eyes and looked at Xia Lei. She smiled, ¡°Hee hee... Am I seeing things? Isn¡¯t this our little Lei from next door?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Whatcha doin¡¯ Little Lei?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll punch you,¡± said Xia Lei in annoyance.
¡°You... You¡¯re still so mean.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi started giggling, ¡°But I forgive you! I forgive all your mistakes... Hee hee...¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t talk to you like this. Go to bed. I¡¯ll be heading back to sleep too. I can¡¯t be bothered with you.¡±
¡°I wanna dwink waater.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi struggled to get up from the sofa but she had no sense of bnce. She got up but fell to the carpet with a plop, her smooth and round bum pointing to the sky. Her short uniform skirt hiked up, revealing soft white skin and whitece panties with an obvious shape in the material. This position was so tititing it was hard to look at it directly.
Xia Lei was going to just leave her there but he just couldn¡¯t after seeing her in that state. He took her into his arms and entered her room, then went back to the living room to get her a ss of water.
Jiang Ru-Yi did not seem better after drinking a ss of cold water. She squinted at Xia Lei drunkenly, ¡°H,how did I get on the bed?¡±
This was a simple question but Xia Lei did not know how to respond.
¡°Heh heh, Lei... You wanna take advantage of this Big Sister?¡±
¡°Advantage, my foot. I¡¯m thanking the Heavens you¡¯re not taking advantage of me.¡± Xia Lei turned to leave. ¡°Just go to sleep and stop it with your wild thoughts.¡±
¡°I wanna bath! Bath!¡±
¡°Do it yourself.¡± Xia Lei could not wait to get out of Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s t.
Thump! Jiang Ru-Yi rolled off the bed. This time, she did not have her bum in the air but sprawled across the floor, spreadeagled. Her whitece panties showed under her uniform skirt. It was a sight one should not look at directly yet couldn¡¯t help but peek at.
¡°I wanna take a bath... No... I wanna take a bath...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi wriggled on the ground like a boneless white loach.
¡°You little... Fine! I must¡¯ve owed you something in my past life.¡± Xia Leiughed grimly as he carried her and headed to the bathroom.
When Xu Lang was here, she still held onto a shred of rity, kicking and struggling. Now that Xia Lei was here, she demanded water and a bath next, treating himpletely like a bosom buddy. What was this situation? Xia Lei had never thought about it before now as he carried her to the bathroom.
Jiang Ru-Yi had her arms around his neck and the smell of alcohol and perfume hit him in waves. She slurred, ¡°Little Lei, you gotta take, take good care of this Big Sister. Serve Big Sister well and Big Sister will give you a... a... a...¡±
¡°A what?¡±
¡°Bone.¡± Shepleted the sentence after letting out a blech.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry and he was more than a little annoyed. He put her in the bathtub right after entering the bathroom and smacked her bum. ¡°I saved you and this is how you treat me? Calling me a dog?!¡±
The smack echoed and there were graceful ripples like a wind moving a lotus leaf in a pond.
Jiang Ru-Yi gave a muffled moan, seemingly either pained by the smack or reacting to being hit in a sensitive spot. She wobbled as she grabbed Xia Lei by the cor, meaning to drag him into the bathtub while mumbling, ¡°You h,h,hit me! Imma strip you!¡±
Xia Lei was caught off guard and she actually did manage to undo a button.
Xia Lei did not dare to hang around any longer. He pushed her back into the bathtub and turned on the showerhead without helping her take off her uniform, then escaped the bathroom.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s angry voice came from behind him, ¡°Lei! You asshole! I¡¯ll strangle you! Just you wait - I¡¯ll strangle you to death!¡±
Xia Lei froze after escaping the bathroom. She¡¯s sober already? Was she really drunk or was she faking it?
*Author did it again with the name-surname. Sigh.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 27 - Fishing for a Big One
Chapter 27 - Fishing for a Big One
The next morning, Xia Lei went out after eating the breakfast Xia Xue had prepared for him and headed for the machine shop. He¡¯d deliberately left ten minutes earlier to avoid Jiang Ru-Yi on his way out but found her waiting for him with her arms crossed when he went down the stairs.
Standing in the glow of dawn with her crisp summer uniform and police hat, Jiang Ru-Yi looked uncharacteristically majestic. She red at Xia Lei like he was an underwear thief.
Xia Lei remembered him smacking her on her bum thest night and felt shame. He soldiered on and greeted her, ¡°Morning, Ru-Yi. Who are you waiting for here?¡±
¡°You.¡±
¡°What for?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi red at Xia Lei, ¡°Pretending, huh? Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know what you didst night. Come clean now and I can still forgive you.¡±
Xia Leiughed hollowly, ¡°You were drunk and that Xu Lang guy sent you home. He wanted to do ¡®that¡¯ to you and I rushed over to stop him.¡±
A blush spread across Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face. ¡°I-I¡¯m not talking about that. That guy¡¯s bad news, I know. Let¡¯s not talk about that. I want to know aboutter. What did you do afterwards?¡±
¡°That guy left and I left. I didn¡¯t do anything.¡±
¡°Liar.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi raised her hip and pointed at the highest point on her left side. ¡°When I woke up this morning I was naked and there¡¯s a p-print here. You said you stopped Xu Lang and he left, and you left, so who gave me a bath? Who changed my clothes? Who carried me to bed, and pped me here?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s forehead beaded with sweat. He¡¯s in trouble!
¡°Was it you?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s tone softened, ¡°Admit it, Lei. I¡¯ll forgive all your mistakes.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You didn¡¯t just stop at smacking my bum, did you? Did you molest me? Or kiss me? Or even... that? Just confess, I know you did it all.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi continued probing, the look in her eyes like that of a wretched Big Sister holding out a lollipop to trick a child.
Xia Lei could not stand it anymore. ¡°Enough, it¡¯ll be bad if the neighbours hear all this in the morning. I did nothing. Am I the sort who would take advantage of you after getting you drunk? It must¡¯ve been you who gave yourself a bath, changed your own clothes and gone to sleep yourself.¡±
¡°Then what is this p-mark?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi pointed at her hip again, angry yet shy.
¡°It could be a mosquito which bit you, and you hit yourself,¡± Xia Lei ventured.
¡°Oh, really?¡±
Xia Lei quickly nodded, ¡°I think this is the most logical exnation.¡± He added, ¡°Plus, if I really did ¡®that¡¯ to you, you would have evidence ¡®over there¡¯. Did you get any evidence?¡±
¡°Ptoooh! Gross! Don¡¯t talk about that, you shameless guy!¡± scolded Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Okay, okay... I won¡¯t talk about it. I¡¯m rushing off to the workshop now so let¡¯s chat another day. Bye.¡±
But Jiang Ru-Yi blocked Xia Lei¡¯s way.
Xia Lei frowned, ¡°What are you doing? If I¡¯d known this would happen I shouldn¡¯t have saved youst night and let that Xu Lang bastard take advantage of you.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi reached out a hand to Xia Lei, smiling nicely, ¡°I was just kidding with you earlier. I¡¯m actually here specially to thank you. Thank you. Come, shake hands with Big Sister and be on your way.¡±
¡®Crazy...¡¯ cursed Xia Lei quietly but he still had a smile on his face as he shook hands with Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s smile disappeared as soon as they were done shaking hands. She peeled off a thin, transparent film from her finger right in front of Xia Lei andughed evilly, ¡°Let me tell you - I took the prints from the p-mark. I¡¯ll take your prints and see if they match and if they do... Just you wait! Humph!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Jiang Ru-Yi left with a toss of her head, leaving Xia Lei standing dumbly for a while before he let out a hollowugh and walked out of the neighbourhood to catch a bus.
After he got off the bus, he saw that the doors to the workshop were already wide open. Zhou Xiao-Hong mopped the floor in the workshop with her bountiful assets protruding. Golden rays of dawn shone on the floor and on her, making her bountiful area glow with golden richness. It was breathtaking.
His left eye twitched involuntarily and a flower garden presented itself to him. Xia Lei immediately pped himself and quietly scolded, ¡®It¡¯s early in the morning! You dirty man!¡¯
Zhou Xiao-Hong only became aware of his presence when he walked into the shop. She quickly put down the mop and put on a sweet smile, ¡°Good morning, Boss Xia. I¡¯ll make some tea for you.¡±
¡°No, No, you don¡¯t have to,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
Zhou Xiao-Hong went to make him a cup of green tea anyway and offered it to him respectfully with both hands.
¡°Thank you. Why don¡¯t you take a break? You¡¯re perspiring,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s all right. I only have a bit of floor space left to clean.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong took up the mop again.
Xia Lei was secretly pleased, ¡®She¡¯s hardworking. Looks like I made the right choice in hiring her.¡¯
Zhou Xiao-Hong bent over the floor, mopping. She reached to wipe away some perspiration and she seemed to be overheated since she also pulled at her cor and fanned herself. The two mountainous existences jiggled with the waves of her little hand.*
Xia Lei looked away ufortably and spotted Ma Xiao-An arriving on his motorcycle.
¡°Lei, guess who I saw just now?¡± said Ma Xiao-An as soon as he stepped into the workshop.
¡°Who did you see?¡± Xia Lei yed along and asked.
¡°I saw that female Doctor, that uh... what¡¯s her name?¡± Ma Xiao-An forgot the name and looked at Xia Lei.
¡°Ning Jing,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Right, right. Ning Jing,¡± smiled Ma Xiao-An.
¡°Have some tea, Big Brother Ma.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong brought Ma Xiao-An a fragrant cup of green tea without him asking.
Ma Xiao-An seemed to enjoy it, and he affected a bossy manner as he said, ¡°Go about your work, then.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong brought a rag to Xia Lei¡¯s table. She polished the table seriously and vigorously, her bosom moving as her hands moved; swaying left, left, swaying right, right.
Ma Xiao-An¡¯s mouth hung open as he watched the hardworking Zhou Xiao-Hong wipe the table, his words forgotten.
Xia Lei kicked Ma Xiao-An in the shin and red at him, ¡°You said you saw Doctor Ning. What was she doing?¡±
¡°She was getting money from the cashpoint up the street,¡± answered Ma Xiao-An quickly. He moved around Xia Lei and continued to admire Zhou Xiao-Hong wiping the table. As if that was not enough, he pointed at a spot on the table and said, ¡°Xiao-Hong, wipe here too. It¡¯s dirty.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong brought her rag over and started wiping. **And a wipe wipe here, and a wipe wipe there... The pair of huge mysterious objects jiggled even more spectacrly - Left! Right! It was mesmerising.
Xia Lei chuckled and shook his head. He wanted to kick Ma Xiao-An again but didn¡¯t have the heart to in the end.
A few minutester, Ning Jing walked slowly in with a paper bag sandwiched under her armpit. The paper bag was thick and bulging and looked like it was stuffed full of something.
She came right after Ma Xiao-An mentioned her. Xia Lei went forward to greet her warmly, ¡°Good morning, Big Sister Ning. What are you doing here?¡±
Ning Jing took the paper bag from under her armpit and shoved it in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°This is 50,000 yuan. I¡¯vee to settle payment.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, ¡°This is...¡± He remembered what Ma Xiao-An had just said - Ning Jing was withdrawing money from a cashpoint and was now suddenly delivering the 50,000 yuan payment. This money was definitely not from the Archaeological Bureau but from her own savings.
Ning Jing spoke vaguely, ¡°Um, ept this. The Bureau has authorised it. This um, our Bureau Chief asked me to deliver it to you this morning.¡±
Xia Lei would have believed that the money was from the Archaeological Bureau if Ma Xiao-An had not seen her withdraw money from the cashpoint. ¡°Big Sister Ning, this money can¡¯t be yours, can it?¡± he questioned.
Ning Jing seemed to panic. ¡°No, no. This money is really from the Archaeological Bureau. Stop asking, just ept it.¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s reaction made Xia Lei even more certain that the money was hers. He definitely couldn¡¯t ept it now. He pushed the paper bag back into Ning Jing¡¯s hands, saying, ¡°Big Sister Ning, I know this is your own money. I can¡¯t take it. They have to pay me the 50,000 sooner orter anyway and I¡¯m in no urgent need of money.¡±
Ning Jing suddenly shoved the money back into Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°Master Xia, say no more and ask no more. ept this money.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t ept this. Please, take it back.¡± Xia Lei pushed the money back to Ning Jing.
Ning Jing stepped backwards and hid her hands behind her back. The paper bag fell to the floor and the 50,000 spilled out.
Xia Lei held out his hands andughed dryly, ¡°What are you doing, Big Sister Ning?¡±
Ning Jing bit her lip glumly and only replied after a while, ¡°Those guys are unreasonable. I wrote a report to apply for the payment of your 50,000 but they said that Long Bing should pay for it since she took thepass. That woman is so fierce; would she pay you? You¡¯ve helped so much but received nopensation in the end. I cannot take this, so I will pay your fees.¡±
¡°I have my principles. Your loss is rted to me after all so I should be the one topensate you. I won¡¯t feel at ease unless you ept this money,¡± said Ning Jing earnestly.
Ma Xiao-An interrupted, ¡°Lei, just ept it. It¡¯s Doctor Ning¡¯s wish.¡±
They were at a stalemate and Xia Lei decided to break out of it. He picked up the five bundles of money from the ground and peeled off a single 100-yuan note. ¡°I¡¯ll take 100 yuan for thepass repair fee. You take the rest back. I will be upset if you keep insisting.¡±
¡°Master Xia, you...¡± Ning Jing didn¡¯t know what to say.
Xia Lei packed the rest of the money neatly and squeezed the paper bag into Ning Jing¡¯s hands, smiling as he said, ¡°If you see me as a friend, you¡¯ll take this money back.¡±
Ning Jing sighed. ¡°What should I do with you? Fine, I¡¯ll take the money back; I don¡¯t want to lose a friend like you.¡±
Xia Lei grinned, ¡°That¡¯s how it should be.¡±
Ma Xiao-An looked at Zhou Xiao-Hong and mouthed to her, ¡°Your boss is an idiot. A big, big fool.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong blinked her big dark eyes, seemingly not understanding what the smaller boss was saying. On the other hand, she was quite full of respect for Xia Lei.
Ning Jing spoke again, ¡°I will take the money back but I¡¯ll still think of a way to help you cover your losses.¡±
¡°There¡¯s really no need for that, Big Sister Ning,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Let me finish. My uncle is in charge of a state-owned enterprise which mainly produces specialised equipment. Some precision machining parts have to be imported from abroad but Europe and America have put in ce stricter technology blockades so precision machining parts and special material we could easily purchase before are now unavable. Last night, my uncle was talking with my dad and he has a very important order that can¡¯t bepleted because of this problem. It made me think of you, with your wonderful workmanship. Maybe you can process those precision machining parts. How about I rmend you to my uncle?¡±
Xia Lei had not expected her to say that. ¡°This sounds like a big thing. I don¡¯t know if I can do it,¡± said Xia Lei, surprised.
¡°You can definitely do it - I¡¯ve considered your skill,¡± said Ning Jing, ¡°How about I set a time, have the two of you meet, and give it a try. How do you know if you can or cannot do it if you don¡¯t try?¡±
¡°Okay, then. Please set a time for me to meet your uncle. It doesn¡¯t hurt to try.¡±
¡°That¡¯s settled then; wait for my call. I¡¯ll have to go to work now. Those fellows are still opposing me so they will have a lot to pick on if I amte,¡± said Ning Jing, annoyed.
Xia Lei saw Ning Jing out the door and to her car, then went back to his workshop.
Ma Xiao-Anughed merrily, ¡°Nice, Lei! I was calling you an idiot earlier for rejecting the 50,000 which should have been yours anyway... I didn¡¯t think you were fishing for a big one!¡±
¡°I had no such intention. Ning Jing is an honest person so I can¡¯t take her money.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong interrupted to say, ¡°Boss Xia, this is how good begets good.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Ho ho! I like this expression - well said!¡±
Ma Xiao-An pointed at his table, ¡°Xiao-Hong, wipe my table too. Rub it hard so that it¡¯ll shine like the stars.¡±
¡°Okay!¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong moved to the table and wiped as Ma Xiao-An had instructed. **And a wipe wipe here, and a wipe wipe there... She did not notice the little boss¡¯s eyes staring greedily at her bouncing bosom with nary a blink.
Xia Lei sighed and pondered the importance of office tables in the workshop.
*Part removed. Superfluous description.
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like a pond in summer when a sudden wind causedrge waves and broke the original tranquility of its surface.
**Sing with the Old McDonald Had a Farm tune.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 28
The Air of Youth
Another week passed in the blink of an eye.
Business got better and better from the first day at Thunder Horse Workshop. This was not due to luck but to workmanship. No one can say for sure how good Xia Lei¡¯s workmanship was but all who came to him left satisfied. As an old saying put it - good wine needs no bush. The location of Thunder Horse Workshop was not ideal but as Xia Lei¡¯s reputation grew, business naturally came to him and he had no need of advertisement.
Zhou Xiao-Hong had also started to learn some metalworking such as welding andthe processing. Shecked the basics and was only a junior high school graduate but she had a good head on her shoulders. Most times, Ma Xiao-An only had to tell her once before her trying the actual operation and she got it. With her drive to learn, Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An were sure she could start working on simple jobs in no time.
Their day went past in a busy blur, bathing Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An in perspiration. They exchanged nces and smiled at the pile of processing parts in the cardboard box. It was tiring but it was worth it!
¡°I¡¯m pooped, Lei. Let¡¯s go for barbecue tonight, my treat.¡± Ma Xiao-An wiped his sweat with a towel and the grease on his face smeared onto the towel. The white towel was dirtied instantly.
Xia Lei grinned, ¡°Sure, but it¡¯s my treat.¡± They had earned seven to eight thousand yuan in the past few days so he was in high spirits. This amount of money couldn¡¯t bepared to his winnings in Macau but this money was earned in a more practical way and it gave him great satisfaction.
Zhou Xiao-Hong carried a washbasin over and nimbly wrung the towel which was sitting in the washbasin. She handed it to Xia Lei, saying, ¡°Boss Xia, here¡¯s a towel for you.¡±
Xia Lei took the towel and wiped his face, then said, ¡°Xiao-Hong, you shoulde tonight too. I¡¯m treating you to barbecue. And don¡¯t call me ¡®Boss Xia¡¯ anymore. Just call me ¡®Big Brother Lei¡¯ instead.¡±
¡°Okay, Big Brother Lei.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked delighted, ¡°I want fried chicken wings, offal and beef. Can I?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Of course you can. Eat whatever you¡¯d like.¡±
¡°Hey, Xiao-Hong. You eat so much but why we don¡¯t see you getting fat?¡± teased Ma Xiao-An.
Zhou Xiao-Hong pouted, displeased and said, ¡°You¡¯re teasing me again, Big Brother Ma. I¡¯m from the mountains so we don¡¯t have barbecue there. I¡¯d only eaten it once in junior high school and haven¡¯t had any since.¡±
Ma Xiao-An had always had a slippery tongue but he held his tongue. He drew the line at making fun of Xiao-Hong¡¯s poverty.
¡°Wait for me, I¡¯m going to wash my face. I don¡¯t want you to bring me out with a dirty face.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong did not notice Xia Lei¡¯s change in mood and was still cheerful.
Xia Lei looked at the plimsolls on her feet and suddenly said, ¡°Xiao-Hong, we have been busy these past few days and have not been taking care of you properly. Please don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±
¡°I...¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong thought she¡¯d said something off-putting and grew anxious.
Xia Lei patted her on her shoulder, smiled and said, ¡°Go wash your face, then Ma Xiao-An and I will bring you shopping. We¡¯ll have barbecueter. First, we¡¯ll get you some sets of clothing. Oh, and shoes.¡±
¡°No, no, you guys have been more than good to me. How can I let you buy me clothes too? I-I will buy them myself when I get my pay,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Xia Lei spoke teasingly, ¡°You¡¯ve been wearing these shoes day in and day out - they must really smell, eh? If we wait till you get your pay to buy a pair, that smell would be really fragrant then.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong was suddenly embarrassed and her apple-shaped face turned red. She subconsciously moved her foot back but there was no way to hide her pair of feet.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Go, go. It¡¯s still early so you¡¯ll have time to take a shower. Ma Xiao-An and I will wait for you outside.¡±
¡°Hurry, hurry. We¡¯ll bring you out shopping and get you pretty new clothes and shoes. When we get back you¡¯ll be a great beauty,¡± added Ma Xiao-An.
¡°Nn...¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s eyes grew red and she turned to run into her room.
¡°She¡¯s a good girl,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll go see if the water heater is working fine,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei pped Ma Xiao-An on his back. ¡°Come on, shape up. Xiao-Hong is a kind and honest girl. Don¡¯t bully her. And, she¡¯s not for you either.¡±
Ma Xiao-An looked at Xia Lei with innocent eyes, ¡°Then what sort of woman is for me?¡±
Just then, a woman walked past the workshop. She was heavily made-up and dressed flirtatiously, showing off pale legs and an hourss figure. Her bottom swayed as she walked, drawing the attention of men. She was proud and ignored them, not interested in even giving them a nce.
Xia Lei grinned as he said, ¡°Saw that? That sort of woman suits you.¡±
Ma Xiao-An¡¯s eyes were glued to the woman¡¯s ass and he could not tear them away.
Xia Lei stood next to Ma Xiao-An to look at the shy woman. Every man likes to look at a beautiful woman and that little bit of admiration suddenly enabled Xia Lei to see below the surface. A beautifulndscape greeted his eyes ¨C round pearls, jade-like glossiness and full, perky buttocks. He could easily look at a view other men could only work hard to see and that made him feel good.
He saw a little too much and a certain body part started to have a reaction. Xia Lei stopped using his eye and tapped Ma Xiao-An on the shoulder, ¡°Xiao-An, remember. Only proud women like her are suited for you.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯d better look at her some more ¨C her butt is sexy! Haha!¡± Ma Xiao-An chased after her and whistled at the proud woman¡¯s back.
The proud woman looked back, then shot Ma Xiao-An the middle finger.
Ma Xiao-An was not annoyed at all ¨C heughed raucously.
A red Volkswagen Polo suddenly stopped by the road in front of Thunder Horse Workshop. The door opened and a uniform-d Jiang Ru-Yi stepped out.
When he saw Jiang Ru-Yi, Xia Lei suddenly remembered the incident which he would never wash himself clean of. He crouched behind the pir by the door and told Ma Xiao-An, ¡°Tell her I¡¯m not in if she¡¯s looking for me.¡±
¡°What¡¯s up between you two?¡± Ma Xiao-An was curious.
Xia Lei red at him. ¡°Don¡¯t ask. Just do as I said.¡±
Just then, Jiang Ru-Yi walked into the workshop.
¡°Sister-in...¡± Ma Xiao-An quickly changed his words, ¡°Isn¡¯t this Chief Jiang? Why, what wind blew you through our door today?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at him, ¡°Lay off the grease or I¡¯ll throw you in lockup. Where¡¯s Lei?¡±
¡°Lei? He... He¡¯s not in.¡± Ma Xiao-An sneaked a look at Xia Lei behind the pir.
Jiang Ru-Yi pushed Ma Xiao-An away, walked straight to the pir and flushed Xia Lei out as she said, ¡°Are you feeling guilty about something? You don¡¯t even dare to meet me now?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly, ¡°No, I was just tying my shoces.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi sighed, ¡°I watched you grow up. I can tell right away when you¡¯re lying.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°But you can rx. I didn¡¯te here today to pursue that matter.¡±
Xia Lei gave a mental sigh, ¡°Then what are you doing here?¡±
¡°A vegetable peddler hit my car with his three-wheeled cargo vehicle and he had no money to pay for repairs. I¡¯m so freaking mad! The car door¡¯s dented. Hurry and fix it or me,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An went to the road and looked at her car ¨C it was true. The Volkswagen Polo had a huge dent in the door.
¡°Hurry up, I have to rush back to the office for a meeting,¡± urged Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°I don¡¯t have any equipment for spray-painting here. Even if I pull the dent out you¡¯d still need to go to the garage to re-paint the door,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course I know I¡¯ll have to go to get it repainted at the garage but they won¡¯t charge so much if you get the dent out for me,¡± she said, followed by nagging, ¡°Hurry, hurry. This Big Sister needs to get to a meeting.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Ma Xiao-An, ¡°What are you standing around for? Hurry and fix it for Chief Jiang.¡±
¡°What an overbearing attitude - and she isn¡¯t paying either! Does she really think she¡¯s the Lady Boss?¡± grumbled Ma Xiao-An. His feathers were ruffled but he still dragged the welding power supply over and used low voltage, using the electrode to pull out the dent bit by bit.
While Ma Xiao-An was working, Jiang Ru-Yi pulled Xia Lei to the side and spoke in his ear, ¡°Remember the prints?¡±
Xia Lei grew nervous.
¡°The matching analysis results wille out soon. Do you have something to say to me?¡± she said.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry and was at a loss for words.
¡°Done. You can drive it off now, Chief Jiang,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Jiang Ru-Yi reached out and pinched Xia Lei¡¯s waist, ¡°I¡¯ll settle this with youter. I¡¯m off.¡±
Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An stood by the road together and watched Jiang Ru-Yi get into her car, drive off into the distance, then disappear from sight before they looked at each other.
¡°Lei, I don¡¯t think she paid, did she?¡± said Ma Xiao-An
¡°Why don¡¯t you ask her to pay up?¡± asked Xia Lei grumpily.
Ma Xiao-An shot a look at Xia Lei, ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so mean even if you¡¯re trying to get me in trouble. Get money from her? You may as well kill me now.¡±
At that moment, Zhou Xiao-Hong walked out, her ck hair still dripping wet. She was still wearing the same set of old-fashioned clothing but she had changed into a fresh set of underwear and she was also wearing white socks. She looked timidly at Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An, ¡°I¡¯m ready, let¡¯s... go?¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go! Shopping!¡±
The three of them closed the shop, then walked along the pavement. The glow of dusk surrounded the trio, painting a picture of youth.
¡°What sort of clothing do you like, Xiao-Hong? Big Brother will pick something out for you,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
¡°Jeans and a white sweatshirt,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
¡°That¡¯s so old-fashioned! Why not try thetest trend? Big Brother will help you pick out a short skirt. You¡¯ll be drop-dead gorgeous in it,¡± insisted Ma Xiao-An.
Zhou Xiao-Hong shook her head so hard she resembled a rattle. ¡°So disgraceful! I won¡¯t wear it.¡±
¡°Lei, say something. What will you get for her?¡±
¡°Hmm...¡± Xia Lei thought about it.
¡°I will wear whatever Big Brother Lei buys for me,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
¡°Eh? Why?¡± Ma Xiao-An was displeased.
¡°Because Big Brother Lei is a good person and he won¡¯t trick me,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Peals ofughter rang out from the streets, and thisughter held the air of youth.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 29
Just ssmates
¡°Morning, Big Brother Lei.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong, dressed in blue work clothes, stood at the door to greet Xia Lei who was just arriving. Her apple-shaped face, nice body and new clothes made her seem like she was aglow.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Morning to you too. Do you like the clothes?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong gave a little twirl and smiled, ¡°I feel it¡¯s a bit of a shame to wear them. Heehee.¡±
¡°Work clothes are for you to work in, so why not wear them?¡± said Xia Lei.
He walked into the workshop and found that the floor had already been mopped, desks wiped, the tools arranged neatly and even wiped clean. Xia Lei was strangely moved by this ¨C She must have been up very early to have already done so much.
¡°Xiao-Hong, I¡¯ll teach you how to use thethe,¡± said Xia Lei. He understood her actions; she must want to have more time to learn metalworking so she woke up early to clean up.
¡°Yes!¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong was excited at hearing Xia Lei say he was going to teach her to use thethe, as expected.
Xia Lei set thethe in motion and put a piece of scrap metal under the drill, then let Zhou Xiao-Hong try processing it. ¡°Let¡¯s try processing a nut this time.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong stood in front of thethe as instructed but did not know where to begin.
Xia Lei stood behind her, held her hands and showed her the steps of how the processing should be done.
Xia Lei, as teacher, was teaching seriously and his student was absorbed in the task. Then came a part when they had to observe the nut closely and Zhou Xiao-Hong naturally leaned forward. Her buttocks went up,ing into contact with Xia Lei behind her. An embarrassing rubbing happened just like that and she reacted like she had touched something she shouldn¡¯t have. Xia Lei was also jolted by the contact and hurriedly moved backwards.
The contact made them sensitive and their faces turned pink.
At that moment, Ma Xiao-An walked in. What he saw was not the embarrassing scene but the sparkling clean desks. His sounded depressed as he said, ¡°Xiao-Hong, you... Why did you wipe the desks so early?¡±
Watching Zhou Xiao-Hong wipe the desks was a sort of entertainment and joy for him. Her wiping the desks before he even got there meant no more of that for him.
Zhou Xiao-Hong giggled and her giggle tinkled like bells.
And so, a new day begun.
It was hectic in the morning and the three of them only had time to rest close to noon.
Ning Jing arrived at Thunder Horse Workshop with her car and as soon as she saw Xia Lei, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, Master Xia.¡±
¡°Go where?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Did you forget what I told you? My uncle has time today. He called and told me to bring you over for the two of you to meet and have a chat.¡±
Xia Lei pped himself lightly on the forehead, andughed as he said, ¡°I¡¯ve been so busy these days I forgot. Hold on, I¡¯ll change into a set of fresh clothes before I go. I¡¯m all dirty now so it wouldn¡¯t be respectful to meet your uncle like this.¡±
Ning Jing smiled, ¡°Yep, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡±
Xia Lei wiped his face, washed his hands and went in the back to change. Thunder Horse Workshop had no changing room so the space Zhou Xiao-Hong slept in became his changing ce. Xia Lei walked in and saw that Zhou Xiao-Hong had hung up her red underwear, white underwear, purple bra and other things around the space. He was suddenly reminded of their idental contact that morning ¨C it seemed like it had happened a minute ago, so clear and detailed. Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, ¡°I really ought to get myself a woman. It¡¯s not good if I¡¯m this sensitive.¡±
After getting changed, he got into Ning Jing¡¯s car and they set off.
¡°What is your uncle¡¯s name, Big Sister Ning?¡± Xia Lei asked, ¡°If I want to talk about doing business with him, it would be insincere of me if I don¡¯t even know his name.¡±
¡°Master Xia, are you always so thoughtful about everything you do?¡± Ning Jing saidughingly.
Xia Lei smiled but said nothing.
¡°His name is Ning Yuan-Shan, Chairman of East Wind Heavy Industries.¡±
Xia Lei was secretly shocked. He knew the name ¨C East Wind Heavy Industries was a government-owned multi-billion-yuan enterprise. The chairman of such arge enterpriseing to a small roadside business like his to talk about doing business? No one would believe him if he told them about it. However, he was sure that this was due to Ning Jing¡¯s help. Ning Yuan-Shan would not even be interested in seeing him, let alone have a business meeting if it were not for Ning Jing.
¡°Thank you. I know you want to help me and I appreciate it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why so formal with me? My uncle is not the bigwig you think he is. He¡¯s quite easygoing and loves his country; a total straight arrow. He is facing some difficulties now and you are the person who could help him solve his problem so of course he¡¯d want to meet you. He actually agreed right away when I told him about it. You also know that people of his station are very busy so he could only have time to meet today, and he called to tell me to bring you over,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°I¡¯ll try my best,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t be so humble. I know very well how skilled you are and I¡¯m 100% confident in you,¡± said Ning Jing. She seemed to suddenly remember something and added, ¡°One more thing ¨C I went to the hospital for a check-up and it was as you said. I really had galldder stones. It was a good thing it was discovered early so I didn¡¯t have to have surgery. I have to thank you for that, no matter what.¡±
¡°I say, we should stop trying to thank each other back and forth. We don¡¯t have to be so formal as friends,¡±ughed Xia Lei.
Ning Jing nodded, ¡°Yeah, not formal as friends. Heheh.¡±
Half an hourter, the car crossed the Hai-Zhu City limits and arrived at the seaside. Severalrge cranes towered over the harbor in the distance and there was also a shipyard constructing ships; It was a very busy scene. Ning Jing drove onto a car-specife and kept going for a few minutes more before they saw a huge factory sitting on a piece ofnd by the sea.
After entering East Wind Heavy Industries, Ning Jing brought Xia Lei to a reception room. ¡°I¡¯ll go look for my uncle. Wait for me here.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Sure, you go. I¡¯ll wait here.¡±
Xia Lei looked around the reception room after Ning Jing walked off. There was an ink painting on the wall depicting a tercel with wings outspread, looking down on a mountaintop. The work was signed by Ning Yuan-Shan. Based on this painting, it was easy to tell that this reception room was one Ning Yuan-Shan used for exclusive meetings and regr guests were not allowed in.
¡®This is all due to Ning Jing. I really owe her big time ¨C how can I repay her this favour?¡¯ wondered Xia Lei.
At that moment, a woman walked in. She was very pretty ¨C ck officedy clothes and white ruffled blouse matched with a pair of beige high-heels, serious yet youthful. She looked about the same age as Xia Lei. He looked a little closer at her face and froze.
This woman was no stranger ¨C it was his high school ssmate, Chi Jing-Qiu.
Chi Jing-Qiu was the first girl he liked. He¡¯d had a secret crush on her for a year before he drummed up the courage to write her a love letter. He would never forget when Chi Jing-Qiu read the love letter he had given to her. She had taken out her pen and written one line on his letter: I like boys like Wu Qi-Long* so, ssmate Xia, are you a boy like him?
She had then pasted the ¡®corrected¡¯ love letter on the ssroom ckboard and turned Xia Lei into the schoolughingstock.
It would have been fine even if she had just thrown the letter into the bin but writing that scathing line and pasting it on the ckboard had scarred Xia Lei. His heart shattered that year. When he recognised her, the line from years ago surfaced in his head again: ¡®I like boys like Wu Qi-Long* so, ssmate Xia, are you a boy like him?¡¯
It hit him mentally like a gale; he was calm on the surface but his heart was not.
Their eyes met and there was silence, but Chi Jing-Qiu broke it. She pretended to look shocked, ¡°Oh! Why isn¡¯t this Xia Lei? What are you doing here?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei tried to answer but had no words. He suddenly found itughable. That incident had happened years ago, in a time of ignorance and puberty. Why was he still so nervous after seeing her again?
¡°Are you here to apply for a job?¡±
Xia Lei had calmed himself. He gave a littleugh and said, ¡°Well, I guess you can say that. That¡¯s right, Jing-Qiu, what are you doing here?¡±
A pretty smile appeared on Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s face, ¡°I work here. I¡¯m now Chairman Ning¡¯s secretary.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve done quite nicely for yourself. Congrattions.¡± Xia Lei stood, walked to Chi Jing-Qiu and stretched out his hand.
Chi Jing-Qiu, however, did not shake his hand. She nimbly turned away to take care of the magazines on the coffee table. As she worked, she said, ¡°Xia Lei, you cannot hang around here. This is Director Ning¡¯s exclusive reception room and the people who are received by Director Ning here are respected dignitaries with status and high positions. You should go to the human resources office if you¡¯re here to apply for a job. Go out the door and turn left, then walk a further 20 metres and you¡¯ll find it.¡±
Xia Lei stood still, his hand as stiff as if it had been sh-frozen. He awkwardly lowered his hand but did not leave. Xia Lei went back to the sofa and sat.
Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s little mouth pursed in a frown, ¡°Xia Lei, you really can¡¯t hang around here. You¡¯ll be troubling me if you do that.¡±
Xia Lei gave a smallugh, ¡°Then don¡¯t do anything about it. Pretend I¡¯m not here. And don¡¯t worry, me being here won¡¯t affect your work.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu was displeased. She red at Xia Lei, ¡°Hey, ssmate Xia. Are you doing this on purpose?¡±
¡°Doing what on purpose?¡±
¡°You¡¯reing in here to make trouble for me!¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°You¡¯re overthinking it. How can that be? I had no idea you worked here so how could I intentionally run over to make trouble for you?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu did not believe Xia Lei¡¯s reasoning. ¡°I know you¡¯re still holding a grudge over what happened. I admit I was notpletely free of me but we were young then and immature. I rejected you for your own good. Didn¡¯t you concentrate on your studies after that incident and even made it into Jing-Du University, even though you did not attend?¡±
Xia Lei had already put it out of his mind but she brought it up again and made herself seem righteous to boot. He wrinkled his brow.
Chi Jing-Qiu continued, ¡°Okay, just go to the human resources office. If you really can¡¯t find it, I¡¯ll take you there. You really can¡¯t stay here any longer. If you¡¯re lucky enough to be hired I can arrange a morefortable position for you. I have some pull here and you were my ssmate so I¡¯ll definitely take care of you.¡±
¡°Thank you for your concern,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°but I¡¯m not here to apply for a job. I¡¯m here because your Chairman Ning wants to meet me.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu was stunned, then she suddenlyughed and pointed at Xia Lei, ¡°You? Meet with Chairman Ning? Is this a joke?¡±
*Wu Qi-Long ÎâÆæ¡, or Nicky Wu, is a famous Taiwanese singer and actor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Wu
Be a Patron!
Chapter 30
Pretend to be My Boyfriend
¡°I¡¯m not kidding,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chi Jing-Qiu looked at Xia Lei with eyes full of contempt, ¡°ssmate Xia, when did you be this sort of person?¡±
¡°Be what sort of person?¡±
¡°A liar,¡± Chi Jing-Qiu added, ¡°A liar who lies even to himself.¡±
Xia Lei looked back at her but just smiled and didn¡¯t bother to say more. This was a chance meeting and he was not his high-school self anymore. However, she seemed not to have changed from her high-school self - she was still proud and heartless. He was not angry at all when faced with her questions and cynicism because it was not worth it. He didn¡¯t even want to speak a word more with her; it was too tiring and unnecessary.
Chi Jing-Qiu, however, thought Xia Lei¡¯s silence was because she had hit a nerve and she smirked, ¡°I was right, wasn¡¯t I? ssmate Xia, I¡¯ll give you 30 seconds to leave and go where you should be going. This is not a ce for you to loiter about in. If you¡¯re still sitting here after 30 seconds I¡¯ll call security. You don¡¯t want that to happen, do you?¡±
¡°ssmate Chi, I really don¡¯t want to waste breath on you since it¡¯s tiring. I¡¯ll put it this way - if I leave right now, and leave due to you, your Chairman Ning will definitely take you to task.¡±
¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to call security.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu took out her phone and got ready to dial.
Xia Lei did not bother exining himself. He picked up a magazine and started flipping through it.
Just then, a middle-aged man walked through the doorway. He was not tall - maybe a little under 170cm. His fat face and beer belly made him look like one of those underachieving people whocked self-discipline.
¡°Darling, what happened?¡± The middle-aged man called Chi Jing-Qiu ¡®darling¡¯ as soon as he entered, unabashedly showing his affection for her.
This greeting shocked Xia Lei. The line Chi Jing-Qiu wrote on his love letter hovered in his head: I like boys like Wu Qi-Long so, ssmate Xia, are you a boy like him?
Is this dear friend here the sort of boy like Wu Qi-Long?!
Xia Lei startedughing all of a sudden; he couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. If anyone said that that man there was Wu Qi-Long and not Wu Meng-Da*, he would smack him silly.
Seeing Xia Leiugh out of the blue, the middle-aged man demanded rudely, ¡°Who are you?¡±
Before Xia Lei could answer, Chi Jing-Qiu spoke first, ¡°Hubby, his name¡¯s Xia Lei. He was my high school ssmate. I think he¡¯s here today to make trouble for me; he¡¯s loitering in Chairman Ning¡¯s exclusive reception room and wouldn¡¯t leave.¡±
The middle-aged man¡¯s face darkened in anger. He pointed at Xia Lei andmanded, ¡°Get out!¡±
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°Please use a more courteous tone, Mr. Wu Qi-Long.¡±
¡°Wu Qi-Long?¡± The middle-aged man paused, ¡°Who is Wu Qi-Long?¡±
Xia Lei looked at Chi Jing-Qiu and pretended to look surprised, ¡°Isn¡¯t your lover Wu Qi-Long?¡±
¡°Darling, what is this? Who is Wu Qi-Long? When did this Wu Qi-Long appear?¡± the middle-aged man asked suspiciously.
Chi Jing-Qi stamped her foot in anger, ¡°Wu Qi-Long is a Taiwanese singer! You¡¯re so embarrassing!¡±
¡°I...¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s fat face turned the colour of pig liver. He knew then that Xia Lei had baited him and he stepped towards Xia Lei, ready to throw a punch.
As that moment, Ning Jing walked in, followed by a tall, dignified elderly gentleman.
As soon as they saw Ning Jing and the tall old man, Chi Jing-Qiu and the middle-aged man bowed respectfully and greeted, ¡°Chairman Ning.¡±
This tall elderly gentleman was East Wind Heavy Industries¡¯ Chairman, Ning Yuan-Shan. Chi Jing-Qiu and her husband were respectful towards him but Xia Lei just dipped his head slightly.
Ning Jing spoke, ¡°Uncle, this is the person I told you about; Master Xia.¡± She turned to Xia Lei, ¡°Master Xia, this is my uncle, Ning Yuan-Shan.¡±
Xia Lei got up from the sofa and stretched both hands out to Ning Yuan-Shan for a sping handshake, saying, ¡°Greetings, Chairman Ning.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan extended one hand and shook hands with Xia Lei. There was no need to use both hands since Xia Lei was of the younger generation. They shook twice, and Ning Yuan-Shan said, ¡°Master Xia, I was intrigued when Ning Jing spoke of you. I am d you came today. Come, let¡¯s sit and chat.¡±
¡°Of course, please have a seat first, Chairman Ning,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ning Yuan-Shan chuckled in appreciation of Xia Lei¡¯s politeness, then he saw the gaping Chi Jing-Qiu who was standing next to them and a wrinkle appeared between his brows. ¡°Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and serve tea to Master Xia.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu came to her senses and scurried off to make tea. Her cheeks med as she remembered the tone she¡¯d used with Xia Lei and how she had been chided for not bringing Xia Lei some tea. The p to her pride was a harsh one. She didn¡¯t understand how a poor beggar-boy she¡¯d rejected years ago could be so distinguished now.
Ning Yuan-Shan looked at Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s husband and said, ¡°Liu Shuai, why are you still standing around? Don¡¯t you have work to do?¡±
¡°I... I¡¯ll be about my duties, Chairman Ning.¡± The man named Liu Shuai moved faster than the wind.
Chi Jing-Qiu carried three cups of tea over and set the first one before Ning Yuan-Shan, the second in front of Ning Jing and the third before Xia Lei. As she set the tea before Xia Lei, she looked at him, her gaze showing a mix of emotions.
¡°Thanks,¡± said Xia Lei quietly.
¡°Y-You¡¯re wee,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu awkwardly.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t speak to her again.
¡°Secretary Chi, bring a notebook and a pen. Take the minutes of our talk,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°Yes, Chairman Ning.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu turned to fetch a notebook and pen. She was a shrewd woman and could discern things easily but she felt like she was out of her depth this time. She could not figure out what the high and lofty Chairman Ning would need to discuss with the little punk, Xia Lei.
Chi Jing-Qiu had not yet gone back to her ce when Ning Yuan-Shan spoke, ¡°Master Xia, I like to be direct in my dealings. I hope our talk will also be held in a straightforward manner.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s perfectly fine, Chairman Ning. Please, speak your mind.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll be frank,¡± Ning Yuan-Shan continued, ¡°I believe Ning Jing has already told you a little bit of the situation before you came today so I shall not repeat it. I would like to ask - If I hand an extremely important purchase order to you forpletion, would you be able to do it?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a while before replying, ¡°That would have to depend on the quality requirements of the processing and the volume of the order. My workshop is small and I only have three people sorge orders are impossible.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan smiled. ¡°You are a realistic man. I¡¯ve met many who boasted about how big theirpanies were and how many employees they had but you say you only have three. I like your honesty.¡±
Xia Lei smiled politely and listened but did not interrupt.
Chi Jing-Qiu sat behind Ning Yuan-Shan with a notebook. She gave Xia Lei a look and a trace of a mocking smile could be seen on her lips though she looked quiet and gentle.
Though he knew what sort of woman she was, she was still a beauty with a good temperament if you ignored her negative traits. Xia Lei had been attracted to that characteristic when he was younger but he was not the same young boy any longer. No matter how perfect she was, he could not find a shred of excitement or feelings which he had had for her. He felt nothing, nada, zilch.
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that, Master Xia,¡± Ning Yuan-Shan continued speaking, ¡°We have never donerge orders for precision processing. We used to import the parts we needed from America and Europe when technology blocks weren¡¯t as strict. Now that strict restrictions have been put in ce, we are unable to purchase the things we need. At the same time, our nation¡¯s precision processing industry is seriouslygging behind. This is very unfortunate for our country¡¯s economic and infrastructural development...¡±
Ning Jing suddenly interrupted Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°Uncle, you¡¯re starting to ramble on about major principles again. I¡¯ve heard all this three times already.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan chuckled, ¡°You cheeky girl. You¡¯ve been spoilt by me and your old man; no respect, hmm?¡±
¡°Oh, Uncle.¡± Ning Jing looked displeased.
Ning Yuan-Shanughed, ¡°All right, all right, you win. I¡¯ll get back to business. So it¡¯s like this, Master Xia. Ourpany urgently needs some precision processing done and it is just a small quantity. However, the quality and precision required are very high. We have consulted several domestic machine manufacturingpanies and they have the equipment but no one who can do it. Even when they tried, the resulting parts did not meet requirements. If you are able to do this, ourpany shall provide the processing equipment and material needed. We have samples too. You don¡¯t need to understand what these processing parts are used for and only need to do a batch ording to our specifications. What do you think? Are you willing to try?¡±
¡°No problem. I¡¯m willing to give it a try,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Good! I like daring young people like you,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°Now, tell me what you would like to request - what do you need?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk about that when I can actually do it. I would like to see the originals of what¡¯s to be processed and your processing equipment. Is this all right?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course, I¡¯ll take you there right now.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan got to his feet, ready to go. He looked at Chi Jing-Qiu and said, ¡°Secretary Chi, there¡¯s no further need for minutes. Go to the workshop and ask them to prepare what we need.¡±
¡°Yes, Chairman Ning. Right away.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu did not dare dilly-dally; she hastened to leave the reception room before Ning Yuan-Shan got to the door.
Out the door, Ning Yuan-Shan walked ahead and Xia Lei and Ning Jing followed him to a workshop.
Ning Jing spoke softly, ¡°Master Xia, Secretary Chi was looking at you weirdly. Do you know each other?¡±
She was quite observant, this girl. Xia Lei replied quietly, ¡°Yes. We were ssmates in high school.¡±
¡°I see.¡± A sly smile appeared on Ning Jing¡¯s face, ¡°That look that she gave you... I guess you two have some sort of history?¡±
Xia Lei smiled but did not want to continue discussing the topic and changed it. ¡°Right, Big Sister Ning, why didn¡¯t your uncle ask me about my qualifications? This is a big job and he believed me just like that - it¡¯s not normal.¡±
One was a huge enterprise and the other a little independent workshop by the road - and the two concluded a business talk just like that. This situation only existed in television dramas. When repeated in real-life, it was fairly abnormal.
Ning Jing was quiet for a bit before she spoke, ¡°You really want to know why?¡±
Xia Lei was nonplussed, ¡°Of course. Your uncle was so nice to me. I wanted to ask you about it just now and I still can¡¯t figure out why he¡¯s being so nice.¡±
Ning Jing suddenly smiled wryly. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll tell you. My uncle didn¡¯t agree at first and said I was being unreasonable. Then I told him you were my boyfriend and he agreed and even asked to meet you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Ning Jing was turning pink, ¡°Um... I was lying to my uncle so don¡¯t take it seriously.¡±
What else could Xia Lei say?
*Wu Meng-Da - A famous Hong-Kong actor. He was in some of the best movies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng_Man-tat
Be a Patron!
Chapter 31
A Nicer-Looking Toad
This was the real world and traps wouldn¡¯t just fall from the sky for no reason. Even if they did, those upstairs probably threw them down on purpose.
If Ning Jing had not lied about Xia Lei being her boyfriend, would he still be given this opportunity by Ning Yuan-Shan? Even willing to let him try his hand at it without asking about his qualifications?
Xia Lei would not take Ning Jing¡¯s words seriously, of course. He was sure that Ning Jing said he was her boyfriend to try and pay him back.
¡®This is a rare opportunity - Big Sister Ning also told her uncle that sort of lie so I have to take on this job. Once I finish this, my reputation will surely grow and I won¡¯t have to worry about not making money ever again¡¯ Xia Lei thought quietly to himself, and a sort of energy seemed to flow in his body.
¡°Little Lei,¡± When others were around, Ning Yuan-Shan called him Master Xia but now that it was just them, he called him ¡®Little Lei¡¯ and smiled warmly, ¡°So, how old are you this year?¡±
Xia Lei was embarrassed and started feeling nervous, ¡°I...¡±
Ning Jing gave Xia Lei a small push on his back, then quickly shed him hand gestures.
The message was simple - five fingers of her left hand and two fingers of her right. Xia Lei followed her lead and said, ¡°Uncle Ning, I am 25 this year.¡±
¡°Hoho, so you two are the same age.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan did not seem entirely satisfied by this bit of information and asked another question, ¡°Little Lei, who are the members of your family?¡±
Xia Lei had no other choice, ¡°My mother passed away when I was still a child and my father... There is just my sister and myself in the family now. She has been epted into Jing-Du University and will begin her studies in Jing-Du in a little over two weeks.¡±
¡°I see.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s warm smile became more pronounced. This boy has a car, a home and both his parents were gone - this was ideal for a spouse. To a man as wealthy as Ning Yuan-Shan, the car and t were not even worth looking at but he was very satisfied with the fact that his parents were not around.
Ning Jing seemed to be even more embarrassed than Xia Lei. She did not leave Ning Yuan-Shan further room to ask questions and quickly interjected, ¡°Uncle, this is Lei¡¯s first time meeting you. Don¡¯t ask so many questions - it¡¯s embarrassing.¡±
¡°Hoho, speaking on his behalf so soon? Okay, okay... I won¡¯t speak any more. You young people are getting out of hand. This is a big thing and here you are trying to hide this and that, even forbidding me from telling your father...¡±
¡°Shush!¡± Ning Jing covered her ears.
Ning Yuan-Shan held his tongue. He looked over at Xia Lei and gave him a ¡®what can I do¡¯ face. However, he was quite pleased by Xia Lei¡¯s image and temperament. Xia Lei was bright and handsome, confident yet humble, respectful towards his elders and most importantly, his parents were not around. This gave him a high score in his book.
They arrived at the workshop with much cheer and chatter. Chi Jing-Qiu walked out of the workshop and spoke respectfully, ¡°Chairman Ning, they¡¯re ready.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan nodded, then gestured at Xia Lei, ¡°Let us proceed, Master Xia.¡±
¡°Aye-Aye, Chairman Ning,¡± replied Xia Lei. He found it funny how they were Little Lei and Uncle Ning when in private, and Master Xia and Chairman Ning in public.
When he brushed past Chi Jing-Qiu, she whispered, ¡°Lei, let¡¯s talkter.¡±
Xia Lei paused, not sure how he should respond.
Ning Jing drew close and held Xia Lei¡¯s hand intimately, ¡°Lei, do you two know each other?¡±
So he was ¡®Lei¡¯ again. Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He started to worry that he would be someone¡¯s daddy or something at the rate this farce was going.
¡°We... know each other, but not very well,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu carefully.
¡°I see. Lei, let¡¯s go in. I¡¯d love to see you show off your workmanship,¡± urged Ning Jing.
¡°Yes, let¡¯s enter.¡± Xia Lei did not speak to Chi Jing-Qiu and walked into the workshop with Ning Jing on his arm. He didn¡¯t know what Chi Jing-Qiu wanted to talk to him about and he had nothing to say to her either. Ning Jing, on the other hand, was making him nervous. Her arm was soft and smooth and there was an even softer ce pressing on him but it would be awkward if he asked her to let go. This was giving him a headache yet making himfortable at the same time; it wasplicated and strange.
Chi Jing-Qiu hesitated and watched Xia Lei and Ning Jing stick closely to each other from the back before she followed.
In the workshop and in thepany of many, Ning Jing let go of Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Good luck.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and walked towards Ning Yuan-Shan. Next to Ning Yuan-Shan were engineers in work clothes and and arge, imported high precision CNC machine. It seemed the machine would be what he had to work with to show his workmanship.
Xia Lei stepped up to the machine and saw German words. It had been imported from Germany and was worth tens of millions.
Importing equipment from Europe and America was, in fact, still considered all right. The import of precision machining parts was the real rip-off. One precision bearing cost tens of thousands and the price was non-negotiable. This was the result of being behind in manufacturing - you knew you were being taken advantage of but can only smile as you hand over your money. As soon as any international disputes or conflicts of interest ur, Europe and America would limit trade in this industry and high precision manufacturing became impossible. If they continued tog behind Europe and America in terms of precision machining, this problem with no solution would persist.
¡°Young man, have you used this sort ofthe before?¡± an engineer questioned Xia Lei doubtfully.
It was not just him - the engineers of East Wind Heavy Industries who were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the ¡®mysterious Master¡¯ were disappointed when Xia Lei turned up. In their eyes, a young man such as Xia Lei couldn¡¯t possibly have great workmanship. They were still standing around only because Ning Yuan-Shan was present.
Xia Lei was calm and spoke mildly, ¡°This is a DMG precisionthe imported from Germany with an uracy of 0.0001mm.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Though I have never used such a high-endthe, I think I wouldn¡¯t have any problems. I can process parts with an uracy of 0.0009mm with my Golden Pheasant.¡±
The engineer who spoke earlier voiced his thoughts again, ¡°It¡¯s not good to blow your own horn, young man. We know the limits of our locally-producedthes. You can process parts with an uracy of 0.0009mm with your Golden Pheasant? I don¡¯t believe you. Nobody in this country has been able to reach that standard.¡±
Xia Lei was still polite and courteous even though he was under suspicion and doubt. ¡°I did not lie. Wouldn¡¯t we know if I just try?¡± he said.
¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°Let him try. You people just won¡¯t change your way of thinking. Young people nowadays are quite capable. Won¡¯t the future masters of the world be the young people of today?¡±
With Ning Yuan-Shan speaking on Xia Lei¡¯s behalf, who would dare voice their doubt now?
The engineer who spoke against Xia Lei changed his tune. He pointed at the importedthe and said, ¡°We have an imported bearing but itcks a shaft so you can process that. Thethe has the bearing data and the shaft uracy and damping coefficient requirements. You can start after you take a look.¡±
Processing a shaft to connect to the bearing seemed like a simple task but this had the added difficulty of an imported bearing and damping coefficient requirements. This was like asking a chef to prepare tofu. If you only needed him to cube it and add it to the pot, any chef would do. However, if you wanted the chef to carve a picture of two dragons searching for a pearl on the tofu, then cook it, you would be hard pressed to find a chef skilled enough.
He knew it would be difficult but Xia Lei did not hesitate. He walked to side of thethe and looked through the information and materials which the engineers had ced there.
The group of engineers talked among themselves at one side.
¡°Who¡¯s this young punk? A nobody dares toe knocking here for work at his age?¡±
¡°No, one look and I can tell; I don¡¯t believe he has any real ability.¡±
¡°I hear this punk was brought in by Chairman Ning¡¯s niece. Chairman Ning¡¯s son perished on the battlefield so he dotes on Ning Jing like his own flesh and blood. He got in through connections?¡±
¡°So that¡¯s how it is. No wonder.¡±
Some spoke of their doubts while others passed negative remarks and none of the words wereplimentary to Xia Lei.
Chi Jing-Qiu stood close to the group of engineers and eavesdropped. A faint mocking smile appeared on her lips, then she folded her arms and gave Xia Lei a measured look, thinking ¡®Xia Lei must be lying. When did he go to the College of Engineering? Never. He¡¯s just a high school graduate. He must have used his looks and his sweet-talking mouth to seduce Chairman Ning¡¯s niece. But isn¡¯t he overreaching? This isn¡¯t his flirting-grounds - these engineers are the elite, the best in this country. Every one of them is a skilled Master. How can he pull the wool over their eyes? Ha! He¡¯s going to make a fool of himself. Good thing I was smart back then and didn¡¯t get fooled by him. He wanted to be with me? Paired with him? Humph. He¡¯s just a nicer-looking toad.¡¯
Xia Lei naturally became the focus of attention in the workshop. Every engineer had his own opinion of him and everyone had different ways of thinking. No matter who it was, and what they thought, it did not affect Xia Lei now.
After reading the bearing information and requirements for the shaft, Xia Lei started thethe. He said he would do it and he did, with no hesitation and no fear - because his left eye was the greatest precision existence in the world!
The imported DMG precisionthe was indeed advanced; there was barely any loud sound when in use. This machine was actually a precise existence - every bearing, every screw, every part was most precise. Germany¡¯s reputation for precision was not for show; it was very real. Under Xia Lei¡¯s hands, the german precisionthe was like a tamed beast, following his everymand meticulously. The turning tool spun in a blur and the alloy parts fixed on the machine quickly changed shape. Every step was smooth and skilled.
¡°Is this really the first time this punk is using athe like this?¡± An engineer in the group could not help asking.
¡°One look and I know that this guy has used this sort ofthe before, or he couldn¡¯t be so skilled. We hired professional trantors and slowly got the hang of using this. How can he just read a while and be able to use it?¡± said one.
¡°Yeah, this is a sly young punk. He said it was his first time using it on purpose so he could surprise us, didn¡¯t he?¡± said another.
¡°Maybe he knows German,¡± said yet another.
¡°Even if he does know German, this machine uses technical jargon. Who would learn this sort of German? This specialised German has to be tranted by professional trantors. Regr fluent German-speakers wouldn¡¯t understand it either,¡± said one.
¡°Huh. What a strange guy,¡± eximed another.
Amidst their chatter, Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s brows slowly wrinkled up.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 32
Pressuring the Group with Skill
Fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes was all it took for Xia Lei to finish his processing. Normally, he would be finished and hand his processed part to the engineer for inspection but he did not do so.
¡°Master Xia, are you finished?¡± smiled Ning Yuan-Shan. He was pleased by how smoothly Xia Lei hadpleted the processing - as ¡®uncle¡¯, it reflected positively on him.
An engineer also spoke, ¡°Master Xia, right? Are you done? Hand it to me if you¡¯re done. I¡¯ll go have it measured.¡±
Xia Lei, however, shook his head. ¡°You lowered the precision on thisthe. The uracy on the processed shaft is only 0.0005mm so it cannot be consideredplete.¡± He hesitated and added casually, ¡°Plus, this imported bearing requirement is actually 0.00009mm. The difference is marginal but there is no way to make it work normally. I can guarantee that even if this imported machine hadn¡¯t had its precision lowered, it cannot process urate parts. I¡¯m guessing that you have tried several times and not seeded, am I right?¡±
The entire workshop was silent when Xia Lei was done speaking.
The first engineer to speak of his doubt of Xia Lei sneaked a look at Chi Jing-Qiu. His look was strange and Chi Jing-Qiu avoided his eyes guiltily.
¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was seeing red, ¡°Did I let you lower the precision on thethe? Who allowed this? Step forward.¡±
The first engineer to speak of his doubt looked at Chi Jing-Qiu again and she turned bone-white.
Just then, an elderly engineer spoke up, ¡°Chairman Ning, it was me. I was only trying to test Master Xia¡¯s workmanship. He is not only skilled with his hands but sharp of eye. I am in admiration.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan looked at the old engineer, unhappy but not too upset, ¡°Engineer Liu, aren¡¯t you making trouble for nothing? I finally got a Master toe but you engineers are giving me trouble.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu quietly let out a breath and her bone-white face regained some colour.
Xia Lei had seen it all and knew what was going on. Chi Jing-Qiu had poked the hos¡¯ nest and this old man named Liu had covered for her. Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s husband¡¯s surname was also Liu so it was obvious how they were rted.
Engineer Liu bowed to Xia Lei, ¡°I apologise, Master Xia. Please forgive me.¡±
No matter what rtionship this Engineer Liu had with Chi Jing-Qiu, a white-haired old man apologising to him made Xia Lei¡¯s dissatisfaction go up in smoke. He moved forward to help Engineer Liu up, saying, ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay. Engineer Liu, you must have done this considering everyone¡¯s feelings. Don¡¯t apologise to me, really.¡±
Engineer Liu patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and chuckled, ¡°Young¡¯un, I rarely hold anyone in admiration but you are one. Tell me, how could you tell that the precision of thethe had been lowered? And how did you know that this machine cannot process the parts we need?¡±
¡°Experience, experience,¡± Xia Lei gave an answer that was not an answer. He was definitely not going to say he used his eye - if he did, uncountable jaws would hit the floor.
¡°Keeping it a secret, eh?¡± Engineer Liu smiled as he said, ¡°Then again, there aren¡¯t any trade secrets in our line of work. All right, I won¡¯t ask you how you did it. I do want to say that we have not been able to process this type of imported bearing parts and even if we tried, we had no way of making it work normally.¡± He looked at Ning Yuan-Shan again and said, ¡°Chairman Ning, I¡¯m not being a wet nket or anything but without betterthes and technology there is no way he can process the parts we need. It may be better to research other ways to import it from other countries - this is the real solution to the problem.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan frowned and said, ¡°There¡¯s the technology block that Europe and America imposed on us now. It¡¯s not us who don¡¯t want to buy betterthes but them who won¡¯t sell. The parts and materials suspected of being used in precision processing for supporting national defense is now being restricted in trade too. If you can get your hands on these materials, I¡¯ll concede my position of Chairman to you.¡±
His words had an edge to them and Engineer Liu may be hard-headed, but not that hard-headed. He held his tongue.
Xia Lei spoke up, ¡°Actually, higher gradethes are not needed. The axis needed on this bearing can be done manually. I can make it to your requirements.¡±
The workshop was silent at once and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stared at Xia Lei, each and every pair of eyes looking at him strangely.
Engineer Liu spoke, ¡°Young¡¯un, you have skills, I admit, but you can¡¯t boast like that. What you said is a joke. How can your manual work be better than a high precisionthe imported from Germany? Are you challenging our IQ?¡±
Others agreed, ¡°Yeah! Aren¡¯t you being too unrealistic?¡±
Another said, ¡°Young¡¯un, you¡¯ll be shamed if you can¡¯t do what you imed. You¡¯d better think before you speak.¡±
A wave of mocking and ridicule ensued.
Strangely, Chi Jing-Qiu smiled. ¡®I don¡¯t know when this Xia Lei punk learnt his skill but I know how he likes to show off. It¡¯s been years and he still has this bad habit. My father-inw is the best engineer craftsman in the country and he has never been wrong. That guy passed just now because of a fluke but he won¡¯t be able to hide his lies this time¡¯ she thought.
Ning Jing stared at Xia Lei too but her gaze was full of worry.
Xia Lei did not argue with anyone. He removed the processed shaft and turned to a normal manualthe in the corner of the workshop.
¡°He¡¯s actually going to use that antiquethe to process a high precision part? Are you kidding me?¡± said someone.
¡°This punk keeps springing surprise after surprise but I won¡¯t believe that he¡¯d be sessful,¡± said another.
Another wave of chatter buzzed, with them saying whatever they liked.
Ning Yuan-Shan couldn¡¯t hold it in; he pulled Ning Jing to one side and asked quietly, ¡°Can your boyfriend do it?¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s pretty face turned pink, ¡°I don¡¯t know, Uncle. You know I don¡¯t really understand your industry. I did tell you about when he repaired the Ming dynastypass. His workmanship is excellent. I will believe in him and whether you do or not is up to you.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan smiled wryly, ¡°Of course you¡¯d believe in him. I still have to face this group of stubborn old men. Once they decide on something, they get so stubborn about it you¡¯d never change their minds. Honestly, I really hope your boyfriend seeds. I¡¯d love to see these stubborn old men get their pride dented. How can their way of thinking be so inert when the times are advancing?¡±
¡°I¡¯d better go take a look at Xia Lei¡¯s work.¡± Ning Jing turned and walked off.
¡°You...¡± Ning Yuan-Shan sighed.
While everyone was chattering like monkeys, the ancientthe started up and begun to rotate. Xia Lei focused on the rotating shaft and slowly, slowly lowered the de. From the perspective of an outsider, it looked like Xia Lei did not use the de at all to cut at the rotation axis of the processed shaft but in his eyes, the de had cut through the epidermis. There were no loud screeches of metal and almost no sparks fell but his high precision processing was going smoothly.
Five minutester, he stopped thethe, used a clean cloth dampened with oil to wipe the shaft and said, ¡°Okay, you guys can take it and test it now.¡±
Nobody came forward. The group of old farts just goggled at Xia Lei wordlessly, as if the manually processed high precision shaft in his hands were a grenade and would explode if touched.
Xia Lei spread his hands, ¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡±
The engineers¡¯ gazes turned to the oil-dampened cloth in Xia Lei¡¯s hand and they could not look away. Nobody thought that he was processing the shaft earlier but this piece of cloth was stained with fairly fine metal shavings!
¡°Hey?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan spoke again, ¡°What are you all nking out for? Didn¡¯t you hear Master Xia? He has processed the part, so go inspect it!¡±
¡°Ah, yes! Right away!¡± Engineer Liu snapped out of his shock and retrieved the shaft from Xia Lei¡¯s hands for inspection.
The group of engineers followed Engineer Liu, all talking at once in a cacophony of disagreement.
Xia Lei was not interested in helping the old men inspect the part. He was confident in his eye.
Ning Yuan-Shan walked excitedly over to see the result of the inspection. Ning Jing walked towards Xia Lei and when she got close, she asked softly, ¡°Was it a sess, Master Xia?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°I think it is. It wasn¡¯t much.¡±
Ning Jing hit Xia Lei,ughing, ¡°Show off.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu watched their intimate exchange and the look in her eyes became ever moreplicated.
At that moment, Ning Yuan-Shan suddenlyughed aloud, ¡°Sess! Holy fuck! In your face, technology block! We have a guy who can do it manually!¡±
The Chairman of arge enterprise cursing was even more shocking than Xia Lei processing a high precision part manually. All eyes turned to the jubnt Ning Yuan-Shan. There were no words to describe him.
¡°Um, hurmpf, hurmh...¡± Ning Yuan-Shan pulled at his tie and was immediately restored to his normal self. ¡°Very good, very good. You all saw that, didn¡¯t you? Admirable. No more talk of importing from Europe or America in front of me in the future - I don¡¯t want to hear it. Those parts we urgently need shall be handed to Master Xia. You must fulfill all his needs, everything. If anyone tries anything funny, you¡¯re fired!¡±
If Ning Yuan-Shan said this in the beginning, this group of engineers would definitely not follow his orders and protest loudly but no one spoke against his words now.
Ning Yuan Shan spoke again, ¡°Secretary Chi, Master Xia shall work here for this period of time. You will be in charge of his lodging and meals.¡±
¡°Yes, Chairman Ning.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s smile was very sweet.
¡°Disperse, disperse.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan had no more patience to deal with these old men. He waved at Xia Lei and spoke warmly, ¡°Master Xia, let¡¯s go to my office and talk about a contract.¡±
Xia Lei returned the warm smile, ¡°All right.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu stuck by Xia Lei¡¯s side and waited till Ning Yuan-Shan and Ning Jing turned to walk out of the workshop before she whispered, ¡°Lei, don¡¯t rush off after you¡¯re done with your talk with Chairman Ning. We haven¡¯t seen each other for years. I¡¯ll treat you to a cup of coffee; let¡¯s have a good chat.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried that your Big Brother Wu Qi-Long would get the wrong idea?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu felt like a fishbone was stuck in her throat.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 33
Treat Me To Soy Milk
In the office, Ning Yuan-Shan personally poured a ss of red wine for Xia Lei, then poured one for himself and Ning Jing. For a man of his status, this action showed a high level of respect for Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you, Uncle Ning.¡± Xia Lei spoke respectfully to his elder.
Ning Yuan-Shan chuckled, ¡°What¡¯s with the formalities? We¡¯ll be family sooner orter. You¡¯ll have to call me ¡®Second Uncle¡¯ too in the future.¡±
Xia Lei did not dare reply. He knew that Ning Jing had lied that he was her boyfriend to help him get the contract for this job. It was awkward enough in the beginning - if he said more and added to the story, it would be so awkward he could die from embarrassment.
¡°Uncle!¡± Ning Jing was upset, ¡°Can you not say things like this? Didn¡¯t you want to talk business with Lei? Go on, do business.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shanughed dryly, ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s talk business, Little Lei.¡±
Xia Lei quietly let out a breath. ¡°Yes, Uncle Ning. Please go ahead.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan spoke, ¡°You did beautifully this time. Seeing those stubborn old farts eat their hats made me very happy indeed - you really wiped the floor with them. These high precision processing parts are very important to us since they are rted to... Forget it. There are some things you don¡¯t need to know and I can¡¯t talk about. How about this - we provide the materials and equipment and you¡¯ll be in charge of processing. When you havepleted the job, your remuneration will be one million yuan. Is this eptable, Little Lei?¡±
¡°A million?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s jaw dropped in shock.
Ning Yuan-Shan asked questioningly, ¡°Why, is it too little?¡±
¡°No, no, no. I meant... ¡° Xia Lei was about to say more, but he changed his mind, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s more or less. The most important thing ispleting this purchase order. Yep, I have no problems on my side. I ept.¡±
¡°Haha, decisiveness. I like young people with this trait. Let¡¯s have a toast to our meeting and cooperation.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan raised his ss.
The three of them clinked sses and drained their sses. Xia Lei took note of the red wine in the wine cab - it was a locally produced Great Wall brand red wine. The most expensive of their bottles was only over 200 yuan. His choice of wine made it clear that this Ning Yuan-Shan was not one to wield power for his own ends and advantage but a true nationalist who worked wholeheartedly for his country.
Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s offer of one million was not because Xia Lei could be his ¡®future inw¡¯. This high precision processed parts could not be obtained from overseas and no one else could produce it locally. Based on this, it was no problem even if Xia Lei wanted more remuneration for his work. However, Xia Lei was also a realistic man and wouldn¡¯t shake the tree for more coconuts to fall. If he did that, would Ning Jing still treat him as her friend?
Ning Yuan-Shan was swift and decisive as expected. He quickly had Chi Jing-Qiu draw up a contract and signed it with Xia Lei.
¡°Little Lei, stay here for this period of time. I¡¯ll get my secretary to handle your amodations. Let Secretary Chi know if you need anything.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was chuffed after signing the contract.
¡°Must I stay here? I can juste early in the morning,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ning Yuan-Shan leaned on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and whispered conspiratorially in his ear, ¡°My good nephew, this is really quite urgent. I won¡¯t keep it from you; my bosses have given me an ultimatum and I have to solve this problem in half a month. Bear with it for a few days, work overtime as a favour to your Uncle Ning. In the future, when you and Ning Jing get married, I¡¯ll give you more toasts at your wedding feast. When you two have children, I...¡±
Xia Lei quickly cut him off before he could finish, ¡°Okay, Uncle Ning. I¡¯ll stay here for the next few days and work onpleting the order.¡±
¡°Hoho, family is best after all.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan gave Xia Lei a bear hug.
Ning Jing looked at the hugging Ning Yuan-Shan and Xia Lei and smiled awkwardly. She did not hear what Ning Yuan-Shan had said to Xia Lei but she could guess.
¡°Ning Jing, you can go back on your own. I¡¯ll be borrowing Little Lei and keeping him here for the next few days.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan seemed worried that Ning Jing would take Xia Lei away and quickly ordered her to go home.
Ning Jing giggled, ¡°That¡¯s so you, Uncle, to abandon your benefactor after achieving your goal. Ah, but you are still my Uncle. Okay, I¡¯ll be going. I¡¯m leaving him here but you have to watch him and make sure he doesn¡¯t sneak away.¡±
¡°Who would dare?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan red.
Ning Jing and Ning Yuan-Shan were just joking around but Chi Jing-Qiu, who was standing in a corner, had a strange expression on her face, her thoughts indiscernible.
Xia Lei walked Ning Jing out and they chatted as they walked. ¡°Big Sister Ning, I really don¡¯t know how to thank you this time.¡±
Ning Jing pouted and said yfully, ¡°Thank me? What for? You earned that money with your skill. I was just the connecting thread. There really is no need to thank me.¡±
¡°Well, that¡¯s true too but I know that I wouldn¡¯t even be able to step through the doors of East Wind Heavy Industries if it were not for you, let alone have a talk with your uncle and sealing this deal.¡±
¡°Okay, okay, you really want to thank me?¡± said Ning Jing, ¡°Then hurry andplete this order. It¡¯s very important to my uncle and also important to this country. Completing it can be considered your thanks to me. This is more important than any gift.¡±
¡°You really don¡¯t want a gift?¡± Xia Lei wanted very much to gift her something.
¡°Mm. I won¡¯t object if you really want to buy me something. How about this - treat me to a meal after youplete the order,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°Sure, when I finish this I¡¯ll take you to the best Western restaurant,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ning Jing smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t like Western cuisine, I like Sichuan. Bring me to a Sichuan restaurant when you finish the job.¡±
Xia Lei paused, then nodded.
Ning Jing left, all smiles but Xia Lei stood and watched her walk away. He thought of Jiang Ru-Yi and how she had dragged him to eat Sichuan cuisine when he¡¯d wanted Western. Now when he¡¯d wanted to treat Ning Jing to Western, she chose Sichuan instead. Different women, different cuisine.
¡°Lei, she¡¯s walked off. Can¡¯t bear to let her go?¡± A female voice came from behind him.
Xia Lei turned and saw Chi Jing-Qiu. She looked dignified and delicate and a mature, seductive fragrance came from her. Women like her had no shortage of attention from men wherever she went. However, Xia Lei¡¯s interest was not roused at all by this woman whom he had a secret crush on years ago.
¡°When did the two of you meet?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu seemed very interested in Xia Lei and Ning Jing¡¯s ¡®love history¡¯.
Xia Lei gave a random time frame, ¡°Half a year, I suppose. Half a year ago.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu tutted, ¡°I really couldn¡¯t tell that you would be able to catch the youngdy of the Ning n. You¡¯ll probably use your connection to Ning Yuan-Shan to secure a job with East Wind Heavy Industries next, won¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei gave her a look. ¡°Jing-Qiu, please don¡¯t think everyone is like you, okay?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu was not angry. Her face still had that nice, attractive smile, ¡°We are actually the same, aren¡¯t we? My family was poor when we were students too. I also wanted pretty dresses like the other girls had. I also wanted to go with others to KFC, to Starbucks to try the food but I had no money; I could only keep these wants to myself. Aren¡¯t you the same? I was the prettiest girl in ss. If you wanted me, you would have also wanted the best things but you didn¡¯t have the qualifications. Did you know that if you had just invited me to Starbucks, and not given me some rubbish love letter, you would have had me? We may not be like this now if that happened, don¡¯t you think so?¡±
Xia Lei was quiet; he did not know how to answer her question. He felt an inexplicable twinge of hurt in his heart. No matter what this woman in front of him had turned into, she was still someone he had had feelings for. Her character and the things she did may be repulsive but everyone had the right to chase after a better life. Was it wrong for a woman to want to lead a morefortable life? This is a world full of desires - the rich want to get richer while the poor want to get rich. Men want to get beautiful women and women want everything a top-quality man could give. Humans live in an environment of desires once they¡¯re born, so who can truly escape from it?
¡°Lei, tell me, if you could turn time back, would you use another method to woo me?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu eyes radiated warmth, ¡°Would you treat me to Starbucks?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then grinned and said, ¡°I¡¯ll treat you to soy milk. Would you go?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu shook her head, ¡°I hate that pungent smell.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°Then too bad. If time turned back I¡¯d still be a poor boy. I can only treat you to soy milk and you wouldn¡¯t go. Our story would still have this sort of ending.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu giggled, ¡°That was then. My tastes have changed. If you treat me to soy milk now, I¡¯ll definitely go. Lei, treat me to soy milk.¡±
Her smile was innocent and sweet and her bountiful breasts jiggled with herughter like ripples in a pond.
Lei, treat me to soy milk.
Could her signal be any more obvious?
What she wanted was not just a cup of soy milk - she probably wanted the whole soy milk machine.
Xia Lei¡¯s scarred heart felt like it had returned to his high school days. He used to fantasise about being with this woman - even holding her hand while walking would be enough. She had rejected him then but she was giving him an obvious signal now. If he were willing, he could have her just like that and fulfill his high school fantasies. It would be a lie if he said he was not tempted but he was not the old him anymore.
¡°Let¡¯s not talk about things that have passed. Take me to my amodations,¡± said Xia Lei.
Disappointment shed in Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s eyes and she shrugged awkwardly, ¡°Okay. Follow me.¡±
Xia Lei followed her to his amodations and kept a two-step distance between himself and her. He did not speak a word to her on the way there and Chi Jing-Qiu made no further advances; they maintained silence.
The regr workers had rooms downstairs and the mid-level residences were for the shift-workers. However, Chi Jing-Qiu brought him to a standalone vi. The vi had two storeys with gardens in front and back. The second storey also had a wide viewing balcony with a view of the seascape in the distance.
¡°What ce is this?¡± Xia Lei finally broke the silence between them.
Chi Jing-Qiu rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, ¡°I thought you¡¯d never speak to me again.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? We were ssmates, not enemies.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu then said, ¡°This is the amodations for receiving esteemed guests. Chairman Ning specially instructed me to make arrangements for you to stay here. He¡¯s very nice to you.¡±
Xia Lei cut her off, ¡°I¡¯ll just go in on my own. You can go about your duties now.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu seemed to have no intention of leaving and barged into the vi instead, saying as she went, ¡°That won¡¯t do. You¡¯re Chairman Ning¡¯s big star right now so I have to make sure you¡¯re happy or he won¡¯t forgive me.¡±
Xia Lei gave a mental cry at her troublesome attitude but this was not his home and he could not bar her from entering. His hands were tied.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 34
Your Husband Really Is Here
The vi decorations and furniture were of high quality, as expected of a ce meant for entertaining esteemed guests; the luxuriousness was evident in its interior. What Xia Lei liked the most though, was not the ostentatious indoor hot spring pool but the study which held hundreds of books of various genres.
¡®It¡¯s nice to stay here too. I can read these books when I¡¯m not working and absorb more knowledge.¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Do you like it?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu leaned on the door frame of the study with azy elegance. A pair of smooth long legs extended from under her short office skirt and thebined image of glossy stockings which encased those legs made for a tempting picture indeed.
Xia Lei looked away. ¡°It¡¯s not bad. I like to read so having these many books here will keep me upied for a long time.¡±
¡°You love books so much still,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu, ¡°Oh, right, I¡¯m curious - how did you be so impressive in the few years we haven¡¯t seen each other? Your workmanship is actually better than the elite engineers here. Even my father-inw was impressed.¡±
So that Engineer Liu was her father-inw after all. Xia Lei had already put aside the matter of her background meddling but she brought up Engineer Liu, who had taken the me for her actions, and that made him ufortable so he asked, ¡°Jing-Qiu, I know you asked someone to lower the precision on thethe. I¡¯d like to know why you did it.¡±
¡°No particr reason,¡± Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s face revealed nothing unusual, ¡°I was just trying to find out if the boy who used to chase after me is an outstanding man now. I just added a little, little bit of a challenge for you and you got everyone pping for you in the end, so you should actually be thanking me.¡±
¡°You¡¯re still so opinionated,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Forget it. It¡¯s over anyway and I¡¯d decided not to pursue the matter. Please leave. I¡¯m going to the workshop after changing. I¡¯ll call you if I need anything.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you have any thoughts about me?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s eyes were teasing. She moved from the doorframe and stood diagonally from Xia Lei so that her slender, S-shaped bodyline was disyed naturally in the best angle.
There was no denying that she was a beautiful woman and quite skilled at tempting men but she did not know that her efforts at seduction was of no use when Xia Lei could see all her secrets with his eye. He could clearly see how many moles she had on her body, not to mention her other parts. How could this temptation have any sort of effect on him when he could see all?
Xia Lei enjoyed the view for a bit, then said casually, ¡°You can go. I¡¯d like to be alone for a while.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s words were like a ssh of cold water on Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s head. She was humiliated and angry, ¡°I¡¯m going now - and don¡¯t you regret it!¡±
Xia Lei said nothing but he thought, ¡®You? I will never have regrets in my lifetime.¡¯
Chi Jing-Qiu turned and left in a huff.
Xia Lei stayed in the study and read for a bit before he went up to the balcony. He¡¯d intended to enjoy the sea view but the first thing he saw was Liu Shuai approaching.
¡®What is this guy doing here?¡¯ Xia Lei thought curiously.
¡°Master Xia, have you seen Jing-Qiu?¡± Liu Shuai entered the front courtyard and looked up at Xia Lei.
¡°She left a while ago. You¡¯re one step toote, I¡¯m afraid. Won¡¯t you know where she is if you give her a call?¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Shuai frowned. ¡°I can¡¯t get through to her phone. Forget it, it¡¯s the same if I say it. My dad and the others have already prepared the materials for processing. The tools and equipment have also been prepared so you can start work any time.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right there after I get changed.¡± Xia Lei left the balcony and went to the bedroom to change into the work clothes Chi Jing-Qiu had prepared for him.
Liu Shuai did not leave; he hesitated, then entered the vi.
¡®Completing the order a day sooner is a day sooner that I¡¯ll have that one million. I can do so many things with one million - new equipment, or maybe a car...¡¯ Xia Lei walked briskly to the bedroom, his thoughts full of ns and an excited smile on his face. However, his smile froze on his face when he opened the bedroom door and saw what was within.
Chi Jing-Qiu had not left - she had been hiding in his bedroom. She was lying on his bed with his work clothes draped strategically over her body to conceal her important parts. Her secret areas were covered sultrily in such a way that it was unclear if it were covered or not. Her office clothes were scattered on the floor along with her stockings andce. It looked like her clothing had been carelessly tossed on the floor at first nce but if you looked closely, it had been meticulously arranged to make you think of what it would look like on her body and what the clothes had been covering.
¡°What are you doing, Chi Jing-Qiu?¡± If it had been five years ago, Xia Lei would have felt like the happiest man on Earth to see her lie on the bed like that but he was starting to develop a deep disgust towards her now.
Chi Jing-Qiu daintily lifted a snow-white arm and gestured at Xia Lei, then spoke in a honeyed voice, ¡°Lei, I know you still like me. When I first saw you, I could tell from the way you looked at me. Didn¡¯t you always want me? I am yours now and you can do whatever you want with me.¡±
¡°You¡¯re married. Why are you still doing this?¡±
¡°Liu Shuai?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s voice took on an edge of loathing, ¡°You think I can love him? Our marriage is a tragedy and I live every day in suffering. Only you can save me from this suffering. Can you bear to see me live in such pain?¡±
¡°Your husband has in looks but he treats you well, I can tell. His family background is good too. You should be contented,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I was contented before you showed up, as I should. But after you showed up today, I discovered that I still love you deeply. I cannot lose you again. You¡¯re mine, you¡¯re mine for life,¡± Chi Jing-Qiu spoke passionately.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t be so serious about what happened during our school days. The past is past, so stop bringing it up. And, your husband was just here looking for you. Stop being foolish and go home.¡±
¡°You¡¯re lying. That fool will believe whatever I say; he won¡¯te here.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu threw aside the work clothes and moved off the bed, stepping her way towards Xia Lei. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that you don¡¯t love me and I don¡¯t believe you don¡¯t desire me. Men are all the same - what is in their hearts is not what they show to the world and what they do is also another matter. Can you say that you weren¡¯t tempted in the slightest? Don¡¯t you want it?¡±
Xia Lei backed out of the door. ¡°Stop it. I¡¯m really not that sort of man.¡±
¡°Stop pretending. I, Chi Jing-Qiu, have always got what I wanted.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu walked out the door on her long, jade-like legs and smiled a dazzling smile, ¡°I may not know what sort of man you are but I can make you the happiest man.¡±
Xia Lei backed away till he hit the railing and there was nowhere else to go. Xia Lei held up both hands, ¡°Your husband really is here. Stop it.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t talk about that pig-like guy, he disgusts me. There is only you and me here now. My everything is yours....¡± Chi Jing-Qiu had moved close to Xia Lei but her speech suddenly came to a halt.
A chubby, middle-aged man stood in the staircase entrance. It was none other than her husband, Liu Shuai.
The atmosphere immediately turned weird and silence reigned.
A young man forced to the railing, a naked beauty and a bbergasted fatty. The three of them were like characters an artist painted - forever embedded on the canvas.
¡°Hu... Hubby, I...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu could not stop herself from speaking and could not form aplete sentence.
Liu Shuai said nothing. His little eyes were staring so hard they were round and bulging and his gaze was fierce. He did not look anything at all like a totally submissive husband but a boar about to go beserk.
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°I told you your husband was here but you didn¡¯t believe me.¡± He walked about the butt-naked Chi Jing-Qiu and entered the bedroom where Chi Jing-Qiu had dropped his work clothes, picked them up, then headed downstairs.
Chi Jing-Qiu and Liu Shuai held each other¡¯s gaze wordlessly.
However, when Xia Lei was walking past Liu Shuai, he suddenly shot out a hand to block his way, ¡°You aren¡¯t leaving!¡±
Xia Lei gave him a look, ¡°What do you n to do? I didn¡¯t strip your wife. I didn¡¯t even touch a pinky of hers. If you have any questions you should ask her and not bother me.¡±
¡°I...¡± Liu Shuai raised a fist.
Xia Lei spoke patiently, ¡°I can amodate you if you want a fight but you¡¯ll have to get two helpers. You¡¯ll be in a sorry state if it¡¯s just you.¡±
¡°You...¡± Liu Shuai¡¯s fist slowly sank.
¡°I¡¯m going to the workshop. See you twoter. Don¡¯t fight; talk things out.¡± Xia Lei left them with those words.
Chi Jing-Qiu suddenly screamed like a madwoman, ¡°Xia Lei, you bastard!¡±
Xia Lei did not look back; he gave her the middle finger over his shoulder.
Chi Jing-Qiu sank to the ground, paralysed. It was like she had lost all her strength. Every one of her secret ces was exposed but she didn¡¯t care in the least.
A woman like her would never love anyone, let alone Xia Lei, whom she¡¯d met again five yearster. Her desire to be good in everything was to me - the more Xia Lei ignored her, the more she felt the need to make him bow to her!
Liu Shuai looked at her and the sight of her body made his throat go dry. He was silent for quite a while before he said, ¡°H-He didn¡¯t touch you, did he?¡±
¡°He did. He touched every touchable ce!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu spoke disdainfully, ¡°Even the ces you haven¡¯t touched!¡±
¡°You-¡± Liu Shuai was in a towering rage.
Chi Jing-Qiu raised her head to look at him, ¡°Hit me then.¡±
Liu Shuai shook his head.
Chi Jing-Qiu spoke again, ¡°Curse me then.¡±
Liu Shuai shook his head again.
Chi Jing-Qiu shouted at Liu Shuai, ¡°Are you even a man? How could I, Chi Jing-Qiu, have married a man like you!¡±
Liu Shuai was silent again and did not say a word.
In the front courtyard of the vi, Xia Lei thought ¡®Liu Shuai may be a little ugly and a little old but he¡¯s still a good man. She should be satisfied. But a woman like her probably wouldn¡¯t be happy even if she married the most outstanding man, would she? Man,e to think of it, this Liu Shuai sure is pitiful. I wonder how many times he¡¯s been cuckolded.¡¯
Xia Lei walked away from the vi and thoughts about the woman he had loved moved further to the back of his mind with every step he took. He didn¡¯t even want to bother with thinking about it anymore. He strode towards the workshop - that was where he would put his talent to good use.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 35
I¡¯ve No Interest In Watching You Bathe
With materials and equipment all readied, Xia Lei progressed quickly in his processing. By his calctions, he would be able toplete the order in under half a month.
Chi Jing-Qiu did not disturb him again. She was a dignifieddy after all, and even if she did try to disturb him again she would not do it to the point of harassment. Xia Lei was not concerned about anything to do with her any longer. Outside of precision processing, he closed himself in the vi¡¯s study to read. He read everything; precision machining, precision welding welding technology, electrical engineering, mechanical design, foreignnguages, business management, capital operation and so on. He was like a sponge, greedily absorbing knowledge like nutrients. Every minute he spent at East Wind Heavy Industries was enriching.
His greatest gain, however, was not progress inpleting the order or knowledge obtained. His greatest gain was greater familiarity with the use of his eye after using it more frequently. He had reached the level of sending and receiving signals directly from his mind. His control of the power was also getting more steady and he could mostly minimise the consequence of overuse of the eye such as fatigue and hallucinations.
A simple example was when he was doing precision processing. He used the left eye¡¯s zooming-in power for that and was easily hit with the consequence of overuse. After gaining more control with practice, his left eye would switch off the ability when he did not need to stare at the precision processing and let him rest. He used to need to deliberately control it but it had be a sort of habit now which was tied in with a lot of practice. It had be as natural as breathing and there was no need for deliberate control.
Ten days passed in a sh.
¡°Not bad, Little Lei. You havepleted two thirds of the order in these past ten days. What¡¯s moremendable is that you did not have to scrap any of them and saved us arge amount of materials. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen someone of your workmanship level - genius! With talent like yours, our country¡¯s hopes of greater power could be realised! Haha!¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was overjoyed and hisughter rang throughout the workshop.
Xia Lei wiped his perspiration with a towel, smiled and said, ¡°Uncle Ning, I am not such a talent. I only know how to do a little bit of metalworking.¡±
¡°Modest. Such modesty from an amazing guy! Oh, how rare, how rare. How about staying and not going back to your workshop? Come to my ce. I¡¯ll give you a workshop to manage and your remuneration will be two million yuan a year. How about that?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan looked at Xia Lei with eyes full of expectation.
One month prior, Xia Lei¡¯s sry was just 3,000 yuan and it was not fixed at that amount either. Now someone was offering him an annual sry of two million; changes in life really were unpredictable. If it was a month ago, don¡¯t even speak of two million - if someone had offered him a 100,000 annual sry, Xia Lei would have agreed ten thousand times over. However, two million yuan only held a certain degree of attraction for him now and was not able to move him into making a decision.
¡°Thank you, Uncle Ning but as you can see, I am used to frence work and I¡¯m not suited for corporate life. It is better for me to work in my own workshop. I would earn less but I like my freedom there.¡± Xia Lei declined Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s kindness politely.
Ning Yuan-Shan looked a little disappointed, ¡°I know you would like to make a name for yourself so it wasn¡¯t right of me to ask a talent like yourself toe join mypany. That¡¯s good too. Do what you like. But if Uncle here has any difficulties like the one you¡¯re helping me with now, you muste lend a hand.¡±
Xia Lei grinned, ¡°Definitely. Don¡¯t worry about it, Uncle Ning.¡±
¡°Come to my home and have a meal, Little Lei. I¡¯ll call that little scamp Ning Jing over too. The two of you haven¡¯t met for ten days so she must miss you a lot,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
Xia Lei sensed a headacheing on and said, ¡°I¡¯d better not go. I¡¯ll get easily distracted if I see her. I will be done in a few days and it doesn¡¯t matter if I¡¯mte a few days in seeing her.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shanughed again, ¡°Career-minded! You can resist even the temptation of love. Promising, promising.¡±
Xia Lei was getting ufortable from his praise. He was quietly d that Ning Yuan-Shan was not Ning Jing¡¯s father or it would have been even more exaggerated.
However, if you looked at it from Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s perspective, the young man was handsome, charming, skilled, career-minded, realistic, steadfast and had no parents - how could he not like him as a future spouse of a member of the Ning n? It was not just Ning Yuan-Shan, Ning Jing¡¯s own father would like him too. Unfortunately, they did not know that Xia Lei and Ning Jing were not in an actual rtionship.
One young and one old left the workshop, engaged in cheerful banter. Xia Lei apanied Ning Yuan-Shan part of the way till he got to a path heading towards the amodations and Ning Yuan-Shan moved towards the garage.
Back in the vi, Xia Lei took off his clothes and jumped into the indoor hot spring pool to wash off the grease and enjoy the massage of flowing water. He would always soak himself every day after work at this time and it was the most rxing time of day for him.
Click-ck. The sound of high-heels clicking on floors suddenly came from behind him.
This sound made Xia Lei wrinkle his brows, ¡°Chi Jing-Qiu, are you not done? Will you believe me if I say I will call Chairman Ning right now and let him have a talk with you?¡±
Click, ck. The sound of footsteps did not stop - instead, it was approaching.
¡°Really, you...¡± Xia Lei twisted his neck around to look and stared nkly.
The one walking towards him was not Chi Jing-Qiu but Long Bing.
ck skirt, ck heels and a face of ice. Her appearance seemed to carry a natural chill and the temperature of the room dropped by several degrees.
Xia Lei quickly snapped out of it and turned around in a panic, dunking himself deeper into the pool. A worry then came to him that the water was transparent and he covered his important part. Long Bing¡¯s appearance made him flounder and he felt embarrassed, too.
Long Bing walked around the pool to stand opposite Xia Lei, then slowly seated herself on a chair and looked right at Xia Lei. ¡°I am going back to Jing-Du. I¡¯vee to see you before leaving.¡±
Xia Lei was at a loss; he asked awkwardly, ¡°Um, I¡¯m taking a bath now. Couldn¡¯t you have picked another time?¡±
¡°I know. This doesn¡¯t bother me,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei had no idea of how to handle her. He was in trouble as soon as she appeared.
¡°I¡¯d always thought you weren¡¯t so simple but you¡¯ve surprised me again this time. The precision parts you are processing for East Wind Heavy Industries needed to be imported and could not be processed unless the newest technological equipment could be imported. You actually processed these manually. I am getting more and more curious about you. Can you tell me how you did it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s better if you don¡¯t ask about things you shouldn¡¯t know,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing paused. She suddenly recalled that this line was what she had said to Xia Lei in the Archaeological Bureau after knocking Ning Jing unconscious. Xia Lei had unexpectedly used the same line to answer her now. That¡¯s right - she told him nothing so why would he tell her anything?
¡°Did youe here to ask me this?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Long Bing opened her handbag and took out a cheque. She ced it on the tiles by the pool.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the cheque about three metres away looked to be right in front of him, details all clearly legible. It was a cheque for 50,000. Though he¡¯d seen it clearly, he pretended not to know, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±
¡°This is 50,000 yuan - your reward. I know the Archaeological Bureau did not pay you,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°You took thepass away and angered them. They couldn¡¯t take it out on you so I naturally became the target. They definitely wouldn¡¯t pay me but I can¡¯t take your money either. Please take it away,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This money isn¡¯t from me, it¡¯s from the government. I¡¯ll take it away if you don¡¯t want it,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°I¡¯ll ept it then. Thanks,¡± Xia Lei smiled. Government payment? Of course he¡¯d take it. The money should have been his anyway.
¡°Based on my observations in this period of time, I think you¡¯re not too bad. You also have some ability. Are you interested in working for me?¡±
¡°What will I work as for you?¡±
¡°I cannot tell you now,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°If you agree, you will be sent to an undisclosed location for training. You will know what your work is once you pass the test.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing. ¡°You¡¯re an agent, and a very specialised one at that, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Long Bing neither confirmed nor denied it. She just looked quietly as Xia Lei, watching him and waiting for his response.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m a normal guy and I still have my little sister to take care of. I cannot live my life under a hail of gunfire so I¡¯d have to say no to your offer. I¡¯m doing quite nicely now and I don¡¯t wish to make any changes.¡±
¡°Good men should work for their country. You have a very strong ability and with training you can be a powerful person. Why don¡¯t you want to serve your country?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I can¡¯t agree with you on that. There are many ways to serve the country like farmers who grow crops, produce grain and cotton - this serves the country too. Workers work in production and construction - this also serves the country. I am contributing to the building of this nation too. Aren¡¯t these all ways of serving the country?¡±
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°I cannot convince you but I¡¯ll wait. I believe a day wille when you understand what I mean.¡±
Xia Lei did not say anything but he felt sure a day like that would nevere.
Long Bing stood from her seat. ¡°I¡¯ve stayed long enough. I should be going now. I know your sister will go to Jing-Du to study so you can tell her to give me a call when she is there, I¡¯ll take care of her.¡±
¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll let her know.¡± Xia Lei was perhaps overwhelmed with gratitude but he forgot that he was naked in the bath. As Long Bing got up to leave, he hurriedly stood as well out of politeness to send her to the door. When he stood in a sploosh of water, he realised his mistake and quickly crouched again, making sure to cover his ¡®part¡¯ up.
In that short window of time, Long Bing¡¯s face suddenly took on a blush. This was a rare sight indeed - at least for Xia Lei since he had never seen her embarrassed before.
It passed quickly though and Long Bing was back to normal. She spoke offhandedly, ¡°There¡¯s no need to cover it up. I¡¯ve seen it already. It¡¯s ugly.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Goodbye.¡± Long Bing turned to leave and she did not look back.
Xia Lei loosened his hands and looked at a certain thing in the water, then mumbled to himself, ¡°Did she really see you? Are you really ugly?¡± He stood again. He¡¯d lost interest in bathing.
At that moment, Long Bing suddenly turned back.
¡°Ah!¡± Xia Lei shrieked, then covered his important part and crouched down. Flustered, he asked, ¡°What the heck are you doing?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve no interest in watching you bathe.¡±
Being stared at like that and shot with such words made Xia Lei so depressed he could vomit blood.
¡°I forgot something.¡± Long Bing walked to the side of the pool, opened her handbag and ced a ck leather wallet on the tiles, saying, ¡°This is my gift to you - your driving license.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°Aren¡¯t driving licenses from the driving school?¡±
¡°I am the driving school,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei suddenlyughed. Long Bing could make Jiang Ru-Yi into Chief. Compared to that, getting him a driving license was no big deal and him asking her questions about it really was superfluous.
¡°Go buy a car. It¡¯ll be more convenient for us to meet in the future.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I knew you wouldn¡¯t give me something for free.¡±
Long Bing did not waste further words and turned to leave.
This time, Xia Lei waited till she was out of sight before he climbed cautiously out of the pool, then used a towel to wrap his whole body up tightly.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 36
Queen of Shentu Empire
Five dayster.
Xia Lei buried himself with work in the workshop. A box of precision parts which had been processed sat next to the manualthe. In just a bit, Xia Lei would be done with his job because the part he held in his hand was thest one. One million yuan would be his once he was finished with this part.
¡®Thunder Horse Workshop will have an upgrade in funds when I get this one million yuan. I can buy equipment and hire more skilled workers. I have no need to do the low-difficulty jobs. With my skills, I can be the ace of Thunder Horse Workshop and only ept higher-difficulty jobs or jobs others cannotplete. This way, we can make more money and I¡¯ll have time to do other things too.¡¯ As he worked, Xia Lei nned for the future and what he would do.
This one million had given him motivation. With his ability, he had no need to do rough and simple jobs. If he had to use his ability, it would be for times like this where the payout wasrge!
Indeed, if Xia Lei were to squat by the roadside holding a welding torch to mend a wok, what sort of Great Master would he be? If a client came to talk to him about some precision processing business worth tens of millions and saw him welding outside, would he still want to hire him?
Footsteps rang from behind him, breaking Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought. He put down the part in his hands to take a look and caught sight of Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu bringing a group of people through the main doorway of the workshop.
Ning Yuan-Shan was talking to a youngdy and Chi Jing-Qiu was close by, looking nervous. Thedy had four suited young men following her and all four of them had stern faces and sturdy bodies. They were surveying their surroundings as they moved. These characteristics were that of professional bodyguards.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the youngdy and it felt like his soul had been hooked in that instant.
The youngdy surrounded by a crowd had a pair of bright raven eyes which seemed to hold a pool of clear springwater, giving the impression of intelligence - wise, clear and bright. Her lips were small and tender and carried the natural red of the most delicate rose petals. Her figure was also the best, the most perfect. Perfect proportions, plumpness where it should be - everything about her was impable, especially her legs. They were slender without losing their healthy plumpness, white and almost translucent like jade, as if nature decided to use the best of its resources to carefully craft her without any ws. She also had a special bearing - irreproachable as a jade lotus flower blooming in an ancient pce, the strict solemnity of the pce emphasising and bringing out the brilliance of the existence that is her.
Chi Jing-Qiu was easy on the eyes too but next to thisdy, she was instantly turned into a tacky, dull existence.
There was no ¡®most beautiful¡¯ woman in this world but Xia Lei felt that this woman whose name he did not know was the most perfect woman he¡¯d seen in his life. He was captivated and his heart started to pound.
¡°This way please, Miss Shentu.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was very polite and spoke as he guided her.
¡®Who is this woman? Is she here to see me process the parts?¡¯ Xia Lei was bursting with curiosity.
Ning Yuan-Shan passed Xia Lei with thedy and they continued walking deeper into the workshop. Thedy enclosed in a crowd did not even spare Xia Lei a nce.
Xia Lei thought she was here to see him but she¡¯d passed without even noticing him. His existence was like that of a street vendor to her.
Xia Lei watched thedy move further away and a bitter smile crooked the corners of his mouth, ¡°She¡¯s beautiful but too proud. What sort of man can get a woman like her?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu hung back and waited for Ning Yuan-Shan and thedy to walk a bit of a distance away before she went to Xia Lei, ¡°Stop staring. You can stare your whole life and it won¡¯t make a difference.¡±
Only then did Xia Lei look away from thedy and he looked at Chi Jing-Qiu and saidughingly, ¡°If you looked as beautiful as her I¡¯d stare at you too.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu was not angry at all, ¡°That won¡¯t piss me off. I know my ce when I¡¯m put up against her. Don¡¯t you know who she is?¡±
¡°Who is she?¡±
¡°The head of Shentu n, Shentu Tian-Yin.¡±
¡°Shentu n?¡± Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°Never heard of it.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve got to increase your knowledge.¡± A faintly contemptuous smile appeared on the lips of Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s mouth, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a quick rundown and also some information. Shentu n is thergest n in the East region. The Shentu n controls the Vientiane Group worth tens of billions in assets, which is involved in real estate, energy, home appliances and science and technology. What is the use of a man like you staring at a woman like that? You have no chance. Face reality and don¡¯t be carried away by wishful thinking.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Don¡¯t use those words to agitate me. No matter how lousy of a man I am, I¡¯m still better than your man.¡±
¡°You-¡± Chi Jing-Qiu was temporarily at a loss for words.
¡°Okay, let¡¯s not butt heads. We¡¯re still ex-ssmates.¡± Xia Lei smoothed things over, ¡°Right, so what¡¯s Shentu Tian Yin here for?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu was still pissed but her tone softened a little, ¡°She¡¯s representing Vientaine Group to survey ourpany. Vientaine Group wants to build a wind power nt and needs arge number of wind generation equipment which ourpany is capable of producing. She¡¯s the embodiment of wealth; don¡¯t you see how Chairman Ning is escorting her like royalty?¡±
¡°I see. Chairman Ning must really want Vientaine Group as a client,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chi Jing-Qiu sighed, ¡°Ah, we are both women but we have such different lives and fates. Lei, tell me, aren¡¯t the Heavenscking in fairness?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t think too much about it. Be content with your own lot.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu shook her head, ¡°I would be willing to have a lifespan of only twenty years if I can live like how Shentu Tian Yin lives. Living in this limbo and having to face that spineless coward every day is driving me crazy.¡±
¡°You¡¯d better catch up or you¡¯ll get scolded.¡± Xia Lei did not want to broach that topic.
Chi Jing-Qiu didn¡¯t look bothered, ¡°I don¡¯t care. I actually want to talk to you about some business. Do you want to make money?¡±
¡°Who doesn¡¯t? Say your piece,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You have the skill and your own workshop. I have contacts and connections. If we cooperate, we¡¯ll definitely profit.¡±
¡°You mean...¡±
¡°I¡¯ll pull orders for you and you pay memission.¡±
Xia Lei was tempted. Chi Jing-Qiu was working in arge state-owned enterprise like East Wind Heavy Industries as the Chairman¡¯s secretary and her husband and herself had some sort of standing in the industry after all. Her contacts were surely not small fish and the orders she could secure wouldn¡¯t be paltry sums like a few thousand. Though he was indeed tempted by the offer, he kept a straight face and asked, ¡°How muchmission do you want?¡±
¡°15%,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu right away.
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°You have a big appetite, huh? You¡¯re just pping your lips but not doing any of thebour and you¡¯re asking for 15%? I¡¯m providing manpower, equipment and materials - I¡¯m probably not going to make much more than you, eh?¡±
¡°So how much will you pay?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu looked intently at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei held out a hand, ¡°5%¡±
¡°Too little. 10%¡±
¡°8%, take it or leave it.¡±
¡°Deal.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu held out a hand to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei hesitated, then stretched his own hand out and shook her hand. Her little hand was soft and pliable, invoking a stab of excitement in him.
¡°Wait for me to contact you.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu shook hands and left, walking briskly back to the group of people.
Watching her swaying bum, Xia Lei thought, ¡®8% is 8%. You¡¯ll refer the client and I¡¯ll remember that person. When I build up my own contacts I won¡¯t need to pay you amission any longer.¡¯
First love? Old ssmates? That didn¡¯t exist any more - it was all business to Xia Lei.
Ning Yuan-Shan had moved far off with Shentu Tian-Yin and the little crowd. Xia Lei went back to work but the image of Shentu Tian-Yin kept appearing in his head while he was standing in front of thethe and holding the control lever. He felt funny - like his spiritual and carnal aspects had some parts missing.*
¡®Thedy of the Shentu n is worth tens of billions - why am I being so stupid? That witch Chi Jing-Qiu was right; there¡¯s no use thinking of her. I¡¯d better just get down to work. I¡¯ll get this one million yuan, use it to buy new equipment and hire people, then work with Chi Jing-Qiu.¡¯ Xia Lei quickly focused his thoughts and calmed himself. His gaze locked on thest part to be processed and he slowly lowered the de - back to work.
Ten minutester, the processing was done. Xia Lei ced it in the box, cleaned up and called Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°Sorry to disturb you when you have an important guest, Uncle Ning but I wanted to give you a call,¡± begun Xia Lei when the call connected, ¡°I¡¯ve finished the order. Thest few parts are next to thethe. You can send someone to pick them up.¡±
¡°Mm, not bad, not bad. I¡¯ll send someone over right away. You¡¯ve really helped me out this time,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan with a chuckle, ¡°I¡¯ve already prepared the cheque. Someone from the finance department will deliver it to you.¡±
¡°Thank you, Uncle Ning. I¡¯ll leave you to your work now, goodbye.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
After hanging up, a person came to pick up the precision parts within minutes. Xia Lei watched them finish inspecting the parts and made sure everything was in order before leaving the workshop. He¡¯d not gone far when someone from the finance department of East Wind Heavy Industries delivered a cheque for a million yuan to him.
Ning Yuan-Shan really was a man who was swift and decisive and was not sloppy in doing things.
The cheque was almost weightless but Xia Lei felt like it weighed tens of kilograms. His face was full of smiles too - this was the biggest paycheck yet in his life.
His work was done, the checks were done, the money had been paid and Xia Lei had no further need to go to the vi. He headed straight to the main doorway of East Wind Heavy Industries.
As he passed the car park, Xia Lei spotted a limited edition Rolls Royce Phantom. It had a solemn air, lending it the image of emperor of cars.
¡®This must be Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s vehicle. Only women of her caliber can have cars like that.¡¯ Xia Lei wanted to buy a car too and the desire to own one had grown after Long Bing had bestowed a license upon him. The Rolls Royce Phantom before his eyes, however, was out of the question.
Just then, a female worker wearing the work clothes of an employee of East Wind Heavy Industries entered the car park from an entrance to the side of him, pushing a cleaning trolley. As she walked, she used a pair of metal tongs to pick up rubbish from the ground and threw them into a stic pail on the cleaning trolley.
Perhaps it was the effect of the Rolls Royce Phantom, but its presence made the female worker look petty and lowly, and Xia Lei could not help taking a closer look at her. The female worker looked very young - perky buttocks, big bosom - very sexy.
Xia Lei thought it weird, ¡®Cleaning jobs are usually done by older aunt-like women. She¡¯s so young and sexy - why is she doing rough work like this?¡¯
*Èý»êÆßÆÇ - three finer spirits and several baser instincts that motivate a human being. Also can be exined as the three immortal souls and seven mortal forms in Daoism, contrasting the spiritual and carnal side of man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hun_and_po
Be a Patron!
Chapter 37
Double Kings or Four Twos
It may be out of curiosity but Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the cleaningdy was pulled forward 20 or 30 metres to him and he could see everything clearly.
Xia Lei looked at her hands - they were pale, soft andcked calluses. She also had a multi-functional watch with good workmanship and quality materials on her wrist; it was definitely an expensive outdoor watch.
Xia Lei¡¯s curiosity grew greater, ¡®It¡¯s unusual for a cleaningdy to wear such an expensive watch.¡¯
The cleaningdy, on the other hand, was not aware of the curious young man observing her. She pushed the cleaning trolley towards the Rolls Royce Phantom.
Xia Lei suddenly had a thought, and at that thought, the cleaningdy¡¯s clothes vanished instantly and she stood naked under the sun.
The cleaningdy¡¯s skin was pale and tender, making the ck object hidden around her waist contrast greatly and catch his eye - it was a gun!
Xia Lei shifted his gaze to the cleaning trolley and saw that there was something hidden there too. It had several fuses bundled together to make an explosive device and a mobile phone was taped to the top, connected to the fuse with an electrical lead.
The sight of the gun and bomb made it clear to Xia Lei that this woman was not a cleaningdy for East Wind Heavy Industries but a killer. She made her way towards the Rolls Royce Phantom, making her target obvious - Shentu Tian-Yin!
Xia Lei stopped using his eye and moved towards the workshop.
The woman turned to look at Xia Lei but it was just a passing nce and she did not seem to have found anything suspicious, as though she was sure she was hidden well. The far-away Xia Lei could not possibly have seen what secrets she was hiding. She pushed the trolley to the side of the Rolls Royce Phantom, then used the tongs to get the bomb out of the stic pail. She pretended to be picking some rubbish and squatted...
This did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eye either and his pace quickened. A few minutester, he found Ning Yuan-Shan and Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s group in the workshop.
¡°Ourpany is a government-owned enterprise; our strength and reputation are solid. You can rest assured, Miss Shentu. I can guarantee if you choose us that your wind power nt will be up and running, and bringing your Vientaine Group great profit,¡± Ning Yuan-Shan said as he showed Shentu Tian-Yin around the workshop. He had a smile on his face and had a friendly manner.
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke softly, ¡°Chairman Ning, is beyond reproach in terms of size or strength. However, we have heard that yourpany has experienced a halt in an important project due to the restrictions that have been put in ce by Europe and America. Is this true?¡±
Xia Lei was about to walk up to them and heard her. ¡®Isn¡¯t she talking about the precision parts which I processed? Even I have no idea what those parts I¡¯d worked on will be used for but it sounds like she knows it very well from the way she speaks. Her sources must be deep. What is she nning by mentioning it now?¡¯ he thought.
Ning Yuan-Shan gave a smallugh, ¡°Heh heh, Miss Shentu is well-informed. Europe and America have indeed ced a stricter technology blockade on us and affected us to a degree. However, it was not impossible for someone in our vast nation to solve the problem. I¡¯ll tell you truthfully, Miss Shentu, that we have solved that problem.¡±
¡°Oh?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was disbelieving, ¡°From what I¡¯d gathered, there aren¡¯t any equipment nor any skilled person who can do it. How did you manage to solve the problem?¡±
¡°Ourpany has an excellent engineer craftsman. He is young but definitely an outstanding talent. It was him who solved our problem. In fact, we¡¯ve just paid him a million yuan for his work,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°I see. Yourpany has a great pool of talent indeed.¡± A faint smile of satisfaction appeared on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips.
This flower-budding smile of hers made Xia Lei space out for a bit. He¡¯d intended to walk up to them but Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s words made him hesitate. It was him who had helped them solve their problem but Ning Yuan-Shan had imed that one of East Wind Heavy Industries¡¯ engineers had and neglected to mention his name. Ning Yuan-Shan must have done that so that he could show off East Wind Heavy Industries¡¯ strength to Shentu Tian-Yin and get a huge purchase order from Vientaine Group. Shentu Tian-Yin was also testing the strength of East Wind Heavy Industries by bringing up the matter of the blockade.
Xia Lei thought quietly to himself, ¡®Shentu Tian-Yin is still in here so there is no danger for now. I¡¯ll follow them and find an opportunity to tell her about the situation in the car park. It would be bad if I spoilt Uncle Ning¡¯s ns by showing up at this juncture.
Having decided, Xia Lei did not stand idle. He took out his phone and sent a message to Jiang Ru-Yi: I¡¯m at East Wind Heavy Industries. I¡¯ve discovered someone cing a bomb in the car park. It¡¯s super urgent! Come quick!¡¯
At that moment, Shentu Tian-Yin spoke, ¡°Ourpany is in contact with a German manufacturingpany and they have presented us with two proposals, both of which are very good. How about this, Chaiman Ning? I¡¯ll hold a meeting after I return and we shall discuss this, then inform you of our decision.¡±
¡°Of course,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°However, Miss Shentu, let me say more. I am not boasting that mypany¡¯s strength and ability is greater than the Germanpanies. I am just reminding you that the German¡¯s proposals may be good but their cost is much higher than ours. You know too how expensive German manpower is. If you ept the proposal from the Germanpany, the equipment maintenance, repair and recement will add up to arge amount in the future, lowering your profit margin. Of course, I won¡¯t interfere with your decision. I would like you to just consider matters after the construction of your wind power nt. Here, I can guarantee that ourpany can not only provide top-grade equipment but perfect after-service.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin gave a faint smile, then extended her hand and shook hands with Ning Yuan-Shan, saying, ¡°Thank you for your opinion. I will give it some consideration. This is it for today and I will contact you when there are results. Goodbye.¡±
¡°Have a pleasant day, Miss Shentu,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan politely.
Talk concluded, Shentu Tian-Yin and her four stone-faced bodyguards turned to leave and that was when Shentu Tian-Yin noticed Xia Lei standing not far off. She looked at him but her gaze only stayed on him for less than a second.
Ning Yuan-Shan had also seen Xia Lei and he started to get a little nervous.
Xia Lei knew why he reacted that way - Ning Yuan-Shan had lied to Shentu Tian-Yin and his appearance could reveal his lie.
After discovering Xia Lei, Ning Yuan-Shan did not see Shentu Tian-Yin to the door; he walked towards Xia Lei and spoke in a low tone, ¡°What are you doing here, Little Lei?¡±
¡°I have something very important to tell Miss Shentu.¡±
Before he could say more, Ning Yuan-Shan pulled Xia Lei back by the hand, speaking nervously, ¡°Are you going to tell her that you were the one who solved our problem? You can¡¯t go!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°Uncle Ning, what do you see me as? Am I that sort of person? It isn¡¯t what you think. I don¡¯t have time and I need to tell her urgently or lives will be lost!¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan wanted to ask further questions but Xia Lei had already torn free of his grasp and was chasing after Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s group.
¡°Hey?!¡± Ning Yuan-Shan wanted to call Xia Lei to stop but he did not dare raise his voice. He was nervous; almost panicky.
Chi Jing-Qiu then spoke with great sincerity, ¡°Chairman Ning, there is no knowing what is in a man¡¯s heart. You took care of him so well yet he is going to expose your lie in order to get acquainted with Shentu Tian-Yin. This is not good for ourpany.¡±
¡°What are you saying? Little Lei is not someone like that! He said it himself just now that it was not that,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°You still believe in him, Chairman Ning? I was his ssmate so I know him better than you. He is a despicable person with great ambitions,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Her words made Ning Yuan-Shan more nervous. His eyes nearly bugged as he watched Xia Lei approach Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s group. It was toote to stop Xia Lei now.
Xia Lei caught up to Shentu Tian-Yin and her bodyguards and was about to speak when his phone beeped with a new message. He unlocked the phone - it was Jiang Ru-Yi. The content of the message though, nearly made him faint.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s message read: Double Kings or four twos?* I¡¯ll beat you up if you mess with me!
If Jiang Ru-Yi were in front of him he¡¯d kick her ass!
¡°Stop!¡± A bodyguard suddenly turned to block Xia Lei¡¯s way. His eyes were full of warning and he looked very aggressive.
The other three bodyguards and Shentu Tian-Yin also turned to look at Xia Lei. Her brows were wrinkled in a frown and her gaze icy.
¡°Miss Shentu, I have something very important to tell you. I don¡¯t have any other meaning or malicious intent,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Scram!¡± The bodyguard blocking his way shouted aggressively and made to take action against him.
He was here to warn her of danger but got yelled at by her bodyguard. Xia Lei got pissed by that attitude and retorted, ¡°What are you shouting for? Do you know what I¡¯m going to say?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve seen plenty of people like you. I¡¯ll get nasty if you don¡¯t leave!¡± The bodyguard really was going to take action.
¡°Hold on,¡± Shentu Tian-Yin spoke calmly, ¡°What do you want to say?¡±
¡°Is the Rolls Royce Phantom in the car park yours?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded her head slightly.
¡°I was passing the car park earlier and saw a woman get close to your car. She was carrying a gun and had a bomb. I¡¯m afraid she has already nted the bomb by now. That¡¯s my message. You sort it out,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked sharply at Xia Lei, ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to bother about that. I¡¯ve said my piece so you do what you will with the information,¡± said Xia Lei. He paused, then added, ¡°And discipline your men. Not everyone is trying to get to know you. They should show at least some basic courtesy.¡±
Xia Lei turned and left after he was done speaking.
Shentu Tian-Yin stood in ce for while and, in contrast to earlier, her gaze did not leave Xia Lei¡¯s disappearing back.
¡°What do we do, Miss Shentu?¡± asked a bodyguard.
A faint, cold smile curved her lips, ¡°So they could not hold back in the end and are preparing to make a move now. Go take a look.¡±
¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± A bodyguard headed towards the car park outside the workshop.
The cleaningdy had disappeared from the car park and the area looked particrly quiet.
*Jiang Ru-Yi was talking about a game called ¡®Fighting the Landlord¡¯. The bomb in this case is a group of cards used to beat otherbinations in the game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dou_dizhu
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Chapter 38
The Ice Beauty¡¯s Control
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bodyguard walked towards the Rolls Royce Phantom. His walked slowly and he looked nervous. Loyalty was not an issue as one of those who were permitted to be by Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s side but this was a remote bomb which could explode at any time he was up against after all and he was in the st range. Even professional bodyguards would feel nervous and afraid.
Xia Lei had already surveyed the Rolls Royce Phantom and seen everything clearly by the time the bodyguard walked towards the car park. Distance and car were not an issue with his eye. Though he did not see that woman, he saw the object she had stuck to the car chassis.
¡°Don¡¯t go over!¡± Xia Lei warned loudly, ¡°The bomb is under the car; you¡¯ll get caught in the explosion.¡±
The bodyguard stopped and looked back at Xia Lei. He also looked at Shentu Tian-Yin, who had just exited the workshop, out of the corner of his eye. He seemed to be waiting for Shentu Tian-Yin to give him amand but she just stood there, expressionless.
The bodyguard continued on his path towards the Rolls Royce Phantom after that look.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s nonmand was amand too. He would jump into a ming volcano if shemanded, let alone face a bomb.
¡°You¡¯re still going even when you know there¡¯s a bomb?¡± eximed Xia Lei.
The bodyguard did not look back this time.
Ning Yuan-Shan walked to Xia Lei withrge strides and asked nervously, ¡°What¡¯s going on, Little Lei? What bomb? Where¡¯s the bomb?¡±
¡°There really is a bomb. It¡¯s under the Rolls Royce,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°How can this be?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was disbelieving.
¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re joking, right? Who can be so bold in this day and age to openly ce a bomb under the car of the youngdy of the Shentu n? Aren¡¯t you just spouting frightening words to scare others?¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Xia Lei gave her a look. ¡°If you think it¡¯s just frightening words then you¡¯re wee to take the ce of that bodyguard and inspect the car. Either that or you can retrieve the bomb.¡±
¡°I...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu was about to say that she would but changed her words, ¡°I¡¯m not going!¡±
Xia Lei red at her, ¡°Then why are you here squawking away?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu did not look offended but said quietly, ¡°I know what you¡¯re nning. You¡¯re trying to get acquainted with Shentu Tian-Yin aren¡¯t you? I¡¯m going to hinder your efforts.¡±
Xia Lei could not be bothered to speak with her anymore and looked back at the car park.
The bodyguard had reached the side of the Rolls Royce Phantom. He bent in a crouch cautiously.
Xia Lei was so nervous he felt like his heart was in his throat. He nced at Shentu Tian-Yin. Her face held no trace of nervousness; she was calm. It was as if she had sent not a person, but a bomb disposal robot into danger.
¡®She¡¯s so young but already has such a heart of steel. This isn¡¯t normal, is it? Does she even have emotions?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
The bodyguard retrieved the bomb from the chassis of the Rolls Royce Phantom and held it in both hands as he started lowering it carefully to the ground.
If that woman called the mobile phone attached to the bomb now, he would be sted to pieces.
¡°There¡¯s... there¡¯s really a bomb?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu was in shock. She was not in the st range but she still quickly moved back, putting more distance between herself and the bomb.
Ning Yuan-Shan was scared speechless. He was a timid man and he retreated behind a column in a panic.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s three other bodyguards stood in front of her, forming a human wall.
The only ones who did not move were Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei with some interest, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid?¡±
¡®If a person worth billions is not afraid, why should I be?¡¯ thought Xia Lei but he said, ¡°I think you should worry about your bodyguard instead. Are you going to let him hold onto the bomb like that?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke calmly, ¡°You think the person who wants to kill me would kill one bodyguard of mine in this situation?¡±
Xia Lei was bbergasted.
That woman¡¯s target was Shentu Tian-Yin and now that Shentu Tian-Yin had uncovered the bomb she nted, her mission had failed. If she activated the bomb and killed one of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bodyguards, it would not bring any harm to Shentu Tian-Yin but give her an advantage!
Xia Lei¡¯s couldn¡¯t help the wry smile on his lips after suddenly understanding why Shentu Tian-Yin was so calm. There he was worrying about her and her bodyguard but she had already seen into the mind of the would-be killer. This intelligence, this control - what need had she of his blind worry?
In the car park, the bodyguard finally ced the bomb on the ground.
Shentu Tian-Yin made a small wave with her hand and only then did the bodyguard hastily exit the car park.
SHe looked at Xia Lei, ¡°What did that woman look like?¡±
¡°She was very young.¡± Xia Lei gave a brief description of the woman¡¯s appearance, height and features.
¡°Thank you,¡± Shentu Tian-Yin turned to Xia Lei, ¡°What is your name? I will send someone to reward you.¡±
Xia Lei was about to give his name but felt insulted at Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s second sentence. He smiled bitterly, ¡°Sure, it¡¯s fine if you want to give me money. Just donate a million to any old folks¡¯ home."
¡°You will get the donation receipt,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin,
Xia Lei stood nkly for a bit. He was only saying it so he did not expect Shentu Tian-Yin to respond in that way. He looked at her but she had already looked away.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t want to say more; he felt ufortable.
Ning Yuan-Shan finally got over his terror. He went to Xia Lei¡¯s side, ¡°Master Xia, there really was a bomb, you... How did you see it?¡±
¡°It was a coincidence. Everything¡¯s fine now. I¡¯ll go off now, Uncle Ning. You should call the police and let them handle it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Only then did Ning Yuan-Shane to his senses and he hurriedly got his mobile phone out to call the police.
Xia Lei walked towards the main entrance and didn¡¯t look back. The police would take care of matters after the report was made. He had already described the woman to Shentu Tian-Yin and the police would follow up, so it was no use for him to stay behind. Unbeknownst to him, Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s eyes were on him as he left.
Outside the main entrance, Xia Lei received a text message from Chi Jing-Qiu: Don¡¯t forget our deal. I¡¯ll get you a nice order within a week.
Xia Lei¡¯s first reaction to the text message was revulsion. He was reminded of Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s earlier mocking and ridicule and felt like rejecting the deal. However, he re-thought and replied with a text message: Okay.
Business was business. Chi Jing-Qiu could bring in big orders and big clients he¡¯d have no way of knowing. This would be a good boost for his career so why reject it over a bit of disgust? That wasn¡¯t a wise move. America and China crossed swords in the past but they¡¯re the biggest trading partners now weren¡¯t they?
There were no taxis in the suburbs where East Wind Heavy Industries was located so Xia Lei followed the main road, heading towards the harbour. Ten minutester, he hadn¡¯t seen a single taxi but a fleet of police cars came into view.
The first cars rushed past with their lights shing but thest came to a screeching halt next to Xia Lei. Xia Lei looked at the driver¡¯s seat, saw Jiang Ru-Yi and said with a smile, ¡°So, Chief Jiang, are you bringing your boys to battle for ¡®Fighting the Landlord¡¯?¡±
¡°You ass!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi alighted, took a swing at Xia Lei and spoke fiercely, ¡°Don¡¯t you know how to be more specific? I can¡¯t even talk about the message. If the leader knows about it, I¡¯ll be in big trouble! You shut up about it too!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°Rx, I won¡¯t mention the message.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi calmed down, and a smile appeared on her face, ¡°So this means you saw the face of the person who ced the bomb?¡±
¡°Yep, I did,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then describe the woman to me. I need to show something to the leader.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked excited.
¡°I¡¯ve told Shentu Tian-Yin. Your leader and colleagues may be talking to Shentu Tian-Yin right now. If you don¡¯t go over there right now, won¡¯t you get a scolding instead of a chance to perform well?¡±
¡°Ah? You aren¡¯t helping! I¡¯m off!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi hurriedly got into her car, stepped on the elerator and zoomed off.
Xia Lei watched Jiang Ru-Yi go, then said to himself, ¡°You were actually the first person I told. You didn¡¯t take it seriously and med me instead, so you deserve it.¡±
Xia Lei managed to get a taxi when he was almost to the harbour. He took the taxi to the city, then headed to the bank and cashed two cheques. He deposited the one million from East Wind Heavy Industries in his ount and took the 50,000 as cash. He couldn¡¯t forget Ma Xiao-An and Zhou Xiao-Hong, who¡¯d stayed in Thunder Horse Workshop to work while he was at East Wind Heavy Industries.
When he walked out of the bank, Xia Lei received a phone call from Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°Little Lei,¡± Ning Yuan-Shan changed the way he addressed him on the phone,ing across as a familiar person, ¡°I¡¯d nned to have a good talk with you but this incident happened unexpectedly. I¡¯m so sorry.¡±
¡°Uncle Ning, it¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t have to feel apologetic,¡± said Xia Lei with a smallugh.
¡°How can that do? You¡¯ve helped me out a great deal but I haven¡¯t even said a line of thanks yet,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
Xia Lei changed the topic, ¡°Right, Uncle Ning, so was the matter of the bomb taken care of?¡±
¡°The bomb was real, and it was made of military-grade high-power explosives. I shiver just thinking about it. The police have looked at our surveince tapes but they did not find that woman. A Chief surnamed Jiang volunteered to take on the task of being responsible for the case but her leader did not agree to it in the end.¡±
¡°No one mentioned me?¡± Xia Lei knew the person Ning Yuan-Shan talked about was Jiang Ru-Yi and he was not surprised.
¡°Miss Shentu called in advance to not mention you. But I do think this is a good thing. It¡¯ll bring you some trouble otherwise,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡®So it was Shentu Tian-Yin who called. Did she not want to trouble me either?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself, then he suddenlyughed, ¡®I¡¯m overthinking it. Why would someone of her status be concerned about me?¡¯
Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°Right, Little Lei. Let¡¯s have a celebratory dinner tonight.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to go to that trouble, Uncle Ning. Really, you don¡¯t,¡± Xia Lei hastened to say.
¡°How can that do? I don¡¯t care - you muste,¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was insistent, ¡°I¡¯ll call Ning Jing too. I¡¯ll make reservations at the hotel and send you the time and address. It¡¯s decided, then.¡±
He did not care if Xia Lei agreed or not and hung up just like that after saying his piece, giving Xia Lei no chance to refuse.
Xia Lei gave it no further thought. He hailed a taxi and headed back to Thunder Horse Workshop.
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Chapter 39
A Couple So Perfect You Could Make a Gold Statue of Them
Xia Lei received a text message from Ning Yuan-Shan just as he arrived at Thunder Horse Workshop. The dinner was going to be at Pris Hotel at 7:00pm.
¡®Geeze, Uncle Ning didn¡¯t even ask my opinion. Whatever, I¡¯ll just go. We may work with each other in the future and it¡¯s not a good idea to get on the bad side of a man like him. I¡¯ll take Xiao-An and Xiao-Hong with me and let them experience more of the outside world¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An was welding and Zhou Xiao-Hong was assisting. Ma Xiao-An had worked up a sweat and Zhou Xiao-Hong had too; her sweat soaked her work clothes and the wet material clung tightly to her bum, entuating its fullness and invoking desires and fantasies.
¡°Break time.¡± Xia Lei pped.
It was only then that Ma Xiao-An and Zhou Xiao-Hong discovered that Xia Lei was back. Ma Xiao-An put down the welding mp in his hands and Zhou Xiao-Hong got to her feet and headed for the water dispenser.
¡°No need to get me water.¡± Xia Lei stopped her, ¡°You¡¯re already tired and soaked with sweat, so there¡¯s no need to bring me water. You should drink some yourself.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not tired, Big Brother Lei. I¡¯ll get you a cup of water.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong wiped at the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand, and a dirty smear appeared on her pale forehead.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t thirsty but when Zhou Xiao-Hong brought a cup right to his hands, he downed all the water in one go.
Ma Xiao-An washed his hands and walked over, ¡°Lei, have you finished the job at East Wind Heavy Industries?¡±
¡°I¡¯m done,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Chairman Ning of East Wind Heavy Industries has offered to treat me to a meal as congrattions. It¡¯s meaningless if I go alone so I¡¯d like to bring the two of you.¡±
Ma Xiao-An shook his head, ¡°Lei, I¡¯d better not go to such an important ce. It¡¯s enough if you bring just Xiao-Hong and say she is your secretary.¡±
¡°You¡¯re usually so thick-skinned so why are you being a chicken today? Is it because of Ning Yuan-Shan? Is he going to eat you up?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ning Yuan-Shan is one of the big fish and I¡¯m just a little fish. I won¡¯t feelfortable sharing a dinner table with him. It¡¯s better if I don¡¯t go,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
¡°Big Brother Lei, I, I¡¯m not going either...¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked even more nervous and timid. She stuttered slightly as she said, ¡°I¡¯m just a mountain-girl and I¡¯ve never seen much of the outside world. Big Brother Lei, if you take me with you I¡¯ll embarrass myself. I¡¯m not going, I¡¯m not going.¡±
¡°You two... Isn¡¯t it just a meal? Why do you two have to be so afraid of it?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not afraid, I just don¡¯t want to go. Xiao-Hong, you can go as secretary and take a look around. Go with Lei,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Zhou Xiao-Hong shook her pretty head so hard her head looked like a rattle, ¡°I¡¯m not going and I¡¯m not a secretary.¡±
Since talking didn¡¯t work, Xia Lei put the 50,000 on the table, ¡°Never mind if you two don¡¯t want to go. This is 50,000 yuan. I¡¯ll give it to you both as a bonus. You can use it to buy whatever you want.¡±
¡°Lei, what are you doing?¡± Ma Xiao-An looked at Xia Lei in astonishment. He did not reach for the money.
Zhou Xiao-Hong also spoke nervously, ¡°Big Brother Lei, I¡¯m happy enough that you¡¯ve taken me in. I haven¡¯t even been here a month so why are you giving me such arge bonus all of a sudden? I can¡¯t take it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°My work at East Wind Industries earned us one million. I¡¯d intended on giving you even more bonuses but we also need money for upgrading our machine shop so it¡¯s just 50,000. Please don¡¯t be upset that it¡¯s too little and ept it.¡±
¡°Too little, my ass! Forget it, I don¡¯t like to hear that stuff. Fine, I¡¯ll take the money, okay?¡± Ma Xiao-An took two bundles of money, then added, ¡°Xue is going to move to Jing Du to study soon. I¡¯ll go over to your ce for dinner and see if she needs anything else for school.¡±
Xia Lei frowned, ¡°You¡¯re spending money on her again. You¡¯ll spoil her.¡±
¡°How is it as serious as you¡¯d described? You¡¯re her brother and I¡¯m her Big Brother. What¡¯s wrong with me buying her presents?¡± Ma Xiao-An followed his own logic.
¡°Do what you like, then. Remember to stay within some limits and don¡¯t let her get into the habit of spending a lot of money. That¡¯ll be bad,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-Anughed, ¡°Yeah, yeah. You nag more than my mother.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong spoke up too, ¡°Big Brother Ma, take me with you too. I¡¯ll go to Big Brother Lei¡¯s home to have dinner. Um... I¡¯d like to buy Xue a little present too.¡±
¡°Sure, but you¡¯ll have to wipe the tables before you go,¡± said Ma Xiao-An with an evil smile.
¡°Okay.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong picked up a cloth and went straight to wiping.
¡°Take the money and put it away. Don¡¯t drop it.¡± Xia Lei shoved money into Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s hands as he nagged.
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s eyes were red; she was so moved she couldn¡¯t speak. When she¡¯d left her vige to look for work, her greatest dream was to save 10,000 and send it home to her family and she¡¯d calcted that she would need to work hard for a year to reach that goal. However, she¡¯d only been in Thunder Horse Workshop for less than a month when Xia Lei gave her a bonus of 20,000. This 20,000 meant a lot to her. How could she not be moved?
¡°Go, go. Do your work well.¡± Xia Lei did not want to see her cry.
¡°Okay.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong shoved the two bundles of money into her pockets and went to work on the tables with all her heart. Her hands moved vigorously left and right and her bountiful bosom also jiggled vigorously, almost hitting the tabletop.
Ma Xiao-An¡¯s eyes were fixed on Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s breasts. He hadn¡¯t blinked.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. He walked to Ma Xiao-An and spoke in a low tone, ¡°She¡¯s an honest, hardworking girl, I tell you. Don¡¯t bring her any harm.¡±
Ma Xiao-An also lowered his voice, ¡°Bro, what sort of person do you think I am? People of my moral conduct don¡¯t match with people like her. I won¡¯t harm her; I¡¯m just looking. Looking is not a crime and she won¡¯t get pregnant either, right?¡±
Xia Lei pped Ma Xiao-An upside the back of his head, ¡°You ass!¡±
Ma Xiao-An took the hit. He wasn¡¯t the least bit angry and just continued staring at Zhou Xiao-Hong wiping tables while giggling.
In the evening, Xia Lei called a taxi to get to Pris Hotel.
Before he could get there, however, Ning Jing called.
¡°What is it, Big Sister Ning?¡± greeted Xia Lei warmly.
¡°Oh, it¡¯s bad.¡± Ning Jing¡¯s voice sounded anxious over the phone.
¡°What happened? Don¡¯t panic, speak slowly.¡±
¡°My uncle told my father about you. My father¡¯sing to the dinner tonight too.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei was shocked.
¡°My uncle made you sound like someone with supernatural powers and stopped just short of calling you the perfect son-inw. My father was listening intently and he smiled but was also scolding me at the same time, saying how could I keep such a big thing from him. What... What should I do?¡±
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on, ¡°I, I don¡¯t know either. I¡¯ve never encountered this sort of situation before.¡±
¡°I have no experience either. Argh, it¡¯s all my fault. I shouldn¡¯t have told my uncle you were my boyfriend without discussing it with you first.¡± Ning Jing was at her wits¡¯ end.
¡°Don¡¯t panic, you were only trying to get your uncle to meet me and help me get that contract. How could I me you?¡± consoled Xia Lei.
¡°Never mind, what¡¯s past is past so let¡¯s not bring it up again. My father has a bad heart; he can¡¯t get mad. Let¡¯s just work together to fool him one more time.¡±
Xia Lei bit the bullet, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s pretend again. I can¡¯t act well though, so please don¡¯t me me if anyone sees through it.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. You just need to change ording to the situation. Okay, that should be it. I¡¯ll wait for you at the hotel.¡± Ning Jing hung up.
Xia Lei was still holding onto his mobile phone, looking preupied. He¡¯d thought that this was a celebratory party but it had turned out to be a family-rted match-making date. He wasn¡¯t Ning Jing¡¯s boyfriend but had to meet her father under the guise of being her boyfriend. This matter made his head hurt when he thought about it.
¡°Bro, meeting the parents?¡± The taxi driver looked back at him, grinning.
Xia Lei came back to reality, ¡°How did you know?¡±
¡°I heard you,¡± said the taxi driver, ¡°You can¡¯t go like that. You need to get some appropriate gifts.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s head had hurt enough but the taxi driver¡¯s words threw him into more chaos, ¡°Howplicated can it be? I actually... Forget it, please stop at the supermarket ahead. I¡¯ll go buy some gift.¡±
The taxi driverughed, ¡°That¡¯s the right move.¡±
The taxi stopped in front of Wal-Mart and Xia Lei strode into the supermarket. He went in empty-handed but came out with arge bag in his left and another in his right hand. Ning Jing did not say if her mother would being but in this situation, her mother would surelye to see her ¡®future son-inw¡¯ so he prepared two gift baskets; one for Ning Jing¡¯s father and one for her mother.
¡°Bro, you¡¯re good. Going for it like this. You¡¯ll make the future inws happy¡± The taxi driver spoke candidly,
Xia Lei was in no mood to joke and he kept quiet. He just asked the taxi driver to hurry.
When he got to Pris Hotel, Xia Lei paid the taxi fare and walked into the lobby. He saw Ning Jing waiting for him right away.
Ning Jing had dressed up specially for today. She wore a traditional blue and white porcin-pattern dress, with a small, cute navy jacket above it and had a pair of simple and elegant mid-high heels on her feet. The overall effect made her aura of bookishness even thicker. There were many beautifully attired women in the lobby but she was the most special, eye-catching one. Xia Lei could not help praising her beauty in his heart when he first saw her.
Xia Lei walked over with his two gift baskets, smiling as he greeted, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m a littlete, Big Sister Ning. Did you wait long?¡±
Ning Jing took small steps to him, looking nervous, ¡°Stop calling me Big Sister Ning. My uncle told my parents you are 25. Call me by my nickname tonight - call me Jing.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Okay, got it.¡±
¡°Call... Call me once and try it out,¡± said Ning Jing shyly.
Xia Lei opened his mouth and dawdled for a bit before he could say it, ¡°Ji... Jing.¡±
¡°That¡¯ll work. Try to be more natural next time, don¡¯t sound so stiff.¡± Ning Jing was like a military strategist on the battlefield. ¡°And, My father¡¯s name is Ning Yuan-Hai. My mother is Zhang Hui-Lan. My father is easy to handle - you just need to toast him at least two more times and he¡¯ll be happy when he¡¯s had enough to drink. My mother is more difficult - she will ask you a lot of questions. You have to be on your toes or she¡¯ll see right through you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s head was spinning as he asked, ¡°What sort of questions will your mother ask?¡±
Ning Jing answered right away, ¡°House, car, career situation, ie, family members and the like. You¡¯d better prepare what to say so you don¡¯t get it wrong.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°Sounds like you¡¯ve been through this before.¡±
A helpless look appeared on Ning Jing¡¯s face. ¡°My mother forced me to attend match-making blind dates over ten times. How could I not know what she¡¯d ask?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly felt like Ning Jing was actually quite pitiful.
¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll hold your hand.¡± Ning Jing took hold of a gift basket, then grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s arm.
Both of them felt inexplicably nervous and embarrassed the moment the two of them held hands but they pretended to act natural and walked to the restaurant together.
Though they were a fake couple, people who saw them quietly admired them when they held hands. They were a couple so perfect you could make a gold statue of them.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 40
Tricky Mother-inw
Though it was indeed a match-making family dinner, there were also some higher-ups and elite engineers from East Wind Heavy Industries attending. However, Ning Yuan-Shan had arranged for them to be seated far, far away. He had a private room for themselves and it was just himself, Ning Yuan-Hai, Ning Jing¡¯s mother, Zhang Hui-Lan, Xia Lei and Ning Jing for a total of five around arge, round table. It was a bit of a waste.
It was Xia Lei¡¯s first time meeting Ning Yuan-Hai and Zhang Hui-Lan. Ning Yuan-Hai and Ning Yuan-Shan looked quite alike and both were in their fifties. Zhang Hui-Lan looked younger - she looked to be in her early forties and had no obvious signs of aging. She was very simr to Ning Jing and though she was getting on in years, she was a mature beauty, the type who had face, body and temperament.
¡®Didn¡¯t expect Big Sister Ning¡¯s mother to be so young. I wonder if Big Sister Ning will look something like this when she¡¯s her mother¡¯s age?¡¯ Xia Lei had a strange thought.
¡°Father, Mother, Uncle, Xia Lei is here,¡± said Ning Jing.
There was actually no need for introductions since Ning Yuan-Hai and Zhang Hui-Lan had looked Xia Lei top to toe and back up to his face the moment he walked through the door. Based off the small detail of Ning Jing holding hands with him, they¡¯d concluded who he was.
Being stared at like a convict by Ning Jing¡¯s parents made Xia Lei nervous. He paused in one spot, unsure of how he should proceed.
Ning Jing nudged Xia Lei¡¯s waist with her elbow and urged softly, ¡°What are you standing still for? Go, go.¡±
Xia Lei was prodded into action and he quickly walked forward, ¡°Uncle, Aunt, Uncle Ning, sorry I¡¯mte. I¡¯ve made you wait.¡±
¡°It is important to be punctual, young man,¡± said Ning Yuan-Hai.
¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯rete for our first meeting,¡± said Zhang Hui-Lan.
Xia Lei wanted to exin himself but he could not speak for embarrassment. He¡¯d expected that this would not be a rxing time and would be difficult but he didn¡¯t think it would be this difficult. Ning Jing¡¯s parents had set the difficulty level for him right from the get-go.
Ning Jing chimed in, ¡°Lei waste because he was busy buying gifts for you. Don¡¯t chide him.¡±
Xia Lei presented the gift baskets next, ¡°Uncle, Aunt, this is a small token of my sincerity. Please ept it.¡±
Ning Yuan-Hai held the gift basket and looked at it but Zhang Hui-Lan did not even nce at it before she set it down on the table. The two of them seemed to have discussed matters beforehand and were not going to go easy on Xia Lei, probably meaning to test his temper.
Xia Lei sighed inwardly, ¡®Please start dinner soon so I can leave. Next time, I won¡¯t go along with Big Sister Ning¡¯s charade even if she holds a knife to my throat.¡¯
Just then, Ning Yuan-Shan walked towards the door, saying as he went, ¡°You guys take your time and chat, I¡¯ll ask the kitchen to send the dishes out. Geeze, look what time it is and they still haven¡¯t served us. This service is too slow.¡±
Xia Lei nced at the door and thought, ¡®Would a five-star hotel have this sort of problem? Don¡¯t lie to me. You guys instructed the staff to send out the dishester, didn¡¯t you?¡¯
Ning Yuan-Hai seemed to view him more kindly. It was not difficult to see that he was pleased by Xia Lei¡¯s charming handsomeness.
¡°Urmh, ahem,¡± Zhang Hui-Lan coughed all of a sudden, then said, ¡°Xia Lei, when did you meet our Jing?¡±
¡°Half a year ago, in a bookshop. I love books and so does he,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°Shut your mouth. I didn¡¯t ask you.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan red at Ning Jing.
Ning Jing closed her mouth; she seemed to be afraid of Zhang Hui-Lan, who looked to be the head of the house.
Xia Lei went with it, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. We met half a year ago in a bookshop.¡±
¡°Which bookshop?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, ¡°Xinhua, Xinhua Bookstore.¡±
¡°It¡¯s been half a year. You were together for half a year and kept it from us.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan seemed mad, ¡°Xia Lei, are you ignoring the existences of us parents, or just ying some sort of game with our Jing? A responsible man would not be doing something like this.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s scalp was starting to go numb. He bit the bullet and said, ¡°I apologise, Aunt. I definitely did not have that sort of intention, I...¡±
Zhang Hui-Lan cut him off, ¡°How old are you this year?¡±
¡°Twenty-five.¡±
¡°Parents?¡±
¡°My mother passed early on. My father... is also not around. It¡¯s just my sister and myself. My sister was epted into Jing-Du University and she will be going to study there in a few days.¡± Xia Lei just gave her all the details since Zhang Hui-Lan would ask about it anyway.
An almost indiscernible smile appeared on Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s lips. She caught Ning Yuan-Hai¡¯s eye and they exchanged looks. It was easy to see that she was quite satisfied with Xia Lei¡¯s age, appearance, temperament and family situation.
¡°What about Uncle? Why isn¡¯t he back yet? Why haven¡¯t we started our meal?¡± Ning Jing prompted, ¡°I¡¯m starving.¡±
¡°Manners.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan red at Ning Jing.
Ning Jing shut her mouth again.
Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s gaze turned back to Xia Lei, and it was almost as if she could see through him, ¡°Xia Lei, do you have a home in your name?¡±
Xia Lei replied somewhat awkwardly, ¡°Yes, my parents left it to me but it is very small - just 75 square metres*.¡±
Zhang Hui-Lan followed with, ¡°It is indeed too small. If our Jing marries you, how are you going to fit yourselves and your sister into that t? And when you have children the ce will be even more cramped. You have to work hard and earn more money, then buy a bigger house - at least 150 square metres.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°How about a car? Do you have a car?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
¡°This can¡¯t do either. You need a 500,000 yuan car, at least. It¡¯s best if you have a 7-seater urban SUV so we can all sitfortably when we go out as a family.¡±
¡°I currently don¡¯t have the capital to buy a car...¡±
Before Xia Lei could finish his sentence, Ning Jing quietly kicked the back of his leg and he shut up, embarrassed.
Their actions did not escape Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s eyes. She wrinkled her brows a little, ¡°Right, Xia Lei, what is your level of education?¡±
Xia Lei spoke without thinking, ¡°High school.¡±
¡°High school?¡± Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s raised her wrinkled brows, ¡°Why are you just a high-school graduate?¡±
Ning Yuan-Hai¡¯s brows furrowed too; he was obviously not happy with Xia Lei¡¯s educational background.
The way Zhang Hui-Lan and Ning Yuan-Hai looked at him made Xia Lei ufortable but when he thought about how this was for Ning Jing, he held it in and yed along, keeping a respectful attitude, as he should, towards his elders. ¡°Aunt, I would have liked to go to university too but if I went my sister would have no one to take care of her. I do not regret my decision.¡±
Zhang Hui-Lan and Ning Yuan-Hai exchanged nces, seeming to hesitate. They were both quite satisfied with Xia Lei¡¯s other ¡®qualifications¡¯ but his education level was dissatisfactory.
¡°Our Jing is a Doctor. There¡¯s a big gap between your cultures; you may get along well now but marriage is for life. Can you be confident of oveing this cultural difference?¡± The look in Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s eyes was not as kindly as before.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to answer her; he had never thought about spending his life with Ning Jing.
Zhang Hui-Lan continued, ¡°And your children. If you look at gics, our Jing has the best genes, while yours...¡±
¡°Mother, what are you saying?¡± Ning Jing was upset and her face was red. Xia Lei hade to help her but her mother was making him ufortable.
At that very embarrassing moment, Ning Yuan-Shan walked in, chuckling, ¡°They¡¯ll serve the dishes right away.¡±
Ning Yuan-Hai stood and pulled Ning Yuan-Shan to a corner of the room to talk. Zhang Hui-Lan also stood and pulled Ning Jing to another corner to talk. The four people of the Ning n spoke in low voices, obviously discussing Xia Lei. Xia Lei sat by himself, looking lonely. He was like a participant in a talent show awaiting the judges¡¯ rating when the performance was over - Pass or Fail?
A faint wry smile crooked his lips, ¡®This world sure is realistic. Good thing I¡¯m not really in a rtionship with Ning Jing. If I be the son-inw of her mother I¡¯d be driven mad by her sooner orter.¡¯
The four people of the Ning n were still deep in discussion.
On one side, Ning Yuan-Hai was saying to Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°Yuan-Shan, this won¡¯t do. Xia Lei is just a high-school graduate. There¡¯s too much of a difference with our Jing. The children they will have won¡¯t get AA genes, they¡¯ll get AB genes.¡±
¡°I say, brother, has your brain turned to mush? What can educational level prove? I have a whole bunch of university graduates, researchbs and the like. Some take care of the warehouses, some write papers and none of them can hold a candle to Xia Lei. Do you know that Xia Lei¡¯s workmanship is unparalleled in this country?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it just welding and processing? You make it sound so mysterious.¡± Ning Yuan-Hai was obviously in disagreement with Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s view.
Ning Yuan-Shan let out a sigh, ¡°Ai, whatever. If Jing were my child I¡¯d raise both hands in approval of her and Xia Lei¡¯s rtionship.¡±
¡°I¡¯m actually not that against it but Jing¡¯s mother doesn¡¯t agree. I can¡¯t do anything about that,¡± said Ning Yuan-Hai.
On the other side, Zhang Hui-Lan spoke softly in Ning Jing¡¯s ear, ¡°My dear, how far have you gone with him?¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s face turned pink. ¡°Mother! Why are you asking this?¡±
¡°Mother¡¯s asking you, so you answer.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan continued her interrogation, ¡°Have you had sex?¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s face turned redder, ¡°We haven¡¯t got to that stage yet. We just held hands and sometimes... kissing on the mouth.¡±
¡°You two really didn¡¯t have sex?¡±
¡°We really didn¡¯t!¡±
¡°That¡¯s good... You didn¡¯t - Mother is relieved.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan let out a breath.
Ning Jing sneaked a look at Xia Lei. For some strange reason, her eyes held a trace of disappointment.
Zhang Hui-Lan put her lips close to Ning Jing¡¯s ear again, ¡°My dear, Mother is actually not opposed to you finding your own love. If this Xia Lei is outstanding, your father and myself would dly ept him but he¡¯s just a high-school graduate. How can a high-school diploma holder be with a doctorate holder?¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t like it then forget it,¡± said Ning Jing. It was a fake rtionship anyway so this result was fine.
¡°Do you still remember the little boy you used to y with when you were a child?¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°Your Auntie Hu¡¯s son, Ren Wen-Qiang, is back from studying in America and he got a PhD in Business Administration there. He was hired by Vientaine Group as their project manager for their wind power nt as soon as he came back to China. He¡¯ll also be in charge of the project in the future.¡±
¡°What does this have to do with me?¡±
¡°Of course this has to do with you! Wen-Qiang has always liked you. How can I not see it as your mother? I ran into him today and when he heard you wereing, he said he wasing too, to discuss the wind power nt with your uncle. I know he actually wants to see you.¡± Having said that, Zhang Hui-Lan looked at the time on her watch, ¡°He should be here about now, I think.¡±
¡°Th,That¡¯s not good.¡± Ning Jing suddenly seriously regretted asking Xia Lei to help her out. She felt that this would hurt his feelings.
Zhang Hui-Lan red at Ning Jing, ¡°What¡¯s not good? Ren Wen-Qiang has been ying with you since the two of you were very young. You two are childhood friends. If the two of you get together... Heh heh. That¡¯ll be a match made in heaven. Be nicer to himter, all right?¡±
Ning Jing bit her bottom lip. This change in situation was unexpected; she wanted to leave with Xia Lei.
At that moment, a young man in a suit and tie appeared in the doorway of the private room.
*The author used an unspecified unit, ÆßÊ®Îåƽ·½ (75 square). I put the measurements down as 75 square metres, since it would be ridiculous to have a 75 square foot t.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 41
So What If You Can Speak English
The suited young man who entered was the Ren Wen-Qiang that Zhang Hui-Lan had spoken of. He was 180cm tall, slender, had handsome facial features, mature, deep eyes and a schrly air as well as an air of one who wasfortable in business and academic circles. He temporarily became a focal point with his appearance at the doorway.
A person¡¯s temperament is developed by his environment. Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s temperament was due to his studies abroad, his family background, and the achievements he had now. Xia Lei did not have an immediately recognisable prestigious aura like Ren Wen-Qiang; his gave off more of amon air of simple living, friendliness and pragmatism. It gave others the impression of one who was nice and not at all high and mighty.
¡°Oh, Wen-Qiang, please take a seat.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan weed him.
¡°Hello Auntie Lan, Uncle Shan and Uncle Hai.¡± Ren Wen-Qiang greeted them gracefully, then looked at Ning Jing with a sunny smile on his face, ¡°Jing, I haven¡¯t seen you in ages. Hello.¡±
¡°Hel...lo.¡± Ning Jing felt nervous for some unexinable reason.
Ren Wen-Qiang greeted all of the Ning n and the only one he didn¡¯t greet was Xia Lei. He nced at Xia Lei, his gaze indifferent.
¡°Aw, so polite! Please, sit.¡± Ren Wen-Qiang was nicely led by the hand to the table and a chair was pulled out for him nicely.
Zhang Hui-Lan had given Ren Wen-Qiang a seat right next to Ning Jing.
Xia Lei was still not sure what was going on. He grumbled to himself, ¡®Is this young man one of the Ning n? Why didn¡¯t Ning Jing tell me beforehand that there were more rtivesing? He didn¡¯t greet me - what was the meaning of that?¡¯
Ning Jing returned to her seat. Xia Lei was on her left while Ren Wen-Qiang was on her right. Both men were handsome and each had their own good traits. Her heart was all jumbled up and she dared not look at either Xia Lei or Ren Wen-Qiang.
Ning Yuan-Shan and Ning Yuan-Hai also seated themselves. Zhang Hui-Lan went to the doorway of the private room and called a server over, ¡°You can serve the dishes now.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly understood that the dishes were not served earlier because of the young man who had just walked in. From Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s various responses he could make some guesses. He couldn¡¯t help looking at Ning Jing but she kept her head down and did not dare look at him.
¡°Wen-Qiang.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan broke the short silence. He smiled as he asked, ¡°Is your work going smoothly at Vientaine Group?¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang smiled as he said, ¡°It¡¯s all right. Miss Shentu treats me well. I have also got used to the work environment at Vientaine Group.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. I know you¡¯re responsible for the wind power nt project. You¡¯ll have to put in some good words to Miss Shentu for me. If we can get a purchase order from Vientaine Group, ourpany¡¯s goal for the year would bepleted in advance.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang maintained a pleasant and dazzling smile. ¡°Rest assured, Uncle Shan. I¡¯ll definitely speak of good things of yourpany in front of Miss Shentu. I believe Miss Shentu would also make the right choice since yourpany is arge government-owned enterprise of unquestioned trustworthiness and reliability.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan smiled as well, ¡°I¡¯ll be thanking you in advance then.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too kind, Uncle Shan.¡± Ren Wen-Qiang was respectful.
Zhang Hui-Lanughed, ¡°See, this child Wen-Qiang still has such good manners. I watched you grow up; I knew you would make something of yourself when you grew up. I was right.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang smiled, ¡°Auntie Lan, you¡¯re too kind.¡±
Ning Yuan-Hai spoke, ¡°Jing, you haven¡¯t seen Wen-Qiang in years. Pour him a drinkter and have some alcohol together.¡±
Ning Jing hesitated, then nodded lightly.
They were all engaged in conversation and Xia Lei temporarily became a character of little importance, a backdrop.
Xia Lei gained an understanding from how things had progressed. Ning Jing had originally asked him to put on a performance with her to counter her parents but Ren Wen-Qiang had been added to the mix all of a sudden in the middle and Ning Jing¡¯s parents obviously liked this guy more. Their motive in inviting Ren Wen-Qiang over was also clear - to let the current ¡®boyfriend¡¯ be humiliated and bow out.
Once he figured out the truth, Xia Lei begun to feel ufortable. Though he was not Ning Jing¡¯s real boyfriend, her parents¡¯ actions were still hurtful.
Xia Lei was about to leave when Ren Wen-Qiang suddenly looked at him and said smilingly, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but who is this gentleman? Why don¡¯t you introduce him?¡±
¡°He is...¡± Ning Jing started speaking, then hesitated.
Zhang Hui-Lan quickly cut in, ¡°Is Uncle Shan¡¯s friend.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan swiftly concurred, ¡°Right, right, right. His name¡¯s Xia Lei, my friend. He knows Ning Jing too.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang stood and held out a hand, ¡°Hello, Mr. Xia.¡±
Xia Lei also stood and shook hands with Ren Wen-Qiang, ¡°Hello, Mr. Ren.¡±
After shaking hands, Ren Wen-Qiang saidughingly, ¡°Mr. Xia has such muscr hands. Your calluses are quite thick too.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang was pleasant and polite in the beginning but that all changed in an instant. Hismenting on Xia Lei¡¯s muscr and callused hands was obviously a sort of slight. How could an overseas-graduate, high-flying corporate executive look kindly upon a blue-cor worker such as Xia Lei?
¡°What is he doing here, Uncle Shan?*¡± Ren Wen-Qiang asked in English as he looked at Ning Yuan-Shan.
Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s English had long fallen into disuse. He shook his head, indicating his non-understanding, but he could tell that Ren Wen-Qiang did not want Xia Lei to understand what he was saying.
Ren Wen-Qiang looked at Ning Jing with a gentle gaze and used English again, ¡°Is he your boyfriend?¡±
Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei, then bit the bullet and said, ¡°No, no. We are just very good friends.¡±
She was speaking the truth. Xia Lei was her good friend and not a lover.
Ren Wen-Qiangughed and used English again to say, ¡°So that¡¯s how it is. I thought he was your boyfriend. He doesn¡¯t suit you - you¡¯re so beautiful only the most outstanding men can match up to you.¡±
His meaning was clear. Xia Lei didn¡¯t suit her and only a outstanding man could - who this outstanding man could be was not specified but he was implying that it was himself.
Ning Jing sneaked a look at Xia Lei, her eyes full of guilt.
Showing off his English? The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips drew up in disdain and he also spoke in English, ¡°His English isn¡¯t too bad. This should be the standard of ¡®the most outstanding man¡¯ that he spoke of. I think he means that he¡¯s very suited for you. You can give it some serious consideration.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang stared nkly, and a tint of pig-liver appeared on his handsome face. He showed off his English because he thought a blue-cor worker such as Xia Lei would not understand it at all but not only did Xia Lei understand, he was able to speak fluently and mock him on top of that!
Ning Jing avoided Xia Lei¡¯s eyes in shame. She knew Xia Lei was being made to feel ufortable and it was all because of her.
Xia Lei looked at Ren Wen-Qiang and followed with French, ¡°Monsieur Ren, please don¡¯t think that you¡¯re some big-shot after having studied in America and look down on others. You are not more outstanding than others since every person has his or her good and bad sides. You¡¯vee across as a pompous man.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang looked at Xia Lei in shock and the pig-liver tint on his face became more apparent. He did not know any French and did not understand Xia Lei but he could tell from his tone and disdain that what he said was definitely not anything good. He wanted to retort but hesitated right away; it was him to had showed off his English first and Xia Lei not only knew English but used it to mock him. Now he was using French so whatnguage could he use to respond to that? His embarrassment was in that he couldn¡¯t - because he could only speak English!
Husband and wife, Ning Yuan-Hai and Zhang Hui-Lan also boggled at Xia Lei. They had never imagined that a high-school graduate they¡¯d looked down upon could speak two foreignnguages - and so fluently at that!
Ning Yuan-Shan did not look surprised. He looked down awkwardly and thought ¡®Should I tell them that Xia Lei can speak German too?¡¯
The atmosphere became awkward immediately.
At that moment, a server pushed a serving trolley into the room, all prepared to serve the dishes.
Zhang Hui-Lan used the opportunity to break the awkwardness in the room. Sheughed dryly twice, ¡°Heh. Heh. You young people... Why foreignnguages? We old folk don¡¯t understand any of it. The English I¡¯ve learnt in school has long been forgotten. Let¡¯s all use Mandarin, all right?¡±
¡°Right, right, right. Let¡¯s use Mandarin,¡± Ning Yuan-Hai agreed.
Xia Lei did not wait for the server to ce all the dishes on the table. He stood and spoke in Russian, ¡°I apologise but I have something to attend to. I¡¯ll be leaving first.¡±
All eyes shot to Xia Lei, disying surprise, bewilderment and nonprehension.
¡°Xia Lei, what do you mean by this?¡± Zhang Hui-Lan looked at Xia Lei in dissatisfaction.
¡°My words have no other meaning. I was saying that I have something to attend to so I¡¯ll only be able to apany you on another day. Goodbye.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, you...¡± Ning Jing spoke, then hesitated.
Xia Lei patted her shoulder, ¡°Let¡¯s talk another day. Goodbye.¡± Saying that, he strode out of the private room.
Ning Jing¡¯s eyes followed Xia Lei till he disappeared, her heartden with guilt.
¡°A blue-cor worker showing off airs. Jing, you should stay away from people like him,¡± said Ren Wen-Qiang contemptuously.
¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Let¡¯s eat. Ignore him,¡± said Zhang Hui-Lan with a smile.
Ning Yuan-Shan poured Ren Wen-Qiang a ss of wine, ¡°Let¡¯s have a toast, Wen-Qiang.¡±
At that moment, Ning Jing suddenly stood, ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t feel well. Please enjoy your meal. I¡¯ll be leaving.¡±
¡°You...¡± Zhang Hui-Lan was angry, ¡°You sit down!¡±
¡°I¡¯m not a child anymore!¡± Ning Jing said loudly, then left the room with quick steps.
The four people in the room stayed still in their seats for quite a while and didn¡¯t react for some time.
Ning Jing walked out of the room and looked everywhere for Xia Lei but could not find him. Just then, her phone beeped with a message alert. She checked her phone and saw that the message was from Xia Lei: I¡¯m sorry I wasn¡¯t able to help you. Take care of your father. Go along with his wishes and don¡¯t anger him.
For some unexinable reason, tears dropped from Ning Jing¡¯s eyes. She took a deep breath, dried her eyes and walked towards the room she¡¯d left.
*The original was ¡® ¡°How.can.he.be.here,uncle.Shan?¡±ÈÎÎÄÇ¿¿´×ÅÄþԶɽÎʵÀ¡£¡¯ Probably machine-tranted by the author.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 42
Quarrelsome But Loving Couple
Night shrouded Hai-Zhu City and themp lights glowed as traffic flowed and strangers trickled by Xia Lei. The city was at once familiar and alien to Xia Lei.
The cool evening breeze blew and carried Xia Lei¡¯s depressed mood away. He wasn¡¯t going to get angry over the matter of Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s ridicule and mockery, especially since he¡¯d pped him in the face with his unexpected knowledge of foreignnguages.
Ring-ring-ring, ring-ring-ring went his mobile phone all of a sudden.
It was Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°You ass. Till when were you nning to hide it from me?¡±
Xia Lei paused and asked, confused, ¡°Hide what from you?¡±
¡°One million! You made one million! Howe I was thest to know of this?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Oh, so you¡¯re talking about that,¡± Xia Leiughed, ¡°Sorry I forgot to tell you.¡±
¡°You did it on purpose, didn¡¯t you!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi spoke indignantly, ¡°Even the female worker you¡¯d just hired got 20,000 as a bonus but I didn¡¯t get a cent!¡±
¡°You¡¯re not even an employee of our Thunder Horse Workshop so what should I give you a bonus for?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care! I want clothes, makeup and bags! You have to buy them for me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°That¡¯s a promise. I¡¯ll be waiting for you at home.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi hung up without waiting for Xia Lei¡¯s response.
Xia Lei stared at the phone in his hands, at a loss for words. He then talked to it as if it were Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°You! What am I to you? I have to buy you clothing because you want it? You want makeup and bags so I have to buy them for you? Really!¡±
Xia Lei wandered the streets and made a big round but, as though he owed Jiang Ru-Yi from his previous life, he finally stopped in adies¡¯ clothing shop and spent over a thousand yuan on a dress for her.
Back in his neighbourhood, Xia Lei did not go home but went straight to Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s door. He reached out and knocked on her door.
There was no response from inside.
Xia Lei frowned and used more strength to knock on the door while saying, ¡°Ru-Yi? It¡¯s me, Xia Lei. Open up.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice finally came from beyond the door, ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the night; who¡¯s knocking on my door?¡±
¡°It¡¯s me, Xia Lei,¡± he said.
¡°Xia Lei? I don¡¯t know anyone by that name,¡± came Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I¡¯ve broken all ties with you,¡± came her voice again.
¡°Well then, I¡¯ll give the dress to Xue,¡± teased Xia Lei.
The t door opened with a crash.
The instant the door opened, a Spring-like wind blew and Xia Lei was temporarily transported to a field full of flowers in bloom; he felt not himself.
Jiang Ru-Yi stood in the doorway dressed in a bathrobe. Her hair was wet and she looked like she had just finished taking a bath. It looked like she had rushed out upon hearing the knocking and had not had time to wipe herself dry. The thin, dampened bathrobe clung to her skin, and a mesmerising sight presented itself. The bathrobe had dry spots and wet spots, darker ces and lighter ces, some parts t while some parts stuck out, and some ces... The body of a woman in a bathrobe was like abstract poetry; every reading brought fresh novelty and mystery.
Xia Lei froze, unsure of how he should interact with her.
Jiang Ru-Yi behaved as though she was wearing a down jacket and quilted cotton pants. She bowed at the waist, as though greeting royalty and had a smile on her face, ¡°Boss Lei, pleasee in. What would you like to have?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s lips were dry, ¡°Anything. Beer, give me a can of beer.¡±
¡°What beer? You know I don¡¯t drink beer. Will tap water be okay?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s line of sight was focused on the box in Xia Lei¡¯s hand. She couldn¡¯t wait to put on the dress inside.
This was Jiang Ru-Yi after all. Xia Lei grinned and his feelings settled. Wasn¡¯t it just Jiang Ru-Yi in a damp bathrobe? He¡¯d even seen the naked Jiang Ru-Yi! He walked past her into the t, then sat on the sofa in the living room. He did not put the box on the table but behind himself. Jiang Ru-Yi was usually the one to tease him so he was not going to let it pass when the opportunity arose to tease her.
Jiang Ru-Yi closed the door and walked over. She seated herself opposite Xia Lei, not even getting him the tap water.
She crossed her legs, and two-thirds of her white legs were exposed to the air. Her back pressed into the sofa and her arms spread to rest on the armrests, opening up the bathrobe to reveal a patch of white softness below the cor; amazing cleavage. Her posture was quite open and she was at ease. Opposite her, however, Xia Lei appeared uneasy and didn¡¯t know where to look.
¡°Where¡¯s the dress you bought me?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi spoke carelessly, ¡°Why hide it since you bought it?¡±
This attitude she disyed was that of a spoilt daughter of thendlord in ancient times and Xia Lei was her family¡¯s sturdy young indentured worker.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Call me Big Brother. I¡¯ll give it to you if you call me Big Brother.¡±
¡°Big Brother, your a...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi quickly changed her words and said sweetly, ¡°Big Brother.¡±
¡°Good girl.¡± Xia Lei held his chin, ¡°Do a runway walk for Big Brother.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi froze, then suddenly snatched up a pillow and rushed at Xia Lei, fierce as a tigress, ¡°You! You think you¡¯re a patron of a brothel?¡±
Xia Lei froze too. Patron? Why did she use such a word as ¡®patron¡¯?
Jiang Ru-Yi also realised her slip-up in words and her face turned pink. She hurriedly changed the topic, ¡°Hand over the item now or don¡¯t you think about stepping out my door tonight.¡±
These words were also very ambiguous and Xia Lei could not take it any longer. He threw the box he¡¯d stashed behind himself to Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi opened the box eagerly. Inside was a long, ck dress in tasteful style and material. She loved it at first sight and a sweet smile appeared on her face.
¡°Try it on. It¡¯s 1,600 yuan, you know. It¡¯s expensive,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi looked at Xia Lei shyly, ¡°You want me to get changed here? In your dreams.¡±
Xia Lei frowned, ¡°Which ear of yours heard me saying to change here? You¡¯re so ugly I wouldn¡¯t even look at you naked.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was not mad at all; she gave him a smallugh, ¡°Wait here for me, Lei. I¡¯ll change in my room, then you see if I look good.¡±
¡°Shoo, shoo.¡± Xia Lei urged impatiently.
Jiang Ru-Yi went happily into her bedroom and reappeared a few minutester, all changed into the dress Xia Lei had bought for her. The ck dress clung to her body and made the lines of her figure apparent, entuating its loveliness and adding a bit of cool elegance. The dress was a perfect match for her.
¡°Lei, am I pretty?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi asked, pleased.
No one replied. The living room was empty.
Jiang Ru-Yi paused, then rushed to the balcony just in time to see Xia Lei escaping through the green railing and to the stairwell. She yelled, ¡°Xia Lei, you bastard! You still owe me makeup and bags! Buy them for me tomorrow or I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
Xia Lei did not look back; he disappeared from the stairs in the blink of an eye.
A window on the third storey opened and a middle-aged woman looked down, then muttered, ¡°These two sweethearts... When will they get together? Always dragging it out like this. I really worry for you.¡±
Neither Jiang Ru-Yi nor Xia Lei heard her words.
Back home, Xia Xue had already gone to bed. Xia Lei went to his own room to read till he got tired and fell asleep.
The next morning, Xia Lei went to Thunder Horse Workshop, went on theputer in the workshop and browsed Alibaba, picking out equipment and materials to order. He¡¯d earned one million from East Wind Heavy Industries and this money was to be used on crucial things. He¡¯d actually wanted very much to buy a car but he decided to first upgrade his machine shop. He would be satisfied if he could buy a cheap second-hand car with any leftover money.
Zhou Xiao-Hong made Xia Lei a cup of tea and ced it on his desk. She looked over his shoulder at the monitor, ¡°Big Brother Lei, you¡¯re buying more equipment?¡±
¡°Yep, our business will be doing better and better. The equipment we have now will not be enough to handle that volume of work. I¡¯m not only buying equipment but also looking to hire more people. ¡° He turned back to speak, ¡°Later, Xiao-Ho...¡±
Xia Lei had not expected Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s head to be over his shoulder and his lips hit her cheek before he could finish his sentence. His lips hadnded close to the edge of her lips and had almost be a kiss.
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s apple-face turned red and she stepped backwards, flustered. That instantaneous wonderous feeling made her embarrassed but her body seemed to respond subtly. That feeling made her even more embarrassed.
Xia Lei was also very embarrassed and he quickly apologised, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I, I didn¡¯t mean to.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong was also quick to respond, ¡°It,It¡¯s okay.¡±
Xia Lei coughed dryly and changed the subject, ¡°I was saying... Xiao-An will manage the personnel in the future and you will be in charge of ounts, collecting money and paying the workers. What do you think?¡±
¡°Me? ounts?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong shook her head so hard it looked like a rattle. ¡°I can¡¯t do it, Big Brother Lei. I¡¯m just a junior-high graduate. I can¡¯t even useputers so how am I going to do ounts? No, no, it¡¯s not good if I do it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°You can learn if you don¡¯t know. Besides, we¡¯re not argepany - we¡¯re just a machine shop. The ounts are simple. You¡¯ll do well for sure if you learn.¡±
¡°B,But I can¡¯t.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong was still doubtful of her own capabilities.
Xia Lei stood and pulled her to the desk, then sat her on the chair while directing her, ¡°Use the mouse and click here to open OfficeSL...¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong followed Xia Lei¡¯s instructions step by step, full of nervousness.
Ma Xiao-An walked in and saw Xia Lei teaching Zhou Xiao-Hong how to use theputer. He saidughingly, ¡°Xiao-Hong, don¡¯t go to Japanese AV sites. You¡¯ll pick up bad habits.¡±
¡°What is a Japanese AV site?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong asked curiously.
¡°Keep going. Don¡¯t listen to his nonsense,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong obediently. She then red at Ma Xiao-An with herrge, dark eyes.
Xia Lei let Zhou Xiao-Hong practice on her own and called Ma Xiao-An to one side to tell him of his n before asking, ¡°It¡¯s like that. What do you think?¡±
¡°You do whatever you think best. This workshop is yours. I¡¯ll follow you no matter what you do.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°We got to know many people while working at construction sites. Contact those whom you feel are pragmatic, hardworking and have good workmanship and ask if they¡¯d be willing toe to us to work. As for the pay, we can give them higher rates so they can think about it.¡±
¡°Sure. How many?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, ¡°Five, just five. We¡¯ll look for more if we need them.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go make some calls now,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Yep, better to call early,¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong was learning to use theputer while Ma Xiao-An was on the phone calling people up. Xia Lei paced up and down, pondering the cement of the new equipment.
A car stopped on the side of the road. The door opened and Ning Jing alighted. She was wearing a white T-shirt and tight-fitting denim shorts with light-coloured high-heeled sandals. She had a youthful air about her; sexy and charming.
At the sight of her, Xia Lei thought, ¡®She isn¡¯t here to ask me to pretend to be her boyfriend again, is she?¡±
Be a Patron!
Chapter 43
Deliberately Finding Fault
Xia Lei went out to greet her with a smile on his face, ¡°Big Sister Ning, what brings you here today?¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s little mouth quirked slightly, ¡°What, I can¡¯te here unless I have something to ask you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Of course you cane! I¡¯ll always wee you.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°I¡¯m sorry about yesterday. I messed up.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t me you - I didn¡¯t know Ren Wen-Qiang would turn up either. We haven¡¯t seen each other in years,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°Your parents seem to like him a lot,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m here to apologise. My mother was rudest night, and Ren Wen-Qiang, he was too arrogant...¡± She looked at Xia Lei, and was not sure how to continue.
Xia Lei behaved as though it didn¡¯t matter, ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s normal for someone of his status to look down on someone like me. This society is like that -cking trust and respect.¡± Heughed, ¡°And, your mother was doing it for your own good. Ren Wen-Qiang is indeed outstanding. I think most mothers would want a son-inw like him for their daughters.¡±
¡°Oh, stop talking about that,¡± Ning Jing cut Xia Lei off, ¡°Not every woman wants to marry a man of status and not every woman wants to marry for a big house or nice car. You¡¯re not me. How would you know what sort of man I like?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it that way,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know you don¡¯t mean it that way. What I¡¯m trying to say is that I, myself, am most sure about what sort of person I like and what sort of person I would spend the rest of my life with. My mother is not the one who will make important decisions for me,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei did not want to speak further on this topic. He said, ¡°Please,e in and have a seat. I¡¯ll make some tea for you and we can chat.¡±
Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei, her gaze seeming rather sharp, ¡°Won¡¯t I be in the way of your work?¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°No, no. There isn¡¯t much work to do today.¡±
A sweet smile appeared on Ning Jing¡¯s face, ¡°Can you introduce your two employees? I don¡¯t have many friends so I¡¯d be happy to have more.¡±
¡°No problem. They¡¯ll be d to get to know a friend like you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ning Jing followed Xia Lei into the workshop and he introduced Ma Xiao-An and Zhou Xiao-Hong to her. The four of them chatted andughed, and Ning Jing taught Zhou Xiao-Hong how to use theputer and the Office software. The atmosphere in the workshop was harmoniously friendly.
Looking at Ning Jing and Zhou Xiao-Hong get along, Xia Lei had a small suspicious thought, ¡®Why would a doctorate holder such as Ning Jing want to make friends with Ma Xiao-An and Zhou Xiao-Hong? Strange.¡¯
Those who were cultured and those who weren¡¯t actually had few topics inmon when they interacted. The chance of them bing friends were even smaller.
Before Xia Lei could think of a reason, a ck BMW stopped by the side of the road. It was a multi-million-yuan BMW 7 series. The sunlight bouncing off the car¡¯s body wax made it look extraordinarily impressive.
The door opened and a suit-d Ren Wen-Qiang got out from the driver¡¯s side. He removed his sunsses, looked at Thunder Horse Workshop, and walked straight over.
¡°Big Sister Ning, someone¡¯s looking for you,¡± said Xia Lei. He didn¡¯t think Ren Wen-Qiang woulde here looking for him. If Ning Jing were not here, a person such as Ren Wen-Qiang would probably never give a small roadside establishment like Thunder Horse Workshop more than a passing nce.
Ning Jing looked up at Xia Lei¡¯s words. When she saw Ren Wen-Qiang, she froze and the smile on her face disappeared.
Ren Wen-Qiang walked into Thunder Horse Workshop and his line of sight swept past Xia Lei, Ma Xiao-An and Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s faces, then stopped on Ning Jing¡¯s face and a nice smile appeared on his face, ¡°Jing, why did you switch your phone off when I called you? I went to your home to look for you and Auntie said you¡¯d gone out. I only knew you didn¡¯t go to work today when I went to your workce. I asked around and heard of this ce. It wasn¡¯t easy to find; I had some trouble locating it.¡±
Ning Jing forced a stiff smile on her face, ¡°What are you looking for me for?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been away from this city for many years and there has been some great changes. I¡¯d like to see how it had changed but Ick a guide who can take me around. Would you like to apany me on a round of the city?¡± Without waiting for Ning Jing¡¯s agreement, he continued, ¡°I¡¯ve booked us a table at Golden Beach. We can have Western cuisine at noon.¡±
An expensive car, romantic Western meal and a handsome man - these held great attraction for women and it was hard to say no to it but Ning Jing seemed to be an exception. She shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t like Western cuisine.¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s go for Chinese cuisine. I know a restaurant which specialises in Cantonese cuisine and they have good food.¡±
¡°I...¡± Ning Jing did not expect Ren Wen-Qiang to be so persistent. She did not want to reject him directly so she¡¯s said she didn¡¯t like Western but he¡¯d changed it to Cantonese cuisine right away. She wasn¡¯t sure what excuse to use to refuse him anymore.
At that moment, Zhou Xiao-Hong got up and walked to the water dispenser to get Ren Wen-Qiang a cup of water and brought it to him with both hands, ¡°Have some water, sir.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang did not stretch out his hand; he did not even respond nor look at Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Zhou Xiao-Hong froze awkwardly and was at a loss as to what to do.
Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Xiao-Hong, this gentleman here is too much of a noble. You won¡¯t be able to get him to respond so just go about your work and ignore him.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong returned to the desk with the cup of water and put it on the desk. She then busied herself with theputer and software. It was as if she¡¯d got used to living so humbly that there was no unhappiness at being treated in that contemptuous manner by Ren Wen-Qiang.
Ma Xiao-An, however, was not as epting and humble as Zhou Xiao-Hong. He snatched up the cup of water and drained it in one go, then mmed it heavily back on the table, saying angrily, ¡°Even country leaders are not so arrogant. Giving you a cup of water is giving you some respect - you don¡¯t even know that? What are you ying at?¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s gaze took on a shade of anger. He sneered, ¡°So hot-headed for a welder. I wonder where you got your confidence from.¡±
¡°So what if I¡¯m a welder? I dare you to say that again!¡± Ma Xiao-An rolled up his sleeves, getting all ready for a fight.
Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s eyes were full of disdain, ¡°Showing your fists after one line from me? Before you get too hasty, let me tell you that I¡¯m an eighth degree judo ck belt.¡±
Ma Xiao-An had taken a step forward but he took it back. Don¡¯t even talk about eighth degree - he couldn¡¯t even beat a first degree.
Ren Wen-Qiang looked at Xia Lei, his eyes still full of disdain. ¡°Xia Lei, is it? I know it isn¡¯t easy for you to run a small machine shop. This is already quite good for a person of your level but don¡¯t overreach. Ning Jing is not a woman you can afford to go after. Don¡¯t get involved with her any more because you don¡¯t suit her.¡±
Xia Lei had a good temper but he could not hold it in any longer, he pointed to the door and said, ¡°Get out!¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang looked at Ning Jing, ¡°Jing,e with me. Don¡¯t hang out with these uncultured people; you¡¯ll be tainted by them.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going. Go by yourself if you want to leave!¡± Ning Jing had had enough too.
¡°Do you want me to call Auntie and Uncle? I think if they found out you were here, they would surelye over. Your father has a bad heart - can you bear to anger him over a matter like this?¡±
¡°You...¡± Ning Jing was so angry her vision blurred, ¡°How can you be so overbearing!¡±
¡°How can I protect you if I¡¯m not overbearing? There are too many swindlers in this world. You¡¯re so naive, you¡¯ll be cheated easily.¡±
He didn¡¯t say who the swindler was but when he spoke, he sent a provocative look to Xia Lei, obviously meaning him.
Xia Lei wanted to beat him up and Ma Xiao-An raised a wrench, ready to assist.
At that moment, three vehicles stopped by the side of the road. One was a ck Mercedes, one a tbed lorry and thest a small crane.
The door of the Mercedes opened and a bald old man stepped out from the driver¡¯s side, looked at Thunder Horse Workshop and walked straight towards it. Behind him, the tbed lorry driver jumped down and pulled off the tarp on the cargo bed. On the cargo bed were two brand new CNCthes and a precision welder.
This sudden development suspended the tension in the workshop.
The elderly man walked into Thunder Horse Workshop. He was thin with long eyebrows and though he had crows¡¯ feet at the corners of his eyes, his gaze was still sharp and reserved, and carried the changes of time that young peoplecked.
Xia Lei had never seen this old man before. The lorry and the crane outside his machine shop was also raising lots of questions. He was about to open his mouth to ask about it when Ren Wen-Qiang unexpectedly spoke first.
¡°Senior Fu,¡± Ren Wen-Qiang was surprised but respectful, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±
The old man called Senior Fu gave Ren Wen-Qiang a look and spoke indifferently, ¡°Wen-Qiang, why are you here?¡±
¡°I...¡± Ren Wen-Qiangughed awkwardly, ¡°I came to look for my friend.¡±
The old man called Senior Fu did not speak to Ren Wen-Qiang again. He looked at Xia Lei, then at Ma Xiao-An and inquired, ¡°Which one of you is Xia Lei?¡±
¡°I am. May I ask who you are?¡± said Xia Lei.
The old man called Senior Fu smiled faintly, ¡°I am Fu Chuan-Fu. I am the butler of the Shentu n. Heh heh, I heard of what happened yesterday and I am deeply thankful.¡±
When he said that, Xia Lei understood immediately. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face appeared in his mind, and everything about her was clear and detailed, almost as if she were in front of him in all her lofty brilliance.
To the side, Ren Wen-Qiang looked at Xia Lei in surprise. What he had now was all given to him by Shentu Tian-Yin. He could notprehend how this little roadside shop owner Xia Lei would be acquainted with a woman such as Shentu Tian-Yin! His emotions at that moment were difficult to describe; they were exceedinglyplex!
Fu Chuan-Fu continued, ¡°Ourdy has instructed me to deliver some equipment to you as a token of gratitude.¡±
Before Xia Lei could speak, Ren Wen-Qiang interrupted, ¡°Senior Fu, what is going on? Why would Miss Shentu instruct you to...¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu frowned, ¡°Wen-Qiang, don¡¯t you know that I don¡¯t like people to interrupt me when I am speaking?¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang froze and turned red. He shut up.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 44
Someone Beat His Face
When Fu Chuan-Fu said he was the butler of the Shentu n, Xia Lei guessed right away that the equipment on the cargo bed was from Shentu Tian-Yin. He was ordering equipment on Alibaba but the ones Shentu Tian-Yin had sent were thetest CNCthes which cost a fair amount - equipment that Thunder Horse Workshop needed very much. If he epted the equipment from Shentu Tian-Yin, he could still cancel the order and get his money back, then use it on other things, like buying a better car. However, he decided on something different.
¡°Thank you, Mr Fu. Please convey my thanks to Miss Shentu but I cannot ept these things. Please take them back,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°May I ask why?¡± Fu Chuan-Fu looked at Xia Lei in bafflement. He had not expected Xia Lei to refuse.
¡°There¡¯s no particr reason,¡± said Xia Lei.
Men should have manly integrity - he¡¯ll not ept this donation-like offer!
¡°Ah, I recall now. You said that if ourdy would like to repay you, she should donate a million to any old folks¡¯ home or orphanage. Don¡¯t worry, we have already done that.¡± Fu Chuan-Fu smiled, then produced a receipt and handed it to Xia Lei. ¡°This is the receipt for the donation of a million yuan in your name.¡±
Xia Lei held the receipt in his hands and his name, ¡®Xia Lei¡¯ was written as benefactor. He felt at a loss.
¡°Ourdy has honoured her promise. The equipment on the lorry is just a token of ourdy¡¯s appreciation. Please ept it, Mr Xia.¡± Fu Chuan-Fu was very sincere.
Xia Lei shook his head still, ¡°I¡¯ll ept this donation receipt as a souvenir. You should take back the equipment on the lorry. I won¡¯t ept.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, you...¡± Fu Chuan-Fu looked troubled but he was not one bit upset.
Ren Wen-Qiang sneered, ¡°Senior Fu, these sort of people are natural-born miserable wretches. He refuses good meat when you offer it to him and prefers to scavenge in rubbish heaps. Just forget it.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu suddenly lifted his head and fixed Ren Wen-Qiang with a re, ¡°What is this bbing, you? How dare you speak to Mr Xia like that!¡±
¡°I...¡± Ren Wen-Qiang was hit with the realisation that he had made a blunder. He could not understand it - he was obviously helping Fu Chuan-Fu speak out but he suddenly red up at him without sparing him any dignity!
Xia Leiughed then, ¡°Mr Fu, you heard it. I¡¯m just a rubbish heap scavenger, a beggar. How can I ept the expensive gifts of a nobledy like Miss Shentu? It¡¯s better if you take them back.¡±
¡°Please do not be mistaken, Mr Xia. Ourdy would never look down on anyone. She has no intention whatsoever of disrespect towards you.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°Mr Fu, there¡¯s no need to say more. I¡¯ve made it clear - I do not want the things on the lorry. Please take them back.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu looked at Ren Wen-Qiang again, ¡°What are you standing there for? Apologise to Mr Xia, now!¡±
¡°I...¡± Ren Wen-Qiang couldn¡¯t say it. His face turned green, then red, and he was extremely humiliated. He had just described Xia Lei as a beggar digging through rubbish heaps and was now being reprimanded for it - he had to apologise to the beggar!
Xia Lei was still thinking of how to refuse the equipment Shentu Tian-Yin had sent when Ma Xiao-An intercepted, ¡°Dear sir, this guy herecks proper teaching and was being very arrogant. If you make him apologise to us, we will ept the equipment outside.¡±
Xia Lei was going to stop Ma Xiao-An but Ma Xiao-An¡¯s mouth was quick and his words were thrown out in a sh.
Fu Chuan-Fu seemed to see an opportunity for an exchange. He said to Ren Wen-Qiang, ¡° Wen-Qiang, you heard. Apologise to Mr Xia, now!¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang flushed red. He opened his mouth but no words came out for quite a while.
Ma Xiao-An added fuel to the mes, ¡°I think some people think they are number one under the sky and didn¡¯t expect to have to do something so terrifying. Hahaha! Interesting, interesting.¡±
¡°You-¡± Ren Wen-Qiang red at Ma Xiao-An. If Fu Chuan-Fu were not around, he would have sent a kick his way.
¡°You wanna fight? Come on!¡± Ma Xiao-An tried to stir up trouble deliberately.
¡°Stop it, Xiao-An,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An quieted down. He wouldn¡¯t listen to others but he did listen to Xia Lei.
Fu Chuan-Fu¡¯s face was getting stormier, ¡°Ren Wen-Qiang. Do you want me to go back and tell thedy that Mr Xia refused her gift because of you?¡±
When he heard that, Ren Wen-Qiang turned white as a sheet. He looked at Xia Lei and though he was extremely unwilling, he could only bow his head and say formally, ¡°Mr Xia, I apologise. I was wrong earlier and I beg your forgiveness.¡±
Xia Lei spoke indifferently, ¡°You¡¯ll have to learn some manners in the future. It¡¯s one of the basic ways of being human.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang gritted his teeth and spoke bitterly, ¡°Understood.¡±
¡°What about me?¡± said Ma Xiao-An, ¡°He hasn¡¯t apologised to me.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s eyes were so icy they could kill.
¡°Ren Wen-Qiang, quick!¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
Ren Wen-Qiang faced Ma Xiao-An and spoke coldly, ¡°Sorry!¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Ma Xiao-Anughed happily.
Ren Wen-Qiang then faced Zhou Xiao-Hong and said, ¡°Miss, I¡¯m sorry about earlier. I apologise. Please forgive me.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong hurriedly said, ¡°No, no, it¡¯s fine... No need to say that you¡¯re sorry.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu spoke, ¡°Is this satisfactory, Mr Xia? I¡¯ll ask the crane driver to unload the goods now.¡±
¡°Mr Fu, I really don¡¯t...¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu cut him off mid-sentence, ¡°I have done what you have requested. Ourdy does not like one who cannot carry out his duties. Would you have me return to ourdy with my task iplete?¡±
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei was at a loss.
Fu Chuan-Fu walked out the door and said loudly to the crane driver, ¡°Unload!¡± He was afraid that Xia Lei would find some further excuse to refuse. If that happened, he really would have to return to Shentu Tian-Yin with his task iplete.
The crane moved the equipment from the lorry bed and the whole process took just a few minutes. The unloaded pieces of equipment were ced on the empty ground in front of Thunder Horse Workshop. They were brand new, and thetest equipment; the total value was almost a million yuan.
Xia Lei did not bear to spend his money on these brand new equipment when he was browsing Alibaba but Shentu Tian-Yin had delivered them to him just like that. A million yuan was a huge sum to Xia Lei and fairly important but to a person like Shentu Tian-Yin, a million yuan probably meant a watch, or tailor-made clothes, or just some easily-spent pocket-change. Xia Lei helped her avoid an assassination attempt, so she gifted him a few pieces of equipment - it was a matter of course.
¡°That is it, Mr Xia. Goodbye.¡± Fu Chuan-Fu said his parting words and did not waste a second more in reporting back to hisdy. Other than making Ren Wen-Qiang apologise to the three of them, Fu Chuan-Fu had not spoken to him, up until he left.
Fu Chuan-Fu was the butler of Shentu n and had served three generations of Shentu family heads. He had long be a member of the household and Ren Wen-Qiang was nothing in his eyes. There was no need to greet him.
¡°Ning Jing, are you still staying here?¡± The warm look was gone from Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s face. His dignity had been used to wipe the floors and he could only get some back if he managed to take Ning Jing away.
¡°I...¡± Ning Jing spoke, then hesitated. She looked at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eyes, as if looking for him to ask her to stay.
Xia Lei did not ask her to stay but he said, ¡°Big Sister Ning, if you want to stay, nobody can make you leave forcefully.¡±
This line was for Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s ears.
If the earlier incident had not happened, Ren Wen-Qiang would not have been bothered by words like these but it was different now. He dared not offend Xia Lei before he could be sure of what sort of rtionship Xia Lei had with Shentu Tian-Yin. However, he had a way to force Ning Jing into a corner. He took out his mobile phone and said, ¡°Ning Jing, I¡¯ll call Uncle right now and let him counsel you.¡±
¡°I, Isn¡¯t it enough if I go with you?¡± Tears dripped from Ning Jing¡¯s eyes.
A faint smile appeared on Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s lips. He reached out a hand to pull Ning Jing¡¯s hand but she avoided his grasp and went out the door in a huff.
Ren Wen-Qiang smiled, ¡°Bye, you three.¡±
Ma Xiao-An spat, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone with skin as thick as yours.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang pretended not to hear. He turned and walked out of Thunder Horse Workshop.
With Fu Chuan-Fu, Ning Jing and Ren Wen-Qiang gone, the workshop was quiet. Xia Lei looked nkly at the equipment in the doorway. Ma Xiao-An and Zhou Xiao-Hong looked nkly at Xia Lei, their gazes looking as though it was their first time seeing Xia Lei.
After a long bout of staring nkly, Xia Lei muttered to himself, ¡°So overbearing. Who forcefully gives gifts like this?¡±
¡°Bro, if you don¡¯t want it you can give it to me,¡± Ma Xiao-An added, ¡°I¡¯ll sell these and get myself a wife.¡±
Xia Lei came back to his senses then. Heughed, ¡°Get out of here. If you hadn¡¯t intercepted, I would have rejected the equipment. It was all because you spoke up that I epted the equipment.¡±
Ma Xiao-An looked gloomy, ¡°Lei, what¡¯s going on? When did you get to know a woman from the Shentu n? Howe I didn¡¯t know about it? What happened between you that she would send such an extravagant gift? What confounds me even more is that you didn¡¯t even want it. How are you such a fool?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong also added, ¡°Yeah, Big Brother Lei, why didn¡¯t you want it? Don¡¯t we need such equipment?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head but had no exnation. There were some things which could not be exined because he could not tell Ma Xiao-An and Zhou Xiao-Hong how he had seen the assassin ce the bomb. He could not tell them either that he had decided not to ept the gifts so that he would not be taken lightly by a woman such as Shentu Tian-Yin. The second reason was, in the eyes of regr people, foolish.
¡°Come on, say it. What¡¯s going on?¡± Ma Xiao-An pushed. He was very curious.
¡°It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯ll tell you guys another time. Let¡¯s first bring these pieces of equipment in and set them up,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I can guess even if you don¡¯t say it. That Shentu woman borrowed some seeds from you, didn¡¯t she?¡± said Ma Xiao-An in dissatisfaction.
Xia Lei kicked him. ¡°Borrowed, my foot! Get to work!¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah. Work.¡± Ma Xiao-An walked outside, grumbling to himself.
Zhou Xiao-Hong followed him out, her apple-face blushing. She talked to herself as she walked, ¡°Big Brother Lei¡¯s seeds are so expensive. City women are willing to spend so much...¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 45
New Workers
Ning Jing did not reappear again after leaving with Ren Wen-Qiang and there was no phone call either. Xia Lei was a little worried but he did not call her. He had his concerns - Ning Jing¡¯s parents liked Ren Wen-Qiang very much and wanted him to be with Ning Jing. If he kept meddling, wouldn¡¯t he be the third party? He did not want Ning Jing¡¯s parents as enemies. It would be bad if Ning Jing¡¯s father¡¯s heart problem were to be triggered. Because of all these reasons, Xia Lei put Ning Jing out of his mind for the moment.
Xia Lei cancelled the online order in the end, since the equipment Shentu Tian-Yin had given him was enough to upgrade Thunder Horse Workshop. Buying more equipment would be a waste. With the money saved, he could also buy vehicles. He bought a Great Wall Haval H6 and a Great Wall pickup. The Great Wall Haval H6 was for himself while the pickup was for Ma Xiao-An for his own use as well as a delivery vehicle for delivering the processed parts to clients.
On the fourth day, the five newly recruited workers reported for work. They had all worked with him previously at construction sites. One was a man in his early fifties, Teacher Yang Ben-Cai. One was an honest wage-earner from Sichuan, Wang You-Fu. Then there was a local middle-aged Master, Liu Xue-Bing and a 19-year-old Cui Yong, fresh from technical school. Thest was a woman from the north, Chen A-Jiao, who was either 28 or 29 and had an open mind. These five, other than Cui Yong who¡¯d been introduced by Yang Ben-Cai, had all worked with Xia Lei before and were familiar with him.
¡°Lei, I didn¡¯t expect you to be your own boss in such a short period of time,¡± Teacher Yang Ben-Cai was all smiles, ¡°You¡¯ll have to take care of us oldrades in the future.¡±
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°Of course. You guys took care of me in the past so now it¡¯s my turn to take care of you. Let¡¯s make money together.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh... Let¡¯s all befortable and not be so formal.*¡± The honest Wang You-Fu said, his dark face beaming with a guileless smile.
Zhou Xiao-Hong looked at him from one side, thinking, ¡®This guy... what is he saying? Such a bumpkin.¡±
The youngest, bespectacled Cui Yong, was a little stiff but he gathered his courage and greeted Xia Lei, ¡°Boss Lei, please take care of me.¡±
Xia Lei patted him on the shoulder andughed as he said, ¡°I¡¯m not much older than you. Just call me Big Brother Lei.¡±
Cui Yong immediately greeted him, ¡°Big Brother Lei.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s work hard. This workshop is our home,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Lei, you did it. When did you be so amazing? My deadweight at home can¡¯t hold a candle to you. He only knows how to torment me,¡± Chen A-Jiao giggled. She fired words like machine gun bullets, ¡°You missing ady boss? You must be, heh heh, I¡¯ll consider it...¡±
Ma Xiao-An interrupted, ¡°Big Sister A-Jiao, hold up. You¡¯re thinking of bing ourdy boss?¡±
¡°Nuh, nuh, nuh!¡± Chen A-Jiao made a mosquito-smacking gesture and was not one bit shy, ¡°If Lei here fancies me, I¡¯ll do the nasty with him right now. You willing, Lei?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The workshop was suddenly filled withughter. It wasmon to joke around like this in construction sites; men and women said whatever they felt like and sometimes the women were freer with their words. They were from the construction sites so the habits from their previous workce would not disappear overnight.
¡°Lei, will you take up her offer?¡± The local Master, Liu Xue-Bing asked, egging him on.
Xia Lei was embarrassed, ¡°Stop, it¡¯s just a joke and it doesn¡¯t mean anything.¡±
Chen A-Jiao spoke, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. I¡¯m married and I have kids - how can I be paired with our Lei? I¡¯m talking about our vige¡¯s Yan-Zi. That girl is b-e-a-u-tiful. Her skin¡¯s like dough, her bum¡¯s big and round, her knockers...¡±
Beep beep--- Beep beep---
A series of beeps from a car horn interrupted Chen A-Jiao.
The one leaning heavily on the horn was Jiang Ru-Yi, who was driving a brand new Great Wall H6. It was Xia Lei¡¯s car but he did not dare to drive it on the roads. He¡¯d only practiced on empty lots in the area and when he was not driving it, he would let Jiang Ru-Yi drive it to break it in. Jiang Ru-Yi was, of course, 100% willing to do so, especially when it was Xia Lei filling it up with petrol.
Jiang Ru-Yi wound down the window and shouted, ¡°Lei, hurry up! We don¡¯t have time!¡±
¡°My sister¡¯s going to Jing-Du today for her studies. I have to send her off. Xiao-An, you lead the team. We¡¯ll have a nice meal tonight as a wee dinner,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure,¡± Yang Ben-Cai and the others replied smilingly.
¡°Lei, tell Xue for me to study hard and make sure to make something of herself,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei patted Ma Xiao-An on the shoulder, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely pass the message on. I¡¯ll be going now, everyone. See you allter tonight.¡±
They sent Xia Lei to the door. ¡°Hurry up, you¡¯re wasting time,¡± Jiang Ru-Yi urged.
¡°Okay, enough with the rushing. I¡¯m here now aren¡¯t I?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi half got out of her seat and opened the door for Xia Lei. He got in and she stepped on the elerator, moving into traffic.
¡°Are there any problems with this car?¡± asked Xia Lei. This was the most valuable purchase he had made in his life and he was worried that there would be quality issues.
¡°No problem. Don¡¯t listen to those people who boast about how good those joint-venture cars are. This car runs better than my Polo and it¡¯s more spacious too. It¡¯s more cost-effective,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei felt more at ease then. He looked at Jiang Ru-Yi changing gears and stepping on the elerator and felt an itch to drive, ¡°Don¡¯t just drive it around on your own. You have to teach me too.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, ¡°You have a licence but can¡¯t drive. I¡¯ve got to hand it to you. Is that Long Bing woman not worried that you¡¯ll knock people over? She actually gave you a licence just like that.¡±
¡°Are you going to teach me or not?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll teach you. Put your hand on the gear-stick and I¡¯ll tell you when to change,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi as she slowed the car.
Xia Lei put his left hand on the gear-stick and waited nervously for Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s instruction.
Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly reached over with her right hand and grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Her hand was cotton-soft and boneless and her skin was smooth. Xia Lei was suddenly sensitive and said embarrassedly, ¡°What are you doing grabbing my hand?¡±
¡°Teaching you how to drive. What were you thinking?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi red at Xia Lei, then stepped on the clutch and moved Xia Lei¡¯s hand forward. ¡°It¡¯s in third gear now. It¡¯s necessary to increase the gears when you drive. Got it?¡±
¡°Got it.¡± However, Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s thigh and his mind also became rather active, throwing out all sorts of messy images.
They went on like that, one teaching and one learning. The Great Wall H6 suddenly sped up and slowed on the road, angering quite a few other drivers...
A route which would have taken half an hour took Jiang Ru-Yi and Xia Lei an entire hour. Back in their neighbourhood, Xia Lei brought Jiang Ru-YI through his door. Arge suitcase sat on the sofa. Xia Xue was all prepared to leave. She stood when she saw Xia Lei and Jiang Ru-Yi walk through the door. ¡°Brother, Big Sister Ru-Yi, why are you sote? I waited more than an hour.¡±
¡°Your brother wanted to learn how to drive so I taught him on the way here,¡± Jiang Ru-Yiughed, ¡°You know, your brother¡¯s dumb as a brick. A simple thing such as a gear shift took him ages and he still hasn¡¯t mastered it.¡±
Xia Xue looked at Xia Lei and, mysteriously,ughed.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°Let¡¯s go. You¡¯re so long-winded you¡¯ll surely have a big mouthter in life.¡±
¡°So what if I¡¯ll have a big mouth! It¡¯s none of your business!¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Okay, okay, stop arguing. Haven¡¯t you argued enough for over 20 years? Hurry and send me to the airport or I won¡¯t make it on the ne,¡± urged Xia Xue.
The two of them stopped then and helped Xia Xue with her luggage before leaving the t.
At the airport, Xia Lei apanied Xia Xue all the way to the ticket window. ¡°Xue, remember to give Miss Long a call when you arrive in Jing-Du. She will take care of you.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, brother. I got it.¡± Xia Xue had tears in her eyes. In all her years, this was her first time leaving her brother and she was a little reluctant.
¡°Come, Xue. Big Sister Ru-Yi will give you hugs.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi enveloped Xia Xue in a tight embrace.
¡°Big Sister Ru-Yi, I can¡¯t bear to leave you and my brother...¡± Xia Xue could not hold it back any longer and tears flowed.
Jiang Ru-Yi consoled her and spoke warmly, ¡°Silly girl, it¡¯s not as if you¡¯re noting back. Won¡¯t you be back during winter break? If you miss me or your brother you can call us. You can also use QQ video to chat. Isn¡¯t that seeing us too?¡±
Xia Xue was choked with sobs, ¡°But...¡±
Xia Lei also couldn¡¯t bear to part with his sister but he put up a front, ¡°What¡¯s all this crying for? You¡¯re finally going to learn some independence. Quick, go in. Call me when you arrive to tell me you got there safely.¡±
Xia Xue stopped her tears at his words and pulled her suitcase past the ticket window. After a few steps into the entry channel, she looked back. The sight of that made Xia Lei¡¯s heart squeeze.
Xia Lei turned to leave only after he lost sight of Xia Xue.
Xia Lei continued his driving lessons on the way back and Jiang Ru-Yi let him take a wheel on the more remote sections of the road while she sat in the passenger seat and issuedmands. It was good to learn how to drive but Xia Lei felt like Jiang Ru-Yi was being a pervert - touching his hand and even his thigh.
¡°Brakes, brakes!¡±
¡°Not again...¡±
Sure enough, even before she changed the tone of her voice, Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s handnded on his thigh, pounding hard to tell him to step on the brakes. The part she pounded was also close to the groin area, which was a sensitive spot. This made Xia Lei very nervous. He was afraid Jiang Ru-Yi would move her hand upwards, just a little, at any time and pull his handbrake up.
Back in their neighbourhood, Jiang Ru-Yi drove his Great Wall H6 to the police station. Before she left, she took 400 yuan from Xia Lei for petrol money.
Xia Lei was rather depressed, ¡°Driving my car and using my money to pay for petrol. What the hell is she?¡±
Back home, the t felt cold and lonely. Xia Xue was gone and Xia Lei felt an emptiness in his heart. He walked to the television cab and looked at their family picture. Xia Xue and himself were smiling happily in the picture and his parents also had blissful smiles. However, those blissful days were nevering back.
Then he saw the ss bottle behind the family picture with the little pill still in it. Just as he was about to take it out for a look, his mobile phone rang.
It was from Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°Lei, Xi-Tian Guesthouse, Room 201. I¡¯ll wait for you,¡± Chi Jing-Qiu opened with that line right away.
Xia Lei paused, ¡°You¡¯re in a guesthouse waiting for me... waiting for what?¡±
¡°For you to bed me,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu with augh.
Xia Lei frowned, ¡°Stop kidding around. I¡¯m not in the mood.¡±
¡°Fine. It¡¯s business. Didn¡¯t I talk to you about it? I have a purchase order for you,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°Good, I¡¯ll be right there,¡± said Xia Lei.
*He was using very region-specific words from Sichuan: °²ÒÝ, °ÍÊÊ
Be a Patron!
Chapter 46
First Business Negotiations
Xi-Tian Guesthouse was located somewhere a little out of the way and it took over 40 minutes for the taxi to get there. Xia Lei alighted, entered the guesthouse and asked where Room 201 was at the reception desk.
Chi Jing-Qiu opened the door for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was gobsmacked when he saw Chi Jing-Qiu.
She was wearing just a white bikini which, if put all together, had less material than a hand towel. Furthermore, the room behind her was empty of clients.
A white bikini was more alluring than a ck one because white was a little translucent and the darker ces would show, just enough to be seen; ambiguous, drawing attention and invoking shyness. Her everything had been revealed in East Wind Heavy Industries but he was still inexplicably drawn to her in that moment.
¡°Come in.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu gave him a gentle smile.
Xia Lei did not move. ¡°Where¡¯s the client?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu wound around Xia Lei¡¯s shoulders like a weed. ¡°The client is my client. You want to see my client? Are you thinking of cutting me out?¡±
It was Xia Lei¡¯s n. Cooperate once, get to know the client, bypass Chi Jing-Qiu and go directly to the client for the next bit of business. Unfortunately, Chi Jing-Qiu was more sly than he and met with him without the client.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m just asking. I¡¯m here now, so let¡¯s talk business. Just business.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s voice was cotton-soft, ¡°What do we talk about if it¡¯s not business? Love?¡±
Xia Lai grabbed her hand and removed it from his shoulder, smiling wryly as he said, ¡°Do you usually dress like this when you talk business?¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t like this colour I can change it,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu charmingly.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Long socks and a school uniform? An apron?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu continued, provoking Xia Lei.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t take it anymore and interrupted, ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you in the lobby, then. Let¡¯s talk in the lobby.¡± So saying, he turned and left.
Chi Jing-Qiu reached and pulled at the hem of his clothing. ¡°We can¡¯t go to the lobby. I¡¯m from a government-owned enterprise so if someone find out that I¡¯d introduced jobs and taken a cut, I¡¯m screwed. You won¡¯t earn anything either. Why do you think I booked a room for us to talk?¡±
Xia Lei turned back and looked at Chi Jing-Qiu, a little at a loss for words. ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll talk in the room but you have to put clothes on. Your current state is affecting me and I can¡¯t concentrate.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu giggled, ¡°Looks like you still find me attractive.¡±
Xia Lei neither confirmed nor denied it. Men sometimes couldn¡¯t avoid thinking with their bodies and he was a full-blooded man, so there was no avoiding this situation after all.
In the room, Chi Jing-Qiu put on her clothes - a mini-skirt and tight-fitting stic V-necked T-shirt. Her bodyline and white legs were exposed for all to see, sexy and alluring. However,pared to the bikini she was in earlier, Xia Lei felt that this was much better.
Xia Lei was actually aware that Chi Jing-Qiu was trying to seduce him. He did not even need to initiate it to spend a happy time with her. However he knew what sort of woman she was. Sleeping with her would grant him a moment of happiness but bring him a time of endless trouble after. He would not bed her and not fall into her peach-coloured trap.
Chi Jing-Qiu opened the briefcase on the sofa and took out copies of some information and a contract, then handed them to Xia Lei. ¡°Take a look. If there are no problems you can sign here.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the information. There were details of the client¡¯s request for parts to be processed, requirement, materials, precision, and so on. The requirements were quite high. He looked at the contract next. ¡®Payment upon delivery¡¯ - that meant that he had to deliver the goods before he got paid.
After reading through the information and contract, Xia Lei said, ¡°I have no problems with the parts the client wants processed, I can do it. However, the contract says he will only do payment upon delivery. I don¡¯t agree with that.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the problem with payment upon delivery?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu looked at Xia Lei.
¡°Of course it¡¯s a problem. I¡¯ll being up with the materials and manpower. I¡¯m the one investing but he has no risk at all. If I process the parts and he says he doesn¡¯t want them, who is going to be held ountable?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I can guarantee that you will get paid as long as you process the parts,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Problem is, I don¡¯t believe you.¡±
¡°You...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu was rooted to the spot with anger.
¡°Don¡¯t get upset. I¡¯m just telling you the truth. I know very well what sort of person you are. And the price on this contract is not right. It should be at least 20% more.¡±
A touch of hatred shed in Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s eyes but she reced it with smiles in the next instant. Her voice was sugary, ¡°Lei, how can you say that? Do you still hate me for rejecting you years ago? If it¡¯s like that then how can we work together? This price is already very reasonable for you and your small workshop. If you want 20% more, then how can we get this done? If it¡¯s at the price you want, why would the client go to your little workshop? The client would just go directly to the bigpanies, won¡¯t he?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°The reason¡¯s simple - I¡¯m better. Plus, the price I¡¯m asking for is reasonable. Based on the information I have on the materials and precision requirements, if your client goes to East Wind Heavy Industries, this number would go up by at least 50%. Don¡¯t you think I don¡¯t know the market rate.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu frowned. ¡°Lei, you¡¯re making it difficult for me.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget you¡¯re still taking 8% asmission. The price in the contract minus yourmission means no profit for me. I¡¯ll say this - increase the price by 20% and pay 50% upfront. The remaining 50% will be paid when I hand the goods over. These are my requirements. Fulfil this and I¡¯ll do it, or you can ask someone else.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s face turned cloudy. She thought for a bit before she said, ¡°I¡¯ll go make a call and see what the client says.¡±
Xia Lei made a ¡®go ahead¡¯ gesture, ¡°Go, tell me the result of your discussion.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu got up, went into the bathroom and shut the door. The sound of trickling water came soon after.
¡®My goodness, is she doing her own business while talking to the client? I¡¯ve got to hand it to her.¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He really wanted to hear what Chi JIng-Qiu was discussing with the client but he could only hear Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s muffled voice and not the words she was saying. She had obviously lowered her voice so that he couldn¡¯t listen in.
The marketce was a battleground too. Great businessmen could see their opponents¡¯ moves and make use of the information they have at their disposal to ascertain their bottom line and motivation, then use that to their advantage in business negotiations for the greatest benefit. On the other hand, if you knew nothing, you would be moved like a pawn and even if you did make money, it would be a pitiable amount and your business would not flourish.
Xia lei was not a shrewd businessman andcked even the most basic business knowledge but he had a unique advantage - his eye.
When he¡¯d thought about getting the client¡¯s information, his eye had instantly entered another state. The bathroom door opposite him disappeared from his sight like automatic ss sliding doors and the image of Chi Jing-Qiu sitting on the toilet appeared before his eyes.
Chi Jing-Qiu was sitting on the toilet bowl with the white bikini around her knees. She really was doing a weewee while talking to the client. She seemed to have finished and looked rxed but did not pull the bikini bottom up because she was still holding a phone in her hand. She sat just like that with a smile on her face and chatted naturally.
Xia Lei could see her talking but he couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying.
¡®This won¡¯t do. I can see but I can¡¯t hear. This isn¡¯t helping me one bit to get more information about the client. This Chi Jing-Qiu is a crafty one indeed. She¡¯s like a professional spy, isn¡¯t she?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Speaking of spies, Xia Lei suddenly had another thought.
¡®Yeah, spies. Those spy war movies always had amazing spies who could read lips. If I know how to lip-read I¡¯d know more about the client right now even with Chi Jing-Qiu getting in the way. If I can understand the client¡¯s message, I can gain some useful information from the conversation between her and the client!¡¯ The desire to learn lip-reading blossomed in Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
With that thought in mind, Xia Lei stared intently at Chi Jing-Qiu on the toilet; he was not spying on her pale thighs and secret ce but on her lips. He used his left eye to record every movement of her lips. At that moment, his eye was like a camera recording through a ss door. Everything about Chi Jing-Qiu was recorded, details big and small, with nothing left out!
Two minutester, Chi Jing-Qiu pulled up the bikini, washed her hands and exited the bathroom.
Xia Lei closed his eyes. The past three to four minutes of continuous usage of his X-ray vision had brought him some hallucinations. In the instant that the door opened, he¡¯d seen Shentu Tian-Yin and not Chi Jing-Qiu. Shentu Tian-Yin was d in only ayer of gauze, looking so sexy it was difficult for him to breathe. He didn¡¯t dare to look further and quickly closed his eyes.
¡°Okay, you win.¡± Chi Jing said in a helpless tone, ¡°My client has agreed to your requirements. The price will increase by 50% and a 50% deposit will be paid first. However, my client has one condition too.¡±
Xia Lei did not dare open his eyes yet, ¡°What condition?¡±
¡°You have to process an item first before 5pm. If my client is satisfied with it, the pre-signed contract will be handed to you for signing,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
This made Xia Lei rx and he opened his eyes, ¡°Sure. Bring the contract over before 5pm.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu giggled, ¡°You sure are confident but I do know your ability is real. The job this time is much easierpared to the parts you processed at East Wind Heavy Industries.¡±
¡°Okay, so it¡¯s decided. Bye.¡± Xia Lei got up and walked towards the door.
¡°Hello? I helped you get this 300,000 yuan purchase order and you leave just like that? Where¡¯s my thanks?¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Xia Lei turned to look at her, ¡°300,000 yuan and you get 24,000 just for pping your lips. How about this - you don¡¯t take anymission and I treat you to a meal. Good?¡±
¡°Bye,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 47
Natural Lip-reader
It was easy as pie to process a part for Xia Lei. He was done with it within an hour of getting back to Thunder Horse Workshop. After he was finished with the sample, he sat himself in front of theputer at his desk and searched for information on lip-reading.
Baidu was awesome. There was only what you couldn¡¯t think of and nothing you couldn¡¯t search for. He entered ¡®how to learn lip-reading¡¯ in the search bar and thousands of links about lip-reading popped up in the browser.
He first looked at the Baidu Library rmendations and three methods were listed.
One: Watch news programmes.
Two: Practice in front of the mirror.
Three: Use software to learn lip-reading.
Every method had detailed steps and were easy to understand. After reading those, Xia Lei browsed some other sites on lip-reading. He discovered that lip-reading lookedplicated but to him, it was a very simple affair. Easy, because his left eye¡¯s ¡®recording¡¯ ability could record every minute detail of the movement of a person¡¯s lips!
¡®Why don¡¯t I use a mirror andpare lip-forms with Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s? Maybe I can interpret what she was saying.¡¯ After reading a whole lot of information on the subject, Xia Lei was itching to try it out.
The seven employees of Thunder Horse Workshop were busy with their work and the equipment from Shentu Tian-Yin did not sit idle; they were running at full capacity. People and machines hummed with activity, getting work done efficiently. It was a little tiring, of course, but the employees were energetic and no one cked off.
This sight of this made Xia Lei happy. He walked over to Zhou Xiao-Hong, who was using a hammer to remove the welding marks on a processed part. Clink-nk went the hammer. Perspiration wet her cor and a snow-white groove beyond it.
¡°Xiao-Hong, could you lend me your make-up mirror?¡± asked Xia Lei.
It was only then that Zhou Xiao-Hong discovered that Xia Lei had walked to her side. She quickly stood up and wiped her perspiration with the back of her hand. ¡°What were you saying, Big Brother Lei?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I said, could you lend me your make-up mirror.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong looked at him, notprehending, ¡°What do you want with it, Big Brother Lei?¡±
¡°Never you mind. Do you have one or not? I¡¯ll borrow one from Chen A-Jiao if you don¡¯t,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I do, I do. I¡¯ll get it for you right away.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong went to the small room to get the mirror for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then went into the room without waiting for Zhou Xiao-Hong toe out again. Once he entered, he saw Zhou Xiao-Hong with her work clothes around her feet. She was pulling the stic on her tight shorts open and digging inside with her other hand.
Her pale thighs, tight shorts as well as the outline of strange shapes and mature, tempting contoursbined to smoulder like coals in Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen.
¡°Ah... Big Brother Lei, you?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong saw Xia Leie in right away and her apple-face turned red immediately. Her hands went to her crotch, covering it up tightly.
This situation was better than Chi Jing-Qiu and her bikini but she was a traditional and reserved mountain-girl. She would get embarrassed by wearing shorts in front of Xia Lei and not dare to look him in the eye.
Xia Lei quickly turned around and spoke in embarrassment, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it wasn¡¯t on purpose...¡± Then he added, ¡°I asked to borrow a mirror. Why did you take your trousers off?¡±
¡°I, I put it in the pocket of my shorts,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong nervously.
Xia Lei had nothing to say to that. It was just a mirror and putting it anywhere would do - why put it in body-hugging shorts? What puzzled him further was that her shorts actually had pockets in them.
Before he could puzzle it out, the sound of clothing rustling as she put her shorts back on came from behind him and Zhou Xiao-Hong walked to him and handed him a mirror.
It was a fairlypact mirror which was roughly three times bigger than a one-yuan coin. It was a smooth mirror on the front and the back was a beautifully silver-patterned shell.
Xia Lei knew at once why she had kept it so close to her body in the shorts when he saw it. This mirror was an antique cosmetic mirror.
Sure enough, Zhou Xiao-Hong exined, ¡°Big Brother Lei, this mirror was left to me by my grandmother. She said her grandmother was a pce maid in the Qing dynasty and when the Qing dynasty fell, she took some things from the pce and escaped. Unfortunately all that¡¯s left to me is this mirror. Seeing it is like seeing my grandmother, so I cherish it very much. I¡¯m afraid to lose it, so... so I hid it in that ce.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid you¡¯ll break it?¡±
¡°No, that ce it soft. It won¡¯t break,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Once she said that, both she and Xia Lei froze. Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face turned red again.
¡°I, I¡¯m going back to work.¡± So saying, Zhou Xiao-Hong left the room like she was escaping something.
Xia Lei smiled wryly as he shook his head and didn¡¯t think about her soft ce. He held the mirror and looked it over. It really was a beautiful antique mirror of marvellous workmanship and materials. He didn¡¯t know anything about antiques but he knew that this mirror from the Qing dynasty should be able to fetch a few thousand in the market.
He didn¡¯t inspect it further. He sat next to the foldable bed that Zhou Xiao-Hong slept on and brought the mirror in front of himself. It was then that he smelt something strange. The smell was mysterious and a little sultry. He¡¯d already put the soft ce out of his mind but the mysterious smell brought his attention to other matters again.
Then, oddly, he found a ck hair in the crack between the mirror and the silver shell. It was wiry and thin and looked rather naughty. When he saw the hair, he froze for a moment, suddenly guessing where it came from and his brows furrowed. ¡®What the... This... This is too much, isn¡¯t it? Should I still use this mirror to practice lip-reading?¡¯
He nked out for two whole minutes. Xia Lei cautiously plucked the wiry hair out of the mirror and ced it gently in Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s bedcovers, then faced the mirror and begun practicing.
The images of what his eye recorded when Chi Jing-Qiu was on the toilet and talking on the phone yed in his head over and over. What shapes her lips formed, how her lips changed - it was all as though he was seeing it first-hand. While he recalled all these, his lips were also copying Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s lip forms, matching the shape with sounds.
Lip-reading was actually all about observation and memory, and focus. If these three conditions were fulfilled, anyone could learn to lip-read. Of the three, the most difficult was observation, followed by memory and focus. It looked simple and any person possessed observation skills but in reality, most would not be able to fulfil the first condition. The reason was simple - the degree of change in mouth movements was actually quite small when speaking and the changes wereplex. Normal people had no way of catching these tiny and quick changes, let alone remember them!
However, these two most difficult conditions were easily met by Xia Lei, who had a one-of-a-kind advantage. His left eye could zoom-in and zoom-out, and record things so that he¡¯d never forget what he saw. Under these conditions, he was a natural lip-reader!
¡®I¡¯m in the office, heehee... Oh, you¡¯re so naughty... He wants to increase the price on the contract... 20%... 50% deposit... You¡¯re in charge of the supply and demand department in Beach Motors... What is this bit of money to you... Okay, no problem... Manager Zeng, don¡¯t you trust me... Okay, I¡¯lle keep youpany at Springs Resort... You naughty man... I¡¯m hanging up, darling, bye. Muah...¡¯
Lip-shape by lip-shape, sound by sound, he pieced it all together. Chi Jing-Qiu had spent only three or four minutes talking on the phone in the bathroom of the guesthouse and didn¡¯t say all that much but getting the content of the message from the shapes formed by her mouth was an extremelyplicated and difficult affair. Xia Lei spent two hours on it before he was able to decipher the message.
Two hours was a long time but the rewards were great. It wasn¡¯t just him finding out the identity of the client - the greater reward was him unlocking the door to the world of lip-reading. He was not yet familiar with it now but once he umted his knowledge of mouth-shapes to a certain extent and became familiar with it, he would be able to quickly lip-read anyone¡¯s lips! When that timees, he would be able to ¡®hear¡¯ the words of someone hiding 200 metres away!
This was an extension of the ability of his left eye. With an ability like this, if he waged war on the business market, he would already have an added attribute of 1:0*
Five in the evening was nearing and the employees of Thunder Horse Workshop were also done with their days¡¯ work and were resting. Xia Lei, however, was still sitting on Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s foldable bed, facing the mirror and muttering to himself.
¡°Is Boss Lei all right in the head?¡± Chen A-Jiao peeked in at him and spoke with her face full of worry.
¡°Yeah, he¡¯s been muttering to himself the whole day. I discovered him doing that when I went to get myself some water,¡± said Liu Xue-Bin.
Zhou Xiao-Hong was displeased, ¡°What are you talking about? Big Brother Lei is normal. He¡¯s not crazy.¡±
Ma Xiao-An added his two cents, ¡°Lei has been behaving a little erratically recently but don¡¯t you guys worry. It¡¯s fine as long as he doesn¡¯t forget about treating us to dinner tonight.¡±
The neers to the workshop allughed.
They were talking a little further from Xia Lei and had lowered their voices so he would not hear them but they did not know that Xia Lei was observing their mouth shapes through the mirror and deciphering their conversation with lip-reading.
There were no shortcuts in lip-reading; observation and connection were important. Xia Lei did not want to miss any opportunity to learn and practice lip-reading now.
¡®Crazy? Heh Heh, I¡¯m not. You¡¯d better not speak ill of me behind my back. If I see you I¡¯d be able to tell what you¡¯re saying. Ha!¡¯ Though he wasn¡¯t able to read everything that everyone said, it was still passable for a quick interpretation and Xia Lei was excited by his progress.
Zhou Xiao-Hong could not hold back her worry and walked into the room, asking, ¡°Big Brother Lei, are you okay?¡±
Xia Lei stopped his lip-reading practice. He got up and handed the mirror to Zhou Xiao-Hong andughed as he said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I was just looking at the pimples on my face.¡±
¡°Huh?¡±
Xia Lei walked towards the exit, ¡°Keep the mirror safe. It¡¯s very valuable indeed.¡± He closed the door as he walked out.
Zhou Xiao-Hong came to her senses then, and turned red for no apparent reason. She then removed her trousers and put the mirror back into the secret pocket of the tight-fitting shorts. Xia Lei was, unquestionably, the first person to know that she had a mirror hidden in that ce.
When Xia Lei exited the room, everyone looked at him, their gazes full of curiosity and worry. He smiled, ¡°It¡¯s all right. What are you all looking at me for? Get changed. We¡¯ll all go for a good mealter.¡±
Ma Xiao-Anughed, ¡°I told you he was normal! Haha!¡±
Thunder Horse Workshop filled withughter.
A Volkswagen CC stopped by the side of the road and Chi Jing-Qiu stepped out of the car, briefcase in hand.
Ma Xiao-An and the others left the workshop to give Xia Lei and Chi Jing-Qiu some space to talk.
Xia Lei ced the personally-processed part on the desk. ¡°Measure it.¡±
¡°No need. I trust your workmanship.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu just nced at the part before opening her briefcase and taking out the contract. ¡°The contract has been changed ording to your requirements. Take a look and sign if there are no problems,¡± she said to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei read through it - there was nothing in the contract about Manager Zeng or a signature from the representative of Beach Motors but it was signed by Chi Jing-Qiu. This situation was both surprising, yet not to Xia Lei.
¡°Why isn¡¯t there a signature from the client?¡± Xia Lei enquired.
Chi Jing-Qiu smiled faintly, ¡°My client trusts me very much and decided to let me handle everything. Don¡¯t bother about this. Sign and give me your ount details so I can transfer the 150,000 deposit to you. Why are you so concerned about who the client is when there¡¯s money to be made? Are you trying to steal my clients?¡±
Xia Lei justughed. He lifted his pen and signed the contract, then told Chi Jing-Qiu his bank ount number.
While Chi Jing-Qiu did the transfer, Xia Lei thought ¡®I don¡¯t need you to say it to know that you¡¯re going to Springs Resort to sleep with that Manager Zeng, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t let you handle everything and let you grab more money. Just you wait and see. Bring me whatever number of clients and I¡¯ll steal them all away.¡¯
¡°Okay, I¡¯ve transferred the amount. Check it.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu put her phone away, then extended a hand to Xia Lei with a smile, ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
Xia Lei smiled as well, ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
*ËûÕ÷Õ½É̳¡½«×Ô´øÒ»±ÈÁãµÄÊôÐÔ - this phrase is a mess and I did my best with it. Machine trantion will give you ¡®He will battle the mall propertyes with a nil¡¯.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 48
Mature Ms Perfect
With the deposit in hand, materials were soon delivered; the equipment gifted by Shentu Tian-Yin also showed their great worth. Xia Lei led his employees at Thunder Horse Workshop in hard work and overtime and the job which should have taken 20 days took only two weeks.
In these two weeks, Xia Lei¡¯s lip-reading capability had reached a high level. With the power of his left eye, he was able to read everyday conversations at a quick pace. This seemed to be the greatest gain he had for the two weeks, and the profits from the business took second ce.
When he¡¯dpleted the order, Xia Lei called Chi Jing-Qiu and she quickly brought someone over to collect the goods as well as to pay the bnce amount.
¡°Not bad. Consistent quality and a good speed.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu smiled happily, ¡°Our coboration has just begun. We will definitely be able to make a lot more money in the future.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, albeit in non-eptance of her words. Chi Jing-Qiu had taken 8% by doing practically nothing in this bit of business while he ved for two weeks. Expenses such as materials and manpower were provided by himself and the profit he had from this was not over 50,000. Furthermore, since Chi Jing-Qiu was totally in charge of the contract, she was sure to have pocketed more in secret and might have even made more money than him.
This was unfair and also highlighted the importance of connections and information in business to Xia Lei. If he wanted his business to grow and prosper, he needed to build his ownwork of contacts and information.
¡°We¡¯ve made money; how about treating me to a drink?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu looked at Xia Lei with a big grin, her smile indicating more than just a drink.
¡°How about you stay here for a meal? I¡¯ll get Big Sister Chen to fry up her signature stewed pork vermicelli,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Forget it.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu rejected the idea right away.
Just then, Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s mobile phone rang. She nced at the CallerID and walked out of Thunder Horse Workshop to a distance she felt safe from Xia Lei¡¯s ears, then stopped and epted the call.
Xia Lei leaned on the doorframe and quietly watched Chi Jing-Qiu take her call. He could not hear her but he could see her mouth and read her lips in real time.
¡°Hello, Big Sister Liu! It¡¯s been a long time! I¡¯ve missed you, heehee... Yep, so it¡¯s like this - mypany is now in talks with Vientaine Group about a wind power nt project. The project¡¯s worth one billion. The wholepany¡¯s busy with this project and there¡¯s no way we can take on your order... How about this, I know a friend who can do the job... No problem, you don¡¯t have to worry about quality. I just helped Beech Motors transport theirpleted purchase order. I can guarantee that the parts he processes are even better than the craftsmen at ourpany¡¯s workshop... Yep, yep, okay...¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu smiled happily,pletely unaware that Xia Lei was looking intently at her about ten metres away. He was catching the changes in her mouth and lip shapes, deciphering her words. He had also seen the number disyed on her phone screen. A faint smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face and he looked rather happy too.
Chi JIng-Qiu was still on the phone with ¡®Big Sister Liu¡¯. ¡°You told us before that East Wind Heavy Industries would do customised kits for 320 per set. How about this, I¡¯ll give you a discount - 310 will do... Of course, I will let my friend make a sample for you. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be satisfied. But you have to send me a copy of the information... Yes, E-mail will do...¡±
After she finished the call, Chi Jing-Qiu waited till the E-mail arrived in her inbox before she walked back towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Jing-Qiu, was that your husband? He¡¯s checking to see if you¡¯re skiving now.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu giggled, ¡°I can skive anytime but you can¡¯t leave your post at work. What¡¯s the point of you making this sort of joke at me?¡±
¡°The goods have been handed over and I offered to treat you to a meal but you turned it down. That¡¯s it then, we¡¯ll talk another time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, no,¡± Chi Jing-Qiu continued, ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re lucky or I am but another bit of business came knocking.¡±
Xia Lei pretended to be surprised, ¡°Oh? What business?¡±
¡°The client this time wants kits.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu held her phone in front of Xia Lei¡¯s face but did not hand it to him. She moved close to him to look at the diagrams and information on the phone screen.
Xia Lei nced at it and had a general grasp of what it was about right away. The materials and precision the client required for the kits were high but it was not the sort that was difficult to process.
¡°Can you do it?¡± asked Chi Jing-Qiu.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°I can. This isn¡¯tplicated.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu smiled, ¡°Good that you can do it. Let me tell you - this is a big order. I¡¯d already discussed the price with the client just now. I was able to get a good price after much haggling.¡±
¡°How much?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°260.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu said her price, then continued excitedly, ¡°Lei, process a kit personally and I¡¯ll bring it to the client. The client will be satisfied for sure and there¡¯ll be no problems getting this contract.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Sure,e over tomorrow afternoon to collect it.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll send the information to yourputer right now,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
A bitter smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips as he watched Chi Jing-Qiu walk to his desk to fiddle with theputer. ¡®Damn it. The client gave 310 and you swallowed 50. I still have to give you an 8%missionter. You¡¯re eating from left and right - isn¡¯t your appetite too big?¡¯
Chi Jing-Qiu was done with theputer quickly and went back to Xia Lei¡¯s side. ¡°Done. I¡¯ve saved the information on your desktop. Take another look at it, then process a kit.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. Why, are you still worried about my work?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re honest. I like that, heehee. See you tomorrow.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu patted Xia Lei¡¯s waist, then walked to her Volkswagen CC while swaying her perky bottom and hips. She started her car and led the lorry holding the goods into traffic with speed.
Ma Xiao-An came up to Xia Lei, ¡°Lei, this girl¡¯s flirty but her ws are too long. She takes 8%mission every time. We¡¯re not making much profit.¡±
¡°She won¡¯t profit for much longer,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-Anughed as he said, ¡°I see she¡¯s attracted to you. How about you turn on your pretty-boy charms and sacrifice yourself? Make her take lessmission?¡±
¡°Pfft, nah. Get out,¡± Xia Lei scolded jokingly.
Ma Xiao-An, however, looked serious, ¡°How about me? I can do it for the workshop. I¡¯ll sacrifice myself.¡±
Xia Lei pped him, ¡°Enough joking. I¡¯m serious now.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°Bring Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others out for dinner tonight. Also, give Big Sister Chen and the others their sry for the month in advance. Every person gets a 2,000 yuan bonus.¡±
Ma Xiao-An stuck his big thumb up, ¡°Generous.¡± He then looked at Xia Lei again, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going?¡±
¡°I want to meet the client Chi Jing-Qiu contacted,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An paused, ¡°That Chi Jing-Qiu is a crafty woman. She went ten metres away from you to take a phone call and you don¡¯t even know the surname of her client so how are you going to meet the client?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. I don¡¯t like being Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s money-making tool. We¡¯d have to find our own long-term clients.¡±
¡°Okay. I¡¯ll exin it to everyone. This is an important matter, they¡¯ll understand,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
After chatting a little while more, Xia Lei referred to the diagrams and parameters of the processing which Chi Jing-Qiu had saved in hisputer to process the kit. Ma Xiao-An led Big Sister Chen and the others to the restaurant to celebrate thepletion of their first big job. Not long after they left, Xia Le finished processing the kit and he left Thunder Horse Workshop with it in hand.
On the way there, Xia Lei called the number he had memorised.
The person¡¯s mobile phone rang only three times before the person on the other end rejected the call.
Many would not ept a call from an unknown number.
Xia Lei frowned slightly but he was not discouraged. He called the number again.
This time, it rang eight times before the person picked up. It was a woman¡¯s voice, ¡°Hello? Who¡¯s this?¡±
Xia Lei took a small breath and used a polite tone, ¡°Is this Big Sister Liu?¡±
¡°Yes, this is she. Who are you?¡± The person was not polite at all and her tone was even a little impatient.
¡°I am Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s friend. She asked me to deliver the sample to you. Is it convenient for you now?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I see. I¡¯m at home so bring the sample to my home. I live at Gold Coast, Block B, number 28.¡± The person hung up after saying that.
Xia Lei put his phone away and hailed a taxi to the Gold Coast neighbourhood.
Gold Coast was a neighbourhood of the rich in Hai-Zhu City. It was next to the sea and one could enjoy beautiful seascapes the whole day. However, the homes there were extraordinarily expensive, even for elevator apartments. Normal people could not even dream of living there, let alone buy a unit to live in.
Xia Lei filled in a form at the guardhouse, then followed a palm-lined path forward and quickly found Block B, number 28. It was a three-storey European-styled vi valued at over ten million in the market. Even though he had neither met nor understood the client, Xia Lei could still guess some things about her based on the value of the vi. This ¡®Big Sister Liu¡¯ must be the CEO of somepany. Wage-earners could only dream their whole lives about living in a vi such as this even if they worked their whole lives!
Xia Lei walked to the door and reached out to knock. However, he put his hand down again, thinking, ¡®It¡¯s our first time meeting each other. What can make her trust me? Furthermore, I¡¯m going to cut Chi Jing-Qiu out and talk business with her to try to make her my long-term client. If I just go in like this, she may just throw me out after exchanging a few words. Wouldn¡¯t my trip here be wasted then? No, I have to find some way to gain more of her trust...¡±
At that thought, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the secured door in front of him vanished from his sight.
An old man was sitting on the sofa watching the news in the living room. A three-year-old boy yed with toys on the carpet and there was a pile of toys next to him; Transformers, LEGO blocks, remote-controlled cars, marbles and so on. A middle-aged nanny was wiping the hand-railings of the stairs, and she turned around to check on the boy next to the old man then and again.
There was no one in the living room who fit the characteristics of ¡®Big Sister Liu¡¯. Xia Lei lifted his head and looked at the second storey. The walls of the second storey dissipated like mist and a woman entered his field of vision.
She looked to be in her early thirties and had an oval face with delicate facial features, her good looks not losing at all to those women in their early twenties. However, she had already begun to lose her figure and was a little chubby - a full-figured mature woman. Even so, the fat did not affect her figure and the lines of her body were curved where they should be, big where they should be and sticking out where they should be sticking out. Add her white and soft skin and her sexiness was apparent at a nce.
The woman was changing her clothes before arge wardrobe. She took off her officedy clothing and changed into a morefortable cotton dress. In the 30 seconds she took to get changed, Xia Lei¡¯s vision was filled with pale, tender flesh and skin. She was like a cream-covered cake; looking sweet and delicious.
¡®Plump women can be so sexy and easy on the eyes too. This is unexpected... What am I doing? I¡¯m here to talk business, not admire beauties.¡¯ Xia Lei looked away and at other ces in the room. Anxiety stirred in his heart. His ability had not revealed any information that could help him in his business talk.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 49
Haughty Female Boss
The woman finished changing and closed her wardrobe, then twisted the handle.
This was a strange thing to do. The wardrobe was already closed so why did she twist it again?
As Xia Lei wondered curiously about it, the wardrobe suddenly moved sideways and revealed the alloy doors of a safe.
Xia Lei was surprised, ¡®So there¡¯s a safe behind the wardrobe. It must be where she keeps her valuable items and cash.¡¯
Xia Lei did not use his ability on the safe. Judging from the safe¡¯s materials and thickness, it would be very difficult to see through it and it would drain a huge amount of his energy. It was obviously not worth the effort to look at a pile of cash or gold bars or something.
The woman took two steps back, grabbed a briefcase that was on a chair, then went back to the safe.
Xia Lei willed it and his left eye looked at the briefcase in the woman¡¯s hands. The briefcase was made of leather and it was no different from a sheet of paper based on Xia Lei¡¯s current ability. His eye saw through it in an instant and the contents of the briefcase entered his field of vision.
There were several things in the briefcase; a copy of some information, a passport, a Parker gold pen and a patent application.
The first thing Xia Lei looked at was the patent application since the front of it was coincidentally facing him. It was a patent application for an automatic surfboard. The name on the patent application was ¡®Liu Ying¡¯, legal representative of Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company.
Behind the patent application was a passport and it also had Liu Ying¡¯s name on it, and her picture, which matched the person he was looking at. She was unquestionably the ¡®Big Sister Liu¡¯ whom Chi Jing-Qiu had spoken with.
Behind the passport was the thick stack of information on the automatic surfboard¡¯s design ns, parameters of variousponents and so on. There was a lot of information but the amount of did not deter Xia Lei¡¯s eye. His gaze was like a hungry snake, eating one page, then the next till he had ¡®eaten¡¯ all the pages of the stack of information in under 15 seconds.
The door of the safe opened and Liu Ying put the briefcase in, closed the door of the safe, then made the wardrobe go back to its original ce. She then left the room and headed towards the stairs.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye and thought, ¡®So the parts Liu Ying ordered from Chi Jing-Qiu are to be used in automatic surfboards. This sort of surfboard would need to be powered by electricity and would have to be able to move by itself without waves. The market prospect for this will surely be very good. She¡¯s still applying for the patent for it and this new, novel product is not on shelves yet. It¡¯s still in the process of trial production and preparation. If I can get orders from her and build a partnership, any parts needed for this sort of automatic surfboard would be mine to process.¡¯
After he knew of the client¡¯s business secret, he felt much more confident about the negotiations which wouldeter.
He reached out and pressed the doorbell, then waited quietly.
The nanny opened the door and she looked at Xia Lei in surprise, ¡°May I ask who you¡¯re looking for?¡±
Xia Lei put a smile on his face and spoke politely, ¡°I¡¯m looking for CEO Liu.¡±
The nanny did not let him in, ¡°May I ask who you are? Do you have an appointment?¡±
¡°I spoke on the phone with CEO Liu and she told me toe here to look for her. Please inform her that I¡¯m here,¡± said Xia Lei.
At that moment, Liu Ying¡¯s voice came from the living room, ¡°Let him in.¡±
The nanny then took out stic shoe covers from the shoe cab and handed them to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei put them on over his shoes, lifted his bag and walked in.
Liu Ying looked Xia Lei over and said, ¡°Please have a seat.¡±
¡°CEO Liu, I do apologise for the intrusion.¡± Xia Lei held out his hands, intending to shake with her.
Liu Ying, however, did not extend her hand for a shake. She just spoke indifferently, ¡°Let¡¯s dispense with that. I¡¯d just applied some hand cream so it isn¡¯t convenient. Please take a seat.¡±
Xia Lei retracted his hand somewhat awkwardly and sat opposite Liu Ying.
From Liu Ying¡¯s perspective, Xia Lei was just an underling of Chi JIng-Qiu¡¯s and there was no need for her to lower herself to talk to him. There was no shaking of hands nor asking the nanny to fetch a ss of water for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had expected as much. He opened the canvas bag he had brought and took out the processed part, then ced the part on the bag to make it more convenient for Liu Ying to inspect.
After seeing the processed part on the coffee table, a small smile appeared on Liu Ying¡¯s face, ¡°Chi Jing-Qiu is quite efficient in her work. The sample was delivered so quickly. That¡¯s right, why didn¡¯t Chi Jing-Qiue?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Liu Ying looked askance at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Take a look at the processed part first, CEO Liu.¡±
Liu Ying¡¯s gaze returned to the processed part. She reached out, picked it up and held it before her eyes for inspection.
Xia Lei then took out a piece of A4 paper and a micrometer out of the canvas bag and ced them in front of Liu Ying, saying, ¡°CEO Liu, this was processed ording to your specifications. The materials and precision uracy all meet your requirements. You can do some simple measurements now and if you feel the micrometer is not urate enough, you can ask your ownpany¡¯s experts to do the inspection. I can guarantee that there will be no problems at all with quality.¡±
¡°I know a little about processing. This part is not bad; there shouldn¡¯t be any problems. Right, who processed this?¡± said Liu Ying.
¡°I did,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You?¡± Liu Ying¡¯s eyes went to Xia Lei¡¯s face and she looked surprised, ¡°You¡¯re so young! It¡¯s impossible, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°This was indeed processed by me. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can go to my workshop and I¡¯ll process another part for you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hold on,¡± Liu Ying interrupted, ¡°Chi Jing-Qiu said that she has a very impressive friend. Was she talking about you?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°She was talking about me. I¡¯m Xia Lei. My workshop is Thunder Horse Workshop. I processed very important high precision parts for East Wind Heavy Industries and I also processed parts for Beach Motors. Our quality and reputation are guaranteed.¡±
Liu Ying looked steadily at Xia Lei and suddenlyughed after half a beat, ¡°I get it now. I go to Chi Jing-Qiu to make an order and she went to you to get the job done. You¡¯re bypassing Chi Jing-Qiu bying here and trying to get an agreement directly with me. Is that correct?¡±
Xia Lei gave a smallugh too, ¡°You quoted 310 for the price and she quoted me the price of 260. After I finish the job, I¡¯d still have to pay her 8% asmission. My employees and myself would not make as much as her even if we tired ourselves out, so why note directly to you? CEO Liu, you are a smart person. You should understand why I¡¯m doing this.¡±
¡°Little guy, doing this isn¡¯t good. It¡¯s not ording to the rules,¡± said Liu Ying.
¡°How is it not ording to the rules?¡±
¡°I have an agreement with Chi Jing-Qiu and she ys the role of an agent in this business transaction. If you want to make money, you can only make money from her, not me,¡± said Liu Ying.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he spoke, ¡°I understand. You had an agreement with her because you hold some regard for her position at East Wind Heavy Industries. She can put in some good words to Chairman Ning, can¡¯t she?¡±
Liu Ying neither confirmed nor denied it. She just looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°CEO Liu, what you are putting importance on is the future of coboration but I can tell you that East Wind Heavy Industries is busy working with the Shentu n¡¯s Vientaine Group on arge wind power nt project. Yourpany¡¯s smaller order may not even be of interest to them and they may not put their full effort and attention into the job. What will you do if you¡¯re in a hurry but cannot get your parts to make your product?¡±
Hesitation appeared in Liu Ying¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei kept talking, ¡°We¡¯re different. We have the technology and the talent. We are an up-anding team and we just so happen to fulfil your requirements. Your product can actually be wholly processed by us. There is no need for you, CEO Liu, to go to arge enterprise such as East Wind Heavy Industries. Choosing us instead would be very wise.¡±
¡°Little guy, this is only our first meeting and you want to talk about such important matters with me? Other than your name, I know nothing about you. I don¡¯t even know anything about your workshop. You tell me, what should I base my trust in you on?¡±
¡°You can make an order of 10,000 yuan and order again once I finish the first one,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Yingughed, ¡°Are you joking, little guy? When did mypany start doing business like this? Do you think you¡¯re ying house?¡±
The fairly disrespectful tone made Xia Lei ufortable but he held it in. He wanted to get the purchase order from Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company since it would be a big help for his business. He could not just give up because he felt a little ufortable. Xia Lei humbled himself once more, ¡°CEO Liu, I am just suggesting a proposal to prove my sincerity and the strength of my workshop. If you are not satisfied I can propose other ns. Please reconsider. It will be a win-win situation for us if we work together.¡±
¡°How about this - I give Chi Jing-Qiu a call and talk with her, then give you a reply. Is that okay?¡± Liu Ying put Xia Lei¡¯s personally-processed part back on the canvas bag, and pushed the micrometer and information back to Xia Lei.
This meant that he was to be seen the door.
She said she would give him a reply after talking to Chi Jing-Qiu but she had not even bothered to ask for his contact information. Her attitude was clear; she would not work with a small fish such as Xia Lei.
Xia Lei slowly put away the processed part and stood, ¡°Then that¡¯s that. Goodbye, CEO Liu.¡±
¡°Yes, I won¡¯t be seeing you out.¡± Liu Ying spoke indifferently, then got up and walked towards the child ying with toys, ¡°Aw, mummy¡¯s Precious One. Come to mummy, give mummy a hug.¡±
The child turned only to give her a nce, then went back to busying himself with his Transformers.
Xia Lei took two steps and stopped. He took out his mobile phone and pressed some random numbers, then spoke into the phone, ¡°Hello, Xiao-An? Contact that sports equipmentpany and tell them that I have a good idea for them. However, the parts for it has to be done by us.¡±
There was no sound from Ma Xiao-An, of course. There was only the system prompt for an invalid number.
The phone call, however, made Liu Ying, who had walked to her son, suddenly turn around to stare intently at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°What idea? An automatic surfboard. Isn¡¯t this idea great? Tell them I already have a processed transmission drive in my hands... Yep, okay, I¡¯ll be right back.¡±
When he was done, Xia Lei pretended to hang up and strode towards the door without looking at Liu Ying.
¡°Hold on-¡± Liu Ying suddenly ran over and blocked Xia Lei¡¯s way.
Xia Lei frowned at her, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
He had been humble earlier but he wasn¡¯t even bothered to refer to her as CEO Liu now.
¡°You can¡¯t go!¡± Liu Ying looked very anxious, ¡°You have to exin some things before you leave!¡±
Xia Leiughed humourlessly, ¡°You must be joking. I am neither your prisoner nor your subordinate. Why do I need to exin anything to you?¡±
¡°You-¡± Liu Ying was rooted to the spot with anger; she could not remember when was thest time she, CEO Liu, had been so mad!
Be a Patron!
Chapter 50
I Can Eat The Cake No Matter How Big It Is
Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company was actually a newly-established privatepany. Liu Ying¡¯s husband had founded thepany but passed away due to overwork while conducting a study on automatic surfboards in theboratory. Liu Ying had taken over Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company and sessfullypleted the research, so it was bound to shine as a new product in the market. However, it was still a secret of Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company and only a few of the original partners knew of it. Outsiders werepletely unaware of the existence of this project, so how did this young man before her know about it?
¡°Mr Xia, tell me, how did you know about ourpany¡¯s automatic surfboard project?¡± Liu Ying red intensely at Xia Lei. Her words were stern but her heart was full of worry, fear and nervousness.
Xia Lei smiled faintly, ¡°Yourpany¡¯s project is about automatic surfboards? I wouldn¡¯t know if you hadn¡¯t told me. What a coincidence. I also have this business idea and I¡¯m looking for someone to work with me on it. You haven¡¯t applied for a patent yet, have you? I¡¯ll have to work faster then. I think there surely will be someone willing to invest in such a good business idea.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t avoid my question!¡± Liu Ying could not control her emotions and roared at Xia Lei.
The child was frightened and started bawling.
The old man continued watching the telly, ignoring everything else happening around him. He seemed to be suffering from Alzheimer¡¯s Disease.
The nanny also stopped what she was doing and watched the infuriated Liu Ying nervously.
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t talk to you when you¡¯re in such a state. Come look for me and have a talk when you¡¯re calmer.¡± So saying, he walked around Liu Ying and to the door.
Liu Ying suddenly reached out and grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s arm, holding on to him and not letting him go. Xia Lei struggled for a bit and she wrapped his arm in a tight embrace, using her entire body¡¯s strength to hold him in ce. Her earlierdy CEO arrogance and overbearing attitude was gone, reced by the behaviour of a humiliated woman who had caught the man who had left her bed after bullying her and was harassing him to take responsibility.
Her ample breasts and Xia Lei¡¯s arm were pressed together like a scrumptious-looking ham sandwich. It felt quite wonderful to Xia Lei but it also rather nerve-wracking. ¡°Let go. Let go and I¡¯ll talk with you.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk in my study.¡± Liu Ying let go of his arm and walked towards the stairs.
Xia Lei followed her up to the second storey and came to a study.
The study had arge bookcase and arge wine cooler with various red wine brands in it. They all looked quite upscale.
Liu Ying walked to the front of the wine cooler, selected a red wine and sses and poured two sses. She handed one to Xia Lei. ¡°This red wine is from a winery in France. My husband liked the vour of this wine when he was still alive. I don¡¯t normally take this out to entertain guests.¡±
She had previously not even offered him water and now she was offering him a cherished red wine; she was starting to show some initiative.
Xia Lei did not stand on ceremony. He pretended to know about wine; swirling the long-stemmed ss, holding it close to his nose, and taking a small sip.
¡°Let¡¯s not beat around the bush. Speak. Where did you get your information about ourpany¡¯s automatic surfboard project?¡± Liu Ying continued to pursue the matter.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°The wine¡¯s not bad.¡±
¡°Mr Xia!¡± Liu Ying shouted, then seemed to realise something and toned down, ¡°Mr Xia, please tell me.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be frank. Nobody told me and I did not steal anymercial secret from yourpany. I know because I¡¯ve always liked surfboards and I¡¯d always thought that it would be great if my surfboard were automatic. I tried making one but it failed, unfortunately. When I saw the diagrams you¡¯d sent today, the forgotten memory surfaced again. You may not believe it but the part you had me process? I¡¯d done it before, but the details are somewhat different,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Ying red suspiciously at Xia Lei and was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°Is this true?¡±
¡°Of course it is,¡± said Xia Lei.
Honesty and Lies were twin brothers in business. Was there a sessful businessman without a group behind him trying to step over him? Which businessman¡¯s wealth was absolutely clean?
He used Liu Ying¡¯s business secret only to lure her in and had no intention of hurting her; he only wanted the purchase order from her. If Liu Ying had been willing to work with him from the start and cut Chi Jing-Qiu out, he would not have done this. However, Liu Ying did not believe him and did not want to speak more with him. He needed to pull some tricks for him to seed. Honest people in this world were mostly either moving bricks on construction sites or screwing screws in an assembly line. He¡¯d moved enough bricks on construction sites and had enough of those cold eyes and rolling eyes. He wanted to seed and let his Brothers and Sisters lead better lives and he was willing to pull a few tricks to make it happen.
¡°I don¡¯t believe you,¡± said Liu Ying.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°I understand. I don¡¯t believe it myself but it¡¯s true.¡±
¡°You said you¡¯d thought of this idea already when you were young and even tried to make your own, so can you draw a simple picture now?¡± Liu Ying was still probing.
¡°Of course.¡± Xia Lei walked to the desk, picked up a pencil and started sketching on a in piece of paper.
He¡¯d looked at Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company¡¯s design ns when he¡¯d arrived, and the things he saw with it was saved exactly as seen, like a picture. He could remember every detail just by recalling the image. However, he did not draw the exact same picture; he only drew something that was 50% simr and had some mistakes in some ces.
Liu Ying looked grave as she watched Xia Lei draw his design. She seemed to be trying to cover up the panic she felt but it had escaped in the look in her eyes. Though what Xia Lei drew was only 50% identical, anotherpany would be able to correct his errors if he brought it to them and produce an automatic surfboard that Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company had researched! What was worse was that Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company had notpleted the patent application and had no approval yet. If this idea and design were to end up in a rival¡¯s hands, and if the rival had another channel to quickly get the patent application approved, Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company would be pirating the automatic surfboard!
Xia Lei put down the pencil and spoke lightly, ¡°This is my design from back then, CEO Liu. Do you believe me now?¡±
Liu Ying was quiet for a while before she bit her lip and nodded. She did not speak; her emotions were in a mess.
¡°Oh, it¡¯ste. I shouldn¡¯t intrude on CEO Liu¡¯s rest time any longer,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°This is it, then. Goodbye.¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Liu Ying bit her lip again, ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°What do I want? Didn¡¯t I say it clearly when I arrived? I just want to work together with you. Our workshop is very capable and you¡¯ve seen the sample I¡¯d processed - it¡¯s excellent.¡±
¡°Just this?¡± What Xia Lei wanted was too simple, too little. Liu Ying could not believe it.
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s just a long-term coboration. You¡¯d still need to pay if you look for someone else and the quality will not be as good as mine. If you work with me, I would perhaps even be able to improve some aspects of the product since I¡¯d researched it myself before. There are only advantages to be had if you work with me. I don¡¯t understand why you aren¡¯t willing to take an offer that is to your benefit even when it¡¯s right in front of you. What do you want?¡±
¡°Fine. I¡¯ll work with you,¡± said Liu Ying, ¡°However, you have to guarantee that you will not leak this idea to anyone.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°No problem. I guarantee it.¡±
¡°A spoken guarantee is not enough. I want you to sign a confidentiality agreement.¡±
¡°This isn¡¯t a problem either.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll first draft a confidentiality agreement, then draft our coboration agreement. We shall sign the confidentiality agreement before we sign the agreement,¡± said Liu Ying.
¡°I agreepletely,¡± after a pause, he added, ¡°But I have a condition.¡±
¡°What condition?¡±
¡°All of the automatic surfboard parts, except for those we can¡¯t do, shall be done by us.¡±
Liu Ying looked steadily at Xia Lei, ¡°It¡¯s a big cake. Can you eat it all?¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯t suggest it if I couldn¡¯t. Do you ept my condition?¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu YIng smiled wryly, ¡°You¡¯re practically holding a knife to my neck. How can I not ept?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say it like that, CEO Liu. If I actually took this idea and sold it I wouldn¡¯t have to do anything and still make a lot of money,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll draft up the confidentiality agreement now. Neither of us shall mention this anymore, okay?¡± Liu Ying said quickly.
¡°Sure, no problem,¡± Xia Lei agreed right away.
Thought he had used an extreme method to get a long-term contract, he did not step beyond the lines of morality. He had never thought of selling this idea to anyone, even if Liu Ying refused to work with him. It was like that for him but Liu Ying did not dare take the chance. In all honesty, there was no need for her to take such a risk. As Xia Lei had said, there was only advantages to be had if she worked with Thunder Horse Workshop. She just had to kick aside the inconsequential Chi Jing-Qiu - it would be like changing clothing for her.
Three hourster, Xia Lei signed his name on a confidentiality agreement, then signed on two copies of a supply contract. Liu Ying also signed the confidentiality agreement, then gave him a copy of the supply contract. It was one in the morning at that time.
Xia Lei held up the long-stemmed red wine ss, ¡°A toast to our coboration.¡±
Liu Ying raised her ss was well and clinked it with Xia Lei¡¯s, ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
Xia Lei drank the wine and said his goodbyes, ¡°It¡¯s ratherte now so I¡¯d better be going. Goodbye, CEO Liu.¡±
Liu Ying nced at the clock on the wall and said, ¡°It¡¯s already one. Why don¡¯t you just stay here for the night?¡±
¡°That¡¯s... not good, is it?¡± Xia Lei felt quite awkward. He wanted to go home but it would be difficult to get a taxi at this hour and he could not let Liu Ying know that he had taken a taxi to her ce. However, staying overnight at her home when it was their first time meeting was also not appropriate.
¡°Oh, don¡¯t stand on ceremony. We¡¯ve already be fairly important long-term partners. What¡¯s staying overnight? It¡¯s decided then. I¡¯ll go get my husband¡¯s pyjamas and slippers. Uh, he hadn¡¯t worn those.¡± A trace of pain appeared in her eyes whenever she spoke of her husband.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll have to trouble you then,¡± Xia Lei agreed.
The nanny had already gone to sleep. Liu Ying put Xia Lei in a guest room on the second storey next to her own room. Afterwards, she brought him a brand new set of pyjamas and slippers.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei felt very ttered having a femalepany CEO do these sort of things for him.
¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. Go to sleep. Good night.¡± Liu Ying left Xia Lei¡¯s room after bidding him good night.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 51
Thief
Xia Lei put the pyjamas Liu Ying gave him on the bedside cab. He did not want to wear something her husband had left behind. He wrapped himself up, still fully-clothed, andy on the bed for a while but could not fall asleep.
¡®I got the big order from Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company but... Thunder Horse Workshop would not be able to meet the supply demand based on our current capabilities if the automatic surfboard bes a hot-seller after it¡¯sunched. If I outsource some of it, there cannot be any guarantee for the quality. Looks like I¡¯ll have to get more equipment and manpower. A machine shop is definitely not on the same level when working with apany. I¡¯ll have to register ourselves as apany, look for a bigger space...¡¯ Thoughts like these swirled in Xia Lei¡¯s head, making him worried and excited at the same time.
Click. A soft sound suddenly reached Xia Lei¡¯s ears. He automatically lifted his head and looked up at the window; his room window was half-open. The night sky was dotted with stars, shining brightly in a deep, dark blue background. There was no wind, the curtains were still and it seemed peaceful. However, the sound he had heard had definitelye from outside his window, as if something had moved it. There was no wind so what could have moved the window?
Xia Lei got up from bed and his eye twitched. The wall before him disappeared in an instant. There was nothing beyond the wall - no naughty cat, no mouse, nothing. He moved his X-ray view to the next wall and it disappeared as well, revealing the scene beyond it.
In the neighbouring room was Liu Ying, sleeping on her bed. She didn¡¯t seem to have the habit of sleeping in pyjamas; she had just a set of purplece underwear on. Her bosom was pushed high and was on the cusp of spilling out of the fabric, making for a hot, desire-inducing visual. Down below, thece persisted in keeping important parts concealed. The contours of her body were faintly visible, alluring and fantasy-inspiring. Her sleeping posture was elegant yet quietly so.
Xia Lei gaze turned away from Liu Ying¡¯s body and swept over the rest of the room, then suddenly went back and stopped on her bedside.
A person was lying belly-down on the floor!
Tight-fitting ck clothes blended in with the darkness of the room. If it were not for Xia Lei¡¯s eye, which could catch the tiny changes in light, he would not have spotted that person!
The ck-d persony quietly on the carpet by the bed and the person¡¯s bottom, high in the air was coincidentally facing Xia Lei¡¯s direction. The bum was full and round, making the waist look even slimmer and softer. This body shape was telling of the ck-d person¡¯s gender - it was a female thief.
THe sound he had heard earlier must have been made by this tight-fitting-ck-clothes-wearing female thief, no question about it. She had pried open Liu Ying¡¯s bedroom window and sneaked into her room. She had probablyid herself t on the floor because Liu Ying had moved or mumbled something in her sleep and startled her.
Liu Ying made no sign of waking up and the female thief got to her feet cautiously. A ck scarf covered her face but this was no obstacle to Xia Lei and he saw her face right away. She was young - oval-shaped face, big eyes, small mouth. Quite pretty. However, her chest was t. This seemed to be the only w on her body.
The female thief tiptoed quietly and carefully to therge wardrobe in the corner of the room.
When he saw that, Xia Lei knew what she was after right away. He got up from his own bed and rushed out barefoot without bothering to put on his shoes.
Xia Lei charged to Liu Ying¡¯s room in the blink of an eye. He grasped the door handle and turned but found that it had been locked. He tried to m into it with his shoulder but the door held solidly, blocking his way.
In the room, Liu Ying was startled awake by the loud noises. She shot out of bed and looked nervously at the door. ¡°Who is it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s me! Xia Lei!¡±
¡°Wha... What are you doing?¡± Liu Ying automatically reached for the clothing she had left on her bedside cab and held them in front of her chest, as though Xia Lei would burst through the door any moment and do something to her.
¡°There¡¯s a thief in your room!¡± Xia Lei shouted anxiously.
¡°Are you ying some sort of prank-¡± before Liu Ying could finished her sentence, a sharp knife shed past her shoulder and pressed itself to her neck. Her voice was suddenly cut off and she tensed, not daring to move.
¡°Tell him the thief ran away,¡± said the female thief quietly in Liu Ying¡¯s ear.
Cold sweat beaded on Liu Ying¡¯s forehead. She spoke in a quivering voice, ¡°What... What do you want?¡±
¡°Say it or I¡¯ll slit your throat!¡± The female thief¡¯s voice was a little hoarse and a little in-between; it was a strange voice.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice came from beyond the door, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, I¡¯ll save you right away!¡±
¡°Say it!¡± The female thief put more pressure on the knife and the de cut Liu Ying¡¯s skin. A small trickle of blood came from the cut.
Liu Ying¡¯s could not think any more. Her voice trembled, ¡°The, the... the thief is gone!¡±
If it were anyone else, he or she would have run downstairs right away to give chase but the one the female thief was trying to fool was Xia Lei. She did not know that whatever she did had not escaped Xia Lei¡¯s eyes!
Xia Lei took two steps back, then charged and went for the door with his leg extended in a kick.
Bang! The door still stood but Xia Lei was thrown backwards and onto the floor by the bacsh.
Rich people had sturdy doors indeed. Xia Lei felt so depressed he could bash his head against the wall.
In the room, the female thief pulled Liu Ying out of bed and dragged her by the hair to therge wardrobe. She spoke fiercely, ¡°Open the safe! Quick, or I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
¡°What... What do you want?¡± Liu Ying was terrified but she did not do as ordered. She knew better than anyone how important the thing in the safe was. It was her husband¡¯s life¡¯s work!
¡°Think of your son. You want him to be an orphan?¡± The female thief pressed the knife to Liu Ying¡¯s neck again.
¡°You... Who are you exactly?¡±
The female thief suddenly made a cut on Liu Ying¡¯s neck and growled viciously, ¡°Hurry up! I¡¯ll give you one chance!¡±
Blood and pain, coupled with worry for her son crumbled Liu Ying¡¯s mental strength. She trembled as she twisted the wardrobe handle and it moved aside, revealing the door of the safe.
Beyond the door, Xia Lei charged at the door again, leading with his shoulder. This time, the door panels and frame shook; they were almost broken.
¡°Hurry!¡± The female thief was getting nervous.
Liu Ying reached out and entered the password. The door of the safe was open.
The female thief pushed Liu Ying to the ground and grabbed the briefcase in the safe.
Crash! The door flew open suddenly. Xia Lei burst through the doorframe and sprawled on the floor.
The female thief turned to flee. She ran to the window, bounded through it and jumped down.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t give it a second thought. He got up and gave chase. He, too, went through the window and jumped into the flowerbed below. The fauna and soil in the flowerbed acted as a shock absorber but the inertia and gravity still made his fall a bad one.
The female thief got up from the ground and started running towards a tall fence.
Xia Lei pulled himself to his feet and gave chase as if possessed.
Liu Ying poked her head out from the second storey and caught sight of the fleeing female thief and barefoot Xia Lei giving chase. Her tears poured as she screamed, ¡°Catch her! Catch her!¡±
The female thief got to the tall fence enclosing the neighbourhood in the blink of an eye. She did not slow but used the momentum of inertia to jump and catch the top of the fence. She grabbed hold with two hands and vaulted over nimbly.
Xia Lei did not have her nimbleness but the fence was not over two metres tall. He caught the top of the fence and used his hands and feet to quickly scale it and go over.
¡°Shit!¡± The female thief cursed, then ran again.
¡°Stop!¡± Xia Lei roared as he chased her. His feet had been pierced by the branches when he¡¯dnded in the flowerbed and fresh blood oozed from the soles of his feet as he ran, leaving a trail of bloody footprints. Every step brought core-piercing pain but he gritted his teeth and held on.
This persistence was partly due to justice, partly sympathy for Liu Ying, who had inherited her husband¡¯s hard work and legacy, and his own concerns - if this thief sold the design ns for the automatic surfboard to Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company¡¯s rival, won¡¯t the contract he worked so hard to obtain go up in smoke? He had to get it back!
The streets were empty in the wee hours. The two of them ran - one being pursued and the other pursuing.
The female thief was flexible but not fast. She was unable to shake Xia Lei off her tail. Six to seven minutester, she seemed to lose stamina and her speed slowed significantly. She did not know it but Xia Lei was running on willpower alone at that point and could copse at any moment.
¡°Damn!¡± The female thief cursed and turned into an alley. She wanted to use the darkness of the alleyway to get rid of Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pursued the thief and also entered the alley. It had no streemps, there were high walls on either side and it was very dark. However, he could still see everything in the alley, clear as day, including the female thief running away at full speed.
200 metres in, a three-storey high building blocked the way. It had appeared in a rude and unreasonable way at the end of the alley; it was obviously an illegal construction.
¡°Fuck! Who made their house like this? Argh!¡± The female thief stopped in her tracks and screamed as if she had gone mad.
Xia Lei stopped too and he put his hands on his knees as he gasped for air.
The female thief spun around and red coldly at Xia Lei. She was out of breath too and when she caught her breath, she pointed at Xia Lei and scolded him, ¡°You retard! Are you sick in the head? What does me stealing someone¡¯s stuff got to do with you? What do you want to aplish by chasing me so madly?¡±
Xia Lei had caught his breath too. He stood straight, and advanced slowly on the female thief, ¡°Return the thing you stole to me and I¡¯ll let you go. I¡¯ll do what I promised.¡±
¡°Let me go? Such big words!¡± The female thief reached for her knife and felt around for a bit before she discovered that she had lost it somewhere along the way.
Xia Lei raised his voice, ¡°Give it back!¡±
¡°Looks like you¡¯re not giving up. You¡¯ll regret this.¡± As the female thief spoke, she rotated her neck, shrugged her shoulders and raised each leg, as if she were doing warm-up exercises.
Xia Lei red at her warily, on guard against her suddenly slipping away or trying to attack him. His gazended on her throat and he saw that she actually had an Adam¡¯s apple!
An Adam¡¯s apple is a prominent feature of males and females cannot have it.
Xia Lei¡¯s line of vision went to the female thief¡¯s chest. He used his X-ray sight and was immediately disgusted - after so much fuss, this person was a man!
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Chapter 52
Let¡¯s Sleep on the Sofa
It was not actually Xia Lei¡¯s fault that he didn¡¯t see it sooner. The transvestite before him was prettier than most women and was also petite. His bum was full and curvy in his tight-fitting clothes, looking all sexy and alluring. Who would think he was a man under these circumstances?
The transvestite charged at Xia Lei while he was being disgusted, leg raised. A beautiful tornado kick swept at his head.
Xia Lei was surprised and quickly squatted to dodge.
Having missed, the transvestite twisted by his waist and his left leg shed where his right had missed, kicking Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder heavily. Xia Lei lost his centre of bnce and was sent to the ground by the kick.
What was even more dazzling was that the transvestite had also used Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder as a springboard and he performed a backflip tond steadily on his feet.
Xia Lei rolled and got to his feet, shoulder throbbing. He was on high alert. Xia Lei had been quite confident of handling this sissy man just a minute earlier since he¡¯d looked thin and weak but this guy was unexpectedly good with his hands and feet.
¡°You daree after me with your skills? If I¡¯d known, I¡¯d have beaten you on the streets. You made me scratch my leg! You know that can leave a scar?¡± The transvestite suddenly charged at Xia Lei after he spoke.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye twitched and locked onto the transvestite¡¯s body.
The transvestite shifted his weight in a kick aimed at Xia Lei¡¯s front at almost maximum speed.
Xia Lei fared better this time - he moved his shoulders, just a little and nimbly avoided the transvestite¡¯s attack.
The transvestite did not retract his leg and his thighs shed, swinging like pendulums as he sent swishing kicks at Xia Lei, one after another.
Though the transvestite¡¯s kicks were so fast they made one¡¯s head spin, nonended on Xia Lei. He did not know that though he was quick, Xia Lei¡¯s eye had slowed everything down. Before his every kick, his shoulder, waist and thigh would move first and these movements had been caught by Xia Lei so the timing and direction of every kick could be predicted by Xia Lei. How could his kicksnd on Xia Lei under these conditions?
¡°Cheat!¡± The transvestite gave up on kicks and got close with his fists to attack Xia Lei.
His fists were much faster than his kicks but his attack range was not as long as his legs. Closebat boosted his advantage in speed but he lost his advantage in distance. He hit Xia Lei a few times in a sh and Xia Lei also threw a punch of his own, and this punchnded on his face, inducing burning pain.
¡°You actually hit my face!¡± The transvestite red angrily at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei said nothing. As the transvestite spoke, Xia Lei suddenly opened his arms and lunged at him, tackling him to the ground.
The two of them rolled on the ground, one on top one second, and the other on top the next. One punched the left side of the other¡¯s face and the other punched the right. One hit the other¡¯s lower abdomen with his knee and the other hit his balls with his knee. The previously beautiful martial-arts battle had been reduced to a street brawl with no real move to speak of; it was just a contest of strength and resistance and Xia Lei was better in these two categories.
The two of them couldn¡¯t move after one bout. Both their faces were bruised and blood trailed from their mouths.
Xia Lei rolled on top of the transvestite and used his body weight to pin him down. The transvestite tried to push Xia Lei off but he was too exhausted and was unable to move the stronger Xia Lei.
Xia Lei punched the transvestite¡¯s face, ¡°Behave yourself!¡±
¡°Fuck! You hit my face again!¡± The transvestite looked like he would bite Xia Lei.
Xia Lei ignored him and pulled the briefcase from him. He opened it to check its contents; everything looked in order and nothing was missing.
While Xia Lei was checking the contents of the briefcase, the transvestite suddenly bucked and kicked forward with both his feet, knocking Xia Lei off his body in an instant. The transvestite performed a kip-up and fled to the entrance of the alley as soon as he was on his feet.
Xia Lei chased him for two steps and stopped. He had retrieved what was stolen so there was no need to fight it out with him.
¡°You¡¯ll regret this!¡± The transvestite turned and yelled his parting line at the alley entrance.
Xia Lei rubbed his ming cheeks and retorted, ¡°Don¡¯t piss me off, you damn tranny!¡±
A siren sounded in the distance.
¡°Fuck!¡± The transvestite disappeared from the alley entrance.
Xia Lei dragged his wooden legs out of the alley, then headed towards the Golden Beach neighbourhood. Before he got to the entrance, he saw a police care wailing to a stop and Liu Ying in the main entrance, looking anxiously around.
When she saw Xia Lei appear under themplight, briefcase in hand, Liu Ying shouted in excitement and ran over recklessly.
Xia Lei stood under themplight and did not move. He looked at Liu Ying, at her swaying hands, at her swaying bosom. The range of her swaying hands wererge and so was the range of her swaying bosom, like fierce currents crashing against a dike, one wave hitting before the other calmed. At that moment, Xia Lei wished very much to turn into a little boat and float quietly in these endlessly undting waves for a while - aimlessly and simply floating.
¡°How about the contents?¡± Just as it seemed Liu Ying would crash into him, she came to a halt. She stopped, but her breasts didn¡¯t and they nearly hit Xia Lei as they bulged forward as if thrown.
¡°All here. I got them back,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ah!¡± Liu Ying suddenly spread her arms and enveloped Xia Lei in an embrace, so happy that her tears flowed. She was so excited that she could not speak.
Liu Ying¡¯s embrace was the softest sensation ever. Xia Lei had been wishing that he could float quietly in her waves as a little boat just a little while ago and his wish was realised. However, he did not feel like a little boat - he felt like a little squirrel which had plunged into a cream cake.
¡°Thank you... Thank you...¡± Liu Ying repeated over and over as tears fell uncontrobly from her eyes.
Xia Lei said nothing. He wanted nothing more than to lie down and have a good rest. He had run at least three kilometres and fought a difficult battle. What was worse was that he had done it all barefoot and his body was beyond exhausted. He would have copsed if Liu Ying were not hugging him right now.
Liu Ying released her hold on Xia Lei and took the briefcase from him. She opened it to check its contents and thest bit of stone in her heart crumbled away. It was as Xia Lei had said; all the items were there.
Xia Lei could not hold on any longer. His knees buckled and he fell forward.
¡°Mr Xia!¡± Liu Ying held Xia Lei and supported his body, saying anxiously, ¡°Are you all right? Don¡¯t scare me!¡±
Xia Lei responded tiredly, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m just too tired. I¡¯d like to rest. Put me on the ground, let me lie down.¡±
His current condition was not entirely due to the chase after the transvestite - it was also due to his continuous usage of his eye. The amount of energy he had used for his X-ray ability was no less than the energy used chasing and fighting with the transvestite.
¡°How can that do? I can¡¯t leave you on the ground.¡± Liu Ying helped Xia Lei into a sitting position on the ground, then stretched her legs out and positioned Xia Lei¡¯s head on herp.
The gentlemplight, mature beauty and her pair of snow-white, soft thighs quieted Xia Lei like a child. It was a pretty picture.
The police rushed over, led by the neighbourhood security guard. A police officer asked Liu Ying about the situation and another then helped Xia Lei up and carried him, feet-bleeding on his back to the main entrance of the neighbourhood.
The policeman asked if Xia Lei needed to go to the hospital and Xia Lei refused, saying it was just the soles of his feet which were wounded. The policeman carried him back to Liu Ying¡¯s home.
Some officers looked around the scene of the crime, took some pictures and took statements, then got in their car and left.
The nanny was long-awake and she brought a first-aid kit, prepared to help Xia Lei dress his wounds.
¡°Go back to bed. I¡¯ll take care of this.¡± Liu Ying took the first-aid kit from the nanny.
The nanny left the living room obediently. Liu Ying crouched by Xia Lei¡¯s feet and used hydrogen peroxide-soaked cotton buds to clean his wounds.
¡°I¡¯ll do it myself, CEO Liu. How can I trouble you with something like this?¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly. He reached to take the cotton bud from Liu Ying¡¯s hand but she moved it away.
¡°Just sit still. I wouldn¡¯t know what to do if you hadn¡¯t got my briefcase back. What is helping you to clean your woundspared to what you have done for me?¡± So saying, Liu Ying used the cotton bud to clean Xia Lei¡¯s wounds. She was careful and gentle.
Xia Lei did not stop her and sat quietly. He looked at her face and the white skin below it which folded into a deep groove. He looked away awkwardly. Though she was already in her thirties, she looked no different from a woman who was 25 or 26 and had an additional mature charm. He had never touched a woman before and contact, even a little like eye contact, could make him rather sensitive.
¡°What about that thief?¡± Liu Ying asked as she carefully cleaned his wounds.
¡°He got away,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That damned thief. I must get to the bottom of this,¡± said Liu Ying angrily. She seemed to suddenly think of something and asked, ¡°Oh, you said the thief is a man but I saw a woman. What is this about?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°He definitely is a man. He just looks like a woman. I think he¡¯s either effeminate or a transvestite.
¡°I¡¯ve never met a man who looks like a woman. Who is he?¡± Liu Ying wrinkled her brows.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then said, ¡°CEO Liu, consider the people by your side. Who knows about the automatic surfboard project? Who is most suspicious? Maybe you can deduce who sent a thief to steal your briefcase.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll have to think it through carefully,¡± said Liu Ying, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about this. The police will handle it. And don¡¯t call me CEO Liu anymore - you can just call me Big Sister Liu.¡±
Xia Lei did not hold back; he smiled as he said, ¡°Big Sister Liu.¡±
A sweet smile appeared on Liu Ying¡¯s face. Xia Lei had risked his life to retrieve Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company¡¯s reason for existence - this made Xia Lei a true friend in Liu Ying¡¯s heart.
A few minutester, Liu Ying bandaged his wounds. ¡°I¡¯ll piggy-back you upstairs to rest,¡± she said.
Xia Lei looked nkly at her for a beat, then hurriedly said, ¡°No, no, no. I¡¯m very heavy. You can¡¯t carry me. I¡¯ll just make do over here for the night.¡±
¡°How can that do?¡± Liu Ying reached to grab Xia Lei¡¯s arm and tried to pull him up but she could not move him. She smiled wryly, ¡°You are quite heavy. Okay, I¡¯ll get a nket and we¡¯ll sleep in the living room. I feel safer with you around.¡±
¡°We?¡± Xia Lei looked at Liu Ying in surprise.
Liu Yingughed, ¡°Don¡¯t be having wild thoughts - I¡¯ll be sleeping on the other sofa.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
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Chapter 53
Big Catfight
The wounds on his feet were not very deep. A night¡¯s rest and they were more or less healed. Xia Lei was able to step on the floor and walk around the next morning, and he was just a tadme. After having his breakfast at Liu Ying¡¯s home, she drove him to Thunder Horse Workshop.
The small workshop made Liu Ying worry a little about the long-term agreement she had signed with Xia Lei. However, she was more at ease after Xia Lei talked aboutpleting high precision purchase orders for East Wind Heavy Industries. She¡¯d always been going torge government-ownedpanies like East Wind Heavy Industries for projects but East Wind had needed to go to Xia Lei for help inpleting their order - was there any need to worry about Xia Lei¡¯s skill and ability?
¡°Big Sister Liu, you¡¯re worried about our production capabilities and whether we would be able to fulfil your supply requirements, aren¡¯t you?¡± said Xia Lei, after bringing up his work for East Wind Heavy Industries on purpose.
Liu Ying was silent for a bit before she spoke, ¡°Lei, I won¡¯t hide it from you. I am a little worried. Our product would definitely be a high-volume production once it¡¯s released in the market and would need a lot of parts. There is no way your current production capacity is enough to meet our production requirements.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about this, Big Sister Liu. The next step after I get your order is to hire more workers and buy more equipment. I am also nning to register apany and look for a plot ofnd to turn my machine shop into a machine processing nt. I¡¯ll be able to amodate all of your requests then.¡±
Liu Ying chuckled and patted Xia Lei on the shoulder, her eyes full of praise, ¡°Good. Big Sister could already see that you are not a simple manst night. You have the skill and you have our long-term order. You¡¯ll seed. I feel you are still just an earthworm in a pond and you¡¯ll be a big python in time.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°We will both have sess.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s do this - You process 3,000 sets first and I¡¯ll rush my employees to release the first batch of products. We¡¯ll go back to thepany now and I¡¯ll get the finance department to transfer 500,000 over. After the order is done we¡¯ll transfer the rest.¡±
Xia Lei quickly nodded, ¡°Sure. And, Big Sister Liu, you have to hurry with the patent application. Someone is already after your technology. You have to be careful.¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to the patent office next. Let¡¯s chat next time. Goodbye.¡± Liu Ying left right after saying goodbye; she was a capable and experienceddy.
Xia Lei sent her to the roadside and watched as she drove off into the distance.
Ma Xiao-An walked up from behind, ¡°Bro, did you give your body to that richdyst night?¡±
Xia Lei looked at Ma Xiao-An and snapped, ¡°What dumb nonsense are you spouting so early in the morning, you rascal?¡±
Ma Xiao-Anughed, ¡°Don¡¯t take me for a fool. I heard it all just now. She said your earthworm entered her pond, then became a python, right?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Ma Xiao-An was not finished, he went on while clicking his tongue, ¡°Not so easy, eh? This woman¡¯s a little older but she has substance. Big boobs, round butt, smooth skin... Tsk tsk... Last night must¡¯ve been realfortable, eh?¡±
¡°Shoo!¡± Xia Lei kicked him.
Ma Xiao-An jumped to the side, dodging andughing.
Xia Lei walked into the workshop and said, ¡°Nice Moves Sports Equipment want 3,000 sets of kits. We¡¯ll be busy for a while. I¡¯ll show you all the sampleter. You must process the parts with the same standards as the sample. It¡¯s all right if you¡¯re slow. We want to ensure quality so it¡¯s okay even if we have to scrap more parts. You guys got it?¡±
¡°Got it,¡± the employees of Thunder Horse Workshop replied.
After assigning work, Xia Lei led his employees in the processing work. As he worked, he pondered over the setting up of hispany and ns for looking for a venue.
He had skills, manpower, and a purchase order. It seemed like it would not be difficult for Thunder Horse Workshop to be a small machine processing nt but there was still a problem he was worried about - money.
Money was needed to rent a venue, buy equipment, hire workers, extra expenses such as temporary amodation, canteen, insurance and so on. There were many things he had to spend on and he would need at least five million but it was impossible for him toe up with that much.
Chi Jing-Qiu came to Thunder Horse Workshop in the afternoon, fuming. She seemed to already know that something had happened.
¡°Tell me what¡¯s going on, Lei,¡± Chi Jing-Qiu red up at Xia Lei right after arriving.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, spoke calmly, ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about! You despicable person!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s spittle almostnded on Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Xia Lei did not want to fight with a woman but Chen A-Jiao was not one to tone down her mes. She spoke like a sailor, ¡°Where¡¯s this bitch from? Wanna fight? I¡¯ll fight!¡±
¡°You¡¯re the bitch!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu rolled her eyes contemptuously at Chen A-Jiao, ¡°Country bumpkin. I won¡¯t waste my breath on you.¡±
¡°So what if I¡¯m a country bumpkin and you¡¯re a city slicker? I have a cunt so does it mean you have two cunts as a city slicker? I¡¯ll see today if you, city woman, have two cunts. I¡¯ll rip your cunts to shreds even if you have two!¡± Chen A-Jiao stomped towards her, all ready to tear her to shreds.
Chi Jing-Qiu was hopping mad but could not curse as dirtily as Chen A-Jiao. Seeing her stomp towards herself scared her and she quickly hid behind Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not want the two women to start a fight in his workshop. He blocked Chen A-Jiao¡¯s way, ¡°Big Sister Chen, hold on. Could you go to the supermarket and get some ice-cream for everyone?¡± He did not wait for her to agree and said to Ma Xiao-An, ¡°Xiao-An, please go with Big Sister Chen and help her carry the ice-cream.¡±
¡°Sure, we¡¯ll go right away.¡± Ma Xiao-An pulled Chen A-Jiao by the hand towards the door.
Chen A-Jiao continued shooting curses as she walked, ¡°Rotten crap! Who do you think you are? Nobody in my vige dared to fight with me. If you dare stir trouble for Boss Lei I¡¯ll drown you in my saliva! Humph!¡±
After Ma Xiao-An dragged Chen A-Jiao out, Zhou Xiao-Hong, Wang You-Fu, Yang Ben-Cai and the others left the workshop too.
Chi Jing-Qiu sneered, ¡°This is the kind of people you hire? Such low ss!¡±
¡°Big Sister Chen is an open-minded woman. She may be a little colourful with her curses but she is more honourable than most,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you mean by that? Are you saying that I¡¯m not honourable?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu spoke angrily, ¡°Don¡¯t you forget, Xia Lei, that I am here to settle things!¡±
¡°Settle what?¡±
¡°I pulled clients for you and you went behind my back to meet my client and cut me out. Isn¡¯t what you did clear enough? Shouldn¡¯t I settle this with you?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu was aggressive and she felt like it was a reasonable thing for her to do.
Xia Leiughed coldly, ¡°CEO Liu quoted you 310 and you quietly took 50, then quoted me 260. You still think it a good idea to settle things with me? You lowered the price by so much that I have to reduce my costs and use lower quality materials. Would CEO Liu want that? Can others work with you if you do this?¡±
¡°I...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu had no words to retort with.
¡°CEO Liu inquired and found us yesterday. We had a talk and the matter about you taking 50 yuan from the price was revealed. She is not willing to work with you anymore and wants to work directly with me. Would you be satisfied only when I reject the offer?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu was getting red in the face.
¡°Please leave. I don¡¯t want to fight with you. Go back, calm down and let¡¯s chat only after you¡¯ve thought things through,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re trying to send me away like this?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu red at Xia Lei.
¡°What else do you want?¡±
¡°Give me 200,000 and I¡¯ll leave.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Why should I give you 200,000?¡±
¡°Would you have got the order from Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company if it weren¡¯t for me?¡±
¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to get Big Sister Chen to talk to you. I can¡¯t seem to get through to you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You... Fine! Just you wait and see!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu left Thunder Horse Workshop in a huff.
¡®You actually dared to ask for 200,000. You must be going crazy for money.¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
With things the way they were, the coboration with Chi Jing-Qiu was temporarily put on hold. Xia Lei felt neither guilt nor gratefulness towards a person such as Chi Jing-Qiu. Their coboration had been purely business from the start - he needed orders and Chi Jing-Qiu wanted to make money from price differences andmission. She treated him as a blood-sucking source and he treated her like a guide. It was that simple.
The employees of Thunder Horse Workshop came trickling back in and Ma Xiao-An and Chen A-Jiao also returned, carrying a bag of ice-cream and a bag of snacks such as melon seeds and peanuts.
Chen A-Jiao handed Xia Lei an ice-cream in the shape of a doll-head and said, ¡°Good thing she ran away quickly. I¡¯d have torn her cunt to pieces.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°Big Sister Chen, Cui Yong has not found a partner yet. You shouldn¡¯t say such things anymore.¡±
Cui Yongughed awkwardly; he actually liked to hear things like that.
¡°Okay, I won¡¯t say that word again. Little Cui, work hard and save up. Once you save 100,000, Big Sister will take you to her vige and find you a good partner,¡± said Chen A-Jiao.
Cui Yong¡¯s face turned red immediately and he looked embarrassed.
¡°Lei, with this uproar and all, that Chi Jing-Qiu won¡¯t be bringing us any more orders, will she?¡± Ma Xiao-An said.
¡°You won¡¯t have to worry about that. She only has eyes for money. If she can¡¯t eat others she will definitelye back looking for us,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You still want to work with that sort of woman, Big Brother Lei?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked worriedly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Business is business and people are people. We had a war with America in the past but aren¡¯t they our biggest trading partners now?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong smiled grudgingly, ¡°I don¡¯t really understand that logic but I believe that what Big Brother Lei has decided is definitely right.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about the matter with Chi Jing-Qiu. I¡¯ll handle it. Let¡¯s have ice-cream and go back to work. Work hard and I won¡¯t treat you unfairly. I want us all to be rich people,¡± said Xia Lei.
The workshop was filled withughter. They would not believe others if they¡¯d said the same but this was Xia Lei and they had no doubt he would keep his word. They had long-established a considerable prestige and integrity in connection to Xia Lei in their hearts.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Just as he finished his ice-cream, Xia Lei received a call from Liu Ying.
¡°Are you free tonight, Lei?¡± Liu Ying¡¯s voice was warm and friendly.
¡°I¡¯m free. What is it, Big Sister Liu?¡± Xia Lei spoke politely.
¡°Well, it¡¯s like this... There¡¯s a party tonight and I¡¯d like you to go with me.¡±
¡°What party is it?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Some friends in my circle. I didn¡¯t want to trouble you at first but with that happeningst night, I¡¯m worried that that thief woulde make trouble for me again, so...¡±
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°No problem. What time is it?¡±
¡°Seven in the evening. I¡¯ll wait for you at my home,¡± said Liu Ying happily.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be at your ce before seven,¡± said Xia Lei.
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Chapter 54
A Gathering of Distinguished Folk
Xia Lei took a taxi to Gold Coast and arrived before seven. He had a driving licence and a car but he did not dare to drive on the roads yet. Jiang Ru-Yi was still hogging his car and driving it to and from work, asking him for petrol money when she ran out. There was no helping it - Jiang Ru-Yi was his nemesis after all.
Xia Lei signed in at the guardhouse and entered the neighbourhood. Two young women walked past Xia Lei and both could not help taking another look at Xia Lei. He had on a white long-sleeved shirt with a brown tie, ck suit pants and shiny dress shoes. His healthy physique and handsome facebined with his dress made him particrly handsome tonight.
He knocked on Liu Ying¡¯s door and she brightened when she saw him. She smiled as she said, ¡°Wow, Lei, you look so handsome tonight.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°You¡¯re very beautiful too, Big Sister Liu.¡±
Liu Ying wore a ck evening gown, low-cut and back-revealing. A beautiful pale view presented itself in front as well as in the back, coupled with her plump bottom and the graceful lines of her waist; she was not just beautiful tonight, she was also sexy.
Xia Lei¡¯s praise seemed to make Liu Ying feel morefortable. She smiled and her smile was sweet and charming, with an air of indescribable attractiveness.
¡°Big Sister Liu, I don¡¯t know anyone in your circle of friends. You¡¯ll have to take care of me when we get there,¡±ughed Xia Lei.
Liu Ying patted Xia Lei lightly on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will introduce some friends to you. It will help your career too.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± said Xia Lei. This was also the reason why he was willing to apany Liu Ying to the party. He needed to build his own connections and this party was an opportunity.
¡°Look at you, being all formal again, aren¡¯t we? Let¡¯s go get the car.¡± Liu Ying walked towards the garage.
A few minutester, an Audi Q7 drove out of the gates of the Gold Coast neighbourhood and headed towards the seaside. They were going to a private club called the Distinguished Gathering. People who were part of the club were wealthy and respectable, and all were people of importance in Hai-Zhu City.
¡°Have you found any suspicious persons by your side, Big Sister Liu?¡± asked Xia Lei as the car entered the highway.
Liu Ying shook her head, ¡°After you reminded mest night, I observed the people around me when I went to thepany earlier today but... I have no experience in things like this. I wouldn¡¯t know even if that person walked back and forth in front of me eight times.¡±
¡°If it was someone close to you who sent the thief, he must be keeping a low profile now. It¡¯s normal for you to not find anything. It¡¯ll be best for you to be careful during this period of time and not give the enemy any more opportunities.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Liu Ying nodded, then smiled at Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯m not worried or afraid with you by my side. I didn¡¯t have such problems when my husband was still around. Ah, it¡¯s just myself and my child now. I feel so tired sometimes.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. If you need me to do anything, just ask,¡± consoled Xia Lei.
The Audi Q7 exited the highway as they chatted and continued towards the sea, arriving at the Distinguished Gathering club. It was located on a small penins, surrounded by sea on three sides. The main building was on a hill 300 metres above sea level, visible from afar, its red brick walls and pavilions reminiscent of ancient imperial residences in an extraordinary style.
¡°That¡¯s the Distinguished Gathering club, and it¡¯s part of Gu Yi-Shan¡¯s estate,¡± Liu Ying told Xia Lei as she drove up the hill.
¡°Who is Gu Yi-Shan?¡± It was the first time he heard the name.
¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Liu Ying was surprised, ¡°Jing-Du¡¯s Gu n. It¡¯s a n as famous as our Hai-Zhu City¡¯s Shentu n. They are on par with the Shentu n as well and are rivals in the real estate industry.¡±
Xia Leiughed a little shamefacedly, ¡°I¡¯m just a small fry, Big Sister Liu. How can I know about prominent people like them? I¡¯m also borrowing your light this time to see more of the world outside my own. I¡¯ll tell you honestly that even though I was born and raised here, this is my first timeing here and I¡¯ve never even heard of this ce before.¡±
Liu Ying removed her right hand from the gear stick and reached to pat Xia Lei on his thigh, then rested her hand there and didn¡¯t move it away.
Xia Lei immediately felt nervous and awkward. He had no idea why he had said such words to invoke sympathy. She did not say anything in response but reached to touch his thigh. He could not bend his head around it - did he say anything to provoke or seduce her?
Liu Ying removed her hand from Xia Lei¡¯s thigh andughed, ¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short, Lei. You¡¯re clever and you have spunk. Big Sister thinks well of you. Who knows, in a few years or ten yearster, you may even have your own listedpany and a private club like this.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare to dream of it. I just want to have a better life. I¡¯m not such an ambitious person.¡±
¡°Do you have a girlfriend?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Xia Lei. At that instant, Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face suddenly appeared in his head, gorgeous and unattainable.
Liu Ying did not say anything more after she got her answer. She concentrated on the road.
The Audi Q7 climbed the hill and came to a carpark. The carpark was full of expensive cars; Ferrari, Bugatti, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Liu Ying¡¯s Audi Q7 was a pauperpared to these cars, and the pauper of the lowest order at that.
Seeing all these dazzling cars made Xia Lei think in shame, ¡®If I drove my Great Wall H6 here, they would probably not even open the doors for me.¡¯
¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± Liu Ying alighted from the car.
Xia Lei alighted too and followed Liu Ying towards a pce-like hall.
A red carpet ran on the path leading to the great hall, lined by young and handsome male escorts on the left and young pretty female escorts on the right. This sight was a first for Xia Lei and he felt a flutter of nervousness.
Liu Ying held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm gently and leaned to his ear, saying softly, ¡°I was nervous too when I first came to a ce like this. It¡¯s nothing, don¡¯t be nervous. I¡¯m here.¡±
Xia Lei felt better and he gave a small sound of agreement, then walked into the hall with Liu Ying.
The hall was spacious and built in an ancient style. All the tables and chairs were made of gold-brushed Chinese cedarwood, the gold glinting and setting it apart from the ordinary. Gold-brushed Chinese cedarwood was produced only in Sichuan and not anywhere else in the world. It was extremely precious. In ancient times, only the emperor had the right to use gold-brushed Chinese cedarwood for furniture. Here, all the furniture seemed to be made of gold-brushed Chinese cedarwood. It truly gave one the feeling of being in a pce and make one hold the venue and its host in reverence.
There were many guests already in the hall, either chatting or drinking wine. The party seemed lively yet quiet at the same time, and there was no impression of noise at all. It was in an environment like this, in quiet chats, that huge business deals were being sealed easily, unknown to the public and with the potential to affect the stock markets significantly the next day.
Xia Lei quickly scanned the hall and every face. He found three surprisingly familiar faces - Ning Yuan-Shan, Ren Wen-Qiang and Ning Jing. When he spotted the trio, they were talking softly in a corner of the hall, and the atmosphere seemed quite harmonious.
¡°Do you recognise anyone familiar?¡± Liu Ying asked quietly.
¡°Yes, over there,¡± said Xia Lei. He pointed, ¡°See them? Chairman of East Wind Heavy Industries, Ning Yuan-Shan and his niece, Ning Jing. The young man next to her is Ren Wen-Qiang, part of the Shentu Group. They say he is in charge of the Shentu wind power nt project.¡±
¡°I know Ning Yuan-Shan but not the two young people you speak of. Ren Wen-Qiang... In charge of such an important project at such a young age. So young and promising.¡±
¡°Do you want to go over and talk to Ning Yuan-Shan, Big Sister Liu?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°No, I won¡¯t. I¡¯m working with you now so there¡¯s no need for me to go over and chat,¡± said Liu Ying, ¡°He is the chairman of a huge enterprise and I am just a small business owner so we have nothing to talk about. My little bit of trade is not attention-worthy to big yers like them.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°I actually don¡¯t want to go over either. I had some disagreement with that Ren Wen-Qiang fellow.¡±
¡°Oh? What happened?¡± Liu Ying was curious.
Before Xia Lei could talk about it, a middle-aged man walked over with three long-stemmed wine sses, all smiles, ¡°CEO Liu, I was looking all over for you earlier. I didn¡¯t think you woulde at this time.¡± After he spoke, he handed Liu Ying a ss and handed another one to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded his regards, ¡°Thanks.¡±
Liu Ying spoke, ¡°Lei, let me introduce you. This is Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company¡¯s Research and Development Department manager, Lin Bo-Wen.¡±
Xia Lei extended his hand, ¡°Nice to meet you, Mr Lin.¡±
Lin Bo-Wen smiled as he said, ¡°No need to introduce you, I already know about you - supplier for our Nice Moves Sports Equipment, Xia Lei.¡± He shook hands with Xia Lei, ¡°Very nice to meet you.¡±
Xia was a little curious, and he thought ¡®A person such as Liu Ying is considered one of the lowest ranking here in a party like this so how can a manager of a research and development department receive an invitation to such a high-ss party?¡¯
The three of them clinked sses and took a sip.
Liu Ying seemed to have had the same thought as Xia Lei. She looked at Lin Bo-Wen, ¡°That¡¯s right, Bo-Wen, what are you doing here?¡±
¡°I came with my younger sister. She¡¯s good friends with the second youngdy of the Gu n. This party was organised by Gu Ke-Wen, so... Heh heh, just borrowing some mour from my little sister,¡± said Lin Bo-Wen.
¡°I see,¡± said Liu Ying, ¡°Gu Yi-Shan has two daughters, Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen, both incredible young women. I fear only Shentu Tian-Yin can be the match of the Gu sisters in the business world.¡±
¡°They are both talented people, well versed in letters and military stratagem,¡± added Lin Bo-Wen, then heughed again, ¡°CEO Liu, Mr Xia, I shall have to leave you. I¡¯ll go look for my sister.¡±
¡°Mm, off you go, then,¡± said Liu Ying.
Xia Lei watched him go, then asked, ¡°Who is his sister, Big Sister Liu?¡±
Liu Ying smiled, ¡°Why, are you interested in his younger sister?¡±
Xia Lei was embarrassed and said, ¡°Don¡¯t tease me, Big Sister Liu. I don¡¯t even know her name so how can I be interested?¡±
¡°So why are you asking?¡±
¡°Just curious. Think about it - if his younger sister is good friends with the second daughter of the Gu n, he can easily use that connection to get a better position in the Gu empire. Why stay in yourpany?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You... You suspect him?¡± Liu Ying suddenly thought of the possibility.
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°No, I¡¯m just curious. I¡¯m actually an outsider and I have no evidence so how can I suspect the manager of your Research and Development department?¡±
Liu Ying was silent for a bit before she spoke, ¡°His younger sister is Lin Ya-Ru. We¡¯ve met once before but I¡¯m not very familiar with her. I do know that she knows a lot of people and she has a huge social circle.¡±
¡°I see.¡± Xia Lei did not say more.
At that moment, Ning Jing suddenly started to make her way towards them. She looked straight at Xia Lei, her gaze intense.
Xia Lei gave an internal groan because when Ning Jing spotted him, so did Ren Wen-Qiang. That guy was also looking at him and his gaze was like a polished knife.
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Chapter 55
Get Outside and I¡¯ll Fight You
¡°Lei, what are you doing here?¡± Ning Jing walked up to Xia Lei and Liu Ying, a pleasant smile on her face; she was not hiding the joy in her heart at all.
Xia Lei returned her smile, ¡°I came here with Big Sister Liu.¡± He followed with an introduction, ¡°This is Liu Ying. Big Sister Liu, this is Ning Jing, she is an archaeologist and very knowledgeable.¡±
Liu Ying and Ning Jing shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Liu Ying seemed to be uninterested in mingling with Ning Jing and chatted only briefly before excusing herself, ¡°You two continue your chat. I¡¯m going to look for my friends.¡±
¡°Okay, sure.¡± Xia Lei did not feel it appropriate to go with her when she put it that way.
After Liu Ying walked off, Ning Jing asked, ¡°Who is she?¡±
¡°A friend from business. She owns a sports equipmentpany and I¡¯m her parts supplier now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s great. I knew you would seed,¡± Ning Jing smiled as she said, ¡°I am really happy for you.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right, what are you doing here?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°My uncle brought me here. I... I didn¡¯t think that Ren Wen-Qiang would be here too,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei quickly understood the situation. Ning Yuan-Shan must have brought Ning Jing to the party partially due to her parents, to create an opportunity for her and Ren Wen-Qiang to interact, and partially because of the wind power nt project that East Wind Heavy Industries was doing with the Shentu n. It was like killing two birds with one stone, so why not bring Ning Jing?
¡°Can you apany me out for a walk?¡± Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei, ¡°I don¡¯t like the atmosphere here.¡±
¡°Sure, let¡¯s go out for a walk.¡± Xia Lei actually wanted to remain in the hall and get to know more business people but he did not want to refuse Ning Jing her request.
Before Ning Jing and Xia Lei could go, however, Ren Wen-Qiang walked over. Crisp suit, handsome face, eyes full of confidence; Ren Wen-Qiang had an aura of the elite. Xia Lei was not as impressivepared to Ren Wen-Qiang but he had a calm and determination that Ren Wen-Qiangcked. If you used cars topare these two men, Ren Wen-Qiang would be a Ferrari racing on the highways while Xia Lei would be a Jeep Wrangler trudging through the Gobi Desert. Different environments, different men and different manly charm.
¡°Oh, if it isn¡¯t CEO Xia. Why didn¡¯t youe over for a chat since you¡¯re here?¡± said Ren Wen-Qiang with a smile on his face. He called Xia Lei ¡®CEO Xia¡¯ but the seemingly ttering words were full of contempt.
Xia Lei replied indifferently, ¡°There doesn¡¯t seem to be anything we can talk about.¡±
¡°What are you doing here?¡± Ren Wen-Qiang looked at Xia Lei with a provoking gaze.
¡°There¡¯s no need for me to exin my presence to you, is there?¡± said Xia Lei.
Ren Wen-Qiangughed, ¡°Ah, I forgot. You¡¯re here with Liu Ying. Her husband passed away quite recently and you¡¯ve paired up with her already. How impressive. Then again, you do suit each other very well. You are both budding entrepreneurs so you¡¯ll have lots to talk about.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s temper red, ¡°Watch your words. You can take jabs at me but not at Big Sister Liu. She is a woman worthy of respect and not someone you, with a shit-smeared mouth, should be making irresponsible remarks about.¡±
The smile on Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s face disappeared. ¡°You, the one surnamed Xia. I don¡¯t know where you get the guts to talk to me like that. I can have you thrown out right now. How can a person of your low status even be here? The people here will be insulted by yourmonness!¡±
Ning Jing could not keep listening to him any longer and spoke angrily, ¡°Wen-Qiang, Lei is my friend. How can you talk to him like that?¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang sneered, ¡°Some people are not worthy of respect. I¡¯m protecting you. Don¡¯t be conned by someone with ulterior motives.¡±
¡°Lei has never lied to me. You¡¯re mistaken.¡± Ning Jing looked mad. She never had a happy minute whenever she was with Ren Wen-Qiang.
¡°No need to exin anything to him. Some people think that the world revolves around them and think very highly of themselves. It¡¯s useless to exin anything to him because he will not listen, much less understand you.¡±
¡°I think highly of myself? Sure, I do, but I am still better than someone who relies on women to climb up, aren¡¯t I? Can you say that you didn¡¯t sleep with Liu Ying and waited on that widow? Why would she bring you out to this party if you hadn¡¯t?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly sshed the wine in his hand at Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s face. Purple-red alcohol blossomed on Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s face and dripped down to his white shirt. It was very eye-catching.
Ren Wen-Qiang was also quick to react. He threw a punch at almost the same moment that Xia Lei threw the wine at him and the punch connected with Xia Lei¡¯s chest. There was a dull thump and Xia Lei was knocked one step backwards. However, he seemed better off than Ren Wen-Qiang, who cut a sorry figure indeed.
Ren Wen-Qiang was still raring to go but Ning Jing stood in his way, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°Get out of the way!¡± Ren Wen-Qiang said fiercely.
¡°Go outside. Get outside and I¡¯ll fight you,¡± said Xia Lei.
All eyes of the guests in the hall were turned towards Ren Wen-Qian, Ning Jing and Xia Lei. Some guests whispered their conversations while others just stared.
¡°Get outside! I¡¯ll cripple you!¡± Ren Wen-Qiang was like a beast in a primitive forest in that moment.
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°Don¡¯t think so highly of yourself. So what if you have an eighth-degree ck belt in judo? I¡¯m not afraid of you even if you were ninth-degree.¡±
An eighth-degree ck belt was an impressive level and Xia Lei was actually not very confident of beating Ren Wen-Qiang but he had no fear of him at all.
¡°You two...¡± Ning Jing was so anxious she teared up and her tears rolled from the corners of her eyes.
At that moment, a tall and big man apanying a young woman walked over. The entire hall quieted when she appeared.
This young woman was the Gu n¡¯s second daughter, Gu Ke-Wen. She was tall and well-proportioned, curvy in front and back, and had attractive body lines. Her exquisite facial features were matched with a swan-egg shaped face. She looked like an Eastern Barbie doll, so pretty that it made people think that her face had been photoshopped.
¡°Miss Gu...¡± Ren Wen-Qiang looked a little nervous when he saw Gu Ke-Wen, and a trace of guilt crossed his face.
There was no excuse for fighting, whatever the reason, especially in a venue such as this.
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s eyes flicked from Ren Wen-Qiang to Xia Lei, and she spoke indifferently, ¡°Both of you should leave out of respect for me.¡±
Nothing less from Jing-Du¡¯s Gu n¡¯s second daughter. Even words meant to chase people away sounded polite when it came from her lips, making others lose some of their dignity while feeling her imposing and overbearing aura.
¡°Please, let me exin, Miss Gu,¡± said Ren Wen-Qiang, his face red. It was as if he were a different person. He was a wolf before Gu Ke-Wen turned up and now he was a little white rabbit.
Gu Ke-Wen did not repeat herself. The bodyguard by her side suddenly stepped forward and stood before Ren Wen-Qiang and Xia Lei like a tower of iron.
Xia Lei turned to leave. He was not going to be as thick-skinned as Ren Wen-Qiang and ask to stay. It was shameful to be kicked out butpared to the time he worked in construction sites where he suffered the cold, rolling eyes of others for the sake of Xia Xue¡¯s education, this was nothing and he could bear this much.
Ning Jing looked at Ren Wen-Qiang and at Xia Lei¡¯s disappearing back. She did not know if she should stay or leave with Xia Lei; she was a woman whocked assertiveness and courage.
Before Xia Lei walked out of the hall, ck-suited bodyguards surrounding a woman walked in. Xia Lei looked at the woman¡¯s face when he was striding out and his steps came to a halt.
The fashionablyte woman was the head of the Shentu n, Shentu Tian-Yin. She was as cool, elegant and unapproachable as always.
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Xia Lei, then looked away, going straight towards Gu Ke-Wen. Xia Lei was just like a passing stranger on the streets to her.
Ren Wen-Qiang bent at the waist in a bow, ¡°Greetings, Lady.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin barely nodded and said nothing.
Gu Ke-Wen moved to wee her with a smile on her face, ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, why couldn¡¯t youe earlier? I¡¯ve been waiting half an hour for you.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke softly, ¡°Company meeting.¡±
¡°My brother is waiting for you in the Heavenly Tone Pavilion. I¡¯ll take you there.¡± Gu Ke-Wen seemed used to the icy demeanor of Shentu Tian-Yin and did not mind it one bit, holding onto Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s arm intimately as she walked to the inner area of the hall with her.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s name meant ¡®heavenly tone¡¯ and the Gu n¡¯s private club had a Heavenly Tone Pavilion. There had to be some sort of story behind it.
Xia Lei looked away and turned to walk out of the hall. Whatever story it was, it was nothing he should worry about and he was not interested.
Xia Lei remembered that he hade to the party in Liu Ying¡¯s car after he stepped out of the hall. Liu Ying was still inside and he was considering calling her to drive him out of there but changed his mind after thinking about it. He got ready to call Jiang Ru-Yi to get her toe fetch him.
¡°Sir.¡± A voice came from behind.
Xia Lei turned to see the bodyguard who had been prepared to throw himself and Ren Wen-Qiang out of the hall. ¡°What is it?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°You don¡¯t need to leave, sir. Our young miss has instructed me to tell you that you can stay,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s bodyguard.
¡°Why is this so?¡± Xia Lei asked, uprehending. Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s attitude earlier waspletely different.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I do not know,¡± said the bodyguard.
¡®Gu Ke-Wen changed her tune as soon as Shentu Tian-Yin arrived. This may have been due to Shentu Tian-Yin. Ren Wen-Qiang did note out either so that may also be because he is one of her people. Should I stay or should I go?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Pleasee in, sir,¡± the bodyguard said politely.
Xia Lei hesitated, undecided.
Just then, Liu Ying appeared in the doorway of the hall. She spotted Xia Lei and waved at him, ¡°Lei, hurry,e here. I¡¯ve discovered something new.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped and he walked over.
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s bodyguard also returned to the hall. He was just a messenger and did not care if Xia Lei stayed or left.
As soon as Xia Lei got close, Liu Ying pulled him aside and spoke nervously, ¡°I just received an SMS. Someone is threatening me.¡±
¡°Wha-? Who¡¯s threatening you?¡± Xia Lei was shocked.
¡°I don¡¯t know. Look.¡± Liu Ying handed her mobile phone to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei read the message: 10,000,000 yuan for what your husband left behind or there is no guarantee that an ident will not happen to your son.
mes of anger burst in Xia Lei¡¯s heart after he read the message. ¡°This person is forcing a sale after failing to steal what he wants. He has no regard for thew! Have you made a police report, Big Sister Liu?¡±
Hesitation was written all over Liu Ying¡¯s face, ¡°Not yet. I thought if I reported this to the police, if they really do something to my son... I...¡±
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Chapter 56
Where Have You Gone, Hubby?
Strong women were still women and they sometimes still need a man to lean on.
In Liu Ying¡¯s eyes, Xia Lei was the man she could lean on.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, ¡°The more you act like this the more unscrupulous they will be. Have you thought about it? They¡¯re just sending a thief now and a threatening SMS. If they lose patience and hurt you and your child, what will you do? Unless you sell the thing they want to them...¡±
¡°Over my dead body!¡±
¡°Then make a police report,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Ying hesitated but took out her mobile phone in the end, ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll make a police report now.¡±
At that moment, Lin Bo-Wen walked towards them, shouting from afar, ¡°CEO Liu, I have a friend who wants to get to know you. Would you be willing to meet with him?¡±
Xia Lei shot Liu Ying a look and she got the hint and put her phone away.
Lin Bo-Wen spoke again, ¡°He¡¯s over there. I¡¯ll take you to him, CEO Liu.¡±
¡°What does he do?¡± Liu Ying didn¡¯t want to go.
Lin Bo-Wen was discerning and he exined, ¡°He¡¯s in the retail business and has supermarket chains and brand shops all over the country. I think it will be advantageous for ourpany if you get to know him.¡±
His words were convincing to Liu Ying. She looked at Xia Lei, as if to ask for his opinion.
¡°Go ahead, Big Sister Liu. You don¡¯t have to mind me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then wait for me. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Liu Ying left him with these words and walked off with Lin Bo-Wen.
The person who wanted to talk to Liu Ying was a chubby middle-aged man in his early forties. He wore a Patek Philippe watch and had a valuable jade ne around his neck, giving one the impression of a rich and powerful man. When Xia Lei looked over, Lin Bo-Wen left the table and walked towards a young woman.
That young woman looked a little simr to Lin Bo-Wen. She wore a cutout dress and looked sexy and beautiful; a very eye-catching woman.
Xia Lei had a thought, ¡®Could that be Lin Bo-Wen¡¯s younger sister, Lin Ya-Ru? What are they talking about?¡¯
Curiosity got the better of him and he focused on Lin Bo-Wen and the young woman, using his lip-reading ability to decipher their conversation.
¡°Brother, who is that guy who¡¯s following Liu Ying around?¡± So it was his sister, Lin Ya-Ru after all. She nced over at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei quickly avoided her eyes, then changed his angle and continued to observe her and Lin Bo-Wen, lip-reading their conversation.
¡°Just a poor boy. He has a workshop and Liu Ying signed a long-term supplier contract with him,¡± said Lin Bo-Wen.
¡°Was it him who got the design ns back?¡± asked Lin Ya-Ru.
¡°It was him. We wouldn¡¯t have to be so passive if it weren¡¯t for him,¡± said Lin Bo-Wen.
Xia Lei was thunderstruck after lip-reading Lin Bo-Wen¡¯s words. There was something suspicious about this Lin Bo-Wen after all!
¡°He¡¯s already pushing. We have to settle this quick - we can¡¯t fail this time,¡± said Lin Ya-Ru.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. A widow and a little boy aren¡¯t going to be our match.¡± As he spoke, Lin Bo-Wen looked at Liu Ying and the middle-aged man.
Xia Lei looked over too and focused on the corner where that middle-aged man and Liu Ying sat. Liu Ying was sitting with her back towards him and he could not see her face. He could not lip-read her, but the middle-aged man was facing him and he could see his face and read his.
¡°... CEO Liu, I¡¯m not boasting. If you hand your product to me to sell,rge volume retail traffic is no problem based on all the channels avable to me. I¡¯ll tell you honestly that I am building shopping centres in Ming-Kun City and Sichuan City to develop the Western market. Your product will be selling well in the Western regions when the timees...¡± The middle-aged man boasted, his spittle sttering everywhere.
¡®This guy... Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company¡¯s most important product is the automatic surfboard. Can this product sell well in the Western regions? Is the consumer going to surf in the mountains and ravines? This is a mistake. Why hasn¡¯t Big Sister Liu discovered it?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
The middle-aged man poured Liu Ying a ss of wine, smiling as he said, ¡°CEO Liu, let¡¯s have another toast for our coboration.¡±
Xia Lei could not see Liu Ying¡¯s face or hear her voice but he saw her raise her ss. He suddenly thought of something and his left eye moved to the raised ss in Liu Ying¡¯s hand. The wine ss was instantly ¡®brought forward¡¯ to his eye and magnified.
The scarlet wine had some light-coloured powder in it that was difficult for the naked eye to see. It was dissolving fast and the undissolved bits settled in the bottom of the ss, forming a thinyer of sediment. Red wine normally had some sediment too but those were purple-red and not an almost-white pale colour. The wine had obviously been spiked.
A drugged woman would not behave normally no matter what one said to her.
Xia Lei walked over with quick steps but Liu Ying downed the ss before he could get to that corner.
The middle-aged man got up and went to Liu Ying¡¯s side to support her while saying, ¡°CEO Liu, you¡¯re drunk. I¡¯ll send you home.¡±
Liu Ying, supported by the middle-aged man, was mumbling something but she could not be heard clearly.
A few other guests nearby looked over contemptuously. It was a shameful thing to get so drunk at such a high-ss party.
Lin Bo-Wen suddenly discovered Xia Lei walking quickly over and moved to intercept, smiling as he said, ¡°Mr Xia, I was just looking for you. Let¡¯s go over there and chat.¡±
Xia Lei nimbly side-stepped Lin Bo-Wen. Lin Bo-Wen reached to pull him back but was a beat toote. In that instant, Xia Lei arrived by Liu Ying¡¯s side and reached for her other hand, not letting the middle-aged man take her away.
The middle-aged man looked at Xia Lei in surprise and his face darkened immediately.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Leave her to me, good sir.¡±
¡°Who are you?¡± The middle-aged man spoke stormily.
Xia Lei kept his face natural and polite, ¡°I am her Younger Brother. We came together. I¡¯ll send her home since she¡¯s drunk. Is there a problem?¡±
¡°You...¡± The middle-aged man was not willing to let her go but he had no excuse to take Liu Ying away with him
It was a normal thing for a drunken woman¡¯s younger brother to bring her home if she were drunk. A man who made her drunk wanting to take her away - now that was not normal.
The middle-aged man loosened his grip on Liu Ying¡¯s hand rather reluctantly and nced over at Lin Ya-Ru.
Lin Ya-Ru and Lin Bo-Wen walked over.
A charming smile appeared on Lin Ya-Ru¡¯s face as she looked at Xia Lei, ¡°Isn¡¯t this Mr Xia? I often hear Big Sister Liu talk about you. It¡¯s a rare chance for you to attend a party like this so I guess you don¡¯t want to leave so early, do you? How about this - hand Big Sister Liu over to me, I¡¯ll bring her to the rooms to rest and make her sour plum soup or something to help sober her up.¡±
As she spoke, Lin Ya-Ru moved to support Liu Ying.
Just then, Liu Ying muttered, ¡°I want to go home... Hee hee... So many stars...¡±
¡°Hear that? Big Sister Liu says she wants to go home. That¡¯s it. I¡¯ll send her home. I don¡¯t want to hang around at this party.¡± So saying, Xia Lei helped Liu Ying towards the hall exit.
Lin Bo-Wen, Lin Ya-Ru and the middle-aged man exchanged looks. The three of them were itching to chop Xia Lei to pieces and turn him into meat sauce. Unfortunately, in the real world, they could only watch as Xia Lei helped Liu Ying get away, slowly disappearing from their sight.
After they walked out of the hall, Xia Lei felt like a rock had been lifted off of his heart.
Things had changed. He could confirm that Lin Bo-Wen was the traitor by Liu Ying¡¯s side and he did not work alone. His sister Lin Ya-Ru was one of them and there was also the unknown middle-aged man, plus the transvestite thief. This was not all - Lin Ya-Ru had mentioned a person, and that person was most likely the mastermind behind these four individuals. Unfortunately, neither Lin Ya-Ru nor Lin Bo-Wen had mentioned that person¡¯s name.
¡®I have no evidence and that transvestite did not show his face either. Even if I revealed Lin Bo-Wen as a traitor, he could just deny it and I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything about it. It¡¯s better to let things settle down and not inadvertently alert the enemy. I¡¯ll see how it goes after I send Big Sister Liu home¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°I want to sleep...¡± Liu Ying suddenly spoke.
Xia Lei cleared his head of thoughts and supported her as they walked towards the carpark, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll bring you home right now.¡±
¡°Hubby... I miss you... Where have you gone...?¡± Liu Ying looked blearily at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei felt a twinge of sympathy for her and couldn¡¯t bear to dispel her delusion. He spoke gently, ¡°I didn¡¯t go anywhere. I¡¯ve been at your side, always.¡±
Liu Ying suddenly hugged him by the waist and nted a kiss on his lips.
Soft, moist lips and a clumsy, reckless tongue brought sensations he had never felt before. Xia Lei froze. He wanted to push her away but couldn¡¯t bear to. He finally turned his head away. He was not the sort to take advantage of people after they had been drugged.
Liu Ying still wanted to get close to his face but Xia Lei held her by her waist, carried her and said, ¡°I¡¯ll take you home.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go home and sleep, Hubby...¡± Liu Ying said dreamily. She curled up in Xia Lei¡¯s arms and was quiet as an obedient child.
Xia Lei carried Liu Ying to her Audi Q7, then found the car keys in her handbag and opened the door. Heid Liu Ying on the backseat of the car. He walked to the driver¡¯s seat and stopped suddenly, looking at the steering wheel and frowning deeply. He¡¯d just remembered a problem - he wasn¡¯t good at driving.
Lin Bo-Wen and Lin Ya-Ru appeared in the doorway, followed by the middle-aged man. The three of them looked straight at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not look directly at them but discovered them in his peripheral vision. After spotting them, he bit the bullet and got into the driver¡¯s seat. He started the engine, drove carefully out of the carpark, and entered the road which headed down the hill.
He was very nervous in the beginning and the car did not go above a person¡¯s walking speed, but after a while, he slowly got used to it and was not so nervous any more. After getting a little more used to it, he increased the speed to 40km/h, then drove towards Gold Coast.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 57
A Blush-inducing Misunderstanding
Xia Lei drove Liu Ying¡¯s car safely, more or less, back to Gold Coast thanks to the fact that there were not many cars on the roads at night. However, a drive which only needed half an hour took him over an hour.
Liu Ying was asleep and breathing deeply. She had no outward symptoms of being affected by the drug and this was why Xia Lei did not drive her to the hospital but to her home. Based on Liu Ying¡¯s condition, he assumed that that middle-aged man had probably used sleeping pills, ground to a powder or hallucinatory drugs which did not pose a danger to her life.
Xia Lei carried Liu Ying to her bedroom, then removed her shoes and carried her to her bed.
At that moment, Liu Ying seemed to be suddenly revived, mumbling, ¡°Hubby... Give me cuddles...¡±
A woman in her thirties could still act spoilt, her voice soft and candyfloss-sweet, like an 18-year-old girl. Add her rosy, pale beautiful face, her supple skin and seductive bodyline and Xia Lei could almost not hold himself from cuddling her.
However, Xia Lei managed to control himself. After he put her on the bed, he got her mobile phone from her handbag. The message was still there. He called the number from the message.
¡°Sorry, the number which you have just dialled is not valid...¡± A recorded system message came from the phone.
Xia Lei was not surprised. The enemy would not send a message from a phone number which could be traced back to him and reveal his identity.
Xia Lei sat by the bed, wavering between choices, ¡®Should I make a police report or wait for the person to get in contact again?¡¯
The person must have considered the possibility of Liu Ying making a police report before sending that threatening message but he had still sent it. This meant that he was not afraid of Liu Ying going to the police. However, it would be too passive to just wait for the person to get in contact without making a police report.
After much hesitation, Xia Lei still took out his phone and readied himself to give Jiang Ru-Yi a call. She was not in charge of this case but she was still a Chief and the situation would be better if they had her help.
Just as Xia Lei opened up his contacts page on his phone, someone leaned on his back. Soft things pressed close on his back, and a pair of arms circled his neck, holding him in a tight hug. A peach-lipped mouth appeared by his ear, expelling warm breath as it said, ¡°Hubby... Why aren¡¯t youing to bed yet? How long are you going to make me wait?¡±
In that instant, Xia Lei¡¯s mental fortitude was at its limit. The material of his trousers also seemed to draw tight against him.
¡°Hubby...¡± Liu Ying¡¯s peachy lips almost touched Xia Lei¡¯s earlobe.
Xia Lei could not take it anymore. He moved back-first and dropped Liu Ying to the bed, then used his hands to push himself upwards and escape from the tangle of Liu Ying¡¯s hands and feet.
Liu Ying wriggled on the bed like a boneless fish. She was mumbling something but whatever she said was so unclear that she herself probably wouldn¡¯t know what she said. As she wriggled, her skirt flipped open and she exposed herself. She was indescribably maturely sultry.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. He held his phone in his hand and exited her room; he could not stay in there any longer. She was seeing him as her husband and insisting on sleeping with him. If he did not hold on to his senses, he¡¯d really be her husband and that would be trouble.
Xia Lei called Jiang Ru-Yi and got through to her in the corridor, ¡°It¡¯s me, Ru-Yi.¡±
¡°What is it? Why call me sote at night? I was already asleep... Yawn... You woke me up.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi yawned while she spoke and sounded rather grumpy.
¡°Making a report,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Heh heh. Turning yourself in?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not joking around. I¡¯m serious. It¡¯s like this...¡±
He outlined the situation simply, from the time the transvestite turned up to the time Liu Ying received the threat and was drugged.
¡°Isn¡¯t the perpetrator going overboard? Even drugging her!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi sputtered angrily.
¡°Yeah. Hurry and crack this case, police officers. If this goes on I¡¯m afraid that person may do something to harm Big Sister Liu and her child,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll make a call and inquire with the colleague in charge of this case,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Thanks. That¡¯s it then. I¡¯ll wait for your news,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hold on... ¡° Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly said, ¡°Are you at Liu Ying¡¯s ce now?¡±
¡°Yes, I sent her home.¡±
¡°You didn¡¯t...¡±
Xia Lei was a little at a loss for words as he replied, ¡°What rubbish are you thinking of? Am I that sort of person in your eyes?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi giggled, ¡°Why so anxious? I didn¡¯t even finish my sentence and your thoughts went that way. I was going to say... You didn¡¯t drive her home, did you?¡±
¡°Of course I did. That¡¯s right, return my car tomorrow. I can drive on the roads now.¡±
¡°Hello? Why can¡¯t I hear you clearly? Hello? What terrible reception! I¡¯llin to the tel tomorrow!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly hung up.
Xia Lei stood nkly in the corridor for quite some time.
Back in Liu Ying¡¯s bedroom, Xia Lei was shocked by the sight before his eyes.
The floor next to Liu Ying¡¯s bed was scattered with her things - her evening gown, herce, her... She was rolling about on the bed, calling for her husband. The sight of her was so stimting that Xia Lei almost had a nosebleed. It seemed her hallucinations had be more vivid instead of going away over time.
Xia Lei hurriedly covered her with a nket, then pressed her down by her shoulders to keep her from thrashing.
Liu Ying struggled for a bit but was unable to push him off. She slowly lost strength and finally quieted down.
Xia Lei then went to the bathroom and dampened a hand towel to make it into a coldpress. He went to the kitchen next and made her a ss of orange juice which he fed to her. After the bout of disturbance, Liu Ying finally fell asleep. Xia Lei, on the other hand, was bone-tired. He sumbed to sleep while he rested by her bedside.
He dreamt and dreamt of Shentu Tian-Yin. She pulled him by the hand to a piece of fluffy white cloud and that cloud floated, floated, over mountains, over oceans, finallynding on a green grass field. She held him tightly as they rolled, rolled, rolled... He was on top pressing her down, then she was on top pressing against him in an intimate way. Her little mouth moved close and whispered in his ear, her cheek rubbing lightly on his, tickling him...
¡°Lei?¡± said a woman¡¯s voice.
¡°Heehee, don¡¯t do that, it tickles, hee hee...¡± Xia Lei mumbled.
¡°Did you take my clothes off?¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you wearing clothes?¡±
¡°You... You see me wearing clothes?¡±
This was a strange conversation between Dreand and the real world.
Xia Lei suddenly woke up and opened his eyes to see Liu Ying on the bed. She was covering her chest with the nket and a white thigh showed from under a corner of the nket. Looking up, he could see a section of slim, bare waist. There was not one stitch of clothing on her!
Liu Ying was looking at him strangely. She stared straight at him without blinking, as if she was boring a hole into him to find the truth behind herck of clothing.
Their eyes met and there was a long silence. The atmosphere in the room was at maximum awkwardness.
¡°Lei, you...¡± Liu Ying broke the silence, ¡°What did you do to me?¡±
Xia Lei grew nervous and quickly tried to exin himself, ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand, Big Sister Liu! I didn¡¯t do anything, honest!¡±
¡°Then why am I on the bed? And my clothes... Did they fly away on their own?¡± It was strange. Liu Ying suspected that she had been taken advantage of but she still seemed calm and was neither making a huge fuss nor crying her eyes out.
Xia Lei¡¯s attention was not on those details. He did his best to exin himself, ¡°Do you remember Lin Bo-Wen taking you to see someone? That middle-aged man spiked your wine and wanted to take you somewhere but I stopped him. I sent you home but you were still under the effects of the drug. Um... You took off your clothing yourself. I didn¡¯t dare put them on you again.¡±
Liu Ying frowned. She seemed to be trying very hard to recall everything that happenedst night.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°I used a hand towel to make you a coldpress, then fed you a ss of orange juice. I got sleepy so Iy next to the bed and fell asleep. If you don¡¯t believe me, you... you can check.¡±
As a person who had never touched a woman¡¯s inner sanctuary, Xia Lei¡¯s face turned red when he said the word ¡®check¡¯.
Liu Ying suddenly smiled and asked, ¡°Tell me, what ce should I check?¡±
¡°Check...¡± Xia Lei could not continue.
¡°I¡¯m just teasing.¡± Liu Ying sighed, ¡°Thank you forst night. I would have fallen into their hands if it were not for you. Those people are vile, trying to snatch what they cannot steal. Do they have any regard for thew?¡±
Xia Lei let out a breath, ¡°I¡¯ve helped you to make a police report. The police will look into it.¡±
¡°What can the police do without evidence?¡± Liu Ying did not think the police would help her solve her problem.
¡°It¡¯ll be good if we caught that tranny. He would definitely be able to point out who hired him. This is too difficult,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯d never have thought that Lin Bo-Wen would work with others to harm me! I must fire him!¡± Liu Ying was so full of anger she seemed to have lost control of her emotions and she punched the mattress. In the instant she raised her fist to punch, the nket covering her chest fell...
Xia Lei quickly averted his eyes.
Liu Ying turned red immediately and she hurriedly pulled the nket back up to her chest.
The two of them descended into awkward silence once more.
The nanny¡¯s voice suddenly came from beyond the door. ¡°Boss, the police are here. They want to ask some questions about the situation.¡±
Liu Ying came to her senses then, ¡°Tell them to wait. I¡¯ll be right down.¡±
Xia Lei hurriedly got up to run away, saying as he walked, ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you outside.¡±
¡°Wait...¡± Liu Ying suddenly called him to stop.
Xia Lei was nervous for no particr reason, ¡°Is there something else?¡±
Liu Ying blushed as she pointed at ace side-tie panty on the carpet and said awkwardly, ¡°H, Hand me that.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The policemen who came were the same as the previous time, and were not from Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s station. However, their appearance was rted to Jiang Ru-Yi. After receiving Xia Lei¡¯s call, she had called the colleague in charge of the case and he had sent his people early in the morning to get more information about the situation.
The two policemen took down Liu Ying¡¯s and Xia Lei¡¯s statements, then bid them goodbye and left.
¡°Investigate, investigate.¡± After sending the police officers out, Liu Ying spoke in dissatisfaction, ¡°They only know how to say this word but they do nothing concrete.¡±
¡°Big Sister Liu, you have to hurry and get the patent application approved. You also have to fire Lin Bo-Wen. I¡¯ll speed up production for your parts on my end and once you get your patent, you can put your product out on shelves right away. Once your patent application is approved and your product out there in the market, it¡¯ll be useless for them to do anything.¡±
Liu Ying frowned, ¡°I want toplete the application process soon too but it needs time.¡±
At that moment, Liu Ying¡¯s mobile phone rang.
After the call, Liu Ying suddenly copsed into a sitting position on the floor.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 58
The Younger Gu and Her Dog
The phone call was from Liu Ying¡¯s secretary and she said two things. Lin Bo-Wen had used her name to gather some shareholders and they had announced that someone would be buying over Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company. The second thing was that there had been a problem at the patent office. The office had rejected her application due to an iplete materials report and she had to re-do her materials report and submit her application again.
One call, two problems. Those two problems were like two mountains crushing Liu Ying.
¡°Why... Why...¡± Liu Ying repeated these words over and over as she drove to Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company, her tears flowing unceasingly.
Her husband died and the result of the hard work he had exchanged his life for was about to be taken away. What was worse was that her position within thepany was in jeopardy. She was on the verge of copse with these things on her te.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, Big Sister Liu. Things may not be as bad as you think. Maybe the materials report really was iplete. Just do it again and re-apply and it¡¯ll be fine,¡± consoled Xia Lei.
Liu Ying cried, ¡°Don¡¯t console me... Sob... It must¡¯ve been someone using connections to hinder me and not let my patent application go through... Sob... That person may already have what he wants... Now he¡¯s sent Lin Bo-Wen to gather shareholders and force me out of my position... Why is my life so difficult? Lei, tell me, what is the point of me living?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart was also heavy and his eyes moist, ¡°Don¡¯t cry. Don¡¯t give up no matter what difficulties you face. You¡¯re not alone, I¡¯ll stand by you. You cannot despair and don¡¯t do anything foolish. Even if you don¡¯t care about yourself, you have to think of your child, right?¡±
¡°Lei, wuuuh....¡± Liu Ying sobbed so hard she could not form words.
The Audi Q7 sped on the road at an obvious speed but Liu Ying and Xia Lei did not care.
When Liu Ying quieted down, Xia Lei wracked his brains and finally took out his mobile phone. Heposed a message and sent it...
Liu Ying drove the Audi Q7 to a factory area in the suburbs. The factory was notrge and the office building and factory building looked new; they looked less than a year old.
This factory was Liu Ying¡¯s husband¡¯s blood and tears, Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company.
Several factory workers looked at Liu Ying and Xia Lei strangely as they got out of the car. After they entered the office building, Xia Lei also noticed quite a few workers having whispered discussions. He did not use his lip-reading ability on them since he could guess that it had to do with Lin Bo-Wen getting shareholders together to oust Liu Ying.
They got to the meeting room and Liu Ying opened the door with a push.
Some shareholders sat in the room with Lin Bo-Wen at the head of the table. There was also a surprise guest - Lin Bo-Wen¡¯s sister, Lin Ya-Ru.
In the instant the door was violently pushed open by Liu Ying, all eyes in the room went to her and Xia Lei, who was behind her.
Liu Ying walked in, followed by Xia Lei.
¡°CEO Liu is here.¡± Lin Bo-Wen smiled emptily, ¡°Find yourself a seat. You¡¯vee at the right time. I was about to announce something important.¡±
He stayed in the seat that was originally Liu Ying¡¯s and left her to find herself a seat. He was already acting like he was the CEO of Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company.
Liu Ying went pale with anger. She strode to Lin Bo-Wen and struck the table viciously, then pointed at the door and shouted, ¡°Lin Bo-Wen, you¡¯re fired! Get out!¡±
Lin Bo-Wen did not move, however. ¡°You? Fire me? You¡¯ll have to first ask them if they¡¯d agree,¡± he ridiculed.
Liu Ying seemed to realise something. She looked at the shareholders and her eyes were full of disappointment and resentment.
The shareholders avoided her eyes, not because they were guilty but because they didn¡¯t want confrontation.
Lin Bo-Wen sneered, ¡°Liu Ying, I¡¯ll tell you straight. Your best choice now is to sell the shares you own. Take the money and leave or you¡¯ll have nothing.¡±
¡°You scum!¡± Liu Ying swung her hand in a p.
Lin Bo-Wen caught Liu Ying¡¯s hand and tossed it aside. His demeanour changed, ¡°You, the one surnamed Liu. Be smart about this. You¡¯ll never get your patent approved in this lifetime. The patent will only be approved once you leave Nice Moves Sports Equipment. You can¡¯t single-handedly ruin it for the rest of the shareholders, can you? Name a price. How much do you want for your 50% stake in thepany?
Tears fell from Liu Ying¡¯s eyes yet again.
¡°Sell them, CEO Liu. You can still get a good price for them if you sell them now,¡± said a shareholder.
¡°Yeah, the patent will never get approved if you stay in Nice Moves Sports Equipment. You may not want to make any money but we do. We need the money for our families,¡± a shareholder said.
¡°If you don¡¯t sell, we will. Thispany would be done for. It is your husband¡¯s life¡¯s work - can you bear to see it die like this?" said a shareholder.
¡°Yeah, sell them. Take the money and you and your son can live infort your whole lives. Women. Why work so hard? Staying at home to take care of the children is so nice,¡± said a shareholder.
The four shareholders in the meeting room were in agreement; they wanted Liu Ying to sell her shares. If Liu Ying refused, they would sell the 50% that they owned and Nice Moves Sports Equipment would be done for.
¡°You... You...¡± Liu Ying was so angry she could not speak.
Xia Lei spoke up, ¡°Who is buying CEO Liu¡¯s shares? This is not a small transaction - the buyer should show his face and talk this through, shouldn¡¯t he? Instead he sends a dog here to bark. What is this?¡±
¡°You dare call me a dog!¡± Lin Bo-Wen was so humiliated that he got angry.
¡°I am.¡± A female voice suddenly came from the doorway.
Xia Lei turned to look and saw the Gu n¡¯s second daughter, Gu Ke-Wen. She was beautiful as always, refined as an Eastern Barbie. She was very young but already gave people the impression of one who never ages.
Xia Lei understood everything the moment Gu Ke-Wen turned up.
He¡¯d asked who was going to buy the shares with the intention of finding out who the mastermind was. He¡¯d thought it would be troublesome and would require a lot of probing to find out who the mastermind was but the mastermind had appeared unexpectedly just like that right after he spoke.
Gu Ke-Wen spoke only two words but her stance and attitude was clear for all to see - I am the one behind all of this; what can you do about it?
Two hulking bodyguards had entered the meeting room with Gu Ke-Wen. These bodyguards maintained a three-step distance from Gu Ke-Wen and they looked like they had a lot of practice. No matter how or where Gu Ke-Wen walked, they would always maintain the same precise distance - not one step more and not one step less.
¡°Have a seat, Second Miss.¡± Lin Bo-Wen bowed a greeting and stood aside.
Lin Ya-Ru walked over too and greeted Gu Ke-Wen respectfully.
Gu Ke-Wen only nodded faintly at the siblings¡¯ greetings and was not even bothered to say anything in response.
The four shareholders of Nice Moves Sports Equipment stood and spoke respectfully, ¡°Greetings, Miss Gu.¡±
This attitude, this obedience of a child, was nothing Liu Ying had seen before as CEO of Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company.
Liu Ying¡¯s fighting spirit disappeared at Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s appearance. She looked at Gu Ke-Wen with empty eyes and her mind was a nk.
Gu Ke-Wen sat imperiously in the seat which had belonged to Liu Ying. She looked at Liu Ying andughed, ¡°CEO Liu, I don¡¯t care what you think because it means nothing to me. I came here for one purpose, and that is to buy their shares and maybe yours. I think it¡¯s better if you leave, so name your price.¡±
Liu Ying had no reaction, however. It was as if her soul had already departed to another world.
Lin Ya-Ru scoffed, ¡°Liu Ying, do you not hear Second Miss Gu speaking to you?¡±
Lin Bo-Wen also added, ¡°You should just sell your shares, Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company¡¯s assets are not over 50,000,000. Miss Gu would only need to spend 20 or 30 million to obtain 50% of the shares; a car of hers costs over 100,000,000 so what is this sum to her? If Miss Gu buys the shares of the other shareholders, she will destroy thispany and you will not get a single cent. You may even be thrown into debt. Isn¡¯t it a good thing for Miss Gu to buy your shares and you to leave so that thepany can continue operating?¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s mobile phone beeped with a text message notification. He went to a corner of the meeting room to check the content of the message.
¡°I... I...¡± Liu Ying could not say a sentence; more tears flowed.
She knew very well that there was no way out for her. She had no chance up against an opponent like Gu Ke-Wen, not one percent.
She also knew what Gu Ke-Wen had done - sending a thief, then inviting her to the Gu n¡¯s club afterwards and when that failed, she had her underling drug her. When both these schemes failed, she tore away her mask and used the Gu n¡¯s might straight out, hindering the patent process and stopping her from getting it approved. She then gathered the other shareholders to force her to leave Nice Moves Sports Equipment. An opponent like this, who could stab from the shadows and force her to the brink of death would truly spell the end of all she held dear if she kept fighting on!
Gu Ke-Wen seemed to sense Liu Ying¡¯s weakness and a trace of a smile appeared on her lips. ¡°CEO Liu, you are a smart person. Name a price and we can conduct this bit of business happily.¡±
Liu Ying bit her lip and nodded, ¡°I want...¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Lei walked over, ¡°Big Sister Liu, let¡¯s have a chat before you say anything.¡±
Liu Ying had long run out of ideas and nodded absentmindedly.
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s faint smile disappeared. She red at Xia Lei and her voice grew cold, ¡°You again.¡±
Xia Lei spoke indifferently, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t mind if I said a few words to Big Sister Liu, would you, Miss Gu?¡±
Lin Bo-Wen spoke impatiently before Gu Ke-Wen could respond, ¡°Can¡¯t you say whatever you have to sayter? Don¡¯t you know how precious Miss Gu¡¯s time is?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°You¡¯re a dog, but I must admit that you¡¯re a good dog.¡±
¡°You motherf-¡± Lin Bo-Wen could not help the curse which sprang to his lips.
Gu Ke-Wen shifted her gaze to him and Lin Bo-Wen shut up immediately. His reaction proved that he was indeed a good dog.
Xia Lei pulled Liu Ying to one side and spoke in her ear, ¡°Do you trust me?¡±
Liu Ying hesitated and looked a little upset, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of that? Why won¡¯t I trust you? We haven¡¯t known each other for a long time but I see you as my own little brother. How can I not trust you?¡±
Xia Lei whispered, ¡°I don¡¯t mean that. If you trust me, let me handle this matter for you.¡±
Liu Yingughed bitterly and her tears threatened to fall again, ¡°Lei, it has alreadye to this. What else can I do other than surrender? You can¡¯t help me. I should just sell my shares to her. Big Sister has failed you. I¡¯m afraid the agreement I¡¯ve signed with you is now useless.¡±
She spoke pitifully but Xia Lei smiled. He moved closer to her ear again and said something in a voice not above a whisper.
Liu Ying stared nkly, then looked at Xia Lei in astonishment.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 59
Winner Takes All
¡°Are you done?¡± Gu Ke-Wen quickly lost patience. She waved her hand and one of the bodyguards behind her walked to her side and opened a briefcase, setting two documents on the table before her.
She even had the contracts prepared.
Liu Ying was like a fish on the chopping block to Gu Ke-Wen - she could chop at her however she wished.
Liu Ying spoke timidly, ¡°I... I¡¯ll let Xia Lei represent me in negotiations with you.¡±
¡°Him? Represent you?¡± Gu Ke-Wen wrinkled her brows.
Xia Lei walked over, ¡°I am only going to negotiate the buying of shares. Signing will still be done by CEO Liu. This should be no problem, shouldn¡¯t it?¡±
Gu Ke-Wen shrugged, ¡°Whatever. Speak. What is the amount you want?¡±
¡°50,000,000,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Have you gone mad? The entire Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company is worth that much and you want me to give you that for half the shares?¡± ridiculed Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°The entire Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company is indeed worth that much but you did so much and tried so many means to try to get your hands on it so this must mean that it is worth more than 50 million to you. You want to buy and CEO Liu is willing to sell. Surely you wouldn¡¯t mind this 25,000,000?¡±
Gu Ke-Wen sneered, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t spend like this even if I had money in excess.¡± She pointed at the four other shareholders and said, ¡°25,000,000. If you¡¯re not selling then I¡¯ll get it from them and thispany shall be ruined.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°I¡¯d heard that rich people were willful - so it was true. If your motive was to let thepany fall into ruin, you wouldn¡¯t have sent that tranny to steal the design ns, would you? And get your underling to spike CEO Liu¡¯s wine?¡±
¡°You! The punk surnamed Xia! Watch your words! You need evidence for these things!¡± Lin Bo-Wen scolded, ¡°Or we¡¯ll sue for defamation!¡±
Xia Lei spoke lightly, ¡°It¡¯s true that we have no evidence so we cannot make a big fish like your Second Miss Gu be bothered. We just want to sell the shares for a good price. That¡¯s it.¡±
¡°25,000,000. Not one cent more,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°Then we have nothing to talk about. Just buy their shares and let thispany be ruined,¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wen red fiercely at Xia Lei, ¡°30,000,000. This is myst offer.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°40,000,000. This is also myst offer. If you give us 40,000,000, Nice Moves Sports Equipment will be yours.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you overreach!¡± Gu Ke-Wen looked obedient and docile but was as fierce as theye when angry, like a little tigress.
The two bodyguards also looked angrily at Xia Lei. They would take action if Gu Ke-Wen ordered.
Liu Ying stood beside Xia Lei, a roller coaster of emotions running through her in dramatic waves. She had wanted to just sell her shares when Gu Ke-Wen quoted 25,000,000 but Xia Lei¡¯s persistence had actually raised the price to 30,000,000 and she was secretly d she had not interrupted his negotiations. She would have agreed to the price too, but Xia Lei had raised the price to 40,000,000. She hesitated once more.
Xia Lei showed no sign of cowardice; he was calm and collected. ¡°40,000,000. Take it or leave it.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, is it? Just you wait.¡± A bone-chilling hate was folded into Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s beauty. Never had anyone dared to challenge her, the second daughter of the Gu n, till Xia Lei.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Miss Gu, I think I know what sort of person you are when you¡¯re willing to threaten a mother with her child, and I roughly know how your Gu n operates. I cannot afford to offend you and even more so your family but I am not afraid of you. If you want to take me down you¡¯ll have to make sure to kill me or I will drag you down to hell with me.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen was so angry sheughed, ¡°You dare threaten me?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°I was just saying it like it is. I don¡¯t have anything I¡¯m unwilling to give up; just my rotten life.¡±
The two bodyguards moved.
Gu Ke-Wen raised her hand and both the bodyguards returned to their ces.
¡°40,000,000. Deal. Look through the contract, CEO Liu. Sign if there are no problems,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Liu Ying did not seem to have heard her and stood, unmoving.
Xia Lei pushed her gently with the back of his hand and she came to her senses. She took hold of the contract and read it.
Gu Ke-Wen spoke mockingly, ¡°CEO Liu, I don¡¯t know if you have a good dog, or a good little boy-toy.¡±
¡°You...¡± Liu Ying¡¯s face turned red. She wanted to scold her but she didn¡¯t dare and sputtered before she could form a sentence, ¡°Our rtionship is not what you think.¡±
Lin Bo-Wen snorted and spoke in disdain, ¡°Don¡¯t make it sound so nice. I¡¯m not blind. Would he have helped you if you were not rich and single? You two have done it already, haven¡¯t you? Hahaha!¡±
Liu Ying was shivering in rage, ¡°You have no shame!¡±
The ¡®he¡¯ whom Lin Bo-Wen spoke of was obviously Xia Lei. The words he said were ugly but Xia Lei did not seem the least bit angry. Heughed softly, ¡°Lin Bo-Wen, let me give you a warning. Dogs need to take note of who their masters are - you may still be dreaming of riches when you get chopped up and eaten.¡±
¡°I dare you to say that again!¡± Lin Bo-Wen rolled his sleeves up, looking all eager to have a go at Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wen red at Lin Bo-Wen again and he immediately shut his mouth.
Liu Ying quickly finished reading the contract and put it down. She took out a bank card from her wallet and held it in front of Gu Ke-Wen. ¡°Deposit 40,000,000 into this ount. I will sign after I get the money.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen nced at the bank card in Liu Ying¡¯s hand but did not even bother to reach out her own. ¡°Ya-Ru, deposit 40,000,000 in her ount,¡± she ordered.
Lin Ya-Ru made a sound of agreement and retrieved the bank card from Liu Ying¡¯s hand. She opened up the Macbook she was carrying and started the transfer process.
40 million was a sum ordinary people could only dream of having but it was just a paltry amount to the Second Miss of the Gu n. Buying Liu Ying¡¯s shares was like buying a car to her.
Lin Ya-Ru was soon done with the deposit and Liu Ying received the SMS notification for the transfer. She then lifted a pen and signed on the contract.
Gu Ke-Wen also signed the contract and tossed the pen on the table after signing. She looked at Liu Ying andughed all of a sudden, ¡°Do you know how much yourpany is worth?¡±
¡°Fifty million,¡± said Liu Ying.
Gu Ke-Wen shook her head andughed even more merrily, ¡°No, no, no. It¡¯s worth at least a hundred million U.S. dors.¡±
¡°What?¡± Liu Ying froze on the spot.
The four other shareholders were thunderstruck and their eyes were full of dismay and regret.
¡°Don¡¯t regret it. You¡¯ve already sold your shares so there¡¯s no use regretting it,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Liu Ying looked at the dejected shareholders and realisation dawned. ¡°So you¡¯ve bought their shares long ago and that was all an act earlier? You lied to me!¡±
¡°All¡¯s fair in war - haven¡¯t you heard this before? Nice Moves Sports Equipment is now mine and I tell you, the automatic surfboard your husband developed is a very impressive project indeed. There has not yet been a product like this in the market anywhere in the world. It will be a global sensation once it hits the shelves. Saying that it¡¯s worth a hundred million U.S. dors is an underestimation of its value. Hahaha!¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Liu Ying was going to say something but Xia Lei pulled her back.
Gu Ke-Wen looked at Xia Lei, her eyes full of provocation, ¡°You say I raised a good dog and it sounds awful but this deal was actually facilitated by Lin Bo-Wen. I had no idea that Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company had such a project and it piqued my interest as soon as I heard about it. I want to have my ownpany too. I will show my father and my older brother that I can be sessful without them too.¡±
¡°Is the way you achieve sess snatching it out of the hands of others? You¡¯re really something,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This is the world of business. Winner takes all; winning is winning and losing is losing. I don¡¯t care what methods are used.¡±
¡°Robbers¡¯ logic,¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wen did not speak to Xia Lei again. She gave Lin Ya-Ru a look, ¡°Call that side and let the patent get approved.¡±
¡°Yes,¡± affirmed Lin Ya-Ru, and she took out her mobile phone.
¡°What are you still standing here for? Get out.¡± Gu Ke-Wen pointed at the meeting room door, ¡°This ce has nothing to do with you anymore.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go, Big Sister Liu,¡± Xia Lei nudged Liu Ying with the back of his hand.
Liu Ying followed Xia Lei and headed for the meeting room exit. Xia Lei¡¯s steps were quick and she inadvertently sped up as well.
¡°Stop right there!¡± Lin Ya-Ru suddenly cried.
Gu Ke-Wen looked at Lin Ya-Ru in surprise. She did not know what was going on yet but she was getting a bad feeling from Lin Ya-Ru¡¯s reaction.
Lin Ya-Ru looked nervous, ¡°Something happened at the patent office! The automatic surfboard project... has been approved!¡±
¡°How is this possible?¡± Gu Ke-Wen suddenly turned her gaze to Liu Ying and Xia Lei.
The two bodyguards suddenly appeared in front of Xia Lei and Liu Ying, blocking the doorway of the meeting room.
¡°The patent office said this patent was approved by the office in Jing-Du. The applicant was Liu Ying and the application was under her own name. This patent has no connection to Nice Moves Sports Equipment! And this patent was approved at the time you and Liu Ying were signing!¡± said Lin Ya-Ru.
¡°Damn you!¡± Gu Ke-Wen shot from her seat and her chair crashed to the floor. She red at Xia Lei and Liu Ying with terrifyingly ice-cold eyes.
She had bought Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company for the automatic surfboard patent. Now that the patent was not rted to thepany, her big purchase had been for a rubbishpany!
Lin Bo-Wen suddenly pointed at Xia Lei, ¡°You punk, you must have done something!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged and smiled as he said, ¡°This is the world of business. Winner takes all; winning is winning and losing is losing.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen had just said the same thing.
Xia Lei returned those exact same words to her now.
Gu Ke-Wen stared icily at Xia Lei, ¡°Never has anyone dared to fool me like this. You are the first!¡±
¡°I just made use of the rules. China is big and it has many patent offices. You can hinder the process in Hai-Zhu City¡¯s patent office and I can ask my friend to help this patent get approval at another patent office. You can¡¯t make everyone dance to your tune no matter how big the Gu n is, can you? And not everything will go your way, will it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Who is your friend?¡±
¡°Noment,¡± said Xia Lei. There was, naturally, only one person in Jing-Du who could have helped him - Long Bing. The message he had sent on his way to the factory was to Long Bing, asking her for help. He had included Liu Ying¡¯s national identification information and the automatic surfboard patent application number. Hai-Zhu City¡¯s patent office had not approved Liu Ying¡¯s application but the information and application number were still in the system and could be looked up. Long Bing was able to make Jiang Ru-Yi a station Chief with her status and capabilities, so why couldn¡¯t she do this sort of thing too?
¡°Return the money!¡± Lin Bo-Wen demanded fiercely.
¡°Shut up!¡± Gu Ke-Wen pped Lin Bo-Wen¡¯s face.
The p resounded. Lin Bo-Wen¡¯s face burned with pain but he did not dare say a peep.
¡°Get out of the way. Let them leave,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Xia Lei hesitated; he¡¯d thought that they would face some difficulties in leaving. He had actually been ready to fight but Ge Ke-Wen had unexpectedly let him and Liu Ying leave just like this.
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s eyes bored into Xia Lei, ¡°Remember this - I will not let this matter rest. I will find out who your friend is and do what I have to do.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give you a warning - You¡¯d better not provoke her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Get out!¡± Gu Ke-Wen suddenly shouted.
Liu Ying pulled Xia Lei by the hand and dragged him out of the meeting room.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 60
I¡¯m Actually Here to Stir Up Trouble
Liu Ying drove slowly, looking back intermittently at Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company as it slowly shrank in the distance. She had founded thepany with her husband and had deep feelings for it and some part of her still refused to ept that it belonged to Gu Ke-Wen now.
Xia Lei did not urge her to drive faster. He sat quietly.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei took out his phone and checked it, then answered, ¡°That thing today... Thank you.¡±
The call was from Long Bing.
¡°You owe me a favour. I will ask you to return it when the need arises,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°What do you want me to do for you?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll talk about it when the timees,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°You have to be careful too. Gu Ke-Wen is known in Jing-Du for being ruthless. Don¡¯t be dazzled by her outer appearance.¡±
¡°I can tell. She¡¯s a venomous snake and venomous snakes have particrly pretty patterns,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s that then. Let¡¯s talk another time.¡±
¡°Hello?¡± Xia Lei wanted to ask about Xia Xue¡¯s situation but Long Bing had already hung up.
Liu Ying stopped looking back and asked inquisitively, ¡°Lei, was the one on the phone the friend who helped you? Can you tell me who she is? I would like to thank her.¡±
¡°She¡¯s a weird one. You don¡¯t need to bother,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°How can I not bother? She¡¯s helped me so much and I can¡¯t express my gratitude? Isn¡¯t this uneptable?¡± asked Liu Ying.
¡°You really don¡¯t have to bother. I¡¯ll tell her you¡¯re grateful,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°She must be someone important. What does she do?¡± asked Liu Ying.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°You may not believe it but... I don¡¯t know what she does.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Liu Ying looked very surprised, ¡°How is that possible?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°See, I told you you wouldn¡¯t believe it.¡±
Liu Ying replied, ¡°No, I believe it. If others said so I wouldn¡¯t believe them but because it¡¯s you... I believe you.¡±
¡°What are your ns?¡± Xia Lei changed the topic.
Liu Ying thought for a bit, then said, ¡°Work with me.¡±
Xia Lei paused, ¡°Me? Work with you?¡±
Liu Ying nodded, ¡°Mm. Let¡¯s work together. I¡¯ve thought it through. The automatic surfboard patent would have been Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s if it had not been for you. Mypany belongs to her. You helped me hold on to the patent so I want to share it with you. I want to use the money Gu Ke-Wen gave me to start a brand newpany and work with you. Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll get benefits too. Tell me - what percentage of the shares would you like?¡±
¡°No, no, no, I don¡¯t want your shares,¡± Xia Lei refused right away.
Liu Ying stopped the car by the road and looked at Xia Lei in fervent surprise, ¡°Lei, you heard Gu Ke-Wen. This project is worth USD 100 million. Do you have any idea how much USD 100 million is? If you convert it to Chinese Yuan it will be over 600 million! ¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°I passed my Mathematics, of course I know how much USD 100 million is. That is just theoretical number though and it¡¯s not meaningful to me. Gu Ke-Wen said that to anger us. There is too much you¡¯ll have to do to turn your project into USD 100 million; it would also take several years.¡±
¡°Even if it¡¯s just a theoretical number we will definitely make a lot of money if we work together. Aren¡¯t you tempted?¡±
Xia Lei considered it, ¡°I¡¯d be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t. I want to make money too, but... How about you give me a day to think about it. I¡¯ll tell you my decision after that. Is that okay with you?¡±
A big matter like this definitely needed some careful thinking before making a decision. Furthermore, he had his own business ns. His own ns would be interrupted if he joined Liu Ying¡¯s newpany.
¡°You are a very capable person. If you work with me we will definitely seed. How about this - I will give you 20% of the shares if you work with me. Think about it carefully and let me know what you¡¯ve decided.¡±
This was as good as bing a major shareholder. If Liu Ying used the 40 million from Gu Ke-Wen to start a newpany, the 20% would be worth 8 million, and this was just a base number. Once the automatic surfboard hit the market, the newpany¡¯s wealth would snowball. It would be very difficult to estimate how much that 20% would be worth when that time came.
Xia Lei was very tempted indeed but he knew that Liu Ying was a smart woman. Repaying him was definitely not the only reason she had to pull him into business as a partner so passionately. She valued his abilities and him being able to produce the parts for the automatic surfboard. If he did not have these qualities, she would probably have just given him some money as thanks.
¡°Okay. I¡¯ll consider it seriously,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mm. Apany me on trips to view potential building sites then. I need to find a suitable piece ofnd to build a newpany.¡± Liu Ying looked at Xia Lei with eyes full of expectation.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll apany you to see somend,¡± agreed Xia Lei immediately. He had ns to upgrade Thunder Horse Workshop to a smallpany anyway so it would be good for him to get some experience.
Liu Ying fired up the engine and drove towards the suburbs. The price ofnd in the city was much too high and it was no use to even look.
Xia Lei had spent practically the whole day on the road. He looked at several pieces ofnd with Liu Ying and learnt a lot from her.
Liu Ying had her eye on a piece ofnd which was in a rural area. It was a little far from everything else but well connected to roads. The piece ofnd was 20 acres, priced at three million and suitable for building a small light industrial factory. She was just keeping an eye on it though, and had not gone to the local authorities to negotiate officially.
Xia Lei was actually interested in that piece ofnd too. He felt that moving Thunder Horse Workshop to that ce and turning it into a small machining nt was a really good idea but the price of three million yuan made him stay an onlooker and he could only dare to dream of it.
After a busy day, it was dark when Liu Ying sent Xia Lei home.
After he alighted, Xia Lei asked, ¡°Big Sister Liu, do you want toe up?¡±
Liu Ying smiled, ¡°Sure. I haven¡¯t been to your ce before.¡±
Xia Lei was actually just being polite and didn¡¯t really want to invite Liu Ying to his home but she had agreed right away to what he said. He remembered his home was in aplete mess and said awkwardly, ¡°My sister has gone to university and there¡¯s no one to clean up so the t is in a mess now. You¡¯llugh.¡±
Liu Ying was all smiles, ¡°I¡¯ll help you clean up.¡±
Xia Lei was about to say something but a uniform-d Jiang Ru-Yi appeared in his field of vision and her voice reached him before she did.
¡°Lei, where have you been? I called you three times and your phone was off for all three.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi walked over quickly while talking to Xia Lei but her eyes were on Liu Ying next to him and she was looking at her weirdly.
¡°My phone was dead. What were you looking for me for?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I washed my quilt and I can¡¯t wring it out on my own so I wanted to get you to help me wring it,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei was at a loss for words. There were people everywhere in this little neighbourhood - why did she have to wait for him to wring out her quilt? What the heck?
Jiang Ru-Yi was still looking at Liu Ying, ¡°And this Big Sister here is...?¡±
Liu Ying stretched out her hand without waiting for Xia Lei to introduce her and smiled as she said, ¡°I am Liu Ying. Nice to meet you, Officer...?¡±
¡°Jiang Ru-Yi.¡± She shook hands with Liu Ying and seemed to suddenly remember something, ¡°Oh, I remember now. The one who got burgled was you, right?¡±
Liu Ying nodded, ¡°That matter has passed. I¡¯ll be going to the station tomorrow to wrap it up. Ah, it¡¯s quitete; I shall not bother you now. Goodbye.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t youing up?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Liu Ying smiled, ¡°Officer Jiang wants you to wring her quilt for her. Hurry on then; I¡¯lle by your ce another day.¡±
¡°Okay. Goodbye,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Ying started her car and stuck her head out the window, ¡°Remember to inform me of your decision tomorrow.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll think about it. See you tomorrow.¡±
Liu Ying drove off.
¡°What decision are you going to tell her about tomorrow, Lei?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked curiously at Xia Lei.
¡°Business matters. Don¡¯t ask,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Were you with this Big Sister Liu the whole day today?¡±
Xia Lei red at her and snapped, ¡°You keep calling her ¡®Big Sister¡¯. Is she that old?¡±
¡°What else do you call a woman over thirty? It¡¯s respectful for me to call her ¡®Big Sister¡¯. Why are you so anxious?¡±
¡°Am I?¡±
¡°Heh heh. So quick to speak for her, huh? Lei, you¡¯re so young; that Big Sister doesn¡¯t suit you. I heard my colleague say that she has a three-year-old son. If the two of you get together then wouldn¡¯t you be an instant-dad?¡±
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei had no words.
Jiang Ru-Yi giggled, ¡°All right, all right, I¡¯m not going to bother poking my nose into your messy business. I¡¯m just giving you some suggestions seeing as we are old ssmates and all. Even if you couldn¡¯t find a natural beauty like me, you should have found someone almost as good as me, you know? I think that Big Sister Liu is really not right for you.¡±
¡°Forget it. I¡¯m not going to bother talking to you. I¡¯m not going to help you with your quilt either - wring it yourself,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yiughed, ¡°Oh dear, I just remembered that I¡¯d asked my neighbour Auntie Liu to wring out my quilt for me before I got back. Look, isn¡¯t the quilt hanging on the balcony?¡±
Xia Lei looked up and sure enough, her balcony had a quilt hanging on it. A brown bear was printed on the quilt and it looked rather silly. The washing line also had other little things on it - ck side-tiece panties, red bra, flesh-coloured stockings, basically just a jumble of clothing. His gaze went back to the brown bear and he suddenly felt like that silly-looking bear. Jiang Ru-Yi was wilier than he and he could not hope to surpass her.
¡°I¡¯m actually here to stir up trouble on purpose. Bye, Lei.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi walked away with her hips swaying. Her white and tender long legs also shed, exhibiting her youthfulness. They were nice to look at and very attractive.
Xia Lei, however, was still looking at that brown bear and didn¡¯t move for a while.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 61 - A Threatening Mark
Chapter 61 - A Threatening Mark
¡°Xue, I¡¯m home,¡± Xia Lei said automatically when he opened the door.
Nobody responded; the t was quiet.
Xia Lei then remembered that Xia Xue had gone to Jing-Du to study and was not home. He shook his head and smiled wryly. This was not the first time he had made this sort of mistake. He didn¡¯t think anything of it when Xia Xue was still around and he took it for granted. It was after she left, however, that he found out how much he missed her. She was his one and only sister after all, and his only kin in the world.
He closed the door, walked into the living room and was on high alert all of a sudden.
Everything in the t looked fine but he knew someone had been here - some items were not in their original ce. The changes were small but even the smallest changes did not escape his left eye. All environments his eye had seen could be recalled, even the contents of the rubbish bin, much less changes to the surroundings!
The person who¡¯d entered his home had moved a lot of things, then put those things back in their original ces but he had not put everything back perfectly. The television cab, for example; Xia Lei remembered that the cab had a one-centimetre gap and a screwdriver could be seen through that gap. It now had a two-centimetre gap and an unused board could be seen through the gap.
¡°Could it have been that tranny?¡± Xia Lei suddenly thought of the thief with a face women would envy. ¡°If it was him, then this must have been Gu Ke-Wen taking action against me. But... What does she hope to find by sending a thief into my home? The patent has already been approved. It¡¯s useless even if she steals the design ns and the design isn¡¯t even here with me anyway. So if it¡¯s not the patent design ns, what did she want from my home?¡±
Xia Lei thought and thought about it but could not think of what Gu Ke-Wen would have sent the tranny to his home to find.
After a period of silence, Xia Lei walked to the television cab and picked up his framed family picture from the top of it. The ss bottle was still there and the pill was still in the bottle, lying quietly at its bottom. It was very ordinary but it made one feel like there was a story behind it.
Xia Lei put the framed picture back in its ce and moved to the window. His eye twitched and a faint footprint appeared in his vision. This footprint was small and dainty and looked like it belonged to a woman. He then scanned the room and saw that the faint footprints were all over the floor. Professional police crime scene technicians would need to sprinkle fluorescent powder or some sort of powder of that kind to see the prints but Xia Lei could see them in panorama.
This was the zoom-in ability of his left eye; he could see tiny things which regr people would need the aid of magnifying sses for.
The footprints went from the living room to the doors of the bedrooms. They led to both his and Xia Xue¡¯s rooms.
Xia Lei followed the footprints to his own room. The footprints were everywhere. The bedside drawers and drawers under his wardrobe had traces of having been moved.
Xia Lei opened one of his bedside drawers and found that the underwear inside was in a mess. He frowned, ¡°Pervert!¡±
After checking his room, Xia Lei found that though the thief had rifled through his things, nothing had been stolen. The 1,000 yuan emergency cash in his wardrobe had not been taken.
A thief who¡¯s not after money must be after something else.
Following that, Xia Lei came to Xia Xue¡¯s room. The situation was about the same - the thief had gone through all the drawers but not stolen anything.
After a check, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze suddenly went to the writing desk under the window. It was Xia Xue¡¯s writing desk and there was a pile of revision papers for university entrance exams and a photo frame. The picture was of Xia Xue¡¯s graduation. What he saw, however, was not the sunny-smiling Xia Xue in the picture but the ¡®X¡¯ drawn in red marker on the ss of the photo frame.
The ¡®X¡¯ mark was small and not over one square centimetre but Xia Lei could still see it. A one square centimetre thing was as big as a house to him with the ability of his left eye. The ¡®X¡¯ had been drawn on the photo frame right above Xia Xue¡¯s forehead. What it represented was clear - this was a threat!
Xia Lei¡¯s face was ashen as he balled his hands into fists, then growled through clenched teeth, ¡°Gu Ke-Wen, I don¡¯t care who you are. If you dare harm my sister, even one hair of hers, I will kill you!¡±
After his father disappeared, Xia Lei had yed not just the role of brother but of father. If anyone wanted to hurt Xia Xue, he would go to the person and fight - and the second daughter of the Gu n was no exception!
The thief had left from Xia Xue¡¯s window. The footprint on the windowsill pointed outwards.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought and he followed it out of his t, going downstairs and chasing after the path of footprints the thief had left behind.
The footprints became fainter and fainter and some prints were obscured by other prints. The footprints he was following disappeared in an alley behind the neighbourhood and there was an additional motorcycle tyre track going in the direction of the opposite end of the alley.
That thief had ridden away on a motorcycle.
Xia Lei moved on to following the motorcycle tyre tracks and continued his chase.
A street was at the end of the alley and the tyre tracks continued on the street. Some parts of the track was obvious while some parts could not be seen at all. Xia Lei walked along the street for two to three hundred metres and gave up. The street was full of tyre tracks; cars, motorcycles, battery-powered vehicles, all criss-crossing and mixed together. There was no telling which was which. Furthermore, Xia Lei was already experiencing the strong side effects of using his left eye for an extended period of time. He was dizzy, seeing double and feeling weak.
He might have been able to keep going if the path were easier but there was definitely no way he could on a road with so many tracks going back and forth.
Xia Lei returned to his neighbourhood after resting for a few minutes. However, he did not go home and went knocking on Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s door instead.
Jiang Ru-Yi had just finished working out and was still wearing her Adidas shorts and tight-fitting racer-back top. Soft, stretchy fabric clung to her body like a second skin. The workout had made her break out in a sweat, sprinkling her tender, white skin with sparkling beads. The beads of perspiration had also wet her shorts and tight racer-back top, turning them translucent. This wetness also revealed obvious shapes in some ces which could not speak, but seemed to be yfully saying something provocative, something shy, tempting and alluring.
Xia Lei did not know where to look.
Jiang Ru-Yi, on the other hand, behaved naturally. She wiped her forehead with a towel, then wiped her chest as she said, ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the night and here you are knocking on my door. What will the neighbours think if they saw?¡±
Xia Lei coughed awkwardly and said, ¡°We¡¯ve been this way for years. They¡¯re all used to it and won¡¯t think strange thoughts. I¡¯m here for my car. Give me the keys; I need to go out for something.¡±
¡°What do you need to do?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s tone held a hint of suspicion.
¡°Never you mind, just give it to me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Are you going to look for that woman? Don¡¯t tell anyone you know me if you get captured by a pornography group,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll get you the keys.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi turned to get the keys.
Xia Lei looked at her back, her small waist, perky bum, long, well-shaped jade-like legs and unspeakable youthful beauty. In that instant, Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s shorts and racer-back top flew away.
Xia Lei shut his eyes and lowered his head, thinking, ¡®Why can¡¯t I control my own eye whenever I am with her?¡¯
If it was beauty, Shentu Tian-Yin was more beautiful than Jiang Ru-Yi but he had never had the desire to use his X-ray vision on Shentu Tian-Yin. However, he could not control it when he was with Jiang Ru-Yi. This seemed to be a matter he could not solve.
Jiang Ru-Yi returned quickly with some keys but they were not the Great Wall H6 keys - they were the keys to her ratty-tatty Volkswagen Polo.
Xia Lei held the keys in his hand and spoke after a beat, ¡°These are your car keys. I want mine.¡±
¡°Take it or leave it.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi spoke impatiently, ¡°Everyone in the station says I have a new car and I¡¯ve already admitted to it. You can¡¯t let me drive the small old car to work, can you? I¡¯m the Chief! The Chief should have a Chief¡¯s dignity. Lend me your car for a few years.¡±
¡°For... a few years?¡± Xia Lei did not know how tomunicate with her anymore. He was dumbfounded.
¡°It¡¯s a promise, then. Go do your thing. I won¡¯t speak of your affairs; you¡¯re a single man with a single woman,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi. She did not wait for him to speak and closed the door with a bang.
Xia Lei was still standing stunned in front of her door, talking to himself, ¡°A single man with a single woman? A single man with a single woman, my foot! I wouldn¡¯t have lent you my car if I¡¯d known.¡±
The new car had cost him hundreds of thousands and he had barely driven 15km with it. Chief Jiang had seized it now. He did some calctions and it worked out to over ten thousand yuan for every kilometre - even the Bugatti Veyron was not as expensive!
A little whileter, Xia Lei drove Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s ratty-tatty Volkswagen Polo slowly out of the neighbourhood and in the direction of the tracks he was following earlier.
There was no clear direction and there was no way to follow the tracks on the road but he was stubborn and wanted to try his luck. Looking for the thief in this way was no different from looking for a needle at the bottom of the ocean but he was not willing to give up on even this little sliver of hope. He did not care who it was - those who dare use Xia Xue to threaten him must pay!
It was notte at night at this time; cars were everywhere on the roads and there were many people walking on the pavement. Xia Lei drove the Volkswagen Polo cautiously at 30km/h in a random direction, searching both sides of the road, and the pedestrians walking by with his eyes. He did not know what the thief looked like but he had someone he suspected in mind, and that was the tranny he had seen in Liu Ying¡¯s home. That was the reason why whenever he spotted someone with simr characteristics to the tranny, he would observe him or her closely and drive away after ruling the person out.
XIa Lei had chosen a straight route and it had no turns. The range would be too wide if he turned and it would be impossible to track. He had hope in his heart that the person had also gone straight and parked the motorcycle by the side of the road. If that was the case, his chances of finding that fellow may be a little better. This was just a hope, of course, and the chance of it happening was small.
Twinkling neon lights, shop signs by the road and pedestrians of all shapes and colours travelled back and forth in Xia Lei¡¯s vision. Two hours passed just like that and the straight road came to an end. A T-junction was ahead - there was a road to the left and another road to the right. Xia Lei did not know which way to go. He stopped the car.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 62
Beauty of Beauteous Hair Salon
Xia Lei hesitated; he could not decide whether to turn left or right. He looked at his watch and it showed that it was already 11:00 p.m.
¡®Forget it. I probably won¡¯t find that guy if I keep on looking. I should go back.¡¯ Xia Lei gave up.
At that moment, a Yamaha motorcycle came roaring past his little Polo. He looked over and stared at the motorcycle. He was particrly sensitive to motorcycles now and he had taken note of over a hundred motorcycles on his way here.
The Yamaha motorcycle did not go far. The rider did a dazzling sideways-drift and the motorcycle charged up the pavement at a nt. The rider then did an abrupt stop, lifting the rear wheel of the motorcycle and mming it heavily back down on the ground.
The rider dismounted and parked the motorcycle, then took off his helmet.
Xia Lei was suddenly nervous.
The rider was none other than the tranny who had sneaked into Liu Ying¡¯s home to steal the patent information!
Round buttocks, slim waist, a beautiful face and a set of gaudy gender-neutral clothing - he was only missing the ¡®transvestite¡¯ stamp on his face.
A trace of a smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. At that point, he was almost sure that it was the tranny who had entered his own home.
The tranny must have changed directions midway or gone somewhere else for Xia Lei to arrive at this point before him. If Xia Lei had chosen one of the two directions to go in earlier, he would not have discovered the tranny. If he had also changed directions midway, it would not have been possible for him to run into the tranny here. It was a strange thing and so coincidental it was like winning a five-figure sum in the lotto!
The transvestite carried his helmet into a beauty salon by the road.
Xia Lei looked at the signboard. The sign was written in cursive and read: Beauty of Beauteous Hair Salon. It was a unique name.
Xia Lei got out of the car and walked quickly towards Beauty of Beauteous Hair Salon, thinking as he walked, ¡®Is he going in to do his hair or is it something else?¡¯
He quickly dismissed the thought, however. Even if he was a pervert tranny who was very vain, he wouldn¡¯t get his hair done at 11:00 p.m, would he?
The doors to Beauty of Beauteous Hair Salon were open but Xia Lei did not go in immediately. He stood outside the salon window and watched the tranny go into the salon work area.
There was also a woman in the work area. She had heavy makeup on and was in a pair of tight-fitting flesh-coloured shorts and she wore a cropped racer-back top which showed off a pierced navel. Her exposed chest area sported a ck rose, lending her an evil image.
A tranny and an evil woman - this hair salon was obviously not normal.
Xia Lei focused quietly on their mouths and lip-read their conversation.
¡°Why are you back sote?¡± asked the woman.
¡°I had something to do. Don¡¯t ask. How¡¯s my mother?¡± said the tranny.
¡°The situation is a little bad. The doctor wants you to pay the fees tomorrow and sign before they can schedule the surgery,¡± said the woman.
¡°Got it. Let¡¯s close up. There aren¡¯t any customers now,¡± said the tranny.
¡°I¡¯d have closed the doors long ago if I weren¡¯t waiting for you toe back,¡± said the woman.
Xia Lei looked away and walked into Beauty of Beauteous Hair Salon, then entered the work area.
The woman discovered Xia Lei who had suddenly walked in and asked in rm, ¡°Who are you?¡±
The tranny turned to look at him and surprise was written all over his face as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
He had seen Xia Lei¡¯s face before but Xia Lei had not seen his. He¡¯d thought all along that Xia Lei had no idea what he looked like, let alone be able to find him here!
¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? I¡¯m asking you a question. What do you want?¡± The woman spoke fiercely.
Xia Lei pointed at the tranny and smiled, ¡°I¡¯m looking for him.¡±
The tranny¡¯s expression changed but he quickly controlled his face and said, ¡°What are you looking for me for? Do we know each other?¡±
¡°Let thisdy move somewhere else for a while. I¡¯d like to talk to you about something private,¡± said Xia Lei.
This was a very obvious hint.
The tranny was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°A-Lan, why don¡¯t you go home first. I¡¯ll talk with him.¡±
The woman called A-Lan said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be going then. I¡¯ll be back early tomorrow to open up the shop.¡±
She left the shop, hips swaying and the tranny and Xia Lei were alone in the hair salon.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to a wall where a business licence hung. His left eye twitched and the picture and small words on the license were made clear in his vision.
The picture was of a bald man with exquisite features and he was just a little unreasonably beautiful. The man in the picture was the tranny before him and the licence had his name too - Qin Xiang*.
The transvestite had a tranny name too.
Xia Lei had not expected the hair salon to belong to Qin Xiang. He¡¯d thought that the owner of the salon was the woman when he was lip-reading earlier.
Qin Xiang looked Xia Lei in the eye, his gaze ice-cold, ¡°There¡¯s no one else around now. Say what you want to say and get out!¡±
Xia Lei looked at Qin Xiang¡¯s face and looked him in the eyes, ¡°You entered my home tonight didn¡¯t you?¡±
Qin Xiang¡¯s gaze wavered, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
Xia Lei gave a mirthless smile ¡°There¡¯s no use pretending. I know that the one who entered Liu Ying¡¯s house that night and threatened her with a knife was also you, wasn¡¯t it?¡±
Qin Xiang sneered, ¡°Have you got evidence?¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯t be here without evidence,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Your footprints are all over my t and your ws too. How much evidence do you want?¡±
Qin Xiang¡¯s face darkened. Xia Lei had actually used his left eye to see those traces and the police forensic experts could possibly not have picked anything up, but he didn¡¯t know that.
¡°I believe you know that I have a police station Chief as my neighbour. She and I are very good friends. I just have to make one phone call and she¡¯ll bring her people over to arrest you immediately,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Who told you to draw a cross on my sister¡¯s picture? What are you nning?¡±
¡°Someone wanted you to behave and not meddle in things you shouldn¡¯t,¡± said Qin Xiang. This implied that he had indeed entered Xia Lei¡¯s home and done something.
Xia Lei suppressed the mes of anger in his heart, ¡°And if I don¡¯t agree to that?¡±
¡°Then I don¡¯t know what will happen. I am just an underling. I have no quarrel with you,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°I know you¡¯re working for Gu Ke-Wen even if you don¡¯t say it. Call her now. I want to talk to her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°If you want to talk to her you should just go to Distinguished Gathering. Whye looking for me? I have no idea how you managed to sniff out this ce - are you a dog?¡± Qin Xiang mocked.
Xia Lei took out his phone, ¡°I¡¯m going to call my friend now and she will bring her friends. You still have some time to make a choice.¡±
Qin Xiangughed, ¡°Arrest me? The most that I¡¯ve done is breaking and entering. I didn¡¯t steal anything. Even if the police arrest me they can only detain me for a few days. You think you can use the police to threaten me?¡±
¡°Who will pay your mother¡¯s surgery fee if you are detained? Who will sign for her surgery?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You-¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s expression changed, ¡°How did you know about my mother¡¯s condition?¡±
Xia Lei did not respond; he started dialling numbers on the screen. The key tones echoed between him and Qin Xiang, each key tone sounding particrly loud.
After seven key tones, Qin Xiang suddenly swung the motorcycle helmet in his hands at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had actually been watching Qin Xiang in his peripheral vision while he dialled. He had seen Qin Xiang¡¯s intention and moved aside when Qin Xiang moved, avoiding the helmet that came smashing at him just in time.
¡°Die!¡± Qin Xiang took a step forward and leapt, twisted his body and kicked with his right leg, shooting his entire body like an arrow, the arrowhead his small vulcanized rubber shoe-encased foot.
Xia Lei dodged sideways and held onto Qin Xiang¡¯s right leg before he could touch the ground, then threw with all his might. Qin Xiang¡¯s body was thrown aside and he smashed into a mirror.
Crack! The mirror broke and the floor was littered with shards of ss.
Qin Xiang fell to the floor and his buttocks were pricked full of ss.
The faster person in a fight usually gains the upper hand. Xia Lei¡¯s left eye was an unimaginable miracle and its reaction speed wasn¡¯t something that could be calcted. Add to the fact that he had crossed fists with Qin Xiang in the past and gained experience, and Xia Lei was not worried at all about defeating Qin Xiang. Qin Xiang had got the worse end of the stick this time.
¡°Fuck!¡± Qin Xiang rolled and got up from the floor. His buttocks had started bleeding. He reached and grabbed a razor, then shed at Xia Lei¡¯s chest.
Xia Lei jumped backwards and dodged the quick razor. This move scared him and he did not dare get close to Qin Xiang to attack.
Qin Xiang looked back at his red-stained buttocks and suddenly let out a howl, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you!¡± He brandished the razor and charged at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei hurriedly moved backwards but a swivel chair blocked his way. He grabbed it without thinking and swung it at Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang had no time to dodge and the base of the swivel chair smashed into his shoulder. The razor in his hand fell to the ground. He quickly reached for the razor but another swivel chair came flying at him before he could grab it. Qin Xiang was startled and dodged hurriedly.
The swivel chair went sailing past and hit a work-station. ss was broken instantly, hairdryers were ttened, hair conditioner bottles were broken and everything was in a mess.
Whoosh! Electric hair clippers came flying at Qin Xiang, followed by a chair, bottle - anything that Xia Lei picked up was sent flying to Qin Xiang.
¡°Enough!¡± Qin Xiang was at his wits¡¯ end, ¡°Stop throwing things!¡±
Only then did Xia Lei stop. He looked coldly at Qin Xiang and asked, ¡°What benefits are you getting from Gu Ke-Wen? Why are you trying so hard for her?¡±
A bitter smile appeared on the corners of Qin Xiang¡¯s lips, ¡°You¡¯re smart but you haven¡¯t figured out the easiest problem. Gu Ke-Wen is from Jing-Du. I am a fucking native, born and bred. We¡¯ve never met before so how can I know her? And, she¡¯s one of the elite - can a person like me make friends with her? She has so many underlings already, so why should she get me to settle scores with you?¡±
Xia Lei felt like Qin Xiang was throwing his thoughts into disarray.
Qin Xiang shrugged, ¡°I know you don¡¯t believe me because I was indeed in Liu Ying¡¯s house that night to steal things. However, the person who told me to do so was not Gu Ke-Wen. Though I work for Gu Ke-Wen, I am just a little foot soldier. I have no qualifications to even look upon Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s face.¡±
¡°Who is that person? Was it him who told you to draw the cross on my sister¡¯s picture as a threat to me?¡± Xia Lei badly wanted to know the person¡¯s name.
*The ¡®Xiang¡¯ in his name means ¡®fragrant¡¯ or ¡®sweet smelling¡¯. Not very manly.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 63
Can You Hold Me For A While?
¡°Fuck!¡± Qin Xiang looked very angry, ¡°Don¡¯t you get it? Gu Ke-Wen is not someone you can go against; she gets what she wants. She won¡¯t let you off for ruining things for her. Fighting with her is like smashing an egg on a rock! Tonight was just a threat - it will be realter! You want that to happen?¡±
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s Barbie-doll face suddenly appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind and this lit the mes of his anger. If Gu Ke-Wen were in front of him right now he would probably not be able to stop himself from tearing apart that pretty face!
¡°Give up,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°You¡¯re no match for her. It¡¯s not worth it for a widow.¡±
¡°You shut up!¡± shouted Xia Lei, ¡°Tell me who your boss is!¡±
¡°You really want to know?¡±
Xia Lei red at Qin Xiang, ¡°Speak!¡±
Qin Xiang smiled even though Xia Lei scolded him, ¡°Sure, I won¡¯t stand in your way since you¡¯re so eager for death. His surname is ¡®He¡¯ and I don¡¯t know his real name but people call him ¡®He Lao-Qi¡¯. Anyone who hangs around Hai-Zhu City must obey him to some degree.¡±
¡°You¡¯re his underling?¡±
¡°No. He¡¯s got some dirt on me.¡± Hate shed in Qin Xiang¡¯s eyes, ¡°You¡¯ve seen it. I have my own hair salon and I¡¯m running a legitimate business. I have no intention of being entangled in your affairs.¡±
¡°What does he have on you?¡± Xia Lei probed.
¡°I¡¯ve already told you everything I know. Get out and don¡¯t look for me again.¡± Qin Xiang pointed to the door.
¡°I can guess even if you don¡¯t say it. It must be something that¡¯s uwful. You remember this too. This is myst warning - don¡¯t mess with me again!¡± so saying, Xia Lei walked to the door.
¡°Wait!¡± Qin Xiang stopped him, ¡°Don¡¯t mention me if you really go looking for He Lao-Qi.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s stopped in his tracks. He nodded, then left Qin Xiang¡¯s hair salon.
QIn Xiang was just a foot soldier being used by others and he still had a sick mother to take care of so Xia Lei did not want to trouble him. Besides, he had already obtained the information he wanted.
Back in the car, Xia Lei sat quietly for a while, then took out his phone to call Liu Ying and warn her of this person called He Lao-Qi.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Before he could dial, his phone suddenly rang and the number on the CallerID was Liu Ying¡¯s.
Xia Lei epted the call, ¡°Hello, Big Sister Liu. I was about to call you...¡±
¡°Sob...¡± Liu Ying was crying over the phone.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. ¡°What happened, Big Sister Liu?¡±
¡°I... Sob... I was in a car ident,¡± Liu Ying choked.
¡°A car ident? Is it serious? Where are you?¡± Xia Lei asked anxiously.
¡°I¡¯m in the People¡¯s Hospital... Ward 8 on the 12th floor. Pleasee. I have something to tell you.¡± Liu Ying¡¯s voice seemed full of tiredness.
¡°Okay. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei stepped on the elerator and headed towards the People¡¯s Hospital.
It was nearly midnight and there were few cars on the road. Xia Lei increased his speed to 60km/h. This was the maximum speed a newbie like him could handle.
¡®Qin Xiang entered my home and left a threatening mark and Liu Ying had a car ident on her end. This is not a coincidence. It must be Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s revenge!¡¯ Xia Lei pondered the day¡¯s events as he drove.
Twenty minutester, Xia Lei arrived at the People¡¯s Hospital. He rode the lift to the twelfth floor and came to Ward Eight and saw Liu Ying lying on the hospital bed. She had a leg wrapped in bandage and her face had several scratches made by broken ss.
Liu Ying¡¯s nanny was also there and she was holding Liu Ying¡¯s son.
Xia Lei¡¯s line of vision suddenly stopped on Liu Ying¡¯s son¡¯s neck. It was red, as if it had been scrubbed hard. Then he saw several ¡®X¡¯-shaped patterns on his neck. The patterns had been wiped away but he could still see faint prints.
Xia Lei understood what had happened at once. Qin Xiang had only left a threatening mark after entering his home but Liu Ying had got into an intentional car ident and the perpetrator had left threatening marks on her son¡¯s neck on top of that.
¡°Take him outside,¡± Liu Ying instructed the nanny when she saw Xia Lei enter the ward.
The nanny made a sound of agreement and carried the child, fast asleep, out of the ward.
After the door closed behind them, Liu Ying cried, ¡°Lei, wuuuh... I¡¯ve had enough. I don¡¯t want to live like this anymore.¡±
Xia Lei sat by her bed. ¡°Have you made a police report?¡±
Liu Ying shook her head, her tears flowing, ¡°I don¡¯t want to call the police. It¡¯s useless; the Gu n is too powerful. I am just one woman and I have a three-year-old son. What can I fight her with?¡±
¡°You mean you¡¯re going to forget it?¡±
¡°What else can I do? I¡¯ve thought about it. I don¡¯t want to live in fear. It¡¯s fine if I die but my son should not be dragged into all of this... I¡¯m sorry, Lei. I¡¯ve signed an agreement with Gu Ke-Wen before I called you over. The patent is hers. Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company is hers too,¡± said Liu Ying.
Xia Lei was surprised and indignant but Liu Ying had already signed an agreement and it was useless for him to say anything. They had gone through such struggles to get this result; he felt an unprecedented frustration.
¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡± Liu Ying choked, ¡°I want to start apany with you but the whole thing has fallen apart before I even registered it. I promised to give you 20% of the shares...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off mid-sentence, ¡°Don¡¯t talk about it. Thepany is gone. I don¡¯t want any of your money.¡±
Liu Ying insisted, ¡°No, no, no, you put in a lot of work for this too. I would have sold my shares and the patent for 25,000,000 to Gu Ke-Wen if it were not for you. You raised the price to 40,000,000. I have to give a portion of that amount to you no matter what.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°You are left with just that money now. I really don¡¯t want your money.¡±
¡°Lei, I know you want to start apany but youck funds. Listen to Big Sister. I¡¯ll give 20% of the 40 million to you. Take this money and grow your business.¡± Liu Ying grasped Xia Lei¡¯s hand, ¡°If you still want to reject me, we shall not be friends any longer.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he spoke, ¡°Okay. You can just give me five million. Count it as a loan and I¡¯ll return it to youter.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t ept your returns,¡± said Liu Ying, ¡°I¡¯ll transfer five million to you when the bank opens tomorrow. Let me know if it¡¯s not enough. Don¡¯t even think about taking out a bank loan; the interest is very high.¡±
Xia Lei was touched. He nodded.
Liu Ying seemed to rx. She let out a sigh and a bitter smile appeared at the corners of her lips, ¡°I don¡¯t know why but I feel relieved after handing everything over to Gu Ke-Wen. I don¡¯t have to worry about harming to my son anymore. This feeling is more important than anything for me.¡±
This was the nature of mothers; she was willing to give up everything to protect her child. She would have been willing to give up her life without hesitation, much less a patent. Xia Lei did not have children but if this happened to him, he would give everything to protect Xia Xue as well, even his life.
Liu Ying looked at Xia Lei, ¡°Promise me you won¡¯t fight Gu Ke-Wen again. You are no match for her.¡±
Xia Lei nodded again, ¡°I promise.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. Can you hold me for a while?¡± said Liu Ying in a small voice.
Xia Lei hesitated but he still reached his hands across and held Liu Ying lightly in his arms.
Liu YIng spoke in his ear, ¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken. When I hugged you on the streets that night it felt like I was hugging my husband. I want to experience that feeling again before I go.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going? Where?¡± Xia Lei asked, surprised.
Liu Ying spoke softly, ¡°This city has broken my heart. I don¡¯t want to stay here anymore. I¡¯m thinking of going to Australia for a while. You can still call me; I won¡¯t change my number.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s was depressed but he forced a smile, ¡°It¡¯s good to go out for some fresh air.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t speak. Just hold me like this for a while more.¡± Liu Ying closed her eyes. She seemed to be re-living some emotions and remembering something.
Xia Lei held her like that and did not speak a word. Though it was an intimate embrace, his heart was calm and there were no inappropriate thoughts. He lost track of time and discovered that Liu Ying had fallen asleep in his arms when his arm started feeling sore.
Xia Lei gentlyid Liu Ying down and looked at her before he turned to leave.
The nanny was still holding onto Liu Ying¡¯s son and sitting on a chair along the corridor. She stood when she saw Xia Leie out.
¡°Big Sister Liu is already asleep. Be quiet when you go in. Don¡¯t wake her up,¡± said Xia Lei.
The nanny made a small sound of agreement and carried the child into the ward.
Xia Lei looked back - the door to the ward was closed. He knew well that this meeting was most probably thest. What they had gone through together flowed through his mind like spring water. Scene after scene appeared before his eyes, making him feel like all that had happened years and years ago. These scenes were then covered in dust and they faded gradually, not to be retained. His eyes were filling up.
¡°Damn it!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s fist hit the wall. ¡°You can seize what you want just because you¡¯re rich and powerful? That patent was the most precious present that Liu Ying¡¯s husband had left her but she could not hold on to it. She could only give it to the one who harmed her in humiliation! Gu Ke-Wen, just you wait! I will have my justice!¡±
¡®Justice is blind¡¯ - this was a lie.
There has never been any unbiased justice in this world. Even if there was, it was gained through fists and strength.
If he wanted justice from Gu Ke-Wen, he would need a fist as hard as hers and strength like hers. Xia Leicked both but he had time.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 64
You Have Guts
Too many things had happened in the span of a day. Xia Lei was still absent-minded when he went to Thunder Horse Workshop the next day.
Zhou Xiao-Hong made Xia Lei a cup of tea, a sweet smile on her face, ¡°Have some tea, Big Brother Lei.¡±
The exposed neckline of her dirty cotton vest revealed a touch of delicate whiteness. Her round bum filled her blue work pants nicely and with the sunlighting through the doors and windows, plus her rosy apple-face, her unique mountain-girl natural beauty entered naturally in Xia Lei¡¯s vision and he couldn¡¯t help but feel his mood improve. He smiled as he epted the tea from her and thanked her.
¡°Big Brother Lei, I processed several parts for Nice Move Sports Equipment Company yesterday but...¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked a little nervous, ¡°I ruined a lot of them. Y-You should deduct it from my pay.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right. Just take it as practice. Your workmanship will improve naturally with more practice,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°How can that do? The materials cost money too. I had to scrap so many...¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°You¡¯ll lose out in the future if you¡¯re too honest. I said it¡¯s fine so it¡¯s fine. Would you listen to me?¡±
¡°I will, Big Brother Lei. I will listen to all that you say.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face turned red. She would get unexinably nervous and shy whenever she spoke to Xia Lei.
¡°Work hard then. The days will get better.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong nodded energetically.
At that moment, Ma Xiao-An, Chen A-Jiao and the others walked in.
¡°Lei, the parts for Nice Moves Sports Equipment aren¡¯t easy to process. We can¡¯t do it without your support,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Chen A-Jiao spoke up too, ¡°Yeah. Nice Moves Sports Equipment ordered so many. We don¡¯t be able to finish the order without your help.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need toplete it. Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company doesn¡¯t exist anymore,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh? What¡¯s going on?¡± Ma Xiao-An was surprised.
The others also looked at Xia Lei in surprise, refusing to believe that it was true.
¡°CEO Liu of Nice Moves Sports Equipment has transferred ownership of herpany to another person. The agreement she signed with us is meaningless now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then what do we do with the parts we¡¯ve processed?¡± asked Ma Xiao-An.
¡°You guys don¡¯t have to worry about this. You¡¯ve worked hard for the past few days so you should have a good rest. I¡¯ll give you all the day off today. Go have fun,¡± said Xia Lei.
Nobody spoke. A great business deal had gone up in smoke; they did not feel good.
¡°Who says the order from Nice Moves Sports Equipment is meaningless?¡± A female voice suddenly came from the door.
Xia Lei looked over and saw Lin Ya-Ru and Lin Bo-Wen. The Lin siblings were dressed in bright and neat clothing and they looked arrogant.
Ma Xiao-An and the others also looked at the Lin siblings but did not know who they were. However, they had heard Lin Ya-Ru say Nice Moves Sports Equipment¡¯s order was not meaningless and smiles appeared on their faces.
Lin Ya-Ru¡¯s gaze swept scornfully over everyone¡¯s faces and stopped on Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯m representing Nice Moves Sports Equipment. Liu Ying represented thepany before and signed an agreement with you as well as put down a deposit of 500,000. Please follow the agreement and hand over the goods on time.¡±
Lin Bo-Wen spoke up too, ¡°How many have you processed? Give them to us first and we¡¯ll take them back.¡±
The honest Wang You-Fu replied, ¡°A hundred plus.¡±
Lin Ya-Ru frowned, ¡°Only a hundred plus? What¡¯s this speed? We¡¯ve already had the patent approved and we¡¯re working overtime to produce the product. You¡¯ve only done a hundred plus when we¡¯ve already paid? This is too slow.¡±
¡°I will be the Deputy General Manager of Nice Moves Sports Equipment and I¡¯ll be in charge of production and procurement. I¡¯ll give you all a warning - I have very strict requirements. I will reject anything that is even a little bit unsatisfactory,¡± added Lin Bo-Wen.
¡°We do quality work. You can rest assured, Boss.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong smiled cautiously, then added, ¡°Please have a seat, Bosses. I¡¯ll make tea for you.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to make tea for these sort of people,¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhou Xiao-Hong froze. Ma Xiao-An and the others also exchanged looks, not understanding why Xia Lei would have such a cold attitude towards clients.
¡°Everyone, please leave. I¡¯ll talk with them,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, let¡¯s go outside.¡± Ma Xiao-An understood Xia Lei the most and he could guess something from Xia Lei¡¯s attitude.
The Thunder Horse Workshop employees left and just Xia Lei and the Lin siblings remained.
Lin Bo-Wen sneered, ¡°There¡¯s no helping you not liking us but business is business. You¡¯ve signed an agreement with Nice Moves Sports Equipment and you have to abide by it, otherwise we can put forth an officialint and your business will suffer.¡±
Lin Ya-Ru walked to Xia Lei¡¯s desk and sat right across him without his consent. She looked steadily at him, her eyes full of contempt and provocation.
The Lin siblings were obviously here for two things. One was to ask for the processed parts for the automatic surfboard and get Thunder Horse Workshop to finish Liu Ying¡¯s agreed order. The other was to ridicule and cause trouble for Xia Lei as ¡®winners¡¯.
Xia Lei knew that but he still affected a unperturbed attitude. He spoke mildly, ¡°Have the two of you seen the agreement?¡±
¡°Would we be here if we hadn¡¯t?¡± Lin Ya-Ru took out an agreement from her briefcase, then opened it to the page with signatures.
The page had Xia Lei and Liu Ying¡¯s names and Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company¡¯s official seal.
Xia Lei flicked his eyes over the page, ¡°I don¡¯t need to look to know what¡¯s on the page. I signed this agreement with CEO Liu. You guys seized thepany from her, so in the eyes of thew, you do have the right to ask me to honour this agreement. Having higher requirements for quality is also not wrong.¡±
¡°Humph. Good that you know.¡± Lin Bo-Wen sneered, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better if you just ept it earlier?¡±
Xia Lei gave him a look, ¡°When did dogs learn to speak the humannguage? This one even pretends that it¡¯s the master. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯reughable?¡±
¡°You-¡± Lin Bo-Wen¡¯s face turned red in anger. He hade to ridicule Xia Lei and to make things difficult for him but did not expect that Xia Lei would look down on him.
Lin Ya-Ru spoke coldly, ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯d better watch your words. Show some respect!¡±
¡°Okay, take this agreement and get out. Don¡¯t appear before me again,¡± said Xia Lei.
Lin Ya-Ru pounded the table and shot to her feet, shouting as she came towards Xia Lei, ¡°You took the money and you¡¯re not delivering and you still dare to chase us out! Are you really so eager to stand used in the dock?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t bat an eye, ¡°Then can you represent Gu Ke-Wen?¡±
¡°Of course!¡± said Lin Ya-Ru, ¡°I am now the CEO of Nice Moves Sports Equipment, overseeing all the work on Miss Gu¡¯s behalf!¡±
¡°No wonder you siblings were so calctive when it came to Big Sister Liu. Fine. Since you can represent Gu Ke-Wen, you have the right to talk to me. I¡¯ll cut to the chase - the agreement I signed with CEO Liu is a long-term agreement and it states that you have no basis to look for other suppliers to produce the parts unless Thunder Horse Workshop is unable to do the processing. If you want me to fulfil the terms of the agreement, I am going to fulfil all terms. This means you can only get the goods from me. If you go somewhere else and take so much as a screw from there I can and will wantpensation,¡± said Xia Lei.
Lin Ya-Ru and Lin Bo-Wen could not help looking at each other and the siblings spoke to each other through their eyes.
¡°We have read through the contents of the agreement and we know what sort of agreement it is. However, we are here this time to make sure you finish up the order from the 500,000 deposit. You¡¯ve epted ourpany¡¯s money so you have to give us the goods. This is perfectly justifiable.¡±
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. Take the 500,000 worth of goods then abandon the agreement. I¡¯m just a small fish trying to fulfil contractual obligations and you guys would definitely make trouble for me, then drag me to court. You have the money to get the bestwyers and Gu Ke-Wen is also able employ so many methods that it would be impossible for me to win thewsuit. Do you think I am as foolish as you presume?¡±
Lin Bo-Wen pointed right at Xia Lei¡¯s nose, ¡°You, the one surnamed Xia. Do you intend to lose that 500,000?¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s mobile phone beeped with a message alert. He unlocked the phone screen and read the message.
The message was a system prompt from the bank. He had received a 5,000,000 deposit and the sender was Liu Ying.
For some unexinable reason, tears appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. Five million. This was not a small sum. Most people wouldn¡¯t even be able to make for much money their whole lives. There was actually no need for Liu Ying to give him this money but she still did and she fulfilled her promise. Such a kindhearted and honest woman had herpany and the product of her husband¡¯s life¡¯s work snatched from her by Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°Hello? I¡¯m talking to you. Do you hear me?¡± Lin Bo-Wen spoke fiercely, ¡°You punk. You¡¯re still in the mood to y mobile phone games?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t seem to hear him. Liu Ying¡¯s face appeared in his mind and a warm feeling enveloped his heart. As Lin Bo-Wen berated him, he opened his contacts page and was just about to call Liu Ying when he received a second message before he could dial.
The message was from Liu Ying: Lei, by the time you get this message I¡¯d have left the bank and gone to the airport. Please forgive me for not saying goodbye. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯d cry. I don¡¯t know why but when I¡¯m with you I¡¯d always be reminded of my husband. He was like you - kindhearted and straightforward, getting fully immersed in work... Sigh. I won¡¯t talk about that. I thought of him again and it makes my heart hurt. I¡¯m leaving this hurtful ce. Remember to miss me and remember to call me. I hope to see you with your own wife and children the next time I meet you.
There¡¯s one more thing I have to tell you. I¡¯m sure someone will take the agreement we signed and use it to make trouble for you. Don¡¯t worry, that agreement provides for the obligations and rights of both parties. If theye looking for you, you can use the agreement¡¯s exclusive supplier use. Other than that, I did not keep the receipt for the 500,000 that I¡¯d deposited and I threw it in the bank¡¯s rubbish bin. I trust you and I didn¡¯t even think of keeping a receipt.
Don¡¯t send me off. Goodbye.
When he finished reading the message, Xia Lei took a deep breath, then covered his face with both hands. He did not want Lin Bo-Wen and Lin Ya-Ru to see the tears he shed for Liu Ying. They were not fit to see him in this state.
¡°Hey, the one surnamed Xia, do you have the backing of the underworld or backing in the ministries?¡± Lin Ya-Ru lost her patience, ¡°I¡¯m telling you that you have to hand over the goods for the 500,000 on time or we¡¯ll see you in court. When that timees, I won¡¯t stop at getting just that 500,000 worth of goods - I¡¯ll get you topensate the losses faced in ourpany¡¯s production! You won¡¯t be able to afford to pay us even if you pay with your family fortune!¡±
Xia Lei raised his head, ¡°What 500,000?¡±
¡°The 500,000 Liu Ying transferred to you!¡± Lin Bo-Wen snapped, ¡°This amount was taken out of thepany¡¯s finances and given to Liu Ying. What, are you going to renege on your debt?¡±
¡°Can you confirm that you gave the money to Liu Ying and she then gave it to me?¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ve never received any 500,000 yuan deposit. Do you have the receipt? Show me.¡±
¡°You motherf-cker!¡± Lin Bo-Wen cursed.
Xia Lei suddenly stood up and pped Lin Bo-Wen¡¯s face.
Pa! The p rang out and Lin Bo-Wen staggered and nearly fell to the floor. A handprint appeared on his face, red and bruising.
Lin Ya-Ru seemed to be afraid that Xia Lei would hit her next. She quickly moved away and knocked over a chair, then fell to the ground with her legs spread open. She exposed a white thong and some foliage which was half-covered; it was very undignified.
¡°You dare hit me!¡± Lin Bo-Wen held his face and looked ready to explode.
Xia Lei spoke icily, ¡°Next time youe here I¡¯ll hit you every time I see you! Don¡¯t think that you can do anything you¡¯d like just because you work for Gu Ke-Wen. If you want to fight with me you cane at me any time. I¡¯ll take you on!¡±
¡°Just you wait!¡± Lin Bo-Wen pointed straight at Xia Lei.
Lin Ya-Ru crawled to her feet, her face ashen and eyes like that of a venomous snake.
¡°Ya-Ru, let¡¯s go. Someone will take care of him!¡± Lin Bo-Wen pulled Lin Ya-Ru by the hand.
Xia Lei snatched up the agreement on the table and hit Lin Ya-Ru in the face with it. ¡°Take your agreement with you. Don¡¯t think you can swindle me with this. I¡¯m not afraid to tell you that I can outsource all the parts you need. I can also pass on your problems with the quality to otherpanies. I¡¯m warning you, if you want a normal production you¡¯d better note and bother me. Get out!¡±
¡°You have guts. You have guts...¡± Lin Ya-Ru red at Xia Lei and turned to leave. She did not look back.
The agreement fluttered to the floor. It was scrap paper now.
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Chapter 65
Wing Chun Is Not Difficult
Liu Ying left with her child and father to Australia, cutting ties with everything to do with Nice Moves Sports Equipment.
Xia Lei had done a lot of things to obtain the purchase order from Nice Moves Sports Equipment and it now seemed like he had been chasing a dream of riches and had been rudely awakened. However, Xia Lei had still received a most precious thing and it was not the five million but the friendship between himself and Liu Ying. He had no regrets.
Over the next few days, Lin Bo-Wen and Lin Ya-Ru did note to make trouble for Xia Lei. Perhaps it was because they could not do anything about Xia Lei, or perhaps it was the calm before the storm. Whatever it was, Xia Lei did not care.
Thunder Horse Workshop did not receive any big orders recently and the work they did get was normal stuff and not high-volume. This was not good for business as he only made a pitiable amount after deducting expenses such as sries and materials. Xia Lei, however, did not care about his own profit so long as he could pay his employees.
The work was simple and low-volume so there was no need at all for a ¡®Great Master¡¯ like Xia Lei to use his skills. This meant that he had a lot of time to do what he liked, like reading and learning more about business. Xia Lei also went shopping for practical items for the employees of Thunder Horse Workshop. He bought a bottle of shampoo for Chen A-Jiao, a pair of high-heels for Zhou Xiao-Hong, two packets of cigarettes or a bottle of the better alcohol for the male employees. He would asionally drive Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s ratty-tatty Polo to the suburbs to look for pieces ofnd with a good price and dream about setting up hispany.
When he was not doing any of that, Xia Lei was going to a Wing Chun school to learn Wing Chun martial arts.
He had never even imagined that he would go to any martial arts school to learn martial arts before and there wasn¡¯t a need to but it was different now. He had offended Gu Ke-Wen and some Hai-Zhu City big-name underlord He Lao-Qi because of Gu Ke-Wen. He¡¯d thought about it and it was no problem for him to handle two low-level thugs with his current skills but if a stronger opponent appeared he would just be a punching bag.
Xia Lei was never one to respond only after the threat happened so he took the first step and picked up martial arts.
Early in the morning, Xia Lei made a round of Thunder Horse Workshop and slipped off. He drove to the Wing Chun school to learn Wing Chun.
This Wing Chun school was named ¡®Hai-Zhu Wing Chun School¡¯ and the owner of the school was Master Liang Zheng-Chun from Foshan. He was said to be the descendant of the man who started Wing Chun itself and the style of Wing Chun he taught was the most authentic.
The school had many students but Xia Lei hade early and the school was empty except for Master Liang Zheng-Chun, who was standing alone and striking the wooden dummy.
Bam bam bam, bam bam bam...
Liang Zheng-Chun was in his early fifties but his limbs were still very agile and powerful. His age did not slow him at all.
XIa Lei walked over and greeted him, ¡°Good morning, Master Liang.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun stopped his strikes and looked at Xia Lei, and a smile appeared on his face, ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Xia Lei. You¡¯re here early.¡± Xia Lei had only beening for three days but he had made a strong impression on him.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I had nothing to do in my shop so I came early to practice.¡±
¡°Okay. Practice ¡®Little Idea¡¯ first and let me see,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.*
The first form of Wing Chun is Little Idea - it is the foundation for the body¡¯s form and footwork as well as many others. Only when ¡®The Little Idea¡¯ is mastered can one go on to the higher levels such as ¡®Seeking Bridge¡¯, ¡®Sticking Hands¡¯, ¡®Sticking Foot¡¯, ¡®Swinging Hand¡¯, ¡®Thrusting Fingers¡¯, wooden dummy techniques, ¡®Three Star Dummy¡¯ and so on.
For the three days that Xia Lei practiced Wing Chun, he had practiced ¡®Little Idea¡¯ every day.
Xia Lei got into the beginning stance, then begun practicing his footwork and form. His hands were also moved from attack to defence interchangeably. His movements had some semnce of being standard.
Liang Zheng-Chun was quietly surprised by Xia Lei as he watched him. Other people would need a few months to master Little Idea but Xia Lei was able to grasp the core of it in three days. Liang Zheng-Chun did not show his surprise and watched quietly, asionally pointing out things which Xia Lei should pay attention to. Xia Lei was a serious student and that, in turn, made him teach seriously.
A few minutester, Liang Zheng-Chun said, ¡°Stop. Let¡¯s stop here. Rest for a while and you can practice something else.¡±
Xia Lei rxed and returned to his normal stance and asked, ¡°How did I do, Master Liang?¡±
¡°Not bad. I¡¯ve taught many students and you¡¯re the fastest. My own grandfather said that I was quick too but I feel that you¡¯re even faster than I was back then,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Leiughed but said nothing. His left eye never forgot what it saw. He had memorised all of the learning materials Liang Zheng-Chun had given him and he also never forgot the methods he taught; of course he learnt quickly. Surpassing Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s speed from years ago was normal.
At that moment, some students walked in. Liang Zheng-Chun went to greet them and arrange practices for them to do.
In the past, disciples had to kowtow and offer tea when they met their martial arts Master and show him a lot of respect. Times have changed now; the martial arts Master was just a Master and the disciples have be students. The Master had to take care of his students and have a good attitude. Why? If his service attitude was bad, students would just go for other martial arts like Judo or Taekwondo. Who would stille to learn Wing Chun?
The students were all long-time students and all of them had at least a year of practice. The leader of the group was Lu Sheng and he was retired Special Forces. He already knew mixed martial arts and had been learning Wing Chun for three years; he was stronger than strong. He was the most advanced student in the school and he got along well with the others. Young students would call him Big Brother Sheng in respect when they saw him.
¡°Sheng, you¡¯re early today,¡± Liang Zheng-Chun said in wee and smiled as he greeted him.
Lu Sheng was polite too, ¡°Good morning, Master Liang. My boss went overseas today and I couldn¡¯t go because I didn¡¯t have the necessary visa so I came for practice since I had nothing to do at home.¡±
He was a professional bodyguard.
The other students greeted Liang Zheng-Chun as well and they were respectful.
The students began practicing. They paired up and practiced Sticking Hand and Sticking Foot while some simply sparred. The practice ground was quite lively.
Xia Lei watched with heated eyes. It was too bad that he had not got to Sticking Hands and Sticking Foot. He watched them for a while, then walked to the wooden dummy and struck at it with the movements he had seen Liang Zheng-Chun make.
Striking the wooden dummy was one of the high-level courses in Wing Chun. One had to have at least a year¡¯s practice in order to attempt it but this was the case for others - this sort of limit did not apply to Xia Lei. He just needed to recall it and Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s movements appeared one by one in his mind - the timing, the direction, which ce to attack and so on. He could remember everything and the only thing he had to do was copy it.
Bam bam bam, bam bam bam...
Compared to Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s well-practiced movements, Xia Lei¡¯s movements were much stiffer and it seemed like his reaction was always just half a beat off but the uracy of his movements were passable and his strikes were methodical, seemingly like one who had been practicing on the wooden dummy for months.
Liang Zheng-Chun looked at Xia Lei strike the wooden dummy in surprise. He did not say it but in his head, he was thinking ¡®This young man is strange. This is just his fourth day here and he dares to try the wooden dummy? I myself practiced for a year before I dared to attempt striking the wooden dummy. Are there still martial arts prodigies in this day and age?¡¯
At that moment, Lu Sheng concluded his Sticking Hands practice with another student and walked towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not notice Lu Shenging towards him at all; he was absorbed in copying Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s movements. When he had begun, his movements were half a beat slow but he started to get a feel for it as he struck at the wooden dummy and the dy in his movements lessened and was approaching Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s speed.
Bam bam bam, bam bam bam...
His strikes on the hard wooden dummy made his own flesh and bones hurt but Xia Lei ignored the pain. He thought of Liu Ying¡¯s crying face and what had happened to her. He thought of Gu Ke-Wen, Lin Bo-Wen and Lin Ya-Ru and a me of anger red in his heart. The pain was nothingpared to his anger.
¡®I¡¯d like to beat Gu Ke-Wen up like this wooden dummy one day!¡¯ this thought came to Xia Lei¡¯s mind and he struck with more force.
¡°Hey, little guy, move aside,¡± frowned Lu Sheng.
Other than Liang Zheng-Chun, everyone else in the school respectfully called him Big Brother Sheng when they saw him. Others would also give way to him right away if he wanted to practice on any equipment. Xia Lei, however, did not even spare him a nce and this made him feel ufortable.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was preupied with Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s movements and did not even notice that Lu Sheng was already standing behind him and speaking to him. His strikesnded swiftly and fluidly on the wooden dummy and his movements now looked like they would not lose to those of a senior student who had practiced Wing Chun for two years.
¡°Are you deaf, little guy?¡± Lu Sheng suddenly reached out, grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and tore him forcefully from before the wooden dummy. Xia Lei was thrown aside.
Xia Lei¡¯s feet had left the ground before he could react.
Bang! Xia Lei hit the floor hard. It was then that he discovered that it was Lu Sheng who had knocked him down.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei was in a bit of a daze and didn¡¯t know what was going on.
Lu Sheng grinned, ¡°You dared hit the wooden dummy after a few days so I wanted to see how good you were. I wanted to test your skills and my hand just moved on its own. You¡¯re not bad. I thought I could throw you to the door but you only flew three metres.¡±
Xia Lei understood immediately. This Lu Sheng didn¡¯t like him and came to find fault with him.
¡°What? Unhappy? We can spar if you¡¯re not happy. I¡¯ll give you a handicap of three moves.¡± Lu Sheng looked at Xia Lei with a challenge in his eyes, ¡°Do you dare ept?¡±
Young men were unyielding; if he did not fight back when hit, would he still be a man?
Xia Lei got to his feet, ¡°Let¡¯s spar then!¡±
Lu Sheng was stunned for a bit, ¡°You actually dare to spar with me?¡±
¡°It¡¯s true that I won¡¯t be able to win but this is not the same as whether I dare to or not. I may not be able to beat you but I am not afraid of you. I¡¯ll spar with you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Lu Shengughed and strangely gave Xia Lei a thumbs-up. ¡°You¡¯re a real man. I¡¯ll go easy on you.¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. He got into a fighting stance.
Liang Zheng-Chun hurried over and yelled, ¡°What are you doing? Did I teach you Wing Chun so that you can use it in fights? Take it outside if you want to fight. Don¡¯t fight in my school.¡±
¡°Master Liang, I was just joking with my junior. I won¡¯t seriously fight. Besides, could I bully a novice?¡± said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei rxed his stance and said, ¡°That¡¯s right. We were joking. It wasn¡¯t serious.¡±
Just then, a woman¡¯s voice suddenly came from the doorway of the training hall. ¡°From what I see, you¡¯re bullying the newbie, monk.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes followed the voice and saw the woman walk through the door.
* The first, and most important form in Wing Chun, which can be tranted into "The little idea for beginning" is not only for beginners but to be practiced throughout the practitioner¡¯s lifetime.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Chun
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Chapter 66 - Long-legged Wing Chun Beauty
Chapter 66 - Long-legged Wing Chun Beauty
The woman who¡¯d walked in was in her early twenties and she pulled a suitcase behind her. She was tall, had long legs, was young and beautiful, especially her pair of long long legs extending from her shorts, jade-white and so long that they made up more than half of her height and it was eye-catching indeed. She could be a first-ss leg model just for her legs.
Her chest was firm and perky and it was tightly covered by a round-necked crew T, holding them high and tight, shaping her breasts to look like tworge-caliber artillery shells. Add her pretty, delicate face and a head of raven-ck long hair and she was like Hollywood¡¯s Angelina Jolie, sexy and charming yet heroically gant.
¡®This is a very special woman¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He hadn¡¯t seen her the past few days he¡¯d beening but from the way she spoke it seemed like she was not a new student.
¡°Liang Si-Yao. When did you get back?¡± Lu Sheng went over in wee and stered a fawning smile on his face.
Liang Si-Yao? Xia Lei looked at Liang Zheng-Chun and then at the approaching Liang Si-Yao and suddenly saw the resemnce between the two.
¡°I got off the ne this morning. I¡¯m back, Dad,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Zheng-Chun still looked stern, ¡°Not even a phone call when you¡¯re back. Do you still see me as your father?¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled as she said, ¡°Dad, I didn¡¯t want to tire you out with a trip to the airport. Can¡¯t a daughter show some concern?¡±
¡°How long will you be back for this time?¡± asked Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°I won¡¯t be going off this time. Dad, I quit the job over there. I¡¯ll apany you every day from now on, okay?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Good, good. Heh heh.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun smiled.
As people grow older, they will want their children by their side, not because of any ulterior motives but because it isforting and a sort of blessing.
Lu Sheng smiled as he said, ¡°Si-Yao, if you¡¯vee back to be a teaching assistant I¡¯m sure that the school will have a lot of new students.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled in return, ¡°I¡¯ll put my luggage down and talk with you when Ie back.¡± She pulled her luggage towards a door inside. As she passed by Xia Lei, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t bicker with the monk. He¡¯s a barbarian.¡±
¡®Monk¡¯ was Lu Sheng¡¯s nickname and it was better than the name the students close to him used, which was ¡®Deep Knowledge Lu¡¯.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°No, we¡¯re just ying around.¡±
Liang Si-Yao pulled her luggage behind her and entered the room, and her small waist, round bum and long legs made for an especially beautiful view of her back.
Xia Lei looked away. He actually only had to will it and this long-legged Wing Chun beauty would be fully exposed to him but he did not want to do so. It was very difficult for other men to be able to see a woman in her natural, original form and that was why women were mysteries to them. It was too easy for Xia Lei, though. He could reach the goal just by willing it so the mystery was long lost for him and no longer held any attraction. Additionally, he did not want to go down this path so he could always exercise restraint. Jiang Ru-Yi was an exception, of course.
¡°Boy,¡± Lu Sheng looked at Xia Lei, ¡°You¡¯ve practiced Wing Chun before?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°No.¡±
Lu Sheng did not believe him, ¡°You¡¯re lying, aren¡¯t you? I saw you striking the wooden dummy just now. You weren¡¯t half bad. I was practicing for eight months before I could hit it with your level of skill. You dare say you haven¡¯t practiced Wing Chun before?¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t.¡± Xia Lei did not want to keep exining himself.
At that moment, Liang Zheng-Chun walked over and pointed at the wooden dummy, saying, ¡°Lei, strike it again and let me see.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei walked to the wooden dummy, took a deep breath and hit the wooden dummy, move by move.
His left eye transmitted the images of Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s movements to his brain as he learnt the moves and applied them. He was quicker and more practiced this time. This wasn¡¯t because of his ability toprehend but him adjusting more to the eye¡¯s transmitting speed. His body was also getting more used to the ¡®mimic-like¡¯ movements and was able to copy Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s movements more quickly and urately.
This process lookedplicated and miraculous but it was actually simr to how those olderdies who square-dance in public squares learnt their moves from watching DVDs. The difference was that the olderdies¡¯ DVD was up on a flower stand while Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®DVD¡¯ was his left eye and it was a part of his body. This was also a unique advantage he had and nobody else could surpass it.
Bam bam bam, bam bam bam...
As Xia Lei struck at the wooden dummy, his strikes became faster and faster and more and more urate. He waspletely immersed in the world of WIng Chun and had forgotten about everything else around himself.
The senior students stopped their own practice and gathered around, watching Xia Lei strike the wooden dummy.
The group of people, including Liang Zheng-Chun, were amazed by the strange scene before their eyes. To them, Xia Lei did not look like a newbie who had started practicing Wing Chun for a few days, but like an old hand who had been practicing for at least ten years. It seemed Xia Lei had hidden depths and was just pretending to be a stupid pig to defeat the tiger.
¡°That¡¯s not possible, is it? This boy¡¯s the newbie student?¡± A senior student of a year watched with open mouth, not believing his eyes. Even if he went up to the wooden dummy, he would not be able to strike it as well as Xia Lei was doing now.
¡°Definitely not. This guy¡¯s got some deeper motive and is pretending to be a newbie. You think he¡¯s someone from another faction, here to cause trouble?¡± a senior student said.
¡°He couldn¡¯t be here to pick up girls, could he?¡± said someone.
¡°Maybe. Liang Si-Yao is such a babe. This guy just may have this intention,¡± said someone.
¡°What crap are you saying? Senior Liang was working in the US and barely evenes back twice a year. This guy has never seen her face before so how could he have this intention? Pfft. I think he¡¯s definitely sent by some other faction to cause trouble,¡± said someone.
The students muttered among themselves in lively conversation, but quietly.
Lu Sheng¡¯s face got stormier and stormier. He went close to Liang Zheng-Chun and spoke in his ear, ¡°Master Liang, he said he¡¯d only learnt Wing Chun for a few days. Look at his skill. Is that a person who has only practiced Wing Chun for a few days?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun shook his head thoughtfully and stretched out three fingers. ¡°From what I see, he has practiced for at least three years.¡±
¡°Master Liang, you¡¯ve practiced Wing Chun your whole life. If you say it¡¯s three years then it¡¯s definitely three years. Why is that boy lying?¡± said Lu Sheng.
¡°No, it¡¯s not, it¡¯s like...¡± Liang Zheng-Chun frowned and suddenly felt like he couldn¡¯t judge anymore. Xia Lei was like an imprable fog to his eyes.
Just then, Liang Si-Yao walked out and also stood next to Liang Zheng-Chun to watch Xia Lei hit the wooden dummy. As she watched, she, too, showed surprise. ¡°Dad, what¡¯s this student¡¯s name? Howe I haven¡¯t seen him before?¡±
¡°His name¡¯s Xia Lei,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun, ¡°He¡¯s only been here a few days. Of course you haven¡¯t seen him before.¡±
¡°Did he practice Wing Chun before?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Zheng-Chun shook his head, ¡°No. He said that this was his first time learning Wing Chun.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s little mouth opened in shock, ¡°No way. His movements look so practiced already. How can he be someone who was learnt it for only a few days?¡±
¡°He is an honest person and not one who would lie. Then again, he really doesn¡¯t seem to be someone who has only learnt Wing Chun for a few days. I can¡¯t get a handle on this; I can¡¯t see through him.¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Isn¡¯t it simple? I¡¯ll know his depths if I practice with him,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Si-Yao, let me do it. I¡¯ll spar with him,¡± said Lu Sheng.
¡°No, no, no. You have a temper and you don¡¯t know how to hold back. It¡¯s better if I do it,¡± said Liang Si-Yao. She walked towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had just finished thest move and rxed his stance.
He was tired from the bout of striking the wooden dummy and his forehead and body were beaded by sweat. His limbs also hurt like hell and were swollen in several ces. What he had been striking was hard wood after all and though he had calluses on his hands, he still had injuries from striking wood continuously.
This bout of wooden dummy-striking had increased Xia Lei¡¯s know-how of Wing Chun and its force. This could be considered a gain.
¡°Xia Lei, is it?¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled, ¡°You¡¯re not bad.¡±
It was only then that Xia Lei discovered that Liang Si-Yao had walked to his side. He smiled as well and spoke politely, ¡°Miss Liang, you must be teasing me. I was just practicing blindly.¡±
¡°Blind practice and still so amazing?¡±
Xia Leiughed but didn¡¯t say anything.
¡°Are you interested in practicing with me?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ve only learnt Wing Chun for a few days and I am unschooled in many ways. I cannot be your practice partner. I¡¯d have to refuse.¡±
Liang Si-Yao suddenly shot forward and struck Xia Lei in the chest with a One-inch Punch.
Xia Lei had not expected her to attack him all of a sudden and did not react in time; he was hit by her attack. Liang Si-Yao might have seemed like a petite woman but her strength was no less than a man¡¯s. The punch knocked him two metres backwards and made his chest light ame in pain.
Before Xia Lei could regain his bnce, Liang Si-Yao got close to his front again and kicked him above his knee. Sweeping power made Xia Lei tumble to the ground in a disheveled heap.
The onlookers cheered and Lu Sheng also raised a fist in exaggeration.
¡®An attack out of the blue like that and she didn¡¯t go easy on me either. Damn it!¡¯ Xia Lei cursed in his head. He flipped himself over and crawled to his feet, then got into the fighting stance, prepared to spar with Liang Si-Yao.
¡°You should have done this at the start.¡± As soon as she was done speaking, Liang Si-Yao sped to Xia Lei¡¯s front in the blink of an eye with a punch aimed at his heart.
Xia Lei was prepared this time and defended himself by deflecting the blow with his right arm, shifting her punch to the side. At the same time, his right elbow moved towards Liang Si-Yao¡¯s waist in a strike.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s left hand came down in a block and pressed on Xia Lei¡¯s right elbow, then pushed forward forcefully. The two of them hadpleted several attack and defence moves in the blink of an eye and not one could beat the other.
Their eyes met and they started fighting again the next second.
Liang Si-Yao had learnt Wing Chun from Liang Zheng-Chun since she was a child. Her experience and level of skill was not something a novice like Xia Lei couldpare to but Xia Lei had his advantage too, and that was his left eye. No matter how quick Liu Si-Yao was, she was not faster than his left eye and so she did not seem quick to Xia Lei. He used his left eye to focus on Liang Si-Yao and predicted her moves before she made them, letting him dodge every one of her fierce attacks.
The two of them went back and forth - you punch, I kick, you thrust your palm, I elbow. It was difficult to see who had the upper hand. Over time, Xia Leinded some punches and kicks and Liang Si-Yao also punched and kicked Xia Lei a few times. They seemed evenly matched.
As they sparred, a thought came to Xia Lei, ¡®As a man, I am definitely stronger than Liang Si-Yao but the blows shends on me feel like they are stronger than mine. This must be rted to a technique for sending out power. My left eye can see her movements and she can¡¯t be faster than my eye but can I see how she is directing her power? If I can see it, I¡¯ll be able to quickly grasp Wing Chun¡¯s secret to using power. Once I master that, I won¡¯t have to be afraid of opponents like Lu Sheng anymore!¡¯
With that thought in mind, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and Liang Si-Yao¡¯s T-shirt, bra and the like disappeared. His field of vision was filled with a snow-whitendscape; the pale parts were like Spring¡¯s snow while the pink parts were like peach blossoms in March. The enticing sight made him stare for a moment and his reaction was off by a beat.
¡°Hei!¡± Liang Si-Yao gave a soft shout and her foot connected with Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen.
A dull thump sounded and Xia Lei clutched his stomach as he fell to the ground.
¡°Are you all right?¡± Liang Si-Yao hurried to help Xia Lei up.
Xia Lei hurriedly closed his eyes and scolded himself, ¡®You deserve it!¡¯
Be a Patron!
Chapter 67
Applying X-ray Vision to Martial Arts
Xia Lei could master a foreignnguage in the short span of a few days; his learning ability was unimaginably miraculous. What was more difficult - learning anguage or learning a martial art? Of course it was the former. Learning a martial art was not difficult at all for Xia Lei. He could quickly memorise the learning materials and all the movements of the instructor. He was also fit so the only thing hecked was experience and some know-how.
How powerful would he be once he mastered these?
Even Liang Zheng-Chun, who had practiced Wing Chun his whole life, would not be able to answer this question.
The result of thepetition was that Liang Si-Yao won and Xia Lei lost. Only Xia Lei knew why he had lost.
¡°Are you all right?¡± Liang Si-Yao asked in concern. She stretched out a hand to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not refuse her kindness and grabbed her hand to pull himself to his feet. He dusted himself off and smiled as he said, ¡°I¡¯m all right. I¡¯ve already said that I won¡¯t be able to beat you. Believe me now?¡±
¡°Did you really learn Wing Chun for just a few days?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes were searching.
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°Yes, just a few days. Why would I lie to you?¡±
There had to be a motive for lying but he had no motive to lie like this.
Liang Si-Yao seemed to believe him. She walked to Liang Zheng-Chun and spoke softly in her father¡¯s ear, ¡°Dad, you¡¯ve struck gold. You should ept him as yourst disciple and have him be the beacon of Wing Chun for our school.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun did not agree but he did not disagree either; he just looked at Xia Lei with a spective gaze
When Lu Sheng heard Liang Si-Yao¡¯s words, his face darkened. He had been a student of the school for over three years and his goal was to be a disciple of Liang Zheng-Chun but Liang Zheng-Chun never agreed. Liang Si-Yao knew about this too but she had never put in a good word for him in front of Liang Zheng-Chun. Now, an unknown punk like Xia Lei popped out of nowhere and Liang Si-Yao actually spoke for him, asking Liang Zheng-Chun to ept him as a disciple. How could he remain calm?!
¡°Hurmph!¡± snorted Lu Sheng, and he strode towards Xia Lei.
¡°Monk.¡± Liang Si-Yao pulled Lu Sheng to a stop and smiled as she said, ¡°I haven¡¯t practiced with you in a while. How about apanying me for practice?¡±
Lu Sheng looked back at Liang Si-Yao and said nothing. He looked rather unhappy.
Liang Si-Yao shook Lu Sheng¡¯s arm and said sweetly, ¡°Come, Big Brother Sheng, let¡¯s practice together.¡±
Lu Sheng forced a smile, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll practice with you.¡± There were going to be many opportunities for him to take care of Xia Leiter but a practice session with Liang Si-Yao was hard toe by.
More students walked into the school at this time and Liang Zheng-Chun went to greet them and instruct them in their practice. The onlookers dispersed and continued their paired practice.
Xia Lei let out a silent breath. Lu Sheng¡¯s eyes had been terrible to behold when he was walking towards him earlier and he knew what those eyes meant. Xia Lei knew that he was nowhere near a match for Lu Sheng at his current skill level. If he sparred with Lu Sheng, he would have a miserable end for sure.
Lu Sheng began his practice with Liang Si-Yao. Sticking Hands, Sticking Feet, apanied by an exchange of punching, kicking and elbows. Their movements were slow but they looked very professional.
Xia Lei had a thought, ¡®I was trying to see how Liang Si-Yao¡¯s body was channeling power earlier but we were in the midst of sparring and she gave me no chance to use my X-ray ability on her. I don¡¯t have anything to do now so I can take a look at how the power runs through her muscles and bones. Once I master the know-how of this I should have an increase in my strength.¡¯
He willed it and his eye twitched. His left eye was like an angry me, incinerating Liang Si-Yao¡¯s clothing in an instant, then her skin. Liang Si-Yao did not look like a normal, whole human to his left eye any longer - she was like the anatomy model in biology ss with no skin, hair or other external body parts. There were only muscle, ligaments, bones and blood vessels!
However, in Xia Lei¡¯s right eye, Liang Si-Yao was still a long-legged beauty and her every movement invoked appreciation from him. Only Xia Lei could enjoy such a marvel in this world.
His left eye had X-ray vision while his right was normal; this gave Xia Lei the perfect conditions topare and analyse. A simple example was when Liang Si-Yao made a frontal One-inch Punch movement. Xia Lei¡¯s left eye saw how her muscles, ligaments and bones worked; they umted energy, then released that energy. In his right eye, he saw her palm curl into a fist and instantly attack. With his left and right eye working together in this way, the method of channeling power in Wing Chun was fully revealed to him right before his eyes!
¡°I see... I see... heh heh!¡± Xia Lei smiled. As he watched Liang Si-Yao and Lu Sheng practice, he couldn¡¯t help mimicking Liang Si-Yao and learning her movements.
This time, he was not just mimicking her external movements but her internal movements too!
¡°What is that guy doing?¡± A student saw Xia Lei mimicking Liang Si-Yao¡¯s movements and was curious.
The student who was practicing with him also stopped and looked at Xia Lei curiously. After half a beat, he said, ¡°Is that fool trying to copy her? He¡¯s moving like how Si-Yao is moving.¡±
Soon, more students discovered Xia Lei¡¯s strange actions and started discussing him. Some made fun of him while others were simply curious.
Liang Zheng-Chun also looked at Xia Lei and he watched him for a while, then suddenly opened his mouth, so shocked he could not close it. The students were mocking Xia Lei and taking him for a fool for mimicking another but to his expert eyes, he was seeing technique!
Many people were saying earlier that Xia Lei looked like he had been practicing for at least a year when he was striking the wooden dummy but as an expert, it was clear that Xia Lei was just a novice. Xia Lei had only learnt some moves but was unable to channel power. And since he could not channel power, his movements looked nice butcked strength and there was no power at all. He¡¯d thought Xia Lei was just a clever copy-cat and was seeking instant benefits because of that. He¡¯d not been very willing at all when Liang Si-Yao had asked him to ept Xia Lei as a disciple. Martial artists did not like those seeking instant benefits and he was no different. However, as he watched Xia Lei copy Liang Si-Yao¡¯s movements, he was stunned yet moved.
Liang Zheng-Chun walked towards Xia Lei.
When Xia Lei saw Liang Zheng-Chun approach, he stopped using his X-ray vision and his mimicking. A mild hallucination appeared before him but it disappeared quickly.
Liang Zheng-Chun stared straight at Xia Lei and spoke in praise, ¡°Lei, you¡¯re a quick study.¡±
Xia Leiughed and said politely, ¡°Master Liang, I just have a good memory.¡±
¡°Watch me and learn how I do it,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei froze, then nodded, ¡°Yes.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun had only taught him some of the most basic things for the past few days and showed him nothing of any higher-level moves. He did not know why Liang Zheng-Chun had changed his mind but this was an opportunity to learn real martial arts and he would definitely not miss it.
He actually had a reason for using his X-ray vision on Liang Si-Yao and not Lu Sheng. From what he saw, a descendant of Wing Chun like Liang Zheng-Chun must have something he would never teach an outsider. However, Liang Si-Yao was not an outsider - she was Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s daughter and he would definitely pass on all the secrets he knew to her. That was why he had chosen to use his ability on Liang Si-Yao to study and learn Wing Chun from and not Lu Sheng.
Liang Zheng-Chun was personally showing him moves now and it was definitely better to use his X-ray vision on him than on Liang Si-Yao, and he could also learn even higher-level things!
Liang Zheng-Chun got into a beginning stance and asked, ¡°Are you ready?¡±
Xia Lei copied Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s stance, ¡°I am ready, Master Liang.¡±
What he¡¯d readied was his eye.
Liang Zheng-Chun let out a clear shout and punched as he stepped, then moved back while putting pressure on his elbows, going through his Wing Chun movements rhythmically.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye entered X-ray mode and locked into Liang Zheng-Chun. He analysed and learnt from Liang Zheng-Chun like how he had learnt from Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Zheng-Chun was impressive indeed. His movements were more precise and quick as lightning yet like a swaying willow tree when he went slow. He channelled and held back his power naturally, releasing it like floodwater when attacking and like the retreating tide when he held back. His transition was quick too; almost zing quick.
Everyone ceased their own activities, including Liang Si-Yao and Lu Sheng. They moved to watch Liang Zheng-Chun and Xia Lei.
¡°What¡¯s Master Liang doing? Is he teaching that guy Wing Chun?¡± said someone.
¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± said someone.
¡°This guy has only been here a few days and Master Liu is teaching him personally. What¡¯s so good about him?¡± said someone.
¡°He¡¯s good at copying,¡± said someone.
¡°Hee hee hee,¡±ughed someone.
There was a flurry of discussion and almost everyone was of the mind that Xia Lei was just good at copying and was not so great.
Lu Sheng¡¯s face grew stormier and stormier and he became angrier and angrier. Liang Zheng-Chun had not agreed when Liang Si-Yao asked him to ept Xia Lei as a disciple earlier but that was just ten minutes ago and Liang Zheng-Chun was personally teaching Xia Lei Wing Chun now. And, as he discovered, the Wing Chun Liang Zheng-Chun was teaching Xia Lei had some moves that he was seeing for the first time!
¡°Hurmph!¡± Lu Sheng grew angrier as he watched.
Liang Si-Yao did not notice the change in Lu Sheng¡¯s mood. She watched Xia Lei practice Wing Chun with her father, her eyes full of happiness and curiosity.
A few minutester, Liang Zheng-Chun rxed his stance and he looked at Xia Lei¡¯s face, straight at his eyes.
Xia Lei, however, fell to a sitting position on the floor, panting heavily. His forehead and neck were beaded with sweat and his clothes were half soaked in sweat.
His body had used up too much energy with the consecutive use of his left eye; persisting in its use had exhausted him.
When he copsed to the floor, the hallucinations appeared. The school became a kindergarten and the walls were stered with cartoon posters, sunflowers, red suns, bears and so on. The onlooking students also became cute little kindergarteners, staring at him curiously, the red dots on their foreheads exceptionally eye-catching. Then he saw Liang Si-Yao. She was wearing toilet training pants, her little bum exposed for all to see. The weirdest one was Liang Zheng-Chun. He¡¯d be the matron of the kindergarten and wasbing a thick, ck braid...
¡°Lei, are you all right?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun was worried when he walked to Xia Lei¡¯s side and saw that he looked sick.
Xia Lei shook his head vigorously and the hallucinations disappeared. He supported himself and got to his feet as he said, ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine... I¡¯m just a little tired. I¡¯ll be okay once I¡¯ve had some rest.¡±
¡°You¡¯re really all right?¡±
¡°Yes. You don¡¯t have to worry, Master Liang.¡± Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Thank you for teaching me Wing Chun. I¡¯ve learnt a lot.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun asked probingly, ¡°Tell me, how much have you learnt?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, ¡°I don¡¯t know. A little? Maybe a bit more than a little.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun did not seem satisfied with his answer. His brows wrinkled in a frown.
¡°Hurmph!¡± Lu Sheng scoffed, ¡°You¡¯re trying to say that you learnt a lot, didn¡¯t you? Let¡¯s spar. Let me see how much you¡¯ve learnt.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun and Liang Si-Yao said nothing to stop Lu Sheng this time.
Xia Lei bared his teeth in a smile, ¡°Sure. But give me half an hour to rest. I¡¯ll spar with you after half an hour.¡±
Be a Patron!
Chapter 68
Wing Chun Newbie Overthrows the Monk!
¡°Fine. Half an hour.¡± Lu Sheng red fiercely at Xia Lei, then turned and walked towards the wooden dummy.
¡°Big Brother Sheng, teach him a lessonter,¡± said a student.
¡°Yeah, you have to teach him a lesson. He¡¯s getting too full of himself,¡± said another student.
Xia Lei pretended not to hear them and did not take their words to heart. He was new after all and Lu Sheng had been here for three years so he, of course, had many friends.
Lu Sheng got to the wooden dummy and started striking it. Every strike resounded loudly, terrifyingly. His muscles were like iron, his ligaments like steel ropes, his bones were steel bars - his whole body was so strong it strained to hold his strength.
This was obviously a show of strength for Xia Lei¡¯s benefit.
However, there was no fear in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He walked to the wall and sat on a chair to rest. He closed his eyes and it seemed like he was asleep but images of Liang Zheng-Chun practicing Wing Chun shed continuously in his mind. His left eye provided him with the most detailed analysis of how Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s skeleton moved, how his muscles and ligaments channelled power. He absorbed all of that information like a sponge...
¡°Have something to drink,¡± a pleasant voice suddenly said.
Xia Lei opened his eyes and saw Liang Si-Yao, and a cup of juice in her hand.
Liang Si-Yao put the cup in Xia Lei¡¯s hand, ¡°This is carrot juice. Drink it. It¡¯ll help you to recover your strength more quickly.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± Xia Lei thanked her, then drank the juice.
Liang Si-Yao sat next to Xia Lei, ¡°Lu Sheng is powerful. Do you really want to spar with him? I can talk to him if you want to give up.¡±
¡°No, I¡¯ll spar with him. I can also test out what I¡¯ve learnt,¡± said Xia Lei, then heughed, ¡°The most that¡¯ll happen is me getting beaten up. I¡¯m not afraid of pain.¡±
¡°Okay. You rest then.¡± Liang Si-Yao took Xia Lei¡¯s empty cup and left.
Half an hour passed quickly. Lu Sheng went to an empty space and the students made way for him, then stood around in a circle and got ready to watch a show.
Lu Sheng gestured at Xia Lei, ¡°Half an hour¡¯s up, punk. Are you all rested up?¡±
Xia Lei got up and walked over, then stood facing Lu Sheng. When he positioned himself, he got into Wing Chun¡¯s most famous beginning stance, ¡®Seeking Hand¡¯. In this stance, one hand was the seeking hand and it attacked while the other was the protecting hand, which defended. The seeking hand and protecting hand were interchangeable, attacking and defending. This was what he had learnt from Liang Zheng-Chun half an hour earlier.
¡°You do look a little like an expert,¡± mocked Lu Sheng, ¡°but I don¡¯t even need to use Wing Chun to beat you. Mixed martial arts is enough.¡±
As soon as he was done speaking, Lu Sheng suddenly raised his leg and attacked Xia Lei with a kick.
Xia Lei jumped half a step aside lightly, withdrew his seeking hand and turned his protecting hand into a fist, then mmed it into the ligaments between Lu Sheng¡¯s knee and thigh.
This one punch made Lu Sheng hobble two steps back and look at Xia Lei in surprise. The punch to the ligaments did not harm thick-skinned and thick-muscled Lu Sheng but it still hurt horribly. He did not show his pain, however, and bore the pain silently.
The surrounding students looked surprised too. When Lu Sheng kicked at Xia Lei, almost all of them thought that Xia Lei would be kicked to the ground but it all changed in an instant - Xia Lei had punched Lu Sheng backwards!
¡°Dad, it¡¯s strange.¡± Liang Si-Yao, who was watching, turned to Liang Zheng-Chun next to her and said, ¡°I felt like it was you sparring with Lu Sheng just now.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun sighed softly, ¡°This young man is a puzzle. I thought he was just copying earlier but it seems like he has now mastered Long Bridge and Short Bridge power channelling techniques. He is a true person of Wing Chun. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s too quick though?¡±
Long Bridge power channelling and Short Bridge power channelling are two methods of channelling power in Wing Chun. The former is a long-range attack and thetter a short-range attack. What Xia Lei had used to push Lu Sheng backwards with was Short Bridge power channelling. Him being able to hit a stronger, sturdier Lu Sheng backwards with one punch proved one thing - he had mastered the technique of Wing Chun power channelling, increasing his strength many-fold!
On the sparring grounds, Lu Sheng stopped taking Xia Lei lightly. He also got into a Wing Chun beginning stance.
Xia Lei suddenly zipped right in front of Lu Sheng, his fist speeding towards his heart.
Xia Lei was taking the initiative to attack! The surrounding students were surprised again.
Bam bam bam, bam bam bam...
Lu Sheng and Xia Lei sparred. They were both attacking and defending very quickly and watching them made one¡¯s vision blur. Their fight was like the final edit of a martial arts movie - very exhrating.
¡°Impossible. The monk has practiced Wing Chun for three years and he¡¯s the best of us. Why can¡¯t he beat that guy?¡± said a student.
¡°Yeah, and that guy has only practiced for a few days? I don¡¯t believe it!¡± said a student.
¡°Scary. Is that guy actually hiding his real skills and he came here pretending to be weak so that he can defeat stronger opponents? But why?¡± someone puzzled.
In their discussion, they were all surprised by the strength Xia Lei disyed and found it incredible.
Liang Zheng-Chun suddenly spoke, ¡°Not good. Lu Sheng is going to lose.¡±
¡°No way...¡± Liang Si-Yao could not believe Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s words.
As they sparred, Xia Lei suddenly cut short Lu Sheng¡¯s technique. His punchnded heavily on Lu Sheng¡¯s chest. This punch was quick, relentless and powerful. Lu Sheng¡¯s body of at least 90kg was lifted off the ground before he mmed heavily onto the floor.
Xia Lei took advantage of the opportunity to use his knees to press the fallen Lu Sheng to the ground, then used his fist to strike at Lu Sheng¡¯s head.
Lu Sheng closed his eyes.
Xia Lei¡¯s fist stopped before his face. He did not follow through with the punch.
The entire practice hall was silent; so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
A man who was a retired special forces, had practiced Wing Chun for three years and was a professional bodyguard was actually beaten by a guy who had learnt Wing Chun for three days. Who would be willing to believe this result?
Xia Lei stood and held out a hand to Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng hesitated, but still grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand and pulled himself to his feet.
¡°You let me win,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°Why be so polite? I lost. I didn¡¯t let you win,¡± said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei smiled and stretched out a hand to Lu Sheng, ¡°Let¡¯s be friends.¡±
Lu Sheng did not hesitate this time. He reached to shake Xia Lei¡¯s hand, then grinned, ¡°I seldom admit defeat but you are one I shall admit to.¡±
Lu Sheng was actually quite a straightforward person and didn¡¯t hide his feelings. When he didn¡¯t like someone, he would target that person. If he liked a person or respected a person, that person would have his friendship.
¡®An exchange of blows may lead to friendship¡¯ - this old saying applied to Lu Sheng and Xia Lei.
While Lu Sheng and Xia Lei were getting along, Liang Zheng-Chun pulled Liang Si-Yao to a quiet corner and spoke softly, ¡°Your suggestion earlier of Xia Lei being myst disciple is not a bad one. Go talk to him and find out what he intends and what he means to do.¡±
Liang Si-Yao giggled, ¡°Dad, I told you you¡¯ve struck gold. You just didn¡¯t discover it. If you want to talk, do it yourself. I¡¯m not going.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun red at Liang Si-Yao, ¡°Wretch. Trying to anger me? Where shall I hide my old face if I go ask him? Your old man is the true descendant of Wing Chun and has a certain dignity to upkeep. If I ask personally and get rejected, and news of it spreads in themunity... How can I show my face in front of others then?¡±
Liang Si-Yaoughed, ¡°Okay, okay, let your daughter handle this matter. But you have to get me sweet and sour pork ribs.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun snapped, ¡°You glutton. You don¡¯t put on weight though.¡±
¡°I am naturally blessed. I don¡¯t get fat no matter how much I eat. Hee hee. Okay, I¡¯ll go see what his intentions are. Wait for my good news.¡± Liang Si-Yao walked towards Xia Lei.
Liang Zheng-Chun stroked his chin and a slight smile appeared on his lips, ¡°This guy is like the martial arts prodigy they describe in those Xianxia novels. If I ept him as myst disciple, our Wing Chun will have a very good sessor. Who knows, it may not be strange for him to be another Master Ip Man.¡±
Though it was the twenty-first century, a national essence such as kungfu still followed ancient traditions and formally bing a disciple to a Master was an indispensable step. Xia Lei had already disyed astonishing talent. Liang Zheng-Chun was moved and would like Xia Lei to be his sessor but Xia Lei would have to first formally be his disciple.
¡°Xia Lei, can you do me a favour?¡± Liang Si-Yao interrupted Xia Lei and Lu Sheng¡¯s conversation.
¡°Of course,¡± Xia Lei asked, ¡°What can I do for you?¡±
¡°Um,e with me.¡± Liang Si-Yao did not say what she wanted help with but walked towards a door.
Xia Lei followed her through the door. Behind the door was Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s office. He would sometimes stay there so there was also a kitchen and bedroom.
Liang Si-Yao brought Xia Lei into Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s office and smiled as she said, ¡°Please take a seat.¡±
¡°Weren¡¯t you asking me...¡±
¡°Yeah, I want to ask you to change the water tank for me,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei looked at the water dispenser in the corner - the water tank was still full. He looked back at Liang Si-Yao, speechless.
Liang Si-Yaoughed dryly, ¡°Oh my, it¡¯s been changed. So sorry. I was too careless. That¡¯s good, no need to change the water tank anymore. Let¡¯s have a chat. Sit, sit. I¡¯ll get you some water.¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s okay. Let¡¯s just sit.¡± Xia Lei sat on a chair, thinking curiously, ¡®What does she want to talk about? She¡¯s being all secretive.¡¯
Liang Si-Yao moved a chair to sit facing Xia Lei and stared right at him. ¡°Can I be so bold as to ask what your profession is?¡±
¡°I have a workshop where I process parts for businesses. It¡¯s a small business,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯ve never learnt any martial arts?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°Who are the people in your family?¡±
¡°A sister. She¡¯s gone to Jing-Du for her university studies.¡± After answering this question, Xia Lei suddenlyughed, ¡°Miss Liang, what are these questions for? Just speak frankly and stop beating about the bush.¡±
¡°Then... Would you be willing to put your heart and soul into learning martial arts and give up your workshop?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao probingly.
¡°How can I do that? Learning martial arts is just a hobby for me. I¡¯ve never thought of establishing myself here. My goal in learning martial arts is just to have the ability to defend myself.¡±
¡°I see...¡± Liang Si-Yao looked disappointed.
At that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s phone suddenly rang. He took out his phone and nced at it - it was Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei picked up, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me.¡±
¡°Lei! Come back quick!¡± Ma Xiao-An¡¯s voice was very anxious.
Xia Lei was struck by a twinge of misgiving, ¡°What happened?¡±
¡°Someone came and trashed our shop. You...¡± The sound was suddenly cut off.
Xia Lei got up to leave. ¡°Miss Liang, something urgent came up. Let¡¯s chat next time.¡±
¡°Hey, need help?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei had already run out the door.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 69
Beatdown
The Wing Chun school was not far from Thunder Horse Workshop. Xia Lei arrived in ten minutes.
Before he stopped the car, he saw a group of young thugs standing in front of Thunder Horse Workshop holding metal pipes and bats. Ma Xiao-An and the others were in the shop, holding tools like hammers and wrenches, guarding the shop.
The ground in front of the shop was littered with pieces of brick and broken ss. It looked like some conflict had already happened.
Xia Lei mmed on the brakes and jumped out of the car without even removing the keys. He hurried over, shouting, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
The group of thugs looked at him, all with aggressive faces.
At that moment, a person walked out of the group. He was bald and had a finger-thick gold chain around his neck; it was Chen Chuan-Hu.
¡°Oh? Isn¡¯t this Xia Lei... I mean Boss Xia?¡± said Chen Chuan-Hu in a peculiar tone, ¡°You were moving bricks on my construction sites not long ago and here you are, a boss. You¡¯re really something, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei stared stonily at Chen Chuan-Hu, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±
After Li Qing-Hua had been arrested, Chen Chuan-Hu was too and Xia Lei had not bothered about their affairs after that. He did not know where they had been locked up but Chen Chuan-Hu had unexpectedly appeared again before him, and with a group of thugs to make a mess of his workshop too!
When Ma Xiao-An and the others saw Xia Lei, they moved toe out of the workshop but the thugs blocked the doorway.
Chen Chuan-Hu sneeredughingly, ¡°How long did you think they could hold me for? Ten years? Eight years? You¡¯d like it if I was locked away for life so you won¡¯t have to pay me back that 10,000 you owe me, wouldn¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Does this mean you¡¯vee for money?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t care about 10,000. I can win 50,000 and up from just one round of mahjong. I¡¯m here because you¡¯ve offended someone you shouldn¡¯t have. Do you know who you¡¯ve offended, punk?¡± said Chen Chuan-Hu.
Xia Lei thought of two people - Gu Ken-Wen and He Lao-Qi. However, a person of Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s status would not associate herself with trash like Chen Chuan-Hu. If she wanted to trash his workshop she would have sent her bodyguards and not needed Chen Chuan-Hu at all. If it wasn¡¯t Gu Ke-Wen, it was He Lao-Qi. Chen Chuan-Hu was also part of the underworld but to a big fish like He Lao-Qi, he was just a small fry. It was no surprise that he would be sent by him to stir up trouble.
At that thought, Xia Lei asked inquiringly, ¡°Is it He Lao-Qi?¡±
¡°Shit! Is Lao-Qi¡¯s name one for you to speak of?¡± Chen Chuan-Hu waved his hand and the group of thugs ran over, surrounding Xia Lei.
When Ma Xiao-An and the others saw the thugs surround Xia Lei, they rushed outside. Both sides shed and Zhou Xiao-Hong was hit in the thigh by metal pipe and fell to the ground.
A thug pointed at Ma Xiao-An with a metal pipe and snarled, ¡°Stay still or we¡¯ll cripple you all!¡±
Other than Ma Xiao-An and the ones who had rushed out to fight, the others were honest, hardworking people with quiet lives. They had never been in such a confrontation before and were cowed; they didn¡¯t dare to go out again.
¡°Xiao-An, you guys stay inside. Don¡¯te out,¡± said Xia Lei loudly.
Ma Xiao-An stomped his feet in anger, ¡°Damn it! I called the police but they¡¯re not here yet!¡±
¡°The police? Hahaha...¡± Chen Chuan-Hu sneered, ¡°Is the police station your home? Will theye because you call them toe? Don¡¯t worry. They¡¯ve received a tip and they¡¯re going to catch a brothel patron now. They won¡¯t being here soon.¡±
¡°So you¡¯ve nned everything. What do you want? Speak,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Simple. Your workshop or your legs - choose one. If you choose your legs I¡¯ll get my guys to trash your workshop. If you choose your workshop, I¡¯ll break your legs personally. What will you choose?¡± said Chen Chuan-Hu.
¡°I want both. What shall we do then?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I knew you¡¯d say that. That¡¯s great - we want both too.¡± Chen Chuan-Hu shouted suddenly, ¡°Get him!¡±
The thugs charged at Xia Lei like rabid dogs. Metal pipes and bats came swinging at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s Seeking Hand caught hold of a metal pipe which was aimed at his head. He used two to four swinging techniques to push away the metal pipes easily, and blocked the bat that came after in the next second. Then, he took advantage of the thug holding onto the metal pipe, pulling him in front of himself and using his body to block the other metal pipes and bats being used to attack him.
The attacks from behind crumbled and Xia Lei took action first and suddenly punched a thug in the chest. The thug gave a cry and kneeled on the ground, clutching his chest.
Xia Lei took a leaping step forward onto the shoulders of the kneeling thug, then leveraged on him and flew up, kicking a thug to the ground.
Bam, bam, bam! Bam, bam, bam...
Xia Lei shifted left and right like a fish moving through water. The thugs were beaten out of shape by Xia Lei andy scattered about, noses bruised, faces swelling and unable to peel themselves off the ground.
A group beating had turned into the group getting beaten. Though Chen Chuan-Hu had brought a group of young thugs, they had not been in many actual fights and had been bullying regr people. It was their first time running into someone who knew martial arts like Xia Lei. These young thugs were no match for Xia Lei, who was able to defeat Lu Sheng, a three-year Wing Chun student and retired special forces. Furthermore, there were more opponents but none could be faster than his left eye!
Bam! A piercing Long Bridge punch hit the thug guarding Chen Chuan-Hu in the lower abdomen and he keeled over, clutching his stomach. Xia Lei¡¯s Seeking Hand grabbed him by the hair and he smashed the thug¡¯s head to his knee. Bam. A muffled bang sounded and the thug copsed to the ground, his face full of blood. He held his bleeding face and rolled on the ground, wailing in anguish.
There was no mercy for these sort of people. If they were fierce, he would have to be fiercer!
They hade knocking and looking for trouble so if he did not scare them off, they would just keeping!
Chen Chuan-Hu stared at Xia Lei, dumbfounded. Cold sweat beaded his forehead. The Xia Lei he knew was not this Xia Lei before him. It was as if Xia Lei had be a whole other person while he¡¯d been in jail!
The only underlings Chen Chuan-Hu had left were those blocking the doorway of Thunder Horse Workshop. They were also looking at Xia Lei and at the rest of their group on the ground in horror. They¡¯d imagined Xia Lei to be beaten half to death like a poor little dog but he was still standing unharmed before them.
Xia Lei walked towards Chen Chuan-Hu, his eyes ice-cold.
Chen Chuan-Hu hurriedly backpedalled, shouting, ¡°Shit! What are you guys standing around for? Get him!¡±
A thug bit the bullet and charged, lifting the bat in his hand and aiming for Xia Lei¡¯s head.
A secondter, he was on the ground and so was his bat. A size 41 footprint was on his crotch. His family-making facilities would not function normally for at least a month.
¡°You! Go!¡± Chen Chuan-Hu grabbed a thug by the arm and pushed him towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei swung his arm and the thug dropped the metal pipe he¡¯d just raised with a nk, then turned and ran away.
The remaining two thugs looked at each other, then suddenly threw aside the weapons in their hands and fled. The money Chen Chuan-Hu gave them was only enough for cigarettes, alcohol and inte cafes; it wasn¡¯t enough for them to sell their lives to him.
Just Chen Chuan-Hu was left now. He¡¯d backed himself into Thunder Horse Workshop¡¯s doorway. Angry employees were at his back with hammers and wrenches in their hands, and they were ready to greet him with blows at any moment.
With wolves at his back and a tiger in front, Chen Chuan-Hu had no ce to escape to.
¡°You bastard!¡± Ma Xiao-An had held a grudge against Chen Chuan-Hu for a long time. He cursed, then raised the wrench and swung it at the back of Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s head.
Xia Lei was faster. He kicked and his foot went ncing past Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s cheek to strike Ma Xiao-An¡¯s wrench from his hand.
¡°Lei, you...¡± Ma Xiao-An did not understand why Xia Lei had done that.
¡°This is between me and him. You stay out of it,¡± said Xia Lei.
He did not let Ma Xiao-An attack to stop the workshop employees from involving themselves in a grudge with a character such as Chen Chuan-Hu. They were all regr, hardworking folk with elders and younger ones to take care of. They would not be able to handle it if Chen Chuan-Hu came after them. This was also why he had told Ma Xiao-An to keep them in the workshop - he could take responsibility for this matter all by himself!
Chen Chuan-Hu froze, thenughed all of a sudden, ¡°You don¡¯t dare to hit me? Afraid that I¡¯ll take revenge...¡±
Before he could finish his sentence, Xia Lei pped him in the face.
Pa! A shockingly crisp sound rang out. Chen Chuan-Hu staggered, then fell to the ground.
Xia Lei kicked Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s waist and he screamed, then curled up like a shrimp.
¡°Xiao-An, call the police again,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An went looking for his phone but found that its screen had been broken by a thug¡¯s metal pipe earlier.
Cui Yong got his phone out and dialled 110.
Xia Lei squatted next to Chen Chuan-Hu and reached to grab him by the hair, ¡°Chen Chuan-Hu, you said I didn¡¯t dare to hit you, huh?¡±
¡°I...¡±
Pa! Xia Lei didn¡¯t give him a chance to finish speaking and pped him. He¡¯d pped him twice; once left and once right. Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s fat face had be rounder and fleshier.
¡°Who sent you? Tell me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s...¡± Chen Chuan-Hu suddenly covered his face, afraid that Xia Lei would p him again.
Xia Lei did not p him again this time. He¡¯d guessed that it was He Lao-Qi but it was just a guess - he wanted a definite answer.
¡°Speak!¡± Xia Lei raised his hand.
¡°It was myself!¡± Chen Chuan-Hu was suddenly forting, ¡°It was myself! What can you do to me? Beat me to death? Come! You dare beat me to death?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly reached and used his fingers to hook onto the bottommost rib of Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s rib-cage, then yanked upwards.
¡°Argh-¡± Chen Chuan-Hu screamed.
Xia Lei did not stop. He continued pulling that rib upwards.
It hurt so much for Chen Chuan-Hu that he was sweating and his face drained of colour. He held on for less than ten seconds before he crumbled and cried piteously, ¡°Yes, yes... He Lao-Qi!¡±
So it was He Lao-Qi.
Xia Lei let go of Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s rib. He looked at Chen Chuan-Hu, curled up on the ground like a dog, but felt no joy.
He¡¯d been worried about Gu Ke-Wen and He Lao-Qiing to make trouble for him after the visit by Lin Bo-Wen and Lin Ya-Ru. That was why he had gone to Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s Wing Chun school to learn Wing Chun. It had been a very shrewd decision. If he had not learnt Wing Chun techniques and suddenly increased his power, the one crying on the ground now could have been him.
However, Chen Chuan-Hu was just a small fry. The real bigwig had not appeared yet. Gu Ke-Wen and He Lao-Qi, no matter which of the two it was, still put great pressure on him. How could he be happy in a situation like this?
The police finally turned up, asked questions and squashed Chen Chuan-Hu and the beaten-up thugs into police cars. Xia Lei, however, could guess at the oue. People such as Chen Chuan-Hu would be walking on some street again in under two weeks.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 70
Comforting Treatment
Xia Lei also went to the police station. It was a case of self-defence but the whole incident had to be documented and exined. They had to sort out those who needed to be held responsible, those who needed to be hospitalised and those who needed to be thrown behind bars. These all needed time so by the time Xia Lei walked out of the police station, it was gettingte.
Instead of going home, Xia Lei drove to Thunder Horse Workshop.
Thunder Horse Workshop was not closed and the lights were still on. Xia Lei saw Zhou Xiao-Hong cleaning up the rubbish in the workshop when he got out of the car. The rubbish bins by the road were already heaped full of brick rubble, some broken things and broken ss.
Zhou Xiao-Hong held broom and dustpan in her hands, sweeping the floor of the workshop carefully under themplight. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything wrong when she was standing still but she limped when she moved.
Xia Lei suddenly recalled that a thug had hit her on the thigh with a metal pipe and began to get worried. He walked quickly into the workshop and asked in concern, ¡°Xiao-Hong, you¡¯ve injured your leg. Why are you still working?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong only realised that Xia Lei hade when he spoke and she hurriedly put down the broom and dustpan. ¡°You¡¯re here, Big Brother Lei. I¡¯m fine... I¡¯ll get some water for you.¡±
Xia Lei pulled her to a chair and sat her down. ¡°Sit here. I¡¯m not thirsty. You rest and I¡¯ll clean up.¡±
¡°How can this do? I should be the one doing these odd jobs,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong
She made to stand up but Xia Lei pressed her down with a finger,ughing as he said, ¡°What dirty jobs have I not done? I was like you. I did whatever dirty job or hardbour just to earn money. Just sit there and Iet me do the cleaning or I¡¯ll get mad at you.¡±
This seemed to work. Zhou Xiao-Hong listened and sat without moving while looking at Xia Lei clean up.
Zhou Xiao-Hong was actually almost done when Xia Lei had arrived. She had only a few corners left, which Xia Lei cleaned up in ten minutes.
Xia Lei went to Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s side and asked in concern, ¡°Have you gone to see the doctor, Xiao-Hong?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong shook her head, ¡°I haven¡¯t. Doctors are expensive in the city...¡± Sheughed in embarrassment, ¡°I can¡¯t bear to spend the money.¡±
Xia Lei frowned, ¡°You dummy. Is money more important than your health? What if you had a serious injury and didn¡¯t have it treated in time? What will you want money for if you lose your life?¡±
¡°For my mother and father¡¯s living expenses. And my brother¡¯s studies.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong seemed quite cheerful about it.
¡°Won¡¯t you care a little more for yourself?¡±
¡°I¡¯m fine, Big Brother Lei, I¡¯m really...¡± At that point, Zhou Xiao-Hong moved and the movement pulled at the leg injury. She was in such pain she couldn¡¯t speak.
Xia Lei asked a little worriedly, ¡°What? Does it hurt a lot?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong was about to deny it but a groan of pain escaped her lips.
¡°That¡¯s it. I¡¯m taking you to the hospital,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, I really... Ah...¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong seemed to be in even greater pain.
Xia Lei was not going to ther on any more. He looked at Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s left thigh and the material of her blue work-clothing disappeared instantly. A plump thigh entered the field of vision of his left eye.
The thigh area of Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s upper femur was red and swollen. The skin had split where it had been hit by the metal pipe and the injury was red, obviously inmed. Xia Lei¡¯s frown deepened at the sight. An injury like this was not dangerous but if left untreated, it could fester and be infected. It could lead to the worst and most dangerous thing too and that was muscle necrosis and tetanus.
¡°Your injury is so bad and you still say it isn¡¯t?¡± Xia Lei said usingly.
¡°You didn¡¯t... See my injury, so how do you know?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked curiously at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei then discovered that he had let it slip and followed up with a usible line, ¡°You look to be in so much pain that I can guess without looking. How about this - it¡¯ste and the outpatient doctors may be done working. I¡¯ll go to the pharmacy and get some hydrogen peroxide and bandages. Oh, and some amoxicillin. You have to take some anti-inmmation medicine.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s curiosity increased, ¡°How do you know all these, Big Brother Lei?¡±
¡°I learnt it from books, of course. You should read more too when you have the time. Learn something useful. Okay, you wait for me. I¡¯ll go to the nearby pharmacy and buy some medicine for you.¡± Xia Lei left Thunder Horse Workshop and walked towards the closest pharmacy.
His medical knowledge was from books but it was just some simple information. He had never thought of bing a doctor and he didn¡¯t have the requirements to do so, so he never delved deeper.
Pharmacies these days sold all sorts of medicines and you could get whatever you need if you paid in cash or swiped your credit card. Xia Lei quickly bought the items he needed but found Zhou XIao-Hong missing when he got back to Thunder Horse Workshop.
Xia Lei went to the doorway of the inner room and asked, ¡°Xiao-Hong, are you in there?¡±
¡°Mm... I¡¯m here... You cane in.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s voice was a little strange.
Xia Lei pushed open the door and walked in. The cramped room was lit by duskymplight and Zhou Xiao-Hongy on the foldable bed, a thin nket covering her legs. The exposed part of her legs were smooth and un-socked. Her face flushed red under themplight and she looked fairly shy and nervous.
The scene before Xia Lei made him stare for a bit and he held the bag of medical supplies, not sure what to do.
¡°Big Brother Lei, you said... You¡¯ll help me treat my wound. I, I can¡¯t take my trousers off for you to treat me outside, right? So, so I came in here.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong got redder and redder as she spoke. There wasn¡¯t a spot on her face that wasn¡¯t red by the time she was done speaking.
Xia Lei came to his senses and gave a dry cough, then went to the foldable bed. This mountain girl was shy so she wouldn¡¯t take her trousers off outside, of course. That was why she hade in here to take them off. The patient had got all ready to receive treatment so he, as ¡®doctor¡¯ should not dawdle and treat her.
Xia Lei gently moved the nket on her legs aside and a pair of pale, tender legs entered his field of vision. The injury on her left leg was obvious and in a bit of a sensitive area - it was almost to her underwear. His line of vision went to her wound but it could not help going to her mature area too. He started to feel awkward and was a little regretful for saying he would help her clean her wound. He should have brought her to the doctor. How embarrassing was this?
¡°Big Brother Lei?¡± Even Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s neck was red. She suspected that Xia Lei was sneaking a look somewhere.
¡°Uh, sorry, I was thinking about how I¡¯ll treat it,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°Are you done thinking?¡± A smile appeared at the corners of Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s lips. She didn¡¯t actually mind.
¡°Yes, yes.¡± Xia Lei took out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and sprayed it on Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s wound twice.
The white hydrogen peroxide wet Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s thigh, her wound and her clothes.
¡°Ah, ah! It hurts, it hurts.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong had tears of pain in her eyes when the hydrogen peroxide touched her wound.
¡°A big adult like you still afraid of pain? Bear with it for a bit, I¡¯ll be done soon.¡± Xia Lei consoled her as he used a cotton bud to clean the wound.
Zhou Xiao-Hong clenched her teeth and watched Xia Lei clean her wound for her with tear-filled eyes; she was touched.
After cleaning her wound, Xia Lei applied some white powder on it and used bandages to wrap up her wound and thigh. When he was tying off the bandage, he tugged a little harder and the flesh of her thigh was pulled downwards. A gap appeared in the fabric above the thigh...
The two of them were silent in that instant and the atmosphere became weird.
¡°Um. Okay. I¡¯m going back now. You rest. I¡¯ll give you a few days off. Come back to work when your wound¡¯s healed,¡± said Xia Lei. He dared not hang around.
¡°Big Brother Lei, I can still work. Really. I don¡¯t need to take days off.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong seemed anxious.
Xia Lei pulled the nket over and covered Zhou Xiao-Hong with it, then patted her on her shoulder, ¡°Being disobedient again? Rest. Your days will get better.¡±
Xia Lei left. Zhou Xiao-Hong clutched the nket and giggled.
¡®Your days will get better¡¯ - Zhou Xiao-Hong was very happy every time Xia Lei said this to her.
Xia Lei closed the shutters and got into the car, headed for his home. However, he suddenly changed his mind at an intersection and turned the car in the direction of Beauty of Beauteous Hair Salon.
Chen Chuan-Hu had been sent by He Lao-Qi. Would He Lao-Qi just forget it since Chen Chuan-Hu got arrested?
¡®I am probably a nobody in the eyes of someone like He Lao-Qi but I beat up so many of Chen Chuan-Hu¡¯s underlings today. Would he still see me as a nobody? Will he send trash like Chen Chuan-Hu the next time? He won¡¯t. He¡¯s after me and I have no clue about who he is. This can¡¯t do...¡¯ Xia Lei pondered these thoughts as he drove.
The only thing he knew about He Lao-Qi so far is his name and that was definitely not enough.
Who was He Lao-Qi? Where did he live? Who did he hang out with? Xia Lei wanted answers to all these questions but he couldn¡¯t just grab anyone off the street and ask him these questions. Qin Xiang was the best person to ask no matter how he thought about it.
Xia Lei had been to Beauty of Beauteous Hair Salon once and that was by coincidence but he remembered the route clearly. The Polo quietly approached Beauty of Beauteous Hair Salon and he stopped the car when it was 500 metres away. He stuck his head out the window and took at look at the situation in the salon from afar.
Normal people would only see some vague images from 500 metres away but it seemed like it was just five metres away for Xia Lei. He could see everything clearly from 500 metres away, even the beauty products in the window!
Xia Lei soon spotted Qin Xiang. He was doing the hair for a woman. His partner A-Lan was in front of the woman doing her nails. The three of them chatted gaily; the woman seemed to be a regr at Qin Xiang¡¯s salon.
Xia Lei covered his right eye and focused with his left, then locked onto Qin Xiang¡¯s lips. His mouth movements entered Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision, clear as day.
¡°Big Sister Hua, I¡¯m not buttering you up here. Your skin is great! Much better than mine. If you can get rid of your eye-bags you¡¯ll look five years younger immediately. Your husband will pounce on you like a wolf.¡± Qin Xiang said sweet words to his customer, then added, ¡°I just imported some beauty products from Korea. Do you want to try some?¡±
Xia Lei removed his hand from his right eye at that point. There was no point in lip-reading more. He willed his left eye back to normal and let it rest.
Spying on Qin Xiang was no use in this situation. He had to find another opportunity.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 71
200,000 For a Burr
The woman left the salon after her hair was done. She looked to be Qin Xiang¡¯sst customer for the day since he closed the door after she left.
¡°Xiang, are you going home or to the hospital?¡± asked A-Lan.
¡°I¡¯m going to the hospital to visit my mother before I go home,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°You have enough money for the surgery?¡± asked A-Lan.
Qin Xiang wrinkled his brows, ¡°I¡¯m still a little short but I¡¯ll think of something. You don¡¯t have to worry about this. Go home. You have to open shop early tomorrow.¡±
¡°Okay. Bye.¡± A-Lan got on an electric scooter and left.
Qin Xiang also got on his Yamaha motorcycle and entered the road and moved to the leftmostne.
A red Polo started its engine and followed. A few hundred metres passed in the blink of an eye and it also entered the leftmostne, shortening the distance between itself and the Yamaha motorcycle.
Though he had shortened the distance, Xia Lei still maintained 200 metres between the Polo and Yamaha motorcycle, following at a distance. Qin Xiang was a cat burr and was more cautious and experienced than regr people. Following him was no easy task.
After about ten kilometres, Qin Xiang came to a hospital.
There was a sign on the main column of the hospital which read ¡®Hai-Zhu City Springfield Hospital¡¯. Xia Lei had heard of this hospital before. It was a private hospital that charged much more than a public hospital but its service was way better. He did not drive the car into the hospital. When Qin Xiang stopped his motorcycle and headed towards the lobby, he stopped by the main entrance, then entered the main doors.
Qin Xiang went into the main lobby and a young woman in a nurse uniform greeted him from afar, ¡°Big Sister Qin, you¡¯re here. What gift did you bring today?¡±
¡°Nothing. Next time, then. I¡¯ll get something yummy for you next time,¡± said Qin Xiangughingly, ¡°You greedy little cat.¡±
The young nurse pouted, ¡°Then can you do my hair for meter?¡±
The nurse was being a bit of a roadblock but Qin Xiang kept his cool. ¡°Come to my shop tomorrow and I¡¯ll do your hair personally for free. Is that okay?¡± he said.
¡°Okay! You¡¯re the best, Big Sister Qin.¡± The young nurse smiled.
Qin Xiang went past the lobby and into a lift.
Xia Lei walked into the lobby and looked at the numbers jump in the lift disy. The lift stopped on the fifth floor.
Xia Lei went to the reception area and smiled as he asked, ¡°Nurse, has Qin Xiange by?¡±
¡°You know Qin Xiang?¡± The young nurse looked oddly at Xia Lei.
XIa Lei nodded, ¡°Yes, we¡¯re friends. Can you tell him I dropped by? His phone was off when I called. I have something very important to discuss with him.¡±
¡°He¡¯s gone to see his mother on Floor 5, Ward 201. You¡¯ll find him there,¡± said the nurse.
¡°Thanks. Right, what illness does his mother have? I¡¯ve asked him but he didn¡¯t want to tell me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°His mother has uterine cancer. She needs chemotherapy and surgery.¡± After a beat, she added, ¡°You shouldfort him more. This sort of cancer can be cured if treated in time - it just requires more money.¡±
¡°How much is it?¡± Xia Lei asked casually.
¡°500,000,¡± said the nurse.
¡°Oh. Thanks. I¡¯ll be going up.¡± Xia Lei left the reception area.
The young nurse watched Xia Lei walk into the lift and mumbled to herself, ¡°Such a handsome man is with Qin Xiang. What¡¯s going on in this world?¡±
It was a good thing Xia Lei did not hear her or he would have chills down his spine. There was a corridor outside the lift with wards on both sides. Whitemplight shone coldly from above. There was no one around and the ce looked particrly deserted; it had a cold atmosphere.
Xia Lei quickly found Ward 201. The door was closed but that was no obstacle. His left eye twitched and the scene in the ward entered his vision.
There were three beds in the ward; two upied, one empty. A female patient upied the bed next to the entrance and she looked to be in her fifties. She was drinking from a ss. The bed furthest in next to the window was upied by another woman who looked younger, maybe in her forties, but she was lying down, unmoving. Qin Xiang stood by her bedside and looked at her. That woman should be his mother.
¡°Qin Xiang, your mother just fell asleep,¡± said the female patient who was drinking water.
¡°Aunt Zhao, how was my mother today?¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s voice was gentler than a woman¡¯s.
The female patient called Aunt Zhao replied, ¡°Not very good. She¡¯s worried about her illness. You should try to persuade your mother and talk to her about it. This sort of illness needs a positive approach. If she¡¯s in fear every day her condition will deteriorate.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll talk to her,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°You too, really. You should spend more time with your mother. Close your shop for a while. Your mother has nobody here to apany her. How can she be in a good mood?¡±
A look of shame crossed Qin Xiang¡¯s face. He said, ¡°The treatment costs so much. If I don¡¯t earn money I won¡¯t have anything for my mother¡¯s treatment.¡±
¡°Ai.¡± The woman called Aunt Zhao sighed and put her ss down, then tunnelled into her nkets and went to sleep.
Xia Lei stopped watching them and made his eye go back to normal. He reached out and pushed the door open.
Qin Xiang¡¯s face changed when he saw Xia Lei appear in the doorway, then walked towards him, his eyes full of anger.
Xia Lei took two steps backwards and stood by the wall of the corridor.
Qin Xiang walked out of the ward and closed the door, then suddenly turned with a kick aimed at Xia Lei¡¯s chest.
Xia Lei swung his Seeking Hand and easily neutralised Qin Xiang¡¯s attack, then caught his ankle and pulled it forward. Qin Xiang was pulled towards the wall, almost hitting it.
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei in surprise. He couldn¡¯t understand how Xia Lei had be to powerful all of a sudden. However, his surprise was overwritten by anger in an instant and he responded with an elbow at Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Xia Lei raised his hand and held his elbow, meeting force with force and neutralising Qin Xiang¡¯s attack again. He then took a step backwards and said, ¡°I¡¯ll fight if you want a fight. We can go outside. This is a hospital and your mother is still in the ward. Do you want to wake her up and let her see us fighting?¡±
His words seemed to have struck a chord and Qin Xiang calmed down. He did not attack but his eyes were still full of anger, ¡°Bastard! You daree here? What do you want?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk somewhere else outside,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang hesitated but still followed Xia Lei to the stairwell.
Xia Lei stopped in the stairwell and got straight to the point, ¡°Do you know Chen Chuan-Hu?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard of him but I¡¯m not too familiar,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°He Lao-Qi sent him to trash my shop today,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiangughed grimly, ¡°I¡¯m not surprised. You should have known what would happen to you if you went against him. Even worse, you¡¯ve offended Gu Ke-Wen, who is even scarier than He Lao-Qi. So, your shop was trashed? Chen Chuan-Hu has many underlings, I heard.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°Chen Chuan-Hu has been arrested. His underlings are in the hospital and my shop¡¯s fine.¡±
¡°What?¡± Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°I came looking for you to get some information about He Lao-Qi. Where does he live...¡±
Qin Xiang cut Xia Lei off before he could finish speaking, ¡°You can go now. I won¡¯t tell you anything about He Lao-Qi. I¡¯m warning you. If you follow me again ore here to harass my mother, I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
Xia Lei was not scared by him and spoke calmly, ¡°He Lao-Qi sent Chen Chuan-Hu this time. The next time may be you. You have a chance of fighting with me. I let you off thest time but I won¡¯t be so merciful the next time.¡±
It was very difficult for him to beat Qin Xiang thest time but he had greater strength now. Qin Xiang was no match for him and it was apparent in their exchange earlier.
Qin Xiang looked conflicted.
¡°I know He Lao-Qi has something on you. You have no way of refusing him if you keep working for him. You were able to escape thest time and I didn¡¯t report you either. Next time, though, there will be no way out for you. What will your mother do if you go to jail or die?¡±
Qin Xiang spoke through clenched teeth, ¡°Don¡¯t threaten me with my mother! I¡¯m warning you!¡±
¡°Think about it.¡± Xia Lei spoke sternly, ¡°Have you thought about it? If He Lao-Qi can use your weakness once, he can use it twice, then thrice and till you¡¯re finished! Do you want to live in his shadow your whole life? Till you get done in or caught by the police?¡±
Qin Xiang was silent. Xia Lei had struck a nerve.
¡°He Lao-Qi wants me gone. He and I are arch enemies. Have you heard of the expression ¡®the enemy¡¯s enemy is your friend¡¯?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°You help me and I take down He Lao-Qi. I¡¯ll destroy what he has on you. How about it?¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang suddenlyughed, ¡°You? Take down He Lao-Qi? Stop joking.¡±
¡°You canugh at me for being ambitious but I¡¯m actually giving you a chance. Even if you don¡¯t help me, I can get to my goal through other avenues. And you, you will be cannon fodder for him and he¡¯ll y around with you till you¡¯re dead. I can only say this much. You¡¯re on your own.¡± So saying, Xia Lei followed the stairs down.
¡°Wait.¡± Qin Xiang suddenly called for Xia Lei to stop, ¡°Give me 200,000. I¡¯ll help you deal with him.¡±
¡°200,000?¡± Xia Lei paused.
¡°I need this money for my mother¡¯s treatment. I¡¯ve sold all I can but I still couldn¡¯t raise enough to pay for her treatment. Give me 200,000 and I¡¯ll help you deal with He Lao-Qi,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°200,000 is not a small sum. What can you do for me for 200,000?¡± Xia Lei had over 600,000 on hand and 200,000 was no problem for him but the money was for him to start hispany and he wasn¡¯t like those rich folk who could just give 200,000 away so easily.
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei. ¡°What do you want me to do for you?¡±
This sentence was a hint - he could do anything. ¡®He¡¯s worked for He Lao-Qi so he should know him very well. Maybe he knows what weaknesses he has or something he¡¯d like to hide... 200,000 is a little much but it¡¯s still eptable. Furthermore, the money is for his mother¡¯s treatment...¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Think about it. You know where to find me,¡± said Qin Xiang. He turned to leave.
¡°Hold on.¡± It was Xia Lei calling him to stop this time, ¡°Deal. I¡¯ll give you the money tomorrow. Where shall we meet?¡±
¡°Wait for my call,¡± said Qin Xiang. A charming smile appeared on his face.
¡°How do you have my number?¡±
¡°I even know which brand of underwear you wear. What¡¯s so strange about me knowing your phone number?¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 72
He¡¯s A Dog
Xia Lei went to the bank to withdraw 200,000 the next day and brought it to Thunder Horse Workshop. The employees had already started working earnestly though they were just some small orders.
Zhou Xiao-Hong did not listen to him and was not resting. She was holding a painting brush and metal ruler, drawing on the steel te for Ma Xiao-An and the others, making it more convenient for them to cut the materials and save time.
Seeing her work hard reminded Xia Lei of the situationst night when he was bandaging her wound for her. That white thigh, that gap that appeared because of the bandaging...
¡®I really need to find myself a woman. It¡¯s not good for me to be so sensitive all the time.¡¯ Xia Lei shook his head and smiled wryly as he chased the images in his head away. This wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d thought of getting himself a woman but it seemed to be just a mantra. It was easier said than done to find a woman to love and to be with.
He thought of Shentu Tian-Yin for no apparent reason; that haughty, queen-like woman. He smiled wryly again, and thought ¡®I keep thinking of her for no reason. Does this mean that she is the woman I want? What a joke. I really should know my limits...¡¯
Zhou Xiao-Hong was the first to see Xia Lei enter the workshop and she got to her feet, ¡°I¡¯ll make you tea, Big Brother Lei.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to rest? Why are you working?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Zhou Xiao-Hong gave a smallugh, ¡°Nah, I¡¯m not doing heavy work. I¡¯m just drawing. It¡¯s no different from resting.¡±
¡°Be careful. Don¡¯t get hurt again,¡± Xia Lei cautioned.
¡°Mm,¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong made a sound of agreement and went to make tea for Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An and the others greeted Xia Lei and he smiled as he greeted them back. What had happened yesterday definitely affected them but life was life. They were people who needed to earn money for their families so work was most important; they didn¡¯t care so much about other things.
Zhou Xiao-Hong made tea for Xia Lei, then went back to the metal board to draw.
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang before he could take a sip of tea.
The call was from Qin Xiang. His voice was soft but sharp and very sissy, ¡°Xia Lei, I¡¯ll wait for you at Ju Shan Garden Teahouse.¡±
¡°Okay. I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei hung up and went straight out.
Ma Xiao-An came over and pulled him by the hand, then spoke in a low tone, ¡°Lei, what are you doing?¡±
¡°Nothing,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Tell me if something¡¯s up. We can handle it together,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°There¡¯s really nothing. You just have to help me take care of the workshop. I¡¯ve actually been busy registering us as apany. We won¡¯t be just a workshop in the future.¡±
Ma Xiao-An paused, then said in delight, ¡°Really? That¡¯s great! You have to appoint me as Workshop Director or I won¡¯t let you off.¡±
¡°Is that all you want? Just Workshop Director? I¡¯ll make you a Deputy Head,¡± smiled Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An shook his head instead, ¡°I¡¯m not cut from that cloth. I¡¯ll be a Workshop Director.¡±
Xia Lei patted Ma XIao-An on the shoulder, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this yet. We can tell them when there¡¯s a positive oue or we¡¯ll beughed at if it doesn¡¯t work out.¡±
¡°I know. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell. I¡¯m not a bbermouth,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei nodded and left the workshop.
Ma Xiao-An sent Xia Lei out the door, and turned around, guffawing, ¡°You guy know what? Lei is preparing to start apany! We¡¯re going to to be founders and doyens of thepany!¡±
Cheers sounded from Thunder Horse Workshop and it was very lively.
Xia Lei watched Ma Xiao-An and the others cheer as he sat in the ratty-tatty Polo. He shook his head, then started the engine and entered traffic, heading towards Ju Shan Garden Teahouse. He did not tell the truth to Ma Xiao-An but it was for his own good. It was a dangerous affair to go up against He Lao-Qi so he did not want Ma Xiao-An to get involved. Lying to him was for his own good; it was a kind lie.
Xia Lei received another call before he got to Ju Shan Garden Teahouse. It was not from Qin Xiang but from an unknown number.
¡°Hello? Mr Xia?¡± It was a woman¡¯s voice, gentle and pleasant.
¡°Yes. Who is this?¡± Xia Lei could not tell who it was and he was curious.
¡°Can¡¯t you tell? I¡¯m Liang Si-Yao. Remember me?¡± said the woman.
¡°Oh, so it¡¯s Miss Liang. Of course I remember. Hello. What did you call me for?¡± Xia Lei found it surprising that Liang Si-Yao would call him.
¡°Nothing much. Just wanted to ask why you didn¡¯te to the school to practice today,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m busy with something at my workshop and I can¡¯t make time. I¡¯ll be there tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mm, okay. Oh right, have you thought about what I¡¯d talked to you about yesterday?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei remembered Liang Si-Yao calling him to Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s office to ask him to consider giving up his workshop and concentrate on Wing Chun before he left the school. This seemed to be Liang Si-Yao¡¯s true motive in calling him. He thought for a bit before replying, ¡°This isn¡¯t a small matter. How about this, Miss Liang - let me think about it some more and we¡¯ll talk at another time, okay?¡±
¡°Mm, okay. I won¡¯t disturb you any longer. See you tomorrow,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Goodbye, Miss Liang.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Saying that he would think about it was just polite talk. He¡¯d never thought about bing a true practitioner of martial arts.
Xia Lei was no stranger to Ju Shan Garden Teahouse. He had followed Li Qing-Hua from Ju Shan Garden Teahouse and recorded apromising video of him. That was also his first time using his X-ray vision to solve a problem.
Xia Lei found Qin Xiang in a private room after walking into the hall. The way Qin Xiang was dressed made Xia Lei speechless - he was wearing womens¡¯ pencil-trousers, matched with a ripped T-shirt. The two little pink dots on his t chest were stood out like sore thumbs. This way of dressing and his made-up face, which was more beautiful than a woman¡¯s, really entuated his existence as a tranny.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and walked into the private room QIn Xiang was in.
Qin Xiang looked at the bulging leather bag in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°You¡¯ve really brought the money.¡±
Xia Lei sat opposite Qin Xiang and put the leather bag on the table.
¡°Have you thought about it? If I take your money and don¡¯t help you then your money would be lost, you know?¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei pushed the money to Qin Xiang and spoke indifferently, ¡°I¡¯ve promised to give you 200,000. I¡¯m not afraid that you¡¯ll con me. I wouldn¡¯t give you the money either if it wasn¡¯t for your mother¡¯s treatment. If you want to con me, you can take this money and leave right now. I won¡¯t stop you.¡±
Qin Xiang pulled the string of the bag open and looked inside. He didn¡¯t say anything and lifted the bag, headed towards the exit.
Xia Lei just sat there, not even looking at Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang walked to the doorway of the private room, then suddenly turned back. He sat himself on the sofa, smiling, ¡°You really can hold it in, huh. Not worried I¡¯ll take your money for nothing?¡±
¡°You¡¯d be an unredeemable fool if you did that. I¡¯m helping you, not using you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang pursed his lips and smiled, ¡°You¡¯re really special, aren¡¯t you? Thanks for your money. It¡¯s important to me.¡±
¡°Take it for your mother¡¯s treatment. She¡¯s the one who needs it most,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. This money is for saving my mother¡¯s life. I won¡¯t spend it frivolously.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°I thought about it the whole night yesterday and I¡¯ve sorted it out. We are indeed in the same boat. I¡¯ll help you. What do you want to do?¡±
¡°Tell me about He Lao-Qi first. I¡¯d like to understand more about him,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°He¡¯s the Gu n¡¯s dog,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei was surprised. He¡¯d thought that He Lao-Qi was working for the Gu Ke-Wen because she paid him. He did not expect that He Lao-Qi would be rted to the Gu n in this way.
Qin Xiang continued, ¡°If you want to talk about He Lao-Qi, you have to start with the Gu n. You know that the Gu n is one of the most powerful families in Jing-Du, right? The Gu n controls North Group, which is worth billions and has a wide reach. What you don¡¯t know is that the Gu n actually started here in Hai-Zhu. Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s grandfather, Gu Ding-Shan is actually a figure in the underworld too. Nothing in the Gu n¡¯s coffers is clean. The Gu n has always been vicious. Anyone who goes up against them would have a bad end.¡±
Xia Lei thought of Liu Ying - she was also one of the victims of the Gu n¡¯s capital expansion. He didn¡¯t understand why a rich youngdy like Gu Ke-Wen used such underhanded methods to snatch Liu Ying¡¯spany and patent away back then but he understood now after hearing what Qin Xiang said. Gu Ding-Shan was a man of the underworld who stepped on the corpses of his opponents to reach higher - would his descendents be good, kind people?
Qin Xiang went on, ¡°He Lao-Qi¡¯s father was an underling of Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s back then and he took a bullet for Gu Ding-Shan and died. From then on, He Lao-Qi became the Gu n¡¯s dog and ran errands for them. Nobody dares to disrespect He Lao-Qi here on Hai-Zhu territory because he has the backing of the Gu n. He runs rampant here, terrorising and oppressing people.¡±
¡°Can the police do nothing to him? He¡¯s beenmitting evil crimes for so many years,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang smiled wryly, ¡°The police need evidence to make an arrest. What can they base their arrest on without evidence? He Lao-Qi is very slippery. He¡¯s never done bad deeds personally and always sends his underlings. Like me. He has dirt on me. I had to go steal Liu Ying¡¯s patent because he told me to. Would I dare say that he had instructed me to steal it if I got caught?¡±
He Lao-Qi¡¯s way of doing things seemed to havee from the Gu n. When Gu Ke-Wen wanted something bad done, she made He Lao-Qi do it so that she wouldn¡¯t get into any trouble herself.
Xia Lei was silent for a while before he spoke, ¡°What dirt does he have on you?¡±
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei, seeming to be observing him.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Aren¡¯t we sort of friends now? You can just not tell me if you don¡¯t trust me.¡±
Qin Xiang sighed. ¡°Telling you is better than He Lao-Qi holding onto my strings.¡± He paused, then said, ¡°I¡¯m a burr. Two years ago, I burgled a gold shop - I didn¡¯t know it belonged to He Lao-Qi. I was recorded on a well-hidden camera when I did it and he managed to track me down even though my face was covered. He didn¡¯t report me to the police, though. He gave me a copy of video. He¡¯s been sending me to steal whatever he wants ever since.¡±
¡°You¡¯re quite skilled. Didn¡¯t you think of stealing that video?¡±
Qin Xiang smiled wryly, ¡°Would that help? He knows it¡¯s me. He¡¯ll send someone to kill me. Living and being used by him is better than death.¡±
¡°Where does he live?¡±
Qin Xiang didn¡¯t say anything. He took out a piece of copy-paper from his gaudy handbag and held it out to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nced at the paper - He Lao-Qi¡¯s address, family members¡¯ names, age and schedules of some bodyguards were written on it. It was quite detailed.
¡°How do you want to deal with him?¡± probed Qin Xiang.
¡°I have no n now. Let¡¯s leave it at this first. I¡¯ll contact you if I need your help with anything.¡± Xia Lei put the copy-paper away.
¡°Okay. I¡¯m going to the hospital to pay the fees. Bye.¡± Qin Xiang took the leather bag and left.
Xia Lei still sat in the private room, thinking deeply.
He Lao-Qi was actually the dog of the Gu n. They were one entity. How can he fight them?
Be a Patron!
Chapter 73
Mysterious Client
Though he now knew He Lao-Qi¡¯s address and details about his family, Xia Lei still did not have a way to deal with him. He couldn¡¯t enter his home and finish him off, could he? And he couldn¡¯t kidnap his junior-high-aged son, could he? He was not an evil person and could never do something like that. He¡¯d also thought about sneaking into He Lao-Qi¡¯s home and stealing evidence of his wrongdoings or something like that but Qin Xiang had said that He Lao-Qi never did the dirty work himself. Since that¡¯s the case, how high was his chance of stealing something that could be used as evidence of He Lao-Qi¡¯s misdeeds?
However, this was not a total waste. He had be friends with Qin Xiang; this was a sort of gain. He was on the first step to being able to deal with He Lao-Qi.
He sat for a while in the private room, then paid the bill and left Ju Shan Garden Teahouse, driving back to Thunder Horse Workshop.
As he alighted from the car, Xia Lei saw two strangers in the workshop talking with Ma Xiao-An about something. He observed them both - they were dressed in suits, carried briefcases and looked mannered. He was curious and thought ¡®Who are they? What did theye to the workshop for?¡¯
Ma Xiao-An saw Xia Lei and greeted him, ¡°Lei... Boss Lei, someone wants to talk business with you.¡± He then turned to the two suited men and said, ¡°That¡¯s our workshop¡¯s boss, Xia Lei. You can talk to him. Heh heh, I¡¯m not the one who makes the decisions.¡±
So it was two unknown clients. Xia Lei weed them. After the falling-out with Chi Jing-Qiu, the business at Thunder Horse Workshop had been slow, just earning enough to keep itself afloat and not much more. New clients were a good thing, of course.
Once the two suited men heard that Xia Lei was the boss of Thunder Horse Workshop, they greeted him with smiles on their faces and niceties on their lips.
¡°I am Zhou Wei. This is my colleague, Jiang Xin.¡± The suited Zhou Wei smiled and said, ¡°We represent China Industrial Group from Jing-Du.¡±
Xia Lei recognised neither Jiang Xin nor Zhou Wei; he had ever seen them before nor heard anyone mention their names. It was also his first time hearing of the China Industrial Group Zhou Wei spoke of. Xia Lei found it strange ¡®It¡¯s normal if someone from Hai-Zhu City or the nearby businessese to me to get parts processed and make orders but Jing-Du is so far away. I haven¡¯te into contact or interacted with a China Industrial Group either. How did they find me here?¡¯
Jian Xin seemed to guess what Xia Lei was thinking and said, ¡°It¡¯s like this, Mr Xia. We are here this time to get one thing rified.¡±
Not for business? Xia Lei was a little disappointed but he did not show it as he responded, ¡°What is it that you want rified?¡±
Jiang Xin opened his briefcase and took out a well-wrapped cloth bag. He then opened the cloth bag and revealed a processed part.
Xia Lei froze as soon as he saw the part. This part was the high precision part he had processed for East Wind Heavy Industries back then, earning him the first million in his life. He remembered every detail of every event that happened during that bit of business; naturally he¡¯d remember the high precision part he had personally processed.
¡°Do you remember this part, Mr Xia?¡± asked Jiang Xin politely.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Of course I remember. This was a part I processed for East Wind Heavy Industries. But what is it doing in your hands?¡±
Zhou Wei answered, ¡°This is why we are here. The batch of parts you processed was an order we had ced with East Wind Heavy Industries. They are very important. I think you also know that this sort of high precision part processing is currently impossible in our country due to the technology block by Europe and America. You, however, have done it. Impressive.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°You didn¡¯te all the way from Jing-Du to praise me, did you?¡±
Jiang Xin spoke, ¡°You jest, Mr Xia. We havee to verify this and to bring you some benefits. You should know what I¡¯m talking about.¡±
¡°You want me to process another part and prove it to you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That is correct. I can guarantee, however, that if you can prove that you can indeed process high precision parts like this, you will have nock for orders in the future,¡± said Jiang Xin.
Xia Lei was already excited about the prospect but he kept his poker-face, ¡°Can I ask a question before I begin?¡±
¡°Please ask,¡± said Zhou Wei politely.
¡°I processed that batch of parts for East Wind Heavy Industries but they would never speak of this matter to anyone, so how did you know that it was I who¡¯d processed them?¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhou Weiughed, ¡°It¡¯s simple. There is no local equipment and no local talent to do it. We thought all along that East Wind Heavy Industries would be unable to do it but they handed in the goods on time. We, of course, would want to find out how it was done. After we received the parts from East Wind Heavy Industries, we asked the relevant departments to investigate. It was not difficult to investigate either since many people in East Wind Heavy Industries knew about it. The investigation led us here, and.. Yes, here we are.¡±
Xia Lei had the answers to his questions. It seemed fishy on the surface but Zhou Wei¡¯s exnations fit and made sense. Chairman Ning from East Wind Heavy Industries had said that the parts were very important and even paid him one million. The people in China Industrial Group also had no expectation that the important parts would be processed so when East Wind Heavy Industries delivered the goods, wouldn¡¯t they naturally be curious and investigate? Representatives from China Industrial Group turning up here after an investigation was not so strange after all.
¡°Please show us your workmanship, Mr Xia,¡± said Jiang Xin.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Of course. I don¡¯t have materials like that here though. I can only process with normal materials.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to use your materials; we brought appropriate materials for you.¡± Zhou Wei opened his briefcase and took out a cloth bag which he handed to Xia Lei.
There was a piece of metal alloy, the same material as what was used when he was processing parts at East Wind Heavy Industries. Xia Lei took the metal alloy and walked towards a CNCthe. He first processed nks, then adjusted the settings to manual and used his left eye to zoom-in and cut it bit by bit to the required uracy. The whole process, from the time he started the machine to the time he finished the processing, took half an hour.
Xia Lei put the part he had processed in Zhou Wei¡¯s hands. ¡°You can inspect it.¡±
Zhou Wei looked at the part Xia Lei had processed and said praisingly, ¡°You didn¡¯t even need drawings or parameters and you did it in half an hour. That¡¯s amazing.¡±
Jiang Xin, on the other hand, took out some inspection tool and took the part from Zhou Wei for inspection.
The tool Jiang Xin had was very advanced - it looked like an infrared scanner. He put it facing the part and it did a scan, then data of the various number values of the part came out. Xia Lei had never seen such an inspection tool, even at East Wind Heavy Industries.
Jiang Xin was quickly done with the inspection and he could barely mask his excitement. He chuckled as he said, ¡°Looks like we¡¯ve found the right person. Mr Xia, you are a wonder.¡±
The employees of Thunder Horse Workshop beamed and all of them looked rather excited.
¡°Do you still need parts like this?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Zhou Wei smiled and said, ¡°We don¡¯t just need parts like this; we need people like you.¡±
Jiang Xin ced the processed part carefully in his briefcase, then said, ¡°Mr Xia, are you interested in joining us at China Industrial Group? You can pick your conditions. We shall amodate you as long as it is not too extravagant.¡±
¡®You can pick your conditions¡¯. How manypanies in the world could offer that?
Jiang Xin¡¯s offer was very tempting indeed to Xia Lei when he heard it.
Ma Xiao-An, Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others, however, got nervous and hadplicated feelings about it. They were proud of Xia Lei yet worried about their own futures at the same time. If Xia Lei went to China Industrial Group, Thunder Horse Workshop was finished. What else could they do other than to go to construction sites for work? It was especially difficult for Zhou Xiao-Hong. If Xia Lei had not taken her in she would have probably been living on the streets now. Xia Lei had given her a new life and hope for an even better life - how could she bear to see Xia Lei go?
Everyone¡¯s eyes were on Xia Lei, waiting nervously for his answer.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze swept over the faces of Zhou Xiao-Hong, Ma Xiao-An and the others, taking in their nervousness, unwillingness and worries for their future. He suddenlyughed, ¡°Thank you for your kind offer. It may be better for me to go work for you but I still prefer staying here. Just ce an order with me if you¡¯d like to have any parts processed - isn¡¯t it the same whether I go to China Industrial Group or not?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others let out a sigh of relief and smiles appeared on all their faces.
Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin looked disappointed. They would, of course, prefer if Xia Lei had joined them at China Industrial Group.
¡°What a shame. Our doors at China Industrial Group will always be open for you, no matter when you¡¯d like to join. We shall wee you,¡± said Zhou Wei.
¡°Thank you. I will consider it. In addition, can you tell me what China Industrial Group does?¡±
Jiang Xin paused, surprised. ¡°Mr Xia, you mean you still don¡¯t know what we do at China Industrial Group?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I really don¡¯t know.¡±
Jiang Xin smiled and said, ¡°We, China Industrial Group, are a government-ownedpany. We produce fighters, tanks, missiles and so on. We are not for profit but for the building of strength for our nation.¡±
Xia Lei was taken aback but he knew why Chairman Ning had emphasised how important the parts were now after hearing what Jiang Xin said. He also understood why it was easy for China Industrial Group to investigate and find out who it was who had processed the parts.
Government-owned, military industry - who would dare trouble Thunder Horse Workshop in the future if he could get purchase orders from them?
Zhou Wei took a document from his briefcase and handed it to Xia Lei. ¡°We would like you, Mr Xia, to process this part for us this time. The document has a drawing of the part we want processed and its parameters and data. We will provide the materials. Take a look, then we can discuss the contract.¡±
Xia Lei flipped through the document.
¡°Mr Xia, I have a suggestion,¡± said Jiang Xin.
¡°What suggestion?¡± Xia Lei asked casually.
¡°We hope you, Mr Xia, would register your workshop as apany. Please understand - we are a government-ownedpany and arge corporation. If you work with us and have only a roadside machine shop to represent you, it is detrimental to our reputation and not good for you either,¡± said Jiang Xin.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. I¡¯ve already had that objective in mind before you came. Your arrival has just brought my ns ahead of schedule. I¡¯ll go register as apany this afternoon and look for a piece ofnd to build a factory building.¡±
Zhou Wei suddenly came close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and spoke in a low tone, ¡°Mr Xia, the parts we need must be processed by you, and only you. Do you understand what I mean? We can take care of normal parts ourselves.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°No problem.¡±
Zhou Wei stretched out a hand to Xia Lei, ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
Xia Lei shook hands with Zhou Wei, ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
Jiang Xin also reached out a hand to shake with Xia Lei, ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
¡°To a happy coboration,¡± said Xia Lei.
The employees of Thunder Horse Workshop burst out in apuse.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 74
We¡¯ll Still Be Brothers In Our Next Life
Xia Lei invited Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin to a celebratory meal with Ma Xiao-An, Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others. Zhou Xiao-Hong, Chen A-Jiao and the others were not very refined and they smelt of earth but Xia Lei did not care what Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin thought of them. He would not look down on them because he had achieved something now. Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin had no intention of taking Ma Xiao-An and the others lightly either - everyone chatted andughed and they had a lively meal.
After sending Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin off, Xia Lei and Ma Xiao-An went to Hai-Zhu City Trade and Business Bureau to register thepany.
¡°Lei, have you thought of thepany name?¡± asked Ma Xiao-An in the car.
¡°Is there a need to think? Thunder Horse Manufacturing,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s... Remove the ¡®horse¡¯. Thepany is yours. It¡¯s awkward to have my name in there,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Thepany is mine but you are my Brother. I¡¯d said that we will go through thick and thin together. You have to help manage thepany too after it¡¯s established. After the business gets on track you can stop doing the rough work and just focus on management. The few people we have in the workshop are definitely not going to be enough; we need to get some employees who are more cultured and skilled. To sum it up, I¡¯ll give you more when we earn more and less when I earn less.¡±
¡°Lei, I...¡± Ma Xiao-An was so touched he could not speak.
Xia Lei patted his shoulder, ¡°Xiao-An, we¡¯ve yed together since we were children. We are Brothers for this lifetime, and not after. I am not the sort who would cast aside his Brother after striking it rich.¡±
¡°What ¡®this lifetime¡¯? I¡¯ll be your Brother in the next life too. You¡¯re doing well in this lifetime so I¡¯ll follow you. It¡¯ll be my turn in our next lifetime so I¡¯ll definitely do better. You follow me in our next lifetime,¡± said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll follow you in my next life.¡±
Theyughed and chatted all the way to the Trade and Business Bureau. Xia Lei parked the car in the carpark and walked into the building with Ma Xiao-An.
It was not difficult to register apany after the administrative procedures had been simplified. Xia Lei filled some forms and submitted proof of assets and the first step was done. They just had to wait for the Trade and Business Bureau to approve of it and Thunder Horse Manufacturing would be established.
After exiting the building, Xia Lei drove towards Thunder Horse Workshop.
¡°Lei, it¡¯s time for you to find yourself a woman.¡± On the way back, Ma Xiao-An seemed to think of this issue out of the blue and spoke his mind, ¡°You¡¯re the boss of apany now. You need a woman by your side to wait on you and match your status. See thosepany bosses? They have multiple women - wife at home, lovers outside, secretaries and a whole load of women.¡±
¡°You know me. I¡¯m not an easy guy,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then look earnestly for one, marry her and get her to doundry, cook and raise your children. At night, you guys will... Heh Heh. Jiang Ru-Yi is not bad. She has some feelings for you, I can tell. You¡¯re such a dumbass that you don¡¯t see it,¡±ughed Ma Xiao-An.
¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. She and I are just friends. Besides, with her temper, I¡¯ll be stepped on and oppressed if I marry her. I don¡¯t like that,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ma Xiao-An paused, thenughed again, ¡°That¡¯s true. She¡¯s already got you by the tail. I can see it from how she swapped your cars. If the two of you get married, she¡¯ll move from having you by the tail to having you by the balls. Haha! You have a tough life. Just resign yourself to it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, unwilling to continue the conversation. At this time, Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face suddenly appeared in his head again, peerlessly cool and elegant, noble yet threatening. Xia Lei gave a mental sigh, ¡®I must be ill.¡¯
A dirt-covered g truck suddenly shot from the back. Xia Lei was frightened and quickly changednes.
The g truck scraped by the Polo from the side, making the Polo rattle with the draft from its tyres.
¡°Damn! You rushing to get reincarnated?¡± Ma Xiao-An shouted with his head out the window.
The driver of the g truck did not seem to hear Ma Xiao-An¡¯s cursing and zoomed off in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei was a little shaken, ¡°Why is there a g truck on the roads in the middle of the day?¡±
¡°Maybe some guy from the construction site took it out looking for some fun. Or maybe he got approval to transport g to get more hours at work, ¡° said Ma Xiao-An.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t ask further and continued driving. The Polo arrived at Thunder Horse Workshop¡¯s street in a few minutes.
Xia Lei slowed and let the car roll for a bit before he stopped it by the road. He saw Chi Jing-Qiu standing in the entrance of his workshop before he got out of the car. ¡®Is Chi Jing-Qiu here this time to make an order? If she is, I¡¯ll take the order if I have to since business is business. I will need more clients after Thunder Horse Workshop gets upgraded to apany, even if the clients will be the type Chi Jing-Qiu brings in.¡¯
After the upgrade to apany, Thunder Horse Manufacturing would need more employees and that meant higher manpower costs. He also needed money for insurance, bonuses,bour insurance and so on. He could not just count on the coboration between himself and China Industrial Group and only he could do those high precision parts; it would be impossible for others. He could not support an entirepany on his strength alone, could he? It was impossible, so the most important clients were from ordinary business and ordinary business is what would help support the livelihoods of more employees.
Chi Jing-Qiu saw Xia Lei get out of the car and she waved at him, smiling, ¡°Lei, I¡¯ve been waiting for you for so long.¡±
Xia Lei smiled too and greeted her, ¡°Long time no see, Jing-Qiu.¡±
At that moment, Ma Xiao-An suddenly eximed, ¡°WATCH OUT!¡±
Xia was about look back but Ma Xiao-An had already dived forward and pushed him away.
In that instant, a g truck came from the inclined oppositene and crashed into Ma Xiao-An. His body was thrown high up in the air and blood spurted from his lips, falling through the air in a bloody rain.
BAM! Ma Xiao-An¡¯s bodynded on the roof of the Polo. The g truck did not stop. It smashed into the Polo, flipping it over onto the pedestrian walkway and into the flowerbeds before stopping.
Ma Xiao-Any on the pedestrian walkway, his body full of broken pieces from the Polo and broken ss. Blood came from his nose and mouth, flowing continuously.
¡°Xiao-An!¡± Xia Lei scrambled to his feet like a madman and rushed to Ma Xiao-An¡¯s side.
¡°We... are... Bro...th...¡± Before he could finish his sentence, Ma Xiao-An spoke no more. A breath came out of his mouth but there was no breath going in.
¡°NO!¡± Xia Lei roared. Tears came uncontrobly from his eyes.
The employees of Thunder Horse Workshop came running out and surrounded Ma Xiao-An. Zhou Xiao-Hong and Chen A-Jiao started to cry too.
Xia Lei suddenly stood up from Ma Xiao-An¡¯s side and ran to the g truck, which hade to a stop in the flower bed.
The g car driver had just managed to open the deformed driver¡¯s door. He jumped down from the car. The driver was young - in his early twenties and muscled, with many tattoos all over his body. He had sustained injuries from the collision as well but they were just surface wounds which didn¡¯t affect him much.
The driver only nced at Ma Xiao-An¡¯s body on the ground after getting out of the g truck and his face had no trace of guilt whatsoever. He did look surprised, however, when he saw Xia Lei rushing at him.
Xia Lei grabbed him by the cor and roared angrily, ¡°You fucker! You must pay for Xiao-An!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t do anything hasty. I won¡¯t give you money if you hit me,¡± said the g truck driver.
There was no controlling the mes of anger in Xia Lei. The g car driver¡¯s words were like a fuse which lit him ame. Xia Lei punched the g truck driver in the face and half his face changed shape under the force of his blow. Two teeth flew from his mouth.
¡°Money?! You want to talk about money?!¡± Xia Lei kicked the g truck driver in his lower abdomen.
The driver cried out in pain as Xia Lei¡¯s kick lifted him off the ground.
Xia Lei charged forward again and kicked viciously between the driver¡¯s legs.
¡°Argh---¡± The driver was in so much pain he had cold sweat all over and his face was ashen. He had been arrogant earlier but his eye were now full of terror.
Xia Lei made to beat him up more but Wang You-Fu and Cui Yong rushed forward and restrained him.
¡°You can¡¯t hit him anymore, Boss Lei. You¡¯ll kill him.¡± Cui Yong said anxiously, ¡°If you kill him you¡¯ll have to go to jail. It¡¯s not worth it to go to jail because of this sort of person.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong also limped over and blocked him off from the g truck driver, crying as she said, ¡°Stop hitting him, Big Brother Lei... Big Brother Xiao-An wouldn¡¯t want you to do this either... Stop, please stop...¡±
Xia Lei calmed down a little. He suddenly remembered something and said, ¡°This guy wanted to hit me earlier. He did this on purpose! Call the police! It¡¯s premeditated murder!¡±
The g truck driver spoke, ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense. I didn¡¯t even realise what was going on when I crashed. I must have lost control of the g truck. I don¡¯t even know you all - who am I trying to kill? Don¡¯t talk nonsense without evidence. I¡¯ll sue you for defamation!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes turned ice-cold instantly, ¡°Did He Lao-Qi send you?¡±
¡°Who is He Lao-Qi?¡± The g truck driver¡¯s eyes flickered away, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to kill you!¡± Xia Lei lost control again and made to rush at him.
Zhou Xiao-Hong suddenly ran forward and held onto Xia Lei stubbornly. Xia Lei pushed her away and she hugged his leg, crying, ¡°Big Brother Lei, please... calm down...¡±
The g truck driver suddenly got to his feet and fled.
Wang You-Fu tackled him and he fell to the ground.
Chen A-Jiao and the other workshop employees came over and haphazardly held the g truck driver down.
Chi Jing-Qiu walked over, looking nervous, ¡°Lei... I... I called the ambnce and the police. Calm down. It¡¯s not worth it to lose yourself over this sort of people.¡±
Xia Lei copsed into a sitting position as if paralysed, tears flowing in an unstoppable stream.
The memory of Ma Xiao-An pushing him out of the way yed over and over again in Xia Lei¡¯s head. He was still standing by the road then and there were several carsing and going behind him. There was no way he¡¯d notice the approaching g truck. If it had not been for Ma Xiao-An pushing him out of the way, he would have been the one hit. Ma Xiao-An saved him but he was now lying on the ground, unable to even breathe. Ma Xiao-An had just been joking around with him, talking about being Brothers even in their next life and now he had gone to another world, never to see him again.
Scenes from their shared childhood yed in his head; Ma Xiao-An and himself swimming in the river, putting frogs in female ssmates¡¯ school-bags, poking at a bird¡¯s nest...
Ma Xiao-An was gone.
¡°AH-----¡± Xia Lei screamed up into the sky.
The Heavens did not respond.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 75
Scouting the Enemy¡¯s Camp at Night
Ma Xiao-An was taken away in an ambnce but it was just procedure - he was nevering back.
The police and traffic police arrived. The g truck driver was taken away by the traffic police in the end and not the police. The incident was being treated initially as a traffic ident and not a criminal case. The result made Xia Lei and the employees of Thunder Horse Workshop frustrated but thew was thew and it favoured neither side nor took emotions into consideration.
Xia Lei rode in the traffic police car to the hospital and looked at Ma Xiao-An in the morgue. He just stood there, quietly looking at Ma Xiao-An¡¯s peaceful sheet-white face. He did not move for a long, long time...
Jiang Ru-Yi rushed over when she heard the news and cried for quite a while. Ma Xiao-An was her friend too but he was not as close to her as he had been with Xia Lei. She sent Xia Lei home afterwards.
Jiang Ru-Yi cooked two dishes for Xia Lei but he just looked at them, unmoving.
¡°Eat something,¡± Jiang Ru-Yi urged painfully, ¡°How can you keep going on like this? Eat something, put something in your stomach at least.¡±
Xia Lei still sat, looking at the dishes but unmoving, his thoughts indecipherable.
Jiang Ru-Yi frowned, ¡°Are you going to eat or not? If you aren¡¯t, I¡¯ll feed you.¡± So saying, she picked up a piece of fried tomato-egg and shoved it at Xia Lei¡¯s mouth.
Xia Lei twisted his head away, ¡°Ru-Yi, Ma Xiao-An was murdered. Do you believe me?¡±
¡°I believe you. Eat,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Then go arrest that g truck driver. Interrogate him. He will tell you that the mastermind behind this is He Lao-Qi. He Lao-Qi was aiming to kill me but Ma Xiao-An pushed me out of the way, and he...¡± Xia Lei could not go on; tears came dripping uncontrobly again.
Jiang Ru-Yi was at a loss. She put down the chopsticks and looked at Xia Lei quietly. She actually had no appetite either but she did not want Xia Lei to be so sad, so she had made some dishes to try and distract him but it looked like her efforts were in vain now.
¡°Go arrest that driver. Go, now!¡± Xia Lei seemed to have lost a little of his control.
Jiang Ru-Yi caught hold of his hand and saidfortingly, ¡°Lei, Xiao-An is dead. I know you¡¯re heartbroken but can you please calm down?¡±
¡°How can I calm down?¡± Xia Lei shouted at her.
¡°I made a call to the traffic police ident handling centre in the afternoon. That g truck¡¯s brakes were not functioning properly and its navigation system also had problems. That driver was not suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs either. You want me to arrest him but what will I base my arrest on? Even if I did arrest him, how many hours can I lock him away for?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
The g truck had malfunctioned, the driver was neither drunk nor drugged and did not know Ma Xiao-An either. Based on these, the driver could escape being punished by thew. The g truck driver didn¡¯t even need to give marypensation because the insurancepany would take care of that. This was the real world and it was not fair.
The scene from earlier in the day yed again in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He was driving the Polo with Ma Xiao-An, heading to Thunder Horse Workshop,ughing and chatting with him. Then he saw the g truck charging forward in his rearview mirror and twisted the steering wheel quickly, avoiding g truck. After it zoomed past, Ma Xiao-An stuck his head out the window and shouted a curse...
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. A still of the scene was disyed in his head and in the still, the g truck was in the rearview mirror of the Polo. He saw the driver clearly through the g truck windshield. The driver had a faint, ruthless smile on his face and his tattoos and face were very clear.
The g truck was the same as the one which had killed Ma Xiao-An and the driver was the same person too. This was not a coincidence - it was murder, only that the murderer had wanted to kill him but had killed Ma Xiao-An by mistake.
¡°What are you thinking about, Lei?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s eyes filled with tears, ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, please. Do you know how worried I am about you?¡±
Xia Lei said nothing more. He sat there like an empty carcass without a soul. He looked lifeless on the surface but his heart was ame with anger. He thought, ¡®That g truck driver was just one of He Lao-Qi¡¯s dogs. The real mastermind is He Lao-Qi or it was Gu Ke-Wen who had incited it. You wanted to kill me but Ma Xiao-An died for me instead. I will have my revenge on you!¡¯
¡°Lei, say something. What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face was full of worry.
Xia Lei suddenly raise his head and looked at her. ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was momentarily stunned.
¡°Eat, eat. You will have strength to get things done when your stomach is full.¡± Xia Lei took huge mouthfuls of food as he spoke in a muffled voice, ¡°Mm. Your dishes don¡¯t taste half bad. Why haven¡¯t you showed off this skill before?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi spoke after a bit of a pause, ¡°Lei, you... Are you okay?¡±
¡°How about you? Weren¡¯t you urging me to eat? I¡¯m eating now and you ask me if I¡¯m okay. Do you want me to eat or not?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Um... Eat. Yes, eat.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi put food on her te as well.
After they ate, Jiang Ru-Yi went to wash the dishes and Xia Lei went to sleep in the living room. When Jiang Ru-Yi walked over from the kitchen after washing the dishes, Xia Lei had already begun to snore.
¡°Really, he sleeps like a pig. That¡¯s good too. He¡¯ll be letting his imagination run wild if he were awake,¡± Jiang Ru-Yi muttered, then closed the door to the t and left.
Xia Lei opened his eyes as soon as Jiang Ru-Yi left. He went to the balcony and watched as Jiang Ru-Yi entered the stairwell. He went out of his door when he saw the lightse on in her t.
Outside of his neighbourhood, Xia Lei hailed a taxi and headed towards the suburbs. He alighted around forty minutester and walked towards a fishing vige.
The fishing vige was next to the sea and there was an impressive vi in the middle of it. The vi belonged to He Lao-Qi.
He Lao-Qi had a house in the city too but rich folk didn¡¯t like to live in the city and he was no exception. Nobody knew how much money He Lao-Qi had but one could estimate that he had a few tens of millions at least.
Xia Lei pulled the bill of his baseball cap down, covering his forehead and nose-bridge, then walked slowly towards the vi.
He Lao-Qi had four bodyguards with him wherever he went, no matter if he was out and about or at home. Those four bodyguards were capable men who had followed him for years; they could fight and kill. They were also well known in the underworld.
This was the information that Xia Lei had from Qin Xiang.
Night enveloped the fishing vige. There were no streetmps in the vige and it was dark. This made it more convenient for Xia Lei to get close to the vi. The lights in the vi were bright and could be seen clearly from afar. He could see the activities of the people in the vi from afar, borrowing themplight within the vi itself. There was a person on the viewing balcony of the third storey, sitting on a beach chair and smoking a cigarette while looking down at the night sea view. Two people were lying on a bed on the second storey watching television; a man and a woman. One person was in the first storey living room watching television, randomly pressing the buttons on the remote control. He looked bad-tempered. Two people were in the garden chatting in hushed voices.
These goings-on were what his X-ray vision had revealed to him after one look.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye and thought, ¡®Could the man and woman on the second storey be He Lao-Qi and his wife, Han Li?¡¯
He Lao-Qi¡¯s wife¡¯s name was Han Li and their son¡¯s name was He Jia-Hao. This information was also from Qin Xiang. Unfortunately, Qin Xiang was not able to provide photographs so even though he suspected the couple on the second storey was He Lao-Qi and Ha Li, there was no way for him to verify it.
Xia Lei kept away from the main road and slowly approached the vi from a small road.
Though the area surrounding the vi was dark, Xia Lei still spotted the surveince cameras installed on the walls and at the top of the vi. The cameras were well ced; each covered an area and there was virtually no blind spot at all in the areas surrounding the vi.
Xia Lei saw more people from his closer position. They were in a room on the first storey ying cards. Bundles of cash sat in piles on the card table as well as some powdered substances. They had earrings, hair dyed gold and evil-looking tattooed bodies. One look and he could tell that they were unsavory men.
Xia Lei thought ¡®Are these men ying cards underlings of He Lao-Qi? If I add those four, this vi has ten bodyguards in it now. Damn, he really is cautious. What kind of underworld person is he if he¡¯s so afraid of dying?¡¯
Xia Lei moved his gaze to the bodyguard on the third storey viewing balcony. His left eye twitched and the details of the bodyguard entered his sight - that bodyguard had a gun around his waist. He looked at the three non-card-ying bodyguards and they were the same; all three had guns. He looked at the people ying cardsst and found that though they appeared ferocious, they had no guns. They only had weapons like hunting knives and butterfly knives. Xia Lei was almost certain that the four men not ying cards were He Lao-Qi¡¯s four main bodyguards. The people ying cards were likely called over to help protect He Lao-Qi.
Chen Chuan-Hu had brought many thugs to trash Thunder Horse Workshop but all had been beaten by Xia Lei and almost ten were sent to the hospital. He Lao-Qi had sent someone to kill Xia Lei but Ma Xiao-An was killed instead. He Lao-Qi would definitely be on guard against Xia Lei taking the extreme path and seeking revenge on him, so it was no wonder security was so tight.
¡®He Lao-Qi¡¯s bodyguards all have guns and he¡¯s on guard against my arrival. I will fall into his trap if I rush in. I can fight now but if it¡¯s useless if my opponent has a gun.¡¯ Xia Lei hade with vengeful anger but he finally calmed down when he discovered that the bodyguards had guns on them.
Ten years is not too long for a gentleman to have his revenge - and he did not have to wait ten years!
Before he left, Xia Lei used his X-ray vision on the room on the second storey, memorising the faces of the man and woman on the bed. He followed the small road back afterwards.
As soon as he walked out of the fishing vige, a bright white light suddenly beamed at him from the roadside.
Xia Lei did not put his hand out to shield his eyes from the ring light. His left eye saw through the light and and saw the person standing behind the light - Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang frowned as he sat on his motorcycle, ¡°I knew you¡¯de here. You¡¯ve had enough sense not to charge in, at least. If you¡¯d done so then you¡¯d be dead tonight. He Lao-Qi¡¯s bodyguards are excellent marksmen. You won¡¯t be able to walk out of there alive even if you were Bruce Lee incarnate.¡±
Xia Lei walked towards Qin Xiang, ¡°You still came, knowing that I may die?¡±
¡°We¡¯re friends. You just lost a friend and I don¡¯t want to lose a friend like you. Besides, you¡¯ve promised to help me get out of He Lao-Qi¡¯s clutches. Who¡¯s going to help me if you die?¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei sighed, ¡°Let¡¯s go. Take me out of here.¡±
Qin Xiang started the engine, ¡°Get on. Let¡¯s go for a drink.¡±
Xia Lei climbed on the Yamaha motorcycle and Qin Xiang elerated, disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 76
Put My Socks On
The sea tossed before him, ceaselessly in motion.
Xia Lei and Qin Xiang sat on a reef, a pile of empty beer cans at their feet.
¡°Tell me, did you really want to kill He Lao-Qi tonight?¡± Qin Xiang threw away the empty beer can in his hand and asked while looking at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before answering, ¡°Before you arrived, I was intent on entering his home and finishing him off.¡±
¡°And then?¡± Qin Xiang prompted.
¡°Then?¡± Xia Lei paused for a bit, then shook his head, ¡°I didn¡¯t think so far ahead. Ma Xiao-An died saving me. Am I still a man if I don¡¯t seek revenge for him?¡±
¡°You didn¡¯t think much, I¡¯d say. If you¡¯d really gone into He Lao-Qi¡¯s home and killed him you¡¯d be finished too. Gu Ke-Wen would have lost just a dog but destroyed a foe like you. With the Gu n¡¯s power, there is no ce on Earth you can escape to if you kill He Lao-Qi. You¡¯ll be sentenced to death if you¡¯re caught. What will your sister do if you die? What about those people who depend on you for their livelihood? Have you thought about them?¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei growled, ¡°He wanted to kill me. Ma Xiao-An died because he saved me. Should I just forget it?¡±
Qin Xiang sighed, ¡°You¡¯re a smart person. There are many ways for you to have your revenge. Why choose the path of mutual destruction?¡±
¡®There are many ways for you to have your revenge. Why choose the path of mutual destruction?¡¯ What Qin Xiang said echoed in Xia Lei¡¯s head. He slowly calmed down. That¡¯s right. Going into He Lao-Qi¡¯s home to kill him was a mutually destructive way of revenge. An evil man like He Lao-Qi had sins aplenty to apany him into and after death. But himself? What would Xia Xue do if he died? What about the hardworking employees of Thunder Horse Workshop? They had a taste of a life that was better than what they had - would they still need to go back to constructions sites to make a living?
¡°Think about it,¡± said Qin Xiang gently, ¡°I believe you¡¯ll find another way.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly thought of Long Bing and thought ¡®If I call Long Bing and tell her that He Lao-Qi wants me dead, will she help me? But I don¡¯t have evidence. It¡¯ll be good if I have evidence.¡¯
Long Bing may be able to help but he first needed some evidence.
He Lao-Qi was very sly and always had other people do the deed for him while he stood far, far away, unconnected. It would not be easy at all to find evidence of himmitting a crime.
Qin Xiang seemed to sense the pain in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He spoke softly andfortingly, ¡°Don¡¯t be too broken up about it and don¡¯t worry. Don¡¯t ever do something so foolish again. You have to think more and n better.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°I will. Thank you.¡±
Qin Xiang patted Xia Lei on the shoulder, ¡°What¡¯s with the polite tone? We¡¯re friends.¡±
Xia Lei nodded again, ¡°Yes, we¡¯re friends.¡±
¡°Right, I finally found out He Lao-Qi¡¯s real identity from a friend of mine today,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°Real identity?¡± Xia Lei froze.
¡°He Lao-Qi is very crafty and never spoke of his real name to anyone. He¡¯s never let anyone see his identification documents either. People in the underworld only know him as He Lao-Qi but few know his real name. I¡¯ve found his real name and it¡¯s Huang Yi-Hu,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°Hold on,¡± Xia Lei was confused, ¡°These are two different names. One¡¯s surnamed He and the other¡¯s surnamed Huang. How can one person have two?¡±
People would normally assume that even if He Lao-Qi was not really He Lao-Qi, he should be He-something, and definitely not Huang Yi-Hu. Names sometimes change but the surname wouldn¡¯t.
¡°My reaction was much the same as yours at first but my friend was very sure that He Lao-Qi¡¯s real name is Huang Yi-Hu,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei spoke bewilderedly, ¡°But ording to the information you gave me, He Lao-Qi¡¯s son is named He Jia-Hao. If he really is surnamed Huang, why is his son surnamed He?¡±
Qin Xiang shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know either. I¡¯m not lying to you, I swear.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t mean that. This is very strange... Send me back now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What are you going to do?¡± Qin Xiang looked a little worried.
¡°Rx. I¡¯m not going to do anything foolish after tonight. I want to go look for Jiang Ru-Yi. She¡¯s the Chief of North Police Station and has ess rights to the household registration system. I want her to help me see if there are any assets under the name of Huang Yi-Hu,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang was struck by a thought, ¡°You want to start from his real identity?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°If what you say is true, then He Lao-Qi is a fictional character. He¡¯s done so many evil deeds and amassed so much wealth over the years - the assets are most definitely under the name of Huang Yi-Hu. He¡¯s using this method to wash his dirty money clean. He¡¯s the dreadful He Lao-Qi in the underworld and a regr businessman with no criminal record in the day.¡±
Qin Xiang chuckled, ¡°I knew you were a smart one. Okay, I¡¯ll send you back now.¡±
Back in his neighbourhood, Xia Lei hopped off the motorcycle. ¡°You go back. I¡¯ll let you know if I find out anything.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll be the first to know if I find out anything on my end too. And be careful,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°You be careful too.¡±
¡°Bye, Lei.¡± Qin Xiang rode off on his motorcycle.
Lei? Xia Lei smiled wryly as he shook his head. He really wasn¡¯t used to intimate way of calling his name. Then again, being friends with Qin Xiang meant that he¡¯d have to adapt to some of Qin Xiang¡¯s unnatural habits.
Xia Lei did not go home but went straight to Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s door. He checked the time on his mobile phone as he stood before her door - it was already midnight. It didn¡¯t seem very appropriate to be knocking on a single female¡¯s door at this time. He hesitated with his hand raised but still knocked in the end.
He thought Jiang Ru-Yi had already gone to bed but her voice came from behind the door after three knocks. ¡°Who is it?¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice, ¡°It¡¯s me, Xia Lei.¡±
The door opened quickly and Jiang Ru-Yi appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a thin nightdress and the light made it translucent. Her bra andce side-tie panties were clearly visible under the nightdress, giving off a hazy sense of beauty.
Xia Lei spoke a little awkwardly, ¡°It¡¯ste. Why aren¡¯t you asleep?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, ¡°Xiao-An is gone. I was feeling down and worried that you¡¯d do something stupid so I couldn¡¯t sleep no matter how I tried. I was just about to fall asleep and here youe knocking. Are you not going to let me sleep?¡±
Xia Lei did not wait for her to finish speaking and went around her and into her home.
Jiang Ru-Yi was surprised, ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the night and you enter my home without my permission? What are you trying to do?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t yell. Shut the door, quick. Tongues will wag if the neighbours hear me bickering with you at this hour,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You dare toe here at this hour and you¡¯re still worried that the neighbours would spread rumours?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s tongue was sharp but she was still quick to shut the door.
¡°Let¡¯s go to your room,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh? You¡¯re really... Shameless!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face turned red immediately, ¡°I, I¡¯m not ready. This is too sudden.¡±
¡°What nonsense are you talking about? I want you to help me check someone¡¯s information. Isn¡¯t yourputer in your room?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly snatched up a pillow from the sofa and threw it forcefully at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei caught the pillow and put it on the other sofa. ¡°Stop ying. This is important. I wouldn¡¯te to your ce at this time otherwise.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi put her skewed thoughts away, ¡°Who do you want me to check up on?¡±
¡°Huang Yi-Hu,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Help me check this person¡¯s information and the assets he has under his name. Just give me whatever you have on him.¡±
¡°Huang Yi-Hu? Lei, what are you investigating this person for?¡± It was the first time Jiang Ru-Yi had heard the name Huang Yi-Hu. She knew almost all the people Xia Lei knew so this made her feel that something was very strange.
Xia Lei told her about the information he had received from Qin Xiang.
¡°Why haven¡¯t you given up?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°Why are you still looking into that He Lao-Qi? You want to take revenge for Xiao-An? This is too dangerous - I won¡¯t allow you to do something so stupid.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly went up to Jiang Ru-Yi and grabbed her by her shoulders, staring straight into her eyes, ¡°Ru-Yi, we¡¯ve known each other for years. Will you not help me with this?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not... I¡¯m protecting you... You... Why don¡¯t you understand?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were so full of aggression it made her panic.
¡°He Lao-Qi wants me dead. Ma Xiao-An died saving me this time. Would I be lucky enough to escape death next time? Why don¡¯t you understand? It¡¯s not that I want revenge; he will not rest until I¡¯m dead. It is the same as awaiting death if I do nothing. Who will argue with you when I¡¯m dead?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Rubbish! Stop talking about death and dying all the time. It¡¯s unlucky,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°But I think it¡¯s best if you hand this matter over to us police...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off, ¡°Help me and I¡¯ll transfer the car ownership to you.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi froze, then suddenly pouted. ¡°You should¡¯ve said so earlier, really...¡± She paused, then added, ¡°Treat me to Italian cuisine too.¡±
Xia Lei was a little fazed, ¡°You greedy pig! Fine, deal.¡±
¡°Get my uniform from my room. We have to go to the police station for this. We can¡¯t ess the policework from my homeputer.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi sat on the sofa, behaving like a spoilt rich brat waiting for someone to wait on her.
Xia Lei wanted to kick her butt but he went to her room obediently and brought her her uniform, shoes and socks.
Jiang Ru-Yi lifted her jade-white leg in the air in a gentle bend, ¡°Put my socks on.¡±
¡°Can you stop ying around?¡± snapped Xia Lei.
¡°Are you going to put it on, or not?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi stretched her foot to Xia Lei and touched it to his knee.
Xia Lei sighed and got to his knees gloomily to put the sock on for her.
Jiang Ru-Yi stretched out her other foot and rested it on his knee. Her straightened jade-like leg exposed an unfettered view of thece side-tie panties she had on under her nightdress. Xia Lei was all tensed up but Jiang Ru-Yi did not care that he had seen anything and seemed to be enjoying the whole process.
Thankfully, Jiang Ru-Yi did not make him put on her pants or clothes for her.
A few minutester, Jiang Ru-Yi brought Xia Lei out with her and they got into the Great Wall H6, driving out of the neighbourhood and towards North Police Station.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 77
Blocked Again
Jiang Ru-Yi brought Xia Lei into the archives room and booted up theputer, then essed thework. She quickly found the data on Huang Yi-Hu.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes met the picture of Huang Yi-Hu on theputer screen and he could scarcely believe what he saw. The person in the picture of Huang Yi-Hu waspletely different from the man he had seen hugging a woman while watching television on the second storey in the vi.
The person on the bed in the fishing vige vist night was simr to Huang Yi-Hu in age, height and features but the likeness was not enough to fool Xia Lei¡¯s eye.
It looked likest night was truly a trap then!
Xia Lei was secretly d that he had reigned in his thirst for revenge and not entered the vi. His life would¡¯ve been over if he¡¯d gone in.
The Huang Yi-Hu on file was a businessman with several high-profile titles; Vice President of Hai-Zhu City Chamber of Commerce, legal representative of New Moon Real Estate, legal representative of Iron Horse Transport, and so on. There were hundreds of millions of assets under his name. The assets were also all legal.
¡°Lei, the person you want to investigate is very normal. Are you sure he¡¯s the great, evil He Lao-Qi?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°You¡¯re the Chief of a police station. Have you never heard of He Lao-Qi?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi shrugged, ¡°I was just a pencil-pushing archives officer before Li Qing-Hua¡¯s fall from power. I¡¯ve only been in this position for so long - I don¡¯t know a lot of things.¡±
¡°Search for He Lao-Qi this time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi entered the name in theputer but nothing turned up. There was nothing rted to the character known as He Lao-Qi.
A mirthless smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth, ¡°So He Lao-Qi is a fictional person after all. Huang Yi-Hu uses the identity of He Lao-Qi to reap benefits from the underworld, then washes the money clean in his businesses. He¡¯s an underworld boss here and vice president of the Chamber of Commerce there. What a talent.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi wrinkled her brows, ¡°There¡¯s no use finding this out. He¡¯s a normal businessman. You¡¯ll be breaking thew if you go poke at him. Even if I don¡¯t arrest you, other police officers will.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t do anything illegal,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi rxed a little, ¡°That¡¯s good that you¡¯re thinking that way. You should also try to let it go. If this Huang Yi-Humits any crime thew will punish him. It¡¯s just a matter of time.¡±
¡°Mm. I believe you.¡± Xia Lei said the words but he did not think that way. The Huang Yi-Hu on file was worth millions. How few sins could an underworld character like him have to amass so much wealth and get to this point today? However, this person was still living a good life with wine, riches, cars and beauties. Normal people would not even have a chance of living his life now in ten lifetimes.
¡°Still need me to help you check anything?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°No. Move aside, I want to read his file again,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi moved aside and Xia Lei sat before theputer in the archives room, continuing his browsing of Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s file.
When the police wanted to check a person¡¯s file, the system retrieved the data from the nationalwork of public authorities and put it in aprehensive file. It was not just a simple picture with ce and date of birth - the file included blood type, fingerprints, upation, marital status as well as assets and so on. It was very detailed. Jiang Ru-Yi had only looked at one section earlier.
Xia Lei moved the cursor and more new information was disyed on the screen.
¡®Married to Li Yu-Lan, born in year 1980. Director of Hai-Zhu City Chamber of Commerce... Son, Huang Xu, born in year 2000, third year student at Hai-Zhu Seventh Junior High School...¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s eyes scanned the contents of the file, thinking ¡®In the information Qin Xiang obtained, the spouse was Han Li and his son was He Jia-Hao. This must be what Huang Yi-Hu is using to confuse people. The underworld has nock of people seeking vengeance. He made a fake wife, a fake son so that they cannot be used against him by a person who wants revenge. He found a man simr to himself to be housed in that fishing vige as a scapegoat. All the crimes he¡¯dmitted are pinned on that puppet and he himself is squeaky clean. Huang Yi-Hu, Huang Yi-Hu, this man is even more sly than I had imagined.¡¯
After looking at Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s file, Xia Lei also looked through Li Yu-Lan and Huang Xu¡¯s files. Then, he borrowed Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s authority to ess the Chamber of Commerce system and transferred the files of assets under Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s name. It was half an hourter that he finished reading thest file.
¡°Want me to print you a copy?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°No need. I¡¯m just looking.¡±
His left eye had actually recorded everything so there was no need to print it out.
¡°Send me back then.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi held the car keys out to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused, ¡°What¡¯s this? I said I¡¯d give the car to you.¡±
¡°My car¡¯s been destroyed. What are you going to drive? You have a lot to do so you take the car. I still have public transport that I can rely on. I was joking when I said I wanted your car. Just treat me to a meal,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei took the keys, ¡°I¡¯ll buy you a good car when I strike it rich.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi giggled, ¡°Buy me a car? You want to be my sugar daddy? I¡¯m the police Chief. You sure?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Back home, Xia Lei was sleepless. His mind was full of Huang Yi-Hu and Gu Ke-Wen.
Thunder Horse Workshop did not open for business the next day. Xia Lei brought Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others to say their final farewells to Ma Xiao-An. At the crematorium, as he watched Ma Xiao-An¡¯s body being delivered to the mes of the incinerator, Xia Lei¡¯s tears came out in an uncontroble stream...
Back at Thunder Horse Workshop, the usually lively workshop seemed to have be starkly colder without the sound of Ma Xiao-An¡¯s chatter.
Zhou Xiao-Hong used the wiping cloth to wipe Ma Xiao-An¡¯s desk, crying as she wiped, ¡°Big Brother Xiao-An, you always asked me to wipe your desk for you. Now, I¡¯ll still wipe your desk for you even if you¡¯re gone...¡±
The scene tore at everyone¡¯s heartstrings.
¡°I¡¯ll give you all three days off. Rest well, thene back to work,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yang Ben-Cai spoke, ¡°How can we do that? We¡¯ve received some orders and though they are small, we cannot throw away our reliability. We¡¯re fine. We will work today.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯ll work today. I think Xiao-An would be happy to see us working here too,¡± said Chen A-Jiao.
¡°Boss Lei, you have to upgrade our workshop to apany. Go about your business. We canplete these small orders. Big Brother Xiao-An would want you to set up yourpany as soon as possible too,¡± said Cui Yong.
Looking at the familiar faces all full of sadness, Xia Lei nodded in tears, ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s work since you are all willing to work. I will set up ourpany as soon as possible. Xiao-An¡¯s spirit will also be happy about this.¡±
Chen A-Jiao wiped her tears away, ¡°Time to go to work, work! Don¡¯t ck off now, Xiao-An...¡±
Xia Lei also wiped at the corners of his eyes and walked out of the workshop.
Chen A-Jiao and the others started the machine and started working.
Ma Xiao-An was gone but the living had to go on. What had to be done must be done.
Xia Lei received a phone call from Liang Si-Yao as soon as he got in the car.
¡°Mr Xia? Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯lle to the school today? Why aren¡¯t you here?¡± It was Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei reined in his sadness, ¡°My friend passed away yesterday. I was sending him off today. I am in no mood at all toe to the Wing Chun school today. Another day, perhaps.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know...¡±
¡°It¡¯s okay. Really, it¡¯s okay.¡±
¡°Where are you now?¡± Liang Si-Yao said, ¡°Um, I cane over... if you need someone to apany you right now?¡±
Xia Lei was about to reject her but then thought of her good intentions and how it wasn¡¯t right to just reject her outright. He thought for a bit, then said, ¡°I¡¯m going to the Hai-Zhu City Trade and Commerce Bureau to check on some things to do withpany registration.¡±
¡°You want to register apany?¡±
¡°Mm. If you want toe, then let¡¯s meet there,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, see youter.¡± Liang Si-Yao hung up.
Xia Lei drove towards the Hai-Zhu City Trade and Commerce Bureau.
There were many steps to bepleted between handing in the registration documents andpleting the registration when registering thepany, like capital verification, engraving thepany stamp, tax application and so on, which Xia Lei had to do. The whole process took ten days toplete and he wouldn¡¯t have time to go to the Wing Chun school during this period of time.
¡®It¡¯ll be great if I had a secretary who¡¯s familiar with all these processes. She can represent me and attend to matters like this. Yeah, I really need to get a secretary. After I set up Thunder Horse Manufacturing, I will be the boss of apany. It wouldn¡¯t look right if I didn¡¯t have a secretary.¡¯ This thought suddenly popped into Xia Lei¡¯s head when he walked into the Trade and Commerce Bureau.
He suddenly thought of Ma Xiao-An. If he were still around, he would definitely choose someone with big breasts and round buttocks, wouldn¡¯t he?
Xia Lei felt a pang of sadness in his heart.
Xia Lei went to the consultation counter and presented the deration documents and identification documents from yesterday. He asked politely, ¡°Have my application documents been approved? I would like to hurry on to the next step.¡±
The employee behind the ss nced at the appendix of Xia Lei¡¯s application documents and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. There¡¯s been a problem with your application documents and it has not been approved.¡±
Xia Lei froze. ¡°Why not? What¡¯s wrong?¡±
¡°Someone else has applied for the name ¡®Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯. It is the same name so yours cannot be approved,¡± said the employee behind the ss.
¡°Someone else applied? How is this possible?¡± mes of anger red in Xia Lei¡¯s heart, ¡°Are you kidding me?¡±
¡°Sir, there is no use getting impatient. If it¡¯s not approved, it¡¯s not approved. What you can do is choose anotherpany name and hand in your application under the new name,¡± said the employee behind the ss.
Change thepany name? Xia Lei was not willing to do that at all because thispany name was one of the best ways tomemorate Ma Xiao-An. How could he change it?
¡°You haven¡¯t answered my question. Who applied for thispany name?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were menacing.
The employee looked offended, ¡°How do I know? Don¡¯t make trouble for me. Go to our bureau chief if you can. Any other questions? If you don¡¯t have any then please move away. Don¡¯t disturb the people in the queue behind you.¡±
¡°Where¡¯s your bureau chief¡¯s office?¡± Xia Lei restrained his anger. It was true that it was no use to bother a normal employee.
The employee spoke impatiently, ¡°Our bureau chief¡¯s office is on the second storey. You¡¯ll see it once you go up.¡±
Xia Lei turned and left the consultation counter.
¡°Mr Xia.¡± A woman¡¯s voice suddenly said.
Xia Lei looked to where the voice came from and saw Liang Si-Yao. She was in a white shirt and light blue denim shorts which showed off her pair of pale, shapely long legs. She gave off an air of attractive, seductive youth.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 78
Logic Is Not Worth Money
Liang Si-Yao really did turn up, and in such a timely manner too.
Xia Lei weed her and greeted, ¡°Hello, Miss Liang.¡±
Liang Si-Yao also greeted Xia Lei, then said, ¡°I saw you frowning. Did you have some sort of problem?¡±
¡°I handed in my application yesterday to register apany under the name ¡®Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯. It was fine yesterday but an employee here just told me that someone else had used the same name in an application and told me to change mine. Thispany name holds some very important meaning for me. I don¡¯t want to change the name,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao thought for a bit before she spoke, ¡°Someone is definitely hindering your application and giving you trouble. Even if you do change the name, you would probably be told that someone else has applied with the same.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly thought of Gu Ke-Wen and Huang Yi-Hu. Either of them would have the power to do so.
¡°What do you n to do?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I want to talk to their bureau chief. I don¡¯t think they can be so unreasonable,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I studied business management in America and I¡¯ve worked in severalpanies, mostly as a secretary. I have some experience. Let me go with you, maybe I can help,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°There¡¯s more to you than meets the eye, huh. Okay, let¡¯s go together.¡± Xia Lei did need an ¡®expert¡¯ like her to help him right now.
Xia Lei spotted the door-te to the bureau chief¡¯s office on the second storey right away when the two of them went up. He walked towards it with Liang Si-Yao and saw that the office door was closed.
Xia Lei willed his eye and it twitched; the office door became like air.
There was a man and a woman in the office talking in low voices and smiling, having what looked like a happy conversation.
Xia Lei looked at the woman¡¯s face and immediately knew who was pulling strings from the shadows.
The woman sitting opposite the man was no other than Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s wife, Li Yu-Lan, Director of Hai-Zhu City Chamber of Commerce.
The man sitting at the desk was the Trade and Commerce bureau chief, Liao De-Sheng. His namete was on his table.
Li Yu-Lan was born in 1980 and she was 35 years old, but looked to only be in her early thirties. She was young, good-looking and had ir. A woman that could catch the eye of Huang Yi-Hu was definitely not going to be sub-par.
Liao De-Sheng was an ordinary middle-aged man, clean-shaven and portly, like a typical official. People like him looked pale and plump, clean and easy-going but they were actually rotten in the gut and full of bad thoughts.
¡°Why aren¡¯t you knocking?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Hold on,¡± said Xia Lei in a hushed voice.
Liang Si-Yao looked at Xia Lei curiously but said nothing and she didn¡¯t knock on the door either.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye locked onto Liao De-Sheng¡¯s lips and he lip-read their conversation.
¡°My husband would like to invite Chief Liao to a game of golf. Will you have time, Chief Liao?¡± Li Yu-Lan smiled charmingly and was very friendly.
Liao De-Sheng chuckled, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just a small bit of help, it¡¯s nothing much. What¡¯s with the invitation to y golf? There¡¯s no need for that, really.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not seeing us as friends, Chief Liao? You¡¯re good friends with my husband. It¡¯s very normal for him to invite you to a game of golf even if there wasn¡¯t the matter of Xia Lei to take care of. Do you not enjoy golf?¡± said Li Yu-Lan.
Liao De-Shanughed, ¡°Don¡¯t say that. I¡¯ll go, I¡¯ll go, yes? I have to show respect to President Huang no matter what.¡±
¡°That¡¯s settled then,¡± smiled Li Yu-Lan.
Liao De-Shan spoke again, ¡°Oh, right. I heard that President Huang¡¯s recently been very interested in acquiring thend close to Third Ring Road - is this true?¡±
¡°Mm. Yes, it¡¯s true,¡± said Li Yu-Lan, ¡°That piece ofnd is in a good location with a hospital and school within a two kilometre radius. There¡¯s also arge shopping centre and it¡¯s a good ce to have a family. It¡¯s most suitable for ts. Why do you mention this, Chief Liao? Do you have some connections?¡±
Liao De-Shan chuckled, ¡°I can¡¯t talk about connections but I do know some people. If President Huang wants, I can be the bridge for him and these people.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll thank you in advance, then. Have a good talk with my husband over the weekend. We¡¯ll have to end here today. I¡¯ll take my leave now.¡± Li Yu-Lan stood.
Liao De-Sheng also stood, ¡°Madam Li, please let President Huang know that this Xia Lei will not be able to register anypany in Hai-Zhu City. I can use any excuse to keep hispany registration permanently in the application process. He can only dream of establishing hispany.¡±
Li Yu-Lan just smiled, ¡°Mm. Goodbye, Chief Liao.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll send you out.¡± Liao De-Sheng moved forward to open the door.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye at that point and reached out, pushing the door open.
The instant the door opened, Liao De-Sheng and Li Yu-Lan stopped in their tracks at almost the same time and looked at Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao in surprise. They did not know who Liang Si-Yao was but they¡¯d seen Xia Lei¡¯s picture, so they knew who the young man in the doorway was, and could guess what he was here for.
Liao De-Sheng quickly collected himself and put on a mask, speaking rudely, ¡°Who are you? You didn¡¯t even knock before entering. What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Excuse me, I was not paying attention and pushed the door open by ident.¡±
¡°No manners,¡± muttered Liao De-Sheng.
He spoke quietly but Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao could still hear him clearly - it was as if he wasn¡¯t worried about them being able to hear him and was saying it on purpose.
Liao De-Sheng turned to Li Yu-Lan and said, ¡°I¡¯ll send you out, Madam Li.¡±
Li Yu-Lan apoke, ¡°No, I¡¯m not in a hurry. I still have something to discuss with you but you should talk to this gentleman first. I¡¯ll wait.¡±
Liao De-Sheng looked at Li Yu-Lan a little uprehendingly but he quickly understood her intention and said, ¡°Of course. Please wait for me.¡± He then looked at Xia Lei, ¡°What do you want?¡±
Liao De-Sheng was putting on a show and Li Yu-Lan was watching, observing her husband¡¯s opponent while watching the show. This was one of her wiley ways.
Xia Lei went straight to the point, ¡°Chief Liao, I would like to ask what¡¯s going on. I handed in my application to register mypany yesterday and your employee had already checked that the name ¡®Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯ was avable and not a repetition of any priorpany. I had also sessfully submitted my application but I came today to ask about it and your employee informed me that someone else had registered the name and rejected my application. This is the situation now. I¡¯d like to ask what is the reason for this?¡±
Liao De-Sheng snorted and a faint, contemptuous smile appeared on his lips, ¡°I thought it was something big but it turns out it¡¯s just a small matter. Someone else has registered thepany name you want so you should just pick another name and apply again. Shoo, shoo. If you have any other questions you can ask at the consultation counters. I¡¯m very busy and I have no time to talk to you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face darkened and he looked about to blow his top at any moment.
Li Yu-Lan stood to one side watching him and a faint gloating smile appeared on her lips.
At that moment, Liang Si-Yao interjected, ¡°As a civil servant who should be serving the people, isn¡¯t your attitude improper, Bureau Chief?¡±
Liao De-Sheng red at Liang Si-Yo, ¡°Who are you? Watch your words! Is there a need for you toment on my attitude? If you¡¯re not happy about it there¡¯s aint box in the hall downstairs. You canin about me there.¡±
¡°It¡¯s because theints are useless that people like you can sit in this position and behave so high-handedly!¡± said Liang Si-Yao
¡°Get out!¡± Liao De-Sheng was pissed off and he shouted as pointed to the office doorway.
Liang Si-Yao also lost her temper, ¡°What basis do you have to chase me out? This is a public ce, not your own private room. You can call the police to arrest me. Go on.¡±
Liao De-Sheng was so angry heughed, ¡°I see, you two came to make trouble and obstruct official business. Very well, I¡¯ll call the police now and have you arrested. You can look forward to spending half a month behind bars, no argument.¡±
¡°You-¡± Liang Si-Yao looked a little afraid.
¡°Let me talk to him,¡± said Xia Lei. He spoke to Liao De-Sheng, ¡°Chief Liao, you don¡¯t have to use the police to threaten us. My friend only said a few quarrelsome lines. She doesn¡¯t have to be locked up for half a month over that, does she? I don¡¯t want to waste your time either so I¡¯ll ask you this - thepany name I want to register, ¡®Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯, will never be approved, is that right?¡±
¡°Definitely not,¡± said Liao De-Sheng.
¡°You¡¯ll use the same excuse to reject my application even if I change the name, won¡¯t you?¡± said Xia Lei.
Liao De-Shengughed, ¡°I say, young man, what¡¯s with you? If you apply again and there is no otherpany with that name, we will definitely approve it. But if you like to use otherpanies¡¯ names and they¡¯re all the same, then I can¡¯t do anything about it.¡±
¡°Looks like you really won¡¯t let me start apany,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liao De-Sheng and Li Yu-Lan both smiled gloatingly.
Xia Lei took out his mobile phone and opened his contacts page, then dialled a number. He spoke into the phone, ¡°Mr Zhou? This is Xia Lei. I¡¯ve run into some trouble. Can youe help me out?¡±
¡°What trouble do you have, Mr Xia?¡± came Zhou We¡¯s voice over the phone.
¡°I am in the Hai-Zhu City Trade and Commerce Bureau applying to register mypany. A bureau chief is hindering my application on purpose and not letting me get approval. I tried to reason with him but he refused. What do you think I should do? I have no options.¡±
¡°There are still such pricks around? Wait there, we wille right away.¡± Zhou Wei hung up angrily.
Xia Lei put his phone away then looked calmly at Liao De-Sheng. A gloating smile also appeared on his lips.
Liao De-Sheng was mostly indifferent but when he saw Xia Lei¡¯s gloating smile, he begun to lose confidence and asked probingly, ¡°Who did you call just now?¡±
¡°A friend,¡± said Xia Lei casually.
¡°What friend?¡± asked Liao De-Sheng again.
Xia Lei snapped, ¡°Why do you care so much?¡±
¡°You-¡± Liao De-Sheng was fuming mad.
Li Yu-Lanughed, ¡°Chief Liao, young people these days have bad tempers and love to boast. You¡¯re an adult so let him be. This is interesting. I, too, want to see what friend this young man has invited over to help.¡±
After hearing Li Yu-Lan say that, Liao De-Sheng seemed to get some surety and he grew bold. ¡°Fine, I¡¯d like to see which friend this punk asked for help from too. Did you think that I would approve your application which did not meet the requirements if you got your friend toe here? Keep dreaming!¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t be bothered to speak further with Liao De-Sheng. He turned to Liang Si-Yao and said, ¡°Miss Liao, let¡¯s sit while we wait.¡±
Liang Si-Yao was very curious about the friend Xia Lei had called to help; it was as if he¡¯d nned it all in advance. She gave a soft sound of agreement, then sat with Xia Lei on a sofa in the office.
An atmosphere of silence settled in the room.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 79
This Woman Is Arrogant
Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Liao De-Sheng looked at his watch and sneered, ¡°Punk, your friend? Where is he?¡±
Li Yu-Lan responded, ¡°Chief Liao, young people are like these nowadays, looking down upon their elders. They are stillcking experience in society and social interactions. It¡¯s good to let them be disadvantaged so they will acknowledge that the world is not such an easy ce to live in. Once they know that there are people they should not offend, they will be more mature.¡±
These words were aimed at Xia Lei, hinting that he had offended someone he should not have offended.
Liao Si-Yao was also getting worried, thinking and suspecting that Xia Lei was just blowing hot air to try to make Liao De-Sheng approve his application. She did not voice her thoughts, however. She was not too familiar with Xia Lei and did not know his character very well.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, was calm. He was not worried at all that Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin from China Industrial Group would note to help him at the Trade and Commerce Bureau, and not worried that they would be unable to help him.
What is the identity of China Industrial Group? It was apany which manufactured tanks for the country, one of the fundamentals of China! He was of unique value to China Industrial Group - would they stand by if he ran into a spot of trouble? Solving this problem was like using an insect spray to kill a fly.
With the lockdown on technology from Europe and America, Xia Lei was the only person in the whole of China who could manually produce parts which they needed to import from Europe and America. Based on this, Xia Lei was not worried at all that he would not be able to get this application done.
¡°How about calling your friend again to ask him to hurry up, punk? You have time but I don¡¯t, and my time is precious,¡± said Liao De-Sheng sarcastically.
Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin appeared in the doorway of the office right after he spoke.
Liao De-Sheng¡¯s guard went up when he saw Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin.
Li Yu-Lan also observed Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin, trying to guess their identity. However, they were strangers to her and she had never seen them before, so there was no guessing that they were from China Industrial Group.
Xia Lei got up from the sofa and weed them, ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that you¡¯vee, Mr Zhou and Mr Jiang. This Chief Liao De-Sheng was just mocking me, saying that I¡¯d invited some shady friends to help and he wouldn¡¯t approve thepany registration no matter who turned up.¡±
Liao De-Sheng started to feel a little guilty. He stood and asked probingly, ¡°And the two of you are...?¡±
Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin just looked at him and didn¡¯t even bother to greet Liao De-Sheng.
Zhou Wei spoke, ¡°Mr Xia, is he the chief who is giving you trouble?¡± He pointed at Liao De-Sheng.
Xia Lei smiled and nodded, ¡°It¡¯s him.¡±
Jiang Xin spoke angrily, ¡°A small bureau chief dares to do such a thing with his capabilities?¡± He looked at Liao De-Sheng, ¡°Do you have any respect for your country¡¯sws at all?¡±
Liao De-Sheng froze, then red up, ¡°Who are you? How am I not respecting thew? If you don¡¯t say who you are I¡¯ll call security to escort you out.¡±
¡°You want to know who we are?¡± said Zhou Wei.
Liao De-Sheng did not say yay or nay, but looked at Li Yu-Lan.
Li Yu-Lan smiled as she spoke, ¡°Gentleman, let¡¯s talk it out. The Chief is a respectable man after all. He can¡¯t talk to you if you behave this way. Even an outsider like me can¡¯t help but get involved. Are you here to help this young boy solve his problem or to cause trouble?¡±
Zhou Wei spoke, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll introduce ourselves. I am Zhou Wei, I am the head of the Procurement department at China Industrial Group.¡± He then pointed at Jiang Xin and said, ¡°This is Jiang Xin, head of Human Resources at China Industrial Group.¡±
Liao De-Sheng¡¯s face turned ashen at their introduction.
As a person in the trading industry, how could he not know the great entity that is China Industrial Group? He not only knew what China Industrial Group manufactured, and what status it had in China, he also knew that the people of management level in thepany were all high-ranking military personnel!
¡°China Industrial Group?¡± Li Yu-Lan was not aware what sort ofpany China Industrial Group was and said, ¡°Do you people at China Industrial Group have influence over the registration of business at the Trade and Commerce Bureau?¡±
Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin¡¯s gazes turned to Li Yu-Lan and they did not look friendly.
Liao De-Sheng quickly spoke, ¡°Madam Li, um, that... You should leave. We can talk another day.¡± He then gave her a look.
Li Yu-Lan, however, had no intention of leaving but she took note of the look that Liao De-Sheng had sent her and thought to herself, ¡®Do these two people actually have some sort of powerful backing?¡¯
¡°Who is she?¡± Zhou Wei asked Xia Lei.
¡°Li Yu-Lan of the Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband are Hai-Zhu City¡¯s tricksters. My application was not approved because I had offended her husband, Huang Yi-Hu. There was nothing wrong with my application but it was rejected the moment this Madam Li turned up.¡±
¡°You...¡± Li Yu-Lan was gobsmacked. She¡¯d thought that Xia Lei did not know who she was and even more so her husband Huang Yi-Hu. Furthermore, she realised from Xia Lei¡¯s tone that he knew much more than what he had just spoken of!
Li Yu-Lan¡¯s eyes suddenly turned cold.
¡°There¡¯s such a thing going on?¡± Jiang Xin took out his mobile phone, ¡°I¡¯ll call our Director right now and ask him to help you solve this problem.¡±
¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± Liao De-Sheng panicked right away and hurriedly sped Jiang Xin¡¯s hand, smiling as he said, ¡°Mr Jiang, this is a misunderstanding. There¡¯s no need to call your Director. It must be someone downstairs who misced some documents. I¡¯ll go down right now and tell them to re-examine the documents.¡±
Jiang Xin¡¯s and Zhou Wei¡¯s statuses were enough to make Liao De-Sheng full of dread. If this matter went to their Director, he¡¯d be so dead!
Jiang Xin put down his phone; he did not dial. He was here to help Xia Lei solve his problem so if Liao De-Sheng was willing to to solve it he would not need to get his Director involved. Zhou Wei and himself were not from Hai-Zhu after all and it was not so convenient for them to move around.
¡°Then make an exception and approve everything in one go,¡± said Zhou Wei.
¡°This...¡± Liao De-Sheng was only willing to re-examine the documents to drag the time on. He still wanted to confirm the identities of Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin and did not expect them to demand the expedition of all the processes. He could do this and make it convenient for Xia Lei to finish all processes in one go but if he did, he would have to answer to Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan.
Liao De-Sheng looked sneakily at Li Yu-Lan, as if asking her for instruction.
Li Yu-Lan spoke indifferently, ¡°The two of you sure can talk. I wonder what sort of rtionship you have with this Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Is there a need to tell you?¡± said Jiang Xin.
¡°You have to at least show proof of identity if you want the Chief to do a special service, don¡¯t you? There are a lot of con-men around these days who can act very well. Who knows, you may be actors hired by Xia Lei.¡± Li Yu-Lan emphasised weirdly. This was a hint to Liao De-Sheng - there is no way Xia Lei would get what he wanted unless they are sure about the real identities and power of these two people!
Xia Lei did not interrupt and just watched. He also wanted to be sure of something - how valuable he was to China Industrial Group. This was also very important for the next thing he wanted to do.
Jiang Xin and Zhou Wei exchanged looks, seeming toe to the same conclusion through eye contact. The two of them took out their respective identification but they were just normal identification documents and work badges from China Industrial Group. They did not produce their military documents.
Zhou Wei put the documents on Liao De-Sheng¡¯s desk and said, ¡°These are our documents. Take a look.¡±
Liao De-Sheng¡¯s looked at Zhou Wei¡¯s identification, then at Jiang Xin¡¯s. The documents were real and he knew why they did not show him their military documents - he was too low in the hierarchy.
After he looked at the documents, Liao De-Sheng chuckled, ¡°Heh heh, don¡¯t misunderstand, dear Sirs, I¡¯ll immediately...¡±
¡°Ahem.¡± Li Yu-Lan coughed dryly, ¡°This can be done just by showing two sets of identification? What wonderful documents. What if they¡¯re fake?¡±
Liao De-Sheng wiped the smile off his face. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He knew what Li Yu-Lan was trying to get at, which was to not allow Xia Lei to have his way and get hispany registered. However, the two godly beings in front of him from China Industrial Group were not to be trifled with either. He was caught between a rock and a hard ce.
Xia Lei remained silent. This matter was about him but he was like a spectator watching all the action. He was getting more calm as the situation progressed.
Jiang Xin and Zhou Wei interpreted Xia Lei¡¯s silence and calmness differently. One was from Procurement and the other from Human Resources, so they were quite good at reading people. How could they not know what Xia Lei was thinking with his seemingly indifferent attitude?
Jiang Xin and Zhou Wei looked at each other, then Jiang Xin sneered, ¡°Chief Liao, I see you cannot make decisions here. You want to go with the wishes of this woman here, don¡¯t you?¡±
Liao De-Sheng put on a smiling face, ¡°Mr Jiang, your words are...¡± He looked at Li Yu-Lan out of the corner of his eye.
Li Yu-Lan gave no instruction. Xia Lei was calm but she was calmer. She had her backing - the Gu n! The one who was troubled in the matter was Liao De-Sheng and even if these two people had some power, it was not going to faze her, Li Yu-Lan!
¡°Old Zhou, give the Director a call.¡± Jiang Xin put away both Zhou Wei¡¯s and his own documents which were on the desk.
Zhou Wei went out the door with his phone in hand.
Liao De-Sheng wanted to stop Zhou Wei from leaving the room but Li Yu-Lan shot him a look and he shut his mouth.
Liang Si-Yao quietly pulled at Xia sleeve then spoke softly in his ear, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saying anything, Mr Xia? Can those two people help you?¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth and he also spoke softly to her, ¡°If they can¡¯t help me then no one else can. I¡¯m not saying anything because I want to see how willing they are to help me.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Liang Si-Yao was confused.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 80
Valuable Commodity
Zhou Wei came back into the office with his phone in hand.
¡°Finished with your call? There¡¯s no response. Maybe yourpany¡¯s too far away and your Director has no influence here, huh?¡± mocked Li Yu-Lan.
Zhou Wei looked at Li Yu-Lan and sneered, ¡°You¡¯re Li Yu-Lan, correct? I¡¯ll remember your name.¡±
Li Yu-Lan shrugged, ¡°So what if you remember?¡±
¡°Wait and see,¡± said Zhou Wei.
At that moment, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
Liao De-Sheng was about to pick it up but Zhou Wei got to it first and pressed the speaker button.
A male voice suddenly came from the speakers, ¡°Liao De-Sheng, is there a young man named Xia Lei there?¡±
When Liao De-Sheng heard the voice, beads of sweat popped out on his forehead again. He spoke nervously, ¡°Ma, Mayor Hu, yes, Xia Lei is over here.¡±
Li Yu-Lan¡¯s expression also changed in an instant.
¡°Is Xia Lei registering ¡®Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯ at the Trade and Commerce Bureau?¡± said Mayor Hu¡¯s voice.
¡°Y, Yes.¡± More sweat popped out on Liao De-Sheng¡¯s forehead.
¡°Are you hindering him and not letting the application through?¡±
¡°I...¡±
¡°You bastard! I¡¯ll give you half an hour to approve all the procedures. Expedite it and give thepany licence to Xia Lei!¡±
¡°I... Yes, yes, I¡¯ll do it right away.¡±
¡°Come to my office after you¡¯re done. I¡¯m going to have a good talk with you!¡± Mayor Hu disconnected the call with a m after he was done speaking.
Liao De-Sheng wiped his sweat away and said to Xia Lei, ¡°Mr Xia, p,please hold on. I¡¯ll have it done for you immediately. It won¡¯t take half an hour, it won¡¯t.¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. He just looked at him. From how that Mayor Hu was speaking, the career of Liao De-Sheng would end today.
Liao De-Sheng walked out of the office withrge steps. This ce used to be where he could boss people around but it had be a ce where he could not bear to stay in.
Li Yu-Lan took up her bag and headed for the door.
Xia Lei blocked her way and spoke coldly, ¡°Hold on.¡±
Li Yu-Lan took a step back nervously, ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Pass a message on to your husband. He¡¯s camouged well but I will catch him. My friend¡¯s death will not pass just like that; him and you shall pay,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Facing Xia Lei, Li Yu-Lan felt fear stir unexinably in her heart.
¡°Scram,¡± scolded Xia Lei. He let her go.
¡°You-¡± Anger appeared on Li Yu-Lan¡¯s face as she red at Xia Lei before lifting her bag and walking out of the office.
She hade to hinder and quash Xia Lei¡¯s hope of starting apany under the direction of Huang Yi-Hu and it looked like a simple matter. Xia Lei, however, had turned the tables unexpectedly and not just that - he had pped her and Huang Yi-Hu in the face!
Xia Lei looked at Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin and smiled as he said, ¡°Thank you so much. I wouldn¡¯t have mypany licence if it were not for your help.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t stand on ceremony, Mr Xia. It is our honour to be able to help you,¡± said Zhou Wei.
Jiang Xin smiled, ¡°Mr Xia, you are a very important partner of ourpany. You yourself are a special talent in our country. Your request was valid and in ordance with thew - that Liao De-Sheng should have no reason to hinder you.¡±
¡°You are too kind. I am truly thankful. But I still have to ask the two of you for another favour after I get my licence,¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin exchanged looks, sending each other messages.
¡°What would you like us to help you with, Mr Xia? Please, speak your mind,¡± said Jiang Xin.
¡°Afterpany registrationes the building. I have my eye on a piece ofnd which is next to Third Ring Road, plot number 13. I would like to ask for your help to procure that piece ofnd,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This...¡± Zhou Wei and Jiang Xin looked awkward and their eyes were troubled.
¡°I have just this one request and I will never trouble you or yourpany again. If you help me with this I will process any part you want me to process,¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhou Wei smiled wryly, ¡°Mr Xia, it is no problem to help you get yourpany licence but a piece ofnd, this...¡±
Jiang Xin spoke too, ¡°Ourpany is in Jing-Du. Our influence here is limited. We can help with normal requests but acquiringnd is another matter and we have no such pull.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too humble. I know how much power you have. You must help me with this,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then, Mr Xia, what if we don¡¯t help you?¡± asked Zhou Wei probingly.
¡°I will process this order but after I¡¯m done, I will not ept any more purchase orders from yourpany,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mr Xia, you...¡± Zhou Wei looked anxious, ¡°You¡¯re like a child.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Mr Xia, how can you be so willful? We have already given you the highest price. How can you refuse our order as a business owner?¡± said Jiang Xin.
¡°You say I am like a child - I really am like a child. If someone hits me and I don¡¯t hit back, I will have no mood to go to school, no mood to do my work. You saw how it was just now. That Li Yu-Lan and her husband Huang Yi-Hu bullied me. You think they only did this one thing against me? You¡¯re wrong. She and her husband murdered my friend!¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This...¡± Jiang Xin¡¯s face was pained, ¡°Mr Xia, we are apany, not the police. What you¡¯re saying is out of our jurisdiction. This request for help is really...¡±
Xia Lei cut him off, and spoke slowly, ¡°I¡¯d originally nned to find an opportunity to go overseas. Maybe America or Germany, to see their most advancedthes and upgrade my ownpany¡¯sthes to the same standards as theirs. It looks like I won¡¯t need to anymore.¡±
¡°Wait,¡± Zhou Wei said excitedly, ¡°What did you just say? You can upgrade an ordinarythe to the same standards as those in America and Europe?¡±
¡°How difficult is it? I just have to see the blueprints and the real thing to upgrade mythes. When I upgrade mythes, I can process as many parts as you need,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Can you really do that?¡± Jiang Xin also looked very excited.
Xia Lei held his palms out, ¡°Would youe looking for me if I did not have the ability? Would you have helped me get mypany licence?¡±
¡°That...¡± Jiang Xin said, ¡°We will arrange for you to go overseas right away. You can choose Europe or America, whichever you prefer. We have channels which can arrange for you to see all the needed blueprints and machines. Once youe back and upgrade athe, we will procure that piece ofnd for you.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°Land first, then overseas.¡±
¡°How are we to help you like this, Mr Xia?¡± said Zhou Wei.
¡°Land first, then overseas,¡± repeated Xia Lei.
Jiang Xin smiled wryly, ¡°You really are a child, Mr Xia. Fine. Zhou Wei and myself cannot make a decision like this. We shall fly back to Jing-Du City. We need to talk to our director and he will decide. We will contact you immediately once we have news.¡±
A smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips, ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll wait for your good news.¡±
¡°All right. The matter should not be dyed. We¡¯ll go to the airport now. Goodbye, Mr Xia.¡± Zhou Wei shook hands with Xia Lei.
Jiang Xin also shook hands with Xia Lei, ¡°Mr Xia, remember what you have promised to undertake. Upgrade yourthes to thetest and most advanced global standards.¡±
¡°I can guarantee that if you help me you will seethes like that,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Xin and Zhou Wei left in a hurry.
The greatest allure of Xia Lei for China Industrial Group was not his ability to process the high precision parts which only Europe and America could process since they could obtain the parts they needed from other channels, like Israel. However, if Xia Lei could really upgrade an ordinarythe to the same standards as those most advanced machines - this was irresistible to China Industrial Group.
Xia Lei dared demand for so much because he was relying on this. He had something that China Industrial Group could not refuse!
Liang Si-Yao looked at Xia Lei, her gaze odd, ¡°Mr Xia, how are you so sure that they will fulfil your request?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°You studied business. You know what a ¡®valuablemodity¡¯ is, right? I am the only one who has the thing they want. They have to give me what I want.¡±
¡°I know the concept of a valuablemodity but that¡¯s a piece ofnd. Even if they help you get the deed title, you... Do you have so much money?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Thend around Third Ring Road easily cost tens of millions and up. It wasn¡¯t strange to see a price tag of over a billion if it was near the port. She knew Xia Lei was just an owner of a workshop and he was still in the process of registering apany - how could he have enough money to buynd?
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Miss Liang, China Industrial Group is a government-owned enterprise. This business belongs to the country and is very important to the country. It is easy for China Industrial Group to procure a piece ofnd if it wants to. I honestly have no money but I would only give one or two million even if thend is worth fifty million.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Liang Si-Yao goggled at Xia Lei, ¡°Aren¡¯t you...¡±
¡°Acting shamelessly?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I am. Didn¡¯t they say so already? I am like a child. Doesn¡¯t it suit this child to act this way?¡±
Liang Si-Yao gave Xia Lei a thumbs-up and giggled, ¡°Mr Xia, I studied business but I have found that I am just a little student before you today. You¡¯re the real top business student.¡±
¡°Enough with the praise. I was forced into doing this. I want to seek justice for my friend and if I tried doing it thewful way I would never have my justice, not in fifty years. Okay, let¡¯s go downstairs and see how it¡¯s going, then go take a look at the piece ofnd. How about it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure. I want to take a look at that piece ofnd too,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
They left the office and had not yet arrived in the hall when Liao De-Sheng came up to them, holding a stack of documents.
¡°It¡¯s done, Mr Xia.¡± Liao De-Sheng had a gratuitous smile on his face, ¡°Let¡¯s go to the office and talk. I¡¯ll make tea for you.¡±
Xia Lei took the documents from Liao De-Sheng¡¯s hands and nced at them, then spoke lightly, ¡°Chief Liao, your tea is too good for me. I am not used to it. You should serve it to respectable people like Huang Yi-Hu or Li Yu-Lan.¡±
¡°Mr Xia...¡± Liao De-Sheng looked pitifully at him, ¡°Could you put in a good word for me in front of your two friends? Look, I¡¯ve done what you asked.¡±
¡°No, I can¡¯t. I¡¯m actually not so close with them,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Liao De-Sheng was beside himself with anger.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 81
Conflict
The piece ofnd at Third Ring Road was notrge; it was only 20 acres. The government price was 6,000 per square metre, making thend worth at least 80,000,000. This was before bidding. If the government opened tender and developers get involved in the bidding, the price would double, or even rocket to over two hundred million. The location near the port was really good after all and developers wouldn¡¯t mind paying the price.
Liang Si-Yao had an odd expression on her face after looking at the piece ofnd, ¡°It¡¯s such a waste to build a machine nt on this piece ofnd. If it were me, I¡¯d build condominiums here. The location is good - there¡¯s schools and a hospital nearby. I could simply set the price at 10,000 per square foot and add an elevator. Woah, I¡¯d be rich overnight.¡±
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°Huang Yi-Hu wants to buy this piece ofnd to build condominiums; you have the same idea as him. However, I¡¯ll insist on using it for a machine nt since he wants to build condominiums.¡±
¡°Are you trying to make him so mad that he¡¯d kill himself?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
¡°It¡¯ll be great if he died from anger but those sort of people don¡¯t die so easily. Good people lead short lives while the bad live for ages.¡± He thought of Ma Xiao-An again.
Liang Si-Yaoforted him, ¡°Don¡¯t be sad. I¡¯m afraid many developers will be interested in thisnd because of its value. Can your two friends really get this piece ofnd for you? You don¡¯t have the money either.¡±
Xia Lei just smiled, ¡°I¡¯m not worried at all. Let¡¯s go, Miss Liang. Let¡¯s look for a ce ahead to have tea and celebrate the establishment of mypany.¡±
¡°Sure. Then stop calling me Miss Liang,¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled as she said, ¡°Call me Si-Yao.¡±
¡°Okay, then stop calling me Mr Xia and call me Lei,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Lei.¡± Liang Si-Yao met Xia Lei¡¯s eyes and she smiled.
They walked away from the empty plot ofnd and to the Great Wall H6 parked by the road. At that moment, three luxury cars stopped by the road. A ck Maybach business sedan led the way, followed by a Mercedes-Benz S600 and a BMW 730i. These three cars were not something ordinary people could afford to drive.
The door of the Maybach opened and a young man in a ck suit stepped out from the driver¡¯s seat, then opened the back door. A middle-aged man alighted from the car; he was dressed casually but still had an upper-ss air.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the middle-aged man and he stopped in his tracks.
The man who had got out of the Maybach was Huang Yi-Hu. Xia Lei recognised him from the picture he had seenst night.
Other people alighted from the other two cars. Every car had its main passenger and entourage; boss, bodyguard and driver. It was easy to tell who was who.
Just then, a woman also alighted from the Maybach. It was Li Yu-Lan.
Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan had not yet discovered Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao. The married couple brought the other bosses to a little street which led to plot number 13, talking as they walked.
¡°CEO Wang, I will give the project to your Ling-Yun Construction Company after we get this piece ofnd,¡± said Huang Yi-Hu to one of the bosses.
¡°Thank you, thank you. It¡¯s not the first time that we at Ling-Yun Construction Company have worked with you, Boss Huang. It¡¯s no problem,¡± he replied.
Li Yu-Lan spoke to the other boss, ¡°CEO Zhou, we will contract all our building materials, sand and reinforced steel bars to your building materialspany.¡±
The boss called CEO Zhou smiled, ¡°No problem. It¡¯s not our first time working together. Same old terms, eh?¡±
Huang Yi-Hu stopped in his tracks then and chuckled, ¡°Since CEO Zhou says so, we shall abide by the same old terms. Let¡¯s make a pile together.¡±
The one called CEO Zhou said, ¡°Boss Huang, there are no problems on our side but there are several people eyeing this piece ofnd. I¡¯m not being a naysayer but what if you can¡¯t get this piece ofnd?¡±
¡°Can¡¯t get this piece ofnd? There is no piece ofnd I, Huang Yi-Hu cannot get in Hai-Zhu City. I¡¯m not only going to get thisnd, I¡¯m going to buy it for the lowest price,¡± said Huang Yi-Hu.
¡°Are the other developers not bidding?¡± The boss called CEO Wang looked very surprised.
Huang Yi-Hu sneered, ¡°Bid? I will visit them one by one and see which one of them dare to fight with me, Huang Yi-Hu, for the piece ofnd!¡±
CEO Zhou and CEO Wang looked at each other and smiled.
True. Who would dare to fight with Huang Yi-Hu over a piece ofnd in Hai-Zhu City?
Liang Si-Yao spotted Li Yu-Lan and said, ¡°Lei, should we avoid these people?¡±
¡°Why should we? This ce is not theirs and theirs alone,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay.¡± Liang Si-Yao was also a woman who was not afraid to dive in. She looked at Huang Yi-Hu, who was next to Li Yu-Lan and asked, ¡°Lei, is that man beside that woman the Huang Yi-Hu you spoke of?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°It¡¯s him.¡± He snorted, ¡°Did you hear them? Huang Yi-Hu is already treating this piece ofnd like it¡¯s his.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu did indeed see the piece ofnd as his own property already by bringing people from a constructionpany and building materialspany to view the site and talk business.
¡°He has triangr eyes and horizontal brows. That Huang Yi-Hu person doesn¡¯t look like a good person,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
At that moment, Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguard spotted Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao. He walked over to them, speaking loudly, ¡°What are you doing here? This is a construction site. Who let you in?¡±
Huang Yi-Hu, Li Yu-Lan and the others all looked at Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao. In that instant, the expressions of the married duo changed to that of ugly, obvious hate.
It was Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s first time seeing Xia Lei but he knew clearly what Xia Lei looked like, where he lived and what he¡¯d done. He also knew all the details about what had transpired in the Trade and Commerce Bureau, which was equivalent to Xia Lei giving him a p in the face. When he saw Xia Lei, the hate and annoyance in his heart was disyed for all to see on his face, his gaze so hateful it seemed he would not hold back from drinking Xia Lei¡¯s blood and rending his flesh.
¡°I¡¯m talking to you. Are you deaf?¡± Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguard had a bad temper.
¡°I¡¯m not talking to you because I don¡¯t want to. You¡¯re not blind. Can¡¯t you tell?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You fucker!¡± Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguard¡¯s temper red and he strode towards them.
Xia Lei did not move and just watched Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguard in silence.
A small sneer appeared on Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s lips. He knew his bodyguard¡¯s capabilities. The little thugs employed by Chen Chuan-Hu could notpare to him. He was sure that his bodyguard would throw Xia Lei and the woman next to him to the ground in a few seconds. After that, he would step on Xia Lei¡¯s face with his foot and open his zipper to piss on his head!
¡°You sucker!¡± Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguard swung a fist at Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Xia Lei¡¯s right elbow cut from inwards-out and blocked from inside the bodyguard¡¯s right elbow, then blocked the punch and thrust his right hand forward, attacking the heart of the bodyguard with a Short Bridge Piercing Fist.
Bam! There was a muffled thump and the bodyguard groaned as he turned ashen. His body tilted backwards but before he hit the ground, Xia Lei suddenly moved close and used both fists to pummel him over ten times in his lower abdomen in the blink of an eye.
¡°Bleurgh-¡± Blood sprayed from the bodyguard¡¯s mouth and he fell head-first onto the ground. He struggled to get to his feet but only got ten centimetres off the ground before hey bonelessly down again.
Only five seconds had passed from the time Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguard had attacked to the time he hit the ground. Normal people could only blink a few times in such a short period of time but Xia Lei had knocked down a professional bodyguard!
Everyone¡¯s eyes went to Xia Lei, and they were full of fear and astonishment.
The only person who acted normally was Liang Si-Yao because she knew Xia Lei¡¯s strength. Xia Lei could beat the ironman-like Lu Sheng, so what was this bodyguard to him?
¡°Ptew!¡± Xia Lei spat on the face of Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguard, and, pretending to be a hooligan, cursed, ¡°Fuck, I needed to vent my anger and you just pissed me off. You think I¡¯ll be afraid of you because you have a sucker big boss? Let me tell you - Even if your boss is here, I¡¯ll beat him up too if he dares to open his mouth!¡±
This line was obviously directed at Huang Yi-Hu.
The two bosses apanying Huang Yi-Hu looked at him strangely. They did not say anything but their eyes spoke volumes - aren¡¯t you an underworld boss? Can you take being cursed at like that?
Huang Yi-Hu was so angry his face had turned the colour of pig liver. He regretted bringing just one bodyguard this time. Xia Lei had insulted and provoked him but he could not beat him in a fight!
The apanying bosses had their own bodyguards too but Xia Lei¡¯s earlier disy of skill had shocked them and they wouldn¡¯t challenge Xia Lei even if their bosses told them to.
The atmosphere turned heavy with nervous tension.
Huang Yi-Hu reached for his waist with his hand.
Xia Lei looked at Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s waist area and his eye twitched, revealing a ck handgun. He felt a jolt of nervousness and quickly thought of countermeasures. He looked at Li Yu-Lan next, and prepared to push her towards Huang Yi-Hu the moment he took out the gun, then take the opportunity to hit the gun out of his hands.
It was very risky to do so but it was also the best course of action.
Li Yu-Lan suddenly grabbed Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s hand in the nick of time and she said something quietly in his ear.
Xia Lei looked at her lips and lip-read her words.
¡®Hu, this kid is provoking you deliberately. He¡¯s got someone backing him. Even if you take your gun out and kill him, we¡¯ll be finished if you shoot him in broad daylight. He¡¯s a poor little bastard so hold off your grudge against him - there will be plenty of opportunities to take care of him.¡¯ This was what Li Yu-Lan said to Huang Yi-Hu.
Huang Yi-Hu put his hand down, looked at Xia Lei and spoke fiercely, ¡°You know who I am, punk?¡±
Xia Lei rxed and put down his guard a little and spoke with equal measure, ¡°Huang Yi-Hu, I¡¯d recognise you even if you were turned to ash. I¡¯ll state today that you will pay for my friend¡¯s life sooner orter.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Huang Yi-Hu guffawed, ¡°You? You will make me pay? Can you?¡±
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°You¡¯ll know soon whether I can or not.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu pointed at Xia Lei, ¡°Fine. You have balls. Use whatever you have toe at me. I¡¯ll take it all. I¡¯d like to see who gets thestugh!¡±
Li Yu-Lan maintained calm all throughout and she had thought about the details. She asked probingly, ¡°Mr Xia, I did not expect to run into you again so soon. Let me ask this - what are you doing here?¡±
¡°I¡¯m here to look at this piece ofnd,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Look at this piece ofnd?¡± Li Yu-Lan looked at Xia Lei in surprise.
Huang Yi-Hu and the two bosses also looked at him in surprise.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 82
This Piece of Land is Mine!
A poor bastard who managed to w his way out of poverty and was just setting up his own business was actually here to look atnd worth hundreds of millions? Things like this could not be believed, not just by the wealthy people at the scene but also little schoolchildren with somemon sense. These boastful words were too ridiculous, weren¡¯t they?
Huang Yi-Huughed. Reallyughed. The two bosses next to him and their bodyguards alsoughed. Theirughter was full of ridicule and contempt.
Xia Lei waited till they had their fill ofughter, then said, ¡°What? Only you guys are allowed toe look atnd and I can¡¯t?¡± He looked at Liang Si-Yao and continued, ¡°Si-Yao, thisnd isn¡¯t up for auction yet, is it?¡±
Liang Si-Yao cooperated, saying, ¡°Yes, this piece ofnd has not been put up for auction yet. Anyone cane and bid on it.¡±
Li Yu-Lan sneered, ¡°Mr Xia, stop jesting. You? I don¡¯t think you can even afford the deposit.¡±
Xia Lei faked surprise, ¡°You need to pay a deposit to bid on governmentnd?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± This time, even the calmest and sharpest person in Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s group, Li Yu-Lan,ughed.
The boss named Zhou said, ¡°Is this boy insane?¡±
The boss named Wang replied, ¡°Most probably. This piece ofnd is close to the port and definitely worth hundreds of millions - does he looks like he has hundreds of millions? The locally-made car by the side of the road is probably his. He drives a local brand worth only a few tens of thousands and wants to bid onnd worth hundreds of millions? Nonsense!¡±
¡°Heard that, boy? Nobody believes you,¡± said Li Yu-Lan.
She was still a little polite earlier and called him ¡®Mr Xia¡¯ but now the politeness was totally gone and she called him ¡®boy¡¯.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Worth hundreds of millions? It¡¯s worth one or two million from what I see. You guys need hundreds of millions? I can buy this piece ofnd with one or two million.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu and his groupughed again, and their earlier nervousness disappeared. In their perspective, Xia Lei was like someone who was sent by the Heavens to do aedy skit.
¡°Don¡¯t believe me?¡± Xia Lei looked at Huang Yi-Hu and his gaze turned cold, ¡°Huang Yi-Hu, let me tell you, don¡¯t even dream of getting this piece ofnd. I will use it for my machine nt.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu snorted, ¡°Boy, don¡¯t think you can do this because you have your two friends to help you. No one else other than me, Huang Yi-Hu can get this piece ofnd. I¡¯ll tell you this now - this piece ofnd will not be put up for auction and even if it was, there will only be me raising the bidding paddle!¡±
¡°How about we make a bet? If you get this piece ofnd I¡¯ll get down on my knees and kowtow to you three times. If I get this piece ofnd, you go to my friend¡¯s grave and kneel and kowtow three times,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure. I¡¯ll bet with you!¡± Huang Yi-Hu agreed.
¡°Your words are just empty words. Let¡¯s have a written pledge,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We can do that but I¡¯ll have to add one more line,¡± said Huang Yi-Hu, ¡°If I get this piece ofnd, you have to kowtow to me in front of Miss Gu.¡±
¡°Okay, I agree,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei could guess why Huang Yi-Hu would bring up Gu Ke-Wen and there were three reasons. One was to let the bosses surnamed Zhou and Wang to know who was backing him and be reassured of his standing. Two, to shock Xia Lei and let him know who he was making an enemy of. The third was to curry favour with Gu Ke-Wen because if Xia Lei knelt before Huang Yi-Hu, Gu Ke-Wen would be very pleased since she had lost some dignity because of Xia Lei.
Would Huang Y-Hu have been willing to bet with XIa Lei if not for those three reasons? Obviously not.
The boss surnamed Zhou brought out paper and pen from his briefcase. Xia Lei wrote the details of their wager, then signed his name.
Huang Yi-Hu also signed his name, then threw a copy to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei put aside the written pledge. ¡°I¡¯ll make you honour your bet.¡±
A faint mocking smile appeared on Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s lips, ¡°Boy, this piece ofnd will be put up for auction in a week. Save up the 50,000,000 deposit before you talk to me about the bet. I¡¯ll pick a crowded spot and wait for you to kowtow to me.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± said XIa Lei. He left plot 13 with Liang Si-Yao in tow.
Huang Yi-Hu watched Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao walk to the Great Wall H6 by the road and spat angrily on the ground, ¡°Fuck! I want to shoot that guy!¡±
¡°Hubby, why is your temper still so fiery? You¡¯re a proper businessman now. Beatings and killings should be given to your underlings to do. Why do it yourself?¡± said Li Yu-Lan.
The husband and wife did not talk loudly but they spoke deliberately for the Zhou and Wang bosses to hear.
¡°Forget it. Don¡¯t let that little bastard affect our mood.¡± Huang Yi-Hu changed the topic, ¡°CEO Zhou, CEO Wang, let¡¯s talk about coboration. How much do you n to invest?¡±
The group talked as they walked and only Li Yu-Lan looked back at Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao, a hint of worry in her gaze.
Liang Si-Yao spoke only when they got into the car, ¡°Lei, why did you make a bet like that with Huang Yi-Hu? This piece ofnd has so many developers eyeing it. Didn¡¯t you hear? The deposit to participate in the auction is 50,000,000. WIll you really kneel and kowtow to Huang Yi-Hu if your two friends can¡¯t help you get thend?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°You¡¯re overthinking it.¡±
¡°I¡¯m overthinking it?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked at Xia Lei uprehendingly.
¡°Huang Yi-Hu is not trustworthy at all. He wouldn¡¯t honour the written pledge even if he lost,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°If you know that he won¡¯t do as promised, why bet with him?¡± Liang Si-Yao was even more puzzled.
¡°The same reason why I won¡¯t honour the bet if I lose,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao shrugged and smiled wryly as she said, ¡°I¡¯m really confused now. If both of you won¡¯t honour the bet, then why bet?¡±
¡°What I want is the written pledge that Huang Yi-Hu signed,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s equivalent to scrap paper. What do you want it for?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll see. I¡¯m just saying that I did not bet with him out of boredom. He¡¯ll have to pay the price in the end, starting from this written pledge.¡± A faint, mysterious smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
¡°Forget it. I don¡¯t want to know about theseplicated matters. I came today to try to convince you to give up on your workshop and learn Wing Chun from my dad. Looks like there¡¯s no need for me to bring this up now.¡± Liang Si-Yao looked a little disappointed.
Xia Lei started the engine and spoke as he slowly entered traffic, ¡°Isn¡¯t this good? I¡¯ll drop by the school when I have time. I keep my business and get better at Wing Chun.¡±
¡°What you¡¯ve learnt is just the tip of the iceberg. You haven¡¯t even seen the real Wing Chun,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei hesitated, ¡°Doesn¡¯t your father teach it?¡±
¡°What my dad teaches is body-strengthening Wing Chun. Our ancestor Yan Yong-Chun started Wing Chun so we have inherited some things, of course. You know how martial arts have their martial art rules. Some martial arts are passed down to males and not females, not even their own daughters, let alone to students like you,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Your father doesn¡¯t pass down your family¡¯s Wing Chun to you?¡± Xia Lei was disbelieving. Liang Zheng-Chun had only his daughter, Liang Si-Yao. If he did not pass it down to her, didn¡¯t it mean that his Wing Chun would die with him?
Liang Si-Yao wrinkled her nose, ¡°Not telling you.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Then tell me, how do I get your father to pass the techniques down to me?¡±
¡°Take him as your Master and be his Last Disciple, then he can justifiably teach you the real Wing Chun,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I actually really want to learn but if I have to pick between my career and Wing Chun, I¡¯ll definitely pick my career. I have employees who depend on me for their livelihood so I cannot just throw them aside,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re the sort who always thinks of others before himself,¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled at that, ¡°But this is also why I want my dad to ept you as his Last Disciple. My dad would not ept someone of bad character even if he knelt before him for three days and three nights.¡±
Xia Lei gave a small sigh, ¡°Let¡¯s leave it at that. I won¡¯t have the fortune of being your father¡¯s Last Disciple in my lifetime. I¡¯ll juste practice when I have time.¡±
Liang Si-Yao looked at Xia Lei and was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°Who knows. Would you be willing to have my dad as your Master and be his Last Disciple if I can convince him to change his mind about traditional concepts and let you maintain your career as you learn Wing Chun from him?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a while, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely be willing to. Master Liang is a man worthy of respect. I will treat him like my own father.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheeks suddenly turned red, ¡°What are you saying, you?¡±
Xia Lei then realised that his words could be misunderstood and quickly exined himself, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it like that. My parents are gone. What I meant was if I take Master Liang as my Master, I... I would respect him like I would a father.¡±
¡°Okay, okay , I don¡¯t need you to exin yourself,¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°But I have a condition.¡±
¡°You have a condition? What condition?¡±
¡°Well, you know that I came back because of my dad¡¯s age. I quit my job in America and I¡¯m an unemployed youth here now. You¡¯re coincidentally in the stage of building your business now andck an assistant so let me be the Chairman¡¯s Assistant. How about that?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Chairman¡¯s Assistant?¡± Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°What sort of Chairman am I?¡±
¡°You¡¯re still the Chairman no matter how small Thunder Horse Manufacturing is.¡±
¡°Sure, if you say I¡¯m the Chairman, then I¡¯m the Chairman. But isn¡¯t a highly skilled talent like you losing out bying to work in my little machine nt?¡±
¡°Just tell me if you¡¯ll hire me or not. I¡¯m not going to bother with formalities.¡± Liang Si-Yao, as a martial arts woman, was refreshingly courageous.
Xia Lei held out his hand, ¡°Wee to Thunder Horse Manufacturing.¡±
¡°Chairman Xia.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled has she shook hands with Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t call me Chairman Xia. It makes me ufortable,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯ll get used to it in the future. You should have your status too as the owner of a business. I am your assistant so if I call you ¡®Lei¡¯ all the time, others will think youck management skills,¡± said Liang Si-Yao instead.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, ¡°That¡¯s true. Hm. Let¡¯s go have a drink and you can tell me more about how your old bosses handled their businesses. Ick experience in that area.¡±
¡°Sure thing, young disciple,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
This was the first time Liang Si-Yao called Xia Lei a young disciple. Her father epting Xia Lei as his Last Disciple seemed to be already set in stone for Liang Si-Yao.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 83
You Are My Little Apple
¡°Please have this tea, Master.¡± Xia Lei knelt with both knees on the floor in the martial arts school, holding a cup of ck tea high above his head.
Liang Zheng-Chun epted it gravely and took a tiny sip. His expression was grave but under his seriousness was a happiness which his brows could not contain. A disciple like Xia Lei was one in a hundred years to a martial art practitioner like him. Meeting him was pure coincidence and luck.
Apuse rang throughout the martial school. All the students, new and old, were happy for Master Liang and Xia Lei.
Lu Sheng also pped but the smile on his face seemed a little forced.
Liang Si-Yao carried a tray piled with red envelopes and handed one out to every student. There wasn¡¯t much money in the red envelopes, just a hundred, but this was the custom of the Fo-Shan people; they did not care about the amount of money to draw a picture of auspiciousness.
Liang Si-Yao gave Lu Sheng a red envelope and said quietly, ¡°Monk, I know you¡¯re unhappy but some things can¡¯t be forced. It¡¯ll be good if you think it over.¡±
¡°I¡¯m okay. Xia Lei is stronger than me. I¡¯ve practiced Wing Chun for years and him days but I could not beat him. He is most suited to be the sessor of Master¡¯s art. I seldom admit defeat to others but Xia Lei is one.¡±
¡°Mm. It¡¯s good you think that way,¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled.
Xia Lei kowtowed, his head banging on the ground three times, then called, ¡°Master.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun put down his cup and helped Xia Lei to his feet. He could not hold back his smile anymore and beamed as he said, ¡°Master has some advice for you. Be a good person and do what you do well.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°I shall remember that, Master.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun patted Xia Lei on the shoulder, ¡°You are one of my Wing Chun people now after entering the doors of Wing Chun. I will not let you off if you use what I teach to do evil or to harm others.¡±
Xia Lei nodded again and thought, ¡®Master isn¡¯t usually so long-winded. Why is he nagging like this today?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun leaned close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and spoke in a low tone, ¡°Si-Yao says she¡¯s working in yourpany. Is it true?¡±
Xia Lei kept nodding, ¡°Mm, it¡¯s true.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun was silent for two seconds before he spoke again, ¡°Take care of her. If any suspicious men approach her or have designs on her, I¡¯d like you to beat them away.¡±
Xia Lei paused, then nodded again.
Men with unmarried daughters were mostly like that - afraid that their daughters would be duped by bad men. It wasn¡¯t strange at all for Liang Zheng-Chun to have thoughts like that.
Liang Si-Yao walked over after giving out all the red envelopes, ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t tell her,¡± whispered Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind worked nimbly, ¡°Master was teaching me martial arts.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled, ¡°Really, you two. You¡¯ll have plenty of time. Let¡¯s have hotpot tonight. How¡¯s that sound?¡±
Before Xia Lei could agree, Lu Sheng spoke loudly, ¡°Yes, today is a great day for Xia Lei. Let¡¯s have the young disciple treat us all to a meal, yeah?¡±
¡°Yeah!¡± cheered the students.
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°Okay, okay, it¡¯s my treat. Don¡¯t hold back, guys. Make sure to eat and drink happily.¡±
The martial hall was filled with happy voices.
Xia Lei had one too many to drink and could not drive after they were done with the hotpot meal so Liang Si-Yao drove him to his neighbourhood in his car.
¡°Which floor do you live on?¡± Liang Si-Yao helped Xia Lei out of the car but did not know where to go in the midst all the residential buildings.
Xia Lei pointed at the stairwell facing the front of the car and said vaguely, ¡°Sixth... floor.¡±
He was so drunk he could not make out which floor his home was on.
¡°I¡¯ll help you home.¡± Liang Si-Yao supported Xia Lei as they headed for the stairwell.
When they neared the stairwell, Liang Si-Yao saw a woman on the balcony of the first floor eating a watermelon and staring straight at her and Xia Lei. Her gaze was weird and Liang Si-Yao thought, ¡®This woman is strange. Doesn¡¯t she know it¡¯s rude to stare like that at people?¡±
As she was thinking, the watermelon-eating woman suddenly threw her watermelon away and went into her t.
Liang Si-Yao had just helped Xia Lei into the stairwell when the watermelon-eating woman suddenly opened her door and walked out, then smiled as she looked at her and Xia Lei. She stood in the middle of the stairs and didn¡¯t look like she intended to get out of the way at all.
¡°Miss, please move aside,¡± said Liang Si-Yao politely. She did not know that this woman was Jiang Ru-Yi and that she had an ambiguous rtionship with Xia Lei.
¡°Oh my, isn¡¯t this our Lei?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi, pretending to meet them by coincidence in the stairwell.
¡°Our Lei?¡± Liang Si-Yao asked curiously, ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°He didn¡¯t tell you about me?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Jiang Ru-Yi came forward and pped Xia Lei lightly on his head, ¡°You rascal, you only know how to get drunk. Why didn¡¯t you tell me you¡¯ve made a new friend?¡±
¡°Who... hit me?¡± Xia Lei mumbled, then closed his eyes again.
¡®Is this woman Xia Lei¡¯s girlfriend?¡¯ thought Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I¡¯m so sorry our Lei has troubled you. You can hand him to me. I¡¯ll take care of him,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Liang Si-Yao hesitated. Though she suspected that this woman was Xia Lei¡¯s girlfriend, it was just a guess and she was notfortable simply handing Xia Lei off to a strange woman.
Jiang Ru-Yi, on the other hand, grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s other arm and prattled on, ¡°You know, our Lei will make a fuss when he¡¯s drunk and vomit all over. He¡¯ll also strip naked and roll on the ground. It¡¯s horrifying.¡±
¡°This...¡± Liang Si-Yao had never thought of that happening. She could not picture Xia Lei stripping naked and rolling about on the ground. She did not let go of him.
Jiang Ru-Yi tried to drag Xia Lei away and discovered that Liang Si-Yao had not let go and didn¡¯t seem to want to let go. She suddenly produced a document and opened it, then put it before Liang Si-Yao eyes, saying, ¡°Look, look, I¡¯m a police officer. Trust me now?¡±
Liang Si-Yao then knew that Jiang Ru-Yi was a police officer, and the Chief of a police station at that. The worry in her heart went away and she finally released her grip. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll put him in your care. Please tell him I drove his car away and I¡¯ll pick him up in the morning.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi held her hand out instead, ¡°Give me the keys. You take a taxi back.¡±
Liang Si-Yao hesitated but gave the keys to Jiang Ru-Yi in the end and left gloomily. That woman was a police station Chief.
Jiang Ru-Yi did not help Xia Lei up to the second floor but directly through her own door. She took Xia Lei away just like that.
Jiang Ru-Yi put Xia Lei on the sofa in the living room, then hit his face lightly, ¡°Who was that woman?¡±
¡°Shh... Sleepy...¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t even want to open his eyes.
¡°Humph!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi reached out again and shook Xia Lei by the waist, ¡°You yboy. You already have a fantastic childhood friend and you still go out to drink and party. What¡¯s so great about that long-legged woman?¡±
¡°Khuu... Khuuu...¡± Xia Lei started snoring.
¡°Sleeping so soundly, you ass with no conscience.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi cursed him but there was a smile on her face. She leaned on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and spoke to herself, ¡°You¡¯re such a bad guy, bursting into my home like this after getting drunk. What do you intend to do?¡±
¡°Khuu... Khuuu...¡± Xia Lei continued snoring.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s hands wandered all over Xia Lei¡¯s body as her cheeks got redder and redder. ¡°You rascal. You were so thin you had no meat on your bum when we were kids. Your bum is so firm now. What do you need all these firm muscles for? To seduce me? I¡¯m not falling for that.¡±
Xia Lei could not feel her hands touching him everywhere; he was deep asleep.
Jiang Ru-Yi yed around for a bit before she got to her feet. ¡°Forget it. I¡¯ll run a bath for you, then help you take a bath.¡± Before she walked off, she reached out again to pinch Xia Lei on his thigh, ¡°I¡¯m so good to you even though you went outside to indulge in drink and other pleasures. What do I owe you from my previous life?¡±
Xia Lei murmured something in response but it was so garbled that he himself wouldn¡¯t be able to make it out.
Jiang Ru-Yi giggled, then went to the bathroom.
Sounds of water came from the bathroom, apanied by Chief Jiang¡¯s singing. She was singing ¡®Little Apple¡¯*.
At that moment, her door suddenly opened and a woman in a trench coat walked in. She dragged Xia Lei off the sofa, then bent and pulled till he was on her shoulder and left.
The door shut without a sound. The whole thing happened in under 15 seconds.
¡°You are my little, little apple...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi walked out of the bathroom and was stunned when she looked at the sofa. ¡°He¡¯s... gone?¡±
She froze for half a beat, then rushed out of the door and up to the second floor to knock on Xia Lei¡¯s door.
In his t, the trenchcoat-wearing woman held a spray to Xia Lei¡¯s nose and sprayed two times.
¡°Achoo!¡± Xia Lei sneezed violently and opened his eyes.
¡°Lei! Lei!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice came from beyond the door.
Xia Lei shook his head vigorously, then saw Long Bing standing before him.
¡°Lei? Are you home?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice sounded very anxious.
Xia Lei seemed to remember something and replied, ¡°I¡¯m home. What is it?¡±
¡°I... I¡¯m cutting ties with you!¡± came Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice, followed by sounds of her going downstairs.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. Jiang Ru-Yi had cut ties with him over a hundred times over the years since they were children but not one time was real. He knew her too well; as well as his own palm.
After half a beat of silence, Xia Lei spoke, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±
¡°My job,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei froze. ¡°Your job? Does it have to do with me?¡±
Long Bing nodded, ¡°I am surprised too. The subject of my task is you.¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Long Bing sat and looked straight at Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to tell you, but... I think it doesn¡¯t matter if I do. China Industrial Group handed in a report and it mentions you in it. You processed some important parts for China Industrial Group and they think you can upgrade normalthes to the advanced standards of the European and Americanthes. The higher-ups are very interested in this. They¡¯ve sent me to investigate everything about you.¡±
Xia Lei was very surprised by Long Bing¡¯s sudden appearance but his surprise went away when she told him why she was here. His coboration with China Industrial Group looked like a coboration between twopanies but it was actually just him working with them. It was also clear to him how valuable he was to China Industrial Group with the technology block in effect. This was also why he dared to use purchase orders as a bargaining chip to get them to procure the piece ofnd for him.
There were advantages and disadvantages to everything, of course. He could use his ability to get benefits from China Industrial Group but it had also roused interest in some people. It was not the least bit strange to have Long Bing here investigating him then.
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m right in front of you now. How do you want to investigate? What do you want to start with?¡±
¡°Good night,¡± said Long Bing. She got up and walked towards the door.
¡°Hello?¡± Xia Lei stood up, ¡°You¡¯re leaving just like that?¡±
Long Bing opened the door. Long Bing shut the door.
Xia Lei looked at the tightly-shut door and didn¡¯t move for a few minutes.
Why was she always so mysterious? She¡¯s unfathomable.
*A song that was very popr in China.
https://youtu.be/d59boCs31uM
Be a Patron!
Chapter 84
Arrival of the Old Leader
What sort of people want to investigate him? How did Long Bing end up investigating him? Xia Lei could not think of the answers to these two questions but he was not the least bit worried. His ability was hidden in his eye and there was no way for others to discover it anyway. And as for those mysterious powers, even he himself did not know why they appeared so where can Long Bing start investigating from?
Early the next morning, Xia Lei gave Long Bing a call but her mobile phone was off and he could not reach her. He was long used to this happening so he didn¡¯t think much of it. He ate breakfast and went out.
He¡¯d barely walked two steps from his building when a piece of watermelon rind came flying at his head. He heard a whoosh and squatted hurriedly as the watermelon rind shaved past his head and went on its trajectory. Xia Lei turned his head back to see Jiang Ru-Yi standing on her balcony.
Jiang Ru-Yi looked mad and she snatched up another watermelon rind and hurled it towards him.
Xia Lei jumped out of the way as he said, ¡°Ru-Yi, what are you doing so early in the morning? Did I piss you off?¡±
¡°You didn¡¯t but I¡¯ll hit you because I feel like it. What are you going to do about it?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi swung her arm and a third piece came flying. She lost aim this time and the watermelon rind hit the wall next to her, sttering watermelon juice on her face and chest. The contrast between her snow white chest and red watermelon juice was very eye-catching.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Look, the Heavens are punishing you for your bad deed.¡±
¡°What do you care?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi stopped throwing watermelon rinds and asked probingly, ¡°Who was that womanst night?¡±
¡°She¡¯s my Master¡¯s daughter Liang Si-Yao, and also my assistant,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Your Master?¡±
Xia Lei did a Seeking Hand beginning pose and smiled as he said, ¡°You didn¡¯t know, did you? I¡¯m learning Wing Chun now. My Master is the descendant of Yan Yong-Chun and his name is Liang Zheng-Chun.¡±
¡°Show-off.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi curled her lip, ¡°If that woman is your Master¡¯s daughter she should be your senior disciple. How did she be your assistant?¡±
¡°She¡¯s a talented person who studied business in America. It is my great fortune for her to be willing to help me in my entrepreneurial venture,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly lifted her leg and took off her slipper, then flung it at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei hurriedly dodged, ¡°Are you crazy? Why hit me again?¡±
¡°You hired such a young and beautiful assistant. One look and I know that you have bad intentions. Shameless. Don¡¯t tell people you know me,¡± scolded Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Jiang Ru-Yi seemed to remember something all of a sudden, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. I cut off ties with you. I don¡¯t want to talk to you. Shoo, shoo.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged wordlessly and turned to walk towards his Great Wall H6.
¡°Hey!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi said fiercely, ¡°Give me my slipper back.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you not talking to me? Now you¡¯re asking me to give you your slipper?¡± Though he said that, Xia Lei still picked up Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s slipper and tossed it back to her.
Jiang Ru-Yi put on the slipper and said huffily, ¡°I¡¯ll tell Xue that you¡¯ve be a bad person!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and turned back to his car again.
¡°Bring some dishes back for me tonight. My fridge is empty. Get beef or mutton or wine or something like that. You pay for it first.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice came from behind him.
Xia Lei was speechless.
This was Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s ¡®cutting ties with him¡¯ and it hadn¡¯t changed for over twenty years.
When Xia Lei drove to Thunder Horse Workshop, Liang Si-Yao was already in the workshop chatting with Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others.
¡°Boss Lei, when did you hire such a beautiful helper? And you didn¡¯t tell us either, you rascal,¡± grumbled Chen A-Jiao good-naturedly when she saw Xia Lei.
¡°What helper? Call her Assistant.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong corrected Chen A-Jiao¡¯s mistake and then spoke sweetly, ¡°Good morning, Big Brother Lei.¡±
XIa Lei had actually been nning to call Liang Si-Yao toe to the workshop when he was on his way and introduce her to the employees. He had not expected that she would find her own way here and start chatting with the employees.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Looks like I don¡¯t have to make introductions now.¡±
¡°Chairman Xia, I¡¯ll start work today. Is that okay?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
She called him ¡®Chairman Xia¡¯ in front of others but ¡®Lei¡¯ or ¡®younger disciple¡¯ when there were no others around. It seemed like she had already adjusted to her roles as senior disciple and assistant.
¡°Sure, no problem. Use my desk for now,¡± said Xia Lei a little awkwardly, ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve wronged you by making you work here.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to talk about being wronged,¡±ughed Liang Si-Yao, ¡°I¡¯ll first draw up a n for you. Thepany is still in its preparatory phase so you need a systematic n.
¡°Okay. Thank you.¡± Xia Lei did need a n like this.
Liang Si-Yao quickly entered work-mode. Her fingers flew across the keyboard and her ten pale fingers were like butterflies flitting about, dazzling one¡¯s eyes.
¡°Look, Miss Liang is amazing.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong learnt how to use theputer too but she used only one finger to type. She was miles behindpared to Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Could she be the future Mrs Boss?¡± quipped Chen A-Jiao as she drew on a metal sheet.
¡°Don¡¯t say that, Big Sister A-Jiao. Though if Miss Liang and Big Brother Lei get together... They do fit quite well,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Chen A-Jiao went close to her and said softly, ¡°Xiao-Hong, you¡¯re quitepatible with Boss Lei too. You have a big butt - perky too. You¡¯ll give birth to a son for sure.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face turned red immediately and she smacked Chen A-Jiao, sputtering, ¡°I¡¯ll ignore you if you keep talking nonsense, Big Sister A-Jiao.¡±
Chen A-Jiao sighed, ¡°Ah, if only Xiao-An were still here. He¡¯d definitely like this new Miss Liang. He¡¯s a perverted fellow, I know...¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face darkened and her shyness from earlier was immediately overwritten by sorrow.
Sadness appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes too but he recovered quickly. He¡¯d wanted to work on the parts for China Industrial Group but remembered that they had not sent the materials yet, so he could not begin the processing.
¡®When will China Industrial Group send the materials over? Should I call Zhou Wei or Jiang Xin and ask? I can maybe test their response, inquire about the piece ofnd... Forget it, if I call now they will think I can¡¯t do without them. I have to hold back and wait for them to plead with me¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Thunder Horse Manufacturing was still in its preparatory stage and the issue ofnd had to be settled first. Next was manpower - Chen A-Jiao, Wang You-Fu and the others were obviously not going to be enough after he built the new machine nt. He had no solution for these two troublesome problems though and just thinking about it was giving him a headache.
Everything was tough in the beginning, even setting up a stall by the roadside, let alone starting apany.
Xia Lei walked to the back of Liang Si-Yao and watched her type out the n.
Liang Si-Yao felt someone behind her and turned back to look at Xia Lei, ¡°Let¡¯s not bother about the matter of the piece ofnd. We can¡¯t do anything about it anyway. We can¡¯t just wait around for it to be resolved either; we have to do other things. Hiring more workers or ordering equipment - which should we do first?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, ¡°I think... We should first hire more workers. Talent is one of the keys of new businesses after all and nothing can be done without people.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled, ¡°It¡¯s good you think that way. Me too. I¡¯ll draft an employment advertisement now and send itter.¡±
¡°Where will you send it to?¡± Xia Lei asked curiously.
¡°Technical schools and Universities of Science and Technology,¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°We can get workers experienced in the basics from technical schools and higher-skilled talent from Universities of Science and Technology. These talents can help increase ourpetitiveness in the market and even design products for us.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°So you¡¯ve nned for everything.¡±
¡°Of course. After I sent you homest night, I went home and sorted through thepany¡¯s current situation. That¡¯s right, about that womanst night...¡±
Xia Lei knew that she was talking about Jiang Ru-Yi already.
¡°Forget it. I don¡¯t want to talk about that impolite person.¡± Liang Si-Yao turned the conversation back to work, ¡°Fresh graduates don¡¯t have ideal circumstances now so that gives us an advantage in hiring. Even so, we still have to have something that would attract the talent so we can recruit talented people.¡±
¡°You just do what you deem fit. You¡¯re better at this than I am,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be in charge of hiring and you¡¯ll take care of the matter of piece ofnd and building the machine nt. How does this sound?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Let¡¯s do it like this.¡±
Liang Si-Yao turned back to the keyboard and typed out a recruitment profile.
Seeing Liang Si-Yao hard at work made Xia Lei happy. He knew well that a talented returnee like Liang Si-Yao would not havee to work in a shell of apany like his if it were not for Liang Zheng-Chun, who found him to be a good fit for martial arts and chose him to be his Last Disciple to continue the practice of orthodox Wing Chun.
At that moment, a red Hongqi car stopped by the side of the road and two men alighted. One was Jiang Xin and the other was a familiar-looking elderly man. The elderly man looked close to sixty, with grizzled hair and a thin face. He had a pair of alert eyes and seemed cultured.
After Jiang Xin and the elderly man alighted, a small container truck stopped by the side of the road too.
¡®They¡¯re probably delivering the materials¡¯ thought Xia Lei before he went to wee them.
¡°Mr Xia,¡± greeted Jiang Xin with a smile from afar, ¡°I¡¯d nned on giving you a call before we came but Elder Mu didn¡¯t let me, so we came straight over.¡±
Xia Lei did not know what sort of status this ¡®Elder Mu¡¯ had but he could guess that he was no simple man. Xia Lei spoke politely, ¡°Hello, Elder Mu.¡± He then held out both his hands to shake with Elder Mu.
As Elder Mu shook hands with Xia Lei, Jiang Xin introduced him, ¡°This is our China Industrial Group¡¯s old leader, Mu Jian-Feng.¡± He spoke again, ¡°Elder Mu, this is the Mr Xia I spoke to you about.¡±
Xia Lei and Mu Jian-Feng got acquainted in this fashion.
Mu Jian-Feng assessed Xia Lei carefully, then looked at the small, little Thunder Horse Workshop behind him. After half a beat, he spoke, ¡°Boy, you have only a roadside workshop like this and you dare ask us, China Industrial Group, to procurend for a machining nt for you?¡±
Xia Lei stiffened and felt embarrassed. He wanted to know what was going through Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s mind at that moment but he was expressionless and a wily old bird. Xia Lei could guess nothing.
While Xia Lei felt more awkwardly embarrassed, Mu Jian-Fengughed, ¡°However, putting aside your ability, having the bravery and courage to ckmail China Industrial Group is something I¡¯d have to give you praise for. You¡¯re good, boy. You¡¯re a real talent. You¡¯ve got a bright future ahead of you.¡±
Xia Lei let out a silent sigh of relief, ¡°You¡¯re too kind, Elder Mu.¡±
Be a Patron!
Chapter 85
Selling Water in the Desert
It did require a lot of bravery and courage as a roadside machine shop owner to ask a government-owned enterprise to procurend for a machining nt because of a coboration. Mu Jian-Feng was here because he admired Xia Lei¡¯s character and his ability.
At that moment, Jiang Xin went close to Xia Lei and spoke in a low voice, ¡°Mr Xia, do you know who he is? He is our boss!¡±
Only then did Xia Lei know Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s identity and it shocked him so much his mouth was agape and he was tongue-tied.
Liang Si-Yao discovered Mu Jian-Feng and Jiang Xin¡¯s arrival at that moment and seemed to guess something so she came walking out.
¡°Chairman Xia, please may I trouble you to have a look at this recruitment document to see if it¡¯s eptable?¡± Liang Si-Yao specially brought out the freshly-printed recruitment document and handed it to Xia Lei for his perusal.
Xia Lei could tell what Liang Si-Yao was trying to do and he smiled as he said, ¡°Elder Mu, Mr Jiang, let me introduce you. This is my assistant, Liang Si-Yao.¡±
Liang Si-Yao followed up with a respectful bow, ¡°Hello, Elder Mu, Mr Jiang.¡±
Not a handshake but a respectful bow - it was a gesture of great respect in the workce.
Jiang Xin spoke respectfully, ¡°Hello, Miss Liang. May I ask which university you graduated from and what you majored in?¡±
¡°I studied at Harvard University in America and I graduated from the School of Business, majoring in Business Management. I¡¯ve worked in an e-Commercepany and a venture capitalpany in America.¡± After a brief introduction of her resume, she smiled again, ¡°Now I work for Chairman Xia.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng and Jiang Xin could not help exchanging looks after hearing her speak. Both of them looked astonished. They knew that Harvard Business graduates were very well sought after in America, much less China. If she were willing, she could have her pick of any of the listed publicpanies to work in at a sry of at least 500,000. An elite talent such as herself actually chose to work for a just-beginning Xia Lei!
Xia Lei took note of Mu Jian-Feng and Jiang Xin¡¯s reactions and was secretly happy and proud.
¡°Miss Liang, would you be willing toe to ourpany to work if I offered you a sry of 500,000?¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
Xia Lei¡¯s smile froze on his face and he thought ¡®What¡¯s with this Elder Mu? If he wants to poach my employee, he should try to do it behind my back, right? He¡¯s actually poaching her right in front of me? Is hepletely overlooking me or is he not nning to help me get that piece ofnd at all?¡¯
Xia Lei was instantly flooded with doubt and worry.
¡°Thank you for your kind offer but I would rather stay with Thunder Horse Manufacturing than go to China Industrial Group,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Eh?¡± Mu Jian-Feng looked interested, ¡°Miss Liang, could you borate and tell us why?¡±
¡°Yourpany is big and offers an attractive sry but those are just temporary advantages. Staying in Thunder Horse Manufacturing gives me greater opportunities for growth. My current ie is definitely below 500,000 a year but it will surely grow in the future. This is my reasoning for ie. Another reason is prospects. Thunder Horse Manufacturing has great prospects that an averagepany cannot match. You acknowledge this too, otherwise you wouldn¡¯t be here, correct?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
To sum it up, would Mu Jian-Feng and Jiang Xin havee here today if Xia Lei was not the only person who could process the high precision parts they needed in the whole of China?
¡°Impressive. Not so simple, eh? Young people these days are much more impressive than us in our time,¡± chuckled Mu Jian-Feng, ¡°Miss Liang, I was just joking earlier. You can go back to work.¡±
¡°Mm. Yes, Elder Mu.¡± Liang Si-Yao turned and walked away.
Xia Lei called her to stop and handed the recruitment document to her, ¡°You can take charge of this. There¡¯s no need to ask me.¡±
Liang Si-Yao nodded and brought the papers back inside Thunder Horse Workshop. The employees of Thunder Horse Workshop looked curiously at Mu Jian-Feng and Jiang Xin outside the shop and whispered amongst themselves. After Liang Si-Yao entered the workshop, she indicated that they should stop looking and continue working and they stopped their discussion and started working again.
She was of a higher rank than them as assistant to the Chairman so they had to listen to her. The employees of Thunder Horse Workshop were not particrly cultured but one of the good points they had was that they were clear about who the boss was. They would do as the boss said withoutints.
Mu Jian-Feng spoke to Jiang Xin, ¡°Jiang, tell the workers to unload the materials and bring them into the workshop. Mr Xia doesn¡¯t have many people so we won¡¯t use his manpower.¡±
¡°Yes, Elder Mu.¡± Jiang Xin went to carry out his instructions.
¡°Walk with me, Mr Xia,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had guessed that this woulde and he said, ¡°Of course, let¡¯s have a walk.¡±
The two of them walked, one old and one young, following the pedestrian path and talking as they walked.
¡°Mr Xia, my main purpose ining today is not to help you get that piece ofnd. Do you know what I came for today?¡± After some small talk, Mu Jian-Feng changed the topic to his main purpose.
¡°I can roughly guess. Elder Mu, you came to Hai-Zhu this time to see if I can really upgrade normalthes to the most advancedthes of the European and American standards, correct?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Good guess. Since you¡¯ve guessed it, can you give me an answer that would reassure me?¡± Mu Jian-Feng stopped in his tracks and looked Xia Lei straight in the eyes, as if to see through all his secrets.
¡°I have already told Mr Zhou Wei and Mr Jiang Xin that I can do it. But first, I¡¯ll need to go overseas and see the blueprints and the real thing,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s no problem. You can go overseas any time. We also have channels which can arrange for you to see the blueprints and most advancedthes. When are you leaving?¡±
¡°After mypany is established,¡± said Xia Lei.
Displeasure shed in Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s eyes, ¡°Mr Xia, you still want us to procure that piece ofnd for you?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Yes. I am only asking for this one thing. I won¡¯t ask for anything else in the future.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng continued walking forward, ¡°Mr Xia, what you ask for is difficult.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t say anything but he thought ¡®You have to help even though you don¡¯t want to¡¯.
¡°How much money do you have on hand right now?¡±
¡°About 6,400,000 in total.¡±
¡°What?¡± Mu Jian-Feng looked at Xia Lei in surprise, ¡°You only have about 6,000,000 and you want us to help you procurend that is worth hundreds of millions? Are you kidding me?¡±
Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s tone turned sour right away but Xia Lei did not lose patience. He spoke lightly, ¡°Yes, just 6,000,000 or so, just that. I still have to use it to build my machining nt, buy more equipment, hire more workers and so on. I only wish I could turn every cent into ten thousand.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng sneered, ¡°I thought you had money and at least seven or eight hundred million. We could loan you the money if you were a little short and make use of our executive rtionship to expropriate that piece ofnd. Now you¡¯re telling me that you have only around 6,000,000 and this is also to be used for building a machining nt, buying more equipment and hiring more workers? Young man, are you making some sort of joke for this old man tough at?¡±
Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s tone was getting more and more impolite. Xia Lei¡¯s temper was also rising and he, too, sneered, ¡°Elder Mu, if this were to happen five or six years in the future I wouldn¡¯t need your help at all. It¡¯s true that I have no money now. I am doing this in the interest of our future coboration.¡±
¡°You make it sound like it¡¯s as easy as lighting a wick ame. Young man, I have to remind you that what you want isnd that is worth hundreds of millions!¡± Mu Jian-Feng was blunt, ¡°Why do you insist on that piece ofnd when you don¡¯t have the money for it? You can pick something in the rural areas - a million for dozens of acres. Why? Give me an exnation!¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows, ¡°You think I¡¯m swindling you?¡±
¡°I shall consider it so if you don¡¯t have a reasonable exnation,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
Xia Lei snorted, ¡°If you really think that way then there is no need for us to talk further.¡±
¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t mean anything. I willplete the purchase order from Mr Zhou Wei, then you can go get someone more qualified than I to do it for you. I won¡¯t process so much as a screw for you in the future.¡±
¡°You punk.¡± Mu Jian-Feng was so mad his whiskers puffed. Nobody had ever dared to talk to him like that - Xia Lei was the first.
¡°Keep your money and your connections. Goodbye, Elder Mu.¡± Xia Lei threw these words out and turned to leave.
¡°Wait!¡± Mu Jian-Feng grew anxious and grabbed Xia Lei by the arm.
Xia Lei did not break free from his grasp for fear that the old man would be flung to the ground. That would be taking the act too far.
¡°What sort of foul temper is this, young man?¡± Mu Jian-Feng red unhappily at Xia Lei, ¡°I could be your grandfather. You can¡¯t take criticism from an old grandfather?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t say anything but can I be happy about you, Elder Mu, seeing me as a swindler?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t dare to swindle China Industrial Group. I think you know what sort ofpany it is,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
¡°Of course I know. It¡¯s like the Lockheed Martin*pany in America, producing weapons of war for the country. I wouldn¡¯t be so stupid as to try to cheat you guys of your money even if I were tired of living. Furthermore, what I want isnd, not money. Can I sell that piece ofnd? Can I take that piece ofnd overseas?¡± said Xia Lei.
Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s features softened but his mouth was still firmly set, ¡°But that piece ofnd is worth hundreds of millions. Yourpany¡¯s value is low but the value of the piece ofnd is high. Propertypanies would assess the value and you¡¯ll be instantly worth hundreds of millions. Does that seem reasonable to you?¡±
¡°Does it not seem reasonable to you?¡±
¡°It¡¯s unreasonable.¡± Mu Jian-Feng shook his head.
¡°Let me put it in a metaphor. I am not selling water next to a waterpany but in the desert. You are my client, my desert-wandering client. Strict technology blocks have been put in ce by Europe and America so your stored water has long been used up. Just at this time when you guys are extremely thirsty, you discovered me selling this water. So, do you think I¡¯ll sell this water to you guys if you give me just one yuan?¡± said Xia Lei.
Mu Jian-Feng paused for half a beat then suddenly started chuckling, ¡°Well said. A very fitting metaphor. You are the water seller in the desert. Is this also why you are so secure in your knowledge that you will have backing and are extorting us because of our weakness?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°Whatever you want to say. Cheating, extorting because of weakness - it doesn¡¯t matter to me. I don¡¯t care what you think of me. I just want to build my machining nt on that piece ofnd.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng sighed, then headed back.
Xia Lei stood on the spot and did not move.
Mu Jian-Feng walked two steps, then looked back and shouted, ¡°What are you still standing there for, boy? Take me to see that piece ofnd.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Sure, Elder Mu. I¡¯ll take you to see it right away.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng smiled wryly and shook his head, ¡°You¡¯re the most stubborn boy I¡¯ve ever met.¡±
* Company information - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin
Be a Patron!
Chapter 86
Land Up for Auction
Xia Lei had something to busy his hands with now that China Industrial Group had delivered the materials. Only he could process the parts China Industrial Group wanted so the Thunder Horse Workshop employees couldn¡¯t help even if they wanted to. Mu Jian-Feng and Jiang Xin were handling the matter of the piece ofnd so he didn¡¯t have to worry about it. On the other front, Liang Si-Yao was in charge of hiring so he didn¡¯t have to worry about that either or he¡¯d have to split himself into three to get everything done.
Long Bing had appeared that one time and vanished mysteriously. Xia Lei gave her just one call and didn¡¯t call her again. This wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t want to see her but she was investigating him and it wasn¡¯t appropriate for him to ask her out for dinner or something, especially when he was the subject of her investigation.
Just like that, half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
For the past half-month, Xia Lei worked overtime to process the parts for China Industrial Group. Other than Zhou Xiao-Hong, who lived in the workshop, he was the first to arrive every day in the morning and thest to leave.
The half-month¡¯s busying meant that the purchase order he had epted from Zhou Wei waspleted and, like thest time when he processed parts for East Wind Heavy Industries, hepleted the order ahead of time and with superior quality.
Liang Si-Yao had also had results in the same period of time. She had gone to several technical schools and got almost a hundred graduating students to sign on.
There was no machine nt nor dormitories yet but she did not let this hinder her. Her approach was simple - every signed worker would get 500 in living expenses before the machine nt was built. Liang Si-Yao¡¯s intelligence was apparent in using the expense of 50,000 a month to solve the problem of reserving manpower.
As for the highly-talented workers, Liang Si-Yao had her approach too. She went to Hai-Zhu¡¯s School of Science and Engineering to look for promising graduating students and used ideal and higher than average remuneration to attract the talents. When that didn¡¯t work, she took out a copy Xia Lei¡¯s order from China Industrial Group for the student to see and boasted about the strength of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. This worked like magic on the technology geeks. Why? Simple - Thunder Horse Manufacturing could process parts which were currently only obtainable through import from Europe and America. There was definitely a bright future ahead if one worked in a such an up-andingpany!
Half a monthter was also when the Hai-Zhu City government opened the auction market fornd and put several pieces ofnd up for bidding.
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao arrived at the auction hall bright and early.
The auction hall was already full of seated people and they were mostly real estate developers and some business executives who needed to expand their business. These people were all dressed in suits and had young, beautiful secretaries apanying them. They were affluent and had spirit; everyone was a winner in life.
¡°Why isn¡¯t Elder Mu here yet?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes swept the hall but did not find Mu Jian-Feng, who should have been there. ¡°Will he note?¡± she asked worriedly.
Xia Lei did not look the least bit worried, ¡°He may be stuck in a traffic jam. Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯lle. We¡¯d agreed on it when I delivered the goods to him yesterday.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled wryly, ¡°This is just too important for us so of course I¡¯ll worry and think of what could go wrong.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°What is there to worry about? With his status and connections, Elder Mu is just fulfilling a step of the process ining here.¡±
At that moment, a group of people walked through the entrance. They were led by Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan. Behind the couple trailed a few bosses and four bodyguards. The bodyguards belonged to Huang Yi-Hu and Xia Lei recognised them right away. They were the four gun-toting bodyguards he had seen at the fishing vige vi.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the waists of the four bodyguards. If Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguards had brought guns, it would give him a chance for revenge. He could make a police report about them bringing guns into a ce like this to create trouble for Huang Yi-Hu.
Unfortunately, he did not spot any guns on them after he swept their bodies with his gaze. Even a rampaging bully like Huang Yi-Hu wouldn¡¯t dare rampage about in front of the government.
Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan spotted Xia Lei as well and they walked over.
¡°Here to see the action, Mr Xia?¡± Li Yu-Lan spoke mockingly, ¡°I asked at the register and they said nobody named Boss Xia Lei had put down a deposit.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu spoke scornfully, ¡°Boss? Someone who can¡¯t even afford the 50,000,000 deposit can be called ¡®boss¡¯?¡±
¡°It¡¯s true that I can¡¯t pay the 50,000,000 deposit. That¡¯s because I don¡¯t know how to cheat. If I learn from you and steal and rob, I would probably be able to pay that 50,000,000 deposit and pretend to be a good person ande participate in the auction.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s four bodyguards stepped close.
Huang Yi-Hu red at them and the four bodyguards stepped back.
Huang Yi-Hu looked at Xia Lei, ¡°Punk, I¡¯ll wait for you to kneel and kowtow to me. Don¡¯t leave after the auction ends. I¡¯ll tell you the venue for your kneeling and kowtowing.¡±
¡°I was about to remind you too. Don¡¯t hurry off after the auction. I¡¯ll take you to my friend¡¯s grave and have you kneel and kowtow to him.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Huang Yi-Hu snorted and took his people away with him.
Liang Si-Yao spoke angrily, ¡°That guy is asking for a beating. And that woman next to him! I¡¯ve never seen anyone so lowly.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to get angry over these sort of people. Let¡¯s find a ce to sit,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao chose seats in a corner and seated themselves to wait for the auction to begin. While waiting, Liang Si-Yao took out herptop from herptop bag and did some work. Xia Lei also took out a book and wrote in it with a pen. He wrote seriously and turned a page after he was done writing, then continued writing. He was not writing about any specific topic and just wrote whatever he could think of.
Bosses engaged other bosses in conversation in the auction hall and it was not quiet at all. Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao were an exception; the two of them concentrated on their own things and did not care about the people or goings-on around themselves.
At one point, Liang Si-Yao saw Xia Lei and the little book in his hand out of the corner of her eye. The messily scrawled contents of the book made her ask curiously, ¡°What are you writing?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Nothing much. Just practicing writing.¡±
¡°Practicing writing?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked at the sloppy handwriting in the book and became more curious, ¡°I¡¯ve seen your handwriting and it¡¯s clear. This handwriting now is so bad it looks like it belongs to a primary-schooler. Are you trying to write worse and worse? What sort of practice is this?¡±
Xia Lei leaned in to her ear and said in a low voice, ¡°This isn¡¯t my handwriting; it¡¯s someone else¡¯s.¡±
Liang Si-Yao paused, then suddenly remembered something, ¡°You¡¯re imitating... Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s handwriting?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. He was practicing writing like Huang Yi-Hu and after half a month of practicing, he could not only duplicate the signature from the written pledge but also write other words in Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s handwriting.
¡°What are you nning to do by imitating his handwriting?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked worriedly at Xia Lei.
¡°Nothing. You don¡¯t have to bother about it.¡± Xia Lei did not want to drag her into it.
¡°I know you want revenge for your friend but you have to be careful. Don¡¯t do anything uwful,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I have my limits, don¡¯t worry,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao did not question Xia Lei any further on why he would imitate Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s handwriting. She turned theptop on herp to face Xia Lei and said, ¡°Take a look. This is the draft of the staffing n I have for the workers I have recruited during this period of time. We need some mid-level managers after the machine nt is built. We also need a product development department. I¡¯ve already made arrangements based on talents from the profiles of some of the employees. Let¡¯s proceed as nned if you think it¡¯s okay.¡±
Xia Lei only nced at it and he smiled as he said, ¡°I¡¯ve already said that you can just call the shots on these matters.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll lie to you?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked at Xia Lei, all smiles.
¡°We¡¯re family. You won¡¯t lie to me. Even if you did, I wouldn¡¯t care,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheeks reddened inexplicably for a moment. ¡®We¡¯re family¡¯ had a different meaning if one looked at it another way.
While the pair were talking quietly, the government worker presiding over the auction walked up to the podium. He tested the microphone, then said, ¡°Please quiet down, everyone. The auction for numbered government-ownednd shall begin soon. Please have your bidding paddles ready and abide by the rules.¡±
The entire auction hall quieted down.
Liang Si-Yao looked reflexively at the doorway of the auction hall; there was still no trace of Mu Jian-Feng.
Xia Lei was beginning to feel some doubt and he thought ¡®We¡¯d agreed yesterday. Is he going to stand me up? Impossible. Elder Mu does not speak lightly of promises. He wouldn¡¯t renegade on his words.¡¯
No matter what Xia Lei or Liang Si-Yao thought, the doorway of the auction hall was still empty of the presence of Mu Jian-Feng and his assistant.
Thend auction was about to begin. Helpers used slides to disy the details of thend up for bidding to the people present and the various bosses raised their bidding paddles to bid on the pieces ofnd they had their eyes on.
Piece after piece ofnd was auctioned off and the auctioneer had gone from plot number one to plot number twelve.
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao had looked at the auction hall doorway who knows how many times by then, but Mu Jian-Feng was still nowhere to be seen.
Huang Yi-Hu, who was seated in the front seats, looked back at Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao. His look was full of ridicule and contempt. It was as if he was saying to Xia Lei - ¡®You lose!¡¯
¡°Looks like Elder Mu is noting. He lied to us,¡± said Liang Si-Yao gloomily.
Xia Lei would have told her not to worry if it was half an hour ago but he himself was getting worried now.
Plot number twelve was quickly taken by a boss for 120,000,000 yuan. The auctioneer put plot number thirteen up on the slides and said, ¡°We are now starting the auction for plot number thirteen. This plot ofnd is on the eastern side of Third Ring Road with an area of twenty-one acres. It is surrounded by schools and hospitals in a very good location. This piece ofnd is valued at 80,000,000. Bidding shallmence now.¡±
Thepetition to raise one¡¯s bidding paddle had started.
Huang Yi-Hu was the first to raise his, ¡°81,000,000.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu was the only one with his paddle raised. Nobodypeted with him.
Huang Yi-Hu was He Lao-Qi. Who would dare snatchnd that He Lao-Qi wanted?
¡°Is there anyone else? If there is no one else, this gentleman here will win this piece ofnd for the price of 81,000,000.¡± The auctioneer urged the other bosses to raise their bidding paddles but nobody did so. After waiting for one minute, he said helplessly, ¡°81,000,000 going once... 81,000,000 going twice...¡±
¡°Hold it!¡± An elderly voice suddenly came from the doorway.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 87
Destroy You in Minutes!
The voice attracted everyone¡¯s attention and all eyes turned to it. Mu Jian-Feng walked into the auction hall under everybody¡¯s gaze, apanied by Jiang Xin.
¡°Who¡¯s that old man?¡± someone said in a low voice, ¡°He actually dared to stop President Huang¡¯s bid? He doesn¡¯t value his life.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve never seen that old man before. Where¡¯s he from?¡± said someone.
¡°There¡¯s going to be an interesting show to watch. Huang Yi-Hu put out the news that anyone who bid on plot thirteen would be going up against him. That old man looks like he¡¯s gunning for plot thirteen. I¡¯d like to see how Huang Yi-Hu deals with him,¡± said someone quietly.
¡°Sigh. They must be outsiders who don¡¯t know the situation here. He actually dares to fight with Huang Yi-Hu overnd. He¡¯s screwed,¡± sighed someone.
The auction hall was filled with whispered discussion and the quiet atmosphere from earlier dissipated immediately.
Mu Jian-Feng ignored the whispering around him and his gaze swept over the seats, quickly spotting Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao sitting in the corner. He nodded at them, then walked to the podium withrge strides.
Before Mu Jian-Feng and Jiang Xin could get closer, the host asked tentatively, ¡°This gentleman here, are you here to bid on plot number thirteen? If you are, please find yourself a seat and follow the procedure to ce your bid.¡±
¡°I am here for this piece ofnd but there is no need for me to sit. I¡¯ll say a few simple lines and go,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
What arrogance!
That one sentence of his made the auction hall quiet down again. All eyes went to Mu Jian-Feng again.
Huang Yi-Hu could not take it any longer. He stood from his seat in a huff and walked into the aisle, blocking Mu Jian-Feng and Jiang Xin¡¯s way.
¡°Who are you?¡± Huang Yi-Hu tone was angry and threatening.
Mu Jian-Feng wrinkled his brows, ¡°Who are you, then?¡±
Li Yu-Lan also stood and spoke loudly, ¡°Mr Host, what is wrong with you? Weren¡¯t you going to ept the bid already? Why have you stopped?¡±
The piece ofnd was valued at hundreds of millions and was worth even more but Huang Yi-Hu was suppressing hispetitors to be the only bidder at 81,000,000. This was actually illegal and the host knew the reason behind why there were no other bids but he dared not offend him either. It was good then, that this old man had appeared at that moment and interrupted the bidding. The host was, of course, happy to suspend the bidding.
¡°This gentleman here seems to want to bid on this piece ofnd too. I have no reason to bar him from participating,¡± said the host.
Li Yu-Lan begun to get a little anxious, ¡°He¡¯s bidding on this piece ofnd too? Did he put down a deposit? Does he have the right to bid? Take it out for us to see!¡±
¡°Get out of my way!¡± Mu Jian-Feng was pissed.
Huang Yi-Hu looked like he had no intention of budging, ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear? You should show us what right you have. If you have no right to bid then you¡¯re just here to make trouble. In that case, please get out!¡± He pointed towards the door.
Xia Lei walked over with quick steps, ¡°Is there a dog in the way, Elder Mu?¡±
¡°There is one blocking the way but it is just a mantis trying to stop a chariot. If this can stop me then I¡¯d have lived for nothing,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
Huang Yi-Hu did not take Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s words seriously and he looked at Xia Lei with malevolent eyes as he said, ¡°So it was you making trouble after all, punk. You overestimate yourself!¡±
¡°Get out of the way,¡± said Xia Lei.
Huang Yi-Hu did not move; a curl of disdain appeared at the corners of his lips.
Xia Lei suddenly grabbed Huang Yi-Hu by his cor and pushed him violently towards the seats. Huang Yi-Hu was thrown onto the seats andnded in a dishevelled heap.
Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s four bodyguards stepped forward.
The security guards and policemen on premises also came rushing forward and the entire auction hall erupted in chaos.
¡°Quiet! Quiet! What is all this ruckus?¡± A male voice came from the podium. The voice was imposing and furious.
The chaotic auction hall quieted down.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Mayor Hu Huo? He¡¯se too.¡± Someone recognised the middle-aged man who had just walked up to the podium.
Xia Lei looked at the clean-cut middle-aged man and thought, ¡®So that¡¯s the major. He looks like a teacher but he has an imposing voice.¡¯
Huang Yi-Hu crawled from the seats, fuming, but he had to keep his anger in check in front of Hu Huo. The gaze he turned on Xia Lei, however, was full of killing intent and he seemed to be more than happy to stab Xia Lei a few times.
¡°I do apologise, Elder Mu,¡± said Hu Huo into the microphone, ¡°I was dyed by something and couldn¡¯t get here earlier.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng walked to the podium, smiling, ¡°I¡¯d just arrived too. Your Hai-Zhu City is so busy that there was traffic congestion the whole way.¡±
Hu Huo and Mu Jian-Feng shook hands on the stage, looking cordially polite.
Below the stage waspletely different scene. Practically everyone was trying to guess the identity of Mu Jian-Feng and some were also trying to guess who the young man who had flung Huang Yi-Hu to the ground was.
¡°Punk, who is he?¡± Seeing Mayor Hu Huo and Mu Jian-Feng shake hands warmly, Huang Yi-Hu lost some confidence and started to feel a little afraid.
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°Why, weren¡¯t you being very arrogant earlier? You know how to be afraid now?¡±
¡°Afraid?¡± Huang Yi-Hu said, ¡°I, Huang Yi-Hu, have never known the shape of the word ¡®afraid¡¯.¡±
¡°You mean He Lao-Qi, don¡¯t you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯ll die.¡± Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s voice carried a heavy threat.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Of course I¡¯ll die, but I¡¯ll definitely die after you do. Your days are numbered.¡±
At that moment, Mu Jian-Feng walked to the microphone on the stage and opened a document which Jiang Xin had handed to him. He started reading slowly, ¡°The auction for Hai-Zhu City¡¯s plot number thirteen has been temporarily cancelled because of special circumstances. This piece ofnd is now requisitioned by China Industrial Group for the purpose of building a manufacturing enterprise rted to national defense...¡±
The entire auction hall was silent.
Who could protest when a government-owned enterprise used this sort of reason to procurend?
Don¡¯t even talk about Huang Yi-Hu, even the Gu n would have to step aside!
Mu Jian-Feng had not yet finished reading the document but Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s face was already ashen. His wife and himself had ruined rtionships with Hai-Zhu surface bosses and invested heavily the past few weeks for this piece ofnd. They¡¯d thought that their efforts would bring them a handsome profit but it had all been for naught!
Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan red at Xia Lei. The two of them were so mad that they would be more than happy to rend Xia Lei¡¯s flesh and drink his blood!
Xia Lei, on the other hand, looked rather carefree. He smiled, ¡°Boss Huang, don¡¯t forget our bet. I¡¯m still waiting to bring you to my friend¡¯s grave and have you kneel and kowtow.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu ground his teeth quite audibly.
Just then, Mu Jian-Feng finished reading the document and he added one more line into the microphone, ¡°Mr Xia, pleasee up.¡±
Xia Lei went up the stage.
Liang Si-Yao followed Xia Lei for two steps, then wrinkled her brows and said awkwardly, ¡°Go on, Chairman Xia. I... have to go to thedies.¡±
¡°Okay,e back right after,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao walked towards the restrooms.
Huang Yi-Hu suddenly shot a look at his bodyguards and they fell in behind him.
Xia Lei went onstage and greeted politely, ¡°Hello Elder Mu, Mayor Hu. What do you need me for?¡±
Mu Jian-Fengughed, ¡°You tell him, Little Hu.¡±
Hu Huo handed a thick document envelope to Xia Lei and said, ¡°This is the certificate for the right of use of plot number thirteen. It¡¯s yours now. Afterwards, you¡¯ll have to go to the Land Bureau to pay the fee of one million and you can then build your machining nt.¡±
One million for a piece ofnd worth hundreds of millions - Xia Lei had done it.
¡°Thank you. Thank you, Elder Mu. Thank you, Mayor Hu.¡± Xia Lei was very moved.
Mu Jian-Fengughed, ¡°What thanks? You only have the right to use thend, not to sell or transfer rights. If you want to sell it off you¡¯ll have to spend a fortune to make it happen. I won¡¯t let you off.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°That won¡¯t happen. Definitely not.¡±
Hu Huo looked at Xia Lei and spoke cordially, ¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ve heard some amazing things about you from Elder Mu. I did not initially agree to it when Elder Mu first talked about procuring this piece ofnd. When I heard that it was to be used to build apany for our own local talent, and to process parts that could only be imported from Europe and America, I agreed immediately. I¡¯ve thought it over and if I sold thatnd to developers to build condominiums, it would only bring the government a bit of profit but if I hand it to you to build your machining nt, it would bring a long-term benefit. I am optimistic about you, young man. Work hard and strive to turn yourpany into a world-ss international enterprise.¡±
His words were all positive and Xia Lei was very touched by them. If there were more men like Hu Huo and Mu Jian-Feng in leadership positions, China¡¯s dream would not be just a dream.
¡°Go, boy. Do what you need to do,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
¡°Yes. Goodbye, Elder Mu. Goodbye, Mayor Hu,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°Right, Mr Xia, remember to look for me if you have any problems,¡± said Hu Huo.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Yes. Thank you, Mayor Hu.¡±
Xia Lei walked off the stage. Hu Huo smiled, ¡°This boy¡¯s not bad. He is modest and polite.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s lip curled, ¡°Oh, you haven¡¯t seen his stubborn side. I think he¡¯s an ox who doesn¡¯t know the immensity of heaven and earth. However, our country needs more oxen like him. Haha.¡±
Thend auction continued but Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan were in no mood to hang around. They left their seats and went down the aisle towards the doorway of the auction hall.
Xia Lei strode over, ¡°Stop right there, Huang Yi-Hu.¡±
Huang Yi-Hu looked back at Xia Lei and spoke fiercely, ¡°Punk. Don¡¯t anger me now.¡±
¡°Have you forgotten our bet? You didn¡¯t get plot number thirteen so ording to our bet, you have to go with me to my friend¡¯s grave and kneel and kowtow,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Bet?¡± Huang Yi-Hu sneered, ¡°I did sign a written pledge but it was in jest. You can sue me if you¡¯re not happy.¡±
Li Yu-Lan added, ¡°I advise you to know your ce and don¡¯t overreach. Oh, that¡¯s right. You should go see your girlfriend. She¡¯s taking quite a while to go to thedies. She couldn¡¯t have got into some ident, could she?¡±
Huang Yi-Huughed coldly.
Foreboding reared its ugly head in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He grabbed Huang Yi-Hu by the cor, ¡°If you dare touch her I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
¡°Let go. Let go or I¡¯ll call the police.¡± Huang Yi-Hu red at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei let go of Huang Yi-Hu and dashed to the washrooms.
Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan exchanged nces and followed.
Past a corridor and around a corner, the scene that met his eyes made Xia Lei stand still, bbergasted.
Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s four bodyguards were scattered on the floor, each of them sporting a bloody noses and swollen face. Liang Si-Yao was calmly washing her hands in the restroom, as though the men on the ground were part of the scenery.
¡°You¡¯re here.¡± Liang Si-Yao saw Xia Lei and greeted him with a smile.
Xia Lei came to his senses and asked, ¡°Are you... okay?¡±
Liang Si-Yao nced at the four bodyguards on the floor and said with disdain, ¡°Them? They¡¯re not even up to par. If we weren¡¯t in a government building I¡¯d have broken their teeth.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
At that moment, Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan rounded the corner and their faces drained of colour when they saw the four bodyguards on the ground. The couple looked at sweet, thoughtful Liang Si-Yao like she was Medusa or Godzi or some sort of monster.
Liang Si-Yao walked over and pointed at Huang Yi-Hu right in the nose, ¡°I am surnamed Liang. Remember that. My father is Liang Zheng-Chun, tenth descendant of Wing Chun. I am not afraid of you. You think you have a lot of people? My dad can make one call and the street will be full of his disciples! You dare to meet us on the battlefield? We will destroy you in minutes!¡±
Huang Yi-Hu said nothing but he was sweating buckets.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 88
Learning the True Forms
In the Liang household, one old and two young partook of their meal.
There was a te of sweet-sour pork ribs, a te of twice-cooked pork, fish with eggnts and te of fried Chinese lettuce. These dishes were all cooked by Xia Lei and they were in celebration of him getting the piece ofnd. His celebration was simple and modest.
¡°Have a piece of pork rib, Master.¡± Xia Lei picked up a piece of sweet-sour pork rib with his chopsticks and ced it in Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s bowl.
Liang Zheng-Chun was all smiles, ¡°Eat, eat. You eat too. No need to take food for me.¡±
¡°Dad, just eat what Lei gives you,¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled, ¡°Lei told me more than once that he¡¯s his own father.¡±
¡°He can say that but you can¡¯t simply repeat it.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s smile was a little mysterious, as though he had another meaning behind his words.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheeks reddened and she buried her head in her ricebowl.
Xia Lei felt a little awkward too and lowered his own head to his ricebowl.
Liang Zheng-Chun, however, did not intend to let Liang Si-Yao off and he knocked her head with his chopsticks, ¡°See, a grown man like Lei can cook such nice dishes. A girl like you can only boil instant noodles. You should be ashamed of yourself. Learn from Lei. You can¡¯t prepare instant noodles for your husband and children when you¡¯re married, can you?¡±
¡°Dad...¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face got redder.
¡°Okay, okay. I won¡¯t nag you anymore. Eat, eat.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun stopped talking about it but he could not contain his happy brows. As a Master, he was rather proud of his disciple Xia Lei being able to getnd worth hundreds of millions for one million.
After they were done eating, Liang Si-Yao took the initiative to wash the dishes. Liang Zheng-Chun called Xia Lei into his study.
This was actually Xia Lei¡¯s first time in Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s home and the number of books in his study surprised him. From what he could see of the tightly-packed shelves, the books ranged from martial arts, natural sciences to literature and so on. It was quite aprehensive collection.
¡°You seem to love books, Master. I¡¯ll bring you some good books next time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Zheng-Chun smiled, ¡°Sure. I read, write or draw when I¡¯m not practicing martial arts. Reading is good. You should read more too. Books give you knowledge and impart some morals.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll remember that,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Zheng-Chun patted Xia Lei on the shoulder, ¡°Master didn¡¯t call you in here to talk about these things. I feel like it¡¯s time to teach you something.¡±
Xia Lei begun to feel excited. He knew this was a sign that Liang Zheng-Chun was preparing to teach him some true Wing Chun.
Every Chinese man seemed to have a martial art dream but few have seen real martial arts, let alone be able to practice. How could Xia Lei not be excited with such an opportunity before him? He felt like he had been transported back in time to when he had just finished watching Li Lian-Jie¡¯s* ¡®Hero¡¯, where he was looking for a martial arts master to take as his Master and one appeared before him to show him the right path.
This was a great feeling indeed!
¡°Lei, what do you understand of energy centres?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun did not talk about techniques but asked him a strange question.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and rubbed his forehead awkwardly, ¡°Master, I¡¯ve only read some descriptions of energy centres in martial arts novels. It¡¯s where internal energy is centered, right?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun shook his head, then stretched out a finger and pointed at the space between Xia Lei¡¯s brows, his heart and below his navel, then said, ¡°What I pointed at were all energy centres. The Upper Dantian, Middle Dantian and Lower Dantian**. What they talk about in martial art novels is the Lower Dantian.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. This wasn¡¯t difficult to understand.
Liang Zheng-Chun continued, ¡°Energy centres are not fictional concepts but real organs. Orthodox Daoist scriptures*** say breathing centres vital energy in the Dantian. Users of the Dantian refine Yin and Yang three inches below the navel. Themon man births offspring but the Daoist births oneself. Do you understand the meaning of this?¡±
Xia Lei turned the words over in his head and shook his head in the end. He knew too little about the teachings of martial arts.
Liang Zheng-Chun smiled, ¡°It is actually very simple. The Dantians are organs in which people can refine their energy and maintain good health. If you practice, it will strengthen your body and make many things possible for you. If you neglect it, it will atrophy like a muscle. Skilled Daoists can live to 140 or 150 and still step lightly and not have dulled minds. This is the embodiment of these words.¡±
Xia Lei sort of knew what he was talking about but didn¡¯t at the same time and he seemed to understand some of it but could not put it in words if he was asked to talk about it.
Liang Zheng-Chun continued, ¡°Breathing in stores energy and it¡¯s refined into Spirit. Spirit is thought and also vitality.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°Master, this is too esoteric. I don¡¯t get it.¡±
¡°Simple. Practicing martial arts is like training your Spirit; your body and soul. Grasp the rhythm and secret of your breathing and meld it with your own Spirit and you will attain greater power. This is the internal force they talk about in martial arts novels,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei seemed to understand a little more this time but his brain was still mush.
¡°Look here.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun walked to a wall and did not do any preparatory movements. He simply drew in a breath and suddenly threw out a punch at the wall.
Boom! A loud but muffled sound could be heard and the imprint of a fist appeared in the wall!
Xia Lei was gobsmacked. Liang Zheng-Chun had hit a hardened cement wall, not a mud wall!
Xia Lei had used his X-ray vision on Liang Zheng-Chun in the past to see how he channelled his power and he thought he had learnt about Wing Chun¡¯s true form - but he discovered that he still had much to learn after Liang Zheng-Chun showed his hand!
¡°Master, you¡¯re so powerful!¡± Xia Lei came back to his senses after a pause, his eyes full of adoration.
¡°You can be powerful too if you are willing to work hard,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°How do I train for this?¡± Xia Lei was eager to try.
Liang Zheng-Chun walked to his desk and picked up a piece of fine writing paper packed densely with calligraphy. He handed the fine writing paper to Xia Lei, ¡°Read this. Let me know when you¡¯ve remembered all the contents and I¡¯ll teach you how to begin.¡±
Xia Lei took one look at it, ¡°Master, I¡¯ve remembered it all.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun said in surprise, ¡°So quickly?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I¡¯ll recite it if you don¡¯t believe me.¡± He cleared his throat and recited the contents of the paper word by word, ¡°Inhale breath as whales take in water, exhale breath as the wind blows sand...¡±
Xia Lei recited everything word for word. Liang Zheng-Chun was pleased, ¡°A good seedling indeed. All right, I¡¯ll teach you how to begin now. There¡¯s no going back home for you tonight. Look for Si-Yaoter and ask her to practice with you. She can instruct you a little.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Mm, I won¡¯t go home.¡±
Xia Xue had gone to Jing-Du to study and there was no one home anyway so it didn¡¯t make any difference whether he went home or not.
Liang Zheng-Chun taught Xia Lei about the true forms of Wing Chun in his study. These were all secrets which Yan Yong-Chun had left to the descendants of the family, with hundreds of years of history and the culmination of ten generations of blood and sweat. Xia Lei was now the eleventh sessor.
One hourter, Xia Lei left Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s study and found Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao was preparing the guest room for Xia Lei. Xia Lei saw the girly pyjamas on the bed and girly slippers at the foot of the bed and was temporarily at a loss for words, ¡°Si-Yao, this...¡±
Liang Si-Yao put on an air of generosity, ¡°Mine.¡±
¡°Yours?¡± Xia Lei dared not envision Liang Si-Yao sleeping on the bed in pyjamas.
Liang Si-Yaoughed, ¡°My dad doesn¡¯t wear pyjamas and has no spare slippers. Make do with these for one night. Nobody would know if neither you nor I speak of it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and nodded. If a woman didn¡¯t mind it, it wouldn¡¯t be right for a grown man like him to be wishy-washy about it. Worstes to worst he could just not wear pyjamas. He couldn¡¯t do anything about the slippers either so he¡¯d just wear them.
¡°My dad¡¯s strict, isn¡¯t he?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Not at all. Master¡¯s kind and detail-oriented,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao wrinkled her brows, ¡°Biased. When he taught me he hit me a lot and was fiercer than a tiger.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°That¡¯s because Master loves you. That¡¯s right, Master told me to ask you to instruct me. Do you have time?¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll practice with you. Ask me if you have any questions.¡± Liang Si-Yao agreed readily.
The two of them began practicing in the guest room.
Xia Lei did a horse stance and clenched his fist as he inhaled, then punched as he exhaled; his movements were rhythmical. Following the rhythm of his breath, he felt that his punches were stronger than before and so was the strength and hardness of his fist.
Liang Si-Yao stood to the side giving instructions and correcting things which weren¡¯t right.
¡°This here is a little off. You¡¯re exhaling too quickly.¡± Liang Si-Yao stood next to Xia Lei, one hand adjusting his arm and the other pressing his navel. ¡°Do it again.¡±
Her hand was soft and warm and pressing close to a sensitive area. Xia Lei¡¯s nerves tensed all at once.
Liang Si-Yao, however, did not sense the change in Xia Lei. Her little hand pressed gently on Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen as she encouraged him, ¡°Breathe in, breathe in... What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei hurriedly drew in a breath and punched as he exhaled. However, his brain was full of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s beautiful face, alluring peaks and the shapely lines of her hips. He closed his eyes nervously, afraid that his left eye would do something wrong.
Liang Si-Yao turned to his front again and used her other hand to press on his lower abdomen, ¡°Again.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s reaction became slower and his movements stiff.
Liang Si-Yao seemed to realise something and her gaze suddenly went down to a certain ce down below. Her face turned red immediately and she went to Xia Lei¡¯s back, pretending to be calm and collected, ¡°Um, that... Just do what I told you to do again.¡±
Xia Lei was so embarrassed he could die but he had no way to control it. It was all because of her hand touching him in the lower abdomen.
A man and a woman, both single and practicing martial arts in a room by themselves - awkward situations would be hard to avoid. However, Liang Si-Yao was patient and there were some obviously embarrassing moments but she overcame them and instructed Xia Lei carefully.
They practicedte into the night.
¡°Okay, we¡¯ll stop here for today. Let¡¯s continue tomorrow.¡± Liang Si-Yao had worked up a sweat too and her thin T-shirt stuck to her skin, entuating the curves of her breasts, and her legs were like slender, moistened jade.
¡°Good night.¡± Xia Lei did not dare look at her body.
After Liang Si-Yao left, Xia Lei snatched up the pyjamas she had left on the bed and inhaled the faint fragrance it held. It was Liang Si-Yao¡¯s smell; it was the same as what he had smelt earlier from her body.
¡°I can¡¯t practice with her like this again. It might¡¯ve been nothing to her but it¡¯s difficult for me to bear.¡± Xia Lei looked gloomily at his trousers.
*Jet Li.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Li
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dantian
*** I am not going to trante the thing itself but you can read an overview here (in Chinese).
https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hans/%E9%BB%83%E5%BA%AD%E5%A4%96%E6%99%AF%E7%B6%93
And here.
https://baike.baidu/item/%E4%B8%8A%E6%B8%85%E9%BB%84%E5%BA%AD%E5%A4%96%E6%99%AF%E7%BB%8F
Be a Patron!
Chapter 89
Beautiful Leg Attack
Early the next morning, Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao went to plot number thirteen after breakfast. In the car, Liang Si-Yao phoned to call the workers she had recruited from technical schools to gather.
¡°Si-Yao, our machining nt has not been built yet. Why are you telling them to gather?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°They are your employees so you¡¯ll have to meet them, of course. And, there should be a building n for the machining nt, right? It¡¯ll cost us money to get a designpany to do it for us. The workers have nothing to do anyway. Let theme up with a building n and we can save on costs.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°They¡¯re Science and Engineering students, not Architecture. Can they design a blueprint for a machining nt?¡±
¡°They definitely can¡¯t do anything tooplicated but we¡¯re not asking for much. ording to ourpany¡¯s nature, I feel we¡¯ll only need workshops, dormitories, a canteen and an office building. These are all simple constructions. I think they can do it,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°I actually have an idea I¡¯ve been thinking about for a while and that¡¯s to not build a brick structure; it would take too long to build. We can use new building materials to build the the office and dormitories, and steel and galvanised iron sheets for the workshops. The construction won¡¯t take over a month if we do this.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled as she said, ¡°So you already have a n. We¡¯re on the same page then. Let¡¯s do it like you said and have everything built as quickly as possible.¡±
They talked and chatted and arrived at plot number thirteen before they knew it.
Xia Lei saw over ten youths before he got out of the car. The group consisted of boys and girls and several electric scooters were parked next to them. It looked like they hade on those electric scooters. In the city, electric scooters would always manage to reach their destination before a car would.
¡°Are they the students you recruited from the technical institute?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Mm. They are all thetest graduating students and ssmates. It¡¯ll be very lively to have them all working together,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Let¡¯s go take a look.¡± Xia Lei alighted and walked over to the group of youths with Liang Si-Yao.
Someone spotted Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao and said, ¡°Big Sister Liang is here.¡±
The group of youths stopped their chatter and came forward. They greeted Liang Si-Yao one by one and were all very amiable. Some made to greet Xia Lei too but gave up because they didn¡¯t know who he was. Quite a few were also quietly looking Xia Lei up and down, trying to guess his identity.
¡°Friends, let me introduce you. This man next to me is Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s Chairman, Chairman Xia Lei. Our Chairman Xia is also the best machinist and welding engineer in our country. He can use normalthes to process high precision parts which could only be imported from Europe and America otherwise. He is unparalleled in this in China.¡±
The youths were excited upon hearing that and called out ¡®Chairman! Chairman!¡¯ over and over. They did not hide their adoration for him and they all behaved like they were meeting a celebrity.
¡°Wow, our Chairman Xia is so young and handsome!¡± A girl said quietly to her friend.
¡°Manual processing for high precision parts? Holy shit, that¡¯s bomb. I wish I could be as amazing as Chairman Xia,¡± said a guy.
Xia Lei did not seem outwardly moved by their words and he smiled as he greeted them, shaking hands one by one.
Xia Lei knew well that one of the reasons these people were willing to join the yet-to-be-constructed Thunder Horse Manufacturing because of their admiration for his skill. Another reason could possibly have been Liang Si-Yao¡¯s beauty. Many young men were willing to go to work at apany because they could see their goddess there.
¡°When do we officially start work, Chairman Xia?¡± A bookish, bespectacled girl stood in front of Xia Lei. She looked a little nervous and her pale face had a faint blush.
¡°After a month, at most. We gathered you all today to get you involved in the construction process. I would like you guys to design a blueprint for the workshop. Can you guys do it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We¡¯re...¡± The bespectacled girl looked like she was about to say ¡®We¡¯re Science and Engineering students¡¯ but she did not say it in the end.
The others also shut their mouths and didn¡¯t dare to speak out.
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°I know what you guys studied but machine design and the construction industry is not that different. We are constructing a building for manufacturing machinery and parts processing and we don¡¯t needplex building designs like those in the chemical industries. We only need a simple workshop, dormitories, office building and canteen. I n to use new building materials and galvanised iron sheets. I believe you guys can do it.¡±
Liang Si-Yao added, ¡°You guys will also be doing paperwork in the office building and live in the dormitories. Don¡¯t you want to be able to design your own office and dormitories?¡±
The bespectacled girl gathered her courage and said, ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡±
¡°I¡¯m in too,¡± came a wave of agreement.
Xia Lei looked at the bookish, bespectacled girl and asked kindly, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±
¡°I¡¯m Guan Ling-Shan,¡± said the bespectacled girl. She seemed to be perpetually shy for some reason.
¡°You¡¯ll be in charge of this matter, then,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Me?¡± Guan Ling-Shan¡¯s small mouth gaped open unbelievingly.
¡°Yes, you. Do you have confidence that you¡¯ll do well?¡± said Xia Lei.
Guan Ling-Shan nodded her head hard, ¡°Yes, Chairman Xia, I¡¯ll definitely do this well.¡±
Xia Lei looked at a boy next and smiled, ¡°What¡¯s your name? What are you good at?¡±
The boy was rather spritely and smiled as he said, ¡°My name¡¯s Yin Hao, Chairman Xia. I¡¯m good at electrical design.¡±
¡°Not bad. Thepany will make use of your speciality in the future and you will have your chance to show your skill,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yin Hao nodded, ¡°Thank you, Chairman Xia.¡±
Xia Lei went one by one and asked for their names and specialities. He was nice and easy-going - not like a traditional boss at all.
After chatting for a bit with thest youth named Han Bo, Xia Lei spoke again, ¡°I believe you guys can see that I am not that much older than you. We are a very young group and ourpany is also an up-andingpany. Believe in me and believe in yourselves. We will surely build arge enterprise on this piece ofnd!¡±
Smiles were on the faces of the youths and their eyes were also full of hope and expectation.
Indeed, the ragtag group of Thunder Horse Manufacturing employees before him most probably did not have an average age above 24. This was a very young group and it was full of youthful vigor and energy, as well as passion and enthusiasm for the future. Nobody could predict what sort of enterprise Xia Lei would build with this young group but their future was one which carried a lot of expectations.
¡°Chairman Xia, I¡¯ll look for measuring tools to measure ournd now, then start drawing up the designs. I¡¯ll hand it in to you after three days.¡± Guan Ling-Shan looked eager to begin.
¡°Sure. Feel free to give me a call if you need anything,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We¡¯ll go help too,¡± said Yin Hao.
¡°Go, go,¡± said Xia Lei.
The youths left on their electric scooters.
They were all fresh graduates and full of anticipation for the future. Xia Lei had given them an avenue to show off their creativity and a lot of room for imagination and that was enough for them. They did not care that Xia Lei drove a 10,000-something yuan local-made car and didn¡¯t mind that they temporarily had just 500 a month in living expenses. Only young fresh graduates like them who haven¡¯t entered society yet would be like this. If they were old hands who¡¯d been in the workce for years, they wouldn¡¯t even so much as look at a smallpany like Thunder Horse Manufacturing and even if they joined, they would have requirements for this and that.
Xia Lei watched the youths ride off on their electric scooters and sighed with feeling, ¡°They¡¯re great.¡±
¡°I deliberately avoided going to recruitmentpanies to find the people we needed. Those people only think of the best profit margin for themselves and not for thepany. These fresh graduates may have no experience but who has work experience from the get go? Giving them a chance is also giving ourselves a chance,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Well said. Thank you for all that you¡¯ve done.¡±
¡°Just a line of thanks?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked yfully at Xia Lei, ¡°You need to show me your thanks too, y¡¯know?¡±
¡°What would you like?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Let¡¯s first go to the building materialspany and order our materials. You can invite me to your hometer and treat me to a nice meal, okay?¡± said Liang Si-Yao. She wanted very much to see what Xia Lei¡¯s t was like. She¡¯d been interrupted by Jiang Ru-Yi thest time - she wanted a personal invitation from Xia Lei this time.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°What¡¯s up with that? Sure, let¡¯s do this. We¡¯ll go to the building materialspany first.¡±
¡°Mm, then to the supermarket to get groceries. I want to eat your sweet-sour pork ribs, honeyed corn, fish and eggnts... Oh, and seafood.¡± Liang Si-Yao had already started ordering dishes.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of getting fat after eating so much?¡±
Liang Si-Yao shrugged, ¡°Why are your dishes so delicious then?¡±
¡°Fine, fine, I¡¯ll cook whatever you want. Satisfied now?¡± Xia Lei turned and walked towards the roadside.
Liang Si-Yao suddenly swung her hand in a p at the back of Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
Feeling a breeze at the back of his neck, Xia Lei moved forward and dodged Liang Si-Yao¡¯s sneak attack just in time.
Liang Si-Yao took a step forward and her white, jade-like leg shed from under her short skirt, executing a kick aimed at Xia Lei¡¯s crotch.
Xia Lei pulled his knees together and pressed them to the centre, trapping Liang Si-Yao¡¯s beautiful leg.
Liang Si-Yao tried to pull her leg out but couldn¡¯t. Her pale calf, pale thigh and ckce side-tie panties were visible under her short office skirt; this position was as sexy as it got.
A man with his legs together and a woman with her leg extended in a kick - this made for a peculiar yet tititing scene.
Xia Lei¡¯s vision was normal but the sudden sight of the ckce side-tie panties made it change. His eye twitched uncontrobly and a beautiful and maturendscape entered his vision. He was immediately stupefied - not good.
¡°Ha!¡± Liang Si-Yao let out a clear shout and her punchnded on Xia Lei¡¯s chest.
A thump sounded and Xia Lei was hit several steps backwards. Intense pain came in jolts and he coughed with the pain.
Liang Si-Yao went forward to help him up as she asked in concern, ¡°Are you all right? You could have avoided thatpletely. Why didn¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei replied a little nervously, ¡°Uh... You moved too quickly.¡± After a pause, he diverted Liang Si-Yao¡¯s attention, ¡°I say, can you not do these sort of sneak attacks in the future?¡±
Liang Si-Yao shook her head stubbornly, ¡°No can do. You haven¡¯t been practicing martial arts for long. If I don¡¯t supervise you and train you, when will you defeat me and my dad?¡±
¡°Why do I have to defeat you and your father?¡±
¡°Because this is your task.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 90
Company Anniversary
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao chose a building materialspany named ¡®Forest Man¡¯ in the end. Thispany was also newly-established but it wasrge-scale and had aprehensive selection. Xia Lei could order the materials they needed for both the office building and workshop at the same time.
When Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao arrived a member of the sales staff attended to them but when he heard that Xia Lei was here to order new materials for building apany, he called one of the senior management from Forest Man over.
¡°Good day, I am Shentu Shi-Shan. Please let me know if you have any needs.¡± The senior manager of Forest Man introduced himself with a smile when he met them.
¡°Shentu?¡± Xia Lei had a bit of an odd reaction to Shentu Shi-Shan¡¯s self-introduction. ¡°May I ask if you¡¯re a member of the Shentu n?¡±
Shentu Shi-Shan looked at Xia Lei and asked tentatively, ¡°Why, Mr Xia, you know about the Shentu n?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Who doesn¡¯t know about the Shentu n in the territory of Hai-Zhu? I just didn¡¯t expect that thispany would also belong to the Shentu n.¡±
¡°Thispany is a subsidiary of Vientiane Group,¡± said Shentu Shi-Shan. After a pause, he added, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about non-business matters and cut to the chase. We can provide a full service for yourpany, from designing of the blueprints to the construction of thepany. You just have to tell us your budget and we¡¯ll do the rest.¡±
¡°We will take care of the blueprints ourselves. Yourpany just needs to provide the materials and construction,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That can be arranged as well. I¡¯ll take you to see our products first and I shall prepare a quote after you have chosen what you like,¡± said Shentu Shi-Shan.
¡°Okay. Please lead the way,¡± said Xia Lei.
As they walked out of the reception room, Liang Si-Yao pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s sleeve and asked in a quiet voice, ¡°Is the Shentu n very powerful?¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice and replied, ¡°They¡¯re the richest n in the whole of China. So, do you think they¡¯re powerful or not?¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s little peach mouth opened in awe, ¡°They¡¯re really powerful, then. If you know someone in the Shentu n you must mention that person. We may get some preferential price.¡±
Xia Lei froze for a moment - he¡¯d thought of Shentu Tian-Yin again. He didn¡¯t just know Shentu Tian-Yin; he had saved her life once. If he spoke of it, this Shentu Shi-Shan would probably give a call and ask about it and Shentu Tian-Yin would maybe give him a good price. However, he changed his mind as soon as the thought popped up in his head, ¡°The other party is one of the elite and I¡¯m just a small fry. I may know the person but the person wouldn¡¯t know me.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t care about the elites.¡±
Shentu Shi-Shan brought Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao to the product showroom of Forest Man Company. The showroom held not just the various new products manufactured by Forest Man Company but also building models of condominiums, warehouses and so on, constructed from their new building materials.
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao went around the showroom and picked some new building materials.
Just as Xia Lei was about to discuss the pricing of the materials he¡¯d selected with Shentu Shi-Shan, a Forest Man employee suddenly came running over, saying excitedly, ¡°Manager Shan, the Lady is here.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡®Is Shentu Tian-Yin here?¡¯
Shentu Shi-Shan then said, ¡°I do apologise to you both but I have to go off for a while. Please look around some more and we shall discuss the pricing afterwards.¡±
¡°Sure, no problem,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Shi-Shan and the employee who hade bearing the message walked towards the exit of the showroom but a group of people walked in before they could walk out.
The person at the head of the group was the current person at the helm of the Shentu n - Shentu Tian-Yin. Her assistant and bodyguard followed right after.
Shentu Tian-Yin wore a ck dress and she was peerlessly cool and elegant. She did not like wearing clothing with a lot of exposure and the clothes she wore always covered most of her body but this did not affect her sexiness at all. A woman like her did not need to show off her body to receive the appreciation of men. She did not have to use sweet smiles to move people either so she was always cold as ice and seemed unapproachable to others. She was like this but one casual look from her was enough to make most men willing to grovel at her feet. She did not have to prove anything or do anything; her sexiness and beauty was enough to conquer all men.
This was Shentu Tian-Yin. Xia Lei felt like a deer caught in headlights whenever he saw her.
¡°Is she Shentu Tian-Yin?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao quietly.
¡°Yes, she¡¯s Shentu Tian-Yin,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao gave a soft sigh of admiration, ¡°She¡¯s so beautiful.¡±
Liang Si-Yao had never seen Shentu Tian-Yin before but she could guess who she was at first nce. This wasn¡¯t because Liang Si-Yao was very perceptive but because Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s presence was too powerful; one could easily tell that she was different from other people.
Shentu Shi-Shan weed her with a ttering smile, ¡°Tian-Yin, you should have called ahead. I would have been able to make arrangements if you¡¯d called ahead.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin just nced at him, indifferent, and wordlessly walked around him and towards Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao.
Shentu Shi-Shan froze on the spot, his face a mixture of embarrassment and hate.
Xia Lei saw it all and he found it strange. He thought ¡®Shentu Shi-Shan is also part of the Shentu n but Shentu Tian-Yin has this sort of attitude towards him. It¡¯s as though he¡¯s worse than a stranger to her. That¡¯s weird.¡¯
Shentu Tian-Yin took no notice of Shentu Shi-Shan but Shentu Shi-Shan persisted and caught up with her, putting on his ttering smile again, ¡°Tian-Yin, are you here today for a routine inspection? I¡¯ll get the finance department to prepare the ounts right away. I¡¯ll escort you if you want to go to the workshop.¡±
¡°No need.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin finally talked to Shentu Shi-Shan but it was just two words.
Shentu Shi-Shan shot Xia Lei a look, asking him to leave. He did not know that Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin actually knew each other.
Xia Lei had no intention of greeting Shentu Tian-Yin either. He said to Liang Si-Yao, ¡°Si-Yao, let¡¯s go out for a bit.¡±
Liang Si-Yao nodded and followed Xia Lei, who was heading towards the doorway.
When they were about to brush shoulders as they passed each other, Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly spoke, ¡°Mr Xia, what are you doing here?¡±
Xia Lei paused and he stopped in his tracks. This was the first time Shentu Tian-Yin had taken the initiative to greet him first. She had not even looked him squarely in the eye, even back when he told her there was a bomb under her car.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei as though she were waiting for him to speak.
Xia Lei then replied, ¡°I¡¯m here to buy some building materials.¡±
¡°Preparing tomence construction?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Why was she so talkative today? Xia Lei found it odd but kept a calm facade, ¡°Yes, I already have thend so I¡¯d like to build my workshop quickly.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard about that piece ofnd. You gave Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s face a good smacking and that¡¯s like smacking the Gu n¡¯s face too. Well done.¡±
This seemed to be the reason why she was so chatty today. The Shentu n and Gu n seemed amiable on the surface but they were each other¡¯s greatest rivals in the business world. Their quiet tussles over the years had also resulted in umted grudges. Someone who¡¯d given the Gu n¡¯s dog a good smack and though it was the dog, the dog¡¯s owner had also suffered a loss in dignity and she was pleased to see it.
Xia Lei did not say anything and smiled politely.
Liang Si-Yao cut in and said, ¡°Hello, Miss Shentu. I am Chairman Xia¡¯s assistant. Um, could you give us a little discount?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at her, ¡°Our prices are already the lowest in the market. There is no discount even if I were toe here and buy it myself.¡±
Liang Si-Yao had a smile on her face at first but Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s words made her feel bad and her smile disappeared.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not speak again and moved away.
Liang Si-Yao snorted quietly and said unhappily, ¡°What¡¯s so great about you? Being rich makes you great?¡±
Xia Lei patted her on her shoulder and smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t be mad. You¡¯ll be richer than her one day.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s temper came and went easily, ¡°Sure. Give me a sry of fifty or sixty billion a year. Maybe I¡¯ll be richer than her in some years, about ten years or so.¡±
¡°You may as well sell me off,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure! To whom? How about the circus?¡± Liang Si-Yao giggled, ¡°I¡¯ll tie a rope around your neck and make you perform monkey acts to make money for me. How about that?¡±
¡°You dare call me a monkey? I¡¯ll smack you!¡± Xia Lei chased after her to give her a yful smack.
The two of them headed out,ughing and joking, the incident from earlier forgotten.
When the two of them walked out, Shentu Tian-Yin stopped walking and looked at Xia Lei¡¯s back, then said, ¡°Fifth Uncle, give this Mr Xia the cost price.¡±
Shentu Shi-Shan was shocked, ¡°Tian-Yin, didn¡¯t you just say there was no discount? Why do you want to give him a discount now?¡±
¡°Have the finance department prepare the ounts. I¡¯m going to inspect the workshop,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin instead.
Shentu Shi-Shan paused, then said, ¡°Yes. Wang, tell the finance department to prepare the ounts. I¡¯ll escort Tian-Yin to the workshop.¡± He thought quietly to himself ¡®Looks like Tian-Yin knows the young man surnamed Xia. Why didn¡¯t she just give the discount to him directly? Giving him the cost price but not letting him know about it... What is this about?¡¯
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke again, ¡°Go talk with Mr Xia first, Fifth Uncle. I can go to the workshop myself.¡±
¡°This... All right. I¡¯ll go right now.¡± Shentu Shi-Shan turned and headed towards the door.
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao stood in the product showroom for less than two minutes before Shentu Shi-Shan came walking out.
¡°Mr Xia, Miss Liang, pleasee with me to my office. Let¡¯s have a talk.¡± Shentu Shi-Shan¡¯s attitude was ringly better than it was before.
¡°Don¡¯t you have to apany Miss Tian-Yin?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°She doesn¡¯t need me to apany her.¡± Shentu Shi-Shan led the way and asked probingly, ¡°That¡¯s right, Mr Xia, how do you know our Tian-Yin?¡±
Xia Lei considered telling Shentu Shi-Shan what had happened at East Wind Heavy Industries for a second but he quashed the thought and said, ¡°We don¡¯t really know each other. We¡¯ve only met once.¡±
¡°I see,¡± said Shentu Shi-Shan but he did not believe what Xia Lei said.
In Shentu Shi-Shan¡¯s office, Xia Lei handed a list to him.
Shentu Shi-Shan went tippity-tap on a calctor and said casually, ¡°The materials fee is 7,000,000 and the construction cost is 20% of the materials fee. The total is 8,400,000.¡±
¡°Eh? So much?¡± Xia Lei was shocked.
A strange smile appeared on Shentu Shi-Shan¡¯s face, ¡°You are in luck. Today is thepany¡¯s second year anniversary and ording to usual practice, you will get a 40% discount.¡± He went tippity-tap on the calctor again and said, ¡°The total is 5,040,000. This number is not auspicious so you should pay 40,000 more to make the total 5,080,000. What do you think?¡±
Xia Lei was still frozen and his soul had flown off to goodness-knows-where.
Liang Si-Yao, however, reacted quickly and said, ¡°Good, 5,080,000. This number is very good. When shall we make payment?¡±
¡°You can make payment now orter, after the construction is finished. How would you like to make payment, Mr Xia?¡± said Shentu Shi-Shan.
Xia Lei did not utter a word and thought of Shentu Tian-Yin at that moment. He was not a fool - he knew Shentu Shi-Shan was giving him a discount because Shentu Tian-Yin told him to do so.
Liang Si-Yao kicked Xia Lei under the desk, ¡°When would you like to make payment, Chairman Xia?¡±
Xia Lei came back to his senses, ¡°The full amount. Right now.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll get my secretary to draw up the agreement immediately.¡± Shentu Shi-Shan stood and stretched out a hand to Xia Lei, ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
Xia Lei also stood and shook hands with Shentu Shi-Shan, ¡°To a happy coboration.¡± However, he thought to himself ¡®I must return her this favour one day.¡¯
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Chapter 91
Good Food and Beautiful Women
The afternoon was already half-gone when they left Forest Man. Xia Lei did not see Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s Rolls-Royce Phantom, so he assumed she had left while he was signing the agreement with Shentu Shi-Shan.
He eased his car into traffic and drove towards the city. Liang Si-Yao broke the silence and said with a smile, ¡°We have such good luck today.¡±
¡°Yeah, good luck,¡± said Xia Lei casually.
Liang Si-Yao stared straight at Xia Lei, ¡°I think something¡¯s strange though. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s weird?¡±
Xia Lei knew what she was trying to say but he did not want to talk about the story between him and Shentu Tian-Yin. He changed the topic, ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to go to my ce to have a meal? Sweet-sour pork ribs, seafood or whatever. Let¡¯s go to the supermarket and get groceries.¡±
¡°Oh, I¡¯d have forgotten if you didn¡¯t remind me about it. Quick, quick, go to the supermarket. I¡¯m starving.¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s thoughts were upied by good food. With her intelligence, she had actually known that there must have been something between the two of them when Shentu Tian-Yin took the initiative to speak to Xia Lei. Curiosity was curiosity but she wasn¡¯t the type of woman who would dig and investigate every detail of such a matter.
Xia Lei stepped on the elerator and the Great Wall H6 zoomed on the road.
Xia Lei mulled over some things while he drove. He¡¯d paid 5,080,000 to Forest Man and 1,000,000 to the Land Bureau before that and only had about 500,000 in cash and a 1,000,000 yet-to-be-paid order from China Industrial Group. He would have to keep a close watch on how he spent his money from now on. Funding was not so much of a problem for him though; Mayor Hu had said that he could ask him for help if he met any difficulties. If he had problems with funding, he could go to Mayor Hu and ask him to be a guarantor for a loan from the bank. If that wouldn¡¯t work, he could also ask China Industrial Group for an advance payment on their order. Solving the two big problems of procuringnd and building hispany meant that his dream was 60% fulfilled, more or less. This made him very happy.
Back in the city, Xia Lei bought many ingredients from a nearby supermarket in the neighbourhood and also specially bought a crate of Changyu dry red wine. He then took these ingredients and the greedy-pig Liang Si-Yao back to his neighbourhood.
He parked and Liang Si-Yao and himself carriedrge bags of groceries to the stairwell. A beautiful figure suddenly walked out from the stairwell.
In her crisp uniform and with her dazzling smile, Jiang Ru-Yi was like a tulip blooming in the greens of the neighbourhood, fresh, elegant and eye-catching.
¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this our neighbourhood¡¯s Lei?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi greeted, all smiles, ¡°You¡¯ve bought so many yummy edibles. Is it someone¡¯s birthday today?¡±
¡°It isn¡¯t anyone¡¯s birthday. I¡¯ve invited my senior disciple to my home for a meal.¡± He followed up with an introduction, ¡°Si-Yao, this is Jiang Ru-Yi. Ru-Yi, this is my senior disciple, Liang Si-Yao.¡±
Liang Si-Yao and Jiang Ru-Yi had already met and Liang Si-Yao had even seen Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s documentation and knew she was a police chief. She did not have a good impression of Jiang Ru-Yi, however, because she had taken the drunk Xia Lei from her hands that night and told her to take a taxi back in a rude and unreasonable way. She was not about to simply forgive Jiang Ru-Yi for that.
Xia Lei made the introductions but Jiang Ru-Yi and Liang Si-Yao did not greet each other or shake hands. They just looked at each other.
¡°Do you know each other?¡± asked Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°No,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°No,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei could not be bothered further with it and carried the groceries into the stairwell. ¡°I¡¯m going to start preparing the food. You girls can chat with each other.¡±
¡°I want to go to your ce to eat too,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly.
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on and said, ¡°Fine. Go help take the red wine from the boot and bring it up.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi went to the car boot and got the crate of Chanyu wine from it, then stuck her chin out at Liang Si-Yao in a challenging manner.
Liang Si-Yao suddenly mimicked Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s tone, ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this our Lei? Gross.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi did not seem the slightest bit embarrassed, ¡°We are one big family in this neighbourhood and we live in the same building. Is there something wrong with me saying ¡®our Lei¡¯? Besides, what does it matter to you what I say?¡±
¡°I¡¯m his senior disciple. I¡¯m worried that he¡¯s making bad friends!¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I grew up with him so if you¡¯re talking about making bad friends, I¡¯d worry about him making bad friends now!¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
The two women were very opposed to each other, with neither side prepared to give an inch.
At that moment, Xia Lei stuck his head over the second floor balcony, ¡°Can you girlse up and finish your chat? I want to start cooking soon. I can¡¯t cook without my ingredients, can I?¡±
Liang Si-Yao and Jiang Ru-Yi headed up.
The two women went upstairs, through Xia Lei¡¯s door and were soon at loggerheads again.
¡°Lei, let me help you. Many women don¡¯t even know how to wash and clean vegetables these days. These women are the worms of society,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Liang Si-Yao looked around the messy living room and said, ¡°Lei, your t is a mess. I¡¯ll help you clean up. Some woman said she could cook very well but still came over to eat and drink from others. This sort of woman is the real worm of society, isn¡¯t she?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s head drooped weakly...
Xia Lei cooked the rice and fried the dishes. The woman who¡¯d said she¡¯d help him worked for only five minutes before shey on the sofa and started watching television. The woman helping him clean up also sat on the sofa at around the same time and started watching the same programme,ughing once in a while. He suddenly felt like women were all unreliable and it was still better to rely on men.
Xia Leiid out a feast on the table after ving for an hour. Sweet-sour pork ribs, fish and eggnts, spicy prawns, steamed scallops and so on. Every dish looked good and was fragrant, and one could tell that they were delicious just looking at them.
Xia Lei¡¯s proficiency at cooking was actually forced upon him. His mother had passed away early and his father had disappeared mysteriously, leaving him to take care of his sister¡¯s dietary needs. He had to learn even if he didn¡¯t want to. However, his culinary skills had improved after his left eye had transformed. His left eye could detect the smallest changes in the food so he could cook them while maintaining the highest degree of freshness. When adding vouring, his left eye could also let him judge the best ratio to add so his amounts were always just nice while other chefs had to rely on experience. They had no way of doing it like he did.
Xia Lei smiled, pleased with himself at the sight of the spread and thought ¡®I should read some books on cuisine when I have time. With my current set of abilities I¡¯d be able to reach the highest level of cookery even if I changed my profession to chef now, wouldn¡¯t I?¡¯
Jiang Ru-Yi and Liang Si-Yao were drawn to the table by the aroma of good food without Xia Lei having to call them over.
¡°Wow, what a spread!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi gulped back her drool.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes were also shining with joy, ¡°I really didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯d be so good at cooking. Looks like I¡¯ll be a regr guest in the future.¡±
¡°What thick skin,¡± muttered Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei opened a bottle of red wine. He hadn¡¯t thought of buying long-stemmed sses so he poured wine into three bowls; one for Jiang Ru-Yi, one for Liang Si-Yao and one for himself. Embarrassed, he said, ¡°I forgot to buy sses. Let¡¯s use bowls.¡±
Liang Si-Yaoughed, ¡°It¡¯s fine, drinking from bowls is more enjoyable.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi had already helped herself and put a spicy prawn into her mouth. After stuffing her face, she gave Xia Lei a thumbs up, ¡°Delicious, delicious. More tasty than what I had at the seafood restaurant. Cook me another portion when I¡¯m going back. I¡¯ll bring it home to eat.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The food shut the two women up for a bit and looking at them happily eat the food he had prepared made Xia Lei feel like he really should learn some cooking techniques. The dishes he could cook were still the same dishes he knew and he had not read up on any sort of techniques at all. With his current abilities, it was probable that he would attain a high level of cookery and reditation if he went seriously at it - who knew and who could say how high he would go? Furthermore, no chef in this world could see the changes within the ingredients as he cooked them and nobody else could see the fusion of seasoning and food but he could do both of these.
After they were done eating, Jiang Ru-Yi and Liang Si-Yao went to watch television, full and satisfied. They didn¡¯t even put away the dishes.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, then took the dishes to the kitchen.
Just when he was done washing the dishes, Xia Lei¡¯s mobile phone suddenly rang. He took it out and nced at the screen - it was Qin Xiang.
¡®Why is he calling me at this time?¡¯ Xia Lei found it strange but he still unlocked his phone and answered the call.
¡°Lei, something¡¯s happened.¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s voice was very anxious and carried a tinge of panic.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank, ¡°Don¡¯t panic. What happened? Tell me.¡±
¡°My shop... is on fire.¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s voice was pained, ¡°I think Huang Yi-Hu must know that I¡¯m in contact with you and he¡¯s taking revenge on me. He... If he gives what he has on me to the police... I¡¯m finished!¡±
¡°Where are you now?¡±
¡°Where else can I be?¡± Qin Xiangughed bitterly, ¡°I¡¯m outside my salon right now watching it burn with my own two eyes.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be right there. Let¡¯s talk when we meet,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± Qin Xiang hung up.
Xia Lei walked out of the kitchen, ¡°My friend ran into some trouble. I¡¯m going to see if I can help.¡±
¡°What trouble? Do you want me to go with you?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Need my help?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi also asked.
¡°No need, it¡¯s just a small matter. Make yourselvesfortable. I¡¯ll be leaving first.¡± Xia Lei did not say much more and hurried out the door.
The burning of Qin Xiang¡¯s salon was 80-90% the handiwork of Huang Yi-Hu. If he had not gone to look for Qin Xiang back then and asked him to go against Huang Yi-Hu, Qin Xiang¡¯s salon would not have been set afire. It was because of this that Xia Lei felt guilty. Even if there weren¡¯t such a thing, Xia Lei would still not hesitate to go to Qin Xiang¡¯s aid if he were in trouble since he was not the sort of person who would abandon his benefactor after achieving his goal.
Jiang Ru-Yi and Liang Si-Yao stood on the second floor balcony and watched Xia Lei drive the Great Wall H6 out of the neighbourhood, then looked at each other eye to eye.
¡°What¡¯s got him so worked up?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°I don¡¯t know but you don¡¯t have to worry. My dad¡¯s Last Disciple is very strong,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Pfft. You really think you¡¯re a martial arts heroine, or what?¡±
¡°Was I talking to you?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was speechless.
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Chapter 92
Burning Anger
The firemen had already put the fire out by the time Xia Lei got there. Thick smoke rolled from the broken windows. Onlookers drawn by all the action stood a ways off, talking amongst themselves.
Xia Lei found Qin Xiang to the side of the group of people, his face as bad as it could be. Tears-stains could be seen at the corners of his eyes - he had obviously cried.
Xia Lei walked to Qin Xiang¡¯s side and patted him lightly on the shoulder, consoling him, ¡°Don¡¯t be sad. How about you stop doing hairdressing and work for me?¡±
Qin Xiang looked back at Xia Lei, staring nkly, then he suddenly dived into his embrace and started sobbing.
Xia Lei felt very weirded out having another man crying in his arms. He did not push Qin Xiang away though because he knew that Qin Xiang neededforting most at this time.
After a period of crying, Qin Xiang raised his head from Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and looked at him with tear-filled eyes, ¡°I want to kill him. I will kill him this time! The salon was my everything and he destroyed it!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be hasty. You¡¯ll fall into his trap if you act recklessly.¡± Xia Lei was full of anger too but he knew that calm was most needed in a time like this.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The ringing of a mobile phone was suddenly heard.
Xia Lei took out his phone - it was an unknown number. He hesitated, then answered.
A female voice came from the phone, ¡°Ch,Chairman Xia... Many of my ssmates were beaten up by them... Wuuuh...¡±
Xia Lei quickly recognised that the voice belonged to Guan Ling-Shan. His heart sank as he asked anxiously, ¡°Is this Ling-Shan? Don¡¯t panic. Talk slowly. What happened?¡±
Guan Ling-Shan¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°My ssmates and I... We were staying overnight at the site to measure and draw... A group of people suddenly rushed at us and destroyed our measuring equipment... Wuuh... And they injured many ssmates too... Those people threatened us... They said, they said if we worked with you, they.... They, they... Will beat us to death... Wuuh...¡±
mes of anger burst from Xia Lei¡¯s heart, ¡°Where are they now?¡±
¡°They... smashed our equipment, beat us up and, and left...¡±
Xia Lei ground his teeth, ¡°Where are you guys now?¡±
¡°We, we are in the hospital. We don¡¯t have much money... The hospital won¡¯t treat us... Sob...¡± Guan Ling-Shan sobbed as she spoke.
Xia Lei pushed back his anger and consoled her, ¡°Don¡¯t cry, Ling-Shan. Don¡¯t be afraid either. Tell me which hospital you guys are in, I¡¯lle right away and pay the fee.¡±
Guan Ling-Shan sobbed, ¡°We¡¯re at t,the Peoples¡¯ Hospital.¡±
¡°Wait for me. I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
He was so mad he¡¯d nearly destroyed his own phone.
First, Qin Xiang¡¯s salon had been set afire and then his employees had been beaten up. This was obviously revenge by Huang Yi-Hu because he lost the piece ofnd to Xia Lei.
¡°Huang Yi-Hu sent people to beat up your employees?¡± Qin Xiang looked surprised.
¡°Yes. I¡¯m going to the site now to take a look. You stay here. We¡¯ll talk tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, I¡¯ll go with you. My salon¡¯s been destroyed. There¡¯s no use in me staying,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t think twice, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go to the site.¡±
The Great Wall H6 roared on the roads like an angry beast.
¡°What do you n to do?¡± Qin Xiang broke the silence in the car. He looked a little worriedly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were cold. ¡°That dog bit me so I¡¯ll stab him with a knife.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to do him in?¡± Qin Xiang looked more worried. He¡¯d wanted to kill Huang Yi-Hu himself earlier but he knew at this time that it was definitely not a good idea.
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°That¡¯ll be going too easy on him. I want him to lose everything and wish for death!¡±
Qin Xiang was puzzled, ¡°Do you mean you already have some way of dealing with him?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Let¡¯s first go to the hospital to see those kids and then we¡¯ll talk. Watch the side of the road for cash machines and let me know when you see one. I need to withdraw some money.¡±
Qin Xiang was about to nod when he spotted a cash machine and he waved, then pointed, ¡°There¡¯s one over there!¡±
Twenty minutester, Xia Lei arrived at the Peoples¡¯ Hospital with Qin Xiang in tow. When he entered the hospital, he soon saw Guan Ling-Shan, Yin Hao, Han Bo and the others in the Emergency Room corridor. Some of them stood in the corridor and some sat on the waiting chairs outside the room of the doctor on duty. Some had injuries on their heads and blood on their faces. Some had torn clothing and were left with one shoe. Some had injuries on their bodies with obvious bruising. Their youthful vigor was gone, reced by a group of beggars waiting for rescue, impoverished and dejected.
¡°Chairman Xia is here! Chairman Xia is here!¡± cried Han Bo with a face beaten till it was swollen.
Arge group of students gathered around, their eyes full of relief and expectation. Guan Ling-Shan stood in front of Xia Lei and she had been beaten too. Her spectacles were broken and one side was cracked while the other was missing its lens.
Guan Ling-Shan started crying at the sight of Xia Lei, ¡°Chairman Xia, we... Have no money... Hospital...¡±
¡°Come with me.¡± Xia Lei pulled Guan Ling-Shan by the hand and strode towards the clinic of the doctor on duty.
There was only one doctor on duty because of thete hour and it was a male doctor in his thirties. He was sitting in the clinic ying with his mobile phone. He didn¡¯t even nce at them when Xia Lei entered with Guan Ling-Shan but said indifferently, ¡°Didn¡¯t I already tell you that the hospital is not a charity? How are we going to treat you if you have no money?¡±
As soon as he was done speaking, a stic bag thumped on the desk. Money spilled from a hole in the bag. It was still brand new and shone temptingly under the light.
The doctor on duty looked up in surprise and saw a fuming Xia Lei.
¡°Are you not going to bother if they lived or died if they had no money?¡± said Xia Lei angrily, ¡°How are you a doctor? Didn¡¯t your teacher teach you about the value of human life?¡±
The doctor on duty shot to his feet, ¡°This is the hospital¡¯s rule. How can we treat them if they have no money? What are you shouting at me for? Go take it up with the head of the hospital if you have issues! If you cause any more trouble I¡¯ll call security to chase you out and you can go look for a hospital which will treat you for free!¡±
Xia Lei suddenly punched the doctor¡¯s desk. The punch was heavy and the entire desk jumped with the impact - there was a pit in the desktop when Xia Lei removed his fist.
The doctor was so frightened his face drained of colour.
Xia Lei pointed at the doctor right in the nose, his eyes icy-cold, ¡°You¡¯d betterply or you¡¯ll be like this desk!¡±
The doctor nodded timidly. He¡¯d never seen anyone who could punch a pit into a desk. Furthermore, the Xia Lei before him did not seem like a good person but a reckless character from the underworld. How could a little doctor like him afford to offend a person like him?
¡°What are you standing around for? Treat their injuries!¡± roared Xia Lei.
¡°Right away, right away... But take your money to the cashier. I don¡¯t collect money, I see patients... Who¡¯s first?¡± The doctor didn¡¯t even wipe away the sweat on his forehead; he had immediately entered work mode.
The world was like this - weak fists were afraid of hard fists and those with lives were afraid of those who¡¯d throw their lives away.
The doctor started seeing to those in need of treatment, not even waiting for Xia Lei to show him the receipt.
Xia Lei paid the fee at the cashier, then took 50,000 out and handed it to Guan Ling-Shan.
Guan Ling-Shan looked at Xia Lei in surprise, ¡°Chairman Xia, wh, what is this for? Why are you giving me money?¡±
¡°Take this money. Buy clothes and nourishing stuff for your ssmates tomorrow. You get yourself a new pair of spectacles. Divide the remaining money equally amongst yourselves,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I, I can¡¯t do that.¡± Guan Ling-Shan tried to give the money back to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stopped her hand firmly, ¡°This is from thepany. Don¡¯t worry and use it. And, I won¡¯t just let the matter of you guys getting beaten up pass. I will get justice for you all.¡±
Guan Ling-Shan clutched the thick stack of money and was so moved she cried.
The ssmates standing nearby were also moved and they felt like it was a good thing that they worked for a boss who would care for and think about them.
¡°Chairman Xia, those people were from the underworld. You can¡¯t fight with them. We...¡± Yin Hao said, ¡°We were just beaten up. It¡¯s okay. We¡¯ll be fine in two days.¡±
Han Bo also spoke up, ¡°Yes, Chairman Xia, you¡¯re ourpany¡¯s chairman. You can¡¯t pick a fight with those thugs.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. I have my own ways of dealing with them. That¡¯s right, did any of you make a police report?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We did make a police report. The police came to the site before you came. They said they were going to chase after those thugs and haven¡¯t appeared again since,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan.
It was difficult to say what importance the police put on a case where a group of fresh graduates were beaten up by street thugs and had no fatal injuries.
Guan Ling-Shan spoke again, ¡°I wanted to call Miss Liang at first but because she¡¯s a woman, I thought it¡¯ll be better not to tell her, so I called you.¡±
¡°You guys handled it well. Rest tomorrow. Don¡¯t go to the site again,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, we want to go,¡± said Han Bo, ¡°We¡¯ve already measured that piece ofnd and drawn up drafts. We¡¯ll be finished with our design in two days. How can we not go?¡±
¡°Yeah, we want to go. We¡¯re not afraid of them.¡± someone said.
Xia Lei was touched, ¡°All right. Since you guys are so insistent, I¡¯ll get Miss Liang to watch over you.¡±
¡°Miss Liang? But if those thugse again...¡± Han Bo looked worried.
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Those thugs are no match for her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± The students had surprised looks on their faces. They had no clue of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s other identity - Wing Chun expert.
Xia Lei left the hospital two hourster. The night had sunk deeper in darkness and the streets were empty of pedestrians and cars.
¡°What now?¡± asked Qin Xiang.
¡°Make some trouble for Huang Yi-Hu,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Are you really going to the fishing vige vi?¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°He could have set a trap there already and is just waiting for us to jump into it.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°I didn¡¯t say I¡¯d go to the fishing vige vi. I¡¯m going to hispany.¡±
¡°To hispany?¡± Qin Xiang froze.
¡°Let¡¯s go. I need you to use your talents,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang seemed to have guessed Xia Lei¡¯s intention. He shrugged, then smiled wryly, ¡°I¡¯ll take it as apliment.¡±
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Chapter 93
Pair of Burrs
Huang Yi-Hu had many businesses under his name but thergest and most profitable of them was New Moon Real Estate. Huang Yi-Hu had wanted plot number thirteen to build condominiums. He had be aughingstock in Hai-Zhu City after Xia Lei had snatched plot number thirteen from him for one million. How could Huang Yi-Hu let this matter go?
Huang Yi-Hu wanted to assert his power so he had gone on the offensive against the people close to Xia Lei. He had no idea that he had poked the ho¡¯s nest right after setting his n of revenge into motion.
At 0100 hrs, a Great Wall H6 came to a stop outside the walls of New Moon Real Estate¡¯s office building with its license tes covered. The doors opened and two youngsters with covered faces alighted. The two then climbed onto the roof of the car and went over the wall, jumping right into the inner courtyard of the office.
One of the youths with covered faces was Qin Xiang and the other was Xia Lei.
In the courtyard, they stuck close to the wall and moved carefully to the outer wall of the office building. The office building had four storeys and there were security cameras facing the front but none in the back. Xia Lei¡¯s eye twitched and a wall in front of him disappeared, clearly revealing the situation in the lobby beyond.
The lights were on in the lobby and a security guard sat on the sofa, ying with his phone.
Qin Xiang gestured at Xia Lei to crouch down, then pointed to the windows on the second storey.
Xia Lei got the hint and squatted. Qin Xiang climbed atop his shoulders, then supported himself along the wall and started crawling upwards slowly. He straightened his body, then made a lunge and grabbed the second storey windowsill with both hands. He pulled himself up and into the window.
Xia Lei looked up at Qin Xiang standing in the window and did a searching motion.
Qin Xiang responded with a time-out hand signal and took out a metal pick, then inserted it into the window lock and opened it after a jimmy or two. He flipped into the window, then lowered a rope from it.
Xia Lei grabbed onto the rope and straightened his back, both feet on the wall. He climbed quickly to the second storey, through the window and into the building.
This was an office so there were office desks, file cabs and water dispensers. Xia Lei soon concluded his search. This office belonged to normal workers so there was nothing of value in it.
¡°Do you know where Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s office is?¡± Xia Lei asked in a low voice. He knew that New Moon Real Estate was thergest and most important business under Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s name but he wasn¡¯t sure where his office was.
¡°I don¡¯t know either. This is my first time here too. Huang Yi-Hu likes to be above others and be in control of everything so I¡¯m guessing his office should be higher than the rest, maybe the fourth storey,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei lifted his head and looked at the ceiling above him.
¡°You won¡¯t see his office like that. It¡¯s better if we search storey by storey from here. We¡¯ll find his office in the end,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei still stared at the ceiling.
Qin Xiang tread lightly to the door, then cracked it open gently and put his eye to the crack to spy on the situation outside.
Just then, Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Don¡¯t look. The corridor has cameras, one in front and one behind. We¡¯ll be discovered once we go out.¡±
Qin Xian retracted his head, shut the door gently and looked at Xia Lei strangely, ¡°There really are security cameras. How did you know?¡±
Xia Lei did not answer his question but said, ¡°Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s office is indeed on the fourth storey, straight up. We can get into it if we climb the walls.
¡°You...¡± Qin Xiang was gobsmacked, ¡°How do you know so clearly?¡±
¡°I just remembered that I¡¯d seen a blueprint of this building,¡± said Xia Lei.
This exnation was a little te¡¯, but it made sense. Qin Xiang shook his head and walked towards the window, grumbling, ¡°You should have told me. I nearly walked out and I would¡¯ve got caught on camera.¡±
Xia Lei and Qin Xiang went to the window and onto the windowsill. Qin Xiang did not ask Xia Lei to crouch this time - he crossed the windowsill, grabbed the water drainage pipe hanging from the roof, and climbed up.
Xia Lei was afraid that the pipe would not hold the weight of two people so he waited till Qin Xiang was on the windowsill of the fourth storey before he climbed. He had never done this before but he had climbed higher than this on scaffolding when he¡¯d worked in construction sites. He quickly got used to it and climbed to the fourth storey windowsill.
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei and said quietly, ¡°You have the talent to be a burr. Want to work together?¡±
¡°Stop joking around; this is no time for jokes. Open the window,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang took out his wire again and inserted it into the lock while covering thetch. He lifted thetch gently and it opened with a click.
Xia Lei followed Qin Xiang into the room beyond the window.
This was indeed Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s office. It was several timesrger than the previous office and had higher quality office fittings. A huge framed picture hung on the wall opposite the desk, depicting Huang Yi-Hu and some leader shaking hands. The Huang Yi-Hu in the picture was proud and smiling.
The office also had a very big bookshelf with many books but the books were all new and had no trace of being read before. It seemed Huang Yi-Hu did not have the habit of reading as a member of the underworld and these books were only used as simple and elegant furnishing.
There was also a lounge in the office with arge double bed, a leather sofa, a wine cab and arge three-door refrigerator.
Qin Xiang went to the bedside table and opened its drawer to find a lot of women¡¯s items - stockings,ce bras, thongs and boxes of condoms. He snorted quietly, ¡°Damn, that bastard really knows how to enjoy himself.¡±
From what they could see, this lounge was obviously where Huang Yi-Hu and his secretary did ¡®battle¡¯. A person like him couldn¡¯t do without games like this.
Qin Xiang continued his search for something useful while Xia Lei just stood in the doorway and watched.
¡°Hey,e help,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°Look for evidence of bribery. This was your idea so can you not just stand around?¡±
¡°You¡¯re in charge of this area. I¡¯ll take care of the office.¡± So saying, he vacated the doorway of the lounge and went into the office.
He had actually used his eye and surveyed the entire lounge when Qin Xiang was checking the items in the bedside table. He had not discovered any secret books or a hidden USB stick.
In the office, Xia Lei rested a little and called forth the power of his eye once more. His gaze swept slowly over the office and its walls and soon stopped on Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s desk.
There was a wooden cab under the desk and in that wooden cab was a safe embedded in the floor.
The safe was about one metre into the concrete floor and was very solid; It had a turntable lock on top of electronic code lock.
Xia Lei looked at the safe, his eye like an impact drill, and he saw the contents of the safe after a few seconds.
The safe had a leather-bound notebook, a portable hard drive, some American dors, some Euros and over ten bullion bars. There were also some papers like documents, records, certificates and the like.
¡°Found it!¡± Xia Lei said in excitement.
It didn¡¯t seem right for Huang Yi-Hu to put these important things in his office but once one thought more about his identity, it made sense because of his crafty nature. He was from the underworld and had many enemies. He changed residences frequently and couldn¡¯t take all these with him. Putting them in his most important office and into the most advanced safe where it couldn¡¯t be unlocked without his double passwords was a good idea since who else could open his safe? Who could move a safe embedded in concrete if one were unable to unlock it? This safe looked like it weighed at least a thousand pounds!
Qin Xiang walked out of the lounge at this moment and said gloomily, ¡°I didn¡¯t find anything. It was full of gross stuff.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t say anything. He walked to the desk and pulled the door of the wooden cab open.
Qin Xiang saw the safe and was shocked. He paused half a beat before saying, ¡°Fuck! This is an imported Dottling safe from Germany. Even my Master can¡¯t open this!¡±
¡°Your Master?¡± Xia Lei asked while squatting in front of the safe.
Qin Xiang squatted by Xia Lei¡¯s side, ¡°You won¡¯t know even if I told you and he won¡¯t let me tell anyone either. Don¡¯t ask. I advise you to give up. This safe needs two codes - one for the turntable lock and one for the electronic code lock. You know how much one of these things cost? 3,500,000! Huang Yi-Hu must have put his most important things in here, but...¡± He punched the floor and said angrily, ¡°Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s secret is right before us but he can only stare at his safe!¡±
¡°You¡¯re a professional in this line. Can¡¯t you open it?¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang shook his head, ¡°Would I tell you to give up if I could open it?¡±
Xia Lei was silent, then he said, ¡°Let me try.¡±
¡°You?¡± Qin Xiang stared nkly.
Xia Lei reached over with his hand.
Qin Xiang grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand, ¡°Stop joking around. How can you open it when I can¡¯t? Let¡¯s go. Don¡¯t do anything to alert him of our presence. Let¡¯s find another way.¡±
¡°Do you enter the code on the electronic lock first or the turntable?¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang smiled wryly, ¡°Why are you so stubborn? Fine... the electronic lock is first.¡±
Xia Lei stared at the numerical keypad. The keypad slowly magnified in his left eye and increased in detail, so much so that even the dust particles on it were visible. He saw not only dust particles not visible to the naked eye but fingerprints. Fingers had sweat nds and left sweat marks on whatever they touched - it was unavoidable.
Xia Lei soon eliminated three numbers which had no traces of sweat and was left with ¡®9, 7, 3, 2, 1, 5¡¯ - six numbers.
The code was abination of these six numbers but there were too many permutations. He could enterbinations one by one all night and not get anything right.
However, Xia Lei had his own way of solving this problem.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 94
Unlocked In One Try
ording to the habits of people, the first number of a code was always the most heavily pressed, and the pressure would lessen as the person presses, ending with the least pressure on thest number since the person¡¯s mind would be on what to do next after entering the code. The number most heavily pressed would surely have the most obvious traces of sweat and the number least heavily pressed would have light and least obvious traces.
Xia Lei used this method and quickly ascertained that the first number was ¡®9¡¯ and thest number was ¡®1¡¯. That left him with four numbers, ¡®2, 7, 3, 5¡¯.
How were these numbers grouped?
Some data from the files he had seen in the police station appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. The image in his head showed Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s date of birth - 9th December 1973.
Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s birthday had the numbers ¡®9¡¯, ¡®7¡¯ and ¡®3¡¯, which matched the traces on the keypad but it did not all match. Xia Lei wondered ¡®Does this mean he isn¡¯t using his own birthday? What sort of secret number would a man like Huang Yi-Hu use?¡¯
The birth date of Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s son, Huang Xu, suddenly appeared in his head - 1st May 2000. The numbers ¡®2¡¯, ¡®5¡¯ and ¡®1¡¯ matched! A string of numbers ran through his head as he mixed and matched them. His left eye worked to match the traces on the keypad as he ran the numbers and about two minutester, abination of numbers were produced in his head - 973251. This code was abination of Huang Yi-Hu and Huang Xu¡¯s birthdays.
Xia Lei reached his hand out and entered ¡®973251¡¯ on the numerical keypad. The electronic key lock made a small click. It unlocked!
¡°How did you know the passcode?¡± Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei in astonishment, refusing to believe the strange scene he¡¯d just witnessed.
Xia Lei did not exin himself and reached to grab the turntable lock.
At that moment, footsteps could be heard from the corridor beyond the door, apanied by sounds of people talking.
¡°Really, Big Bro is being too cautious in making use check on the office in the middle of the night. Is that punk called Xia Lei so powerful? He¡¯s actually made Big Bro a little neurotic,¡± came a man¡¯s voice.
¡°Xia Lei is no simple guy. Have you forgotten? He used one million to take thend that Big Bro dearly wanted. You should know that even if he¡¯s our Big Bro, he still has to spend 81 million to get thatnd,¡± came another man¡¯s voice.
¡°That¡¯s because he has someone to back him. Hey, you think he¡¯lle here to steal stuff at this time?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think so. He probably doesn¡¯t even know of this ce.¡±
The two men¡¯s voices and footsteps approached Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s office.
Xia Lei and Qin Xiang looked at each other. Xia Lei was fine but Qin Xiang looked nervous.
Qin Xiang took out a knife.
Xia Lei put a staying hand on Qin Xiang¡¯s hand and pointed to the lounge.
Qin Xiang nodded and followed Xia Lei into the lounge to hide. Xia Lei did not forget to close the cab door before leaving the office. He had already unlocked the electronic key lock on the safe but one should not be able to tell that it had been.
They had barely hidden under the bed when the office door opened. Someone switched on the lights and walked in their direction after taking a brief look around.
¡°Told you that there¡¯s nothing. Big Bro just doesn¡¯t listen,¡± grumbled a man¡¯s voice, ¡°Look, we¡¯ve wasted a trip here.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better to be a little cautious. That weasel Qin Xiang betrayed Big Bro. He¡¯s a master burr and is good at stealing things so Big Bro used him to steal for him. Did you forget? Big Bro has dirt on him,¡± said another male voice.
¡°That punk deserves having his salon burnt down. Pity he wasn¡¯t burnt to a crisp too.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a matter of time. Going up against our Big Bro spells a bad end. That Qin Xiang will die and that punk surnamed Xia won¡¯t be able to escape either.¡±
The two of them talked in the doorway of the lounge and their gazes searched the room as they talked. However, they did not bend to look under the bed. The office and lounge looked normal after all.
Xia Lei and Qin Xiangy t under the bed. Qin Xiang looked fairly nervous worrying that Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s underlings would walk to the bed, look under it and point a gun at him. Xia Lei, on the other hand, was way more rxed because he could still see what Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s underlings were doing even though he was under a bed. He could keep an eye on the two underlings at all times and be the quicker to subdue them so he was not very worried at all.
His left eye saw through the wooden nks, mattress and quilts, and Xia Lei recognised the two underlings talking in the doorway right away. They were two of Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s close bodyguards who carried guns. Much could be said of the importance of the contents of the safe when Huang Yi-Hu sent two of his close bodyguards to protect it in the middle of the night.
¡°It¡¯s very safe here. There¡¯s nothing to worry about,¡± said a bodyguard, ¡°Why don¡¯t we have a drink? Big Bro¡¯s alcohol is all top-notch. He doesn¡¯t usually let us enter his lounge so today¡¯s a good opportunity.¡±
¡°Heh heh, you read my mind. I¡¯ve long wanted to have a ss of Big Bro¡¯s Lafite,¡±ughed the voice of the other bodyguard.
The two bodyguards walked to the wine cab and retrieved an expensive bottle of Lafite and a bottle of Flying Maotai, then took some sses to drink with.
¡®Damn it, they¡¯re drinking. We have to find some way to make them pass out if they¡¯re not leaving¡¯ thought Xia Lei. Doing that may alert more people but he was willing to take the risk; he only had this one chance.
The two bodyguards sat themselves on the sofa and started with the red wine, then moved on to the Chinese alcohol. Chinese people drank red wine for the fun of it and for fashion. The real addictive drink was still strong, distilled spirit*.
Xia Lei and Qin Xiangy under the bed and waited.
A bodyguard switched on the television and put a DVD in to y. The DVD was an adult film from Japan and the room filled with seductive moans and cries, some intermittent Japanese and some strange sounds. Xia Lei understood some of the Japanese - ¡®be gentle, Onii-chan¡¯ or something like that. Add the not-man-not-woman Qin Xiang lying on the ground next to him and he felt very ufortable indeed.
Fortunately, this situation did notst long. Men became greedy when there was good alcohol. The bodyguards first polished off the bottle of red dry Lafite, then a bottle of Flying Maotai. Thebination of the two different alcohol made them drunk and in half an hour, the two bodyguards flopped onto the sofa, sound asleep.
Xia Lei crawled carefully out from under the bed.
Qin XIang could not see the situation from under the bed and he was still quite worried. He hesitated and only crawled out himself when Xia Lei crawled out and nothing happened.
Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s two bodyguardsy on the sofa in deep slumber. The empty bottles of Lafite dry red wine and Flying Maotai sat on the coffee table. Their snores were loud and clear and they showed no signs of awakening.
Xia Lei signalled to Qin Xiang, then moved quietly out of the lounge.
Once out of the lounge, Xia Lei went straight to Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s office desk.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Qin Xiang grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand nervously and said in a whisper, ¡°You can get the code right for the electronic key lock somehow but there¡¯s no haphazard way of unlocking the turntable. If you¡¯re wrong it will sound the rm and those two bodyguards in the lounge there definitely have guns!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you want to escape the clutches of Huang Yi-Hu? If you miss this chance we may not have another to steal what we want,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang let go. Of course he wanted the evidence that Huang Yi-Hu had against him but he knew very well about the characteristics of these German-imported safes. The turntable lock was the real problem of the safe. The electronic key lock was just to enable the user to ess the turntable. If the wrong code was entered into the turntable, the safe would automatically sound the alert. This was why he wanted to stop Xia Lei from trying but Xia Lei¡¯s determination and confidence confused him - could Xia Lei actually open this safe?
Xia Lei squatted and opened the wooden cab door, then grasped the knob of the turntable. In that instant, his eye twitched and his vision drilled into the metal alloy. There was a toothed lock which moved when he twisted the knob and it quickly came to a groove. They fit together like a glove. Afterwards, he twisted it again and fit it into another groove where it matched. Just like that and in three consecutive moves, the safe clicked. It was unlocked!
Qin Xiang goggled at Xia Lei with his mouth agape, as if he were looking at a monster.
A Dottling safe imported from Germany was uncrackable even for Qin Xiang¡¯s revered Master, let alone Qin Xiang himself. However, Xia Lei had cracked it so easily, and without using a stethoscope either!
Xia Lei did not notice Qin Xiang¡¯s reaction and reached to pull open the safe door. The items in the safe revealed themselves. Xia Lei took out the leather-bound notebook, portable hard drive and paper documents, leaving the foreign currency, bullion bars and Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s certificates.
Xia Lei put the items in his backpack, closed the safe door and got up to walk towards the window.
Qin Xiang came to his senses then and chased after Xia Lei.
The two of them traced their earlier route and came back to solid ground, then went over the wall and out of New Moon Real Estate.
In the car, Qin Xiang could not contain his astonishment and curiosity any longer and said, ¡°Lei, what was that just now? How did you open a Dottling safe just like that?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you next time,¡± said Xia Lei. He started the engine and drove the Great Wall H6 slowly down the alley.
¡°No, you must tell me.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you next time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang rolled his eyes at Xia Lei in annoyance, ¡°I know even if you don¡¯t say it. You¡¯re actually a hidden master thief, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei had actually not thought of a good exnation for what had happened earlier but Qin Xiang had made such an assumption on his own so Xia Lei was toozy to think of a better story and simply nodded, ¡°Yeah, no need to hide it from you anymore since you figured it out. But you have to keep this secret.¡±
¡°I knew it!¡± Qin Xiang gave Xia Lei a light punch, ¡°You hid it so well!¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly to himself. After the car exited the alley, he stepped on the elerator, quickly entering the main road as the car darted forward.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baijiu
Be a Patron!
Chapter 95
What Do You Want to Do?
Back home, Xia Lei connected the portable hard drive to his old Lenovoptop and looked at what was saved on it.
The hard drive had many videos on it, mostly of Huang Yi-Hu or Li Yu-Lan bribing officials. The bribery was offered in many forms, some was a direct handing over of cash, some in the form of antiques, famous calligraphy and paintings. There were also unsightly bribes where direct arrangements were made for a young woman to sleep with the official.
Xia Lei quickly found the original copy of the video Huang Yi-Hu had of Qin Xiang. The video was of Qin Xiang entering a gold shop and he was easily recognizable even though his face was covered. He liked to dress in a feminine way, especially leggings which showed off the curves of his hips - Xia Lei had no words.
¡°Delete it!¡± Qin Xiang was quite excited, ¡°That bastard won¡¯t be able to threaten me anymore!¡±
Xia Lei deleted the video and said, ¡°Come look at these videos and make a name-list for me. Transfer all these videos to myputer. This portable hard drive must be destroyed.¡±
Qin Xiang was shocked, ¡°Why do you want to destroy such an important thing?¡±
¡°Modern technology is very advanced. Even if we delete the video Huang Yi-Hu used to threaten you with, the police technicians will be able to recover the file. Do you want to go to jail?¡±
Qin Xiang paused, then smiled, ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that. Okay, I¡¯ll do as you said.¡±
It wasn¡¯t difficult to make a name-list from the videos since both Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan would greet the official by their official positions. The official¡¯s information could then be looked up on the official government website.
Qin Xiang set to work making a name-list of the bribed officials and Xia Lei looked through the paper documents they had stolen. The documents were mostly business contracts and engineering contracts as well as some project eptance reports.
The business contracts and engineering contracts looked fine but the project eptance reports were fishy. The project eptance reports contained quality issues such as poor quality building materials, inferior quality steel and so on, resulting in a huge safety risk. Hepared these project eptance reports to project contracts and found that the numbers matched.
¡®Huang Yi-Hu is using New Moon Real Estate to construct buildings with inferior building materials and to sell them to people at high prices. These reports have been locked away in a safe so he must have bribed someone to get the construction approved. He must have kept these reports to keep those officials who epted his bribes in hand. I have these reports now - you can make preparations for suicide, Huang Yi-Hu!¡¯ The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips curled in a sneer. He picked up the leather-bound book next and opened it.
Xia Lei was floored by the contents.
This book was a true ¡®ck ledger¡¯. It held records of every bit of ie Huang Yi-Hu had from his underworld operations. There were records of revenue from illegal gambling dens, protection fees from a market area, the sex industry and everything illegal except for drugs. These sources of revenue were all coted and washed clean through his legitimate businesses to be legal ie.
The ledger also recorded the names of officials who had epted his bribes, their ranks, the exact dates and amount paid to them. It seemed that the videos on the portable hard drive were only part of it. The ledger held early records of the bribery while the video records of bribery were only from thest two years. Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s methods of saving evidence and recording material for ckmail had changed with the times and he had switched over from paper to electronic.
Xia Lei had thought that the leather-bound notebook would contain something that linked Huang Yi-Hu and the Gu n but he found nothing after looking through it.
¡°Lei, I¡¯ve finished making the name-list,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°Have you saved the videos too?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°All saved. What do you n to do next?¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei walked to theputer desk, ¡°Let me do it.¡±
Qin Xiang got up and gave Xia Lei the seat.
Xia Lei sat himself and selected some ¡®wholesome¡¯ videos, then uploaded them to a few video-sharing websites. The titles of the videos were all made to look like it was posted from a first-person perspective - ¡®I want to report XXX¡¯.
Qin Xiang looked at what Xia Lei was doing and frowned as he said, ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone will believe that Huang Yi-Hu would report these himself.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± He took up a pen and some writing paper and started writing an informant¡¯s letter.
Qin Xiang watched Xia Lei write and quickly saw that something was not right and said in astonishment, ¡°Your handwriting! How is it the same as Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s handwriting? This is impossible - I¡¯ve seen his handwriting and this looks exactly like what he had written himself!¡±
Xia Lei continued writing the letter. The Huang Yi-Hu in the letter wrote of being persecuted by some powerful person and was in fear of his life, pleading with the prosecution to provide protection. Once he had protection, he would turn in all the corrupted officials and reveal all illegal records. Xia Lei put in some information from the ck ledger at the end.
¡°You want the police to arrest him?¡± asked Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°The police would want to arrest him but some people won¡¯t.¡±
¡°Are you talking about those officials who were reported? They can¡¯t do anything about Huang Yi-Hu,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Huang Yi-Hu is the Gu n¡¯s dog and the dog has started to bite people. Who do you think will act first?¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying...¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s mouth dropped open, ¡°The Gu n!¡±
Xia Lei put the letter into an envelope, ¡°Let¡¯s await a grand show.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go post it right now,¡± Qin Xiang said eagerly.
Xia Lei handed the envelope to him and gave him a reminder, ¡°Find somece to hide after you post that. Don¡¯t show your face for a few days. Even a rabbit would bite when cornered, let alone a vicious wolf like Huang Yi-Hu.¡±
Qin Xiang nodded, ¡°You be careful too.¡±
Early next morning, Xia Lei knocked on Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s door. Before he could say anything, however, Jiang Ru-Yi grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the kitchen.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei only had the chance to talk after he¡¯d gone through her doors.
Jiang Ru-Yi smiled sweetly, ¡°Lei, you came at the right time. Cook two dishes for me.¡±
Xia Lei smacked her on the head with the leather-bound notebook in his hand. ¡°Am I your chef? Cooking two dishes for you so early in the morning? Dream on. I¡¯m here to talk business.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi rubbed her head and red at Xia Lei, ¡°You have no tenderness for the fairer sex hitting me like that. What business? Be clear about it or I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
¡°An important matter, of course. Look at the contents of this notebook and you¡¯ll know. This is a great opportunity I¡¯m giving you.¡± So saying, he put the leather-bound notebook and a USB stick into Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s hands.
The USB stick contained the bribery videos he had copied and saved from the portable hard drive.
Jiang Ru-Yi opened the notebook and started reading. Her little cherry-blossom lips opened in surprise, ¡°Oh my gawd, Chief Lee from the Development Bureau? I met him at a trade fair two days ago. He dresses simply and only eats canteen meals. I¡¯d thought a person like him was definitely a clean official. This guy actually epted a bribe of two million from Huang Yi-Hu!¡±
¡°There¡¯s more. Keep reading,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi chattered on as she read and seemed rather excited.
Xia Lei rubbed at his ears and walked towards the kitchen, ¡°Whatever, I¡¯ll cook those dishes for you.¡±
Xia Lei cooked tomato eggs and finely-sliced potatoes, then brought them out into the living room. Jiang Ru-Yi had finished reading the notebook at that time and was looking at the videos on the USB stick on aptop.
The first video she clicked on was of Huang Yi-Hu using a woman to bribe the official. The moans of the woman echoed throughout the living room as soon as she opened the video.
¡°Eh?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s face turned red in embarrassment, ¡°You¡¯re a bad guy, making me watch this sort of video early in the morning!¡±
¡°You clicked on it yourself, okay? There are other videos in there. Watch those instead,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi did not switch to another video but put theptop down, walked to the dining table and stared straight at Xia Lei, ¡°Prepare the rice.¡±
The woman¡¯s moans were still echoing and bing more and more intense. There was no denying that the woman Huang Yi-Hu had found was very skilled in what she did and her moan itself was arousing. The problem wasn¡¯t that though; the problem was that Chief Jiang, among all these moans, was demanding that he prepare rice for her!
¡°Prepare the rice,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi again, ¡°Hurry up, I¡¯m starving.¡±
Xia Lei wordlessly filled a bowl of rice for Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi went straight to the dining table and started to pick up food with her chopsticks, acting as if the moans of the woman were bird-calls outside her window and that they did not affect her at all.
Xia Lei filled his own bowl with rice, sat himself opposite Jiang Ru-Yi and begun eating. He hadn¡¯t eaten anything beforeing to her t and it wasn¡¯t too bad of him to freeload off her since he¡¯d cooked the dishes himself anyway.
¡°I¡¯ll bring a team to arrest Huang Yi-Hu after I¡¯m done eating,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi as she ate, ¡°That guy is actually the President of the Chamber of Commerce. Hah! He¡¯s a scumbag!¡±
¡°I brought you a great opportunity for promotion again. How will you thank me?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi looked at Xia Lei, all smiles, ¡°Oh, you bad boy, making me watch that sort of video early in the morning and asking how I¡¯ll thank you. What are you hinting at?¡±
¡°Pretend I never said anything.¡± Xia Lei hurriedly buried his face in his ricebowl.
Jiang Ru-Yi removed her slipper, sneakily stretched her stockinged foot forward, and rubbed it on the top of Xia Lei¡¯s foot.
Xia Lei froze. ¡°Wh,What are you doing?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi smiled, ¡°Honestly, Lei, what do you want to do?¡±
Rubbing stockinged feet on him and asking him what he wanted to do - this sort of thing could only be uttered by Jiang Ru-Yi.
In that instant, Xia Lei lost control of his eye and the Jiang Ru-Yi opposite him was as naked as the day she was born.
¡°Come on, say it. What do you want to do?¡±
Xia Lei could not take it any longer and looked away. He turned to leave and said as he walked out, ¡°If you want to arrest Huang Yi-Hu, you should bring your police officers to my plot ofndter. Remember to bring guns. Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguards are armed.¡±
¡°Hello? Can youe back and wash the dishes before you leave?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi called from behind him.
Xia Lei was already out the door.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 96
Value of Land
The site of Thunder Horse Manufacturing was abuzz with activity in the bright light of morning. The students Liang Si-Yao had recruited were busy measuring the site and making drawings. The delivery men and engineering people from Forest Man had also arrived and vehicle after vehicle brought new building materials to the site as the engineering team prepared to start work.
A workshop would be built on this piece ofnd after a month if no incidents ured and Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s signboard would hang on the door.
Xia Lei felt a wave of emotion as he watched the busy scene. He said quietly, ¡°Xiao-An, I wish you were here to see this. I¡¯ll be able to get revenge for you in a few days. Huang Yi-Hu is finished, I guarantee it.¡±
There was no way Ma Xiao-An could hear him, but he would be happy if he did.
Liang Si-Yao brought Guan Ling-Shan and Yin Hao around the site, talking through the details of the design n. Liang Si-Yao had not known about the attack on the students till she went to the site to work. She was angry about it for a period of time but was soon absorbed in work.
Xia Lei walked towards the trio and their conversation entered his ears.
¡°Big Sister Liang, I suggest we have the office building close to the road so the clients will see the office right when they arrive,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan.
¡°I think the warehouse should be next to the road so it¡¯ll be convenient for materials toe in and goods to go out. We can also lessen some of the handling cost,¡± said Yin Hao.
¡°Both of you have valid points. I¡¯ll ask Chairman Xia for his opinion,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei walked over to them and said smilingly, ¡°I have a different idea.¡±
The three of them realised that he hade over only then and Guan Ling-Shan and Yin Hao greeted Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao gave Xia Lei a warm, sweet smile, ¡°What¡¯s your idea?¡±
¡°I think we can¡¯t use such a big piece ofnd for now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao, Guan Ling-Shan and Yin Hao looked at Xia Lei curiously, not understanding what he meant.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°I¡¯ve been observing our plot ofnd the whole morning. Look, there is argemunity across the road, transportation is convenient and there is high traffic. Why don¡¯t we use thend close to the road? We can construct a building here not for office use but for arge supermarket. We¡¯ll profit quite a bit annually.¡±
¡°A supermarket?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked at Xia Lei in astonishment, hardly able to believe that Xia Lei hade up with this idea.
Guan Ling-Shan and Yin Hao were also frozen in disbelief.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Why are you guys looking at me like that? Huang Yi-Hu wanted this piece ofnd so badly because of its potential value, didn¡¯t he? I got this piece ofnd and even though the government has put restrictions in ce regarding the sale and rental of thend, there are no restrictions on how I can use it. If I build a supermarket on mynd, the supermarket is ours and we don¡¯t have to pay rent on it. Our products can be sold for cheaper too, so there¡¯s no worry that nobody woulde buy from us. Don¡¯t belittle the revenue from a supermarket. If the groceries sell well daily, it will be no problem to make hundreds of millions a year. Why should we refuse such a source of revenue? This money can also be used to improve workers¡¯ welfare.¡±
Building a supermarket in this good location seemed like a random idea but it was actually an obvious choice for Xia Lei.
Starting apany was not the same as starting a workshop in terms of insurance. Every employee of thepany had to be insured and that was a huge expense. The newpany had over a hundred employees and cost quite a bit to run daily. If he ran short of money, he would be put in an awkward position as Chairman. If he opened a supermarket in the best spot in the port area which would lessen the financial burden of his operations, then... Why not?
Liang Si-Yao suddenlyughed, ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that at all. This is a great idea! It is a waste to use this piece ofnd just for a machining nt. It is a great waste indeed if we don¡¯t take advantage of its potential. Good, I support the idea of building a supermarket. However, it should upy three floors. One basement, two above and our office shall upy the third and fourth floors. What do you think?¡±
¡°We can also lessen the cost of building a separate office building that way,¡± added Guan Ling-Shan.
Yin Hao spoke excitedly, ¡°Yeah, we only need to build an employee entrance. We can go from the workshop to the third and fourth floors without having to go through the supermarket and the people in the supermarket cannot enter our office area and affect our operations.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°What are you waiting for then? Hurry, finish up the designs.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll get it done right away,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan and Yin Hao together. They looked at each other and smiled awkwardly.
After Guan Ling-Shan and Yin Hao went off, Liang Si-Yao spoke, ¡°Who¡¯s going to be in charge of the supermarket?¡±
¡°I have someone in mind. He should be able to do it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Who?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
At that moment, a Yamaha motorcycle came roaring from the road beforeing to a sharp stop. A youth in tight leather shorts and a white embroidered T-shirt alighted. A beautiful face, well-proportioned figure and a well-rounded bottom; the tranny vibes were strong with this one. It was the person Xia Lei was talking about - Qin Xiang.
When Qin Xiang turned up, many people did a double-take and some started to whisper and talk about him. Qin Xiang seemed used to the strange looks of others and didn¡¯t seem to mind as he walked confidently towards Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao.
It was Liang Si-Yao¡¯s first time seeing Qin Xiang and she lowered her voice to ask, ¡°Who is this? Is it your friend?¡±
¡°His name¡¯s Qin Xiang. He¡¯s the one I was talking about when you asked who will manage the supermarket,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Liang Si-Yao was taken aback and she looked at Xia Lei strangely.
Xia Lei went to wee Qin Xiang and said quietly, ¡°You punk, didn¡¯t I tell you to hide for a few days?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve thought about it. Huang Yi-Hu has nothing on me now so why should I be hiding from him? Besides, he can find you even if he can¡¯t find me. He won¡¯t sit by and do nothing. He¡¯s dangerous now so I have to be by your side. More people by your side means more protection,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei sighed, ¡°Fine. You can stay on since you¡¯re here. I¡¯ll introduce you. This is my senior disciple, Liang Si-Yao.¡±
Qin Xiang smiled charmingly and said tteringly, ¡°Oh, Miss Liang is so pretty.¡±
Liang Si-Yao felt it weird but still put on a smile and shook hands with Qin Xiang, ¡°Hello, Mis- uh, Mr Qin.¡±
She¡¯d nearly called him ¡®Miss Qin¡¯. Qin Xiang was too much like a woman. He looked very much like one but he was not.
Qin Xiang was surprised, ¡°Do you know me, Miss Liang?¡±
¡°Mm, we were just talking about you. Lei wants to build a supermarket and have you manage it for him,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei in surprise, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±
Xia Lei exined his idea and said, ¡°Wasn¡¯t your salon burned down? You have no ce to go anyway soe help me.¡±
Qin Xiang smiled, ¡°Sure. A change of environment isn¡¯t too bad either. I¡¯ll give it a go.¡±
¡°Miss Liang!¡± Guan Ling-Shan called, ¡°Can youe over for a minute? We need your confirmation on something.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go over and take a look. You guys continue,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Qin Xiang spoke warmly, ¡°Yes, Miss Liang, see youter.¡± He waved his soft, white hand after he spoke.
Liang Si-Yao turned to leave and started muttering to herself two stepster, ¡°Oh my god, I can¡¯t take it... Lei is not that type, is he? No, no. Lei was sensitive when I was practicing Wing Chun with him. That sort of reaction is very obvious and I¡¯ve seen it many times. He¡¯s normal...¡±
After Liang Si-Yao walked off, Xia Lei asked, ¡°Have you mailed the letter?¡±
¡°I made copies of the informant letter you wrote and mailed it to all the anti-corruption departments in the city. I also sent it to two news media stations,¡± he smiled, ¡°And, the videos you put online have gone viral. Views have gone over 200,000 and gathered thousands ofments. I believe a news site will report on it soon.¡±
A smile also appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face, ¡°Huang Yi-Hu is finished for sure this time.¡±
¡°I bet he¡¯d never even dreamt that you¡¯d be able to crack his German-imported safe and that you¡¯re a great master burr,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei was never a master burr but was able to crack a safe a real master burr could not so it wasn¡¯t much of a stretch when Qin Xiang said he was a great master burr.
Just then, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was suddenly drawn to the road. A ck Maybach car stopped about 500 metres away by the roadside. It was quite a distance away but Xia Lei could see Huang Yi-Hu in the driver¡¯s seat.
Huang Yi-Hu had finally shown himself.
Xia Lei did not find it strange that Huang Yi-Hu had turned up at this time.
As Xia Lei spotted Huang Yi-Hu, five minivans came up from behind the ck Maybach. They were not going fast and every minivan held seven people. The walls of the minivans were metal but Xia Lei could see into the minivans and he saw that the people were all Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s underlings holding choppers, bats and other weapons.
Xia Lei looked at thest minivan - the other minivans had seven people but this one had four. The four were Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguards and they carried guns!
¡°Run!¡± Xia Lei stopped using his eye and pushed Qin Xiang, ¡°Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s brought thugs!¡±
¡°Where?¡± asked Qin Xiang in a panic.
Xia Lei had no time to exin and he shouted loudly, ¡°Si-Yao, take our people and leave, hurry!¡±
Qin Xiang then spotted the five minivans approaching and his face turned white.
Liang Si-Yao, however, had not realised what was going on and asked, ¡°What? Why? Why do we have to leave?¡±
¡°Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s brought his people here!¡± said Xia Lei anxiously.
At that moment, the minivans came to a stop and the doors opened. A group of vicious young men bearing weapons came charging out at them.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 97
One Step, One Kill
In the back of the ck Maybach, Li Yu-Lan was unsettled, "I don¡¯t have a good feeling about this. Maybe you should call those underlings back and we go overseas to hide for a while. We won¡¯t know what would happen if they charge out like that. If someone dies we¡¯ll have no way of running away."
Huang Yi-Hu sneered, "When did you be so cowardly? Hide? The idea has never even crossed my mind. I¡¯ve had people killed from the time I was on the streets till now - there¡¯s nothing I have not seen before."
"It¡¯s different this time. Evidence has been posted on the inte. The police wille knocking sooner orter," said Li Yu-Lan.
Huang Yi-Hu didn¡¯t seem to care, "What are you afraid of? Have you forgotten who is backing us? If they want to touch me they will need the Gu n¡¯s approval. I¡¯ve toiled for the Gu n all these years and done quite a bit of dirty work for them. They will guarantee my protection. It¡¯s just some bribery - how serious is that? We just need to catch that Xia Lei and Qin Xiang and get the evidence back. We can handle this; we don¡¯t even need the Gu n to step in."
Li Yu-Lan sighed, still unsettled.
Huang Yi-Hu picked up the binocrs in the dashboard and watched the scene on the site.
On the site, Xia Lei shouted for his people to run away but none of them did. Instead, they picked up wooden nks and rocks and ran towards him. The only ones who ran away were the workers from Forest Man. They had run away in a panic when Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s underlings turned up.
Xia Lei had intended for his people to run in one direction while he ran in the other to draw Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s underlings away but his people did not run away so he could not either.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly, "What are you guys doing? I tell you to run away and youe back."
Guan Ling-Shan, a small wooden nk in her hand, pushed her new spectacles up higher on her nose and said nervously, "We... We aren¡¯t afraid of them."
Yin Hao, Han Bo and the others nodded their heads. They were nervous and afraid but they did not back down.
Liang Si-Yao said nothing and reached out to pat Xia Lei on the back, indicating that she would fight with him side-by-side.
His ns upset, Xia Lei looked at the entrance and thought ¡¯Why hasn¡¯t that Jiang Ru-Yi turned up yet?¡¯
"Xia Lei! Come out!" A youth with hair dyed gold shouted, pointing at Xia Lei with his chopper.
Xia Lei just nced at him before his gaze went to Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s four bodyguards. The four of them made two teams, one left and one right in a pincer-formation. They had guns - this was what worried Xia Lei. He and Liang Si-Yao would be able to clean the floor with these underlings in under ten minutes if Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguards didn¡¯t have guns!
Liang Si-Yao moved forward, prepared to start fighting but Xia Lei pulled her back and said quietly, "Careful, the four people in the wings are Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguards and all of them carry guns."
"Guns?" Liang Si-Yao became nervous.
"Don¡¯t be reckless. Dy things as much as possible while we wait for Jiang Ru-Yi to bring her men over," said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao nodded.
"Motherfucker! You scared?" cursed the gold-headed youth.
"Dirty-mouthed brat!" Qin Xiang stood with one hand on his waist and one pointing at the youth right at his nose, "How did your mother have you if she didn¡¯t fuck?"
Xia Lei had stopped Liang Si-Yao but overlooked Qin Xiang. What he said was like a ssh of cold water in an oil-filled pan.
"Fuck, you still dare to be so arrogant! Beat them up!" The golden-haired youth brandished his chopper and charged at Qin Xiang, aiming to sh whomever insulted him.
Before Qin Xiang could react, Xia Lei suddenly kicked the youth in the belly. The youth screamed in pain and was pushed two steps back before copsing heavily on the ground.
Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s four bodyguards suddenly cut in close and, almost at the same time, took guns out and pointed them at Xia Lei¡¯s head.
The appearance of guns temporarily halted the impending gang attack.
"Come with us," said a bodyguard icily.
"Where to?" Xia Lei was calm on the surface but inside, he was very nervous.
"Silence! Come with us when we tell you to or we¡¯ll destroy you!" A bodyguard stepped forward and grabbed Xia Lei by the arm, ready to take him away.
Another bodyguard grabbed Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei and Qin Xiang did not dare to make any extra moves as the other two bodyguards had their guns pointed at them.
"What are you guys nning to do?" Liang Si-Yao stood in front of Xia Lei, blocking them.
"Bitch! You want to die?" A bodyguard suddenly aimed his gun at Liang Si-Yao.
BANG! There was a sound of a gunshot.
All eyes went to Liang Si-Yao. Practically everyone thought that Liang Si-Yao had been shot when the gun went off but the one who¡¯d fallen was Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguard.
A bullet had split open the skull of the bodyguard who¡¯d been about to shoot Liang Si-Yao!
The bodyguard who¡¯d been shot fell straight to the ground, the identity of his killer unknown till his death.
The entire ce seemed to have been frozen by a minus-ten-degrees wind which had swept past.
The first person toe to his senses was Xia Lei. He looked in the direction of where the bullet hade from and saw a woman in a trench coat and sunsses with a gun in her hand, like an emotionless killer in a Hollywood shootout.
Jiang Ru-Yi had not turned up but Long Bing had.
Xia Lei felt that he would never in his life forget the scene of her striding towards him, killing a man with every step.
"Fuck!" A bodyguard spotted Long Bing too and turned his gun to her, prepared to shoot.
BANG! Before he could take aim, a bullet went through his forehead. Fresh blood and brain matter sttered - another headshot!
BANG! The third gunshot rang out 0.5 seconds after the second one.
The bodyguard who¡¯d a gun pointed at Xia Lei fell to the ground, a bullet hole in his forehead and a gaping hole in the back of his head.
Three of Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s four bodyguards had died in the blink of an eye.
The remaining bodyguard threw aside the gun in his hands and went to his knees.
Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s many underlings were stupified, their earlier arrogance extinguished. They stood woodenly in their spots, not daring to move, each and every one of them breaking out in cold sweat.
Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s bodyguards and underlings were bullies who targeted the weak and were more cruel than anyone when dealing with normal folk because they believed that they could not be touched by anyone. Now, a woman had appeared out of nowhere, killing three people in session in the blink of an eye. They had never seen anyone with such an imposing presence and shocking way of dealing with others.
A youth suddenly flung his chopper away and ran back towards the minivans parked by the side of the road.
BANG! He had barely run ten metres when a gunshot rang out. A bullet hit him in the thigh, throwing him onto the ground.
The other youths who¡¯d been about to run were frightened and none dared to run. Can one outrun a bullet?
Long Bing shouted, "Down on the ground!"
There was a flurry of movement and everyone ttened themselves on the ground except for Xia Lei¡¯s group.
Hundreds of metres away, in the ck Maybach, Huang-Yi-Hu flung the binocrs in his hand away and cursed, "Fuck! Where did that womane from? She even dared to kill people! Has she no regard for thew? Argh!"
"Hubby, let¡¯s go!" Li Yu-Lan said anxiously, "Our people have been caught by that woman. She¡¯ll definitelye after us if she knows that we¡¯re here."
"I must find out who she is. She¡¯s finished!" Huang Yi-Hu cursed but he moved quickly, stepping on the elerator and moving the car into traffic to get away.
Two police cars suddenly came from behind, cutting off the ck Maybach¡¯s escape.
The ck Maybach turned to try and escape in another direction but it had only managed to turn when two more police cars appeared, surrounding it.
The door of one of the police cars opened and Jiang Ru-Yi hopped out of the front passenger seat and used the door as a shield as she shouted, "You¡¯ve been surrounded! Put down your weapon and surrender!"
The policeman who had alighted after Jiang Ru-Yi tapped her on the shoulder and said quietly, "Chief, the safety on your gun is still on."
Jiang Ru-Yi was embarrassed and quickly unlocked the safety, then shouted fiercely again, "You are under arrest, Huang Yi-Hu! Get out of the car!"
Huang Yi-Hu got out of the car with his hands in the air but he was full of disdain and spat on the ground, "Arrest me? Ha! Under what charges? Bribery? Let me tell you, a whole lot of people will protect me and you can do nothing about it!"
Li Yu-Lan also got out of the car, her face ashen. She looked nervous. She was a woman after all and was not particrly brave.
Two police officers walked up to them and put Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan in handcuffs.
"Chief, who is that woman?" The police officer who¡¯d pointed out Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s mistake asked curiously, "A whole group of us went after these two people but she went up against so many alone."
Jiang Ru-Yi snapped, "I don¡¯t rank high enough to ask so you have no right to ask either. Come with me!"
The squad of police officers followed Jiang Ru-Yi to the Thunder Horse Manufacturing construction site and they dragged Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan along.
The atmosphere at the construction site was still cold. Xia Lei¡¯s group looked at Long Bing nervously, trying to figure out her identity.
Xia Lei walked to Long Bing and asked, "How did you know?"
"I¡¯m investigating you, remember?" said Long Bing casually.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. Knowing her capabilities, what was so strange about Long Bing knowing about this? He suspected that Long Bing also knew about him and Qin Xiang going to New Moon Real Estate to steal things but he was not worried about that. If Long Bing wanted to, she would have stopped him then and not waited till now, even killing three people for him.
"That... um, thank you," said Xia Lei.
"I¡¯ll look for you at your home tonight." Long Bing put her gun away and walked off.
Xia Lei was long used to her style and said, "Come early. I¡¯ll cook some dishes and treat you to a meal."
Long Bing¡¯s steps faltered but she did not say anything; she only nodded.
"Miss Long! Miss Long!" Jiang Ru-Yi called from afar, at the head of her group. She wanted to speak to Long Bing.
Long Bing did not even spare her a nce and sped up, exiting quickly.
Jiang Ru-Yi sighed and looked helpless, "Oh man, that Big Sister just walked off after killing people. What am I supposed to do, huh?"
She dared only say it quietly under her breath though.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 98
I¡¯ll Kneel and Kowtow
¡°Move it!¡± On the construction site, a police officer prodded Huang Yi-Hu again.
Huang Yi-Hu turned to re at the police officer, ¡°I¡¯ll remember your face, punk. If you push me again, I will -¡±
Before he could finish, Jiang Ru-Yi pped Huang Yi-Hu on the back of his head. ¡°Huang Yi-Hu, you still dare to threaten a police officer at this stage? Did you eat leopard guts? If you don¡¯t stop yourining I¡¯ll add threatening a police officer to your charges!¡±
Huang Yi-Hu glowered at Jiang Ru-Yi but he kept his mouth shut.
Jiang Ru-Yi pushed Huang Yi-Hu and he stumbled forward. His underlings were all lying on the ground in front and three of his four bodyguards were dead. The remaining one alive was still kneeling on the ground, too afraid to move.
Long Bing had killed three and left one for a simple reason - a live report for Jiang Ru-Yi. He was left alive to provide more information about Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s illegal activities.
¡°Why did you take so long toe?¡± Xia Leiined.
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, ¡°You saw how it was earlier. This was her arrangement. She¡¯s in charge of this part and I¡¯m in charge of catching Huang Yi-Hu. Comin to her, not me.¡±
¡°Whatever. Could you lend me Huang Yi-Hu for a few minutes?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I want to talk privately with him.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi hesitated, then pulled Xia Lei to the side and spoke in his ear, ¡°What do you want to do? Beat him up? That¡¯s against procedure.¡±
¡°I had a bet with Huang Yi-Hu. If I got this piece ofnd, he would kneel and kowtow to Ma Xiao-An three times. Ma Xiao-An was killed by an underling Huang Yi-Hu had sent. I just want tofort Ma Xiao-An¡¯s soul.¡±
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll give you a few minutes but you can¡¯t hit him... Hmm, even if you do, don¡¯t hit his face. You understand me?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei patted Jiang Ru-Yi on the shoulder, ¡°Thanks.¡±
¡°What thanks?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°Ma Xiao-An was my friend too. What¡¯s a bit of criticism when he can get some constion and happiness?¡±
Two minutester, Xia Lei brought Huang Yi-Hu to a spot where the building materials were piled up high. The building materials blocked the view from outside and people outside could not see what was going on inside at all.
¡°What are you nning?¡± Huang Yi-Hu was nervous but his words were tough, ¡°If you leave any injury on my body, you and that female officer will have to answer for it! I¡¯ll get the bestwyers in the country and sue you!¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. He walked around Huang Yi-Hu and to his front, picked up a wooden nk, then used a marker and wrote ¡®Ma Xiao-An¡¯s grave¡¯ on it. He forcefully plunged it into the ground, making it stand in front of Huang Yi-Hu.
Huang Yi-Hu understood what Xia Lei wanted when he saw ¡®Ma Xiao-An¡¯s grave¡¯. A smile of ridicule appeared in the corners of his mouth, ¡°What? You¡¯re still hung up over that bet? You want me to kneel and kowtow? In your dreams! I, Huang Yi-Hu has always stood tall and I¡¯ve never knelt to anyone!¡±
Xia Lei moved forward and punched Huang Yi-Hu in the abdomen.
Huang Yi-Hu cried out in pain and bent over. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth but his eyes were like those of a provoked beast - burning hate and no fear.
¡°Pah!¡± Huang Yi-Hu spat a mouthful of blood on the ground, ¡°You know who is backing me. They will not let anything happen to me. I¡¯ll be out soon and then you¡¯ll regret everything you did!¡±
Xia Lei punched him in the abdomen again.
Huang Yi-Hu clutched his stomach, his expression pained. However, he growled, ¡°Beat me to death if you dare! Come, kill me!¡±
Xia Lei let a punch fly at Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s cheek.
Huang Yi-Hu closed his eyes and didn¡¯t dodge.
Xia Lei¡¯s fist stopped a centimetre from Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s head and heughed all of a sudden, ¡°You¡¯re a manly man, I¡¯ll give you that. But let me tell you if you don¡¯t kneel and kowtow to my friend, your son will pay. You have a son in junior high school, don¡¯t you? I don¡¯t have to do anything myself. I just have to tell your enemies of his identity and someone will avenge my friend for me - don¡¯t you think so?¡±
¡°You dare!¡± Huang Yi-Hu was like a wounded beast.
Xia Leiughed coldly, ¡°You couldn¡¯t win even out here - you think I¡¯ll be afraid of you when you¡¯re behind bars? What would a person like you want a son for? Aren¡¯t you afraid that people would seek retribution for your sins from your son? I¡¯ll give you onest chance. Kneel, kowtow to my friend and repent, otherwise I can¡¯t guarantee that you¡¯ll have a son to send you to your end.¡±
¡°You-¡± Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s eyes were full of hate.
¡°Looks like you won¡¯t kneel. Okay, I¡¯ll get my justice from your son,¡± said Xia Lei and made to leave.
¡°Wait!¡± Huang Yi-Hu called. He hesitated, then suddenly went to his knees in front of the wooden ¡®Ma Xiao-An¡¯s grave¡¯ nk and kowtowed three times, his head knocking the ground. As he kowtowed, he said, ¡°Ma Xiao-An, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve knelt. I¡¯ve kowtowed. I¡¯m not begging for forgiveness. I¡¯m begging you to spare my son.¡±
These words were said to Ma Xiao-An but meant for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked up at the sky. It was blue. A cloud in the sky looked like a human face and he felt that it looked like Ma Xiao-An¡¯s smiling face.
The police took Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan, his underlings and the three corpses away. Xia Lei, too, got in Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s police car to assist in the investigation at the police station.
The employees of Thunder Horse Manufacturing stood and watched the police cars disappear in the distance, not one willing to leave the roadside.
¡°Who was that woman in the trench coat?¡± Yin Hao looked like he was at a loss for words. He was still reying the scene where Long Bing had killed three men so quickly. He could think of only one word to describe her - Cool!
¡°Who knows. I suggest you not think of it,¡± Han Bo smiled, ¡°She¡¯s Chairman Xia¡¯s, not yours.¡±
¡°What rubbish are you saying?¡± Liang Si-Yao interrupted the boys¡¯ conversation, ¡°Don¡¯t you have work to do? Have you finished the designs?¡±
Han Bo and Yin Hao exchanged looks and went back to work.
Liang Si-Yao mumbled to herself, ¡°That woman didn¡¯t even blink when she shot those guys. Who would dare marry a woman like her? Whoever does marry her is a fool.¡±
In the police car, another woman was looking at Xia Lei, all smiles. ¡°Lei, I did such a big favour for you this time. How are you going to thank me?¡±
Xia Lei looked at Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°I gave you such a good case and you¡¯re still asking me to thank you?¡±
¡°I heard you¡¯re going to cook something for Miss Long. Is that true?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi changed the topic quickly, ¡°Can Ie too?¡±
¡°Come if you want to. It¡¯s just a matter of adding another bowl and pair of chopsticks,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi thought for a bit and shook her head, ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t want to step on her toes. Forget today - treat me to a meal another day.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll treat you to empty air next time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Petty. No wonder you can¡¯t get a girlfriend.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi red at Xia Lei.
A female officer in the backseat suddenly cried, ¡°Chief! Red light!¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi mmed on the brakes, throwing everyone in the car forward. Heads struck headrests and ss...
In North Police Station, Jiang Ru-Yi recorded Xia Lei¡¯s testimony personally.
After they were done, Xia Lei asked, ¡°Where is Huang Yi-Hu being held?¡±
¡°In the interrogation room. Some colleagues are recording his statement. We¡¯re a little short-handed since we arrested so many people; I wouldn¡¯t be recording your testimony myself otherwise. The sight of you annoys me,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Take me there to have a look,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at him, ¡°Come with me.¡±
Xia Lei came to the door of an interrogation room with Jiang Ru-Yi but a police officer told her that Huang Yi-Hu¡¯swyer hade to see him and he was in the interrogation room talking to Huang Yi-Hu right then.
¡°What are they talking about in there?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi casually.
¡°Thatwyer¡¯s very good. He requested to exercise the right to switch off surveince upon arrival. We don¡¯t know what they¡¯re talking about inside there without surveince,¡± said the police officer.
Jiang Ru-Yi frowned, ¡°You switched it off because he told you to?¡±
¡°We secretly switched it on once but thatwyer came out of the room to negotiate. He even said he would call Director Xu. We switched it off and didn¡¯t switch it on again,¡± said the police officer.
While Jiang Ru-Yi and her subordinate talked, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye quietly went to work. The walls of the interrogation room disappeared in his vision and the situation inside wasid bare to him.
A middle-aged man was talking to Huang Yi-Hu. He was dressed in an impable suit and seemed well-mannered. Xia Lei had never seen this person by Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s side but Huang Yi-Hu seemed to have a respectful attitude towards this man. Xia Lei was struck by a thought - Was this person sent by the Gu n to save Huang Yi-Hu?
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to their mouths and he lip-read their conversation.
¡°Please tell the Old Master not to worry. I won¡¯t say a word,¡± said Huang Yi-Hu.
¡°That¡¯s the right way to think. The Old Master will not neglect you. Don¡¯t worry and stay in there for a time; it won¡¯t be very long before you get out from there,¡± said the middle-aged man.
¡°Thank you, Old Master,¡± said Huang Yi-Hu respectfully.
¡°The Old Master bade me ask if you have any information that is linked to the Gu n. Information that is of the nature that Xia Lei has exposed?¡± inquired the middle-aged man.
Huang Yi-Hu looked nervous and said, ¡°No, there really isn¡¯t, I swear. I have nothing of that sort of information on me. The information Xia Lei exposed was all evidence of myself bribing officials. I¡¯d only kept that evidence to use it against those officials in the future.¡±
¡°All the officials you¡¯ve worked with are in danger now. Some of these officials also have rtionships with the Old Master so what is happening now is troubling our Old Master. Who will dare work with us after this?¡± said the middle-aged man.
¡°I... I have failed the Old Master.¡± Huang Yi-Hu hung his head.
¡°We shall let the matter slide this time. The Old Master will guarantee your safety. Do your job well when you¡¯re released. Do not disappoint him again,¡± said the middle-aged man.
Huang Yi-Hu let out a breath, ¡°I will. Please tell the Old Master that I will work hard to repay him after I¡¯m out.¡±
A sneer appeared in the corners of the middle-aged man¡¯s mouth, ¡°Well. That¡¯s it. I have to go.¡±
¡°Have a good journey, Mr Shi.¡± Huang Yi-Hu stood to give a parting greeting.
The middle-aged man called Mr Shi walked towards the door and he mouthed a word that others could not hear - Fool.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye.
The middle-aged man called Mr Shi walked out and his expression changed slightly when he saw Xia Lei and Jiang Ru-Yi in the doorway. He, however, said nothing and walked off with his briefcase in hand.
Suspicion bloomed in Xia Lei as he looked at Mr Shi¡¯s back. ¡®Why did he call Huang Yi-Hu a fool?¡¯
Be a Patron!
Chapter 99
Mysterious Father
The nights in the beginning of autumn were cool but Xia Lei was so busy that he perspired all over. He¡¯d started cooking at five in the afternoon and only stopped close to seven in the evening. He was tired but his efforts had produced a table of delicacies. There was steak with Italian-style sauce, Sichuan spicy chicken cubes, Australianmb chops, French roast goose and so on. These various dishes were made from recipes he had found off the inte. Though it was his first time making them and he couldn¡¯t speak for their authenticity, the power of his left eye enabled him to see the fusion of the ingredients and the dishes ended up looking quite decent and smelt good.
This was also Xia Lei¡¯s first time taking so much time and effort to make such a feast for someone. This was all because the guest today was Long Bing, a person he sincerely wanted to thank. He wouldn¡¯t know how badly the situation could have turned out if Long Bing had not intervened at the construction site.
Xia Lei put a bottle of Chanyu red wine on the table and nced at the time on the grandfather clock on the wall. It was seven O¡¯clock.
¡®It¡¯s already seven. Why isn¡¯t she here yet? Did she get some sort of mission and can¡¯t make it? If that¡¯s the case, who¡¯s going to eat all these dishes I made?¡¯ Xia Lei grew anxious and walked to the balcony.
The sky had already darkened and the older residents in the neighbourhood were taking their evening strolls or dancing in the green areas. It was a lively night. Xia Lei scanned the area and didn¡¯t see Long Bing but he saw Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi was sitting on her balcony eating some watermelon. She wore casual home clothes. The soft material clung to her skin and her breasts were pushed high, her buttocks were also round and perky - definite eye candy. Looking down from his balcony, Xia Lei could also see the soft whiteness peeking out from under her cor, the beautiful pale groove deep without end. The sight of her aroused certain thoughts and tempted one to do this and that to her.
Jiang Ru-Yi seemed to have eyes on the top of her head; while Xia Lei was looking at her, she spoke without looking up, ¡°What are you looking at? Shameless.¡±
Xia Lei found it strange, ¡°How did you know I was looking at you?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi put down the watermelon rind in her hand and looked up at Xia Lei, ¡°Your shadow appeared at my feet when you popped up. You know what? Your shadow is as vulgar as you are.¡± She stretched out a finger and pointed at the floor between her legs.
Sure enough, there was the round shadow of a head on the ground between her legs. The position made it look like the shadow was peeking at somendscape between her legs.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°Ru-Yi, I didn¡¯t offend you in any way. Are you in a bad mood today? You seem to be annoyed at everything I do.¡±
¡°When have I ever not been annoyed at you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°She¡¯s not here yet?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Not yet,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi smiled, ¡°I can smell your dishes from my t. Treat me to dinner if she doesn¡¯t turn up. I haven¡¯t made dinner yet.¡±
Xia Lei was about to agree when a graceful, slender figure entered his line of vision. Long Bing had arrived. She was dressed in a long, ck dress, ck high heels, matching ck bag and ck Calot hat. She was poised, elegant and exuded mystery and icyness. Long Bing stood out as always and was easily recognisable from the masses in the neighbourhood.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°She¡¯s here. I¡¯ll invite you over if we have any leftovers.¡±
¡°Go die!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi snatched up a watermelon rind and flung it at Xia Lei but he had already disappeared from his balcony when she swung her arm.
Long Bing walked towards the stairwell.
¡°Hello, Miss Long,¡± Jiang Ru-Yi greeted.
Long Bing gave a slight nod and entered the stairwell.
Jiang Ru-Yi shrugged and muttered to herself, ¡°I¡¯ll buy a dress like that tomorrow. I¡¯ll even get ck underwear. Let¡¯s see who¡¯s more like ck Widow!¡±
Long Bing did not hear what she said. She reached the second floor and knocked on the door.
Xia Lei opened the door with a smile on his face, ¡°You¡¯re here. Please,e in.¡±
Long Bing spoke quietly, ¡°I could havee earlier but I was temporarily dyed by something. Um, I didn¡¯t even have time to get you a gift.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°What is with the formalities? You haven¡¯t eaten, have you? I cooked up some dishes - let¡¯s eat.¡±
Long Bing removed her Calot hat embellished with ck-yarn and ced it on the sofa, then followed Xia Lei to the dining table. She was surprised upon seeing the wonderful spread of various dishes on the table. ¡°Did you make all these dishes?¡±
¡°I¡¯m the only one here so who else could have made these? Try it. I don¡¯t know how well I made them either,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Judging from the colour and smell, it should taste quite good. You are making me more curious about you. You can process high precision parts, speak severalnguages and even cook such delicious looking dishes though from the information I have gathered, you are just a high school graduate. What sort of background story do you have?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Is this part of your investigation?¡±
Long Bing seated herself, ¡°Let¡¯s talk as we eat.¡±
Xia Lei sat himself and poured a ss of red wine for Long Bing, then one for himself.
Long Bing clinked sses with Xia Lei, took a sip and said, ¡°Do you know why I was investigating you?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°No, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s out of curiosity, is it?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk about your father.¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei, her gaze odd.
Xia Lei paused, ¡°Why are we suddenly talking about my father?¡±
¡°I¡¯m suddenly very curious about him. Why, is it not convenient to talk about it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I don¡¯t really know much about my father and he¡¯s never told me what he did for a living; I had no idea up till he disappeared. From what I remember, he was always very busy and was often away on work trips. He spent almost half the year away from home. I only remember this much and I don¡¯t know anything else.¡±
Long Bing took a bite of the roast goose Xia Lei had cooked and smiled faintly, ¡°Quite good. It tastes simr to the roast goose I had in France - very authentic.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly, then picked up a piece of spicy chicken with chopsticks and gave it to her, ¡°Eat more, then.¡±
Long Bing ate some dishes, drank two sses of wine and, just when Xia Lei thought she would not ask any more strange questions, she spoke again. ¡°Your father is Xia Chang-Hai. The household registration file shows that he was born in 1965 and will be fifty this year. He studied Culture and graduated from Hai-Zhu First Middle School. He joined the army after graduation and entered the Special Forces Unit in his third year due to hard work and excellent performance. He served in the Special Forces Unit for three years before retiring and there are no records after that.¡±
¡°My father... My father was a soldier?¡± Xia Lei said in surprise, ¡°How can that be? My sister and I never knew that he was in the army.¡±
¡°You really didn¡¯t know?¡± Long Bing stared at Xia Lei.
¡°I had no idea. I have no reason to lie to you,¡± said Xia Lei. He paused for a bit, then said, ¡°What¡¯s with you today? Aren¡¯t you investigating me? Why do you keep talking about my father?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange that your father never told you he was a soldier? And he never told you what he did for a living either - you don¡¯t think that¡¯s strange? Why did he disappear? Isn¡¯t everything very strange?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nked out. He¡¯d never thought that his father, Xia Chang-Hai, was terribly odd in any way before but faced with Long Bing¡¯s questions, he suddenly found himself thinking that his father was not normal at all. He had a secret that he and his sister did not know of.
Long Bing spoke again, ¡°What I found most strange was that I could only find the file from after he retired. I could not find anything beyond his retirement and marriage to your mother.¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she raised her wine ss, ¡°Forget it. It¡¯s nothing. Maybe there are no records because it¡¯s too normal. Let¡¯s not talk about your father and have some wine. The dishes you made are really delicious.¡±
She must have wanted to say something but decided against it in the end.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and clinked sses with Long Bing, then gulped arge portion of the wine in the ss in one go.
¡°Lei, I¡¯ll give you a warning,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked at her, ¡°What?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve attracted the attention of some people because of China Industrial Group. Keep a low profile when you do things next time and be more careful,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°I didn¡¯t do anything illegal. So what if I get noticed by some people? I¡¯m not worried about this,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Not everyone is a good person. Some people are keeping an eye on you and it¡¯s not totally friendly. You understand what I mean?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°All right, I¡¯ll listen to you.¡±
¡°The matter of Huang Yi-Hu ends here. Don¡¯t touch the Gu n. You are no match for them,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°The Gu n is not clean at all. What is the sense in you guysing to investigate me instead of investigating the Gu n?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Many know that the Gu n is dirty. The higher-ups know too. We are not touching them because it is not time. As to when we will move against them - it is not up to me to decide. You don¡¯t have to take the investigation of yourself to heart either. I came here to have a meal with you to say my goodbyes. I¡¯m going back to Jing-Du,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°You¡¯re not investigating me anymore?¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Long Bing¡¯s lips, ¡°Your history is brief. I spent less than a day to investigate the time from when you attended kindergarten. I¡¯ve already written my report and will turn it in soon. Your investigation is over.¡±
¡°What did you find in your investigation?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
¡°You¡¯re very normal. I found nothing special,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei heaved an internal sigh of relief. He did not want anyone to find out about the secret of his left eye and Long Bing was no exception.
At that moment, Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice suddenly came from downstairs. ¡°Lei,e down, quick! Huang Yi-Hu is dead!¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. He hurriedly got up and ran to the balcony
Jiang Ru-Yi stood downstairs and said anxiously, ¡°Come with me to the detention centre, quick! Huang Yi-Hu hung himself!¡±
¡°Okay, wait for me. I¡¯ll be right down!¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing walked up from behind Xia Lei and grabbed his arm, ¡°Have you forgotten what I¡¯d just said? The matter ends here. Do not involve yourself further.¡±
Xia Lei froze on the spot.
Long Bing leaned over the balcony railings and looked at Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°Go tend to your case, Chief Jiang. Xia Lei has to apany me for dinner so he won¡¯t be joining you at the detention centre.¡±
She did not wait for Jiang Ru-Yi to answer and left the balcony, towing Xia Lei behind her.
Jiang Ru-Yi hesitated for half a beat, then muttered, ¡°Stuff yourselves.¡±
Be a Patron!
Chapter 100 of TranXending Vision
Audio - In celebration of Chapter 100 of TranXending Vision
Birth of Thunder Horse Manufacturing
After dinner, Xia Lei made a cup of Pu¡¯er tea for Long Bing.
Long Bing sat on the sofa and sipped her tea quietly. Themplight cast on her body - her fair skin, ck dress and lightly outlined long legs... Everything about her was perfect. If she wasn¡¯t so cold and unapproachable she would have been very charming.
Xia Lei looked at her and saw the outline of a gun holster on the outside of her thigh. He was at a bit of a loss for words. She¡¯d even brought a gun whening to have a meal. Was there a time when she didn¡¯t have a gun?
¡°Xia Xue is not bad. She¡¯s an obedient girl. I quite like her.¡± Long Bing put down her teacup.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Yes, she is. Thank you for caring for her in Jing-Du.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s brows wrinkled slightly, ¡°Must you be so formal?¡±
¡°Okay, I won¡¯t say thanks then,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°I¡¯m going off,¡± Long Bing said as she stood.
Xia Lei stood too, ¡°Not going to sit and chat more?¡±
¡°No, I have a flight to catch.¡± Long Bing walked towards the door.
Xia Lei hurried to be faster than Long Bing and open the door for her, ¡°Have a safe journey. Give me a call when you¡¯re free.¡±
Long Bing stopped in the doorway and looked straight at Xia Lei, ¡°Remember what I said. Your bad blood with Huang Yi-Hu is finished. Do not aggravate the Gu n anymore.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and said, ¡°I know my limits. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t aggravate the Gu n.¡±
¡°Nn. That¡¯s good.¡± After a pause, Long Bing added, ¡°And, what you¡¯re doing now is good. Don¡¯t do anything that will betray your country. If you do, I will be the first toe after you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°Why are you saying this to me all of a sudden? Am I such a bad person in your eyes?¡±
¡°I¡¯m just saying. Go back. There¡¯s no need to send me off.¡± Long Bing patted Xia Lei on the shoulder, went out the door and downstairs.
Xia Lei stayed in the doorway for quite a while before he shut the door and went back inside. He found the whole encounter strange. ¡®She was weird tonight. First, she asked questions about my father then reminded me not to do anything to betray my country. Does she suspect my father or me?¡¯
His father, Xia Chang-Hai appeared in his mind¡¯s eye. He walked to the television cab and picked up the little ss bottle behind the family picture. The white pill sat quietly in the bottom of the bottle, a in, simple pill; it looked like a forgotten amoxicillin capsule.
He opened the bottle and took the pill out and smelt it. It smelt the same as it had five years ago - no medicinal smell but something more like motor oil. It was very strange.
He remembered when his father first gave him this sort of pill, he¡¯d asked why it had such a strange smell but his father did not tell him anything except to eat the pill.
¡®Father, what do you do? Are you still on this Earth? If you¡¯re still alive then why don¡¯t youe home?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s head was full of questions. Memories of his father also surfaced in his mind and his eyes moistened.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The ringing of his mobile phone brought him out of his thoughts and he put the pill back in the ss bottle, then ced it back behind the family picture. He then fished out his mobile phone and answered the call.
It was Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°Lei, did that woman leave already?¡±
¡°She left not long ago,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Good. What right does she have to bother you? What is she to you? Really.¡± Jiang Ru-Yiined for a bit and said after venting, ¡°Do you want toe and take a look? He had an ugly death. Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s eyes are bulging out and his tongue¡¯s sticking out so much...¡±
Xia Lei was disgusted and quickly cut Jiang Ru-Yi off, ¡°Enough. Did you call me to gross me out?¡±
¡°I¡¯m being happy for you and Ma Xiao-An. You¡¯ll be happy to see Huang Yi-Hu like this,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei should be happy that Huang Yi-Hu was dead but, strangely, he did not feel any satisfaction from the avenging of Ma Xiao-An¡¯s death. The person was dead and the death avenged. The dead won¡¯t have any feelings and the ones alive were happy for only a short time. What was the meaning in that?
¡°Did he really hang himself?¡± Xia Lei recalled what he had witnessed earlier in the day in the interrogation room, where the middle-aged man surnamed Shi had sneered as he left and called Huang Yi-Hu a fool.
¡°He did hang himself. He used his shoces.¡±
¡°What about Li Yu-Lan?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Li Yu-Lan is fine. We haven¡¯t told her yet,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi, ¡°Are youing or not? If you aren¡¯t then I¡¯m hanging up. I have no time to chat with you.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m noting. This is your police matter and I don¡¯t want to meddle.¡±
¡°Okay, good night. Have a nice nightmare.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi hung up.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, putting his mobile phone away. He was still mulling over Huang Yi-Hu hanging himself.
Who would be most at ease with Huang Yi-Hu dead? The named officials and the Gu n, of course, since dead men tell no tales. If he analysed it ording to who would benefit the most, then those officials and the Gu n were most suspect. And between these two groups, the Gu n had the power to make Huang Yi-Hu shut his mouth forever in the detention centre!
¡®The Gu n is the most suspicious. With her skills, Long Bing would be able to guess, won¡¯t she? But if even she is not going to get involved, then why should I?¡¯ Xia Lei pondered and reached a conclusion and his heart was calm. ¡®Huang Yi-Hu is dead and Ma Xiao-An has been avenged. My grudge against him is gone and I don¡¯t need to worry about this anymore. I¡¯ll get a good sleep and go to the construction site tomorrow. I should be worrying about Thunder Horse Manufacturing instead. Yep. To bed!¡¯
As he walked past the living room, Xia Lei looked at the family picture on the television cab again before he went to his room to sleep.
With Huang Yi-Hu dead, nobody came to the construction site to make more trouble and the construction progressed quickly.
Xia Lei went to the construction site every day to check on it, then went to his roadside machine shop. Thunder Horse Manufacturing was not yet built but Thunder Horse Workshop still had orders to fill so Chen A-Jiao, Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others still stayed at Thunder Horse Workshop to work. Once the construction of Thunder Horse Manufacturing wasplete, Xia Lei would close the machine shop and move Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others to thepany.
Besides the construction site and machine shop, Xia Lei did notpse in learning Wing Chun. He would drive Liang Si-Yao home every day after work at the construction site was done for the day and learn Wing Chun from Liang Zheng-Chun, then practice with Liang Si-Yao. If he finished early he would drive home but he stayed over at the Liang household if he practiced longer and it waste. His Master¡¯s home was like his own and whether it was convenient or not did not matter to him.
When he was at the Liang household, Xia Lei¡¯s culinary skills won the favour of Liang Zheng-Chun and Liang Si-Yao. Father and daughter both praised his culinary skills highly and would be unused to the night when Xia Lei did not make dinner. He was not only a diligent, hardworking disciple but a good cook - which Master or senior disciple would not like that?
A monthter.
Plot number thirteen was a vacant piece ofnd a month ago and full of weeds. A monthter, a machining nt had been erected. The machining nt was notrge but there were also workshops, warehouses, an office building, canteen and dormitories - aplete set not missing anything that should be necessary.
The office building was a four-storey steel structure. The third and fourth floors were the offices of Thunder Horse Manufacturing and the first and second floors were to be used for the supermarket. Xia Lei had been forced to ask Mayor Hu for a low-interest, six million yuan loan because of his n to build a supermarket. Part of the borrowed money went to pay for the added building materials needed from Forest Man and part went to purchasing equipment and materials.
The roadside Thunder Horse Workshop ceased operations and existence the day before construction of Thunder Horse Manufacturing waspleted and Zhou Xiao-Hong and the others went to the new venue. The Thunder Horse Workshop employees were all experienced and seniors in thepany. Xia Lei had not forgotten them at all and gave each of them appropriate positions like supervisor and department head. Zhou Xiao-Hong had the highest position among the old employees. Xia Lei had given her the position of Workshop Director. A smile bloomed like a flower on the mountain woman¡¯s face.
The old employees led the technical school fresh graduates. They were young and needed the guidance of the older employees.
The university graduates were sent to the office buildings with different tasks. They were to design products for Thunder Horse Manufacturing and support Xia Lei in the management of thepany. They would also pull in new orders for Thunder Horse Manufacturing and run the capital operations of thepany and so on. They were young andcked experience but Xia Lei believed in them and was willing to work hard with them to build the future of Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
The shears of Mayor Hu and Xia Lei¡¯s scissors closed and a silk flower dropped onto the tray held by Liang Si-Yao amid warm apuse from the main doors of Thunder Horse Manufacturing,
¡°Congrattions, Mr Xia.¡± Mayor Hu shook hands with Xia Lei, a warm smile on his face, ¡°Work hard. The future belongs to young people like you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Thank you, Mayor Hu, for participating in ourpany¡¯s ribbon-cutting ceremony.¡±
Hu Houughed, ¡°Why thank me? It is my honour to be invited. Yourpany is small and has no reputation yet but I believe that you will make it bigger and better. Who knows, your Thunder Horse Manufacturing may be the second East Wind Heavy Industries!¡±
¡°I will work hard to not disappoint you, Mayor Hu,¡± said Xia Lei politely. Courteous words such as these were indispensible in a conversation with leaders.
A luncheon was held in the Thunder Horse Manufacturing canteen and the food was in canteen food with no alcohol or delicacies but it was still a lively scene.
Mayor Hu left with his secretary after the luncheon and Xia Lei went to the supermarket area below the offices with Qin Xiang. The supermarket area was empty of shelves and there were no cashiers either.
¡°When do we open for business?¡± Qin Xiang looked around the empty supermarket and looked a little anxious, ¡°You want me to manage your supermarket for you but there isn¡¯t even a pack of sanitary towels on the shelves. What am I going to manage? Farts?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°What do you need sanitary towels for?¡±
¡°I...¡± said Qin Xiang awkwardly, ¡°I was just giving an example. I need sanitary towels for... What do you care what I¡¯d need it for?¡±
¡°Okay, I won¡¯t joke with you,¡± Xia Lei said seriously, ¡°I do want our supermarket to open for business right away. This will ease some of the financial burden on me. However, the renovation cost for the supermarket is at least a few hundred thousand and goods would cost over a million. I¡¯ve done the calctions and it will be impossible to open the supermarket for business unless we have three or four million. I have no more cash on hand and the money I do have left is for the sries of the employees at the end of the month. I dare not touch that money.¡±
¡°Borrow from Hu Hou again,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°He can lend you six million so why not ten million?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°He lent me the money to start thepany partially because of China Industrial Group. He¡¯ll just roll his eyes at me if I ask him for money to start a supermarket. Opening a supermarket on this piece ofnd is already cheating so I can¡¯t ask for help after taking advantage of a loophole.¡±
¡°What then?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°Contact people you know and see if any supplier would be willing to receive payment after delivery. If there are, you can represent me and sign the agreement right away. I¡¯ll go through my contacts too and look for suppliers like this.¡±
Qin Xiang let out a sigh, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try.¡±
¡°Um, please dress more formally,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Prude.¡± Qin Xiang put a hand on his hip and red at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei felt his extra bit of advice would go ignored.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 101
Keep It Quiet
The day after the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The bright and spacious workshop was bustling with activity. Purchase orders transferred from Thunder Horse Workshop served to help workers get used to the equipment. Xia Lei had arranged for the normal orders from China Industrial Group to be done a weekter to let the new employees get more used to the equipment.
Xia Lei was not expecting to profit immediately in the beginning. He¡¯d have reached his target if he could keep the business running, have money to pay his employees and pay for employee insurance. It would always be tough in the beginning and he could hope for expansion when everything started to go smoothly. This was also Xia Lei¡¯s business strategy. He had never been one to be impatient and was always steadfast and realistic in what he did.
Walking through the aisle in the workshop, he saw Zhou Xiao-Hong from afar holding a mop and mopping the floor. Her blue work clothes wrapped around her hips, emphasising a full figure like a lotus leaf in a pond or a ripened peach, and was very attractive. Because she was leaning forward, her bosom hung forward, straining against the material of her top, almost bursting through it. Quite a few of the new male employees sneaked looks at her breasts and bum every so often.
¡®She already has quite a curvy figure so shouldn¡¯t she know to change into work clothes a size bigger?¡¯ Xia Lei smiled wryly and walked over.
¡°Big Brother Lei... Chairman Xia.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong saw Xia Lei when he approached and stood straight. She had a bit of the allure of a professional working woman.
Xia Lei was about to warn her of peeping-toms but changed his words when he spoke, ¡°Um, Xiao-Hong, are you used to the new environment yet?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong blushed for no reason, ¡°I¡¯m okay. It¡¯s just... Putting me in charge of over 30 people... I¡¯m not confident that I¡¯ll do well.¡±
Thunder Horse Manufacturing had three workshops and Zhou Xiao-Hong was only in charge of one of them while Yang Ben-Cai and Liu Xue-Bing were in charge of the other two. Cui Yong was Yang Ben-Cai¡¯s assistant and Liu Xue-Bing¡¯s assistant was Wang You-Fu. Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s assistant was Chen A-Jiao. All the old employees from Thunder Horse Workshop had been promoted and Xia Lei could consider his promise kept.
¡°It¡¯s okay. You¡¯ll gradually get used to it. Chen A-Jiao is your assistant so you can get her to help you keep an eye on things. And you can arrange for someone else to do work like this. You need to behave like a Workshop Director since you are one. If you¡¯re too nice, the workers will not respect you and may even ignore what you say sometimes.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong nodded, ¡°I understand. I won¡¯t let you down, Big Brother Lei.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I¡¯ll go check on the other ces.¡± He took a step, then suddenly stopped and said softly, ¡°Xiao-Hong, go change into a set ofrger-sized work clothes. Several workers are sneaking looks at your bum.¡±
¡°Eh?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face flushed red. She hurriedly covered her bum with her hands and asked anxiously, ¡°Do I have a hole in my trousers?¡±
Her words seemed to trigger something and Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched uncontrobly, making him see arge area of snowy skin. He looked away awkwardly and said quietly, ¡°No, your trousers are too small. Your bum fills the trousers out fully, so those young graduates keep looking at it.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong was so embarrassed she could die, ¡°What can I do about its size? This is already thergest trouser size.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Is m,my bum ugly?¡± asked Zhou Xiao-Hong anxiously.
¡°No, it¡¯s a nice bum.¡± Xia Lei realised his mistake once the words left his mouth. Wasn¡¯t this telling Zhou Xiao-Hong that he was also looking at her bum earlier?
Sure enough, Zhou Xiao-Hong became even more embarrassed. She bowed her head till it touched her chest and didn¡¯t dare look Xia Lei in the eye.
The atmosphere became awkward and Xia Lei couldn¡¯t find another topic to switch to, so he quickly walked away.
Xia Lei went to the other two workshops and made a round of the premises before going back to the offices on the fourth floor. His office was also Liang Si-Yao¡¯s office and the 50 square metre space had just a ss wall separating it.
Liang Si-Yao was busy at the desk. She was so busy that she did not even get up to refill her empty cup with water.
Xia Lei walked quietly over and took the cup to fill it with some water for her.
Liang Si-Yao only noticed that Xia Lei was back when he put the cup of water on her desk. She pushed the spectacles up higher on her nose-bridge and pursed her lips, ¡°All okay in the workshops?¡±
¡°All okay. I¡¯m going to let the employees practice over the next few days and let them do regr orders from China Industrial Group once they¡¯re more familiar with the equipment,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Relying on orders from just China Industrial Group is not a viable long-term n. They¡¯re only making normal orders because you can do the special orders for them. If any problem arises... There are over a hundred mouths to feed in thispany, and insurance expenses are also high,¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°We need to have our own products and our own brand. We won¡¯t be entirely dependant on others this way.¡±
¡°Did Guan Ling-Shan, Yin Hao and the others have any good ideas?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yaoughed and said, ¡°They are just fresh graduates. They have knowledge but no experience. In my opinion, you should be the one to decide what we manufacture.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll think about it but I can¡¯te up with anything so quickly for a big matter like this. You think about it too - maybe you¡¯ll think of some better idea.¡±
Liang Si-Yao stretched, arching her back and quirked her cherry lips, ¡°My neck¡¯s sore and I¡¯m out of inspiration. Maybe my inspiration wille back if you massage me.¡±
Herzy look and cotton-soft tone made her look like a coy kitty. Her snow-white thighs extended from under her ck office skirt, long legs jade-like and indescribably alluring. Her snowy neck waspletely exposed to the air, making one feel like ice-cream in summer; one would melt if the temperature was just a little higher. Who could reject her, like this, with this sort of request?
Xia Lei felt that it was inappropriate but he was also soft-hearted and worried about Liang Si-Yao¡¯s tiredness. It would be good to let her rx. With that thought in mind, Xia Lei walked behind Liang Si-Yao, reached his hands out to encircle her snowy neck and started to massage her gently.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s skin was smooth and delicate. Xia Lei was rather cautious when rubbing his fingers on her skin; he was afraid that he would tear her skin or something if he used too much strength.
The gentle massage made Liang Si-Yao rx. She closed her eyes and stretched her neck back to lean on Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen, little sounds escaping from her mouth, ¡°Mm, harder, a little lower, nnm, it feels so good.¡±
The sounds she made had some sort of magic which made Xia Lei¡¯s heartbeat quicken. He¡¯d started with the intention to help her rx but that had soon changed to trying to please her and make her even morefortable. His fingers moved in wider and wider circles, massaging not just her neck but her sweet shoulders, his massaging bing harder and harder.
His vision also entered another mode on its own. In his eye, Liang Si-Yao had turned into a tribal girl from a primitive tribe and was justing out from a bath in a clear spring...
No one knew what he saw and it was his own secret. He was also used to these beautiful scenes which other men would not be able to enjoy in their entire lives.
¡°So good... Nn, harder... I can take it. Mm, good, that¡¯s it... Lower...¡± sweet sounds came from Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cherry lips. She had long forgotten the matter of thinking of new ideas.
Xia Lei¡¯s cheeks were red and his breathing had be short. He was providing a massage service to Liang Si-Yao which made her veryfortable but made him ufortable.
At that moment, a tranny cough came from the doorway, ¡°Ahem...¡±
Xia Lei was startled and hurriedly moved away. He looked up to discover Qin Xiang in the doorway.
Liang Si-Yao also opened her eyes in a rush and blushed red all over her jade-like skin. She hadn¡¯t given a second thought to the sounds she had been making when Xia Lei was massaging her but it was totally different with ¡®an outsider¡¯ in the room.
¡°Uh-uh, I didn¡¯t see anything.¡± Qin Xiang entered the office with a catwalk and his fingers in the hand pose of ady in Chinese opera*.
¡°We didn¡¯t do anything,¡± exined Xia Lei.
¡°Uh-huh, didn¡¯t I say that I didn¡¯t see anything? You don¡¯t need to exin,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei¡¯s attempt to exin made matters worse.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face grew redder.
Xia Lei quickly changed the topic, ¡°That¡¯s right, did you make any progress on your end?¡±
Qin Xiang smiled crookedly, ¡°Take a look at who¡¯s doing the job. Can there be no progress?¡±
¡°Spit it out.¡± Xia Lei was a little worried.
¡°I went to borrow some supermarket purchasing datast night and found a lot of information on suppliers like their prices, billing methods and so on; you name it, I have it,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei paused. The ¡®borrowing¡¯ that Qin Xiang said he did definitely meant that he had stolen it.
Qin Xiang continued, ¡°I discovered that some supermarkets need to pay upfront when the goods are delivered while some suppliers require a paid portion first, and the rest monthly. Some popr items have to be paid in full first or you won¡¯t get the goods. After borrowing the supermarket supplier data, I tried calling over ten numbers. They were most willing to work with us when they heard about the location of the supermarket. We can have a face-to-face meeting to decide on the supplying of goods, payment method and prices. So, I¡¯m here to ask you, Chairman Xia, when you¡¯ll be free so I can make an appointment for them toe and have a talk.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I have to hand it to you. I thought this would be very difficult to do but you produced results so quickly. I¡¯ve handed this matter over to you to handle so you can just talk to them directly. And, the supermarket is fully under your charge. You have to take care of hiring too.¡±
Qin Xiang waved his Chinese-operady-hand, ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll go have a business talk with those suppliers. About hiring, I¡¯ll get my sisters from before toe over, as well as the aunties in our neighbourhood. Getting people won¡¯t be a problem, hee hee.¡±
Liang Si-Yao finally got a chance to put a word in and said, ¡°You must mention our location when you go talk to those suppliers. Also tell them that we have our own storefront and we can sell a lot of goods but we are strapped for cash right now so please be understanding. We won¡¯t owe them a cent when the business is up and running well.¡±
¡°Yes, yes, Little Sister Si-Yao is clever. Some guy would be so lucky to marry you.¡± Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei as he spoke.
Xia Lei looked away and focused his gaze on the water dispenser.
¡°I¡¯m off. You guys continue. Remember - keep it quiet. It doesn¡¯t matter if I see it but you¡¯ll have trouble if other colleagues see.¡± QIn Xiang left them with those words and walked off, swaying his hips.
¡°Tranny,¡± muttered Liang Si-Yao under her breath. She then looked at Xia Lei and said in a gentle voice, ¡°Lei, give this senior disciple a massage again. Qin Xiang turned up when it was getting good. I haven¡¯t had enough yet.¡±
Xia Lei nced furtively down at his trousers, then bit the bullet and moved in close...
First official day of work and Chairman Xia was doing this?
*Chinese Opera hands
https://s9.rr.itc/r/wapChange/20175_4_21/a9830d8871204766789.jpg
Be a Patron!
Chapter 102
Our Child Would be in Preschool Now
It was not viable for a manufacturingpany to depend on processing parts for otherpanies and not do its own research and development of its own products. In thispetitive industry, relying on China Industrial Group could temporarily solve the issue ofpany survival but there was no hope of expanding beyond that. If a day came where China Industrial Group did not need Xia Lei any more, then Thunder Horse Manufacturing would be finished. Xia Lei knew this very well and he also wanted his own product and his own stake in the market but these were difficult things to aplish. Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao brainstormed till they felt like they had run out of brain juice and still came up with nothing at the end of the workday.
¡°Come to my ce. My dad wants to eat the dishes you make,¡± Liang Si-Yao said to Xia Lei after work, ¡°And you¡¯ve improved quite a bit recently. I¡¯d like to swap pointers with you.¡±
¡°Sure, I live by myself anyway so nobody cares if I don¡¯t go home,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You really should get yourself a woman to manage your life.¡±
¡°Heh, I¡¯ve never thought of that,¡± said Xia Lei. Shentu Tian-Yin appeared in his head again, and he didn¡¯t know why.
¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll drive.¡± Liang Si-Yao stretched her hand out, ¡°Give me the car keys.¡±
Xia Lei handed the car keys over to her and said, ¡°I¡¯ll buy you a car when we make money.¡±
Liang Si-Yao paused, ¡°Why buy a car for me?¡±
¡°Do I need a reason to buy you a car?¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao blushed and she smiled warmly, ¡°I won¡¯t stand on ceremony. I¡¯ll ept the car if you buy me one.¡±
The pair chatted and joked as they went downstairs and towards the car park.
The workshop employees were also done for the day and walked towards the canteen in twos and threes. They were all quite young and boisterous boys and girls and theirughter could be heard from a distance.
Liang Si-Yao suddenly remembered something, ¡°That¡¯s right, our workers were recruited from schools and are all youths. I think we should talk to them... about safety. It won¡¯t be good if we get problems.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t we already talk to them? I¡¯ve tasked the Workshop Directors Zhou Xiao-Hong, Yang Ben-Cai and Liu Xue-Bin to talk to them and make sure they adhere to safety guidelines. The workers must be punished if they don¡¯t follow workce safety rules.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smacked Xia Lei, her expression odd, ¡°I don¡¯t mean that sort of safety problem.¡±
Xia Lei was surprised, ¡°Then what safety problem do we have?¡±
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes, ¡°You dummy. I¡¯m talking about... about safety between men and women.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to feel about that.
Liang Si-Yao continued, ¡°Think about it. Our workers are all so young and were recruited from technical schools and universities. They¡¯re working together, living together in the dormitories... That sort of thing will happen, won¡¯t it? Workce romances and that sort of lifestyle does not matter but if they forget about being safe, it won¡¯t be good for them to get pregnant. They haven¡¯t prepared for bing parents.¡±
Xia Leiughed awkwardly, ¡°It¡¯s reallyplicated, huh? I¡¯ve never thought about that. Uh, this matter...¡±
Liang Si-Yao cut him short before Xia Lei could say it, ¡°Don¡¯t ask me. You be in charge of it.¡±
Xia Lei said sheepishly, ¡°I, I have no experience at all.¡±
¡°Huh? You...¡± Liang Si-Yao grew curious and the smile on her lips turned thoughtful, ¡°You¡¯re not still... that, are you?¡±
¡°Ahem.¡± Xia Lei avoided Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes, ¡°So you be in charge.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheeks turned red again, ¡°I, I don¡¯t have any experience either.¡±
The two of them looked at each other and the atmosphere between them got very awkward very quickly.
How can twopletely inexperienced people give a safety ss to a group of youths in their springtime?
¡°It¡¯s probably best to put Chen A-Jiao in charge of it. She¡¯s got thick skin and dares to say anything. She¡¯s also Deputy Workshop Director so it¡¯s no problem.¡± Xia Lei quickly found a solution.
Liang Si-Yao looked relieved, ¡°Then I¡¯ll talk to her about this matter tomorrow. Let¡¯s go home.¡±
¡®Let¡¯s go home¡¯ - this line made the already awkward atmosphere more unspeakably muddled.
Before Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao could get into the car, however, a BMW came through the main entrance and stopped in front of them in the blink of an eye. The door opened and Chi Jing-Qiu stepped out, dressed in officedy attire. She was holding a golden invitation in her hand.
¡°Oh my, Chairman Xia, why haven¡¯t you sent your greetings upon starting your new business? How callous of you. Have you forgotten your partner? Oh, and aren¡¯t you going to introduce your beautiful secretary to me?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu had a smile on her face but as she spoke, she looked at Liang Si-Yao, who was standing next to Xia Lei.
Pretty women couldn¡¯t bear to see prettier women.
Chi Jing-Qiu had intended to charm Xia Lei but discovered that Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face had a pure sort of beauty on top of her perfect 1 to 9 body proportion. Her long legs which extended from her skirt were two thirds of her whole body and if put on the current judging scale of beautiful legs, Liang Si-Yao¡¯s legs would unquestionably be the most beautiful. This woman was sexier and more beautiful than her - what did she have to charm Xia Lei with?
¡°Sorry, this is not my secretary. She is my senior disciple,¡± said Xia Lei casually.
¡°Liang Si-Yao.¡± She held her hand out to Chi Jing-Qiu and gave her a polite smile, ¡°And you are?¡±
¡°Chi Jing-Qiu.¡± She shook hands with Liang Si-Yao and also put a smile on her face, ¡°I¡¯m the secretary for East Wind Heavy Industries¡¯ Director Ning. Nice to meet you.¡±
¡°The pleasure is all mine.¡± Liang Si-Yao retracted her hand.
¡°Spit it out, Chi Jing-Qiu. What do you want?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Can¡¯t Ie just because I wanted to?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu giggled and said in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s ear, ¡°Miss Liang, you probably didn¡¯t know but Xia Lei and I were high school ssmates. He likes me and he even wrote a love letter to me.¡±
Liang Si-Yao was bbergasted and gave Xia Lei a look.
Xia Lei shrugged helplessly. He had no words.
¡°Okay, okay, I made a special trip down here to hand this invitation to you, Chairman Xia.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu handed the golden invitation in her hand to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei opened the invitation and read the contents. He had been invited to attend an East Wind Heavy Industries dinner party and the it was Ning Yuan-Shan inviting him. After reading the invitation, he said, ¡°Why is East Wind Heavy Industries holding a dinner party?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know? East Wind Heavy Industries has signed the contract for the wind power nt with Vientiane Group. Director Ning has invited celebrities as well as political and business leaders to the dinner party,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°I¡¯m not any sort of celebrity. Me going would be inappropriate, wouldn¡¯t it? Tell Director Ning that I thank him for his invitation but I shall not attend,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chi Jing-Qiu was astonished, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Others can only dream of a chance like this and yet you don¡¯t treasure it. Getting to know any of the businessmen at one of this parties will reap very real benefits. Plus, Director Ning made me personally hand this invitation to you. Who else has this honour? Would you be able to repay his sincerity if you don¡¯t go?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated. He had his reasons for not wanting to go because he had essentially stolen the China Industrial Group contract from East Wind Heavy Industries. Wouldn¡¯t it be awkward to face Ning Yuan-Shan because the contract had gone to his Thunder Horse Manufacturing?
¡°Go for it,¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°This is indeed a good opportunity. Who knows, our clients may be among those party guests.¡±
¡°Okay, then you¡¯re going with me,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao shook her head, ¡°I won¡¯t be going. I wasn¡¯t invited. Go with Miss Chi.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Okay, please let Master know. I¡¯ll cook for him next time.¡±
Liang Si-Yao stepped in close to Xia Lei, ¡°Your tie¡¯s crooked. I¡¯ll help you fix it.¡± So saying, she reached out to correct his tie.
She behaved naturally and her movements were gentle but Xia Lei was a little self-conscious.
Liang Si-Yao helped him straighten his tie quickly and said, ¡°Go on. I¡¯ll drive home.¡±
¡°Drive safely,¡± nagged Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao got in and drove Xia Lei¡¯s Great Wall H6 to the main entrance.
¡°How loving.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu said coyly, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to set up apany so quickly. You¡¯re quick at getting a woman too. How long have you two been together?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t talk rubbish. She¡¯s my senior disciple. My Master, Liang Zheng-Chun, is the descendant of Yan Yong-Chun.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t know about kung fu or whatever, but a woman straightening a tie for you... Don¡¯t you know what that means?¡±
¡°You¡¯re overthinking it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hee hee, no wonder you can¡¯t get a girlfriend. You don¡¯t understand a woman¡¯s heart, otherwise you would have had my heart and our child would be in preschool now,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Xia Lei was speechless.
The car park was already full of luxury cars at Vientiane Group, including cars which cost tens of millions like Shentu Tian-Ying¡¯s Rolls-Royce Phantom.
¡®She¡¯s here too?¡¯ thought Xia Lei when he saw Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s vehicle. He then chided himself internally, ¡®East Wind Heavy Industries signed the wind power nt contract with Vientiane Group so how can she not attend a dinner party like this as the president of Vientiane Group?¡¯
Chi Jing-Qiu locked the car doors, ¡°Pleasee with me, Chairman Xia.¡±
Xia Lei felt ttered at being called ¡®Chairman Xia¡¯ by her. Thunder Horse Manufacturing was a littlepany riding on the coat-tails of China Industrial Group and it had no products of its own, let alone a name in the manufacturing industry. He probably was the shabbiest chairman of all the chairmans attending the dinner party, wasn¡¯t he?
¡°Penny for your thoughts?¡±
¡°Nothing. Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei put his thoughts away.
Chi Jing-Qiu led Xia Lei in the direction of the great hall, talking as they walked, ¡°ssmate Xia, I won¡¯t beat around the bush. Are you still interested in working with me?¡±
¡°You have purchase orders?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu looked left, then right and lowered her voice, ¡°And it¡¯s a big order. I don¡¯t know if you can handle this one.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll have to see what sort of order it is first,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We¡¯ll talk about thatter,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu, ¡°I¡¯ll take 8% if this goes through. What do you think?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°You¡¯re talking aboutmission rates when I don¡¯t even know what the client wants yet?¡±
¡°This is my way of doing things. You just have to tell me where you stand¡±
¡°5%,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°And you have to guarantee that you didn¡¯t hide the client¡¯s prices.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu suddenly pulled Xia Lei by the arm, ¡°Deal.¡±
Xia Lei felt like his arm was being squeezed by something like jelly and the sensation made him a little nervous. He wanted to extraciate his hand but went along with Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s action in the end. He had to sacrifice something for the sake of business, hadn¡¯t he?
Be a Patron!
Chapter 103 - Despicable Person
Despicable Person
Chapter 103 - Despicable Person
Large round tables had been set up in the great hall of East Wind Heavy Industries. When Xia Lei followed Chi Jing-Qiu in, the great hall was already full of guests. A stage had been erected at the wall in front of the great hall and some musicians were performing the soothing ¡®The Street Where Wind Resides¡¯*. Elegant music, well-dressed guests, everything reeked of elegance.
Xia Lei quickly scanned the area and spotted a few familiar faces - Ning Yuan-Shan, Xu, Zheng-Yi, Xu Lang, Ren Wen-Qiang, Ning Jing and Hu Hou. He did not see Shentu Tian-Yin anywhere in the hall and found it strange, ¡®Her car¡¯s already here but she isn¡¯t. What¡¯s going on?¡¯
¡°Let¡¯s sit here.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu brought Xia Lei to a dining table.
The table already had several guests at it but Xia Lei knew none of them. He pulled a chair out for Chi Jing-Qiu and seated himself after she sat.
Chi Jing-Qiu said quietly, ¡°There is a dance after the dinner party. Dance with me then.¡±
¡°Your father-inw and your husband should be attending this dinner party too, right? Aren¡¯t you afraid that they¡¯d be unhappy with you if you danced with me?¡± said Xia Lei.
Chi Jing-Qiu twisted one side of her lips as she smiled, ¡°It¡¯s just a dance, not having sex with you. So what if they¡¯re unhappy? I don¡¯t care.¡±
Xia Lei was a little taken aback, ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡±
At that moment, the musicians stopped ying and left the stage. The huge LCD screen on stage started ying Vientaine Group¡¯s promotional video for the wind power nt. The video showed a dark blue sea, clean beaches, countless wind turbines rotating, and an elegant woman standing on the beach. The woman¡¯s back was to the camera and the sea breeze lifted the skirt of her long white dress, making it dance in the wind. Barefooted, she looked up at the waves of the dark blue sea. This scene was so very beautiful.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were fixated on the big screen. The woman¡¯s face had not been shown in the video but he knew that the woman was not an actress nor a model but the President of Vientiane Group, Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei could not tear his eyes away. Ripples stirred in his heart; warm, gentle ripples.
¡°Lei, you know Shentu Tian-Yin and have even helped her avert a crisis,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu, ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask her for help? If she helps you, you¡¯ll be set for life. Take that right there for example. Vientiane Group¡¯s wind power project is notplete yet but many people are already trying to pull strings to buy shares for the project. This really is a sure-profit investment. I¡¯d like to buy too but I have no connections.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you just buy it when it¡¯s out on the market?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What you¡¯re talking about is the secondary stock market. Who cares about that? How can those stocks ¡®on the shelf¡¯ be profitable? I¡¯m talking about the primary markets. How about you go pull some strings with Shentu Tian-Yin so we can buy some?¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°Go ask if you want to. I¡¯m not that familiar with her,¡± said Xia Lei indifferently.
Chi Jing-Qiu sighed, ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t want to make money when you can. I really don¡¯t get you.¡±
Xia Lei just kept watching the screen. Shentu Tian-Yin turned to the camera, a bright smile on her face. A row of words appeared on the screen: Love nature. Vientaine Wind Power. Let us work hard together.
The video stopped and the great hall filled with thunderous apuse.
Xia Lei pped too but he thought, ¡®Putting aside the business aims, wind power is truly something that would benefit the environment. However, it looks like this sort of good thing can only be done by people of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s level.¡¯
Investing billions was indeed something no regr person can do.
Apuse suddenly came from the great hall entrance and Xia Lei turned to see Shentu Tian-Yin enter, surrounded by followers.
Ning Yuan-Shan got up and went to wee her.
All the guests stood and pped, giving Shentu Tian-Yin the highest honours. Conversely, Shentu Tian-Yin was like a queen visiting a royal pce, noble and proud.
Xia Lei stood too; not because he respected Shentu Tian-Yin but because everyone else was standing. It seemed inappropriate for him to be the only one sitting.
¡°I¡¯ve got to go do something. I¡¯lle back and apany youter,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu to Xia Lei before she walked to where Shentu Tian-Yin and Ning Yuan-Shan was. She was Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s secretary so she naturally had to do greetings and wait upon people.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Ning Yuan-Shan went up to the stage. Ning Yuan-Shan addressed the audience, then Shentu Tian-Yin stepped forward and spoke her thanks and something about making the environment better. The dinner party begun in earnest after that but Chi Jing-Qiu did note back.
¡®Did Ning Yuan-Shan invite me here just so I can have dinner?¡¯ A trace of a bitter smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. He¡¯d wanted to take the opportunity to acquaint himself with some potential clients but it looked like this hope was dashed now.
Just then, his mobile phone suddenly beeped, indicating a text message. Xia Lei took out his phone and looked at the screen. The message was from Ning Jing: Lei, why are you here? I saw you.
Xia Lei looked in the direction where he had spotted Ning Jing earlier and saw her. She was looking over at him. Their eyes met and Ning Jing shot him a smile.
Xia Lei nodded in response to her smile.
Seeming to sense something, Ren Wen-Qiang, who was seated at the same table as Ning Jing, looked over in the same direction and saw Xia Lei. He looked back at Ning Jing, his gaze full of displeasure. Ning Jing hung her head.
Xu Lang, seated next to Ren Wen-Qiang, saw Xia Lei as well and he leaned in to Ren Wen-Qiang, the two of them discussing something in low voices.
What could those two be talking about? Perhaps out of boredom, Xia Lei focused his eye on Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang and lip-read their conversation.
¡°Why is that Xia Lei fellow here?¡± Xu Lang said in disdain, ¡°How can a little workshop operator attend a dinner party like this? What is Uncle Ning doing? Didn¡¯t he review the guestlist?¡±
A faint sneer appeared on Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s lips, ¡°He probably begged Chairman Ning to let him attend. People out of the marketce like him have no dignity and will do anything for the sake of meeting their goal.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know why but he pisses me off,¡± said Xu Lang.
Ren Wen-Qiang lowered his voice, ¡°He¡¯s like a fly. I hate him too. How about we make fun of him tonight? Embarrass him in front of everyone and let him know his ce.¡±
¡°Sure, any good ideas, Brother Ren?¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang put his lips close to Xu Lang¡¯s ear, ¡°I¡¯ll get Ning Jing to invite that guy over, then spike a bottle of wine. I¡¯ll pour him a ss from the spiked bottle and you¡¯ll insist on pouring some other wine for me. Get what I mean?¡±
Xu Lang nodded, ¡°I get it. But what drug are you going to use on him?¡±
¡°Kamsutram oil.¡±
¡°Why do you have that? And why do you have it on you now?¡±
¡°It adds to the fun. Don¡¯t ask about it.¡± As he spoke, Ren Wen-Qiang looked at Ning Jing out of the corner of his eye.
Ning Jing¡¯s head was still bowed and she did not dare to look either Xia Lei or Ren Wen-Qiang in the eye.
¡°Okay. This is a good idea. I can¡¯t wait to see that punk make a fool of himself. Heh heh,¡± Xu Langughed.
Ren Wen-Qiang smiled and finished his conversation with Xu Lang. He leaned to Ning Jing¡¯s ear and said, ¡°Ning Jing, I saw Mr Xia. He¡¯s by himself over there and has no one he¡¯s familiar with. Go invite him over. We know each other so we can have a drink together and have a good time.¡±
A smile appeared on Ning Jing¡¯s face, ¡°Have you guys made up?¡±
¡°That¡¯s long past. Am I so petty? Go on, I¡¯d like to give my greetings and apologise to him too. We¡¯ll be friends after that,¡± said Ren Wen-Qiang.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go invite him over right now.¡± Ning Jing got up and walked towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave an internal sigh. Ning Jing was too naive and too weak. He could clearly tell that she did not like Ren Wen-Qiang at all but was with him due to pressure from her parents.
¡®Ren Wen-Qiang has a drug like Kamsutram Oil not because he knew I wasing and he¡¯d nned to use it on me. He was nning to use it on you. How could you not see through a person like him after spending so much time with him?¡¯ Xia Lei felt sorry for Ning Jing and pitied her.
Ning Jing walked over with a joyful smile, ¡°Lei, what a coincidence. Did you read the message I sent you?¡±
¡°I read it. Hello, Big Sister Ning.¡± As he spoke, he looked at Ren Wen-Qiang and the table in the way disappeared from his sight.
Under the table, Ren Wen-Qiang pulled out a small ss bottle from his trouser pocket. Xu Lang handed an open bottle of red wine to him under the table. Ren Wen-Qiang poured the brown liquid drug into the bottle of red wine and gently shook it to mix the drug and red wine.
Xia Lei focused his eye on the bottle in Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s hand and the code on the bottle entered his sight. He stopped using his eye when Ren Wen-Qiang put the spiked bottle of wine by his feet.
¡°Come sit with me. We haven¡¯t seen each other in a long time and I¡¯d like to chat with you,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°Ren Wen-Qiang doesn¡¯t get along well with me. It¡¯s not nice if I go over, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, no. He asked me to invite you over. He said he would apologise too,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°No, forget it, it¡¯s not right if I go. How about this - youe sit with me and we chat,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ning Jing nced at Ren Wen-Qiang subconsciously and made to say something but held back. Her happy expression from earlier was instantly turned into one of pain.
Xia Lei could not help himself, saying, ¡°Big Sister Ning, I¡¯m not criticizing you but people like Ren Wen-Qiang are sneaky and cunning. You won¡¯t find happiness if you¡¯re with him.¡±
Tears moistened Ning Jing¡¯s eyes, ¡°You know that I don¡¯t like him at all but he has endeared himself to my parents. And my father has a heart problem, so I... I...¡±
Xia Lei stood, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll apany you there.¡±
Ning Jing smiled again, ¡°Nn.¡±
Xia Lei went with her but his steps were slow, ¡°Big Sister Ning, please listen to a bit of advice. You are the one looking for your other half, not your parents. You have to have your own opinion or you¡¯ll spend the next part of your life in tears. Do you want that sort of future?¡±
Ning Jing bit her lip and gave a slight nod.
Xia Lei gave another internal sigh, thinking, ¡®I can only help you so much. You have to depend on yourself for the rest of it.¡¯
*The Street Where Wind Resides
https://youtu.be/qFHqHiGBT0c
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Chapter 104
Kamsutram Oil
When they got to the table, Ren Wen-Qiang got up from his seat with a pleasant smile on his face, ¡°Hello, Mr Xia. I saw that you had nobody you¡¯re familiar with at that table so I asked Ning Jing to invite you over. Let¡¯s sit together.¡±
Xia Lei also put a smile on his face, ¡°I¡¯ll be intruding then, thank you.¡±
Xu Lang also stood up and reached out a hand to shake with Xia Lei, ¡°Long time no see, Mr Xia. Hello.¡±
Xia Lei was polite too, ¡°Hello, Mr Xu.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang pulled out a chair for Xia Lei and smiled as he said, ¡°We¡¯re all friends here, no need to be so formal. Come, sit, sit.¡± He looked at Ning Jing and said, ¡°Ning Jing, you sit next to him.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Ning Jing looked rather happy that she didn¡¯t have to sit next to Ren Wen-Qiang.
Xia Lei and Ning Jing took their seats and other guests also came to the table but they did not know each other and so did not exchange greetings.
After chatting about some trivial things, Ren Wen-Qiang shot Xu Lang a look.
Xu Lang gave a slight nod and gave a barely perceivable evil smile.
The pair¡¯s tricks did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eye. His left eye twitched and the table disappeared, revealing the situation under it. He saw a bottle of red wine by Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s feet and the spiked bottle of wine by Xu Lang¡¯s feet.
¡°Mr Xia, I feel bad about what happened in the past. I do apologise,¡± said Ren Wen-Qiang.
¡°No need to mind it, Mr Ren, it was just a small matter. You don¡¯t have to take it to heart,¡± said Xia Lei. As he spoke, he reached to take his phone out but identally dropped it on the floor. ¡°Excuse me,¡± he said, and squatted to pick it up.
While squatting, Xia Lei switched the bottles of wine in a sh, then picked up his mobile phone and went back to his seat.
Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang could not lift the tablecloth to see what Xia Lei was doing under there in front of other guests as they had images to maintain. Furthermore, they would never in a million years imagine that Xia Lei had seen through their scheme and switched the bottle of spiked wine for the clean one.
The mobile phone cover had some scratches on it and Xia Lei pretended to be upset, sighing and grumbling, ¡°How unlucky.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, I hear you are the Chairman of apany now. It¡¯s just a mobile phone and a locally produced Xiaomi at that,¡± Xu Lang said in a faintly mocking way.
Xia Leiughed ufortably, ¡°Ah, please excuse my poor phone.¡±
Xia Lei looked like he was simple-minded and honest, not getting upset at Xu Lang¡¯s snide words. The other guests at the table also looked down on Xia Lei and their gazes were full of contempt. Whatpany was this young punk chairman of? An empty shellpany, or a small little workshop iming to be apany?
Ning Jing was displeased and said, ¡°So what if it¡¯s a locally produced phone? Are all Apple iPhone users definitely rich or high ss?¡±
Ning Jing was the most honest of all but it was a mystery why she was standing up for Xia Lei at this point of time anding to his aid when he was suffering an injustice.
A sh of displeasure showed in Xu Lang¡¯s eyes but he did not act out.
Ren Wen-Qiangughed, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about mobile phones now. Mr Xia, I am very sorry for what happenedst time. I was looking for a chance to apologise to you but couldn¡¯t so today, I must give you a toast as a token of my apology.¡± So saying, he bent to retrieve a bottle of red wine.
The apology was just an excuse to have him drink.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°You¡¯re being too courteous, Mr Ren. That matter is past and you don¡¯t have to apologise to me.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang popped the oak cork and stood to pour wine into the long-stemmed ss in front of Xia Lei, saying, ¡°I insist. If you don¡¯t drink, it¡¯ll mean that you haven¡¯t forgiven me and don¡¯t see me as a friend.¡±
Since he put it that way, Xia Lei would be seen as impolite if he did not drink.
Xia Lei stood, took up the ss and drank it all, then said, ¡°Give me the wine. I¡¯ll pour you some too. Let¡¯s have a toast.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang gave Xu Lang a look and poured more wine for Xia Lei as he said, ¡°It¡¯s all right, I can pour my own.¡±
At that moment, Xu Lang stood with a bottle of wine in his hands, acting natural. Heughed as he said, ¡°How about we not be so formal? I¡¯ll pour some wine for you, Brother Ren, and us three shall have a drink together.¡± He popped the oak cork on the wine bottle and poured a ss for Ren Wen-Qiang, then one for himself.
If one poured for another, he must also pour one for himself - this was the most basic of rules.
Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang raised their sses to clink them with Xia Lei¡¯s ss.
Xia Lei shook his head gently, ¡°Strange, is the alcohol content of this wine very high? I drank just one ss but I feel dizzy already.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang exchanged nces and faint evil smiles appeared on their lips.
¡°Don¡¯t fool us, Mr Xia. It¡¯s just one ss. I¡¯ll toast first.¡± Ren Wen-Qiang clinked his ss with Xia Lei¡¯s, then tipped his head back and drank half the wine in his ss.
Xu Lang also clinked his ss with Xia Lei¡¯s and drank the red wine in his ss.
Xia Lei could not refuse. He bit the bullet and drank a second ss of wine.
¡°I¡¯ll pour for you.¡± Xia Lei reached to take the bottle of wine in Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s hand.
Ren Wen-Qiang wouldn¡¯t hand the bottle to Xia Lei, of course. He poured a third ss for Xia Lei, ¡°Mr Xia, I was the one who asked Ning Jing to invite you over here. I should be the one pouring.¡±
Xu Lang went with his act, using the other bottle of wine to pour a ss for Ren Wen-Qiang and himself.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°All right. Let¡¯s toast and we¡¯ll all be friends after this.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang looked at each other and smiled, then drank their second ss of wine with Xia Lei.
The people sharing the table looked at the three young men in disapproval, thinking them rude and ignorant of the rules. They showed ack of social etiquette to be drinking when the banquet had not yet begun. However, these were all dignified people with their statuses and they did not express the displeasure they felt.
At that moment, Chi Jing-Qiu walked over. She looked first at Xia Lei, then said to Ren Wen-Qiang, ¡°Mr Ren, you are the person in charge of Vientaine Group¡¯s wind power project. Our Chairman Ning would like you toe onstage to say a few words.¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Ren Wen-Qiang stood. He staggered a little and Chi Jing-Qiu hurriedly reached to support him.
¡°Are you all right, Mr Ren?¡± asked Chi Jing-Qiu, concerned.
Ren Wen-Qiang shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m all right. Let¡¯s go.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang followed Chi Jing-Qiu towards the stage.
At the table, Xu Lang shook his head too, looking confused. He started to turn red and his eyes were bloodshot. All these seemed to be the effects of the drug working on him.
A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. All he had to do now was to sit back quietly to watch the show.
Ren Wen-Qiang walked to the stage, cheeks as red as if he had applied rouge. His eyes were bloodshot and dull and he did not look like he was behaving normally.
Chi Jing-Qiu stood next to him and said quietly, ¡°What is wrong, Mr Ren? Did you drink a lot of alcohol? Will you be able to do it?¡±
Important individuals such as Ning Yuan-Shan, Shentu Tian-Yin, Hu Hou, Xu Zheng-Wen and others were seated at the table facing the stage. Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s strange behaviour had, of course, not escaped the eyes of these important people.
¡°Mr Ren seems to have had one too many to drink,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°The banquet hasn¡¯t started yet. Why did he drink so much?¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan was just speaking casually and had no ill-will nor intention of nder but it was like a jibe to Shentu Tian-Yin. Ren Wen-Qiang was someone she had a high opinion of and entrusted an important task to, so him acting in such a disrespectful manner was making her look bad.
Xu Zheng-Wen hurriedly ran interference andughed as he said, ¡°That child Wen-Qiang is sitting with Xu Lang. It¡¯s nothing big for two young men to drink a little.¡±
Just then, Ren Wen-Qiang gasped into the microphone on the stage, his breathinging in heavy, quick bursts. He also looked excited and very strange.
¡°What¡¯s wrong, Mr Ren?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu looked worried.
Ren Wen-Qiang looked at Chi Jing-Qiu, a sudden sinister grin splitting his originally calm face, ¡°Pretty girl.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu froze. ¡°Mr Ren?¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang suddenly wrapped his arms around Chi Jing-Qiu, pushing her to the floor of the stage. His hands grabbed at Chi Jing-Qiu clothes madly, tearing them apart quickly and exposing her purple bra. He opened his mouth wide and took a bite...
It was as if a Siberian wind had blown through the great hall. Everyone was frozen in shock.
¡°Aah! Help!¡± screamed Chi Jing-Qiu as she held Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s head away with both her hands, lest he peck at her sensitive ce.
Some security personnel came to their senses then and rushed onstage to pull Ren Wen-Qiang off Chi Jing-Qiu. Ren Wen-Qiang was like a wild animal, kicking and biting the security personnel. It took thebined efforts of the security team to put him under control.
Chi Jing-Qiu got up from the stage floor, clutching her pale breasts. Faced with the gazes of an entire hall of guests, she suddenly let out a scream and ran towards the back of the stage in tears.
Just when everyone thought it was over, Xu Lang suddenly snatched up the female guest beside him in an embrace and the two of them fell to the floor. Xu Lang behaved exactly like Ren Wen-Qiang had. He tore the female guest¡¯s clothing and nibbled at her face, neck and breasts. He was worse than a beast in that moment.
¡°You bastard!¡± The female guest¡¯s husband was furious. He grabbed a chair and smashed it on Xu Lang¡¯s back.
The chair broke but Xu Lang did not cease his transgression. He reached his hand into the female guest¡¯s skirt and ripped the cloth covering her, pulling it out from under her skirt.
Xia Lei could not stand to watch any more of this. He stood and kicked Xu Lang in the waist, getting him off the female guest¡¯s body.
Xu Lang got to his feet and roared, and made to rush at the female guest again.
Xia Lei quickly intercepted and blocked Xu Lang, grabbing his arm at the same time and, taking advantage of the momentum, pulled him downwards as he kicked at his foot, making Xu Lang drop to the floor. He twisted Xu Lang¡¯s arm and used his knee to put pressure on Xu Lang¡¯s spine, subduing him.
The great hall was filled with the noise of voices.
Ning Yuan-Shan strode over, his face full of anger, ¡°What is going on? What is this!¡±
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Chapter 105
The Truth Revealed
Xia Lei pulled Xu Lang off the floor but did not release his arm. ¡°I don¡¯t know either,¡± he said.
Xu Zheng-Wen, Hu Hou and Shentu Tian-Yin had also walked over.
Xu Zheng-Wen had a dark expression and he looked at Xia Lei, his voice cold as he asked, ¡°Mr Xia, what is going on?¡±
He had the instinct of a police officer. It was not only Xu Zheng-Wen who suspected foul y; everyone had the same suspicion. This was a high-ss event and all the attendees were names and yers in society. Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang both had high statuses so how could they behave worse than beasts? Even if they wanted to y with women, they could go to a hotel and get a room. Why would they choose to do something like this out in the open, in front of all the guests in the great hall?
¡°I said it just now. I don¡¯t know,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xu Zheng-Wen looked at the three wine-sses with dregs of red wine in their bottoms on the table and sneered, ¡°The three of you drank wine and only the two of them had something happen to them while you¡¯re fine. Can you im to not know what¡¯s going on?¡±
Xia Lei was calm, ¡°Director Xu, what do you mean by that? Are you suspecting me?¡±
At that moment, two security guards walked over and took Xu Lang off Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
Ning Yuan-Shan looked angrily at Xia Lei, ¡°Xia Lei, I¡¯ve treated you well. I said nothing when you stole the China Industrial Group business from East Wind Heavy Industries. Count it as me not being able to see your true nature. How dare you run wild here and do something to Mr Ren and Mr Xu¡¯s drinks?¡±
One of the worst feelings to man is being wronged.
mes lit in Xia Lei¡¯s heart and he smiled in his anger, ¡°Chairman Ning, Director Xu, you use me of doing something to their drinks without even distinguishing between right and wrong. Do you know what happened? Do you have evidence?¡±
¡°You dare im you have nothing suspicious on you?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was already unhappy about Xia Lei stealing the China Industrial Group business from him and something like this happening gave him a chance to vent.
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°So you¡¯re saying you think I am the one who did something to the wine?¡±
Xu Zheng-Wen spoke to a security guard, ¡°You, search him.¡±
The security guard nodded, then walked towards Xia Lei, prepared to search him.
¡°Hold on.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly spoke, ¡°Mr Xia is an invited guest. It is not proper to search him when there is no evidence to support the action.¡±
At Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s words, the security guard who had been about to search Xia Lei stopped in his tracks and looked back at Xu Zheng-Wen.
¡°Miss Shentu, is it not obvious? From how Mr Ren and Xu Lang acted, they were drugged with something hallucinatory. Xia Lei drank with them and only the two of them had something happen to them while he is unscathed. It can¡¯t be Xu Lang or Mr Ren who did it to themselves, can it?¡± said Xu Zheng-Wen.
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. That¡¯s true. Who would drug himself?
¡°Miss Shentu, if Xia Lei is innocent then there¡¯s no harm in letting someone search him. I¡¯ll apologise to him myself if he is innocent,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
Practically everyone was sure that Xia Lei had spiked the wine and the people looking on pointed at Xia Lei and whispered amongst themselves. Their eyes were full of contempt and disgust. It was as if a beggar dressed in rags had suddenly encroached upon their exclusive, elegant aristocratic party.
Seeing Shentu Tian-Yin keep quiet, Xu Zheng-Wen said to the security guard who had stopped, ¡°Go, search him.¡±
The security guard walked to Xia Lei and said in a harsh tone, ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯ll be searching you.¡± So saying, he reached for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei blocked his hand and said coldly, ¡°What right have you to search me?¡±
¡°You must be feeling guilty, then!¡± Ning Yuan-Shan pointed at Xia Lei.
Ning Jing finally stood up, looking nervous, ¡°Uncle, Xia Lei is not that sort of person. He would never, never put drugs in the wine.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan red at Ning Jing, ¡°This doesn¡¯t involve you. What nonsense are you spouting?¡±
Ning Jing pressed on, ¡°Xia Lei wasn¡¯t originally at this table. It was Ren Wen-Qiang who¡¯d invited him over. I invited Xia Lei over to sit with us and Ren Wen-Qiang poured wine for Xia Lei and Xu Lang poured wine for Ren Wen-Qiang, then... Then this happened. I don¡¯t know how it happened either.¡±
The female guest who had been assaulted by Xu Lang also stepped forward and said angrily, ¡°This Mr Xia here didn¡¯t pour wine for anyone. The three sses of wine he drank were all poured by Ren Wen-Qiang. Who knows what else this bastard would have done if Mr Xia had not stopped him!¡±
The bastard she was talking about was Xu Lang.
Xu Zheng-Wen¡¯s face darkened and he red at the woman who¡¯d spoken up for Xia Lei, ¡°Miss, you¡¯d better be more respectful.¡±
¡°Respectful?¡± She pointed at Xu Lang, who was still being restrained by two security guards, and cried, ¡°Look at what he¡¯s done! Are you blind? Respect for a person like that? I won¡¯t just let this matter rest - I¡¯ll sue him!¡±
¡°You...¡± Xu Zheng-Wen was so angry that he could not speak.
If this matter blew up, Xu Lang¡¯s future would be ruined.
¡°You can search me if you want but it¡¯s not fair to search just me. You have to search Xu Lang and Ren Wen-Qiang too. And there¡¯s cameras too. Won¡¯t you know what happened if you take a look at the surveince footage?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I agree,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xu Zheng-Wen and Ning Yuan-Shan had nothing further to say after Shentu Tian-Yin expressed her approval. Someone quickly went to fetch the surveince footage and the security guards brought the confused Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang before Xia Lei to search all three of the persons involved.
¡°Please cooperate,¡± said a security guard to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei raised his arms.
The security guard was soon done with his search. He had removed everything from his pockets - mobile phone, wallet and the like, and found nothing suspicious.
¡°Nothing.¡± The security guard was done searching Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re sure there¡¯s nothing?¡± Xu Zheng-Wen was dissatisfied with the result.
The security guard shook his head, ¡°Nothing. I did a very thorough search.¡±
Xu Zheng-Wen¡¯s face darkened again. If Xia Lei had nothing suspicious on him, then either Xu Lang or Ren Wen-Qiang would have something suspicious. He hesitated - should the search continue?
Xia Lei looked at the security guard who did the body search and said, ¡°What are you standing there for? We¡¯d agreed that all three should be searched. You searched me but not the other two. What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±
¡°I...¡± The security guard looked at Xu Zheng-Wen again, waiting for instructions.
Xu Zheng-Wen kept quiet.
The female guest who¡¯d been assaulted by Xu Lang shouted, ¡°That¡¯s right, why aren¡¯t you searching the other two? They must be guilty!¡±
The surrounding guests also added their cries, ¡°Search them! If you want to do a search you have to search all of them!¡±
¡°Director Xu?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xu Zheng-Wen, her eyes full of doubt.
Xu Zheng-Wen bit the bullet and said, ¡°Search them both.¡±
The security guard doing body searches went to Xu Lang and quickly removed the items in his pockets - mobile phone, wallet and two condoms.
¡°Why did that guy even bring those?¡± said a guest.
¡°I heard that guy is a police officer and has some higher rank. So a police officer always carries that sort of thing around with him, huh. Is it so he can handle a case at any time?¡± someone joked.
¡°I don¡¯t know how someone like that can be a police officer. What a disgrace,¡± said someone.
These words made Xu Zheng-Wen feel very embarrassed.
The security guard finished searching Xu Lang¡¯s body and said, ¡°Nothing.¡±
Xu Zheng-Wen let out a sigh of relief, ¡°Search Ren Wen-Qiang next.¡±
The security guard went to search Ren Wen-Qiang.
¡°The result will be the same whether we search him or not. I believe Mr Ren is not that sort of person,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan. He looked at Ning Jing as he spoke. He had to speak for Ren Wen-Qiang because he had put in work to make the contract between Vientaine Group and East Wind Heavy Industries happen. More importantly, Ren Wen-Qiang was the golden candidate for the Ning family¡¯s future son-inw so he as the uncle had to say something in defence of his future inw.
However, just as Ning Yuan-Shan was done speaking, the security guard took out a small ss bottle from Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s pocket. There was about a third of the brown liquid left in it. The bottle¡¯sbel had Indian writing on it and pictures of men and women intertwined. There was no need for a professional interpretation - anyone with experience could see what the item was supposed to be used for.
The surrounding guests were in uproar at the appearance of the Kamsutram Oil.
¡°Isn¡¯t that the Kamsutram Oil that¡¯s trending now? I saw it on the inte. Its effects are even stronger than hallucinogens. No matter male or female, one sip would make one heat up and go out of control,¡± said a man in the crowd. When other people looked over at where the voice hade from, he quickly shut his mouth and pretended to not have said it.
Ning Yuan-Shan suddenly pointed at Xia Lei and said, ¡°Xia Lei, it must be you who spiked the wine, then nted the drug bottle on Mr Ren! You did it, didn¡¯t you!¡±
Xia Lei was furious and spoke angrily, ¡°Ning Yuan-Shan! Watch your words! I am still being polite to you because I respect you as an elder but you are not being reasonable! I let slide you using me but now that something suspicious has been found on Ren Wen-Qiang, you still me me. Are you blind?¡±
¡°You, you...¡± Ning Yuan-Shan pointed straight at Xia Lei, too angry for words. Nobody had dared to speak to him like that - Xia Lei was the first, and in front of so many influential people, no less!
Xu Zheng-Wen interrupted, ¡°The item may have been found on Ren Wen-Qiang but he wouldn¡¯t be so stupid to drug himself, yet you¡¯repletely fine, right?¡±
The crowd started whispering again, buzzing with everything they could think of.
Rationally, nobody would drug himself with that item and in this sort of venue too.
¡°You can check the fingerprints on the bottle. There definitely won¡¯t be mine on it. And didn¡¯t someone go to fetch the surveince footage? Where is it?¡±
At that moment, one of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bodyguards brought a notebookputer over.
¡°Lady, I have copied the surveince footage on thisputer. Please have a look.¡± The bodyguard unlocked theputer screen and held theputer out with both hands for Shentu Tian-Yin to inspect it.
Shentu Tian-Yin leaned in close to the screen and Xu Zheng-Wen and Ning Yuan-Shan also moved closer.
In the video, Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang whispered in each others¡¯ ears and the two of them looked at Xia Lei. Ren Wen-Qiang then said something to Ning Jing and she stood up and walked towards Xia Lei. Ren Wen-Qiang took a small bottle out from his pocket and poured its contents into a bottle of red wine...
The truth was revealed.
¡°How... How is this possible?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s face med red.
Xu Zheng-Wen, too, could not figure out why Ren Wen-Qiang had drugged himself and Xu Lang, but left Xia Lei unscathed.
The video continued ying. Ning Jing brought Xia Lei to the table and Ren Wen-Qiang bade him sit. After a chatting for a bit, Xia Lei reached for his phone, seemingly to make a call but the phone fell to the floor. After Xia Lei picked it up, Ren Wen-Qiang poured wine for Xia Lei and when he reached to pour wine for Ren Wen-Qiang after drinking, Ren Wen-Qiang did not hand over the bottle. Instead, Xu Lang poured a ss for Ren Wen-Qiang, then one for himself. The three of them chatted for a bit, and raised their sses to drink together...
The video had no audio but Xia Lei had not touched the bottles at all during the whole process. Anyone who wasn¡¯t blind could see that he was innocent and it was Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang who had nned to do something to Xia Lei from the start and spiked the wine!
¡°You...¡± Xu Zheng-Wen red at Xia Lei, red with anger, ¡°You already knew! You pretended to drop your phone and switched the bottles! You did, didn¡¯t you!¡±
Xia Lei made a face of sudden realisation andughed as he said, ¡°Oh, sorry, I just remembered. I identally knocked a bottle of wine when I was picking my phone up. Lucky thing I caught it in time and it didn¡¯t break. I put it nicely straight up again. Who knew... I must have put it back in the wrong ce, huh?¡±
¡°So you did already know about it!¡± Xu Zheng-Wen said angrily, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you stop them!¡±
Xia Lei stretched both hands out helplessly, ¡°Sorry, Director Xu. I was wrong. I didn¡¯t know what they were nning. I just identally knocked over a bottle of wine. You can arrest me if this is an offence.¡±
¡°You...¡± Xu Zheng-Wen was once again so angry he could not speak.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°I really didn¡¯t know that they had spiked the wine. If I¡¯d known I would drink all the wine they spiked. It¡¯s just a small matter if I make a fool of myself but it¡¯s different for your nephew, isn¡¯t it?¡± He turned his gaze to Ning Yuan-Shan and said, ¡°And you, Chairman Ning, Ren Wen-Qiang is your favoured future inw and also holds a high position in Vientaine Group. His future and status is far above a small fry like me. You need to notify me first, maybe give me a hint. Just let me know that they want to drug me and I¡¯ll drink the drug directly. Why make such an embarrassing scene?¡±
Xu Zheng-Wen and Ning Yuan-Shan were speechless and the two of them had faces as dark as thunderclouds.
¡°Have a good celebration. This sort of gathering doesn¡¯t suit me and I don¡¯t fancy attending a dinner party with wretched people who would drug me!¡± So saying, Xia Lei turned and walked off.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei¡¯s back and a faint smile appeared in the corners of her lips. The ice was melting.
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Chapter 106
Masks are Expensive
Outside East Wind Heavy Industries¡¯ great hall, Xia Lei could not helpughing. He did not care how the matter resolved itself but just thinking of Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang¡¯s ugly behaviour in front of so many people made him gleeful and vindicated.
He was not one bit sympathetic towards Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang. If he had not lip-read their conversation in advance and seen Ren Wen-Qiang spike the wine, the one to have made a scene would have been him. If that happened, Xu Zheng-Wen and Ning Yuan-Shan would definitely not speak up for him nor conduct body searches on Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang.
¡®Shentu Tian-Yin would probably take care of Ren Wen-Qiang since this made her take a hit to herpany¡¯s reputation. Would Ning Jing¡¯s parents still look favourably upon Ren Wen-Qiang as their future son-inw if he didn¡¯t work for Vientain Group? I hope Ning Jing seizes this chance to rid herself of Ren Wen-Qiang.¡¯ The thought of Ning Jing struck a chord of mncholy in Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei.¡± A male voice called from behind him.
Xia Lei turned his head to see Mayor Hu Hou and he turned to face him, ¡°Mayor Hu, why have youe outside?¡±
Hu Hou patted Xia Lei on the shoulder, ¡°Don¡¯t take what happened tonight to heart. I came out to have a talk with you and enlighten you on some matters.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Thank you, Mayor Hu. I¡¯m fine.¡±
¡°I was actually the one to get Ning Yuan-Shan to invite you this afternoon and let you attend this dinner party. I was nning to introduce people in the industry to you after the dinner party ended and didn¡¯t expect that something like that would happen. You ended up not making any friends but two enemies instead. Sigh,¡± said Hu Hou.
Xia Lei then understood that Ning Yuan-Shan did not want to invite him at all and only sent Chi Jing-Qiu to invite him because of Hu Hou. This also exined why Chi Jing-Qiu had driven over to Thunder Horse Manufacturing to invite him to the dinner party at thest minute, not long before the start of the dinner party.
¡°Mayor Hu, are the two enemies you speak of Xu Zheng-Wen and Ning Yuan-Shan?¡± said Xia Lei.
Hu Hou smiled wryly, ¡°Are they not?¡±
¡°Xu Zheng-Wen is a government employee so I shall notment,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Ning Yuan-Shan was a rival from before. China Industrial Group worked with East Wind Heavy Industries in the past but they are working with me now so Ning Yuan-Shan sees me as a thorn in his foot. Even if this incident had not ured tonight, he would not see me as a friend.¡±
Hu Hou was silent for a bit before he spoke, ¡°Do you want to talk to him? I can act as a bridge between you two and say a few words on your behalf. One is the leader of one of the country¡¯s biggest state-owned enterprises and the other is a rising star I am fond of. East Wind Heavy Industries and Thunder Horse Manufacturing are both businesses based in Hai-Zhu City. I do not wish to see in-fighting.¡±
This seemed to be the reason why Hu Hou hade out after him.
Thunder Horse Manufacturing was just a small, newly-establishedpany while East Wind Heavy Industries was a government-owned enterprise. Thunder Horse Manufacturing had no way to evenpare or be a rival of East Wind Heavy Industries. What Hu Hou held in high esteem was the potential of Thunder Horse Manufacturing and the business rtionship between Thunder Horse Manufacturing and China Industrial Group. From where he stood, he certainly did not want to see Ning Yuan-Shan create obstacles for Thunder Horse Manufacturing in its growth.
Hu Hou was truly kind and a very good mayor.
¡°Mayor Hu, I understand your kind intentions and I thank you for it,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°But even if I go back in with you, Ning Yuan-Shan will not speak with me. He may ept you acting as a middleman but it will be of no use. I¡¯m not interested in talking with him either. He can do what he wants. He can walk on his broad, open road while I cross my wooden bridge. My way may be more difficult but I will get there in the end.¡±
Hu Hou sighed but smiled, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll forget it since you¡¯re not willing to. I also thought that way, but... Never mind. You can go home.¡±
Xia Lei shook hands with Hu Hou, ¡°Goodbye, Mayor Hu.¡±
¡°Work hard. I believe you will definitely make Thunder Horse Manufacturing a big business and our Hai-Zhu City will have another star business to boast of,¡± said Hu Hou.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°I¡¯ll definitely work hard.¡±
¡°Come to me if you have any difficulties and I¡¯ll help you if I can.¡±
¡°Of course. Thank you, Mayor Hu. Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei bid Hu Hou farewell and walked towards the car park.
When he got to the car park, he remembered that Chi Jing-Qiu had given him a lift and Liang Si-Yao had driven his car away. He took out his phone and was about to call Liang Si-Yao to drive him back when the window of a BMW rolled down and Chi Jing-Qiu stuck her head out, shooting him a smile.
¡°What are you standing around for? Get in. I¡¯ll send you back,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Seeing the bright smile on Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s face made him admire this woman¡¯s thick-skin and inner strength. She¡¯d been pushed to the ground by Ren Wen-Qiang, molested, had her clothing torn and her bra exposed for all to see in the great hall earlier but here she was acting naturally, as if the earlier incident had never happened.
Xia Lei walked over and got into the car. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of angering Ning Yuan-Shan by driving me back?¡±
¡°He¡¯s just a doddering old fool. Why should I worry about him?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu started the engine as she said, ¡°I really don¡¯t get why he favours a person like Ren Wen-Qiang. If it were me, I¡¯d favour you and definitely get his precious niece to marry you, hee hee.¡±
Xia Lei frowned, ¡°You¡¯re still in the mood to joke at this time?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu swallowed her smile and said seriously, ¡°Actually, Ning Yuan-Shan is not entirely picking on you because of you stealing China Industrial Group¡¯s business away.¡±
¡°There¡¯s another reason?¡±
¡°You stillck experience,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu, ¡°East Wind Heavy Industries is a government-owned enterprise so losing a few purchase orders is not an issue. The issue lies with business connections. What he values is the rtionship with China Industrial Group. All the people in thatpany are high-ranking military personnel, especially that Mu Jian-Feng. That guy has a voice that¡¯s heard even at the highest levels. Think about it - you¡¯d cut off his connection to this group, so would he still be nice to you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He¡¯d never thought of it.
The car moved out of the car park and Xia Lei saw Ning Jing standing outside the great hall through the window. She was looking left and right, as if searching for someone.
¡°Someone seems to be looking for you. Want me to stop the car?¡± asked Chi Jing-Qiu teasingly.
Xia Lei hesitated, then said, ¡°Never mind, let¡¯s go.¡±
Ning Jing was still looking around when Chi Jing-Qiu drove the BMW out of East Wind Heavy Industries.
¡°She doesn¡¯t suit you,¡± Chi Jing-Qiu giggled, ¡°I¡¯m most suited for you, though. Interested in reconciling with me?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve never even got along with you in the first ce, so what reconciliation are you talking about?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You wooed me but were unsessful, unfortunately. I¡¯m giving you another chance now. I¡¯ll divorce immediately if you¡¯re willing and then I¡¯ll quit working at East Wind Heavy Industries and go work at your Thunder Horse Manufacturing. We will definitely have a bright future if we join forces.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu did not look like she was joking.
¡°Just drive,¡± said Xia Lei indifferently.
Hate shed in Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s eyes but her mouth was curved in a charming smile, ¡°I was just kidding. I don¡¯t fancy you at all.¡±
The BMW raced along the city roads and the streetmps shone brightly upon a prosperous scene. Xia Lei had grown up in this city but it felt foreign all of a sudden at that moment. He recalled the days he had spent on construction sites welding and doing manualbour. Chi Jing-Qiu would probably never even look at him if he had stood before her at that time. He could tell which feelings were real and which a hypocritical show of friendship. It was because of this that there was only business between Chi Jing-Qiu and himself, and no feelings.
Xia Lei was going to ask Chi Jing-Qiu to send him to Liang Si-Yao¡¯s home but decided against it after thinking about it. Chi Jing-Qiu did not ask him where he wanted to go either and sent him straight to his little neighbourhood. Her car was going fast the whole journey as she still had to rush back to participate in East Wind Heavy Industries¡¯ dance after the dinner party.
Xia Lei alighted in his neighbourhood, patted the car door and said, ¡°Thanks.¡±
¡°Not going to invite me up?¡± smiled Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°Stop pretending. You won¡¯t go even if I did invite you. Hurry back, you should be at Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s side at this time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chi Jing-Qiu searched in the backseat and took hold of a document envelope, then handed it to Xia Lei through the car window. ¡°Take a look. Give me a call if you can do it. We will both make a lot of money if this deal goes through.¡±
Xia Lei took the document envelope Chi Jing-Qiu gave him. It felt heavy but he did not look inside and just nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll take a close look. Wait for my call.¡±
¡°Bye.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu drove off.
Xia Lei turned and walked into his neighbourhood, opening the envelope and reading the information as he walked.
The envelope held over twenty A4 pages and every piece of paper had drawings of the part to be processed and various parameters. The requirements were high and they were all high-precision parts.
Xia Lei looked through all the drawings but found nothing that described the use of these parts. A suspicion arose, ¡®These requirements for the high-precision parts are more or less the same standard as the parts China Industrial Group want me to process. How did Chi Jing-Qiu get this sort of business? What are these parts being used for?¡¯
Back home, Xia Lei looked closely at each of the drawings once again but was unable to decipher the use of these parts. He pondered for a bit and finally took out his phone to make a call.
¡°Bro, I have my facial mask on now. If you¡¯ve got something, can you call me backter?¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s effeminate voice came from the phone.
¡°I need your help with something,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh, then why be so polite with me? Tell me - what is it?¡±
¡°Chi Jing-Qiu has a purchase order and she gave me the drawings. I feel like something isn¡¯t right...¡± Xia Lei gave a simple summary of what had happened.
¡°What do you want to do?¡±
¡°I was thinking of having you keep an eye on her and see who she talks to.¡±
¡°If you want me to follow her then just say so. ¡®Keep an eye on her¡¯, my ass. Okay, no problem. Write me a text message with her address and whatever details and I¡¯ll get to work after I¡¯m finished with my mask. Anything else? I¡¯ll hang up if there¡¯s nothing else - Masks are expensive.¡± Qin Xiang really did hang up right after.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 107
Military Purposes
The punishment for the wine-spiking incident was quickly meted out. Ren Wen-Qiang was swept out of the Vientaine Group doors and disciplinary action was taken against Xu Lang. Both these punishments were serious blows to Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang. Xu Lang¡¯s career progression was a dead end because of the incident and Ren Wen-Qiang lost everything that had made him proud after being let go.
Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang would have had bright futures ahead of them if they had not schemed to make a fool of Xia Lei. Was it worth it to have fallen into such despair?
An old saying summed it all up: The evils we bring upon ourselves are the hardest to bear.
This saying fit Ren Wen-Qiang and Xu Lang to a T.
The incident did not have much of an effect on Xia Lei. He went to work as usual and took care of office work, then went home with Liang Si-Yao after work to practice Wing Chun. He also tried to think of ways for Thunder Horse Manufacturing to move away from just providing processing services for otherpanies ande up with a patented product which would belong to thepany but progress was so slow it was insignificant. No matter how hard he worked, he always stopped at brainstorming and could go no further.
On another front, Xia Lei did not respond to Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s offer right away; he was in no rush. Instead, it was Chi Jing-Qiu who called him several times, asking if he thought about it.
The only thing that was pleasing was that the ns for the supermarket had progressed smoothly. Qin Xiang used the supplier information he had gathered to explore supplier channels of other supermarkets, prices and settlement. He made contact and signed contracts. Already, quite a few suppliers had signed long-term contracts with their supermarket. Having these suppliers meant that payment in the beginning was not a problem and payment could be done a monthter. The suppliers were also using this to forge a good long-term coborative rtionship with Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
Qin Xiang contacted suppliers and negotiated with them and Xia Lei signed and sealed the deal with thepany stamp. The renovators had also arrived and begun their work, installing work lifts, tiles, lighting, the surveince system and so on. Thunder Horse Manufacturing didck some funds but it still had enough cash to bring out for the supermarket renovation.
Supermarket renovation was notplicated - it just needed to be clean and neat. It actually didn¡¯t take too much time or money. Once the tiles wereid and the ceilings done, the suppliers would all be rushing to put their products on the best shelves. Some special products had to be apanied by their own disy case and promoter, including home delivery services...
Matters big and small upied Xia Lei, and he practically forgot about the purchase order from Chi Jing-Qiu.
A fortnightter.
Pow, pop, pop, pop, pow...!
A string of a hundred thousand firecrackers popped on the pavement, filling the air with smoke. Confetti flew all around. Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s Beauty of Beauteous Supermarket had been established.
There were no special guests; it was just various suppliers and people from Thunder Horse Manufacturing, but it was very lively. The supermarket was not officially open but the entrance was crowded with customers waiting to go in. These customers were residents of the neighbourhood and numbered in the hundreds. They were here for the opening bargain sale of 20% off all products.
The 20% off was a real discount. For example, the Mengniu Dairy Company¡¯s special Jiangsu province¡¯s Kunlun mountain range cow¡¯s milk was 60 yuan per pack but Beauty of Beauteous had it at 48 yuan on discount. Who wasn¡¯t willing to buy when one could save 12 yuan on a pack milk? The regr shoppers in supermarkets were not youngsters but aunts and uncles willing to walk the extra distance to save one or two yuan.
With their first shopping experience and knowledge that Beauty of Beauteous had cheaper prices than other supermarkets, they would be long-term customers. Furthermore, the supermarket did not have to pay rent so other supermarkets would not dare to start a price war with it. From its conception, it was ted to draw the business from the nearby supermarkets and be the most popr supermarket along this stretch.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony was over, the supermarket workers opened the doors and hundreds of customers poured in.
A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face at the happy scene, ¡°It¡¯s all good, but this name, ¡®Beauty of Beauteous¡¯...¡±
Qin Xiang cut Xia Lei off and rolled his eyes at him, ¡°Didn¡¯t you put me fully in charge? I like this name so I¡¯m going to use it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I didn¡¯t say that the name was bad. It just makes me think of your hair salon.¡±
Qin Xiang looked at the signboard above the supermarket entrance, looking a little pained, ¡°The name can be considered a tribute to my hair salon, I suppose. It represents my past.¡±
If Xia Lei had not turned up, he would have still been controlled by Huang Yi-Hu and not have the money to send his mother for treatment. Those days were terrible days but no matter how bad the days were, they were still part of his past and part of his life which cannot be cut away.
¡°How¡¯s Auntie¡¯s treatment going?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°The first treatment process has beenpleted. Her condition is not bad. The doctors say that we can proceed with the surgery once her tumor bes smaller,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°That¡¯s good. Go apany Auntie more often if you have free time.¡±
¡°Mm,¡± Qin Xiang suddenly remembered something, ¡°That¡¯s right. I have some results from what you¡¯d asked me to do.¡±
Xia Lei was suddenly alert, ¡°You mean Chi Jing-Qiu?¡±
Qin Xiang nodded, ¡°I got A-Lan to tail her during the day and I personally follow her at night. She was acting quite normally tillst night, going to work and shopping after work, sometimes going on dates with other men at night. Butst night she drove to a ce. Do you know where she went?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°No idea. Just tell me.¡±
¡°She went to Distinguished Gathering,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei paused. Distinguished Gathering was the private club owned by the Gu n. Why would Chi Jing-Qiu go there at night?
¡°She was very cautious when going there and chose to go at 10:00 pm,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°This isn¡¯t normal.¡±
¡°Have you discovered anything else?¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang shrugged, ¡°You know what sort of ce Distinguished Gathering is. I didn¡¯t dare follow her after she drove in. I couldn¡¯t investigate who she met there or what they discussed.¡±
The Gu n had its origins in the underworld and they were powerful and ruthless. Huang Yi-Hu could not evenpare. If the Gu n could arrange Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s death, they could also make an infiltrator disappear without a trace.
After some silence, Xia Lei said, ¡°You did right. Don¡¯t enter the Gu n¡¯s territory unnecessarily. Let¡¯s leave this matter as it is and don¡¯t follow Chi Jing-Qiu any more.¡±
¡°The girl Chi Jing-Qiu is a potential danger; you be careful. I suggest you not work with her. The supermarket is open so it¡¯s no problem to get a few million a year and this money will more or less cover the employees¡¯ insurance and bonuses. You get what I mean? Don¡¯t go reaching for too much,¡± said Qin Xiang worriedly.
¡°I know. I¡¯ll take care of this properly. Go about your work.¡± Xia Lei thought about Chi Jing-Qiu going to Distinguished Gathering and unexpectedly felt a faint shiver of impending danger.
¡°Okay, I¡¯m off. I¡¯m giving this back.¡±
¡°What?¡±
A wallet appeared in Qin Xiang¡¯s hand like magic. Xia Lei took a closer look - it was his wallet!
¡°I can teach you if you want to learn.¡± Qin Xiang put the wallet in Xia Lei¡¯s hand and walked off, hand on hip.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, ¡°Why did he think of teaching me pickpocketing? Do I need this skill? Really...¡±
When he got back to the office, Liang Si-Yao was not in. Xia Lei sat at his desk and looked through the information Chi Jing-Qiu had given him again. He thought for a bit, then finally took his phone out and called Long Bing.
¡°Miss Long, there¡¯s something...¡±
¡°BANG! BANG! BANG!¡± Three gunshots suddenly came from the phone.
Xia Lei was shocked and cried anxiously, ¡°What happened? Are you all right?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s voice came from the phone this time, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m at the shooting range.¡±
Xia Lei breathed a sigh of relief.
¡°You seem quite worried,¡±ughed Long Bing, ¡°Say it. What is it?¡±
¡°Do you know who Chi Jing-Qiu is?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know, East Wind Heavy Industries¡¯ secretary. Why are you asking me this?¡±
¡°Well, it¡¯s like this. She came looking for me a fortnight ago wanting to work with me. Then she gave me...¡± Xia Lei quickly gave Long Bing a summary of what happened, then added, ¡°The parts she wants me to process are all high-precision parts and I don¡¯t know what they are for. Additionally, my friend has discovered that she¡¯d gone to the Gu n¡¯s Distinguished Gatheringst night. I¡¯m afraid that there¡¯s a problem with these orders. Can you investigate what these parts she wants me to process are being used for?¡±
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she spoke, ¡°What are you worried about?¡±
¡°I¡¯m worried these parts have the same use as China Industrial Group¡¯s parts - for military purposes. If that¡¯s the case, I need to be clear on who I¡¯m processing these parts for or I would unknowinglynd myself in hot soup.¡±
If it¡¯s for military purposes, it wouldn¡¯t matter if the parts were being used for China¡¯s military but if they were not, then he¡¯d bebelled a traitor to the nation and persecuted!
Long Bing lowered her voice, ¡°Can you send me a copy of the parts information she gave you?¡±
¡°Is it okay if I take pictures and send them to you through the phone-mail?¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing thought for a bit, ¡°No, it¡¯s better if you send them to me in person.¡±
¡°Eh?¡± Xia Lei was surprised, ¡°In person?¡±
¡°If this was from outside forces then your phone may have been bugged already. The information you pass to me may be intercepted. Hand it to me in person. I¡¯ll get someone to fetch you now. Don¡¯t worry about the cost of ne tickets or anything,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei regretted calling Long Bing a little. Hispany was just getting itself off the ground and the supermarket had just opened for business. If he, the chairman, went off to Jing-Du at this point of time, who would be at the helm steering the ship?
¡°It¡¯s no time for consideration. This is not a small matter. Understand me?¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was stern.
Xia Lei sighed, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll wait in my office for your people toe.¡±
As he finished the call, Liang Si-Yao walked through the doorway, carrying tworge bags of groceries. They were all food items; vegetables, meat and various spices.
¡°So cheap! I wanted to buy more but I couldn¡¯t carry any more. I was even thinking of calling you toe to the supermarket to help me carry more stuff.¡± Liang Si-Yao looked rather pleased.
¡°What did you buy so much food for?¡±
¡°I bought it all for you to cook.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled, ¡°My dad and I like your cooking. Come home with me tonight and cook us a feast. Hee hee, I¡¯m getting happy just thinking about it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t cook tonight. Long Bing wants me to go to Jing-Du for a bit. I was just about to tell you. You¡¯ll have to watch over thepany while I¡¯m away.¡±
¡°What are you going to Jing-Du for?¡±
¡°You know about Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s purchase order. I think there¡¯s something suspicious about it. I called Long Bing just now and she said it was serious and wants me to bring the information to her...¡± Xia Lei gave a simple overview of what happened.
Liang Si-Yao sighed gloomily, ¡°What bad luck. I bought so much! I¡¯ll die if my dad makes me cook!¡± She paused, then suddenly said, ¡°No, no. I¡¯ll call Qin Xiang right away and return the goods to him.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 108
Jing-Du
The person who came to get Xia Lei was named Ke Jie, 27 or 28 years old, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. One could tell that he was a professional soldier or some sort of special forces, and not a regr person.
Ke Jie drove a Hongqi sedan and sent Xia Lei directly to the airport. Afterwards, he apanied Xia Lei on the earliest direct flight to Jing-Du.
During the entire process, Ke Jie said just three sentences to Xia Lei.
Sentence one: Long Bing sent me.
Sentence two: My name¡¯s Ke Jie.
Sentence three: Let¡¯s go.
Long Bing was unapproachable and like a cier to others. Even the people who worked for her barely spoke.
Xia Lei felt gradually calmer after the ne took off. He had not been very willing to go to Jing-Du earlier but he could take this chance to go to Jing-Du University and see his little sister. He didn¡¯t have to pay for the ne ticket after all. He could treat it as a free trip.
¡°Um, Mr Ke...¡± Xia Lei tried his luck asking, ¡°Where will you take me to?¡±
Ke Jie nced at Xia Lei, ¡°I have not yet received instructions. I suppose Chief Long will pick you up at the airport.¡±
¡°Chief Long?¡± This was the first time Xia Lei heard someone refer to Long Bing¡¯s title and he was surprised, ¡°What is she chief of?¡±
Ke Jie shut his mouth.
Xia Lei put on an extra nice voice, ¡°Chat with me. I won¡¯t tell her what you tell me.¡±
¡°Chief Long told me that you would definitely ask what she does for a living. She said when that happens, I am to shut my mouth. I am carrying out her order now. Please don¡¯t ask again,¡± said Ke Jie.
Having failed in his approach, Xia Lei shut up as well but he thought to himself, ¡®She¡¯s a chief of something so her rank is surely quite high. She can even make Jiang Ru-Yi Chief of Police. What sort of chief is she?¡±
It wasn¡¯t actually that hard to guess the answer since a regr soldier will be called ¡®Chief¡¯ when he reached a certain level in the military. Taking into ount Long Bing¡¯s age, she wouldn¡¯t be high-ranking in political or governmental circles, so that left the military. Her character and attitude was another sort of proof of that - She was a professional soldier!
¡®Could she be a general? Rear admiral, or something like that?¡¯ At that thought, Xia Lei smiled bitterly and shook his head, ¡®It¡¯s useless even if I guess her identity. Why waste my brain cells on this? It¡¯s better to think about the product for Thunder Horse Manufacturing.¡±
Xia Lei had already pondered and mulled over what product to manufacture for hispany over a hundred times and came up with several ideas. Work-out equipment would be good but it was difficult to sell when hecked sports equipment connections. Producing screws, nuts and metalponents wouldn¡¯t be profitable either unless he used inferior materials topete with the otherpanies. This market was already saturated anyway. As for medical equipment, it would be difficult to sell if he did not give the hospitals rebates...
It was unfeasible whichever idea he had.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the onboard entertainment screen which happened to be ying an advertisement.
Ake surrounded by green mountains, waterfowl flying overhead and a person paddling on a surfboard, braving wind and waves. A line of text ran across the image: Ke-Wen automatic surfboard brings you greater joys in life - presented by The Northern Group.
Xia Lei was stunned. He could tell at first nce that it was Liu Ying¡¯s patent. Gu Ke-Wen had snatched Liu Ying¡¯s patent, and The Northern Group was a conglomerate owned by the Gu n and second in market value only to the Shentu n¡¯s Vientaine Group.
If it were not for Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s brutal methods, Liu Ying would not have gone to Australia and he would have a 20% stake in Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company shares, profiting from this novelty product. However, Gu Ke-Wen had used unscrupulous methods to snatch all these away.
The advertisement finished ying and the next one started. Images of the design ns of the automatic surfboard he had seen back then kept surfacing in Xia Lei¡¯s head, each image transmitted from his left eye to his brain, disyed clear as day. He remembered every single detail, down to the punctuation!
Honestly speaking, Thunder Horse Manufacturing was capable of producing this sort of automatic surfboard itself but this would a be vition of the patentw. If the Northern Group decided to sue, a simple fine would incapacitate the still budding Thunder Horse Manufacturing. That was why Xia Lei dared not rush into producing an automatic surfboard even though it would bring him great profit.
The nended at Jing-Du International Airport in the evening. Xia Lei followed Ke Jie out of the arrival hall and waited by the road for a few minutes before an unmarked military vehicle stopped before him. Long Bing was in the driver¡¯s seat and she was expressionless even when she saw Xia Lei.
Jie Ke stood at attention but did not salute.
¡°Go back to Hai-Zhu City. You have no tasks here,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Yes.¡± With simply one word, Jie Ke turned around and walked towards the airport lobby.
Xia Lei pulled open the door and sat in the passenger seat, saying, ¡°Actually, you could have had Jie Ke bring the information to you. Why make mee?¡±
Long Bing nced at Xia Lei, ¡°Two reasons. One, somebody wants to see you. Two, I need you to help me with something.¡±
Xia Lei paused, ¡°This means... My matter wasn¡¯t the most important?¡±
Long Bing spoke indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s not clear yet. Give me the information and I¡¯ll tell you the result after I¡¯ve had some experts analyse it. Also, I¡¯ve got someone to put Chi Jing-Qiu under surveince. I¡¯ll let you know if anything crops up.¡±
¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Who wants to see me? And what do you want me to help with?¡±
¡°It isn¡¯t the time to talk about this now. Let¡¯s go to my home first,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Your home?¡± Xia Lei had not expected this arrangement.
Long Bing stepped on the elerator. She was obviously not going to reply to that question.
Outside the window, high-rise buildings were everywhere and cars zipped by in a never-ceasing stream. Jing-Du was a much busier city than Hai-Zhu and Xia Lei felt a sense of novelty as a first-timer. However, the scenery seemed toprise solely of high-rise buildings and he found it boring after a few minutes. He was so bored he took out his phone and made to call Xia Xue but figured she might still be attending sses and he would be disturbing her if he called so he wrote a message instead. ¡®Xue, I¡¯m in Jing-Du. I¡¯ll be staying at Long Bing¡¯s ce. Give me a call when it¡¯s convenient for you. Bring your big brother out on a tour of Jing-Du city.¡¯
SInce he¡¯de to Jing-Du, he must meet up with his sister.
¡°Are you sending a message to Xia Xue?¡± Long Bing broke the silence between them.
¡°Mm, I want to meet with her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s your first time in Jing-Du. What do you think?¡±
¡°Um, the roads are busy and the air is bad,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Haha...¡± Long Bing suddenlyughed.
¡°What are youughing about?¡±
¡°Nothing.¡± Long Bing¡¯s smile went away and she was quiet again.
Xia Lei looked at her, ¡°You actually look very nice when you smile. Why are you usually so dour?¡±
Long Bing nced at Xia Lei, ¡°Someone said the same thing to me yesterday.¡±
¡°Oh?¡± Xia Leiughed, ¡°Who said that?¡±
¡°Some foreign executive. Very young, handsome, fearfully highly-educated,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Heh heh,¡± Xia Leiughed, ¡°If he said that, he must be interested in you. How did you react?¡±
Long Bing looked at him again, ¡°That means... A man¡¯s interest in a woman?¡±
Xia Lei then realised that he had put himself in the equation and heughed awkwardly, ¡°Um, I¡¯m not counted. We¡¯re friends so I¡¯m saying it for your own good.¡±
Long Bing looked away and said tonelessly, ¡°You want to know my reaction?¡±
¡°Of course. How did you react?¡±
¡°I punched him and he squatted on the ground for five minutes,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Her beauty and sexiness were undeniable but could she get married at this rate? Xia Lei was worried for her.
His phone suddenly beeped with a message alert.
Xia Xue had replied: I miss you so much, Big Brother! I know where Big Sister Long¡¯s ce is. I¡¯ve been there. Tomorrow¡¯s a weekend so I¡¯ll look for you there and take you around town.
Xia Lei sent a message back: Okay, see you tomorrow.
Half an hourter, Long Bing drove the unmarked military vehicle into a humble neighbourhood. There were no high-rise condominiums which stretched into the sky, nor anything higher than five storeys. It was all few-storey family vis. The vis themselves were not modern constructions but looked to have been built in the 40s or 50s. Every home had a little garden in front, full of flora and fauna; they looked very elegant. This neighbourhood was like a small enclosed vige, its quietness a change from the bustling city.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®A neighbourhood like this and a house like this... Even those with money would probably not be able to buy one, huh?¡¯
They walked along a little road shaded by trees and met several elderly folk on the way. They all greeted Long Bing and surreptitiously looked at Xia Lei, their gazes odd.
When they got to the gate of a vi numbered 17, Long Bing said, ¡°We¡¯re here. This is my home.¡±
The vi was two storeys high and was red-bricked. The little garden out front was nted with many roses; red, pink, white and even some purple, brightly coloured live decorations for the house.
¡°You must love roses,¡± smiled Xia Lei, ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell that you¡¯re actually quite a romantic.¡±
Long Bing red at Xia Lei, ¡°These were nted by my mother.¡±
¡°Your mother... Auntie lives here too?¡± Xia Lei felt weird at once. If he¡¯d known it was like this he wouldn¡¯te to Long Bing¡¯s home. Staying over at someone¡¯s home when it was their first time meeting each other was not a good thing.
Long Bing was silent and she looked a little sad, ¡°She died on the battlefield with my father.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Xia Lei said ufortably, ¡°I didn¡¯t know...¡±
¡°It¡¯s okay. Come in.¡± Long Bing walked towards the entrance.
Xia Lei followed.
Just then, an old man walked out from next door, holding a bird cage. He smiled when he saw Long Bing and Xia Lei and spoke with an ent, ¡°Youngdy, this must be your boyfriend, huh? First time seeing him. Come to my ce for dinnerter. I¡¯ll make something tasty for you.¡±
Long Bing looked at the old man, ¡°Uncle Chen, he is my colleague, not my boyfriend.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and nodded awkwardly at the old man in a sort of greeting. Before he could say anything, however, Long Bing dragged him through the door.
The old man surnamed Chen rubbed the top of his bald head and chuckled, ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve seen her bring a man home. Colleague? Ha, I don¡¯t believe you.¡±
Be a Patron!
Chapter 109
Consultant of the Mysterious Department
The furnishing in Long Bing¡¯s home was simple and looked like they were dated, giving one the feel of nostalgia. Xia Lei felt like he¡¯d walked into an oldies-themed television drama set.
¡°These things were left by my parents. I haven¡¯t touched them in years,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei spotted a family picture on the television cab. The picture was of a man and a woman in military garb with a chubby little girl between them. The girl in the picture was, unquestionably, Long Bing.
Xia Lei was curious and thought, ¡®Long Bing doesn¡¯t look over 24 or 25. And herself as the girl in the picture looks about four or five. Her parents were alive then, and there weren¡¯t any wars in the past 20 years. How did her parents die on the battlefield? Were her parents in the same line of work she is in now? Special forces or spies?¡¯
He wanted to ask but didn¡¯t.
¡°I¡¯ll go prepare the guest room for you,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°You go cook.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei had not expected to be put in the kitchen to cook on his first visit to Long Bing¡¯s home.
Long Bing patted him on the shoulder, ¡°I¡¯ve seen and tested your culinary skills. A guest isingter, coincidentally, so you¡¯lle in handy.¡±
¡°Is the guest you¡¯re talking about the someone who wants to meet me?¡± probed Xia Lei, ¡°Can you tell me who he is?¡±
¡°No. Go cook. There¡¯s meat and vegetables in the refrigerator.¡± Long Bing turned away and headed upstairs before Xia Lei could speak.
Xia Lei shrugged gloomily and headed towards the kitchen, grumbling to himself, ¡°What does she take me as? A convenient chef? Servant to a queen? Really...¡±
Xia Lei ved away in the kitchen. Long Bing returned to the living room after preparing the guest room and flipped through the information Chi Jing-Qiu had given Xia Lei. She took some pictures, made calls and sent the information to someone. When she had nothing else to do, she started watching television, having totally no intention of going to the kitchen to help Xia Lei with the cooking.
It went without saying that Xia Lei felt like Long Bing was more and more like a proud and isted queen.
An hourter, Xia Lei had cooked up several dishes; Mapo tofu, beef and peppers, broiled meat slices, pork in fermented soybean sauce and tomato egg soup. These dishes were all done in the Sichuan style instead of the Northern style. He¡¯d cooked them that way on purpose - that¡¯s what she got for watching television and not helping!
Just as Xia Lei ced thest dish, tomato egg soup, on the dining table, the doorbell rang.
Long Bing got up to open the door and a stalwart old man walked in. His appearance made Xia Lei think of Golden Lion Xie Xun* from a mythical martial arts television series because of his upward-reaching eyebrows which gave one the impression of anger. The only things different from the character was that he was short-haired and not golden-haired like Xie Xun.
Xia Lei had already spent a period of time as Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s disciple and had reached a certain level in his learning and practicing of Wing Chun so he was sensitive to certain things which were rted to martial arts. When the old man had walked through the door, Xia Lei had felt something martial arts-rted - This old man had the same martial arts master aura as Liang Zheng-Chun!
Who was he?
Xia Lei could not help trying to guess his identity and started to feel a little nervous.
¡°GIrl, is this the Xia Lei you often speak of?¡± the old man said after walking through the door and taking one look at Xia Lei.
He was not polite buting from an old man like him, it seemed ¡®sort of¡¯ all right.
Long Bing seemed to respect this old man and she nodded, ¡°Mm, yes. He is the Xia Lei I told you about.¡± She then said to Xia Lei, ¡°Come here, I¡¯ll introduce you. This is Shi Bo-Ren, or Elder Shi.¡±
Xia Lei hurriedly took off the apron and walked over, saying politely, ¡°Hello, Elder Shi.¡± He went before Shi Bo-Ren and held both his hands out, waiting to shake hands with him.
Long Bing was already a ¡®higher being¡¯ in his eyes. This Shi Bo-Ren seemed obviously even more important than Long Bing. He had to be very careful when interacting with big fish like him.
¡°Not bad.¡± Sho Bo-Ren nodded and reached out his right hand to shake with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Elder Shi, I made some dishes in preparation of your arrival. Let¡¯s eat together.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren did not move but suddenly mped down hard with his right hand.
Great power coursed from Shi Bo-Wen¡¯s hand. Xia Lei felt like Shi Bo-Wen¡¯s hand was not a human¡¯s hand but a vise! He reacted instinctively and his right hand also started to exert power to counter Shi Bo-Ren. Veins popped out in the two men¡¯s hands and the clear, distinctive sound of bones crunching could be heard.
¡°Ah! The boy has hidden depths!¡± So saying, Shi Bo-Ren suddenly swung his left hand at Xia Lei¡¯s shoulders.
Xia Lei¡¯s raised his left hand and used the outer side of his elbow to block Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s attack. The elbow was one of the hardest ces of the human body. Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s palm-chop struck his elbow and made a small smacking sound as it was deflected.
A sh of surprise showed in Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s eyes. He suddenly raised his leg, knee aimed at Xia Lei¡¯s underbelly.
Xia Lei moved his upper body forward and his left hand down, blocking with his elbow again. Hard elbow and hard knee collided with a loud, muffled bang and Xia Lei and Shi Bo-Ren were pushed apart.
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei in surprise. How had he grown so powerful in the time she hadn¡¯t seen him?
¡°Good one, boy! Your Wing Chun¡¯s not bad!¡± Shi Bo-Ren chuckled, ¡°Where did you learn your Wing Chun from, boy?¡±
¡°Liang Zheng-Chun is my Master,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Liang Zheng-Chun?¡± Shi Bo-Ren tried to recall the name and said, ¡°I know of him. He¡¯s a descendant of the Wing Chun founder, Yan Yong-Chun. I¡¯ve heard of him years ago but never met him.¡±
¡°My Master has a school in Hai-Zhu City. He keeps a low profile and lives simply,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Bo-Ren stared straight at Xia Lei, his gaze seeming to bore into Xia Lei¡¯s core, ¡°How long have you practiced Wing Chun?¡±
Xia Lei was about to say that he had been practicing for over a month but felt it was the wrong thing to say and changed his words, ¡°I¡¯ve practiced for a period of time.¡±
A slight frown appeared on Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s face. He did not seem satisfied with Xia Lei¡¯s answer.
Long Bing interrupted, ¡°You¡¯ve fought and chatted. When are we going to eat? Boss Shi, it is better for you to test Xia Lei¡¯s culinary skills than his Wing Chun. His culinary skills are better.¡±
¡°Oh? I must try it then.¡± Shi Bo-Renughed heartily, ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡±
Xia Lei let out a silent breath of relief, thinking ¡®Long Bing called him ¡®Boss Shi¡¯ earlier. This Shi Bo-Ren must be her boss. Long Bing is already so impressive and this old man is even more powerful. What department do the two of them belong to?¡±
He wanted to ask this question but dared not. Some people¡¯s identities were state secrets - how could a normal civilian like himself pry into state secrets?
Shi Bo-Ren enjoyed the dishes, ¡°I haven¡¯t had such authentic Sichuan cuisine in ages. This is great.¡±
Long Bing smiled a rare smile, ¡°I didn¡¯t lie to you, did I? You¡¯d rarely get dishes as good as these even if you went to authentic Sichuan restaurants.¡±
Xia Lei reached a leg over under the table and gently nudged Long Bing¡¯s ankle. He winked when Long Bing red at him.
Xia Lei meant to tell her not to sing his praises too much as it made him embarrassed but Long Bing seemed to have a different understanding. The additional wink after the nudge made her cheeks turn red. What did these actions mean if not a hint at something further?
¡°Hey...¡± A strange smile appeared on Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s lips, ¡°Can the two of you wait for me to leave before you do things like that?¡±
Xia Lei felt awkward right away.
Long Bing¡¯s face grew redder and she red angrily at Xia Lei again.
It was strange - this was his first time seeing Long Bing disy girly shyness and Xia Lei found her very charming. He felt his heart thump in response. However, this heart-thumping response triggered his left eye and he lost control of it. Long Bing, seated opposite himself, lost all her clothing at once. Her snow white neck, proud, full and plump peaks, pale as fine jade. And the natural gems crowning the snowy peaks...
Good thing there was a table over his lower body. Xia Lei brought his eye under control lest he spy on Long Bing¡¯s most secret ce. He had taken only one look but he had been hit hard by what he saw. In the second that he¡¯d seen the two gems crowning those snowy peaks, he felt hot blood rise right up to his head and the material of his trousers strained to hold him in.
He had never thought of using his X-ray vision on Long Bing before this happened. He had no idea why it happened now and had not detected any inclination of doing this sort of thing before.
Good thing it was just him who knew and not Long Bing or Shi Bo-Ren.
Having wined and dined, Long Bing cleared the dishes and Shi Bo-Ren called Xia Lei to the living room for a chat.
¡°Little Xia.¡± Shi Bo-Ren was a little more polite, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you straight why I¡¯m here. I don¡¯t like beating around the bush.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°I don¡¯t like beating around the bush either. Please, speak your mind, Elder Shi.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll say it,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren, ¡°It was I who asked Long Bing to investigate you. I¡¯m quite interested in you.¡±
Xia Lei had asked Long Bing who was having him investigated before but she had not told him and now Shi Bo-Ren confessed to it. Xia Lei did not find it surprising after having the answer to his question.
¡°You are a careful thinker and have great skill in welding on top of being good at martial arts. I hear you know quite a few foreignnguages too...¡± Shi Bo-Ren shook his head and smiled wryly, ¡°I can¡¯t think of why you¡¯re so capable, so talented. Have you tested your IQ?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°No.¡±
¡°You really should. I think the numbers will be shockingly high,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
Xia Lei knew well how he had be so ¡®well-rounded¡¯. It was not because of his intelligence but the special ability of his left eye. He could not tell Shi Bo-Ren this, however.
After a pause, Shi Bo-Ren finally said what he¡¯de for, ¡°It¡¯s like this. You¡¯re a rare talent. I want you to join our department, working for our country. What do you think?¡±
Long Bing finished with the dishes and came out of the kitchen at that moment and stood next to Shi Bo-Ren, looking at Xia Lei with expectant eyes. She seemed to have already known what Shi Bo-Ren hade for but she kept silent.
Xia Lei already had an answer but he still pretended to deliberate before saying, ¡°Sorry, Elder Shi. I have my ownpany with over a hundred people depending on me for their livelihood. I cannot abandon them. I appreciate your kind offer, Elder Shi. If another chancees in the future I will definitely join your department and work for the greatness of the nation.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s brows wrinkled in a frown.
Long Bing smiled, ¡°Boss Shi, I told you he¡¯s stubborn and won¡¯t take up our line of work but you didn¡¯t believe me. Believe me now? If I could pull him in, I would¡¯ve by now.¡±
¡°Won¡¯t you reconsider?¡± asked Shi Bo-Ren again.
Xia Lei reiterated, ¡°Elder Shi, I have already thought it through, I...¡±
Shi Bo-Ren cut Xia Lei off, ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t force you but I¡¯ll let it slide this time. There¡¯s no rejecting my offer next time.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei felt a headacheing on.
¡°Be our consultant,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren, ¡°We don¡¯t require you to participate in all our missions but you have to act in the areas in which we need your help.¡±
¡°What sort of help do you need?¡± asked Xia Lei tentatively.
¡°Likest time, when you helped a girl named Jiang Ru-Yi crack the case of the archaeological professor¡¯s murder. You have to help us if we have simr cases. Additionally, you have to help when we need modifications done to weapons. If we have need of repairs, you have to help us,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be your consultant,¡± Xia Lei agreed.
What sort of person was Shi Bo-Ren? Though the invitation to be a consultant was in name and not an actual post, he must have a good opinion of him to even offer in the first ce. Others would not have had the chance even if they wanted and he would be unable to tell good from bad if he were to reject it.
¡°Good, we¡¯re agreed.¡± Shi Bo-Ren stood to leave.
Xia Lei stood to send him off, ¡°Take care, Elder Shi.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren seemed to remember something and looked back, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t have any sry for you. Any problems with that?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°No problems.¡±
¡°All right, you kids y with each other. No need to send me off.¡±
Xia Lei and Long Bing were speechless.
Shi Bo-Ren opened the door and left, leaving two awkward young people behind.
*Golden Lion Xie Xun
http://upload-images.jianshu.io/upload_images/1399391-bcf5bceb2330aa81?imageMogr2/auto-orient/strip%7CimageView2/2/w/480
Be a Patron!
Chapter 110
Bureau 101
Xia Lei felt the pressure lessen immediately after Shi Bo-Ren left.
Long Bing turned to look at Xia Lei, her gaze that of puzzlement, ¡°You couldn¡¯t even beat me when we first met but you can exchange blows with Boss Shi now. I know about you going to learn Wing Chun at that school but this is too quick, isn¡¯t it? You pick up things so quickly. Why?¡±
Xia Lei held both his hands out, an innocent look on his face, ¡°I want to know why too. Look, I don¡¯t have three heads and six arms - I¡¯m a normal human being. But Boss Shi did say earlier that maybe it¡¯s because my IQ is very high.¡±
Long Bing wrinkled her brows, ¡°Leonardo da Vinci was recognised as the person with the highest IQ in the world but he didn¡¯t learn things as monstrously fast as you did. Is your IQ higher than Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s?¡±
Xia Lei changed the topic, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about this department of yours. You had cause not to tell me before but I¡¯m your consultant now and can be considered one of you guys. How can I call myself one of you if I don¡¯t even know what our department is called?¡±
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°Bureau 101.¡±
¡°Bureau 101?¡± Xia Lei had never heard of it. It was a strange name.
¡°National Day is on October first. Bureau 101 takes its name from this auspicious date. Its mission is to defend the country - security, anti-terrorism, anti-spy operations, intelligence gathering, counter-intelligence action and so on. If any individual is marked as a threat to this country, we will assess and assign a threat level. Once the individual reaches a certain level, we will take action and eliminate the target, no matter what status he holds or which country he belongs to. We have a special title - Fixers. To sum it up, we are protecting this country around the clock. Anyone who undermines its development is the enemy. Our job is to identify the enemy and eliminate the enemy,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression grew serious; he felt under a lot of pressure.
Long Bing smirked, ¡°Scared?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°I¡¯m just a regr guy. Boss Shi suddenly making me a consultant for a department like yours ... I don¡¯t think I¡¯m cut out for it.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t need you to be on cases most of the time. Even when we do, we will protect you well,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°China is so big and talent can be found everywhere. Why pick me?¡±
¡°There are indeed many talents in China but it¡¯s the first time we¡¯ve seen someone like you. You spotted a sniper hundreds of metres away in a dimly lit environment and saved me the first time we met. This proves that your eyesight is way beyond a normal person¡¯s. After that, you found evidence in the vacuum cleaner and helped Jiang Ru-Yi crack the case. The police technicians had swept the whole crime scene for evidence ande up empty before you got there, so this shows that you not only have very good eyesight but a meticulous mind. Additionally, you also know several foreignnguages. You canmunicate verbally with foreigners and even trante fairly technical foreign documents. Just this skill alone leaves most other people in the dust. Most importantly, you can process high-precision parts and repair important precision instruments, which can solve a lot of difficult problems for us. The high-precision parts you processed for China Industrial Group is an example. So, tell me, would Boss Shi just let a talent like yourself walk away from him?¡±
¡°So you asked me to bring the information in person with the intention of making me your consultant?¡±
¡°This was Boss Shi¡¯s intention. His word isw and I follow,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°Okay. Things seem fated to be since the day I met you in Macau. I¡¯ll resign to my fate. Do I have some sort of identification document?¡±
Long Bing shook her head, ¡°No. We will not give you any.¡±
¡°What sort of consultant am I without documents?¡±
¡°You want to have some sort of impressive document on hand to sh around when you get into trouble and scare people, don¡¯t you?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked at her wordlessly but he did think that earlier. If he had documents from Bureau 101, Xu Zheng-Wen wouldn¡¯t dare to shout so nastily at him if he showed him the documents in the great hall of East Wind Heavy Industries, would he?
¡°That¡¯s a stupid thing to do. Somebody will see your document when you show it and it¡¯s the age of information now. If anyone takes note of your document and the information gets into the hands of the enemy, you identity will be revealed. It¡¯ll be very dangerous for you.¡±
Xia Lei listened - this seemed to be from experience.
¡°Plus, you¡¯re very important to us. We will not let you simply join our missions. This is also for your protection. Do not tell anyone of what happened tonight either. You understand what I mean?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Okay, I remember. I¡¯ll take it as it never happened.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll bring you to your room. Let me know if you need anything. You can treat this ce as your own.¡± Long Bing patted Xia Lei on the shoulder and walked towards the stairs.
The conversation was over. Xia Lei followed her and his gaze went unavoidably to her snugly jeans-shorts-wrapped ass and the pair of beautiful pale legs. The great scene he¡¯d witnessed at the dining table earlier surfaced in his mind again. Those firm, snowy peaks, those bright, dainty gems...
Xia Lei looked away and stared at the ceiling above his head. He knew that if he didn¡¯t he would definitely see Long Bing¡¯s bum, and her naked bum at that.
The Heavens had given him an extraordinary ability but not a girlfriend. He knew that looking at her more was only going to pain him and not Long Bing.
The second floor was arge suite with three bedrooms, a study and a home gym. The gym had actually been converted from a living room and several pieces of sports equipment like a treadmill and exercise bike were ced there.
Long Bring brought Xia Lei to one of the bedrooms and spoke a few words before leaving him.
The bedroom was simply furnished - a bed, a wardrobe, an old-style writing desk under the window and matching wooden chair. Xia Leiy on the bed and mulled over some problems.
¡®Somehow or other, I¡¯ve be a consultant for Bureau 101. No documents, no sry... What do I get?¡¯ Xia Lei smiled bitterly at that thought.
The price he paid was unimaginable but there was no return - this didn¡¯t make sense. Even if one were patriotic, one had to eat, hadn¡¯t he?
¡®Hold on... It¡¯s silly to measure this with mary value. Who is Shi Bo-Ren? I do some job for him and he can just get me a purchase order or open up a path for me somewhere. That sort of payment would be difficult to calcte. Other people have to try very hard to get acquainted with the big fish and Shi Bo-Ren is that big fish. Knowing him is my greatest gain.¡¯ Xia Lei quickly thought the matter through.
A hair-splitter was not one who would be doing big things and a man of great ambition does not bother with trifles.
At that moment, music came from beyond the door. It was fast-paced exercise music.
¡®Why is music ying at this hour?¡¯ Xia Lei was curious and he crawled out of bed, opened the door and walked out.
The music wasing from the home gym. Long Bing was doing sit-ups on one of the pieces of equipment.
She was wearing a sports bikini; skin-hugging shorts and a tightly hugging navel-exposing racer-back top. Perspiration wet her skin and the meagre pieces of cloth which covered her body. The ck stretchy material was originally very thin and the wetness only made it cling closer to her skin, revealing the outlines of her body perfectly; big chest, full bum and slim waist. What was even more nosebleed-inducing was that that ce was also fully outlined in mature mysteriousness. It seemed like the stretchy material was not material, but...
Xia Lei¡¯s eye did not twitch this time. The sight before him - her in her sports bikini, was no different from her being naked.
Xia Lei stared nkly for a bit, then smiled and greeted, ¡°Uh... Exercising?¡±
Asking obvious questions were sometimes a good way to ease an awkward atmosphere.
Long Bing pulled herself up on the exercise equipment. Her ample chest squeezed against her thighs and her round globes were squished tter temporarily. She only nced at Xia Lei, then let her body fall backwards again. Her legs were hooked around the exercise equipment and her movement made the shorts material between her legs stretch. The shape of that ce became even more clearly outlined.
Holy shit!
Xia Lei¡¯s breathing became short, and the tempting sight before him slowed his brain functions. It was hard for him to not think about her body.
At that moment, Long Bing suddenly pulled herself up, gun in hand. There was nomunication nor warning. She pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Xia Lei had no chance to react at all. The gunshot rang out as soon as he saw the gun.
The gun had a silencer and the sound was small but the impact huge. Xia Lei was thrown backwards by the shot. Intense pain robbed him of breath and he looked fearfully at his chest, looking for the gun wound. However, his chest was whole and there was no blood. The material of his clothing was just a little torn. Xia Lei then spotted a rubber bullet on the ground next to him.
False rm.
Xia Lei really thought that he was dead meat when the bullet had hit him. He swore to himself that he never wanted to feel like that ever again.
Long Bing got off the exercise equipment, holding the silenced gun. She walked leisurely to Xia Lei¡¯s side and looked down at him.
Xia Lei caught his breath and looked up at the curvy, slender-legged Long Bing. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± he said angrily.
¡°My figure¡¯s not bad, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Long Bing indifferently.
Xia Lei paused. What did she mean by that?
Long Bing continued, ¡°Remember this. The prettier the woman, the greater the danger. When you meet a beautiful, unfamiliar woman in the future who uses her body to attract you, your mind should not be thinking about her body. Your mind should be thinking of where the weapon she¡¯ll use to kill you is hidden.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°This is just the first lesson,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°Bing a consultant for Bureau 101 is not a simple matter. I will train you when I train you. You must be mentally prepared.¡±
Xia Leiy on the ground, looking at the mature, mysterious shape between her legs. His mind was a mess. What she¡¯d said seemed easy but it would be very difficult to do.
Long Bing seemed to have discovered what Xia Lei was staring at. She saw his tented trousers. Her brows wrinkled and the muzzle of the gun in her hand suddenly moved to Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen.
Bang!
Xia Lei screamed...
Be a Patron!
Chapter 111
Unrestrained Anger
The next day, Long Bing went to deal with the information she¡¯d been given and Xia Lei went touring around Jing-Du with Xia Xue like he¡¯d wanted. The siblings first went to the Great Wall and then to the Forbidden City in the afternoon.
¡°Big Brother, that¡¯s the emperor¡¯s throne. Imposing, isn¡¯t it?¡± Xia Xue pointed to the throne in the Pce of Heavenly Purity.
Xia Lei looked at the throne andughed, ¡°It¡¯s just a wooden chair. Not asfortable as a sofa.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the symbol of the emperor¡¯s power! Over 600 years of Ming and Qing dynasties, countless people have lost their heads and bled rivers, all to sit in this chair!¡± Xia Xue looked like she was about to give Xia Lei a history lecture.
Strangely, Xia Lei suddenly thought of thepass he had repaired.
Thatpass was an artefact from the time of Yongle, a product of the same time period as the Forbidden City.
¡®The Forbidden City was built by Zhu Di, emperor of the Ming dynasty. Thepass was also engraved with Yongle¡¯s words. Based on the technology and production capabilities of that time, it had to take someone with the power of the emperor¡¯s rank toplete such a miraculous piece of work. If thatpass was designed personally by Zhu Di, then what did he use it for?¡¯ Thoughts about thepass flooded Xia Lei¡¯s mind and he let his imagination roam.
¡°I¡¯m going to the loo for a bit. Wait for me here, okay, Big Brother?¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°Yeah, go.¡± Xia Lei nodded and watched Xia Xue walk off. He was still thinking about thepass, his thoughts fuelled by simple curiosity. He¡¯d never seen it again after Long Bing had taken it away when he was done repairing it, and nobody talked to him about thepass either.
It seemed like Zhu Di would be the one who would know the most about thepass. Xia Lei could not solve the puzzle no matter how much he thought about it and he concluded his thoughts with a self-depreciating smile.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
His phone suddenly rang - it was Chi Jing Qiu.
Xia Lei walked out of the Pce of Heavenly Purity and took the call, ¡°What¡¯s up, Jing-Qiu?¡±
¡°Are you done thinking about the job?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu went straight to the point, ¡°My client is losing patience. What¡¯s wrong? Is the money too little, or what?¡±
Xia Lei had already guessed what she¡¯d say when he saw her number and he had an answer prepared, ¡°Is your client in a rush? Sorry, I¡¯ve been busy ofte. You know how it is - mypany¡¯s just starting, the supermarket was just opened... How about you ask him to get someone else?¡±
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu got angry, ¡°Would I havee to you if someone else could do it?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Then why is he losing patience? Let him wait some more. We¡¯ll talk after I¡¯m done with my stuff.¡±
¡°You...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu went for the soft approach and her voice became cloyingly sweet, ¡°Big Brother Lei, my sweetie Big Brother Lei, pretty please help me? We¡¯re old ssmates, aren¡¯t we? Help me this once?¡±
¡°Of course I¡¯ll help - did I say that I wouldn¡¯t? I¡¯d have rejected the offer long ago if I wasn¡¯t going to help,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then tell me what I have to do for you to help me.¡±
¡°Actually...¡±
Before Xia Lei could say his excuse, Chi Jing-Qiu cut him short, ¡°You want me to sleep with you? No problem. I¡¯lle to your home tonight and scrub myself squeaky clean for you to fuck me. I¡¯ll treat you like a god. Would you like that?¡±
Only a woman like Chi Jing-Qiu could say something like this.
Furthermore, what she said was not in jest. She would do it if Xia Lei gave her the nod - wash herself clean, jump through all the hoops for him and treat him like a god. Xia Lei did not dare to agree to something like that.
¡°Okay, Big Brother Lei? Just say the word. I¡¯ll do anything. You can y with my body however you want. Yes?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu spoke in a cutesy voice which could turn bones to jelly.
¡°Let¡¯s not joke around like this. I¡¯m in Jing-Du now. We¡¯ll talk when I get back.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t take much more of her teasing.
¡°You¡¯re in Jing-Du? What are you doing in Jing-Du?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s voice returned to normal immediately.
¡°Well, I went to China Industrial Group to do something. They have a new purchase order for me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I see... Okay, we¡¯ll talk when you get back. I¡¯ll tell you that I made my order before China Industrial Group so you have to finish mine first,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯ll finish your job first. Okay, that¡¯s that. I¡¯ll contact youter. Bye.¡±
Xia Lei hung up before Chi Jing-Qiu could say more.
Chi JIng-Qiu¡¯s voice kept ringing in Xia Lei¡¯s head even after he¡¯d hung up. He quietly thought over the earlier conversation and doubts surfaced, ¡®Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s reaction was quite normal. Does it mean that she¡¯s not afraid that I¡¯d discover what those parts are being used for? Or was this just a normal transaction and I¡¯m being too paranoid? What is Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s role in all of this?¡¯
He had a string of questions but the answers were deeply hidden and difficult to uncover.
¡°Big Brother.¡± Xia Xue¡¯s voice brought him out of his thoughts.
Xia Lei lifted his head to look at Xia Xue and froze.
Xia Xue had a red p-mark on her cheek and tears in her eyes.
¡°Let¡¯s go back, Big Brother. There¡¯s nothing nice to see in this ce.¡± Xia Xue did not look Xia Lei in the eye and urged him to leave.
Xia Lei thundered, ¡°Why do you have a p-mark on your face? Who hit you? Tell me. What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°N, no... nothing,¡± said Xia Xue nervously, ¡°Don¡¯t ask, Big Brother. Let¡¯s leave.¡±
Xia Lei mped down on his anger, ¡°Tell me. It¡¯s okay, I just want to know what happened.¡±
¡°Just now... Wuuuh...¡± Xia Xue seemed to recall the humiliation she had suffered and tears rolled down her face, her words swallowed by blubbering.
At that moment, three 18, 19-year-old girls and four young men in their twenties walked over. One of the girls suddenly pointed at Xia Xue and said, ¡°She¡¯s there! That little slut!¡±
Xia Lei looked at where the voice hade from. The three girls were scantily dressed and heavily made up; they were obviously female hooligans. The four young men were also garishly dressed and every one of them had tattoos and piercings. Xia Lei seemed to have guessed something when he saw this group of youths and his face darkened immediately.
Xia Xue pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s hand, frightened. ¡°Big Brother, we, we should go,¡± she said anxiously.
Xia Lei did not move. ¡°Go? Go where? They¡¯re the ones who hit you, aren¡¯t they?¡±
¡°Big Brother, let¡¯s go. I¡¯m begging you...¡± Xia Xue looked like she was going to cry again.
Xia Lei still didn¡¯t budge. The mes of his anger burned brighter the more frightened Xia Xue was.
The seven youths came over and surrounded Xia Lei and Xia Xue in the blink of an eye.
A girl with smokey eye makeup pointed at Xia Xue and scolded, ¡°Fuck, you little slut, what did you say? No courtesy? I¡¯ll make sure you tell me what this ¡®courtesy¡¯ is today!¡±
Xia Xue hid behind Xia Lei, trembling in fear.
Xia Lei spoke up, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Who are you scolding ¡®little slut¡¯? Wash your dirty mouth.¡±
The smokey-eyed girl did not seem to have expected Xia Lei to talk back. Sheughed in anger, ¡°Hah! So you went and found yourself a helper. Oh no, what do I do? I¡¯m so scared!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±ughed the four young men.
¡°Hee hee hee¡±ughed the other two female hooligans.
Theirughter was full of ridicule and contempt and Xia Lei¡¯s gaze turned icy.
The smokey-eyed girl pointed at the hiding Xia Xue and said viciously, ¡°Fuck. What does it have to do with you if I throw the sanitary pad on the ground? You dare say I have no courtesy? I¡¯ll peel your clothes off and take a video of you, then post it all over the inte so--¡±
Her words were cut short by Xia Lei¡¯s p to her face. His angry p turned her head around at a 90 degree angle and a tooth flew out of her mouth then stuck itself in the face of a young man.
The p made the group stare dumbly. They had not expected this bookish-looking man to suddenly attack, and with such ferocity too!
The girl who¡¯d been pped was stunned, then suddenly started screaming, ¡°What are you standing around for? Hit him! Whoever beats him into the ground will get to sleep with me tonight!¡±
The four young men exchanged looks and attacked all together.
Xia Lei made the youthing from the front crouch over from pain with one kick, then struck the youthing from behind in the face with his elbow. The youth fell to the ground, clutching at his head. Before the other two young men could react, Xia Lei twisted around and kicked one more to the ground. The remaining young man ran away.
Three out of four attackers were defeated in the blink of an eye and one ran away. The three girls were scared now. They wanted to run away but Xia Lei moved forward and blocked their way. He swung his hand and the girls squatted, screaming in fear.
At that moment, arge group of tourists gathered around, pointing at Xia Lei and the three girls and whispering.
Xia Lei was still fuming mad. ¡°Who hit my sister?¡± he asked fiercely.
The other two girls looked at the smokey-eyed girl. They did not say anything but their gazes gave the answer - it was her.
¡°It was you?¡± Xia Lei looked at the smokey-eyed girl.
She replied arrogantly, ¡°So what if it was me? If you dare beat me up I¡¯ll tell my Big Bro. My Big Bro will bring his Brothers and take revenge for me! Just you wait!¡±
Xia Lei could not hold back his anger any more and kicked her in the chest. The smokey-eyed girl screamed and rolled a few times on the ground before passing out.
¡°She¡¯s just a little girl. Why so heavy-handed?¡± said someone in the crowd.
¡°Yeah, even if she was wrong he should have just scolded her. This is too much, isn¡¯t it?¡± said someone.
¡°That kick could put her in hospital for quite some time,¡± said someone.
¡°Well done. Female hooligans like her are too arrogant. Joining the underworld at such a young age... What did her parents teach her?¡± Some people approved of the kick.
¡°Yeah. Girls her age should be in school, not entering the underworld and bing prostitutes or lovers of criminals. How can they repay their parents like that?¡±
Thements of the crowd entered Xia Lei¡¯s ears and he slowly calmed down. He wouldn¡¯t have been so brutal if it wasn¡¯t his own sister who had been hit. Xia Xue was his treasure, the family¡¯s little baby since she was born. His own parents couldn¡¯t bear to scold her and he himself had never said a harsh word to her. Xia Xue had always been a good girl, so when had she ever faced this sort of humiliation? Someone hitting Xia Xue was even more unbearable than being cut with a knife!
¡°The police are here,¡± said someone suddenly.
¡°Go back to school, quick,¡± said Xia Lei to Xia Xue.
¡°But, Big Brother...¡± Xia Xue was not willing to escape on her own at this time.
Xia Lei red at her, ¡°You¡¯re still a student. Don¡¯t worry and carry on studying. Your Big Brother won¡¯t get in trouble. Go, quick!¡±
¡°Big Brother...¡±
Xia Xue wanted to say more but Xia Lei pushed her into the crowd.
Xia Xue left in tears.
Two policemen moved the crowd aside and walked up to Xia Lei.
The two girls squatting on the ground suddenly pointed at Xia Lei and said, ¡°It was him! He hurt our Sister.¡±
¡°Take the injured to the hospital. You guys,e with me to the police station,¡± said a police officer.
The other police officer took out handcuffs, looked at Xia Lei and said rudely, ¡°Hands out.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, then held his hands out.
Click! A pair of bright silver handcuffs went around Xia Lei¡¯s wrists.
In the crowd, a middle-aged man smiled strangely. He watched Xia Lei being taken away by the two police officers and when they were a distance away, he took out a phone from his trouser pocket...
Be a Patron!
Chapter 112
So It Was Him
Xia Lei was brought to a police station next to the Forbidden City and questioned by the police officer who had handcuffed him. This police officer was surnamed Wang and his name was Wang Wei. Xia Lei found out that he was the chief of the police sub-division branch when he heard other police officers greet him.
¡°Do you know what you did wrong?¡± Wang Wei mmed his record book on the table in the interrogation room, his expression stern and his voice fierce. ¡°You hurt an underaged girl. She is only seventeen. This is against thew and you may go to jail for it. How long depends on what the judge says, so you¡¯d better have the right attitude.¡±
¡°It true that it¡¯s wrong to hit others but I did it in self-defence,¡± said Xia Lei.
Wang Wei¡¯s brows wrinkled. Those were not the words he wanted to hear.
Xia Lei ignored Wang Wei¡¯s feelings on the matter and continued, ¡°This started because my sister reproached that girl for throwing her sanitary pad on the floor in the toilet. That girl pped my sister and my sister ran away but she followed her and brought more people with her too. I asked her why she pped my sister and she told her peers to beat me up. Four young men attacked me. The ones in hospital would be my sister and myself if I had not retaliated. So what I did was in self-defence. I did not break thew.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t help you like this,¡± said Wang Wei unhappily.
¡°There¡¯s no need for you to help. I can get awyer if she sues and I can get witnesses. Surveince cameras are everywhere in the Forbidden City too. You¡¯ll know what the situation was like if you took a look at those tapes, won¡¯t you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Bah! Do I need you to teach me how to do my job?¡± Wang Wei was furious.
Xia Lei said nothing more and just looked at Wang Wei. He did not believe that a person he¡¯d never met before would extend help to him. This Wang Wei used him of breaking thew from the get-go and said that he could go to prison but did not ask about the cause and what had happened to end in that situation. What was he up to?
¡°I¡¯m just saying it as it is. I have no intention of teaching you what to do.¡± Xia Lei maintained control.
¡°Looks like we¡¯ll have to bring your sister in to assist in the investigation,¡± said Wang Wei.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows wrinkled, ¡°I was the one who hit someone. What are you bringing my sister in for? She is just a student and a victim.¡±
A sneer appeared in the corners of Wang Wei¡¯s lips, ¡°It¡¯s just you saying that. Do you have proof? The girl is still in hospital and the injury report is still not out yet but her injuries seem severe. Your sister cannot be excluded when she¡¯s involved in such a big matter, can she? Let me tell you, your sister may be detained as well and penalised by her school or even expelled.¡±
Anger sparked in Xia Lei¡¯s heart, ¡°What¡¯s going on with you? Are you messing with me on purpose?¡±
¡°Watch your words. I am going by the book. Think carefully. I¡¯ll get someone to bring your sister here, then take your statement.¡± Wang Wei got up and made to leave.
Xia Lei stopped him, ¡°Wait. What do you want?¡±
Wang Wei grasped the table with both hands, put his face close to Xia Lei¡¯s and said in a low voice, ¡°Plead guilty.¡±
Xia Lei froze.
¡°Think it through. I¡¯ll be back.¡± Wang Wei left the interrogation room.
Xia Lei sat quietly in puzzlement. This was not normal. The normal procedure would be for the police to investigate and monitor the situation and ask witnesses for their statements. It was wrong of him to beat them up but it was just because he went a little overboard in self-defence and it couldn¡¯t be considered a crime. If a case like this was handed over to a judge the most punishment he¡¯d get would be payment for medical expenses incurred, no detention, and definitely not jail. However, this Wang Wei implied that he had broken aw from the beginning and used Xia Xue to threaten him after seeing his stubbornness. He¡¯d be a real fool if he couldn¡¯t tell that a conspiracy was going on.
¡®I¡¯ve never seen this Wang Wei in my life and I have no beef with him. Why is he trying to frame me? It¡¯s my first time in Jing-Du too, so who here...¡¯ At that thought, Xia Lei was struck by something, ¡®How could I forget? The Gu n has its roots in Hai-Zhu but moved to Jing-Du after bing more prosperous. It would be easy for Gu Ke-Wen to say the word and have someone cause trouble for me since I¡¯vee to Jing-Du. Could it be her? But the purchase order from Chi Jing-Qiu is very likely rted to the Gu n and I haven¡¯t agreed to do processing for them yet. The Gu n wouldn¡¯t be likely to get me in trouble and shut me in prison, would they?¡¯
The Gu n was most suspect but there was no confirming it.
Who could it be if it wasn¡¯t the Gu n?
Xia Lei could not figure it out, and he moved his gaze to the window of the interrogation room.
The window was a special ss which allowed people outside to look at the situation inside but impossible for people inside the room to look out.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye twitched and the ss window disappeared from his sight. He was used to using his left eye¡¯s abilities to solve his problems now.
He saw Wang Wei standing in the corridor making a phone call. His eye focused on Wang Wei¡¯s mouth and he lip-read his conversation.
¡°... guy is in my hands... No problem. You¡¯re right, his weakness is his sister. He was at his wit¡¯s end when I used his sister.¡± Wang Wei had a smile on his face, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Once he pleads guilty I¡¯ll get the doctor to exaggerate the injury report and make it more serious. A year¡¯s sentence is no problem... Why be so formal, Xu Lang? You took good care of when you were in Jing-Du so how could I not help you?¡±
So it was Xu Lang.
Xia Lei understood immediately.
Xu Lang was stationed in Jing-Du before being transferred to Hai-Zhu and he held a high position too. With Xu Lang¡¯s status, it was easy to get hooligans to make trouble for Xia Xue and force Xia Lei¡¯s hand, then ask the ex-colleagues he was on good terms with to implicate him in a crime - the perfect ploy.
Xu Lang¡¯s motives were beyond doubt. He had suffered a great blow to his reputation because of the incident in the great hall in East Wind Heavy Industries and his career had taken a hit too. Would a person of his spiteful character give up this chance for revenge? No.
¡°... Okay, so this is how it¡¯ll go - I¡¯ll get someone to bring his sister in. He will plead guilty because his sister¡¯s future depends on it. I¡¯ll hang up first and contact youter.¡± Wang Wei ended the call.
Wang Wei gestured and a police officer walked over to him.
¡°Take someone to Jing-Du University. Arrest a student named Xia Xue and bring her here to the station,¡± said Wang Wei, ¡°Remember - use the handcuffs.¡±
¡°Putting cuffs on a university student? That¡¯s... not good, is it?¡± said the police officer.
¡°If I tell you to put her in handcuffs, you put her in handcuffs. You do as you¡¯re told, not waste your breath talking back!¡± said Wang Wei in annoyance.
The police officer nodded quickly, ¡°Yes sir, I¡¯ll go right now.¡± He left with quick steps.
Xia Lei had gone pale with anger in the interrogation room. When Wang Wei had talked about putting Xia Xue in handcuffs, Xia Lei had been so mad he¡¯d not hesitate to rush out and bash Wang Wei¡¯s head into the shape of a panda.
He was not worried at all about Xu Lang trying to get him into trouble via Wang Wei. His current additional identity as the consultant for Bureau 101 meant that a puny little sub-division chief couldn¡¯t harm him! However Xia Xue¡¯s future would definitely be affected if Wang Wei¡¯s people went to Jing-Du University and arrested her. This was what worried Xia Lei the most - hurting him was fine but Xia Xue was out of bounds!
Xu Lang understood him well. Xia Xue was his weakness, his Achilles heel.
¡®No, I have to find a way to get my mobile phone back and give Long Bing a call.¡± Xia Lei was very anxious.
Just as he was about to stop using his eye and cause some sort ofmotion to make Wang Wei enter the room, a girl and a woman suddenly walked into the corridor from the other end, headed straight for the interrogation room.
When he saw their faces, Xia Lei let out a long breath of relief.
They were Xia Xue and Long Bing, the two people he most wanted to see at that moment.
Wang Wei looked at Long Bing and Xia Xue and spoke rudely, ¡°Who are you? Is this some ce you can just waltz into?¡±
The police officer who had gone off to arrest Xia Xue suddenly ran over from the opposite corner and pointed at Xia Xue, ¡°Chief, she is Xia Xue.¡±
Wang Wei was surprised, ¡°You¡¯re Xia Xue?¡±
¡°Yes, I am. May I ask where my brother, Xia Lei, is?¡± said Xia Xue.
Wang Wei sneered, ¡°Want to see your brother? You¡¯vee at the right time. I¡¯ve ordered someone to arrest you but you¡¯vee here on your own to turn yourself in. Very good. Cuff her.¡±
Xia Xue was startled, ¡°Why are you arresting me?¡±
The police officer who had been ordered to arrest her took out handcuffs and moved to cuff Xia Xue.
Long Bing pushed Xia Xue behind herself.
¡°Who are you? How dare you obstruct justice?¡± said Wang Wei angrily.
Long Bing spoke expressionlessly, ¡°I am here to perform my official duties.¡±
¡°You¡¯re here to perform... what duties?¡± probed Wang Wei.
¡°I am now in charge of this case. I¡¯vee here to take Xia Lei with me,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Rubbish!¡± Wang Wei acted tough, ¡°You say you¡¯re in charge of the case, so who authorised it? Do you have the relevant permissions?¡±
Long Bing took out an official document from her handbag and held it in front of Wang Wei¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes went to Long Bing¡¯s document. Bureau 101 was not written on it. ording to the document, she was a director from the National Security Agency.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s first time seeing Long Bing¡¯s identification document but he knew that it was just a cover. How many people in the whole of China actually knew about Bureau 101? Bureau 101 was so mysterious that even a ¡®consultant¡¯ like himself had never seen documents from it, let alone the small-fry chief.
At the sight of Long Bing¡¯s identification, Wang Wei became nervous and asked tentatively, ¡°This... What¡¯s going on? Xia Lei only hit an underaged girl. This sort of case is... You... Why are you stepping in?¡±
¡°These are not questions you can ask. Cut the crap and release him. I want to take him with me now,¡± said Long Bing.
Wang Wei looked undecided.
Long Bing spoke indifferently, ¡°You should be a smart man. If you take things too far you may have to issue tickets on the streets.¡±
Wang Wei¡¯s face turned ghastly white. He turned and shouted at the police officer, ¡°What are you still standing around for? Release him, quick!¡±
Be a Patron!
Chapter 113 - Deliciousness and Purchase Orders
Deliciousness and Orders
Chapter 113 - Deliciousness and Purchase Orders
¡°I have to hand it to you; causing trouble like this in the blink of an eye. If Xia Xue had not called me I wouldn¡¯t have known that you were in trouble.¡± Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei as they walked out of the police station, a faint smile in the corners of her lips.
She¡¯d been smiling more times the past two days than ever before.
Xia Xue spoke before Xia Lei could, ¡°Big Sister Long, it¡¯s not my brother¡¯s fault, it¡¯s mine... I shouldn¡¯t have chided that girl.¡±
Long Bing stroked the top of Xia Xue¡¯s head, ¡°You - are too kind and naive. There are some people and matters which you cannot avoid no matter what you do.¡±
Xia Xue stuck her tongue out. It seemed like she and Long Bing were close.
¡°Xue, get in the car. I want to chat with your Big Sister Long,¡± said Xia Lei. Some things could not be said in front of Xia Xue.
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Xueplied obediently and got in the unmarked military SUV which Long Bing drove.
Xia Lei spoke only after Xia Xue had entered the car, ¡°This incident was caused by Xu Lang. He got someone to hit my sister so he can set it up tond me in jail.¡±
Long Bing paused, ¡°How do you know it was Xu Lang?¡±
¡°I happened to hear it when Wang Wei was making a phone call,¡± said Xia Lei. How he actually found out was through his X-ray vision and lip-reading but he could not tell her that.
Long Bing¡¯s brows wrinkled, ¡°Even if Xu Lang was trying to get you in trouble, how could you hit a girl into unconsciousness in a ce like the Forbidden Pce?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°They can hurt me but not my sister. I can¡¯t even bear to scold her at all, let alone p her.¡±
Long Bing sighed, ¡°Xia Xue is indeed a good girl and I really like her but it¡¯s not good to coddle her like this. Think about it - someone else just pped her and you lost control and beat the person into unconsciousness. If someone hurts Xia Xue again, will you kill that person?¡±
Xia Lei was silent. Though he said nothing, he had to admit that what Long Bing said made sense. Xu Lang had identified and made use of his weakness against him, employing dirty tactics to get him in trouble. If someone else made use of Xia Xue again to corner him and harmed Xia Xue even more, won¡¯t he lose all reasoning then?
¡°It¡¯s just Xu Lang and you became so reckless. This won¡¯t do; you have to learn to control your emotions,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nodded and smiled, ¡°Is this your second lesson?¡±
¡°How can this be counted as a lesson?¡± Long Bing said, ¡°I¡¯m just reminding you. Let¡¯s go back. You¡¯re in charge of cooking and Xue and myself will take care of the eating.¡±
¡°Mn, back home to cooking.¡± Xia Lei assented.
Xia Lei and Long Bing looked embarrassed after he said that line. It was normal for Long Bing to say to go home because it was her home after all but it was weird when Xia Lei said ¡®back home¡¯. If Long Bing¡¯s home was his home, wouldn¡¯t that mean that he was Long Bing¡¯s man?
Then again, this embarrassment was nothingpared to the ¡®lesson¡¯ Long Bing had taught himst night.
Wang Wei walked out of the police station as Long Bing was driving out. He watched the unmarked military vehicle move off into the distance before he took his phone out and called Xu Lang¡¯s number.
¡°Hey, has it been settled?¡± Xu Lang¡¯s voice came from the phone, sounding rather delighted.
Wang Wei couldn¡¯t help clenching his teeth at Xu Lang¡¯s voice and he replied angrily, ¡°Xu Lang! Are you trying to ruin me? I treated you well so how could you do this to me? Huh?!¡±
The line was silent for a few seconds before Xu Lang spoke again, ¡°Wang Wei, did you take the wrong medication? When did I try to ruin you? What good would that do for me? Tell me clearly what the hell is going on.¡±
Wang Wei retorted, ¡°You got me to arrest someone and use his sister to force him to plead guilty, then this woman came and took him away. Do you know what that woman¡¯s identity is? The National Security Agency!¡±
¡°What? The National Security Agency? How is the possible? That punk is just some brick-mover on construction sites - how can he know anyone from the National Security Agency?¡± Xu Lang was astonished.
¡°I saw her identification documents. Her name¡¯s Long Bing and she¡¯s a director!¡±
¡°Long Bing? So it¡¯s her...¡± Xu Lang recalled the time when Xu Zheng-Wen had warned him to never cross that woman. He¡¯d never imagined that Long Bing would use her status in the National Security Agency to pressure someone over a matter like this.
¡°Xu Lang, our rtions end here. Don¡¯t contact me again!¡± Wang Wei hung up without waiting for Xu Lang to say anything else.
Offend a director of the National Security Agency over old rtions and favours? Wang Wei was not such a fool!
Long Bing parked in a spot marked ¡®No. 57¡¯ in a special little neighbourhood. Xia Lei and Xua Xue alighted, their arms full of bags from the supermarket. They looked the picture of a family - newlyweds and a bright little sister in happy harmony.
However, an uninvited guest cut into the perfect family picture.
The three of them spotted an elderly man waiting for them before they got into the rose-filled front yard - Mu Jiang-Feng.
Mu Jian-Feng did note empty-handed. He had a gift basket of what looked like chocte and cakes.
The thin and old-fashioned elderly man with a trendy basket of deliciousness also made a picture but it was neither harmonious nor perfect.
However, a visit from China Industrial Group¡¯s CEO was still an event to feel honoured about, even if he brought a bundle of lettuce or garlic. Long Bing weed him, saying politely, ¡°Elder Mu, what wind has blown you our way?¡±
¡°The summer wind,¡± chuckled Mu Jian-Feng.
This ¡®summer wind¡¯ referred to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not neglect to pay his respects and greeted him with a smile, ¡°Elder Mu, you could have just called me. It should be meing to pay you a visit. How could I trouble you toe to myself?¡±
Mu Jian-Feng looked at Xia Lei and said with some reproach, ¡°Do you know where my home is, boy? What is this ¡®pay me a visit¡¯? You won¡¯te to my home unless Ie to you, isn¡¯t that right?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Xue stood next to Xia Lei and did a half-bow, smiling. She spoke in a clear voice, ¡°Hello, Grandpa Mu. My name is Xia Xue. I am Xia Lei¡¯s sister.¡±
Xia Xue was the most well-behaved after all.
Mu Jian-Feng chuckled, ¡°Oh, not bad, not bad. You¡¯re more lovable than your brother.¡±
Long Bing opened the door, ¡°Pleasee in, Elder Mu. Let¡¯s chat inside. You¡¯vee at the right time - I¡¯ll get Xia Lei to cook and you can have a meal here.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng did not hold himself back either, ¡°I¡¯m here to freeload after all. I¡¯ll have to eat since Xia Lei is cooking. But are the dishes he makes ptable?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll have to wait and see,¡± smiled Long Bing.
¡°Huh, you talk as though he¡¯s a pro. Are you a chef on top of being a machinist, Xia Lei? I don¡¯t quite believe it,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Order whatever you¡¯d like, Elder Mu. I¡¯ll make it for you as long as there¡¯s the ingredients for it.¡±
¡°Australian steak, pizza, sashimi,¡± heughed and continued, ¡°I¡¯m not testing you; I¡¯m just ordering three dishes.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the old fart, a bit at a loss for words. The three dishes he¡¯d ordered had their origins continents apart and he still had the audacity to say that he wasn¡¯t testing him?
Xia Xue pouted, ¡°Grandpa Mu, you¡¯re obviously testing my brother. I know his culinary skills - he can¡¯t make these three dishes. Why don¡¯t you pick three others? My brother¡¯s best at making Mapo tofu. You¡¯ll surely like it.¡±
Mu Jian-Fengughed, ¡°Ho ho, okay, then I¡¯ll...¡±
Xia Lei, however, stopped Mu Jian-Feng, ¡°No need to order something else. I can do it, Elder Mu. I can¡¯t be a wet nket, can I?¡±
¡°You said it yourself,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng, ¡°If you can¡¯t make authentic sashimi, pizza and Australian steak then I¡¯ll only pay half the price of this purchase order.¡±
¡°And if I can make them?¡± Xia Lei looked confident.
¡°I can¡¯t give you more remuneration but I can give you more of the normal purchase orders. Do you dare take this bet?¡± Mu Jian-Feng was sure he would win.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Yes. We¡¯re agreed, then.¡±
Long Bing blinked at Xia Lei and said, ¡°Xia Lei, Elder Mu is a known gourmet in Jing-Du and was even a judge on a food show. Think this through carefully.¡±
She was telling Xia Lei to do it and do it well since he could not hide it if he couldn¡¯t do it. Xia Lei nodded tacitly and headed for the kitchen.
He was not serious in learning culinary skills and the most he¡¯d wanted was to make his dishes taste better but this bit of learning had plunged him into it and, coupled with the power of his left eye, resulted in numerous cuisines which he could prepare - even he did not know how many!
Xia Xue went to the kitchen to help Xia Lei as she had nothing to do. Long Bing and Mu Jian-Feng sat in the living room to chat.
¡®Girl, can you see through this boy?¡¯ was Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s first sentence to Long Bing.
Long Bing shook her head gently, ¡°I can¡¯t. But he¡¯s not a bad person. This I can guarantee.¡±
¡°Do you know why I came here today?¡±
Long Bing looked at Mu Jian-Feng, ¡°You must be here for Xia Lei, Elder Mu.¡±
¡°I came to make him keep his promise,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng, ¡°He promised me that he would go to Europe to examine high-precisionthes ande back to China to modify the localthes to the same high standards as the European and Americanthes after hispany was set up.¡±
¡°You want him to go overseas?¡± Long Bing was surprised.
Mu Jian-Feng nodded, ¡°This is an important matter; the higher-ups also attach great importance to it.¡±
¡°He will definitely go. He keeps his promises,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°You too,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng suddenly.
Long Bing paused, ¡°Me? What does this matter have to do with me?¡±
¡°It is precisely because this is so important that we need a person like you to escort him. He will be much safer with you by his side and our chance ofpleting the mission will also go up significantly,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
¡°Have you talked this over with Boss Shi?¡±
Mu Jian-Fengughed, ¡°Would I dare borrow his trusted lieutenant if I hadn¡¯t? He¡¯d surely worry at me with that temper of his.¡±
¡°Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll ept this mission,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei walked out of the kitchen in under forty minutes, holding aloft a te of steak and a pizza. Xia Xue followed with a te of raw fish slices and seasoning. Xia Lei looked calm while Xia Xue was fairly excited. She¡¯d found out that her brother had be a kitchen god.
¡°Oh, you really made them. Amazing, boy! But we still don¡¯t know if it¡¯s authentic.¡± Mu Jian-Feng got up from the sofa, eager to try the dishes.
Long Bing also moved closer to watch the fun.
Xia Lei and Xia Xue put the dishes on the table and set the table with chopsticks, knives and forks.
Mu Jian-Feng used the chopsticks first to pick up a piece of sashimi and dip it into the seasoning before putting it into his mouth and chewing it slowly. His brows wrinkled, just a tiny bit, and his expression turned grave.
¡°Grandpa Mu, how is the food my brother made?¡± asked Xia Xue anxiously.
Mu Jian-Feng did not speak. He shook his head, put the chopsticks down and picked up a knife and fork to cut himself a small piece of steak. He chewed, and soon his brows wrinkled again.
¡°Grandpa Mu, I¡¯ve tried this steak. It¡¯s delicious, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Xia Xue worriedly.
Mu Jian-Feng stayed silent but his expression grew graver still and he looked rather displeased. He then cut a small piece of pizza and chewed.
Xia Xue did not ask questions this time and said, ¡°Grandpa Mu must have a refined pte and you¡¯ll say that the dishesck authenticity.¡±
Mu Jian-Fengughed at that, ¡°You, little girl, are not a roundworm in my belly so how can you tell what I¡¯m thinking?¡±
¡°I knew it,¡± said Xia Xue petntly.
Mu Jian-Feng smiled, ¡°The taste is authentic and I have noints! Odd - authentic Italian pizza, Australian steak and sashimi from a kitchen like this? Boy, why did you switch to machining?¡±
This line was a simple confirmation of Xia Lei¡¯s culinary skills.
Xia Lei also smiled, ¡°I did it, Elder Mu. You have to give mypany more normal purchase orders now.¡±
¡°I keep my word and pay my debts,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng, ¡°And there¡¯s something else I want to talk to you about.¡±
¡°I know, it¡¯s about going overseas, isn¡¯t it? You have to give me two days to prepare before I leave,¡± said Xia Lei.
Mu Jian-Feng looked at Xia Lei in surprise, ¡°How did you know?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, ¡°I guessed it when I saw you waiting outside the door.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng pointed his finger at Xia Lei and waved it a little but said nothing.
Long Bing interrupted them at that moment, saying, ¡°Three dishes are not enough. I¡¯ll order two more. I want English mashed potatoes and Persian roastmb.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 114
My Shorts are Torn
Mu Jian-Feng left and Xia Xue went back to her campus. Long Bing cleared the empty dishes on the table, an apron tied around her waist. Xia Lei sat and mulled over what Mu Jian-Feng had said before he left.
Mu Jian-Feng meant for him to go to Germany to observe and study thethes.
Germany¡¯s manufacturing industry was not weaker than America¡¯s - it was even better in some areas. There was also an advantage in going to Germany to examine thetest high-precisionthes, and it was safety. It would be much safer to go to Germany as Germany was not as guarded against China and had no opposing ideologies between them. Inte news reported cases of Chinese businessmen being caught stealing American ssified information by the Americans from time to time but reports like this were rare from Germany. That was why Germany was the best choice.
Long Bing cleared the cutlery and walked over to sit opposite Xia Lei. She looked at him, ¡°You¡¯ll be going to Germany soon. What do you know about Germany?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, ¡°Um, the German industries are highly developed and it has a high position in the European Union. Their beer is famous too... Oh, right, and Bayern Munich Football Club.¡±
¡°You like football?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°I can¡¯t say that I like it, it¡¯s just so famous that I know of it. This is all I know about Germany.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right. You can speak German and that¡¯s enough,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°I will be in charge of your safety for this mission but I don¡¯t understand German. You¡¯ll have to take care of me over there.¡±
Xia Lei had known about Long Bing apanying him to Germany when he¡¯d had the talk with Mu Jian-Feng and he liked the arrangement very much. He smiled, ¡°No problem. I won¡¯t trante the male toilet as the female toilet.¡±
His joke was met by Long Bing¡¯s non-smiling face. ¡°So when will you depart?¡± she said.
¡°Well, two days was what was said but I may need more time. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll need to hurry though. I¡¯d like to settle some things I need to get done so I can go off with no worries.¡± At that, he suddenly remembered the reason he hade to Jing-Du and said, ¡°Oh, right. Did you find out what those parts Chi Jing-Qiu wants me to process are for?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Xia Lei looked at Long Bing in surprise.
¡°I¡¯ve asked several experts and professors from different fields but all of them could not tell me the purpose of these parts. I can¡¯t help you do anything in this situation. What do you n to do?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei considered before he spoke, ¡°This is very strange. I may fall into someone¡¯s trap if I¡¯m not careful. I¡¯m not going to do this job. So what if I earn less.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better to avoid unnecessary trouble. That¡¯s the right way to think. That¡¯s that, then. Have an early night. I¡¯ll apany you to Hai-Zhu City tomorrow and wait for you to finished settling your matters before we depart for Germany,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Mm, I¡¯ll go to my room.¡± Xia Lei got up and went to the second floor.
An almost indiscernible smile appeared in the corners of Long Bing¡¯s mouth...
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were still preupied by Chi Jing-Qiu and her purchase order when he got back to the room. He¡¯d thought that Long Bing would be able to help him find out what those parts were for but even ¡®Long Bing of Great Ability¡¯ could not do it. This was surprising to Xia Lei.
¡®It¡¯s not a frame-up if it¡¯s not for military purposes but why would Chi Jing-Qiu go meet Gu Ke Wen? If those parts are Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s then why would she give me the purchase order? Impossible...¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s head was full of confusion.
Music came from outside his room, and it was exercise music with a strong bass just like yesterday.
The music brought back some memories for Xia Lei and the image of Long Bing in her exercise bikini - her wet skin, and those mature, seductive shapes wrapped in fabric...
These memories threw him off his train of thought. He got out of bed and opened the door to go out, thinking, ¡®Is she going to give me a lesson like she did yesterday? I fell for it once - will I fall for it again?¡¯
Xia Lei spotted Long Bing on the exercise bike at once.
It was simr to the situationst night. She was in an exercise bikini and the intense workout made her perspire more than she hadst night. Her body was wet - her snow-white neck and chest were beaded with sweat and her waist and thighs glistened. She looked like she had just emerged from a sauna.
Her hands grasped the handlebars as she leaned forward, her bum up as she pedalled furiously. Against the seat cover, that fabric-covered shape was outlined clearly, sultry and alluring. What made Xia Lei¡¯s nose want to bleed even more was that that mature shape would press against the seat once in a while, putting a gentle pressure on the shape and changing it. Every little change brought a strong wave of stimtion to Xia Lei, who felt like he was a man thirsting for water after not having any for three days.
However, Xia Lei had learnt from his mistake. He quietly observed Long Bing¡¯s body and saw that she had no towel and hence no gun hidden in it.
¡®Maybe this isn¡¯t a lesson¡¯ thought Xia Lei. His eyes moved to Long Bing¡¯s breasts. The intense workout made them jiggle in an amazing way. Xia Lei was dazzled by the beautiful scene below her corbone.
At that moment, Long Bing suddenly reached under the exercise bike for a small gun and aimed it at Xia Lei in one swift motion.
The aiming only took a third of a second but Xia Lei was on guard and had already dived for the floor.
Bang! A rubber bullet almost grazed Xia Lei¡¯s scalp as it flew past.
Having missed, Long Bing adjusted her aim.
Xia Lei rolled away and into his room just in time.
Bang! Another rubber bullet grazed his shoulder and struck the floor, bouncing off in another direction.
The gun was very small and held just two bullets. Long Bing looked faintly satisfied at missing. She got off the exercise bike and walked towards the door, saying, ¡°Not bad. You pass for alertness and reaction.¡±
Xia Lei cautiously poked his head out from the doorway andughed bitterly, ¡°Can we not do this?¡±
Long Bing stopped in the doorway, ¡°The lessons will end when I cannot predict what you¡¯ll do.¡±
¡°I¡¯m just a consultant. There¡¯s no need to train me like a contractor or a spy, is there?¡±
¡°Germany may be safer than America but there are still unknown variables. We¡¯ll be in great danger if what we¡¯re about to do is discovered. Learn well if you want toe back safely.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll learn everything you want to teach me.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll stop here for tonight. You can use the shower on the second floor. I¡¯ll use the shower on the first floor. Good night.¡± Long Bing turned and headed downstairs.
¡°Good night.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to her bum and a myriad of images crowded his mind.
After a while, Xia Lei changed into his pyjamas and put on slippers to go for a shower before sleeping. He turned on the shower and took his pyjamas off. As he was about to remove his briefs, he suddenly stopped. His left eye had caught a small change in the visible light from under the bathroom door. The change was very small but his eye was sharp and caught even the slightest of changes in light.
This tiny change in light made him go into high alert. His left eye twitched and the frosted ss door disappeared from his sight.
Beyond the door was Long Bing, approaching carefully with a silenced gun. One hand was reaching slowly for the handle, her ears turned towards the shower, listening closely for sounds inside.
Again? Why didn¡¯t she give up?!
Xia Lei had an idea and he took the pyjamas from the hanger and hung it on the showerhead, then pulled the stic shower curtain closed. The water hit the pyjamas, making a peculiar sound. The stic curtain was a little translucent so it looked like a person was inside taking a shower.
His camouge done, Xia Lei snuck quietly behind the door.
Just as he hid himself, Long Bing pulled the bathroom door open with her arm raised and gun pointed. She fired three shots at the shower curtain.
Three rubber bullets pierced through the shower curtain and hit the pyjamas under the showerhead.
Xia Lei suddenly sprang out and tackled Long Bing to the ground by her waist. Long Bing scrambled to raise her gun when she realised she¡¯d been tricked but Xia Lei had anticipated that move and seized her wrist before she could point her gun, pressing her beneath his own body.
A man and a woman on the floor in a bathroom, the man in just his briefs and the woman in an exercise bikini. Their bodies were practically naked against each other, even the most sensitive areas separated by just some thinyers of cloth with everything outlined clearly.
Long Bing suddenly raised her leg and used her knee to knee Xia Lei in the side but he raised his leg too and pressed his thigh against hers, blocking her attack. He did block her attack but it resulted in his thing against her thing. It was like an electric current had gone through the both of them in that instant and they went still.
Long Bing¡¯s face turned red. Seemed like she¡¯d felt the change in Xia Lei¡¯s body. She tried to move the leg that was pinned by Xia Lei and get out of his hold but her attempt did not shake him loose. Instead, it made unexpected rubbing and pressure... She was at a loss for words as, in under ten seconds, Xia Lei¡¯s face turned red and his breathing heavy. His reaction was at maximum obviousness.
Struggling and countering had brought her these results. Long Bing wanted to hit her head against a wall. She gave up on moving. ¡°All right, today¡¯s lesson is over. Get off.¡±
Xia Lei, however, did not move. ¡°You said that today¡¯s lesson was over earlier but you still came into the bathroom to ambush me. I don¡¯t believe you.¡±
¡°An assassin will always choose to attack you when you are vulnerable.¡±
¡°Even more reason not to let you go unless you put the gun down and surrender.¡±
¡°Your, that... My shorts are torn.¡± Long Bing looked very embarrassed.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei quickly got up to see what had happened.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Xia Lei screamed...
The exercise bikini shorts were fine. They were just wet from perspiration.
Be a Patron!
Chapter 115
Master-level Massage Technique
China Industrial Group made new ordinary purchase orders and the employees passed their probation and could start work on production. Xia Lei knew though, that the new ordinary purchase orders were not rted to the bet between Mu Jian-Feng and himself. Mu Jian-Feng gave the orders which he could have assigned to his local production in Jing-Du to Thunder Horse Manufacturing because of Xia Lei¡¯s agreement to go to Germany.
¡°You¡¯re going to Germany?¡± In the office, Liang Si-Yao looked very surprised when she heard that Xia Lei was going to Germany soon.
¡°You know about this. I¡¯d promised China Industrial Group that I will go to Germany to study theirthes and upgrade the localthes after I¡¯vee back in exchange for this piece ofnd,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know, and I support you going. Ourpany has you who can process those high precision parts but you are just one person and you¡¯ll burn yourself out handling all those orders on your own. If you can upgrade ourthes to the same standards as those in Europe and America, our regr workers may be able to process high precision parts too. If they can, we will gain an advantage in this industry.¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s line of thought was in line with Xia Lei¡¯s.
¡°You¡¯re so thoughtful, Senior Disciple. I¡¯ll leave you in charge when I¡¯m away,¡± smiled Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao quirked her lips, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a boss like you. You¡¯re away from thepany two days out of three. I¡¯m not your housekeeper either so how can I keep helping you to run yourpany? Others will start to talk.¡±
¡°Um...¡± Xia Lei knew what she meant by housekeeper and said awkwardly, ¡°You¡¯re my Senior Disciple. We¡¯re one big family so what is there to gossip about? I¡¯ll fire anyone who offends you.¡±
Liang Si-Yao looked a little appeased by that. ¡°Never mind. Take it as I owe you from my past life. Rest assured and go to Germany, don¡¯t worry about things here. I¡¯ll help you keep the business running.¡±
¡°Thank you, Senior Disciple. You¡¯re the best!¡± Xia Lei spoke pleasing words.
¡°I¡¯m not falling for that. Come home with me after work. My dad misses you. He didn¡¯t say it but I know he wants to see you. Come home with me, cook him some dishes and have a drink or two with him,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Mm, we¡¯ll go to your ce after work and I¡¯ll make sure to apany the old man.¡± Xia Lei did actually miss Liang Zheng-Chun too.
¡°He... Well, he sees you as a son. I¡¯m a little jealous.¡± Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei rather charmingly.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart fluttered. There was another meaning to her words if he thought about that line from another angle.
¡°Uh...¡± Liang Si-Yao looked a little embarrassed, ¡°About the product... Have you thought of anything?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s attention was diverted. ¡°I still don¡¯t have any concrete ideas. I will think more carefully on my trip to Germany. Maybe I¡¯ll get some good tips over there,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao stretchedzily and moved to the sofa, grumbling, ¡°Oh man, I have to take care of everything when you¡¯re away. I¡¯m so tired. My neck is so sore...¡±
Xia Lei took the hint and walked to the back of the sofa. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a massage, Senior Disciple.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled happily. She wriggled backwards, prepared to receive Xia Lei¡¯s massage. She was tired from the past few days.
Xia Lei¡¯s hands circled her snowy neck and he started to massage her gently. He used only a little strength, as if afraid that he would damage her tender skin.
Liang Si-Yao wrinkled her brows, ¡°Put some back into it. Are you afraid you¡¯ll damage me while massaging, or what?¡±
Xia Lei was struck by a thought, ¡®Massage puts an emphasis on meridian stimtion. If I grasp the positions of the acupuncture points and meridians, she¡¯d probably feel veryfortable if I massage her gently in those areas, right?¡¯
With that thought in mind, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye went to work. He stared at her snowy neck and the skin and fat gradually disappeared from his sight, revealing blood vessels and nerves, as well as the cross section of meridian lines, an acupuncture point.
Seeing her acupuncture point and nerves, Xia Lei moved his fingers over and massaged them. This movement brought good results.
¡°What¡¯s this? It feels so good! When did you learn how to massage like this?¡± Liang Si-Yao was obviously feeling morefortable and she closed her eyes in pleasure. Red bloomed on her cheeks and neck; she was excited and feeling good.
The nerves and acupuncture points were sensitive areas. She was veryfortable, of course, when Xia Lei stimted these areas, and thisfortable feeling epassed a type offortable which made women bashful and that was why her cheeks and neck were red.
¡®Looks like I can get very good results. I should take a look at a meridian map and memorise it, then study massage or acupuncture. If she asks me to give her a massage again I can make her even morefortable. I may even be able to treat people who need acupuncture treatment...¡¯ Xia Lei thought.
Being able to see acupuncture points and meridians made it easy for Xia Lei if he wanted to be a professional in both fields of massage and acupuncture. It wouldn¡¯t be impossible to be a Master in both fields if he spent some time in immersive research!
This thought seemed to have influenced his next move. Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to her ears, and the nerves of that area entered his eye. He moved both his thumbs over and pressed on the most concentrated nerve-ends spot behind her ear, massaging gently.
A string of odd sounds escaped Liang Si-Yao¡¯s petite lips, half pain, half pleasure. Her earlobes turned red immediately. Before Xia Lei massaged her more, her eyes flew open and asked him shyly and nervously, ¡°You... What are you doing?¡±
¡°Giving you a massage.¡± Xia Lei acted normally.
Liang Si-Yao red at him in shame, ¡°You can¡¯t massage that ce. It¡¯s too... too sensitive.¡±
Xia Lei grinned, ¡°Was itfortable?¡±
Liang Si-Yao recalled the earlier feeling and the embarrassing way her body had reacted. She spoke shamefully, ¡°Comfortable, my foot. I don¡¯t want a massage anymore. You¡¯re doing this on purpose. I¡¯ll tell my dad you bullied me when we go back tonight.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Pleasing her had now be bullying. What logic was this?
At that moment, a security guard appeared in the doorway, arms open in a stance that looked like he was blocking someone, saying, ¡°No. You cannot see our chairman without an appointment.¡±
¡°Get out of the way!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu suddenly appeared. She stuck her chest out and aimed to hit the security guard¡¯s arm with her chest.
The security guard seemed afraid to touch her chest and he moved his arm. Chi Jing-Qiu took the opportunity to get around the security guard and walked into the office.
¡°Chairman Xia, she...¡± the security guard tried to exin.
¡°It¡¯s all right. You can go back to your post,¡± said Xia Lei.
The security guard gave a sound of agreement and left the office.
Chi Jing-Qiu strode over to Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao. She saw the red-faced Liang Si-Yao and had a weird look in her eyes.
Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Jing-Qiu, didn¡¯t you receive the message I sent you? I don¡¯t intend to ept that purchase order.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu snorted, ¡°You have the time to be cavorting about in your office but no time to ept my order? What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s brows wrinkled.
Liang Si-Yao wasn¡¯t a woman to anger either. She stood from the sofa, ¡°What are you saying? You seem like a decent person but you behave like a shrew. Watch your words or I¡¯ll throw you out!¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu was about to retort but Liang Si-Yao¡¯s fierce re made her lips tremble and she did not dare speak the scolding words she¡¯d prepared. She could notpare to Liang Si-Yao looks-wise and she lost by andslide in terms of personality. Most importantly, Liang Si-Yao was a Wing Chun expert. If she angered Liang Si-Yao and she hit her, would Xia Lei help her? Obviously not.
¡°Jing-Qiu, I¡¯m really sorry but I¡¯ve thought it over several times and I don¡¯t want to ept your order. Look for someone else. I really am sorry to have dyed for so long,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Do you know how much money this order is worth?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu said passionately, ¡°It¡¯s worth 3,000,000! You¡¯re so poor you had to open a supermarket to supplement yourpany, and this supermarket will you just three or four million a year, right? Finishing this order will take you less than a month. What are you thinking?¡±
Xia Lei spoke indifferently, ¡°Ick money but there is some money that should not be made and I don¡¯t want to make that sort of money.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu grit her teeth and spoke after some hesitation, ¡°Fine. My client says the price can be increased to four million, and he can pay me mymission.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head still, ¡°I¡¯ve made it clear. I will not ept the job. Look for someone else.¡±
¡°You bastard!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu cursed.
Xia Lei shrugged indifferently, ¡°So I¡¯m a bastard then. Please leave.¡±
¡°Yourpany will copse sooner orter! You¡¯ll be poor your whole life - your sort of people are poor your whole lifetime!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu seemed to have lost control, ¡°No wonder Gu Ke-Wen said you were a lucky bastard upstart. You¡¯ll end up back on construction sites moving bricks!¡±
¡°You bitch!¡± Liang Si-Yao could not hold back any longer and she shot forward, hand raised in a p aiming for Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s cheek.
Xia Lei hurriedly blocked Liang Si-Yao¡¯s p and pulled her back, saying, ¡°Forget it. She¡¯s like that. Why lower yourself to her level?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu didn¡¯t dare make a scene and backed away.
Liang Si-Yao looked angrily at Chi Jing-Qiu but made no move to hit her.
Xia Lei looked at Chi Jing-Qiu and asked probingly, ¡°Jing-Qiu, this order of yours is from Gu Ke-Wen, isn¡¯t it? You know what sort of rtionship we have. This is also the reason why I don¡¯t want to ept your order.¡±
¡°You...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s gaze was shifty, ¡°What nonsense are you talking about?¡±
¡°I said, this order is from Gu Ke-Wen, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Heh heh¡± Chi Jing-Qiuughed twice sneeringly, ¡°Acting smart, huh. Would I be so foolish to look for you to do Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s order? I know how it is between you two.¡±
¡°Then whose order is this?¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you very clever? Guess. I won¡¯t ever give you any more orders in the future!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu turned and left after she was done speaking.
¡®If it wasn¡¯t Gu Ke-Wen, then who was it?¡¯ wondered Xia Lei.
This was very strange indeed.
Xia Lei took out his phone after thinking for a bit and dialled Qin Xiang¡¯s number. ¡°Hello, Qin Xiang? Chi Jing-Qiu just left my office. She may be going to see her mysterious client. Help me keep an eye on her.¡±
¡°No problem. I¡¯m too bored here in the office. It¡¯s nice to go out for a bit of exercise.¡± From his voice, Qin Xiang seemed more than happy to do this sort of thing.
¡°Be careful.¡±
¡°Got it.¡± Qin Xiang hung up.
Liang Si-Yao was still angry, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you let me p her? Her smelly mouth was asking for a beating.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Forget it. Why lower yourself to the level of a woman like Chi Jing-Qiu? Don¡¯t be angry. I¡¯ll massage you again and help you be rid of your anger.¡±
A faint smile appeared on Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face, ¡°Okay, but you can¡¯t massage that ce... Um, you can if you have to but not so much. Just a little bit.¡±
It looked like she had had a taste of memorable sweetness and wanted to experience it again.
Xia Lei, however, was in a tough spot. Did this mean that she wanted to be massaged there or not?
Be a Patron!
Chapter 116
Mysterious Man
Bam bam bam...
The sound of fists and kicks striking echoed throughout the living room. Xia Lei and Liang Zheng-Chun were exchanging blows at a fast pace and Xia Lei was putting in all his effort while Liang Zheng-Chun was skillfully and easily executing his moves.
Liang Si-Yao stood to the side, watching her father and junior disciple spar with a small smile on her face. Her gaze however, was mostly focused on Xia Lei - his glowing handsomeness, his strong and tall body, and natural, down-to-earth demeanor made one have good vibes about him.
Pressing down with a Bridge Hand, Liang Zheng-Chun broke through Xia Lei¡¯s Long Bridge Piercing Fist, cutting through to his front and hitting his chest with his elbow. Bang! A muffled sound could be heard and though Liang Zheng-Chun had used only a small portion of his strength, Xia Lei was knocked backwards, his feet leaving the ground. He stumbled for a few steps before regaining his bnce.
¡°I am no match for you, Master,¡± said Xia Lei as he rubbed at his aching chest.
Liang Zheng-Chun smiled, ¡°You¡¯re doing well. You¡¯ve progressed much more than I had when I was learning myself. How long have you practiced Wing Chun? Don¡¯t be too anxious. As long as you keep practicing, you will surely surpass me.¡±
Xia Lei grinned.
Liang Zheng-Chun, however, stopped smiling and turned serious, ¡°But you have not been practicing wholeheartedly recently. I pointed out what you needed to correct thest time we sparred but you made the same mistakes again today. Your internal strength has seen no growth either. It is apparent that you have beenzy and not practicing properly.¡±
Xia Lei rubbed his nose in embarrassment, ¡°Master, I...¡±
He had been busy but he was not one to look for excuses, so he kept his mouth shut despite having an exnation.
¡°Dad, Lei has to manage apany. He¡¯s been trying very hard already so don¡¯t scold him so much,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Zheng-Chun red at her, ¡°You too, you¡¯re the same. You¡¯ve also bezy and you dare speak up for Lei?¡±
¡°Dad, hee hee...¡± Liang Si-Yao justughed.
¡°You still dare tough!¡± Liang Zheng-Chun snapped, ¡°You two, go to the study and do the Horse Stance. Both of you must have bowls of water on your heads and both shoulders.¡±
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao exchanged looks, their expressions despairing.
¡°What are you standing around for?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun was stern, ¡°Two hours. No less.¡±
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao bit the bullet and headed to the study.
Looking at the backs of the kids, a faint smile appeared on Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s face.
In the study, Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao did the Horse Stance of Little Idea, left foot forward, right foot back, in an uneven stance. 30% strength went to the right foot while 70% went to the left, and they leaned backwards with their stomachs tensed. Both had bowls full of water on their heads and shoulders facing each other and not daring to move one bit.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with dad today?¡± Liang Si-Yao spoke quietly, ¡°He¡¯s was fine when we were eating and drinking and then he suddenly changed.¡±
Xia Lei also spoke softly, ¡°It¡¯s normal for Master to be a little fierce.¡±
¡°He can just punish you to do the Horse Stance - why me too?¡± Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, ¡°You must¡¯ve dragged me into it.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Oh, right. When are you going to Germany?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s train of thought quickly moved to another topic.
¡°I¡¯ll depart when Long Bing has arranged everything. The exact time is unknown but I think it¡¯ll be within these two days,¡± said Xia Lei. Long Bing was already arranging it and based on her efficiency it wouldn¡¯t take long.
¡°How long will you be away?¡±
¡°This I don¡¯t know but I¡¯ll try to hurry back as soon as I can.¡±
They chatted as they did the Horse Stance and time passed quickly. However, maintaining a stance used up quite a bit of strength in the legs and waist and the two of them soon started to perspire.
Sweat wet Xia Lei¡¯s back and his toned muscles looked like they had been oiled, lending him an attractive, masculine air.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cotton T-shirt was also wet by perspiration and the soft material stuck to her soft skin, turning translucent. Under themp-light, a ck bra was obviously visible under that cotton T-shirt. Her short officedy skirt was also wet by perspiration but the material was thicker and not translucent. However, the Horse Stance showed off her white, tender legs - a beautiful sight indeed. She was right opposite Xia Lei, so his gaze naturally went to that great view under her skirt, those pale thighs, and that bit of ckce protecting a certain ce...
Xia Lei had not noticed all these in the beginning when they were chatting but when they ran out of things to talk about, his gaze was totally absorbed by her. It was impossible not to look at her since they were face to face. When he looked at her, the beautiful bits of scenery also entered his field of vision - full and bountiful peaks, slender, soft waist, pale tender thighs and that bit ofce covering her right there, all thesebining to stimte him.
His left eye suddenly overcame his willpower and twitched. Before him, Liang Si-Yao turned into a tribal girl from primitive times and everything about her could be seen. She was so clear, so exquisite, so stimting and incredible. Xia Lei was embarrassed to find that a certain part of his body had woken up and was standing happily at attention.
¡°Oh shit...¡± Xia Lei closed his eyes in agony. This action, however, was as effective as an ostrich hiding its head in the sand. Though his eyes were closed, his head was still full of images of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s peaks and valleys and her beautiful legs...
¡°What are you closing your eyes for?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao curiously.
¡°Uh,¡± Xia Lei was nervous, ¡°Sweat went into my eyes.¡±
¡°Hey, how about we bezy for a bit? My dad isn¡¯t around now,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t think it a good idea.
¡°Ahem!¡± An old man walked past the doorway of the study, his hands resting on his back. His cough made the two people in the study tighten their waist and leg muscles.
After Liang Zheng-Chun walked off, Liang Si-Yao did not dare talk about beingzy again. She grit her teeth and hung on. She found that opposite herself, Xia Lei would open his eyes once in a while. His eyes were red and he would open them for a few seconds to ten seconds, then quickly close them again. She found him odd. To Xia Lei, this Horse Stance was the most difficult stance in all of Wing Chun because it wasn¡¯t just him enduring the stance but his little soldier as well, and it had been standing for over an hour. This was too exhausting!
Xia Lei hung on till the two-hour mark with great difficulty. Before he had time to shower though, he received a call from Qin Xiang.
¡°Lei, you shoulde over and see this for yourself,¡± Qin Xiang said right away.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped, ¡°What have you discovered?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t describe it clearly over the phone. Come quick,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°I¡¯m at the Night in Paris coffee shop at Tai-Shan Road. Hurry!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei hung up, took his jacket and headed out.
¡°What¡¯s happened? Where are you going?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Qin Xiang has discovered something. I¡¯m going over to take a look,¡± said Xia Lei. He turned towards Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s room, ¡°Master, I¡¯m heading out for a bit.¡±
¡°Be careful,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Mm.¡± Xia Lei made a sound of agreement and left the Liang household.
Liang Zheng-Chun opened the door, looked at the sweaty Liang Si-Yao and said after half a beat, ¡°He is a wild horse. Like you.¡±
Liang Si-Yao blinked her big, dark eyes, ¡°Dad, what are you trying to say?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun shook his head gently and went into his room again.
Liang Si-Yao paused, then grumbled, ¡°Weirdo.¡±
Ten minutester, Xia Lei drove to the ce Qin Xiang had spoken of and immediately spotted him and his Yamaha motorcycle.
Qin Xiang also spotted Xia Lei and waved at him.
Xia Lei walked over, ¡°What have you discovered?¡±
Qin Xiang pointed to the Night in Paris coffee shop, ¡°See that? Chi Jing-Qiu and that man opposite her.¡±
Xia Lei looked at where Qin Xiang pointed. It was a full-length ss window and behind that was Chi Jing-Qiu and a middle-aged man at a table. His eyes went to the man¡¯s face and when he saw his face clearly, he felt as though a shapeless hand had him by the heart and was crushing it. He felt drained, emptied of blood.
The man sitting opposite Chi Jing-Qiu had a face that was exactly the same as his father, Xia Chang-He!
How can this be?
Was that man his missing father of five years?
If he was, and he was back in Hai-Zhu City, then why didn¡¯t hee home?
If he wasn¡¯t then who was he? Could there be a person who looked exactly the same in this world?
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was flooded by a myriad of questions in an instant and his head was a mess.
¡°Saw it?¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°I¡¯ve been to your ce and seen your family picture. I remembered your father when I saw that man. Is he your father?¡±
¡°He...¡± Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°He looks a lot like him but I can¡¯t confirm. Why didn¡¯t hee looking for me if he¡¯s my father?¡±
Qin Xiang frowned, ¡°I found it strange too. If he were your father he should go home but here he is meeting Chi Jing-Qiu.¡±
¡°I want to talk to him.¡± Xia Lei strode towards the Night in Paris coffee shop.
Qin Xiang took a step after him but chose to stay behind in the end. He wouldn¡¯t be of use if he followed in this situation.
Xia Lei¡¯s steps were quick and he forced several cars to stop when he charged across the road. It was dangerous but he didn¡¯t care. His gaze was fixed on that man, lip-reading his conversation with Chi Jing-Qiu.
When he¡¯d discovered that man and Chi Jing-Qiu, it had been Chi Jing-Qiu talking all the while and he had been sitting quietly and looking at her, listening.
At the moment Xia Lei approached the steps of the Night in Paris coffee shop, that man finally said something. ¡°He won¡¯t ept it? Mm, this is your reward.¡±
The man put a paper bag in front of Chi Jing-Qiu. The paper bag was bulging and looked like it contained a lot of money.
After putting the bag on the table, the man stood to leave.
Xia Lei grew anxious and rushed into the Night in Paris coffee shop.
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Chapter 117
NEWS: Slower trantion release speed and some news. Click to see video.
Coffee-stained Letters and Legs
As he entered, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed young woman suddenly cut into his path and collided into him.
¡°What the hell?¡± The blonde girl looked angry. She spoke Russian.
¡°Sorry.¡± Xia Lei quickly apologised in Russian and moved around her to walk inside.
The blonde suddenly pulled Xia Lai to a stop, ¡°You¡¯re walking off after breaking my things?¡±
Xia Lei then discovered a piece of handicrafts in the blonde¡¯s hands - it was a conch shell made of straw. The conch had been ttened in the collision.
¡°An apology is not enough,¡± said the blonde. She held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm and wouldn¡¯t let go.
Xia Lei was very anxious and he did not want to argue with the Russian girl. He took out his wallet and shoved a few hundred-yuan notes into the Russian girl¡¯s hands.
The Russian girl then let go of Xia Lei¡¯s arm, ¡°You don¡¯t actually need to give me so much.¡±
Xia Lei was in no mood to chat. He stepped quickly into the coffee shop. However, that man was gone. Chi Jing-Qiu was still sitting at that table, head bent over the bag of money and checking its contents.
Xia Lei quickly swept the coffee shop with his gaze. There were many customers but the man was not amongst them. His gazended on a door marked ¡®personnel-only¡¯ and he made his way to it. That man who resembled his father couldn¡¯t have gone through the front door. He must have gone out the back.
¡°Sir, you cannot go in. This is for staff only.¡± A waiter blocked Xia Lei¡¯s way.
¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m looking for someone,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You still can¡¯t enter,¡± said the waiter.
Xia Lei pushed the waiter aside and went through the door.
It was indeed a work area behind the door. The coffee shop employees were preparing coffee, baking pastries, assembling ice-cream creations and so on, bustling about their work. At the far end of the work area was a back door which led outside and when Xia Lei entered the work area, that door was still swinging gently, as though someone had exited in a hurry and had no time to shut it.
Xia Lei ran towards the back door. The waiter who had blocked him earlier came chasing but Xia Lei ran through the door before he could say anything.
A small alley was behind the door and there was nomplight; it was dark. Buildings stood on either side of the alley and there were no doorways. Streets ran from both ends of the alley and both were well-lit with traffic. However, the man could not be seen in any of the buildings or streets - he was quick!
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and several footprints appeared on the dark ground. He quickly determined the man¡¯s footprints as he was thetest to leave from the back door and his footprints were the freshest and most obvious.
After he determined the man¡¯s footprints, Xia Lei followed them to the right side and to the end of the alley. People came and went on the pavement outside the alley and the road next to it was bustling with traffic - that man was nowhere in sight. His footprints had disappeared somewhere between the pavement and the road and there was no way to keep following them.
¡®How is he so fast? Did he know I was chasing him? Who in the world was he?¡¯ Xia Lei was astonished and confused. He suddenly thought of something and turned back, running towards the coffee shop.
He¡¯d thought of that blonde Russian girl. If she had not got in his way earlier, he would definitely have been able to stop that man from leaving. It looked like a coincidence but it was too much of a coincidence! He had a feeling that that Russian girl was an aplice of that man and that man knew who he was and he did not want to meet him.
It must be it - why else did that man note straight to him to make the purchase order and chose to do it through Chi Jing-Qiu?
Back at the coffee shop, Chi Jing-Qiu looked very shocked to see Xia Lei. She was about to say something to Xia Lei but he rushed past her as though he hadn¡¯t seen her.
Xia Lei went to the front entrance but did not see the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Russian girl.
That Russian girl was indeed that man¡¯s aplice and had been stationed at the door in advance to knock into him when he appeared. She hadpleted her mission so why would she remain here for Xia Lei to catch her and ask her questions?
Xia Lei went back into the coffee shop and walked to Chi Jing-Qiu, sitting in the seat that man had upied.
¡°Ha! So you were following me!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu talked first, ¡°You used this method thest time to snatch my client, Liu Ying. Are you trying to use the same method now to get my new client?¡±
Xia Lei took a deep breath to calm his nerves a little before he spoke, ¡°Jing-Qiu, I am not thinking of snatching your clients. I just want to know who gave you this purchase order. I want to know who that man just now was. Please tell me all that you know.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu sneered, ¡°You followed me. I haven¡¯t settled this issue with you yet and you actually dare to ask me for information on my client? Who do you think you are? Why should I fulfil all your requests?¡±
¡°Jing-Qiu, I¡¯m begging you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chi Jing-Qiuughed, ¡°How unexpected. You, begging me?¡±
¡°Tell me.¡± Xia Lei kept his emotions in check despite her mocking. He wouldn¡¯t even be bothering to beg her if that man did not look exactly like his father!
Chi Jing-Qiu was silent and she looked quietly at Xia Lei, looking like she was thinking of something. A vague smile appeared in the corners of her lips and she said, ¡°So you¡¯re begging me. How will you beg?¡±
¡°Jing-Qiu, that man...¡± Xia Lei was about to say that that man looked a lot like his father but he swallowed his words. Chi Jing-Qiu was his high school ssmate but his father had never gone to his school and she had never seen his father before. This was a very strange matter and he did not want Chi Jing-Qiu to know too much. He hesitated, then changed his words, ¡°Tell me what you want.¡±
¡°What do I want? Let me think...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu looked at Xia Lei, all smiles. Under the table, she¡¯d removed her high heel and reached her ckce-stockinged foot to Xia Lei¡¯s knee.
Xia Lei froze. He understood what Chi Jing-Qiu wanted right away.
¡°I did say that I, Chi Jing-Qiu, will get what I want,¡± she giggled, ¡°There¡¯s a hotel close by that¡¯s not too bad. Let¡¯s go there to talk.¡±
Xia Lei bore with the sensations and controlled his anger, ¡°Jing-Qiu, can we not do this? Tell me, who is that man? How did he find you?¡±
¡°Is this begging me? Do you know how to beg?¡± Under the table, Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s leg was like the second hand in a watch, lively and gentle. She could feel a change in Xia Lei and that change made her excited. She looked like she was ready to eat Xia Lei up.
Want answers? Sleep with me!
This was the unspoken request from Chi Jing-Qiu.
Should he agree to it, or not? Xia Lei hesitated.
Give his first time to a woman like Chi Jing-Qiu? No way. However, as he thought of the man who looked exactly like his father, Xia Lei was fairly tempted to agree!
While he deliberated, his left eyended on the cup of cappino that man had ordered. The coffee had not been touched and the cup was full. The cup was also very clean and had no fingerprints. However, there were coffee stains on the table under the cup.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze stayed on the coffee stain and he suddenly discovered that the stain was actually some Russian letters - §à§ã§ä§à§â§à§Ø§ß§à.
This meant ¡®caution¡¯.
¡®Who is he telling to be cautious? Me?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s mind felt like it had been blown, ¡®Was he really my father?¡¯
Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s leg was still wreaking havoc and her voice changed, ¡°Lei, I know you still like me. Let¡¯s get a room in a hotel. I¡¯ll tell you whatever you want to know. Didn¡¯t you always want me? I¡¯ll give you everything. I¡¯ll even give you that parts my deadbeat husband never touched.¡±
She was trying to tempt Xia Lei but her own reactions were stronger than his.
Xia Lei seemed to suddenly realise something. He reached and caught Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s leg, then pinched it hard.
¡°Ow...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu cried in pain, quickly retracted her leg and red abashedly at Xia Lei, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°You don¡¯t actually know anything about this client, do you?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu paused, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you know something when I don¡¯t.¡±
¡°Forget it. Go get a room yourself. I¡¯m not going to y along.¡± Xia Lei got up and left after he spoke.
Chi Jing-Qiu red at Xia Lei¡¯s rapidly retreating back dumbly for a while before she spoke, ¡°How did he know that I didn¡¯t know? This guy! I lowered my price and he still refuses to sleep with me! Damn!¡±
She then closed her legs tightly and blushed. Xia Lei had walked off but she was still savouring the feeling of having taken advantage of him earlier.
The reason Xia Lei changed his mind was simple - the Russian words which that man had left was one, and the other was that the man was mysterious and professional in the way he did things. Why would he tell Chi Jing-Qiu his true identity?
Xia Lei crossed the road and walked back to Qin Xiang.
¡°So? I saw you go chasing after that man. Caught him?¡± Qin Xiang asked in concern.
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°He seemed to have known that I wasing and had an escape route nned. He doesn¡¯t want to meet me. It¡¯s useless for me to chase him.¡±
¡°He... Is he really your father?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°I can¡¯t confirm it but I believe he¡¯ll turn up again.¡±
Qin Xiang shrugged, ¡°Looks like you went on a wild goose chase.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he spoke, ¡°Qin Xiang, you can¡¯t tell anyone about this, okay?¡±
¡°I know what you mean. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell anyone,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡± Xia Lei sighed. He felt like he¡¯d worked the whole day and he was tired.
¡°Mm, don¡¯t overthink things either.¡± Qin Xiang started his Yamaha motorcycle and roared off into traffic, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei, too, walked back to his Great Wall H6. He was still recalling the details of that man.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Mobile phone ringing interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts. He took his phone out, checked it, then unlocked the screen to answer. ¡°Hello, it¡¯s me,¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice, ¡°I¡¯ve arranged everything on our side. I¡¯ll wait for you at the airport. Be here within two hours.¡±
¡°So quickly?¡± said Xia Lei in surprise.
Long Bing hung up.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and drove towards the Liang household. Two hours was enough time to say goodbye to Liang Si-Yao and Liang Zheng-Chun.
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Chapter 118
Wife¡¯s Scissorhands
One dayter - Western Germany¡¯s industrial area, Essen City, in a rented t.
A view of the bustling streets of Essen could be seen from the window. Tall buildings, endless streams of traffic and pedestrians, typical of cities and nothing new. The difference was that everything here was was well organised and that the people were mostly tall and strict Germanic people.
¡°Like this ce?¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice came from behind.
Xia Lei looked back at her and smiled, ¡°Can¡¯t say how much I like it. It¡¯s very clean and very orderly butcks the human touch we have. I¡¯m Chinese, so to me, the ce that suits me most is our own ce.¡±
No matter how great Germany was, it was the Germans¡¯ Germany, not a Germany for the Chinese. No matter how big the world was, the mostfortable ce would be one¡¯s home. This feeling was shared by everyone, even by those who left their hometowns.
¡°I¡¯m the same,¡± Long Bing gave a faint smile, ¡°Let¡¯s get down to business. Have you memorised the information I gave you? Recite it to me.¡±
Xia Lei did not even have to think. ¡°My name is Liang Hu, born 3rd December, 1991. My home address is Sichuan City, Jin-Niu district, a distinguished neighbourhood in Building 51, First floor, Unit 1. My German name is Lukas. I came to Germany to work and earn more money to change my lifestyle. My residence permit number is 05792787 and my permit is valid for three years. My work permit number is 811568798. I can work in Germany and my work permit is also valid for three years. Thepany I¡¯m going to join is Krupp Mak Maschinenbau. Thispany is one of two manufacturers of the Leopard 2 tank. My job position is a normal mechanic assistant.¡±
An ¡®assistant¡¯ was a polite way to say that he was an errand boy for the mechanics.
Long Bing nodded. ¡°Mm, you¡¯ve remembered well. I have to remind you too that you are fluent in German, which is good, but it can be dangerous. You will attract the attention of others if you¡¯re too good. It¡¯ll be best to speak less when you interact with others and not draw any attention to yourself.¡±
¡°Okay. I can speak more slowly, like I¡¯m trying to recall words.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. You¡¯ll be reporting for work tomorrow at the manufacturing nt of Krupp MaK Maschinenbau. Look for a man named ¡®Krew¡¯ and he will arrange work for you to do. I¡¯ll give you his information and a video about Krupp MaK Maschinenbau. Destroy them after you¡¯ve read them. I¡¯m going to contact our people while you read through the information.¡± Long Bing gave Xia Lei an information packet and a mobile phone-only sh drive.
Xia Lei nodded and looked at the information in the packet after Long Bing left.
The packet contained Krew¡¯s picture. He was middle-aged, plump, blonde hair balding at the top and his eyes were miserable. Xia Lei looked at his information next. It was quite detailed and had Krew¡¯s birth date, blood type, height, weight and so on, as well as work habits and descriptions of hobbies and leisure activities. He liked to bet on horses and football and had gambling debts.
Xia Lei was not surprised by this in the least. This was the sort of person who could be bribed easily after all, and arrange for him to enter the manufacturing nt to work.
After he read through Krew¡¯s information, Xia Lei inserted the mobile phone sh drive into the phone Long Bing had prepared for him and watched the video on Krupp MaK Maschinenbau.
Thepany was one of the few big and important machine manufacturers in Germany. Thepany was also part of the Krupp* family conglomerate. The prominent Krupp family once made artillery during the Great Qing dynasty and these were used in the country¡¯s defence. Though the family had withdrawn from the spotlight of history, the video still described them in detail. There was also a video of the manufacturing nt of Krupp MaK Maschinenbau.
Thepany owned several manufacturing nts and the one Xia Lei was going to was a branch in Essen. The video also covered the situation in this nt. Xia Lei memorised all of it.
After he was done watching the video, Xia Lei had nothing else to do and the image of that man who resembled his father, Xia Chang-He, appeared in his head again. ¡®Should I tell her about that man?¡¯ Xia Lei was still undecided.
He would have already told Long Bing if that man had not resembled his father so strongly. He had his worries about this matter because it was very odd from beginning to end and letting her intercede would be bad if that man really was his missing father.
Long Bing returned to the room to find Xia Lei staring into space by the window. ¡°Have you looked at the information I gave you?¡±
Xia Lei snapped back to reality, ¡°Yep, I¡¯ve taken a look... I¡¯ll take the time to memorise the information at night.¡±
¡°You¡¯d better not make any mistakes. This is very important. Germany is not as dangerous as America but the EU has simr views on several fronts, like the technological blockade they have put up against China. Most importantly, the EU and America share information. Germany has military bases in America as well as intelligenceworks in all areas. We will be in danger if we¡¯re discovered,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°The way you speak makes it sound like we are spies. Are we engaged in espionage?¡±
¡°Nothing wrong if you think of it like that. Anyway, just be very careful and exercise caution. Remember that.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll go for a walk, then buy some daily necessities. We can also familiarise ourselves with the environment,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei suddenly remembered something, ¡°Oh, right. You haven¡¯t mentioned what rtionship we have. What do I say if someone asks me?¡±
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei a little strangely and spoke after a bit of silence, ¡°The higher-ups have decided that I¡¯m your wife.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was taken aback, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me such a thing earlier? Th-the higher-ups are slow to inform me, huh. I¡¯m not ready.¡±
¡°What do you need to be ready for? It¡¯s not real.¡± Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, ¡°The n was for me to pretend to be your girlfriend or fianc¨¦e but it wasn¡¯t a very good choice for my cover so they had another meeting and decided that I should pretend to be your wife. We¡¯ve been married for half a year and I¡¯m here in Germany with you to look for opportunities. I don¡¯t have to work; you¡¯re supporting me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Doing this is also helps prevent a sudden investigation by the German Immigration or the Labour Authority. We have to pay more attention to some details to better protect our identities,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Okay, Laura,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡®Laura¡¯ was Long Bing¡¯s German name, and her made-up Chinese name was ¡®Chen Li¡¯.
Long Bing reached out to hold Xia Lei¡¯s hand and said intimately, ¡°Let¡¯s go, Lukas.¡±
She¡¯d suddenly entered ¡®wife mode¡¯ for ¡®Lukas¡¯. Xia Lei, on the other hand, froze for a bit before he rxed. There was no avoiding this difference. Long Bing was a special agent who¡¯d undergone professional training after all and he was just a regr guy.
The pair left the t and shopped while wandering about in the nearby streets. Long Bing yed the role of wife perfectly the whole time - holding onto Xia Lei¡¯s hand, and yfully asking him to buy things she liked. Xia Lei felt like she had suddenly turned into a whole other person and waspletely different from the iceberg-like Long Bing he knew. She¡¯d be a warm and adorable woman.
They left the t empty-handed and returned with several bags of various shapes and sizes.
Xia Lei rxed after walking through the doorway. ¡°We didn¡¯t have to act so much, did we? I don¡¯t think anyone was watching us,¡± he said.
Long Bing shook her head and said sternly, ¡°There will be people taking notice of us wherever we go. The only difference is if it was intentional or not. Can you tell what a person¡¯s objective is? You cannot, so you also can¡¯t be sure who is a disguised special agent or intelligence operative. Because of what we have to do here, we must be in our roles every minute. Only then can we avoid having our identities seen through due to carelessness.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°This can be considered a new lesson.¡±
Xia Lei had X-ray vision and could see a person¡¯s heart but could not see into a person¡¯s heart and see one¡¯s motives. There were so many people on the streets - who knew if there really was a special agent or intelligence agent hidden amongst them?
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll remember that.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the only bed in the room - a double bed. It made him think of something and he began to look nervous, ¡°Uh... Does the ¡®every minute¡¯ you said include sleeping time?¡±
Long Bing nodded slightly.
Xia Lei raised his finger and pointed at the double bed, asking probingly, ¡°Then at night, we...¡±
Long Bing nodded again, ¡°Sleep together.¡±
Xia Lei froze on the spot. His brain started throwing out scenarios of himself sleeping on the same bed as Long Bing and he became even more nervous.
Long Bing red at Xia Lei, ¡°If you have any impure thoughts and try to do something funny, I will...¡± She raised a hand, made her fingers into the shape of scissors and made a snipping motion.
Xia Lei looked back at her wordlessly.
Dinner was German-style; ham, bacon, sour soup and a te of fruit sd. Cooking exotic dishes was as simple as taking a look at the recipe and preparing them ordingly to Xia Lei. There was no need for him to put on an act in the kitchen. He was already a warm and nice husband.
After dinner, Xia Lei bundled himself on the sofa in the small living room and watched television to put off having to go to bed. However, no matter how long he put it off, he still had to sleep.
Long Bing acted a lot more naturally than he did. She had gone to bed an hour earlier and she was already asleep when Xia Lei entered the bedroom.
The lights were off in the room but this did not stop Xia Lei from seeing the situation on the bed clearly.
Long Bing was dressed in thin pyjamas and only covered by a thin summer quilt.
Xia Lei let out a light breath and crawled on the bed. He did not have the habit of wearing pyjamas but this was a special situation and he was dressed in pyjamas too. It was a short-sleeved type paired with shorts.
The bed smelt of Long Bing¡¯s fragrance and this womanly fragrance did not bring pleasure to Xia Lei but was a form of torture. It made him very nervous. He did not dare move after hey down.
¡°Do you want the nket?¡± Long Bing suddenly turned around and looked at Xia Lei beside her.
Xia Lei nearly had a scare. ¡°Weren¡¯t you asleep?¡±
¡°You¡¯re very nervous.¡±
¡°I... I¡¯m not nervous.¡±
Long Bing pfft-ed, ¡°Okay, I saw wrong then. You¡¯re not nervous at all. Want the nket?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
Long Bing moved some of the nket over to cover Xia Lei and the two of them were covered by a single nket. Thereafter, the both of them stayed quiet and closed their eyes to go to sleep.
The bed was slightly small for two adults at 1.5 metres.
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked at the ceiling.
After who knew how long, Xia Lei suddenly felt an itch in the arm that was next to Long Bing and he reached to scratch it, identally touching Long Bing.
¡°Sorry, I, I didn¡¯t do that on purpose,¡± Xia Lei hurriedly exined himself.
Long Bing reached a hand out of the quilt and made her fingers into a pair of scissors in Xia Lei¡¯s face, then silently made a snipping motion.
Xia Lei was speechless.
*Krupp family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krupp
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Chapter 119
Troublesome Female Mechanic
Early the next morning, Xia Lei arrived at the machining nt of Krupp Mak Maschinenbau in Essen. It was 0740 hrs. Germans usually started work at 0800 hrs but he arrived 20 mins early in hope of giving them a good impression on his first day.
After asking around, Xia Lei found the Human Resources office. There was nobody in the office so he stood outside and waited. Neatly-dressed people walked into the office building one after the other and into different offices to start their workday.
At around 0756 hrs, a middle-aged man came to the door of the Human Resources office and Xia Lei recognised Krew though it was his first time seeing him.
¡°Hello, Mr Krew,¡± greeted Xia Lei in German.
Krew looked Xia Lei up and down and asked tentatively, ¡°Lukas?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m Lukas. I¡¯ll be in your care.¡±
¡°Come in. I¡¯ll have to talk to you about your work,¡± said Krew.
Xia Lei followed him into the office. The furnishing in the office was simple; a shared workspace, some desks and a water dispenser.
Krew sat on his chair and spun half a circle to look at Xia Lei, ¡°Have you any prior experience in machining or processing?¡±
Xia Lei understood him perfectly but pretended to find it difficult to process thenguage and paused for a few seconds before he said, ¡°Yes, I have this area of... area of experience. Mr Krew, this is my resume. Please take a look.¡± So saying, he handed the prepared resume to Krew with both hands.
Krew, however, did not even nce at it, ¡°No need to look. You¡¯re just going to run errands for the mechanics. It¡¯s enough for you be get familiar with the basic functions. But which mechanic should I assign you to? What a headache...¡±
At this moment, a woman in blue work clothes walked in. She was very young and about 180cm tall, curvy in front and back and very attractive. She was tall and her features were delicate, especially her clear, blue eyes, which were like blue gems in the great sea that drew one¡¯s attention. And her lips - full, delicate and moist. Lips like hers made men with active imaginations want to kiss her to feel them, and as for naughtier imaginations...
A work badge perched on her chest with her job title written on it. She was a senior mechanic and her name was Annina.
Female mechanics were not rare in Germany but one as beautiful, sexy and young as her was rare, especially when she held a higher rank than most.
¡°Annina, to what do I owe this pleasure?¡± A smile appeared on Krew¡¯s face but his smile seemed obscene. His eyes were fixed on Annina¡¯s particrly spectacr chest as he spoke and it was clear from his actions that he was thinking dirty thoughts.
Annina frowned and said, ¡°I¡¯m here for personnel. My assistant has quit for a fortnight already and thepany has yet to assign me a recement. I¡¯m doing the job of two people now. I¡¯ll go on strike if you don¡¯t give me an assistant today.¡±
Krew stood and pointed at Xia Lei, ¡°I haven¡¯t forgotten your matter. This is the assistant I got for you.¡±
You have to say that this guy reacted quickly.
Xia Lei stretched out his hand and gave her a friendly smile, ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Lukas.¡±
Annina did not reach out her hand and looked at Xia Lei questioningly, ¡°You?¡±
Xia Lei retracted his hand awkwardly.
¡°Mr Krew, you know that I¡¯m responsible for the maintenance of precision machinery. My previous assistant had six years of experience as a machinist. Now you¡¯re giving me such a young person, and an Asian on top of that. Is this some sort of joke?¡±
¡°What other suitable assistant is there? There¡¯s just this one. Take it or leave it. I can assign him to someone else,¡± said Krew.
¡°Then when will I have my assistant?¡±
¡°That I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m giving you this one but you don¡¯t want him. The alternative is to wait half a year, at the earliest,¡± said Krew.
¡°You...¡± Annina looked mad, then she looked at Xia Lei, ¡°Do you have the relevant work experience?¡±
¡°I have some experience,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll put you on a three-day probation. You leave if you don¡¯t make the cut. You have to have the ability if you want to be my assistant and if you don¡¯t, I don¡¯t want an assistant either.¡± Annina pulled no punches.
Xia Lei was not angry, ¡°I¡¯ll leave on my own if you¡¯re dissatisfied.¡±
¡°Come with me.¡± Annina left the Human Resources office reluctantly.
Xia Lei nodded his thanks to Krew and followed Annina out.
Annina brought Xia Lei to a workshop full of people at work in work clothes. Some were cutting metal, some usingthes to process parts and some were assembling mechanical products. It was very busy.
Xia Lei thought the workshop was to be his workce but Annina brought him past the workshop and to a single work shed at the back.
Xia Lei was surprised when the door opened and he saw a disassembled Leopard 2 tank and a dismantled tanker engine.
Annina¡¯s work shed also had a super-precision CNCthe, as well as cutting and welding equipment - aplete set. Looking at all the equipment, Xia Lei was struck by a thought, ¡®There¡¯s just her and myself in this ce. It¡¯ll be rtively low risk for me to steal trade secrets like this. Lucky me.¡¯
¡°This is my workce,¡± said Annina, ¡°As you can see, I am mainly in charge of maintenance. Do you have experience in this?¡±
Xia Lei was about to say that he didn¡¯t but thought for a bit and said, ¡°Some. I can ease your workload.¡±
Annina looked him over again, ¡°Your German¡¯s not bad but conversational level is not enough. Can you read technical manuals?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°I can understand most. Coming to Germany is my dream. I studied German on my own for three years.¡±
Annina casually picked up a German manual from her workstation and threw it to Xia Lei, ¡°I don¡¯t quite believe you. Read this aloud.¡±
Xia Lei flipped through the pages of the manual and started reading slowly, ¡°This product is suitable for use in an open pit. This is a product of Krupp MaK and thepany holds all rights to modify the product... Precautions...¡±
Xia Lei could actually read the manual smoothly but he read slowly and also made some mistakes on purpose. Long Bing had cautioned him about this and he had not forgotten.
Annina looked a little warmer when he finished reading, ¡°Not bad. Your German is quite good to be able to read that much. Show me your skills next. You have three days. If you can get my approval in three days, you can keep your job position.¡±
¡°I¡¯m prepared. What is my job today?¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina looked about for a moment, then pointed at a motorcycle parked in the work shed. ¡°You say you have experience fixing machines. That motorcycle is mine. It works, but it¡¯s slow and the engine sounds faulty. Can you fix it?¡±
Xia Lei looked at it. It was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, worth almost 300,000 yuan in China and could be said to be the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles. However, the value of the vehicle was not what mattered; what mattered was that Annina did not trust him from the start and asking him to repair the motorcycle was an obvious attempt to make things difficult for him.
Annina¡¯s eyes held a look of scorn, ¡°What, you don¡¯t know how to fix it? In Germany even non-professional mechanics can fix motorcycles. You Chinese mechanics can¡¯t even do this?¡±
Xia Lei could see it now - this Annina seemed to have a racist outlook and looked down on Asians.
Xia Lei had no experience at all in repairing motorcycles but Annina¡¯s words made his temper re and he stared straight at her with a faintly scornful smile on his lips. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a motorcycle? How difficult can it be? Give me an hour and I¡¯ll get rid of all its problems.¡±
¡°One hour?¡± Annina looked at Xia Lei in surprise, thenughed, ¡°Lukas, is it? What joke is this?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not joking,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina grunted, ¡°Lukas, you know what? This motorcycle is my transport vehicle; I ride it to work and even I am not sure what¡¯s wrong with it. Fixing it, even for me, would first require removing the engine for a thorough inspection, then finding solutions to the problems found. What I want to tell you is that I¡¯d need at least five hours to do so and you¡¯re telling me you can fix all its problems in an hour. Do you mean to say that you¡¯re better than me?¡±
Xia Lei replied nonchntly, ¡°I don¡¯t mean to offend you but it¡¯s just a motorcycle. I really don¡¯t need five hours.¡±
Annina raised a blonde eyebrow, ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll put a timer on. If you can fix my motorcycle in an hour I¡¯ll take you out for a ride, then treat you to authentic German dark beer.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a promise,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hold on,¡± said Annina, ¡°If you can¡¯t do it and go over an hour, you have to disappear from my sight. I don¡¯t like working with ignorant people.¡±
¡°Start the timer.¡± Xia Lei was not going to bother wasting words on her. He carried a mechanic¡¯s toolbox and walked towards the Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Annina nced at the watch on her wrist and thought, ¡®Arrogant punk. You think that¡¯s a cheap Chinese motorcycle? You think you can use your hands and eyes to fix my motorcycle without professional inspection equipment? You¡¯ll disappear from my sight in an hour!¡¯
Xia Lei walked to the Harley-Davidson and looked quietly at its body, then locked his gaze on the motorcycle¡¯s engine. He seemed to go into a trance afterwards and was motionless for about two minutes.
¡°Huh!¡± Anninaughed contemptuously, ¡°What, you¡¯re clueless? Stop blowing your own horn!¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei seemed to have discovered or confirmed something and started to use a wrench on the motorcycle¡¯s engine.
¡°Hey!¡± said Annina, ¡°My motorcycle¡¯s worth 20,000 euro. You¡¯ll have to pay me back if you break it!¡±
Xia Lei looked back at her, ¡°Can you shut your mouth?¡±
Annina stared nkly.
Was this the attitude of an assistant?
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Chapter 120 - Win Her Over
Win Her Over
What was the simplest method when fixing mechanical things, including motorcycle engines?
It was to identify the faulty part and rece it, then you¡¯re done. However, no one on this Earth can see what part inside the engine was faulty. Even the most experienced mechanic can only rely on experience to guess which part was faulty, then dismantle the engine to check. There will be mistakes, of course. Ears and experience cannot rece the use of sight. Xia Lei was the only exception in the world since his left eye could see through objects and spot things others couldn¡¯t.
In the two minutes that he¡¯d spent staring at the motorcycle engine, he had looked at the entire thing and determined the faulty part. There was too much carbon deposit in the engine, causing a connecting rod to fracture and cause a gap in the piston motion, which resulted in a weak engine and abnormal sounds. Xia Lei just had to rece the connecting rod and clean up the carbon deposit to fix this problem.
Xia Lei was quick to dismantle the engine and had it all in pieces in 15 minutes and removed the faulty piston.
Throughout the process, Annina stood to one side and watched. She had been full of worry in the beginning and regretted using her own motorcycle to test Xia Lei¡¯s abilities. After a few minutes, however, she saw Xia Lei¡¯s easy handling of the machine and grew confused. Could this guy really fix her motorcycle? At the end, when she saw Xia Lei remove the piston without even inspecting the engine, her jaw nearly dropped to the floor - she was so shocked because a self-proimed elite mechanic like herself would definitely not be able to find the root of the problem so quickly.
Xia Lei took out the connecting rod in the piston then walked to the welding machine to fix and weld the cracks on the rod.
Annina could not hold back and moved close, ¡°You¡¯re actually using welding to fix one of the intricate parts of an engine? Are you acting like a bigshot? You know if you weld too much or too little the part will be unusable.¡±
She was still doubtful of him but her tone of voice was more polite than it was.
Xia Lei ignored her and finished welding the cracks, then brought the connecting rod to thethe to do high-precision corrections.
Annina came close again, ¡°I¡¯m talking to you. Why are you ignoring me?¡±
Xia Lei looked up at her and snapped, ¡°Will you be able to give me a new connecting rod if I don¡¯t do this?¡±
¡°But you won¡¯t be able to ensure the precision of the part. You can put it in again but the motorcycle engine will definitely still have problems.¡± Annina spoke as if she was an expert.
¡°You don¡¯t trust me?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...! What I said is the truth. Why are you so stubborn? Have you never epted others¡¯ opinions?¡±
¡°You¡¯re dragging on for time, aren¡¯t you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Annina was so mad she couldn¡¯t speak.
Xia Lei paid her no further mind and busied himself with thethe.
He would admit that his attitude was bad but it wasn¡¯t as bad whenpared to Annina¡¯s earlier attitude. He would not easily forgive her, especially when she was looking down on the Chinese standards.
Xia Lei had to be serious about certain things and not back down, even if the other was a woman.
Xia Lei was done with the connecting rod in under fifteen minutes. He took it off thethe and held it up to examine it and confirm its precision.
This simple action made Annina¡¯s blue eyes bug out in disbelief. What she saw was a perfect weld on the connecting rod with no trace of damage! She couldn¡¯t weld like that herself!
¡°You...¡± Annina took in a breath, ¡°Mr Lukas, how... How did you do that?¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her then took the connecting rod to the motorcycle engine, still not too bothered to talk to her.
¡°You¡¯re rude.¡± Annina was angry and upset but still followed him with her bugged out eyes. She really wanted to know how the manually repaired part would fare.
In that moment, Annina had already acknowledged Xia Lei¡¯s professional ability and she was starting to ept him. She was just unwilling to admit it.
Xia Lei spent another 25 mins reassembling the engine and putting it back on the motorcycle. He took two steps back and said, ¡°I¡¯m done. See if I¡¯ve gone over an hour.¡±
Annina snapped back to reality and hurriedly checked her watch. She was astonished - Xia Lei had used a total of 53 mins. It hadn¡¯t even been an hour!
¡°Looks like I didn¡¯t go overtime. Try it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina took out her keys and inserted them, then started the engine. The motorcycle¡¯s engine let out a roar; it was a normal engine sound and there were no strange sounds at all.
¡°Impossible!¡± Annina could not believe that Xia Lei could repair the motorcycle so perfectly.
Xia Lei smiled icily, ¡°Miss Annina, are you saying this because I am Chinese? There¡¯s no denying that Germany is more advanced than China now but don¡¯t you think a civilisation established thousands of years before yours would overtake yours someday? Or are you not willing to see that such a day draws closer and closer?¡±
¡°What do you mean by that, Mr Lukas? You think I¡¯m racist? I can tell you for sure that I am not!¡± Annina picked up on why Xia Lei seemed unhappy with her and she got angry as well.
Xia Lei shrugged and kept quiet; he was not going to continue arguing. At times like this, he, as a man, should give way to her since there would be no end to the matter if they kept arguing.
Annina restrained herself as well. She was very aware that her attitude was bad and Xia Lei being unhappy with her was pardonable. She did not want to continue arguing with Xia Lei either. She kicked the kickstand up and rode the motorcycle out of the work shed.
Xia Lei walked out of the work shed too and watched as Annina rode her motorcycle on the roads within the ntpound. The motorcycle worked wonderfully after the repair. Her upper body was almost lying across the tank as she manoeuvred the motorcycle skilfully.
¡®European women have great figures.¡¯ Xia Lei could not help thinking.
Xia Lei let out a sigh and smacked himself on the forehead. He then gloomily realised that he hadn¡¯t washed his hands and had smacked himself with his greasy and grimy hand. Who knew how bad his forehead looked now.
Annina did not ride far and quickly turned back.
Annina stopped beside Xia Lei with the screeching of rubber on ground. She took one look at Xia Lei and burst outughing, ¡°Mr Lukas, your face... You¡¯re like a cute little tabby cat! Haha!¡±
Xia Lei smiled awkwardly, ¡°How is it? Did I fix your motorcycle? Any problems?¡±
Annina hopped off the motorcycle, walked to Xia Lei and suddenly gave him a tight hug. She also patted him on the back in an intimate fashion on top of that.
This change in attitude was quite ufortable for Xia Lei.
Annina let go of Xia Lei and smiled as she said, ¡°Mr Lukas, I apologise for my earlier rudeness. You were right. I was perhaps biased against Chinese mechanics but you have corrected my bias. You are the best mechanic I¡¯ve seen and you qualify fully to be my assistant. We will definitely work happily together.¡±
Xia Lei also smiled graciously, ¡°Thank you.¡±
¡°You won. I¡¯ll honour my bet. I¡¯ll take you out for a ride after work and we¡¯ll go to a bar for dark beer,¡± said Annina.
¡°That¡¯s not necessary. I still have to go home after work...¡±
Annina cut him short, ¡°You¡¯ve already done what you should but you¡¯re not giving me a chance to do what I should. Are you still angry with me, Mr Lukas?¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll ride with you to the bar.¡± Xia Lei changed his mind. Annina was being nice and he would offend her if he refused to go.
The pair returned to the work shed. The task of the day was to repair the motor of the Leopard 2.
After a day¡¯s work, Xia Lei discovered that Annina was a workaholic. She did not stop when she started. She was also meticulous and followed the standards strictly. If a screw had to be screwed 20 times, she would do so exactly. Xia Lei could feel the German work ethic from her and this made him feel that Germany¡¯s manufacturing industry was well-developed for good reason.
They took showers in the workce after work and left the manufacturing nt on one motorcycle.
Annina¡¯s Harley-Davidson Breakout motorcycle required the driver to lean over the tank when driving and the passenger, naturally, had to lean forward as well. Xia Lei, as passenger, had to hold onto Annina¡¯s waist to sit stably. She was also going fast, so he had to hold her, and hold her tight.
The Harley-Davidson Breakout motorcycle galloped upon the road as the wind howled in his ears. Xia Lei held on tight to Annina¡¯s waist and her plump bottom was between his legs, having intimate contact with his ¡®that¡¯ ce. This contact made him nervous and he wanted to move away but when he saw that the motorcycle was going at 159 km/h, he couldn¡¯t help moving closer...
Wasn¡¯t she afraid of falling of the motorcycle and to her death?
Xia Lei worried over that thought all the way to the bar and every time he thought that, he would move a little closer.
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Chapter 121 - Sweeping Wind
Sweeping Wind
There were a lot of young people in the bustling bar. Annina drank a few sses of beer and went dancing on the dance floor. Xia Lei sat quietly by himself at a small table, thinking over some things.
He¡¯d used the high-precisionthe eight times in one day¡¯s work. Other than the one time he¡¯d used it for the purpose of fixing Annina¡¯s motorcycle, he¡¯d used his X-ray vision on it the other seven times. In those seven times, his left eye had recorded all of the machine¡¯s inner structure and circuitry. He recalled the images and the recorded imagery appeared as pictures in his mind.
¡®Thethe in Annina¡¯s workshop is not the most advanced one in Germany but it way surpasses China¡¯s best standards. If wepare the difference, it would take China at least 30 years to catch up. I need to upgrade mythes and try to get more interaction with even more advancedthes. The structure of thethe is not most important - the Computer Numerical Control is. How can I solve this problem?¡¯ Xia Lei pondered.
The difference between high-precisionthes and normalthesy in the CNC. The highest precisionthes cannot function without the CNC, so understanding the structure is not enough and he¡¯d need to get its CNC. The problem was this - he could see the structure of the machine with his left eye, but how could he see an intangible thing like the CNC?
¡®I have to find some way to interact with more models of high-precision machines; the more advanced the better. I¡¯d also need to gain more knowledge about CNC. It¡¯ll be best if I can research this. If I can¡¯t, I¡¯d have to find some way to steal rted software orputer chips.¡¯ Xia Lei decided quietly on his intentions.
He was clearly not a spy but what he was doing now was rather spy-like. He had a choice before he came to Germany but now that he was here he had no other options. He had to finish the mission quickly and get out of danger as soon as he could.
The DJ in the bar put on music with a very heavy bass and the youth on the dance floor started going wild, moving their bodies with abandon.
Xia Lei looked at the dance floor and quickly spotted Annina. She was, unquestionably, the prettiest woman on the dance floor. Several men were dancing around her, trying to entice her to dance with one of them. Annina, however, seemed to enjoy being surrounded by them and their attention and danced excitedly.
At that moment, a ck youth reached and touched Annina¡¯s waist.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Annina looked back at him and red.
The greasy youth smiled nastily, ¡°What are you pretending for?¡±
¡°Shameless!¡± scolded Annina, ¡°You¡¯re gross!¡±
Another ck youth took the chance and touched Annina¡¯s bottom.
Annina turned around and pped the second youth on the face.
p! She had hit hard and the p could be heard clearly over the music.
¡°You bitch!¡± The youth who¡¯d been pped was furious and grabbed Annina¡¯s golden hair, pulling her head down.
The bar¡¯s security strode over.
Several ck youths suddenly appeared, hindering the security guy. One of them raised a tattooed finger and pointed at the security guard, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t move. This doesn¡¯t concern you. You make enemies of us ck Dynasty, you die.¡±
The security guy seemed afraid of the group of youths and took two steps back.
Xia Lei stood and walked towards the dance floor but stopped at the edge.
He¡¯d seen the first youth touch Annina and wanted to help her when she turned around to scold him but he suddenly remembered his identity and his goal. He knew that it was no problem for him to take care of a few young guys but the problem was that if he hurt someone, Essen police would investigate and a Chinese person who knew kung-fu would stand out very much indeed. Furthermore, a worse possibility would be him getting deported for breaking Germanws. Long Bing and himself would fail the mission if that were the case!
While Xia Lei was stressing and hesitating over what to do, the youth who¡¯d grabbed Annina¡¯s hair dragged her towards the back door.
Annina shouted loudly for help but nobody dared to help her. Nobody seemed willing to offend an infamous local underground gang for the sake of a stranger.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought and walked quickly towards the back door. He slipped outside before the ck youth and Annina exited.
Beyond the back door was an alley with a fewrge rubbish bins. The waste from the bar went in those and a sour stench which could be smelt a mile off came from them. The smell worked as a deterrent and no one was willing toe close. The alley was also dim and had no lights.
Xia Lei took off his shirt and covered his face, then hid himself beside a rubbish bin.
The back door was pushed open and a few ck youths dragged Annina out.
¡°Bitch!¡± The youth holding onto Annina¡¯s hair pushed her to the ground and said fiercely, ¡°You dare p me? You¡¯ll see the might of the ckter. Hahaha!¡±
The youths surrounded Annina.
¡°Wha,what are you going to do?¡± Annina said fearfully. She¡¯d lost all her arrogance and her heart was full of terror.
¡°Do?¡± The leader smiled lecherously, ¡°We¡¯re not going to pass up on a free white girl. We¡¯ll sell you on the ck market after we¡¯ve had our fun. White girls like you are definitely worth quite a bit of money.¡±
¡°Lukas!¡± Annina suddenly shouted, ¡°Lukas!¡±
¡°Who¡¯s she calling?¡± said a ck youth.
¡°Her boyfriend?¡± a ck youth mocked, ¡°Or is it batman? She¡¯s trying to get a hero to save her!¡±
The leader spoke, ¡°She had someone with her and that person may have already called the police. We need to leave. Take this bitch with us to our base. We¡¯ll make full use of her!¡±
¡°Yeah!¡± a ck youth smiledsciviously, ¡°White girls like this are very clean. We can just go raw. Haha!¡±
The group of ck youthsughed.
The leader grabbed Annina by the hair again and pulled her up from the ground.
¡°Please, let me go! I¡¯ll give you my wallet! I have a thousand euro!¡± cried Annina.
The leader sneered, ¡°What you have belongs to us now. Obey me or I¡¯ll kill you right now!¡±
The youths dragged Annina towards the alley¡¯s exit.
At that moment, a figure suddenly came out from behind the rubbish bins with a brick in hand. The figure went to the back-most youth of the group and struck him on the head.
Bam! A muffled sound could be heard before the youth tumbled to the ground.
Before the other youths could react, the masked person struck another youth who was turning back to see what had happened.
Bam! There was another dull thud and the brick broke. The youth who was turning back fell to the ground as well.
¡°Get him!¡± the leader roared as he reached for his gun.
The masked person suddenly zoomed through the gap between two ck youth and punched the leader in the throat. He was as quick as a person jumping from the top of a building. The leader barely had time to blink before the punch connected with his throat.
The throat was one of the vulnerable parts of the human body and a person would be temporarily suffocated after being struck heavily there. The leader would not be able to draw his gun and attack while gasping for air.
The remaining two youths finally figured out what was happening and reached for their guns but the masked man was much faster than they were. Both his hands chopped at the hands of the youths and they shouted in pain. The masked man¡¯s hands were like hardened steel.
He struck blows like the wind on the two targets. An uncountable number of blows rained upon the two youths in the blink of an eye. In just a few seconds, the two youths were beaten ck and blue and they copsed to the ground.
Annina stared dumbly at the masked man who had saved her. She felt that he looked familiar but her reactions were slow and she could not tell who he was based on skin, hair or body shape.
At that moment, the leader caught his breath and clutched at his still-hurting throat. ¡°You dare make enemies of ck Dynasty? You¡¯ll die! I swear I¡¯ll use your head as a bedside piss-pot!¡± he threatened in a strange voice.
Xia Lei kicked him in the face and he shut uppletely.
¡°You...¡± Annina looked at Xia Lei. Though terror had released its hold on her, her mind was still a mess and she still could not act like her normal self.
¡°Leave! Quickly!¡± Xia Lei turned and ran out the alley with those words. He did not want Annina to see his face.
Lending her help was already a mistake. If he let her see his face he would be in even bigger trouble.
Annina watched Xia Lei¡¯s rapidly disappearing back and said after a while, ¡°Strange, I think I¡¯ve seen him before...¡±
Xia Lei removed the shirt from his face and put it on as he ran. Two minutester, he returned to the bar and quickly entered the bathroom. He washed his hands and face, then straightened his shirt before walking out of the bathroom.
Annina walked in from the back door at that time. She looked around and quickly discovered Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked to her and pretended to look surprised, ¡°What happened, Miss Annina? Why are you so dirty?¡±
¡°You...¡± Annina asked tentatively, ¡°You don¡¯t know anything?¡±
¡°My stomach wasn¡¯t feeling too good and I was in the bathroom earlier. Tell me, what happened?¡± said Xia Lei.
There was a sh of disappointment in Annina¡¯s eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll tell you on the way.¡±
¡°Ah, okay. Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei followed her out of the bar.
Xia Lei climbed on the Harley-Davidson Breakout and reached to hold Annina by the waist.
Annina¡¯s nose twitched. She could suddenly smell a sour stench and it made her recall something. A small smile appeared in the corners of her lips.
The Harley-Davidson Breakout motorcycle roared its way into traffic at the speed of a sweeping wind.
Chapter 122 - Learn and Apply
Learn and Apply
Xia Lei saw Long Bing sitting in the living room watching television as soon as he opened the door.
¡°Why sote?¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei.
¡°A colleague treated me to a drink and something happened,¡± said Xia Lei. He told her about Annina offending the ck gang members.
When Long Bing heard the part where he had stepped in to help Annina, her brows wrinkled and said reproachfully, ¡°How could you be so reckless?¡±
¡°I know this can draw the attention of others but if I don¡¯t help her in that situation she¡¯d have been assaulted by that group of ck youths and sold to a ck market brothel. Her life would¡¯ve been over. I cannot stand by and let this sort of thing happen,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°I knew it. You¡¯re too kind. What is one German womanpared to what we have to aplish here?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°I understand. There won¡¯t be anything like this again.¡±
¡°Was she the one who sent you back?¡±
¡°No, she wanted to but I told her it was too far away and asked her to send me to the train stop instead. I took the train back myself.¡±
¡°You did the right thing.¡± Long Bing paused for a while, then asked, ¡°You are certain those ck people didn¡¯t see your face?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure. I acted quickly - not even two minutes passed when I took care of them. I ran away right after and circled back to the bar, then went to the washroom. Annina could not tell that it was me who had helped her when she got back to the bar.¡±
¡°Not bad. Right, so what did you gain today?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Results so quickly? Krew assigned me to be Annina¡¯s assistant. I had to repair her motorcycle to gain her trust. She has an advanced high-precisionthe in her work shed and I used it a few times and got some knowledge of a few things but it is a far cry from being enough.¡±
Long Bing thought for a bit, ¡°Find an opportunity to take it apart.¡±
¡°Take it apart?¡± Xia Lei looked surprised.
¡°How else are you going to see its structure?¡± said Long Bing/
Xia Lei paused, then nodded. He didn¡¯t actually need to take it apart because of his eye.
¡°Okay, let¡¯s go to bed.¡± Long Bing switched off the television.
Her voice was soft and she lookednguidlyzy. The way she behaved was very much like a newly-wed wife tired from watching Korean dramas, calling her husband to bed.
Xia Lei subconsciously nodded, ¡°Mm.¡±
Long Bing walked to Xia Lei and she sniffed delicately, then wrinkled her brows, ¡°What¡¯s this smell?¡±
¡°Eh... Rubbish. I hid behind some rubbish bins,¡± exined Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°Go wash up. I don¡¯t want to spend the whole night smelling this from you,¡± said Long Bing.
This line could make a person think of many things but Xia Lei thought of her scissor-hands.
¡°Go, go.¡± Long Bing pushed Xia Lei gently.
Xia Lei obediently went to the shower and thought as he went, ¡®If I keep going like this my body will go haywire...¡¯
Xia Lei did not go to the bedroom after his shower. He used the notebookputer allotted to him by Long Bing to search for more information on CNC on German websites to gain a better understanding of the subject. He¡¯d thought he could find some relevant software program but he found nothing. He bit the bullet and started learning about integrated circuits.
After integrated circuits, there was the programming aspect. Even if he did have eidetic memory, it was very difficult to have an adequate understanding of these two subjects.
This bout of learningsted two hours and Xia Lei himself could not say how many bits of information on integrated circuits he had memorised in that period of time. When he closed his eyes, his mind was full of transistors, resistors, capacitors and the like.
¡®I¡¯ll digest this information tomorrow.¡¯ Xie Lei stretchedzily and closed the notebookputer, then returned to the bedroom.
Long Bing seemed to be asleep; her eyes were shut and her breathing was slow and even.
Xia Lei climbed carefully into bed andy motionless.
Xia Lei fell asleep somehow that night and Long Bing woke sometimeter.
The next morning, Xia Lei went to the manufacturing nt three minutes earlier than the first time. There were no workers in the workshop when he went past it and everything was still and quiet.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on arge CNC machine tool. It was aprehensive high-precision CNC tool and could do the job of severalthes. He was instantly attracted to the machine and his steps turned towards it but he quickly discovered that there was a surveince camera installed on the wall of the workshop and gave up on his course of action.
He hade to the manufacturing nt half an hour early to observe the advancedthes in the workshop. It was a good opportunity to get hold of some secrets while no one else was around in the workshop but if he was caught on camera and someone too note of him, his good opportunity would turn into a disadvantage.
Xia Lei did not halt his steps but slowed them considerably. He also kept his gaze focused on thatthe and used his X-ray and zoom-in abilities to inspect the internal structure of the machine. It was not very convenient to do this and it used up a lot of energy but it was the safest.
He looked away when he was about parallel to the machine. It would attract attention if he looked back at it aftering up even with it. Xia Lei had been influenced by Long Bing during this period of time and he paid attention to details like these.
Past the workshop and in the work shed, he found that Annina had not arrived yet. There was no security camera in the work shed so Xia Lei went directly to thethe and used his X-ray vision to see its integrated circuits and memorised everything he saw.
Half an hour passed quickly and Annina turned up for work five minutes before the official work hours. Tight ck T-shirt, jeans shorts, tall and leggy with a substantial chest - her body screamed sexy.
¡°Lukas, morning.¡± Annina greeted Xia Lei warmly.
Xia Lei smiled and returned her greeting, ¡°Good morning, Miss Annina.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to be so polite. Just call me ¡®Annina¡¯,¡± she said, ¡°Look, I¡¯m not calling you ¡®Mr¡¯ anymore. I want us to be friends and friends aren¡¯t so formal with each other.¡±
She was a vivacious woman and spoke her mind.
Xia Let put a smile on his face, ¡°Sure. It¡¯s my honour to be able to have a friend like you.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s start working after i¡¯m changed.¡± Annina opened her locker and did not cover herself at all; she took off her tight ck T-shirt and jeans shorts right in front of Xia Lei. She was dressed in only a ck bikini.
She was wearing clothing but Xia Lei still looked away, embarrassed.
Annina behaved normally all throughout and continued with the repair of the tank engine with Xia Lei¡¯s assistance after changing into work clothes. As Xia Lei assisted, he recalled the information on integrated circuits he had memorisedst night andpared the images with the circuit board of the machine he had used his X-ray vision on earlier. He matched then one by one, using the actual thing as reference to help himself understand and absorb knowledge of what he had memorised.
This way of learning was undeniably a short-cut and only someone like him could take it.
¡°Lukas, remember me telling you about the person who helped me?¡± Annina broke the silence between them.
Xia Lei took himself out of study mode and said casually, ¡°Yeah. You said he was awesome.¡±
Annina looked straight at Xia Lei and her gaze was strange, ¡°He was someone who knew martial arts. I think he is most likely Chinese. What do you think?¡±
¡°Martial arts is not just from China. Japan has judo, kendo. Korea has taekwondo. It¡¯s sometimes difficult to tell which is which. The person who helped you could be Japanese or Korean, not just Chinese.¡±
¡°Then...¡± Annina said probingly, ¡°Was it you, Lukas?¡±
Xia Lei cussed internally and put on a surprised expression, ¡°Me? Haha.. If I were as amazing as that guy I¡¯d rescue you for sure. But I was in the washroom and didn¡¯t even know what had happened. I actually still feel a little guilty for not helping you when you were in trouble.¡±
The corners of Annina¡¯s lips turned up, just a tiny bit, and she seemed dissatisfied with his answer.
Xia Lei avoided her gaze and thought to himself, ¡®She¡¯s asking questions. Did I let it slip somehow? Has she discovered something?¡¯
At that moment, a young man walked into the work shed. ¡°Annina, it¡¯s my birthday today. I¡¯m having a grill party at seven at my ce tonight. Youing?¡±
Annina raised her head and gave the young man a look. ¡°Happy birthday, Josef. I¡¯ll be there.¡±
The young man named Josef looked Xia Lei up and down but did not extend an invitation and left the work shed.
After Josef left, Annina said, ¡°He¡¯s an electrical engineer in our nt. He¡¯s pretty good but he doesn¡¯t quite have manners. He should have invited you just now.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right. We don¡¯t know each other after all so it¡¯s normal for him not to invite me.¡± Xia Lei said that but he was thinking ¡®If he¡¯s an electrical engineer then he must have a lot of electrical engineering drawings. It¡¯ll be good if I can see those drawings.¡¯
¡®Josef¡¯ - Xia Lei took note of his name.
Chapter 123 - Beautiful Werden
Beautiful Werden
Another workday was over. It¡¯d only been two days but Annina was very satisfied with her assistant. To her, he was an exceptional mechanic and what made her even more satisfied was his diligence and good manners. It really was quite pleasant to work with him. She also knew that Xia Lei was the person who had helped her. She didn¡¯t know why he wouldn¡¯t admit it but she was still grateful.
¡°Lukas, I¡¯ll send you to the train station¡± Annina said to Xia Lei before they went to the staff showers.
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to Josef¡¯s birthday party? You don¡¯t have to worry about me. I can call a taxi to the train station,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°My ce is 100 metres away from Josef¡¯s so I¡¯m not in any hurry. Come on, wait for me after you¡¯re done with your shower and I¡¯ll send you back,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei smiled at her, ¡°Okay. Thanks.¡±
Annina smiled sincerely at Xia Lei.
They headed for the showers. There were a lot of people heading there too since mechanics do mostly manual work and get stained with grease a lot on top of perspiring the whole day. Most would shower before going home and few were willing to stink up their own car with their sweat or get avoided by others on trains.
When they were almost to the showers, Xia Lei spotted Josef. He was chatting with a colleague as he walked and seemed engrossed in conversation.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought, ¡®What is he talking about?¡¯
He fixed his eye on Josef¡¯s lips and wanted to lip-read his conversation but discovered that the mouth shapes he¡¯d memorised for Chinese did not work with German. The familiar shapes he knew were no use when it came to matching with the Germannguage.
However, he was still able to mimic some of the mouth shapes and pronounce it to himself and piece together some German words: ahead of the times,rge, intelligent,the, definitely, sess.
It was just a few simple words and Xia Lei could not guess much more. He was a little disappointed and thought ¡®My lip-reading in Chinese is good but that is because I¡¯m familiar with my native tongue. I¡¯d have to study and familiarise myself with the German pronunciation and lip shapes if I want lip-reading to be even more useful.¡¯
There were just too many things to learn and Xia Lei felt like he seriouslycked time for all of it.
¡°Josef!¡± Annina quickly walked over.
Josef saw Annina and a smile appeared on his face, ¡°Annina, you muste tonight.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll definitelye.¡± Annina walked up to Josef, then pulled him aside and whispered in his ear.
Xia Lei nced at them before entering the showers.
Over ten minutester, Xia Lei changed into fresh clothing and left the showers. Annina walked out of the showers at the same time, her hair still dripping. It was obvious that she had showered in a hurry.
¡°I could have waited; there was no need for you to hurry like that,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile. He felt a little thankful as he knew that she would not have had to rush through her shower if she hadn¡¯t wanted to send him to the train station.
Annina pursed her lips in a smile, ¡°Let¡¯s go get our ride.¡±
A few minutester, Annina¡¯s Breakout zoomed out of the nt and onto a highway which led to the city.
Xia Lei sat behind her and held tightly onto her slim waist. Her well-rounded bottom nestled between his legs, making him ultra-sensitive.
Annina quickly got to a T-junction where the road ahead led to the city, and left to a small town. There was a sign next to the T-junction which read ¡®Werden* - 5 km¡¯ in German.
Xia Lei had seen this road sign four times already but he had no clue what it looked like since he¡¯d never been there before.
While Xia Lei was looking at the sign, Annina suddenly turned into the road heading towards Werden.
¡°Aren¡¯t we going to the train station?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise, ¡°Where are you taking me?¡±
¡°To my ce,¡± said Annina.
¡°To... Your ce?¡± Xia Lei was stunned.
¡°I talked to Josef and he¡¯s invited you to his birthday party. Come to my ce first and we¡¯ll go to Josef¡¯s birthday party together afterwards,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You aren¡¯t mad, are you? I just brought you here without asking you... haha,¡±ughed Annina.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°How can I be mad? I¡¯d like to make some new friends too.¡±
Josef was a very aplished electrical engineer and Xia Lei wanted to make connections with people like him. How could he be angry when he was looking for a chance like this?
The few kilometres went by in a sh and an old town came into view.
The town sat in the middle of a trough valley, surrounded by several mountain peaks. The architecture was a typical ssical style, with Romanesque roofs and a Gothic church. The mix of buildings did not give one the feeling of modern times but of stepping into the Middle Ages of Europe. One could almost imagine that a group of Germanic knights woulde charging out of the maple forest next to the town at any moment.
The mountain peaks, ancient architecture, slow-moving river with clear waters and maple trees and the greenest grass as far as the eye can see. This ce was breathtakingly beautiful.
The beauty of thendscape struck Xia Lei like a thunderbolt. He sighed. ¡®This is a rare sight now in my country.¡¯
Annina suddenly turned onto an ancient cobblestone road and Xia Lei was nearly bounced off the motorcycle. He hurriedly held on to Annina¡¯s small waist and stuck himself close to her back. He was stable now but the real test had just begun. The bumpy road made him go up and down on the motorcycle...
Lucky thing the cobblestone road did not go on for long and they stopped in front of a house by the river. The house had the meandering river in front and a lush maple forest at the back; there were no neighbours to be seen and it was beautifully tranquil. This was the most appealing living environment Xia Lei had ever seen.
¡°This is my home.¡± Annina took off her sunsses.
Xia Lei quickly jumped off the motorcycle, ¡°Do you live alone?¡±
¡°Yep. My parents live somewhere else.¡± Annina made a gesture of invitation, ¡°Wee.¡±
Xia Lei followed her into the house. There was a sofa and firece in the living room and a pair of antlers and hunting gun hung above it. ¡°Do you like to hunt?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously.
¡°No, that¡¯s my father¡¯s hunting gun. I don¡¯t like to kill animals. Take a seat; I¡¯ll make you some coffee,¡± said Annina.
¡°No need. Aren¡¯t we going to Josef¡¯s ce?¡± said Xia Lei.
Anninaughed, ¡°It¡¯s not even six yet. His birthday party is at seven; we don¡¯t have to be there so early. Sit down, I¡¯ll make coffee. You can also look around if you want, don¡¯t be shy.¡±
Xia Lei stopped protesting and nodded.
Annina went to the kitchen to make coffee and Xia Lei took out his phone to send a message to Long Bing: Going to a colleague¡¯s birthday party. I¡¯ll bete.
He soon received a reply: Okay.
Just that one word. Xia Lei smiled wryly, then put his phone away and went to look around Annina¡¯s home.
She did not own many high-end items but the design andyout of her home was quite cosy andfortable. Xia Lei saw many highly specialised books, mostly mechanical manufacturing and electrical engineering, in the study on the second floor. He flipped casually through one of the electrical engineering books and found that the information in the book was more detailed andprehensive than what he¡¯d found online.
¡®I¡¯ll ask if I can borrow some bookster,¡¯ he thought.
Annina brought a steaming cup of ck coffee over, ¡°Oh, you¡¯re in the study. You like reading too?¡±
¡°Yes, I love reading,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re reading a book on electrical engineering. Are you interested in this field?¡± Annina put the coffee on the study table.
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m doing some self-learning,¡± said Xia Lei, and heughed, ¡°Truthfully, I want to be like you and get a high-level job title. I¡¯ll be able to earn more then.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not too familiar with electrical engineering but if you get the chance you should talk to Josef. He¡¯s a genius. Oh, right, he¡¯s working on somerge super intelligentthe now and it¡¯s close topletion. He¡¯ll seed if nothing goes wrong,¡± said Annina.
¡°Arge super intelligentthe?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind whirred and he recalled the conversation he¡¯d lip-read at the nt. The words ¡®intelligent¡¯ and the¡¯ had definitely been mentioned.
¡°Yep, he talked about it and it shall be the most advanced intelligentthe in the world. It¡¯ll be able to save a huge amount of manpower and time. More importantly, its precision will be even higher than the currentthes,¡± said Annina, ¡°Being able to increase the precision, even by a thousandth of an iota is an impressive feat in itself.¡±
Xia Lei picked up the cup of ck coffee and stirred it with a spoon, thinking, ¡®I must get my hands on his design! If Thunder Horse Manufacturing can get athe like this then mypany, my Thunder Horse Manufacturing, will be the best manufacturer in the whole of China!¡¯
¡°You like this ce?¡± Annina looked at Xia Lei, all smiles.
¡°I like it. I really like it,¡± smiled Xia Lei, ¡°I was even thinking that it¡¯d be nice to have a house like this.¡±
¡°If you like it you cane live in my home. Are you still renting now? If you move in I¡¯ll only charge you a token amount for rent. What do you think?¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei thought for a bit, ¡°Thanks but my rent period is not up yet. Let¡¯s talk about it again when it is.¡±
¡°How about you stay here for the night? I want to drink so there won¡¯t be anyone who can send you hometer,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei thought about it again, ¡°Okay, then... pardon the intrusion.¡±
¡°Hee hee, are all you Chinese so polite?¡± Anninaughed.
¡°Most Chinese are. We are a nation of etiquette,¡± said Xia Lei.
The pair started chatting and Xia Lei soon forgot Long Bing¡¯s cautioning words to not reveal that he could speak German very fluently. However, in his two days of interaction with Annina, Xia Lei did not think that she would bring him trouble. She was just a senior mechanic, a regr woman.
After coffee, Annina brought Xia Lei out at about 6.30pm and they walked along a small path to Josef¡¯s house.
* Werden - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werden,_Essen
Looking for the name of this ce took a loooooong time. Online dictionaries gave me nothing. I looked for a list of towns close to Essen and it didn¡¯t give me any names which were simr enough to the Chinese, which is ÎÖµÇ (w¨° d¨¥ng). Finally, with my scrappy knowledge of German, I typed in variations into Google coupled with the keyword ¡®Germany¡¯. Woeden, wurden, and finally... Wuerden, which finally gave me ¡®Werden, Essen¡¯. Sigh.
Chapter 124 - Opposites
Opposites
Josef¡¯s house was bigger than Annina¡¯s and had a field in front and a little tin-roofed shed at the back. When Xia Lei saw the tin-roofed shed, he thought, ¡®Josef is studying an intelligentthe on his own and it¡¯srge so he definitely can¡¯t have it in his living quarters. It should be in that shed.¡¯
Just as he was about to use his X-ray vision on the shed, Josef walked over. ¡°Annina, can you help me out? There are too many guests for me to handle.¡±
¡°Sure. What do you need?¡±
¡°Help me get some alcohol. You know where my cer is.¡±
Annina nodded, ¡°Okay.¡± she then said to Xia Lei, ¡°Wait for me.¡±
After Annina walked off, Josef looked at Xia Lei, ¡°You¡¯re called Lukas, right?¡±
His tone was not respectful at all and Xia Lei could tell that this Josef did not want to invite him to his birthday party - he was only here because of Annina. Xia Lei actually had no interest at all ining here if not for Josef¡¯s status as electrical engineer and the project he was working on. These were all the underlying reasons.
Josef was not respectful but Xia Lei still smiled and said politely, ¡°Yes. Hello, Mr Josef.¡± He reached out a hand for a handshake.
¡°My hands are greasy. Let¡¯s not shake hands,¡± said Josef, ¡°Then, Lukas, can you go to the utility shed and help me get some charcoal? We need charcoal for a barbecue.¡±
¡°No problem. Where¡¯s the utility shed?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Josef lifted his hand and pointed.
Xia Lei walked towards the utility shed. Josef was not treating him like a guest at all but an unwee guy who was here to party. However, having Josef give him frosty looks and stupid tasks was nothingpared to his desire to obtain trade secrets.
Some guests chatting in the front garden looked at Xia Lei and started gossipping.
¡°That Chinese guy¡¯s Annina¡¯s new assistant. I hear she gets along well with him and they work well together,¡± said a guest.
¡°I heard that he took just one hour to fix Annina¡¯s motorcycle and the root of the problem of her engine troubles too. Man, he¡¯s good,¡± said another guest.
¡°You know why Annina was willing to ept this new assistant?¡± said a blonde-haired, blue-eyed womanughingly, ¡°She told me that this Chinese assistant knows martial arts and can fight well. She offended some people from the underworldst night and ims that this Chinese assistant helped her solve her problem.¡±
¡°So that means this Chinese guy is already quite a capable person. Looks like he doesn¡¯t like him; he¡¯s sending him to get charcoal.¡±
A middle-aged manughed, ¡°Josef likes Annina. Everyone knows that. This young Chinese guy isn¡¯t bad-looking and works well with Annina so of course Josef dislikes him. The guy¡¯s dumb foring here; he¡¯s just inviting trouble.¡±
The guests changed topics when Josef walked over.
Xia Lei did not hear their chatter either - he had arrived at the utility shed.
It was a simple wooden shed by the side of the house.
There were various random things in there like farming tools, mechanical parts and the charcoal that Xia Lei needed to fetch. It was a huge sack of about 50 kg. Xia Lei was in no rush to get the charcoal when he entered the shed and he stood by the window to look at the tin-roofed shed behind Josef¡¯s house.
Josef¡¯s house was purely made of wood but this shed¡¯s walls were brick and concrete and very solid. This, however, was no obstacle to Xia Lei¡¯s left eye and the walls disappeared as his eye twitched.
He saw a machine covered by a tarpaulin coated with fluorescent material. It was quiterge - almost ten metres long, and was about three or four metres wide. Xia Lei focused his gaze and tried to use his X-ray vision on the fluorescent tarpaulin but discovered that it seemed to absorb his ability. He put his best effort into trying to see past the tarpaulin bit all he could make out was a blurry thing.
Xia Lei was stunned, ¡®The fluorescent tarpaulin can actually absorb my ability and weaken my X-ray vision so much I can¡¯t see the object clearly. Why?¡¯
Ever since he¡¯d gained his abilities, Xia Lei had always been able to use his X-ray vision and it never failed him. Till now.
Every existing thing will have its matching opposite - this was the rule of nature. The ¡®Five Elements¡¯ in Chinese culture was also based on this logic. In other words, a thing with no opposite and equal force did not exist and Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision was no exception.
Xia Lei did not keep trying and stopped using his abilities. He carried the sack of charcoal out of the utility shed. He did not get a clear look at the thing under the fluorescent tarpaulin but he could confirm that it was the intelligentthe that Josef was working on. He knew this ce now and he had plenty of opportunities so he was not in a rush.
Xia Lei ced the charcoal next to the grill and Annina walked out at that moment, carrying a case of red wine followed by Josef, who had brought out a wooden barrel for alcohol.
Annina¡¯s brows wrinkled when she saw Xia Lei putting charcoal in the grill. She put down the case of wine, walked to Xia Lei and said quietly, ¡°We can leave if you¡¯d like, Lukas. I can make dinner for you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m quite happy.¡±
¡°Okay, as long as you¡¯re happy.¡± As she spoke, she shifted her gaze to Josef, her brows still furrowed.
Josef opened the case of red wine and the barrel. The barrel contained dark beer and its iconic scorched malt fragrance could be smelt from afar. The guests started on the alcohol and barbecue; the birthday party had officially begun.
Xia Lei was only familiar with Annina out of all the people there and so he was the loneliest one in the lively crowd. He was not gloomy, however, and even though no one talked to him he watched people chat and familiarized himself with German mouth shapes and pronunciation to perfect his lip-reading.
After a short while, some youths arrived on motorcycles. They were about the same age as Josef and were dressed in cool biker wear. Josef embraced them warmly and made small talk - it looked like they were on close terms.
At that moment, Annina managed to shake off a female friend and walked to Xia Lei, ¡°Let¡¯s have a drink, Lukas. For our friendship.¡±
Xia Lei clinked drinkware with her, ¡°For our friendship.¡± He drained the cup.
¡°Those guys who just arrived are Josef¡¯s bosom buddies. They were ssmates in university. One¡¯s a police officer, one a professional boxer and two work for BMW.¡± Annina had had one drink too many and she was extra chatty, ¡°I know them. They all have bad tempers.¡±
Xia Lei gave her a nd smile. He had no interest in knowing about Josef¡¯s friends. He would leave Germany once he got his hands on what he needed so the matters and people here were rather meaningless to him.
Josef put down the drink in his hand, went to the centre of the party and raised his voice, ¡°Today is my twenty-seventh birthday. I thank everyone foring. You are my colleagues, ssmates, neighbours and also my friends. You are all people I cherish in my life.¡±
The guests apuded and Xia Lei pped along politely.
After his first words, Josef¡¯s gaze went to the corner where Xia Lei and Annina stood and he smiled, ¡°Let me now invite a new friend to say a few words. Our new friend is Lukas from China.¡± He gestured at Xia Lei, ¡°Pleasee forward, Lukas.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated. He had no idea what Josef was up to but he had a bad feeling about it.
¡°Looks like our new friend is a bashful one. He¡¯s shy! Let¡¯s give him a round of apuse to wee him, aye?¡± Josef started pping.
The guests started pping and even Annina joined in.
Xia Lei walked reluctantly to Josef and said somewhat awkwardly, ¡°Happy birthday, Mr Josef.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Josef put a smile on his face, ¡°Lukas, I hear you know some martial arts. Chinese kung fu is world-famous and very powerful, isn¡¯t it?¡±
Xia Lei nced subconsciously at Annina. If anyone knew he practised martial arts it would be Annina. So that meant that Annina had already guessed that he had lent her a helping handst night and she¡¯d told one of her close friends who¡¯d subsequently opened her big mouth and let even more people know.
Annina had no bad intentions but she¡¯s brought him trouble all the same.
¡°Actually...¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I don¡¯t really know any kung fu, but Chinese kung fu is indeed powerful.¡±
¡°You¡¯re bluffing, aren¡¯t you?¡± A young man dressed in biker clothing walked to the centre of the party and spoke disdainfully, ¡°The China I know produces cheap, low-quality products like socks and shirts. And about kung fu - it¡¯s just fantasy stories. You can only see that in movies.¡±
The other youths in biker clothing guffawed.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression turned ugly. He¡¯d had a bad feeling and he was right - this Josef was deliberately embarrassing him.
¡°Hans, you shouldn¡¯t say that. Lukas is my colleague and friend,¡± said Josef pretentiously.
The man named Hans gave a belittling smile, ¡°I can¡¯t stand those who lie. China has no kung fu, only low-quality products. If he¡¯s not happy about it he can go one round with me. I¡¯ll show him how we box in Germany.¡±
Josef looked at Xia Lei, ¡°Lukas, do you dare fight one round with Hans?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for this,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ha!¡± sneered Hans, ¡°China produces cowards as well as shitty products.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s anger was stoked, ¡°You really want a fight?¡±
Chapter 125 - Featherweight Champion? Pshaw!
Featherweight Champion? Pshaw!
¡°What, you want me to taste the real kung fu of China? Let me tell you that I¡¯m a professional boxer. I won¡¯t go easy on you if you decide to fight me,¡± said Hans sarcastically.
¡°I don¡¯t need you to go easy on me. I¡¯ll consider it my loss if I don¡¯t defeat you in one minute. You have to apologise for what you said if I win,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ha ha ha!¡± Hans did an exaggeratedugh, ¡°You¡¯re an arrogant one, aren¡¯t you? Do you know who you¡¯re saying this to? You¡¯re talking to a national featherweight champion. Beat me in one minute? I¡¯d like to see how you¡¯re going to aplish that!¡±
Josef took the opportunity and said, ¡°I think this will be an interestingpetition. Will you need boxing gloves and a referee? I can get you guys gloves and act as referee.¡±
¡°No need. It¡¯s just one minute. What need is there for gloves and referees?¡± said Xia Lei casually.
¡°Well then, we can begin when you two are ready.¡± A hint of a smile of schadenfreude appeared on Josef¡¯s lips.
¡°Go, Lukas, go!¡± Annina looked excited.
She was actually the one who most wanted to see Xia Lei disy his martial art prowess because if he did, she could definitively confirm that he was the masked man and her hero.
The surrounding guests made room in anticipation.
Hans took off his biker wear and his singlet underneath. The muscles on his body were so very developed they looked like metal lumps. Fiendish tattoos covered his chest and arms - the Grim Reaper, skull and bones and so on.
Some young blonde girls whistled in appreciation at Hans. His strong physique had apparently drawn their hormonal attention.
The whistles made Hans conceited and he flexed his neck, cracking it. He clenched his fists and the cracking of bones could be heard too. He then bounced on his feet and did some punches; his fists were as quick as the wind.
This was not a warm-up for a match but a personal show.
Xia Lei was not as into it as Hans and he did not remove his clothing. He straightened his tie instead.
Hans was like a fierce wild animal, his muscr body full of aggression while Xia Lei looked like a gentle, schrly white-cor worker with no hint of aggression at all.
None of the onlooking guests save Annina was of the opinion that Xia Lei would be able to endure a minute of Han¡¯s attacks in their fight.
¡°I bet that Chinese guy can only hold on for 30 seconds, maximum. He¡¯ll be knocked out by Hans in 30 seconds,¡± said a guest.
¡°This Chinese guy seems to strongly dislike hearing bad things about China. He¡¯s going to get himself beaten up over that bit of pride. Is it worth it?¡± said someone.
¡°A mechanic¡¯s assistant dares challenge a featherweight champion? I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s overestimating himself or if I should apud his bravery,¡± ridiculed a guest.
Annina got annoyed and said, ¡°Lukas is not as weak as you say; he won¡¯t lose. And what Hans said was disrespectful. I¡¯d be angry too if I were Lukas.¡±
This was also the reason why Xia Lei was willing to fight Hans. He could take it if he¡¯d insulted just him and avoided unnecessary trouble but insulting all Chinese people was something he could not stand. Josef already knew that he knew martial arts anyway so having a fight and teaching an arrogant guy like Hans a lesson was no big deal.
¡°Annina, you say Lukas will win. I think Hans will win. Dare to bet on it with me for 1,000 euro?¡± said a guest.
Annina hesitated. A thousand euros was not a small sum.
¡°She wouldn¡¯t dare. Won¡¯t betting with you be like giving 1,000 euro away?¡± said someone.
Annina looked at Xia Lei, then suddenly said, ¡°I¡¯ll bet!¡±
¡°You said it yourself, Annina. I¡¯ll give you 1,000 euro and if Lukas loses you¡¯ll have to give me 2,000 euro.¡± The person betting with Annina took out his wallet and handed 1,000 euro to Annina, as if afraid she¡¯d back out.
Hans suddenly made his move at the time when Annina took the cash in her hand, aiming a punch straight at Xia Lei¡¯s nose.
Hans was going all out, no punches pulled.
Xia Lei shifted his foot and moved back a step with a whoosh, easily avoiding Hans¡¯ attack.
¡°So he does have some skill.¡± Hans smiled contemptuously.
Xia Lei did not wait for him to say more and his foot moved from avoidance to attack with a punch aimed at Hans¡¯ heart. There was no being polite when Hans¡¯ first move was to try to break his nose.
Hans put his arms up in a block and used his outer elbows to protect his heart. This was one of the mostmonly seen defensive positions in boxing.
Bang! Xia Lei¡¯s right fist connected heavily with Hans¡¯ elbow. There was a dull echoing sound and Hans was pushed two steps back, his raised elbow dipping. It hurt! Xia Lei¡¯s punch was like stone and he nearly cried out in pain.
Xia Lei¡¯s punch had been reinforced with Wing Chun style internal energy and it was not something a boxer could defend against with raised elbows.
As Hans¡¯ surprise grew, Xia Lei drew close again and his fists came flying like a tornado; Long-bridge, short-bridge, his attacksing like a flock of birds, forcing Hans to retreat in sorry defeat.
Bam, bam, bam! Hans managed to block a few blows but his defense was quickly broken by Xia Lei¡¯s attack and a punchnded on his chest. It felt like a hammer to his chest in that instant and Hans fell to the ground with a cry of pain.
The featherweight champion had been KO-ed!
Only 40-plus seconds had passed from the time Hans threw his first punch to the time he copsed to the ground and could not get up.
Xia Lei had said that he would finish Hans off in under a minute and he did.
Everyone was gobsmacked. Most surprised of all was Josef. He stared wordlessly at Xia Lei standing tall, feeling surprised and angry. It was him who had got Hans to provoke Xia Lei with the purpose of making a fool out of him but it was Hans, the German featherweight champion, who was made a fool in the end!
¡°Haha! I won!¡± Annina was, unquestionably, the happiest at the oue. She¡¯d won a thousand euros and found her hero. She had actually already confirmed that Xia Lei was her knight in shining armour before he¡¯d beaten Hans because Xia Lei¡¯s and the masked man¡¯s movements were the same.
The person who¡¯d lost a thousand euros was cloudy-faced as he grumbled, ¡°You must have known in advance or you wouldn¡¯t have epted my bet.¡±
¡°Whatever you say. Your thousand is mine and I won¡¯t give it back,¡±ughed Annina.
Xia Lei walked up to Hans in the ¡®ring¡¯ and stretched out a hand to him.
Hans had just caught his breath and he looked at the hand extended to him by Xia Lei, hesitated for a bit, then grabbed it and pulled himself to his feet. His attitude towards Xia Lei did not change, however, and there was also no apology like he had promised. Hans moved to get the singlet and biker jacket he¡¯d taken off with a thunderous face. His cheeks med as he recalled the whistles of appreciation for his muscles from the blonde girls.
¡°Hey,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°You owe me an apology.¡±
Hans stopped in his tracks and looked back at Xia Lei, his gaze full of resentment.
Josef stepped forward, ¡°Lukas, you¡¯ve already won. Is there a need for this?¡±
¡°Well, I guess I can¡¯t care very much if someone doesn¡¯t even have the grace to apologise,¡± said Xia Lei lightly.
The surrounding guests started murmuring.
Hans sneered and said, ¡°Sorry!¡±
The apologycked sincerity and was full of resentment and hatred but Xia Lei did not care about his sincerity - what he wanted was the result. ¡°I ept your apology. It¡¯s all good,¡± he said.
Apuse came from around them.
¡°Let¡¯s drink! Today¡¯s my birthday.¡± Josef tried to divert the guests¡¯ attention to something else.
Annina came to Xia Lei¡¯s side holding two sses of red wine, an excited smile on her face. ¡°Let¡¯s drink to your victory, Lukas.¡±
Xia Lei epted the ss she handed to him andughed, ¡°You¡¯ve already had quite a bit to drink. No more after this ss, okay?¡±
¡°Nuh-uh, I¡¯m really happy today. I know a secret, a secret that makes me very happy... Hee hee... ¡° Anninaughed coquettishly, her cheeks and ears red with the flush of alcohol. She was drunk.
While the guests drank and discussed the match, Hans went to a corner and took out his mobile phone to make a call. ¡°Hey, Navas. I know who beat you up. He¡¯s here with that woman... Yeah, I¡¯m in Werden...¡±
Hans finished his call and looked at Xia Lei chatting intimately with Annina with a mean smile on his lips, ¡°You¡¯re dead meat, Chinese punk!¡±
Josef walked up to Annina, ¡°Annina, today¡¯s my birthday. Let¡¯s have a drink.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Annina simply clinked sses with Josef and drank most of the red wine in her ss. She looked unsteady on her feet.
Seeing that, Josef said, ¡°You¡¯ve had too much to drink. I¡¯ll help you to somewhere to rest.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine...¡± Anninaughed, ¡°I still want to drink with Lukas.¡±
Josef took Annina by the arm and headed towards the house. He did not care if she¡¯d agreed to it or not and was also uncaring of Xia Lei¡¯s gaze.
Xia Lei could tell what he wanted, ¡®This Josef obviously wants to take advantage of Annina when she¡¯s drunk. He may be smart but his personality is crap.¡¯
While he was wondering what Josef¡¯s motives were, he had already helped Annina into the house. Annina was mumbling something but it was so muddled that even she herself could probably not make out what she¡¯d said.
Xia Lei hesitated, then followed.
¡°Hey.¡± A youth in biker clothing blocked Xia Lei¡¯s way, ¡°My friend from China. Let¡¯s have a drink together.¡±
Another two youths in biker clothing moved in close, each of them with a bottle of alcohol in hand.
¡®Trying to get me drunk? Looks like they had this nned with Josef so he can get a chance to bed Annina tonight. My match with Hans was just a bonus scene.¡¯ Xia Lei understood the situation perfectly well.
The youths in biker clothing handed Xia Lei a ss of alcohol.
Xia Lei took the ss but did not drink. ¡°Sorry, I need to go to the washroom. Let¡¯s drinkter.¡± So saying, he shrugged off the youths and went into the house.
The three youths looked at each other. Their aim was to get Xia Lei drunk but they were not about to chase him into the washroom to do it, were they? And who else was better at manhandling others than Hans?
Chapter 126 - This Spy Cant Make It
This Spy Can¡¯t Make It
He walked into the living room upon entering the house and there were two guests chatting on the sofa. There was a wooden staircase on the left and a corridor with some rooms on the right. Xia Lei had lost sight of Josef and Annina after being dyed by the three biker guys.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the rooms to the right wereid bare. Josef and Annina were not in any of them.
He then went up to the second floor and quickly found them in a room. It was Josef¡¯s bedroom and he had justid Annina on the bed.
Josef stroked Annina¡¯s cheek, his eyes full of tenderness, ¡°I¡¯ve liked you since we were children, Annina. Don¡¯t you know my feelings for you?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t, don¡¯t touch me.¡± Annina¡¯s words were slurred.
¡°Wait here. I¡¯ll send the guests away ande apany you afterwards. You are mine tonight,¡± said Josef.
Annina¡¯s eyes closed; she had too much to drink. She was not conscious of whose bed shey in, who was next to her nor what that person said.
¡°You¡¯re so beautiful.¡± Josef kissed Annina on her forehead before he turned and walked to the door.
Xia Lei quickly moved away from the door and hid in a room next to the bedroom. It was Josef¡¯s study and work-room. The sound of a door opening could be heard just as Xia Lei hid in the study, followed by Josef¡¯s footsteps - he had gone downstairs.
Xia Lei had been worried that Josef would put his dirty paws on Annina immediately but he hadn¡¯t. It made sense if he thought about it - there was still arge group of guests outside so Josef wouldn¡¯t ignore all of them even if he was lusting after Annina, would he? Annina was drunk and lying on his bed so he could y with her however he wanted after the guests went away - this must be what he intended.
There was no need to do anything for Annina for the moment, so Xia Lei looked around the study. There were tworge bookshelves in the study with over two hundred books on them. He scanned the spines and found that arge portion of them were to do with electrical engineering and machining.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze moved to Josef¡¯s desk which had some drawings and drafts on it.
He walked to the desk and flipped through the drawings and drafts. The drawings were of something rted to electrical engineering, not the design ns of that intelligentthe. The drafts, on the other hand, had some calctions and sketches and so on which were rted to it.
These electrical engineering drawings and drafts were of great value to Xia Lei and he quickly scanned through everything on the desk. If it were Long Bing, she would only be able to use her mobile phone or a mini camera to take pictures but he did not need those. He only needed to use his left eye to look at everything once and all the information would be saved like photographs in his left eye. He just needed to recall them for it all to be disyed in his head.
Xia Lei took five minutes to look at everything on the table. He used his X-ray vision on the entire study afterwards to look for hidden secrets but he did not find any hidden safe, document envelopes or anything of the like.
¡®Arge intelligentthe means that Josef would surely need dozens of drawings. Where would he hide them?¡¯ As he thought about it, Xia Lei¡¯s eyes went to the window and the tin-roofed shed entered his field of vision again. A smile hovered on his lips. ¡®He needs his drawings to construct that intelligentthe so he won¡¯t put them somewhere too far off or it will be inconvenient for him. I have to get into his shed. Tonight.¡¯
His decision made, Xia Lei exited the study and went to Josef¡¯s bedroom.
Anninay on the bed, mumbling drunkenly to herself, ¡°I knew it was you... Hee hee...¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. He gathered Annina in his arms and walked towards the bathroom.
Annina was quiet but she started misbehaving after two steps. She wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s neck and suddenly kissed him on the cheek and said in a slurred voice, ¡°You and me, let¡¯s...¡±
Her wordscked a key word but Xia Lei knew what she meant.
Western women were very open indeed; she could express such a thing so easily.
Xia Lei ignored her and walked into the bathroom.
Annina, on the other hand, did not stop her advances. She kissed Xia Lei¡¯s ear and one of the arms around his neck slipped down so she could feel him up with her hand.
¡°Quiet down, I¡¯m going to help sober you up.¡± Xia Lei tolerated the harassment and turned on the tap in the sink.
The sink quickly filled with water. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t wait to get Annina off of himself and when she bothered him again, he suddenly pressed her into the sink by her neck.
¡°Guleurggh...¡± Annina was choked by the water.
Xia Lei let go.
Annina raised her head from the sink, still bleary.
Xia Lei suddenly used his right hand to poke her chest with his middle and index fingers, and pulled his fingers upwards after they¡¯d sunk a little into her flesh.
¡°Wurgh...¡± Annina vomited. What came out was mostly the alcohol she had consumed and some barbecued meat. Once all these were vomited, she rxed and was much more sober and alert.
Annina stared nkly at Xia Lei, not understanding what had happened.
¡°This is Josef¡¯s room. You¡¯re drunk so I only did that to wake you up. I¡¯ll wait for you downstairs.¡± Xia Lei turned and left after he was done speaking.
¡°Lukas...¡± Annina called. Xia Lei did not look back. She looked at herself in the mirror and paused for a beat before eximing. ¡°Yikes, I¡¯m hideous!¡±
Xia Lei zoomed downstairs and ran into Josef heading inside just as he walked out of the living room.
Josef looked suspiciously at Xia Lei at their encounter. ¡°Where have you been, Lukas?¡±
¡°I went to the bathroom. German barbecue is too oily and I¡¯m not used to it. Excuse me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°The party¡¯s over. You can leave,¡± said Josef.
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Thanks for your hospitality.¡±
Josef was done speaking with him and walked towards the staircase withrge strides. He had said his goodbyes and announced the end of the party while Xia Lei looked at the drawings and drafts and helped Annina get sober. Josef was eager to be one with Annina and could not be bothered to waste more words on Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked to the front garden and saw guests leaving; those who lived nearby walked and those who lived further away drove. Thest to leave were Hans and those three biker boys.
Before Hans left, he looked straight at Xia Lei with a small smile of schadenfreude on his lips, got on his motorcycle and left with his buddies.
Xia Lei walked at a snail¡¯s pace, worrying over a problem. Should he go back to Josef¡¯s house and take Annina away if she did note out herself?
He smiled wryly and thought, ¡®Boss Shi made me a consultant for Bureau 101 and Long Bing put in effort to train me to be a good spy and special agent but I cannot be who they want me to be. My character is not suited for spy work or special agent duties at all. How troublesome.¡¯
One of the most basic requirements of qualified spy or special agent is to achieve the goal no matter what. Take the current situation for example - a qualified agent would definitely not expend extra effort go to help Annina. Conversely, it would be a good opportunity to further the goal of gaining information since Josef would be busy with Annina and that meant that it was the best chance for Xia Lei to enter the tin-roofed shed.
From the standpoint ofpleting the mission, him doing so would be a mistake. However, from a moral standpoint, Annina treated him as a friend, trusted him very much, was good to him and took care of him - how could he stand aside and let something so disgusting happen to her when she was so nice to him? He would bepletely heartless if he let that happen.
¡®Forget it. I¡¯m not cut out to be a spy or a special agent anyway. I have my own conscience and I want to be able to sleep well at night.¡¯ Xia Lei straightened himself out.
At that moment, Annina¡¯s voice came from behind him.
¡°Josef, this is too sudden. Give me some time to think.¡± Annina walked out the door. She had be sober after vomiting.
Josef came chasing out, a look of discontent on his face, ¡°Annina, don¡¯t you know my feelings for you?¡±
Annina frowned, ¡°It¡¯ste. I have to go home.¡±
Josef spotted Xia Lei standing in the front garden and suddenly said, ¡°Is it because of him?¡±
Annina paused, then shook her head, ¡°Josef, how can I make you understand? This has nothing to do with Lukas. It¡¯s my own problem. We grew up together; I know you too well. I... have no romantic feelings for you. Don¡¯t you understand?¡±
Boys and girls who grew up together rarely became lovers because they knew each other too well. Xia Lei could rte to this because Jiang Ru-Yi and himself was one such example. He was too familiar with her and there was no heart-thumping feeling of love, so how could they be lovers?
¡°Fine, go home. I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± Josef shrugged helplessly.
¡°Good night, Josef.¡± Annina bid him good night and walked towards Xia Lei.
¡°Good night, Mr Josef. Thanks for dinner,¡± called Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah.¡± Josef gave a disinterested reply.
¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Annina to Xia Lei, then she lowered her voice, ¡°How could you dunk my head in the sink? I¡¯m going to get you back for that.¡±
Xia Lei stared dumbly at her.
Annina smiled, ¡°I¡¯m kidding. Thank you. I know what Josef wanted to do.¡±
Xia Lei smiled back, ¡°Let¡¯s go. Don¡¯t bring up what has passed.¡±
As the two of them walked shoulder-to-shoulder along the little path, however, some motorcycles suddenly charged from the road behind them.
Xia Lei turned to look and grabbed Annina by the waist, pulling her down to the ground.
Chapter 127 - Hunter in the Darkness
Hunter in the Darkness
Bang!
A gunshot rang out as Xia Lei pulled Annina to the ground.
The bullet shaved past Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and hit the grass, sending up a spray of leaves and dirt.
The person who¡¯d fired the shot was the leader of the group whose face Xia Lei had kicked and the other four were also people who Xia Lei had beaten upst night. Two of them still had their heads in bandages; they¡¯d been hit with a brick.
Josef was rmed and frightened and fled in the direction of his house.
Bang, bang, bang! One of the motorcycle riders fired three shots at Josef¡¯s back.
Josef fell to the ground, his white shirt stained red in an instant.
Xia Lei did not hesitate - he gathered Annina in his arms and ran into the woods when Josef got shot. Annina regained her wits only after they entered the woods and her face was drained of colour.
¡°Go after them!¡± roared the leader, ¡°Kill them!¡±
Xia Lei pulled a terrified Annina deeper into the woods.
Five gang members got off their vehicles and went chasing in the direction Xia Lei and Annina had fled in, firing their guns as they chased.
¡°They¡¯ll kill us!¡± cried Annina as she ran, ¡°We¡¯re dead this time!¡±
Xia Lei held her hand tight, ¡°Shush. They¡¯ll find us.¡±
Annina shut up. Her brain could not think normally anymore and she allowed Xia Lei to pull her deeper into the woods.
The woods were shrouded in darkness and moonlight could not prate the dense canopy to illuminate the way. This gave Xia Lei a chances to shake his pursuers off his trail since he could see what he needed to see in the dark thanks to his left eye.
Xia Lei ran, looking back asionally and changing his route several times. Finally, he dragged Annina towards her own home. The woods were not big and those five gang members would be able to finish searching the whole ce quickly so hiding in the woods was a definitely a stupid decision to make.
¡°Does the gun in your home still work?¡± Xia Lei asked as soon as they were in sight of Annina¡¯s home.
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll get the gun!¡± said Annina nervously.
Xia Lei let go of her hand and looked back. He could see the five gang members approaching from the woods. They were working well together, each spread out ten metres and reporting to each other as they searched the woods.
Seven to eight minutes had passed since Josef was shot. The residents of the town would definitely call the police upon hearing gunshots but this town had no police station and the city police needed at least thirty minutes to get here. This was why the gang members were able to go after Annina and himself so brazenly with guns.
Annina quickly brought the hunting gun out and ced it and some ammunition in Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
Xia Lei took the gun and looked it over, then pointed it at the woods.
¡°Have you fired a gun before?¡± asked Annina worriedly.
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°Never.¡±
¡°What?¡± eximed Annina in surprise, ¡°Then what do you want the gun for? Let¡¯s escape on the motorcycle!¡±
¡°Those guys have motorcycles too. They¡¯ll easily catch up to us if we try to escape that way. They¡¯re all armed too. We¡¯re dead if they catch up to us,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°But... You don¡¯t know how to shoot. I¡¯ve done some shooting but I haven¡¯t ever killed so much as a rabbit, much less a human. What do we do?¡± Annina was apprehensive.
Xia Lei put the gun back in Annina¡¯s hands, ¡°You¡¯re going to shoot.¡±
¡°Me?¡± Annina¡¯s jaw dropped. She could not believe that this was Xia Lei¡¯s idea.
¡°My sense of sight and hearing are very good. I¡¯ll tell you which direction to shoot and you shoot, all right?¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina shook her head, a look of despair on her face, ¡°No, that¡¯s a terrible idea.¡±
Xia Lei put his hands on her shoulders, ¡°You¡¯ve already guessed that it was mest night, right?¡±
Annina nodded.
¡°They had guns then too but I still took them down. This time is no different. Trust me. We will be fine,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I trust you but the woods are so dark I can¡¯t see the targets. My gun skills are lousy too so I may not be able to hit the target even if I can see it,¡± said Annina.
¡°I¡¯ll be your eyes. Let¡¯s go. They¡¯re almost here,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina finally nodded and followed Xia Lei back into the woods.
Firing the gun was simple - aim, pull the trigger and let the bullet finish the job. It was no problem at all for Xia Lei to fire the gun but he did not want to do it. The reason was simply because he would be closely investigated if he shot a German citizen and he did not want that to happen. If he let Annina do the shooting, there would not be any problems even if she killed those gang members since it could be counted as self-defense.
The woods were so dark that visibility was limited to just a few metres but to Xia Lei¡¯s left eye, it was as clear as day and he could even clearly see the ants on the ground. He quickly located the five gang members approaching in their search.
The five gang members were spread out in a line with over ten metres between them and they were quite close to Annina¡¯s home.
Xia Lei held Annina¡¯s hand and snuck quietly to nk them. He hid behind the trunk of arge tree and waited for the closest gang member to walk past his hiding spot. Annina was next to him, shivering in nervousness.
The closest gang member soon walked past.
¡°Now. In the direction of your home,¡± said Xia Lei quietly in Annina¡¯s ear.
Annina raised the gun and aimed in the direction of her home. All she saw was inky darkness; there was no target to be seen.
Xia Lei stood close behind her and his hands reached past her waist, his left hand on her left and right on her right. He adjusted her in this position and it was as if he were aiming himself, his hands like a mp holding her in position - her whole body was in the grip of his ¡®mp¡¯.
Annian was very nervous but it did not all stem from the possibility of killing someone - the position she was in was also a factor.
Xia Lei was also embarrassed and nervous and this close contact made him very sensitive. He took a deep breath, then slowly adjusted the muzzle of Annina¡¯s gun, then whispered in her ear, ¡°Fire.¡±
Annina pulled the trigger on reflex and a burst of me spouted from the muzzle of the gun. The gang member who¡¯d passed them not ten metres away fell to the ground with a cry.
Hunting guns use buckshot and the distance of a few metres meant that his body would have been hit by 80% of the shot. He¡¯d been shot so full of holes that he could be a sieve!
The gang member hit by buckshot was motionless after he fell.
The shot done, Xia Lei pulled Annina and ran in the direction of Josef¡¯s home.
¡°They¡¯re over there!¡± shouted the leader, ¡°Get them!¡±
The other four gang members ran towards the shot gang member, shooting blindly as they ran. Xia Lei and Annina were long gone by then.
¡°Did I hit him?¡± asked Annina nervously when they stopped running.
¡°You did, you shot him,¡± whispered Xia Lei.
¡°Oh!¡± Annina eximed, then covered her mouth, excited, nervous and afraid all at once.
¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, we¡¯ll be fine. We just have to hang on for a while more and the police wille,¡± consoled Xia Lei.
Annina suddenly hugged Xia Lei. She was shaking all over.
Xia Lei patted her back to soothe her and help her calm down. No one could remain calm after shooting someone for the first time and getting a sense of what it was like to kill someone. The one who had pulled the trigger was Annina but it was Xia Lei who acted as the gun stand and scope. The gang member¡¯s death was at least 50% due to him. However, they would be in grave danger if he did not control his emotions.
Xia Lei nced at the woods and suddenly said to Annina, ¡°Ten o¡¯clock. Aim.¡±
Annina moved out of Xia Lei¡¯s embrace and raised the gun, pointing it in the ten o¡¯clock position. She could not see if there were any targets in that direction but she trusted Xia Lei¡¯s judgement. She held the gun up but did not move, as if waiting quietly for something. Xia Lei pressed himself close from behind as she had expected and prepared for, and, just like earlier, his hands reached around to guide hers.
¡°Fire.¡± Xia Lei said in Annina¡¯s ear.
Annina pulled the trigger decisively.
Bang! A shot rang out and a pit formed in the chest of a gang member. He fell to the ground screamlessly.
Bang, bang, bang! A burst of gunfire came from the darkness, striking the tree trunk that Xia Lei and Annina hid behind.
Xia Lei pulled Annina in a run to the side. They had moved away but the remaining three gang members were still shooting straight at the tree trunk.
Xia Lei was a fearful natural hunter in the darkness!
Chapter 128 - Buns and Dogs
Buns and Dogs
A familiar person had be a corpse and was now lying motionless on the ground, a shocking, gaping, messy cavity where his chest was. Looking at his second fallen underling, the leader saw red. ¡°What are you standing around for? Find them! Kill them both!¡±
An underling bit the bullet and said, ¡°Boss, these woods are dark and we¡¯re not familiar with the environment. We¡¯re at a disadvantage.¡±
The other underling¡¯s courage had also taken a hit. ¡°Yeah, boss. We already know where that woman goes to work. We can lie in wait for her when she goes to work or leaves work. That guy that¡¯s with her also goes to the same workce. We can ambush them and get them easily,¡± he said apprehensively.
Annina pressed her lips tightly together and clenched her teeth in a corner in the darkness. She had already killed two people under Xia Lei¡¯s guidance and the feeling of killing was dreadful. She did not want to keep killing but overhearing the conversation of the three underworld members made her so angry she would not hesitate to kill them right away.
It was then that Annina understood why Xia Lei did not just run but stayed to fight it out with these gang members. They already found her address so if they coulde once, they coulde twice. They would only be rid of the problem if they took it out at the root!
Xia Lei seemed to sense Annina¡¯s anger and highly emotional state and he reached out to hold her gently by her shoulder to say in her ear, ¡°Calm down.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was like a sedative and Annina gave a small nod as she slowly calmed.
On the other side, Navas hit an underling across the face and shouted, ¡°Bastard! We have two dead. If we don¡¯t kill them tonight they will describe us to the police. We¡¯ve already killed an innocent person - the police won¡¯t let us off. We have to kill them tonight. Find them! You, over there! You, over here!¡±
Navas pointed in two directions with his gun, directing his underlings while he himself stayed in the same ce.
The two underlings bit the bullet and went off to search in two different directions. Their steps were slow and both were very nervous.
One of the underlings went searching in the direction that Xia Lei and Annina were hiding in.
Next to Annina, Xia Lei said softly, ¡°Get ready.¡±
Annina lifted the gun and waited for Xia Lei. They had already done it twice so she was used to Xia Lei embracing her from behind.
Xia Lei stuck close to her back, reached past her waist and put his hands over hers. He was not taking advantage of her - he was also taking into consideration the recoil from the shot on top of being her gun stand and scope. The recoil from the gun was heavy and the shot could go wide if he did not hold Annina tightly in ce. It would be a fatal mistake if that were to happen!
Xia Lei moved Annina¡¯s hands firmly and pointed the gun at the cautiously approaching gang member, then said in Annina¡¯s ear, ¡°Fire.¡±
Bang! The gun roared and the re of ignited gunpowder in the darkness of the woods was especially eye-catching.
The approaching hang member was hit and he fell to the ground. The buckshot had hit him in the chest and neck, pulverizing his entire front. He twitched twice after he fell, theny still.
Annina lowered the gun and made to run but Xia Lei held her still.
¡°What are you doing? We¡¯ll be discovered,¡± said Annina nervously.
¡°Wait, you¡¯ll see,¡± said Xia Lei in her ear.
A shower of bullets came at them, almost at the same time the gang member copsed. A few bullets hit the tree trunk they hid behind, making chips of wood fly onto their bodies and faces, stinging them.
Annina turned white as a sheet. If Xia Lei had not held her still, she would have run out of her hiding ce and been hit by those bullets. She had almost gone to meet the Grim Reaper!
¡°How... How did you know?¡± asked Annina in a small, shocked voice.
¡°We ran after shooting the previous two times so he has an idea of our next course of action. If we had repeat this the third time we¡¯d be dead. That boss told his underlings to search while he stayed in one spot to wait for the re of our gun to show so he can locate and shoot at us,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re amazing!¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei kept mum. He did not actually predict what Navas would do; he had seen Navas stand in the same spot to wait for them to shoot his underling. He of vicious heart had used his underling as bait. However, Navas¡¯ seemingly calcted move wasughable in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
¡°Over there! Get them!¡± roared Navas.
The only remaining underling came running with a gun but Navas still stood in his original position.
¡°Get ready,¡± said Xia Lei in Annina¡¯s ear.
Annina raised the gun obediently and aimed it at the approaching gang member.
Bang, bang, bang!
The gang member shot blindly as he approached and a few bullets hit a tree next to them. Annina looked nervous but Xia Lei seemed calm. He kept his eyes on the gang member and waited for his target to move within shooting range. The hunting gun was powerful but its range was short. If Annina had had a rifle or sniper rifle at home he would not have to go through so much trouble and just direct Annina to kill all five of them long ago.
*
It would all end soon.
¡°Fire.¡±
Bang!
The gun roared yet again and a ribbon of me shot from the muzzle. The gang member who had just got to hisrade¡¯s corpse crumbled and, like hisrade, twitched twice before he grew still.
Annina learnt from the previous experience and did not move from her hiding ce.
Bullets came flying again and this time, Navas emptied a full clip.
The spray of bullets made Annina very uneasy and Xia Lei hugged her tightly to help her calm down.
Navas started running in the direction of his motorcycle after he emptied the clip. He wasn¡¯t sure if he had hit Xia Lei and Annina but he was definitely not brave enough to make sure. He had brought four underlings and those four were now dead. His courage was long gone.
¡°Chase him!¡± Xia Lei pulled Annina with him in a run.
¡°Chase him? He ran away?¡± Annina could not see anyone running away in the darkness.
Xia Lei said nothing and just pulled her along as he ran in the woods.
¡°We¡¯re... going to kill a fleeing man?¡± asked Annina uneasily.
¡°You make the choice. You heard them. They know where we go to work and know where you live. Do you want to let him escape and gather more underlings toe kill you? I¡¯m here tonight but what will you do when he brings his gang to your home tomorrow night?¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina bit her lip. ¡°Help me. I want him dead!¡±
¡°Come with me.¡± Xia Lei took her with him on the chase.
The ground underfoot wasplicated in darkness; stones, weeds and vines everywhere. A normal person would need to strain to see well enough to navigate and Navas had no way of being quick in an environment like this. He¡¯d been very careful but he was still tripped by a vine when he was close to the edge of the woods.
¡°Fuck!¡± Navas picked himself up and continued running.
The sound of a gunshot came from behind.
Navas¡¯ body flew a few steps forward before he dropped to the ground. He wanted to get up after he fell but he suddenly discovered that he could not make his arms move anymore. He stopped breathing two to three minutester with his eyes wide open in death.
¡°Did I hit him?¡± asked Annina nervously.
¡°You did. We¡¯re safe,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina suddenly flung the gun in her hands away and turned around to hug Xia Lei and kiss him on the lips.
Xia Lei froze. This was his first kiss. He¡¯d never imagined that he¡¯d have his first kiss in this sort of environment and especially not after killing five people!
*Paragraph removed. Superfluous writing which spoils the story-flow.
Annina was still this time and did not wriggle her hips but Xia Lei was still very sensitive. A certain part of his body had gone erect and gone down, then went up again the previous four times. He had a starved dog and Annina had a meat-stuffed bun and she kept using the bun to tease his dog. How could his dog not give in to temptation? This was very ufortable indeed.
Chapter 129 - First-time Doctor
First-time Doctor
The passionate kiss ended but the setting for the kiss was out of their control. Xia Lei suddenly couldn¡¯t care less anymore and pushed her onto the floor of the woods. He would taste a woman and throw away the hat of virginity. Annina seemed to be tempting him to do so; she bit Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said, ¡°Take me.¡±
Her voice was seductive but it made Xia Leie to his senses. He caught Annina¡¯s hand undoing his belt and said, ¡°Annina, we should check Josef¡¯s condition.¡±
Annina nked out for a bit, then let go of Xia Lei. The repeated intimacy and excitement from shooting and killing put her emotions in overdrive. She wanted Xia Lei, and very urgently so Xia Lei¡¯s words were like a ssh of cold water in her face. That¡¯s right - Josef was a friend who¡¯d grown up with her. He¡¯d been shot by gang members and his condition was unknown; how could she be having fun with Xia Lei right now?
¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡± Annina said in shame, ¡°I lost control. Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s see if Josef¡¯s all right.¡± She picked up the gun she had thrown to the ground and started walking towards Josef¡¯s house.
They went past Navas¡¯ corpse lying on the ground like a dog carcass on their way to Josef¡¯s house. Annina gave Navas¡¯ thigh a savage kick and said, ¡°This is for Josef!¡± She kicked him again, ¡°This is for me!¡±
Xia Lei patted her on the shoulder, ¡°Come on, he¡¯s already dead.¡±
Annina nodded and followed Xia Lei out of the woods.
The lights in Josef¡¯s house were on and it illuminated a group of people standing in front of it. Quite a few men in the group were holding hunting guns. They were the residents of the town and they¡¯de to help but were too afraid to enter the murky woods to fight the gang members.
¡°Hands in the air! Don¡¯t move!¡± An old man shouted when he spotted Annina and Xia Lei. He lifted his gun and took aim at them.
A few other residents also raised their hunting guns and the air grew tense.
Annina raised her voice, ¡°It¡¯s me, Annina! The gang members are dead!¡±
¡°It¡¯s Annina¡¯s voice!¡± said someone.
¡°She said the gang members are dead? What¡¯s going on?¡± said someone unbelievingly.
The town folk started buzzing.
Xia Lei and Annina walked over and saw Josef. Hey on the ground with two bullets in his back. One bullet had gone into his lungs and the other in his waist. The wounds were bleeding and wetting the ground beneath him but he was still breathing faintly and alive.
Bloodied bandagesy on the grass next to Josef - it looked like someone had tried to patch him up and not done a very good job.
¡°Are you all right, Josef?¡± asked Annina in concern.
There was no response from Josef. His eyes were shut and his breathingboured.
At that moment, a woman walked out of Josef¡¯s house with an emergency first-aid kit in her hands.
¡°Does anyone know first-aid?¡± she asked.
The people around her all shook their heads.
The woman frowned and said, ¡°I¡¯ve called the police and told them of this situation. Why haven¡¯t they and the ambncee yet?¡±
An elderly man holding a gun replied, ¡°It won¡¯t be that quick. My wife fell and broke her leg in the bathroom and I called the ambnce but they only arrived over half an hourter. It¡¯s a good thing that it¡¯s just a broken bone - if she had wounds like Josef¡¯s she¡¯d be long dead.¡±
¡°What do we do?¡± said the woman anxiously, ¡°Josef¡¯s wounds are still bleeding. He won¡¯t be able to hang on till the ambnce arrives.¡±
The group were anxious but this called for professional knowledge and skills and worrying about it was no help at all.
Xia Lei spoke up, ¡°Let me try.¡±
The woman gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°You? Who are you? Are you a doctor?¡±
¡°Frau Luana, his name¡¯s *Lukas and he¡¯s my friend. He¡¯s very capable. Let him try,¡± said Annina.
¡°Is he a doctor?¡± asked the woman named Luana.
¡°He¡¯s...¡± Annina couldn¡¯t answer; she did not know whether Xia Lei could do emergency first aid.
¡°I¡¯m not a doctor, I¡¯m a mechanic,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Eh? Mechanic?¡± Luana made an exaggerated expression. ¡°Josef is not a machine. He needs a doctor, not a mechanic.¡±
¡°Yeah, how can a mechanic do a doctor¡¯s job? Especially a yellow-skinned punk,¡± said someone.
¡°He doesn¡¯t look like a doctor either. What if he ¡®fixes¡¯ Josef to death? Who¡¯s going to take responsibility for that? Him?¡± said someone doubtfully.
The group talked amongst themselves and no one was willing to believe Xia Lei except Annina.
¡°Josef¡¯s wound is still bleeding. How much time do you all need to discuss? Josef will die of blood loss before you reach a consensus. He may have a chance if I try. Just think about that before you decide,¡± said Xia Lei.
The residents and Xia Lei both knew that this was a big risk. He had never treated anyone¡¯s illness before and had never really applied himself to medicine. He only decided to do this not because he wanted to be a hero but because Josef was very important to his mission.
Based on the information he had, Josef had not yetpleted the research and building of the intelligentthe but he was close to finishing. If Josef died at this point then who was going toplete the intelligentthe?
Luana looked at the dying Josef and made her decision. She handed the first-aid kit to Xia Lei. ¡°Give it a try but be very careful. If you can¡¯t go anything to make it better then wait for the ambnce. We shall pray for Josef.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and went to Josef¡¯s side. He opened the first-aid kit, took out the scissors and carefully cut away the blood-soaked shirt on Josef¡¯s body. The bullet wounds on Josef¡¯s back were exposed and both wounds were oozing blood, making it impossible to see how deep the wounds were.
Josef¡¯s wounds were serious. Xia Lei¡¯s brows wrinkled.
With wounds as serious as these, the most the paramedics could do when the ambnce arrived was to hook Josef up to an oxygen mask and rush him to the hospital for treatment. Josef would have to survive the time taken to get him to the hospital in order to get treatment. Xia Lei could tell that Josef would die on the way to the hospital or even earlier than that.
¡°He can¡¯t do anything after all,¡± said an old man, ¡°I think he doesn¡¯t even know what to do.¡±
¡°Josef will die in his hands. Tell him to stop. I can¡¯t trust him,¡± said someone.
Annina was pissed. ¡°Can you keep quiet? Would the doctor in the hospital allow you to make such noise if Josef were there?¡±
The group of people shut their mouths in shame. They might have been less doubtful if Xia Lei had been a German and even voiced their doubts more politely. This was not racism but there might have been a bit of bias because of the country he was from.
¡°Let us pray for Josef. May the Lord bless him,¡± said Luana.
The group of people started praying and Xia Lei got his quiet. As they prayed, his left eye twitched and his vision cut into Josef¡¯s lung area like a surgeon¡¯s knife. He looked past the blood and saw torn flesh, broken blood vessels and a small pit in the lung area. The bullet was embedded in his lung cavity.
Xia Lei then used his X-ray vision on the wound in Josef¡¯s waist. Josef was lucky. The bullet had stopped just short of his kidney. One centimetre more and it would have prated it. He would have died long ago if that bullet had hit his kidney.
¡®Josef¡¯s possibly fatal wound is in his lung area. If I can find a way to get the bullet out and stem the blood loss he should be in better condition and make it to the hospital to receive treatment¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He looked in the first-aid kit.
The first-aid kit contained bandages, disinfectant, styptic powder**, tweezers and everyday medicine like amoxicillin. There were no scalpels, anaesthetic, or anything needed for a surgery.
Under normal circumstances, a doctor would first get an X-ray of Josef¡¯s body to determine the location of the bullet beforemencing surgery. However, Xia Lei was able to see the situation inside Josef¡¯s body with his eye, and even more clearly than a machine - what hecked were just the surgical tools and appropriate drugs.
A bold n begun to form in Xia Lei¡¯s mind after some thought. He picked up the tweezers and reached carefully into the wound.
Xia Lei kept his gaze focused as tweezers inched into Josef¡¯s wound. He did not dare rx. It seemed like a reckless thing to do but it was actually the safest and least intrusive thing to do because he could see the wound clearly. He could also avoid giving Josef any additional wounds with the power of his left eye.
¡°He¡¯s actually using tweezers to...¡± An elderly man was so shocked by Xia Lei¡¯s actions that his jaw dropped.
¡°Stop him! Are you kidding me? Using tweezers to dig in Josef¡¯s body?¡± someone said angrily.
Annina was shocked too.
At that moment, Xia Lei lifted the hand holding the tweezers - he had removed a warped bullet from Josef¡¯s wound.
Xia Lei tossed the bullet aside and reached into Josef¡¯s wound with the tweezers again. He did not dig deep this time and just used the tweezers to mp the blood vessel which had been damaged by the bullet. The wound stopped oozing blood after he mped the blood vessel.
Everyone stared at Xia Lei in dumb shock. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
¡°I¡¯ve stopped the bleeding so he should be able to hold on till the ambnce gets here. The other wound is not fatal. We should wait for a doctor to have it treated,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina looked at Xia Lei, her mind a nk.
No one doubted Xia Lei now. Their eyes were full of respect.
The sound of sirens rang in the distance and the sound grew louder as the ambnce drew closer.
Xia Lei let out a quiet sigh of relief. ¡®I need to study some medicine when I get back to China. I¡¯ll surely encounter some situation where I¡¯ll need it since I¡¯m working for Bureau 101 and it¡¯s better to have an additional skill.¡¯
*Changed to Lukas. The author wrote ¡®Xia Lei¡¯.
**styptic powder - This is a real item but not standard in a first-aid kit.
Chapter 130 - Stealing Classified Information
Chapter 130 - Stealing ssified Information
The police and paramedics arrived together and the town folk told the police about the situation in various voices.
A paramedic looked at Xia Lei squatting next to Josef in astonishment. He was holding the tweezers in Josef¡¯s back steady. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°The bullet hit his lung and he¡¯s in critical condition. I removed the bullet for him, then mped his blood vessel with tweezers to stop the bleeding,¡± exined Xia Lei.
¡°Wha-?¡± The paramedic was at a loss for words.
¡°Who told you to do this?¡± asked a nurse reproachfully, ¡°Don¡¯t you know that this is very dangerous?¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. Josef¡¯s condition was stable and that was enough. He did not expect these paramedics to thank him for his great help.
The paramedics put an oxygen mask on Josef. The nurse who had admonished Xia Lei cautiously took over the holding of the tweezers from him and held it steady like he had been doing. The paramedics were aware that though Xia Lei¡¯s methods had been rough, they have saved Josef¡¯s life.
Xia Lei walked towards Annina after handing Josef off to the paramedics. Annina was being questioned by the police so he did not go close but stood to one side to listen.
You said you killed five gang members?¡± The police officer writing notes couldn¡¯t believe it and his eyes were full of surprise.
¡°Yes. I used my father¡¯s hunting gun to shoot them. Their bodies are in the woods,¡± said Annina.
¡°You did this yourself?¡± asked the policeman.
Annina nced at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei grew nervous - he had no idea what Annina would say.
Annina was silent for a bit before answering. ¡°Yes, I did it on my own. They were members of a gang and they¡¯d attacked me before in a bar. They came chasing all the way here today and shot my friend Josef. They wanted to kill me too. I was defending myself.¡±
The police asked more questions and Annina answered. Xia Lei let out a quiet breath of relief. He had not fired the gun himself but guided Annina in the killing of those gang members because he did not want to stir up trouble for himself. Annina seemed to have picked up on this and shouldered the responsibility though she knew it was impossible for her to have done this alone.
Josef was quickly taken away in the ambnce and the police found the bodies of the five gang members in the woods. The bodies were packed in body bags and carted off on a temporarilymandeered pick-up truck.
¡°Miss Annina, you¡¯ll have toe with us to the police station to help with the investigation,¡± said a police officer, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just procedure. You killed them in self-defence so there will not be any charges against you.¡±
¡°Can I have a few minutes?¡± asked Annina, ¡°I want to speak with my friend.¡±
The policeman nodded, ¡°Go ahead, but be quick.¡±
Annina walked to Xia Lei, pulled him to a corner and made sure no one was listening before she spoke. ¡°Lukas, go to my house and wait for me toe back. I won¡¯t be long.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go to your house after you leave,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You can sleep in the room upstairs and use the bathroom there. Um, just do what you¡¯d like, no worries,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei nodded. However, he was not thinking of sleeping or showering - he was thinking of how he would enter Josef¡¯s shed and obtain the secrets of the intelligentthe after the police and residents leave.
Annina suddenly hugged Xia Lei and nibbled on his ear. ¡°Wait for me toe back.¡±
Her softness, her fragrance and sexiness were right in his arms and aroused certain inclinations in Xia Lei. His body stiffened. He did not know how to respond to her words.
Annina kissed him on his cheek and smiled, then turned and walked back to the waiting policemen.
Xia Lei watched Annina get into the police car. The police drove off and he smiled wryly. ¡®Western women are really open. Should I tell her I have a wife? Will she get mad if I tell her?¡¯
It was difficult to guess at the way a woman¡¯s mind worked.
The townsfolk were also leaving.
¡°Lukas, want to have a drink at my ce?¡± said thest to leave, Luana, to Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you, Aunt Luana but it¡¯ste. Another day perhaps,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°All right. Good night, Mr Lukas.¡± Luana bid him good night and left.
Xia Lei walked to the little path he¡¯de by and along it for a bit before he walked off of it. He rounded back in the woods and went towards Josef¡¯s shed.
There was no one in Josef¡¯s house at this time and it was the best time to act.
Xia Lei scouted the area around Josef¡¯s house by the woods with his X-ray ability to make sure that there was no one around before he moved quickly across the grass and straight to the shed.
The shed had a big metal door with arge lock. The lock was a stumbling block in his ns. If he opened it, Josef would know that someone had broken into his shed. If he didn¡¯t, it would be impossible to enter. The shed had a metal roof and was sealed as tight as a drum and had no venttion ducts either. There was no way in other than the metal door.
¡®That¡¯s right, I didn¡¯t see any key on Josef when I was fixing him up. It isn¡¯t likely that he¡¯d have the key on him for his birthday party so they must be in his house. I should look for his key and open the door with it, then put it back where I found it. He won¡¯t know.¡¯ Xia Lei was quickly struck by an idea.
Xia Lei entered Josef¡¯s house through the back door and used his X-ray vision. A few minutester, he found the keys he needed in a drawer in Josef¡¯s study. It was a very easy thing for him to find hidden items with his X-ray vision.
He walked into the shed after opening the metal door with the key. It was ink-dark in the shed but he did not need lights. Light would be seen from far off and would be easily discovered; he wouldn¡¯t make such a basic mistake.
Xia Lei walked to the machine covered by the fluorescent tarpaulin and removed the tarpaulin. What met his eyes was indeed argethe and it looked iplete but nearly finished.
He circled thethe twice and used his X-ray vision to examine the insides. He could not help but to admire the machine. ¡®Josef is not a very nice human being but a genius at electrical engineering. Athe like this is definitely the most advanced in Germany and maybe even the world. If I can bring the blueprints and design ns back to China, my Thunder Horse Manufacturing will have the most advancedthe in the world!¡¯
It looked like taking the risk to save Josef was the right move. If Josef died thisthe would have no one toplete its research and production.
After doing an overall X-ray of the iplete intelligentthe, Xia Lei examined its internal structure from different angles with his ability. Every part, every circuit board and even the model number and location of theponents such as capacitors, resistors and so on were ¡®photographed¡¯ and saved by his left eye. This was arge amount of information and overuse of his X-ray ability had expended a lot of his energy. He fainted half an hourter when he was done examining the machine.
Hallucinations which he had not experienced in a long time re-surfaced.
Xia Lei saw Annina. She¡¯d suddenly appeared in the shed in a sexy bikini. She walked towards him and she had some sort of perfume on her which enveloped her in its fragrance. She went to his side and knelt, then reached with her hand to stroke his cheek, then his chest, and his abdomen...
Xia Lei knew very well that is was a hallucination but it felt so real. He could not help staring at her thighs which were slightly apart, and at the mature yet mysterious shape moulded by the bikini. A sort of burning started in his body.
Hallucinations from overuse from his X-ray vision were simr to dreams. There were daydreams and sleeping dreams and today, while he was with Annina, they had hugged, embraced and even kissed so having a hallucination like this right now was quite normal, really.
¡°Lukas, you¡¯re so strong.¡± Annina pressed herself against him as she spoke.
Xia Lei closed his eyes. He was powerless against the realism of this hallucination.
Lucky for him, the hallucinations disappeared after a few minutes and he picked himself off the ground after regaining some of his strength. Xia Lei looked around the shed and saw some unprocessed parts, aputer and some circuit board-like things. His gaze thennded on a safe in the wall.
Xia Lei walked to it. The safe was German-made and it was not a top of the range brand but it was not poor quality either. The safe needed a numerical code and a dial code to open it. A safe like this would be very difficult for a cat burr like Qin Xiang to open but it was nothing to Xia Lei.
After a short rest, Xia Lei used his own method to open the safe.
There was a thick stack of drawings in the safe and he took them out for a closer look. The drawings were all Josef¡¯s personally crafted design ns for the intelligentthe.
Xia Lei flipped through them one by one; this took him half an hour. After he was done, he took out his phone and took pictures of all the drawings.
He had already memorised everything when he¡¯d looked at the drawings and he only took pictures of them to send to Long Bing. She had a part in the mission too and she needed something to hand to her superiors. The design ns in Josef¡¯s safe were missing thest part but what was there was already extremely important to the relevant parties. It was entirely enough for Long Bing to submit these pictures.
When he was done taking pictures, he put the drawings back into their original positions in the safe and closed it. A few minutester, he covered the ipletethe with the fluorescent tarpaulin and exited the shed.
Before Xia Lei put the key back, he used a piece of soap to get an imprint of the key and took the soap with him. He would need to enter Josef¡¯s shed again in the future so it was quite necessary to get a copy of the key.
On the path back to Annina¡¯s house, Xia Lei was rxed and in a very good mood indeed.
Chapter 131 - Man With No Way Out
Chapter 131 - Man With No Way Out
Back in Annina¡¯s house, Xia Lei went up to the second floor and opened the door to the room she talked about. He then discovered that the room she¡¯d ¡®arranged¡¯ for him was actually her own. Her pyjamas were on the bed and her slippers by it. The room was full of soft touches like pinkmpshades and bears. It looked like the room of a 17 or 18-year-old and not that of a mature woman.
Xia Lei stood in the doorway and smiled wryly. ¡®Didn¡¯t expect that workaholic to have such a cute side to her... And why did she tell me to sleep in her room? This isn¡¯t appropriate; I should use another room.¡¯
Xia Let exited Annina¡¯s room and looked for another. He showered in the bathroom and was about to go to bed when he suddenly found a woman sitting next to the bed.
This woman was not Annina, back from the police station, but Long Bing.
Xia Lei let out a sound of surprise when he saw Long Bing, then rushed to get the trousers he had left on the bed. Annina had not prepared for guests so he had no towels or things like that.
Long Bing watched all his actions quietly and expressionlessly.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei hurriedly crouched next to the bed to put his trousers on and said in annoyance, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you knock?¡±
¡°How would I know that you were taking a shower?¡± Long Bing replied.
Xia Lei looked at her gloomily; he had no words of reproach.
¡°Looks like I was toote and missed the gunfight,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei could hear the dissatisfaction in her voice and he bit the bullet and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already taken care of it. There won¡¯t be any more trouble.¡±
¡°What should I say about you? You have to remember that we are here to do our mission, not to pick up girls.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Long Bing continued her lecture. ¡°I¡¯ve reminded you not to stir trouble and yet here you are, making enemies of the local gang over a woman. If you keep going like this we will draw the attention of German or American informants before weplete our mission. Do you want to go to jail in Europe or in America?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I know what we¡¯re here to do; there¡¯s no need to remind me so frequently. I am just not a natural-born spy like the people in your line of work. I¡¯m not preparing to be the cold-blooded killer you expect me to be who would do anything toplete a mission. She treats me as a friend - can¡¯t I help her when she is in danger?¡±
Long Bing red at Xia Lei. She looked like she wanted to kick him.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°No use ring at me. I have my own way of doing things. Furthermore, I do gain something from being friends with Annina. I¡¯ve already got what we want.¡±
Long Bing paused. ¡°What have you got?¡±
¡°Annina has a friend named Josef who lives nearby. He¡¯s an outstanding electrical engineer and he¡¯s doing research on an intelligentthe. I saw thatthe just now and it really is the most advancedthe in the world.¡± Xia Lei revealed some things about Josef, including him getting shot.
¡°You actually used tweezers to remove the bullet in his body?¡± Long Bing¡¯s interest in the intelligentthe dimmed when Xia Lei got to that part of his narration.
¡°I had no other choice. Thatthe is still iplete; the most critical part, the CNC, is still not finished and Josef must be the one toplete it. Who will finish thatthe if Josef dies?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Did you find the drawings?¡± Xia Lei had drawn Long Bing¡¯s attention back to the mission.
¡°I found the drawings for thethe in his shed and they included the circuitry. I took pictures with my phone. I¡¯ll give you the memory card and you can take a look after you¡¯re back. The information I¡¯ve obtained tonight is enough for you to submit to your superiors.¡± He took the mobile phone out of his trouser pocket, removed the memory card and handed it to Long Bing. He also took out the box containing the soap and handed it to Long Bing.
Long Bing looked at the soap box curiously. ¡°What are you giving me a piece of soap for?¡±
¡°There¡¯s a key mould in the soap. Bring it back with you - I need it to make a key. It¡¯ll open the door of Josef¡¯s shed,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing¡¯s expression softened and she put away the memory card and soap box, then looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Aren¡¯t youing back with me tonight?¡±
¡°Annina¡¯s gone to help with the investigation at the police station and asked me to stay. I want to know the situation at the police station and Josef¡¯s condition so I won¡¯t be going back,¡± said Xia Lei.
A strange smile appeared in the corners of Long Bing¡¯s lips. ¡°You haven¡¯t fallen in love with that German woman, have you?¡±
¡°What nonsense are you saying? I¡¯m only doing this toplete the mission,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I will know more about Josef¡¯s condition if I am on very good terms with her. Once Josefpletes his machine design I¡¯ll steal it immediately and we¡¯ll go back to China and hand it over to the higher-ups. Isn¡¯t this a very good thing? Think about it - this is the only intelligentthe in the world and we can get all the information on it before it is even revealed to the world. Don¡¯t you know the significance of this?¡±
¡°Fine. I¡¯ll send the drawings you have back to China post-haste. If it really is as you say our mission here in Germany will bring great benefit to our nation. The higher-ups will not forget your contributions.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want any recognition,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, well done. I¡¯ll be going back now. It¡¯ll be bad if I run into your German girlfriend.¡±
¡°You... What do you mean?¡± Xia Lei felt down; he¡¯d not expected Long Bing to say such nonsense.
Long Bing replied expressionlessly, ¡°I¡¯m your wife. Can¡¯t I say a word or two about you spending the night at another woman¡¯s ce?¡±
Xia Lei had no response.
¡°Will you sleep with her?¡± Long Bing suddenly asked.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°You think too little of me. Am I that sort of person? I slept on the same bed as you; I didn¡¯t do anything to you, did I?¡±
¡°She¡¯s not a match for you, believe me.¡± Long Bing walked out the door with that line. She closed the door on her way out.
She arrived mysteriously and departed without a trace like a shadow. Good thing Xia Lei was ustomed to her modus operandi or he¡¯d have developed heart problems.
Long Bing had already left but Xia Lei still stared dumbly at the closed door. He spoke to himself after a while, ¡°Annina is not a match? How is she more certain than myself? Who¡¯s a match for me if Annina is not? A person with no female friends is actually telling me how to fall in love? What the heck?¡±
He was almost immediately at ease after handing off the items to Long Bing andy on the bed to think over some things. Perhaps it was the overuse of his X-ray vision but his head was groggy and he fell asleep in just a few minutes.
After who knew how long, Xia Lei felt something climbing up his body in his sleepiness. His eye flew open and he saw a face close up - Annina¡¯s face.
Annina grinned at Xia Lei. ¡°You woke up. Do you know that you sleep like a log? You didn¡¯t even wake up when I climbed on the bed.¡±
Xia Lei tried to get off the bed but Annina was pressing him down and not letting him move.
Annina spoke again, ¡°I know what you want to ask me. The police have done their investigations. Even death cannot erase those bastards¡¯ crimes and they have no right to have a funeral in a church. Right, you probably didn¡¯t know it but they appeared in Werden because Josef¡¯s friend Hans tipped them off via a phone call.¡±
¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°How is it not? The police checked the call log in Navas¡¯ mobile phone and got the details of the call from the tel operator,¡± said Annina.
¡°Who are these people? He wanted us dead just because I defeated him? How vicious.¡± Xia Lei sighed. He¡¯d probably never find out how Navas knew to look for them here if Annina hadn¡¯t told him.
¡°Not everyone is a good man like you.¡± Annina smiled. ¡°Oh, and, I went to visit Josef in hospital. He¡¯s had surgery and regained consciousness. I told him you saved him and he was ashamed of himself. He told me to convey his gratitude to you and his apology.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right. It¡¯s good that he¡¯s okay,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ve told you all you wanted to know. We...¡± Annina suddenly stopped talking. She stared at Xia Lei, an invisible me in her blue eyes. She was quietly setting herself alight and was prepared to light that same me in Xia Lei.
Xia Lei knew what she wanted and it was something he was worried and hesitant about. His body was all in favour of an outstanding beauty like Annina but his sense of reason was against it. Maintaining a friendship was great for him but if it developed into a rtionship, wouldn¡¯t it be like using and dumping her with his imminent departure from Germany? He could not do something like that.
¡°You like me taking the initiative?¡± Seeing Xia Lei not move, Annina asked probingly, ¡°I can...¡±
Xia Lei spoke nervously, ¡°Annina, I, I¡¯m... I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m a married man.¡±
¡°What?¡± Annina was dumbfounded.
¡°Her name¡¯s Laura. She¡¯s in Germany too. We live together in a rented t,¡± continued Xia Lei.
Annina¡¯s eyes were full of hurt and disappointment. ¡°She must be very pretty, huh?¡± she asked sourly.
¡°She¡¯s beautiful,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°But...¡± Annina suddenly hugged Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ll snatch you away from her!¡±
Xia Lei was still hanging onto a shred of reason but his body¡¯s urges couldn¡¯t be held back any longer in that instant.
When he moved to begin his counterattack, however, a crash came from the roof all of a sudden.
The pair on the bed were scared by the noise.
¡°What was that?¡± asked Annina nervously. ¡°Is it gang members again?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go out and take a look.¡± Xia Lei put his clothes on and walked out. He actually wanted to cool his head. Being on a bed with a beautiful, sexy woman like Annina would turn even a celibate monk into her ve, much less himself and hisughable bit of reason.
Xia Lei walked out the room and stood in the corridor, then lifted his head to look at the roof. His left eye twitched and he saw a woman sitting on the roof.
The woman was none other than Long Bing, who said she was leaving but hadn¡¯t.
Long Bing had a rock in her hand and looked about to knock on the roof a second time.
Xia Lei was dumbstruck.
¡°Do you see anything, Lukas?¡± Annina stuck her head out of the room.
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s reaction was slow. ¡°Nothing. I don¡¯t see anything. Might¡¯ve been a cat.¡±
Anninaughed. ¡°That must be a mischievous kitty. Come back quick.¡±
Xia Lei did not move.
¡°What are you waiting for, Lukas?¡± Annina smiled charmingly.
Temptation like this could straighten steel bars and make one leave the monastic order.
Xia Lei looked sideways at the stairs next to him. He clenched his teeth and bent his body in a ttering tumble down the stairs.
Chapter 132 - Swing The Hoe Well and No Wall Shall Stand
Everything went back to normal when the incident involving the ck gang members died down. Those exciting days were in the past and the days that followed were peaceful. Xia Lei went to work at the manufacturing nt every day and went home punctually. Other than the time spent at work or the required amount of sleep time, he used all his time on learning electrical engineering and his frame of reference was the intelligentthe that Josef was researching.
Every time he acquired a new bit of knowledge of electrical engineering, Xia Lei would use it on his stored memory of the intelligentthe to understand the structure and purpose of those circuits. Him doing so was like re-designing and producing Josef¡¯s intelligent machine. The images of drawings in his head were not just drawings anymore; he could envision them as actual things.
The days were peaceful and fulfilling but he also had a bit of trouble.
This bit of trouble was Annina.
After the whole chain of events, she had found out that he was a ¡®married man¡¯ but she had not given up. She was still hoeing persistently at the wall.
It was unstandable why she was like this.
She had suddenly met a man who would use a brick to hit gun-wielding gangsters on the head, risking his own life to save her. This man was rather handsome too and gentle and conscientious - how could she let go of this great and beautiful encounter? So what if he had a wife? Married couples got divorced every day on this Earth, right?
Swing the hoe well and no wall shall stand!
This popr phrase in China was fairly applicable to Annina, and that was what she did.
¡°Lukas, don¡¯t move,¡± said Annina suddenly in front of the Leopard 2 engine.
Xia Lei looked up at Annina from screwing the screws with a bewildered expression. ¡°What is it?¡±
Annina took off her gloves and removed a white towel from around her neck, then drew close and wiped Xia Lei¡¯s face, saying as she wiped, ¡°You got engine grease on your face. I¡¯ll wipe it for you.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do it myself,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°No, don¡¯t move. I can wipe it for you.¡± Annina crouched on the tank engine.
Xia Lei was extremely embarrassed but she was wiping his face for him and he couldn¡¯t move his face aside and end up having her wipe his ear, could he?
Scenarios like this yed out not just once, but on a daily basis.
This was already the thirtieth day after Josef had been shot and Xia Lei had lost count of the number of times Annina had hinted at and shown him her interest. He wasn¡¯t very strong-willed himself but Long Bing would appear at critical times since that night she knocked the roof with a rock. How dare he progress with Annina under those circumstances? He would worry about something happening every time Annina made his heart flutter. He worried whether Long Bing would appear suddenly or use a rock to knock on the roof, or cough outside the door... He worried so much it¡¯d be an illness.
Xia Lei held on till Annina was done wiping the grease off his face and let out a quiet sigh. He was being continually seduced during the day by Annina and he had to sleep on the same bed as Long Bing at night but could not do anything with her. He¡¯d need to see a psychiatrist for his time in Germany.
Annina put the towel away. ¡°Lukas, let¡¯s go to the hospital in the afternoon. I got a call from Josef and he said he¡¯ll be discharged in the afternoon. Let¡¯s go pick him up from the hospital.¡±
Josef had been warded for a whole month and if he had not had Xia Lei and that pair of tweezers, he would have been in a coffin.
¡°He doesn¡¯t like me and sees me as...¡±
¡°A love rival?¡± Annina chortled. ¡°Were you going to say that?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Him and me are impossible. I¡¯ve always treated him like an older brother. How can I marry someone I see as my older brother? That¡¯s not love,¡± said Annina, ¡°There is someone though. I want to be with him, but... he¡¯s married. What should I do?¡±
Xia Lei cleared his throat. He didn¡¯t dare to respond to those words.
¡°Come with me to the hospital. Josef says he wants to thank you personally.¡± Annina stopped teasing Xia Lei; she felt that he was in quite a pitiable position, actually.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡®That intelligentthe¡¯s most important part is its CNC. When will Josef be able to finish that up after he¡¯s discharged? I hope hepletes it in a month. I¡¯ll be able to go home then.¡¯ he thought.
He¡¯d been in Germany for over a month now and was not allowed to contact anyone in China. He had no clue what was happening in his ownpany. Xia Lei had been dreaming of his home, Jiang Ru-Yi and Liang Si-Yao these past few days, as well as hispany and Shentu Tian-Ying...
Annina brought him to a hospital in the afternoon and Xia Lei saw Josef in the ward. Josef was a skinny man but the month in hospital had put pounds on him. He still looked weak, however, and needed more rest before he could resume his normal activities.
Xia Lei did not see a single friend of Josef¡¯s in the ward. The room was cold and lonely and it was surprising to Xia Lei.
¡°How do you feel today, Josef?¡± Annina greeted Josef.
¡°Not bad, thanks.¡± Josef moved his gaze to Xia Lei and moved to him, reaching both hands out to shake his hand before he could speak.
Xia Lei had taken the initiative to shake hands with Josef the first time they met but Josef had not shaken his hand. Now it was Josef taking the initiative to shake with both hands - this showed how much his attitude towards Xia Lei had changed since the incident.
¡°It¡¯s good to see you, Mr Josef,¡± said Xia Lei as he shook hands.
¡°I know what you did for me, Lukas.¡± Josef gave Xia Lei a hug and said sincerely, ¡°Thank you for saving me. I was... not nice to you. I want to apologise for that.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What do you have to apologise for? You didn¡¯t do anything to feel sorry for.¡±
Josef smiled too. ¡°Would you be my friend, Lukas?¡±
¡°Of course. It is my honour to be your friend,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina cut in, ¡°Can you guys not be so gross? If you two keep going on like this it¡¯ll make me think you¡¯re gay.¡±
Josef and Xia Lei looked at each other andughed. Their past disagreements went up in a puff of smoke at that instant.
Annina spoke again, ¡°What about those friends of yours, Josef? Why haven¡¯t any of them turned up when you¡¯re getting discharged today?¡±
Josef shook his head. ¡°Hans nearly got me killed. I don¡¯t need friends like that and I¡¯ve cut ties with some of the people in my past. I want to tell you a bit of good news too.¡±
¡°What?¡± asked Annina.
Josef paused, then spoke in an exaggerated manner, ¡°In my time in hospital, I worked on my design in my notebook and I¡¯vepleted the CNC design for my intelligentthe. I can tell you in all honesty that this machine will be the most advancedthe in the world! I¡¯ll be rich!¡±
¡°Wow! Really?¡± Annina hugged Josef and said excitedly, ¡°Congrattions, Josef!¡±
¡°One more week and my baby will beplete. I¡¯ll buy you a Harley when I profit in the future, yeah?¡± Josef said with a grin.
¡°Yeah!¡± Annina gave Josef a kiss on the cheek in her excitement.
Kisses on the cheek was a very normal thing in the West but Josef was excited by the kiss. He nced at Xia Lei out of the corner of his eye, concerned about his reaction. Xia Lei, however, was all smiles and looked very happy about it.
Xia Lei waited for Annina to release Josef and went over to give him a hug as well. He smiled as he said, ¡°Congrattions, Josef. You¡¯re brilliant. Your research results will surely go global and bring new vigour to the manufacturing industry.¡±
Josef shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t think so far ahead. Besides, some things just can¡¯t be exported.¡±
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®Not exporting it will not stop your research from taking root in the East. I saved your life and stole your research so we¡¯re even. One week. One week and I¡¯ll get your research and be able to go home!¡¯
¡°Can you guys help me take some stuff? I haven¡¯t been home in a month and I need to go to the supermarket to buy some groceries. The stuff in the fridge are definitely not useable now,¡± said Josef.
¡°We¡¯ll help you even if you didn¡¯t ask. Let¡¯s go! What do you need us to help you take?¡± said Annina.
¡°Can you help me walk? I can¡¯t really move around so well right now.¡± Josef looked at Annina with eyes full of expectation.
Annina nodded in easy agreement. ¡°No problem.¡±
¡°Lukas, can you help me carry myptop bag? I have just this item,¡± said Josef to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked at theptop bag on the bed and was struck by a thought but he did not show any outward reaction. ¡°No problem.¡±
Josef walked out of the hospital with Annina¡¯s help and Xia Lei followed with Josef¡¯sptop bag. He was struck by the impulse to make up some excuse to get away from Josef¡¯s field of vision so that he could copy the CNC program which Josef hadpleted. However, at the peak of his impulse, a voice surfaced in his head. ¡®Rx, calm down...¡¯
Annina helped Josef into a taxi and said to Xia Lei, ¡°Go with Josef in the taxi. I¡¯ll follow on my motorcycle.¡±
Josef, however, said, ¡°Come with me, Annina. Lukas knows how to drive a motorcycle, right?¡± He looked at Xia Lei.
A Heaven-sent golden opportunity!
Xia Lei nodded as he said, ¡°I can, no problem. Give me your keys, Annina. I¡¯ll follow.¡±
Annina rolled her eyes at Xia Lei and handed her keys over to him somewhat reluctantly.
Xia Lei felt like he was getting a ticket back to China when Annina gave him the keys. ¡®This is a great opportunity. I¡¯ll pretend to fall behind and copy the CNC program...¡¯ he thought excitedly to himself.
¡°Lukas, can you hand me myptop bag?¡± came Josef¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei felt like he¡¯d been sshed with cold water.
Josef was a cautious man and this was why he should not act impulsively at this most critical time in the mission.
Xia Lei smiled and walked over to hand Josef theptop bag. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll do my best to keep up. Just make me a cup of coffee if you guys lose sight of me. I¡¯ll definitely turn up while the coffee¡¯s still warm.¡±
¡°Be careful while driving,¡± nagged Annina.
Xia Lei nodded.
The taxi entered traffic and Xia Lei took out his mobile phone to make a call. ¡°He¡¯s out of the hospital. He¡¯spleted what we want. It¡¯s on. Tonight.¡±
A woman¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°Drive off, then. I¡¯m in the lobby of the hospital.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 133 - Cheat On Your Wife With Me
The town of Werden was a scene of enchanting tranquil beauty in the afternoon. Residents of the town who¡¯d heard the news that Josef was back brought flowers and gifts. Xia Lei and Annina helped to greet and take care of the guests and they did not stay long. They expressed their sympathy and left soon after.
Annina, who was helping Josef sort through and order his things, also said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, Lukas, Josef needs a quiet environment to rest.¡±
Xia Lei was not very willing to leave; he was hoping that Josef would upy Annina and he would then have a chance to steal the information he wanted. However, he could not find any excuse to stay when Annina talked about leaving so he replied, ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go.¡±
¡°It¡¯s okay, you guys can stay.¡± Josef did not want Annina to leave - he wanted Xia Lei to leave.
¡°You need to rest, Josef. Give me a call if you need anything. We live close to each other so I only need a few minutes toe over,¡± said Annina.
¡°Okay. Come over for dinner tonight,¡± said Josef.
¡°We¡¯ll see how it goes,¡± said Annina.
¡°Yeah, Annina, let¡¯s apany Josef tonight. He¡¯ll be lonely on his own,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina rolled her eyes at him and thought to herself ¡®You idiot. You know that he¡¯s interested in me and you still want me to spend time with him! I rejected him because of you.¡¯
Josef quickly said, ¡°It¡¯s settled then. See you tonight.¡±
Annina brought Xia Lei out the door with her and to her house. After they walked into the woods, Annina spoke, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this, Lukas?¡±
Xia Lei pretended to not know what she was talking about. ¡°Meaning of what?¡±
¡°You¡¯re deliberately creating an opportunity for him and me to be together! Are you trying to pair us up?¡± said Annina angrily.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Am I such a person? I really think that he¡¯s in poor health since he¡¯s just been discharged. It¡¯s also good if we apany him. I have no other intention.¡±
He was not creating an opportunity for Josef and Annina to be together but creating an opportunity for himself to steal information. He¡¯d never tell Annina that, though.
¡°It it true?¡± Annina looked disbelieving.
¡°Need me to swear?¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina suddenly reached with her hand to hold Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°There is no need to swear. The Lord will hear you. Don¡¯t swear unnecessarily.¡±
She was a Catholic and was not particrly religious but she was sensitive about things like swearing. She was, in other words, a little superstitious.
¡°Let¡¯s go to your ce. We¡¯lle backter,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina probed as she walked. ¡°Lukas, won¡¯t your wife mind if you don¡¯t go home?¡±
¡°She...¡± Xia Lei braced himself. ¡°She¡¯s an honest person. She¡¯s never asked me about my work nor asked me where I¡¯ve been.¡±
¡°She trusts you. You must be very trustworthy.¡± Annina sounded sour.
¡°Nature calls. I¡¯m going to take care of it, so why don¡¯t you go ahead? I¡¯ll catch up with youter,¡± said Xia Lei suddenly.
¡°Yeah, okay.¡± Annina smiled and went ahead on her own.
Xia Lei walked off the little path and went towards Josef¡¯s house. He stopped about ten metres away in sight of Josef¡¯s house. He kept his gaze fixed on the house. He wanted to be sure of one thing - would Josef hurry to install thepleted CNC on his machine at this time?
Rustling suddenly came from behind him.
This was not the rustle of leaves being blown by the wind but of feet shuffling through fallen leaves. Xia Lei¡¯s first reaction to hearing the rustling was to look back and see who it was but remembered something. He was chatting with Annina just seconds ago so who else could it be other than Annina?
What did Annina turn back for?
The question shed in Xia Lei¡¯s mind and he found his answer in a few seconds. He smiled wryly, then braced himself as he pulled his zipper down...
She wanted to have a look at him, huh? Well then, he should sacrifice at least this much for the mission!
A strong stream of liquid arched through the air and hit the ground three metres away at its furthest from Xia Lei.
Annina, who had circled around to the side of Xia Lei, covered her mouth, stunned.
Xia Lei pretended not to know that she was there. He stared straight at Josef¡¯s house. He was thirty to forty metres away from Josef¡¯s house and this distance was no obstacle to him using his X-ray vision. His left eye twitched and the situation in the house wasid bare to him.
Josef was in the study typing at his desk, looking focused and excited.
¡®He¡¯s already preparing the CNC program¡¯ Xia Lei quietly made a judgement, then shook twice and put his little soldier back into the barracks.
Annina ran towards her home on light feet and her long legs went as fast as the wind.
¡°Pervert,¡± muttered Xia Lei. He didn¡¯t feel like he¡¯d been taken advantage of and wasn¡¯t disgusted either but felt like it was natural. Compared to the harassment he had endured the past month, being seen for a short time was nothing to be worried about.
Annina did not run off very far; she stood in front waiting for Xia Lei.
When Xia Lei walked over, he saw that her cheeks were pink and she looked nervous. He knew very well why and opened his mouth to talk about something different. ¡°Annina, why doesn¡¯t Josef invite you to see his intelligentthe? Aren¡¯t you curious about it at all as a senior mechanic?¡±
¡°He¡¯s a cautious person and doesn¡¯t trust people easily. I¡¯ve only heard him talk about it but never seen the actual thing,¡± said Annina.
Josef was indeed that sort of person. He had four very close friends but he had cut off contact with them after the gun attack. Hans had not wanted the gang members to hurt Josef at all and it was all a mistake. This showed that Josef was very guarded and would not easily trust anyone, not even Annina.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯ll have no chance at all then if even you have not seen it.¡±
¡°You want to see his intelligentthe?¡± Annina looked at Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m just curious. It¡¯ll be nice if I can see it but it won¡¯t bother me if I don¡¯t either. A mechanic like myself can only use the normalthes anyway. I¡¯m no match for a senior mechanic like you. I¡¯m satisfied with my lot in life,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t put yourself down like that,¡± said Annina, ¡°I know what you¡¯re capable of because I¡¯ve worked with you. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll rmend you to thepany¡¯s higher-ups for a promotion and sry increase when I get the chance.¡±
¡°Thanks, but there¡¯s no need.¡± Xia Lei spoke politely but in his head, he thought, ¡®I¡¯m a chairman. What do I need Krupp MaK Maschinenbau to give me a promotion for? That day will nevere.¡¯
Thinking of his imminent departure, Xia Lei could not help ncing at Annina. He felt a twinge of loss for some reason.
Annina stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Why don¡¯t you need it?¡±
Xia Lei gave a smallugh. ¡°If thepany promotes me I¡¯ll be moved to another position. I like working with you. I don¡¯t mind earning less.¡±
Annina beamed and gave Xia Lei a tight hug, then kissed him on the cheek. ¡°You¡¯re such a good man. I won¡¯t rmend you, then.¡±
¡°What are we going to do with a whole afternoon ahead of us?¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina looked at Xia Lei all smiles and said teasingly, ¡°You can do whatever you want.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t meet her eyes nor respond to her thinly veiled hints. ¡°How about I make you a waterwheel?¡±
¡°A waterwheel?¡± said Annina in surprise, ¡°What for?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I see a river right on your doorstep. A waterwheel will make your ce look much nicer.¡±
He was going to leave Germany soon and would probably not be able to say his goodbyes so he wanted to leave her something as a souvenir.
¡°Sure, let¡¯s make a waterwheel.¡± Annina obviously didn¡¯t look too pleased about it but Xia Lei seemed quite insistent so she went along with it.
A waterwheel as tall as a person stood on the banks of the river after an afternoon¡¯s work. The clear river water ran through the waterwheel, turning it and the waterwheel scooped up river water and and poured it out again. Annina¡¯s house was the picture of elegance.
Annina put the tools away and smiled happily as she looked at the waterwheel.
¡°Let¡¯s go. We should be heading to Josef¡¯s ce now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, wait,¡± said Annina.
¡°What else do you want to do?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Let¡¯s take a picture in front of the waterwheel. I¡¯ll go get my camera.¡± Annina ran into her home to get her camera without waiting for Xia Lei¡¯s response.
Xia Lei stood before the waterwheel and waited for two minutes for Annina to bring out a SLR camera and stand. She fixed the SLR on the stand, then set it to automatic camera mode and went happily to Xia Lei¡¯s side to hold him intimately by the waist.
The SLR clicked continuously as it took pictures.
Annina changed her pose several times; holding him by the waist, making silly faces, and a fighting pose where she pretended to be punching Xia Lei. Xia Lei posed normally at first and just smiled but he was soon infected by Annina and rxed, making silly poses to match her.
He was going to leave Germany so leaving the woman who liked him some good memories of himself was nothing bad, was it?
The camera took tens of pictures in one go and finally stopped.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Annina¡¯s phone suddenly rang.
¡°That must be Josef. We should go over,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina took her phone out and nced at it with a frown. ¡°It really is him. He sure knows how to pick the time, huh.¡± She leaned in close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said, ¡°Don¡¯t go home tonight. Cheat on your wife with me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 134 - You Thought I Was Just Your Wife?
Josef had prepared a lot of ingredients and was also dressed up. He was in a suit and wore shiny, polished leather shoes. He was obviously trying to impress Annina with his handsome side. If it were just Xia Lei visiting, he would probably have just worn home clothes and slippers.
¡°Can you help me make some dishes, Lukas? As you know, my body hasn¡¯t yet recovered and I can¡¯t move very well.¡± Small talk over, Josef was quick to try and rid himself of Xia Lei.
Annina¡¯s brows wrinkled. She did not like Josef treating Xia Lei like a subordinate or maid. Josef said he saw Lukas as a friend but it seemed that it was just lip-service. He was still quietly looking down on a youth like Lukas, who hade from China to work in Germany.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t look like he minded it at all. He smiled as he said, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll head to the kitchen. What would you like to have? I¡¯ll make it for you.¡±
Josef was about to speak when Annina cut in. ¡°You can just make whatever. No need to trouble yourself.¡± She did not want Xia Lei to do so much work.
¡°Oh, okay. I¡¯ll just make something then.¡± Xia Lei went to the kitchen.
Josef and Annina chatted in the living room while Xia Lei busied himself in the kitchen. When a dish was about done, a woman suddenly appeared by the kitchen window - Long Bing.
Long Bing¡¯s appearance scared Xia Lei and he looked nervously back in the direction of the living room. He let out a breath of relief when he saw that he could not be seen by Josef and Annina, who were chatting in the living room. He he could not see them, they couldn¡¯t see him either.
¡°What are you doing here?¡± Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°Don¡¯t rush it. When I said we¡¯ll move tonight, I meant when Josef and Annina are asleep.¡±
¡°A female mechanic and a sick person. You don¡¯t have to be so cautious. It¡¯s simple. I¡¯ve already reported it to the higher-ups and they¡¯ve agreed to our mission tonight. Our escape route has been prepared and we¡¯re just waiting for you to act,¡± said Long Bing tonelessly.
¡°So quickly?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
Long Bing quirked a corner of her mouth. ¡°Why? Can¡¯t bear to leave your little German lover?¡±
Xia Lei spread his hands wordlessly to say that it was not like what she said.
¡°Put this in the food. You¡¯ll knock them out for a period of time.¡± Long Bing handed him a paper packet through the window.
Xia Lei took the packet. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±
¡°Something simr to sleeping pills. Put this in the dishes you¡¯re making. This drug has no vour so you don¡¯t have to worry about them discovering it,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°But it¡¯s best to get them to drink some alcohol so they¡¯ll think they fell asleep because they were drunk. The paper packet also has a pill. It¡¯s an antidote. Take it before you consume the drug and you won¡¯t fall unconscious like them.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Okay. I know what to do.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll move with you when they¡¯re knocked out,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nodded again. The mission was in itsst stages and he would be able to go back to China very soon but the feeling of loss was getting stronger. He could say with certainty that this time in Germany as a spy was something he couldn¡¯t ever forget his whole life.
Xia Lei made five dishes in half an hour; three portions of German beef steak, sausages, schnitzel and sd. Every dish had a dash of the special ¡®condiment¡¯ Long Bing had given him. Heid the dishes on the dining table and said, ¡°Food¡¯s ready.¡±
Josef and Annina ceased their chatting and walked over. Josef sniffed the air and gave a thumbs up in praise. ¡°Lukas, I didn¡¯t know you were such a good cook. Your wife must not cook very much, eh?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Well, she doesn¡¯t really cook. I¡¯m the one cooking most of the time and that¡¯s how I got so good.¡±
¡°Josef, why talk about Lukas¡¯ wife now?¡± asked Annina unhappily.
Josef gave her a look of innocence. ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡±
He had mentioned Lukas¡¯ wife on purpose; he knew from his colleagues that Lukas was a married man.
¡°No. I¡¯ll get the wine. You can¡¯t move around easily.¡± Annina got up to fetch wine from the wine cab.
Xia Lei was about to suggest a drink but Annina saved him the trouble by going to get the alcohol herself.
¡°Josef, you¡¯ve just been discharged - can you drink alcohol?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Red wine¡¯s no problem. I¡¯ve asked the doctor. He said that a little bit of red wine is good for the health of the heart,¡± said Josef.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s still better if you drink less of it. Eat more. Food has more nutrients.¡±
¡°Thanks, Lukas,¡± said Josef politely.
Annina brought two bottles of wine over and opened one. She poured three sses.
Xia Lei took one ss and raised it in a toast. ¡°To Josef¡¯s health. Cheers!¡±
¡°I wish you the best for your family to beplete too, Lukas.¡± Josef clinked sses with Xia Lei, then drained his ss. He did not look at Annina and concentrated on eating his steak instead.
Annina did look unhappy and she wished very much to see Lukas¡¯ family in discord and have him and his wife be divorced. Josef had been mentioning Lukas¡¯ wife many times today and even wished his family to beplete - wasn¡¯t this deliberate antagonisation?
Annina drank a ss of wine and kicked Xia Lei lightly in the calves under the table.
Xia Lei looked at her oddly, his eyes asking why she¡¯d kicked him.
Annina moved her lips but no sound came out. Xia Lei read her lips and what she said was ¡®Hurry up and eat! We¡¯re going home right after eating.¡¯
Annina did not want to stay here a moment longer.
Xia Lei suddenly recalled what she¡¯d said by the river - ¡®cheat on your wife with me¡¯. Her words made his heart waver.
Annina gave Xia Lei a saucy wink and rubbed her leg against his under the table.
Xia Lei grew tense with nervousness and did not dare meet her seductive gaze for long. He concentrated on eating his steak.
The two bottles of wine were soon polished off by the three of them as they ate. The food was almost finished too. Xia Lei thought curiously to himself, ¡®I put all of the drug Long Bing gave me into the food. Why are Josef and Annina still awake? Has the drug expired or something?¡¯
At that moment, Josef suddenly put his cutlery down, wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, ¡°Lukas, the food was deli... cious...¡±
His head hit the table before he finished his sentence.
Beside him, Annina¡¯s neck bent at an unconscious angle.
¡°Josef, are you all right?¡± Xia Lei reached to shake Josef¡¯s head. There was no response. Xia Lei then patted Annina on her cheek. ¡°Annina, wake up.¡±
She did not respond either.
A woman¡¯s voice came from the kitchen. ¡°Don¡¯t waste your energy. They¡¯ll wake up in two hours.¡±
Xia Lei looked back and saw Long Bing. ¡°Two hours? So quick?¡±
¡°Get to work. Every minute is precious.¡± Long Bing reminded him.
¡°Hisptop¡¯s in the study. I¡¯ll bring you there,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei led Long Bing upstairs and to Josef¡¯s study. Theptop was on Josef¡¯s desk. Xia Lei opened it and a text box appeared for the password. He frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know the password.¡±
¡°Move aside. Let me try.¡± Long Bing drew close.
Xia Lei stood to one side. He doubted that she would be able to puzzle out the password of an electrical engineer but she just went clickety-ck on the keyboard, entering a long chain into the password field and unlocking Josef¡¯sptop.
¡°You... How do you know his password?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise.
Long Bing nced at him and said indifferently, ¡°Did you think I was just a wife waiting for her husband toe home to have dinner together in Germany? I climbed up the building opposite Josef¡¯s hospital while he was hospitalised to watch him with a telescope. He enters his password several times a day. I¡¯ve long memorised it.¡±
¡°I see.¡± As expected of a special agent.
¡°I¡¯ve done the dirty work. You, on the other hand, had a great time with Annina every day,¡± added Long Bing as she inserted a sh drive into theptop.
Xia Lei was embarrassed and had no response. He took over after theptop was unlocked and quickly found the program they needed to download. He opened it to check they had the right one, then saved it to the sh drive. He also copied some data and drafts.
Xia Lei ejected the drive when he was done and closed theptop. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the shed again to take a look around. He must have installed the CNC program during the day. I¡¯d like to see his machine before we leave.¡±
Long Bing nodded. ¡°We still have time. Let¡¯s go.¡±
They left the study and came to the shed behind the house.
The fluorescent tarpaulin had been removed from the intelligentthe. The machine stoodplete in the middle of the shed. Xia Lei discovered a newly-added processed part on the machine and strode towards it in excitement. He picked the part up and inspected it, then eximed excitedly, ¡°This is a high-precision part. There is nothe in our country which can process a part with such uracy. I was right - he installed the CNC program and it was a sess!¡±
¡°Do you need to take the machine apart to have a look at the insides? Take the circuit board or control panel or something?¡± Long Bing didn¡¯t really understand these things but in her time of over a month in Germany, she had done some reading on this subject and gained some knowledge for their mission.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°No need. Keep a lookout for me outside. I want to take a close look at his machine. We can leave after.¡±
¡°Okay. Keep in mind that you only have an hour and forty minutes. You have to seat yourself back at the dining table and our people will kill you off,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was shocked. He stared at Long Bing, dumbfounded. Did she have to be so cruel when burning bridges?
Long Bing gave a short sputteringugh. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting look. Rx. This is just part of the mission. We won¡¯t really kill you off. We¡¯re going to pretend to kill you in front of Josef and Annina when they wake up. You can¡¯t disappear right after Josef had justpleted his intelligentthe, can you? You need a cover to disappear from their lives forever. Think about it - would Josef suspect you of stealing his design ns if you were dead?¡±
So that¡¯s what it was. Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. As Long Bing walked out the shed, his left eye twitched and the insides of the intelligentthe wereid bare to him, like a woman without clothes...
Chapter 135 - Lukas Death
Xia Lei walked out of the shed an hour and a halfter. He had memorised all the mechanical structures, electrical integrated circuits, CNC and so on. There were virtual things he couldn¡¯t see but he knew the principles of how they worked. With knowledge of all of these, he was fully capable of producing athe that would be the most advanced in the world when he went back to China!
Back in the living room, Xia Lei saw two unfamiliar people. They wore ck silicone masks which made them look like ck people but Xia Lei could see from the colour of their eyes that they were of the same race as he was.
¡°Done?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°Done,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing nced at the watch on her wrist and said, ¡°There isn¡¯t much time left. Go back to your seat.¡±
Xia Lei walked to the dining table and sat at his original ce. He looked at Annina all sprawled on the table and felt a twinge of guilt.
He knew Annina¡¯s feelings for him; she liked him, really and truly, sincerely liked him with no material desires attached. She had not given up either after finding out he had a wife. Her feelings for him were real but he had deceived her and there was not even a chance for him to apologise. He would die in front of her once she woke up. Her doubts would never be resolved and the hurt she would feel were all unfair to her.
Xia Lei looked silently at Annina¡¯s face and thought to himself, ¡®I¡¯m sorry I lied to you. It was not on purpose. There were just some things beyond my control... I don¡¯t know if we will have a chance to meet again in the future but if we do, I will repay you. Take care, Annina.¡±
At that moment, Josef and Annina stirred.
Long Bing gave her masked colleagues a look and left the room.
The masked men took out handguns and hid themselves at both ends of the dining area, waiting for Annina and Josef to bepletely awake.
Xia Leiy on the table as well to create the image of regaining consciousness with Annina and Josef.
¡°What happened?¡± The first to wake was Josef. He opened his eyes blearily to see Xia Lei and Annina lying on the table.
Annina opened her eyes too and shook her head as if to clear it of sleepiness and rouse herself.
¡°Were we drunk, Annina?¡± wondered Josef.
Xia Lei opened his eyes and rubbed them, then said, ¡°Josef, is there something wrong with your wine? We got drunk with just two bottles.¡±
Josef seemed to suddenly remember something and his expression grew anxious. ¡°You guys stay here. I¡¯ll go to the shed and take a look.¡±
¡°We¡¯re going home.¡± Annina stood. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Lukas.¡±
Xia Lei grinned at Annina. He wanted to leave Annina with a smiling face but his smile was full of sadness.
His smile seemed to have touched her heart in some way; she grabbed his hand intimately, right in front of Josef.
Josef¡¯s expression turned ugly.
At that moment, a stun grenade suddenly flew into the living room andnded on the floor with a boom. Blinding light and a deafening explosion sent the three of them to the floor. Xia Lei held Annina tight the instant they fell, subconsciously protecting her body.
Two silicone-mask-wearing gunmen burst into the living room. Xia Lei was dragged off Annina as one of them pointed at him with a gun and shouted, ¡°It¡¯s him! He killed our boss, Navas! Kill him!¡±
¡°Fucker! Kill him!¡± The masked men sang the same tune. Both of them fired at Xia Lei.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
mes shot from gun muzzles and bullet shells clinked on the floor.
Xia Lei copsed with a scream but the two masked men continued shooting crazily at his fallen body.
They were just bullet shells, however, and no bullets. There was not a scratch on Xia Lei.
Annina shook her head hard but was still unable to see the situation clearly. Her ears were ringing from the grenade and the deafening gunshots could not stimte her already-numbed eardrums. She was very aware, however, that those two ck men were shooting at Lukas.
¡°Lukas!¡± She screamed with all her might, trying to wake him up. She hoped desperately for a miracle to ur and for Lukas to get up from where he had fallen and beat up the gunmen. Sadly, a miracle like that happened only in her imagination and there was no chance of it happening in real life.
Josef struggled to his feet but before he could stand steadily, the butt of a gun hit him on his head and he fell to the floor in a faint with a grunt.
Annina heard the rumble of conversation between the two ck men and saw them walk towards her in her fuzzy vision. A thought suddenly came to her, ¡®Will they kill me? Lukas, please wake up. Please save me...¡¯
She thought of Lukas in her time of greatest danger, and no one else.
The butt of a gun hit her in the head and she, too, lost consciousness.
Annina regained consciousness after an indeterminate amount of time. She rubbed her stinging eyes and saw Josef on the ground, bullet shells all around, but no Lukas.
A mysterious strength flooded her body at the thought of Lukas. She got to her feet and about in a staggering run, looking about as she shouted, ¡°Lukas! Lukas! Where are you, Lukas?¡±
No one replied. The handsome young man from China had disappeared forever, never to appear before her again.
The horrifying scene reyed in her mind - two ck gunmen throwing a stun grenade into the living room and shooting at Lukas...
¡°No, you can¡¯t die... You can¡¯t die... Wuuuuuh...¡± Reality caught up with her and Annina¡¯s tears flowed, wetting her cheeks with warmth.
¡°Annina? Where¡¯s Lukas?¡± Josef crawled to his feet and looked around but did not see Lukas.
Annina looked back at Josef with hot tears dripping from her eyes. ¡°Lukas... Gang members killed him... Wuuuuh...¡± She stopped speaking at that point and was ovee by tears.
Josef walked over to her and hugged her shoulders, saying consolingly, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll stay with you. No one can harm you.¡±
Annina leaned on his shoulder and cried.
Josef suddenly let go of Annina while she was crying her heart out and walked towards the staircase, saying as he went, ¡°Oh no! Those assholes must be here for my intelligentthe!¡±
Annina froze. ¡°Lukas was killed and you think only of your intelligentthe! He saved you! Did you forget?¡±
Josef did not reply. He ran up to the second floor. His steps were so quick that he did not seem like a weak patient at all.
Annina followed him to the second floor and to his study.
Josef spotted hisptop and let out a long sigh of relief. ¡°Oh, good, myptop is still here. Doesn¡¯t look like anyone touched the things in here either.¡± He woke the screen and the password field appeared. Josef entered the password and checked the files on his hard drive. He rxed after checking - no one had touched the files in hisptop either. He was quite confident of the security of hisplicated password.
¡°I said, Lukas was killed by the gang members. Those people would not be interested in your intelligentthe at all!¡± Annina felt indignant on Lukas¡¯ behalf; he¡¯d saved a heartless man.
¡°No, I have to make sure. I¡¯ll check the shed!¡± Josef made his way to the shed.
Annina did not follow this time. She went back to the living room and looked nkly at the bullet shells on the floor. She had definitely seen Lukas being gunned down and the two ck gang members shooting at him madly. No one could survive under those circumstances and that was why she was sure he was dead. But why was there no blood and no corpse?
¡®Why would those ck gunmen take Lukas¡¯ corpse with them?¡¯ Annina couldn¡¯t figure it out.
After a period of staring nkly, Annina took out her mobile phone and called the police.
Josef returned from the shed not long after with a faint smile on his face. ¡°Those guys weren¡¯t after my intelligentthe after all. Nothing was touched in my shed. I checked closely, no problem.¡±
The situation before Josef was a cause for celebration for him. The thing most important to him was still there and his love rival was gone. Without Lukas in the picture, Annina would surely turn to him.
¡°Enough!¡± Annina shouted at Josef. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear anything else about your intelligentthe.¡±
Josef wiped the smile off his face and put on a sad expression. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Annina. I¡¯m sad that Lukas hase to harm too. But you know, the intelligentthe in my shed is a product of years of hard work. It¡¯s like my baby... We will gain a huge profit from it in the future. Believe me, we will surely make it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s your business, not mine!¡± Annina seemed to have lost control of her emotions. She covered her ears and headed out. ¡°I don¡¯t want to listen to you. I¡¯m going out to wait for the police!¡±
¡°You called the police?¡± Josef looked surprised. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±
Annina ignored him and stomped angrily out the front door.
A sh of hatred appeared in Josef¡¯s eyes but he did not chase after her.
The moon shone brightly, apanied by countless stars in the dark night sky. Annina could have enjoyed the great beauty of the night sky at home with Lukas but it had all changed in an instant and she would never see him again.
¡°Lukas, are you in Heaven? Tell me, are you one of those stars up there?¡± Annina looked up at the sky full of stars and tears flowed again...
Chapter 136 - Going Home
Three dayster, Jing Du, China.
In a nameless building on 101 Jianguo Road.
This high-end office building was the headquarters of Bureau 101. It was Xia Lei¡¯s first time here.
¡°Haha!¡± In an office, Shi Bo-Renughed heartily and pped Xia Lei on the shoulder.
This was a show of appreciation but Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Boss Shi, are you trying to smack me to bits?¡±
¡°Oh, excuse me.¡± Shi Bo-Ren smiled. ¡°The relevant departments and professionals have looked over the drawings and processes you¡¯ve brought back. It is very valuable information indeed. Your mission has been a great sess. Tell me, how would you like me to reward you?¡±
¡°Give a copy of the drawings and processes to Elder Mu. This should count as me keeping my promise. I don¡¯t want anything else other than that,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Bo-Ren looked at Xia Lei and said meaningfully, ¡°From what I¡¯ve gathered, yourpany was established by relying on the purchase orders from China Industrial Group. Aren¡¯t you worried that they won¡¯t give you purchase orders anymore after getting thesethes? Can yourpany survive without purchase orders from China Industrial Group?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Mypany is just a small existence. If our manufacturing industry can develop and catch up to the standards of Europe and America, I will not regret the copse of my littlepany.¡±
An old, patriotic man like Shi Bo-Ren liked nationalism most so Xia Lei made his words pretty on purpose. He was actually not worried at all about China Industrial Group not giving him any more purchase orders after they manufactured Josef¡¯s intelligentthe. China Industrial Group had to have him first to copy the first intelligentthe!
If Thunder Horse Manufacturing was still going to be relying on purchase orders fromrgerpanies to survive further down the road, why keep it running?
Shi Bo-Ren broke into a grin and he patted Xia Lei on the shoulder lightly this time. He spoke with eyes full of expectation, ¡°I¡¯m d you think that way. Our countrycks young people like you. Our nation will not forget the contributions you have made. If Elder Mu doesn¡¯t give you purchase orders in the future I¡¯ll go to his house and flip his table.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh...¡± His words made Long Bing, who was standing next to Xia Lei,ugh.
Shi Bo-Ren red at Long BIng and she shut her mouth. She didn¡¯t dareugh.
¡°Boss Shi, my mission isplete and I have to go home. It¡¯s been over a month. I have to hurry back and see how mypany is doing too,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Bo-Ren opened a drawer in his desk and threw a red document to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei caught the document and asked curiously, ¡°Boss Shi, is this the identification document that Bureau 101 is giving me?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give you the proper document when you properly join Bureau 101. This is a perk I¡¯m giving you. It¡¯s a national travel pass. You can use this pass to get on any domestic flight or high-speed train, anytime, anywhere,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren
Long Bing added, ¡°This pass has your identification number on it. You just have to tell them your number when booking a ne ticket via phone. This pass will also allow you to bring two passengers with you.¡±
Xia Lei opened the document and looked at it; it had his picture, name and identification number. He smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll be able to travel the country for free. Not bad.¡±
¡°Rascal, I¡¯m giving you this so that it¡¯ll be more convenient for you to do your missions. Don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re a consultant for Bureau 101,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
¡°I won¡¯t forget. Goodbye, Boss Shi, Big Sister Long,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m the same age as you. The stated birth date on my identification says I¡¯m a month younger than you. Why call me ¡®Big Sister¡¯?¡± Long Bing looked dissatisfied. ¡°Just call me by my name.¡±
Women were strange. If you called a woman ten or twenty years older than you ¡®Big Sister¡¯ when she was already an ¡®Aunt¡¯, she would be happy. Call a woman two or three years older than you ¡®Little Sister¡¯ and she¡¯d be even happier. If you called her ¡®Big Sister¡¯, however, she would be unhappy. Long Bing was an extraordinary woman but she was still a woman and was not exempt in some things.
Xia Lei just smiled. It was just a greeting and he didn¡¯t think it was important.
Shi Bo-Ren suddenly said, ¡°Eh, I¡¯ve got to remind you both that romantic rtionships are banned in this bureau.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Long Bing shoved him before he could exin himself. ¡°Move. I¡¯ll send you to the airport.¡±
A few minutester, an unmarked military vehicle exited thepound of Bureau 101 and headed to the airport. Xia Lei activated his phone in the car. He¡¯d received a ton of missed call alerts and messages and he scanned through them. Liang Si-Yao had called him over 70 times; an average of two a day. Jiang Ru-Yi called him over a hundred times; an average of three a day. It was understandable that Liang Si-Yao would call him twice a day because ofpany matters but Jiang Ru-Yi had called so many times... What did she want?
¡°Want to go see your sister?¡± Long Bing broke the silence in the car.
¡°Nah, she has to be independent sooner orter. It¡¯s good to let her get more practice,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mm, I¡¯ll go straight to the airport, then,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°I¡¯ll have to ask a favour of you.¡±
¡°Speak.¡± Long Bing was curt.
¡°You know, I have many enemies. I can¡¯t be by my sister¡¯s side so I¡¯d have to trouble you to take care of her and not let here to harm.¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Long Bing¡¯s mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re Bureau 101¡¯s consultant now. Your family members will be under the protection of professionals. Those enemies of yours had better not touch your sister or they¡¯ll die an untraceable death.¡±
¡°Is there someone protecting my sister in the shadows?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
¡°Your sister was put under protection from the day we went to Germany. A specialised department is in charge of her safety so you can be at ease,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°If a family member of a person like yourself were to be harmed or used to ckmail you, then how can you feel secure enough to risk yourself for the nation?¡±
That was true. How could he feel secure? A country was like a huge machine made up of numerous parts and these parts are the departments which help run everything. Bureau 101 was just a part in this huge machine. A department in charge of protecting important targets was also another part and both departments have different functions.
Xia Lei was curious about the other departments but he did not ask; he was sure that Long Bing wouldn¡¯t tell him even if he did.
As expected, Long Bing changed the topic. ¡°Keep a low profile after you¡¯re back. Do not mention our activities in Germany to anyone. It will cause an international uproar if it leaks.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. I know the nature of this matter and I won¡¯t tell anyone,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°And...¡± Long Bing paused. ¡°Don¡¯t contact that Annina. You¡¯re dead in her world now.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s answer was quick but Annina appeared in his mind. Her sexiness, her beauty and her teasing, her tempting... He¡¯d always have a sense of guilt about Annina.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something when they were close to the airport. ¡°I want to buy some gifts. Do you know any ce where I can get genuine cultural items as gifts?¡±
Long Bing responded by turning the steering wheel and they went further away from the airport with one step on the elerator.
In the evening, Xia Lei came to a small neighbourhood with severalrge bags of gifts. He went up to the Liang family door and pressed the doorbell. Back from Germany, the person he had missed and should visit was his master, Liang Zheng-Chun - and his senior disciple Liang Si-Yao, of course. Liang Zheng-Chun and Liang Si-Yao had be family in his heart anding to the Liang household was likeing home.
The person who opened the door was Liang Si-Yao and she stood, dumbstruck.
¡°What, you don¡¯t recognise me anymore?¡± Xia Leiughed.
Liang Si-Yao suddenly punched Xia Lei. She was over the moon but disyed angry behaviour. ¡°You rascal! Why didn¡¯t you answer my calls? I called you every day, morning and night, and you never picked up! Do you know how worried I was? And my dad too, he kept asking me every day if you¡¯de back. I didn¡¯t know what to say to him.¡±
¡°I changed my phone in Germany. They didn¡¯t let me call home either... I¡¯ll exin it to youter. Where¡¯s Master? Is he home? I¡¯d like to see him,¡± said Xia Lei.
As soon as he finished speaking, Liang Zheng-Chun walked out of his study. ¡°You¡¯re back? Have you eaten? Si-Yao was about to make dinner. Let¡¯s eat together.¡±
These words were like those a father would say to a son who¡¯de home after a trip - normal and mundane but deeply caring.
¡°I¡¯m back, Master. I¡¯ve brought you some presents.¡± Xia Lei greeted him.
¡°If you¡¯re back, you¡¯re back. Why buy presents?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s words were gruff but he couldn¡¯t help the smile that spread across his face.
Xia Lei took out one gift after another. ¡°Master, I know you enjoy drinking tea so I¡¯ve brought you Taiwanese Icy Peak oolong tea, Jinjunmei tea from Wuyi Mountain and Iron Goddess of Mercy tea from Anxi. Oh, I also got you a Yixing y teapot. You must have a good teapot for good tea.¡±
¡°Wow, you even bought a Yixing teapot. Let me see.¡± Tea enthusiasts wished most to have a good y teapot. Liang Zheng-Chun used a ceramic teapot for his daily tea and that teapot was miles apart from an Yixing teapot. Hearing that Xia Lei had bought him an Yixing teapot made his heart leap in excitement.
Xia Lei handed the teapot to Liang Zheng-Chun. He held the teapot and examined it closely, rubbing his fingers over the delicate surface and muttering to himself. ¡°A good pot, good. This is a real Yixing teapot. I bought a few in the past but they turned out to be fakes. Didn¡¯t dare buy any more after that. These things can be expensive and fake. The pottery work on this is excellent, such smooth grain... How much is this teapot? It¡¯s expensive, isn¡¯t it?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t ask about the price, Master. It¡¯s not expensive. I asked someone I trust and I wouldn¡¯t have bought it if it weren¡¯t for her.¡±
The teapot hade from a teapot collector whom Long Bing had brought him to. That person had not asked for money so He had no idea how much it cost. Xia Lei was sure that it cost over 10,000 yuan even if that person hadn¡¯t asked for money and this teapot wouldn¡¯t even be on the market, at that.
¡°Sure, sure. I won¡¯t ask.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun chuckled and took the teapot away. ¡°I¡¯m going to brew some tea.¡±
Liang Si-Yao pursed her lips and looked unhappy. ¡°You got my dad a whole load of gifts. What about me?¡±
Xia Lei smiled as he handed her a shopping bag. ¡°I bought you a dress from Uniqlo. Try it on. I don¡¯t know if it fits.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll hit you if it doesn¡¯t fit.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled and took the Uniqlo bag with her as she walked to her room, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go try it on. You go cook dinner.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 137 - Help Me Zip Up
Liang Si-Yao walked into the kitchen while Xia Lei was still washing the vegetables, wearing the dress he¡¯d bought her. The top half was purple and bottom ck, stitched together and matched with a belt. She looked good in it. However, she covered her neckline with her hands as if afraid that something important would be exposed and her face was red with embarrassment.
¡°Have youe to help out in the kitchen, my dear Senior Disciple? You have to change though, or you¡¯ll get your clothes dirty,¡± quipped Xia Lei.
¡°Who said I¡¯ll be helping you? I came to...¡± Liang Si-Yao suddenly turned around and said, ¡°Help me zip up.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°There¡¯s just you and my dad at home. I¡¯m not going to ask my dad to help me, am I? Hurry up. It¡¯ll be super awkward if my dad sees me like this in front of you,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei reached his hands out and pulled the zipper up, then looked immensely relieved. ¡°Zipped.¡±
Liang Si-Yao huffed and went off as if she were fleeing from him.
After dinner, Liang Si-Yao and Xia Lei went to Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s study to practice. The two of them did not mention the embarrassing situation from earlier but Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face reddened and she looked like she wanted to kick him every time she looked at him.
They got into the standing-horse stance after their practice.
¡°Did anything happen in thepany during the time I was away, Senior Disciple?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Oh, so you haven¡¯t forgotten about yourpany?¡± Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, but in a yful way.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I know it¡¯s been hard on you and I¡¯ll remember your good deeds. Tell me what happened.¡±
¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°Our main work is frompleting the normal purchase orders from China Industrial Group. There¡¯s not much profit but it¡¯s better than no work at all for the employees. The supermarket is doing very well and the profit from that is higher.¡±
¡°No orders from otherpanies?¡±
¡°None,¡± said Liang Si-Yao. ¡°I talked about this with Qin Xiang and he thinks that someone paid a visit to thepanies so those who want to ce orders with us don¡¯t dare to.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Does Qin Xiang know who it is?¡±
¡°He said he didn¡¯t know but East Wind Heavy Industries had an increase in orders in the same period of time. They had so many orders that they outsourced smaller projects to smallerpanies but none of those were given to us,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Ning Yuan-Shan has great influence in Hai-Zhu. If he did pay a visit to thepanies, then they wouldn¡¯t give us any purchase orders. I¡¯m not quite willing to believe that he¡¯s that sort of person.¡± Xia Lei also thought of the Gu n, especially Gu Ke-Wen. Gu Ke-Wen had influence too.
Liang Si-Yao sighed. ¡°This was also why I called you every day. Thepany can¡¯t continue like this. Our employees will have no work once China Industrial Group stops giving us purchase orders. How will we pay them if there¡¯s no work? We still have to pay deposits and insurances. People will leave if we stop paying.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the progress on a product for thepany?¡±
¡°Han Bo and Yin Hao are leading the R&D department. They¡¯ve been working overtime on their own initiatives and sometimes even stay overnight at the office. They¡¯vee up with some ns this past month. I put them aside and they¡¯re awaiting your review. You¡¯re the only one with the final say in these matters.¡±
¡°What ns? Give me an overview.¡±
¡°One is for bicycles and the other is for cars.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head before Liang Si-Yao could finish. ¡°The bicycle market is already oversaturated. Small workshops are assembling bicycles too. We¡¯ll bleed losses if we go into that market. Manufacturing cars is an even less reliable n. We don¡¯t have the resources for that now. The general masses also like to show off so they¡¯d still prefer lower-quality brand-name cars over locally made cars, no matter how high-quality they are. We¡¯ll lose out in this market too.¡±
¡°I think it¡¯s unreliable too but they¡¯ve tried their best. Don¡¯t be too hard on them when you go to thepany... Oh, right, there¡¯s also a n for a shopping trolley. I think that one¡¯s interesting,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Shopping trolley?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously, ¡°What shopping trolley?¡±
¡°Yin Hao was inspired when he was in the supermarket. We have shopping trolleys in the supermarket which the old folk use but after they go through the cashier, they have several bags of different sizes that they¡¯d have to carry out and it¡¯s inconvenient. He designed a shopping trolley which can be folded t and put in the car or at home. It doesn¡¯t take up much space but when you open it up, it can hold tens of kilograms of things.¡±
Xia Lei perked up. ¡°This is a good n. It may seem like a small thing but the market for this is big. How about this - I get the employees to make ten of these shopping trolleys tomorrow and put them for sale in our supermarket. We¡¯ll see how it turns out and manufacture them on arger scale if it sells well.¡±
¡°Great. We can add different elements to it to suit the preferences of the young and old too and expand our reach.¡±
¡°Mm-hm, this small n is inspiring to me too. We¡¯re a smallpany so we¡¯re in no rush to manufacture big items. We should start from everyday conveniences and make more little products which satisfy the needs of people. We can work onrger and higher-end items when we have enough umted,¡± said Xia Lei happily.
¡°We¡¯ll seed.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled too.
Liang Zheng-Chun suddenly appeared in the doorway like a spirit, his face stern. ¡°Did I tell you two to practice or to hold a meeting? The hour spent holding the stance doesn¡¯t count. Hold it for one more hour.¡±
¡°What?¡± eximed Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao together. They shared an expression of bitterness.
Liang Zheng-Chun brought his y teacup to his lips and took a sip of Icy Peak oolong tea before disappearing from the doorway.
¡°It¡¯s all your fault. You have to give me a massage after we¡¯re done with the horse stance,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei was speechless.
After an hour more of the horse stance, Xia Lei obediently gave Liang Si-Yao a massage. He sincerely wanted to do something for her since she had worried and fretted over hispany while managing it in his absence. If giving her a massage would help her feel better and morefortable, he would be happy too.
Xia Lei took a shower back in his room to cool himself after the heat the massage had kindled. Hey on the bed and called Jiang Ru-Yi. She¡¯d called him so many times; he¡¯d have hell to pay if he didn¡¯t take the initiative to contact her.
The call connected and Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s sleepy voice came from over the line. ¡°Who is it? It¡¯ste...¡±
¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Her voice made Xia Lei feel fondness and he smiled. ¡°Lei.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi paused on the other end of the line and seemed to suddenly be revived. She voice grew louder. ¡°Where did you go? You rascal! You disappeared for a month! I called you so many times but you didn¡¯t answer. I put you in the missing persons registry!¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°I went overseas with Long Bing to do something. You know I can¡¯t talk about these things. I couldn¡¯t call home when I was overseas either. I would have called if I could.¡±
¡°I knew it!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi snorted. ¡°Where are you now?¡±
¡°I¡¯m at my Master¡¯s house.¡±
¡°At your Master¡¯s house? Eh, have you no shame? You go to your Master¡¯s house instead of your own aftering back - does your Master¡¯s daughter have that much charm? Her legs are so long they¡¯re like chopsticks! Are you going to pick food up with them?¡±
Xia Lei was dumbfounded.
Half an hourter...
¡°... had a cold yesterday and went to the hospital. The doctor actually wanted to take an X-ray! Oh my gawd, an X-ray for a cold? It¡¯s ridiculous...¡±
Xia Lei yawned. ¡°Punch him.¡±
¡°I¡¯m a police officer. How can I just hit anyone? Let me tell you, I personally caught an underwear-stealing pervert two days ago. That bastard was as fast as a rabbit...¡±
This was Jiang Ru-Yi and this was her style. She spewed all the nonsense she¡¯d umted over a month in one go in the phone conversation, her little mouth tooting like a trumpet. Xia Lei, however, did not regret being on the receiving end. He actually liked to listen to her p her lips.
It was unknown who fell asleep first, him or Jiang Ru-Yi, but no sound came from the mobile phone though the call was still connected.
Afterwards, the phone eventually ran out of power...
Chapter 138 - Starting On The Lathe
The second day back in Hai-Zhu City was a busy day for Xia Lei. He called all the important middle-management to his office once he got to Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
Xia Lei cut straight to the chase. ¡°I looked through the ns for the portable shopping trolley yesterday and I think it¡¯s a good idea. I¡¯ve decided to make some of these and put them in our supermarket to test them. They may be our ticket to breaking into the market.¡±
¡°Chairman Xia, how much profit can shopping trolleys bring us? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea.¡± Liu Xue-Bing, who had been promoted to Workshop Director by Xia Lei, raised an objection.
¡°Please tell us why you think so, Director Liu,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Well...¡± Liu Xue-Bing nced involuntarily at Yin Hao and Han Bo, who were also in the office. He knew that these two young men hade up with the ns and it was not nice to say negative things about it in front of them for fear of offending them.
Yin Hao seemed to sense Liu Xue-Bing¡¯s difort and smiled as he said, ¡°Say what¡¯s on your mind, Master Liu. You¡¯re a Master after all and we are little juniors. We won¡¯t be mad if you say negative things about our ns, really.¡±
Han Bo chimed in, ¡°Yes, Master Liu, please speak your mind. It¡¯s all for the good of thepany; we don¡¯t mind.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll say it.¡± Liu Xue-Bing spoke, ¡°How big is the market for something like this? We¡¯re apany, not a small workshop. I feel we shouldn¡¯t be manufacturing small items like this. We should manufacture some respectable products like that bicycle n of yours. I think that one¡¯s not bad.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°So, Director Liu, you objected because you felt like this product is not respectable enough for ourpany¡¯s image?¡±
¡°Yes, I think so,¡± said Liu Xue-Bing.
¡°Your way of thinking is not good. The bicycle n is respectable but can we sell it if we manufacture it? Respectable doesn¡¯t necessarily mean it¡¯s good and would be suitable for us. Thepany has just started operations and I feel we should focus onmodities which the masses need. This shopping trolley idea is just the beginning; we shall design and produce moremodities like this. We need to use these to umte our customer base and consumers. Once we have our foundation, we can bring out higher quality and pricier products.¡±
¡°Chairman Xia, based on your words our R&D department shall adjust our goals and focus onmodities,¡± said Yin Hao.
Liu Xue-Bing smiled sheepishly. ¡°Looks like I¡¯m getting old and my way of thinking is outdated. But I¡¯ll still be able to make whatever you young people design so long as you give me the drawings to work from.¡±
¡°Your workshop will take on this task then, Director Liu. Make ten first and we¡¯ll test them out in the supermarket. We¡¯ll manufacture more if they sell well. If this works out we¡¯ll trademark it and turn it into an official product.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Liu Xue-Bing thumped himself lightly on the chest with an age-spotted hand. ¡°I guaranteepletion.¡± He took a copy of the drawings and walked off in a hurry.
Zhou Xiao-Hong reached out and stopped Liu Xue-Bing. ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a rush, Director Liu. Give me a copy of the drawings too. Our workshop would like to make this product too.¡±
A displeased expression appeared on Liu Xue-Bing¡¯s face. ¡°We¡¯re only going to make ten shopping trolleys - that¡¯s not even enough for our workshop to clean our teeth with and you want to get in on the project? Really.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong made to insist on the project but Xia Lei interrupted her. ¡°Xiao-Hong, there¡¯s no need to fight over Director Liu¡¯s project. I have another for you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± asked Zhou Xiao-Hong anxiously.
¡°I¡¯ll give you a material listter. Prepare the materials for me ording to the requirements on the list. Take from the materials China Industrial Group sent for those that need special materials and tell the workers to cut those that need cutting,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay! I¡¯ll definitely get it done. Heh heh.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong smiled happily. She seemed happier about this task than making shopping trolleys.
¡°That¡¯s it. Everyone back to your stations and do a good job. We shall see better days and ourpany will grow,¡± said Xia Lei.
Having better days and growth for thepany was what Xia Lei and many Thunder Horse Manufacturing employees wished.
Xia Lei went to his personal workshop after the meeting. The workshop was for him alone and he did the special parts processing from China Industrial Group in there.
The workshop had several types ofthes, welders and office equipment like aputer. Nobody usually intruded either so this was the best ce for him to reproduce Josef¡¯s intelligentthe. He wasn¡¯t afraid of his employees knowing that he was making athe but the origin of thethe and its design ns and circuits were things he didn¡¯t want people to know.
Xia Lei got to work in the workshop. He made copies of material lists and filled them in with materials he needed. He had already nned for these materials when he was in Germany and he knew every item needed for thethe, be it the number of screws or whatever needed.
Zhou Xiao-Hong came knocking just as he was done making the material lists. She did note empty-handed; she held a steaming cup of tea in her hands.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Still have time to make me tea when you¡¯re so busy? You don¡¯t have to do this anymore; focus on your work.¡±
¡°Big Brother Lei, you have no secretary and Miss Liang is busy too. Who will make tea for you if I don¡¯t? I won¡¯t work for you unless you¡¯re willing to drink my tea,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
This girl had learnt how to add heat to her words.
Xia Lei knew she was not a sweet-talker; she was an honest person. She would be good to the person who was good to her. This was also why he had tasked her with preparing the materials. He had absolute trust in her.
¡°Who said I¡¯m not? It just so happens that I¡¯m thirsty.¡± Xia Lei epted the tea and blew on it twice before taking a sip. The tea was of a cheap blend Zhou Xiao-Hong had made herself and itcked fragrance and vour but he felt that it was more appealing andforting than high-end teas costing tens of yuan per cup he had had in teahouses.
Zhou Xiao-Hong looked at him, all smiles. ¡°Big Brother Lei, you really should get a secretary. Thepany chairman on the telly always have secretaries, one more beautiful than the other. If you hire one she¡¯ll make tea for you when you¡¯re thirsty and when you¡¯re tired she¡¯ll massage your shoulders or legs. A man like you should have a woman to take care of him.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What are you trying to say? You¡¯ve picked up some bad thoughts, haven¡¯t you?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face reddened. ¡°I, I was only speaking the truth. I didn¡¯t pick up anything bad.¡±
Xia Lei handed her the lists. ¡°Okay, okay, enough joking. This is the materials list. Prepare them as written for me.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong scanned through the list and asked in surprise, ¡°So many?¡±
Josef¡¯s intelligentthe weighed 28 tonnes so of course it needed a lot of materials.
¡°Are these small alloy pieces for screws? You don¡¯t have to do these small things yourself. I¡¯ll get the workers to do them for you.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong was experienced now and could tell what certain materials were for when looking at the measurements.
¡°No need for them to do processing, just get them to prepare the materials,¡± said Xia Lei.
Every screw had its purpose and its strict requirements in an intelligentthe, and the most advanced one in the world at that. He did not want to end up with a machine that would not meet the standards of Josef¡¯s intelligentthe design because he¡¯d wanted to save a bit of time. He was going to make sure every piece was perfect, down to thest screw, and adhere to the highest of standards in processing.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll go prepare them.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong made to leave after she finished speaking.
Xia Lei spoke again, ¡°Prepare the materials on the first list. You don¡¯t have to finish everything on the list before you send them to me.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong gave an obedient sound of acknowledgement and hurried off.
After Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s departure, Xia Lei sat himself back at theputer desk and wrote up a document, then started sorting through all the things he had got from Josef. What notes he had though, were estimates, and some details were just outlines. They would be useless if someone stole them. He did not need physical detailed drawings like Josef did since his left eye saved everything he saw and he only needed to recall what he wanted.
Over an hourter, Zhou Xiao-Hong came with two workers to deliver the materials from the first list with a forklift. She wanted to chat for a bit with Xia Lei but, seeing how busy he was, she did away with the idea and left with the two workers.
Xia Lei got to work after the materials were delivered. The first thing he had toplete was the base...
He was absorbed in work for half the day and Liang Si-Yao came to his workshop at lunchtime to see a sweaty, greasy-faced Xia Lei. Her heart hurt for him. ¡°I know you want to increase the manufacturing standards of ourpany but you don¡¯t have to work so hard. Who will manage thepany if you tire yourself out?¡±
¡°It¡¯s okay. This bit of work is nothing. Besides, don¡¯t I still have you if I copse from overwork? You¡¯ll help me manage thepany,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m not your housekeeper,¡± said Liang Si-Yao with twisted lips. It was unclear if she said it because she liked Xia Lei or because she didn¡¯t like him.
Xia Lei busied himself with work again, unwilling to waste even a minute of his time.
Liang Si-Yao walked over and snatched the tool in his hand away and pulled him towards the exit.
¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Do you know what time it is now? Time to eat. You have to eat even if you¡¯re busy! Come with me to the canteen!¡± Liang Si-Yao was not going to budge.
Xia Lei felt his hunger only then.
Liang Si-Yao dragged him out of the workshop and immediately drew the eyes of many employees.
What the employees saw was a long-legged, sexy Liang Si-Yao in her officedy garb dragging around their Chairman Xia, whose face was stained with grease. This was a funny sight and it also made people draw various conclusions.
¡°Looks like Assistant Liang will definitely be our Mrs Chairman.¡±
¡°That goes without saying - I live in the building next to Assistant Liang¡¯s and I¡¯ve seen our Chairman Xia go to her home at night. Not just once, too!¡±
¡°Woah! Really?¡±
¡°Did you take a video? Let me see! You¡¯re my friend, right?¡±
¡°Video, my foot. Don¡¯t you know who Assistant Liang is? She¡¯s a Wing Chun expert who can take on eight opponents. Her father is Liang Zheng-Chun, sessor of Wing Chun and one of the greatest schrs of his generation!¡±
¡°Oh my Heavens! I have to have him as my Master...¡±
¡°Oh my god! Why didn¡¯t you tell me this earlier? I wanted to ask her out on a movie date. Isn¡¯t it courting death?¡±
Gossip flew.
The Thunder Horse Manufacturing employees were young men and most were single so their conversational topics were very random. Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao were some of their favourite topics.
At that moment, Liang Si-Yao suddenly gave them a baleful look and raised her voice to say, ¡°Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know what you guys are talking about. Keep talking if you want a paycut!¡±
The employees ran off in the blink of an eye.
¡°They seem very afraid of you,¡±ughed Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Someone has to be the bad guy, right? Spare the rod and spoil the child. Come on, go wash your face, you fat greasy cat.¡±
Xia Lei wiped at his face, then suddenly smudged Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheek with his oily hand and ran off,ughing as he fled. ¡°You have to wash your face too now, little greasy cat!¡±
¡°You... I¡¯ll punch you, you see if I don¡¯t! Stop right there!¡± Liang Si-Yao ran after Xia Lei.
Chapter 139 - Im Actually Flying
The ten shopping trolleys Liu Xue-Bing¡¯s workshop produced sold out in the morning. They hurriedly made 20 more and those were snatched up as well. The reason why the trolleys sold well was simple -pact, good material and reasonable pricing. Most importantly, it was easy to use. It could not only be used for groceries after unfolding it, but a bench as well after closing the lid. The old folk could use the shopping trolley for groceries in the supermarket and as a mobile bench afterwards; they could take a break and sit on it. The shopping trolley was very practical.
Xia Lei was quite happy with the news. He tasked Guan Ling-Shan with going to the Trade and Commerce Bureau to register trademarks and prepare for mass production. Once they had enough stock, they would send out their sales and marketing staff to expand their sales channels.
A shopping trolley would not bring them a lot of profit but it was a good start and gave Thunder Horse Manufacturing a direction in which to focus their development. They would make people their foundation, designing and manufacturing products which regr people needed instead of aiming high and going for cars orrge machinery.
A smallpany had to have a smallpany¡¯s attitude and strategy - umte, then expand!
Qin Xiang came to Xia Lei¡¯s workshop in the afternoon.
QIn Xiang was dressed provocatively in a white, deep V-necked T-shirt and a pair of tight shorts with a ck decorative belt around his waist. This way of dressing, coupled with a face prettier than the average woman, entuated his tranny-ness.
The employees of Thunder Horse Manufacturing and Beauty of Beauteous Supermarket call Qin Xiang ¡®Queen Qin¡¯ behind his back. He was not angry when he found out but happy, and pleased with it for quite a time.
¡°What are you busy with?¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s voice was high-pitched.
Xia Lei stopped what he was doing. ¡°Preparing to build athe.¡±
¡°Lathe? Boring.¡± Qin Xiang smiled. ¡°I came to see you and chat with you.¡±
Xia Lei returned the smile. ¡°What do you want to chat with me about?¡±
¡°Chi Jing-Qiu, and that man who looked like your father,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei paused. He had not thought about that matter in a while. The image of that man surfaced again in his mind at the sudden mention of him. That purchase order and the man who looked like his father was an unsolved mystery to him.
¡°I didn¡¯t forget about this after you went to Germany and I followed Chi Jing-Qiu a few more times. That man did not appear again but I found out that she was meeting those small clients who¡¯d been giving us purchase orders and those clients subsequently became clients of East Wind Heavy Industries,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°I heard from Si-Yao that she had asked you and you¡¯d said you didn¡¯t know. What¡¯s this now?¡±
¡°Si-Yao has a short fuse and she is a martial artist. If I tell her something like this she¡¯ll surely go make trouble with Chi Jing-Qiu. Don¡¯t forget you still have an enemy in Xu Lang. If she beats up Chi Jing-Qiu, Xu Lang will definitely not let go of the opportunity to get revenge. I can¡¯t manage yourpany either if Si-Yao gets arrested while you¡¯re in Germany. Won¡¯t this all end up a mess then?¡± said Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang didn¡¯t just look like a woman; he was more womanly than a woman and fairly detailed. He had hid things from Liang Si-Yao but it was undeniably for well thought out reasons and the right thing to do.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yep, what you did was right. However, Chi Jing-Qiu couldn¡¯t have persuaded all of our smaller clients based on her status, could she? Besides, those small orders are nothing much to her. Why would she do this?¡±
¡°Have you forgotten who she works for?¡±
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡°You mean... Ning Yuan-Shan?¡±
¡°Mm, it¡¯s Ning Yuan-Shan. I discovered that our smaller purchase orders suddenly disappeared after Chi Jing-Qiu interacted with our clients. I broke into Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s office one evening and installed a listening device in it. This is a recorded conversation between Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu. Listen to it.¡± Qin Xiang took out his mobile phone and tapped it, opening an audio file.
Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°Jing-Qiu, how is the progress on that matter I asked you to handle?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s voice came from the phone next. ¡°Chairman Ning, I¡¯ve done what you asked and it all went well. I took all of Xia Lei¡¯s clients and brought them to us. They will not ce orders with Thunder Horse Manufacturing. You don¡¯t have to worry about these small matters, Chairman Ning. Those smallpanies switched over eagerly when they heard that it was ourpany. A small processing nt like Thunder Horse Manufacturing trying to make it big? Ha! I¡¯m sure that Xia Lei¡¯spany would have gone bust long ago if it were not for the purchase orders from China Industrial Group.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve done well. Get all of Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s clients, even those potentially interested in doing business with them. We, East Wind Heavy Industries, will take all their orders. Even if we don¡¯t do them, we will outsource them. I want that punk to have no business at all!¡±
¡°Chairman Ning, um... Can I ask why?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s voice was inquisitive.
¡°Need you ask? China Industrial Group was originally our big client and I had a good rtionship with Mu Feng-Jian but this punk ruined it all. I treated him well but he stabbed me in the back. How can I still stand proudly in Hai-Zhu if I don¡¯t repay the favour?¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°That guy failed to appreciate your kindness so he must suffer,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°This is also a needed action from a long-term perspective,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°That punk has excellent craftsmanship and can process high-precision parts. He¡¯s also got the backing of China Industrial Group now. If we let him get a steady footing in this industry, he will be the leader in Hai-Zhu¡¯s manufacturing industry in the future. You have to remember that he is our enemy now, not our friend. The marketce is our battleground and he is the enemy. It is of course best to eliminate the enemy as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Understood, Chairman Ning.¡±
¡°You may leave.¡±
The audio file stopped ying.
Qin Xiang put his phone away and said, ¡°Ning Yuan-Shan is using his influence to crush us. What are your ns?¡±
What Ning Yuan-Shan was doing was akin to a siege strategy in ancient times - there was no shing of soldiers nor weaponry but a cut-off of supplies and water for Thunder Horse Manufacturing. If his strategy worked, Thunder Horse Manufacturing would have no more purchase orders from China Industrial Group once Josef¡¯s intelligentthe was built. It would copse without any further prodding.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°Ning Yuan-Shan does indeed have a lot of influence in Hai-Zhu. As the chairman of thergest government-backedpany, his influence may be even greater than Mayor Hu¡¯s. Those who rely on him for their living would definitely not dare to go against his wishes so it¡¯s normal for us to not receive any purchase orders. It will be useless for us to go to those clients right now. We have no basis for them to change their minds - to put it bluntly, most of thepanies in the industry are the peons of the bigpanies. They¡¯d never risk offending Ning Yuan-Shan, even if we knelt and begged.¡±
Qin Xiang frowned heavily. ¡°You mean we have no solution to our problem?¡±
¡°How can we have no solution? Aren¡¯t we making a path for ourselves? You saw it too - the reaction to the shopping trolleys we¡¯d designed and manufactured is very good,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang let out a strangeugh. ¡°A shopping trolley which sells for 180 yuan? Labour and materials costs total 120; the profit is just 60 yuan. The supermarket sold 32 shopping trolleys today so the profit is under two thousand yuan. Are you kidding me when you say that this is the solution?¡±
The product sold well but Qin Xiang was not impressed. This was expected as no one would pin hopes on a small product like this to be the basis ofpany expansion.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°This is just the beginning. You¡¯ll see.¡±
¡°You mean you¡¯re not going to deal with Ning Yuan-Shan?¡± asked Qin Xiang probingly, ¡°I say we use our own methods to deal with him.¡±
¡°Like how we dealt with Huang Yi-Hu?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes. Find his weakness. There¡¯s nothing we can¡¯t steal if we join forces,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°We can ckmail Ning Yuan-Shan once we find his weakness and get him to return our clients. We can even make him give usrger purchase orders.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡±
¡°I¡¯m wrong?¡±
¡°Yes, you¡¯re wrong,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°First of all, you haven¡¯t considered what sort of person Ning Yuan-Shan is. He¡¯s not greedy and neither is he a womaniser. He is honest and has practically nothing we can use to ckmail him with. Anti-corruption investigations are in full force now, so why is there not even a rumour of him being corrupt or being involved in illegal activities?¡±
¡°This...¡± Qin Xiang hadn¡¯t thought of that at all.
¡°Also, remember this - do not think of using illegal methods all the time to solve problems. It may solve the problem but it will also be a potential danger. These umted dangers wille back to hurt you one day,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What then?¡± Qin Xiang smiled wryly. ¡°Are you really going to rely on the shopping trolleys?¡±
Xia Lei pointed at the pile of materials on the ground and the halfpleted part of the base. ¡°See this? This will be the most advancedthe in the world. In the whole of China, it can only be made by me. Ning Yuan-Shan wants to stop my climb to sess? He¡¯s got one thing wrong - I¡¯m actually flying.¡±
Qin Xiang paused, then burst intoughter. ¡°He¡¯s stopping your climb, but you¡¯re flying... Hahaha... I don¡¯t know what the hell you¡¯re building but I believe you.¡±
¡°All right, go do your work now. I still have a lot to do,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang spread his arms. ¡°Give me a hug. I haven¡¯t given you a hug since you came back from Germany.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 140 - Selfie and Boyfriend
Xia Lei busied himself with work till ten in the evening and it was long dark when he left thepany. Liang Si-Yao came by in the afternoon after work asking him to go back with her but he¡¯d rejected her because of work. This was also reasonable - he couldn¡¯t keep going to his Master¡¯s ce when he had his own ce to go home to.
He drove alone on the highway with only the lights of the buildings and neon lighting before him. Xia Lei was also alight with thoughts which he could not quiet.
¡®I¡¯ve onlypleted about 3% of the machine after a long day of work. I¡¯ll need over a month of time to be able to finish up the whole machine and I¡¯ll have an intelligentthe then...¡¯
Being able toplete an intelligentthe in a months¡¯ time was a feat that no machinist could do alone. However, Xia Lei was different. He could process high-precision parts with normalthes using the power of his eye and remember all the drawings and circuits at a thought. He may be one person but his output was definitely not lower than that of a professional team!
China Industrial Group had all the needed drawings and software programs so it was definitely building the intelligentthe Josef had designed, and definitely had an elite team working on it. They may not progress more quickly than Xia Lei, however.
¡®I thought China Industrial Group woulde looking for me after I returned from Germany. Maybe not a personal visit from Mu Jian-Feng but at least a visit from a department head like Zhou Wei or Jiang Xin. Nobody turned up, though. Not even a phone call. What¡¯s the meaning of this?
Mu Jian-Feng ced arge normal purchase order thest time and a month has passed since then. The order has beenpleted five days ago but there hasn¡¯t been any more new normal purchase orders from China Industrial Group. Are they cutting ties? Or are they not even giving my smallpany a second nce? Is working with Thunder Horse Manufacturing an embarrassment to them? Have they ceased all contact now that they feel they won¡¯t need me anymore?¡¯
These thoughts circled about in his head and the feeling of being abandoned made him ufortable.
He came back to his neighbourhood before he knew it and he parked, then alighted from his vehicle.
¡°Oh my, isn¡¯t this Lei?¡± A sweet female voice suddenly said.
Xia Lei nced over and saw Jiang Ru-Yi on her balcony. He walked over and smiled as he said, ¡°What are you doing up sote and not sleeping?¡±
¡°I bought a selfie stick. I¡¯m taking pictures.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi waved the stick in her hand and looked rather proud of herself.
¡°ying at selfies sote at night? Aren¡¯t you worried that the pictures you take will scare people?¡±
¡°Damn you. I¡¯m gorgeous. I look good at every angle.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°You, on the other hand, didn¡¯t you get betrothed to the Liang household? Got kicked out after an argument with the wifey?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s smile froze on his face. The times he¡¯d won in over twenty years of arguing with Jiang Ru-Yi could be counted on the fingers of his hands. This evildoer was his nemesis in life.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s gaze fell on the shopping bag Xia Lei was carrying in his hand and her dark round eyes shone. ¡°What¡¯s in the bag, Lei?¡±
Xia Lei lifted the shopping bag, waved it around in front of Jiang Ru-Yi and said slowly, ¡°This is a dress I bought in Uniqlo in Jing-Du. I was going to give this to you but I¡¯ve changed my mind.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi grew anxious.
¡°You cursed me earlier. Why should I give it to you? I¡¯ll keep it and give it to Xue when she¡¯s gained weight.¡±
¡°You calling me fat?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi red at Xia Lei and looked about to explode but she smiled in the next instant. ¡°I¡¯m just kidding, Big Brother Lei. Give me the dress and let me try it on. I¡¯ll take a picture and send it to my friends - those bitches will be so jealous!¡±
Xia Lei handed the bag to Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi took the bag and said, ¡°Come in. I¡¯ll open the door for you.¡±
¡°It¡¯s already sote...¡± Xia Lei looked embarrassed.
¡°I¡¯ll go to your t if you don¡¯te to mine. Which do you prefer?¡±
¡°Open the door.¡±
After opening the door, Jiang Ru-Yi shoved her phone and selfie stick into Xia Lei¡¯s hands and, bag in hand, ran to her bedroom to change.
Xia Lei turned the selfie stick over in his hands, pulled it out to maximum length, then shortened it. A thought suddenly came to him, ¡®This selfie stick can only be lengthened and shortened. The shadow of the selfie stick can be seen in a lot of pictures and that affects the beauty of the picture. Won¡¯t it be better if it can bend?¡¯
With this thought in mind, he stuck Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s phone on the stick and took several pictures at different angles. Every picture taken had the shadow of the stick in it and didn¡¯t look nice.
He then took out his phone, opened the JD* client and entered ¡®selfie stick¡¯ in the search bar. A long item list of selfie sticks appeared on his screen and regr sticks were being sold for 80 to 90 yuan while better ones were over 100. Materials cost-wise, each stick would take less than ten yuan to produce!
This is a profitable product!
More importantly, there wasn¡¯t a fully-adjustable selfie stick on the market yet!
A great n was conceived with a stroke of inspiration. Xia Lei was very pleased with himself and he thought, ¡®I¡¯ll draw the design on paper once I get back and take it to the patent office. This little product will surely sell well!¡¯
Jiang Ru-Yi walked out of her bedroom at that moment.
Xia Lei had bought her a long, tight-fitting red dress with a low neckline.
Jiang Ru-Yi looked at Xia Lei and giggled. ¡°Lei, did you peek at me in the shower or something?¡±
Xia Lei froze. ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense. When did I ever peek at you in the shower?¡±
¡°How did you get my measurements down so well if you didn¡¯t peek? If this dress were cut a little differently it would¡¯ve been too big or too small. How can it fit so well?¡±
Xia Lei gave a dry cough. ¡°I asked the sales assistant for help. I described your body shape and the person rmended this dress. The sales assistant was very professional.¡±
In actual fact, there was no sales assistant and he¡¯d looked at Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s body several times with his X-ray vision. He knew better than her what her measurements were so there was no way he¡¯d get the size wrong. It was the same with Liang Si-Yao but she hadn¡¯t asked him questions like these.
Jiang Ru-Yi turned around, exposing a snowy back to Xia Lei. ¡°Help me zip up.¡±
Xia Lei nced at her and saw that she had no bra on. ¡°You... Why aren¡¯t you wearing a bra?¡± he asked awkwardly.
¡°Are you dumb? Dresses like these don¡¯t require bras.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was not shy at all. ¡°Hurry up and zip me up. Are you taking the chance to peek at me?¡± she chided.
¡°Do I still need to peek? I¡¯ve already seen it...¡± grumbled Xia Lei under his breath.
¡°What did you say?¡±
¡°Uh, I said you have a nice figure.¡±
¡°Hee hee. Hurry up.¡±
Xia Lei was careful and zipped Jiang Ru-Yi up sessfully.
Jiang Ru-Yi took selfies with her selfie stick and sent them to her friends in her WeChat group.
¡°How much did you pay for the selfie stick?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°88 yuan. I can sell it to you for 100 if you want it, and I¡¯ll get myself a new one,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei was irked. ¡°The dress I bought you cost 2,000 yuan, you know? You¡¯re still going to ask me for 100 yuan?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi grinned. ¡°I was just kidding. Take it if you like it. I took enough pictures already anyway. Those girls... Eh, they¡¯re asking who¡¯s that beside me. How should I reply?¡±
Xia Lei looked at the phone screen and found that he was in every shot of the pictures she had taken. Some girls who looked about Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s age were asking who he was. One was a police officer too, judging from their profile pictures.
At that moment, Jiang Ru-Yi swiftly typed out a word - Boyfriend.
The girls shot messages back right away.
¡®Damn, when did you get such a handsome boyfriend?¡¯
¡®Why didn¡¯t you bring him out to meet us?¡¯
¡®I¡¯ll steal him from you!¡¯
¡®I¡¯ll trade you cash for him. How ¡®bout it?¡¯
Xia Lei did not know whether tough or to cry when he saw those messages. He looked away and pretended not to have seen what those girls had written. ¡°Ru-Yi, lend me the selfie stick. I¡¯ll return it tomorrow.¡±
¡°Where¡¯re you going?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s fingers flew across her phone screen.
¡°Home, of course. I¡¯m not going to stay overnight at your ce, am I?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Ha! So you did have an ulterior motive when you bought me this dress, you pervert.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Back home, Xia Lei was met by a cold home. No one had cleaned up in a month and the furniture was covered in ayer of dust. Xia Lei walked to the television cab and used a cloth to wipe the family picture clean.
The ss bottle was still behind the family picture and the pill sat quietly in the bottom. It seemed to have a hidden story.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the bottom of the ss bottle and he saw a Russian word - §à§ã§ä§à§â§à§Ø§ß§à.
This meant ¡®caution¡¯.
When he had chased after that mysterious man more than a month ago in that cafe, the man had left this Russian word on the table. He was now seeing this same word in his home. This meant that that man hade into his home!
Xia Lei¡¯s head was awhirl. ¡®Could it be... He¡¯s really my father? But... Why won¡¯t he meet with me? What is his identity?¡¯
That mysterious man¡¯s face appeared in his head again and he looked at the picture of his father, Xia Chang-He. The two faces, whenpared side by side in his left eye¡¯s vision, were a 100% match!
Xia Lei was surely going to be sleepless this night.
*Jing Dong - an online marketce like eBay / Amazon
https://baike.baidu/item/%E4%BA%AC%E4%B8%9C/210931
Chapter 141 - Still A Little Awkward
Xia Lei came to thepany with red eyes the next day. He¡¯d been practically sleepless the previous night going through the things his father had left behind, trying to find some clue. His efforts were in vain, however. That mysterious man looked so much like his father - Why won¡¯t hee home or meet with him?
These questions would never be answered if he couldn¡¯t meet with that mysterious man. However, Xia Lei had the answer to a problem in front of him, and that was a bendable selfie stick. He hadpleted the design for it in the span of a night.
The selfie stick he had ¡®upgraded¡¯ was morepact and could be kept in the pocket but also reach two metres in length when extended. It could also bend and fulfil all the requirements of picture-taking enthusiasts, even pictures of the back of their heads. Pictures of scenery at an angle were no problem either.
Xia Lei told Liang Si-Yao of his selfie stick manufacturing idea and she cheerfully apuded his idea.
¡°This n is much better than the shopping trolley!¡± said Liang Si-Yao excitedly, ¡°People who buy shopping trolleys are mostly old folk. Young people would barely give a product like shopping trolleys a nce, much less grocery shopping. This selfie stick, on the other hand, is very popr amongst youngsters. I think we¡¯ll be able to sell a lot of these if our product is better than the others!¡±
¡°One more thing. Nothing like this 360-degree bending selfie stick is on the market yet. My design is also quite unique. I n to get the patent for this and make this product unique to us,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Patent application? Will it work?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Of course it will, just not in Hai-Zhu City. I¡¯ll give Long Bing a call and ask her to help settle this. I won¡¯t have to make a trip to the patent office with her help. Hai-Zhu is a small city too, so I don¡¯t want anyone to know that we have a product like this.¡±
If he went to the patent office in Hai-Zhu City, he could run into problems or even have his secret leaked. To put it inly, this bendable selfie stick was just a little innovation with no technologicalponent to it. Anyone could make a copy of it from just a drawing of it. Xia Lei wanted Long Bing¡¯s help in order to avoid all these problems. She had also helped in the application for the automatic surfboard for Liu Ying.
¡°I do approve of the patent application but will she be willing to help with it?¡± Liang Si-Yao was doubtful.
¡°This is a small thingpared to what I did for them. If they¡¯re not going to help me with this little thing, I¡¯m going to pretend not to know anything the next time they want something from me. Don¡¯t bother with this, Senior Disciple. Let¡¯s split up the tasks. You make copies of the drawings, one for each workshop director. From today on, ourpany is going to go full force to manufacture this selfie stick and quickly make up one shipment.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯m on it.¡± Liang Si-Yao took the drawings and went to work.
Xia Lei started preparing the necessary documentation for the patent processing and called Long Bing when he was done.
Long Bing¡¯s voice came over the speaker before he could say anything. ¡°You must have some favour to ask me if you¡¯re taking the initiative to call me. What is it? Speak.¡±
Xia Lei was a little at a loss for words and said, ¡°How did you know I called to ask for help?¡±
¡°So are you calling to invite me out for a coffee?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯ll treat you to coffee the next time youe to Hai-Zhu. I actually am calling to ask for your help. I have a selfie stick idea I¡¯d like to have patented. You know my situation. I have over a hundred employees who depend on me for their livelihood but business is not doing very well and I may not be able to support them all for long.¡±
¡°Wait, a selfie stick?¡± Long Bing sounded curious. ¡°Hasn¡¯t that thing been around for a while? The youngsters are ying around with it night and day, taking pictures of everything. Are you sure this regr item is your idea?¡±
¡°The one I¡¯ve designed can bend 360 degrees. Have you seen that before?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That I haven¡¯t.¡±
¡°Can you help me settle the patent if I send you the documents?¡±
Long Bing was quiet for a bit before she said, ¡°It should be no problem if it¡¯s bendable. Send it to me and I¡¯ll show it to Boss Shi. We can get it confirmed today.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei let out a sigh of relief, then asked probingly, ¡°You don¡¯t need Boss Shi for this, do you?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have the power to do the patent approval in Jing-Du. The approval thest time was also because I pleaded with Boss Shi to help you. You¡¯re his rising star now so he¡¯ll be happy to help you.¡±
¡°What rising star... Thanks. Please also tell Boss Shi that I¡¯m grateful for his help.¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing; don¡¯t be so formal. You did well so he will get you a patent even if you say that you invented the kitchen knife.¡±
She could make jokes like these too?
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Mm, send me one of those when you make them.¡±
¡°Sure, no problem.¡±
¡°Anything else? If not, I¡¯ll hang up.¡± Long Bing hung up without waiting for Xia Lei¡¯s response.
And so the matter was settled. Xia Lei knew that the more Boss Shi helped him, the more favours he owed him. The most difficult things to repay were personal favours and he would, naturally, have to do tasks for Shi Bo-Ren. This was nothing too bad either since Shi Bo-Ren was tasking him with things which were for the good of the nation. This country was not perfect and had her minuses but she was ultimately thend which nurtured all of the Chinese; it was a noble thing to make her better and greater.
Xia Lei went to the workshops after he settled the matter of the patent. A few workshops had already begun preparing the materials to produce the selfie stick he had designed and were the picture of activity. The production of the shopping trolley hadn¡¯t ceased either. Its profit margin wasn¡¯t as high as the selfie stick but a market for it still existed. Apany needed several different products and Thunder Horse Manufacturing already had two - it was a good start.
Once he walked out of the workshops, he went right back into his own and back to the making of the intelligentthe. This intelligentthe, not the shopping trolley nor the selfie stick, would be the true trump card for Thunder Horse Manufacturing!
Xia Lei was so busy in his workshop that he lost all sense of time. Liang Si-Yao was not idle either; she brought the first selfie stick manufactured to Xia Lei. They were both quite satisfied with the stick the employees had made.
However, they were faced with a new problem - the product was out now but how were they going to sell it?
Your goods wouldn¡¯t necessarily sell well if they were good in this day and age. Advertising and public rtions were very important. Thunder Horse Manufacturing had neither of these.
¡°Our customer base and sales channels are too small. This type of selfie stick is easily produced; a worker can make 20 or 30 of these in a day. We can make around 2,000 sticks in a day but our reserves would be diminished. Our funds and materials will soon run out so we have to solve the problem of sales as soon as possible,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and his brows wrinkled. ¡°We can sell some of them in our own supermarket but the sales will be almost negligible. Things like these are sold online. What do you think about online sales tforms?¡±
¡°Are you talking about opening an online shop?¡± Liang Si-Yao shook her head. ¡°The online shop business is tough. A newly-made online shop with no word-of-mouth or repeat customers will struggle in the market. Another problem is that we have just two products now while online shops have a wide variety of products for sale.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not interested in opening an online shop. I¡¯m saying we should sell on those sites. JD has a sellers¡¯ tform, right? We can try that. We can also promote our products to other big sites. Our product is new and interesting so it fills the gap in the selfie stick market. I think the emerce and online shops will be interested,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Not a bad idea. I¡¯ll contact JD right away. I¡¯ll also mobilise the youngsters in the sales department and get them to contact the big online tforms.¡± Liang Si-Yao went off excitedly.
Xia Lei watched her go and thought to himself, ¡®I must buy her a car if we make money from this. She¡¯s put in so much work already.¡¯
Liang Si-Yao suddenly turned around. ¡°I just remembered - isn¡¯t Monk a professional bodyguard? I heard him say that his boss is one of the JD shareholders and has some pull with the board. We can only contact the lower-tier employees if we make phone calls we won¡¯t get good prices like that. Even if we do, the whole process will be very troublesome. How about I ask Monk and see what he says.¡±
¡®Monk¡¯ was the nickname of Lu Sheng, Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s disciple. He found Xia Lei an eyesore when he¡¯d first started learning Wing Chun at the martial arts school and even fought with him. Lu Sheng had lost and the two of them became friends.
Lu Sheng¡¯s stern face appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind and he smiled faintly. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard anything about his boss but this does seem like a better option than contacting the JD employees. I do know that Lu Sheng likes you - won¡¯t it be awkward?¡±
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°He likes me, so we should be awkward when we¡¯re together? So is it awkward when we¡¯re together?¡±
Was this a question?
This approached a grey area - did she like Xia Lei, or was it Xia Lei who liked her?
Liang Si-Yao seemed to realise that she had said something that could be embarrassing and blushed. She turned to exit the workshop without waiting for Xia Lei¡¯s answer and said as she walked, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about this; I¡¯ll make arrangements. You¡¯lle with me when the timees.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Xia Lei gave a sound of agreement but a question ate at him from the inside. ¡®Is it awkward when I am with her?¡¯
His mind yed out a scenario where he was unzipping her skirt and slipping her underwear off...
It¡¯s still a little awkward after all.
Chapter 142 - Business And Courage
The patent was approved the same day, a hidden benefit of Xia Lei¡¯s working for Bureau 101 as a consultant. The selfie stick had also been trademarked and its name was ¡®Aimei*¡¯.
Once these were settled, the sales department of Thunder Horse Manufacturing got busy looking for sales avenues for thepany¡¯s two products.
Beauty of Beauteous Supermarket became the testing ground of Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s new product once again. Qin Xiang opened a counter for Aimei and arranged for a promoter to push the product. The few hundred selfie sticks on the shelves were sold out on the day itself. The people who bought these sticks were mostly youngsters and there were some middle-aged consumers too but not many. This reaffirmed Liang Si-Yao¡¯s statement about the product being one for youngsters.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
¡°Come with me after work, Lei,¡± said Liang Si-Yao in the office, ¡°I¡¯ve set the appointment with Lu Sheng and his boss has agreed to meet with us. We¡¯re going to his home.¡±
¡°His home?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯d have thought it would be at a hotel and we could treat him to a meal.¡±
¡°I was expecting that too but this is his decision so I can¡¯t do anything about it either. Lu Sheng is just his bodyguard too so it¡¯s not up to him. So what if it¡¯s his home? Nothing wrong about that,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°What¡¯s Lu Sheng¡¯s boss¡¯ name?¡±
¡°His name¡¯s Zhang Sen. He¡¯s young and capable. Only in his thirties and already worth over a 100,000,000 yuan.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Impressive. So sessful at 30-plus years old.¡±
Liang Si-Yao stared steadily at Xia Lei. ¡°I think you¡¯re more impressive than he is.¡±
¡°Me?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Stop joking. How can Ipare to him? I won¡¯t be the one asking for favours if I were better.¡±
¡°Sess isn¡¯t measured by who¡¯s asking for favours.¡± Liang Si-Yao was all smiles. ¡°You know why I didn¡¯t go to those bigpanies but to you?¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°I¡¯m your junior disciple. Who¡¯ll you help if not me?¡±
¡°Sure, we¡¯re one big family. This is one of the reasons too.¡± Her face reddened for some unknown reason and she added, ¡°Another reason is that you are very innovative. I can see the potential of greatness in your innovativeness. Bill Gates, for example, and Jobs; they were in the same circumstances as you are in now. They started from scratch and slowly built their empires, bit by bit.¡±
¡°You¡¯reparing me to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs? You think too highly of me.¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°But if I do reach those heights, I¡¯ll get you anything you want.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
¡°I want the stars!¡±
¡°Then... We¡¯ll book a spaceship to space to see the stars.¡±
¡°I want a castle!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll buy you a plot ofnd and build one for you!¡±
¡°I want a prince!¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯te up with anything more. Princes couldn¡¯t be bought even if one were Bill Gates.
Liang Si-Yao blinked herrge pretty eyes and pouted. ¡°A castle without a prince is meaningless. How will I fill the castle with children and grandchildren alone?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
How was he to fulfil this wish?
Liang Si-Yao giggled. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll stop teasing you. I¡¯m going to the workshop to get some samples. You get showered and changed and we¡¯ll leave after that.¡±
Xia Lei left his workshop to shower after Liang Si-Yao walked off. He couldn¡¯t turn up covered in grease when meeting someone like Zhang Sen.
An hourter, Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao came to a seaside vi. Rich people liked to live in areas with greenery or by the seaside and this Zhang Sen was no exception.
They spotted Lu Sheng standing in the gateway from afar. He was dressed in a ck suit, had sunsses on and even had an earpiece on with a cable extending from it. He looked like one of those special agents in Hollywood movies.
Xia Lei, looked through the windshield at Lu Sheng all dressed up and couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Fellow Disciple Lu looks cool. He looks like he was born for the job as a bodyguard.¡±
¡°Want to hire one too?¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled. ¡°Though I think you¡¯ll want a pretty girl for your bodyguard, eh?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m your father¡¯s Last Disciple. My fists and my kicks shall be my bodyguard. What do I need a bodyguard for?¡±
He drove closer to the main gate and Lu Sheng opened it, then directed him to a parking spot.
Xia Lei parked and alighted with Liang Si-Yao. He greeted Lu Sheng warmly. ¡°Fellow Disciple Lu, sorry for making you go through all this trouble.¡±
Lu Sheng gave augh. ¡°No, no, not at all. We¡¯re fellow disciples after all.¡±
¡°You look very handsome like this, Monk.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled.
¡°Don¡¯t mock me, Si-Yao. My boss made me wear this. I like loose clothing. This suit is tight-fitting and ufortable,¡± said Lu Sheng awkwardly. ¡°Enough of that. Let¡¯s chat next time. I¡¯ll take you two to see my boss now.¡±
Lu Sheng brought them into the vi and up to the rooftop on the third floor. There was a swimming pool there and a balcony enclosed by ss facing the sea. Some young girls in bikinis were ying cards with a young man by the pool as they walked up to the rooftop. Behind the man and girls stood a stern-faced bodyguard in a suit.
Lu Sheng lowered his voice, ¡°The one ying cards is my boss. You guys go over. I have to go downstairs.¡± He went down after he finished speaking.
At that moment, Zhang Sen suddenly let out augh. ¡°You lose! Come here!¡±
The girl who¡¯d lost looked displeased but still went obediently to Zhang Sen and bent over, facing the pool. Her legs were straight and her round buttocks in the air in a diving athlete¡¯s starting posture.
Zhang Sen suddenly pped the girl¡¯s buttocks and kicked her. The girl let out a cry and fell into the pool with a ssh.
Xia Lei watched, gobsmacked. This Zhang Sen was a real yer, huh?
A look of disgust shed in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei seemed to sense Liang Si-Yao¡¯s shift in attitude and he spoke to her softly, ¡°Go downstairs and wait for me if you don¡¯t like it here. I¡¯ll talk with him.¡±
Liang Si-Yao nodded. ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll go downstairs and chat with Monk.¡±
Xia Lei walked towards the pool after Liang Si-Yao left, wondering how he should approach a person like Zhang Sen.
Zhang Sen had actually seen Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yaoe to the rooftop long ago but he did not get up to greet them. When he saw Xia Lei walk towards the pool, he pushed the stacks of money worth of thousands of yuan at the girls ying cards with him and said, ¡°I¡¯m not ying anymore. Divide this money amongst yourselves.¡±
¡°Thank you, Big Brother Sen.¡± The girls thanked him coyly and went off with the money in their hands.
The girls got out of the pool and walked past Xia Lei, even winking sneakily at him. Their wet bikini bodies with well-mounded tops and clearly-outlined shapes between their legs were a sight to behold but Xia Lei had no feeling at all; he was not tempted and his left eye did not react.
Xia Lei walked to Zhang Sen and put a smile on his face as he said politely, ¡°Mr Zhang, my name is Xia Lei. I came to...¡±
Zhang Sen cut him off mid-sentence. ¡°I know what you came here for. The woman who came with you is Miss Liang, isn¡¯t she?¡±
¡°You know her?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve heard Lu Sheng talk about her so I know something. He said she¡¯s a Wing Chun expert. Is she?¡±
¡°She is my Senior Disciple and she is indeed very skilled,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°So this means you¡¯re very skilled too, huh?¡± A strange look shed in his eyes.
¡°I¡¯m passable,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Mr Zhang, your vi is beautiful; I envy you.¡±
If Zhang Sen wasn¡¯t in a rush to discuss business then so was he. He had endured every type of scorn in his five years working at the lowest echelons of society. This was nothing.
Zhang Sen did not offer Xia Lei a seat. He waved a hand and the bodyguard behind him walked forward to stand before him.
¡°Mr Xia, my bodyguard here is from Thand and is well versed in Muay Thai. How about this - you spar with my bodyguard and if you win, I¡¯ll put your selfie stick or whatever on the online tform and open a counter for you. What do you think?¡± said Zhang Sen.
Xia Lei raised his eyebrows slightly and he quashed his anger. ¡°Mr Zhang, I came to talk to you about business, not spar. If you think nothing of my littlepany you can just tell me. I¡¯ll leave right away and I won¡¯t disturb you further.¡±
Zhang Sen quirked his lips at his bodyguard.
It was a signal and the bodyguard suddenly raised his leg in a kick. His leg was like a fully-bent bow releasing a kick at Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
Xia Lei¡¯s temper red. He went in for the attack instead of retreating, blocking the Thai bodyguard¡¯s kick with his left hand and punching with his right, aiming for the ce between the Thai bodyguard¡¯s legs. That ce was closest to him and was also worked best.
The Thai bodyguard was caughtpletely off guard by Xia Lei¡¯s reaction speed and hurriedly reached to block Xia Lei¡¯s punch. He was very quick and the bodyguard barely managed to block it but he still managed to attack him between his thighs. The great impact made the bodyguard¡¯s mouth make an ¡®O¡¯ of pain in that instant.
Xia Lei took a step forward and pushed with both his palms. ¡°Shoo!¡±
The Thai bodyguard lost his bnce and fell into the pool with a ssh.
Muay Thai was levels below Wing Chun. This Thai bodyguard had a good ambush speed but he was not faster than Xia Lei¡¯s left eye!
¡°Nice! Good job!¡± Zhang Sen apuded and looked excited. ¡°Who will win if you fight with Miss Liang? I want to be friends with Miss Liang. Can you introduce us? I like...¡±
Before he could finish, Xia Lei used Seeking Hand and grabbed him by the cor. He flung him into the pool as well.
¡°Gurgle...¡± Zhang Sen was unprepared and swallowed a mouthful of water. He popped his head out of the water and pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°How dare you-¡±
Xia Lei caught hold of Zhang Sen¡¯s pointing finger. ¡°You can disrespect me but not my Senior Disciple. If you dare say anything dirty to her I¡¯ll break your finger.¡±
Zhang Sen¡¯s Thai bodyguard swam anxiously over, prepared to save his boss.
Xia Lei red at him. ¡°Be good and stay there. Come over if you want your boss¡¯ finger broken.¡±
The Thai bodyguard stayed in the water and didn¡¯t dare move.
Zhang Sen hesitated, then smiled wryly. ¡°I really just want to be friends with her. Why hit me? I¡¯ve always liked martial arts since I was a child but I just can¡¯t learn very well.¡±
Xia Lei let go of his finger. He could take it for the sake of hispany if this Zhang Sen slighted, belittled him and ridiculed him. A lot of smallpanies sent their female employees to sleep with their clients in order to secure sales or purchase orders - what was a little humiliation for the sake of hispany¡¯s expansion? However, Liang Si-Yao was different. Liang Zheng-Chun was like a father to him and Liang Si-Yao his sister, his family. Nobody was allowed to humiliate her, not even for business!
It was reckless, even stupid, but was he still a man if hecked the courage to stand up to this? Xia Lei did not regret his actions, not one bit!
*Ai Mei (°®ÃÀ) - literally means ¡®love pretty¡¯. It¡¯s also a colloquial way of saying ¡®vain¡¯.
Chapter 143 - New Friend
The two men, one in the water and one on dry ground, locked gazes, speaking wordlessly with their eyes.
Zhang Sen¡¯s thought processes were easy to figure out. He was young and rich and had never had this sort of treatment in all his carefree days. He was furious but not stupid. If this person dared to do something like this, then he must be very confident. It was also true that he had disrespected him first. Zhang Sen could not help but wonder about Xia Lei¡¯s background and his character. The thought made him find Xia Lei more and more interesting.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were simple - to leave or not to leave. He¡¯d lost all hope of cooperation after throwing the guy in the pool.
Two men and their thoughts.
At that moment, Zhang Sen suddenly reached a hand out to Xia Lei. ¡°Pull me out.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated. He spotted adder about two metres away from Zhang Sen out of the corner of his eye and then understood that this was Zhang Sen¡¯s way of letting them both out of an embarrassing situation.
Xia Lei reached out his hand and grabbed Zhang Sen¡¯s, pulling him out of the pool. ¡°Mr Zhang, I apologise for just now. I went a little overboard,¡± said Xia Lei tentatively.
He had to give him a chance to redeem himself too.
Zhang Sen smiled. ¡°Do you martial arts people do business like this? I wouldn¡¯t stand for it.¡±
Xia Lei just smiled but didn¡¯t say anything.
Liang Si-Yao and Lu Sheng came up the stairs at that moment. They looked at the soaking-wet Zhang Sen and the Thai bodyguard who¡¯d just climbed out of the swimming pool and froze.
A smile appeared on Zhang Sen¡¯s face as soon as he saw Liang Si-Yao and spoke gracefully despite his haggard appearance. ¡°Hello, Miss Liang. I¡¯ve heard of you but haven¡¯t had the pleasure of making your acquaintance till now. Would you be open to us getting to know each other better?¡±
¡°Hello, Mr Zhang. I am just an assistant to our Chairman Xia,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I know you two are Senior and Junior Disciples in Wing Chun.¡± Zhang Sen smiled. ¡°Oh, let¡¯s go to the living room to chat. I fell into the water by ident earlier; I have to go change.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t uncover the lie since he put it that way. He waited till both the dripping Zhang Sen and his Thai bodyguard exited the rooftop before he said a few lines in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s ear.
¡°What?¡± A surprised expression appeared on Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face. ¡°You...¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shrugged. He still wasn¡¯t sure if he had done the right thing.
Liang Si-Yao chuckled and put her arm around Xia Lei¡¯s waist, and said coquettishly, ¡°He said just one bad line about me and you threw him into the pool? You care that much?¡±
Xia Lei was about to say something when Lu Sheng gave an awkward cough. ¡°Let¡¯s go downstairs.¡±
¡°Mm, okay.¡± Liang Si-Yao became strangely happy and she was all smiles, even skipping as she walked like a teenage girl in love for the first time.
Seeing her so happy, Xia Lei felt like it was worth it even if this business talk fell through.
There were many things on this Earth which money could not buy.
In a room in the vi, Zhang Sen stood stark naked. A short-haired woman walked in, holding a set of clothing. She was tall, had elegant features and the short hair made her look like a heroine.
¡°Sheng-Nan, you saw him throw me into the pool earlier, didn¡¯t you?¡± said Zhang Sen.
This woman¡¯s surname was Guan and her name was Sheng Nan.
Ten years ago, Zhang Sen¡¯s father brought her back to the Zhang household when she was still a street urchin. He fed her, clothed her, educated her, sent her overseas for further studies and hired the best professionals to train her. Her loyalty to the Zhang n was not to be questioned. She was not only Zhang Sen¡¯s round-the-clock bodyguard but his indispensable assistant.
¡°I saw it on the surveince system.¡± Guan Sheng-Nan spoke indifferently, ¡°But it would¡¯ve been useless even if I went up. I¡¯m no match for him.¡±
Zhang Sen wrinkled his brows. ¡°You watched him throw me into the pool? My pride¡¯s all gone.¡±
¡°He¡¯s already been very polite to you,¡± said Guan Sheng-Nan.
Zhang Sen seemed to pick up on something in her words. ¡°What do you know about this person?¡±
¡°He was the one who brought down Huang Yi-Hu.¡±
¡°What?¡± Zhang Sen looked very surprised.
¡°Surprised with just that? I¡¯m saying he doesn¡¯t even care about Gu Ke-Wen. He screwed her over and got the patent for the automatic surfboard for a widow named Liu Ying.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Zhang Sen¡¯s mouth dropped open.
¡°It failed in the end, but Gu Ke-Wen still hasn¡¯t gone to make any trouble for him yet.¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible! I know what Gu Ke-Wen is like. She¡¯s the sort who would take your whole arm off if you just poke her with one finger. Her, not even touching him after the humiliation he gave her? He¡¯s skilled in martial arts but that¡¯s nothing to a person of Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s level.¡±
¡°Gu Ke-Wen must have some misgivings for not daring to touch him. I don¡¯t know the real reason but I hear he has some backing in Jing-Du and virtually all of hispany¡¯s purchase orders are from China Industrial Group,¡± said Guan Sheng-Nan.
Zhang Sen mulled over it for a while. ¡°What do you think - should I work with this guy or not?¡±
¡°Working with him has its advantages; not working with him has its advantages,¡± said Guan Sheng-Nan.
¡°What¡¯s this nonsense?¡± said Zhang Sen.
¡°Working with him is like making an investment with great potential. You may receive unexpected benefits in the future,¡± said Guan Sheng-Nan.
¡°He¡¯s highly capable and has backing in Jing-Du. Even arge national defence industrialpany like China Industrial Group is cing orders with hispany. He is indeed a ck horse. The returns on investment on someone like this will be difficult to quantify and I was never one to reject an investment like this. Tell me what the disadvantages of working with him will be. I¡¯d like your opinion on this.¡± Zhang Sen looked steadily at Guan Sheng-Nan. He had not a stitch of clothing on him but he was unperturbed.
Guan Sheng-Nan was even less perturbed by his nakedness. ¡°You see it too. He is like an untamed horse. He came to your ce to ask you for a favour but still threw you into the pool; his character and way of doing things is difficult to grasp. Furthermore, he has an enemy in a person such as Gu Ke-Wen. If you work with him and help him and Gu Ke-Wen finds out - it will be like taking a stand against her.¡±
A strange smile appeared in the corners of Zhang Sen¡¯s lips. ¡°Gu Ke-Wen, huh? Nn... She definitely is a tough opponent. The Gu n isrge and influential too. Our Zhang n cannot go against them but if we were to fight it out, our Zhang n will still be a force to be reckoned with. She will have to weigh her decision heavily.¡±
¡°So, you¡¯ve decided?¡± asked Guan Sheng-Nan.
Zhang Sen smiled. ¡°The Zhang n¡¯s strength is in ying the stock market, especially risky investments. My dad always told me that ¡®the greater the risk, the greater the gains¡¯. I¡¯m going to work with this Xia Lei guy. He¡¯ll be my risky investment.¡±
¡°And if Gu Ke-Wen is displeased?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll pretend I knew nothing of the spat between them. Besides, I¡¯m just helping him find an online sales tform now. If she¡¯s going to bother with this small thing, then she¡¯s over-extending herself, isn¡¯t she?¡±
¡°Okay. Put clothes on and I¡¯ll go with you to meet him.¡± Guan Sheng-Nan stepped forward and held out his underwear to him.
In the living room, Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao spoke quietly to each other.
¡°He¡¯s not pulling our leg, is he?¡± Xia Lei whispered in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s ear. ¡°I treated him like that earlier... He probably won¡¯t work with us.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s wait a little longer. Maybe he¡¯ll change his mind. If we just leave now we may miss a good opportunity,¡± she whispered back.
Xia Lei let out a small sigh. ¡°We¡¯ll wait then.¡±
Liang Si-Yao quirked her lips in a smile. ¡°Regret it?¡±
Xia Lei paused, then said, ¡°No.¡±
¡°Am I that important to you?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice grew even quieter.
Lu Sheng, who was standing like a pine tree next to them, couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and looked away. He liked Liang Si-Yao and seeing her be so close to Xia Lei made him upset. However, he was a man who could let go and he did not hate Xia Lei because he knew that it was not his fault at all. Feelings could not be forced.
Xia Lei was about to speak when Zhang Sen and Guan Sheng-Nan walked out of the stairwell. Zhang Sen had an amiable smile on his face. ¡°Sorry to keep you both waiting.¡±
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao stood from the sofa as a sign of respect to the homeowner.
¡°Sit, sit, don¡¯t be so formal. This is my assistant, Miss Guan Sheng-Nan.¡± Zhang Sen introduced her to them.
¡°Hello, Miss Guan,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°Hello, Miss Guan.¡± Liang Si-Yao greeted her too.
¡°Hello, Mr Xia, Miss Liang. Please, have a seat. I¡¯ll make tea for you,¡± said Guan Sheng-Nan. She gave Lu Sheng and the Thai bodyguard a look, and they removed themselves from the living room.
Xia Lei was struck by the disy. Just going by that one look, he could tell that this Guan Sheng-Nan was not simply an assistant to Zhang Sen.
Guan Sheng-Nan quickly made four cups of tea, including one for herself. She then seated herself next to Zhang Sen and stared calmly at Xia Lei. Liang Si-Yao was also an eye-catching existence but she didn¡¯t take more than a nce at her.
The unpleasantness from earlier seemed to have been swept under the carpet and the atmosphere in the living room was amiable. The four of them sipped tea, chatted and no one mentioned the unhappiness from the earlier incident.
After half a pot of tea, Xia Lei cut to the chase. ¡°Mr Zhang, I actually came to...¡±
¡°Mr Xia.¡± Zhang Sen cut him off and smiled as he said, ¡°I know why you came. No problem. I¡¯ll call the JD sales departmentter and have them send someone to yourpany to take a look at your products, then open a counter and do some promotion for you. It will sell well as long as your product is good.¡±
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao were disconcerted by his swift cooperation. They exchanged nces and both wondered what drug Zhang Sen was on.
¡°What? Don¡¯t believe me?¡±
¡°No, no, of course we believe you, Mr Zhang, or we wouldn¡¯t havee looking for you,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly, ¡°It¡¯s just that something unpleasant happened earlier and I didn¡¯t expect that you would help so readily. I was surprised.¡±
Zhang Sen chuckled. ¡°I didn¡¯t take that little thing to heart. We menmunicate with our fists. Don¡¯t mention this ever again.¡±
Xia Lei smiled as well. ¡°I won¡¯t.¡±
Liang Si-Yao spoke tentatively, ¡°Mr Zhang, we will repay you for your help. Please tell us what percentage ofmission you¡¯d like. We will give it to you in ordance with the online sales.¡±
Zhang Sen¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°Am I helping you for money?¡±
¡°This...¡± Liang Si-Yao had nothing to say if he was not after money.
Zhang Sen suddenly smiled. ¡°I¡¯m helping you because I see you as friends. I¡¯ll be frank - I like you two. I¡¯d like us to be friends. Do I have the honour of calling you both my friends?¡±
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao exchanged looks.
Xia Lei extended his hand to Zhang Sen. ¡°We¡¯re already friends.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Zhang Sen grabbed hold of Xia Lei¡¯s hand and did an exaggeratedugh.
Chapter 144 - More Injustice Than Dou E
It waste when they left Zhang Sen¡¯s ce. Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao had had quite a bit to drink. Xia Lei was a little better and could just barely drive but Liang Si-Yao was dead drunk and unsteady on her feet. Xia Lei had to help her into the car.
Xia Lei drove his car out of the vi and stopped before he entered the main road. He wanted to rest for a bit and drive only after his face lost its redness. The traffic police would g him down for drink-driving for sure if he drove in the city with a red face. One test and his driving license would be gone.
Liang Si-Yao slumped bonelessly in the passenger seat, her face and neck flushed with alcohol. Her pair of beautiful legs extended from the office skirt, the stockings encasing them like a second skin; she looked peaceful, beautiful.
Xia Lei looked at her and she looked back with heavy-lidded eyes. A faint smile yed about her lips; who knew what she was happy about.
¡°What do you think was going on with that Zhang Sen, Senior Disciple?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence in the car. ¡°Even if he was not upset over me throwing him into the pool and wants to work with us, he didn¡¯t want a percentage of the profits either. He would lose a lot of potential money if our products sell well on JD. Why do you think he¡¯s doing this?¡±
Liang Si-Yao shook her head, herrge eyes bleary. ¡°I, I don¡¯t know... I know.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Do you know or not know?¡±
¡°I wanna peepee!¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei felt a headacheing on.
¡°Quick! I can¡¯t hold it anymore!¡±
Xia Lei quickly stopped the car.
Liang Si-Yao staggered onto the beach. Xia Lei was afraid that she¡¯d fall so he hurried after her.
A few minutester, Xia Lei drove the car back to the main road and went straight to Liang Si-Yao¡¯s home.
When he arrived at the Liang household, he opened the door using the duplicate key Liang Si-Yao had given him and carried her into her bedroom. Liang Si-Yao slept soundly through all this. Xia Lei covered her with a nket and left her room.
¡°Ahem.¡± A male voice came from behind him.
Xia Lei braced himself and turned around. ¡°Master, were you not asleep yet?¡± said Xia Lei respectfully.
¡°You made so much noise that I came out to take a look,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun. He looked at the red-faced Xia Lei and wrinkled his brows. ¡°You drank?¡±
Xia Lei summoned his courage. ¡°Senior Disciple and I went to meet with an investor to discuss sales avenues for ourpany¡¯s products. Senior Disciple, she uh, is drunk and fell asleep.¡±
¡°Troublemakers.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s expression was stern. ¡°Is work more important than your own health? What use is wealth when your health suffers for it?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Master. I¡¯ve erred and this will never happen again.¡± Xia Lei looked contrite.
Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s gazended on Xia Lei¡¯s legs and he frowned when he saw his wet trousers. ¡°Why are your trousers wet? Did you fall in water?¡±
The scene from the beach reyed itself in Xia Lei¡¯s head - Liang Si-Yao squatting next to him, and Liang Si-Yao wetting his trousers and shoes. His face turned red. Good thing his face was already red so the blush couldn¡¯t be seen.
¡°Uh, yes. I was relieving myself by the side of the road and identally fell in a ditch.¡± Xia Lei thought fast and came up with an exnation in line with Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s assumptions.
It wasn¡¯t right to lie to his Master but he couldn¡¯t say that his daughter had peed on him, could he?
¡°Forget it. I shall not bother to reprimand you. Go to the study and maintain the horse stance for an hour, then go to bed,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Yes, Master.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t wait to finish this awkward conversation and hurried to the study.
As he passed him, Liang Zheng-Chun caught a whiff of Xia Lei and suspicion spread across his face. ¡°This smell... What ditch did he fall into?¡±
Xia Lei obediently did the horse stance for an hour in the study. Perspiration beaded his body and the alcohol in him came out with the perspiration too, relieving his body. After he was done, he took a few books on traditional Chinese medicine from Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s bookshelves and brought them to the room which had been allocated to him.
Hey on the bed to read the Chinese medicine volumes after his shower.
Learning medicine was an idea he¡¯d had when he was in Germany but he hadn¡¯t time for it till now.
Martial art practitioners mostly had some knowledge of Chinese medicine like Tuina massage, acupuncture and moxibustion because they were both quintessential aspects of China and shared many simr theories. A simple example would be meridians and acupuncture points - every practitioner knew those. This knowledge was also the foundation of acupuncture and moxibustion. If one knew the meridians and acupuncture points it would be easy to be proficient in acupuncture and moxibustion.
The first book Xia Lei read was one on acupuncture and moxibustion.
The speed at which he¡¯d absorbed the knowledge could only be described as ¡®terrifying¡¯. One look and he¡¯d memorised the entire meridian acupuncture map. He had only to think about it to recall the map, clear as day, with no errors whatsoever. He only needed to grasp which point corresponded to which organ, the needle-inserting methods, pressure needed and so on.
¡°The Central Pce* point is here.¡± Xia Lei pressed a point in his chest and read from the book. ¡°Targeted at distension in the chest, vomiting, nausea, loss of appetite and paralysis. Treatment method is to puncture subcutaneously 0.3-0.5 inch..."
He located the points one by one and learnt their corresponding organs and the symptoms which could be treated. This was his first time learning acupuncture and he was so engrossed that he forgot the time. He eventually got too sleepy to go on and closed his eyes.
Xia Lei had a dream. He dreamt of a beach and Liang Si-Yao, and he dreamt of her pale, naked...
The next morning, Xia Lei shot upright in bed at the sound of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice, looked down, hurriedly grabbed a pair of underwear from the bedside table and ran to the bathroom.
Liang Si-Yao and Xia Lei seemed to have an unspoken agreement and both said nothing of the previous night¡¯s events.
After breakfast, Liang Zheng-Chun said, ¡°Take me to the Department of Cultural Affairs.¡±
¡°Dad, you usually go to the martial school - why the Department of Cultural Affairs today? Is there something going on?¡± said Liang Si-Yao curiously.
¡°The Department of Cultural Affairs sent me an invitation. They want to promote traditional culture and hold a martial arts conference. I hear many world-ss martial artists and martial arts groups will be participating. I¡¯d like to go have a look myself, especially as a descendant of Wing Chun. Not many people put their trust in martial arts these days but I¡¯d like to put in what effort I can to disy the appeal of our Wing Chun at the conference.¡±
¡°Yes, this is a big thing. I support you.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled.
¡°Master, just say the word if you need me to do anything,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Zheng-Chun rolled his eyes at him. ¡°You¡¯re so busy that I wouldn¡¯t dare make you put yourpany aside to participate in this martial arts conference.¡±
¡°Master...¡± Xia Lei was embarrassed but he did not refute what Liang Zheng-Chun said.
Liang Zheng-Chunughed. ¡°All right, all right, I know you do your best. You don¡¯t practice every day but you have improved a lot. I also know that you stayed upst night to study Chinese medicine. This martial arts conference is likely a bore anyway. I can go for it myself; you go about your business. I¡¯ll tell you if I really need you to do something for me.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yes, Master. I¡¯ll send you to the Department of Cultural Affairs before I go to work.¡±
Xia Lei drove Liang Zheng-Chun to the Department of Cultural Affairs and then headed towards Thunder Horse Manufacturing with Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao was deadpan when Liang Zheng-Chun was in the car and her expression changed after he alighted. She suddenly reached out and pinched Xia Lei on the thigh while he was waiting for the light to change at the intersection, and red at him wordlessly.
¡°What are you doing, Senior Disciple?¡± said Xia Lei a little guiltily.
¡°Humph! I was drunkst night. What did you do to me?¡± Liang Si-Yao had her hackles up.
¡°Sent you home, of course. I didn¡¯t do anything.¡±
¡°You liar! I found a lot of sand in my shoes this morning. My socks had...had the smell of pee!¡± Liang Si-Yao pinched Xia Lei again. ¡°Did you pee on me in your drunkenness?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
There was a drama titled ¡®The Injustice to Dou E*¡¯ and Xia Lei felt like he suffered more injustice than Dou E.
¡°You¡¯re not allowed to drive the next time you get drunk, all right?¡± Liang Si-Yao was suddenly concerned about Xia Lei again.
Xia Lei forced himself to nod.
¡°What¡¯s up with that Zhang Senst night?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s train of thought hopped onto another track. ¡°He actually rejected a cut of our profit. Who on this Earth does business like that?¡±
Xia Lei felt like he had gone back in time tost night. He¡¯d asked her the same question then but she¡¯d answered by peeing on his trousers and ming him for it this morning. She was asking the same question now and it felt very strange indeed.
Xia Lei drove on gloomily.
¡°Is he really just trying to make friends with you?¡±
¡°Nothing¡¯s free in this world. Let¡¯s wait and see.¡± Xia Lei went back to business. ¡°Based on the current situation there isn¡¯t any disadvantage for us so let¡¯s not bother about him. We should solve our current problems first and take a closer look at himter.¡±
*https://.sacredlotus/go/acupuncture/point/ren-16-zhong-ting-center-pce
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Injustice_to_Dou_E#Film_and_television
Chapter 145 - Everyone Knows
The sales department at JD did indeed send some people over. They looked at the two products from Thunder Horse Manufacturing and promptly set prices - 80 for the selfie stick and 90 for the shopping trolley. There was also an additional requirement that this 360-degree bendable selfie stick be exclusive to JD on online tforms. In exchange, JD would guarantee 30% of produced goods for a period of six months. This meant that if Thunder Horse manufacturing produced 200,000 selfie sticks within these six months and sold none, JD would buy 60,000 and give Thunder Horse Manufacturing 4,800,000 in payment.
JD had essentially used 4,800,000 to buy exclusive rights to these products online and they did not have to worry that the products would not sell either. It was a smart move. Such an arrangement was also very cost-effective for Thunder Horse Manufacturing. Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao only had a short discussion after the JD representative showed them the n; they signed the deal.
A guaranteed sale of 30% of the goods for six months was like sending charcoal in snowy weather for Thunder Horse Manufacturing in its current situation; it helped solve a big problem. However, they still had to find a way to sell the remaining 70% and secure sales avenues for them. This was the job of Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s sales department and it looked like a difficult job but the youngsters there were not worried at all because if these products sold well on JD, customers from all over the country would be calling in to ce orders without them having to step one foot outdoors.
They couldn¡¯t deny that Zhang Sen had been a great help this time.
After signing the contract with JD, Xia Lei went back to his personal workshop again to work on the intelligentthe. He did not work overtime and emerged from his workshop when it was time to go home.
¡°So early today?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao when she saw him walk into the office. She was cleaning up in the office and getting ready to go home. She looked at him oddly; whenever she went to his workshop to tell him to stop working, he would sometimes be unwilling to go and prefer to stay on to work overtime but he¡¯d actually walked out of the workshop on his own this time.
¡°I actually want to work more but I feel like we should show Zhang Sen our appreciation for helping us out so much,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°How are you going to do that?¡±
¡°How about treating him to a meal?¡±
Liang Si-Yao shook her head. ¡°He was born with a tinum spoon in his mouth and has quality meals all the time. What can we treat him to?¡±
¡°Then how about a gift worth tens of thousands?¡±
¡°What gift?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°He has nock of clothes or watches for sure and gold jewellery is too cheesy. What about a yellow rosewood bracelet? A good bracelet would cost a few tens of thousands.¡±
¡°Not a bad idea. Where do we get this item?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll ask Long Bing to help me buy one. She has a friend who is in the cultural items business and I won¡¯t get fakes if she helps me. It¡¯ll be an embarrassment if we spent tens of thousands to buy him a fake,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao pressed her lips in a straight line. ¡°Long Bing again. Is she your mother? Why do you keep asking her for help?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The things he asked Long Bing to do were nothing muchpared to what he¡¯d done for Bureau 101. Buying an entire yellow rosewood tree would be a small thing, much less a yellow rosewood bracelet. There were things which he just could not exin or he¡¯d be leaking information. He was missing the point, however. Whomever he bought the yellow rosewood bracelet from was not important to Liang Si-Yao - the important point was that she was jealous but he was totally unaware.
Xia Lei¡¯s phone suddenly rang at that moment.
It was an unfamiliar number. Xia Lei epted the call and heard Zhang Sen¡¯s distinctively confident voice. ¡°Xia Bro, where are you?¡±
He was ¡®Mr Xia¡¯ yesterday and ¡®Xia Bro¡¯ today. Their rtionship seemed to have progressed at the speed of a 100-metre dash.
¡°Still at thepany,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Thanks, Zhang Bro. The JD people came and we¡¯ve signed the deal. I was just about to call you to invite you to dinner and thank you. I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯d call.¡±
Since he called him ¡®Xia Bro¡¯, he shouldn¡¯t be so formal either and added a ¡®Bro¡¯ to his greeting, also as a sign of acknowledgement of their ¡®brotherhood¡¯.
¡°Why so formal? What¡¯s there to ¡®treat¡¯ between us two?¡±
¡°Right. Heh heh.¡± Xia Leiughed twice. He nced at Liang Si-Yao and she rolled her eyes at him.
¡°Well then,¡± said Zhang Sen, ¡°I¡¯m meeting some friends to go singing. Come over and y with us.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei was a little hesitant. He¡¯d never gone for karaoke and knew none of the trending songs. It¡¯d be an awkward disaster if he went.
¡°Nn, I have a friend who¡¯s in the retail industry. I talked to him about your selfie stick and he¡¯s very interested in it. Come. Who knows? This may turn out to be a good deal,¡± said Zhang Sen.
¡°Sure, I¡¯lle. Where is it?¡± Xia Lei was convinced.
¡°Tuberose KTV. I¡¯ll get Lu Sheng to wait for you at the door.¡±
¡°Okay. Bye.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
¡°What did Zhang Sen want?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
¡°He invited me to go singing and I didn¡¯t want to at first but he said he has a friend in the retail industry who¡¯s interested in our selfie stick. He hinted that we may get a good business deal. Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I...¡± Liang Si-Yao was about to agree but changed her mind. ¡°I¡¯m not going. You go on your own. This won¡¯t beplicated since Zhang Sen¡¯s arranging it. I won¡¯t be much help even if I went.¡±
¡°Come on, please go, Senior Disciple. Take it as you apanying me. I¡¯ve never gone to a karaoke bar and I don¡¯t know any songs. I¡¯ll be awkward on my own,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯ll be awkward if I go,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Why?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t understand.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheeks turned red. ¡°Are you stupid? A yboy like Zhang Sen would have girls to apany him to sing and drink alcohol at the karaoke bar. A bunch of men at a ce like that - won¡¯t a woman like me stick out like a sore thumb?¡±
¡°No way, really?¡±
¡°How is it not? Zhang Sen knows how our rtionship is and he didn¡¯t invite me. This means he¡¯s thought about it. I¡¯ll just spoil the mood if I go. You should just go yourself.¡± Liang Si-Yao was a straightforward woman but there were times when she thought more about the details too.
Xia Lei scratched his nose awkwardly. ¡°Um, I really didn¡¯t think of that. Okay, I¡¯ll go alone.¡±
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°You men are beasts.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯m going to discuss business, Senior Disciple. You know I¡¯m not that sort of person.¡±
¡°You can be influenced too. You did something so bad to mest night - you dare not own up to it?¡±
Xia Lei felt like he would never be rid of this smear on his reputation.
¡°Okay, okay, I know you¡¯re not that sort of person. Talk business and go. Don¡¯t loiter in a ce like that. If the women keep sticking to you, you can say that you¡¯re... you¡¯re sick.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face reddened again but she still nagged at him. ¡°Those women are dirty; don¡¯t touch them. I won¡¯t talk to you if you touch them.¡±
¡°I asked you to go with me but you refused. Of course I won¡¯t touch those women. I guarantee it, don¡¯t worry,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face reddened further. ¡°What am I to you? What are you guaranteeing?¡±
It was very awkward for Xia Lei too.
Liang Si-Yao reached out and straightened Xia Lei¡¯s tie. ¡°Go on, don¡¯t keep him waiting. I¡¯ll call a taxi home.¡±
¡°Stay safe,¡± nagged Xia Lei. He walked to the office door.
¡°Buy me a pair of stockings if you have the time,¡± said Liang Si-Yao suddenly.
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei turned to look at Liang Si-Yao. The expression on his face was a mixture of as if he¡¯d seen a strange creature and a trace of horror.
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to pay me back for wetting my stockings? You made me say it! Just the thought of it is making me turn red in embarrassment on your behalf,¡± said Liang Si-Yao with a red face.
Xia Lei froze for a few seconds before he nodded. He wanted to exin and tell her that it was actually her who had wet his trousers but quashed the thought after some consideration. He actually understood her intention - buying the stockings for her was a way to make him leave the karaoke bar earlier. He¡¯d at least have an excuse to do so, won¡¯t he?
Liang Si-Yao watched him go and stared nkly into space for a bit before she said, ¡°Dummy. You¡¯re so smart and can learn things so quickly. Why haven¡¯t you learnt how to pick up women?¡±
That was true. Xia Lei could master whatever he learnt but he was weak against women and had never put in any effort to study this seriously.
Xia Lei left thepany and came alone to Tuberose KTV. Lu Sheng spotted him before he finished parking and walked towards him.
Xia Lei alighted and smiled as he greeted him. ¡°Hello, Fellow Disciple Lu.¡±
Lu Sheng gave him a small grin. ¡°No need to be so formal between us Fellow Disciples. My boss is waiting for you inside. I¡¯ll bring you there.¡±
Xia Lei followed Lu Sheng and walked towards the rooms of Tuberose KTV. ¡°Did you know that Master is attending the martial arts conference?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t. This is a big thing! I¡¯ll talk with Masterter. I¡¯d like to participate,¡± said Lu Sheng in surprise.
¡°I didn¡¯t have the time or I¡¯d have apanied him. It¡¯ll be best if you apanied Master, Fellow Disciple Lu. Will Zhang Sen give you time off?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Time off? I¡¯d quit if I have to. It¡¯s just a bodyguard job, nothing precious.¡± He pped Xia Lei on the shoulder and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll go to yourpany if I¡¯m out of work. You¡¯d give me a department manager position at least, right?¡±
¡°You can have whatever position you want if youe to mypany,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°You said it - no bluffing!¡± Lu Sheng looked serious about it.
¡°No bluffing.¡±
¡°Hahaha, you¡¯re my good Fellow Disciple indeed! Man of your word! No wonder Si-Yao likes you so much.¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing between us.¡±
¡°Everyone can see it except you, you blockhead. Forget it, let¡¯s talk about something else.¡± It was no secret that Lu Sheng liked Liang Si-Yao at the martial arts school and he wasn¡¯tfortable at all talking about who Liang Si-Yao liked with Xia Lei. The base reason for him wanting to go to Xia Lei¡¯spany was also because Liang Si-Yao was there.
Liking someone, being unable to be with her but being able to see her every day was a sort of happiness too.
What Lu Sheng said earlier kept repeating itself in Xia Lei¡¯s head. ¡®Everyone knows except you!¡¯
This sentence was like a stone falling into theke of his heart, sending ripples out from where it fell; his heart wouldn¡¯t be calm any longer.
Chapter 146 - Old Scores and Power
Lu Sheng brought Xia Lei to a luxurious private room. The room was about 50 square metresrge and beautifully decorated. Xia Lei felt like he had stepped into a dream-like pce. Arge painting of ¡®The Last Supper¡¯ hung on the wall.
Four men and a group of women were in the room.
Two of the men were people he hadn¡¯t seen before and the other two were Zhang Sen and Xu Lang. Xia Lei felt anger wash over him at the sight of Xu Lang. He¡¯d already had a satisfying ending for the incident in Jing-Du where he¡¯d been arrested but the memory of Xu Lang actually getting someone to hit Xia Xue for the purpose of getting him in trouble was unforgivable.
¡°Don¡¯t do anything that¡¯ll hurt Si-Yao or I¡¯ll tell Master.¡± Lu Sheng said one sentence in Xia Lei¡¯s ear and walked out of the room.
When Xia Lei turned to look at Lu Sheng, he¡¯d already closed the room door. Xia Lei smiled wordlessly and walked towards Zhang Sen¡¯s group.
Zhang Sen stood up and greeted Xia Lei warmly. ¡°Xia Bro,e here,e here. I¡¯ll introduce you; this is Lin Wen-De, the chairman of Goods Mountain Co. After a short pause, he added, ¡°Goods Mountain Co. is a bigpany in the retail industry and has franchisees across the country. You should have a good chat with Chairman Lin, Xia Bro.¡±
This hint couldn¡¯t be more obvious.
Xia Lei stretched out his hand and put a smile on his face. ¡°Hello, Chairman Lin,¡± he said politely.
The middle-aged man called Lin Wen-De stood up and shook hands with Xia Lei. ¡°Hello, hello.¡±
He spoke politely but his eyes showed not a trace of politeness. Xia Lei could tell that this Lin Wen-De would probably not want to get to know him at all if it were not for Zhang Sen.
Zhang Sen pointed to another slightly younger person, about 35 or 36 years old, and said, ¡°This is Ding Yun, the chairman of Far East Mining Corp.¡± He smiled. ¡°Bro, I¡¯ve got to tell you - Chairman Ding¡¯s mines? You¡¯d climb them for a month and won¡¯t even reach the end.¡±
Xia Lei reached out his hand again and smiled. ¡°Hello, Chairman Ding.¡±
Ding Yun stood up, shook hands with Xia Lei and said politely, ¡°Hello.¡±
It was a forced greeting. HIs attitude was like Lin Wen-De¡¯s - chairmen of their caliber didn¡¯t think too highly of a small frypany chairman like Xia Lei. Them sitting there and shaking hands with Xia Lei was all because of their rtionship to Zhang Sen.
Xia Lei pretended not to notice their attitude. He didn¡¯t care.
Zhang Sen pointed at Xu Lang and said, ¡°This is...¡±
Xu Lang interrupted Zhang Sen, ¡°Big Brother Sen, you don¡¯t have to introduce us. We know each other.¡±
¡°You know each other?¡± asked Zhang Sen in surprise.
His expression was not fake; he really didn¡¯t know that the two of them knew each other.
¡°And you said you had a ¡®mysterious friend¡¯, Big Brother Sen. We¡¯re already so familiar, heh heh.¡± Xu Lang stretched a hand out to Xia Lei as he spoke. ¡°Hello, Boss Xia of Beauty of Beauteous Supermarket.¡±
Addressing Xia Lei like that in front of Zhang Sen, Ding Yun and Lin Wen-De was deliberate act.
Zhang Sen¡¯s expression darkened. He could tell from Xu Lang¡¯s words that Xu Lang not only knew Xia Lei, but he¡¯d had some deep conflict with him in the past. If they hadn¡¯t had such a conflict, Xu Lang with his status and smarts wouldn¡¯t have dared to be so mocking to Xia Lei in front of him now.
Zhang Sen looked at Xia Lei to see his reaction, a question in his head - What happened between Xia Lei and Xu Lang?
Ding Yun and Lin Wen-De also looked at Xia Lei with tiny smiles of mockery on their lips. What were you going to do about being mocked, Xia Lei? You¡¯re just a small-time owner of a littlepany - what can you do against an inspector?
Xia Lei, however, reacted very mildly. He stretched out his hand as well and shook with Xu Lang, smiling as he said, ¡°Public servants are barred from patronising entertainment establishments like karaoke bars. You¡¯re flouting thew here. Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll report you?¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Xu Lang snorted. He¡¯d mocked Xia Lei for being just a supermarket boss and now Xia Lei was mocking him for being a humble public servant. He did not have the control that Xia Lei had and his facial expression changed.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, shook hands with Xu Lang with a smile on his face.
Xu Lang hesitated and seemed to have caught something in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. He tried to pull his hand back but discovered that Xia Lei¡¯s hand was like a vice and he could not pull away no matter how he tried.
Xia Lei used his internal energy and Xu Lang¡¯s hand suddenly deformed in his. He had not practised Wing Chun long and could notpare to great Masters like Liang Zheng-Chun but even his little bit of internal energy was something normal people like Xu Lang could not withstand. His internal energy was small but he knew the structure of the human body like the back of his own hand and could control the energypletely, making his small bit of internal energy as effective as those with a Master-level like Liang Zheng-Chun!
Xu Lang¡¯s face turned white as soon as Xia Lei used his internal energy. His bones were subjected to a great force and there was an audible crack. It seemed like his hand would be broken any moment. He was only still standing due to his pride as a man.
Ding Yun couldn¡¯t watch any longer and was about to tell Xia Lei to let go but Zhang Sen shot him a look and he shut up.
Xia Lei did not let go - it looked like he wanted to shatter Xu Lang¡¯s hand!
Xu Lang thought Xia Lei would release his hand quickly as he was sure Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t dare do anything to him but his hand hurt more and more. When Xia Lei showed no signs of rxing his grip even when he couldn¡¯t take it anymore, Xu Lang panicked and got scared. ¡°Xia Lei, you... What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in a while so I want to shake your hand for a while longer.¡±
¡°Let go of my hand!¡± Xu Lang was mad.
Xia Lei pulled Xu Lang by the hand to the washroom attached to the room instead.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xu Lang tried to escape Xia Lei¡¯s grip in vain.
Xia Lei pulled him along, saying, ¡°Inspector Xu, I have some personal matters to discuss with you. It¡¯s not good if others overhear.¡±
¡°You bastard! I¡¯m an inspector!¡± Xu Lang tried to use his status to pressure Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave a coldugh. ¡°I know. Are inspectors such a big deal?¡± He pushed open the door of the washroom and threw Xu Lang inside.
The washroom door mmed shut.
In the private room, Zhang Sen, Ding Yun and Lin Wen-De exchanged looks of surprise and disbelief.
¡°What situation is this, Zhang Bro?¡± Lin Wen-De¡¯s expression was odd and his tone strange. ¡°That Xu Lang is still an inspector. We wouldn¡¯t dare to get on his bad side but your friend... Did he eat leopard guts?¡±
Zhang Sen smiled intriguingly as he recalled himself being thrown into the pool. ¡°Eat leopard guts? No, I think he is a leopard. Haha.¡±
Ding Yun paused and smiled wryly. ¡°Zhang Bro, you should be cautious. I can tell that these two don¡¯t see eye to eye and have some conflict. If your friend really hurts that inspector it can make the matter blow up and it won¡¯t be easy to clear it up.¡±
Zhang Sen sneered instead. ¡°The person doing the beating isn¡¯t afraid so why should we, the audience, be scared? If Xia Lei really beats Xu Lang up then I¡¯ll take my hat off to him.¡±
Ding Yun and Lin Wen-De exchanged nces. They kept their thoughts unspoken.
That¡¯s right, the person doing the beating wasn¡¯t afraid so why should the onlookers be scared?
In the washroom, Xia Lei stood in the doorway, leaving no way out for Xu Lang. The small washroom seemed like it was filled with gas and a small spark would set it all alight.
¡°You, the one surnamed Xia! You¡¯d better know your ce and apologise to me immediately! No, apologise to me in front of those people outside, or I¡¯ll pursue this matter with you!¡± Xu Lang shouted.
¡°Xu Lang, I dragged you in here to settle scores. You, get this in your head. Pursue the matter? Others may be afraid of your inspector rank but you are scum to me!¡± said Xia Lei coldly.
¡°Get out of my way!¡± Xu Lang reached to push Xia Lei.
Xia Lei suddenly kicked Xu Lang in the abdomen and there was a muffled thud as he mmed into the wall and fell heavily to the floor.
¡°You dare attack a policeman!¡± Xu Lang gritted his teeth and red hatefully at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei kicked him in the abdomen again. ¡°This kick is for the time when you and Ren Wen-Qiang tried to drug me at Far East Heavy Industries.¡±
¡°Ah-!¡± Xu Lang screamed.
¡°This kick is for when you got someone to hit my sister.¡± Xia Lei kicked him for the third time.
Xu Lang was in so much pain that his face was devoid of colour and cold sweat beaded his forehead. He looked fearfully at Xia Lei, still in disbelief. How could he drag him into the washroom to beat him up? He was a police inspector!
Xia Lei lifted Xu Lang from the floor till they were face to face, his eyes as wild as a beast¡¯s. ¡°Let me warn you, Xu Lang, that you can mess with me but not my sister. You dare harm one hair on her head again and I¡¯ll destroy you!¡±
This was Xia Lei¡¯s first time saying such fierce words because of his sister, Xia Xue.
¡°Pah!¡± Xu Lang opened his mouth and spat bloody saliva at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei moved his head and avoided the spit.
Xu Lang kneed Xia Lei in the abdomen.
Xia Lei did not dodge this time; he just stared coldly at Xu Lang.
¡°You, the one surnamed Xia, tonight¡¯s matter won¡¯t be settled so easily. You¡¯re dead meat, I tell you! I¡¯ll call someone to arrest you once I walk out of this washroom. How dare you attack a police inspector!¡± said Xu Lang with look of malevolence.
¡°Heh heh...¡± Xia Leiughed all of a sudden. It was strange.
Xu Lang had goosebumps. ¡°What are youughing at? I¡¯ll let you off, maybe, if you kneel down and beg me!¡±
As soon as he was done speaking, Xia Lei grabbed him by the throat and shoved his head roughly into the toilet bowl.
¡°Gleurgh... Xia... Blub... Blureugh...¡± Toilet bowl water flooded Xu Lang¡¯s mouth over and over. Unable to breathe, he had no choice but to swallow the water. The previous user of the washroom had not flushed and the yellow-stained water in the toilet bowl was all cleared up by Xu Lang.
Xia Lei released Xu Lang.
Xu Lang sprawled over the toilet bowl and begun to gag. ¡°Uuergh... uuergh...¡±
Xia Lei watched the vomiting Xu Lang expressionlessly and said disinterestedly, ¡°Xu Lang, go ahead if you want to arrest me but I¡¯m warning you that I won¡¯t being out once I go in. I will only go out and fight you if you kneel before me. Think it over carefully. I beat you today so our score fromst time is settled. If you get on my bad side again, there will be a new score to settle and I will look for you, just like today.¡±
Xia Lei turned and walked out the washroom after he was done speaking.
Xu Lang continued hugging the toilet bowl. ¡°Bleurgh...¡±
Chapter 147 - Dont Touch Those Women
Not very many in China would dare to drag a police inspector into a washroom to beat him up and treat him to the ¡®nutritious liquid¡¯ in the toilet bowl but Xia Lei did. This made him appear reckless, violent and brought him no advantage but he had his reasons.
Why would a rich man like Zhang Sen help him? He didn¡¯t believe that it was out of goodwill. Zhang Sen didn¡¯t care at all about the bit of money he had, so if it was not money, then what? It could be one of two things - his connections or his second identity as a consultant for Bureau 101.
It was impossible for Zhang Sen to know about his second identity but he would know for sure that he had someone helping him in Jing-Du. Zhang Sen must have had this in mind when he made friends with him and called him ¡®Bro¡¯.
Xu Lang had sneered and looked down on him in front of Zhang Sen so if he did nothing, Zhang Sen would look down on him too and the business introductions he had lined up would also fall through. That was why he had to do something and establish his power to let Zhang Sen and potential business partners like Lin Wen-De see his might. Xu Lang had to drink toilet bowl water for this.
He dared to beat Xu Lang up because he was not afraid of him taking revenge.
He was a consultant for Bureau 101 and not formally employed by them but Shi Bo-Ren valued him highly. He had just done a huge service to Bureau 101 by stealing industry secrets of the most advanced intelligentthe in the world for them. With his status and capabilities, would Shi Bo-Ren allow a person like Xu Lang to put Xia Lei in prison? Furthermore, this was the period of time before China Industrial Group had finished building Josef¡¯s intelligentthe.
This was his attitude towards the matter - I¡¯ve poked the ho¡¯s nest; are you going to help me? If you¡¯re not, I won¡¯t help you in the future either!
It would be an easy decision for Bureau 101. Shi Bo-Ren would not side with Xu Lang unless something was wrong with his head.
And so, Zhang Sen, Lin Wen-De and Ding Yun witnessed a powerful Xia Lei and were hard pressed to say that they weren¡¯t impressed. If he dared to beat up an inspector like Xu Lang, then he was not afraid of his backer, Xu Zheng-Yi, at all.
Didn¡¯t they want to see how good my connections were? Look now, my connections are so good I can beat Xu Lang up for fun!
Businessmen from ancient times have always bowed and scraped to powerful people, so much so that it was a characteristic of theirs. He had disyed his power tonight not just for the business connections but to send a message to everyone - Don¡¯t mess with me!
Zhang Sen, Lin Wen-De and Ding Yun looked at Xia Lei with surprise and awe in their eyes.
The women apanying the men in the private room were all staring at Xia Lei too. They had heard the screams and bits of conversation from the washroom and knew what had happened and that had thoroughly convinced them. Xia Lei had be an aggressive main lead in a movie in their eyes. His bearing, his handsome appearance and his violent methods had their hormones abuzz.
¡°So sorry, I forgot myself a little.¡± Xia Lei returned to the sofa and spoke with a smile.
Everyone else snapped back to reality.
Zhang Senughed, ¡°Bro, that was...¡±
¡°Just some personal matter. I hope it hasn¡¯t affected everyone¡¯s moods?¡± Xia Lei appeared rxed.
¡°No, no, it¡¯s just that...¡± Zhang Sen spoke probingly, ¡°Xu Lang is an inspector and he won¡¯t just let this matter rest. What if he seeks revenge on you?¡±
Xia Lei spoke disinterestedly, ¡°He¡¯s just an inspector. I don¡¯t care. He wants revenge? Well then, he can expect to be ruined.¡±
He wasn¡¯t usually one to say such things but, every once in a while, these words were needed.
At that moment, Xu Lang walked out of the washroom. His head was dripping and his suit wet; he looked rather haggard.
¡°Xu Bro.¡± Zhang Sen walked to him. ¡°What was that about? It¡¯s all my fault - I didn¡¯t know that there was this sort of conflict between you two or I¡¯d not have invited you both to the same venue to sing and drink.¡±
Xu Lang spoke coldly, ¡°Big Brother Sen, this has nothing to do with you. Don¡¯t bother about it.¡± He pointed at Xia Lei and said fiercely, ¡°He¡¯s looking for an early grave and I¡¯ll fulfil that wish!¡±
Xia Lei sneered and said nothing.
Zhang Sen cautioned him hypocritically, ¡°Xu Bro, about this matter, could you maybe...¡±
¡°No, Big Brother Sen. I¡¯ve said that this matter doesn¡¯t concern you.¡± Xu Lang took out his phone and dialled a number, then put the phone to his ear and spoke loudly. ¡°Wu, bring your men to Tuberose KTV immediately. A person needs to be arrested.¡±
He spoke loudly on purpose for everyone in the room to hear.
The atmosphere in the room became tense. It was very quiet and stifling.
Zhang Sen and everyone else looked at Xia Lei again, wanting to know how he¡¯d react.
Xia Lei also took out his phone and dialled a number, then spoke mildly, ¡°Hello... It¡¯s me. I¡¯m in a karaoke bar.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°Heh. Picked up some bad habits, have you? Never saw you going to those ces before.¡±
¡°It¡¯s to talk business. I can¡¯t help it. I¡¯m calling you about something.¡±
¡°What something?¡±
¡°You know a guy named Xu Lang?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°He wants to arrest me now.¡±
¡°What?¡± Long Bing sounded surprised. ¡°Why?¡±
¡°I beat him up.¡±
¡°Why were you so reckless?¡±
¡°He¡¯s called someone toe arrest me. My friends are next to me. I don¡¯t want to be shamed in front of them.¡±
¡°You already knew the oue so why did you do something so reckless? Didn¡¯t I already tell you? Keep your calm. The things I¡¯ve taught you, you...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°If I¡¯m arrested and put behind bars by him I¡¯ll quit. I¡¯m not going to bother with the matter of China Industrial Group either.¡±
¡°You...¡±
¡°Xia Lei deliberately said ¡®I¡¯ll quit¡¯ extra loudly for Zhang Sen and the others to hear.
Everyone had a question when they heard that - Did he have some sort of governmental pull in Jing-Du?
Long Bing¡¯s voice came from the phone again. ¡°Wait. I¡¯ll settle this. No talking to me like this ever again. I don¡¯t like it.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°You¡¯re smart. You know why I¡¯m talking to you like this.¡±
Long Bing was quiet for a bit before she let out a lightugh. ¡°You¡¯re getting more sly, huh. Makes me want to punch you.¡±
¡°Heh heh. Come over here if you¡¯d like to punch me. Oh, right, I¡¯ve sent the selfie stick you wanted via express mail. Remember to check your packages. Bye.¡± Xia Lei said goodbye and hung up.
The group of people stared oddly at Xia Lei. He was actually in the mood to talk about selfie sticks in this sort of setting?
Xia Lei¡¯s calm attitude was a refreshing contrast to Xu Lang¡¯s anxiousness.
Xia Lei looked at Xu Lang. ¡°If I were you, I¡¯d leave now and not remain to be shamed.¡±
Xu Lang sneered. ¡°Are you pretending to put on airs? I don¡¯t believe that you can circumvent thew! If I can¡¯t arrest you tonight, I¡¯ll write ¡®Xu¡¯ upside down!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Then get your people to arrest me.¡±
¡°Pah! They¡¯re on their way. We¡¯ll have a good talk when we get to the station!¡± said Xu Lang vehemently. A scenario was already ying out in his head - Xia Lei with his hands and legs shackled, lying on the ground like a trussed pig while he kicked at him...
The thought of this scenario pleased him greatly.
No one spoke. The atmosphere in the private room was tense again.
Ten minutester, the door to the room was suddenly pushed open and a group of Special Forces men rushed in, armed to their teeth with weapons.
Xu Lang had actually called up the Special Forces and not regr policemen. It seemed he had calcted this because the Special Forces were direct subordinates and it was difficult for other departments to intervene. Even if Xia Lei had connections, his connections couldn¡¯tmand the Special Forces!
The leader of the group saluted Xu Lang. ¡°Inspector Xu, the squad has assembled. What are your orders, sir?¡±
Xu Lang sneered and lifted a hand to point at Xia Lei. ¡°Him. Arrest him.¡±
The group of men suddenly rushed at Xia Lei and pointed their various weapons at him.
¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± The leader shouted, ¡°On your knees! Hands in the air!¡±
Xia Lei did not move, did not kneel and neither did he put his hands in the air.
The leader¡¯s eyebrows went up and he pressed the muzzle of his gun to Xia Lei¡¯s head.
At this moment, another person shouted, ¡°Stop!¡±
It was like a scene from a movie - an unexpected situation was happening every second.
A familiar face appeared in the doorway. Xia Lei remembered his name - Ke Jie. He was Long Bing¡¯s subordinate.
¡°Who are you?¡± asked the leader rudely. ¡°Do you know what you¡¯re doing?¡±
¡°I want to know what you are doing,¡± said Ke Jie.
¡°Arresting him!¡± said the leader, ¡°We¡¯re following orders.¡±
¡°Orders? Whose orders?¡± asked Ke Jie.
¡°My orders!¡± said Xu Lang loudly. ¡°Who are you? Do you know that you¡¯re obstructing official matters? If you interrupt again, I¡¯ll have you arrested as well!¡±
Ke Jieughed dryly. ¡°Your orders? I¡¯ve just received notification that you¡¯ve been suspended. Who can you order around?¡±
His words hit everyone like an icy wind and they all froze.
¡°Ignore him, Wu! Arrest him!¡± Xu Lang was too invested to stop now and he was gambling it all.
The leader of the team hesitated. He did not move but gave one of his men a look.
The man grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand and made to pull him off the sofa.
Ke Jie suddenly moved his hand and when he stopped moving, a ck handgun had appeared, pressed right to Xu Lang¡¯s temple.
¡°You...¡± Xu Lang was shocked and angry and his voice trembled. ¡°W,What are you doing?¡±
Ke Jie spoke coldly, ¡°Let me tell you that I have the right to shoot you.¡± He looked at the Special Forces leader and spoke in a louder voice, ¡°Do you want to be dismissed from your positions? Who gave you the right to arrest people willy-nilly? Are you the nation¡¯s Special Forces or Xu Lang¡¯s Special Forces?¡±
The Special Forces leader was stunned by his words and quickly said to his men, ¡°Stand down.¡±
His men withdrew.
At this moment, Xu Lang¡¯s phone rang.
Xu Lang did not dare move. Ke Jie took the phone from his hand and unlocked it.
¡°You fucker! I told you not to anger that woman but you went ahead and pissed her off anyway! I¡¯m suspending you for now. Come back for an investigation, now!¡± It was Xu Zheng-Yi¡¯s voice.
Xu Zheng-Yi had indeed cautioned Xu Lang not to mess with Long Bing but hatred had clouded his judgement and eyes. He¡¯d forgot the warning and lost his perception of the situation.
¡°Heard that?¡± Ke Jie said loudly.
The leader waved his hand. ¡°Withdraw!¡±
The Special Forces came quickly and left even more quickly. They were fairly respectful towards Xu Lang when they¡¯d arrived but did not even spare him a backward nce as they left for fear of being connected to him in any way.
Ke Jie put his gun away and spoke to Xu Lang. ¡°You too, leave. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll make you leave.¡±
Xu Lang looked at Xia Lei. He¡¯d bitten his lip so hard that he was bleeding but was unaware that he¡¯d done so. He red at Xia Lei, then looked away and exited the private room.
The atmosphere in the private room was still tense.
Xia Lei broke the short silence, smiling as he said, ¡°Have a drink with me, Ke Jie.¡±
Ke Jie smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯m not as idle as you are. She told me to tell you something.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei knew that the ¡®she¡¯ he spoke of was Long Bing and he was curious as to what she would have Ke Jie tell him at this time.
Ke Jie walked to Xia Lei and came close to his ear to say in a low voice, ¡°She told me to tell you that ¡®the women in entertainment establishments are dirty. Don¡¯t touch those women¡¯.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Ke Jie turned and left.
Xia Lei was still frozen.
Chapter 148 - Its Easy For Men To Pick Up Bad Habits
The people who should¡¯ve left, left, and the tense atmosphere in the private room dissipated.
A smile appeared on Zhang Sen¡¯s face and he signalled. ¡°What are you sitting about for? Pour us some alcohol.¡±
The women quickly got into work-mode and assumed their roles as drink-pourers and hangers-on. Every man had two women apanying him and they were all young, sexy and pretty.
Two women were seated, one on either side of Xia Lei as well, but Xia Lei did not put his arms around their waists or take advantage of them like Lin Wen-De and Ding Yun did. He just sat there and did nothing.
¡°Pick a song, Boss. I¡¯ll sing with you,¡± said a woman in a sweet voice, ¡°How about ¡®Buk¡¯s Love¡¯*? I¡¯ll sing the little sister¡¯s part and you¡¯ll sing the big brother¡¯s part, okay?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Xia Lei disinterestedly, ¡°I don¡¯t know this song.¡±
The other woman brought him a ss of red wine and gave him a seductive smile. ¡°Let¡¯s cross arms and drink, Boss.¡±
¡°Drink it yourself,¡± said Xia Lei disinterestedly.
The two women exchanged nces and looked gloomy. This was the first time they¡¯d encountered a customer like Xia Lei. Men who came here were those looking for fun - why was this one so serious? It was easy to hook the other men and get them to give them money. If the man wanted sex, they¡¯d get a room and the process was simple. However, all their usual tricks were not working on Xia Lei.
The two women then looked almost pleadingly at Zhang Sen.
These women had received instructions in advance from Zhang Sen - who should apany whom and how. Each person had their role. Lin Wen-De and Ding Yun were no problem as they quickly loosened up and went into y-mode but Xia Lei was an exception; he was immovable. The women needed further instructions from Zhang Sen.
Zhang Sen pushed the hands of the two women fawning over him from his body and went to Xia Lei with a ss of red wine in hand. He sat and smiled as he said, ¡°Bro, let¡¯s have a drink, a toast to your boldness. Let me tell you, I was very impressed today.¡±
Xia Lei lifted a ss and clinked sses with Zhang Sen. Heughed and said, ¡°I am actually worried that I¡¯d left a bad impression on you. I¡¯m not really a reckless person, it was just... that rascal Xu Lang is very punchable.¡±
¡°Hahaha! Well said!¡± Zhang Sen drained his ss of red wine in one go.
Xia Lei was quick to respond and drained his ss too before getting the bottle. ¡°I¡¯ll pour for you, Big Brother Sen.¡±
Zhang Senughed and covered his winess with his hand. ¡°Ah, how dare I be your Big Brother?¡±
¡°You called me your ¡®Bro¡¯ so you¡¯re my Big Brother - why don¡¯t you dare? You should.¡± Xia Lei said smoothly.
Zhang Sen took his hand off his winess andughed cheerfully. ¡°Good! So we¡¯re Brothers now. I¡¯ll drink it all, even if it¡¯s the whole bottle.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Oh no, that won¡¯t do. How can you y around if you¡¯re drunk?¡± He poured a good portion of wine into Zhang Sen¡¯s ss and then poured about the same for himself.
Zhang Sen went close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said in a low voice, ¡°Bro, these women were picked by the manager here. They normally service the VIPs only and not the regrs. They¡¯re clean, don¡¯t worry. Heh heh... You know what I mean. Rx and y with them.¡±
That¡¯s true - Zhang Sen had status. The women he called were not those that just anyone could afford to y with.
These high-ss girls were indeed clean and only avable to the rich. Xia Lei¡¯s headache grew worse after hearing Zhang Sen¡¯s words; two women had cautioned him against touching the women here. One was Long Bing and the other was Liang Si-Yao. These two women were special to him and he didn¡¯t want either of them to be disappointed in him.
An idea came to him and he put on a smug, mischievous smile. ¡°Big Brother Sen, I¡¯ll tell you honestly... I just had two yesterday and I don¡¯t think I can do more today.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve got pills. Want them?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Zhang Sen fished out a foil-wrapped brown pill; it was viagra. He pressed it into Xia Lei¡¯s palm discreetly and patted him on the shoulder with a wicked smile. ¡°You can make the bed shake so hard it flips over with this. Haha!¡±
¡®Bastard. I¡¯m in good health. Why would I need pills like these?¡¯ Xia Lei cursed him silently but stered a smile on his face. ¡°Thanks, Big Brother Sen. I¡¯ll eat itter.¡± He put the viagra in his pocket.
Zhang Senughed heartily and pped his hands. ¡°Why don¡¯t you guys dance.¡±
The music red and it was the type which was apanied by moaning women. Some of the women stood and started dancing provocatively in front of the four men.
Lin Wen-De went over to Xia Lei, ss in hand. ¡°Xia Bro, here¡¯s a toast! I don¡¯t often admire others but I admire you. I definitely want to be your friend.¡±
¡°Big Brother Lin, let¡¯s not be formal amongst us Brothers.¡± Xia Lei stood and clicked sses with Lin Wen-De, then drained it.
Ding Yun also came to have a drink with Xia Lei and he was very polite.
Their attitude had taken a 180-degree turn from when Xia Lei first walked in. They now saw him as a special person worth befriending.
¡°Wen-De Bro, Xia Bro¡¯spany¡¯s making some awesome selfie sticks. He¡¯s looking to sell them now. Can you see if you can do some sales with them?¡± said Zhang Sen.
¡°No problem! I¡¯ll send someone over to Xia Bro¡¯spany tomorrow to order stocks. Xia Bro can bring his products to my sales avenues,¡± said Lin Wen-De loudly.
¡°Thank you, thank you. A toast to Big Brother Lin.¡± Xia Lei happily lifted a ss and drained it.
¡°Xia Bro, I don¡¯t have sales outlets but I have some friends. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll contact those friends tomorrow. Your product will definitely be very visible in the market.¡±
¡°Thank you, thank you. A toast to Big Brother Ding.¡± Xia Lei lifted a ss again and drained it.
China¡¯s markets were like a marketce and many business deals were made over drinks. This was why Xia Lei had to y along like he did now. Lin Wen-De and Ding Yun were treating him well, wanted to be friends with him and help him solve his problem of selling his products. He had to give them toasts or they wouldn¡¯t think him sincere so he had to drink even if he didn¡¯t want to.
¡°I say, Brothers, one person¡¯s matter is everyone¡¯s matter. Let¡¯s make money together and bear tough times together.¡± Zhang Sen raised his ss. ¡°Come, let us four Brothers have a toast!¡±
After one round of drinking, Xia Lei started to get a little dizzy. He rarely drank and though his body was strong, he hadn¡¯t ever got used to drinking. He sat on the sofa, reflexes dulled. He knew, though, that he should not be drinking more.
Zhang Sen gestured at the dancing women and they returned to the sofa in pairs to fawn over the men.
The two women apanying Xia Lei returned to him, one on each side, and stuck to him like glue.
¡°Xia Bro, so you¡¯re a yer, haha,¡± joked Lin Wen-De.
¡°You¡¯re teasing, Big Brother Lin.¡± Xia Leiughed too, but it was a dry one. He was not thinking of the sexy bodies of the two women next to him but of Long Bing and Liang Si-Yao¡¯s warnings. He didn¡¯t know why he was thinking of them at that time but the thought of them made him feel ashamed of himself.
¡°Let¡¯s drink.¡± Lin Wen-De started pouring again.
¡°Yeah, let¡¯s drink.¡± Xia Lei braced himself and lifted the ss.
Entrepreneurship was tough. Everything Xia Lei was experiencing was tough. He didn¡¯t want to drink but he had to force himself with a smile on his face. He didn¡¯t want to touch these women but he had to. If he were a business person of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s caliber, he wouldn¡¯t have to tter others or do anything he wasn¡¯t willing to do. Unfortunately, he was just a small business owner and his business was in its beginning stages at that. Everything depended on him; to build the business and to grow it.
Time flowed away with the music, wine, beer and between the women¡¯s legs. Xia Lei had kept his head in the beginning but he eventually becamepletely and totally dead-drunk.
¡°Take my Brother down and treat him well. I¡¯ll reward you ordingly,¡± said Zhang Sen.
¡°Thank you, Big Brother Sen.¡± The two women apanying Xia Lei supported him as they walked to the room door.
¡°Let¡¯s break up in our own groups to have our fun,¡± said Zhang Sen with a smile.
¡°Heh heh, we won¡¯t hold back then.¡± Lin Wen-De pinched a woman¡¯s thigh.
¡°Ah! You¡¯re so naughty, Boss,¡± said the woman coquettishly.
Lin Wen-Deughed. ¡°Is this naughty? You¡¯ll see what ¡®naughty¡¯ ister.¡±
The three menughed and walked out of the private room in the embrace of six women.
A woman suddenly strode over from the other end of the corridor.
Zhang Sen¡¯s face froze when he saw who the woman was, then he smiled. ¡°Miss Liang, what... Why are you here?¡±
¡°I came to get someone.¡± Liang Si-Yao strode over to Xia Lei and shoved the two women aside in one movement with the palms of her hands.
Xia Lei tipped towards Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao caught Xia Lei by the waist and moved him to her shoulder in one fluid movement. Xia Lei weighed at least 70 kilograms but she lifted him like a bundle of straw.
The three men looked at each other.
¡°Goodbye, gentlemen. Enjoy yourselves.¡± So saying, Liang Si-Yao turned and left with Xia Lei on her shoulder.
¡°She... Who?¡± Lin Wen-De managed to say after unfreezing.
Zhang Sen smiled wryly. ¡°Liang Si-Yao. Xia Lei Bro¡¯s woman. She¡¯s a Wing Chun expert. Next time... let¡¯s not arrange activities like these for Xia Lei Bro. We wouldn¡¯t want to anger her.¡±
*Buk¡¯s Love
https://.youtube/watch?v=wev46Eu8t9E
Chapter 149 - Happy Morning
This was the first time Xia Lei was drunk. His head felt like it had two litres of paste in it and all his thoughts were cloudy. Weirdly enough, the vision in his right eye was blurry but the vision in his left was very clear and not affected by alcohol at all. However, his brain was still not processing what his left eye was seeing and his reaction stillgged by five or six seconds even though he had some notion of what was going on.
¡°Ugh, why drink when you can¡¯t hold your liquor,¡± said a woman¡¯s voice in his ear. She sounded reproachful. ¡°Don¡¯t you know how to find an excuse to get out of there? Didn¡¯t I teach you what to do? Buy stockings for me - where¡¯s my stockings?¡±
¡°I... can¡¯t drink anymore...¡± mumbled Xia Lei.
Pah! A pnded on Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks. The woman¡¯s voice could be heard again, ¡°You¡¯re in this state and still talking about drinking? Be honest - did you touch those women?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s words were slurred. ¡°Don¡¯t... cling onto me... Si-Yao will... will not be happy... hurmumph...¡±
The womanughed. ¡°Looks like you didn¡¯t; that¡¯s more like it. You¡¯re a dumbass though. Why mention me to those women? They, they¡¯ll think that I¡¯m your ¡®old woman¡¯.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t touch me!¡± Xia Lei waved his arms.
¡°Ah! You!¡± She cried in surprise and quickly swatted his hands away, then gave his buttocks a hard smack.
Xia Lei did not quiet down. He wriggled and grabbed at things around himself blindly.
¡°You¡¯re not a good boy when you¡¯re drunk, are you... Ah! You grabbed that ce! Are you shameless, or what?¡± She hurriedly blocked his hands.
Xia Lei settled down once both his hands were caught. He could sense that he was being supported on a woman¡¯s shoulder because she smelt good. He also sensed her helping him up some stairs, opening a door and tossing him on a bed.
She brought a hot towel to wipe his face with and removed his shoes and socks. He could sense these but did not react. He got too sleepy afterwards and cked out.
He had a dream. He dreamt that someone had kissed him on the lips and said many things to him but he could not see that person¡¯s face nor hear what was said clearly.
The rays of dawn chased away the darkness nketing the Earth and the sky brightened. It was autumn and the wind which blew through the window carried an obvious tinge of frost. Xia Lei awoke with a start, perhaps due to this coldness.
His right eye was still blurry but his left was clear.
It was his room; his bed. However, his jaw dropped in surprise when he saw the woman lying next to him.
It was Liang Si-Yao! How did he get home? And why was Liang Si-Yao on his bed?
She was lying next to him, face-to-face with an arm around his waist. She was fast asleep and seemed to be having a beautiful dream, judging from the sweet smile on her face.
What¡¯s happening?
¡®Did I get drunk and do... that... to Si-Yao? Why don¡¯t I remember feeling it? It¡¯s such a waste if that was my first time... to have not felt it... No, hold on, she¡¯s still wearing clothes - we shouldn¡¯t have done it.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s mind was a mess and trying to figure out whether he did it or not.
¡°Shameless.¡± Liang Si-Yao suddenly muttered in her sleep. She then lifted one of her long legs and pressed it on Xia Lei¡¯s leg.
His thoughts warred on but the probability of them having done it soared in his head.
Xia Lei thought nervously, ¡®If we didn¡¯t do it she¡¯ll have underwear on under her skirt. If we did, she won¡¯t.¡¯
This thought was like a little devil, luring his hand to the hem of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s skirt and slowly lifting it.
He could have actually used his left eye to check just by thinking about it but his hand had already lifted her skirt while his body was fighting his mind.
At that moment, Liang Si-Yao opened her eyes and saw Xia Lei with one hand lifting her skirt.
The atmosphere in the room became tense the next second.
Xia Lei let go of her skirt in one second and it dropped from his hand soundlessly. His face reddened and he said awkwardly, ¡°Senior Disciple, that, um.. Actually... It¡¯s not what you think.¡±
Liang Si-Yao seemed to snap back to reality at that moment and looked at the positions Xia Lei and herself were in, the arm she had around his waist, and the leg she had draped over his. She froze for a second, then let out a loud scream and punched Xia Lei in the right eye on reflex.
Bam! Xia Lei saw stars.
Liang Si-Yao jumped off the bed and said anxiously, ¡°Sorry, I... I didn¡¯t do that on purpose. Why would I hit you?¡±
Xia Lei held his right eye and looked at Liang Si-Yao wordlessly.
¡°Does it hurt?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao in concern.
¡°Of course it does,¡± said Xia Lei gloomily.
¡°Well, why did you lift my skirt and peek then? You, you¡¯re shameless; of course I had to hit you.¡±
She didn¡¯t mention her hugging him while she slept. Only women could understand another woman¡¯s tyranny.
¡°I... didn¡¯t do that on purpose either.¡± Xia Lei exnation could only be understood by himself, too.
The two of them looked at each other and were silent for a full minute. It was all calm on the surface but they were both furiously trying to recall the previous night in their heads.
¡°Um, Senior Disciple, I was drunkst night. Did you send me home?¡± Xia Lei finally broke the silence.
¡°Who else could it be? I couldn¡¯t stop worrying after you went to the karaoke bar and gave Monk a call. He said Zhang Sen and his cronies were making you drink and even arranged women for you. I got so worried I came for you.¡± She rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Good thing I came in time or you would¡¯ve been duped into sleeping with those women.¡±
Xia Lei scratched his nose in shame. ¡°I don¡¯t remember that.¡±
¡°I was going to bring you to my ce but I was afraid that my dad would scold you if he saw you drunk so I brought you here.¡±
¡°But...¡± said Xia Lei carefully, ¡°How did we...?¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s pale jade-like skin blushed. ¡°I wiped your face and gave you water over and over again. Then I got sleepy and I fell asleep without realising it. What did you think it was? Dream on!¡±
¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking that... I¡¯ll go make breakfast.¡± Xia Lei got up to get his trousers.
Liang Si-Yao caught sight of the very obvious bulge and her face reddened further. She muttered quietly to herself, ¡°Not thinking, my foot. Who¡¯s he bluffing? Despicable.¡± She remembered something she hadn¡¯t talked about which Xia Lei didn¡¯t know about and her face became so red it was as if she¡¯d applied ayer of rouge to it.
Xia Lei got dressed and went to the kitchen. Liang Si-Yao left his room as well and went to the balcony. The rays of morning sun lit her face and the smile on it. She was, for some reason, happy.
Xia Lei spoke as he worked in the kitchen. ¡°I had some great gainsst night, Senior Disciple. I got to know two bosses and they both have good connections. If nothing goes wrong, they¡¯ll send their people over today to talk business and help us sell our products.¡±
¡°I know it¡¯s tough for you but don¡¯t go to ces like those in the future. Plus, some people will never be your true friend; you need to be able to tell who they are,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I know. I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± said Xia Lei.
A morning breeze blew on the balcony and a pair of Xia Lei¡¯s briefs which had been hanging on the drying rack suddenly dropped on the floor. Liang Si-Yao grinned and bent to pick it up and hang it back on the rack. As she straightened, she suddenly caught sight of a woman ring up at her from the balcony below.
She knew this woman - Xia Lei¡¯s childhood friend, neighbour and old ssmate, Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s little mouth was frozen in an O and she managed to speak after half a beat, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±
¡°Hmm? What¡¯s so strange about me being here?¡± Liang Si-Yao shook Xia Lei¡¯s briefs and smoothed it twice right in front of Jiang Ru-Yi, then slowly hung it on the drying rack.
¡°You¡¯re washing Lei¡¯s underwear?¡± The sournessing from Jiang Ru-Yi could be smelt from ten metres away.
¡°What does me washing Lei¡¯s underwear have to do with you?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked back and said, ¡°Lei, I washed your underwear. Cook me some sugar-poached eggs*. Last night tired me out; I need some extra nourishment.¡±
¡°Shameless!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi bit her lip, turned her head huffily away and walked off.
Liang Si-Yaoughed. ¡°What a happy morning. Heh heh.¡±
In the kitchen, Xia Lei was a little confused. ¡®Aren¡¯t I wearing my underwear? The pair she washed? And she said she was tired fromst night... What¡¯s this situation? Damn it, I can¡¯t ever be drunk again.¡¯
* Sugar-poached eggs.
https://i2.kknews/SIG=mupsgn/15q3000205pp95q9n92p.jpg
Chapter 150 - Buy Me Sanitary Pads
Lin Wen-De and Ding Yun did keep their promise and sent people to have a sales contract signed. They had also called Xia Lei to chat for about half an hour before the contract-signing.
Contracts from the two of them togetherprised of a total of 30% of Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s total production; it was an impressive profit. Xia Lei did not have to worry about the remaining 40% and let the youngsters of the sales department handle it. And so, the sales avenues of Thunder Horse Manufacturing were opened and a firm step was taken on the path to sess for thepany. Xia Lei could also now turn his full attention to the making of the intelligentthe.
After sending off Lin Wen-De and Ding Yun¡¯s people, Xia Lei went to his personal workshop. He received a message from Jiang Ru-Yi as he entered the workshop.
It read: shamelessshamelessshamelessshamelessshamelessshamelessshameless...
The whole screen was filled with the text ¡®shameless¡¯ and Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help a wry smile. He typed a message back in response: Are you on your period? Why are you calling me ¡®shameless¡¯ for no reason? How am I shameless?
Jian Ru-Yi replied quickly: You slept with Liang Si-Yao! That¡¯s shameless!
Xia Lei froze. How did she know?
Jiang Ru-Yi sent another message: She¡¯s your senior disciple. You did naughty things in bed together - you two disgust me!
Xia Lei responded with: ...
Jiang Ru-Yi sent her fourth message: So you admit it?
Xia Lei replied: I admit nothing. It¡¯s not what you think. I went to talk business with clientsst night and got drunk. She sent me home.
Jiang Ru-Yi sent her fifth message: Hahahahahaha... So that vixen lied to me!
Xia Lei replied: You¡¯re crazy. I¡¯m going back to work. Chat with youter.
Jiang Ru-Yi sent her sixth message: Buy some groceries for me after work. My fridge¡¯s empty. Oh, right and a bottle of shower gel and a packet of sanitary pads.
Xia Lei: ...
She really was on her period.
Problem was, she was going overboard, wasn¡¯t she? Actually asking a grown man to buy sanitary pads!
A wry smile spread across his face; he was helpless against Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei quickly put his thoughts about it aside and soon forgot about it as he busied himself with the work of building the intelligentthe.
Meanwhile, in the chairman¡¯s office in East Wind Heavy Industries...
¡°Chairman Ning.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu put a report on Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s desk with a watchful look. ¡°Matters... didn¡¯t turn out like we¡¯d hoped.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan flipped through the report before him and his brows furrowed. ¡°This punk. How is he so capable? I told you to lure his clients away and he got even better clients on top of manufacturing his own products. If this goes on he¡¯ll take our big clients away one day.¡±
¡°The person helping him is Zhang Sen, a well-known yboy in Hai-Zhu. He is best at capital investments and also likes risky investments.¡±
¡°I know him. I am close with his father, Zhang Shi-Rong, and he can be called a friend. I¡¯m not too familiar with Zhang Sen, though; we¡¯re from different generations. I don¡¯t understand what Zhang Sen¡¯s thinking. He should know that I don¡¯t want Thunder Horse Manufacturing to establish itself in the industry so why is he helping Xia Lei? He¡¯s not being considerate to me.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was uneasy. He was about equal rank as Mayor Hu in Hai-Zhu so everyone gave him due respect but this Zhang Sen didn¡¯t seem to show any respect for him at all!
¡°Chairman Ning, should I give Zhang Sen¡¯s father a call and ask him to talk to Zhang Sen?¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Ning Yuan-Shan shook his head. ¡°Young people these days rarely listen to their elders. Besides, they are father and son. Zhang Shi-Rong may be my friend but the bond of father and son is much stronger. I¡¯ll be shamed if I call Zhang Shi-Rong and get rejected by him.¡±
¡°You are right, Chairman Ning. So should I still continue doing the task you¡¯ve asked me to?¡±
¡°How will you continue?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan looked at Chi JIng-Qiu. ¡°Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s products are selling so well on JD. How are you going to get them to remove their products from their shelves?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu smiled. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±
¡°Then why did you even ask? Go back to work. Don¡¯t do anything about this for now.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan sighed. A person like him had failed to squash a smallpany - this made him feel like he¡¯d been somewhat defeated.
Chi Jing-Qiu walked two steps away, then turned back with a hesitant look on her face.
Ning Yuan-Shan looked at her. ¡°What else?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu hemmed and hawed a little before saying, ¡°Chairman Ning, my father-inw has a great idea and he¡¯ll need two elite machinists and a Japanese CNCthe from Workshop 01. Would you allow that?¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan was disgruntled. ¡°Ourpany is working overtime now to finished the orders from Vientiane Group. What research is your father-inw conducting at this busy time? He can do itter; now¡¯s not the time.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu put on a ttering smile, ¡°Chairman Ning, you know my father-inw¡¯s temper. If I don¡¯t help him put in a word, he¡¯ll be grumpy at me for forever.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t allow it either,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°The Japanese CNCthes in Workshop 01 are being used by ourpany to process military parts. The uracy may be a littlecking but they can handle the normal high-precision jobs; they should just rest there when there are no military parts to process.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for a lot; just one will do. Please allow it, Chairman Ning.¡±
¡°No is no.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was firm.
¡°Chairman Ning, why hang onto these Japanese CNCthes? The other party¡¯s going to have the most advanced intelligentthe soon, even better than European or American standards,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu in a small voice.
¡°The most advanced intelligentthe?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan paused, thenughed. ¡°What nonsense are you saying? Europe and America are not even selling us high-precision processed parts - will they sell us the most advanced intelligentthe? What are you trying to pull?¡±
¡°Not buy, build,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°Make yourself clear - not buy?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan looked anxious.
¡°This is some information I got after so much effort... Mm.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu pretended to have a hard time deciding between saying it and not saying it.
Ning Yuan-Shan red at Chi JIng-Qiu. ¡°Say it.¡±
¡°That intelligentthe will be built soon and you won¡¯t be able to guess who.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu beat around the bush some more.
¡°Are done ying games?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan was getting annoyed.
¡°Um-hem...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu seemed to have something stuck in her throat and couldn¡¯t speak.
Ning Yuan-Shan understood what she wanted and picked up a notepad with the East Wind Heavy Industries letterhead. He lifted his pen and wrote something, then signed it.
¡°Thank you, Chairman Ning.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu gleefully took the paper from him.
¡°Can you tell me what it is now?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan spoke grumpily.
Chi Jing-Qiu nced at the doorway of the office and said secretively, ¡°Xia Lei is building an intelligentthe now.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan was surprised and shot back immediately, ¡°Impossible!¡±
¡°How is it impossible? That guy can process a high-precision part that even our Japanese CNCthe couldn¡¯t with a normalthe. What is there that he can¡¯t make?¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°An intelligentthe can¡¯t be built with just high-precision parts. It requires knowledge from various fields, especially electrical engineering. A high-school graduate like him building one? I don¡¯t believe it!¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know the details but I know that he is building an intelligentthe in his personal workshop,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Ning Yuan-Shan looked at Chi JIng-Qiu. ¡°How do you know?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu smiled. ¡°Hispany is full of young brats. I bribed one of them to keep an eye on Xia Lei every day. I know everything that Xia Lei is doing. This report won¡¯t be sitting on your desk otherwise.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve got to hand it to you,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°Did the person you bribe take pictures? I want to have a look at thatthe.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu shook her head. ¡°No pictures. Xia Lei closes the door once he¡¯s in the workshop. My inside man only saw it twice, and only during the times when he was walking in or out of the workshop. Also, he only knew about this secret when he walked past Xia Lei¡¯s workshop and heard Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao talking in there.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s eyebrows were locked in a frown. He looked pensive.
¡°Xia Lei disappeared for a period of time to goodness knows where. I think this had something to do with this intelligentthe,¡± Chi Jing-Qiu added.
¡°Don¡¯t talk about this to anyone for now. Also, ask your inside man to take pictures, I want it confirmed. I¡¯ll give him a million if he can get me the drawings and CNC program,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°How about me?¡± Chi Jing-Qiu grinned.
¡°If I can get the drawings and CNC program, I¡¯ll promote you to manager and give you a reward of five million!¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°Chairman Ning, I¡¯ll get them for you!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu looked fairly confident.
¡°Go, go. Get it done,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°Yes, Chairman Ning, I¡¯ll go right away.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu left his office.
She went straight to Workshop 01 after leaving the office building.
On her way there, a middle-aged man wearing a safety helmet caught up with her.
This man was the mysterious middle-aged man Xia Lei chased.
¡°Done?¡± asked the middle-aged man.
Chi Jing-Qiu twisted her lips in a smile. ¡°What can¡¯t I do? I have permission to use thethe in Workshop 01 and also have two elite machinists assigned to the project. They will process the parts you need and I¡¯ll give them some benefits for putting in overtime. The parts you want will be ready the next morning.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± The middle-aged man¡¯s voice was deep. ¡°I¡¯ll transfer the rest of the money to you when they¡¯re done processing the parts I want.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu asked tentatively, ¡°Can I ask something? What are these parts being used for? You spent so much to get them.¡±
¡°You¡¯d better not ask about what you shouldn¡¯t know. I pay you and you do things for me. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± said the middle-aged man.
¡°Heh heh, pretend I didn¡¯t say anything.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu shut her mouth.
Chapter 151 - Lucky 88,000,000
Three dayster.
Qin Xiang stood before the French window in his office and sipped tea from a fancy teacup as he admired the view outside. It wasn¡¯t actually much of a view - it was Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s premises. His gaze fell upon the single-storey houses by a warehouse. Xia Lei¡¯s personal workshop was in one of them.
Xia Lei¡¯s workshop door was closed and the windows were covered by thick, opaque curtains. No one on the outside could see in.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Qin Xiang¡¯s lips at the thought of Xia Lei. ¡°That guy has been busy these past few days; he didn¡¯t even have time to take care of his hair. I want to cut his hair for him... How do I ask?¡±
At that moment, a Hongqi limousine suddenly drove through the main gates. It had Jing-Du license tes.
Qin Xian started, then fished out his mobile phone and called Xia Lei. ¡°Lei, the Jing-Du person is here!¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°That guy from China Industrial Group - I forgot his name,¡± said Qin Xiang as he watched the person get out of the car.
¡°I got it.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice came from the phone.
¡°Then why haven¡¯t you exited your workshop?¡± said Qin Xiang anxiously, ¡°If the China Industrial Group people know what you¡¯re building they¡¯ll see red. That won¡¯t be good.¡±
¡°I¡¯m getting out right now.¡± Xia Lei hung up and exited the workshop.
Outside the workshop, Xia Lei spotted the person walking towards the office building - it was China Industrial Group¡¯s head of Procurement, Zhou Wei.
So China Industrial Group could not wait any longer and sent someone.
Sending someone now definitely meant that it was rted to Josef¡¯s intelligentthe.
Zhou Wei saw Xia Lei as well and greeted him from afar. ¡°Heh heh, long time no see, Chairman Xia. Hello, hello!¡±
¡°Hello, Big Brother Zhou.¡± Xia Lei walked up to him and shook his hand. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen you in a while. I was starting to miss you.¡±
It didn¡¯t matter if he¡¯d really missed him or not but it was still nice to hear such words.
¡°Heh heh, let¡¯s not be so formal,¡± smiled Zhou Wei, ¡°I know you¡¯re busy so I won¡¯t take too much of your time. I¡¯ll cut straight to the chase and tell you that I¡¯vee to ask for your help.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk in my office,¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhou Wei looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Let¡¯s talk in your workshop.¡±
Xia Lei froze. That sentence told him that Zhou Wei hade prepared - China Industrial Group already knew that he was building the intelligentthe.
¡°Well? Don¡¯t want me to see it?¡± said Zhou Wei.
¡°How can that be? Come, this way.¡± Xia Lei brought Zhou Wei to his workshop.
Zhou Wei spotted the half-built intelligentthe as soon as he walked into the workshop. It was already about 50%plete and it looked like the base of a fairlyrge truck instead of athe. Zhou Wei was an industry insider, however, and could tell with one nce what it was.
¡°I have to tell you, Chairman Xia, that you are the person I most admire.¡± Zhou Wei¡¯s face was the picture of surprise and awe. ¡°We are also building it and we are using an elite team in China Industrial Group but I feel like you would be the faster toplete it.¡±
¡°Um... How did you know that I was building the intelligentthe?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
Zhou Weiughed. ¡°You brought back the drawings from Germany and you¡¯ve seen the actual thing with your own eyes. You gave the drawings to the nation but we guessed that you would surely try to build it on your own. You have the ability to do so.¡±
That made sense but Xia Lei knew that China Industrial Group was a military-backed giant in the industry and it was as easy as pie for them to send an agent to scout him out. He didn¡¯t point it out however, and pretended to know nothing of it.
¡°Say it. What is your aim?¡± Xia Lei did not want to keep beating about the bush. China Industrial Group already knew and even sent someone here - there must be some sort of aim.
¡°May I take a few pictures?¡± said Zhou Wei, ¡°Elder Mu wants to have a look.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Sure, why not? I¡¯ve even given you guys the drawings so what are some pictures? Take as many as you want.¡±
Zhou Wei took out a digital camera from his briefcase and took pictures from several different angles. He even included the materials and processed parts in the workshop.
Click click click. Zhou Wei took tens of photographs.
Xia Lei waited for him to be done before saying, ¡°You¡¯re done taking pictures. Tell me - what is your aim?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk in your office,¡± said Zhou Wei.
¡°This way, please.¡± Xia Lei brought Zhou Wei out of the workshop and to the office building.
Xia Lei worried over the problem at hand while walking to the office. Zhou Wei¡¯s aim was obvious - he wanted to see the intelligentthe with his own eyes and take pictures to bring back to China Industrial Group.
These actions were akin to sending an industry spy but only China Industrial Group would do it so brazenly.
What aim did he have other than this?
Xia Lei thought and thought but couldn¡¯te up with anything.
Liang Si-Yao only knew that Zhou Wei had arrived when he walked into the office. She greeted him politely. ¡°Hello, Mr Zhou. When did you arrive? We would have arranged something in advance if you¡¯d called.¡± She paused, then smiled as she said, ¡°Please take a seat. I¡¯ll make you some tea.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t have a secretary so she sometimes filled the role.
¡°Thank you, Miss Liang. Sorry to trouble you,¡± said Zhou Wei politely.
Liang Si-Yao made him a cup of Iron Goddess of Mercy.
Zhou Wei got up from the sofa as a gesture of thanks.
¡°No need to stand on ceremony, Mr Zhou.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled.
¡°Miss Liang, I... I would like to talk privately with Chairman Xia. You know that I am just doing what the higher-ups tell me to do and I¡¯m just following orders. I do beg for forgiveness if I¡¯ve offended you.¡±
¡°Oh, that¡¯s quite all right; I understand. Have your talk. I was just on my way to take a look around the workshops.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled and left the office.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°Big Brother Zhou, Liang Si-Yao is my Senior Disciple. I trust her as much as I trust myself. There was no need to send her away.¡±
Zhou Wei smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯m just doing what the higher-ups ordered, Chairman Xia. My hands are tied. You should understand too that this matter is a national secret and involves international disputes so we¡¯d prefer if this was kept as private as possible. Knowing about some things can bring her more harm than good.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Please speak.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll say it then.¡± Zhou Wei hesitated. ¡°We failed.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Why is it a failure? The things I¡¯ve brought back - the detailed drawings, circuit ns, the CNC - how can China Industrial Group fail with your capabilities?¡±
Zhou Weiughed bitterly. ¡°This was why I said you will finish this machine sooner than us. We¡¯ve put our best team on it and processed all the parts, assembled them and installed the CNC program you brought back from Germany. The uracy, however, wascking and there were several errors.¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡±
¡°We have found our reason for failure.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Parts,¡± said Zhou Wei, ¡°We are unable to process the parts required in the drawings. Every part was off by just a little bit, and the project failed when all those inuracies umted.¡±
The difference was minute. Parts which looked exactly the same to the naked eye were off by a tiny bit and those little bits, when added together, resulted in failure to build the intelligentthe.
Zhou Wei¡¯s second aim was clear at that point in the conversation.
China Industrial Group had designs on his intelligentthe.
¡°Chairman Xia.¡± Zhou Wei smiled. ¡°You are a clever man. You should already know what our aim is.¡±
Xia Lei knew what he wanted but he shook his head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡±
¡°We¡¯re going around in circles, Chairman Xia,¡± said Zhou Wei, ¡°We need a sessfully working intelligentthe to process parts that would pass muster and be used to make machines like this in batches. This is something that would greatly benefit the nation and the people. I believe you will help us.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Please, don¡¯t put me on a pedestal, Big Brother Zhou. I went through a lot of danger in Germany for this intelligentthe and was almost killed by gangsters. I got the drawings and CNC program and even handed them in to the nation. You have them in your hands. What more do you want from me? Do you feel like I haven¡¯t contributed enough? You know what I got for my efforts? Free domestic flights and high-speed trains. Haha!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Zhou Weiughed too.
Xia Lei watched himugh and thought to himself, ¡®Fuck. I don¡¯t owe you guys anything. You onlye to me when you need me and don¡¯t even throw a purchase order my way when you don¡¯t need me. Trying to use nationalism to make me give you thethe for free? Do you think I¡¯m a fool?¡¯
¡°Ahem.¡± Zhou Wei suddenly stoppedughing and his expression turned serious in an instant. ¡°Name your price.¡±
¡°You really want to buy it?¡±
¡°No joke.¡± Zhou Wei grew more serious. ¡°You know the nature of this matter.¡±
Xia Lei pondered, then said lightly, ¡°I¡¯d like to chat a little before I name a price.¡±
¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±
¡°You guys got what you wanted from my trip to Germany - the drawings and the CNC program. You thought you¡¯d be able to make thethe on your own so you didn¡¯t bother to even give me a call, much less show me some thanks. I don¡¯t actually care about these but you don¡¯t know what I went through in Germany. I could have spent the rest of my life behind bars over there if I was found out. I also stepped on the toes of some gangster while trying toplete the mission and they came after me more than once. If I was just a tad unlucky, I would have died over there. I¡¯ve done so much and not asked for any reward from the nation, and neither have I asked to be an official. The ones who profited the most - you guys - have you not one word of thanks to give?¡±
Zhou Wei looked ashamed.
¡°I don¡¯t actually care about receiving thanks - I can¡¯t eat it or spend it. I know my status. A big corporation like you guys simply look down on a smallpany like mine and working with me is like a stain on your reputation. This doesn¡¯t matter either. But you know what? When I came back from Germany, I found that my littlepany was under siege by Ning Yuan-Shan. It was difficult to even survive yet you guys gave me no purchase orders. I had to manufacture my own shopping trolleys and selfie sticks. Isn¡¯t this such cold treatment?¡±
¡°Chairman Xia...¡± Zhou Wei tried to exin but he was too ashamed himself.
¡°You guys want to buy my intelligentthe? I know. This will be thest time we¡¯ll work together. Once you have this intelligentthe you¡¯ll be able to make all the parts you need and then batch-produce them. You won¡¯t need me anymore. Am I right?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ahem...¡± Zhou Wei spoke awkwardly, ¡°You¡¯re overthinking it, Chairman Xia. We were just too busy and didn¡¯t consider your feelings nor whether you needed help. I can guarantee that there will be plenty of opportunities for us to work together.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want a guarantee. I know who I¡¯m working with. Now let me ask you something - what if I don¡¯t sell?¡± Xia Lei stared straight at Zhou Wei.
Zhou Wei smiled wryly. ¡°You have to sell. You know the nature of this matter.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°So, name a price.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°I won¡¯t hold back and I¡¯ll just name my price then. How about this - a lucky 88,000,000.¡±
Chapter 152 - Getting A Thief To Be A Thief
¡°What?¡± Zhou Wei couldn¡¯t help an exmation of surprise.
Xia Lei was going to open his mouth as wide as a lion¡¯s and take his share.
He smiled. ¡°You guys can give me more if you think it¡¯s too little.¡±
¡°No, no, no.¡± Zhou Wei said hastily, ¡°No jokes, Chairman Xia. The price you quoted is enough for a fighter aircraft. Athe cannot be so expensive. Would you consider a lower price? 10,000,000?¡±
The smile disappeared from Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°A fighter aircraft for 88,000,000? You¡¯re kidding me. I will not ept a cent less than the price I quoted. I won¡¯t finish building it if you think it¡¯s too expensive. You say I have to sell it but what can you buy if I don¡¯t have it?¡±
Zhou Wei smiled wryly. ¡°Chairman Xia, you can build an intelligentthe with just your two hands and I see that your progress is quick. It looks like you¡¯ll just need over a month to finish it. Is 10,000,000 not enough for over a month?¡±
¡°Who doesn¡¯t want to earn more money in this world? I¡¯ll tell you frankly that I want to make mypany grow and I need money for that. Besides, this will be thest time we¡¯ll do business together. Of course I¡¯ll try to take as much as I can,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Chairman Xia...¡± Zhou Wei wanted to convince Xia Lei but he had no words.
¡°The price I quoted is not actually that expensive. You know very well that you guys won¡¯t be able to purchase a machine like this from Germany, not even for a billion yuan.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Furthermore, thisthe was the result of me risking my life. I just want this bit of money for it - is that too much to ask?¡±
Zhou Wei was silent for a bit. ¡°All right. I cannot make a decision on this price. I will call Elder Mu.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Go ahead.¡±
Zhou Wei walked out of Xia Lei¡¯s office, phone in hand, and made the call in the corridor.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye twitched and the wall disappeared from his sight. He used lip-reading to ¡®listen in¡¯ on the conversation between Zhou Wei and Mu Jian-Feng.
¡°Hello, Elder Mu? I saw his intelligentthe. It looks about 50%plete; he¡¯s fast... I took the pictures and I¡¯ll send then to you afterwards... I talked a little with him and he¡¯s being greedy - wants 88,000,000, not one cent less... Mm, yes, I¡¯ll tell him.¡±
Xia Lei stopped using his eye.
Zhou Wei re-entered the office and sat back on the sofa before he spoke. ¡°Chairman Xia, I¡¯ve talked to Elder Mu. He says it¡¯s fine but on one condition.¡±
¡°What condition?¡±
¡°Elder Mu wishes that you not reveal that the intelligentthe was built by you. It was built by us, China Industrial Group.¡± Zhou Wei stared steadily at Xia Lei, as if trying to look into his thoughts.
Mu Jian-Feng wanting condition like this was not outside Xia Lei¡¯s field of expectations. The reason was simple - China Industrial Group was a government-owned corporation and even a member like Zhou Wei had the rank of an officer. If the intelligentthe was built by China Industrial Group, then multiple levels of personnel would be rewarded and gain political clout. This was most important to China Industrial Group. If Xia Lei imed to have built the intelligentthe, they would not receive honour but shame.
¡°Do you get what I mean, Chairman Xia?¡± asked Zhou Wei probingly.
Xia Lei gave him a toothy smile. ¡°I get it. You guys need a beautiful answer sheet and something to be proud of. What will I get if I say I built thisthe? Free public transport?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Zhou Wei was tickled by his answer. ¡°So does that mean we have a deal?¡±
¡°Deal.¡± Xia Lei answered promptly. Since he¡¯d chased the money and got what he wanted, he should just make it quick.
¡°I shall draw up a purchasing contract on behalf of China Industrial Group. We are buying parts, notthes. Ten percent will be given as deposit first and the rest paid into your ount when you deliver the goods and the goods pass tests.¡±
Xia Lei stood to shake hands with Zhou Wei. ¡°No problem. To a happy coboration.¡±
¡°Can I use yourputer? I shall draw up the contract now and we can sign,¡± said Zhou Wei.
Xia Leiughed, ¡°You¡¯re in that much of a rush?¡±
Zhou Wei did not wait for Xia Lei¡¯s permission before seating himself at Liang Si-Yao¡¯s desk and using herputer to draft up the contract. He was truly in a rush as he feared that Xia Lei would change his mind and leave him with no options. He would fail to follow through on Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s instructions if it fell through.
Xia Lei and Zhou Lei signed the contract half an hourter. The contract was for parts and the total value was 88,000,000. There was nothing in the contract about intelligentthes.
Two copies were made and Zhou Wei put aside his copy when they were done signing. He stood and said, ¡°I shall stay in Hai-Zhu City for this period of time, Chairman Xia, and drop in from time to time to check in on your progress. Is that fine for you?¡±
¡°Of course. Come any time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s that, then. Goodbye. I have to report to Elder Mu.¡± Zhou Wei shook Xia Lei¡¯s hand again and said, ¡°I¡¯ll have the 10% deposit transferred to your ount within the next half an hour.¡±
¡°Sure. Bye, Big Brother Zhou, have a good day.¡± Xia Lei sent Zhou Wei to the door and watched him leave.
His phone rang - it was Qin Xiang.
¡°Lei, what did the guy from China Industrial Group want?¡± asked Qin Xiang.
¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you when Ning Yuan-Shan tried to besiege us? If he blocks my path, I¡¯ll fly. I¡¯ve started my flight now,¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
88,000,000 - once this sum of money was in his hands, Thunder Horse Manufacturing would gain another pair of wings and soar along its path to sess!
¡°Heeheehee...¡± Qin Xiang let out a feminine trannyugh. ¡°That¡¯s great but I saw a punk looking about in the doorway of your workshop just now. Watch out or you¡¯ll be shot down before you gain altitude.¡±
Xia Lei was struck by surprise. ¡°What punk?¡±
¡°A worker in our factory,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°He should be just passing by. I¡¯ll still keep a lookout. Okay, that¡¯s it - I¡¯ll chatter.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Just then, he received a message from the bank. His ount had received the deposit of 8,800,000. Zhou Wei was anxious indeed - he¡¯d said that the transfer would happen in half an hour but the money had arrived in mere minutes.
Liang Si-Yao walked into the office and saw Xia Lei reading the message. She smiled as she asked, ¡°Is it that Jiang Ru-Yi asking you to buy groceries for her again?¡±
Xia Lei looked at Liang Si-Yao and just smiled. He wanted to surprise her.
¡°Looks like it really is that Jiang Ru-Yi. Really. What is she to you that she tells you to buy groceries for her? Can¡¯t she find her own way to a supermarket? Whoever marries thatzy woman is an unlucky bastard.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei was a little embarrassed now. He handed his phone to Liang Si-Yao. ¡°Take a look.¡±
Liang Si-Yao drew close and read the message, then said in surprise, ¡°Why¡¯s there so much money?¡±
¡°China Industrial Group wants mythe. I sold it to them,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao hopped in excitement. ¡°You sold it for 8,800,000? So much for athe? Amazing!¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°I sold it for 88,000,000. This is just the 10% deposit.¡±
¡°What?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s jaw dropped to the floor.
¡°It¡¯s not without conditions. I can¡¯t im that I built it after it¡¯spleted; it¡¯s very important to them. I agreed to it, so no telling anyone that I¡¯m building athe from now on,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao was still stunned.
Xia Lei smiled as he patted her on her shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the 4S store after work. I said I¡¯d get you a car. I didn¡¯t have money before but I do now. I want to buy you a car.¡±
Liang Si-Yao suddenly snapped back to reality, her cheeks red. ¡°You, you want to buy me a car?¡±
Xia Lei was earnest. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve always wanted to buy you one. I couldn¡¯t before but now I can and I¡¯d like to keep my word.¡±
¡°You, you¡¯re buying a car for me? Wh, What is the meaning of this?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face grew redder and she didn¡¯t dare look Xia Lei in the eye.
A man buying a car for a woman, and an unmarried couple at that - half the time this meant that the man was wooing the woman and the other half of the time the woman was a mistress. So what did it mean now when Xia Lei wanted to buy a car for her?
Xia Lei, on the other hand, had noplicated thoughts like that and he smiled as he said, ¡°You¡¯ve already treated me well. Do I need another reason? Okay, I¡¯m going to my workshop now. Let¡¯s go to the 4S store after work - you can¡¯t say no.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s lips moved and it looked like she wanted to say something but Xia Lei had already walked off. She stood quietly in the office, her mind awhirl with images of Xia Lei; Xia Lei¡¯s profile, Xia Lei¡¯s front, Xia Lei from the back, and Xia Lei from three days ago, sleeping on the bed with her in just his briefs...
Xia Lei went back to his workshop in high spirits. He knew all the drawings of Josef¡¯s intelligentthe and could build another after he sold this one. What effect could China Industrial Group iming to have built the intelligentthe after much research have on him under these circumstances?
The reward he had was a free ticket for a ne ride once in a while but 88,000,000 could buy him a whole ne.
While he was thinking of what car to buy for Liang Si-Yao, his gaze suddenly stopped on the floor by the doorway.
The floor by the door was very clean and had nothing but his left eye could clearly see the footprints there. The footprints were neither his nor Zhou Wei¡¯s because they were prints of work shoes and Zhou Wei and himself were wearing leather shoes.
Xia Lei suddenly remembered what Qin Xiang had said. He¡¯d told him that a worker had been looking around the doorway of his workshop. He hadn¡¯t thought much of it then because it was normal for workers to walk past this area and he trusted his workers. However, his personal workshop was off limits to regr employees. It was not normal for a worker to enter his workshop.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then left his workshop and went to Qin Xiang¡¯s office.
Qin Xiang was drawing his eyebrows in the office and the lines he drew were thin and uneven. When Xia Lei walked into his office, he nced at him and continued drawing his eyebrows as he said, ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±
¡°We have a thief in thepany,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang rolled his eyes at him. ¡°Talking about me?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not kidding, there really is a thief. Someone¡¯s trying to steal the secrets of thethe I¡¯m building,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang finally put down the eyebrow pencil in his hand. ¡°Was it that punk I saw earlier? I remember his face. I¡¯ll go catch him.¡±
¡°No, don¡¯t catch him,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t he want to steal something? I¡¯ll let him. I¡¯d like to see who he¡¯s working for. Help me keep an eye on him while I prepare the things for him to steal.¡±
Qin Xiangughed. ¡°You bad boy.¡±
Chapter 153 - Got To Buy A Good One
Xia Lei ended his workday two hours early and left thepany with Liang Si-Yao because he was afraid that the 4S store would be closed by the time they got there.
¡°What kind of car do you like, Senior Disciple? Don¡¯t hold back; I¡¯ll buy whatever you like,¡± said Xia Lei as he drove his Great Wall H6.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheeks were pink. ¡°You¡¯re really buying me a car?¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on? We¡¯re already on our way there and you¡¯re still asking me this?¡± teased Xia Lei.
¡°But... Why buy me a car?¡± Liang Si-Yao wanted an answer to her question.
Xia Lei replied without a second thought. ¡°We¡¯re family. I earned some money so it¡¯s only natural to get you a car.¡±
¡®We¡¯re family¡¯ seemed to mean something else to Liang Si-Yao, for her face reddened further as her heart warmed.
¡°Oh, right, can Master drive?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I want to buy him a car too.¡±
Liang Si-Yao blinked flirtatiously at him. ¡°Buttering him up? You¡¯re in too much of a rush now, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei was confused.
¡°He can¡¯t drive and don¡¯t buy any gifts for him. You know what he¡¯s like - he¡¯ll nag at you for buying him expensive things,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡®You can stop me now but I¡¯ll go buy somethingter. I can¡¯t not buy him anything¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°What do you want to sneaky-buy for my dad?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei looked at Liang Si-Yao in surprise. ¡°You know what I¡¯m thinking - are you a roundworm in my stomach or something?¡±
¡°Fine, calling me a roundworm? This roundworm will bite you!¡± Liang Si-Yao reached to scratch at Xia Lei¡¯s tummy.
The Great Wall H6 weaved slightly on the road. Xia Lei reached to hit Liang Si-Yao¡¯s hand in nervousness. He smacked her hand away from his stomach but her handnded on his ¡®that¡¯ ce instead.
Liang Si-Yao seemed to have been hit by a bolt of electricity and withdrew her hand.
Roundworms were nothingpared to that ¡®thing¡¯.
Xia Lei grew embarrassed too and changed the topic. ¡°That¡¯s right, you haven¡¯t told me which car you wanted yet. We¡¯re almost at the store.¡±
The road before them was lined with 4S stores; Audi, Volkswagen, Great Wall, Chang An and exclusive shops with exclusive cars.
Liang Si-Yao thought for a bit and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll get the same as you - the H6.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, no, it¡¯s too cheap.¡±
¡°You¡¯re the boss of thepany and you drive a Great Wall H6. If you get me a better car, what will the employees think of us?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I want to change my car too. The car is a show of assets in doing business and has to be respectable. China isn¡¯t like Europe or America; the Chinese are the most pride-conscious people on this. A client may lose confidence in talking about a 10,000,000 deal with me if I drive just a 100,000 yuan H6. If I drive a good car, however, it will look like I¡¯m capable and business talks would go more smoothly. You¡¯re my assistant - thepany and myself will be proud if you drive a good car. That¡¯s why I have to buy you a nice car.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll be proud if I drive a nice car?¡± Liang Si-Yao spoke in a small voice.
¡°Yeah, so have you thought about which car you¡¯d like?¡± urged Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao closed her lips, and a faint smile appeared in their corners.
The Great Wall H6 went past the Volkswagen 4S store, then past the Audi 4S store and finally stopped at a BMW 4S store.
Liang Si-Yao looked at the signboard of the store and asked in surprise, ¡°You¡¯re buying me a BMW?¡±
¡°Get out of the car; dawdle any longer and the store will be closed,¡± nagged Xia Lei.
Xia Lei alighted but Liang Si-Yao stayed in the passenger seat. The ¡®good¡¯ car she¡¯d been thinking of was just an Audi; she¡¯d not expected that Xia Lei would bring her shopping in a BMW store.
Xia Lei walked around the bo and opened the door for Liang Si-Yao, then dragged her into the BMW store.
The people at the door greeted them politely but when they saw the Great Wall H6 parked outside the store, their expressions subtly changed to scorn and skepticism. A lowly Great Wall drivering to buy a BMW? Their gazesnded on Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao and their next thought was that he was here to impress a girl by taking her to look at expensive cars.
Sure that he couldn¡¯t afford it, the sales representatives did a perfunctory job and let Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao look around the showroom by themselves without bothering to exin any features of the car models.
Two sales representatives in office skirts gossiped in a corner.
¡°This guy¡¯s not bad. He¡¯s quite handsome but his way of getting girls is a minus point,¡± said one quietly.
¡°They¡¯re both willing parties. I¡¯d like a handsome guy like that to be pulling the wool over my eyes too but all I get are weirdos.¡± The other sales representative had an odd expression on her face.
¡°Heh, I bet that guy will take the girl to a hotel after they leave our shop.¡±
¡°Then he¡¯ll tell her that he¡¯ll be sure to buy her a BMW when he¡¯s made it rich. Heh heh.¡±
¡°Oh, and then...¡±
¡°Hee hee hee...¡±
The two sales representatives chattered on while Liang Si-Yao picked her car. The BMW 316Li was 210,000 yuan and up. She was satisfied with the price and the design and the nice car she was thinking of was also in this price range.
¡°This one,¡± said Liang Si-Yao. She turned but saw that Xia Lei was looking at the BMW M6 next to it so she waved at the sales representatives for assistance.
¡°How troublesome. It¡¯s all just an act - do they have to make it so realistic?¡± The sales representative grumbled in dissatisfaction but still walked over.
When they walked over, Liang Si-Yao asked, ¡°Do you have this car in red?¡±
¡°Yeah. You want it?¡± said a sales representative tly.
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll ask my... friend.¡± Liang Si-Yao walked to Xia Lei.
The two sales representatives started gossiping again.
¡°Hah, how daring - he¡¯s looking at the M6.¡±
¡°Is he going to say that he¡¯ll buy her the M6?¡±
¡°He¡¯ll definitely say it, but only after he gets the money. Hee hee.¡±
¡°Shh, don¡¯t let them hear you.¡±
Liang Si-Yao went to Xia Lei¡¯s side. She could see his eyes shining as he admired the BMW M6. She nced at the price and sucked in a breath of air - 2,000,000!
¡°This car¡¯s a beaut.¡± Xia Lei clicked his tongue in appreciation.
¡°Of course it is; it¡¯s 2,000,000! My heart can¡¯t take this.¡± Liang Si-Yao pulled Xia Lei by the hand to the BMW 316Li which she had her eye on and said, ¡°This one will do. I think it¡¯s quite good.¡±
Xia Lei nced at it. ¡°How can this one do? It doesn¡¯t suit you.¡±
The two sales representatives exchanged nces, then looked at Xia Lei, the contempt in their eyes bing more apparent than before.
¡°What do you want to buy for me, then?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao in exasperation.
Xia Lei pointed at the BMW M6 and said, ¡°I¡¯ll buy you that one.¡±
¡°No, no, that¡¯s too expensive! I don¡¯t want it.¡± Liang Si-Yao shook her head so hard it looked like a baby rattle.
Xia Lei was unmoving. ¡°I¡¯m going to buy you that car.¡±
¡°I really don¡¯t want something so expensive. It wasn¡¯t that easy for you to earn that money and thepany still needs...¡±
A sales representative cut Liang Si-Yao off. ¡°Hey, have you decided already?¡±
The other grumbled, ¡°Do you have to pretend and act like it¡¯s real? Waste of time.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. He could now see that the two sales representatives were looking down on him, and didn¡¯t think that he could afford good cars. He had endured slights like this in the past but now, he was not the same and he would stand this treatment no longer. Before he could say anything, however, Liang Si-Yao¡¯s temper red.
¡°What is this attitude?¡± said Liang Si-Yao angrily, ¡°Don¡¯t want to sell? Lei, let¡¯s go somewhere else to buy cars.¡±
The two sales representatives exchanged looks and though they did not say anything, their eyes seemed to say ¡®Aren¡¯t you just looking for an excuse to go? Well, you can go now!¡¯
¡°Call your manager,¡± said Xia Lei instead.
One of the sales representatives raised her voice to call, ¡°Hey, Manager, someone¡¯s calling for you.¡±
A middle-aged man walked over and looked Xia Lei over. ¡°What is it, sir?¡±
¡°This M6. You have it in red?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, we do,¡± said the middle-aged man.
¡°Good. I want a ck one and a red one. Cash. All procedures to be done in-store,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ll get someone to bring out the red car immediately for you to have a look at it. Our service is the best, sir. Picking us is the right choice,¡± said the middle-aged man excitedly.
The two sales representatives seemed to have turned to stone.
¡°I have a condition, however,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Please tell us, sir. We will fulfil all your requests,¡± said the middle-aged man respectfully.
¡°Them. Their attitude made my friend and I ufortable. I¡¯ll buy two of your cars but I want them to use their clothing to wipe the cars,¡± said Xia Lei.
The middle-aged man red at the two sales representatives. ¡°What are you two standing there for? Go wipe the car! Be careful - you¡¯ll have to pay if you scratch the paint!¡±
The two sales representatives froze, then slumped towards the M6. They removed their jackets and wiped at the car tyres, too afraid to wipe the car¡¯s body.
Liang Si-Yao pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s hand and said quietly, ¡°You didn¡¯t have to do that.¡±
¡°I couldn¡¯t stand them making you angry so I¡¯m teaching them a lesson on your behalf. They won¡¯t look down on others next time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s words touched Liang Si-Yao¡¯s heart deeply and the way she looked at him changed. She hesitated, just a bit, then took hold of his arm gently as a sweet smile blossomed on her face. ¡°You¡¯re so good to me.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. He didn¡¯t move because the arm she was holding was touching something soft and it made him rather nervous.
The two sales representatives grumbled as they wiped.
¡°I don¡¯t get these rich people. Did you ever see anyone driving a China-brand car toe buy a BMW M6?¡±
¡°Nope. Sigh... When can I meet a man like that?¡±
¡°Wipe the car. Stop dreaming.¡±
¡°Sigh...¡±
Two BMW M6s - purchase price, plus taxes, plus insurance totalled 4,500,000. Xia Lei did not feel the pinch when he spent that money, though. Money earned was meant to be spent so how can those who not use money hope to earn more money? Besides, Liang Si-Yao had been his loyal aide since the beginning and had put in just as much effort into making Thunder Horse Manufacturing sessful.
An hourter, the two brand new - so new they didn¡¯t even have license tes yet - red and ck BMW M6s drove out of the 4S store slowly on the roads. The red one was, of course, being driven by Liang Si-Yao and the ck by Xia Lei. Liang Si-Yao usually drove at higher speeds but this was her first time driving a car as expensive as this one so she was being extra careful. Xia Lei was in no hurry either and he followed her as they made their way slowly to her ce.
Xia Lei tasked one of the 4S store workers with driving his Great Wall H6 back to Thunder Horse Manufacturing. The car would now be made avable forpany use.
In the red BMW M6, a red-faced Liang Si-Yao spoke to herself, ¡°Now all that¡¯s missing are those three words. When will he say them to me?¡±
Chapter 154 - Rubbing Reaction
The two BMW M6s stopped in the neighbourhood under the ts and all the neighbours came flocking with looks of awe.
¡°Aren¡¯t you Master Liang¡¯s little girl? Driving such a nice car - you must¡¯ve struck it rich.¡±
¡°What rich? She¡¯s being kept.¡±
¡°Rubbish. Master Liang¡¯s strict. Her boyfriend must¡¯ve bought it for her; her boyfriend has apany. There, right there! That tall and handsome guy.¡±
¡°Such a matching couple... How envious. My daughter is with a worker-type and is even renting a ce with that punk. Sigh, it¡¯s so infuriating.¡±
Plenty was said about her but Liang Si-Yao did not care how the neighbours looked at her or criticised her. She was in the best mood ever; everyone was great and she was friendly to all. This was probably what a newly-wed bride was feeling when she gave out wedding favours.
Liang Zheng-Chun held his Yixin y teacup in one hand on the fifth floor balcony and watched Liang Si-Yao and Xia Lei park their luxury cars. There was a look of misgiving on his face as he said, ¡°Why change cars? And they¡¯re the same model too - what¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± He suddenly grinned. ¡°Is this a matching couple thing?¡±
Liang Si-Yao opened the door and walked in, followed by Xia Lei carrying a big bag of gifts.
¡°I bought you some tea leaves, Master.¡± Xia Lei smiled.
Liang Zheng-Chun frowned. ¡°Why buy me more tea leaves? I haven¡¯t even finished the ones you bought thest time. What a waste. You should save up and use your money for marriage and kids.¡±
Xia Lei smiled in embarrassment. He worried over being able to provide for a family in the past but he didn¡¯t now. He couldn¡¯t talk back when his Master was chiding him, however, so he listened quietly.
¡°Dad, Xia Lei is doing this to show filial piety. Don¡¯t scold him.¡±
¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun remembered about the cars downstairs and said, ¡°You two bought cars?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, we did. We need it for work; it¡¯s a necessary expense.¡± Liang Si-Yao taught him to say that.
¡°That car¡¯s really nice. How much does one cost?¡± asked Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei was about to answer when Liang Si-Yao intercepted and said, ¡°150,000 each.¡±
¡°So expensive?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun looked surprised.
Xia Lei gave Liang Si-Yao a look. Were there others like her who lied to their own fathers?
Liang Si-Yao smiled and said, ¡°Xia Lei is the boss of apany and he needs a calling card when doing business. Other business owners drive cars which cost a million and up. This 100,000-something car isn¡¯t that expensive. He¡¯s already been quite thrifty.¡±
¡°Thrifty¡¯s good, thrifty¡¯s good.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun was approving.
¡°I¡¯ll go to the kitchen and make dinner. You guys chat,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Zheng-Chun gave his daughter an odd look. Liang Si-Yao would always opt to do just the eating when Xia Lei was here - why did she volunteer to cook today?
¡°Master, how about the martial arts conference?¡± Xia Lei remembered about the event.
¡°I¡¯ve registered but the event is only happening after two months. We can prepare some materials during this time and promote the history and traditions of our Wing Chun at the event,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Fellow Disciple Lu said he¡¯d like to participate. Did he ask you?¡±
¡°He did. I¡¯ll take him along since he wants to go. I want to take you too but you¡¯re too busy,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°I¡¯ll go with you, Master, and have a look around if there isn¡¯t anything important for me to tend to,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Zheng-Chun smiled. ¡°Yes, looking around is good too.¡± He paused, seemed to think of something, and said, ¡°A friend of mine told me that there¡¯s a Chinese American movie star who¡¯s iming to be Bruce Lee¡¯s third-generation descendant. He ims that his is the true Wing Chun. My friend says that this man is going to participate in this martial arts conference and wants to exchange pointers with martial artists, especially with us Wing Chun descendants.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t Bruce Lee pass away in the 70s? What descendant? I¡¯ve watched his movies but those were just movies,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m not too sure either. My friend didn¡¯t give details.¡±
¡°Maybe it¡¯s just a gimmick. Movie stars these days can do anything to get famous. Master, I don¡¯t think this is anything to be concerned about. It¡¯s just a movie star. He¡¯s no match for you even if he challenges you to a fight.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun sipped his tea. ¡°I¡¯m not worried at all. And, don¡¯t rush to fight. The aim of learning martial arts is not fighting but cultivation of body and mind.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and looked like he had received his instruction. ¡°Yes, Master, you are right.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice came from the kitchen at that moment. ¡°Lei,e help.¡±
¡°Master, I¡¯ll be going to help her.¡± Xia Lei stood and walked towards the kitchen.
Liang Zheng-Chun was pleased and spoke to himself, ¡°It¡¯s nice that the home¡¯s all lively. Now, if we had a little one as well...¡±
In the kitchen, apron-d Liang Si-Yao was so busy that her head was all sweaty. She pointed to the sink. ¡°Help me wash the peppers, then fry them with the pork to make saut¨¦ed shredded pork with green peppers and we can start the meal.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Xia Lei gave a grunt and walked to the sink from behind Liang Si-Yao.
The kitchen was small and there was only a little space behind Liang Si-Yao, who was standing in front of the gas stove to cook. Xia Lei angled his body sideways and moved carefully through the gap. When his body was right behind hers, a drop of hot oilnded on the back of her hand and she jumped back, pushing him to the wall.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t move; he was stuck between a wall and Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei moved towards the doorway but Liang Si-Yao seemed to have the same idea and moved at the same time. They moved at the same time and in the same direction and both were still stuck. Their faces turned red.
They hesitated, then Xia Lei tried to squeeze his way forward and Liang Si-Yao did the same...
After more of the same result, Xia Lei gritted his teeth and said in a strained voice, ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±
There wasn¡¯t a spot that wasn¡¯t red on Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face. Her voice trembled as she said, ¡°I won¡¯t move. You, you hurry up and move away.¡±
Xia Lei squeezed inside and finally got through.
Liang Si-Yao quietly let out a breath of relief. She was very embarrassed but she still snuck a look at the ce between Xia Lei¡¯s legs out of the corner of her eye. Her jaw dropped.
The contents of the wok suddenly caught fire and the smell of something burning burst out of the kitchen.
Liang Zheng-Chun, who was drinking tea in the living room, hurried over to see the kitchen filled with smoke and his daughter and disciple working to put out the fire. He froze for half a beat before asking suspiciously, ¡°What were you doing? Two of you in the kitchen and you¡¯re still burning food?¡±
Liang Si-Yao and Xia Lei looked at each other and avoided Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s eyes.
Liang Si-Yaoughed after her father walked off. ¡°My dad nearly saw us. You think he¡¯ll hit us if he¡¯d seen us just now?¡±
Xia Lei imagined the scenario and stuck his tongue out. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
The two of them were suddenly silent. He looked at her and she looked at him; the air in the kitchen seemed to have stilled. An invisible force seemed to be pushing their heads towards each other, slowly, slowly moving closer.
Liang Si-Yao closed her eyes, thinking excitedly to herself, ¡®He¡¯s going to kiss me! He¡¯s going to kiss me...!¡¯
At that moment, Xia Lei reached a hand out to Liang Si-Yao and picked a small piece of celery leaf from the corner of her mouth. Heughed as he said, ¡°You¡¯re such a dirty little cat! Haha!¡±
Liang Si-Yao paused, then suddenly used the cooking spat to smack Xia Lei on the butt...
After dinner, Xia Lei received a call from Qin Xiang.
¡°Lei, that guy stole what you¡¯d left in the workshop. I¡¯m following him now. Looks like he¡¯s waiting for the person who hired him to contact him. Come over and take a look; we¡¯ll reel in the big fish.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right there. Send me the address if you have it,¡± said Xia Lei. He hung up and said to Liang Si-Yao and Liang Zheng-Chun, ¡°Master, Senior Disciple, I have to go out to attend to some matters. Don¡¯t wait up for me.¡±
¡°What matters?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes were full of disappointment and sadness. She was looking forward to something romantic and blissful happening that night but Qin Xiang had called and ruined it.
Xia Lei told her about the spy in thepany and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to see who hired him.¡±
¡°Want me to go with you?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°No need. I have Qin Xiang to help me and he¡¯s experienced in these things.¡±
¡°Then you be careful,¡± nagged Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯m going off, Master.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be reckless or do anything against thew even if you find the guy,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll remember that.¡± Xia Lei left the Liang household.
After he left, Liang Zheng-Chun looked at Liang Si-Yao staring nkly into space andughed as he said, ¡°You silly girl, he¡¯s already left. What are you thinking?¡±
¡°I¡¯m thinking of...pany matters.¡± Liang Si-Yao blushed.
¡°Liar.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re like your mother; your face turns red when you lie. You like him, I can tell.¡±
¡°Dad!¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face turned even redder.
¡°Just tell him you like him. You¡¯re usually so straightforward - why have you be such a coward when it¡¯s your own matter now?¡±
¡°Dad, I¡¯m a girl. Girls don¡¯t say these things first; it should be him saying it first.¡±
¡°Xia Lei is a shy man. Will the two of you keep going on like this if he doesn¡¯t say anything?¡±
¡°Stop bothering with this, Dad. What, are you afraid that I won¡¯t be able to get married?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun waved his hand. ¡°All right, all right, I won¡¯t say any more. Xia Lei is handsome, capable and kind. There must be quite a few women who like him, eh? If someone else snatches him up first, oh dear, someone will regret it won¡¯t she?¡±
¡°I¡¯m ignoring you!¡± Liang Si-Yao ran huffily into her bedroom. She sprawled on her bed and recalled what had happened in the kitchen and her face became redder and redder the more she thought about it...
A BMW M6 with no license te galloped under the shroud of night. The scene in the kitchen was also reying itself in Xia Lei¡¯s head. It was the closest contact he¡¯d had with a woman in all his years. Liang Si-Yao¡¯s beautiful legs and Liang Si-Yao¡¯s round buttocks in those positions... wasn¡¯t it like those sort of positions if they didn¡¯t have any clothes between them? He almost...
The mobile phone message alert tone suddenly beeped.
Qin Xiang had sent him a message: I¡¯m outside a Night in Paris coffee shop. That guy went in alone and I haven¡¯t seen him meet anyone yet.
Xia Lei stepped on the elerator and the BMW M6 charged forward like a wild steed.
Night in Paris coffee shop - he knew that ce and he would never forget it. It was where he had seen the man who looked exactly like his father, Xia Chang-He.
¡®Night in Paris coffee shop again? Could it be her?¡¯ Xia Lei suddenly thought of a person - Chi Jing-Qiu.
Chapter 155 - A Transaction Under The Cover of Night
Xia Lei parked his car a little way off, then walked towards Night in Paris. A BMW worth two million was not the top of the luxury cars line but it still drew a lot of attention and he didn¡¯t want that.
He spotted Qin Xiang as he neared the coffee shop, standing in a corner where themplight didn¡¯t reach. He walked over and his gaze swept the ss storefront of the coffee shop as he passed. He quickly spotted the worker; all the names and faces of the employees of Thunder Horse Manufacturing had been memorised.
The worker was from Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s team in Workshop One, and was named Xiang Hong-Bin. He was one of the students they had recruited from the vocational schools.
It looked like it was Xiang Hong-Bin¡¯s first time in an upscale coffee shop like this and he was ufortable. He kept looking out the window once in a while, as if waiting for someone to appear.
¡°Lei, whose car are you driving?¡± asked Qin Xiang. He had good eyes as a thief and he still saw the car though Xia Lei had parked it further off.
¡°I bought it today,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang chuckled. ¡°Now this actually suits you. How could a person like yourself drive a Great Wall H6? Drive this one and the girls wille flocking - It¡¯s a babe ma! Want to bring me for a spin when we¡¯re done here?¡±
¡°You¡¯re no girl,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang pointed at Xia Lei and hissed, ¡°Damned looks.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Just kidding. You can borrow the keys from me whenever you want.¡±
Qin Xiang pouted. ¡°You know I don¡¯t like four-wheeled vehicles. I like motorcycles.¡±
¡°Go to a high-end motorcycle dealer and choose one you like. I¡¯ll pay for it. I made a lot of money from China Industrial Group; we shall share in the profits,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Really?¡± Qin Xiang looked excited, ¡°Then can I pick a Harley?¡±
¡°Of course. I rmend the Harley Davidson Breakout. That one¡¯s not bad - I¡¯ve ridden one.¡± He was reminded of Annina. Was she doing well?
¡°Oh? Who¡¯d have known that you¡¯ll know something about motorcycles. I know of the Breakout motorcycles and I¡¯ve always wanted one but it costs over 300,000. I can¡¯t afford that.¡± Qin Xiang stared steadily at Xia Lei. ¡°Are you really going to buy such a motorcycle for me?¡±
¡°Do I look like I¡¯m joking?,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°If you think it¡¯s too expensive I can change the offer to a model motorcycle; how about a Harley Davidson Breakout model motorcycle?¡±
¡°Fuck you, of course I want the real one!¡± Qin Xiang looked a little anxious. ¡°I¡¯ll go choose the motorcycle tomorrow and youe pay for it.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. He moved his gaze to Xiang Hong-Bin in the coffee shop.
¡°After you left in the afternoon, this punk paced about in the doorway of your workshop. He entered itter and used his phone to take pictures of the drawings you¡¯ve left behind and of the machine in there. He¡¯s not stupid - he just took pictures and didn¡¯t take the papers you left.¡±
¡°This little traitor. I treat him well but he still stabs me in the back.¡± Xia Lei was bitter.
¡°Oh, right, the drawings you left in there were not real, were they?¡± Qin Xiang suddenly thought of it and looked a little worried.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°There¡¯s real ones and fake ones. If someone wanted to bribe one of my people then he or she wouldn¡¯t pick aplete novice. I have to put some real ones in there or it¡¯ll be suspicious.¡±
¡°So how are you going to take care of this?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s first see who contacts him,¡± said Xia Lei.
A few minutester, a red Ferrari arrived and parked in the parking lots at the door of the Night in Paris coffee shop. The car was new and the woman who alighted was a familiar person. It was, as suspected, Chi Jing-Qiu.
Chi Jing-Qiu was in a red dress which hugged her body tightly; she was big where she should be and perky where she should be. She looked like someone of standing.
¡°It¡¯s her!¡± snarled Qin Xiang, ¡°That bitch! Why is she always going up against you?¡±
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth quirked in a wry smile. ¡°Who can fathom the inner workings of a woman¡¯s mind?¡±
If he¡¯d had sex with her when she¡¯d stripped naked to seduce him, and things had worked out, she definitely would¡¯ve divorced her husband to be with him and wouldn¡¯t be his enemy now. However, he had not responded to her seduction and this was, undoubtedly, a great humiliation to a woman like her. Add the dispute over themissions and the enmity between Chi Jing-Qiu and himself could only deepen.
Chi Jing-Qiu entered Night in Paris and sat opposite Xiang Hong-Bin.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and locked onto them. He was prepared to lip-read; just waiting for them to start talking.
A waiter went up to Chi Jing-Qiu and politely asked if she needed anything.
¡°Just atte,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu disinterestedly.
The waiter left to prepare her order.
Chi Jing-Qiu looked at Xiang Hong-Bin with a smile on her face. ¡°You have it?¡±
Xiang Hong-Bin nodded and took out the memory card for his phone. ¡°He had drawings in his workshop but I didn¡¯t take them lest it gets discovered. I took pictures. My phone camera resolution is high so the pictures are clear.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu reached for the memory card.
Xiang Hong-Bin withdrew his hand. ¡°My money?¡±
¡°Afraid that I won¡¯t pay? Humph.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu rolled her eyes at him, then took out a bulging envelope from her Hermes bag and handed it to him.
Xiang Hong-Bin opened the envelope, nced at the contents and promptly put it away on his person.
Though the money in the envelope hadn¡¯t been counted, Xia Lei could see the bands used by banks to hold money together; it was 10,000. He felt the heat of anger in his heart as he thought to himself, ¡®Damn, I was betrayed for 10,000?¡¯
In the coffee shop, Chi Jing-Qiu inserted the memory card into her own phone and swiped the screen with her fingers. She seemed to have ascertained the value of what was on the memory card and a look of joy appeared between her brows. ¡°Well done. Continue to do well and I will be sure to reward you.¡±
¡°What if I get discovered?¡± asked Xiang Hong-Bin.
Chi Jing-Qiu giggled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Even if you¡¯re found out, the most Xia Lei can do to you is fire you. If that happens I can arrange for you to get a job at Far East Heavy Industries. It¡¯s a government-backed corporation - much better than Thunder Horse Manufacturing.¡±
Xiang Hong-Bin smiled. ¡°That puts my mind at ease, then. I¡¯ll report to you if anything happens at Thunder Horse Manufacturing.¡±
¡°Most important is thethe he¡¯s building. Keep a close watch on him and report to me when you gain any valuable information. You have to be careful, though. Xia Lei is very sly. Don¡¯t let him find out.¡±
¡°Yes, I will.¡±
¡°Go back,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Xiang Hong-Bin stood and left.
The waiter served thette Chi Jing-Qiu had ordered to the table and she stirred the coffee with her spoon while looking at her phone on the table. She was still looking at the pictures on the memory card but she couldn¡¯t make sense of what she saw.
¡°I thought you¡¯d charge in there and catch Chi Jing-Qiu and that traiter red-handed.¡± Qin Xiang spoke in dissatisfaction as he watched Xiang Hong-Bin leave.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What¡¯s the use in catching that punk and Chi Jing-Qiu? Think about it - what would a woman like her do with the drawings?¡±
Qin Xiang paused. ¡°You mean... She¡¯s not the mastermind?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then said, ¡°There has to be a buyer for this. If it¡¯s not Elder Mu, then it¡¯s Ning Yuan-Shan. I feel it¡¯s more likely to be Ning Yuan-Shan.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re not taking action now because you¡¯re hoping to catch the big fish?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Okay, what do you want to do?¡±
¡°Find a way to get the surveince video from the coffee shop. We just need the part where Chi Jing-Qiu and that punk did their transaction,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang frowned. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to work overtime tonight. I¡¯ll get wrinkles.¡±
In the coffee shop, Chi Jing-Qiu picked up her phone and dialled a number. When the call connected, she said, ¡°Chairman Ning, I have Xia Lei¡¯s drawings... What? Send them to you? It¡¯s already sote... Okay, I¡¯ll bring it to you right now. Mm-hm, your home? Sure.¡±
Call ended, she got up and walked towards the cashier.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye and said, ¡°I¡¯ll follow her. Help me handle the matter of the surveince footage.¡±
Qin Xiang smiled. ¡°No worries, easy as pie.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu walked out of the coffee shop and got into her Ferrari. She started driving in a certain direction.
A ck BMW M6 followed. It kept a distance of about 50 metres between itself and the red Ferrari.
Xia Lei dialled a number in his car. When the call connected, he said, ¡°Big Brother Zhou? Sorry for disturbing you at this hour.¡±
Zhou Wei¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°Why the formalities, Chairman Xia? What is it?¡±
¡°I have a problem on my side,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What problem?¡± Zhou Wei¡¯s voice became anxious in an instant.
¡°Chairman Ning and his secretary from Far East Heavy Industries have bribed one of my workers. The worker stole my drawings and sneaked pictures of thethe I¡¯m building.¡±
¡°What? How dare he do such a thing!¡± Zhou Wei¡¯s voice was full of anger. ¡°Where are you now?¡±
¡°I¡¯m following Chi Jing-Qiu to Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s home. She¡¯s about to give the drawings and pictures to him. Big Brother Zhou, I¡¯m so sorry I wasn¡¯t able to keep it a secret. I¡¯m afraid Ning Yuan-Shan may ruin our agreement with his meddling.¡±
¡°How dare he!¡± said Zhou Wei furiously, ¡°Don¡¯t do anything yet; wait for me toe over!¡±
¡°Sure. I¡¯ll wait for you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help his smile after he hung up. Far East Heavy Industries was also a government-backedpany but it was just a lowly dogpared to the great tiger that was China Industrial Group. Ning Yuan-Shan was considered someone of import in Hai-Zhu but to Mu Jian-Feng, he was less than a section chief or a department head of China Industrial Group like Zhou Wei.
China Industrial Group regarded Josef¡¯s intelligentthe as something which could revolutionise the manufacturing industry and it also involved the promotion of many a career. In other words, Ning Yuan-Shan was not just going up against one person but a group of tigers! Would China Industrial Group, with Mu Jian-Feng at their head, simply let him off?
Matters had not progressed to that point but Xia Lei could already see Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s fate.
There was no good ending for a dog fighting tigers for food.
Chapter 156 - Conspirators Behind The Wall
The red Ferrari stopped in a high-ss neighbourhood next to a semi-detached house. Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s home was on the left and Ning Yuan-Hai on the right. Chi Jing-Qiu alighted from her car and walked to the door on the left.
At that moment, a ck BMW M6 entered the neighbourhood and stopped by the road. Xia Lei sat in the driver¡¯s seat and quietly watched Chi Jing-Qiu walk to the door and press the doorbell.
A woman opened the door for her - it was Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s wife, Yu Hui.
Yu Hui closed the door after Chi Jing-Qiu entered.
They were too far away and the distance would affect his X-ray vision, so Xia Lei opened the car door, prepared to circle around to the back of the house to spy on Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu. Just as he opened his car door, however, a knock came from the other front-seat car door.
Xia Lei turned to look and was struck dumb.
Standing at the window was Ning Jing. She was looking at Xia Lei with curious eyes, her hand still against the window in a knocking posture.
Xia Lei had been focused on Chi Jing-Qiu and did not notice Ning Jing approaching from the entrance of the neighbourhood at all. It was also a small neighbourhood with many peopleing and going.
¡®What bad luck...¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself as he pped a smile on his face and rolled down the window. He greeted Ning Jing, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in a while, Big Sister Ning. Hello.¡±
A pretty smile appeared on Ning Jing¡¯s face. ¡°Yes, we haven¡¯t seen each other in a while; you don¡¯t call to chat either. Oh, right, what are you doing here?¡±
¡°I... I¡¯m waiting for a friend,¡± said Xia Lei. He wished Ning Jing would just hurry home and let him listen in on Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s conversation but she did not seem to want to go anywhere.
¡°This car¡¯s nice. Is it new?¡±
¡°Yeah, I bought a new car,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Do you n to keep talking to me while seated in your car?¡± Ning Jing¡¯s lips curled slightly in dissatisfaction.
Xia Lei then responded by properly alighting from his car. He¡¯d originally intended to just give Ning Jing some greetings and walk off but he¡¯d forgotten about the past between himself and Ning Jing. She would never be able to treat him like a normal friend because of past events.
¡°Your friend won¡¯t be here for a while, right? How abouting to my ce? Your friend can give you a call when he or she arrives,¡± said Ning Jing.
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei had not expected her to invite him to her home. Just thinking of her father, Ning Yuan-Hai and her mother, Zhang Hui-Lan made him feel a headacheing on. Those two were extremely self-centred snobs.
¡°You¡¯re practically at my doorstep and you¡¯re not willing to pay me a visit?¡± Ning Jing¡¯s eyes were downcast.
Wasn¡¯t Ning Jing¡¯s home next to Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s? Xia Lei was struck by a thought and said, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll visit.¡±
¡°That¡¯s more like it. Let¡¯s go.¡± Ning Jing happily grabbed onto Xia Lei¡¯s hand and led him to her home.
Xia Lei felt quite awkward but he did not shake her hand off.
Ning Jing opened the front door with her keys, then brought Xia Lei to the living room.
Ning Yuan-Hai and Zhang Hui-Lan were watching the telly. They froze when they saw Ning Jing bringing Xia Lei in.
¡°Mother, Father, I ran into Xia Lei in the neighbourhood and invited him in for a chat,¡± said Ning Jing with a smile.
Xia Lei detested this self-centred couple but he still forced himself to be polite. ¡°Hello, Uncle, Aunt. I hope I¡¯m not disturbing you.¡±
Zhang Hui-Lan snapped back to reality and hastily got up from the sofa, saying, ¡°No, no, please take a seat.¡±
Ning Yuan-Hai spoke too. ¡°Sit, sit. What are you standing around for, Jing? Go make some tea for Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Nn, okay, right away.¡± Ning Jing looked rather happy as she went off to make Xia Lei tea.
Xia Lei chose a seat facing the shared wall of the semi-detached house and sat. Houses like these won¡¯t have a double wall; one would always be shared. The ce beyond that wall was Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s home and his living room would be on the first floor too. Now then, what was Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu talking about?
Just as Xia Lei got ready to use his X-ray vision on the wall, Zhang Hui-Lan spoke again. ¡°Xia Lei, I hear you¡¯ve started apany.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, I did. It¡¯s just a smallpany.¡± As he spoke, his eye twitched and the shared wall disappeared from his vision. He saw Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu.
¡°Smallpanies can grow too. Didn¡¯t the current bigpanies also start small?¡± Zhang Hui-Lan smiled as she said, ¡°Our Jing bought a selfie stick from JD for me. She said yourpany manufactured it - how very impressive of you.¡±
Ning Yuan-Hai was all smiles. ¡°Xia Lei, drop by anytime you¡¯re free next time; don¡¯t be shy. Your little sister is studying in Jing-Du so it must be all cold and lonely on your own. Come over and it¡¯ll be more lively than being by yourself.¡±
Xia Lei found himself at a loss for words. This couple didn¡¯t have this sort of attitude before. Back then, Ren Wen-Qiang had juste back from overseas - he was highly educated, had status and high ie - miles better than the little worker he was. Ning Yuan-Hai and Zhang Hui-Lan had been hell-bent on match-making Ren Wen-Qiang and Ning Jing and seen him as a thorn in their side. Now that Ren Wen-Qiang was down on his luck and Xia Lei was sessful, however, the couple was treating him rather nicely.
An old saying was fitting for this - Nobody cares for a poor man but a rich man deep in the woods would have distant rtives. These people sure were realistic.
The warmth disyed by the couple made it difficult for Xia Lei to be stone-faced and he chatted with them while keeping his focus on Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu. ¡°Thank you Uncle, Auntie. I¡¯m doing okay. I stay at my Master¡¯s ce often and it is quite lively with my Master and Senior Disciple.¡±
¡°Master? Senior Disciple?¡± Ning Yuan-Hai and Zhang Hui-Lan looked at each other with odd expressions on their faces.
At that moment, Ning Jing walked over with the tea. She put a cup of Bamboo Leaf Green in front of Xia Lei and sat next to him, then followed up with, ¡°Didn¡¯t you know, Mother, Father? Xia Lei is learning Wing Chun now. He¡¯s quite skilled.¡±
¡°Learned and skilled. If this were ancient times you¡¯d be a top scorer in the imperial examinations. Heh heh!¡± Zhang Hui-Lanughed in an exaggerated manner.
Next to her, Ning Yuan-Hai rolled his eyes. He did not say anything but his eyes seemed to say ¡®What are you up to now you know that he¡¯s doing well?¡¯
Ning Jing continued, ¡°I also know that Xia Lei¡¯s Senior Disciple is an overseas graduate and an all-rounded fighter and schr. She¡¯s his assistant now. Oh, and she¡¯s a beauty too, isn¡¯t she, Xia Lei?¡±
Xia Lei was focusing on Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu, lip-reading their conversation. He was in no mood to chat with Ning Jing and just agreed absentmindedly. ¡°Yeah, yeah, she really is very beautiful.¡±
The bit of joy on Ning Jing¡¯s face drained away.
Ning Jing and Xia Lei seemed to have a rtionship that ended before it even begun. It could only be described as ¡®fate¡¯.
¡°Ahem...¡± Zhang Hui-Lan smiled. ¡°She may be highly educated but surely not as highly educated as our Jing? Our Jing is a doctorate-holder. And what era is this now - we don¡¯t have to fight or kill anymore. Learning martial arts is what a man should do, not a woman. If husband and wife both practise martial arts then wouldn¡¯t they tear the house down when they have a spat?¡±
Ning Yuan-Haiughed dryly. ¡°Right, right. Marriage is the most important event in a person¡¯s life. It¡¯s extremely important who your partner is. There¡¯s a lot of factors to consider - if the parents are excellent then the child¡¯s foundation will also be excellent and it will surely be a very impressive prodigy.¡±
How did these two end up implicating children?
Xia Lei just listened and didn¡¯t respond. His gaze was still locked on Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu on the other side of the wall.
Chi Jing Qiu handed the memory card from Xiang Hong-Bin to Ning Yuan-Shan.
There was a gloating smile on Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s face as he excitedly inserted the memory card into the prepared reader-device and connected it to his phone.
¡°Well done, well done.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan looked at the drawings disyed on his phone and got more excited the more he saw. ¡°Now that we have these drawings I can assemble a team. We will definitely build thisthe. Oh, right, your father-inw and your husband will take part too so they shall have a share of the rewards.¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu, on the other hand, was not interested. ¡°I don¡¯t care about them. I¡¯m only concerned about my manager position.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan shook a finger at Chi Jing-Qiu and smiled as he said, ¡°You, you¡¯re good in all aspects except this.¡±
¡°Chairman Ning, I believe in one thing and that is ¡®Every man for himself, and the Devil take the hindmost¡¯. The human lifespan is just a few decades and I don¡¯t want to spend it all in mediocracy.¡±
¡°Whatever. I¡¯m not interested in your family affairs. I¡¯ll do what I promised,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°I¡¯ll promote you tomorrow and give you the position of ¡®Sales Manager¡¯. Is that good enough for you?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu had a gleeful smile on her face. ¡°Thank you, Chairman Ning.¡±
¡°However, you still have to be in charge of this matter,¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°No problem. My inside-man will keep an eye on Xia Lei and I¡¯ll report to you immediately if anything happens on his end,¡± said Chi Jing-Qiu.
Ning Yuan-Shan unplugged the connecting cable, then carefully ced the reader-device with the memory card inside it in his pocket. A small smirk appeared on his face. ¡°That punk Xia Lei wants to climb to the top with thisthe? He¡¯s dreaming. He shouldn¡¯t have taken away our most important client, China Industrial Group. I wouldn¡¯t do this to him otherwise. If he wants to me anyone he should me himself for not knowing his own limits.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan was not greedy but connections and reputation were particrly important to him. Xia Lei poaching a China Industrial Group, which should¡¯ve been his big client in the first ce, was like a stain on his reputation and a breaking of the connection between hispany and China Industrial Group. This in turn affected one of his paths to advancement, so how could he not bear a grudge?
¡°He deserves it. I was his ssmate and I know him. He must be desperate to escape the clutches of poverty and is probably hanging on any bit that would help him advance like a stubborn weed or he would have repaid your kindness. People like this are not worthy of sympathy. But Chairman Ning, he¡¯s also building an intelligentthe. How shall we take care of him?¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan sneered, ¡°Can a civilianpany buildthes faster than us? We shall make the workers work overtime on this andplete the machine before he does. Then we will write a report and apply for the patent. If he builds one, we will sue him for stealing ourpany secrets. Who will the judge believe then? Him or me?¡±
Chi Jing-Qiu giggled. ¡°You, of course, Chairman Ning. You¡¯re more important than Mayor Hu in Hai-Zhu. Which judge would dare go against you? Besides, we are a government-backed corporation. Who would believe that a giant like us would steal from a smallpany? Xia Lei won¡¯t even be able to cry when that happens.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a future matter. Right now you should contact the production department immediately. I want the best in ourpany. A design n must be drawn up tonight.¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll call them over right away.¡± Chi Jing-Qiu was excited too.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision at that point and did a mental sigh.
Chapter 157 - Princess and the Pauper
¡°Little Lei.¡± He was still ¡®Xia Lei¡¯ earlier but he¡¯d be ¡®Little Lei¡¯ in an instant. Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s words were warmer than the term of address she¡¯d used. ¡°Winter is approaching. Let our Jing knit a pullover for you.¡±
Knit a pullover? Xia Lei felt fairly awkward. ¡°Thank you, thank you but there¡¯s really no need; it¡¯s too troublesome. I¡¯ll just buy one when it¡¯s winter.¡±
¡°No, no it¡¯s no trouble at all. Our Jing is obedient andes right home after work. She has nothing to do anyway so let her knit one for you. Handmade pullovers fit better,¡± said Zhang Hui-Lan.
¡°Isn¡¯t it too early to knit one?¡± Xia Lei felt awkward but it wasn¡¯t easy to reject something like this face-to-face.
¡°It¡¯s not early at all.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan pushed the idea. ¡°It¡¯s autumn now so it will be winter when the pullover is finished. Just nice.¡±
Ning Jing was also very embarrassed. She rolled her eyes at Zhang Hui-Lan and mouthed the words, ¡®I can¡¯t knit!¡¯
Zhang Hui-Lan winked back. This was a message: You can¡¯t but your mother can!
Xia Lei did not notice the eye-conversation between mother and daughter. He was worrying to himself, ¡®There¡¯s no further need to spy on Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu. What excuse can I use to leave? Zhou Wei would have arrived by now, wouldn¡¯t he?¡¯
¡°Jing, go to my room and fetch the measuring tape to get Little Lei¡¯s measurements,¡± said Zhang Hui-Lan.
Ning Yuan-Hai also urged her, ¡°Go on, Jing, hurry.¡±
¡°I...¡± Ning Jing¡¯s face turned red. She wanted to go but didn¡¯t - her feelings were all jumbled up.
Ding dong, ding dong. Someone pressed the doorbell at that moment.
¡°Who is it?¡± Zhang Hui-Lan walked to the door.
Who woulde to Ning Jing¡¯s home at this time?
Xia Lei looked over and willed his left eye to look through the door. He saw the person standing outside the door - Ren Wen-Qiang.
Ren Wen-Qiang was dressed in a white suit. He was slim, had a handsome face and a confident air. He held a bouquet of red roses in his hands and had a smile on his face as he waited for the door to be opened.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡®I¡¯ll leave when Ren Wen-Qiang enters. He¡¯s a good excuse to go.¡¯
Zhang Hui-Lan opened the door and her face darkened when she saw that it was Ren Wen-Qiang. She spoke tly, ¡°So it¡¯s you.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiangughed. ¡°Hello, Auntie. Is Jing home? I¡¯d like to ask her out for a movie.¡±
¡°Our Jing is not feeling well. She won¡¯t be going; you go ahead,¡± said Zhang Hui-Lan.
¡°Not feeling well? I¡¯ll go see her.¡± Ren Wen-Qiang looked concerned.
He tried to go in but Zhang Hui-Lan blocked his way. ¡°It¡¯ste. You should go back.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang was a smart person and he knew that Zhang Hui-Lan wouldn¡¯t suddenly be cold to him without reason. He shifted half a step to see into the living room and saw Xia Lei and Ning Jing sitting on the sofa. He quickly understood what he saw and humiliation flushed through him. His emotions took control as he raised a finger to point at Xia Lei and roar, ¡°Get out here, Xia Lei!¡±
Xia Lei frowned - not because Ren Wen-Qiang was taking his anger out on him but because he was loud and Xia Lei was worried that Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu would hear. They were talking in secret about ways to put him down and he just coincidentally appeared next door in Ning Jing¡¯s home? Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu were sly as foxes - would they believe that it was just a coincidence?
¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Zhang Hui-Lan scolded him before Xia Lei could speak.
Ren Wen-Qiang sneered, ¡°What? You guys regret it now because Xia Lei has made something of himself and you want to match him with Ning Jing? Ning Jing is not an item; she¡¯s a person. She should have her own life!¡±
¡°You...¡± Zhang Hui-Lan was rooted to the spot in anger. She had not expected Ren Wen-Qiang to say such things to her.
Xia Lei got up and walked towards the door.
Ning Jing pulled at his sleeve and tears appeared in her eyes. ¡°Xia Lei, please don¡¯t fight with him here? I... can¡¯t take it.¡±
Xia Lei was nning to kick Ren Wen-Qiang to the ground but seeing Ning Jing in pain made him unwilling to do so. She was unfortunate enough to have parents like Zhang Hui-Lan and Ning Yuan-Hai, so if he and Ren Wen-Qiang made a scene which escted to a fight, she would be hurt. She was a quiet and delicate woman and wouldn¡¯t be able to bear it.
¡°Nn, I won¡¯t fight with him. I have to go. My friend should have arrived about now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ning Jing let go of his sleeve, her tears more apparent.
¡°Xia Lei! Get out here!¡± Ren Wen-Qiang continued shouting in the doorway. He did not think of Ning Jing¡¯s feelings at all and seemed to want to draw attention to cause her humiliation.
Xia Lei strode out. ¡°Quiet down. What are you being so loud for?¡±
Ren Wen-Qiangughed coldly. ¡°Who do you think you are? Should I obey you?¡± He suddenly spoke fiercely, ¡°You caused my exit from Vientianne Group. I¡¯ll settle this score with you today!¡±
Xia Lei looked at Ren Wen-Qiang and remembered that this guy was an eighth-degree ck belt in Judo. No wonder he dared speak to him like this. An eighth-degree ck belt in Judo was nothing to him. He squinted - Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu had walked out of the door. Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s loud voice had alerted them.
¡°Xia Lei?¡± A sh of panic showed in Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Wh, What are you doing here?¡±
Before Xia Lei could respond, Ning Yuan-Shan walked over, saying, ¡°What is all this ruckus? You are cultured young people - aren¡¯t you ashamed of yourselves bing aughingstock?¡±
His words seemed to be stopping a fight but Xia Lei could tell that he was taking a jab at him. He was the only high-school graduate here while Ren Wen-Qiang and Ning Jing were doctorate holders. Even Chi Jing-Qiu graduated from a prestigious university. What culturedness can a high-school graduate have?
¡°Chairman Ning.¡± Ren Wen-Qiang greeted him. He held himself back in the presence of Ning Yuan-Shan.
¡°Mm.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan made a small sound of acknowledgement, then looked at Xia Lei. ¡°What are you doing here, Xia Lei?¡±
Ning Jing answered for him. ¡°I invited Xia Lei in for a chat.¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu exchanged looks. They seemed to rx a little.
Xia Lei nced at the entrance of the neighbourhood - Zhou Wei was still not here. He moved his gaze to Ning Yuan-Shan and his left eye twitched. He saw the reader-device and the memory card in it in the folds of Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s clothing.
¡°Xia Lei, aren¡¯t you going to greet me now?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s voice carried some dissatisfaction.
Xia Lei spoke tly, ¡°Chairman Ning, you don¡¯t actually want to see me, do you? Why do you even care about my greeting? Is there a need for fake politeness?¡±
Zhang Hui-Lan quietly nudged Xia Lei¡¯s arm, telling him not to speak to Ning Yuan-Shan like that.
Ning Yuan-Shan saw the small movement and he wrinkled his brows. ¡°Hui-Lan, I¡¯m not chastising you or anything but you shouldn¡¯t let Ning Jing bring home despicable people.¡±
¡°Big Brother, I...¡± Zhang Hui-Lan paused in embarrassment. Her family had received a lot of favours from Ning Yuan-Shan and she could never stand up to him.
A small smile of ridicule appeared in the corners of Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s lips as he said, ¡°Yes, Auntie. Chairman Ning treated someone well and that someone had a small shop by the side of the road at that time. If Chairman Ning hadn¡¯t lent him a helping hand he wouldn¡¯t be who he is today. He, on the other hand, poached Chairman Ning¡¯s client when he had the chance. Can you feel at ease letting Ning Jing date a despicable person like that?¡±
Husband and wife stood in the doorway and neither dared to say anything.
Ning Jing made to speak up for Xia Lei but Ning Yuan-Shan gave her a re. Timid Ning Jing shut her mouth.
They seemed to form a united front after Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s appearance and Xia Lei was now left alone on the battlefield.
Being called despicable and ridiculed did not make Xia Lei angry. He smiled. ¡°You can¡¯t put it that way, Chairman Ning. If I didn¡¯t do the job back then you wouldn¡¯t have been able toplete the order in time. Your position as chairman wouldn¡¯t be as solid as it is now, would it? I did make a million off you but this was not free money. You didn¡¯t help me - I helped you. Yet you don¡¯t show an ounce of gratitude.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Ning Yuan-Shanughed and pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°You don¡¯t know your limits, punk! When did I, Ning Yuan-Shan, need the help of a roadside shop owner like you? Ridiculous! Don¡¯t think that you can run wild just because you have purchase orders from China Industrial Group and you know some of the people in that corporation. Let me tell you, don¡¯t even think of it with me around!¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Chairman Ning, I actually quite respect you. Is there no room for reconciliation? Must we fight on?¡±
¡°Oh, scared now? Regret it?¡± sneered Ning Yuan-Shan.
Ren Wen-Qiang spoke up. ¡°Don¡¯t be soft-hearted, Chairman Ning. Some people are desperate to not be poor and stink of the desire to be rich. If you forgive him now he will still betray you in the future.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve not gone blind yet. I won¡¯t be stabbed in the back a second time.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan looked at Zhang Hui-Lan and said rudely, ¡°Don¡¯t let this sort of peoplee here next time.¡±
Zhang Hui-Lan paused, then nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
Ning Yuan-Hai then said, ¡°Leave now, Xia Lei. Next time... Don¡¯te here.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°Sure.¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s tears flowed soundlessly as she bit her lip. She suddenly lost it and shouted, ¡°I hate you all!¡± Ning Jing turned around and ran back into the house.
Zhang Hui-Lan followed with the words, ¡°What are you standing there for, Wen-Qiang. Hurry andfort Jing.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang shook the rose bouquet in his hand gently and gave Xia Lei a contemptuous look. He looked like he was a noble knight who¡¯d won a duel and won not only the glory but the right to ady¡¯s first night. And he was ready to step on the corpse of his opponent before he went to enjoy what he¡¯d won.
¡°Xia Lei, how dare you still show your face around here.¡± Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s words were rough and crude; just short of using the word ¡®scram¡¯.
Xia Lei understood very well why Ning Yuan-Shan was in such a hurry to chase him away. He had called an elite team from Far East Heavy Industries to his home to design the drawings and n the building of the intelligentthe. A thief didn¡¯t want the owner of the original work to be next to him, of course.
Xia Lei nced at the entrance to the neighbourhood again and this time, he spotted some ck cars heading his way. The car in the lead had Jing Du license tes. Zhou Wei was finally here but Xia Lei was not happy about it at all.
Chapter 158 - Awakening of the Obedient One
¡°Go quickly, Xia Lei. Don¡¯te to our home again.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan flipped attitudes more easily than pages of a book. ¡°And our Jing and you are never going to be together.¡±
Xia Lei looked at her and was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°Ning Jing is a person, not your ything and not your product. She has the right to like whomever she likes and the right to live the life she wants. You may be the mother who raised her but you should not treat her as your money tree.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Xia Lei¡¯sst sentence triggered Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s anger and her face darkened as she pointed at him and scolded, ¡°You! Get out!¡±
¡°If it weren¡¯t for Ning Jing, I wouldn¡¯te into your house even if you carry me to it with eight pnquins. Having a mother like you makes me feel sorry for her,¡± said Xia Lei in a normal tone.
¡°You punk! You¡¯re asking for a beating!¡± Ren Wen-Qiang suddenly threw the rose bouquet he was holding at Xia Lei. He¡¯d long wanted to hit Xia Lei in return for making Shentu Tian-Yin kick him out of Vientienne Group. He had been conscious of his status earlier in front of Ning Jing¡¯s parents and Ning Yuan-Shan but it now looked like they hoped that he would hit Xia Lei so he was not going to miss his chance.
Xia Lei moved his head aside and the roses brushed his cheek as they flew past. They hit the wall and petals scattered as they fell.
Ren Wen-Qiang rushed to make the first move; he grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and twisted, executing a shoulder-throw.
Xia Lei¡¯s right leg went up instantly and sent a kick to the bend of Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s leg.
Ren Wen-Qiang wanted to throw Xia Lei from his shoulder but before he couldplete his move, his right leg sank and he found himself on bended knee.
Judo versus Wing Chun?
There was nopetition between these two martial arts.
In the instant Ren Wen-Qiang went on bended knee, Xia Lei did a Short Bridge elbow attack and smashed it into his back. A dull thud sounded and Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s body was pushed forward by the force of the blow before mming heavily to the ground.
Just a second earlier, Ren Wen-Qiang was trying to throw Xia Lei to the ground but he was now the one who was lying on the ground.
¡°Damn it!¡± Ren Wen-Qiang rolled and sprang to his feet.
Xia Lei was faster. He moved forward and his right leg shed as a kicknded on Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s face.
Ren Wen-Qiang fell to the ground again. He was buttocks-up the first time and buttocks-down the second. His handsome face had an added footprint - Xia Lei wore size 41 shoes and the depression in Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s face fit his shoe size. Blood streamed from his nose and his lips were torn. He looked like an alpaca had run across his face.
Ning Yuan-Shan, Chi Jing-Qiu and Ning Jing¡¯s parents were gobsmacked.
They¡¯d thought Xia Lei would¡¯ve been beaten ck and blue when Ren Wen-Qiang threw the rose bouquet at him in challenge; Ren Wen-Qiang was an eighth degree ck belt in judo after all and Xia Lei hadn¡¯t been learning Wing Chun for long. However, he was mercilessly defeated in the blink of an eye!
No one was willing to ept such an oue.
Xia Lei did not follow up with more beating. He flexed his neck and said calmly, ¡°Ren Wen-Qiang, you¡¯re an eighth degree ck belt in judo, aren¡¯t you? Good. I¡¯m done warming up. Get off the floor and let¡¯s have a proper fight.¡±
What could be more demeaning than to ask for a proper fight after beating someone to the ground and calling it a warm-up?
Ren Wen-Qiang held his bleeding nose and looked at Xia Lei with eyes full of sinister hatred. He wished nothing more than to pulverise Xia Lei into meat sauce but he dared not crawl to his feet under Xia Lei¡¯s disdainful gaze.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You said you wanted to teach me a lesson - looks like you were just teasing.¡± He walked to Ren Wen-Qiang and pped him gently on the face as his smile disappeared. ¡°I hope this will be thest time I beat you up. Don¡¯t challenge me if you have nothing to back it up with or you¡¯ll end up in a worse state next time.¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang dared not look Xia Lei in the eye, even when faced with such contempt and insults.
¡°Xia Lei! You¡¯re a hooligan!¡± Ning Yuan-Shan berated him, then said to Chi Jing-Qiu, ¡°Jing-Qiu, call the police!¡±
At that moment, a voice called, ¡°Ning Yuan-Shan!¡±
Who dared to call Ning Yuan-Shan by name in such a manner?
The group¡¯s gazes moved to where the voice hade from and were met by the sight of Zhou Wei and some suited young men with stone-cold faces walking towards them. Other than Zhou Wei, nobody knew which department these young men belonged to.
¡°Department Head Zhou?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan looked at him suspiciously. ¡°What did youe here for?¡±
Zhou Wei did not speak to Ning Yuan-Shan; he strode to Xia Lei¡¯s side and moved his lips close to his ear. He spoke softly, ¡°Is the item on him?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Very good.¡± Zhou Wei suddenly pointed at Ning Yuan-Shan and said, ¡°Seize him!¡±
Two stone-faced young men walked towards Ning Yuan-Shan and locked each of his arms in theirs without a second word.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Ning Yuan-Shan panicked.
At that moment, Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s wife, Yu Hui, ran out and hung onto Ning Yuan-Shan anxiously, not wanting Zhou Wei¡¯s men to take him away. ¡°Y, you must be mistaken. Our Yuan-Shan is a good person, not a bad person!¡±
¡°Good and bad are not defined by you. Thew shall decide.¡± Zhou Wei gave his men a look and they grabbed hold of Yu Hui and shoved her aside.
Yu Hui cried and made a fuss, prompting Zhou Wei to say coldly, ¡°If you make any more noise we shall take you away too and charge you with the obstruction of justice!¡±
Yu Hui froze in fear.
¡°Yu Hui, this doesn¡¯t concern you! They can¡¯t do anything to me!¡± said Ning Yuan-Shan.
Zhou Wei just smirked. He seemed to not want to bother to bicker with Ning Yuan-Shan.
Chi Jing-Qiu seemed to gain courage and she reached to push the men holding Ning Yuan-Shan as she said, ¡°Who do you think you are? On what charges are you arresting Chairman Ning? You have no identification and no warrant - what you¡¯re doing is illegal!¡±
Zhou Wei frowned. ¡°Are you Chi Jing-Qiu?¡±
¡°I am!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu sounded tough.
¡°I was just looking for you. Arrest her too!¡±
Two more suited young men moved forward and restrained Chi Jing-Qiu.
Chi Jing-Qiu kicked both her feet and sputtered, ¡°What are you doing? I, I¡¯ll sue you!¡±
Zhou Wei raised his voice. ¡°Chi Jing-Qiu, Ning Yuan-Shan, you have been arrested for stealing state secrets. Pleasee with me. You are under investigation."
¡°What impudence!¡± roared Ning Yuan-Shan, ¡°Don¡¯t you know who I am? You must be mistaken! How can I steal state secrets?¡±
¡°Mistaken?¡± Zhou Wei sneered. ¡°You told Chi Jing-Qiu to bribe an employee of Thunder Horse Manufacturing to steal information from ourpany. That item must be on your person now, am I right?¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu froze. The two of them could not believe that this was the reason why Zhou Wei had brought men over to arrest them.
Zhou Wei looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei knew what that look meant. He walked to Ning Yuan-Shan; he knew where Ning Yuan-Shan had kept the memory card but he still fumbled about looking for it before finally retrieving it. He handed the reader-device to Zhou Wei.
Zhou Wei connected it to his phone and soon saw the drawings and pictures on it. He held the phone screen up to Ning Yuan-Shan. ¡°This is the evidence. Do you have anything else to say?¡±
¡°You conspired to frame me for this! You¡¯ll die horrible deaths!¡± Ning Yuan-Shan had totally lost control of his emotions.
¡°Wait!¡± Chi Jing-Qiu suddenly thought of something. ¡°This was sold to me by a worker of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. I had no idea what was on it! And you said that is yourpany secret but why is it with Xia Lei? You¡¯re conspiring with each other to frame us!¡±
¡°I believe you know what that is. We have tasked Xia Lei with itspletion but it belongs to us. What you stole were not ordinary industry secrets but state secrets!¡± After a pause, he snorted. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand people like you. You act so high and mighty even though you stole something; you really are thick-skinned. And you, Ning Yuan-Shan, who do you think you are? The emperor? You dare steal from us? Take them away!¡±
Ning Yuan-Shan was finally scared and his lips trembled but he did not say anything.
He knew more clearly than anyone there what sort ofpany China Industrial Group was. Stealing from them was like asking for death! What he didn¡¯t understand was that thethe was obviously being built by Xia Lei, so how did it be the property of China Industrial Group?
He looked at Chi Jing-Qiu next to him and hatred shed in his eyes. If it were not for this greedy, ambitious woman, he wouldn¡¯t have fallen into this trap!
Chi Jing-Qiu could not bother with Ning Yuan-Shan at that moment. She looked at Xia Lei with tears in her eyes and pleaded, ¡°Lei, Lei, we¡¯re old ssmates... You... talk to them. This is just a misunderstanding. Don¡¯t arrest me. Don¡¯t arrest me, please?¡±
Xia Lei looked at Chi Jing-Qiu quietly. It would be simple enough for him to have her released; it would take but a word. However, he was not moved by her tears. He was not stone-hearted but he wasn¡¯t stupid enough to rescue an enemy who would bury him if given the chance.
¡°Lei, I was wrong, okay? Help me. Put in a good word for me, I beg you...¡± Chi Jing-Qiu was still pleading with him even though she had been towed a distance away by the stone-faced young men.
¡®You knew this day woulde; why did you even begin? I wouldn¡¯t have destroyed you if you weren¡¯t bent on destroying me,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Chairman Xia,¡± said Zhou Wei.
Xia Lei nodded and followed Zhou Wei to the entrance of the neighbourhood.
Zhang Hui-Lan suddenly trotted up to him with a smile of ttery on her face. ¡°Little Lei, this must be a misunderstanding. Your Uncle Yuan-Shan is not a bad man. Say something to help him.¡±
Xia Lei stopped walking. He looked at Zhang Hui-Lan. ¡°I am but a weak man with no status. You should look for someone with clout. Goodbye.¡±
Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s smile froze on her face.
Xia Lei spoke no further and turned away.
Behind the window on the second floor, Ning Jing stood quietly watching Xia Lei¡¯s back. She smiled all of a sudden. She turned and walked out of the room as Xia Lei drove through the entrance to the neighbourhood in his BMW M6.
¡°That hateful punk!¡± Zhang Hui-Lan spat on the ground in front of the door. ¡°He shall get his retribution!¡±
Ren Wen-Qiang massaged his swollen nose and saidfortingly, ¡°Chairman Ning will be fine, Auntie. Don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°You¡¯re the better man.¡± Zhang Hui-Lan¡¯s tone be much gentler. ¡°Come in, sit. You too, Sister-inw. Let¡¯s discuss how we can get him out.¡±
Yu Hui nodded woodenly.
Ning Jing came down the stairs carrying a bag.
¡°Jing, quick, make Wen-Qiang some tea,¡± said Zhang Hui-Lan.
Ning Jing strode to the door instead.
Ning Yuan-Hai blocked her way. ¡°Where are you going at this hour? Didn¡¯t you see that Wen-Qiang is here?¡±
Ning Jing suddenly pushed Ning Yuan-Hai away and walked out the door without a backward nce.
Everyone in the house was stunned.
Out the door, Ning Jing looked back with tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips. ¡°Lei is right. I am a person and not your belonging, nor your ything. I should have my own life. I¡¯ve had enough. From today on, I¡¯m moving out. You do whatever you want!¡±
Ning Jing turned and ran after she was done speaking.
Ning Yuan-Hai was still frozen on the spot. Strangely enough, there was no heart attack.
Chapter 159 - Successful Completion
There was no unfounded love in this world and neither was there unfounded hate.
Qin Xian obtained the evidence of Chi Jing-Qiu¡¯s transaction with Xiang Hong-Bin and Xia Lei handed this evidence to Zhou Wei. This was not hitting her when she was down and neither was it a kindness to the authorities; he was just doing what he should.
What punishment would Ning Yuan-Shan and Chi Jing-Qiu receive? This all depended on the mood of the people at China Industrial Group. They might have a discussion and a weighing of benefits which would take a very long time toe to a conclusion. What could be said was that Ning Yuan-Shan would never be the chairman of Far East Heavy Industries again and Chi Jing-Qiu would never be a chairman¡¯s secretary either.
Xiang Hong-Bin, the worker bribed by Chi Jing-Qiu, was not spared either and Zhou Wei¡¯s men took him away.
Though they had arrested Ning Yuan-Shan, Chi Jing-Qiu and Xiang Hong-Bin, Zhou Wei did not let his guard down. He stationed four specialised professionals at Thunder Horse Manufacturing to keep a 24-hour watch on Xia Lei¡¯s personal workshop. Xia Lei was d he did, for it saved him the hassle of having his workshop guarded himself.
The days following the incident were smooth-sailing and Xia Lei threw himself into the building of thethe. He was the earliest at work every day and thest to leave. He would sometimes stay overnight at the Liang household to practice Wing Chun and further his medical learning, or simply go home to solve the problems he¡¯d encountered while building thethe.
Xia Lei kept his promise and bought Qin Xiang a motorcycle. There were some extra charges for the taxes and he spent over 300,000. He thought it was fair though, as Qin Xiang had be an important helper and did some dirty work for him. How could he ask him for more help if he didn¡¯t show his appreciation of his efforts? The rtionships between people were never unchanging and needed to be maintained. Xia Lei had long understood this concept.
Xia Lei was also thinking of buying a gift for Jiang Ru-Yi but he hadn¡¯t seen her in days. She¡¯d reportedly gone for some special training. He called her but found that her phone was switched off. All he could do was to put his idea aside and wait for her to be back before he did something about it.
Time went by day by day and a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Early in the morning, some ck Hongqi cars drove through the main gates of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. The cars stopped and Mu Jian-Feng stepped out of one of the leading cars.
Zhou Wei, who had been waiting at the entrance to the workshop, stepped quickly forward to greet him respectfully. ¡°Good morning, Boss Mu.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng gave a small nod. ¡°Where¡¯s Xia Lei?¡±
Zhou Wei pointed at the workshop behind him. ¡°He is in there. He worked overnight to do the final adjustments and trial processing.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s have a look, then.¡± Mu Jian-Feng was anxious.
Zhou Wei, however, smiled wryly. ¡°He won¡¯t let us go in, Boss Mu.¡±
¡°Won¡¯t let us in?¡± Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡±
¡°He said we¡¯d disturb him if we entered,¡± said Zhou Wei.
¡°Does he know I¡¯ming?¡±
¡°He does.¡± Zhou Wei spoke awkwardly, ¡°He said that even if you came you¡¯d have to wait outside.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng paused, then smiled suddenly. ¡°This little punk¡¯s putting on airs. Whatever. I¡¯ll let him act like this for thest time. As long as we have this machine we can build more intelligentthes and not have to rely on him anymore. Let him put on his airs.¡±
¡°Boss Mu, not so loud, please. That punk has sharp ears and it won¡¯t be good if he hears. Thethe is still in his hands,¡± said Zhou Wei nervously.
Mu Jian-Feng nodded slightly, walked to the doorway of the workshop and didn¡¯t step closer. Arge group of engineers from China Industrial Group stood quietly behind him, quiet as mice.
These engineers were there to test the intelligentthe Xia Lei had built. They were also the elite group which had attempted to build the intelligentthe. Every one of them looked calm but their hearts were beating with excitement. They could not wait to see thepleted intelligentthe and they looked forward more to seeing the mysterious machinist, Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was able to build something with his own two hands while they, the elite of China Industrial Group had failed, even with drawings. Just this impressed them all beyond measure!
In the office building, in Xia Lei¡¯s office.
Liang Si-Yao looked down from the window and saw Mu Jian-Feng and a group of engineers from China Industrial Group and grew nervous. ¡°Qin Xiang, do you think... What if Xia Lei fails? What will happen if he does?¡±
Qin Xiang seemed rxed; he leaned on the wall next to the window and watched Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s group. ¡°Si-Yao, girl, what you worrying for? It¡¯s not as if you don¡¯t know Xia Lei¡¯s capabilities. Rx. He¡¯ll seed,¡± he said in a thin voice.
¡°I¡¯m saying ¡®what if¡¯. What if he fails?¡± Liang Si-Yao thought of the BMW M6 Xia Lei had bought for her and was nervous. ¡°Almost all of the deposit has been spent. What will we do if we have to return it?¡±
Qin Xiang quirked his lips. ¡°No use getting anxious, you. Just wait.¡±
¡°No. I have to go down and take a look.¡± Liang Si-Yao walked towards the door and said, ¡°Come with me. Mu Jian-Feng is a bigwig. Lei has no time to spare even though Mu Jian-Feng came with a group. We have to greet him or we¡¯ll be seen as rude.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Qin Xiang exited the office too and followed Liang Si-Yao. His bottom swayed even more nicely than hers.
The people in the research and development department were leaning over the railings watching what was going on out in the corridor. All gazes swung to Liang Si-Yao and Qin Xiang as soon as they walked out.
¡°If Qin Xiang were female there¡¯ll be quite a few guys wooing him. Look at his ass! So sexy,¡± said Yin Hao.
Han Bo spoke quietly, ¡°Lower your voice. It¡¯ll be so awkward if he hears.¡±
Qin Xiang suddenly turned back and made a lotus flower-hand, pointed at Yin Hao and said, ¡°Pew!¡±
The boys of the research and development department froze as if a cold wind had blown across their faces.
Liang Si-Yao went straight to Mu Jian-Feng downstairs. She was all smiles steps away from him as she greeted, ¡°Hello, Boss Mu.¡±
Zhou Wei whispered to Mu Jian-Feng, ¡°Her name¡¯s Liang Si-Yao, Xia Lei¡¯s assistant. He trusts her a lot.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng looked at Liang Si-Yao and said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to y host to us, Miss Liang. Go about your day.¡±
¡°Boss Mu, how about you alle have a seat in the guest room? I¡¯ll make some tea,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Mu Jian-Feng did not speak to Liang Si-Yao again. He looked at the tightly closed door of the workshop and waited quietly for it to open.
Liang Si-Yao shrugged in embarrassment and did not speak either.
Qin Xiang stood next to Liang Si-Yao and also watched the door of the workshop.
Further off, the workers in the workshop were also looking over and discussing the situation amongst themselves.
¡°What are these guys here for?¡±
¡°To look around, definitely. Our Chairman Xia is so awesome. If only I were like him.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong hit a metal sheet with the hammer in her hand and said loudly, ¡°What are you all looking at? Gossiping? Did you forget what happened to that punk, Xiang Hong-Bin? Don¡¯t poke into business that isn¡¯t yours! Get back to work!¡±
The gossiping workers dispersed and went back to their stations.
Xiang Hong-Bin¡¯s example was no small deterrent; nobody wanted to repeat that mistake.
At that moment, the workshop door opened. Xia Lei appeared in the doorway, dressed in work clothes and covered in grease. He looked exhausted, as if he hadn¡¯t slept in days. His gaze, however, was sharp and held a look of excitement.
After 38 days, he¡¯d finally done it.
Last night, he had finished the instation of the CNC and sessfully debugged the program and machine steps. He processed severalplicated high precision parts - there was no waste and no failed part.
¡°How is it, Xia Lei?¡± asked Mu Jian-Feng nervously.
The group of engineers behind him also gathered closer; they were not through the door yet but they were eager to look at the intelligentthe behind Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stretched and smiled as he said, ¡°Sess. Let your people test it out. Oh, right, don¡¯t forget my thing.¡±
Mu Jian-Fengughed. He pointed at Xia Lei and shook a finger at him. ¡°You little punk - worried that I, Mu Jian-Feng, will not pay up? Don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t get one cent less as long as thethe has no problems.¡± When he was done speaking, he looked back at the group of engineers behind him and they entered Xia Lei¡¯s workshop.
Xia Lei walked out and squinted at the sun high in the sky. That look at the sky made his legs bend and he copsed to the ground.
¡°Careful!¡± Liang Si-Yao shot forward and caught Xia Lei by the waist.
Xia Lei fell into Liang Si-Yao¡¯s embrace and he felt like his world had be soft and fragrant.
¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you all right?¡± Liang Si-Yao asked in concern.
¡°I¡¯m fine, just tired,¡± replied Xia Lei weakly.
He¡¯d been working overtime almost every day recently, and he had overused his eye, especiallyst night. His body had long surpassed its limits.
¡°Lei, I¡¯ll carry you to your office sofa. You can rest there,¡± Qin Xiang volunteered.
¡°No need for you to do that. Just watch over them.¡± Liang Si-Yao bent and carried Xia Lei in her arms, then walked to the office building. Xia Lei was like a giant teddy bear in her arms.
Qin Xiang smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not snatching your man from you. Why do that?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t see an audience but he could feel their gazes as hey in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s arms. He was mortified. ¡°Please put me down. I can walk.¡±
Liang Si-Yao, however, gave him a re. ¡°Be obedient and stay still. I¡¯ll fight whoever who dares spread rumours.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Who else in the whole of Thunder Horse Manufacturing would dare to go up against Liang Si-Yao other than Xia Lei?
Xia Lei jumped out of her hold. Liang Si-Yao was willing but he was not; he could not let a woman carry him upstairs.
¡°Then you go rest, and I¡¯ll keep watch over those people. I won¡¯t let them ruin your machine,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, they cherish that machine more than I do. It¡¯s theirs now. When I¡¯m all rested up I¡¯ll make one that will belong to us,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Liang Si-Yao smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll follow you up then and give you a massage.¡±
Chapter 160 - Last Collaboration
The intelligentthe Xia Lei built and the one Josef built were of the same standard and there were no problems. The group of engineers quickly ascertained this but there was still this feeling of disbelief that the high precision machine had been built with just Xia Lei¡¯s own two hands while they had failed and this feeling could only go away when they had personally tried the machine.
¡°Elder Mu,¡± said an engineer, ¡°Xia Lei is so skilled that it will be easier for him to build another machine like this next time, don¡¯t you think?¡±
Another engineer said, ¡°Yes, and he has his ownpany which does processing and manufacturing too. He can make athe like this - won¡¯t he make some for hispany in order to increase the output of Thunder Horse Manufacturing?¡±
Yet another engineer said, ¡±If he builds machines like this in batches and sells them to otherpanies, which of us has ownership of the intellectual property rights? Our agreement with him is for property rights, and we can im that China Industrial Group built this intelligentthe. Now if Xia Lei¡¯s Thunder Horse Manufacturing manufactures intelligentthes like these inrge volumes, how do we fight thiswsuit?¡±
The group of engineers buzzed with conversation; testing the machine had be a discussion on rights.
Fighting over intellectual property rights of something that was stolen?
Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°You guys mean we should not let Xia Lei build athe like this in the future? And not let hispany use it?¡±
The group of engineers looked at each other in shame. Something like this made them feel ashamed and without honour just discussing it here, let alone negotiating with Xia Lei. it was like hitting the person who dug the well after drinking water from the well and they, the water-drinkers, were here discussing how they could chase the well-digger into the desert. This thick-skinned brazenness was thicker than the city walls.
¡°Elder Mu, we know this request is excessive and cannot be seen as reasonable but... In our China Industrial Group¡¯s interests, and... Um, we need to have a good talk with Xia Lei,¡± said an engineer.
Mu Jian-Feng was silent for a bit but he nodded in the end. He was the leader of China Industrial Group and had to consider the interests of thepany. He had the same feelings about the matter and a request like this was difficult to make to Xia Lei but when considering the interests of China Industrial Group and other factors beneficial to them, he had to be thick-skinned and negotiate with Xia Lei.
¡°You guys test the machine some more; I¡¯ll go talk with Xia Lei.¡± Mu Jian-Feng walked out of Xia Lei¡¯s workshop with that sentence.
Zhou Wei followed. ¡°Boss Mu, I¡¯ll go with you. Xia Lei is an excellent negotiator.¡±
¡°No need, just myself is enough,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
He went up to Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s office building alone.
In the office, Xia Lei was half-lying on the sofa, enjoying a massage from Liang Si-Yao. She stood behind the sofa, leaning slightly forward with both hands in fists, gently pummelling his shoulders. This wasn¡¯t a head massage but Xia Lei could feel the interesting sensation of one - that was, if she wasn¡¯t careful, the softest part of her upper body could press on his head.
He did not have a reaction this time because he was just too tired. The often rebellious eye was also well-behaved and kept itself hidden.
¡°Do you have ns for a holiday after working hard for so long?¡± Liang Si-Yao moved her hands to Xia Lei¡¯s neck and kneaded gently.
Xia Lei was sofortable that he didn¡¯t open his eyes. ¡°Holiday ns? No.¡±
¡°You should go on one and give yourself some time to rx. Your career is important but you are more important,¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°Go on holiday. Go anywhere in the world, see the sights, don¡¯t do anything - simply rx. I¡¯ll look after thepany for you so you don¡¯t have to worry.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you want to go?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Do you want me to go?¡± Liang Si-Yao added, ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll go with you and Qin Xiang will watch over thepany. He should be fine for 10 to 14 days.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°So it¡¯s you who wants a holiday, hm?¡±
Liang Si-Yao reached out a hand and flicked Xia Lei¡¯s ear, then spoke in a cute, huffy voice, ¡°It¡¯s in your best interests - how did it be me wanting to go on holiday? I¡¯ve been to many ces in the years I was abroad. I don¡¯t care so much about a holiday. I¡¯m just worried that you¡¯ll be bored alone so I said I¡¯d apany you. You¡¯re disregarding my kindness.¡±
Xia Lei was in a good mood. He could imagine himself on holiday with Liang Si-Yao - slow walks on the beach, being pushed along by waves in the sea, enjoying the view from mountaintops, hotel... His fantasies stopped at the thought of a hotel. He was unwed and so was she; he had no girlfriend and she had no boyfriend. What did it mean if he brought her abroad on holiday for 10 to 14 days?
This seemed to be a signal for him to keep himself in check and the atmosphere in the office became one of uncertainty.
As Xia Lei mulled over his thoughts, Liang Si-Yao gradually moved closer to him. Her bountiful bosom descended like two roly-poly parachuters from the sky onto Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Xia Lei was instantly nervous and the suppressed wild beast in him received a prodding. Thoughts shed in his head, ¡®What is she doing? Is she hinting something? What should I do? Kiss her? Should I kiss her? Will we be lovers if I kiss her?¡¯
People who had never been in a rtionship were like this - his way of thinking was sometimes even more childish than a junior high school student with dating experience.
Xia Lei could not see it but behind him, Liang Si-Yao was nervous and red-faced. She was ring at his head in resentment as she clenched her teeth to keep herself from braining him with a rock. She was already making it so obvious and here he was, sitting on the sofa like a blockhead. Did he have rocks for brains?
In the time of the two young people¡¯s heart-thumping uncertainty and nervousness appeared Mu Jian-Feng in the doorway.
Liang Si-Yao snapped her body straight. Xia Lei shot up from the sofa like a bullet.
¡°Uh, I¡¯m not disturbing you, am I?¡± Mu Jian-Feng had a faintughing expression on his face.
¡°No, not at all.¡± Xia Lei was flustered. ¡°Please, have a seat, Elder Mu.¡±
Liang Si-Yao quickly moved his attention somewhere else. ¡°I¡¯ll make you a cup of tea, Boss Mu.¡±
¡°No need for tea. Could I speak to Xia Lei in private, just us two?¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
¡°No problem, take your time.¡± Liang Si-Yao left the office and closed the door on her way out.
¡°Xia Lei, I know you trust Miss Liang but I have to do this considering China Industrial Group¡¯s honour, and our interests. Please excuse me if it seems rude,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°When did you be so polite with me, Elder Mu?¡±
Mu Jian-Feng sat on the sofa opposite Xia Lei. ¡°I have to be polite when I have a favour to ask of you.¡±
Xia Lei paused, thenughed. ¡°Have your people tested the machine, Elder Mu? Were there any problems?¡±
Mu Jian-Feng alsoughed. ¡°No problem at all; it¡¯s perfect.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good... I was worried that there was some slip-up.¡±
¡°You¡¯re just keeping a card up your sleeve. You didn¡¯t even stay in the workshop earlier because you knew that there were no problems with your machine and wasn¡¯t afraid to let anyone test it.¡±
¡°Heh heh, so does this mean I¡¯ll get the rest of my contracted amount soon?¡±
Mu Jian-Feng spoke lightly, ¡°Money is no object. I can give it to you whenever you want.¡±
Tens of millions were peanuts to a great entity like China Industrial Group - there was no pressure.
¡°Thank you. It¡¯s a pleasure to work with you, Elder Mu,¡± said Xia Lei. He could tell that Mu Jian-Feng had not yet said what he wanted.
Mu Jian-Feng was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°Xia Lei, there¡¯s something that¡¯s not easy for me to say but this old man here is going to be a little shameless and talk about it with you.¡±
¡°Please go ahead, Elder Mu.¡±
¡°It¡¯s like this - we bought your intelligentthe with 88,000,000 and what we want is full intellectual property rights. In other words, we¡¯re patenting it. Only China Industrial Group can build or sell intelligentthes like this in the future and you can¡¯t. Thunder Horse Manufacturing can¡¯t either. You understand what I mean?¡± It was difficult to begin to speak about it but Mu Jian-Feng said it all in one go with no stops. It was obvious that he had pondered over what to say to Xia Lei on his way to the office building.
Xia Lei reacted calmly. He was quiet for a few seconds before he said, ¡°Elder Mu, this is not very moral of you.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s face darkened by a shade and he gave two dryughs. ¡°I know, but we represent our country¡¯s military manufacturing. There may be some immoral things but it is necessary from a long-term perspective.¡±
¡°Um... Can I not agree to it?¡±
¡°You must.¡± Mu Jian-Feng spoke evenly but there was an air of great oppression.
Resist? There was no thinking of it. This old man before him could stomp a person like Ning Yuan-Shan t with just a word, let alone a smallpany boss like himself. His status as a consultant for Bureau 101 could be used to scare those of Xu Lang or Ren Wen-Qiang¡¯s level but it would be like throwing an egg at a rock if he tried to use it to scare Mu Jian-Feng.
Mu Jian-Feng let out a sigh. ¡°Xia Lei, I hope you understand. This concerns the betterment of the nation and her citizens.¡±
¡°Elder Mu, do you know that this type ofthe is currently the most advanced in the world?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know. You don¡¯t have to say it.¡±
¡°Then do you know how I obtained it?¡±
Mu Jian-Feng looked at Xia Lei, then shook his head.
¡°It was stolen from the most advanced country in the industry - Germany. I nearly died there.¡±
¡°I am thankful for your contribution to the nation,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You took the drawings and CNC program I brought back but were still unable to build the machine. I built it but now you aren¡¯t going to let me build a second or let mypany use it. Things like this won¡¯t be epted no matter which country you are in, right?¡±
¡°I know this is unfair to you but it has to be like this,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
¡°Fine. I¡¯m not rigidly set in my way of thinking. I know what it means to you guys and I know what it means to the nation. I can agree to it but you have to show your sincerity too.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°Elder Mu, you won¡¯t just say a line of thanks to solve this issue, will you? You see it too - I have over a hundred people who depend on me to fill their rice-bowls.¡±
¡°Name a price.¡± Mu Jian-Feng was to the point.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°I¡¯m not greedy. 200,000,000, excluding the amount already owed. Additionally, I will not personally build athe like this nor sell it but mypany¡¯s manufacturing capabilities have to be upgraded. Give me two intelligentthes like this in three months, either as a purchase or as a gift.¡±
Mu Jian-Fengughed. ¡°Xia Lei, you little punk, you. Sure you¡¯re not being greedy?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Athe like this is the most advanced in the world. You cannot buy it with money. If I walk out of here to any manufacturingpany, build one and ask for a few tens of millions, they wouldn¡¯t make a peep while paying me. If mypany produced thisthe inrge batches it¡¯ll be no problem to dominate the Asian market, let alone the European and American markets. Would I make just 200,000,000 then? I would be able to make ten, a hundred times more.¡±
¡°This sort of technology is forbidden for public sale in Europe and America - here, too. The circumstances under which you obtained it is unusual so there is even more reason not to unt it. In actual fact, we will use it secretly in our military defence manufacturing or in science and technology research. We will not mass-produce or sell to the public.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I understand the reasoning behind some of that too but my conscience tells me that my request is not in the least excessive.¡±
¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Mu Jian-Fengughed. ¡°Deal.¡±
Xia Lei alsoughed. ¡°Deal.¡±
¡°However, you have to sign a lot of things, including confidential documents and your personal guarantee. If you do sell drawings or CNC programs ofthes like this in the future it will be equal to selling state secrets. The deal is going to be something like this; I¡¯m warning you in advance. Additionally, we will gift you the parts of twothes and you have to assemble it yourself. However, you have to protect its secrets too and guarantee that you will never reveal it on top of fending off theft by the enemy. Can you do it?¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brow. He wanted to use intelligentthes to upgrade the manufacturing capabilities of Thunder Horse Manufacturing but it looked like he had grabbed a too-hot sweet potato by the hand. China Industrial Group had its own security systems in ce while Thunder Horse Manufacturing had a few security guards. It¡¯d be a miracle if the few personnel he had would be able to protect it from spies sent by enemies with designs on thethe.
¡°What I rmend is you give up on having an intelligentthe like this. We will upgrade Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s standards and manufacturing power,¡± said Mu Jian-Feng, ¡°We are the strongest leader in the Chinese manufacturing industry. Do you think we¡¯ll have a problem upgrading your littlepany? Besides, you¡¯re a small civilianpany - what do you need an intelligentthe for? You¡¯re manufacturing shopping trolleys and selfie sticks now. What do you need such high precision for?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Okay, 200,000,000 and you upgrade mypany. I won¡¯t even touchthes like this in the future; it it wholly yours.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng stood and reached out a hand.
Xia Lei stretched out two hands and held his. ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s lips. ¡°To a happy coboration.¡±
Both of them knew, however, that this was theirst time working together.
Chapter 161 - New Recruitment Strategy
Xia Lei sold all the rights for the intelligentthe he had brought back from Germany for 200,000,000 plus the previous 88,000,000. He would not build or give to anyone any drawings or rted machine information from then on. However, he had not just simply stolen Josef¡¯s design ns in Germany - he had ¡®seen¡¯ many things in his time there and also learnt quite a bit. All these could not be bought.
Though China Industrial Group had bought all rights to Josef¡¯s intelligentthe, they could not buy the information in Xia Lei¡¯s head. He could create the most suitable and most advancedthe for Thunder Horse Manufacturing in a year and a half. This was why he had agreed quickly when Mu Jian-Feng gave the offer to buy.
The transaction was done on the day itself and China Industrial Group paid 200,000,000 in cash to Xia Lei, tax free. Additionally, China Industrial Group would provide Thunder Horse Manufacturing with 20 different machines;thes, drilling machine, milling machines and so on, all of the most advanced range avable in China. They would also build arger integrated workshop for Thunder Horse Manufacturing. The total cost of all of these was about 5,000,000. It did not seem all that much but the equipment provided by China Industrial Group would be installed and set up by their own employees - something very much appreciated by the short-staffed Thunder Horse Manufacturing employees.
In the afternoon of that day, the intelligentthe was transported away on arge truck by China Industrial Group. Xia Lei¡¯s personal workshop had been torn open to allow thethe to be taken out of it as the doorway was too small. The machine was covered by thick tarpaulin covers when they were transporting it away and it looked fairly mysterious.
Mu Jian-Feng and his group left with the big truck and even rejected Xia Lei¡¯s invitation to dinner.
After sending Mu Jian-Feng and his group off, Xia Lei made an announcement. All the employees of Thunder Horse Manufacturing were getting a bonus of 10,000. The Workshop Directors Zhou Xiao-Hong, Yang Ben-Cai and Liu Xue-Bing got 30,000. Staff of the R&D department got 10,000 while Han Bo and Yin Hao got 30,000. Guan Ling-Shan from the financial department also got 30,000 while the staff got 10,000, as did the staff of the sales department.
Over a million was spent on this bonus. Thunder Horse Manufacturing had made only 2,000,000 during this period of time so it was like all the profit had gone back to the employees. The insurances of the workers had to be paid too, meaning Thunder Horse Manufacturing had not actually made any profit at all.
Right after Xia Lei made the announcement, Liang Si-Yao pulled him aside and whispered in his ear, ¡°Why are you giving the employees suchrge bonuses? This isn¡¯t even the end of the year - you¡¯ve distributed all the money we¡¯ve made so far. The end of the year is approaching so we must give them those year-end bonuses. It won¡¯t be less than what you¡¯re giving out now, right? Thepany hasn¡¯t even made that much money yet!¡±
Liang Si-Yao was like a housekeeper and her capabilities in this aspect were growing.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Thepany didn¡¯t make that much money but I did. What¡¯s the harm in giving the employees some when I have so much?¡±
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Even so, you can¡¯t just spend it like that.¡±
Xia Lei spoke quietly, ¡°I actually have my own ideas. Thepany is growing and the manufacturing standards and output will be upgraded. We need more manpower. I give them bonuses so people know the employees are treated well and talent will be attracted to us. Don¡¯t you always tell me that talent is the most important thing in the 21st century? As long as we gather talented people we won¡¯t have to worry about ourpany¡¯s growth.¡±
¡°But no one knows except ourselves! What, are you going to make a television advertisement to tell others how much you gave out in bonuses today?¡± Liang Si-Yao could not dispel her misgivings - it was over a million yuan! Furthermore, the end of the year was approaching and they¡¯d have to spend a lot on the bonus then too. Her heart ached at the loss.
¡°I have a better method than advertisements,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What method?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked curiously at Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯ll see.¡± Xia Lei walked to the front of the gathered employees and said loudly, ¡°Thepany is expanding. You are recent graduates from universities and technical schools - go back and contact your ssmates. Our doors are open for those willing toe to us.¡±
¡°Chairman Xia, many of my Brothers have gone to work in otherpanies. If they want toe here, can they get the insurance they bought there transferred?¡± asked a technical school graduate employee.
¡°If theye to us, we will cover their insurances and buy ones of the same standard as you have with us. The social security ounts are now unified across China so the procedures are simple.¡±
¡°Heh heh, I¡¯ll contact them when I go back. They are quite skilled but the otherpanies don¡¯t pay them as well; they earn much less than I do.¡± The employee seemed quite smug.
Another technical university graduate spoke up, ¡°Chairman Xia, I have some ssmates who haven¡¯t found jobs yet because they have high requirements. Will you take them too?¡±
¡°Tell them that young people should not be too proud to take a low post when they are not good enough for a high one. I shall reward them appropriately if they truly have the skills but as neers they shall be treated the same as everyone else.¡±
¡°Yep! They¡¯ll surely agree.¡± The technical university graduate smiled and said, ¡°Who wouldn¡¯t want to follow Chairman Xia when he is such a good boss? They¡¯ll surelye when I tell them about you!¡±
Xia Lei chatted andughed with the employees. The recruitment problem was solved.
Liang Si-Yao was scolding Xia Lei for not watching his spending earlier but she smiled now and secretly admired his recruitment strategy. These young workers had ssmates and were knowledgeable and skilled. If they go contact their friends and those friends knew of the benefits at Thunder Horse Manufacturing, would they still note?
¡°Okay, so that¡¯s it.¡± Xia Lei concluded. ¡°Go contact your ssmates. I¡¯ll also state that you will get a reward of 1,000 if you rmend someone and that person signs the contact with ourpany.¡±
There was a buzz as they employees from technical schools and universities pulled out their mobile phones and started calling their old ssmates, afraid that someone else would get to them first.
Liang Si-Yao quietly gave Xia Lei a punch. ¡°I¡¯ve really underestimated you. How do you have so many good ideas in that head of yours?¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ve never made so much money in my life. Let¡¯s find a good restaurant and have a good meal to celebrate, yeah?¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Liang Si-Yao agreed without a second thought.
¡°Oh, let¡¯s call Master toe too,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao pursed her petite lips. She did not say anything but she was dissatisfied and thought, ¡®This blockhead! Why is he taking Dad? Doesn¡¯t he know what a ¡°two-person world¡± is?¡¯
At that moment, a male voice suddenly came from the entrance of his factory. ¡°Xia Lei.¡±
Xia Lei turned and saw Hu Hou. He hade alone and his car was parked by the entrance.
Xia Lei went to him in wee and smiled as he said, ¡°Mayor Hu, wee, wee. Come up to my office for a chat.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t be going up to the office. I came to ask you about something,¡± said Hu Hou.
¡°What is it, Mayor Hu?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have anything going on here right now?¡±
¡°I just had a meeting with my employees. I don¡¯t have anything on now.¡±
Hu Hou smiled. ¡°Looks like I came at the right time. Okay, pleasee with me. We¡¯ll talk on the way there.¡±
¡°What is this about, Mayor Hu?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
¡°Something good, of course. How can it be bad? Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go.¡± Hu Hou pulled Xia Lei along with him.
Xia Lei looked back at Liang Si-Yao helplessly.
¡°Go, go.¡± Liang Si-Yao was understanding.
Xia Lei got into Hu Hou¡¯s Buick and he drove towards the city government building.
He¡¯d said that he would tell Xia Lei on the way there but he kept his mouth closed, even after two kilometres and had not said anything. Xia Lei could not hold himself back any longer and asked tentatively, ¡°Mayor Hu, didn¡¯t you say you¡¯d tell me on the way? Please tell me what¡¯s going on. This is nerve-wrecking.¡±
Hu Hou spoke only then. ¡°It¡¯s like this - the economic environment is not good right now and is in recession, especially the manufacturing industry. The situation is worrying. The Hai-Zhu government is preparing to host a ¡®Revitalizing the Economy¡¯ banquet. The people participating are all the CEOs of variouspanies in Hai-Zhu City. You are one of our important guests.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Hu Hou and suddenlyughed. ¡°Your secretary must have forgot to put my name in the invitation list, huh? You found out and came to get me.¡±
A banquet like this with guests who were CEOs must have had invitations sent out even earlier than the day before. However, Hu Hou hade to him in a hurry to get him at a time very close to the banquet - if this wasn¡¯t because someone had forgot, then what?
Hu Hou smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°You can tell with just one look? You¡¯re no simple man, are you? You¡¯re right. I did not see your name when I was doing a final check of the name-tags on the tables. I only knew you¡¯d been left out when I checked the name-list. I¡¯d told my secretary but he still forgot you. I reprimanded him rather badly over this.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s all right, Mayor Hu. I¡¯m chuffed that you¡¯ve personallye to get me, haha.¡±
¡°I feel better if you think that way.¡± Hu Hou kept driving and was silent for a bit before he spoke again, ¡°One more thing. I want your view on something.¡±
¡°Feel free to speak, Mayor Hu.¡± Xia Lei had always had a good impression of Hu Hou and he didn¡¯t feel ill at ease when with a mayor like him.
¡°Do you want yourpany listed?¡± said Hu Hou suddenly.
¡°Listed?¡± Xia Lei paused. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought of it. Thepany is small and still just taking off - how can it qualify to be listed?¡±
¡°The scale of your business is no problem. Its profitability is also fine. It won¡¯t be a problem to get you listed on the Growth Enterprises Market Board. I can help you if you want to get listed,¡± said Hu Hou.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°This is no small matter. I¡¯ll have to consider it carefully before I give you a reply.¡±
¡°Of course. I will not push you. Give me a reply when you¡¯ve thought it over,¡± said Hu Hou.
Xia Lei nodded but worried to himself in his head, ¡®What the heck, why does he want me to get listed? Companies get listed for one goal and that is financing; using the money of investors to develop thepany. I don¡¯tck money so I¡¯m not going to get unnecessary investors. If rivalpanies attack my stocks I¡¯ll end up with a whole load of trouble even before I reap any benefits.¡±
He¡¯d said that he needed time to think about it but Xia Lei had more or less decided in the two minutes after he shut his mouth - Why get listed when he had nock of funds?
There were more than enough examples of profitablepanies which do not get listed in China. The most well-known was Huawei, followed by Old Godmother and so on. There was noparing Thunder Horse Manufacturing to these giants but there really was no need at all to get listed.
Chapter 162 - Gu Siblings and the Shentu Queen
The banquet was being held at Golden Kaidi Hotel and had two parts; a dinner and evening party. Hu Hou had wanted to have it in the government auditorium so as not to appear wasteful to the public but Shentu Tian-Yin had offered to cover all expenses. There was no refusing her offer, and so the banquet was held at Golden Kaidi Hotel. This hotel was also one of the subsidiaries of Vientiane Group - it was like Shentu Tian-Yin inviting the important people of Hai-Zhu for a free gathering.
The calcted costs of the banquet was a million yuan. Xia Lei had to consider some factors before giving a bonus and get scolded by ¡®housekeeper¡¯ Liang Si-Yao but Shentu Tian-Yin had spent it just like that to treat people to a meal and have a chat. They were levels apart.
Hu Hou told him of these on their way there.
Inside the venue, Xia Lei said, ¡°Mayor Hu, I am more than honoured that you¡¯vee to fetch me yourself. You must be very busy at this banquet so there¡¯s no need to apany me. Please, go about your business.¡±
¡°I do have a lot to do. I won¡¯t be apanying you, then. I¡¯ll look for you when I¡¯m less busy,¡± said Hu Hou modestly.
After Hu Hou went off, Xia Lei found himself a seat in a corner and sat down to watch the situation in the dining hall quietly. There were already quite a few guests in the dining hall, all dressed to the nines and of good bearing. Some sat silently while some made quiet conversation. There were over a hundred guests in the huge dining hall but it was rather quiet.
Xia Lei scanned the area and his gaze stopped on the area close to the stage. He¡¯d spotted Shentu Tian-Yin and next to her was Gu Ke-Wen. Shentu Tian-Yin was dressed in a long ck strapless dress. Her head of fine ck hair was pulled into a flowerbud hairstyle with a purple silk flower inserted into it; stylish, cool, elegant and noble. Next to her, Gu Ke-Wen was dressed in a red low-cut evening dress with an expensive diamond-studded ne around her neck. The diamonds sparkled under the light, drawing attention to the area of white skin beneath it and that deep V-shaped groove. Her sexiness was fairly different from Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s. Gu Ke-Wen was like a rose in the royal garden while Shentu Tian-Yin was a tulip at the base of an iceberg, blooming next to a bubbling stream.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Gu Ke-Wen were women of the same rank but they werepletely different. Shentu Tian-Yin was three points ahead in bearing but when it came to womanly wiles and sexiness, she lost to Gu Ke-Wen by two points.
What Xia Lei found strange at seeing Shentu Tian-Yin again was that he would have a feeling of wanting to woo her and to be with her in the past. This feeling had disappeared now, however. He could admire her unearthly beauty but also feel her coldness and aloofness at the same time.
At that moment, a young man in a white suit walked up to Shentu Tian-Yin and Gu Ke-Wen, then sat on the other side of Shentu Tian-Yin. Shentu Tian-Yin did not seem repulsed by the young man and even greeted him.
This young man was tall, lean and handsome; he was not any less attractive than a beautiful male South-Korean celebrity. A man like this would garner a whole lot of fans anywhere, be it a venue like this or a in a marketce selling pork.
Who was he? Xia Lei was struck by a thought and his left eye twitched, locking on to the trio. Coincidentally, Gu Ke-Wen greeted the young man at this point.
¡°Why have youe only now, Big Brother?¡± Gu Ke-Wen had a sweet smile on her face.
Xia Lei found out the young man¡¯s identity - Gu Ke-Wu
Gu Ke-Wu smiled faintly. ¡°Do you think I have that much free time on my hands? I had something to take care of at thepany so I¡¯mte. I¡¯d have pushed it to tomorrow if I¡¯d known that Tian-Yin was here too.¡±
His words were nice but Shentu Tian-Yin just listened and didn¡¯t even give him a polite smile.
¡°Oh, right, Tian-Yin, I¡¯m thinking of starting a charitable fund for the care of left-behind children. Will you be interested in participating?¡± Gu Ke-Wu did not mind Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s coldness and he seemed to have a lot of topics to draw her into.
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke then, perhaps to not appear rude. ¡°Thank you, but our Vientiane Group has its own charitable funds. We are also supporting the care of left-behind children.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu just smiled faintly. He did not seem bothered at all about her coldness to him.
¡°Why are you talking about work again, Big Brother? Big Sister Tian-Yin has worked the whole day - she must want to rx right now. Aren¡¯t you just making her upset on purpose?¡± Gu Ke-Wen winked at Gu Ke-Wu, as if to give her brother pointers on how to keep on the good side of an ice-queen like Shentu Tian-Yin.
Gu Ke-Wu got the hint and he chuckled. ¡°Please excuse me, I am not well-versed in the ways of great minds like yours but I shall learn.¡±
Xia Lei felt the skin on his back crawl in disgust. Gu Ke-Wu had both looks and status so there was no shortage of women around him - how could he not know how women think? He could fool a young teenage girl with those words but it was naive to think that it would work on Shentu Tian-Yin.
The Gu n had risen from the underworld and was still connected to the underworld. No person of the Gu n was free of bloodshed. Gu Ke-Wen was already extremely sly and venomous, let alone the future head of the Gu n, Gu Ke-Wu. What sort of person was he? Xia Lei was full of conjectures about him.
¡°Ke-Wen, there must be a line of girls a few kilometres long who want to get close to a person such as your brother. You have to keep him in check or you¡¯ll end up with a sister-inw who is mean to you,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Gu Ke-Wen smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve long had someone in mind, Big Sister Tian-Yin. You just don¡¯t know who.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin seemed to know who she was talking about and her brows wrinkled.
At that moment, an elderly gentleman walked into the dining hall from the work area and scanned the area before walking towards Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei recognised him at once - it was the butler of the Shentu n, Fu Chuan-Fu. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s gaze shifted over just then and her gaze met Xia Lei¡¯s. She paused, but did not shift her gaze away.
Xia Lei smiled politely. They were too far apart for him to greet her.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not react; she just stared at Xia Lei.
Fu Chuan-Fu walked to Shentu Tian-Yin and whispered something in her ear. He¡¯d covered his mouth so Xia Lei could not see his lips and was unable to lip-read.
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded, then raised a hand to point at Xia Lei.
Fu Chuan-Fu nced over and started walking towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave an internal groan at the iing troublesome thing but put a smile on his face. He waited for Fu Chuan-Fu toe close before greeting him politely. ¡°Long time no see, Elder Fu. You are as spritely as ever.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± Fu Chuan-Fu was also very polite, ¡°Our Lady invites you to sit with her.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, but refused. ¡°I thank Miss Shentu for her kindness but I will not be going over. I¡¯m quite fine here.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°Mr Xia, you are the fifth person our Lady has personally invited this year. Are you not going to honour her request?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Please.¡± Fu Chuan-Fu bent at the waist in an even more respectful manner.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and got up to walk to Shentu Tian-Yin. He was not trying to put on airs but to avoid sitting at the same table at Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu. He, however, was not going to exin something like that to the butler of the Shentu n.
Gu Ke-Wen saw Xia Lei too and the smile she had on her face disappeared when she saw him. A sh of venom appeared in herrge, bright eyes.
Gu Ke-Wu also looked at Xia Lei. His reaction was theplete opposite of Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s and he maintained a friendly smile. He gave a nodding greeting to Xia Lei before Xia Lei greeted him.
There was no way Gu Ke-Wu did not know Xia Lei¡¯s identity from the incident with Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company though he was not a participant in it. He gave the impression that he had no clue who Xia Lei was and was amiable towards him with no hint of malice.
The more normally Gu Ke-Wu acted, the more Xia Lei felt as if he was keeping his true face hidden. He was someone who hid knives behind a smile and a dangerous person.
¡°Mr Xia, please sit,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Thank you. Hello.¡± Xia Lei greeted them politely and sat opposite, as far as he could from the three of them.
¡°Mr Xia? Oh!¡± Gu Ke-Wu smiled. ¡°I remember now. Hai-Zhu City has a promising young entrepreneur named Xia Lei. I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s you?¡±
He obviously knew and was aware of details too but chose to disy such an attitude - this Gu Ke-Wu was a hard one to grasp.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Just some small business. It¡¯s nothing much.¡±
¡°Come, let¡¯s get to know one another and be friends.¡± Gu Ke-Wu stood and stretched out a hand.
Xia Lei stood as well and shook hands with Gu Ke-Wu. ¡°Hello, hello, it¡¯s an honour to meet you... What is your name and title?¡±
Xia Lei had to pretend too.
¡°I have no title. I¡¯m surnamed Gu; Gu Ke-Wu,¡± he said with a smile.
The two men shook and seated themselves. They didn¡¯t exchange further words.
Gu Ke-Wen piped up, ¡°Big Brother, you must not underestimate this Mr Xia. He¡¯s quite impressive. He was just a construction worker half a year ago but he now has his ownpany. I nearly lost to himst time too.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s advancement could be described as a miracle. He was quite impressive and worthy of praise by anyone but Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s words of praise carried undertones of taunting contempt. A small business owner who¡¯d started as a construction worker - how could he be worthy enough to sit at the same table as the head of Vientaine Group and two leaders of North Group?
Xia Lei did not respond to those veiled words but Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. ¡°Ke-Wen, I do not approve of your words. The emperor of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, was aid-back farmer before he became emperor. Our Shentu n and your Gu n were also just normal households in the beginning. We are only at where we are today because of our past hard work and reforms, aren¡¯t we? Our ancestors back then just needed a head for business to do well but it is different now. Mr Xia was able to raise hispany from nothing to the state it is in now - I dare say that no one else in China canpare to him.¡±
Her words made Xia Lei feel quite good about himself and he smiled. ¡°You¡¯re too kind. Thank you.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen giggled. ¡°I¡¯m just kidding, Big Sister Tian-Yin. You don¡¯t have to take it seriously.¡±
Chapter 163 - A High School Graduate Dares Impersonate a Professional?
Gu Ke-Wu expressed interest after Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s praise. He took out a name card and handed it to Xia Lei with both hands. ¡°Mr Xia, this is my name card. It has my phone number on it. Let¡¯s have tea when you have time. Oh, you can look for me about business matters too. I¡¯m willing to work with an outstanding entrepreneur like yourself.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Let got up as well and used both hands to receive his name card. He knew though that this was just an act in front of Shentu Tian-Yin.
Gu Ke-Wu would never be his friend for no other reason than that he had destroyed a loyal dog of the Gu n, Huang Yi-Hu.
He, however, handed his name card to him graciously. If Xia Lei refused his name card, he would appear graceless.
Xia Lei looked at the title on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s namecard - Vice Chairman of North Group.
¡°Mr Xia, it looks like it was not a mistake to invite you over. Look, you¡¯ve made a friend so quickly.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was soft but clear, ¡°This was not my aim, however. I invited you over to talk about Ning Yuan-Shan.¡±
Several thoughts shed through Xia Lei¡¯s mind at that sentence.
¡°You know that we, the Vientaine Group, are working on the wind-power project with Far East Heavy Industries. They were supposed to provide the equipment but with Ning Yuan-Shan under arrest, Far East Heavy Industries is without a leader and we have been affected as well. We were waiting on thest shipment of equipment when this happened. There is no way they can get the goods to us in time now. I am troubled by this matter - you are a professional in this field; is there something you may suggest?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei with expectant eyes.
Xia Lei was there when Ning Yuan-Shan had been arrested and even beat up Ren Wen-Qiang. How could Shentu Tian-Yin be unaware of this with her informationwork? She did not mention that Ning Yuan-Shan¡¯s arrest had to do with him but he knew that she knew some of the truth and had chosen not to speak of it.
Xia Lei thought for a bit before he said, ¡°Miss Shentu, I don¡¯t know the details of the situation so I cannot simply give you suggestions. If it¡¯s permissible, perhaps you could furnish me with more details? I may be able to give you a suggestion then.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin was silent, then she nodded. ¡°This is not the ce to talk. Let¡¯s schedule something tomorrow.¡±
Xia Lei smiled in agreement.
Gu Ke-Wen made a contemptuous sound with her nose. ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, you have a pool of talent in Vientaine Group - do you really need Mr Xia¡¯s opinion?¡±
¡°You say this because you don¡¯t really know Mr Xia. He is the best in the country. We have several talents in our Vientiane Group but those we have in the same field as Mr Xia cannot bepared to him. What is so wrong about me asking Mr Xia for his opinion?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin was dissatisfied with Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s barbs and her tone became a shade more unpleasant.
Gu Ke-Wen was about to say more but Gu Ke-Wu red at her and she shut her mouth.
Gu Ke-Wuughed. ¡°So this means that it is an honour to meet you, Mr Xia. We must have some drinks togetherter.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Mr Gu, you¡¯re too kind. The honoured one is me.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be so formal then, you two,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Just then, a paunchy man brought a blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner to the table. This man looked to be in his early fifties and was wearing a loose-fitting suit and a friendly smile. The foreigner next to him was tall and sturdy and gave one the impression of a healthy man.
¡°You¡¯re here, Second Uncle. Take a seat,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Uncle Yi, please sit.¡± Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen also greeted him.
¡°Ke-Wu, Ke-Wen, we all know each other already, no need to be so formal.¡± The man smiled as he spoke and seemed quite rxed about etiquette.
It was Xia Lei¡¯s first time meeting him so he wasn¡¯t sure how to greet him but from Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s greeting, he surmised that this man was Shentu Yi.
¡°Mr Xia, this is my Second Uncle, Shentu Yi.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did the introductions and he was indeed named so.
Xia Lei stood at the introduction and smiled as he said, ¡°Hello, Mr Shentu. I am Xia Lei - nice to meet you.¡±
¡°Xia Lei?¡± Shentu Yi just said those two words, did a perfunctory handshake and was done with him.
Xia Lei awkwardly took his seat again. He saw Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s mouth curl in contempt. She seemed to take joy in seeing him being belittled. Gu Ke-Wu, on the other hand, was calm and he maintained a small smile which made him look poised and elegant.
¡®Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s still a greenhornpared to Gu Ke-Wu,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°Tian-Yin, let me introduce you. This is Mr Konrad, an electrical engineer I¡¯ve hired from Germany. He can help us solve the problems we¡¯ve encountered.¡±
¡°Harlow, Mizz Teen-Yeen. Berry happy meet yew.¡± The German named Konrad stretched out a hand to Shentu Tian-Yin elegantly.
Shentu Tian-Yin paused, then stood and shook hands with Konrad. ¡°Hello, Mr Konrad.¡±
¡°Please have a seat, Mr Konrad.¡± Shentu Yi pulled out a chair for Konrad.
¡°Danks.¡± Konrad¡¯s Chinese was terrible.
Shentu Yi and Konrad seated themselves and Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help making guesses when he looked at Konrad. ¡®What problem prompted Shentu Yi to hire an electrical engineer from Germany? Shentu Tian-Yin also asked to meet me tomorrow to ask my opinion on something - could it be the same problem?¡¯
Xia Lei looked surreptitiously at Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face and saw her brows knit in unhappiness.
Konrad suddenly spoke in German, ¡°Ihre Nichte scheint nicht gl¨¹cklich zu sein.¡±
He said: Your niece does not seem happy.
Shentu Yi hesitated, then nodded.
Xia Lei looked at Shentu Yi and quickly discovered that he had a tiny receiver, smaller than a button, in his ear. His left eye twitched and he saw a small electronic device in his clothing. He was struck by a thought, ¡®This Shentu Yi is weird. He brought a German electrical engineer to a banquet and also equipment that spies or special agents would use. There seems to be someone interpreting for him in real-time too. What is he up to?¡¯
¡°What did he say?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin seemed to sense that Konrad was talking about her and she was displeased.
Shentu Yi shook his head. ¡°Tian-Yin, you know your Second Uncle¡¯s culture. I don¡¯t know any German.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know any German either. It¡¯s not a majornguage so I¡¯ve never thought of picking it up,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
Xia Lei could tell that something was off. ¡®There¡¯s obviously someone interpreting for Shentu Yi in real-time and he can understand Konrad but he said he didn¡¯t know any German. He could be excused for not rying some rudement but Konrad only said something very normal. Why didn¡¯t he trante it for Shentu Tian-Yin?¡¯
Konrad gave augh and spoke very stiffly in Chinese, ¡°Eye say, yew very pretty.¡±
A small smile showed in the corners of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips but she moved her gaze to Xia Lei.
¡®She knows that I know German?¡¯ thought Xia Lei. It would be easy for him to reveal Shentu Yi¡¯s lie; he could just trante what Konrad had said. However, he thought about it and did not do so.
¡°Second Uncle, why didn¡¯t you discuss it with me before hiring an electrical engineer from Germany?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Tian-Yin, you are so busy that I cannot bear to see you so tired. I personally hired Mr Konrad here to help. I did this for Vientaine Group too - you can¡¯t me me for that, can you?¡± said Shentu Yi.
¡°I won¡¯t. But you have to tell me before you do something like this again.¡± Her words carried a threat.
Shentu Yiughed awkwardly. ¡°I will.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen piped up at that moment, ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, Uncle Yi has already hired a German electrical engineer so your problems will definitely be solved now. Looks like you won¡¯t have to ask some local expert for help, right?¡±
No names were mentioned but Xia Lei knew that the ¡®local expert¡¯ she¡¯d referred to was him. Gu Ke-Wen had not let go of a single opportunity to taunt him since he got to the table.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not say anything but Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s words sparked the interest of Shentu Yi. His face darkened as he looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Are you also here to help us solve our problem?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what problem you¡¯ve encountered but I¡¯ve promised Miss Shentu that I¡¯ll give her some suggestions after I¡¯ve gained an understanding of the situation,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re so young - what expert are you?¡± sneered Shentu Yi.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Does this have to do with age?¡±
Shentu Yi spoke aggressively, ¡°China¡¯s manufacturing industry is sluggish now and the academic field is practicing fraud. The whole environment is fickle and impatient. Some punk who has recently graduated from university is impersonating a professional and he is not afraid of being mocked.¡±
¡°University graduate?¡± Gu Ke-Wen giggled. ¡°Uncle Yi, Mr Xia is a high school graduate. He taught himself. He¡¯s much better than those university graduates.¡±
¡°High-school?¡± Shentu Yi suddenlyughed. ¡°Tian Yin, why are you asking a high-school graduate to solve our problems?¡±
Xia Lei stood and said, ¡°Miss Shentu, I¡¯m sorry, it looks like I won¡¯t be able to give you any suggestions. Thank you for inviting me over to your table but I feel like I¡¯d be morefortable if I returned to my original seat.¡±
¡°Sit down,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin. She pointed at Shentu Yi. ¡°You, get out.¡±
Shentu Yi¡¯s smile froze on his face.
Looks of surprise appeared on Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s faces.
Shentu Tian-Yin had actually ordered her own Second Uncle away and not spared his dignity! Something like this was unbelievable to the Gu siblings and Shentu Yi himself could not quite believe it.
¡°Tian-Yin, I...¡± Shentu Yi came to his senses and struggled to control his flushed face.
¡°Need I tell you a second time? Get out,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin tly.
Shentu Yi got to his feet with a crash. He red at Xia Lei, then turned and left.
¡°Abalones.¡± Konrad also stood and left.
Xia Lei paused. He wanted to leave but Shentu Tian-Yin had chased her own uncle away to keep him at the table. How could he just walk off after all that? He looked at Shentu Tian-Yin and forced himself to keep sitting there. He really wanted to smash Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s face with his foot, though.
¡°Honoured guests, let me, on behalf of the Municipal Party Committee and Government of Hai-Zhu City, thank you for your attendance today. We shall enter the conference room for a discussion after dinner. Please speak up and offer your opinions and ideas on how to revitalise the economy in Hai-Zhu City...¡± Hu Hou¡¯s voice echoed in the great hall.
The banquet had begun.
Xia Lei had no appetite.
Chapter 164 - The Queens Story
The discussion was held after the banquet and the whole process was as dry as kindling. The leaders of the corporate and government businesses first gave a talk, followed by some industry representatives. Xia Lei yed mobile games on his phone and read the PDF of ¡®Compendium of Acu-moxibustion¡¯ by Yang Ji-Yuan of the Ming dynasty.
Having settled the matter of the intelligentthe, Xia Lei moved his attentions to the medical field. His first motivation for doing so came from consulting work for Bureau 101. As a consultant for Bureau 101, there was no avoiding the hail of bullets in the future so he would have some additional security with medical skills. He became more fascinated and motivated by this subject after spending more time on it and developing some internal strength in Wing Chun.
No one could understand how he felt because only he could see the human body¡¯s internal organs and circtory system with his own eyes. He understood the human body even more clearly than the most advanced machines in the medical field; he could easily find the root of a patient¡¯s illness. If he grasped the techniques needed, he would be able to be a godly doctor!
His main focus in learning traditional Chinese medicine was acupuncture treatment. He did not go into detailed study of Chinese herbs - he just read ¡®Shennong¡¯s Compendium of Materia Medica¡¯ to give himself an understanding of some herbs and their uses. His n was to get a grasp of acupuncture and moxibustion, then gain knowledge of Western medicine. Western doctors had almost reced traditional Chinese medical masters; it was more suitable for the modern man.
His n was actually simple -bine both Chinese and Western medicine to fuse them into one.
TIme passed more quickly when reading a book; he only realised that the discussion was over when others stood to leave the room. He had gone through the whole discussion in a haze and had no idea what had been discussed.
Xia Lei followed the guests out and left the Golden Kaidi Hotel, then stood by the road to wait for a taxi. He¡¯de by Hu Hou¡¯s car so he had to take a taxi back.
A taxi did note after standing there for a while but a Rolls Royce Phantom did.
The back window of the Rolls Royce Phantom wound down and Shentu Tian-Yin poked her head out. ¡°Please get in, Mr Xia. I¡¯ll send you home.¡±
¡°Thanks.¡± Xia Lei did not stand on ceremony; he opened the door and got into the car.
The person in the driver¡¯s seat was Fu Chuan-Fu. He entered the flow of traffic after Xia Lei got on and went at a speed of 50 km/h. This was obviously so that Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei in the back could have a chance to talk.
¡°Earlier...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin broke the silence, ¡°My Second Uncle was rude. I apologise on his behalf.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s nothing; just a few words. I can take it. You don¡¯t have to apologise on his behalf.¡±
¡°Our first meeting was at Far East Heavy Industries. I heard the engineers there say that your German is very good and that you could read fairly specialised German equipment manuals. Why didn¡¯t you tell me what that German man actually said earlier?¡±
¡°I do know some German, but... That German just said something trivial. It wouldn¡¯t have been nice of me to let everyone know what he said,¡± said Xia Lei somewhat awkwardly.
¡°Can you tell me now, then?¡±
¡°He said ¡®Your niece doesn¡¯t seem happy¡¯.¡± Xia Lei tranted Konrad¡¯s words.
¡°That was indeed a trivial sentence but he covered it up with a lie. Interesting,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin evenly.
¡°Miss Shentu, can I ask if you have a good rtionship with your Second Uncle?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei with curious eyes. ¡°Why do you ask this?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated but still spoke of what had troubled him. ¡°I saw a tiny receiver in your Second Uncle¡¯s ear. There was someone interpreting Konrad¡¯s words for him in real-time. He obviously understood what Konrad said but he said he did not know German. I feel like something¡¯s off.¡±
¡°Are you sure?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not surprised he did this,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Do you know why I was mad at him today?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. He¡¯d found it odd earlier that Shentu Tian-Yin had let an outsider like him stay while she chased Shentu Yi, her Second Uncle, away. Why had she done that? It was not easy to ask her a question like that though.
Shentu Tian-Yin was quiet for a bit before she spoke. ¡°He is the person who most wants to rece me in our Shentu n. The female assassin you discovered when we first met? I suspect that she¡¯s somehow rted to my Second Uncle. I haven¡¯t uncovered any evidence to prove this, unfortunately.¡±
¡°Why do you keep him by your side when you know that he wants you dead? There are so many people in your Shentu n - do they all tolerate his behaviour?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled wryly. ¡°Our situation isplicated. My grandfather has just my father and uncle to seed him. My father suffered a stroke three years ago and has been in a vegetative state since so my grandparents are more partial to my Second Uncle. His son, Shentu Tian-Feng is the direct male descendant of my grandfather and is seen as the one to carry on the family name. My grandparents love him even more. What can I do with him in this situation? Every time I try to move him, my grandparents kick up such a fuss that I can do nothing.¡±
¡°What about your cousins? Don¡¯t they care?¡±
¡°Them? They only care about money. This may beughable but out of all the dozens of people in the Shentu n, I can only trust one - Uncle Fu.¡± The corners of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips were faintly downturned in bitterness.
¡°How about your mother?¡±
¡°My situation is the same as yours. My mother passed away when I was still little. My father never remarried. He sent me to Ennd to study till three years ago, when he suffered a stroke and I returned to take on the mantle of managing Vientaine Group. Since then, my Second Uncle has been agreeing with me overtly but opposing me in secret; he cannot wait for me to die.¡±
¡°With your father in a vegetative state, you are the only one left in your household. If you die, all the businesses will fall to the clutches of your Second Uncle¡¯s family. Of course he¡¯d like you dead. However, he wouldn¡¯t be so stupid as to ce bombs to assassinate you at Far East Heavy Industries, would he? The police would have easily ced suspicion on him if the female assassin seeded.¡±
¡°I thought of that too but I have not found an answer yet,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei had even less of a clue than she did. This was his first time having a deeper conversation with Shentu Tian-Yin but the topic was rather negative and full of conspiracy. He could sense Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bitter loneliness.
The two of them sank into silence and the atmosphere in the car was heavy. Fu Chuan-Fu kept driving forward. A few minutester, Xia Lei suddenly discovered that Fu Chuan-Fu was not bringing him home but to somewhere by the sea.
¡°What is this, Miss Shentu?¡± asked Xia Lei, ¡°Where are you bringing me?¡±
¡°What?¡± A small smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Tian-Yins¡¯s lips. ¡°Afraid that I¡¯d hurt you?¡±
The smile was charming and added an ordinary womanly-ness to her. Xia Lei had never heard her make a joke before and he momentarily forgot how to speak to her.
¡°We are going to General Ind,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°We, the Vientaine Group, have our wind power project on that ind. I shall not bother scheduling something with you tomorrow - we will stay on the ind tonight. You don¡¯t have anything on, do you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You already have everything arranged. How can I have anything on?¡±
¡°Speed up, Uncle Fu. Ming-Mei is waiting for us at the dock. Let¡¯s not make her wait too long; she has a temper,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin to Fu Chuan-Fu.
Fu Chuan-Fu gave a sound of agreement and stepped on the elerator. The Rolls Royce Phantom flew forward.
Xia Lei took out his phone to send Liang Si-Yao a message but Shentu Tian-Yin said, ¡°No.¡±
¡°Why?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°I don¡¯t want people to know that you¡¯re with me or where I am.¡±
Xia Lei put his phone away. ¡°You¡¯re worried about someone gaining an advantage from the knowledge of your whereabouts?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin said nothing but she gave a slight nod.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°You have a tiring life.¡±
Countless people envied her for being the president of Vientaine Group and having a worth of hundreds of billions but who could see the bitter truth behind all that glory? Her own Second Uncle was constantly plotting against her for her assets and Gu Ke-Wu had designs on her. She was just one woman but she had to fend off these wolves while her father was bedridden. She was not happy - not one bit!
Fu Chuan-Fu drove to a fishing vige by the sea about ten minutes after and the three of them alighted. A bodyguard stationed there drove Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s car away. The trio walked to the seaside. After a distance of at least 50 metres, Xia Lei saw a small yacht and a woman on the deck of the yacht. The woman looked about the same age as Shentu Tian-Yin and was dressed in a womens¡¯ suit. She had short hair and looked strong; she looked valiant and formidable.
¡®She should be the ¡°Ming-Mei¡± that Shentu Tian-Yin spoke of,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
The three of them headed to the yacht. ¡°Ming-Mei is Uncle Fu¡¯s daughter. She¡¯d just retired from the Special Forces this year. I got her to work for me.¡±
So she was a retired Special Forces officer - no wonder she had such a valiant air.
Fu Chuan-Fu finally opened his mouth to speak. ¡°Mr Xia, my daughter has a short fuse. Please be lenient when you interact with her. Tell me if she makes any mistakes; I¡¯ll hit her.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Stop joking, Uncle Fu. I¡¯m not that petty.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei jumped from the yacht before the three of them reached it and went up to them. ¡°Who is he, Big Sister Tian-Yin?¡±
¡°Xia Lei, my friend,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Call him ¡®Mr Xia¡¯.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei frowned slightly but she still greeted Xia Lei politely. ¡°Hello, Mr Xia.¡±
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°No need to be so polite, Miss Ming-Mei.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei looked Xia Lei over closely, her eyes alert and wary.
¡°Get aboard. Let¡¯s go,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
A few minutester, Fu Ming-Mei drove the yacht to a small ind not far from the coastline.
Chapter 165 - Lets Date
The ind was shaped like a steamed bun. It was notrge but there were several wind turbines on its beaches. They looked like the windmills in Hond, turning without end in the wind and adding to the beauty of thendscape of the ind.
The ind had only one hill and the Vientaine Group¡¯s wind power nt was at the base of this hill. Entering the nt, Xia Lei saw stack upon stack of wind turbineponents which almost filled the area.
¡°There¡¯s so many parts! I think Far East Heavy Industries did a good job - why do you say that they¡¯d be unable to finish their order?¡± The sight of the wind turbineponents raised a suspicion in Xia Lei that Shentu Tian-Yin had brought him to the ind for something more than an opinion. There might not even be anything having to do with an opinion.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not answer Xia Lei¡¯s question. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I have my quarters on this ind. We shall stay there tonight,¡± she said.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°What the hell¡¯s going on? Please tell me.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled faintly. ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a rush.¡±
Her smile was fresh as a daisy; it was like an answer to all doubts. Xia Lei could ask no further at that smile.
At that moment, Fu Ming-Mei drove up in a sightseeing trolley bus and said, ¡°Get on.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei got on and Fu Ming-Mei drove the small trolley bus to the bun-shaped hill. The road up was steep and the trolley bus went slowly though it was covered in asphalt. Xia Lei sat in the car and looked at the forest on either side of him, mulling over the situation before him - What is this Shentu Tian-Yin thinking of doing?
The bun-shaped hill had arge vi at its peak. It seemed to be the highest point of the ind and had the best lighting and view of the ind. It was also built in the gothic style and looked like a castle from the medieval times. The forest around the castle had been trimmed away and a garden grown on the space cleared. Bright green grass, various flower species and a huge open-air pool decorated the grounds, adding to afortable yet elegant atmosphere.
¡®It¡¯s nice to be rich. This vi must be worth tens of millions. It¡¯ll be nice if I had a vi like this too... Get a beautiful wife, have a son, a daughter... that¡¯ll be nice,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
Liang Si-Yao had popped into his head at the thought of a wife. This thought had also scared him. ¡®Why did I think of her? We¡¯re not even dating - how can we get married and have children?¡¯
He sneaked a nce at Shentu Tian-Yin next to him. He had imagined himself with her more than once in the past - he had even had dreams where they¡¯d had sex. However, these fantasies were fairly toned down now and not as exciting as they¡¯d been. Was this because of Liang Si-Yao?
Love was a strange thing.
Fu Ming-Mei parked the trolley bus in a parking lot then jumped down. ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, I¡¯ll go prepare the room for Mr Xia.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded, then brought Xia Lei into the vi.
The inside of the vi was also done in Gothic style - ssical and stylish. However, there was a lot of cks and greys used in the decor, making the ce look cold and mysterious. This style made Xia Lei think of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s character - she was as mysterious and cold as this vi.
Shentu Tian-Yin led Xia Lei to the second floor and they came to a study. Fu Chuan-Fu fetched them two cups of tea. Xia Lei saw nobody other than Shentu Tian-Yin, Fu Chuan-Fu and Fu Ming-Mei. It seemed that this ce was Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s secret ¡®pce¡¯.
Xia Lei sat on the sofa, sipped his tea and said, ¡°Can you tell me what this is about now?¡± He looked at Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Are you still going to tell me that it¡¯s something to do with the wind power project?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a problem rted to the wind power project. I apologise for lying to you but it was to hide my real intent from others. I have a request to make of you.¡±
¡°What do you want me to help with?¡±
¡°I just need you to help.¡±
Xia Lei paused, thenughed. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what I¡¯ll be doing. How can I help you?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke slowly, ¡°I have been managing Vientaine Group for three years. My grandparents see me as a threat. I understand their viewpoint; they want my Second Uncle¡¯s son, Shentu Tian-Feng to seed Vientaine Group. If he does, the corporation my father built single-handedly would still belong to the Shentu n. I am just one woman and I will have to marry sooner orter. My children will not be named Shentu and Vientaine Group will fall into the hands of an outsider if I marry. The Shentu n also think this way. They do not express this concern but they all worry about it. They are afraid that I will marry and give birth to a sessor who is not a Shentu.¡±
¡°Your grandparents are too old-fashioned. Aren¡¯t all grandchildren the same? Besides, your father single-handedly built Vientaine Group - what does it have to do with them? Isn¡¯t their life of luxury thanks to your father¡¯s kindness? Your father is paralysed and instead of paying him back they are devising ways to undermine you and take away what is rightfully yours. They¡¯re too much.¡± Xia Lei was outraged on her behalf.
Shentu Tian-Yinughed bitterly. ¡°So you get it now. Our Shentu n number in the tens but the only ones I can truly trust are Uncle Fu and Ming-Mei, and they are not Shentu.¡±
¡°Thank you for telling me all these. This means you see me as a friend and trust me. What I still don¡¯t understand is what you want me to help you with,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ve already made it clear. You¡¯re smart - can¡¯t you guess?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin stared steadily at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked wordlessly at Shentu Tian-Yin. How could someone guess something like this?
¡°Can¡¯t guess?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin seemed slightly disappointed.
Xia Lei shook his head firmly. However, he felt that one-on-one interaction with Shentu Tian-Yin was not as dry as he¡¯d thought. She also had interesting factors.
Shentu Tian-Yin sighed. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll cut to the chase. Date me.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei made a sound.
¡°You ept?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin seemed surprised.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. ¡°Hold on... What did you say?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s date.¡±
Xia Lei heard it clearly the second time and understood what help Shentu Tian-Yin wanted. His jaw dropped to the floor. He¡¯d never imagined that after all that beating about the bush that the help Shentu Tian-Yin was seeking was this sort of help!
Shentu Tian-Yin watched Xia Lei silently. ¡°There are too few people who I trust but I knew you were a good person and that I could trust you the first time I met you. Do you still remember the circumstances under which we met? I would¡¯ve been sted to smithereens if it were not for you. If others did what you did they would want some sort of reward but you wanted nothing. You only epted those pieces of equipment when Uncle Fu forced them on you. Do you know what Uncle Fu said of you when he came back? He called you a foolish boy.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I was quite poor back then but I don¡¯t want charity. Besides, I only saw it coincidentally back then and I didn¡¯t do much. Forget it, let¡¯s not talk about the past.¡±
¡°Will you do me this favour?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin went back to the topic of dating.
¡°Miss Shentu, you... How am I supposed to help you like this?¡± Xia Lei felt a headacheing on.
¡°You agree, then we date. Isn¡¯t this helping me? It¡¯s very simple.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°My grandparents are nearly in their eighties and their health is waning; they may never wake from sleep one day. The Shentu n is anxious because the n¡¯s opposition power decreases with them gone. When that happens, no one will be able to hold me in check and it will be even more difficult to take Vientaine Group from me. That is why they will get anxious and reveal their true faces if I introduce a catalyst,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°And I am that catalyst?¡±
¡°Yes, you are my catalyst.¡± A faint smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips. ¡°You shall pretend to date me. I¡¯ll take you home to meet my grandparents and my father. We will attend some high-publicity events together and create an image of us being very loving and on the verge of marriage. When that happens the snakes in the grass will all spring out.¡±
¡°And then?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll crush them all.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was cold.
Xia Lei¡¯s emotions were a mess. ¡°Why do you think I¡¯ll help you in this?¡±
¡°You will. My intuition is rarely wrong.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Okay. I can help you. But I want to know why you chose me.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yinughed softly. ¡°I have to find someone suitable even if it¡¯s a fake rtionship, don¡¯t I? Am I the sort of woman who would just pick anyone willy-nilly?¡±
Xia Lei had nothing to say in response but her words made him feel good about himself.
¡°All right, it¡¯ste. You can rest,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Good night.¡± Xia Lei got up to leave.
¡°Oh, right, we will begin dating tomorrow morning.¡±
¡°There isn¡¯t anyone else here so who will we be putting on a show for?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We still have to adapt to each other. Also, I asked Uncle Fu to investigate you; you haven¡¯t ever had a girlfriend. Do you think you have the talent to act so well that you can fool so many crafty foxes?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 166 - Relationship Training
Xia Lei followed Fu Ming-Mei to a room and the bed in the room was also in the gothic style with a flowery canopy and it looked quite delicate. Fu Ming-Mei had changed the sheets and covers; they were white and clean.
¡°Please let me know if there is anything you¡¯d need,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
¡°Thank you. I don¡¯t need anything at the moment.¡± Xia Lei made to close the door but Fu Ming-Mei did not seem to have any intention of leaving.
¡°My father said that you¡¯re formidable.¡± Fu Ming-Mei looked at Xia Lei and her eyes carried a hint of a challenge.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What do you want?¡±
Fu Ming-Mei suddenlyunched a punch at Xia Lei¡¯s face. She went straight to it and wasted no words.
Though he had no time to prepare himself, Xia Lei was not the boy he had been. He had practised Wing Chun for a time and a Special Forces member could notpare to his skills and reaction speed. He turned his head aside as Fu Meng-Mei¡¯s fist flew at him and dodged her attack.
Fu Ming-Mei reacted quickly too. The fist that missed became an open hand and it swung at Xia Lei¡¯s neck like a grappling hook, trying to pull him to her. She raised her knee at the same time, aiming to knee him in the lower abdomen.
This was outrageous!
Xia Lei bent his body and his elbow struck Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s kneecap, then he moved his shoulder to dodge her attack and hit her in the chest at the same time. Fu Ming-Mei did not have arge chest but she was meaty and there was an obvious ¡®shock absorption¡¯ when Xia Lei¡¯s hit connected.
Fu Ming-Mei was pushed two steps backward. She held her hurting chest and looked at Xia Lei, red-faced. ¡°You...¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Sorry, that wasn¡¯t intentional.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Fu Ming-Mei turned and left.
¡°It wasn¡¯t even me who started it. She got mad because she didn¡¯t win - how petty,¡± mumbled Xia Lei to himself. He shut the door.
Xia Leiy on the bed after a shower, thinking about stuff; the more he thought, the further he got from sleeping.
He would be willing to help Shentu Tian-Yin even without her asking but pretending to be dating her was another headache altogether. He could foresee that he would be excluded from the Shentu n, especially by Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s grandparents - those two old fogeys would definitely see him as an enemy who would use the offspring of his union with Shentu Tian-Yin to wrest control of Vientaine Group. There was also Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng. How could they let a man just walk into Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s life?
The Shentu n, however, was just one headache. A worse one was Gu Ke-Wu. Gu Ke-Wu was trying to woo Shentu Tian-Yin and if she suddenly announced that she was dating him, Gu Ke-Wu would surely hinder him and make trouble for him.
¡®I already have great enmity with the Gu n; Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen will hate me even more with me dating Shentu Tian-Yin. No one from the Gu n caused trouble for me after Huang Yi-Hu died but that was because I didn¡¯t encroach on their interests again. This time, however, I¡¯m directly in the way of one of their biggest interests... Fuck, this is troublesome.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s head hurt at the thought.
Viewed from another angle, his dating Shentu Tian-Yin could be seen as snatching away the Gu n¡¯s biggest cake.
The reason was simple - Gu Ke-Wu wanted Shentu Tian-Yin. He wanted to marry her and have her have his child so that he would be able to get his hands on Vientaine Group without having to spend a cent. It would be perfect for Gu Ke-Wu if Shentu Tian-Yin met with some sort of ident or unexpected misfortune. Would the Gu n take things lying down when their great n got quashed before fruition?
Xia Lei got no more than five hours of sleep that night.
The next morning, Fu Ming-Mei knocked, then opened Xia Lei¡¯s door and said very politely, ¡°Breakfast is ready, Brother-inw.¡±
Xia Lei froze. He was sure he heard her say ¡®brother-inw¡¯ but he didn¡¯t dare believe it.
¡°I said, breakfast is ready, Brother-inw. Why are you still spacing out?¡± Fu Ming-Mei said ¡®brother-inw¡¯ more loudly this time.
Xia Lei snapped back to reality. ¡°Wh, what did you call me?¡±
¡°Brother-inw, of course. How can I still call you Mr Xia? That¡¯s not right,¡± said Fu Ming-Meiughingly, ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin already told me about you two. I grew up with her so I¡¯ve long seen her as my elder sister. You¡¯re with her and you¡¯re going to get married soon so of course I have to call you ¡®brother-inw¡¯.¡±
¡°Who told you that we... we¡¯re going to get married?¡± Xia Lei suddenly felt quite ill.
Fu Ming-Mei raised an eyebrow yfully. ¡°My Big Sister, of course. She said that if nothing goes wrong you¡¯ll have your wedding next year during the Mid-Autumn Festival.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Fu Chuan-Fu made breakfast; congee, side dishes and eggs. It was an almost unthinkable breakfast for a queen like Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin was already seated in beautiful stillness at the breakfast table when Xia Lei and Fu Ming-Mei got to the dining room.
¡°Good morning, Miss Shentu.¡± Xia Lei greeted her, then walked to a spot opposite her.
Shentu Tian-Yin called him to a stop. ¡°Hold on. Let¡¯s do that again.¡±
¡°Do what again?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s beautiful eyebrow went up. ¡°Have you heard any male deeply in love call his lover ¡®Miss¡¯?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He¡¯d surely score a zero if this were a test. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s grandparents would have seen right through him if they were here.
¡°What are you spacing out for, Brother-inw?¡± said Fu MIng-Mei, ¡°You¡¯re the stupidest man I¡¯ve met.¡±
¡°Ming-Mei.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin red at her.
¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t say anything.¡± But she added one more line. ¡°You keep protecting him.¡±
It was apparent that Fu Ming-Mei was not afraid of Shentu Tian-Yin at all because they were so close.
Xia Lei shrugged and went back to the spot where he had greeted Shentu Tian-Yin. He cleared his throat. ¡°Morning, Tian-Yin.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded. ¡°You can also add a smile so people will see that you are happy to see me.¡±
¡®What the fuck...¡¯ Xia Lei grumbled silently to himself but pped a smile on his face. ¡°Morning, Tian-Yin.¡±
¡°Nn, this is the right way to do it,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Now try another form of address.¡±
¡°Another form?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise, ¡°What other form?¡±
¡°There¡¯s ¡®Honey¡¯, ¡®Yin-Yin¡¯, ¡®Darling¡¯ or anything along those lines. Which one do you think is most suitable?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin remained neutral even when listing corny nicknames.
Xia Lei¡¯s forehead was already beaded with perspiration.
One minuteter...
¡°Morning, Honey.¡± Xia Lei forced himself to smile. ¡°Did you sleep well?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled. ¡°The first sentence was good. No need for the second sentence. We¡¯re a couple preparing for marriage so we¡¯re sleeping together. How can you not know how well I slept?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and quickly stepped to the seat opposite Shentu Tian-Yin and sat down. He was afraid that Shentu Tian-Yin would find fault with him again and make him repeat himself.
After he sat down, he discovered that there were just two bowls on congee on the table and two pairs of chopsticks - there was no breakfast for Fu Ming-Mei and Fu Chuan-Fu. Fu Chuan-Fu had left so he couldn¡¯t help ncing over at Fu Ming-Mei. She was watching him with a smile-not-smile on her face.
¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin took up her chopsticks and put a green leaf in Xia Lei¡¯s bowl.
¡°Thanks.¡± Xia Lei buried his head in the congee; the green leaf was pulled into the vortex of his mouth.
¡°Next time we eat together you should not say ¡®thanks¡¯ when I give you food. Just give me a smile,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°And you have to give me some vegetables too and encourage me to have more vegetables.¡±
Xia Lei was a quick learner. He picked up two green vegetable leaves with his chopsticks and put them in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bowl, then used an extra gentle voice to say, ¡°Eat more vegetables, Honey. You¡¯re so busy; you have to eat more vegetables to boost your vitamin levels. Your health is most important.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled. ¡°Yes, this is the right way. You¡¯re quite a quick learner.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Do I have to learn this? Men are naturally skilled at deceiving women - it¡¯s inborn.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei, who was standing to one side suddenly spoke up. ¡°So how many ex-girlfriends have you had, Brother-inw?¡±
Xia Lei almost spat out the congee he¡¯d just spooned into his mouth.
¡°Watch your words, Ming-Mei.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin shot another re at Fu Ming-Mei.
Fu Ming-Mei stuck out her bottom lip but didn¡¯t take digs at Xia Lei again.
In a man¡¯s world, men who had many girlfriends were smug bastards who hit on anything which breathed. In a woman¡¯s world, they would always hope to be their boyfriend¡¯s first girlfriend. Not promiscuous, not a cheater - these were also two standards women used when picking a boyfriend.
After breakfast, Shentu Tian-Yin said, ¡°Lei, I know this is not fair to you and will also bring you a lot of trouble but I really have no other way. I¡¯m counting on you.¡± She then stood and bowed in gratitude.
Xia Lei hurriedly crossed the table to help her up and said somewhat awkwardly, ¡°You helped me when I most needed help. Of course I¡¯ll help you now that you¡¯re in a spot of trouble. I only worry that I won¡¯t y my part well and be seen through by others.¡±
¡°Ugh, you two are going in circles with your ¡®I help you, no! I help you¡¯. Makes me dizzy,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
At that moment, Fu Chuan-Fu appeared in the doorway of the dining room, his face dark. ¡°Ming-Mei, go get the car ready.¡±
¡°Uhn.¡± Fu Ming-Mei made a sound and went off to do as he said.
¡°Lady Shentu, I have not taught Ming-Mei well enough. I shall reprimand her,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu apologetically.
¡°It¡¯s all right, Uncle Fu. Go about your business,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Fu Chuan-Fu left as well.
¡°We shall be taking a look around the power ntter. Our rtionship will start on this ind.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei, her gaze full of excitement and expectation.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I¡¯ll try my best. Um, please remember to give me a hint if I don¡¯t react quickly enough.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already thought of this. Come hold my hand when you see me putting my hands together,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei nodded. This was an easy signal.
¡°But if you see my tongue touch my lips you have to kiss me,¡± she continued.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei felt like he¡¯d been kicked by someone.
¡°If I say ¡®Honey, I¡¯m tired¡¯, you say ¡®Let¡¯s go back to our room to rest, Honey¡¯. If I say I can¡¯t walk anymore, you carry me into the room in your arms.¡±
Xia Lei was at an absolute loss for words.
Was Vientaine Group actually a film productionpany?
Chapter 167 - A Match Made In Heaven
A yacht stopped at the dock and Shentu Yi and Konrad disembarked. A suit-d young man followed them off the yacht. He was tall, suave and good-looking - definitely the cream of the crop based on his looks and bearing.
¡°Tian-Feng, that woman is also on the ind. You¡¯ll definitely meet herter. Be polite when you meet her and don¡¯t mention yesterday¡¯s incident,¡± said Shentu Yi.
This young man was Shentu Yi¡¯s son, Shentu Tian-Feng.
¡°Dad, she¡¯s obviously not sparing your dignity by making you leave when she let an outsider stay. You¡¯re her own Second Uncle! That¡¯s like half her father - how can she treat you like this? And you¡¯re speaking up for her too,¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng.
¡°Why are you being so impulsive? Don¡¯t let the little things bother you when you¡¯re working on something big. What¡¯s a bit of her anger? In 700-476BC, during the Spring and Autumn Period, King Gou Jian of Yue suffered patiently while firmly resolved on revenge and ultimately defeated the Wu state. Our current situation is not like that; you know well what our goal is. Our goal is bigger than my dignity and I can take her slights - you must bear it too!¡± said Shentu Yi.
Shentu Tian-Feng nodded.
¡°What are you talking about?¡± asked Konrad in German.
Shentu Tian-Feng replied in German, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just some family matters. Mr Konrad, I¡¯m now in charge of this wind power project. You have to help me solve the problem.¡±
¡°Of course. This is my job,¡± said Konrad.
A smile appeared on Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s face. He was actually the interpreter for Shentu Yi and Konradst night. He had gained the internal support of the Shentu n, especially from Grandfather Shentu Wei-Ye, and be the person in charge of the wind power project after Ren Wen-Qiang had been kicked out of Vientaine Group. His aim was simple - do this project well and show the Shentu n that he was capable. He wanted to let the Shentu n know that he was better than Shentu Tian-Yin and should be the one at the head of Vientaine Group!
The trio walked from the dock to the power nt.
The wind power nt floor was abuzz with activity. Some workers were assembling theponents of the wind turbines and a few engineers were on site, discussing how undersea cables should beid. This ind had good wind all year round because of its unique geographical location and was the ideal ce to build a wind power nt but it had its drawbacks. If one wanted to transfer the generated power from the wind power nt, it had to be transferred via undersea cables.
Shentu Tian-Feng hired Konrad from Germany to solve this problem. Laying undersea cables seemed easy enough but it was very difficult to actually do it because of the currents and the sea floor. The few local experts had already withdrawn due to the great difficulty. Shentu Tian-Feng had hired Konrad to put up a nice fight and establish an image for himself to gain recognition.
The trio entered the power nt and just so happened to see Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei descend from the hilltop vi in the trolley bus, with Fu Ming-Mei at the wheel.
Shentu Yi lowered his voice, ¡°That punk¡¯s named Xia Lei, chairman of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. He built his business from scratch. He¡¯s an impressive guy. Be wary - I hear he caused Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s death.¡±
¡°Thunder Horse Manufacturing?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng wrinkled his brows. ¡°Why haven¡¯t I heard of it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a small civilianpany so it¡¯s normal that you don¡¯t know of it. I¡¯d only heard of itst night myself,¡± said Shentu Yi.
¡°A peasantpany trying to edge its way in? What a joke.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng sneered disdainfully.
¡°We¡¯ll just think of some way to chase him away and that¡¯s that. Use your grandfather to pressure Tian-Yin if she resists. Your grandfather will definitely support you in this,¡± said Shentu Yi.
¡°Mm, yes, I got it. Let¡¯s go over,¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng.
The trolley bus came to a stop and Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei alighted. They both spotted father and son, Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng, and the electrical engineer from Germany, Konrad.
Shentu Tian-Yin held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm without a word when she saw those three.
Xia Lei¡¯s arm was suddenly pressed to the softest part of her body and he could smell the mysterious fragrance of a woman from her. He got nervous right away.
Shentu Tian-Yin seemed to sense his nervousness. She lowered her voice and said, ¡°Remember the dialogue we rehearsed and my signals. Don¡¯t be nervous. It¡¯s going to be all right.¡±
Xia Lei took in a slow breath. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±
He was a little nervous at first but was fine after he got used to it.
They held hands and appeared intimate to the father and son duo, who stared at them with wide, disbelieving eyes.
¡°That punk...¡± Shentu Yi sputtered after half a beat of silence, ¡°Why is Tian-Yin holding that punk¡¯s hand?¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng also said, ¡°Tian-Yin is an arrogant woman. It looks like she would be very displeased even if a man so much as touches her hand. Why would she hold that punk¡¯s hand? Unless...¡±
Unless the two were in love - this was that Shentu Tian-Feng left unsaid.
¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Shentu Yi¡¯s face darkened. ¡°She was still saying that she wanted to get this punk surnamed Xia to help solve the problem at the power ntst night - I didn¡¯t see her acting so intimately with this Xia punk yesterday. How did they be so close overnight?¡±
¡°Huh!¡± Shentu Tian-Feng snorted. ¡°Dad, she chased you away for that punk - that¡¯s proof. She pulled the wool over our eyes; she¡¯s actually been dating this punk for a while.¡±
¡°Despicable! How can that punk be a match?¡± Shentu Yi¡¯s face darkened further.
Shentu Tian-Feng fixed his gaze on Xia Lei, his eyes full of hatred and loathing.
The thing they were most opposed to was Shentu Tian-Yin in love. They had always felt like Shentu Tian-Yin was not difficult to handle since she was just a woman but if she fell in love and her boyfriend was someone powerful, it¡¯d affect their ns!
Shentu Tian-Feng and Shentu Yi were not looking forward to something like this happening, no matter what. However, it had still happened and was happening right before their eyes! Shentu Tian-Yin walked over, arm-in-arm with Xia Lei. A blissful smile lit up her face; she looked very happy.
The distance between them shortened and the three Shentus and outsider Xia were face to face.
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled. ¡°You¡¯re here, Second Uncle, Big Brother Tian-Feng."
¡°Tian-Yin.¡± Shentu Yi went cut straight to the chase. ¡°You two?¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng forced a smile on face. ¡°Tian-Yin, this isn¡¯t true, is it?¡±
¡°What ¡®true¡¯ or ¡®false¡¯ are you talking about?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was the picture of a woman in love and her voice had also be gentle. ¡°Lei, let me introduce you. This is my Second Uncle¡¯s son, my Big Brother, Shentu Tian-Feng. Oh, you¡¯ve met my Second Uncle yesterday so I don¡¯t need to introduce you to him.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Hello, Big Brother Tian-Feng.¡± He held out a hand.
A look of disgust shed in Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s eyes. He hesitated, but still shook hands with Xia Lei.
¡°Morning, Second Uncle.¡± Xia Lei extended a hand to Shentu Yi.
¡°What did you call me?¡± Shentu Yi¡¯s face darkened. ¡°Who¡¯s your Second Uncle?¡±
Xia Lei sheepishly retracted his hand and didn¡¯t say anything.
Shentu Tian-Yin frowned. ¡°Second Uncle, do you have something against Xia Lei? You were also targeting himst night at the banquet. What is going on?¡±
¡°I wasn¡¯t targeting him intentionally. It¡¯s for your own good. There are so many scammers these days, especially those who go after women. They are well-dressed and handsome but are secretly scum. People like these are not sincere; they¡¯re after your money,¡± said Shentu Yi.
He did not mention Xia Lei¡¯s name but even a deaf person could tell that Shentu Yi was implying that Xia Lei was the toad who wanted to eat swan meat.
¡°Xia Lei is not the type of person you¡¯re talking about. Do you still remember the bombing attempt on my life? The one who saved me was Xia Lei. I¡¯d be long dead if it were not for him. We actually started dating at that time - we just didn¡¯t make our rtionship public,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng couldn¡¯t help looking at each other when they heard that.
Xia Lei took note of their reaction and quietly invoked the power of his eye. His eye twitched and focused on Shentu Tian-Feng and Shentu Yi. His vision worked like a surgeon¡¯s scalpel and opened up their bodies right away - he saw their hearts and their hearts were beating abnormally.
Would their hearts be beating so nervously if the female assassin wasn¡¯t linked to them?
An increased heartbeat was, of course, not enough evidence to prove anything but Xia Lei had a feeling that the assassination attempt had something to do with this father-and-son duo.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s exnation made sense. It was a case of hero saving the beauty and there were countless stories like this in the history of mankind. Many such stories were made into movies and put on-screen. What was so unreasonable about her, Shentu Tian-Yin, falling in love with the man who saved her - a man who was handsome and capable on top of that?
Shentu Tian-Yin added more details to the story. ¡°What¡¯s so wrong with Xia Lei calling you ¡®Second Uncle¡¯? We¡¯ve already discussed it and decided on a spring wedding. Are you unhappy with him calling you ¡®Second Uncle¡¯ ahead of time?¡±
¡°Huh? You two are getting married in spring?¡± Shentu Yi¡¯s expressions were spectacr; he looked like a rhinoceros had just stomped all over his feet.
Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s reaction was unmuted. His gaze cut at Xia Lei like a knife.
Xia Lei was actually surprised too. From what he¡¯d heard so far, he was supposedly going to marry Shentu Tian-Yin next year during the Mid-Autumn Festival but she just said that they were nning to get married this spring. That was half a year earlier! Wasn¡¯t it moving too quickly?
He believed in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s judgement. She must¡¯ve had her reasons for saying that since she always thought things through. That was why he was surprised but still managed to maintain a happy smile and not say anything contrary. Sure, a spring wedding, whatever she said - it wasn¡¯t true anyway.
¡°Uh, congrattions.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng squeezed out a forced smile.
¡°Thank you, Big Brother Tian-Feng.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin then turned affectionate eyes to Xia Lei. ¡°Let¡¯s take a look around, Honey.¡±
Xia Lei pursed his lips in a line of a smile. ¡°Okay, Honey.¡±
They walked off hand-in-hand.
Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng were still rooted to the spot, watching Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei with cold eyes.
They had to admit that Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei were a match made in heaven. She was an outstanding beauty while he was handsome; they were a good-looking pair.
The more they matched, the more Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng resented them!
Chapter 168 - The Woman and the Woman Behind The Act
What followed was Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®showtime¡¯. Shentu Tian-Yin held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm, her smile never dimming. She brought him to crowded ces to show off their intimacy. Xia Lei yed along and when they passed a flower bed, he stopped to pick a golden chrysanthemum and inserted it into her hair.
¡°You¡¯re beautiful,¡± eximed Xia Lei in heartfelt admiration.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s beauty was out of this world and his praise was sincere; he had zero intention to butter up to her.
¡°Really?¡± A smile bloomed on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face and the dimples that showed seemed to hold the most intoxicating wine - they could even inebriate one who was sober.
Xia Lei smiled. He felt no need for further praise since it was redundant.
Shentu Tian-Yin took out her mobile phone next and handed it to a mid-level management employee of the power nt and said to him, ¡°Take a picture of us.¡±
¡°Yes, Chairman.¡± The employee was more than happy to have a chance to get on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s good side. He took the phone and took pictures of them.
Shentu Tian-Yin nestled in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace as he wrapped his arms loosely around her waist. This was a standard lovers¡¯ pose, full of love.
Shentu Tian-Feng stood to one side, his eyes aze with anger. ¡°That slut! She¡¯s destroyed the pride of the Shentu n! How could she not care about her image? She represents the Shentu n! How dare she hug and hold that punk in public; she looks like she can¡¯t wait to jump into bed with him! Fucking slut!¡±
¡°Looks like she really is going to marry that punk soon.¡± Shentu Yi looked troubled and worried.
¡°What are we going to do? That punk came out of nowhere to ruin our ns. If we don¡¯t do anything he¡¯ll marry that bitch and have a child with her. If Tian-Yin wills the business to her child then we will get nothing even if she dies - that punk will have it all!¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng.
¡°Quiet down,¡± said Shentu Yi nervously, ¡°Some things can only be said at home, not outside.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng snorted. ¡°Dad, indecisiveness leads to disaster; you¡¯re too cautious. Sometimes you have to just take action.¡±
¡°What do you want to do?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll invite that punk to our ce since he¡¯s our future brother-inw. He should meet Grandfather, Grandmother and the elders, shouldn¡¯t he? We don¡¯t have to do anything - those people will think of ways to be rid of him.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng sneered, ¡°When that timees, he¡¯ll drown in their spit.¡±
Shentu Yi thought for a bit. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. Go ahead, I¡¯ll get your mother to prepare it.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng walked off towards the lovey-dovey duo.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei had taken over ten photographs and done all the couple poses.
¡°Your phone, Chairman. Here.¡± The employee brought it before Shentu Tian-Yin respectfully with both hands.
¡°Nn, you may go back to work now,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin. Her gaze went to the approaching Shentu Tian-Feng and she licked her lips with her tongue.
That was the signal to kiss her.
Xia Lei knew this signal and he had also spotted the approaching Shentu Tian-Feng when she did the signal. He knew full well her intention but he still hesitated. Holding hands and hugging her were nothing much but a kiss - that was something else. Must he really kiss her on the mouth?
Shentu Tian-Yin licked her lips again.
¡®I don¡¯t care anymore - I¡¯ll kiss her!¡¯ Xia Lei reached out and put his arms around Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s slim waist to pull her closer into his embrace. He bent his head and nted a kiss on her.
Their lips were glued together instantly like the north and south poles of a ma. Their lips were drawn to each other, leaving no gaps.
It was an act but Shentu Tian-Yin made a small squeak. She had a fairly strong reaction in that instant.
This was her first kiss. This was also Xia Lei¡¯s first kiss.
Shentu Tian-Yin had thought that it would be a simple affair but when Xia Lei actually kissed her lips, the miracle of chemical reactions shook her to the core and made ripples on her cold heart.
Xia Lei also had a strong reaction to the kiss. He had dreamed of kissing her but those were just dreams.
Shentu Tian-Feng had walked up to them but they were still engrossed in their sweet kiss. It was as if there were just the two of them in the whole world and Shentu Tian-Feng did not exist to them. Hatred shed in Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s eyes but he put a smile on his face and coughed. ¡°Ahem.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei pulled away from each other.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face was red and she looked sheepish as she said, ¡°What is it, Big Brother Tian-Feng?¡±
¡°You two sure are lovey-dovey,¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng probingly, ¡°But I haven¡¯t heard you talk about this before. You should have said something to us about such a big matter. This is too sudden.¡±
¡°I had my considerations. I¡¯m not an easy woman; the man I bring home must be a man I would marry. I won¡¯t bring him home if we were notpatible. I¡¯ve been with Lei for half a year. I love him and he loves me. Our temperaments match too. I¡¯ve decided that I¡¯ll marry him and that¡¯s why I¡¯ve made it public. I didn¡¯t tell you because I was waiting for an appropriate time to bring Lei home to announce our rtionship and our wedding date,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Feng smiled but the smile did not reach his eyes. ¡°I see. You¡¯re the same as always - always thinking out it on your own no matter what you do. I was about to invite Xia Lei to our home; looks like we have simr trains of thought. Why don¡¯t we have it tomorrow? Bring Xia Lei home tomorrow. I think our family will quite like Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Is that so? All right, tomorrow,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin evenly.
Shentu Tian-Fengughed. ¡°It¡¯s settled, then.¡± He looked at Xia Lei with a friendly expression. ¡°You¡¯ll have to present yourself well tomorrow, Xia Lei. Our elders are quite picky. Tian-Yin is their precious treasure and no ordinary man can take her away.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Big Brother Tian-Feng. I¡¯ll do well.¡±
At that moment, Shentu Yi suddenly called from a distance. ¡°Tian-Yin, pleasee over here for a bit. Mr Konrad would like to talk to you about the undersea cables.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. ¡°Must I go over personally for such a small matter?¡±
¡°Tian-Yin, Big Brother is not scolding you... Love is important but you cannot forget about work. That Mr Konrad was actually hired by me from Germany. He is the world¡¯s best wind power expert. Take pity on my efforts and go talk to Mr Konrad,¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly drew close and kissed Xia Lei on the cheek, then walked towards Shentu Yi and Konrad.
Xia Lei was starting to believe in this disy of love.
Shentu Tian-Feng red at Xia Lei and a mocking smile appeared in the corners of his lips. ¡°I heard that you started apany, Xia Lei. What was it called? Thunder Horse Manufacturing, yes?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s called Thunder Horse Manufacturing.¡±
¡°Do you think it¡¯s on the same level as Vientaine Group?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s tone carried contempt.
His meaning was clear - How could he be a match for Shentu Tian-Yin?
Xia Lei pretended not to know what he meant andughed as he said, ¡°Of course it¡¯s not the same level, but it¡¯s apany I built myself. I¡¯m quite satisfied. Many people don¡¯t have their ownpanies.¡±
His words had a hidden meaning too. ¡®I built mypany on my own and it¡¯s mine even though it¡¯s small. Vientaine Group is huge but is it yours?¡¯
The two men were sharply opposed to each other with neither willing to give an inch though there was a tacit mutual understanding of each other¡¯s positions.
¡°Heh heh, well said. You¡¯re no simple man. Come, let¡¯s go take a look.¡± Shentu Tian-Fengughed casually.
¡°Okay, Big Brother Tian-Feng.¡± Xia Lei used an intimate form of address.
At that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s mobile phone rang.
It was Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Excuse me, Big Brother Tian-Feng, I have to take this call.¡± Xia Lei walked off to one side with his phone.
Shentu Tian-Feng did not want to speak more with Xia Lei and went off on his own.
Xia Lei unlocked his phone. ¡°Senior Disciple.¡±
¡°It¡¯s past time to clock-in. Why aren¡¯t you at work?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice was interrogative, ¡°Who were you withst night? Are you still in bed?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Stop joking, Senior Disciple. I¡¯ve run into something so I can¡¯te to the office today. There isn¡¯t much to do anyway - you help me cover for a bit.¡±
¡°What did you run into?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao in concern.
¡°It¡¯s not convenient to talk about it over the phone. I¡¯ll tell you when I¡¯m back,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll wait for you at home. Come back early. Oh, remember to buy some groceries; the refrigerator¡¯s empty.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll make something delicious for you and Master tonight,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°And...¡±
¡°And what?¡±
¡°Nothing. Nothing at all. I¡¯ll wait for you. Come back early.¡± Liang Si-Yao hung up.
Xia Lei could not help the smile that spread on his face. He would feel a mysterious excitement when he was with Shentu Tian-Yin but he was rxed and happy with Liang Si-Yao, like right now. One concerned phone-call had made him all happy.
¡®She seemed like she was going to say something to me... Why didn¡¯t she say it? It¡¯s probably because she wanted me to help her buy some womanly product and got too embarrassed to ask. Really, I can help her buy it even if it¡¯s... sanitary napkins¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself. He had bought that sort of thing before for Jiang Ru-Yi so he could be counted as an experienced man and didn¡¯t feel like it was anything too embarrassing.
He then thought of Jiang Ru-Yi. Was that vivacious woman on some field doing the goose-step right now?
Xia Lei walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin and pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind. He was feeling good now. Xia Lei felt like he¡¯d do rather well if he acted with old hands like Liang Chao-Wei and Chen Dao-Ming.
Chapter 169 - Seeing Through The Scam
When Xia Lei walked over, Konrad was talking in German and Shentu Tian-Feng was interpreting for him.
¡°Mr Konrad says we have to solve not just the undersea cabling problem but our electrical engineering problem. We need to improve our systems or else the power nt would run into stability issues.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng looked serious and professional. ¡°This is a big investment of our Vientaine Group and the higher-ups also look favourably upon the environmentally friendly aspect of the project. We must solve these problems now or they will pop up again after the project¡¯spleted and the nt is in operation. We¡¯d be aughingstock then.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know about these. Ask him which ces have problems and how we can fix them,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Feng said to Konrad in German, ¡°You know what to say. Just say your piece.¡±
Xia Lei, who had just walked over, was struck by realisation. Something was afoot!
Konrad nodded, then spread the drawings in his hands, pointed at them and said, ¡°This ce here needs changing using our German equipment. Here too, there¡¯s a problem here that must be corrected. I¡¯m not looking down on your Chinese electrical engineers but their design standards are just not passable.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng ryed Konrad¡¯s words to Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s frown deepened. ¡°Why are there so many problems? Wasn¡¯t it just the undersea cabling? Why is there also a problem with the electrical side? We have to buy equipment from Germany too... Ask him what it would cost to fix all these.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng said to Konrad in German, ¡°She asked you how much it¡¯ll cost to solve the problems.¡±
¡°I did a rough calction and about 30,000,000 euros are needed,¡± said Konrad.
¡°He said the rough budget is 30,000,000 euros,¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng to Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Why is it so expensive? 30,000,000 euros is more than 200,000,000 yuan. We¡¯ve already invested billions - this is more than I¡¯ve budgeted,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Tian-Yin, these potential problems have to be solved or it¡¯ll lead to major problems. Spending money is a small thingpared to the sess of the wind power nt. It will bring steady benefits to Vientaine Group,¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng.
Wind power was indeed a profitable investment since there was no need to buy wind and electricity production was the future of the development of the energy industry.
Xia Lei looked at the drawings in Konrad¡¯s hands and discovered traces of changes made to the drawings in three areas and some German notations. ¡°These drawings were modified by Mr Konrad, weren¡¯t they?¡± he said.
¡°You¡¯vee at the right time, Honey. Look at this,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin with a smile.
Shentu Yi looked at Xia Lei and did not hide his contempt. ¡°Would a someone in the processing business know about electrical circuits in electrical engineering? Tian-Yin, it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t believe Xia Lei but this is impossible. I think Mr Xia should busy himself with something else and not bother with business like this. Don¡¯t waste our time.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s brows wrinkled and she looked displeased but did not react otherwise.
Shentu Tian-Feng also took a dig at him. ¡°Xia Lei, want me to trante your words to Mr Konrad?¡±
¡°Do I need it?¡± Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to interpret German, English, Spanish, French, oh, right, and Japanese and Russian.¡±
Was it such a big deal to know German?
Shentu Tian-Feng was frozen in ce; he looked like he had swallowed a fly.
Xia Lei used German to speak directly to Konrad. ¡°Mr Konrad, please let me have a look at your drawings.¡±
Konrad nced at Shentu Tian-Feng, as if seeking his opinion. Shentu Tian-Feng gave a small nod and only then did Konrad hand over the drawings.
Xia Lei took hold of Konrad drawings and looked closely.
He had thrown himself into learning electrical engineering in his time in Germany and he¡¯d used his left eye to memorise thousands of drawings. He had millions of words of text in his head on electrical engineering. Back in China, he hadbined theory with practice in order to build Josef¡¯s intelligentthe and learnt electrical engineering for the second time. He had not done any professional tests but he was already a qualified electrical engineer, and with the power of his eye, there was simply noparing any ordinary electrical engineer to him!
Xia Lei first looked at the original drawings the Chinese electrical engineers had done and at the areas which Konrad had modified. He had never done any electrical circuits for wind power but the theory was the same and the relevant calctions as well. He only needed his knowledge of electrical engineering to judge where the local engineers had gone wrong and whether Konrad¡¯s modifications were needed.
Xia Lei was looking at the drawings seriously and his brain was continuously receiving information from his left eye about engineering and drawings.
¡°Humph.¡± Shentu Yi sneered. ¡°Can you do it or not, Xia Lei? Our time is precious. Just say it if you can¡¯t do it - we won¡¯tugh at you.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng spoke up too, ¡°Do you understand that, Xia Lei? Heh heh. You have to know that this isn¡¯t like processing screws and nuts - this is electrical engineering.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei worriedly, afraid that he¡¯d make a fool of himself.
At that moment, Xia Lei brought the drawings to Shentu Tian-Yin and said evenly, ¡°Honey, this German electrical engineer is scamming you.¡±
¡°Scamming me?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei in surprise.
The people most surprised were father-and-son, Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng.
¡°Exin yourself, Xia Lei!¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng angrily.
Xia Lei did not take his anger to heart. He pointed to the parts Konrad had modified and said, ¡°The Chinese electrical engineers have done the circuitry in a simple way; this German engineer is making the circuits moreplicated. Here, and here, don¡¯t need any changes at all. Our country¡¯s wind power standards are already very advanced so there¡¯s no need to pursue German methods or use German equipment. There¡¯s no need to spend 200,000,000 at all.¡±
¡°There won¡¯t be any problems?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was still uncertain.
¡°There won¡¯t. The Chinese electrical engineers¡¯ drawings have no problems,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Punk!¡± Shentu Yi could not hold back his anger. He pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°Who do you think you are? You¡¯re just a high-school graduate. How dare you spew nonsense when you only know a small bit about electrical circuits! Are you more knowledgeable than a German engineer? You¡¯re a disgrace!¡±
Xia Lei was not angry. He spoke calmly, ¡°I was only speaking the truth. There was no need to spend money, so why spend it?¡±
¡°Even if we have to spend money it¡¯s our Vientaine Group¡¯s money, not yours. Or is it because you think that Vientiane Group will be yours one day?¡± Shentu Yi¡¯s words were bing uglier.
¡°Enough!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin had had enough. ¡°Second Uncle! Vientaine Group has a lot of money but it shall not be spent in this way. You two have repeatedly rmended this German electrical engineer and presented me with a n to spend 200,000,000 yuan. What is the meaning of this?¡±
¡°I...¡± Shentu Yi could not say anything.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not say it but the meaning was clear - You two were after the kickback!
Shentu Tian-Feng put on a smiling face. ¡°Tian-Yin, we did this for the good of thepany. We don¡¯t understand electrical engineering either. How about this - I ask Mr Konrad to modify it ande up with another n, yes?¡±
¡°Another n?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin gave a coldugh. ¡°Xia Lei has already said very clearly that there are no problems with the drawings of the Chinese electrical engineers. I don¡¯t want to see another scammer engineer. Tell him to leave and never appear before me again.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng grew antsy. ¡°Tian-Yin, even if the electrical engineering has no problems there¡¯s still the problem of the undersea cables to solve. Konrad is an expert - you can¡¯t send him away.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin was firm. ¡°I¡¯ve made myself clear. I will not trust a liar. About the undersea cables - I¡¯d rather believe in our local engineers. I¡¯ve decided that I¡¯ll hire the best team in China to help us solve our problem.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng and Shentu Yi exchanged looks. Their eyes were full of hate. Xia Lei was like a reckless dung beetle to them - he was stinking up the ce no matter where he turned up!
Xia Lei looked fine but he wasughing bitterly inside. He wouldn¡¯t have offended Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng if it were not for Shentu Tian-Yin, much less be their enemy. It looked now like he had gained two more enemies.
¡°What are you saying?¡± Konrad¡¯s Chinese was terrible. He could catch a few words here and there if the conversation went slowly but it was all a haze when people talked faster.
¡°I asked you to make a n - what sort of n did you make?¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng angrily. He pointed at Xia Lei and snarled, ¡°This person! He said your ns were not necessary at all and that you were asking for 30,000,000 euros for no reason!¡±
Konrad understood him since he spoke in German and he looked at Xia Lei in surprise but did not say anything. The reason he held his tongue was because he knew very well that there was no need for his corrections. However, Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng wanted a n which they could get a kickback from and he had forced some changes. He hadn¡¯t expected this young Chinese man to see right through it so quickly.
¡°Leave. Go back to Germany,¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng.
Shentu Tian-Yin held Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Lei, let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll take you to the back of the ind for a walk. Thendscape there is very pretty.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Sure. How about we go swimming?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin gave him a gentle hit and said flirtatiously, ¡°You naughty man.¡±
Their lovey-dovey actions were like rubbing salt into Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s wounds. Father-and-son watched Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei walk off with barely-contained mes in their eyes.
Konrad suddenly spoke. ¡°What was that young man¡¯s name?¡±
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Shentu Tian-Feng looked at Konrad. ¡°What are you asking this for?¡±
Konrad shrugged. ¡°Nothing much. He¡¯s very talented for his age. I think he¡¯s an exceptional person and an excellent electrical engineer.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng snorted. ¡°He¡¯s ruined our n and you¡¯re here praising him. You¡¯ve failed. Our cooperation ends here. Leave.¡±
¡°Then, mymission...¡±
¡°You made me look bad and you still have the gall to ask for amission!¡± Shentu Tian-Feng suddenly shouted angrily at Konrad. ¡°Get out!¡±
Chapter 170 - Your Flys Open
NSFW IMAGES WARNING
Xia Lei felt more tired after a day of acting than a day of work. He did not forget what he¡¯d promised Liang Si-Yao, however, and went to the supermarket for groceries when he left General Ind in the afternoon. He went to the Liang household and prepared a sumptuous dinner. Liang Si-Yao arrived home when he was done with the preparations.
¡°Where¡¯s Master?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°He won¡¯t be home tonight; he¡¯s staying overnight at the martial school to prepare for the martial arts seminar,¡± said Liang Si-Yao. Her eyes shone when she saw the table of good food.
¡°I¡¯d have made two dishes less if I¡¯d known. We won¡¯t be able to finish all of these with just us two,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°If we can¡¯t finish it today I can still eat it tomorrow.¡± Liang Si-Yao giggled. ¡°Oh, right, you said you were with Shentu Tian-Yin. What did you do?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s eat first and I¡¯ll tell youter,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao did not pursue the matter and cleared the table after they were done eating while Xia Lei went to the study to see what medical books Liang Zheng-Chun had in his collection.
Liang Si-Yao came into the study a whileter and looked at Xia Lei, all smiles. ¡°Can you tell me now?¡±
¡°Me and her, it¡¯s not...¡± Xia Lei tried to exin it but he didn¡¯t know where to begin.
It was simple - Shentu Tian-Yin had asked him for help to pretend to be dating her. It really was just that but Xia Lei felt rather guilty towards Liang Si-Yao. He wasn¡¯t a blockhead. He had not been aware of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s feelings for him before because he had no experience but it had been quite some time now and though he had been slow to catch on, he knew that Liang Si-Yao liked him. It was because he knew she liked him that made it difficult for him to talk about it.
¡°What is it?¡± Liang Si-Yao pouted. ¡°Acting all shifty... Does she want to invest in ourpany?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s...¡±
Liang Si-Yao walked behind Xia Lei and suddenly put him in a headlock while acting like a gangster. ¡°Speak! I¡¯ll strangle you if you don¡¯t say it!¡±
She spoke fiercely and looked scary but used barely any strength in her arms. On the contrary, her pair of pillowy softness pressed against the back of Xia Lei¡¯s head, moulding themselves to fit around his head.
Xia Lei grew nervous immediately due to her actions. ¡°Let me go and I¡¯ll tell you,¡± he said hurriedly.
Liang Si-Yao loosened her grip but didn¡¯t let him go. ¡°Say it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Before I tell you, you have to promise me that you won¡¯t hit me or scold me.¡±
¡°What the heck? What is it? Bloody secretiveness!¡± Liang Si-Yao lost her patience.
¡°Shentu Tian-Yin is making me date her.¡± Xia Lei summarised it all.
¡°Huh?¡± Liang Si-Yao froze. Her heart felt like it had been pierced by a needle and it hurt so bad that her vision went blurry with tears.
Xia Lei followed up with an exnation. ¡°But it¡¯s fake.¡± He then described the whole series of events to Liang Si-Yao.
She rxed after hearing his tale but suddenly grabbed him by the throat without warning - and she used her strength this time.
Xia Lei gasped for air. ¡°Are you trying to strangle me to death?¡±
¡°You actually agreed to help her with something like that? How shameless is she to think of such a n?!¡± said Liang Si-Yao angrily.
Xia Lei gave a wryugh. ¡°She does have her difficulties. Her grandparents and the Shentu n don¡¯t want her to manage Vientaine Group and want to chase her out. Shentu Yi is her own Second Uncle and Shentu Tian-Feng her cousin but these two plotted to harm her. The female assassin at Far East Heavy Industries was most likely connected to them in some way. She has a mourous life on the surface but she is quite the poor thing in reality.¡±
¡°So you pitied her and agreed to be her boyfriend?¡± Liang Si-Yao was sour about it but she rxed her hold on Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
¡°She helped me in my time of need. How can I just stand idly by when she is facing difficulties now?¡±
¡°There are other ways to help - must you help in this way? I¡¯m not going to bother with you anymore!¡± Liang Si-Yao walked off with a toss of her head.
Xia Lei was uneasy and he got up to pull her by the hand as he put on a smiling face. ¡°Don¡¯t be angry, Senior Disciple. It¡¯s not real.¡±
Liang Si-Yao spun back and said in a small voice, ¡°Even if it¡¯s true, what does it have to do with me?¡±
Xia Lei had no words. That¡¯s true - real or fake, it was his freedom to choose so what did it have to do with Liang Si-Yao?
¡°Are you trying to exin things to me?¡± Liang Si-Yao seemed to be responding to a deeperyer of meaning. She looked straight into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, as if she wanted to see into his soul.
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei found it strange too. Why was he so anxious about Liang Si-Yao¡¯s feelings, wanting to exin things to her and apologising to her?
This sort of situation only happened between couples.
¡°You dummy. You should say it out loud - say it.¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheeks were already red. She was nervous, excited, eager, expectant and anxious.
¡°I....¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tongue was like a knotted rope.
Liang Si-Yao suddenly drew close...
¡°Give it to me, Si-Yao.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice shivered with excitement.
Liang Si-Yao bit his lips gently, her face flushed. Her eyes were full of blissful excitement. Xia Lei¡¯s request made her nervous and afraid but she nodded.
She was so breathtakingly beautiful.
¡°Si-Yao, how about dinner?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s voice suddenly came from the dining room.
Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s voice was like a cold wind, freezing them both in an instant.
¡°Si-Yao?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s voice grew louder.
Xia Lei came to his senses and they both quickly straightened their clothing. Not one word was exchanged during the process but they cooperated well.
After they put their clothing in order, they discovered that the study was a mess and looked like it had been turned upside-down.
¡°What do we do?¡± Liang Si-Yao tapped her feet nervously but her voice was still quiet and only she and Xia Lei could hear.
Xia Lei showed her open palms. ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±
¡°I¡¯m dead, I¡¯m dead and it¡¯s all your fault. My dad¡¯s smart - he¡¯ll be able to tell. What do we do?¡± Liang Si-Yao red at Xia Lei in shameful anger, full of lust and bashfulness at the same time.
Xia Lei had an idea. ¡°I got it!¡±
¡°You thought of something?¡±
Xia Lei whispered in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s ear...
¡°Si-Yao?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun called again.
¡°Dad! We¡¯re in the study,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Lei is here too?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun walked towards the study and reached out a hand to push the door open.
When the door opened, Liang Si-Yao suddenly shot a punch at Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen. Xia Lei reached out a hand to block it and counterattacked with a punch. The two of them were instantly locked in a fiery battle.
Liang Zheng-Chun gaped at the red-faced couple and the books, ink and so on strewn about the floor. He paused for half a beat before saying, ¡°You rascals - are you really fighting?¡±
Liang Si-Yao and Xia Lei kicked at the same time and their legs connected in mid-air before they disengaged.
Xia Lei wiped away some perspiration and chuckled. ¡°Master, you¡¯re home. You haven¡¯t eaten, have you? I¡¯ll heat up some food for you. I made many of your favourite dishes today.¡± He tried to slink away after speaking.
¡°Hold on.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun called Xia Lei to a stop.
Xia Lei grew nervous and braced himself. ¡°Is there anything else, Master?¡±
¡°What were the two of you doing?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun seemed to have smelt a rat.
¡°Dad, Xia Lei and I were just swapping pointers. We identally knocked over only one of your bottles of ink - I¡¯ll buy you a new one tomorrow,¡± said Liang Si-Yao quickly.
¡°Really?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun looked suspiciously at Xia Lei, then at Liang Si-Yao.
¡°What would I lie to you for? Do we look like we were quarrelling?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Zheng-Chun shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
¡°Well, that¡¯s good then. We get along well and don¡¯t quarrel. I just felt like Xia Lei hadn¡¯t been practicing muchtely so I was helping him,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Zheng-Chun nodded. ¡°Yes, you should practice more. But no more sparring matches in my study next time.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao nodded.
¡°I¡¯ll go heat up the food for you, Master.¡± Xia Lei made to move out of the study again.
¡°Hold on.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun called him to a stop again.
Xia Lei felt like he was going to cry. ¡°Is there something else, Master?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun pointed at Xia Lei¡¯s crotch. ¡°Your fly¡¯s open.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 171 - Liang Si-Yao and Shentu Tian-Yin
¡°Dad, we¡¯re off,¡± said Liang Si-Yao said to Liang Zheng-Chun after he alighted from the car. There was a blissful smile on her face.
¡°Be careful on the roads,¡± nagged Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Yes, Dad.¡± Liang Si-Yao waved at him.
Liang Zheng-Chun walked through the doors of the martial school and Liang Si-Yao suddenly hit Xia Lei and said huffily, ¡°It¡¯s all your fault! I didn¡¯t sleep a winkst night.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t sleep either,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Were you thinking about naughty things?¡± Liang Si-Yao asked teasingly.
Xia Lei¡¯s face reddened. They didn¡¯t go 100% in the studyst night but they did get to 30%. Oh, let the Heavens have pity on him - he was a virgin who had never touched a woman and he could only do a third of it the first time. How could he bear it?
¡°So you were thinking naughty thoughts, you bad man!¡± Liang Si-Yao hit him again.
Her hit did not hurt but Xia Lei let out a fake cry of pain.
¡°Does it hurt?¡± Liang Si-Yao asked in concern.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°How can it hurt when you couldn¡¯t bear to hit me hard?¡±
¡°Liar, liar! It wasn¡¯t enough that you bullied mest night, you have to bully me again today.¡± Liang Si-Yao batted at him with her fists and her blows fell on him like raindrops. Punches like these wouldn¡¯t harm a hair on him even if she hit him a thousand times.
Xia Lei caught Liang Si-Yao¡¯s hand and looked at her silently. He suddenly found her very beautiful. Her face, her eyes, her petite mouth - everything about her looked the best. The expression ¡®beauty is in the eyes of the beholder¡¯ fit his feelings exactly.
Liang Si-Yao also quieted and looked back at Xia Lei silently, herrge dark eyes unblinking. She also felt like he was very handsome. His face, his eyes and his lips were all sexy. She and him were still Senior and Junior Disciple before yesterday but they had lost control of themselves in the study and had been honest with their feelings. The paper window between them had been torn when they¡¯d almost done the deed. They could never go back to the simple Senior and Junior rtionship they had; it was now reced by a new lovers¡¯ rtionship. Yes, lovers. In her heart, Xia Lei was her lover and a good man worthy enough for her to entrust her whole life to.
As they looked quietly at each other, they imperceptibly drew closer and their lips met at the same time in a kiss. Their kiss deepened and their tongues entwined. It was as if each of their tongues were the most exquisite dessert in the world and eating this dessert was the most enjoyable and exhrating thing ever.
Beep, beeeeep!
The car behind them suddenly honked.
They hurriedly sprang apart and Liang Si-Yao moved the car forward nervously.
The driver behind them stuck his head out his window to scold them. ¡°Damn you two, having car sex first thing in the morning? Go to a hotel and get a room, not on the road! Are you fucking kidding me?¡±
Liang Si-Yao stuck her tongue out in the red BMW M6, her face red. ¡°The guy behind us must have road rage.¡±
¡°Yep, road rage. We shouldn¡¯t argue with him.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s face was red too and his trousers were tented.
Liang Si-Yao peeked and giggled. ¡°You know,st night, I...¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was too impulsivest night. I shouldn¡¯t have done that, ¡° said Xia Lei anxiously.
¡°Oh, so you know your mistake?¡± Liang Si-Yao grinned happily. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll forgive poor wretched you.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help looking down at his trousers and suddenly feeling like he was indeed rather wretched.
Liang Si-Yao peeked at Xia Lei¡¯s crotch again and her cheeks flushed as she said in a small voice, ¡°We¡¯re both adults in our twenties so impulsiveness is fairly normal. Um, I actually left the door unlocked for youst night. Why didn¡¯t youe over if you felt like you couldn¡¯t bear it?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
She was such a gentle and thoughtful woman - she had even thought of that but he had stupidly sought relief with his hand. When he heard her say those thoughtful words, he felt like mming his head into the windshield in regret.
Liang Si-Yao reached out to hold Xia Lei¡¯s hand in hers and said gently, ¡°Lei, when will we tell Dad about us? I want to be with you and not have to hide it.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart was mush. ¡°Wait for me to be done with helping Shentu Tian-Yin solve her problem and we¡¯ll tell Master. Is that okay?¡±
¡°You¡¯re still going to pretend to be her boyfriend?¡± Liang Si-Yao pouted her peach-lips in unhappiness.
No woman would like her boyfriend to date another woman, even if it was fake. The heart of a woman in love was most jealous and Liang Si-Yao was no exception. Her heart was full of love for Xia Lei and no one else - of course she didn¡¯t want another woman in his heart.
¡°Si-Yao, me and her... are fake, not real. I¡¯m just helping her.¡± Xia Lei could sense the jealousy from her and knew that the situation was unfair to her but he still wanted to go to Shentu Tian-Yin because she needed him and he¡¯d promised her.
Liang Si-Yao was quiet for a long while before she said, ¡°Okay, but you¡¯re not allowed to hold hands, kiss or have sex.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°How long must you pretend?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I don¡¯t know. Probably till Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng show their hand. I think she wants to get evidence and get rid of the opposition within the n in one move,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°From what you told me I think she really is quite the poor thing. Her grandparents, n members and rtives are all plotting against her; she¡¯s all alone,¡± said Liang Si-Yaopassionately.
Xia Lei raised her hand to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss, smiling as he said, ¡°Our Si-Yao is highly principled. You must be the greatest gift from the gods; I am content just having you.¡±
¡°What sweet words. I¡¯m not going to listen to you.¡± Liang Si-Yao said that but a smile bloomed on her face. This was her actual first day in a rtionship with Xia Lei and she was feeling great; it was all sweet as honey.
Xia Lei then spoke seriously, ¡°I had my own considerations when I agreed to help Shentu Tian-Yin. It is important to have connections when doing business. If we can have a good rtionship with Vientaine Group, ourpany would benefit no matter what.¡±
¡°Mm, I support you. Go.¡±
¡°Heh heh,¡±ughed Xia Lei, ¡°Our Si-Yao¡¯s the best.¡±
Liang Si-Yao suddenly red at Xia Lei again. ¡°No holding hands, no kissing and no sex! I¡¯ll check your body every day when youe home. If I smell her on you... Humph! I¡¯ll make you kneel on a washboard!¡±
Xia Lei was bbergasted.
Did she have a washboard at home?
The red BMW M6 arrived at Thunder Horse Manufacturing as they chatted andughed. A Rolls Royce Phantom was parked by the side of the road in front of the manufacturing nt. Shentu Tian-Yin was waiting.
Liang Si-Yao drove her BMW M6 straight to the front of the Rolls Royce Phantom, then opened the door and alighted. Fu Ming-Mei got out of the driver¡¯s seat at that moment and smiled as she greeted Xia Lei. ¡°Morning, Brother-inw.¡±
Xia Lei nced at Liang Si-Yao and didn¡¯t dare answer.
Liang Si-Yao suddenly grabbed Xia Lei by the arm and pulled him to the side of the Rolls Royce Phantom.
Fu Ming-Mei looked at Liang Si-Yao in astonishment. She wasn¡¯t sure what was going on.
The back window of the Rolls Royce Phantom wound down and Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face of unearthly beauty emerged from within. She looked at Liang Si-Yao holding onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm and something shed in her eyes but had no other outward reaction. She said a cid greeting, ¡°Hello, Miss Liang.¡±
¡°Hello, Miss Shentu.¡± Liang Si-Yao greeted her too.
No further words were exchanged between the two women. She stared at her and she stared back. Weirdly enough, there seemed to be the smell of smoke in the air.
Xia Lei was caught between them with a huge heachache. He wanted this embarrassing encounter to end but didn¡¯t know what to say.
Shentu Tian-Yin gave a small grin. ¡°Get in the car. We¡¯re going to pick some gifts for my grandparents. It¡¯s your first time going to visit our n so it won¡¯t be good to go empty-handed.¡±
Xia Lei was about to agree to get into the car when Liang Si-Yao blocked him off with her body.
¡°Your tie¡¯s a little crooked. I¡¯ll help you fix it.¡± Liang Si-Yao straightened his tie tenderly. Xia Lei¡¯s tie wasn¡¯t actually crooked at all.
Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s brows wrinkled and she looked like she was going to take action but one look from Shentu Tian-Yin stopped her.
Liang Si-Yao finished straightening his tie and suddenly nted a kiss on his lips. ¡°Go. Remember what I said to you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and nodded. He knew what she meant - no holding hands, no kissing and no sex. However, he had alreadymitted the sins of holding hands and kissing. Should hee clean about it?
Xia Lei got in the car and Liang Si-Yao tapped on the door. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving our Lei in your hands. Take care of him,¡± she said to Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡®Our Lei¡¯ - this was an obvious staking of territory.
Strangely, Shentu Tian-Yin was still calm after hearing Liang Si-Yao say that. She calmly nodded. ¡°You can be at ease.¡± Then she spoke again, ¡°Ming-Mei, start driving.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei red at Liang Si-Yao and drove the car away from Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
Liang Si-Yao watched the Rolls Royce Phantom go off into the distance and only spoke when she lost sight of it. ¡°Will Xia Lei resent me for this? But... this is ridiculous. He¡¯s my boyfriend but he has to be her boyfriend. She even came to fetch him away. Isn¡¯t this stepping on my kindness?¡±
In the Rolls Royce Phantom.
¡°Miss Liang knows?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Yes, I had to tell her certain things but you don¡¯t have to worry. I trust her. She won¡¯t tell anyone,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fu Ming-Mei interrupted, ¡°She won¡¯t tell anyone? She kissed you right there! If Shentu Tian-Feng or Shentu Yi saw that we¡¯d be busted.¡±
¡°Ming-Mei.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s tone was sharp.
Fu Ming-Mei shrugged. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯ll shut up and drive.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei. ¡°That... When did you two start?¡±
¡°We... I don¡¯t remember.¡± This question put Xia Lei in a spot. They had officially begun their rtionshipst night in Master Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s study but that was just the result. He couldn¡¯t be sure of the start or process of their rtionship; he did not know when Liang Si-Yao had stolen into his heart. He had lost control and eruptedst night with the stimtion she gave him.
¡°Let¡¯s go pick gifts.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin changed the topic.
Xia Lei silently let out a breath of relief. ¡°Nn.¡±
Silence then reigned in the ambiguous atmosphere of the car.
Chapter 172 - Son-in-laws Visit to the Bullies
The famous Shentu n actually lived in a vige called Yu-Lin, between the mountains and the water, tranquil as a picture in their house of green tiles and white walls. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have believed that they¡¯d be living in a vige if he hadn¡¯te here. He had imagined that the Shentu n would be in the best district in the city, or a vi, or an entire apartment block. The Shentu home, however, was in a vige and only looked especially elegant. It was unbelievable.
The Shentu home, however, was veryrge, spanning ten acres. The front and back of the residence had three hallways, plus front and back gardens with pavilions in a Suzhou-esquendscape.
Fu Ming-Mei stopped the car at the entrance and Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei alighted. Shentu Tian-Yin led him in, talking as she went.
¡°Most of the Shentu n live here. My father is a very traditional man. He boughtnd and had this residence built, then invited all of the Shentu n to move in after he built Vientaine Group from scratch. The Shentu n work in Vientaine Group too and my father does not like to hold meetings in thepany meeting rooms so he sometimes gathers the n here in the residence to have a discussion. Before the stroke happened, this ce was actually harmonious and lively - it changed after the stroke.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin sounded sad.
¡°One thing ruined it - money. Your father built Vientaine Group from scratch and the n treated him as their shining beacon when he was well. They started having other thoughts after he fell from his pedestal and think Vientaine Group belongs to them. It¡¯s all about money in the end,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin sighed. ¡°They are picking on me because there is no man in my family. Would they still dare to outwardly bully me if I have a man as impressive as you by my side?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What¡¯s so impressive about me?¡±
¡°Liang Si-Yao became your girlfriend overnight - isn¡¯t that impressive?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei smiled sheepishly and didn¡¯t say anything.
Shentu Yi and a woman came walking out from the central room. The woman looked to be in her early fifties with well-pampered skin; white and plump, giving one the impression of richness.
Shentu Tian-Yin lowered her voice, ¡°The woman next to my Second Uncle is his wife, Wang Fang. Don¡¯t be fooled by her wide exterior - she is small-minded and full of terrible ideas. My Second Uncle is afraid of her and listens to whatever she says.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei gave a small grunt to let her know he¡¯d heard her.
¡°Tian-Yin, why are you sote?¡± Shentu Yi spoke in dissatisfaction, ¡°The elders are getting impatient.¡±
Shentu Yi used Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s grandparents to pressure her right after she got home.
Before she could answer, Wang Fang interrupted to say, ¡°Our Tian-Yin¡¯s attentions are all on this gentleman here, I¡¯m afraid. What is your name, dear sir?¡±
She definitely knew Xia Lei¡¯s name and was doing this deliberately. She seemed to be using this method to disy her attitude towards Xia Lei - who are you to daree into the Shentu n!
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. He¡¯d envisioned this visit to be difficult but hadn¡¯t expected this Shentu couple to throw down the gauntlet immediately.
¡°Tian-Yin, why isn¡¯t your boyfriend saying anything?¡± said Wang Fang.
¡°What are you trying to say, Aunt?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin calmly.
¡°Is he actually mu...¡± She did not say the ¡®te¡¯ ending butughed. ¡°This gentleman here must be shy.¡±
Xia Lei spoke only then. ¡°My name¡¯s Xia Lei. Hello, Aunt.¡±
He wanted to kick her in the face but she was Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s Aunt and an elder after all and as her fake boyfriend he should not get on her bad side from the first meeting.
Wang Fang looked Xia Lei over more closely and said, ¡°A handsome man indeed, but what a pity...¡±
Xia Lei held back his anger and said evenly, ¡°A pity what?¡±
Wang Fangughed. ¡°I heard you¡¯re just a high-school graduate. I think it¡¯ll be better if you had a higher level of culture - I didn¡¯t mean anything else.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face darkened and she looked about ready to explode.
Shentu Yi followed with, ¡°My dear wife, you¡¯re wonderful in everything except your control of your mouth. Say less if you have nothing good to say. Look, you¡¯ve upset Tian-Yin.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going to matter much but he¡¯ll need Father¡¯s approval. Not just any Tom, Dick or Harry can waltz through our Shentu doors. Tian-Yin¡¯s status is of the chairman of Vientaine Group; it¡¯s a huge matter who her partner is. Can¡¯t I help her weed out the bad ones as her Aunt?¡± said Wang Fang.
Xia Lei could see it now. The Shentu couple was working together towards the goal of driving him out and having Shentu Tian-Yin remain single - this was most advantageous to them. They did not dare to go overboard in front of Shentu Tian-Yin but an outsider like him was fair game and they would use any method they¡¯d like.
Honestly, Xia Lei wanted to just turn around and leave right then and there because the sight of Shentu Yi and Wang Fang disgusted him. He still had to meet more of the Shentu n in a bit. However, his heart softened when he saw Shentu Tian-Yin standing alone next to him. Well, he was already there so he¡¯d help her to the end!
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Aunt, you¡¯re not the one looking for a son-inw so why is there a need to be picky about culture? I am indeed just a high-school graduate but Tian-Yin likes high-school graduates. I did ask her why she wouldn¡¯t rather go for university graduates and she told me that there are a whole bunch of university graduates and doctorate holders in herpany but she likes me. This is called ¡®fate¡¯ - you understand that?¡±
¡°Goodness! You...¡± Wang Fang had not expected Xia Lei to dare talk back to her and her cheeks turned pale in anger.
Shentu Tian-Yin gave a sputteringugh.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Honey. Take me to your grandfather.¡± Xia Lei held out his hand. ¡°Hand the gift to me; I¡¯ll carry it.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin made a sound of agreement and handed tworge wrapped gifts to Xia Lei. She held intimately onto his arm as he carried the bags of gifts.
The two then took no further notice of Shentu Yi and Wang Fang, moving around them to get to the central room.
Shentu Yi and Wang Fang exchanged looks, their expressions ugly.
¡°What asset is this punk supposed to be? He¡¯s a thorn in society¡¯s side!¡± said Wang Fang.
¡°This is no simple punk. Huang Yi-Hu perished in his hands. He¡¯s a powerful one,¡± said Shentu Yi in a low voice.
Wang Fang spoke angrily, ¡°I don¡¯t care who he is. I¡¯ll never let someone like this through the doors of our Shentu n! How dare he speak to me like that on our first meeting - what foothold will we have left if that woman marries him? We have to get everyone to chase this punk outter. He¡¯s going to soak his rice in his own tears!¡±
This Wang Fang had a good eye and great intuition. Based on Xia Lei¡¯s personality, methods and capabilities, would he let the Shentu n bully his wife if he married Shentu Tian-Yin? He¡¯d smash them to bits!
The central room was empty so Shentu Tian-Yin led Xia Lei through side door to an inner courtyard.
The inner courtyard had arge area paved with greenish-ck gstones and a white-haired old man was basking in the sun on a chair. A group of people were chatting next to him. Shentu Tian-Feng was part of that group and next to him was a young woman in her early twenties. The woman was very pretty and heavily pregnant - she looked like she would give birth soon.
¡°The woman next to Shentu Tian-Feng is Tan Jing-Jing, his wife. She¡¯s eight months pregnant and carrying a boy. My grandfather is very pleased about it and is awaiting the birth of his great-grandson,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Your grandfather¡¯s generation is stubbornly set on male inheritance. You have to look at it another way - some things just can¡¯t be corrected.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll take you to meet my grandfather.¡±
They walked towards Shentu Wei-Ye and all the eyes of the Shentu n rested on Xia Lei. Not one of their gazes were friendly - they already saw Xia Lei as a negative effect on their current lofty way of life.
Shentu Wei-Ye looked at Xia Lei and there was a trace of anger in his eyes.
Shentu Tian-Yin braced herself and said, ¡°I¡¯m back, Grandfather. Let me introduce you - this is Xia Lei, my boyfriend.¡±
Xia Lei followed with the words, ¡°Hello, Grandfather. I¡¯ve bought you some gifts...¡±
Before he could finish, Shentu Wei-Ye snorted. ¡°Who are you calling ¡®Grandfather¡¯? We are not rted. Do not assume that I¡¯ll be your ¡®Grandfather¡¯.¡±
The group of Shentus behind Shentu Wei-Ye smiled smiles of schadenfreude, especially Shentu Tian-Feng. His was not the most obvious smile but the most gleeful.
Xia Lei was not perturbed. He smiled as he said, ¡°Did I mis-speak? What should I call you then? Is ¡®Grandpa¡¯ okay?¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s wife, Tan Jing-Jing muttered, ¡°What thick skin.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at her and Tan Jing-Jing looked away. She shut her mouth.
Xia Lei ced the gifts next to Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s chair but he did not even spare him so much as a nce.
¡°Tian-Yin, when did you get together?¡± Shentu Wei-Ye glowered at Shentu Tian-Yin without masking any of his dissatisfaction.
¡°We¡¯ve been dating for months. I wasn¡¯t sure before but I am now sure that he is my other half so I¡¯ve brought him back to meet you and the uncles and aunts. We will be one family in the future; he¡¯ll meet you all sooner orter.¡±
¡°One family?¡± Shentu Wei-Ye wrinkled his brows.
Shentu Tian-Yin braced herself. ¡°Yes. We¡¯re nning to get married in spring.¡±
¡°Bah! I¡¯m not dead yet.¡± Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s tone was usatory, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you seek my permission about a matter as big as this? Or your uncles and aunts? Your marriage is a huge thing to our Shentu n - how can you make this decision on your own?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin bit her lip. She heart must¡¯ve been shattered but she was a strong woman. She steeled herself and did not let any tears out.
Xia Lei saw her struggle and felt sad for her.
Shentu Yi and Wang Fang came out from the central room at that moment.
¡°Father, this punk gave me lip from the get-go,¡±ined Wang Fang as soon as she walked over, ¡°I was doing it for Tian-Yin¡¯s own good, saying that he¡¯s just a high-school graduate and he responded that I wasn¡¯t the one looking for a son-inw. Father, you see, how can a person like this be a match for our Tian-Yin?¡±
The Shentu n buzzed in response.
¡°How can he behave like that?¡±
¡°Yeah, why did Tian-Yin get a man like that? What low ss.¡±
¡°Will we still have our positions in Vientaine Group if Tian-Yin marries this man with no respect for his elders?¡±
All of their words and lines uttered could be summarised with one word - Money!
Chapter 173 - A Bold Idea
There were, of course, smart ones who remained neutral and just watched wordlessly. It didn¡¯t matter if Shentu Tian-Yin continued managing Vientaine Group or if Shentu Tian-Feng took over - they were going to wait till there was a clear result, then follow the ¡®winner¡¯. Let Shentu Wei-Ye and Shentu Yi fight it out with Shentu Tian-Yin!
As others talked and watched, Xia Lei observed. He observed the Shentu n¡¯s expressions, their mouth shapes and grasped their way of thinking.
Shentu Wei-Ye was just searching for something to start ring up at Xia Lei and Wang Fang delivered it. When Wang Fang was doneining, he red at Xia Lei and said angrily, ¡°Did you say that?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Xia Lei admitted it right away without remorse. ¡°I did say that. So what if I¡¯m a high-school graduate? Is there somew against high-school graduates being in love and getting married? Marriage is something between two people. What is the intention of outsiders who want to interfere in this?¡±
He emphasised ¡®intention¡¯.
The Shentus present were there for entertainment and to see what was going on so that they could go whichever way the wind blew. Shentu Wei-Ye and Shentu Yi, however, had the most motivation to interfere.
¡°What is wrong with you? You¡¯re with Tian-Yin, so Wang Fang is your elder. How can you talk to an elder like that?¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye angrily.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°She is an elder but I didn¡¯t say anything offensive. I just stated that she wasn¡¯t the one looking for a son-inw and she isn¡¯t, is she?¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Wei-Ye was so angry his beard quivered.
Shentu Tian-Feng hurried to pat Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s back. ¡°Don¡¯t get mad, Grandfather. It¡¯s not worth it to lose your temper over such things. You have to take care of your health.¡±
Tan Jing-Jing added more to her husband¡¯s words, ¡°That¡¯s right, Grandfather. Some people can¡¯t wait for you to have an unfortunate ident. You have to take care of yourself and see the birth of your great-grandson.¡±
¡°Who are you talking about?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin red angrily at Tan Jing-Jing.
¡°I did, didn¡¯t talk about anyone.¡± Tan Jing-Jing cowered away from Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s gaze.
¡°I¡¯m not good with words so please be lenient if I¡¯ve said anything offensive,¡± said Xia Lei. He then turned to Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Honey, take me to see your father.¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll take you to him.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin then said to Shentu Wei-Ye, ¡°Grandfather, I¡¯ll take Xia Lei to see Father. I¡¯ll be back to apany you in a while.¡±
¡°Take him there ande here. I have something I want to talk about with you,¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye.
¡°Nn, yes.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin made a sound of agreement and brought Xia Lei to the back of the courtyard and towards some rooms.
On their way there, Xia Lei said apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I made your grandfather mad. I¡¯m just notfortable with them pressuring you like that andshed out before I knew it.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin lifted one side of her mouth in a half-smile. ¡°Why apologise? My grandfather¡¯s never been happy to see me. It¡¯s no use trying to butter him up.¡±
¡°True, he wouldn¡¯t be happy even if I acted like an obedient boy and kowtowed to him. But if you were male and I were female, he¡¯d be happy if you brought me home and introduced me as your girlfriend,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin seemed to have imagined the scenario and sheughed. ¡°If you were a woman you¡¯d be a fickle one.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What do you mean by that? Why am I a fickle woman?¡±
¡°If I were male, Liang Si-Yao would also be male. Something happened between you and Liang Si-Yaost night - if this isn¡¯t fickle, then what?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Why did she keep bringing this up?
Xia Lei gave a wryugh. ¡°We¡¯ve actually been together for almost half a year. I went to her father¡¯s martial school to learn Wing Chun and that¡¯s how we met. She helped me get mypany in order afterwards. Her father also took me on as a disciple and is teaching me the True Wing Chun of their family. We go to work together, eat together, practice martial arts together... It was something that developed over time, not just one night.¡±
The feelings between Liang Si-Yao and himself did indeed build up from little things. He had spent a lot of time with her during work, daily life and practice,ughing with her, ying around with her, giving her massages and so on. These were all scenarios from which a romance could blossom. Liang Si-Yao herself was beautiful and had a smoking body, especially her pair of legs, which were even more beautiful than Lin Zhi-Lin¡¯s*. She also had a good temperament and... what else could he be picky about?
Others looked at professional background or family ties when looking for a girlfriend but he didn¡¯t care about those. He wanted someone pretty whom he liked - those were his only standards.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s mouth turned slightly downwards. ¡°Is she... skilled in martial arts?¡±
The image of Liang Si-Yao sparring fiercely with him surfaced in his mind. Those beautiful legs filled with power, those white, soft fists, and those jiggling globes... Xia Lei could not help the smile that spread on his face. ¡°Mm-hm, she is my Master¡¯s progeny after all and training since she was a child so she¡¯s powerful. I can just barely spar evenly with her.¡±
¡°Wasn¡¯t she mad when you told her yesterday?¡±
¡°She was in the beginning but I persuaded her. She¡¯s a reasonable woman.¡±
¡°I think what happened was that she got mad right away when you told her about our agreement and you went on to coax her out of it, then the two of you just couldn¡¯t help being together after that,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help ncing at Shentu Tian-Yin. He did not say anything but he was astonished. How did she guess something like this!
¡°Then, you two... um, happened, right?¡±
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± he said awkwardly.
¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°We haven¡¯t got to that step yet, it¡¯s just...¡± Xia Lei caught himself. ¡°What are you asking about this for?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin seemed to have gotten the answer she was looking for. She smiled and said, ¡°Nothing, just chatting.¡± She then muttered under her breath, ¡°Probably afraid that I¡¯d snatch him away. Think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re thinking, vixen?¡±
¡°What did you say?¡±
¡°Nothing. Oh, we¡¯re here. Come with me,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei discovered then that they had gone through the back courtyard and to the garden behind it. The garden had a small house in it with ancient-looking walls, a crescent- arched door and a uniquely-tiled room at the back. The room was made of wood, its walls mainly made up of high-quality redwood with an elegant antique feel to it.
Fu Chuan-Fu was already waiting in front of the door. He stood expressionlessly with his arms behind his back and turned to open the door when Shentu Tian-Yin brought Xia Lei over.
Xia Lei saw Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s father, Shentu Ren, lying on the bed when he walked in.
Shentu Ren was in his fifties but he looked like an old man in his sixties - pasty-skinned and weak-bodied. Hey on the bed without moving and his breathing was slight; the rise and fall of his chest almost imperceptible. He looked like he was in a terrible state and about to stop breathing any second.
¡°I¡¯vee to see you, Father.¡± The sight of him brought back memories and Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was filled with sadness and her eyes filled with tears.
Xia Lei was affected too and said sadly, ¡°Uncle, I¡¯m... Tian-Yin¡¯s boyfriend. I¡¯vee to see you.¡±
Shentu Ren did not respond.
Shentu Tian-Yin lowered her voice, ¡°My father is relying on a nutrient solution to live. His condition is worsening and I don¡¯t know how much longer he¡¯ll be able to hold on.¡±
¡°Why not continue treatment?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ve consulted the world¡¯s best doctors and Father has also gone to the best hospitals in the world but they all said the same thing - there is no treatment. I have epted this reality and I only hope for a miracle to happen.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be sad. Your father will get better,¡± consoled Xia Lei.
¡°Nn. Have a chat with my father while I go talk to Grandfather. I¡¯d like to see what he has to say about me bringing you home.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin left Shentu Ren¡¯s room.
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ll be outside trimming the flowers. Please give me a call if you need anything,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
¡°Sure, go about your work, Uncle Fu. I¡¯ll chat with Father,¡± said Xia Lei.
Just Xia Lei and Shentu Ren were left in the room after Fu Chuan-Fu went away; one remained motionless while the other remained wordless.
¡®Strokes are caused by a blockage in the brain¡¯s blood circtory system or a rupture affecting the cerebral blood cirction. A serious case would mean a quick death and one not so serious is survivable but could lead to long-term seque of paralysis. This means Shentu Ren¡¯s condition isn¡¯t that dire because he isn¡¯t dead now. What does his brain look like?¡¯ Xia Lei thought. Following that thought, his left eye twitched and locked onto Shentu Ren¡¯s head.
He had no interest in chatting with a man who had been bedridden for three years - it was a waste of time and he¡¯d rather do something useful than engage in aimless chatter. He had been studying medicine for some time now and was fairly versed so he was eager to test his skills.
The situation in Shentu Ren¡¯s head appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s vision, his left eye working like a surgeon¡¯s scalpel, cutting throughyer afteryer into Shentu Ren¡¯s brain. Even the world¡¯s most advanced NMR detector could notpare to his ability.
A few minutester, Xia Lei finished his examination of Shentu Ren¡¯s brain and gained a deep understanding of his condition. Shentu Ren¡¯s brain had two areas of haemorrhage which surgery could not clear but there was not much blood and it did not affect his life, or he would have been long dead. Xia Lei also discovered that some blood vessels in his head were clogged and these blockages decreased the blood supply to the brain. The brain, as the controller of the body, was not getting enough nutrition from the blood to function normally. It was in ¡®hibernation¡¯ mode. Could his body still function in this condition? Obviously not.
¡®Will he wake up if I can use a needle to clear his clogged blood vessels?¡¯ A bold idea popped into Xia Lei¡¯s head.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Chi-ling
Chapter 174 - Relatives Schemes
Back in the Shentu family hall, Shentu Tian-Yin faced Shentu Wei-Ye and a whole group of the Shentu n. She¡¯d seen these faces from childhood and was very familiar with them but they felt very much like strangers to her in that moment.
¡°What did you want to talk with me about, Grandfather?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did not want to spend a minute longer than necessary here.
¡°Do you truly intend to marry that punk?¡± Shentu Wei-Ye looked displeased.
¡°We love each other and he¡¯s also very capable. Why can¡¯t I marry him?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Capable?¡± Wang Fang interrupted, ¡°That punk is just a high-school graduate. What¡¯s so good about him?¡±
¡°He worked his way up from the bottom and is now the chairman of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. Even China Industrial Group wants to work with him and ask him to solve the problems they cannot. What is this if it¡¯s not ¡®capable¡¯? He may be a high-school graduate but he knows several foreignnguages. Aunt, you¡¯re a university graduate - how many foreignnguages do you speak?¡±
¡°I...¡± A look of shame came over Wang Fang¡¯s face and she was silent. She had learnt English butcked the courage to even greet an Englishman or a North American.
Shentu Tian-Yin continued, ¡°Xia Lei is also the Last Disciple of a Wing Chun Master. He is truly skilled and I feel safe with him. If you¡¯re not satisfied with such a highly-capable man, then find me someone who is more capable than him.¡±
The assembly was silent.
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke again, ¡°Xia Lei is the best mechanic in China and an excellent electrical engineer on top of that. He took a look at our drawings yesterday and uncovered the lies of a German engineer, saving our Vientaine Group 200,000,000. Can you still say that someone like him is not a capable man?¡±
The assembly was still unable to find a response.
¡°In fact, I am just more wealthy than Xia Lei. What else about me is better? I cannot bepared to him, let alone some people.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Wang Fang. She did not speak her name but it was clear that she was talking about her.
Wang Fang¡¯s face turned red. ¡°All right, s, so he¡¯s capable and a match for you but his attitude is bad. With his temper, you¡¯ll have tough times if you marry him. Plus, he has a strong personality so you¡¯ll end up doing as he says. What about our Shentu n¡¯s dignity then?¡±
Shentu Yi backed up his wife. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re a woman of the Shentu n and the chairman of our Vientaine Group. Where shall we hide our faces in shame if a man rides roughshod over you?¡±
Shentu Wei-Ye red at Shentu Tian-Yin. This seemed to be what he¡¯d wanted to say and he was waiting for her answer.
Shentu Tian-Yin was quiet, then swept her gaze over the assembly. ¡°It¡¯s not ¡®where you¡¯ll hide your faces¡¯ but ¡®where you¡¯ll put your money¡¯, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Wei-Ye shook in rage. He raised his cane as if to strike at Shentu Tian-Yin but she didn¡¯t even blink. He did not dare hit her for some reason.
He was capitalising on being advanced in years, selling the image of his status, so what was there to sell when he¡¯d ruined the image?
Shentu Tian-Feng went to Shentu Wei-Ye again and patted his back as he said in false courtesy, ¡°Tian-Yin has her own way of thinking too, Grandpa. Don¡¯t be angry. Quick, Tian-Yin, apologise to Grandpa. He¡¯s advanced in years and anger is harmful to his body.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Grandfather.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin apologised.
Shentu Tian-Feng spoke to Shentu Wei-Ye again, ¡°Grandpa, Tian-Yin has apologised to you so don¡¯t be angry anymore. We¡¯re family, so why argue so strongly?¡±
Shentu Wei-Ye put aside his walking cane at that.
¡°Grandfather, I am marrying Xia Lei in spring. I shall decide on my own rtionships. Who I like and I spend the rest of my life with are my own matters. You all stay out of it,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Fine! Fine...¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye angrily, ¡°Have you no more regard for your grandfather now?¡±
¡°My marriage and you being my grandfather are two separate matters. Can these two matters be put together to form a reason for which I should not marry?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin evenly.
¡°You-¡± Shentu Wei-Ye was so mad he could not speak.
It was apparent that Shentu Tian-Yin had thrown down the gauntlet with those words. She did not use to behave this way in front of Shentu Wei-Ye - she usually went with what he wanted. She used to bear it and not say anything when he chided or scolded her but today, after bringing Xia Lei home, it was like she¡¯d turned into another person.
Shentu Yi, who was to one side, nudged Wang Fang with the back of his hand.
Wang Fang intuitively knew what he wanted and said, ¡°Huh! Did you see that? Our Tian-Yin used to be so obedient and never talked back to Grandfather but she¡¯s changed after bringing that punk home. She dares to go against Grandfather now. Tian-Yin, I¡¯m not talking bad about you - I mean that that punk must have taught you this. You two are not married yet and you¡¯re already like this. When you¡¯re married and have children, will he still leave us Shentu alone? When the timees, Vientaine Group may just be changed to Xia Group, wouldn¡¯t it? What will we be able to do about it then? We¡¯ll all be chased out from Vientaine Group.¡±
Discussion flew amongst the Shentu n. Xia Lei¡¯s appearance was like a wolf plunging into a herd of sheep, threatening their personal interests.
Shentu Wei-Ye gave a cough and the Shentu n quieted.
¡°Tian-Yin, you cannot marry that punk,¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye.
¡°Grandfather, we are already living together. I¡¯ve be his. I¡¯ll marry no one but him. I will go along with your wishes on other matters but not on this, Grandfather. This concerns the rest of my life and I shall make my own decision on that,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Fine, then hand Vientaine Group over to Tian-Feng to manage,¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye, ¡°Give over management of Vientaine Group to Tian-Feng and I will not hinder your marriage to whomever you want.¡±
Shentu Wei-Ye said it out loud atst. He¡¯d been hinting at it and pushing quietly for it but finally let it out after Xia Lei turned up. Love or career - these were the choices he presented to Shentu Tian-Yin.
The family hall was quiet. This was a fairly crucial moment and the Shentu n was nervous, especially Shentu Yi¡¯s family; they were more excited than anyone else.
Shentu Tian-Yin was about to speak when a head popped into the doorway - Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Everyone¡¯s eyes turned to him. Shentu Yi¡¯s family felt like rushing up to him and stomping him t - why did he have to turn up like a dark cloud at such a crucial moment!
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Having a meeting? Sorry, I want to say something to Tian-Yin. I just need one minute.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all because of you! Get out! You¡¯re not wee here!¡± roared Shentu Wei-Ye suddenly.
Xia Lei was not bothered at all and he maintained the roguish smile on his face. ¡°Calm down, Gramps. It¡¯s not good for your health to get angry at your age. I¡¯ll be frank. Tian-Yin and I are living together, and... She¡¯s pregnant with my child. How could you bear to tear our family apart?¡±
Then entire group turned to stone, including Shentu Tian-Yin. She¡¯d only said that they were living together but Xia Lei had exaggerated it further and said that she was pregnant!
Strangely enough, Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s cheeks turned red even though the statement about her being pregnant wasn¡¯t true.
Whispered conversations burst out after a stretch of silence.
¡°How can this be? Tian-Yin is a woman of the Shentu n and chairman of Vientaine Group - how can she be pregnant with that punk¡¯s child?¡±
¡°I couldn¡¯t tell that Tian-Yin was a woman like that.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you get it? This punk is here with designs on Vientaine Group! The child in Tian-Yin¡¯s womb is his trump card. He doesn¡¯t even respect or have any regard for Grandfather!¡±
¡°Yeah, this punk¡¯s impressive. He¡¯s already so arrogant when they¡¯re not even married yet. Tian-Yin can¡¯t keep him in line. If they really get married and have the child, won¡¯t we all be kicked out from Vientaine Group?¡±
Shentu Wei-Ye raised the cane in his hand and the family hall grew quiet again.
¡°Fine, youe in then,¡± he said.
Xia Lei walked in. He¡¯d actuallye with the intention of telling Shentu Tian-Yin that he¡¯d like to try to treat Shentu Ren with needles but there was no way he was going to say it in front of all those people.
Xia Lei went to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s side and whispered in her ear, ¡°I have some good news to tell you. I¡¯ll tell you outside.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin made a small sound of agreement and her cheeks grew redder.
Their show of intimacy made the Shentu n even more ufortable.
Shentu Wei-Ye coughed and said slowly, ¡°Tian-Yin, since you are already with child, I will not object to your marriage. Let Tian-Feng manage Vientaine Group so that you can stay home and be a good wife and mother. What do you think?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin was about to speak when Xia Lei pulled her by the hand and said quietly in her ear, ¡°Let me be the bad guy. They¡¯re your flesh and blood after all and you still have to interact with them. It doesn¡¯t matter for me. I don¡¯t know them that well anyway.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin paused but she understood Xia Lei¡¯s good intention. She hesitated, then gave a slight nod.
¡°Say what you have to say, Xia Lei. Don¡¯t whisper.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng could not hold it in any longer and he said rudely, ¡°We didn¡¯t let you in to speak. You should just listen.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m not mute so I¡¯ll speak when I want. I have even more to say when you guys want Tian-Yin to make a decision like this. We¡¯re getting married after all and our child will be born next year. Her matters are my matters, so why can¡¯t I speak?¡±
¡°You punk!¡± Shentu Tian-Feng would¡¯ve liked nothing more than to kick Xia Lei out.
¡°Let him speak!¡± Shentu Wei-Ye sneered, ¡°I¡¯d like to hear what he has to say.¡±
Xia Lei cleared his throat and said, ¡°Since Gramps has made it clear I¡¯ll give my opinion too. I think you guys are crossing the line.¡±
¡°What nonsense are you spouting!¡± Shentu Yi lost his temper too and pointed at Xia Lei, ¡°This is the Shentu n¡¯s home! Don¡¯t you have the decency to be ashamed of yourself?!¡±
Wang Fang spoke up too. ¡°Tian-Yin, did you hear him? Do you want to marry someone like that?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin did not reply and pretended not to hear. She knew very well what Xia Lei was doing and she was awash with gratitude.
Shentu Wei-Ye hit the floor tiles with his cane and thundered, ¡°Let him speak!¡±
Chapter 175 - Overbearing Son-in-law
Everyone quieted down when Shentu Wei-Ye hit the floor tiles.
Xia Lei continued where he left off. ¡°Gramps, I know what you¡¯re thinking. You¡¯re not concerned about money. You just want to leave a fortune for the future generations of the Shentu n and have the n develop into a prominent n, am I right?¡±
Shentu Wei-Ye made no sound but Xia Lei¡¯s words seemed to have struck a chord with him.
¡°Male inheritance is an old-fashioned, traditional way of thinking for us Chinese and it ismonce for women to be less valued in society. I am not surprised an old man like you thinks like this but have you thought about this? Even the emperor¡¯s family gets forgotten after generations and generations. To put it bluntly - who would still remember you, Grandfather Shentu, after a hundred years or so?¡±
¡°What impudence!¡± Shentu Tian-Feng did not want to hear words like these; he was afraid that Xia Lei would persuade Shentu Wei-Ye with these ideas. He pointed at Xia Lei and shouted, ¡°Shut up!¡±
Xia Lei suddenly roared back at Shentu Tian-Feng, ¡°YOU shut up!¡±
¡°You... dare tell me to shut up?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng was so angry heughed, disbelieving.
¡°What right have you? Don¡¯t think that you can bully Tian-Yin because you have your grandfather¡¯s support. Let me tell you - don¡¯t even think of it with me around!¡± said Xia Lei disdainfully.
¡°You...¡±
Xia Lei pointed a warning finger at Shentu Tian-Feng. ¡°I, what? You can¡¯t beat me in a fight, you can¡¯t win with curses - what can you do? You¡¯re eating someone else¡¯s food and eyeing his bowl. You have no gratitude and instead spend the whole day scheming to get your hands on someone else¡¯s fortune. You even used an old man to support your schemes! If I were you and lived your life I¡¯d rather drown in my own piss. You¡¯re a disgrace of a lifeform on this Earth!¡±
If he was going to be the bad guy, he¡¯d go all the way. Xia Lei pulled no punches when provoking Shentu Tian-Feng to make him absolutely mad with anger.
¡°Motherfucker!¡± Shentu Tian-Feng cursed and shook Tan Jing-Jing off. He came charging at Xia Lei with a p aimed at his face.
Xia Lei raised a hand and his fist was already in front of Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s face before the p reached him. He did not hit Shentu Tian-Feng, however. His fist stopped before Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s nose and no further - he wanted him to understand that he could hit him any time.
He was not hit but Shentu Tian-Feng could feel the wind from Xia Lei¡¯s fist. He was paralysed; he didn¡¯t dare move an inch.
Xia Lei retracted his fist. ¡°Don¡¯t overestimate yourself. I didn¡¯t hit you because you¡¯re Tian-Yin¡¯s ¡®Big Brother¡¯.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng looked as if he would like nothing more than to feast upon Xia Lei¡¯s flesh and blood but he didn¡¯t dare.
Everyone stared at Xia Lei, gobsmacked. Not one of them could believe that an unofficial son-inw of the Shentu n would dare speak to one of the n like that, and Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s favourite at that!
¡°Did you hear that, Grandfather?¡± cried Wang Fang all of a sudden, ¡°He¡¯s too much! Don¡¯t you all have something to say? When have we Shentu stood to be bullied like this? You, you... If this punk marries our Tian-Yin in the future and enters our n, I, I... I will not stay in this n if he is in it!¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Me or you? Sure. Do you know the way to the Civil Affairs Bureau? Divorce procedures are very simple these days; they can be done within the day.¡±
¡°He makes my blood boil!¡± Wang Fang started to make a scene, crying and fussing. ¡°Have you Shentu men all dropped dead? Nobody made a sound when he¡¯s bullying me like this! Boohoo...¡±
Xia Lei had long seen through the thoughts of the unmoving Shentu n. These people were just waiting for the result before they decided which side to stand on. There was no clear victor yet so they were unwilling to take a side.
Shentu Wei-Ye pointed at Xia Lei with his cane and gave an angryugh. ¡°Very good, very good, an outsider who hasn¡¯t even entered the n yet is throwing the n in turmoil. What¡¯ll happen if I actually let you in? Tian-Yin, send him away!¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin pretended not to hear; she stood silently, watching Xia Lei. In the past few minutes, she suddenly discovered that she didn¡¯t really know Xia Lei that well. This was also her first time seeing Xia Lei be so intense and overbearing. However, it was this unreasonable and uncouth Xia Lei which stirred her heart and gave her a strong sense of security!
Some women liked overbearing men and some liked gentle, thoughtful men - Xia Lei seemed to possess both of these characteristics.
Xia Lei did not notice the small changes in how Shentu Tian-Yin looked at him. He continued, ¡°I¡¯ll leave, but I¡¯ll say my piece first. You want Tian-Yin to hand over Vientaine Group - based on what? Based on the fact that you¡¯re surnamed ¡®Shentu¡¯? Tian-Yin¡¯s father built Vientaine Group from scratch. He did not forget you all after his sess and that is why you are wealthy. But now that Tian-Yin¡¯s father is bedridden, you¡¯re already trying to force Tian-Yin to hand over Vientaine Group when he¡¯s not dead yet. Search your conscience. What is this if it isn¡¯t biting the hand that feeds you?¡±
The assembly was silent.
Xia Lei kept talking. ¡°I know you all feel like you¡¯ve contributed to Vientaine Group and you¡¯re also Shentu but go to any otherpany and you¡¯ll see that you¡¯ll have to actually work. Is there anyw that supports your wanting Tian-Yin to hand over Vientaine Group to you? Is it your conscience? From what I see, you¡¯re trying to take the opportunity to seize the fortune Tian-Yin¡¯s father left her because he¡¯s bedridden and she¡¯s just one woman!¡±
Xia Lei said his piece but the hall was still so silent one could hear a pin drop.
Xia Lei¡¯s words were ugly but they were all true.
¡°I¡¯m done talking. I¡¯m going.¡± Xia Lei turned and walked towards the exit.
¡°Wait.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin called him to a stop. ¡°Wait for me. I¡¯ll say something and we¡¯ll leave.¡±
Xia Lei halted in his tracks.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Shentu Wei-Ye, her face calm. ¡°Grandfather, you asked me to make a decision earlier. I¡¯ve reached a decision. What Xia Lei said was right - why do I have to hand over Vientaine Group? It is the product of my father¡¯s life¡¯s work and I will guard it. I¡¯ve also been doing very well and I don¡¯t think anyone in the Shentu n can seed my position. About the future, I¡¯d like to wait till my child is born before I think about it. That¡¯s it. I¡¯m leaving. You all continue your discussions. If anyone feels like it is impossible to stay on at Vientaine Group anymore I¡¯ll wee your resignation anytime.¡±
The assembly was stunned. This was Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s decision - nopassion at all!
¡°Go! Don¡¯te back again if you walk out of here with that punk!¡± thundered Shentu Wei-Ye.
¡°You are old, Grandfather, and cannot distinguish between right and wrong. Don¡¯t meddle in this anymore; you¡¯re being used, don¡¯t you know that?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin indifferently.
¡°Get out!¡± Shentu Wei-Ye was so angry he was panting.
Shentu Tian-Feng did not go up to pat him on the back this time.
The old man couldn¡¯t be used anymore so he held no more value to Shentu Yi¡¯s family. They wouldn¡¯t treat him like they used to anymore.
Shentu Tian-Yin held Xia Lei¡¯s hand and said intimately, ¡°Let¡¯s go see my father.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei made a sound of agreement and looked back at the Shentu n in the ancestral hall. They avoided his gaze, as if afraid that he¡¯d remember their faces ande settle scores with themter.
From their point of view, Xia Lei had muscled his way into the Shentu n and was sure to be in control of Shentu Tian-Yin. Who would dare offend him?
Shentu Tian-Feng, Shentu Yi and Wang Fang watched Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin walk off intimately, their eyes spitting mes. Their calcted move had ended in humiliation and a result like this was an unbearable, venomous mocking of them.
¡°This way won¡¯t work anymore,¡± said Shentu Yi in a low voice.
¡°She chose her own path so don¡¯t me me for being ruthless.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s voice was cold.
¡°It¡¯s all that Xia Lei¡¯s fault! He¡¯s like mouse shit that ruins the pot of soup! I don¡¯t know what that bitch likes about him. They¡¯re not married and yet she¡¯s pregnant with that punk¡¯s bastard - oh the shame!¡± said Wang Fang hatefully.
¡°Didn¡¯t you see? Shentu Tian-Yin likes that punk¡¯s intensity. She deliberately looked for a man like this to support her. Things will get difficult now. This punk is a hard one to take care of,¡± said Shentu Yi.
¡°Hard? Dad, you overestimate him. I know someone who¡¯ll dly take care of him. I¡¯ll contact that person right now.¡± A sneer appeared in the corners of Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s mouth.
Shentu Yi paused. ¡°You mean... Gu Ke-Wu?¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng nodded. ¡°It¡¯s no secret that Gu Ke-Wen likes that bitch. He¡¯s also doing simr calctions but he shall be a statistical number in our calctions this time. Just wait - the show¡¯s just begun!¡±
On the way to see her father, Shentu Tian-Yin kept looking at Xia Lei with a strange gaze.
Xia Lei grew ufortable and smiled as he asked, ¡°Why are you looking at me like this?¡±
¡°Just curious. You were so fierce earlier. I¡¯ve never seen you so intensely overbearing. Are you so fierce to Liang Si-Yao when you¡¯re with her?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°We¡¯ll sometimes joke around or cause a racket but that earlier situation will definitely not ur. Besides, aren¡¯t I helping you? I¡¯ve thought about it - infuriate those people enough and they won¡¯t be able to stop themselves from putting ns in motion. Your problem will be solved then too.¡±
¡°You want to solve this problem quickly?¡±
¡°Of course. A problem like this is best solved as quickly as possible. You¡¯ll have less protection the longer this drags on and that¡¯ll be dangerous for you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin lips moved as if she wanted to say something but no words came out.
¡°Let¡¯s not talk about these things here. Remember I said that I wanted to tell you a bit of good news when I came looking for you?¡±
¡°What good news?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve taken a look at your father¡¯s condition and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s as serious as you think it is. I¡¯ve learnt martial arts and know some acupuncture so if you¡¯re willing to let me try I may be able to wake him."
¡°What?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin gaped at Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m saying the truth.¡± Xia Lei looked serious. ¡°But you have to move your father to a ce that¡¯ll be easier for me to treat him at. I don¡¯t want toe here again.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly hugged Xia Lei.
Xia Lei froze on the spot.
Chapter 176 - Sweet Love
NSFW IMAGES WARNING
Shentu Tian-Yin transferred Shentu Ren to a vi in an upscale neighbourhood for ease of treatment. However, Xia Lei did not proceed to treat Shentu Ren on that same day. He needed to have some practice and gain some experience before he did it. Shentu Ren was a frail, bedridden patient and he could not afford to make a mistake.
¡°Give me a week. Get a dietitian to advise you on foods and medicinal products for cardiovascr health, oh, and nutrition for the brain,¡± said Xia Lei to Shentu Tian-Yin after she¡¯d helped Shentu Ren settle in.
¡°Nutrition for cardiovascr health?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei uprehendingly.
¡°Your father¡¯s condition is mainly due to clogged blood vessels. Giving him nutritious food and medicinal products for cardiovascr health will help his blood cirction and increase his vitality. It will also lessen the risk when I perform the treatment on him,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You know quite a bit. Howe I don¡¯t know that you¡¯ve studied medicine?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin had wanted to ask this question at the Shentu residence but she did not ask in front of the n.
Xia Lei was expecting her to ask a question like that and had an answer long prepared. ¡°My Master taught me. Martial arts and traditional Chinese medicine are quintessences of national culture and many aspects of both ovep.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled. ¡°Looks like your Master doesn¡¯t treat you as any old disciple. He¡¯s taught you all his special skills. Who knows, he may have been cultivating you to turn you into his son-inw from the beginning, hm?¡±
Xia Leiughed awkwardly.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll stop teasing you.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin asked, ¡°What are the chances of my father waking up?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Fifty percent.¡±
¡°Fifty percent?¡±
¡°Yes, fifty percent,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee more. You can choose to give up if you feel that the risk is too great.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin considered it. ¡°No, we¡¯ve gone to all the best hospitals in the world and there was to treatment. If this keeps on, my father¡¯s days are numbered. I think he¡¯ll be willing to take this risk even if it¡¯s for just one minute of consciousness. Do the treatment and don¡¯t worry about the problem of failure.¡±
¡°You trust me that much?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin gave a half-smile. ¡°Would I ask you to help me if I didn¡¯t trust you?¡±
¡°All right, then I¡¯lle here in a week to treat your father. I¡¯ll be going back now. Contact me via phone if there¡¯s anything,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll send you there,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°No need. I¡¯ll just take a taxi back,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. ¡°We¡¯re a soon-to-be-married couple and I am with your child. How can I let you take a taxi back on your own?¡±
Xia Lei thought about it and found that what she said made sense. He agreed. It wasn¡¯t anything major to take a taxi back but it would be a hidden danger if unwee eyes saw it.
Half an hourter, Fu Ming-Mei drove Xia Lei in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s Rolls Royce Phantom to his neighbourhood.
Before he alighted, he nagged, ¡°Based on the situation today, the Shentu n might go after you first. You be careful. Stay away from public ces and don¡¯t go to any ces which are sparsely popted or isted.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°You¡¯re showing concern for me?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Of course I¡¯m concerned. Okay, goodbye.¡± He alighted.
Shentu Tian-Yin watched through the window as Xia Lei walked into the neighbourhood and out of sight before she said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, Ming-Mei.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei joined the flow of traffic. As she drove, she said, ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, how is it that he¡¯s be Liang Si-Yao¡¯s boyfriend? I wouldn¡¯t get into a rtionship so early if I were him. He¡¯s outstanding so he¡¯ll definitely be able to find an outstanding woman too, like...¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin cut her off. ¡°Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao have been together for quite some time. It¡¯smon for romance to start from daily interactions. Besides, Liang Si-Yao is also an outstanding woman. You have to remember that money is not the standard to use to judge whether a person is outstanding. True love has nothing to do with money either.¡±
¡°But...¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say anything more. Drive,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Get Uncle Fu to gather his past subordinates when we¡¯re back. Just the two of you are not enough for this period of time.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei stepped on the elerator and the Rolls Royce Phantom lunged forward.
Half an hour after Shentu Tian-Yin and Fu Ming-Mei left, Xia Lei, too, left the neighbourhood in his ck BMW M6. He first stopped by a pharmacy which also sold medical equipment and bought a set of silver needles, a first aid kit and some needed medicinal items. Following that, he drove to Thunder Horse Manufacturing. There was still a bit of time before it was time to clock out.
Xia Lei first went to Beauty of Beauteous Supermarket to look for Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang was eating snacks - a whole pile of them. Choctes, pine nuts, pistachios, and so on; they were posh snacks. He¡¯d been cracking a pine nut between his teeth, looking rather pleased when Xia Lei walked into his office.
¡°What¡¯ve you been up to the past two days?¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s voice was muffled by the pine nut between his teeth. ¡°Didn¡¯t see you around.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve something on, of course.¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Why so many snacks? Did you get pissed and are using food to vent?¡±
¡°Fuck you.¡± Qin Xiang rolled his eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°I didn¡¯t buy these. Liang Si-Yao bought them for me.¡±
¡°She¡¯s a thrifty person - would she buy you so many snacks? Impossible,¡± said Xia Lei curiously.
¡°I found it weird too. She bought an entire shopping trolley full of snacks when she came to work today, then gave out sweets and melon seeds to familiar faces. Oh, right, she also bought cigarettes and gave them out to the smokers she met. She even gave out two sticks.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Giving out sweets and cigarettes, and two cigarettes at that, was something that a newlywed bride did. He understood why Liang Si-Yao was so happy and he found itical. He hadn¡¯t expected Liang Si-Yao to have such a funny side to her.
¡°You aren¡¯t getting married, are you?¡± Qin Xiang suddenly asked.
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°How can it be so quick?¡±
Qin Xiang paused, then chuckled. ¡°So it is as I thought. You two are in a rtionship. She¡¯s so happy she¡¯s giving out sweets and cigarettes to everyone she knows. I knew it! She usually looks for me in the supermarket to get discounts - how can she just buy so many yummy snacks for me? Have you two done it? You must be great, huh? How long did youst?¡±
¡°Ahem! Let¡¯s stick to serious matters.¡± Xia Lei was very embarrassed. He took out his phone, opened the photo-album and selected a picture.
Qin Xiang drew close and looked at the three people in the picture. ¡°Who¡¯re they?¡± he asked curiously.
¡°Shentu Yi, Shentu Tian-Feng and Wang Fang,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I need your help. Keep an eye on these three people, especially this Shentu Tian-Feng.¡± He pointed at him in the picture. ¡°I want to know who he meets, who he calls and so on. Find whatever you can on this person.¡±
¡°No problem. What happened?¡±
Xia Lei leaned in to Qin Xiang¡¯s ear and told him about what had happened in a low voice. How could Qin Xiang do things for him when he did not know the truth? It didn¡¯t matter if he told Qin Xiang about Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s secret anyway - he had absolute trust in Qin Xiang.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll prepare for a bit before I make my move. I¡¯ll contact you once I find out anything,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei patted his shoulder. ¡°Be careful. The guy is a tough one.¡± He then added, ¡°I do feel quite bad to ask you to do these sorts of things for me all the time.¡±
Qin Xiangughed. ¡°Why the formalities? You know what I do. I¡¯m getting bored just sitting in the office. Good thing you have something for me to do every once in a while which uses my old skills. I¡¯m quite happy with this, so why feel bad?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You go prepare then. I¡¯ll go see Si-Yao.¡±
¡°You guys sure are lovey dovey. When will you invite me to the wedding?¡±
¡°Eat your snacks!¡±
¡°Remember to tell her to bring the shopping trolley back.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
In the office, Liang Si-Yao reviewed a document. She was doing what Xia Lei should have been doing since he wasn¡¯t in the office. She looked focused and didn¡¯t notice Xia Leie in.
Xia Lei was about to call out to her but he changed his mind. He stealthily went behind Liang Si-Yao and slowly approached, reaching out two hands to cover her eyes. He disguised his voice and said, ¡°Guess who?¡±
Liang Si-Yao did not react violently. A faint smile appeared on her lips. ¡°Hm, Beckham?¡±
¡°Guess again.¡±
¡°Andy Lau?¡±
¡°Guess again!¡±
¡°Pang Chang-Jiang?¡±
Xia Lei rxed the hands covering her eyes and said wryly, ¡°You already knew I came in, didn¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Yep, I knew it when you walked in. I wanted to see what you were up to.¡± Liang Si-Yao giggled. ¡°This is a game children y. You actually like to y games like this? Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯tugh at you. Haha.¡±
¡°You¡¯reughing.¡±
Liang Si-Yao suddenly pulled him down...
The two of them did not lose themselves, however. This was the office after all and anyone coulde in at any moment.
Liang Si-Yao pushed Xia Lei aside gently, her face red with bashfulness. ¡°No, we can¡¯t. Not here.¡±
Xia Lei retracted his questing hand, nervous yet still wanting to continue.
¡°You¡¯re a greedy cat.¡± Liang Si-Yao scratched lightly at Xia Lei¡¯s cheek with a white fingernail. ¡°Always having secret affairs. I¡¯ll tell my dad. He¡¯ll tie you up and beat you.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°No, you can¡¯t bear to do that. Master too.¡±
¡°Tell me - did you hold hands with Shentu Tian-Yin today?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head.
¡°Kissing?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head harder.
¡°Sex?¡±
Xia Lei paused, then shook his head.
¡°You pervert!¡± Liang Si-Yao grabbed Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m going to check!¡±
¡°Cut it out... Ah! What are you doing?¡±
¡°Strip! Let me check you!¡±
The office was filled withughter.
Outside the door, the head of Human Resources, Du Bai, stood holding a list of newly-recruited employees, his head beaded with sweat and wondering if he should go in.
Chapter 177 - Rabbit and Silver Needle
The recruitment drive was very sessful and the employees of Thunder Horse Manufacturing managed to get 56 of their ssmates or friends toe to thepany in a short few days. There were still applications trickling in with more people wanting to join Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
The welfare package was good and the boss was also fairly generous. The nt also had a good number of young women and these were all attractive to the applicants. Thunder Horse Manufacturing had not been upgraded yet but the problem of acquiring talented manpower was already solved.
There was no need for Xia Lei to worry about these matters since Liang Si-Yao and Du Bai from the human resources department would. What he needed to solve was a new problem and that was how to get clinical practice for acupuncture.
Xia Lei begun his experiment when darkness descended.
His first experimental subject: a rabbit.
He used rope to tie all four of the rabbit¡¯s feet together and secure it on the table, then used a shaver to shave the fur off a part of the rabbit¡¯s back, exposing the skin. He then used his fingers to pinch that part of skin and make a bruise. Finally, he used a needle on the rabbit.
The bruising of skin was due to injuries to the tissues under the skin, and rupturing and clotting of blood vessels. His n was to use the silver needles to clear the clotting in the rabbit¡¯s blood vessels and if he could do it, it meant that he could also use the needles on Shentu Ren¡¯s blocked blood vessels. This was also why he had asked for a weeks¡¯ time - he needed to have practical experience and evidence that it could be done before he performed the treatment on Shentu Ren.
Normal people could only see the bruised skin of the rabbit under normal circumstances but Xia Lei could use his left eye to see what was going on under its skin. He knew exactly which blood vessels were broken and which were blocked. He could do acupuncture on a rabbit because of his iparable ability and others would not be able to do it even if one were a practised traditional Chinese medicine doctor with fifty years of experience.
His left eye twitched and the inside view of the rabbit¡¯s bruised skin entered Xia Lei¡¯s vision. He focused on a blood vessel and inserted a silver needle. He had not researched a rabbit¡¯s acupuncture points but he wasn¡¯t going after those anyway; he was after its blood vessels. With the help of his eye, the needle in his hand went straight towards the blockage in the blood vessel and he angled the needle, slowly approaching the blockage.
When the silver needle got close to the blocked area, his arm trembled slightly and a flow of internal energy travelled from his arm and seemed to go through the silver needle in an instant. The silver needle vibrated as energy passed through it and its temperature increased by quite a bit.
The internal energy which burst from the needle hit the blockage like floodwater bashing upon the gates of a dam. There was no sound but Xia Lei could see that the blood vessel had burst. The bruising on the rabbit¡¯s skin darkened.
¡®I used too much internal energy. Need to decrease it.¡¯ Xia Lei summarised his own failure and focused on another capiry, continuing to apply internal energy to the needle.
The capiry did not burst this time; the wall was split open. However, the blockage was mostly cleared and some blood trickled through.
Third attempt: blood vessel burst...
Fourth attempt: Blood vessel split...
Fifth attempt...
Failure, failure, sess...
Sess, sess, failure...
He tried over and over, again and again. Xia Lei¡¯s movements went from slow to quick and he gradually gained finer control over the internal energy he released. He was gaining more experience.
Early next morning, he gifted the bruised and battered rabbit to a neighbour and drove his car to work. Liang Si-Yao had asked him to go to her home after work the day before but he had declined. One week was a short time and he needed to practice to get his acupuncture skills to a certain level for the procedure. He could do his experimentation at the Liang household too but how would Liang Si-Yao and Liang Zheng-Chun view him if they saw him doing acupuncture on a rabbit? That was why he had chosen his own home as the location for his experimentation.
A lorry carrying equipment from China Industrial Group was already parked on the premises when he arrived at thepany. It was thest shipment of the upgrading equipment specified in the contract. They only needed to wait for the construction of the new workshop to beplete, the new recruits to work and equipment to be put into production and the upgrade of Thunder Horse manufacturing would beplete.
After instructing his workers to unload the goods, Xia Lei went to the office.
Liang Si-Yao had already prepared a cup of Jin Jun Mei tea*. She was in ck office-wear; ck jacket, ck woolen skirt, ck heels and flesh-coloured stockings matched with a lotus leaf-cored white shirt. She was indescribably youthful, mature and sexy.
Xia Lei thought she looked tastier than the Jin Jun Mei tea she had prepared for him and he felt like tasting her.
¡°What did you do at homest night?¡± Liang Si-Yao asked with a smile.
¡°Learning medicine,¡± answered Xia Lei honestly.
¡°Must you learn it at home?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Heroes in ancient times closed themselves off in caves so I need to find somece to close myself up in too. I want to go to your ce too but I won¡¯t be thinking about medical studies with you around. Oh, I need a week. I¡¯ll treat Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s father with acupuncture after this week and who knows, I may be able to heal him.¡±
Liang Si-Yao pouted her cherry lips. ¡°Shentu Tian-Yin again. When will she return you to me?¡±
Xia Lei rested his arms lightly around Liang Si-Yao¡¯s waist and said gently, ¡°Jealous? It¡¯s not even real. You know I¡¯m not that sort of person.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled then. She turned around and rewarded him with a kiss.
Women in love get jealous easily and even a ¡®daughter of the world¡¯ like Liang Si-Yao was no exception. She did get jealous but she was also broad-minded and easy to cate. Xia Lei just needed some gentle words to soothe her and she was fine.
¡°Ummm, cough.¡± Someone coughed in the doorway and the voice was uniquely reedy.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t have to look back to know that it was Qin Xiang. He let go of Liang Si-Yao, then looked at Qin Xiang in the doorway and pretended to be annoyed as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t you know how to knock?¡±
Qin Xiang shrugged, pointed at door against the wall and asked, ¡°You mean I¡¯m supposed to knock after Ie in?¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face was red as she quickly said, ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look in the R&D department. Yin Hao and the guys said they had new ns. Um, you two go ahead and chat.¡±
Qin Xiang raised his voice as Liang Si-Yao went past him. ¡°I think ourpany walls - especially over here - should have notices stuck on them. ¡®No love-love and no intimacy during work hours¡¯.¡±
Liang Si-Yao red at Qin Xiang and suddenly kicked him in the back of his leg.
Qin Xiang opened his mouth wide and kept it open even after Liang Si-Yao walked out the door.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°You deserve it for annoying her. She¡¯ll even hit me when she loses her temper.¡±
Qin Xiang smiled wryly. ¡°Descendant of Yang Yan-Chun. I understand.¡±
¡°You should have found out something since you came, huh?¡± Xia Lei went on to business.
Qin Xiang walked over, lifted the Jin Jun Mei tea to his lips and took a big gulp before saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep a winkst night. How could I have sacrificed my sleep for nothing? That punk you told me to keep an eye on went to meet someonest night. Guess who.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Gu Ke-Wu.¡±
¡°Eh?¡± Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei, astonished. ¡°How did you guess?¡±
Xia Lei gave a smallugh. ¡°I caused an uproar at the Shentu residence. Shentu Tian-Yin is still in charge, so he has no power within the Shentu n to use against me. He would want someone to help, and Gu Ke-Wu is the best candidate. Gu Ke-Wu likes Shentu Tian-Yin - this is no secret. He has always seen Shentu Tian-Yin as a prize so he will surely do something when I¡¯m getting in his way - and that is what Shentu Tian-Feng would be happy to witness.¡±
Qin Xiang gave Xia Lei a thumbs-up. ¡°Awesome, but I don¡¯t understand. You told me that the Shentu n didn¡¯t want Shentu Tian-Yin to fall in love or get married. Isn¡¯t Shentu Tian-Feng smashing his own foot with a rock by going to look for Gu Ke-Wu?¡±
¡°He¡¯s borrowing a knife tomit a murder. Shentu Tian-Feng doesn¡¯t want Gu Ke-Wu to get Shentu Tian-Yin, of course. He¡¯s not stupid. He knows what sort of person Gu Ke-Wu is.¡±
¡°Then you be careful. Gu Ke-Wu represents the Gu n,¡± said Qin Xiang worriedly.
¡°I¡¯ll be careful. You be careful too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll continue to keep an eye on him and I¡¯ll contact you if I have anything.¡± Qin Xiang left Xia Lei¡¯s office.
Xia Lei mulled over his thoughts by himself after Qin Xiang left. ¡®I¡¯d guessed that Gu Ke-Wu would do something when I decided to help Shentu Tian-Yin. I¡¯m not afraid of him. If he tries something via legal channels, I¡¯m a consultant for Bureau 101 - this identity can help me eliminate some problems. If he uses underhanded methods... He¡¯d probably choose illegal methods, won¡¯t he? What would he do...¡±
It was easy to predict what a normal person would do but people like this Gu Ke-Wu were very difficult to figure out.
While he was lost in thought, a middle-aged man in an impable suit appeared in the doorway and asked politely, ¡°Excuse me, are you Chairman Xia?¡±
Xia Lei went forward to greet him. ¡°Yes, I am. And you are?¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯m the general manager for a real estate developmentpany under the Vientaine Group conglomerate. I am Wan Da-Hai. I¡¯ve some as representative for mypany to talk about a coboration with you.¡±
Xia Lei was a little suspicious. ¡°Coborate on what?¡±
Wan Da-Hai reached out both hands to shake with Xia Lei, smiling as he said, ¡°Ourpany has real estate in major cities across the country. We are in need of arge number of metal railings, steel fasteners and so on. I¡¯d like to ask yourpany to manufacture these for us. This is not a small order. Our annual consumption is about 40 million.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly understood that this Wan Da-Hai had been sent by Shentu Tian-Yin. He definitely wouldn¡¯t havee here to talk business if it weren¡¯t for her.
Xia Leiughed bitterly internally. ¡®What is she doing? There¡¯s no need for her to do this at all.¡¯
¡°Chairman Xia.¡± Wan Da-Hai looked somewhat worriedly at Xia Lei. ¡°Please talk with me. The prices are all negotiable - what¡¯s important is that we confirm that our twopanies will be working together.¡±
An order of 40 million was no small order. It needed at least two workshops to work at full power for a year toplete it. Profits for producing the parts for construction fences and steel fasteners were small but this was a long-term order. If he signed this contract, employees of two workshops would have work to do for a long time. Contracts like these were just what Thunder Horse Manufacturing needed.
¡°Okay, let¡¯s talk. Let¡¯s use the market prices.¡± Xia Lei quickly made a decision. This was business sent by Shentu Tian-Yin but business was business and more of these were, naturally, wee for Thunder Horse Manufacturing to grow. He wouldn¡¯t reject this.
It was afternoon by the time he sent Wan Da-Hai off. He invited Wan Da-Hai for a meal but he had insisted on leaving and it was unclear if this was also because of Shentu Tian-Yin. Xia Lei thought of giving Shentu Tian-Yin a call to ask her about it but gave up on the idea after some thinking. It wouldn¡¯t be appropriate to call to thank her for something like this.
After work, Xia Lei went to the market and bought a rabbit. That night, he continued his acupuncture practice on that rabbit...
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Jun_Mei_tea
Chapter 178 - Beautiful White Rabbit
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei received a phone call from Shentu Tian-Yin in the afternoon and drove to the Vientaine Group headquarters, Vientaine Grand Building. This was the tallest, grandest building in Hai-Zhu and the heart of the Vientaine Group. Shentu Tian-Yin received reports onpanies from all over the country in this very building and took care of matters, managing her business empire.
Fu Ming-Mei appeared just as Xia Lei parked his car in the car park.
¡°Come with me.¡± Fu Ming-Mei waved at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei got out of his car and followed Fu Ming-Mei to a lift, then went straight up to the top floor of Vientaine Grand Building.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s office was on the top floor of Vientaine Grand Building and it shocked Xia Lei. It was very spacious at 200 square metres. Metallic materials and cool colours were used in the decorating, giving it the feeling of numb coldness. This matched her character - noble, aloof, mourous.
Shentu Tian-Yin sat behind a silver metallic desk with Fu Chuan-Fu standing by her side. Four men stood before her; they were odd. Nothing they wore was worth much and it looked like the clothing they wore were from night market stalls. Their hair and beards were not trimmed, giving one the impression of unkempt sloppiness. What was even stranger was that these four men had calluses all over their hands, which immediately told one that they were manualbourers. These four men would not look out of ce at any construction site or at the kilns of brick factories but they stood out like sore thumbs in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s office.
¡°Come here, Lei.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin waved at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked over and avoided staring at those four people. It wasn¡¯t polite.
¡°Get to know these friends. Their names are a littleplicated. Uncle Fu, do the introductions,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Fu Chuan-Fu made a sound of agreement, then introduced the men one by one. ¡°He¡¯s Piao Tai-Ji. He¡¯s Jin Zhen-Huan. He¡¯s Piao Can-Lie. He¡¯s Jin Da-Hu. They¡¯re two pairs of brothers, all from Yan-Bian.¡±
The people of Yan-Bian Korean autonomous prefecture were mostly ethnic Koreans, so it was no wonder that their names were simr to Korean names.
Xia Lei was curious about what these four people were here for and what they did but he did not show it. He stayed polite and smiled as he nodded and greeted them one by one.
The four men also nodded at Xia Lei and looked respectful. It seemed Fu Chuan-Fu or Shentu Tian-Yin had already said something to them before he arrived.
After they exchanged greetings and were acquainted, Fu Chuan-Fu said, ¡°Mr Xia, these four used to be my subordinates. They can do anything and are trustworthy. I¡¯ve already talked to them. If there¡¯s anything you need them to do, you just have to ask. They will do anything.¡±
The four men bowed respectfully to Xia Lei as Fu Chuan-Fu finished speaking. It seemed like a deration of their allegiance, done in a Korean way.
¡®Fu Chuan-Fu must have some sort of history, or he wouldn¡¯t have subordinates. These four people look like they¡¯re from the rural areas but they didn¡¯t bat an eye in front of Shentu Tian-Yin. They¡¯re obviously not regr folk. They have looks of hardened ruthlessness and Fu Chuan-Fu said they would be able to do anything for me - it must include illegal activities too. I¡¯d better stay away from these people since I¡¯m a consultant for Bureau 101, or Long Bing and Boss Shi would skin me alive.¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
He thought that way but still politely said on the surface, ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll tell them if I have need of them.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei. ¡°You should know somewhat why I asked Fu Chuan-Fu to gather his subordinates, hm?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. He walked over and pulled Shentu Tian-Yin to one side and said quietly, ¡°Is there a need for you to do this?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin paused, then suddenlyughed. ¡°You think I¡¯m going to get them to do something illegal? I¡¯m not that much of a fool. I asked Uncle Fu to gather his subordinates to protect me, not to assassinate people.¡±
Xia Lei let out a breath. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good.¡±
¡°Uncle Fu used to be a mercenary officer in Myanmar. These men are his subordinates and have been on the battlefield with him. They are capable and will provide professional bodyguard services if I use them. I can rx quite a bit with them around.¡±
¡°I can apany you too if you feel like you¡¯re in danger,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled and said, ¡°I know you¡¯re very good too and I¡¯d like you to apany me and protect me, but... won¡¯t Miss Liang be jealous? She¡¯lle knocking if you are with me every single day.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and didn¡¯t say anything. He did believe, based on her straightforward personality, that Liang Si-Yao would get so jealous that she¡¯de right over looking for him if he spent the whole day with Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Uncle Fu, take them to get cleaned up. Get them whatever they need,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Yes,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu, and he led the ex-mercenaries out of the office.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s gaze moved to Fu Ming-Mei.
Fu Ming-Mei shrugged. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll go out too. Don¡¯t wanna be a third wheel.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows but did not scold Fu Ming-Mei.
The spacious office now held just Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. The office space was sorge it appeared quiet and deserted. ¡°You have such a huge office and use so many cool colours in the decor - don¡¯t you feel cold?¡±
¡°I am one woman managing a conglomerate with tens of thousands of people working under me. I have to create a cold, indifferent atmosphere to make people feel like I¡¯m not easy-going and affable. They will also fear me and this is good for my management. I know you have your own way of managing people but my method ispletely different from your social management,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Mypany is small and just finding its legs. I definitely have to treat the employees well to keep them or to attract more talents. Vientaine Group is a hugepany and, as you¡¯ve said, employs tens of thousands. My method would surely not work,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s good that you understand. All right, enough ofpany matters. Tell me what you¡¯ve been doing these past few days.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked expectantly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei knew she was after some information and he said, ¡°I¡¯ve been doing clinical trials these past few days. Uh, experimenting on a rabbit.¡±
¡°You¡¯re... experimenting on a rabbit?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin in surprise. She seemed to be holding back one more line: My father is not a rabbit!
¡°It¡¯s not as simple as you think but I won¡¯t be exining it to you since you won¡¯t understand anyway. I¡¯ve gained a lot from the past few days but I need a willing test subject. Your father is a human and not a rabbit after all.¡± He frowned. ¡°ording to my n, I should get a test subject by today, but I really can¡¯t think of anyone who¡¯d be willing to...¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly cut him off. ¡°Isn¡¯t there one before you?¡±
¡°You?¡± It had not even crossed Xia Lei¡¯s mind that the queen of Vientaine Group would be willing to be his guinea pig. He¡¯d only mentioned it to Shentu Tian-Yin to see if she could get a loyal employee to volunteer; he had not expected that she would volunteer herself.
¡°The person you¡¯re going to treat is my father. What is so impossible about being a guinea pig for his sake? Don¡¯t hesitate. Come, tell me what I have to do.¡±
Xia Lei looked about and found that Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s huge office had just her chair and desk, and no sofa for anyone else to sit on. ¡°Do you have a lounge here? I need a quiet ce where I won¡¯t be disturbed.¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin lifted a remote off her desk and pressed a button.
The metallic wall behind her desk suddenly opened up, revealing an elegant space. There was a bed, sofa, television,rge indoor bathtub and a small bar stocked with famous wines.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Can I switch offices with you?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smirked. ¡°I can give this entire top floor to you if you want. Seriously; I¡¯m not kidding.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shentu Tian-Yin entered the secret lounge and pressed the button on the remote again. The wall closed. The wall on the lounge side was tempered ss and not affected by light. The floor-to-ceiling windows afforded a high-rise view of Hai-Zhu City; the view was excellent.
¡°All right, there won¡¯t be anyone interrupting you here. What should I do now?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked steadily at Xia Lei, awaiting his instructions.
Xia Lei nced at her long trousers and said in a slightly troubled tone, ¡°You used to like wearing skirts. Why are you in trousers today?¡±
¡°It¡¯s getting cold so of course I¡¯m wearing long trousers. Does this have anything to do with your experiment?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Lie on the bed. You don¡¯t have to take your trousers off.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s jade skin reddened with a blush but she did not say anything. She walked to the bed, removed her high heels, climbed on the bed andy t.
Xia Lei walked to the bed and took out a deerskin case from his clothing. The deerskin case contained tens of silver needles. Xia Lei was immersed in the world of acupuncture in this period of time and carried this case of needles everywhere with him. He pierced himself with needles to learn more about acupuncture and acupuncture points when he had idle time. These needles were going to be used on Shentu Tian-Yin right now.
¡°I¡¯m ready. Are you ready?¡± Xia Lei took a silver needle from the deerskin case.
Shentu Tian-Yin was a little nervous and she licked her lips before giving a soft, ¡°Nn.¡±
Xia Lei reached out to remove her socks, then pulled at the leg of her trousers. With that pull, however, he discovered that she was wearing tapered trousers and he could only lift it a little. It was not enough. He tried pulling at it more but it was still a no-go.
¡°Uh... You¡¯ll have to take them off.¡± Xia Lei was so embarrassed he could die.
¡°I r,really have to?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face turned red immediately, revealing a refreshingly shy expression.
Her shyness was captivating and so beautiful it left one breathless.
Xia Lei nodded reluctantly. ¡°The back of your legs would work too but the blood vessels there are thicker and not as effective for practice. I also need more ces where I can insert needles so I can get more data, so... please take them off.¡±
¡°Turn around.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was small and bereft of her usual queenliness.
Xia Lei turned around but thought to himself, ¡®Won¡¯t I still be seeing her skinter? Why ask me to turn around?¡¯
Rustling sounds came from behind him...
Chapter 179 - The Queens Afraid of Pain
The rustling sound behind him made Xia Lei weirdly nervous. Shentu Tian-Yin was the goddess he¡¯d dreamed of after all and he¡¯d be lying if he said he was not bothered by it. He moved his gaze to the view beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked at the tall buildings, the blue sky, anything to move his attention somewhere else.
His actions, however, were like covering his own ears whilst stealing a bell. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice came quickly again from behind him. ¡°I¡¯m done. You can turn back now.¡±
Xia Lei got nervous again at those words. He turned and was stunned by the beautiful sight which met his eyes.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s jade feet had no blemishes, were not too big or too small, and every toe was delicate and lovely. She did not have any rough skin on the soles of her feet either - her jade feet were white and tender. Her legs were smooth, round yet slender, and the wless skin on them was in the best condition possible. Her beautiful legs were not as long or as strong as Liang Si-Yao¡¯s but they had a baby-fat pretty softness to them.
¡°Nn, you may begin.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s cheeks were still red. She was actually more nervous than Xia Lei.
Xia Lei made a sound of agreement and sat by the bed. ¡°I¡¯ll have to hit you a few times. It¡¯ll hurt a little so you¡¯ll have to endure it.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin said in surprise, ¡°You¡¯re going to hit me?¡±
¡°Well, the thing is, your father¡¯s condition is due to a blockage in his blood vessels. If I can clear the blockage his condition will improve and he will be able to awaken. That¡¯s why I need to recreate simr conditions and try to clear your blocked blood vessels. I¡¯ve never tried this on a human before. I need to understand how this would work on a human body and get more information,¡± exined Xia Lei.
¡°But how will you get information from my body if it¡¯s a negative result? You have just needles and nothing else.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. I¡¯ll hit you now, okay?¡±
¡°You... be gentle. I¡¯m afraid of pain.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin nibbled on her cherry lips and looked rather pitiful.
This voice, this expression - it made one think that this was not about poking silver needles but about a man and a woman stealing an apple. Xia Lei pricked her in the thigh with a needle without saying anything.
¡°I¡¯m going to do it. Endure it.¡±
¡°Do it, I... I¡¯ll endure it.¡±
Xia Lei lifted his hand and swung it down on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s calf with a smack.
¡°Ah! It hurts!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin couldn¡¯t help crying out. Her delicate brows were furrowed and she clenched her teeth, but her face was red with embarrassment. This expression would move even a senior monk.
Xia Lei steeled his heart and delivered more ps to the same area. Her delicate skin turned red, then started showing the beginnings of a bruise.
¡°I need to hit you on the thigh too.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t really bear to do so but he still said it.
¡°My thigh too?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin sounded nervous.
¡°The blood vessels are open. I need to damage the same blood vessels and create a second blockage. Your father¡¯s blood vessels are quite severely blocked. Think of a pipe that¡¯s been clogged in several ces - can the blood flow through? I have to find a way to make it flow through all the blockage.¡±
¡°Hit me then,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°I¡¯m willing to get hit for my father¡¯s sake.¡±
Xia Lei raised his hand and a p descended with a loud smack on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s right thigh. The thigh with a bit of baby fat rippled, and her round buttocks trembled.
¡°It hurts.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin didn¡¯t seem to be lying about being afraid of pain - tears welled in her doe-like eyes.
Xia Lei did not hold back anymore. He braced himself and his heart, then rained heavy blows down. Her thigh turned red, swollen and started to bruise, much like her calf had.
¡°You¡¯re so brutal.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin bit her lip as he said, ¡°Even my father has never hit me like this.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Aren¡¯t I also doing this for your father? All right, I¡¯m done. I won¡¯t hit you anymore.¡± As he spoke, his left eye locked onto the swollen area on her calf and twitched, revealing the situation under her skin. He picked up a needle with practised ease and plunged it into her skin.
The needle-wielding Xia Lei was now focused and had no distracting thoughts in his head.
Being pricked by an acupuncture needle did not actually hurt, but was more of a feeling of soreness. Shentu Tian-Yin did not cry out in pain. She looked at Xia Lei quietly and a faint smile appeared on her lips. Her two dimples seemed to hold mellow wine - one could be intoxicated with just one look.
With the experience of handling internal energy and acupuncture from experimenting on the rabbit, Xia Lei progressed smoothly. He found that the walls of human blood vessels were much stronger than those of a rabbit¡¯s and could withstand greater amounts of internal energy and it was far easier to clear blockages than in a rabbit. The whole process took him just an hour and he cleared all the blocked blood vessels in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s leg in that time. Before his acupuncture treatment, two areas on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s leg were red and bruising. The red swollenness and bruises disappeared after treatment, leaving faint marks of redness. These patches of redness were due to broken capiries and there was no way for him to repair those hair-thin capiries with acupuncture.
Xia Lei wiped away the sweat on his brow and put his needles away. ¡°All done! Look at the result - not bad, huh?¡± he said happily.
Shentu Tian-Yin got up and looked at her leg, then eximed in surprise, ¡°It¡¯s true. I did not take any medicine and you made the swelling go away with needles. It¡¯s miraculous! How did you do it?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°With needles - as you saw.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. She was not happy with his answer but the truth was as he¡¯d said; he had used silver needles to clear the blockages in her blood vessels. She could not question him further on that but she said, ¡°Lei, if this is the case, can you bring forward the time of my father¡¯s treatment?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Not yet. We must wait a week.¡±
¡°Why not? I think you can do it already.¡±
¡°You¡¯re a regr person, a healthy person. Your father is a patient who has been bedridden for three years. His body is weak. Let him build nourishment for two more days and I can also rest easier when I treat him. Plus, I¡¯ve only experimented for a little while on you. I don¡¯t have enough experience. I need more experience and this needs time too.¡±
¡°Then do it again. I¡¯ll let you hit me and prick me.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was more anxious than Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest - I used internal energy when I pricked you with needles. I cannot recover internal energy by simply resting for a while and eating something. I cannot continue today; I¡¯m already exhausted. Another day.¡±
¡°Sure, it¡¯s all up to you,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin. She grabbed the trousers she had put by the side of the bed and was about to put them on when she seemed to suddenly remember something and said, ¡°Turn around. No peeking.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He had already seen, hit, touched and pricked her when she was trouser-less but she still made him look away when she put her trousers on - What was the meaning of this?
Women¡¯s minds were an enigma.
Fu Chuan-Fu led the four men back into Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s office scant minutes after they exited the lounge. The four men looked like rural workers who moved bricks at construction sites earlier but they were now dressed in suits and wore sunsses. They now looked menacing from head to toe and very much like professional bodyguards.
¡°Mdy, these four will follow you around from now on. They shall be your personal guard,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
¡°No, not personal guard. I want a discreet guard. They will get suspicious if I am too difficult to harm,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°But...¡± Fu Chuan-Fu started saying, then stopped.
¡°It¡¯s all right. I have Xia Lei to protect me. It¡¯s not as if you don¡¯t know his capabilities. Consider increasing security when he is not with me,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Fu Chuan-Fu nced at Xia Lei, then nodded in agreement. He obviously believed in Xia Lei¡¯s abilities.
Fu Ming-Mei walked into the office at that moment holding a red invitation in her hand. She walked up to Shentu Tian-Yin and handed it to her. ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, Gu Ke-Wu sent someone with an invitation. It¡¯s an invite to a dinner at Distinguished Gathering.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin opened the invitation and frowned. ¡°He¡¯s inviting me to Distinguished Gathering for dinner? Huh. Must I go if he invites me? Go tell that person who delivered the invitation to let Gu Ke-Wu know that I am too busy to go.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei smiled. ¡°I knew you¡¯d decide not to go. I¡¯m not going to bother telling him myself. I¡¯ll call the gate-guards to tell him to go away.¡± As she spoke, she walked to the desk, picked up the phone and made to use the internal line.
Shentu Tian-Yin stopped her just as she was about to press the button. ¡°Hold on. I¡¯ll go. You go tell the person who delivered the invitation that I will attend. I will attend with my fianc¨¦.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei couldn¡¯t help ncing at Xia Lei with a faint thought-provoking smile on her lips.
He was a boyfriend before and now he¡¯d been upgraded to fianc¨¦.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Apany me, Lei. Gu Ke-Wu is always after me. This is a good opportunity to crush his hopes once and for all.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll apany you.¡±
¡°Ming-Mei, go to the jewellers¡¯ and pick out two rings. Lei and I shall wear them tonight.¡±
They¡¯re going to wear rings too?
Xia Lei was dumbstruck.
¡°Okey-dokey, I¡¯ll go pick out the rings now. I¡¯ll get the best diamond ring.¡± Fu Ming-Mei seemed to be wishing for the whole world to be in chaos.
¡®It¡¯s just an act - why are even rings being used? I¡¯d better not let Si-Yao know about it or I¡¯m dead...¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
Chapter 180 - Straight-up Rejection
Night fell and themps lit up. A ck BMW M6 drove into Distinguished Gathering. There were just two people in the car - Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. Shentu Tian-Yin did not bring any bodyguards this time. She did not take her Rolls Royce Phantom either but Xia Lei¡¯s car. This was akin to her giving the outside world a message - I am taken.
The car stopped and Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin alighted. Large diamond rings graced both their ring fingers. They walked to the great hall of Distinguished Gathering hand-in-hand, a talented man and a beautiful woman. They looked like newlyweds.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked out the corners of her eyes at the rings on their fingers from time to time. The bright diamonds sparkled under the lights and her face glowed with a sweet smile.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, felt rather odd. He was holding her soft hand and wearing an engagement ring - he felt a jumble of emotions in that moment. Was it real? Was it not? ¡®What am I thinking? This is just an act. Si-Yao is my real girlfriend. She loves me and is so good to me. I cannot do anything to disappoint her,¡¯ he thought guiltily to himself after these feelings popped out.
¡°Penny for your thoughts?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice interrupted his thoughts.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Nothing.¡±
¡°Thinking of Miss Liang, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I have no doubt that I am amb to the ughter today. You have to protect me from those butchers,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin with a smile.
This seemed like a joke but it was the stark truth. Gu Ke-Wu viewed Shentu Tian-Yin as prey. Judging from his personality and propensity to use certain methods, would he sit idly by and watch Shentu Tian-Yin date another man? He would act first!
Xia Lei held her hand in a light grip. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. No one can harm you with me around.¡±
The smile on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s cheeks grew wider, her dimples deepening like the blooming of lilies.
Brother and sister, Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen, seemed to have received a report from the doorman and they stepped out of the great hall in wee. One sibling was in a suit and the other in a gorgeous evening dress. They were giants among men and their air of luxury was overpowering.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s face darkened at the sight of the two of them holding hands and looking intimate. His eyes were full of hatred and hostility when he looked at Xia Lei but all this shed by in an instant. His face was full of smiles the next instant and he spoke gracefully, ¡°Why have you arrived only now, Tian-Yin? I waited so long for you.¡±
¡°My fianc¨¦ and I had something to tend to so we arete. My apologies,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin indifferently.
¡°Your fianc¨¦?¡± Gu Ke-Wu looked at Xia Lei andughed in an exaggerated manner. ¡°Mr Xia, is it? Tian-Yin, please stop joking, eh?¡±
Gu Ke-Wen spoke up, ¡°You¡¯re awesome, Big Sister Tian-Yin. You¡¯re using this method to chase away those pestering you, right? My brother is sincere though - he won¡¯t back down. He won¡¯t give up even if you¡¯re married.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. ¡°Do I look like I¡¯m joking? I don¡¯t want to hear things like this. If you have nothing else to say, I¡¯m leaving.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu exchanged looks. The siblings were unable to confirm the truth of the matter but they were able to glean some answers from the way Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei. There were some things which couldn¡¯t be faked, like feelings.
The Gu siblings did not greet Xia Lei but he still stretched out his hand elegantly in greeting. ¡°Hello, Mr Gu.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu shook hands with Xia Lei. ¡°Go in and take a seat. Make yourself at home.¡±
¡°All right.¡± Xia Lei extended his hand to Gu Ke-Wen. ¡°Hello, Miss Gu.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen twisted her lips in dissatisfaction but still shook Xia Lei¡¯s hand. If not for Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s presence, she¡¯d have preferred to w his face to shreds than to shake hands with him.
Shentu Tian-Yin took hold of Xia Lei¡¯s hand again and entered the great hall with the Gu siblings.
There were no guests in the great hall but there were more than ten icy-faced suited bodyguards. They upied the four corners of the great hall and all of them looked at Xia Lei with cold stares. This was an obvious message to Xia Lei - The Gu n is not to be trifled with!
Xia Lei scoffed at such a set-up. Using bodyguards to threaten him? The Gu siblings were too naive.
¡°Didn¡¯t you say that there¡¯ll be other guests? Why is it just us?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin. Unlike Xia Lei, the bodyguards¡¯ burly bodies and icy faces made her nervous.
¡°Of course there are other guests, but they¡¯re not here. Come with me,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu with a smile.
The four of them walked through the great hall and along a shaded path to an ancient-styled loft. A que hung on the door to the loft and on it were engraved the words ¡®Tian-Yin Pavilion¡¯.
Xia Lei remembered this ce. He¡¯d heard about it from the lips of Gu Ke-Wen when he had apanied Liu Ying thest time. He was not able toe here then; it was his first time here. Giving a name like that to a ce like this was an obvious show of his feelings towards Shentu Tian-Yin. Xia Lei knew too, that Gu Ke-Wu had brought him and Shentu Tian-Yin to this ce to give him an indirect warning - Shentu Tian-Yin is mine! Stay away!
Xia Lei had to admit that Gu Ke-Wu had put a lot of thought into this meeting.
The door to Tian-Yin Pavilion was shut tightly and Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen did not open the door to go in. Instead, they stood by the door and smiled as they looked at Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Please, go in.¡± Gu Ke-Wu had a warm smile on his face.
¡°What are you up to?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Gu Ke-Wenughed. ¡°Just go in, Big Sister Tian-Yin. My brother prepared a special gift for you.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded.
Shentu Tian-Yin then let go of his hand, walked up to the door and pushed it open.
The lights in the loft and themps outside suddenly went out the moment the door opened.
Xia Lei took a step forward anxiously and stood in front of Shentu Tian-Yin to protect her.
Shentu Tian-Yin was nervous when the lights went out but with Xia Lei protecting her, she was not afraid - she was touched.
It was a sea of darkness before him but his left eye was not affected. He could see the situation in the loft clearly. Over ten people were gathered around a long table and each person had a lighter in hand to light candles on the table.
These men and women seemed to have practiced this quite a bit. Their movements were coordinated and unified; over ten candles seemed to light up at almost the same time, forming a heart-shape.
The candlelight chased away the darkness, revealing a poster on the wall behind the table. The printed poster depicted Shentu Tian-Yin with cheesy text next to her image.
¡®Tian-Yin, this is the 999th day that we¡¯ve known each other. I remember every day I met with you. Your smile, your voice, your everything captivates me. Please allow me to confess my love for you on this special day.¡¯
At that moment, a sweet little girl pushed a little cart filled with roses out from a room in the loft. There was no need to count; the humongous bouquet of roses must number 999.
Xia Lei then discovered that there were celebrities among the guests who had lit the candles, and they were well-known people, too. *
A candlelit dinner, a huge poster dering his love, 999 red roses and a group of famous celebrities - this dinner was as romantic and stylish as can be. How many women in this world could withstand temptation like this?
Gu Ke-Wu walked into the loft to pick up the bouquet of roses and knelt on one knee in front of Shentu Tian-Yin. He confessed with feeling, ¡°Tian-Yin, I have never wavered in my love for you. I fell deeply in love with you the moment Iid eyes on you and I cannot stop loving you. I cannot imagine what joy I can have if I do not have you in my life. Please take pity on my sincere heart and be mine.¡±
A few of Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s friends and the celebrities burst out in apuse and some even urged Shentu Tian-Yin to react.
¡°ept his flowers, Miss Tian-Yin.¡±
¡°Miss Tian-Yin, Ke-Wu is a romantic. You have to cherish a man like him.¡±
¡°Ke-Wu is the only man in this world who suits you, Miss Tian-Yin. You¡¯ll be the happiest couple on Earth if you two are together.¡±
Everyone was talking at once and the atmosphere was lively and joyful.
They seemed to have overlooked the fact that Shentu Tian-Yin hade with her fianc¨¦ and that she had a diamond engagement ring on her finger.
The one who ignored ¡®Xia Lei the fianc¨¦¡¯ the most were not the guests but Gu Ke-Wu. What was this when a man confesses his love to another man¡¯s fianc¨¦e right in front of him? This was not simply overlooking the matter now but an outright trampling over his honour!
Xia Lei had yet to react when Shentu Tian-Yin got anxious and angry. ¡°Gu Ke-Wu, did you invite me here to watch you put on a show? I am already engaged to Xia Lei. How can you do this!¡±
Gu Ke-Wu did not seem mad at all. ¡°You¡¯re mine. I shall marry only you in my lifetime. Besides, you¡¯re just engaged. I¡¯m still going to go after you even when you¡¯re married. I¡¯ll chase you until I have you!¡±
¡°Wow! Such a romantic and passionate man!¡± *
¡°ept the flowers! How can you reject such a romantic confession?¡± urged someone.
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke angrily, ¡°You are being too disrespectful by doing this! I¡¯ve already said very clearly that I¡¯m engaged to Xia Lei! I will not ept any confession from anyone other than him!¡±
Everyone looked at Xia Lei. They did not say a word but their thoughts seemed to say: What can you do even if you¡¯re ignored and disrespected** like this?
Gu Ke-Wu red at Xia Lei and the smile disappeared from his face. ¡°Xia Lei, leave now if you know what¡¯s good for you. Leave now and you¡¯ll be safe for the rest of your life. Our past grievances will be buried. You can try saying ¡®no¡¯ if you dare.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly gave a kick as soon as he finished his sentence.
*The author put in the names of some Chinese celebrities which I frankly don¡¯t give two bleeps about. They¡¯re not important to the plot either.
**Also substituted ¡®disrespected¡¯ for ¡®cuckolded¡¯ since it didn¡¯t make sense to say he was cuckolded when the dictionary definition is ¡¯a man whose wife is unfaithful¡¯.
*** Same line of reasoning for changing the title entirely.
Chapter 181 - A Lunatic With A Machete
The huge bouquet of 999 roses burst apart with Xia Lei¡¯s kick. Fresh, tender petals filled the air and Xia Lei¡¯s size 41 leather shoe went through petal after petal tond heavily on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s shoulder.
Gu Ke-Wu groaned as he fell to the floor from his one-kneed, rose-holding position.
Jaws dropped in the Tian-Yin Pavilion and it was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
No one could believe that someone had actually dared to kick Gu Ke-Wu, and in Distinguished Gathering on top of that!
Xia Lei, however, had done it without hesitation and without qualm.
He had not thought of fighting here with Gu Ke-Wu but Gu Ke-Wu had been just too much of an intolerable bully. Shentu Tian-Yin had already told him again and again that he was her fianc¨¦ but Gu Ke-Wu had still professed his love in front of an audience. This was highly disrespectful. He was not in a real rtionship with Shentu Tian-Yin but Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s insult was real. Would he still be a man if he let this insult slide?
Another reason was that there was sure to be someone reporting to Shentu Tian-Feng in the group of people. If he did nothing when Gu Ke-Wu insulted him, the act he and Shentu Tian-Yin put up would be seen through.
Xia Lei knew that this kick would result in terrible consequences but he executed the kick cleanly without hesitation because of these two reasons.
Shentu Tian-Yin, too, looked at him in astonishment. She¡¯d never imagined that Xia Lei would be so reckless as to kick Gu Ke-Wu to the floor in Distinguished Gathering!
¡°Bastard!¡± Gu Ke-Wen reacted first. She cursed Xia Lei angrily and came towards him with a p.
Xia Lei caught her hand and twisted. Gu Ke-Wen went tumbling to the floor.
Gu Ke-Wu climbed to his feet and dusted his shoulder off. He was so angry heughed. ¡°Xia Lei, in all my life you are the first to hit me and in my own ce, at that. I¡¯ll kowtow to you if you can leave tonight in one piece.¡± He whistled after he was done speaking.
Hurried footsteps came from all directions and tens of people came running in the blink of an eye. These were all Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s underlings, including the fierce bodyguards in the great hall.
Gu Ke-Wu reached out a hand and pulled Gu Ke-Wen to her feet.
Gu Ke-Wen pointed at Xia Lei and snarled, ¡°Break his legs!¡±
The bodyguards surged forward. Each had a tool in his hands; metal pipes, baseball bats, machetes, butterfly knives and so on.
¡°How dare you!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was flustered but still maintained her imposingposure. ¡°Gu Ke-Wu, if you dare touch him, I¡¯ll use all my resources to seek revenge on you!¡±
Gu Ke-Wu raised a hand and the underlings who were prepared to fight came to a stop but not before they surrounded Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Shentu Tian-Yin, my brother was so good to you and yet you treat him like this!¡± cried Gu Ke-Wen angrily.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not back down. ¡°That was just his one-sided love. What does it have to do with me? Don¡¯t confuse me with an easily persuaded teenage girl who hasn¡¯t experienced the real world. We all know very well what you and your brother are nning!¡±
¡°You...¡± Gu Ke-Wen was so mad she could not finish her sentence.
¡°Ke-Wen, hold your tongue.¡± Gu Ke-Wu was calm. He looked at Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Your words don¡¯t scare me, Tian-Yin. You can¡¯t deny that you are in some trouble now, can you? I know why you picked this punk. It¡¯s because he¡¯s brazen enough to help you deal with those people in your family. Why don¡¯t you choose me? Can¡¯t Ipare to this punk with his beginnings in a construction site? Don¡¯t y around with him anymore; he isn¡¯t a match for you. I am the man you are fated to marry. I can guarantee that those who want to take advantage of you will have no good end if you agree to be with me!¡±
¡°We will never be together. I came today to attend a banquet with my fianc¨¦. I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯d be so disrespectful. Forget it. Let¡¯s never contact each other again.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin pulled Xia Lei by the hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Lei.¡±
¡°Trying to leave? Hahaha...¡± Gu Ke-Wuughed loudly.
The bodyguards stood firm and did not let them through, each and every one of them staring at Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin with aggression.
¡°What are you trying to do?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin angrily.
¡°Do?¡± Gu Ke-Wu sneered. ¡°No one dares hit me, especially in front of so many of my friends. How can I hold my head up high in public if I just let you go? You heard it too earlier - my sister wants his legs broken. How about this, Xia Lei - you break your own legs and I¡¯ll let you crawl out of here. I¡¯ll keep my word. I¡¯ll let you keep your life too on Tian-Yin¡¯s ount.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll call the police!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin took her phone out of her clutch and was about to dial when she found that there was no signal.
¡°No signal, Big Sister Tian-Yin? Would you like me to get someone to power up the signal tower?¡± said Gu Ke-Wen mockingly.
¡°This was a set-up from the beginning!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin understood right away and regretted asking Xia Lei to apany her here. Unfortunately, it was toote for regret. There was no way to contact anyone on the outside and neither the police nor Fu Chuan-Fu and his subordinates coulde over to help.
This was a banquet set up with the aim of murdering a guest.*
Gu Ke-Wu shot a look at an underling.
The underling threw his machete to the floor close to Xia Lei¡¯s leg and sparks flew as itnded with a ng.
Gu Ke-Wen stared at Xia Lei and sneered, ¡°Left leg, right leg, hamstrings. Break them all yourself and crawl out of here.¡±
Xia Lei bent to pick the machete up and Shentu Tian-Yin gripped his hand tightly. ¡°No!¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s going to be okay. I said that no one can hurt you with me by your side.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin was motionless as her doe-like eyes filled with tears. She was a strong woman and never showed her true emotions but she was apletely different person when she was with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei picked up the machete and waved it about, then looked at Gu Ke-Wu and said evenly, ¡°Gu Ke-Wu, I dare kick you because I¡¯m not afraid of what you¡¯ll do to me. I¡¯m sorry but I can¡¯t break my own legs and crawl out of here. Can I trouble you to do it yourself?¡±
Viciousness shed in Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s eyes and he waved his hand.
The underlings closest to Xia Lei suddenly charged forward, swinging the baseball bats, machetes and pipes in their hands at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pushed Shentu Tian-Yin into Tian-Yin Pavilion and raised the machete in his hand, chopping it down on the arm of an underling who was about to brain him with a baseball bat.
Blood spurted.
¡°Argh---¡± screamed the man. The baseball bat dropped from his hand to the floor.
Xia Lei twisted his body to the side and nimbly dodged attacks from two other people. He counterattacked with a chop to the arm of an underling who attacked him from the back.
The machete struck bone with a thunk. The underling fainted without so much as a scream.
Xia Lei¡¯s machete shed as the underling fainted dead away and chopped at the third underling¡¯s thigh. His attack was quick and vicious - just like the professional killers and special agents in movies!
Everyone was stunned and scared silly by the sight.
The one who was most shocked was Gu Ke-Wu. He¡¯d never imagined that Xia Lei would not just dare to kick him, but to also sh others in this venue! The Xia Lei he saw right now was like a wildman;ws and political support meant nothing to him. He¡¯d chop anyone who angered him!
Three people were taken out in an instant. Xia Lei suddenly leapt to the space in front of Gu Ke-Wu and raised his arm. The blood-stained machete in his handnded on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s neck.
¡°No---¡± Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s heart almost jumped out of her throat in that instant.
Gu Ke-Wu was so scared that his legs went weak and he broke out in cold sweat. He was sure that his head would have gone flying in that instant!
However, Xia Lei¡¯s machete rested on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s neck and he didn¡¯t swing it downwards. His aim in chopping at people was not to kill them; all his chops were in non-vital areas. It looked brutal but he had used his left eye to focus on each target and identified non-lethal areas before he had executed his chops. The chops were vicious but not lethal.
The situation was like that but he looked like a bloodthirsty lunatic in the eyes of others.
No one knew what a lunatic would do so nobody could say for sure if Xia Lei would actually chop Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s head off.
¡°Y, You... Don¡¯t be hasty!¡± Gu Ke-Wu had not just weak knees but a weak voice too.
Xia Lei went behind Gu Ke-Wu and said coldly, ¡°Didn¡¯t you want my hamstrings? Pick up a machete and let¡¯s have a duel.¡±
¡°Y, You¡¯re insane!¡± Gu Ke-Wu continued trembling.
¡°You don¡¯t dare to? Don¡¯t talk big when you don¡¯t dare to do it, then. Gu Ke-Wu, other people are afraid of you but those are others. I¡¯m warning you for thest time - don¡¯t piss me off. Get your men to back off!¡± sneered Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wu did not make a sound; he was hesitating.
¡°How dare you! Let my brother go!¡± Gu Ke-Wen screamed recklessly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei twisted his body to the side and kicked Gu Ke-Wen in the face with a thump of his foot.
The kick shut her up. She fell heavily to the floor and didn¡¯t get up again.
Xia Lei never hit women but a specimen like Gu Ke-Wen was an exception.
Seeing his own sister get kicked into unconsciousness made Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s eyes spit mes. ¡°Xia Lei! Do you know what you¡¯re doing? You¡¯re dead!¡±
Xia Lei pped Gu Ke-Wu upside his head. ¡°Fucker. You think you¡¯re a prince? Think you can screw me over whenever you like?¡±
It was a forceful p. Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s head rang with the blow and he saw stars.
Xia Lei lifted a hand, pointed at the group of Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s underlings and said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m leaving this ce now. You cane take a swing at me but I can guarantee that I won¡¯t go easy on you. I will chop at you with no regard for your lives. It is against thew for you to kill me. It is self-defence if I kill you.¡±
The group of underlings did not dare move.
One of the reasons why they didn¡¯t move was because Gu Ke-Wu was being held ¡®hostage¡¯ and it was like them not daring to shoot at the rat for fear of breaking the vases. The other more important reason was that Xia Lei was brutal and skilled - who would dare take the risk of being chopped to death?
¡°Let¡¯s go, Tian-Yin.¡± Xia Lei gestured to Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not know what to think anymore. She nodded, then stood obediently behind Xia Lei.
Xia Lei dragged Gu Ke-Wu before him and walked towards the group of underlings blocking his way.
The underlings did not dare let him through without Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s order but they did not dare to attack Xia Lei either.
Xia Lei let loose another heavy p on the back of Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s head and raised his voice. ¡°Tell your dogs to make way! You hear me, fucker? Are you a retarded pig who doesn¡¯t speak the humannguage?¡± He pped him another time after he was done speaking.
Gu Ke-Wu felt like the back of his head was ready to explode. He could not bear the pain and ringing in his head any longer and folded. ¡°Let him through!¡± he shouted.
He might suffer some brain damage and end up disabled if he let himself be pped a few more times.
The group of underlings made way.
Xia Lei kept his grip on Gu Ke-Wu as he led Shentu Tian-Yin through the great hall and to the carpark.
Shentu Tian-Yin woke up from her state of shock and retrieved the car keys from Xia Lei¡¯s belt without instruction. She opened the car door and sat herself in the driver¡¯s seat as she said anxiously, ¡°Get in, quick!¡±
*ºèÃÅÑç - was a historical event that took ce in 206 BC at the Hong Gate (Chinese: ø™éT; literally: "Swan goose Gate") outside Xianyang, the capital of the Qin dynasty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_at_Hong_Gate
Chapter 182 - One Old One Young
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s underlings followed but none dared to get too close.
Xia Lei dragged Gu Ke-Wu to the passenger side. Shentu Tian-Yin had already started the engine.
Gu Ke-Wu was calm. ¡°This is not over, Xia Lei. I¡¯ll settle this score with you,¡± he said coldly.
¡°I¡¯m not afraid of your revenge; use whatever means you have. I¡¯ll leave you with this - not everyone on this Earth is afraid of you. Don¡¯t think so highly of yourself.¡±
¡°Humph! We¡¯ll see!¡± sneered Gu Ke-Wu.
Xia Lei pulled the car door open and pushed Gu Ke-Wu away.
At that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye caught sight of a sh of light. He was jolted by it and dodged to one side. He was not as quick as that flying object, however, and was hit in the arm when he moved aside. Piercing pain came and the car door also shook with a dull thud.
It was a silver throwing knife with des on both sides and it gleamed under the streetmps; it looked fairly sharp.
Fresh blood flowed from Xia Lei¡¯s left arm, wetting his clothes.
Xia Lei could not look pause to look at his wounds. He fixed his gaze on the direction in which the throwing knife hade from and an old man and a young man strolled into view.
The old man was tall and slim and had sharp eyes. He was dressed in a traditional Chinese jacket and traditional Chinese martial arts cloth shoes. He carried a sword which matched his ensemble and he looked like a wandering swordsman from ancient times.
The young man was in his twenties, of robust build and well-proportioned and rather handsome. He wore a set of Adidas exercise clothing and was ying idly with a silver throwing knife. He would have looked like a professional athlete full of positive energy if it were not for the throwing knife.
It was apparent that the young man had attacked earlier, almost severely injuring Xia Lei. If Xia Lei had been just zero-point-something seconds slower, that throwing knife would have pierced him in the chest instead of just grazing his arm!
The first action he took was already so savage. This young man looked like a sunnyd but he was actually a ferocious wolf!
¡°Get in!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin said in panic.
Xia Lei reached to pull the car door again.
The young man suddenly swung his arm and the throwing knife in his hand became a shining, speedy blur. It pierced the front tyre of the BMW M6.
Tyres were stic and would deflect a blow from a knife but the sides were soft. A knife just needed to be fast enough and thrown with enough strength to pierce it.
Pssss...
The front tyre of the BMW M6 was rendered immobile.
Xia Lei quickly took the opportunity to shut the door. ¡°Go! Quickly!¡± he shouted at Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°I¡¯m not leaving without you!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin shouted back at Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wuughed loudly. ¡°Neither of you will be able to leave. You are mine, Tian-Yin. No other man on this Earth can have you except me.¡±
The sword-toting old man and young man walked to Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s side.
Xia Lei regretted letting Gu Ke-Wu go too early, or he wouldn¡¯t be in this situation now. He hadn¡¯t expected two powerful people like these to be here, and also found it strange how these two had not turned up earlier when he fought so fiercely with the underlings. To sum it up, he stillcked experience. If Long Bing were here, she surely would have taken Gu Ke-Wu along in the car and only released him when it was safe.
There was no use regretting things.
Xia Lei wanted Shentu Tian-Yin to escape on her own while he tried to find some way out of the situation but she had been stubborn and insisted on staying with him. His heart was a mess. The tyre had burst and even if the car could run, the enemy would catch up to them in five minutes. He was clever but he still could not think of a way out of this.
¡°This guy¡¯s good. He¡¯s mine,¡± said the young man.
¡°He¡¯s a skilled Wing Chun practitioner; I like beating up Wing Chun people. I can be your grandfather if we look at age. Matters like these should be taken care of by me,¡± said the old man.
The men, one old, one young, talked as if no one else was there. They didn¡¯t even see Xia Lei as a threat. They did not greet Gu Ke-Wu but he was respectful towards them and waited for them to be finished with their conversation before he spoke. ¡°Thank you, Uncle Dong, Qin Qi.¡±
The young man named Qin Qi smiled. ¡°No need to thank us. Your father sent us to help.¡±
The old man surnamed Dong said, ¡°Ah, you. I did tell you to learn some martial arts, didn¡¯t I? You only know how to do business and get girls - you¡¯re in trouble now, huh? Your father deliberately let you experience some roughing up before getting us to intervene. He said you¡¯ll really know how to be smart after you¡¯ve had some of that smugness ground away.¡±
Xia Lei then understood that these were men who worked for the Gu siblings¡¯ father, Gu Ding-Shan. He realised the second mistake he¡¯d made tonight - the Gu n was on par with the Shentu n and had their roots in the underworld. What he¡¯d seen earlier was not all of what they were capable of. He also remembered what Long Bing had told him long ago about not angering the Gu n.
This was a warning Long Bing had given him because the Gu n wasrge and had connections with several big people and ancient lines, not just in business but in other matters. The Gu n was a huge group of different people with simr interests. A huge entity like this was not something Long Bing could go up against, much less Xia Lei. However, even if he had the chance to go back in time, Xia Lei would still make the same choice - kick him to the ground!
It was for Shentu Tian-Yin, and also for himself. A man must defend his honour!
Seeing no way out, Shentu Tian-Yin alighted from the car and went to stand by Xia Lei. She saw the wound on Xia Lei¡¯s arm and tore a strip of fabric from her own clothing to bandage it without a word.
¡°Young Master Wu, you sure you¡¯re able to get this Shentu woman?¡± Qin Qi saidughingly.
Gu Ke-Wu looked at Shentu Tian-Yin bandaging Xia Lei¡¯s wound and hatred shed in his eyes though he put up a front of being madly in love. ¡°Tian-Yin will understand my sincerity. She can only be my woman in this lifetime and no other man can even think of getting in the way.¡±
Qin Qi smiled sciously. ¡°I¡¯ll capture herter and you two can spend the night in a room. I like these adult affairs most.¡±
The old man surnamed Dong said, ¡°Enough dilly-dallying. Ke-Wu, tell your men to get those uninvolved to leave. I¡¯m going to get to work.¡±
The uninvolved people referred to those celebrities and close friends of the Gu siblings who had followed the action to see what was going on.
Gu Ke-Wu raised his voice to say, ¡°Guys, go to the Tian-Yin Pavilion and wait for me there. I¡¯lle over and have drinks with youter.¡±
His words were just a courtesy for as he spoke, his underlings surrounded them. They would have to move away whether they were willing to or not.
The car park was soon empty of people except the old man Dong, Qin Qi, Gu Ke-Wu, Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. There were just the five of them.
The old man Dong unsheathed his sword. It was an ancient sword and looked fairly menacing.
¡°Cut the hamstrings of that punk, Uncle Dong,¡± sneered Gu Ke-Wu.
The old man Dong nodded and strode towards Xia Lei with the sword in his hands.
Xia Lei could already feel the aura of power from him before he even drew close.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you leave?¡± asked Xia Lei quietly.
¡°I brought you here so I have to take you away with me. If you don¡¯t leave I won¡¯t either.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s gaze was resolute.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Then move aside. I can¡¯t protect you when I¡¯m fighting.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin eded to Xia Lei¡¯s wishes and moved a few steps back. She thought of something and said loudly, ¡°Name a price, Gu Ke-Wu. Let¡¯s settle this with money.¡±
Gu Ke-Wuughed. ¡°I don¡¯t want money, I want you. I¡¯ll let this punk go if you agree to marry me.¡±
The old man Dong slowed his steps. He seemed to have guessed what Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s aim was and he slowed to give Shentu Tian-Yin some time to consider it.
¡°Go die!¡± This was Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s answer.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s face suddenly took on a malevolent look. ¡°Uncle Dong, cut that punk¡¯s hamstrings!¡±
¡°Easy-peasy.¡± The old man Dong suddenly sped up and was in front of Xia Lei in the blink of an eye. His sword blinked over too and went straight to Xia Lei¡¯s ankle.
Xia Lei twisted his body to the side and rolled over the bo of his BMW M6.
The sword pierced through the BMW M6¡¯s door, opening a slit in the metal door.
The sharpness of the sword, coupled with old man Dong¡¯s strength was more than enough to cut hamstrings - Xia Lei¡¯s entire leg would be sliced in two!
The old man Dong followed, and the sword in his hand whooshed toward Xia Lei. His attack speed was quick and the angles of his attacks were also quite tricky. Xia Lei had no weapon and there was no way he coulde in contact with the sword; he could only dodge the attacks. Even if his left eye could follow the speed of the sword, his body could not match the speed of his eye. His body had two more wounds in under a minute.
¡°Who did you learn Wing Chun from, boy?¡± The old man Dong was surprised.
¡°Put your sword down and fight me bare-handed if you dare,¡± said Xia Lei as he moved backwards.
¡°Trying to get me to do what you want? It won¡¯t work,¡± sneered the old man surnamed Dong. As he spoke, he moved his hand and his sword went cutting at Xia Lei¡¯s thigh.
Swish! A throwing knife suddenly came flying.
Xia Lei was startled and gave up on looking decent. He threw himself to the ground and rolled to avoid Qin Qi and old man Dong¡¯sbined attack.
¡°Xia Lei, catch!¡± came Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice.
tter! A crowbar-top of a jack flew from Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hand andnded next to Xia Lei.
While the old man Dong was fighting with Xia Lei, Qin Qi was waiting for a chance to do a sneak attack and while Gu Ke-Wu was watching the fight, Shentu Tian-Yin had quietly opened the boot of the BMW M6 to take the crowbar top off the car jack and throw it to Xia Lei. Xia Lei was in a perilous position and she was anxious, thinking of ways and means to help him.
Xia Lei grabbed the jack crowbar just in time to block the shoulder strike from old man Dong¡¯s sword. He did not avoid the attack this time and their weapons collided.
ng! Sparks flew. The sword and the crowbar were thrown backwards by the force.
A groove appeared on the jack crowbar and the ancient-looking sword¡¯s edge also had a new dint.
The old man Dong paused in surprise and lost a little of his earlier elegantposure. He roared and begun attacking Xia Lei madly.
Xia Lei countered every move. He was not so wary of his opponent¡¯s sword now that he had a metal rod in his hand. His left eye could also catch the trajectory of the sword. Even if he did not need to avoid the attacks and just block them with his metal rod, he was already easily and skillfully responding to the attacks with speed!
ng, ng...
The grooves in the jack crowbar increased, as did the dints in the sword. The jack crowbar could be thrown away if it was ruined but old man Dong¡¯s ancient sword was a precious thing - it would be scrap metal after this fight!
¡°This is not good.¡± Qin Qi could not wait for another opportunity to stealthily attack Xia Lei. He walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin.
If he caught Shentu Tian-Yin, Xia Lei would not be able to lift a finger against him for fear of harming an innocent, even if he had the Monkey King¡¯s golden staff*.
Shentu Tian-Yin turned around and started running.
Swish! A throwing knife grazed her thigh and thudded in the gap between two concrete bricks in front of her.
Shentu Tian-Yin halted in her tracks, her face pale.
¡°I say, woman, what¡¯s so bad about marrying our Young Master Wu? Looks like you two will get married tonight! Hahaha!¡± sneered Qin Qi.
Shentu Tian-Yin bit her lip. She now knew why Xia Lei had wanted her to escape by herself but it was toote.
Qin Qi walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin. Capturing Shentu Tian-Yin was as easy as reaching into the cage to catch a canary to Qin Qi.
A great roaring suddenly came from the main gates of Distinguished Gathering at that moment. An SUV burst through the gates and charged in like a wild beast.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruyi_Jingu_Bang
Chapter 183 - Veteran Versus Veteran
The car went straight at Qin Qi.
Qin Qi could throw knives as effectively as guns threw bullets but it was impossible for him to use his throwing knives on a SUVing at him at 80km/h. He hurriedly withdrew, avoiding the onught of the SUV¡¯s charge.
The driver of the SUV pulled on the emergency brake and the car came to a halt between Qin Qi and Shentu Tian-Yin.
The person in the driver¡¯s seat was Fu Chuan-Fu.
The door on the passenger¡¯s side suddenly opened and Jin Da-Hu jumped out. He strode towards Qin Qi and the person behind him, Gu Ke-Wu.
Qin Qi reached to his waist and had a throwing knife ready in his hand.
Jin Da-Hu grinned and unzipped his windbreaker. Wires wound about his body, attached to electrical leads. He held a an ugly-looking remote control device in his hand.
Qin Qi paled immediately. He did not dare throw the knives in his hand and quickly retreated.
Jin Da-Hu kept walking forward.
¡°Don¡¯te here!¡± Gu Ke-Wu was frightened too. ¡°Are you crazy, Tian-Yin? Tell your people to stop!¡± he yelled nervously.
Over to one side, the fight between Xia Lei and old man Dong came to a stop. Xia Lei held what looked like a charred turkey leg in his hand and old man Dong held a grilled fish steak - it was aical sight indeed.
¡°Come back,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Jin Da-Hu stopped and moved back.
¡°Please get in the car, Mdy,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not move. She looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Lei, let¡¯s go!¡±
Xia Lei retreated till he was with their group. There was blood all over his body and the sight of it was frightening. They were not fatal wounds but he had no way of stopping the bleeding under old man Dong¡¯s assault and he had bled even more with his vigorous movements. He would have been defeated by old man Dong if it were not for the timely arrival of Fu Chuan-Fu and Jin Da-Hu. He wouldn¡¯t havested for much longer.
Xia Lei walked to the side of the SUV and rxed his nerves. His body seemed to dete at that and he went down to the ground in a stumbling fall.
Shentu Tian-Yin hurriedly held him in her arms and asked anxiously, ¡°Are you all right? Hold on, I¡¯ll take you to the hospital right away.¡±
Xia Lei did not want her to worry and pretended to be rxed. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I can just bandage my wounds myself; no need to go to the hospital.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin helped Xia Lei into the car.
Jin Da-Hu had slowed his retreat considerably. He was trying to get more time for Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin.
Gu Ke-Wu watched Shentu Tian-Yin help Xia Lei into the car before she herself got in. Things had escted to this point but he was still not giving up. ¡°Tian-Yin, I¡¯ve never thought about hurting you. It¡¯s all because of that punk. Leave him. I won¡¯t pursue this matter if you agree to leave him and he will be safe too,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
Gu Ke-Wu was using Xia Lei to threaten Shentu Tian-Yin so that she¡¯d be with him. The thickness of his skin was remarkable and one had to admit that he was great at being thick-skinned.
Fu Chuan-Fu poked his head out from the driver¡¯s window and said coldly, ¡°Gu Ke-Wu, I¡¯ll give you a warning. This ends here today. If you dare touch a hair on our son-inw¡¯s head I¡¯ll return you the pain tenfold. If you dare harm Mdy, I¡¯ll st your vipers¡¯ nest apart, even at the expense of my aged life.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen turned pale as he looked at Fu Chuan-Fu. He recognised him and also knew the origins of Fu Chuan-Fu. He knew very well that what Fu Chuan-Fu said were not empty words - he would really do what he said!
The mercenary leader who¡¯d walked out of the chaos of war in South Asia was an experienced man. If he was going to end his life, nobody else could end it except himself!
The old man Dong sneered, ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try, Fu Chuan-Fu!¡±
¡°Dong Wu, I¡¯d like to see YOU try!¡± Fu Chuan-Fu sneered as well.
The conversation between the two elderly men had the smell of gunpowder.
Qin Qi weighed the throwing knife in his hand, a smile on his face. ¡°If I¡¯d known you¡¯d pull something like this I wouldn¡¯t y with knives. I should¡¯ve brought guns.¡± He looked at Dong Wu holding his battered sword and added in vexation, ¡°It¡¯s all your fault. I said I wanted to bring guns but you said not to.¡±
Dong Wu grunted. ¡°Next time then. I won¡¯t stop you from arming yourself head to toe with guns next time.¡±
This was obviously a disguised threat.
Fu Chuan-Fu turned the car about and Jin Da-Hu got on. Fu Chuan-Fu then drove to the exit at a high speed.
¡°Their SUV is not fast - I¡¯ll take some men and give chase!¡± Gu Ke-Wu was still not giving up.
Dong Wu blocked his way with his ruined sword. ¡°He may actually st you to bits if you give chase. Fu Chuan-Fu is not one to hold back. I know him. If he brought one man with him you¡¯ll be sure that he¡¯ll have more men outside. Go, and you won¡¯t know how you¡¯ve died.¡±
¡°But...¡± Gu Ke-Wu had no ce to vent his anger.
¡°Going to war with the Shentu n is like having 800 of your own men perish for the sake of killing 1000 of theirs. It will hurt your side badly. You have to wait for your father¡¯s decision on this. However, it¡¯s much easier to deal with this punk named Xia Lei. You can handle him yourself.¡±
¡°Xia Lei!¡± The memory of Xia Lei kicking him to the ground resurfaced in Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s mind. This was a great disgrace to him. He gritted his teeth and snarled, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have had my mask torn off in front of Shentu Tian-Yin if it weren¡¯t for that punk! He ruined everything. I want him dead!¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll help you with that,¡± said Qin Qi.
¡°Count me in. That punk ruined my green-tipped family heirloom sword. I must settle this score with him!¡± said Dong Wu
An SUV sped on the roads under the night sky.
Shentu Tian-Yin nearly tore her dress to shreds in order to bandage Xia Lei¡¯s wounds. Her pair of beautiful legs were exposed to the air in all their youthful glory. She, on the other hand, could not bother about decency at this time.
Xia Lei used his silver needles to pierce himself in over ten ces, using the acupuncture method to help stem the flow of blood. His condition stabilised after he inserted the needles and his wounds still had some blood but it was not an issue anymore.
¡°Uncle Fu, how did you know that something would happen at Distinguished Gathering?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t figue it out because the signal tower had been turned off and there had been no way for Shentu Tian-Yin to call for help.
¡°Milday did not let us follow when she went to Distinguished Gathering with you, saying your protection was enough. I thought it over and you are capable but you are still just one person, so I brought Jin Da-Hu and the others with me. We were outside and we came prepared. Once I found out that something had happened inside, I drove the car in. Good thing I came and I was prepared or you would have been trapped inside,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu. He sighed. ¡°You stillck experience. You must be more careful than careful when you deal with the Gu n. They are wolves who¡¯ll eat you up without leaving any bones behind.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Thank you, Uncle Fu.¡± Xia Lei felt a pang of guilt. He¡¯d said that he would protect Shentu Tian-Yin well but she would¡¯ve ended up in the clutches of Gu Ke-Wu tonight if it hadn¡¯t been for Fu Chuan-Fu following them in secret due to his uneasiness. And him - he would probably have had his hamstrings cut, then thrown into some ditch after enough humiliation, wouldn¡¯t he?
A thought rang loud in his head, ¡®Something like this must not be allowed to happen again!¡¯
The SUV had not gone far when a pickup truck came from a side road and stuck close to Fu Chuan-Fu¡¯s tail. Xia Lei looked in the mirrors and discovered the pickup truck. He saw Pak Tai-Ji in the driver seat, Jin Zhen-Huan in the passenger seat and he did not see Pak Can-Lie but guessed that he should also be on the pickup truck.
Fu Chuan-Fu was indeed an experienced man. He not only helped Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin out of danger but also prevented Gu Ke-Wu from sending men after them. He¡¯d arranged everything nicely.
¡®Experience is really important. Long Bing taught me some before but I thought what she showed me was useless. I should¡¯ve learnt properly from her. We wouldn¡¯t have been in such danger if I also had as much experience as Uncle Fu.¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
He thought of Long Bing at this moment for some unknown reason - a woman who didn¡¯t even blink when killing someone.
¡°Are you feeling better?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice brought him out of his thoughts.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯m fine, really. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m more or less a doctor now; I know my condition very well.¡±
¡°There¡¯s blood on your face. I¡¯ll wipe it away for you.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin reached to wipe the bloodstain with her sleeve.
Xia Lei was motionless, feeling a little awkward at having her wipe his face.
Shentu Tian-Yin finished wiping the blood on his face and held his hands next. ¡°Your hands are so cold. Put them on my leg; I¡¯ll warm you up.¡±
Xia Lei surreptiously nced at her legs. She¡¯d torn away almost all of the skirt of her dress and her legs were covered by just a strip of ckce. How could he befortable with reaching over to warm his hand on her legs in a situation like this?
Shentu Tian-Yin grabbed his hand and ced it on her thigh without giving him a chance to find an excuse to reject the offer. She put her own hands on his, holding his hand tightly in ce so that she could give him some warmth from her body heat. His hand just so happened to be ced right before that strip of ckce where it was all warm and smooth skin...
Fu Chuan-Fu nced in the mirror and a faint smile appeared on his lips before he looked away again. ¡°Mr Xia, you should let the person next to you be more careful so as not to be taken advantage of. You should know what I mean.¡±
Xia Lei made a sound of agreement. ¡°I will.¡±
¡°Mdy,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu, ¡°Shall we return to the residence, or somece else?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go to my father¡¯s ce. It is clean and there are many rooms. Da-Hu and the rest can also stay there,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Yes, Mdy. We shall go there,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
Xia Lei hesitated, then forced himself to say, ¡°Please take me to the Liang household.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu did not respond but Shentu Tian-Yin said, ¡°No, you¡¯re in this state and you want to go to the Liang household? Besides, you¡¯re covered in blood; you¡¯ll scare the neighbours.¡±
Words Xia Lei wanted to say were stopped in his throat.
The SUV galloped on the roads as the cityscape was left behind.
Xia Lei¡¯s brain, however, did not register the cityscape but nervousness and awkwardness. This was due to his hand being warmed on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s thigh, and the more-than-once sliding of his hand when the car braked, resulting in his hand touching the ckce side-tie which he should not touch...
Chapter 184 - City Women Sure Know How To Play
Xia Lei unbound the bandages on his arms, legs and torso in a room on the second floor of the vi. The bleeding of his wounds had been stopped but his movements jarred some wounds which had not closed up and it was so painful that he gritted his teeth.
He thought about Dong Wu and Qin Qi. These were two powerful individuals and neither one of them would lose to him in a one-on-one fight. These two people also had vastly more experience than him. Xia Lei was also very aware that if he had not had his left eye¡¯s ability to slow down movement speed, he would have no chance at all of winning against either of them.
¡®I am still too inexperienced. I was foolish to think that I¡¯d be unbeatable after learning Wing Chun. There are many experts like Master out there in the world and some of them even more powerful than Master too. I have to work harder on this next time,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself. If he met Dong Wu and Qin Qi again, it was likely that he¡¯d be fighting for his life. He would be in even more dire straits than he was in this night if he hadn¡¯t improved by the time he met them again!
Xia Lei could see the wounds on his body after removing his bloodstained clothing. The flesh around those wounds looked to be rather worse for wear and was startling to see. Every wound represented a dangerous situation. If he¡¯d been slower by just tenths of a second those wounds would not be just flesh wounds.
Xia Lei opened the first-aid kit next to his bed and was about to tend to his wounds when the room door was suddenly pushed open and Shentu Tian-Yin walked in with some clothing.
Xia Lei shyly pulled a cotton nket over his body to cover himself.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s cheeks reddened slightly and she said a little awkwardly, ¡°You can¡¯t wear those clothes anymore so I got Ming-Mei to buy you new ones. Try them on and see if they fit. I¡¯ll get her to buy them again if these don¡¯t fit.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll try them onter.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s face was red too. How was he to try clothes on in this state?
Shentu Tian-Yin put the clothes down but did not leave. She stared at Xia Lei, her gaze odd. Xia Lei was well-built and well-proportioned and it was not obvious when he had clothes on but without clothing, his muscles all over could be seen and they could bepared to the perfect merman-like muscles of professional swim athletes. Muscles like these held a natural attraction for women.
Xia Lei avoided Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s gaze. He looked at the clothes she¡¯d ced on the bed. There was a suit, shirt, socks and even underwear; preparations were meticulous.
One looked at clothes while the other looked at the person and both said nothing. The atmosphere in the room was instantly heavy with awkwardness.
However, the one looking at clothing couldn¡¯t keep looking at clothing. Xia Leiughed awkwardly. ¡°Uh, I¡¯ll try them onter.¡±
This was a hint to tell Shentu Tian-Yin to leave the room before he took care of his wounds and tried on the clothing she¡¯d brought him.
Shentu Tian-Yin didn¡¯t seem to understand his hint. She hesitated but still went ahead and said, ¡°I¡¯ll help you. It¡¯s not easy for you to do it alone.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei quickly said, ¡°No need, I¡¯ll do it myself.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin stubbornly insisted, ¡°Sit down. I¡¯ll help you.¡±
¡°You really don¡¯t have to...¡± Xia Lei was very embarrassed.
Shentu Tian-Yin yanked the nket off Xia Lei¡¯s waist. ¡°What¡¯s there to be embarrassed about? Didn¡¯t I also lie like this in front of you? And you hit me too.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shentu Tian-Yin reached to push Xia Lei and used a doctor-like voice to say, ¡°Sit down.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and sat by the bed.
Shentu Tian-Yin unscrewed a bottle of iodine, pinched a cotton ball with tweezers, dipped it in iodine and used it to clean the blood from the wounds on Xia Lei¡¯s arm. She was careful and super gentle. The pain that the iodine brought, however, was still great and Xia Lei drew a sharp breath.
¡°Does it hurt a lot?¡± asked Shentu Tian-Yin in concern.
Xia Lei clenched his teeth and bore the pain. ¡°It¡¯s all right. I can take it.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all my fault. This wouldn¡¯t have happened if I didn¡¯t go to Distinguished Gathering.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin felt guilty.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You made the right decision. You spurred your Second Uncle¡¯s family into action and made Gu Ke-Wu give up. Nothing¡¯s wrong with that. We just underestimated the Gu n¡¯s power.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t me me?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was small.
¡°Why would I? Don¡¯t overthink it. I got hurt but we¡¯ve reached our goal. Gu Ke-Wu won¡¯t bother you again and your Second Uncle¡¯s family may do what you expect them to do once they get the news. Isn¡¯t that good?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why are you so good to me?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei was about to speak but words failed him when he opened his mouth. That¡¯s right - why was he so good to her?
Shentu Tian-Yin did not pursue the matter and finished tending to the wounds on his arm. She bent over again to take care of the wounds on Xia Lei¡¯s thigh.
The ice queen Shentu Tian-Yin was embarrassed and nervous. Her hand grew unsteady and she poked at the wound which she should have dabbed lightly.
¡°Argh!¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help a cry of pain and his body jerked away in response. The movement, however, hit Shentu Tian-Yin and her tweezer-holding hand jabbed at his special ce. There was a cotton ball which absorbed some of the impact but...
Xia Lei opened his mouth but no sound came out. New blood-stains appeared on his briefs.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was so embarrassed she could die; not a single spot on her face wasn¡¯t red. She made to wipe at the area but retracted her hand soon after.
She could wipe other areas but can that ce be wiped?
Liang Si-Yao probably could, but she was not here.
Xia Lei finally caught his breath and said in a strained voice, ¡°I, I¡¯ll do it.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin was also too embarrassed to continue helping Xia Lei to tend to his wounds and she nervously handed the tweezers to Xia Lei before standing and making her way to the exit. ¡°I¡¯m going back to my room. It¡¯s next to yours. Y, you can call me if you need anything.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin closed the door behind herself and only then did Xia Lei pull at the stic of his underwear to check the injured area. He smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°You have a tough life, my brother...¡±
He felt like a hunting dog full of spirit being stabbed violently by someone with a pitchfork while resting in his cage. Was there anything more unlucky than this?
Xia Lei was exhausted when he was done tending to his wounds. He was about to go to bed when he received a call from Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Whatcha doing, Lei Lei?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice was charmingly sweet.
Xia Lei rxed immediately when he heard her voice. ¡°Lying on the bed.¡±
¡°By yourself?¡±
¡°Of course. What, is there supposed to be two?¡± Xia Lei felt like spanking her.
¡°So did you miss me?¡±
¡°I did. Of course I did, you enchanting little imp,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile. The image of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s beautiful legs surfaced in his head, and her intoxicating buttocks, and... It felt good to be in love. He never had such exquisite feelings when he was single.
¡°So which part of me did you miss?¡±
Her voice was teasing and Xia Lei couldn¡¯t hold back anymore. ¡°Everything.¡±
¡°You naughty man, you. I miss you too but I just wanted to hear your voice so I called.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You haven¡¯t said those words to me yet. I want to hear them.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What words?¡±
¡°Those words, silly. Just three words.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Drink more water?¡±
¡°Not this, dummy!¡±
¡°Uh... Good night, you?¡±
¡°Are you doing this on purpose?¡±
¡°Oh, I know, it¡¯s... Have you eaten?¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to ignore you!¡±
¡°Haha...¡± Xia Lei knew which words she wanted and he hemmed and hawed for a bit before he finally got over his goosebumps and said in a small voice, ¡°I love you.¡±
¡°Louder, I¡¯m begging you.¡± Liang Si-Yao was excited and very happy. Her voice trembled.
¡°I love you!¡± Xia Lei suddenly found that these words were not that difficult to say. His voice was much louder and the words felt more natural to him.
¡°I love you too!¡± Liang Si-Yao started giggling.
Xia Lei suddenly remembered Fu Chuan-Fu¡¯s reminder and said, ¡°Si-Yao, you have to be careful now, no matter what you do. Don¡¯t go out unless you really have to. Tell Master to do the same.¡±
¡°What happened?¡± Liang Si-Yao had great intuition. She was in bliss earlier but quickly became anxious.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°The Shentu n is at war with the Gu n. I¡¯ve also be a target as the ¡®boyfriend¡¯ of Shentu Tian-Yin. I¡¯m afraid you and Master will be targets too. Anyway, I want you and Master to be careful.¡±
¡°You¡¯re worried about me?¡± Liang Si-Yao was not anxious anymore after she knew what was going on and her voice took on a teasing tone.
¡°You¡¯re my wifey, so who else should I be worried about?¡±
¡°Wifey? I... I¡¯m not marrying you.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll marry someone else.¡±
¡°You dare?!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei¡¯sugh pulled at his wounds and he let out a cry of pain.
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao in concern.
Xia Lei was going to tell her about his injuries but didn¡¯t want her to worry so he just said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. My leg cramped up.¡±
¡°Oh, poor thing. Shall I massage it for you?¡± said Liang Si-Yao gently.
¡°Yeah, massage me.¡±
¡°Okay, close your eyes. Feel my hand. I¡¯m gently massaging your thigh. I¡¯m slowly moving up, gentle circles, gentle circles.¡±
¡°Hold on, what are you massaging?¡±
¡°My special ce. Don¡¯t interrupt. Close your eyes.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
City women sure knew how to y!
Chapter 185 - Mecha Glove
Xia Lei got up early next morning. The clothes Shentu Tian-Yin delivered fit well and his wounds didn¡¯t hurt so badly after a night¡¯s rest. He had spent about an hour on the phone with Liang Si-Yaost night and he was in good spirits. There did not seem to be too many negative effects from what had happenedst night and he looked to be handsome still.
He walked out the door and met Shentu Tian-Yin, who had also juste out from her room. He smiled and greeted, ¡°Morning, Tian-Yin.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled. ¡°I went past your doorst night and heard you talking. Was it Miss Liang?¡±
Xia Lei recalled the sensitive content of their conversation and asked awkwardly, ¡°Uh, we didn¡¯t disturb you, I hope.¡±
¡°No, you didn¡¯t,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Does she know you¡¯re injured?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t tell her; didn¡¯t want her to worry. But I did tell her to be more careful for now.¡±
¡°You¡¯re so good to her,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°But she isn¡¯t just any ordinary woman. She¡¯s versed in martial arts so you don¡¯t have to worry too much. Oh, right, are we still doing that experiment today?¡±
¡°Of course. Let¡¯s begin after breakfast. I¡¯ll have to go to thepany afterwards because I¡¯d like to process some things,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not ask what he needed to process and just nodded.
Xia Lei had tossed and turned the whole night thinking of his fight with Dong Wu. The fight made him realise that he had to have a weapon for himself, and one that would be suitable for Wing Chun as well so that he could use it to its fullest potential. Dong Wu and Qin Qi were both practised in martial arts - one used a sword while the other used throwing knives. The weapon he needed also had to be able to fend off Dong Wu¡¯s sword and Qin Qi¡¯s throwing knives. It was difficult for one weapon to fulfil all three requirements but he already had a design n ready in his head - he just had to make it.
After breakfast, Xia Lei followed Shentu Tian-Yin to her room.
Shentu Tian-Yin closed the door and looked at Xia Lei, feeling strangely nervous. ¡°The same asst time?¡±
¡°No, it¡¯ll be different this time. I will make a small wound on your spine and treat it with silver needles. The spine supports the human body and standing and walking would be impossible without it. Your father¡¯s condition has to do with the spine too so I need to gather rted data.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face turned red before Xia Lei finished speaking. ¡°So you mean... I have to take my clothes off?¡± she asked probingly.
Xia Lei nodded reluctantly. He didn¡¯t want to say this request out loud but collecting information on the nerves and acupoints were very important for treating Shentu Ren and it had to be done.
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded quietly and slowly unbuttoned her jacket. She lowered her head, not daring to meet Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. Strangely enough, she did not tell Xia Lei to turn around or close his eyes this time but turned around herself.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something. ¡°How about you ask Uncle Fu to help me? Jin Da-Hu and the others will do too. You don¡¯t have to do it on your own.¡±
¡°No, they don¡¯t know the situation.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin rejected the idea right away. ¡°My father raised me so it is only right for me to do so much. You do it.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin removed her jacket and reached behind herself to unhook her bra. She had her back to Xia Lei but he could sense her shyness and nervousness. Her hands were trembling.
One hook was free before Xia Lei hurriedly said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to take that off.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin quickly re-hooked her bra. She looked back at Xia Lei and said in bashful annoyance, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier?¡±
Xia Lei gave her an innocent look. He didn¡¯t tell her to take her bra off either, did he?
Shentu Tian-Yiny on the bed.
Xia Lei took a deep breath and drew close. ¡°I¡¯ming,¡± he said gently.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face reddened and she closed her eyes. ¡°Mm. Be gentle.¡±
Xia Lei raised his palm and a loud smack sounded as itnded...
The workday had already started by the time Xia Lei got to Thunder Horse Manufacturing. He went into his personal workshop once he was back at thepany and started working on his weapon.
Liang Si-Yao came by to see him close to the end of the workday and saw Xia Lei in work clothes, dirty all over. Her heart ached as she got him a towel to wipe away his sweat and nag at him. ¡°You¡¯re a born workaholic; you work the whole day once you get started. You¡¯re as dirty as a tabby cat, you know that?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly drew her close and gave her a sneaky kiss on the face.
Liang Si-Yao gave him a light punch in fake annoyance. ¡°You bad boy.¡±
Xia Lei let her go.
Liang Si-Yao looked around and asked curiously, ¡°You worked the whole day but I don¡¯t see what you¡¯ve made. What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei walked to the work table and whisked off the ck cloth over it.
Under the ck cloth was a silver gauntlet. It was delicate,pact and looked like something from science fiction, very much like Tony Stark¡¯s mecha glove in the Iron Man movie. This gauntlet however, was smaller and more exquisite.
Liang Si-Yao stared dumbly at it for a bit before she picked it up and turned it over in her hands. ¡°It¡¯s very pretty - and it¡¯s made of titanium alloy too. What did you make this for?¡± she asked curiously.
¡°It¡¯s my weapon,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Your weapon?¡± Liang Si-Yao was surprised. ¡°I thought this was a robotic hand you designed for somepany.¡±
Xia Lei put down his takeaway meal and opened the gauntlet, then put it on his right hand. Titanium was lighter than steel but much stronger and tougher. He had been very precise with his measurements and this titanium gauntlet was just a little over 500 grams. The gauntlet covered his entire right hand and had no unnecessary bulges; it looked like a highlypatible robotic hand. He clenched his right fist and the gauntlet became a titanium fist. Xia Lei suddenly used internal energy and punched the wall.
Boom! The wall trembled and a fist-shaped dent appeared in the brick-and-concrete wall. Xia Lei¡¯s punch had sted away the surfaceyer of cement and damaged the red brick below!
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s jaw dropped in stunned surprise. She was a Wing Chun practitioner herself and knew Xia Lei had used the Short Bridge technique but she¡¯d never thought that a punch could damage a wall like this. If she tried the same thing it would be her fist that would break, not the wall. Humans were made of flesh and bone after all and not rock or steel!
This was not what had surprised her the most, however. As she watched, Xia Lei took off the gauntlet and fiddled with its parts, transforming it into a rectangr box in an instant. It looked like a cigarette box!
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°How about this?¡±
Liang Si-Yao snapped out of it and said in praise, ¡°You¡¯re an engineering genius! You should get a patent for this and turn it into our product.¡±
Xia Lei took hold of the rectangr box and shook it. The box became a gauntlet again after some rattling.
Liang Si-Yao shrugged. ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t find it weird anymore if you turn it into a Hermes bag.¡± She drew close to Xia Lei again with a charming smile on her face. ¡°Darling, I want two.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei pretended to look unwilling.
Liang Si-Yao puckered her lips and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek. ¡°Give me two. You¡¯re the best.¡± She tugged at Xia Lei¡¯s arm flirtatiously, sticking close to him.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll get you two even if you didn¡¯t ask. I¡¯ll make two for Master too. He¡¯ll have more to show off when he goes to that martial arts seminar.¡±
¡°The martial arts seminar is starting soon and Dad has been preparing for it recently. He said he will take Lu Sheng. He actually wants to take you so you go talk to him.¡± Liang Si-Yao suddenly grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Come home with me tonight. I won¡¯t let you go to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s ce.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go back with you today. I can show him the gauntlet too,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°He¡¯ll definitely like it. He¡¯ll like anything you bring him,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei leaned in to her ear and said softly, ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m his future son-inw. What won¡¯t he like?¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face turned red and said shyly, ¡°Who said I¡¯m going to marry you?¡±
Xia Lei went to the Liang household with Liang Si-Yao after work. He let Liang Zheng-Chun try the gauntlet for a bit and he was full of praise for it; he liked it very much. The result was, naturally, that Xia Lei had to make a set for both Liang Si-Yao and Liang Zheng-Chun.
The processing for a gauntlet like this wasplicated and he could only make one a day. He needed to work overtime for three or four days if he wanted to make six. Liang Si-Yao¡¯s suggestion of making it a product of Thunder Horse Manufacturing was not feasible as the materials needed were too expensive and there wasn¡¯t actually a market for it. Who would buy a mecha glove like this? One only needed a mp to smash a walnut.
After dinner, Xia Lei chatted with Liang Zheng-Chun for a bit about the martial arts seminar before Liang Zheng-Chun went off. Xia Lei found himself a medical book to read and immersed himself in the learning of medicine.
Chapter 186 - Medical Miracle
Two dayster.
The time had finallye for Shentu Ren¡¯s treatment after a week¡¯s preparations. Xia Lei had progressed from rabbits to Shentu Tian-Yin in this week and, having conducted experiment after experiment, his acupuncture skills had risen to a new level and so had the chance of sess.
¡°Lei, what do you need me to do?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked nervous.
¡°Just go outside and wait for me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go and wait for you outside. I won¡¯t be of help if I stayed anyway,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei sent her to the door.
Shentu Tian-Yin stopped at the door. ¡°Lei, if you cure my father how would you like me to repay you?¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Don¡¯t say things like that. We¡¯re friends - I don¡¯t want any repayment.¡±
¡°But...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin started to say something, then stopped.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Go on out. Don¡¯t you want to be able to chat with your father as soon as possible? And don¡¯t bring up the topic of repayment anymore; it¡¯ll annoy me.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin gave Xia Lei a long look and didn¡¯t say anything. She left the room.
Xia Lei closed the door and walked to the bedside. He opened his medicine case, took out a shaver and started shaving Shentu Ren¡¯s hair away....
Outside, Shentu Tian-Yin watched the door silently. She looked calm but she was anxious inside. Fu Chuan-Fu and Fu Ming-Mei waited with her, and both of them stared at the tightly shut door with her.
¡°Can Xia Lei really cure Uncle Ren, Big Sister Tian-Yin?¡± Fu Ming-Mei couldn¡¯t help asking after a period of time.
¡°Why do you ask?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°It¡¯s normal for me to ask. He¡¯s a mechanic! I¡¯ll believe it if he does surgery on a machine but he¡¯s operating on Uncle Ren. I can¡¯t suspend my disbelief for something like this. Dad, what do you think?¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu was quiet before he spoke. ¡°I am worried too. He isn¡¯t a doctor either and Master¡¯s illness couldn¡¯t be treated even in the big hospitals overseas so how can a mechanic who tinkers with machines treat Master¡¯s condition?¡±
Fu Ming-Mei added, ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, tell him to stop before he begins treatment. I¡¯m afraid that he... Uncle Ren...¡± She did not say more but her meaning was clear. She feared that Xia Lei would cause Shentu Ren¡¯s death.
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke in a soft voice, ¡°You don¡¯t trust him, I understand. I thought the same way in the beginning but these past few days, I¡¯ve... Never mind. Anyway, I trust him.¡±
¡°These past few days... you what, Big Sister Tian-Yin?¡± Fu Ming-Mei looked fairly curious.
Shentu Tian-Yin rolled her eyes at her and said nothing. She had taken her clothes off for Xia Lei to hit her - how could she tell anyone this?
In the room, Xia Lei was done shaving Shentu Ren¡¯s head. He picked up a silver needle and his left eye focused on a section of his head. His hand moved and the silver needle pierced into skin...
Time went ticking by without a sound.
Shentu Tian-Yin maintained calm for an hour before she caved. She paced back and forth in front of the door, unable to settle down.
¡°It¡¯s no use so stop being so anxious, Big Sister Tian-Yin,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei worriedly, ¡°How about we go in and take a look? See what he¡¯s doing in there.¡±
¡°No, we¡¯ll disturb him if we go in. I¡¯ve already chosen to trust him so I have to trust him to the end. I believe he will cure my father. I have a feeling that he¡¯ll definitely do it,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°What percentage did he guarantee?¡± asked Fu Chuan-Fu.
¡°Fifty percent,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Fifty percent?¡± Fu Chuan-Fu sighed and smiled wryly, ¡°That¡¯s half and half. This Xia Lei sure is daring.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Fu Ming-Mei wrinkled her nose. ¡°I¡¯ll hound him to the ends of the Earth if he can¡¯t cure Uncle Ren!¡±
¡°And if he cures him?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Then I¡¯ll...¡± Fu Ming-Mei suddenly grinned, ¡°Then it¡¯s up to you to do something, eh? It¡¯s enough for me to say my thanks. Oh, right, Big Sister Tian-Yin, how are you going to repay him if he cures Uncle Ren?¡±
¡°Me? Um...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked a little lost. ¡°He said he didn¡¯t want any repayment. I don¡¯t know what to do.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei drew close to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s ear and whispered, ¡°Might as well learn from movies and give your heart to him. You two can be another story too, heh heh.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin red at Fu Ming-Mei. ¡°No spouting rubbish. He has a girlfriend.¡±
¡°So what?¡± said Fu Ming-Mei, ¡°Have the marriage and divorce rates decreased? If you find it too embarrassing, I can tell him. You two even have engagement rings on now. Now, if you two get together it¡¯ll be a match made in heaven. Sess will follow naturally when the conditions are right...¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu suddenly pped Fu Ming-Mei on the back of her head. ¡°Shut your mouth, you wench, nobody thinks you¡¯re mute. You haven¡¯t even had a rtionship before so what are you masquerading as a love guru for?¡±
Fu Ming-Mei was speechless.
Shentu Tian-Yin changed the topic. ¡°Right, Uncle Fu, has there been anything going on within my Second Uncle¡¯s family the past few days?¡±
¡°It is calm at the family residence. Most of the n have taken a neutral stance after the great uproar Xia Lei caused that day,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu, ¡°But your Second Uncle and Shentu Tian-Feng have beening and going more regrly these days and meeting lots of people. Some are business friends and some are unknown.¡±
¡°Unknown? Looks like my Second Uncle¡¯s family are getting antsy.¡± A cold smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips. ¡°Good. It¡¯s also good to get this settled quickly. I don¡¯t want to keep dragging this on.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu continued, ¡°There¡¯s also the Gu n. There have been big movements within the n recently. Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu have visibly increased the number of bodyguards around themselves but Dong Wu and Qin Qi seem to have vanished into thin air. It is difficult to find out their whereabouts. I fear that they are looking for an opportunity to settle their score with Xia Lei.¡±
Ice shed in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s doe-like eyes. ¡°The enmity between Xia Lei and the Gu n is because of me. If the Gu n dares touch him I¡¯ll attack their stocks in the market. I¡¯ll stick my hand in any business they have their eye on. There is a price for doing bad deeds and I¡¯d like to see if they can afford to pay this price!¡±
¡°Do not move against the Gu n just yet, Mdy. Dealing with your Second Uncle is our top priority right now,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded. ¡°I know. It is better to deal with internal strife before going up against outside aggressors. Don¡¯t worry, this matter wille to a close very soon.¡±
The three of them talked while a very different scene was ying out in the room on the other side of the door.
Shentu Ren¡¯s head was so full of needles that he looked like white hedgehog. Xia Lei looked nervous and exhausted. The weather had turned cold but he was sweating. However, he was focused and there was nothing else he could see in the world other than the blood vessels in Shentu Ren¡¯s head.
Another needle went into a blood vessel, followed by a trickle of internal energy. It was like an unseen flood gushing into the blocked channel, pushing and attacking things in its way till the blockage was cleared.
Shentu Ren¡¯s eyelids suddenly twitched. He did not open his eyes but this reaction was a pleasant surprise.
¡®It¡¯s as I¡¯d thought - this method is working! I can make him regain consciousness!¡¯ Xia Lei was excited. His left eye focused on another clogged blood vessel and he raise a silver needle to pierce it into skin...
Three hourster.
¡°Can he do it or not?¡± Fu Ming-Mei lost herst bit of patience. ¡°It¡¯s been half a day and there hasn¡¯t been a peep from inside. Nope, I have to go in and take a look.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu did not stop her this time. He had actually run out of patience too and wanted very much to know what was going on in the room.
¡°Ming-Mei!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin stopped her. ¡°You can leave if you don¡¯t want to wait. Don¡¯t go in and disturb Xia Lei.¡±
¡°You trust him this much, Big Sister Tian-Yin? I suspect he¡¯s already failed. He¡¯s just too afraid toe out!¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
Fu Chuan-Fu spoke up too. ¡°Mdy, what if you go in to take a look? You won¡¯t disturb him if you¡¯re quiet. It¡¯s been so long and he¡¯s not a licensed doctor. I fear...¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin hesitated, but still nodded in the end. Just as she was about to open the door, however, it opened. Xia Lei appeared in the doorway, his head beaded with sweat. His clothing waspletely soaked too and it was as if he¡¯d just climbed out of a swimming pool. He was also at the very limit of his consciousness and in a state very much like if he had neither eaten nor slept for a few days.
This was the aftereffect of overuse of his X-ray vision.
¡°How¡¯s my father?¡± asked Shentu Tian-Yin anxiously.
¡°I¡¯m done. You can go in and take a look,¡± said Xia Lei. He had no spare energy to exin further. He sat his ass on a chair by the door when he finished his sentence.
Shentu Tian-Yin rushed into the room with Fu Ming-Mei and Fu Chuan-Fu in tow. They went to the bedside and looked anxiously at Shentu Ren lying on the bed.
Shentu Reny quietly on the bed, motionless. He did not seem to be in a better state than he was before.
¡°Father? Father?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin tried calling him twice.
There was no response from Shentu Ren. Hey motionless.
¡°Master?¡± Fu Chuan-Fu tried calling out too.
There was no change in his condition. Shentu Ren remained unresponsive.
Fu Ming-Mei sighed. ¡°It was a failure as expected then. Xia Lei, you must have failed long ago but deliberately dragged it on for a few hours more before opening the door, right?¡±
Xia Lei looked at her. He had no energy to give a rebuttal in the face of such doubt.
Fu Ming-Mei was not about to let him off. Her little mouth was quick to say, ¡°I knew it! You¡¯re a machinist, not a doctor. How can you do something which doctors cannot? You acted like you could do it but look - only my Uncle Ren¡¯s hair is gone. He¡¯s got the short end of the stick while you got to boast. Well, you sure did a great job!¡±
Shentu Ren suddenly opened his eyes at that moment and his fingers moved slightly.
This development gave Shentu Tian-Yin, Fu Chuan-Fu and Fu Ming-Mei a great shock.
¡°Father! Father!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin jumped in excitement after her brief bout of shock. ¡°My father opened his eyes! Did you see that? Did you see that?¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu and Fu Ming-Mei were still staring at Shentu Ren and didn¡¯t seem to have heard her.
¡°Father! Look at me - it¡¯s Tian-Yin. I¡¯m Tian-Yin!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was losing it.
Shentu Ren¡¯s lips moved a little but no words came. He closed his eyes.
Xia Lei, who had recovered a little energy by then, said tiredly, ¡°You guys should leave the room. Let him rest. He¡¯s too weak now and needs some time to build strength before he can speak.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly ran towards Xia Lei and descended on him with an unhesitant kiss on his cheek. However, she had not taken notice of Xia Lei¡¯s current state. He had no strength at all to maintain bnce; her rush at him, and her kiss made him topple to the ground and the two of them came to a rolling stop on the floor.
Fu Ming-Mei stared at the two of them on the ground and suddenly smiled. ¡°This punk¡¯s good. He can make a haughty woman like Big Sister Tian-Yin lose herposure around him.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu pped the back of her head.
¡°Why hit me again, Dad?¡± Fu Ming-Mei said angrily, ¡°Who¡¯s still going to want me after you¡¯ve smacked me silly?¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu gave her a stern re and twisted his lips to point at the doorway with his mouth.
Fu Ming-Mei got the message and left the room with Fu Chuan-Fu.
On the ground, Shentu Tian-Yin was beside herself with joy and words kept pouring out. ¡°You didn¡¯t get hurt in the fall, did you? So sorry, I¡¯m just so excited. You know what? This is the most exciting day of my life. I was praying for my father to wake up even in my dreams. Anything would do, even a few lines about everyday topics but the gods and spirits took no heed of my pleading. You helped me make this dreame true. I truly have no idea how I can thank you. You don¡¯t know how you... Hello? Hello? Are you asleep?¡±
¡°Zzz... ZZzzzzz...¡± Xia Lei really was asleep - he was too tired.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at him quietly and watched him for a bit before saying, ¡°Sleep. I¡¯ll be your pillow.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei stuck her head through the doorway to peek in on them, then quietly shut the door.
Chapter 187 - Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
Acupuncture and internal energybined with the power of his left eye helped Xia Lei aplish a medical miracle. He had cured a patient who had been paralysed and whom the most advanced hospitals and doctors around the world could not cure.
However, Shentu Ren¡¯s condition was still rather troublesome. He had been paralysed for three years and his muscles were in severe dystrophy. This amount of dystrophy required a long time of rest before one could regain independent mobility. He had not spoken in three years either and his vocal capabilities had diminished greatly. This also required practice, bit by bit, to get back to normal. Xia Lei could wake him with needles but he could not do the work of one or two years with needles.
Even so, this was an amazing miracle.
Xia Lei slept deeply and it was hours before he woke. He opened his eyes and saw Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s morously beautiful face close to his.
¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was as gentle as her gaze. She was calm and behaved naturally, as if she were embracing her husband in sleep.
It wasfortable in her arms but Xia Lei could not be so thick-skinned as to lounge in someone else¡¯s embrace. He hurriedly climbed to his feet and said in shame, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I must¡¯ve been too tired, falling asleep right away like that.¡±
¡°You can sleep more. No need to get up so quickly.¡±
She was still willing to be his pillow?
This temptation was something people longed for but Xia Lei could not do it. He was exhausted and unaware of his surroundings earlier so it was not a big deal but it¡¯d be apletely different scenario if he returned to her arms to sleep while fully conscious of his actions.
¡°Uh, I feel much better. Let¡¯s check in on your father.¡± Xia Lei did not dare lie in her embrace to sleep. He walked to the bed and reached to take Shentu Ren¡¯s pulse.
Xia Lei was a bit of a quack doctor and was crap at taking pulses but he had his methods. He used his left eye when taking Shentu Ren¡¯s pulse - his heart rate and blood cirction was visible at once. This was even more urate and amazing than a godly-skilled doctor.
Shentu Ren¡¯s condition was more stable than it was a few hours ago. There had been no obvious rising and falling of the chest hours earlier but his breaths were now stronger and the up-down movements more identifiable. This was also a good sign that Shentu Ren¡¯s brain had begun to resume normal functions after the blockage was cleared and that his body would grow stronger with the recovery of his brain.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s thoughts went to Shentu Ren at the sight of him and she asked nervously, ¡°How¡¯s my father?¡±
¡°Not bad.¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°He should still have a nutrient solution as his primary source of food but you can also make some thin porridge or something simr for him to drink.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make him the porridge myself,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin delightedly.
At that moment, Shentu Ren opened his eyes again. He looked at Xia Lei, then at Shentu Tian-Yin standing next to him and his lips moved slightly, seemingly trying to say something.
¡°What do you want to say, Father?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin leaned forward and put her ear to Shentu Ren¡¯s lips.
Shentu Ren was unable to speak but the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile; it was faint but it could be seen.
¡°My father smiled! Haha! He smiled!!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was like an excited child.
¡°Let him rest. Let¡¯s go outside to talk,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded and said to Shentu Ren, ¡°Rest well, Father. You¡¯ll get well soon.¡±
Xia Lei only spoke when they were out of the room. ¡°He has woken up but he still can¡¯t do anything. It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t tell anyone. Your Second Uncle¡¯s family is bent on trying to get their hands on your assets. If they know that he¡¯s awake there¡¯s no guarantee that they would not do something crazy.¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll listen to you. Let¡¯s go eat. I want to have a drink with you and have a little celebration.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did not want to think about other matters right now.
¡°I¡¯d like to go but maybe another day,¡± said Xia Lei. He had already finished two pairs of mecha gloves - one for himself and one for Liang Zheng-Chun. He was still short of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s pair so he wanted to go back to his workshop to make them.
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. ¡°You did so much for me and yet I can¡¯t treat you to a meal? Miss Liang won¡¯t fly away - what¡¯s wrong with spending one less night with her? If you¡¯re so afraid of her now then won¡¯t you be henpecked in the future?¡±
Xia Lei smiled sheepishly. ¡°Then can I have here along?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m inviting just you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°That¡¯s settled, then. I¡¯ll tell Ming-Mei to book us a table.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go along with your arrangements.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin did away with her usual stoic-ness after leaving Shentu Ren¡¯s room and spoke a lot. When they got to the living room, Fu Ming-Mei came in from the entrance looking nervous.
¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, your Second Uncle and Shentu Tian-Feng are here,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
The smile on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face disappeared and was reced by a look of displeasure. ¡°How did they know about this ce? What did theye here for?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, the door-guard just informed me. The two of them have already entered through the main door,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
The entire building belonged to Vientaine Group and the door-guard was also employed by Shentu Tian-Yin. Fu Ming-Mei had instructed them to always inform her if one of the Shentu n entered, whomever it was, and this was why she had this timely information.
¡°Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. They must have done their preparations and investigated our situation here beforeing,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ming-Mei, tell Jin Da-Hu and the others to disperse. Lei and I will deal with them,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll go right now.¡± Fu Ming-Mei left.
¡°I think they are trying to find out the situation here not only with us but with my father. You¡¯ve warned me too that they should not know about my father waking up. What should I do if they want to see Father?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Leave this to me. I¡¯ll use needles to pierce his Bai Hui acupuncture point and he will sleep deeply.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go with you. We have to hurry.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked anxious.
She¡¯d prepared for so long and done so much in order to lure her prey into her trap. How could she not be nervous when the prey drew closer to the trap she hadid?
Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng walked towards them, talking to each other in low voices.
¡°We found this ce after searching for days. That slut sure is wiley. Did she think it¡¯ll all be fine if she took her father and hid away?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng sneered.
¡°Your n to use someone else to deal with him was pretty good. Our people have heard the news that Gu Ke-Wu is already prepared to strike at Xia Lei. It¡¯s a good thing for us if Gu Ke-Wu gets rid of Xia Lei. Tian-Yin won¡¯t forgive Gu Ke-Wu either if he gets rid of Xia Lei so the two of them will never have a chance to be together,¡± said Shentu Yi.
Shentu Tian-Fengughed. ¡°Dad, why are you even concerned if that bitch is together with Gu Ke-Wu? Those two will nevere to that day. Our n will only be sessful if she dies.¡±
¡°Rest in peace, hahaha, rest in peace.¡± Shentu Yiughed too.
Father-and-son walked to the doors of the vi and found Fu Ming-Mei looking at them expressionlessly.
¡°Where¡¯s Tian-Yin, Fu Ming-Mei?¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng.
¡°What are you looking for Big Sister Tian-Yin for?¡± said Fu Ming-Mei coolly, ¡°She¡¯s not free.¡±
Shentu Yi spoke coldly, ¡°Impertinence! How dare you talk like that. You think you can behave however you want because Tian-Yin has your back? Get out of the way!¡±
Fu Ming-Mei looked displeased but she still made way for him.
Shentu Yi did not knock. He pushed the door open and walked in. Shentu Tian-Feng followed him in but the father-and-son duo stopped in their tracks when they walked into the living room.
Xia Lei was half-lying on the sofa in the living room and Shentu Tian-Yin was sitting on his thigh holding grapes in one hand and feeding him those grapes with the other. The huge television set in front of them was on and the variety program ¡®Happy Headquarters¡¯ was ying.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei did not seem to have noticed that Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng had entered. They only had eyes for each other.
¡°Is it tasty?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin smiled sweetly, ¡°I want you to feed me one too.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s headache multiplied twofold.
Strangely, Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng just looked at them and did not make a sound.
Xia Lei forced himself to feed Shentu Tian-Yin a grape.
¡°I want more.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin swallowed the grape in one go.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Ahem!¡± Shentu Yi could not hold back any longer.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei pretended to look over only then and hurriedly moved apart.
Shentu Tian-Yin straightened her wrinkled clothing in a tizzy and looked embarrassed. ¡°Second Uncle, Big Brother Tian-Feng, when did you get here? Why didn¡¯t you knock?¡±
¡°How would we know what you two were up to in here?¡± said Shentu Yi with a straight face.
¡°We are quite worried about you bringing Uncle here. My mother and the aunts used to be the ones who took care of Uncle. You¡¯re also very busy so we came to see him because we were worried that you¡¯d be unable to care for him. Really, we are family after all. Why didn¡¯t you tell us the address of the ce you brought Uncle to? I had to ask a whole lot of people to find this ce and what do I see once I get here? You two... Ah, I won¡¯t say more. Where¡¯s Uncle? My father and I would like to see him,¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeo_Danaos_et_dona_ferentes
Chapter 188 - Prologue To Confrontation
¡°Father is fine. You know his condition; he¡¯s unconscious as always. He wouldn¡¯t know even if youe visit him,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Tian-Yin, he is your father but he is my brother too. Do you have to keep me from visiting my own brother?¡± said Shentu Yi.
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Xia Lei. He nodded and she said, ¡°All right, I¡¯ll take you to him.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin walked towards Shentu Ren¡¯s room and Xia Lei also stood to follow.
¡°What are youing with us for?¡± said Shentu Tian-Feng darkly.
Xia Lei looked at him. ¡°This isn¡¯t your house, so why do you care?¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng was rooted to the ground in anger but he did not act upon his anger. Xia Lei had dared to scold him so badly that his ears could have bled right in front of so many of the Shentu n, much less here in this vi. He had no idea how to deal with people like Xia Lei.
¡®Let¡¯s see how long you can stay so arrogant. You made a person like Gu Ke-Wu your enemy for this bitch Tian-Yin - just wait, you¡¯ll end up in hell¡¯ thought Shentu Tian-Feng to himself. He felt much better at this thought.
Shentu Tian-Yin opened the room door and the three men followed her in.
Shentu Reny quietly on the bed, his face withered and his body a bag of bones. There was no difference from his previous condition except for a little bit of colour in his cheeks and the slightly stronger rising and falling of his chest. However, the healthier blush in his cheeks was not very visible under the warm tone of the electric lights. The stronger rising and falling of his chest was also not discernable if one had not learnt some medicine.
Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng had not studied medicine and had no specialised knowledge and they didn¡¯t even think of the possibility of someone curing Shentu Ren. They insisted on seeing Shentu Ren only because they wanted to know if he was still alive, so the father-and-son did not observe Shentu Ren¡¯s current condition closely.
¡°Brother? Big brother?¡± Shentu Yi faked concern. ¡°I¡¯vee to see you.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng also chipped in some crocodile tears, ¡°Uncle, I¡¯vee to see you too.¡± He added more lines, ¡°It was lively when you were at our old ce; my mother and the aunts took good care of you. But now you¡¯re here all alone, cold and isted. You must be unhappy, huh?¡±
Shentu Yi spoke up too. ¡°Tian-Yin, I think we should take my brother back. You have to manage thepany - when will you find time to take care of your father? What¡¯s so bad about leaving your father at the family residence? Why must you take him away? Look at him lying here all alone with no one to talk to him - how lonely, how pitiful.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help hisugh. ¡°Oh, how touching. Did you all visit Uncle to talk to him every day, then?¡±
Shentu Yi gave Xia Lei an angry look. ¡°You have no say here.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin reached to put her arm around Xia Lei¡¯s waist. ¡°He is my fianc¨¦ and can also be considered my father¡¯s son-inw - if he has no say, then who does?¡±
Shentu Yi held his hand up. ¡°Okay, Tian-Yin, I knew you¡¯d protect this punk. I didn¡¯te here to argue. We are family and there is no hatchet we can¡¯t bury or misunderstanding we can¡¯t clear. I came to tell you that Grandfather has fallen ill after you left and has not recovered since. The doctors say his life is in danger and he¡¯s a man of many years - he may not make it. He wants to see you. You should go visit him.¡±
¡°Grandfather is ill? Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked worried. ¡°Which hospital is he in now?¡±
¡°At Tian-Ci Sanatorium,¡± said Shentu Yi, ¡°Come with us now.¡±
Xia Lei kneed Shentu Tian-Yin gently in the back of her leg.
Shentu Tian-Yin took the hint and said, ¡°It¡¯ste now. Better to go tomorrow.¡±
Shentu Yi made a face. ¡°He¡¯s your grandfather. Aren¡¯t you going to see him when he¡¯s severely sick? What if he can¡¯t hang on anymore tonight? Aren¡¯t you going to see him for thest time?¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng chimed in, ¡°Yeah, Tian-Yin. Grandpa actually liked you best when we were children. Aren¡¯t you going to visit him now that he¡¯s old and sickly? He wants to see you - and he¡¯s in a serious state too. Can¡¯t you fulfil this small wish of his?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin hesitated.
Xia Lei spoke up, ¡°Tian-Yin, you should go visit your grandfather. I¡¯ll go with you. I wonder where this Tian-Ci Sanatorium is? Howe I¡¯ve never heard of it?¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng snorted an said mockingly, ¡°I heard you were a brick-mover at construction sites. It¡¯s normal for people like you to have not heard of Tian-Ci Sanatorium. It¡¯s a private hospital with the most advanced medical equipment and the best medical teams. Only the wealthy can afford to get treatment there.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. ¡°Big Brother Tian-Feng, Xia Lei is my fianc¨¦ so you watch your words. I don¡¯t want to hear what you said earlier.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng smiled. ¡°Sure, I won¡¯t say that he was a brick-mover at construction sites next time. Will this do?¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was mad.
Xia Lei pulled her by the hand and said with augh, ¡°Tian-Yin, I was originally moving bricks at construction sites and I¡¯ve welded too. There¡¯s no need to treat it as an unspeakable thing. Let them say whatever they want. Depending on one¡¯s own efforts to work and feed oneself is not anything shameful; every hard worker is worthy of respect. Let¡¯s talk about Tian-Ci Sanatorium - where is it?¡±
There was no need to argue - what use was it even if they won a verbal fight?
¡°It¡¯s on an ind. I know that ce; my father was there for a period of time. We¡¯d need an hour by boat but it¡¯s much quicker by helicopter,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°We already have a helicopter ready before we came. Use the helicopter, you¡¯ll arrive at Tian-Ci Sanatorium quickly,¡± said Shentu Yi.
¡°How about you two?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°We¡¯d just returned from Tian-Ci Sanatorium so we¡¯re not going. How about this - I¡¯ll tell the pilot to fly over now. It can take off from here, no problem,¡± said Shentu Yi.
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Xia Lei.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m afraid of heights so I don¡¯t want to ride in a helicopter. Can you arrange for a boat, Tian-Yin? I¡¯d like to go by boat. We can admire the seascape that way too.¡±
Shentu Yi cut him short, ¡°What boat? I didn¡¯t say you¡¯ll be going.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng chimed in, ¡°My grandfather fell ill because you made him angry. How are you still okay with going to see him? He¡¯ll definitely get angry if you go. Will you take responsibility if anything happens to him?¡±
¡°I will go with Xia Lei. He will apologise to Grandfather if it¡¯s true that he caused him to fall ill as it¡¯s the right thing to do. Nn, you like to take the boat, so I¡¯ll arrange for a yacht to take us,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng exchanged looks, then both looked at Xia Lei with gazes so cold they could cut.
Xia Lei scoffed to himself, ¡®Helicopter? If you guys meddled with it somehow and it crashed, you¡¯d get your wish fulfilled, huh?¡¯
Though they could not confirm if the father-son duo had sabotaged the helicopter, they could not take this risk either. Shentu Tian-Yin was not stupid either - she knew well that she could not use whatever mode of transport her Second Uncle¡¯s family arranged for her. That was why she had followed up on what Xia Lei had said about taking a boat with arranging a yacht.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei went out ten minutester.
¡°Ming-Mei,¡± Shentu Tian-Yin said to her, ¡°Father is under your care now.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei nodded. ¡°Rest assured. Be safe out there.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin got the car from the garage and Xia Lei sat in the front passenger seat.
Shentu Yi came to the car window and said, ¡°Tian-Yin, we won¡¯t be going tonight. We¡¯ll go tomorrow. Remember to talk calmly to him and not anger him again.¡±
¡°I know what to do. I¡¯m off.¡± So saying, Shentu Tian-Yin drove the car into thene in front of the door and to the exit of the neighbourhood.
Shentu Tian-Feng and Shentu Yi watched the Rolls Royce Phantom move off, then smiled at each other.
The smiles looked to be pre-celebratory smiles.
¡°Dad, I think we should get Uncle back to his old ce. I can¡¯t rest easy with him here by himself.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng deliberately spoke in a loud voice.
¡°Yes, I think so too. Let¡¯s get your Uncle home. We¡¯re doing this for the sake of the patient. Tian-Yin would agree,¡± added Shentu Yi.
Father-and-son walked into the vi as they spoke, towards Shentu Ren.
Fu Ming-Mei, who was in the doorway, shut the door and leaned against the doorframe. Her nted body was like a barbed fence.
¡°Get out of the way!¡± said Shentu Yi angrily.
Fu Ming-Mei gave him a small smile and took abat knife from her belt. It was a well known de - the Buck Nighthawk. She picked under her fingernails with the knife. Her nails were very clean but she still took great care in picking at the perceived dirt. The Buck Nighthawk had a cold shine under the lights, adding to the cold attitude she disyed and giving one the feeling of danger.
¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng did not believe that Fu Ming-Mei would dare raise a hand against himself or Shentu Yi.
Fu Ming-Mei looked at him with cold eyes. ¡°Leave. Don¡¯t pretend in front of me. I only listen to two people in the Shentu n - one is my dad and the other is Big Sister Tian-Yin. She told me to watch over Uncle Ren. No one is going to take him away unless I¡¯m dead.¡±
¡°Who do you think you are?¡± Shentu Yi was mad and pointed at Fu Ming-Mei, ¡°Get out!¡±
Fu Ming-Mei suddenly flicked her wrist and the Buck nighthawk flew from her hand, grazing Shentu Yi¡¯s cheek as it went and embedding itself in the trunk of a tree beside him.
Shentu Yi was frightened by this and reached subconsciously to touch his cheek. He made no sound.
¡°Forget it. It¡¯ll be unfair if I used knives against you two. How about this - you guyse at me together. Finish me off and you can take Uncle Ren away,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng departed from the vi a minuteter.
Meanwhile, the silver Rolls Royce Phantom galloped on the roads.
¡°They¡¯ve started to make their move.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin could not contain the excitement in her voice, ¡°I can see it. I guarantee that this is thest time they¡¯ll harm me!¡±
¡°They want you dead - aren¡¯t you afraid?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m not afraid with you by my side,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin with a smile.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°I¡¯m nervous now yet you are not the least bit scared. I had no idea you were so brave. Okay, we can contact Uncle Fu and the rest now and tell them to start.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded and took out a mobile phone...
A confrontation between hunters had begun under the cover of night.
Chapter 189 - Re-appearance of the Mysterious Woman
Distinguished Gathering.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Gu Ke-Wu put his phone down andughed happily, ¡°He thinks he¡¯s smart, eh? He¡¯s a stupid pig in my eyes. He wants to fight Shentu Tian-Yin with that level of intelligence? What makes him so confident, I wonder.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen wrinkled her brows. ¡°Who¡¯s this ¡®he¡¯ you¡¯re talking about, Big Brother?¡±
¡°Who else could I be other than Shentu Tian-Feng? He just called to tell me that Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei went to Tian-Ci Sanatorium. His grandfather is gravely ill and he¡¯d like me to go pay him a visit,¡± said Gu Ke-Wuughingly.
¡°Isn¡¯t it normal, Shentu Tian-Yin taking Xia Lei with her to visit Shentu Wei-Ye when he¡¯s ill? What¡¯s so wrong about that?¡± asked Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°Rememberst time? Would I have been kicked by that punk if that Shentu Tian-Feng did not tell me that Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei are dating?¡±
Gu Ke-Wen paused. ¡°He¡¯s trying to get you to do his dirty work for him. What an asshole.¡±
Qin Qi, who was also in the living room, asked, ¡°What do you n to do, Young Master Wu?¡±
¡°Need you ask? I¡¯ve apanied Master to that ce before. It¡¯s just that one hospital on the ind and it¡¯s all forest and sea beyond its walls. That ind is a good ce to hide a body. This is a great opportunity we have to take - let¡¯s go settle the score with that punk!¡± said Dong Wu.
Dong Wu had a bone-deep hatred for Xia Lei because of his ancient family heirloom sword.
Qin Qi looked at Gu Ke-Wu, as if waiting for his decision.
Gu Ke-Wu spoke evenly, ¡°Don¡¯t go to that ind for now. I¡¯ll send people to keep an eye on Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. I¡¯ll let you guys take action when an opportunity presents itself.¡±
¡°Young Master Wu, there is an old saying - opportunity knocks but once. I know theyout of that ind and there are many ways to kill someone and take care of it there, like the beach, the fishes and so on. It won¡¯t be traceable and we won¡¯t have any trouble after finishing that punk off. I¡¯m afraid this opportunity will note again if we let it go,¡± said Dong Wu.
Gu Ke-Wuughed. ¡°Uncle Dong, I know Xia Lei ruined your family heirloom and you¡¯re just itching to settle the score with him but this is no trivial matter. We have to make sure that what you n is foolproof.¡±
¡°You must already have a n, Young Master Wu. Tell me, what are you nning?¡± said Dong Wu.
Gu Ke-Wu did not speak of any n but pped. A bodyguard came forward with a brocade box resting on his hands. He brought it to Dong Wu and stood at attention.
Dong Wu did not reach to receive the box. ¡°What is this?¡± he asked suspiciously.
Gu Ke-Wu smiled. ¡°Uncle Dong, your old sword was made in ancient times; it only has historical use and not much of practical use. This is a sword I¡¯ve specially asked the Japanese sword-smith Rokushin Takuya to make. It looks exactly the same as your family heirloom but the craftsmanship put into it is of the current best in this world. Take a look - I think this is the sword you should use.¡±
Dong Wu opened the brocade box. Inside rested a sword which looked just like his family heirloom, as Gu Ke-Wu had said. He took the sword out and unsheathed it. The sinister blue-green de gleamed with a cold aura.
¡°A good sword!¡± Dong Wu suddenly waved his arm swiftly at a standingmp next to him.
Crash! Themp¡¯s metal bracket was shorn in two, the cut as smooth as a mirror. He looked at the sword - there were no ws on the de!
¡°Haha! Excellent sword!¡± said Dong Wu in admiration.
¡°This sword was made bybining five different types of steel. It is an alloy sword not just in name but in reality; it cuts through metal like butter and is robust. I spent a million to get Rokushin Takuya to make it.¡±
¡°A million?¡± Dong Wu drew in a breath, then smiled. ¡°Young Master Wu, for gifting me this sword, I will definitely cut off that punk¡¯s legs and present them to you as a present.¡±
Qin Qi looked at the sword in Dong Wu¡¯s hand and looked at Gu Ke-Wu. He did not say anything but there was a look of expectation in his eyes.
¡°Big Brother, since you have a gift for Uncle Dong you must have one prepared for Big Brother Qi, don¡¯t you?¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Gu Ke-Wu smiled. ¡°That goes without saying.¡± He pped again and another bodyguard walked forward with a brocade box to stand before Qin Qi.
¡°Young Master Wu, you shouldn¡¯t have. What is it?¡± said Qin Qi with a smile.
¡°Open it up and you¡¯ll know,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
Qin Qi opened the box. A set of keysy in the box - keys with a Harley Davidson logo on them. There was also a Beretta 92F handgun in the box.
Qin Qi could not contain the smile on his face when he saw the items in the brocade box. ¡°Young Master Wu, this is...¡±
Gu Ke-Wuughed. ¡°I know you like motorcycles. This is the best Night Rod of the range from Harley Davidson, modified. Add this handgun and it¡¯s also worth one million.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t hold back since it is your good intentions, Young Master Wu.¡± Qin Qi put away the Harley Davidson keys and handgun and said, ¡°Young Master Wu, old man Dong is definitely going after Xia Lei so I¡¯ll bring Shentu Tian-Yin to you. Count that as a repayment.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu looked like he had one more card up his sleeve. ¡°Shentu Tian-Feng wants to use me to do his dirty work for him. Let¡¯s see him pursue a narrow gain while he neglects a greater danger.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±
The living room filled withughter.
Meanwhile, at the pier of a fishing vige...
A small yacht moored quietly at the pier; no lights came from it and no one could be seen. The surroundings were quiet too, as if the whole world were asleep.
A silver Rolls Royce Phantom came to a stop on the road beside the pier. Shentu Tian-Yin shed the car lights twice and light suddenly came from the yacht. The Jin Da-Hu and Jin Zhen-Huan brothers appeared on the deck of the yacht.
¡°Get out of the car. They¡¯re already here,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei grabbed Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hand. ¡°Wait. Let¡¯s wait and see.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked about while seated in the driver¡¯s seat but it was dark everywhere and there wasn¡¯t much she could see clearly.
Xia Lei looked about too; he could watch everything closely in the radius of hundreds of metres, be it the closest weeds or the fishing vige residents in the distance. This was the zoom-in and night-vision aspect of his eye, as well as experience he¡¯d got from Long Bing.
¡°I don¡¯t see anything,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Jin Da-Hu and Jin Zheng-Huan are seasoned mercenaries with a lot of experience. They were here first too so they should have scouted out the area. They wouldn¡¯t just sit in the yacht if there¡¯s a problem.¡±
Xia Lei stopped using his eye. ¡°Nn, let¡¯s get out of the car. Better to be careful.¡±
The two of them alighted and got on the yacht.
¡°Mdy, Mr Fu and the Pak brothers have gone to deal with Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng. We will take care of things here,¡± said Jin Da-Hu.
Shentu Tian-Yin had actually driven in a big circle around Hai-Zhu City after calling Fu Chuan-Fu and onlye to the pier when Fu Chuan-Fu was done with the preparations.
¡°Let¡¯s set out,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
The yacht left the pier.
Xia Lei went to the tail-end of the yacht¡¯s deck and held onto the rails with both hands, pretending to admire the sea view while keeping an eye on the situation around the pier close to the fishing vige.
At that moment, a woman appeared on the pier without a sound.
She had a mobile phone in her hand and was talking to someone.
Xia Lei locked his gaze on that woman and recognised her immediately - she was the woman who had installed the bomb on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s Rolls Royce Phantom at Far East Heavy Industries. Unfortunately, the yacht was too quick and her face became blurry as the distance between them increased. He could not see her lips and decode her conversation via lip-reading.
¡®I actually missed her in my earlier scan - where was she hiding?¡¯ Xia Lei was surprised.
Shentu Tian-Yin walked up from behind him, her voice gentle, ¡°What are you looking at, Lei?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit before he said, ¡°I think I saw the woman who tried to assassinate you thest time.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked in the direction of the pier but she could not even see the pier anymore, much less any supposed woman on it. ¡°How did you see her? Are you sure? If you¡¯re sure, let¡¯s go back and catch her!¡± she said in surprise.
¡°She¡¯d have escaped by the time we get back and we would not only fail to catch her but also arouse the suspicion of Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng. She should be confirming that we¡¯d left for Tian-Ci Sanatorium. She¡¯ll follow, don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll have a chance to catch her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re right, now¡¯s not the time to catch her and it won¡¯t be much use if we did anyway.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly remembered something, ¡°That¡¯s right, you haven¡¯t told me how you were able to see that woman when it¡¯s so dark and the pier¡¯s so far away.¡±
¡°That...¡± Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Was something my Master taught me.¡±
The corner of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s cherry lips turned up in a smile. ¡°He really isn¡¯t holding back and teaching you everything, huh. Really, why didn¡¯t he look for someone else to be his son-inw; did it have to be you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Right, if you miss Miss Liang you should quickly give her a call. There won¡¯t be any phone signals after a while so you won¡¯t be able to call,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°I¡¯ll call her then,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°You¡¯re really going to call her?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin turned around and walked towards the cabin. ¡°Take your time. I don¡¯t want to hear your mushy conversation.¡±
Xia Lei did not chase after her. He knew that Shentu Tian-Yin and himself were just fake lovers. He would return to Liang Si-Yao¡¯s side when the matters on this end were all settled and getting too entangled with her would only invite trouble. He wasn¡¯t afraid of any trouble save the trouble of rtionships.
Thinking of Liang Si-Yao made him recall her excuse of the natural functions of her body while wantonly teasing him and he couldn¡¯t help the smile on his face. ¡®That girl! She teased me and made me suffer but says she¡¯s on her period. I don¡¯t believe that you have your period every day. I¡¯ll make sure you pay me back one day!¡¯
Thinking of sweet delicious things put Xia Lei in a good mood. He took out his phone to call Liang SI-Yao, only to discover that there was no phone signal.
Shentu Tian-Yin poked her head out from the cabin door at that moment. ¡°I lied. There¡¯s been no signal since we left the pier. You¡¯re so naive - no wonder you¡¯re easily taken in. Come in, quick, I¡¯ve prepared something for you to eat. We haven¡¯t had dinner yet so let¡¯s all gather and eat.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and walked to the cabin.
Chapter 190 - Hard-hearted Grandfather
The ind was not big; it was just a few square kilometres. Tian-Ci Sanatorium was at the centre of the ind surrounded by greenery and mountains. This ce with its picturesque scenery in all four seasons was indeed wonderful for recovering from illness. However, majority of the poption would not be able toe here for treatment since even a few days in the sanatorium would cost over tens of millions of yuan; no regr person would be able to afford it.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei came to the door of a hospital ward with the guidance of a nurse.
¡°You go in. I won¡¯t be going in,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°He doesn¡¯t want to see me and he¡¯ll definitely get angry if I do.¡±
He¡¯d actually already used his left eye to survey the room to determine that there was no danger before he said that.
¡°Nn, then wait for me outside.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin followed the nurse into the room.
Xia Lei did not go in but he did not stand idly by either. He continued using his left eye to watch the situation in the room. This hospital ward was as luxurious as a presidential suite of a five-star hotel.
Shentu Wei-Yey on the hospital bed in the ward. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s aunt, Wang Fang, sat on a chair by his sickbed and she was peeling an apple with a fruit knife when Shentu Tian-Yin walked in. She nced at Shentu Tian-Yin, then busied herself with peeling the apple. There were no greetings.
¡°What did youe here for?¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye huffily when he saw Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Grandfather, you are sick - of course I¡¯de visit you.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was neither haughty nor humble. She took the initiative to greet Wang Fang next. ¡°It¡¯s been hard on you, Second Aunt. You¡¯re still taking care of Grandfather at this hour.¡±
Wang Fang spoke in a neutral tone, ¡°What hardship? We¡¯re family, and it¡¯s only right to respect and care for the elderly.¡± After a pause, she said, ¡°Oh, right, why didn¡¯t your fianc¨¦e? How could he not turn up to visit Grandfather when it¡¯s something like this?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at the tightly-shut door behind her.
Shentu Wei-Ye also looked at the door and his brows wrinkled. ¡°What? He dares show his face here? Outside the door?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded for some unknown reason.
Wang Fang dropped the half-peeled apple onto the fruit dish with a thunk and stood with a tter, ring in the direction of the door. ¡°Someone is here but doesn¡¯t evene in. What¡¯s the meaning of this? Grandfather is sick because he angered him and he doesn¡¯te in to apologise? Tian-Yin, I¡¯m not saying anything about you, but this sort of man cannot be relied upon. Why do you insist on being with him?¡±
She had no idea that Xia Lei was watching her as she red at the door.
¡®Wang Fang is here too. She obviously knows what her husband and son are up to and is here to participate. Is Shentu Wei-Ye in on it too?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
At that thought, Xia Lei moved his gaze to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face. It was all an act but he could still see tears forming in herrge eyes. His heart ached for her in that moment.
Judging from Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯splexion and loud, clear voice, he wasn¡¯t very sick even if he was sick. A hospital in the city would have been able to treat a small or chronic problem well enough so there was no need for him toe to such a luxurious private hospital. This was why Xia Lei suspected that it was possible that Shentu Wei-Ye knew what Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng were up to.
This was also why Shentu Tian-Yin was so heartbroken - even her own Grandfather wanted her dead.
In the ward, Shentu Tian-Yin brushed at the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.
¡°What are you crying for? I¡¯m not dead yet!¡± Shentu Wei-Ye was cruel with his words and did not spare her feelings.
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled bitterly. ¡°What are you saying, Grandfather? You won¡¯t die; you¡¯ll live for a long time. You like boys - Big Brother Tian-Feng and his wife will definitely have a son and you¡¯ll have your beloved great-grandson. You still have to watch your great-grandson grow up, go to university, get married and have children and have five generations under the same roof.¡±
At the mention of ¡®five generations under the same roof¡¯, Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s expression softened a little and he said, ¡°Tell that punk toe in. What¡¯s this hiding outside and noting in? He¡¯s already here.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin turned to open the door. ¡°Grandfather wants you to go in,¡± she said to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded and walked into the room with a smile on his face. ¡°Feeling better, Gramps?¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Shentu Wei-Ye just snorted and looked at Xia Lei with eyes full of hate and disgust.
¡°Hello, Aunt.¡± Xia Lei smiled again and greeted Wang Fang.
¡°Stop pretending. Say what you want quickly and get out when you¡¯re done.¡± Wang Fang was even ruder.
¡°Second Aunt.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was displeased.
Wang Fang then waved her hand. ¡°All right, all right. I know you¡¯re going to take that punk¡¯s side again. I¡¯ll stop talking now, okay? This Second Aunt is just like a stranger to you anyway.¡±
Xia Lei did not take the ridicule by Shentu Wei-Ye and Wang Fang to heart. His left eye twitched and the inner workings of Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s body wasid bare to him. There were no injuries on his body, neither inside nor out. His blood cirction was normal and his heart also had no problems. The other organs had no obvious inmmation or symptoms of disease so they were normal too. Xia Lei reached a conclusion after using his X-ray vision - Shentu Wei-Ye was indeed faking his illness.
¡°Xia Lei, don¡¯t you have something to say to me other than that one sentence?¡± Shentu Wei-Ye then spoke, looking displeased.
Xia Lei moved his gaze away from Shentu Wei-Ye and casually swept it across the room without stopping his X-ray vision.
¡°Speak!¡± Shentu Wei-Ye was mad.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze stopped on a flower basket on the bedside table; he saw a tiny camera hidden in the flower basket. It was a very advanced camera with a little hole to capture sound. Everything in the ward could obviously be under surveince of the camera, including everything that was said, and transmitted to a terminal.
¡°Ahem...¡± Xia Lei cleared his throat and maintained the smile on his face. ¡°Gramps, I know you detest me but I¡¯m not a bad guy. I¡¯ll be good to Tian-Yin. It was wrong of me to get you so mad you fell sick so I¡¯ll apologise to you, okay? Be a magnanimous adult and forgive me.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin chimed in, ¡°Please forgive him, Grandfather.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll forgive you this time on Tian-Yin¡¯s behalf.¡± Shentu Wei-Ye looked fairly reluctant to do so.
¡°Thank you, Gramps. I¡¯ll change my bad habits, promise,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Humph!¡± Shentu Wei-Ye snorted and didn¡¯t want to talk to Xia Lei any more.
¡°Let¡¯s leave it at this. It¡¯s alsote - the hospital has a hotel. You two can stay there ande see Grandfather tomorrow. He¡¯s a patient so he has to rest earlier,¡± said Wang Fang.
¡°All right. Let¡¯s go, Lei. We¡¯lle visit Grandfather again tomorrow,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Instead, Xia Lei said, ¡°Wait for me, I need to use the washroom.¡±
Wang Fang looked disgusted. ¡°You always have something.¡±
Xia Lei did not retort and walked quickly to the washroom holding his stomach. In the washroom, he closed the door behind himself and unscrewed the faucet in the sink. He adjusted the flow so that it came out in a thin stream and mimicked the sound of him pissing. He then took out a small box from the inner pocket of his suit.
Two tiny listening devices were in the box.
Xia Lei put one device on the lintel of the frosted ss door of the washroom. A person standing below it would not be able to see it unless he climbed up to look.
Xia Lei turned off the tap after installing the listening device and flushed the toilet. He went out of the washroom and walked straight to the bed to lean in to Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s ear and whisper, ¡°Good night, Gramps. Take care of yourself.¡±
He stuck the other listening device under the bed as he spoke.
Shentu Wei-Ye red at Xia Lei. ¡°Just leave if you¡¯re leaving. What¡¯s with this pretence? You can¡¯t wait for me to die, huh?¡±
Xia Lei gave him a smile and withdrew.
These two listening devices had been prepared by Jin Da-Hu and were very advanced. They could catch sounds in a ten-metre radius; anything said in this ten-metre radius would be received by the receiver. The radii of the two listening devices covered the area of the luxurious ward.
¡°Let¡¯s go. Don¡¯t make Grandfather mad.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin took Xia Lei¡¯s arm and left the ward.
The corridor was silent. Xia Lei did not say a word till they walked out of the wards. He spoke softly after they were out, ¡°That flower basket has a camera in it, and...¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin cut him off and said distressedly, ¡°I know. Grandfather is not sick. I know him.¡±
Xia Lei let out a sigh. ¡°This guy... How do I put it... Your grandfather is possessed. Don¡¯t be too heartbroken, it¡¯ll all pass.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯m not heartbroken. My grandfather may be lost but my father is back.¡±
She said she was not heartbroken but Xia Lei could still see the welling in her eyes. Her own grandfather wanted her head - how could she not be heartbroken over something like this?
The two of them walked to the hotel. It was a group of vis built on the mountainside, in an European style in the midst of forests. It was like a little European town in a fairy tale, as tranquil and beautiful as an oil painting of nature.
However, it was a ce full of great danger to Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. One false step and they would be consigned to eternal damnation.
Shentu Tian-Yin gripped Xia Lei¡¯s hand tightly and he could feel her nervousness.
¡°Don¡¯t be afraid; you have me. No one can harm you with me around. Plus, Jin Da-Hu and Jin Zhen-Huan are around. They will protect you too,¡± consoled Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m not afraid, just a little nervous,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Lei, when this is over, we...¡±
¡°We...¡± Xia Lei was going to say ¡®We are still going to be good friends¡¯ but he felt that saying so would be superfluous when it was at the tip of his tongue. After going through a whole series of incidents together, the rtionship between Shentu Tian-Yin and himself was not so simple as them being ¡®good friends¡¯. However, if they were more than ¡®good friends¡¯, then what was the rtionship between him and her?
Both of them were then inexplicably silent.
Chapter 191 - Killer Appearance
In the ward, Shentu Wei-Ye pondered for some time before he let out a sigh. ¡°Wang Fang, do you all really want...¡±
Wang Fang cut him short. ¡°Grandfather, don¡¯t be soft-hearted. This is for the Shentu n. Do you want to see your unfilial granddaughter hand over such arge family-owned corporation to an outsider? You know how capable that punk is. Wait till his child is born and we Shentu will have nothing.¡±
¡°Ai...¡± Shentu Wei-Ye waved his hand. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m old. I don¡¯t want to bother about certain things anymore. You go make your fuss; I want to rest.¡±
¡°Grandfather, rx and go to sleep. It¡¯ll all be settled in the morning. I¡¯ll go give Tian-Feng a call.¡± Wang Fang took her mobile phone out of her handbag and walked to the washroom.
¡°It¡¯s for our Shentu n... our Shentu n... This is not wrong,¡± Shentu Wei-Ye mumbled to himself. He closed his eyes and went to sleep afterwards, looking at ease.
In the washroom, Wang Fang made a call to Shentu Tian-Feng. ¡°Son, that bitch and that punk are here. They¡¯re staying at the hotel on the ind... That bitch brought only Xia Lei, I didn¡¯t see any bodyguards... Is the person you hired reliable? I keep having this feeling of unease for some reason... Okay, okay... I won¡¯t interfere, I¡¯ll stay in the ward with your grandfather...¡±
She waspletely unaware that every word she said was being caught by the listening device above the door and transmitted to another room on the ind.
Shentu Tian-Yin sat quietly by the bed. She was in low spirits and tears welled in her eyes. What saddened her so was not Wang Fang but Shentu Wei-Ye. They were just guessing before but the conversation between Wang Fang and Shentu Wei-Ye confirmed it - he knew, he approved and he was not uneasy about it.
Xia Lei opened a rucksack and took out two bulletproof vests. He put one next to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hand. ¡°Put it on. Wear it under your clothes, then put a jacket over it so it won¡¯t be discovered.¡±
Fu Chuan-Fu had prepared the bulletproof vests too. They were not vests off the market but high-tech, high-end goods which were thin and not visible at all under clothing and jacket.
Xia Lei changed out of his suit and shirt and put the bulletproof vest on for his innermostyer.
Shentu Tian-Yin hesitated and removed her jacket and T-shirt, leaving her in just a purple bra. She did as Xia Lei did and put on the vest but her chest was too big and she could not pull the velcro in ce on her back. ¡°Help me,¡± she said, feeling a little embarrassed.
Xia Lei had just finished putting on his suit and he walked over. He took a look at her situation and pulled at the velcro.
¡°Ah...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin let out a cry. Her snowy breasts, pushed high, were temporarily squashed and the groove between them deepened to a hard-to-prate slit.
Xia Lei nimbly fastened the velcro and smiled as he said, ¡°Done.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You¡¯re not gentle because they¡¯re not yours, huh?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Of course they weren¡¯t his - if it were Liang Si-Yao, however, she¡¯d let him grope her breasts or something.
¡°Whatever. Go about your business, I don¡¯t need help anymore.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin started putting on her T-shirt and jacket.
Xia Lei then let out the breath he¡¯d been holding, feeling like a criminal who¡¯d been granted amnesty. He quickly busied himself with other things, taking out a bunch of stuff from the rucksack. There were things like pinhole cameras, rope, tranquilizer gun and so on. He installed the pinhole cameras in all four corners of the room and put the rope under the bed. Then, he inserted the tranquilizer gun in his belt. There was also two silver-coloured cases on his belt - his customised weapons, the titanium alloy mecha gloves.
Xia Lei still felt nervous even with all this equipment and preparation. This wasn¡¯t a game of Counter Strike but a real life and death fight. The killers Shentu Tian-Feng hired would definitely not be chopper-wielding people but carry guns. Even more difficult was that he had to find a way to catch the killer and not finish the killer off.
¡°Will the killere?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was nervous too.
¡°This is the best opportunity for your Second Uncle to make his move. They have no other chances after we leave the ind tomorrow, so the killer will surelye tonight,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do we do now?¡±
¡°We wait,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Remember, back to the wall. Do not show yourself in the windows and stay away from them. I¡¯m going to switch the lights off now.¡±
¡°What for?¡±
¡°To make it look like we¡¯ve gone to bed.¡± Xia Lei went to the door and switched off the lights. The room was plunged in darkness.
The doors and windows were tightly shut and even the curtains were shut but a tabletputer in Xia Lei¡¯s hand disyed the situation outside the room and around the entire vi. At this moment, Jin Da-Hu and Jin Zhen-Huan were in their hiding ces on the left and right of the vi. They would move immediately once the killer appeared and close in on the killer to capture him with Xia Lei.
The audio and video footage, plus the captured killer would serve as evidence that Shentu Tian-Yin could use to put Shentu Yi¡¯s whole family in prison.
This n looked simple but it was practical.
What came next was the waiting.
Nothing happened and about two in the morning, Shentu Tian-Yiny herself t on the bed from her sitting position at the head of the bed. ¡°Lei, why don¡¯t you lie down too?¡±
¡°Go take a nap if you¡¯re sleepy. I¡¯ll wake you if there¡¯s anything,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°How can I fall asleep? Come here and lie down with me. Talk to me.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice waszy.
It was dark in the room but that was no obstacle to Xia Lei. He saw Shentu Tian-Yin clearly with his left eye. Her sleeping posture was rxed and her beautiful legs were bent slightly, extending out from under her skirt. He also saw the ckce underwear higher up and the obvious outline of her mature shape. These were all tempting sights and he did not dare climb on the bed with her.
¡°Uh... I have to watch the door,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin pursed her lips. ¡°Which stage have you and Miss Liang reached?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
At that moment, Jin Da-Hu¡¯s voice came from the mini-headset. ¡°Mr Xia, someone¡¯s approaching.¡±
Almost at the same time, Jin Zhen-Huan, who was on the other end also said, ¡°Mr Xia, someone¡¯s here too.¡±
Xia Lei tensed up immediately. ¡°How many are there?¡±
¡°I have two here,¡± came Jin Da-Hu¡¯s voice.
¡°I have two here too,¡± said Jin Zhen-Huan.
Xia Lei was silent for a few seconds. ¡°How many can you take on?¡±
¡°Two.¡± Jin Da-Hu and Jin ZHen-Huan answered at almost the same time.
¡°Good, proceed with the n. Let them in,¡± said Xia Lei.
When the brothers said they could take on two, Xia Lei guessed immediately that the people who¡¯de were not ordinary people. Four killersing at once was also outside his calctions. However, the situation was now one where he had an arrow drawn on the bow and no other way out than to release it.
Shentu Tian-Yin could not lie on the bed any longer and she got to her feet to nervously feel her way to Xia Lei¡¯s side. ¡°There are four people. Can you guys take them on?¡± She had a mini-headset in her ear too and could hear the Jin brothers talking.
Xia Lei held onto her softness and pulled her to the bed, saying as he walked, ¡°Hide under the bed. Don¡¯te out whatever happens, got it?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin had no objections and she nodded, theny on the ground and crawled under the bed. She was just bait in the n, not a fighter; she had nobat power. She could be killed off with one move if she were exposed to the killers when the fighting began.
Xia Lei looked at the tabletputer in his hand after Shentu Tian-Yin hid herself. Four people had appeared on the screen - two in a group, three men, one woman. All four were wearing ck hoods but Xia Lei recognised the woman from her figure. She was the bomb-cing female assassin who¡¯d appeared on the pier.
Xia Lei turned to walk to the door and Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly grabbed his trouser-leg.
¡°What is it?¡± asked Xia Lei softly.
¡°Be careful.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin cautioned him, then let go of his trouser-leg.
¡°I know.¡± Xia Lei made a small sound of acknowledgement then went behind the door to stand with his back to the wall. When he was in position, he took out the tranquilizer gun and got one mecha glove out. He opened it and put it on his left hand.
At that moment, Jin Da-Hu¡¯s voice came from the headset, ¡°Mr Xia, the one man and one woman team has entered the vi. They have a key. The woman has a handgun and the man has a submachine gun. Both have silencers on.¡±
Jin Zhen-Huan also spoke. ¡°The other two men climbed the wall. They have grappling hooks and are using submachine weapons.¡±
Xia Lei could see all these clearly on the tabletputer. He¡¯d actually used his left eye to see through the wall and look directly at the killers climbing the wall when Jin Zhen-Huan was reporting it to him. The two killers were sturdily-built and dark-skinned, probably from the South Asian region. They grasped the rope and climbed up. They were not quick but they were steady and made no sound. There were also Uzi submachine guns on their backs with silencers on.
Xia Lei considered his options and made his decision. ¡°You take those two on the wall. I¡¯ll deal with the two who¡¯ve entered.¡±
¡°Roger.¡± Jin Da-Hu and Jin Zhen-Huan replied together.
Xia Lei switched off the tabletputer and the room lost its light source. However, he could see more clearly now. The female killer and her colleague used their key to enter the vi and went swiftly to the second floor to approach the door quietly. Outside the window, the other two killers had also climbed to the second floor window and were slowly retrieving the Uzi submachine guns from over their shoulders. They did not enter, however, and just waited.
Xia Lei knew what they were waiting for. Once the female killer broke through the door, they would break the windows and shoot to kill at all the targets in the room!
A pincer attack from inside and out - it seemed these four killers had a thorough n too.
Chapter 192 - All In One Net
In the room, Xia Lei stuck his back to the wall and was too afraid to draw a breath. His right hand holding the tranquiliser gun and left hand encased in the mecha glove were both sweaty.
Outside the door, the female killer and her colleague put on night-vision goggles.
The two killers outside the window also put on night-vision goggles and prepared to enter through the window. Unbeknownst to them, two people had silently drawn close to the walls of the vi while they were doing their preparations and pointed tranquiliser guns at their muscled buttocks.
The female killer took out a pre-prepared room card and inserted it into the card slot. The electric door lock made a small beep and the door was unlocked. Her colleague violently pushed the door open in that instant and charged into the room.
Tat-tat-tat! There was no hesitation - he pointed straight at the bed and fired madly.
The female killer came into the room a secondter, gun raised and looking for her target.
Xia Lei fired at the male killer¡¯s head and the tranquiliser dart hit him in his temple. He did not fall immediately but wobbled a little before copsing to the floor.
The female killer suddenly movedterally and her gun-holding hand went in Xia Lei¡¯s direction.
There was no room for Xia Lei to move backwards. He reached out his left hand and grabbed the female killer¡¯s gun, his palm covering its muzzle.
Pfffp! The gun fired but there was no damage to Xia Lei¡¯s hand - instead, the barrel had burst!
The female killer saw the silver mecha glove on Xia Lei¡¯s hand and a look of horror showed in her eyes. Her reactions were not slower, however, and before Xia Lei let go of her gun, she leaned back to kick the tranquilizer gun in his hand away. Her body continued in its backward movement and shended on steady feet afterpleting a somersault.
Her body was as flexible and nimble as an ape.
She nced at the window. Just then, two loud thuds of heavy things falling came from the window.
Xia Lei threw the ruined gun away and spoke calmly, ¡°No need to look. They¡¯re not going to be of help to you.¡±
The female killer suddenly twisted her body around and rushed towards the door.
Xia Lei intercepted her and cut off her escape route.
The female killer let out a snort and lifted her leg to retrieve abat knife. She waved it about, moving like a venomous snake, searching for a chance to stab Xia Lei to death.
Xia Lei put on a look of disdain and made a ¡®bring it on¡¯ gesture at her.
The female killer suddenly made the first move and her knife shed at Xia Lei¡¯s throat.
Xia Lei attacked with his left hand and grabbed at thebat knife. His left hand was encased in the titanium alloy glove which could even deflect bullets; he was not at all afraid of the knife in her hand.
ng! The sh of two metals colliding rang in the room. Sparks flew where the knife¡¯s de and mecha glove met.
Xia Lei caught the female killer¡¯s knife.
She let go and kicked at Xia Lei¡¯s crotch.
The earlier attack was just a feint - this was the real attack. She needed a quick way to break away and attacking Xia Lei in that area was the best choice. She only needed to dodge Xia Lei to escape through the door.
However, Xia Lei did not dodge. As her foot went between his legs, he lowered his legs and drew his knees inwards, trapping her leg.
The female killer was surprised and tried to retract her leg.
Xia Lei¡¯s gauntleted hand suddenly smashed down on her kneecap and there was a crunching sound. The female killer let out a cry of pain and fell to the floor.
Xia Lei kicked her in the stomach but she did not cry out this time; she curled up like a shrimp. Her kneecap had been crushed and her stomach seriously hurt - she had lost the power to fight.
After subduing the female killer, Xia Lei said, ¡°Tian-Yin, get the rope from under the bed.¡±
¡°Yes!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s heart had been in her throat the whole time and she only rxed when she heard Xia Lei speak.
Shentu Tian-Yin crawled out from under the bed with the rope Xia Lei had put in ce earlier. Xia Lei switched on the lights and the room was instantly lit. She then saw two people and two guns on the floor, one of the guns with an imploded barrel.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei. That well-proportioned figure, that handsome face - her heart skipped a beat. In that instant, she felt that Xia Lei was not Xia Lei but Jason Bourne from the movie ¡®The Bourne Identity¡¯ or Jason Statham from ¡®The Transporter¡¯. Xia Lei exuded a maleness which made female hearts flutter.
¡°Give me the rope.¡± Xia Lei reached his hand to Shentu Tian-Yin. He did not dare leave the female killer¡¯s side - this woman¡¯s knee was broken but there was no guarantee that she would not be a threat to Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin snapped back to her senses and hurriedly handed the rope to Xia Lei.
The female killer looked at Xia Lei coldly. He went to her back with the rope and she suddenly turned around to sweep at Xia Lei¡¯s ankle with one leg.
Xia Lei just lightly lifted his foot, then stomped down on her calf.
The female killer let out a groan, struggled for a bit, and then gave uppletely. She could tell that she would have no way of beating Xia Lei even if she had full use of her limbs, much less in a condition where one of her legs was unusable.
Xia Lei bound her hand and foot but felt like it was not secure enough, so he wound the rope around her calves and all the way up to her thighs. The female killer was trussed up like a rice dumpling.
¡°All right.¡± Xia Lei rxed only then. His hands trembled from the release of prolonged tension.
¡°¤³¤ÎÒ°ÀÉ!¡± said the woman.
It was Japanese - ¡®You bastard!¡¯
Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin were surprised by her outburst. They had not expected the killer Shentu Tian-Feng hired to be Japanese.
Xia Lei pulled off the ck hood over the Japanese woman¡¯s head and a pretty face was revealed. She did not look any different from a Chinese woman and Xia Lei would¡¯ve thought she was a Chinese woman if not for that sudden outburst of Japanese.
¡°A Japanese person?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly remembered something. ¡°That¡¯s right, Big Brother went to Japan for a period of time two years ago, saying he was going to inspect the electronics business there. He must have gotten to know this woman during his time there. It looks like he¡¯s been preparing to make his move against me for a long time.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t call him ¡®Big Brother¡¯ any more. He¡¯s not worthy,¡± said Xia Lei.
The Japanese woman spoke again in Japanese, ¡°So you already knew that we were going to assassinate you. Why did you stille to this ind?¡±
Xia Lei squatted by her head and looked down at her. ¡°You want to kill us and we came here for you to kill us - isn¡¯t this great for you? You guys just weren¡¯t smart enough about it.¡±
¡°Pah!¡± The woman opened her mouth and spat at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei moved his head and dodged but her salivanded on his leather shoe in a white clump with strings of blood. It stood out.
¡°Damn you! How dare you be so arrogant even at this time!¡± Before Xia Lei could react, Shentu Tian-Yin stormed forward and kicked the Japanese woman in the stomach.
The woman, however, did not even frown. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s little bit of strength was just a tickle to her.
Shentu Tian-Yin made to kick her again but Xia Lei caught her foot. ¡°Tian-Yin, leave matters like these to me. You¡¯re not suited for this.¡± He let go of her foot after he spoke.
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tian-Yinplied.
Just then, Jin Da-Hu¡¯s voice came from the headset again, ¡°Mr Xia, we¡¯ve brought the two men into the vi. Shall I bring them up?¡±
¡°Tie them up well and watch them. Don¡¯t bring them up for now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°And the other two?¡± asaked Jin Da-Hu.
Xia Lei looked back at the male killer he¡¯d knocked out with the tranquilliser gun and said, ¡°One of youe up and take the man down with you. Detain him. I will keep the woman for questioning.¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯lle up right away,¡± said Jin Da-Hu.
Jin Da-Hu came up quickly and entered the room to take the unconscious man downstairs. He said not a word during the whole process and just busied himself with his task.
Shentu Tian-Yin went to close the room door.
Xia Lei dragged the Japanese woman to her feet and threw her on the bed.
Seeing that Xia Lei was not going to beat her or drag her into the toilet or anything, she grew nervous when he threw her on the bed. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±
Xia Lei sneered and said in Japanese, ¡°You can speak Chinese, can¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± admitted the woman.
Xia Lei switched to Chinese. ¡°I know Shentu Tian-Feng sent you. He wants to kill me and Shentu Tian-Yin, right?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± The Japanese woman¡¯s Chinese was stilted but it did not hindermunication.
¡°How much is Shentu Tian-Feng paying you to make you work so hard for him?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Stop wasting time! Kill me if you have the guts!¡± she screamed at Xia Lei. She looked indignant.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. He was considering using torture on this woman. He probably would have started about now if Shentu Tian-Yin were not around but he did not want to look like a cruel, cold-hearted man in front of her.
Shentu Tian-Yin drew close too. ¡°Tell me how much Shentu Tian-Feng is giving you. I¡¯ll triple it.¡±
The Japanese woman red at Shentu Tian-Yin and gave her a look of disdain. ¡°It¡¯s professional etiquette. You think you can buy everything with money? We¡¯ve failed but someone else wille and keeping till you¡¯re dead. You¡¯re dead!¡±
¡°Five times.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin multiplied the number.
¡°Pah!¡± The woman responded to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s offer of money with her saliva.
¡°No need to waste your words, Tian-Yin. It¡¯s better if I do it... Um, you can go outside and wait for me if you don¡¯t want to see.¡± Xia Lei decided to use torture.
¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not afraid. I¡¯ll stay and help you.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked eager to give it a try.
Xia Lei looked at Shentu Tian-Yin in surprise, thenughed. ¡°Stay, then.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve gone through training to withstand serious pain. Use whatever methods you have,¡± sneered the woman.
Xia Lei smiled calmly, then took a deerskin case out of his suit. He opened it to reveal rows of silver needles.
¡°Hahaha...¡±ughed the Japanese woman as she said in ridicule, ¡°Are you Chinese men all sissies? Get me someone skilful. I don¡¯t want to watch you embroider flowers!¡±
Xia Lei plunged a needle into the Shanzhong acupressure point in the middle of the Japanese woman¡¯s chest.
Chapter 193 - Together Even In Death
The Shanzhong acupuncture point was for treatment of heart palpitations, respiratory stress, chest and abdomen pains, asthma and so on to do with the heart; it was fairly important. Xia Lei pierced the Japanese woman¡¯s Shanzhong point with a needle not to cure her, but to make her ill. As he inserted the needle, he sent internal energy down through the needle and the energy charged into her Shanzhong point like a wild beast, shaking and drawing chaos, creating sickness.
The reactions of the Japanese woman¡¯s body could be seen in an instant. Her heart rate quickened, then slowed; the beating of her heart became irregr. Her breaths came in short bursts and there was no blockage in her nose or respiratory passages but she felt like she could not breathe due to the disturbances in her muscles and nerves. She opened her mouth wide and tried to use her nose and mouth but it was no use no matter how much air she took in. She was like a carp which had been pulled ashore, flopping and about to die at any time.
However, this was not what hurt her most. The worst was the pain in her chest and abdomen. These parts felt like they were being stirred with a knife or like there were insects feasting upon her, breaking her down, and rotting. Every second felt like a struggle with death and was unbearable.
Xia Lei gently twirled the needle and increased the pressure on the Shanzhong point gradually.
The woman was covered in sweat in under two minutes. The earlier arrogance and viciousness in her eyes were reced by pain and fear. She had received training to withstand pain and was far better than the average person when it came to tolerating pain but Xia Lei¡¯s method was not something she could take. It was difficult to describe the pain ofing close to death at every second and her psychological strength was crumbling fast.
¡°This is just the beginning.¡± Xia Lei continued twirling the needle, increasing the pain for the Japanese woman and saying, ¡°You¡¯ve seen it. I have a whole lot of needles. I¡¯ve only used one on you - can you imagine what it would feel like if I used all the needles on you? You¡¯ll be better off dead.¡±
The woman already felt like she¡¯d be better off dead. Her lips trembled, ¡°You... Stop.¡±
Xia Lei rxed his hand. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±
This was a very simple question and it was also the beginning of the interrogation.
¡°Sawada Mei.¡± The Japanese woman said a name. The young man before her frightened her and she did not even want to recall the pain she had experienced earlier, much less repeat it.
¡°Sawada Mei, is it? Listen up, this is your only chance. You should thank your lucky stars that Tian-Yin and myself aren¡¯t injured - your prison sentence would be a few years at most. You can start your life anew after a few years. If you don¡¯t cooperate, however, I¡¯ll make you wish you were dead.¡± He pointed at Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°And she can make you rot in a Chinese prison for your entire life.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin supported him on the side, adding to the psychological attack, ¡°Work with us and you can get the money Shentu Tian-Feng has not paid yet. I can give you another amount so that you won¡¯t have to worry about retirement when you¡¯re out of prison. It is not worth it to sell your soul for a person like Shentu Tian-Feng.¡±
Freedom and wealth for the next half of her life awaited on one hand and losing everything awaited on the other. It was an easy decision to make, no matter who it was making it.
¡°You...¡± Sawada Mei was utterly broken. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±
¡°Tell us how Shentu Tian-Feng hired you to kill us and the details of your transactions,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin thought quickly and took out her mobile phone to switch on the recording function before Sawada Mei spilled the beans. There were cameras recording in the room but some things were not suitable to hand over to the police. It was enough to record the most important bits.
Sawada Mei did not answer Xia Lei right away but said, ¡°Shentu Tian-Feng has not paid me the final payment. He needs to pay five million for killing you two but he¡¯s only paid two million so far. I¡¯ll give you an ount number. Give me the money and I¡¯ll work with you.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not hesitate. ¡°He owes three million. I¡¯ll give you five million. Give me your ount details and I¡¯ll transfer the money right away.¡±
¡°You said you¡¯d pay me five times as much,¡± said Sawada Mei, ¡°But I¡¯m not greedy. Give me ten million and I¡¯ll do anything you want me to.¡±
Five times the amount was not realistic; Sawada Mei was no fool. Asking for too much would result in having nothing.
¡°Give me the ount number.¡± Problems which could be solved with money were not problems to Shentu Tian-Yin. It was just ten million - pocket change.
Sawada Mei gave her the details of a Swiss bank ount.
¡°Tian-Yin, transfer only five million to her first. Give her the other five million when things are settled,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sawada Mei made no sound to object.
Shentu Tian-Yin took just a few minutes toplete the transfer and held the message notification of the sessful transfer on her phone up to Sawada Mei¡¯s face to let her have a look at it.
Sawada Mei rxed when she saw the sessful transfer notification. ¡°Shentu Tian-Feng came to Japan two years ago. He was generous and got to know several members of the underworld. His aim was to find someone who would do things for him. He got to know me through a middleman and I epted arge deposit from him. The person he wanted killed was you. He told me to wait for him to contact me and kill you off when there¡¯s a chance. I ced a bomb at Far East Heavy Industries but that failed. Afterwards, he instructed me to stay in China to keep waiting for the next opportunity, till...¡±
Sawada Mei slowly recounted her story while Shentu Tian-Yin recorded it all down.
Sawada Mei finished her story and said, ¡°This is all between him and me. I thought I¡¯d seed this time. I didn¡¯t expect that...¡± She looked at Xia Lei. She would have seeded if it were not for him.
¡°Shentu Tian-Feng told you to make your move here. What will you do after the deed was done?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°He gave me a mobile phone - it¡¯s in my trousers. He told me to give him a call after I¡¯m done and he¡¯lle to this ind to take care of things,¡± said Sawada Mei.
¡°Call him,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°How can I call him when you¡¯ve trussed me up like this?¡±
Xia Lei undid the ropes around her body. When Sawada Mei took hold of her phone, Xia Lei said, ¡°Put it on speaker-mode. Tell him you¡¯ve done the deed and that he shoulde over. If he asks how you¡¯ve taken care of the bodies you can tell him that they¡¯re still in the hotel room. You fought with Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bodyguards during the operation and was discovered. You¡¯ve already escaped on a boat.¡±
¡°Won¡¯t he be suspicious?¡±
¡°He¡¯s full of suspicion and will be suspicious no matter what the result - but he will definitelye to this ind. He won¡¯t leave corpses behind; he must have some n to get rid of them,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sawada Mei nodded. She dialled the only number in the phone. That number was, unquestionably, from a burnable phone that would be thrown away after use so that the identity of the owner could not be traced.
Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s voice came quickly from the phone. ¡°How is it?¡±
¡°Shentu Tian-Yin is dead. Xia Lei too.¡± Sawada Mei looked at Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin as she said, ¡°But we encountered some problems. We exchanged fire with Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bodyguards and alerted the security on the ind. We were unable to retrieve Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei¡¯s corpses and they are still in the hotel room. We¡¯ve escaped by boat.¡±
¡°How can this happen?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng grew anxious, ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you that you must get rid of the corpses? This will draw trouble!¡±
¡°My apologies. You¡¯ll have to find some way to deal with it on your own,¡± said Sawada Mei, ¡°I¡¯ve killed the people - give me my money as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Bastard! You dare ask for money when things are like this?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng was mad, ¡°I don¡¯t care. Go back right now and take the bodies away!¡±
Sawada Mei was silent for a bit. ¡°The security men on the ind have guns. How about this - you think of a way to get the corpses off the ind. You¡¯re Shentu Tian Yin¡¯s Big Brother - it¡¯s totally within your rights to take her body with you. We can pretend to attack your boat when it¡¯s out at sea and get rid of the body.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng hung up.
Sawada Mei put down the phone. ¡°Will he reallye? I know him, he¡¯s very wiley.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something. He picked up the submachine gun from the floor and removed the silencer, then let out a burst of gunfire at the window. Gunfire and the shattering of ss broke the silence on the ind and rms sounded in the hotel. The sleeping guests were also startled awake and the entire hotel was in chaos.
Xia Lei took off the bulletproof vest,id his suit and shirt against it, and fired a few times at the clothing.
Shentu Tian-Yin was still frozen in ce, clueless as to why Xia Lei was doing such strange things.
¡°Take your clothes off, and your bulletproof vest too. Hurry,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not understand why Xia Lei wanted her to do that but she still obeyed.
Xia Lei fired at her clothing as well and said, ¡°Put them on - just the clothes, not the bulletproof vest.¡±
Shentu Tian-YIn did as told and hurriedly put her clothes on.
Xia Lei put his clothes on too and tuned in to the listening devices. Sure enough, there came the voice of Wang Fang talking to someone.
¡°Dead? Good! It¡¯ll all clear with those deaths... Gunshots? Yes, I just heard some gunshots and rms... What? The bodies haven¡¯t been taken care of? Damn it, those people are useless... All right, I¡¯ll take a look at the situation then I¡¯ll call you,¡± came Wang Fang¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei threw the empty clip in his hand to the floor and strode to the bed.
Sawada Mei grew nervous. ¡°I¡¯ve done as your told. What do you want...¡±
Xia Lei punched her in her Taiyang acupressure point and she fainted with a grunt.
¡°What did you knock her out for?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei uprehendingly.
¡°Wang Fang will be here soon. Our time is short - Sawada Mei and her colleague cannot be seen. I¡¯ll get Jin Da-Hu to take her and her colleague somewhere secret and we¡¯ll pretend to be dead here,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin then understood why Xia Lei had done all those strange things.
Jin Da-Hu had already entered the room without Xia Lei¡¯s instruction. He and his brother knew what was going on in the room too and the entire vi was under their surveince.
¡°Hide them well - they cannot be discovered,¡± cautioned Xia Lei.
¡°Rest assured, I know what to do.¡± He hefted Sawada Mei over his shoulder and left the room. He¡¯d also taken the bulletproof vests which Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin removed.
Just Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin were left in the room.
Shentu Tian-Yin took the initiative andy on the bed, her legs tense and her hands pressed lightly against her lower abdomen. ¡°Will this do?¡± she asked Xia Lei.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Can you die any more elegantly?¡±
¡°How should I die then?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was totally inexperienced and she did not want Xia Lei to see her make a fool of herself.
Xia Lei picked up thebat knife Sawada Mei dropped and cut himself on his lower arm. He then dripped his blood over Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face and body.
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin grew nervous.
Xia Leiy next to her and smeared some blood on his own face and body, then pulled Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s legs and hands apart to make her death look more realistic.
While he was arranging her death-posture however, Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly lifted a leg and draped it over his thigh.
¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously, his face covered with fresh blood.
¡°You¡¯re my fianc¨¦. We have to be holding each other even in death for this to be more realistic.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin spoke like an experienced person, then stuck herself close in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, putting her arms around his waist.
Did she have to make a fake-death so romantic?
Xia Lei did not know what he should say anymore.
Chapter 194 - The Flagpole In The Morgue
The first to arrive at the hotel room were the hotel security staff but they were stopped by Jin Zhen-Huan, who¡¯d stayed behind. They entered the room but Jin Zhen-Huan did not allow them to touch the ¡®corpses¡¯ of Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°I¡¯ve checked. They¡¯re dead,¡± said Jin Zhen-Huan to the hotel security staff.
¡°What happened?¡± asked one of the security staff.
¡°Some gunmen attacked us and killed them, then escaped. Call the police. The crime scene must not be touched,¡± said Jin Zhen-Huan.
¡°There¡¯s no need for a doctor?¡± asked one of the security staff.
¡°Have you seen their wounds?¡± said Jin Zhen-Huan.
The security staff looked at Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin on the ground. They were covered in fresh blood and bullet holes could be seen in their chests, right where their hearts were. Fatal wounds like these were impossible for gods to heal, much less for a doctor even if he came.
¡°Looks like they really are dead but we should still have a doctor confirm it,¡± said the leader of the security team. He used his walkie-talkie to call the main station to send a doctor over.
Wang Fang turned up before a doctor did.
¡°Who are you? You can¡¯t go in.¡± A member of the security staff stopped her.
Wang Fang spoke haughtily, ¡°I¡¯m... I¡¯m that woman¡¯s Second Aunt. She¡¯s my niece, so why can¡¯t I go in? What¡¯s happened to her?¡±
¡°She¡¯s dead,¡± said the security staff blocking her way.
Wang Fang suddenly dove under the security staff¡¯s armpit and into the room, quicklying to Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei¡¯s side.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yiny unmoving on the floor; blood was everywhere on their bodies and on the floor. There were also several bullet holes in their chests, each fatal. A faint sneer appeared in the corners of Wang Fang¡¯s lips at the sight but she still fake-cried on the surface. ¡°Tian-Yin! My Tian-Yin! Oh, how horribly you died... Whuuuh...¡± She cried as if she were heartbroken but not a single tear fell.
Seeing how sadly she cried, the security staff couldn¡¯t bear to drag her out.
Jin Zhen-Huan walked over and gripped Wang Fang by the arm, dragging her to the exit. ¡°You, out!¡±
¡°Who are you? How dare you treat me like this?¡± Wang Fang was angry the next instant, ¡°I am Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s Second Aunt! How dare you treat me like this!¡±
Jin Zhen-Huan spoke emotionlessly, ¡°This is a crime scene. Nobody should disturb it. Fu Chuan-Fu is on his way and he¡¯s instructed that we have to secure the crime scene and that nobody be allowed to touch the corpses.¡±
¡°Fu Chuan-Fu ising?¡± Wang Fang grew nervous.
Jin Zhen-Huan snorted. ¡°How could he not when something like this has happened?¡±
¡°I... I¡¯ll go see Grandfather. Don¡¯t let him know about this, no matter that. He won¡¯t be able to take it.¡± Wang Fang left in a hurry.
Once outside the vi, Wang Fang wasted no time in pulling out her mobile phone to make a call. ¡°Bring someone, quick. Fu Chuan-Fu ising too. The bodies will definitely be well-protected once hees! The people you hired are so useless... Okay, I won¡¯t talk about it anymore. Come quick - it¡¯s best to take the helicopter!¡±
At that moment, the manager of Tian-Ci Sanatorium hurried over with some medical staff.
Wang Fang hesitated but did not go over in the end. Instead, she made her way slowly to the wards at the bottom of the mountains. She had her own concerns since she¡¯d said that she would go take care of Shentu Wei-Ye - going back to the crime scene would arouse the suspicions of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bodyguard. Furthermore, she could be sure that she would not reveal something from happiness if she saw Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s dead bodies. Considering the trade-offs, she decided to give up on the idea of going back to have a look around the crime scene.
In the room, a doctor reached to feel Xia Lei¡¯s carotid artery and said, ¡°There¡¯s still a pulse. Send him to the hospital for emergency care, quick!¡±
There was no faking the pulse in the carotid artery. Breathing could be stopped but the heart still continued beating for the blood to circte within the body. They could make their death seem realistic but the farce could not continue in front of doctors.
Just as two nurses prepared to ce an oxygen mask over Xia Lei¡¯s face and that doctor reached to check Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s carotid artery, Xia Lei suddenly opened his eyes. ¡°Who¡¯s in charge here? I am an agent from the National Security Agency and I am working on a case. You have to assist me in apprehending the criminals.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin opened her eyes too. ¡°I am the chairwoman of Vientaine Group, Shentu Tian-Yin. I willpensate the losses your hospital has suffered tenfold.¡±
All jaws dropped and it was so silent one could hear a pin drop. The room filled with an atmosphere of strangeness.
This waspletely outside of their ns. There was no way to keep pretending when the hospital people arrived with medical staff unless they really were dead. Xia Lei was struck by a brainwave and spun some story about being an agent for the National Security Agency. Shentu Tian-Yin revealed herself too, trying to use her influence in Hai-Zhu City to sway the people.
It was enough for Shentu Tian-Yin to make herself known and Xia Lei did not actually need to say anything about being an agent. The manager of Tian-Ci Sanatorium held both hands out in wee and put a smile on his face once she revealed her identity. ¡°Miss Shentu! I do recognise you. Your father stayed with us for a period of time, but you may not remember me.¡±
¡°Of course I do, you are Dean Zhang,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°You still remember me; what an honour.¡± Dean Zhang looked delighted. ¡°How is your father?¡±
Xia Lei had been shunted to the side but he didn¡¯t mind.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin were carried out of the vi a few minutester. Theyy on the stretchers covered by the hotel¡¯s white sheets. The hotel¡¯s security staff carrying the stretchers headed for the hospital at the foot of the mountain with Dean Zhang and the medical staff in tow. Right at the back was Jin Zhen-Huan with all four of his pockets full of mobile phones.
These mobile phones belonged to the security staff and medical staff. After Dean Zhang had agreed to help them, they had still used the cover of a National Security Agency agent to get the staff to hand their mobile phones to Jin Zhen-Huan. They did not want either Shentu Tian-Feng or Shentu Yi to catch wind of this before they were caught.
The hospital dean did not ask for proof of identification for Xia Lei¡¯s supposed identity as an agent because Shentu Tian-Yin was present. The hospital was happy to fulfil all their requests. This was all due to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s status. If not for her status, the hospital would not have been so amodating and made him show proof of his identity.
While Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s ¡®corpses¡¯ were being transported down the mountain, Wang Fang had not stepped into the ward building yet. She had deliberately walked slowly and she stopped by the road when she saw the hotel security staff walk over, carrying stretchers with white hotel sheets.
¡°Dean Zhang, can my niece be saved?¡± Wang Fang recognised Dean Zhang.
Dean Zhang shook his head. ¡°No. How can one be saved from death? Please ept your loss. We¡¯ve tried our best.¡±
Wang Fang spoke again, ¡°Where are you bringing the bodies to?¡±
¡°To the morgue, of course, to await the takeover from the police medical coroner,¡± said Dean Zhang.
A faint sneer appeared on Wang Fang¡¯s lips and she suddenly wrinkled her mouth in a wail. ¡°Oh, my niece! Tian-Yin, whuuuh.... Uuh, whuuh, how could you be dead? Why? You can¡¯t be dead...¡±
Her wails rang out but there were still no tears.
The hotel security staff put the ¡®corpses¡¯ of Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin in the morgue and cleared everyone out, even Wang Fang, who was making a scene demanding to see Shentu Tian-Yin for thest time; all were chased out.
The world was silent once the doors to the morgue were shut.
Shentu Tian-Yin threw off the white sheets on her and reached to move the sheet off Xia Lei on the mortuary bed next to hers. ¡°When do you think Shentu Tian-Feng and Second Uncle will get here?¡± she asked quietly.
Xia Lei opened his eyes and looked at her. ¡°Madame, you¡¯re dead. Don¡¯t be naughty; lie down and keep pretending to be dead.¡±
¡°There isn¡¯t anyone else around and there aren¡¯t any cameras either. What does it matter if we talk for a bit?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin hugged her arms. ¡°The air-conditioning here¡¯s cold.¡±
Xia Lei only took notice of the cold when she talked about it. He then got up and said, ¡°I¡¯ll give you my jacket. I¡¯m not afraid of the cold.¡±
¡°How can dead people change clothes?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shentu Tian-Yin blinked. ¡°You might as welle over and lie down with me. There¡¯re two bed sheets - we can get warmer.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Forget it. Better if I move over; yours looks wider.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin climbed over as she spoke, pulling the sheet away from Xia Lei¡¯s body and burrowing inside.
What else could Xia Lei say? She¡¯d alreadye over - should he make her go back?
The two of them squeezed on one mortuary bed and the bed was suddenly fairly crowded. They could only fit by lying on their sides and this put them in a position where they were face-to-face, with barely a fist¡¯s width between their faces.
The temperature in the morgue was very low but a blush slowly appeared on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face.
Xia Lei did not move but how could he not have any reaction when in such intimate contact and him a young, vigorous male? Would Shentu Tian-Yin, in such close proximity, not know when his reaction became more and more obvious?
The reaction made Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face redder and she grew nervous. ¡°Wh, what are you thinking about?¡±
¡°I... nothing,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°Really nothing?¡±
¡°Really nothing.¡±
¡°You must be thinking something.¡±
¡°I really am not. If you¡¯re going to insist that I am, then tell me what it is.¡± Xia Lei yed dumb.
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face was red and she could not say what she thought. There were just some things which were embarrassing to even think about - how could she say them out loud?
The two of them were silent after that and just looked at each other. The cold air in the morgue blew but the two people lying together did not feel cold. They felt hot - the kind of hot which ice cubes could not cool.
Not long after, Jin Da-Hu¡¯s voice suddenly came from the receiver in Xia Lei¡¯s ear, ¡°Miss Shentu, Mr Xia, Shentu Tian-Feng¡¯s helicopter has arrived.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin hurriedly climbed out of Xia Lei¡¯s arms and back to her own mortuary bed. Sheid herself under the white sheets with a bright red face.
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh of relief. ¡®Good thing I held it in,¡¯ he thought to himself.
Shentu Tian-Yin flipped the sheets off her face at that moment and pointed at Xia Lei¡¯s lower body. ¡°Hey, the person not thinking anything - think of a way to hide that.¡±
Xia Lei looked down. He had tens of thousands of words to say but could say none.
Chapter 195 - Tian-Yins Tears
A helicopter descended on the helipad of Tian-Ci Sanatorium. Shentu Tian-Feng, Shentu Yi and two burly bodyguards jumped out of the helicopter and stepped quickly to the entrance of the building. The father-and-son duo could not help the expressions of excitement and glee on their faces but they were a little panicky too.
¡°Fu Chuan-Fu will soon be here; he¡¯sing by sea. We must get the bodies and take them away before he does,¡± said Shentu Yi.
Shentu Tian-Feng nodded. He turned back to the bodyguards following him and said, ¡°When we see the corpses of Shentu Tian-Yin and that punkter, you guys take them to the helicopter straightaway. Don¡¯t care about anything else.¡±
¡°Understood,¡± said the bodyguards in one voice.
Shentu Tian-Feng let out augh. ¡°The helicopter shall have a malfunction above the sea and the body of the chairperson of Vientaine Group, Shentu Tian-Yin will sink into the depths. Tomorrow¡¯s headlines will all be about this, won¡¯t it?¡±
Shentu Yi could not quell the excitement he felt. ¡°That bitch is finally dead. This is great! Vientaine Group is ours!¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng quickened his steps. ¡°Dad, the police will investigate for sure. Have you thought of how we¡¯ll handle this?¡±
Shentu Yi snorted. ¡°Investigate? I know nothing. Even if they suspect us, where¡¯s their evidence? They won¡¯t have corpses to investigate. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care of this. Besides, Grandfather is willing to sacrifice for the Shentu n too. Hang far back to observe and if it reaches that point, the old man will shoulder it all. Laws now make it so that an old man over 70 won¡¯t get the death penalty. That old fart is just going to be switching to a different home for the elderly.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Shentu Tian-Feng was too happy to hold back hisugh.
The Chinesews at that time indeed would not sentence an old man to death and his sentence would be lighter as well. With Shentu Wei-Ye acting as theirst ace, the price ofmitting the crime was negligible, plus, Vientaine Group would fall into his hands. How could he not be happy about something like this?
Before they got close to the morgue, Wang Fang came rushing over, supporting Shentu Wei-Ye. The four of them met in the corridor with eyes full of joy and excitement.
¡°That little bitch and that punk¡¯s corpses are in the morgue. I saw them myself - they were shot full of holes like a sieve and a tragic sight,¡± Wang Fang could not help saying.
¡°She deserved it.¡± Shentu Yi had not one ounce of pity.
Shentu Wei-Ye sighed. ¡°Stop talking about it. She was still of the blood of Shentu. She¡¯s gone now; leave her some dignity.¡±
Shentu Tian-Feng followed up with his own words. ¡°Mother, Father, stop discussing it. This is also not the ce to talk - the walls have ears. Let¡¯s go to the morgue and take a look.¡±
Four Shentus and two burly bodyguards quickly came to the door of the morgue.
Several people were at the door, including Jin Zhen-Huan.
¡°Who are you? What are you doing here?¡± asked one of the hotel security staff.
Shentu Yi was spoke aggressively, ¡°I am Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s Second Uncle. This is her grandfather! Get out of my way!¡±
The security staff did not dare stand in his way after hearing that they were Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s Second Uncle and grandfather; he stood aside.
Jin Zhen-Huan blocked the way.
¡°You too, out of the way!¡± said Shentu Yi angrily.
Jin Zhen-Huan said, ¡°Butler Fu has instructed that we have to wait for him before...¡±
Before he could finish, Shentu Yi interrupted, ¡°What dog-shit butler is this? I¡¯m firing him now! And you - you¡¯re fired too. Scram!¡±
Anything Jin Zhen-Huan had to say was unsaid as the two burly bodyguards grabbed him by the arms and shoved him aside savagely.
The medical staff led by Dean Zhang did not dare speak after witnessing that scene.
Shentu Yi pushed the morgue door open and Wang Fang and Shentu Tian-Feng followed, supporting Shentu Wei-Ye. The two bodyguards went in too and shut the door behind them.
Jin Zhen-Huan went to a corner and pulled out his phone to make a call...
In the morgue, two mortuary beds were ced in the centre of the room. Cold air blew, bringing with it an eerie feeling and bone-chilling cold.
The two mortuary beds were covered by white sheets and the bodies underneath could not be seen. However, the body shapes of a man and a woman were still clearly visible. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s breasts made big mounds in the sheets and were very obvious.
Wang Fang walked over and pulled the sheets off Shentu Tian-Yin, exposing her face and upper body. She then pulled at the sheets over Xia Lei, revealing his face and upper body.
There was blood everywhere on Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s bodies. The blood had dried up and be dark red. Both of them had several bullet holes in their chests and from the looks of the position of the bullet entry points, both had bullets in their lungs and hearts. Wounds like these made one believe that they were long-dead.
¡°Tian-Yin, why didn¡¯t you just hand over Vientaine Group? You¡¯re just a single woman and you¡¯d have to marry sooner orter. You should be staying at home to tend to husband and children.¡± Shentu Wei-Ye sighed and shook his head. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have ended up this way if you¡¯d just handed over Vientaine Group. Forget it, you¡¯re already gone. Grandfather doesn¡¯t want to say any more. I forgive you for the mistakes you made. Be at peace on your journey at life¡¯s end. Your Second Uncle will take good care of your father; you don¡¯t have to worry. Don¡¯t me your Second Uncle or Tian-Feng either. They did this for the good of our Shentu n.¡±
¡°You¡¯re so kind, Grandfather,¡± said Wang Fang.
Shentu Tian-Feng went to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s side, a faint sneer on his face. ¡°Tian-Yin, don¡¯t call your Big Brother vicious - you forced my hand. I didn¡¯t have anything to say to you but you¡¯re departed now so I should say my goodbyes as your Big Brother. Didn¡¯t you like the sea? Big Brother will fulfil your wish and let the sea be your final home.¡±
He gestured when he was done speaking. The bodyguards walked forward and covered Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei with the sheets again, then pushed the two mortuary beds towards the exit.
Shentu Yi opened the door.
Dean Zhang, who was watching the door, grew anxious. ¡°Where are you taking the corpses?¡±
¡°She is of the Shentu n and the fallen leaf must return home, so she is going home,¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye.
¡°This...¡± Dean Zhang looked troubled. ¡°She died here, and it¡¯s the middle of the night - the police haven¡¯t sent anyone over to investigate yet. How can you take the bodies away? How about this - wait for the police to do their investigations before you take them away tomorrow.¡±
¡°How does this concern you?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng red at Dean Zhang. ¡°I¡¯m taking my Little Sister home. The police cane investigate at my home! Get out of my way, all of you!¡±
Dean Zhang remained in the door and refused to budge.
Shentu Wei-Ye smashed at him with his crutches. ¡°You brat! Scram, or I¡¯ll bash my head on you!¡±
These words were most effective and there was no need for the bodyguards Shentu Tian-Feng had brought. Dean Zhang and the hospital staff stood aside.
¡°You take Tian-Yin back. Leave things here to me,¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Shentu Tian-Feng did not want to waste a single minute.
At that moment, a voice suddenly came from one of the mortuary beds. ¡°Where are you thinking of bringing me?¡±
¡°Who¡¯s talking?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng did not realise that the voice wasing from the mortuary bed.
The bodyguard pushing Xia Lei turned white and pointed at the mortuary bed in front of him. ¡°It, it¡¯s....¡±
¡°Are you stupid?¡± Shentu Tian-Feng said angrily, ¡°How can a corpse speak? Push it away, quick!¡±
At this moment, another voice came from under the white sheets. ¡°Young Master Tian-Feng, are you going to push me into the sea to feed the fishes? Oh, how cruel of you. Killing me wasn¡¯t enough - you have to feed me to the fishes too. I¡¯ll settle the score with you, even if I¡¯m in theherworld.¡±
The words were heard loud and clear by Shentu Tian-Feng. His handsome face drained of colour.
Shentu Yi and Wang Fang were also scared silly and they stood, stupefied and mute.
Shentu Wei-Ye was the bravest. He prodded at Xia Lei with one of his crutches to see if he was dead.
Xia Lei grabbed the crutch and sat up, flipping the sheet away. He stuck his tongue out at Shentu Wei-Ye.
¡°Ah-¡± Shentu Wei-Ye stumbled in fright and fell to the floor.
Xia Lei raised his other hand, revealing a mobile phone. The conversation between Shentu Tian-Feng, Shentu Yi, Shentu Wei-Ye and Wang Fang had been recorded.
Shentu Tian-Feng then realised something and his voice trembled, ¡°You, you... You¡¯re not dead!¡±
¡°It¡¯s not just me.¡± Xia Lei reached to flip the sheet off Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s body next to him.
Shentu Tian-Yiny quietly on the mortuary bed with tears dripping from the corners of her eyes and two glittering trails of tears down her cheeks. The four people of the Shentu n, including her grandfather, had not shed a single tear at their st goodbye¡¯ and not uttered a single word of apology. Instead, they had discussed how they would be rid of her body. How could she not cry with heartache at something like this?
Seeing Shentu Tian-Yin cry silently, Shentu Yi and Wang Fang seemed to have lost the bones in their bodies and both thumped to the floor like sacks of soft mud.
¡°Argh-¡± Shentu Tian-Feng suddenly let out a roar and lunged at Shentu Tian-Yin like a madman. He had lost all reason; he thought he would still have some hope if he finished off Shentu Tian-Yin.
Before he could touch Shentu Tian-Yin, Xia Lei jumped up from the mortuary bed and kicked him in the face.
Bam! Shentu Tian-Feng crashed to the ground, face-up. His nose was crooked and front teeth gone. However, he did not seem to feel the pain as he shouted, ¡°I won¡¯t lose! I won¡¯t lose! This is not real, this is not real...¡±
Shentu Wei-Ye crawled to his feet and went shakily to Shentu Tian-Yin. He suddenly swung his hand in a p aiming for Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin caught Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s hand and looked at him tearfully.
¡°You bitch! How could you set this sort of trap for me, and your Second Uncle¡¯s family!¡± said Shentu Wei-Ye angrily, ¡°How can I, Shentu Wei-Ye, have a granddaughter like you! Why didn¡¯t you die? Why?!¡±
¡°Grandfather,¡± Shentu Tian-Yin said quietly, ¡°This is myst time calling you ¡®Grandfather¡¯. I shall have no ¡®Grandfather¡¯ from now on. I do not have a cruel grandfather like you.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin tossed Shentu Wei-Ye¡¯s hand aside. She hopped down from the mortuary bed and walked to Xia Lei. She looked at him and paused, then suddenly flung herself in his arms, burrowed her head in his shoulder and let out loud sobs.
Xia Lei patted her gently on the back and said in gentle constion, ¡°Don¡¯t cry, don¡¯t cry... It¡¯s all over. Tomorrow will be better, believe me.¡±
Shentu Wei-Ye stood frozen on the spot. He seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.
Two helicopters came thundering down from the sky. One had the markings of the police while the other carried Fu Chuan-Fu and the brothers Pak Tai-Ji and Pak Can-Lie. All that remained was the simple matter of handing the criminals over to them and the police.
It was like a scene from a movie - the policeing to apprehend the already-subdued bad guys while the lead actor and lead actress hugged each other, then the movie ends with them having a passionate kiss...
The only thing missing was that passionate kiss; that deeply moving kiss.
Xia Lei did not do so, however, because he knew well that this was reality and not a movie. He would do it though, if the person in his arms was Liang Si-Yao. He could even...
Chapter 196 - Whos Prettier, Me Or Her?
The break of dawn brought light and warmth to the Earth, awakening the little ind and the sea with a bath of golden morning light. Some people weed the rays of morning while some others were plunged into a dark abyss on this sunny morning. Shentu Yi, Shentu Tian-Feng, Shentu Wei-Ye and Wang Fang were taken away by the police. There were material evidence and human testimony against them; the evidence was conclusive and what awaited them was the punishment of justice.
Xia Lei could finally rx after helping Shentu Tian-Yin solve her problem. There was no need to keep pretending to be her boyfriend or fianc¨¦ and he would not be hounded by Liang Si-Yao asking if he had held hands or kissed Shentu Tian-Yin, or anything like that.
The helicopter flew through the sky. Blue skies were overhead and blue sea at his feet - Xia Lei smiled and he felt great.
Shentu Tian-Yin, on the other hand, did not have a trace of a smile on her face. She watched the sea, deep in silent thought.
Xia Lei knew the reason for her dark mood and he said gently andfortingly, ¡°Tian-Yin, there won¡¯t be anyone to harm you in the future. Your father is awake too. These are all good things. Don¡¯t overthink it. Your Second Uncle¡¯s family, and you... It¡¯s not worth being so heartbroken.¡±
He did not mention Shentu Wei-Ye; he felt that Shentu Wei-Ye was not worthy to be her grandfather.
Shentu Tian-Yin forced a smile. ¡°You don¡¯t have tofort me - I¡¯m not as weak as you think I am. I won¡¯t be heartbroken over my Second Uncle¡¯s family and my grandfather. They are not family to me anymore. I¡¯m just... just... a little disappointed.¡±
Xia Lei patted her shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t think so much about it. Have a good bath and sleep when you¡¯re back. It¡¯ll all be okay when you wake up.¡±
¡°Some things cannot be solved by sleep.¡±
¡°What things?¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did notplete her sentence. ¡°Never mind. You won¡¯t understand. Please convey my thanks to Miss Liang.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What are you thanking her for?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve borrowed her boyfriend for so long - shouldn¡¯t I show my appreciation?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°That¡¯s true. She¡¯s a martial artist and a daughter of the world, if you¡¯d like to use an old saying. She¡¯s quite refreshing and sometimes she¡¯s like a boy...¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin seemed to not want to listen to chatter about Liang Si-Yao and cut Xia Lei short. ¡°Let me ask you something.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°Who¡¯s prettier, me or Liang Si-Yao?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked silently at Xia Lei, waiting for his answer.
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei said awkwardly, ¡°How can Ipare? Both of you are pretty.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled faintly. ¡°Fingers have different lengths and people are of different heights. There are no two people who are just as pretty. You say it - Liang Si-Yao and myself - we are definitely not the same kind of pretty. Who is prettier?¡±
Her questioncked a prefix. The whole question, prefix included, would be: In your heart, who is prettier, me or Liang Si-Yao?
Xia Lei, however, did not think so deeply and he felt like he was having a headache. ¡°Why must there be a difference?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin rolled her eyes at him. ¡°I¡¯m curious. Tell me. When did you be so wishy-washy?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and thought for a bit before he said, ¡°You¡¯re prettier.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled and her smile was as bright and beautiful as a hundred blooming flowers.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s looks were indeed prettier than Liang Si-Yao to Xia Lei but Liang Si-Yao¡¯s figure trumped Shentu Tian-Yin, especially her pair of long legs. Liang Si-Yao¡¯s legs would win even against Asia¡¯s number one leg model, Lin Zhi-Ling. Xia Lei cleverly did not speak of this precise answer. In his fairly scant experience, it was not a smart idea to say to the face of the girl he was talking to that another girl has a better figure than her.
As they chatted, the helicopternded. Some police cars were already waiting at the airport, along with several police officers and reporters who had heard the news.
Shentu Yi, Shentu Tian-Feng, Wang Fang and Shentu Wei-Ye were all taken off the helicopter. Only Shentu Wei-Ye was not handcuffed.
The group of reporters surrounded Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei once they got off the helicopter with their SLR cameras clicking away. Those holding microphones and recorders also shot quick questions at them.
¡°Miss Shentu, we got some information that an assassination attempt was made - can youment?¡± asked a reporter.
¡°Miss Shentu, I saw your Second Uncle and Shentu Tian-Feng in handcuffs. Does this mean people from the Shentu n wanted to assassinate you?¡±
¡°Miss Shentu, will this affect the hierarchy in Vientaine Group? Will you restructure the management of Vientaine Group?¡±
¡°Miss Shentu...¡±
The group of reporters did not seem to care about Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s answers and only about getting their questions out.
A few police officers came over to drive the reporters away but Shentu Tian-Yin signalled that there was no need. She faced the recorders and microphones being thrust in her face and said, ¡°I was indeed the target of assassination but the matter is closed. My boyfriend Xia Lei has caught the criminal.¡±
The reporters were ame with more questions after hearing her words.
A reporter fired a question, ¡°Miss Shentu, is your boyfriend this gentleman next to you?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled as she nodded. ¡°Yes.¡± She then grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand in front of all the reporters.
Xia Lei¡¯s headache intensified. He felt very much like plunging head-first into the sea instead of standing here fencing questions with Shentu Tian-Yin!
As the goddess of men¡¯s dreams, the news of him being her boyfriend was definitely going to be all over the news and even exaggerated. What would Liang Si-Yao think if she saw these articles?
¡°Mr Xia, can you tell us how you caught the criminal?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, how did you get to know Miss Shentu?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, how long have you and Miss Shentu been dating?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, when are you getting married?¡±
Xia Lei froze at the amount of questions being thrown at him and was at a loss as to what to say.
Shentu Tian-Yin, on the other hand, had a smile on her face and was happy to let the reporters take pictures.
At that moment, a male voice said, ¡°Would the chairperson of Vientaine Group date an unknown person? This isn¡¯t true, I know.¡±
The group of reporters looked back and suited bodyguards were already pushing reporters aside, opening up a path.
Xia Lei looked over and saw Gu Ke-Wu behind the group of reporters, and Dong Wu and Qin Qi behind him. Qin Qi was in sportswear as usual, while Dong Wu had his arms crossed with an ancient-looking sword in his arms. He looked like an elderly man out for his morning exercise.
For some inexplicable reason, Xia Lei felt like thanking Gu Ke-Wu for the words he said at this encounter.
Gu Ke-Wu held a bouquet of roses in his hands as he walked slowly to Shentu Tian-Yin. He put a charming smile on his face. ¡°Tian-Yin, I know your rtionship with Xia Lei is not real and that you were using him to draw out those who plotted against you. Why did you have to get Xia Lei to help you? You could have just told me about something like this - I could help you too.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
¡°I apologise. Please ept my sincerity.¡± Gu Ke-Wu held the roses in his hands to Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not move but looked coldly at Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°Isn¡¯t this the vice-chairman of North Group, Gu Ke-Wu? So that¡¯s what¡¯s going on - he¡¯s Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s boyfriend, isn¡¯t he?¡± said one of the reporters.
¡°That must be it. How could a person with an unknown background be the boyfriend of the chairperson of Vientaine Group? He won¡¯t even qualify to be a spare tyre; he¡¯s not suitable and hecks the right family background,¡± said another reporter.
Another reporter sighed, ¡°What sort of drama is this? The wealthy sure are chaotic. They¡¯re going to catch up to the entertainment industry soon.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin pulled Xia Lei with her.
Gu Ke-Wu did not block their way. His aim in appearing at that moment was simple - he wanted to let these reporters tell the outside world that Shentu Tian-Yin was his!
Xia Lei, however, stopped in front of Gu Ke-Wu. ¡°Gu Ke-Wu. My car.¡±
Gu Ke-Wuughed. ¡°Your car? Heh heh, I brought it for you - it¡¯s in the car park outside. No need to thank me, I just find your car an eyesore on my property.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin did not wait for Xia Lei to spar with Gu Ke-Wu with words and pulled him to the exit.
Dong Wu and Qin Qi blocked their way.
¡°When shall we settle our score, punk?¡± sneered Dong Wu.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Anytime. Oh, nice sword. Don¡¯t use it on people next time. Just keep it nice and pretty; it¡¯ll get damaged if you use it on people.¡±
¡°You-¡± Dong Wu was irate.
Qin Qi held Dong Wu back. He did not say anything to Xia Lei and just stared at him with an icy gaze.
Xia Lei had a feeling that Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s problems were not over. Her character, her assets - the men who wanted her were too many to count, and Gu Ke-Wu was just one of them.
Outside the airport, Xia Lei spotted his BMW M6 by the road. It wasn¡¯t a car anymore but a pile of scrap metal. There were hammer-marks all over the body of the car and the roof had caved in, bing almost parallel to the steering wheel. The bo was gone and the engine inside cracked. The four wheels were also misshapen. There was no fixing this car with this amount of damage.
Just then, Gu Ke-Wu walked out of the airport with his bodyguards around him. ¡°Xia Bro, you can tell the insurancepany that I ruined your car. They¡¯ll probably pay up because it¡¯s me, haha,¡± he crowed.
Insurancepanies wouldn¡¯tpensate man-made damages.
¡°You fucker!¡± Xia Lei red with anger and strode towards Gu Ke-Wu.
Shentu Tian-Yin hurriedly grabbed Xia Lei by the arm and hung on to stop him, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t. He¡¯s provoking you on purpose.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s impulsiveness was quelled by Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s words. If he initiated a fight, his opponent had two experts with him and his bodyguards too - he¡¯d have a whole lot of trouble no matter if he won or lost.
¡°Forget it. It¡¯s just a car. Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin walked towards the car park. Fu Chuan-Fu was already waiting there next to her Rolls Royce Phantom.
¡°Tian-Yin, let¡¯s have lunch together. I owe you an apology. Give me a chance to exin,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu loudly.
Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly turned around and stuck the middle finger up at Gu Ke-Wu.
Xia Lei was gobsmacked. Shentu Tian-Yin was an elegant ice-queen in his eyes but she actually made such a vulgar gesture - what¡¯s wrong with her?
Gu Ke-Wu justughed and watched Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin get in the car.
¡°Young Master Wu, I don¡¯t think you have a chance with Shentu Tian-Yin with this punk around,¡± said Qin Qi measuredly.
¡°So? You know what to do,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu evenly.
Qin Qi exchanged nces with Dong Wu, and both their gazes had the same look.
¡°An opportunity ising. I heard that that Xia Lei punk learnt his Wing Chun from Liang Zheng-Chun. He is Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s Last Disciple. The martial arts seminar is in about ten days - get me and Qin Qi an invitation letter and we can help you vent some of your anger,¡± said Dong Wu.
¡°You want to go after Liang Zheng-Chun?¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°That punk will probably be there too,¡± said Dong Wu.
Qin Qi sneered, ¡°Two birds with one stone.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu smiled. ¡°Easy. I¡¯ll get you two whatever you need.¡±
Chapter 197 - Relationship Confirmation
The living room was empty and quiet. Xia Lei shut the door behind himself. He went past the living room and looked into the kitchen - no one. As he walked towards the study, Liang Si-Yao came out of her room with a bath towel around her body. Her ck hair was wet and she was towelling her hair dry.
Xia Lei stared dumbly at her.
¡°You...¡± Liang Si-Yao gaped. ¡°When did youe back?¡±
¡°Just now,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Liang Si-Yao saw him holding his hands behind himself and smirked. ¡°What are you hiding behind you?¡±
Xia Lei brought his hands to his front and a bouquet of roses appeared like magic.
¡°Oh!¡± Liang Si-Yao let out a happy cry and ran to Xia Lei¡¯s side in a few steps with her long legs, not caring whether she had slippers on. She took the bouquet of roses and sniffed. This series of actions were all done in one go - no less from a Wing Chun descendant; she was nimble.
Xia Lei was d that a bouquet of fresh flowers could make her so happy. He hadn¡¯t thought of using flowers to appease his girlfriend till he saw Gu Ke-Wu try to give Shentu Tian-Yin flowers at the airport. That sight made him remember that he had never given Liang Si-Yao flowers.
Getting girls wasn¡¯t soplicated after all; he learnt quickly.
Having kissed him enough, Liang Si-Yao let go of him when she felt him getting handsy. She sniffed the roses again and took out a pink card from the bouquet. She read it out loud, ¡°To my dear Si-Yao, wishing you happiness every day. From the man who loves you, Lei.¡± She looked at Xia Lei, all smiles. ¡°Couldn¡¯t tell that you¡¯d write something so romantic. Don¡¯t you find it mushy?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face grew warm. ¡°I, uh... I asked the florist to write something.¡±
Liang Si-Yao pouted. ¡°You mean I¡¯m not your dearest?¡±
¡°Of course you are. That... I... The florist wrote down what I said.¡± Xia Lei did not know how else to exin himself. Liang Si-Yao had just one towel on her and the shapely lines of her body, coupled with her youthful allure made him rather nervous.
¡°What a good boy. Kissy-kiss!¡± Liang Si-Yao suddenly gave him a kiss.
Xia Lei was like a little patch of kindling and Liang Si-Yao the me consuming him.
The door to the t suddenly opened and Liang Zheng-Chun walked in with a big bag of groceries. He was promptly met with the sight of his daughter and his disciple in intimate contact, and his daughter with just a towel around herself at that. He quickly turned away and coughed awkwardly twice. ¡°Ahem, ahem.¡±
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao shot apart at almost the same instant. Liang Si-Yao reddened and said in shameful anger, ¡°Dad! Why didn¡¯t you knock?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun paused. ¡°I have keys and I¡¯m entering my own home. Why should I knock?¡±
Xia Lei quickly went to help with the groceries. ¡°I¡¯ll help, Master.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun red at Xia Lei. ¡°You two, I¡¯ve seen through you both a long time ago but you still kept it from me and didn¡¯t tell me.¡±
Xia Lei did not dare retort and just smiled sheepishly. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s problem was solved and he did not need to pretend to be her boyfriend any longer. He¡¯d decided to tell Liang Zheng-Chun about his rtionship with Liang Si-Yao that night but Liang Zheng-Chun had unexpectedly witnessed them being intimate. This actually also saved him the trouble of broaching the subject.
¡°Fine, I know about it already. Go burn some incense for your Master¡¯s wife. Tell her about it and the matter¡¯s settled.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun was a man who was not bothered by trifles.
¡°Yes, right away.¡± Xia Lei merrily went to the living room where there was a portrait of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s mother and a small table with a bronze incense burner on it.
Liang Zheng-Chun red at Liang Si-Yao while Xia Lei burnt some incense. ¡°What are you standing there for? Aren¡¯t you going to get dressed? You¡¯ve grown so big but don¡¯t know how to be shy.¡±
Liang Si-Yao did not go off. Instead, she raised her hand and pointed at Xia Lei, who had his back to them. ¡°I want to hear what he¡¯s saying to my mother,¡± she said softly.
Xia Lei held a lit incense stick and said quietly, ¡°Dear Master¡¯s wife, I like Si-Yao. I¡¯ll take good care of her, rest assured.¡± He inserted the stick into the bronze burner when he was done, then got to his knees on the praying mat before her portrait and kowtowed with his hands held in front of himself.
The words he said were simple but they were his style and his promise. Liang Si-Yao had a look of bliss on her face. She would have gone to light Xia Lei¡¯s fire again if Liang Zheng-Chun weren¡¯t there.
Liang Zheng-Chun smiled too. Xia Lei was a kind, honest, loveable and sincere person in his eyes and he was reassured that Xia Lei was with Liang Si-Yao. Xia Lei was one of the best ones out there be it looks or capability. How could he be dissatisfied with a future son-inw like this?
However, Liang Zheng-Chun just smiled, then put on a stern face. ¡°Go get changed! What is this appearance of yours, huh?¡±
Liang Si-Yao stuck her tongue out at him, then gleefully went back to her room to change.
Xia Lei got to his feet and brought the bag of groceries to the kitchen, saying as he went, ¡°I¡¯ll cook, Master.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chunughed. ¡°You¡¯re spoiling her. Let Si-Yao do it.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s the same no matter who does it,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Xia Lei entered the kitchen and Liang Zheng-Chun walked slowly to his wife¡¯s portrait. He lit an incense stick and said under his breath, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Xia Lei is a good man. Our child Si-Yao is lucky. You must be watching over her.¡±
After the meal, Liang Zheng-Chun called Xia Lei into the study. Master and disciple practiced Pushing Hands for a bit, then sat and chatted. Liang Si-Yao made two cups of tea and brought them over, then stood obediently behind Xia Lei.
¡°Lei, the martial arts seminar shall begin soon. Have you decided? Do you want to go with me?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun looked expectantly at Xia Lei.
¡°Where will this martial arts seminar be held?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Mount Emei,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Mount Emei is a famous mountain in Sichuan, isn¡¯t it?¡± Xia Lei had not been there before but he was familiar with it. He grinned, ¡°I remember reading martial arts novels and a lot of them had characters from Emei Factions.¡±
¡°There are still Emei Factions today, just not as exaggerated as in those novels. The Cultural Bureau is organising this martial arts seminar so it¡¯s not strange to have it on a famous mountain like Mount Emei. I¡¯d heard that they¡¯d nned to have it at the Shaolin temple in Lushan but some problem came up and so it was changed to Mount Emei.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll go with you, Master. Thepany has Si-Yao to run it anyway and there¡¯s nothing left for me to do.¡±
Liang Si-Yao pouted. ¡°I want to go too.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun red at Liang Si-Yao. ¡°What do you need to go for? Lei and I will be gone for just a few days. Can¡¯t bear to let him leave for a few days?¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s pretty face was all red but she did not retort - it was as if she¡¯d admitted to it.
¡°That¡¯s settled then, Lei. I¡¯ll put your name in the form. You¡¯ll get to broaden your horizons if you go,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Nn, there¡¯s still time. I can also put things in order at thepany in this time.¡±
Liang Si-Yao leaned on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You haven¡¯t given me those robot-gloves. You have them and Dad has them - what about me?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make them for you tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
Liang Zheng-Chun opened a cupboard in the study and took out the gloves Xia Lei had made for him, smiling as he said, ¡°These gauntlets are verypatible with us Wing Chun practitioners. This is also the best weapon I¡¯ve seen. I will definitely let it make an appearance at the martial arts seminar and let those people see it, haha.¡±
¡°Dad, what will you say if someone asks who made it?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao jokingly.
¡°Lei, of course.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun looked at Liang Si-Yao quizzically. What question was this?
¡°People won¡¯t know who Lei is. They¡¯ll definitely ask ¡®Who is Lei?¡¯ and ¡®How is this Lei rted to you?¡¯¡°
¡°I...¡± Liang Zheng-Chun was about to say ¡®disciple¡¯ but seeing Liang Si-Yao¡¯s wide eyes, he changed his words and said with augh, ¡°If someone really asks me, I¡¯ll say he¡¯s my son-inw. Haha.¡±
¡°Dad!¡± Liang Si-Yao changed her mind again. ¡°You can¡¯t wait to marry off your daughter? I didn¡¯t say that I¡¯d marry him! How did he be your son-inw?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun was speechless.
Xia Lei was embarrassed but this did not lessen his good mood. He felt that it was not a bad thing if he really did marry Liang Si-Yao and be Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s son-inw.
¡°I¡¯m going back to my room to sleep.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun didn¡¯t feel like chatting more with Liang Si-Yao and left after putting his gloves away. He didn¡¯t want to remain and be a third wheel.
Just Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao were left in the study. They had several topics earlier but they were silent after Liang Zheng-Chun left, looking at each other and keeping their hands to themselves.
A few minutester, Liang Si-Yao suddenly leaned in close to Xia Lei¡¯s neck and sniffed, then wrinkled her brows. ¡°You¡¯re sour with sweat. Go take a shower.¡±
¡°It¡¯s because it was hot when I was cooking. I¡¯ll shower before I sleep, it¡¯s too early now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Go to bed earlier. You have to go to work early in the morning. I¡¯m going back to my room.¡± Liang Si-Yao stood and left the room.
Xia Lei was a little disappointed. He¡¯d thought that Liang Si-Yao would stay in the study to talk a little more. He did not expect her to go back to her room so early to sleep.
Liang Si-Yao stopped in the doorway of the study and leaned against the door frame. She gave him a saucy wink.
¡°What¡¯s up?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously.
Liang Si-Yao turned and walked off without a word.
¡°What the heck...¡± mumbled Xia Lei to himself. He was bored after sitting there for a few minutes and took some medical books from the shelves before he left the room.
The lights in Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s room were off; it was the habit of his generation to go to bed early and rise early.
The lights in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s room were also off but Xia Lei found it strange. Why was she asleep so early? He didn¡¯t think further and opened the door to his own room.
¡°Hold on...¡± Xia Lei suddenly turned to look at the door to Liang Si-Yao¡¯s room.
There was a gap, and not just a regr gap - it was a gap which a person could fit into sideways.
The memory of Liang Si-Yao giving him a saucy wink as she left the study surfaced in his head. An excited smile spread across his face. ¡®So that¡¯s why she told me to take a shower... Am I stupid, or what? Why didn¡¯t I think of this!¡¯
Xia Lei threw the books in his hands into his room and shut the door. He tiptoed to Liang Si-Yao¡¯s door...
Chapter 198 - Be Safe
PICTURES IN THIS CHAPTER
It was dark in the room but this was no obstacle to Xia Lei. He saw Liang Si-Yao hiding under the covers in bed the instant he walked in. She was covering her face with the nket.
Xia Lei closed the room door gently and locked it.
He did this not to lock out burrs but to lock out her father, Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei quietly approached Liang Si-Yao¡¯s bed but did not know what to do when he got to her bedside.
¡°I...¡± He finally spoke one word.
Liang Si-Yao swiftly popped her head out and put on a startled act. ¡°Huh? Wh, Why are you in my room?¡±
She was unaware that Xia Lei could see her every movement clearly. Liang Si-Yao thought Xia Lei had the same visibility as she had and could not see the bed clearly. Xia Lei was tickled by her pretense but he held hisughter in. He pretended to be shocked too. ¡°Huh? This is your room? Oh no, I¡¯ve walked into the wrong room. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t do this deliberately.¡± He turned to leave after he spoke.
¡°Go. You go. If you go then you¡¯ll have to wait till our wedding night to touch me,¡± said Liang Si-Yao slowly.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Her words were like a paralysis spell and Xia Lei froze in ce.
The night was long and their touches of love lingered infinitely.
Liang Zheng-Chun woke the next morning to find Liang Si-Yao changed - she actually made breakfast. He found that she was like a whole new person, glowing and radiating happiness like she had met with several fortuitous events. He also quickly saw that the way Liang Si-Yao was walking was a little odd. She was notme, but not normal either.
¡°Si-Yao, what¡¯s wrong with your foot?¡± asked Liang Zheng-Chun worriedly.
Liang Si-Yao blushed mysteriously. ¡°N, Nothing. I slipped in the kitchen earlier due to carelessness. Maybe it¡¯s sprained.¡±
¡°Put some herbal liquor on it. The liquor I make is very effective for sprains, ¡° said Liang Zheng-Chun.
Liang Si-Yao quickly said, ¡°No need, it¡¯s fine, it¡¯ll be okay in a while. If my leg still has problems I¡¯ll ask Xia Lei to use acupuncture on me. He¡¯s really good at it.¡±
¡°Is Lei still asleep? Call him to wake up and eat breakfast,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Nn.¡± Liang Si-Yao limped towards her room.
Liang Zheng-Chun watched her suspiciously.
Liang Si-Yao remembered something when she opened the door andughed sheepishly. ¡°I¡¯ve gone to the wrong room.¡± She closed the door and turned to go to Xia Lei¡¯s room.
Liang Zheng-Chun smiled wryly and shook his head, seeming to have understood something. He was a little disappointed but happy.
Only men who had daughters would know how he felt.
Xia Lei was still snoring in his room; the previous night¡¯s activities had tired him out. He¡¯d probably be sleeping in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s bed till noon if he had not been chased out at five in the morning.
Liang Si-Yao patted Xia Lei¡¯s cheek and said gently, ¡°Rise and shine,zy pig. The sun¡¯s on your ass.¡±
Xia Lei opened his bleary eyes and said groggily, ¡°Let me sleep for a while more. Yawn... I¡¯m so sleepy.¡±
Liang Si-Yao frowned and reached to pinch Xia Lei¡¯s nose. ¡°Get up. Dad¡¯s waiting for you so that we can have breakfast together. It¡¯s going to be so embarrassing if he sees through us.¡±
Xia Lei climbed out of bed at that and found that he was aching all over and that his legs were wobbly.
Liang Si-Yao poked Xia Lei with a finger. ¡°You greedy man. It wasn¡¯t enough for you to go again and again, huh? Know what tiredness feels like now?¡±
Xia Lei grinned. He enveloped Liang Si-Yao in his arms. ¡°I can¡¯t get enough of you for my whole life.¡±
Liang Si-Yao was in bliss. She kissed Xia Lei on the cheek. ¡°Okay, okay, enough. Let¡¯s go out now. Dad is waiting.¡±
Xia Lei went to the dining room when he was done washing up and greeted Liang Zheng-Chun respectfully. ¡°Good morning, Master.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s eat. Send me to the martial school after breakfast,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei made a sound of agreement and buried his head in his breakfast, avoiding Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s gaze.
Liang Si-Yao continuously put food in his bowl. ¡°Eat more. It¡¯s tiring at work so you need more nourishment.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
After breakfast, the three of them went downstairs and Liang Si-Yao asked, ¡°Lei, where¡¯s your car?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, wondering if he should tell Liang Si-Yao and Liang Zheng-Chun that his car had been ruined by Gu Ke-Wu. They would worry if he told them but if he kept mum, he would be hiding things from Liang Si-Yao and he didn¡¯t want that. This was no small matter either.
At that moment, a brand new ck BMW M6 came in from the entrance of the neighbourhood and stopped before the three of them in an instant.
The door opened and Fu Chuan-Fu stepped out.
¡°Uncle Fu? This is...¡± Xia Lei had a suspicion.
Fu Chuan-Fu smiled. ¡°My apologies, Mr Xia. The car you lent me has met with an ident and cannot be repaired. I¡¯m returning you a new car.¡±
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei was gobsmacked.
¡°Your car was new too, so it is only right that I give you a new one. The paperwork has been processed and the keys are in the car. Please ept it,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
Before Xia Lei could speak, Liang Si-Yao jumped in and said, ¡°Thank you for the hard work, Uncle Fu. We¡¯ll take the car.¡±
A housekeeper was a housekeeper - of course he had topensate her Lei for damaging his car! It was a car which cost over two million yuan!
Since Liang Si-Yao had epted it, Xia Lei did not feel it appropriate to reject it and said, ¡°Then, thank you.¡± He knew that the car must¡¯ve been sent by Shentu Tian-Yin. The clever woman had even thought up an excuse for Fu Chuan-Fu.
Fu Chuan-Fu bowed deeply to Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao hurriedly helped him up and said in surprise, ¡°What are you doing, Uncle Fu?¡±
¡°This is a show of Mdy¡¯s appreciation. She instructed me to convey her thanks,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. What¡¯s she thanking me for?¡± said Liang Si-Yao awkwardly.
¡°I don¡¯t know about that. You can ask her the next time you meet. All right, I¡¯ve finished what I came here to do. Goodbye,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
¡°I¡¯ll send you off,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No need. Jin Da-Hu is waiting for me outside. He¡¯s driving,¡± said Fu Chuan-Fu.
¡°Have a good day then, Uncle Fu,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fu Chuan-Fu gave him a wave and strode towards the exit.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and decided to tell them. ¡°My car was actually destroyed by Gu Ke-Wu.¡±
Liang Si-Yao paused, then giggled. ¡°I knew it couldn¡¯t be like that. Even so, it¡¯s only right that you ept the car she¡¯s given you. Your car wouldn¡¯t have been destroyed if it weren¡¯t for her, right?¡±
Xia Lei felt more at ease for having said the truth. Liang Si-Yao and Liang Zheng-Chun were both good people and he did not want to hide anything from them nor lie to Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Is the problem serious?¡± asked Liang Zheng-Chun worriedly.
¡°It¡¯s fine, Master, don¡¯t worry. The problem has been solved,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Mm, it¡¯s good that it¡¯s solved. Let¡¯s go - we have to open up.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun did not pursue the matter.
¡°Drive the car and try it out. You can get it changed at a 4S shop if there¡¯re problems,¡± said Liang Si-Yao. She drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said softly, ¡°I know why she wants to thank me - it¡¯s because she borrowed my boyfriend. Good that she admits it, but she¡¯s only borrowing you that one time. No more lending.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A short whileter, the brand new BMW M6 stopped in front of the martial school and Liang Zheng-Chun alighted. He walked two steps forward and turned back to say with a deeply meaningful tone, ¡°Be safe, you two.¡±
¡°Yes, Master. You be careful too.¡± Xia Lei was all warm inside.
Liang Zheng-Chun walked off after saying that one line.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face was red and she froze for a while before she reached to pinch Xia Lei on his thigh. ¡°My dad knows! It¡¯s all your fault!¡±
¡°He knows? What? What are you ming me for?¡± said Xia Lei uprehendingly.
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear him? He said to be safe. Be safe! We didn¡¯t use condomsst night!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You¡¯ve got to steal some boxes from our supermarket when we get to thepany.¡±
¡°Steal some boxes?¡±
¡°You¡¯re the boss. Won¡¯t all the supermarket employees know if you buy condoms? And if the supermarket employees know, the entire factory would know. Go steal from the warehouse, they¡¯re yours anyway.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 199 - Counterattack Of The Persimmon
¡°Chairman Xia, this is the new employee name list. Please take a look.¡± Du Bai, the head of Human Resources handed a list to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei flipped through a few pages and skipped right to the end to look at the final number. He was shocked. ¡°Five hundred and eight people?¡±
¡°This is all because of your strategy, Chairman Xia. The employees rmended ourpany to their old ssmates and friends and they were attracted by the offer. The new employees also rmended more people and we have a lot more employees now as a result,¡± said Du Bai respectfully.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°What strategy? It¡¯s because ourpany has a good welfare package and good career prospects. Go on, back to work. With more new employees, you have to take good care of them and arrange things well. Let the old hands guide them. They have to be independent when the new workshop is finished.¡±
¡°Yes, Chairman Xia, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be on my way.¡± Du Bai left with the file in hand. On his way out was Liang Si-Yao, who was buried in documents. ¡°You look busy, Miss Liang.¡±
Liang Si-Yao lifted her head and smiled, ¡°Go on, go on.¡±
She seemed to be on the same page as Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao abandoned her desk and ran over to Xia Lei when Du Bai was out the door.
Xia Lei put his arms around her waist and said with a smile, ¡°Why isn¡¯t the workday over yet?¡±
¡°You want to get off work when you¡¯ve just started the day?¡±
¡°Yep. I want to go home with you.¡±
A blush appeared on Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cheeks. ¡°You made me... I can¡¯t walk properly and I don¡¯t dare to walk out of the office now. You want more? You¡¯re so greedy.¡±
Xia Lei rubbed her plump buttocks with his palms. ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re so enticing,¡± he said softly.
His roaming hands and soft, sweet words made Liang Si-Yao weak. She enjoyed some intimacy with Xia Lei before suddenly remembering something. ¡°Go, go quick!¡±
¡°Go where?¡± asked Xia Lei uprehendingly.
¡°Go get the condoms.¡± Liang Si-Yao bit Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°Steal them from the warehouse, or I won¡¯t go back home with you. I¡¯ll sleep in the dormitories.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The boss of Thunder Horse Manufacturing going to his own supermarket to steal condoms? Ridiculous. Something like this was embarrassing just thinking about it, much less actually doing it. Xia Lei, however, still went in the end. He had no defence against Liang Si-Yao¡¯s wheedling.
It was going well - Xia Lei was the boss of thepany so the warehouse manager could not stop him from entering to inspect the safety of the warehouse, could he?
Xia Lei went past the warehouse manager and quickly found what he was looking for. He stuffed his shirt and trouser pockets full of boxes.
The warehouse manager saw Xia Lei¡¯s bulging pockets when he came out of the warehouse and was full of suspicion but he said not a word. The entire supermarket belonged to Chairman Xia after all, so why couldn¡¯t he take something from the warehouse?
Xia Lei pretended to be all business-like. ¡°Uh, some cartons of milk are blocking the fire extinguisher. Go sort that out - it¡¯s a fire hazard.¡±
¡°Right away, sir.¡± So he did find something. The warehouse manager did not dare dally and went into the warehouse to take care of it.
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh of relief. ¡®Lucky thing I was not discovered. It would¡¯ve been so embarrassing if I was.¡¯
¡°What are you doing here, Lei?¡± came a reedy voice from behind him.
Xia Lei turned to see Qin Xiang. He had his lips painted red, a ton of eyeshadow on and was wearing female clothing. He was eye-catching and unique. Xia Lei had a headache at the sight of him. ¡°Um, I had some free time so I came over to check the safety of the warehouse.¡±
Qin Xiang sashayed to Xia Lei. ¡°Is Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s matter resolved?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°It is. The killers have been caught and the criminals too. It should be fine now.¡±
¡°Sounds like it really is settled. You still have to be careful of the Gu n though. Gu Ke-Wu is not a good man,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei patted Qin Xiang on the shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll be careful, thanks.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°Oh, right, I want to take a look around the workshops too. You go about your duties. I¡¯m off.¡±
¡°What a hard worker. Go on. Come visit me in my office when you have time,¡± said Qin Xiang with a smile.
Xia Lei turned and made his escape.
¡°Lei.¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s voice came from behind him again. ¡°You dropped something.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei turned to look and saw a Durex box in Qin Xiang¡¯s hand. Xia Lei froze as if he¡¯d been struck by lightning and turned to stone.
Qin Xiang walked over, pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s pocket and inserted the Durex box into it. ¡°You¡¯re using this with Miss Liang, eh?¡± he said with a smile.
Xia Lei smiled sheepishly.
¡°I knew it.¡± Qin Xiang gave him a charming smile. ¡°Let me know when you run out and I¡¯ll send more over. Youe to steal condoms with that level of skill? Heh heh, have you forgotten what I do? The warehouse has cameras too, you know.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Seriously,e have a chat in my office when you have time. I¡¯ll teach you how to steal,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°One more skill will make things easier.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated. ¡°I¡¯ll learn from you tomorrow, but you can¡¯t tell anyone that I came here to... take condoms.¡±
Qin Xiang chortled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±
Xia Lei went to his personal workshop after leaving the supermarket warehouse, pondering over what Qin Xiang suggested. ¡®Learning the skill of thievery? Well, it has advantages and I also have another identity... Qin Xiang¡¯s methods will be useful for my other identity. Whatever, he¡¯s willing to teach so it doesn¡¯t matter if I learn a little.¡¯
His other identity as a consultant for Bureau 101 meant that Long Bing could pop up in front of him at any moment and invite him to helpplete some mission or another. He might end up using the skills Qin Xiang taught him. Learning how to steal was advantageous if he looked at it from this perspective.
¡°Chairman Xia.¡± Yin Hao came over from the office building and greeted Xia Lei from afar. He had arge stack of documents in his hands.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks. ¡°What¡¯s up, Yin Hao?¡±
Yin Hao walked to Xia Lei. ¡°Chairman Xia, our research and development department haspleted several ns recently. We¡¯d discussed this with Miss Liang beforehand and she likes them too but she says that these matters should be decided by you. Please take a look; this are the ns we¡¯vepleted.¡±
It was true that Xia Lei had to personally decide on which new products to manufacture.
Xia Lei took the document Yin Hao handed to him and flipped through it.
The employees of the R&D department had worked hard. There were five ns and each and every one of them was an innovative product.
¡°Chairman Xia, these ns were made ording to the vision you had forpany expansion. They are closely tailored to the daily needs of the general popce and small products which make life more convenient for everyone.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face was full of praise. ¡°Mm, this foldable exercise equipment is not bad. There are many fatties these days. This exercise equipment you¡¯ve designed can be folded up and carried by one hand; it¡¯s good for people who usually sit at work. The other ns are not suitable as yet. Settle this exercise equipment first. Send the ns to the workshops when you¡¯ve polished up the drawings and let them try to make a few.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Yin Hao was still rather happy that Xia Lei had approved one out of five of his ns.
¡°Hold on.¡± Xia Lei called Yin Hao to a stop.
¡°Is there anything else, Chairman Xia?¡± Yin Hao looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and decided. ¡°I have an idea. I¡¯d like you guys in R&D to work on it.¡±
¡°What idea?¡± Yin Hao was intrigued. Xia Lei was like a celebrity idol to those who had graduated from vocational schools. Xia Lei¡¯s idea must be something that¡¯s out of the ordinary!
¡°My idea is an automatic skateboard. There is no product like this on the market yet. The patent is ours if we can make it and only we will be able to sell it on the market. It¡¯ll be a hot item if we do it well,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Automatic skateboard? Automatic skateboard...¡± Yin Hao seemed to be envisioning the specifications and functions of the product. He could not stop the smile of excitement on his face. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of it? It¡¯s true - there isn¡¯t any product like this on the market. It¡¯s apletely new, novel product. It¡¯ll be popr among the youths for sure if we manufacture it!¡±
¡°Tell only Han Bo about this. Don¡¯t reveal it to others. I¡¯m handing this matter to you and Han Bo. Come look for me if you have any difficulties and I¡¯ll finish up the design with you two,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°There will be no problems at all if you¡¯re participating too, Chairman Xia. I¡¯ll go look for Han Bo now.¡± Yin Hao could not wait to start discussing the n with Han Bo.
¡°Go on, go on.¡± Xia Lei was delighted too.
This was a sudden thought which had popped up mysteriously when Yin Hao handed him the ns. This idea could not be called an inspiration though, as it was a reference to the automatic surfboard by Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company. He had made the decision swiftly because of this and, in small part, some measure of revenge.
Gu Ke-Wen had snatched away Liu Ying¡¯s patent with underhanded methods back then. After Gu Ke-Wen seized ownership of Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company, the automatic surfboard had sold very well overseas and made a fortune. Liu Ying, who should have been the recipient of this fortune, was forced to go to Australia with her child to live in a strange ce. Xia Lei had kept in contact with Liu Ying and though they chatted only about normal everyday things and children, Xia Lei could sense her pain every time they spoke. He felt injustice on her behalf and wanted to do something for her.
Xia Lei did not know what he could do for Liu Ying before because he had limited power but it was different now. He had his ownpany, Thunder Horse Manufacturing, and his status as a consultant for Bureau 101. He had umted the power to help Liu Ying get herpany back. Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen had also dropped all pretense with him and were very much not on his side. They would not kindly let his pass either if he did nothing, so why not make the first move and give them a nip?
Thepany Gu Ke-Wen controlled manufactured automatic surfboards which were aimed for use on the sea and onkes. The product he was designing was simr but it was to be used onnd.
The whole set of design ns for the automatic surfboard were still stored in his left eye, including the number of parts needed and so on. He just needed to add four wheels to that automatic surfboard and he could take it to get patented! He let Yin Hao and Han Bo into the picture not because he wanted them to divide the work of designing a product like this among themselves but because he wanted them to get practice. What could be confirmed was that he alone couldplete 90% of an automatic skateboard like this!
¡°Destroy my car? And you want my hamstrings cut too? Does he think I¡¯m a soft persimmon he can pinch?¡± A faint sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°We¡¯ll see. You have to pay the price for all that you¡¯ve done.¡±
Xia Lei became a human-shaped machine when he walked into the workshop. He was going to make a set of mecha gloves for Liang Si-Yao and also draw out the design for the automatic surfboard for modification in order to change it to his own automatic skateboard.
Chapter 200 - New Product And New Opportunity
One weekter.
Xia Lei exited his workshop with a cardboard box in his arms. The box was taped shut and no one could see what was in it.
¡°What are you holding, Chairman Xia? Need help?¡± asked workshop director Liu Xue-Bing, who had juste out of the office building.
¡°It¡¯s nothing. Go about your duties; I can bring this up on my own,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be going to the workshop then.¡± Liu Xue-Bing walked towards the workshop and stopped two stepster. ¡°Chairman Xia, the exercise equipment that Yin Hao and the other designed has no orders. Should we keep producing them?¡±
¡°No need. Wait for the current stock to be sold out and make more when we get orders,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right. We¡¯ll make other products then.¡± Liu Xue-Bing went off towards the workshops.
Xia Lei grinned. What did he care about the exercise equipment when he had the thing in the box? He had a feeling that the thing in the box would sell like hot cakes once it got on the market!
Xia Lei walked into the office which he shared with Liang Si-Yao with the box in his arms. Liang Si-Yao was kneeling on the ground spray-painting the mecha gloves he had given her. She was spraying red paint and the gloves had turned an especially bright shade of red.
Xia Lei could not helpughing. ¡°Si-Yao, what did you paint them red for?¡±
Liang Si-Yao raised her head to give Xia Lei a look and a pouting smile. ¡°It¡¯s pretty. Look, it¡¯s much nicer now.¡±
Xia Lei took a close look at the gloves on the newspaper and nodded. ¡°Oh, it does look nicer than the original silvery colour,¡± he said.
¡°You think it looks good too? Looks like we share the same aesthetic sense, heh heh.¡± Liang Si-Yaoughed happily, ¡°Mm, that¡¯s why I painted yours too.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei froze.
He was only trying to please her when he said her red-painted gloves looked nice - he hadn¡¯t expected that she would have painted his gloves too!
¡°They¡¯re under your desk. Take a look - you¡¯ll love it,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei quickly set down the box in his hands and ran to his desk. His mecha gloves were on the floor under his desk, covered by newspapers. The newspapers were stained ck - Liang Si-Yao had spray-painted his gloves into a ck mess of a thing.
This girl!
Xia Lei looked at his gloves and didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. He wanted to scold Liang Si-Yao but couldn¡¯t bear to. They had been glued together like a fish needs water this past week and the condoms he¡¯d taken from the warehouse were fast depleting. How could he bear to scold her when they were in such a loving stage of their rtionship?
¡°Done.¡± Liang Si-Yao put down the spray-gun and walked towards Xia Lei, all smiles. ¡°What do you think?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Lucky thing you didn¡¯t paint my gloves green.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s cherry lips turned up in a small pout. ¡°You mean it doesn¡¯t look good?¡±
¡°Red matches ck. It looks good. ck has an advantage too because it won¡¯t be easily discovered when I wear it at night.¡± What Xia Lei said went against his conscience but he was getting it on with Liang Si-Yao, so how could hein?
¡°You¡¯re the best.¡± Liang Si-Yao hugged Xia Lei from behind, then drew close to his ear and said softly, ¡°I¡¯ll give you an extra helping tonight, Darling.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s legs went a little weak from conditioning at hearing the words ¡®extra helping¡¯.
Liang Si-Yao released Xia Lei after a little bit of hanky panky. ¡°What¡¯s in that box?¡± she asked curiously.
¡°It¡¯s that product I told you about. I¡¯vepleted it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°The automatic skateboard?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Take a look.¡±
He had done it himself and not let the workshops work on such an important product; he¡¯d spent several days toplete it. It was now time to test it.
Liang Si-Yao cut the tape on the box with a paper cutter and eagerly took out the item within. It looked entirely like a fatter skateboard, much thicker than a standard skateboard since it had electrical circuits and a battery installed. Other than the thickness, the wheels were also bigger than those of a normal skateboard but looked sturdier and more flexible. However, the most unique feature of the skateboard was the lights installed on the edges. It was easy to imagine how trendy it would look even without the lights on.
¡°So pretty!¡± Liang Si-Yao put the automatic skateboard on the floor and stood on it. However, the skateboard did not move and she could not see any on-off switch. ¡°How do I turn it on?¡± she asked curiously.
¡°Just skate a little and it¡¯ll move. Be careful, don¡¯t fall,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I was a champ at this when I was a kid.¡± Liang Si-Yao got on and did a gentle slide forward. The skateboard went into automatic mode and rolled forward, bringing her along with it. The lights along its edges lit up on their own and the blue LED shed, making it look like a band of light along the ground; it was very eye-catching.
Liang Si-Yao rolled around in several circles on the empty spaces in the office and said a little disappointedly, ¡°Can it go faster?¡±
¡°The starting speed is only 10 km/h. Kick off the ground with more force and it¡¯ll go faster, but be careful - there¡¯s not a lot of space here.¡±
Liang Si-Yao, however, did not listen to Xia Lei¡¯s words of caution. She kicked hard to make the skateboard go faster and it sped up. She skated two circles around the office and suddenly stepped on the back of the skateboard. The skateboard went flying, along with Liang Si-Yao. It flipped in the air andnded squarely and steadily on the floor.
Xia Lei smiled. His worry was unfounded. Liang Si-Yao was a descendant of Wing Chun after all; she had quick reflexes and she was a good skateboarder as a child too.
Liang Si-Yao came to a stop and said excitedly, ¡°It¡¯s thicker than a standard skateboard but not much heavier. It doesn¡¯t affect the movement or flexibility either. It¡¯s so trendy and pretty too! It¡¯ll surely sell well. Let¡¯s go apply for the patent now. I have a feeling that this will really make our Thunder Horse Manufacturing soar to greatness!¡±
Thunder Horse Manufacturing used to process parts for otherpanies and it was not much profit no matter how much work they put into it. Their earnings were quite average if Xia Lei¡¯s profit from his work for China Industrial Group was not taken into ount. It was not realistic for Thunder Horse Manufacturing to grow like this and the base reason for it was that it had no hot-seller item that belonged uniquely to it. With this automatic skateboard, Thunder Horse Manufacturing had an undeniable shot at bing great!
¡°I¡¯ll go apply for the patent and you arrange something with BYD Company to get the batteries from them. Their battery technology is very good,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll go right now. We should make it the best if we¡¯re going to do it. We¡¯ll also want to enter foreign markets and that¡¯ll be impossible without quality.¡± Liang Si-Yao went off.
Xia Lei gave Long Bing a call after Liang Si-Yao went off.
¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡±
¡°Answering your phone call,¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice, ¡°What is it?¡±
She hadn¡¯t changed one bit. Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll get to the point. I have a very good product and I¡¯d like you to help me get the patent for it.¡±
¡°Just send me the information,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°I¡¯ll send it to you in a bit. Thanks.¡± Xia Lei let out a breath. This matter was considered done with her helping.
¡°No need to thank me. I need your help with something too,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Let¡¯s not be so formal. Just tell me what you want me to do,¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she spoke, ¡°Help me modify a sniper rifle. The uracy of the locally-made ones are too low.¡±
¡°Modify a sniper rifle?¡± Xia Lei was surprised, ¡°I¡¯ve never done it before. You sure?¡±
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°If you can¡¯t then nobody can. I¡¯ll borrow two imported sniper rifles from some sources and you can just follow those. The least you have to do is to make it of the same standard as the foreign rifles. Best is if you can make it better.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll give it a go.¡± Xia Lei forced himself to agree and casually asked, ¡°Will you be using it or is it for someone else?¡±
¡°It¡¯s for me, of course. I¡¯ll get Ke Jie to deliver the required materials to you. Keep your phone lines open. He will contact you. That¡¯s it. I¡¯m hanging up.¡± Long Bing hung up.
No wonder Long Bing agreed to help him without questioning him - she had a request for him too.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
¡°So quickly?¡± Xia Lei thought it was Ke Jie but he looked at the screen and found that it was Mayor Hu Hou calling instead. He unlocked his phone and answered. ¡°Hello Mayor Hu, this is Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Hello,¡± said Hu Hou politely.
¡°What are you calling me for, Mayor Hu?¡±
¡°Do you have some time now?¡±
¡°Um... Yes.¡±
¡°Thene to my office for a bit. I have something I¡¯d like to discuss with you and it¡¯s not convenient to talk about it over the phone,¡± said Hu Hou.
¡°All right, I¡¯lle over right away,¡± said Xia Lei.
It was a call from the mayor - Xia Lei had to go, no matter how busy he was.
Xia Lei notified Liang Si-Yao and drove to the city government building. He came to Hu Hou¡¯s office to find several people already in it. What surprised him was running into the person who called him ¡®Bro¡¯ - Zhang Sen.
Zhang Sen smiled as he walked over to Xia Lei to shake his hand when he saw him walk in, saying warmly, ¡°Bro, I was just talking with Mayor Hu about you. He¡¯s full of praise for you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled too as he said, ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t speak ill of me, Big Bro Sen.¡±
¡°Who dares speak ill of you? Speaking ill of you is like speaking ill of me - I won¡¯t let him off.¡± Zhang Sen looked like he would be true to his words.
Hu Hou interrupted their conversation. ¡°Zhang Sen, let¡¯s catch up againter. I have some things I¡¯d like to speak with Xia Lei about.¡±
¡°Sure, we¡¯ll go to the conference room first and wait for you there,¡± said Zhang Sen.
Hu Hou only spoke after Zhang Sen and the other people had left the room. ¡°Xia Lei, have you considered what I¡¯d suggestedst time and made your decision?¡±
¡°Are you talking about getting listed, Mayor Hu?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯ve considered it but I have no ns to get listed right now.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Getting listed would mean I¡¯d have the problems like financing, cash flow and expansion. Mypany¡¯s small and it has no problems with cash flow. Plus, mypany doesn¡¯t have the power to expand yet, and it doesn¡¯t need capital to expand. It¡¯s disadvantageous to get listed in this situation,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hu Hou smiled. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve given it much thought. All right, let¡¯s talk about getting listed another time. I asked you toe over today because I want you to participate in the Expo that our Hai-Zhu City is holding.¡±
¡°Expo?¡± Xia Lei had not expected something like this.
¡°Yes, it¡¯s Hai-Zhu City¡¯s first exposition catering to the whole nation. We have not announced this news yet but there already has been severalpanies which have got wind of it via private means. They¡¯ve sent their people over to get more information and to sign up. I have to give the local Hai-Zhupanies priority for something good like this, of course. Oh, right, does yourpany have any product that can be shown off? Come participate if you have - this is a great opportunity for you to market your product andpany culture.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Of course I have. When is this Expo going to be held?¡±
¡°One weekter.¡±
Xia Lei counted the days. This was going to be just after he returned from apanying Liang Zheng-Chun to the martial arts seminar, and noter. ¡°Yes, ourpany will participate. We won¡¯t let you down, Mayor Hu.¡±
Hu Houughed. ¡°Hoho, looks like you have a card up your sleeve. Come on, let¡¯s go to the conference room. I¡¯ll talk about the specifics there.¡±
Chapter 201 - Pride of the Mayor
There were more people in the conference room. Xia Lei saw Shentu Tian-Yin right away when he walked in, and the one he didn¡¯t want to see most, Gu Ke-Wen.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Gu Ke-Wen spotted Xia Lei too and their reactions werepletely different. Gu Ke-Wen looked at him with hate and disgust while Shentu Tian-Yin stood and waved at Xia Lei.
¡°Here, there¡¯s a seat here.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s words were friendly and she had a bright smile on her face.
Xia Lei responded with a smile and walked towards her. He didn¡¯t know why but he felt close and familiar with her; he felt like chatting and getting some updates about Shentu Ren¡¯s condition.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Xia Lei?¡± whispered a business owner, ¡°There was a media report a few days ago saying he¡¯s Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s boyfriend - is it true?¡±
¡°It should be. Look! Isn¡¯t Shentu Tian-Yin greeting him right now? She¡¯s smiling so familiarly - have either of us seen her smile before?¡± said another business owner.
¡°Every dog has his day indeed. A little-known punk actually managed to get the Vientaine Group ice queen?¡± A young director of apany was ufortable with that idea.
¡°Who knows? Maybe he¡¯s good at ¡®that¡¯. No one can do anything if the ice queen of Vientaine Group likes it,¡± said someone.
¡°This punk is really lucky to get Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s favour. He¡¯ll marry into wealth,¡± someone said.
The room was full of discussion and what some of them said did not matter - it was just gossip and spection. Some young heirs and future business owners were full of jealous hate and what they said was not pleasant to hear. The men all thought this way - they would have been fine with it if Xia Lei was richer or outranked them socially but every one of them felt like he was better than Xia Lei. Why had they not gained the favour of Shentu Tian-Yin? It was like sticking a flower on cow dung to these people.
Xia Lei was not deaf; he could hear them with all that discussion going on. He felt ufortable but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. He couldn¡¯t punch all those people discussing him, could he? If he did that, then he¡¯d have to hit most of the people in the conference room.
The best way to deal with it was take it calmly. Xia Lei pretended to not have heard and walked to Shentu Tian-Yin. She personally pulled a chair out for him and invited him to sit.
¡°What have you been busy with the past few days?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked a little displeased, ¡°You didn¡¯t even give me a call.¡±
Xia Lei did want to call her but he¡¯d been worried that Liang Si-Yao would be jealous so he kept himself from calling. He¡¯d also guessed that Shentu Tian-Yin would ask him this question but he did not have a good answer. He just smiled. ¡°I was working on a new product. I did want to give you a call, but...¡±
¡°Miss Liang has you on a short leash, huh?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Leiughed sheepishly and changed the topic. ¡°Oh, right, how is Uncle?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smirked faintly. ¡°He¡¯s doing well. He can hold down some thin gruel now but he¡¯s still very weak. He can¡¯t get out of bed and can¡¯t speak.¡±
¡°How long is he conscious per day?¡±
¡°He¡¯s quite awake. Sometimes it¡¯s five hours, sometimes even more - up to eight hours.¡± A smile appeared on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face at that. ¡°I yed the movies he used to like for him recently. He¡¯s in good mental health.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. Don¡¯t be too anxious; take it slowly. He needs some time to recover.¡± Xia Lei was reassured.
¡°You should pay him a visit. He must want to meet you,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°I¡¯m afraid that that will have to wait. I have to apany my Master to Mount Emei for the martial arts seminar,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin let out a disappointed sigh and didn¡¯t say more.
Xia Lei also felt like his interactions with Shentu Tian-Yin were now rather awkward and there was a little bit of loss and mncholy mixed in with it. However, there was no way he could be in a rtionship with Liang Si-Yao where they were stuck together like glue and also y secret games with Shentu Tian-Yin. He was not that sort of person and could not do something like two-timing. Liang Si-Yao and Shentu Tian-Yin were also not magnanimous enough to ept each other¡¯s existence.
The mostplicated and iprehensible thing in the human realm was, undeniably, feelings.
Hu Hou said a few lines of introduction and went straight to the main topic. He talked about the requirements for the exposition sign-up, how to get a booth, and so on. At the end, he called out Gu Ke-Wen by name to invite her onstage.
¡°There are many businesses in our Hai-Zhu City but not many have managed to go beyond the Chinese market and be influential at the same time. Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company, however, is one such example,¡± said Hu Hou, ¡°Their automatic surfboard sold well in the American and European markets, bringing glory to us in Hai-Zhu and our nation. Let me now wee the chairwoman of Nice Moves, Miss Gu Ke-Wen, to say a few words. Our entrepreneurs should also learn from her experience.¡±
Apuse rang throughout the room.
Only Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin did not p in that conference room.
Gu Ke-Wen spoke with assurance into the microphone, ¡°I¡¯ll just say a few simple words. The world economy is integrated these days and we who do business cannot always focus on the domestic market. We should look into making products which are suitable for foreign markets. We have our advantage of our human resources so if products are matched up with this, we will seed. Nice Moves seeded because of this reason. We just researched the product which would most suit the European and American markets...¡±
The young directors ofpanies which worked with Gu Ke-Wen went along with her speech and pped at every appropriate opportunity, helping Gu Ke-Wen keep her mask of pride while adding to the atmosphere in the conference room.
Gu Ke-Wen was notcking in suitors either.
Shentu Tian-Yin had no interest in listening further. She touched Xia Lei¡¯s thigh with the back of her hand.
Xia Lei lowered his voice, ¡°What is it?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin also lowered her voice, ¡°I know how she got her hands on Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company. She can be considered a talent for being such an upfront robber. Really, Mayor Hu, why let her make a speech at an event like this? I¡¯m disgusted by that pretence of hers.¡±
Xia Lei thought of Liu Ying and sighed. ¡°The world¡¯s never been fair. You have to fight for fairness yourself. She¡¯s done so many bad deeds - she¡¯ll have her retribution sooner orter.¡±
Just then, an employee brought in an automatic surfboard and ced it on the table in front of Gu Ke-Wen.
Gu Ke-Wen smiled. ¡°Nice Moves will represent our Hai-Zhu Citypanies at the Expo with our automatic surfboard. It has already made a name for itself in foreign markets but is rtively unknown locally. I sincerely thank Mayor Hu for giving us the opportunity to show this product to the domestic market. We are also confident that we will be able to enter the local markets. I also hope that Mayor Hu will arrange for us to have a good spot at the Expo, yes, Mayor Hu?¡±
¡°Of course!¡± said someone in support, ¡°Mayor Hu, you must give Miss Gu a prominent spot.¡±
Hu Houughed. ¡°Of course I will, please rest assured, Miss Gu. The best booth should go to thepany with the product which can best represent the innovative vision of Hai-Zhu City.¡±
¡°Thank you, Mayor Hu.¡± Gu Ke-Wen smiled gaily and she nced at Xia Lei, then added, ¡°Oh, right, Mayor Hu, is apany that processes parts for others going to be participating in this Expo too? Is he going to disy the parts he processed for other people or screws or something?¡±
She did not name names but many knew that she was referring to Xia Lei. Some reporter had dug up Xia Lei¡¯s background for a gossipy article on his rtionship with Shentu Tian-Yin, including his educational background and his past hard life working at construction sites, and published it for all to see. Who didn¡¯t know about Xia Lei in Hai-Zhu City now? His fame, however, was ill fame. The sour grapes mocked him and made him the butt of their jokes.
¡°Gu Ke-Wen!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin stood.
Xia Lei pulled her by the hand and back to her seat.
Gu Ke-Wen did not back down and said mockingly, ¡°I didn¡¯t say any names, Big Sister Tian-Yin, are you so sure of who I¡¯m talking about? As a woman myself, let me warn you that some men are only after your money. He can do anything for your money. He used to do hardbour just to survive so what won¡¯t he do now?¡±
There was scatteredughter in the conference room and the peopleughing were those who were on good terms with Gu Ke-Wen.
Shentu Tian-Yin made tosh back at her but Xia Lei held her back and stood up. ¡°Gu Ke-Wen, I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re talking about me. Would I fall if you shot ten thousand words at me? You can¡¯t hurt a hair on my head.¡±
¡°What thick skin!¡± scoffed Gu Ke-Wen, ¡°Mayor Hu, I won¡¯t say anything about otherpanies but how could you include Thunder Horse Manufacturing? It¡¯s a small, screw-processing workshop. If Thunder Horse Manufacturing is participating then Nice Moves will not participate!¡±
Only Gu Ke-Wen would go screaming straight to Hu Hou like this!
¡°Miss Gu, this...¡± Hu Hou struggled to keep his calm. The Gu n was huge and he did not want to step on any toes but he was ufortable with Gu Ke-Wen throwing dirt on his face like this in public.
¡°Mayor Hu, this is for the sake of our Hai-Zhu Citypanies¡¯ pride. How can a small business with no decent product participate in an Expo like this? Isn¡¯t this throwing soot on the Hai-Zhu Citypanies? If he disys some screws in his booth... Haha... If the media reports this, people from other regions would think that we in Hai-Zhu City are poor and backward,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Hu Hou¡¯s face darkened. He had invited Xia Lei and had always held him in high regard so of course he hoped that Xia Lei would participate in the Expo. Gu Ke-Wen cornering him like this and saying things which seemed logical troubled him.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Gu Ke-Wen, you dare talk to Mayor Hu like this when you¡¯re a robber? You really think that your Gu n is number one in the universe?¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Gu Ke-Wen raised a finger at Xia Lei. ¡°Who are you calling a robber?¡±
Xia Lei took no heed of Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s threat. He raised his voice, ¡°I believe many of you here know that Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company belonged to Madam Liu Ying. This Gu Ke-Wen used her son to threaten her and coerce her into selling thepany to her. This automatic surfboard you see was developed by Liu Ying¡¯ste husband, and has now be Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s. Tell me, what is this if it¡¯s not robbery?¡±
The conference room was quiet immediately and the atmosphere changed.
Many of the people present actually knew about Nice Moves and the automatic surfboard but had not dared to speak of it.
Xia Lei, however, did not care and poked the hos¡¯ nest.
Gu Ke-Wen turned pale with anger and her gaze filled with utmost hate.
Hu Houughed. ¡°I say, what¡¯s going on with you two? Please resolve your conflicts privatelyter. This is a government conference room.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen let out a snort. ¡°Mayor Hu, I¡¯m going to say just this. It¡¯s him or me. If you let him participate in the Expo, we, Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company will withdraw. All other Gu npanies will also withdraw.¡±
¡°It will be no issue if the Gu npanies withdraw, Mayor Hu. Our Shentupanies will take their spots,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°You...¡± Gu Ke-Wen was so angry she could not speak. Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei were obviously not ordinary opponents and she clearly could not treat Shentu Tian-Yin the same way she had treated Xia Lei.
¡°Um...¡± Hu Hou hesitated.
¡°Rest assured, Mayor Hu. I¡¯ll bring out a most excellent product for the Expo to rece Nice Moves. I can guarantee you that this product will not disappoint,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You sure?¡± Hu Hou looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°When have I not kept my promise, Mayor Hu?¡±
Hu Hou nodded, then looked at Gu Ke-Wen. ¡°You¡¯re not participating, right? Then don¡¯t participate.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen froze.
Chapter 202 - Guns And Soap
The patent was approved on the day itself with Long Bing¡¯s help.
She was quick and her subordinate was quick too. Ke Jie knocked on the door of the Liang household when Xia Lei, Liang Si-Yao and Liang Zheng-Chun were done having dinner.
¡°And you are?¡± Liang Si-Yao did not recognise Ke Jie. She saw him holding a long stic toolbox in his hands and couldn¡¯t help feeling wary.
Ke Jie cast a look into the doorway.
Xia Lei spotted him and said, ¡°Let him in, Si-Yao. He¡¯s Ke Jie. He came looking for me.¡±
¡°Pleasee in.¡± Liang Si-Yao gave him a smile and invited him in at Xia Lei¡¯s words.
Ke Jie did not say anything and his face was expressionless. He walked in and put the long stic box at Xia Lei¡¯s feet and said, ¡°The items you¡¯ve requested are in there. Contact her when you¡¯re done. She will collect.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll finish it as quickly as I can,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao walked to Xia Lei¡¯s side and smiled. ¡°Please have a seat, Mr Ke. I¡¯ll make tea.¡±
¡°No need, thanks. Goodbye,¡± said Ke Jie.
Liang Si-Yao was speechless.
Ke Jie wasted no more words than necessary and walked out the door, closing it behind himself.
Liang Si-Yao paused for a bit before saying, ¡°What sort of human was that? Weird.¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice, ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you before but he¡¯s Long Bing¡¯s subordinate. He and Long Bing work for the government. Very special work.¡±
¡°What work?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Um, did you watch ¡®The Bourne Identity¡¯?¡±
¡°Yes, I like that movie. What does that have to do with it?¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei leaned in to her ear, ¡°It¡¯s work like that. Get it now?¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s jaw dropped.
¡°Okay, now you know. Don¡¯t talk about it,¡± cautioned Xia Lei.
He¡¯d signed a confidentiality agreement and could not reveal the secret of Bureau 101 but he had just given an example - this was not a breach.
Liang Si-Yao nodded. ¡°I know. Some things cannot be said.¡± After a pause, she seemed to suddenly think of something and said, ¡°I¡¯m guessing here, but they wouldn¡¯t have let you tell anyone. You could¡¯ve not told me, so why did you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You¡¯re my woman, not anyone else.¡±
Liang Si-Yao twittered, wrapped herself in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace and gave him a smacking kiss on the lips.
Xia Lei had his considerations too when giving her such a hint. He would not be doing less for Bureau 101 in the future. Liang Si-Yao was his woman and was sure to live with him, so it was best if he gave her a clue early on so that she would be mentally prepared. Take the current situation, for example. He was very sure that the stic box contained a sniper rifle and parts. Wouldn¡¯t Liang Si-Yao, who did not know anything, be shocked if she saw him modifying a sniper rifle?
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s heart was bursting with happiness, but she did not go further than their kiss. Her father, Liang Zheng-Chun was home too and could walk through the door of the study at any moment. It would not do if they were seen. She let go of Xia Lei and moved her attention to the stic box. ¡°What¡¯s inside?¡±
¡°Long Bing asked me to modify a gun for her. I haven¡¯t opened to look yet but it should be a gun,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Let me open and see.¡± Liang Si-Yao bent to open the box.
In the box was a brand new sniper rifle and some rifle parts, like the barrel, butt, trigger and a manual.
¡°Wow! This looks cool!¡± Liang Si-Yao was a martial artist and had a strong interest in weapons. She eagerly took the sniper rifle out of the box and turned it over in her hands.
Xia Lei picked up the manual and started reading. The manual was in English but this did not affect his understanding.
The sniper rifle Long Bing had sent was an AS50. It was designed for American special forces by a famous AIpany; thepany designed anti-terrorist weapons and long-range sniper rifles. It was the highest performing sniper rifle in the world with an effective range of up to 1500 metres. Its RPM was high too at five 12.7mm rounds per 1.5 seconds. China currently could not manufacture a sniper rifle like this and even if a copy was made, it would only look the same and perform very differently. At present, Chinese forces used imported rifles when they went abroad for militarypetitions because the locally made guns were impossible to win with. This was, undeniably, a great sorrow for the nation.
Xia Lei scanned through the manual and memorised all the drawings and parameters, as well as the principles. He looked at the gun parts in the stic box; they were obviously taken from one or several locally-made sniper rifles and they weren¡¯t numbered.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and thought gloomily to himself, ¡®She just gave me these things and expects me to modify it to be even better than the AS50? She sure is good at finding tasks for me to do.¡¯
He bemoaned the trouble it brought but was actually quite confident. He could build even Josef¡¯s intelligentthe so modifying a sniper rifle was obviously not more difficult. He just needed to do some research, some trial and error and he¡¯d be more or less there.
Liang Si-Yao picked up the gun parts in the box and moved them around, trying to fit all those parts together to make aplete sniper rifle but she couldn¡¯t seem to make it work.
¡°Let¡¯s go back to the room. It won¡¯t be good if Master sees these - he¡¯ll worry,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn.¡± Liang Si-Yao put the parts in her hands back into the stic box, then carried it into her room.
Xia Lei turned to look back at the still-lit study, hesitating.
Liang Si-Yao suddenly popped out and dragged him into her room.
¡°Master¡¯s not asleep yet. It¡¯ll be bad if he finds me in your room,¡± said Xia Lei nervously.
Liang Si-Yao was not perturbed. ¡°He knows everything anyway. He even nagged us to be safe, so what are you embarrassed about? I want to be together with you for the world to see from today on.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart warmed. ¡°Mm, as you wish.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go take a shower. Go y with your gun on your own first and I¡¯lle join youter,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°What gun do you want to y with?¡± asked Xia Lei with a yful smile.
¡°A big gun,¡± said Liang Si-Yao. She then realised what she¡¯d said and her face turned red. She gave Xia Lei a light punch. ¡°You bad guy! I meant the gun in the box. You thought it was your big gun? Shameless. I¡¯m ignoring you. I¡¯m going to shower now - no peeking.¡±
She said all that but treated Xia Lei like air and undressed right in front of him before walking off towards the bathroom naked. She obviously saw him watching her quietly but she said nothing.
She was such an adorable, carefree woman.
Xia Lei watched her disappear into the bathroom before he looked away. He put his messy thoughts in order and picked up the AS50 sniper rifle to examine it. He was looking at not just the outside structure of the gun but the insides as well.
After a while, he thought to himself, ¡®This is not thatplicated. uracy, structure and materials decide if the attributes of a gun can be improved. uracy is not a problem for me and I can follow the sample for the structure. I just need to process the parts Long Bing sent me and then process the parts Ick, then test theplete product when I¡¯ve put all the parts together. I should be able to get something with better results than this AS50 sniper rifle.¡¯
The AS50 was known as the best sniper rifle in the world but Xia Lei had the capability and confidence to challenge that - he was going to make a counterfeit sniper rifle with better performance than the AS50!
At that moment, the frosted ss door to the bathroom opened abruptly and Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice came in a sing-song, ¡°Lei, my soap dropped on the floor. Help me pick it up.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Hurry, bubbles got into my eyes. I can¡¯t see,¡± prodded Liang Si-Yao. Her voice was soft and sweet and full of teasing.
Xia Lei was no longer in any mood to research guns. He got up and walked to the bathroom.
Water vapour hung in the air in the small space, blurring out everything yet making it more beautiful and mysterious at the same time.
Xia Lei was all business-like. ¡°Where¡¯s the soap?¡±
Liang Si-Yao looked Xia Lei in the eyes and reached a hand out to take the soap from its container. She threw it on the floor.
Xia Lei was speechless.
A single-person shower be a two-person shower and it all started when Xia Lei bent over in front of Liang Si-Yao to pick up the soap. He¡¯d spent half an hour picking up soap but the bar of soap was still on the floor, untouched.
In the study, Liang Zheng-Chun received a phone call.
¡°Master Liang, the martial arts seminar will be brought forward by two days. I¡¯m just calling to inform you,¡± said an employee of the seminar.
¡°Brought forward? Doesn¡¯t that mean that I¡¯ll have to go over tomorrow?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun was concerned by the suddenness of it.
¡°We don¡¯t want it either but we¡¯ve just received notification from the higher-ups ourselves. I¡¯m sorry for the trouble.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll hurry over tomorrow,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Oh, thank you for your understanding, Master Liang. That¡¯s all. Goodbye.¡± The person on the other end hung up.
Liang Zheng-Chun put his mobile phone away and left the study. He walked to Xia Lei¡¯s room door and knocked.
The two people in the other room quieted down abruptly.
¡°Lei, I was just notified that the martial arts seminar will be brought forward two days. We have to go to Mount Emei tomorrow, so we have to get up early to go to the airport,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei hesitated and braced himself as he replied, ¡°I got it, Master. I¡¯ll book the tickets right away.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun discovered that Xia Lei was actually in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s room from that reply. He smiled wryly. ¡°Okay, you sleep early then.¡±
¡°Um... I am discussing somepany matters with Si-Yao. I¡¯ll go back to my room soon,¡± lied Xia Lei.
Chapter 203 - Suicide Woman
The flight was in the morning and Liang Zheng-Chun, Xia Lei and Lu Sheng were already in the hotel on Emei mountain when evening came. The hotel was the one the organiser had arranged for them and quite a few martial artists had already been booked onto the same floor. Liang Zheng-Chun knew some of them and had gone off early to chat. Lu Sheng had gone with him. It looked like one of his motives ining for the martial arts seminar was to get to know more martial artists. Xia Lei was bored and walked around Jinding* by himself.
The hazy dusk of twilight enveloped Jinding. The Ten-Faced Puxian Stupa and Grand Hall of the Great Sage were originally golden but the added glow of sunset made it appear more golden. A sea of clouds surged by its peak, not fast, but giving one the impression of a thousand men and horses galloping imposingly and majestically across the sky. It was Xia Lei¡¯s first time seeing such scenery and he was stunned.
The sun soon sank into the clouds in the west and the light faded from Jinding. The sky was still as blue as if it¡¯d been washed and stars sparkled in the sky like iid gems. This was also another beautiful piece of scenery.
Xia Lei was affected by the great view and thought, ¡®I should bring Si-Yao here next time we¡¯re free. She¡¯s lively and active so she must like to travel. She¡¯ll love this beautiful view too. Oh, and Xia Xue; she¡¯s going to have her winter holidays soon. She¡¯ll be very happy if she knows that Si-Yao has be my girlfriend and her future sister-inw, won¡¯t she?¡¯ Xia Lei smiled as he thought his interesting thoughts.
At that moment, a young woman holding a mobile phone walked towards the edge of a cliff, talking as she went.
¡°I don¡¯t want to hear your excuses! I won¡¯t!¡± The woman seemed very agitated. ¡°I was so good to you - why do you still want to be with that woman? What¡¯s so good about her... You¡¯re telling me to die? Fine, I¡¯ll go die, you¡¯ll see! Whuuh...¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. This must be the breakup of a couple in an affair, huh?
The woman walked to the railings at the edge of the cliff and watched the clouds, sobbing.
Xia Lei thought about cautioning her but he did not know this woman so he dismissed the idea.
However, that woman suddenly flung the mobile phone in her hand down the cliff, grabbed the railings and climbed up.
Xia Lei quickly ran up to her, calling, ¡°Miss, wait! Don¡¯t do this!¡±
The woman turned to look at Xia Lei and said emotionally, ¡°Don¡¯te over. All you men are cruel; you like the new and get bored with the old! Go away!¡±
He was scolded out of the blue but Xia Lei took no offense. He slowly approached the woman as he spoke reassuring words to divert her attention. ¡°Miss, not all men are like that. Please calm down. Love is not all there is in life. Think of your parents - your parents took pains to raise you. Won¡¯t they be heartbroken if you jump?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not listening! Go away! I don¡¯t want to see you!¡± The woman wailed, but not very loudly.
It would¡¯ve been great if someone else were around to help but it was just the potential-jumper and himself when Xia Lei looked around. He bit the bullet and continued his approach, saying, ¡°Miss, don¡¯t be reckless. Climb over here and we can have a talk.¡±
¡°All you good-looking men are liars!¡± The woman added one more line, ¡°Perverts!¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°We don¡¯t even know each other so why do you think I¡¯m a liar and a pervert? Come over here - don¡¯t be foolish. Really, you should think about your parents. Your parents made you and raised you; they are the ones who love you most in this world. If you jump now, you¡¯ll bring them indescribable pain.¡±
The woman seemed to be calmer and she looked tearily at Xia Lei, her behaviour visibly less emotional than it was before.
Xia Lei approached her cautiously and reached to grab her hand. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll help you.¡±
At that moment, however, the woman suddenly pushed her foot against the railing and twisted Xia Lei¡¯s hand, moving sideways to pull Xia Lei over the edge of the cliff.
This all happened in an instant - this woman¡¯s speed, strength and timing was perfect. These were not something a regr heartbroken woman could achieve; it was a carefully arranged murder!
Xia Lei¡¯s body was pulled over the rail at once and over the woman¡¯s shoulder. A steep drop awaited just an inch away! Xia Lei grabbed with his left hand in his time of great peril and hit the woman on her waist. Her waist became his fulcrum and he spun like a pole-dancing man doing a human g, with the woman as his pole. If she wanted to throw him down the cliff, she had to go first!
The woman had no intention of going along with Xia Lei¡¯s ns. Xia Lei was pushing her hard by holding her by the waist and her centre of gravity tilted towards the abyss. She bent her knees instinctively and let go of Xia Lei¡¯s trapped right hand to grab the railing.
Xia Lei¡¯s body hit the railing. He climbed up from the railing and aimed a punch at the head of the woman who was also climbing up.
A look of fear appeared in her eyes. Yawning nothingness was under her feet and she dared not intercept Xia Lei¡¯s punch. She hid under the railing.
Xia Lei blocked her way and said coldly, ¡°Who sent you to kill me? Gu Ke-Wu? Gu Ke-Wen? Speak!¡±
¡°Whuuh... I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about... Whuuh...¡± The woman suddenly yelled at the top of her voice, ¡°HELP! Molester!¡±
¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± Light from a torch shone on them.
Xia Lei was bathed in electric light. He looked back; the light was ring but it did not affect his left eye. He saw two workers of thepany in charge of the tourist spot and two more people swiftly making their way over - Dong Wu and Qin Qi.
Xia Lei understood what was going on immediately at the sight of those two.
Dong Wu and Qin Qi had obviously nned it all since they appeared so quickly. They woulde rescue this woman when her assassination attempt failed.
The woman took the opportunity to climb over the railing when Xia Lei¡¯s head was turned. She cried as she ran towards Dong Wu, ¡°Daddy, that punk tried to molest me! Whuuh...¡±
Daddy? Xia Lei put two and two together - she was Dong Wu¡¯s daughter!
The first-aggressor ran into Dong Wu¡¯s arms and sobbed, ¡°Daddy, he, he molested me... Whuuh...¡±
¡°Damn you! You even dare molest my daughter? I¡¯ll crush you!¡± Dong Wu pushed the woman aside and rushed at Xia Lei with his sword.
This was all scripted and if Dong Wu¡¯s daughter managed to throw Xia Lei off the cliff, Dong Wu, Qin Qi and the two workers would not appear. Xia Lei¡¯s death would be taken as a result of a mis-step and not investigated. If Dong Wu¡¯s daughter failed, Dong Wu and Qin Qi would turn up to protect her and borrow the excuse of protection to make their move. They¡¯d make Xia Lei suffer even if they were unable to kill him off!
Xia Lei removed the ck-painted mecha gloves from his belt. The gloves unfolded from their box shapes with a shake and ttered as they re-shaped themselves into robot-hands. He quickly put them on. He brought the gloves with him as a precaution wherever he went after that experience of nearly being done in at Distinguished Gathering.
The mecha gloves were ck and blended in well with his surroundings. Without the shine of metal, Dong Wu saw Xia Lei put something on his hands but he had no idea what. Dong Wu unsheathed his sword, the de hissing. The precious sword gleamed coldly under the light of the new moon.
Gu Ke-Wu had spent a million to get the Japanese swordsmith Rokushin Takuya to make this sword for Dong Wu and it was now time for him to do something for Gu Ke-Wu in return.
¡°You molested my daughter - I¡¯ll make it so that you¡¯ll never be able to touch women ever again!¡± Dong Wu said the words but they were just words for the workers to hear.
Crimes of passion had light sentences in the court ofw. Besides, Xia Lei was the one who had molested his daughter!
Dong Wu stepped forward and shed at the space between Xia Lei¡¯s legs. He really was aiming to cut off Xia Lei¡¯s cuckoo!
Xia Lei did not dodge but pped at the iing shing sword. His metal-encased palm threw up a row of sparks as it hit the sword¡¯s de, apanied by the ng of metal-on-metal.
Dong Wu hurriedly retracted his sword and looked at the de. There was no trace of damage. He was relieved. What surprised him was that a million-yuan sword crafted by a Japanese swords-smith had not cut through Xia Lei¡¯s palm. He squinted at Xia Lei¡¯s hands and confirmed that Xia Lei was not wearing nylon gloves but metal.
¡°Qin Qi!¡± shouted Dong Wu. He promptly swung his sword at Xia Lei, lightning-quick.
ng! ng! Xia Lei¡¯s hands pped at Dong Wu¡¯s sword, holding it off. He had a visual advantage in the darkness which Dong Wu could not even imagine. The mecha gloves Xia Lei wore were also able to go up against the sword Dong Wu wielded. He quickly overcame the disadvantage of a closebat weapon and was able to parry and attack with ease.
The advantage of using Wing Chun in closebat was also quickly realised. Xia Lei¡¯s titanium alloy gloves were much faster than a sword and he was double-handed too, opening up even more possibilities for attacking and strategy change. Dong Wu had the upper hand in the beginning, pressing Xia Lei with a sword, but that changed in the blink of an eye, with Xia Lei pursuing Dong Wu in attack.
¡°Qin Qi!¡± Dong Wu shouted again.
This was the signal for Qin Qi to make his move.
Qin Qi flicked his hand and a throwing knife streaked to Xia Lei¡¯s chest in a cold sh.
Xia Lei was drawing close to Dong Wu¡¯s chest and preparing tond a punch on him when his left eye caught the cold sh in an instant. He whipped up a hand and blocked with the back of his hand.
Ding! A throwing knife struck the back of the alloy glove and bounced off, falling right down the cliff.
Dong Wu saw his chance and swung his sword, cutting Xia Lei¡¯s thigh open with one stroke.
Xia Lei hurriedly retreated. The right leg of his trousers was cut and a wound bled. Good thing Dong Wucked the strength to cut him in two and had not used a lot of strength because it was a sneak-attack, otherwise the flesh on his thigh would¡¯ve been cut off!
A faint sneer appeared on Qin Qi¡¯s lips. He held another throwing knife in his hand, prepared to do a sneak attack at any time.
¡°Admit defeat, punk!¡± sneered Dong Wu. His hand was as quick as the wind and the de whistled through the air as it came towards Xia Lei.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinding
Chapter 204 - The Guilty Party Files The Suit
Xia Lei defended himself against Dong Wu¡¯s sword and kept his guard up against Qin Qi¡¯s throwing knives at the same time. The wound on his leg affected his speed and he was suddenly at a disadvantage, forced to the railing by the cliff¡¯s edge by Dong Wu in an instant.
Qin Qi had locked his gaze onto Xia Lei¡¯s injured thigh and he slowly lifted his knife-throwing hand.
The cliff¡¯s edge was at Xia Lei¡¯s back and there was no way to retreat. He was in dire straits.
At that moment, a wooden stick suddenly swished through the air and mmed into Qin Qi¡¯s knife-throwing arm. Qin Qi was hurt and the knife he was aiming at Xia Lei ttered to the ground.
Qin Qi looked back and saw an angry-faced Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°What are you up to?¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun angrily, ¡°If you want to fight, fight me!¡±
Lu Sheng, who had turned up with Liang Zheng-Chun, also said thunderously, ¡°And me!¡±
Dong Wu, Qin Qi and the woman were three, and Xia Lei, Liang Zheng-Chun and Lu Sheng were also three; their numbers were even.
More people walked over - some were workers from the venue while some were martial artists who¡¯de to participate in the martial arts seminar, as well as employees of the organisers of the event.
The ce was livelier with more people and there was no way of continuing dirty deeds. Dong Wu stepped back and put his sword away. A middle-aged man came over and said, displeased, ¡°What¡¯s going on here? What are you all doing?¡±
He was the person in charge of the martial arts seminar and the chairman from the Cultural Bureau; his name was He Ping. His voice carried the weight of leadership and it held the ce still. However, his voice had only cowed the small fries of the martial arts world and the workers from the venue - Dong Wu and Qin Qi were in disdain of his existence.
Dong Wu¡¯s daughter, Dong Qing-Yue cried, ¡°Him! He wanted to molest me!¡± She pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°My father got angry and was going to teach him a lesson.¡±
¡°Is this true?¡± asked He Ping.
¡°It is.¡± One of the workers who had appeared at the same time that Dong Wu and Qin Qi had spoke up, ¡°We saw it too. He was pulling this youngdy¡¯s hand and she was crying all the while.¡±
He Ping looked at Xia Lei and thundered, ¡°Come here!¡±
Xia Lei walked over. His wound was still bleeding but it was not so serious anymore; it only looked bad.
He Ping spoke fiercely, ¡°Don¡¯t you know that it is illegal to harass women?¡±
Xia Lei was not one bit affected by He Ping¡¯s aura and said evenly, ¡°Look at her. I¡¯m not blind. Would I go molest her?¡±
Dong Qing-Yue was young but not beautiful. She had arge moon-face and two very dense, thick eyebrows. The face alone would discourage many men and her thick waist had no curves at all. It would be a close fight between a woman like this and Sun Er-Niang* from ¡®The Water Margin¡¯. Why would a man like Xia Lei, who could make women¡¯s eyes light up at the sight of him, molest a woman like this?
¡°No way. This handsome guy is not blind - why would he molest this kind of woman?¡± said a young woman who hade to see some action.
Laughter rang from around her.
Dong Qing-Yue was pissed. She pointed at the woman who¡¯d spoken up for Xia Lei. ¡°What did you say? I dare you to say it again!¡±
¡°I said what I said. Do you want to fight?¡± The woman who¡¯d spoken up for Xia Lei was tall, slim, had a pretty face and a neat ck braid which fell to her hips. She was beautiful and had good manners.
¡°Little Sister, I¡¯ll cut her for you if she darese over,¡± said a young man, ¡°When have we of the Tang Sect backed away?¡±
Dong Qing-Yue made to do something but Qin Qi reached out to hold her back.
The Tang Sect was arge martial art group in novels and members of the group were excellent with concealed weapons and very powerful. The martial art group in reality was not as exaggerated as in novels but this was Mount Emei, their home ground and Tang Sect territory. Dong Wu and Qin Qi had the backing of the Gu n but the Gu n did not have their roots here. Qin Qi was a smart man and he knew what would happen if Dong Qing-Yue moved against the group on their own territory.
¡°What? You restless?¡± The young man said provokingly, ¡°How about we have a little earlypetition.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Dong Qing-Yue snorted but did not go forward.
Dong Wu returned his sword to its sheath and said loudly, ¡°Organiser He, this punk molested my daughter. Are you simply letting this matter go?¡±
Dong Wu was a clever man. His and Qin Qi¡¯s target was Xia Lei and he did not want to anger the people of Tang Sect unnecessarily. That was why he moved the attention of the audience to something which didn¡¯t even exist - the matter of Xia Lei molesting his daughter.
¡°Nonsense!¡± Liang Zheng-Chun said angrily, ¡°I know my people - don¡¯t frame a good person!¡±
¡°We have witnesses. It¡¯s not framing,¡± said Dong Wu bitingly.
He Ping looked at Xia Lei and asked, ¡°They have witnesses - what do you have to say for yourself?¡±
Before Xia Lei could reply, the woman who¡¯d spoken up for him spoke again, ¡°Organiser He, look at that woman¡¯s body. She has no injuries and her clothes are all in good order. How is this molest? It¡¯s a frame job.¡±
The young man next to her stared fixedly at the worker who¡¯d spoken up for Dong Wu. ¡°You sure this gentleman here molested this ugly woman? If you¡¯ve received a bribe to say this then I¡¯ll pursue this matter with you.¡±
¡°I...¡± The worker was terrified and stuttered, ¡°I, I¡¯m not sure. I didn¡¯t see it clearly.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the young and tall, beautiful woman in gratitude. He did not know them but they still helped him and though there was a bit of taunting mixed in, he felt like he owed them a huge favour.
Dong Wu and Qin Qi red at the worker who had taken their money but changed his tune. There were too many people around, though, and they did not dare say anything too obvious.
¡°You martial artists are all so hot-headed and such troublemakers. Forget it, I¡¯m not going to bother anymore. If you want to keep at it then make a police report and get them to resolve this.¡± He Ping left them with those words and walked off. He could not be bothered anymore.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Dong Wu gave up as well.
Qin Qi let go of Dong Qing-Yue only then and left with Dong Wu.
Xia Lei did not stop them. Dong Wu, Qin Qi and Dong Qing-Yue had plotted to kill him and he hated them for it but he was not reckless. He knew that nothing woulde of him stopping these three. There was no way of proving that they plotted to kill him while he would have more trouble if they insisted that he had molested Dong Qing-Yue. Stopping them would mean fighting them again and he might have an advantage with his fists but he could not finish the three of them off with so many people watching, could he?
¡°Lei, how is your wound?¡± asked Liang Zheng-Chun in concern.
¡°It¡¯s fine; not serious,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What happened just now?¡± asked Liang Zheng-Chun. He did not believe that Xia Lei would molest a woman like Dong Qing-Yue but he could not understand why something like this could have happened.
¡°I¡¯ll exin it to youter, Master. I¡¯ll go thank those friends now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Zheng-Chun nodded.
Xia Lei went up to the young man and woman and said politely, ¡°Thank you for just now.¡±
The tall woman smiled. ¡°No need to thank me. I just couldn¡¯t stand that self-righteous woman.¡±
The young man also smiled as he said, ¡°Bro, I don¡¯t believe that you¡¯d molest a woman like that either. We¡¯re all martial artists so it¡¯s only right that we¡¯d say something if we see something wrong.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei held out a hand to the young man. ¡°I am Xia Lei. Let¡¯s be friends.¡±
The young man shook hands with Xia Lei. ¡°Tang Bo-Chuan.¡±
The tall woman also shook hands with Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m Tang Yu-Yan.¡±
¡°Thank you, Miss Tang.¡± Xia Lei smiled.
Tang Yu-Yan smiled with one upturned corner of her lips. ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡±
It was easy for handsome men to make women have good feelings about them.
¡°Xia Bro, I saw you fight just now. You¡¯re a Wing Chun practitioner, aren¡¯t you?¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, I am practicing Wing Chun.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan smiled. ¡°So it really is Wing Chun. Let¡¯s exchange some pointers next time if we get the chance.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°But you have to go tend to your wound now. It¡¯s bleeding.¡±
¡°Right, right, you should take care of your wound, Xia Bro. Let¡¯s chat when we have time,¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan.
¡°Sure, let¡¯s have tea when we have time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Back in the hotel room, Lu Sheng helped Xia Lei bandage his wound.
Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s expression was grave. ¡°That person used weapons and was intent on killing you. Lei, don¡¯t hide it from me. What is going on?¡±
Xia Lei then told him of Dong Wu and Qin Qi¡¯s identities, and the bad blood between him and Gu Ke-Wu. The only thing he did not mention was Shentu Tian-Yin. Liang Zheng-Chun was his Master and future father-inw so it would be bad to tell him something like that. It was enough that Liang Si-Yao knew.
¡°Master, you have to be careful too.¡± Xia Lei had given a brief overview of the matter but he had his worries too. ¡°The Gu n has its roots in the underworld and uses underhanded methods. I¡¯m afraid that the Gu n will take their revenge on you.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± scoffed Liang Zheng-Chun. ¡°I, Liang Zheng-Chun, have never backed down from anything. You are my people and if they want to harm you, they want to harm me too. Those three people had better not run into me at the martial arts seminar or I will exact justice for you as your Master.¡±
Xia Lei was moved by the words ¡®my people¡¯. He could be counted as one of the Liang household at this point since he and Liang Si-Yao were practically husband-and-wife. The only thing that was missing was the government-issued marriage certificate.
¡°Count me in. Damn it, Lei, your matter is my matter. I can¡¯t stand those underhanded jerks either!¡± said Lu Sheng.
¡°Thanks, Big Brother Sheng.¡± Xia Lei did not need to thank Liang Zheng-Chun when it was just them but he still had to be polite with Lu Sheng around.
Lu Sheng rolled his eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°What¡¯s with the formalities between us fellow disciples? I¡¯ll get mad if you keep being so polite.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Okay, no formalities.¡±
¡°Oh, right, I want to discuss something with you,¡± said Lu Sheng.
¡°Please speak, Big Brother Sheng,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t want to be a bodyguard for Zhang Sen anymore. I¡¯ll go work for you at yourpany. Give me whatever sry you think fair. I¡¯ll just be a security guy,¡± said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei answered easily, ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll give you the job of head of security if you join mypany. I¡¯ll pay you twice what you earned with Zhang Sen.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want you to give me twice the amount. He pays me 200,000 so I just want 200,000, not one cent more.¡± Lu Sheng didn¡¯t feel good about getting twice the amount from Xia Lei. He was already d that Xia Lei would take him.
Having Lu Sheng as head of security was a good thing for Xia Lei. He was a professional bodyguard after all and a skilled martial artist. With Lu Sheng around, the problem of security at thepany was solved and Liang Si-Yao would have another bodyguard. Xia Lei felt more at ease.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Erniang
Chapter 205 - Bruce Long
In another room, Dong Wu was incensed and Qin Qi¡¯s expression dark. Dong Qing-Yue looked fairly dissatisfied.
¡°Why¡¯s this punk so difficult to deal with?¡± Qin Qi broke his silence. ¡°Our n was perfect - and he saw through it!¡±
Dong Wu red at Dong Qing-Yue. ¡°Tell us - how did he see through it?¡±
¡°He didn¡¯t at first. He kept trying to console me and pull me back when he saw that I wanted to jump off the cliff. I went ording to the n too, and pulled him to the cliff when he grabbed my hand but his reaction was just too quick. He grabbed my waist right away and the only way I could throw him down the cliff was if I went down with him too,¡± said Dong Qing-Yue.
¡°Looks like we¡¯ve underestimated that punk.¡± Dong Wu was full of hate for Xia Lei.
¡°Young Master Wu has been good to us and we can¡¯t even get this small thing done. Would he still view us so kindly in the future?¡± said Qin Qi.
Dong Wu was quiet and his expression darkened.
¡°There are some programs for exchanging pointers at the martial arts seminar. I¡¯ll go take care of that old man tomorrow. I¡¯ll leave Xia Lei to you,¡± said Qin Qi.
Dong Wu nodded wordlessly.
Just then, Dong Qing-Yue¡¯s phone rang.
Dong Wu and Qin Qi looked at her.
Dong Qing-Yue looked at the phone screen and said, ¡°It¡¯s Miss Wen calling.¡±
Qin Qi smiled wryly. ¡°She sure is antsy. Probably wants to know the result, huh?¡±
Dong Wu sighed. ¡°Pick up. She was the one who thought of this n to kill Xia Lei off. It¡¯s only normal for her to be anxious to know about the result.¡±
Dong Qing-Yue unlocked the phone and put it on speaker-mode.
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°Qing-Yue, is that punk dead?¡±
¡°He...¡± Dong Qing-Yue did not finish her sentence.
¡°Heh heh, he must be dead, huh? My idea was so great. He must be a meat pancake now, right?¡± Gu Ke-Wen felt good about herself.
One had to admit that the n she¡¯d thought up was detailed indeed.
Dong Qing-Yue nced at Dong Wu and Qin Qi, then braced herself and said, ¡°Miss Wen, Xia Lei... is alive. My father only managed to cut his thigh.¡±
¡°How is this possible?¡± Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s voice carried surprise.
¡°He¡¯s too wiley. We¡¯ve tried our best,¡± said Dong Qing-Yue.
¡°You...¡± Gu Ke-Wen did not voice her ugly thoughts. She stopped talking for a bit, then said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. It failed this time but there will be more opportunities. The bottom line is that I don¡¯t want to see him returning to Hai-Zhu.¡±
¡°Understood. Please rest assured, Miss Wen,¡± said Dong Qing-Yue respectfully.
¡°That¡¯s all.¡± Gu Ke-Wen hung up.
¡°How about we work together to kill him off tonight, then hide overseas for a period of time,¡± said Qin Qi, ¡°Master can guarantee that we¡¯ll be fine with his connections.¡±
Dong Wu frowned. ¡°That punk¡¯s very wiley and we¡¯ve already alerted him. He¡¯s sure to have his guard up. Besides, we¡¯ve already ticked off the people of the Tang Sect. The Tang Sect may lend him a hand. They have a lot of people and this is their territory too. Our chances of sess are too slim.¡±
¡°Tang Sect? Ha! They think they¡¯re really the originators of concealed weapons?¡± Qin Qi snorted and said disdainfully, ¡°If they were on our territory I¡¯d roast those Tang Sect chickens!¡±
¡°Never think that way. I¡¯ve been around longer than you have and I know a bit about the Tang Sect¡¯s history. In the old days, the Tang Sect was a rule-abiding martial arts sect which practiced and refined their martial art, barely going out to show their faces in public; this is why they¡¯d always seemed so mysterious. But times have changed now and the core members of the Tang Sect joined the army and became instructors or officers. Some entered the business world and made a fortune these past 30 years with the reforms and the opening of the Chinese market. No one knows how great the Tang Sect¡¯s wealth is. A huge n like this rich in history and martial arts is a n that even Master wouldn¡¯t dare take lightly - how can you or me even have the power to cause a disturbance to it?¡± said Dong Wu.
There was a saying - ¡®an ant shaking a tree¡¯ but Dong Wu did not say it aloud.
Qin Qi looked disgruntled but he felt that Dong Wu¡¯s words made sense.
At that moment, Dong Qing-Yue¡¯s phone suddenly rang again.
Dong Qing-Yue did the same as before and put Gu Ke-Wen on speaker-mode. ¡°Is there anything else, Miss Wen?¡±
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°I¡¯ve just found out that there¡¯s an American at this martial arts seminar named Bruce Long. This guy ims to be the sessor of Bruce Lee and says that his is the true Wing Chun. He issued a challenge to all the Wing Chun experts before he signed up to participate in this martial arts seminar. Isn¡¯t that punk a Wing Chun practitioner? You guys know what to do, right?¡±
A faint smirk appeared on Dong Qing-Yue¡¯s lips. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll look for this Bruce Long right away.¡±
¡°Remember to make Xia Lei sound like he¡¯s very impressive - and his Master, Liang Zheng-Chun too. Hurry up, go. His room number is 202,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°I¡¯ll remember, Miss Wen. Wait for our good news.¡± Dong Qing-Yue hung up.
Dong Wuughed. ¡°This is interesting. We don¡¯t know if this American is good or not, though.¡±
¡°Bruce Lee did learn Wing Chun in the beginning but created Jeet Kun Do with Wing Chun as its base. If that American guy named Bruce Long is Bruce Lee¡¯s sessor then he must have some skills. Let¡¯s go meet him; we won¡¯t lose anything by meeting him,¡± said Qin Qi.
Dong Qing-Yueughed. ¡°What has Xia Lei done? Miss Wen is so bothered by him, and those whom Miss Wen is bothered about always end badly.¡±
¡°Qing-Yue, there¡¯s a saying that goes ¡®the evil one brings on himself is the hardest to bear¡¯. Let¡¯s go and see this Bruce Long,¡± said Dong Wu.
The three of them came to Room 202 and Dong Wu reached out a hand to knock on the door.
The room door was opened by a blonde beauty in an exercise bikini.
The blonde spoke in English, ¡°Who are you? What is this about?¡±
Dong Qing-Yue replied in English, ¡°We are friends who¡¯vee because we heard about Mr Bruce Long. We have something very important to talk about with him. Please let him know.¡±
¡°Something very important?¡± The blonde did not pass her words on.
¡°It has to do with Wing Chun,¡± said Dong Qing-Yue.
The blonde opened the door wide at that and moved aside. ¡°Pleasee in.¡±
Dong Wu, Dong Qing-Yue and Qin Qi entered.
The room had two beds and a bathroom but there was no one in it. The door to the bathroom was open and it was empty too. Dong Wu and Qin Qi¡¯s heads went up at the same time and to the corner above the door.
In the corner was an Eurasian young man in exercise shorts, his arms and legs pressed against the wall and holding his body up. He looked like a spider stuck on the ceiling. There was not an extra ounce of fat on his body and the muscles he had were no less than those of the creator of Jeet Kun Do - Bruce Lee, Li Xiao-Long!
Dong Wu, Dong Qing-Yue and Qin Qi were gobsmacked.
These movements were impossible for the three of them! Only those who had incredibly strong bodies could do it.
This Eurasian young man was Bruce Long and his name was just one word different from Bruce Lee¡¯s name.
At that moment, Bruce Long suddenly dropped from the ceiling with a punch aimed at Qin Qi, who was standing. His posture was like that of a diving eagle, not letting Qin Qi escape from his sphere of attack!
Qin Qi braced himself and punched at his punch.
Bam! The two punches connected.
Thump, thump, thump!
Qin Qi was pushed three steps back before he could right himself. He was amazed.
Bruce Longnded on both feet and spoke in fluent Chinese, ¡°I am Bruce Long. Which of the three of you is a Wing Chun practitioner?¡±
Smiles appeared on Dong Wu, Qin Qi and Dong Qing-Yue¡¯s faces...
The light of dawn dispelled the darkness but the Golden Summit of Mount Emei was covered in clouds and the rays of sunlight failed to reach the ground. This, however, did not affect the start of the martial arts seminar. After breakfast, the organiser of the seminar, He Ping, gathered all the people participating in the martial arts seminar in a conference room in the hotel.
Xia Lei and Lu Sheng followed Liang Zheng-Chun to the conference room and there were already quite a number of people there when they walked in. Liang Zheng-Chun greeted the people he knew and introduced Xia Lei to those he was on rather good terms with. He was just missing the sentence ¡®This is my future son-inw¡¯ when he spoke to them.
After a night¡¯s rest and recovery, Xia Lei¡¯s wounded leg did not hurt anymore and it had also stopped bleeding. His right leg was a littleme because of the deep injury.
¡°Is your leg okay, Mr Xia?¡± came a female voice.
Xia Lei followed the voice. It was Tang Yu-Yan, the person who had helped himst night. She was with her older brother, Tang Bo-Chuan, who was also looking at him with a smile. He had not taken a close look at the siblingsst night but, looking at them now, he discovered that Tang Yu-Yan was a slim and toned beauty with pale, soft skin. She was like a doll fashioned from pearl powder and dough. Tang Bo-Chuan was schrly and handsome too and he had a refined air, not at all like a martial arts practitioner. He looked like a painter or a photographer; an artist.
¡°It¡¯s fine. Thank you.¡± Xia Lei greeted them.
¡°Come sit with us.¡± Tang Bo-Chuan took the initiative and extended and invitation to all three of them.
¡°Would you like to go over and sit with them, Master?¡± Xia Lei asked for Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s opinion.
Liang Zheng-Chun nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go over. They¡¯ve helped us, so it¡¯ll be rude to refuse.¡±
Master and disciples seated themselves next to the Tang siblings. Liang Zheng-Chun greeted the siblings and Xia Lei started chatting with them.
Xia Lei liked making friends too and the Tang siblings were outstanding people. Friends like these were more than wee.
After some short conversation, Dong Wu, Dong Qing-Yue and Qin Qi walked through the doors of the conference room.
A sh of anger appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes at the sight of those three people.
¡°I have no idea how these three were allowed to participate. Why is this martial arts seminar letting people like that in?¡± Tang Yu-Yan frowned. She seemed to really dislike the barrel-waisted Dong Qing-Yue.
At that moment, the Eurasian Bruce Long walked through the doors of the conference room. He joined the trio which had entered before him.
Dong Qing-Yue said something to Bruce Long in a low voice and he abruptly looked over, straight at Xia Lei and Liang Zheng-Chun.
Chapter 206 - Fist Versus Youthful Muscle
A martial arts seminar without martial art exhibitions and sparring would be like a bar without alcohol and girls; it wouldn¡¯t be much of a martial arts seminar.
Sparring could note without a stage and this stage was set on the ring tform of Jinding. Representatives went onstage to disy their martial arts. Media reporters gathered under the stage as well as a live broadcast to television stations in the region. The venue was bustling with activity.
The martial arts seminars in the past were all great flops. The people who¡¯d attended were fakes who paid to show their faces and had no real martial art skills but were very good at bragging. The martial arts those people had shown were also just for show and the martial arts seminar had be aughingstock, making martial arts a joke in turn. The Cultural Bureau had resolved to do things properly this time, and investigated openly and in secret to invite only those with real skills. Right now, a Shaolin monk was on the tform boxing ring disying some Shaolin Wuhequan*. His fists whooshed with every punch, his movements were nimble, and he was prepared for both attack and defence. The people watching clicked their tongues in wonder.
Representatives from various sects went into the ring to show off their martial arts - Wudang¡¯s Taiqiquan*, Emei¡¯s swordsmanship*, Zhuru Hongquan*, Xingyiquan* and several other representatives of real martial arts.
As representative of Wing Chun, Liang Zheng-Chun also went into the ring to disy true Wing Chun. Wing Chun was not a martial art with violent moves but the Wing Chun Liang Zheng-Chun disyed was pleasing to the eye. He was like Ip Man in the movies; he had a Master¡¯s special aura.
Liang Zheng-Chun finished his moves and put his hands together in a cupped salute. Apuse came from below the ring.
Bruce Long suddenly stood from his seat and sprinted to jump into the ring.
A blonde beauty also climbed into the ring, carrying a shoulder-mount camera. The camera was recording Bruce Long and Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Who is this foreigner? What¡¯s he doing in the ring?¡± Tang Yu-Yan wrinkled her brows. She thought this foreigner quite rude.
¡°Need you ask? He must be trying to mess things up for Lei¡¯s Master,¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan.
The memory of Dong Qing-Yue whispering something to that foreigner in the ring, and him ring at them afterwards in the conference room surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. Dong Qing-Yue had covered her mouth when whispering and he could not see her mouth shape to lip-read. She was done speaking by the time he readied his X-ray vision, so he was unable to catch what she¡¯d said - it looked now like what she¡¯d said to the foreigner was definitely something not good!
Tang Yu-Yan saw Xia Lei stand with an anxious look and said, ¡°Please sit, Mr Xia. It¡¯s no problem for your Master to deal with a foreigner. Going to challenge your Master is courting humiliation for him.¡±
¡°Yeah, don¡¯t you trust Master¡¯s abilities? That punk is going to get beaten up,¡± said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei sat down again at that but he still had a trace of worry in his heart.
As expected, Bruce Long raised his voice in the ring and said, ¡°Liang Zheng-Chun, your Wing Chun is like a warm-up exercise for children. Real Wing Chun is not Yan Yong-Chun¡¯s style but Bruce Lee¡¯s style. I can beat you easily. Do you dare fight with me?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun wrinkled his brows. He didn¡¯t care if this foreigner called Wing Chun a child¡¯s warm-up exercise but he actually imed that Yan Yong-Chun¡¯s Wing Chun was not the true martial art style - this hit a nerve.
¡°I, Bruce Long!¡± Bruce Long swept the watching martial artists below the ring tform with his gaze and said scornfully, ¡°Am from America. I trust Japan¡¯s judo, Korea¡¯s taekwondo, I also trust Brazilian jiujitsu and our American wrestling but I will never trust these Chinese martial arts. Your martial arts are all lies - they look good but they¡¯re useless.¡±
Curses erupted from below the tform.
He Ping, the organiser of the event, was also dark. This martial arts seminar had cost the Cultural Bureau a lot of manpower and material resources and it was considered a sess till now. This Bruce Long messed it all up when he went into the ring - this was being broadcast live!
¡°Fuck! Where did this yellow-haired hybride from? I¡¯ll teach you a lesson!¡± A burly middle-aged man charged into the ring. ¡°Hongquan, Horse Battle Formation!¡±
Bruce Long smiled scornfully and said to Liang Zheng-Chun, ¡°Liang Zheng-Chun, wait thirty seconds for me. I¡¯ll take care of him and then take care of you.¡±
Thirty seconds to defeat a representative of Hongquan? What savage confidence!
Below the tform, a police officer who was part of the events security detail asked He Ping, ¡°Organiser He, should we arrest this person?¡±
He Ping shook his head. ¡°He¡¯s American. We¡¯ll cause an international dispute if we arrest him without any real reason. Besides, this is a live broadcast. This guy has already said so many insulting things - this event is done for if he just exits the ring like that. Let them fight. This guy thinks China doesn¡¯t have anyone who can beat him? He¡¯ll regret that!¡±
In the ring, the challenger attacked first with Horse Battle Formation, his huge fist swinging brutally at Bruce Long¡¯s head.
Bruce Long blocked it with his elbow and swept at the bend in the challenger¡¯s knee at the same time with his foot. This move was reminiscent of Wing Chun but faster and more violent. There was a dull thud and the challenger withdrew quickly in pain.
Bruce Long promptly charged forward, attacking with both fists. His punches were like meteors falling from the sky, eaching faster and faster. All his punchesnded on the challenger¡¯s two arms, which were protecting his chest. The challenger was pushed backwards by the assault.
Bruce Long then suddenly stopped punching and leaned sideways to kick him. His foot went past his two defending arms andnded heavily on his chest. The challenger let out a cry and flew up and backwards before dropping off the tform.
The area below the tform was in uproar.
Bruce Long thumbed his nose and said scornfully, ¡°I counted. Twenty seconds. He was weaker than I¡¯d thought.¡± He suddenly pointed at Liang Zheng-Chun. ¡°Hope you canst more than two minutes.¡±
His movements and way of talking were very much like Bruce Lee.
Liang Zheng-Chun said coldly, ¡°You talk too big, young man.¡±
Below the tform, Dong Wu said loudly, ¡°Master Liang, why are you wasting time talking? He said your Wing Chun is not the true Wing Chun. Fight him!¡±
Qin Qi added fuel to the fire. ¡°Yeah! Fight him! Is your Wing Chun a fake?¡±
Hearing those words made Xia Lei want to spring from his seat to beat up Dong Wu and Qin Qi, not to mention Liang Zheng-Chun, who was getting it all directly.
¡°Come!¡± Liang Zheng-Chun disdained bickering with people like Dong Wu and Qin Qi. He got into a Wing Chun Seeking Hand beginning stance.
Bruce Long charged at Liang Zheng-Chun and the fight begun.
Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s Wing Chun went fluidly from attack to defence and his changes were quick. Bruce Long¡¯s had greater speed and strength and was much more aggressive. The two of them seemed to be on equal footing, with no one getting an upper hand.
Everyone¡¯s eyes were on Liang Zheng-Chun and Bruce Long, but the most anxious was Xia Lei. Other people saw them fighting but he saw much more than they did. His left eye saw every movement of bone and muscle in Bruce Long¡¯s body. What he saw was not a normal person¡¯s body - he was like a powerful human-shaped machine! Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s body, on the other hand, was on the decline; he was getting on in years and his fists were not as powerful against youthful muscles anymore. His body was much weaker than Bruce Long¡¯s and his strength waning. With these circumstances, Bruce Long would be able to withstand two punches from Liang Zheng-Chun but Liang Zheng-Chun would be in trouble if Bruce Long hit him just once!
Sure enough, Bruce Long quickly realised this and he simply gave up on defence. He went straight to attacking Liang Zheng-Chun and didn¡¯t block when Liang Zheng-Chun attacked him. He attacked in kind and exchanged one blow for another. Bruce Long triumphed in speed and hended one hit for every two received.
There was no martial art in this world that had no attack moves, and there would be gaps in defence when moving to attack. Liang Zheng-Chun was left with no options when up against an opponent like Bruce Long, who was very quick and perversely strong.
Bam! There was a mirroring of blows again. Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s attack hit Bruce Long in the chest and Bruce Long¡¯s fist hit Liang Zheng-Chun in the chest. Bruce Long¡¯s body only wavered for a bit but Liang Zheng-Chun staggered two steps back, his foot meeting with air and dropping off the tform.
Xia Lei rushed over to help Liang Zheng-Chun up.
In the ring, Bruce Long thumbed his nose and said scornfully, ¡°What ¡®true Wing Chun¡¯ is this? It¡¯s just aerobics for children.¡±
The blonde beauty holding the cameraughed as she said, ¡°Bruce, I¡¯ll put the video from just now on the world¡¯s biggest video site. The whole world shall see it.¡±
Dong Wu guffawed. ¡°Liang Zheng-Chun, I¡¯d always thought you were powerful but you¡¯re just another fake! Hahaha!¡±
mes burned high in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. ¡°Rest, Master. I¡¯ll fight him.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun held him back. ¡°Don¡¯t. You¡¯re no opponent even if your leg¡¯s not injured, and you¡¯re injured now.¡±
¡°Master, them insulting you is insulting me. They also insulted our Wing Chun. Let me go up there - I¡¯ll teach him!¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Zheng-Chun hesitated. He knew Xia Lei¡¯s capabilities well. Xia Lei could not beat him, so how could he beat Bruce Long, who was more powerful than him? However, Xia Lei looked very confident and based on what he knew of Xia Lei, he was not the sort to be reckless or lose his senses. Xia Lei would not get into the ring asking to be humiliated if he was not sure about it. However, he could not understand where Xia Lei got his confidence from.
While Liang Zheng-Chun hesitated over approval of going up on the tform, Xia Lei had already jumped into the ring.
Bruce Long¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei and he looked at Dong Qing-Yue. Dong Qing-Yue nodded and a faint sneer appeared on his lips.
¡°My Master is old and his body is weaker,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Fight with me. I¡¯ll teach you what Wing Chun is and also teach you how to be a proper human being.¡±
Bruce Long spoke disinterestedly, ¡°I heard Liang Zheng-Chun has a powerful disciple called Xia Lei. You¡¯re Xia Lei?¡±
¡°You should call me Martial Ancestor Xia because Bruce Lee was just a disciple of Wing Chun. I am of the same martial generation as Bruce Lee in Wing Chun so you should probably call me ¡®Martial Ancestor¡¯,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hahaha! Well said!¡± Tang Yu-Yan pped and said smilingly, ¡°Give your descendant disciple a lesson, Mr Xia! He¡¯s an uncivilised barbarian.¡±
Roaringughter came from below the tform.
Hate shed in Bruce Long¡¯s eyes and he suddenly lunged at Xia Lei.
*Shaolin Wuhequan
https://.youtube/watch?v=D1H4zCs05CI&t=26s
*Wudang Taiqiquan
https://.youtube/watch?v=wpUNrY3VuSs
*Emei swordsmanship
https://.youtube/watch?v=ZgVPBsCWd20
*Hongquan
https://.youtube/watch?v=5Dzh_U1x3M4
*Xingyiquan
https://.youtube/watch?v=iQZ3xn-UmjI
Chapter 207 - Martial Arts Hero
Xia Lei and Bruce Long were locked in battle on the tform.
Most people thought it would be a close fight but it was, unfortunately, not. Xia Lei just defended and kept defending no matter how Bruce Long attacked.
Bruce Long was quick but Xia Lei¡¯s left eye could catch his quick movements and deduce where he would attack. He dodged those he could avoid and used Wing Chun defence techniques when he could not.
Xia Lei was younger than Liang Zheng-Chun and his body was not as absurd as Bruce Long¡¯s but he was fairly strong and had considerable attacking capabilities. He also used the hardest parts of his body, the elbows and knees, to counter Bruce Long¡¯s fists and kicks, meeting hard with hard. Dong Wu was able to draw blood from him thest time because he had a sword and Xia Lei did not dare to get hit hard, choosing to dodge instead. Bruce Long was using his hands and feet this time so he did not have to be afraid of getting cut. He saw through his moves with this left eye and he was unhurried and calm. He was just defending but did not seem harried at all.
Bruce Long attacked Xia Lei madly for a full three minutes but was unable to gain any advantage. He looked fit to burst with rage. ¡°You¡¯re just defending! What Wing Chun is this?¡±
¡°You can¡¯t even defeat me when I haven¡¯t attacked - will you be able to take it if I do attack?¡± said Xia Lei disdainfully.
¡°Fuck!¡± Bruce Long spewed expletives.
At that moment, Dong Wu suddenly shouted, ¡°His right leg¡¯s injured!¡±
Bruce Long¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei¡¯s right leg and a cold smile appeared on his lips.
Curses came from below the ring.
Dong Wu pretended not to hear and just sneered as he looked at Xia Lei in the ring.
Bruce Long suddenly swept his leg at Xia Lei¡¯s right inner thigh.
Xia Lei raised his right leg and his right kneecap forward, knocking the back of Bruce Long¡¯s right leg. The great impact from the attack pushed Xia Lei one step back.
¡°Ha! Let¡¯s see how long you can keep this up!¡± Bruce Long lunged forward on one foot and unleashed a kick at Xia Lei¡¯s injured leg.
Xia Lei used the same technique to block it and was kicked one step backwards again.
Below the tform, Dong Qing-Yue sneered, ¡°He won¡¯t make it past a minute. There¡¯s no way he can keep going once his injured leg gets kicked.¡±
¡°ording to our agreement, Bruce Long will heavily injure Xia Lei, then... Haha!¡± said Dong Wu.
As father-and-daughter talked, Bruce Lee kicked Xia Lei twice again, pushing him back two more steps. The ropes of the ring were just a little bit away and there was no other way to go for Xia Lei.
¡°Kiss the floor!¡± Bruce Long roared in anger and leaned sideways in a kick at Xia Lei¡¯s injured leg. The strength used for this kick was much greater than the previous kicks. HIs speed and strength made his leg seem like iron.
Xia Lei did not use his knee to block this time. He lunged forward and brushed past Bruce Long¡¯s leg to go straight to his chest area in an instant. A punchnded on Bruce Long¡¯s chest. Xia Lei¡¯s second knuckle of his middle finger protruded from his fist and the hard bone was like a steel bar hitting Bruce Long in the Shanzhong acupuncture point!
Bruce Long¡¯s body was extremely strong, way stronger than an average human¡¯s, but it was still made of flesh and bone, not metal and nylon fibres. The Shanzhong acupuncture point was a very important acupuncture point in the human body and Bruce Long¡¯s body had an inevitable reaction when the point was attacked by Xia Lei.
The instant Bruce Long¡¯s Shanzhong acupuncture point was hit, his heart started beating erratically and his breaths came short. The first part affected by the irregr heartbeat was his brain. His brain could not function normally because it was unable to receive sufficient blood and oxygen; dizziness, blurred vision and slowed reactions followed. However, this was just the beginning. The sudden pain that came after made even a man as strong as Bruce Long cry out before he copsed to the ground.
Xia Lei had used a needle on Sawada Mei¡¯s Shanzhong acupuncture point too and she, who had received pain tolerance training, was unable to bear it for more than a minute - this showed the importance of the Shanzhong acupuncture point. Xia Lei had centred his entire body¡¯s strength on that knuckle in his fist and urately attacked Bruce Long¡¯s Shanzhong acupuncture point. This was even more terrifyingly painful than when he had used a needle on Sawada Mei!
Bruce Long screamed as he dropped but it was silent below the tform - all jaws had dropped and it was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
Just one second earlier, Bruce Long was still beating Xia Lei back and Xia Lei¡¯s disadvantage was in for all to see. Almost no one thought that he¡¯d be able to hold on for more than a minute but Bruce Long had fallen in the next second. Who could believe a sudden reversal like that?
Xia Lei walked over and kicked Bruce Long in the underbelly.
Bruce Longcked even the strength to dodge and was kicked bodily by Xia Lei. His body slid a few metres along the carpeting of the tform.
Xia Lei walked towards Bruce Long.
The blonde, who¡¯d been recording all this time, suddenly ran over and blocked Xia Lei¡¯s way. She pleaded in monotonous Chinese, ¡°No, don¡¯t, don¡¯t, dont.¡±
Xia Lei had wanted to kick Bruce Long around a few times because of the mes of anger in heart but the sight of the groaning, ground-hugging Bruce Long made the mes subside. Bruce Long had been defeated and punished - it would be ungentlemanly of him if he continued beating up a man who was already on the ground with no power to fight back.
¡°Go back to America. Remember this. China has a history of five thousand years and it is vast. You have not seen many of the skilled and versed yet. Do not think that you¡¯re invincible when you¡¯ve only defeated a few,¡± said Xia Lei.
Bruce Long looked at Xia Lei. His gaze was full of pain but there was no humiliation nor hate.
Xia Lei turned to face the crowd below the ring and gestured at Dong Wu. ¡°Come up, Dong Wu. I¡¯ll fight you!¡±
Everyone¡¯s gazes concentrated on Dong Wu.
Dong Wu got up, but he just stood and did not take one step towards the tform. Xia Lei had beaten the indomitable Bruce Long, so it was not difficult to imagine what would happen if he went up. He could also confirm that Xia Lei would not go easy on him even if the most beautiful woman on Earth pleaded on his behalf; he¡¯d get beaten so badly that his own daughter wouldn¡¯t recognise him.
Xia Lei spoke again, ¡°Come up. Weren¡¯t you making a lot of noise down there? A person like you is not worthy of martial arts. You have none of a martial artist¡¯s morals. Come up here, I¡¯ll teach you morals.¡±
Dong Wu¡¯s aged face turned the colour of pig liver. He had been able to cut Xia Leist night because of Qin Qi¡¯s sneak attack, but if Qin Qi tried to do that in front of so many martial artists now, he would be beaten so badly his own parents wouldn¡¯t recognise him, even if the police didn¡¯t arrest him!
Go up into the ring, get beaten up and humiliated. Stay, and face humiliation. Dong Wu had long made his decision. Heughed. ¡°Xia Lei, I won¡¯t bicker with you. Your leg is injured; next time. I¡¯ll fight with you next time, or people will say that I had an unfair win.¡±
¡°You goddam shitty motherfucker!¡± Tang Bo-Chuan suddenly stood up and pointed at Dong Wu as he cursed, ¡°You cockroach! How is your skin so thick? Just say it if you don¡¯t dare to fight him - why pretend to be an expert?¡±
Mocking voices came from below the tform. Some called him thick-skinned while others called him shameless. He had drawn the ire of all the martial artists when he had called out Xia Lei¡¯s injured leg when Xia Lei was fighting Bruce Long earlier, so who wouldn¡¯t want to curse at him now when they had the chance?
Martial artists were, by andrge, not elegant people and their curses were as colourful as one could make them. Some particrly crude people asked after Dong Wu¡¯ste wife, and even barrel-waisted Dong Qing-Yue was not spared. Scoldings and curses surged towards Dong Wu, Dong Qing-Yue and Qin Qi like a flood.
There would definitely be a mass-beating if any one of the three of them dared to say a word in retort in this situation.
Dong Wu, Dong Qing-Yue and Qin Qi were like rats trying to cross the street, detested by all. The dislike towards these three far outstripped the dislike for Bruce Long.
¡°Let¡¯s leave!¡± Dong Wu could not stay a second more.
Qin Qi and Dong Qing-Yue rose without a word and followed Dong Wu, walking away from the event grounds.
Xia Lei raised his voice, ¡°Dong Wu, Qin Qi, tell your owner this - the time has note!¡±
Dong Wu and Qin Qi looked back at Xia Lei, their gazes icy-cold.
At that moment, Bruce Long caught his breath and climbed to his feet. He walked to Xia Lei and asked, ¡°What punch did you use to defeat me just now?¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t be bothered to speak to him. He turned and got down from the ring tform.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Master,¡± said Xia Lei to Liang Zheng-Chun.
Liang Zheng-Chun patted Xia Lei on the shoulder. ¡°All right, let¡¯s go back. You¡¯ve disyed the might of my Wing Chun. I¡¯ll get Si-Yao to cook some dishes when we¡¯re home and we can have a few drinks together.¡±
¡°Nn, yes.¡± Liang Si-Yao was like a balm to his heart and Xia Lei¡¯s mood improved when he heard her name.
¡°But you can¡¯t help her cook or you¡¯ll spoil her,¡± added Liang Zheng-Chun suddenly.
Xia Leiughed sheepishly but did not say anything. He could promise him now that he would not help but he would still help if Liang Si-Yao asked him to. He wouldn¡¯t promise something he could not aplish.
A big group of reporters came rushing over to take pictures of Xia Lei and Liang Zheng-Chun, including reporters with microphones and recorders, trying to get an interview.
On the other side, Tang Yu-Yan leaned in to Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s ear and said softly, ¡°Want to invite him to our ce?¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan smiled. ¡°No rush. It¡¯s not good to rush.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan gave Tang Bo-Chuan a long look, her gaze seeming to speak a sentence.
Tang Bo-Chuan lowered his voice, ¡°There¡¯ll be plenty of opportunities to interact with him. We know where he lives and what he does too. Is there a need to worry that you won¡¯t be able to find him?¡±
Xia Lei had already pushed his way out of the crowd of reporters surrounding himself and Liang Zheng-Chun by then and swaggered off with Lu Sheng.
Tang Yu-Yan looked at Xia Lei¡¯s disappearing back and a faint, mysterious smile appeared in the corners of her lips.
Chapter 208 - Taste Of Love
¡°Dinner is served! Time to eat.¡± Xia Lei walked out of the kitchen with freshly-cooked carrot-and-ribs soup, calling Liang Zheng-Chun and Liang Si-Yao toe eat.
Liang Zheng-Chun smiled wryly and shook his head. He could now see that his prestige as Master was far lower-ranked than his daughter. He had told Liang Si-Yao to make dinner and she had told Xia Lei to make dinner, then... dinner was ready.
The three of them sat around a table and ate and drank merrily.
Liang Si-Yao picked a kidney from the red simmer-fried chicken with her chopsticks and put it in Xia Lei¡¯s bowl. ¡°You¡¯re injured so you have to eat more. Nourish yourself.¡±
Xia Lei felt rather ill when he looked at the white chicken kidney in his bowl. He had a wound on his leg - how was eating chicken kidney for nourishment going to help?
Liang Si-Yao picked up a piece of potato and put it in Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s bowl. ¡°Have more vegetables, Dad.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun rolled his eyes at Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao was quite pleased with herself. ¡°Wish I was there too to see you defeat that arrogant American. You must¡¯ve been so dashing then.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He knew clearly the danger he was in back then and the brute strength that person had. He could not even beat Liang Zheng-Chun so how could he beat Bruce Long, who had defeated him? He could do so only thanks to the power of his left eye and the time he had spent researching acupuncture points. He had actually had the idea to attack Bruce Long¡¯s Shanzhong point even before Liang Zheng-Chun had gone into the ring to fight him because that point was easiest to attack and could fell a foe in one move. When he had gone up the tform, he had feigned weakness in the beginning, only defending and seeking for an opportunity to attack. Dong Wu had then reminded Bruce Long of his injured leg and Bruce Long focused on his leg afterwards. He had let him attack his leg repeatedly and waited for Bruce Long to extend himself before he made his move, attacking his Shanzhong point and finishing the fight. If he had made the slightest mistake during this whole process, there would have been a possibility of him being beaten into the tform. The result was fairly difficult to predict.
There was just no way he could tell either Liang Zheng-Chun or Liang Si-Yao of this process.
Liang Zheng-Chun looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Right, Lei, Lu Sheng was present when we were on our way back so it was not convenient to ask... We are all family here now so tell me - how did you defeat that American?¡±
Xia Lei extended his right fist and made his knuckle stick out. ¡°I hit his Shanzhong acupuncture point with my fist like this, and he fell.¡±
¡°Acupuncture point?¡± Liang Zheng-Chun looked surprised. ¡°Even I can¡¯t do that and you¡¯ve already learnt it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°Master, I am learning about medicine. Your study has some volumes on acupuncture and moxibustion and I read those. I knew what attacking that acupuncture point would do because I learnt acupuncture. I didn¡¯t learn any acupuncture martial art - I just used my knowledge of acupuncture in Wing Chun.¡±
Liang Si-Yao spoke too, ¡°Dad, Lei learns super fast. He can build the most advancedthe from Germany with his own two hands. Oh, and he also cured Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s father. That guy was paralysed for three years and he used acupuncture to heal him. He¡¯s so awesome; incorporating acupuncture in our Wing Chun is not strange.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun did not find it strange how Xia Lei was able to do so many miraculous things but felt rather proud. He pondered for a bit, and a smile spread across his face. ¡°I already knew about your learning capabilities but it¡¯s greater that I¡¯d thought. Using acupuncture in Wing Chun doesn¡¯t seem so strange now that I think about it.¡± He raised his cup. ¡°Beautifully done. A toast from your Master.¡±
Before Xia Lei could drink, Liang Si-Yao said, ¡°Dad, don¡¯t make him drink so much. If he drinks too much it¡¯ll... be bad.¡±
Would drinking too much affect something? Her word-stumble made one¡¯s head fill with thoughts. Xia Lei still drank in the end. It was a toast from his Master and he would drink it even if Liang Si-Yao did not like the alcohol on his breath. He¡¯d just hold a piece of xylitol in his mouth when kissing...
After dinner, Liang Zheng-Chun retired early to bed - this had nothing to do with being an early bird and everything to do with not wanting to be a third wheel. He was very satisfied with Xia Lei¡¯s character and other characteristics and Xia Lei had also challenged Bruce Long on his ount despite the danger to himself. That had made him like Xia Lei even more and there was nothing he could find wrong with him anymore. What was there to be unhappy or dissatisfied with as a father when he could hand his daughter over to a man like this?
Liang Si-Yao went to the kitchen to wash the dishes and Xia Lei stayed in her room to use her notebookputer to research guns. The martial arts seminar was over and his attention went back to the matter of modifying the sniper rifle for Long Bing. Long Bing would help him settle his issues whenever he gave her a call so he naturally did his best when she asked for his help.
Modifying a sniper rifle to be better than the best was not so difficult for Xia Lei but the manual Long Bing had included in the box for him was definitely not enough.
His inte search results for modifying guns were mostly rted to games and the information on modifying game guns were definitely not useable in real life. Xia Lei then gave up and searched for information about sniper rifles. He found some leads this time and the information he got was detailed and professional. He could understand the workings of a sniper rifle from what he¡¯d found and the performance index, structure and so on. Once Xia Lei had a grasp on this knowledge, he would gain a better understanding of the sniper rifle and make his job of modifying the sniper rifle much easier.
His phone suddenly rang while he was reading up on sniper rifles.
Xia Lei took his phone out, looked at the screen and smiled. He unlocked the phone to receive the call. ¡°Hey, where have you gone off to die while I was away? Closed-door training, oh maaan, I¡¯m so tired I could die. I¡¯ve be so tanned too! Let me tell you, that instructor was super abnormal - I suspect she¡¯s got some mental illness... ¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice came from the phone like a tap which had been turned on, the water flowing continuously.
Xia Lei had a feeling of fondness as he listened to her prattle; he hadn¡¯t heard from her in a long time. He listened patiently, saying a few words now and then, and seemed to enjoy it.
After spewing a load of crap, Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly changed the topic. ¡°Where¡¯d you die off to? I knocked for so long but there was no response. I¡¯ll ssh paint on your door next time if you don¡¯t open it.¡±
¡°Do you have paint?¡± asked Xia Leiughingly.
¡°No...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi snorted, ¡°I can go buy some! If not, I can ssh soy sauce on your door!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
She was the same as always and the long training hadn¡¯t changed her one bit. He didn¡¯t know if Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s instructor really had a mental illness but he was sure she had frequent headaches.
¡°Hey, talk. Where did you go? I haven¡¯t seen you in a while. I want to see you and give you a good scolding.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°You want to see me to scold me?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi spoke matter-of-factly, ¡°Of course. I feel ufortable not scolding you for such a long time. See, aren¡¯t I too good to you?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry at that logic. ¡°I actually want to tell you a piece of good news.¡±
¡°Are you going to buy me a nice car or a big house?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi giggled.
¡°I¡¯ll buy you one if you like it. Really. I made a lot of money and was thinking of getting something for you but you weren¡¯t around,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh, that really is good news. I want a house, I want a car, I want... Whatever! Buy, buy, buy!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi seemed rather excited.
¡°This isn¡¯t the good news I wanted to tell you,¡± said Xia Leiughingly.
¡°Then what is it?¡±
¡°Si-Yao and I are dating, heh heh,¡± said Xia Lei with augh, ¡°You can¡¯t say that I can¡¯t get a girl now, eh?¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice turned abnormal.
¡°I said that Liang Si-Yao and I are dating. I¡¯m at her ce now. You¡¯re happy, right?¡±
¡°Happy, my foot! You pervert, pervert, stinky... I¡¯m cutting ties with you!¡±
¡°Hello?¡± Xia Lei was at a loss as to what to do.
Jiang Ru-Yi had already hung up.
Xia Lei sat dumbly beforeing back to his senses and mumbling to himself, ¡°What did she re up at me for? Weird.¡±
He did not take what Jiang Ru-Yi said to heart, though. She had ¡®cut ties¡¯ with him over a thousand times from when they were children growing up together. The longest she had ¡®cut ties¡¯ was just three days, and she had enticed him to take the initiative to talk to her with ice-cream. Thinking about this made him feel warm and amused.
Liang Si-Yao walked through the door at that moment and asked with a smile, ¡°Who were you on the phone with?¡±
¡°Jiang Ru-Yi. She¡¯s back,¡± said Xia Lei.
A strange gleam appeared in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes but she pretended to be not bothered by it, ¡°Oh, your neighbour, huh? She doesn¡¯t know that we¡¯re together now?¡±
¡°She knows. I told her but she didn¡¯t seem happy about it,¡± said Xia Lei from the sofa.
A smile appeared on Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face. She climbed onto Xia Lei¡¯sp, then pressed her body against his and said gently in his ear, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about her. You weren¡¯t by my sidest night - I missed you the whole night.¡±
Liang Si-Yao was a fascinating, pretty young thing. Her softness and her mesmerising smell, coupled with her long legs spread wide open made Xia Lei¡¯s loins heat up. It felt like a me burning quietly and it made his mouth go dry; he was restless and eager to do something.
¡°Let¡¯s go to the bed.¡± Xia Lei had zero resistance to Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao just smiled. ¡°I¡¯m especially happy today. I want to reward you.¡±
¡°Reward?¡± Xia Lei looked at her uprehendingly.
Liang Si-Yao pressed close and slid down his body, her body soft as if it had no bones.
There was a small ¡®schlick¡¯ as Liang Si-Yao sheathed the sword.
Xia Lei¡¯s mouth suddenly became an O, like a fish gasping for breath. This was the first time in his life that he¡¯d tasted such a thing.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ru-Yi threw a soy sauce at Xia Lei¡¯s door. She was still mad, so she grabbed two sanitary napkins and stuck them on his door in a cross. She then stared dumbly at the hideous mess of a door as tears rolled silently down her cheeks.
Love was like this. While someone tasted bliss, another was left hurt in a lonely corner.
Chapter 209 - Complicated Mistake
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao arrived at the office early the next day.
Xia Lei had an early meeting to go through details for the Expo and preparations for the materials for the manufacture of the automatic skateboard. He did not do any of these but Liang Si-Yao and the employees had done a good job organising these things and everything was progressing smoothly.
After the meeting, Xia Lei walked to his workshop, carrying the stic box Ke Jie had sent to him, ready to start work on modifying Long Bing¡¯s gun. He gave Jiang Ru-Yi a call on his way there but she didn¡¯t pick up even after two calls.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡®Really ignoring me? Sheesh, I didn¡¯t even say anything that would set her off, did I? Whatever, she¡¯s just like that. It¡¯ll all be fine in a few days.¡¯
Some employees looked at Xia Lei, pointing and discussing something in low voices.
Xia Lei put his phone away and asked with a smile, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
A young man said, ¡°Chairman Xia, we watched the video online and woah, I didn¡¯t know you were so good at martial arts!¡±
A young female employee spoke excitedly with her eyes shining, ¡°Chairman Xia, you were so handsome and cool when you defeated that American in the ring!¡±
¡°It¡¯s all on the inte?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s gone viral. Many people are looking up your name. Some say you are the modern Wong Fei-Hung* and that you should be in movies.¡± The female employee¡¯s eyes were still alight.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I won¡¯t do that. Okay, you guys, disperse. Go on, to work, to work.¡±
The employees dispersed and Xia Lei went into his workshop.
Xia Lei opened the box and took out all the parts and the AS50. He put them on his work-table. He then disassembled the AS50 into its parts and examined each piece with his left eye, remembering the measurements. His left eye was more precise than any precision measuring tool and he needed to memorise the most urate measurements for each part, then use these numbers for the parts Long Bing had given him and modify them.
He ¡®measured¡¯ them closely and it took him roughly an hour to finish with his measurements of the AS50. As he was about to ¡®measure¡¯ the parts Long Bing had given him, a knock came from the door.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the door disappeared from his vision. He paused when he saw who was beyond the door, then stepped quickly to open it.
The one who¡¯d knocked was the newly-hired head of security, Lu Sheng, and behind him stood Long Bing.
Long Bing was dressed in a well-ironeddies¡¯ suit. Her breasts were high, buttocks perky and she was sexy and mature. However, she was expressionless; colder than an iceberg and unapproachable.
She was indeed sexy and attractive but Xia Lei had never seen any man dare to approach her.
¡°Chairman Xia.¡± Lu Sheng had changed the way he addressed him. ¡°Thisdy here said she wants to see you. I asked her to wait in the guest lounge while I inform you but she insisted oning with me, so...¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right, we know each other. Go about your duties, Big Brother Sheng,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn, yes.¡± Lu Sheng left with a smile. Xia Lei still called him ¡®Big Brother Sheng¡¯ and this made him feel rather chuffed and put him in a good mood.
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you call me? I¡¯d have gone to wee you.¡±
Long Bing said nothing and walked straight into Xia Lei¡¯s workshop.
¡°You¡¯ve started modifying the gun?¡± Long Bing saw the pile of gun parts on the work-table.
¡°I¡¯ve just begun. You don¡¯t want it today, do you? There¡¯s no way I can finish it so quickly,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s not urgent. I¡¯ll take it when you¡¯re done. I came today to tell you one thing and you have to be prepared,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was curious. ¡°You¡¯re so serious - what in the world is it?¡±
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°Our intelligence personnel received a report that America knows that we have got our hands on thetest intelligentthe. They also know that you are the one who built it.¡±
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei said in surprise, ¡°How is this possible?¡±
Long Bing opened her handbag and took out a stack of photographs. She put them before Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stared dumbly at it. The first photograph showed the iplete intelligentthe and his workshop in the background. He flipped through the other photographs - every photograph was of his intelligentthe in different stages ofpletion. This meant that the person taking these had been observing his progress all along!
¡°This is just some of it. If I brought over all of them I¡¯d need a rucksack for over a thousand photographs,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Could it have been that guy, Xiang Hong-Bin?¡±
¡°Not possible. He was arrested before you finished building that machine. There is no way he could have taken pictures of the progress you made after that. It¡¯s another person - and he may be right beside you,¡± said Long Bing.
Faces surfaces in his mind instantly but Xia Lei could not think of a person who would do something like this. After half a beat of silence, he said, ¡°Give me some time. If this person is by my side then I¡¯ll definitely be able to find him.¡±
Long Bing spoke tonelessly, ¡°Actually, we thought we could find that person without disturbing you when we received the report but we failed. We checked every single person in yourpany and there was no one who was particrly suspicious. This is why I havee to tell you of this. You have to be careful.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Is this serious?¡±
¡°There haven¡¯t been any movements on the American side as yet but they cannot sit idly by when it is a matter like this. They will surely take action. Don¡¯t worry, they can¡¯t do anything to you even if they know that you¡¯re the one who built the intelligentthe. If there are international disputes, it¡¯s for the nations to bother about, not you,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei rxed at that. ¡°Oh, right, is this gun modification you want me to do rted to this?¡±
¡°No. I was disadvantaged in myst mission because of my sniper rifle. The parts you see are parts from my sniper rifle. Getting thetest sniper rifle is no problem but I¡¯ve used this one for many years. I¡¯m used to it and I¡¯ve grown attached so I asked you help me modify it. You can even build something like an intelligentthe so I believe that you can modify this into the best sniper rifle in the world,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I thought you¡¯d need it for some dangerous mission so I was quite worried for you. So that¡¯s why. I won¡¯t hurry then. I¡¯ll be able to make it better with more time.¡±
¡°Which mission won¡¯t I need guns? I don¡¯t have as much free time as this consultant,¡± said Long Bing. She then looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Let me ask you something.¡±
¡°Ask away.¡±
¡°How does it feel to be with Liang Si-Yao?¡±
Xia Lei paused, then said awkwardly, ¡°I definitely can¡¯t hide something like this from you but why are you asking about this?¡±
¡°Just curious. I think it must be interesting for someone like you to be in a rtionship. Never mind if you don¡¯t want to talk about it,¡± said Long Bing evenly.
¡°There¡¯s nothing unmentionable. I feel... How do I say it? Love is by feeling - bliss, sweetness and all that, but I feelpleteness most of all.¡±
¡°Completeness?¡± Long Bing looked interested. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°You know my background. My parents aren¡¯t around anymore and I have just my sister. I¡¯ve always felt very lonely; you won¡¯t understand. I¡¯ve always felt like I was missing something and was iplete and this feeling didn¡¯t go away no matter how much money I made... Till Si-Yao appeared, and my Master Liang Zheng-Chun. I now feel like I have aplete family. It¡¯s this feeling. Completeness,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing smiled for the first time. ¡°So that¡¯s it. You have my blessings.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°Don¡¯t go off, stay. I¡¯ll call Si-Yao and we can go out for a meal together.¡±
¡°No need. I¡¯m on the clock. No meals, no alcohol,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was not perturbed by her response. He smiled and said, ¡°Do what you want then. I¡¯ll give you a call when I¡¯m finished with the sniper rifle.¡±
Long Bing walked towards the door and looked back in the doorway. ¡°Right, you performed well at the martial arts seminar. Boss Shi was in admiration.¡±
¡°Boss Shi knows too?¡± Xia Lei said in surprise.
¡°His god-daughter told him. Oh, and she recorded a video too,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Boss Shi¡¯s god-daughter?¡± Xia Lei broke out in sweat. ¡°Who?¡±
¡°My colleague.¡±
¡°I¡¯m asking about her name.¡± Xia Lei was not satisfied with her answer.
¡°You two will meet.¡± Long Bing opened the door and left.
Xia Lei wanted to send her off through the gates but Long Bing had closed the door behind herself; she didn¡¯t want him to send her off.
Xia Lei fell into deep thought after Long Bing left. Two things circled in his head. One was the mysterious spy close to him. This made him feel rather worried. The other was that there were people from Bureau 101 at the martial arts seminar, and the god-daughter of Boss Shi at that. This made perplexed him - who was she?
¡°Could it be her?¡± The image of Tang Yu-Yan popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head but he shook his head in the end. ¡°The Tang Sect is a martial arts group. How could Tang Yu-Yan be Boss Shi¡¯s god-daughter? Besides, Long Bing did not mention Tang Bo-Chuan at all. If Tang Yu-Yan is his god-daughter, then won¡¯t Tang Bo-Chuan be his god-son?¡±
He felt like it could be her, yet not be her. Matters like these were not easy to conclude.
Xia Lei threw the photographs Long Bing left behind in the bin, then set them alight. The stack of photographs burned and blue smoke plumed from them.
¡°Lei, it¡¯s me.¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice came from beyond the door.
Xia Lei turned to open the door.
Liang Si-Yao saw the embers in the bin and asked curiously, ¡°What¡¯re you burning?¡±
¡°Some photographs,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Photographs? What photographs?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked at the bin but could not see anything.
¡°Don¡¯t ask; it has to do with Long Bing. You have to be more careful now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What happened?¡± Liang Si-Yao grew a little nervous.
¡°There¡¯s a spy here, I don¡¯t know who. Be more wary and tell me if you see anyone suspicious. But be very careful - don¡¯t do anything even if you do discover something. Tell me and I¡¯ll take care of it with Long Bing,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh my goodness... We can make a spy movie already.¡± Liang Si-Yao tapped herself on her bosom. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll keep a lookout. I¡¯ll tell you first thing if I apprehend him.¡±
¡°Be very careful,¡± nagged Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah, yeah, I know.¡± Liang Si-Yao couldn¡¯t help the smile on her face with Xia Lei showing such concern for her. ¡°Oh, right, Mayor Hu Hou¡¯s secretary called just now. We should go to the venue this afternoon to set up the booth. The Expo¡¯s tomorrow. Let¡¯s go over to have a look now if you¡¯re not busy.¡±
¡°Nn, let¡¯s go take a look,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao looked at the AS50 sniper rifle and the pile of parts on the work table, just a nce, and hung onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm as they left the workshop.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wong_Fei-hung
Chapter 210 - Change And Zhu Ba-Jie
The venue of the Expo was at the Hai-Zhu International Convention and Exhibition Centre. This was a huge, multi-purpose exhibition hall which was divided into six zones with a total of 30,000 square metres. Hai-Zhu City¡¯s Expo was in the first exhibition hall and the other exhibition halls were upied by business from other regions and foreign businesses. Every one of the 1,600 booths were filled - the dazzling array of products on disy made one¡¯s eyes blur. It was unprecedented.
Hu Hou had given Xia Lei an excellent spot, right near the door to the exhibition hall. A person who walked into Exhibition Hall One would see the booth at once.
Almost all of Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s beauties were gathered at the booth wearing sexy uniforms which Liang Si-Yao had customised from a clothingpany. They were a sight to behold and were the most eye-catching in Hall One.
There was a booth and pretty girls but Thunder Horse Manufacturing had no products on disy. This strange setup drew the attention of many in the same exhibition hall and discussions started.
¡°What¡¯s Thunder Horse Manufacturing trying to disy? Pretty girls?¡± said someone.
¡°That Xia Lei guy confidently guaranteed in front of Mayor Hu that he wouldn¡¯t let him down. He must think that Hu Hou likes pretty girls, huh? Thunder Horse Manufacturing looks like some sort of entertainment business, haha...¡± sneered someone.
These words reached the ears of the girls and they were mad. They red at the gossip-mongers.
Guan Ling-Shan paced anxiously in front of the booth. ¡°Why aren¡¯t Chairman Xia and Miss Liang here yet? It¡¯s going to start soon, and our product still hasn¡¯t been delivered... What if some ident happened? What do we do...?¡±
As she muttered to herself, Hu Hou walked into Hall One with a group of out-of-town businessmen. He talked to them about the businesses in Hai-Zhu City as he led them towards Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s booth.
He did not specially bring them to the Thunder Horse Manufacturing booth - it was right by the door. Anyone who walked in had to go past the booth.
Guan Ling-Shan¡¯s face turned pale when she saw Hu Hou and the big group of businessmen. Mayor Hu was bringing businessmen around and showing them around Hall One and the first booth they came to was Thunder Horse Manufacturing. However, the booth was empty save for the group of pretty girls. What booth was this?
¡°Let me show you a newpany in Hai-Zhu City, Thunder Horse Manufacturing. It is...¡± Hu Hou then saw the booth clearly mid-sentence and the empty booth was like a p to his face, taking the words from his mouth.
Guan Ling-Shan braced herself and walked forward. ¡°Mayor Hu, we...¡±
Hu Hou cut her short, his face dark with anger, ¡°Xia Lei? Where is he? What is this?¡±
¡°Chairman Xia is...¡± Guan Ling-Shan didn¡¯t know what to say.
Gu Ke-Wen walked over from Nice Moves Sports¡¯ booth with a gloating smile on her face. ¡°Mayor Hu, are these women the new products of Thunder Horse Manufacturing? Are they robots?¡± She reached out a hand, pinched Guan Ling-Shan¡¯s face andughed as she said, ¡°Not a robot - it¡¯s a person.¡±
Guan Ling-Shan swept Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s hand away. ¡°Please watch your words. Our Chairman Xia must have met with some ident. I¡¯ll call him right away - he¡¯ll be here soon.¡±
¡°Why call? Does he still dare to face Mayor Hu now? He must have gone in hiding already. I¡¯ve said it before - what right does apany that processes screws for others have to participate in this Expo? Mayor Hu, you should bring your business friends to ourpany¡¯s booth. Our automatic surfboard is an excellent product which has done well in the American and European markets,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°No need to call him,¡± he said darkly to Guan Ling-Shan. ¡°I apologise, gentlemen, there¡¯s been a problem. Let¡¯s first take a look elsewhere - Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company¡¯s automatic surfboard is...¡±
At that moment, a hubbub of exmations came from outside Hall One.
¡°Wow! So pretty!¡±
¡°What¡¯s that? I¡¯ve never seen it before!¡±
¡°Where can I buy that?¡±
¡°Hello? Are you here for the Expo? Which booth is yours?¡±
These voices came ringing from outside, interrupting Hu Hou in the middle of his sentence and drawing the attention of several out-of-town businesses. Hu Hou was thest to turn and look, and when he turned towards the doorway of Hall One, he saw Xia Lei roll in on a skateboard, wearing Adidas from head to toe.
The skateboard beneath Xia Lei¡¯s feet shed. The colours were dazzling and it moved not too fast or too slow; it was like he was standing on a rainbow and it was very eye-catching.
Behind Xia Lei was arge group of youths. They rolled into the exhibition hall on skateboards. Some circled around the businessmen while others performed difficult maneuvers in the free spaces on the exhibition hall floor. Their appearance charged the atmosphere in Hall One and even those on their way out of the hall were drawn back in.
Hu Hou had been stone-faced but a smile appeared on his face when he saw Xia Lei and Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s product, which looked like great fun. ¡°This guy is full of surprises. He didn¡¯t let me down,¡± said Hu Hou to himself.
Gu Ke-Wen, on the other hand, looked thunderously at Xia Lei and the skateboard. She had to admit that the skateboard beneath his feet was very pretty and trendy. A product like this would easily capture the young consumers market and even make skateboarding popr! But she also had a feeling that the skateboard Thunder Horse Manufacturing had made was infringing on the rights of the automatic surfboard from Nice Moves!
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s face darkened at that thought. Not only had Xia Lei copied her product and disregarded her, he was also disying this product right in front of her at this Expo!
At that moment, Xia Lei skated to Hu Hou and stepped lightly on the back of the skateboard; the skateboard stopped. Xia Lei said with a smile, ¡°My apologies, I was stuck in traffic. I had the employees skate over on the skateboards. We could havee earlier but I thought we¡¯d attract more merchants if we skated around the exhibition hall first. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t hurry here and went around beforeing.¡±
Hu Hou¡¯s anger had subsided long ago. He smiled as he shook hands with Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯ve done well. Quick, set up your booth. I think you¡¯ll gain much today.¡±
¡°Nn, yes. I¡¯ll make the arrangements right away.¡± Xia Lei turned to his employees and said, ¡°Get started on your duties now. Chop-chop.¡±
The girls of Thunder Horse Manufacturing hurried about setting up the disy for the product. The girls also took on the roles of models and went to stand next to the skateboard. The product was attractive, the people were attractive - the booth became even more eye-catching.
The people who were nning to go with Hu Hou to look at Nice Moves¡¯ automatic surfboard all gathered around Thunder Horse Manufacturing. Add the tourists and merchants from other regions who¡¯de from outside, attracted by the skateboard and Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s booth became the busiest booth in Hall One.
This was fairly normal. Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company had sold very few surfboards domestically because China is vast and over ny percent of its territory is far away from the ocean. There was no surfing with no sea so who would buy an automatic surfboard? Automatic skateboards were different though - they could be sold in all domestic markets!
The busy scene before him made Xia Lei smile in satisfaction. He¡¯d made the right bet on this treasure.
Commotion came from the doorway.
Four people dressed as the Ninja Turtles came rolling into the exhibition hall on skateboards; Leo with the twin katanas, Raphael with the sai, Michngelo with the nunchucks and Donatello with the bo. They were not the main attraction, however. The main attraction was Liang Si-Yao, right behind the four, dressed as Chang¡¯e.
Liang Si-Yao was in ancient-style white robes with a lot of streamers. These streamers floated in the air behind her as she rolled on the skateboard, dancing in the air. The automatic skateboard beneath her feet glowed blue, making her look like a Celestial beauty.
¡°Woah, this skateboard can be used like that too?¡± A tourist looked at Liang Si-Yao enviously.
¡°Whatpany is this? Animation? They have talent!¡± said someone.
¡°They¡¯re selling skateboards. Come on, let¡¯s go see. Go around the park on this and it¡¯ll turn heads, 100%!¡±
¡°Girl-ma wonder item, haha!¡±
Many things were said about it and many people went to the booth to ask the employees how they could get their hands on an automatic skateboard.
The four Ninja Turtles upped their speed and sped to the booth. Words of praise came from all around them.
Liang Si-Yao rolled over to Xia Lei instead and went in circles around him. She had a smile on her face and her eyes were full of love. Who knew - she might have imagined Xia Lei as the Heavenly Marshal drooling at her beauty.
¡°You¡¯re beautiful.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help saying words of admiration that sprung from his love-filled heart.
Liang Si-Yao pouted her cherry lips. ¡°Time was limited, otherwise I¡¯d have got you a Dong Yong* costume and we could show it off.¡±
¡°You¡¯re Chang¡¯e, so how is she rted to Dong Yong? That¡¯s the Seventh Fairy, you know?¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Liang Si-Yao said shamefully, ¡°Sorry, I went abroad years ago and I¡¯ve confused these two legends. The one you should be dressing up as is Zhu Ba-Jie, right? Haha! You don¡¯t even need makeup to be him.¡±
Xia Lei red at her in fake-anger.
Liang Si-Yao giggled, ¡°Heehee, you¡¯re MY Zhu Ba-Jie, okay?¡±
While they flirted, Gu Ke-Wen suddenly came over with a group of Nice Moves Sports employees.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Gu Ke-Wen said loudly, ¡°Give me an exnation, or I¡¯ll see you in court!¡±
Xia Lei knew well what she wanted him to exin but he pretended not to know. ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this the Second Miss of the Gu n? What exnation do you want? See me in court? I don¡¯t owe you money, do I?¡±
Gu Ke-Wen pointed angrily at the automatic surfboard beneath Liang Si-Yao¡¯s feet. ¡°I¡¯m talking about this thing! I knew you were shameless but I didn¡¯t expect you to be so daring as to copy mypany¡¯s product!¡±
Chang¡¯e - Chang¡¯e is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. She is the subject of several legends in Chinese mythology.
Zhu Ba-Jie - Zhu Bajie is a major character of the novel Journey to the West. Zhu means "swine", and Bajie means "eight precepts". In many English versions of the story, Zhu Bajie is called "Pigsy" or "Pig".
* Dong Yong - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Xian_Pei
Chapter 211 - Rival Versus Rival Versus Rival in Love
Gu Ke-Wen spoke loudly, attracting many eyes and starting discussions.
An employee of Nice Moves carried an automatic surfboard to stand before Liang Si-Yao and put it down on the floor next to Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s automatic skateboard for aparison.
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s face was a mask of anger. ¡°See that? It¡¯s ourpany¡¯s patented product. Give me an exnation for this!¡±
Xia Lei smirked. ¡°Yourpany¡¯s patented product? I recall that it¡¯s Madam Liu Ying¡¯s patented product. You dare speak to me like this when it¡¯s something you¡¯ve robbed from another?¡±
Hu Hou walked over and said in displeasure, ¡°What happened? Can you two not fight here today? Please remember that you¡¯re representing Hai-Zhu City¡¯s businesses.¡±
¡°Do not involve yourself in this matter, Mayor Hu. I am going to sue him. I will make himpensate mypany for our losses and stop him from infringing on our rights immediately!¡± She looked back at Lin Ya-Ru behind her and said, ¡°Ya-Ru, call ourwyer and tell him toe here, now.¡±
Lin Ya-Ru took out her mobile phone and she looked at Xia Lei with schadenfreude while she waited for the call to connect.
Hu Hou looked at the automatic surfboard on the floor and looked at the automatic skateboard beneath Liang Si-Yao¡¯s feet. He wrinkled his brows - they were both board-shaped sports equipment. It was difficult to say for sure when Gu Ke-Wen was insisting that Xia Lei¡¯s automatic skateboard was infringing on the rights of her automatic surfboard.
Liang Si-Yao seemed to have picked up on Hu Hou¡¯s thoughts. She stepped off the automatic skateboard and went straight to Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s booth to take a document envelope, right in front of everyone, and back to Xia Lei¡¯s side.
Lin Ya-Ru finished her call just then and all that was left was to wait for thewyer.
Gu Ke-Wen sneered, ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re stupid or clever, Xia Lei. You seem smart since you were able to copy ourpany¡¯s product but you actually ignored copyrightws and brought your copied product to an exhibition like this - this makes you look stupid. Let me tell you that I¡¯ll make sure you pay, and pay with everything you¡¯ve got!¡±
Lin Ya-Ru added, ¡°Some people are just not educated enough and don¡¯t know the rules of business. Not knowing thew is also quite normal.¡±
¡°Are you done talking? Then get out of the way. Don¡¯t squawk about in front of me,¡± said Xia Lei disinterestedly.
¡°I want you to remove your copies right now!¡± shouted Gu Ke-Wen at Xia Lei, ¡°Now!¡±
Liang Si-Yao sneered, ¡°Who do you think you are? The queen? A princess?¡± She opened the envelope and took out a patent certificate. She handed it to Hu Hou. ¡°Mayor Hu, this is ourpany¡¯s patent certificate. It¡¯s a patent approved by the National Patent Administration.¡±
Hu Hou saw it clearly - it was indeed a patent certificate approved by the National Patent Administration in ck and white,plete with seals and signatures. He let out an internal sigh of relief when he saw the seals and signatures on the certificate and smiled as he said, ¡°Miss Gu, please stop making a fuss. Thunder Horse Manufacturing has a patent certificate and it¡¯s by the National Patent Administration too. If you¡¯re using Thunder Horse Manufacturing of copying yourpany¡¯s product, you have to first go to the National Patent Administration to check the situation and listen to their exnation, if they are willing to exin it.¡±
This was an implicit suggestion. Would the National Patent Administration give Gu Ke-Wen an exnation? Do not court a rebuff!
Gu Ke-Wen also looked closely at the patent certificate in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s hand. Every word on that certificate was like a fly, buzzing about before her eyes and disgusting her with every word she read.
Liang Si-Yao raised her voice, ¡°Ourpany¡¯s automatic surfboard did not infringe upon the product of Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company. She is jealous of ourpany¡¯s excellent product. Think about this, everyone - one is a product which is used on the sea and the other onnd. How can there be infringement? Ourpany¡¯s automatic skateboard has four wheels - does Nice Moves¡¯ automatic surfboard have wheels? If you say that using electronics to make it automatic is infringing on rights, then won¡¯t the electric scooters and electric cars all over China¡¯s roads be infringing on those rights? Isn¡¯t this too tyrannical?¡±
The surrounding tourists and merchants started buzzing with discussions again.
¡°That¡¯s right. One is a product used on the sea when there¡¯s waves and the other is a product that rolls onnd - how can it be a copy? A skateboard is a normal thing and it¡¯s been around for a long time but this innovation is new,¡± said a merchant.
¡°This long-legged woman said it well and said it right - if an automatic skateboard like this is infringing on that sort of automatic surfboard then the streets full of electric scooters and cars would be in vition. Isn¡¯t this too overbearing?¡± said someone.
The public was on Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s side.
Xia Lei looked at Liang Si-Yao and felt like he really was destined to be with this ¡®housekeeper¡¯. She kept thepany in good order, was able to speak well and fight well if anything happened and had a boldness and skill which ordinary womencked. Liang Si-Yao was the best, the most amazing person to him.
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s face darkened further. She had not expected Xia Lei to have a patent too and a patent from the National Patent Administration at that. She actually knew about the National Patent Administration because the patent she had snatched from Liu Ying had alsoe from them. Xia Lei being able to bypass the local patent office and go straight to the National Patent Administration meant that he had someone on the inside. Wouldn¡¯t it be asking for a snub if she went and asked for an exnation?
¡°Mayor Hu, thew is thew, no matter who applied for this sort of patent. How can the Gu n not sue, especially when it¡¯s a smallpany like this?¡± said a male voice from beyond the group of onlookers.
A path was made through the crowd and bodyguards nked the way as Gu Ke-Wu strolled leisurely forward. Behind him came two heavyweights - Dong Wu and Qin Qi. These two stared darkly at Xia Lei the moment they turned up and looked ready to tear him to pieces. They had suffered great humiliation during the martial arts seminar and this hatred was not just going to go away like that.
Hu Hou seemed to have sensed something and he smiled wryly. ¡°Never mind, you fight it out. I have no way to mediate this.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu walked to Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao and nced dismissively at the patent certificate in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s hand. He sneered, ¡°Xia Lei, even if you have the patent, it doesn¡¯t erase the fact that you¡¯ve infringed on our copyright. The Gu n will get the bestwyers in China to fight this case and apply for a restraining order at the same time to prohibit the production and sale of this pirated product. I¡¯d like to see how arrogant you can get. By the way - do you have the money to go up against me?¡±
Comparing wealth? If money were dirt, the Gu n would be a mountain while Xia Lei was just a small dirt pile; they were miles apart.
Connections? If connections were lines of rope, the Gu n would have a huge trawling while Xia Lei would have a little handkerchief; they were still on different levels.
If things really came to court case and they had to use their money and connections, Xia Lei would not be able to pay for it and he would be the loser no matter what the oue was.
Xia Lei was not shaken by Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s threat. He maintained his calm and confident demeanour and said disdainfully, ¡°Gu Ke-Wu, you¡¯ve said big words to me several times but have you ever seeded? No? Thank your own thick skin because I would have made a detour and slunk off in shame if I were you.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu did not get riled up either and put a smile on his face. ¡°Half an hour. I¡¯ll have the Industry and Commerce peoplee and close down your operations. Just you wait. Half an hour.¡± He took out his phone and got ready to dial.
¡°Gu Ke-Wu!¡± A familiar voice called his name.
Xia Lei looked in the direction of the voice to see Shentu Tian-Yin and Fu Ming-Mei walk over from inside Hall One.
Gu Ke-Wen put on a smile when she saw Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°You¡¯re here, Tian-Yin. I was about to go look for you.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly felt like the Great Wall was not enough topare with Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s thick skin; the thickness of her skin had exceeded the width of the Earth¡¯s crust.
¡°Gu Ke-Wu, when did you start using money and connections to threaten others?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did not hold back against Gu Ke-Wu. ¡°You want to go to court with Xia Lei? Fine. I will provide all resources, man and material, for him. I¡¯d like to see who will be able to afford it - you or me.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu frowned. He could hear the resolve in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s words and her meaning was clear - the Shentu n would make sure that Xia Lei would be protected!
Gu Ke-Wen spoke in dissatisfaction, ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, my brother likes you and only you - why are you always at loggerheads with him? I know you like this punk but what¡¯s so good about him?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin and Liang Si-Yao¡¯s gazes met and they spoke wordlessly and concisely with their eyes.
¡°I shall leave it at that. Do what you will.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin walked towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked at her, his heart full of gratitude but there was no need to say thanks to her.
Shentu Tian-Yin stopped before Xia Lei and spoke casually, ¡°If he continues to pester you just give me a call. I will get you what you need, anytime.¡±
Before Xia Lei could reply, Liang Si-Yao cut in, ¡°Thanks but we don¡¯t need it. We can solve this problem on our own.¡±
Xia Lei was extremely embarrassed in that instant. He understood why Liang Si-Yao would say that because no woman would like her man to ept ¡®god-sent¡¯ help like this from another woman. However, he also thought that she should not have said it to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face; he was a man after all and a man had his dignity.
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Liang Si-Yao and smiled wryly. ¡°Sure, suit yourselves. I¡¯m off. Lei,e visit my father when you have time.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu suddenly startedughing happily. ¡°So it¡¯s like that, huh? So it¡¯s like that.¡±
What he said was head-scratching to others but Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei knew what he meant. Gu Ke-Wu had seen through it - Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei were in a fake rtionship and Liang Si-Yao was the real girlfriend.
Xia Lei was not a real love rival at all to Gu Ke-Wu and this was a good thing that was worthy of celebration with champagne.
Shentu Tian-Yin left without looking back.
Xia Lei felt disappointed for some inexplicable reason.
¡°Big Brother, I¡¯ll call the Industry and Commerce people toe over,¡± sneered Gu Ke-Wen, ¡°Shentu Tian-Yin wanted to help but his girlfriend¡¯s plucky. We¡¯ll have a show to watch.¡±
¡°Make the call. I don¡¯t believe that Tian-Yin will go all out and make war with our n for a punk like this. He¡¯s not worth it,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu with a smirk.
Chapter 212 - Beautiful Face
From what Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen saw, Shentu Tian-Yin would not be able to fully support Xia Lei with Liang Si-Yao in the middle. Liang Si-Yao would not let her help even if she wanted to. Shentu Tian-Yin would look down on Xia Lei when he couldn¡¯t handle things on his own anymore and went to her for help. Furthermore, if both sides were to fight in court and the media get hyped over it, it would serve as free advertisement for Nice Moves Sports¡¯ automatic surfboard. Once Xia Lei lost the case, Nice Moves could then get the patent for the automatic skateboard and produce it exclusively - how could Gu Ke-Wen and Gu-Ke-Wu let such a great opportunity go?
Hu Hou couldn¡¯t help saying a word in defence of Xia Lei when he saw Gu Ke-Wen take her phone out. ¡°Miss Gu, how about this... Both parties sit down and talk things through after the Expo is over.¡±
¡°No way.¡± Gu Ke-Wen didn¡¯t even take his suggestion into ount.
It was normal for Gu Ke-Wen to not show respect to the small rank of mayor since the Gu n was so powerful.
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao were still taking matters lightly and they were talking about things which werepletely unrted to what was happening at hand.
¡°You¡¯re... not happy?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked a little guilty. She could see that Xia Lei was a little upset and she also knew why.
Xia Lei gave her a smile. ¡°It¡¯s all right. How can I be angry with you?¡±
Liang Si-Yao let out a breath and held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm intimately. ¡°You¡¯re the best.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu, who had been overlooked, sneered, ¡±You two sure are lovey-dovey. Let¡¯s see if you can still be in such a good mood in half an hour.¡±
Xia Lei spokeughingly, ¡°Know why I¡¯m not taking you seriously? You want to go to court? What a coincidence - I want to meet you in court too. I¡¯ll sue you for infringement.¡±
¡°What nonsense are you spouting? We? Copy you? You must have gone mad with greed!¡± said Gu Ke-Wen angrily.
Xia Lei took the patent certificate from Liang Si-Yao, pointed at the date in the bottom right corner and said, ¡°Open your eyes wide and look at this. Look closely. Ourpany had our patent approved this year in March. When did yours get approved? July? You got your patent in July and you actually want to sue me, who got my patent approved in March? Is your head working properly?¡±
Everyone had overlooked this small detail - the date of the patent approval.
Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s gazes went to the patent certificate in Xia Lei¡¯s hand and they saw the date clearly. Both looked like they had swallowed a fly.
Would a patent approved in March be infringing on a patent that was approved in July? The former had already been ¡®born¡¯ while thetter was still goodness-knows-where, so how could this be infringing? A specialisedwyer? With a case like this, just getting a random cleaningdy to argue the case in court would leave the opposition with no rebuttal.
¡°How is this possible!¡± said Gu Ke-Wen angrily, ¡°March? Your Thunder Horse Manufacturing didn¡¯t even exist in March! How can you have this patent?¡±
¡°You could go snatch one so why couldn¡¯t I? I took this, so?¡±
¡°You...¡± Gu Ke-Wen was too angry for words.
Patents and products were two different things. One dealt with intellectual property and the other, a product, was only derivative. This meant that Xia Lei¡¯s patent could have a myriad of exnations. He could have researched it in high school or it could have been researched by someone else and sold to him. These were not important, however. What was important was that the patent had been approved in March and Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu had no way of making a fuss out of it nor have leverage to threaten Xia Lei.
¡°You see it? See it clearly? See it and get lost,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Don¡¯t piss me off or I¡¯ll sue you for infringement and make it so that you have no way of manufacturing automatic surfboards.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu raised a finger to point at Xia Lei but he said nothing. He turned and left.
Gu Ke-Wen red hatefully at Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao and went off with her brother.
A smallpany like Nice Moves and the profit the automatic surfboard brought were not actually much to Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu. The siblings were only bothered by Xia Lei - if they could make Xia Lei suffer and disappear from the face of this Earth, they would be willing to pay any price! However, it was just too much trouble to make trouble with him.
Liang Si-Yao watched Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu stalk off in a huff and smiled as she said, ¡°I thought it was weird why you specified that the patent date had to be in March. So you¡¯ve already seen that this would happen.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°There¡¯s no pulling punches when dealing with opponents like Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu. Okay, it¡¯s all good now. Let¡¯s go to the booth.¡±
¡°Nn, I think we¡¯ll have many orders today.¡± Liang Si-Yao looked very happy.
It was as Liang Si-Yao had guessed. Many merchants and businesses from other regions came asking questions about the automatic skateboard after Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s departure. Some of these merchants even tested the skateboard and were full of praise for its functionalities.
An automatic skateboard like this was indeed based on the automatic surfboard. Some parts of its design was easily copied but Xia Lei¡¯s specialty was mechanical modification and he had added several things to the base design of the automatic surfboard, improving its and perfecting its performance. How could his personally-modified automatic skateboard be worse? Six out of ten of the merchants who saw it were excited by the product and at least two or three of these six ced orders. And this was just the first day of the Expo too; orders from all regions and even from overseas woulde flying inter!
Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s booth became the most popr and lively booth in the whole ce while Nice Moves Sports Equipment¡¯s booth was quiet with fewing to inquire. This was to be expected since an automatic skateboard could be used onnd but an automatic surfboard could only be used on water; there was noparing the market prospects of these two. Gu Ke-Wen would have regretted it terribly if she¡¯d seen it because she could have changed a few things about the automatic surfboard to make an automatic skateboard if she¡¯d only thought more deeply about it and not let Xia Lei take advantage like this.
Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world and there was no turning back time for things which had already happened.
There were many inquiries from visiting merchants and the employees of Thunder Horse Manufacturing were very busy. Liang Si-Yao was also up to her neck in work - she was like an interpreter machine, exining the performance and prospects of the automatic skateboard and so on. Xia Lei took care of entertaining the visiting merchants and talking with them about purchase orders. He was busy too but still in a less hectic state than Liang Si-Yao and the employees.
Xia Lei had a bit of respite after sending off a customer who¡¯d just ced an order. He walked to the side of the booth and gave Shentu Tian-Yin a call.
¡°Tian-Yin, just now...¡± Xia Lei hesitated, then said, ¡°I apologise on Si-Yao¡¯s behalf. She¡¯s very straightforward and says whatever¡¯s on her mind. Please don¡¯t take it to heart.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°What are you apologising for? I¡¯m not more petty than you are. It¡¯s fine, I understand. She¡¯s actually been quite big-hearted. Other women would have definitely started an argument with me on the spot.¡±
Women were all selfish in love and what she said made sense because she herself was a woman and understood how Liang Si-Yao felt.
Xia Lei let out a sigh of relief and said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s good that you think that way. I was afraid that you¡¯d be angry, so... Heh heh, it¡¯s all good. I¡¯ve also settled the issue with the patents so there won¡¯t be trouble. You won¡¯t have to worry for me.¡±
¡°I know.¡±
¡°You know?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yinughed. ¡°I have employees at the Expo too. I told them to report the situation to me. My people would definitely call me to tell me that you solved the problem with the date of the patent approval.¡±
¡°I see.¡± Xia Lei felt a wave of gratitude. Shentu Tian-Yin had walked off because she did not want to hang around with Liang Si-Yao and make her misunderstand and have bad feelings but she still thought about him at the Expo and kept an eye on the situation, prepared to help him out if the need arose.
¡°You sure are sly. I can imagine the looks on Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s faces. It must¡¯ve been spectacr, huh?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin with augh.
Xia Leiughed too. ¡°It was spectacr indeed - like they¡¯d swallowed a fly.¡±
¡°Too bad I missed it. Oh, right, you should have some time after the Expo is over. Come with me to see my father. He wants to see you because you¡¯re the person who cured him. If possible, I¡¯d like you to check on his condition and treat him if you detect any illnesses. Is that all right?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was thick with expectation.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll apany you to visit Uncle when the Expo¡¯s over.¡± Xia Lei agreed without further thought.
¡°Nn, that¡¯s a promise, then. Goodbye.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin said goodbye but she did not hang up.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice stuck a little in his throat. ¡°Nn... Bye.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin then hung up.
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh and thought, ¡®She... didn¡¯t think our act was real, did she? I wouldn¡¯t have agreed to put on that act with her if I¡¯d known. But who would help her if I didn¡¯t?¡¯
Some questions would never have answers.
Shentu Tian-Yin wouldn¡¯t even bother giving him a nce in the past and he could only dream of being with her. The two of them lived in different worlds, like two parallel lines which never intersected. But now, she was actually willing to go to war with the Gu n for him! Him and Shentu Tian-Yin would have been a match made in heaven if it weren¡¯t for Liang Si-Yao. However, he was in love with Liang Si-Yao now and she loved him too. Who can say for sure in this mess of possibilities and rtionships?
At that moment, a group of blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreign businessmen came to Hall One with Hu Hou.
A faint smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡®This Mayor Hu sure is a big help. He¡¯s brought quite a few local businessmen and is even bringing foreign businessmen here. The foreign merchants will surely like my automatic skateboard too. It¡¯ll be great if I can sell my product in the American and European markets too.¡¯
Hu Hou spotted Xia Lei and waved at him, asking him toe over.
Xia Lei walked forward with a weing smile but a beautiful face suddenly entered his field of vision before he got to the foreign businessmen. His feet stopped moving, as if he¡¯d run out of batteries. The smile froze on his face and his expression turned very odd indeed.
Chapter 213 - Golden Third Party
The owner of the beautiful face was Annina.
Xia Lei and Annina¡¯s story could be turned into a spy war movie. In that movie, he would be a resourceful special agent and she, the kind girl who was kept in the dark. She thought she would have a romantic story together but their story had just a beginning, no end.
¡°What are you doing, Lei? Come, greet them. These are businessmen from Germany,¡± said Hu Hou nervously when he saw Xia Lei stand dumbly in one spot.
Annina looked over at him at that moment. Their eyes met and the Expo seemed to have been sted away, leaving just her and Xia Lei. A mineral water bottle slipped from her hand and thunked to the floor but she did not move; she stared straight at Xia Lei, as if afraid that he would disappear if she blinked.
¡®Lukas¡¯ was like a knight from a foreignnd to Annina. He had swept into her life, saving her from danger and stealing her heart. However, when her heart filled with love for him and she had been prepared to give him that love, he disappeared.
Annina could not forget that night in Josef¡¯s house, those masked gang members had fired at Lukas and even his body had vanished in the end...
She thought she¡¯d never see Lukas ever again but she had unexpectedly run into the dead Lukas when she came to visit an Expo in China. This sourness and bitterness in her heart was as if a bottle of mixed vours had tipped over; sour, sweet, bitter and hot all rushed all bubbled to the surface. Tears welled up in her blue eyes even before she was able to say a word to Lukas, threatening to fall at any moment. However, a faint smile appeared on her lips, the world¡¯s sweetest, most joyful smile - was there anything more joyful than the resurrection of the dead?
The two of them stared wordlessly at each other and Hu Hou, who was to the side of them, wrinkled his brows. He stopped calling out to Xia Lei and walked over, and the hand which was waving at Xia Lei changed to waving the foreign businessmen over.
Xia Lei was so nervous he could die. He wanted to turn around and run away but on second thought, Annina had already seen him - running now would mean he was guilty of something. There was no running from the temple if he was a monk; there was no choice and he just had to bite the bullet.
Hu Hou said with a smile, ¡°Everyone, let me introduce you. This is our Hai-Zhu City¡¯s...¡±
Before he could finish, Annina took two leaping steps forward and hugged Xia Lei.
Xia Lei froze. Annina¡¯s chest was very soft and bouncy but his brain was nk and he felt nothing.
¡°You know each other?¡± Hu Hou was astonished. He did not know any German but the two of them were hugging so they should know each other, right? However, Xia Lei was unable to answer this simple question.
¡°Lukas, Lukas...¡± Annina squeezed Xia Lei tight and seemed to be losing it, ¡°This must be a miracle. I thought I¡¯d never see you for the rest of my life. The Lord must have let you appear before me again, it must be...¡±
Next to the Thunder Horse Manufacturing booth, Guan Ling-Shan suddenly pulled nervously at Liang Si-Yao, who was organising the purchase orders. She pointed at Xia Lei and Annina.
Liang Si-Yao looked over and was dumbstruck.
¡°I¡¯ll go ask... What situation¡¯s that?¡± Guan Ling-Shan pushed her spectacles up and said in amazement, ¡°Is that foreign girl Chairman Xia¡¯s...¡±
Liang Si-Yao red at Guan Ling-Shan. ¡°What rubbish. That¡¯s just... that, that is an overseas greeting custom.¡±
¡°Sure. Take it as me saying too much.¡± Guan Ling-Shan muttered, ¡°But it¡¯s been one whole minute and they¡¯re still hugging. Which country¡¯s custom is that?¡±
All the happiness had drained from Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face.
Annina finally released Xia Lei and wiped at the tears in her eyes. ¡°Lukas, don¡¯t you have something to say to me?¡±
Xia Lei had not said a single word to her so far and her heart was breaking.
Xia Lei looked at her and braced himself. ¡°What are you saying, Miss? I don¡¯t understand German.¡±
¡°You...¡± Annina could not believe it. She did not understand Chinese but she could guess what Xia Lei had said. She was sure that Xia Lei was Lukas because she was familiar with his smell - and how could there be someone who was 100% alike? What hurt her most was this - he was obviously Lukas but why did he pretend not to know her when he met her? He had no smile and only spoke to her in the Chinesenguage she did not understand.
The interpreter for the foreign merchant group walked over and helped ry Xia Lei¡¯s words to Annina.
¡°Lukas, have you forgotten me?¡± asked Annina, hurt.
The interpreter ryed Annina¡¯s words to Xia Lei.
¡®I¡¯m sorry Annina. I don¡¯t want to do this either but if I acknowledge that I know you I might cause an international dispute...¡¯ thought Xia Lei, but he steeled his heart and said, ¡°Miss, my name is Xia Lei, not Lukas. You must have the wrong person.¡±
The interpreter tranted Xia Lei¡¯s words for Annina again.
Annina could not hold back the hurt she felt and her tears rolled down her cheeks in two lines. She bit her lip and said nothing more.
The group of foreign businessmen looked oddly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei acted embarrassed and shrugged. ¡°Thisdy must have the wrong person. This is our first time meeting. I must resemble a friend of hers. Heh heh, all right, I should promote mypany¡¯s new product. It¡¯s an automatic skateboard, very trendy, very cool. You will like it.¡±
The interpreter went to work again and the foreign businessmen all went over to Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s booth. One of the foreign businessmen gave Annina some words of constion before he went to the booth.
Annina did not move. She stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Why? Is it because of your wife? Do youck the courage to even acknowledge me because of her?¡±
Xia Lei held both hands out. ¡°Miss, I¡¯m sorry, I really don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying.¡±
¡°I know you are Lukas. I also know that you understand German.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°You have the wrong guy, really. I¡¯m really not... I really don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying.¡± He nearly let it slip. Cold sweat popped out on his back.
Annina shook her head. ¡°You can¡¯t fool me. You¡¯re Lukas - I know your smell.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Is there something preventing you from speaking?¡± asked Annina.
This question made Xia Lei nervous; he was afraid that she would link him to Josef and Josef¡¯s intelligentthe.
It was totally usible because Annina knew about Josef¡¯s intelligentthe too and he had been ¡®killed¡¯ in Josef¡¯s home. She would never have made a link in her life if she did not meet him here, but she had appeared before him even though the world was so big. She was clever so wouldn¡¯t she think deeper and connect the dots?
Xia Lei¡¯s nervous reaction did not escape Annina¡¯s eyes and the look in her eyes turned strange. She looked at Xia Lei and seemed to be thinking something but she did not speak again.
¡°Please excuse me, Miss. I have to go take care of some customers.¡± Xia Lei did not dare stay with her any longer and he turned to walk towards the booth.
Annina paused, then followed closely behind Xia Lei, heading towards the booth.
Liang Si-Yao didn¡¯t bother with the foreign businessmen and walked to Xia Lei. Before she got close, however, she saw Xia Lei blinking furiously at her and twisting his lips about, as if trying to hint at something. She was confused - what was going on?
Xia Lei was also thrown off-kilter and overlooked the fact that Annina did not understand Chinese. He was also worried that the interpreter would trante his words for Annina so he did not dare to talk to Liang Si-Yao. However, though he wanted to step around Liang Si-Yao, his hesitation resulted in her wrapping herself around his arm and waist intimately.
¡®I¡¯m dead...¡¯ Xia Lei sighed internally and he hung his head.
Long Bing had acted as his wife in his month in Germany. Annina often sent him home on her bicycle after work so even if she did not go up, she had still seen what Long Bing looked like. Now, Liang Si-Yao had wiggled into his embrace intimately right in front of Annina - how could a woman as smart as Annina not figure it out?
This wasn¡¯t the worst of it, however. The worst was that Liang Si-Yao¡¯s intimate behaviour would direct Annina¡¯s thoughts to a dangerous direction! What sort of person would fake a marriage? What sort of person would get resurrected after being shot dead? Were these not obvious enough?
This girl! Why was she acting all lovey-dovey right now?!
As expected, Annina first froze when she saw Liang Si-Yao wrap herself in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, then she looked surprised, and finally she smiled.
She walked straight to Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao and reached out to pat Xia Lei on the shoulder, saying quietly, ¡°Lukas, my phone number¡¯s the same. Give me a callter; let¡¯s talk.¡±
Xia Lei wanted to m his head into a wall.
Liang Si-Yao gave Annina a look and said unhappily, ¡°What did you say?¡±
Anninaughed and said, ¡°You¡¯re not his wife. Stop acting, I¡¯m no fool. You¡¯ve fooled me once but you can¡¯t fool me the second time.¡±
Liang Si-Yao did not understand German. She looked at Xia Lei, waiting for him to trante for her.
Xia Lei just looked at Annina, anxiously trying to guess what level of linking she¡¯d achieved.
Annina suddenly drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear right in front of Liang Si-Yao and said in a low voice, ¡°You have a secret.¡±
Xia Lei wanted to say that he did not understand but he could not say it anymore.
¡°I¡¯ll wait for your call. You¡¯ll regret it if you don¡¯t call me.¡± Annina suddenly kissed Xia Lei on the cheek.
Xia Lei froze. Liang Si-Yao froze. Annina walked calmly into the group of foreign businessmen.
¡°She... Who¡¯s she?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked suspiciously at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking but it¡¯s definitely not what you think. You know that I went to Germany for a period of time. Her name¡¯s Annina. She¡¯s a colleague from Germany and an elite machinist.¡±
Liang Si-Yao pouted. ¡°A colleague who cried because of you? She even kissed you in front of me! I would have pped her already just now if it weren¡¯t for today¡¯s special situation.¡±
¡°It really isn¡¯t what you think.¡±
¡°Then what is it?¡±
Xia Lei felt like his head was about to explode.
How did things turn out like this?
Chapter 214 - Consultants Realisation
Pedestrians hurried by on the streets as Xia Lei stood by the road like a statue. Women¡¯s faces appeared in his mind - Annina, Liang Si-Yao, Shentu Tian-Yin, Jiang Ru-Yi and Long Bing. They formed a secret garden but he was not a happy gardener; he was an unfortunate soul with hay fever.
A ck Buick van stopped by the side of the road and the car window rolled down, revealing Long Bing¡¯s face. ¡°Get in.¡±
Xia Lei opened the car door and got in.
Long Bing moved forward, but slowly. ¡°You said that German machinist came chasing after you. How is this possible?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, ¡°I thought it was impossible too but she¡¯s here.¡±
¡°We killed you off in front of her and your body¡¯s missing. The evidence we left behind all pointed to the local gang. She has no way of knowing that you¡¯re alive. Even if she knew you were alive, the world is a big ce. How did she find you here?¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was full of surprise and puzzlement.
That¡¯s right, the Earth was so big - why did she have toe here of all ces?
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°She came with a group of representatives from Germany. This may just be a coincidence. I can¡¯t think of any other reason than that. Never mind, she¡¯s already here and she¡¯s seen me. What do I do now?¡±
¡°Hold on,¡± Long Bing frowned, ¡°You said she was here with representatives from Germany?¡±
¡°Yeah,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Those German merchants really like mypany¡¯s automatic skateboard. Some of them even ced orders.¡±
¡°There¡¯s something wrong,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei paused, then seemed to realise something.
Long Bing continued, ¡°Annina is a high-level machinist at Krupp MaK Maschinenbau. She is not a businesswoman, but she appeared in a business representative group and met you so coincidentally. You have to think of a way to get answers - why would Krupp MaK send a machinist like her to China? And find out what she wants.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly had two headaches at once. ¡°I don¡¯t even dare to meet with her and you want me to find answers to these questions? I suspect that she¡¯s already guessed that my identity in Germany was a fake and even guessed that our target was Josef¡¯s intelligentthe. She said that I¡¯d regret it if I didn¡¯t contact her. This is already a hint - can it be any more obvious?¡±
Long Bing red at Xia Lei. ¡°You have to go.¡±
¡°I called you to help me solve this problem but you¡¯re telling me to help you solve your problem... Are you kidding me?¡± Xia Lei was looked depressed.
¡°Don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re a consultant for Bureau 101. Your identity is to help us solve our problems,¡± said Long Bing sternly.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I want you to find out her aim. This is important. You have to find out if she had help from the German government in getting here, to China. If she¡¯s been sent by the German government to investigate that incident, we have to make our preparations to counter them. If she did not have the assistance of the government, and was just sent by Krupp MaK as a simple representative, then you set her straight. Keep her happy and fulfil all her requests.¡±
¡°Fulfil all her requests?¡± Xia Lei suddenly thought of Annina persistently wanting him to cheat on ¡®Laura¡¯ with her. Fulfil all her requests... did that also mean giving ¡®that¡¯ to her if she wanted it?
¡°Yes, all requests. You can give her money. The Bureau will reimburse you. It¡¯ll be easy if she¡¯s willing to take money.¡±
¡°If she wants...¡± Xia Lei could not say it.
¡°If she wants your body, then you... Hey, I don¡¯t need to teach you this, do I?¡± said Long Bing.
Sweat had popped up all over Xia Lei¡¯s head. Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face appeared in his head and she was ring fiercely at him.
Long Bing seemed to read Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts. ¡°You don¡¯t have to consider Liang Si-Yao¡¯s feelings. This concerns the interests of the country, and your rtionship is nothingpared to the interests of the country. Besides, Liang Si-Yao is just your girlfriend and not your legal wife. Even if you and Annina do it... it¡¯s no big deal. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll keep your secret.¡±
Xia Lei looked at her wordlessly. Why did he detect some schadenfreude in her tone?
¡°Remember what I told you about a spy?¡± said Long Bing, ¡°If Annina¡¯s arrival in China has to do with this mysterious spy then it¡¯s very serious. We will have to find a way to oust that spy.¡±
¡°And then?¡±
¡°Then you don¡¯t need to worry about it,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°Give Annina a call. The most important thing for you to do now is to stabilise her.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. He took out his phone and checked the time. ¡°It¡¯s still early. I¡¯ll go to Phoenix City. I promised Shentu Tian-Yin that I would visit her father - I¡¯ll go meet Annina after I¡¯ve visited Shentu Ren.¡±
¡°You...¡± Long Bing smiled wryly, ¡°You sure are busy. Tired?¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Send me to the car park. I¡¯m going to get my car.¡±
Half an hourter, Xia Lei stood in front of the door of a vi with a bouquet of carnations. He reached out to knock on the door.
The door opened and Fu Ming-Mei appeared in the doorway. She saw Xia Lei and smiled. ¡°Mr Xia, Please,e in.¡±
¡°Where¡¯s Tian-Yin?¡± asked Xia Lei when he walked in.
¡°In Master¡¯s room. I¡¯ll take you there,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
Xia Lei followed her to Shentu Ren¡¯s room. Shentu Reny on the bed in his room with Shentu Tian-Yin sitting at his bedside on a chair, talking to him in a low voice.
¡°Mr Xia is here, Big Sister Tian-Yin,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked over with a smile, ¡°All right, go about your duties, Ming-Mei.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei smiled and closed the door behind her when she left. Her attitude towards Xia Lei was much better than before, simply because he had healed Shentu Ren.
Xia Lei walked over to put the carnations at the head of the bed and then looked at Shentu Ren and said gently, ¡°Are you feeling better, Uncle?¡±
Shentu Ren stared straight at Xia Lei. His lips moved but he was unable to say anything. However, a trace of a smile appeared in the corners of his lips and his gaze was kindly.
¡°My father can say a word now and then. His condition is improving day by day,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°That¡¯s good. Keep building strength and pay attention to exercise. It¡¯s the best way to strengthen the heart and lungs. Help Uncle move his arms and legs when you have time to help promote blood cirction. This can help shorten the time needed for him to get out of bed.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled at Xia Lei. ¡°I did help my father move his arms and legs. Uncle Fu and Ming-Mei also help when I¡¯m not around.¡±
¡°Sit...¡± Shentu Ren suddenly made a sound; it was weak and raspy.
¡°See! I told you my father can say one word at a time! He wants you to sit. Come, sit,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin excitedly.
Xia Lei sat by the bed and said with a smile, ¡°No need to be so formal, Uncle.¡±
Shentu Ren wanted to say more but he did not seed this time.
¡°My father knows you healed him and he¡¯s been wanting to see you. He would definitely want to express his gratitude if he could speak normally,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei had awoken Shentu Ren, who had been paralysed for three years. It was only reasonable for him to feel gratitude towards Xia Lei.
¡°Why the formalities? Uncle, I¡¯ll give you a massage.¡± Xia Lei started massaging Shentu Ren¡¯s legs. He could see the acupuncture points and meridians, plus his flow of internal energy; his massage was very beneficial to Shentu Ren.
The colour in Shentu Ren¡¯s face improved a few minutes after Xia Lei massaged him. He looked much better than before.
After the massage, Xia Lei used silver needles to perform acupuncture on Shentu Ren. The massage and acupuncture took half an hour.
¡°Stay here...¡± Shentu Ren¡¯s condition had improved a lot. ¡°Eat dinner...¡±
¡°Oh!¡± eximed Shentu Tian-Yin excitedly, ¡°My father spoke four words! Lei, you¡¯re a genius doctor!¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What genius doctor am I? I can only do a bit of acupuncture.¡±
¡°The world¡¯s best hospitals and doctors were not able to cure my father but you have. Don¡¯t be so modest. It¡¯s not as if I don¡¯t know how capable you are. All right, my father has personally asked you to stay for dinner, so you stay for dinner. I¡¯ll go to the kitchen to cook.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei looked at Shentu Tian-Yin in surprise. ¡°You¡¯re going to the kitchen to cook?¡±
A corner of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s mouth went up. ¡°What, am I the sort of woman who can¡¯t even cook in your eyes?¡±
¡°No... It¡¯s just...¡± Xia Lei could not say what he wanted to say. He had not even thought of having dinner here but Shentu Ren had personally invited him and Shentu Tian-Yin was going to cook herself. He would bemitting a faux pas if he said no. But what about Annina if he stayed for dinner?
He could imagine it - Annina in some hotel room looking at her phone and waiting for Lukas to call.
Xia Lei¡¯s hesitation did not escape Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s observation and she naturally thought of another woman. She spoke in displeasure, ¡°How about you give Miss Liang a call. I¡¯ll talk to her if she doesn¡¯t agree to it.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face turned red immediately. ¡°I¡¯m a grown man. I don¡¯t need to report where I¡¯m having dinner, okay? I¡¯ll help you - let¡¯s go to the kitchen.¡±
¡°Sure. I¡¯d like you to see my cooking skills.¡± A smile appeared on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face.
In the kitchen, Xia Lei washed the rice while Shentu Tian-Yin cooked the dishes.
Xia Lei had not even imagined what it¡¯d be like if Shentu Tian-Yin cooked before and he was getting to see it first-hand now. She was the type who was extremely beautiful, aloof and cold, like a celestial fairy not of the mortal world, but once she had the apron on, she gave off the impression of a woman of the house, warm and sweet.
The sight of the queen in an apron made Xia Lei stare in fascination quite a few times.
Sizzle! A bowl of shredded pork was thrown into the wok and hot vegetable oil sshed. Several dropsnded on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hands and she cried out in pain, holding her hands as she turned away.
Xia Lei quickly turned off the gas and grabbed her hands. ¡°Let me see. Are you hurt?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked quietly at Xia Lei and let him hold her.
Xia Lei pulled her over to the sink and rinsed her hands with cold water, then smeared some vegetable oil on the parts where she¡¯d been scalded. ¡°Okay, it¡¯s just some scalding, there won¡¯t be any scars,¡± he saidfortingly.
Shentu Tian-Yin said nothing and just looked quietly at Xia Lei. Her gaze was warm.
Xia Lei looked away and said a little nervously, ¡°Best if I do it.¡±
¡°No, I¡¯ll do it. Don¡¯t stay in here, you¡¯ll disturb me. Go watch television in the living room.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin pushed Xia Lei out of the kitchen. She wanted to personally cook a meal for Xia Lei but she didn¡¯t tell him that that was the reason why she wanted him out.
It was dark when Xia Lei left Phoenix City. He sat in his car and dialled Annina¡¯s number...
Chapter 215 - She Came Prepared
¡°Hello, I am...¡± The call connected and Xia Lei hesitated before he used German. ¡°I am Lukas. Where are you?¡±
Annina¡¯s voice, full of excitement, came from the phone, ¡°You finally admit that you¡¯re Lukas, you liar.¡±
Xia Lei bit the bullet. ¡°Where are you?¡±
¡°I think I¡¯m in a hotel called Hai-Zhu International. I¡¯m on the sixth floor, room 508,¡± came Annina¡¯s voice.
¡°Wait for me. I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Ten minutester, Xia Lei drove to Hai-Zhu International Hotel and took the lift to the sixth floor.
He walked out of the lift to see two blonde-haired, blue-eyed Germans walking towards him in the corridor. One was the German businessman interpreter and the other was a businessman who had ced an order with Thunder Horse Manufacturing. Xia Lei recognised them both. The interpreter was Andreas and the businessman was Leo, the owner of a retail brand in Munich.
¡°What are you doing here, Mr Xia?¡± greeted Andreas warmly in Chinese.
¡°I came to look for Miss Annina,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Leo spoke in German, ¡°Mr Xia, you must be gentle with her and resolve the misunderstanding between yourselves. Annina is a good girl; we all like her a lot.¡±
Xia Lei pretended to be confused. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t understand German.¡±
Andreas tranted Leo¡¯s words for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I will. I¡¯ll talk it out with her. This is why I¡¯vee today. Well, I¡¯ll be going over now. Goodbye, gentlemen.¡±
The two Germans nodded politely and watched Xia Lei walk to Annina¡¯s room.
¡°This young Chinese man is skilled,¡± said Leo softly, ¡°The automatic skateboard he designed is excellent.¡±
¡°It¡¯s Miss Annina¡¯s first time in China - how did she get to know him?¡± said Andreas.
Leo shook his head. ¡°No idea. I¡¯ve asked but she refused to say anything.¡±
¡°Never mind. This doesn¡¯t concern us.¡± Andreas turned his gaze away and walked to the lift lobby with Leo.
Xia Lei came to room 508 and his left eye twitched, revealing the situation in the room.
Annina was putting on makeup at the dressing table. She had changed into a ck dress, matched with a white scarf. The ck and white contrast made her look even more elegant, mature and sexy.
As Xia Lei watched, Annina stood from the dressing table and picked up a bottle of perfume. She sprayed under her arms, then twice on her perky twin peaks. Finally, she gently lifted the hem of her ck dress and sprayed perfume on her legs and between her legs.
Xia Lei felt as if the perfume had been sprayed on his eyes and he could not maintain his X-ray vision any longer. He groaned internally, ¡®Those actions, she¡¯s going to... What do I do?¡±
After much hesitation, Xia Lei braced himself and knocked on the room door.
The door opened and Annina came into view, full of smiles, expectation and emotion. She was as sexy, enchanting and thought-provoking as ever but Xia Lei felt only guilt. He had used her and then disappeared from her world with a ¡®death¡¯. He would have never appeared in her life again if it weren¡¯t for this coincidental encounter, and she would have had him as a memory her whole life. This hurt, this debt, how could it be covered with just some words?
Their eyes met and there was no sound, but it was as if they¡¯d had a night¡¯s conversation.
Xia Lei lost to Annina¡¯s intense gaze in the end. He shrugged. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to invite me in?¡±
Annina snapped to attention. She hurriedly let him though and closed the door after Xia Lei walked in.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Annina. I lied to you.¡± Xia Lei turned to look at her. She had seen through him, so it would be too hypocritical of him to keep pretending.
¡°I ept your apology, and I forgive you,¡± said Annina with a smile.
He was forgiven just like that?
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Sit, have a drink. I prepared red wine.¡± Annina walked to the coffee table and poured two sses of red wine. She handed one to Xia Lei and kept one for herself.
The red wine was in the decanter - it seemed she had prepared everything.
Annina clinked sses with Xia Lei. ¡°To our reunion. Cheers.¡±
Xia Lei gave her a smile and drained the red wine in his ss. He then asked probingly, ¡°Annina, why have you turned up in a group of businessmen? You¡¯re a machinist, not a businessman.¡±
Annina looked at Xia Lei, all smiles. ¡°Getting into your role so quickly?¡±
Xia Lei paused slightly. ¡°What role?¡±
Annina sat on the sofa and lifted a leg in a leisurely manner. ¡°Come, sit down. We have to have a good talk.¡±
Xia Lei forced himself to sit next to her. ¡°Speak. Tell me, why have you appeared in a business group like this?¡±
¡°Why do you want to know?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I, I¡¯m just asking.¡±
¡°Just asking?¡± Annina looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re a spy.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s smile froze on his face. He was not a spy but he was indeed acting like a spy when he¡¯d gone to Germany. He had no retort when Annina called him a spy. He also reached a conclusion - Annina had already reached the most dangerous link.
¡°What, you don¡¯t want to admit it?¡±
¡°You¡¯re mistaken. I¡¯m not a spy,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Stop pretending. I know what you joined Krupp MaK Maschinenbau for. You became my assistant for that aim too.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Tell me then, what is this aim?¡±
Annina put her fair face close to Xia Lei¡¯s cheek and said in his ear, ¡°Josef¡¯s intelligentthe. Don¡¯t deny it. Don¡¯t insult my intelligence. You are a Chinese spy.¡±
¡°If I¡¯m a spy then I could just kill you and solve the problem. But you invited me to your room - aren¡¯t you afraid?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Anninaughed lightly, ¡°I know you. You¡¯re not a bad person. You could have ignored me at that bar but you saved me. And in the woods - you could have just left me and made your escape but you didn¡¯t. You taught me how to use a gun; killed those gang gunmen before me eyes. If you wanted to kill me you had many chances to do so in Germany. But you didn¡¯t. You won¡¯t hurt me - am I right?¡±
Xia Lei had no words of response. He now understood that Annina had note to her conclusion by feel or guesswork, but with a solid basis, which was the night where he had killed off those ck gunmen in the woods. It was simple - how could a normal machinist have that sort of ability? If it was a spy, however, it would be totally possible.
Should he confess?
Xia Lei was perplexed as that thought popped up in his head. ¡®She appeared out of nowhere and I asked her twice why she had appeared with a group of businessmen but she kept avoiding the question. This is a simple question; why won¡¯t she answer?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
This bit of perplexity made him wary.
Being honest with Annina was nothing much; from his personal point of view, he trusted her. However, if he took the perspective of the country¡¯s interests into consideration, he could not do that. Besides, Annina¡¯s appearance was unexined and he would end up in big trouble if he just casually admitted it, especially if she was being used or threatened by someone!
Xia Lei¡¯s wariness made his left eye twitch and he started investigating every nook and cranny of the room.
He discovered a pinhole camera in the wall-TV in under thirty seconds. The camera was facing Annina and himself.
So there was something amiss!
¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking?¡± Annina stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Do you intend to keep lying to me?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei pretended to be searching for words to say while he continued surveying the room.
He quickly found a listening device installed in the bottom of themp by the bed and a pinhole camera in the painting above the bed. The pinhole camera was facing the bed, so if he and Annina did any adult things on that bed, it would all be recorded clearly.
¡°Have another ss. You look nervous.¡± Annina poured another ss for Xia Lei. ¡°Red wine rxes people.¡±
Xia Lei took the ss but did not drink again. He put it on the coffee table. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll tell you but you cannot tell anyone. Promise me.¡±
Annina hesitated, but she still nodded.
This hesitation confirmed something for Xia Lei. He rxed and said evenly, ¡°You¡¯ve already seen it. I am the boss of a manufacturingpany in China. I¡¯ve always been dissatisfied with our less advanced industry. I wanted to go to Germany to learn some advanced skills...¡±
As he spoke, he fixed his gaze on the wall opposite him and his eye twitched. The wall disappeared before his eyes.
Two blonde-haired, blue-eyed men sat on the sofa in the next room, staring intently at a notebookputer. Theputer disyed a video of his conversation with Annina.
He focused his gaze on the two men¡¯s lips and lip-read their conversation.
¡°What he¡¯s saying is all lies. This guy is too wiley,¡± said one blonde man.
¡°Has he discovered something?¡± said the other.
¡°Impossible. He should leave if he¡¯s discovered something.¡±
¡°Let Annina to sleep with him. It¡¯s almost time for the drug to take effect.¡±
¡°Yeah, men will be willing to say anything in bed.¡± The blonde man who spoke picked up the transmitter on the coffee table. ¡°Sleep with him.¡±
This was an order.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and sorrow filled his heart.
Annina was no longer the naive, adorable machinist. She hade prepared.
Chapter 216 - Nosebleed
Xia Lei did not know how Annina was rted to the two blonde men in the next room and why she was doing this but he knew one thing - he had already swallowed an unknown drug. They were also trying to get him to admit that he was a spy and had stolen information on Josef¡¯s intelligentthe. They might have some other motive too but it was difficult to guess. What he could confirm was that he was in an extremely dangerous situation!
¡°... Actually notplicated. I just want to see the advanced machines in Germany and learn some advanced skills - it¡¯s that simple. I¡¯m not a spy. I have my own manufacturing nt and I also have a normal, happy life. Why would I want to be a spy?¡±
Xia Lei finished telling his lies after checking out the situation.
Annina wrinkled her brows, and tears welled in her doe-like eyes. "Lukas, why are you still lying to me? Don¡¯t you trust me?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the clothing on Annina¡¯s body melted away like snow in summer. Anything hidden under her clothes was now bare to his eye. There were no weapons hidden about her person but she had a very small flesh-coloured receiver in her left ear.
She had the unique allure of women from the west. She was 180cm tall and had a perfect body. She was not too thin despite her height but well-rounded, very well-rounded; it made one feel that adding a bit of fat would be too fat and taking away a little would make her too thin. A woman like her had the aura of an untamed horse, full of strength and wildness.
However, Xia Lei had no voyeuristic intention at all. A voice kept shouting in his head, ¡®Danger! Don¡¯t do anything stupid! Get out of here!¡¯
His brain was saying that and he was consciously keeping himself in control but his body had an involuntary, sensitive reaction.
Annina stopped asking questions. She poured a ss of wine for herself and raised the ss in a toast. ¡°Lukas, let¡¯s have toast for you being alive again.¡±
Looking at her full, rosy lips, Xia Lei suddenly had an urge to rush to her and kiss her. At that moment, he instantly knew what drug had been added to the red wine - an aphrodisiac!
The two men in the next room wanted Annina to have sex with him but it was definitely not for nothing. Annina would ask for his confession in bed and the pinhole camera installed in the painting would record their activities. This would serve as evidence and would be used to corner him!
The wine was right in front of him. Drink? Don¡¯t drink?
A myriad of thoughts shed through his mind in that instant.
He could turn around and leave, no matter how much of a fuss Annina made. Those guys couldn¡¯t do anything to him without evidence. This seemed like the obvious choice and it was what he should do.
But when he thought about the spy who was lurking around him, he hesitated and wavered over his decision.
The burning in his loins grew more and more intense. He would not be able to resist this strong aphrodisiac if he drank another ss - what should he do?
¡°Are you afraid that I drugged the wine?¡± asked Annina in a hurt voice.
¡°No, no, I just feel a little hot and dizzy...¡± Xia Lei raised his wine ss. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I haven¡¯t had alcohol in a long while. Cheers.¡± So saying, he clinked sses with Annina and tipped his head back, sending half the ss of wine down to his stomach.
Annina also finished the wine in her ss but she looked normal. It was apparent that she had taken the counter-drug beforehand. They definitely did not dare assassinate him in China so their motive was not his death and he could confirm that the drug in the wine was not dangerous. Xia Lei dared to drink a second ss with Annina because of that assumption.
Annina put down her ss and said slowly, ¡°It¡¯s hot.¡± She pulled at her cleavage and fanned lightly at it. Arge area of white skiny exposed at her pulling.
Xia Lei stood all of a sudden. ¡°I¡¯m going to the washroom.¡±
¡°Hurry. I¡¯ll be waiting,¡± said Annina softly, ¡°My Lukas - do you know how much I¡¯ve missed you?¡±
Xia Lei entered the washroom and quickly turned on the tap in the sink. He scanned the washroom and confirmed that there were no cameras before he stuck his head under the tap and gulped down water like there was no tomorrow. He only stopped when he had drunk about two litres of water, till he truly could drink no more. He went to the toilet bowl next and stuck his right index finger into his throat. A few secondster, the red wine, water, and what he ate for dinner all came out as vomit.
Thanks to him having dinner at the Shentu¡¯s ce before he came over, the food had mixed with the red wine in his stomach and interfered with the absorption of the wine and drug. He had ingested the drugged wine but the actual amount which had gone into his bloodstream was small. He felt better and much lighter after vomiting everything out. The heat in his loins did not go away but it was not unbearable. He then took out the case of needles which he brought everywhere with him and used a silver needle to quickly pierce his nose.
Xia Lei flushed and exited the washroom.
Annina had changed position and was now next to the bed. She lifted an arm and beckoned gently to Xia Lei, telling him to go over. Her gaze was alluring and her skin flushed from alcohol; she was temptation incarnate.
Xia Lei grinned and acted like he was infatuated. He went over to her slowly, step by step.
¡°You know something, Lukas? I¡¯d dreamed of a day like this ever since you saved me from those thugs. I¡¯m yours, and only yours. I want to give my everything to you,¡± said Annina passionately with a smile full of bliss and joy.
At that moment, Xia Lei, who was just a few steps away, suddenly spurted blood violently from his nose. He copsed to the floor with a thump.
What happened?
¡°Lukas? Lukas!¡± Annina rushed forward, calling Xia Lei¡¯s German name. She shook him hard by the shoulders but his eyes remained closed; he was unconscious.
Blood continued flowing from Xia Lei¡¯s nose, wetting his face in an instant, and his cor, and the carpet - a pool had formed on the carpet.
Annina abruptly turned to re at the pinhole camera in the painting and said angrily, ¡°What drug did you use on him? What are you waiting for? Come here and help, quick!¡±
The two blonde men in the other room were dumbstruck.
¡°What¡¯s going on? He¡¯s already kaput before even having sex with Annina. Will he die if he actually has sex?¡± One of the blonde men was surprised.
¡°There¡¯s no problem with the drug; it¡¯s not dangerous. Why is he...¡± The other man was befuddled.
Annina screamed angrily at the camera again. ¡°Bastards! Come over here or I¡¯ll call the ambnce!¡±
The two men snapped back to attention and hurriedly left the room to go to Annina¡¯s room. One of the men went to the washroom to get a towel to stem the flow of blood. The other man checked Xia Lei¡¯s carotid artery.
Xia Lei¡¯s pulse was normal.
His pulse was normal but his nose just kept leaking blood. The blonde man with the towel tried but could not stop the bleeding. The two of them gave up after a minute.
¡°Mission aborted,¡± said one of the blonde men. ¡°Call the interpreter. Get him to call the ambnce.¡±
Annina then grabbed her clothing and covered her chest, and went to get the phone.
The two men squatted by Xia Lei, frowning heavily.
¡°Damn it, how can this happen?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Our drug is not dangerous. It¡¯s not our first time using it either. Wasn¡¯t it very effective thest time we used it in Syria? That guy was a devout believer but he still joined our side.¡±
¡°Maybe he has some disease. Shit, this method is not going to work. We have to think of another way.¡±
¡°We have to contact that person. We can¡¯t be discovered; we need more assistance.¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do.¡±
Xia Lei heard their entire conversation loud and clear. His left eye was closed but he could still see clearly; his eyelid was nothing to his left eye.
So his blood was not wasted. These two German agents had let slip some important information - that mysterious spy was the one who had supplied them with the information on him!
Long Bing had tasked him with finding out more on the matter and this could be considered taskplete.
¡°I called the interpreter. He said the ambnce will be here in fifteen minutes.¡± Annina drew close and knelt by Xia Lei, her eyes full of worry.
One of the blonde men spoke, ¡°Go with him to the hospital. Take the interpreter and get him to ask the doctor what disease he has. You stay with him and take care of him while he¡¯s ill. He¡¯ll be touched by that and you¡¯ll be able toplete the mission sessfully.¡±
Annina was losing control of her emotions. ¡°I¡¯ve had enough! I¡¯m just a machinist, not a spy! I feel horrible for lying to him - you made me do that.¡±
The other blonde man sneered, ¡°You¡¯d better be a good girl. This Chinese spy gained an advantage because of your help. He stole ourtest technology and made the European and American blockade on technology useless. Do you know how serious this is? Refusal to cooperate means a life sentence for you. Do you want that?¡±
Annina bowed her head helplessly.
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh. So that¡¯s how it was.
Chapter 217 - Ru-Yis Plus Sign
Xia Lei was wheeled into surgery and Annina was stopped at the door by the doctor.
The surgery lights came on and bright white light shone on Xia Lei.
Xia Lei opened his eyes but closed his right eye immediately. His left eye could stand the brightness of the surgery lights but his right eye was normal and could not.
Xia Lei saw a male doctor and a female nurse. His left eye twitched and a small smile spread across his face.
The male doctor and female nurse took off their masks at the same time. The male doctor was Ke Jie and the female nurse was Long Bing.
¡°Turn the lights off; they¡¯re too bright.¡± Xia Lei got up from the surgery table as he spoke. He squinted with both eyes this time.
Ke Jie switched the surgery lights off.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with your nose?¡± asked Long Bing in concern.
¡°Nothing... Just a little nosebleed,¡± said Xia Lei evasively.
Making his nose bleed was a simple affair with his current level of acupuncture skill.
¡°Was it because you saw something you shouldn¡¯t have and got so excited you got a nosebleed?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked at her wordlessly. He¡¯d thought that she wouldn¡¯t joke like this but she didn¡¯t seem like she was joking, looking at her.
¡°Pfft...¡± Ke Jieughed. He had obviously imagined Xia Lei having a nosebleed after seeing Annina¡¯s bare ass.
Long Bing gave him a re and said icily, ¡°What are youughing at? To the wall.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Ke Jie straightened with a thump, turned around and walked to the wall to stand straight at attention.
Long Bing took out a mobile phone and held it before Xia Lei.
There was a picture on the phone of blonde-haired, blue-eyed people. The picture was the two German agents giving Annina orders in Hai-Zhu International Hotel.
Long Bing swiped, and a second picture of the German agents appeared on the screen. The two pictures were taken in Hai-Zhu International Hotel at night and it was easy to guess that someone from Bureau 101 had secretly taken pictures of the two German agents in the hotel.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°You followed me?¡±
Long Bing did not answer. ¡°Is it these two?¡±
Xia Lei nodded and said in displeasure, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you help me if you guys were in the hotel? Did you know how much danger I was in?¡±
A hint of disdain appeared on Long Bing¡¯s lips. ¡°What danger? Wasn¡¯t the greatest danger you having sex with Annina? Other men would be more than eager to do it. Why so nervous? Plus, I trust you. Even if you sleep with Annina you won¡¯t betray your country, would you?¡±
Xia Lei had no words of retort.
He understood. Long Bing and her people had followed him to the hotel and if she were willing, she would have had plenty of ways to foil the ns of those agents in that situation. However, she had not done anything. It looked now that she had treated this mission as a part of training and a test.
Long Bing spoke again, ¡°You did well. Just a bit too much bleeding. Don¡¯t me me for noting to rescue you - this is our territory, and everything is under our control. There is no danger to your life even if there was danger. Once out of our territory and in another country for missions, however, you¡¯ll have to have some usable skills.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°All right, I won¡¯t me you. I know what you want to know. This is definitely rted to that mysterious spy. Europe and America know that we stole the information on Josef¡¯s intelligentthe. They want to make use of Annina to make me confess, then use the evidence to get what they want. And, Annina¡¯s being forced to do this. They threatened her, saying that she would be sentenced to life imprisonment if she did not cooperate.¡±
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°What do you n to do?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°She¡¯s German and she¡¯s being threatened by German special agents. What can I do? I don¡¯t know. I think she¡¯s rather pitiful and she wouldn¡¯t have run into this sort of thing if it weren¡¯t for me.¡±
¡°If it weren¡¯t for you, she¡¯ll be in Europe entertaining customers for some ck gang. Don¡¯t get a guilty conscience over something like this. Just do what you should be doing,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was silent. It was easy to just ignore Annina but his conscience wouldn¡¯t let him.
¡°All right, you¡¯ll be put in a wardter. Don¡¯t make any mistake in front of her. Try to deal with her and those two German agents. I¡¯ll monitor those two agents and we¡¯ll be able to catch the spy once they make contact,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nodded quietly. He was in no mood to do a mission. He was thinking about Annina - how was he going to face her?
A few minutester, Xia Lei was rolled out of the surgery room with a bandaged nose. The gauze was stuffed with ointment and he looked like a real patient who¡¯d just undergone nasal surgery.
¡°Lukas, are you okay?¡± Annina came over right away once the gurney was rolled out of the room, her eyes full of worry and concern.
¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t worry.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s made his voice weak.
Long Bing pushed Xia Lei into an empty ward and even hooked him up to an intravenous drip. There were not any drugs in there but a saline and glucose solution.
Andreas, the interpreter who had apanied Annina, asked Long Bing in Chinese, ¡°Nurse, what illness does this patient have?¡±
¡°He¡¯s ingested some sort of aphrodisiac drug. His nose has some inherent w and blood vessels burst easily when he¡¯s overly excited. It¡¯s fine now; we¡¯ve taken care of it. Don¡¯t give him drugs like that in the future. Really, he¡¯s still young - he doesn¡¯t have to take drugs like that. There¡¯s nothing wrong with his body and he can leave after receiving some fluids. Okay, that¡¯s that.¡± She left the ward after she was done speaking.
Andreas tranted Long Bing¡¯s words to German for Annina and he looked at Annina with a strange gaze.
Annina¡¯s face turned red and she said awkwardly, ¡°Um, okay, I got it. Thank you, Mr Andreas. Please go back to the hotel. I¡¯ll stay and apany him.¡±
Andreas exited the ward.
Annina sat by the bed and held Xia Lei¡¯s hand tightly. ¡°Lukas, I¡¯m sorry, I... I put some aphrodisiac in the wine. I didn¡¯t know that you had a nose problem, or I wouldn¡¯t have done it.¡±
¡°What drug was it?¡± Xia Lei asked in fake-bewilderment.
Annina avoided his gaze and spoke evasively, ¡°That, um, that¡¯s something that would make you want me. You know. I like you, and I want you. But you¡¯re too shy. If you could just take the initiative I wouldn¡¯t have had to put drugs in the wine.¡±
Women from the west were much more open than women from the east when it came to feelings and sex. They would just say it if they liked someone and even ask to sleep with the person directly.
Xia Lei was embarrassed by her frankness. ¡°But you know that I have...¡±
Annina cut him off. ¡°That¡¯s fake. Laura doesn¡¯t even exist. Don¡¯t lie to me again.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I have a fianc¨¦e. Her name¡¯s Liang Si-Yao. You¡¯ve seen her; she was the girl in white robes at the Expo.¡±
Annina¡¯s eyes dimmed. She said nothing more.
Xia Lei did not speak either. His head was full of thoughts all scrambled in a mess.
Xia Lei and Annina left the hospital when he was done receiving fluids and they took a taxi to Hai-Zhu International Hotel. Xia Lei¡¯s car was still in the hotel car park; he¡¯dbined sending Annina back to the hotel with getting his car.
¡°Go back and rest.¡± Xia Lei gave Annina a hug. ¡°Don¡¯t me yourself. It¡¯s fine, I won¡¯t take this to heart.¡±
Annina forced a smile. ¡°Can I still meet you?¡±
¡°Of course. You have my number; you can give me a call and also invite me out,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Then that¡¯s that. Good night.¡±
¡°Lukas.¡± Annina suddenly called out to Xia Lei, who had turned and was walking away.
Xia Lei looked back at her. ¡°Is there something else?¡±
Annina¡¯s lips moved as if to say something, but she did not say it in the end. ¡°Nothing. Good night.¡±
Xia Lei let out a small internal sigh. He got into his car and drove away from the hotel.
Annina did not have the courage to tell him the truth. He could understand. She had no other choice when she was being threatened with life imprisonment.
Xia Lei did not go to the Liang household but back to his own home.
He¡¯d just parked downstairs when the lights in Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s t came on. A pyjama-d Jiang Ru-Yi then appeared on her balcony. She had all the right curves in all the right ces and she was as sexy and pretty as ever. However, there was no smile on her face; she scowled fiercely at Xia Lei.
¡°What is it?¡± said Xia Lei with a smile, ¡°You don¡¯t even greet me after not seeing me for so long? And you¡¯re ring? What¡¯s this for?¡±
¡°Humph! I¡¯ve cut ties with you! Don¡¯t talk to me,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Stop that,¡± said Xia Lei wryly, ¡°Right, I told you that I¡¯d get you a gift. Have you thought of what gift you¡¯d like?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want your presents. Oh, right, these are the slippers you gave mest year. Take them back.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi removed the slippers from her feet and flung them at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei dodged one and the other but he still looked rather beaten-up with his nose all in bandages.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with your nose?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi seemed to have gone back to normal after venting and started showing concern.
¡°Nothing, it¡¯s... I hit something at the nt.¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Look at you! You¡¯re concerned for me, aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Concerned, my foot! Serves you right! Haha!¡± Jiang Ru-Yiughed loudly but there were some tears in her eyes.
Xia Lei looked at her and didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°Give the slippers back. I¡¯ll buy new ones tomorrow and return these to you,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly.
Xia Lei picked the slippers up from the ground and walked to Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s balcony to hand them to her.
Jiang Ru-Yi took the slippers and put them back on her feet, then went back into her t without another word. The lights went out quickly.
¡®She¡¯ll ignore me for half a month this time, I guess¡¯ thought Xia Lei as he walked listlessly into the stairwell. He went up to the second floor and was frightened by what he saw. His door was covered with brown stains which smelt of soy sauce. However, this was not the most shocking. The most shocking was that there were two sanitary napkins stuck to the door, one horizontal and one vertical, forming a plus sign.
It was obviously Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s handiwork. She would always do something like this whenever they argued and sometimes she would draw a turtle on his door with dirt, then write ¡®Xia Lei¡¯ on the turtle¡¯s shell. Other times she leave a mound of sand in his doorway or sneakily put up some fly-paper...
This was the most outrageous of them all. However, Xia Lei was not one bit angry. He felt nostalgic and just a little bit hurt.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice suddenly came from downstairs at that moment. ¡°Next time you bully me, I¡¯ll use those that I¡¯ve used! Humph!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 218 - The Soy Misunderstanding
The next day at a little past five in the morning, Xia Lei arrived at Thunder Horse Manufacturing and went to his workshop to work on Long Bing¡¯s gun. Once he started working, he kept going till half past eight, when it was time to start the workday. He put the disassembled AS50 sniper rifle and the parts he had processed into a big metal box, then locked it.
Liang Si-Yao was not in the office when he got there and he was just about to call her when she walked into the office with a takeaway bag. The bag had a cup of soy milk, one deep-fried dough stick and two steamed buns.
Xia Lei¡¯s stomach growled at the sight of the food. He¡¯d been at work since five in the morning and hadn¡¯t eaten breakfast yet.
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes yfully at Xia Lei. ¡°I heard from the gate guard that you were here at a little past five in the morning. Thought you surely haven¡¯t had breakfast so I went and got you breakfast from a snack shop. Eat it while it¡¯s hot.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart warmed. ¡°Wifey¡¯s the best.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not your wifey.¡± Liang Si-Yao said that but she still felt happy inside.
Xia Lei inhaled the dough stick and the buns. He was just too hungry and there was no need to act all elegant in front of Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s words took on a scolding tone, ¡°Geeze, you. I know you¡¯re busy modifying that gun for Long Bing but you can¡¯t skip meals. Your body is most important. Will she even care if you¡¯re exhausted? My heart aches for you.¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Our Si-Yao¡¯s the best.¡±
Liang Si-Yao circled round to Xia Lei¡¯s back and sniffed, then pressed herself lightly on his back. ¡°I didn¡¯t call youst night; did you miss me?¡± she asked inquisitorially.
This was a roundabout way of asking what he had donest night or who he was withst night.
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°I was at home. I¡¯m an honest guy; you can rx.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled. ¡°Of course I believe you but it doesn¡¯t mean that other people will be honest if you¡¯re honest. That Tian-Yin or that Ru-Yi, and that foreigner girl Annina - they¡¯re not easy to deal with. I¡¯ll have to keep a close eye on you or they¡¯ll steal you away when my back¡¯s turned.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Feed me some soy milk.¡± Liang Si-Yao stretched her head over Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
Xia Lei lifted the cup of soy milk and fed Liang Si-Yao some soy milk but the position she was in was awkward and she choked. She sputtered all over Xia Lei¡¯s trousers. ck trousers, white soy milk - the imagery made one think certain thoughts.
¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯ll help you wipe.¡± Liang Si-Yao knelt awkwardly between Xia Lei¡¯s legs and used paper towels to wipe at the soy milk on his trousers.
Xia Lei did not object. Him and Liang Si-Yao were at the stage of cohabitation so there was nothing too awkward between them. Her wiping away soy milk from his trousers was nothing - it wouldn¡¯t even be awkward if she unzipped him and ground some milk out of him.
At that very moment, Lu Sheng appeared in the doorway all of a sudden. He saw Liang Si-Yao kneeling between Xia Lei¡¯s legs and the white fluid on Xia Lei¡¯s trousers. He also saw the white liquid at the corners of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s mouth and he became stone instantly, with a bizarre expression on his face.
Liang Si-Yao and Xia Lei hurriedly got to their feet. It wasn¡¯t embarrassing if it was just the two if them in the office no matter what they did but it was a whole other story in front of others.
Xia Lei quickly exined themselves, holding up the cup of soy milk from the table and saying, ¡°It, it¡¯s soy milk. Soy milk spilt on my trousers.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s pretty face was beet red. ¡°We didn¡¯t do anything.¡±
It would have actually been better if they had not exined anything - their exnations made it seem more fishy.
¡°Uhhurm, ahem.¡± Lu Sheng was embarrassed too and he changed the topic. ¡°Mayor Hu has brought a big group of foreign and regional businessman to tour ourpany. They¡¯re downstairs. Will you two go down now, orter? Ifter, I¡¯ll go let them know and invite them to the guest lounge for a bit.¡±
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Lu Sheng. ¡°What were you thinking, Monk? Why go downter? We¡¯ll go down right now. Geeze, it¡¯s not like we have other things to do.¡±
Xia Lei was in agreement, ¡°Yep, right. We¡¯ll go down right now.¡±
Lu Sheng shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll be going down then.¡± As he walked off, he pointed at his own mouth and said, ¡°Si-Yao, wipe your mouth clean.¡±
Liang Si-Yao was so mortified that she wanted to m her head into a wall.
Xia Lei reached out and wiped the soy milk from the corners of her mouth. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go down and have a look.¡±
Liang Si-Yao gave Xia Lei a punch of angry embarrassment. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault. The Monk thinks I gave you ¡®that¡¯. So embarrassing!¡±
¡°What¡¯s ¡®that¡¯?¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Liang Si-Yao red at Xia Lei and said huffily, ¡°Are you mocking me? I won¡¯t give you ¡®that¡¯ anymore! Humph!¡±
Xia Lei grew anxious and enveloped her in an embrace with his arms around her waist, taking her with him as he walked towards the door and coaxing her, ¡°Okay, okay, our Si-Yao is the most big-hearted. How about... I give you ¡®that¡¯ first?¡±
¡°Shush, shush! No more talking about it; so embarrassing. You¡¯re so shameless.¡± Every spot on her face was red and her knees had gone weak for some reason.
The two of them exited the office while flirting with each other, then went into ¡®business mode¡¯. They went downstairs and saw Hu Hou and the group he¡¯d brought right away. The Expo was not yet over and the employees of Thunder Horse Manufacturing were still at the booth. Hu Hou bringing the foreign and regional merchants here to the nt was a testament to of how popr the automatic skateboard from Thunder Horse Manufacturing was.
But Xia Lei knew that it was not the only reason because he saw Annina in the group of foreign businessmen, and the two German agents. The aim of these two agents was easy to guess - they wanted toe to Thunder Horse Manufacturing to see it for themselves and search for the evidence they wanted.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®They know I can build an intelligentthe like that so do they think I have one at mypany? It makes sense for them to turn up here for that reason. But that means... Long Bing said that there¡¯s a spy close to me so this guess of mine doesn¡¯t add up. Those pictures were taken by the spy so if it¡¯s someone from mypany then it¡¯s impossible that he wouldn¡¯t know that there isn¡¯t an intelligentthe here. These two German agents don¡¯t have any need toe here, but they are here. Does this prove that that spy is not someone from mypany?¡¯
These were all just guesses. The identity of that spy was still a mystery and that meant that anything was possible.
Liang Si-Yao saw Annina and a look of displeasure crossed her face. ¡°Why¡¯s she here too?¡±
Xia Lei leaned in to her ear, ¡°The two men next to her are German special agents.¡±
¡°Wha?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s petite mouth widened and she couldn¡¯t close her jaw; she became nervous.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you more tonight. Just pretend that you don¡¯t know anything,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn,¡± said Liang Si-Yao obediently.
Liang Si-Yao did not know the whole truth of what had happened when Xia Lei had gone to Germany but she could guess. Xia Lei went to Germany and built the most advanced intelligentthe in the world when he came back. China Industrial Group had also given him two billion. Could the nature of this matter be any more obvious now that German agents havee chasing to thepany? Did she even need to guess?
¡°Xia Lei, look, I invited myself here and brought you a whole lot of customers - you won¡¯t me me for this surprise, will you?¡± Hu Hou walked over and greeted Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°No, I won¡¯t, Mayor Hu. You did this for my benefit and for mypany¡¯s benefit. How can I me you for your hard work? I haven¡¯t even thanked you yet.¡±
¡°All right, all right, enough formalities between us.¡± Hu Hou was all smiles. ¡°These businessmen are very interested in your automatic skateboard. Some are German businessmen; they contacted mest night and asked me to bring them here for a look. They even said not to let you know in advance because they wanted to see yourpany¡¯s ¡®real face¡¯. I think this is a good thing too so I took the initiative and agreed to it. They¡¯re all here already so just take them around and let them have a look.¡±
¡°Okay, sure. I¡¯ll take them on a tour right away.¡± Xia Lei then said, ¡°Si-Yao, go about your duties. I can handle them on my own.¡±
Liang Si-Yao made another sound of agreement and went back to the office by herself.
Annina went to Xia Lei¡¯s side only after Liang Si-Yao entered the office building. She spoke in German, ¡°Lukas, is your nose okay?¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. Look, I¡¯ve even removed the gauze.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t bother pretending not to know German and spoke directly to Annina.
The interpreter, Andreas, who was standing next to them stared at Xia Lei in amazement. He had still needed an interpreter to understand Annina yesterday but he could speak fluently in the span of just one night! This was unbelievable!
Xia Lei could not be bothered with the feelings of an interpreter and he raised his voice to say, ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, please follow me. We¡¯ll start from Workshop One. Do not hesitate to ask should you have any questions. I shall fulfil your requests.¡± He said that in Chinese, then repeated it in German and English.
The German special agents had already tracked him this far - continuing to pretend not to know any German was just superfluous.
¡°He¡¯s an outstanding young talent indeed. He even knows German and English and has no need for an interpreter. Impressive,¡± said a domestic merchant.
¡°No wonder he could research and produce such an exceptional product. There¡¯s no going wrong with establishing connections with a person like this,¡± said another domestic merchant.
The group of businessmen were in discussion and it was all about Xia Lei¡¯s capabilities.
One should be in the limelight when one should in the business world. The business wouldn¡¯t do very well either if a business ownercked charm.
As Xia Lei walked the big group of businessmen to Workshop One, the two German agents¡¯ gazes went to Xia Lei¡¯s personal workshop. Unfortunately for them, the workshop door was shut and they could see nothing.
One of the German agents went to Annina and gave her amand in a low voice.
Annina hesitated, but still nodded in the end.
Chapter 219 - I Want To Cross-arm Toast With You
Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s workshops were all clean and tidy and the workers at their stations were in perfect order. The real businessmen looked at the production process, the quality of the parts and so on but the two German agents were concerned with the machines and machine tools in Thunder Horse Manufacturing. Their aim was clear - find evidence of Xia Lei¡¯s technology theft. However, they were disappointed to find that there were no special tools or equipment for processing high-precision parts; the equipment in the factory were enough for only everyday products.
After touring the three existing workshops, Xia Lei brought the businessmen to the fourth, which was still being built. It was the workshop that China Industrial Group was sponsoring. This workshop was going to be the biggest in Thunder Horse Manufacturing - it was bigger than the three existing workshopsbined and had equipment more advanced than in the smaller workshops.
Bringing the businessmen to the workshop which was still in construction was also a show of strength. Xia Lei was more than happy to show these businessmen who had already ced purchase orders or those who had signed cooperative contracts the next step that Thunder Horse Manufacturing was taking to greater heights.
The two German agents walked one time around the new workshop and looked closely at all the machines. Xia Lei had long discovered that they had pinhole cameras hidden on them and they had been filming everything about Thunder Horse Manufacturing the moment they¡¯d walked in. He did not mind this at all; let them film all they wanted. Thunder Horse Manufacturing had nothing they were looking for.
After the tour of the new workshop, Xia Lei suggested rest in the meeting room and the businessmen were in favour. Having toured the workshops, seen the automatic skateboard and the high-quality parts being processed, some of the businessmen were prepared to ce more orders.
Just as Xia Lei was about to take them to the meeting room, Annina walked over and said hesitatingly, ¡°Lukas... I...¡±
Xia Lei knew what she wanted to say but pretended not to. ¡°What is it, Annina?¡±
Annina looked at the two German agents to the side of her out of the corner of her eye and forced herself to say, ¡°It¡¯s like this, um, you¡¯re an excellent machinist and I¡¯m a machinist too. I know you have a personal workshop - can you show it to me? You must have designed the automatic skateboard in your workshop, right? This made me very curious.¡±
¡°No problem. I¡¯ll take you there to have a look.¡± Xia Lei agreed immediately.
Xia Lei opened the workshop doors and invited not just Annina in but the businessmen as well, including the two German agents, of course.
Thethe, welding machine and tools in the workshop were all very normal things and no secret - other than the big metal box and the parts of two guns it contained. However, it was locked and there was no way for others to see what was inside.
Looks of disappointment appeared on the faces of the two German agents. They had seen the metal box and that it was locked, but they did not think that the metal box would contain a huge intelligentthe.
¡°Lukas, you¡¯re brilliant. You could make such a good product like the automatic skateboard in this environment. You really are a genius machinist.¡± Annina did not hold back her words of praise, in part to cover her guilty conscience.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Thank you. Let¡¯s go to the meeting room.¡±
Xia Lei brought the businessmen to the meeting room and what followed was business talk.
The two German agents had rounded up these businessmen to organise a tour of Thunder Horse Manufacturing for their own goal but they had brought Thunder Horse Manufacturing a lot of purchase orders while their own goal remained unrealized. This was unexpected.
In the afternoon, Xia Lei invited the visiting businessmen to a hotel near thepany for the inevitable banquet when socialising for business. Foreign businessmen might not have this practice but it was a must in China. Deals were made over alcohol in business in China.
Liang Si-Yao showed hermunications skills at the banquet. She had studied and worked in America so her English proficiency was no problem and she took care of the foreign businessmen who spoke English. She had wit, humour, and with her pretty face and great figure, the businessmen were easily charmed.
Xia Lei was even more astounding. He could speak German and converse easily with the foreign businessmen, plus speak fluently in English - he even spoke French for a bit with a foreign businessman from France. Some of the businessmen had brought their own secretaries and the secretaries¡¯ eyes were shining when they looked at Xia Lei. He was dashing, handsome, built his own business from scratch, modest and could speak several foreignnguages. He seemed to glow with an aura in their eyes - it was perfectly natural for these secretaries to have thoughts about him.
Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao had great rapport and seemed deeply connected to each other. It was obvious that they were a pair, and an enviable pair too.
Annina, on the other hand, had be the forgotten. She peeked at Xia Lei, her heart full of shame. She nced asionally at Liang Si-Yao too and the look in her eyes became moreplicated when she looked at her.
Annina had seen Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®wife¡¯, Laura, but she knew that she was a fake and that had let a glimmer of hope spring in her heart. After seeing Liang Si-Yao, however, Annina discovered that her hope of being together with Xia Lei wasughable, because Liang Si-Yao and Xia Lei were such a matching pair. Liang Si-Yao was young, pretty and had a sexy body, especially her long legs which even women liked and envied, not to mention men. With a girlfriend like that, how could another woman tear Xia Lei away from her?
¡°Darling, let¡¯s drink too.¡± Liang Si-Yao poured for the visiting businessmen and looked at Xia Lei, all smiles.
¡°Okay, let¡¯s drink a little.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he lifted his ss.
¡°I want to cross toast with you,¡± said Liang Si-Yao charmingly.
¡°Cross toast... sure, let¡¯s cross toast.¡± Xia Lei was not shy either and drank a ss of red wine with his arm inteced with Liang Si-Yao¡¯s slender arm. Liang Si-Yao was his woman and they were going to get married and start a family sooner orter; having a cross toast was nothing much.
Liang Si-Yao drank the red wine in the ss and her smile was especially sweet. She gave Annina a look and her look sent a warning - My man! Don¡¯t even think of it!
This was probably why she wanted to do a cross toast with Xia Lei in a setting like this. This was her deration of ownership.
Annina looked away from Liang Si-Yao¡¯s gaze. She knew what Liang Si-Yao meant and she couldn¡¯t take it; she hid from it.
Hu Houughed and said, ¡°Oh, Xia Lei, you¡¯ve done well at such a young age. You¡¯ve evennded an excellent catch like Miss Liang. You¡¯re a winner in life.¡±
Xia Lei said a little abashedly, ¡°Mayor Hu, don¡¯t make fun of me. Where would I be today without your help?¡±
Hu Hou did not actually help much in setting up Thunder Horse Manufacturing but these were nice words to hear. He smiled and said, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about these. Helping you is my job. You have what you have today because of your own hard work. You must let me know when you and Miss Liang get married. I will definitelye to drink some wedding wine.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Liang Si-Yao and said with augh, ¡°I¡¯m not the sole decision-maker in this matter. She has to agree for it to happen.¡±
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei but a smile hovered around her lips. Of course she was willing to marry Xia Lei and be a real family. Just that, as a woman, she was not going to agree so easily - that would be making it too easy for him, won¡¯t it?
Hu Houughed too. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m an interloper, I see. I¡¯m definitelying to your wedding. Xia Lei, I have to tell you - proposals are not done like that. Didn¡¯t you watch those love dramas? Go watch them and learn.¡±
Liang Si-Yao added, ¡°That¡¯s right. You have to move me if you want me to marry you. I want the world¡¯s most romantic proposal. I won¡¯t marry you if it¡¯s not the most romantic.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The banquet went bustling on. Xia Lei got to know several regional and foreign businessmen this time without the connections of others. This was very important as he needed to build his own connections for business.
Annina got up and went to the washroom not long after the banquet started.
Xia Lei hesitated, then drew close to Liang Si-Yao¡¯s ear and said, ¡°Si-Yao, help me out. Go to the washroom and hand this note to her. Remember - don¡¯t talk. She has a listening device on her.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s petite mouth went up in a tiny pout.
Xia Lei bit the bullet and said, ¡°She helped me out a lot when I was in Germany. She¡¯s in trouble now and may even lose her freedom for the rest of her life. I¡¯ll never be able to ease my conscience if I don¡¯t help her in this situation.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll hand it to her,¡± agreed Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei reached out, as if to touch her hand, and put a rolled-up paper into her palm.
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes in fake-shyness at Xia Lei, then got up and walked towards the washroom.
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh. He could go to the washroom too but that would draw the attention of the two German agents. Liang Si-Yao was suited for the task because she and Annina were ¡®girlfriend¡¯ and ¡®third-party¡¯ to the agents. With a rtionship like that, and them both being women, it was an exercise of self-restraint just to not get into a catfight, much less talk. Furthermore, they had anguage barrier.
Liang Si-Yao entered the washroom just as Annina exited a cubicle. Their eyes met and Annina froze.
Liang Si-Yao held a finger to her lips - the international sign for keeping quiet.
Annina was a smart woman too. She had been about to greet her but she immediately closed her mouth when she saw the gesture. She was curious about why Liang Si-Yao hade, though.
Liang Si-Yao handed the note that Xia Lei had given her to Annina.
Annina hesitated, but still opened the note in front of Liang Si-Yao.
The note was written in German: I know your situation. You need help. If you trust me, contact me when you¡¯re not being monitored. I will do my best to help you.
Annina was touched; it was as if she was seeing the Lukas from Germany again. However, she held it in in front of Liang Si-Yao and did not show her feelings.
Liang Si-Yao bent to look at the contents of the note but could not understand it. She did not stay for much longer and left after looking at it, grumbling to herself, ¡®I¡¯m going to use whatever method I have to get him to tell me what he wrote in that note tonight...¡¯
A faint smile appeared in the corners of her lips as she thought of some very interesting methods.
Cross toast / drinking from your own ss with arms crossed: http://i.epochtimes/assets/uploads/2009/01/901132130431485.jpg
Chapter 220 - Son And Daughter Complete A Family
The night wind caressed cheeks and the city nightscape twinkled blurrily, mysteriously. It was unknown how many people had got lost, or smiled or cried in this concrete jungle. Xia Lei had grown up in this city but he still felt like a stranger and a distance between the city and himself.
Long Bing looked out into the distance on the balcony but she seemed to be thinking of other things. ¡°You know what? When we confirmed that there was a spy from America close to you, the first person I suspected was her.¡±
¡°Who?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help asking further.
¡°You know who I¡¯m talking about. Liang Si-Yao,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei froze, then chuckled. ¡°Are you kidding me? How can she be a spy from America? She¡¯s my girlfriend. She won¡¯t do anything to harm me.¡±
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°You helped Shentu Tian-Yin solve her problem - this I know. Her grandfather and Second Uncle wanted to kill her, and they¡¯re blood-rted too. If a blood-rted grandfather can harm his granddaughter, then why can¡¯t Liang Si-Yao harm you? Humans are the mostplicated creatures on Earth and there is nothing that man will not do.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t say any more. I don¡¯t believe that it¡¯s her.¡±
¡°I understand how you feel and fortunately, after days of investigations, we have already eliminated her as a suspect. I wouldn¡¯t have talked to you about this otherwise,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei let out a long breath of relief. ¡°So do you have a new suspect?¡±
¡°No. We followed those two German agents and tapped their phones but we have nothing. The danger is not over. Be careful.¡±
¡°I will. You too.¡±
The corners of Long Bing¡¯s mouth twitched; this seemed to be a smile. ¡°Onest thing. You got Liang Si-Yao to hand Annina a note. You want to help her. Are you sure?¡±
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing in surprise. ¡°How did you know I passed a note to her? And how did you know the contents of that note?¡±
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°I installed cameras in the female washroom.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Tell me, do you really intend to help her?¡±
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit. ¡°Yes. I really do. She is innocent. She wouldn¡¯t be in this mess if it weren¡¯t for me.¡±
¡°And how are you going to help her?¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled thinly, ¡°If those German agents fail their mission they will definitely take Annina back to Germany with them. She¡¯ll likely be locked up for life. There are too manyplications in this matter and I can¡¯t think of any good solution yet.¡±
Long Bing gestured for Xia Lei toe closer.
Xia Lei saw what she wanted and went quickly to her side.
Long Bing put her lips to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said in a low voice, ¡°When Annina contacts you...¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help the smile on his face when he heard what she said. ¡°I have to give it to you. Why didn¡¯t I think of such a good idea?¡±
¡°Your brain is full of Liang Si-Yao, so what else can you think of? Go back. She¡¯ll probably get jealous again if you spend too much time with me.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°She¡¯s actually quite open-minded and not as jealous as you say.¡±
Long Bing just waved him off and went to the stairwell. She looked back when she was in the stairwell and said, ¡°Hurry up with the thing I asked you to do.¡±
¡°Give me two more days. I¡¯ll definitely hand it to you in two days,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing came and went as she pleased; her style had not changed.
Xia Lei was still mulling over what Long Bing had said when he went down. ¡®Humans are the mostplicated creatures on Earth and there is nothing that man will not do¡¯. This sentence made him think of Liang Si-Yao, then of his father.
¡®If that man was my father, did he not meet me because of some secret difficulty? If he does, then what sort of difficulty is it to make him abandon my sister and I?¡¯ Xia Lei was awash with memories and bitterness.
His own father was like this - what about others?
If Long Bing did not rule Liang Si-Yao out and she was indeed the mysterious spy from America, would she also hurt him because of some difficulty and leave him?
This question shed in Xia Lei¡¯s mind but he refused to think more of it.
Xia Lei had just reached the doorway when the door opened. Liang Si-Yao poked her head out, a yful smile on her face.
¡°I saw her leave. Didn¡¯t dare to greet her, though,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei put aside his roiling thoughts and said with a smile, ¡°She¡¯s not a tigress. Why so afraid of her?¡±
Liang Si-Yao pulled him through the door and hugged him around the waist. ¡°Have you forgotten? She fired a gun during ourpany¡¯s construction and killed three people. She didn¡¯t even bat an eye. Who¡¯s not afraid of someone like that?¡±
Xia Lei spanked her perky buttocks. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a female martial arts practitioner? Is this the limit of your bravery?¡±
Liang Si-Yao stretched out a leg to shut the door and leanedzily in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. ¡°I was very brave but I¡¯ve be more timid after being with you. You have to protect me. Protect me for my whole life.¡±
Her soft, sweet words stirred a beast in Xia Lei and his heart warmed; his loins warmed. He bent, picked Liang Si-Yao up and carried her as he walked to her room.
Liang Zheng-Chun was staying overnight in the martial school that night so the t was their little kingdom. They could do whatever they wanted.
The path to the door was hot with kisses, and pieces of clothing dropped to the floor.
¡°What did you write in the note to Annina?¡± Liang Si-Yao blocked herself off at Xia Lei¡¯s most crucial time of need.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I told her to contact me when she isn¡¯t being monitored so that I can help her. That¡¯s it. What did you think I wrote?¡±
¡°I¡¯m just asking because I¡¯m worried about you,¡± said Liang Si-Yao coquettishly, ¡° You need help?¡±
¡°No need. Long Bing will help me settle it.¡± Xia Lei was anxious. Why did she have so many questions right now?
Liang Si-Yao giggled. She opened her hand to reveal a Durex condom and said yfully, ¡°Do you want to put it on yourself, or do you need help?¡±
¡°How about not putting it on?¡±
¡°No. We¡¯re not married yet - what if I get pregnant?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face turned red with shame at those words.
¡°Then you put it on for me.¡± Xia Lei pouted like a child.
¡°Youzy bum...¡± Liang Si-Yao bit Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°You can put it on a littleter.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, and eagerly pressed forward...
After a bout of passion, the fervor faded and they were left blissfully satisfied with an indescribable calm; It was a veryfortable feeling.
¡°I¡¯ll go throw it away. Wait there - don¡¯t peek, youzy little pig.¡± Liang Si-Yao got up from beside Xia Lei.
¡°You always take care of that. I¡¯ll do it this time. I should be the one doing it,¡± said Xia Lei gently.
¡°You¡¯re tired. Rest. I¡¯ll go - you be good. No protesting.¡± Liang Si-Yao left their warm nest and put on her slippers, the dirty thing pinched in her fingers as she walked to the bathroom.
Xia Lei watched her graceful back and was full of bliss. ¡®She¡¯s the best. When Xuees back in a few days I¡¯ll discuss with her and find a chance to propose. Xue would love a sister-inw like this, right?¡¯
In the bathroom, Liang Si-Yao put the used condom in a stic container, then put the container in her makeup box.
She stared dumbly at the makeup box for half a beat before she turned and left the bathroom.
Xia Lei had flipped the sheets open. ¡°Come in, don¡¯t get cold,¡± he said in concern.
Liang Si-Yao burrowed into the sheets and put her hands tightly around Xia Lei. ¡°Darling, do you think we¡¯ll have a boy or a girl in the future?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°A son is good, a daughter is good. How about we have one boy and one girl?¡±
¡°You want two?¡±
¡°Yep. Son and daughter -plete family. Don¡¯t you want that?¡±
¡°I do, but it will hurt. Hurting once is not enough? Twice? You¡¯re not the one getting pregnant, of course you¡¯d want two.¡± Liang Si-Yao pouted.
¡°It¡¯ll work if you get boy-girl twins in one go, won¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Easy for you to say. What are the chances that we¡¯d have a twins, and a boy and a girl at that. How about you show me how it¡¯s done?¡±
Xia Lei flipped over and squashed Liang Si-Yao beneath him. ¡°I¡¯ll show you right now,¡± he said with augh.
¡°You want more? You¡¯re insatiable.¡± Liang Si-Yao turned red.
Xia Lei pulled the covers over themselves...
Early the next morning, Xia Lei received a call from Annina. It was a local mobile number; a stranger¡¯s number.
¡°I borrowed this phone. I don¡¯t have much time. They say I have no more value as a tool and want to send me to America for investigation. They¡¯ll send me to the airport in an hour. I¡¯m now in the hotel that you¡¯vee to before. Help me, Lukas.¡± Annina¡¯s voice was anxious.
¡°Rx, I¡¯ll be right there. Do whatever I say. Trust me, you¡¯ll be fine,¡± assured Xia Lei.
¡°I trust you. I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± Annina hung up.
Xia Lei got himself ready and walked to the door. ¡°Si-Yao, Annina called. I¡¯m going over.¡±
Liang Si-Yao came out of the kitchen. ¡°Have breakfast before you go.¡±
Xia Lei had no time for it. ¡°I¡¯m not eating, there¡¯s no time. I¡¯ll contact Long Bing on the way. You don¡¯t have to worry when she¡¯s on the job.¡±
¡°How can I not worry?¡± Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You be careful.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and stepped quickly out the door.
Liang Si-Yao removed the apron and went to her room. She nked out for a bit in her room before going to the bathroom. The makeup box sat quietly below the sink on a ss shelf. She took it out and opened it. White puffs of cold air came from the makeup box. The dirty little thing which Xia Lei had used had turned into a small lump of ice. Images of their passionate time together surfaced in Liang Si-Yao¡¯s head as she looked at it and a faint smile appeared in the corners of her mouth...
Chapter 221 - Flour And Condom
¡°Markus, Ralf, why did you book ne tickets to America and not Germany? I don¡¯t want to go to America. You have no right to hand me over to the Americans.¡± Annina was fairly emotional and spoke angrily.
Markus and Ralf were the German agents who had brought her to China.
Markus sneered, ¡°It¡¯s no use. We don¡¯t have to exin anything to you.¡±
Annina begun to lose it. ¡°I want awyer! If I¡¯vemitted a crime, then let judge and jury give a verdict. You cannot, and you have no right!¡±
Ralf, who was sitting on the sofa, stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray and said aggressively, ¡°What are you making a fuss for? You think your offence is just drunk driving or cursing? Your offence is treason. You have no right to ask for awyer¡¯s help.¡±
¡°Then why are you taking me to America?¡± said Annina angrily, ¡°I am German. Even if I am guilty, I want to serve my sentence in a German prison!¡±
Ralf sniggered. ¡°Is your brain working, woman? We share intelligence with America. The Americans were the ones who told us that the Chinese spy has stolen our German secrets. We are not able to do more in China right now except hand you over to the American intelligence. They will investigate you, and maybe ask for your cooperation.¡±
¡°Who gave you that information?¡± asked Annina.
Ralf looked warily at Annina. ¡°You ask too many questions.¡±
¡°I¡¯m just... curious,¡± said Annina, ¡°It must be the CIA, right?¡±
¡°CIA? Heh heh, maybe. This is not something for you to worry about. Someone will take care of you.¡± Markus stressed the words ¡®take care¡¯ like it meant something else.
Annina grew hysterical again. ¡°I know it must be the CIA. I¡¯ve seen the movies - they¡¯re willing to do anything. I don¡¯t want to go to America, I won¡¯t!¡±
¡°Shut it!¡± Markus pped Annina so hard she fell to the floor and he said fiercely, ¡°Behave yourself! I¡¯ll give you five minutes to pack, and you¡¯reing with us to the airport.¡±
The heavy fall to the ground calmed Annina. She stopped making a fuss and climbed to her feet. ¡°Five minutes is not enough. I want to take a shower.¡±
¡°You sure have a lot of requests. No.¡± Markus rejected it right away.
¡°We are all Germans. You also know that I¡¯m not guilty, so why treat me this way? They will surely lock me up when I get to America. I want to take a shower before that - is that too much to ask?¡±
¡°Markus, forget it. Let her have her shower. We have time anyway,¡± said Ralf.
Markus then nodded. ¡°Be quick.¡±
Annina held out her hands. ¡°How am I to get undressed with you two here? Go guard the door. This is the sixth floor. I¡¯m not going to escape through the window. Give me the proper respect, as fellow Germanic people.¡±
Ralf and Markus exchanged nces, then left Room 508.
Annina took her clothes off and entered the bathroom.
Markus and Ralf stood outside, guarding the door.
¡°We should¡¯ve put cameras in the bathroom.¡± Markus had a vile smile on his face. ¡°She has a great body, eh?¡±
¡°We¡¯ve removed all the cameras and listening devices in the room. We cannot leave any evidence behind. She¡¯s actually rather pitiful - let¡¯s not make it worse,¡± said Ralf. He sighed, ¡°No trial, nowyer. I don¡¯t know how the CIA will treat her.¡±
¡°This isn¡¯t something for us to worry about. We¡¯re just following orders,¡± said Markus.
¡°That guy didn¡¯t show his face once. He said the thing Xia Lei stole is in China, in China Industrial Group. Too bad that that ce is controlled by the Chinese military. There¡¯s no way for us to get in, otherwise we would have been able to get evidence.¡± Ralf looked dissatisfied.
¡°That guy is CIA. He¡¯s very valuable and won¡¯t show himself easily for sure. He must have detected some danger so he got us to take Annina to America. I actually am d to do this. I am uneasy doing a mission in a ce like China,¡± said Markus.
Ralf smiled wryly. ¡°Me too. China is the only other country besides Russia that has the power to go up against America. This country is ancient and full of shadows. I don¡¯t like this feeling. I want to take a holiday after bringing Annina to America. Have some time to rx.¡±
Markus smiled. ¡°Give me a call if you¡¯re going to a nightclub. American girls are all hot for sex and don¡¯t hold back. Nightclubs are the easiest ces to get girls.¡±
Their conversation turned to women and they spoke excitedly.
A middle-aged woman walked over, pushing a cleaning trolley. She didn¡¯t speak as she reached to open the door.
Markus blocked her way and used very garbled Chinese to say, ¡°Cannot.¡±
The middle-aged woman smacked Markus¡¯ hand away and said rudely, ¡°Move out of the way. You¡¯ve already checked out. I have to quickly make up the room or I¡¯ll get fired.¡±
¡°What did she say?¡± Ralf was befuddled.
Markus shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±
The two agents¡¯ Chinese were at the level of everyday phrases like ¡®good morning¡¯, ¡®cannot¡¯, ¡®good night¡¯ and ¡®how much¡¯. It was impossible for them to understand the woman.
The woman red at Markus. ¡°Move aside. I want to go in and clean the room. What¡¯s wrong with you white people? You¡¯ve already checked out but you¡¯re still upying the room. I¡¯ll call the police, believe me.¡±
She spoke loudly and drew the attention of two security guards.
¡°Forget it, let her go in.¡± Ralf didn¡¯t want any trouble. ¡°They¡¯re both women anyway.¡±
Markus looked at the two approaching security guards, also worried that they would draw unnecessary trouble. He got out of the way at Ralf¡¯s words.
The cleaningdy opened the door and pushed the cleaning trolley through the doorway. She grumbled to herself all the way but Markus and Ralf didn¡¯t understand her at all. Ralf reached out to close the door behind her after she walked in.
The two security guards went back to their posts.
Ralf opened the room door after the security guards left. The middle-aged woman was making the bed. She gave Ralf a fierce re when she saw him open the door and grumbled at him.
Ralf did not close the room door this time but left it half open so that he and Markus could see the woman¡¯s every move.
The cleaningdy made no suspicious moves. She started cleaning the room after tidying the bed. The sounds of a shower came from the bathroom.
Everything was normal. Markus and Ralf kept an eye on the cleaningdy, watching her every move.
The only thing the two Germans could not keep an eye on was the bathroom.
One minute ago, when the cleaningdy had pushed the cleaning trolley into the room and Ralf closed the door behind her, a man had climbed out of the cleaning suppliespartment of the trolley and zipped into the bathroom.
When the security guards had gone off and Ralf opened the door, all he saw was just the cleaningdy tidying the room.
In the bathroom, the naked Annina covered her mouth in excitement when she saw the familiar face, holding back her sounds of surprise.
The man in the bathroom was none other than Xia Lei.
They did not speak; they exchanged looks. Annina suddenly spread her arms and hugged Xia Lei tight, and the tears she could hold back no longer fell in two streams. She cried soundlessly. She was moved - her Lukas did not forget her. He hade back in her time of great danger to be with her.
There was not a stitch of clothing on her and her most beautiful and mysterious spots were uncovered. She was wet all over, and slippery. Being hugged by her like this made Xia Lei feel like he was being hugged by a mermaid. It was a great feeling but Xia Lei did not dare to waste a single second. He spoke in her ear, ¡°We don¡¯t have much time. Listen carefully. Do as I say. I can help you stay in China.¡±
¡°Stay in China?¡± Annina¡¯s voice was full of worry. ¡°What can I do in China?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s discuss thister. What¡¯s important now is to have you stay. There¡¯s no way I can help you if you get sent to America. Do you understand?¡±
Annina bit her lip and made a small nod. ¡°I understand. I¡¯m willing to stay in China. I¡¯ll be able to see you in China and I¡¯ll be very happy.¡±
Her words made Xia Lei feel worried and guilty. ¡°We will set our n in motion at the airport. But before that, you¡¯ll have to swallow this now.¡±
¡°What?¡±
Xia Lei let go of Annina and took out two condoms from his trouser pocket.
Annina¡¯s expression turned odd when she saw the condoms in Xia Lei¡¯s hand. Her face turned red and her voice weird, ¡°No, no, not now. Lukas, I promise you, you can have it anytime after today. I don¡¯t mind that you have a girlfriend, really. I can satisfy all your needs... But there are two German agents outside right now. They¡¯ll discover us. Plus, you want to use two, I...¡±
¡°What are you thinking?¡± Xia Lei cut her off. He took out a small stic bag of about a hundred grams of white powder from his clothing.
Annina stared nkly at him and said awkwardly, ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±
¡°Flour,¡± said Xia Lei. He opened the stic bag and removed the condoms from the wrapper, then started filling the condoms with flour.
¡°You¡¯re telling me to eat flour?¡± Annina was confused, ¡°And it¡¯s in condoms?¡±
¡°There¡¯s flour in the condoms but they¡¯ll be drugs at the airport. ording to my country¡¯sws, you¡¯ll be sentenced to death for the amount you¡¯re carrying,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina¡¯s face turned ash-white.
Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°Trust me. I won¡¯t harm you. Just do as I tell you. Eat these, then when they¡¯re questioning you, ask the interrogating officer for water. You¡¯ll be in pain after you drink that water and we will say that it¡¯s because the condoms burst and that you¡¯ll be sentenced to death. Those two special agents won¡¯t dare to say that they know you under those circumstances. You got that?¡±
Annina nodded.
Xia Lei tied a dead knot in a condom and said, ¡°Open your mouth. Eat this.¡±
Annina raised her chin and opened her mouth wide. Xia Lei put the flour-filled condom in her mouth but his gaze rested on Annina¡¯s bountiful bosom. Western women sure have big breasts!
Annina swallowed the flour-filled condoms with great difficulty; her throat was ufortable. She bent over the sink and drank water to help the condom slide down to her stomach.
After she finished swallowing the first one, she went back to Xia Lei and opened her mouth to swallow the next one. She did not go drink water this time but abruptly hugged Xia Lei and kissed him roughly on the lips after she¡¯d finished swallowing the second condom.
The door to the bathroom was suddenly pushed open and the cleaningdy appeared in the doorway, pushing her cleaning trolley. The cleaning trolley blocked the doorway and the dirty clothpartment below was open.
Annina looked nervously at the cleaningdy and let go of Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s fine. She¡¯s one of our people. Remember what I said. You must drink water,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina nodded.
Xia Lei bent and folded himself into the space in the cleaning trolley.
The cleaningdy spoke in a displeased tone, ¡°Lady, how long more is your shower going to take? You can¡¯t shower in the room after you¡¯ve checked out.¡± As she spoke, she pushed the cleaning trolley out of the doorway and picked up a mop, ready to go in to mop the floor.
Annina wrapped herself in a towel and walked out of the bathroom.
Markus and Ralf stared at Annina¡¯s glistening hibiscus-like body with rapacious eyes.
¡°Aren¡¯t you rushed for time? How am I to get dressed with you guys watching me?¡± said Annina.
Markus and Ralf exchanged nces and Ralf reached to close the room door.
Chapter 222 - Anninas Death
A taxi stopped by the side of the road at the airport. The door opened and Markus alighted first, then opened the back passenger door and waited for Annina to get out. Ralf paid the driver and was thest to alight. The two of them stood to either side of Annina, controlling every movement of hers.
In a ck car in the airport car park, Long Bing and Xia Lei stared at Ralf, Markus and Annina as they headed to the airport terminal. Ke Jie, Long Bing¡¯s subordinate, was also in the car. Markus and Ralf thought they had Annina under their control but they were unaware that every movement of theirs was being monitored by someone else.
As Markus and Ralf were taking Annina to the terminal, Long Bing spoke, ¡°Ke Jie, go in. Keep watch. Report to me immediately if you see anything.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Ke Jie said, then alighted and walked to the airport terminal.
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Have you thought about how you¡¯ll settle her matters?¡±
¡°I¡¯m thinking of getting her to help me. She¡¯s an excellent mechanic and can even disassemble and fix a Leopard 2. She¡¯s very capable.¡±
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°I knew you¡¯d think that but let me tell you that she cannot show her face for at least a year, much less appear at yourpany and work for you. You get what I¡¯m saying?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly but said nothing. He did understand what she meant. Annina was acting out her death so how could a dead persone to work at Thunder Horse Manufacturing? More importantly, the CIA of America wanted her; the CIA would surely send someone to investigate if she suddenly died at the airport. It would be big trouble if someone saw the dead Annina working.
Long Bing sighed. ¡°I actually feel that she¡¯s rather pitiful for having met you.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Can you not say that? I know I owe her but wasn¡¯t it because I needed toplete the mission? That was for the betterment of country and nation, so what does it have to do with me owing her personally? I¡¯ll make it up to herter. But before that, I¡¯d like to ask you to take good care of her. Only you can do this.¡±
¡°Rest assured,¡± said Long Bing.
Ke Jie¡¯s voice came over the transmitter at that moment. ¡°Boss, they¡¯re approaching the security checkpoint now.¡±
Long Bing and Xia Lei ceased their chatter in the car and waited quietly for events to unfold.
At the security checkpoint, Markus was the first to pass through. There were no problems with his identification documents and his luggage.
¡°Come on,¡± said Ralf to Annina, ¡°Don¡¯t resist. You know that it¡¯ll be useless. Cooperate with us and we will help you.¡±
Annina sneered, ¡°You¡¯ll help me? Oh, I know, you¡¯re helping me go to hell.¡±
Ralf pushed Annina lightly, ¡°Enough chatter.¡±
Annina walked to the security checkpoint. There was nothing of Germany or the Germanic people in her heart now - just her parents and Xia Lei. Xia Lei¡¯s face appeared in her mind and a tiny smile appeared on her lips. Stay in China? To be with the person she liked most? Why not?
Ralf and Markus exchanged looks. To them, and to their understanding of their American ¡®friend¡¯, Annina would be passing through the gates of hell once she stepped through this security checkpoint. There was no pity in their hearts, however. If an agent sympathised with the target, then he was a failed agent.
The airport security personnel waved at Annina, gesturing for her to move faster.
Annina increased her pace and stood inside the body scanner. The rm sounded.
¡°There¡¯s something in her stomach! Detain her!¡± The tone of the scan-operator was stern.
Two airport policemen came rushing over, blocking Annina off in the scanner. She was in their custody in the next second.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Markus¡¯ expression changed.
No one answered his question. The two airport policemen held Annina by her arms and walked her to the police room.
Markus, who had passed the security checkpoint, went to chase after the two policemen to ask angrily, ¡°What is this? She is German. What right have you to arrest her?¡±
One of the policemen looked back at Markus and said in English, ¡°What are you saying, sir? Please use English.¡±
Markus switched to English and said, ¡°Why have you arrested her?¡±
The policeman replied, ¡°She has illegal drugs in her stomach. Who are you to her? Why are you so concerned?¡±
Markus¡¯ expression changed again at those words. He knew full well what the penalties for drug possession were in China - it was the death penalty if one exceeded a certain amount. There was no saving a person who had gone over the limit. How could he dare to make any false moves in this situation?
¡°What is your rtionship with her?¡± The policeman probed further in English.
Markus shook his head. ¡°We have no rtion. We¡¯re just fellow Germans in a group of business representatives. I¡¯m just concerned for her and we have no rtion whatsoever.¡±
¡°I see. We are a country which follows the rules and illegal activity here will be governed by ourws. You can contact your conste but do not interfere with ourw enforcement.¡± The policeman walked off after he was done speaking.
Ralf cleared the security checkpoint and walked over. He said in a low voice, ¡°Dammit, I heard the scan-operator say that there are two condoms filled with a powdery substance in her stomach. She¡¯s been under our surveince all this while - where did she get that from?¡±
¡°Could it be that cleaner?¡± said Markus.
¡°Did you forget? That cleaner was also under watch. I know you¡¯re going to say that the door was closed but that was just three to five seconds. How was it possible to hand it to her in that time?¡±
¡°Shit! This must be the handiwork of that Xia Lei!¡± Ralf said angrily, ¡°He must be using this method to keep Annina in China and not let the CIA get any information out of her. She¡¯s a critical witness!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go over and take a look. Contact our conste and have them send someone over.¡± Markus promptly made a decision.
Ralf nodded and took out his phone to make a call.
Markus walked to the police room and stood in the doorway, watching the airport policemen record Annina¡¯s statement.
¡°Can you speak English?¡± asked the policeman taking Annina¡¯s statement.
Annina looked very nervous but she nodded. She raised her head to nce at Markus in the doorway; he was looking at her thunderously. Annina looked away from his gaze, as if in guilt.
¡°Good, then let me ask you this - there are two condoms in your stomach. What is in these condoms?¡± asked the policeman.
¡°I...¡± Annina started to say, then stopped. She bit her lip, looking uneasy.
The policeman snorted. ¡°I¡¯ll say it for you since you don¡¯t want to say it. You have heroin in your stomach. It set off our security rms. You sure are daring to try to bring this through the checkpoint. Tell me - do you have aplices?¡±
Annina raised her head to peek again at Markus in the doorway.
Markus grew nervous right away. He was afraid that Annina would say that he was her aplice. He would be arrested too, if that were the case. He was not afraid that he would be detained in China for the crime of possession of drugs but it would be a lot of trouble for their German side to get himself and Ralf back to Germany.
Annina shook her head. ¡°I have no aplices.¡±
¡°Where did you get your drugs?¡± asked the policeman.
¡°I bought it on the ck market,¡± said Annina.
¡°Who did you buy it from?¡±
¡°From...¡± Annina shook her head again. ¡°I don¡¯t remember. Give me some water. I¡¯d like to have some water.¡±
¡°Get her a cup of water,¡± said the interrogating policeman to his colleague.
The other policeman went to the water dispenser and opened the cupboard below it to get a paper cup, then handed a cup of water to Annina.
¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. Our country¡¯sws are very humane. If you confess and cooperate well, you will get a lighter sentence. It¡¯s best if you volunteer information about your aplices and the seller you bought the drugs from,¡± said the policeman.
Annina nodded but said nothing. She just drank that cup of water.
Ralf walked over at that moment and said in a low voice in Markus¡¯ ear, ¡°I¡¯ve contacted the conste and they will be here soon.¡± A sneer appeared on his lips, ¡°They think they can use this method to keep Annina here. We and the CIA will put pressure on the Chinese side.¡±
Markus looked a little relieved. ¡°That¡¯s good, otherwise we¡¯d have no way to report back after our mission.¡±
In the police room, Annina finished her cup of water and was silent. She suddenly raised her arm and pointed at Markus, who was in the doorway, and said, ¡°My boss is him. His name¡¯s Markus - he¡¯s the one who told me to carry drugs. And him. He¡¯s called Ralf. He¡¯s involved too.¡±
The two policemen turned together to re at Markus and Ralf.
Markus panicked and barked, ¡°You wench! What nonsense are you spouting?¡±
At that moment, Annina suddenly fell from her chair. Her body twitched all over and she foamed at the mouth; she looked to be in a very dangerous condition.
¡°Oh shit!¡± The policeman taking her statement stood with a tter, ¡°The condom in her stomach must have burst! Quick, call the ambnce!¡±
The policeman who had got Annina the cup of water used the deskndline to call the ambnce.
Markus and Ralf could not hold themselves back anymore and the two of them stepped quickly into the police room.
The policeman who was taking Annina¡¯s statement shouted, ¡°Freeze! Don¡¯t move! You¡¯re under arrest!¡±
Markus ignored the policeman¡¯s warning. He squatted by Annina and lifted her eyelid to look at her pupil. Annina¡¯s pupil was dted. He then felt her carotid artery and his heart grew cold. Annina had no pulse!
A gun was suddenly pressed to Markus¡¯ head. It was the statement-taking policeman. His eyes were icy as he said, ¡°You punk. What do you take this ce for? Get on the floor! Lie t, with your hands on your head.¡±
Markus raised his voice, ¡°I am a German policeman. What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±
The statement-taking policeman swung his leg in a kick and Markus fell to the floor. He then took the opportunity to use his knees to kneel on Markus¡¯ back and subdue him instantly.
Ralf paused, then showed no resistance; he obedientlyy on the ground and put his hands on his head.
A few minutester, several medical personnel entered the police room and did a quick check. Annina was pronounced dead on the spot and her body taken away.
The people from the German conste were a step toote, but they were more concerned about saving the two live people instead of one dead one.
Chapter 223 - Woman Passing By in the Dead of Night
Annina stirred awake to find herself in a room. It was an unfamiliar room and the furniture and fittings looked rather old, in the style of 90¡¯s China. Through the window, she saw a forest and the leaves on the trees had almost all fallen. There were mountaintops in the distance. Everything she saw painted a bleak picture.
Just then, the door to the room opened and Xia Lei walked in.
¡°Lukas.¡± Excitement burst in Annina¡¯s heart and she made to get up from the bed buty down again after moving only a little. Her body was soft and powerless; she was very weak.
Xia Lei walked to her bedside. ¡°Lie down, don¡¯t move. You¡¯ll be fine after resting for two days.¡±
¡°What¡¯s wrong with me?¡± asked Annina uprehendingly.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Remember that cup of water you drank? It had a drug in it that simtes death. It can make your heart stop beating but you can be revived if you¡¯re tended to in time.¡±
¡°What about Markus and Ralf?¡± Annina remembered her vicious countrymen.
¡°They¡¯ve been detained. The consr staff are negotiating with our side now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Will they be sentenced?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No. They will be released after we give them some trouble. Our goal was to save you, not to frame two German agents.¡±
¡°What if they want my corpse?¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Then they¡¯ll get ashes. We¡¯ve prepared ashes of a female of a simr age to yours and taken some hair and skin from you and mixed them into the ashes. The ashes will have your DNA in there. There will be ws, of course, but they cannot do anything if we insist that those are your ashes.¡±
Annina rxed only then. She looked quietly at Xia Lei, her eyes alight withughter.
¡°We will give you a new identity. You can start your new life here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯d like to work at yourpany. I¡¯m a machinist too, like you,¡± said Annina.
¡°You can¡¯t, not right now. You have toy low for some time. You understand what I mean? It¡¯s a sensitive time now and if someone sees you working at mypany there will be trouble,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then what can I do? I don¡¯t want to stay here all the time.¡±
¡°This is just temporary. Long Bing will arrange everything after you¡¯ve recovered.¡±
¡°Long Bing?¡± This was Annina¡¯s first time hearing Long Bing¡¯s name.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve seen her - Laura¡±
¡°Your wife?¡± blurted Annina, then she remembered and said, ¡°She¡¯s not your wife. You¡¯re not married. That Miss Liang is your real girlfriend, right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Do you love her?¡±
¡°I do.¡± Xia Lei felt embarrassed when talking about it. ¡°We...¡±
Annina cut him off. ¡°Hold me.¡±
Xia Lei paused. He¡¯d been about to refuse but he could not bear to at the thought that Annina had only ended up in such dire straits because of him. After some hesitation, he reached his hands out to hug her and found that a person sitting by a bed could not hold someone lying on the bed. He shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±
¡°You can climb on the bed and hold me,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Just hold me for a bit. I want you tofort me. There¡¯s no way you¡¯ll be able to cheat on your fianc¨¦e with me like this, is there?¡± said Annina sneakily. One could see that she was in a much better mood already.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and bit the bullet. He climbed onto the bed andy next to Annina, then stretched out an arm for Annina to use as her pillow. Anninay quietly in the crook of his arm and theyy together wordlessly.
Xia Lei had thought that it would be very awkward to lie on the same bed as Annina and hold her but it was, strangely, not. He felt rather tranquil instead.
Annina must¡¯ve been too tired; she fell asleep quickly.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei cautiously climbed out of bed and left the room. He looked back at her as he exited. She looked peaceful and had a faint smile on her lips. Who knew what she was dreaming of?
Xia Lei saw Long Bing standing in the yard as soon as he walked out. This ce was actually just a small farmhouse and was fairly inconspicuous from all angles.
Long Bing gave Xia Lei and odd look but did not speak.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, interpreted her silence for something else and said awkwardly, ¡°It¡¯s not what you think. She needsforting most now, and I just...¡±
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°You just apanied her in bed for a short nap. Rx. I¡¯ll keep your secret. Miss Liang won¡¯t know about this.¡±
Xia Lei changed the subject. ¡°Who¡¯s going to be taking care of her?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll arrange for someone to take care of her. Don¡¯t worry about her afterwards either. I¡¯ll let her stay in the logistics department of Bureau 101 for a while,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°You don¡¯t mean that she¡¯s going to join Bureau 101, is she? She¡¯s just a normal machinist - not suited at all to be an agent,¡± said Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°No special agent was born a special agent. Take yourself for example. And, didn¡¯t you also say that she is an excellent mechanic? Able to disassemble and fix Germany¡¯s most advanced Leopard 2. Krupp Mak Maschinenbau is actually a German militarypany. She must have some valuable information. We¡¯ve taken so much effort and risk to save her so she should give us something, shouldn¡¯t she?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Okay, arrange whatever you need. Please send me back now. I¡¯m still working on modifying that gun for you.¡±
Long Bing looked at the dusky sky. ¡°Back to the Liang household or to your home?¡±
¡°Thepany.¡± Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°I¡¯m going to work overtime and modify your gun.¡±
Long Bing smiled faintly and said nothing. She turned to get the car.
It took over an hour for the car to drive out of the mountain area and into the city, to Thunder Horse Manufacturing. It was the beginning of winter and the days were shorter. The sky was dark when the two of them arrived at thepany.
Long Bing looked at the parts which Xia Lei had processed in his workshop and was very satisfied with them. She did not stay long - she looked at the gun, chatted for a bit with Xia Lei and drove off.
Xia Lei was alone in his workshop modifying the gun till about midnight, when he left the workshop. He would be able to give Long Bing a sniper rifle with a far better performance than the AS50 in under three days if he progressed at this rate.
Xia Lei sat in the driver¡¯s seat of the BMW M6 and his first thought was to drive to the Liang household but he changed his mind when he drove to the exit. It wasn¡¯t that he could not drive to the Liang household but it was already the middle of the night and not very convenient. The other reason was that he had been spending too much time with Liang Si-Yao recently. His waist ached often. Men were steel and women furnaces - furnaces melted steel but whoever heard of molten metal melting furnaces?
¡®Never mind. I¡¯ll rest for a day and go home to have a good sleep.¡¯ Xia Lei drove towards home. He could guarantee that if he went to the Liang household at this time, Liang Si-Yao would just have to grind against him a little and say a few teasing words for him to cave in and engage in love-activities. She often did that and it was a little too much for him.
Back in his neighbourhood, he parked his car and looked up at Jiang Ri-Yi¡¯s balcony. No lights were on in her home and she did not appear on the balcony.
¡®What am I thinking? It¡¯s already the middle of the night. She¡¯d be long asleep.¡¯ Xia Lei looked away and walked towards the stairwell.
Up on the second floor, before he opened his door, the sound of scuffling slippered feet moving about suddenly came from inside his home and there was also lighting from under the door.
Who could be home?
Xia Lei was surprised and was about to use X-ray vision to look inside when the door suddenly opened.
It was Xia Xue.
¡°Xue, when did youe back? Weren¡¯t you supposed toe back in a few days?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise.
Xia Xue yawned and saidzily, ¡°It¡¯s the school holidays already so I came back early. The ne only arrived at the airport at 10pm so I haven¡¯t been home for long. I was going to call you if you still weren¡¯ting back.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°You have to give me a call in advance for things like this. I¡¯m worried for you, taking a flight back from Jing-Du yourself.¡±
Xia Xueughed. ¡°Brother, I¡¯m an adult now. I know what I¡¯m doing. You¡¯re busy enough on normal days so don¡¯t worry about me. Come in, don¡¯t talk in the doorway - you¡¯ll disturb the neighbours.¡±
Xia Lei walked through the door and wanted to have some words with her but he swallowed his words before he said them. Xia Xue had passed her teenage rebellious phase but girls her age were rebellious too. She had her own ideas and opinions and would not listen to her brother for everything. She wouldn¡¯t listen even if he nagged, so why say it?
Xia Lei was actually not truly particrly worried about Xia Xue¡¯s safety because Long Bing had said that there were professionals protecting her. The secret protector would definitely be doing his job when Xia Xue came back from school.
¡°Are you hungry, Brother? I¡¯ll make you some instant noodles,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°No, I ate a takeaway meal at thepany.¡± Xia Lei walked to the balcony. He was curious - was Xia Xue¡¯s secret protector close by? If so, he¡¯d like to see who was guarding Xia Xue.
¡°Then I¡¯ll make one for myself. I¡¯m starving.¡± Xia Xue went to the kitchen. It seemed like she had woken up because she was hungry and seen Xia Lei drive home from the kitchen window before she had gone to the door to open it for him.
Xia Lei went to the balcony and scanned all the visible corners.
The neighbourhood seemed normal. There weren¡¯t any people walking about at this hour but there were a few cats chasing each other noisily.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the area beyond the walls and a woman in a ck trench coat entered his field of vision. His left eye twitched and the woman¡¯s blurred face came into focus. He was stunned by who he saw - it was Tang Yu-Yan.
Tang Yu-Yan was looking up at the balcony too and she could probably see Xia Lei since he had the light on behind him. He was fairly obvious standing high up on a balcony. She just couldn¡¯t see his face clearly.
¡®How can it be her?¡¯ Xia Lei was astonished. ¡®It can¡¯t be, can it?¡¯
Tang Yu-Yan seemed to have discovered that Xia Lei was watching her. She turned and left, but not quickly. Just a woman passing by in the dead of night.
Chapter 224 - Russian Woman and Paper Note
Early the next morning, Xia Lei brought Xia Xue to Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
Once he got out of the car, Xia Lei said to Xia Xue, ¡°Go take a look around and tell me if you see anything you can do. Do some work this holiday and learn some practical skills.¡±
Xia Xue grinned, ¡°Will you pay me, Brother?¡±
Xia Lei spoke matter-of-factly, ¡°Of course I will. I¡¯ll pay you just as much as the others.¡±
Xia Xue pouted and looked dissatisfied but she quickly smiled again. ¡°Brother, Mum and Dad would be proud of you if they knew. I¡¯m proud of you too. I¡¯lle help you at yourpany after I graduate.¡±
¡°Who¡¯ll you help if not me?¡± Xia Lei chided, ¡°Go, go. Take a good look around and consider your options properly. Once you¡¯ve decided I won¡¯t let you change your mind.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go now.¡± Xia Xue skipped towards the workshops, looking rather happy.
Thepany belonged to her brother and working during her winter holidays was just for the practice. The money was just symbolic. When she needed money in the future, she would just have to ask Xia Lei for a few hundred million - how could he not give it to her?
Xia Lei went to the office but Liang Si-Yao had not yet arrived. He sat at his desk and thought about what he sawst night.
¡®Why is Tang Yu-Yan here? Is she really the person Long Bing was talking about? Boss Shi¡¯s god-daughter? And she¡¯s the one protecting Xue? No way. Long Bing said that someone from another department is in charge of that and that person is from Bureau 101. If Tang Yu-Yan is from Bureau 101, then she isn¡¯t the one protecting Xue. But if it¡¯s not Tang Yu-Yan, then why did she appear close to my home? If it¡¯s not Tang Yu-Yan protecting Xue, then who is it?¡¯ Questions upon questions spun about in Xia Lei¡¯s head, making him restless.
¡°This is a robbery!¡± Liang Si-Yao suddenly burst in with a shout.
The questions in Xia Lei¡¯s head were sted away by her shouting and he looked at her, smiling as he said, ¡°You sure? You don¡¯t look like a robber.¡±
¡°Why not?¡± Liang Si-Yao walked over and grabbed Xia Lei by the cor, then sat on his leg. ¡°I¡¯m a robber who takes your money and your chastity. You¡¯re in my clutches now and don¡¯t even think of running away.¡±
Xia Lei kissed her. ¡°I¡¯ve never thought of running away. I¡¯ll let you rob me of my money and my chastity my whole life, how about that?¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled sweetly and her hips squeezed him in some ce - either intentionally or unintentionally. Her gaze was also seductive.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t take much more of it and had a reaction but he suddenly thought of something and hurriedly said, ¡°Get off, quick. My sister¡¯s here. It¡¯ll be bad if she sees.¡±
¡°Xia Xue is here?¡± Liang Si-Yao got off Xia Lei and looked at the door but did not see Xia Xue.
¡°I told her to go look around the workshops and experience what it is like for regr workers. I¡¯d like her to get practice at thepany and experience working life, plus learn some practical skills,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re making her work in the workshops?¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°No, no, how can a delicate girl like her go to that sort of ce? Tell her to stick with me and be my assistant. I can teach her some business management and basic capital management knowledge. These are much better than the skills she¡¯ll learn on a workshop floor.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll let her choose what she wants. I¡¯ll let her be your assistant if she¡¯s willing.¡± He then smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯ll rest assured with my wifey teaching her.¡±
Liang Si-Yao looked a little fidgety. ¡°Have you told her of our rtionship?¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°I want to give her a surprise. She¡¯s always wanted me to settle down and nags me to find a girlfriend the whole day. She will definitely be happy that I¡¯ve found such a pretty sister-inw for her.¡±
¡°What if she doesn¡¯t like me?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked worried, as if she was going to meet Xia Lei¡¯s parents.
Xia Lei found her reaction amusing andughed as he said, ¡°Nah, she¡¯ll definitely like you. I¡¯ll tell you a secret - she likes chocte.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll go to the supermarket right away.¡±
¡°Be quick. I still have to go to my workshop and modify that gun for Long Bing,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Guns, guns, guns, all you men like to y with guns. I¡¯ll confiscate your gun.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Liang Si-Yao always brought him such fun and he enjoyed it.
Xia Xue made a round of the workshops and came to Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao¡¯s office. She saw Xia Lei talking andughing with a woman, and the two of them looked quite intimate. This was actually her first time seeing Liang Si-Yao and her height and long-leggedness made her eyes light up.
¡°This must be little Xia Xue.¡± Liang Si-Yao had been keeping an eye on the door and she¡¯d spotted Xia Xue when she appeared in the doorway.
Xia Lei waved Xia Xue over. ¡°Xue,e over, I¡¯ll introduce you. This is Miss Liang Si-Yao.¡±
Xia Xue walked over and said politely, ¡°Hello, Miss Liang.¡±
¡°Little Xue, oh, you look a lot like your brother. You¡¯re so pretty.¡± Liang Si-Yao red at Xia Lei as she spoke, nagging him with her eyes to introduce her as ¡®sister-inw¡¯.
Xia Lei grinned and said, ¡°Xue, you often nagged me to find a sister-inw for you. Look! Your future sister-inw is right in front of you.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Xue¡¯s reaction was rather odd.
Liang Si-Yao also felt rather awkward. Why was Xia Xue reacting that way?
¡°I thought...¡± Xia Xue said halfway, then stopped herself and put on a smile as she said, ¡°You¡¯re so pretty, sister-inw. My brother sure is lucky.¡±
She¡¯d thought that it would be Jiang Ru-Yi and had always thought that Jiang Ru-Yi would be her future sister-inw. She had not expected this woman before her to be her future sister-inw when she¡¯de back.
Liang Si-Yao also smled. ¡°Xue, I¡¯ve prepared lots of goodies for you because I heard you wereing. I also got you your favourite - chocte.¡±
¡°Thank you, sister-inw.¡± Xia Xue spoke meekly.
Hearing herself being called ¡®sister-inw¡¯ made Liang Si-Yao smile widely. She looked at Xia Lei and said, ¡°Weren¡¯t you going to your workshop? Why are you still here? Run along now, I¡¯ll take care of Xue. I¡¯ll tell her.¡±
Xia Lei stood and said, ¡°Okay, then you two talk, I¡¯ll be going to the workshop. Xue, stay with your sister-inw and be her assistant. She¡¯s a Harvard graduate - you¡¯ll learn a lot of useful things if you stick with her.¡±
¡°Wow, you¡¯re amazing, Sister-inw.¡± Xia Xue looked excited.
Liang Si-Yao giggled; it seemed she liked being called ¡®sister-inw¡¯.
Xia Lei went straight from the office to the workshop to work on the gun for Long Bing.
After work, Liang Si-Yao went with Xia Lei to his ce and she did not tell Xia Lei to make dinner this time. She went into the kitchen of her own initiative. Xia Xue also went to the kitchen to help. It looked like the future sisters-inw were getting along rather well.
Xia Lei went to the balcony while the two women were busy in the kitchen. The sky was darkening but the streetmps were not yet lit. The light seemed to be in between clear and blurry.
Xia Lei swept the surroundings with his gaze but did not find anything out of the ordinary. He looked at the road outside the walls of the neighbourhoodst.
Cars came and went on the road and there were quite a number of pedestrians too. Everything looked normal. Xia Lei mocked himself internally, ¡®Who did I want to see, then? A killer? Or an agent sent by the CIA? I¡¯ve settled the matters that I should have settled - why am I still so nervous?¡±
Xia Lei could not get used to the sudden calm after a period of high tension and danger.
Just at that moment, a ck motorcycle came slowly from the other side of the road. Xia Lei did not take particr note of this motorcycle or its rider but the motorcycle went slower and slower, till it finally stopped in a position parallel to the balcony he was on.
The rider took off the helmet, revealing a head of blonde hair.
Xia Lei was stunned when he saw the rider¡¯s face clearly.
This woman was the one who had got in his way in the Night in Paris coffee shop! The blonde Russian woman who had made him lose the trail of that mysterious man!
The Russian woman looked at Xia Lei, who was standing on the balcony.
Xia Lei¡¯s first impulse was to rush out, grab hold of her and ask her the whereabouts of that mysterious man who looked exactly like his father. However, he knew that there was no way he could catch up to her if he did that. She hadn¡¯t even got off the motorcycle and could escape in a burst of speed.
¡®Why did she turn up here? What is she nning to do?¡¯ These thoughts sprang to Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
The Russian woman took out a box of cigarettes and selected one, but threw it on the ground after just one drag. She then put her helmet back on and disappeared into the darkness of night with a burst of speed.
There was no way for Xia Lei to pursue her now.
¡°What¡¯re you looking at?¡± Liang Si-Yao appeared behind Xia Lei.
¡°A strange person.¡± Xia Lei reyed the scene of the Russian woman lighting, then throwing the cigarette in his head. He found her movements strange and awkward.
¡°Strange person? Who?¡± Liang Si-Yao stood next to Xia Lei and looked about.
¡°Brother, Sister-inw, time to eat,¡± came Xia Xue¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei walked to the door instead and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡±
¡°Brother, it¡¯s time to eat - where are you going?¡± asked Xia Xue curiously.
Xia Lei said nothing; he opened the door and went out.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with my brother?¡± Xia Xue asked Liang Si-Yao.
¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll go take a took. Be right back.¡± Liang Si-Yao went after Xia Lei.
Xia Lei ran quickly out of the gates of his neighbourhood and to the roadside where the Russian woman had stopped. He picked up the cigarette butt. It was still smouldering but he quickly saw that the filter was not a normal filter - there was a rolled up paper note in it.
Xia Lei took the paper out and opened it. On it was written one line: Meet me 8pm tomorrow, at Dayangshan Public Cemetery.
When he saw the content of the note, the face of his father, Xia Chang-He, appeared in his head and he thought, ¡®This woman and that mysterious man are obviously working together. She¡¯s asking me to meet her so does this mean that that mysterious man will appear?¡¯
Liang Si-Yao suddenly poked her head from above his shoulder. ¡°What are you reading?¡±
Xia Lei was still thinking about the mysterious man and the Russian woman who had just left so he had not noticed Liang Si-Yao approaching at all. She had already read the contents of the note by the time he¡¯d realised and it was toote to hide it.
¡°Someone asked to meet me. Uh, you don¡¯t have to bother about this,¡± said Xia Lei. He had not even told Xia Xue all that he knew about Xia Chang-He so he naturally did not want Liang Si-Yao to get involved either.
Liang Si-Yao smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not a busybody. Come on, I came to tell you to have dinner. Let¡¯s go back or the food will get cold.¡±
Xia Lei crumpled the note into a ball and shoved it in his trouser pocket, then put his arm around Liang Si-Yao¡¯s slender waist as they walked to the entrance of the neighbourhood.
Chapter 225 - Bloodstained Cemetery
Xia Lei walked out of his workshop early the next afternoon. He had finished modifying the sniper rifle he had been working on for Long Bing and he put the locally-made and the AS50 sniper rifle parts in the stic box which Ke Jie had brought him. Xia Lei did not have any experience using sniper rifles but he had capabilities and confidence beyond the norm in the realm of processing so he could confirm that the locally made sniper rifle he had processed would perform much better than the imported AS50. Long Bing would definitely be satisfied.
There was still an hour to go before the end of the workday and Xia Lei hesitated as he walked past the office building, but decided not to go back to the office in the end.
He put the stic box in the boot of his BMW M6 and got ready to drive off.
¡°Lei.¡± Liang Si-Yao had walked out of the office building and she called out to him, ¡°Where are you going?¡±
¡°I... I¡¯m going to deliver the gun to Long Bing.¡± Xia Lei did not tell the truth. ¡°She¡¯s been pushing me for it.¡±
¡°Are youing back for dinner?¡± asked Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei gave her a smile. ¡°No need to wait for me. Eat with Xue.¡±
¡°Drive carefully. Come back early,¡± said Liang Si-Yao in concern.
¡°Nn, I¡¯m off.¡± Xia Lei felt warm inside. He sat in the driver¡¯s seat.
Liang Si-Yao went to his window and, with no regard for the eyes of the employees, stuck her face through the car window and kissed Xia Lei on the lips.
Xia Lei really wanted to tell her the truth in that instant but he swallowed his words before they got out. His father, Xia Chang-He, had disappeared mysteriously and his career and identity were suspect - it might even be something shady. He could not tell Liang Si-Yao before he found out the truth, even if he trusted her.
¡°Heh, you two - when are you sending me the wedding invitations? I¡¯m waiting to drink your wedding wine.¡± Qin Xiang poked his head out from his office window and grinned.
Liang Si-Yao let go of Xia Lei and red at Qin Xiang. ¡°I¡¯m not inviting you.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her, Qin Xiang. You¡¯ll definitely get some wedding wine. I¡¯ve thought about it too and you¡¯re going to be a groomsman.¡±
¡°Oh my! Really? That¡¯s great...¡± Qin Xiang apuded in the window, then said, ¡°But can I be the bridesmaid?¡±
Liang Si-Yao had an odd expression on her face.
Xia Lei started the car and escaped in a cloud of dust.
In the evening, Xia Lei arrived in the vicinity of Dayangshan Public Cemetery.
The cemetery was closed at this time but Xia Lei wasn¡¯t going to go through the normal entrance. The less people who knew about this meeting, the better. The security guard would see his face and might want to record this or that if he went through the normal entrance so he parked his car in an inconspicuous corner and climbed over the wall into the cemetery.
Inside, Xia Lei followed the gstone path to the hill. The cemetery was built on a hill and tombstones stood like dominoes in the darkness. Every tombstone represented a life and the story of the joys, sadness, bitterness and tribtions of life. The many tombstones crowded together made the cemetery take on a sinister air and made one feel depressed.
¡®Of all ces, why here?¡¯ thought Xia Lei. However, his steps did not slow as he walked on towards the highest point of the cemetery. Throughout all this, he was on the alert, scanning his surroundings and looking for that Russian woman.
Xia Lei came to the cemetery¡¯s end in ten minutes and could go no further - it was an untamed forest. If he walked further up he could reach the top of the hill but it was densely covered with trees and vegetation. It wasn¡¯t going to be easy to find one person in this environment, even with X-ray vision.
Xia Lei looked at his watch. It was 7.50pm, ten minutes more till the meeting time. ¡®She asked to meet me so she may be watching me right now and will only appear when it¡¯s time. I might miss her if I go into the forest,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Having made his decision, Xia Lei stayed in the spot where cemetery met forest to wait.
Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Rustling steps from the forest suddenly came from behind Xia Lei. He looked towards the sound and quickly saw the Russian woman. She was slowly and cautiously approaching him from the forest. What she did not know was that Xia Lei had already seen through all the leaves and branches and could see her clearly.
Xia Lei used his X-ray vision on the Russian woman as soon as she stepped out of the forest and discovered that she had a handgun and abat knife on her person. This discovery made him nervous right away and he subconsciously stepped backwards.
¡°No need to be afraid.¡± The Russian woman walked out of the forest and spoke in fluent Chinese, ¡°I am not your enemy.¡±
Xia Lei did not lower his guard. ¡°Who in the world are you?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not important who I am. You will know when it is time,¡± said the Russian woman.
Xia Lei was not satisfied with an answer like that. ¡°You asked to meet, and here I am, but you¡¯re not being sincere at all.¡±
¡°We do not need sincerity between us. We need trust.¡±
¡°What about him?¡± Xia Lei looked at the forest behind the Russian woman but did not see the man who looked exactly like his father.
¡°You don¡¯t need to look. He has more important matters to tend to and he¡¯s not in China now. He is worried for your safety. This is the reason why he asked me to meet you,¡± said the Russian woman.
Her words hit Xia Lei in the chest like a hammer and sent his heart reeling. The Russian woman had not said that that man was his father, but ¡®he is worried for your safety¡¯ was telling. That mysterious man was his father, Xia Chang-He!
Emotions flooded Xia Lei in that instant - excitement, happiness, anger, confusion and sadness. These emotions bound him like a rope; he had difficulty breathing.
¡°Don¡¯t me him. He¡¯s got his difficulties,¡± said the Russian woman.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°Difficulties? What sort of difficulties can make a man abandon his family? You don¡¯t know how I¡¯ve lived these past years. Do you know how I felt when I tore up my eptance letter from Jing-Du University? Let me tell you - that feeling was like I¡¯ve died!¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you living well right now? He¡¯s proud of you.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t need him to feel proud of me. I just want to meet him. I want to hear him exin himself,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°The day wille, believe me. He will return to your side one day and he will exin everything,¡± said the Russian woman.
Xia Lei looked straight at her. ¡°Who are you to him?¡±
¡°I am his assistant,¡± said the Russian woman, ¡°My name¡¯s Yevgenia. I can only tell you this much.¡±
¡°You asked to meet me here all because he asked you to tell me that he¡¯s concerned?¡±
¡°Of course not. Your father wants me to tell you that thatst pill is extremely valuable. You should not keep it but take it, the faster the better,¡± said Yevgenia.
Xia Lei¡¯s head was awhirl again. He remembered thest time when he had failed to meet his father that he had discovered a Russian word, ¡®caution¡¯, under the ss bottle. It now looked like Xia Chang-He had gone home and discovered that he had not taken thest pill.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°Why does he want me to eat that pill? My body is fine. I don¡¯t need any medicine.¡±
¡°He is your father. You have to trust that he will never harm you. On the contrary, all that he has done is for your own good. He¡¯s telling you to take the pill so just take the pill. I don¡¯t know much about it so I can¡¯t tell you much more,¡± said Yevgenia.
¡°Just this?¡± Xia Lei was hesitant. Did he really have to take that pill?
¡°Another thing. You¡¯ve been targeted. It¡¯s dangerous for you,¡± said Yevgenia.
¡°Who¡¯s targeting me? Why?¡± Xia Lei was full of doubts and he naturally thought of the American spy.
Yevgenia spoke, ¡°It¡¯s your...¡±
Half of Yevgenia¡¯s chest exploded abruptly and Xia Lei was showered with human blood and gristle. Yevgenia¡¯s body was thrown several steps backwards by the great force before it fell to the ground.
Yevgenia was dead - killed at the most critical moment.
Xia Lei dove to the ground and rolled to hide between two tombstones. He quickly scanned his surroundings but did not find the assassin who had killed Yevgenia. The enemy had evidently used an excellent sniper rifle, capable of hitting a target two kilometres away. His left eye could not see through obstacles to find the enemy at this distance.
He was just one step away from the truth but this step had be a sinister moat which could no longer be crossed.
Xia Lei was full of fear and anger. He did not know if he was the target of the sniper, so he did not dare make any false moves. He searched his memory for the sniper¡¯s identity but came up with no leads.
The sniper¡¯s target seemed to have been just Yevgenia. There was no second shot.
The night grew darker. Xia Lei shut his left eye and used his right eye to look at Yevgenia, who was in a pool of blood. When he confirmed that it would be impossible to see him clearly under normal circumstances, he cautiously crawled out from between the two tombstones and went slowly to Yevgenia¡¯s side.
Yevgenia had long stopped breathing. The huge hole had drained her body of blood and the ground was covered in blood; the air was thick with the smell of blood.
¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart was full of guilt. He reached out and took a wallet from inside Yevgenia¡¯s clothing, then disappeared in the darkness with it.
He would have made a police report under normal circumstances or given Long Bing a call but Yevgenia¡¯s identity was unknown and she had a gun on her too. He had no way of exining to the police or Long Bing what he was doing here and how Yevgenia had died. Furthermore, Yevgenia was his father¡¯s assistant and things involving his father were not things he wanted the police or Long Bing to be involved in.
After weighing his options over and over, he finally decided to leave - alone.
Chapter 226 - Tears of Hurt
The BMW M6 stopped along a deste riverside. Reeds grew along the river but their leaves were withered, dead. Their existence reassured Xia Lei that he did not have to worry about being discovered.
Xia Lei got out of his car and walked through the reeds to the river. He sshed river water on his face to remove the blood from it. The river water was bone-cuttingly cold and his thoughts sharpened.
Yevgenia had asked him to meet in Dayangshan Cemetery and whoever who knew was suspect.
However, only one person could have seen the note that Yevgenia had left for him, and that was Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei held his head and shook it hard, muttering to himself, ¡°It can¡¯t be Si-Yao. It can¡¯t be. Why would she do something like this? Long Bing suspected that she may be the spy lurking around me but she ruled her out in the end, right? It¡¯s not her, it cannot be her...¡±
Was Liang Si-Yao the one who had killed Yevgenia? He wasn¡¯t even willing to think further on this, much less believe it. He loved Liang Si-Yao deeply and was even making ns to marry her, have children with her and spend the rest of their lives together in bliss. He was willing to share everything with her - his money, hispany, everything. How could Liang Si-Yao betray him in this situation?
But if it wasn¡¯t Liang Si-Yao, then who? Who killed Yevgenia?
Xia Lei opened Yevgenia¡¯s wallet. There were some Chinese coins in it, plus some Russian and American currency. Other than cash, there was also a hotel card and an English chip-card.
The English chip-card had ¡®Temporary Pass¡¯ printed on it. Xia Lei turned it over and two ck letters, ¡®AE¡¯, were printed on the back. He did not know what this meant.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye locked onto the ¡®AE¡¯ letters and his left eye drew everything which had ¡®AE¡¯ on it that he had seen, sending the information flowing to his brain. He was surprised to discover that the ¡®AE¡¯ he saw was a popr piece of software on the inte, used for processing videos and graphics.
¡°Why would processing software for videos and graphics require a temporary pass?¡± Xia Lei shook his head. He¡¯d matched the letters to some meaning but he did not think it was what he¡¯d found. He then tried another method and used his left eye to recall the English dictionary. Words beginning with ¡®A¡¯ and ¡®E¡¯ appeared one by one in his head.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei gave up. There were just too many words beginning with these letters in the dictionary and eachbination had different meanings. He had no way of solving it using just words.
Xia Lei put the hotel card and English chip-card away, then removed his jacket and trousers. He bundled them with the wallet and set them all on fire. When the clothes and wallet were incinerated, he pushed their ashes into the river and let the river water carry them away. He walked away, wearing just his briefs and socks, back to his car. He drove back to the city.
It was almost midnight when he got home. Xie Xue was long asleep. Xia Lei went straight to the television cab and removed the photo frame with his family picture. The ss bottle was still there and the pill sat quietly in the bottom of the bottle.
Back in his room, Xia Lei sat silent at the head of his bed, staring intently at the pill in the ss bottle. A question surfaced in his head - Do I eat this, or not?
His mobile phone suddenly rang at that moment.
Xia Lei looked at the phone screen. The caller was ¡®Housekeeper¡¯ - it was Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei would always be very happy when Liang Si-Yao called in the past but this time, he had an indescribable feeling. It was very strange.
He picked up the phone at the fifth ring and unlocked the phone to ept the call. ¡°Hello? Si-Yao? You¡¯re not asleep at thiste hour?¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice came from the phone,zy and marshmallow-soft, ¡°I can¡¯t sleep without you by my side. I miss you. Did you miss me?¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°You called just as I was about to miss you.¡±
¡°You sure know how to say the best things to please me,¡± Liang Si-Yao said yfully, then added, ¡°Oh, right, did you go meet that person?¡±
¡°I did.¡± The strange feeling in Xia Lei¡¯s heart grew stronger.
¡°I thought it was some woman, so I¡¯m calling to investigate.¡±
¡°It was indeed a woman,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Liang Si-Yao sounded surprised, ¡°It really was a woman?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t get it wrong, she¡¯s...¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°A friend of my father¡¯s.¡±
Liang Si-Yao was quiet for a bit before she spoke. ¡°I¡¯ve heard you talk about it before. Didn¡¯t your father disappear?¡±
¡°He did. There was no news till now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°So what did you two talk about?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit before replying. ¡°Something from the past. I¡¯ll tell you but you can¡¯t tell anyone else. Promise me. Promise me before I tell you.¡±
¡°Silly goose, who am I? I¡¯m your woman. Your secrets are my secrets - why would I tell anyone else? Tell me and we can brainstorm together. We may even find your father¡¯s whereabouts.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll tell you,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°She told me that there was still one pill left from the medicine my father had given me in the past. Thest time they met, he told her to tell me that that pill was in a book my father used to love to read, nn, it¡¯s ¡®Journey to the West¡¯.¡±
¡°What medicine? So mysterious?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice was full of concern, ¡°Were you suffering from some disease?¡±
¡°I had a very weak body and I got well after my father gave me that medicine. I didn¡¯t know that there was still one left. I don¡¯t know what medicine it is, till today,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Have you found that pill?¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice seemed excited.
¡°I have. I¡¯m now considering whether to eat it. She told me to take it but I¡¯m not sick. Why do I have to take it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah, you¡¯re not sick. Don¡¯t take medicine for no reason,¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°Wait for me, I¡¯lle over right now.¡±
¡°You¡¯reing over sote at night?¡±
¡°I know you¡¯re a mess right now, especially since this concerns your father. I¡¯lle over and apany you. Let¡¯s talk about it and maybe we can find out your father¡¯s whereabouts,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Nn,e over then. Drive safe on your way here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You really do love me most, Hubby.¡± Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice was joyful. She hung up.
Xia Lei sat in bed and two tears rolled silently from the corners of his eyes.
Even when he was taking care of the clothing which had been sttered by Yevgenia¡¯s blood by the riverside, he had refused to believe that Liang Si-Yao was the one who had killed Yevgenia. He was even more reluctant to believe that she was the mysterious American spy whom Long Bing had told him about. After this phone call however, his trust in her was destroyed and his heart shattered.
Only Liang Si-Yao had known about him going to meet Yevgenia. She had seen the contents of the note and knew the time and ce. She had killed Yevgenia when she had revealed her identity in the cemetery, then called him to probe and test him afterwards. Liang Si-Yao had made a mistake during their call by asking about what he and Yevgenia had talked about. She had sounded obviously excited when she heard about the remaining pill his father had hidden, and more importantly, she had not asked about Yevgenia from start to finish. She clearly knew that Yevgenia was already dead.
Xia Lei wiped his tears away. Life at the bottom for five years had moulded his strong character. He knew well what he should do and that he needed to end it.
Xia Lei got up and left his room. He took the ¡®Journey to the West¡¯ book from his father¡¯s room, then took an anti-inmmatory amoxicillin capsule from his medicine box. He then opened up the pill his father had left behind and exchanged its contents for the amoxicillin capsule contents. Afterwards, he used a knife to cut a little pit in ¡®Journey to the West¡¯ and put the content-swapped capsule into the hole.
After doing all these, Xia Lei especially changed into his favourite ck shirt and carefully straightened himself up in the mirror. He sat himself back at the head of his bed and stared nkly at the night sky outside his window. The night sky was the colour of his mood - not one ray of sunshine.
Liang Si-Yao arrived not long after, wearing dark grey Nike sportswear, the soft material highlighting her sexy curves. She was as sexy and beautiful as ever, easily evoking a man¡¯s desire.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s gaze went to the open ¡®Journey to the West¡¯ on the bed as soon as she walked into Xia Lei¡¯s room. She saw the capsule in the little pit right away and her gaze stayed on it for a full five seconds before she turned it to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was calm. ¡°You¡¯re here, Si-Yao.¡±
Liang Si-Yao sat next to Xia Lei and reached out a hand to hold him by the waist. She spoke gently and consolingly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll definitely find out where Uncle is.¡±
¡°It¡¯s been more than five years, almost six. He hasn¡¯t been back to see me or Xue for such a long time. How could it be so easy?¡± Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°You don¡¯t have tofort me. I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ve already epted the reality of him going missing. It¡¯s good that he cane back, of course, but I can also ept it if he doesn¡¯te back.¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that you think that way. Is this the pill your father left behind?¡± Liang Si-Yao reached out to pick up the ¡®Journey to the West¡¯ and said, ¡°Can I have a look?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course.¡±
Liang Si-Yao carefully tipped the capsule out of the little pit and onto her hand. Her hand shook, just a very tiny bit.
¡°Should I eat it?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Are you stupid? Why take medicine if you¡¯re not sick? Don¡¯t. It helped cure you when you were sick but that was when you were sick. What do you need to eat it for when you¡¯re all healthy now? I¡¯ll help you throw it away. This will help you clear your thoughts about it.¡±
She actually did get up to throw the pill away.
Xia Lei grabbed her by the hand. ¡°No, better not throw it away. I want to have it as a keepsake. It¡¯s something my father left for me after all.¡±
¡°Geeze, keeping a pill as a keepsake? Fine, keep it if you want.¡± Liang Si-Yao closed ¡®Journey to the West¡¯ and put it at the head of the bed, then burrowed into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. ¡°Darling, I¡¯ve missed you. What should I do?¡± she giggled.
Chapter 227 - Strange Bedfellows
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice was gentle but Xia Lei had no reaction at all. He was heartbroken - how was he in the mood to do that?
¡°What¡¯s with you today?¡± Liang Si-Yao could sense something.
¡°Oh.¡± Xia Lei forced himself to smile. ¡°Nothing, just... You know. I can¡¯t help thinking about my father.¡±
Liang Si-Yao did not ask further and she pushed him down on the bed...
They calmed from their passions half an hourter. Liang Si-Yao went to the bathroom again, pinching that dirty thing in her fingers; she was always d to dispose of it.
Xia Lei had not been curious about that before but he had a great curiosity now. His left eye twitched after Liang Si-Yao entered the bathroom and the situation in the bathroom entered his field of vision.
Liang Si-Yao pulled out a silver-coloured metal tube from the pockets of her clothing and put the condom in the tube. She then tightened the lid of the metal tube and put the tube back in her clothing.
Xia Lei was bbergasted by that scene. ¡®What¡¯s she keeping the used condom for? Is she studying my semen? She... Who is she?!¡¯
If his suspicion of her killing Yevgenia was unfounded guess with no evidence, then this strange action of hers now was an obvious clue. Normal women would not be storing things like this from a man¡¯s body, and not in this strange manner either!
Xia Lei instantly thought of the medicine his father had given him, and the strange way he had gained his X-ray vision. Liang Si-Yao had appeared afterwards, then there was Yevgenia¡¯s reminder, and her death... This was all in chronological order but there was also a secret stringing all these events together!
Liang Si-Yao squatted over the toilet bowl in the bathroom and did her business. She washed her hands when she was done and left the bathroom. Her expression was serious all the while but a sweet smile was added to her face when she opened the door.
¡°Hubby, let¡¯s buy a big house.¡± Liang Si-Yao climbed into bed and into Xia Lei¡¯s arms, holding him intimately. ¡°I didn¡¯t dare to be too loud earlier. I was afraid that Xue would hear us. She¡¯ll have a bad impression of me if she heard.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll buy a big house. I¡¯ll ask Tian-Yin about it. Vientaine Group¡¯s main business is in property and they have property in all major cities across China, and our Hai-Zhu City too, of course. Many condominiums are owned by the Vientaine Group. She¡¯ll give me a big discount for sure if I ask when I buy a house.¡±
Liang Si-Yao pouted. ¡°I think she won¡¯t ept your money.¡±
¡°No way. A house is over a million yuan. Friends are friends but money is important too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s not as if we need money. Don¡¯t ask Shentu Tian-Yin about buying a house, please? Let¡¯s go to another propertypany. I don¡¯t want you to be with her again,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei spanked her lightly on her buttocks. ¡°Jealous?¡±
¡°Yes, I am. You have to do what I want for this,¡± said Liang Si-Yao domineeringly.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Okay, whatever you say. I¡¯ll follow.¡±
¡°Nn, Hubby¡¯s the best.¡± This was the third time Liang Si-Yao was calling Xia Lei ¡®Hubby¡¯.
¡°Time to sleep, Wifey.¡± But Xia Lei¡¯s heart was hurting.
¡°Call me ¡®Wifey¡¯ again and I¡¯ll go to sleep,¡± said Liang Si-Yao coquettishly from the folds of Xia Lei¡¯s arms.
Xia Lei kissed her on her forehead. ¡°Sleep, Wifey. We have to go to work in the morning.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Liang Si-Yao closed her eyes and went to sleep only then.
Xia Lei shut his eyes but he could not fall asleep. His eyes were shut but his left eye could still see normally. He watched Liang Si-Yao quietly. He had loved this woman deeply before tonight and he was familiar with everything about her, yet he felt like this woman next to him was a total stranger now. Shey next to him but he felt like there was a great chasm between them.
Liang Si-Yao breathed evenly and was peaceful, as if in deep sleep. However, in Xia Lei¡¯s eye, her heartbeat had not slowed - it stayed at around ny beats per minute. This was not the heart rate of a sleeping person; she had been awake all this while.
Two hourster, Liang Si-Yao leaned on Xia Lei with her arm.
Xia Lei did not react. He slowed his breathing and pretended to be asleep.
Liang Si-Yao stretched a hand out of the covers and picked up the ¡®Journey to the West¡¯ book on the bedside table. She opened the book and tipped the capsule out, then took out a pill which looked exactly the same from her clothing and put it in the little pit in the book.
So she hade for the pill that Xia Chang-He had left behind.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®Looks like she was prepared to switch the pills long in advance. I¡¯ve never showed her this pill before but she had one which looked exactly like it. This means she knew of the existence of this pill and has seen it before. Why is this pill of such great value that she¡¯s risking throwing away her cover toe steal it? And where is this pill from?¡¯
Liang Si-Yao retracted her hand and turned over, pressing a leg on Xia Lei¡¯s leg.
¡®Is she testing me?¡¯ This thought shed through his mind and he followed the thought with a grunting noise. He then turned over in the opposite direction and the leg Liang Si-Yao pressed on him fell away.
Liang Si-Yao did not make any other moves; shey quietly.
After ten minutes, Xia Lei turned over again to face Liang Si-Yao. He discovered that her heart rate was still around ny beats per minute - she was not asleep.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®She¡¯s been wary of me waking up and discovering that she¡¯s switched the pills all this time, huh? The pill must be extremely important for her to be so wary. I have the real one - should I eat it?¡¯
It was a difficult time for Xia Lei afterwards - two peopley on the bed but both of them were not truly asleep. Liang Si-Yao was waiting for dawn to take the pill and leave. Xia Lei was also hesitating and considering - should hey his cards on the table?
Matters had reached this stage and Xia Lei could not ept a woman so calcting. Even so, this simple decision was still terribly difficult for Xia Lei to make. He recalled the sweet moments they¡¯d shared. When all was said and done, she was still the woman he¡¯d loved deeply.
So he stalled and dawdled, but dawn still came atst.
Liang Si-Yao shook Xia Lei. ¡°Sun¡¯s up, Darling. I¡¯ll go make breakfast. You should get up too.¡±
Xia Lei opened his eyes blearily, looking a little befuddled. ¡°My back aches. I want to lie down for a while longer.¡±
Liang Si-Yao shook a finger at him. ¡°Serves you right for being so greedy. Your back aches now, huh? It¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll go buy you some health tonics. You¡¯ll be fine after getting some nourishment.¡±
¡°Nn...¡± Xia Lei shut his eyes again, affecting dysania.
¡°Youzy pig! I¡¯m not going to bother with you anymore; I¡¯ll go make breakfast.¡± Liang Si-Yao got dressed and exited the room.
Xia Leiy in bed for two minutes. He watched Liang Si-Yao¡¯s every move with his left eye.
Liang Si-Yao did not go to the kitchen but stood in the doorway of the kitchen to fiddle with some settings. She was done quickly and returned to Xia Lei¡¯s room afterwards.
¡°What do you want to eat, my Lazy Pig?¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°Porridge, or...?¡±
¡°Porridge.¡± Xia Lei looked drowsy. ¡°Shush. Let me sleep some more.¡±
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s phone suddenly started ringing and she took out her phone to ept a call. She then said, ¡°What¡¯s up, Dad? Help you pick up a friend from the airport? Okay, I¡¯ll be right there.¡±
She hung up and said to Xia Lei, ¡°Darling, my dad asked me to pick up his friend from the airport. I won¡¯t be making breakfast for you. I¡¯m in a rush so I¡¯ll be going now.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei responded with a grunt and continued sleeping.
Liang Si-Yao didn¡¯t say more; she turned and left.
Xia Lei got out of bed the moment Liang Si-Yao¡¯s foot went over his doorway. He got dressed speedily and also exited the t.
Liang Si-Yao had already driven her red BMW M6 out the gates of the neighbourhood and was heading to the road on the right.
Xia Lei strode to his ck BMW M6.
¡°Hey!¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice was suddenly heard. ¡°You two had a fight?¡±
Xia Lei turned to see Jiang Ru-Yi drinking milk tea from a cup and the old, red VW Polo she had parked next to her balcony. He was struck by a thought and walked over to her. ¡°Lend me your car for a while, Ru-Yi.¡±
Liang Si-Yao would discover him easily if he followed her in the ck BMW M6.
Jiang Ru-Yi sniggered. ¡°You nearly turned my car into scrap thest time you borrowed it - and you¡¯re still asking now? Lend you? As if. No use chasing after her. You two don¡¯t suit each other at all. If she¡¯s gone, she¡¯s gone - she¡¯s not the only woman in this world.¡±
¡°I have no time to exin. Lend the car to me for a bit, hurry! Big Sister!¡± said Xia Lei anxiously.
¡°No use calling me Big Sister either. Not lending you.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi took a sip of her milk tea. It seemed she was bent on making Xia Lei hopping mad.
Xia Lei flung his BMW M6 keys at Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°I¡¯ll switch with you, okay?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi narrowed her eyes. ¡°For how long?¡±
¡°Till it¡¯s scrap metal! Enough for you?!¡± Xia Lei was very anxious.
¡°Deal.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi took her keys and threw them to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei drove Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s red Polo in pursuit of Liang Si-Yao.
Jiang Ru-Yi stuck her tongue out and licked the milk tea from her lips as she muttered to herself, ¡°Did that Liang bitch take Lei¡¯s money and run off? I knew she was a liar! Haha! Good, you got scammed. You¡¯ll only know how good a policewoman is after you¡¯ve been scammed. Oh, Chief of Police is even better.¡±
Chapter 228 - Darling, Dont Say Goodbye
The red BMW M6 came to a small neighbourhood and Liang Si-Yao parked her car, then entered an apartment building. A ratty-tatty red Polo entered the neighbourhood after she went into the building.
Xia Lei wound down the window and saw Liang Si-Yao enter the apartment building. He alighted too and entered the building.
Xia Lei used his left eye¡¯s zoom-in ability in the stairwell and Liang Si-Yao¡¯s footprints appeared. He was familiar with everything about her, including her footprints. He followed these footprints to a door on the third floor. Liang Si-Yao had entered this door.
Liang Si-Yao had never mentioned this ce and Xia Lei had never been here.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the tightly-shut door disappeared before his left eye.
This was not a t one lived in. Several pieces of medical equipment like microscopes, analysis apparatus and so on were in the t - it looked like a small scienceboratory.
In the room, Liang Si-Yao took out the container with his condom and squeezed the liquid in it in a ss test tube. She then put the ss test tube in a piece of equipment and the piece of equipment started spinning.
Xia Lei was dumbstruck. ¡®She¡¯s analysing my... stuff... What is she nning to do?¡¯
Just then, Liang Si-Yao took out the pill and walked over to an analysis machine. She carefully opened the capsule and removed a tiny portion for analysis.
Two minutester, Liang Si-Yao suddenly stiffened, then pushed the analysis machine over on the experimentation table in an emotional fit. She knelt on the floor, holding her head with her hands and looking like she was in pain.
Only the shell of the pill was real - the contents were just ordinary amoxicillin powder. She was an exceptionally smart woman and she already knew what it meant.
Xia Lei hesitated, then reached out and knocked on the door.
It was now time to confront her.
Knock knock knock.
Liang Si-Yao lifted her head to look at the tightly-shut door. She was nervous.
Xia Lei continued knocking. Knock knock knock.
Liang Si-Yao stood and walked to the door. She looked out the peephole and her teeth tore through her lip when she saw that the person standing beyond the door was Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao did not open the door.
¡°Si-Yao, open the door. It¡¯s just me. Do you want to talk to me, or to Long Bing?¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao finally opened the door. She stood in the doorway, looking like her soul had left her body.
Xia Lei passed her as he walked into the t.
Liang Si-Yao shut the door.
The two of them said nothing; they just looked at each other.
After a while, Xia Lei broke the heavy silence. ¡°Why?¡±
¡°I...¡± Liang Si-Yao spoke just one word before the tears fell. What else could she say, now that it hade to this?
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Stop with the tears. I won¡¯t believe them anymore. Tell me - Why?¡±
Liang Si-Yao bit her cherry lips. She bit hard, and the little trickle of blood between her white teeth was particrly striking.
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s eyes grew wet too but he steeled himself and did not let tears form.
Liang Si-Yao took a deep breath. ¡°Just hit me if it¡¯ll make you feel better.¡±
¡°I want to know the truth.¡± Xia Lei was out of patience.
Liang Si-Yao grew silent again and her tears fell quietly.
Xia Leiughed abruptly. ¡°I told you I don¡¯t believe your tears anymore. You¡¯ve done all this - you think tears will get you my forgiveness? And that we can pretend nothing happened? I did not contact Long Bing on ount of our rtionship. I have nothing to say if you won¡¯t even tell me the truth - I¡¯ll let Long Binge ask you.¡± He took out his phone when he was done speaking.
¡°Wait!¡± Liang Si-Yao grew nervous. ¡°Don¡¯t call her here. I¡¯ll tell you.¡±
Xia Lei put down his phone. ¡°Tell me.¡±
Liang Si-Yao smiled bitterly. ¡°My father sent me to America to study because I have an uncle there. He is a US Military Officer. I am good at martial arts and also excelled in several fields so he rmended me to the Central Intelligence Agency - the CIA. I started receiving various trainings in high school and my time in university was no different. I¡¯ve participated in many missions and have alwayspleted them well. I have also been promoted many times and be a high-ranking intelligence officer. But my father knows nothing of this. Everything I¡¯ve done is not rted to him.¡±
¡°He is still my Master, don¡¯t worry. Keep talking,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao let out a breath. ¡°Before I returned to China, I was transferred to a very special task force in charge of a mission called ¡®Patch¡¯.¡±
¡°Patch? Is this the mission targeting me?¡±
¡°Yes, but not just you. The previous target was your father, Xia Chang-He.¡± Liang Si-Yao looked at Xia Lei. ¡°You still don¡¯t know, do you? Your father is a free agent. He has a name too - Jing Ke*. We call him The Assassin.¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly, not quite believing what he was hearing.
¡°I know it is difficult for you to ept this truth but he is someone who works for money. However, we don¡¯t know who he¡¯s working for this time. We thought he was working for China in the beginning but investigations found that he wasn¡¯t. We used vast amounts of our resources, human and material, and finally found The Assassin¡¯s real identity - Xia Chang-He. Then we found you. You¡¯d coincidentally joined my father¡¯s martial school, so I appeared,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao fell silent again after saying all that.
Xia Lei gave a coldugh. ¡°So it was all pre-arranged. Our love was all part of your n, huh?¡±
¡°It is part of the n, but...¡± Liang Si-Yao suddenly raised her voice, ¡°My feelings for you are real! If you hadn¡¯t found out, I would have used the result of this mission to trade for my freedom, and when I have my freedom I can have a chance to be with you!¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t care if what you say is true. I don¡¯t care anymore. It¡¯s not possible between us.¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s tears rolled down again. Xia Lei¡¯s words were like a knife stabbing into her heart.
¡°Keep going. You¡¯ve said so much but you haven¡¯t said anything about the most important part. This ¡®Mission Patch¡¯. Why are you after my father? Why have I be your target?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t ask any more. Really, don¡¯t ask any more.¡± Liang Si-Yao looked like she was in pain.
Xia Lei hardened his heart and shouted, ¡°Speak! Tell me!¡±
¡°You...¡± Liang Si-Yao let out a long breath. ¡°All right. I won¡¯t keep it from you. I¡¯ll tell you what you want to know. Your father is highly capable. He stole the results of America¡¯s AE Program.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart leapt when the words ¡®AE¡¯ entered his ear.
Liang Si-Yao kept talking. ¡°The AE Program is short for ¡®Artificial Evolution¡¯. This program is the American military¡¯s top secret and many top-ranking American officers don¡¯t even know about it. Your father not only found out, but stole all twelve pills from the AE Program. The entire program was stalled. The American military started Patch after that.¡±
Xia Lei immediately thought of thatst pill. ording to what Liang Si-Yao had said, it was a drug which could make humans evolve. This exined how he had mysteriously gained his X-ray vision!
¡°Afterwards, when we found your father¡¯s real identity, we naturally found you. We¡¯ve been keeping tabs on you since you were discovered. We discovered that you had taken AE pills after some analysis. We originally had ns to kidnap you and take you to America but you became involved with Bureau 101 and it has a fairly secure monitoring system. We would draw their attention if we acted rashly. The AE Research Centre does not want you to be China¡¯s live specimen, so it took a more secure route. I was sent to get into contact with you, date you, and then take the samples they need.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help ncing at the metal tube Liang Si-Yao had put on theboratory table. She had actually used her own body to get the sample, yet she¡¯s telling him that her feelings for him were real!
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°But the AE Research Centre wants to get me to America somehow in the end, right? I remember you encouraging me to go overseas for a holiday - that was for this goal, wasn¡¯t it?¡±
Liang Si-Yao said nothing but the look in her eyes seemed to confirm it.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart filled with bitterness. ¡°So if I didn¡¯t see through you, and we got married, our honeymoon would be in America, won¡¯t it? Once we step into America I¡¯d be put in a prison van while you return to your CIA to resume your high-level intelligence officer duties, huh?¡±
Liang Si-Yao suddenly looked Xia Lei straight in the eyes. ¡°I have no choice. No one can betray the CIA. All betrayers will be eliminated, no matter which part of the world they¡¯re in. And have you forgotten your trip to Germany? I could have easily taken you and Long Bing down during your trip to Germany but I did not! Truthfully, I¡¯d also kept this from the CIA. I did it to protect you. Have you forgotten?¡±
Xia Lei was gobsmacked.
It was true. Liang Si-Yao could have caught him and Long Bing any time she wanted when they were in Germany but she had not.
¡°After that, they had doubts about me but they could not afford to lose me. I was forced to report to them to prove myself. This resulted in the matter with Annina and the German agents. Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know that Annina is not dead - I¡¯m just not blowing your cover.¡± Liang Si-Yao smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯ve said so much - do you still doubt if what I said was true? You were the first man to touch my body!¡± Tears welled in her eyes at this point.
What she said might¡¯ve been true but what meaning did it hold?
¡°Whether I believe you or not - is that important to you?¡± Xia Lei sounded beaten.
¡°Would I tell you the truth if you weren¡¯t important to me? I¡¯ve had professional training - I wouldn¡¯t open my mouth if I didn¡¯t want to, even if Long Bing interrogated me.¡± Liang Si-Yao continued looking straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Tell me, do you believe that my feelings for you are true?¡±
Xia Lei did not speak but he nodded. The truth of feelings was actually emotion and there was no way he could delete the period of sweetness he had shared with her, and neither could he deny that she had let him off the hook by not reporting his trip to Germany. She definitely would not have done that if she did not have any feelings for him.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s mouth, but it was a smile of forlorn pain.
¡°Onest question - What conclusion have youe to after studying me for so long?¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao shook her head. ¡°You are the one and only person on this Earth who has taken AE pills. It can make humans evolve but we don¡¯t know how much you¡¯ve evolved. From what we¡¯ve observed so far, your intelligence is astounding and you have a very high learning ability. Your organ functions should be greater than a normal person¡¯s but we have not analysed how much greater. You¡¯ve been evolving all this while and we don¡¯t know what the result will be either. I am actually also very curious about what sort of existence you are now but I dare not ask. Can you tell me now?¡±
It seemed she did not know about the mysterious X-ray ability of his left eye.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°Go. Leave China. The further the better - don¡¯t evere back.¡±
¡°You... You¡¯re letting me go?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve let me off the hook in the past so I¡¯m letting you off the hook now. We don¡¯t owe each other anything,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Si-Yao bit her lip. ¡°Can you really act as if nothing happened?¡±
Xia Lei avoided her gaze. ¡°Leave. Quickly. Before I change my mind.¡±
Liang Si-Yao suddenly drew close and kissed Xia Lei on the cheek, then turned and left.
Xia Lei stood for a long time before he lifted a hand to wipe away the tears on his cheek. The tears were not just Liang Si-Yao¡¯s - some were his own.
*Jing Ke, assassin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jing_Ke
Chapter 229 - This Wench Really A Policewoman?
Their rtionship was done, just like that. If Liang Si-Yao had not been from the CIA, Xia Lei would have married her, had children with her and grown old with her. However, would Liang Si-Yao have returned from America to fall in love with him if she weren¡¯t CIA? This was simply a matter with no solution.
Back at thepany, Xia Lei still looked like he had lost his soul. He was thinking of how he would face Liang Zheng-Chun - he was his Master after all and was sometimes a father, sometimes a teacher. Liang Zheng-Chun also hoped for him to marry Liang Si-Yao and for them to grow old together. But this had happened - how was he going to exin things to Liang Zheng-Chun?
¡°Brother, where¡¯s Sister-inw?¡± Xia Xue had arrived at the office early in the morning.
¡°Your Sister-inw, she...¡± Xia Lei smiled bitterly, ¡°She¡¯s gone to America.¡±
¡°What for?¡± Xia Xue looked curious.
¡°She has something she has to do; I¡¯m not very sure either. She left in a hurry. Don¡¯t ask anymore,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Xue tipped her head sideways as she looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Had a fight, Brother?¡±
Xia Lei red at her. ¡°Get to work. What¡¯s with the blind guess?¡±
Xia Xue pursed her lips. ¡°You¡¯re my elder brother so I can tell right away when you¡¯re lying. You¡¯re unhappy and you¡¯re lying, so this means you two must have had a fight, and a serious one at that, otherwise Sister-inw wouldn¡¯t go to America.¡±
She was his sister indeed - she knew the long and short of it and there was no pulling the wool over her eyes. Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t call her Sister-inw anymore. She¡¯s not and she will note here again. You do her job in the meantime.¡±
¡°You guys broke up?¡± said Xia Xue in surprise.
¡°I said don¡¯t ask. Why are you still asking?¡± Liang Si-Yao was like a wound to Xia Lei. He was talking to his sister about her but it felt like she was pulling at a scab; it hurt.
¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t ask. But Brother, don¡¯t be too sad. It¡¯ll all pass.¡± Xia Xue giggled at that point and said in constion, ¡°And Brother, I was worried that you wouldn¡¯t be able to find a partner in the past because we were poor. It¡¯s different now. You¡¯ll find a woman you¡¯ll love.¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly and said nothing more. He walked over to his office desk and sat quietly, thinking.
Xia Xue made a cup of tea for him. After a while, when she thought he was a little better, she said, ¡°Brother, there are many things I don¡¯t know. Giving me all the tasks that Sister-in... Miss Liang was handling is impossible. I can¡¯t do it. You¡¯ve got to hire an assistant, nn, and a secretary.¡±
Xia Lei did not seem to have heard Xia Xue. He stared nkly at the tea she had made for him.
Xia Xue sighed. ¡°Brother, you are a super strong man in my eyes. It¡¯s fine if you¡¯re depressed for a while but you¡¯ve got to pull yourself together. Thepany still needs managing even if you¡¯re sad. Hundreds depend on you for their livelihood.¡±
Xia Xue was like Xia Lei. She had learnt to be strong from childhood and was also a fairly perceptive girl.
Xia Xue¡¯s words finally reached Xia Lei and woke him up. He stood and made two crazyughs, then said, ¡°Mm-hm, let the past be the past. You¡¯re right. Thepany has to be managed and hundreds are depending on it to feed themselves.¡±
Xia Xue smiled. ¡°That¡¯s my Brother.¡±
¡°You said earlier that I have to hire an assistant and a secretary - do you have anyone in mind?¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Xue spokeughingly, ¡°Brother, I¡¯m just a first-year student; I only know teachers or students. I can¡¯t help you - you¡¯ll have to find one yourself.¡±
Xia Lei sat back in his chair and mulled over who to hire. He thought of Annina, but Annina must not show herself, so she could not be considered. However, he could not think of anyone who could rece Liang Si-Yao¡¯s position other than Annina.
At that moment, Guan Ling-Shan appeared in the doorway of the office, hugging a document folder. She first knocked on the door, then said in a small voice, ¡°May Ie in, Chairman Xia?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Come in.¡±
Guan Ling-Shan walked in and smiled as she greeted Xia Xue, ¡°Good morning, Miss Xia.¡±
¡°Morning, Big Sister Guan. Heh heh.¡± Xia Xueughed oddly, because nobody had ever greeted her with ¡®Miss Xia¡¯ before. She seldom had the experience of being respected like this.
Guan Ling-Shan went to Xia Lei¡¯s desk and put the document folder before Xia Lei as she said, ¡°Chairman Xia, this is this month¡¯s wage reports. Please take a look and sign off on it if there are no problems and wages can be paid out today.¡±
Xia Lei flipped through it and signed casually.
¡°I won¡¯t disturb you further, Chairman Xia. I¡¯ll be going now.¡± Guan Ling-Shan took the document folder.
¡°Hold on.¡± Xia Lei called Guan Ling-Shan to a stop.
¡°Is there anything else, Chairman Xia?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone had been different and it made Guan Ling-Shan a little nervous. She was an extremely shy and sensitive girl who was also very timid. She would always get inexplicably shy, nervous and afraid in front of Xia Lei.
Xia Lei knew her character well and he spoke with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. I¡¯m not a tiger so why are you so afraid of me?¡±
Guan Ling-Shan¡¯s face turned red again. She reached with a hand to push her spectacles up in a clumsy attempt to hide her nervousness.
¡°Right, what was your major in university?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I majored in secretarial studies, and, and did self-study for business management but I haven¡¯t received my degree certificate yet,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Good. You¡¯ll do.¡±
Secretarial studies - that was a field of study specialising in training up secretaries. She had also done some self-study for business management so she was the best person to take over Liang Si-Yao¡¯s job. Of course she wasn¡¯t as great as a Harvard graduate like Liang Si-Yao but she would excel if given the chance and the room to learn and adapt.
Guan Ling-Shan did not know what was going on, however, and grew more nervous. ¡°What do you want me to do, Chairman Xia?¡±
¡°Miss Liang has gone back to America. You¡¯ll take over her position,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Guan Ling-Shan was shocked.
¡°Pick someone in the finance department to take over your duties, thene here to work. Finish up the transfer today ande here to work tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I...¡± Guan Ling-Shan looked excited. ¡°Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Chairman Xia. I, I will proceed with the transfer immediately.¡±
There was no one who did not want to advance in business. As for the reason for the transfer, it was not something for Guan Ling-Shan to worry about.
¡°Awesome, Brother. You¡¯ve solved the problem so quickly.¡± Xia Xue said with a smile, ¡°Big Sister Guan is very suitable to be your assistant. She has a good personality. Now you¡¯re just missing a secretary. What sort of secretary do you want?¡±
¡°An assistant is enough. I don¡¯t need a secretary for now. I¡¯ll think about it if thepany grows again,¡± said Xia Lei.
At that moment, Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly appeared in the doorway, dressed in her police uniform. She carried arge stic box in her hands.
Xia Xue saw her and smiled. ¡°What are you here for, Big Sister Ru-Yi?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi stomped in and red at Xia Lei before she spoke to Xia Xue. ¡°Xue, go outside and guard the door. I want to have a talk with your brother.¡±
Xia Xue paused, then gave a secretiveugh. ¡°Ho, okay, I¡¯ll guard the door.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi had taken care of her since she was a child and was the best candidate for sister-inw to Xia Xue.
Xia Xue closed the door behind herself when she left the office, and actually did stand in front of the door to guard it. She wasn¡¯t entirely obedient though; she watched her brother and Jiang Ru-Yi through a crack in the door. She was curious about what Jiang Ru-Yi had to say to her brother.
Xia Lei had already known what Jiang Ru-Yi came for when he saw the box in her hands. He had put the box with the sniper rifle parts in the boot of his BMW M6 and had totally forgotten about it when he had exchanged cars with Jiang Ru-Yi in the morning.
Jiang Ru-Yi put the stic box on Xia Lei¡¯s desk, then took a pair of handcuffs from her uniform belt and put them on the table. She said not one word the whole time.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°What¡¯s this? Pantomime?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi red at him. ¡°Our ties are still cut. I don¡¯t want to talk to you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Are you going to cuff yourself or should I do it?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Cuff, my foot. I know why you¡¯vee here. Leave the item and you can go,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What ¡®go¡¯?! When did you get so brave that you dare talk to Chief Jiang like this?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi suddenly grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s arm and twisted it, then put her upper body weight on Xia Lei¡¯s back, holding him in a lock.
Ten Jiang Ru-Yis wouldn¡¯t be able to take him down if Xia Lei wanted to resist but he did not resist. He hadn¡¯t let her bully him in a long while so he was going to let her bully him a little.
Outside the door, Xia Xue¡¯s face turned red. ¡°Oh wow. When did Big Sister Ru-Yi be so fierce? It¡¯s the middle of the day and I¡¯m still around - what is she thinking of doing with my brother?¡±
¡°Speak! What¡¯s with the things in the box?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked aggressive.
¡°Let go of me first. Xue is outside. It¡¯ll be embarrassing if she sees,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What¡¯s there to be embarrassed about? You were my horse when we were kids. I rode you all around the yard and Xue even used twigs to whip your buttocks to make you run faster. Have you forgotten?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I can¡¯t help you if you don¡¯t talk.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi let go of Xia Lei in the end. ¡°A female corpse was discovered at Dayangshan Public Cemetery, shot by a sniper rifle. You understand me? What you have in the box is sensitive material. It¡¯ll be big trouble if people know about it.¡±
Ties for ties and care for care, this seemed to be Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s logic.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart warmed and he smiled as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you know I won¡¯t do anything illegal. The thing in the box is for Long Bing. She asked me to work on it a little. I can call her over if you don¡¯t believe me and you can ask her yourself.¡±
¡°It¡¯s really Long Bing¡¯s?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi looked at him suspiciously.
Xia Lei reached out a hand and smacked her on the head. ¡°When have I lied to you?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°What did you hit my head for? I¡¯m stupid enough - I¡¯ll get more stupid if you hit me more. So you¡¯re doing this so that I¡¯ll be easier to cheat, huh?¡±
Xia Lei opened the stic box and looked inside, then closed it again.
¡°Where¡¯s Liang Si-Yao?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi investigatively, ¡°Why don¡¯t I see her here?¡±
¡°She... went to America,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hahaha... Hahaha...¡± Jiang Ru-Yiughed so hard her breasts jiggled; it was a mesmerising sight.
¡°Are you mental? What are youughing about?¡±
¡°How much did she cheat from you?¡±
¡°Cheat, my foot. I don¡¯t want to talk about it. Leave this item here with me - I still have to deliver it to Long Bing,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Give me the car keys.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi stretched out a hand.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Didn¡¯t I already give you the car keys?¡±
¡°My car keys. Who wants your stupid car?¡±
¡°We exchanged our cars. That car is now yours.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi red at Xia Lei. ¡°You moron! Have you seen a police officer making a few thousand a month driving a car worth over two million? People thought I¡¯d taken bribes when I drove it to work. Enough nonsense. Give me my car keys or I¡¯ll restrain you and take it by force.¡±
Xia Lei gave the keys to the Polo to Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi stretched out her other hand.
¡°What else do you want?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve got to pay for the petrol you used when you drove my car, right? Are you going to give it to me, or not? I¡¯ll restrain you and take it by force if you don¡¯t give me money.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Was this wench really a policewoman?
Chapter 230 - Man In Midst Of Change
Boom!
An ear-splitting gunshot rang out and a target two kilometres away was knocked to the ground.
The shot had hit the bullseye. Long Bing smiled. ¡°This is the sniper rifle I want. I think it can probably shoot even further. Hm, the effective range seems to be at least 3,000 metres, close to 3,500. Lei, go help me move the target back three hundred metres. I¡¯ll try again.¡±
Xia Lei looked a little sullenly at the faraway target but he still went. He ran, and the trip there and back took him about eight to nine minutes. However, before he got back to Long Bing¡¯s side, she fired for the second time. She did not hit the bullseye this time but she still hit the target.
Effective range of 3,300 metres - this should currently be the most advanced sniper rifle in the world.
Long Bing¡¯s smiles multiplied. ¡°Lei...¡±
¡°Hold up.¡± Xia Lei was annoyed. ¡°Go yourself.¡±
Long Bing spokeughingly, ¡°I¡¯m not finished; how do you know what I want to say? I¡¯m not asking you to move the target, I just want to praise your handiwork.¡±
Xia Lei let out a breath. ¡°No need to praise me. I¡¯m happy enough that you find it good to use.¡±
¡°Yep, it¡¯s good. Your Thunder Horse Manufacturing can try making this modified sniper rifle. If you can guarantee the same standards then I daresay that purchase orders from the military will keep flying in,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Regr machinists cannot do it. This gun was something I¡¯d done personally for you. Thunder Horse Manufacturing also doesn¡¯t have the capacity to manufacture sniper rifles so I¡¯m not going to go into this business. But if Bureau 101 needs it, I can modify a few for you guys, no problem.¡±
¡°Not being able to manufacture them now doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t be able to in the future. Let¡¯s talk about this another time.¡± Long Bing changed the subject and said, ¡°I want to tell you something too. Annina is doing well but I am unable to persuade her to join Bureau 101. She isn¡¯t even willing to join the logistics department. She¡¯s an elite engineer from Krupp Mak Maschinenbau and has valuable skills we need. Boss Shi wants you to go talk to her. When do you have time?¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try but I can¡¯t guarantee anything. I¡¯ll try my best to persuade her,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°She¡¯s a German after all and has a different ideology.¡±
¡°It¡¯ll work for sure if you go,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°Right, her new identity now is Julia. Her Chinese name is Xia Mei.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°Who gave her such a cheesy Chinese name?¡±
¡°She did.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Another thing.¡± Long Bing looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Liang Si-Yao has left the country. What happened between you two?¡±
Xia Lei almost said ¡®She was a spy¡¯ or ¡®She¡¯s a high-ranking CIA intelligence officer¡¯ but swallowed his words in the end. ¡°Nothing. We broke up.¡±
It wasn¡¯t actually difficult to speak of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s identity but it was rted to his father, Xia Chang-He, and he couldn¡¯t face Long Bing when it came to that.
¡°Broke up? Not because of something else?¡± Long Bing¡¯s gaze was probing.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°What other reason did you think it was?¡±
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°I was just asking. I¡¯m not interested in who you date or who you broke up with. But I do have to remind you to never do anything that will disappoint your country.¡±
Xia Lei spoke with augh, ¡°I¡¯ve been serving the country well till now, okay? You guys don¡¯t even pay me a cent.¡±
¡°All right, if that¡¯s the case then run your mouth more in front of Boss Shi. No use talking to me about it. Let¡¯s go; the gun¡¯s been tested. Let¡¯s go see Annina. Persuade her and I can take her back to Jing-Du tonight,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei knew that Long Bing must have guessed something since she had suspected Liang Si-Yao in the beginning. He did not know how much she had guessed but he could do nothing even if she¡¯d guessed Liang Si-Yao¡¯s identity as the spy. He was a consultant for Bureau 101, that was right, but he had no obligation to catch a spy, not to mention a spy who was a women he had loved deeply.
He wasn¡¯t worried either if Boss Shi or Long Bing found out the truth one day. He had not done anything that would harm the nation in the entire process - he was actually a victim.
The two of them drove to a hidden location deep in the mountains. Before Xia Lei saw Annina, however, he was surprised to see Tang Yu-Yan and Tang Bo-Chuan.
The siblings were not simple people - one a moving beauty and the other handsome and well-proportioned. They were both excellent specimens.
¡°You all know each other. No need for me to make introductions,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled and greeted, ¡°Hello, Miss Tang, Mr Tang.¡±
Seeing Tang Yu-Yan and Tang Bo-Chuan here cleared up some things Xia Lei had been thinking about, and that was that these two were indeed people who worked for Bureau 101. Tang Yu-Yan was most likely Boss Shi¡¯s god-daughter too.
Tang Bo-Chuan walked over but did not shake hands. He patted Xia Lei on the shoulder instead. ¡°What¡¯s with the formalities? Xia Bro, you were shockingly skilled that day on Emei¡¯s Jinding. I am in admiration. I¡¯d like us to be friends - yes?¡±
¡°Of course,¡± Xia Lei said with augh, ¡°It is my honour to have a friend like you.¡±
¡°Look at you, being all formal again with me.¡± Tang Bo-Chuan smiled.
Tang Yu-Yan interrupted them, ¡°Big Brother, if you¡¯re friends now, does this mean I have to call him Big Brother too? Should I use ¡®Big Brother Xia¡¯ or ¡®Big Brother Lei¡¯?¡±
They were both people from Bureau 101 but Tang Yu-Yan was very different from Long Bing. One was cold as snow while the other was lively and cheerful.
Xia Lei spoke a little shyly, ¡°I¡¯m not worthy of being your ¡®Big Brother¡¯. Just call me Lei.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan smiled. ¡°Then you¡¯re ¡®Big Brother Lei¡¯.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh of acknowledgement.
Tang Yu-Yan looked at Long Bing. ¡°Big Sister Bing, I have a mission right now. Can I get Big Brother Lei to help?¡±
Long Bing spoke disinterestedly, ¡°What¡¯s the use in telling me? He is a consultant for Bureau 101, not part of our organisation. You have to first get Boss Shi to agree and Xia Lei himself to agree before you can get him to help.¡±
This seemed to be a hint to Xia Lei that he could choose not to help if he weren¡¯t willing.
Xia Lei understood her words but made no outward reaction and made no sound. He didn¡¯t know what mission Tang Yu-Yan had and it was not a good idea to agree to help her. But then he recalled Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s mysterious appearance close to his neighbourhood a few nights ago and he couldn¡¯t help guessing. ¡®Was her appearance close to my home that night for this aim?¡¯
Tang Yu-Yan gave augh. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll talk to Godfather when I get back.¡±
¡°Lei, go persuade Annina,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nodded and walked towards the room Annina was in.
After Xia Lei entered, Long Bing said, ¡°Yu-Yan, your mission is too dangerous. He is not prepared yet. Plus, he¡¯s a businessman. He has no way of handling a dangerous situation where the enemy is targeting him.¡±
Tang Yu-Yanughed. ¡°It¡¯s just going to Pakistan to release some hostages. Just my brother and myself are enough; no need for him to help. Is this okay for you now?¡±
¡°I can lend you my gun. Xia Lei helped me modify it. It can urately hit the target 3,300 metres away,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Wow! That good? I¡¯d like to take a shot or two and try it out.¡± Tang Yu-Yan got distracted by that.
In the room, Annina looked at Xia Lei quietly and smiled brightly.
¡°Are you better now?¡± asked Xia Lei in concern.
Annina drew close and hugged him, then kissed his cheek. This was an European custom and she did it naturally; Xia Lei was bashful and nervous.
Annina let go of Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I don¡¯t like this ce, and I don¡¯t like those people outside.¡±
¡°Never mind, you¡¯ll slowly get used to it. You¡¯ll adapt,¡± said Xia Leifortingly.
¡°Miss Long brought an interpreter yesterday to persuade me to work for China. I didn¡¯t agree. You know that I want to go to yourpany and work with you,¡± said Annina.
¡°I came to persuade you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina¡¯s expression changed. ¡°You came to persuade me too?¡±
Xia Lei spoke in a gentle voice, ¡°You know very well what situation you¡¯re in. You need a new identity, a new life. China can protect you but you have to do something too. It¡¯s no problem at all for you toe work at mypany but the time is not yet ripe for that. You need to wait till the dust has settled before you can show your face again.¡±
¡°Do you really want me to go?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah. I actually really want you toe to work with me at mypany. Mypany stillcks a Chief Engineer and you are undoubtedly the best candidate. But we must wait for the right time. How about this - I¡¯ll keep the position of Chief Engineer open for you at Thunder Horse Manufacturing. You go along with whatever Miss Long arranges for you for now. What do you say?¡±
Annina thought for a bit and said, ¡°I want another position besides being Chief Engineer at yourpany.¡±
¡°What position?¡± Xia Lei spoke breezily, ¡°No problem, any position you want is yours.¡±
¡°Your secretary,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei paused, then smiled. ¡°No problem.¡±
¡°What if Miss Liang doesn¡¯t agree?¡±
¡°She¡¯s gone back to America. Uh, we... broke up,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± A smile appeared on Annina¡¯s face but she quickly hid it and changed her expression to an apologetic look. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know.¡±
People from different cultures were different indeed. Jiang Ru-Yi had guffawed but Annina kept her joy inside and even apologised.
¡°It¡¯s okay. Let¡¯s go out for a walk. It¡¯s not good for your health to stay cooped up in the room,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay. Can I hold your hand?¡± Annina looked at Xia Lei, all smiles.
¡°That¡¯s... no problem.¡± Xia Lei smiled. If that made her happy then he would not bother about trifles. He didn¡¯t care what the three people outside would think of him.
The experience with Liang Si-Yao had cut at his heart like a knife, subtly affecting him, changing him.
Xia Lei walked out of the room holding Annina¡¯s hand and the gazes of the three people in the yard went to them. They looked at them oddly. Kissing and hugging were the norm in Germany but this was China and the action of holding hands was something only couples would do. This was why the three of them had such an odd reaction.
Xia Lei gave them a regr smile. ¡°She¡¯s agreed. Carry on with your chat - I¡¯m apanying her on a walk.¡±
Annina spoke in stilted Chinese, ¡°Hello you, walk walk.¡±
Long Bing watched Xia Lei and Annina walk into the distance on the small mountain path. After a while, she spoke. ¡°He¡¯s changed.¡±
Chapter 231 - Inheritance
Liang Si-Yao had left and Annina too - to Jing-Du. Xia Lei was single again and though he had yet to walk out of his cloud of sadness, he still felt a little relieved.
There was no hurdle that could not be crossed in this world and some problems were not much if one thought through them. Some people and some events were fated to appear in one¡¯s life, or to leave - there was no need to wish for something else and just it was all right to follow the natural order of things.
Xia Lei went to the Liang household that night. Liang Si-Yao had left but Xia Lei needed to give Liang Zheng-Chun an exnation.
Liang Zheng-Chun opened the door for Xia Lei and looked at him calmly.
Xia Lei had thought that he¡¯d greet him with an unhappy face but he did not. Xia Lei rxed a little and spoke a little cautiously, ¡°Have you eaten, Master? I¡¯ll make food for you if you haven¡¯t.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve eaten. Come in.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun moved to open up the path for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was going to give Liang Zheng-Chun an exnation but he was at a loss for words after walking through the door. He had been in love with Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s daughter and was even at the point of talking about marriage when this had happened. Could Liang Zheng-Chun, as a father, be happy about something like this?
Liang Zheng-Chun gestured for Xia Lei to sit and made a cup of tea for him.
Xia Lei hurriedly received the cup. ¡°Master, I should be the one making tea. How could I let you make me tea?¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a cup of tea, no need to fuss,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
Xia Lei sat down again and said awkwardly, ¡°Master, I came today to...¡±
He still could not say it.
Liang Zheng-Chun sighed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to say it. I know. You young people - I don¡¯t know what to say.¡±
Xia Lei hung his head. Who would have thought that he and Liang Si-Yao would end like this? His rtionship with Liang Si-Yao had been pre-determined to have no end, so who could hein to about his heart¡¯s suffering?
¡°Si-Yao told me. It¡¯s her fault and nothing to do with you. I don¡¯t me you either. You¡¯re a good young man, I didn¡¯t judge wrong. It¡¯s Si-Yao who is not fortunate enough.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun straightened Xia Lei out.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Master, I am relieved that you think that way. I was afraid that you¡¯d be upset.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be upset if you didn¡¯te. I feel a bit better now that you¡¯vee here,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°You are my Master. Even if Si-Yao and I could not be husband and wife, you are still my Master. Your home is my home, so of course I¡¯lle,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ah... That ignorant girl.¡± Liang Zheng-Chun let out a long sigh. ¡°Oh, yes, she left you a letter. I¡¯ve had it with me all this while. Read it.¡± He took out a yellow envelope and handed it to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei took the letter out of the envelope.
¡®Lei, I know it¡¯s toote to say anything now and any exnation I offer won¡¯t make up for the pain I¡¯ve caused you. But whatever the case, please forgive me. I¡¯ve told my father about my job in America otherwise he wouldn¡¯t listen to you with that temper of his. I¡¯ve already arranged for a visa for him and he wille to America soon. There is no way he can stay on in China because of his rtion to me. I don¡¯t know when we will have a chance to meet again after this separation. But it doesn¡¯t matter if we cannot see each other. I will remember you, till my hair¡¯s all grey, I¡¯ll remember you.
I want to warn you that me failing my mission does not mean that your troubles are over. Patch has not been terminated. The American military and the AE Research Centre will not give up like this. They will choose someone even more capable toplete this mission. Be very careful.
I¡¯d suggest selling thepany. Find a Third Tier city in China and live in seclusion. Don¡¯t show yourself again. Your life now is like a target under the sun - you¡¯re in the light, and they¡¯re in the shadows. It will be difficult to defend against them.
Last of all, please remember me at my best.¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were wet with tears after reading Liang Si-Yao¡¯s letter.
Liang Zheng-Chun patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t be too sad. I know Si-Yao let you down.¡±
Xia Lei raised his head to look at Liang Zheng-Chun. ¡°Master, you¡¯re going to America?¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun smiled bitterly. ¡°I have to go even if I don¡¯t want to because something like this has happened. I¡¯ve lived on thisnd for most of my life, but I have to turn my back on my home now... Ah, forget it, let¡¯s not talk about it. Let us Master and disciple have a few drinks tonight. We¡¯ll probably not have the chance to do soter.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll get the alcohol, Master.¡± Xia Lei got up to get the alcohol and also to grab the opportunity to wipe the tears which had fallen from his eyes.
Two men and a bottle of Maotai. Time ticked away under the electric lights, not stopping for anyone no matter how hard one wished for it to stop.
It was past one in the morning when Xia Lei left the Liang household. Liang Zheng-Chun sent him to the door and shoved a string-bound book into his hands. The book was very thin, old and one nce told Xia Lei that it had seen some years.
¡°Master, this... what...¡± Xia Lei could see that it was Liang Zheng-Chun¡¯s family heirloom - generations of Wing Chun practitioners hadpiled and revised these secrets.
¡°Take it. Practise well. You must spread the greatness of our Wing Chun. You can definitely do it,¡± said Liang Zheng-Chun.
¡°Master, something so valuable... I cannot take it.¡± Xia Lei was ttered beyond words.
Liang Zheng-Chun was saddened. ¡°You are my Last Disciple so who else can I pass it down to? With that wench Si-Yao¡¯s identity, I won¡¯t hand it to her, not even over my dead body. I won¡¯t teach either after I go to America; I¡¯ll raise two birds and tend to them daily. I have no son. It is useless to keep this with me. I can rest assured if it¡¯s with you. But you must promise me that you will spread the greatness of Wing Chun and let the whole world know about it.¡±
Xia Lei could not hold back the tears in his eyes any longer and they fell. He went to his knees before Liang Zheng-Chun and said in a choked voice, ¡°I promise you, Master, that I will definitely take Wing Chun to new heights.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun was calmly epting of Xia Lei¡¯s kneeling. He helped Xia Lei to his feet and gave him a meaningful look. ¡°Go. Hurry back.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°When do you leave, Master? I¡¯ll send you off.¡±
Liang Zheng-Chun shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to send me off. Do not contact either Si-Yao or myself in the future or it¡¯ll bring you trouble.¡± He pushed Xia Lei and nagged, ¡°Go, go. Go, quick.¡±
It was then that Xia Lei discovered that Liang Zheng-Chun also had tears in his eyes. His heart was wrenched by pain again and the world seemed devoid of light.
The ck BMW M6 galloped under the sky of night.
¡°ARGH-¡± Xia Lei let out a roar of anger.
He swore to himself that he would not suffer this pain again.
Xia Lei was sleepless that night.
He had only done two things the whole night - one was to memorise everything in the Wing Chun secret manual and the other was to consider taking thatst AE capsule. However, he still had not made his decision the next morning.
Eating the twelfth AE pill was undoubtedly the smartest choice because his father, Xia Chang-He, would definitely not harm him. His father must have his reasons to want him to eat thest AE pill. However, this was thest pill and if he took it, there was no finding a thirteenth. This also meant that there would be no way of knowing how it was made and its secrets. After much hesitation, he decided in the end to keep thest AE pill to wait for a chance to unravel its secrets before he had to decide again whether to eat it.
After knowing the story behind the AE pill, Xia Lei could not leave it in his home anymore. Early the next morning, he brought Xia Xue with him to Thunder Horse Manufacturing and closed himself in his personal workshop. He spent two hours to make a ne from titanium alloy and sealed thest AE capsule in a crescent-shaped pendant.
Xia Lei walked out of the workshop with the ne around his neck. He looked at the crescent pendant in his hand and a smile appeared on his lips. He could have it on his person at any time and others wouldn¡¯t be able to see it. The chances of it being stolen or robbed from him was practically zero, and this made him more at ease.
Guan Ling-Shan came out of the office and said shyly, ¡°The ne is beautiful, Chairman Xia.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Thanks. How do you find your new job position?¡±
Guan Ling-Shan nodded. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m just worried that I won¡¯t do as well as Miss Liang did.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. I believe that you will do a good job,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Right, Chairman Xia, the batterypany called earlier. They said that the delivery for our recent orders has to be postponed due to problems with their raw materials,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan, ¡°This is a breach of contract and I said I cannot make a decision and that I had to talk to you, Chairman Xia, and the person on the other end hung up.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Hung up on you? What sort of attitude is that? We¡¯ve paid the deposit and signed the contract, so how can they dy it as they want? How are we toplete our many orders when they have a dy?¡±
Guan Ling-Shan looked upset as well. ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re obviously bullying us because we are a smallpany. What do we do, Chairman Xia? We can take legal action.¡±
¡°Try contacting them again and pushing them to hurry. I¡¯ll think of something on my end. Taking legal action means that we¡¯ll still have to do business with them even when things have turned sour and that¡¯s not good. We should not take this route unless we have no other choice.¡± Xia Lei quickly made a decision.
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll contact them right away.¡± Guan Ling-Shan went off.
Xia Lei mulled over it by himself. ¡®BYD is such argepany - how can it have problems with raw materials? The batteries we want aren¡¯t that big either so it¡¯s impossible that they aren¡¯t able to finish them. What¡¯s going on?¡¯
¡°Chairman Xia.¡± Lu Sheng walked over.
Xia Lei put his thoughts aside. ¡°What is it, Big Brother Sheng?¡±
Lu Sheng¡¯s expression was a little strange. ¡°I was actually thest to know. What happened with you all? I called Si-Yao but she did not answer. I called Master but he didn¡¯t answer either. I have no choice but to be thick-skinned ande ask you.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°We broke up.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Lu Sheng stood dumbly.
Xia Lei patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t ask. I don¡¯t want to talk about this anymore.¡±
¡°I understand, it¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t be too sad either,¡± consoled Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei gave a shortugh. ¡°I¡¯m not as weak as you think. I¡¯m all fine already.¡±
Lu Sheng¡¯s lips moved as if to say something but he did not speak.
At that moment, a silver Rolls Royce Phantom appeared in the gateway of the factory. A security guard came out of the security post and walked to the car to ask questions.
Xia Lei knew that Shentu Tian-Yin hade when he saw the car. He walked over without waiting for the security guard to report to him.
Chapter 232 - Aggressive Approach
In Yulin Vige, the Shentu Residence.
Shentu Ren¡¯splexion improved quite a bit again with over half an hour of massage and acupuncture. He was not able to walk still but he could already speak normally, just slower.
Xia Lei was all sweaty after he finished treatment.
Shentu Tian-Yin brought a towel for Xia Lei to wipe the perspiration from his face.
Xia Lei felt a little ttered and said shyly, ¡°Best if I do it myself.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin handed the towel to Xia Lei.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Ren¡¯s mouth. ¡°Thank you, Xia Lei.¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing, Uncle. You¡¯re recovering well. Just keep doing your exercises and I believe you¡¯ll be able to walk a few steps after the Spring Festival,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Really? That¡¯s wonderful.¡± Shentu Ren looked very happy. ¡°Tian-Yin has been telling me about you recently. You¡¯re a very impressive person. The world¡¯s best hospitals and best doctors were not able to heal me but you did. You¡¯ve given me a second chance at life. I am deeply grateful to you. Please, tell me, is there anything you want?¡±
Xia Lei quickly said, ¡°Uncle, there¡¯s no need to say that. I don¡¯t want anything but for you to be healthy.¡±
¡°This...¡± Shentu Ren nced at Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled as she said, ¡°Father, I¡¯ve already told you that Xia Lei is not the sort of person who would want a reward for his help. He won¡¯t want your money.¡±
¡°Then how do I repay you?¡± Shentu Ren said with a wry smile.
¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this, Uncle. I¡¯ll take you out for some sunshine.¡± Xia Lei carried Shentu Ren and put him in his wheelchair, then pushed him outdoors.
Shentu Tian-Yin took a nket and followed, a faint, beautifully peaceful smile on her face.
Sunshine in winter was rare but today was a clear day. The sky was very blue and the sunshine warm. Xia Lei pushed Shentu Ren to the garden and stopped before a patch of camellias. The camellias were in bloom and the flowers swayed in the breeze, bright and red. The mountain peak close by was covered with dense forest and some trees had already shed all their leaves while some retained their green shroud. The sunshine, forest and flowers in bloom made a pleasing picture.
¡°How unexpected that I, Shentu Ren, would still be able to enjoy such scenery in my lifetime. I feel... Heh heh, like I¡¯m dreaming,¡± said Shentu Ren with a sigh.
People with perfect vision would never be able to experience what it was like when a blind person could see light again. Only people who had stopped before the gates of death could understand how Shentu Ren felt at that moment.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Uncle, one is bound for good fortune after surviving a great disaster. You will surely have more good days.¡±
¡°Hehe.¡± Shentu Renughed too. ¡°Xia Lei, I hear you have a girlfriend. Why don¡¯t you bring her here?¡±
Why did he suddenly start talking about girlfriends?
Xia Lei¡¯s expression changed immediately. ¡°We... broke up.¡±
¡°Ah? Oh, sorry I asked,¡± apologised Shentu Ren.
¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin, on the other hand, was calm throughout and she neither asked Xia Lei anything nor consoled him - only a faint smile had appeared fleetingly in the corners of her mouth.
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang at that moment. He looked at the iing call disy and said, ¡°Excuse me, I have to take this call.¡± He then walked off to one side to take the call.
Shentu Ren spoke casually, ¡°Tian-Yin, he¡¯s heartbroken. Why don¡¯t youfort him?¡±
¡°He does not needforting. Someone who can¡¯t even bear the pain of a heartbreak is not a real man,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Ren looked at Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°I know you like him. He¡¯s broken up with his girlfriend - you shouldfort him and invite him out more often. Do I still have to teach you this?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin shook her head. ¡°I¡¯d already been very proactive thest time but I¡¯d still lost to a Liang Si-Yao. I won¡¯t take the initiative to approach a man again. I am Shentu Tian-Yin. The man I want has to be the most excellent specimen on this Earth and he has to be the one to woo me.¡±
Shentu Ren smiled wryly. ¡°He¡¯s an outstanding man and has no shortage of adoration from women. I know more than you about men and there are some times when a man cannot control himself. You can¡¯t confirm that a second Liang Si-Yao would not appear, can you? Will you regret it if a second Liang Si-Yao appears?¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips. ¡°I don¡¯t want the type of man who would quickly get into another rtionship after a breakup. You don¡¯t have to worry about my matters, Father. Just concentrate on your health and building your strength up.¡±
Shentu Ren sighed. ¡°Never mind, I wash my hands off it. You young people... Just do what you want.¡±
Just then, Xia Lei ended his call and walked back to them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, something has happened at mypany and I have to go back to take care of it. I¡¯lle visit you next time, Uncle.¡±
¡°What is it? Can it wait till after you¡¯ve had lunch?¡± said Shentu Ren.
¡°No, thank you. Perhaps next time? Goodbye, Uncle. Goodbye, Tian-Yin.¡± He said his goodbyes and turned to leave, looking anxious.
¡°What is it?¡± asked Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°It¡¯s nothing big. I¡¯ll be going off now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Ren watched Xia Lei walk far away before he asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to send him off?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Ren closed both his eyes. He¡¯d rather enjoy some sunshine than worry about his daughter¡¯s problems in love.
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled.
Xia Lei drove back to Thunder Horse Manufacturing and saw arge group of uniformed employees of the Industry and Commerce Bureau and Quality Inspection Department when he went through the gates. Xia Xue and Guan Ling-Shan looked to be in negotiations with the leader of one of the groups and both parties were red in the face with arguing. Xia Lei got out of his car and quickly strode over.
Guan Ling-Shan saw him approaching and immediately came forward to greet him. ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re back, Chairman Xia. They, they... insist that our products have quality issues and serious safety hazards. They won¡¯t listen no matter how I try to exin.¡±
This was the reason why Xia Lei had rushed back. He had received the call from Guan Ling-Shan at the Shentu Residence and she had described the situation but not very clearly over the phone.
¡°I got it. Let me handle this. Go to the office and use the phone on my desk to give Mayor Hu a call. Give him a summary of the situation and see how he reacts,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll go right now.¡± Guan Ling-Shan went towards the office building.
Xia Lei walked towards the group of Trade and Commerce Bureau employees with a smile on his face. ¡°Hello everyone, I am Xia Lei, the owner of thispany.¡±
The leader who was negotiating with Guan Ling-Shan said, ¡°I am Qiao Ping, director of the Trade and Commerce Bureau. I am in charge here.¡±
Xia Lei stretched out a hand and said with a smile, ¡°Ah, Director Qiao. Hello, Director Qiao. Please,e have a seat in the guest lounge.¡±
Qiao Ping did not shake hands with Xia Lei. ¡°No need. Let¡¯s go straight to business.¡±
¡°Of course, Director Qiao.¡± Xia Lei was polite from the start.
Qiao Ping was not appreciative at all and his tone was cold. ¡°We have received some consumer reports that yourpany¡¯s automatic skateboards have hurt quite a few children. We have inspected your automatic skateboards and found serious safety hazards and are here to conduct a surprise safety inspection. If the hazard is real, you will need to stop producing the automatic skateboards and rectify the problems. Once you have rectified them, we wille inspect it and you can only resume production after the skateboard passes inspection.¡±
He hade with ill-intentions. Xia Lei immediately thought of the batteries which BYD Company could not deliver. This was not a coincidence - this was a throttling of his business!
Xia Lei knew full well what situation he was in but he showed no change in expression on his face. He smiled as he said, ¡°Impossible. Our automatic skateboard is selling very well in Europe and we¡¯ve received very positive feedback from the market consumers. Not one hasined about safety. Why are theseints happening locally?¡±
Qiao Ping¡¯s face darkened. ¡°Are you trying to say that our Chinese people¡¯s safety is not as important as that of the Europeans?¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°I do not mean that at all, Director Qiao.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already stated the situation clearly. You shouldply,¡± said Qiao Ping.
The group of Trade and Commerce and Quality Inspection Department employees entered the workshops of Thunder Horse Manufacturing and begun their pretence of conducting inspections.
Xia Lei could guess the result without waiting for those people to finish their inspection.
Guan Ling-Shan came out of the office and spoke in a low voice in Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°Chairman Xia, Mayor Hu¡¯s secretary took the call. He said that Mayor Hu has gone overseas for an investigation and cannot tend to this matter. Chairman Xia, how about you call his mobile phone personally? He¡¯ll be able to receive the call even if he¡¯s overseas.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s no use. No need to call him. Someone must have paid him a visit before this and he won¡¯t be able to help even if he got himself involved.¡±
¡°What do we do then?¡± Guan Ling-Shan looked anxious.
Xia Lei had instructed Guan Ling-Shan to call Hu Hou as a probe. Hu Hou was fairly supportive of Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s automatic skateboard and had even taken very good care of him at the Expo. He would definitely not have let the Trade and Commerce Bureau peoplee to disturb Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s production and operations. The people being here was an obvious sign that the one who was trying to throttle Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s business was someone who did not even need to care about Hu Hou getting in the way!
Who in Hai-Zhu City dared to dismiss Hu Hou?
The answer was also obvious - the Gu n.
The Gu siblings had bounced back again with an aggressive approach - they were going to totally eradicate Thunder Horse Manufacturing!
mes of anger burned in his heart but Xia Lei maintained his calmposure. ¡°Please speak inly, Director Qiao. What are your ns to handle this matter?¡±
Qiao Ping sneered, ¡°What do you mean by that? It¡¯s not ns but action. If your product is without safety issues or quality issues, we will not do anything and you can continue production and operations. But if there is, then you¡¯ll have to suspend your business to rectify the problems and undergo inspections.¡±
¡°Who are the people carrying out the inspections?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Qiao Ping waved and an employees opened a briefcase to take up a thick stack of documents. He handed it to Xia Lei.
These documents were sortedints about the automatic skateboard. There wereints about the quality andints asking forpensation for injuries - everyint had a description of theinant. It looked fairly realistic.
It was not important if theints were real. There were people in this world who could turn white to ck and ck to white. Since these people were able to produce theints, this meant that theseints were real.
Xia Lei flipped roughly through them and handed the documents back to the employee.
¡°Do you understand how serious it is now?¡± said Qiao Ping.
Xia Lei wanted to punch him in the nose.
¡°The inspection is done now.¡± A small sneer appeared on Qiao Ping¡¯s lips.
He knew very well that this so-called ¡®inspection¡¯ was just a show of the process. How Thunder Horse Manufacturing was to be dealt with was already set.
Chapter 233 - A Hundred Enforcement Officers
The results of the so-called inspection were out. Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s automatic skateboard had serious safety hazards and there were environmental safety concerns in its production as well. Qiao Ping made a decision immediately and ruled that Thunder Horse Manufacturing had to stop the production of the automatic surfboard and suspend business for a month. They could only apply for an inspection to be carried out after rectifying the problem and production could only resume if that inspection was passed.
A few hundred workers gathered and threw angry questions at the Trade and Commerce and Quality Inspection Department employees. The venue was in chaos and looked set to get out of hand at any given moment.
¡°You¡¯d better keep your people in line - If I or any of my people get so much as a scratch, you will all be in legal trouble for attackingw enforcement officers!¡± said Qiao Ping to Xia Lei.
¡°Who you trying to scare? No way you bozos didn¡¯t get money for doing this!¡± Chen A¡¯ Jiao had a fiery temper and an uncensored tongue. ¡°Let me tell you that if you take away our rice bowl, we will go to your homes to eat from your rice bowls!¡±
¡°Yeah!¡± agreed fellow Workshop Director, Liu Xue-Bing as he said angrily, ¡°These people must have been bribed to make trouble here. We¡¯ll make a fuss at the Trade and Commerce Bureau if they take away our rice bowls. Anyone who has tents should bring tents! I¡¯d like to see if these people can hide the truth from the masses!¡±
The workers shouted in agreement and looked ready to besiege the Trade and Commerce Bureau.
Xia Lei was having a headache trying to figure out how to deal with this crisis and the workers¡¯ outburst gave him an idea. The workers argued fiercely but he kept quiet and watched the reactions of Qiao Ping and his people.
This Qiao Ping must have had some shady deal with the Gu n and he woulde to no good end either if the situation escted. Hundreds of people protesting was not a joke in China and the people at fault could not escape.
As expected, Qiao Ping¡¯s face darkened. ¡°Xia Lei! Tell your people to quiet down!¡±
Xia Lei spoke only then. ¡°Be quiet, everyone.¡±
The hundreds of workers went silent.
Qiao Ping handed a document to Xia Lei. ¡°Sign this. Suspend business activity for a month and get inspected by us afterwards.¡±
¡°What basis do you have to make my entire factory suspend its operations?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Your product has potential safety hazards and there are also many problems with the production environment. Of course your entire factory has to be suspended. This document is in effect even if you don¡¯t sign it. Your attitude will affect our next inspection,¡± said Qiao Ping.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then why do I have to sign this?¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Qiao Ping snorted, then said to a subordinate, ¡°Put the workshops behind tape.¡±
An employee of the Trade and Commerce Bureau made a sound of agreement and walked towards the buildings.
Some workers made to block his way but Xia Lei stopped them.
Xia Lei put the document back in Qiao Ping¡¯s hands and said, ¡°Director Qiao, ourpany does not just manufacture automatic skateboards. Even if the skateboard is a safety hazard and has problems with quality, there is no reason for me to close my entire factory, is there? Hundreds have to be fed and insured. This is a big matter - won¡¯t you give an exnation?¡±
Qiao Ping spoke rudely, ¡°Why should I exin? I am going by thew. Do I need to give you an exnation? Do I need to give your workers an exnation? Xia Lei, you¡¯d better take note of the nature of the situation. If you break thew, it will not be as simple as suspending business operations - you will go to prison!¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°So far in my life I¡¯ve sat in cars and trains but I haven¡¯t yet sat in prison. What you say does make me want to experience what it¡¯s like in prison.¡± He then said to his workers, ¡°Back to production!¡±
Hundreds of workers dispersed and went of in the directions of their workshops.
The workers were also buzzing with conversation; Chairman Xia¡¯s boldness was unparalleled!
¡°How dare you!¡± Qiao Ping was so mad his lips quivered. ¡°How dare you belittle thew. Are you trying to turn everything upside-down, you punk?¡±
Xia Lei looked at him and said evenly, ¡°Director Qiao, I don¡¯t know how much you received from Gu Ke-Wen or Gu Ke-Wu. I have nothing to say about people wanting to make money but I have to remind you that some money should not be made. You¡¯ve brought people here to seal up my factory but I have hundreds who depend on this factory to feed their families. You¡¯d better take your people back with you. Stop causing trouble.¡±
¡°Bastard!¡± Qiao Ping was hopping mad. ¡°I led my team here personally to enforce thews and you tell me to take them back, and stop causing trouble? Do you take us for three-year-olds? I¡¯m ordering you right now to stop production immediately! Shut it down for half a year!¡±
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°Director Qiao, I am only being polite when I call you ¡®Director Qiao¡¯. Don¡¯t think that you¡¯re some bigshot. To put it inly, you are an errand boy. If this were a war you would be just cannon fodder for the Gu n.¡±
His words made Qiao Ping¡¯s cheeks turn the colour of pig liver.
¡°You have no right to make my workers stop production. Do call Gu Ke-Wen or Gu Ke-Wu here.¡± Xia Lei was not letting him keep his dignity any longer.
¡°Fine. Fine!¡± Qiao Pingughed in anger and said to a subordinate, ¡°Call the city enforcement team and get them to help. I don¡¯t believe that I won¡¯t be able to seal you up today!¡±
Xia Lei turned to say to Guan Ling-Shan, ¡°Call the media reporters toe.¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll contact them right away.¡± Guan Ling-Shan walked off to one side and dialled the hotline for the media reporters.
After only a few minutes, over ten vans appeared along the road in front of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. The doors to the vans opened and men wearing helmets with ¡®City Enforcement¡¯ on them came out, carrying wooden clubs and steel pipes. They walked to the main gates of Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
This group of men numbered over a hundred and each and every one of them looked fierce and acted arrogantly. They did not look like proper ¡®City Enforcement¡¯ at all but like street thugs.
Before the group of men entered the factory grounds, however, Qin Xiang blocked the entryway, nked by a big group of aunties with mops and brooms. The women hade to help Lu Sheng with security. Thunder Horse Manufacturing had just a few security guards and the few men were no match for a group of over a hundred.
Guan Ling-Shan had called the media but not one of them had turned up yet. The other side, however, had over a hundred turn up - this was obviously pre-arranged. Once Thunder Horse Manufacturing forcefully resumed operations, these ¡®City Enforcement¡¯ officers would appear and damage the factory so badly it would be forced to close!
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. Over a hundred thugs hade; Thunder Horse Manufacturing had the advantage in numbers but they were surely not as good at fighting as these people. He could not let his workers participate in a fight of hundreds either - there was no controlling the chaos. If someone got injured, he would also suffer as the owner of the business. Furthermore, no damage would be done to either Gu Ke-Wen or Gu Ke-Wu even if Thunder Horse Manufacturing won this battle. On the other hand, the Gu siblings would take delight in seeing arge number of injuries because Xia Lei would get into even more trouble the bigger the matter got!
The enforcement officers came to the entrance and some of the leaders pushed the aunties to get them to make way. Qin Xiang and Lu Sheng had martial arts skills and were not afraid to stand right in front. Both sides were ready to fight in an instant.
¡°Qin Xiang, take your people back to the supermarket!¡± shouted Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang hesitated and looked at Xia Lei, confused.
Xia Lei spoke again, ¡°You too, Big Brother Sheng. Tell your men to move aside. Let theme in.¡±
Lu Sheng and Qin Xiang exchanged nces. They did not understand why Xia Lei was doing this but they obeyed. Lu Sheng told his men to withdraw and Qin Xiang told the supermarket aunties to return to the supermarket.
The fierce ¡®City Enforcement¡¯ officers passed through the gates and surrounded Xia Lei.
¡°What are you people doing?¡± Xia Xue grew nervous.
Xia Lei raised his voice, ¡°Go back to the office.¡±
Xia Xue spoke anxiously, ¡°Brother, they...¡±
Xia Lei gave her a fierce re. ¡°Listen to me and go back to the office! You too, Ling-Shan!¡±
Xia Xue was not happy to go at all and Guan Ling-Shan had to pull her into the office building. Guan Ling-Shan let go of Xia Xue¡¯s hand when they got up to the second floor and took out her phone to record a video.
Qiao Ping¡¯s arrogance increased with the arrival of his reinforcements. He spoke scornfully, ¡°Xia Lei, I¡¯ll say it once more - tell your workers to stop production immediately! If you do notply, our enforcement officers will take forceful action.¡±
The workers who had just gone into the workshops not long ago walked out again and they were not empty-handed this time. They held various tools like hammers and spanners in their hands.
Qiao Ping¡¯s expression changed and he spoke a little nervously. ¡°Hold your people in line! What are they doing? You want them to go to prison too?¡±
Xia Lei turned to his workers. ¡°Back, everybody! Wait for me to notify you.¡±
Xia Lei had an air of authority and the workshop directors brought their workers back to the workshops at his word. However, they did not go back to work - they got ready to charge out and fight.
¡°Sign.¡± Qiao Ping put the document which ordered Xia Lei to suspend his business operations in Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Xia Lei held the document in his hand but his gaze went to the space beyond the gates of the factory. A blue-ck Bugatti Veyron had stopped by the side of the road. The windows of the car did not scroll down but Xia Lei saw the two people in it at once.
The one driving was Gu Ke-Wu and the one in the passenger seat was Gu Ke-Wen.
The Gu siblings looked rather gleeful. They had to see Thunder Horse Manufacturing being sealed up no matter what.
Xia Lei stopped looking at them and said to Qiao Ping, ¡°Director Qiao, I¡¯ll talk to youter. Your bosses are here. I¡¯ll go greet them.¡±
Qiao Ping spotted the Bugatti Veyron by the side of the road too and knew who were sitting in there. He pretended not to have heard Xia Lei¡¯s words and did not dere which side he was on. He watched Xia Lei move the ¡®City Enforcement¡¯ officers aside one at a time as he made his way to that Bugatti Veyron and a small sneer appeared on his lips. ¡°You dare fight with them? You overestimate yourself.¡±
Xia Lei walked out the gates and went to the driver¡¯s side of the car. He reached out a hand and knocked on the ss of the car window.
The window of the Bugatti Veyron scrolled down and Gu Ke-Wu looked at Xia Lei with a faint smile on his lips. ¡°Well, isn¡¯t this Chairman Xia? What¡¯s happened? Why are there so many people?¡±
¡°You know very well what¡¯s happened,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sorry, we¡¯re just passing by and just so happened to see so many people; we stopped to take a look. Oh, right, is there some trouble? Do you need my help? Beg me and I may think of a solution for you.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen snorted. ¡°He¡¯s already hard-pressed, Big Brother. Don¡¯t say any more - he¡¯ll be hurt.¡±
¡°Oh? Really? My apologies.¡± Gu Ke-Wu made an apology, thenughed loudly.
Xia Leiughed too.
Chapter 234 - Living Legend
Xia Lei¡¯s smile carried a hint of anger but he had no other choice before him.
¡°Xia Lei, you can¡¯t buy the battery parts now and your factory is being sealed. I¡¯m not afraid to tell you that what¡¯sing next is customs. Your product won¡¯t even be able to leave the borders, so how will you sell to the European and American markets?¡± said Gu Ke-Wen, ¡°Don¡¯t think that you can act as you please because you know a few people in Jing-Du. Fight with us? You¡¯re not qualified.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu sneered, ¡°You had the support of Mu Jian-Feng from China Industrial Group and it was not easy for me to make trouble for you in the past but China Industrial Group has no connections to you now. Can you still ask Mu Jian-Feng for help?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
¡°Haha!¡±ughed Gu Ke-Wu, ¡°Oh, right. You can go look for Shentu Tian-Yin. She¡¯ll probably help you but I won¡¯t be nice to her this time. Think carefully before you contact her.¡±
Xia Lei had not even thought of getting Shentu Tian-Yin to help. Vientaine Group was indeed powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with the Gu n but that was herpany, not his. What right had he to have her help in such a way? He thought of Shi Bo-Ren and Long Bing. He could only ask these two for help if he needed it.
¡°How about this, Xia Lei - I¡¯ll give you 50,000,000. Sell thepany and the patent to me. You take the money and leave, and everything will be settled between us. What do you think?¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Xia Lei controlled the mes of anger in his heart. ¡°So this is how the Gu n expanded. Let me tell you, you¡¯ll never gets your hands on mypany even if it¡¯s destroyed!¡±
Gu Ke-Wen snorted. ¡°This is thest chance I¡¯m giving you. Yourpany will not be able to open its doors again after it¡¯s sealed up today. You¡¯ve received so many orders but cannot deliver - thepensation fees alone will kill you!¡±
¡°Seal mypany? Heh Heh, you can try.¡± Xia Lei sounded tough.
¡°Do you think that it¡¯s just those few people? Look to your left,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
Xia Lei raised his head to look at the left side of the road. A long line of vans were parked along two hundred metres of road and there were also two big buses. The vans and buses all held ¡®City Enforcement¡¯ officers. There were more people in the vehicles than on the factory grounds.
Gu Ke-Wu spoke casually, ¡°I know you can fight. I¡¯ll acknowledge it if you can defeat so many people.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen added, ¡°Big Brother, he has a few hundred people in his factory too. He¡¯s not afraid at all. Let them fight. It¡¯ll be more entertaining if a few of them get beaten to death.¡±
Xia Lei turned and walked towards his factory.
¡°Hello? I¡¯m asking you for thest time.¡± Gu Ke-Wen stuck her head out the car window. ¡°50,000,000 - selling it?¡±
Xia Lei looked back at her and said right away, ¡°Fucking sell your mother¡¯s cunt!¡±
Gu Ke-Wen froze, her face ashen.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s eyes filled with ferocity. How dare he curse his mother!
Xia Lei entered his factory and walked straight to Qiao Ping. He took the document from his hands, signed his name on it, then put it back in Qiao Ping¡¯s hands. ¡°All right, we¡¯ll suspend operations. Come back for an inspection in a month.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not one month, it¡¯s half a year!¡± Qiao Ping¡¯s arrogance grew with the backing of others.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sure, sure. Half a year it is. Well, let¡¯s not talk about half a year - sixty years would be no problem either.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t act tough. You¡¯de crying when it¡¯s time.¡± Qiao Ping waved a hand after throwing out that line. ¡°We¡¯re going.¡±
The big group of Trade and Commerce and Quality Inspection people left, as well as the ¡®City Enforcement¡¯ group.
The workers came out of the workshops and gathered around Xia Lei in a cacophony of voices.
¡°The factory¡¯s going to be sealed up just like that, Chairman Xia? Isn¡¯t this an obvious attempt to bury us? Do thews not exist anymore?¡± said Liu Xue-Bing. He felt that it was unfair.
A young man spoke up too. ¡°Chairman Xia, why didn¡¯t you let us fight with them? We¡¯re not afraid of trouble!¡±
¡°It¡¯s going to be sealed for half a year - what do we do?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked miserable and was about to cry.
¡°Make a decision, Chairman Xia,¡± said Yin Hao, ¡°We will do whatever you ask. I don¡¯t believe that they can hide the truth from the masses!¡±
¡°Everyone can fight but you were up against thugs. Every one of them is scum. You can go to prison if you hurt them or kill them but is it worth it? If they injure you or kill you, your parents, wives, children - what will happen to them? Everyone here is a regr personing to work to feed his or her family. There is no need for this violence,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°But... Chairman Xia, the factory¡¯s been sealed. How are we going to make money to support our families?¡± Liu Xue-Bing looked sad. ¡°I still want my son to go to university! Argh.¡±
¡°No need to worry about this. Take a holiday of three days. Wages will be paid as per normal. Come back in three days and we will resume production,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Three days? Wasn¡¯t it being sealed for half a year?¡± said a worker.
¡°Chairman Xia said three days, so there is a guarantee that the factory sealing will be cancelled in three days!¡± said a worker.
The workers buzzed with discussion and the anxious atmosphere dissipated by quite a bit. A holiday of just three days and getting wages like normal was quite eptable from the perspective of the workers.
¡°Disperse, everyone.¡± Xia Lei spoke with a smile, ¡°You have all worked very hard recently. Take three days off. Go home and spend more time with your spouses and children. If you don¡¯t have a spouse, then spend time with your girlfriend, boyfriend, and those without a partner can hurry up and go look for one.¡±
The workersughed and thest bit of anxiousness disappeared.
Back in the office, Xia Lei punched the wall with a loud thud. A big chunk broke off the wall and his fist bled.
¡°Brother, don¡¯t be like this.¡± Xia Xue quickly took some tissues to wipe the blood from Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Guan Ling-Shan also came over tofort Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m fine. No need to bother about me,¡± said Xia Lei. He calmed down quickly after venting.
¡°Chairman Xia, I called several media hotlines in Hai-Zhu City but not one reporter is willing toe,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan.
¡°I called the police but it¡¯s been half an hour and no police officers have turned up,¡± said Xia Xue.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°This is to be expected. They dare seal up the factory so they must have made all preparations prior.¡±
¡°Brother, I don¡¯t believe that we cannot get back at them through legal means. Let¡¯s sue!¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°Thew? They came as representatives of thew. That stack of documents Director Qiao produced hadint reports of our product¡¯s quality issues andints that it has injured children. They¡¯ve even prepared the evidence, so would they be afraid of you taking legal action?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do we do, then?¡± Guan Ling-Shan looked anxious. ¡°We have so many purchase orders to fill, a significant portion of which is from overseas. We can¡¯t afford topensate for these if we¡¯re unable to deliver on time.¡±
Just then, Yin Hao, Lu Sheng, Zhou Xiao-Hong and a few others appeared in the doorway of the office. The workers had left, and as the backbone and middle-management of Thunder Horse Manufacturing, they had stayed to face this crisis together with Xia Lei.
¡°Ling-Shan, bring them to the meeting room for our discussion. You guys try to think of something. Best if it¡¯s a viable solution,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn.¡± Guan Ling-Shan made a sound of agreement, then walked to the door. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the meeting room to discuss this. Let Chairman Xia have some peace and quiet.¡±
Xia Xue hesitated, then followed them to the meeting room.
The office was quiet after their departure. The faces of Gu-Ke Wen and Gu-Ke Wu kept appearing in Xia Lei¡¯s head. Those siblings had blown hot and cold, and always disyed an arrogant attitude. He could not help the ring of anger in his heart and he wished for nothing more than to finish those Gu siblings off.
However, if one thought rationally and put hatred aside, killing the siblings would be an extremely foolish thing to do.
Xia Lei gradually calmed down again. He mulled over the problem. ¡®No wonder there hasn¡¯t been a peep from Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu recently. So they were preparing for today. The might of the Gu n is too great, and their methods too dirty. This is very troublesome too - I wonder if Long Bing or Boss Shi can help?¡¯
Asking someone for help was the simplest solution. However, the downside of asking for help is that he would owe favours and favours would have to be repaid. Repaying Shi Bo-Ren and Long Bing would not be easy - it sometimes required risking his life. The trip to Germany was one such example so Xia Lei did not want to have to ask either Long Bing or Shi Bo-Ren for help if he could help it but he really had no better choice this time.
Before Xia Lei could give Long Bing a call, however, Hu Hou called.
He went straight to the matter at hand. ¡°Xia Lei, it¡¯s not that I won¡¯t help you this time but I really can¡¯t help you,¡± said Hu Hou. ¡°In case you didn¡¯t know, Gu Ding-Shan was personally involved this time. My words have no effect on those he has talked to. You get what I mean? Don¡¯t me me, really, I am helpless this time.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan, the father of Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen. He had built his n up from the underworld and single-handedly created a family fortune of billions. A person like this was no simple man. Gu Ding-Shan was a living legend in the underworld.
Xia Lei understood why the Gu siblings had been so unscrupulous this time when he heard Hu Hou¡¯s words. Heughed dryly. ¡°Mayor Hu, Ipletely understand you and I don¡¯t me you one bit. But you have to give me some tips - what should I do?¡±
¡°This is why I called you. My suggestion is to first suspend the production and rectify the problems, thenpensate those whoined about getting injured and the people whoined about quality. Solve these problems first and we can think about the next step together,¡± said Hu Hou.
This solution was no solution.
¡°Mm, I got it, Mayor Hu. That¡¯s that then. You know my situation now. I won¡¯t chat further - there¡¯s a pile of work for me to do,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I understand. Contact me if you have questions,¡± said Hu Hou.
¡°Nn, yes, goodbye Mayor Hu.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Xia Lei dialled Long Bing¡¯s number a minuteter.
Long Bing only said one sentence after listening to Xia Lei describe the situation. ¡°I¡¯ll ask Boss Shi and give you a reply in the evening.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll wait for your call,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chapter 235 - Divide and Conquer
Long Bing¡¯s call did note but Shentu Tian-Yin did.
Xia Lei was not surprised at all to see Shentu Tian-Yin appear before him. He smiled wryly. ¡°Have a seat. Want anything to drink?¡±
¡°No need. You know why I came.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin cut straight to the chase. ¡°Need my help?¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°No. I can settle this myself.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin paused. ¡°You really don¡¯t need my help?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
He had long dismissed the idea of asking Shentu Tian-Yin for help. Gu Ding-Shan was personally involved and the methods Shentu Tian-Yin could use were limited. Furthermore, any action of hers could prompt the beginning of a war between Vientaine Group and North Group. He had already asked Long Bing and Shi Bo-Ren for help so there was no need to ask Shentu Tian-Yin. The result of his request was not out yet and it was nice to have the problem solved but it would be useless for her to use her resources if even Shi Bo-Ren could not solve it.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked silently at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that Gu Ding-Shan is involved this time. He is no ordinary person. He has influence and is connected to parties of interest. This must be why you don¡¯t want me to help, right? Then have you thought of a solution?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already asked Long Bing to help me and I¡¯m waiting to hear from her. I¡¯ll have to think of something if she can¡¯t help me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I see. Give me a call if you need my help,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I will. You should go home. I¡¯ll visit Uncle when this is all resolved.¡±
A faint smile appeared on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips as well. ¡°You¡¯re still able to smile so this means you have a card up your sleeve. You have to ovee this obstacle in front of you if you want to make a kingdom for yourself. I believe in you; you can do it.¡±
Her words were morale-boosting but Xia Lei heard only the words. He watched Shentu Tian-Yin leave his office but did not send her out.
After Shentu Tian-Yin left, Xia Lei sat quietly at his desk to brood over things. Meanwhile, Guan Ling-Shan and the other important staff of Thunder Horse Manufacturing were in the meeting room discussing possible solutions to their problem.
Long Bing finally called after nightfall.
¡°How is it?¡± asked Xia Lei anxiously.
¡°Sorry.¡± Long Bing was quiet for a bit before she said, ¡°Boss Shi says you have to handle this yourself. He said that too many people are involved and it will not solve your problem even if he and Gu Ding-Shane to blows; it will have other effects too.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank.
Long Bing spoke again, ¡°Gu Ding-Shan is a powerful and corrupt person but this is not the time to take him down. Boss Shi said to ept what the Trade and Commerce Bureau gave you and think of a way to solve the problemter.¡±
Xia Leiughed, but it was a sour, dryugh. He¡¯d always seen Bureau 101 as his backer and that was why he had agreed to be a consultant, risking his life and freedom to go on that mission to Germany. Now it looked like there was no true reliable backer. If the opponent was big enough, the backer would fall. The person one could rely on the most was oneself!
¡°Hello? You still listening?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice.
¡°Yeah,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Are you all right?¡± asked Long Bing in concern.
Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°Fine, I¡¯m all right, just... I¡¯m surprised that Gu Ding-Shan has so much power.¡±
¡°The money you¡¯ve made so far is actually enough for you to live on for the rest of your life. It doesn¡¯t matter if you make less money. Why don¡¯t you join Bureau 101? Boss Shi did say that Gu Ding-Shan won¡¯t be able to mess with you if you officially join Bureau 101.¡±
¡°Heh Heh. We¡¯ll talk about thatter. This is a big decision and I¡¯ll have to consider it. That¡¯s it for now - I have to chair a meeting. I¡¯ll call you next time. Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Hisst backer had fallen. Loneliness spread in Xia Lei; this feeling was ufortable.
Xia Lei actually did understand Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s unwillingness to help, especially since Gu Ding-Shan was a powerful, corrupt man and had influence and connections. What could be gainedpared to the losses was not even worth mentioning if Shi Bo-Ren went up against Gu Ding-Shan. What basis would he have to help him in this sort of situation? Shi Bo-Ren was not acting against an evil to prevent harm to innocents, and Long Bingcked the power to help.
However, Xia Lei now saw the limits of his backing after this experience; this could be counted as a gain.
The light in the meeting room was still on. The management staff of Thunder Horse Manufacturing were still in discussion. When Xia Lei pushed the door open and walked in, they quieted and looked at him silently.
Xia Lei sat next to Guan Ling-Shan and said with a smile, ¡°So what have you discussed?¡±
He was actually in the worst of moods but he had to disy a rxed attitude in front of his subordinates. He had to let them think that he was strong and had the ability and confidence to ovee this crisis.
¡°Chairman Xia, we¡¯ve put together three ns after our hours of discussion,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan.
¡°Eh?¡± Xia Lei was surprised. ¡°Tell me about them. What are these three ns?¡±
Guan Ling-Shan cleared her throat. ¡°The first n - public rtions. We¡¯ll use money to buy connections. We¡¯vepiled a list of people we need to contact...¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Tell me the second one.¡±
¡°The second n - relocation. The Gu n is influential but they cannot cover the whole of China. We¡¯ve done some research and the Gu n started in Hai-Zhu, then became more powerful in Jing-Du so they are very powerful in these two ces but not very powerful in other ces. We can move ourpany further out and rent a factory with equipment. We¡¯ll be able to start work again in a fortnight. The only thing is that it¡¯ll be difficult to settle the problem with the workers; most of our workers are locals from Hai-Zhu.¡±
Xia Lei nced at Qin Xiang. He knew a lot about the Gu n and it was likely that he had been the one to contribute most to this n. Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Tell me about the third one.¡±
¡°The third n - outsourcing. The world economy is fairly well-connected now and many globalpanies take this route. Take Apple for example - it doesn¡¯t manufacture its own phones but it¡¯s thepany which sells the most and the best phones in the world. It sources parts from all over the world, then choose an appropriate location to put all these parts together and then put the phones up for sale in the market. The phones Apple produces don¡¯t even have to enter America. We can do this too. Get parts from different ces, then assemble and sell them further out. The Gu n is powerful but there is no way then can pressure so manypanies spread out in so many different ces.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face. The smile this time was from the heart and not forced. ¡°Not bad! I hadn¡¯t expected such good ideas. The first n can be eliminated. The second and third are very good - I didn¡¯t even think of those. I have to hand it to you guys, heh heh.¡±
¡°Chairman Xia, we have strength in numbers! You are overly worried,¡± said Yin Hao with a smile.
Guan Ling-Shan was also quite happy with the praise from Xia Lei. ¡°Have you decided on which n to use, Chairman Xia?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Your second and third ns are very good but I feel it will be better if webine these two ns.¡±
Combine? Everyone looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°We¡¯ll start on it tomorrow. Make two groups. The first group will look intopanies which can provide us with parts, then finalise one that will do the assembly for us. The second group will go west and look for a suitable piece ofnd for us to build a factory. The western region is developing now and there are many aspects of preferential treatment. The cost of manpower there is also rtively cheap. It will be a big help to us if we build a factory there.¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that we¡¯rebining two ns, but...¡± Guan Ling-Shan said, ¡°Chairman Xia, what about the current workers?¡±
¡°Choose those with good skills to guide and supervise the production of parts. Choose some others to go to the western region to help with the building of the factory - bring apprentices. The remaining people should gather after three days. If they¡¯re free, they can go walk around on the streets with banners. I don¡¯t have to tell you what to write on those banners, do I?¡± said Xia Lei.
The meeting room filled withughter.
¡°Let¡¯s write ¡®We want to eat!¡¯¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
¡°Yeah!¡± Liu Xue-Bing smiled and said, ¡°Write ¡®We want justice!¡¯¡±
Every person had a different idea and the atmosphere in the meeting room quickly became lively and rxed.
Xia Lei waited for their chatter to die down a little before saying, ¡°But don¡¯t cause trouble. Put the banners away if the police tell you to. Change locations and start walking around. The Gu n can silence the media in Hai-Zhu but they cannot silence the media nation-wide. It¡¯s the inte age now and people will not ignore things like this. It will surely be recorded and spread.¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll remember that. Let me be in charge of that,¡± volunteered Guan Ling-Shan.
Xia Lei nodded and said, ¡°We will start the ball rolling here and the other OEMpanies will do production for us. We shall not have dys. The Gu n wants to p us down but I¡¯d like to see if their palm is as big as the Buddha Palm*.¡± Xia Lei immediately thought of something else at that point. ¡°Oh, right, Xiao-Hong, your hometown is in Sichuan isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Yep, my hometown¡¯s Deyang, Sichuan. What do you want me to do, Chairman Xia?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked excited. She was willing to do whatever Xia Lei asked of her. Without him, she would probably have been washing dishes in some restaurant but she was now a Workshop Director at Thunder Horse Manufacturing with an annual sry of 200,000 yuan. How could she not repay this kindness?
Xia Lei spoke with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re familiar with the environment so apany me on a walk around there.¡±
¡°You want to go to Sichuan personally, Chairman Xia?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong grew even more excited.
¡°I want to go register apany in Sichuan. I¡¯ll register first, then look for a location,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yin Hao was puzzled. ¡°What is that for, Chairman Xia?¡±
¡°We¡¯re looking for subcontractors for OEM work so their production speed would definitely surpass ours. Once the parts are out, the assembly of these parts will also be quick. We need a non-localpany to be in charge of the sales. The domestic and overseas purchase orders must bepleted. We will ept these orders, no matter how many we get. Let them create whatever trouble they want here,¡± said Xia Lei.
Apuse rang in the meeting room.
Xia Lei was calm amidst the noise. There was no joy, no anger - just calm. An icy cold voice reverberated in his head, ¡®Gu Ding-Shan, if you don¡¯t kill me off this time then I¡¯ll be the one to kill you!¡¯
*Buddha Palm - https://.youtube/watch?v=kEr2wQ7bmhY
Chapter 236 - Fortunate Country Girl
Outside the airport, Zhou Xiao-Hong raised her chin to look at the nes taking off with a strange look on her face.
Xia Lei recalled her nervousness on the ne and said with augh, ¡°Xiao-Hong, you¡¯re leaving the airport now. Are you still nervous?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong smiled in embarrassment. ¡°It was my first time on a ne. Don¡¯tugh at me, Big Brother Lei.¡±
¡°What¡¯s there tough at? When the branch office is established in the future you¡¯ll have plenty of opportunities to take nes. You¡¯ll have to adapt,¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhou Xiao-Hong looked nervous. ¡°You¡¯re sending me to the branch office, Big Brother Lei?¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Is that not good? Your hometown is here and your family is also here. You¡¯re familiar with the environment here so isn¡¯t it a good thing that I¡¯m putting you in charge of the newpany?¡±
¡°Ah?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong stared nkly. ¡°I¡¯m in charge of the newpany?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking. You¡¯re the best candidate.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong was just a junior high graduate and was not highly-educated. The machining knowledge she had now was only because she had picked it up after following Xia Lei; she was not very good and not very urate either. It was a stretch to even make her Workshop Director, much less lead apany. However, Xia Lei had his considerations too because what he needed was not a highly-capable person but a person he could fully trust to not stab him in the back. Zhou Xiao-Hong was one such person. She would not betray him even if a knife was held to her throat.
Zhou Xiao-Hong did not think of that and she shook her head so hard it looked like a baby rattle. ¡°I can¡¯t, Big Brother Lei. Really, I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t have that ability. It¡¯s difficult enough for you to make me Workshop Director. I won¡¯t be able to do it if you let me manage apany.¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡±Managing apany is not asplicated as you think. You just have to manage a few people. Look at me - I¡¯m not always at thepany and thepany still runs fine.¡±
¡°But... There are so many capable people in thepany - why choose me?¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong could not figure this out.
¡°Because I trust you. That¡¯s why,¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhou Xiao-Hong paused, then abruptly understood. She nodded hard and said, ¡°Yes, Big Brother Lei, I won¡¯t let you down. I¡¯ll work hard. But... don¡¯t me me if I don¡¯t do well.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go look for a hotel to stay in.¡±
¡°Big Brother Lei, Sichuan is where my home is so how can I let you stay at a hotel? Come to my home. We can get there in one hour. That¡¯s... if you want to,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
¡°What do you mean? Your home it is, then. Let¡¯s arrange some transport.¡± Xia Lei made his decision quickly. He was not born with a golden spoon in his mouth and had lived like a dog for five years after his father had disappeared. He had no tendency at all to look down on themon man.
The most obvious hint of there being development in the western region was the roads. Wide roads could be seen everywhere on their way out of the city, stretching like a spiderweb over this ancient basin. They went at top speed to Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s home and arrived about an hourter. Her home was in a small mountain vige called Ma-Zu. In the midst of farnd sat a few newly-built tiled-roof buildings and arge patch of bamboo forest. It had drizzled on their way there and the bamboo forest was covered in ayer of mist. The scene was not exactly gorgeous but it was charmingly elegant.
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s parents were honest farmers; they were simple and kind. When they were introduced and heard that Xiao-Hong¡¯s boss hade, both became very excited. They started busying themselves with ughtering chickens and ducks and going to the fields to pick vegetables, all to provide the best for Xia Lei.
Zhou Xiao-Hong went to prepare a room for Xia Lei and to give him fresh sheets and nkets.
Xia Lei was ufortable with Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s family busying about because of him. ¡°Xiao Hong, tell Uncle and Auntie not to do so much work. I don¡¯t feel veryfortable making them go through all this trouble.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hongughed. ¡°Big Brother Lei, you can see that this house is newly-built, right? And that the electrical appliances and furniture are all new?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t quite understand what she was getting at but he still nodded. ¡°Um, yes.¡±
¡°Did you know that it was all due to you?¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly. ¡°Due to me?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong gave him a sweet smile. ¡°Yes, due to you. If it weren¡¯t for you taking me in, my family wouldn¡¯t be able to built a new house and won¡¯t be able to buy all these new appliances and furniture. My little brother wouldn¡¯t have had money to study either. You not only took me in but you gave me bonuses and a high sry. I sent almost all of what I earned back home. My family¡¯s lives have improved. You are a great benefactor to my family, so how can they not treat you well?¡±
Xia Leiughed in embarrassment. ¡°What benefactor? Don¡¯t say it like that anymore.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about them, Big Brother Lei. You¡¯re in the countryside now so let us treat you well,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Xia Lei could not refuse. He had indeed taken her in and helped her develop herself. The Zhou family was able to have a better life all because of his kindness so now that he was here at the Zhou household, it would be unreasonable for him to refuse to let them treat him well.
Zhou Xiao-Hong took off her shoes and climbed on the bed to change the bedsheets for Xia Lei. Her buttocks were raised high in the air and an obvious mature shape was thrust before his eyes.
Xia Lei looked away awkwardly. He recalled the time when Zhou Xiao-Hong had first arrived at Thunder Horse Workshop, when Ma Xiao-An was still around. She had been dirt-stained and her shoes could not even cover her feet. Her ie now was considered good but she still could not bear to buy better clothing. She wore cheap clothing worth at most a hundred yuan per piece. The jeans she wore now were of this cheap variety which had no such thing asfort or texture, just surrounding her hips and wrapping its roundness, its fullness, its perkiness. A cheap piece of clothing had a simple and natural sexiness when she wore it - were all girls like this?
¡°I¡¯m back, Big Sister!¡± a somewhat young voice came from outside the window.
Zhou Xiao-Hong had just finished changing the bedsheets and she climbed off the bed and said with a smile, ¡°My little brother¡¯s back.¡±
Just as she finished speaking, a messy-haired young man came running through the door. He couldn¡¯t wait to see his big sister but suddenly found a strange man standing in the room. He quickly curbed his enthusiasm and looked ill at ease.
Xia Lei gave the young man a smile.
¡°Xiao-Hu, don¡¯t stand dumbly. Quick, greet him and call him ¡®Big Brother Lei¡¯. He¡¯s my boss,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Zhou Xiao-Hu grew red in the face and said shyly, ¡°Big Brother Lei.¡±
He knew well who Xia Lei was.
Xia Lei patted Zhou Xiao-Hu on the shoulder and said with a smile, ¡°Study well. Be good to your sisterter when you make money of your own, understand?¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hu made a sound of agreement and looked earnest.
¡°Xiao-Hu, Go help Papa and Mama prepare the meal. I¡¯ll take Big Brother Lei out for a stroll,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Zhou Xiao-Hu went to help and Xia Lei followed Zhou Xiao-Hong out. They walked along a small vige road.
Xia Lei¡¯s impression of the western region was that it was less developed but aftering here, he found that it was not so. The development of the western region had prompted its economy to rise and the visible effect of it was that the houses here were quite good and that there were many little cars on the roads. These were signs of an increase in ie for the masses. Another thing he took note of was that this was the countryside but the roads were all cement and it wouldn¡¯t be muddy if it rained.
After walking for a while, Xia Lei spotted arge factory and office building. He was impressed by their size and asked, ¡°Whatpany is that, Xiao-Hong? Why is it so big?¡±
¡°That isn¡¯t apany. That¡¯s our industrial development zone. Manypanies from other regionse here to build branch factories. I hear the government gives a lot of benefits and it¡¯s cheap to getnd and various policies are on offer to reward benefits,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
¡®The location isn¡¯t bad; an hour¡¯s drive from the city and convenient transportation. Materials transport will be easy if I build a factory here and the products can go out easily too. Most importantly, it¡¯s cheap to getnd and there are government benefits as well. It¡¯s like the ideal ce for building a factory.¡¯ At that thought, he asked, ¡°Who do I look for if I want to build a factory here?¡±
¡°Just go to the government. The local government has made the procedures simple,¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong.
Xia Lei looked at Zhou Xiao-Hong and suddenlyughed. ¡°You brought me here on purpose, didn¡¯t you?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong let out a tinkling giggle. ¡°I knew I couldn¡¯t hide it from you, Big Brother Lei. I felt like my hometown was a good fit when you said you wanted to build a factory in the western region. I¡¯m familiar with the people and environment here; I can be of help.¡±
¡°Good. Take me to the industrial development zone so that I can have a look around. Let¡¯s choose a piece ofnd, then talk to your local government.¡± Xia Lei could not wait.
¡°Nn.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong skipped as she led the way; she was like an adolescent girl.
They went past quite a few people on their way there, like small shops by the road and vigers who all knew Zhou Xiao-Hong. Some vigers greeted Zhou Xiao-Hong warmly but some others started talking quietly amongst themselves.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Old Zhou Han¡¯s girl? Went out for less than a year and she¡¯s sent enough money to build a house and buy electronics and furniture. She must make at least 100,000. How capable.¡±
¡°Heh. Who doesn¡¯t know this? I hear she¡¯s being kept. Some big boss is taking care of her and she doesn¡¯t have to do anything - just pamper him between the sheets.¡±
¡°That big boss can¡¯t be that young guy next to her, can it? Doesn¡¯t look like it... How can there be such a young big boss?¡±
¡°Why not? Look at his behaviour - what is he if he¡¯s not a big boss?¡±
¡°Oho, then Xiao-Hong really is blessed. She may even get to marry him.¡±
¡°Old Zhou Han¡¯s lucky. My girl went out to work and she still asks me to send her money every month, damn it...¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong heard them and her ears turned red. Xia Lei was calm from beginning to end - it was idle gossip and could just be ignored. He couldn¡¯t go over and argue or start a fight, could he? There was no need.
They entered the industrial development zone and the gossip melted away. Xia Lei walked around with Zhou Xiao-Hong and was very much taken with the ce. The roads in the industrial development zone extended in all directions, each road with sixnes; they were wide indeed. Plots ofnd were divided along both sides of the road. Some already had factories and some were still being built, while some other plots were empty patches filled with weeds.
Xia Lei walked to a plot of emptynd and said, ¡°Xiao-Hong, wait for me here. I¡¯m going in to take a look.¡±
¡°Nn, okay.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face was still burning and the words of the gossipy vigers still rang in her head; those words had embarrassed her greatly.
Xia Lei walked to a patch of grass and unzipped his trousers to relieve himself, while his eyes surveyed thend before him.
Footsteps suddenly came from behind him and he was startled. Before he could zip up, however, an ¡®ah¡¯ came from Zhou Xiao-Hong and she held her face as she ran out of the plot area.
Xia Lei was quite embarrassed too but he pretended not to have noticed. He left the empty plot ofnd when he was done peeing.
¡°Big Brother Lei, I...¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong looked nervous, afraid that Xia Lei would be displeased.
¡°I¡¯ve decided on this plot ofnd,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Oh! You just went pee-pee and decided?¡± said Zhou Xiao-Hong in surprise.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 237 - Kind-hearted Burglar
The dinner was plentiful but not exactly delicious; Xia Lei ate happily. Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s parents were simple farmers and Xia Lei felt like he had returned to the times at the construction site with their talk about rice, oil and salt; it was a warm dinner table.
Cherishing the past enabled one to cherish the present. He was not the sort who would think highly of himself now that he had gained some power.
After dinner, Xia Lei and Zhou Xiao-Hong discussed what they would do tomorrow when going to the government office to talk about investing in the factory. The discussion stretched for two to three hours and Zhou Xiao-Hong left the room, citing thete hour. Xia Lei removed his clothing andy on the bed but he could not get to sleep.
¡®What does Gu Ding-Shan stand to gain from personally killing off my smallpany? He¡¯s already a billionaire - He wouldn¡¯t care about the money even if I sell thepany to the Gu n. Was it because I ruined Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s chances with Shentu Tian-Yin and humiliated his daughter? People of his calibre are not likely to seek revenge for the smallest grievances, are they? It¡¯s understandable if it was Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen behind it but for Gu Ding-Shan to personally take action, and such big actions too...¡¯ Questions surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s head when everything was quiet. He felt it rather odd but he could not figure out why after pondering the question for quite a while.
Rain fell outside the window and raindrops rolled along the lines of the eaves, dropping to the ground with a pitter-patter. The climate in the basin was strange - the rain did not wet clothing but when it started it seemed it would go on for the whole day without end. The sound of rain was hypnotic and slowly, gradually, Xia Lei closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Perhaps it was because he had drunk some alcohol or perhaps it was his prior sleepless night, but he was in deep slumber once he slept. His sleep was dreamless and he was deaf to the sound of the rain outside the window.
Through his befogged state, he suddenly felt some movement under his nkets and something peck his cheek. Something soft and cool traversed his body, finally stopping at his most sensitive ce.
Xia Lei opened his eyes immediately and was shocked. He saw Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face up close, scant millimetres away from his own. The warm breath from her nose and mouth puffed against his face, ticklish yet fragrant. She was curled up under the nkets with not a scrap of cloth covering her, naked and smooth as a freshly-peeled hard-boiled egg. Her soft breasts were pressed to his chest sending strong, electrifying signals of desire and fantasy.
There was no light in the room and everything was inky-ck but Zhou Xiao-Hong sensed that Xia Lei had awoken. She was already nervous but she became even more so and her voice shook when she spoke. ¡°Big Br, Brother Lei, let me sl, sleep with you.¡±
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses and was nervous too. ¡°What are you doing, Xiao-Hong?¡±
¡°Big Brother Lei, you are my family¡¯s great supporter, our great benefactor... I, I don¡¯t have anything I can pay you back with. Let me sleep with you. M, my body is clean and has never been touched before.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s ears were red and her hands were trembling.
Xia Lei was panicking too. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this, Xiao-Hong. I¡¯m not the sort of man who wants you to pay me with your body if I help you.¡±
¡°Big Brother Lei, I... I won¡¯t cling on to you. I just want to serve you, repay you. J, just sleep with me.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong was so anxious that she was about to cry.
The softest part of Xia Lei¡¯s hardened heart was touched. Only a kind and simple woman like Zhou Xiao-Hong could say something like this. She did not want anything but to serve him and give him the pleasures men liked as a way to repay his kindness. However, he was not that sort of man and he could not take a woman¡¯s body like this for a moment of pleasure.
¡°Don¡¯t do this, Xiao-Hong.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong darted forward and kissed Xia Lei on the lips, preventing him from saying more.
Warm, moist, soft, and fragrant sexy lips. Xia Lei¡¯s body stiffened. Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s hand wandered about under the covers, searching anxiously for something. The woman was a natural at this - she knew what to do to a man even though she had not experienced this sort of thing before.
Xia Lei was like a dam while this was going on and Zhou Xiao-Hong a strong, flooding torrent of desire; she attacked this dam relentlessly.
Xia Lei¡¯s sense of reason was being tested rigorously. Two thoughts warred in his head - rejection and obeying his body¡¯s instincts. Just as one was about to triumph over the other, he abruptly jumped off the bed and escaped.
Zhou Xiao-Hong was disappointed and felt at a loss. She hid in Xia Lei¡¯s covers and did not dare look at him.
Xia Lei was aical sight - the triangle he wore had a 90-degree protrusion full of prating power. There was no way for him to hide it. Fortunately, Zhou Xiao-Hong did not have night-vision like him and she probably could not see what state his underwear was in.
Out of the warm covers and Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s clumsy clutches, Xia Lei¡¯s mind gradually cleared up. He said gently, ¡°Put your clothes on, Xiao-Hong.¡±
¡°I knew it. You find me ugly.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong was frustrated.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You¡¯re very pretty, really, but... I really am not that sort of person. You know that I¡¯ve just had my heart broken too.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going to fall in love with you.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong pursed her lips.
Xia Lei was speechless.
The atmosphere in the room was heavy and awkward with silence. The two of them stayed in frozen wordlessness. One hid under the covers, naked, while the other stood at the foot of the bed in briefs. The temperature was low in winter and Xia Lei¡¯s hands and feet were stiff with cold in under a few minutes.
¡°Um...¡± Xia Lei wanted to say something but could not find the words. He slowly moved towards the clothes he had left by the bed and he had just grabbed his trousers when Zhou Xiao-Hong suddenly threw the covers off and got out of bed, then walked to the door buck-naked.
Xia Lei instantly wanted to call out to her but he swallowed his words before they got out.
What was he going to do if he called her back? Have a heart-to-heart? There were temporary pleasures to be had but what about what came next? She was a kind and simple woman and he did not want to stain her.
Xia Lei could not sleep for the rest of the night. His head was full of Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s smooth body...
He got up the next day before it was light. The fine drizzle had finally stopped so he went to the yard to practice his Wing Chun.
¡°Morning, Big Brother Lei.¡± Zhou Xiao-Hong had got up early too. Her eyes were red and it was obvious that she had not slept well either.
Xia Lei stopped practicing and greeted Zhou Xiao-Hong somewhat awkwardly. ¡°Morning, Xiao-Hong.¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong went to Xia Lei¡¯s side with her head lowered, not daring to meet his eyes. ¡°Big Brother Lei,st night, I...¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°What aboutst night? I drank too much and only awoke at daybreak once I closed my eyes. I know nothing. You didn¡¯t have a burr enter your home, did you?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s face was red. ¡°A burr dide in but nothing was stolen. I think that burr¡¯s very kind and couldn¡¯t bear to steal.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. Zhou Xiao-Hong cracked jokes too but it was fortunate that she could joke about something like this. Last night was in the past and everyone was going to pretend nothing happened - this was good.
After breakfast, Xia Lei went with Zhou Xiao-Hong to the local government office. Once they stated their reason foring, the official responsible for investment promotion immediately smiled widely and received them warmly. The economy was in recession and few businesses were moving to expand. It took considerable effort on the government¡¯s part to get investors interested but Xia Lei hade knocking all on his own so it was a happy event for the local government.
The official in charge of taking care of Xia Lei and Zhou Xiao-Hong was a man called Shang Hai, the director of the local development office. After gaining an understanding of their situation, he said, ¡°If you¡¯re opening a branchpany, you just have to do some simple procedures. I can help you finish it all today if you have all the materials ready. It will take longer if you¡¯re starting a brand newpany, but it won¡¯t take more than three days.¡±
Xia Lei had also been wavering between a newpany or a branchpany. He thought for a bit and asked probingly, ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, Director Shang. I want to move mypany somewhere else because someone is throttling my business back home. Will people from the Trade and Commerce Bureaue seal my factory off if I build one here?¡±
Shang Hai looked nkly at him, thenughed. ¡°Are you pulling my leg, Mr Xia? Our industrial development zone is a project which was re-established after a catastrophe. These benefits are also from the government - who dares mess with it unless he wants to have his meals in a prison cell? You can rest assured, Mr Xia. As long as yourpany is running a legal business I can guarantee that no one would dare make trouble for you here.¡±
This was just a verbal promise but Xia Lei rxed quite a bit when he heard it. ¡°Good then, it¡¯s decided. I¡¯m going to open a branchpany. The procedures are simpler too if I do it this way. I actually already have my eye on a piece ofnd in your industrial development zone. I prefer things to be straightforward too so let¡¯s get started on those procedures.¡±
Shang Hai got up and shook hands with Xia Lei, then said, ¡°Please hold on, Mr Xia. I¡¯ll give our Mayor a call.¡±
¡°Please, go ahead,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
After Shang Hai left the room, Zhou Xiao-Hong said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to think about it more, Big Brother Lei? It¡¯s a big decision.¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing to consider. There are excellent benefits here and it saves money and trouble. I was going to open a branchpany anyway so why not here? It¡¯s close to your home too so you can take care of your family when you work here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Will you stille here?¡± asked Zhou Xiao-Hong in a small voice.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°This is mypany so how can I note?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong smiled then. ¡°I¡¯ll be here watching over yourpany then.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll get Yin Hao toe here to help you. You¡¯re the head and he shall be your deputy. He is capable and you can just manage him. You understand what I mean?¡±
¡°Yes, I understand.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be leaving tomorrow for Hai-Zhu. Call me if anything happens here. Remember - be quick. Ask the government to help us find constructionpanies, recruit workers and so on. Make use of all the government¡¯s resources, got that?¡±
Zhou Xiao-Hong nodded, afraid to miss any word of his.
Just then, Shang Hai walked in with a smile on his face. ¡°Mr Xia, let¡¯s go view the piece ofnd you have your eye on. Our Major is already on his way to the industrial development zone.¡±
Xia Lei stood. ¡°All right. After you.¡±
Chapter 238 - Soap And Hot Water
Three days passed in a sh and the workers returned to thepany after their holiday. Xia Lei also returned to Hai-Zhu from Sichuan. The cold and empty Thunder Horse Manufacturing grew lively again with the increase in people. The current situation with Thunder Horse Manufacturing was that it was not manufacturing anything but the output for the automatic skateboard was higher than before. It was entirely no problem at all toplete all the orders on time.
Xia Lei had been under pressure three days ago but he now felt delight in having a card up his sleeve; he was rxed.
¡°You look good. Everything settled?¡± was the first thing Qin Xiang said to him when he saw him. He was smiling.
¡°All settled. I¡¯ve already settled on an address for the branchpany and all relevant procedures have beenpleted.¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°The western region sure isn¡¯t ying around when ites to development. The local government is giving good benefits. I¡¯ll take you to see our newpany in three or four months.¡±
¡°Not bad. I knew you¡¯ll be able to do it. Right, howe I don¡¯t see Zhou Xiao-Hong back here?¡±
¡°She¡¯s staying in Sichuan. She¡¯s a local so she¡¯s most suitable to look after the business there. Plus, I¡¯m sending Yin Hao over to help her,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang nodded. ¡°That Zhou Xiao-Hong girl is honest, sincere and a local there. It is indeed the right choice to pick her to watch over yourpany.¡±
For some strange reason, Zhou Xiao-Hong¡¯s naked body surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s mind, and the light drizzle outside her home window... A wry smile appeared on his lips. What did she sneak into his bed in the middle of the night for? Troublemaker.
An hourter, the workers of Thunder Horse Manufacturing departed from thepany again. They walked to the city government office carrying cards with the following messages: We need to eat! We want justice! My children have to go to school! This was the n which Xia Lei hade up with. He sent almost a hundred workers out but kept over four hundred behind. These people were to walk around on the streets with cards in groups. It was a magnificent sight and made one want to look more than once. WeChat and Weibo users would be wont to miss this opportunity to take pictures and post them up on social media.
¡°What do I do?¡± asked Qin Xiang in Xia Lei¡¯s office.
¡°The supermarket¡¯s operating as usual so you¡¯re going to be managing it, of course,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiangughed. ¡°I meant if I¡¯m going to be doing anything special, you know, like the time we took Huang Yi-Hu down.¡±
Xia Lei knew what he meant. He wanted to use the same method as they had on Huang Yi-Hu and leak stolen evidence of the Gu n¡¯s illegal activities to bring them down. This idea was not bad but the chance of sess was virtually zero. Huang Yi-Hu was the Gu n¡¯s dog - a dog who did their dirty work. The evidence they had stolen from Huang Yi-Hu¡¯s safe had nothing implicating or rted to the Gu n at all. This showed that the Gu n was cautious and knew how to clean up; getting evidence of them breaking thew was easier said than done.
¡°Let¡¯s not think about this for now, Qin Xiang. You know very well what sort of n the Gu n is. That method may work on others but it¡¯s useless against the Gu n. I don¡¯t want you to take such an unnecessary risk either,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang shrugged. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll go back to the supermarket.¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Lei stopped him. ¡°There¡¯s nothing much to do at the supermarket either. You said that you¡¯d teach me some skills. I have some time now so why don¡¯t you teach me now?¡±
¡°Sure. Hold on, I¡¯ll prepare some things.¡± Qin Xiang went out the door.
Xia Lei stretched a little in the office. Qin Xiang came back with a basin used to wash one¡¯s face and the basin was full of steaming hot water.
Xia Lei looked curiously at the basin in Qin Xiang¡¯s hands. ¡°What is this for?¡±
¡°Teaching you.¡± Qin Xiang put the basin on the office desk and took out an unopened bar of soap from his bag. He took it out of its wrapper and tossed it casually in the basin of hot water.
Xia Lei paused, then frowned and said, ¡°No way.¡±
Qin Xiang smiled. ¡°Start from the basics. Use your index finger and middle finger to pinch it out of the water. Either hand will do.¡±
Xia Lei stood by the basin and hesitated. He reached out with his right hand with his fingers acting like chopsticks but he let out a yelp of pain before his fingers touched the soap and retracted his hand.
¡°You¡¯re exaggerating, aren¡¯t you? My Master put coins in boiling oil and I picked those up immediately,¡±ughed Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at him. ¡°Like I believe you. Give me a demonstration.¡±
Before Xia Lei had time to blink, Qin Xiang¡¯s hand had shed out and he held the soap in the water between his middle and index fingers.
Xia Lei felt stupid. His left eye had seen every move of Qin Xiang¡¯s clearly and his movements did not require a lot of skill but he had seeded where Xia Lei had not, and not sloppily either.
¡°Hand me that piece of paper.¡± Qin Xiang pointed at a piece of paper on the desk.
¡°What do you want paper for?¡± Xia Lei was curious but still reached out a hand to take it.
Xia Lei took the paper and discovered that Qin Xiang did not have the soap in his hand anymore - he had his wallet.
¡°You... How?¡± Xia Lei was very surprised.
Qin Xiang gave a smallugh. ¡°In our line, it¡¯s very important to draw the target¡¯s attention elsewhere. Of course, the most important thing is to have quick and steady hands. Remember these two points. Now, practice. I¡¯ll go get a vacuum sk to bring you more hot water.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
An hourter.
Xia Lei right hand swept over the surface of the boiling-hot water and his middle and index fingers dipped swiftly into the water, urately pinching the soap in the water. However, the soap slipped out of his fingers before he could lift it out of the water. The melting soap in hot water was just too slippery for him.
¡°Still can¡¯t do it.¡± Xia Lei shook his head, dissatisfied with himself.
Qin Xiang red at him. ¡°You¡¯re already very good, okay? You know how long it took me to sessfully grab the soap? Half a month! You almost seeded after practicing for an hour - what more do you want?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s learning ability was far above the norm but he saw this ability as an everyday thing. To others, however, he sometimes seemed like a monster.
Just then, Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang.
It was Hu Hou. His anger burst through the phone connection and seemed to burn in Xia Lei¡¯s office once the call connected. ¡°What are you trying to do, Xia Lei? Tell me, what is the meaning of this?!¡±
Xia Lei was not one bit surprised that Hu Hou had called. Hundreds of Thunder Horse Manufacturing employees had taken to the streets with cards - something like this was simply intolerable for Hu Hou.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, was calm. ¡°My hands are tied, Mayor Hu. You¡¯ve had thepany sealed so I had no choice but to tell the workers to go on holiday. The Trade and Commerce Bureau people said we have to suspend business for half a year, so I did. They were unhappy when I announced it and they wanted to let their voices be heard. It¡¯s a few hundred people - there¡¯s no way for me to stop them even if I wanted to.¡±
Qin Xiang, who was standing to one side of Xia Lei, let out a sputteringugh. Xia Lei red at him and he covered his mouth.
¡°Xia Lei, it¡¯s not as if you don¡¯t know who is targeting you - why are you creating trouble for me?¡± Hu Hou¡¯s tone was soft, ¡°Call your workers back. Don¡¯t let them cause further disturbances on the streets. There are so many people - if something bad about public security is out there and the media gets ahold of this... You think I¡¯ll still be Mayor?¡±
¡°Mayor Hu, it¡¯s not that I¡¯m butting heads with you but this... I really can¡¯t do anything. So many workers need to eat, their children need to go to school, and there¡¯s insurance to be paid. They have fires of anger in their hearts and want to vent. I can¡¯t sew their mouths shut, can I?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Call them off first!¡±
¡°They¡¯re not going to listen to me under these circumstances now, Mayor Hu. It¡¯s useless for me to talk to them. Cancel the business suspension and they¡¯lle back as a matter of course.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s stand was firm but his tone was amiable.
¡°You...¡± Hu Hou grew silent. ¡°Let¡¯s both take a step back. Get them to put their cards away. I¡¯ll try toe up with a solution for you here on my side. Let¡¯s meet at Imperial Kitchen in an hour.¡±
¡°All right. I¡¯ll do as you ask.¡± Xia Lei spoke nice words.
He called Guan Ling-Shan after ending his call with Hu Hou. ¡°Ling-Shan, where have you all walked to by now?¡±
Guan Ling-Shan¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°We¡¯re almost at the city government building. Chairman Xia, there are a lot of policemen following us and telling us to go back. They¡¯re also saying they would arrest us. What do we do? I¡¯m scared.¡±
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t be. The one they have to arrest is me, the one in charge. Tell the workers to put away their cards now. Stay in their teams and wait for further instructions.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Guan Ling-Shan made a sound of agreement.
¡°Also, tell the workers to eat whatever they want today. Thepany will foot the bill and their wages will be ten times the regr amount,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Wow! Okay, I¡¯ll tell them now. They¡¯ll be happy for sure,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan excitedly.
Xia Lei hung up and abruptly reached his hand into the basin. This time, he sessfully took the soap out of the water.
Qin Xiang gaped wordlessly at Xia Lei and said after a pause, ¡°You¡¯re a natural-born thief.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll go meet Hu Hou. I¡¯ll hand this matter over to you to supervise; call me right away if anything happens.¡±
¡°Yeah, you can let me handle it. Rest assured,¡± said Qin Xiang.
A short whileter, Xia Lei got into his ck BMW M6 and entered ¡®Imperial Kitchen¡¯ into his navigation system. After the results of his search were out, he started the navigation mode and drove out of Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
Imperial Kitchen was a very famous Chinese restaurant and Hu Hou could not be without alcohol there. There was no avoiding negotiations either. However, Xia Lei could not think of anything that Hu Hou coulde up with that would make him get his trouble-making workers to disperse.
¡®You cannot stay quiet and appease the Gu n on one side while making me obediently sacrifice myself, eh? I¡¯d like to see what you¡¯re going to say¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Chapter 239 - Sacrificial Lamb
Imperial Kitchen was not the pinnacle of fine dining in Hai-Zhu City but it was the most unique Chinese restaurant. It looked like an ancient pce and the furnishings were also done in the old style. One felt rather ¡®imperial¡¯ indeed when dining there.
Hu Hou brought Xia Lei to a private room the moment he arrived.
There were several starters on the table and red and white wine. The hot dishes had not been served yet but the cost of the meal looked quite substantial judging from the starters and alcohol.
Xia Lei gave a smallugh. ¡°What is this, Mayor Hu?¡± That sentence counted as his greeting.
Hu Houughed dryly, ¡°You know my status, Xia Lei. It¡¯s already illegal to meet you here to talk about things; show me some empathy.¡±
¡°You¡¯re being so formal, Mayor Hu. Just tell me if you have something to say or have any requests of me. I¡¯ll do it for you if I can,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You said it. I¡¯d like you to get your workers to disperse and go back - can you do that?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll pour you some alcohol, Mayor Hu.¡± Xia Lei had his slippery moments too.
Hu Hou covered his wine ss with his hand and looked at Xia Lei with displeasure. ¡°Look at you, changing your mind right away after saying that I can make any request.¡±
Xia Lei put down the bottle of Wuliangye Liquor in his hand. ¡°Mayor Hu, this may be a matter of suffering some criticism for you but to us it¡¯s a problem of filling the rice bowls of hundreds. You¡¯ve had mypany sealed, and for half a year at that - what am I going to pay my workers with? What about insurance? This concerns the cutting of livelihoods and the workers have anger in their hearts. They just want to vent - is that not allowed? It¡¯s not that I haven¡¯t tried to dissuade them; they did not listen. What can I do?¡±
Hu Hou looked like he was holding back augh. ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of being arrested?¡±
¡°Mayor Hu, if arresting me solves the problem then have someonee arrest me now. I¡¯ll have noints,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Hu Hou shook his head and smiled wryly. The workers of Thunder Horse Manufacturing were just walking on the streets and were holding cards with non-discriminatory slogans on them so what basis had he to arrest Xia Lei? If he did have Xia Lei arrested, it wouldn¡¯t solve the problem but make it worse, escting the matter.
¡°Xia Lei, it¡¯s not that I¡¯m not seeking justice for you, but... Politics is the mostplicated and dirty thing in the world. You¡¯re an outsider so you cannot understand my difficulty. I want to help you but I have no power to do so. Even if I stand on your side, I won¡¯t be able to protect your interests - I¡¯ll also be made to step down. So please, understand my difficulties.¡±
¡°I understand. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here,¡± said Xia Lei.
Even Shi Bo-Ren was unable to help, much less a small city mayor like Hu Hou.
At that moment, a server pushed the door to the private room open and startedying out the dishes.
There weren¡¯t many dishes but they were all very delicate and of high quality.
Hu Hou¡¯s phone rang all of a sudden when the server was uncorking the red wine. He stood and walked towards the exit as he said, ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m going to take this call.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and watched Hu Hou walk out of the private room. He was curious - who could be calling Hu Hou at this time? His left eye twitched at that thought and the wooden wall disappeared from his vision.
Hu Hou stood outside the private room to take the call with a respectful look on his face.
Xia Lei fixed his gaze on Hu Hou¡¯s lips and lip-read the conversation on his end.
¡°Yes... Mr Gu, I¡¯ve invited him here. What time are youing? Yes... I mean the two of you should sit down together and talk things out. Things have escted to this point, I can¡¯t step down... Right, right, everything has a solution. You two sit down and have a talk. I¡¯ll be the mediator. Let¡¯s resolve the conflict together, what do you think? Mm-hm, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± Hu Hou hung up.
Xia Lei stopped using his ability and thought ¡®So he¡¯s trying to be a mediator. But with Hu Hou¡¯s pull, the most he can get is Gu Ke-Wu. It¡¯s not possible for him to make an appointment with Gu Ding-Shan. Is Gu Ke-Wuing to negotiate with me? Wait... Hu Hou said he ¡® invited him here¡¯ and ¡®what time are youing¡¯ so doesn¡¯t that actually mean that it wasn¡¯t Hu Hou who invited me of his own initiative but that someone else asked him to...?¡¯
Hu Hou walked in. The server had put the red wine in a decanter and pushed the serving trolley away.
¡°Excuse me.¡± Hu Hou seated himself. He looked at Xia Lei and made to say something but stopped.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the decanter the server had put on the table and quietly activated the power of his eye. The decanter and its contents were magnified instantly and looked like a red swimming pool. Everything had been magnified and the image was crisp and clear. He quickly discovered a white powder in the bottom of the decanter and that it was dissolving slowly.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze then went to the hot dishes which the server had just brought in and discovered that these dishes too, had some white powdery substance in them. The white powder in the dishes dissolved more slowly than in the wine and was more obvious.
This was a trap!
Xia Lei felt a chill go down his back. He would have been on his guard if it had been Gu Ke-Wu who had invited him. However, he was not as wary since it was Hu Hou. He would not have known that this was a trap if he had not lip-read Hu Hou¡¯s phone call and discovered something strange!
Hu Hou picked up the decanter. ¡°Let¡¯s first have some red.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei made a sound of agreement and his left eye prated the wooden wall of the private room again.
There were no diners in the room to the left.
Xia Lei looked at the wall on the right. Two people sat in the room to the right - Dong Wu and Qin Qi. The table before them held no dishes; there was just a sword.
Dong Wu and Qin Qi were staring at the wooden wall separating their rooms. They did not speak but listened quietly to the movements in Xia Lei¡¯s room.
Xia Lei stopped using his power. He looked at the ss of red wine which Hu Hou had poured for him and said with a smile, ¡°Let¡¯s first have a toast, Mayor Hu.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Hu Hou raised his ss and clinked it with Xia Lei¡¯s, then tipped his head backwards as he drank.
Xia Lei took the opportunity to swiftly throw the red wine in his ss over his shoulder and into the potted giant alocasia nt behind him when Hu Hou had his head tipped back. Qin Xiang¡¯s training had proved useful; his hand was as quick as lightning. Xia Lei hadpleted all motions and put the empty ss to his lips before Hu Hou finished drinking and he pretended to enjoy finishing his wine.
Hu Hou licked his lips and put down the drained wine ss.
Xia Lei picked up the decanter and stood to pour more for Hu Hou. ¡°I¡¯ll pour for you, Mayor Hu.¡±
¡°Trying to get me drunk? Let me tell you, red wine like this is no different from a beverage to me. I can drink two bottles on my own,¡± said Hu Hou with augh.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Then let¡¯s have another ss.¡±
Hu Hou drank a second ss and the potted giant alocasia drank a second ss.
¡°Why is the alcohol content of this red wine so high?¡± Hu Hou shook his head.
¡°Yeah, I also feel quite dizzy. Is this fake alcohol?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll go ask...¡± Hu Hou stood but his legs buckled before he could finish his sentence and he fell to the floor.
Xia Lei snatched up the decanter and sshed some wine on himself, then took his phone out, turned on the recording function, and sprawled himself on the floor.
Two minutes after Xia Lei ¡®fainted¡¯, Dong Wu and Qin Qi pushed the door of private room open and walked in.
Dong Wu kicked Xia Lei¡¯s backside and cursed, ¡°Fuck you, punk. The day hase for you, huh?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s backside hurt terribly from the kick but he uttered not a sound.
Qin Qi sneered, ¡°This punk is finally in our hands. I have to admit though, that this punk is very wiley and difficult to deal with. We¡¯d probably not be able to catch him if Young Master Wu had not used Hu Hou.¡±
¡°This punk is better than us at martial arts and he¡¯s more crafty than a fucking fox. We have to go through some trouble to deal with him but didn¡¯t he still be our prey? He¡¯s finished! Haha!¡± Qin Qi looked very happy and he kicked Xia Lei again.
Xia Lei was motionless, still.
¡°Let¡¯s take him away,¡± said Qin Qi, ¡°It¡¯s all confirmed on the other end.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take Hu Hou and you take this punk,¡± said Dong Wu. He pulled Hu Hou off the floor and onto his back.
Qin Qi pulled Xia Lei up as well and put him on his back. They left the private room and went through the corridor to the back door.
The corridor was quiet and empty - this was not normal yet normal at the same time.
A server was guarding the back door; the person who had served Hu Hou and Xia Lei their meal. He opened the back door - there was a small alley behind it and a ck delivery van was parked at its entrance.
The server opened the door to the van, then went around it and into the driver¡¯s seat.
Xia Lei had two choices - subdue Qin Qi and Dong Wu immediately and save Hu Hou, or let these two bring him and Hu Hou to some unknown ce. The risk for the first choice was lower but it would not bother Qin Qi and Dong Wu, much less Gu Ke-Wu. ording to what he heard, there could be over a hundred excuses for Dong Wu and Qin Qi to get out of trouble. The second choice would let the situation drag on and carried great risk but there was a chance to make Gu Ke-Wu taste the bitter fruit of his sowing!
After some consideration, Xia Lei chose thetter. He would be able to catch a tiger without entering the tiger¡¯s den, plus, he had his superpower!
Dong Wu and Qin Qi put Xia Lei and Hu Hou on the sofa in the back of the van and seated themselves in the second sofa-row. The server drove the van out of the alley and headed in the direction of the seaside.
¡®Are we going to Distinguished Gathering? If we are, then I¡¯ll have to take action on our way there¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Dong Wu looked back at Xia Lei and a sneer appeared in the corners of his lips. ¡°This is yourst trip on this ne. Enjoy your ride - I¡¯ll send you on your way to the nexter.¡±
Qin Qiughed. ¡°He knows nothing. What¡¯s the use of you telling him that?¡±
¡°It pleases me,¡± said Dong Wu.
¡°I¡¯m not as pissed as you. I¡¯m thinking we should stay overseas for a period of time after this. What¡¯s a good ce to go? America or France?¡± said Qin Qi.
¡°I¡¯d like to go to Japan,¡± said Dong Wu.
¡°Why?¡±
¡°I hear Japanese women are very vourful so I want to taste them.¡±
¡°Woah there, I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯d be more perverted than me at your age. Okay, let¡¯s go to Japan. I want to see who¡¯s better - you or me.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±
Chapter 240 - Perfect Murder Plan
The destination was not Distinguished Gathering but a vi by the sea with a view of the seascape.
Xia Lei¡¯s guess was wrong. Gu Ke-Wu had had him and Hu Hou kidnapped and more serious criminal acts were toe. Would a smart and sly man like Gu Ke-Wu be so silly as to carry out criminal activity on personal property? What Xia Lei could confirm was that this vi he saw was probably not owned by Gu Ke-Wu.
Xia Lei had already used his X-ray vision on the vi before the vehicle had evene to a stop. If the vi held many people with guns or weapons, he would first subdue Dong Wu and Qin Qi. However, there was just one woman in the vi - a sexy young woman in a bikini.
¡®It¡¯s best to have as few people as possible when doing something like this, of course. Dong Wu and Qin Qi are enough to finish everything up, so what is this woman doing here?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
A honk came from the ck van and the woman in a bikini walked out. She swayed her little waist as she walked over to open the door.
The ck van drove into the front yard of the vi.
Dong Wu and Qin Qi dragged Xia Lei and Hu Hou into a room in the vi.
There was a bed in the room and a camera on a mount pointing straight at it. Hu Hou was ced on the bed while Xia Lei was thrown on the floor.
The sexy bikini-woman entered the room and climbed on the bed without anymunication with Dong Wu and Qin Qi. She removed Hu Hou¡¯s clothing and his trousers, then hers. Her movements were practised and natural like she was an expert at removing clothing.
Qin Qi walked to the camera and turned it on, then said, ¡°Begin.¡±
The woman nodded, then...
Dong Wu stared straight at the woman on the bed and sneered, ¡°With this video, Hu Hou has to do as Young Master Wu says in the future.¡±
¡°Young Master Wu¡¯s really good. I¡¯d never think of this n to kill two birds with one stone,¡± said Qin Qi.
The woman straddled Hu Hou and moved like a horse trainer...
Hu Hou remained unconscious but men were strange creatures and he had an expected reaction even without the conscious control of his brain.
A few minutester, the woman was done with her job. She turned over andy next to Hu Hou. Qin Qi took the camera from the tripod and covered the lens as he walked to the bed. He was like a director of a mature film, getting the best angles for close-up shots.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were closed all the while but he had seen the entire process clearly. He¡¯d thought that Gu Ke-Wu or Gu Ke-Wen woulde but they had not.
¡°All right, you can leave,¡± said Qin Qi to the woman after he was done taking close-ups.
The woman picked up her articles of clothing and quietly left the room.
Qin Qi put down the camera, then picked up a knife from the bedside table and put it in Hu Hou¡¯s hand.
¡°Fuck, killing this punk off like this is not satisfying. I want to torture him first,¡± said Dong Wu. He walked towards Xia Lei.
¡°Hey, Old Dong, Young Master Wu¡¯s matters are more important. If you torture this punk, his body will have injuries all over. Can Hu Hou injure a martial arts expert to that degree? It¡¯ll be a w in the n. Kill this punk and let go of your anger.¡±
Xia Lei understood what these two were up to then.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s n was not just to kill two birds with one stone but to make use of others to do his dirty work. Gu Ke-Wu got Qin Qi and Dong Wu to record Hu Hou having sexual rtions with a woman, and what was next was to use the knife in Hu Hou¡¯s hand to kill him. When Hu Hou regained consciousness and discovered that he had ¡®killed¡¯ someone, Dong Wu and Qin Qi would appear again to help get rid of the corpse. Would Hu Hou ever dare to stand up to Gu Ke-Wu after this? What¡¯s more, Qin Qi and Dong Wu were going to leave China after killing him, cutting off the only trail that the police had to follow. The whole thing would not be rted to the Gu n at all!
Dong Wu pulled Xia Lei up, then supported his body, holding him in ce in a standing position.
Qin Qi carried Hu Hou over from the bed, one arm around Hu Hou¡¯s waist and one hand on Hu Hou¡¯s knife-holding right hand, and walked slowly over to Xia Lei. The de of the knife was aimed at Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
¡°Go to hell, punk!¡± Qin Qi, holding Hu Hou¡¯s right hand, stabbed violently at Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
However, Xia Lei¡¯s body turned and dodged at that moment. His right arm swept out to strike Dong Wu heavily on the back. Dong Wu did react in that instant but Xia Lei¡¯s right arm had mmed heavily into his back before he could do anything. The great impact pushed Dong Wu forward and at that very same moment, the knife held by Qin Qi and Hu Hou plunged into his heart.
Dong Wu opened his mouth wide but he could not breathe anymore. His eyes stared straight at Qin Qi but they were already starting to ze over; he was losing his vision. He could not figure out what had gone wrong, even in death!
Qin Qi was stunned. Everything had happened too quickly for his brain to process it.
Xia Lei did not give Qin Qi a single second to react - he kicked him in the bend of his knee. Qin Qi was hiding behind Hu Hou and that was the only ce he could attack.
Qin Qi stumbled and almost mmed to the ground but he reacted quickly and deftly pushed Hu Hou aside as he leapt backwards. He had a sharp throwing knife in his hand before he put distance between himself and Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was quicker and he had already closed in on Qin Qi before the knife could be thrown. He punched straight at Qin Qi¡¯s chest, hitting his Shanzhong acupuncture point like a needle. This was the winning move he had used on Bruce Long on Mount Emei.
Bam! There was a dull thud as Qin Qi¡¯s body flew backwards and hit the wall heavily before falling to the floor. His Shanzhong point had been hit by Xia Lei¡¯s steel-like knuckle and his heartbeat and breathing were instantly in disarray. Pain came thundering over him and his fighting power was abruptly reduced to nothing.
Xia Lei walked over and kicked the knife out of Qin Qi¡¯s hand, then kicked him in the head. Qin Qi fell into a dead faint with a grunt.
Fresh blood had trickled continuously from Dong Wu¡¯s chest, wetting arge portion of the floor, as well as Hu Hou, who was lying on the floor.
Xia Lei had not touched anything. He did only one thing, and that was calling the police. However, he changed his mind before he dialled ¡®110¡¯ and called Jiang Ru-Yi instead.
The Gu n¡¯s influence was great and there was no guarantee that they wouldn¡¯t have an inside-man. Jiang Ru-Yi was his best bet.
¡°Hello? Ru-Yi?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was calm. ¡°Bring men here immediately. I¡¯m gifting you an opportunity to gain points.¡±
¡°What joke is this?¡± came Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice, ¡°I¡¯m in a meeting. Stop joking. I¡¯ll y with you when we get home, okay?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a joke. Mayor Hu killed someone,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice had gone higher by eight octaves.
Xia Lei did not exin further. He told her the address and hung up.
Soft footsteps suddenly came from beyond the door.
Xia Lei looked at the door and his left eye twitched. The door and a portion of wall disappeared from his vision and he saw that the woman from earlier who had performed acts in the video with Hu Hou was in the corridor outside; she hade back. A small handgun was in her hand and she was moving carefully to the door.
The woman had just a bikini-bottom on and nothing on top. It was a cold day but it didn¡¯t seem to affect her. What seemed to have affected her was the movements from inside the room - she must have been rmed by them, otherwise she wouldn¡¯t havee out armed before even having time to put on her clothes.
Xia Lei also tiptoed to the door, hurrying to get to it before the woman did. He ttened himself against the wall and stood in a position for ambush.
The woman moved to the door and reached out to grab the handle. She took a deep breath and quickly pushed the door open to rush in. As soon as her foot crossed the doorway and before she could lock onto a target, Xia Lei let his hand fall and a knife-hand struck her heavily on her carotid artery.
¡°Urh...¡± A grunt came from her throat and she fell to the floor.
Xia Lei kicked the gun in her hand away and only then did he rx his guard. He leaned against the wall and took gulping breaths. Big breaths of air helped him stabilise himself. He needed to calm himself because he still needed to take care of one more enemy - the man who had posed as a restaurant server.
However, the sound of an engine starting came from outside the vi when Xia Lei had calmed himself. He followed the sound, chasing it out, but he was just one step toote. That man had sensed that something had gone wrong and left in a hurry.
Xia Lei regretted not catching him. ¡®Damn it. That guy will contact Gu Ke-Wu for sure and he will soon know about what happened here. What will Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s next step be?¡¯
It was difficult to guess what he would do next but Xia Lei could confirm that Gu Ke-Wu would remove all connections he had with Dong Wu and Qin Qi.
Xia Lei went back to the room. Four peopley in the room and the one who had fallen the most prettily was, of course, the sexy young woman. She was face-down with her perky buttocks in the air, a line of material running between her buttcheeks and deeper, barely covering her most intimate, mysterious folds. Hu Hou was still unconscious. Xia Lei did not know what drug was used but its effects seemed to be fairly strong. Of the other two, Qin Qi was also unconscious but Dong Wu was dead. The whole room smelt of his blood, thick and nauseating.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The ringing of a mobile phone came from Qin Qi.
Xia Lei walked over and took the mobile phone from Qin Qi. There was no number disyed on the phone screen. Xia Lei hesitated, then unlocked the phone to ept the call. He did not speak and the person on the line did not speak either. Both stayed stone-still for about ten seconds.
¡°Hello? Are you Gu Ke-Wu?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence. ¡°Or is it Gu Ding-Shan?¡±
The person on the line remained silent.
Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°I will find you and make you pay back what you owe me.¡±
The person hung up.
Chapter 241 - Stubborn Attitude
Hu Hou woke up before Jiang Ru-Yi brought her men over. He was scared silly by what he saw in the room - a bleeding corpse with a knife in its chest and guns on the floor. He was terrified. Hu Hou trembled all over and he wanted to get up and run away but he fell back down after trying to stand. He was awake but the drug¡¯s effects still seemed to be affecting him.
¡°Are you all right, Mayor Hu?¡± came Xia Lei¡¯s voice.
¡°Ah!¡± screamed Hu Hou. He looked back in panic to see Xia Lei standing behind him.
¡°Are you all right, Mayor Hu?¡± asked Xia Lei again.
¡°Y, you... Stay away!¡± A trickle of fluid appeared between Hu Hou¡¯s legs but he could not be bothered about it at that time. He crawled in the opposite direction. The first conclusion he hade to upon seeing a dead body and Xia Lei was that Xia Lei was the killer!
Xia Lei spoke in a deep voice, ¡°Mayor Hu, calm down! I¡¯m not the murderer! I saved you!¡±
¡°You saved me?¡± Hu Hou paused. He seemed to remember something and his face filled with confusion.
Xia Lei yed the audio file he had recorded earlier and voices came from his phone.
Hu Hou listened to the conversation between Dong Wu and Qin Qi in the private room and he quickly realised the truth. ¡°This...¡±
Xia Lei put the mobile phone on the bed, then brought the camera and yed the video which Qin Qi had recorded.
Hu Hou understood everything with the audio and video recordings. He watched the woman in the video do things to him and the close-ups Qin Qi had shot of him in stunned silence. He was shocked and angry. He drew strength from somewhere and crawled to his feet with a roar, charging at the camera to turn it off and pluck its memory card out, as if afraid that Xia Lei would snatch it from him.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, Mayor Hu. They have not leaked this video. You have the only copy in your hands,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hu Hou let out a breath. It was a video that they had taken after drugging him but his career would still be affected if the footage got out. He felt a little more reassured at Xia Lei¡¯s words.
¡°Put your clothes on, Mayor Hu. The police will be here soon,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hu Hou came back to his senses then and hurriedly put on the clothing which the woman had removed. While he got dressed, Xia Lei gave him a summary of what had happened.
¡°Damn it! And I was trying to be a mediator to help the two of you resolve your differences. That punk¡¯s heart is tar-ck - he actually tried to frame me!¡± Hu Hou was beside himself with anger.
¡°You owe me your life, Mayor Hu,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hu Hou paused, then said, ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. We would¡¯ve been made scapegoats for this if not for your quick thinking.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want any sort of repayment except for you to give the Trade and Commerce Bureau a call to cancel the business suspension of Thunder Horse Manufacturing.¡± Xia Lei looked at Hu Hou.
¡°This...¡± Hu Hou avoided Xia Lei¡¯s gaze.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s reached this point and you¡¯re still afraid of the Gu n?¡±
¡°Let me consider it. My thoughts are a mess now and I cannot think,¡± said Hu Hou.
The smile disappeared from Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Is this how you repay me for saving your life, Mayor Hu? It¡¯s fine. You probably don¡¯t want to offend the Gu n on the ount of a small fry like myself. You won¡¯t dare retaliate even when they harm you; I have no hope for you. The murder weapon in Dong Wu¡¯s heart has your fingerprints on it, and your fluids are in that woman...¡±
¡°Stop talking about it!¡± Hu Hou cut Xia Lei off. ¡°I¡¯ll call. I¡¯ll make the call, okay? Y, you help me get rid of the fluids in that woman¡¯s body.¡±
Xia Lei was nonplussed.
¡°H, hurry! The police areing!¡± Hu Hou held his phone, looking very anxious and urging Xia Lei to do something.
Xia Lei braced himself and walked over to the woman. He would have to sacrifice his fingers for the sake of the hundreds of employees of Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
One minuteter, the room was filled with Hu Hou¡¯s angry voice. ¡°Cancel it! Don¡¯t you understand what I¡¯m saying? Cancel Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s business suspension! Bastard... I¡¯ll give you ten minutes to get it done or you¡¯re going to report for work at the neighbourhoodmittee!¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t have to guess who was on the line - it was the director, Qiao Ping. While Hu Hou yelled at Qiao Ping, Xia Lei braced himself and reached his right index finger and middle finger into a mysterious ce...
What he was doing was Kato Taka¡¯s* specialty.
Police cars arrived over ten minutester, and a big group of police officers came charging into the vi with Jiang Ru-Yi at the helm. She held a gun in her hand and looked heroic. The officers behind her held their guns in their hands too and looked ready to take down a big enemy. However, the only things Jiang Ru-Yi and her people had to do were to take pictures and statements, then clear the body away and clean the floor.
Xia Lei, Hu Hou, Qin Qi and the woman were all brought to the police station.
Qin Qi and the woman were woken up and put in different interrogation rooms for questioning. Xia Lei and Hu Hou stood on the other side of the interrogation room, behind ss, to watch Jiang Ru-Yi question Qin Qi.
Qin Qi was being stubborn in the interrogation room. He remained silent throughout Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s questioning, no matter which questions were asked. Jiang Ru-Yi was aggressive in her approach but Qin Qi did not budge.
Hu Hou shook his head and sighed. He lowered his voice, ¡°Xia Lei, about today...¡±
¡°Rest assured, Mayor Hu. I¡¯ll say what should be said and not a word about what I shouldn¡¯t,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hu Hou smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯ve had the suspension lifted from yourpany on the Trade and Commerce Bureau end. I¡¯ll probably be transferred somewhere else. I¡¯d been worried about this before but my worry is gone now. I¡¯ve thought it through and I don¡¯t want to keep my official¡¯s hat if it means giving up on my conscience. I¡¯d like to be able to livefortably with myself.¡±
His words came a littlete but Xia Lei was still touched. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Mayor Hu. You¡¯ll be fine.¡±
¡°I hope.¡± Hu Hou had said broad-minded words but his expression was solemn and his heart heavy.
¡°Who knows? Maybe this can shake things up for Gu Ke-Wu,¡± said Xia Lei tentatively.
Hu Hou shook his head. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking but I¡¯m going to warn you not to be too optimistic. It¡¯ll be difficult to topple him even if you have enough evidence. Besides, you don¡¯t have any proof.¡±
¡°What if Qin Qi names Gu Ke-Wu as the mastermind?¡±
¡°You try then.¡± Hu Hou then said to the police officer guarding the interrogation room door, ¡°Let him in.¡±
The door-guard police officer was not one to get in the way of the city mayor. He even opened the door for Xia Lei.
¡°What did youe in here for?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was surprised to see Xia Lei walk in.
¡°Mayor Hu let mee in to help you. I know the situation and I know this guy. Let me,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Qi looked at Xia Lei, his eyes glowering with hate.
¡°Can you question people?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi. She didn¡¯t quite believe him.
Xia Lei walked to Qin Qi and suddenly kicked him in the shoulder. Qin Qi was thrown to the floor.
Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s jaw dropped.
¡°Look, is this method of questioning suitable?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ru-Yi snapped back to attention and smiled. She got up and let Xia Lei take her seat. ¡°It¡¯s good enough. I¡¯ll let you do it.¡±
Xia Lei sat in Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s seat and said coldly, ¡°Qin Qi, you don¡¯t need me to outline your situation, do you? Kidnapping and murder. You face the death penalty and the Gu n cannot protect you from that. You¡¯ll get a lighter sentence if you oust the Gu n - you won¡¯t be put in front of the firing squad, at least.¡±
Qin Qi picked himself off the floor and slowly went back to his seat. He looked at Xia Lei with a hint of contempt on his lips. ¡°What¡¯s with this righteous act, Xia Lei? Just use whatever method you have on me. I¡¯ll change my name to Xia if I so much as frown.¡±
¡°You really n to die for the Gu n?¡±
¡°What Gu n? Is there a Li n too? I don¡¯t know them.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°That woman has already confessed. If you don¡¯t confess, she¡¯ll live and you¡¯ll die.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Qin Qi¡¯sugh was very strange.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Why are youughing?¡±
¡°I¡¯mughing at you, idiot!¡± Qin Qi sneered, ¡°She¡¯s mute. How¡¯s she supposed to confess?¡±
Xia Lei paused. No wonder that woman had stayed quiet no matter how intensely the interrogating officer had questioned her.
Qin Qi spoke again, ¡°Don¡¯t try to scare me with the death penalty. I¡¯ll say here and now that I have fallen but I¡¯ll be out again within five years. I have my people in prison. Going in is like a holiday. What are you if not an idiot, using this to scare me?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly grabbed Qin Qi¡¯s hair and smashed his head onto the desk.
¡°Is this all you¡¯ve got? Hahaha!¡± Qin Qiughed perversely, ¡°Kill me if you have the balls! Come on!¡±
Xia Lei spoke coldly in Qin Qi¡¯s ear, ¡°The stupid one is you. Do you know how Huang Yi-Hu died? You¡¯re thinking of enjoying your time in prison but let me tell you - if I were Gu Ding-Shan or Gu Ke-Wu, I would get someone to finish you off in prison. You know why? Because dead people¡¯s mouths are the most silent.¡±
Xia Lei let go of Qin Qi¡¯s hair. ¡°I¡¯ll give you two minutes to think about it.¡±
Qin Qi slowly righted himself. He looked uncertain. What Xia Lei had said had had an effect on him. Huang Yi-Hu was indeed an example - he had sold his soul to the Gu n and done every dirty deed for them. What he¡¯d done could pile up as high as a mountain but didn¡¯t he die a dubious death in the end?
Jiang Ru-Yi was a fellow interrogator but her gaze was on Xia Lei all the time. Xia Lei¡¯s brutishness, his domineerance and his wits were like an exquisite perfume to her; it was a mesmerising smell and she wanted to get closer to take a deep whiff, then spray it all over herself.
Two minutes passed quickly.
Just as Xia Lei was about to speak, the door to the interrogation room opened and the police officer guarding the door said, ¡°Chief Jiang, awyer is here. He wants to speak with you.¡±
Qin Qi started tough. ¡°Get out, Xia Lei. You won¡¯t get anything from me. Wait till I get out and we¡¯ll settle the score. Oh, right, you may not evenst till then.¡±
A male voice came from beyond the interrogation room door. ¡°What¡¯s going on? A forced confession? That is illegal! Let me warn you that the evidence you get from a forced confession will be thrown out in court. Who¡¯s in charge here? I want to talk to your boss!¡±
¡°What should I do?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was uncertain.
¡°Act like I was never here. Do what you should.¡± Xia Lei gave up. He stood and walked to the door of the room. He was not a police officer and there would be trouble if thewyer found him in the room questioning Qin Qi.
¡°Are youing home tonight?¡± asked Jiang Ru-Yi all of a sudden.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Yeah.¡±
¡°Make something yummy. I¡¯lle eat at your ce tonight,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Lei was speechless.
*Kato Taka: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taka_Kato
Chapter 242 - Attack Dog Danny
Jing-Du, North Group headquarters, North Building.
Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s office was so humongous it could host a basketball match between the Rockets and the Cavaliers. Anyone who saw him there would feel like he or she was paying court to a king.
Gu Ke-Wu was not exempt from these feelings. He could feel the anger and dissatisfaction radiating from Gu Ding-Shan.
¡°I¡¯ve already made calls and that punk¡¯s factory has been sealed. Why did you still take the initiative to kill him off?¡± Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s voice carried a note of anger, ¡°Now Dong Wu¡¯s dead and Qin Qi has been arrested. That punk¡¯s still alive. You¡¯re a disappointment!¡±
Gu Ke-Wu bit the bullet and exined, ¡°Dad, I was just trying to solve the problem quickly. I¡¯d nned it thoroughly; Dong Wu, Qin Qi and Luo Na¡¯s failure was unexpected.¡±
Luo Na was the woman who had performed on camera with Hu Hou. She was Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s underling and also someone who did the dirty work for him.
Gu Ding-Shan mmed his fist on the desk before him. ¡°Impulsiveness!¡±
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s lips moved to exin himself but no words came out.
¡°We are not beating and murdering people now; that time has passed. I¡¯ve told you more than once that there are many methods to devise someone¡¯s end. There is no need to do it personally. Have you forgotten what I told you?¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu, ¡°Dad, you know who my target is.¡±
¡°Shentu Tian-Yin?¡± A sneer appeared in the corners of Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s lips, ¡°She¡¯s involved in this?¡±
¡°No. Dad, what I¡¯m trying to say is that Shentu Tian-Yin would¡¯ve been part of our Gu n if it weren¡¯t for that Xia Lei. Once I get married to Shentu Tian-Yin, I would need just three years to make the Shentu n¡¯s Vientaine Group ours. But that punk cut in and made Shentu Tian-Yin wary of me. My n will have no chance of sess if I don¡¯t get rid of that punk.¡±
¡°Continue.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu kept talking. ¡°Dad, you¡¯ve used your connections to seal that punk¡¯spany but the information I received was that he¡¯s reduced his product manufacturing to zero and is outsourcing. He¡¯s gettingpanies from all over China to make parts for him and having the parts assembled somewhere out of our region. Your sealing of his factory is in vain. We don¡¯t have the power to get so manypanies to dance to our tune. Our n¡¯s power lies only in Jing-Du and Hai-Zhu and we don¡¯t have much influence outside these regions. Plus, that punk went to Sichuan the day after his factory was sealed and opened a branchpany there. The area there is under development and there are preferential policies for post-disaster rebuilding. I can guarantee that his branchpany there will start production in three to five months and have an even greater output than his factory in Hai-Zhu.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan was silent, then he said, ¡°I understand what you mean. The more capable that punk is the less chance you have of getting Shentu Tian-Yin - is that right?¡±
Gu Ke-Wu nodded.
¡°I¡¯d thought that this was just a small matter but this punk is unexpectedly capable. I¡¯ve underestimated him. What do you want to do?¡± said Gu Ding-Shan.
Hate shed in Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s eyes. ¡°Huang Yi-Hu, Dong Wu, Qin Qi and Luo Na are all of the Gu n and they¡¯ve all fallen because of Xia Lei. If we continue to keep the peace then our n¡¯s prestige will be used to mop the floors. Besides, he is in the way of me getting Shentu Tian-Yin. I want to eliminate him - this is what I want to do.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan thought for a bit, then said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it again after the Spring Festival. Kidnapping the mayor and having someone die is no small matter. You¡¯ll have to wait till everything has settled down before you can eliminate that punk. What¡¯s important now is to take care of Qin Qi and Luo Na. Let them sit in prison for a few years; five million for each year they spend in there. And, their sentence will definitely not go over a period of five years.¡±
¡°Yes, I know what to do,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu. ¡°Another thing, Dad. Hu Hou made the Trade and Commerce Bureau cancel the suspension. Should we overturn his authority and have Xia Lei¡¯spany sealed again?¡±
Gu Ding-Shan shook his head. ¡°Hu Hou nearly stepped through the gates of the Underworld. Even a cornered rabbit will bite and this is a very sensitive time. Don¡¯t touch him for now. Didn¡¯t you also say that it could not be stopped? So why bother?¡±
¡°Yes, I understand. I¡¯ll go back to Hai-Zhu right now and settle Qin Qi and Luo Na¡¯s matter,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°I¡¯ll return to Hai-Zhu during the Spring Festival. Make preparations,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan.
Gu Ke-Wu nodded, then turned and left Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s office.
A faint sneer appeared on Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s lips. ¡°Xia Lei? An interesting little punk. I¡¯d like to see if you are a monster with three heads and six arms.¡±
A young man walked out of the guest lounge and went to stand quietly behind Gu Ding-Shan.
Gu Ding-Shan was calm and imposing, with an aura of importance one would respect. This young man was well-built. He stood tall and straight and his expression was cold; he had a dangerous aura. If Gu Ding-Shan was a king on his throne, then this young man was his armed imperial guard.
This young man had a special name - Danny.
This was the same name as the bloody ¡®attack dog¡¯ character Jet Li had yed in the movie directed by Luc Besson, ¡®Unleashed¡¯.
Gu Ding-Shan had taken him from the orphanage years ago and given him this name. This name was the best interpretation of his identity - he was Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s attack dog.
Danny¡¯s status and position was higher than Dong Wu and Qin Qi¡¯s in the empire Gu Ding-Shan had created. More importantly, he was smarter, more powerful and more vicious than Dong Wu and Qin Qi!
Gu Ding-Shan nced back at Danny. ¡°Go to Hai-Zhu for a bit.¡±
Danny¡¯s voice was emotionless. ¡°You want me to kill that punk named Xia Lei?¡±
¡°No. I want you to investigate and find that punk¡¯s weakness. His family, his friends, his rivals, what he¡¯s doing - I want to know everything. He must die, of course, but when he dies is up to me,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan.
Danny nodded, then left Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s office.
.........
Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s canteen was abuzz with activity under the sky of night. Over four hundred people were having a meal together - it was a sight to see.
The production ban being lifted was worth celebrating. Xia Lei had nned on finding a good restaurant to treat his employees to a meal and maybe even Hu Hou too, but had found that the venue might not be too appropriate and decided to have the celebration in thepany¡¯s canteen.
¡°A toast to you, Mayor Hu.¡± Xia Lei raised his ss and said with a smile, ¡°You¡¯ve been of great help.¡±
A wry smile appeared on Hu Hou¡¯s lips. He did not say anything but raised his ss and drained the white wine in it. He knew well that he had not actually helped Xia Lei much. Xia Lei had fought his own way out of this. And him? He owed Xia Lei his life.
Xia Lei drained the white wine in his ss too, then drew close to Hu Hou¡¯s ear and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Mayor Hu. It¡¯s a very sensitive time now so the Gu n will not disrupt the peace. They won¡¯te after you.¡±
Hu Hou sighed. ¡°Andter?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit andughed as he said, ¡°Later? The Gu n may be finishedter. He¡¯s a corrupt and powerful man but aren¡¯t the corrupt all being taken down now? They¡¯re being taken down one by one - it¡¯s just not his turn yet. I feel it¡¯s just a matter of time.¡±
¡°I hope so. We are in the same boat now.¡± Hu Hou lowered his voice, ¡°We need to take care of each other in the future. What do you say?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Of course. Big Brother Hu¡¯s matters will be my matters.¡±
The way he addressed him had changed, reflecting Xia Lei¡¯s change in attitude towards Hu Hou. Politics and business had always gone hand-in-hand since ancient times - politicians needed businessmen and businessmen needed politicians. Xia Lei was more than happy to form an alliance with someone like Hu Hou.
On Hu Hou¡¯s end, he definitely would not have formed an alliance with Xia Lei in the past. The recent experience changed his way of thinking. A city mayor such as himself had been drugged, kidnapped and almost framed for murder. He was just a chess piece to be sacrificed any time in the eyes of those with power! He wanted to do good things for the people, to be a clean, trusted and respected official to the people, but if he had no real power then there was no way he could do it. An alliance with a dark horse such as Xia Lei gave him a chance to achieve what he needed.
People change, because of this or that reason; people all change.
Next to Xia Lei, Xia Xue said, ¡°Big Sister Ru-Yi is here.¡±
Xia Lei looked over at the entrance and saw a heroically uniformed Jiang Ru-Yi walk over. She¡¯d spotted him.
¡°I¡¯ll go to another table, Brother. You chat with Big Sister Ru-Yi.¡± Xia Xue stood and walked to Jiang Ru-Yi.
Jiang Ru-Yi did not stand on ceremony either. She sat next to Xia Lei with aplomb and greeted Hu Hou, then spoke in Xia Lei¡¯s ear, ¡°That guy¡¯s had all charges dropped. I asked my colleagues at the prosecutor¡¯s office and they said the most they can get him on are manughter charges. He¡¯ll have just a few years in prison. And that mute woman - she doesn¡¯t react no matter what we ask. We got a teacher from the deaf-dumb school to interpret and still no luck.¡±
Xia Lei was not surprised at all by the result. ¡°I know. Those two can just pick their teeth and not bother about any result.¡± He poured a ss of wine for Jiang Ru-Yi. ¡°You¡¯rete. I¡¯ll pour for you.¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi stopped talking about official matters and rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°You think I have so much free time when there¡¯s so much to do at the station? The agreement that we¡¯d be eating at your ce turned into eating at the canteen - I haven¡¯t scolded you for that. Now you¡¯re saying I¡¯mte?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Another day. There¡¯re so many employees; I have to think of their feelings too.¡±
¡°Then, has Liang Si-Yao called you recently?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi¡¯s voice was small.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°No. Why are you asking me this?¡±
¡°I¡¯m caring about you. You broke up with her. I haven¡¯t ever cared about you so I¡¯m specially showing you some care now.¡± Jiang Ru-Yi smiled sweetly.
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s head, as clearly as if she were before him.
What was she doing now?
¡°You miss her?¡± Jiang Ru-Yi was quite intuitive and the corners or her mouth turned upwards. ¡°You should try dating other women. It¡¯ll help you shake off the pain of heartbreak.¡±
¡°Date who?¡±
¡°Date...¡± Jiang Ru-Yi wanted to say the name she had be familiar with when she turned one, but the words stopped on the tip of her tongue. She abruptly kicked Xia Lei lightly in the back of his leg.
Wasn¡¯t this hint obvious enough?
Xia Lei moved the tablecloth aside and bent to look about under the table, muttering, ¡°Is there a dog under here?¡±
Jiang Ru-Yi was so angry she could drop dead.
Chapter 243 - Sister-in-law From the West
The days that followed were peaceful and nobody caused trouble for either Hu Hou or Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
After the suspension was lifted from Thunder Horse Manufacturing, Xia Lei did not cancel the outsourced orders for parts but ced more. The automatic skateboard was selling well domestically and overseas and even distributors in South America had expressed interest. Just Thunder Horse Manufacturing was not enough to meet the demand and outsourcing had be a necessity.
The branchpany set-up in Sichuan was progressing smoothly and the constructionpany had already started building the factory, office building, dormitories and so on; construction was quick. With the help of the local government, the newly-hired workers were also brought to the training base and given training by their seniors from the Hai-Zhupany. The workers would be ready to start the production process once the factory waspleted.
In the main Hai-Zhu branch, the R&D department had new results under the leadership of Han Bo and Thunder Horse Manufacturing added a smart desk to their product catalogue. This product was made of aluminium alloy parts which were light yet durable. More importantly, it could be adjusted to be a regr desk or a standing desk by changing the way the bracket was connected. This was great for white-cor office workers who sat in their offices year-in and year-out. They could raise the height of their desks with a few simple movements if they were tired of sitting and use it while standing. If they got tired of standing, they could move it back in a few simple steps. This smart desk could also help prevent several work-rted ailments like lumbar and cervical spondylosis, cardiovascr disease, and even obesity. They received several orders for this product when it wasunched and it not only increased the profit margin of Thunder Horse Manufacturing but also strengthened its weak product mix.
This peaceful period and chain of good events did not make Xia Lei rx his guard. He filled his everyday schedules - mornings were for taking care of paperwork and afternoons for study. He studied Chinese medicine, Western medicine, electrical engineering, newnguages and so on. He did not rest at night either - he would practice Wing Chun before he went to bed, or the skills Qin Xiang had taught him. To liken this process of umtion of power, he was a spring being wound tighter and tighter, and would burst straight up into the sky if released!
The Spring Festival arrived in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei got up early on the first day of the festival. He cooked a packet of frozen tangyuan* and woke Xia Xue up to eat some. He would always wake up early on this day to cook a packet of tangyuan, then callzybones Xia Xue to eat. He had kept this up for six years.
¡°Happy New Year, Brother! I wish you happiness and prosperity; may fortune smile upon you.¡± Xia Xue was all smiles. She would say the same thing to Xia Lei every year on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Xia Lei took out a red packet from his bag and said with a smile, ¡°A red packet for you. Take it.¡±
Xia Xue tore it open eagerly to find a credit card inside. ¡°Brother, what¡¯s this credit card for? What¡¯s the credit limit on it?¡± she asked in surprise.
¡°One million,¡± said Xia Lei with a grin.
¡°What?¡± Xia Xue was stunned.
Xia Lei rubbed Xia Xue¡¯s head. ¡°The pin is your birthday. Thepany¡¯s finance department will pay the monthly bill for this card. But you have to hold back on your spending. I¡¯ll whack you if you max the card every month.¡±
Xia Xue shook her head hard. ¡°I can¡¯t ept this credit card, Brother. It¡¯s too much. I¡¯m just a university student - how can I spend so much?¡±
Xia Lei looked at the sky beyond the window and he seemed to be reflecting on his past. ¡°I was unaplished back then and could only afford to give you a few tens of yuan in red packet money. I gave you morest year but it was just a hundred yuan. I used to make a wish at every Spring Festival, wishing that if I made it rich one day, I would give you a million-yuan red packet. This is my wish and I can finally realise it today.¡±
¡°But, Brother...¡± Xia Xue held the credit card in her hand and didn¡¯t know what to do with it.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Silly girl, take it. Isn¡¯t the purpose of me earning money so that we can lead better lives? Besides, girls need lots of support. I don¡¯t want those despicable second-generation boys to have designs on you. Our little Xue is not a second-generation heiress but a first-generation rich girl.¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Xia Xue was appeased by Xia Lei¡¯s words and she said with augh, ¡°Brother, my standards are high. I¡¯m not going to pick a boyfriend by the size of his wallet but the size of his heart.¡±
¡°Do you already have a boyfriend?¡± asked Xia Lei investigatively.
Xia Xue rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Trying to pry? No, no, I¡¯m just in my first year of university. I don¡¯t want to date.¡±
Xia Lei quickly changed the topic. ¡°Eat the tangyuan. It won¡¯t taste good when it¡¯s cold.¡±
Xia Xue lifted her bowl, and abruptly put it down. ¡°Brother, how about we call Big Sister Ru-Yi over to eat with us?¡±
Xia Lei considered it and nodded. ¡°Sure, I cooked a little too much anyway. Let¡¯s call her over. She¡¯s living alone so she definitely won¡¯t get up so early to cook tangyuan.¡±
¡°Brother, you¡¯re getting more established too. You¡¯ve broken up with Big Sister Si-Yao for a while already - shouldn¡¯t you get a new girlfriend?¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
One side of Xia Xue¡¯s lips went up in a smile. ¡°I think Big Sister Ru-Yi is not bad. She grew up with you and she¡¯s pretty too. You¡¯ll have a sense of security too because she¡¯ll be a policewoman wife. Um, she just has a bit of stubbornness and is a little straightforward in her speech. Other than that she doesn¡¯t have any ws. She also likes you a lot. Why don¡¯t you try dating? The two of you match well.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°What are you worrying about me for? It¡¯s not as if I don¡¯t know that she... It¡¯s just... We grew up together so we¡¯re too familiar with each other and don¡¯t have those feelings. I don¡¯t have those sort of feelings for her. Even if we try to date, won¡¯t it be me doing more harm than good for her?¡±
¡°You two sure are troublesome. Okay, okay, I won¡¯t talk about you. I¡¯ll call her over to have tangyuan.¡± Xia Xue shook her head, sighed and went out.
Xia Lei sat quietly, thinking, ¡®Should I have a talk with Ru-Yi? It¡¯s not right for her to keep waiting for me. But how do I broach the subject? Ah, what a headache.¡¯
The current him could solveplicated electrical engineering problems on his own but he was still unversed in the ways of love. Liang Si-Yao¡¯s betrayal had scarred him so and he was now cautious about love.
Knock knock knock. Someone was knocking on the door.
¡°So quick?¡± Xia Lei hurried to open the door and he paused.
Standing in the doorway was not Xia Xue and Jiang Ru-Yi but the blue-eyed, golden-haired Annina.
She was dressed in a white shirt and form-fitting blue jeans, matched with a pair of Adidas sports shoes. Annina was like a ray of spring in the doorway, brightening his view. Her beauty and sexiness were pleasing andforting to the eye.
Annina was also carrying a fruit basket full of mandarins.
¡°Rooster riches!¡± said Annina with a big smile. She put the basket in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°Happy New Union!¡±
She was pretty but the Chinese wordsing out of her were gibberish.
Xia Lei did not correct her mistakes. He epted the fruit basket and pulled her into the t, saying nervously, ¡°How did you get here?¡±
¡°Took a vacuum machine,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I know you took a ne here. I¡¯m asking if Long Bing knows you¡¯re here.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Xia Lei spoke a little too quickly for Annina to catch his words.
Xia Lei repeated himself in German.
Annina replied in German, ¡°She knows. She wasn¡¯t willing to let mee at first but I said I¡¯d quit if she didn¡¯t let me and that I won¡¯t do all the work they¡¯d arranged for me. After that, they assigned someone to send me over.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Are there people following you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not worried about that. I¡¯m Xia Mei now, not Annina. Annina¡¯s a drug mule and she¡¯s dead,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Wee, Miss Xia Mei. Thank you for your mandarins. You¡¯re too kind.¡±
¡°Happy New Union!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Annina spread her arms and gave Xia Lei a tight hug, then kissed him on his left and right cheeks.
Jiang Ru-Yi and Xia Xue appeared in the doorway to see the two of them pressed tightly together. Jiang Ru-Yi was stunned. Xia Xue covered her eyes and her expression turned sour.
Annina¡¯s back was to the door and she did not let go of Xia Lei after kissing his cheeks. She kept holding onto him.
Xia Lei quickly patted her on the back and said in German, ¡°My little sister¡¯s back.¡±
Annina let go of him only then and turned to see Xia Xue and Jiang Ru-Yi. She smiled as she greeted them, ¡°Hi, hello guys. Happy New Union.¡±
¡°Pfft!¡± Xia Lei did not hold back and held his stomach as heughed.
Jiang Ru-Yi did notugh - she was livid.
Xia Lei quickly did introductions. ¡°This is Miss Xia Mei. She¡¯s from... Ennd. She¡¯s my friend.¡±
¡°Are there English people named Xia Mei?¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
¡°Her English name¡¯s Julia.¡± Xia Lei then said to Annina, ¡°Xia Mei, this is Miss Jiang Ru-Yi.¡±
¡°Hello, Miss Jiang.¡± Annina stretched out a hand to Jiang Ru-Yi. Her pronunciation was good this time and had no errors.
Jiang Ru-Yi turned around and walked off.
Annina stood awkwardly on the spot.
¡°You haven¡¯t had tangyuan yet, Big Sister Ru-Yi.¡± Xia Xue chased after her.
¡°You guys go ahead. I have no appetite,¡± said Jiang Ru-Yi.
Xia Xue looked back at Xia Lei and gave him a look, telling him to chase after her.
Xia Lei took one step towards the door and stopped. ¡°Forget it. Let¡¯s eat.¡±
He¡¯d been thinking about how to make things clear with Jiang Ru-Yi - there was no need to exin anything with this happening now. This was good. He could avoid an awkward confrontation like this.
¡°Is this your sister, Lei?¡± asked Annina in German, ¡°What¡¯s her name?¡±
¡°Xia Xue. You can call her Xue,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina walked up to Xia Xue and gave her a hug, saying warmly, ¡°You¡¯re so pretty, Xue.¡±
Xia Xue giggled. ¡°You¡¯re very pretty too, Miss Xia Mei. Why are you surnamed Xia?¡±
Annina pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°Because of your brother.¡±
¡°Eh?¡± Xia Xue looked surprised. There was only one situation where a woman had the samest name as an unrted man in the West and that was marriage. This Western woman was surnamed Xia, so didn¡¯t this mean that she was her sister-inw?
¡°Aren¡¯t we eating round sugars? I¡¯m hungry. I want a bowl.¡± Annina went to the dining table.
Xia Xue walked to Xia Lei and said in a low voice, ¡°No way, Brother. Is this sister-inw from the West the surprise you wanted to give me?¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at Xia Xue. ¡°Stop making blind guesses. We¡¯re just friends.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°She has no friends or rtives in China. She¡¯s rather pitiful to have to be all on her own. We have to take good care of her.¡±
Xia Xue lifted one side of her mouth in a smile. ¡°Won¡¯t it be great if you can take care of her as a husband? A Western sister-inw is not bad. It¡¯ll be easier for me to learn English in the future.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
*Tangyuan - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangyuan_(food)
Chapter 244 - Annina And Her Plan
¡°Tasty.¡± Annina polished off two bowls of tangyuan on her own. Good thing the pot was empty or she would¡¯ve gone for another bowl.
Xia Xue was astonished by her appetite and wondered how Annina could eat so well and still have such a good figure. She also sneaked nces at Xia Lei, trying to figure out how far along Xia Lei had progressed with his rtionship with his ¡®friend¡¯.
Xia Xue¡¯s wanting a Sister-inw had turned into an obsession. Xia Lei did not know what to say about this but he could understand why Xia Xue had thisplex. She¡¯d lost her mother at a young age and did not receive any motherly love so she wished to have another woman in the family. She could never hope to have a mother again but her wish for a sister-inw coulde true. That was why she urged Xia Lei to date or get married when she saw him with pretty women.
Annina took no notice of Xia Xue¡¯s strange gaze. She used a serviette to wipe her mouth. She looked at Xia Lei and said in German, ¡°Lei, I actually came this time to tell you about an idea I have.¡±
¡°What idea?¡± replied Xia Lei in German.
¡°The products yourpany is manufacturing now are just small items. It¡¯s a long way to bing a bigpany. I know you¡¯re an ambitious man and you won¡¯t be satisfied with maintaining the status quo.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You¡¯re right. I am indeed ambitious. What¡¯s your idea, then?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s do something big,¡± said Annina.
¡°What do you have in mind?¡± Xia Lei was curious.
¡°Hold on.¡± Xia Xue suddenly interrupted them. ¡°Brother, didn¡¯t you tell me that Miss Xia Mei is English? She¡¯s speaking German now. Are you trying to fool your own sister?¡±
¡°She¡¯s actually German. Her identity is a sensitive issue now so don¡¯t tell anyone she¡¯s from Germany,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why?¡± Xia Xue was not satisfied with an answer like this.
Xia Lei looked serious. ¡°Would I hide it from you if I could tell you? Don¡¯t pry into this.¡±
¡°Uhn.¡± Xia Xue seemed to sense the seriousness of the matter. She stuck her tongue out at him and stopped asking questions.
¡°Please continue, but don¡¯t use German. Speak in English. You also have to change your habit of using your mother tongue or you¡¯ll get into trouble,¡± said Xia Lei to Annina.
¡°Sorry. I forgot Xue can¡¯t understand German.¡± Annina said apologetically, this time in English.
Xia Xue could understand her now and she shot a smile at Annina.
Annina continued, ¡°Lei, you are a most excellent machinist. I also know that you¡¯re an excellent electrical engineer since you could build Josef¡¯s intelligentthe with your own two hands. And me - I¡¯m an excellent machinist too. My specialty is engines. Let¡¯s work together and build car engines.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei stared nkly.
¡°I did some rough calctions while I was in Jingdu. You just need to put in 2.5 billion to have a production base built. It¡¯ll have an annual output of 100,000 engines of various types. I¡¯m confident that we¡¯ll be able to build the world¡¯s most advanced car engine,¡± said Annina.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°2.5 billion? You might as well sell me off. Where am I to get that amount of money?¡±
¡°Loans. The bank can help us solve the problem of money. You can also look for investors. I believe that there are venture capitalpanies which will be willing to invest in us,¡± said Annina excitedly.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°You don¡¯t understand our current situation. Even if your project is very good, it¡¯s going to be difficult to get a loan from the banks, much less a loan of 2.5 billion. Banks would rather loan money to state-owned enterprises and let it go to waste there than risk loaning to private enterprises. And about venture capitalpanies - they¡¯ll possibly be willing to invest a few million to help you start your own online store but over two billion for an engine production base? Ha. Don¡¯t even think of it.¡±
Annina¡¯s excitement died with Xia Lei¡¯s dousing cold words. ¡°So my n won¡¯t work?¡±
¡°Nope,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina looked disappointed. ¡°What a pity. I even drew up ns for this idea. I didn¡¯t bring it with me because I haven¡¯t finished it, but it looks like... I won¡¯t need to.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°No, finish it. Ick the capability to do this now but this doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t be able to in the future. Don¡¯t you want toe help me? Let¡¯s wait till the time is ripe for you toe be my Chief Engineer. We¡¯ll put your n in motion when the requirements are met.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Annina hugged Xia Lei in excitement, then gave him a smacking big kiss on his cheek.
Xia Lei froze in embarrassment. Xia Xue was present, and watching.
Xia Xue was grinning from ear to ear. ¡°It¡¯s okay, you two pretend I¡¯m air. Or I can leave. Do you want me to leave?¡±
Xia Lei had nothing to say to a little sister like this.
Xia Xue thought to herself, ¡®She¡¯s kissing him for no good reason. What degree of ¡®friend¡¯ is she?¡¯
Annina did not seem the least bit bothered. She immediately thought of something else and said, ¡°Lei, Long Bing mentioned something once. She asked if I knew how to make guns. Um... Sniper rifles. I said I could and that my father and grandfather were gun-makers, so I know how to make guns from childhood. I joined Krupp Mak Maschinenbau afterwards and thispany is also a military enterprise with its own light weapons production line. I told her I have an understanding of these production lines and she let mee so I could talk to you about a n for making guns. I just feel that guns aren¡¯t as good as car engines, so I pushed this topic back forter.¡±
Xia Lei then understood why Long Bing had let Anninae knocking on his door on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Boss Shi must know about Long Bing getting an advanced sniper rifle from him so they were probably thinking of getting him to produce more advanced sniper rifles for the nation, hence the appearance of Annina as a guest.
¡°So, how much investment is needed for the production of sniper rifles?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Annina thought for a bit and said, ¡°It depends on the production capacity. Arge production line would need a lot of money, of course, but if it¡¯s small... I¡¯d estimate it to be around three hundred million. It¡¯s not just the cost of production of the equipment but the testing too.¡±
¡°Three hundred million?¡± Xia Lei frowned. His assets were only in the two hundred million range. The branchpany in Sichuan would probably cost him over one hundred million, leaving him with little more than one hundred million - it was not enough.
¡°Three hundred million, at the least,¡± said Annina.
If he could maintain the quality and advanced specifications in the production line for sniper rifles, orders from the military woulde flooding in; enough to make one vomit from all the work. His arms would get cramps from counting all the money he¡¯d make. Xia Lei had rejected Long Bing¡¯s idea because he was the only one who could make the guns and he was only modifying it. There was no way they could produce guns based on Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s capabilities. However, it was different with Annina. ording to what she said, her family was like a gun-producing n and she was familiar with the light weapons production line operations in Krupp Mak Maschinenbau. Even he did not have this sort of information on this end. It waspletely different with Annina on board!
Xia Lei smelt a business opportunity - and a big one at that.
¡°Nn. Tell Long Bing that I¡¯ll consider it, then tell her my decision. And you can get me a simplified version so I can get an idea of what your n¡¯s about. It¡¯ll help me reach a decision too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay. She let me stay for three days but I¡¯m not allowed to go out. I can make a simple n for you during these three days,¡± said Annina.
¡°You¡¯re... staying for three days?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s expression was a little odd.
¡°Yeah. Long Bing won¡¯t let me stay in a hotel and won¡¯t let me go out. Her subordinates are on guard outside too,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei looked away from her and used his X-ray vision. There wasn¡¯t anyone in the doorway but a familiar face was in the stairwell - Ke Jie. He moved his gaze from the door to the balcony and saw a Buick van parked by the side of the road outside the walls of his neighbourhood. Two stone-faced young men he did not recognise sat in the Buick. One could tell in one nce that they were obviously not regr people.
¡°Can I stay here? I¡¯d have to go to Jingdu if you don¡¯t let me stay. I don¡¯t want to go back so early. That ce is awful.¡± Annina looked anxiously at Xia Lei.
¡°Of course you can. Stay in my room. I¡¯ll sleep in my father¡¯s room,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Thank you.¡± Annina gave Xia Lei another hug. And of course, kisses on the cheeks followed.
Xia Xue did not understand the part of the conversation where Xia Lei and Annina were talking about the production of sniper rifles. She was just a first-year after all and her English was limited. However, she did understand when Annina said she wanted to stay for three days and she smiled as she said, ¡°I¡¯ll go prepare some pyjamas and house slippers for Xia Mei. Oh, Big Sister Xia Mei, you can use mine if you don¡¯t mind.¡±
¡°No problem. I¡¯ll be troubling you.¡± Annina¡¯s smile was so sweet it could cause diabetes.
¡°It¡¯s no trouble at all, Big Sister Xia Mei.¡± Xia Xue smiled too but her smile was a little strange and she looked at her brother when she smiled.
Xia Lei red at her.
Just then, Xia Lei¡¯s mobile phone rang.
Xia Lei took out his phone and looked at the screen - it was Shentu Tian-Yin. He picked up and said, ¡°Happy New Year, Tian-Yin.¡±
¡°Happy New Year. Do you have time?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°I don¡¯t havepany matters to take care of today so how about we go to the park for a walk?¡±
¡°Oh, um...¡± Xia Lei looked at Annina. She hade to be his houseguest but he was going off to apany Shentu Tian-Yin on a walk around the park; it was a little difficult to exin.
¡°Father is going too. He said he¡¯s not seen you in a while so he misses you. Nn, he¡¯s recovering well. It¡¯s just that his legs have not gained enough strength to walk yet. It¡¯ll be good if you can take a look,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Okay, let¡¯s meet at the park entrance. Oh, right, which park?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Jingshan Park,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
After ending the call, Xia Lei said apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Xia Mei. I have to go out for a bit. I¡¯ll be back in the afternoon and we can have dinner together. I¡¯ll make delicious dishes for you.¡±
Annina shrugged. ¡°No problem. I have to write my ns anyway. Go on. I¡¯ll see you in the evening.¡±
Xia Lei red at Xia Xue. ¡°Xue, you stay at home today to apany Xia Mei.¡±
¡°Uhn.¡± Xia Xue pouted her little lips.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll cook sweet and sour pork for you tonight.¡±
¡°Nice! Heh heh.¡± Xia Xue smiled.
Chapter 245 - Dragon And Phoenix Sugar Figures
It was the Chinese way to take a walk in the park and go pray at the temple on the first day of the Lunar New Year and the rich were no different.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Shentu Ren were already waiting when Xia Lei drove to the park. Shentu Ren was in a wheelchair and pushing it was his most loyal subordinate, Fu Chuan-Fu. Fu Ming-Mei and a few other bodyguards were also following behind and security was tight.
Xia Lei parked his car and walked over. Shentu Tian-Yin smiled at him. Her dimpled smile was exceptionally bright under the spring sun. With an exquisitely beautiful face and delicate, sexy body, her beauty was wless.
Shentu Ren lifted a hand and waved at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei strode over and said with a smile, ¡°Uncle Ren, you can wave now. You¡¯re recovering well.¡±
¡°This is all thanks to you.¡± Shentu Ren smiled as he said, ¡°I¡¯d still be lying in bed waiting for death if it weren¡¯t for you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too kind, Uncle Ren,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Right, what have you been busy with these days? You haven¡¯te to see me in a while.¡± Shentu Ren pretended to look unhappy.
¡°There were some problems at thepany. I wanted to visit you too but I couldn¡¯t find the time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Has it been settled?¡± asked Shentu Ren.
¡°All settled,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s good. Feel free to tell me if you have any problems in the future. I¡¯ll definitely help if I can,¡± said Shentu Ren.
¡°Yes, thank you,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°Let¡¯s go in,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°You two go in first. I¡¯d like Chuan-Fu to apany me in basking in the sun. Oh, the sunshine¡¯s lovely today. Warms you all up inside and it¡¯sfortable,¡± said Shentu Ren.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei and gave him a small smile. ¡°Let¡¯s go in and walk around.¡±
¡°Nn, okay.¡± Xia Lei followed Shentu Tian-Yin through the gates of the park.
The park was lively and crowded with young and old, young couples and even some vendors selling things. Not one bodyguard from Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s entourage followed, not even her personal bodyguard Fu Ming-Mei. She still felt very safe with Xia Lei by her side. She walked with Xia Lei to the busiest part of the park.
¡°I want to eat a sugar figure.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was like a little girl again when they passed a vendor. Her eyes sparkled and she did not walk further.
¡°Buy one if you want to eat it,¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked embarrassed. ¡°I didn¡¯t bring any money.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll get one for you.¡± Xia Lei walked to the vendor¡¯s booth.
Shentu Tian-Yin drew close. ¡°I want the phoenix figure.¡±
Xia Lei picked a phoenix figure up and handed it to Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin bent and picked a dragon figure, then put it in Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°You eat this one.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I haven¡¯t eaten a sugar figure in years. It¡¯s nice to try it again.¡±
Xia Lei paid and was pulled to another busy area by Shentu Tian-Yin. After making a circle, the two of them got into a cable car. The view from the cable car was wide and one could see the sea and the mountains surrounding the park. It was nice.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you ask me for help thest time?¡± asked Shentu Tian-Yin as she watched the view beyond the window.
She was now the queen of Vientaine Group, a stark contrast to her girlish joy earlier; a great aura burst forth from her.
¡°I did think of asking you for help but I thought more about it and... it would mean a war between yourself and the Gu n¡¯s North Group. It¡¯s like sacrificing a thousand of your own to kill 800 of the enemy, so why do something so disadvantageous? I can solve my problem,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had not only solved his problem but had managed to do even better under the Gu n¡¯s assault. His branchpany was being built quickly and the various outsourcedpanies were also busypleting orders for Thunder Horse Manufacturing. He would probably have maintained his previous status quo without the Gu n¡¯s attempt to shut him down and wouldn¡¯t have thought of a branchpany and outsourcing.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked away from the scenery and at Xia Lei. She smiled faintly as she said, ¡°The Gu n isrge but they did not manage to trouble you. Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s pride must be very hurt. But a person with his personality won¡¯t just let it go. You have to be careful. Don¡¯t forget about me the next time he makes trouble for you; don¡¯t reject my help.¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely ask you for help if I need it.¡±
¡°Nn... You¡¯re not keeping in contact with Miss Liang?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. He did not say anything; he did not know what he should say. He had not even told Long Bing of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s identity, so how could he tell Shentu Tian-Yin?
Shentu Tian-Yin did not press the matter and quieted. She had told her father that she was Shentu Tian-Yin and that the man she liked should be the one wooing her but she had not received even a phone call from Xia Lei, much less him taking the initiative to invite her out for a meal or a movie. Her self-confidence was starting to crumble and this was probably the reason why she had invited Xia Lei out for a walk in the park on the first day of the Spring Festival. However, Xia Lei had not paid her a lot of attention nor buttered her up as she had expected. She was a little disappointed by that.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went out the window too and he inadvertently caught a glimpse of something and his gaze fixed on the ground.
A young man was holding a camera and taking pictures of him and Shentu Tian-Yin in the cable car.
Taking pictures of a cable car suspended in the air? Xia Lei had a sense of misgiving. The young man came into sharp focus in his left eye and the first impressions Xia Lei got when he saw the young man¡¯s face were cold detachment and ruthlessness.
The young man seemed to have sensed Xia Lei watching him through the lenses of his camera. He turned his camera away and pretended to shoot other things. He took some shots, then mixed in with the crowd.
Xia Lei, however, had his eye on the young man. The young man walked in the opposite direction and Xia Lei lost sight of him as the cable car went on its way up towards the mountaintop.
¡®That guy was obviously observing me and Tian-Yin. Is he from the Gu n or from the CIA?¡¯ wondered Xia Lei.
The Gu n had been quiet recently and the CIA did not seem to have made any moves after Liang Si-Yao left China. It looked to be all peaceful on the surface but Xia Lei had not let down his guard for a single day. He knew that the Gu n would not let him off and the CIA would not ¡®give up¡¯ on the only person who had taken AE pills.
¡°What are you looking at?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin broke the silence in the cable car.
¡°There was someone taking pictures of us,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked out the window but all she saw was a thick patch of forest. There were many people all around but she could not even see the face of the closest person clearly. ¡°Where?¡± she asked curiously.
¡°He¡¯d already left when I discovered him, walking in the opposite direction,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked again but it was too far away. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re so nervous that you made a mistake,¡± she said with a smile.
Would a person who didn¡¯t need a scope on a sniper rifle make a mistake? Xia Lei was sure of what he had seen, but he could not guess if that person was from the Gu n or the CIA. Thetter situation worried him more.
¡°Oh, right, I heard you opened a branchpany in Sichuan. How¡¯s it progressing?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin changed the topic.
¡°It¡¯s going all right. Production can start in two or three months,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You can ask me if youck funds. I may not be able to help you in other matters but I can help you in this anytime,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of Annina¡¯s two ns - one needed 2.5 billion for an engine production base and the other was to make guns and needed three hundred million. Hecked the funds for both ns. How much would Shentu Tian-Yin lend him if he asked?
The thought of borrowing money crossed his mind but a protest surfaced in his head at the same time. ¡®She may be able to lend me a few hundred million but billions are too much. She and Shentu Ren would think I helped them for money if I asked to borrow so much, won¡¯t they? All for their money. Even if I did have the funds for the engine production base n, the requirements for it have not been met yet. As for the sniper rifle n, the government would give me a loan even if Icked money, and it¡¯ll be the type of loan with no interest either. There is no need for me to borrow money from her, and owe her a favour in the end, right?¡¯
It was true. He did not have to worry about money at all if he picked Annina¡¯s second n of producing guns. Bureau 101 wished for him to do this, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have sent Annina to be a ¡®spokesperson¡¯ for it. He only had to nod and agree for the government to give him money and equipment.
There was another problem to consider when borrowing money from the Shentu n - what should he say if Shentu Tian-Yin or Shentu Ren wanted shares?
There was a smile on Xia Lei¡¯s face as he thought that and he said, ¡°Thank you. I don¡¯t need it for now. I¡¯ll definitelye ask to borrow from you if weck the funds. Don¡¯t reject me what that timees.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Try asking and see if I¡¯ll lend it to you.¡±
¡°Then can you lend me ten yuan now?¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Shentu Tian-Yin paused as she remembered that she had no cash on her. She looked at Xia Lei in embarrassment, and her eyes filled with an adorable grumpiness.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m just joking. I¡¯ll definitely ask you for help if I need a loan.¡±
The cable car stopped in the middle and Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin went to the viewing tform. Xia Lei scanned the tourists on the tform but did not see that young man.
¡°Don¡¯t go back home in the afternoon. Come to my ce for a meal,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Sure. I can also give Uncle Ren a massage and do some acupuncture on him to help him in his recovery,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin pursed her lips in a smile and said, ¡°Father is full of praise for you; he talks about you all day. You shoulde visit more often.¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯lle often in the future. Let¡¯s go down. Your father and his group must have entered the park by now,¡± said Xia Lei.
The two of them took the cable car down and met Shentu Ren in the park. Theyughed and chatted as they walked around the park. Xia Lei used his left eye to scan his surroundings again but did not spot the young man. He did not spot him but Xia Lei still had a strange feeling that the young man was hidden in some ce he couldn¡¯t see and was observing him.
¡®A person even I cannot see - how great is his anti-surveince ability? Who is he?¡¯ That young man was like a ghost and his face lingered in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
Chapter 246 - Harmonious Combination of East and West
MATURE IMAGES WARNING
Xia Lei left the Shentu Residence in the afternoon. Shentu Ren had wanted him to stay for dinner but Xia Lei declined. He had promised Annina that he would have dinner with her. However, he did not speak of it because of Annina¡¯s special circumstances.
The ck BMW M6 went further and further till Shentu Ren finally looked away. He looked at Shentu Tian-Yin next to him and said casually, ¡°What was his reaction?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked back at him. ¡°What are you trying to say, Father? What reaction?¡±
Shentu Renughed. ¡°My daughter is the world¡¯s most outstanding person - was he not moved? The reaction I¡¯m talking about is whether he confessed to you or anything like that, of course.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin shook her head. ¡°No.¡±
¡°Then... hints?¡±
¡°No.¡±
Shentu Ren wrinkled his brows. ¡°What is this punk thinking?¡±
¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯d like to know.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin sighed. ¡°He¡¯s difficult to grasp.¡±
¡°How about taking the initiative, Daughter?¡±
¡°No. He should be the one doing it,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°I¡¯ve said that the man I like should be the one courting me, not me courting him. Stop worrying about this, Father. Him and I are people who ce importance on our careers. We should give each other our own time and space.¡±
¡°Forget it. I should just worry about my own body. Xia Lei is skilled - my body feels more rxed after he did some acupuncture on me. Oh, right, when is heing again?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, but he said he wille visit you often.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin pushed Shentu Ren to the door.
Shentu Ren chuckled. ¡°Visiting me is just an excuse to see you, isn¡¯t it? You two... You two obviously have feelings for each other but you¡¯re not talking about it.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked abashed. ¡°Father, I won¡¯t push you anymore if you keep talking about it. I¡¯ll let you roll yourself back.¡±
Shentu Ren smiled wryly. ¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t say any more. Is that okay now?¡±
Father and daughter entered the main doors and the gates closed.
-----
The old t was the picture of warmth and festivity under the sky of night. Xia Lei had worked hard for three hours to produce a tabletop full of delicious dishes. There were not just Chinese dishes and Xia Xue¡¯s favourite sweet-sour pork - he had taken care to include dishes which would suit Annina¡¯s taste buds as well and made several German dishes like a sd, beef rode and pork knuckle.
The three of them finished two bottles of red wine and the one with the lowest alcohol tolerance was, of course, Xia Xue. She threw in the towel after two sses of red wine and went back to her room to sleep. Xia Lei and Annina opened another bottle and talked about production lines for sniper rifles as they drank.
Through their conversation, Xia Lei discovered that it was a mistake to describe Annina with the ¡®elite engineer¡¯ title. She was a weapons and ammunition expert, through and through. She was familiar with everything ranging from the P299 handgun produced by SIG to the world¡¯s most advanced Leopard 2.
The more he talked with Annina, the more he understood why Long Bing had pushed to get Annina to work for Bureau 101 behind the scenes. A weapons and ammunition expert like her was a rare talent in any developing area of China and highly sought after.
¡°Um, Annina, did Long Bing or anyone here ask you to join our military production nts?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
¡°Yeah. Long Bing, nn, and an old man named Shi. They asked me to join something called China Industrial Group but I didn¡¯t agree. I told them clearly that I¡¯m not going anywhere if it¡¯s not your Thunder Horse Manufacturing,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei had a bit of an understanding of the situation then and he smiled as he said, ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll try to find a way to get you over and we can work together.¡±
Annina poured more wine into Xia Lei¡¯s ss as she said, ¡°Do you remember? In the woods near my home, when you taught me to fire that gun?¡±
Xia Lei clinked sses with her. ¡°I remember. We took down those sons of bitches together.¡±
¡°Heh heh...¡± Annina giggled, ¡°So you curse too. I¡¯d always thought that you were a very shy and gentle man.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m a spy. I know how to act. I¡¯m not a shy, gentle man - I¡¯m fierce.¡± Xia Lei became more chatty after downing alcohol. Men always have the habit of bragging - it was just normally not so obvious on Xia Lei. The bragging came out after he¡¯d had one too many.
¡°You¡¯re awesome, I know. But I know you weren¡¯t pretending.¡± Annina grinned as she said, ¡°After such a long time in China, I¡¯ve thought over our interactions and I know that the person I met was the real you, not an act. I also know that you were a temporary spy, not a real one. Am I right?¡±
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed at having his bragging words proven wrong. ¡°It¡¯s all in the past. Let¡¯s not talk about it.¡±
¡°No, I won¡¯t forget that time for the rest of my life. You were like an angel, suddenly appearing in my life.¡± Annina looked at Xia Lei, her beautiful face flushed red. She was at her alcohol limits.
Warm lights, meaningful eyes and blushing cheeks - the beauty and sexiness of this female German machinist was just there waiting quietly for him. She was like an engrossing book which one would want to hold and read for a whole night.
Xia Lei looked away from her gaze. ¡°Let¡¯s drink onest ss. We should rest afterwards.¡±
¡°For our reunion.¡± Annina raised her ss.
¡°For our reunion.¡± Xia Lei clinked sses with her and downed the red wine in his ss.
Annina got up and went to Xia Lei¡¯s room. Xia Lei put the dishes away, then went to his father¡¯s room.
Xia Leiy in bed after washing up and quietly pondered over how he could get Long Bing to agree to let Annina go back to him. He also thought about how he should ask to receive sponsorship for the building of a production line for sniper rifles.
Negotiations needed skill, especially since this involved hundreds of millions and Annina, who had to keep her identity secret. He had to think of how he could broach the subject and consider Long Bing and Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s various reactions.
After that was out of his head, the face of the mysterious young man surfaced in his head again...
Knock knock. A soft knock came from the door and Annina¡¯s voice said, ¡°Lei, are you asleep?¡±
What did she want, knocking on his door in the middle of the night?
Xia Lei grew unexinably nervous. His left eye twitched and he saw Annina standing behind the door.
¡°Lei, are you asleep?¡± asked Annina again.
Xia Lei was going to keep quiet and give her the impression that he¡¯d already gone to bed but he saw a book of ns in her hand. He wavered, then said, ¡°I¡¯m awake. Come in.¡±
The door was not locked and it opened with a light push.
Annina entered the room and closed the door. Xia Lei looked at her nkly, a strange feeling in his heart. What did she close the door for?
Xia Lei made to get out of bed but Annina said, ¡°It¡¯s chilly at night. Stay in bed.¡±
¡°Did you want to discuss your ns with me?¡± asked Xia Lei tentatively.
Annina took off her slippers and climbed onto the bed. She put the book of ns before Xia Lei matter-of-factly. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ve finished one part and I¡¯d like to discuss it with you.¡±
Discuss the ns? Xia Lei was doubtful but he still opened the book.
Annina¡¯s ns were very professional but Xia Lei was in no mood to concentrate on reading.
Annina suddenly drew close...
The night sky beyond the window was as clear as if it had been washed, and the moon, the only thing in the sky, hid behind a cloud, too shy to look directly at the harmoniousbination of East and West.
Chapter 247 - Afternoon Fright
¡°Brother, Big Sister Xia Mei, get up and eat.¡± Xia Xue¡¯s voice came from beyond the door.
The two tired people beneath the nkets awoke then and started to look for their clothing in a panic. Xia Lei was more or less normal and he had his clothes but Annina could only walk out in pyjamas which looked like they were child-sized on her.
Xia Xue stood with her arms crossed, watching Anninae out of her brother¡¯s room in a panic. She had to try very very hard to hold back herughter when she saw Annina in the too-small pyjamas.
Annina smiled awkwardly at Xia Xue. ¡°I... I was not in there for long. Uh, I went to talk with your brother about my ns.¡± Annina showed her the book after she spoke, as if to say ¡®Look, the ns. It really is the ns - I¡¯m not lying¡¯.
Xia Xue acted like nothing was wrong and nodded. ¡°Nn, I know. What I¡¯m trying to say is that it¡¯s already ten in the morning and I woke up at five.¡±
Annina blinked herrge blue eyes, then covered part of her exposed buttocks as she crept back into Xia Lei¡¯s room.
Xia Lei walked out all properly dressed in a suit and dress shoes. He did not look like someone who had just gotten up at all, but like someone who was going to attend an important formal event.
¡°Isn¡¯t it time for breakfast? What are you still standing here for? Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Xia Lei put on the act of a stern big brother.
Xia Xue let out a puffingugh. ¡°You¡¯re so hardworking, Brother. You even talk about work in bed. Oh, right, what did you say again? Just friends?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face turned red immediately. ¡°Shoo, shoo, go do what you¡¯re supposed to be doing. Kids should mind their own business and not poke their noses in adult matters.¡±
Xia Xue pouted. ¡°I¡¯m an adult too, okay? You keep treating me like a kid. I¡¯m not going to care anymore.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, thinking that he really should buy a bigger home; a vi two or three stories high. His younger sister was considered an adult now but situations like these were still embarrassing.
Breakfast proceeded in awkwardness and ended in awkwardness. Even the carefree Annina was rather sombre.
After breakfast, Xia Xue said, ¡°Brother, I¡¯m going to hang out with my best friend. No need to wait for me for lunch in the afternoon.¡±
¡°Go, go. Be careful out there,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Xue then said to Annina, ¡°Bye, Big Sister Xia Mei.¡±
¡°Bye, Xue.¡± Annina let out an internal sigh of relief. She couldn¡¯t wait for Xia Xue to leave.
Xia Lei remembered something when she walked to the door and called her. ¡°Wait, I¡¯ll get Lu Sheng to follow you. He¡¯s on duty at thepany. Hold on for fifteen minutes and he¡¯ll be here.¡±
Xia Xue looked surprised. ¡°You¡¯re getting me a bodyguard, Brother? I¡¯m not some princess; I don¡¯t need a bodyguard. My friend will call me ostentatious. I don¡¯t want to lose friends.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Listen to me. Have you forgotten what happenedst time? The Gu n is rotten and they will do anything. I discovered a suspicious person yesterday - what if he harms you?¡±
¡°Really?¡± Xia Xue was frightened.
Xia Lei softened his tone. ¡°I¡¯ll get Lu Sheng to follow you. He¡¯s very professional. Your friend won¡¯t notice him.¡±
¡°Okay then. Let Big Brother Shenge with me.¡± Xia Xue gave in.
Xia Lei gave Lu Sheng a call and he arrived in under twenty minutes. Xia Lei told him of the situation and he dly consented to help. He left with Xia Xue.
Xia Lei had thought that Lu Sheng would leave too after Liang Si-Yao left since the main reason he had left Zhang Sen¡¯s employment toe to him was Liang Si-Yao. It now looked like Lu Sheng was not the type to be swayed by emotions. Xia Lei also paid him way more than Zhang Sen did, and Lu Sheng was on better terms with him aftering back from Mount Emei.
¡°Do you think that suspicious person could be from America? CIA?¡± Annina was nervous too but she did not dare speak of it in front of Xia Xue and Lu Sheng.
The young man¡¯s face appeared again in Xia Lei¡¯s head. He thought for a bit and said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem likely but I have no way to confirm. Just be careful. Don¡¯t show yourself in front of windows and don¡¯t go out.¡±
Annina shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t step outside the whole day yesterday. I have people guarding me too but you don¡¯t. You¡¯re the one who should be more careful.¡±
¡°Nn, let¡¯s talk about your ns. Last night...¡± Xia Lei did not continue. He had experienced the wildness of a Germanic womanst night and the experience was one he would remember his whole life.
Annina seemed a little shy too. ¡°Why talk about it? Last night... You¡¯ve broken me.¡±
Her shyness, coy eyes and this gentle, sexy voice made a certain part of Xia Lei¡¯s body wake up. He then felt an ache in his waist andplicated feelings arose. He said awkwardly, ¡°Um, let¡¯s just talk about those ns.¡±
Annina winked at him. ¡°Let¡¯s discuss it in the bedroom.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Annina took Xia Lei¡¯s arm and guided him to the bedroom.
Xia Lei¡¯s waist and legs grew inexplicably achey.
The difficulty of servicing a German woman 185 cm tall was a higher level than normal...
Xia Lei only managed to finish reading the five pages of the ns Annina wrote by two in the afternoon. He had to admit that Annina was an expert in this field. She had only written five pages but there were detailed lists for the equipment, manpower and capital needed. He could understand everything in one reading and had a rough idea of what had to be done.
Of course, the actual time spent on the ns was just an hour.
¡°How much time do you need to finish it all?¡± Xia Lei put down the ns and looked at Annina.
A messy-haired Annina thought for a bit and replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have an assistant. I¡¯ll need roughly a fortnight toplete the whole n. I¡¯d like to stay with you for this fortnight. Can you talk with Long Bing?¡±
Xia Lei subconsciously rubbed his very achey waist, his expression odd. ¡°Uh, she¡¯s not an easy person to talk to. I may not be able to convince her.¡±
Just a day and a half was already so intense - won¡¯t he end up in the hospital if she were to stay for a fortnight?
¡°Mm, then forget it. I¡¯lle work at yourpany sooner orter anyway,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh of relief. ¡°Give me the ns in a fortnight. I¡¯ll talk to Long Bing and Boss Shi. You should be able toe to mypany after we conclude our talks.¡±
¡°Really? That¡¯s great! I¡¯ll finish these ns up as soon as I can.¡± Annina hugged Xia Lei in excitement.
Xia Lei grew nervous but fortunately, his phone rang.
It was Xia Xue. He epted the call and her voice full of anxiety and nervousness immediately came from the phone. ¡°Brother! Lu Sheng, he... He...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. ¡°What happened to Lu Sheng? Calm down, speak slowly.¡±
Xia Xue cried over the line, ¡°He, he¡¯s been stabbed. Come, quick. I, I¡¯m so scared!¡±
¡°Where are you?¡±
¡°We are at the Couples¡¯ Road, near the entrance of the Dahua Market. We nned to go to Fox Ind but someone suddenly attacked me and tried to drag me to a car... Lu Sheng rushed over to fight him but he was stabbed in an instant. Brother, I¡¯m scared... Wuuuh...¡± Xia Xue sobbed and could not continue.
¡°Don¡¯t be scared. Call for the ambnce, then the police. I¡¯ll be right there.¡± He hung up and got up to walk out the door as he said, ¡°Annina, something¡¯s happened. Stay inside, don¡¯t go out. Call me if anything happens.¡±
¡°What happened?¡± asked Annina worriedly.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you when I¡¯m back. Stay inside. I¡¯m off.¡± Xia Lei went out.
The ck BMW M6 galloped on the road at up to 150 km/hr, but Xia Lei felt it was not enough - he wanted to sprout wings and fly to Xia Xue.
He did not see who had tried to kidnap Xia Xue but the young man¡¯s face appeared in his mind again.
Lu Sheng was a Special Forces retiree, knew grappling and even did three years of Wing Chun. A man like him could not be defeated by anyone but he had been stabbed instantly. How strong had his opponent been?
Xia Lei felt an invisible pressure and his anger billowed fiercely. ¡¯How dare you make a move on my sister! I have only one sister - she¡¯s my life! I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re from the Gu n or the CIA. You harm my sister and I¡¯ll have your life!¡¯
If the perpetrator was that mysterious young man, was he from the Gu n or the CIA? Xia Lei¡¯s guess was the Gu n. The CIA¡¯s target was him, so they wouldn¡¯t bother touching Xia Xue. This was not the best guess but he was roughly 80% sure. If he took the CIA out of the picture, then it could only be the Gu n.
Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s face appeared in his head. He gritted his teeth and his expression grew savage. He wanted to kill!
Xia Xue called again before he got to Couples¡¯ Road, telling him not to go there. She had already gotten into the ambnce with Lu Sheng and they were at the hospital in the area.
Xia Lei got to that hospital in twenty minutes and saw Xia Xue waiting for him as soon as he opened the door and walked into the lobby.
Xia Xue rushed into his arms when she saw him, crying loudly, ¡°Brother... Whuuuh...¡±
¡°Hush, don¡¯t be scared, Brother¡¯s here. No one can harm you,¡± consoled Xia Lei.
Some of the fear in Xia Xue went away after she cried and she calmed.
¡°Tell Brother what that person looked like,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°He covered his face. I did not see his face but his body is like yours. He¡¯s very strong. He, he¡¯s scary,¡± said Xia Xue.
This short description was enough for Xia Lei to confirm that that person was the young man he had seen in the park taking pictures of him and Shentu Tian-Yin, because that young man¡¯s body was very simr to his.
A police officer walked over. ¡°Miss, I have a few questions for you. Please assist in our investigation.¡±
Xia Xue looked at Xia Lei.
¡°Go on. I¡¯ll go see Lu Sheng,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Xue went with the police officer and Xia Lei went to the doors of the operating room. Two police officers stood on guard by the doors. The doors were closed and there was no way to see Lu Sheng, who was undergoing emergency operations to save his life.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the scene in the operating room entered his eye.
Two surgeons were operating on Lu Sheng and several nurses were close by, assisting. Lu Shengy on the operating table with his eyes closed and a respirator over his nose and mouth. He had three stab wounds on his body - one in his lower abdomen, one on his arm and one below his heart.
The stab wound below his heart was obviously the most serious. Lu Sheng would be dead if it had been just one centimetre higher.
¡®Rest assured, Lu Sheng. I will avenge you!¡¯ Xia Lei inner voice was as cold as ice.
Chapter 248 - Wester-in-law And Fated Sister-in-law
Lu Sheng awoke in a VIP ward to see Xia Lei and Xia Xue standing by the bed. His first words were, ¡°What¡¯s this nice room for? A normal ward will do.¡±
Xia Lei was touched. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about this, Big Brother Sheng. I¡¯ve already talked with the hospital. I want them to use the best medicine and the best doctors. They will treat you well.¡±
Lu Sheng smiled wryly, ¡°I won¡¯t die so easily. It¡¯s just... I¡¯m sorry for scaring Xue.¡±
¡°No, don¡¯t ever say that again, Big Brother Sheng. Xue would have been in a much worse situation if you had not been around. I don¡¯t even dare to think of it. You saved her life and you got stabbed three times. I will not let your sacrifice go in vain.¡±
Lu Sheng seemed to have guessed what Xia Lei was about to say and he quickly cut him off. ¡°It is part of my job as bodyguard.¡±
¡°We both had the same Master and you are still considered my Senior Disciple. What¡¯s this about being a bodyguard? Xue and I have never seen you as an outsider. I¡¯ve already decided - your annual sry of 200,000 is now your monthly sry.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Lu Sheng was so shocked that he could not close his mouth. 200,000 a month meant 2,400,000 a year. If he added bonuses and whatnot the total would be close to 3,000,000! A sry like this was not much different from what high-ranking people inrgepanies make. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that a small bodyguard like him would be able to earn so much!
¡°Thank you, Big Brother Sheng,¡± said Xia Xue.
Lu Sheng smiled wryly. ¡°What¡¯s this, you two? You don¡¯t have to do this, really. How can I take so much from you?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t talk that way, Big Brother Sheng. What¡¯s mine is yours and your matters are my matters from now on. Just ask if there is anything you need me for. I won¡¯t treat you like my brother anymore if you refuse.¡±
¡°All right, I can¡¯t out-talk you.¡± Lu Sheng stopped protesting.
¡°You exchanged blows with that person, Big Brother Sheng. Can you tell me about it?¡± Xia Lei changed the topic.
Lu Sheng furrowed his brows as he recalled the incident and a hint of fear appeared in his eyes. ¡°That person.. He covered his face but I know he¡¯s young, about your age, probably. His body shape is simr to yours too. I¡¯ve never seen anyone as vicious as him. He was quick - so quick that it¡¯s hard to defend against him. He stabbed me three times and I could not dodge the first two. I barely managed to move away on the third stab, otherwise I would not be here right now. Lei, if you meet him, you have to be careful. That guy is definitely an experienced killer. The things he can do are things we who practice martial arts cannot understand.¡±
The aim of martial arts was to strengthen the body and mind. The aim of killers was to kill people. Two different aims meant two different fields of study so martial artists and killers could not discuss two disparate things together. Another way of saying it was that a Wulin practitioner would most probably defeat a killer in the fighting ring but put their lives on the line and the killer would likely kill off the Wulin practitioner outside of the ring.
¡°I don¡¯t care how strong that guy is, Big Brother Sheng. I will right this wrong for you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t!¡± said Lu Sheng hurriedly, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to trade blows with that guy. He is even more difficult to deal with than that American Bruce Long, I tell you. Really. I cannot describe what I felt back then - it was too frightening.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t act without thinking. Rest. I¡¯lle see you tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No need. Just go do whatever you have to do. This little injury can¡¯t kill me,¡± said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei nodded. He brought Xia Xue with him and left the hospital.
The cool night breeze blew across his cheeks as he walked out of the hospital. The anger in his heart went down to a smoulder. Then he saw the woman standing next to his ck BMW M6.
ck dress, ck heels, ck handbag, standing tall with a look of indifference. Her aura was a mixture of three things - sexiness, mystery and danger.
¡°When did you arrive, Big Sister Bing?¡± Xia Xue went over in wee and greeted her warmly.
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°An hour ago. I flew over once I got the news. Get in the car first. I want to talk to your brother alone.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Xue agreed obediently and got into her brother¡¯s car. Long Bing was not a candidate for Sister-inw in her world but she was definitely a Big Sister. She would listen to Long Bing.
Xia Lei walked over to Long Bing. He did not find her appearance strange because it was not weird for her to have such information due to her identity.
¡°Don¡¯t be impulsive.¡± This was the first sentence Long Bing said to Xia Lei.
¡°Do I look like I¡¯m going to do something impulsive now?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know you¡¯re not an impulsive person but this concerns Xia Xue. I cannot predict how you¡¯ll act. This is why I flew over,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Xue is my only family in the world. I won¡¯t let off anyone who tries to hurt her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know that. The person on the other side went off when Xia Xue returned because you¡¯re here to protect her. They didn¡¯t want to waste resources but the unexpected happened. I will guarantee you that this will never happen again,¡± said Long Bing.
Long Bing¡¯s guarantee gave Xia Lei some information, and that was that he was still very valuable to Bureau 101.
¡°Right, so where do you suspect that person¡¯s from?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°I suspect the Gu n,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You sure?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not 100% sure but maybe 70 to 80% sure. The Gu n lost three people in the previous affair and Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s pride was hurt. I¡¯m also an existence which Gu Ke-Wu wants to erase. No one else is as unscrupulous as the Gu n, so it makes sense for them to go after my sister. If it¡¯s the CIA, they would go after me and Annina but they didn¡¯t,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing¡¯s expression was like ice. ¡°Huh! He thinks the Gu n is one of the Four Great ns in the Song dynasty or something? They would be fine if they¡¯d just let things be. Their actions bring them closer to death¡¯s door.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You say that but the Gu n is still a force to be reckoned with. They¡¯re a collection of powerful people with interests which align with each other. It¡¯s difficult to shut them down, otherwise they would¡¯ve been shut down long ago.¡±
Even Shi Bo-Ren had been unable to help him the previous time. This was a real-life example of their power. If it hadn¡¯t been for Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s impulsiveness in trying to frame Hu Hou for his murder, Thunder Horse Manufacturing would probably not have had its suspension cancelled.
A faint smile appeared on Long Bing¡¯s lips. ¡°Gu Ding-Shan is one to take down. You think it¡¯s easy? Anyway, don¡¯t make any reckless moves during this period of time, and don¡¯t try to get revenge on the Gu n. If you do that you fall into their trap. You¡¯re a smart man. You should know that they are expecting you to do this.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°About your situation here, I¡¯ve decided to take Annina back to Jing-Du tomorrow. And Xia Xue. She¡¯lle with me too. I¡¯ve arranged for her to have foreignnguage lessons and some self-defence training or something. She¡¯s your sister so she will run into some dangerous situations in the future. She cannot be as weak as she is now,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°You want to train her?¡± Xia Lei asked probingly, ¡°You want to turn her into someone like you?¡±
¡°What¡¯s so bad about learning more skills?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Training is just training. I won¡¯t let her join Bureau 101 - no negotiating,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You think it¡¯s so easy to get epted into Bureau 101? She¡¯s not qualified even if it¡¯s just up to me to decide,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei rxed a little at that. He had just one sister and as the head of the household he felt like her father too. Xia Xue was the daughter of his heart and he did not want her leading the dangerous life of an employee of Bureau 101.
¡°Let¡¯s talk about that other thing too,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°I believe Annina has told you. Have you thought about it?¡±
Xia Lei knew she would bring it up. ¡°Annina did tell me about it and I did consider it. I will agree but I have two conditions,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Say them.¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. There was a hint of happiness in her eyes when he said he agreed.
¡°The first condition is that Annina has to return to my side,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s no problem. She¡¯s bent on following you so she¡¯s not willing to go anywhere else. I wouldn¡¯t have sent her to ask you otherwise.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°The second condition - I don¡¯t have that much money to start production lines and I need at least 500 million in loans. If the government loans the amount to me there will be no interest charged and 30% of the goods delivered will be used to repay the loan till the repayment isplete.¡±
Long Bing for silent for a while before she spoke again, ¡°Then how high of a quality can you guarantee?¡±
¡°It will definitely not be as good as the one I modified for you since it¡¯ll be mass produced but it should be no problem to get them to the level of the most advanced in the world. Annina and I will be working together - you know our capabilities. If we can¡¯t do it then nobody in China can,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right. I¡¯ve already reached a consensus with Boss Shi so I can promise you your first condition. About the second condition, you¡¯re asking for a loan of 500 million. I have to report back to Boss Shi and let him make a decision. Additionally, I have to give you a bottom line. A production line of this type cannot be built here. It must be built in Jing-Du,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Why?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
¡°You should read up on military affairs. This is a coastal area. What military factory will be based here other than the shipyard? If war breaks out the first thing the enemy will bomb is your factory. This is military tactics - you¡¯ll have to agree to it even if you don¡¯t want to,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll have it built wherever you want but you foot the bill for the cost of thend. You can¡¯t charge me money.¡±
Long Bing smiled. ¡°You¡¯re bing more and more of a businessman.¡±
¡°I was a businessman from the start, okay?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Go back. You have to persuade Annina. She¡¯s a stubborn German. I¡¯d promised her that I¡¯ll let her stay for three days but I¡¯m taking her back tomorrow morning. She may throw a fit,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll persuade her. Want to visit?¡±
¡°No need. I have other things to do. Goodbye.¡± Long Bing turned and left.
Xia Xue stuck her head out the window. ¡°Brother, why¡¯s Big Sister Bing leaving? Did you invite her to our home?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not as if you don¡¯t know her. Let¡¯s go home. Oh, right, you¡¯re going with her to Jing-Du tomorrow. You¡¯ll be safer with her. Nn, Xia Mei is going with you too.¡±
Xia Xue smiled. ¡°Okay, Wester-inw is going to Jing-Du too. I was just thinking of learning English from her; German too.¡±
¡°You cheeky monkey. What ¡®Wester-inw¡¯?¡±
¡°Am I wrong? Do I actually have a fated Sister-inw? Who? Tell me!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 249 - A Relationship Too Difficult To Define
MATURE IMAGES WARNING
Xia Lei looked back at the van parked by the side of the road as he drove through the gates of the small neighbourhood. He saw two people from Bureau 101 sitting in that van. ¡®Would that killer have simplye here to hurt us if the people from Bureau 101 were not here? How do I defend against him if he doese here?¡¯ Xia Lei was struck by a thought.
A sense of danger loomed over Xia Lei. He knew too little about that killer and this subdued him.
His home was quiet; no lights were on. Annina seemed to have gone to bed.
¡°Get some rest, Brother,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°You go to sleep. I¡¯d like to sit by myself for a bit and think about stuff,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll be going to bed then. Don¡¯t stay up toote.¡± Xia Xue went into her room.
Xia Lei sat on the sofa for a few minutes, then looked for a piece of paper and a pen. He drew as he recalled the killer¡¯s face. However, he had not taken any professional profile-drawing sses and had only the basics from his school days when he had art lessons. His drawing did not look like the image in his head. The killer looked like Chang Chen*, a cold and grim looking man, but what he had on paper looked like Huang Bo*.
¡®Shit. If the police based an arrest off my standard of drawing then Huang Bo would probably end up lying on the floor with a gun aimed at him.¡¯ Xia Lei could not help shaking his head and smiling wryly at his own drawing before giving up. He decided to take up drawing when he next had the time for it.
Xia Lei threw the drawing into the bin and walked to his room. He pushed open the door and a faint fragrance plumed into his nose. It was a woman¡¯s smell. He then saw the woman under the nkets - Annina.
He then realised that he had let Annina have his room and he should have gone to his father¡¯s room to sleep. He hesitated. Should he get in bed and sleep with Annina or go to his father¡¯s room to sleep? The former was a most tempting choice and just as he thought of it, Annina suddenly opened her eyes and threw the nkets open. Arge pair of blue eyes stared at him as he stood in the doorway.
Annina wasn¡¯t in childish pyjamas this time. She was wearing a man¡¯s shirt.
Xia Lei felt his throat go dry.
The next morning.
¡°Take care of yourself, Brother.¡± Xia Xue stuck her head out the car window, her eyes full of worry.
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Lei, I¡¯ll miss you.¡± Annina poked her head out too and blew a kiss at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave her a smile.
What sort of rtionship did he have with Annina?
He¡¯d thought of it several times but did not have a clear answer. His feelings for Annina did not go as deeply as his feelings for Liang Si-Yao had, and even if he had feelings, it was just good vibes and desire, and not very strong either. Annina knew it too but it didn¡¯t seem to affect her. He also felt rxed andfortable around her. What rtionship they had was not important but if he took her as a lover, she would definitely be the most perfect lover.
¡®Lover? Why did I think of that word? Doesn¡¯t lover usually mean a third party? Does this mean I still think of Liang Si-Yao as my girlfriend or fianc¨¦e in my subconscious? Where is she now and what is she doing?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s heart ached with loss at the sudden thought of Liang Si-Yao.
Xia Lei drove to Thunder Horse Manufacturing in half an hour.
It was the third day of the Spring Festival and most of the employees were on holiday. The factory had just a few workers working overtime. Xia Lei went round the workshops and talked to the workers working overtime, then returned to his office. He took out a pencil and a piece of paper and tried drawing the killer again.
He did consider calling Jiang Ru-Yi over to help him do the drawing since she was good at it but he thought of their current awkward rtionship and gave up on that idea.
Qin Xiang appeared in the doorway of his office after a while and said as soon as he walked in, ¡°I heard Lu Sheng got stabbed. Who did it?¡±
Xia Lei put his pencil down and handed an A4 paper to Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang took one look at it and paused, then said in surprise, ¡°Zhao Ben-Shan*?¡±
Xia Lei looked surprised too. ¡°What I drew looks like Zhao Ben-Shan?¡±
Qin Xiang smirked and handed the drawing back to Xia Lei. ¡°I was wrong. You drew Huang Bo.¡±
Xia Lei was at a loss for words. He¡¯d actually thought that he¡¯d drawn rather well this time and had improved but from Qin Xiang¡¯s reaction, he was obviously mocking his drawing skills.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me something so serious?¡± Qin Xiang looked displeased.
¡°I wanted to get a profile drawing before I went to look for you. You know some things about the Gu n so maybe you¡¯d recognise the killer. Looks like I failed, though,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Really, you...¡± Qin Xiang looked a little troubled. ¡°When did you be an artist? You should get a professional to help for something like this. Don¡¯t you know a policewoman? Jiang Ru-Yi? Get her to help.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯ll settle this myself. She will end up in trouble if I drag her into it and it could be dangerous too.¡±
Qin Xiangughed. ¡°You mean it¡¯s not easy to deal with your rtionship, right? You stinking men... Think I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on in your minds?¡±
Xia Lei looked at Qin Xiang oddly. Wasn¡¯t he a man too? What man scolded another ¡®a stinking man¡¯?
¡°Say it. What do you want me to do?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you my decision first. I¡¯ve decided that your sry will be increased to 200,000 a month from this month on,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh.¡± Qin Xiang was tongue-tied.
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°I can lower the amount if you think it¡¯s too much.¡±
Qin Xiang rolled his eyes at him. ¡°I¡¯m not stupid. Who on Earth wouldin about his sry being too high?¡± He smiled again. ¡°Thank you. My mother¡¯s medical bills require a lot of money. I can get her better care with the high sry.¡±
¡°What¡¯s with the formalities? What I have is yours too. If I get rich in the future I can even give you a monthly sry of two million, no problem,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Holy shit. I¡¯ll remember that.¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s eyes shone as he looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about that killer. I suspect he¡¯s the Gu n¡¯s man. Who else do you know other than Dong Wu and Qin Qi? The very skilled ones.¡±
Qin Xiang thought for a bit, but shook his head. ¡°You know, I¡¯m not the Gu n¡¯s man. I only heard bits and pieces here and there when I worked for Huang Yi-Hu. The person who appeared this time can stab Lu Sheng and escape unscathed - I¡¯ve not heard of anyone so strong.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°What identity does that person have within the Gu n? What a headache.¡±
¡°We¡¯re out in the open while he operates in the shadows - this is a pickle. We have to think of a way to lure him out, or else we¡¯ll have to be passive,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°Lure him out?¡± Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡°Your suggestion gave me an idea.¡±
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei. ¡°What do you n to do?¡±
¡°His target is me. I¡¯ll give him a chance to take action. We¡¯ll hold a banquet and invite the movers and shakers of Hai-Zhu City. Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen too. The killer will have plenty of chances in that setting; he¡¯ll turn up for sure,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°And if he doesn¡¯t?¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll dig out his identity from Gu Ke-Wu or Gu Ke-Wen. Don¡¯t forget that I haven¡¯t tested the skills you taught me on anyone yet. This will be a good opportunity to test them.¡±
¡°The idea¡¯s good,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°But I think Gu Ke-Wen and Gu Ke-Wu won¡¯te to your banquet. That killer will be able to guess that it¡¯s a trap and won¡¯t turn up.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Of course they won¡¯t attend mine - but there is one person¡¯s banquet that they¡¯ll attend, no matter what.¡±
Qin Xiang seemed to have thought of someone. ¡°You mean...¡±
Xia Lei had already taken out his phone and dialled a number. ¡°Hello? Tian-Yin?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me. What is it?¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to invite you out for a coffee. Do you have time?¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yinughed. ¡°Of course. Where shall we meet?¡±
¡°How about Tuberose Coffee Shop? It¡¯s quite nice. Wait for me, I¡¯ll pick you up and alsoe visit Uncle at the same time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll wait for you at home.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was happy - this was the first time Xia Lei had asked her out for a coffee.
After ending the call with Xia Lei, Shentu Tian-Yin went hurriedly to her room.
Fu Ming-Mei was pushing Shentu Ren in his wheelchair and she asked her curiously, ¡°Where are you going, Big Sister Tian-Yin?¡±
¡°To change.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did not even look back.
Fu Ming-Mei smirked. ¡°That punk must being.¡±
Chapter 250 - First-time Thief
The banquet Xia Lei wanted finally started on the tenth day of the Spring Festival, after a week¡¯s preparation. It was eight in the evening and the banquet was being held at Hai-Zhu International Hotel. The people attending were the movers and shakers of Hai-Zhu and people of note from the Hong Kong and Macau area. Some stars and celebrities were even specially invited to add colour to the banquet.
A long line of luxury cars snaked to the entrance before it was even eight, all carrying VIPs as lofty as clouds.
Xia Lei parked his car in the allotted space and surveyed the area before he alighted. A killer hovering around him was no joke and he did not want to be killed off in a moment of carelessness like being sniped by the hidden killer once he stepped out of the car.
Xia Lei had tested his ability to look at things in the distance in order to guard against himself being ambushed. The tool he used for testing was an eyesight test chart which he first ced at a thousand metres. His left eye could see all the letters clearly at a thousand metres. Next was two thousand metres - he could not see the the letters on thest two rows of the chart. Then he tried a distance of three thousand metres; the third and fourth rows from the bottom were impossible at that distance. Last was an even further distance - he was unable to see the chart clearly at over four thousand metres, much less the letters on it.
He did this test multiple times and reached a conclusion - his effective long-range vision was four thousand metres. His fantastic range had already far outstripped the vision of all humans and was on the same scale as the eagle in the natural world. The eagle could see its prey on the ground clearly and he could use his left eye to focus on a target four thousand metres away!
There was currently no sniper rifle produced which had an effective range of four thousand metres, so Xia Lei only needed to check his surroundings to avoid bing a target of sniping.
Xia Lei looked at the watch on his wrist and his brows wrinkled. ¡°We¡¯ve set the time - why is that punk Qin Xiang not here yet?¡±
At that moment, a taxi stopped in the entrance of the hotel and a woman in a long red dress alighted from it. She was tall and slender, and the lines of her waist and hips were mature and sexy. She had a head of ck hair and a delicate face. What shecked in her beauty profile was a chest - she would definitely have been a sexy stunner if she had bigger breasts.
The woman in the red dress looked about and her searching gaze stopped in Xia Lei¡¯s direction. She waved at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused, thinking, ¡®I don¡¯t know her. Why¡¯s she waving to me?¡¯
He was curious but he still walked over. Before he got close, however, he discovered who it was - Qin Xiang!
Xia Lei broke out in sweat. ¡°Qin Xiang, you... are you male or female?¡±
Qin Xiang grinned. ¡°Must there be a distinction?¡±
Out of curiosity, Xia Lei quashed the guilt in his heart and sneakily shifted his left eye¡¯s gaze to the space between Qin Xiang¡¯s legs. He was seen through in a second - Qin Xiang was a person who had to use the male bathroom. He just looked too much like a woman and practically nobody would think he were a man when he had a wig on.
¡°Rx, I don¡¯t want Shentu Tian-Yin to see me as a love rival. I¡¯ll do my stuff and you do yourster when we go in. We must find that killer tonight,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡±
Xia Lei showed his invitation at the doorway of the banquet hall and entered, taking Qin Xiang with him.
He was the mastermind behind this banquet but hade as a guest.
Shentu Tian-Yin was in the hall greeting guests as the host of the banquet. She saw Xia Lei and Qin Xiang enter right away and her gaze stopped on Qin Xiang. Her first reaction was the same as Xia Lei¡¯s and it was clear that she thought Qin Xiang was a beautiful woman.
¡°Look, she¡¯s seeing me as a love rival already. Forget it. Let¡¯s part ways now.¡± Qin Xiang sashayed off.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, then walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin. He could guess what her first words to him would be based on the strange look she was giving him.
¡°Who was that woman?¡± Yep, her first words were exactly as he¡¯d guessed.
Xia Lei drew close to her ear and said in a low voice, ¡°It¡¯s a person from mypany, the supermarket director, Qin Xiang. You¡¯ve seen him before. He¡¯s actually a man.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at him even more strangely. ¡°You two...¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly, then said in embarrassment, ¡°No, it¡¯s not what you think. I¡¯m very normal. I brought him here to help me do something.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin pursed her lips and smiled. ¡°I was just kidding. Please,e in. I¡¯lle look for youter.¡±
She knew what Xia Lei wanted to do but the people she had invited were important people and she had to greet them personally.
¡°Tian-Yin!¡± Gu Ke-Wu walked over with a bouquet of roses in his hands.
Two women trailed behind him - Gu Ke-Wen and Dong Qing-Yue.
Xia Lei had not walked off yet and Dong Qing-Yue stared at him with eyes full of hate. Xia Lei was the person who had caused her father¡¯s death. If it were just the two of them here, she would not hesitate to charge at him and bite off a chunk of his flesh, no matter if she won or lost in a fight!
¡°Tian-Yin, you¡¯re so beautiful.¡± Gu Ke-Wu handed the bouquet of roses to Shentu Tian-Yin with both hands, a gentle and humble smile on his face. ¡°Please ept my sincerest apologies.¡±
How could any woman reject such a romantic apology?
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eye, seemingly checking his reaction.
Xia Lei was calm. He looked indifferently at the Gu siblings.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s regr self would definitely not ept Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s roses but she thought of the aim of Xia Lei in asking her to hold this banquet and she put a smile on her face. She reached out to ept the roses Gu Ke-Wu held out to her. ¡°Ke-Wu, Ke-Wen, why don¡¯t you go inside and have a seat. I¡¯lle chat with youter.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen smiled as she said, ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin, we haven¡¯t chatted in a while. You muste look for meter; let¡¯s have a good talk.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin just gave her a faint nod, then handed the roses in her hands to Fu Ming-Mei, who was standing next to her.
Fu Ming-Mei wanted to throw the roses away but she couldn¡¯t find a bin.
Gu Ke-Wu walked to Xia Lei with a nice smile on his face. ¡°We meet again, Mr Xia.¡±
Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°Yes. Hai-Zhu is not a big ce so we¡¯ll keep bumping into each other in the future.¡±
¡°Oh? I don¡¯t think we will.¡± A faint sneer appeared on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s lips. His meaning was clear - your life¡¯s been marked so how many more chances would you have to meet me again?
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he quickly scanned Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s body. Gu Ke-Wu had no weapons on him; he had a wallet and a mobile phone. Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Gu Ke-Wen and the evening gown on her body disappeared. She was his arch enemy but she did have a smoking hot body from a man¡¯s point of view. A certain ce of hers also had very lush vegetation and one would not even have guessed if one did not see it; it was surprising.
Gu Ke-Wen was clean - she had nothing else other than her red dress and a blue bra. All her things were in the little clutch she brought; a mobile phone, a wallet and a mess of makeup items like lipstick, a mirror, an eyebrow pencil and so on.
Xia Lei moved his gaze to Dong Qing-Yuest. Her body could only be described as sturdy. Her legs were round and thick, and her chest and buttocks were big butcked beautiful curves. Put next to Gu Ke-Wen, she had nothing of the charms of a woman. She did have more things on her - a mobile phone, a wallet, abat knife, two throwing knives and two small items which looked like a listening device and a tracking device.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡®A listening device and a tracking device? Who does she want to spy on? And who does she want to follow?¡¯
Gu Ke-Wen brushed past while Xia Lei was in thought. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Big Brother. Just the sight of some people disgusts me.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s brows wrinkled. She was displeased no matter who insulted Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wu red at Gu Ke-Wen and gave Xia Lei a smiling face. ¡°Sorry, my sister surely doesn¡¯t mean you. We do have some misunderstandings between us, Mr Xia, but it¡¯s just misunderstandings. I¡¯ve been putting the things which happened between us in order and found that I had also made a few mistakes. I do beg your forgiveness.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not bothered by Miss Ke-Wen¡¯s words.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu warmly, ¡°Let¡¯s have some drinks togetherter and have a good chat. There¡¯s nothing that can¡¯t be resolved.¡±
Xia Lei was polite too. ¡°Thank you. I think so too.¡± He extended a hand to Gu Ke-Wu after he spoke.
Gu Ke-Wu paused, just slightly, but still reached out his hand to shake with Xia Lei. Xia Lei shook extra warmly with him and even suddenly drew close to him to give him a hug.
Xia Lei spoke in Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s ear, ¡°Stop acting. I¡¯m warning you for thest time. You can hurt me but hurt my sister and you die.¡±
Gu Ke-Wuughed. ¡°Oh, really? I¡¯d like to see who dies.¡±
Xia Lei let go of Gu Ke-Wu. His left hand dipped into his trousers in the moment he separated from Gu Ke-Wu.
Gu Ke-Wu gave Shentu Tian-Yin a toothy smile. ¡°See youter, Tian-Yin.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin fought her disgust and smiled as she nodded.
Gu Ke-Wen, Gu Ke-Wu and Dong Qing-Yue entered the banquet hall.
Fu Ming-Mei swung her arm and the bouquet of roses sailed into the hands of a hotel waiter. ¡°Throw that in the bin,¡± she said loudly.
Shentu Tian-Yin wanted to say something to Xia Lei, but he had walked off in the direction of the washroom.
Chapter 251 - Big Tycoon Appears
Xia Lei entered the washroom and took out a mobile phone from his trouser pocket. It was Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s phone. Xia Lei¡¯s first act of thievery was a sess.
Qin Xiang had also said that Xia Lei would surely be a great thief if he were to learn to steal. The reason was simple - Xia Lei had an advantage no one else had, and that was his left eye.
Xia Lei activated the phone and a password-request of the connect-the-dots variety appeared on the screen. This did not hinder him. He used the power of his eye and saw the traces of a letter ¡®Z¡¯ on the smooth screen.
Xia Lei drew a ¡®Z¡¯ with his finger and the phone was unlocked.
The phone had quite a number of saved contacts; at least a hundred. Xia Lei just stared at the screen as he scrolled slowly through the list, letting his left eye memorise all the details. There were officials, big names in the business world, some of the Gu n and high-ranking people from North Group.
Xia Lei closed his eyes in two minutes and the names of the people he had ¡®recorded¡¯ in the contact list surfaced in his mind. He could eliminate the officials and business bigwigs as suspects and the North Group people too, because Gu Ding-Shan and Gu Ke-Wu would definitely not get North Group people to do things such as kidnapping and assassination. So what was left was the Gu n.
Gu n member names appeared in his head, one after another. One name aroused his suspicion.
Danny.
¡®The contacts were all saved in categories. Why is this Danny here in the Gu n category? The name looks like a foreign one... It can¡¯t be a rtive of the Gu n¡¯s, can it?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then used Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s phone to call Danny¡¯s number.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Someone picked up on the sixth ring and a male voice came from over the line. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±
It was a very precise, very Chinese person¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei paused, then made a noise of acknowledgement. ¡°Nn.¡± He hung up.
He couldn¡¯t talk under these circumstances, of course. He could not copy Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s voice and anything he said would reveal himself. However, he did not need to question that Danny to know that he was the killer who had tried to kidnap Xia Xue and severely injured Lu Sheng!
First, this Danny was categorised as ¡®family¡¯ in Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s phone. This meant Danny was some core existence in the Gu n. Plus, this Danny had only said ¡®I¡¯m here¡¯ but this exposed his identity. This banquet was to give Gu Ke-Wu a chance to take action against him and lure the killer out. Danny¡¯s ¡®I¡¯m here¡¯ was just that, wasn¡¯t it?
Xia Lei suddenly thought of the movie ¡®Unleashed¡¯, which Jet Li had starred in, and he thought, ¡®So this name must havee from there. Jet Li was like a human-shaped attack dog in the movie. He attacked whoever his master told him to attack. The Gu n¡¯s Danny should also be an existence simr to that, huh?¡¯
After having gained an idea of the killer¡¯s identity, Xia Lei quickly scanned through the messages and e-mails on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s phone. He did not make an effort to remember their contents since he would be able to recall themter anyway.
Xia Lei walked out of the washroom a few minutester.
Ady in red was at the mirror fixing her lipstick.
Xia Lei walked over and said in a low voice, ¡°The killer¡¯s already here. You be careful.¡±
¡°How do you know?¡± Qin Xiang did not look back; he looked at Xia Lei through the mirror.
¡°I stole Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s phone and called that punk. It¡¯s more or less confirmed. That punk¡¯s named Danny. He¡¯s very dangerous,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I think you are the dangerous one.¡± Qin Xiang pursed his lips and smiled. ¡°Want me to return the phone?¡±
¡°Left trouser pocket.¡± Xia Lei put Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s phone by the sink, then turned and left.
Back in the banquet hall, Xia Lei quickly saw Shentu Tian-Yin talking to Gu Ke-Wu.
Qin Xiang walked past Xia Lei, going straight towards Gu Ke-Wu and Shentu Tian-Yin. When he got to Gu Ke-Wu, his leg suddenly turned to one side and a high heel dropped on the floor. He lost his bnce and knocked into Gu Ke-Wu.
Gu Ke-Wu frowned and stared at Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang spoke in a reedy voice, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, sir. Ah, ow, my leg...¡±
Gu Ke-Wu put on a look of concern. ¡°Are you all right, miss?¡±
¡°I¡¯m okay, I¡¯m okay. So, so sorry.¡± Qin Xiang put on the high heel he had dropped and stumbled off.
Gu Ke-Wu did not give Qin Xiang a second nce. He quickly found another topic and resumed conversation with Shentu Tian-Yin.
A faint smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. He¡¯d seen Qin Xiang put the phone in Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s pocket the instant he¡¯d bumped into Gu Ke-Wu.
Xia Lei walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin and Gu Ke-Wu. He swept his gaze over the banquet hall, searching for the killer, Danny. He had not met him in person but he knew that the young man who had sneakily taken pictures of Shentu Tian-Yin and himself in the park was Danny. He would recognise him right away if that Danny turned up.
Danny said on the phone that he was here but Xia Lei did not find him in the banquet hall.
A small, sweet smile appeared on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips when she saw Xia Lei walking over. ¡°Where did you go earlier? I was looking for you.¡±
¡°I went to the washroom,¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s face darkened. He¡¯d spent a lot of effort to butter Shentu Tian-Yin up but she had not even smiled at him once. Shentu Tian-Yin smiled without Xia Lei having to say anything.
Gu Ke-Wu could not understand it - he was many times richer than Xia Lei and his rank in society was several tiers higher than Xia Lei. If theypared looks, he was handsome too and if theypared bodies, he had pretty nice one too. Why did Shentu Tian-Yin like this stinking construction-site-worker-turned-businessman more than him?
¡°Lei,e with me. I¡¯ll introduce you to a few friends.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin held Xia Lei by the arm, her actions natural and intimate.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Mr Gu, let¡¯s chatter. Don¡¯t forget that you said we should have drinks togetherter.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s eyes could¡¯ve spat mes but he forced a smile on his face in front of Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Sure, see youter.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin hung onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm and walked with him to a few people who were speaking Cantonese. She first greeted them, then introduced them one by one to Xia Lei.
¡°This is Mr Li Ming-Ji of Hong Kong Changhe Group.¡±
Xia Lei extended two hands to shake with him, then introduced himself.
¡°This is the CEO of Macau New Century Casino, Mr He Jia-Ying.¡±
Xia Lei extended both hands again and greeted him.
The people Shentu Tian-Yin introduced were famous big tycoons in the business world. One could not normally get the opportunity to even meet them, much less get to know them. It was not realistic for Xia Lei to do business with these tycoons with his current status but it was still good to make their acquaintances.
Xia Lei was just an insignificant, little person in the eyes of the tycoons and they would not normally even be interested in giving him a nce but he was someone Shentu Tian-Yin was introducing and she was even holding him by the arm. This was already a very obvious hint - Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s boyfriend. Who would dare to not treat him well?
This was actually what Shentu Tian-Yin wanted. This banquet was something Xia Lei had asked her to hold but she did not want just a simple banquet - she invited all the best people. She was going to send out hints whether Xia Lei was willing or not: I, Shentu Tian-Yin, am now taken. This would make the low-EQ Xia Lei understand and prompt him to do what a man should do and take the initiative to court her. Another aim was to borrow the chance to erase the designs which other men had on her.
It was not a scheme but a woman trying to get the happiness she wanted. What she did was essentially like a man giving flowers to a woman, or inviting a woman out to a movie.
However, Xi Lei¡¯s thoughts were not on the rtionship between Shentu Tian-Yin and himself and his nerves were tense. He had been scanning the banquet hall, looking for that Danny even while Shentu Tian-Yin was introducing him to the tycoons.
As Shentu Tian-Yin talked to the tycoons, Xia Lei moved his gaze to Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s body.
Gu Ke-Wu took out his phone to receive a call just then.
Xia Lei fixed on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s lips and used lip-reading on him
¡°Dad, I¡¯m in the banquet hall. You¡¯re here? Oh...¡± Gu Ke-Wu walked towards the main doors and raised a hand high.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the entrance and he saw a man in histe fifties with two bodyguards walk into the banquet hall.
As the head of the North Group, Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s photograph was all over the inte and Xia Lei had seen it dozens of times. It was his first time meeting him but he could still tell who it was at first sight. This man who had just walked in was Gu Ding-Shan.
Gu Ding-Shan did not look like an underworld boss at all. He had a medium build and was neither fat nor thin with ck spectacles. He looked schrly, like anguage teacher in some school.
Xia Lei looked at the two bodyguards apanying Gu Ding-Shan; neither were Danny. This surprised him.
¡°Dad.¡± Gu Ke-Wu greeted Gu Ding-Shan respectfully.
Gu Ding-Shan gave him a faint nod, then moved his gaze to Shentu Tian-Yin and the tycoons. His gaze thennded on Xia Lei.
Their gazes seemed to collide in the air; there was no sound.
Gu Ding-Shan started walking over.
Gu Ke-Wu hesitated, then followed Gu Ding-Shan.
Chapter 252 - I Know Its A Set-up
Shentu Tian-Yin saw Gu Ding-Shan too and her brows wrinkled for just one second before she smiled and greeted him. ¡°Uncle Gu, when did you arrive? You should¡¯ve given me a call so that I can receive you properly.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan chuckled. ¡°I came without invitation - you are not displeased, I hope, Tian-Yin?¡±
¡°You¡¯re joking, Uncle Gu. You¡¯re a distinguished guest. I¡¯m d you cane,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Gu Ding-Shan shook hands with Li Ming-Ji and greeted him. ¡°When are youing to my ce for a round of golf, Old Li? I¡¯m not pleased with my loss to youst time; I¡¯ll win next time.¡±
Li Ming-Jiughed. ¡°No problem, but I will still win next time.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan shook hands and greeted He Jia-Ying next. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you to Macau after the banquet, Old He. I¡¯d like to y a round or two at your casino.¡±
He Jia-Yingughed as he said, ¡°I¡¯ll apany you when youe.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not ying with you. You¡¯re a gambling king and ying with you means losing for me.¡±
He Jia-Ying justughed.
Gu Ding-Shan then greeted the other mainder bigwigs. He was a tycoon too, and one connected to the underworld at that. His prestige was much greater than Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s. These business tycoons from Hong Kong, Macau and the maind being on close terms with him was normal. Their circles were the top of the top and Xia Lei did not have the qualifications to join them.
Gu Ding-Shan greeted everyone and Xia Lei was shafted to one side, spared not even a nce.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t mind. They were arch enemies after all and he did not hope for Gu Ding-Shan to shake hands and chat with him either. There was also the thing about smiling while nursing a grudge. He did find it curious though, and thought ¡®Gu Ding-Shan came uninvited - it¡¯s not because he wanted to show his face to me, is it? If it is for this reason then he just has too much time on his hands.¡¯
Gu Ding-Shan did nce over asionally at Xia Lei with a faint sneer on his lips and gaze as cold as ice. His actions seemed to say: You think you can mingle with the big boys?
¡°Let¡¯s go have a seat, Lei.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin held Xia Lei¡¯s hand. He had obviously been given the cold shoulder and ignored and she did not want him to feel ufortable.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sure.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan suddenly turned around and looked straight at Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Tian-Yin, is this person your friend? Why don¡¯t you introduce him?¡±
¡°This is my boyfriend, Xia Lei,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
She said it naturally and there was no wavering in her words. Xia Lei, on the other hand, was the one who felt embarrassed. He had encountered a lot of troublesome things thest time he had pretended to be Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s boyfriend and she was now publicly announcing that he was her boyfriend. Other troubles aside, he was sure to appear on the covers of entertainment and business magazines the next day. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s fans and suitors would also scrutinise him from head to toe.
However, he was not upset at all at Shentu Tian-Yin saying that. He was already familiar with how it was like to be her fake boyfriend.
¡°Your boyfriend? Haha, I¡¯d always thought our Ke-Wu is your boyfriend,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan with augh.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°I don¡¯t like jokes like this, Uncle Gu.¡±
He Jia-Yingughed and said, ¡°Tian-Yin, Old Gu is just joking with you, don¡¯t mind it. You¡¯re someone worth billions; who knows how many men are after you. You have to be careful and look at each suitor to make sure you¡¯re not being fooled by some poor beggar. You need to look for a man who is suitable if you want to fall in love.¡±
This He Jia-Ying was evidently on close terms with Gu Ding-Shan and seemed to know some of the situation, otherwise he would not show support for Gu Ding-Shan at this time. And the ¡®poor beggar¡¯ he spoke of was obviously Xia Lei. In the eyes of a big tycoon like him, a person worth two to three hundred million like Xia Lei was indeedcking and a poor beggar.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s displeasure became more pronounced. ¡°Uncle He, what do you mean by that? My boyfriend has his ownpany. He is not chasing after women for money, including me.¡±
¡°So he has money. Want to go one round with me?¡± There was a smile on He Jia-Ying¡¯s face but he looked at Xia Lei with challenge in his eyes.
Gu Ke-Wu had seemingly found an opportunity to take Xia Lei down a peg and said, ¡°Uncle He, don¡¯t make things difficult for Mr Xia. He just has one little factory and processes parts for others. He had his factory sealed by the Trade and Commerce Bureau for a period of time too because of quality issues. He¡¯d only just recently re-opened. Would he have money to gamble with you? I can y with you if you feel your hand¡¯s itching to y.¡±
¡°No money? How can Tian-Yin¡¯s boyfriend have no money?¡± Gu Ding-Shanughed as he said, ¡°One or two hundred million is just chump change in Tian-Yin¡¯s eyes. Won¡¯t she be the one taking out the cash if her boyfriend is the one gambling? Right, Tian-Yin? You won¡¯t be a wet nket, will you?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face turned red with anger. She knew that this He Jia-Ying was skilled in the gambling field and it would just be gifting him money if Xia Lei yed against him. Additionally, Gu Ding-Shan had already had some agreements with him. If Xia Lei really gambled with them, it would be like sending amb into the tiger¡¯s cave or swimming into the. However, their perception of him would worsen further if he refused - this made Shentu Tian-Yin troubled.
Xia Lei could see the problem too. Dirty deeds and poison went hand in hand since ancient times. Since the Gu n came from the underworld, they cannot be without their poison of gambling, and Hai-Zhu and Macau were so close to each other so how could the both of them not know each other? These two people were now colluding with each other to get him in trouble, and in a most sinister way!
This set-up looked like a friendly jest of a bet but it was not that simple. The gambling king was going to y and with Ding-Shan acting as support, it was set in stone that Xia Lei would lose money. These people could lose or win hundreds of millions like it was nothing but Xia Lei had only that little bit on him. Once he lost, his newly-expanding business would go bust and he would disappoint Shentu Tian-Yin on top of that. Would Gu Ding-Shan still have trouble dealing with a man who had lost everythingter?
¡°Lei, let¡¯s go.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin wanted to take Xia Lei away.
Gu Ding-Shan mocked, ¡°Better you go home to wash clothing and cook meals. It must be so nice to be a house-husband. Whye out a y at being a sessful man?¡±
Xia Lei did not move. He said to Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Tian-Yin, I¡¯ll y with them.¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin paused. She¡¯d never thought that Xia Lei would make a decision like this.
¡°It¡¯s just ying around; it¡¯s nothing. How can I be a wet nket when Boss Gu and Boss He are so eager to y?¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin leaned in to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said a little angrily, ¡°Can¡¯t you see? These two are in cahoots. It¡¯s what they do. You¡¯ll lose horribly if you bet against them. There are many people who want to jump off buildings in Macau every day. Quite a few were like this, having their own smallpanies, sessful careers orfortable families but lost everything in one night. Do you want to be like them?¡±
Xia Lei just grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have my limits.¡±
¡°Why are you so stubborn?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was truly angry now. ¡°Can you wake up from your delusion?¡±
Xia Lei spoke calmly, ¡°I¡¯m awake. You don¡¯t have to bother about this.¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was so angry she let go of Xia Lei¡¯s arm.
Gu Ding-Shan chuckled. ¡°Now you¡¯re being a man. Tian-Yin, find a ce for us. We¡¯ll y with Mr Xia.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wanted to reject the request but then thought that it would be even worse if Xia Lei went somewhere else with them. She made a decision after weighing the pros and cons. ¡°All right,e with me.¡± She rolled her eyes at Xia Lei when she was done talking.
Xia Lei pretended not to see.
Gu Ding-Shan and He Jia-Ying could turn into neanderthals at any time in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. What card could he not see? Should he be afraid of gambling with these two? It¡¯s wasn¡¯t as if he did not know about Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s worry but exining too much to her would make the two wiley old foxes smell a rat, and that wouldn¡¯t be fun!
Shentu Tian-Yin led the way and a few business tycoons came to a cardroom in the hotel. The cardroom was well-equipped - mahjong machine, dice, pai gow, you name it, they have it.
Xia Lei looked about the cardroom and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t bring any cash. It¡¯s all in my bank ount, so how to I bet?¡±
He Jia-Yingughed and said, ¡°Mr Xia, did you forget what I do? I am the banker. How much do you have in your ount? I can help you withdraw all of it in half an hour.¡±
¡°I still have about a hundred and fifty million in my ount. How much are we ying for?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°A hundred and fifty million? That¡¯s maybe about two rounds.¡± He Jia-Ying talked big. He waved his hand and one of his subordinates walked to Xia Lei.
¡°Mr Xia, I will help you withdraw the money from your bank ount. One hundred and fifty million. I suggest you convert the amount into denominations of 500 Euros. It will be easier to work with the converted amount,¡± said the subordinate.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Okay, How will you convert it?¡±
The subordinate took out a calctor and went tippity-tap on it as he said, ¡°One hundred and fifty million Chinese yuan can be exchanged for 21,180,000 Euros. If we change it all to 500 Euro bills, that will be 42,360 bills. Every bill weighs 1.1 grams, so the total is 46,596 grams. Do you find this too troublesome, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°No, not at all. But is the money being withdrawn from you? I have to see where the money is, right?¡± said Xia Lei casually.
¡°We have our rules, of course.¡± The subordinate took out his phone and made a call. He said just one line into the phone. ¡°Bring the money up.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan also made a call and he said ¡®bring it here¡¯.
Shentu Tian-Yin pulled Xia Lei to one side and said in a low voice, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you today? Don¡¯t you see? They¡¯ve even had the money prepared - this is obviously a set-up.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just ying around. I don¡¯t y cards often; I¡¯d like to y.¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was beyond annoyed. ¡°You¡¯re possessed! Your money is for expanding your business, and your employees are waiting for you to give them their wages. Have you thought about what you¡¯d do if you lost all your money? What about yourpany?¡±
¡°How do you know I¡¯ll lose when I haven¡¯t started ying? Don¡¯t keep saying I¡¯ll lose - it¡¯ll affect my hand,¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Ding-Shan and He Jia-Ying heard what Xia Lei said and they smiled as they exchanged nces.
Shentu Tian-Yin gave a sigh full of disappointment. ¡°Go gamble, then. I won¡¯t lend you any money if you lose.¡±
Xia Lei just smiled wryly.
Chapter 253 - Flying Out of the Pit
Xia Lei¡¯s money was all put in one suitcase in less than an hour. 21,180,000 Euros in bills filled therge suitcase exactly.
Gu Ding-Shan and He Jia-Ying were obviously not as ¡®barren¡¯ as Xia Lei. Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s man brought three suchrge suitcases and He Jia-Ying¡¯s subordinate brought him four, all full of 500 Euro bills fresh from the mint. It was easy to tell how much they were prepared to spend on the games - Gu Ding-Shan had 60 million Euros and He Jia-Ying had 80 million.
¡°They brought so much money here to show that they are not after your small amount. If you lose, don¡¯t ever bet yourpany, and don¡¯t ever borrow anything with high interest from that one surnamed He.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin nagged in Xia Lei¡¯s ear again. She could not stop him from participating in betting so the most she could do was to avoid the worst case scenario.
Xia Lei nodded faintly but still said nothing.
How could he not see it when Shentu Tian-Yin could? He just didn¡¯t care.
The gambling was about to begin with the money having been delivered. There was just Gu Ding-Shan, He Jia-Ying and Xia Lei gambling; Li Ming-Ji and the other tycoons were just spectating and not participating. It looked like Xia Lei was the only one in the room who could not see that it was a set-up.
¡°Why did Shentu Tian-Yin choose a boyfriend like this?¡± said someone in a low voice.
¡°A man like this must be after Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s money,¡± said someone in a small voice.
¡°Watch. He¡¯ll lose everything and Shentu Tian-Yin will see him for who he really is and leave him.¡±
¡°This Xia Lei is a fool. Having a girlfriend like Shentu Tian-Yin isn¡¯t enough for him - he actually wants to gamble with the Gambling King He Jia-Ying. Sigh, I don¡¯t get what¡¯s going through his head.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you see? Gu Ke-Wu has been chasing after Shentu Tian-Yin. Gu Ding-Shan is taking action personally now to eliminate Xia Lei and try to get Gu Ke-Wu and Shentu Tian-Yin together. That Xia Lei is obviously gambling because of his pride. I can only say that he¡¯s too young and too foolish.¡±
¡°Ah, let¡¯s not talk so much about the Gu n¡¯s affairs...¡±
These people gossiped in low voices but the Gu siblings, who were standing close by, heard them and they couldn¡¯t help the smiles on their faces. The Gu siblings didn¡¯t care what others said - the Gu n only cared about results. The methods and what others thought of them were of no importance.
Xia Lei was already a penniless loser in the eyes of Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen.
At the table, He Jia-Ying spat out a white cloud of cigar smoke and said slowly, ¡°Can we begin now, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± said Xia Lei casually, ¡°What are we ying?¡±
He Jia-Ying smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m a senior in this and I don¡¯t want people to say that I¡¯m bullying a junior so you can just pick whatever you want to y.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei did not stand on ceremony and said, ¡°Let¡¯s bet on dice. It¡¯s not as troublesome as other games. Let¡¯s each be the dice-dealer three times. What do you say?¡±
He Jia-Ying and Gu Ding-Shan exchanged looks. They did not speak but they seemed to havemunicated something to each other with their eyes.
¡°Good. I shall be first to deal.¡± He Jia-Ying was good at handling many betting tools and the dice were just one of many.
A female hotel service staff member brought the dice cup to them. It was made of mahogany, wasrge, thick and rather heavy.
He Jia-Ying received the dice cup and lifted it to look at the dice inside it. He then covered it up and prepared to shake the dice.
¡°No need to rush. I¡¯ll go through the rules first,¡± said Xia Lei.
He Jia-Ying¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ve gambled my whole life - would I not know the rules?¡±
¡°Rules were all made up by men. We are going to take turns being the dealer today. Every person must shake and every person must bet. I think these rules are fair. The person who is shaking the dice cannot reveal the dice himself. Let¡¯s have Miss Tian-Yin do it.¡±
These rules were very fair and the aim of this was to make sure that the dice-dealer would have no way to do something to the dice when exposing the dice. If one rejected rules like these, then the rejecting person was likely meaning to do something unscrupulous.
Gu Ding-Shan looked at Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Tian-Yin, will you do it?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wanted to reject the request but she nced at Xia Lei and steeled herself against the disappointment in her heart; she nodded. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll reveal the dice for the table.¡±
¡°I have no problems with that either.¡± He Jia-Ying didn¡¯t think much of Xia Lei at all. He also didn¡¯t believe that Shentu Tian-Yin, who had never gambled, would pull a dirty trick. He picked up the mahogany dice cup and started shaking it.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the dice in the dice cup appeared in his eye. He could also see every move of He Jia-Ying¡¯s. He moved quick but it wasughably slow in Xia Lei¡¯s eye.
About ten secondster, He Jia-Ying put the dice cup on the table, then pushed it towards Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°ce your bet.¡±
¡°A million Euros. Small,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan. He picked up a stack of bills and pushed them into the betting zone. There were twenty bundles in that stack which added up to one million Euros exactly.
He Jia-Ying took a drag of his cigar and looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Mr Xia, Mr Gu doesn¡¯t seem to want to take my money. You don¡¯t have to be polite - just bet however much you¡¯d like and I¡¯ll match the payout.¡±
¡°Really? I won¡¯t hold back then.¡± Xia Lei pushed all his money into the betting zone. ¡°All in. Big!¡±
Everyone was stunned.
¡°Is this boy insane? He just bet his entire fortune, just like that?¡± said someone in surprise.
¡°Doesn¡¯t he know who he¡¯s up against? That¡¯s Macau¡¯s Gambling King!¡± sighed someone.
¡°Looks like this guy will want to jump off a building soon,¡± sighed another.
20 million Euros was nothing to Shentu Tian-Yin but this was the entirety of Xia Lei¡¯s bank ount. She was more nervous than Xia Lei; her hands trembled even before revealing the dice.
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ll give you a chance to change your bet. You can also bet on another result,¡± said He Jia-Ying. He looked rxed but his heart rate had increased - he was very nervous too!
Xia Lei spoke evenly. ¡°Bets are final once hands are off - this is the rule in gambling. I won¡¯t change my bet even if I lose. Reveal the dice, Tian-Yin.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin gave Xia Lei a look and the disappointment in her eyes was more apparent. She felt that the Xia Lei before her was not the Xia Lei she knew - he had turned from a man with many good points to a soulless gambling addict.
Xia Lei smiled at Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Reveal the dice. I¡¯ll leave immediately if I lose.¡±
These words made Shentu Tian-Yin feel a little better. She steadied her hand and lifted the dice cup from the table.
Three dice were revealed - 4, 5, 6 - Big!
He Jia-Ying¡¯s and Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s faces turned green in that instant.
¡°Good Heavens! I¡¯ve never seen anyone bet like that!¡± said someone.
¡°This boy has guts!¡± said someone.
The room was abuzz with discussion again, but no one was calling Xia Lei a fool this time.
Shentu Tian-Yin let out a breath, but that was it. Xia Lei had won 21 million Euros but she was not one bit happy. She would have been much happier if Xia Lei had earned this doing business.
He Jia-Ying paid out the winnings of 21 million Euros to Xia Lei. The loss stung him inside but he put on an undaunted front. He chuckled, ¡°Not bad. You have guts; I like that. Let¡¯s have another round.¡±
This time, Gu Ding-Shan bet a million Euros and put in on ¡®small¡¯, as he had before.
¡°You should bet wisely while you¡¯re ahead, Mr Xia. I think you¡¯ll follow and bet just one million this time, eh?¡± said He Jia-Ying.
This was some reverse psychology at y. He wanted to provoke Xia Lei and make him bet on ¡®big¡¯ and also to entice him to bet small.
He Jia-Ying had gambled his whole life and there was a reason people called him ¡®Gambling King¡¯. He was familiar with the psychology of gamblers, and that meant a more suspicious heart than most. Say ¡®big¡¯ and the gambler will bet ¡®small¡¯.
This tactic worked on normal gamblers but it was useless on Xia Lei, because he was not affected by anything. He trusted only his eye!
Xia Lei pushed all the money before him into the betting zone. ¡°42 million Euros. Big.¡±
He Jia-Ying could not maintain his rxed act from earlier. His face darkened.
Shentu Tian-Yin lifted the dice cup again - 5, 5, 6 - Big.
Everyone¡¯s eyes went to Xia Lei. There was no discussion this time - shocked looks were in all their eyes.
All three of the Gu family were bbergasted. They had dug a pit for Xia Lei to jump into and he had jumped but damn it, he had yed for a while in the pit and was bouncing out of it! What sorcery was this?!
He Jia-Ying braced himself as he paid out 42 million Euros.
Xia Lei¡¯s money could not fit on the table anymore. The hotel staff stacked the money on the floor next to Xia Lei. The money was several times his body in volume and the sight of it was spectacr.
He Jia-Ying had brought 80 million Euros and paid Xia Lei twice. Add the two million Euros he paid out to Gu Ding-Shanand he had just 19 million left. He would have not money for payout if Xia Lei went all-in again.
¡°Mr He, you look like you don¡¯t have enough money. You know how I like to y - I like excitement. I¡¯ll go all-in every time. I have 84 million Euros now. How are you going to pay me if you lose?¡± said Xia Lei.
With the money Xia Lei had now, He Jia-Ying and Gu Ding-Shan would have to add their money together for it to be enough for Xia Lei to y!
He Jia-Ying had mocked Xia Lei earlier but it was now him on the mocking end.
¡°Hah! I, He Jia-Ying, have never forfeited on payment on the gambling table.¡± He Jia-Ying looked at Gu Ding-Shan and said, ¡°Old Gu, don¡¯t bet this round. Lend me your money - I¡¯ll bet with him.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Gu Ding-Shan did not hesitate and agreed. He had invited He Jia-Ying to help him in the set-up but this He Jia-YIng had already lost 60 million Euros. He Jia-Ying would not be on friendly terms with him anymore if he refused.
He Jia-Ying pushed the dice cup before Xia Lei and said coldly, ¡°You¡¯re the dealer for this round.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Lei snatched up the dice cup and started shaking.
He Jia-Ying stared closely at Xia Lei¡¯s hand movements and his ears trembled.
When one reached a certain level of gambling, one was able to predict if it was going to be ¡®big¡¯ or ¡®small¡¯ based on the sound the dice made in the cup, their weight and their centres of gravity. He Jia-Ying was the Gambling King, so this was nothing to him!
Xia Lei shook the dice in the cup lightly as he looked at He Jia-Ying opposite him. Every one of He Jia-Ying¡¯s small movements did not escape the notice of Xia Lei¡¯s left eye.
Xia Lei put the dice cup on the table after about ten seconds of shaking. His left eye looked into the cup and at the numbers of the dice - 1, 3, 4 - small. After looking at the numbers, he looked at He Jia-Ying¡¯s ears. His ears had stopped moving.
¡°ce your bet,¡± said Xia Lei casually.
¡°77 million, all in. Small,¡± said He Jia-Ying. He pushed the money before him into the betting zone.
Right at the instant He Jia-Ying pushed his money, Xia Lei tapped his right index finger lightly on the dice cup. A die in the cup jumped and turned over, changing from 1 to 6.
Xia Lei was lightning-quick; he¡¯d used Wing Chun¡¯s internal energy and his skills. Outsiders could not see anything or hear anything. Even if there had been a small sound, the sound of He Jia-Ying pushing his money forward would have masked it.
¡°Open!¡± said He Jia-Ying to Shentu Tian-Yin.
Shentu Tian-Yin walked over and reached out to lift the dice cup.
3, 4, 6 - Big.
He Jia-Ying¡¯s eyeballs almost dropped on the table, and he looked like he had screwed the pooch.
Chapter 254 - Boldness of the Unknown Man
¡°We were just saying that this boy¡¯s a fool but I didn¡¯t expect that he¡¯s just pretending to be a littlemb in order to eat them up!¡±
¡°A person who can make Gambling King sweat at the gambling table is no simple man!¡±
¡°The Gu n¡¯s gone and smashed their own foot with a rock this time.¡±
These bits of gossip reached Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s ears and she felt all conflicted inside. She¡¯d thought Xia Lei was a soulless gambling addict earlier and was very disappointed but now she discovered that Xia Lei had an ungodly skill when it came to gambling. With his skill, he could live a life of luxury just by gambling but he had not; he had worked hard to make money doing business. Gu Ding-Shan and He Jia-Ying had colluded to get him to gamble this time so in other words, they had sent themselves to the ughter!
Who wouldn¡¯t go for the kill if the prey offered themselves?
The gossip burned in Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s ears. The Gu siblings had anger in their hearts but the people present were all business tycoons and big people. They could not vent their anger in front of these people. The Gu siblings turned ashen with having to hold their anger back. Their eyes were ready to shootsers and set Xia Lei alight when they looked at him!
Xia Lei ignored the Gu siblings¡¯ fierce res and sat calmly. He had a faint smile on his face. ¡°Oh, what a bummer. Over so soon.¡±
He Jia-Ying controlled the mes of anger in his heart. ¡°You still want to gamble?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m just afraid that you won¡¯t dare to.¡±
¡°You-¡± He Jia-Ying wanted to snatch up the ashtray on the table and fling it at Xia Lei. He was the Gambling King of Macau - when had anyone ever ridiculed him in this way? However, he had to force himself to calm down. He knew this was Xia Lei¡¯s ploy to provoke him to continue gambling. After Xia Lei¡¯s gambles, he had more than 160 million Euros now and that was 1.14 billion Chinese yuan. Who would dare ept an all-in bet of that amount?
Even the fortunes of billionaires were not enough to pay for Xia Lei¡¯s winnings!
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Gu Ding-Shan. He spoke mockingly, ¡°Mr Gu, you said I had to act like a man earlier. You should act like a man now too. Do you dare to continue gambling with me?¡±
Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s face was as dark as coal.
Gu Ke-Wu spoke angrily, ¡°Xia Lei! Be more respectful! You¡¯ve only won some money - what¡¯s with the arrogance?¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°You cane y against me too, Gu Ke-Wu.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu did not move.
¡°You can¡¯t not have enough money, can you? Oh, right, all your money¡¯s from your father. Go call him ¡®daddy¡¯ and ask him to give you money to y with me. How about that, huh?¡±
Gu Ke-Wu clenched his teeth tight.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Leiughed loudly. ¡°You¡¯d better go home and wash the clothing and do the cooking. Don¡¯te out and act like a rich boy.¡±
¡°You motherfucker!¡± Gu Ke-Wu could not take any more of Xia Lei¡¯s mocking. He charged at Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wen grabbed Gu Ke-Wu. She knew Xia Lei¡¯s strength - ten Gu Ke-Wus were not enough to take Xia Lei on, much less one!
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Gu Ding-Shan stood abruptly, pounding the table hard. ¡°How dare you act this way in front of me!¡±
Xia Lei stood too and looked straight at Gu Ding-Shan. ¡°Then gamble with me. Never mind if you don¡¯t have cash. Property andpany stocks are epted too. Gamble with me if you¡¯re a man.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan nced at He Jia-Ying next to him, but He Jia-Ying gave him a slight shake of the head.
He Jia-Ying had thought of trying to win back his losses after losing the third round but with Xia Lei betting like this, he did not have the courage to bet against Xia Lei any longer. More importantly, Xia Lei had over a billion Euros in his hands so that meant him losing a billion Euros if he lost, and it would only get worse afterwards. If Xia Lei won three more times, he would get over 8 billion Euros - that would be losing so bad he could lose his fortune!
He Jia-Ying¡¯s apprehension was not shared by Gu Ding-Shan - he did not even consider gambling further with Xia Lei. However, he still said, ¡°You win today, punk. We¡¯ll meet another day. Take care of yourself; don¡¯t meet with any idents or that will truly be tragedy in the midst of joy.¡±
¡°You threatening me?¡± Xia Leiughed, then suddenly mmed his palm down on the mahogany dice cup. Bam! The solid wood dice cup was pped to bits.
Everyone was gobsmacked. He pped a solid wood dice cup to bits! How strong was he?!
The corners of Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s eyes twitched. This was the first time he¡¯d felt fear in his many years! However, what scared him was not Xia Lei¡¯s strength but the look in his eyes. He was familiar with this look because he had often looked at others this same way when he was still in the underworld. The people he had looked at with this gaze ended up either disabled or dead - not one had a good ending.
Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°Gu Ding-Shan, and you two, Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen. I¡¯ll say this today - don¡¯te making trouble for me. I don¡¯t care who you are. I¡¯ll make sure you won¡¯t see the light of day again.¡±
¡°Heh heh, oh really? We¡¯ll see about that,¡± Gu Ding-Shan sneered. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen red hatefully at Xia Lei and followed Gu Ding-Shan out.
¡°Hold on. I¡¯ll give you a warning, Gu Ke-Wu,¡± called Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wu looked back at Xia Lei and said dismissively, ¡°Who do you think you are? Warn me? You should take a close look at yourself before you say things like this to me.¡±
Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°Listen, and listen clearly. Do not bother Tian-Yin again. She does not even like you. Your consistent pestering makes you look like a scabies-ridden dog - don¡¯t you think you¡¯re disgusting?
The venue was dead silent.
No one could believe that this unknown character would dare speak to the heir of the Gu n like that. The room of tycoons now saw Xia Lei in a new light - he was so bold!
Gu Ke-Wu was so angry heughed. He pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°Good. Very good.¡±
The Gu n and He Jia-Ying¡¯s group left the card room in a huff. The distinguished guests also dispersed.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s eyes lingered on Xia Lei. Hisst warning line directed at Gu Ke-Wu had touched the softest parts of her heart. No matter how sessful she was and how much status she had in society, she was still a woman and wanted a man to make her feel safe. This was not the first time Xia Lei hade to her defence. He had made enemies of the Gu n without care for himself. He had acted as bait, using his body to shield her even under the assault of the killers hired by Shentu Yi and Shentu Tian-Feng. A man like this... how could he not be the man she needed?
Shentu Tian-Yin was also ashamed. She had misunderstood Xia Lei earlier and even felt disappointed in him. This feeling of having wronged him troubled her.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, did not notice the change in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s feelings. His gaze pierced through the walls of the card room and he quickly saw the Gu n¡¯s group walking in the corridor.
In the corridor, Gu Ke-Wu took out his mobile phone and pressed three numbers on the number pad. ¡°Hello, is this the police report hotline? I¡¯d like to report...¡±
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He did not have time to ¡®listen-in¡¯ on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s words but he could guess what he was up to when he saw him press just three numbers.
¡®Reporting me to the police? Fuck. It was a rare chance for me to win so much money and you want to get the police to confiscate it!¡¯ Xia Lei cursed internally, then turned to look at Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Tian-Yin.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at him nkly and seemed to not have heard him calling her name. There was a trace of a smile on her lips and she looked like her thoughts were wandering.
¡°Tian-Yin?¡± called Xia Lei again.
¡°Oh... Nn?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin snapped back to reality.
¡°Do me a favour,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you want me to help with?¡± asked Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Get someone to move all this money away. We have to be quick. I think the Gu n will make a police report. The police will confiscate this money if theye,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem. I¡¯ll get someone toe immediately.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin took out her phone to make a call.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin returned to the banquet hall ten minutester. Everyone¡¯s eyes were on them, not because Shentu Tian-Yin was holding Xia Lei¡¯s arm, but because rumours of what had happened in the card room had spread to the hall of elites. Only a few knew who Xia Lei was in the beginning but everyone knew him now.
¡°Who said that this punk was not suitable for Shentu Tian-Yin earlier? He¡¯s so wrong! He dared to challenge Gu Ding-Shan and Macau¡¯s Gambling King He Jia-Ying on his own, and scolded the Gu n so badly their ears could bleed. Just his boldness and guts are enough to be a suitable match for Shentu Tian-Yin!¡± said someone.
¡°He won one billion in a game. Damn it. The economy¡¯s not good now - mypany doesn¡¯t even make that much in a year,¡± said someone enviously.
¡°Winning is winning but challenging the Gu n like that is not a good thing. He won¡¯t have a good end,¡± said someone in schadenfreude.
¡°What do you know? Didn¡¯t someone say he was going to have to jump off a building? He won in the end. Would he dare challenge the Gu n if he didn¡¯t have the power to do so? Don¡¯t mock him - he¡¯s not a fool.¡± Someone spoke up for Xia Lei.
Seemingly every single guest was talking about Xia Lei; some good, some bad.
Xia Lei swept his gaze over the banquet hall and quickly found Gu Ding-Shan, Gu Ke-Wu, Gu Ke-Wen and He Jia-Ying. These four had not left.
¡®Waiting for the police toe so they can be witnesses, huh?¡¯ A small sneer appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
¡°Let¡¯s have a dance, Lei,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin. She hadn¡¯t ever danced with him before and she very much wanted to.
¡°I don¡¯t know how,¡± said Xia Lei shyly.
¡°I¡¯ll teach you,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin with a smile.
Xia Lei forced himself to nod, then followed Shentu Tian-Yin onto the dance floor.
¡°Put your arm around my waist,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin gently.
Xia Lei reached out and put his arm around her waist. She felt warm and delicate. Shentu Tian-Yin drew closer into his embrace and put an arm around his waist and a hand in his hand, guiding him as they started dancing.
Women at a banquet dance did not normally stick so close to their male partners when dancing but Shentu Tian-Yin stuck close to Xia Lei. Her breasts, pushed up high, were scant millimetres from Xia Lei¡¯s chest. She did not seem to care about the gazes of the surrounding guests and looked to be enjoying herself.
This closeness made Xia Lei nervous. He could not dance well either and it was unavoidable that he¡¯d step on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s toes once in a while. Every time he stepped on her toes, they grew closer...
Next to the dance floor, the corners of Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s lips turned up an a sneer. ¡°We¡¯ll see if you¡¯ll still be able to smileter.¡±
Chapter 255 - My Winnings Are Hell Currency
Xia Lei was an extremely quick learner and new things became easier very quickly. He grasped the basics of the dance after one song and did not step on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s feet again.
After the second song, Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s arm was still around Xia Lei. ¡°You learn so fast. Let¡¯s dance for one more song.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t refuse. He smiled and said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s dance one more song.¡±
At that moment, a group of police officers came charging into the hall and chaos erupted.
Leading them was Xu Lang.
¡°Wasn¡¯t that guy put on suspension and being investigated?¡± said Xia Lei in surprise.
Shentu Tian-Yin frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that his uncle is Director Xu Zheng-Yi. A suspension does not mean that he¡¯s fired and he¡¯d just resume his duties after a period of time. Your guess is pretty spot on - the Gu n did make a police report. Looks like the Gu n had something to do with how quickly Xu Lang is back on duty again too.¡±
¡°Has the money been taken away?¡±
¡°I put Ming-Mei in charge of that. There should be no problems,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei rxed and said with a smile, ¡°Then let us continue dancing.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin held Xia Lei tight around his waist and moved with him on the dance floor.
Just Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin were left on the dance floor. One tall, handsome and dashing, the other pretty as a picture, young and beautiful. They were the envy of everyone watching.
¡°Get the musicians down!¡± Xu Lang strode towards the dancefloor.
The musicians stopped ying under order of the police but Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei were unaffected. She looked at Xia Lei silently, holding his hand and pressing herself close to him, swaying along in a dance with him on the dance floor. There was just Xia Lei and herself left in the world in her eyes, and nothing else.
Xia Lei was not as engrossed as Shentu Tian-Yin but she did not want to stop, so he apanied her. Besides, it felt nice to hold her around her waist and dance with her.
¡°Stop,¡± said Xu Lang with a dark face.
The ones who should stop did not stop and their onlookers watched the handsome and beautiful pair on the dancefloor, admiring their dance.
¡°I told you to stop!¡± Xu Lang shouted.
Shentu Tian-Yin stopped then. She stared coldly at Xu Lang. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Miss Shentu.¡± Xu Lang had to be polite in front of Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°It¡¯s like this - we received a report that someone here is involved in gambling and the amount used in gambling is significant. We havee to investigate.¡±
¡°Who¡¯s involved in gambling?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin scoffed. ¡°Me? Inspector Xu, you should think before you speak.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not you, of course, Miss Shentu. It¡¯s him.¡± Xu Lang pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, you are under arrest. Hand over your winnings.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯ve resumed your duties so quickly, Inspector Xu. Congrattions.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t act like we¡¯re on close terms!¡± Xu Lang said fiercely, ¡°Where are the winnings?¡±
Xia Lei still behaved casually. ¡°Inspector Xu, you have to catch the person in the act even if you want to make an arrest. The winnings have to be confiscated from the gambling table too. You¡¯ve been a police officer for so long and you don¡¯t know this? You¡¯vee personally to catch a gambler so I guess I shouldn¡¯t let youe for nothing. How about I give you all the cash I have on me? You can take those as my winnings.¡± So saying, he actually did take out his wallet and removed the cash in it to hand it to Xu Lang with both hands.
¡°Impudence!¡± Xu Lang¡¯s shame was so great he grew incensed and he swatted at the money in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. The money fell to the floor.
Xia Lei shrugged and stepped back to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s side.
Shentu Tian-Yin grew angry too. She pointed towards the exit and raised her voice, ¡°Get out, Xu Lang!¡±
Xu Lang did not move. He spoke coldly, ¡°Please calm down, Miss Shentu. I am just doing my job. I have a search warrant and I have the right to search this hotel.¡± He shed the warrant in front of them, then waved his hand. ¡°Search the area!¡±
The police officers Xu Lang brought started their search. Every room was opened and searched, and the card room which had been used for the earlier gamble was paid special attention. Two police officers brought a sniffer-dog in.
Xia Lei raised his eyebrows. He had not expected Xu Lang to bring a sniffer-dog. Specially-trained sniffer-dogs were particrly sensitive to the smell of currency. The money would have been found quickly if Fu Ming-Mei had not moved it away in time.
Xu Lang seemed to have sensed the change in Xia Lei¡¯s expression and he sneered, ¡°You can¡¯t hide that much money, Xia Lei. Let me tell you - I sealed all road exits around this hotel before I came through the door. You have no chance of taking all that money away.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan and He Jia-Ying walked over, followed by the Gu siblings.
¡°I confess, Inspector Xu.¡± Gu Ding-Shan said with a smile, ¡°There were indeed people gambling earlier and I was one of them. I lost 60 million Euros to Xia Lei.¡±
He Jia-Ying added, ¡°I confess too. I lost 80 million Euros to Xia Lei.¡±
Xu Lang looked spectively at Xia Lei. ¡°There are witnesses. We¡¯re justcking the evidence now, but I believe we shall have that soon.¡±
Xia Lei remained silent.
Gu Ke-Wen spoke pointedly, ¡°Some people think they can get rich overnight and win a billion out of thin air, but, oh dear, there wasn¡¯t even enough time to spend a cent of it before it gets confiscated. Haha! Is this what they call tragedy in midst of happiness?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say things like that, Ke-Wen. Mr Xia will be displeased,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t say more. Big Brother, you¡¯re too soft-hearted. You¡¯re so kind.¡± Gu Ke-Wen looked at Shentu Tian-Yin as she spoke.
The Gu siblings were in sync - it disgusted Xia Lei.
Xu Lang spoke again, ¡°Don¡¯t waste our time, Xia Lei. Own up. Where have you hidden the money?¡±
¡°What money?¡± Xia Lei finally spoke.
¡°Illegal winnings!¡± Xu Lang wanted to dash forward to kick Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s illegal because you said it¡¯s illegal? Which eyes did you use to see me win a billion?¡± Xia Lei sneered, ¡°I did y, and I did win but these two guys used hell currency to trick me. Fine. You want the money? I¡¯ll give it all to youter. I¡¯ll give you ten billion instead of one.¡±
¡°You...¡± Xu Lang was rooted to the spot in anger.
¡°Don¡¯t get too arrogant, punk. What we lost were Euro bills. You handled them personally too when you received your winnings. What, you trying to y dumb now?¡± said He Jia-Ying.
¡°Sure, sure, whatever you say. I didn¡¯t see any real money. I¡¯ve been scammed,¡± said Xia Lei.
At that moment, Fu Ming-Mei walked over and went to Shentu Tian-Yin and said something in a low voice. Shentu Tian-Yin nodded and Fu Ming-Mei left.
Xia Lei looked at Shentu Tian-Yin and she gave him a smile. This faint smile assured Xia Lei.
¡°What did she say?¡± Xu Lang probed. His tone was not polite anymore.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s gaze swept indifferently past Xu Lang. ¡°Who do you think you are? Do I have to answer when you ask questions?¡±
Did the queen of Vientaine Group need to be polite to a lowly police inspector? No!
A police officer suddenly ran over. ¡°We found the money!¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Xu Langughed loudly.
The Gu n and He Jia-Yingughed too. They had the connections to get their money back once Xu Lang confiscated it, but Xia Lei¡¯s money in Euros were forfeit. They were not going to be losers whether Xia Lei won or lost the bet!
¡°Where is it?¡± asked Xu Lang eagerly, ¡°Take me there, quick!¡± He then pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°Youe with me too.¡±
Xia Lei looked fairlypliant. ¡°Of course. Congrattions on solving the case, Inspector Xu.¡±
¡°Enough with your nonsense! Move it!¡± Xu Lang pushed Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not resist. He followed Xu Lang and the police officer to a room next to the card room he had yed in. He saw a huge pile of Euros as soon as he walked in, all arranged neatly.
The police officer holding a sniffer-dog on a leash had an odd expression on his face, however, and he stuttered as Xu Lang barged through the door, ¡°Inspector Xu... This money...¡±
¡°What about this money?¡± Xu Lang had already walked to the pile of Euros. He picked up a bundle and thumbed through it.
The thumbing exined everything. Only the first two bills of the bundle were real - the rest was hell currency!
Gu Ding-Shan and He Jia-Ying¡¯s faces turned green.
Xu Lang threw the bundle of hell currency at the officer who had reported to him, roaring, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you found the money? What is this? Tell me!¡±
The police officer stammered nervously, ¡°I, I ran to tell you f, first thing. I didn¡¯t lo, look closely.¡±
¡°Idiot!¡± Xu Lang was about to pop a blood vessel.
It appeared that the two officers with the sniffer-dog had found the money in this room and one of them had rushed off to report it right away before even checking the money carefully. The remaining officer had discovered that the money was fake and Xu Lang had brought Xia Lei over to ¡®admit his crime¡¯ before the officer could think of what to do.
Xia Lei immediately pointed at He Jia-Ying and roared in anger, ¡°You bastard! You¡¯ve cheated me of 150 million! Give it back!¡±
¡°Rubbish! The money I gave you were all freshly-minted Euro bills!¡± said He Jia-Ying angrily.
Xia Lei shouted again, ¡°Motherfucker, is this what you call minted Euro bills?¡±
¡°You, you...¡± He Jia-Ying did not know how to exin it.
Many people had seen Xia Lei enter the amount of 150 million yuan in He Jia-Ying¡¯s ounts and he had used He Jia-Ying¡¯s special bank to convert his money to Euros, this was true. Xia Lei was the only one who had exchanged currencies, and it was done very quickly too; the transaction had beenpleted in a few blinks. Who could say if He Jia-Ying had given him real or fake money in that situation?
He Jia-Ying and Gu Ding-Shan imed that they had lost 60 million Euros and 80 million Euros but this was just them saying it. Xia Lei insisted that the money He Jia-Ying had changed for him was fake and that what he¡¯d won was hell currency - what could Xu Lang confiscate and who could he arrest in this scenario?
The problem was the money. Everything would be solved if they found the money but it seemed as though the money had grown wings and flown away - even the sniffer-dog was unable to find it.
The money had indeed actually flown away. While Xu Lang was getting his team toe to the venue, Fu Ming-Mei had received Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s call and flown over via helicopter. The money had gone up and away. Fu Ming-Mei then gave one of her rtives a call and that rtive happened to be in the funeral business, plus that said rtive lived close by...
¡°Take him back for questioning!¡± Xu Lang suddenly issued an order after some silence.
Two police officers walked forward, prepared to do an arrest.
Shentu Tian-Yin suddenly blocked their way and stood in front of Xia Lei. She spoke angrily, ¡°Don¡¯t overstep your boundaries, Xu Lang! You have no reason or proof to arrest Xia Lei. If you do this, I guarantee that I will do whatever it takes to get you fired from your post!¡±
Xu Lang froze.
¡°Who are you trying to scare, Tian-Yin?¡± Gu Ding-Shan spoke up, ¡°Xu Lang is a civil servant. What you¡¯re doing is a mistake, and you can be put under suspicion of illegal activity.¡±
This was a hint to Xu Lang: You can do the arrest!
¡°Bring him back for questioning!¡± Xu Lang gave the order.
¡°Cease!¡± A woman¡¯s voice suddenly rang out. ¡°This person is for me to take.¡±
Hell money / hell currency - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_money
Chapter 256 - Dangerous Ambush
The woman who had appeared in the doorway was dressed in a ck suit. She had a receiver in her ear and a Type 95 rifle in her hand. She was like a female special agent from a Hollywood spy movie - even her aura and stance were exactly the same.
Long Bing¡¯s entrance was cool as always.
Two people were behind Long Bing - one was Ke Jie and the other was someone Xia Lei did not recognise. They were dressed like Long Bing; all in ck, suited, earpieces in and holding Type 95 rifles. They were cool too.
Long Bing¡¯s appearance surprised Xia Lei. He hadn¡¯t called her to ask for help, yet she had turned up all of a sudden, and in such dramatic fashion too. It wasn¡¯t so surprising, however, if one considered Bureau 101¡¯s power and Long Bing¡¯s style of doing things.
Her appearance and the appearance of the three Type 95 rifles made everyone freeze. The Gu n¡¯s faces darkened, while He Jia-Ying¡¯s was filled with simple nervousness and fear. Xu Lang and his subordinates stood like wooden figures and did not know what to do.
Long Bing did not care how these people reacted. She walked straight to Xia Lei and said with a stern face, ¡°Xia Lei, you are under suspicion of stealing state secrets. Come with me for questioning.¡± She took a pair of handcuffs from her belt when she was done speaking and made to cuff Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hand moved without thinking, stopping Long Bing¡¯s hand. ¡°You must be mistaken! How could Xia Lei steal state secrets? There must be some mistake!¡±
¡°Move aside unless you want to be arrested,¡± said Long Bing coldly, but she winked at Shentu Tian-Yin as she spoke.
Shentu Tian-Yin was a smart woman and she understood what Long Bing meant from the not-obvious wink. She retracted her hands and shut her mouth.
Long Bing put handcuffs on Xia Lei. ¡°Let¡¯s go. You¡¯re finished this time.¡±
¡°I¡¯m in your hands. I have nothing to say,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xu Lang could not help the bitter smile which spread across his face. He knew about the rtionship between Long Bing and Xia Lei. He also remembered the warning his uncle, Xu Zheng-Yi, had given him - Don¡¯t piss this woman off! Long Bing had suddenly appeared now to take Xia Lei away but he¡¯d be a fool to believe that Xia Lei had stolen state secrets. Who knew - they might be making ns to go somewhere for supper even before they stepped out of the hotel!
Sadly, even though Xu Lang knew that that was the case, there was no way he could stop Long Bing from taking Xia Lei away. The special powers of authority Long Bing wielded was not something a lowly inspector like him could go up against!
¡°Wait!¡± Gu Ke-Wu blocked Long Bing and Xia Lei¡¯s way and said probingly, ¡°We are in the middle of investigating a gambling case now. It involves hundreds of millions. You can¡¯t just take him away because you say so.¡±
Long Bing stared icicles at Gu Ke-Wu. ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°Gu Ke-Wu!¡± He felt like he was being belittled by Long Bing and his anger red. ¡°And who are you? Show us some identification!¡±
Long Bing did not show any identification but she abruptly shoved the muzzle of the Type 95 rifle in Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s lower abdomen the instant his lips were closed.
Gu Ke-Wu let out a whimper and he sank to the floor as if he¡¯d lost control of his legs.
Long Bing moved her hand up and the rifle went to Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s head.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s forehead was beaded with cold sweat immediately. Gu Ding-Shan and Gu Ke-Wen were about to stop and question Long Bing but the sight of her with a rifle aimed at Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s head stunned father-and-daughter into muteness.
Long Bing spoke tonelessly. ¡°Gu Ke-Wu. I know who you are. Let me tell you that you have your connections and I have mine. We are from different worlds. If you think that you¡¯re big enough of a deal to meddle in the affairs of National Security, then bring it on. See if I don¡¯t shoot you down.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s lips moved but no words came out.
Long Bing put down the gun and walked out of the room, pulling Xia Lei by the arm.
Gu Ding-Shan hesitated, but still said, ¡°Leave us your name, Miss.¡±
Long Bing stopped walking and her gaze grew icily dark. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a warning, Gu Ding-Shan. You have a chance to continue you life into retirement if you stop now. If you continue in your blindness you¡¯ll end up in a worse state than Huang Yi-Hu.¡±
¡°Hah!¡± Gu Ding-Shan snorted. This was his reply.
Long Bing brought Xia Lei out of the room and went towards an emergency exit.
¡°What are you doing here?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t think I came specially to save you,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°We got the go-ahead and Annina was adamant in wanting to fly over to you so I brought her over. We got information that you were here and I made my way here only to see a whole bunch of police cars rushing in this direction. Thanks to your ability to stir up trouble I knew you were the cause. So, here I am.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°It¡¯s not me who wants to stir up trouble - it¡¯s the Gu n who doesn¡¯t want to let me off. They schemed to harm me and want me buried. I¡¯m not going to do nothing and let them kill me, am I?¡±
¡°I know, and I¡¯m helping you because I know. No help from me otherwise.¡± Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei changed the topic. ¡°Where¡¯s Annina?¡±
¡°In the car outside,¡± said Long Bing.
They quickly got to the doorway.
Ke Jie reached to open the door for them.
Xia Lei suddenly recalled something and stopped walking.
¡°What are you doing? Why aren¡¯t you walking?¡± asked Long Bing curiously.
¡°I left out someone.¡± Xia Lei had thought of Danny, the frightening killer.
Danny had said that he was already here but he had not seen him so far.
¡°The killer?¡± Long Bing thought quickly too.
Xia Lei did not reply. He looked past the door of the emergency exit and his gaze lit upon the high-rise building opposite. Balconies shed past in his vision and his gaze stopped on the rooftop terrace. There was a dark, shadowy figure - and a sniper rifle!
¡°Watch out!¡± Xia Lei cried in rm. He suddenly turned around and threw himself on Long Bing, sending them both crashing to the floor.
Sparks and little pieces of ground flew up in the emergency exit doorway the instant they hit the floor. The littles pieces burnt them.
Long Bing¡¯s face was ash-white. If Xia Lei had been a tenth of a second slower, the bullet from the sniper rifle would have gone through not just him but her too!
Xia Lei did not stay still. He wrapped his legs around Long Bing¡¯s waist and rolled to the side.
Bang! There was another muffled sound and shrapnel flew up from the ground again in the emergency exit. The bullet ricocheted off the ground, leaving bullet marks on the walls.
Ke Jie closed the door.
Another bullet nced the door, leaving a furrow as wide as a fist. Ke Jie was under fire and hey t on the ground by the door, afraid to make any false moves.
¡°Uncuff me!¡± yelled Xia Lei.
Long Bing took out the keys and uncuffed Xia Lei as she spoke into her headset, ¡°Seal the exits, now!¡±
¡°Where¡¯s your sniper rifle?¡± Xia Lei threw the handcuffs away.
¡°In the boot of the car outside,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei immediately got to his feet and ran towards the exit.
¡°You throwing your life away?¡± Long Bing called anxiously.
Xia Lei had already gone out the door. He was not throwing his life away; he had seen the sniper put his gun away in preparation to leave. Three shots were fired but none had hit the target. This was a very dangerous situation for a sniper whose location had beenpromised.
Xia Lei did not have time to see the sniper¡¯s face clearly but he was convinced that it had been Danny.
Xia Lei charged out of the emergency exit. Long Bing braced herself, and followed.
Two Hongqi vans were parked by the road; they were modified and bulletproof. The doors of both vans opened as Xia Lei ran towards them, revealing five special agents in ck suits. They started running towards the building opposite, carrying guns.
¡°Where¡¯s the gun?¡± Xia Lei did not know which van Long Bing¡¯s modified sniper rifle was in but he spotted Annina. She was crouched under the sofa-row of the first Hongqi van, hugging her head and looking nervous.
Long Bing ran to the first Hongqi van and opened its boot. She took out a stic box.
Xia Lei reached for the box but Long Bing swatted his hand away.
¡°I¡¯ll do it. This guy¡¯s mine.¡± Long Bing had already opened the box as she spoke and begun assembling the sniper rifle parts with practiced moves.
¡°Then let me have a handgun,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Be good and stay here. Your life is important to the nation,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei was rooted to the spot in anger. This was a chance to finish Danny off but Long Bing was not giving it to him.
Long Bing assembled the sniper rifle in under ten seconds and she ran towards the building opposite with the rifle in her hands.
Xia Lei started to chase after her but he didn¡¯t even have so much as a fork on him. His stopped in his tracks.
¡°Fuck. They keep telling me I¡¯m a consultant for Bureau 101 but I don¡¯t even get a gun. What consultant am I?¡± Xia Lei kicked angrily at the wheel of the van. He then looked at the building opposite and scanned it. He¡¯d lost Danny.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. This Danny¡¯s abilities were more than he¡¯d imagined.
Annina crawled out of the van and asked in a scared voice, ¡°Are you hurt, Lukas?¡±
Xia Lei pulled her to a crouch next to the wheels. ¡°I¡¯m okay. You?¡±
¡°I was so scared. I¡¯m not hurt.¡± Annina hugged Xia Lei around his neck and pressed her face to his cheek.
Xia Lei patted her gently on the back and saidfortingly, ¡°It¡¯s okay now. Don¡¯t be scared. The gunman¡¯s gone.¡±
¡°Can he be caught?¡± Annina was still nervous.
Xia Lei knew that there was no chance for them to catch Danny anymore but he said, ¡°I hope so. You don¡¯t have to worry about it. Oh, right, Long Bing said that there¡¯s been some headway. What¡¯s the situation?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not so sure but it¡¯s all confirmed on my end. I¡¯ve finished my ns. This isn¡¯t why I insisted oning to see you, though. It¡¯s because... I missed you.¡±
Xia Lei felt the beginning twinges of an ache in his waist.
Chapter 257 - Intuition-ism
Xia Lei¡¯s home.
¡°You say that the person who tried to kidnap your sister and stabbed your bodyguard is named Danny?¡± Long Bing gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°How do you know this?¡±
¡°I stole Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s phone at the banquet and used it to call Danny to confirm his identity,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing then said to Ke Jie, who was standing in the doorway, ¡°Go. Investigate this person - I want all the information on him.¡±
Ke Jie nodded and went out the door.
¡°That guy¡¯s no simple man; he escaped capture in under five minutes. He¡¯s very dangerous and he has to die,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°I might have killed him off if you¡¯d let me have the sniper rifle. When am I getting a gun?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Join Bureau 101 officially and you¡¯ll get one; any one you like.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and didn¡¯t ask for a gun again.
¡°Right, when did you discover that sniper? That Danny you¡¯re talking about.¡± Long Bing looked quietly at Xia Lei.
¡°Just my intuition, and... my eyesight¡¯s pretty good. I can make out a lot of things in the dark and I can see further than normal. We met in Macau because of this,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei knew Long Bing was no fool. She could guess that he could see further than normal even without him saying it, otherwise there was no way he¡¯d have been able to see the sniper. It was better to tell her some hazy truth than other bits of logic in this situation.
¡°How far can you see?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°About a few hundred metres. I can see very far if there¡¯s something reflective; something like a sniper¡¯s scope lens.¡±
An exnation like this made sense. There was nock of light in an urban environment and there was a possibility that light would reflect off a scope lens and that he would see it by coincidence.
Long Bing was quiet for a bit before saying, ¡°Being able to process high-precision parts already proves that your eyesight is better than the norm. Maybe you should test your eyesight and see its limits.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be ab rat. Let¡¯s not talk about my vision. How about that other matter?¡±
He could not avoid the spection of others but he could prevent them from understanding his power. It was simple - no one could force him to do anything he didn¡¯t want. He could actually see over four thousand metres away but he could just tell Long Bing that he could not see at around fifty metres and there was no way she could prove him wrong.
¡°I spoke with Boss Shi about your proposal and he discussed it with the higher-ups. The higher-ups are willing to give you 500 million, no returns needed. But they want a 50% share.¡± Long Bing turned the conversation to business.
¡°Andnd?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°6.67 hectares, in a suburban area. They can give it to you too but if you don¡¯t have the money, they want 20% more shares. That means a total of 70% in shares,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°They sure know how to calcte stuff. If they hold 70% of the shares they¡¯re sure to send a supervisor. And that supervisor will have greater authority than me. I¡¯d have to report to him and if something goes wrong I¡¯ll have to take the me for it, right?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know the details. I¡¯m not a businessman and I¡¯m not familiar with this. I only know that you¡¯ll get 30% without having toe up with a single cent - that¡¯s a win. Be content. Boss Shi says that if you agree, we¡¯ll go to Jing-Du tomorrow to sign the contract,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Tell Boss Shi I don¡¯t want a loan and I don¡¯t want anyone¡¯s money. I have money. Thend doesn¡¯t have to be free either - I¡¯ll pay for it. It¡¯s mypany and I don¡¯t want anyone else having a hand in my business,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Setting up apany like that and the purchase ofnd and other expenses are impossible to even think about if you don¡¯t have at least 700 to 800 million. Where did you get this money from?¡± said Long Bing in surprise.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Got it in a gambling game against Gu Ding-Shan.¡±
Long BIng red at Xia Lei. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that fake money? And it¡¯s been confiscated by the police too.¡±
¡°The real money was moved somewhere else,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t have stepped in to save you if I knew. I should¡¯ve let the police arrest you,¡± said Long Bing with distaste.
¡°Gu Ding-Shan colluded with Macau¡¯s Gambling King, He Jia-Ying, to set me up. Why shouldn¡¯t I eat the meat offered up to me? I won their money and they reported it to the police. Who¡¯s going to bother about me if I¡¯d lost?¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing was quiet for a bit before she said, ¡°I¡¯ll pretend not to know about this. How are you going to exin this if Boss Shi or someone else asks you about it?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I borrowed it from Shentu Tian-Yin. What, I can¡¯t do that?¡±
¡°Fine. I¡¯ll contact Boss Shi now. Get ready. We¡¯re going to Jing-Du tomorrow. You¡¯ll have to talk to him face-to-face about this sooner orter.¡± Long Bing stood and walked to the exit.
¡°It¡¯ste. You can stay here, in Xia Xue¡¯s room,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing paused mid-walk, then opened the door and walked out.
As soon as Long Bing left, Annina stuck her head out of his room. ¡°Lukas, we should talk about the ns.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A faint fragrance hung in the air in the room. The lights seemed dim and they illuminated a tall German beauty. As for the ns, they sat on the bedside table but their existence paled inparison.
Annina had a sweet smile on her face. Shey on the bed, looking soft and supple. She said nothing but her silence was a very loud hint - he shoulde over and have a deep talk about those ns.
Xia Lei went over and sat next to her. He took a breath and said softly, ¡°Annina, there are some things I don¡¯t know if I should say, but... I don¡¯t know if I can give you the love or the happy ending you want. Us doing this may be a mistake. We...¡±
Annina lifted her arm and pressed her index finger to Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°You changed my life when you appeared. I am without a home now and I cannot tell what my future will be; I don¡¯t want to think about it. I go by intuition-ism and I trust it. You are my angel. I can attain the happiness I need if I am with you. Like now. I¡¯m very happy with you, very blissful. To me, this is enough.¡±
Intuition-ism? What the hell¡¯s that? Xia Lei had no time to think more about it because he was being pulled down by Annina, down to drown in the deliciousness between her lips.
Annina had actually already used her body to exin what ¡®intuition-ism¡¯ was. What status? What future? These were all things which would mean nothing in the end and she didn¡¯t care. She only cared for the now. She was happy when she was with Xia Lei, andfortable. She had him to herself for now and this was enough.
Intuition-ism - this seemed to be the only standard to measure the quality of a lover.
Annina¡¯s vigorous movements opened a rip in her pyjamas, exposing arge area of flesh.
¡°What the heck, I bought these just yesterday!¡± said Annina in annoyance.
Xia Lei held back hisughter. ¡°Where did you get it from?¡±
¡°Taobao*. It was 20 yuan.¡± Annina frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve only worn it once - can I exchange it?¡±
¡°Exchange? When it¡¯s just 20 yuan? I¡¯ll buy you a new set next time. You don¡¯t have experience buying on Taobao so you¡¯ll easily end up buying products like this.¡± Xia Lei lectured her but felt rather gloomy inside. Why was she talking about 20-yuan pyjamas at a time like this?
Annina, on the other hand, seemed happy and excited. ¡°Then buy me those student uniforms, police uniforms... Oh, and the nurse outfits and warrior garb!¡±
Xia Lei felt more and more at a loss for words.
The 20-yuan pyjamas fell soundlessly to the floor, where it belonged.
Xia Lei felt like he had be something of an intuition-ist too under Annina¡¯s influence.
---
Outside the gates of the neighbourhood, in a Hongqi car by the road.
¡°Chief Long.¡± Ke Jie delivered a military portableputer to Long Bing¡¯s hands. ¡°This is the information I¡¯ve found on Danny.¡±
Long Bing looked at the disy and a strange expression appeared on her face. ¡°This...¡±
The screen disyed the case file of an eight-year-old, and this child was dead. The ¡®Deceased¡¯bel on the right corner of the file was particrly striking.
¡°This child was an orphan whom Gu Ding-Shan adopted twenty years ago. The child was four when he was adopted. Gu Ding-Shan rose quickly in the world afterwards and this child died mysteriously. The corpse was cremated in a local ce. I called to inquire and there is a tombstone in the cemetery.¡±
Long Bing frowned, deep in thought.
¡°Chief Long, Xia Lei said the killer was Danny. How can a child who¡¯s been dead for 16 years be the killer?¡± said Ke Jie, ¡°He must be mistaken.¡±
¡°Gu Ke-Wu had Danny¡¯s name on his phone. How can that be exined?¡± said Long Bing.
Ke Jie thought for a bit. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a foreigner with the same name.¡±
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°Gu Ding-Shan rose from the underworld and his hands are stained with blood. He¡¯s never done the dirty work himself - he needs someone to do it for him. If a dead killer is doing it for him, then who can trace it back to him?¡±
¡°You mean...¡± Ke Jie said in surprise, ¡°Gu Ding-Shan let the child ¡®die¡¯ on purpose while training him to be a cold-blooded killer in secret?¡±
¡°It¡¯s just my guess.¡± Long Bing closed the portableputer. ¡°Take two people to the cemetery. Dig up that child¡¯s grave for a look.¡±
¡°And if there are bones?¡±
¡°Then take samples and do a DNA test.¡± Long Bing¡¯s eyes were cold.
How dare this person try to kill Xia Lei right in front of her! He must die, no matter who he was!
*Taobao - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taobao
Chapter 258 - Bumblebee In The Ash
There was a sudden shower in the middle of the afternoon and cold raindrops pattered against windows and roofs. The wind blew but it could not blow away the anger and hate in Distinguished Gathering.
Crash! Gu Ding-Shan smashed a piece of valuable porcin in his hand to the floor. The teapot shattered into pieces and the premium oolong tea it held spread all over the floor.
¡°Macau¡¯s Gambling King was not able to make that punk bankrupt and he even won a billion from us!¡± This incident was as if someone had spat in the face of Gu Ding-Shan and he was sickened by it.
Gu Ke-Wu spoke tentatively, ¡°I can¡¯t figure out how Xia Lei moved so much money in such a short period of time. If only Xu Lang had been faster; we would¡¯ve been able to hold onto that money.¡±
¡°Dad, Brother, isn¡¯t it obvious? That was Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s territory. She must¡¯ve helped him move it, that hateful bitch. Brother, you¡¯re smitten with her but she¡¯s so in love with that punk it¡¯s like she¡¯s possessed. I feel injustice for you when I think of how she and that Xia Lei were sweetly and happily dancing around on that dance floor!¡±
Gu Ke-Wuughed coldly. ¡°I don¡¯t love her, I love Vientaine Group. If I can¡¯t get what I want, then no one else shall!¡±
¡°Her n¡¯s richer than ours, and she doesn¡¯t even care for you. I think it¡¯s too difficult to get a woman like her.¡± Gu Ke-Wen was not optimistic at all about Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s chances of marrying Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Stop fighting!¡± Gu Ding-Shan said angrily, ¡°Put Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s matter aside for now. Resolve the matter about this punk before we talk about anything else.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen shut up.
Gu Ding-Shan snorted, ¡°I don¡¯t get it. A beggar from the construction sites just suddenly gets rich and is so difficult for us to deal with. Is he the Monkey God reincarnated?¡±
¡°Dad, I don¡¯t think Xia Lei is that difficult to deal with - it¡¯s that woman. We have to be careful about her,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°You mean that woman who imed to be from National Security?¡± Long Bing had left a deep impression on Gu Ding-Shan too.
¡°Yes, her.¡± Gu Ke-Wu couldn¡¯t help the hate in his heart when he recalled her pointing a gun at him.
Gu Ding-Shan thought for a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to investigate when I¡¯m back in Jing-Du. It¡¯ll be easy to deal with a woman like her when we have more information about her.¡±
¡°Oh, right...¡± Gu Ke-Wen seemed to remember something, ¡°What about Danny? He should¡¯ve taken action tonight but there¡¯s been no news of him till now.¡±
¡°I called Danny after that woman took Xia Lei away but his phone¡¯s off,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°Danny will only switch his phone off when he¡¯s making a move.¡± Gu Ding-Shanughed coldly. ¡°He may give us a surprise.¡±
A shadow suddenly flitted past the windows.
Gu Ding-Shan, Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen sensed it and the door opened as their gazes moved towards it.
A young man in a raincoat walked in. He carried a long, ck case.
He was Danny, a person who¡¯d been dead for 16 years.
He was like one of the living dead who¡¯d just climbed out of a grave and he emitted a cold aura. His eyes were even colder and didn¡¯t seem human.
¡°So?¡± Gu Ding-Shan was long-ustomed to Danny¡¯s iciness.
Danny put the sniper rifle case on the floor. ¡°Failed.¡±
¡°Huh? Danny, you can fail?¡± Gu Ke-Wen was very surprised.
Gu Ke-Wu was anxious too. ¡°Tell us, quick. What happened?¡±
Danny removed his raincoat and threw it to the floor. ¡°I¡¯d already had my sights set on the emergency exit when that woman took him out from that way. I was waiting for the moment to take him down. Even a killer on the same level as I am won¡¯t be able to escape my shot in that situation. I just needed three seconds, including the time needed for the bullet to reach the target, to kill him once he was in my sights. He actually sensed my presence once the door was opened and I¡¯d already pulled the trigger but he still managed to dodge. He not only dodged but pushed that woman away, otherwise I would¡¯ve managed to kill that woman even if I didn¡¯t manage to kill him.¡±
This was what happened and this was the result but Gu Ding-Shan, Gu Ke-Wu and Gu Ke-Wen could not believe it.
Danny opened his case, revealing the sniper rifle inside. ¡°My rifle¡¯s the M200, used by American Special Forces. It has a range of 2,300 metres; I was 2,000 metres away from that door. A bullet from this gun flies at a thousand metres per second so I just need three seconds to kill him. I did do as I¡¯d nned and followed my procedures perfectly, but... I failed.¡±
¡°How did he sense you?¡± Danny¡¯s exnation was very professional but Gu Ke-Wu could not believe that Xia Lei had sensed Danny¡¯s presence at such a distance, and had dodged before the bullet even left the gun!
Danny was quiet for a bit before he said, ¡°I don¡¯t know either but I had a feeling then. It was strange... I felt like he¡¯d seen me in the instant that the door was opened.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan let out augh. ¡°Are you joking, Danny? It was night and two thousand metres away. You were hidden too. How could he have seen you?¡±
Danny shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know either, but I know this - he is a frightening man.¡±
¡°What is this, Danny? You¡¯re lifting him high to cover for your mistake. When did you be so cowardly?¡± said Gu Ke-Wen in dissatisfaction.
Danny looked at Gu Ke-Wen with eyes void of emotion. ¡°Ke-Wen, you know I¡¯m not afraid of death. I was just exining what I know to you so that you have the information to make urate conclusions. A person even I cannot kill - the results are unimaginable if he sees red.¡±
¡°You want me to consider if it¡¯s worth killing him, is that right?¡± said Gu Ding-Shan coldly.
Danny said nothing; he nodded.
Gu Ke-Wen interjected before Gu Ding-Shan could speak. ¡°Let him off? Impossible! That punk pirated my patent and edged mypany out of the foreign market. He even upied the domestic market. How can I take this lying down? Fine, even if Nice Moves Sports is a smallpany not worthy of mention in the North Group, that punk is robbing me of something precious. Brother would probably be preparing to get married to Shentu Tian-Yin now if it weren¡¯t for that punk. Vientaine Group would¡¯ve been ours in three years. How can this loss be ounted for? And what happened tonight - Dad¡¯s dignity was used as a mop and wiped all over the floor. He even won one billion from us!¡±
Gu Ding-Shan was quiet for a bit before he spoke. ¡°We could have had some room to manoeuvre if you hadn¡¯t pulled the trigger, but you had. That punk would guess that it¡¯s rted to us and based on his character, he won¡¯t just let it be. If we withdraw and wait, he will just get more powerful and we will be on the losing end.¡±
¡°And Danny, you tried to kidnap his sister and stabbed his bodyguard. His sister looks to be more precious to him than anything. He¡¯ll surely seek revenge for that. The arrow has been let loose from our bow now and there is no going back,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
Hate was a simple yetplicated thing. Offensive words could make two familiar people draw arms in confrontation, and sometimes a careless tread could result in a bloody case. The dispute between the Gu n and Xia Lei had begun with Liu Ying, then continued with Shentu Tian-Yin and grown to how it was now. Hate had umted,yer uponyer, and there was no longer any way of resolving their differences.
¡°Understood. I will continue in my attempts to assassinate him. I feel I may not be enough alone. I need ten million USD to hire some foreign colleagues,¡± said Danny.
¡°No problem, but you know the rules,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan.
¡°I know. I have no rtion to the Gu n,¡± said Danny tonelessly.
Rain continued falling and it didn¡¯t look like it would stop anytime soon.
Meanwhile, in Taiyangshan Public Cemetery.
An old grave had been dug up to reveal the casket below.
The casket was made of white marble and the rain washed away the dirt on it. The casket looked to be free of weathering and decay.
Ke Jie jumped into the grave and reached to open the lid.
There were no remains in the casket - just a stic Transformers toy. It was fairly tattered and was missing an arm and a leg. Ke Jie could just barely make out that it was Bumblebee of the Autobots.
¡°Fuck, what¡¯s this?¡± Ke Jie threw Bumblebee back into the casket, then climbed out. ¡°Bury it well. Make it so that no one can tell the dirt¡¯s been moved.¡±
Two agents bent to the task.
Ke Jie walked off to one side and made a call.
Long Bing received the call in a Hongqi van by the entrance of a neighbourhood. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡±
¡°Chief Long, you guessed right. The casket is empty. The orphan Gu Ding-Shan adopted is not dead,¡± said Ke Jie.
¡°Issue an order to the clean-up team. Let them find him and eliminate him,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± Ke Jie hung up.
Long Bing closed her eyes. The scene in the emergency exit reyed in her head. Xia Lei suddenly turned around and knocked her to the ground, and that bullet came whizzing past his head in that instant...
Xia Lei was full of mysteries she could not decipher.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone suddenly rang at a busy time for him.
Who could be calling at this hour? This person sure knew how to pick the time.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei reached out to grab his mobile phone from his bedside table. He grew nervous when he saw who was calling on the disy screen.
It was Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Don¡¯t take the call.¡± Annina wrapped herself around Xia Lei, her blue eyes smouldering gently. She was going to melt Xia Lei for the third time, so how could she let someone interrupt now?
Xia Lei felt awkward too. Pick up the phone? No?
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei bit the bullet and gestured for Annina to keep quiet. He unlocked the phone to answer the call. ¡°Yes, Tian-Yin?¡±
¡°Are you all right?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was full of concern.
¡°I¡¯m fine. I... I¡¯m already home.¡± Xia Lei did not know what to say.
¡°I called sote because I wanted to tell you that the money is safe. I n to circle it through some Swiss banks, then transfer it from mypany¡¯s ounts to yours. This way, you can say that the money is from me if someone investigated the source of your money.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice was warm.
¡°Nn, thank you.¡± Xia Lei was touched, and a little guilty. Why guilty, though?
¡°Rest well, then. The money issue can be settled by noon tomorrow, don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°You should rest early too. Say hello to Uncle for me.¡±
¡°Sure. Come visit when you have time.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin hung up.
There was no sounding from the phone any more but Xia Lei still held onto it and stared nkly. A question bothered him. ¡®Why was I nervous? I actually feel a little like I¡¯m cheating... We¡¯re not lovers - why do I have this strange feeling? Do I still have lingering feelings from the first time I saw her?¡¯
Annina suddenly wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s neck and pulled him down to her.
She really was an intuition-ist. She didn¡¯t even bother to ask who¡¯d called...
¡°This will be thest round, okay?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was unsteady.
¡°The secondst round, deal! Approved!¡±
Xia Leiy back powerlessly. Strangely, Shentu Tian-Yin upied his mind persistently, even when Annina was kissing him... And her lips...
Chapter 259 - So Its Her Father
Xia Lei was a consultant for Bureau 101 but it was his first timeing to the headquarters. It was an old building which looked to be fifty to sixty years old but it was vastly different from the other buildings of its era in terms of sturdiness. It seemed strong enough to withstand bombardment.
And seemingly by coincidence, this old building of five storeys was also numbered ¡®101¡¯. There was a yard before the building and a sports field behind it, but the people doing activities on it were not agents from Bureau 101 - they were old folk in their seventies and eighties.
Xia Lei¡¯s first impression of the ce was that it was an elder-care facility, not a mysterious government facility.
¡°Surprised?¡± said Long Bing as she led him towards the old building.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I get it. This must be a cover.¡±
¡°Yep, it is. I¡¯ll take you on a tour since you¡¯re here. You¡¯re half Bureau 101 already anyway,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°It¡¯s just this ce. What¡¯s there to tour?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Follow me and you¡¯ll find out.¡± Long Bing led him in and they walked into the lift. She put her head close to the numerical disy and entered six numbers - 101005.
No normal person would use a lift like this. Xia Lei was curious and was just about to ask her what she was doing when the lift suddenly moved. However, it did not move up, but down.
Long Bing nced at Xia Lei and said evenly, ¡°This lift requires an ID and code to activate a secret mode, otherwise it can only go up and not down. There¡¯s only some logistics staff upstairs and one department responsible for acting as our cover.¡±
¡°Is ¡®101005¡¯ a universal password?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously.
¡°No. It¡¯s my personal password. Every person has his or her own password. I am 005. If you do join Bureau 101 officially, you will get a password which belongs to you. The password and retina scan will allow you to enter the real Bureau 101,¡± said Long Bing.
So her going close to the numerical disy was to scan her retina.
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°Don¡¯t keep telling me to join Bureau 101 officially. I think I¡¯m better off being a consultant. Aren¡¯t I working hard for the country now? Rank is not important.¡±
The lift stopped and the doors opened. Xia Lei was eager to walk out. A huge arched space entered his field of vision - it looked like an erged bunker. This space was divided into several zones and every zone had a different function. The work done by the agents in each zone was also different. Some worked withputers, some tested weapons, some did fighting training, some operated pilotless machines and some were in simtors flying different types of aircraft.
There were several doors on the circr walls of the arched space. Some of these doors were open and it looked like there were offices within.
Long Bing brought Xia Lei past the work area and to a door.
Xia Lei saw Shi Bo-Ren and a middle-aged man dressed casually sitting in the office before Long Bing knocked on the door. The man looked to be in his forties with a square face and an imposing manner.
¡®Shi Bo-Ren knew I wasing to talk about the military production nt but he still let this person stay in his office. Does this mean that he¡¯s also here for the same reason?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Long Bing reached out and knocked on the door.
Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s voice came from inside. ¡°Enter.¡±
Long Bing pushed the door open and led Xia Lei in. She bowed as soon as she entered the room but did not greet anyone.
Xia Lei was about to begin with greetings but Shi Bo-Ren said quickly, ¡°Come,e,e, Xia Lei. Let me introduce you - this is Mr Tang. Tang Tian-Long.¡±
Xia Lei put a smile on his face and said politely, ¡°Hello, Mr Tang.¡± In his head, he thought, ¡®Surnamed Tang? I wonder if he¡¯s rted to Tang Bo-Chuan or Tang Yu-Yan?¡¯
Tang Tian-Long stood and shook hands with Xia Lei. He also spoke politely, ¡°I¡¯ve long heard about how capable Mr Xia is and have long wanted to meet you. I finally get the opportunity to meet you today. Well met, well met.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too kind, Mr Tang,¡± Xia Lei said probingly, ¡°And I¡¯m not sure, but Mr Tang, what...¡±
Tang Tian-Long smiled and said, ¡°I work for the government. As for what I do - it¡¯s best if you don¡¯t ask.¡±
Xia Lei did not probe again.
¡°Go about your duties, Long Bing. This doesn¡¯t involve you now,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
Long Bing turned and left without a word.
¡°Come, have a seat, Xia Lei.¡± Shi Bo-Ren called Xia Lei to sit and went to the water dispenser to pour him a cup of water.
Xia Lei stood to receive the cup. ¡°Don¡¯t be so polite, Boss Shi. Please, just tell me what you have to say.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll be frank.¡± Shi Bo-Ren sat opposite Xia Lei and looked straight at him. ¡°I believe Long Bing has mentioned our ns. What is your opinion?¡±
Tang Tian-Long looked at Xia Lei¡¯s face, as if he could look into Xia Lei through his eyes.
Xia Lei had already guessed that this Tang Tian-Long must be rted to the military production nt project and he had an answer long prepared for Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s question. ¡°Our country just so happens to be developing its expansion into the global market. It is not rich, and one could even argue that it¡¯s difficult. How can I ask for money from the country in this situation? I¡¯ve decided that I don¡¯t want the country¡¯s money. I can invest in it myself and do production myself. I can definitely produce sniper rifles which can match the world standards. Oh, and better firearms in the future.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren and Tang Tian-Long exchanged nces. Both had no expression on their faces and they were silent too.
Xia Lei put on an awkward face. ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡±
¡°Hah hah hah.¡± Shi Bo-Renughed three times, then suddenly pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°Just say it if you want to keep everything for yourself, boy. Why pretend at patriotism?¡±
Tang Tian-Long took a sip of water and said slowly, ¡°Mr Xia, our country is not poor. It has the world¡¯s secondrgest economy and holds trillions of dors in American Treasury Bonds. You want to build a production line so you¡¯ll have toe up with hundreds of millions, won¡¯t you? You say pretty words but how can we keep talking about the n like this?¡±
¡°Are you the one negotiating terms with me, Mr Tang?¡± asked Xia Lei investigatively.
¡°Yes, I am responsible for negotiating.¡± Tang Tian-Long answered readily this time.
¡°Speak, Xia Lei. What are your thoughts on this? I don¡¯t want your flowery words,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll say it,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°My reasoning is simple. I don¡¯t want anyone interfering with my ownpany, much less having you guys send one of your own to supervise me or tell me what to do. This is not beneficial for thepany¡¯s production and operations either. I shall be responsible for all investment and I will make the best sniper rifles or other firearms.¡±
Tang Tian-Long wrinkled his brows. ¡°Know this, boy. What you¡¯re going to manufacture are weapons, not toys. How can we let you make such dangerous things without supervision?¡±
¡°Of course you¡¯ll need to. You can send troops to guard the gates and the warehouses. The weapons produced have to meet your standards before they leave the the factory area. Is this not enough? You guys supervise these and I¡¯ll manage thepany. This is my only condition,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You really... Boy... Do you have that much money? It¡¯s almost a billion,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
¡°I do,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I borrowed a billion from Shentu Tian-Yin. It should be enough.¡±
Tang Tian-Long and Shi Bo-Ren exchanged nces again. ¡°Little Xia, can you reconsider...¡±
Xia Lei cut him off, ¡°I just have this one condition. If this condition cannot be met, I¡¯ll just give up on this investment.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Tian-Long was pissed beyond words.
Shi Bo-Ren red at Xia Lei and looked ready to bite him, but he could not do anything to him. It was simple - the domestic rifles were just too old and their Chinese Special Forces had to borrow the might of foreign rifles when they went on overseaspetitions. Xia Lei could modify a rifle for Long Bing and make it into something which exceeded the world¡¯s most advanced with his own two hands, and that stubborn German woman would only work with Xia Lei. This situation, plus the punk¡¯s god-like skill - how cold this not drive someone crazy?
Xia Lei softened his tone. ¡°Dear sirs, I am not antagonising you on purpose. Think about it. Don¡¯t you want the most advanced sniper rifles? You will also be able to control this military production nt, so why do you need shares? I don¡¯t believe that our country is interested in this little bit of money. I have this condition because I have the interests of thepany at heart. Thepany is mine and I¡¯m investing so much money into it, so of course I¡¯ll do my best to make everything run smoothly. If thepany belonged to you, then why would I have to work so hard? Don¡¯t you think I¡¯m right?¡±
Tang Tian-Long and Shi Bo-Ren exchanged nces yet again.
¡°Ai, you¡¯re an amazing little fellow. I thought we¡¯d be able to persuade you but you¡¯re unexpectedly stubborn, like that German woman.¡± Tang Tian-Long sighed. ¡°Never mind. What you said is logical too. Our country has many military production lines but none are able to produce sniper rifles with the most advanced standards, and the management style of thepany is not rted to the product standards sometimes. If you do well and have good results, more private capital will enter the arms market in the future. Are you confident?¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Of course. Rest assured, Mr Tang. Remember, I am putting a billion into this project and it¡¯s money I¡¯ve borrowed. I am shouldering all the risk so how can I not do my best to make sure everything goes well?¡±
¡°Hoh hoh hoh...¡± Tang Tian-Longughed. ¡°Let¡¯s sign the contract. I¡¯ll take you to see thend when we¡¯re done signing. I¡¯ve prepared several plots ofnd and you can take your pick from those.¡±
¡°Deal.¡± Xia Lei grew even more curious about this Tang Tian-Long. From the way he spoke, his rank could possibly be higher than Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s!
The contract was a stack of paper over thirty pages thick, covered with hundreds of article sections. Xia Lei¡¯s reading speed was godly, however, and he read the whole thing in ten minutes. He signed after reading.
Tang Tian-Long signed too, and exchanged contracts with Xia Lei.
Shi Bo-Ren pressed the pager on the table.
In under a minute, a woman walked in without knocking.
Xia Lei stared nkly at her when he saw her face.
It was Tang Yu-Yan.
Tang Yu-Yan was dressed in loose training clothing but the clothing did nothing to cover her graceful curves. She was rounded in all the right ces and smoking hot.
Tang Yu-Yan shot Xia Lei a smile and said, ¡°Can I take him away now, Dad, Godfather?¡±
Xia Lei turned to stone.
Chapter 260 - High-def Martial Arts
A military jeep zoomed along the road as Jingdu city was gradually left behind.
¡°Let¡¯s go to Plot 1 first. I¡¯ve already gone to view it. It¡¯s next to a vige and is located along a riverbank; fairly suitable for manufacturing.¡± Tang Yu-Yan broke the silence in the car.
¡°How many plots ofnd are there in all?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Four. I¡¯ve pre-viewed them,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°So can you give me your opinion?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t have experience in this. My task is to take you to see the plots ofnd and oversee your safety. As for where to build - it¡¯s your decision,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan with a smile.
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei narrowed his eyes at her. ¡°Miss Tang, may I ask you something?¡±
¡°What do you want to ask?¡± A small smile was forming in the corners of Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s mouth.
¡°Um... What does your father do?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan grinned. ¡°I knew you¡¯d ask that. Didn¡¯t expect you to stall for so long before asking though. It makes no difference if I tell you; he¡¯s from the Equipment Department. He¡¯s not a very high-ranking official or anything. About the same as my godfather.¡±
¡°No way.¡± Xia Lei was a little disbelieving. He did believe that Tang Tian-Long was from the Equipment Department but he did not believe that he was a small fry.
Tang Yu-Yan pursed her cherry-red lips and gave Xia Lei a look. ¡°Long Bing has corrupted you with all that paranoia. What I said was the truth. Would a very important persone to meet you personally and sign a contract with you? An important person wille meet you if you¡¯re going to build a war machine or tanks.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. What Tang Yu-Yan said made sense. He was a civilian who owned a smallpany, so why would someone very importante to greet him and sign a contract with him? However, the Tang family still left a deep impression on him.
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯m your personal driver today. How are you going to thank me?¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll treat you to a meal. What do you want to eat?¡±
¡°How can I let you treat me to a meal when we¡¯re in Jingdu? I¡¯ll treat you. How about this - you modify a sniper rifle for me. I¡¯d like it to be of the same standard as Long Bing¡¯s sniper rifle. Is that okay?¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked at Xia Lei, all smiles.
This seemed to be the reason why Tang Yu-Yan had volunteered to take Xia Lei to view the plots ofnd.
Xia Lei gave it some thought. ¡°Sure. Give me the gun you want modified and I¡¯ll help you modify it when I¡¯m back in Haizhu.¡±
¡°I have it all prepared. It¡¯s under the back seat,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei looked back. There was a long stic box under the back seat. His left eye twitched and he saw a domestically-produced sniper rifle, exactly the same as the one he had modified for Long Bing.
Xia Lei stopped looking and smiled wryly. ¡°So you¡¯d prepared this in advance.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan grinned. ¡°Because I know you won¡¯t reject me.¡±
The vehicle entered a suburban area and went forward for a little more before arriving at a riverbank. This plot ofnd was roughly over twenty kilometres away from the city. The road connection was convenient; one would arrive in the city after about ten minutes of driving. It was arge plot too and looked to be over 6.67 hectares.
¡°How about this plot?¡± Tang Yu-Yan did a hop as she spoke and sprang lightly to the top of arge rock almost a metre high. She looked down at Xia Lei from her high perch.
Xia Lei looked up at her. ¡°Not bad. You know how much this is?¡±
¡°200 million,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°It¡¯s close to the city. Won¡¯t be cheap even if it¡¯s for industrial purposes.¡±
¡°Then take me to the next plot. This one¡¯s too expensive,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll take you there.¡± Tang Yu-Yan jumped down from the rock immediately. Her long legs shot out at Xia Lei in a kick aimed at his chest.
Xia Lei hurriedly dodged it as he said, ¡°What are you doing, Miss Tang?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan did not reply. She swept a foot at Xia Lei¡¯s waist.
Xia Lei jumped backwards and got a little annoyed. ¡°Stop this, Miss Tang.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan answered with a barrage of fists. Her fists were snow-white jade and looked soft but her strength was amazingly great; she was fast too and her fists whooshed.
Xia Lei used elbows and palms to block Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s quick punches. Her blows stung and Xia Lei, who was only defending, was forced backwards under her assault. He was pushed to the riverside in two shakes of amb¡¯s tail.
¡°Enough!¡± Xia Lei had no more space to retreat - any further back and he¡¯d be taking a bath in the river.
Tang Yu-Yan did not seem to have heard Xia Lei¡¯s warning. Her fists paused as she whipped around with a kick aimed at Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. Her movements were quick and light, her attacks soaring, and her body twisting easily in the air in a flying kick made her look like a beautiful bird.
Xia Lei had heard from Liang Zheng-Chun that the Tang sect were not just good with hidden weapons. They also had their Tang Qinggong and Tang Fist.
Xia Lei had not seen Tang Qinggong before but he had witnessed the might of the Tang Fist. He got pissed and moved in before her long leg touched his body, inserting his body between Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s legs. Tang Yu-Yan had not expected that Xia Lei would react so monstrously quickly and it was toote for her to retract her leg. Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder mmed heavily into her hips. The great impact lifted her by the hips from Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and she flew two metres beforending on the ground.
She looked about to fall on some rocks when she reached out and pushed off from a rock. Her body stiffened and rxed, and shended lightly on her feet.
This seemed to be Tang Qinggong; it was remarkable.
Xia Lei did not go on the offence. He just looked at her in annoyance.
Tang Yu-Yan twisted around to rub her round buttocks. She did not make any sound but the sight of her holding back her pain made one¡¯s heart melt a little in pity.
¡°How could you hit me... there?¡± Tang Yu-Yan pouted and looked a little affronted. She kept rubbing her buttocks.
¡®Don¡¯t me me. You asked for it - not as if I nned it,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°Hello?¡± Tang Yu-Yan grew difited by Xia Lei¡¯s straight gaze. ¡°What are you looking at me like that for?¡±
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses then and quickly lifted his chin to look at the sky and also move his attention elsewhere. ¡°Why attack me?¡±
¡°I saw you defeat that Bruce Long thest time at the Martial Arts seminar so I wanted to test myself against you. There wasn¡¯t a chance for me to do so before and it¡¯s just the two of us now, so nobody will know even if you defeat me. Heh heh,¡± chuckled Tang Yu-Yan.
The fire in his belly subsided and went out. Xia Lei left eye went back to normal but he did not dare look at Tang Yu-Yan lest it activated again.
¡°You¡¯re really good. I can¡¯t win against you,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei then moved his gaze to Tang Yu-Yan andughed. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s silly for you to do this? I know your Tang sect¡¯s greatest strength is not fighting but hidden weapons. I probably won¡¯t be able to beat you if you used hidden weapons.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan shook her head. ¡°Our Tang sect¡¯s hidden weapons are not for y. People die when they are used; I won¡¯t use hidden weapons on you.¡±
¡°I saw you almost fall earlier but you sprang up like a bird. Was that Qinggong?¡± Xia Lei recalled Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s earlier movements - that technique was very pretty and also quite amazing.
Tang Yu-Yanughed. ¡°Yep, Tang Qinggong. It¡¯s hundreds of years old, but not as exaggerated as how the martial arts novels describe. It¡¯s not like how it¡¯s portrayed in movies either. It¡¯s a special technique to manipte the body¡¯s strength. You can think of it this way - I can jump over a wall three metres high if I have a starting running distance of three to five metres. If I have ten metres of running space, I can jump over obstacles four or five metres high.¡±
Xia Lei could not help making a sound of admiration. ¡°Amazing!¡±
¡°Want to learn?¡± Tang Yu-Yan stared straight at Xia Lei.
¡°Can I?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°Of course,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan with augh, ¡°But you have to teach me Wing Chun.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Okay, it¡¯s a deal then.¡±
He had his own ideas and ns about exchanging martial art techniques too. Liang Zheng-Chun had given him his Wing Chun secret techniques to let him spread the greatness of Wing Chun, so this meant he had the right to teach some Wing Chun to Tang Yu-Yan. Of course, Tang Yu-Yan had to teach him the real Tang techniques too. If she kept the proper techniques from him and only taught him some parlour tricks then he would just keep the real Wing Chun to himself too.
¡°I¡¯ll take you to the next plot ofnd now. I¡¯ll treat you to a meal when you¡¯ve decided on which plot you¡¯d like, then we¡¯ll go to my ce. I¡¯ll teach you Qinggong and you¡¯ll teach me Wing Chun. What do you think?¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked excited.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sure.¡±
Chapter 261 - The Tang Move Is Terrifying!
The four plots ofnd Tang Tian-Long selected were cheaper the further they got from the city. Xia Lei ended up choosing a plot ofnd about 70 to 80 kilometres out from Jingdu City. It was at the bottom of a mountain and next to a little vige. The road connections were quite okay and the workers could go grocery shopping or have some tea or something in the vige after work. Of course, the most important factor in choosing it was the price. It was only 50,000,000 for 10 hectares.
Xia Lei also liked it because there was empty space in its surroundings. It would be convenient if he needed to expand the site in the future and he need not worry about troublesome things like demolition. The distance from the city was not something he was worried about either since things the military produced were not normal products to be sold in supermarkets or on the market. The military would just transport the finished goods straight from the warehouse. Why would he need to get an expensive piece ofnd close to the city in that case?
It was already early evening by the time they got back to the city. Tang Yu-Yan treated Xia Lei to a meal of roast duck, a dish famous throughout China, then brought Xia Lei to her home.
Tang Yu-Yan lived alone. Her home was in a high-ss area in the city centre and the ce was 200 square metres; it was worth 10,000,000. There was no way Tang Yu-Yan could afford this with her sry but this seemed to be a piece of cake for her other identity. The Tang sect was the biggest n in Sichuan and highly-regarded hundreds of years ago. They had expanded since then and nobody knew how much wealth the Tang n had now.
¡°Nice ce.¡± Xia Lei said some polite praise after walking through the door. He liked the modern decor Tang Yu-Yan had picked; it was simple, yet elegant and stylish.
¡°Don¡¯t you have a ce in Jingdu?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°I heard you¡¯re staying at Long Bing¡¯s ce.¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯m there temporarily,¡± said Xia Lei. He walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window in the living room to look at the Jingdu cityscape.
¡°I¡¯ll give you a set of keys,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°What for?¡±
Tang Yu-Yanughed and said, ¡°You want to learn Tang techniques and I want to learn Wing Chun. I¡¯ll give you a set of keys so you cane over anytime. You can stay here too. It¡¯ll be easier for us to exchange martial arts techniques - isn¡¯t that great?¡±
¡°Um...¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s suggestion was quite good and conducive for their learning but Xia Lei was still ufortable with the idea.
¡°Oh, I know, you probably have to ask Long Bing and get her approval, right?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have to get her approval for where I stay, do I?¡± said Xia Lei a little awkwardly.
¡°You don¡¯t?¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°Are we filming some sort of drama? Give me the keys; I¡¯lle when I have time.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan gave him a set of spare keys. ¡°I¡¯ll go change and we can begin.¡±
¡°Nn,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯ll also prepare what I want to teach you.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan entered her room. Xia Lei sat on the sofa for two minutes, then moved the sofa away to open up an empty space.
Tang Yu-Yan walked out of the room a few minutester. She was in a ck exercise bikini and the skin-tight fabric held her chest high. The fabric also bunched in the crotch and showed bumps and faint dents, outlining everything. The buttocks area was better. Her full, round buttocks filled the exercise shorts out nicely and the thin material was like a second skin on her - very tempting.
Tang Yu-Yan had made an attempt to cover herself up a little and had put on her bra and underwear, but this was not enough.
XIa Lei pretended like all was normal and smiled as he said, ¡°I¡¯ve moved your sofa out of the way. I¡¯ll put it back when I¡¯m going off.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to do this trivial thing.¡± Tang Yu-Yan smiled. ¡°I¡¯m ready. Teach me Wing Chun first.¡±
Xia Lei had wanted to get Tang Yu-Yan to teach him Tang martial arts first but he hadn¡¯t expected her to be so sly as to get him to teach her first. It looked like Tang Yu-Yan had the same idea as he did - if he did not teach her real Wing Chun, she probably wouldn¡¯t teach him real Tang martial arts.
Ancestral martial arts were not passed down to the public - this was a bad practice of martial artists in China. However, this was not the case for Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan. What Xia Lei had to take into consideration for Tang Yu-Yan was trust. He did not want Tang Yu-Yan to lose trust in him and the grace of her imparting skills to him. Tang Yu-Yan was simply taking the difficulty of imparting Tang martial arts to outsiders into consideration.
¡®Looks like I have to gain her trust first. I¡¯ll teach her some basics first, then see how she handles it.¡¯ Xia Lei made a decision and went to stand in front of Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you hand techniques first. Copy my movements. First is Wing Chun¡¯s most famous move, Seeking Hand...¡±
Xia Lei made the moves as he talked about them and sometimes stopped to correct Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s movements.
After teaching Seeking Hand, Xia Lei taught her Palm Up Hand.
Xia Lei went to stand behind Tang Yu-Yan and ced his leg close to the bend of her legs, saying, ¡°Wing Chun¡¯s moves pay close attention to having the fist arrive at the target when the leg reaches the ground,bining three points. The tip of the nose, tip of the hands and feet must line up for one to do attack and defence. Your legs are spaced too far apart and will affect your speed; ce them closer.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan closed her fists and repositioned her legs. She did the move again.
In one hour, Xia Lei had gone from Seeking Hand to Throat Cutting Hand. He had even showed her an example and used his Knife Hand to cut at Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s snow-white neck. It was just a move, of course, and had no strength behind it. Even so, his hand seemed electrified when it touched her soft skin and he did not dare linger on her skin; he quickly moved his hand away.
Tang Yu-Yan felt the same way as Xia Lei did - shy and nervous. There was no avoiding it, however.
After teaching her the ten-plus forms of Wing Chun, Xia Lei spent another half hour with Tang Yu-Yan going through practical practice. The two of them went back and forth, using Wing Chun forms.
As expected of a woman with martial arts foundation, Tang Yu-Yan learnt Wing Chun quickly and was almost as quick as when Xia Lei had first started learning Wing Chun. This surprised Xia Lei but considering that she had been practising martial arts from a young age, he supposed that exined it.
¡°I¡¯ve taught you all the Wing Chun forms. I¡¯ll teach you how to draw internal strength when you¡¯ve be familiar with the forms.¡± Xia Lei wiped the sweat from his brow and let out an internal sigh. No need to touch her body anymore!
¡°I would need about two weeks to digest what you taught me and I¡¯ll have to trouble you to teach me the Wing Chun technique for drawing internal energy after that. You can¡¯t hold back, okay?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I won¡¯t. I was taking into consideration the fact that you¡¯ve just learnt Wing Chun, otherwise I could teach you to draw internal energy now.¡±
¡°I believe you. Let¡¯s talk about it again after I¡¯m more familiar with Wing Chun. I¡¯ll teach you Tang Qinggong now.¡± Tang Yu-Yan started stretching her legs.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye had already gone into ¡®deep observation¡¯ mode. Tang Yu-Yan had be a 3D model of muscle, ligaments, blood vessels and bones, all an open book to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had learnt the underlying secret of Wing Chun this way and he was now prepared to use this to learn the secrets of Tang Qinggong.
¡°Qinggong, if one talked about it in terms of physics, is actually a breaking away from gravity. The greater the force exerted on the ground, the greater the rebound. The process of exerting this force and making use of the rebound is what you learn in Qinggong. A force of 9.8 Newtons gives you one kilogram - this is the baseline to let you know how much force you need to exert to pull away from gravity. The greater the force exerted, the higher your effectiveness in rebounding off the Earth and the higher you jump. Watch, I¡¯ll give you a demonstration.¡± Tang Yu-Yan abruptly bent her legs and her body mmed into the ground. It then seemed to have ovee the restrictions of the Earth¡¯s pull and whooshed upwards, leaping towards the ceiling.
This drop-and-bounce threw her up and she was very close to having the top of her heade into light contact with the ceiling!
With this exaggerated bouncing power, she would definitely be a world champion if she participated in high-jumppetitions.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t able to do this on his own. He did not miss a single thing from the time Tang Yu-Yan dropped and prepared to jump. What he saw was not a simple bounce but the internal workings of her body, especially her legs, the angle at which she bent them, the movements of her muscles, the rate of blood flow in her veins...
This in-depth look at the inner workings of her body revealed the secret of Tang Qinggong to Xia Lei.
¡°Can you show me again?¡± Xia Lei needed one more look - once was not enough.
¡°No problem.¡± Tang Yu-Yan bent her legs again and drew a breath before bouncing off the floor. Her wonderfullyrge breasts, which were still before her jump, were lifted as she bounced. They swayed in the air as her head brushed the ceiling,ing down with her as shended back on the floor.
Xia Lei was dumbstruck.
¡°Still need another demonstration?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Take a break first. Can you tell me how you guys normally practice Qinggong?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Leg strength is very important. Any practice which will increase leg strength is fine, like jumping with sandbags attached or jumping over obstacles. Of course, it¡¯s important to grasp the best way to make use of the rebound. I¡¯ll teach you that next time. Practice first,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei stood in an empty space and jumped a few times but none were sessful. He could only just as high as he originally could and was not able to reach even a half of the height Tang Yu-Yan had jumped. He could actually learn and use the technique after grasping the secrets of Qinggong and jump even higher but he did not want Tang Yu-Yan to see his perversely talented side.
¡°You¡¯re actually quite clumsy,¡± giggled Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Easy for you to say. I¡¯ve only just begun to do your Tang Qinggong.¡± Xia Lei had stopped jumping. He looked at Tang Yu-Yan and asked probingly, ¡°Uh, can you teach me your n¡¯s hidden weapons techniques?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan beamed at him. ¡°I knew you¡¯d ask that. I can teach you Qinggong, but hidden weapons... You have to be part of the n to learn that.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Doesn¡¯t this mean it won¡¯t be passed down to outsiders? Never mind, I don¡¯t want to learn that anyway. Just give me a demonstration and let me see it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s no problem. Hold on.¡± Tang Yu-Yan went into her room and she had a leather weapons-belt on when she reappeared. Several weapons were attached to the belt; there were boomerangs, throwing knives, triangr throwing weapons, steel needles, five-point darts and so on. There were other strangely shaped weapons which Xia Lei had never seen before too and he could not name them.
His eye twitched and went into ¡®deep observation¡¯ mode again.
Tang Yu-Yan chose a one of therger boomerangs and suddenly threw it. It hummed as it flew and reversed abruptly before it hit the wall, flying back to her from another direction. Before it got back to her, however, she snatched up the steel needles and both her hands moved in a blur as the steel needles swished through the air and hit the boomerang backwards.
Bam! The boomerang hit the wall and dropped to the floor.
Xia Lei looked at the boomerang and his jaw dropped.
On the boomerang was a row of steel needles, all perfectly, evenly spaced in one column!
After a pause, Xia Lei said, ¡°Does your n ept godsons?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan giggled and didn¡¯t answer.
Xia Lei looked at Tang Yu-Yan, his eyes alight. ¡°Hey, um, can you do another demonstration?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan was speechless.
Chapter 262 - Flying Ham Sausage
Xia Lei did a lot on his first day in Jingdu. He had signed the contract for the military production line, chosen a plot ofnd for the factory and learnt two of the Tang sect¡¯s techniques; Qinggong and hidden weapons. Tang Yu-Yan had taught him Tang Qinggong and only demonstrated the use of hidden weapons a few times but those demonstrations were almost like passing the techniques on with his special X-ray ability and his perversely high learning capabilities.
The day¡¯s bounty was not too bad.
Tang Yu-Yan offered to let him stay overnight but Xia Lei still went back to Long Bing¡¯s ce.
¡°Chosen a plot ofnd yet?¡± asked Long Bing as soon as Xia Lei stepped through the door. She was in the living room watching the telly.
¡°I have. I picked the cheapest one,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°She likes to stick to you, right?¡±
Xia Lei paused, then said awkwardly, ¡°You mean Tang Yu-Yan?¡±
¡°Who else?¡±
Xia Lei sat on the sofa opposite Long Bing. ¡°She asked me to teach her Wing Chun.¡±
¡°You taught her?¡±
¡°Nn,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°But not for nothing. I got her to teach me Tang martial arts too.¡±
¡°I asked her to teach me in the past but she refused. This wench. She taught you and not me? Huh. And we¡¯re good friends too - she¡¯s neglecting our friendship for a new love.¡± It was a strange feeling to see words like thesee from Long Bing¡¯s mouth.
¡°We¡¯re sort of exchanging martial arts. I have something she wants to learn and she has something I want to learn,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°You don¡¯t understand her, nor the Tang n. They¡¯re an ancient n hundreds of years old and fairly old-fashioned. The Tang n has strict family rules - you won¡¯t get to learn the real Tang martial arts if you¡¯re not part of the n. She¡¯s likely teaching you some nonsense and keeping the real martial art from you... Eh. Don¡¯t say this to her,¡± said Long Bing.
Tang Yu-Yan might have nned on doing that but anyone on this who wanted to pull the wool over Xia Lei¡¯s eyes had to first fulfil a condition, and that was to first fool his eye. Even if Tang Yu-Yan refused to teach him the core techniques of Tang martial arts, Xia Lei could still steal her techniques by asking her to demonstrate them.
¡°Thanks. I won¡¯t tell her.¡± Xia Lei had his own ns.
¡°Now, let¡¯s move on to official matters.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°We¡¯ve already confirmed that that killer is indeed the Gu n¡¯s man and he¡¯s named Danny. He¡¯s an orphan Gu Ding-Shan adopted. His death was faked 16 years ago and he was sent to the South Asia region to undergo assassin training. He has no identity and he¡¯s just a shadow. He¡¯s dangerous.¡±
¡°Why not catch him since your people have confirmed his identity?¡±
¡°My men have started to move but there has been no leads as yet.¡±
¡°What about the Gu n? Can members of the Gu n be arrested if Danny can¡¯t?¡±
¡°You¡¯re seeing the matter too simply. How can we arrest someone without evidence? I¡¯m telling you this so that you¡¯ll be more careful. This is Jingdu and Gu Ding-Shan has more power here than in Haizhu.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Is that it? Wait for Danny toe assassinate me again? Even if we catch Danny, I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t be able to get anything useful out of him. I know how the Gu n operates. They will deny having any connections to Danny.¡±
Long Bing was quiet for a bit before she said, ¡°Do you want Gu Ding-Shan dead?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Xia Lei asked probingly, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
¡°Then start thinking. You¡¯re a smart man. Gu Ding-Shan can set you up so you can set him up too. You don¡¯t have to just defend; you can attack too,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei stared nkly at her as her words echoed in his head.
¡°Think hard.¡± Long Bing stood from the sofa. ¡°I¡¯ll get changed.¡±
¡°Why change? Are you going out?¡± asked Xia Lei in confusion.
¡°I¡¯m changing so you can teach me Wing Chun. Since you¡¯re willing to teach Tang Yu-Yan, this must mean you¡¯ll surely teach me, right?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and nodded.
Indeed, the rtionship between him and Long Bing was one where they trusted each other with their lives. It was way beyond the rtionship he had with Tang Yu-Yan. If he could teach Tang Yu-Yan, then how could he not teach Long Bing?
Long Bing came out of the bedroom in a few minutes in a ck sports bikini. Her mysteriousness and sexinessbined could freeze a man.
A sports bikini again? Xia Lei felt uneasy...
After almost two hours of torment, Xia Lei was finally able to return to his room. Hey on the bed and shook his head several times to shake the images of Long Bing from his head.
Teaching Long Bing Wing Chun was different from teaching Tang Yu-Yan. He was more familiar with Long Bing, and had even slept on the same bed as her. She didn¡¯t care about her skin touching his but he did. For every move he taught, Long Bing would pester him to practice it with her and this practice could not do without physical contact. Long Bing was alsopetitive and would fall back on her familiar grappling techniques when using Wing Chun put her at a disadvantage. She would suddenly grab Xia Lei and throw him to the floor, then wrap her thighs around his neck. She would sneak up on him from behind and press him down with her body after throwing him to the floor, then pull him by the neck to her chest...
As he gradually calmed down, what Long Bing said to him earlier rang in his head gain. ¡®Gu Ding-Shan can set you up so you can set him up too. You don¡¯t have to just defend; you can attack too¡¯.
¡®True, I¡¯ve never started trouble with the Gu n, much less killing off one of theirs. Long Bing was obviously suggesting that I do something by saying that, but I¡¯ve never killed anyone. If I kill the pirs of the Gu n like Gu Ding-Shan or Gu Ke-Wu, will they seek revenge? It isn¡¯t difficult to kill them but can I deal with the Gu n¡¯s revenge if I do that?¡¯ Xia Lei was conflicted.
It was easy to kill - what was difficult was facing what came after the killing. Besides, he had never experienced something like this and didn¡¯t know what to expect.
Xia Lei got off the bed after lying down for a while. He stood in the empty space in front of the bed and the scene from when Tang Yu-Yan was demonstrating Qinggong reyed in his head. His left eye transmitted everything he saw - Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s bones, muscles, blood vessels and the moment when she made that change in movement. Everything was disyed clearly in his mind.
Xia Lei copied Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s movements. His legs bent at a 45-degree angle and his upper body¡¯s bones and muscles moved to the same position as Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s. He then took a deep breath and pushed his breath with his internal energy, gathering them in his legs.
¡°Up!¡± Xia Lei bounced violently with a shout. In that instant, he felt like there were springs under his feet and he was bounced up.
The floor was pulled afar in his vision. The ceiling was not very high - just over three metres. Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s high-ss neighbourhood was full of new buildings and her modern home had ceilings at least four metres high. Xia Lei had secretly learnt some of the secrets of the Tang Qinggong but it was notplete. He could not reach the same level as Tang Yu-Yan.
However, Tang Yu-Yan had started practicing from childhood and that meant over twenty years of practice; it was just Xia Lei¡¯s first day. This showed how frighteningly quick Xia Lei was able to learn! If he continued practicing and gained experience while grasping more secrets, he would probably learn all of the Tang Qinggong and maybe even surpass it!
¡°What are you yelling about?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice from beyond the door.
Maybe it was his excitement or maybe he was possessed, but Xia Lei did not reply; he snatched up the ham sausage he had put on his bedside table for ate-night snack, and threw it at the door.
This was not a casual throw. His head was filled with the images of Tang Yu-Yan throwing her hidden weapons and he had copied some of her technique. It was not a perfect match but he had matched at least 30% of her movements.
In the instant the ham sausage left his hand, the door suddenly opened and Long Bing appeared in the doorway.
¡°You...¡± A ham sausage shoved itself abruptly in her mouth before she could finish her sentence.
Xia Lei froze.
Long Bing froze too. She was surprised at suddenly having to hold a sausage in her mouth.
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
Ten secondster, Long Bing slowly plucked the ham sausage from her little mouth. She red at Xia Lei. Her eyes were not that of a human anymore - her eyes were like those of a feral cat.
Xia Lei coughed. ¡°Uh, I¡¯m so sorry, I... I didn¡¯t think that you¡¯de in without knocking.¡±
¡°So you threw this at me?¡± Long Bing lifted the sausage.
Xia Leiughed dryly and put on an innocent expression. He thought how lucky he was that that sausage was a small one; he would be in bigger trouble if it was bigger.
¡°You punk!¡± Long Bing threw the sausage at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei hopped aside as he yelled out, ¡°Don¡¯t be rash! I didn¡¯t do it on purpose, really!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make youe clean!¡± Long Bing took her footwear off and started smacking at him, left, right.
Xia Lei dodged the right but could not dodge the left and the slipper hit him in the face. Long Bing charged over before he could open his eyes again and she leapt in a scissor-kick at his neck. She then twisted by the waist and threw him to the ground.
Her thighs were around his neck and the back of his head pressed to the ce which made imagination run wild; his nose was also full of her mesmerising scent. Xia Lei had torn himself from this torture earlier but it was back again.
¡°Madam, I just threw a sausage at you... Why do you have to get so angry?¡±
¡°You threw it at me and into my mouth. You¡¯re being obscene, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
With such a violent personality, whoever married her in the future should have metal furniture.
Chapter 263 - Sniper Versus Sniper
Everything was easier with money and the construction of Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s military production nt quickly began with the funds in ce. The constructionpany moved its equipment and workers onto the plot to level the ground and build walls. Xia Lei had specially partitioned off 0.1334 hectares for the constructionpany to build a vi and a flower garden.
This vi was for Annina to live in. Her status was rather special and she could not show her face - she needed protection too. Giving her a patch ofnd in the factory grounds would put her under the guard of the troops protecting the ce.
They had also entered the process of buying equipment for the military factory. Most of the equipment came from Russia and Ukraine. Annina handled the purchases personally, with Xia Lei acting as trantor to negotiate and trade with the Russian and Ukrainian equipment suppliers.
They were both staying on-site at the military factory in a temporary wooden hut. While waiting for the Russian and Ukrainian equipment, they modified the domestically-madethes. Both were excellent machinists - Xia Lei didplicated high-precision parts processing and Annina was in charge of assembly. With the two of them working together, the domestically-madethes were turned into world-standardthes, on par with the most advanced from Europe and America.
Xia Lei did not stop practicing the two Tang techniques he had learnt during this time either. He would spend at least an hour practicing Qinggong and using hidden weapons every morning and evening. With his godly learning ability, he naturally got better and better each day.
A fortnight passed in a sh.
The setting sun sank in the western horizon and the site of the military factory was bathed in golden light. The mountains and forests behind the construction site seemed to have been dusted with gold powder and the world sparkled - it was so beautiful one could not bear to blink.
Xia Lei climbed to the top of a rock on the mountain with a sniper rifle in front of him. This was the sniper rifle Tang Yu-Yan had asked him to modify for her. He had quietly modified it a little here and there in his free time during the past two weeks and finally finished it without getting distracted from his own official matters.
Now, Xia Lei wanted to test the effectiveness of this sniper rifle.
Annina knelt next to Xia Lei, her hips held high. Her full, round buttocks when seen from behind would make men drool. She looked down the barrel of the sniper rifle but saw just a patch of forest; she had no idea what Xia Lei was aiming at.
¡°What do you want to shoot, Lukas?¡± Annina lost her patience after seeing Xia Lei not move for quite some time.
¡°A bird,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina¡¯s eyes widened and she took a look. ¡°Where¡¯s the bird?¡± she asked gloomily.
Xia Lei abruptly removed the scope from the rifle and handed it to Annina.
Annina took hold of the scope and held it in line with the gun¡¯s barrel. She saw two white-ish figures entangled in the mountain forest opposite. One was a boy and the other a girl, probably lovers from the nearby vige. She immediately understood what Xia Lei meant by ¡®bird¡¯ and her face flushed. She then pped Xia Lei on his butt and said in embarrassment, ¡°Lukas, is this what you wanted to show me? You¡¯re such a bad boy!¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Aren¡¯t you blushing even when you call me bad?¡±
Annina rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, then continued to spy on the young couple with the sniper scope. ¡°That couple is so romantic. I wish them happiness.¡±
People from different cultures were so different - if this were the Middle East that couple would¡¯ve been stoned if they were discovered. In China, their names would spread all around town and they¡¯ll be the hot subject of gossip.
¡°Lukas, I want to shoot.¡± Annina put the scope in her hand on the ground and looked at Xia Lei with a red face.
¡°Wait for a bit. A gunshot now will scare that couple.¡±
¡°The sniper rifle is not the gun I want to shoot.¡± Annina bit her lip gently.
Xia Leo was surprised. ¡°I don¡¯t have any other gun. What gun do you want to shoot?¡±
Annina threw herself in Xia Lei¡¯s arms and reached down. ¡°You know what gun I want to shoot,¡± she said with a giggle.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei had never done this sort of thing in the wilderness and he was hesitant and nervous. Zip! Annina unzipped him and convinced him in three seconds. She was so persuasive he could not refuse her.
Two more entangled figures appeared under the light of the setting sun. The gentle wind blew under the blue sky, carrying with it the message of love.
Ten minutester, Xia Leiy on the rock again. He didn¡¯t have to use the scope to see the situation in the forest opposite. The young couple had long crept off and the forest was empty. He could even see the tissues the couple had thrown on the ground with his left eye.
Xia Lei lifted the gun barrel a little. The tissue could serve as a target for him but the distance between himself and the target was just 800 metres and that was not enough to test the range of this sniper rifle. He moved the barrel to point at a tree further away.
Xia Lei had his own tool to measure distance, and that was his left eye. He only needed to set a reference object and look at it to calcte the distance.
That tree was in a straight line roughly 3,000 metres away.
¡°That¡¯s the one.¡± Xia Lei aimed at a withered branch on the tree.
Next to Xia Lei, Annina touched-up her lipstick in her makeup mirror. She nced over asionally at Xia Lei¡¯s muscled shoulders and a satisfied smirk appeared in the corners of her lips. Intuition-ists were said to be easily satisfied and happy and she had proven this theory with herself.
At that moment, Xia Lei abruptly moved the gun barrel 20 degrees and he grew tense.
¡°Come on, fire. The sky¡¯s getting dark.¡± Annina put away her mirror and lipstick.
¡°Shh!¡± Xia Lei gave up on using the scope and raised his head a little to look at that patch of forest directly.
Annina drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s side and asked curiously, ¡°What is it?¡±
A sh of light came suddenly from the forest opposite.
Xia Lei grabbed Annina roughly by the scruff of her neck and hid behind the rock with her.
Bang! Sparks flew up from the rock. Pieces of rock flew in all directions like flying knives. A flying piece of rock cut Xia Lei on the cheek and fresh blood flowed.
Annina¡¯s body coloured too. A piece of rock had torn through her clothing and left a shallow wound on her shoulder.
¡°Th, There¡¯s...¡± Annina wanted to say ¡®gunman¡¯ but she could not speak normally in her shock and terror.
¡°Don¡¯t move and don¡¯t lift your head.¡± Xia Lei held onto Annina by her neck, as if afraid that she would be hit in the head by a bullet if she moved.
¡°Wh, Where is he?¡± asked Annina nervously.
¡°In the mountain forest opposite.¡± Xia Lei rxed his grip on Annina, then used a twig to pull the sniper rifle closer to himself. He cautiously pulled the sniper rifle from the rock.
Xia Lei felt a little more reassured with the sniper rifle in his hands. He moved his head slowly to the side of the rock but did not stretch his head out. He used his X-ray vision to look through the edge of the rock and straight at the forest opposite.
He had only coincidentally glimpsed someone in the forest earlier but his alertness and instinctive reaction had let him dodge the first attempt. He had already seen the enemy clearly in that split second - yellowed skin, crescent eyes, short but sturdy body frame, characteristicsmon of a South Asian. The South Asian sniper was hidden in a bush and his sniper rifle was trained on Xia Lei and Annina¡¯s hiding ce.
There was a receiver in the sniper¡¯s ear and the ck wire went down past his neck and into his jacket pocket. He was saying something but Xia Lei did not understand South Asiannguages and could not use lip-reading on him. However, the receiver in his ear and him talking told Xia Lei that he was not alone!
The South Asian sniper did not give up after his failed shot - he did not even change his position. It looked like he wanted to hold Xia Lei and Annina in ce while he waited for his colleague to attack from another ce!
¡°Oh no... There¡¯s no signal here!¡± Annina held onto her mobile phone and looked anxious.
¡°Don¡¯t move. It¡¯s okay, don¡¯t be scared,¡±forted Xia Lei as he slowly moved the gun barrel to point it at the South Asian sniper.
The enemy had colleagues and Xia Lei did not know what their positions were but he was sure that they wouldn¡¯t be able to move instantly. This gave him the time and opportunity to take out the sniper opposite who¡¯d locked-on to his position.
Xia Lei¡¯s sniper rifle peeked out from a crack in the rock and past a patch of grass to aim at that South Asian sniper. This was a very strange sniping method as there was a rock blocking him from in front and the sniper scope in this situation was just a decoration. The enemy¡¯s hidden position was also about 1,800 metres away. A situation like this would make even the best sniper helpless but it was no obstacle to Xia Lei!
Aim. Squeeze.
BAM! A gunshot rang out and there was a bloody explosion in the bush 1,800 metres away.
The sniper in the bush had half his head blown away. It looked like a watermelon which had been struck by a bullet.
Even in death, the sniper could notprehend the result - he had already had Xia Lei in his sights and he had a chance to kill Xia Lei once he stuck his head out, but his own head had exploded instead without him seeing even a hair on Xia Lei¡¯s head.
There was no one on Earth who could rival Xia Lei in a sniping battle!
¡°Quick, go down the mountain and call Long Bing!¡± Xia Lei climbed to his feet after killing the sniper and pulled Annina up too.
¡°That sniper...¡± Annina was frightened half to death.
¡°He¡¯s dead, but he still has colleagues. Leave this ce, quick. I¡¯ll hold his colleagues back!¡± Xia Lei pushed Annina.
¡°But you...¡± Annina¡¯s face was full of worry.
¡°Do you want us both to die here? GO!¡± roared Xia Lei.
Annina bit her lip and turned to run down the mountain path.
Chapter 264 - No Use Faking Death
Escaping with Annina seemed like the smartest choice but it wasn¡¯t. Running away together would mean exposing their backs to that South Asian sniper¡¯s colleagues and Annina was not fast either. Both of them would be killed if the enemy caught up to them.
The other reason was that these snipers were most likely the Gu n¡¯s hirelings, meaning Danny would be participating in this too. Xia Lei did not want to miss an opportunity to take Danny out!
In another time and ce, Xia Lei would have absolutely no excuse or reason to shoot at someone as a normal citizen but it was different now. This was self-defence, and the gun belonged to Tang Yu-Yan!
Annina¡¯s retreating back disappeared from his sight and Xia Lei left the rocky, tree-less terrain. He entered a patch of dense forest. He was tense; alert. As he moved he activated his left eye¡¯s zoom-in and X-ray powers to survey his surroundings.
A few minutes passed but the sniper¡¯s colleagues did not appear. No one fired either.
The sun went below the horizon and the mountain forest gradually quieted.
Xia Lei hid behind arge tree, facing downward from the mountain. He used his left eye to keep surveying the areas nking him and then used his X-ray vision on the high areas of the mountain opposite. There were no movements in the forest. It was like a dead world if one discounted the sounds of the wind and the chatter of birds returning to their nests.
¡®I shot that South Asian sniper so his colleagues must know. Were they frightened away? No, impossible. But why aren¡¯t they showing themselves if they haven¡¯t run away? Is he waiting for something...¡¯ Xia Lei looked up at the darkening sky and suddenly realised something.
The enemy was waiting for nightfall.
Xia Lei had no equipment to help him see at night. If the enemy had decided that he was a formidable opponent, they would wait for dark to move, since they would surely have equipment to see in the dark. The enemy only needed to keep watch on the paths down the mountain during this time.
Every sniper had great patience and endurance.
Xia Lei wascking a little in these departments but he was no ordinary sniper.
He gave up on waiting and slung the sniper rifle over his back. He looked up at the branches above him and bent his knees, jumping up like a wildcat. His body lifted from the ground in a jump over two metres high. The distance of over two metres between his feet and the ground, plus his height and arm range enabled him to grab hold of a branch five metres off the ground. He pulled his body up on that branch.
The Tang Qinggong he¡¯d learnt from Tang Yu-Yan came in handy and he had some results after practicing for two weeks.
Up in the tree, Xia Lei moved cautiously from branch to branch and soon reached the highest point he could climb.
This tree was at least twenty metres and was taller than any of the trees nearby. Xia Lei¡¯s visual range broadened quite a bit after he climbed up. Theck of sufficient light was no obstacle to him. His left eye could even see a rabbit moving about a thousand metres away in the dark of night!
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye searched his surroundings like a radar.
He spotted two targets after a few minutes. There was a blonde man at his eight O¡¯clock holding a Barrett anti-material rifle. This rifle could prate armoured cars and it would be fairly difficult to avoid getting hit by it when hiding behind a tree. There was an Asian man at his twelve O¡¯clock with a M200 sniper rifle. Both had painted faces and were covered with camouge like the professionals they were.
Xia Lei focused his eye on the Asian man. His face was covered with paint but Xia Lei still recognised him - Danny!
A small sneer appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips and he moved his sniper rifle from his shoulder and onto a branch. The one he aimed at, however, was not Danny but the blonde man with the Barrett anti-material rifle...
A small wind blew and foliage rustled. Sounds like these covered the sound of feet treading on fallen leaves. Even with cover like that and night-vision equipment, Danny¡¯s nerves were still as taut as a strung bow. He grew increasingly nervous with every step.
He was up against Xia Lei - till now, the scene from his attempt on Xia Lei¡¯s life still reyed in his mind. He had pulled the trigger the instant the door opened but Xia Lei had dodged his bullet!
Who could rx when up against an opponent like that? Besides, the highly-trained professional he had hired from South Asia had already been killed by Xia Lei!
Danny definitely did not want to be within three thousand metres of Xia Lei with a sniper rifle if he had a choice. However, Gu Ding-Shan had a bone-deep hatred for him and wanted him dead no matter what. He could refuse anything but Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s orders.
¡°He¡¯s in that patch of forest. I can take him out when it gets a little darker,¡± said Danny to himself as he moved cautiously forward.
The voice of his colleague, Cain, came from his earphones, ¡°Danny, he¡¯s been cornered in that patch of forest but I lost sight of him. What¡¯s with this guy? Is he a monkey?¡±
Danny lowered his voice, ¡°Don¡¯t talk! He¡¯s more cunning than you think!¡±
Cain did not shut up. ¡°Fuck. Tell me who this guy is. He was actually able to kill Tiger! What are you hiding?¡±
¡°Bastard! Can¡¯t you shut up?¡± Danny was mad.
¡°Sure, but you have to tell your boss to increase my retainer. Five million is not enough for me to want to deal with this guy,¡± came Cain¡¯s voice.
A killer for hire at five million US dors - this was a high price anywhere in the world. This amount showed how much Gu Ding-Shan wanted Xia Lei dead.
¡°You fucker, you¡¯re just trying to profit from someone else¡¯s misfortune!¡± Hate shed in Danny¡¯s eyes. ¡®I¡¯ll kill you after I kill Xia Lei!¡¯ he swore coldly to himself.
¡°Increase the retainer. Add a million or I¡¯m not doing the job,¡± came Cain¡¯s voice.
¡°Fine. My boss won¡¯t be bothered by this bit of money. Get the job done first and I guarantee that you¡¯ll get the money,¡± said Danny.
The report of a gunshot came from the forest right after he finished speaking.
Danny instinctively dropped t to the ground and rolled behind a tree trunk. ¡°Cain, did you see him? Cain? Cain?¡±
Danny¡¯s voice came from the receiver but Cain could not respond any longer. There was a gaping pit in his chest and his heart had been obliterated.
Bang! Another gunshot.
The tree trunk shuddered and bark flew in all directions. Danny did not dare look out from behind the tree. He protected his head with his arms to avoid getting pierced by tree shrapnel. He had been thinking of how he was going to kill Xia Lei just two seconds earlier but his heart was now filled with terror. The scene from when Xia Lei dodged his killing shot reyed in his mind and he felt a chill go down his back.
Bang! A bullet came flying and hit the same spot as the previous one. The trunk splintered further and the great impact made it shake as sawdust billowed.
Danny scrambled to his feet and away from the tree trunk, looking for his next hiding ce. As he prepared to dash toward the next tree, a bullet came grazing past the trunk to hit a rock next to him, sending sparks flying up. Rock fragments struck him in his legs and they did not prate the fabric of his clothing but they burnt, hurting him.
This shot seemed to be a calcted shot to keep him in ce, based on where he was likely to run. It was a good thing that he had been a second too slow or he¡¯d have been dead once he stepped out.
¡°Fuck, is that guy a human or a monster?¡± Danny was shocked and angry. His terror grew. He set his sights on another tree at the other side and prepared to change his hiding ce.
Before Danny could discern when Xia Lei would shoot next, the fourth bullet came flying, hitting the trunk behind him. The bullet tore through the battered trunk and into Danny¡¯s back.
¡°Argh!¡± Danny let out a cry of pain. The force of the shot pushed him to the ground.
The tree trunk had absorbed some of the attack but his back had still received a terrible wound. The bullet had hit his kidneys and blood flowed as his consciousness was consumed by pain.
Danny abandoned his sniper rifle and drew a handgun. Hey on the ground, unmoving. He knew well that he was not enough of an opponent for Xia Lei when uninjured, much less now. He had only one hope now, and that was Xia Lei thinking him dead anding to check on his body. He could use his handgun to shoot Xia Lei then.
Three secondster... Bang!
¡°Argh!¡± Danny cried in pain again. A third of his left thigh was missing! Pain rolled over him and he fell into a dead faint.
Faking death? He¡¯d have to try to pull the wool over Xia Lei¡¯s left eye first.
And there was not been anyone who could fool Xia Lei¡¯s left eye on this Earth yet.
Xia Lei slid down the tree and ran towards Danny with his sniper rifle.
Dannyy on the ground, bleeding from his wounds. He was not dead; his heart was still beating.
Xia Lei walked to Danny¡¯s side and flipped him over with his foot. He picked up the handgun from Danny¡¯s hand and hisbat knife, then poked him in his ¡®human centre¡¯ acupuncture point.
Danny opened his eyes with a weak moan and saw Xia Lei¡¯s face. He¡¯d rather see the face of the devil than Xia Lei¡¯s face then.
¡°You¡¯re awake. Want me to help you stem the bleeding?¡± Xia Lei looked concerned.
¡°Pah!¡± Danny wanted to spit in Xia Lei¡¯s face but hecked the strength. Bloody saliva dribbled from his mouth; it was disgusting.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Is Gu Ding-Shan worth you selling your life?¡±
¡°Kill me!¡± Danny cried spitefully.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t kill you; you¡¯re still useful. I¡¯ll help you stem the bleeding and send you to the hospital for treatment. I can guarantee that Gu Ding-Shan will be finished, along with you.¡±
Danny reached for the handgun which Xia Lei had tossed aside.
Xia Lei frowned, then lifted his rifle and hit him on the head with the butt of the gun...
It had been useless to awaken him.
Chapter 265 - I Know My Ability
The factory was not finished yet and production had not yet begun, so there were no defensive guards. Annina called Long Bing and then the police. The first to arrive were, of course, the town¡¯s police. They were one old and one young and they carried old handguns.
Annina rushed up the mountain with the two policemen but the policemen refused to go further when they reached the forest.
¡°Come with me!¡± Annina¡¯s Chinese had improved by leaps and bounds. ¡°It¡¯s right ahead! Up there!¡±
The two policemen looked at each other but both were unwilling to take one step further.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Annina was anxious. ¡°Up, up! Sniper! Very dangerous!¡±
The old policeman gave her a sour face. ¡°A sniper, miss? Is there any use in us going up? We just have our little handguns. We could be killed without even seeing the perpetrator. I¡¯m retiring in two years - don¡¯t make me die!¡±
The young policeman was scared too. ¡°I, I haven¡¯t even found a girlfriend yet. Let¡¯s just wait for back-up.¡±
Humans had hearts which feared death and policemen were human too.
¡°You! Cowards! I¡¯ll go myself!¡± Annina turned and stomped off, up the mountain.
She¡¯d not gone a few steps when she stopped and cried in joy, ¡°Lukas, you¡¯re alive! You¡¯re not dead!¡±
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief too upon seeing Annina¡¯s spritely state. He smiled. ¡°It¡¯s okay, no need to worry.¡±
Xia Lei carried Danny in his arms. He had already used his silver needles on him and bandaged his wounds with strips of cloth. Danny would survive if he received treatment in time. It was easy to kill Danny but a living Danny was more useful than a dead Danny.
The policemen drew close too and saw a bloodstained Xia Lei and the sniper rifle slung over his back. The old policeman yelled, ¡°Put the gun down!¡±
¡°I¡¯m not a bad guy. Don¡¯t be nervous and don¡¯t point the gun at me; careful not to let it go off,¡± said Xia Lei.
The old policeman did not put the gun down. He spoke nervously, ¡°Y, you put the gun down first.¡±
Annina got angry. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? You refused to go up earlier and wanted to hide here, and now you¡¯re pointing a gun at my boyfriend!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t argue with him, Annina. I¡¯ll put the gun down. This person needs medical attention in a hospital. Please call for an ambnce.¡±
Xia Leu put Danny down, then put the sniper rifle down.
The old policeman stepped forward and took Xia Lei¡¯s sniper rifle while the young policeman used his phone to call the ambnce.
Xia Lei summarised the situation for the policeman, then went down the mountain towards the factory grounds while carrying Danny. The policemen rxed some after learning that Xia Lei was the owner of the military factorynd and followed him and Annina to the factory grounds.
The town ambnce was first on the scene. It arrived in the blink of an eye since it was just a kilometre or two away.
The town doctor and nurse lifted Danny into the ambnce. Xia Lei was worried that some other ident might ur so he got into the ambnce as well.
Danny was pushed into the emergency operating room once he arrived at the hospital. The town hospital facilities were simple but they still had the necessary emergency supplies like blood and respirators.
Xia Lei and Annina sat outside the operating room on benches, waiting.
The two policemen were also in the corridor, sneaking nces at Xia Lei and Annina.
¡°What¡¯s this person¡¯s identity? He¡¯s building a military factory and also shot someone with a sniper rifle,¡± said the young policeman in a low voice.
¡°Must be someone with backing. Maybe even a military man,¡± said the old policeman.
¡°What about the Western girl?¡± The young policeman nced hotly at Annina, who was sitting on Xia Lei¡¯sp. She was electrifying and it made him nervous.
¡°Where are you looking?¡± The old policeman pped the young one upside his head. ¡°Be serious! We¡¯re on a case!¡±
The young policeman gave the old one a re of dissatisfaction, then looked again at Annina. A sexy Western woman was just too attractive for a young unmarried man like him to look away...
Long Bing arrived at the town hospital after half an hour. After she got details of the situation, she sent two agents up the mountain to take care of the bodies. Long Bing brought Xia Lei to a doctor¡¯s office to talk to him.
¡°Gu Ding-Shan must really want you dead. One Danny is not enough - he actually hired two more foreign killers. No wonder we couldn¡¯t find Danny during this time. He¡¯d gone overseas.¡± Long Bing¡¯s eyes were cold.
¡°Danny is in our hands now. I had a chance to kill him but I feel it¡¯s more useful to keep him alive,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You did well. Killing Danny would have helped Gu Ding-Shan. One dead Danny is just another dead dog to Gu Ding-Shan.¡±
¡°Yeah, I thought so too. Didn¡¯t you want me to think of a way to deal with Gu Ding-Shan? This Danny is very good bait. I believe Gu Ding-Shan will not stay still if we have Danny in our hands,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know we can¡¯t get any secrets out of Danny. People like him have undergone professional training. From my experience, it would be difficult to dig out any weaknesses of Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s from him.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I think it¡¯s very easy.¡±
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°You have a way to make him talk?¡±
Xia Lei leaned in to Long Bing¡¯s ear. ¡°I have a n...¡±
Long Bing and Xia Lei walked out of the doctor¡¯s office a few minutester. Annina, who had been waiting outside the door, wanted to hold Xia Lei¡¯s arm but the sight of Long Bing¡¯s icy face made her behave like a good girl.
Long Bing called the two policemen over and said icily. ¡°Say nothing if anyone asks. Got that?¡±
The two policemen did not know where Long Bing was from but she led a team of gun-wielding agents and had an imposing aura. Theycked the courage to refuse her and they nodded obediently as they said, ¡°Rest assured, we won¡¯t say anything.¡±
¡°If someone asks, wait for the person to go away and call this number right away.¡± Long Bing handed a piece of paper to the old policeman. Just a phone number was written on it and nothing else.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, Leader. We will do as you¡¯ve instructed.¡± The old policeman affixed the title of ¡®Leader¡¯ to Long Bing arbitrarily.
¡°This doesn¡¯t concern you any longer. You¡¯re dismissed,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Yes, yes, we¡¯ll leave.¡± The old policeman took the young policeman with him.
¡°Uncle.¡± Xia Lei chased after them. ¡°Can I trouble you to give me my gun back?¡±
The old policeman then remembered the sniper rifle he had taken from Xia Lei on his back. Heughed sheepishly and quickly took it off his back to return it to Xia Lei. ¡°Sorry, sorry, I didn¡¯t know the situation.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°You did nothing wrong, Uncle. Come to my factory another day - I¡¯ll treat you to a drink.¡±
¡°Of course, heh heh, goodbye.¡± The old policeman left with a smile.
It was good to get to know some people in the area when building a factory. He was a local policeman too, so he would surely need to interact with him often.
Not long after, Long Bing¡¯s subordinates brought the corpses of Cain and Tiger down the mountain and put them in the hospital morgue.
The chilly morgue and battered corpses made Xia Lei a little sick and he almost vomited. He had killed Tiger and Cain on the mountain but he had not felt the impact of having killed someone then, since they were over a thousand metres away. Seeing Cain with his chest cavity sted open up close, and Tiger¡¯s half-missing head sickened Xia Lei upon the sudden definition of himself as a killer.
No matter who it was or how much that person deserved death, he or she was still the same species. Killing another of the same species was umon in the animal kingdom, much less fairly conscious beings like humans.
¡°Feel bad?¡± Long Bing had a smile on her face as she said mockingly, ¡°It¡¯s okay. You¡¯ll be fine after you experience it a few more times.¡±
¡°Experience it a few more times?¡± Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to experience it ever again.¡±
¡°I... Eurgh....¡± Annina, who had entered the morgue with them, couldn¡¯t hold it back anymore and covered her mouth as she ran out.
Long Bing walked to Cain¡¯s corpse and started to search the body.
Xia Lei forced himself to go to Tiger¡¯s body and search his.
The two killers had no identification documents on them, just some foreign coins, mobile phones andmunication devices. Both phones were powered-off. This was normal, since they would not have their phones on when they were on a job as snipers.
Long Bing and Xia Lei turned the phones on, hoping to find a contact list but both phones had just one contact - Danny.
¡°These snipers were experienced. We won¡¯t get anything.¡± Long Bing wrinkled her brows.
¡°I didn¡¯t take Danny¡¯s phone. He¡¯s still in the operating room; his phone should have something,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°I would take only a disposable phone with me on a mission like this if I were him.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Then let¡¯s proceed as you¡¯d nned.¡±
Long Bing nodded. ¡°Our doctors should be here soon. I¡¯ll take Danny. Youing with me?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take care of things on my end. I¡¯ll keep in contact,¡± said Xia Lei.
So Bureau 101 had its own medical team too - Xia Lei didn¡¯t know that. Long Bing¡¯s assessment was correct and an armoured, anti-riot ambnce used for military medical emergencies arrived at the town hospital when they left the morgue. Long Bing talked briefly with the doctor and he led some medical staff into the operating room.
Danny was quickly moved to the ambnce and it went off in the direction of the city.
Long Bing took her men away and the agents also put Cain and Tiger¡¯s corpses in body bags and took them away.
Xia Lei found Annina in a female toilet. She was hugging a sink and vomiting into it.
He walked over to her and rubbed her back gently as he saidfortingly, ¡°It¡¯s okay now; the bodies have been taken away.¡±
¡°Too much...¡± Annina rinsed her mouth under the faucet. She did not want Xia Lei to smell her after she had vomited.
For some inexplicable reason, the image of Tiger with half his head missing appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind and his stomach turned. He pushed Annina aside and grasped the sink as he threw up.
¡°Haha!¡± Anninaughed, ¡°So you¡¯re like me too.¡±
Xia Lei waved his hand and pped her across her buttocks. ¡°You¡¯re one to talk. Remember the situation earlier? We would¡¯ve been dead if we¡¯d dallied for longer!¡±
It was true. Annina and Xia Lei were still busy a few minutes before Danny and the other two snipers had turned up, and killing them then would have been very easy.
Even thinking about that made one break out in cold sweat!
Annina giggled. ¡°No, we won¡¯t. I know my ability. I have the ability to make you finish earlier.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 266 - Bugle Of Counterattack
Early the next morning, Xia Lei hailed a taxi from the vige and went to the city. He called Tang Yu-Yan on the way there and went to her ce, carrying the box with the sniper rifle.
Xia Lei pressed the doorbell and Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s voice came inside. ¡°Didn¡¯t I give you the keys?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan was in the living room but she did note over to open the door for Xia Lei. Xia Lei smiled wryly, then fished for his keyring and the keys Tang Yu-Yan had given him. He opened the door.
He saw a new addition to the living room when he walked in - a wooden dummy. Tang Yu-Yan stood in front of the dummy, practicing Wing Chun. She seemed to be afraid of the wooden dummy hurting her skin or giving her bruises or something, for she had wrapped it in thickyers of gauze.
The wrapping made the wooden dummy look like a zombie-mummy and it looked ratherical.
Tang Yu-Yan did look good, though. She was in her ck exercise bikini again; skin-hugging racer-back top and short shorts, full chest and buttocks, all the curves of her body were nicely highlighted. Her round, plump buttocks and the indentation between her legs, especially, easily aroused the desires of men.
Tang Yu-Yan did not look back at him. She continued hitting the wooden dummy - fist, palm, leg. Every movement made her chest and buttocks jiggle and the little undtions could make one¡¯s throat go dry.
Xia Lei put the box on the floor andughed as he said, ¡°What¡¯s the use of practicing like this?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan stopped practicing and walked over to Xia Lei. ¡°See here, I¡¯m a woman. Who¡¯ll still want me if I¡¯m ck and blue all over?¡±
¡°You¡¯re so pretty - men must line up for kilometres to woo you. Why would no one want you?¡± Xia Lei teased.
¡°Hee hee...¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s giggles tinkled like little silver bells and she covered her mouth in an adorable fashion. She nced at the box Xia Lei had ced on the floor. ¡°It¡¯s done?¡±
¡°Of course. I¡¯ve tested it - effective distance of up to 3,200 metres. Almost the same as Long Bing¡¯s,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°So the three killers you finished offst night were killed with this sniper rifle?¡± Tang Yu-Yan opened the box and swiftly assembled the rifle.
¡°Yep, this one,¡± said Xia Lei.
Things like these could not be hidden from Tang Yu-Yan, who held the same rank as Long Bing.
She finished assembling the sniper rifle in the box in the span of Xia Lei¡¯s short response, and swung the barrel around to aim it at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei instinctively ducked but quickly remembered that the sniper rifle had no bullets.
¡°Quick reflexes, eh?¡± Tang Yu-Yan smiled. She peered into the scope and said in surprise, ¡°You polished the scope?¡±
¡°How are you going to hit a target over three thousand metres if I don¡¯t polish it?¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan gave him a thumbs-up. ¡°You¡¯re awesome.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve given you the gun. When are you going to teach me Tang martial arts?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I knew you¡¯d bring this up so I specially took a day off to rest at home.¡± Tang Yu-Yan put down the sniper rifle and suddenly swept a foot at Xia Lei.
She was quick, and strong. The beautiful leging in low was like a white eel. The ck exercise bikini was suddenly stretched to its limits around her hips and crotch and that angle made one worry that the fabric would suddenly give, revealing certain things.
Xia Lei bounced lightly backwards and dodged Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s sneak attack.
Tang Yu-Yan sprung up, her fists and feet swishing like the wind as she threw out move after move, raining blows down upon Xia Lei.
She¡¯d attacked without warning and with Wing Chun too. Xia Lei defended against her blows easily. He knew well that he had to teach her Wing Chun first before she taught him Tang martial arts - it had been like that the previous time too. It was as Long Bing had said; she was a very clever and cunning woman who did not trust others easily.
A day passed with them sparring and exchanging pointers.
It was dark when he left Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s home.
A whole day of martial arts had earned Xia Lei a small handwritten booklet from Tang Yu-Yan. In it was written the secret technique of Tang Qinggong and how to practice it. What she¡¯d written, however, was notplete. It was Xia Lei¡¯s first time reading it but he likely understood some things better than Tang Yu-Yan from his deep observation of Tang Qinggong. Putting the booklet together with what he knew revealed that what she had given him was notplete and she had kept some important things from him.
However, what Tang Yu-Yan gave him was what he could not observe with his eyes. He had theplete picture when hebined it with what he¡¯d seen with his left eye. Tang Yu-Yan did not know this.
It was a give-and-take, so he had to give Tang Yu-Yan something in return; he gave her a handwritten Wing Chun booklet which was also iplete.
Tang Yu-Yan had not been honest but Xia Lei understood why. It wasmon to keep the true techniques within the family in the Chinese martial arts world.
As usual, Xia Lei called for a taxi to go to Long Bing¡¯s ce and stay the night after leaving Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s ce.
The two of them had a long discussion that night...
Early the next morning, Xia Lei left Long Bing¡¯s home and went to a coffee shop. A bespectacled young man soon came to stand before him.
¡°Excuse me, are you Mr Xia?¡± asked the young man politely as he pushed his ck-framed spectacles up the bridge of his nose.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I am. And you are?¡±
¡°I am Huo Ying, editor in chief of The Daily National. I was the one who received your call,¡± said Huo Ying.
¡°Please have a seat.¡± Xia Lei gestured for Huo Ying to sit, then put a document envelope on the table. He pushed it to Huo Ying. ¡°Take a look. You can take it with you if you feel you¡¯ll have the courage to put it to print.¡±
Huo Ying opened the envelope and flipped through it. His face grew increasingly grave as he read.
Long Bing had prepared the contents of the document envelope for Xia Lei. She had used some special connections to get information on officials who had dealings with the Gu n. Some of these deals could be used as evidence.
¡°This...¡± Huo Ying could not continue.
¡°Will you dare publish it?¡± said Xia Lei.
Huo Ying thought for a bit before saying, ¡°It¡¯s not whether I dare to or not, it¡¯s... You should know that if I let these thingse to light, these people will gang up to bully me. Me losing my job is nothing, but if they...¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. The people who rmended you to me are not small fry. We will guarantee your safety. Additionally, I have also taken into consideration the losses you will face and I¡¯ve prepared for those,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you mean?¡± rm shed in Huo Ying¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei took an envelope from the folds of his clothing and ce it before Huo Ying.
Huo Ying opened the envelope and saw a Citibank savings card in it. He frowned. ¡°What is the meaning of this, Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°There are Citibank branches all over Jingdu, Mr Huo. You can withdraw money from them any time. This bank is not managed by the domestic banking systems so it cannot be found by others. There is five million in the ount. This should be enough to cover your losses.¡±
¡°This...¡± Huo Ying was hesitant.
The traditional media channels have recently gone into a decline and an editor like him would only get about 300,000 annually. Xia Lei giving him 5,000,000 at once - this was over ten years of his annual sry.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. There was no record of me putting the money in the ount. I also have no recording devices on me. We can go to the bathroom and I¡¯ll let you search me if you don¡¯t believe me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, no, no, Mr Xia, who do you take me for?¡± Huo Ying said shamefully, ¡°I¡¯m not like those greedy officials.¡±
¡°I know you are an honest man, Mr Huo. But an honest man should also have the chance to make this sort of money. Don¡¯t be mistaken - I am not bribing you. I am only giving you your just reward,¡± said Xia Lei.
Huo Ying considered it and finally took the envelope. He put it away.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You are editor in chief, Mr Huo. You have subordinates and you also have friends in the media. It is best if you¡¯d be able to disseminate this information in as many channels as possible. Can you help me with this?¡±
Huo Ying nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
He¡¯d taken a five-million-yuan reward so his problem would be greed if he had any.
Huo Ying did not stay long and left after taking the document envelope. Xia Lei sat by himself for a bit before leaving the coffee shop and going to a 4S store.
Thunder Horse Manufacturing had opened a military factory in Jingdu so he was sure to have to be moving around a lot here. He could not be without a car. Jingdu had limits on licenses tes and it was difficult to get one but this problem did not exist for Xia Lei. He only needed to choose a car and let Long Bing know, and she would easily help him settle the matter with the car.
Xia Lei did not buy a sports car this time; he went to a Chevrolet 4S store and bought an imported Chevrolet Suburban SUV. A car like this was sturdy, withstood blows well, handled off-road driving well and could conquer urban and suburban road conditions. He also had a special reason for choosing this car, and that was because Jingdu was the Gu family¡¯s main territory and he would not be worried if they sent someone to ram into his car. This might or might not happen but it was always best to be prepared.
Xia Lei swiped his card and got the car. He drove the Chevrolet Suburban SUV on the roads of Jingdu and called Long Bing while waiting for a red light at an intersection.
¡°I was just about to call you. Is it done?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice.
¡°Done. He took the money. He¡¯s worried about the Gu n taking revenge. You have to find two people to secretly protect him so he¡¯ll feel safer doing this for us,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. I¡¯ve arranged it all,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°Come to the military hospital at once. Danny¡¯s awake.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei hung up and stepped on the elerator.
Danny was awake - the bugle of counterattack had sounded.
Chapter 267 - Psychological Attack
Xia Lei walked into the lobby of the military hospital to find Long Bing waiting for him.
¡°I see you¡¯re driving a new car. Just bought it?¡± asked Long Bing casually.
¡°It¡¯s inconvenient to be without a car in Jingdu so I bought one,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°You can also see that the new car has no license te. It¡¯s difficult to get one in Jingdu - please help me.¡±
The corner of Long Bing¡¯s mouth turned up in a small smile. ¡°You sure know how to find things for me to do. Sure, I¡¯ll help you settle this on ount of you teaching me Wing Chun.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Thanks. Where¡¯s Danny?¡±
¡°Follow me,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei followed Long Bing to a special ward on the top floor of the hospital. The corridors were guarded by Long Bing¡¯s men and even the hospital¡¯s doctors and nurses needed permission before they could touch Danny.
¡°Doctors have removed one of Danny¡¯s kidneys. The shot you fired at his thigh sted away his leg muscles so he can only walk with one leg in the future,¡± said Long Bing to Xia Lei in the ward doorway.
He did not feel cruel at that time but Xia Lei felt himself cruel now when he heard Long Bing¡¯s words. A top killer had lost a kidney and a leg - he did survive but these disabilities were worse than death to someone like Danny. And this was all because of Xia Lei.
However, he thought of Lu Sheng, who was still lying in a hospital bed, and Xia Xue, who had almost been kidnapped by Danny, and the uneasiness in his heart disappeared.
Some people in this world were not worth having sympathy for and Danny was this type of person. Gu Ding-Shan and his children were these sort of people too.
Long Bing seemed to have sensed Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts and she patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about it. I didn¡¯t feel good either when I first shot someone to death. You¡¯ll get used to it gradually.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°It¡¯s your job. I¡¯m different from you.¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing different. You are also a consultant for Bureau 101. You know what Boss Shi said about you?¡±
¡°What did he say?¡± Xia Lei was curious.
¡°He said you are a natural-born killer. People like you should be lead snipers for Bureau 101,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°He also told me to ask you if you had any interest...¡±
Xia Lei quickly cut her short. ¡°Let¡¯s go in and see Danny.¡±
He had agreed to be a consultant for Bureau 101 because he needed a safety. He was now a billionaire but he had not got himself a wife nor continued the Xia family line yet, so what did he have to be a lead sniper for?
The doors to the ward opened and Danny watched woodenly as Xia Lei and Long Bing walked in. His body was covered in bandages and several lines of tubes ran from his body. The much-diminished man had nothing of a killer¡¯s air any longer - he looked like an unfortunate soul who¡¯d met with a car ident.
Hate shed in Danny¡¯s eyes at the sight of Xia Lei and he made to lift his hand. However, his hands were chained to the metal rails on the sides of the bed and he could not lift them.
Xia Lei put on a friendly act and went to his bedside. ¡°Feeling better, Danny?¡±
¡°Get out.¡± A sound gurgled from Danny¡¯s throat. His hate and dislike for Xia Lei had reached the absolute maximum.
Long Bing reached out to knock on Danny¡¯s injured leg. ¡°Think before you speak or you¡¯ll suffer!¡± she said coldly.
¡°You can try.¡± Danny was not the least bit afraid; he was tough.
Long Bing raised her hand again but Xia Lei grabbed her hand. ¡°Let me talk to him.¡±
Long Bing snorted and put her hand down.
¡°Let¡¯s talk, Danny.¡± Xia Lei sat on a chair next to the bed and looked straight at Danny.
Danny was dismissive. ¡°Don¡¯t waste time and saliva. I¡¯ll tell you nothing. You can let the court sentence me to death. You can just kill me directly. I don¡¯t care.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I know you¡¯re an orphan and that Gu Ding-Shan adopted you, then had you trained to be a cold-blooded killer. I believe Gu Ding-Shan has more than one adopted child like you. He¡¯s using all of you as attack-dogs. He¡¯s never treated you as his son. Why are you still so loyal?¡±
Danny closed his eyes. He could not stop Xia Lei from talking to him but he could choose not to see Xia Lei¡¯s hate-inducing face.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Danny, does Gu Ding-Shan know of your loyalty?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know any Gu Ding-Shan.¡± Danny did not even bother opening his eyes.
¡°Haha, I¡¯m not a judge. There won¡¯t be any consequences if you admit to being rted to Gu Ding-Shan. What I want to tell you is if Gu Ding-Shan knows you¡¯re alive and in our hands, what do you think he¡¯ll do?¡±
Danny closed his mouth.
¡°He will kill you,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Cooperate with us. Be our witness.¡±
¡°Haha...¡± Danny opened his eyes but they were full of ridicule. ¡°You think you can persuade me? I said don¡¯t waste your time and saliva. Get out!¡±
Xia Lei was not angry at all. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re a very dedicated and loyal man. I am impressed by your loyalty for Gu Ding-Shan. However, I¡¯ve used your name to provide the media with several bits of information on Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s illegal activities. These bits of information will be published tomorrow in print and online. I wonder what Gu Ding-Shan will think when he reads it?¡±
Rattle! Danny moved his hands violently but the cuffs held him back. Xia Lei¡¯s words had fanned the mes of his anger.
¡°I know Gu Ding-Shan must have instilled certain things into you and I can¡¯t convince you but it¡¯s all right. We actually came today to record your voice,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Long Bing took out a recording device from her trouser pocket and said softly. ¡°We will splice and synthesise your voice to make an audio file of your confession. Gu Ding-Shan will receive this audio file. I wonder what he will think when he hears it?¡±
¡°Bastards!¡± screamed Danny angrily, but the rolling pain which followed made him soften again.
¡°Think long and hard. I know you think your life can be thrown away and you don¡¯t care if you live or die, but I think you must have something or someone you cherish in your life. Are you married? Do you have children?¡±
Danny¡¯s expression changed but he said nothing.
This small change did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s notice and his left eye twitched. He quickly saw that Danny¡¯s heart rate had increased. Without batting an eyelid, Xia Lei said, ¡°You should have a woman you love deeply, huh? Maybe you two have even had a cute little child?¡±
¡°No.¡± Danny looked firm.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Okay, no. I¡¯m just reminding you that Gu Ding-Shan knows you betrayed him. He¡¯ll surely do something to make sure that you won¡¯t wag your tongue. I know how Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s mind works and I believe he will do so because he is unscrupulous. It¡¯s good that you don¡¯t have a woman or a child, or I¡¯m afraid they¡¯ll be in great danger. Okay, rest well. Think also about cooperating with us.¡±
Danny ignored Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave Long Bing a look and they left the ward.
Xia Lei waited till they got to the end of the corridor before he said, ¡°This guy must have a woman; maybe even a child.¡±
¡°How do you know?¡± asked Long Bing in surprise.
¡°When I was talking to him he seemed calm on the surface but he was actually very nervous. His eyes, lips and hands showed signs of nervousness. Didn¡¯t you see it?¡± said Xia Lei.
He had not actually looked at Danny¡¯s eyes or lips - he had looked at Danny¡¯s heart. Expressions could be faked but the heart rate could not. A person¡¯s heart rate would increase when he or she was nervous. Xia Lei just had to use his X-ray vision to look at a person¡¯s heart if he wanted to know if the person was lying.
However, he could not tell Long Bing something like this.
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°We have no files on him and he refuses to say anything. Even if there was, it is almost impossible for us to find it.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t find it but that doesn¡¯t mean someone else can¡¯t find it. We just need the right people and we¡¯ll find what we need. If we get our hands on the thing Danny is afraid of losing then he will be our witness.¡±
Long Bing realised what he meant. ¡°You¡¯re talking about the Gu n?¡±
¡°Mm. The information will be published tomorrow. Gu Ding-Shan will definitely suspect that Danny betrayed him. Based on Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s way of doing things, he will not let Danny live. There is no way he can kill Danny with him in our hands. He needs something of Danny¡¯s if he wants him to stay in line,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s true. But what if Danny has no woman and no child?¡± said Long Bing, ¡°I¡¯ve made moves too big to hide. Boss Shi, or someone else will make trouble for me if I send people from the Bureau to keep watch on the Gu n. You understand what I mean?¡±
Xia Lei knew that Long Bing was in an awkward position now. She had arrested Danny and used special connections to get the information on the Gu n for him, all without Boss Shi¡¯s prior approval. There was actually no n or project to take down the powerful and corrupt Gu Ding-Shan at present. Would the people on the Gu n¡¯s side let Long Bing off easily if she sent men to watch the Gu n?
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll do it myself.¡±
¡°Contact me immediately if something happens. Also remember to be quick. Gu Ding-Shan will act once the shameful things of the Gu n get exposed tomorrow. I¡¯m afraid that they will use their connections to move Danny to some other ce. Our n will not end well if we lose our control over Danny.¡±
¡°I¡¯m going now. What other ce does Gu Ding-Shan live in other than North Building?¡±
¡°He has many properties listed under his name; over ten in the city alone. He doesn¡¯t like to live in the city though. He has a manor in the suburbs - Baisui Garden, Xiziling. You can find Bausui Garden when you get to Xiziling. It¡¯s very big and famous in the area too,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Got it. I¡¯ll go now.¡± Xia Lei turned to leave.
Long Bing called him to a stop, ¡°Remember not to do anything foolish.¡±
Xia Lei turned to look at her and he said with augh, ¡°Not worried that I¡¯ll have an ident or something?¡±
Long Bing spoke disinterestedly, ¡°Three elite killers crumbled in your hands - do I still need to worry about you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and went off.
Long Bing watched Xia Lei till he disappeared from her sight. ¡°I have to have a good chat with him once this matter is done. How can it be normal for a punk who walked out of construction sites to easily finish off three elite killers?¡± she muttered to herself.
Chapter 268 - Final Trump Card
Night descended and the city lit up like a dream. The ck Chevrolet Suburban SUV galloped on the road out of the city. Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were mixed in with the night wind and he thought of many many things.
¡®Si-Yao and the AE Research Centre know I¡¯ve consumed AE capsules so the higher levels of the CIA and American military must know too. The American side has not made a move against me since Si-Yao¡¯s identity was exposed... If the Americans don¡¯t want China to know about this and is unwilling to act because of this, then they will be especially careful when they do make a move. Can I handle it...
¡®My powers are getting stronger and stronger; it¡¯s growing and maturing like a child. I cannot guarantee that I¡¯d be able to keep it hidden, and if Bureau 101 discovers this, or China gets information about this from America... How am I going to deal with it?¡¯
Xia Lei was full of worry for the future.
The AE Research Centre and the CIA were his most feared opponents, not Gu Ding-Shan. There was no winning against invincible forces like those.
¡®It would be great if my father were here. He would be able to tell me the truth and help me solve this problem, but...¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s heart hurt inexplicably at the thought of his father, Xia Chang-He. His father seemed to have evaporated into thin air after Yvegenia¡¯s death and he had had no news of him.
Xiziling was a little town by some mountains and Baisui Garden was next to it. It was close to the mountains and by the water and spanned several acres, grand and luxurious. It looked like the pce grounds of ancient royalty from afar.
Xia Lei parked his car on the curb along the road, then went around the town and to Baisui Garden.
Lights were on in Baisui Garden and bodyguards patrolled the premises. Xia Lei hid in the darkness to observe them for a bit and quickly confirmed the number of bodyguards - thirty!
¡®So many bodyguards. He must know that Danny¡¯s mission ended in failure and is afraid that I¡¯ll take revenge. So he ced these many bodyguards here, huh?¡¯ A small, cold smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. If so many bodyguards were here, then Gu Ding-Shan must be here too.
There were many bodyguards in Baisui Garden, inside and out, and all on the alert but this sort of defence was useless against Xia Lei. With the power of his eye, Xia Lei was able to go from a small road to the forest behind Baisui Garden, over a wall and into the property through a blind spot in their surveince in under ten minutes.
Xia Lei crouched in a patch of garden next to the wall and his left eye twitched. His gaze swept through the rooms one by one and he located Gu Ding-Shan five minutester...
Gu Ding-Shan looked gravely at the evening¡¯s visitors in the study of Baisui Garden. These visitors were not ordinary men - they were movers and shakers with pull and weight.
Gu Ke-Wu was present too. He stood behind Gu Ding-Shan, watching the faces of the visitors.
¡°It¡¯s getting big, Old Gu. How is it going to be handled?¡± said one.
¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re thinking. What era is this now?¡± said another, ¡°It¡¯s the age of globalisation now and everyone is busy trying to make money. Why must you insist on going after that punk? You¡¯ve moved a stone onto your own foot now, haven¡¯t you?¡±
¡°He¡¯s over there. I¡¯ve already told you about the situation there. It¡¯s a very special department and it has to be a matter of life or death if you want to get someone out from that department, otherwise I won¡¯t be willing to deal with that stubborn old donkey, Shi Bo-Ren,¡± said one.
Xia Lei hid in the dense crown of a broad-leaved eucalyptus tree outside, staring straight at the wall of the study. He could see everyone with his X-ray vision. He could not hear them but he could use lip-reading to decipher their conversation.
Gu Ding-Shan was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°I¡¯ve underestimated that punk. I did not expect that he would be rted to that department, but what¡¯s happened has happened. You cannot sit by and watch; we are all in the same boat.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t be here if we¡¯re not going to help you,¡± said one.
¡°It¡¯s just that this is very troublesome. Your man is over there and you¡¯ll be in big trouble if he doesn¡¯t keep his mouth shut,¡± said another.
¡°You can rest assured. I raised him and he is loyal to me. He will not say anything unnecessary,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan.
¡°Good. I¡¯ll need two days. You¡¯d better be sure that your man won¡¯t open his mouth in these two days,¡± said one.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. I trust my people. I will not let your help go in vain either. I will give you all 10% of shares in a copper mine in Myanmar.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± The study filled withughter.
¡°You don¡¯t have any good points about you, Old Gu, but you¡¯re quick to do a deal. Good - it¡¯s settled,¡± said someone with a smile.
¡°You can count on me, Old Gu,¡± said one.
They chatted for a bit more before getting to their feet and saying their goodbyes. Gu Ding-Shan walked the visitors to the study door and went back to his study after they left.
Gu Ding-Shan had not appeared anxious at all earlier but he kicked the porcin teapot off the coffee table when he returned to the study.
¡°Fuck. Why?¡± Gu Ding-Shan was outraged. ¡°A punk from the construction sites - how is he so difficult to deal with? Is he really the Monkey King? Danny and the two top-tier foreign killers were not able to kill him either, and there¡¯s two dead and one injured instead!¡±
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s lips moved as if to say something but he was silent. He did not understand it either. Danny was already a terribly frightening top-tier killer in his eyes and they had spent ten million to hire foreign elite killers too - three killers and a punk from the construction sites. How did it end up like this? Who could wrap his head around it?
¡°What do you think?¡± Gu Ding-Shan looked at Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°Dad, what¡¯s most important now is to be sure that Danny won¡¯t say anything disadvantageous for us. He was raised by you and also taught by you. He knows too much. It would¡¯ve been better if that punk Xia Lei killed him off but he¡¯s still alive. He¡¯s like a ticking time bomb to us and we don¡¯t know when he will go off,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°You mean we should kill him?¡± Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s face darkened. ¡°I did think of it but he is in their hands now. Those people are not ordinary people and killing Danny while he¡¯s still in their custody will draw even greater trouble.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu gave a scoffingugh. ¡°Didn¡¯t Uncle Qiu say that he was going to think of something to get Danny out of there in two days? Won¡¯t it be easy to kill Danny once he¡¯s out of there? He¡¯s sustained such serious injuries - just give him some drug and he¡¯ll shut up forever.¡±
¡°Two days¡¯ time...¡± Gu Ding-Shan was doubtful. He had insisted that Danny wouldn¡¯t betray him but he was still suspicious.
¡°Dad, are you worried that Danny will confess in these two days?¡±
¡°Danny is very loyal and I¡¯ve always trusted him, but...¡± He wrinkled his brows and his tone changed. ¡°But that punk is the cause of my unease. Anything rted to him will not end well. Danny is not afraid of death but that punk is full of nasty surprises. If Danny gets tempted by him, or duped, then we would have greater trouble.¡±
That ¡®punk¡¯ was Xia Lei, of course.
Outside the study lip-reading the Gu father-and-son¡¯s conversation, Xia Lei had a strange feeling.
¡°Dad, your words don¡¯t inspire confidence in me. That punk is just too difficult to deal with. Our Gu n grew strong in Haizhu and I¡¯ve lost count of how many opponents we¡¯ve defeated but I¡¯ve never seen anyone with an attitude as disgusting as his. Even thinking of his name gives me a headache. We can¡¯t be certain with an opponent like him.¡± Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s forehead was a mess of lines.
¡°This cannot do. There must be no mistakes - we must be sure that Danny will not confess.¡± Gu Ding-Shan seemed to have decided something.
¡°Dad, how about I go take a look,¡± said Gu Ke-Wu. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to him personally.¡±
¡°No. You can¡¯t go. We cannot be connected to him, not right now,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan.
¡°Then who will talk to him?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not difficult to get someone to talk to him. You don¡¯t have to show your face for this,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan, ¡°Go get Danny¡¯s woman and child here, now.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu paused. ¡°Danny¡¯s woman and child? Howe I didn¡¯t know he had a woman and child?¡±
¡°Only I know of this. Danny¡¯s woman is in Angel Orphanage. Her name¡¯s Sang Qing-Xin and she is the director of the orphanage. The daughter she has with Danny is Sang Yue-Yue and she¡¯s three this year. With his woman and child in our hands, we just have to let him know and he will never betray us, not even in death,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan.
¡°Understood. I¡¯ll go now.¡± Gu Ke-Wu turned and walked off.
¡°Bring more men. Be careful,¡± nagged Gu Ding-Shan.
¡°Nn.¡± Gu Ke-Wu grunted and went out.
Beyond the study, Xia Lei grabbed onto a tree branch, dropped lightly to the ground and sprinted to the wall in the back. He was quick and he bent his legs in a jump after a short charge, lifting his body over the three-metre tall wall in one bound. He disappeared into the night in the blink of an eye.
This risky invasion of the Gu n¡¯s Baisui Garden had gained Xia Lei the thing he wanted - Danny did have a wife and child!
This was a breakthrough, but he had to hurry to Angel Orphanage and get Danny¡¯s woman and child away before Gu Ke-Wu did!
This was not a coincidence. If Xia Lei had not used his X-ray vision he would not have discovered Danny¡¯s nervous reactions and suspected that he had a woman and child. In fact, this information had been kept by Gu Ding-Shan to use against Danny as a final trump card; even Gu Ke-Wu had not known about it!
He was now the third person to know of this secret.
The ck Chevrolet Suburban SUV galloped on the road leading to the city.
Chapter 269 - Always A Step Ahead
No one was born a demon and even if he were, he would have some softness and kindness in his heart.
Three years ago, Danny had chanced upon an orphanage, seen its dire straits and the pitiful children and he had been pulled back into his childhood memories. He had walked in wanting to give the children something, and that was how a kind girl had walked into his life.
This kind girl was Sang Qing-Xin and she had fallen in love with a demon; had a daughter with the demon.
Danny was not a demon in Sang Qing-Xin¡¯s world. He was just a purchaser for a foreign business enterprise and travelled often. The times when Danny was home were her happiest times and her home was always full ofughter. She loved how Danny would hold her baby girl Sang Yue-Yue up high and felt that that was the most beautiful scene in the world.
It waste at night and Sang Yue-Yue refused to go to sleep.
¡°Mummy, when is Daddying back?¡± Sang Yue-Yue blinked adorably from under her covers withrge, dark eyes.
¡°Daddy¡¯s only been away for a few days and you miss him already?¡± Sang Qing-Xin patted Sang Yue-Yue¡¯s little head. ¡°Go to sleep. Your Daddy will be home when you wake up.¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m not sleeping. I want Daddy.¡±
¡°Hmm? Not listening to me? Then I¡¯ll... Scratch your itch!¡± Sang Qing-Xin reached into the warm covers and tickled Sang Yue-Yue.
¡°Heeheehee....¡± Sang Yue-Yue rolled about on the bed.
¡°Sh... Sleep, sleep.¡± Sang Qing-Xin stopped tickling her.
Sang Yue-Yue¡¯s eyes were still wide open. ¡°Mummy, why is my surname ¡®Sang¡¯?¡±
Sang Qing-Xin paused. ¡°Your Daddy said that we would take my surname if we had a girl, and his surname if we had a boy. Mummy wants to have a little brother for you, and he will be surnamed ¡®Dan¡¯, like Daddy.¡±
¡°Why do the children here have no Mummy or Daddy?¡±
¡°Their Mummies and Daddies have given them up, so they live in the orphanage.¡±
¡°I live in the orphanage too, so why do I have Mummy and Daddy?¡±
¡°Silly, stop asking these questions. I¡¯ll spank you if you don¡¯t go to sleep.¡±
¡°Mummy, I miss Daddy...¡±
The long-winded conversation in the little room was full of warmth and a mother¡¯s love.
Outside the window, Xia Lei felt a twinge in his heart. The woman in the room was waiting for her man and the child was waiting for her father, but the man they were waiting for would never have a chance to return to them.
Xia Lei hesitated, then knocked on the door.
¡°Who is it?¡± Sang Qing-Xin¡¯s voice was filled with rm.
¡°Are you Miss Sang Qing-Xin?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I am. Who are you? How did you get in?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, and don¡¯t be nervous either. I¡¯m not a bad guy. I¡¯m Danny¡¯s friend and I¡¯m here because of an emergency,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re Danny¡¯s friend? I¡¯ve never seen his friends.¡± Sang Qing-Xin still refused to open the door. ¡°Please leave, or I¡¯ll call the police.¡±
¡°Danny¡¯s been in a car ident. The doctors need a family member to sign the agreement before they can operate. Danny told me this address - he will die if you don¡¯t go to the hospital and sign the agreement,¡± said Xia Lei.
The door opened quickly and the woman behind the door was small and skinny. Her skin was sallow and she was not beautiful at all. She had a kindly, humble air.
¡°Come with me,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Danny¡¯s in a dangerous situation. Oh, take your child too. Danny wants to see Yue-Yue.¡±
¡°Wait, I¡¯ll carry her.¡± Sang Qing-Xin grew anxious and hurried to carry Sang Yue-Yue. She was so anxious that she did not put on her shoes and followed Xia Lei out in just her slippers.
¡°Mummy, what happened to Daddy?¡± Sang Yue-Yue was just a child of three and she did not understand the implications of a car ident.
Sang Qing-Xin brushed some tears away. ¡°We¡¯re going to see Daddy now.¡±
¡°Yeah! I want to see Daddy! Heehee...¡± Sang Yue-Yue danced in happiness.
Xia Lei let out a small sigh and opened the car door. ¡°Please get in.¡±
Sang Qing-Xin carried Sang Yue-Yue into the passenger seat and Xia Lei also got in the car. He started the engine and drove towards the main gates of the orphanage.
The gates to the orphanage were wide open but the old man security guard did note out to close the gates.
Sang Qing-Xin looked at Xia Lei in rm. ¡°How did you get in?¡±
She was asking this question for the second time. She had been in a panic when she heard that Danny was in an ident and forgot to pursue the matter earlier but the open gates made her wary again.
Xia Lei did not speak. He stepped on the elerator and the ck Chevrolet dashed through the orphanage gates and onto deserted streets.
¡°Let me out!¡± Sang Qin-Xin was surprised and angry. She shouted at Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯ll call the police!¡±
Xia Lei ignored her and continued driving.
Sang Qing-Xin took her phone out and made to call the police.
Xia Lei snatched the phone out of her hands and raised his voice, ¡°Calm down. I¡¯m not a bad person - I¡¯m saving you two!¡±
¡°Whuuh...¡± Sang Yue-Yue got scared to tears by Xia Lei.
Sang Qing-Xin was also scared to tears and she sobbed, ¡°Mister, I have no money. Please, I beg you, let me and my child go. Don¡¯t hurt us. I really, really have no money. The orphanage depends on the donations of kind people for its operations... I beg you...¡±
Xia Lei wanted to tell them the truth in that instant but the sight of their tears closed his mouth.
It was easy enough for him to open his mouth and tell them the truth but this concerned their entire lives. Would a kind person like Sang Qing-Xin ept the news that the man she loved was a demon-like killer? And a cute child like Sang Yue-Yue - would she ept the fact that her father was a bad man? How would she face the strange looks from ssmates and their gossiping when she went to school?
¡°Shut up!¡± Xia Lei put on a fierce act. ¡°Or else-¡±
He did not voice his threat but Sang Qing-Xin shut her mouth. Sang Yue-Yue kept crying and Sang Qing-Xin covered her mouth, afraid that the child¡¯s crying would anger this fierce man and draw cmity.
Xia Lei stopped the car by the side of the road and looked back in the direction of Angel Orphanage.
Sang Qing-Xin quietly reached to open the door, but it was locked. She could not open it.
¡°Don¡¯t be foolish. I came to save you. Look behind us,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sang Qing-Xin looked back. Some ck Toyota Prados appeared on the road by Angel Orphanage, led by a Bugatti Veyron. The doors opened and a group of ck-suited men emerged. They walked quickly to the main doors of the orphanage. Sang Qing-Xin¡¯s gaze went to Gu Ke-Wu, who stood in the doorway of Angel Orphanage. This was her first time seeing him and she did not know who he was.
¡°Who... are they?¡± she asked probingly.
¡°Bad guys. You¡¯d have fallen into their hands if I were one stepter. They will use you to corner Danny. I am protecting you, believe me. I will not harm you. I¡¯ll let you see Danny,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°W, Why should I believe you?¡± Sang Qing-Xin was still wary.
¡°You have no choice,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Y, you say you¡¯re protecting us, so just send Yue-Yue and I to the police station,¡± said Sang Qing-Xin.
Xia Lei started the car but did not switch the lights on. He turned into a road before heading straight towards the military factory.
Two bodyguards approached the guard-post at the gates of Angel Orphanage. After a quick search, one bodyguard said, ¡°Young Master, there¡¯s an old man here. He¡¯s fast asleep.¡±
¡°No surveince cameras,¡± said another bodyguard.
¡°Don¡¯t bother about him. Look for them and get them out.¡± Gu Ke-Wu was not in the mood to care about an old security guard.
The bodyguards dispersed quickly, going to every room to search for Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue. They did not have Xia Lei¡¯s left eye, so they could only search by pushing every door open.
Gu Ke-Wu stood in the activities section of the orphanage yard and his brows furrowed more deeply with every door that was opened. He seemed to suddenly realise something and he swung his head around to stare at the wide-open gates. The gates had been open when he¡¯d brought his men in - why didn¡¯t the old security guard close them?
¡°Shit!¡± Gu Ke-Wu ran towards the guard-post.
The old security guard was awakened by a cold ssh of water from a cup. He opened his eyes to see the evil re of Gu Ke-Wu.
Gu Ke-Wu grabbed the old man by the cor and shouted angrily, ¡°Talk! Did someonee by earlier?¡±
The old guard was scared silly. ¡°Wh, what do you want?¡±
¡°Talk!¡± Gu Ke-Wu mmed the old guard¡¯s head onto the bed.
¡°I, I don¡¯t know... I¡¯ve only seen you. Wh, what do you want?¡± The old man seemed to think of something and he trembled as he fished out a roll of loose change from his mouth. ¡°I, I just have this little bit. I, I¡¯ll give them all to you. Please don¡¯t, don¡¯t scare the children.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu wanted to m his head into the wall at that instant. He was the heir of the Gu n and this old man was treating him like a robber! Fine, he could think of him as a robber, but this old fart didn¡¯t even have a hundred yuan!
A bodyguard appeared in the doorway of the guard-post. ¡°They aren¡¯t here, Young Master Wu. We¡¯ve searched the whole ce and we haven¡¯t seen the mother and daughter.¡±
¡°What?¡± Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s heart sank.
He¡¯d had a feeling when he¡¯d realised that the gate was open but he didn¡¯t expect that what he was worried about would actually happen!
Another bodyguard appeared in the doorway. ¡°We¡¯ve searched everywhere, Young Master Wu. They¡¯re not here. What do we do?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face appeared in Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s mind immediately. He seemed to lose his vitality when Xia Lei¡¯s face appeared in his head and he aged ten years in an instant. This was an indescribable feeling. He had already calcted and taken action but Xia Lei was always one step ahead! Why? Why!
¡°What do we do now, Young Master Wu?¡± asked a bodyguard cautiously.
Gu Ke-Wu suddenly roared crazily, ¡°What are you standing around for? SEARCH! Find that mother and daughter, even if you have to turn the whole of Jingdu City upside down!¡±
The group of bodyguards looked at each other. Jingdu was huge and had a poption of over 20 million - how were they going to find the mother and daughter?
Chapter 270 - Reinforcements Arrive
¡°Just where are you taking us?¡± Sang Qing-Xin grew nervous again as the car left the city and tears fell soundlessly from her eyes.
Sang Yue-Yue had fallen asleep; she was a three-year-old after all. She slept deeply and her mother¡¯s tears fell on her face but she did not wake up.
¡°To a safe ce,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No! You have no right to take us anywhere!¡± Sang Qing-Xin was losing it. ¡°Let us out. I want to get out of the car!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you want to see Danny?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t believe you. Where is he?¡±
¡°Hospital.¡±
¡°Then take us to the hospital! This is the suburbs - don¡¯t lie to me!¡± Sang Qing-Xin shouted at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°I¡¯ll be frank. Your husband is actually... an agent. I am his colleague. He¡¯s been hurt and those people earlier want to get you and your daughter so that they can use you two against him. You have toe with me; it¡¯s the only way you¡¯ll be safe, and Danny too.¡±
¡°He¡¯s... an agent?¡± Sang Qing-Xin looked at Xia Lei suspiciously. She could not tell if this young man was telling the truth.
¡°Ask him in person when you see him. You have to trust me. I won¡¯t hurt you or your daughter.¡± Xia Lei did not want to say more. He had spoken too many lies about Danny and it disgusted him.
Sang Qing-Xin calmed down atst, and sat thinking quietly to herself.
Xia Lei drove into Bailu Vige and through it to the military factory grounds.
The workers from the constructionpany were still working overtime, building the foundation of the factory. The construction site gate-guard greeted Xia Lei.
Sang Qing-Xin rxed more after seeing more people. Xia Lei would not have brought her to a ce with so many people if he¡¯d wanted to kidnap herself and Sang Yue-Yue, and he was not likely to harm them in front of so many people either.
Xia Lei drove the car through the construction area and to a wooden hut. There was a vi under construction next to the wooden hut and workers were working overtime there too. Sang Qing-Xin was relieved by the sight.
Xia Lei released the locks and said, ¡°Get out of the car. You two will stay here for the next two days.¡±
Sang Qing-Xin alighted and followed Xia Lei to the wooden hut. ¡°What ce is this?¡± she asked cautiously.
¡°This is a military factory. It¡¯s notplete yet,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sang Qing-Xin¡¯s worries wereid to rest when she heard that. ¡°When can I see Danny?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, and said, ¡°Tomorrow. I¡¯ll arrange for you to meet him tomorrow.¡±
¡°Thank you. I did not behave well earlier - please forgive me.¡± Sang Qing-Xin apologised to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave a smallugh. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just what I should do. I¡¯ll take you to your room to rest. It¡¯ste and you must be tired carrying your child.¡±
¡°Can you tell me your name, Mister?¡±
¡°Nn, my name¡¯s Xia Lei.¡± Xia Lei did not hide it.
Sang Qing-Xin bowed to Xia Lei. ¡°Thank you, Mr Xia.¡±
Such a kind and humble woman! She was full of longing to see Danny and was proud of his identity as an agent, but she did not know what she was going to be confronted with.
Xia Lei felt ashamed at having made use of such a kind woman and adorable child, even though what he did was for justice.
But it couldn¡¯t be helped. Oftentimes there was no choice and one had to do things against one¡¯s own conscience.
After arranging the living quarters of the mother-and-daughter, Xia Lei returned to the wooden hut which Annina was temporarily housed in. The two rooms were separated by a wall of iron and foam; this made it easy for Xia Lei to check on the two of them.
Annina was sound asleep and she did not sense that someone had entered her room. One leg stuck out from under the covers and the hut was filled with her mesmerising scent. She used perfume often and her scent would always awake desire in Xia Lei.
The soft, white leg and enticing smell were all very tempting but Xia Lei was not in the mood for that. He was still thinking about the poor mother-and-daughter, Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue.
Xia Lei went to the bed and pulled the nket over to cover Annina¡¯s leg.
Annina awoke all of a sudden and looked at Xia Lei blearily. ¡°Where¡¯ve you been? I couldn¡¯t get through to your phone; I was so worried.¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing. Sleep,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina burrowed into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. ¡°I can¡¯t sleep. I see that guy missing half his head when I close my eyes.¡±
Xia Lei put his arms around her and saidfortingly, ¡°Things like this won¡¯t happen again. Sleep.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you sleeping?¡± said Annina in a soft voice.
¡°I¡¯ll give Long Bing a call before I sleep.¡± Xia Lei took out his mobile phone and switched it on, then dialled Long Bing¡¯s number.
He had switched it off when he¡¯d entered the Gu n¡¯s Baisui Garden property. He had to switch it off when doing things like that because he would be exposed if someone called him or sent him a message during that time.
Annina did not sit still. She reached out and undid Xia Lei¡¯s belt. Xia Lei wanted to smack her hand away but Long Bing¡¯s voice came from the phone just then and he retracted his hand.
¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°Danny does have a woman, and a daughter. His woman¡¯s name is Sang Qing-Xin, the director of Angel Orphanage. His daughter¡¯s Sang Yue-Yue. She¡¯s three this year,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Well done. I didn¡¯t consider this possibility. You did, and you found them.¡± Long Bing was delighted. ¡°Where are they?¡±
¡°I brought them to the military factory site.¡±
¡°Watch them. I¡¯m going to the military hospital now to take Danny away. I¡¯ll contact you right away when I¡¯ve made the arrangements,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Okay.. Nngh.¡±
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± asked Long Bing in concern.
¡°Nothing. Nn. I¡¯m h, hanging up.¡± Xia Lei hung up without waiting for Long Bing to speak.
His desires went up, then down. When all was calm again, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the room opposite entered his field of vision.
Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue were asleep. Their breaths were even and there was even a small snore. Sang Qing-Xin had been tired out by the fright she¡¯d received.
¡®It¡¯s good that they¡¯re asleep. Wooden huts don¡¯t have very good soundproofing, so if Sang Qing-Xin heard me and Annina over here... Damn, that¡¯ll be so embarrassing¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Annina was asleep too. She was like a sweet littlemb which had fallen asleep after a big meal.
Xia Leiy down for a few minutes before getting out of bed, putting his clothes on and going to the bathroom. There was no way to install a toilet or a sink in a wooden hut like this and the closest toilet was thirty metres away. He did not want to go out naked.
Aftering out of the toilet, some cars suddenly appeared at the gates of the construction site. One Bugatti, and a few tough-looking Toyotas. Two more vehicles followed - green pick-up trucks with no license tes. Xia Lei took a closer look and was surprised. Those two green pick-up trucks carried the National Guard - at least 50 of them!
Xia Lei knew it was Gu Ke-Wu before the vehicles came to a stop, and he knew what Gu Ke-Wu was here for. He turned and ran towards the wooden hut.
All the vehicles stopped at the gates of the construction site.
The door to the Bugatti Veyron opened and Gu Ke-Wu stepped out from the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°It¡¯s this ce. Alight!¡± he shouted.
The gate-guard didn¡¯t dare to go up to talk to ask what he was doing there at the sight of the convoy. He hid in the guard room and didn¡¯t dare to let out so much as a fart.
Two of Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s bodyguards kicked the door to the guard room open and dragged the gate-guard out.
¡°Where does Xia Lei live? Tell me!¡± Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s face was a mask of anger.
¡°Wh, Who are you? What do you want?¡± The gate-guard mustered up courage to ask.
Gu Ke-Wu pped him across the face. ¡°Where is Xia Lei? Talk!¡±
The guard held his face and pointed at the wooden hut behind the construction site.
Gu Ke-Wu waved, and the men he brought swarmed towards the wooden hut.
At the hut, Xia Lei kicked down the door and rushed into the room that Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue were in.
Sang Qing-Xin was startled awake by the noise and she looked at Xia Lei in terror. ¡°Wh, What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. He chopped at Sang Qing-Xin¡¯s carotid artery and she fell bonelessly to the bed with a grunt.
Xia Lei slung her over his shoulder and carried the still-sleeping Sang Yue-Yue in his arms. He turned and started walking out of the hut.
Annina had been awakened by the noise too. She came out of the hut at the same time that Xia Lei was stepping out from next door with Sang Qing-Xin over his shoulder. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked in surprise.
¡°Come with me, quick!¡± said Xia Lei urgently.
Annina stared nkly. ¡°I¡¯ll get my clothes and shoes.¡±
¡°No time. Hurry!¡± Xia Lei started running towards the forest behind the hut.
Annina spotted the huge group of people on the construction site heading towards them just then, and she realised the danger. She stepped into a pair of slippers and ran for the forest behind the hut.
Chapter 271 - A Difficult Night
It wasn¡¯t strange that Gu Ke-Wu was able toe chasing all the way to Bailu Town. The people who had visited Gu Ding-Shan in Baisui Garden¡¯s study were people with standing and clout. They shared the same interests as Gu Ding-Shan and they could easily do what Gu Ding-Shan could not.
Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue¡¯s disappearance was very strange to Gu Ding-Shan and Gu Ke-Wu, especially since Gu Ke-Wu had not known of their existence. This made Xia Lei an easy suspect for Gu Ding-Shan and Gu Ke-Wu, and this was how Gu Ke-Wu could rush to the military factory construction site in such a short amount of time.
In the forest behind the construction site, Xia Lei climbed up the mountain step by step. He had Sang Qing-Xin on his back and Sang Yue-Yue in his arms and their weightbined was over 50 kilograms. This weight was difficult to carry on t ground, not to mention uphill.
¡°Let me carry the child.¡± Annina had caught up with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s go.¡±
Annina followed Xia Lei in his climb up wearing only slippers on her feet. It was tough for her. There were many shrubs in the forest and she¡¯d not walked far before her soft skin was scratched in several ces, drawing beads of blood; Xia Lei felt bad for her.
Xia Lei was not feeling good either - it was more tiring to carry a grown woman up a mountain than practice martial arts.
They climbed tens of metres higher before Xia Lei looked back at the military factory and stopped. ¡°Annina, stay here and look after them. I¡¯ll go down to take a look.¡±
¡°You want to go down? No, no, no, I¡¯m going with you.¡± Annina grew nervous. She was not afraid with Xia Lei by her side but with him gone, the thought of facing the dark forest alone scared her.
Xia Lei put Sang Qing-Xin down, then took off his jacket and put it on Annina. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be back in half an hour.¡±
¡°Then... Hurry.¡± Annina looked at him with wide eyes.
Xia Lei went back the way they¡¯de and slowly approached the construction site...
The men Gu Ke-Wu brought had taken control of the construction site. The wooden huts had been searched inside-out but the people they were looking for had vanished. Xia Lei had been one step ahead from start to end, and this made Gu Ke-Wu mad.
¡°Xia Lei! Get out here!¡± Gu Ke-Wu roared in anger in front of the wooden huts. His voice could be heard from afar.
Xia Lei did not move. He hid in the forest and took out his phone to take a picture of Gu Ke-Wu and the group of people next to him. His phone was able to pick up the phone signals close to the construction site and he sent the picture to Long Bing.
A bodyguard went up to Gu Ke-Wu and braced himself as he said, ¡°Young Master Wu, we¡¯ve searched the entire site. We did not find that punk and we didn¡¯t find the mother and daughter either. What do we do?¡±
¡°Trash! You are all trash!¡± Gu Ke-Wushed out with a p. The worsening situation made him lose it.
The bodyguard who¡¯d been hit held his face but did not dare make a sound, nor let Gu Ke-Wu see the hate in his eyes.
¡°What are you all standing around for? Go search in the mountain!¡± screamed Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°The mountain? It¡¯s such arge area...¡± said a bodyguard worriedly, ¡°Young Master Wu, we...¡±
¡°Shut up! Search!¡± Gu Ke-Wu went first and walked towards the forest.
He had lost control of his emotions but he was not stupid. Xia Lei¡¯s car was still at the construction site and the sheets in the hut were still warm and had traces of a woman¡¯s perfume. If Xia Lei had not gone into hiding in the mountain, then what? He flew?
The big group of bodyguards and National Guard followed Gu Ke-Wu up the mountain. No one was in favour of this but no one dared to ask Gu Ke-Wu to give up. He was like a barrel of explosives and could explode at any moment.
Xia Lei nced at his phone; he¡¯d received a message.
It was from Long Bing and it contained just two words: Hide well.
This message gave Xia Lei another message - no one wasing to help him tonight. It was a bitter pill to swallow but Xia Lei quickly understood why. Long Bing was moving Danny to another location right now and could not spare the time to help him here. Plus, Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s friends would definitely keep a close watch on Bureau 101 and if Bureau 101 sent reinforcements, the situation would escte and affect Long Bing¡¯s task.
¡®Forget it. Even if Bureau 101 sent reinforcements they won¡¯t fight; they¡¯ll just spar with words. It¡¯s not good to inadvertently alert the enemy either. I¡¯ll just let Gu Ke-Wu y in the forest.¡¯ Xia Lei made his decision and left his hiding spot. He climbed quickly in Annina¡¯s direction.
Annina was hiding behind a tree trunk and she heard footsteps but no person. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± she asked nervously.
¡°It¡¯s me.¡± It was Xia Lei¡¯s voice.
Annina let out a breath of relief and stepped out of her hiding ce.
Xia Lei lifted Sang Qing-Xin again and over his shoulder as he said, ¡°Take the child. We have to leave this ce.¡±
¡°Are we going further up?¡± Annina¡¯s legs were weary.
¡°They¡¯ve started searching the mountain. We have to go up and hide till morning,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right. I¡¯m not afraid with you by my side.¡± Annina carried the still-sleeping Sang Yue-Yue in her arms and fell in behind Xia Lei. She climbed haltingly up the mountain.
Under the mountain, light after light from mobile phones swept the area. Gu Ke-Wu, his bodyguards and nearly 50 of the National Guard were searching for them on the mountain.
A bodyguard soon made a discovery. He plucked a piece of ckce from a branch and said excitedly, ¡°Young Master Wu, you were right! That punk and his woman dide up the mountain! This is a piece of that woman¡¯s underwear!¡±
Gu Ke-Wu strode over and snatched up the piece ofce to sniff it. ¡°It is that woman¡¯s perfume. Search the area! Find that punk!¡±
The group continued upward in their search.
More traces were soon found - pieces ofce, obvious footprints, broken branches and so on. Xia Lei had no way of avoiding these since he had to carry Sang Qing-Xin up the mountain. It was impossible for their added weight to not leave any footprints in the damp ground.
These discoveries excited Gu Ke-Wu and he seemed to see hope in catching up to Xia Lei.
¡°I must kill that punk when I catch him!¡± This was an opportunity, and Gu Ke-Wu was not worried at all about what trouble woulde after if he killed Xia Lei. He had methods aplenty to shirk himself of the rtion to Xia Lei. He could say that Xia Lei had a heart attack, or lost his way and fell off a cliff. There would be a big group of people to bear witness too, so who could do anything to him?
The thought of killing Xia Lei acted as a stimnt for Gu Ke-Wu, and his speed increased...
In the forest, Xia Lei was tired to the bone. He could go no further when he reached the halfway-mark. He put Sang Qing-Xin down and sat his butt on the ground. Annina was in no better shape and she plonked her butt on the grass.
The lights from mobile phones shed here and there below them; they had drawn much closer.
¡°Damn it. Didn¡¯t think they¡¯d follow the tracks we left behind.¡± Xia Lei frowned. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to lose them with our extra baggage.¡±
Annina was out of breath. ¡°I saw soldiers. They won¡¯t do anything bad, will they? Maybe we don¡¯t have to escape. Maybe we can talk to them.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°You¡¯re too naive. Have you forgotten how your own countrymen treated you? They work for the government too.¡±
Annina shut her mouth; she remembered the two German special agents, her countrymen. If it hadn¡¯t been for Xia Lei, she would not be here right now breathing the air of freedom but in Guantanamo prison being tortured.
Every country was made of its people and there were sure to be bad people no matter which belief system or morals it had. Take those of the National Guard chasing Xia Lei and Annina, for example. They were good people and were children of regr folk but the one whose orders they followed was not a good person.
¡°Let¡¯s go. We can¡¯t rest anymore.¡± Xia Lei climbed to his feet, tired as can be, but he still hefted Sang Qing-Xin, prepared to put her over his shoulder.
¡°Why not wake her up? You¡¯ll have an easier time if you do,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No. She will see those soldiers and think we are the bad guys, while those are the people trying to rescue her. We¡¯ll be in big trouble if she calls out to them or hinders us.¡±
¡°But...¡± Annina begun, then stopped. She was full of worry.
¡°We won¡¯t be caught, believe me. Follow me. We¡¯re going to where the ground is firm so they will lose our tracks and spend more time trying to figure out which direction we¡¯d gone,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina nodded and gathered Sang Yue-Yue in her arms.
The child slept very well - Sang Yue-Yue had made no signs of waking up.
Xia Lei led Annina to an area with rocky ground and few trees. This was going to be difficult, but he would wee the light when he¡¯d weathered the night.
Chapter 272 - Rainy Night
Night wrapped the mountain forest and every tree appeared as a spirit of the darkness, watching the humans as they moved about the forest. On one side were the humans fleeing and the other, the humans chasing. This was a meaningless game in to the trees.
Gu Ke-Wu had been on the chase from the middle of the night tote night. There had been tracks to follow in the beginning but those had been lostter. He had broken up his groups into three teams, one to the peak, one to the left of the path and the rest to the right of the path, together with him at the lead. This was in the direction of Bailu Town.
In his pursuit, Gu Ke-Wu had gone from excitement to disappointment, finally ending in despair as they¡¯d lost the tracks. He was dog-tired and had wasted so much energy but had yet to even smell Xia Lei¡¯s fart, much less catch him and kill him off.
What was worse was that it had started to rain.
Spring rain came pattering down from the sky and the treetops acted as funnels, sending water down in a continuous stream. The ground was wet quickly and turned muddy. There was no paved road on the mountain either, so it was slippery and one could fall badly if one were not careful. An area which would have taken them a few minutes to search before now took several times longer.
¡°Ahh...!¡± A bodyguard fell, and hended anus-first on an oddly-shaped rock. His expression turned odd and he looked as if he¡¯d been fed a fly-stuffed dumpling in hot soup.
¡°Fuck, what searching can we do in this shitty weather? It¡¯ll be a miracle if we do find something!¡±ined a bodyguard in a low voice.
¡°Lower your voice; don¡¯t let Young Master Wu hear. He¡¯s mad now so don¡¯t set him off,¡± said a bodyguard quietly.
How could Gu Ke-Wu not hear his underlings¡¯ discussions andints? In fact, it was not just his underlings who¡¯d lost hope but him too. His confidence had been shaken quite some time ago.
Gu Ke-Wu raised his chin to look fiercely up at the sky dropping rain on him. ¡°Fuck you! Even you! You¡¯re helping that punk!¡±
¡°Young Master Wu, we...?¡± A bodyguard asked cautiously.
¡°Keep looking!¡± Gu Ke-Wu shouted angrily, ¡°The Gu n has paid you well for not doing much so far, so now is the time for all of you to show that you¡¯re worth the money! If anyone¡¯s going to grumble without putting the effort in, then you¡¯re fired!¡±
The bodyguards all shut their mouths and continued searching...
This scene did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eye 500 metres away. He slid down from the top of a big tree.
¡°How close are they?¡± asked Annina nervously.
¡°Far enough. No need to worry.¡± Xia Lei sat down and rxed. Five hundred metres was quite a safe distance and he could have a good rest for a few minutes.
Annina leaned on Xia Lei. Her skin was cold and her long legs were uncovered; they were exposed to air and rain and looked like they¡¯d been pulled from cold water.
This was the north after all and the weather was rather cold though it was spring.
¡°I¡¯ll give you my trousers.¡± Xia Lei rubbed Annina¡¯s thigh. The cold made him worry.
¡°Oh no, no. You¡¯ve already given me your clothes. You¡¯re most important - you can¡¯t get sick. It¡¯ll be fine even if I get sick,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei felt warm inside. He pulled Annina into his arms. ¡°Sit on myp and warm up.¡±
Annina climbed onto Xia Lei and sat on hisp, pressing herself deep into his embrace. Xia Lei¡¯s body was warm and the warmth made her much morefortable.
The first two minutes were uneventful but a small problem urred after that.
¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Annina looked back at Xia Lei. ¡°What are you poking me with? A twig?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be thinking about such things. There¡¯s nothing...¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
Annina wiggled her hips.
Xia Lei hurriedly held her still. ¡°Stop. Take this chance to rest.¡±
Annina retaliated and grabbed the ¡®twig¡¯. She smirked. ¡°I know what it is. I just want to help you rx. You¡¯re too nervous.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. He did rx quite a bit with her teasing. Women from different cultures were different indeed, and only she could do something like this so naturally. It would be difficult for a Chinese woman to pull this off.
Annina looked searchingly at Xia Lei, then drew close and kissed him on the lips. She needed some passion in this damned rain and forest to warm her up, body and soul.
Sang Qing-Xin suddenly woke up at that moment. She propped herself up slowly and saw Xia Lei and Annina kissing next to her, then saw Sang Yue-Yue.
The memory of Xia Lei kicking open the door to the room, and him knocking her out shed through Sang Qing-Xin¡¯s mind. She grew nervous. After some hesitation, she gathered the sleeping Sang Yue-Yue in her arms and got quietly to her feet, prepared to sneak away.
A drop of rainwater suddenly came down from the crown of a tree andnded right on Sang Yue-Yue¡¯s forehead. The cold raindrop startled Sang Yue-Yue awake and she opened her eyes. ¡°Mummy, it¡¯s dark.¡±
Sang Qing-Xin quickly reached to cover Sang Yue-Yue¡¯s mouth, but it was toote. Sang Yue-Yue¡¯s voice had been heard by those who should not hear and the caucasian female, who was in a deep kiss, got off Xia Lei and climbed to her feet. She blocked off the mother-and-daughter without any instructions from Xia Lei.
Sang Qing-Xin then noticed how strange this woman blocking her way was. She was wearing a man¡¯s jacket but had tatteredce underwear underneath, so torn they were barely enough to save her from embarrassing exposure. She was also wearing slippers full of mud. She was sexy, yet haggard and a hot mess too difficult to describe.
Faced with a caucasian female like this, the forest and the frightening memory of what had transpired made Sang Qing-Xin freeze in fear. ¡°Wh, What do you two want?¡±
Xia Lei appeared calm. ¡°No need to be afraid. She¡¯s my friend and her name¡¯s Xia Mei. She¡¯s the chief engineer of the military factory. As you see, her efforts in helping to save you resulted in her current appearance.¡±
¡°Save us? I remember it clearly - you knocked me unconscious!¡± said Sang Qing-Xin angrily.
¡°Lower your volume! The people pursuing us are in the forest!¡± Xia Lei got to his feet and said more loudly, ¡°I carried you the whole night. I don¡¯t want you to repay me - I just want you to believe me. I won¡¯t stop you if you want to leave but you have to know that if you fall into the hands of those people, you and Sang Yue-Yue will die and Danny will have no good end either.¡±
Sang Qing-Xin looked back at the shing of mobile phone lights in the distance. A war raged in her heart. She did not know if she should trust Xia Lei or the people ssearching in the forest.
¡°Miss Sang, please think about it. If I wanted to hurt you and Sang Yue-Yue, I had plenty of chances to do so. Did I harm a single hair on your heads?¡± said Xia Lei.
Sang Qing-Xin was silent; she said nothing.
¡°I¡¯m going to the town at the bottom of the mountain now with Xia Mei. Follow us if you want. Go to those people if you want. You make your own choice,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina gave Xia Lei a puzzled nce. She and Xia Lei had gone through so much trouble to get this woman to this point but Xia Lei was going to let them go now? She did not understand why Xia Lei was doing this.
Xia Lei was not letting Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue go - this was a form of reverse psychology. It would be daybreak soon, and he needed to get Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue into Bailu Town, then get a car and meet up with Long Bing. He did not want to drag an unconscious woman around on the streets; he needed to gain Sang Qing-Xin¡¯s trust.
If he could not gain her trust and she decided to go towards Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s group, he would not hesitate to knock her unconscious again and carry her off.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Xia Mei.¡± Xia Lei walked off, like he¡¯d said he would.
Annina shrugged and followed Xia Lei.
¡°Wait...¡± Sang Qing-Xin finally made her decision. ¡°I¡¯ming with you.¡±
Xia Lei let out a breath. ¡°I¡¯ll help you carry the child.¡±
¡°No, I¡¯ll carry her.¡± Sang Qing-Xin was still wary of Xia Lei.
Xia Lei felt much lighter with no need to carry Sang Qing-Xin, and the path going downhill. They went much faster than they had earlier too.
They got on a dirt path when they were close to Bailu Town; it was gradually getting brighter.
When they went past a farmer¡¯s home, Xia Lei climbed over the wall and entered the farmer¡¯s house. He stole a pair of men¡¯s jeans and a woman¡¯s sweater from the clothespins under the eaves of the house. The jeans were men¡¯s jeans but their owner was apparently not as tall as Annina and it grew short on her. Her buttocks were also squeezed tight and it looked funny yet seductive at the same time.
¡°Mummy, Uncle¡¯s a thief.¡± Sang Yue-Yue pointed at Xia Lei.
Sang Qing-Xin quickly said, ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense, Uncle is not a thief. He... He paid for those.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Little Yue-Yue, Uncle will take you to see your daddy today, okay?¡±
¡°Yay! Okay!¡± Sang Yue-Yue was very happy.
¡°But you have to be a good girl. You can¡¯t cry, and you can¡¯t speak casually. Got that?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yep! I got it.¡± Sang Yue-Yue looked earnest. She shut her mouth tight.
Xia Lei brought Annina and Sang Qing-Xin, carrying her child, into Bailu Town. He called Long Bing as he walked.
¡°Is it settled on your end?¡± Xia Lei was a little anxious.
¡°It¡¯s done. Mother and daughter still with you?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice. She seemed calm.
¡°Yes. Gu Ke-Wu brought men and they chased us all night long. We¡¯re in Bailu Town now. Where are you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m on my way. Find a ce to hide first. Give me half an hour,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Okay. Hurry. This ce is not safe.¡± Xia Lei hung up. He looked about him and he did spot an inn but he also saw two people he did not wish to see.
Two of Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s bodyguards were roughly 300 metres away from him. They were looking around on the road, searching for something.
Gu Ke-Wu was smart and he had had people stay in the town. Lucky thing the rain had shrouded the morning in mist, otherwise those two bodyguards would¡¯ve discovered him already.
¡°Come with me.¡± Xia Lei turned and walked into a small alley next to the street, then took a winding route to the only inn in the town.
Chapter 273 - Dont Celebrate Too Soon
Xia Lei got a room in the inn and brought Annina, Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue to the room.
Annina and the mother-and-daughter pair rested in the room while Xia Lei leaned against the window to observe the situation outside. A few minutester, Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s two bodyguards came into view. They were questioning passersby and through lip-reading, Xia Lei discovered that they were describing him, and Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue¡¯s characteristics. The passersby had not seen them.
The two bodyguards walked to the inn after questioning the passersby.
Xia Lei let out an internal cry of doom. Gu Ke-Wu woulde over very quickly with his group of underlings if these two bodyguards entered the inn and described him, Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue.
¡°Stay here. Don¡¯t open the door for anyone,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Where are you going?¡± asked Annina nervously.
¡°I¡¯ll go draw those two away. Take care of them.¡± Xia Lei did not exin further; he climbed onto the windowsill and jumped down.
Their room was on the second floor and there was a small alley below. Xia Lei ran to the end of the alley in a few steps, and Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s bodyguards crossed the road and walked to the door of the inn at that same time. Xia Lei did not look at them. He walked calmly out of the alley and to a small restaurant selling breakfast.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s two bodyguards quickly discovered Xia Lei. They were astonished - a person they¡¯d been looking for for the whole night had suddenly appeared in front of them, and swaggering about too! They couldn¡¯t make head nor tail of the situation.
¡°Young Master Wu!¡± said a bodyguard into a walkie-talkie, ¡°Bailu Town here. We found Xia Lei! H, He¡¯s appeared!¡±
The bodyguard¡¯s voice and hands were trembling in excitement.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s voice came quickly from the walkie-talkie, ¡°Don¡¯t alert him. We¡¯ll be right there!¡±
¡°Understood.¡± The bodyguard put down the walkie-talkie, then joined his co-worker in following Xia Lei.
Xia Lei went into the breakfast restaurant and ordered a bowl of soy milk, two fried dough sticks and a steam-basket of xiaolongbao*. He was tired out from the night of activity and hungry too. He busied himself with eating after breakfast was delivered to his table.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s two bodyguards bought cigarettes from a kiosk opposite the breakfast restaurant and continued watching Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pretended not to see and continued eating his breakfast.
Gu Ke-Wu came charging over with his big group of underlings before Xia Lei could finish eating, and had the whole ce surrounded.
Xia Lei raised his head to look at Gu Ke-Wu, who stood before him, and gave him a toothy smile. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Mr Gu. And what wind blew your royal ass all the way over to this remote ce? Have you eaten yet? Come, let¡¯s eat together, my treat.
¡°Hey Boss! One bowl of soy milk, and two more fried dough sticks!¡±
The boss of the breakfast restaurant had been osted by two of Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s bodyguards and thrown out - what breakfast? The customers, too, had run out. Who still had the guts to keep eating breakfast here in this situation, up against dozens of gun-toting men of the National Guard?
¡°Eh? Where¡¯d he go?¡± Xia Lei looked to his left, and right, pretending to not have realised.
¡°Drop the act! Where are they, Xia Lei?¡± Gu Ke-Wu looked coldly at Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re looking for someone?¡± Xia Lei looked straight at Gu Ke-Wu. ¡°Who?¡±
Gu Ke-Wu pped the dishes on the table to the floor and said in anger, ¡°Don¡¯t you y dumb with me! I¡¯m talking about Sang Qing-Xin and her child!¡±
¡°Sang Qing-Xin? Her child?¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I came over from the construction site to have breakfast and I didn¡¯t do anything to piss you off. Pay me back for throwing my breakfast to the floor.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu swung his arm in a p at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei lifted his hand and grabbed Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s wrist. He pulled hard and had Gu Ke-Wu pressed to the table in one movement.
The National Guard raised their guns and aimed them at Xia Lei. It was tense.
Xia Lei slowly rxed his grip, then put his hands up and said with augh, ¡°What¡¯s this for? I¡¯m not a criminal, so why aim your guns at me?¡±
Gu Ke-Wu straightened himself and pped Xia Lei immediately.
Pah! Red finger-marks appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Gu Ke-Wu grabbed Xia Lei by the cor and sneered, ¡°Xia Lei, it seems you still don¡¯t understand the situation. You think it¡¯ll be all fine once you hide the mother and daughter? Hah! Wishful thinking! Speak! Where are they?!¡±
Xia Lei was calm. ¡°I really don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. It¡¯s my first time hearing this ¡®Sang Qing-Xin¡¯ person¡¯s name too. Who is she?¡±
Gu Ke-Wu released Xia Lei¡¯s cor and gave him a cold stare. ¡°This is yourst breakfast. Sorry I didn¡¯t let you finish.¡±
This was a signal.
Two of Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s bodyguards came forward and grabbed Xia Lei by the arms. One of them took out a pair of handcuffs, prepared to put them on Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wu wanted Xia Lei¡¯s life but he could not do it in public, nor shoot Xia Lei to death for no reason in front of so many eyes. He would take Xia Lei to a remote area to kill him.
At that moment, two Buick vans came roaring over and one came to a screeching halt in front of the breakfast restaurant. The door opened and Long Bing was the first one out. She raised her arm without a word and fired into the sky.
Ten ck-suited special agents, all carrying rifles, alighted behind Long Bing.
¡°Put your weapons down!¡± Long Bing shouted.
The National Guard looked at each other, unsure of how they should respond. They were just serving their two years of conscripted military service and were no match for experienced, professional agents both mentally andbatually. They were scared too when faced with a situation like this.
One of the leaders of the National Guard nced at Gu Ke-Wu, as if to check his reaction.
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s face was at its absolute stormiest.
Bang! Long Bing fired into the sky again. ¡°Do you not hear me? Weapons down!¡±
The second shot cowed many of the National Guard and a number of them pointed their guns down, but they did not dare put their guns on the ground without their leader¡¯s order.
¡°What are you afraid of?¡± Gu Ke-Wu screamed bull-headedly, ¡°There¡¯s more of us!¡±
Long Bing scoffed, ¡°Gu Ke-Wu, are you trying to scare me with unloaded guns? Then again, they wouldn¡¯t dare to fire even if their guns did have bullets.¡±
Gu Ke-Wu froze dumbly on the spot.
It wasn¡¯tpletely true that all their guns had no bullets in them. Xia Lei had used his X-ray vision on them when they¡¯d surrounded him in the breakfast restaurant and discovered that the normal soldiers had no bullets, but the leaders and deputies had bullets in their guns. This was also why he had put his hands up and allowed Gu Ke-Wu to p him.
China had one of the toughest gun managementws in the world and soldiers participating in tasks oftentimes had guns but no bullets. There were times when they did get both but this needed approvals from levels of management and was very troublesome.
As a high-ranking agent of Bureau 101, Long Bing knew of this system and how it worked, and because she did, she did not even see these dozens of soldiers as a threat!
Long Bing walked up to Gu Ke-Wu and said coldly, ¡°Gu Ke-Wu, your men have guns, huh? Get them to take them out. Let¡¯s have a fight.¡±
Cold sweat begun to bead on Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s forehead. His men were indeed holding guns and some with bullets too, but going up against special agents? He wouldn¡¯t dare even if he had the courage of a lion!
Long Bing then said to the leader, ¡°What are you still standing here for? You want to be put under investigation? I¡¯ll give you just one chance. You have one minute.¡±
The leader paused nkly, then issued an order. ¡°Retreat!¡±
The National Guard quickly withdrew from the breakfast restaurant, leaving in a rush.
There was just Long Bing, the men she¡¯d brought and Gu Ke-Wu and his bodyguards left. Gu Ke-Wu had the advantage in terms of numbers.
¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Gu Ke-Wu gave up.
Before Gu Ke-Wu and his bodyguards could get to the door, the ten agents raised their guns with a rustle, guns aimed at them.
Gu Ke-Wu sneered, ¡°What¡¯s this? You want to arrest me? You have no right!¡±
¡°Ha ha...¡± Long Bing gave twoughs. ¡°I don¡¯t know how your brain works, Gu Ke-Wu. You think you¡¯re a prince? Or do you think you¡¯re immune to thews of the country?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve no time to waste on talking to you. Tell your men to get out of the way!¡± Gu Ke-Wu was as arrogant as ever.
¡°Don¡¯t even think of going anywhere. Remove your guns and put them on the ground. Now!¡± said Long Bing coldly.
The bodyguards all looked at Gu Ke-Wu. They were starting to get scared.
¡°You know who you¡¯re talking to? You punk!¡± Gu Ke-Wu was getting scared too but he had to put up a strong front since things have got to this.
Bang! Long Bing lifted her hand and shot a bodyguard in the thigh as soon as Gu Ke-Wu was done talking.
¡°Argh!¡± The bodyguard fell to the ground, holding his thigh.
¡®Your men have guns but they don¡¯t dare use it. I have guns and I will shoot who I want, and when I want¡¯ seemed to be her message. This was Long Bing¡¯s way!
Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s bodyguards crumbled. They threw the guns they had on them to the ground and put their hands to their heads, obediently lying t on the ground. The Gu n¡¯s money was nice, but no amount of money was as precious as their own lives.
The only one still standing and holding onto his weapon was Gu Ke-Wu. He did not stand for long, though. Behind him, Xia Lei kicked him in the bend of his knees and he lost his bnce; he fell to his knees.
Xia Lei pressed Gu Ke-Wu down by his neck and searched him. He found a gun and threw it to the floor.
Gu Ke-Wu twisted around to re at Xia Lei. Xia Lei simply pped him so hard that his head turned back to its original position.
¡°My father will not let you off!¡± growled Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°Your father?¡± Long Bing snorted. ¡°It¡¯s not as if you don¡¯t know his current situation. It¡¯s difficult enough for him to protect himself - how is he going to protect you?¡± She added, ¡°Take them away!¡±
Xia Lei rxed only then. ¡°You should haveest night. You werete today too. You know how dangerous it was for me to handle all these people by myself?¡± grumbled Xia Lei.
¡°Treat me to some dumplings. I haven¡¯t had breakfast,¡± said Long Bing disinterestedly.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 274 - Life Is But A Dream
Life is but a dream.
This was not an actor¡¯s line, but a principle.
Over thirty years ago, when Gu Ding-Shan was still a thug, he grabbed the opportunity when it came during China¡¯s reformation and opening up to climb up. He eventually established North Group, a business empire of his own. Unlike the Shentu n, his n was one with a dark history, and each step he¡¯d taken on his path to sess was one soaked in blood and sin. Standing now in an officerger than a basketball court, holding a crystal winess of Lafite red wine - was this feeling now not a dream?
But it was time to awaken from this dream.
¡°Director Gu, here is today¡¯s paper.¡± A beautiful young secretary walked into the office. She carried a thick stack of newspapers in her hands and the top one was the National Daily.
¡°ce it there,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan disinterestedly.
¡°Director Gu, it is not good to drink in the morning,¡± chided the female secretary.
Gu Ding-Shan gave a shortugh. ¡°All right. You can go now.¡±
The female secretary did not leave. She hesitated, then said, ¡°Director Gu, today¡¯s paper...¡±
Gu Ding-Shan wrinkled his brows. ¡°What¡¯s about today¡¯s paper?¡±
¡°Director Gu, it¡¯s best if you see it yourself,¡± said the secretary.
Gu Ding-Shan walked to his desk and reached to pick up the National Daily. The headlines across the front page was of him using ten million to buy a state-owned mine worth billions. This transaction also involved disputes over the discement of localmunities which imed that he had not given appropriatepensation and that he had sent people to oppress the dissatisfied viges with violence. One of the leading protesting vigers had also been stabbed and sustained injuries so serious he died from them...
¡°Fuck! Who is this Huo Ying who wrote this?¡± Gu Ding-Shan smashed the crystal winess to the floor. ¡°Doesn¡¯t he know who I am? Or is he tired of living?¡± he stormed.
The secretary shuddered; she didn¡¯t dare speak.
Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s gaze went to another newspaper, a copy of the Financial Daily. This newspaper¡¯s headlines were about Gu Ding-Shan too. He was suspected of being involved in the maniption of stocks worth a total of three billion yuan...
The next few newspapers were the same. Every one of their front-page headlines were about exposing Gu Ding-Shan and North Group¡¯s vition ofws.
¡°What is this?¡± Gu Ding-Shan was going mad. ¡°What is this!¡±
The secretary didn¡¯t dare look at Gu Ding-Shan. She was scared every time Gu Ding-Shan got mad.
Gu Ding-Shan swept all the newspapers to the floor. He sneered, ¡°These guys must¡¯ve taken that punk¡¯s money, huh? Xia Lei, Xia Lei... You¡¯re too naive, you little fucker. You think you can overturn everything that I¡¯ve built by spending some money and getting some articles written about me in newspapers? Dream on, you little shit!¡±
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone on the desk rang all of a sudden.
Gu Ding-Shan snatched up the phone and roared, ¡°Who is it? Say your crap!¡±
A male voice came from the speaker, ¡°It¡¯s me, Old Gu.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan paused, then said, ¡°Old Qiu, I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know it was you. I was frustrated by something earlier.¡±
¡°I know. I understand, it¡¯s fine. I called to tell you that everything¡¯s been overturned. The people there have got your son. You have to hurry up and hide somewhere.¡±
Gu Ding-Shan was shaken and he face drained of blood; he was as white as a sheet.
¡°Sorry, there¡¯s no way for me to help you this time. Your mistake was in sending that killer to assassinate Xia Lei. He¡¯s now acting as witness for them.¡±
¡°Impossible! Danny won¡¯t betray me!¡± said Gu Ding-Shan in agitation, ¡°Old Qiu, you have to help me. We¡¯re in the same boat! Don¡¯t forget how much money you¡¯ve taken from me!¡±
¡°Huh!¡± A scoffing sound came from the speaker, ¡°Gu Ding-Shan, are you threatening me?¡±
¡°I...¡± Gu Ding-Shan wanted to say ¡®yes¡¯ but hecked the courage to let it past his lips. He knew the other person¡¯s identity and his methods.
¡°Gu Ding-Shan, I wouldn¡¯t have called you to let you know that you should flee if I weren¡¯t willing to help you. You¡¯re a smart man. You¡¯ll still be wealthy if you go overseas right now. If you can¡¯t bear the leave the domestic riches you have now, you may lose your life!¡± The person¡¯s tone was severe and it was difficult to oppose it.
¡°But Ke-Wu is still in their hands. What will happen to him if I leave?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care of him. He¡¯ll have two or three years at most. You¡¯re the legal representative of North Group so he won¡¯t need to take responsibility for things you did.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll leave right away.¡± Gu Ding-Shan made his decision.
¡°Remember, don¡¯t tell anyone your itinerary. I¡¯ll arrange for someone to pick you up.¡±
¡°Yes. I¡¯ll ready myself.¡± Gu Ding-Shan hung up.
The secretary spoke tentatively, ¡°Are you going out, Director Gu? I¡¯ll call for the car.¡±
¡°No need. Call the Chief Financial Officer here immediately,¡± said Gu Ding-Shan.
¡°Yes, right away.¡± The secretary turned and left Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s office.
Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s body grew weak after the secretary¡¯s departure and he sat himself heavily on the sofa. He had built North Group up himself and was known in Asia. He had also washed his businesses and identity clean and entered the political circles in hopes of pushing himself to a higher level... but the empire he¡¯d painstakingly built up, bit by bit, had copsed this morning. A high and mighty figure like himself was actually now reduced to having to go on the run!
This was all like a dream; it was not real at all.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Gu Ding-Shan suddenly roared in anger. His hate had hit maximum.
Meanwhile, in Bailu Town.
Annina walked out of the inn with Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue.
It was Long Bing¡¯s first time seeing Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue but she knew that these were the people she was looking for and the people who would make Danny cooperate. Her gaze then went to Annina and her brows wrinkled. ¡°Why are her jeans like that?¡±
A blonde beauty in mens¡¯ jeans too small for her - her buttocks were deformed by the material of the jeans. This looked very odd indeed.
Xia Lei said a little shamefacedly, ¡°We were in a rush when escaping. She didn¡¯t have time to take her clothes.¡±
¡°You two sure know how to y, huh,¡± said Long Bing disinterestedly. ¡°But it¡¯s all just ying around. You and her won¡¯te to anything.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Sang Qing-Xin walked quickly over with Sang Yue-Yue in her arms. ¡°When can I see my husband, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Soon. This is Miss Long. She will be arranging everything,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Get in the car. I¡¯ll take you to see your husband,¡± said Long Bing.
A few minutester, the two Buick vans arrived at the town¡¯s police station. Long Bing did not ask Sang Qing-Xin or Sang Yue-Yue to get out of the car; she brought Xia Lei into the police station.
The two policemen, one old and one young, greeted Long Bing and Xia Lei in front of the police office building. Xia Lei smiled in response. Other than the two police officers, several ck-suited agents were standing in the lobby too and it was in to see that Long Bing and her men had split toplete different tasks. She had brought some men over to help him and the other group had brought Danny here.
It was appropriate for Sang Qing-Xin and Danny to meet here because Sang Qing-Xin trusted the police.
¡°Does Danny know he¡¯s going to meet Sang Qing-Xin?¡± Xia Lei asked as they walked to an interrogation room.
Long Bing nodded. ¡°I mentioned it to him on our way here but he didn¡¯t believe me.¡±
¡°He¡¯s sly and doubtful too. He probably thinks we¡¯re bluffing in this situation. But Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue are here, so it won¡¯t be difficult to gain his trust,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m still a little worried though. If we cannot convince him to be our witness, then we¡¯ll be able to make Gu Ding-Shan bleed this time but he won¡¯t die,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Let me. I¡¯ll persuade him,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing pushed open the door of the interrogation room.
There was a mobile gurney in the interrogation room and Dannyy quietly on it. He watched expressionlessly as Xia Lei and Long Bing walked in. However, he was just faking calm - his eyes were full of anxiety and worry. He knew who he was going to meet and he could not maintain his calm.
¡°We meet again, Danny,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Danny snorted.
¡°Okay, I know you hate me. I don¡¯t mind. I¡¯m still willing to help you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Stop with the act. It disgusts me. Say whatever crap you came to say,¡± said Danny coldly.
¡°Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue are outside. I can let you all have a family reunion any time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Danny¡¯s lips moved but no words came out.
¡°You can pretend that you¡¯re not tempted. I don¡¯t care. I¡¯ll just say it straight, okay? Good thing I went earlyst night or they would have fallen into Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s hands. Gu Ke-Wu brought dozens of men to chase after us the whole night and we finally got free of them this morning. I guess you know what will happen to them if mother and daughter ends up in Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s hands, eh?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°He will take care of them,¡± said Danny.
Xia Lei snorted. ¡°With dozens of men carrying guns? Was it to protect them? You¡¯ve been with Gu Ding-Shan for twenty years. You should know his character, right?¡±
Danny closed his mouth again.
Danny still appeared undaunted even when so much had been said and Xia Lei¡¯s temper red. ¡°Tell me - what will make you be our witness?¡±
¡°Convey a message to them for me - I¡¯ve let them down,¡± said Danny. ¡°And don¡¯t talk about me being your witness again. It won¡¯t happen.¡±
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei was rooted to the spot in anger. He wanted to give Danny a p for letting down a woman as honest and as kind as Sang Qing-Xin.
Long Bing, who had been silent all the while, spoke up. ¡°Danny, I arrested Gu Ke-Wu earlier.¡±
Danny paused and his eyes flickered.
¡°He¡¯s not much use if you¡¯re not going to be witness,¡± said Long Bing tonelessly, ¡°Sure you¡¯re not going to cooperate? If you¡¯re not, then I¡¯ll release Gu Ke-Wu and his underlings. Of course, I guess you won¡¯t want to see your wife and child either. I¡¯ll release them with Gu Ke-Wu.¡±
Danny¡¯s mouth opened, but he closed it again slowly.
Chapter 275 - You Should Be A Hero
¡°You¡¯re going to let your woman and your child die?¡± said Xia Lei coldly. If that was the case, then he had overestimated the morals of a person like Danny. Maybe he didn¡¯t even have morals and was just trash.
¡°No, I am not that sort of person. They are the only people I cherish in this world,¡± said Danny, ¡°But I don¡¯t believe that you will do that. You¡¯re not a bad person, Xia Lei. You¡¯re not one either, Miss Long. You won¡¯t be able to do something so despicable."
Xia Lei and Long Bing could not help ncing at each other. From their perspective, they were incapable of deliberately killing Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue; cunning Danny was not afraid of this sort of threat at all.
¡°You punk. Think you know me?¡± Long Bing lifted her walkie-talkie, prepared to scare Danny.
Xia Lei pressed her hand down. ¡°Let me talk to him a little more.¡±
Danny watched them put on their act and didn¡¯t bother talking.
¡°Danny, I wonder if you¡¯ve watched the movie Jet Li was in - Unleashed,¡± said Xia Lei.
A corner of Danny¡¯s mouth twitched. He¡¯d evidently seen this movie.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Jet Li was raised like a dog in the movie; he just needed to be fed to kill people for his owner. Gu Ding-Shan has never treated you like an adopted son, so why should you treat him like your adopted father? He probably didn¡¯t give you much money in all the twenty years you¡¯ve been with him, huh? Your woman and child won¡¯t be in that sort of ce otherwise. I¡¯ve been to Angel Orphanage and it was in bad condition. You would¡¯ve gone to help those orphans if you had the money, wouldn¡¯t you?¡±
¡°You¡¯re right, but what about it?¡± said Danny.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Name a price. I know you want this. You¡¯ve let your wife and child down so you want them to have a better life. I can fulfil that wish.¡±
Long Bing red at Xia Lei and said in annoyance, ¡°You¡¯re the one offering so you¡¯re coughing up the money.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged nonchntly. He knew why Long Bing had said that and in that way too - she was trying to get Danny to ask for a smaller amount.
Danny was silent for a bit. ¡°Fifty million.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was shocked by the price.
Long Bing could not help scolding him too. ¡°Are you insane? Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue won¡¯t be able to use up all that money in their lifetimes!¡±
¡°I¡¯m not insane. Qing-Xin has a wish, and it¡¯s to build a bright and spacious orphanage. It will have a library, aputer room, and a field for the children to y in... I want to fulfil her wish,¡± said Danny.
Xia Lei was cursing him internally too. ¡®Shit. You want me to cough up fifty million to fulfil your woman¡¯s wish? You think I have more money than sense?¡¯
¡°Rx, Xia Lei. It¡¯ll be very worth your spending this money. I¡¯ve been around Gu Ding-Shan and his dealings since I was a child and I know all his secrets. I also have a lot of information you guys cannot get, and it¡¯s all important evidence.¡± Danny looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Promise me. Take it as me begging you.¡±
Xia Lei and Long Bing could not help exchanging nces again.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°All right, fifty million. I¡¯ll give it to your woman.¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Danny¡¯s mouth but the corners of his eyes grew wet. ¡°Take them away, please. I cannot face them.¡±
¡°No. They don¡¯t know what you do. I told them that you¡¯re an agent working for the government. This identity will make them proud of you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Tears rolled from Danny¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°So people like you can cry too - you¡¯re still human, I guess. Get ready. I¡¯ll let theme now.¡±
Long Bing and Xia Lei left the interrogation room. Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue entered the interrogation room, guided by Long Bing. The room was filled with the sounds of crying,ughing and a young voice calling ¡®Daddy, Daddy!¡¯ asionally.
Long Bing and Xia Lei sat on the bench in the corridor. Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Fifty million. You agreed just like that?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°It is a bit much, but if we can bring down Gu Ding-Shan and Gu Ke-Wu, oh, and Gu Ke-Wen too, I¡¯ll be willing to pay fifty million, maybe even two hundred million. This money was all from gambling anyway and from Gu Ding-Shan too. I don¡¯t feel any sting in spending it.¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°If Gu Ding-Shan knew that you¡¯re bribing Danny with the money you got from him I bet he¡¯ll drop dead with anger.¡±
An image of Gu Ding-Shan holding his chest and coughing blood surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s head and he couldn¡¯t help smiling.
¡°You don¡¯t have to be involved in the next steps. And...¡± Long Bing was quiet for a bit before she spoke again. ¡°Boss Shi and I reached an understanding. We¡¯re only going to take down Gu Ding-Shan this time. No one else. You get me?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I understand. There¡¯s an ambush of tigers in the cave and if you guys try to kill them all at once they will rush out in a group and attack you. If you guys kill just one, this group attack will not happen.¡±
¡°One more thing. We¡¯re going to have a good talk in a few days when everything¡¯s died down.¡±
¡°What do you want to talk about?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll know when we talk.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. Long Bing had alwayse across as a straightforward person in speech and action but she was not being straightforward now. He had a small nagging suspicion in his heart - what did she want to talk about?
¡°I¡¯m going out to report the situation to Boss Shi. You watch Danny,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Sure, go ahead,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing left the corridor and Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the interrogation room.
Sang Qing-Xin was holding onto Danny¡¯s hand and not willing to let go. Sang Yue-Yue was sitting at Danny¡¯s pillow with her little hands holding his face, blowing at his eyes.
¡°What are you doing, Yue-Yue?¡± asked Danny.
¡°Daddy, Mummy said that it won¡¯t hurt if I blow on it. I¡¯ll blow lots and lots of air on you and you¡¯ll be all better soon,¡± said Sang Yue-Yue earnestly.
Danny and Sang Qing-Xinughed.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He did not want to intrude on the family¡¯s reunion.
He suddenly thought of Liang Si-Yao. If she hadn¡¯t been a high-ranking CIA officer then they would probably be in talks about marriage by now. Would he have a cute child with her too? Like Sang Yue-Yue?
¡®What is she doing now? I wonder if Master has gotten used to the life in America...¡¯ It wasn¡¯t Xia Lei¡¯s first time thinking these questions but his heart hurt every time he thought of these.
The sound of footsteps approaching reached his ears and Xia Lei put his thoughts away. He raised his head to see Annina walking over to him in the corridor. She still had the dirty slippers on and those ridiculous jeans and his jacket. She looked like an European vagabond - haggard, but still very sexy. The two Bureau 101 agents guarding the corridor couldn¡¯t help looking at her ass.
Annina sat on the bench, theny across Xia Lei¡¯s knees. ¡°Lukas...¡±
Xia Lei held her hands and found that they were cold. ¡°We¡¯ll go back in a bit and you can have a hot shower and change into clean clothes,¡± he said gently.
¡°I¡¯m not afraid of the cold.¡± Annina¡¯s voice was small. ¡°I came specially to tell you something.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei was curious.
Annina¡¯s voice grew smaller and she switched to German. ¡°I heard Long Bing in a call with someone when I was in the washroom. She was in the doorway and I was inside but I could hear her.¡±
Xia Leiughed and he replied in German, ¡°So that was it. She was reporting to Boss Shi. I know about it.¡±
¡°But she mentioned you,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What did she say?¡±
¡°She said you¡¯re not normal. You¡¯re very special, and should... should...¡±
¡°Should what?¡±
Annina shook her head. ¡°Sorry, my Chinese is not good enough and I didn¡¯t understand. But I feel she¡¯s suspecting you of something. You should be careful. That¡¯s why I came over to tell you about it.¡±
Complicated feelings arose in Xia Lei.
Annina did not get the most crucial part but she had still given him a clue. He was most worried about the secret of him having taken AE pills being exposed and Long Bing¡¯s suspicions were heading in this direction!
He believed that Long Bing had no intention to harm him but he knew her character. She was a patriotic soldier and she would not let anyone who did anything to harm the nation get away, no matter who it was. If she knew about the secret of the AE pills, and found out about his father¡¯s identity... Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare think further. He didn¡¯t know how he¡¯d face Long Bing and Shi Bo-Ren if things got to that point.
¡®This can¡¯t go on. The CIA wants to catch me and if Bureau 101 knows about my secret... Will there still be a safe ce for me on this Earth?¡¯ thought Xia Lei darkly.
¡°Lukas? Are you listening?¡±
Annina¡¯s voice cut into his thoughts. He responded in German, ¡°It¡¯s enough that you know about this, Annina. Do not reveal anything in front of Long Bing. You get what I mean?¡±
¡°I get it. I just feel like it¡¯s so unfair. You¡¯ve done so much for your country - the world¡¯s most advancedthe, and the military factory you¡¯re building... You should be a hero, not someone under suspicion.¡± Annina felt injustice on Xia Lei¡¯s behalf.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°No hero has ever had a long life. I don¡¯t want to be a hero - I just want to live the life I want.¡±
Anninaughed. ¡°I¡¯m like you. I just want to live a life I want and I don¡¯t care about anything else.¡± She turned on his thigh and blew at a certain part of his. ¡°How long more is it going to take, Lukas? I want to go back and take a shower.¡±
The warm air tickled him and Xia Lei became a little sensitive.
Just then, Long Bing walked in, followed by a group of agents.
¡°Lei, I¡¯m going to take Danny and his family away. Call me if there¡¯s anything,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Nn, okay, I¡¯ll contact you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Their gazes collided for a short time before they moved away.
Chapter 276 - Die Like A Dog
In the darkness of night, a Hummer zoomed towards the north, out of Jingdu. The wheels squelched in the mud and there was no one around in its surroundings. The vehicle continued moving forward, as if seeking the darkest, most remote ce.
The bumpy road woke Gu Ding-Shan from his rest. He recalled that the car had been heading to Mongolia and that Mongolia was his first stop in his escape. However, he now found himself on a small, deserted-looking road in the middle of nowhere. The darkness before him made him nervous. ¡°Where are we headed?¡±
¡°Boss Gu, there were police cars earlier. We have to hide from them,¡± said the driver.
¡°And Old Qiu? When is heing?¡± asked Gu Ding-Shan. He was inexplicably unsettled.
¡°He wille, Boss Gu. Don¡¯t worry,¡± said the driver.
The car went on. The bright headlights illuminated an empty space. Ahead was a small hill and a reservoir.
Gu Ding-Shan was suddenly struck by a thought and he abruptly drew his gun to point it at the driver¡¯s head. ¡°Fucker! Stop the car!¡±
The driver stopped but was not nervous. ¡°What is this for, Boss Gu?¡±
Gu Ding-Shan spoke coldly, ¡°You were still a suckling baby when I was doing things like this. Want to kill me off? I¡¯ll kill you first, believe me.¡±
¡°I believe you,¡± said the driver calmly.
¡°Get out of the car! Out!¡± Gu Ding-Shan pressed the muzzle of the gun to the driver¡¯s head. ¡°Go back and tell that guy surnamed Qiu that he won¡¯t have peace either if I die!¡±
¡°My boss is afraid of not having peace,¡± said the driver.
Gu Ding-Shan paused. He seemed to realise something.
The ss of the car window suddenly exploded as a bullet flew in from the side and into Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s brain in an instant. Blood sttered and Gu Ding-Shan copsed onto the back sofa-seat without a sound.
He had gone from a thug on the streets to a billionaire and now he was a corpse. This journey of his had been full of twists and turns and even some legendary bits but this was just a second to the living; it was meaningless.
The driver looked back at Gu Ding-Shan, then opened the car door and alighted.
A man carrying a sniper rifle walked out from the forest next to the road. He and the driver dragged Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s body towards the reservoir...
Gu Ding-Shan had been insufferably arrogant when alive but he had died like a dog.
While Gu Ding-Shan was being sent on hisst journey, Xia Lei, Annina and Xia Xue were in Jingdu gorging themselves on the city¡¯s most famous roasted duck.
¡°I didn¡¯t think that Chinese chefs can make duck so delicious.¡± Annina was happy. ¡°I like China more and more.¡±
Xia Xue smirked and looked at Annina, all smiles. ¡°Big Sister Xia Mei, do you like China because of roast duck? It¡¯s not just that, eh?¡±
Annina nced discreetly at Xia Lei. She obviously didn¡¯t like China just for the roast duck but she said something else. ¡°What was thest line? Gold? Ear? I only know about ENT doctors.¡±
Xia Xue was speechless.
This wester-inw was good in all aspects exceptmunication.
¡°Xue, I¡¯m going back to Haizhu in two days. You have to study well and take care of yourself,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What time¡¯s your flight? I¡¯ll send you off,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°No need. Go study,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Xue made a moue of dissatisfaction but did not insist.
¡°Lei, when are youing back?¡± Annina looked at Xia Lei. She called him by his nickname when there were others around and she liked to call him ¡®Lukas¡¯ when it was just them.
¡°I¡¯m not sure but I¡¯ll probably be staying a few days. Thepany has just Guan Ling-Shan watching over it now and there are many things which she cannot sign off on. I also need to go to Sichuan for a bit and see how the branchpany is doing there,¡± said Xia Lei.
The dust had not settled on the Gu n affair but it was more or less done. He could finally turn his attention to his business after resolving the trouble about the Gu n. Haizhu¡¯s Thunder Horse Manufacturing, the branchpany in Deyang, Sichuan and the military factory at Jingdu¡¯s Bailu Town - these threepanies were like young horses and he wanted to make these young horses into a warhorses, fine steeds. This required a lot of time and effort.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring.
¡°Brother, is it Big Sister Bing calling?¡± asked Xia Xue.
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Xia Lei pulled out his phone to take a look. It was a stranger¡¯s number.
¡°Why aren¡¯t you picking up?¡± asked Xia Xue curiously.
Xia Lei unlocked the phone to answer the call and a voice came from the speaker. ¡°You! The one surnamed Xia! What did you do to my dad?¡±
It was Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s voice and it was full of poison.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Miss Gu, you must be mistaken. Your father¡¯s an adult so what does it have to do with me when he¡¯s gone off somewhere?¡±
¡°You must have something to do with it! I know it! It must¡¯ve been your doing!¡± Gu Ke-Wen was losing it.
¡°Weirdo.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, I won¡¯t let you off! I won¡¯t!¡±
¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
¡°Was that Gu Ke-Wen, Brother?¡± asked Xia Xue worriedly.
Xia Lei nodded. He had been in a good mood but one call from Gu Ke-Wen and it was ruined; he didn¡¯t feel like eating roast duck anymore.
From what Gu Ke-Wen was saying, Gu Ding-Shan had gone missing. What was going on?
Xia Lei wanted to give Long Bing a call but he remembered what she had said to him in the Bailu Town police station earlier during the day and dismissed the thought. ¡®Long Bing doesn¡¯t want me involved in this anymore so that I won¡¯t anger all the other tigers and burn myself. But based on her capabilities, how can she not know that Gu Ding-Shan had fled? I don¡¯t have to worry about things like this. I just have to guard against retaliation from his friends,¡¯ he thought.
Gu Ding-Shan was missing and Gu Ke-Wu was under arrest, leaving Gu Ke-Wen, a single woman. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t worried about her.
Xia Lei was quiet but Xia Xue huffed in annoyance. ¡°What does that woman want? Hasn¡¯t she given us enough trouble? I¡¯ll p her for sure if I see her!¡±
Anninaughed. ¡°You¡¯re awesome, Xue!¡±
¡°Of course. I¡¯ve learnt some grappling and mixed martial arts from Big Sister Bing recently. I¡¯m not afraid of her.¡± Xia Lei waved a white fist.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡°Xue, what else did Long Bing teach you other than grappling and mixed martial arts?¡±
¡°Oh, a lot! Shooting, driving, makeup, shorthand...¡± Xia Xue listed a whole lot of things in one go.
Xia Lei frowned. What sort of self-defence was Long Bing teaching her? It was agent-training!
¡°Don¡¯t learn all these from her. Study hard, okay? You hear me?¡± said Xia Lei with a stern look.
Xia Xue pouted. ¡°Why? Brother, I like learning these skills. You¡¯ve been protecting me since I was a child. No one will dare bully me if I learn these skills. I¡¯ll be able to protect myself.¡±
Xia Lei hardened his expression. ¡°I said no.¡±
¡°Brother, I¡¯m an adult now. I have the right to decide on what I want to learn and what I want to do. You can¡¯t take care of me my whole life. I¡¯m not a little kid anymore. Don¡¯t treat me like a child!¡± said Xia Xue.
Xia Lei paused and his heart ached inexplicably. Xia Xue had always been a good girl and had never talked to him this way. It seemed she didn¡¯t understand his concerns now, not one bit.
¡°Xue, your brother is doing this for your own good. Bing an agent is a very dangerous thing. You won¡¯t like that kind of life.¡± Annina cautioned her too.
Xia Xue red at Annina and suddenly stood from the table. ¡°I¡¯m not eating anymore. I¡¯m going back to school.¡±
¡°Xue, you...¡± Annina stood to try to persuade her to stay but Xia Xue left in a huff.
¡°Forget it, let her go. Kids at that stage are still in their rebellious phase. She¡¯ll understand when she¡¯s truly grown. She won¡¯t listen no matter how much is said now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°So you¡¯re going to just let her be an agent?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Nobody¡¯s going to turn her into an agent without my permission.¡±
¡°Sigh. If I had a sister she¡¯d surely give me headaches too.¡± Anninaughed dryly. ¡°Let¡¯s not eat anymore. How about we go out and check on her?¡±
¡°Sure, Iet¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei got up and left the table.
Xia Xue had not left. She stood next to Xia Lei¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban and kicked pettily at the tyre. She had her little mouth pursed and tears in her eyes and looked like a girl who¡¯d been wronged.
¡°Go talk to her. I¡¯ll wait,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei walked to Xia Xue but he said nothing. He just stood next to her.
Xia Xue nced at Xia Lei. She didn¡¯t say anything either.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°Throwing a tantrum? Look at you - you said you¡¯re all grown up how and you¡¯re an adult but you¡¯re still a kid. Who¡¯s going to take care of you if I don¡¯t?¡±
Xia Xue¡¯s lips moved and she couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. She let out a puffingugh.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Get in the car. I¡¯ll send you back to the campus.¡±
¡°Brother... I¡¯m sorry.¡± Xia Xue looked down.
Xia Lei patted her on the head. ¡°Silly goose. Why apologise to me? You didn¡¯t do anything wrong. I don¡¯t oppose you learning things from Long Bing but you cannot ept any jobs from her, got that?¡±
¡°Nn, I got it.¡± Xia Xue smiled.
¡°Oh right, did she mention me or anything when you were learning all these things from her?¡± Xia Lei suddenly thought of something.
¡°Yes, we talk about you when we have time,¡± said Xia Xue, ¡°She said you¡¯re probably the smartest person on Earth. I think she¡¯s exaggerating. You¡¯re a big idiot to me.¡±
¡°You dare say that to me, you little rascal?¡± Xia Lei moved his hand to smack her but Xia Xue had run out of range.
Annina watched Xia Lei and Xia Xue chase each other around the Chevrolet Suburban with a grin on her face, but deep down, she sighed, ¡®Why am I missing home?¡¯
Chapter 277 - Related to Duty
Early the next morning, Xia Lei received a call from Long Bing and he drove to Bureau 101.
Long Bing was waiting for him in front of the building, dressed all in ck. She was wearing a womens¡¯ suit, close-fitting and stunning. For some strange reason, Xia Lei felt a little guilty. Long Bing couldn¡¯t see him with X-ray vision, so why did he ever use his X-ray vision on her?
¡°That was quick. Thought I¡¯d have to wait longer for you.¡± This seemed to serve as her greeting.
¡°It¡¯s more convenient with a car.¡± Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°So what did you ask me toe here for?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you the night before? We¡¯ll have a good talk when things aren¡¯t so busy.¡± Long Bing turned and walked towards the lift. ¡°Follow me.¡±
Xia Lei followed her to the lift, thinking, ¡®I need to hide it no matter what she or Shi Bo-Ren asks. They won¡¯t be able to find out anything if I don¡¯t say anything. Even if they know about the AE pills and have investigated my father¡¯s identity, they can¡¯t do anything to me as long as I don¡¯t break thew. Besides, I¡¯ve contributed so much to this country!¡¯
Long Bing had her retina scanned, entered her password and the lift went down. She looked at Xia Lei, her gaze sharp and piercing.
Xia Lei looked at her too. He was calm, and a faint smile lingered in the corners of his mouth. If there was anyone who could look into the heart of someone on this Earth then it had to be Xia Lei, and not Long Bing. People who wanted to visually investigate his secrets were just disying their tiny skills before an expert.
Xia Lei thought they would be going to Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s office when they went down but Long Bing brought him to one of the round rooms. There was nothing in the room. The walls were a silvery metal, and the ceiling too. Long Bing and Xia Lei¡¯s reflections were all over the walls and ceiling, here, there, countless Long Bings and Xia Leis as far as the eye can see; it was confusing.
¡°What¡¯s this ce?¡± Xia Lei had a bad feeling.
¡°Chat room,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked at her, nonplussed. ¡°Stop joking. This isn¡¯t funny.¡±
Long Bing shrugged. ¡°Okay, wait here. I¡¯ll go get Boss Shi.¡±
¡°What¡¯s Boss Shiing here for?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
Long Bing did not answer. She turned and left. The curved metal door in the circr room closed behind her with a swish as soon as she stepped out.
Xia Lei was the only one left in the curved space and there was no sound; the silence was scary.
Xia Lei did not have ustrophobia but he couldn¡¯t help feeling nervous being closed in a room like this. He thought of using his X-ray vision to see through the metal door but he closed his eyes and gave up on the idea almost immediately.
This was obviously arranged by Long Bing and Shi Bo-Ren to test him, and investigate him. The room looked like an all-metal enclosed space but this was Bureau 101 and it must be under full surveince. If he used his ability and roused their suspicions, then a whole host of professionals wille and give him a ¡®consultation¡¯!
He could not let that happen.
Long Bing¡¯s investigation of him had always been ongoing since the time they were acquainted. Following his increase in abilities, the growth of his business and the recent copse of the Gu n, her suspicions of him had already reached great heights. He had to keep himself from using his abilities here and he had to put on an act!
Having made his decision, Xia Lei walked to the metal door and reached to push it open. He couldn¡¯t open it, of course, but he did not give up. He faced the door and shouted, ¡°Hello? Long Bing? Where did you go? Hello? Open the door!¡±
In another room, Shi Bo-Ren stared at a row of monitors with his arms folded and frowned heavily.
Long Bing and Tang Yu-Yan stood behind Shi Bo-Ren. The two women also stared at the monitors and watched Xia Lei quietly.
On the screen, Xia Lei kicked at the metal door, his face ugly. He started grumbling and cursing at them. ¡°Old fart Shi! You¡¯re a stupid old man! What are you closing me up in here for? Don¡¯t let me see you or I¡¯ll rip your beard off!¡±
Long Bing wanted tough but she kept herself under control; she looked like she was having trouble holding it back.
Tang Yu-Yan couldn¡¯t hold on any longer and sputtered withughter.
Shi Bo-Ren turned to re at Tang Yu-Yan.
Tang Yu-Yan didn¡¯t fear Shi Bo-Ren at all. Sheughed as she said, ¡°Why re at me, Godfather? That Xia Lei dared to curse you, and wants to tear your beard off... I don¡¯t know how he¡¯s so brave.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren didn¡¯t bother talking to her. He turned back and continued watching Xia Lei on the monitors.
Xia Lei started scolding more people. ¡°Long Bing, you¡¯re a stinking bad woman. You tricked me here! What are you nning? The injustice! I taught you Wing Chun... I cooked so many delicious things for you...¡±
¡°Heeheehee...¡± Tang Yu-Yan couldn¡¯t stop her giggles. ¡°This guy is so interesting. He definitely doesn¡¯t know that you two are watching him. I didn¡¯t expect that he¡¯din and curse like a woman. This is hrious.¡±
Long Bing red at her too.
Tang Yu-Yan waved a hand. ¡°I¡¯m saying the truth. I don¡¯t get why you two are treating him this way. From what I know this guy has contributed a lot to our nation. He¡¯s not a bad guy and even less of an enemy.¡±
¡°When did I say he is a bad guy? When did I say he is our enemy?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Then why are you treating him this way?¡± asked Tang Yu-Yan uprehendingly.
¡°He¡¯s the smartest person I¡¯ve met and there¡¯s something, some secret we cannot find about him. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange? He built the world¡¯s most advancedthe with his own two hands. He also modified two sniper rifles for us and made them into the world¡¯s only two rifles with an effective range of 3,200 metres. Additionally, he was just abourer on construction sitesst year but he now owns threepanies. Is this normal?¡± said Long Bing.
Tang Yu-Yan shook her head.
¡°I don¡¯t want to treat him this way either but we are Bureau 101. It is our responsibility to investigate this and find out what¡¯s going on with him exactly,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Yes ma¡¯am, Understood.¡± Tang Yu-Yan patted Long Bing on the shoulder. ¡°Take it as I¡¯ve said nothing.¡±
¡°Can you two shut up? Go out and face the wall if you make more noise.¡± Shi Bo-Ren spoke atst.
Long Bing and Tang Yu-Yan exchanged nces and shut their mouths. Their gazes went back to the row of monitors.
In the round room, Xia Lei had stepped away from the door. He walked along the circr wall, reaching out to knock a spot once in a while, seemingly looking for a hidden door.
Shi Bo-Ren reached out to the control panel and pressed a switch.
Metal tes extended from the walls at the room¡¯s twelve, nine, six and three o¡¯clock positions and four scanners stretched out from the metal wall simultaneously to throw invisible waves at Xia Lei¡¯s body.
Xia Lei got anxious and roared angrily, ¡°Enough! What¡¯s this? Are you trying to kill me? I want out! I want mywyer!¡±
No one responded. The four scanners did a full scan of his body.
¡°He¡¯s not that brave.¡± Tang Yu-Yan couldn¡¯t helpmenting.
¡°He dared to enter Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s Baisui Garden alone. You say he¡¯s not that brave?¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
Long Bing sighed. ¡°He¡¯s really mad now. I don¡¯t know how to exin it if there¡¯s really no problem with him in the end.¡±
Behind the three of them, a whiteb coat-wearing expert stared at the monitor disying information from the scanners and scribbled on a report.
In the round room, Xia Lei was making a lot of noise and scolding people on the surface and looked mad but he was very calm inside.
¡®What can they get from using these scanners to scan me? I¡¯ve used my X-ray ability on my own body countless times. I would¡¯ve known about any problems long ago without waiting for them to scan me. Whatever. They won¡¯t feel assured if they didn¡¯t do this. I¡¯ll y along this time and let them feel as ease¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
He was not afraid of anything scanning his body simply because his abilities were in his left eye. His brain may have had some degree of influence but which machine in this world could scan for his miraculous ability? It did exist but it could not be seen.
He had to go to the AE Research Center in America to unravel this mystery. It was possible that he would go in this lifetime but now was definitely not the time.
A few minutester in another room, the Bureau 101 expert in a white coat walked up to Shi Bo-Ren with a report. ¡°The results are out, Boss Shi.¡±
¡°Report,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren eagerly.
¡°His skeletal structure, organs and brain are all normal. Additionally, ording to the blood and skin tissue test results provided by Chief Long, his blood and cell tissues are also normal. Based on all these, I conclude that he is a normal human,¡± said the expert.
¡°Are you sure?¡± For some reason, Shi Bo-Ren doubted the results.
¡°I am sure. Our machines are the most advanced. They do not lie,¡± said the expert.
Shi Bo-Ren sighed. ¡°All right, I understand. You¡¯re dismissed.¡±
The expert left.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Tang Yu-Yan smirked. ¡°I¡¯d guessed it. You two must¡¯ve watched too many Hollywood sci-fi movies. There aren¡¯t any super-humans in this world.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren red at Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°This is our duty!¡±
Long Bing suddenly held her stomach. ¡°Ah, my stomach is hurting all of a sudden. I have to go to the washroom. Yu-Yan, you go let Xia Lei out.¡± She turned and ran off once she finished speaking.
¡°Huh? Hey!¡± Tang Yu-Yan was nonplussed.
Shi Bo-Ren coughed. ¡°What are you standing there for? Go.¡±
¡°Why me?¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked gloomy. Whoever went to let him out would bear the brunt of his anger. She wasn¡¯t even the one who started it, so why her?
Shi Bo-Ren put on a stern face. ¡°Not you? Is it going to be me, then? Now, don¡¯t mention me to him. If he asks, tell him I went on business to Russia yesterday.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan was speechless.
Chapter 278 - Philanthropist
The concave metal door was suddenly opened and the refreshingly sexy Tang Yu-Yan walked into Xia Lei¡¯s view. He had no smile for her.
¡°What the hell¡¯s this?¡± said Xia Lei angrily, ¡°What are you guys doing? Are you treating me like a criminal?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan put on a smiling face. ¡°Mr Xia, my sincerest apologies... This was a misunderstanding.¡±
¡°Misunderstanding?¡± Xia Lei snorted. ¡°You think I¡¯m a three-year-old?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan bit the bullet and exined, ¡°This really was a misunderstanding. This room is our... multi-purpose guest lounge. It¡¯s still in the beta phase. Long Bing went out for an urgent mission so she got me toe take care of you.¡±
Lies like these could only appease three-year-olds but she had no better excuse. Her rating of Long Bing and Shi Bo-Ren fell to the pits as she spoke.
¡°No need!¡± Xia Lei strode towards the lift, looking like he didn¡¯t want to hear any exnation.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yu-Yan didn¡¯t know what to do.
Xia Lei ignored her and bumped her shoulder as he swept past her.
Tang Yu-Yan suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks and looked at her. His face was still dark with anger. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be mad. You¡¯re not a kid, right? If you¡¯re a kid then I¡¯ll buy you sweets, okay?¡± Tang Yu-Yan smiled and put some sugar in her voice.
Acting cute and sweet was the most effective method for a woman to use on an angry man.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression softened. He didn¡¯t want to take it out on Tang Yu-Yan either but it was necessary. He wanted Shi Bo-Ren, Long Bing and Tang Yu-Yan to know that he had a temper and if something like this happened again, he wouldn¡¯t just throw a simple fit like this. He would say ¡®bye bye¡¯ to Bureau 101!
¡°You¡¯re not mad anymore?¡± Tang Yu-Yan asked tentatively.
A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°I¡¯ll let it slide this time. I won¡¯te here ever again if you guys close me up again.¡±
This line was for Tang Yu-Yan to hear, and for Long Bing and Shi Bo-Ren too.
¡°Look at you. Don¡¯t be so petty, okay?¡± Tang Yu-Yan grinned. ¡°I told you, this was a misunderstanding.¡±
¡°What mission did Long Bing go on?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°She... Uh, we received a report that two terrorists sneaked back to the country. She went to clear it up.¡±
¡°And Boss Shi?¡±
¡°My godfather, he... he went to Russia on business. Our countries have been exchanging some information recently.¡± Tang Yu-Yan lied without batting an eye.
¡°Then there¡¯s no need for me to stay here. Send me out. I can¡¯t go out without the passwords,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll treat you to a drink.¡± Tang Yu-Yan deliberately acted all chummy with him. ¡°I haven¡¯t thanked you yet for modifying that sniper rifle for me. I happen to have no tasks today. Let¡¯s have a good drink, my treat.¡±
¡°Okay, but I want to go to Angel Orphanage first. Want toe with me?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem, I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan with a smile.
Shi Bo-Ren and Long Bing watched the monitors in an office. The monitors showed Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan walking towards the lift.
Shi Bo-Ren frowned. ¡°Will he believe a lie like that?¡±
Long Bing smiled wryly. ¡°He¡¯s a smart guy. You think he¡¯ll believe it?¡±
¡°Then why doesn¡¯t he expose the lie?¡±
¡°He¡¯s letting us step out of an embarrassing situation, Boss Shi. Didn¡¯t you hear hisst sentence? If we close him up again he won¡¯te back. This was him hinting that if we do this to him again he¡¯ll quit,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°He¡¯ll quit?¡±
¡°Then again, we did go overboard this time. He has contributed so much to the nation and we haven¡¯t given him anything. Instead we investigate him. I¡¯d be uncaring too if it were me,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°This is our duty.¡±
¡°Duty.¡± Long Bing repeated the word, her expression sombre.
Shi Bo-Ren sighed. ¡°He¡¯s strong. He can be a pir of the nation if trained well. If he¡¯s tempted by the enemy and steps into the wrong camp - there will be trouble then.¡±
¡°He is not that sort of person,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°You must always remember that nothing in this world is permanent, especially a person¡¯s feelings. You need to watch over him and make sure he is not negatively influenced. The Gu n has copsed so he has no opponents in China. He can build his military factory in peace. Bring him out on missions when his military factory¡¯s operating normally. You need to polish this gem; train him,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
Long Bing paused. ¡°Bring him on missions. He... He has money, he has men. Would he go on dangerous missions with me? I think not.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren gave Long Bing a re. ¡°You have blocks for brains sometimes. You¡¯re a woman, remember? Is it difficult for a woman to get a man to do something? Look at Yu-Yan. The punk melted when she acted cute. Can¡¯t you learn that?¡±
Long Bing was speechless.
Shi Bo-Ren folded his muscr arms. ¡°Try it on me.¡±
¡°I... need to go to the washroom again.¡± Long Bing turned and walked off.
Acting cute like Tang Yu-Yan was something less eptable than death for Long Bing.
A Chevrolet Suburban stopped outside the gates of Angel Orphanage half an hourter. Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan alighted. Xia Lei felt a twinge of mncholy as he looked at the old and broken orphanage and thought of Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue.
He did not know what happened to Danny in the end but he could foresee that Sang Qing-Xin and Sang Yue-Yue would only be able to reunite with him after many years, even if he did not die. Sang Yue-Yue would be a mother herself by that time, wouldn¡¯t she?
The world was like this. A kind woman like Sang Qing-Xin was not able to have her happiness, and an innocent, adorable child like Sang Yue-Yue was not able to have her father around while growing up, yet those vile, greedy people led superior lifestyles, had luxurious cars and riches. It wasn¡¯t fair.
Xia Lei found Sang Qing-Xin in one of the run-down ssrooms teaching Chinese to a group of about ten grubby children. She held pictures of a bird, a fish, the sun and so on for the word-matching lesson. Sang Yue-Yue was also in the ssroom. She stayed in a corner, ying with a tattered teddy bear.
The children had not one stitch of decent clothing on them. The clothes were all donated - some too big, some too small. The sight of them made one¡¯s heart ache.
The children were learning earnestly and Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s appearance disturbed their learning. The children looked at them and smiled, saying in chorus, ¡°Hello Uncle, hello Auntie.¡±
Their smiles pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s heartstrings. ¡°Hello, hello.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, Miss... Hello.¡± Sang Qing-Xin greeted them too.
¡°I hope I¡¯m not disturbing you?¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°It¡¯s all right. Children, please do your own activities.¡± Sang Qing-Xin left them with an instruction and walked out of the ssroom.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan went with her.
¡°Come have a seat in my office,¡± said Sang Qing-Xin politely.
¡°No thanks. Take us around your orphanage and we can chat as we go,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, pleasee with me.¡± Sang Qing-Xin brought Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan around the orphanage.
Angel Orphanage had no support from charitable organisations and no governmental assistance. It relied on the kindness and donations of others and thus was very simply set up and had almost no decent facilities. Xia Lei¡¯s heart ached at the sight.
¡°Is my husband¡¯s wounds any better, Mr Xia?¡± Sang Qing-Xin had been dying to ask him that.
Tang Yu-Yan opened her mouth to say something but Xia Lei moved in front of her to cut her off. He nudged her toes with his heel. ¡°Nn, much better. We¡¯ve the best doctors in the nation looking after him. He will recover quickly.¡±
¡°Can I see him?¡± Sang Qing-Xin looked relieved. ¡°I miss him a lot and Yue-Yue too. She keeps asking to see her Daddy.¡±
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°He is still in the Intensive Care Unit. You won¡¯t be able to see him even if you went.¡±
Sang Qing-Xin was disappointed. ¡°Then when can I see him?¡±
¡°Soon, soon, don¡¯t worry.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic. ¡°Director Sang, I actually came here to see you as the Chairman of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. I want to talk to you about building a new orphanage.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Sang Qing-Xin stared nkly.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°I want to set up a charity fund for Angel Orphanage. I would like to build a state-of-the-art orphanage for you and the children, will all the facilities. The children will have their own library, bright and spacious dormitories and a cafeteria, and aputer room...¡±
¡°Mr Xia, you...¡± Sang Qing-Xin couldn¡¯t help interrupting but she didn¡¯t know what to say.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You¡¯re a good person. You should have some recognition and repayment. I¡¯ll build a new orphanage for you and the children, and I¡¯ll give you fifty million in charity funds. You will have all rights to the money and you can do whatever you want with it.¡±
¡°Th, this...¡± Sang Qing-Xin was so emotional she could not speak.
¡°Please keep your mobile phone line clear for the next few days. I¡¯ll send someone to contact you and talk to you about building the orphanage and the charity fund,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mr Xia, I, I¡¯m not dreaming, am I?¡± Sang Qing-Xin held her cheeks, suspecting that this was a dream.
¡°Director Sang, I believe that good thingse to good people. Ourpany, Thunder Horse Manufacturing is going to walk hand-in-hand with you. You will not be alone in your journey of doing good for themunity.¡± Xia Lei reached out a hand to Sang Qing-Xin.
Sang Qing-Xin took his hand with both hands, and tears of gratitude fell from her eyes. Her voice grew husky too. ¡°Mr Xia, no, Chairman Xia, thank you.... Thank you...¡±
Xia Lei wiped discreetly at the tears in the corners of his eyes after leaving Angel Orphanage.
He didn¡¯t feel bad for a person like Danny but he felt terrible for Sang Qing-Xin, Sang Yue-Yue, and the poor orphans there. Sang Qing-Xin and the children touched him and this was why he was building them a new orphanage on top of the fifty million. The fifty million was because of the deal he had made with Danny and building a new orphanage for the children was because of his kindly feelings.
¡°I couldn¡¯t tell that you were this sort of person,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan softly.
Xia Lei looked back at her with a faint smile on his lips. ¡°What sort of person am I?¡±
¡°A kind person.¡± Tang Yu-Yan giggled. ¡°A phnthropist.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t make fun of me. I¡¯m no phnthropist.¡±
¡°How not? There are many billionaires and gazillionaires in this world andpared to them you¡¯re a poor man. But what you did today is something a lot of billionaires aren¡¯t willing to do. What are you if not a phnthropist?¡± Tang Yu-Yan stared steadily at Xia Lei, as if she could see his other face.
Xia Leiughed ufortably. ¡°Don¡¯t put a top hat on me. Didn¡¯t you say you¡¯d treat me to a drink?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan grinned. ¡°I heard Long Bing say your culinary skills are the best. How about this - go to my ce and you cook. We¡¯ll have a good meal. We¡¯ll learn from each other afterwards.¡±
The smile on Xia Lei¡¯s face froze.
Chapter 279 - Predator and Meat
The original n was to first return to Haizhu but Xia Lei changed his mind and went straight to Sichuan. He stayed in the city for two days, inspecting the construction site of the new factory and taking care of the paperwork. Zhou Xiao-Hong had done a good job; she was a local and handled local matters well. With Yin Hao helping, Xia Lei didn¡¯t really have much to worry about as boss.
Xia Lei returned to Haizhu two dayster.
Lu Sheng had been discharged and was back at work. Lu Sheng personally opened the gates for Xia Lei when he drove to thepany and the two of them chatted for a bit.
Xia Lei called Qin Xiang to his office when he got in.
Guan Ling-Shan made tea for them both. ¡°Have some tea, Chairman Xia, Big Sister Xiang.¡±
Qin Xiang didn¡¯t mind Guan Ling-Shan calling him ¡®Big Sister¡¯ - he looked quite happy about it and had a bashful smile on his face. When Guan Ling-Shan put the cup of tea before him, he reached out and brushed his hand against hers, and a small item in her suit-jacket was transferred to his hand.
Guan Ling-Shan did not discover anything but Xia Lei had seen everything. Qin Xiang had actually stolen a sanitary pad.
Qin Xiang seemed to have been bitten by the item he stole and he threw it at Xia Lei¡¯s leg.
Xia Lei acted like he¡¯d been prodded by electricity and quickly snatched up the sanitary pad. He stood and patted Guan Ling-Shan on the shoulder. ¡°Ling-Shan, it¡¯s been hard on you.¡±
Guan Ling-Shan pushed her ck-rimmed spectacles up the bridge of her nose and said a little shyly, ¡°It is what I should do, Chairman Xia. I¡¯m just afraid that I haven¡¯t done it well enough.¡±
While she spoke, Xia Lei had already sneakily put the sanitary pad back into her jacket.
¡°Go on, go on, back to work. I¡¯ll talk with Qin Xiang,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, please do. I¡¯ll go check on the reports from the financial department,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan.
Xia Lei red at Qin Xiang after Guan Ling-Shan left. ¡°What did you steal her sanitary pad for, you punk?¡±
Qin Xiang drew close to Xia Lei. ¡°I don¡¯t know - my hands were just itchy.¡± He then held up a mobile phone in his hand and said with a smile, ¡°Like now.¡±
The mobile phone in his hand belonged to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled and opened his left hand to reveal a lipstick on the palm of his hand.
The result of their thievingpetition was a draw.
¡°Fuck me, your skills are getting better and better. It¡¯s like teaching the disciple and starving the Master.¡± Qin Xiang smiled wryly. He put the mobile phone in Xia Lei¡¯s hand and took the lipstick from it.
¡°Let¡¯s talk business. You¡¯ll be going to Jingdu for a bit,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What for?¡±
¡°To build an orphanage. Angel Orphanage,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei in surprise. ¡°Are you going into charity work? Most people who do that are trying to get capital for politics. Are you going to go into politics?¡±
¡°Up yours. What politics? I¡¯m not interested,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Go fix up the orphanage and the military factory over there will be more or less done too when it¡¯s finished. I need someone I can trust to sit at the helm of the military factory.¡±
¡°Say no more. I¡¯ll go book the tickets now.¡± Qin Xiang turned to leave.
¡°Hold on, why the rush? Take these ns. What orphanage are you going to build without them?¡± Xia Lei took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Qin Xiang. ¡°And you can take Auntie with you too. The treatment centres there are good. You can have her treated there and thepany will pay for everything.¡±
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei and his eyes watered. ¡°Boss, this lowly girlie has nothing to offer in return. How about I pay with my body?¡±
Goosebumps prickled all over Xia Lei¡¯s back and he red at him. ¡°Piss off. I¡¯m not on the market for you. Keep an eye on my sister when you get to Jingdu. Don¡¯t let bad boys near her.¡±
¡°Understood.¡± Qin Xiang smiled, then sashayed off.
A supermarket supervisor to a military factory supervisor was a huge step up for Qin Xiang. This was like shooting to the top and he was, of course, happy to do so. To Xia Lei, however, he needed a person he could trustpletely like Qin Xiang to be at the military factory and help him deal with matters there. And Annina - Xia Lei trusted her, of course, but she was a mechanical genius and not a business-minded person. Another important reason was that Annina¡¯s status was too unique and he could not risk having her show her face. As the person in charge of the military factory, there was definitely going to be a lot of appearances.
Xia Lei entered work-mode after Qin Xiang left. He handled somepany matters, held a meeting with thepany management and listened to their reports; he was very busy.
He received a call from Shentu Tian-Yin at the end of the workday.
¡°You didn¡¯t tell me when you got back.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice carried a hint of reproach.
Xia Lei spoke a little awkwardly, ¡°Things at thepany piled up and I had a lot of do. I was actually nning to go visit you and Uncle tomorrow.¡±
Haizhu was just too small and it was too easy for Shentu Tian-Yin to get information on a certain person.
¡°So are you still busy now?¡±
¡°I¡¯m done. I¡¯ve just finished work.¡±
¡°Mm, that¡¯s great. I wanted to invite you to my birthday party.¡±
¡°Your... birthday?¡± Xia Lei was fairly surprised.
¡°Nn, I¡¯m... a year older,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin with augh.
Age was a woman¡¯s secret and a woman like Shentu Tian-Yin was not going to reveal it either.
Xia Lei spoke apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. Where are you? I¡¯ll be right there.¡±
¡°Distinguished Gathering,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Why there?¡±
¡°Come here and you¡¯ll find out.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin gave no exnation.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go over right now.¡± Xia Lei hung up, his heart awash with confusion.
Distinguished Gathering was the Gu n¡¯s ce so why was Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s birthday party being held there?
Xia Lei arrived at Distinguished Gathering an hourter. The car park was full of luxury cars and several well-dressed men and women were heading inside in pairs. Amongst the people were celebrities and big-name stars in the entertainment circles, as well as sports stars. This really was a cloud-high VIP event.
Xia Lei alighted from his car and picked up a bouquet of roses. He spotted Shentu Tian-Yin the the doorway greeting guests and walked over.
He¡¯d wanted to get her a more substantial gift but had limited time; he just bought a bouquet of roses from a roadside florist shop on his way here. The roses were bright and fresh but the packaging was a little sub-par. He didn¡¯t think much of it though - a woman like Shentu Tian-Yin had nock of gifts. Getting her a bouquet of flowers as a token of good wishes was enough.
Shentu Tian-Yin spotted Xia Lei too and her gaze went naturally to the bouquet in his hands. She stared nkly for a bit, then looked fit to burst with joy.
¡°Happy birthday.¡± Xia Lei walked up to Shentu Tian-Yin, then handed the bouquet of roses to her.
Shentu Tian-Yin took a deep sniff of the fragrant roses and suddenly gave Xia Lei a light hug. ¡°This is the best present I¡¯ve received.¡±
Xia Lei said a little sheepishly, ¡°I¡¯d originally nned on buying you a dress or something, but... there wasn¡¯t time.¡±
¡°I like the roses.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin leaned in to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said in a small voice, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know what roses represent?¡±
Xia Lei paused. Roses represented love - even primary schoolers knew that. A man giving a woman roses meant that he wanted to woo this woman.
Xia Lei looked at Shentu Tian-Yin standing before him. She was as beautiful as ever, like a fairy unblemished by themon popce. The feeling he¡¯d had when he first saw her washed over him all of a sudden. His mind was in a frazzled state in that instant and he could not figure out if he¡¯d unwittingly bought roses which represented love, or subconsciously bought roses to confess his love.
He didn¡¯t know what to say in the face of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s yful yet provocative words.
¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin knew Xia Lei well. Him giving her roses was already a huge step and she did not expect that she¡¯d get everything she wanted at once.
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh of relief. He followed Shentu Tian-Yin into the club while saying, ¡°Oh, right, why are you having your birthday party here?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips turned up in a half-smile. ¡°Gu Ding-Shan has gone missing and Gu Ke-Wu has been arrested. You know about this, don¡¯t you?¡±
This was all Xia Lei¡¯s doing, so how could he not know about it? ¡°I know. But what does that have to do with you having your birthday party in this ce?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin lowered her voice, ¡°The information I got was that you destroyed the Gu n but you reacted too slowly.¡±
¡°Eh?¡± Xia Lei was confused. ¡°Why was I slow?¡±
¡°The Gu n¡¯s assets are spread all over and worth tens of billions. Many of these assets are illegally-owned state assets and these have been severely undervalued. Many have been keeping a close watch on these assets and are prepared to grab them anytime. You destroyed the Gu n but made no moves on your end - what is that if not a slow reaction?¡± asked Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei then realised what she¡¯d meant by ¡®reacting too slowly¡¯.
Indeed, the Gu n had acquired most of their assets illegally and these were severely undervalued. Now that the Gu n had copsed, these assets were like cake with no owner. Of course they¡¯d attract a whole lot of predators, all ready to attack. And he, the orchestrator of the Gu n¡¯s fall, had made no moves. He really did react too slowly.
¡°Don¡¯t you n on doing something?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°How?¡±
¡°The Gu n is finished. A lot of their assets will be returned to the state. Many assets, including their businesses, will be parcelled out for auction but these will be just the leftovers. The real big meat can only be grabbed from under the table. Let me give you a simple example - this property belonged to Gu Ke-Wu. It¡¯s actual market value is 200 million but I purchased it at the price of 50 million.¡±
Xia Lei was thunderstruck. The Gu assets had already changed ownership in the scant few days of Gu Ding-Shan going missing and Gu Ke-Wu being held before sentencing!
Xia Lei suddenly felt like his head and finesse for business was not even worth mentioning when he was with Shentu Tian-Yin.
Chapter 280 - Birthday Party
Shentu Tian-Yin seemed to be using herself as reference material to give Xia Lei a lesson in asset plundering.
It was extremely difficult to do honest business, and expand it in China. How many of the billionaires who¡¯d sprung up after the reformation and market-opening had attained their riches with their own efforts and capital? Few and far between. Capital expansion was a game of dog eat dog to make oneself stronger, bigger. This process was full of bloodshed.
The lesson Shentu Tian-Yin gave Xia Lei was very simple, but effective.
Gu Ke-Wu had tried ways and means to get her person and her n¡¯s Vientaine Group but Shentu Tian-Yin had robbed him of his former assets with fanfare. This was like a malicious mockery of Gu Ke-Wu.
¡°This is not the ce to talk about this. We¡¯ll have a good chatter. You¡¯re the one who should have the cake most but you didn¡¯t even touch the fork. Isn¡¯t that such a waste?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei gave a small shake of his head. ¡°Tian-Yin, I¡¯m not going to bother with the Gu n¡¯s affairs. I¡¯m not interested in their assets either.¡±
¡°Hm?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked oddly at Xia Lei. She didn¡¯t understand why Xia Lei was indifferent to such a good opportunity to quickly expand his capital.
Xia Lei just smiled and didn¡¯t exin himself.
Who didn¡¯t want rapid capital expansion? 50 million for something worth 200 million - that was 300% in profits, if not more. If one could get a billion-yuan asset for 100 million, capital would¡¯ve increased by ten times. How many would not give in to this temptation? Even Shentu Tian-Yin, worth tens of billions, had given in to temptation and made a move.
However, Xia Lei was able to look at it from another perspective.
Gu Ding-Shan had turned from a street thug to a big predator worth billions in this way, robbing from the people and state alike. If not for that, he would probably still be a thug. However, how had he ended up?
Take from others, but you have to pay it back one day.
Take from the state, and thew will get you one day!
Gu Ding-Shan was an example of sess and failure at the same time. If he hadn¡¯t snatched up so many state assets, then how would the North Group he¡¯d built have toppled over so easily?
So from this perspective, Xia Lei would not snatch up Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s assets like Shentu Tian-Yin had, no matter how tempting it was. He wanted his business to take proper, solid steps of advancement and have every cent that he made be clean money. Only like this will there be no weaknesses for others to take advantage of in the future - a seamless defence!
¡°Lei, you¡¯ll have just this one chance. Aren¡¯t you going to consider it?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did not give up on persuading him. ¡°I actually want to rmend a metalspany which North Group owns. You¡¯re in the machining business so if you acquire thatpany you can save a lot in material fees. I have connections. I can help you get it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t have to convince me. I¡¯ve made up my mind. Also, don¡¯t involve yourself so much in this.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows and, slightly upset, said, ¡°Are you afraid that these assets are not clean? Or do you think that the way I¡¯m doing business is something that¡¯s not to be proud of?¡±
¡°You¡¯re overthinking it.¡± Feeling the big change in her tone, Xia Lei hurriedly exined, ¡°I just feel like I should learn from the mistakes of Gu Ding-Shan and it¡¯s best not to tread the same path he did.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled wryly. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ve meddled where I shouldn¡¯t. Fine, I won¡¯t try to persuade you any further. Today¡¯s my birthday and I don¡¯t want to discuss business views with you. Wait for me, I¡¯ll go greet some guests. I¡¯lle look for youter for a dance.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Nn, go do what you have to do.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin turned and walked to some guests who¡¯d just entered, wearing a smile on her face and engaging in some idle chit-chat.
¡®She is a very clever woman but it seems her appetite has grown bigger. Vientaine Group is already doing so well, so what is she not satisfied with? Why go after Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s assets? Didn¡¯t she think of what will happen down the road 20 or 30 yearster? How will she deal with this if someone finds this weakness to use against her then?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
Human greed knew no bounds and one who¡¯d made ten billion would wish to make 100 billion. There was no end to this desire unless one¡¯s life ended.
¡°You are an idiot, Mr Xia.¡± Fu Ming-Mei drew close all of a sudden with this line.
Xia Lei was not offended. He smiled and said, ¡°Thanks for your reminder. I nearly forgot.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not joking with you,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei. ¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin is a very proud person. She¡¯s highly capable and hates it when others try to teach her things and you actually lectured her. Doing that won¡¯t earn you points - she¡¯ll give you a low score.¡±
¡°A low score?¡± Xia Lei said in surprise, ¡°What score?¡±
Fu Ming-Mei leaned in to Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°The man she wants must be a man with a full hundred marks. The mistakes you made earlier will get at least five marks deducted from your score.¡±
Xia Lei begun to feel ufortable. There was no perfect person on this Earth and yet she wanted a perfect 100-mark man. Wasn¡¯t this requirement making it a punctilious love?
¡°You! Should find a chance to appease her. Your points may go up again.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I don¡¯t care how many points she gives me. I¡¯m me. I¡¯m not going to change myself for someone else.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, then pointed at a young man talking to Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°I¡¯ll do you a favour and remind you again. Look, see that young man? His name¡¯s Ahn Suhyeon, young master of Korea¡¯s Shinyeok Group. His father is an established politician and is expected to win in the next presidential election.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Ahn Suhyeon. They were both men but Xia Lei¡¯s eyes lit up. This Ahn Suhyeon stood tall and his features could be said to be well-sculpted, as if from the most careful surgical scalpels; he was handsome. He also gave off an air of nobility, true nobility which could not be derived from having just money.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Ahn Suhyeon together looked like a match made in heaven. They looked so good together that anyone would be jealous.
Fu Ming-Mei lifted her hand again and pointed at another male next to Ahn Suhyeon. ¡°That¡¯s the Diving Prince, Tu Qing-Long. He is one of Big Sister Tian-Yin¡¯s suitors too. Several media outlets say that he has humanity¡¯s most perfect genes.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Tu Qing-Long. This guy was not as handsome as Ahn Suhyeon, but his merman-like build made him appear more mature and sexy. He sported a faint beard on his face and was the pinnacle of manliness. Tu Qing-Long also had this special aura which gave one the impression of sunshine and health. If he were to be with Shentu Tian-Yin, then they would be a golden couple.
Xia Lei looked away and justughed. He said nothing.
¡°What are youughing at?¡± Fu Ming-Mei rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even bother to tell you these if it weren¡¯t because Uncle Yi likes you. You don¡¯t know how many great men are courting Big Sister Tian-Yin. Nobody dared to poke his head out when Gu Ke-Wu was around but now that he¡¯s been arrested, these people won¡¯t give up. You¡¯ve got to work hard or you¡¯ll be eliminated.¡±
When the Gu n was still powerful and Gu Ke-Wu had power still, these people did not darepete with him but now that he¡¯d been arrested, they¡¯de out of the woodwork. The Gu n¡¯s downfall was a joyous thing for many.
Xia Lei just smiled. ¡°Miss Ming-Mei, you don¡¯t have to worry so much about me. You should take care of your own heart first. Have you found a partner? I¡¯ll introduce you to someone.¡±
¡°Piss off. Keep going on like this and you¡¯ll be the one huddled in your nkets and crying.¡± Fu Ming-Mei didn¡¯t want to talk to Xia Lei anymore. She turned and left.
Xia Lei nked out in silence for a bit. ¡®Would I huddle in my nkets and cry?¡¯ he asked himself.
He had done just that when Liang Si-Yao had left him, and he¡¯d sworn that that would be thest time.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Shentu Tian-Yin, Ahn Suhyeon and Tu Qing-Long. The trio were talking andughing and had a friendly atmosphere going on. Ahn Suhyeon spoke fluent Chinese and entertained well. Tu Qing-Long was doing a good job too - he had good manners and was used to showing off his best side. He was also someone who knew how to make women like him.
A float was suddenly pushed through the doors. The float was piled with roses and in the midst of all that flora was a huge cake. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s name was written in chocte on the cake, followed by a line of Korean well-wishes.
The hall was filled with apuse.
¡°Suhyeon, thank you! What does it say?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin happily.
Ahn Suhyeon gave her a dazzling smile. ¡°I want to gift you the most beautiful thing on Earth.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin paused and a blush spread across her face. She looked in Xia Lei¡¯s direction for some inexplicable reason.
Xia Lei gave her a smile.
Ahn Suhyeon picked up a lighter and lit the candles on the cake. ¡°Make a wish, Tian-Yin,¡± he said warmly.
Shentu Tian-Yin closed her eyes and made a wish over the dancing candle me.
The guests started singing the ¡®Happy Birthday¡¯ song and the atmosphere turned rather jovial.
¡°Cut the cake.¡± Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s voice was as gentle as ever.
Shentu Tian-Yin epted the knife Ahn Suhyeon handed her and cut the cake. She seemed drunk on the flowers and well-wishes, and had forgotten about the person she cared most for.
¡°Happy birthday.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was soft; only he could hear himself.
At that moment, a waiter walked up to Xia Lei and said in a low voice, ¡°Sir, someone wants to meet with you.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the waiter. ¡°Who wants to meet me?¡±
The waiter spoke politely, ¡°It is ady. She did not tell me her name and just asked me to pass the message. Pleasee with me.¡±
¡°Where is she?¡± Xia Lei swept his gaze over the hall. Everyone in the hall was looking at Shentu Tian-Yin and Ahn Suhyeon. No one was looking in his direction.
¡°Sir, pleasee with me.¡± The waiter did not say where the woman was. He walked to a side door.
Xia Lei was full of suspicion. He hesitated, then followed the waiter to the door.
Chapter 281 - The Gu Do Not Believe In Tears
Shentu Tian-Yin opened her doe-like eyes after making a wish and the first direction she looked at was in Xia Lei¡¯s direction. However, Xia Lei was nowhere to be seen amidst the well-dressed attendees. She suddenly felt all empty inside, as if she¡¯d lost a great many things.
¡°Happy birthday, Tian-Yin,¡± said Ahn Suhyeon warmly.
¡°Thank you.¡± The dazzling smile from earlier had vanished from Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face.
Tu Qing-Long also went up to Shentu Tian-Yin to present the gift which he had painstakingly prepared. It was a painting he had done himself of Shentu Tian-Yin. Apuse sounded from all around when he removed the cover from the painting. The real Shentu Tian-Yin and the painting of her were virtually identical, as if she were looking at herself in a mirror. What made it even more praiseworthy was that the painting of Shentu Tian-Yin had a beautiful, ethereal air to it.
¡°I took two weeks to paint this. I hope you like it,¡± said Tu Qing-Long with a smile.
¡°Thank you. I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be this talented in art.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s gaze was on the painting but she was thinking of another person. Where had he gone?
Xia Lei was walking along a small, secluded, bamboo-covered path. The little pathway had somemps along it but the lights were dim. Moths fluttered around these lights, throwing movings shadows in the already-dim light.
These surroundings made Xia Lei go on high alert. He awakened the power of his left eye and scanned his surroundings carefully as he asked, ¡°Where is thedy you spoke of? I¡¯m not going if you don¡¯t tell me.¡±
He¡¯d already scanned this waiter and he had no weapons on him, or he would have taken him out already.
¡°Right ahead, sir. Pleasee with me.¡± The waiter kept moving forward.
The bamboo forest along the path was not hiding gunmen or anything of that sort. Xia Lei rxed a little. He followed the waiter and walked on.
A row of ancient tiled-roof houses were at the end of the path, green-tiled and ash-walled.
The waiter pointed to a house in the middle. ¡°Inside that one, sir. Please enter.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the house and the walls disappeared soundlessly from his vision. He saw the woman inside and he paused when he saw her face.
It was Gu Ke-Wen.
Xia Lei stood a few steps away by the door and waited quietly for the door to open. She had no weapons on her.
He quickly scanned the houses. All the houses were empty save this one, with Gu Ke-Wen in it.
This was a confusing situation for Xia Lei. ¡®Gu Ke-Wen wants to meet me? What¡¯s she up to?¡¯
Gu Ke-Wen opened the door and looked at Xia Lei. Her voice was calm as she said, ¡°You came but didn¡¯t dare go in? I don¡¯t have any weapons on me and no helpers either. Still afraid of me?¡±
Xia Lei walked over. No weapons and no helpers - Gu Ke-Wen was nothing. He was curious about why she had turned up here, and was meeting him in this fashion.
Gu Ke-Wen stepped out of the way and closed the door after Xia Lei entered.
¡°Something to drink?¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Xia Lei spotted a bottle of Lafite wine on the coffee table and a few cans of Coca-c. There were two long-stemmed sses on the coffee table and one had traces of red wine while the other looked clean and untouched.
¡°What? Afraid that it¡¯s poisoned?¡± A faint mocking smile appeared on Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s lips.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re right. I am afraid that you¡¯ve poisoned the drinks. I have no interest in drinking and chatting with you. Just say what you want to say; stop beating about the bush.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen poured herself half a ss of red wine and downed it all. ¡°You must be happy now, huh?¡±
¡°Why am I happy?¡±
¡°Stop with the act. My father¡¯s missing and my brother¡¯s been arrested. The Gu n¡¯s assets have been frozen and parcelled out for auction. Those brown-nosers who¡¯d followed my father around have reared their ugly heads now and are snatching up our assets. Aren¡¯t you happy about this?¡±
Xia Lei gave a small shake of his head.
¡°Hahaha... You¡¯re not? Oh, I know. It¡¯s because of me. I¡¯m the little fish who escaped the, eh? Finish me off. You¡¯ll be happy then!¡± Gu Ke-Wen had a twisted smile.
Xia Lei had always had a feeling of disgust whenever he saw Gu Ke-Wen in the past but right now, looking at her, all he felt was pity.
¡°You don¡¯t dare to kill me? Oh, right, I wasn¡¯t arrested... Because our Gu n has a person who¡¯s clean, and that¡¯s me!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t disgust me. You? Clean? How did you get ahold of Liu Ying¡¯s patent? I don¡¯t know about other things but based on this one matter, I know you¡¯re not clean. You¡¯re just lucky because things haven¡¯t been traced back to you yet. Your Gu n has done so many bad deeds - you dare say that you had no part in any of it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I didn¡¯te today to argue with you. I¡¯ve argued enough. I¡¯m tired and I don¡¯t want to fight.¡± For some unknown reason, Gu Ke-Wen calmed and looked worn out.
¡°You called me here to say all these to me? Then you¡¯ve met your goal. You can leave, or I can leave,¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Ke-Wenughed dryly. ¡°Know what? I hate the current you the most now. Uncaring and hard like a stinking rock.¡±
Xia Lei turned to leave.
¡°Wait!¡± Gu Ke-Wu called Xia Lei to a stop. ¡°My father is dead.¡±
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks. He looked back at Gu Ke-Wen. ¡°How do you know?¡±
¡°My father¡¯s secretary told me that he received a call on the day he went missing, then took five billion in cash from our finances. But he went missing that night. I know who called him, and I know that person¡¯s methods. There¡¯s been no news of my father and the police haven¡¯t arrested anyone. I believe he¡¯s already dead,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°I don¡¯t see you grieving.¡±
¡°The Gu never cry, because only weaklings believe in tears.¡± Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s voice was cold, ¡°The person who called my father is named Qiu Jun. He¡¯s a tiger too. He¡¯s done more bad deeds than my father. He killed my father but he¡¯s still alive, and living well. We can take him down together. I have evidence against him. We can take him down if we work together.¡±
So this was Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s motive. Xia Lei was surprised.
¡°I only found out that you¡¯re one of the people of Bureau 101 after my brother got arrested and my father died. You hid it well. Catching bad people is your duty, right? You got my brother arrested and my father killed, I know. Why don¡¯t you go after Qiu Jun!¡±
Xia Lei had no words of response. He had no right in the matter to make any decision on who to arrest and who not to arrest. Long Bing had even warned him that their actions were just to get rid of one tiger - Gu Ding-Shan. The other tigers would return to theirirs and continue being kings of their own mountains. He was not entirely satisfied with that but that was how the world was and there was no arguing with it.
¡°Say something!¡± Gu Ke-Wu screamed at Xia Lei.
¡°You think it¡¯s unfair?¡± Xia Lei finally spoke.
¡°Yes! It¡¯s unfair!¡±
Xia Leiughed and shook his head. ¡°When your Gu n was amassing assets, many were so pressured by your father that they jumped off buildings. There were also some who¡¯d been killed off by Danny. Your father was living the high life then. You think they thought that was fair? And you. You used a child¡¯s life to threaten Liu Ying. You forced her to flee to Australia. Does she think it¡¯s fair?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care about others, I care about myself!¡± Gu Ke-Wen was losing it. ¡°I want you to work with me. We¡¯ll finish Qiu Jun off! And his friends!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was t. ¡°You came looking for the wrong man. I¡¯ve washed my hands off this. Go look for someone else. This will be ourst conversation - don¡¯t look for me again.¡±
¡°Then release my brother!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and turned to leave.
Gu Ke-Wen suddenly dashed in front of Xia Lei and shrugged her shoulders. The straps of her red dress slipped from her shoulders. Her body was entirely exposed under themp light, soft, white and full of temptation. The dense bush was a stark contrast to her soft skin, and was mysteriously mature.
Xia Lei was unfazed. ¡°What are you doing this for?¡±
¡°Let my brother out and I¡¯ll do anything you want. You can have my body, and a billion yuan too!¡± Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s eyes were full of aggression.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯ve tried all the connections you could before you came looking for me, haven¡¯t you? If they didn¡¯t want to help you, then why would I? And don¡¯t forget - I¡¯m not your friend!¡±
Gu Ke-Wen froze. Herrge eyes lost their earlier aggression.
That¡¯s right. She and Gu Ke-Wu had schemed to run him into the ground. Had she ever thought that there woulde a day when she would have to beg Xia Lei for help?
Xia Lei walked around Gu Ke-Wen and out of the house. He did not look back.
Tears streamed from the corners of Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s eyes. What she said about the Gu not believing in tears was a lie.
She stood nkly for a long while before she said aloud, ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re a hateful man. I gave you a chance to reconcile with me but you refused. Fine. From this day on, I, Gu Ke-Wen, swear that as long as I draw breath, I will make you regret this!¡±
Xia Lei could not hear her. Gu Ke-Wen throwing away her dignity anding to beg him should have gratified him but he felt a heaviness instead.
Xia Lei walked towards the hall where the birthday party was being held. The venue was brightly lit and music and happy chatter came from it.
After a while, Gu Ke-Wen left Distinguished Gathering via the back door. She headed to the seaside. There was a speedboat at the jetty and Dong Qing-Yue was on it waiting for her.
Gu Ke-Wen spotted Dong Qing-Yue as she neared the speedboat. Just then, Dong Qing-Yue suddenly stood and a gurgling sound came from her throat.
Gu Ke-Wen realised something was wrong and turned to flee but before she could run, arge, furry hand grabbed her by the throat from behind.
¡°Mmfmm..¡± Gu Ke-Wen struggled violently and fell quiet in the midst of her struggles.
The moon hung in the sky, bright and white as snow.
Chapter 282 - Everyones Love Rival
¡°Where did you go earlier?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin found Xia Lei after he returned to the hall.
¡°I met someone just now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Who?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked curious.
¡°Gu Ke-Wen,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin in surprise. ¡°Why is Gu Ke-Wen here? I didn¡¯t invite her.¡±
¡°This ce belonged to the Gu n so it¡¯s easy for her to get in. Show her somepassion - she¡¯s like a madwoman now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin just smiled dismissively. ¡°She¡¯s like an abandoned dog now. She can¡¯t afford to make waves. Right, so what did she look for you for?¡±
¡°It was about her father¡¯s friends. She wants to work with me but I refused her. I don¡¯t want to be involved in this any longer.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t hide anything.
¡°Where is she now? I¡¯ll get someone to call her over. She¡¯s always been insufferably arrogant and I¡¯d like to see if she is still that way.¡±
¡°No need for that. She probably left,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin smirked. ¡°Too bad.¡±
Ahn Suhyeon walked over as they were talking. ¡°Who¡¯s this, Tian-Yin?¡± he asked with a smile.
¡°This is my friend, Mr Xia Lei, the Chairman of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. Lei, this is Korea¡¯s Shinyeok Group¡¯s young master, Ahn Suhyeon. His father is an outstanding politician in South Korea.¡±
It was as Fu Ming-Mei had said. Xia Lei extended a hand and said, ¡°Hello, Mr Ahn. Nice to make your acquaintance.¡±
Ahn Suhyeon gave him a cursory handshake and said, ¡°Thunder Horse Manufacturing - what industry is that in? I¡¯ve never heard of it.¡±
¡°Just a smallpany. It¡¯s main focus is on processing,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s smile dimmed, just a bit.
The Shinyeok Group was arge, famous financial group in South Korea. It couldn¡¯t bepared torge groups like Samsung or Hyundai but it wasn¡¯t very far behind. They had expanded quickly recently in the past two years and were almost on par with Samsung and Hyundai. Following the fostering of better rtionships between China and South Korea, Shinyeok Group had expanded its reach to the huge market that was China and its young master, Ahn Suhyeon, had taken to China like fish to water. With his status and assets, would Ahn Suhyeon even take notice of a tiny little processingpany? Would he think highly of a little-known small fry like Xia Lei?
Future spouses had to make sure that their families were well-matched in terms of social status, and people dating also paid attention to status. Their social statuses were vastly different, so how could they be friends?
¡°Tian-Yin, may I have this dance?¡± Ahn Suhyeon bent at the waist in invitation; he looked like a model British gentleman.
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Xia Lei and said a little apologetically, ¡°Lei, I¡¯lle apany youter.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°It¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t have to bother about me.¡±
Ahn Suhyeon held Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hand as they headed to the dance floor. They swayed to the music on the dance floor and the guests around them pped for them. One tall and handsome and the other a unparalleled beauty - Ahn Suhyeon and Shentu Tian-Yin were really an enviously perfect pair.
¡°Mr Xia.¡± A man¡¯s voice came from behind him.
Xia Lei turned to see Tu Qing-Long. It seems he recognised him and this was surprising to Xia Lei. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s our champion. Hello, Mr Tu. But how do you know of me?¡±
Tu Qing-Long stood next to Xia Lei and watched Shentu Tian-Yin and Ahn Suhyeon on the dance floor. ¡°It¡¯s not strange at all that I know you, Mr Xia. Your rtionship with Shentu Tian-Yin was a hot topic on media tforms for a period of timest year. Shentu Tian-Yin actually said that you were her fianc¨¦ in front of all those reporters. I¡¯m her friend; of course I¡¯d take note of you.¡±
¡°I see. That was just a misunderstanding,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know. That was just an act for Gu Ke-Wu, right?¡± said Tu Qing-Long.
Xia Lei nced at him. This Tu Qing-Long was no simple man. Xia Lei just smiled and said nothing.
¡°I won¡¯t hide it from you, Mr Xia. I like Shentu Tian-Yin very much too and I can be counted as one of her suitors. But I don¡¯t have even half a chance with people like you. I just can¡¯t stand that Ahn Suhyeon. He¡¯s arrogant and self-righteous. He just has a powerful father, right?¡± A curl of distaste appeared in the corners of Tu Qing-Long¡¯s lips.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Mr Tu, aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll tell Mr Ahn what you said?¡±
Tu Qing-Longughed. ¡°I¡¯m self-aware, Mr Xia. I know that Shentu Tian-Yin doesn¡¯t fancy me and I have no chance with her but I still wish her happiness. She won¡¯t be happy with a person like Ahn Suhyeon. You get what I mean?¡±
¡°So you mean that I will be able to make Shentu Tian-Yin happy?¡± Xia Lei figured out Tu Qing-Long¡¯s aim ining to talk to him.
Tu Qing-Long looked at Xia Lei. ¡°I can tell that Tian-Yin likes you. You should court her and be the man to care for her for the rest of her life if you¡¯re not stupid. I just can¡¯t stand that Ahn Suhyeon. Come look for me if there¡¯s anything you need help with.¡±
¡°Haha...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing, but he still thanked him.
It wasn¡¯t difficult to see where Tu Qing-Long wasing from and his motives. He disliked Ahn Suhyeon and didn¡¯t want him to get his paws on the woman he liked. He¡¯d rather she be with Xia Lei. However, Xia Lei just listened politely to his words - he was not going to fight with Ahn Suhyeon over Shentu Tian-Yin. He¡¯d be cautious about love after losing Liang Si-Yao. He would not ept, nor give love easily. Besides, his business had just entered a stage of rapid growth and he did not want to lose focus because of love. As for Shentu Tian-Yin and who she ended up with... Did he need to worry about a smart woman like her?
If Shentu Tian-Yin felt that Ahn Suhyeon was the best choice then she would definitely make that choice, and no one would be able to hinder her or stop her from being with him. If she felt like he was not the man she wanted, then Ahn Suhyeon wouldn¡¯t get anywhere, even if he were to throw all his efforts into pursuing her. Gu Ke-Wu was one such example.
Shentu Tian-Yin was a woman like that and no one could sway a decision or change a choice that she¡¯d already made.
Tu Qing-Long didn¡¯t know Xia Lei¡¯s stance on this and the sight of Ahn Suhyeon in springtime on the dance floor made him ufortable. ¡°Mr Xia, that punk Ahn Suhyeon...¡±
Xia Lei cut him off. ¡°Mr Tu, let¡¯s not talk about him. Let¡¯s talk about business.¡±
¡°I¡¯m a sportsman, not a businessman. You want to talk business with me?¡± said Tu Qing-Long in surprise.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°You have a good physique and a sunny image. Thunder Horse Manufacturing has an automatic skateboard and this productcks a spokesperson for it. I cordially invite you, Mr Tu, to be our spokesperson. Are you interested?¡±
Tu Qing-Long smiled wryly. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say to you, Mr Xia. Why y around with an automatic skateboard when you can get Shentu Tian-Yin?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s say I do end up marrying her. I¡¯m not going to use one cent of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s. I¡¯m a man so I¡¯ve got to make my own money,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, you said it. I¡¯ll do it. My endorsement fees aren¡¯t cheap though - five million.¡± Tu Qing-Long was straight to the point too.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°How about three million? As friends.¡±
¡°You really are a businessman. Three million, deal.¡± Tu Qing-Long was quite satisfied with the price.
¡°I¡¯ll get my assistant to contact you tomorrow. Her name¡¯s Guan Ling-Shan. She¡¯ll be in charge.¡± He stretched out a hand and put a smile on his face. ¡°Here¡¯s to a happy coboration, Mr Tu.¡±
¡°To a happy coboration.¡± Tu Qing-Long smiled too.
This was a big gain for Xia Lei. He¡¯d wanted a spokesperson for Thunder Horse Manufacturing¡¯s current main product but hadn¡¯t found a suitable person for it yet. Tu Qing-Long¡¯s appearance helped solve his problem. A sports-rted product like the automatic skateboard was a good match for a sports star like Tu Qing-Long, and he had a good reputation too.
The song ended and Shentu Tian-Yin and Ahn Suhyeon walked in their direction.
¡°When did you two get to know each other?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was curious upon seeing Xia Lei and Tu Qing-Long acting like they were close.
Ahn Suhyeon looked at Xia Lei and Tu Qing-Long but his face was still and his thoughts indecipherable.
¡°We just met.¡± Tu Qing-Long smiled. ¡°May I invite you for a dance, Tian-Yin?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin did not agree right away. A faint troubled look appeared on her face. It was easy to see that she was not willing to dance with Tu Qing-Long. She had agreed to dance with Ahn Suhyeon because Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group had several partnerships, and Ahn Suhyeon was the young master of Shinyeok Group. He was a small ¡®weight¡¯ which could not be neglected. Tu Qing-Long, on the other hand, was just a sports star.
A faint smile of disdain appeared in the corners of Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s mouth.
Tu Qing-Long was fairly embarrassed. He stood before Shentu Tian-Yin and was at a loss as to what to do.
Shentu Tian-Yin actually wanted to dance with Xia Lei most but Xia Lei was not inviting her to one, not even now.
She hesitated, then nodded. ¡°All right, let¡¯s have a dance.¡±
Tu Qing-Long was thunderstruck. He held Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hand and they went to the dance floor.
Ahn Suhyeon stood next to Xia Lei and watched Shentu Tian-Yin and Tu Qing-Long on the dance floor. He spoke softly, ¡°Need dance partners, Mr Xia? I can introduce a few to you.¡±
¡°Thanks, but I don¡¯t need any,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You don¡¯t have to hold back. Tian-Yin¡¯s friends are my friends,¡± said Ahn Suhyeon.
This line of his was like a deration of property and hearing it made Xia Lei ufortable. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help ncing at Ahn Suhyeon and suddenly felt like he was simr to Gu Ke-Wu. The things Ahn Suhyeon was doing was also in the style of what Gu Ke-Wu did.
A funny feeling sprouted in Xia Lei and he found itughable. ¡®I made an enemy of Gu Ke-Wu because of Shentu Tian-Yin and we had irreconcble differences. Now a Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s popped up and it looks like he¡¯s treating me like a love rival. Shit, when did I be everyone¡¯s love rival? Don¡¯t look for me for these kind of things anymore. I¡¯m tired of it,¡¯ he thought to himself.
¡°Mr Xia, I hear you¡¯ve dated Tian-Yin for a while, haven¡¯t you?¡± asked Ahn Suhyeon probingly.
¡°I don¡¯t remember very clearly. Go ask Tian-Yin about it. Oh, right, I still have something to tend to. I¡¯ll be going off, then. Can I trouble you to let Tian-Yin know? Say that I left,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did actually leave.
Ahn Suhyeon stared nkly at Xia Lei¡¯s disappearing back and didn¡¯te back to his senses for quite a while. He was a smart man too but he couldn¡¯t fathom why Xia Lei was like this.
Chapter 283 - Whats Going On
He¡¯d just got to the doorway when a woman approached. Teal cheongsam, ck mid-height heels, a pair of long, uncovered legs extended from the hem and a white, soft thighs shed through the slits of the cheongsam, delicate as flowers. Her slender waistline was such that one could encircle it with two hands and it formed a seductive line with the curve of her hips. Her bosom was a pair ofrge peaks, firm and full, jiggling, jiggling with every step she took, like the ripples in a pond at a dragonfly¡¯s touch. Her face was refreshingly pleasant and she had a touch of valiance in her brow, and her bright, dark eyes left an unforgettable impression on people. She held a cloth clutch in her hand and a Chinese-style womens¡¯ hat embroidered with a red peony perched on her head. She was nobly gorgeous.
She was like ady of a warlord¡¯s household from old Republican times, or the Queen of Flowers of a Shanghai nightclub. She had an imposing aura, and if it weren¡¯t for the modern surroundings, Xia Lei would have thought that he¡¯d gone back in time to olden-day China. He knew, however, that this was an illusion because this woman was Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei had never seen her dress up seriously till now. He¡¯d seen her in casual wear, the uniform of Bureau 101 and sports clothing but this was his first time seeing her in such feminine clothing. He was stunned.
Tang Yu-Yan walked over, her steps elegant and graceful. She had a pretty smile on her face and every movement she made was that of a model debutante.
Xia Lei only came back to his senses when she walked up to him and the smell of her mesmerising perfume tickled his nose. He broke out in a smile. ¡°Why are you here, Miss Tang? And dressed like this too?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan gave him a smirking smile. ¡°I¡¯ll answer your questions. I came specially to find you because there¡¯s a mission I need your help with. And as for why I¡¯m dressed like this - I like old stuff. Let me ask you something too. Do I look good in a cheongsam?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Xia Lei followed it up with, ¡°You say you need my help with a mission? What mission?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t just give me a half-assed reply. Answer me properly - do I look good in a cheongsam?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Come on, tell me. Your opinion matters to me,¡± nagged Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You look good, very good, really. Like Ruan Ling-Yu* or Lu Xiao-Man*. You look way prettier than them, of course.¡±
¡°Hee hee hee...¡± Tang Yu-Yan let out a tinkling giggle. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll take that.¡±
¡°Can you tell me what the mission is about now?¡±
¡°Go in and dance with me. I saw that you have no dance partner and you¡¯re all alone.¡± Tang Yu-Yan raised her right hand gracefully. This was a signal for Xia Lei to take her hand.
Xia Lei did not move. ¡°Your people are in there?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Long Bing has three to five men to make a team. I¡¯m the same rank as her so why can¡¯t I take any?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Come in with me. I¡¯ll tell you what the mission is about while we dance.¡± Tang Yu-Yan lifted her right hand again.
Xia Lei was powerless. He took Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s hand and went back into the hall with her.
The song had just ended when they walked in and Shentu Tian-Yin and Tu Qing-Long were just leaving the dance floor. Shentu Tian-Yin saw Ahn Suhyeon by the dance floor but not Xia Lei, and she moved her gaze to the main doors of the hall, just in time to see Xia Lei walking towards the dance floor, holding the hand of a cheongsam beauty. Her heart felt as if someone had taken hold of it and given it a squeeze in that instant.
Several guests¡¯ gazes also went to Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei.
No one could deny that Tang Yu-Yan was a fiercepetitor with Shentu Tian-Yin in terms of beauty and body. Shentu Tian-Yin had the air of a queen, noble and elegant. Tang Yu-Yan had the air of ssic elegance and was also fairly ssy. These two women were the two most beautiful women at the party and the most eye-catching existences.
Earlier, when Ahn Suhyeon had held Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hand and walked to the dance floor, everyone had thought that they looked like a perfect pair.
Now, Xia Lei was holding Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s hand as they walked to the dance floor; one imposing and the other iparably gorgeous. They were a perfect pair too. The two of them also had a simrity, and that was this air of valiance. It made them even more of a match.
The music started ying. Xia Lei put his arm around Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s waist and started dancing with her.
By the dance floor, all smiles had been wiped from Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face.
Ahn Suhyeon went to her side and said with a smile, ¡°Mr Xia sure is a dissolute man. He asked me to tell you that he was going off because of some matters earlier and here he is, back again with a woman for a dance.¡±
¡°Do you know that woman?¡± probed Shentu Tian-Yin.
Ahn Suhyeon shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
Tu Qing-Long asked curiously, ¡°Tian-Yin, this is your ce and all the guests were invited by you. You don¡¯t know who she is?¡±
¡°No.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did not even spare Tu Qing-Long a nce, though she had been troubled earlier by the thought that she would be giving Xia Lei the cold shoulder due to his invitation to a dance.
Tu Qing-Long shut his mouth after getting a cold response.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s brows wrinkled as she watched Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan begin moving on the dance floor. ¡¯Ours sure is an ill-fated love affair. Liang Si-Yao¡¯s gone but this woman¡¯s popped up now and he didn¡¯t invite me to a dance but dances with this woman instead. What does he mean by this?¡¯
It was sometimes very difficult to guess a man¡¯s thoughts.
On the dance floor, Xia Lei had his hand on Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s little waist and he felt his hand heat up. They were mid-way through the dance and she still hadn¡¯t fulfilled her promise of telling him. This made him a little anxious. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were going to tell me what the mission is about?¡±
¡°Come to Afghanistan with me.¡±
¡°What for?¡±
¡°We have some of our experts trapped there. They need rescue,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°I remember you saying you were going on a mission to Afghanistan before, and it was a rescue mission too. Is this the same? The people haven¡¯t been rescued yet?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan leaned in to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and spoke in a low, cotton-soft voice. ¡°That¡¯s why I need a super consultant like you to take action.¡±
Her hot, fragrant breath warmed his ear and Xia Lei was suddenly sensitive. He frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t make me out to be a hero. I¡¯m not buying it. I won¡¯t go unless I have clear information on it.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t go thest time - another team did. Five dead, two disabled. We don¡¯t want to put you in the field either but this mission is extremely important. You have to help me,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan in his ear, ¡°You cannot refuse.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head hard. ¡°Nope, I¡¯m not going. Not for something so dangerous. Go find someone else.¡±
The music stopped at that moment. Xia Lei made to move off the dance floor but Tang Yu-Yan put her arms around his waist and pulled him along in another dance. There was no music but this did not affect her beautiful dancing.
¡°What are you nning? People are watching us,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
Tang Yu-Yanughed. ¡°You and I are son and daughter of martial arts. We live vicariously and don¡¯t worry about the little things. Let us dance our dance - who cares what they think.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help stealing a nce at Shentu Tian-Yin by the dance floor and he discovered that she was smile-less. He thought of how he had declined to invite her to a dance and how he was now having a good time dancing with Tang Yu-Yan and his brain begun to hurt.
¡°Let me tell you a secret.¡± Tang Yu-Yan ignored the looks of everyone and put her lips close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear. She spoke in a low voice, ¡°You know one of those experts.¡±
¡°I know one? Who?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°Ning Jing,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei stared nkly. ¡°How did she end up in Afghanistan?¡±
¡°Promise to help me and I¡¯ll tell you,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me and I won¡¯t go.¡± Xia Lei put on a stubborn act.
Tang Yu-Yanughed lightly. ¡°Oh, Boss Shi said that your military factory still needs one more approval for permissions... He won¡¯t help if you won¡¯t.¡±
¡°You guys are really...¡± Xia Lei was nonplussed.
He had put almost one billion yuan into the military factory, and no one had told him that he¡¯d needed this and that permission before he had invested. What was this about needing permissions now? It now looked like this military factory had be a bit of a disadvantage for him.
¡°Promise me. Help me, or I may die in Afghanistan too.¡± Tang Yu-Yan stopped dancing. She looked at Xia Lei with shining puppy-dog eyes.
She was good with words - she¡¯d first dug at Xia Lei¡¯s weak point and then used soft words to plead with him. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t get mad at her.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You guys have already nned everything so how can I say no? When do we leave?¡±
¡°Tonight. We go straight to Pakistan, then from Pakistan to Afghanistan. You don¡¯t have to prepare anything - I¡¯ve done all preparations for you.¡±
¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll go say goodbye to my friends.¡± Xia Lei let go of Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s little waist.
¡°Shentu Tian-Yin. I know her. You two are a good match,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan with a smile.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her, then walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Who¡¯s she?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s tone was sour, but it was not obvious to anyone but herself.
Xia Lei leaned in to her ear and said in a low voice, ¡°Tang Yu-Yan. She is Long Bing¡¯s colleague. I have to go to Afghanistan with her. She came specially to get me.¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s mouth when she heard that it was Long Bing¡¯s colleague. ¡°I see. What are you going to Afghanistan with her for?¡±
¡°This... I cannot say,¡± said Xia Lei apologetically, ¡°I have to go. Happy birthday.¡±
¡°Be careful,¡± nagged Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei gave her a smile. ¡°Nn, I¡¯m off.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan walked over at that moment. She did not greet Shentu Tian-Yin. She gave Xia Lei a look, and brushed past Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s shoulder as she walked towards the doors of the hall.
However, Xia Lei saw Tang Yu-Yan put something the size of a rice grain in Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s clothes in that instant.
What was going on?
Ahn Suhyeon did not seem to have felt anything amiss and kept a fierce eye on Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. He looked to be all calm on the surface but there was an unpleasant look in his eyes.
Xia Lei gave Ahn Suhyeon a look as well and followed Tang Yu-Yan out.
Chapter 284 - Islamabad
Xia Lei spoke only after he¡¯d got into Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s car. ¡°What was that just now?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan put on an innocent face. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t pretend. I saw it. You put something small on Ahn Suhyeon,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I was discreet and also quick - how did you see that?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan in surprise.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Your little sleight of hand is nothing to me. I can do it too, and better.¡±
The thieving skills Qin Xiang had taught him were definitely not something Tang Yu-Yan could measure up to.
¡°Couldn¡¯t tell that you had so many talents. No way. You¡¯ve got to teach me.¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s requests knew no end.
¡°Don¡¯t change the topic. Tell me what that was about.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll tell you since you¡¯ve seen it,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s status is rather special now. His father is one of the candidates for South Korea¡¯s next president too. We need to understand some things so we¡¯re just doing some routine monitoring. I¡¯m not in charge of this task; I¡¯m just helping her put a mini bug on him.¡±
¡°You¡¯re talking about your colleagues in the hall?¡±
¡°Yeah, but you don¡¯t know them.¡±
¡°What do they want to know?¡±
¡°They want to know lots of things. Hobbies, habits, social circles, financial trends and so on. The most important is to understand his and his father¡¯s link to America. If Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s father, Ahn Geungan, is a supporter of Western ideologies, we have to make some preparations on our side...¡± Tang Yu-Yan paused, then said, ¡°This is politics. You won¡¯t be interested.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan started the car and drove out of Distinguished Gathering.
Xia Lei fished his phone out and called Guan Ling-Shan. He tasked her with the endorsement matters with Tu Qing-Long and several other matters. He was going to Afghanistan and did not know when he would be back, so there were things he had to settle properly.
After making the call the Guan Ling-Shan, he made more calls to Zhou Xiao-Hong, Qin Xiang and Annina. He put all the things he should be doing in order. The car was almost to the airport by the time he was done making his calls.
¡°You sure are a busy man. Why not just stop managing apany and sell all your assets? Join Bureau 101 officially and have an exciting life,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°Like 007, or Jason in that movie The Bourne Identity. There¡¯s also Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. How about that? Flying bullets, fast cars and babes. You¡¯ll have all the excitement you want - way more interesting than your life now.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t give me this schtick. I¡¯m not some hot-headed greenhorn fresh out of school you can easily trick into jumping into a fire pit.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°What¡¯s so bad about being tricked by a woman?¡±
¡°It wasn¡¯t convenient to talk about it earlier in Distinguished Gathering but can you tell me why Ning Jing is trapped in Afghanistan now?¡± Xia Lei watched Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s eyes. His left eye was able to tell if a person was lying and he would not hesitate to use his X-ray vision on her if needed.
¡°This isplicated,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°Remember thepass you fixed for the Archaeological Bureau?¡±
Xia Lei was surprised. ¡°You mean that Ming dynastypass?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan nodded. ¡°Yes, thatpass. It¡¯s now in the hands of that group of experts and Ning Jing is one of them.¡±
Xia Lei was even more surprised now. ¡°Didn¡¯t Long Bing take the Ming dynastypass with her?¡±
¡°She had indeed taken it away after you fixed it but she didn¡¯t take it for herself; it was for a mission. Thatpass was delivered to the relevant department in the end and then sent to the Science Department. Later, the Archaeological Bureau and the Science Department picked some of the elites to form an expert team and sent them to Afghanistan.¡±
¡°How¡¯s the Ming dynastypass rted to Afghanistan? What¡¯s going on?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s head was full of questions.
Tang Yu-Yan shrugged her pretty shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me, I really don¡¯t know. I¡¯m just carrying out my task and I¡¯m not in the archaeological or scientific field. You¡¯ll have to wait till after the experts are rescued if you want to know the answers.¡±
¡°I have one more question...¡±
Tang Yu-Yan cut him short. ¡°You¡¯re like my mum. Let me have some quiet - and don¡¯t ask me what ¡®quiet¡¯ is.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
What Xia Lei wanted to ask wasn¡¯t actually rted to the Ming dynastypass. He wanted to ask if Tang Tu-Yan had seen Gu Ke-Wen. He had met her in Distinguished Gathering and he¡¯d walked off so he was thinking that Gu Ke-Wen might have left after he walked off, and Tang Yu-Yan would have seen her if she¡¯d gone out the front door. Seeing now that Tang Yu-Yan had not mentioned Gu Ke-Wen at all, Xia Lei could assume that she had not seen her.
¡®She must¡¯ve left from the back door, huh?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
Thinking of Gu Ke-Wen made Xia Lei recall the scene when she had removed her clothing. Those breasts, that butt, and that dense forest...
The haughty and arrogant Gu Ke-Wen had actually used her body as payment to beg him for help - this was so true of the saying that ¡®things of the world are impermanent¡¯.
Tang Yu-Yan drove the car straight into the airport and towards a military transport ne.
Xia Lei said in surprise when the car stopped under the ne¡¯s wings, ¡°We¡¯re not taking this to Pakistan, are we?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan hopped out of the car. ¡°Bingo. This is Bureau 101¡¯s transport ne, Cloud 20. We call it ¡®Fatso¡¯.¡±
Xia Lei gained more information on Bureau 101 by knowing about this Cloud 20 and he thought, ¡®Bureau 101 should be like America¡¯s CIA, I guess. The two organisations are actually doing the same things.¡±
He saw ten Bureau 101 agents after getting on the ne, and arge number of weapons and equipment.
These agents were Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s subordinates and they stood to attention and saluted when she boarded. They then looked at Xia Lei with eyes full of spection.
¡°Let me introduce you guys. This is Bureau 101¡¯s senior consultant. He¡¯ll be participating in this mission. Remember this - his authority is second only to mine. You follow hismands when I¡¯m not around. Understood?¡±
¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡± The voices of the ten agents were loud and clear.
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh. He was being mired deeper in this swamp of Bureau 101.
A few minutester, the ne codenamed Fatso started its engines. It zoomed down the runway and lifted from the ground, up to the clouds.
Hourster, Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
Three Ford Raptors drove out of the airport¡¯s special exit. They did not stay in Imabad but went straight to the Afghan border.
The ten agents were assigned to two Ford Raptors and Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei upied one. The car they were in carried equipment they¡¯d brought from China. These weapons and ammunition were enough to start a small-scale war - weapons aplenty and of great variety.
Tang Yu-Yan was not in a sexy cheongsam anymore but in well-worn outdoor clothing with a peaked cap on her head. She looked like a thrill-seeking self-touring tourist.
Xia Lei had changed out of his suit and into outdoor clothing as well. He didn¡¯t make the connection but him and Tang Yu-Yan, her in the driver¡¯s seat and him in the passenger seat, looked like a young married couple.
¡°Right, you new identity.¡± Tang Yu-Yan suddenly remembered something as she drove. ¡°My husband, Yang Guo.¡±
Husband? Yang Guo*? These words went into Xia Lei¡¯s ear and he felt like they were clubs being wielded by Tang Yu-Yan. He was hit twice by these words and he felt a little light-headed. ¡°I¡¯m your husband? Yang Guo?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t arrange this. It¡¯s all Boss Shi. Take it up with him if you have an issue,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan with a smile, ¡°And about the name, nobody in the Middle East knows who Yang Guo is. Let me tell you a secret - I like reading martial arts novels and Yang Guo is my idol.¡±
Xia Lei had nothing to say to that. She was one of the Tang sect, through and through. Even her idol was a heroic character from a martial arts novel. He wasn¡¯t going to take it up with Boss Shi either because it was difficult to talk to him and going to him for small thing like this was just asking for a scolding.
¡°Actually, my suggestion was to make you my elder brother but Boss Shi scolded me.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Why scold you? He¡¯s your godfather.¡±
¡°So what if he¡¯s my godfather? He¡¯ll still dole out scoldings as usual. He asked me if I¡¯ve ever seen siblings go to a foreignnd to drive around together.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
This situation was simr to when he was in Germany. A young man and young woman were easily suspicious as siblings in a foreignnd together but not if it were lovers or a married couple. It wasn¡¯t strange for Boss Shi to scold Tang Yu-Yan if one considered that aspect.
Tang Yu-Yan gave Xia Lei a look and spoke with a serious face, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you this, Xia Lei - nothing is more important thanpleting the mission and protecting yourself and your colleagues to the people in our line. What identities we use for our covers are not important. I can call you ¡®Daddy¡¯ if you¡¯re visibly older. You understand what I mean?¡±
¡°Are you giving me a lecture?¡±
¡°Nn, maybe? Boss Shi said to teach you as much as I can.¡±
¡°Then teach me your Tang throwing knife techniques,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We still have some time so let¡¯s look for a ce to have a bite. It¡¯s your first time in Imabad so you¡¯ll regret it if you just leave like that. This is a beautiful city. Oh, you¡¯ll love the courtesy and respect you receive as a Chinese person in Imabad.¡±
The country on friendliest terms with China in this world was Pakistan. The Chinese also fondly call Pakistani their Pakistani brethren, and this title showed their friendliness. It was difficult to put the courtesy and respect the Chinese recieve in thisnd into words. Xia Lei knew these but he had never experienced it. He was intrigued by Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s words. ¡°Sure, take me around and let¡¯s go get breakfast after.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan turned the wheel and the car veered off the main road and into a small street to move slowly forward. The other two Ford Raptors zoomed on the main road, continuing their journey to the Afghan border.
Chapter 285 - Peshawar
The breakfast of bread, mutton and po made Xia Lei burp. The owner of the shop refused his money when he tried to pay, and even invited Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan to his home to be his guests. They were flustered by his invitation.
Tang Yu-Yan had been speaking with the owner in Urdu all this while and Xia Lei understood not a word. The owner also uttered some Chinese words once in a while but it was pronounced weirdly and full of errors.
¡®Looks like I¡¯ll have to learn more foreignnguages. The poprnguages I¡¯ve learnt are not enough. Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s Urdu seems well-practiced and this tells me that she must be very familiar with the situation in the Middle East. This should also be the reason why she was sent on this mission, and not Long Bing,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
They left the restaurant and Tang Yu-Yan continued on the road towards the Afghan border.
¡°Whatnguage do they use in Afghanistan?¡± asked Xia Lei casually.
¡°Pashto and Persian - I know both,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan. She then said a sentence of simr meanings from eachnguage and looked rather proud of herself.
Xia Lei gave her a half smile. ¡°Showoff. Know any Russian?¡±
¡°Long Bing knows it, so the higher ups will always send her on missions to Eastern Europe instead of me. Middle East - that¡¯s me,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°How about your brother?¡±
¡°He speaks Vietnamese, Burmese, Thai and Japanese. And English, of course. So he¡¯s mainly tasked with missions to South Asia and Japan.¡± Tang Yu-Yan gave Xia Lei a look and said with a grin, ¡°I know you speak German, English, French, Japanese, Russian and more, so you¡¯re suitable for missions around the world.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The Ford Raptor roared out of Imabad and towards Peshawar. Peshawar was one of the main cities along the northwestern border of Pakistan, and beyond Peshawar was Afghanistan.
Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei arrived in Peshawar at noon.
Xia Lei had thought that Tang Yu-Yan would check them into a hotel or something but she drove straight to some normal-looking residential houses. The walls surrounding the ce were very tall, at least four metres high. Two Ford Raptors were parked behind those walls; the ten agents had arrived earlier than them.
After entering the house and seeing the equipment and busy agents, Xia Lei discovered that the house was actually a stronghold of Bureau 101 in Pakistan. It was also the ¡®safe point¡¯ or ¡®intelligence station¡¯ one would often see in spy movies.
Tang Yu-Yan brought Xia Lei to a room on the second floor. ¡°You¡¯ll stay here. I¡¯ll be next door. Rest now because we¡¯re going to enter Afghanistan at night. Feel free to tell me if you need anything. We¡¯re going into hostile territory once we leave Peshawar.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Give me some books to learn Peruvian and Urdu. Reading is a form of rest too.¡±
¡°No problem. I¡¯ll get someone to bring it up.¡± Tang Yu-Yan left Xia Lei¡¯s room.
Xia Lei looked about his room. The furnishing were simple - a single bed, a desk, a chair and abination bathroom.
His gaze went to the single bed and he abruptly thought of the situation with Long Bing in Germany. He had shared bed and pillow with Long Bing most nights in that period of over a month. They were also acting as husband and wife now but Tang Yu-Yan was not staying with him.
¡®What am I thinking? This is Pakistan. China¡¯s best country-friend. This is also Bureau 101¡¯s intelligence station. How can I sleep on the same bed as her? This status as husband and wife must be only applicable in some special circumstances,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
An agent knocked on Xia Lei¡¯s door and delivered books on Persian, Pashto and Urdunguage learning.
Xia Lei said his thanks and sent the agent away, then stayed in the room to read. His speed was as ungodly as ever, with his left eye working like scanner, saving everything he saw in his brain.
The sound of running water came from the other side of the wall after he¡¯d done a bit of learning.
Xia Lei nced inadvertently at the wall with his activated eye. The wall disappeared all of a sudden and he saw right into the next room. Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s clothes were on the bed - outdoor clothing, ckce panties, ck bra and white socks. The door to the shower was not closed but not totally open either; a white figure could be seen through the gap.
Her skin was as white and soft as snow and it seemed it could melt with one breath. Her full, firm breasts jiggled perfectly and her buttocks - they lost not to Annina¡¯s. They were plump and had a goodyer of fat, but were still electrifyingly bouncy. Her beautiful legs were long and straight, rounded yet firm, evidently due to her practicing martial arts from a young age. Her legs were a match for Liang Si-Yao¡¯s beautiful legs...
This was an inadvertent look which had be rather voyeuristic and Xia Lei should look away but he still couldn¡¯t help staring for a little more before he looked away. He then had a new thought in his head, ¡®My left eye is getting quicker and quicker at seeing through things. I can feel that the obstacles are lessening too. Is this the result of practice and long-term use, or is this ability continuously evolving?¡¯
Xia Lei had never stopped thinking about his left eye¡¯s powers but he was still unable to get any answers.
He gave up after thinking about it for a while and continued reading the books.
Someone came knocking a littleter and Tang Yu-Yan pushed the door open and walked in without waiting for Xia Lei to even lift his head from the book. She still wore the well-worn outdoor clothing but her hair was wet and she looked refreshed, lively. This must be because she¡¯d just had a shower.
Xia Lei out down the book and looked at her. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± He¡¯d looked at her for two minutes earlier and felt rather guilty about it.
¡°Time to eat. Aren¡¯t you hungry?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°The cook made Chinese food specially for us.¡±
¡°I ate so many oily foods in the morning so I don¡¯t feel hungry now. I¡¯m not eating; you go ahead,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m actually not hungry either. Okay, thene with me to meet someone,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Who are we meeting?¡±
¡°A guide.¡±
¡°We still need a guide for a mission like this?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise.
Tang Yu-Yan smiled wryly. ¡°Bruh, it¡¯s Afghanistan, not Pakistan. There are American, English and EU troops on the ground there, plus armed religious groups and Afghan military forces and tribes. You can¡¯t even imagine the chaos there. We need a guide who knows the situation there and can help us avoid unnecessary trouble to reach our destination safely.¡±
¡°What¡¯s our destination in Afghanistan?¡±
¡°Bamiyan Valley,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°Tang Xuan-Zhao went there and the world-famous Bamiyan Buddhas are there too, but they were blown up by a religious militant group.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thudded. ¡°Are Ning Jing and the experts trapped in Bamiyan Valley?¡±
¡°Yes, by a Pashtun tribe. We know their location but it is in a war zone so we need to rely on the connections of locals to get in.¡±
¡°Does Ning Jing and the experts being in the area have to do with the Bamiyan Buddhas?¡± The wheels of Xia Lei¡¯s mind spun.
Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°I really don¡¯t know what Ning Jing and those experts are doing there so stop asking. Are youing, or not? I¡¯ll just go on my own then.¡±
¡°Of course I¡¯ming. Peshawar is a beautiful city and I must have a walk around since this is a rare trip,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan took a gun from her waist and tossed it to Xia Lei. ¡°Take this. It¡¯s your weapon.¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Finally willing to give me a gun.¡±
¡°This is Peshawar but it¡¯s close to Afghanistan. Our safety here is not guaranteed so giving you a gun for your own protection is a must. Wait till we get to Afghanistan - you can have all the guns you want. Let¡¯s go.¡±
Xia Lei shoved the gun in his belt and followed Tang Yu-Yan out the door.
The afternoon sun bathed the streets in golden light and the exotic buildings basked quietly in the glow. The bright colours of the flowers and people in the city made it look like they had walked into a scene from a painting.
They did not walk far before some young girls d in ck cloth walked towards them. Xia Lei gave them a friendly smile but the young girls turned away to face the walls and did not even look at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei felt embarrassed. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan giggled. ¡°They have their own beliefs in Im. No use being handsome. Don¡¯t have any hopes of encounters with women here.¡±
Xia Lei had nothing to say to this woman of the Tang sect.
The two of them went slowly through the streets and to a terminal market. Tang Yu-Yan told Xia Lei that the guide they wanted to meet was in that market. The guide was a Pashtun named Karam. He was selling beans and wheat in the market but that was just a cover. His real identity was a satellite member of the intelligence station and he drew a sizeable paycheque from the intelligence station every month.
You only needed money to buy the person you wanted in this world and it had nothing to do with religion or beliefs.
Xia Lei was stunned by what he saw at a roadside stall upon entering the market. The goods on disy were not pancakes or headscarves but equipment from the US military. The items ranged from clothing to protective gear and there were even US weapons and ammunition.
The stall owner spotted Xia Lei looking at his wares and used the unfamiliar English tongue to say, ¡°Friend, take a look. All good things. One gun, one hundred US dors, I give one hundred bullets free.¡±
Xia Lei wanted to go over to take a look but Tang Yu-Yan pulled him by the hand. ¡°Careful, don¡¯t get marked.¡±
Xia Lei waved a refusal at the stall owner, then walked off with Tang Yu-Yan.
Tang Yu-Yan spoke in a low voice, ¡°Who knows how many countries¡¯ intelligence officers are here in this territory. Don¡¯t do anything out of the ordinary or you¡¯ll be marked.¡±
Xia Lei did a small nod. ¡°I got it. I was just curious. I didn¡¯t actually want to buy a gun.¡±
He surveyed their surroundings as he spoke. This terminal market was fairly messy and there were merchants from Afghanistan as well as a fair number from overseas. There were also blonde-haired and blue-eyed caucasian tourists. Some tourists held onto their cameras and snapped pictures while some tourists haggled with stall vendors.
This environment added a twinge of worry in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He would have to deal with more than just the rescue mission if he were to be discovered by CIA intelligence officers.
As they went deeper into the terminal market, a ck-veiled woman in a corner pointed her watch at Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan.
There was a high-definition camera in her watch.
Chapter 286 - Fathers Note
When they were almost out of the market, Xia Lei spotted a shop selling wheat, beans and other farming supplies. He¡¯d also spotted the owner and he was a burly, bearded, headscarf-wearing man of about forty; a typical Pashtun.
As they drew closer to the shop, Tang Yu-Yan lowered her voice and said, ¡°Right there. The one in the doorway is Karam, our guide.¡±
Xia Lei scanned their surroundings. There were less people here but it was still bustling. He didn¡¯t see any suspicious people but he was uneasy for some reason. He felt like there was a pair of eyes watching him and Tang Yu-Yan.
He had his X-ray vision but this was not a catch-all ability. He was unable to observe each and every person in such a busy environment, and hecked the experience in surveince.
Tang Yu-Yan led Xia Lei to the grains shop but did not stop at it. She went past the shop and into a jewellery shop next to it.
Pakistan¡¯s goldsmiths and silversmiths were world-famous and the jewellery shop was full of exquisite jewellery, mostly silver.
The owner of the jewellery shop was a native Punjabi. Upon seeing the two Chinese people, Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei, he became a tad over-enthusiastic. Tang Yu-Yan spoke fluently for a bit with the owner in Urdu, then picked a few pieces of silver jewellery. The owner only charged her the cost price.
Xia Lei thought they would turn around and into the grains shop when they exited the jewellery shop but she did not even nce at it as she walked straight to one of the exits of the terminal market.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help looking back at it, and he happened to see Karam enter the jewellery shop. His left eye twitched and revealed the scene in the jewellery shop. He saw Karam talking to the owner of the jewellery shop and take out a bill, presumably to have it changed into coins. When the owner of the jewellery shop gave him the coins, he bent to pick a crumpled paper ball from the paper basket.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision at that point.
Not one word was said between them but all the words they needed were on that paper.
Xia Lei was abashed. He had been admiring the exquisite jewellery earlier and had not even noticed when Tang Yu-Yan ced the paper ball there. He had seen what transpired but pretended not to know. After he left the market, he asked Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°Weren¡¯t we going to meet Karam? Why are we leaving?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan spoke softly, ¡°He already knows what to do. Let¡¯s go back. He will wait for us outside the city tonight.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t ask more and followed her to the intelligence station. He looked back to scan the surroundings behind him after a while. The feeling of being watched hung behind him like a shadow but he was unable to find anything suspicious. It was difficult since the women here were all clothed in ck from head to toe, and he could not use his X-ray vision on all of them.
¡°Did you discover something?¡± Tang Yu-Yan sensed Xia Lei¡¯s strange actions.
¡°I keep having this feeling that someone¡¯s watching us but I can¡¯t see who. Do you have this feeling?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t. I¡¯ll know if someone is following us. This patch of territory is under our surveince and our informants will detect something even if I don¡¯t. Don¡¯t be nervous. It¡¯s your first time on a mission like this so being nervous is unavoidable. I had this sort of feeling my first time too,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Hearing her say that let Xia Lei rx a little. He looked backwards less too.
As they stood at an intersection, a window of a Toyota Camry was wound down and a blonde woman stuck her head out the window. She opened her mouth and spat the chewing gum in her mouth at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei hurriedly dodged it and said angrily, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
The blonde woman spoke in Russian, ¡°What did you say? I don¡¯t understand! You be careful, next time it won¡¯t be chewing gum but a bullet.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows and replied in Russian, ¡°Are you threatening me? You¡¯re being rude spitting chewing gum at me. Apologise.¡±
The blonde woman grinned. ¡°You should be more careful. Next time will be a bullet, not chewing gum.¡±
¡°You bitch!¡± Xia Lei walked towards the Toyota Camry.
The light changed from red to green at that moment and the blonde woman stepped on the elerator, leaving Xia Lei behind.
Tang Yu-Yan pulled Xia Lei back to the pavement. ¡°Forget it. I don¡¯t understand what you two were saying but I think there¡¯s no need to get upset over someone as rude as that. You need to remember what we¡¯re here for. What¡¯s a little insult? The mission is most important.¡±
Xia Lei still watched the Toyota Camry in the distance.
The blonde woman stuck her head out the window again and gave Xia Lei the finger as she mouth something intelligible.
¡°Shit, if shees back here I¡¯ll punch her for you!¡± Tang Yu-Yan was pissed too. This blonde woman was just so aggravating.
Xia Lei watched the Toyota Camry still. The images of the blonde woman giving him the finger and the shape of her mouth as she spoke surfaced in his mind again and again. He used lip-reading on her and what she¡¯d said was ¡®chewing gum, chewing gum, chewing gum¡¯.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression changed and he looked at the chewing gum on the pavement. The chewing gum had the imprint of the blonde woman¡¯s teeth in it and it looked like a piece of chewed-up, garbage chewing gum. This was what confused him. It would¡¯ve been fairly normal for the woman to curse him but why had she said ¡®chewing gum¡¯ three times?
He recalled what she had said to him earlier - you be careful, next time it won¡¯t be chewing gum but a bullet.
She had repeated this twice. This was not one of the speech patterns of a Russian woman, surely.
¡°Let¡¯s go. Stop looking.¡± Tang Yu-Yan let go of Xia Lei¡¯s hand and continued walking forward.
Xia Lei went up to the pavement and stepped on that piece of chewing gum, then followed Tang Yu-Yan to the intelligence station.
He had confirmed that there was something unusual about this piece of chewing gum. The right thing to do was to tell Tang Yu-Yan, then investigate the chewing gum but he thought of someone and relinquished the idea.
He had thought of his father, Xia Chang-He.
His father had also sent a Russian woman to contact him thest time but she¡¯d been killed by Liang Si-Yao. It was a Russian woman again this time and the hint was fairly obvious - this woman was very likely sent by Xia Chang-He. If this was true and he told Tang Yu-Yan, then wouldn¡¯t it be smashing his own foot with a rock?
Back in the intelligence station, Tang Yu-Yan gathered the agents she¡¯d brought and went through their mission ns. Xia Lei listened for a bit and excused himself to go to the toilet. In his room, he removed the chewing gum from the bottom of his shoe and carefully pulled it apart.
A paper note was rolled up inside and a message was written on it: Son, you¡¯ve been marked. Leave Pakistan. Don¡¯t go to Afghanistan. Danger.
It was not signed but there was no need for that. Xia Lei knew who had written this note.
¡°Dad...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart was a mess and he couldn¡¯t help the trembling in his hands. ¡®He¡¯s alive, he¡¯s really alive. This is his handwriting! I know it! He¡¯s close by!¡¯
Xia Chang-He¡¯s voice and smile reyed over and over in Xia Lei¡¯s head like a video. Two small streams of tears rolled from Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, flowing over his cheeks to drop on the floor. He couldn¡¯t help the smile that spread across his face, an outward expression of the joy and excitement in his heart.
Footsteps suddenly came from beyond the door.
Xia Lei swiftly crumpled the note into a ball and lifted his arm, prepared to throw it and the chewing gum into the rubbish bin, but he stopped. He braced himself and put the dirty chewing gum and paper note in his mouth, then swallowed them.
This was no ordinary ce. Every person here was an experienced agent and the smallest negligence would reveal the his secret father!
The chewing gum and paper swallowed, Xia Lei quickly wiped away the tears in his eyes.
Tang Yu-Yan pushed the door open and walked in just as he was done wiping. ¡°Time to eat. I have to call you every time - why can¡¯t youe down yourself?¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Eating so early?¡±
¡°We¡¯re eating early and heading out right after,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°So quick?¡± His father¡¯s warning echoed in his head.
¡°Karam has left the city. We need to catch up to him,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°All right. We¡¯ll eat, then go to Afghanistan.¡± Xia Lei went to the door.
His father had sent him a note telling him he¡¯d been marked and to go back but this warning was toote. If he¡¯d sent him this note before he departed, Xia Lei would probably have refused to go on this mission but the arrow had been released from the bow now. How could he shake off Tang Yu-Yan and ten agents and escape this situation? He couldn¡¯t. Plus, Ning Jing, who¡¯d helped him in the past, was also trapped there.
However, this wasn¡¯t the reason why he¡¯d decided to go to Afghanistan. The biggest reason for him to make this decision was his father, Xia Chang-He. His father had gone missing for six years and cut off all contact. It was a rare chance for him to find his father, and he was in the vicinity right now!
¡®If I¡¯ve been marked then I¡¯m 80-90% sure that it¡¯s the CIA. Marked me, sure. I¡¯ve never been an easy target so if they want to catch me or kill me then they¡¯d have to talk to my gun first.¡¯ Xia Lei had prepared himself.
Xia Lei spoke to Tang Yu-Yan after their meal. ¡°Yu-Yan, lend me your sniper rifle.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan asked no questions and handed her sniper rifle to Xia Lei. ¡°Sure I can, but you have to modify one more for my elder brother when we get back.¡±
Xia Lei looked at her wordlessly.
¡°Will you do it? I¡¯ll take this back if you¡¯re not going to do it.¡± Tang Yu-Yan reached to take the gun back.
Xia Lei held the gun in a tight grip. ¡°Deal.¡±
Chapter 287 - Battle In The Mountains
The sun sank slowly into the western horizon, staining the sky red. The Himyas towered in the distance, the snow and ice on its peaks faintly visible. It made for a spectacr picture; solemn and sacred.
Three Ford Raptors ran out of Peshawar and headed to the Afghan border.
They got to the border checkpoint at nightfall. Two Pakistani soldiers signalled for the cars to be inspected and Tang Yu-Yan handed them a document from her car window. The two soldiers immediately raised the barrier arm after reading the document. All the Pakistani soldiers waved, sending their best regards as the three Ford Raptors went onward.
This situation made Xia Lei feel like the soldiers wouldn¡¯t even care if the cars had box-type nuclear warheads in them. They weren¡¯t called ¡®Pakistanirades¡¯ for nothing. Only Chinese who have gone to Pakistan would experience this feeling.
Xia Lei spoke up after they crossed the Afghan border. ¡°Why is there a border checkpoint at Pakistan but not at Afghanistan?¡±
¡°Who will be responsible for running the border checkpoint if they have one? The Imic militant groups or the ruthless government army? The Afghan government will not bother unless it¡¯s an important economic channel. The road we¡¯ve chosen is quite remote and of no value to either the militant groups or the government. We won¡¯t run into them unless our luck¡¯s bad.¡±
¡°It¡¯s still better to be careful,¡± said Xia Lei. He thought of Xia Chang-He¡¯s warning.
The convoy went on for about ten more kilometres before a battered pick-up truck appeared on the roadside between the mountains. It had no license tes and the vehicle logo was lost too; he couldn¡¯t tell which brand of car this was.
A middle-aged man with a headscarf on his head stood next to the pick-up truck. Xia Lei recognised him at once - he was the guide, Karam.
The three Ford Raptors stopped by the side of the road. Tang Yu-Yan alighted and exchanged a few words with Karam, then returned to the car. Karam drove his pick-up truck in front of them, leading the three Ford Raptors deeper into the mountains.
Afghanistan was known as a mountainous country and mountains could be seen everywhere here. Bald, yellow-dirt mountains, rounded and t, crowding up one¡¯s field of vision. This was and abandoned by the gods and the people living here were suffering from the strains of war.
¡°How long will it take us to reach that tribe you talked about?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence in the car. He found that Tang Yu-Yan had be a little nervous and quiet after entering Afghanistan.
¡°If we don¡¯t run into any trouble on the way there we¡¯ll probably get close to our destination this time tomorrow. No need to be nervous; this route is very safe,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m not nervous. I think you¡¯re the one who¡¯s nervous so I started talking to you.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m nervous? Why don¡¯t I feel it? Stop joking. I¡¯m not nervous at all.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. He¡¯d discovered that Tang Yu-Yan was actually quite a proud woman.
At that moment, a line of fire suddenly shot from the top of a hill on the left. It was very obvious in the night sky. Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan looked over at almost the same time and before Xia Lei could react, Tang Yu-Yan shouted, ¡°Rocket! Dodge!¡±
Tang Yu-Yan had a wealth of experience, much more than Xia Lei had.
However, her warning was slower than the rocket itself and she¡¯d just finished speaking when it hit the pick-up truck Karam was driving, right in front of them. BOOM! A great explosion sted the pick-up truck into the air, trailing mes and smoke as it was flung towards the car Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan were in.
Tang Yu-Yan wrenched the steering wheel sideways and avoided the wreckage of the pick-up truck as it fell from the sky.
Boom! The pick-up truck Karam was drivingnded on the mountain road and exploded. mes shot into the sky and car debris flew in all directions like artillery shells. The Ford Raptor behind them managed to m on the brakes in time but its windshield was shattered by the debris and the hood of the car was blown open.
Another line of fire shot from the top of the hill.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan unterally opened their car doors and jumped out before the rocket got close to them.
BOOM! The second rocket hit a rock in front of them and the rock was sted apart, leaving one part which rolled down to the middle of the mountain road. The driverless Ford Raptor rolled straight into that rock and stopped.
¡°Combat!¡± Tang Yu-Yan yelled, and ran quickly for cover, shooting blindly at the hill as she went.
The agents in the two cars behind them alighted swiftly too and found a nearby bunker to hide in. Some shot blindly while others used night-vision equipment to look for the target so they could snipe the enemy.
Xia Lei hid behind a rock, his head ringing. His hands were trembling. Gunshots and explosions thundered around him, ented by the whistling of bullets as they flew overhead. His mind was a nk, however, and he couldn¡¯t think. This was a battlefield, and every flying bullet was ruthless, every second a test of endurance!
He had the experience of shooting three people with a sniper rifle but that was no battlefield. It was not a close-quarters battle at all since the enemy had not been able to get close to him within his range of 3,200 metres. Even if they had, he would¡¯ve been able to take care of them with a bullet once they got close! This time was different, however. This was a real battlefield, and judging by the gunshots from the enemy side, there had to be at least 20 people. Twenty guns and a rocketuncher - this definitely was a hail of bullets!
Tang Yu-Yan realised Xia Lei¡¯s unusual condition and she bit her lip before grasping her rifle tightly and doubling over while dashing to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked at her woodenly, unresponsive.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Tang Yu-Yan grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and shook him hard. ¡°Get a grip!¡±
BOOM! Another rocket exploded and an agent had his legs sted off. Pieces of rock mmed into his body and blood fountained continuously. A wound like this could not be mended, not even if he had surgery immediately, and much less in this deserted mountainside.
This st shocked Xia Lei awake. He shook his head hard and forced himself to dispel his fear and the horrors of his first time on a battlefield.
¡°Can you still handle a gun? Let me do it if you can¡¯t!¡± yelled Tang Yu-Yan at Xia Lei.
¡°I can!¡± Xia Lei straightened himself behind the rock and moved his sniper rifle out from behind the rock. His body was pressed tightly to the back of the rock and he slowly inched his head up. He did not gopletely out of the rock¡¯s cover, however, but activated the power of his left eye to see through the top of the rock to look for the operator of the rocketuncher.
The rocketuncher operator was the biggest threat now and he had to be taken out.
The top part of the rock before him disappeared from his vision and the scene on the hill opposite was as clear as day. At least 30 armed men were advancing swiftly towards the mountain road. They wore military camouge, had protective gear and wore tactical helmets. The variety of weapons they carried was astounding. These camouge-wearing men moved in rows and the first row provided protective fire while the back row took advantage of the terrain to push forward quickly, then swap ces with the front row and so on. They were highly trained inbat and neither the Imic forces nor the Afghan National Defence Force could hold a candle to their finesse!
Xia Lei looked around and soon spotted the camouged man operating the RPG rocketuncher. He was hiding under his team¡¯s protective fire while quietly looking for targets. A red line shot forth from his sighting device, aimed at a piece of rock. Two Chinese agents were hiding behind that rock, unable to even lift their heads under the assault of their enemy¡¯s firepower.
Xia Lei could see the smirk on the face of the soldier operating the RPG rocketuncher.
¡°You punk! Where¡¯s your courage now? Give me the sniper rifle!¡± Tang Yu-Yan was mad.
Xia Lei blocked her line of sight with his back and pulled the trigger. The modified sniper rifle made a muffled boom as a bullet came speeding out and into the brow of the soldier carrying the RPG rocketuncher. Half of the soldier¡¯s head was sted away, and the rocket in theuncher was shot into the sky because of his death.
Xia Lei hadpleted his sniping before Tang Yu-Yan got a clear look, and she had not seen any part of how he had done it.
This was the reason for Xia Lei¡¯s blocking her line of sight. He did not want Tang Yu-Yan to discover that he was still under the cover of the rock when he had sniped the RPG rocketuncher operator.
¡°I¡¯ve taken out the operator of the rocketuncher,¡± said Xia Lei. He had entered battle mode and was slowly getting used to the atmosphere or battle.
¡°You... How did you do it?¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked at Xia Lei in surprise with disbelieving eyes. It had been too quick. If it were her, she would probably still be searching for the rocketuncher operator and looking for an appropriate opportunity to snipe him but Xia Lei had used just three seconds to eliminate the target!
At that moment, a bullet suddenly hit the rock that they were hiding behind. The great impact made the rock tremble and fragments of rock flew past their heads.
It was the enemy team¡¯s sniper.
¡°Cover me. This spot is too low. I need to get to higher ground,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan nodded, then issued an order through hermunications device, ¡°Team, suppressive fire!¡± After she issued the order, she stuck her rifle out from under the cover of the rock and fired wildly at the hill opposite.
Rat-tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat...
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang...
All guns were firing and bullets trailed fire as they flew in the night.
Xia Lei took his opportunity when the enemy¡¯s advance was being interrupted to suddenly rush out from behind the rock and dash towards another hill to the side. He did not go straight either, but changed direction every few steps to prevent the enemy from locking their sights onto him.
The hill loomed before him in the blink of an eye and a rock three metres high blocked his way. Xia Lei ran with no sign of stopping and he bent his legs in a jump. His body was lifted off the ground in one bound and he jumped atop the rock. A sniper rifle bullet struck the rock below his feet after he jumped, throwing up sparks and rock fragments.
The enemy sniper had predicted that Xia Lei would go to that rock but he had not expected him to leap onto it!
Chapter 288 - Im An Expert Marksman
Snap! A thick, coarse shrub was torn apart by the bullet of a sniper rifle. However, Xia Lei had already rounded the shrub and gone to higher ground in the second before the bullet hit the shrub.
¡°Is that guy human? He¡¯s running up that hill as quickly as I do on t ground - how¡¯s that possible?¡± The sniper on the opposite hill couldn¡¯t help wiping the cold sweat from his brow. He watched nervously as Xia Lei leapt up and all around the surface of the hillside. He could see him but he could not lock his sights on him. The distance and time needed for the bullet to travel meant that he would need about 1.5 to 2 seconds to make the shot and Xia Lei would¡¯ve run at least ten metres away from the spot he was aiming at in that amount of time.
At that moment, Xia Lei suddenly disappeared from his field of vision and he couldn¡¯t find him no matter how he searched.
¡°That guy... ran away?¡± The sniper lurking in his high spot presumed so but he did not dare to give up on looking for traces of Xia Lei. He didn¡¯t dare to look for other targets either because he was afraid that he himself would be Xia Lei¡¯s target once he switched to another target!
The sniper gave up after staying frozen in ce for a minute. He crawled slowly from his sniping spot to head to another ce.
The battle at the foot of the hill had grown fiercer. Who knew how many bullets both sides had fired, and how many clips were emptied. It was difficult for both sides, the Chinese agents and the team in camouge, to advance or make the other side retreat. Both sides were in a deeply worrying situation.
This was not strange since even the American troops, the strongest in the world, probably needed 250,000 bullets to kill off one Imic militant*. These were real numbers too.
On the hill, Xia Lei had climbed to a pile of rubble. His left eye was fixed on the hill opposite and though that sniper was wearing camouge and blended almost perfectly with the ground, he looked like he was a person holding a torchlight in the dark to Xia Lei. He couldn¡¯t be more obvious.
Xia Lei pushed the barrel of the sniper rifle out from a gap between two rocks and aimed at the sniper¡¯s head. He pulled the trigger.
Bang! A gunshot sounded and the bullet was propelled from the barrel. It hit that sniper in the back after 1.5 seconds. The sniper was wearing a bullet-proof vest, of course, but the vest was unable to stop the impact of the sniper bullet. Besides, Xia Lei¡¯s sniper rifle had undergone special modification and it was extremely powerful, be it sniping distance or power!
A big chunk of flesh was torn from the sniper¡¯s back and his lungs were destroyed by the impact; there was no possibility of living.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief after confirming that that sniper was dead. He spoke into themunicator, ¡°The enemy¡¯s sniper has been killed. Don¡¯t rush out. Keep firing and I¡¯ll clean them out.¡±
¡°Nice!¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s voice was full of excitement.
Bang! Another gunshot. A camouged man had his chest blown open.
Bang! Another camouged man fell to the ground.
Bang! A camouged man who had just stuck his head out from behind a rock had his brains sttered all over in one shot...
After killing their RPG operator and their sniper, Xia Lei could search for targets without worries and kill them. He was also out of the enemies¡¯ range so there was no worry at all about bullets reaching him!
The enemy could not hang on any longer after a few minutes and they gave up on their advance. They retreated to the other side of the hill, all rather worse for wear. Xia Lei did not cease fire. He killed off more of them as they made their retreat. Of the thirty camouged men who had attacked, less than fifteen left the battlefield with their lives!
Xia Lei did not feel the disgust of having killed a human this time. What Long Bing said appeared to be true; killing people was a terrible thing but it was nothing once one got used to it. The two killers he¡¯d killed and the people he had sniped today pushed Xia Lei¡¯s kill count up into the double digits.
Not feeling the disgust did not mean it felt good and after the battle was done, the desire to kill gone and his taut nerves rxed, Xia Lei¡¯s mind was again a nk - scarily nk.
¡°It¡¯s over, Xia Lei. Come down. We¡¯ve got to leave.¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s voice came from over the receiver.
Xia Lei came to his senses then. He made a sound of acknowledgement, then hugged the sniper rifle as he made his way down the hill. He had dashed up the hill in one go in the heat of battle and his nerves had been so taut he¡¯d felt like he was wandering outside the demon¡¯s gate. Now that he could rx, he found that his leg muscles were aching.
¡®I¡¯d probably have to tread much more on a path like this if I want to be the same type of people as Long Bing and Tang Yu-Yan, haven¡¯t I?¡¯ A bitter smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth.
The Bureau 101 agents were already cleaning up the battlefield at the foot of the hill. Three agents had been killed but this was not the worst of it. The worst thing was that their guide Karam was dead.
The unknown camouged men had 17 casualties, 12 of which had been killed by Xia Lei. This one battle had changed the Bureau 101 agents¡¯ perspective of this gentlemanly-looking ¡®consultant¡¯. The agents had previously thought that Xia Lei was a purely technical consultant, like a hacker or linguist, but they had not expected him to be such an overwhelming sniper!
The Bureau 101 agents searched the bodies of the enemies but found nothing that could identify them. However, the items they found provided some clues.
Possessions were piled on the ground. There were chewing gum, chocte, yboy magazines and some photographs. Amongst these photographs were one with New York¡¯s Central Park in the background, and there was also one with the campus gates of Harvard University. These two photographs were of two couples and they looked intimate.
Tang Yu-Yan pointed at the things on the ground. ¡°Chewing gum, choctes and yboy magazines. What do you think their identities are?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t these photographs tell us what we need? You should know better than I where these people are from,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan knew well that these were all Americans but she just did not say it. She had already reached the preliminary conclusion that these were American Special Forces, not CIA. It was not likely that the CIA would gather so many agents for a mission so these Special Forces soldiers should have just one or two CIA agents directing them and these agents were not among the fallen.
Tang Yu-Yan spoke after a bit of silence. ¡°Lei, say... aren¡¯t these people after you?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s expression changed, just slightly, and he shook his head. ¡°You mean because of the mission to Germany I went on with Long Bing? Possibly. But I¡¯m leaning more towards Ning Jing and the experts being the reason. Didn¡¯t you say that the previous team failed their mission with deaths and serious injuries? These people might have been the ones who did it.¡±
He said those words but Xia Lei thought of the woman who had spat the chewing gum at him, and the note his father had written. He was actually leaning towards the theory that these people had been targeting him.
¡°You may be right. This guys will surelye again. We need to catch one alive next time. I¡¯ll interrogate him personally,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Our guide is dead. What do we do now?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We still have to push forward even if our guide¡¯s dead.¡± Tang Yu-Yan issued the order. ¡°Bury our dead. Sort out the weapons and equipment. Check the condition of the cars. We move in thirty minutes.¡±
The Bureau 101 agents got moving. Some dug a pit for their fallenrades, some cleaned weapons and equipment and some checked and repaired the damaged cars. The bodies of the camouged men were thrown down a cliff. They would be food for crows and bacteria and eventually turn to white bone.
This couldn¡¯t be helped, especially for the three Bureau 101 agents. Their remains should have been sent back home but the mission had to go on and there was no one to send their bodies back. They had gone into their eternal sleep in this destend and their families would not even have a chance to pay theirst respects.
This was war, the most evil act of mankind.
Half an hourter, three Ford Raptors continued on their way, heading deep into the mountains.
Xia Lei was driving this time and Tang Yu-Yan sat in the passenger seat. She used the satellite phone and reported the situation to the intelligence station via code. Everything that happened here would be ryed to Bureau 101 through the intelligence station.
The code Tang Yu-Yan used was unique. It was ancient poetry and in the style of ssical Chinese writing so it was useless even if someone intercepted her messages to the intelligence station. ssical Chinese writing was the world¡¯s most difficult text andnguage, so decipering it was extremely difficult.
Xia Lei waited for Tang Yu-Yan to finish her satellite call before asking, ¡°What do the higher ups say?¡±
¡°Continue the mission. The higher ups will send us someone to assist. He will lead us past the tribe-controlled areas,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Where¡¯s he?¡±
¡°We will pass the territory of the White Rock Tribe tomorrow morning. I¡¯m guessing that the new guide will meet us before we get there,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°We¡¯re going to Bamiyan Valley - which tribe¡¯s territory is that?¡± Xia Lei wanted to get a clearer picture of the situation.
Tang Yu-Yan smiled wryly. ¡°Afghanistan has hundreds of tribes. I only know over ten of them, and those are therger, more well-known tribes. Some small tribes are like small towns or viges in China. They are deep in the mountains, so who knows about them? This is also why we need a guide. Without a guide to lead us and help us withmunication, we¡¯d be easily seen as enemies and end up exchanging fire with the tribes.¡±
¡°So is this White Rock Tribe you¡¯re talking about a big tribe or a small tribe?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not big and it¡¯s not small. If you¡¯re asking how many armed members are in that tribe then I can tell you they have over a thousand,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°So we have to be very careful when passing through the White Rock Tribe territory. We cannot afford toe into conflict with them or we¡¯ll be in big trouble.¡±
Xia Lei was quiet, then he said, ¡°We should actually use nes for this mission. It¡¯s tooplicated on the ground.¡±
¡°Brah, this is Afghanistan, country of mountains. What can send us in other than helicopters? Helicopters are too slow and will be live targets for shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles. Plus, Afghanistan¡¯s airspace is under the control of the US and her allies. We¡¯d have no way of avoiding the American troops¡¯ radar and their warnes wille greet us before we get to our destination if we go by air.¡±
¡°I see. Never mind, let¡¯s talk about other things then. It¡¯s such a dangerous mission that we might just perish here. Can you tell me about your Tang hidden weapons techniques?¡±
¡°Heh heh, I knew you wouldn¡¯t give up, you punk. Trying to learn our Tang techniques in this sneaky way? How many times must I say ¡®no¡¯ for you to give up? Our Tang hidden weapons techniques are never passed down to outsiders. You have to be one of us.¡±
¡°Yeah, and I did ask if your father is epting godsons.¡±
¡°Piss off.¡±
¡°Petty...¡±
They talked, they chatted and mountain after mountain was left in their dust.
Chapter 289 - Quiet Village
The light of dawn dispelled the darkness and brightened up thend and skies. Ahead was a valley and a simple vige could be seen in the distance. An old man walked towards them, driving a herd of goats before him and Xia Lei stopped the car to let the goats pass. In the passenger seat, a gun had appeared in Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s hand in preparation for any sudden change.
¡°This is White Rock Tribe¡¯s outpost. It¡¯s too quiet; something¡¯s wrong,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan a little nervously.
Xia Lei looked into the distance and scanned the hills on both sides. He soon discovered the militants hidden on the hills - they were headscarf-wearing men, most with old AK47s. They had RPG rocketunchers too and there were about 20 of them.
Though he already knew what situation they were in, Xia Lei still put on an act, lifting the binocrs to his eyes and then handing them to Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°There are armed men on the hills. Take a look and see if they¡¯re from the White Rock Tribe.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan looked through the binocrs and wrinkled her brows. ¡°They¡¯re from the White Rock Tribe. There¡¯s not many; should be an outpost. Shit. Where¡¯s that guide?¡±
Xia Lei nced up at the hillsides. The tribe militants were making their way quietly towards them. Xia Lei grew nervous. It wasn¡¯t so much of a problem if they ended up exchanging fire since these militants were not Special Forces like the soldiersst night and probably had inferiorbat training. But this was their home ground, and exchanging fire would mean that they¡¯d made enemies of over a thousand White Rock Tribe militants.
The old man driving the goats seemed to have sensed something and he went off the main road. He drove his goats to the hills on the right.
A man on horseback came into view at this moment.
The man on horseback wore a headscarf and traditional Afghan-style ck robes. The horse below him was a big white creature of healthy strength and great speed. Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the rider¡¯s face and discovered that he had lots of wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and that his skin was well-weathered. This was a weather-beaten man and he was almost fifty.
¡°Is he the guide?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Should be. Let¡¯s get out of the car,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan. She then spoke into themunications device, ¡°Everyone else, remain in your vehicles. No firing weapons if they make no move to attack.¡±
Xia Lei got out of the car with Tang Yu-Yan. The man on horseback reined in the white horse and jumped from the horse¡¯s back.
¡°What are you doing here?¡± asked the Afghan man.
Tang Yu-Yan replied in Pashto, ¡°We¡¯ve lost somembs and we¡¯re looking for them. We are waiting here for our guide.¡±
The Afghan man walked over to Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei with a smile on his face as he said in Pashto, ¡°I am your guide. My name is Muhammad Kabir. You can call me Kabir.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan shook hands with Kabir. ¡°Good thing you¡¯re here. The situation would have turned ugly if you were anyter.¡±
¡°Are you talking about my people? No, no, it is them who discovered you and informed me of you.¡± Kabir turned to the hills on the left and let out a wolf¡¯s howl.
The armed militants on the hillside stood and came walking over with normal steps. They had guns on their backs.
¡°I already know of what happenedst night. You were unlucky to encounter an American ambush. Yourbat abilities are terrifying indeed - my people have great respect for you,¡± said Kabir.
Tang Yu-Yan just gave him a faint smile.
Americans were not looked upon kindly here. They forced their ideologies of freedom on the people here and these ideologies were what disgusted the tribe leaders. Differentnds bred different races and different cultures. Promoting the ideologies of freedom in a supremely religiousnd - you don¡¯t need to be a genius to figure out what the result would be.
Xia Lei rxed and shook hands with Kabir too.
¡°My people and I will escort you through our territory and I will personally bring you to Bamiyan Valley, but... What will you give me in return?¡± said Kabir.
¡°Name a price. You know how we work. We will not shortchange friends,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Kabirughed. ¡°You Chinese sure don¡¯t beat around the bush. All right, one million US dors.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan paused. ¡°A million US dors...¡±
¡°Transfers are epted too if you have no cash,¡± said Kabir.
Tang Yu-Yan thought for a bit and said, ¡°Please wait. I¡¯ll first discuss with my friend.¡±
Xia Lei was standing right next to them and had heard everything Kabir and Tang Yu-Yan said but they had spoken in Pashto. Xia Lei had just started learning Pashto and knew very little so he did not understand at all. Tang Yu-Yan pulled him by the hand to one side just as he was wondering what they were talking about.
¡°What did you two talk about?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I was just about to discuss that with you,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°He wants a million US dors. I don¡¯t have that much on me and it¡¯ll be very troublesome to contact the higher-ups. This amount of money would have to go through many levels of approvals and we¡¯d still have to go to the intelligence station to collect it when it¡¯s all approved... We cannot dy. Do you have the money?¡±
True, no one would take a million US dors in cash with him on a rescue mission, but Xia Lei was a portable cash machine. Shentu Tian-Yin had opened an overseas ount for him after he¡¯d won a billion from Gu Ding-Shan and He Jia-Ying. He also had a gold Swiss bank card on him and could withdraw this money any time.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I do. But I want to know if you guys will pay me back.¡±
¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°This isn¡¯t me borrowing from you. This is a special circumstance and Boss Shi will definitely give the money back to you when we go back. Jeeze, you¡¯re so petty.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Tang Yu-Yan, nonplussed. She just opened her mouth to ask for a million US dors out of nowhere and she called him petty?
Tang Yu-Yan went back to stand before Kabir and say, ¡°Deal, but we¡¯re only going to pay half first. The remaining half will have to wait till we make it back.¡±
¡°No problem,¡± said Kabir, ¡°Come with me to the vige first. You can make payment there. You can also rest and replenish your supplies.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei got in the car and drove towards the vige in the valley. Kabir got on his white steed again and followed with his men in tow.
¡°Yu-Yan, isn¡¯t this guy one of ours? Why do we have to pay him?¡± asked Xia Lei uprehendingly.
¡°He¡¯s not one of ours, just someone we know and had had dealings with before; he¡¯s ast resort. Every mission has several mission ns to counter various situations. This Kabir is quite an influential person in the White Rock Tribe and he can guarantee our sessful crossing of White Rock territory. His prices are steep, too,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Isn¡¯t this guise for extortion?¡±
¡°This is their way of life. There¡¯s no helping it,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°If he hadn¡¯t traded with us and built a small friendship with us he would probably have kidnapped us and demanded ransom. They nt poppy too and use them to trade for weapons and ammunition. They will do anything to survive.¡±
¡°I see their poppy fields.¡± Xia Lei moved his gaze beyond the window and it was met with the sight of a huge swathe of poppy fields. The poppies bloomed under the sun, bright and colourful but they had a sinister aura.
Some farmers lifted their heads to look about but they went back to work as soon as they saw the militant tribesmen behind the cars.
Their cars entered the vige and a group of children surrounded them, chasing and shouting as they went. A child of about ten ran at Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s car, yelling, ¡°Mehruika, mehruika!¡± He then raised his hand in the shape of a gun. ¡°Bang! Bang!¡±
This child seemed to think Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan were Americans.
¡°Scram!¡± A militant tribesman roared at the group of children.
The children dispersed like a flock of birds, their feet pattering as they disappeared, leaving no shadow behind.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan alighted. The Bureau 101 agents in the other two cars also alighted. They had guns in their hand and were on high alert, prepared to react to any sudden changes in the situation.
¡°No need to be nervous. We are not the enemy,¡± said Kabir, ¡°Come with me. I want that 500,000 USD.¡±
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan followed Kabir into a house. Kabir took out aputer and equipment for a bank transfer. This tribe made money internationally by dealing in drugs, so there was no worry about having no way to transfer money.
Xia Lei transferred 500,000 USD to the ount Kabir provided. Kabir was very happy and he hugged Xia Lei as he said with augh, ¡°Friend, you need women? I can give you two. Both are virgins.¡±
Xia Lei did not understand what he said and he asked Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°What¡¯s he saying?¡±
¡°He says he wants to give you two goats. Want them?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°What do I need goats for? No.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan shrugged at Kabir. ¡°He¡¯s gay. He doesn¡¯t need women.¡±
Kabir let go of Xia Lei immediately and moved far far away from him. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to your rest. You have two hours. You can replenish supplies, food, petrol and nap. We leave in two hours.¡±
¡°Please have someone prepare a hot meal for us,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°We¡¯re starving.¡±
Kabir smiled. ¡°No problem. I will have someone roast a whole goat for you. We have to get ready too before we are ready to depart.¡±
¡°All right,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei did not understand any of that but he didn¡¯t ask about it. He was worried about the members of the Special Forces who had fled. They had 17 dead, so this wouldn¡¯t be over just like that. This was Afghanistan, but the American military¡¯s territory as well, and this made his heart fill with worry. And his father, Xia Chang-He - where was he?
They exited Kabir¡¯s house. Some vige women came up to them, bearing food and water. Tang Yu-Yan reached for a tbread but Xia Lei was quicker and he snatched it away.
¡°Where¡¯s your manners?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan in annoyance.
Xia Lei ignored her and quickly used his X-ray vision on the tbread. He confirmed that there was nothing wrong with it and handed it to Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°Never mind, you can have it. I¡¯ll wait for the mutton.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei but there was no anger in her eyes. They had gone through so many things together and her feelings towards Xia Lei had been imperceptibly influenced and changed by their various interactions from the time they exchanged martial arts tost night¡¯s battle. She just had not sensed it yet.
Chapter 290 - Islamic Militants
The Bureau 101 team left the vige in their three vehicles and three pickup trucks fitted with machine guns were with them. Two vehicles were in front and one behind, with the three Ford Raptors in the middle. This was the advantage of paying them - Kabir and his men were acting the roles of guide and bodyguard. Their price was high, of course.
They passed through several White Rock Tribe armed checkpoints on their way. The crossings were smooth and Kabir just had to swipe his card to clear them. The convoy travelled quickly through the White Rock Tribe territory but they slowed in the afternoon after passing through the territory.
The convoy entered a canyon a hundred kilometres further down the road. The two front cars went at a speed of 25 km/h on the twisting, winding mountain road, and this speed was disconcerting.
¡°The road will get better after we cross this canyon. We will get to Bamiyan Valley after nightfall.¡± Kabir¡¯s voice came from themunication device.
¡°Can we go faster?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°No. This is Imic militant territory. It¡¯ll be big trouble if we get discovered by them,¡± said Kabir.
¡°You can¡¯t get them to let us go?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Kabir let out augh. ¡°You know them - the whole world is their enemy.¡±
Their conversation was all in Pashto and Xia Lei knew several words already but it was still difficult for him to make sense of it. He was in a Pashtonguage environment and the relevant information would surface in his head whenever he heard Pashto words, including grammar and pronunciation. These bits of information had been ¡®downloaded¡¯ from books but it was fairly helpful for hisnguage learning. His Pashtun-learning speed was ungodly.
Xia Lei kept his eyes on the mountains around the valley as Tang Yu-Yan drove and talked to Kabir. The mountains here were steep and they were also at least 2,000 metres above sea level. They looked dangerous and they blocked out the sunlight, clouding the canyon in gloom.
Xia Lei swept his gaze over their 10 o¡¯clock position and a headscarf-wearing man with ck cloth covering his face suddenly appeared in his field of vision. He could seen him clearly. The man had a pair of binocrs in his hand and was looking in their direction. He had an AK47 across his shoulder.
Xia Lei looked at the man¡¯s headscarf again and the green writing on it ¡®clicked¡¯ in his head. He shouted, ¡°Imic militants! Stop!¡±
He¡¯d spoken in Pashto and did not need Tang Yu-Yan to trante; Kabir and his men understood.
¡°Where?¡± Tang Yu-Yan asked tightly. She grew nervous.
Xia Lei quickly put the binocrs before his eyes. ¡°Ten o¡¯clock.¡±
Only a blurry figure could be seen with the binocrs and it was a far cry from what he had seen with his own eye.
The two armed pickup trucks in front came to a stop. Kabir and his men alighted. Tang Yu-Yan also gave the order to stop and all the Bureau 101 agents alighted and went intobat-mode.
Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei walked to Kabir¡¯s side. Kabir had just lowered his binocrs from his eyes, his brows knitted. He pointed at the two o¡¯clock position on the right side and said heavily, ¡°They¡¯re there too.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan took the binocrs from Xia Lei¡¯s hand and took a look. Xia Lei turned and walked towards the Ford Raptor behind him. He¡¯d actually already spotted the Imic militant at the two o¡¯clock position and that militant was cutting off the only passage to the canyon. Their stance was clear.
Xia Lei collected the sniper rifle he had modified from the back of the Ford Raptor, and a big box of bullets. He had made the most brutal decision.
Kabir gave Xia Lei a look. ¡°No need. They didn¡¯t attack us. We may be able to pass unscathed. I¡¯ll send someone to talk with them.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan tranted Kabir¡¯s words for Xia Lei.
¡°Will those people let us pass?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s let Kabir handle this. Don¡¯t make any moves for now,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei nodded. His eyes were already searching left and right, looking for a suitable sniping point.
Kabir sent one of his men over to the other side. Some warhorses appeared on the mountain road a kilometre ahead - Imic militants rode on the backs of those horses.
Kabir¡¯s man walked closer and closer; the Imic militants did not attack.
¡°I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯ll ask for money. I¡¯ve already told my man to tell them that we are willing to pay 10,000 US dors for some peace. You people should be willing to pay this amount, yes?¡± said Kabir with a smile.
Tang Yu-Yan cursed internally but said, ¡°No problem.¡± She would definitely bring cash with her on a mission. Though the amount of one million US dors Kabir had asked for earlier was impossible for her, 10,000 was no problem.
¡°Good.¡± Kabir looked even more rxed. ¡°Here, money solves everything.¡±
Xia Lei walked towards the hill on the right, carrying the sniper rifle and the big box of sniper rifle bullets.
¡°Where are you going? What are you nning to do?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei did not look back. ¡°I¡¯m going to relieve myself. Want toe with me?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan was speechless.
Xia Lei was able to joke with Tang Yu-Yan after spending more time with her. Besides, he was her ¡®husband¡¯ now.
The Imic militants on horseback lost their patience. They galloped forward on their horses to Kabir¡¯s man. Two of the Imic militants jumped down from their horses and the first thing they did before even saying a word was to strip the White Rock tribesman of weapons.
Kabir spoke into themunications device, ¡°Tell them our identity. We are White Rock tribesmen. We do not want to fight. We¡¯re willing to pay them 10,000 US dors to let us pass.¡±
On the road, Kabir¡¯s man handed themunications device to an Imic militant.
The militant took themunications device but did not speak. He kicked Kabir¡¯s man in his lower abdomen, making him fall to the ground. Another Imic militant grabbed Kabir¡¯s man by the hair and pulled him off the ground, then drew a de two feet long from the belt on his waist.
The de-wielding Imic militant shed at the neck of Kabir¡¯s man without hesitation.
Blood spurted and the head of Kabir¡¯s man slid from his neck and fell to the ground.
¡°Shit!¡± Kabir clenched his fist and roared angrily, ¡°Do you know what you¡¯ve done? HUH?!¡±
The voice of the Imic militant who had done the beheading came from over themunications device. ¡°Listen, White Rock Tribe. You cavort with infidels. You will be punished by Ah. You, and all your men will die here today with these pagans!¡±
¡°Prepare forbat!¡± Tang Yu-Yan and Kabir issued orders at almost the same time, in differentnguages.
The beheader raised a hand, showing them a thumbs-up. He then turned his hand down so his thumbs-up became a thumbs-down. This meant death.
BANG! A gunshot rang out.
The beheader-militant who had given them a thumbs-down now had a gaping hole in his chest. A sniper bullet had sted his heart away. He had killed someone and now he was dead; the cycle of cause and effect. Human lives were of the least mary value in thisnd.
The shot angered the Imic militants. One of the militants on horseback let out a roar and the armed Imic militants on both sides of the hills came charging crazily over. No one fired because they were about 1,500 metres away but at least seventy Imic militants had popped up on the hills. They were familiar with the terrain and swift in their charge. Based on their speed, gunshots would ring out in a few minutes.
The ones in the lead were, of course, the initial group of Imic militants. They came galloping towards them on horseback, shouting and making strange screams as they waved AK47s in their hands; they were not afraid of death.
Bang! The head of one of the Imic militants at the forefront exploded, hit by a sniper rifle bullet. The headless corpse swayed on the horse¡¯s back, then slid off and under the horse¡¯s belly to get dragged along with the horse.
A secondter, another shot rang out and yet another horseback Imic militant became a headless corpse. The warhorses galloped wildly, dragging the corpses with them. The blood from the corpses stained the ground bright red.
One secondter, the third Imic militant fell from his horse.
The remaining two horseback militants reined their horses in in panic, and turned around to flee.
Even terrorists trembled with fear at death¡¯s door.
Bang! Bang! Two shots rang out and the remaining two horseback Imic militants fell from their horses.
¡°Your friend is amazing!¡± Kabir was excited and he asked probingly, ¡°Is he a professional sniper?¡±
¡°He¡¯s actually my husband,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Huh?¡± Kabir looked fairly surprised.
Bang, bang, bang! A series of gunshots interrupted their conversation. The gunners on the armed pickup trucks pointed their machine guns at the three horses charging towards them with corpses in tow. The heavy artillery shells tore the warhorses apart. Pieces of man and horse littered the mountain roads.
The gunners aimed their guns at the hillsides after shooting down the horses. The machine guns shook and the long shells of the bullets leapt to the ground with a jingle-jangle.
The range of the machine guns was further than the range of the sniper rifle, and much more powerful too. The gunners were the first to go to battle before the enemy even got close.
The gunner had fired madly for less than a minute when a bullet flew out of nowhere and exploded his head.
¡°They have a sniper!¡± Tang Yu-Yan called out in rm. She bent over and took cover behind a rock by the roadside.
The Bureau 101 agents quickly found a bunker. A White Rock tribesman was just a beat toote and a bullet struck him in the heart; he fell to the ground, never to rise again.
The Bureau 101 agents were levels more well-versed inbat than the White Rock tribesman were.
¡°Lei, find that sniper and take him out!¡± said Tang Yu-Yan into themunications device.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice came over themunications device, ¡°Give me one minute.¡±
One minute? He needed just one minute to find the enemy sniper and take him out? Tang Yu-Yan was amazed. Was he a sniper-god?
Chapter 291 - Awkward
The Afghan mountains were mostly rocky, deste and sparse in vegetation. Xia Lei¡¯s visual range was over 4,000 metres and he also had zoom-in and X-ray abilities. It was no problem at all for him to find the hidden Imic militant snipers in the bits of vegetation on the mountains. The snipers¡¯ rifles could not possibly go beyond 1,500 metres, so he just needed to look for targets within a range of 600 to 1,200 metres.
Xia Lei traced the trajectory of the bullet and found the Imic sniper in under 30 seconds. He had covered himself with a dirt-coloured cloak and a hat of twigs and leaves; a simple camouge. Camouge like this was something the White Rock Tribesmen could just barely spot but it was clear as day to Xia Lei.
The only problem was that that guy was hiding in a pile of rubble and it was difficult for Xia Lei to shoot him at his current position.
The Imic militant sniper killed another White Rock tribesman. Kabir ordered his men to fire in the direction of the hidden sniper, but the bullets they fired failed to reach the sniper¡¯s position. The sniper was at least 1,200 metres away and this was not a distance an AK47 bullet could travel.
This distance also showed the effective shooting range of the sniper¡¯s rifle. He did not have the most advanced sniper rifle in his hands and the maximum distance was not over 1,500 metres. His position was closer to them than the Imic militants on the hills so he probably was camped closer from the beginning.
Xia Lei suddenly stood up and let out a roar.
His roar echoed throughout the canyon, attracting the attention of the Imic sniper immediately. He adjusted the muzzle of his rifle and saw Xia Lei standing on a rock opposite himself through the scope. He also saw the sniper rifle in Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
The Imic militant sniper sneered and his head came up from the surface of the rock as he shot at Xia Lei.
At the moment he showed his head and shot at Xia Lei, Xia Lei abruptly raised his rifle too and shot at him.
The two bullets grazed past each other in the air.
The bullet fired by the Imic militant flew through the canyon but hit a rock some tens of metres below Xia Lei. At that same instant, a bullet went past the hat of twigs and leaves and smashed into the brains of the Imic sniper.
This was the difference in their vision. Xia Lei could calcte the straight-line distance between himself and the Imic sniper with his left eye - 1,600 metres. The Imic sniper could use a scope to see Xia Lei but he was unable to calcte Xia Lei¡¯s distance from him. He¡¯d thought that it was 1,500 metres and that Xia Lei was within shooting range. However, this difference of 100 metres caused him to make a fatal mistake.
The Imic sniper had also made another mistake, and that was seriously underestimating the ugly, scope-less sniper rifle in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. Could a sniper rifle with no scope still be considered a sniper rifle? He¡¯d thought that that sniper rifle could only be counted as a rifle. However, he would not have stuck his head out to shoot Xia Lei if he had known that that ugly sniper rifle had an effective shooting range of a terrifying 3,200 metres.
Xia Lei had removed the scope on the rifle on purpose because having it attached to the sniper rifle was not beneficial to his sniping.
¡°Done,¡± said Xia Lei into themunications device.
Tang Yu-Yan was still stunned. She¡¯d seen Xia Lei stand all of a sudden to shoot, then heard him say ¡®done¡¯. She suddenly felt like this was an illusion - was Xia Lei ying ¡®Call of Duty?¡¯ or some game like that?
Xia Lei hid himself behind the rock again, out of Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s sight. From start to finish, Tang Yu-Yan had only seen Xia Lei suddenly stand, shoot, and it was done. She did not see that Xia Lei had removed the scope of the sniper rifle but if she had, her jaw would have smashed to the ground.
Bang! A gunshot sounded and an Imic militant 2,500 metres away was thrown to the ground. A bullet had sted his head away, leaving just a mouth behind on his neck; a grotesque death.
Xia Lei¡¯s hunt had only just begun.
There were over a hundred Imic militants on the hillsides and Xia Lei and the Bureau 101 agents would be in a very dangerous situation once those militants drew close. Tang Yu-Yan had brought only ten men with her, and the American forces had killed three of themst night. She could not afford to have any more casualties, otherwise who was going to rescue Ning Jing and the team of trapped experts?
Having experienced two battles, Xia Lei did not feel anything anymore when he killed; he had gotten used to the battlefield. He was calm behind the rock, picking the closest enemies and shooting them. One shot, one kill - no misses.
The enemies rushing at them from left and right were still unaware that their own snipers had perished till after over ten of their own had perished. It was then that they realised that their opponent had a terrifying sniper. They did not dare to charge ahead and hid behind rocks as they shot blindly at the road and in the direction of Xia Lei¡¯s hiding spot. A number of the Imic militants, having paid the price of the lives of more than ten of theirrades, had charged within a 500 metre radius of Xia Lei.
Most of these Imic militants were using weapons like the AK47, with a shooting range of about 400 metres. This can be modified to reach 800 metres and bullets at 1,000 metres were still lethal, so even if they were quite far away, the bullets would ricochet off each other with tens of them shooting blindly, making it a dangerous situation for Xia Lei and hisrades below him. A bullet woulde out of nowhere and im your life if you were unlucky!
Though he was outside the Imic militants¡¯ effective range, Xia Lei did not dare becent and stick his head out from behind the rock. He pushed the barrel of the sniper rifle out from a gap in the pile of rocks and used this X-ray vision to snipe the closest target. He was a cautious and guarded sniper but he missed nothing - one shot, one kill!
His skill with the rifle stunned and shocked the Imic militants. They had the military advantage but they were being forced to stick to the hillsides and not make any false moves. Any head that poked out would have a bullet of deathing for it a secondter.
Xia Lei drew a lot of firepower to his position and the Bureau 101 agents and White Rock tribesmen under the hill felt practically no pressure of the exchange of fire at all. They¡¯d gradually stopped shooting, unwilling to waste bullets on the enemy hiding behind rocks.
¡°Mrs Yang, your husband is amazing! He is the best sniper we¡¯ve ever seen.¡± Kabir spoke excitedly next to Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°If I¡¯d known that he was so skilled I wouldn¡¯t have sent my man over to talk. His sacrifice was in vain.¡±
The fake name Tang Yu-Yan had given Xia Lei was ¡®Yang Guo¡¯, so it made sense that Kabir called her ¡®Mrs Yang¡¯. ¡®Yang Guo¡¯ was a famous character in China but Kabir did not know that.
A stray bullet suddenly flew over and hit the rock above them. Sparks shot from the impact and pieces of rock were flung in all directions. One piece pierced Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s shoulder and red blood trickled from her wound, wetting her clothes.
¡°You¡¯re hurt!¡± said Kabir in rm.
¡°I¡¯m fine. Get your men to stay here. I¡¯ll go support my husband,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan. She looked at the rock pile where Xia Lei was hiding. He had drawn a lot of firepower and this filled her with worry.
¡°No problem!¡± Kabir gestured for his men to shoot at the hills to provide cover and gain some time for Tang Yu-Yan.
Gunshots came from below the hill and bullets rained from both sides.
Tang Yu-Yan took a deep breath and ran up the hill on the right, where Xia Lei was. She was quick and the steep hill seemed like t ground under her feet, not affecting her speed or movements in the least.
Kabir¡¯s jaw dropped and he gaped as he watched Tang Yu-Yan go up the steep side like a sure-footed goat. The husband was an amazing sniper and the wife was abnormally strong too - this couple was a perfect match!
Before Tang Yu-Yan could get to Xia Lei¡¯s side, a rocket came sting towards Xia Lei¡¯s rocky hiding ce with a tail of fire behind it.
Xia Lei scrambled to his feet and turned to jump backwards, lunging towards Tang Yu-Yan and pushing her to the ground. She had just climbed up and hadn¡¯t made sense of the situation when Xia Lei pressed his body on hers.
BOOM! The pile of rocks behind them was blown to smithereens and rock shards flew everywhere. A portion of those shards grazed past Xia Lei¡¯s back. The deafening explosion made their ears ring and their reactions and brain-functions were slowed.
Xia Lei shook his head, then turned and climbed off Tang Yu-Yan.
The explosion exined the situation to Tang Yu-Yan and she knew that Xia Lei had saved her again. However, she thought of how closely they had been pressed together earlier and her face reddened. Her feelings were a mess and there wasn¡¯t a spot that wasn¡¯t red on her face.
¡°What did youe up here for?¡± said Xia Lei usingly as he recalled the strange feeling from earlier when they¡¯d been pressed together.
¡°Would I havee up here if I weren¡¯t worried for you?¡± Tang Yu-Yan red at Xia Lei. Her gaze then went to his sniper rifle and she asked in rm, ¡°Where the scope?¡±
¡°It¡¯s broken.¡± Xia Lei climbed to his feet to get ready to go higher up.
¡°How are you going to kill enemies without a scope? We¡¯re in deep shit now...¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s gaze suddenly stopped again on Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks and she let out another cry of rm, ¡°You¡¯re hurt!¡±
Xia Lei looked behind himself and saw a piece of rock embedded in his buttock. Blood oozed from the wound and arge patch of his trousers were wet with blood. He had been so nervous earlier that he had not realised that he¡¯d been hurt.
¡°You have to clean the wound!¡± said Tang Yu-Yan anxiously.
¡°I¡¯ll take care of it after the battle¡¯s over. Don¡¯te over and get in the way again. Get down!¡± Xia Lei shouted at Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°You...¡± No one had ever been so fierce to her before. And SHE was themander of this mission too!
Chapter 292 - Stitching the Buttock
Xia Lei left Tang Yu-Yan behind before she could speak and ran higher up.
Dozens of Imic militants swarmed out from behind bunkers on the sides of the hills. The rocket earlier had sted Xia Lei¡¯s hiding spot apart and there was a chance that the rock shrapnel had imed his life. This was the Imic militants¡¯ assumption from their experience.
The distance pulled short between them and the battle heated up. The sounds of gunshots and exploding grenades and rockets filled the air. Fire, smoke and rock fragments danced in the air and around each other in absolute chaos.
The frontmost White Rock tribesmen had to leave bodies behind in defeat due to them being on lower ground. The pressure of battle on the Bureau 101 agents behind them increased drastically with the copse of the White Rock Tribe and the situation turned very dangerous for them.
¡°We can¡¯t hold on for much longer! Section Chief Tang!¡± The voice of a Bureau 101 agent came from over themunications device, ¡°What do we do?¡±
¡°Hold them off!¡± Tang Yu-Yan clenched her teeth and turned to dash down the hill.
She¡¯d gone up the hill because she was worried for Xia Lei¡¯s safety but he didn¡¯t seem to want her concern so she couldn¡¯t be bothered with him anymore. The frontlines below needed her leadership.
Behind arge tree on the hill, Xia Lei reached behind himself and plucked the piece of rock from his buttock. Red-hot painnced through his body from the wound, making him gnash his teeth in a grimace. The wound was still bleeding but there were no important blood vessels on the buttocks. There was much less bleeding than there had been earlier.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t be bothered with it either. He looked up at the crown of the tree and bent his knees, bounding up with a whoosh. He reached out with his hands and grabbed ahold of a branch four metres off the ground. He swung his body and was on the branch in the next second. He then climbed to a position higher still and lifted his rifle to search for targets.
The crown of the tree was at least 15 metres from the ground and Xia Lei had a wider visual range at the top. Imic militants had appeared on the hill opposite, below the hill on the right and Xia Lei was in a position higher up than them. The entire battlefield in the canyon was in his visual range, and everything could be seen in a nce.
The Imic militants seemed to have forgotten his existence and they rushed madly downwards. They disyed the characteristics of terrorists unafraid of death as the canyon filled with their shouts of ¡®Ahu Akbar¡¯.
¡°Think I¡¯m dead? You¡¯re all going to die!¡± A sinister smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips and he pulled the trigger. An Imic militant carrying a Soviet-made RPG rocketuncher had his head explode like a watermelon being flung to the ground from a high ce.
And this was just the beginning...
The Imic militants fell one by one in a wash of blood. They were below Xia Lei so it was difficult for them to avoid the mysterious bullets even if they hid behind rocks. The sounds of clustered gunshots and hand grenades exploding prevented them from discerning where the ¡®revived¡¯ sniper was. In this situation, every one of them was a live target and would be reporting to hell one second after Xia Lei locked on to him.
With the thinning of their numbers, the Imic militants begun to make their escape but they were unable to escape the palm of Death¡¯s hand in the end. The White Rock tribesmen used the heavy machine guns installed on the pickup trucks and shot crazily at them. The ones lucky enough to avoid being hit by the machine gun bullets were not lucky enough to avoid Xia Lei¡¯s sniping and they fell one by one in their escape.
Bang! The modified sniper rifle roared and a bullet shot from the muzzle, going through the heart of an Imic militant at least 700 metres away in an instant. This was thest target and Xia Lei put away his sniper rifle after thest victim fell and slid down the tree.
His taut nerves were fully rxed then and after returning to ground, Xia Lei sat himself on the ground and took deep gasping breaths. He had sniped at least 50 Imic militants in this battle. Add the battle fromst night and that meant that he had killed over 60 people in 24 hours!
America¡¯s ¡®most deadly marksman¡¯ Chris Kyle had killed over 160 people in Iraqi battlefields but that was over the course of a few years. Xia Lei had killed over 60 in a day, and all through sniping.
If Chris Kyle were to go up against Xia Lei, then he would be the one who would wind up dead, not Xia Lei. There was no one who could triumph over Xia Lei in this world because his left eye was something no one could surpass or copy!
¡®Fifty two... Long Bing was right. I don¡¯t feel anything after killing more people. Will I be a cold-blooded person?¡¯ This question popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s mind after he¡¯d calmed down.
He would not have done this given the choice but this was a battlefield - kill or be killed. He had no choice.
¡°Lei!¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s voice came from below the hill. ¡°Where are you?¡±
Down below, the Bureau 101 agents and White Rock tribesmen started cleaning up the field. They shot those they found still breathing. No mercy for terrorists. Tang Yu-Yan did not join them but climbed up the hill to look for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had pissed her off earlier but she¡¯d been mad for just a little bit; she was still most concerned about Xia Lei after the battle was over.
¡°I¡¯m up here!¡± Xia Lei put his thoughts in order when he heard Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s voice. He took the scope he had removed from the sniper rifle out of his rucksack and re-equipped it.
Tang Yu-Yan quickly appeared in his field of vision with a first-aid kit in her hand.
Xia Lei got to his feet and walked towards her. A piercing pain came from his buttock as he walked and only then did he remember that his buttock was injured.
Tang Yu-Yan stepped quickly to him and asked in concern, ¡°How¡¯s your wound?¡±
Xia Lei turned to look at his bloodstained butt and smiled wryly. ¡°Not affecting anything, just my trousers can¡¯t be worn anymore.¡±
¡°Why are you concerned about trousers at a time like this?¡± Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, then her gazended on the sniper rifle in his hand. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that the scope was damaged?¡± she asked in surprise.
¡°I fixed it.¡± Xia Lei had an answer prepared. ¡°How could I fight otherwise?¡±
¡°Do you know how many enemies you killed?¡± Tang Yu-Yan believed Xia Lei¡¯s lie.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Uh, about...¡±
How many should he say to not appear too outstanding?
This was a problem.
At that moment, the voice of an agent of Bureau 101 came from over themunications device, ¡°Oh my heavens! Section Chief Tang, Consultant Xia has killed... killed 52 enemies! Heavens!¡±
tter! The first-aid kit in Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s hand dropped to the ground. Her jaw seemed to have followed the kit and her little mouth could not close.
Xia Lei pretended to be confused. ¡°Huh... He must¡¯ve counted wrong. I didn¡¯t keep a close count either so I don¡¯t know how many enemies I¡¯ve killed.¡±
It was actually quite obvious which enemies had been killed by a sniper bullet. It was useless for him to feign ignorance since the people cleaning up the battlefield could easily tell which person had been killed by a sniper bullet and determine the number.
Tang Yu-Yan snapped back to her senses and gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°Long Bing was touted as the best sniper in Bureau 101 but now I think she¡¯s not even worthy enough to hold your shoes.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Tang Yu-Yan smiled as she said, ¡°I¡¯ll tell Boss Shi when we get back. You¡¯re going to be our Bureau 101¡¯s Chief Sniper.¡±
¡°No!¡± said Xia Lei hurriedly, ¡°Don¡¯t tell your godfather this. I don¡¯t want to be a Chief Sniper. Don¡¯t get me toe on missions like these anymore - I am just an honest businessman.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll talk about thister. Turn your butt around and let me have a look. I¡¯ll bandage it up.¡± Tang Yu-Yan opened the first-aid kit to get ready to treat Xia Lei¡¯s wound.
Tang Yu-Yan was ready to be a field-doctor but Xia Lei did not move. ¡°Uh, my wound isn¡¯t going to get in the way. There¡¯s no need,¡± he said awkwardly.
¡°This is an order! Turn around!¡± Tang Yu-Yan was fierce. ¡°Besides, I¡¯m a girl and I¡¯m not giving up on you so why are you shying away? Stop blithering! Hurry up!¡±
Xia Lei hesitated but still turned around in the end.
Tang Yu-Yan reached her hand out and peeled away the torn fabric from his buttock. She saw the terrible wound in the muscle beneath and her brows wrinkled. ¡°Better take your trousers off. I¡¯ve got to stitch your wound.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei stared nkly.
¡°Take them off!¡± Tang Yu-Yan became fiercer. ¡°This is the battlefield, so do away with courtesies! You think your wound is not going to get in the way, but look! Look at this big and deep wound! What will you do if it gets infected because it wasn¡¯t stitched? If you lose your mobility and we run into Imic militants again, who¡¯s going to snipe them?¡±
Xia Lei twisted behind to take a look. He first saw Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s angry red face, then the horrible wound. He¡¯d studied medicine too and he knew that a wound like this would easily get infected if not treated. It could be inmed and fester - troublesome and dangerous. However, he was ufortable with letting a beauty like Tang Yu-Yan sew up his bare butt.
¡°You¡¯re not going to take them off? Then I will!¡± Tang Yu-Yan reached out and grabbed ahold of Xia Lei¡¯s belt.
¡°Okay, okay, okay, I¡¯ll do it myself!¡± Xia Lei cracked and he braced himself as he released his belt and slowly pulled his trousers down. He¡¯d only pulled his trousers down; he was not willing to remove his underwear.
As he removed his trousers, Tang Yu-Yan suddenly grabbed his underwear and yanked. His bloody butt was exposed to the air.
¡°You... What are you doing?¡± cried Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me you want me to sew your butt and your underwear together,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei had no words.
Tang Yu-Yan threaded the surgical needle and squatted behind Xia Lei¡¯s behind. She pinched his wound with one hand as she poked his torn flesh with the other.
¡°Ssss...¡± There was no anesthetic and the pain made Xia Lei draw breath.
¡°Come on! Show me your bravery! Don¡¯t be a sissy!¡± Tang Yu-Yan provoked Xia Lei with her words.
¡°Do you have an anesthetic?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t stand the painny longer.
¡°I got one but I¡¯m not giving it to you,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Anesthetic will slow the closing of the wound. You need to get well as quickly as you can so you can¡¯t have anesthetic.¡±
¡°You.. You¡¯re so cruel. I won¡¯t give you an anesthetic either if you ever hurt your butt and need it stitched!¡±
These words made Tang Yu-Yan imagine a scenario. In her head, her luscious, bare, white buttocks were exposed to the air and Xia Lei was holding a surgical needle, giving her stitches one by one as drool crept down the corners of his mouth. This imagery annoyed her and she suddenly swung her hand,nding a p on Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks.
Pah! The just-stitched wound split open again, just a little bit.
¡°ARGH---¡± A scream echoed in the canyon.
Chapter 293 - Chewing Gum On The Bamiyan Buddha
The bodies of over a hundred Imic militants were abandoned in the valley to be food for the wolves and crows. The convoy went through the canyon and onward on their way. Several of the White Rock Tribe had died in this battle and two of the Bureau 101 agents were sacrificed. There was no avoiding this as battles meant lost lives. This was actually also the best result. If it had not been for Xia Lei and his personally modified sniper rifle, all of them would have died there; not one would have left the canyon alive.
Kabir and his men abandoned one of the pickup trucks. One now led in front and one stayed at the back to cover the end. This was the advantage of having paid them - even though half of them had perished, they still had to fulfil the dual roles of guide and bodyguards. However, this was not because of work ethics but because the bnce of 500,000 had not been paid yet.
Tang Yu-Yan drove their car right behind the leading vehicle. She watched the road and asionally nced over at Xia Lei in the passenger seat. For some inexplicable reason, every time she looked at him she would recall his buttocks, and what hung between his legs. Her face turned strangely red because of this and she felt embarrassed and ashamed.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, did not notice all this. He held a map and read it, looking for their destination. The map belonged to Tang Yu-Yan and a red mark circled an area on the map, deep in Bamiyan Valley. It was about 150 kilometres away from the famed Bamiyan Buddhas. The circle-mark was the destination for this rescue mission and based on their current speed, they would get there at nightfall, no incidents permitting.
¡°Our numbers are dwindling. How are we going back if we can¡¯t use the way we¡¯vee?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence in the car.
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about this. Didn¡¯t I tell you? Every mission has several ns and this mission is no different. If we can¡¯t go back the way we came we can return through the Wakhan Corridor*. Afghanistan borders ournd and the Wakhan Corridor was part of the old Silk Road too. We can go back through there,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Oh.¡± Xia Lei made just a small sound of acknowledgement before his gaze returned to the map, sweeping over the names of ces and grumbling silently to himself ¡®My father must know that I¡¯m in Afghanistan. It¡¯s possible that he knows that I¡¯ve been in battle. Will he take the initiative to appear and meet me? If he doesn¡¯t, then where could he be...?¡¯
These questions gued him.
¡°You look like you have something on your mind. Penny for your thoughts?¡± asked Tang Yu-Yan probingly.
Xia Lei put the map away and said with a smile, ¡°Nothing much. I was just thinking how I can avoid paying the next 500,000 to Kabir.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan shook her head. ¡°We cannot lose his trust. How will we work with them afterwards? Even if we don¡¯t go back the way we came we will still pay the remaining 500,000. We have nock of money - we justck friends.¡± She then rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°You really are a miser. Are all businessmen like this?¡±
Xia Lei just smiled. His aim was to distract Tang Yu-Yan and he had done it.
At that moment, the gunner on the pickup truck in front suddenly started shouting and looked rather panicky. Xia Lei did not understand what he said but Tang Yu-Yan cried out in rm, ¡°American drones!¡±
Xia Lei was rmed. He stuck his head out the window and looked up in the sky. A flying object had indeed appeared and it was about 3,000 metres up in the air. The gunman who¡¯d spotted it could only see a blurry image of it but Xia Lei could see it clearly. It was an American Predator. It boasted two rounds of air-to-surface guided missiles. He also made out the Stars and Stripes on the drone and all its military unit numbers and serial number.
What woulde, woulde. This was a battlefield dominated by American troops andst night¡¯s defeat meant that some people would definitely not take it lying down.
¡°Hit it down!¡± Tang Yu-Yan issued the order.
A Bureau 101 agent climbed out of a Ford Raptor behind them. He had a surface-to-air missileuncher mounted on his shoulder.
The drone in the air abruptly increased altitude and flew to one side.
¡°It¡¯s gone.¡± The Bureau 101 agent¡¯s voice came from over themunications device. ¡°I did not manage to lock-on to it in time.¡±
¡°Stay in the vehicle. Keep on the alert in case ites back again,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
The drone did not fly fast and it would be difficult for it to avoid being shot down if someone managed to get it in his sights. The person controlling it must have discovered the situation on the ground and dodged.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem its aim was to attack us. It had a chance to shoot at us but it didn¡¯t. It may be checking us out.¡±
¡°Those guys must be keeping an eye on us. They attacked us openlyst night. Think we can be bullied? If it dares show itself again I¡¯ll have it shot down.¡± A trace of arrogance appeared between Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s brows.
Xia Lei did not engage in conversation. He watched the sky with a brooding expression.
Things had got to this point. He was increasingly sure that the CIA had marked him. The mysterious soldiersst night, and the drone earlier were all targeting him. The drone had not fired its explosives earlier not because the person from the CIA was kind-hearted but because they wanted him alive, not a burnt corpse!
At that thought, a familiar face appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s head. He let out an internal sigh. ¡®The CIA wants to catch me... I wonder if she¡¯s participating?¡¯
She, Liang Si-Yao. A woman he would never forget in this lifetime.
If Liang Si-Yao took part in this mission and they met on the battlefield - would she fire at him?
The drone did not appear again. The shoulder-mounted aircraft-missileuncher was at the ready and the drone would definitely be turned into scrap metal if it appeared again. However, Xia Lei believed that the CIA would track his movements through American military satellites even if the drone did note to check on him.
The journey afterwards was much quieter and nothing unusual happened, all the way to nightfall.
¡°The Bamiyan Buddhas are ahead.¡± Kabir¡¯s voice came from over themunications device. ¡°Let¡¯s rest there. Our vehicles need petrol and we need to eat.¡±
¡°All right. We¡¯ll take a break of half an hour,¡± Tang Yu-Yan replied.
The convoy stopped at a patch of empty ground by the road. Xia Lei alighted with the sniper rifle; it was not leaving his hands now. He also had a big box of bullets with him in his rucksack at all times. This was the only way he would have a sense of security in thisnd.
The Bamiyan Buddhas were before their eyes but they were not huge, sacred Buddha statues any longer - they had been turned into piles of rubble. One could still make out the outlines of the buddha statues from the mass of rock and it was a spectacr sight.
The White Rock tribesmen got busy. They refuelled the vehicles and filled the water container; some took out food and distributed it. The Bureau 101 agents did not sit idle either - some checked the cars, weapons and equipment and some handed out dry rations and liquids.
Xia Lei received a share too - a packet of high-calorie beef jerky and a bottle of mineral water. He walked to the base of the Bamiyan Buddhas after receiving his food. The wound on his buttock was not better and his gait was off when he walked.
¡°What are you going there for?¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked curiously at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked back at her. ¡°To relieve myself. Is that a problem?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan smiled. ¡°No problem. You be careful. Don¡¯t get bitten by a snake or something, or you won¡¯t be able to get relief.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The degree of joking between them had increased with familiarity.
Xia Lei relieved himself behind a rock, then continued on his way to the Bamiyan Buddhas. He was not a devout Buddhist but its ancient air and the great change which had been wrought upon it piqued his curiosity. This was a miracle over 1,500 years old and he had to have a look at it since he¡¯de all this way.
The two statues were 400 metres apart from each other, one in the east and one in the west. The one in the east had beenpletely obliterated and the one in the west had been sted too but the torso remained and he could see the body of the Buddha statue.
Xia Lei walked towards the Buddha statue in the west. He came to its feet and looked at the headless torso as his heart filled with wonder. People 1,500 years ago had created this miracle and built it with their own two hands, but the Imic militants had used explosives to destroy it. Why could one religion not let another be?
He looked at it quietly for a while and then looked away, prepared to return to the convoy. Just as he was about to leave, a small piece of something white and shapeless stuck on the Buddha¡¯s foot caught his attention.
It was a piece of chewed chewing gum.
Who could be so disrespectful as to do something so uncultured?
The piece of chewing gum on the Buddha¡¯s foot excited Xia Lei. He pulled lightly at it and, as expected, found a roll of something hard in the soft gum. He pulled it apart to find the rolled up paper inside.
Lines of familiar handwriting met his eyes when he unrolled the paper: Why didn¡¯t you heed my warning to note to Afghanistan? You¡¯ve been marked by the CIA and they will not let you off. Your destination is the White Hun* Tribe. I know I can¡¯t stop you from going there now. Leave your friends when you get here. I¡¯ll get Yelena to meet you.
Xia Lei activated his left eye and checked his surroundings. The darkness was no hindrance at all to his vision; he could currently see the insects crawling on the rock a thousand metres away. However, he did not see his father nor the blonde-haired Russian woman, Yelena.
¡°Hey! You done?¡± came Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s voice, ¡°We should get going!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be right there!¡± replied Xia Lei, and he turned and started walking to the convoy.
This time, he ate the paper but not the chewing gum. He just casually threw it into a crack in the rocks.
The White Hun Tribe - what sort of ce was it?
Chapter 294 - Tang Sanzang and the Country of Women
Night descended and the convoy travelled in the darkness of the valley. The cars¡¯ heamps chased the dark away, but just one small part of it. The mountains on either side of the road sat like giants - curious, strange, and making one feel a sense of iparable ancient-ness and majesty. They appeared like mysterious warriors guarding some secret and would crush the puny humans to bits under their feet at any moment.
The road got rougher and rougher in the valley, and narrower and narrower till it had turned into a goat path. The convoy was forced to stop.
¡°Mr Kabir, have you led us to the wrong ce?¡± Tang Yu-Yan alighted and asked.
Kabir shook his head. ¡°I am familiar with every inch of Afghan soil. The ce you want to go is the Bamiyan Valley, and this is that ce. We are now in the deepest part of the valley. My job is done. Can you pay me the rest of the money now?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan wrinkled her brows. ¡°Our deal is for you to bring us back safely to White Rock Tribe territory before we pay you the remaining amount of 500,000 US dors, not now.¡±
¡°Half the men I brought have died. Should I not ask for that money in advance?¡± Kabir¡¯s face darkened.
The White Rock tribesmen surreptitiously raised the muzzles of their guns. Two of them released the safety on their guns and looked prepared to shoot at any moment.
Behind Tang Yu-Yan, the surviving five agents spread out and raised the guns in their hands slightly.
The atmosphere became tense immediately.
At that moment, Xia Lei pushed the car door open and stepped out. He carried the modified sniper rifle in his hands, and a handgun suitable for closebat. He walked slowly to Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s side. He just stood there, not doing anything.
Kabir and the White Rock tribesmen gew nervous at Xia Lei¡¯s appearance. They were not afraid of Tang Yu-Yan and the Bureau 101 agents but Xia Lei was like abat-god in their eyes. Who would dare be hasty with him around?
All traces of friendliness left Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s face and her voice turned cold. ¡°Mr Kabir, I see you as a friend. We also have the best reputation in this area. Would I stiff you on your 500,000 bill? Is there a need to make ite to this?¡±
Kabir turned around and pped the underling with the highest-raised gun. He spoke angrily, ¡°Bastard! Is there something wrong with your head? Put your gun away!¡±
The White Rock tribesmen put their guns away.
Kabirughed sheepishly. ¡°My apologies, Mrs Yang. My men don¡¯t understand. We are not the enemy - we are friends.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s expression softened. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± She spread the map in her hands and held it out to Kabir. ¡°You can collect payment early too, of course. Bring us to the ce marked on the map.¡±
Kabir took a good look at it and his expression grew sombre. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me that the ce you want to go to is this ce?¡±
¡°I know that there is an ancient tribe there. Take us there and you can get your money earlier,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°No.¡± Kabir shook his head hard. ¡°That is White Hun Tribe territory. I will not go there; I advise you against it too.¡±
Xia Lei watched their exchange. He had been interacting with the Pashtunnguage for two days already and could understand a little now but he still could not understand their conversation entirely. However, he could tell from Tang Yu-Yan holding the map that she wanted Kabir to take them to the spot marked on the map.
Xia Lei thought quietly to himself, ¡®The ce marked on the map must be the White Hun Tribe Dad mentioned. Based on Kabir¡¯s reaction, he seems to dread that ce very much.¡¯
Tang Yu-Yan spoke again, ¡°Bring us there. I will pay you an additional 500,000 US dors.¡±
Hesitation was writ all over Kabir¡¯s face. A million US dors. This was a huge amount of money to the White Rock Tribe. If he could get this money, then the White Rock Tribe could get more peoplebat-ready. More importantly, his status within the tribe would get a great boost if he got this money!
However, fear struck his heart as he thought of that ancient tribe and the myths surrounding it. He could not reach a decision.
¡°What are you afraid of with my husband around? Have you seen the equipment we brought? I will gift them to you if we leave that tribe alive,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
The corners of Kabir¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°Including that shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan nodded. ¡°Of course. Not just that - you can have target-seeking missiles too.¡±
¡°Deal.¡± The additional benefits finally swayed Kabir.
Man died for riches while birds died for food - this expression seemed to apply worldwide.
Ten minutester, the convoy set off again. Kabir had had two of his men stay behind to watch the cars and he led them personally along the goat path and deeper in.
The path grew narrower and narrower, coiling about the mountains till it became a dangerous little road between cliffs.
Kabir walked right in front and Tang Yu-Yan followed right behind him, with Xia Lei behind her. After him came five Bureau 101 agents and four armed White Rock tribesmen. Twelve of them went forward, scraping through the gap. They felt their way forward and little stones rolled down the cliff, kicked down by the scuffling of feet and making hair-raising knocking sounds.
Xia Lei looked up asionally at the inky-ck sky. He couldn¡¯t help thinking if there was a satellite focused on their area and keeping them under surveince.
¡°Mrs Yang, could you tell us why you¡¯re going to the White Hun Tribe?¡± Kabir asked after a while.
¡°We have a few experts who are trapped in that area and we want to bring them home,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°This is just a regr mission.¡±
¡°How much does your side know?¡±
¡°Nothing at all,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan, ¡°I am a soldier. It is my duty to go on missions.¡±
Kabir smiled wryly. ¡°You really should find out more about that area. If you know enough, you may not be as brave in going to the White Hun Tribe.¡±
Xia Lei understood some of what he said and quietly nudged Tang Yu-Yan in the waist before leaning in to her ear and saying in a low voice, ¡°Ask him. We need more information on the White Hun Tribe.¡±
¡°I know, I don¡¯t need you to remind me.¡± Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. Her ear itched with him talking to her like this.
Xia Lei shrugged and stopped talking. Kabir and Tang Yu-Yan conversing in Pashto was a sort of help in his learning of thenguage too; the more they talked, he quicker he learnt.
The AE pills had given his left eye powers and he¡¯d thought all along that only his left eye had been changed, but he had a new question to solve with the increase in his learning and grasping of skills. The AE pills had most probably changed his brain, letting him reach a level of genius that was unimaginable.
His body too - before his left eye¡¯s awakening, his body had no ounce of its current great coordination and nimble reflexes. It was difficult to prove this, however, as it was different from his left eye where he could feel it and use it at any time.
As Xia Lei was lost in thought, Tang Yu-Yan went back to the topic of the White Hun Tribe. ¡°Mr Kabir, you said that you are familiar with every inch of Afghan soil, so you must know a lot about the White Hun Tribe. Please tell me.¡±
Kabir nodded. ¡°The White Hun Tribe is an ancient native pastoral tribe. They once invaded Persia and India and they were the ones who established the Kingdom of Shu*. They worship fire. The tribe we want to go to is also called the Fire-worshipping Tribe. It has at least 1,000 years of history and is extremely mysterious...¡±
Tang Yu-Yan tranted Kabir¡¯s words for Xia Lei in a low voice without interrupting Kabir¡¯s narrative.
Kabir added, ¡°That tribe is in the mountains, disconnected from the world because they maintain their traditions and beliefs. Women rule over everything in that tribe and one woman usually marries several men. The men have no rights to speak of. The people guarding the tribe are also female warriors.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan tranted this for Xia Lei and he could not help saying, ¡°Is this tribe the legendary ¡®country of women¡¯? It was described in ¡®Journey to the West¡¯ and Tang Sanzang went to the country of women.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan tranted Xia Lei¡¯s words for Kabir and he chuckled, ¡°I have heard of your ¡®Journey to the West¡¯. It is an impressive book of folklore. I have not read it and I don¡¯t know of any Tang Sanzang, but if any one named thus had travelled there, then it is likely the same.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yu-Yan was too surprised herself to trante.
A scene of Tang Sanzang on his white horse with a group of female demons around him popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head. The demons surrounded Tang Sangzang and were doing a sexy belly-dance, then touching his body here and there... What Xia Lei wanted to know was - what had Ning Jing and China¡¯s best experts gone to that ce to study?
¡°Heh heh, I don¡¯t want to talk about folktales.¡± Kabir¡¯s expression grew serious. ¡°What I want to tell you is to not underestimate the women of that tribe. Theirbat power is startling and every female warrior is prepared to face death. It will be difficult to escape thatnd alive once you are viewed as intruders.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan wrinkled her brows. ¡°What weapons do they use? What are their numbers?¡±
¡°Maybe spears. Maybe bow and arrow. Maybe swords and other weapons,¡± said Kabir, ¡°As for how many - I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°But they are female tribal warriors. What is there to be afraid of?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Kabir smiled wryly. ¡°Know why I¡¯m so afraid to go to the White Hun Tribe? During invasion of the Soviet Union, a whole battalion of soldiers went to the White Hun Tribe but only one returned. That person is my brother. He became mad soon after his escape and died.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan tranted Kabir¡¯s word for Xia Lei and he was struck by a thought, ¡°Mr Kabir, did your brother tell you why those troops went to the tribes? What did they go there to do?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan tranted and Kabir shook his head. ¡°They carried guns and forced my brother to lead the way. You think those Soviet soldiers would tell my brother any important secrets?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan tranted, then looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei, like Tang Yu-Yan, had a sombre expression on his face.
This was a mystery, but what could be confirmed was that something had drawn those soldiers there, and maybe drawn Ning Jing and the Chinese experts too...
Chapter 295 - Assassin and Blood
A forest blocked their way at daybreak after a night¡¯s trek. Towering peaks on all sides blocked the airflow, making the temperature warm and humid. This climate was advantageous for the nts¡¯ growth and the forest before them was so dense there seemed to be no end to it. There was a great diversity of nts too and subtropical nts could be seen everywhere here.
The group entered the forest behind Kabir and continued their onward march. Four of the White Rock tribesmen used knives to chop at the thorns and vines. Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei walked behind Kabir, in the middle of the group. Their progress was slow. Tang Yu-Yan held an electronic device in her hand which disyed a satellite image and a shing red signal-dot. That red dot shed quietly, guiding the team forward.
That red dot was the distress signal sent by the team of Chinese experts.
¡°We¡¯ll be able to rescue our people without alerting the warriors of the White Hun Tribe if we¡¯re lucky,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei had a different opinion. ¡°Didn¡¯t you fail thest time? Don¡¯t be too optimistic. I think we need a n in case we need to face the White Hun Tribe - not a pre-prepared n but an updated one.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan chuckled. ¡°You said it was the country of women that Tang Sangzang went to, right? Sacrifice your chastity a little and let the White Hun tribes-women make you their husband. If you get one of them pregnant with a girl that girl may even end up being their queen.¡±
¡°Fuck off,¡± said Xia Lei.
After walking for a while more, the sun had well and truly risen. Kabir looked back at them. ¡°Let¡¯s take a breather here. We are in the forest so the American drones cannot spy on us.¡±
The main reason for them travelling at night was to avoid the surveince and attack of American drones, as well as to avoid the Imic militants. There was practically no need to worry about the American and Imic forces by entering this deserted, thick forest in the depths of the mountains - the only thing they had to worry about was the White Hun tribe. There had been so sign of them so far.
¡°All right, let¡¯s take a break.¡± Tang Yu-Yan issued the order.
The Bureau 101 agents stopped to rest and eat, replenishing some strength to their bodies.
Tang Yu-Yan sat her ass under a tree; she was dog-tired too.
¡°Hubby, get me a piece of jerky. And a bottle of water.¡± Tang Yu-Yan spoke like she was issuingmands to her henpecked husband.
Xia Lei opened his rucksack and took out a packet of beef jerky and a bottle of mineral water. As he was about to toss these items on herp, his gaze was drawn to the area above her head.
A snake the colour of the tree trunk had slid soundlessly down towards Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s head. Its camouge was as good as a chameleon¡¯s and it blended perfectly with the tree trunk. Xia Lei would not have been able to spot it if it weren¡¯t for his left eye¡¯s extreme sensitivity to colour-change.
This snake had a long, thin tail; characteristic of a venomous snake.
¡°What are you spacing out for?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan with a smile, ¡°You have the look of a pervert.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly drew the dagger from his waist and threw. The dagger shed, grazing the top of Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s head as it flew past and embedded itself in the tree trunk with a thunk.
Tang Yu-Yan was startled. ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡±
¡°Look behind you.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan looked back and saw the venomous snake pinned to the tree trunk. Its mouth was already open and just inches from the top of her head. Snake blood dripped down the trunk and onto her neck; cool, cold.
Xia Lei walked over and plucked the dagger from the trunk. The snake¡¯s body was pulled off the trunk with his dagger and there were still some signs of movement. He threw it to the ground and smashed its triangr head with a stomp.
Kabir came over and his expression changed. ¡°This type of snake is called the ¡®assassin¡¯. It is an ancient snake species of thisnd. If the snake venom enters your blood you will die in one minute - there is no anti-venom.¡±
A fatal venom and clever camouge - the name of ¡®assassin¡¯ was appropriate for this snake. It was the assassin of the forest.
Kabir looked at Tang Yu-Yan and spoke again, anxiously, ¡°Mrs Yang, you must wash away the snake blood on you. Its blood is extremely venomous and it will make your skin burn as if with allergy.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan grew anxious at his words and climbed to her feet immediately to run to a ce with no one else around. She ran for a bit, then abruptly turned her head back to look at Xia Lei and yell, ¡°Why are you standing there? Come help!¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Me?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan red.
Her eyes seemed to say: Is another man going toe help me if you don¡¯t?
Xia Lei bit the bullet and went after her.
The two of them came to a patch of thick forest close to where they had made camp. Tang Yu-Yan hurriedly removed her jacket. There were lines of blood down her back - the assassin¡¯s venomous blood.
Xia Lei gaze went to her purple bra and he forced himself to say, ¡°It¡¯s on your bra too... You should take it off. For safety. Don¡¯t wear your bra anymore.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s jade-pale face coloured red. She turned to re at Xia Lei. ¡°You did it on purpose, didn¡¯t you? Revenge for yesterday when I stitched up your buttock, right?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Whatever you want to think. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you if you have skin ulcerations and die here because of it.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan gritted her teeth, undecided.
¡°This is a battlefield and there¡¯s no room for courtesies. Didn¡¯t you say that? Hurry up! You don¡¯t have time to waste!¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yu-Yan forced herself to move her hand to her clothing as she said, ¡°No looking! Close your eyes!¡±
Xia Lei did not close his eyes. He unscrewed the cap of the bottle of mineral water, prepared to wash the snake blood off her back.
Tang Yu-Yan took off her clothing. ¡°Seen enough? Hurry up!¡± she said abashedly.
Xia Lei drew close and sshed water at her back as he reached his hand out to wipe.
¡°Are you done?¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s neck was red; she was anxious.
Xia Lei continued rubbing at her back. ¡°Why are you rushing me? What will you do if your skin¡¯s destroyed because it wasn¡¯t washed properly? You don¡¯t care as much about your life as having something leave a scar on your body, huh?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan scoffed, ¡°I knew you did it on purpose! You must have, otherwise you¡¯d have killed the snake from further off, right?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Of course it wasn¡¯t on purpose! Still, this could be counted as repayment for her seeing his buttocks.
The cleaning was finished. ¡°Done,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan did not dare turn back. She spoke fiercely, ¡°Give me your jacket.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°For what?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan sighed, ¡°I can¡¯t wear my clothes anymore. You can¡¯t let me go back like this, right?¡±
Xia Leiugh-cried. He took off his jacket and draped it on Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s shoulders. He was left with a sweatshirt but the temperature was not low here so he did not feel cold.
Tang Yu-Yan put on Xia Lei¡¯s jacket, her face still red. She looked at Xia Lei like a wolf looking at a rabbit.
Xia Lei turned and walked off. ¡°No need to thank me. We¡¯re even.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll settle the score with youter!¡± said Tang Yu-Yan huffily.
Xia Lei pretended not to hear.
¡°Wait!¡± Tang Yu-Yan suddenly called.
Xia Lei turned back. ¡°Anything else?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan reached out her hand and pointed.
Xia Lei saw a tree where Tang Yu-Yan pointed, and a skeleton hanging from its trunk. It had been prated by a spear which crushed its ribs and was holding it to the trunk.
How terrifyingly strong must the owner of the spear be for the spearhead to be entirely embedded in the tree trunk after prating a human body?!
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces with Tang Yu-Yan. The two of them did not speak but they walked to the body at the same time.
There was still some part of clothing on the skeleton - a Soviet uniform. Items had dropped from the skeleton too; a rusty de, a pair of long boots and a mouldy wallet.
¡°It feels like...¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s expression was sombre, ¡°The person who killed him must¡¯ve been stronger than an ox. Scary strength.¡±
¡°You think it¡¯s the female warriors of the White Hun Tribe?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Women?¡± Tang Yu-Yan shook her head. ¡°Other than women who¡¯ve trained from childhood like me, even professional soldiers won¡¯t have strength like this, right?¡±
She evidently did not believe that the women of the White Hun Tribe had such strength. But this was the White Hun Tribe territory - who could have killed this Soviet soldier other than them?
Xia Lei picked up the mouldy wallet and opened it. There were still a few Soviet-era rubles and a military identification card in it but the card was too decayed to decipher.
¡°The person who killed him did not take his money,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°This makes me think that it should be the female warriors of the White Hun Tribe. Money is no use here.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan looked about in rm. ¡°You think we¡¯ve been marked?¡±
¡°Not for now, but it¡¯ll only be a matter of time as we continue making our way through this forest,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan thought for a bit. ¡°Don¡¯t tell Kabir of this when we get back. He still has four men. They can hold still the enemy off for a bit if there¡¯s going to be a fight. He can still be used.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. He knew that Tang Yu-Yan did not want to spook Kabir lest he took his men and left.
Back at camp, Kabir smiled as he asked, ¡°All done?¡±
¡°Yes. My husband helped to clean the snake blood off,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Kabir stared straight at Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s chest. Her breasts had not sagged at all without a bra - it looked even more voluptuous. No man could resist looking at a chest like this with covetous eyes.
Tang Yu-Yan felt some distaste but she did not act out. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±
¡°Yes, let¡¯s get moving.¡± Kabir finally stopped staring.
The group continued on their way.
A wind blew through the forest and the skeleton on the tree trunk made a strange sound as it swayed, as if telling a frightful story...
Chapter 296 - Female White Hun Warrior
Night in the basin came especially early and light was absent in the forest at six in the evening. The darkness descended earlier and the group stopped on an empty patch of ground to eat, drink and rest. They had not had a good sleep for three consecutive days and even the strongest men were unable to take it. Kabir and Tang Yu-Yan ordered a man each to keep guard while the rest slept on the grass.
Xia Lei fell asleep under a nket in under a minute and he was deaf to the rustling of the forest and calling of the insects. He had a dream of his father and himself chatting at home but he could not clearly hear what they chatted about. He then dreamt of Tang Yu-Yan. She stood topless before him. Those two snowy peaks were entirely exposed in front of him and the pretty little red nibs...
¡°Put your clothes on,¡± mumbled Xia Lei in his sleep,
¡°Pervert. What the hell are you dreaming about?¡± came a woman¡¯s voice.
¡°Yu-Yan, don¡¯t you hear what I¡¯m saying? Put your clothes on. I know yours are very big but you don¡¯t have to expose them, do you?¡± added Xia Lei.
¡°What? It¡¯s me?! And you¡¯re saying I¡¯m exposing them?¡± The woman who was talking grew angry from embarrassment and pped Xia Lei¡¯s cheek.
This p had not so much strength behind it but it still startled Xia Lei awake. He opened his eyes to see Tang Yu-Yan squatting next to him, ring angrily at him with reddish cheeks.
¡°You... Why are you here?¡± Xia Lei was more or less awake now.
¡°What were you mumbling about?¡± Tang Yu-Yan recalled Xia Lei¡¯s dream-speak and her jade cheeks reddened again.
¡°Did I say something?¡± Xia Lei fuzzily recalled that he had seen Tang Yu-Yan in his dream, and topless too. He was definitely not going to admit it though.
¡°Humph! Stinking man.¡± Tang Yu-Yan snorted. ¡°I¡¯m not going to bother to expose your lie. Go stand on guard - it¡¯s your turn.¡± She yawned. ¡°I should sleep for a bit too. I¡¯m sleepy.¡±
Xia Lei crawled out from under the nket and was about to put it away when Tang Yu-Yan grabbed his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t put it away. I¡¯ll sleep in yours.¡±
¡°I¡¯m a stinking man. Do you want to sleep under a nket where a stinking man slept?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan burrowed into his nkets and nted herself solidly in them. ¡°This is a battlefield. I¡¯m going to sleep in your nkets but this doesn¡¯t change the fact that you¡¯re a stinking man.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged and left, carrying the sniper rifle.
Tang Yu-Yan shut her eyes and went to sleep. She entered dreand and dreamt of a muscr butt. She was squatting behind that man and she sneakily looked between his legs...
Thoughts during the day and dreams at night - there was no avoiding this for her.
A White Rock Tribe militant stood on guard duty with Xia Lei and he very respectfully handed a cigarette to Xia Lei. Xia Lei shook his head to indicate that he did not smoke and the militant did not insist; he lit his own cigarette.
Xia Lei started a conversation in halting Pashtun and the militant was very surprised that he was able to use Pashtun to chat with him. He started talking excitedly to Xia Lei, correcting his mistakes as he went. Xia Lei asked several questions about the White Hun tribe but the White Rock Tribe militant knew not much more than he did.
Chatting in Pashto and having someone correct his mistakes helped Xia Lei learn at a speedparable to Lamborghini zooming on an airport runway.
The White Rock Tribe militant chatting with Xia Lei was stunned. Xia Lei had begun the conversation in halting Pashto, unable to speak a simple sentence fluently and also had grammatical mistakes. The more he chatted with Xia Lei, however, he discovered that Xia Lei¡¯s Pashto had be increasingly fluent and mistakes made became few and far between.
¡°Mr Yang, you¡¯re good! Have you learnt Pashto in the past?¡±
¡°I did. I learnt it for a year,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile, ¡°Adil my friend, I just forgot it for a while. See, I remembered the things I¡¯d learnt while chatting with you.¡±
Adil was this militant¡¯s name. He gave Xia Lei a thumbs-up. ¡°Mr Yang, you¡¯re the most impressive gunman I¡¯ve ever seen. I am in awe.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Can you keep guard for a bit? I need to answer the call of nature.¡±
¡°No problem, go ahead,¡± said Xia Lei.
Adil walked off towards the depths of the forest, plucking at the leaves of the shrubbery as he went.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and looked away from Adil. He kept watch for a bit and was then struck by a thought. He looked for a sky-scraping, ancient-looking tree and climbed up.
This ancient tree was at least a thousand years old and it was about 80 to 90 metres tall from root to crown, like a gigantic umbre blocking out the sky. Xia Lei climbed up to the treetop. This height and this t expanse made it easy for his left eye to see everything clearly within the radius of 4,000 metres.
The forest stretched before him, tree after tree with no start or end. Far off in the distance, peaks poked through the night sky, rarely-seen gleaming snowcaps visible under the cool moonlight. This great basin surrounded by mountains was like an otherworldly paradise written by a great poet, Tao Yuan-Ming, giving one the impression of a dreamscape.
The whole of Afghanistan was in the fires of war, except this ce.
¡®No tribe, no temples and no female White Hun warriors. What¡¯s this situation? We¡¯ve travelled in this forest for a whole day - if there really are female White Hun warriors then they should have turned up already, right?¡¯ Xia Lei could not figure out why.
¡°Unh...¡± A dull sound came from Adil¡¯s direction.
This was just a very soft sound, but it was carried by the wind to Xia Lei¡¯s ears. He looked over to the sound and the treetops and trunks in the way quickly disappeared. He saw Adil almost two minutester, and what he saw startled him so much he almost fell from the tree!
Adil had been impaled on a tree trunk with a spear. The spear had pierced through his chest and out his back, and the entire spearhead had been embedded in the tree trunk!
A woman walked into Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision.
She was a fairly strange woman - she had naturally wavy, wine-red hair, and her pointed face was painted. He was still able to tell that her eye colour was blue and as intimidating as cat eyes. She was big, tall; roughly the same as caucasian people. Her skin was not the pale white of caucasians but a yellow not unlike the skin of Asians.
The White Huns were Eurasian. This woman had two-thirds caucasian and one-thirds Asian blood. This interesting blend also fit Kabir¡¯s description.
¡®She¡¯s a female White Hun warrior? She¡¯s strong indeed!¡¯ Xia Lei did not hesitate; he raised his gun and took aim. However, he discovered a problem after he lifted the gun - his left eye could see her through X-ray vision but the sniper rifle bullet could not go through all the forest between them and kill the target!
A new situation developed just two secondster. More female White Hun warriors appeared out of the thick forest behind the first. Their faces were all painted and they were all clothed in simple cloth and animal leather skirts. Almost every one of them were tattooed with guardian spirits, dancing mes, savage beasts - these tattoos made them appear fierce.
The female White Hun warriors went towards the campsite, one by one. Some carried spears, some des or swords, some with strung bows and some held AK47s.
They were not all gunpower-free - the female White Hun warriors knew how to use guns too!
Female warriors walked out of the darkness one by one, fanning out and closing in on the campsite. They numbered over a hundred!
Xia Lei did not have the time to consider much more. He raised his gun again, chose a target with no trees in the way and pulled the trigger.
They had killed Adil upon their arrival, not asking why nor giving him any chances so this meant that there was no room for negotiation. Their aim was obvious, and that was to kill everyone!
How could Xia Lei be soft-hearted in a situation like this?
Bang! A gunshot shattered the silence of the night. The anger-driven bullet pierced through the chest of his target and blood, flesh and gristle sttered. Her corpse was thrown by the impact against the trunk of a tree.
¡°Enemy attack! Attack!¡± Tang Yu-Yan bellowed in rm.
nkets were thrown off in the campsite and the Bureau 101 agents and White Rock militants jolted from sleep to alertness. They grabbed their weapons and started firing. Unfortunately, it was blind shooting and they did not see where the enemy was.
Rat-tat-tat...
Bang bang bang...
Gunshots sounded and the trees in the way of the bullets were tattered by the onught.
¡°It¡¯s the White Hun women! It¡¯s them!¡± yelled Kabir in panic.
Sst! A feathered shaft flew from behind a trunk and went viciously into Kabir¡¯s throat. Kabir fell to the ground, grasping his bubbling throat. He did not die right away - his legs pushed against the ground and iled about but these actions were in vain.
Over ten female warriors rushed toward the towering tree Xia Lei was in. They were familiar with thisnd and had easily deduced where the person who had fired the stone-cold shot was hiding.
They could have killed everyone in the camp silently if it weren¡¯t for Xia Lei, but it seemed like they had to pay a certain price now and they hated Xia Lei for this reason.
These warriors were quick and they were also good at hiding themselves but all these were useless to Xia Lei¡¯s eye. He had already discovered them when they started going in his direction and had slid down the tree in time.
Xia Lei slung the sniper rifle across his back and ran in Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s direction, handgun in hand. He needed to be with Tang Yu-Yan!
¡°He¡¯s there!¡± A female White Hun warrior had spotted Xia Lei. She roared in anger and the spear in her hand sprang forth, straight at Xia Lei¡¯s back.
Xia Lei suddenly ttened himself to the ground and turned around. He pulled the trigger at the same time that the spear was flying past his head.
Bang bang bang!
Three shots, all centered in the chest of the White Hun warrior who had thrown the spear at him.
The White Hun held her chest as she copsed to the ground. She was strong but her strength was not greater than bullets.
Xia Lei did not dally. He rolled over and crawled to his feet, then dodged behind a tree.
Tat-tat-tat! Xia Lei had just dodged a spray of bullets aimed at the ground he¡¯d been on. AK47 bullets hit the ground, spraying up dirt and withered leaves.
A light suddenly shed past and it stopped in the forehead of the female White Hun warrior who had shot at Xia Lei with the AK47. It was a throwing knife - a straight de with no handle!
¡°Come with me!¡± It was Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei ran towards her voice.
Chapter 297 - No Escape
The forest was caged in the inky darkness of night. Xia Lei pulled Tang Yu-Yan along with him in a run in the dark; he was practically her eyes. Spears, arrows and bullets whooshed crazily behind them.
Kabir¡¯s three underlings had just found cover and were looking for targets. However, they¡¯d be targets themselves before they managed to fix on any targets of their own - three arrows shot down from the tree canopy and pierced their heads.
The Bureau 101 agents were hardier. They went straight intobat-mode after hearing Xia Lei¡¯s warning shot and dove into the closest bit of forest to hide behind the trees to return fire. Their shots were focused and they were used to battle. They were at a disadvantage but they did not appear flustered. The defence line they formed blocked the White Hun Tribe¡¯s first wave of attack and killed less than ten of the warriors.
However, they were only able to block the first wave. Enemies came from both sides a minuteter to tear them apart with AK47s and bows and arrows. Five Bureau 101 agents fell in pools of blood...
They hade to rescue people but had died in a strangend. Life is but once, and who was to judge whether their deaths were noble?
No one had the right to judge.
The only ones of the team to escape were Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan.
Tree after tree was left behind as they ran. There were no paths in the forest but both of them were practitioners of Tang Qinggong and the uneven ground was like t ground to them; they ran like the wind.
Even the White Hun warriors who were familiar with the terrain could not catch up with Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan, thanks to Tang Qinggong and Xia Lei¡¯s left eye. They had escaped their encirclement before it wasplete, bing fish which had escaped the.
They did not know how long nor how far they ran, but they ran till they fell to the ground in exhaustion, panting and gasping. Tang Yu-Yan, in particr, was gasping like a fish out of water, her chest rising and falling very visibly.
It was all dark above and there was no sound of gunshots, no swishing of arrows through the air, no footsteps and shouts of female White Hun warriors - just the rustling of the wind through the trees. The whole world was abnormally silent except for this small sound. It was so frighteningly quiet.
Tang Yu-Yan suddenly got to her feet a minuteter and started walking towards the campsite with fire in her eyes.
Xia Lei got to his feet as well and pulled Tang Yu-Yan to a stop. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to kill those women! Revenge for my men!¡± said Tang Yu-Yan angrily.
¡°Calm down!¡± Xia Lei had a heaviness in his voice. ¡°There¡¯s just the two of us and there are over a hundred of them. We¡¯ll die for nothing if we go!¡±
Tang Yu-Yan shook Xia Lei¡¯s hand off. ¡°You¡¯re a coward! A coward!¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t mind her calling him a coward; he understood how she felt. Those agents who had died in battle were her subordinates and had been in countless life-and-death missions with her. They had deep camaraderie through their battles. Even he felt terrible about the injustice of their deaths, so what must Tang Yu-Yan feel?
¡°You¡¯re not going? Then I will!¡± Tang Yu-Yan went back the way they came, fuming.
Xia Lei suddenly grabbed her by the waist and she thrust her elbow back to counterattack. They twisted, they fought, and they fell to the ground, rolling about on the forest floor. They wrestled for a bit before both calmed.
Tang Yu-Yan was not usually the sort of woman who would let her emotions get the better of her and she knew the consequences of herunching a counterattack - her fallenrades would note back to life and she would die herself. Who was going toplete the mission of rescuing the team of experts if she died?
¡°What are you still on top of me for?¡± Tang Yu-Yan calmed down. She was not angry about him doggedly trying to stop her. She would probably have done something very stupid if he had not stopped her when she was being impulsive.
Xia Lei stayed atop her, legs wrapped around hers with their lower bodies pressed together, not giving her an inch of space.
¡°I¡¯m fine now. You can let me go.¡± Tang Yu-Yan was beginning to feel ufortable. It hadn¡¯t been anything strange when she¡¯d lost control and gotten entangled with Xia Lei while being pushed to the ground but she was calm now and Xia Lei was still pressing against her intimately; it was a different feeling.
¡°Don¡¯t do anything reckless if I let you go. Promise me and I¡¯ll release you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I promise! Hurry up!¡± Tang Yu-Yan red at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei rxed his hold on Tang Yu-Yan but he still stayed near her, watching her warily. He was afraid that she would go to start a reckless counterattack out of revenge and he was prepared to wrap her with his arms and press her down again.
Tang Yu-Yan disyed no signs of recklessness. She got to her feet; she had forgotten to zip up her half-open jacket. She looked nkly in the direction of the campsite and two streams of tears came from the corners of her eyes. She made no sound but the sorrow she felt was the deepest.
Xia Lei let out a small sigh and said consolingly, ¡°We will surely get a chance to avenge them. Don¡¯t be too sad. They came here toplete a mission so the best way to respect their memory is toplete the mission.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan turned around abruptly and threw herself on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder, sobbing. Her crying was fairly controlled; she did not dare make too much noise. Her tears flowed in lines, wetting Xia Lei¡¯s sweatshirt.
Xia Lei patted her lightly on her back andforted her softly, ¡°Cry, go ahead and cry. You¡¯ll feel much better after crying it all out.¡±
Her bountiful bosom was squeezed against him and she was holding him lightly around the waist. His nose was filled with her scent too, but Xia Lei had no thoughts going in that direction, only heaviness. It was just him and Tang Yu-Yan left now and they were up against the entire White Hun Tribe. They still needed to rescue the trapped experts - was this possible?
He then thought of his father again.
The second note his father had left him said to lose Tang Yu-Yan after he got to the White Hun Tribe, and the Russian woman named Yelena would appear to meet him.
¡®How am I to lose Tang Yu-Yan in this situation? She¡¯s not emotionally stable right now. Besides, there are White Hun warriors in this forest. Dad won¡¯t risk sending his assistant Yelena to meet me, will he? Best to wait for a bit and act when the time is ripe,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
Just then, Tang Yu-Yan raised her head from his shoulder and wiped at her tears. ¡°I¡¯m fine now. Let¡¯s go. They won¡¯t give up on looking for us so we have to leave this ce as quickly as we can.¡±
The familiar Tang Yu-Yan was back.
¡°No need to rush. We need to take inventory. I have all of my equipment, and some dry rations and water. Yours?¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s equipment and food supplies were all in his rucksack and these things were naturally with him if he had his rucksack.
Tang Yu-Yan waved the gun in her hand at him, then pulled out a piece of electronic equipment from her clothing. The red signal bying the location of the experts was still shing quietly, glowing faintly red.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief when he saw the device. ¡°Good that we still have that. It¡¯ll be impossible to find the team of experts without it.¡±
¡°How many bullets do you have left?¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked at Xia Lei and the sniper rifle on his shoulder.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I top the bullets up after the end of every battle, so I always have over a hundred sniper rifle bullets. I have less for the handgun; 30.¡±
¡°Give me the handgun bullets. You can keep the sniper rifle bullets. I didn¡¯t have time to take my rucksack; my bullets are in it,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei handed the three magazines to Tang Yu-Yan. Those bullets were not important to him since he was not going to engage in closebat with those female White Hun warriors. He would ughter them at over 3,000 metres next time!
Tang Yu-Yan put the 30 bullets away and nced back in the direction of the campsite before leading Xia Lei in the direction indicated by the little red dot.
The White Hun warriors had not caught up. This was an indication of how quickly and how far Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan had run when fleeing for their lives.
¡°Do your best to step on the solid areas. Don¡¯t leave tracks,¡± said Xia Lei to the leading Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°You sure are meticulous. No need for your reminder. You think Ick experience whenpared to you?¡± Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Okay, treat it as if I¡¯ve said nothing. But don¡¯t me me for not reminding you when the female warriors of the White Hun Tribe catch up to us by following our tracks.¡±
¡°Lei, did you ever think that we¡¯d die here?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I am only thinking of how we¡¯re going to live on.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan couldn¡¯t help ncing at Xia Lei. She could not see clearly in the dark but she suddenly sensed a resilience that even she did not have from Xia Lei. He always had this confident air about him - he did not cave, no matter how nasty the environment. This him was very attractive.
She suddenly recalled the scene of her stitching Xia Lei¡¯s buttock.
¡°Any useable n for this sort of situation?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yanughed dryly. ¡°What pre-prepared n? We¡¯ll n as we go. First, we find them, then we n our exit.¡±
¡°Woof, woof, woof... ¡° The sounds of dogs came from the forest.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan froze at the same time.
The female White Hun warriors would not let them off because they had killed their people.
¡°Woof, woof, woof...¡± The dogs wereing, and fast.
¡°What do we do?¡± Tang Yu-Yan spoke anxiously, ¡°We have no way of outrunning four-legged hunters. The White Hun Tribe warriors will know where we are once the dogs catch up. There¡¯s just us two - there¡¯s no chance of us winning.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly looked up and at the canopy of the trees reaching skyward. ¡°Up the trees. We¡¯ll go by tree. Hunting dogs have good noses but they can¡¯t smell our footsteps in the air.¡±
As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Yu-Yan bent her legs and leapt. Her body left the ground and she had grabbed a tree branch metres in the air in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei Jumped up too but he was carrying more weight. The tree branch was high up too and he could not grab ahold of anything. He hurriedly grasped at Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s legs.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s body was pulled downward and she hurriedly tightened her grip on the tree branch.
¡°I¡¯m carrying the rucksack. I can¡¯t grab hold. Hold steady.¡± Xia Lei climbed up Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s body. He climbed past her perky butt and the softness of it made him strangely nervous.
He got up on the branch and reached out a hand to pull Tang Yu-Yan up but was met with the sight of her rolling her eyes. ¡°Shoo. I don¡¯t need your help!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged and climbed higher. He went up to where the tree canopies touched and jumped to the next tree. Behind him, Tang Yu-Yan did the same and transferred herself easily to another branch.
The two of them moved from canopy to canopy, like monkeys in a forest.
On the ground, ten hunting dogs came rushing over but they stopped at the first tree. The dogs searched in all directions, but they did not find anything more...
Chapter 298 - Women of the Tribe
The hunting dogs barked, disturbed, then were instantly quiet; they all sat obediently on their haunches.
A group of female White Hun warriors appeared from the thick forest. They held torches of fire and the crackling mes chased away the darkness of the forest. However, the mes were unable to shine light through the foliage. They could only light up over ten metres of the surrounding area and this was vastly inadequate.
¡°Damn. They lost the trail of those two,¡± said a female White Hun warrior.
An old matronly woman squatted on the ground and took a look, then touched the grass and looked up at the tree canopy above her head. She was the most experienced hunter in the White Hun Tribe. She seemed to have discovered something and she looked surprised.
Just then, a tall, sturdy woman walked to the old woman. Her features were delicate, and wonderfully spaced on her pretty face - a face so beautifully painting-like it couldn¡¯t be real. She looked like she had practically no Asian blood - head of long, blonde hair, skin as white as jade, eyes as blue as the bluest gems. She looked like a pure White Hun from the fifth or sixth century.
This woman¡¯s name was Dayetia, the chief of this isted White Hun Tribe. She hadmanded the previous battle and it was also she who had led the tribe¡¯s best on a chase after Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Dayetia, those two can¡¯t have disappeared up in to the sky. I suspect they¡¯ve climbed up the trees and away. Our dogs cannot climb trees. Those two are sly,¡± said the old woman.
A young warrior named Smy said, ¡°One man, one woman, both Chinese. I saw them with my own eyes. Amu was killed by that woman. She flung a throwing knife into Amu¡¯s brain and Amu died on the spot.¡±
Dayetia raised the torch in her hand high, lighting up the tree canopy. She quickly spotted a broken twig - the break looked fresh. She frowned at the discovery. ¡°Old one, you seem to be right. But how did those two Chinese manage to climb up such a tall tree? There are no marks on the trunk. If you say that the Chinese escaped via the trees, then are they monkeys?¡±
The freshly-broken twig was evidence and could prove that Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan had escaped via the trees, but no one was willing to believe it. People were not monkeys, and even they who lived in this forest were unable to do this, so how were those two Chinese people able to do it?
At that moment, a sound suddenly echoed from a tree to one side.
Smy immediately raised the AK47 in her hand and shot at the tree canopy. Her movements were fluid and the old, tattered AK47 seemed like part of her body.
The shot shattered the silence of the forest. A squirrel dropped from the canopy after the gunshot.
¡°Squirrel,¡±ughed a woman, ¡°Smy, you are the marksman of our tribe but you should not waste bullets on killing squirrels. It is not our enemy.¡±
Smy red at the woman mocking her but she did not dare act out against her in front of Dayetia. She had witnessed the might of those two Chinese people, so she was still tense, even now.
¡°Enough,¡± said Dayetia, ¡°Let¡¯s go back. We search again when it is light.¡±
¡°When it¡¯s light? That¡¯s a few hours and those two Chinese people will probably escape,¡± said the old woman.
¡°Yeah,¡± Smy added, ¡°Dayetia, we have lost their trail but we can split up and search. We are familiar with this forest. We will find them.¡±
The group of tribes-women agreed with what Smy had said.
¡°Those two Chinese people are strong, and very dangerous. We had their campsite surrounded but they were able to kill a path out. With power like this, and if we split into groups in our search... Which one of you can fend off their attacks?¡± Dayetia spoke sternly, ¡°Enough. Return, all of you. We search again when it¡¯s light.¡±
¡°But... What if those two escape?¡± Smy was not willing to let this go.
A strange smile appeared in the corners of Dayetia¡¯s lips. ¡°They will not escape.¡±
¡°Oh, I know what they came here for. Dayetia, I¡¯d like to make a request of you...¡± Smy paused, ¡°If we catch them, I want the male.¡±
¡°Haha! Smy wants a man now,¡± said someone and the group of womenughed.
Smy¡¯s face turned red and she protested, ¡°I already 18! I can have my own man now. Don¡¯t you all have a few men of your own? Is it wrong for me to want one?¡±
¡°Smy, if you catch that Chinese man, I¡¯ll trade my five men for him. How about that?¡± said a womanughingly.
¡°No! Your men are dirty. What can they do other than tend the fields and cook meals? I don¡¯t want them!¡± Smy rejected the proposal right away, as if Xia Lei was already caught and in her hands, and she felt him a raremodity worth hoarding.
Dayetia patted Smy on the shoulder and brought her back the way they¡¯de.
Smy was shorter than Dayetia and was a short, nimble girl. She had a doll-like face but she had all the right curves in all the right ces.
Smy was the marks-woman of the White Hun Tribe and also their little clown. The women in the tribe liked to joke with her and tease her all the time and this troubled her, so she wanted a man. ording the the tribe¡¯s traditions, men were not just property but a symbol of sess. If she caught that Chinese man, she was going to make him her first husband. She would have just one but she felt that a strong man like him would be worth more than ten others. The women of the tribe would look at her differently then!
¡°Smy, do you really have your eye on this Chinese punk?¡± said Dayetia to Smy as they walked.
Smy¡¯s face turned red. She did not say anything but she gave a small nod.
¡°Heehee... Okay. We will catch him alive,¡± said Dayetia with augh, ¡°Then I will give him to you, as your husband. Our Smy has grown up. You should have your own man now.¡±
¡°Yep!¡± A bright smile appeared on Smy¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯ll feed my dog when we get back. Time to go catch him when daylightes.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Laughter boomed from behind her. Someone said, ¡°Our Smy is going crazy with her want for a man.¡±
¡°Smy, it¡¯ll hurt a lot the first time. Let me help you. I¡¯ll help you get rid of your problem with a cucumber. I¡¯m the best at using a cucumber,¡± said a woman with a smile.
¡°Might as well let me do a demonstration with your man for you. I¡¯m very experienced,¡± said another woman.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Almost all the women wereughing.
Smy red hotly at them all, then covered her ears...
Meanwhile, at a military base in eastern Afghanistan...
A Hercules transporter came down from the sky andnded on a runway. Some people in unmarked military clothing waited quietly at the end of the runway. The middle-aged man in charge had a sombre expression and it looked like something was weighing on his heart.
He was named Hanks, a colonel, and it was him who had led a line of special forces to the Afghan-Pakistani border to attack the Bureau 101 agents. His mission had been to capture Xia Lei and kill everyone else other than him but he had failed.
¡°Colonel, who did the higher-ups send to take over that mission this time?¡± asked a subordinate.
¡°The Middle East supervisor, Goodson,¡± said Hanks, ¡°I heard that there¡¯s a woman too but I don¡¯t know who she is.¡±
¡°Woman?¡± The subordinate who¡¯d spoken snorted, ¡°Those guys sure like to bring women who do nothing but blow them.¡±
His voice was drowned out the sound of the approaching engines.
The Hercules transporter stopped on the runway and the door of the tail cargo hold opened. Some ck-suited CIA agents walked out of the hold, with an old man in their midst. A woman also walked out a littleter, dragging a luggage case behind her.
ck sunsses and a tight-fitting womens¡¯ suit highlighted her great figure, especially that pair of perfect-looking long legs. They were perfect be it length, fullness or overall shape and no one could fault them. These legs were her trademark - she was Liang Si-Yao.
The special forces soldiers¡¯ eyes went straight to Liang Si-Yao once she appeared and they did not hide the lust and desire in their eyes.
Hanks strode over to wee them and he shook hands with Goodson. They talked as they walked.
Their subordinates followed behind them at a bit of a distance. The CIA were expressionless and appeared cold. Hanks¡¯ subordinates seemed rough and uncouth; they stared unabashedly at Liang Si-Yao, and some were even muttering something under their breaths.
¡°Fuck. What¡¯s a sexy chick like that going to do here? Anyone gonna bet with me that I¡¯d be able to get her out tonight and give me a blow?¡± said a special forces soldier softly as he stared greedily at Liang Si-Yao¡¯s ass.
Hisrades close to him smiled nastily.
At that moment, Liang Si-Yao suddenly turned around and kicked the perverted bastard in the face.
Bam! The special forces soldier copsed to the ground.
A soldier who¡¯d gone through a hundred battles had gone down just like that - and the one who did the KO was a woman too!
The special forces soldiers goggled dumbly at Liang Si-Yao, and the leg she had kicked with was still in the air, steady as a sculpture; not one trace of strain.
Liang Si-Yao retracted her leg and swept her gaze over the soldiers as she said tonelessly, ¡°Just this one time. Disrespect me again and you die.¡±
No one dared utter a word.
Chapter 299 - Warmth on a Rainy Night
When it rains, it pours, and bad luck seemed to keeping when one was already down in his luck; there was no avoiding it. Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan were in just this situation and they¡¯d just escaped pursuit but it was now raining.
Afghanistan was a country with an annual rainfall of 240 ml but it seemed to be the amount of monthly rainfall in this basin. Raindrops asrge as beans fell from the clouds and through the canopy of the dense forest. The ground soon turned muddy. Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan would leave fairly obvious footprints in these conditions, even if they controlled their movements and stepped their lightest. If anyone discovered these footprints, then it would mean another chase when it turned light tomorrow.
They didn¡¯t dare to use the previous method of jumping from tree to tree in the rain either because the rain had wet the canopies and there were also moss and other things which made the branches more slippery than butter. If they continued, Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan would probably need crutches in under ten minutes.
Xia Lei used a tree branch to clear the ground of footprints as they walked but gave up after walking for just a bit. He threw away the branch in his hand andined, ¡°Forget it. I won¡¯t get far even if I tire myself out walking like this. This damned rain... When will it stop?¡±
He only had a thin sweatshirt on and the temperature was already low at night in Afghanistan because of the altitude. Add the rain and Xia Lei could feel his teeth chatter a little when he spoke. Cold easily drained him of energy and if he did not have the calories to make up for it, then he was sure to fall sick before daylight.
Tang Yu-Yan looked at Xia Lei and suddenly asked, ¡°You want your clothes back?¡±
Xia Lei paused. She had just a jacket on her and if he took it back she would have to run about in this forest topless.
Tang Yu-Yan then reached to pull the zipper as high as it could go and rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°What are you looking at? Don¡¯t even think about it. I¡¯m not going to give you clothes unless you give me a fleece-lined waterproof jacket.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°You think we¡¯re doing outdoor exploration? A fleece waterproof jacket... Why not ask for a star hotel while you¡¯re at it? Better to think of a solution. Rain like this won¡¯t stop soon. We need to find shelter or we¡¯ll get sick.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s head to the mountains. Maybe we¡¯ll find shelter from the wind on a hillside. Or a cave or something if we¡¯re lucky,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei looked at the closest mountain, then went in front of Tang Yu-Yan to lead the way. They left their footprints behind but he couldn¡¯t be bothered any longer. It was more dangerous to fall sick than to fall into the hands of the women of the White Hun Tribe in a primitive forest like this.
¡°Do you regreting with me on this mission?¡± asked Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°No. I have no regrets because I¡¯m here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°And if you die?¡±
¡°If I die, I die. The dayes for everyone.¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m contributing to the nation here and I don¡¯t think that there¡¯s anything uneptable about it. Besides, I have you forpany.¡±
¡°Up yours. I don¡¯t want to die here.¡± Tang Yu-Yan patted Xia Lei on the back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take care of you. I¡¯ll get you out of here alive.¡±
Xia Lei twisted his lips. ¡°We can¡¯t be certain who is taking care of whom. You¡¯re wearing my clothes - that¡¯s me taking care of you.¡±
¡°I just know that you¡¯re longing for your clothing! I¡¯ll take it off! Have it!¡± Tang Yu-Yan unzipped herself.
Xia Lei looked back quickly to stop her but contrary to his expectations, Tang Yu-Yan had not unzipped the jacket. She had unzipped halfway and zipped herself back up again. He saw a tightly-zipped Tang Yu-Yan by the time he looked back at her.
¡°Ha ha!¡± Tang Yu-Yanughed like the cat that ate the canary. She pointed straight at Xia Lei¡¯s nose. ¡°Peeeervert. You¡¯re a peeeervert.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Looking at her charming smile, Xia Lei could not helpparing her to Long Bing. They were both section chiefs in Bureau 101 and gorgeous women, but Tang Yu-Yan and Long Bing were twopletely different women. Long Bing was as cold as ice and felt unapproachable. She never joked and what she said was rather literal. Tang Yu-Yan was an outgoing, lively woman. She loved to joke around and was quite open. There was nock ofughter when she was around, and it was rather enjoyable.
If hepared these two women of Bureau 101 to aquatic creatures, Xia Lei would say that Long Bing was a shark while Tang Yu-Yan was a dolphin. Even if she was a dolphin, she was a man-killing dolphin and very dangerous because she was surnamed Tang.
After a series of bad luck, their luck seemed to be taking a turn for the better. A small shack appeared in the forest before they got to the mountain to look for hillsides or caves. The shack was built of wood and hay. It was small but enough for two people to get in and out of the rain.
The shack also had a very simple bed made of wood and a thick mound of hay atop it. Being able to stumble upon a shack like this in a harsh environment, and with a bed too, was like discovering a luxurious swimming pool in the desert.
Tang Yu-Yan rushed in without needing Xia Lei to call her in and burrowed straight into that bed.
Xia Lei bent too and went in. He looked around and discovered some small things - rope, arrows, some animal bones, a small bag of grain and a few pieces of dried meat. It was obvious that this was a supply point for a White Hun hunter.
This discovery made Xia Lei rx a little. ¡°See those things? They¡¯re hunter supplies. What does this tell us?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan wiped the rainwater from her face and asked, ¡°Tell us what?¡±
¡°This tells us that the White Hun Tribe is far away from here. They wouldn¡¯t need to build a supply point like this here if it¡¯s close to their tribe. The further away they are from us, the safer we will be,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Long Bing said you¡¯re the smartest person she¡¯s met and I thought she was just saying that. I know that it isn¡¯t the case now. You really are clever, and meticulous,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°You believe what she says? You¡¯ll kill cats for food one day.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic with a joke. He did not want her to discuss his IQ. He actually had no idea himself how high his IQ had gone.
As he spoke, he removed the sweatshirt he was wearing and wrung it with both hands. It was ufortable to wear a wet sweatshirt in the cold night.
After wringing the rainwater out of the sweatshirt, Xia Lei took off his socks and trousers and wrung them too. He was left with just the underwear which had been torn by rock.
Xia Lei had treated Tang Yu-Yan like air during the entire process. He did not put his clothing on again after wringing but hung them out to dry.
Tang Yu-Yan frowned. ¡°You punk. Am I invisible? How can you do that? Are you really a pervert?¡±
Xia Lei nced at her. ¡°This is a battlefield. What use is there for courtesies?¡± He then smiled. ¡°You keep calling me a pervert. Fine, I admit that I¡¯m a pervert. So since I¡¯m a pervert I won¡¯t mind you looking at my body, huh? I¡¯m not naked anyway - I have my underwear on.¡±
¡°You¡¯re hopeless.¡± Tang Yu-Yan lost to Xia Lei¡¯s straight gaze and turned her back on him.
Xia Lei climbed onto the hay-bed too and sat with his back to Tang Yu-Yan as he sneakily wrung his underwear.
The atmosphere in the shack became heavy with awkwardness.
¡°Achoo!¡± Tang Yu-Yan could not stand the wet fabric on her body any longer after a few minutes. She sneezed, and her body started trembling.
¡°Hey, you should do what I did. Take your wet clothing off or you¡¯ll get sick,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°In your dreams, pervert!¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s face grew redder.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Whatever you say.¡±
¡°Achoo! Ah.... CHOO!¡± Tang Yu-Yan sneezed two more times.
Xia Lei turned over and felt her forehead. He frowned. ¡°You¡¯re burning up!¡±
Tang Yu-Yan trembled uncontrobly but her mouth stubbornly said, ¡°So what if I have a fever. None of your business.¡±
Xia Lei paused, then suddenly reached out and pulled down the zipper of her jacket.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yu-Yan was stunned. She didn¡¯t dare believe that Xia Lei had actually did that - actually dared to do it.
A pnded on Xia Lei¡¯s face a secondter. This was a heavy p and half of Xia Lei¡¯s face swelled up. A bit of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Xia Lei took no notice. He grabbed the wet jacket on Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s body and started wringing.
¡°You... What are you doing?¡± Tang Yu-Yan was frightened and she held tight to the jacket, stubbornly not letting him remove it.
A single man and woman in a shack, and the underwear-d man had suddenly pounced on her and grabbed her clothing - it was no wonder she thought such thoughts. In that instant, Xia Lei was no longer a pervert - he was a beast!
Despite her fierce retaliation, the feverish Tang Yu-Yancked the strength to fight Xia Lei and she was quickly pressed into the hay by Xia Lei. Her wet jacket was removed.
Xia Lei did not stop there. He undid her belt and removed her trousers.
Xia Lei released her only after removing her jacket, trousers and socks. Once Tang Yu-Yan regained her freedom, she immediately snatched up the handgun next to the hay and pointed it at Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Xia Lei acted like he didn¡¯t see the gun. He lifted the jacket he had thrown to the floor and started wringing the rainwater from it.
¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll... cough cough...¡± Tang Yu-Yan only managed to speak after coughing for quite a bit. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll shoot and kill you?¡±
¡°Shoot if you want to shoot. I¡¯ll die in those White Hun women¡¯s hands if I don¡¯t die by your hand anyway. If you kill me you¡¯ll be guilty and burn incense for me on Grave Sweeping Day next year to beg me not to me you. What¡¯s so bad about that?¡± Xia Lei continued wringing.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yu-Yan was so angry she could not speak but she knew well that Xia Lei did not want to take advantage of her and only wanted to get her out of her wet clothes. If he had not insisted and forcefully done it, she would have stayed in her wet clothing even if she died.
Tang Yu-Yan put the gun down and hugged her chest. She put her chin on her knees and shivered uncontrobly. She didn¡¯t care what Xia Lei did at this point. Her head was dizzy and her thoughts fuzzy.
Xia Lei wrung the clothes dry, then drew close to Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s back. He reached out to hold her in his embrace, to warm her with his body heat.
Tang Yu-Yan froze in that instant but she quickly quieted down.
¡°I¡¯ll kill you if you get that type of reaction,¡± she said fiercely.
Xia Lei¡¯s reaction to that was to snore.
¡°Hey! Are you taking me for a clueless girl who hasn¡¯t studied physiology? I¡¯m talking to you!¡±
¡°Zzz.... Zzz...¡±
The cold wind blew outside the shack and the wind howled, but Xia Lei was sweating.
Chapter 300 - Historical Remains
The rain finally stopped at dawn. Ayer of mist hung in the forest and visibility was reduced to just a few metres. The tweeting of birds woke up the couple on the bed of hay.
Both of them heard the birds and opened their eyes at the same time, then looked at each other at the same time. Eyes met and Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s face was just centimetres away from Xia Lei¡¯s face. One of Xia Lei¡¯s arms had be a pillow for her too.
This would¡¯ve been a very loving position if they were a couple but the problem was that they were not husband and wife at all - not even lovers.
Xia Lei quickly retracted his hand and turned his head away. He said a little nervously, ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything.¡±
Hearing that, Tang Yu-Yan kicked Xia Lei on the butt without warning.
¡°Argh-¡± Xia Lei cried in pain. She had kicked the wound on his buttock.
Tang Yu-Yan was still pissed and wanted to kick him again. She was already in this state and he said he didn¡¯t see anything? Was he blind?
Xia Lei endured the kick but he was not angry. The fault may have been with the cold but she was a woman and he was a man. He¡¯d taken advantage of her in many ways so what was a kickpared to that?
This kick also seemed to be the conclusion to her fever. The two of them exited the hut ten minutester and went deeper into the forest. The tracker in Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s hand became their guiding beacon and they walked towards the location it indicated.
The mist in the forest was a good thing for them - their speed was not affected much but the White Hun Tribe warriors would be unable to catch up on a misty day like this. Even taking hunting dogs with them wouldn¡¯t work since the wet air and smell of rot in the forest would affect the dogs¡¯ sense of smell.
The mist dissipated close to noon and Tang Yu-Yan and Xia Lei were close to the area indicated on the tracker at that time.
Tang Yu-Yan had ignored Xia Lei all the way, obviously still angry aboutst night. However, she begun to talk more when they got close to the location.
¡°We¡¯re going to be there soon. I wonder what situation the experts are in now. What do you think?¡± Tang Yu-Yan nced at Xia Lei.
¡°No idea.¡± Xia Lei shook his head.
Tang Yu-Yan wrinkled her brows. ¡°You punk. You¡¯re so smart and you have no opinion? You must still be upset at the kick I gave you in the morning, huh? You¡¯re too petty!¡±
Xia Lei touched his butt and wrinkled his brows too. ¡°What you kicked was my wound. It still hurts. If I hadn¡¯t saved youst night you probably won¡¯t be able to walk now. Is this how you repay my kindness?¡±
¡°You¡¯re not allowed to talk aboutst night!¡± Tang Yu-Yan raised a clenched fist and threw it at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei dodged it but he couldn¡¯t help the smile that appeared on his face. ¡°Okay, don¡¯t hit me. I¡¯ll tell you.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan put her fist down and rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°That more like it.¡±
She was lively and loved to make jokes and that was why Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help teasing her. He liked to see her get annoyed and embarrassed.
Xia Lei arranged his thoughts and said, ¡°I think we¡¯ve overlooked something very important - this is White Hun territory. You think the people of the White Hun Tribe don¡¯t know that Ning Jing and the team of experts are doing something in this area?¡±
¡°You mean... The experts have been captured?¡±
¡°We can¡¯t discount the possibility. It¡¯ll be great if we knew what the experts were here for.¡± Xia Lei watched Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s expression and he asked probingly, ¡°It¡¯s got to this point already. Tell me. What did the expertse here for?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask me. I really don¡¯t know. I came here toplete the mission, not to engage in scientific research. I¡¯m not interested either,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°What are we going to do if our experts have been captured?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Find some way to steal our satellite phone back and call for backup,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei recalled the ruthless women of the White Hun Tribe and he couldn¡¯t help the pained smile which appeared in the corners of his mouth. Steal a satellite phone from the White Hun Tribe? That¡¯s like ying with fire.
Nothing came of their discussion but their field of vision improved drastically as they talked. The forest had disappeared and empty wastnd stretched ahead, with mountains stretching up in the distance. Under the sun, the snow on those peaks was white and pretty as a picture.
Xia Lei scanned the wilderness and a pile of rocks entered his field of vision. It appeared to be a pile of rocks at first nce but he discovered upon a closer look that that rock had some vestiges of a town. Some uncopsed areas could be recognised as buildings. He came to the conclusion that that was an ancient city which had fallen into disrepair and had crumbled, be remains.
This discovery excited Xia Lei and he took the device from Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s hand to point it at the rocks. The signal wasing from the ancient stone town.
¡°You found something?¡± Tang Yu-Yan did not have Xia Lei¡¯s ungodly eyesight but she had keen intuition.
Xia Lei pointed ahead. ¡°There seems to be a stone city there. The signal¡¯sing from there.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan eagerly snatched the device from Xia Lei¡¯s hand. Shepared the difference and got excited. ¡°It¡¯s there! Let¡¯s go take a look!¡±
Xia Lei did not move. ¡°Our experts are doing some sort of activity here and the White Hun Tribe is being so peaceful?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan calmed down and said, ¡°Give me the sniper rifle. I¡¯ll check it out with the scope. Damn it, those bitches took my binocrs.¡±
Xia Lei did not hand the sniper rifle to Tang Yu-Yan but removed the scope and handed it to her. This scope was just for decoration anyway and was useless to him.
Tang Yu-Yan didn¡¯t say anything about it. She took the scope and used it to observe that patch of wastnd.
Thoughts ran through Xia Lei¡¯s head. ¡®Something is fishy here but I don¡¯t know anything. If we go over... The White Hun Tribe might have set a trap there, so won¡¯t I be walking into it? Hold on... How had I forgotten about Dad? He must know something - he left a note. After I reach the White Hun Tribe...¡¯
His father had told him to lose the people with him and the Russian woman who had delivered the note, Yelena, would meet with him.
Last night was actually the best opportunity to meet but Tang Yu-Yan had been in a difficult situation and he could not leave at that time.
¡°You keep watch here, Yu-Yan. I¡¯ll go observe from another spot. Let¡¯s meet here again in half an hour.¡± Xia Lei quickly made his decision.
It was now time for him to meet Yelena.
Tang Yu-Yan thought for a bit. ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll meet here in half an hour. Don¡¯t alert them if you discover any of the White Hun Tribe and avoid them.¡±
¡°You too. Be careful.¡± Xia Lei nagged her too.
Tang Yu-Yan suddenly drew close and gave Xia Lei a hug as she said in his ear, ¡°Don¡¯t die. I have scores to settle with you, okay?¡±
Xia Leiughed. He knew what score she wanted to settle. He just didn¡¯t know how she was going to settle such an unclear score with him.
Xia Lei quickly disappeared into the forest behind him.
Tang Yu-Yan continued using the scope to watch the historical remains, and suddenly remembered something after looking for while. ¡°Oh no, his scope is still with me. He...¡± She turned back to look for Xia Lei but all she saw was a patch of dense forest.
Xia Lei went slowly in the forest. He moved carefully while making bird calls, hoping to draw Yelena out with this method.
He finally got a response after about ten minutes.
¡°Kukuku...¡± A sound simr to a cuckoo¡¯s call came from somewhere - a female cuckoo.
Xia Lei heard the sound and a small smile appeared on his lips. He headed in that direction. His eye twitched as he walked and arge number of things became visible to him; ants on trees, birds on branches, snakes slithering in the grass. None escaped his eye.
A woman soon entered his field of vision. It was Xia Chang-He¡¯s assistant, Yelena. She was hidden in a tree and cautiously sneaking her way over. She slid down the tree only after Xia Lei entered her field of vision.
¡°I waited for you the whole night yesterday!¡±ined Yelena as soon as she saw Xia Lei, ¡°You made me stay outdoors in the rain the whole night while you hugged that woman to sleep in that shack! I would¡¯ve thrown a grenade into that shack if it weren¡¯t for your father.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help feeling a little bit of shame. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. She got sick so I couldn¡¯t just leave her.¡±
Yelena snorted. ¡°You were savouring having her in your arms, weren¡¯t you? You forgot about me.¡±
Xia Lei had no words of retort and a faint blush bloomed on his face.
¡°Forget it. I won¡¯t hold it against you on your father¡¯s ount.¡± Yelena¡¯s tone changed. ¡°What are your ns?¡±
¡°Rescue the experts who¡¯ve been trapped, then retreat.¡± Xia Lei did not hide anything. ¡°Where¡¯s my father?¡±
¡°You want to meet him?¡±
¡°Of course. Tell me - where is he now?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t tell you. You¡¯re in a dangerous situation now and he has always been in a dangerous environment. He was able to keep things under control at first but things are afoot in his locale now after you turned up.¡±
¡°What the hell¡¯s his identity? And yours?¡± Xia Lei was losing it a little. He wanted so much to know and to make sense of what was going on.
Yelena was quiet for a bit. ¡°We are all free agents.¡±
This was simr to what Liang Si-Yao had said at that time, but Xia Lei was not satisfied with an answer like this. This answer made an unnamed me of anger re in his heart. ¡°What did he send you here for if he isn¡¯t willing to meet me? To chat with me?¡±
Yelena looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°You are not a rebellious child anymore. You should know your father¡¯s situation. He is your father and he¡¯s done all of this for you. Isn¡¯t this enough for you to be understanding of his actions and forgive him?¡±
Chapter 301 - Sword of Attila
Xia Lei could understand why his father had abandoned his sister and himself. He had been gone for five years, but he could not avoid the unpleasant feeling in his heart when he thought of how he had endured those early years. Plus, Xia Chang-He had still not shown himself. Xia Lei¡¯s heart med with anger, ¡°Whether I forgive him or not is our private matter. Where is he? Get him toe out and meet me. What is this, sending an assistant to meet me every time?¡±
Yelena sighed. ¡°He wants to see you very much too but now¡¯s not the time. You two will meet soon, believe me.¡±
¡°Hah! He sent you here to say all these to me?¡± said Xia Lei angrily, ¡°What I need is help, not chatter! Even if it¡¯s talk, he shoulde here and talk to me, not you!¡±
Yelena was not angry at all. She took out a package from her backpack and chucked it at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei caught it; it was heavy. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± he asked curiously.
¡°You need help, right? Your father knows your current situation. He¡¯s already prepared everything for you.¡±
Xia Lei opened the package. There was a satellite phone, and a letter.
Tang Yu-Yan had most urgently needed a satellite phone after the ambush the previous night so this satellite phone was like sending charcoal in a snowstorm to him and Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei turned on the satellite phone but there was no number saved in it. He¡¯d thought that his father would have left him a contact number on it but it seemed he had expected too much.
Xia Lei put the phone in his pocket, then opened the letter. There was an envelope in it and a photograph. The photograph was of a sword; an ancient sword. It was just a photograph but one could feel the great changes it had wrought, as if it was using blood and steel to describe its story.
¡°What did he give me a photograph of a sword for?¡± Xia Lei looked uprehendingly at Yelena.
¡°Do you know what sword this is? This is the sword of Att,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Att¡¯s sword?¡±
¡°Yes. Att was the greatest Hun ruler. The White Hun Tribe in this basin are his descendants and this sword is what they¡¯ve always wanted.¡±
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡°My father has it?¡±
Yelena shook her head. ¡°Your father was not a historian and even less of a collector. He knows where this sword is and he is willing to give the chieftain of the White Hun Tribe some clues. This can serve as a trade for your safe passage. In other words, if you meet the White Hun Tribe again, show them this photograph, tell them you know where it is and you can leave this ce safely.¡±
This photograph, and clues to the location of Att¡¯s sword was undoubtedly a life-saver. No wonder his father was not worried about him entering this basin.
¡°The woman with you is actually a troublesome thing. You¡¯ll kill her if you¡¯re smart. Or make it so that the White Hun Tribe kills her, then leave this ce yourself,¡± said Yelena.
¡°I¡¯m not the same as you. I will not kill anyone just like that, and definitely not someone who has gone through the gates of hell with me. That¡¯s enough. I do not want to hear words like these more than once,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yelenaughed. ¡°Your temper is just like your father¡¯s.¡±
¡°Where is that sword?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Just the photograph is not enough if I meet the people of the White Hun Tribe.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all in that envelope. Read it yourself. There¡¯s also a message from your father. I should get going or yourrade will discover me.¡± Yelena left right away, just as she¡¯d said she would.
Xia Lei wanted to call her to wait, but he swallowed his words before they left his lips. He knew that he would not get his father¡¯s location from her even if he got her to stop and continued his conversation with her.
Xia Lei opened the envelope and took out the letter in it.
¡®Son, I know you have many questions and I know you want very much to meet me and get answers from me but this is not the time for us to meet. It is too dangerous. The White Hun Tribe is not frightful at all - the frightful ones are the Americans. You should know well that they have always been on the hunt for me and they want to capture you too. They wille here soon. You should leave before they do. Bring the photograph and the information I gave you to the chieftain of the White Hun Tribe, Dayetia. Negotiate with her. She will hand over those experts and probably let your Bureau 101 friend go too. Lastly, please believe that I have always looked forward to our reunion.¡¯
A paragraph of text was attached to the end of the letter with information on the sword of Att.
Xia Lei stared nkly when he read that paragraph. ¡®South Korea¡¯s Shinyeok Group... Ahn Geungan! Isn¡¯t this Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s father? How unexpected that the sword of Att the Hun had gone all the way to Korea. Dad sure has great reach to know about something like this.¡¯
The sword of Att symbolised the power of the Huns and also represented the greatest, proudest history of the Huns. It was just an antique to Ahn Geungan and other collectors but to the White Hun Tribe, it was a sacred object and held far more meaning than its own existence.
Xia Lei burnt the letter with a lighter and kept the photograph.
Xia Lei slowed his pace while walking back, and he pondered over how he¡¯d exin the satellite phone and photograph to Tang Yu-Yan as he walked...
He got to the edge of the forest but did not see Tang Yu-Yan. She suddenly jumped down from the tree above him two secondster, before he could awaken the power of his left eye.
Xia Lei hurriedly got out of the way and shended next to him. Her full breasts sank towards the ground, then bounced back up again, down and up, jiggling till they stabilised. This made a strange feeling stir in Xia Lei and he couldn¡¯t help recalling the scene fromst night when he had forcefully removed her clothing; he also felt his lower abdomen heating up. He was a man after all and it was already very impressive of him to have not crossed that dangerous linest night - some bits of fantasy couldn¡¯t be avoided.
Tang Yu-Yan shoved Xia Lei. ¡°Where did you go just now? I was so worried about you! I was going to go look for you if you didn¡¯te back.¡±
¡°I met a woman of the White Hun Tribe,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yu-Yan was stunned, ¡°And what did you do?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t let her live, of course. She would have brought a big group to kill us if I let her go,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You did the right thing. I know you don¡¯t like doing things like this, but... We have no choice,¡± said Tang Yu-Yanfortingly.
Xia Lei revealed the satellite phone and the photograph. ¡°I found these two things on her.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s eyes lit up when she saw the satellite phone in Xia Lei¡¯s hand. She grabbed it as she said excitedly, ¡°Great! I can use it to contact headquarters and get them to send troops over... Wait, how does a White Hun Tribe warrior have a satellite phone?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head and put on a dumb look. ¡°I don¡¯t know either. I searched her body and found these. I think it¡¯s probably looted from one of the White Rock Tribe or from some other channels.¡±
¡°Never mind, that¡¯s not important. It¡¯s fine if we can use it...¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s gaze went to the photograph in Xia Lei¡¯s hand and she asked curiously, ¡°A sword? What¡¯s it about?¡±
Xia Lei smiled faintly. ¡°I know the history of this sword. It¡¯s the sword of Att the Hun. You know who he was? He was the greatest ruler of the Huns; an impressive man. This sword represents his power and glory. It¡¯s very important to the White Hun Tribe.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a photograph. It¡¯s only awesome if you have the sword.¡± Tang Yu-Yan was not impressed.
¡°I don¡¯t have the real sword but I know who has it in his collection. This information may prove useful to us,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You know this too?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan in surprise.
¡°I read a lot of books and have friends all over the world, so is it strange for me to know about this? Forget it, I¡¯m in no mood to argue about this with you. Didn¡¯t you want to go to the ruins? Let¡¯s go. I didn¡¯t find anything suspicious while observing it earlier.¡± Xia Lei walked out of the forest and strode towards the historical ruins.
Tang Yu-Yan was no fool and she was a professional agent. Xia Lei had gone off for half an hour ande back with a satellite phone and a photograph. She was full of curiosity and also suspicion, but Xia Lei¡¯s exnations were seamless; there were no cracks.
¡®This punk. Could he have given up some of his chastity to deceive some little girl of the White Hun Tribe? Holy shit. What the hell am I thinking? I¡¯ll observe him first.¡¯ Tang Yu-Yan followed Xia Lei to the ruins.
No matter how she suspected and how she thought about it, she did not link it to Xia Lei¡¯s missing father of six years.
The two of them came to the front of the ruins ten minutester. bs of ancient stoney haphazardly in the grass. Some still stood and one could faintly recognise it as part of a city wall. Inside, some parts resembled streets and some resembled houses, or temples and so on. The stone could not speak and made no sound but they were anguage in themselves, speaking of the prosperity of times past, of the changes that had happened over the years.
Tang Yu-Yan walked forward with the transponder in one hand and a gun in the other. Any wind which ruffled the grass startled a reaction from her. Xia Lei, on the other hand, had no such pressure. He just walked along with Tang Yu-Yan as he admired the ancient remains. He knew Ning Jing and the experts had already been captured by the White Hun Tribe but he did not tell Tang Yu-Yan that or his earlier lies would be revealed.
¡°Where are our experts?¡± Xia Lei pretended to be anxious.
¡°Fifty metres ahead... Strange. Why don¡¯t I see anyone?¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked confused. ¡°The signal is definitelying from here. We should have seen someone.¡±
¡°Could they be in a basement or underground pce? Archaeology is mostly underground, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mm, what you say makes sense. I hope they¡¯re all right.¡± Tang Yu-Yan quickened her pace.
They went 50 more metres towards the location indicated on the transponder and an underground passage hidden under a pile of stones appeared before Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan. The passage stretched underground. It was dark and its depth unknown. Who knew what was in there.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan did not move because they had seen a transmitter on a stone step in the passage. The signal they were receiving was from that device.
Rumble, rumble...
It was the thunder of horses¡¯ hooves!
Chapter 302 - Barbaric Women
The first thing to enter their field of vision was a white horse. The woman on its back had golden hair which streamed behind her as it galloped and what she held in her hands were not reins but an AK47. She had a smoking hot figure and her features were very pretty too but she had nothing of a gentle feminine air - she was like a ferocious bandit.
She was the chieftain of the White Hun Tribe, Dayetia.
A few hundred warhorses were right behind Dayetia and the women riding them were not just young girls - some were already white-haired with age while some were girls in their teens. They carried AK47s in their hands, and some some had World War Two bolt action rifles, while others carried spears and des; their weapons varied. Just looking at their ages and weapons alone was like seeing a gathering of different birds, but if one would be making a big mistake if he really thought they were different. They were all ready forbat in mountains and forests and had the fighting spirit of the Huns. One would have a headache going up against foes like this, no matter who he was.
Around 300 horseback warriors fanned the area, surrounding them, and asional shots were fired into the air as the horses galloped, or someone would let out a strange cry. This gave one the immense pressure of impending death.
Tang Yu-Yan wanted to lift her gun and start fighting but she did not do so in the end. It was not going to make a difference even if she managed to kill a target for every shot fired.
Xia Lei pulled the sniper rifle from his shoulder, threw it to the ground and raised both arms high. This was the international posture for surrender.
Tang Yu-Yan nced at Xia Lei and also threw her gun to the ground and put her arms in the air. She said quietly, ¡°Hope they give you a chance to talk.¡±
She¡¯d just finished talking when some bullets hit the ground in front of her and Xia Lei¡¯s toes. The bullets sent leaves and dirt flying to their faces.
Xia Lei had not been nervous at first but this made him nervous. He and Tang Yu-Yan had killed off quite a few White Hun Tribe womenst night and those women must have had friends and family. Could he me anyone if one of them decided to shoot them out of hate or revenge?
¡°I regret...¡± Tang Yu-Yan suddenly started saying something silly.
¡°What do you regret?¡± said Xia Lei nervously.
¡°I haven¡¯t fallen in love yet. If I die just like this...¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s expression was odd. ¡°I¡¯d feel some regret.¡±
A woman who died without having a romance was probably like a man who died without touching a woman, right?
Xia Lei¡¯s head was a mess. A person of Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s calibre had never fallen in love? He wouldn¡¯t have guessed if she hadn¡¯t talked about it. But it was difficult for Tang Yu-Yan to have a rtionship with her status. She was simr to Long Bing in this regard and Long Bing was also a woman who had never had a boyfriend.
¡°You... You can treatst night as your romance,¡± said Xia Lei in constion.
Tang Yu-Yan red at Xia Lei. ¡°Fuck you. That¡¯s not love. That¡¯s you being perverted.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A conversation topic like this was not appropriate at all in the situation they were in but it chased away their nervousness.
Before they could speak further, Dayetia¡¯s warhorse came to a stop a few metres from them. The horses hadpleted their circle around them in the blink of an eye. Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan were surrounded, three rows in and out were women, and Xia Lei was the only man. This scene was terribly out of bnce for Xia Lei; the yin and yang energy was way off.
¡°We surrender!¡± Xia Lei said in Pashtun.
The tribes had their own tribalnguage and it was said that theirnguage was somewhere between Chinese and Tibetan, but it did not exist in the outside world. This White Hun Tribe was located deep in Afghanistan so they should know Pashtun, or they would have no way ofmunicating or trading with the outside world. This was how Xia Lei thought.
Dayetia did not speak. She stared coldly at Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan.
A young girl of eighteen suddenly jumped down from her horse¡¯s back and strode over to Xia Lei. She had a child¡¯s face but a surprising set of H-cups. Her appearance made him do a double take. Her adorable, naive face made her look like she was about 13 or 14, but her body was like that of a 23, 24 year old. He had never seen a girl like her before and he had no idea that this girl named Smy was the marks-woman of her tribe and had already imed him as property.
Smy went up to Xia Lei and kicked the guns Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan had thrown on the ground further away. She then pushed Tang Yu-Yan violently away from Xia Lei and walked two circles around Xia Lei. She looked at him like she was assessing the health of a steed at market and measuring his value.
¡®What¡¯s this girl doing?¡¯ Xia Lei was troubled. Smy seemed about the same as his younger sister, Xia Xue to him.
At that moment, the entire group of female White Hun warriors startedughing.
¡°Smy, hurry up. Test the goods,¡± said a White Hun woman with augh.
¡°Yeah, Smy. I¡¯ll take him if you don¡¯t want him. Trade you a goat for him,¡± said another with sincerity.
¡°Don¡¯t be shy, Smy. Come on, take him right here, right now!¡± called someone.
¡°Shut up!¡± Smy¡¯s face was red and she looked pissed.
These women were speaking Pashtun. Xia Lei could understand arge part of it and it was clear to him what this young girl wanted to do. He had a headache, and it worsened with the cajoling from the surrounding women. A man worth billions like him was worth a goat here in Afghanistan, and it was also possible that he would be taken advantage of in front of hundreds of women. He felt rather ill.
He was about to pull the photograph out and end all this when Smy shouted at him, ¡°Don¡¯t move! Or I¡¯ll shoot you!¡±
Xia Lei braced himself has he said, ¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken. I have something you want. I want to do a trade.¡±
He¡¯d just finished speaking when Smy abruptly reached over and grabbed a certain part of his. Xia Lei felt like he had stepped into a quake zone and was held in ce with uncertainty.
Xia Lei did not dare move but Smy did, and she touched where she pleased. She felt up Xia Lei¡¯s private area, then felt at his face and lower abdomen, ending her inspection with a grab at his butt. She seemed satisfied; her face was red and excitement shone in her blue eyes.
¡°Smy, he¡¯s not yours alone. We all have a share!¡± said someone loudly.
¡°Yeah! If you want him then you have to im him in front of us!¡± said someone.
¡°Hurry up or he¡¯ll be put up for sale in the market! I think he can fetch 20 goats!¡± said a young woman with a smile.
¡°I raise, 21 goats!¡± another White Hun Tribe woman started bidding.
¡°Hah! You think I don¡¯t dare to? I¡¯ll satisfy your cravings right now!¡± Smy took the AK47 from her shoulder and pointed it at Xia Lei, saying fiercely, ¡°Take your clothes off! All of it!¡±
Xia Lei put his arms down but he did not take his clothes or his trousers off. He took the photograph out of his pocket.
Smy did not even nce at the photograph. She kicked Xia Lei, then reached out to grab his belt.
Tang Yu-Yan was anxious for Xia Lei but she could not be of help. She could only say anxiously, ¡°Hurry up and talk to their chieftain! Idiot! You like this girl or something?¡±
Xia Lei red at Tang Yu-Yan and he hurriedly raised the photograph again. Smy had already undid his belt at this point - she just hadn¡¯t torn his trousers off yet.
¡°Hold on!¡± Dayetia finally spoke.
¡°That¡¯s...¡± A White Hun woman suddenly said in surprise, ¡°Isn¡¯t that the sword of Att?¡±
They all quieted down immediately at the mention of Att¡¯s name.
Smy retracted her hand from Xia Lei¡¯s trousers. She had seen the ancient sword in the photograph too and her eyes were full of worship.
Dayetia jumped down from her horse¡¯s back and looked at Xia Lei with eyes ame. ¡°Tell me. How do you know of this sword? If you keep anything from me or say one false word I will kill you and yourpanion.¡±
Xia Lei took in a deep breath, and calmed himself a little before saying, ¡°I know what this sword means to you. I know where it is. I¡¯d like to make a trade.¡±
¡°Where is it? Tell me.¡± Dayetia walked to Xia Lei.
Smy knew her ce. She moved aside but herrge eyes still lingered on the space between Xia Lei¡¯s legs. She was very satisfied with him and full of interesting thoughts.
¡°I said I want to make a trade.¡± Xia Lei adjusted his belt as he spoke. This was a group of women savages and he did not want to attract their lustful gazes because of a little exposure.
¡°What do you want?¡± asked Dayetia.
¡°Let us go, me and mypanion.¡± Xia Lei pointed at Tang Yu-Yan, and said, ¡°And the experts you have captured.¡±
Dayetia snorted. ¡°You sure have an appetite. One photograph for so many lives? You think me a fool?¡±
Click-click-click. Guns were raised in all directions.
¡°Don¡¯t shoot!¡± Xia Lei raised both hands. ¡°I know who has this sword.¡±
¡°Who has it?¡± asked Dayetia.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯m no fool. Will you still let me and mypanion go if I tell you now? Show me some sincerity. I can also give you an additional million US dors if you¡¯re willing to let us go. This money can buy you a lot of advanced weapons.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan interrupted, ¡°We are not enemies. We just want our people. Let¡¯s make this deal. It¡¯s useless for those people to remain in your hands too. They won¡¯t make you a million US dors even if they worked a hundred years for you. Besides, you will still have a chance to get back your sacred relic.¡±
Dayetia hesitated for two minutes, then waved a hand. ¡°Take them back first.¡±
Smy drew close and grabbed Xia Lei by the hand to drag him to her horse.
¡°Get on!¡± Smy demanded.
¡°Can¡¯t I share a horse with my friend?¡± said Xia Lei.
Smy reached out and smacked Xia Lei¡¯s ass. ¡°Get on the horse! Or I kill that woman. You have value but she doesn¡¯t!¡±
Tang Yu-Yan spoke anxiously, ¡°Get on the horse, quick!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and climbed atop the horse.
Smy mounted too. Her underbelly and breasts pressed close to his back and her arms circled his waist as she grabbed the reins.
The horses started galloping, clippety-clop...
¡°Can you not touch me everywhere?¡±
¡°You¡¯re mine!¡±
Chapter 303 - Trade a Goat
Hooves thundered, deafening ears. Trees and mountains shed by and grew distant in their vision. The women on horseback waved guns, spears and riding whips and let out strange shouts. This scene made Xia Lei feel like he had gone back 1,000 years in time. He had be Xuanzang, captured by the savages of thend of women, and what awaited him was a broiling or simmer-fried fate.
The baby-faced, subus-bodied Smy did not sit still either on their ride. Her hands roamed Xia Lei¡¯s body and he wanted to knock her off the horse several times but the big group of wolfish, tigress-like White Hun warriors around him made him quash the idea.
Smy got more and more carried away and she put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s waist.
Xia Lei became more embarrassed the more Smy got into it. If Dayetia had not been next to them, Smy would probably have done some horse acrobatics with him.
They went through a patch of forest and a river entered his field of vision. The river opened up a riverbed between two mountains and stretched deep into the mountains.
The White Hun Tribe lived in this valley.
Numerous wooden huts and domed tents filled the area around the river banks. The tribe was surrounded by huge fields of crops, where many men worked. Some of these men were shackled and were moving wood they had chopped in the forest to the tribe.
A man with metal around his ankles looked up at the warhorses entering the valley. He had just taken one look at them but a woman¡¯s leather boot came down heavily on his back, throwing him to the ground.
The sight of it made Xia Lei frown heavily.
What Kabir said was true. This was a world ruled by women and men had no rights here. The men in the tribe did tasks such as farming or manualbour. The women were in charge of management and war.
¡°See that?¡± Smy spoke in Xia Lei¡¯s ear and her tone was threatening as she said, ¡°Those men in chains came looking for treasure. A number of them are Soviet soldiers. If you¡¯re obedient and serve me well I will let you go tend the fields without being shackled. You will live well like a dog.¡±
¡°You are still a child. You should study, go out into the world and take a look around... Hands off!¡± Xia Lei smacked away her questing hand. There was no talking sense to this girl.
¡°You cannot escape. You are mine.¡± Smy smiled happily. ¡°You will be mine tonight. Don¡¯t worry. I will be gentle with you.¡±
Xia Lei was more than speechless.
He had experienced everything here, including the affairs of man and woman.
The horse-riders entered the tribal area and the White Huns came gathering, many calling out in wee. It gave one the impression that their tribe had won yet another great victory or something.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan were let off the horses. A group of women surrounded Xia Lei, discussing the goods - someone pinched his butt. She found his butt nice and firm, and immediately offered the handsome sum of one goat.
It was that feeling again - his billion-yuan value was reduced to one goat. Xia Lei was beyond wanting to die. What made him even more depressed was that Tang Yu-Yan would look over at him andugh in schadenfreude, making him grit his teeth in anger.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan were brought to a house, and Smy wanted to follow them in but was chased out by Dayetia. Dayetia sent the warriors guarding them out too, leaving just her, Xia Lei, and Tang Yu-Yan.
Subduing Dayetia and using her as a hostage was no problem for Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan with their skills, but neither of them had any ropes or cuffs. They did not dare make any false moves, however. The reason was simple - would Dayetia dare to face them like this if she was not confident of her own abilities?
¡°Speak,¡± said Dayetia, ¡°Where is the sword of Att? Who has it?¡±
¡°We want to see our people first,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Dayetia looked scornfully at Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°I did not ask you. Know your ce. You¡¯re only alive because of him. You are useless to me.¡±
A touch of anger appeared between Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s brows but she hid it away quickly. She pretended to shrug casually, like she didn¡¯t care, and closed her mouth.
¡°I am on the same page. I want to see my people first,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Smy!¡± Dayetia faced the doorway and called.
The door creaked open and Smy came in hurriedly with a happy smile on her face. ¡°Chieftain, can I take him back now?¡±
Seeing Smy and hearing what she said made Xia Lei¡¯s head ache again, and it was not the sort of headache which would go away with medicine. He couldn¡¯t help wondering if this girl had nothing else in her brain.
¡°Bring those five over here,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Oh.¡± Smy looked a little disappointed, but she still carried out the task.
Smy returned to the house a whileter and the Chinese experts, including Ning Jing, came with her. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were dirty. She had rubber boots on and had stepped in goat droppings, stinking up the ce with the rank odour of goat.
Ning Jing stared nkly when she saw Xia Lei, then let out a sob and ran straight to his embrace.
Before she could put herself in Xia Lei¡¯s arms, however, Smy caught her by the cor and flung her bodily backwards as she shouted fiercely, ¡°What are you doing? Stealing my man? Fine, I¡¯ll give you a chance. Fight me!¡±
Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei, then at the ferocious Smy, and didn¡¯t know what was going on anymore.
The other four experts were in no better condition. They were also dirty and had mud, pig droppings and the like stuck on their footwear. It seemed they had been taken from theirbour and brought over. These experts were the elite of China and had some status in their cities but they were reduced to manualbourers here. What Xia Lei saw was not just this. He found that the male experts were pasty-faced and that their eyes were soulless. They also stood weakly and were fairly dispirited. It was obvious that the women here had taken them unwillingly!
This made sense - they were the elites in their fields too, so would the White Hun women let go of these elite seeds?
He swept his gaze over the experts and returned it to Ning Jing. Her current appearance tugged a little at his heart. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, Big Sister Ning. I came to save you all. I¡¯ll take you out of this ce.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Ning Jing was so emotional she could not speak; tears rolled down in two little lines.
Xia Lei looked at Dayetia. ¡°How about it? I¡¯ve alreadyid out my terms. Let¡¯s make the trade. You let us leave and I tell you the location of Att¡¯s sword, plus a million US dors.¡±
¡°Where¡¯s the money?¡± said Dayetia.
¡°I can transfer it to you right now if you have aputer and the inte,¡± said Xia Lei.
Dayetia snorted. ¡°You saw how it is. We don¡¯t even have electric lights here - would we haveputers? I can consider it if you¡¯re paying it in cash. No cash, no trade.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. A million US dors was no small sum and he could not bring it over the border, nor withdraw it locally from a bank.
Dayetia spoke again, ¡°And you say you know the location of the sword of Att. How can I know that what you say is true?¡±
¡°I will not lie to you and I have no need to lie to you. About the problem of money, you can get someone to follow us to Peshawar, Pakistan. I can withdraw the money there and pay you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Dayetiaughed loudly.
Smy paused, thenughed too. Herughed went well with Dayetia¡¯s and her chest went well with her body, bouncing up and down with herughter like hopping rabbits.
¡°What are youughing at?¡± Xia Lei held his anger in check. He could see that this Dayetia was angering him on purpose.
Dayetia stoppedughing and her eyes could spit mes when she red at Xia Lei. ¡°I go with you to Peshawar and you won¡¯t be paying me in US dors but with bullets, huh?¡±
¡°Why are we trading if you don¡¯t trust me?¡±
¡°I have what you want but you don¡¯t have what I want. My requirements for trade are simple. A million US dors and the sword of Att. If you hand these two things to me I¡¯ll let you go right away.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yu-Yan was beside herself with anger.
Xia Lei made no retort. He thought for a bit, and said, ¡°I have no way of meeting your requirements. Tell me, what trade do you want?¡±
¡°Smy and I will go with you to retrieve the sword of Att. And that one million US dors. My people will let your people go when I have these two things,¡± said Dayetia.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I can give you the money but the sword is not mine. How am I to give it to you? I am only telling you who has it. You have to figure out how to get it on your own.¡±
¡°The outside world is alien to us. We have no way of adjusting and no way of getting back the relic which should be ours from the hands of others. You must assist us,¡± said Dayetia.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°This won¡¯t work. I have no way of getting that sword either. You cannot be so greedy. You want too many things - this trade is not fair at all.¡±
¡°You feel it unfair? Well, then it¡¯ll be fair if I kill two.¡± Dayetia shot Smy a look.
Smy pointed her AK47 at Ning Jing¡¯s heart.
Ning Jing¡¯s face paled immediately.
¡°Stop!¡± Xia Lei was mad.
Dayetia took no notice of Xia Lei¡¯s anger. She took out a handgun and pointed the muzzle at Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s head as she said, ¡°How about this. I¡¯ll kill just one. You choose between these two. Who dies?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan was expressionless and she looked calm but her forehead was beaded with small pearls of sweat.
There was no way Xia Lei could make a decision like this. He could not bear to watch either Ning Jing or Tang Yu-Yan die.
¡°I¡¯m counting to three. Tell me your answer.¡± Dayetia raised her voice, ¡°One!¡±
¡°Fuck... I¡¯ll help you!¡± Xia Lei had no choice; he had to agree.
Dayetia put her gun away and a small smile appeared in the corners of her lips. ¡°Deal.¡±
Smy put her gun away too.
Ning Jing¡¯s knees buckled and she copsed a little dangerously to the ground.
Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°Warn your people not to harm them. Once I help you get that sword, your people are to release my people immediately. And return the satellite phone to mypanion. I will call her every day to confirm the situation here.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Dayetia threw the satellite phone to Tang Yu-Yan as she said, ¡°I¡¯ll give you people some time to interact. We set off at daybreak. Get ready.¡±
¡°Chieftain, he...¡± Smy looked at Xia Lei with wide eyes.
Dayetia red icily at Smy and she shut up. She grudgingly followed Dayetia and walked away from her prize.
Chapter 304 - Mysterious Ancient Alloy
The water in the river flowed unhurriedly by before them, so clear that they could see Asian carp swimming in it. They looked plump and delicious. Xia Lei threw a stone into the water and dozens of carp sprang above the surface of the river, throwing up exaggerated sshes of water. The people here didn¡¯t seem to eat much fish - these Asian carp had found a little paradise here to multiply all they wanted.
¡°I¡¯ve got to hand it to you - you¡¯re still in the mood to y around.¡± Ning Jing¡¯s voice was small. She looked at Xia Lei¡¯s face, her eyes dull.
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°Happinesssts for a minute, and so does sorrow, so why be sorrowful? I¡¯ve said that I would take you away from here. Rx. You¡¯ll be fine.¡±
¡°You...¡± Ning Jing hesitated, then said, ¡°Did youe specially to save me?¡±
¡°Well, I knew you were trapped here so I came.¡± Xia Lei added, ¡°Of course, there are the other experts too. They¡¯re China¡¯s elite.¡±
¡°I thought I would die here. I didn¡¯t expect... that you¡¯de.¡± Ning Jing hugged Xia Lei from behind emotionally.
Xia Lei could not help the rippling in his heart when he felt her warmth and softness press upon him, apanied by awkwardness. Him and her were just friends and being hugged intimately like this was not what friends did. He did not resist, however. He just stood quietly by the river and let her hug him.
Ning Jing was a pitiful woman. She¡¯d just mustered the courage to abandon her snobby parents and live her own life but had unexpectedly be trapped in this ce, forced to shovel goat droppings. Was a doctor of archaeology like her supposed to shovel excrement?
Ning Jing hugged Xia Lei with her eyes shut, savouring thisforting feeling.
Behind them, the two female guards assigned to watch them did not interrupt but watched them from afar.
¡°Big Sister Ning, can you tell me what you came here for?¡± asked Xia Lei gently. This was the reason why he had asked Ning Jing out on a walk. He¡¯d thought about it and was sure that the other experts might not tell him the truth if he asked, but Ning Jing would not lie to him.
¡°Let¡¯s sit and talk.¡± Ning Jing released Xia Lei and sat on the grass by the river.
Xia Lei sat close to her on the grass and looked at her quietly.
Ning Jing put her head on his shoulder and stared at the slow-flowing river. She began slowly, ¡°Do you still remember thepass you repaired?¡±
XIa Lei paused. ¡°You were trapped here... how is this rted to thatpass? What the hell¡¯s going on?¡±
That Ming dynastypass was fairly mysterious and Xia Lei had forgotten about it after repairing it, but this mission was unexpectedly rted to thatpass!
¡°It¡¯s like this,¡± Ning Jing continued, ¡°One month ago, I was recruited for a special team. I did not know what we were to study in the beginning and only knewter that it was going to be thatpass. I only found out a few days after joining the team of experts. They had already used thepass to find a ce, and had dug up some items at that ce.¡±
¡°What items?¡±
¡°I saw it once. It was a strange metal. It wasn¡¯t painted but it was green, and soft, like it was sentient,¡± said Ning Jing, ¡°It looked like a piece of a part. Oh, right, there were two letters on it too.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help interrupting her, ¡°What letters?¡±
¡°AE,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei felt like a huge rock had struck the waters of his mind hard in that instant, sending up waves which seemed to reach the sky.
Ning Jing did not sense the change in Xia Lei. She continued, ¡°This cannot be exined easily. There is a material science expert in the group of experts but he doesn¡¯t know what metal it is either. Some of the experts unanimously agreed in the end that it was apletely new type of metal which no one had discovered yet. Its strength and toughness is the best amongst all current known materials and it also has a special lightness which makes it ideal as a material for space-rted flight.¡±
Xia Lei finally calmed himself a little. ¡°Um, a Ming dynastypass led some experts to find a metal part with ¡®AE¡¯ on it... I¡¯m confused.¡± He smiled self-depreciatingly, ¡°Could it be aliens? The part the experts found could be a part from an alien¡¯s ship. Did aliens appear in the Ming dynasty? The experts have really stretched it too far, haven¡¯t they?¡±
Ning Jing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°I think your imagination is too active. There are no aliens. That piece of metal was smelted. Smelting happened about 1400 years ago. We researched all the races and civilisations of that time period and none of them had such advanced smelting techniques.¡±
¡°So who smelted it?¡±
¡°No idea.¡± Ning Jing looked confused as she said, ¡°We did our research assuming those two letters were English. Assuming so, then it had been brought to Ennd by the Germanic people, but the smelting techniques of the Germanic tribes which invaded Britain of that time were also very primitive. It is impossible for them to smelt such an advanced alloy.¡±
¡°So how was it smelted?¡± Xia Lei was full of puzzlement.
¡°That was why we made a small group of experts and came here. Our orders were to solve this puzzle and get the advanced smelting technique. If we seed, our country¡¯s smelting technology will be far above the rest of the world. The industries rted to it like aerospace, manufacturing and so on will also get a developmental spurt,¡± said Ning Jing excitedly.
¡°Hold on...¡± Xia Lei suddenly understood something, ¡°You mean that thatpass did not just point to one location? It pointed to a new location after the experts dug up the part?¡±
¡°Yes. It directed us here.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head andughed dryly. ¡°Impossible. I repaired thatpass. I know its structure. It doesn¡¯t have any AI or anything like that. It¡¯s impossible for it to point to another location after pointing you to the first one.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know about that,¡± said Ning Jing, ¡°The expert team excavated not just the green part from that location but several Ming dynasty antiques, all very valuable. Among the items was a needle. Apass needle. After installing that needle, it pointed to a different direction.¡±
This matter was impossible to unravel and made one feel lost, directionless.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°What were the antiques? Did you see them?¡±
¡°I saw a part of it. I am an archaeologist after all and they needed me to identify some things,¡± Ning Jing paused, then added, ¡°But there was a bronze book I did not see. They only gave me pictures of it.¡±
¡°What sort of bronze book was it?¡±
¡°It was strange and exquisite. It was thin; not much thicker than our modern paper. It looked to have tens of pages. It¡¯s too bad I saw only pictures and not its contents. I wonder what had been written in it.¡± Ning Jing looked disappointed.
¡°Maybe that bronze book has some important lead in it. Didn¡¯t you ask the other experts?¡±
¡°I did. They didn¡¯t see its contents either. The bronze book was taken as soon as it was excavated,¡± said Ning Jing, ¡°Then we discovered that thepass changed directions after we changed the needle, and here we are. We came through the Wakhan Corridor with dozens of special forces guards but they are all dead. Iter heard that someone attempted to rescue us but failed. I thought I was going to die here, but you appeared when I¡¯d given up. You always appear when I most need you and bring me hope, and light. I... I...¡±
Xia Lei put his arms lightly around her shoulders and said gently,fortingly, ¡°Don¡¯t be scared... It¡¯s all in the past. Tell me, did you find something after thepass brought you here?¡±
¡°We were captured before we had time to start work. The experts were put to doing tasks like nting carrots, feeding pigs... I was also sent to tend goats and clean the pens. We had no chance.¡±
¡°And thepass?¡±
¡°In the hands of the baby-faced warrior,¡± said Ning Jing. ¡°She snatched thepass away and hung it on the wall of her home; it¡¯s a wall-clock to her. I schemed to steal to back but I had no sess. You must take thatpass back if you get the chance. It¡¯s too important.¡±
An ancient and mysterious smelting technique which was more advanced than modern processes was a miracle in itself. Furthermore, it could also boost the standards of the entire manufacturing and aerospace industries in China - its importance was self-evident. However, Xia Lei¡¯s head hurt at the thought of baby-faced Smy. He could barely avoid her and now he was to steal from her home? Wasn¡¯t this sending himself to ughter?
¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth as a deeper question nagged at his heart. ¡®Ming dynastypass, ancient smelting technique and the letters ¡®AE¡¯... are the letters on the ancient alloy rted to the American AE Research Centre? Is it just a coincidence? If they¡¯re rted, then how? AE capsules, AE alloy... Heavens, what the heck¡¯s going on?¡¯
¡°You¡¯re going to leave this ce with the chieftain tomorrow morning. Will youe back?¡± Ning Jing wanted to shift the conversation to something else after talking too much about formal matters.
¡°Of course. I probably won¡¯te back if you don¡¯t fail. If you fail, however, I wille back personally and finish up what you were unable to do. But don¡¯t tell anyone this. I will fail too if others know,¡± nagged Xia Lei.
Ning Jing made a small sound of agreement, then said, ¡°I won¡¯t tell anyone. The people of the tribe here don¡¯t suspect anything either. There are always people whoe, risking the danger in search of treasure. They¡¯ve taken us for regr treasure-hunters.¡±
¡°That¡¯s best. Let¡¯s go back. I have to talk with Tang Yu-Yan,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Can¡¯t we stay for a while longer?¡± said Ning Jing in reluctance.
¡°Mm... Okay.¡± Xia Lei smiled. He couldn¡¯t bear to reject a request such as this because he knew that she most neededforting and someone to be with her at a time like this.
¡°Lend me yourp.¡±
¡°Hm?¡± Xia Lei looked at her uprehendingly.
Ning Jing did not exin. Shey on Xia Lei¡¯sp, treating it like her pillow, and closed her eyes. A breeze tugged at her hair and ck threads floated gently, but they did not cover her beautiful face. She seemed to want to nap like this for a bit, or just lie quietly for a spell.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t bear to disturb her nor break the tranquility of the atmosphere. He watched the slow-moving river as he struggled to think of a way to steal thatpass tonight...
Chapter 305 - Love Trade
After some negotiations, Ning Jing and the other four experts finally threw off the yokes of servitude and were housed in a clean room. Ning Jing had even managed to take a long yearned-for hot bath and was as happy as ark.
The sword of Att and a million US dors - each were enough to move the hearts of the White Hun Tribe. Dayetia was, of course, very satisfied with Xia Lei¡¯s offer.
Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan were given rooms too but their rooms were not adjacent to each other - they were at least two hundred metres apart. Dayetia seemed to want to avoid having the two of them discussing anything and she had not only arranged their rooms to be far apart but also posted guards at their doors. Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan had almost no chance ofmunicating.
Dayetia personally escorted Xia Lei to the room she had arranged for him, then entered it with him.
¡°What is this, Chieftain Dayetia? We are setting off in the morning but you¡¯re separating me from mypanion. Are you still worried that we will conspire to escape? We Chinese are the most credible people and we will fulfil our end of the bargain since we¡¯ve made a deal.¡±
¡°You and your friend are dangerous. I do not want you two together. We will depart tomorrow. Let me give you a warning - do not y any tricks, or your friend and those experts will die,¡± said Dayetia.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You treat me as an enemy from the beginning. Why can¡¯t you see me as a friend?¡±
¡°Friend?¡± Dayetia scoffed. ¡°I do not trust men. Especially men like you.¡±
Xia Lei let thement slide. ¡°I¡¯m willing to help you and let you see my sincerity.¡±
¡°What do you think we need?¡±
¡°Electricity and schools.¡± Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°And machines. Machines for farming, for logging. You don¡¯t want your tribe to be so backward, do you? It¡¯s the era of globalisation now but you¡¯re still living in istion. You will all die out if this goes on.¡±
Dayetia gave Xia Lei a frosty look. ¡°Do not criticise what you do not understand. The outside world has thrown away its traditions. This is not a good thing for us. But the electricity you speak of is eptable. You can help us with this?¡±
¡°Of course. I am a mechanic and an electrical engineer. You have a river here so I can build you a small hydropower station and you can use electricity then.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°This isn¡¯tplicated, believe me. It can be done easily.¡±
¡°Why are you helping us like this?¡± said Dayetia suspiciously, ¡°What do you want to gain from this?¡±
¡°Friendship,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t try to fool me with this. I am not that sort of stupid woman you seem to think I am. Tell me - what do you want from us?¡± Dayetia suddenly thought of something. ¡°You have designs on the treasure?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You have treasure here?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Dayetia, ¡°Many treasure hunterse for those ruins but I can tell you for sure that there is no treasure there, just an ancient city from Att¡¯s time. It¡¯s been over a thousand years. Anything of value there has been taken and what¡¯s left are those stones.¡±
¡°Since you say I¡¯m here for treasure, then yes. I am here for treasure. How about this - I build a hydropower station and install electrical lines, uh, I can also provide some appliances like refrigerators, kettles and the like. I can do all these in exchange for an archaeological chance to go into those ruins. How about it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°One day,¡± said Dayetia.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°I will give you one day¡¯s time. You will be allowed to move about in the ruins, and whatever you find is yours. You must leave after this one day,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Deal.¡± Xia Lei smiled and stretched out a hand to Dayetia.
Dayetia did not shake hands with Xia Lei. She turned and left.
Xia Lei retracted his hand awkwardly as he grumbled to himself, ¡®She seems very opposed to males. Could she be a lesbian? What a pity.¡¯
Xie Lei went out after Dayetia left and wandered around the tribe. Quite a few womenmented on him and some even wolf-whistled provokingly at him. This made him feel like he was a timid, shy little girl and those women were bad men who were picking on him.
He saw quite a few men too but none said hello. They just looked indifferently at him and went about their tasks.
Xia Lei did not go far when Smy blocked his way. She had heard the rumours and hade running. Baby-faced Smy said nothing as she pulled him by the hand to her home.
Xia Lei¡¯s aim in wandering about was to lure Smy out, but he put on a nervous, unwilling facade. He resisted as they walked, ¡°What are you doing? Where are you taking me?¡±
¡°To my ce, of course!¡± said Smy. She was straightforward.
¡°I¡¯m not your ve. You can¡¯t do this,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Who says?¡± Smy said fiercely, ¡°Chieftain said she was giving you to me. What she says isw. You are mine, and don¡¯t even think of running away!¡±
Their argument drew many women and quite a few of them made jokes at Xia Lei and Smy¡¯s expense.
¡°Going to be a real woman tonight, Smy? Want me to help?¡±
¡°Smy, this Chinese boy is so skinny! You have to be gentle with him - don¡¯t break him!¡±
¡°Smy, how about I trade you three goats for him?¡±
¡°Smy...¡±
The women said all sorts of things and some very unsavoury things too. Even Xia Lei was red-faced as a man but he was gratified to know that his value had increased. He was now worth three goats, not one!
Smy didn¡¯t seem embarrassed at all. She grinned happily and joked with the women, giving one the impression that she was really a newly-wed groom with a bride.
They went jovially past houses like this and Xia Lei was dragged to a wooden house owned by Smy. This wooden house was built by the river and flowers and nts were nted in the patch of empty ground in front of it. The fresh flowers in bloom were fairly pretty with the setting sun and the reflection of golden light sparkling off the surface of the river. The wooden house, flowers and river made for a rich and colourful oil painting. Add a big-breasted, baby-faced young woman and this painting seemed to have sprung from the pen of a Japaneseic-maker, tinted with some naughtiness.
Xia Lei was pulled into the house by Smy and he saw thepass on the wall right away. Fortunately, she had hung it up on a rope and not put a nail through it. It was not broken and looked exactly the same as when he had seen itst.
He had not felt anything special when he saw the Ming dynastypassst but it was different now. He felt inexplicably stunned by it when he saw it again, because of the many secrets it held.
¡°I¡¯ll get you some water. Take a bath, and we can begin,¡± said Smy. Her youthful face had a happy smile all over it.
Xia Lei came back to his senses and said a little nervously, ¡°Begin? What?¡±
¡°Sex.¡± Smy giggled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not like the other women. I¡¯ll be gentle.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Smy went to get water for Xia Lei¡¯s bath but turned around after taking just two steps. ¡°No. I¡¯m a woman. Why must I do things for you? You should be serving me. Go get the water for a bath, then bathe me.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not your ve, and not your husband either. You can¡¯t order me to do anything. You probably also know that your chieftain and I are very good friends. I will help you get your sacred relic back and help your tribe build a hydropower station so you can have electricity. I am already your respected guest, so how can you treat me this way?¡±
Smy¡¯s wrinkled brows raised higher and higher, and the happy smile on her face was gone, reced by gloominess. She wasn¡¯t very informed about all these, but Dayetia had specially told her not to be disrespectful to Xia Lei before she had gone looking for him. She had brought Xia Lei to her home without Dayetia¡¯s permission so she didn¡¯t dare do anything bad to him.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°But we can still be friends. You are an adorable, lively girl. I think we can be great friends.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to be friends!¡± said Smy huffily, ¡°The girls in the tribe my age all have husbands, and their own children. They all have their own families and be heads of their households.¡±
¡°You can have that too. You have so many men in your tribe. I¡¯ve seen it. There are many young men,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t want them. They can¡¯t do anything other than farming. I like you. Handsome, healthy, good with a gun!¡± Smy got more excited as she spoke, then suddenly said, ¡°How about... You marry me. You serve me and listen to me outside, but back here, at home, I¡¯ll serve you and listen to you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°How about I draw the bathwater for you, and bathe you?¡± said Smy suggestively.
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on but he put on a hesitant face. ¡°We don¡¯t even have a base for our feelings to develop yet... This isn¡¯t good. How about we date first and we can be together if we both feel like we¡¯re suitable for each other.¡±
¡°Date?¡± Smyughed. ¡°Are you talking about doing those things? No problem! Let¡¯s do it now!¡±
Xia Lei was defeated by her twisted logic and he bit the bullet as he said, ¡°By dating, I mean love, not doing those kind of things. For example, I will give you presents and you will give me presents.¡±
¡°Give presents?¡± Smy blinked herrge blue eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°What present do you want?¡±
Xia Lei removed his watch from his wrist and put it in Smy¡¯s hand. ¡°This is a tactical watch that disys not just time but also points north, measures air pressure and wind speed. A marks-woman like yourself will find it useful. It is the most advanced and very expensive; 10,000 US dors.¡±
¡°Wow, 10,000 US dors... How many goats is that?¡± Smy¡¯s mouth was open in awe and she moved the tactical watch about in her hands as she looked at it.
¡°Mm, I¡¯ll be willing to give you more expensive presents, but you have to give me a present too.¡± Xia Lei nced at thepass on the wall as he spoke.
¡°What do you want? Should I give myself to you?¡± said Smy.
¡°How can people be presents?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°How about you give that to me.¡± He pointed at thepass on the wall. ¡°I like it.¡±
¡°Take it if you like it, hee hee.¡± Smy readily agreed.
Xia Lei kept his excitement in check as he retrieved thepass from the wall. He then said, ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be going back now. See you tomorrow.¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Smy abruptly blocked his way.
Xia Lei let out an internal groan but spoke calmly on the surface. ¡°Why are you acting like this again? Didn¡¯t I say that we should first date? Look, we¡¯ve exchanged presents. This is a good start.¡±
¡°No...¡± Smy¡¯s face suddenly turned red. ¡°Those women willugh at me if you go out just like this. My prestige within the tribe will fall. You have to stay here tonight. You can¡¯t leave.¡±
Xia Lei let out a sigh of relief when he heard what she said. He thought she¡¯d discovered that he¡¯de for thepass and was going to stop the ¡®present exchange¡¯, but he had not expected her to stop him for this reason. This was normal - Smy would not have hung it up on the wall if she knew the secret of thepass.
At that moment, a woman¡¯s voice suddenly came from beyond the door. ¡°What¡¯s going on, Smy? Why is it so quiet?¡±
Smy suddenly started to make gasping cries of ¡®ah, ah¡¯ as she eximed, ¡°You¡¯re so rough... Oh...!¡±
Xia Lei felt right away that it was going to be a tough night.
Chapter 306 - Black Hawk
Darkness enveloped the valley and oilmps were lit one by one in wooden houses. Stars dotted the sky, twinkling in the night sky and dancing soundlessly like fairies in the dark. It was quiet all around except for Smy¡¯s house. Arge group of women surrounded her wooden house, at the door, at the windows and behind the house.
The women peeked through the cracks in the door, the walls and wormholes, pushing and shoving each other. It was a lively and hrious scene, and sounds came continuously from the house they surrounded. Smy¡¯s voice and the sound of leather pping on a backside rang out. Smy¡¯s noises were erratic - sometimes praising, sometimes begging for mercy, sometimes encouraging, sometimes gibberish and sometimes letting out a cat-like yowl...
¡°Amazing!¡± A young tribes-woman had a shocked look on her face. ¡°It¡¯s been an hour and it¡¯s not finished yet!¡±
¡°Smy must be so blissful. I have five husbands but none canpare to her man.¡± A middle-aged woman had a look on envy on her face.
¡°Didn¡¯t Chieftain say that that Chinese guy¡¯s a respected guest? That we can¡¯t touch him? Howe Smy dragged him to her house?¡±
¡°Smy¡¯s got a good figure and a pretty baby-face. Men like that. It¡¯s not strange that that Chinese punk has been seduced to bed with Smy,¡± exined a woman.
¡°So how do I seduce men?¡±
¡°Shoo, you¡¯re still young and you don¡¯t understand...¡±
The group of women chatted,ughed and discussed things freely; they did not seem embarrassed at all.
The situation outside and in was very different.
Xia Lei hid under Smy¡¯s mosquito and watched the situation outside the house vigntly. He could see all the women outside clearly - those mouths, those eyes... He was very worried that they would break down the door and charge in at any moment, then push him to the floor and touch everything of his that they could touch...
¡®Did Xuanzang also experience what I am going through now?¡¯ a strange thought came into Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Opposite him, Smy hit her thighs rhythmically, making pping flesh-on-flesh noises as she said some gibberish and let out excited, lust-inducing moans. She stared straight at Xia Lei as she did this, her eyes full of dissatisfaction and disappointment. She¡¯d spanked her own thighs till they were red and he was still sitting there indifferently like a statue!
¡°Ah...!¡± Smy let out a loud cry and stopped spanking. It was quiet under the mosquito.
Xia Lei smiled and said quietly, ¡°Wasn¡¯t that overboard? It was like I was killing you.¡±
Smy red at Xia Lei. ¡°Would those people outside leave if I don¡¯t make a sound like that?¡±
Xia Lei scanned the outside area again - the women were starting to disperse. They joked and chatted and discussed what they¡¯d witnessed, like they were walking off after watching a movie. What a bunch of nosey women!
The women outside left and Xia Lei got ready to get out from under Smy¡¯s mosquito and go back.
Smy grabbed his arm before he could get out and he grew nervous immediately. ¡°What are you doing? They¡¯ve already left. I have to go back. We are to set out tomorrow, so you should get some rest too.¡±
¡°I feel like you¡¯re cheating me.¡± Smy pursed her peachy little lips like a child who¡¯d had her lollipop swindled away by a strange uncle.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°What did I cheat you out of?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t like me and you¡¯re lying to me about dating.¡±
Xia Lei forced himself to say, ¡°No... I like you. Really. I¡¯m not lying.¡±
¡°You¡¯re lying again. If you really liked me then you and I should have done the real thing earlier, not just me pretending and hitting my thighs. Look, my thighs are red.¡± Smy lifted her skirt to expose the red areas, as well as a section of white cotton underwear.
Her underwear was obviously not from any underwear brand and had been hand-sewn by herself. It was simple, rough and the seams were not tight at all. Bits of special scenery peeked from those small gaps in her underwear, partially obscured, unclear, yet wholly tempting.
Xia Lei hurriedly looked away. He had been tortured enough by over an hour of her cries and to have this sort of stimtion now... He was a normal man, so he worried that he would lose control if this kept on.
Smy released the hem of her short skirt but crawled over to Xia Lei, drawing close aggressively. She used her hands and kneecaps to hold Xia Lei down and her H-cup breasts swung vertically to hang before Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, her round neckline exposing a big area of soft, pale white flesh, with a groove between them so deep it could drown a man. *
¡°Humph! You¡¯re actually only here for the metal dish, aren¡¯t you?¡± Smy stared straight at Xia Lei, her face almost touching his.
Xia Lei let out an internal groan but there was no change at all on the surface as he said, ¡°What are you talking about? I really do like you.¡±
This was Xia Lei¡¯s first time lying to a woman like this and he was notfortable with it at all. However, this tasteless act still had to be done, even if he ended up hurting her.
¡°Then kiss me. Kiss me if you like me.¡± Smy¡¯s nose touched Xia Lei¡¯s nose.
¡°Didn¡¯t I say that we should first date...¡± Xia Lei tried his best to convince her.
¡°Hah! I don¡¯t want your present anymore. I¡¯ll give it back and you give me the metal te back!¡± Smy removed the tactical watch from her wrist as she spoke.
Was this some sort of childish game? Taking presents back after giving them away?
Xia Lei quickly caught hold of her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, Smy. I really do like you. I can swear to the Heavens I do.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want any swearing.¡± Smy pressed herself close again, her nose on his nose. ¡°You say you like me, so kiss me.¡±
¡°You vixen...¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Smy red at Xia Lei. ¡°Are you cursing at me? Give me the metal te back.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly kissed her on the lips. Smy froze, then pushed Xia Lei violently down on the bed...
For that ancient and mysterious smelting technique, for the secret of ¡®AE¡¯... this sacrifice was worth it. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t think of any method other than this to not rouse the suspicions of Smy and Dayetia while taking thepass back. More importantly, he had to dig out the secret hidden here after getting thepass!
Come to think of it, what was this minor thing he was going to dopared to the agents who had paid with their lives on this journey?
After putting aside his reservations, Xia Lei rxed and became more natural in his movements. He became more proactive after a short spell of passiveness. He was unable to stand the psychological attack and his restraints crumbled when faced with a lolita beauty like Smy. Just as Smy got all heated up and was as soft as putty in his hands*, and he pushed her below him, panting...
Whumpa-whumpa-whumpa-whumpa-whumpa...
Deafening sounds of a helicopter suddenly came from the sky. Gunshots and shouting immediately came from the tribe.
The two under the mosquito froze for two seconds, then jumped out from under the. Seeing the bare, amazing chest of Smy¡¯s, Xia Lei was not sure if he should curse or praise his luck; his feelings were a mess.
¡°American troops! American troops!¡± shouted someone outside before firing at the sky.
Xia Lei and Smy rushed out of the wooden house and saw the two American ck Hawk helicopters in the sky right away. The helicopters were about 1,000 metres above ground and hovered above the tribe. Xia Lei saw the helicopter pilot and the machine gunners in the cabin, as well as the American soldiers in their seats.
This height meant that the two helicopters did not intend tond. Furthermore, this was the White Hun Tribe and it had thousands of people, and numerous warriors too. The soldiers on board the helicopters were just going to their deaths if theynded.
It was chaos on the ground and quite a few were shooting up at the helicopters, but their bullets could not reach a thousand metres up into the air and they fell to waste.
¡°Stop shooting!¡± A warhorse galloped on the ground; Dayetia was riding it.
The gunfire quickly stopped but more female warrior got on horseback, prepared to fight if things escted.
¡°Take care of yourself! I¡¯m going to go check on my friends!¡± Xia Lei yelled at Smy as he turned and ran to where Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s room was.
Smy followed Xia Lei as she said, ¡°I¡¯ming with you!¡±
They had not managed to go all the way but the two of them had obviously progressed beyond their previous level. Smy was worried about Xia Lei because his gun had been confiscated.
Dayetia rode over and came to an abrupt halt before the two of them before they could get to Tang Yu-Yan. Dayetia threw Xia Lei¡¯s sniper rifle at him and said loudly, ¡°Take it! Fight with us!¡±
Xia Lei grabbed hold of his sniper rifle and nodded without hesitation. ¡°I will fight alongside you if they dare enter this area.¡±
Dayetia gave Smy a look. ¡°Why are you still standing here? Get your horse. And get him one too.¡±
¡°Yes, right away.¡± Smy turned and ran towards her wooden house.
At that moment, one of the ck Hawks in the sky suddenly shot a rocket down. mes red and the rocket whistled before hitting the river. A great explosion boomed and the river water was thrown up in a big wave. The two helicopters turned in another direction and left after that.
This seemed to have been just a reconnaissance mission, and the rocket fired had been a demonstration. They had no ns tond and engage in battle.
The White Hun Tribe was an isted tribe, not terrorists, and not European or American enemies. An unwarranted attack on this ce would draw international k, and this seemed to be the reason why the two helicopters hade and gone. If the White Hun Tribe was just a small vige, it was possible that they would level the area andnd tounch their ground operations.
The tribe gradually settled down into their usual calm after the departure of the two helicopters.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, still looked up at the sky with a grave expression on his face.
He could not see what flew up high in the sky but he was sure that unmanned reconnaissance nes were much, much higher up, patrolling the area. Maybe even the cameras of military satellites were looking here - the American military would not appear here for no reason. The long tentacles of the CIA had finally stretched over here!
Chapter 307 - Barren Mountain Hunt
Three warhorses crossed the mountain at the end of the valley when the sun hung right above in the sky. Xia Lei sat on horseback and looked back at the valley. He could not see the White Hun Tribe anymore. Behind him was a swath of primitive forest and barren mountain terrainy before him, going on without end. The valley in the midst of mountains really was a paradise which should not be disturbed.
¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Dayetia, ¡°Our road is still long and we have to get out of this valley before nightfall.¡±
Xia Lei turned back and looked ahead of them. ¡°It¡¯s all mountains - can we get out? I need to know your route.¡±
Smy looked at Xia Lei, all smiles. ¡°We¡¯re going through the Wakhan Corridor, then into new territory. The ancient Silk Road. You should know about it.¡±
¡°I thought we would go to Pakistan and get on a flight to China,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Your suggestion seems safe and it is the fastest, but it is the most dangerous. We have already been marked by the American military. If we go to Peshawar, we will have to deal with the Imic militants on top of the US military.¡±
¡°And the armed tribal forces along the way,¡± added Smy.
¡°All right, let¡¯s travel via the Wakhan Corridor,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°But how long will it take to get through it and into the new territory?¡±
¡°A fortnight, if there are noplications,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°A fortnight...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing dryly. It was undoubtedly going to be a long and arduous journey.
¡°Hah!¡± Dayetia let out a sharp cry and mmed her long legs onto her horse¡¯s sides. The white steed below her charged downhill.
Smy followed close, urging her horse into a canter. Her bouncy bottom jiggled in the saddle, making beautiful ripples.
Images of what they had done under the mosquitost night surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s head. They had just done a little bit but he couldn¡¯t help recalling it all and getting an itch in his heart. The so-called bottom line for morals was blown away by the big-breasted lolita Smy.
Xia Lei looked back again and urged his horse onward. After he caught up with the two women, he had a strange feeling - he imagined himself as James Bond of the British MI5, the world famous 007. Mr Bond was never without beauties when going on missions, and his situation now...
If he thought about it like that, this trip through the ancient Silk Road wasn¡¯t actually so bad.
They came to a big mountain at nightfall. The path had disappeared from under their feet - it seemed there used to be some sort of road which went between the mountains but it was now gone, destroyed.
¡°We have to climb past this mountain, then camp in the mountains.¡± Dayetia hopped down from her horse to lead it up the mountain.
Smy and Xia Lei got off their horses too and led their horses up.
¡°Lei, can you buy clothes for me when we get to China?¡± Smy chatted with Xia Lei as they climbed, ¡°I heard that clothes in China are very cheap. I want to buy lots and lots of clothes but I have no money.¡±
Xia Lei grinned as he said, ¡°Won¡¯t you have money if you sell your goats?¡±
Smy red at Xia Lei. ¡°Miser!¡± She added, ¡°I¡¯ll sell you when we get to China, then go buy clothes!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The women of the White Hun Tribe would never be able to change their ways and even the man they truly loved would have no real equal standing in their eyes. However, the younger White Hun women like Smy were better in this regard. She would just talk about selling him but wouldn¡¯t actually do it. She had also been willing to give Xia Lei a bath and wait on himst night too. The older generation of White Hun women would never do that.
¡°Will you run away when we get to China?¡± Smy looked back at Xia Lei. Her foot suddenly slipped, and her body tilted backwards, looking like she would fall all the way down.
Xia Lei quickly supported her hips with his hands, pushing her up again. All he felt throughout this process was firm bounciness and more bounciness. He knew severalnguages but could not find anything to describe that marvellous bounce.
The danger over, Smy looked back again and smiled. ¡°Thanks. I thought you¡¯d just let me fall.¡±
¡°Why would I? I¡¯m right behind you; I¡¯ll protect you,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Smy winked roguishly at Xia Lei, as if hinting at something.
A doll-like, childish face, cute, beautiful, and a smoking hot subus body... Xia Lei¡¯s boundaries were getting increasingly blurred to the point of not having any. A thought sprang into his head, ¡®We live in the now, so why live with all these rules and regtions? If I don¡¯t live a little then my youth would be wasted. Even if the fiction of our rtionship turns into truth, it would be a sort of joy for me to remember this tribal girl when I¡¯m old, won¡¯t it? Heh heh...¡¯
Indeed, he did not have an official girlfriend or anything and he was still single. Why couldn¡¯t he use Smy and y with her since she was doing the same to him now? Why should he hold himself to strict moral codes before marriage and before having his own children?
Xia Lei grew even more rxed after he thought about it, and became more open. When Smy winked at him, he reached out and smacked her moderately on the top of her luscious hump.
The smack echoed throughout the mountaintops and Smy turned back to roll her eyes at him, though it was more delight than annoyance and was really very attractive.
Xia Lei sighed to himself. What a little temptress.
In the lead, Dayetia nced back at them just in time to see Xia Lei retract his hand from Smy¡¯s buttocks. She shook her head, a wry smile in the corners of her lips.
Xia Lei behaved himself. His impression of Dayetia was that she had no positive feelings towards men and he did not want to get on her bad side. He had to be on her good side before he could rescue Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing and the experts, and keep staying on her good side to get to the ¡®treasure¡¯.
The sun went below the horizon in the west and light in the valley disappeared first. It was better in the mountains, but it would be dark too in less than an hour.
¡°We have to hurry up,¡± said Dayetia as she looked back, ¡°Keep going. Let¡¯s do our best to get to the peak in an hour.¡±
Smyined, ¡°Chieftain, I¡¯m hungry and my legs are weak too. Can we...¡±
A white shadow suddenly crossed the sky before Smy finished her sentence.
Xia Lei looked up immediately and locked his gaze on that white shadow. It was an unmanned Predator drone. Two air-to-ground missiles hung under its wings.
¡°Get down!¡± Xia Lei shouted. He let go of the reins and threw himself forward, pulling Smy to the ground with him.
Ahead of them, Dayetia had heard Xia Lei¡¯s warning and she threw herself to the ground too.
A Hellfire missile hit a rock face on the mountain right after the trio threw themselves t on the ground.
BOOM! A great explosion shattered the rock above them and pieces of rock came whistling down. The sound echoed all around and sparks flew everywhere.
The warhorses were spooked and screamed as they stamped their feet.
The ck horse Xia Lei was riding got hit in the head by flying rock and it crashed to the ground.
Boom! The second Hellfire missile whistled downward and hit the rock face again. Rock shards rained down, and the t slopes became difficult, rocky terrain.
Xia Lei released Smy from under him and swiftly went to retrieve his sniper rifle from the dead horse¡¯s saddlebags. He knew well that the Predator¡¯s attacks were just to block him off, otherwise it would not have chosen to hit the rock face above - kills would mean a ton of administrative work!
Sure enough, three ck Hawks came up from behind the mountains as Xia Lei retrieved his sniper rifle and rucksack. Ropedders descended from the helicopters and special forces in full gear came sliding down,nding on top of the mountain.
Xia Lei suddenly stood and raised his gun. He aimed at the cockpit of a ck Hawk. He pulled the trigger a secondter and a bullet shot angrily from the muzzle, and through the ss of the cockpit in the next second. A spiderweb of a crack appeared on the ss. The force of a bullet from a sniper rifle was enough to destroy its structure even though it was bulletproof ss.
This shot startled the pilot and he panicked. He increased the helicopter¡¯s altitude, making the soldiers on the ropedder panic too. Jump? Not jump?
Bang! Xia Lei squeezed the trigger again.
Crack! The sniper bullet got through the cracked bulletproof ss and went instantly into the pilot¡¯s neck. Blood spurted out like a fountain and the pilotless ck Hawk fell downward into the valley immediately.
Boom! A great explosion came from behind the mountain and the rising mes stained the sky red.
The aim of the enemy was clear, so Xia Lei gave no quarter. He knew that if he did, Dayetia and Smy would be killed and he would be captured, sent to America and turned into ab rat! What was worse was that if he were captured, Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing and the experts would all be killed!
This was a battlefield and being kind to the enemy was being cruel to yourself. Was there anyone who had pitied those Bureau 101 agents who had been ambushed and killed?
One of the ck Hawks was down, and the other twopleted their unloading of infantry. A ck Hawk shot some rockets at where the three of them hid. The sound of explosions was never-ending and the whole mountain seemed to quake.
However, the two ck Hawks fired just a few rounds of rockets before they went up and away.
The firing of the rockets was just to suppress fire. Xia Lei knew that the enemy would not st the entire area because he was here on this mountain. They wanted him alive, not dead.
¡°Shit!¡± Smy wiped at her dusty face as she said angrily, ¡°These American troops have never attacked us before. Why are they like this to us now? I¡¯m going to kill them!¡±
Dayetia wriggled over to Xia Lei and Smy and red at Xia Lei, her gaze frosty. ¡°Who the hell are you? We¡¯ve never had trouble with the Americans all this while - why did they attack us after you appeared? Tell me!¡±
Xia Lei was expressionless. ¡°Let¡¯s survive this before we talk.¡±
Bang bang bang!
Gunshots came from the mountaintop and bullets rained down upon them.
Dayetia bit her cherry lip and threw herself to the ground at Xia Lei¡¯s side.
Chapter 308 - Hollywood Colonel
Dayetia¡¯s and Smy¡¯s white horses were spooked and they turned to gallop down the mountain.
Smy hid behind a rock, cursing as she shot at the enemy. ¡°Bastards! You are all castrated goats!¡±
A bullet hit the rock she hid behind and sparks flew, hitting her face. She quickly ducked.
Dayetia¡¯s situation was no better. She could not lift her head for fear of the bullets trickling down from the mountaintop.
The soldiers on top of the mountain moved quickly and their tactics were clear - some continued the suppression fire while the others charged downhill. After some distance, the group in front begun firing from favourable positions, providing cover while the others ran forward. If they kept this up, they would be able to surround Xia Lei, Dayetia and Smy in under five minutes.
Bang bang bang! Dayetia stuck her AK47 out from behind the rock and fired a round of bullets. She didn¡¯t dare lift her head, much less aim at a target and kill. She and Smy could only use this blind way of returning fire in their situation. This was to hit any target but to keep the enemy on their toes and slow the speed with which they would surround them.
This was not a solution, however.
¡°Chieftain! Xia! You two escape! I¡¯ll cover you!¡± shouted Smy. Her young voice was filled with bravery and fearlessness.
¡°I shall avenge you!¡± Dayetia¡¯s eyes were scarily cold.
Xia Lei rolled over at that moment and kicked Smy down, saying angrily, ¡°The two of you, go downhill. Get the horses back. Let me handle this!¡±
¡°You...¡± Smy rubbed the buttock which he had kicked and looked at him, stunned.
Dayetia also looked at Xia Lei in amazement. Her feelings were aplete tangle in that instant - it was easy to tell who was friend or foe when it came to a crucial, life-or-death point. Xia Lei was telling her and Smy to escape while he provided cover. One man against at least 20 American Special Forces soldiers - this was suicide! A person who was willing to sacrifice his life for hers... what else could he be if not a friend?
¡°Go!¡± Xia Lei turned and roared at them. ¡°You stinking women are getting in the way. Do you want to die here? Go!¡±
Smy¡¯s tears fell right away. These were not tears due to the scolding but because she was touched.
¡°Don¡¯t die!¡± Dayetia left him with those words. She grabbed hold of Smy¡¯s hand and brought her in a mad dash down the mountain.
The sniper rifle in Xia Lei¡¯s hands roared as Dayetia and Smy raced down the mountain. A Special Forces soldier up on the mountaintop fell, never to rise again.
Dark night, deste mountain, dancing gunfire, flying bullets, flowing blood and corpses - Xia Lei was used to all these. He did not have anything to worry about after Dayetia and Smy left and could go all out!
Bang! Another shot rang out. A soldier who had just stuck his head out from behind the rock had his head blown away.
¡°Fuck! Kill him!¡± screamed someone on the mountaintop, ¡°Fuck orders! Kill him!¡±
Rat-tat-tat...
Bang bang bang...
Gunshots rang out and bullets flew in the direction of Xia Lei¡¯s hiding spot.
Combatants on the battlefield were capable of anything when their lives were in danger. Orders could only be followed if one were alive to do so.
Xia Lei had expected this situation. He had killed two of them, so they would find it difficult to capture him alive.
Xia Lei kept his body close to the ground as he crawled forward. He had spotted two soldiers moving sneakily downhill on the right after killing the second target.
Those two soldiers probably thought they were experienced and were being stealthy but they had no idea that they were running naked in daytime to Xia Lei, and were eye-piercingly obvious.
Xia Lei silently crawled behind a rock on the right and stuck the muzzle of his sniper rifle out from the side. He did not lift his head. His left eye twitched and the rock blocking him disappeared. The two soldiers, who were armed to their teeth, were crouched over and approaching quickly.
¡°Distance of 500, wind speed negligible...¡± muttered Xia Lei to himself. His right index finger curled gently and the gun shook for a bit. A soldier dropped to the ground 500 metres away.
Bang! Another shot was fired and the second soldier trying to sneak closer from the right copsed to the ground too. He had actually found cover after hisrade had been sniped but he had looked out from it to survey his surroundings. Before his eye could see anything, however, it had been blown away by a bullet, along with half of his head.
Having cleared his right of enemies, Xia Lei crawled out from behind the rock and dashed out of the range of the cover-fire.
Dark night, deste mountain, sniper rifle - this was Xia Lei¡¯s battlefield. Who lived and who died was all up to him!
Down the mountain, Dayetia and Smy found their horses. The horses spent day and night with them and were deeply attached to their humans, so they returned to them at a call.
¡°Chieftain, let¡¯s go back!¡± said Smy worriedly, ¡°There are so many enemies. Xia cannot handle them on his own.¡±
¡°No. Going back would be dying in vain,¡± said Dayetia, ¡°Don¡¯t you get it? Xia is sacrificing himself, gaining us time so that we can escape. He did this so that we will release his friends and those Chinese treasure-hunters.¡±
¡°But...¡± Smy started to say something, then stopped. She was not willing to ept it.
¡°Enough!¡± Dayetia chided, ¡°You are the marks-woman of our tribe. I can give you however many men you want. Get on your horse. We¡¯re leaving!¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Smy had to follow Dayetia¡¯s orders. She got on her horse huffily.
At that moment, the gunfire from the top of the mountain suddenly ceased.
Dayetia was about to get on her horse and leave, but she did not.
Someone suddenly started shouting on the top of the mountain in English. ¡°Surrender, Xia Lei, or I will kill your woman!¡±
Smy was puzzled. ¡°Chieftain, you know English. What is that person saying?¡±
Dayetia wrinkled her brows. ¡°He¡¯s telling Xia to surrender and threatening to kill his woman if he doesn¡¯t.¡±
¡°Xia¡¯s woman? Isn¡¯t that me?¡± Smy¡¯srge eyes were ame. ¡°That man is sly! He¡¯s pretending to have captured me and is using me to threaten Xia! No, I have to go tell Xia that that is not me!¡±
Smy hopped down from her horse¡¯s back but Dayetia pped her upside her head before she could go up the mountain to look for Xia Lei. ¡°Idiot! When will you learn? The woman that person is talking about is not you!¡±
¡°Not me? Then who?¡± Smy looked confused.
Someone on the mountain had cracked a light stick and the green glow dispelled the darkness in that ce. A middle-aged man appeared in the brightest spot with a in his hands.
On the right side of the mountain, Xia Lei stopped moving. They were a few hundred metres away but he could see the woman¡¯s face clearly. It was Liang Si-Yao.
Only Liang Si-Yao could be called his woman, even though she was his ex.
There was no guilt or panic on Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face - only calm.
The man who had seized her was Colonel Hanks,mander of the special team which had ambushed the Bureau 101 team. He had his arm around Liang Si-Yao¡¯s neck and his body totally behind hers, not giving Xia Lei any opening to shoot.
A camouged sniper was already in ce about 15 metres to the right of the two of them. He would shoot once Xia Lei revealed himself. In consideration for the aim of capturing him alive, the sniper did not use normal bullets - he had special bullets with tranquilizing properties.
To the left of them, dozens of Special Forces soldiers were getting ready and some had already started crawling over with their bodies close to the ground.
Xia Lei had a grasp of how they worked now. There won¡¯t be any people amongst them who would run away like the previous time, and there were CIA special agents too. The CIA agents had a higher level ofbat tactics and the Special Forces were no match for them in that area.
A faint sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth after he finished surveying them. ¡®Threatening me with a woman who betrayed me? And their own people too... Is this guy¡¯s brain working properly?¡¯
Xia Lei stealthily moved his sniper rifle to the side of the rock and aimed at Liang Si-Yao. The enemy was waiting for him to appear, and he was waiting for a chance to kill theirmanding officer.
¡°Xia Lei! Surrender!¡± Hanks said loudly, ¡°I¡¯ll give you one minute. I¡¯ll kill your woman if you don¡¯t surrender in a minute!¡±
Xia Lei did not move. He was so quiet he was like stone.
¡°You have thirty seconds!¡± urged Hanks.
¡°It¡¯s no use,¡± said Liang Si-Yao quietly, ¡°He won¡¯t appear. I told you that he discovered my identity. He hates me now. Why would hee out to save me?¡±
¡°That remains to be seen. Even demons are afraid of the power of love,¡± scoffed Hanks, ¡°If he truly loves you, he will forgive you, no matter what your identity is and what you¡¯ve done to hurt him. He will reveal himself for you sake.¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s see. I don¡¯t think much of your n anyway,¡± said Liang Si-Yao calmly.
¡°Your time¡¯s up, Xia Lei!¡± Hanks suddenly released Liang Si-Yao from his hold and shot her in the thigh.
Bang! There was a gunshot and blood spurted from Liang Si-Yao¡¯s thigh. Her body moved a little to the side, but Hanks was extremely cautious; he adjusted his position when Liang Si-Yao moved and kept her in front of himself, not giving Xia Lei any angles at which he could shoot.
¡°Come out!¡± Hanks shouted angrily, ¡°Or I¡¯ll kill her!¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡®Shit, is thismanding officer from Hollywood or something? He shot an empty shell at her thigh and the blood is just some red colouring. This is an insult to my eyes.¡¯
He was not the old Xia Lei any longer. After going through so many life-or-death battles and racking up a body count, he knew well what a bullet going into a person would look like and how the blood would spurt. He¡¯d already built up a rich experience, so he could tell that the shit Hank had fired at Liang Si-Yao was fake in one nce.
Down the mountain, Smy giggled non-stop as she peered through a pair of binocrs. ¡°He shot her! Finally! Blood¡¯s spurting like a fountain... One more! Kill her, kill her!¡±
Behind her, Dayetia had her hand raised high, ready to p her - but she didn¡¯t.
This child... When was she going to really grow up?
Chapter 309 - Liang Si-Yaos Heart
Bang! Another gunshot.
Colonel Hanks had fired at Liang Si-Yao¡¯s lower abdomen. Blood spurted from her body and her legs buckled as she fell toward the ground.
Hanks did not move together with her this time and his left shoulder was exposed.
Bang! Xia Lei squeezed the trigger. A bullet shot across the distance of hundreds of metres and prated Hank¡¯s left shoulder instantly. The blood which spurted from his shoulder wound stained Liang Si-Yao¡¯s shoulders and cheeks. His body was also thrown backwards by the great impact and he fell.
This was a real shooting.
Liang Si-Yao ttened herself to the ground too and did not dare poke her head out. Her face was ashen. She could not be sure if Xia Lei would fire at her, or not. What was unbearable for her was not his insane sniping skills but the attitude he held against her. He seemed to not care about her anymore, or he would not have fired in this situation. Just one millimetre off and she would be the one hit, not Hanks!
¡°Kill him! Kill him dead!¡± Hanks was not dead but Xia Lei¡¯s shot had shattered his courage. He fainted after issuing the order.
Gunshots thundered on the mountaintop, and bullets rained down on Xia Lei¡¯s position. Xia Lei¡¯s shot had revealed his location and these were not ordinary soldiers. They were all people who had experience on the battlefield, especially those agents from the CIA; the elite of the elite.
Liang Si-Yao took the gun from her waist and shouted angrily, ¡°Cease fire! Cease fire! I¡¯m going to kill whoever kills him!¡±
The gunshots paused.
Xia Lei crawled outwards but he¡¯d just moved when a bullet came flying from above, hitting the side of the rock he hid behind. Their sniper had him in his sights and he had night-vision equipment too. He could follow Xia Lei¡¯s movements with the thermo-body readings and there was no hiding from it, even behind rock.
Xia Lei kept close to the ground and observed the sniper through the rock with his eye. That sniper was watching him with a thermal imaging device and saying something. Xia Lei locked his gaze on his mouth and lip-read.
Xia Lei rolled down the mountain abruptly one secondter.
He¡¯d just left that rock when a grenade exploded on it.
The sniper had ryed Xia Lei¡¯s position to a CIA agent just now. It was a good thing he had lip-read that sniper¡¯s lips or he would have been killed or wounded by that grenade if he were just a second toote.
Boom! The CIA agent operating the grenadeuncher shot another grenade and it exploded a few metres in front of Xia Lei.
Rock fragments, dirt and sand shot in all directions from the explosion point. Xia Lei was already moving his fastest but he was still hit by quite a few rock fragments. The dirt and sand also got into his hair and face and he looked rather worse for wear.
The ones who¡¯de to capture him were chosen elites after all and no greenhorns.
Bang! Xia Lei came to a stop abruptly in the midst of his flight and shot back.
The CIA grenadeuncher operator was just about to squeeze the trigger when a bullet went into his neck - a quarter of his neck was torn out in an instant. His body fell backwards and his finger executed thest order of his brain, squeezing the trigger.
The grenadeuncher shook and a grenade was hurled up into the sky.
¡°Fuck!¡± The sniper close to him couldn¡¯t stand it anymore; he got to his feet to run.
Bang! Xia Lei¡¯s sniper rifle recoiled and a bullet traversed the distance of hundreds of metres in an instant, going urately into the back of the sniper who had just got to his feet.
Boom! The grenadended and exploded up on the mountain. No one was killed but it threw the mountaintop into further chaos.
Xia Lei took advantage of this chaos and sped down the mountain.
There was just ten-something people left but the greatest loss for them was the sniper and the CIA agent operating the grenadeuncher. Add themanding officer in a dead faint and the threat they posed to Xia Lei was greatly reduced. If they chased him, Xia Lei was sure that he would be able to kill them all off!
About Liang Si-Yao... The image of her being subdued by themanding officer kept shing in his head. Thatmanding officer had fired twice at Liang Si-Yao and though those two shots were empty shells, her body had reacted and jerked like those were real shots, and the second reaction was stronger than the first...
Xia Lei sighed. ¡®Were you helping me? Ducking down on purpose so I can shoot thatmanding officer? Why did you have to do that? We¡¯re already through... Doing this will just mean trouble for you...¡¯
The chaos on the mountaintop settled. Darkness enveloped the mountaintop and the cold wind blew. The scent of blood and smoke filled the air. Liang Si-Yao picked up the thermal imaging device the sniper had left behind but she could not find Xia Lei any longer. A faint smile appeared in the corners of her lips as she said darkly, ¡°Take care!¡±
Down the mountain, Xia Lei found Dayetia and Smy¡¯s hiding spot easily.
Dayetia and Smy did not detect him at all. They pointed their AK47s in his direction when they heard a noise.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°It¡¯s me!¡±
¡°Xia!¡± Smy was very excited. ¡°You¡¯re not dead! Did you kill all those Americans?¡±
¡°No, there are still some left. Let¡¯s go through some other route. We need to hurry. They will probably call for backup and we¡¯ll be in great danger if they surround us.¡±
¡°I know a route. Come with me.¡± Dayetia mounted her horse.
Smy also got on her horse and stretched out a hand to Xia Lei. ¡°Come up!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s horse was dead and he could only share with Smy. He grabbed hold of Smy¡¯s hand and climbed atop her horse and in the saddle. The squeezing of two bottoms in one saddle - the closeness and intimacy was rather difficult to describe.
¡°Hah!¡± Smy let out a soft shout and her legs squeezed her horse¡¯s nks, The white horse below her started galloping after Dayetia.
The horses¡¯ hooves thrummed on the mountain paths, clip-clop clip-clop. The man and woman on the horse¡¯s back went up and down, rubbing against each other; the stimting body contact was unavoidable. This sort of contact was fairly sensitive for Xia Lei and his front was close to Smy¡¯s back - that full, soft bottom. Rubbing against it sent electric shocks through him, making him nervous.
But another face surfaced in his head. Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face...
Sporadic gunshots came from behind them but they seemed to be shooting blindly. Someone was trying to draw Xia Lei out to return fire and re-determine his location. This was obviously in vain, for the trio had long put distance between themselves and the area the soldiers controlled.
The white horses galloped and Smy turned back. ¡°Xia, was that woman your woman?¡±
Xia Lei looked away from the shooting and back at Smy. ¡°What woman?¡± he said casually.
¡°Don¡¯t lie to me. I saw that soldier and that woman.¡± Smy probed, ¡°Is she your woman?¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. He did not want to talk to anyone about Liang Si-Yao. The topic was a terrible scar on his heart which could not be removed, but Smy was one who had to get to the bottom of things and she would not give up if he did not tell her anything. He was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°Nn, she was.¡±
¡°Was?¡± Smy giggled. ¡°That soldier used your past woman to threaten you? Is there something wrong with his head?¡±
Xia Lei knew that thatmanding officer was not being stupid. The officer might have another aim in using Liang Si-Yao to threaten him, and that was to determine how important Liang Si-Yao was to him. This test could have been rted to Liang Si-Yao¡¯s position within the CIA and could affect the ns the CIA had for her.
There was no way he was going to tell Smy this, however.
¡°Xia, who¡¯s prettier - me or her?¡± Smy¡¯s head seemed to be filled with all sorts of odd questions.
¡°Why are you asking something like this? We¡¯re running for our lives,¡± said Xia Lei with a wry smile.
¡°It¡¯s the horse running, not us. Us chatting won¡¯t affect the horse¡¯s speed either.¡± Smy continued asking, ¡°Who¡¯s prettier? Tell me, quick. I want to know.¡±
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei hesitated. ¡°You¡¯re younger than her.¡±
¡°What kind of answer is this? Well, then let me ask you - who has bigger breasts?¡±
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei head was awhirl.
¡°Heehee, you¡¯re an honest one. You men like big breasts. Are you like that too?¡±
Xia Lei had no words.
¡°I know you do even if you don¡¯t say it.¡±
¡°So you can read my thoughts now? Stop bragging.¡± Xia Lei was displeased.
¡°Hey, you¡¯re hard.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°You¡¯re hard. It¡¯s so obvious - you think I can¡¯t feel it? This proves that you like big-breasted women like me. You¡¯re an honest man, and your body is honest too.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He had felt at the edge of death earlier under a hail of bullets and now he was being assaulted by the ¡®Smy attack¡¯. She had a cute babyface and she seemed to have an equally childish brain - she was not mature at all. On the other hand, she was also sexy and alluring all at the same time. She lost not to the more mature twenty-somethings, and was even more alluring than they. Her movements were seductive and her every word, every smile carried a vixen-like quality, provoking and tempting in all ways. She was an amusing person and it was difficult to put in words what he felt when he was with her.
Xia Lei was still thinking about Liang Si-Yao earlier but Smy¡¯s actions made her disappear from his mind. What was left in his head was Smy¡¯s buttocks and her huge breasts.
It was a bumpy ride on the white horse and the two people on its back were thrown together. Smy¡¯s face grew redder and redder and Xia Lei pressed his lips together, as if trying to hold something back.
After going for some time, Dayetia left the main path and moved towards the road-less mountain stream.
That mountain stream was shrouded in darkness and faint sounds of moving water could be heard.
Xia Lei could guess Dayetia¡¯s new route now.
Chapter 310 - Rest in the Forest
The light of dawn dispelled the darkness. Three people on two horses entered the forest by the stream of water to rest and eat. This river continued from the White Hun Tribe and it would sometimes be an underground river in the mountains, and sometimes bubble out from underground, bing a little river again. Only Dayetia and Smy knew where it led and they could follow its flow through this mountainous area.
The two horses¡¯ reins were tied to some branches while the three of them ate. Even a body of steel wouldn¡¯t be able to hang on without rest after a whole night of fleeing, especially Xia Lei. He had gone through a life-and-death battle and used up a whole lot more energy than Dayetia and Smy. He urgently needed time to rest and recuperate.
Xia Lei¡¯s clothing was full of holes torn by flying rock shards. The fabric was also covered with dark bloodstains. His face was dirty and bloody, his hair a mess. He looked like a warrior who had just returned from the frontlines - battered, but with a wild, valiant edge which was very attractive.
Dayetia and Smy were in no better shape. Their faces were dirt-smeared too and their clothes had been torn by branches and twigs, revealingrge areas of skin. They had a wild, valiant attractiveness too. If they and Xia Lei were to bepared to lions, then they were the lionesses while Xia Lei was the lion.
¡°Xia, eat some beef jerky.¡± Smy handed him a piece.
¡°Thanks.¡± Xia Lei took the jerky and pulled off a portion to chew. He was dog-tired and the dried meat was like a delicacy.
¡°Come, drink some water.¡± Smy opened her water bottle and fed Xia Lei some water.
Xia Lei felt a little embarrassed but he did not reject Smy¡¯s offers. Smy didn¡¯t just feed him water - she also wiped the water which dribbled out of his mouth. She squatted before him with her legs slightly open and her snowy thighs showed under her tattered skirt. A white thing could be seen too - her hand-sewn underwear, with stitches which were not up to par. The sight of a certain partially-covered area which one would not dare look at directly was presented to Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, and was very stimting. All these made Xia Lei feel like the water he was drinking had the effects of alcohol.
¡°You have many wounds on your body. I¡¯ll help you treat them.¡± Smy went into the role of field doctor after feeding Xia Lei water.
¡°Ahem!¡± Dayetia couldn¡¯t take it anymore and she coughed before Smy could y field doctor. ¡°What are you doing, Smy? You are our tribe¡¯s best marks-woman, not a nurse and definitely not a little lover girl who fawns over a man.¡±
What Dayetia did not say was actually ¡®You¡¯re tarnishing the pride of the tribe!¡¯
¡°Yeah? Why am I taking care of you?¡± Smy wrinkled her brows. ¡°Xia, you should be the one fussing over me... Massage my legs. My legs are sore.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her and got up. He walked towards a tall, lush tree.
¡°Where are you going?¡± Dayetia softened her tone; she thought she had angered Xia Lei.
¡°You two sleep first. I¡¯ll keep watch and let you know when it¡¯s time to switch,¡± said Xia Lei.
The two White Hun women exchanged nces but did not speak. They then watched as Xia Lei climbed up that huge tree like a monkey, jumping just a few times to get into the dense canopy of the tree.
¡°Is he a monkey? Wow. The stinking men in our tribe are like domesticated goats in penspared to him.¡± Smy¡¯s blue eyes were filled with excitement and awe. Xia Lei¡¯s disy of startling jumping power and nimbleness was impressive but as the White Hun Tribe marks-woman, what Smy admired more was the godly gunman-ship he had shownst night.
Dayetia gave Smy a look. ¡°Have you fallen in love with him?¡±
Smy¡¯s babyish face reddened. ¡°I... No, I didn¡¯t. I¡¯m just ying around. You know how it is. Aren¡¯t we women in the tribe all like that? Men are like clothes.¡±
Dayetia let out a sigh. ¡°He¡¯s definitely not a businessman. We saw how powerful he was with our own eyesst night. The enemy had three helicopters and he took one out with a sniper rifle. The other twenty-something men were all elite soldiers with very advanced equipment but they were unable to break through his defences. He not only withdrew in one piece but also ensured our safety as we retreated. What is the true identity of a person like this?¡±
Smy shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know but I know he is our friend. He was willing to risk his life to protect usst night. We should trust him.¡±
¡°Of course I trust him,¡± said Dayetia, ¡°Don¡¯t you understand why I¡¯m saying this? I mean for you to control your emotions. Don¡¯t get in too deep.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not in too deep.¡± Smy thought for a bit and stretched out both hands, forming a circle with her left thumb and index finger, then sticking her right index finger into the circle, up to the fingertip, saying in deadly earnest, ¡°About this deep. My rtionship with him is this deep.¡±
Dayetia rolled her eyes andy weakly on the ground. She couldn¡¯t be bothered with this ridiculous person anymore.
Smy shrugged and alsoy down on the grass to sleep.
On the tree, Xia Lei stopped using his visual abilities on the mountaintop opposite. He had already surveyed their surroundings and had not found any American soldiers or CIA agents following them. This let him rx quite a bit.
Xia Lei sat on a branch and removed his rucksack. He took out thepass and held it in his hand to take a close look at it. Thispass was indeed the one he had repaired long ago and the ces he had welded were all visible to him. However, the pointing needle was not the original.
Thepass needle pointed in the direction of the White Hun Tribe.
¡®The experts excavated the needle in China and changed it on thepass, which led them to the White Hun Tribe. If I seed in stealing the sword of Att and building a hydropower station for the White Hun Tribe, would I get a new needle when I have the chance to explore the ruins? What if there¡¯s no needle and the end of this secret is in the White Hun Tribe?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
These two possibilities were both usible but he had to get the sword of Att to the White Hun Tribe and build a hydropower station for them first. The second requirement was not that difficult - he just needed money. Building the hydropower station was the easiest but the getting the sword was difficult.
¡®The Shinyeok Group is in South Korea, and Ahn Geungan is also an old-school politician there. He must have influence in both society and the underworld. Is there any other way for me to get the sword of Att other than going to Korea to steal it? How am I going to do it if I¡¯m going to steal it?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s head was filled with these thoughts.
A white shadow suddenly shed by in the sky, interrupting Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts. He used his long-range vision and saw that it was a Predator drone. It was not hovering in this ce though, but zooming past.
¡®The CIA will not give up on their pursuit of me. They will send drones to search for traces of me and even use American satellites. Looks like I¡¯ll have to be very careful,¡¯ thought Xia Lei as tiredness overcame him and he closed his eyes.
There was no need to keep watch with no enemies around. This was also an advantage of using his X-ray vision. Anyone else in his situation wouldn¡¯t dare to rx.
Dayetia and Smy fell asleep quickly too and they did not take over watch duty from Xia Lei, perhaps due to their tiredness. Xia Lei did not wake them either.
They slept till the noon, when the sun had climbed from the east to the middle of the sky. Blinding sunlight came through the small gaps between the leaves and shone on Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, waking him.
The rustling of footsteps came to his ear and he climbed up on the fork of the branch in rm, casting his gaze at the sound. The leaves and branches quickly disappeared from his vision and he saw the source of the noise - Dayetia. She was walking off to the side of the camp, AK47 in hand and looking alertly in all directions.
¡®Has she discovered an enemy?¡¯ Xia Lei grew nervous right away and his left eyes searched the area in front of Dayetia. He saw nothing other than trees and wild grass.
At that moment, Dayetia walked to a patch of grass and lifted her skirt. She pulled down her handmade underwear and squatted urgently...
A small patch of grass was watered, and would probably grow more lush.
¡®What the...¡¯ Xia Lei smiled wryly and looked away, but he could not erase the sight of the secret garden he had glimpsed. He then suddenly remembered a set of tiles in mahjong.
Smy was awake too. She smacked her own forehead, then ran towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei slid down from the tree and said with a smile, ¡°I know you¡¯reing to switch shifts but there¡¯s no need now. I overslept too.¡±
¡°You overslept too?¡± Smyughed immediately. ¡°Men are not reliable after all.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Dayetia walked over too. She was unaware of the earlier situation and her attitude was still calm and cool as always. ¡°Don¡¯t let this happen again. It¡¯s dangerous.¡±
Xia Lei responded quietly, ¡°There won¡¯t be a next time. Let¡¯s go. I spotted a drone earlier. We have to be more careful. Those people will catch up to us quickly if we¡¯re discovered.¡±
¡°Only our tribe know of this route. Don¡¯t worry, the American drones cannot find us as long as we do not wander from the forest,¡± said Dayetia. After a pause, she added, ¡°After we get out of this mountainous area we just need to cross a tribe¡¯s territory and we¡¯ll be in the Wakhan Corridor. That is not the territory of the Americans and it will be much safer for us.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll follow your n,¡± said Xia Lei.
Dayetia mounted her horse a few minutester and moved onward, following the river.
Xia Lei and Smy¡¯s buttocks were squeezed into a saddle once more, so intimately close that they could be one...
¡°I know that tribe. Our Chieftain and that tribe¡¯s chieftain are on good terms. We just have to get through this part and we will be safe there,¡± said Smy.
¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Xia Lei was also secretly happy that he wouldn¡¯t have to pay his way through.
¡°Buy clothes for me when we get to China.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll buy clothes for you. I¡¯ll buy you a hundred and you can wear them till you¡¯re sick of them.¡±
¡°You¡¯re hard.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 311 - Back Home
The American troops could bomb whoever they wished and had enoughbat power to go where they wished, but they were still not fully able to control Afghanistan, especially the territories controlled by Imic militants and the armed tribes. This was why the CIA could only use drones and sky-based surveince in these areas and did not dare step foot on the surface.
The three of them took a whole week to get out of that mountainous area, then through the Pashtun tribe territory and into the Wakhan Corridor with Dayetia leading them. All they had run into during this time were remotely controlled drones and American warnes which had whooshed past; they encountered no militant forces on the ground.
The failed mission that night had been the CIA¡¯s best chance to capture Xia Lei and they had lost it. Xia Lei had escaped again, and was with Dayetia, someone with good rtions with the tribes. This was like a fish slipping into the ocean, and it was almost impossible to capture it again.
But the CIA was not willing to give up just like that. They constantly sent out all sorts of surveince and reconnaissance forces, and they did not stop though they failed.
Xia Lei got through the Wakhan Corridor and into Chinese territory after yet another week.
¡°We¡¯re safe now.¡± Xia Lei truly rxed after entering China. He excitedly grabbed the dirt from under his feet and threw it up in the sky as he shouted, ¡°I¡¯m home!¡±
What excited him was not just his return home but finally having shaken off the CIA¡¯s pursuit. The mission to Afghanistan had been fraught with danger but he had gained a lot too. Other than the secrets he had found out, his greater gain was the experience he had gained through numerous battles. These battles had matured him and made him into a force which could truly be independent.
¡°Is this China? It¡¯s so empty.¡± Smy looked disappointed. She¡¯d been longing to go to China to buy clothes the past two weeks but what she saw now was an emptyndscape. She couldn¡¯t even buy lousy hand-sewn clothing like she had on, much less colourful and fancy clothing.
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°This is the border. Wait till we get to the city. You¡¯ll be surprised by China¡¯s advancement.¡±
The country had prospered and its citizens were proud.
¡°Xia, you said we¡¯re safe, right?¡± Dayetia used binocrs to look into the distance.
A cloud of dust was thrown up by wind in the direction she was looking in,ing speedily towards them.
It was not a cloud of dust but a convoy, and Xia Lei spotted it right away. He had also seen the military tes on those vehicles and the soldiers in them. The Wakhan Corridor was in a vtile area and the anti-terrorism forces there were always on high alert. It was not strange for the Chinese government to appear so quickly because this ce was always under the military¡¯s surveince.
Smy took hold of the AK47 which she had slung over her shoulder before Xia Lei could speak. She looked ready to take cover and start shooting.
Xia Lei stayed her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything foolish. Let me handle it.¡±
Smy instinctively looked at Dayetia but she handed the AK47 to Xia Lei before Dayetia said anything.
Xia Lei stretched out his hand to Dayetia. ¡°Give me your gun too.¡±
Dayetia hesitated, but still removed the AK47 from her shoulder and handed it to Xia Lei in the end. She spoke fiercely, ¡°Remember that your people are still in our hands. If Smy and I are captured then your people will die in our tribe.¡±
This was a threat.
Xia Leiughed dismissively. ¡°We¡¯ve gone through so many things together - do you still not trust me? Rx. No one will harm you with me around.¡±
Smy waved her fist and gave him a punch on his shoulder as she giggled, ¡°I trust you.¡±
This punch of hers was heavy and felt rather heartless. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help the small wrinkling of his brows, but this was H-cup Smy and he couldn¡¯t be mad at her.
He and Smy had shared a saddle every day for the past two weeks and riding a horse was not without pressing and rubbing interactions. Their skin had not been rubbed to the point of forming calluses but their feelings had grown quite a bit. If it had not been for their daily mad dash and Dayetia¡¯s constant presence, Smy would have eaten Xia Lei up, even without him initiating it.
Xia Lei felt like he was going to get sick from all that holding back for the two weeks.
The convoy quickly came up to the trio and the soldiers fanned out, surrounding them.
An officer jumped out of the vehicle with his gun held high and trained on them. He shouted, ¡°You have entered Chinese territory. Put down your weapons and identify yourselves!¡±
Xia Lei put the two AK47s and his sniper rifle on the ground, then raised his hands high as he said loudly, ¡°Colonel, I¡¯d like to speak with you!¡±
Xia Lei had singled out the man with the colonel rank on his shoulder to talk. The colonel in charge paused. Xia Lei should be the one identifying himself in this situation but he had requested to speak with the colonel instead. ¡°Who are you?¡±
Xia Lei spoke loudly, ¡°I am part of National Security. You need to be of a rank high enough to check my identity. I want to speak with you. Please cooperate.¡±
What attitude was this!
The colonel thought for a bit and nodded in the end. ¡°You cane over. The two of them have to stay behind in their positions and not move from their spots.¡±
Xia Lei walked over and cut straight to the chase. ¡°I¡¯d like to borrow your mobile phone to make a call. Someone will exin the situation to you.¡±
¡°You¡¯d better not be pulling a fast one on me or there will be hell to pay.¡± The colonel did not make things difficult for him; he handed his phone to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei actually had a satellite phone on him but he had not dared to switch it on for the past two weeks for fear that the CIA would lock onto his position. He had switched it on when they had first stepped on Chinese soil but its batteries had gone t before he could dial a number.
Xia Lei called Long Bing. Few knew her number so she could roughly guess at the caller¡¯s purpose when she saw the person¡¯s phone number. Xia Lei spoke before she could speak when the call connected. ¡°It¡¯s me. I¡¯m back.¡±
Long Bing was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°Captured?¡±
This insight made Xia Lei¡¯s cheeks colour. He gave a wryugh. ¡°Why say that? I¡¯m carrying out a mission too - I just don¡¯t know anyone. I have a military officer next to me. Help me say hello to him and exin the situation.¡±
¡°Where¡¯s Tang Yu-Yan?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°She¡¯s still in Afghanistan. The situation¡¯splicated. I¡¯ll tell youter,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn. Hand the phone to the officer. I¡¯ll talk to him,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei handed the phone to the colonel. ¡°Colonel, someone wants to speak with you.¡±
There was a serious expression on the colonel¡¯s face. He took the phone and said cautiously, ¡°Hello, who is this...¡±
Dayetia and Smy kept a close watch on Xia Lei and the colonel of the team. Both women were anxious. Dozens of fully-equipped soldiers were standing opposite them and they were highly-trained too. The soldiers were under orders to stay on guard and had their guns pointed at the two women, and the ck muzzles made the women nervous.
¡°What is Xia saying to that military officer, Chieftain?¡± Smy couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and asked.
¡°Xia is calling someone to exin the situation to this officer. Xia is likely part of the Chinese government and possibly a highly-ranked agent,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Chieftain, you... understand Chinese?¡± Smy was astonished.
Dayetia rolled her eyes at her. ¡°The Hunnguage is actually quite simr to Chinese and Tibetan. You¡¯re just not open to learning. I don¡¯t know much though. Don¡¯t tell Xia.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that lying to him?¡±
Dayetia swung her hand and pped Smy upside the head.
Smy shot Dayetia a disgruntled look but she shut her mouth.
The colonel was done talking with Long Bing then and his attitude took a great turn. His smile was a few degrees brighter when he talked to Xia Lei again. ¡°I know the rough situation now. We¡¯re just waiting for the official paperwork toe in. I¡¯ll have to trouble you to pleasee to our camp with us. We will send you to the airport once the paperwork from the higher-upses through.¡±
¡°Okay, then thank you in advance too,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
It was arranged to have Dayetia and Smy in a vehicle with Xia Lei, but their weapons were temporarily confiscated and not given back to them.
The three of them were brought to the military base of the border guards and the documents were already faxed over by the time the convoy reached the base. The three of them were then transported to the closest airport before even getting out of the vehicle. The issue of ne tickets were also taken care of and the only thing the three of them needed to do after being sent to the airport was to get on the ne.
¡°Mr Xia, your guns have been entrusted to the airline for special handling. It will be returned to you once you disembark. However, your twopanions cannot have their guns back. I hope you forgive us for that,¡± said the colonel as he escorted Xia Lei to the ne.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°No worries. They don¡¯t need guns here. That¡¯s it, then. Thanks.¡±
¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± The colonel saluted.
Xia Lei paused, then returned the salute but he was not as precise as the military man. This was his first time being saluted and it made him feel like a military man, responsible and honorable. It was a strange feeling.
They had been booked on first ss and they drew strange looks when they entered the cabin. There were looks of surprise, despise and confusion. This was not strange at all since the trio were still wearing the clothes they were in when leaving the White Hun Tribe. Their clothes were torn, tattered and bloodstained. Xia Lei was a little better but Dayetia and Smy looked like savages from a primitive tribe - explosively sexy savages.
¡°What are you looking at? Haven¡¯t seen women before? I¡¯ll rip your eyes out!¡± said Smy fiercely. However, she spoke in Pashto and no one else other than Xia Lei and Dayetia understood her.
A young man in a suitughed in ridicule, ¡°What are you quacking about? Are you from some primitive tribe? Ooh, learning to sit in first ss like modern humans. Go take a bath before you get on a ne. Remember to go to economy - that¡¯s more fitting for you.¡±
¡°What¡¯s that punk saying?¡± Smy did not understand.
Dayetia wrinkled her brows, her face dark. She would have killed this arrogant young man without hesitation if they were in Afghanistan and he dared talk to her like this. However, she did not tell Smy what the young man had said. She did not want Xia Lei to know that she understood some Chinese and, more importantly, she did not want tomit any offences while in China.
Xia Lei walked over and hit the young man¡¯s carotid artery with a knife-hand without warning. The young man fell in a dead faint before even having time to grunt.
The airline security witnessed it all but he had received prior notification; he turned away and pretended not to have seen it.
Xia Lei did not want to do it but he did not want to miss any opportunities to better his rtionship with Dayetia too. He was doing it for the sake of Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing, those experts and for the ce which thepass pointed to.
Smy took Xia Lei¡¯s arm and smiled very sweetly. She drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said something.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help moving his gaze to Smy¡¯s short skirt and his face turned red for some inexplicable reason.
Chapter 312 - Reasonable Explanation
Jingdu, Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s home.
¡°Wooow, what a soft bed!¡± Smy rolled about on the soft bed in the bedroom. Her sexy figure, tattered skirt and rolling youthfulness came rushing at Xia Lei and he forgot to blink.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure if he wouldn¡¯t throw himself on Smy if Dayetia was not next to him, and even if he did manage to resist, there was no need to predict the result if Smy were to take the initiative.
¡°You two can rest here. We¡¯ll talk again tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
Smy bounced up from the bed before Dayetia could respond. ¡°Xia, why aren¡¯t you giving our Chieftain a room? How can she sleep in the same room as me? This is not appropriate for her status.¡± She blinked herrge eyes at Xia Lei after speaking, as if trying to signal something.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shrugged, then nced at Dayetia.
Dayetia looked at Smy. ¡°I asked Xia to arrange it this way. Don¡¯t you want to sleep with me, Smy?¡±
Smy was speechless.
She was blinking at Xia Lei to hint that she wanted to be with him, thinking that he had mistakenly put Dayetia in her room. She had no expected Dayetia to make this sort of arrangement with Xia Lei. Her potential fun was ruined.
This was actually not the first time. For the past two weeks, Dayetia had yed the interloper and stopped Smy and Xia Lei from getting to that step in their rtionship.
Xia Lei and Smy¡¯s uncertain rtionship was also due to thepass, and he was actually relieved that Dayetia kept interrupting.
After Xia Lei left, Smyined, ¡°Chieftain, what¡¯s the meaning of this? Didn¡¯t you give Xia to me? I want to sleep with him! Why are you sleeping with me instead?¡±
Dayetia had a stern expression on her face as she said, ¡°You¡¯re still young and there are many things you don¡¯t understand. I¡¯m doing this to protect you, and our tribe.¡±
¡°Protect me... and our tribe?¡± Smy pouted. ¡°Chieftain, isn¡¯t it just sleeping together? I¡¯m not going to lose a chunk of flesh by sleeping with Xia, and it¡¯s not as if a goat is going to die in our tribe, is it?¡±
Dayetia abruptly pped Smy upside the head.
Smy rubbed the back of her head and said gloomily, ¡°Chieftain! I¡¯m not that smart to begin with - are you trying to make me more stupid with all this hitting?¡±
Dayetia red at Smy, then drew close to her ear and said seriously, ¡°You silly girl. You won¡¯t be smart even if I don¡¯t hit you. I¡¯ve thought about it these past few days - you cannot be with him.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you wonder why the American helicopters appeared at our tribe? And why we were pursued? Xia is a Chinese special agent and the Americans want to capture him. You will drag our tribe into this if you¡¯re with him. There is no way we can go up against the Americans. If we fight them because of Xia, we will be annihted.¡±
¡°So why did wee with him to China?¡±
¡°For the sword of Att. We must retrieve our ancestors¡¯ sacred relic. And the hydropower station. It will help improve our tribe. We cannot do these without Xia,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Isn¡¯t this using him?¡± asked Smy.
¡°I can sacrifice anything and do anything for the tribe.¡± Dayetia was firm; this was the belief she had adhered to all her life.
¡°But... I was intimate with him on our way here. You didn¡¯t object to that - Why?¡±
¡°You idiot. This is the outside world, not our tribe. The outside world is a man¡¯s world, and you must understand a man¡¯s way of thinking. Men will value what they cannot have so if you just give it to him and satisfy his lust, he won¡¯t value you. If he really likes you, you can use this to gain more benefits for our tribe,¡± said Dayetia.
Smy was silent. She suddenly felt like she did not understand her Chieftain at all. The usual elder-sister-like Chieftain now felt like a stranger.
What caused Dayetia to change her stance was Xia Lei himself. She had first thought that he was an agent who hade to the tribe to rescue his people, but she discovered that he was not just a simple agent through their interactions. He had a special and high rank in China. If it weren¡¯t so, then why would the Americans waste so much of their resources to go after him? He was too important for her to give to Smy as a regr man-ve.
More importantly, Dayetia had also discovered Xia Lei¡¯s other identity of ¡®businessman¡¯ on their way to China. Her appetite grew for more than a small hydropower station when she learnt that Xia Lei had a military factory in China - she wanted more!
All for the tribe.
A n only she knew formed in Dayetia¡¯s head the more she learnt about Xia Lei...
Long Bing and Xia Lei sat on sofas opposite each other to talk in the living room.
¡°You didn¡¯t rescue anyone but brought two beautiful Hun women back with you. I¡¯m waiting for an exnation.¡± Long Bing was expressionless and her tone t, as if she were saying something like the price of eggs had gone up by five cents.
Xia Lei recounted the series of events where he and Tang Yu-Yan had entered Peshawar, the ambush in Afghanistan, being captured in the White Hun Tribe, and the deal he had made...
The only thing he¡¯d left out was the part about his father, Xia Chang-He and Yelena.
Xia Lei talked for over ten minutes and Long Bing looked him straight in the eyes when she was done listening. ¡°How did you know that the sword of Att is in Ahn Geungan¡¯s hands? I don¡¯t even know about that. This is a very important piece of information. If we¡¯d known about this first we wouldn¡¯t have sent you and Tang Yu-Yan to Afghanistan to rescue those experts. We would get that sword and trade with the White Hun Tribe.¡±
Xia Lei had his answer prepared. ¡°The information didn¡¯t pop up on its own; I stumbled upon it coincidentally. Ahn Geungan¡¯s son, Ahn Suhyeong is one of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s suitors. He told her a lot about his family. The sword of Att is the piece that his father is most proud of in his collection and he invited Shentu Tian-Yin to admire it. You know my rtionship with Shentu Tian-Yin. I just so happened to overhear their conversation and didn¡¯t really take note of it at that time. Later, our second guide in Afghanistan and one of the respected leaders of the White Rock Tribe, Kabir, told me about some of the White Hun Tribe¡¯s history and he mentioned the sword of Att. I immediately remembered that the sword was in Ahn Geungan¡¯s possession and I used this piece of information to strike this deal with Dayetia in the end.¡±
Coincidentally overhearing Ahn Suhyeong bragging to Shentu Tian-Yin about having Att the Hun¡¯s sword, then iming to have heard things from a dead Kabir - even if it was Long Bing, there was no way she could dig the truth out of Kabir¡¯s corpse, was there?
¡°This really is a coincidence,¡± said Long Bing with a sigh.
¡°What else? How did you think I got this information? From the CIA?¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing looked away from Xia Lei¡¯s angerden gaze and said, ¡°You know I don¡¯t mean that. I just want to be clear about what happened. I have to report to Boss Shi too.¡±
Xia Lei exhaled. His father had information that even Bureau 101 did not have. He did not know if he should feel proud or troubled by this.
¡°I have thepass but I can¡¯t hand it to you yet,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why?¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei again.
¡°Other than the deal I made to rescue the hostages, I also made a deal with the White Hun Tribe chieftain, Dayetia. I will build a small hydropower station for the White Hun Tribe in return for a day of treasure-seeking in their ruins. I need thepass to point to the right ce and finished the excavation. I cannot do this without thepass,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem, but what is excavated must go to the country,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Of course I¡¯ll hand it over to the state,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°So I will give Bureau 101 a bill, plus the 500,000 USD I paid to Kabir. I hope the higher-ups transfer the money to me.¡±
¡°Haha...¡±
¡°Why are youughing?¡±
¡°It¡¯s easily over a million US dors, and building a hydropower station on top of that? You¡¯ve solved the problem but your way of doing it is just too extravagant. There is a limit to Bureau 101¡¯s budget. This amount of money is going to cause headaches for Boss Shi too. I don¡¯t know if he will approve this so you should first pay for it all in advance,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Am I your consultant or your sponsor? I can¡¯t figure it out. Let me tell you - Even if Bureau 101 is unable to pay me back, it should stillpensate through other channels, like a big purchase order for mypany or something like that.¡±
Getting a department like Bureau 101 to cough up an amount like this was troublesome indeed but it was no problem to earn this money back through other means like purchase orders.
¡°You¡¯re bing more and more like a businessman. All right. It should be no problem. I¡¯ll talk with Boss Shi.¡± Long Bing got up. ¡°I have to go back to Bureau 101. I¡¯ve already arranged for men to protect these two women. You don¡¯t have to apany them. You can go check on your military factory and develop some ns. Be quick - it¡¯s best if you have an action n ready for me tomorrow.¡±
¡°Okay. I¡¯ve been away for over a month. I should go take a look at it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing left and Xia Lei knocked on the door to Dayetia and Smy¡¯s room. The two White Hun women had taken showers and put on Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s nightwear. One was tall and cool beyondpare while the other was childlike with H-cup breasts, abination of angel and devil. She was very tempting.
¡°Xia, are you bringing me to buy clothes?¡± said Smy happily. Her n was to have Xia Lei take her out shopping, just the two of them, then she would...
Xia Lei took out a card from his wallet and gave it to Dayetia. ¡°This card has 100,000 on it. You can buy whatever you want with it. The passcode is six zeros.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to let us walk the streets alone?¡± Dayetia wrinkled her brows.
¡°I have other things to take care of. You don¡¯t have to worry. We will send people to protect you. Trust me - this is China. No one would dare ambush us here.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t exin further; he went off.
Smy¡¯s eyes were full of disappointment.
¡°Come, Smy. We shall go out. We have lots to buy.¡± A cold smile appeared in the corners of Dayetia¡¯s lips.
¡°Will you buy me clothes?¡±
¡°Of course. I¡¯ll give you 500 for clothes.¡±
Smy was speechless.
Chapter 313 - Longing
Xia Lei had gone through numerous life-and-death situations in his time of over a month in Afghanistan, and Thunder Horse Military Factory had taken some shape during that time. The manufacturing workshop had beenunched and the relevant equipment installed, just waiting for personnel to begin operations.
Behind the factory, a three-storey vi rose from the ground. It had a unique design, with lots of pretty vegetation nted all around it to create a beautiful environment. It was a ce built for Annina to live in and could be counted as Xia Lei¡¯s house in Jingdu too.
¡°Everything¡¯s going smoothly. The ribbon-cutting is next week, and the beginning of production too,¡± said Qin Xiang to Xia Lei on the way there, ¡°I won¡¯t know what to do if you didn¡¯te back.¡±
¡°It¡¯s been tough on you during this time. The ribbon-cutting next week is no problem. This week, however, there¡¯s something I¡¯d like you to help me with,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What is it?¡± Qin Xiang had a smile on his face. Every time Xia Lei asked him for ¡®help¡¯ it was not for something normal, but tinged with thrill and danger; he was happy to do it.
Xia Lei leaned in to Qin Xiang¡¯s ear and said something, then looked at him. ¡°Any problems?¡±
¡°To South Korea.¡± Qin Xiang chuckled. ¡°No problem. When do we move?¡±
¡°The day after tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°But you have to go back to Haizhu with me tomorrow.¡±
¡°No problem. With us working together there¡¯s nothing in this world we can¡¯t steal.¡± Qin Xiang was all eager to get started.
¡°Wait for my call. I¡¯ll call you when I¡¯m done dealing with things over here.¡± Xia Lei patted Qin Xiang¡¯s shoulder, then walked to the vi behind the factory area.
¡°Take good care of her. She¡¯s tired out by all that¡¯s been happening,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei knew what Qin Xiang was talking about and heughed a little awkwardly but didn¡¯t respond; he continued on his way to the vi.
The ¡®her¡¯ Qin Xiang spoke of was Annina, of course. The factory was standing now all thanks to her. Annina had done it all - from equipment purchasing to talent recruitment. It could be said that the factory would not exist now if it were not for Annina¡¯s expert knowledge and hard work.
What was Annina doing now?
This question could be answered with a look with his left eye but Xia Lei did not do so. He would rather keep this air of secrecy and sneak up on her to give her a surprise.
An agent from Bureau 101 stood outside the vi. He had been posted here by Long Bing to protect Annina. He gave Xia Lei a nodding greeting when he saw him walk over.
Xia Lei greeted him too and entered the vi.
There was no one in the living room. Xia Lei went upstairs but the bedroom was empty too. He then went to the study, and the door had been shut lightly, leaving a gap. He could see Annina working on design ns in the study through the gap. Golden hair, blue eyes like gems and a smoking hot body. She was as beautiful and arousing as ever, like the first time they¡¯d met.
Xia Lei pushed the door open gently and walked in.
Annina was still buried in her work and did not sense that there was another person in the study.
¡®What a workaholic.¡¯ Xia Lei was fairly touched. He went stealthily to stand behind Annina and covered her eyes gently as he said warmly, ¡°Guess who?¡±
Annina froze when her eyes were covered, but she let out a squeal of joy after hearing Xia Lei¡¯s voice. ¡°Lukas! You¡¯re back!¡±
Xia Lei removed the hand over her eyes and said with a withugh, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to y along and guess who I am?¡±
Annina pulled him to the desk and started discussing her design ns with him.
The drawings for a sniper rifley on the table; smooth design and state-of-the-art technology. Xia Lei felt that this rifle would not lose out to the global standard - it would even surpass some of the well-known gun brands, like Barrett M99, M110 or AWP.
Xia Lei read the drawings carefully and said, ¡°Annina, you¡¯ve designed our first sniper rifle so beautifully. The functions are so advanced and it¡¯s moreplicated that I expected... Can our factory manufacture it?¡±
He was a businessman and the first thing he had to consider was no whether this was the best sniper rifle in the world but if he can produce it and sell it. What was the use of having great designs when it could not be manufactured due to it being too advanced or too good?
¡°It is a little difficult but I believe we can produce it. Lukas, this sniper rifle design includes my father¡¯s efforts. He cannotplete this design anymore - I dug it out from my memory and revamped it. I have a feeling that it will be the world¡¯s most advanced and most powerful sniper rifle in the world if we manage to manufacture it. Thunder Horse Military Factory will also be famous!¡±
Xia Lei was moved. ¡°All right, let¡¯s finish it since it¡¯s abination of your and your father¡¯s efforts. I can even build Josef¡¯s intelligentthe, so how can I not make a sniper rifle? Let¡¯s do it!¡±
¡°I knew you¡¯d like it.¡± A smile bloomed on Annina¡¯s pretty face. ¡°I¡¯ll handle the designs. Let¡¯s discuss the intelligentthe. We need the most advancedthe to make a sniper rifle like this. I can¡¯t do this so I¡¯m going to have to rely on you to finish it.¡±
¡°No problem. Do what you can first. I¡¯ll handle matters regarding the intelligentthe,¡± said Xia Lei.
Early next morning, Xia Lei drove out of Thunder Horse Military Factory and to Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s home in the city.
Dayetia and Smy had been transformed from their tribal appearance in the span of one night. They made eyes light up now.
Dayetia had a long ck dress on and it suited her height very well. The ck highlighted the graceful curves of her body and added a touch of m and seriousness to her, which was very fitting for her status as chieftain.
Smy wore a red round-neck tee with a cartoon girl printed on it.
Dayetia and Smy dressed like this made them even more beautiful and alluring than before.
However, Xia Lei could still tell at once that the clothing on them were not high-quality goods. The dress and shoes Dayetia wore did not go over 400 and Smy¡¯s denim casual wear and locally-produced shoes did not cross 400 either.
¡®I gave them 100,000 and they went to buy cheap clothing? What did they use the rest of the money for?¡¯ Xia Lei was a little curious about that but he did not mention it. He had no intention of asking for his money back after giving it to Dayetia.
Dayetia seemed to have sensed something in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes and she said, ¡°I¡¯m going to use the rest of the money to buy presents for the children in the tribe. Is that okay?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Of course.¡±
Afghanistan was a poor country and the White Hun Tribe led fairly isted and poor lives. 100,000 was a small fortune to the White Hun Tribe and as chieftain, Dayetia was surely not going to use the money Xia Lei had given her to dress Smy in branded clothing. It was not the sort of life she or Smy needed.
¡°When do we start getting the sword, Xia?¡± asked Smy.
¡°I was just about to discuss this with you. I¡¯d like you two to stay here. I¡¯ll bring the sword of Att back within a week, and we¡¯ll return to your tribe,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Are we not participating?¡± Smy was surprised.
Dayetia wrinkled her brows too. ¡°How can this do? The sword of Att is our sacred relic. We want to reim our things ourselves.¡±
¡°That sword is in South Korea. Do you speak Korean? What can you two do besides shooting and killing? You going would not be helping but causing chaos, and my mission might fail because of your participation. There is only one chance. I¡¯ve thought long and hard about itst night. It¡¯s best if you two stay here. You only need to take the sword of Att back with you, so why bother about the process?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Xia, I want to go with you,¡± Smy said stubbornly, ¡°I have great gunmanship. I won¡¯t drag you down.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re thinking of it too simply. This is not about gunmanship but about strategy, wits and methods you¡¯re not familiar with. I do need an assistant but not a gunman; I need a professional.¡±
¡°But I...¡± Smy was still not giving up.
Dayetia cut her off. ¡°Smy. We stay. Xia is right - we just need to take the sword of Att back to the tribe. We have no need to bother about the process.¡±
Smy pouted and was still discontent but she dared not override Dayetia.
¡°Then we¡¯re agreed. You stay, and I will bring the sword of Att back with me within a week,¡± said Xia Lei.
After a while, Xia Lei left Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s home and dialled Long Bing¡¯s number. ¡°Hello, Long Bing? I¡¯m ready. Let¡¯s meet.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s voice came over the phone, ¡°Okay.¡±
Chapter 314 - Tactical Planner
A small passenger ne went straight from Jingdu to Haizhu. There were just five people on the ne - Long Bing, Tang Bo-Chuan, Ke Jie, Qin Xiang and Xia Lei.
Tang Bo-Chuan kept talking to Xia Lei after the ne took off, and showing him various materials and drawings.
Xia Lei was then informed of Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s identity in Bureau 101 - tactical nner. He was the engineer of most of Bureau 101¡¯s missions, and this was also one of this ns. The n which Xia Lei had spent a whole night on was rejected straightaway. Xia Lei¡¯s n was to enter Ahn Geungan¡¯s home and steal away the sword.
Tang Bo-Chuan gave Xia Lei quite some information to read on Shinyeok Group¡¯s important people. ¡°ording to our sources, Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group have a project they¡¯re coborating on and they will beunching it in two days. Shentu Tian-Yin will represent Vientaine Group to hold the groundbreaking ceremony with Ahn Suhyeong. This is an opportunity to make use of your rtionship with Shentu Tian-Yin,¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°We¡¯re making use of her?¡±
¡°This can¡¯t be considered ¡®using¡¯. You just have to go to Korea with Shentu Tian-Yin. You¡¯re going to be moving about in broad daylight while we operate in the shadows. We only get one chance for this mission and we cannot leave any negative impact. Everything must be absolutely safe or my sister and those experts are going to die in the White Hun Tribe. You get me?¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan.
China and South Korea had extensive coborations in economic and trade, and Shinyeok group was one of the top conglomerates in Korea, its status on par with Samsung and Hyundai. If something like this was discovered, then there would definitely be a negative impact on international rtions. Tang Yu-Yan and the experts¡¯ deaths would be a small matterpared to this.
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit but he nodded in the end. ¡°I get you. I don¡¯t want to drag Shentu Tian-Yin into this but this concerns lives. I will contact her and go to South Korea with her.¡±
A small smile appeared in the corners of Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s lips. ¡°Very good. You cannot tell her anything about this mission.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. He knew what to do without Tang Bo-Chuan nagging him.
¡°Is your man reliable?¡± Tang Bo-Chuan looked at Qin Xiang way at the back, his eyes wary.
¡°No worries. I need his help on this mission, and he¡¯s a professional in this field too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then it¡¯s decided. This mission will be off the record. You have to make sure your man understands this. No failures but if there is, you have to keep your mouths shut or it¡¯ll be difficult to clean up.¡±
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. He understood what Tang Bo-Chuan meant. These scenarios yed out a lot in spy movies where the agent risked his life for his country but would not be recognised when his mission failed, resulting in the spy killing himself for the sake of secrecy. Tang Bo-Chuan was not just reminding Qin Xiang but Xia Lei too, just not directly.
Personally, this was not worth it; it was too shadowy, too wrong. From the country¡¯s standpoint, however, this was a great thing worthy of respect.
After a bit of silence, Xia Lei said, ¡°This is thest time I¡¯m helping you do anything. I won¡¯t do any more after this mission.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuanughed. ¡°Xia, bro, it¡¯s useless saying this to me. You should say this to Boss Shi. But my grandfather said that if you seed in rescuing my sister he will take you in as a disciple and teach you Tang techniques. Didn¡¯t you always want to learn? This is an opportunity for you, and a form of repayment from the Tang sect.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Xia Lei was tempted. He¡¯d been hankering after Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s hidden weapons techniques for quite a while but was unable to get to the core of its secret. Some things were not obtainable, even with X-ray vision.
¡°Of course. My grandfather wants to meet you, and for some time too,¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan.
¡°Please tell Grandfather Tang that I will definitely get Yu-Yan back safe and sound,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei went to Qin Xiang with the information and drawings after he was done talking with Tang Bo-Chuan. He gave them to Qin Xiang to read.
Looking at him reading the information and examining the drawing, and looking at the face which women envied stirred up twinges of guilt and worry in Xia Lei. He hesitated, but still spoke, ¡°Qin Xiang, this mission is very dangerous. We won¡¯t have any protection if we¡¯re discovered. You still have time to change your decision now. I understand, no matter how you choose.¡±
Qin Xiang lifted his head to look at Xia Lei with the corners of his mouth upturned in a pretty smile. ¡°You think I¡¯m doing this for those people? That person surnamed Tang talked to you only, and not me. I may not know what you talked about but I know how people like them operate. I don¡¯t care about that though. I work only for you.¡±
¡®I don¡¯t care about that though. I work only for you¡¯. These words, these few simple words were as toweringly heavy as a mountain and no force could move it. Xia Lei was awash with emotion. He took Qin Xiang¡¯s hand but did not know how to express what he felt.
A inexplicable blush crept across Qin Xiang¡¯s face.
Xia Lei retracted his hand and the two men¡¯s eyes met, full of awkwardness...
The nended at Haizhu International Airport and Xia Lei disembarked. The ne took off again, heading straight for Seoul, South Korea. The n was to have Xia Lei in in sight while Qin Xiang, Tang Bo-Chuan, Long Bing and Ke Jie stay in the shadows. They were going to Korea to do some preparations in advance.
A vehicle from Bureau 101 was already waiting when Xia Lei exited the airport. He took the car back to Thunder Horse Manufacturing where he was called into his office by Guan Ling-Shan.
¡°You want to build a hydropower station, Chairman Xia?¡± Guan Ling-Shan was gobsmacked when Xia Lei was done talking. ¡°And in Afghanistan?¡±
¡°Yep. Don¡¯t ask why. You¡¯re going to be in charge,¡± said Xia Lei.
Stealing the sword of Att was the first step, and the second was building a hydropower station. This step had to be put in motion in advance too.
¡°Chairman Xia, do you mean that ourpany is going to make all the equipment for the hydropower station?¡± said Guan Ling-Shan.
¡°No, we don¡¯t have to make it ourselves this time,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°You just need to purchase the materials. But remember - purchase the materials from where it is convenient for transport. Companies from India or Pakistan will do. I¡¯d like to settle this quickly.¡±
¡°Yes, Chairman Xia, I understand. Rest assured, I will have this done as soon as possible,¡± said Guan Ling-Shan.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Nn, it¡¯s been tough on you.¡±
Guan Ling-Shan pushed her spectacles up her nose-bridge shyly. ¡°Why hold back, Chairman Xia? You promoted me and gave me all that I have now. Everything you ask me to do, I will do to the best of my capabilities.¡±
A university graduate with not one year¡¯s experience was already helping Xia Lei to manage apany - this opportunity was not something everyone in the workforce had.
¡°Do it well. I have to be out for a few days and I have to leave now.¡± Xia Lei patted Guan Ling-Shan on the shoulder and got ready to leave.
¡°Oh, right,¡± called Guan Ling-Shan, ¡°Chairman Xia, Shentu Tian-Yin called several times this month to ask after you. I didn¡¯t know where you were so I couldn¡¯t tell her.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll contact her.¡±
A few minutester, Xia Lei drove his BMW M6 out of Thunder Horse Manufacturing and headed towards Vientaine Building. He called Shentu Tian-Yin in the car.
¡°Tian-Yin, it¡¯s me, Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Where have you been for all this time?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice had an excited edge to it, ¡°I looked for you many times for the past month and your phone was off when I called too. I was so worried.¡±
¡°I went to Afghanistan. There was no way for me to use my phone there,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You went to Afghanistan? You really... What did you go there for?¡± asked Shentu Tian-Yin curiously.
¡°I can¡¯t say it over the phone. I just came back. Where are you? I¡¯lle to you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m in Vientaine Building. Why don¡¯t youe over?¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei stepped on the elerator after he hung up and the ck BMW M6 bounded ahead on the road like a beast. He was not one bit worried about speed cameras or punishment from traffic police for breaking trafficws. This was probably one of the better advantages of the limited benefits from Bureau 101.
He took the lift to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s office when he got to Vientaine Building.
Shentu Tian-Yin was in a ck women¡¯s suit. Her cool, elegant face and perfectly ratio-ed figure, plus her amazing queenly aura made for a strong impression on people.
Xia Lei saw Shentu Ren too. What surprised him was that Shentu Ren had gained weight, and he had better colour in his cheeks which made him seem more spirited. This could also be why he was in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s office. He was gradually regaining his health and already beginning to help Shentu Tian-Yin with business affairs.
¡°Uncle Ren, Tian-Yin, hello.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he greeted them.
¡°You rascal, just going off for a month like that with not even a phone call,¡± said Shentu Ren reproachfully, ¡°Have you forgotten this old man?¡±
Xia Lei replied a little awkwardly, ¡°Don¡¯t say that, Uncle Ren. See, I came right over once I came back. I was in Afghanistan, and there really was no way to call.¡±
¡°What did you go there for?¡± asked Shentu Tian-Yin. She had a faint smile on her face now that she could see Xia Lei.
¡°For a political project. I am going to build a hydropower station for an Afghan tribe, and develop that area. The tribe is poor - one goat is the sum of a household¡¯s wealth. Building there will allow me ess to resources there so it¡¯s a thing of mutual benefit.¡± Xia Lei had thought of an answer on his way to them and he¡¯d said what he could say. He mentioned nothing of what he could not say.
This was not lying, and even it it was, it was a white lie.
Shentu Ren chuckled. ¡°You sure are daring to invest in a ce like Afghanistan. But I have to admire your courage. Young people should go for it.¡± He looked at Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°Tian-Yin, learn from Lei. See how he¡¯s gone so bravely to Afghanistan to invest? Youck his courage.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yinughed. ¡°Father, would you feel ill if you don¡¯t praise Xia Lei three times a day? I work so hard yet you have no praise for me.¡±
Shentu Renughed. ¡°Fine, fine, I know you don¡¯t want me here now. I¡¯ll see myself out. You two have a good chat.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei entered the room to wheel Shentu Ren out.
It was just Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin left in the office after his departure. The two of them looked at each other and did not talk for a whole minute.
So much had happened between them that it was possible to write a book, but this book was still nk now, with no single word written yet.
¡°I¡¯m going to South Korea tomorrow.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin broke the silence. ¡°We have a project where we¡¯re coborating with Shinyeok Group and I have to go there for the groundbreaking ceremony. Do you have time? I¡¯d like you toe with me.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Shentu Tian-Yin was surprised by how quickly Xia Lei had agreed. ¡°Don¡¯t joke. I¡¯m serious.¡±
¡°I¡¯m serious too, but you¡¯ll have to arrange the booking and treat me to something delicious.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll treat you to Korean kimchi.¡± Shentu Tian-Yinughed quite happily. ¡°It¡¯s decided then. I¡¯ll get someone to arrange it right away.¡±
Chapter 315 - Seoul, South Korea
South Korea, Incheon International Airport.
Xia Lei spotted Ahn Suhyeong and his dozens of bodyguards in the arrival hall immediately. The bodyguards were all in ck with receivers in their ears and sunsses over their eyes; each and every one of them looked cold and professional. Ahn Suhyeong had obviously prepared all these for Shentu Tian-Yin to show off the power of his family in Korea.
A person with dozens of bodyguards was quite something and also something few had the power to have. This was nothing to Xia Lei, though. He had taken on dozens of American Special Forces alone in Afghanistan and hundreds of White Hun Tribe warriors, led by Dayetia. What was this entouragepared to what he had been through?
Shentu Tian-Yin had brought two female assistants, Fu Ming-Mei and Xia Lei. Her entourage was much smaller. Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s assistants were nervous upon seeing so many cold-faced bodyguards. They nced surreptitiously at their queen - she was moved, but it was subtle.
¡°Did he need to go overboard like this?¡± snorted Fu Ming-Mei, ¡°We¡¯re here to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony, not to fight.¡± She nudged Xia Lei with her elbow and said teasingly, ¡°Mr Xia, you¡¯ve got to be careful. That punk has been going crazily after Big Sister Tian-Yin. He might make things difficult for you because you tagged along.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°If he dares, I¡¯ll make it so that he regrets it.¡±
¡°Haha...¡± Fu Ming-Mei was amused by Xia Lei¡¯s response.
Shentu Tian-Yin red at Fu Ming-Mei and she stoppedughing.
The two groups met in the arrival hall and Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face darkened with displeasure when he saw Xia Lei standing next to Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei was not surprised by Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s reaction; he pretended not to see. He was not going to piss Ahn Suhyeong off before he got his hands on the sword of Att. He had been prepared to be belittled or mocked by him and was going to choose to tolerate it for the sake of Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing and the experts trapped in the White Hun Tribe.
¡°Tian-Yin, I¡¯vee an hour early.¡± Ahn Suhyeong looked away from Xia Lei and produced a warm, graceful smile when he faced Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°It¡¯s so great to have you. Let¡¯s go. You shouldn¡¯t stay in a hotel; let your entourage stay there. Come, stay at my home.¡±
¡°That¡¯s...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows, ¡°Not good, isn¡¯t it? I should stay in a hotel.¡±
¡°How can that do?¡± said Ahn Suhyeong, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to let me be a good host when you¡¯vee all the way to Korea?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nced at Xia Lei but did not change her stance. ¡°I am thankful for your good intentions but I came here with Xia Lei. I cannot have him stay at a hotel by himself.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei again and he did not hide his disgust and displeasure. He¡¯d never expected that Xia Lei woulde to Korea with Shentu Tian-Yin. This was a rare chance for him, Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯sing to Korea, but he hadn¡¯t expected Xia Lei toe too. Xia Lei was as detestable as a fly to him.
Xia Lei pretended not to see Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s expression and smiled as he said, ¡°Tian-Yin, I¡¯m afraid Mr Ahn doesn¡¯t have too many spare rooms in his house. Let¡¯s not bother him and stay in a hotel.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nodded. ¡°Nn.¡±
Nothing much was said other than a sound of agreement but Ahn Suhyeong looked like he had glugged a bottle of vinegar. ¡°What did you say? The Ahn residencecks rooms? Let me tell you that it can house not just your little group but all of your entire littlepany too!¡±
This was obviously a taunt aimed at Xia Lei, calling Thunder Horse Manufacturing a smallpany. Xia Lei and Thunder Horse Manufacturing were not even worth mentioning to Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Lei was not provoked. ¡°I was just making a joke. Please take no offence, Mr Ahn. It would be better for us to stay in a hotel if it¡¯s not convenient for you. We don¡¯t want to trouble you.¡±
¡°Hah.¡± Ahn Suhyeong snorted, but did not respond to Xia Lei. He spoke to Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°How about this, Tian-Yin, you and your entouragee stay with us. My father wants very much to meet you and he cancelled several important meetings when he knew you wereing, just so he can apany you.¡±
¡°That¡¯s very sincere of him. Thank you.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei, seeking his opinion. ¡°Lei, what do you...¡±
¡°Well, since Mr Ahn is inviting us so wholeheartedly then we should stay at his ce,¡± said Xia Lei. He smiled. ¡°We have a saying - it¡¯s difficult to decline great hospitality. It would be rude of us to insist on staying at the hotel.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin gave a shallowugh. ¡°All right, then we¡¯ll stay at the Ahn residence.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was even more displeased by her asking Xia Lei¡¯s opinion on the matter. ¡®This disgusting fly. What the hell did he apany her for? His smallpany has nothing to do with the coboration of Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group. Did hee here just to be hated on? I want to kick him back to China!¡¯
His thoughts were negative but Ahn Suhyeong put a nice smile on his face. ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s go.¡±
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh. He wouldn¡¯t have to bear with Ahn Suhyeon¡¯s slights if they stayed in a hotel but he was willing to be the subject of his disdain for the sword of Att. This was the only way for him to have an opportunity toe into contact with the sword.
They walked out of the arrival hall and ten Mercedes Benzes came rolling to a stop by the road in wee. Ahn Suhyeong invited Shentu Tian-Yin to sit in his car - a Bugatti Veyron worth 10,000,000. Shentu Tian-Yin did not reject him this time, since she had to help keep Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s pride too.
Xia Lei and Fu Ming-Mei got into another car, and the convoy left the airport with Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s Bugatti Veyron in the lead, heading to Seoul.
¡°You haven¡¯t shown your face for a month. Where¡¯ve you been?¡± asked Fu Ming-Mei in the Mercedes Benz.
Xia Lei moved his gaze out the window and he saw a ck Chevrolet Suburban. Someone was sitting in the driver¡¯s seat and looking at them and that person was Long Bing. She wore a baseball cap, sunsses, and had her hair in a different style. Xia Lei had not recognised her at first nce. He then spotted Tang Bo-Chuan in the front passenger seat. He did not see Qin Xiang, but he could guess that he would be close to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s home, preparing andying the foundation to steal the sword.
A small smirk appear in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. With Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s help, and the talented Qin Xiang as a thieving partner, the chances of this mission¡¯s sess was quite high. What was left was just to enter the Ahn residence, find where the sword was being kept and they could make their move.
¡°Hey, I¡¯m talking to you. Are you ignoring me?¡± Fu Ming-Mei tapped Xia Lei on the shoulder, displeased.
Xia Lei looked back from the window andughed. ¡°I went to Afghanistan.¡±
¡°What for?¡±
¡°To buy goats. I¡¯m going to open a mutton soup shop.¡±
¡°Up yours.¡± Fu Ming-Mei rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°I was going to tell you a secret but with your attitude? Forget it.¡±
¡°We¡¯re sort of old friends already, so why can¡¯t I make a little joke? I really did go to Afghanistan, but to invest and buy mines. It¡¯s all business things; you won¡¯t be interested.¡± Xia Lei said something to cate her, then asked, ¡°What secret were you going to tell me?¡±
¡°Gu Ke-Wen is back,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei. She wasn¡¯t actually annoyed by Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Tell me what happened.¡±
The Gu n had copsed but Gu Ke-Wen had not been arrested, and she was not the sort to take things lying down either, not with her personality. Xia Lei didn¡¯t think much of the Gu Ke-Wen who had lost North Group but there was a need to understand her situation and take preventive measures.
¡°She came looking for Big Sister Tian-Yin, asking for a partnership,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
¡°A partnership? For what?¡±
¡°You might not believe it, but she wanted to help Big Sister Tian-Yin to acquire the previous assets of the Gu n.¡± Fu Ming-Mei had an odd look on her face. ¡°It¡¯s been smooth sailing acquiring the old Gu n assets with her help. About twenty percent of North Group¡¯s businesses have been transferred to nest under the Vientaine Group¡¯s banner in the month you¡¯ve been gone.¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on? Why is Gu Ke-Wen doing this?¡± Xia Lei was curious, and a little worried too. He had warning Shentu Tian-Yin about acquiring Gu n assets but it now looked like she had not taken his warning to heart. He could understand why Shentu Tian-Yin did not tell him about this - because it was the opposite of his viewpoint.
¡°Gu Ke-Wu won¡¯t do this for nothing, of course. Tian-Yin gave her a sizeablemission. I don¡¯t know the exact figures but it¡¯s definitely at least hundreds of millions, especially since the popr assets would be impossible to get without her help.¡±
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit before saying, ¡°Gu Ke-Wu is not one to work with others. You should caution your mistress to not get in too deep with Gu Ke-Wen. The visible advantages are tempting but some money should just not be made.¡±
¡°I¡¯m telling you this secret because I want you to caution her, and you¡¯re telling me to do it? You think she will listen to me? With my status?¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I warned her but she didn¡¯t listen. I¡¯ll try to caution her again when I get the chance.¡±
¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡± A smile appeared on Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you another secret.¡±
¡°Another secret?¡±
¡°It concerns you.¡±
¡°It concerns me?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s interest was piqued.
Fu Ming-Mei smirked. ¡°Ahn Suhyeon has been in hot pursuit of Tian-Yin recently. He has someone to bring Tian-Yin flowers every day, even when he¡¯s not in China. He calls her every day too and has never-ending dialogue. I suspect he¡¯s got some rtionship coach with him who¡¯s nning things for him. You¡¯ve got to be careful and don¡¯t think you can rest easy. Women are easily swayed by sweet nothings and you¡¯ll have no cards to y if Tian-Yin gets swayed one day.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What does this have to do with me?¡±
¡°You¡¯re so freakingzy at this courtship thing. Kudos to you.¡± Fu Ming-Mei rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°If I were Tian-Yin, I¡¯d choose Ahn Suhyeong for sure and put you out to pasture.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 316 - Just Like The Blue House*
Land was extremely expensive in Seoul but it was nothing to Ahn Geungan. The Ahn residence was located in a wealthy district and upied an area of over a hundred fields*. Thendscape was meticulously manicured and a pleasure to look at, with over a hundred ancient-style buildings arranged beautifully. It looked like an ancient royal pce from far away and was very impressive.
Ahn Suhyeong showed off and specially circled his home once before entering the main gates. This one round took about ten minutes - the size of it was staggering.
Xia Lei sat in the car and quietly observed the Ahn residence and its surroundings. Whatever he saw was saved like a photograph he would never forget. This ability gave him the power to be a top-notch burr.
The convoy entered the Ahn residence and travelled on an asphalt road for about 50 more metres beforeing to the living quarters. An ancient-styled pce-like hall was right in front and it looked a lot like the Blue House, just smaller. Behind it was a continuous stretch of old-style rooms, scattered around various areas; edges of ponds, poking out from a grove of bamboo, all adding to the atmosphere.
Shentu Tian-Yin was also a woman worth tens of billions but her family residence paled inparison to what she saw now. However, there was noparing the Shentu n and the Ahn n when it came to history. The Shentu n had established itself in the short 30 years following China¡¯s reforms while the Ahn n had built itself up through generations.
A group of people stood in front of the pce-like hall which resembled the Blue House. Leading the group was a middle-aged man, tall and thin. His facial features were thin too but his eyes were alight, giving one the impression of hale and hearty vigor, wisdom and farsightedness. It was just their first time meeting but Xia Lei recognised him immediately as Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s father, Ahn Guengan.
He also recognised a woman next to Ahn Guengan. The plump, yet still attractive middle-aged woman was Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s mother, Seo Soojin. Thanks to Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s information, he also knew that this woman used to be a famous celebrity in Korea.
Other than Ahn Guengan and Seo Soojin, he also recognised the household staff and important people behind them. It was Xia Lei¡¯s first time here but he could recognise almost all of the Ahn household and those he did not know were unimportant servants and bodyguards.
Ahn Suhyeong and Shentu Tian-Yin alighted and Ahn Geungan walked over with his wife, greeting Shentu Tian-Yin with smiles.
¡°Miss Shentu, we are honoured that you would be able to grace our humble home.¡± Ahn Geungan could speak fluent Chinese and his Korean ent was slight.
Shentu Tian-Yin shook hands with Ahn Geungan and smiled. ¡°Uncle Ahn, you must be kidding. This is no humble home you have. It is like an ancient royal pce. I am deeply honoured to be able to guest here.¡±
Ahn Geungan gave augh. ¡°Hehe, you are good with words, Miss Shentu.¡±
Seo Soojin also went to Shentu Tian-Yin and shook hands with her, smiling as she said, ¡°You are very pretty, Miss Shentu. I¡¯ve seen plenty of young girls but this is my first time seeing such a beautiful and refined girl as yourself. It¡¯s a real pleasure to meet you.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled as she said, ¡°You¡¯re too kind, Auntie Seo. I am not as wonderful as you say, but thank you for your high praise.¡±
¡°My mother speaks the truth,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong gently, ¡°Tian-Yin, you are the most beautiful woman I¡¯ve seen in my life.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin just smiled and didn¡¯t say anything.
Seo Soojin pretended to scold her son. ¡°You bad child, why don¡¯t you invite Miss Shentu in?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong followed with, ¡°Let¡¯s go in and have some tea, Tian-Yin. We¡¯ll rest for a bit before I bring you on a stroll.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked back at Xia Lei and Fu Ming-Mei standing behind her and said, ¡°Ming-Mei, Lei,e here. I¡¯ll introduce you two.¡±
The smile on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face disappeared.
Ahn Geungan and Seo Soojin¡¯s gazes went to Xia Lei but they did not react much, obviously not seeing him as anyone important. Seo Soojin seemed to have heard something about Xia Lei and her gaze was not friendly.
Xia Lei bit the bullet and walked over. He had to tolerate some disdain for the mission.
Shentu Tian-Yin did some simple introductions and the couple¡¯s reaction was still fairly lukewarm. They just looked indifferently at Xia Lei and did not greet him.
Xia Lei smiled and said very politely, ¡°Hello, Mr Ahn. Hello, Madam Seo.¡± He extended both hands to Ahn Geungan.
Holding out both hands for a handshake was one of the ways to express respect.
However, Ahn Geungan did not extend his own hand but said evenly, ¡°I will have my staff arrange your amodations. Let them know if you need anything.¡±
Seo Soojin waved a hand at an elderly man and he walked over. She spoke to him in Korean, and the elderly man gestured for Xia Lei, Fu Ming-Mei and the two assistants to follow him.
Xia Lei knew this elderly man¡¯s identity. He was Choi Myeongho, butler to the Ahn family.
A small sneer surfaced in the corners of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s lips. He said nothing but deep contempt and arrogance could be seen in his eyes.
It was in that only Shentu Tian-Yin was of equal standing to them in their eyes and the only one that they were going to take care of was Shentu Tian-Yin. Xia Lei was just a low-level follower and not even worthy of a handshake.
Xia Lei retracted his hand awkwardly.
Dissatisfaction shed in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s eyes but she did not express it. The other party was a veteran politician in South Korea after all and the chairman of Shinyeok Group. She had to y to his game.
Xia Lei and Fu Ming-Mei followed Choi Myeongho to a section of houses.
¡°Lei, I¡¯ll go over to youter.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was worried that Xia Lei would be upset and so she said those words to make him feel better.
Xia Lei looked back at her and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s all right. You apany Mr Ahn and chat, no need to bother about me.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin was relieved to see that Xia Lei could still smile and she smiled and nodded.
Choi Myeongho brought Xia Lei, Fu Ming-Mei and the two assistant to some guest-rooms and opened a door at random while gesturing for Xia Lei to enter. He spoke in Korean, ¡°This is your room, sir. Please enter.¡±
Xia Lei understood Korean but he shook his head and pretended not to understand. ¡°Mister, what are you saying? I don¡¯t understand.¡±
Choi Myeongho repeated his earlier line.
Xia Lei shook his head again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I still don¡¯t understand.¡±
Choi Myeongho looked at Fu Ming-Mei and the two assistant and asked tentatively, ¡°Ladies, do any of you understand Korean?¡±
Fu Ming-Mei shook her head but the two assistant nodded. Those who could be picked by Shentu Tian-Yin to be brought to South Korea as assistant must first know some Korean.
One of the assistants seemed to have understood Choi Myeongho¡¯s intent, or maybe she finally figured out his words, because she tranted what he had said for Xia Lei only after he asked directly.
Xia Lei looked like he had suddenly seen the light and he smiled sheepishly before entering the room.
Choi Myeongho then brought Fu Ming-Mei and the two assistants to other rooms.
Xia Lei closed the door and looked around the room, then activated his eye and scanned the room again. He rxed only after confirming that there was no cameras or listening devices. He spoke into a button on his jacket, ¡°The yer is on the field.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s voice came from the tiny receiver in his ear one secondter. ¡°The referee is in ce.¡±
These were code words; a measure of security.
Xia Lei stayed quietly in his room for a bit after establishing initial contact, then used his X-ray vision to see the next room. Fu Ming-Mei was in the room next to his and she was in the midst of stripping for a shower. Her figure was not bad - she had obvious muscle bulges and one could tell that she had a regr, systemic exercise routine.
Xia Lei looked at Fu Ming-Mei for a few seconds before looking away. Normal men wouldn¡¯t even bear to blink when looking at a pretty girl taking her clothes off but this was as natural as breathing to him. Seeing such a thing too many times had made it be part of the norm for Xia Lei.
¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to do that.¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head to clear it of Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s fair body.
Footsteps came from outside the door ten secondster.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye twitched and he saw Choi Myeongho.
Choi Myeongho came to Xia Lei¡¯s door and reached out to knock on it.
¡®What¡¯s he here for?¡¯ Xia Lei was curious. He walked over to open the door.
¡°Mr Xia, Young Master Ahn has invited you to tea,¡± said Choi Myeongho.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±
¡°A fool. Why am I speaking Korean to a fool?¡± Choi Myeongho said with a smile, ¡°Are you a fool?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Inside, he grumbled, ¡®What¡¯s with these disparagingments, you old dog? This butler matches the family he serves.¡¯
Choi Myeongho did not speak further but made hand gestures. Drink tea. Walk with me.
¡°Oh, okay.¡± Xia Lei pretended to understood his gestures and he smiled.
Choi Myeongho muttered to himself as he walked. ¡°A punk like this actually dares topete with Young Master Ahn for women? Why doesn¡¯t he first take a piss, then look at his own reflection in it to see if he¡¯s worthy? Boy, you are the greatest fool of all. You¡¯re a love rival and you daree here? Your intelligence level is that of a pig. Are you worthy?¡±
Xia Lei would¡¯ve dearly loved to kick that old man but he held himself in check. A kick would bring that instant gratification but other than that, what else?
They walked for several minutes before Choi Myeongho brought Xia Lei to the doors of a room and opened it. ¡°Please wait inside, Mr Xia. Young Master Ahn will soon be here.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Xia Lei continued his act.
Choi Myeongho did more hand gestures but said, ¡°Get your ass inside, you idiot. You¡¯ll be cryingter.¡±
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. Was this actually a trap?
Chapter 317 - My Ancestor Is Xiahou Dun
Choi Myeongho brought Xia Lei into the room and left, grumbling as he went. A small, sinister smile hovered about his lips, as if a conspiracy was afoot.
Xia Lei had already speedily scanned the room. There wasn¡¯t anything abnormal about it - a bed, an attached bathroom, a sofa and so on. Just an ordinary room. However, he quickly discovered something off about it. There was a faint fragrance wafting about the room and women¡¯s underwear in the bedside table.
He wouldn¡¯t believe that Ahn Suhyeong had truly invited him to drink tea, and in a woman¡¯s room at that. But what did he bring him into a woman¡¯s room for?
Footsteps came from beyond the door.
Xia Lei looked back and his left eye twitched. The wooden walls disappeared and he saw a young womaning this way. She was a typical Korean woman, fresh from the beauty assembly line. A face which ended in a point, big eyes, a nice nose and mouth, and a startlinglyrge chest; no one could find fault with her. Too bad it was all fake. Xia Lei could see with his left eye that there were silicon imnts in her breasts and stic sheets in her nose.
The woman was walking normally at first but she started messing up her hair and clothing when she got close to the room. Her hair was messy and her clothes torn in the blink of an eye, revealingrge areas of tempting white scenery,
Everything had been normal till then, and Xia Lei understood her intentions from her actions. Before she got to the door, he took two leaping steps and stepped up the wall-column of the room, jumping up to the ceiling. He stretched out his hand and grabbed hold of a beam, moving lightly as he hid atop it.
A bit of dust floated down from his body but it was not obvious.
The woman did not knock. She pushed the door open right away and the first thing she did was to pull apart the shirt she was wearing, even pushing her bra up to to her chin, exposing her breasts. She opened her mouth at the same time to shout, ¡°Help...¡±
She called out once, then stopped because there was no one in the room.
How was she going to act like she had been assaulted if the room was empty?
¡°Where¡¯s he?¡± The woman looked all over and even checked the bathroom but found no one. She was nonplussed. ¡°Shit. Wasn¡¯t the guy supposed to be in this room? What is this? What did I tear my clothing for?¡±
This Korean beauty¡¯s expression wasical. She stamped her foot and turned to walk out.
Some of the Ahn family bodyguards suddenly appeared in the doorway, and leading them was Choi Myeongho, who had left just minutes ago. The men¡¯s gazes went uniformly to the woman¡¯s exposed chest, her pale, round breasts, and their eyes bugged.
¡°Ah!¡± The woman screamed, and hurriedly pulled her bra down, then tried to cover herself with her tattered shirt.
Choi Myeongho had obviously brought men over to catch a pervert but the pervert was missing. The bodyguards he brought looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what was going on.
¡°What¡¯s this?¡± said Choi Myeongho anxiously, ¡°Where¡¯s that punk?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. There was no one here when I came in,¡± said the woman.
¡°How are you doing your job?¡± Choi Myeongho was mad.
The woman rolled her eyes at him. ¡°I should be the one asking you that. You said he¡¯s here, so I came. My clothes are all torn but he¡¯s not here!¡±
¡°What are you all standing around for? Search!¡± Choi Myeongho was hopping mad.
The bodyguards exited the doorway, one each in every direction to look for Xia Lei. Choi Myeongho and the woman exchanged a few lines of argument before they left.
Xia Lei jumped down from the beam and patted the dust off himself, then left the room.
What had happened was a despicable ploy, and who knew if the idea had been cooked up by Ahn Suhyeong or if he had been the one to incite the butler, Choi Myeongho, to direct the whole thing. If Xia Lei had not reacted as quickly as he had and be entangled with the woman when she burst in, Choi Myeongho would have brought men over to ¡®catch the pervert¡¯. Whether Shentu Tian-Yin believed him or not, or whether the Korean police would get involved, one thing was for sure - he would get chased out of the Ahn residence.
This trap didn¡¯t require much skill but not all traps needed a high level of skill. Sometimes a simple incriminating trap like this was the most effective.
Too bad Xia Lei had a godly eye and this sort of low-skill trap was just a farce to him.
Xia Lei walked over to the hall which resembled the Blue House after leaving the room. On his way there, he used his X-ray vision on all the buildings he saw, searching for Ahn Guengan¡¯s room of collection of antiques.
He did not find Ahn Guengan¡¯s collection room but Xia Lei discovered that the security level in the Blue House-like hall was much higher than the other buildings. Cameras had been installed in several areas and the number of bodyguards and equipment was also obviously higher than in other ces. Though he still had not found Ahn Geungan¡¯s collection room, Xia Lei had a feeling that he was close.
¡°Over there!¡± came a shout suddenly.
Xia Lei looked towards the source of the shout and saw Choi Myeongho and some bodyguards running over. It was easy for them to find him when he was just walking about in in sight.
Right behind Choi Myeongho and the bodyguards was that woman, and her clothes were still the tatters she had ripped. She ran behind the men and her silicon-filled breasts bounced as she ran; it was a sight one could not help but stare at.
Xia Lei was surrounded instantly. The elderly Choi Myeongho tookrge gasping breaths and his words came out in a sputter. ¡°You... You dare...¡±
Continuing the sham?
If he was, then it was way too sloppy. Forget about skill - was this all Ahn Suhyeong could do?
Xia Lei smiled and shook his head. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying.¡±
Choi Myeongho turned back and shot a look at the woman, telling her to do something.
The woman hesitated, then walked towards Xia Lei. The hand covering her chest moved in preparation to do something.
At that moment, Ahn Suhyeong appeared at the end of the corridor with Shentu Tian-Yin by his side.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Ahn Suhyeong asked loudly.
¡°We...¡± Choi Myeongho¡¯s expression was strange, and it seemed like he wanted to say ¡®Didn¡¯t you ask us to do this?¡¯
¡°Go about your duties. Don¡¯t cause amotion here, acting all unruly,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
Framing Xia Lei for molesting a stic beauty in front of Shentu Tian-Yin was not something Ahn Suhyeong would do.
Ahn Suhyeong looked at Xia Lei, then looked at Choi Myeongho and said, ¡°What are you all standing around for? What is this unruliness!¡±
The bodyguards swiftly withdrew and the woman left too.
¡°What happened, Lei?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin walked to Xia Lei with concern in her eyes.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t understand what they¡¯re saying, but... it seems like they¡¯re looking for someone?¡±
¡°I see. I thought you¡¯d gotten yourself into some sort of trouble,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°In trouble? How can that be? This is Mr Ahn¡¯s home and there are so many bodyguards,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ahn Suhyeong walked over too with a smile on his face. ¡°Mr Xia, my people did not cause any trouble for you, I hope?¡±
¡°No, no, I just don¡¯t understand what they¡¯re saying.¡± He paused, then said a little sheepishly, ¡°And Mr Ahn, you have such arge house that I¡¯ve lost my way. I was going to look for you but ended up walking here unexpectedly.¡±
¡°Suhyeong, could you bring us around? This ce is very big indeed and I feel rather lost too,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Ahn Suhyeong would not have taken notice if it had been Xia Lei who had asked but he would not reject Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s request. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll show you around.¡±
¡°Thank you, Mr Ahn,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
Disgust shed in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s eyes but he put a smile on his face. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±
The three of them strolled about the premises with Ahn Suhyeong as guide. Xia Lei learnt from him that this residence was almost 200 years old and was a pce during the Qing dynasty. Korea was a vassal state of the Central ins during the Qing dynasty and this ce had been used to receive imperial guests and generals. Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s ancestors were court officials from that time.
¡°Our ancestors were heroic warriors who aplished legendary feats for our Korean nation. We have a collection of armour and weapons left by our ancestors. Hehe, Tian-Yin, this may sound silly to you but I would like to be a general, not a businessman.¡± Ahn Suhyeong spoke frankly with assurance, like the young master of a long line. He seemed to want Shentu Tian-Yin to know that he was leaps and bounds ahead of Xia Lei in terms of heritage.
Shentu Tian-Yin had no obvious reaction. She spoke evenly, ¡°Really? It¡¯s also good if you can continue your family¡¯s business.¡±
Ahn Suhyeongughed lightly and his gazended on Xia Lei¡¯s face; his eyes turned scornful, goading.
Xia Lei pretended not to see and said, ¡°Speaking of family histories, my Xia line has quite a story too.¡±
¡°Oh?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin seemed interested, ¡°What family history do you have? I¡¯ve never heard you mention it. Tell me, I¡¯d like to know.¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°You know Xiaohou Dun, General of Wei State of the Three Kingdoms Period? That¡¯s my ancestor.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin paused, then giggled. ¡°Of course I know Xiahou Dun, but I think you¡¯re pulling my leg.¡±
The smile on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face disappeared. He didn¡¯t care if Xiahou Dun was indeed Xia Lei¡¯s ancestor, but he cared that Shentu Tian-Yin wasughing so happily! She had neverughed like that with him.
Was Xiahou Dun really his ancestor? Xia Lei didn¡¯t know himself but he put on an earnest act. ¡°It¡¯s true. My family still has my ancestor¡¯s sword in our possession. It¡¯s very bright and shiny and you can see your reflection in it. Mr Ahn, you said your family has a collection of your ancestors¡¯ armour and weapons. Can they show you your reflection?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Ahn Suhyeongughed loudly.
Xia Lei put on an innocent face. ¡°What are youughing about, Mr Ahn?¡±
¡°I¡¯mughing at you for trying to seem like an expert when you know nothing of antiques. Real ancient swords are not shiny, much less reflective. You must¡¯ve bought a modern imitation-ancient sword, huh?¡±
¡°Even if my ancestor¡¯s sword is a fake, is your ancestor¡¯s sword definitely the real deal? No one¡¯s seen it before either. Who knows, it might just be a de used to chop wood,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hah!¡± Ahn Suhyeong snorted in displeasure. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to see a real ancient sword and open up your horizons!¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nudged Xia Lei quietly. ¡°You¡¯ve made a fool of yourself.¡±
Xia Lei made no issue of it, because he¡¯d already guessed what Ahn Suhyeong was going to take them to see.
And that was what he wanted.
Chapter 318 - Humble Attitude
The most majestic and magnificent hall had a name - Ahn Retreat. It was where Ahn Geungan, Seo Soojin and Ahn Suhyeong lived, and also where they received important guests. There was no way Xia Lei would have been able to get close if Ahn Suhyeong had not led the way; Xia Lei was no important guest to Ahn Geungan or Seo Soojin.
Xia Lei observed everything as they approached Ahn Retreat - where the cameras were installed, where the guards were, hiding spots, the quickest escape route, and so on. He observed, and he considered his options.
Inside the Ahn Retreat, everything was valuable, be it furniture or ornaments. Rare woods, antiques, even the floor tiles were of the finest white marble. The degree of luxuriousness had Xia Lei taken aback.
Xia Lei put on an envious, jealous face and acted all humble. He did not seem like a promising young man, entrepreneur extraordinaire, but a backwards countryd who¡¯d never seen the outside world before, just like Granny Liu in the story ¡®Dream of the Red Chamber¡¯*.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s eyes were full of contempt, and he thought, ¡®He¡¯s a bottom-feeder from the construction sites indeed. He hasn¡¯t seen the world. One hall is enough to make him so much in awe - won¡¯t he reveal hismoner self then, if he sees Father¡¯s collection room?¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s poor disy made a small look of disappointment appear in Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s eyes. She had hoped that Xia Lei would be more refined, more so than Ahn Suhyeong, because the man she wanted had to be the best, most outstanding man in this world. The Xia Lei she saw now, however, was worlds apart from what she had hoped for.
However, Xia Lei pretended not to see either Ahn Suhyeong or Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s reactions. He acted like he was admiring the antique ornaments in Ahn Retreat, or the fine art while he used his left eye to scan the whole ce.
What confused Xia Lei was that he did not manage to find any collection room.
They went through the living room and Ahn Suhyeing brought them to a study. Xia Lei saw inside of it before they entered. There was a desk, shelves, a sofa, and a tea table made of precious red sandalwood. It looked like a normal study but Xia Lei felt it wasn¡¯t normal after spotting surveince cameras installed up in the corners of the room.
Ahn Suhyeong stood before the door and entered a passcode, had his fingerprint identified, then opened the study door.
While he was doing that, Xia Lei had swiftly plucked a button from his shirt and removed the tiny receiver from his ear. He threw both items into a potted nt by the wall in the study. He¡¯d spotted a metal door behind the bookshelf and the detection equipment installed on it. If he did not remove the electronics on his body the equipment would sound the rm when he got close, and he would not end up seeing the sword of Att but a big group of armed bodyguards.
Ahn Suhyeong entered and went straight to the bookshelf. He reached out and pulled a book. A series of clicks came from the bookshelf and it opened, revealing the metal door behind it. Ahn Suhyeong went to stand in front of it and entered the passcode, then had his fingerprints matched, then stood in front of the dialbination lock to turn it and enter the passcode.
Xia Lei used his X-ray vision to observe the whole process. He had seen the two passcodes Ahn Suhyeong entered, though he had blocked the entering of the passcode so that Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei would not be able to see. He had even used his body to block the turning of the dial, not letting them see it from any angle. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that Xia Lei had seen his every movement, and even more clearly than he could see himself.
The metal door opened slowly, and they could see that it was a foot thick. It probably weighed at least a tonne!
The space behind the metal door was revealed. It was not big - only about twice the size of an average room, about 50 square metres. There were several disy shelves and temperature-regted cases. Many artifacts sat on the shelves and they looked old. In the middle of the room was a wooden tform with a wooden frame on it. A set of ancient armour hung on the frame, in typical Qing dynasty style. Under the wooden frame was a warde and a sword, and both looked very old.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were drawn to the ancient sword right away. It was the sword of Att, and it looked exactly as it had in the picture his father had given him.
¡°Pleasee in, Tian-Yin,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°Nn, this ce is very unique. I¡¯d like to go in and have a look,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Only Xia Lei could see things in the distance so clearly, and she could only see some of therger items, and not so clearly either.
Xia Lei followed them in.
Beep beep beep, beep beep beep...
An rm suddenly went off.
Xia Lei tensed up immediately and he screamed inside. ¡®Was there something I¡¯d missed? Did that trip the rm? I¡¯m in deep shit if I rouse Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s suspicions.¡¯
Ahn Suhyeong walked back and stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°What are you hiding on you?¡±
Xia Lei spread his hands calmly. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, it looks like it¡¯s me...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin said apologetically, ¡°I have a transmitter on me.¡± She took out a small electrical device from her clothing as she spoke. ¡°Ming-Mei gave this to me. I just have to press the button on it when I¡¯m in danger and it will send out a signal, then my bodyguards will rush over to save me.¡±
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief.
Hurried footsteps came from outside the study door at that moment, and a voice speaking Korean came from over a speaker in the collection room. ¡°Is there something wrong, Young Master?¡±
¡°No. Just a small ident,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Lei was shocked. It had taken just 15 seconds from the time the rm had gone off to the bodyguards turning up outside!
Ahn Suhyeong walked over to Shentu Tian-Yin and said warmly, ¡°Give it to me, Tian-Yin. I¡¯ll put it outside and you can take it back when we leave.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin handed the transmitter over to Ahn Suhyeong and he brought it to the desk. Once the transmitter was out of range of the collection room, the rm stopped and the beeping went away.
¡°Suhyeong, your family¡¯s collection room security can bepared to the security deposit rooms in banks. The things in there must be very valuable,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Of course,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong, ¡°Other than the ancestral artifacts, our... Um, never mind. I¡¯ll take you to see my ancestral armour and weapons.¡±
If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t been here, Ahn Suhyeong might have finished his sentence. In actual fact, Ahn Suhyeong would probably not have brought Shentu Tian-Yin here if Xia Lei had not bragged about an ancestral sword. Maybe he would have in the future, but not now, at least.
Men loved their pride, especially when they were courting women.
Xia Lei was also counting on this. His aim was the sword of Att and he didn¡¯t care about anything else. He could actually leave now since he already knew the location of the Ahn family collection room and the passcodes. He only needed Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s fingerprints now to go on to the next step.
But Xia Lei still chose to stay on. Ahn Suhyeong was putting in so much effort to show off, so he should y along, right?
Ahn Suhyeong led Shentu Tian-Yin to the collection of armour in the room. Xia Lei followed right behind, sweeping his gaze slowly over the disy shelves and cases on the left and right. He found that most of the antiques on the shelves were bronze, jade and porcin, arge portion of which came from China, not Korea. The items in the temperature-controlled cases were mostly imperial edicts, ancient books, writing on bamboo and the like, all extremely valuable.
¡®Just these ancient artifacts must have a value of over a billion. The Ahn family is powerful indeed. They must be much more powerful than the Gu n¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s nice.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin finally got a good look at the armour on the wooden frame and she gave sincere praise, ¡°It¡¯s been preserved very well. Looks like it can still be used on the battlefield. I think you¡¯ll look very dashing in it, Suhyeong.¡±
¡°Heh heh...¡± Ahn Suhyeongughed rather happily. All the effort he had put in was worth it to hear praise from Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the sword of Att. The sword was simple, unadorned and not particrly outstanding; the de even had some obvious notches. Only a single green gem was iid at the hilt, lending it some degree of ¡®aristocracy¡¯. There was nothing else about it that was special. If it weren¡¯t for the Hun script for Att on the de and having seen a photograph of it previously, practically no one would recognise it as the sword of a ruler, used to fell countless foes for the ruler of all the Huns.
Xia Lei felt more settled after confirming again that it was the sword of Att, and he started pondering his next steps.
At that moment, Ahn Suhyeong picked up the de his ancestor had used and swung it around twice. He tapped Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder with the back of the de and said in challenge, ¡°Mr Xia, this is a real antique. How is itpared to the sword your ancestor, Xiahou Dun used?¡±
Xia Leiughed awkwardly. ¡°Not bad. Looks like it can still cut.¡±
A scornful smirk appeared on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s lips. ¡°Mr Xia, I recall you saying that your ancestor¡¯s sword is bright and shiny, and can show one¡¯s reflection. Do you think that is a real sword?¡±
Xia Lei reached out and pinched the de with his fingers, then removed it from his shoulder. He spoke evenly, ¡°I believed that my ancestral sword was the real deal before I saw your ancestral sword. But now that I¡¯ve seen it... I find that mine is a fake.¡±
¡°Hahaha! I¡¯d never believe that you would have a precious sword from the Three Kingdoms Period. You have to change your habit of boasting, Mr Xia. This is not a good habit.¡± Ahn Suhyeong continued criticising Xia Lei, intent on lowering Xia Lei¡¯s value in front of Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei would have retaliated by now under normal circumstances but he put on a self-effacing act. ¡°Yes, yes, I should change this habit. We¡¯ve seen the armour and weapons. Let¡¯s go, Tian-Yin.¡±
¡°I want to look at other things,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin. Xia Lei¡¯s performance today had disappointed her greatly.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°All right. I¡¯d like to go off now. Bye.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was all smiles. He had won in this encounter.
Chapter 319 - Red Liquid Blue Liquid
Xia Lei brushed past the nts as he walked out of the study. His right hand touched the leaves, as if he was just patting them, but the devices he had thrown in there earlier were in his hand again when he retracted it. This was also why he had excused himself earlier. He had to retrieve the things from the nt.
Cold-faced bodyguards stood in the living room and their gazes all went to Xia Lei when he appeared. Xia Lei smiled and greeted them. ¡°Hello guys.¡±
No one responded. The bodyguards just looked at him dispassionately.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t think much of it and walked out of Ahn Retreat.
As soon as he stepped out, one of the bodyguards in the living room said, ¡°Who¡¯s that idiot?¡±
¡°Seems to be an underling of that Chinese female chairman. I hear the Young Master hates him,¡± said another bodyguard.
¡°He¡¯s just an idiot. I can beat him up for Young Master anytime,¡± said someone.
Xia Lei¡¯s buffoon act had made even the bodyguards look down on him.
He spoke into the button as he walked. ¡°I¡¯ve confirmed the location of the item. ess is not difficult, just that getting that punk¡¯s fingerprints may be a little troublesome.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s voice came from over the receiver, ¡°Ahn Geungan will be holding a banquet and he¡¯s going to discuss the groundbreaking ceremony with Shentu Tian-Yin. We¡¯re guessing that Shentu Tian-Yin will leave Korea after the ceremony, so we have to act tonight. Find some way to get close to Ahn Suhyeong and get his fingerprints.¡±
¡°He used all five of his fingers on the right hand, not just one,¡± said Xia Lei in reminder.
¡°Then get the fingerprints from all five digits,¡± came Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s voice, ¡°You think of a way to get out. I¡¯ll get you the things you need.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Okay, I¡¯lle out now.¡±
He came to the main door a few minutester. The gate-guard did not stop him but he went over to chat. ¡°Excuse me, is there a supermarket close by? I¡¯d like to buy some chewing gum.¡±
The gate guard shook his head to show that he did not understand.
Xia Lei shrugged and walked out himself.
The gate guard scolded him behind his back. ¡°Idiot from China. Chinese evolved from Korean but he doesn¡¯t know Korean*. An idiot¡¯s an idiot.¡±
Xia Lei heard him and he felt the skin on his back crawl but he did not show any outward reaction and kept walking.
A motorcycle approached at a moderate speed. The rider had a helmet on which covered the headpletely but Xia Lei still saw the face hidden within - it was Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang had a ck stic bag in his hand and he followed the pedestrian walkway, heading towards Xia Lei. They passed each other in the blink of an eye, and the ck stic bag was transferred to Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Both of them were expert thieves and had quick hands. There was no way to see their movements clearly even if one stood next to them and watched.
The motorcycle brushed past and went on its way. Xia Lei put the stic bag in his clothing and walked for a few steps more before turning back.
¡°Forget it, I¡¯m not going to buy chewing gum anymore. There aren¡¯t any supermarkets close by.¡± Xia Lei chattered to the gate guard. ¡°Isn¡¯t Korea very advanced? How can there be no supermarket in this ce? Is this some sort of countryside?¡±
The gate guard shook his head to indicate that he did not understand. After Xia Lei entered, he uttered one more line of ¡®idiot¡¯.
Back in his room, Xia Lei opened up the ck stic bag. Inside were two bottles of special glue - one red, one blue. There was also a note which read: The red can be used to collect the target¡¯s fingerprints. The blue stabilises the collected fingerprints. Remember - the red glue can only hold for ten minutes. You need to stabillise it within nine minutes of getting the fingerprints, and you¡¯ll have an hour to make your move.
Xia Lei read the note and burnt it after reading. He sprayed his right palm with the red glue. It felt like he had just washed his hand and not sticky like glue at all. There was no visible difference either.
¡®Is this glue really useable? I have to try it on someone, or we¡¯ll be in trouble when mistakes are made¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He was not actually worried about the effectiveness of this liquid-based fingerprint collection method, but worried that it would be discovered by Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Lei opened the door, went to the door of Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s room and knocked with his left hand.
¡°Who is it?¡± came Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s voice from the room. She did not seem to be in a rush to open the door.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the door disappeared. Fu Ming-Mei was in the room, putting on a set of red underwear next to the bed. She had not one stitch of clothing on her yet and her bent waist and leg posture bared all about her body. Her hair was still wet; evidence that she had just finished showering.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and a small sheepish smile appeared on his lips though he gave himself an excuse. ¡®She sure took a long time to shower.¡¯
Fu Ming-Mei got dressed quickly and she was done in under five minutes. She opened the door and saw Xia Lei standing outside. ¡°What is it? Eh, and why is your face so red?¡±
¡°Nothing. I just want to test your reaction,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What are you talking about?¡± Fu Ming-Mei looked quizzically at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei suddenly threw a p at her face.
Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s automatic reaction was to block his hand but he did not hit her face. His hand suddenly changed directions and grabbed hold of her hand.
Xia Lei grasped her hand firmly, then released it as he said with augh, ¡°You react very quickly. Ok, there¡¯s nothing else. You go do what you need to do.¡± He turned and walked off after he was done talking.
Fu Ming-Mei paused, still in a daze till Xia Lei returned to his room. She then said, ¡°Pervert! Using this method to touch my hand. I¡¯ll smash your hand next time!¡±
In his room, Xia Lei sprayed the blue glue on his right hand. The two liquids had a chemical reaction when put together and he could clearly see the fingerprints on his right hand change rapidly, including the lines on his palm. It was amazing. This was not the glue changing his fingerprints but the solidifying of Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s fingerprints.
¡®Fu Ming-Mei is an experienced, professional bodyguard and should be much more alert than Ahn Suhyeong. If she didn¡¯t detect me taking her fingerprints then Ahn Suhyeong wouldn¡¯t either.¡¯ The results of the test were satisfying and it made Xia Lei feel more assured.
He used the rest of the time to prepare for the mission at night.
Xia Lei did not receive any invitation to the banquet that night; he had beenbelled as a non-important subordinate. This didn¡¯t faze him, however. He found the special amodations Ahn Suhyeong had given Shentu Tian-Yin before the banquet begun. He didn¡¯t care about banquets or things like that but he knew that he just had to hang around Shentu Tian-Yin and Ahn Suhyeong would appear.
Shentu Tian-Yin had already put on her makeup when Xia Lei arrived, and she had changed into a ck evening dress too. This was matched with a pair of silver high heels in her unchanging cool style.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with you today, Lei?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei, a touch of dissatisfaction between her brows.
¡°What do you mean?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what she was referring to.
The corners of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips turned downwards. ¡°You were speaking humbly in front of Ahn Suhyeong and didn¡¯t get angry at him for all those slights. I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re doing this. You should be a proud man. You¡¯re not any less than Ahn Suhyeong, so why are you debasing yourself? You make me...¡±
Xia Lei understood what she meant immediately, and he felt ufortable. ¡°You mean me acting lower than him is making you look bad?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin seemed to sense Xia Lei¡¯s displeasure and followed up with an exnation, ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean that. I mean...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°Never mind, no need to exin. I believe you don¡¯t mean it either. Maybe I¡¯m being too respectful.¡±
Things like these didn¡¯t need exnations and became more awkward with exnations.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei and made to say something, but didn¡¯t. The atmosphere in the room became rather awkward.
She liked Xia Lei, she knew this well, but people change, especially when faced with too many options. In the darkest times in her life, Xia Lei had appeared like a dark knight on a tall brilliant steed, going through danger for her and keeping her safe. He was her hero, her knight on a white horse. But now, this feeling was fading away, and Xia Lei had presented himself so poorly today...
People were like this. When left with no choice and hunger, even tree bark could be eaten but when presented with a buffet day in and day out, and even better dishes, would one still want to gnaw on tree bark anymore?
There was also some psychological activity going on in Xia Lei¡¯s head and heughed wryly to himself. ¡®Fu Ming-Mei said she gives her suitors points. She must have given me a very low score today because of how I behaved, huh?¡¯
He didn¡¯t mind. He was not going to put his feelings easily into any rtionship after experiencing Liang Si-Yao¡¯s betrayal. Furthermore, he didn¡¯t have very much choice either.
They were both outstanding people with strong personalities. Would it be easy for them to be together and grow old together?
Knock-knock-knock, knocking came from the door, followed by Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice. ¡°Are you ready, Tian-Yin? Can Ie in?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Mr Ahn sure is polite and elegant.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke evenly, ¡°Could you get the door for me?¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei seemed to return to his debased attitude and turned to open the door for Ahn Suhyeong.
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s brows wrinkled and doubt surfaced in her. ¡®Is he doing it on purpose?¡¯
Xia Lei went to the door and swiftly took out the red bottle and sprayed his right hand with his back to Shentu Tian-Yin. He went to the door and opened it with his left hand.
The suited-up Ahn Suhyeong saw that the person opening the door was Xia Lei and the smile on his face vanished. This punk was hanging on like the spirit of the deceased!
¡°Hello, Mr Ahn.¡± Xia Lei stretched his hand out to Ahn Suhyeong, intending to hold his hand.
¡°What are you doing here?¡± said Ahn Suhyeong in displeasure. He had no intention of shaking hands with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei retracted his hand awkwardly. ¡°I came over because I was bored. I hear there¡¯s a banquet tonight?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong scoffed. ¡°What, you didn¡¯t get an invitation?¡±
Chapter 320 - Beat Him For Me
He was mocking him.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t get one, actually. I wonder if...¡±
Ahn Suhyeong spread his hands. ¡°That is Choi Myeongho¡¯s responsibility. I¡¯ll help you ask. The guests tonight are respected figures in the Republic of Korea. You should get an invitation if you are of good enough standing.¡±
Xia Lei justughed and didn¡¯t say anything.
Shentu Tian-Yin let out a quiet sigh. If Xia Lei¡¯s behaviour had been bad, then this now was worse. The man she, Shentu Tian-Yin, wanted was definitely not someone who would speak deferentially to others to gain favour, and not one who would be mocked by others!
Ahn Suhyeong was not interested in talking to Xia Lei any longer. He walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin and a graceful, gentle smile appeared on his face. ¡°You are so beautiful tonight, Tian-Yin. You will surely be the brightest gem at the banquet.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin stood from the dressing table and a small, sweet smile appeared on her face too. ¡°Thank you.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s smile made Ahn Suhyeong even happier. She had smiled at him, and more importantly, he had put Xia Lei in his ce as a lowly dog, and Xia Lei could do nothing about it!
¡°Let¡¯s go. The banquet is starting soon.¡± Ahn Suhyeong gestured in invitation in a gentlemanly way.
¡°Yes, let¡¯s.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin agreed, but her gaze went to Xia Lei. She was hesitant - should she ask Xia Lei to attend too?
Xia Lei walked over to her. ¡°There¡¯s something on your face, Tian-Yin.¡± As he spoke, he reached for her face with his right hand before waiting for her to react.
Xia Lei did not move quickly; he seemed hesitant.
Shentu Tian-Yin having no reaction did not mean that Ahn Suhyeong would stand still either. Ahn Suhyeong reached out and grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand just as it was about to touch her face. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s hand suddenly changed directions to hold Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s hand. ¡°Oh, excuse me, I must have seen wrong. You guys go ahead. I¡¯m going back to my room to rest.¡± He turned to leave.
The whole process went as expected. Ahn Suhyeong felt like he had stopped Xia Lei¡¯s rude action in time by grabbing his hand, and Shentu Tian-Yin had no clue either.
¡°Come with us, Lei.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin changed her mind when Xia Lei got to the door. It was she who had invited Xia Lei to Korea, so she would feel terrible about it if Xia Lei didn¡¯t have the right to attend a banquet.
Ahn Suhyeong was against it, of course, but he could not refuse Shentu Tian-Yin. His response was full of knowing. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear that, Mr Xia? Tian-Yin¡¯s invitation is my invitation. You can attend the banquet.¡±
¡®You speak as though I¡¯ve never wined and dined in my life!¡¯ Xia Lei cursed, but was amiable on the surface. ¡°Oh, sure. Thanks. I¡¯ll use the washroom for a bit.¡±
Xia Lei turned back and strode quickly into the bathroom in the room.
¡°Uncultured,¡± Ahn Suhyeong sneered.
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows again. Was inviting Xia Lei to the banquet a mistake?
¡°Let¡¯s go, Tian-Yin. Mr Xia will make it there,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°All right, let¡¯s go.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin left the room with Ahn Suhyeong.
In the bathroom, Xia Lei quickly took out the blue bottle and sprayed his right hand. The two liquidsbined and the prints and lines on his hand changed quickly, turning into Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s. He checked his watch. He had just an hour to steal the sword of Att.
¡°I got it. Start the operation,¡± said Xia Lei into a button on his shirt.
Long Bing¡¯s voice came from over the tiny receiver in his ear. ¡°Begin.¡±
Xia Lei walked out of the bathroom. The room was empty of Shentu Tian-Yin and Ahn Suhyeong. He knew when they had left but seeing the empty room made his heart ache a little.
¡®Have I be someone hated?¡¯ Xia Leiughed at himself, then left the room.
The banquet was being held in the dining hall of the Ahn Retreat. The hall wasrge and there were not very many guests but they were all movers and shakers in the Korean business world. Xia Lei spotted Shentu Tian-Yin chatting with some Koreans with Ahn Suhyeong as her interpreter when he entered the dining hall. He was handsome, and she was cool and aristocratic - the two of them made for a perfect pair.
A server walked up to Xia Lei with a serving tray and said in a low voice, ¡°Where¡¯s the stuff?¡±
Xia Lei then saw that the server was Qin Xiang. He had pasted a moustache on his upper lip and done some fine adjustments to his face. No wonder he couldn¡¯t be recognised at first nce. Who would¡¯ve expected Qin Xiang, who had a face women envied, to put a moustache on his face?
Xia Lei picked up a ss of red wine from the serving tray as he said quietly, ¡°In Ahn Geungan¡¯s study. Don¡¯t move yet; we go together.¡±
¡°We have 50 minutes left,¡± warned Qin Xiang.
¡°I know. Go to that corridor first and wait for me,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang nodded and walked off.
Xia Lei noticed that Qin Xiang was wearing the uniform of a hotel, and the servers in the hall were all wearing simr uniforms. This was how Qin Xiang managed to sneak in. A home chef would find it difficult to tackle a banquet on his own no matter which family hosted the event, and have ack servers, so this work was usually outsourced.
Qin Xiang was in, so was Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan in too? Xia Lei¡¯s eyes darted around the hall, and he spotted Tang Bo-Chuan.
Tang Bo-Chuan had an arm around a Korean beauty and they were chatting andughing; he was poised and at ease. He had some makeup on which altered his face somewhat but it was not obvious.
Xia Lei abruptly remembered something Tang Yu-Yan had said. She said that Tang Bo-Chuan was popr in the South Asia, Japanese and Korean regions, and that he was mainly in charge of these regions in Bureau 101 too. From his rxed attitude, it gave one the impression that this was his stage.
Xia Lei did not see Long Bing but he could guess that she must be in charge of backup support and retreat.
All the yers were in position, and all there was to do was to open that secured door and take the sword of Att.
Xia Lei put down his winess and walked towards the doorway of the dining hall.
¡°Mr Xia!¡± called Ahn Suhyeong all of a sudden.
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on but he turned to face him with a smile. ¡°What is it, Mr Ahn?¡±
¡°Do you know swordy?¡± Ahn Suhyeong walked over with scorn in his eyes.
¡°Swordy?¡± Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No,¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be modest, Mr Xia. I heard from others that you practice martial arts. How can you not know swordy when you learn martial arts? Are you afraid of losing?¡±
¡°I really don¡¯t know how. I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t y with you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°So you really are worried about losing. Haha! You¡¯re too much of a coward, aren¡¯t you?¡± Ahn Suhyeong took the opportunity to poke fun at Xia Lei.
With Xia Lei¡¯s skills, one - no, five Ahn Suhyeongs were no match for him but he had less than 50 minutes left and couldn¡¯t waste that time here. So he did not retort, no matter how Ahn Suhyeong provoked and ridiculed him.
Shentu Tian-Yin walked over at that moment and said to Xia Lei in a low voice, ¡°Why are you having stage fright? Fencing is an aristocratic sport here in Korea, and also a chance to show off one¡¯s bearing. I¡¯d like to see you beat him.¡±
She was making things worse. Xia Lei¡¯s headache grew worse.
Several guests looked over and whispered amongst themselves. Some were guessing at Xia Lei¡¯s identity while some wondered if there was any bad blood between Xia Lei and Ahn Suhyeong. Some also wondered at Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s role in the two men¡¯s rtionship.
Xia Lei was going to think of an excuse to refuse when Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s voice suddenly came from over the receiver in his ear. ¡°You¡¯ll arouse his suspicions if you leave now. Agree, and get defeated, then you¡¯ll get your excuse for leaving.¡±
He was the tactical nner indeed, maintaining his calm in this sort of setting. There wasn¡¯t much time left but he was still able to stay cool.
Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s reminder improved Xia Lei¡¯s impression of him. He smiled. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s y.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong smiled too. ¡°I¡¯ll have someone fetch the protective gear.¡±
¡°No need for protective gear. Just two foils would do,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hm?¡± Ahn Suhyeong sneered, ¡°I wasst season¡¯s fencing champion, you know. You¡¯ll get hurt if we don¡¯t use protective gear.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Just bring the foils here.¡± Xia Lei seemed to have a card up his sleeve.
One of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s bodyguards quickly brought two heavy foils used in fencing and gave one to Ahn Suhyeong and the other to Xia Lei. The des were steel but the points were dull. They would injure someone but not kill.
The guests opened up a space for the two of them to duel more conveniently.
Ahn Geungan gave two barks ofughter, and said imperiously, ¡°My Ahn ancestors were warriors. Looks like the blood of warriors flows in our Suhyeong too. Suhyeong, that man is a guest. You have to take it easy and not harm a guest.¡±
¡°I know,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong graciously.
Shentu Tian-Yin drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said in a low voice, ¡°Beat him for me.¡±
Xia Lei paused, then gave a soft grunt of acknowledgement though heughed wryly to himself. He understood that she wanted him to sweep the floor with Ahn Suhyeong and take his arrogance down a peg or two but this duel was one which he was determined to lose from the start. What she wanted, he could not give.
¡°Are you left-handed, Mr Xia?¡± Ahn Suhyeong noticed that Xia Lei held the foil with his left hand.
Xia Lei spoke lightly, ¡°Is the most powerful thing about Korean fencers their mouths?¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Ahn Suhyeong snorted, and suddenly lunged at Xia Lei.
He was quick and his movements smooth, but he was like the tortoise in ¡®The Tortoise and the Hare¡¯ in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. Every movement of his, from his preparation in drawing his foil, to thrusting his foil forward, all of his bodily movements had been seen by Xia Lei¡¯s left eye and nothing was left out.
If Xia Lei took a stab at Ahn Suhyeong now, he would just need to move his hand once and it would all be over. His speed was easily twice that of Ahn Suhyeong but he did not do so. He raised his hand to block, and seemed to just barely stop Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s advance.
Chapter 321 - Make Some Money
Dink-tink-tink..
Ahn Suhyeong went faster and faster and his strokes fell harder and harder. The speed and strength he was using would result in a severe injury if any hitnded, even if it was a blunt de.
However, Xia Lei was able to block or avoid Ahn Suhyeong in time no matter how quickly or how viciously he attacked. Ahn Suhyeong threw out attacks like a tide but Xia Lei was like the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, not letting a single drop past.
¡°What are you doing?¡± came Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s voice from over the receiver, ¡°We don¡¯t have time!¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s n to to have him get injured and leave, and it was a very good n, but Ahn Suhyeong was being rather violent. If Xia Lei let his guard down and allowed himself to be hit, then he would surely be severely injured. Bleeding or broken bones would definitely affect his task afterwards. It was now impossible for him to stop halfway!
What should he do?
Ahn Suhyeong grew increasingly shocked as they went on. He was Korea¡¯s amateur fencing champion and though he paled next to professional athletes, he was still fairly formidable. However, he had already attacked over 20 times and not even touched Xia Lei¡¯s clothing!
The guests were seeing something else. In their eyes, Xia Lei was being pushed back by Ahn Suhyeong, left and right, and would get hit to the ground by him at any moment.
Some guests begun to p and some called out encouragement to Ahn Suhyeong.
Shentu Tian-Yin was getting anxious too and she couldn¡¯t help calling out. ¡°What are you doing, Lei? Fight back! Why aren¡¯t you fighting back?¡±
Her voice seemed to inject Xia Lei with energy and he suddenly lunged forward, swinging his foil right at Ahn Suhyeong.
Rip! There was a sound of fabric tearing.
The seams at Xia Lei¡¯s crotch had split.
Ahn Suhyeong blocked Xia Lei¡¯s blow andughed. ¡°Are you aedy actor, Mr Xia? Why are you performingedy at this venue? I have to admit that this is just too funny.¡±
The spectating guestsughed.
There was not one trace of a smile on Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s face, however - just disappointment. She¡¯d hoped to see Xia Lei take down the arrogant Ahn Suhyeong and disy his greatness but he¡¯d actually split his trousers in a ce like this...
Xia Lei put the foil away. ¡°I¡¯ll go get changed into fresh trousers. Wait for me - I¡¯ll defeat you.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll wait,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong in disdain, ¡°You¡¯d better change into sturdier trousers. I won¡¯t hold back next time.¡±
He was insinuating that he had been taking it easy on him.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t mind it. He swung his arm and tossed the foil in his hand to Ahn Suhyeong, then turned and left the dining hall.
Shentu Tian-Yin watched him go with disappointment in her eyes. She had been greatly disappointed by Xia Lei¡¯s performance but the sight of him walking off with a smear on his name made her heart ache for him. Images surfaced in her head - Xia Lei in Distinguished Gathering taking enemies on ten to one, shing Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s bodyguard... Xia Lei with her on the ind, subduing the assassins, thenying on the gurney with her in the morgue... Xia Lei administering acupuncture treatment for her father, turning a man whom she had lost hope for into a healthy man...
¡®Am I setting a bar too high him? Asking too much?¡¯ The memories reyed in her head like a film and Shentu Tian-Yin could not help thinking these thoughts.
Ahn Suhyeong walked to Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s side and said with a smile, ¡°Tian-Yin, I went easy on him because Mr Xia is your friend, but I didn¡¯t expect that he... Ah, I don¡¯t know any words to describe him. Maybe he is aedy actor.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wanted to speak up for Xia Lei but the words were stuck in the throat, refusing toe out.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei had already turned up in the corridor which led to Ahn Geungan¡¯s study. A bodyguard had been in the corridor but he was gone at this time. Qin Xiang came out from a room just as Xia Lei turned up, and Xia Lei¡¯s left eye saw the bodyguard lying behind the door.
¡°What¡¯s with your trousers?¡±
¡°You got rid of him?¡±
The two of them spoke at the same time about two different things.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Don¡¯t talk about my trousers. Let¡¯s begin.¡±
¡°I just gave him some tranquilizer,¡± said Qin Xiang.
They came to the door and Xia Lei quickly entered the passcode on the pad, then ced his right hand on the fingerprint-scanner.
The study door opened with a click.
Xia Lei reached out to push the door but he stopped his hand in midair. He¡¯d remembered that the walls behind the shelves had surveince cameras installed. He and Qin Xiang would be caught on camera if they went in. There was no one here, but this didn¡¯t mean that no one was watching the camera feed.
¡°There¡¯s a camera facing the door. It¡¯s going to be troublesome,¡± said Xia Lei with a frown.
¡°Rx, Long Bing¡¯s got it,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°That guy called Ke Jie hacked into the Ahn security surveince system. The feed¡¯s on a loop. We can¡¯t be seen at all.¡±
¡°You sure?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± This confirmation did note from Qin Xiang but from Long Bing, over the tiny receiver in Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
Xia Lei did not hesitate. He reached out, pushed the door open and entered with Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei removed a button from his shirt and the receiver in his ear after entering the room.
¡°There¡¯s rms?¡± Qin Xiang was an expert in this field and he could guess why Xia Lei did those actions without having him exin it.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Remove yours too and put it by the door. rms will go off if you get near the bookshelves.¡±
Qin Xiang did as told.
Xia Lei walked to the the bookshelf and pulled the book that Ahn Suhyeong had pulled. The bookshelf swung open, revealing a metal door.
Qin Xiang licked his lips. ¡°German, Novoferm security door. Ahn Geungan really did ssh on security. Just this door is over a million. I won¡¯t be able to open this on my own, and just fingerprints are not enough. Can you do it, Lei?¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. He stood before the door and entered the passcode, scanned the fingerprints, then spun the dial and entered the dial code.
Click-click-click. The security door opened, revealing the space within.
Xia Lei strode straight to the wooden rack, not sparing a nce for the other artifacts and antiques. He picked up the sword of Att. The sword weighed heavily in his hands and felt like 15 kilograms; this weight surprised him. Judging from the sword¡¯s materials and measurements, it should have weighed about five kilograms but the actual weight was more than twice that!
Was it not iron?
Xia Lei was curious but he knew that this was not the time to study the sword of Att. He turned to leave and was met with the sight of Qin Xiang rolling up an ancient painting. He had an ancient book mped under his armpit.
Xia Lei was about to stop him, but he choked his words back. Qin Xiang had taken great risks to help him. He was a thief too and what was so wrong about wanting to make money on the side? Taking one sword was already stealing, so what¡¯s so bad about adding a painting and book to the list?
¡°Uh...¡± Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei with wide eyes. ¡°Just making some money. You don¡¯t mind, do you?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Take what you want. Why would I mind? Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan. Never mind me - you¡¯re taking a big risk here so you deserve something out of it. Take, take. Take more.¡±
These belonged to Ahn Geungan anyway. It would be a waste not to take them.
Qin Xiang acquired several more items in the seconds after Xia Lei spoke. A ck cloth bag appeared like magic and he put those items in the bag.
They exited the study and Xia Lei handed the sword to Att to Qin Xiang. He walked towards his room. He needed to change his trousers, then go back to the dining hall and continue that duel with Ahn Suhyeong.
Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s n had been to let him get injured and leave but suspicion would fall on him if Ahn Guengan and Ahn Suhyeong discovered that things were missing. Splitting his trousers and going back to his room to change made sense, since it gave his a perfectly reasonable exnation for his absence of a few minutes. His n was more reasonable, and bulletproof,pared to Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s n.
Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s voice came from over the receiver as he stepped out of the corridor. ¡°Is it done?¡±
¡°Done,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ve prepared a pair of trousers for you. Bathroom, first floor.¡±
A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll get changed immediately.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan had even prepared trousers for him. This was better - he didn¡¯t need to waste time in going back to his room to change. His n had be even more perfect.
Xia Lei saw Tang Bo-Chuan smoking in the bathroom as soon as he entered, and a stic bag with suit pants in it on the sink next to him. And him? He was in his briefs.
So this was what he meant by ¡®prepared trousers¡¯. Xia Lei was at a loss for words.
¡°Take your trousers off; I¡¯ll wear them,¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan. ¡°I¡¯ll make a move first. You can¡¯t leave or they¡¯ll suspect you. You stay and observe the situation. Roll with the situation.¡±
Xia Lei spoke as he changed, ¡°I¡¯ve handed the item to Qin Xiang to take it out of here. You guys should hurry back to China. And you¡¯ve got to get me a n to get back to China too, just in case.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan flicked away the cigarette in his hand. ¡°Rx, I have it all prepared. I have a n for all situations.¡±
Xia Lei said no more. He put on Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s trousers and left the bathroom. Tang Bo-Chuan was about the same size as him and the trousers were suit trousers and ck too, so no one would be able to tell that they belonged to Tang Bo-Chuan.
Xia Lei walked into the dining hall and all the guests¡¯ gazes went to him.
Some whispered to each other, in a poor effort to conceal their contempt.
¡°Look, that Chineseedian is back.¡±
¡°He sure is thick-skinned. I¡¯d definitely note back if I were him. How shameful.¡±
¡°Do the Chinese have thick skin?¡±
¡°Of course. Why do you think they im that the Dragon Boat Festival is theirs?¡±
¡°Haha, yeah, that¡¯s true.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin did not understand the whispers in Korean but she could see from their expressions that they were mocking Xia Lei. She¡¯d had enough of it and she walked over to Xia Lei. ¡°Lei, let¡¯s leave.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong came over before Xia Lei could speak with two foils in his hands. ¡°Mr Xia, you sure are brave toe back. I just had a bet with my friends on whether you woulde back, and you did. That¡¯s good too - we need a winner. Let¡¯s begin!¡±
Xia Lei smiled calmly. ¡°Yes, we need a winner.¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t you understand what¡¯s going on?¡±
She meant to say ¡®Don¡¯t you see that he is making fun of you?¡¯ but she could not say something like that.
Xia Lei gave an unconcernedugh. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, when have I done anything half-heartedly?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin paused. She¡¯d heard this before. She felt like the familiar old Xia Lei was back in that instant - the look in his eyes, his smile, his demeanor, all of it.
Ahn Suhyeong swung his arm and a foil flew at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei reached out and grabbed it. His wrist snapped and the foil buzzed in a swift movement to point straight at Ahn Suhyeong.
He was also holding the foil with his left hand this time.
Chapter 322 - Slap, No Discussion
¡°That actually looks like a proper fencing posture, but that¡¯s useless.¡± Ahn Suhyeong shed at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei blocked it and the two foils shed with a ng. Xia Lei¡¯s wrist twisted sharply before Ahn Suhyeong could react and the straight de bent backwards tond with a smack on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face.
This smack stupefied Ahn Suhyeong and stunned everyone else.
The rule in fencing was that stabbing, shing and whipping did not gain points, but the red mark which appeared on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face was more convincing than gaining 100 points. Ahn Suhyeong would have lost half his face if they were using real swords!
¡°Sorry, I was too nervous and identally hit your face,¡± said Xia Lei with an apologetic face. ¡°Are you all right?¡±
¡®Sorry, I hit your face identally¡¯.
These words were like a second hit to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face. He had gone on an aggressive offence minutes earlier but had not managed to even graze a corner of Xia Lei¡¯s clothing. Xia Lei had gone to change his trousers and pped his face with just one attack aftering back!
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face burned; half with pain, half with shame.
¡®Fuck!¡¯ Ahn Suhyeong cursed to himself and lunged at Xia Lei with a flurry of attacks.
Xia Lei went on the defence and blocked him.
Dink-tink-tink...
The two foils shed in the air and the two men went back and forth. The duel was intense, exciting.
¡°You can do it!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin clenched her fists nervously. She wanted to see Xia Lei defeat Ahn Suhyeong, and this seemed imminent. She watched Xia Lei so closely that she dared not blink.
Xia Lei could actually fell Ahn Suhyeong in one move if he wanted to end the duel but he wasn¡¯t nning on doing that. He had appeared to be terribly pressured by Ahn Suhyeing earlier and rather worse for wear. If he defeated Ahn Suhyeong too quickly this time round the great difference in performance would surely draw the attention of some people. Ahn Geungan was going to discover the theft of the sword of Att sooner orter and it would be rather unwise of him to be suspected because he had won too neatly. This was why he was patiently apanying Ahn Suhyeong in ying with the fencing foils to give people the impression of an evenly matched duel.
To win, he had to just barely win.
And so their duel went on like an act in a y. Xia Lei was able to dodge attacks by Ahn Suhyeong at thest moment, just as he saw victory before him. At some other times, it looked like Xia Lei was about to hit Ahn Suhyeong but was blocked by him at thest second.
Fencing was a high-intensity sport which required the mind and body to be focused. Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s forehead was beaded with sweat minutes into their duel. No beads of sweat were present on Xia Lei¡¯s forehead but he put on a huffing, puffing show.
¡°Defeat that Chinese guy!¡± called a female guest in Korean.
Xia Lei leaned forward right after she spoke and the tip of his foil hit Ahn Suhyeong in the chest. The physically weaker Ahn Suhyeong was pushed to the ground by this attack.
Embarrassed and angry, Ahn Suhyeong made to stand but Xia Lei¡¯s foil went to his neck - a few millimetres more and it would pierce his neck.
The venue was silent. No one could believe the result. A Chinese edian¡¯ punk had defeated the amateur fencing champion of Korea. Ahn Suhyeong had not managed to even touch his opponent¡¯s clothing in the entire duel too, and had been pped red on top of that!
Xia Lei put the foil away and reached a hand out to pull Ahn Suhyeong to his feet. ¡°You let me win, Mr Ahn.¡±
These polite words turned into a mockery Ahn Suhyeong could not take when it entered his ears, and his expression turned ice-cold. A graceful thing to do would be to take Xia Lei¡¯s hand and get to his feet but there was no saving his grace any longer. He brushed Xia Lei¡¯s hand aside and climbed to his feet himself.
Xia Lei shrugged and threw the foil to Ahn Suhyeong.
Ahn Geungan was ashamed too. The Koreans loved their pride more than the Chinese and Xia Lei sweeping the floor with his son in front of so many respected guests was like a muddy stomp on his face. He wanted very much to kick Xia Lei out, but Ahn Suhyeong had been the one to issue the challenge to a duel and he could not find any excuse to make things difficult for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was like a bothersome fly to the Ahn father and son - a fly which could not be swatted and kept buzzing about their heads. It felt disgusting!
Shentu Tian-Yin went to Xia Lei with a smile which barely contained her joy. She leaned in to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said softly, ¡°I knew you were stronger than him.¡±
Xia Leiughed. Her speaking in his ear was ticklish.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei looked intimate and the guests had a new topic to discuss.
¡°That Chinese guy is actually quite handsome. What does he do?¡±
¡°That woman is the chairperson of China¡¯s Vientaine Group. This punk must be the boy-toy she¡¯s keeping.¡±
¡°Really? If that¡¯s true then poor Ahn Suhyeong. Why is he courting such a woman?¡±
¡°I also heard that...¡±
Their discussions were a twisted mess - rich people sometimes had really weird thought patterns, and arrogant too.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t care. He had already obtained the sword of Att and regained his pride. He was in a good mood and cared not what these people had to say.
¡°What are they talking about?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was sharp and she easily guessed that those people were discussing her and Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You really want to know?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be annoying and tell me,¡± urged Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°They¡¯re saying that I¡¯m your boy-toy.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin paused, then blushed. ¡°These rascals have no manners.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong grit his teeth at the sight of Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin whispering to each other and looking all close. He felt his face burn, and not just the part that Xia Lei had hit but his entire face. He, like his father Ahn Geungan, wanted to kick Xia Lei out but he did not dare to do so because of the possible reaction Shentu Tian-Yin might have to that action.
¡°Let¡¯s start the banquet.¡± Seo Soojin broke the heavy and awkward tension.
The spread was plentiful and Ahn Geungan had invited Shentu Tian-Yin to the main table. This table was for the bigwigs in both political and business. Ahn Suhyeong continued to act as trantor for Shentu Tian-Yin and introduced her to the guests with high statuses. Father-and-son gave Xia Lei the cold shoulder, but Xia Lei did not care. He found a table to sit at and enjoyed the delicacies being served while waiting for the banquet to end.
At the end of the banquet, which was when Xia Lei expected Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong to send guests off, Ahn Geungan said, ¡°Everyone here is my friend and I see you all as my own family. I would like to invite you all to view my collection. Hehe, I want to show you the armour and weapons my ancestors had left me.¡±
Some male guests called out their approval and looked rather enthused.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, felt a headacheing on. For him, the best oue would be for him to get back to China before Ahn Geungan discovered his missing items. The Ahns would not be able to do anything even if he were suspected then. However, he was still in Korea and this was not a good thing for him to have Ahn Geungan discover that the sword of Att and some other artifacts were missing.
Shentu Tian-Yin left the table and went to Xia Lei. ¡°Lei, we¡¯ve seen it already. How about we go back. I¡¯d like to have a chat with you.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t we go take a look too? I saw several cultural artifacts belonging to China; how do you think those came to be here?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll go with you if you want to go,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Ahn Suhyeong had been about to approach Shentu Tian-Yin to invite her for the viewing but the sight of her smiling and chatting with Xia Lei made him hold that thought. He did not want to speak with Xia Lei; not one word.
Arge group of guests was led to the study by Ahn Geungan.
Ahn Geungan entered first - he did not want to let anyone see the passcodes he entered and the fingerprint-scanning.
The guests stood in the doorway, waiting. Xia Lei¡¯s expression was calm but he was not calm inside. He could not help imagining how Ahn Geungan would react when he discovered that the sword of Att had been stolen, and what actions he would take - how was he going to counter that?
This was also why he¡¯d wanted toe. He had to keep an eye on how things developed.
¡°This Ahn Geungan must want to show off his taste and power.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin spoke softly, ¡°I don¡¯t know how he obtained those cultural artifacts but we are the actual owners, aren¡¯t we? Those things should be our nation¡¯s antiques and cultural artifacts. This feels really strange.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh and said, ¡°You didn¡¯t say all these before.¡±
¡°Could I have said this in front of Ahn Suhyeong? Ourpanies are still working together,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
She was referring to Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group building an electrical products base in Korea. The main things they were going to manufacture were mobile phone parts and automotive electronics and so on. Vientaine Group had gained power in the real estate industry and had started expanding to overseas markets after umting enough funds.
She was a highly-ambitious woman and would never be satisfied with her current situation.
Xia Lei knew her ambitiousness and capabilities well but he was a tad worried for her too. ¡°I¡¯m not very familiar with Ahn Suhyeong but I can see that he is not a sincere man. And Ahn Geungan - he¡¯s simply an old fox. You have to very cautious when working with Koreans like these. Don¡¯t get exploited by them.¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s lips. Xia Lei still cared about her. A warmth spread in her heart like before. However, she did not believe that Ahn Suhyeong and Ahn Geungan would con her, and she also had the capabilities to stop something like this from happening so she did not take Xia Lei¡¯s warning to heart.
Xia Lei sighed to himself, ¡®She¡¯s not listening to me as usual. She¡¯s really too strong-willed.¡¯
In the study, Ahn Geungan opened the metal door. He did not look around properly inside and turned back to open the study door and invite the guests in to view his collection.
Therge group of guests followed Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong into the collection room and some could not help gasping in admiration when they walked in. Some eximed at the origins of this cultural artifact or that antique item excitedly, like a decree issued by a certain emperor to a certain official, or calligraphy which had sprung from the brush of a certain famed calligrapher, the value of a certain piece of blue and white porcin and so on.
Hearing all this sounds of admiration made Ahn Geungan smile, but this smile froze on his face secondster. He¡¯d suddenly discovered that the piece he was most proud of in his collection, the sword of Att, was not on its familiar weapons rack anymore!
Chapter 323 - Responding Calmly
The most valuable thing in Ahn Geungan¡¯s collection was not the armour and weapons his ancestors left behind but the sword of Att. One was a small military officer of a vassal state during the Ming dynasty, and the other was a king of Huns with a far-reaching name - Att. This was the difference. The sword of Att represented the glory of Att and it was sure to create a global stir if he revealed it to the public!
However, the sword of Att was gone.
The guests were still unaware that anything was amiss and they admired the items in the collection while showering the host with ttery.
Xia Lei, too, smiled and chatted with Shentu Tian-Yin while discussing a decree from the emperor of the Ming dynasty. This was just a cover, though. He was actually keeping watch on the changes in Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s expressions.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Ahn Suhyeong had discovered that the sword of Att was missing too and he became nervous.
¡°I was about to ask you that.¡± Ahn Geungan¡¯s voice carried anger and he seemed fit to burst with rage at any moment.
¡°I don¡¯t know, I...¡± Ahn Suhyeong turned to look at Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. He recalled that he had brought them to admire his ancestor¡¯s armour and weapons but he did not link them to the current situation.
Ahn Geungan lost his temper and he seemed to be losing it. ¡°Everyone, quiet! Quiet!¡±
The guests in the collection room fell silent and all eyes went to Ahn Geungan.
Ahn Geungan spoke solemnly, ¡°Please forgive me everyone, but do not leave this ce.¡±
The bodyguards who had apanied Ahn Geungan in had used their walkie-talkies to contact the other bodyguards and they rushed over quickly to block off the doorway of the study so no one could leave.
¡°What happened?¡± asked someone
¡°Why aren¡¯t we allowed to leave?¡±
¡°Has something happened?¡±
Questions started flying around and the quiet was dispelled.
A bodyguard walked in and spoke softly in Ahn Geungan¡¯s ear. ¡°Sir, the guard in charge of watching the study has been knocked out. He¡¯s in another room.¡±
¡°Dad, we¡¯ve lost a few valuable pieces of the collection other than the sword of Att,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
Ahn Geungan¡¯s brows were knitted.
¡°Something¡¯s missing?¡± said someone in surprise.
¡°Is he suspecting that we stole his items?¡±
¡°What a joke. Weren¡¯t we all in the dining hall?¡±
¡°Who does he take us for?¡±
The guests buzzed and grew dissatisfied. Those who attended tonight were all movers and shakers and they were sure to be ufortable being kept in Ahn Geungan¡¯s collection room like this.
¡°Please settle down!¡± said Ahn Geungan angrily, ¡°Someone¡¯s stolen my sword. The sword of Att. That person may be among you, and no one¡¯s leaving until I get to the bottom of this!¡±
¡°He¡¯s taken us for thieves!¡± said someone angrily.
¡°What the hell, has he gone off his rocker?¡±
¡°Can¡¯t he see who I am? To be suspected like this is ridiculous!¡±
The collection room was bubbling with noise and there was no calming it.
Xia Lei watched Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s reactions all the while. He was calm on the surface and looked like he was just observing something that didn¡¯t involve him but his heart was beating nervously. It would be the worst case scenario if he had left any clues and if those were coincidentally discovered now.
He was a thief but he couldn¡¯t help feeling a little guilty.
¡°How could this happen?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was surprised. ¡°Not just anyone can enter this collection room. Who can be so skilled?¡±
¡°I think it¡¯s strange too. There¡¯s passcodes and fingerprints, plus people watching. The person who did this must surely be a master thief. He might have had his eye on the collection for a while.¡±
¡°Master thief? Are there really master thieves in this world?¡± Shentu Tian-Yinughed. ¡°I¡¯d like to see him. He must be very impressive.¡±
Xia Lei smiled to himself and thought, ¡®He¡¯s standing right in front of you, isn¡¯t he?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong walked over and his gaze went to Xia Lei. He spoke investigatively, ¡°Mr Xia, it really is strange. I brought you and Tian-Yin here and the most valuable item in my family¡¯s collection is missing. Tell me, what¡¯s going on?¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°What do you mean by that, Mr Ahn?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong spoke coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t mean anything. I¡¯m just asking. Everyone here is a suspect and I have to clear my suspicions of all of you.¡±
What he meant was ¡®You have to give me a reasonable exnation¡¯!
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°What should I clear up for you? Do I need to? To be clear about this - I didn¡¯t ask you to take me to your collection room. I¡¯d have no idea that your family even owned such a collection room if you didn¡¯t bring me here. This is the situation, so what should I be helping you clear?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s expression darkened but he did not refute Xia Lei¡¯s words. He¡¯d subconsciously wanted to create some trouble for Xia Lei, going so far as to frame him. However, he¡¯d found no weakness of Xia Lei¡¯s to exploit.
Shentu Tian-Yin grew displeased. ¡°Suhyeong, you mean that I am under suspicion too? Do I need to clear things up for you too?¡±
¡°No, no, no,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Tian-Yin. You know that I definitely don¡¯t mean that. I would rather suspect myself than suspect you. I can escort you out now if you wish to leave.¡±
¡°Lei, let¡¯s go. Looks like it¡¯ll be better if we stayed in a hotel,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin. ¡°I don¡¯t want to stay here either after this has happened.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go stay at a hotel.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong blocked Xi Lei¡¯s way. ¡°No, he can¡¯t. Mr Xia can¡¯t leave.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin frowned. ¡°Suhyeong, Lei is my friend. Must you do this?¡±
¡°Please understand, Tian-Yin. Look, the people from the banquet are here too, and they are movers and shakers in Korea. They would leave too if Mr Xia leaves. We could be letting a thief go if we let all of you go.¡±
¡°Fine, then I¡¯m not leaving either.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was annoyed.
Ahn Suhyeong tried to exin but Xia Lei said, ¡°Tian-Yin, you should leave. Who knows, he might ask to do a body searchter. I don¡¯t mind, but you are someone of status and you cannot suffer this indignity.¡±
¡°What? A body search?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin grew more angry.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was angry too. ¡°What nonsense are you spouting? Who said that Tian-Yin was going to be searched? You¡¯re a scoundrel!¡±
Xia Lei gave a dryugh. He stopped using Chinese and spoke loudly in English, ¡°I¡¯m a scoundrel? I think you¡¯re the scoundrel here! You¡¯re treating us all like thieves! Every person here is of good standing - who do you think you are, the Korean president? You have no right to treat everyone like a suspect!¡±
Not many in the group knew Chinese but English was anguage most of them knew. They were the elites of Seoul after all and English was anguage which was moremonly used in their nation, so they were definitely more diligent about learning English than Chinese. Xia Lei¡¯s outburst in English stirred the pot in the collection room. That¡¯s right - they were all people of good standing so what right had the Ahns to hold them here for investigation?
Ahn Suhyeong had been making trouble for Xia Lei since he arrived in South Korea and adding to it too. It was now time for Xia Lei to make trouble for him.
It was disadvantageous for even Ahn Geungan, chairman of Shinyeok Group and with strong influence on politics, to offend so many movers and shakers in one go. He was also hoping that these people would support him in the next presidential election.
Ahn Geungan¡¯s face darkened, his gaze one of an experienced old wolf.
Ahn Suhyeong was not as calm as Ahn Geungan. He grabbed Xia Lei by the cor and said coldly, ¡°You will have a bad end, Xia Lei!¡±
Xia Lei did not resist but he spoke loudly in English, ¡°Are you threatening to kill me? I¡¯ll make a police report!¡±
The guests¡¯ gazes went to Ahn Suhyeong and Xia Lei and discussion flew.
¡°Suhyeong, let him go,¡± said Ahn Geungan, ¡°Everyone, I do apologise. I made the wrong decision in a moment of panic. How about everyone have a seat in the living room, where I will offer you some tea by way of apology.¡±
The guests¡¯ anger seemed to settle a little. Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong brought the guests to the living room, Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin included. Arge group of policemen arrived in the living room in a few minutes and the police technicians took a look at the video surveince. Some policemen surveyed the crime scene and some questioned the guests.
Xia Lei was obviously shown special attention. A police officer interviewed him in English and Xia Lei responded calmly. He had thought about the questions the police would ask and had his answers prepared in advance.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Ahn Geungan as he answered the questions. Ahn Geungan had been in a call since he entered the living room and he was tense and worried.
Xia Lei was puzzled and he thought, ¡®It¡¯s just an ancient sword. Even if it is the sword of Att it¡¯s just an item to Ahn Geungan, a ything. Even if it cost 200 million or one billion, this amount is nothing for someone like Ahn Geungan, isn¡¯t it? So why is he so worried?¡¯
Xia Lei suddenly remembered the abnormal weight of the sword of Att.
Was the sword of Att hiding some sort of secret?
¡°Lei.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin walked to Xia Lei¡¯s side. ¡°I regret asking you to apany me to Korea now. You should not be experiencing trouble like this.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought was interrupted. Heughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine. What¡¯s thispared to the trouble I¡¯ve experienced?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to apany me to the groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow. We shall return to China once we are done there.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t ask for more.
Just then, Ahn Geungan ended his call and talked a bit with a police officer before raising his voice. ¡°Everyone, I am deeply sorry for inconveniencing you tonight. I do beg your forgiveness.¡± So saying, he bent in a deep bow.
Ahn Geungan had got to where he was today not because of luck but through maniption and power. His bowing-apology appeased many of the guests.
¡°You may return, everyone. I shall be giving each and every one personal calls to express my apologies.¡± Ahn Geungan finally released them.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin left.
Ahn Suhyeong did not ask Shentu Tian-Yin to stay. He red at Xia Lei¡¯s retreating back with eyes full of hate.
Chapter 324 - He Who Comes With Ill Intentions
Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin left Ahn Retreat and checked-in to a hotel called Aloft Seoul Gangnam.
Xia Lei opened his room with the room card. There was a female service staff member in his room but she was not doing any work. She was sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed and enjoying the view of the bustling street outside the window. She looked away when Xia Lei entered.
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips when he saw her face. ¡°You should know that it¡¯s not good for you to appear here. Ahn Suhyeong might have sent men to follow me.¡±
The woman on the sofa was Long Bing.
Xia Lei did not know if she knew he would be getting this room or if she had entered it after he got his room card. It was always astonishing to see her appear; it was her style.
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be here if I can¡¯t even handle one Ahn Suhyeong.¡±
Xia Lei sat next to the bed. ¡°What about the sword?¡±
¡°It¡¯s on its way to China through secure means,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei let out a breath. ¡°That¡¯s good. The sword¡¯s most important. It¡¯s best that it¡¯s not in Korea. Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong won¡¯t trace it back to me no matter how they look.¡±
¡°You did well this time, but...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°Your guy is not clean.¡± A tiny wrinkle appeared between Long Bing¡¯s brows. ¡°Our target is just the sword of Att but he also stole a few pieces of Ahn Geungan¡¯s collection. You were there - why didn¡¯t you stop him?¡±
¡°Did youe to hold me ountable?¡±
Long Bing said nothing; she stared at him silently.
¡°I was there, true, and Qin Xiang took a few items but I didn¡¯t think much of it. He¡¯s taking such a great risk and Bureau 101 isn¡¯t giving him any reward either. If this fails you won¡¯t admit that he was working for you guys - he could even lose his life in Korea. Is it so wrong for him to try to get some repayment?¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. I¡¯m not here to hold anyone ountable. I will keep this quiet and won¡¯t report it. But you have to tell your guy that the things he stole cannot resurface within the next five years or it¡¯ll bring trouble. If he bes the target of Ahn Geungan¡¯s investigation because he was trying to sell what he stole then he will have a terrible end.¡±
Xia Lei understood what she meant. Qin Xiang would indeed have a bad end if something like that did happen, because he would have to deal with not just Ahn Geungan¡¯s investigations or pursuit but with Bureau 101 too. And it was difficult to guess how Bureau 101 would choose to handle the matter.
¡°I will warn him,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Where is he now?¡±
¡°He left after handing the sword of Att to me. I think he must have some way to leave Korea. I found out that Ahn Geungan had lost some other artifacts too after I listened in on the police channel, so I¡¯ming by specially to talk with you about this. I don¡¯t want him to be a danger, and I won¡¯t allow him to be a danger. You understand what I mean?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and nodded.
He¡¯d thought that Qin Xiang should have some benefit too and that was why he had not stopped him but he had not thought that it would bring so much danger. However, he was confident that he could persuade Qin Xiang not to sell those artifacts.
¡°There¡¯s a flight tomorrow afternoon, 1300 hours. You¡¯ll have to leave no matter if Shentu Tian-Yin is leaving or not. Someone will get you at Incheon Airport,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Shentu Tian-Yin says that she will leave right after the groundbreaking ceremony, so I think it¡¯s going to be no problem. I¡¯ll go straight to Incheon Airport if she doesn¡¯t leave,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Be careful.¡± Long Bing left with those words.
Xia Lei sat in the room and thought about his world after Long Bing¡¯s departure. The process of how they had taken the sword of Att reyed in his mind, especially the part where he held the sword in his hands.
¡®The ruins in the White Hun Tribe was built in the time of the Huns¡¯ prosperity. The Ming dynastypass also pointed there. These two pieces of history are separated by a thousand years, so how are they rted? And the weight of the sword of Att was obviously not right. It¡¯s definitely no ordinary sword. Too bad I didn¡¯t take a close look at it earlier... When I go back I must have a good look at it before I hand it to Dayetia...¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Knock-knock-knocking came from the door.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were interrupted and his gaze went to the door. His left eye twitched and the person behind the door entered his field of vision.
It was Fu Ming-Mei and she looked annoyed. She knocked twice more on the door.
Xia Lei got up and walked to the door as he said, ¡°Who is it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s me.¡±
Xia Lei opened the room door. ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Big Sister Tian-Yin is inviting you for a cup of coffee. She wants to talk with you,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei.
Xia Lei nced at the watch on his wrist. It was already past ten in the evening but he did not refuse. ¡°Sure. Where?¡±
¡°In the hotel cafe,¡± said Fu Ming-Mei, ¡°Follow me.¡±
Xia Lei left the room and followed Fu Ming-Mei to the cafe.
¡°I heard you had a duel with Ahn Suhyeong and you won, eh?¡± asked Fu Ming-Mei casually in the lift.
¡°Just ying around with him.¡±
¡°Heh heh,¡± chuckled Fu Ming-Mei, ¡°How could you y with him? He¡¯s your love rival, remember? You won the fight so Big Sister Tian-Yin will add more points to your score.¡±
Adding points again. Xia Lei didn¡¯t want to hear about it but he did not show his thoughts on his face.
Xia Lei spotted Shentu Tian-Yin right away upon entering the cafe. She was sitting with her back against the sofa at a table which was next to the floor-to-ceiling ss window, watching the streets outside the window silently.
The Gangnam district was Seoul¡¯s busiest business district and one could indulge in a life of luxury here.
Xia Lei sat opposite Shentu Tian-Yin. A waiter came over and he ordered a cup of ck coffee.
¡°I can¡¯t sleep. I¡¯d like to chat with you.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin broke the silence between them. There was a special look in her eyes as she gazed at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep either. What shall we chat about?¡±
¡°Do we have to search for topics to have a chat, the two of us?¡± The tone of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s voice carried a hint of reproach.
Xia Lei said a little sheepishly, ¡°Actually, I do have several topics I¡¯d like to talk with you about, but...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°Nothing.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what he should say either.
Shentu Tian-Yin sighed and moved her gaze to the window. Her thoughts went up and down in the monstrous and multi-coloured streetscape, her heart seeming to float and sink along with it. ¡°I miss the times we spent together. We talked about everything. You could even throw your life away to protect me. To help me, you went ahead with my act even though your ex-girlfriend Liang Si-Yao would misunderstand our rtionship...¡± Her voice carried a trace of hurt. ¡°But now it feels like there¡¯s ayer between us. I don¡¯t understand why. Can you tell me why?¡±
Xia Lei did not have such feelings. He was silent for a bit, then said, ¡°People will change depending on their environment. It can¡¯t be helped sometimes.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s gaze went back to Xia Lei. ¡°So have you changed, or have I?¡±
Have you changed, or have I?
This was a simple question but Xia Lei could not respond.
Shentu Tian-Yin was a very proud and excellent specimen of a woman. She was stubborn too but she had opened her heart to Xia Lei in the past. If he had put in a little more effort then he could have had all of her but he had chosen Liang Si-Yao instead.
Then Liang Si-Yao betrayed him and the pain she caused resulted in him not willing to risk his feelings. Add his expanding business in a sensitive phase to the mix and he had no mind at all to be thinking of rtionships. He¡¯d missed the best time and opportunity to conquer Shentu Tian-Yin.
On Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s end, she had changed because of the betrayal of her family and she would not trust anyone easily either. Her heart, which had opened for Xia Lei, was also slowly closing up again. She knew that she liked Xia Lei but he had to be the most excellent man if he wanted her, and he had to conquer her heart again.
The answer to this question had already been answered. Both of them had changed because of what happened to them and their environment had changed too.
¡°Forget it. Let¡¯s talk about business.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin changed the topic. ¡°I heard that you¡¯re building a military factory in Jingdu. That¡¯s impressive. Not anyone can do business like that but you¡¯ve done it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not bad, being able to help the Chinese military with defence and earning money at the same time. Our country should open up this sector and allow more private capital in.¡±
¡°You¡¯re already in, and you will be a pioneer. I am in admiration.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s not talk about my little business. It¡¯s nothingpared to yours,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about you. I¡¯ve been wanting to talk with you.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s brows wrinkled slightly. ¡°You want to talk to me about Gu Ke-Wen?¡±
She was sharp. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help a wryugh. ¡°Tian-Yin, I know it¡¯s difficult for you to ept my opinion but I still have to warn you. Gu Ke-Wen is no simple woman. I¡¯ve fought with her for so long and my impression of her is that she is a venomous snake. Would she truly be epting about you borrowing her power to buy the previous assets of the Gu n?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve given her a sizeablemission. We have just a business rtionship, so what use is there for her to be epting?¡±
¡°Tian-Yin, those assets are actually state-owned assets which Gu Ding-Shan took. You...¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin cut him off. ¡°I purchased them through legal means. There will be no problems. You, on the other hand... This was such a good opportunity for you to expand your business quickly so why didn¡¯t you make a move? You¡¯re a man, so you should have a man¡¯s ambition.¡±
Xia Lei sighed to himself. She was as headstrong as ever and didn¡¯t listen to others. It was impossible to say what he¡¯d wanted to say anymore. His warnings were falling on deaf ears anyway so what was the use in warning her?
A group of people walked through the doorway of the cafe just as the atmosphere turned awkward between them. There were uniformed policemen as well as inclothes policemen. Leading the group was none other than Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Lei was on high alert upon seeing Ahn Suhyeong turn up with arge group.
¡°What¡¯s he doing here?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows.
Ahn Suhyeong had spotted Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei by the floor-to-ceiling ss window and he strode over. The group parted to let him through, then followed him to surround Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei.
He was surely ill-intentioned; no one well-meaning woulde.
Chapter 325 - Bald CIA
Xia Lei thought of two possibilities for Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s sudden appearance.
The first was that they¡¯d left some clue behind and Ahn Suhyeong had brought men with him to chase a lead.
The second was that no clues were left behind and Ahn Suhyeong had just used the opportunity and brought men to make more trouble for him. It was possible that he would do so in order to increase his chances with Shentu Tian-Yin and get back some of the lost pride from the duel. This was South Korea, his stomping grounds. He did not have to be on his best behaviour like he had in China!
As one of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s suitors in China, Ahn Suhyeong had not dared to go up against Gu Ke-Wu for this reason. It was China, Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s ce of power and Ahn Suhyeong had too many limits on what he could do. And here? There was practically no limit!
Xia Lei could not think of any other reasons; it was trouble for him either way.
Ahn Suhyeong walked over as Xia Lei analysed the situation, and sneered, ¡°You sure are in high spirits, Mr Xia, still in the mood to apany Tian-Yin for tea at this time.¡±
Xia Lei put a smile on his face. ¡°Has what happened at your home affected the South Korean president? Implementing a curfew now? How does it concern you who I have coffee with?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin nudged Xia Lei¡¯s toes under the table to warn him against provoking Ahn Suhyeong. She¡¯d smelt trouble from the uniformed policemen.
Unfortunately, Xia Lei¡¯s barb had pricked Ahn Suhyeong and he mmed his palm into the table as he said angrily, ¡°Xia Lei! I suspect that you¡¯ve stolen my family¡¯s antiques worth two billion! Come with us!¡±
The smile on Xia Lei¡¯s face disappeared and his tone turned frosty. ¡°Watch your words. You say I¡¯ve stolen your family¡¯s antiques? Do you have proof? Witnesses or evidence?¡±
¡°Proof? You want proof?¡± Ahn Suhyeong gave a smile of anger. ¡°I¡¯ll give you proof!¡±
One person stepped out of the group of underlings - the Ahn family butler, Choi Myeongho. ¡°I saw you enter our chairman¡¯s study. You stole the antiques away.¡±
This was Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s proof. He could just make something up even if he didn¡¯t have proof!
This was an obvious ploy to frame him but it made Xia Lei rx. Choi Myeonghoing forward to act as witness meant that the police and the Ahn family had not found anything. Ahn Suhyeong had brought men over to make trouble for him!
¡°I get it.¡± Xia Lei stood. ¡°You¡¯re trying to frame me, aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Whether I¡¯m framing you or not you¡¯ll have to speak with the police and the judge. You¡¯re toe with me now,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Lei took out his phone. ¡°I¡¯m calling our conste right now.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong shot a policeman a look before Xia Lei could dial and he rushed forward to shout in Korean, ¡°Put down your phone, or I¡¯ll shoot!¡±
The policeman drew his gun speedily and had it pointed at Xia Lei¡¯s head before a single number was dialled.
XIa Lei put his mobile phone down and quickly swept the cafe with his gaze. He saw everything in those two to three seconds; the passages on both sides and the people in the cafe watching the scene. The number of people in the cafe, their expressions and the directions in which they looked were all clear as 3D images in his head.
His brain projected this ¡®3D simtion¡¯ and also calcted the best escape route at the same time. This analysis was not a surface analysis but a deep one too! For example, he could smack away the gun-wielding policeman¡¯s gun then charge out by him, and push a woman standing next to a wall-table at the people who would rush to catch him. Three steps more and he could snatch up the steaming-hot pot of coffee and hurl it at Ahn Suhyeong...
These scenes yed out automatically in Xia Lei¡¯s head and settled upon the best escape route in the blink of an eye. He was surprised to find that his brain functions increased rapidly in dangerous environments and when he was highly focused. Matched with his left eye, this was nothing short of miraculous!
Did his left eye or the AE capsules affect his brain?
This question had been haunting Xia Lei for a while and he had mulled over it, guessing at it with no proper conclusion. However, his brain had suddenly disyed an astonishing ability topute and analyse - this was not guessing anymore but the first visible signs of some development!
¡°Hands in the air!¡± ordered the gun-wielding policeman.
Xia Lei stopped using his left eye. He was calm.
Shentu Tian-Yin, on the other hand, could not hold back any longer. She snatched up the coffee cup from their table and smashed it on the floor. ¡°That¡¯s enough, Ahn Suhyeong!¡± she said angrily.
¡°Tian-Yin...¡± Ahn Suhyeong had never seen Shentu Tian-Yin disy such anger before and he was abashed.
¡°Xia Lei is my friend and a benefactor to our Shentu n. How am I to take a neutral position when you¡¯re treating him like this?¡± Shentu Tian-Yin had lost it a little and she raised a finger at Ahn Suhyeong. ¡°I¡¯m giving you two options now. One, you take your men and leave. I¡¯ll pretend nothing happened. Two, you take Xia Lei away but I pull out of my investments. Our project coboration will cease immediately.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong stared nkly and he didn¡¯t speak for a while. ¡°Tian-Yin, you actually... for a thief like this? You¡¯ll pull out of the project? It¡¯s a billion US dors. Are you sure?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin spoke frostily, ¡°You know my personality. I will not change my mind once I¡¯m decided. Two options. You have one minute to think about it.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin seemed like a queen in that moment. Her aura was so strong that none couldpare.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help looking at her with his feelings in aplicated tangle. He and Shentu Tian-Yin had differing ideas and positions on matters but he was fairly touched by her willingness to lose a billion US dors for him.
¡°Tian-Yin, calm down. I have proof.¡± Ahn Suhyeong did not give up.
¡°I said you have one minute,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°Ming-Mei, start the timer.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei raised her wrist and stared pointedly at her watch.
One minute, no discussion and no quarter - this was how aggressive Shentu Tian-Yin was!
Just then, Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s gaze went to another area in the cafe.
What was he looking at at this time?
Xia Lei was struck by a thought, and used his left eye to trace his gaze and look at his target with his peripheral vision.
An old man sat in a corner of the cafe. He was bald and the few remaining sections of golden hair looked like a top-less hat on his head. He was expressionless and had deep eye sockets. Rimless spectacles sat on his nose but the lenses could not hide the sinister look in his eyes.
This old man had a normal body and even looked rather skinny and weak but he gave one the impression of danger just sitting there.
Who was this old man?
Peripheral vision was not enough. Xia Lei adjusted his gaze to look straight at that old man and his left eye twitched.
The old man was armed with a gun and a transmitter. He also had a receiver in his ear. Interestingly, the bits of hair on his head were fake and the baldness was fake too.
Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision revealed the old man¡¯s identification documents. CIA, Goodson.
Xia Lei instantly understood that Ahn Suhyeong was not here to make trouble for him, and that framing him was also a sham - all this was being orchestrated by the CIA!
The situation which Xia Lei had been worried about most had happened. He had not expected tha CIA to be so quick, and to involve Ahn Guengan and Ahn Suhyeong too!
With the CIA in the game, whether Ahn Suhyeong had proof or not was not important anymore. The stolen sword of Att could be ignored too because the aim of the CIA was him!
As Xia Lei observed Goodson with his left eye, Goodson made a small nod.
This was a signal.
Ahn Suhyeong then said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Tian-Yin. South Korea is a country governed byws and the price has to be paid, no matter who it is. Xia Lei is your friend but he muste with the police to assist in their investigations. You are a reasonable person - I believe you will understand me.¡±
¡°Looks like you¡¯ve made your choice. Good. I¡¯ve made my decision too. The coboration between Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group is hereby annulled.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin had a terrible look on her face. No one had ever rejected her this way before, but this Ahn Suhyeong did!
But Xia Lei knew the truth behind the matter. Ahn Suhyeong would probably have given up and looked for other ways to frame him if not for the CIA¡¯s involvement. Doing things that way would leave Shentu Tian-Yin with a better impression of him and he could also recoup some of Shinyeok Group¡¯s losses. However, the CIA had be involved and the CIA did not care about a billion-dor project!
Countries like Japan and South Korea were heavily influenced by the USA*, and the CIA had a high level of mobility in South Korea. This included the use of police, weapons, equipment, intelligenceworks and so on. In other words, Xia Lei was in more danger right now than he was in Afghanistan because he at least had his personally-modified sniper rifle with him in Afghanistan, and Tang Yu-Yan and the Bureau 101 agents. Here, he had nothing!
¡°Take him away!¡± ordered Ahn Suhyeong.
A policeman unclipped handcuffs from his belt and went forward to cuff Xia Lei.
¡°Lei, I¡¯ll call our conste right now!¡± Shentu Tian-Yin took out her mobile phone.
¡°What are you doing!¡± A policeman came forward and snatched the phone out of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s hands.
Fu Ming-Mei was enraged and made to hit that policeman.
Xia Lei stopped her. ¡°This doesn¡¯t concern you. You two, leave. Go back to China.¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tian-Yin did not expect Xia Lei to say that and she felt like her heart had been pricked by a needle.
¡°He doesn¡¯t even appreciate it, Big Sister Tian-Yin!¡± Fu Ming-Mei got angry. ¡°He¡¯s just telling us to leave like this. See, he¡¯s the super powerful Monkey God, Sun Wukong. He¡¯ll fly back on his own. We don¡¯t have to worry about him.¡±
¡°Go! Why say more?¡± Xia Lei shouted. His face was a cold mask devoid of feeling.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Fu Ming-Mei exchanged looks, then turned and left. They did not know what trouble Xia Lei was in, nor who his enemy was. Xia Lei telling them fiercely to leave was actually just him trying to protect them, because the CIA would not care who she was if she fell into their hands, Shentu Tian-Yin or not! If she got in the way of the operations of the CIA, then even the Heavens wouldn¡¯t be able to help her!
Shentu Tian-Yin and Fu Ming-Mei walked off and left the cafe.
Ahn Suhyeongughed. This was not scoffing but a full bellow, straight from the heart. ¡°You sure are tactful.¡±
Xia Leiughed too. ¡°I¡¯ve always been tactful.¡±
Chapter 326 - Heart-thumping Steps
As Xia Lei and Ahn Suhyeong spoke, burly ck men and white men appeared from the doors on both sides of the entrance. Xia Lei knew that they were from the CIA without using his X-ray vision, and that he had been surrounded. He knew that he couldn¡¯t count on Bureau 101 now, and Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan would be of no help even if they were here. He could only rely on himself.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye observed, and his brain whirred...
¡°You¡¯re finished, Xia Lei,¡±ughed Ahn Suhyeong, ¡°But you did a wonderful job of chasing Shentu Tian-Yin away. You¡¯re now someone she can¡¯t reason with, and I will rece you. I will take care of her in your ce for the rest of her life, hahaha...¡±
Xia Lei took no notice of the words meant to humiliate him; his gaze went to Goodson.
The CIA had the cafe surrounded and Goodson looked rxed. He did not look away from Xia Lei¡¯s gaze but met it. There was a faint smile on his lips too.
Xia Lei scanned the cafe again, including the two doorways on both sides, but he did not see Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Hold your hands out!¡± The policeman with the handcuffs spoke fiercely to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stretched his hands out but not toply with the policeman. He abruptly grabbed the hand of the policeman pointing the gun at him and drew him into the his arms, gun included.
Ahn Suhyeong roared angrily, ¡°You dare -¡±
Xia Lei raised his leg in a vicious kick between Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s legs. Ahn Suhyeong fell to his knees, his mouth wide open but soundless.
The sudden change made the CIA surrounding the cafe react and at least ten more rushed in. However, the first people to react were the policemen next to Ahn Suhyeong; they drew their weapons and shouted. It was chaos.
Bang! Bang! Two shots fired.
The tempered ss of the floor-to-ceiling window shattered. The customers and waitstaff in the cafe screamed. Some ran away and some threw themselves t on the floor.
¡°Get him!¡± Goodson realised what Xia Lei wanted to do.
Bang bang bang! A ck man fired three times but all three bullets hit the policeman Xia Lei was holding against himself. The bullets hit the policeman¡¯s chest, abdomen and thigh. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, so no blood spurted from his chest and abdomen, but his thigh flowered with blood and he cried out in pain.
Xia Lei pushed the shot policeman violently forward and, while the policeman still blocked lines of fire, he turned and jumped out of the ss-less window.
This was the fifth floor and it was about 20 metres up.
At a height like this, even a rabbit would shatter all its bones if it jumped down, much less a man.
But Xia Lei did jump, and without hesitation too.
His right foot kicked against the windowsill as his body flew out the window, and his body moved left from the force of the rebound. When the rebound effect faded, he immediately grabbed the drain pipe which extended from the roof.
The drain pipe swayed, threatening to fall away from the wall.
Xia Lei rxed his grip. He slid quickly downwards and was one floor lower in the blink of an eye. He grabbed at the pipe¡¯s wall-fasteners with both hands when he came to them, and rxed his grip afterwards, sliding one more floor down.
This sequence of actions wasplicated, risky and took just three seconds.
This escape route had been calcted by his left eye and his brain. His left eye had seen the drain pipe next to the window and his brain had analysed the possibilities for action, and Xia Lei had followed suit. He had taken a huge risk but he had no other choice.
Xia Lei dropped to the third floor in the blink of an eye.
The ck gunman who had shot at him and two gun-wielding policemen stuck their heads out the shattered window at almost the same time and aimed at him.
Xia Lei¡¯s legs kicked against the wall and he leapt away from the drain pipe.
Bang bang bang...
Bullets hit the drain pipe and the wall. The stic drain pipe was broken and sparks exploded on the wall.
Bam! Xia Lei fell onto a Hyundai parked below. The car roof turned concave with the impact and his internal organs and brain felt like they received a great shock. It was like his organs were going to burst out of his body; it was almost intolerable.
The ck gunmen and two policemen on the fifth floor adjusted their aim and fired again.
Xia Lei rolled off the car roof. Bullets hit the roof, piercing through it.
Goodson stuck his head out of the broken window too but he could only see Xia Lei¡¯s swiftly retreating back.
¡°Pieces of shit! Chase him!¡± Goodson screamed in anger, ¡°We have to capture him here in Korea, no matter what!¡±
Traffic on the roads shuttled back and forth and pedestrians came and went. Gangnam district was like a maze and finding and catching Xia Lei in an environment like this was no different from finding a needle in the ocean. Xia Lei¡¯s left eye could see up to a radius of over 4,000 metres - it would be very difficult for anyone to get close to him to catch him!
Xia Lei entered a shopping centre and exited a shopping centre. He was now in a set of casualwear - ck jacket, blue jeans and a pair of New Bnce sports shoes. He also had a baseball cap on his head. He pulled the bill of the cap low so his face could not be seen easily. The baseball cap also helped to hide his face from the surveince cameras in streets and shops.
Xia Lei broke his mobile phone when he left the shopping centre and threw it into a dustbin.
A blonde-haired Korean youth was ying a mobile game on the streets. Xia Lei walked over and tapped him on the shoulder as he said in Korean, ¡°Hey, want to make some cash?¡±
The blonde youth looked up at Xia Lei, and his game avatar was killed. He frowned. ¡°??,?????¡±
This was a line of cursing - ¡®Bastard, you wanna die?¡¯
Xia Lei did not get mad. He took out his wallet and pulled out a stack of brand new 50,000 KRW notes; it looked to be about a million KRW. He waved the stack of notes at the blonde youth and said with a smile, ¡°This money for your phone.¡±
¡°You... You crazy?¡± The Korean youth looked at Xia Lei in shock.
¡°Selling it, or not? I¡¯m going to look for someone else if you¡¯re not,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, I am. Give me the money first.¡± The Korean youth looked wary, afraid that Xia Lei would scam him out of his phone. His phone was actually a Samsung smartphone of the cheaper variety. The money Xia Lei was offering was enough to buy dozens of phones like his.
Xia Lei handed the money to the youth and the youth turned it about in his hands to see if the money was real. After confirming that it was indeed real currency, he handed his phone to Xia Lei. He ran off as soon as Xia Lei had the phone, afraid that Xia Lei would change his mind and want his money back.
Xia Lei mingled with the crowd, phone in hand. He dialled Long Bing¡¯s number as he walked.
¡°Where are you?¡± Long Bing sounded anxious, ¡°I can¡¯t get through to your phone. Our people spotted CIA in the hotel.¡±
¡°I¡¯m on the streets. I¡¯m safe for now,¡± said Xia Lei as he walked, ¡°I want to leave Korea. Arrange it for me.¡±
¡°Incheon Airport is out of the question now. You¡¯ve got to go by sea. Where are you now? I¡¯lle get you right away,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nced at the street sign and said, ¡°I¡¯m now on the street next to Bongeunsa*.¡±
¡°Stay safe. I¡¯m on my way.¡± Long Bing hung up.
Xia Lei put the phone away and observed the streets.
A police car came whizzing over and Xia Lei lowered his head and kept walking. The police car went past him without stopping but Xia Lei was still fairly nervous. If he was discovered now, another round of chasing would begin.
The police car turned out of the street but an ear-piercing siren came from another street. Who knew how many police cars and Korean intelligence agents were out now looking for him.
Unfamiliar country and strange streets, coupled with the wailing of sirens, cold guns and goodness knows how many inclothes agents mixed in with the crowd - all these gave Xia Lei immense pressure and it also enraged him.
¨ª¡¯m not a criminal but here they are trying to get me arrested in this unscrupulous manner. What right have they? They attacked me in Afghanistan and shot blindly at the Bureau 101 agents. They also fired rockets at the White Hun Tribe. What gives them the right to do something like that? Fine. I¡¯ll make them pay for it one day!¡¯ A fire raged in Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
There were rules in this world but even the US, which imed to have the most sound ofws, had people and groups which ignored thews and acted above them. The CIA and the AE Research Centre seemed to be examples of such groups. Xia Lei was still too small a fry to fight against groups like these, but the seeds of revenge were already nted in his heart.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone rang all of a sudden.
Xia Lei hurriedly took it out but the number disyed was not Long Bing¡¯s number; it was a local Korean number.
XIa Lei hesitated, but cut it off in the end. This was someone else¡¯s phone and the person calling was probably one of the friend of the youth who¡¯d sold him the phone. There was no need to pick up a call like this.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone rang again. It was the same number.
Xia Lei cut the call again.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone rang for the third time - same number.
Xia Lei found it odd and he picked up. A woman¡¯s frantic voice came from over the line. ¡°Lei, get out of there, quick!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s body stiffened.
It was a strange Korean number and he could not see the face of the woman who called him but he was very familiar with this voice. This was Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice!
¡°Can you hear me?¡± came Liang Si-Yao¡¯s voice, ¡°You made a mistake! You called an international long-distance number - you were found with just a bit ofbing! Leave, quick!¡±
Ear-piercing sirens suddenly sounded and two police cars appeared at the same time on both sides of the street, and a ck Chevrolet Suburban SUV. The road was blocked off.
¡°I... I¡¯m leaving.¡± Xia Lei hung up. He threw the phone to the ground, then swiftly dove into the greenery by the pavement, going over the wall and into Bongeunsa.
Police lights shed. Arge group of Korean policemen and inclothes agents had him surrounded!
Chapter 327 - Bitter Reunion
Xia Lei dashed along the wall from where he¡¯d climbed into Bongeunsa. Ear-piercing sirens sounded behind him, hounding him. The nerves in his body were all taut. He awakened the power of his eye; dark corners, areas behind the wall, windows from up high, everything in the range of over 1,000 metres was in his grasp.
On his left, two Korean policemen holding his picture were opening the main gates of Bongeunsa a few hundred metres away. On his right, about 50 metres away, a police car drove past the wall. A Chevrolet Suburban SUV carrying CIA agents was on that road too. Right ahead, a helicopter was approaching quickly...
People wereing from above and below to capture him - this was like an inescapable!
However, even the bests had holes. Just as that Chevrolet Suburban moved forward, Xia Lei cut to the wall on his right and got to the top of the wall in one bound. He squatted on the wall and waited for the Chevrolet Suburban to turn the corner before he jumped down, crossed the street and headed towards a more densely-popted area. He¡¯d just left his previous spot when the helicopter came roaring over, its white searchlights sweeping the area in Bongeunsa. The entrance of Bongeunsa was also flooded with a ck mass of police and the Korean military police...
If Xia Lei had been two minutes slower, he would¡¯ve been trapped in Bongeunsa.
He went through a small alleyway and a motorcycle came zooming over from one side. The female rider was in tight-fitting leather from head to toe, and had all the right curves, with enticing long legs. She had a helmet on which obscured her face from view but Xia Lei still saw the face the helmet hid. It was Liang Si-Yao.
The motorcycle stopped by the side of the road and Liang Si-Yao raised the visor of her helmet to say anxiously, ¡°Get on, quick!¡±
Xia Lei hesitated; he did not move. He¡¯d been betrayed once and he didn¡¯t want to be betrayed again. If this was an act that Liang Si-Yao was putting on with the CIA then he would be the poor sucker who fell for their lies.
¡°You¡¯re out of time!¡± Liang Si-Yao said anxiously, ¡°Please, trust me. I¡¯m not lying to you this time! Why would I call you if I¡¯m lying? Don¡¯t you know what I face losing?¡±
She had given Xia Lei a phone call a few minutester so she would be marked as a betrayer of the CIA, and the penalty for doing so was severe.
A police car appeared at the other end of the street, its sirens tearing through the silence of the night.
Up in the air, another helicopter flew in their direction. Having found no trace of their target in Bongeunsa, they were sure to expand their search radius. Their could have gone past not just Gangnam - maybe even the whole of Seoul.
Xia Lei had no time to consider further. He wouldn¡¯t get on Liang Si-Yao¡¯s ride if he had a choice, but he didn¡¯t.
Xia Lei walked over quickly and mounted the motorcycle. Liang Si-Yao handed him a helmet. He put it on, then put his arms around her waist. Liang Si-Yao released the clutch and revved the elerator and the motorcycle roared forward like a wild beast. She chose to go to a ce like Xia Lei had intended; poorer, moreplex terrain.
The night wind whistled past their ears and the police cars and helicopters were left behind.
Xia Lei¡¯s emotions were in a jumble. Military police, police cars and agents all over chasing him, Liang Si-Yao here... It was all soplicated. He had his arms around Liang Si-Yao. Her waist was as familiar as ever, soft, slender... he¡¯d put his arms around this waist countless times but this time it feltpletely different from the past; he could not describe this feeling.
They exchanged no words the entire journey, avoiding crowded streets and choosing to stick to more remote streets. About ten-plus minutester, the motorcycle came to a poorer district next to the Gangnam district. The luxuriousness earlier was like an illusion. There were no high-rise buildings here, nor dazzling neon lights, nor wide, clean streets. What they saw were low-rise shack-like buildings, stic sheets and electrical lines like spiderwebs. The streets were narrow and rubbish was strewn everywhere, giving off an unpleasant stench.
This was abination of the city and countryside in Korea. Everyone said that South Korea was pretty as a picture but seeing the poor districts of Seoul made one realise that any ce at all would have their ugly side.
Liang Si-Yao rode the motorcycle into a shack. The yard of the shack had arge amount of cardboard and stic bags piled in it, and some other rubbish others had thrown there like a sofa.
A big dog ran at the motorcycle, barking. The chain which held it back rattled loudly.
Liang Si-Yao removed her helmet and yelled, ¡°Shut up!¡±
The dog seemed to understand Chinese and it burrowed back in itsir with its tail between its legs.
This situation confused Xia Lei. Everything showed that Liang Si-Yao was familiar with this ce, including this dog.
A middle-aged man came out from the shack. He had a sallow face and a thick head. His hair looked like it hadn¡¯t been washed in ages; he looked like a human-shaped bear. But this was just an outward appearance. His body was fairly sturdy and his eyes sharp, intelligent. He did not look like a scrap-collector.
¡°Go out and stand guard. Contact me if anything happens,¡± said Liang Si-Yao.
¡°Nn.¡± The middle-aged man made a sound of acknowledgement and left the shack.Xia Lei then hopped off the motorcycle. He looked at the middle-aged man¡¯s retreating back and asked, ¡°Who¡¯s he?¡±
¡°Someone who should have vanished off the face of this Earth, but I saved him,¡± said Liang Si-Yao, ¡°His name¡¯s Park Jinyong. You can trust him.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Liang Si-Yao¡¯s face. ¡°And you? Should I trust you?¡±
Liang Si-Yao fell silent. She looked away from Xia Lei¡¯s gaze, her eyes full of hurt and guilt. She knew that Xia Lei had shared his true feelings with her back then, and shared all that he could share of himself with her too but she had hurt him in return. Now, faced with this question, she was at a loss as to how to respond.
¡°Are you going to answer me?¡± pressed Xia Lei. He wanted to know the answer.
Liang Si-Yao looked up at the sky wrapped in night and said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk inside. US satellite technology is scary. We might be discovered if we stand and talk under the open air.¡±
Xia Lei let out an internal sigh and followed Liang Si-Yao into the shack. The insides were terrible. A small, square table had a few days¡¯ worth of instant noodle bowls stacked up on it which had not been cleared away and some flies buzzed around them. The corners were a little cleaner, but not very much. Men¡¯s clothing and socks were thrown in those corners and the smell was worse.
Liang Si-Yao frowned. ¡°That guy doesn¡¯t know how to clean up. How is anyone able to stay here with this filth?¡±
¡°You like your cleanliness as always. You used to keep your room very neat and if you were home you would prepare a pair of clean socks for me in the morning,¡± said Xia Lei softly, as images of the past surfaced in his head. A long time had passed but he could not forget the wonderful times he had shared with Liang Si-Yao.
Liang Si-Yao suddenly turned around and threw herself into Xia Lei¡¯s arms. What high-ranking CIA intelligence officer, what AE capsule - she didn¡¯t care. She just wanted to go back to that time.
But Xia Lei pushed Liang Si-Yao away. She moved towards him again but he took a step back. He said nothing, but his stance was clear.
¡°You...¡± Liang Si-Yao spoke shakily, ¡°You¡¯re not willing to forgive me?¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly and shook his head. ¡°Some things can¡¯t go back to the way it was. I was in agony when you left. You hurt me so deeply and it was difficult to get myself out of that pain... Why have you appeared in my life again?¡±
Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes filled with tears instantly. ¡°Your life was in danger. I couldn¡¯t watch you die.¡±
Xia Lei had some measure of confidence that he would¡¯ve been able to escape even without Liang Si-Yao¡¯s phone call and hering to get him. He could detect his pursuers before they got close and avoid them ahead of time. However, Liang Si-Yao had indeed turned up, risking her life to do so - how could he not appreciate this? He just didn¡¯t want to show it.
¡°It¡¯s not worth it for you to do this.¡±
¡°You think this is a trap? You can kill me of you don¡¯t trust me.¡± Liang Si-Yao took out a gun and turned it so that the butt faced Xia Lei. She held it out to him with one hand.
Xia Lei walked past her, not even sparing the gun a nce. He sat on the nk bed and said evenly, ¡°Put the gun away. If I wanted revenge I wouldn¡¯t have let you leave when you were in China.¡±
Tears leaked from the corners of Liang Si-Yao¡¯s eyes, and she used her sleeve to wipe them away when she put the gun away.
¡°When can I leave this ce?¡±
¡°Tomorrow morning,¡± said Liang Si-Yao. ¡°I¡¯ve arranged it all for you. Park Jinyong will drive you to the port at Busan in the morning. You¡¯ll return to China by sea.¡±
Her route was the same as the route Long Bing had nned.
¡°And you?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Do you still care for me?¡± Liang Si-Yaoughed bitterly, ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about me. I won¡¯t have any trouble.¡±
¡°You said that the phone was already monitored. Won¡¯t the CIA find you because you called me?¡±
¡°I said you don¡¯t need to care about my matters!¡± Liang Si-Yao seemed to be a little unstable.
Xia Lei fell into a heavy silence. What could he do even if Liang Si-Yao came under investigation by the CIA, or worse? There was no way for him to bring her back to China. With her identity, she could face the death penalty if she went back!
¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Liang Si-Yao drew a deep breath. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have spoken to you like that.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±
¡°Why are you doing things for Bureau 101?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Isn¡¯t it good enough to be an honest businessman? You can be with Shentu Tian-Yin. She is an exceptional woman. Your life can be very blessed but you chose a path like this. Tell me - why?¡±
Xia Leiughed wryly. ¡°You think I don¡¯t want a life like that? There was no way I was going to lead a normal life the moment I ingested those AE capsules. The AE Research Centre will never let me off. The CIA will never let me off. And so you¡¯ve appeared in my life. One of the reasons why I¡¯m doing things for Bureau 101 is because I was looking for a ce which could protect me.¡±
Liang Si-Yao was quiet for half a beat before she suddenlyughed. ¡°Life is sometimes so helpless. Never mind, let¡¯s not talk about these unhappy things. It¡¯s rare for us to be together like this so how about we have some drinks? We haven¡¯t had drinks together in ages.¡±
¡°Sure, let¡¯s drink.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t refuse.
Just then, the big dog outside the shack started barking.
Chapter 328 - Flight Under The Starry Sky
The dog outside would not bark if it were Park Jinyong returning so its barking made Xia Lei and Liang Si-Yao tense up. They were not average people and any disturbance was sure to put them on the alert. Their lines of sight went to the door at almost the same time.
¡°You stay here. I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± Liang Si-Yao walked to the door, gun in hand.
Xia Lei had already looked through the wall of the shack and seen the situation outside. He saw Park Jinyong, and the woman behind him with a gun pointed at him. It was Long Bing.
Long Bing had her gun to Park Jinyong¡¯s head and the sight of it startled Xia Lei. He got to his feet hurriedly and pulled Liang Si-Yao by the hand. ¡°Leave now!¡±
¡°And you?¡± Liang Si-Yao looked at Xia Lei in surprise, while also feeling nervous at Xia Lei¡¯s reaction.
¡°I have no time to exin. Leave, quickly, or you won¡¯t be able to leave!¡± Xia Lei was almost in a panic.
If Long Bing came in then one of two things would happen - she would either kill Liang Si-Yao or be killed by Liang Si-Yao. He was unwilling to ept the death of either woman. What made it more difficult for him was if the two women started a gunfight with him in the middle, who was he supposed to help?
Liang Si-Yao was an intelligent woman and she quickly guessed that something was up. She asked investigatively, ¡°Is it Bureau 101? Long Bing?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, his gaze fixed on the wall of the shack.
Outside the shack, Long Bing had Park Jinyong in a hold and they¡¯d entered the yard.
The dog dashed forward. Long Bing moved with the recoil as her gun with the silencer on jerked. Blood bloomed on the big dog¡¯s head and it fell to the ground.
Park Jinyong made to escape but Long Bing¡¯s gun was pressed to the back of his head again before he could move.
The sound made by the silenced gun was very small but Liang Si-Yao still knew what had happened outside. She was not willing to believe that Long Bing had chased them all the way here, however, and she stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°How¡¯s she here?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Stop asking, go!¡± Xia Lei urged her to leave by pushing her towards the back door of the shack.
Liang Si-Yao smiled. ¡°You care about me.¡±
Xia Lei was angry and lost himself a little. He swung his arm and spanked her on her perky butt. ¡°Go!¡±
This spank was more effective than a hundred words. Liang Si-Yao suddenly drew close and kissed Xia Lei, then opened the back door and disappeared into the night.
Xia Lei stared nkly for a bit before he came back to his senses. He didn¡¯t know why he had spanked her. Perhaps it was habit. He used to spank that luscious butt often but she was still his girlfriend then, unlike now. However, he had no time to dy. He closed the back door and walked towards the front door.
¡°Don¡¯t be hasty. We¡¯re not enemies.¡± Park Jinyong was still trying to exin things to Long Bing behind the door.
Long Bing spoke in a low voice. ¡°Open the door.¡±
Xia Lei opened the door as soon as she was done speaking.
Long Bing had her gun aimed at Xia Lei the moment he opened the door. She moved the muzzle back to Park Jinyong¡¯s head when she saw that it was Xia Lei, and observed the insides of the shack out of the corners of her eyes.
¡°Put the gun away. He saved me. He¡¯s not an enemy,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°He saved you?¡± Long Bing was suspicious but she released Park Jinyong.
¡°Yeah, I paid him.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t think of any other exnation.
Long Bing entered the shack and scanned the insides alertly. Women liked clean,fortable spaces; she had this inmon with Liang Si-Yao. Park Jinyong¡¯s dwellings were dirty and smelly and she did not want to stay here a minute more than necessary. She backed out of the shack after confirming that there was no hiddenmander in there. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±
Park Jinyong nced at Xia Lei but didn¡¯t say anything. He had probably guessed at something - not where Liang Si-Yao had gone, but at the rtionship between Xia Lei, Liang Si-Yao and Long Bing. He had no real answers, however.
Xia Lei followed Long Bing deeper into the slums. The route she had chosen was without lights and it was all dark. They ran into drunkards sleeping on the ground once in a while, or sex-crazed couples being intimate by the side of the road; it was awkward to witness.
¡°How did you find me?¡± asked Xia Lei after getting a distance from Park Jinyong¡¯s shack.
¡°Remember the meal we had together before we set out?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei found it strange that she was talking about eating but he replied with, ¡°Nn, yes. You said it was a feast for graduation.¡±
¡°And do you remember me giving you a bowl of porridge?¡±
¡°Why are you talking about porridge now? If you¡¯re not telling me then forget it.¡±
¡°I¡¯m telling you right now, aren¡¯t I? That bowl of porridge had a tracker in it. It¡¯s not GPS. It¡¯s our Beidou tracker. I can find you but the CIA can¡¯t,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei stared nkly. ¡°You... In my stomach...¡±
¡°Your status is rather special - one of our country¡¯s special talents. We¡¯re also relying on you to go to Afghanistan to rescue Tang Yu-Yan and those experts so you cannot be lost. I put a tracker in your stomach so we can rescue you even if you get captured. This is a measure which can¡¯t be helped. You weren¡¯t told of this before because we didn¡¯t want you to get distracted.¡±
Xia Leiughed self-mockingly. ¡°So you¡¯re giving me preferential treatment?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t get huffy. This is all for the benefit of the country.¡± Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s not just you. I have it too, and Tang Bo-Chuan as well. Your friend doesn¡¯t have it. I¡¯d have thrown him in prison for ten years if it weren¡¯t for consideration for you.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t... Let¡¯s talk about something else.¡± Xia Lei regretted letting Qin Xiang steal those extra artifacts now. He wasn¡¯t allowed to sell them so having them in his possession was like holding onto a ticking time bomb.
¡°Sure, let¡¯s talk about something else. We¡¯ve got a long road ahead anyway,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°How about we chat about Liang Si-Yao.¡±
Xia Lei paused. His felt a headacheing on. Had Long Bing discovered Liang Si-Yao¡¯s traces?
¡°What, not willing to talk?¡±
¡°You... Why bring her up all of a sudden?¡± Xia Lei bit the bullet and said, ¡°You know that I don¡¯t want to talk about her again.¡±
Long Bing suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked straight at Xia Lei.
Her stare made Xia Lei feel guilty. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡±
Long Bing dipped her chin. ¡°You¡¯re smart. Smarter than all the people I¡¯ve met. But you made a huge mistake and that was to date Liang Si-Yao. Did you think that I won¡¯t find out her true identity? She left China all of a sudden and her father, Liang Zheng-Chun also left China for America. This is not a coincidence. My intuition has always been spot-on and I felt that something must be wrong. I investigated Liang Si-Yao thoroughly, and looked into everything about her. Guess what I found?¡±
Xia Lei had no way to exin it. His head buzzed so loudly it could not function normally anymore.
¡°Will you tell me or should I say it?¡± Long Bing¡¯s gaze was investigative.
Say it himself? Xia Lei could not ept the fact that Liang Si-Yao had wanted something from him. If Long Bing said it herself, then he coulde under suspicion and lose her trust. What should he choose? This was a dilemma.
The atmosphere between the two turned heavy and awkward.
But this short silence lent Xia Lei¡¯s mind some time to organise itself. Once his mind calmed, his thought processes ran at full speed. His brain sent his left eye amand in no time and it twitched. The clothing covering Long Bing¡¯s chest disappeared and a pair of high, snowy mounds were revealed. These snowy mounds ¡®melted away¡¯ rapidly like snow under sunlight, revealing the heart underneath.
Long Bing¡¯s heart rate was low, less than ten beats in ten seconds. A woman¡¯s heart rate was 60 to 70 beats per minute under normal circumstances, and faster when she exercised, was excited or angry. Her heart rate now was a match for sleep.
A sleeping heart rate when she was awake - what did this mean? This meant that she was deliberately controlling her heart rate to make herself appear calm.
She would definitely be angry if she knew Liang Si-Yao¡¯s identity. She would have looked calm on the surface but not be able to extinguish her feelings, and this would surely affect her heart rate.
She had no signs of anger; she was just suspicious and trying to feel him out!
Xia Lei finished his observation of Long Bing in 30 seconds and let out a quiet sigh of relief. A small smile appeared on his face. ¡°I¡¯d like to understand this woman too. We were together for a few months; not long, not short. But I don¡¯t really know her, especially her past. She never spoke of it to me and I only know that she studied in America. If you know something and are willing to tell me, then tell me. I¡¯m not that interested anyway; we¡¯ve already broken up.¡±
He could distance himself from the rtionship in the future if Long Bing did find somethingter.
¡°You¡¯re really not going to talk?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve told you all I could. How am I going to tell you things I don¡¯t know? Hey, when did you be such a nosey old grandma?¡±
The corners of Long Bing¡¯s lips turned downwards slightly and she turned around to walk down the alley. ¡°Forget it. Let¡¯s not talk about that woman. Come on.¡±
Xia Lei saw a container truck with the Korean words ¡®Sunshine Seafood¡¯ on its side when they came out of the alley. Then he saw Tang Bo-Chuan in the driver¡¯s seat. That guy was already in standard blue-cor attire and a thick, ck moustache perched above his lips.
Tang Bo-Chuan alighted before Long Bing and Xia Lei got close. He opened the door to the container section of the truck and gestured for Long Bing and Xia Lei to get in.
Xia Lei climbed into the container. There actually were many boxes of sea-produce in the container, like halibut and squid frozen in ice. There was a strong fishy smell.
Long Bing climbed in too and she reached out to open an underfloorpartment two metres long by one metre deep. There were old clothes and the like in the space and it looked like a coffin.
Xia Lei understood that this was his hiding ce. However, Long Bing climbed in before he did and took the mostfortable position.
¡°No way. You¡¯re going to hide too?¡± Xia Lei felt a small headacheing. A small space like this was suitable for one person to hide in but too cramped for two.
¡°There¡¯s also a vehicle transporting slop. Want to ride in that one?¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan with a smile.
Xia Lei looked wordlessly at Tang Bo-Chuan, then braced himself and entered thepartment.
Tang Bo-Chuan climbed into the container too and closed thepartment, then put boxes of sea-produce on top.
Two minutester, the container truck started its engines and moved forward. Barely five metres in, the tyres went over a stone and the two people in the hiddenpartment were thrown together, face to face, chest to chest, leg to leg, stuck together like glue.
¡°Don¡¯t have any dirty thoughts or my gun will go off,¡± said Long Bing in Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
Just then, the container truck went violently over a bump and Xia Lei¡¯s lips were suddenly and uncontrobly stuck to Long Bing¡¯s cherry lips...
Chapter 329 - Large Backup Plan
The container truck got to Busan Port four hourster.
Tang Bo-Chuan stopped the container truck in a warehouse, then opened the hiddenpartment and let Xia Lei and Long Bing out.
¡°It¡¯s been tough on you guys. We¡¯re here.¡± Tang Bo-Chuan greeted Xia Lei and Long Bing with a smile on his face.
They didn¡¯t say a word to him. Both of them quickly jumped out of the container; one ran to a stack of containers on the right side of the warehouse and the other went to the containers on the left. After a short pause, he heard water from both left and right. He shrugged and smiled wryly.
Two hourster, on international waters.
A freighter loaded with containers sailed into the port of Shanghai.
In a container, Xia Lei held an ancient sword and examined it closely. Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan stood next to him, examining the sword with him.
This was the sword of Att - the sword which Xia Lei had risked his life to obtain. It had symbolised the power of Att the Hun over a thousand years ago.
Who knew how many people had been felled by this sword over a thousand years ago; even their bones had ceased to exist but this sword was still here. The mottled de, the notches, and the green gem set on its hilt were full of ancient mystery.
¡°Fifteen and a half kilograms,¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan, ¡°I measured it. It¡¯s probably not a normal sword of metal and I have no idea what it¡¯s made of. It¡¯s remarkable. I¡¯d like to study it if given the chance.¡±
As one of the Tang sect, he had a great interest in weaponry and that was why he had measured it and wanted to study it.
¡°You won¡¯t get a chance. We¡¯ve got to hand it over to that female chieftain when we get back to China in exchange for your sister and those experts,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°I¡¯m just curious and saying it casually. Saving my sister is most important,¡± said Tang Bo-Chuan. He looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Bro, my sister¡¯s in your care. Please, you must bring her back to China.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Rest assured. I will bring her back safely.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan gave augh. ¡°What I told you was true. Bring my sister back and my grandfather will take you in as a disciple. You¡¯ll be considered one of our own then.¡±
Xia Lei was definitely not interested in bing part of the Tang sect; he was only interested in the Tang hidden weapons techniques and Qinggong.
The three of them chatted for a bit and Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan left the cabin, giving Xia Lei the opportunity to have a proper look at the sword of Att.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye focused on the de and the rusty de gradually ¡®melted¡¯ away, bing thinner and thinner. His left eye was like a furnace melting iron and steel and the sword a piece of iron ore, its impurities melting away in the furnace and bing purer and purer, bing steel step by step.
A swathe of green suddenly entered Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision. It was a green strip which ran through the de from hilt to tip. It was about 3.12 feet in length and one centimetre wide; it looked like an elongated chopstick.
This discovery struck Xia Lei dumb. He¡¯d felt that this sword¡¯s weight was off and that it was odd when he¡¯d held it but he did not expect that there would be something hidden in the body of the sword. Without doubt, two-thirds of the sword¡¯s weight must havee from this green material. Its density was beyond his expectations.
¡®Is it the alloy that Ning Jing talked about?¡¯ Xia Lei thought about it immediately but he shook his head. ¡®No, she said that that alloy was stronger and tougher than any of the known alloys but it was especially light. The material hidden in this sword is obviously heavy. If this is not the alloy Ning Jing talked about, then what is it? And why is it green?¡¯
Questions popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head. The best way to find answers was to melt the sword and extract that green alloy for research but Dayetia would have her people kill Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing and the experts if he did that.
¡®The sword of Att is a sacred relic of the White Hun Tribe and those women see this sword as more important than anything else. Once I exchange this with Dayetia and she gets her hands on it I¡¯ll never have the chance to study it again. Forget it, it¡¯s just a sword. Maybe I can uncover its secrets from the Ming dynastypass so why be hasty? It¡¯s more important to save our people.¡¯ Xia Lei gave up on studying it and he put the sword of Att away.
The freighter suddenly sounded an rm.
¡®Is it the CIA?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. He hurriedly exited the cabin and went up on deck.
Long Bing, Tang Bo-Chuan and some Bureau 101 agents were on deck. Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan were using telescopes to watch two rapidly approaching Korean naval police boats.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye saw it all more clearly than they. The police boats were tworge vessels of at least 3,000 tonnes.
The vessels were quick and travelling at close to 18 knots. With their speed they would catch up to the freighter in about ten minutes since it was travelling at barely ten knots.
A Bureau 101 agent walked over with amunicator. ¡°Section Chief Long, they¡¯re requesting to speak to the captain.¡±
¡°Give it to me.¡± Long Bing took themunicator from the agent.
A voice speaking Chinese came from the device. ¡°We are the Korean Naval Police. We suspect that you have illegal contraband on your ship. Please anchor your vessel for inspection immediately.¡±
Long Bing spoke icily, ¡°These are international waters. You have no right to do this.¡±
¡°Your charts are wrong. These are South Korean waters and we have the right to board for investigation. I repeat, anchor your vessel. We have the right to open fire on you.¡± The voice on themunicator wasced with threat and arrogance.
Long Bing stopped talking for a bit. She then spoke abruptly into themunicator, ¡°Go home and eat your kimchi.¡±
¡°What did you say? You¡¯re dead!¡± The Korean Naval man on the line was enraged. ¡°Drop anchor or we fire on you!¡±
Long Bing could not be bothered to talk to him anymore. She casually threw themunicator to the Bureau 101 agent.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°These are obviously international waters. These Korean Naval Police are being too much, aren¡¯t they? Will they really fire on us if we don¡¯t stop the ship?¡±
Long Bing red at Xia Lei with challenge in her eyes. ¡°You scared?¡±
She seemed to be challenging Xia Lei intentionally or otherwise ever since they were closed up in that container truck for four hours, as if trying to get something back.
Xia Lei put on an attitude of indifference. ¡°Am I? I¡¯m good with water. I¡¯ll swim if ites down to it.¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Long Bing¡¯s mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I did say that we have a backup n. Those Korean Naval Police can scare our little fishermen, but us? Not a chance.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan folded his arms and said softly, ¡°Wait and see, Xia Bro.¡±
The situation before them was rather dire but Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan both looked like they had a card up their sleeve and were not the least bit worried about the two Korean Naval Police boats catching up to them. Xia Lei was curious about the n they had but he couldn¡¯t guess what it was.
The Korean vessels came closer and closer and they could even see the Naval Police standing on deck.
Xia Lei did not see the people in inclothes but he was sure that CIA agents were hidden in the midst of the Korean Naval Police. It looked like they were going to catch up soon but there was no movement on his side so far; Xia Lei begun to feel rather nervous.
Bang bang bang! A Korean Naval Police officer shot into the sky as ast warning.
At that moment, some great movement came from under the water next to the freighter. A huge ck thing came out of the water.
¡°That¡¯s... a Chinese submarine!¡±
¡°We¡¯ve been targeted on radar!¡±
¡°Shit! Turn around!¡±
Panic reigned onboard the Korean vessel.
The ck submarine showed itself for a bit, then submerged itself again. It was a submarine after all and its battlefield was underwater. Submerged, it was a greater threat than above water.
So this was the backup n Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan meant.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He hadn¡¯t expected such arge backup n.
The two Korean Naval Police vessels left quickly, fleeing quicker than they¡¯de. These were international waters after all and them firing at a Chinese freighter was already in vition of internationalw. If they really did exchange fire then the ones to be held ountable were them. It was entirely possible that they would¡¯ve been treated as pirates even if they were the ones wiped out in an exchange of fire.
Long Bing walked towards the cabin and said to Xia Lei as she went past, ¡°We shall have a proper talk when we get back.¡±
Xia Lei did not respond. He watched the two fleeing vessels in the distance. He was not going to bother trying to guess what Long Bing wanted to talk with him about.
Chapter 330 - Prayers and a Ridiculous Person
What happened in South Korea raised a real hubbub. The Korean police, intelligence officers, military police and naval police were all mobilised but there were no reports about it in the media the next day. The exnation the government gave was an ¡®anti-terrorism exercise¡¯, which did not match up to what had actually happened at all.
This was not surprising; Ahn Suhyeong had taken men with him to try to capture Xia Lei under instruction from the CIA. He had no real proof that Xia Lei had stolen the sword of Att and the CIA didn¡¯t want things to get too out of hand either. Their aim was to capture Xia Lei, the rest be damned. Xia Lei had evaded capture and the CIA had no need of this to be in the headlines as it was not beneficial to them.
2300 hours that same night, Jingdu, China.
¡°Go in on your own. I still have to arrange for you to go back to Afghanistan.¡± Long Bing stopped in front of the door to Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s home. ¡°The CIA will find the link between the sword of Att and the White Hun Tribe easily. This is not advantageous for the rescue n so we need to act fast. Go tell them. You have till tomorrow morning to get moving.¡±
¡°That should be no problem. They should agree,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing left and Xia Lei entered the t with the sword of Att in a wooden box. The sword had note with a box; Tang Bo-Chuan had prepared this for Xia Lei to make it easier to transport and hide it from view.
No one was in the living room. A pile of snacks, crisps, melon seeds, pecans and the like sat on the coffee table. All the packets were open and the carpet was littered with peels, shells and husks. The women of the tribe had never thrown things like these in a bin before because such a thing did not exist.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he saw Dayetia and Smy sleeping in Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s room. The two women were fast asleep and didn¡¯t seem to have heard him enter. He then saw the des they had put by their pillows. Dayetia had a filleting knife next to her pillow while Smy had a vegetable chopper; both knives were fairly sharp.
The two tribeswomen were usually alert even in sleep and always battle-ready but they had not heard him open the door. This was odd.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He carried the wooden case to Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s room. He had to wake them up even though they were asleep to discuss their return to Afghanistan.
Xia Lei grasped the handle and twisted it gently, then pushed the door open. At that moment, Dayetia and Smy grabbed their knives at the same time and threw them at the doorway.
Metal shed, and Xia Lei pulled the door violently before him.
Thud! Thud! The filleting knife and chopper thunked into the door, almost at the same time.
Xia Lei broke out in cold sweat. He pushed the door aside and hissed, ¡°It¡¯s me!¡±
¡°Xia?¡± Smy heard his voice and threw off the covers as she hopped excitedly off the bed.
A beautiful palendscape entered his field of vision. He¡¯d broken out in cold sweat a few seconds earlier but this scene made him break out in hot sweat. A shock followed by stimtion - these opposing sensations were strange indeed.
Smy didn¡¯t seem to care about Xia Lei seeing her body since she had already bared all to him in the tribe. Dayetia was different, though. She had never exposed herself to Xia Lei like this, ever. She had first paused when the irrational Smy had thrown off the covers, then hopped off the bed too to hurriedly snatch up clothing and cover herself. However, Smy had switched on the lights with a click before she could get to her clothes. She was entirely exposed.
¡°Xia! It really is you!¡± Smy let out a cry of joy when she saw that it was indeed Xia Lei in the doorway. She opened her arms wide to give him a hug.
Xia Lei came back to his senses in the second before Smy¡¯s hug got him and he hurriedly thrust the wooden box in his hands outward. The box blocked Smy. ¡°What you wanted. The sword of Att. I have it.¡±
Smy wanted to embrace Xia Lei but got a wooden box in her arms instead. She was a simple-minded person, however and her attention was drawn away when she heard ¡®sword of Att¡¯. ¡°The sword of Att? Wow!¡±
Dayetia drew close too, not bothering with clothes. She snatched the box from Smy¡¯s hands and opened it eagerly to have a look.
¡°It really is the sword of Att. It¡¯s been over a thousand years... It¡¯s back, it¡¯s finally back...¡± Dayetia stroked the de and emotional tears leaked from her eyes.
Smy was excited too but she had no tears. Her reaction was quite different from Dayetia¡¯s. Dayetia had tears but her face turned red. A red blush on the adorable baby-face of Smy¡¯s made her look like she had too much to drink.
¡°I¡¯ve obtained the item as promised and handed it to you.¡± Xia Lei averted his gaze from their luscious buttocks with difficulty. ¡°Get ready. We depart for Afghanistan early tomorrow. Chieftain Dayetia, please keep your end of the deal and release the hostages you have captured.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Dayetia covered the wooden box and looked back at Xia Lei. ¡°We hold our deals as important as life itself. Rest assured, I will release your friend and those treasure hunters once I bring the sword of Att back to the tribe.¡±
¡°And our deal?¡± probed Xia Lei, ¡°My people have acquired the equipment. I will build a hydropower station for your tribe.¡±
Dayetia cracked a rare smile. ¡°It stands. You have returned the sword of Att to us - you are a treasured friend to us. You shall have the highest honours and courtesy when you return to the tribe.¡±
Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°Thank you.¡±
¡°Chieftain, Xia is now our tribe¡¯s most treasured friend, so give me to him as the most treasured gift,¡± said Smy all of a sudden.
Xia Lei was abashed yet tempted. This was contradictory but normal. Would any normal man reject a gift such as Smy? Baby-faced with H-cups - just thinking of it made most men aroused, much less having the real package.
With one word from Dayetia, Smy would be his ¡®gift¡¯. Smy looked at Dayetia with wide eyes, just waiting for her to nod.
¡°We¡¯ll talk when we get back.¡± This was Dayetia¡¯s answer.
Smy¡¯s chin went down and she was dispirited.
Xia Lei was relieved. ¡®Good thing she didn¡¯t agree. If she really did be my gift then I¡¯d have to take her... It¡¯ll be troublesome indeed since she¡¯s fairly active but dumb at the same time. Taking care of her would be a terribly troublesome thing, huh...¡¯
This seemed to be some sort of self-constion or something - Xia Lei was not sure himself anymore.
¡°Go rest. You can arrange the time to leave,¡± ordered Dayetia. She would have kicked Xia Lei out of the room with her having barely ten square centimetres of cloth covering her if not for the fact that he had brought her the sword of Att.
¡°Okay, see you in the morning.¡± Xia Lei backed out of the room and closed the door on his way out.
Smy was dissatisfied. ¡°Chieftain, you said no when I asked to give him to me, and now I¡¯m asking to be given to him but you¡¯re still not going to say ¡®yes¡¯?¡±
¡°Is there a difference?¡± Dayetia rolled her eyes at Smy.
Smy stared at Dayetia nkly. ¡°Is there a difference?¡±
Dayetia was not going to bother wasting words on Smy. She took out the sword of Att and put it on the bed, then got on her knees and started praying to it. She chanted line after line and looked rather religious.
Smy stared for a bit, then got on her knees next to Dayetia and started to pray to the sword of Att too.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks outside the room when he heard the buzzing-chantinging from the room. He went back to the door and peeked in. He was curious about what kind of prayers Dayetia was chanting and he was curious too about things to do with the sword of Att and wanted to know more.
Dayetia voice came to his ears. ¡°... Oh, Great Att, please guide us in our advancement, let us build our glory anew...¡±
These were ordinary titudes for help and not any secret but Xia Lei stood there quietly, unable to leave.
Chapter 331 - Back To Afghanistan
A military ne took off from a military airfield before the sun was up, heading straight to Xinjiang province.
There was an extra special passenger onboard - Shi Bo-Ren.
Tang Bo-Chuan and Long Bing were on the flight too, and Dayetia and Smy. The two White Hun women were under watch and not allowed to go near Shi Bo-Ren and Xia Lei, who were having a talk.
Dayetia held the wooden box containing the sword of Att tight. The thing in the box was more valuable than her own life.
Smy blinked herrge blue eyes, staring at Xia Lei and Shi Bo-Ren a-ways off. She seemed to be trying to guess at what the two men were talking about. However, this was a mission too impossible for her brains.
Truthfully, she didn¡¯t know what was going on in her head either...
Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s voice was fairly low. ¡°Look, you¡¯vepleted such a difficult mission. We cannot just leave you alone. I¡¯ve already sent a report to the higher-ups to give the green light to your military factory in a show of appreciation for your sess. Your factory can start production soon.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I was supposed to go to Afghanistan after the ribbon-cutting ceremony but you guys said that time was tight and that I had to go to Afghanistan immediately. I¡¯ve done all that I could, and I want to say this clearly - this is thest time I¡¯ll participate in a mission for you guys. Don¡¯te looking for me for this sort of thing in the future. Modifying guns or something else are no problem and I can help you out anytime but no more things like this.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°Your talents should be used for the country, and the country also needs talents like you. I¡¯ll pretend I didn¡¯t hear what you said, and don¡¯t talk about it again. The country will not treat you badly if you work for it. Look, how about this - I¡¯ll talk to the higher-ups after we¡¯re back. We¡¯ll first put down a big purchase order for your military factory. Ten thousand guns or something, for your workers to practice and break in your machines. What do you think?¡±
Ten thousand guns... at 2,000 per gun the purchase order would be worth 20,000,000. A big order like this meant that the employees and machines of Thunder Horse Military Factory would not stand idle and go straight to production. Furthermore, this was also at a stage where the factory was still not producing high-performance sniper rifles. An order like this was definitely a reward and a great support to his business; it was significant to Xia Lei.
A straight rejection of Shi Bo-Ren could mean this big order going out the window. Plus, he hadn¡¯t had time to modify thethes yet so that they could produce high-performance sniper rifles. He had already invested a billion in the military factory so he couldn¡¯t let that money just sit there, could he? Besides, the new hires and workers had to be paid and insurances too - all these were a great expense.
¡°Boss Shi, are you trying to tempt me?¡± said Xia Lei half-jokingly. He could not reject the purchase order Shi Bo-Ren was proposing but he did not immediately show interest. He asked probingly, ¡°Tell me, what do you want me to do?¡±
Shi Bo-Ren gave augh. ¡°This mission is not dangerous. You can just hand it in and it¡¯s done.¡±
Xia Lei was struck by a thought and he could probably guess what mission Shi Bo-Ren wanted to give him.
¡°There¡¯s people to be rescued but you can¡¯te back after you¡¯ve rescued them,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren, ¡°Tang Yu-Yan will bring the experts back. Long Bing and Tang Bo-Chuan will assist so you don¡¯t have to worry about that. What you need to do is to stay and excavate that ancient city. Find what¡¯s in it.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll do it.¡± This was what Xia Lei had nned on doing anyway and agreeing meant a purchase order for guns. He agreed without hesitation.
Shi Bo-Ren looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°You know what you¡¯re going to excavate?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that Ning Jing and I are good friends. I met her in the tribe and she told me about it. I don¡¯t know much though. I just know that thepass has to be used to find the spot to excavate.¡±
Pretending not to know was unnecessary and a low-level mistake. Who was Shi Bo-Ren? The boss of intelligence agents. It would not be smart at all to put on an act in front of him. Besides, Tang Yu-Yan knew something too so there was no hiding it. It was better to tell the truth since it was like that.
Sure enough, a small smile appeared in the corners of Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s mouth. ¡°You¡¯re right. We do need thatpass. You were the one who fixed it too, so you should know how to use it. Remember - you mustplete this mission no matter what and no matter the cost. And what you dig up must be all be brought back to China.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± After a pause, Xia Lei asked probingly, ¡°Boss Shi, can you give me more details?¡±
Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s expression grew grave. ¡°You only need toplete your mission. As for what that thing is and what it¡¯s used for - there¡¯s no need for you to know.¡±
The answer was as expected. Xia Lei didn¡¯t pursue the matter. ¡°Okay, I know what I should do.¡±
¡°You can ask for anything you need; don¡¯t hold back. I will fulfil your request as long as it¡¯s rted to the mission.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°We need to be on friendly terms with the White Hun Tribe if we can toplete this mission. I¡¯ve promised to build them a hydropower station in exchange for the hostages, and gifts of household appliances like rice cookers, kettles and such. I¡¯ve tasked my assistant with these purchases but it is difficult to ship things to that ce. Boss Shi, is there any way you can ship these items to them?¡±
¡°No problem. Ship the things to Pakistan, then we¡¯ll airlift them over,¡± said Boss Shi.
¡°Afghanistan¡¯s airspace is almostpletely controlled by American troops. Will you be able to airlift them?¡± asked Xia Lei worriedly.
¡°The American troops are not all-epassing. You don¡¯t have to worry about this. Just wait to receive your equipment.¡±
Xia Lei was relieved. Who knew how much time and money it would cost him if he were to have to ship the equipment needed for the hydropower station to the White Hun Tribe himself. It was a relief to hear Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s words. This was the advantage of the country getting stronger - having the backing of a strong country while doing something like this did make him feel rather proud.
The two men continued their discussion of the details of the mission.
The military nended in the military base at the border of Xinjiang province.
Tang Bo-Chuan gave Xia Lei, Dayetia and Smy sets of traditional Afghan clothing in the military base. After they changed into them, a Bureau 101 makeup artist put makeup on them. Xia Lei¡¯s skin was muddied and wrinkles were drawn on, plus a face full of thick beard. He looked like a genuine middle-aged Afghan man after the headscarf was added.
Dayetia and Smy¡¯s makeup was moreplicated. The makeup artist added years to them and also made them uglier. The traditional ck robes and ck headscarf allowed just their eyes to peek out. If anyone had designs on them and pulled their headscarves off, the ugly old wrinkly faces would put the man off.
Dayetia and Smy¡¯s warhorses were also returned to them, and their AK47s. The guns, however, were hidden in their luggage.
Xia Lei received the most equipment. Other than his sniper rifle, he had reconnaissance and assassination equipment, making him Bureau 101¡¯s ¡®007¡¯. He also hadmunications devices; two satellite phones and several spare batteries. With these, he couldmunicate with them in China while in the White Hun Tribe and he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about running out of battery or having no signal.
All preparationsplete, they were just about to leave when Long Bing called Xia Lei to one side and nagged, ¡°Be careful. We¡¯ve made preparations but you cannot let down your guard, especially after Tang Yu-Yan takes the experts with her. You¡¯ll be alone in the tribe. You must take good care of yourself; don¡¯t lose your life there.¡±
Xia Lei was quite touched. He nodded. ¡°I will. You take care of yourself too. Don¡¯t be too reckless; living is most important.¡±
Long Bing smiled faintly but her smile disappeared in a sh. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you a little something about Shentu Tian-Yin. Want to know?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Sure.¡±
¡°She¡¯s already back in China. The coboration with Shinyeok Group was not cancelled. She called you that night after leaving the hotel - a total of three times. You didn¡¯t receive those calls.¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that nothing¡¯s happened to her. I¡¯ll go talk with her when I¡¯m back. I owe her an exnation.¡± Xia Lei still felt some guilt, since he had used Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s connections in this mission to steal the sword of Att.
Long Bing quirked her lips faintly. ¡°You sure are thoughtful. Any message to pass on to her?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
¡°Then go.¡±
Xia Lei mounted his horse to leave and Long Bing seemed to want to say more but she swallowed her words when they got to her mouth.
Minutester, three warhorses set off from the military base. They galloped on, leaving Chinese territory behind and entering the Wakhan Corridor.
Xia Lei had actually suggested entering Afghanistan via ne but Shi Bo-Ren shot him down immediately. All Afghan airports were under American surveince and there were as many intelligence agents in the airports as hairs on a cow¡¯s hide. The mission would fail if they were discovered. No one would be able to bear that oue. The route through the Wakhan Corridor would require more time but was much safer. The shipping of the equipment needed for the hydropower station in the n also needed much nning and preparation, and they could not just airlift things as and when they liked.
Smy and Dayetia flew on their horses in the deste sandscape, with Xia Lei trailing behind them. Smy looked back and waved at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia,e, let¡¯s race! I¡¯m yours if you catch up to me!¡±
Xia Lei shook his head profusely.
¡°Then I¡¯ll chase you. You¡¯ll be my man if I catch up to you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Dayetia slowed and drew up level with Xia Lei. ¡°Xia, who was that old man?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit before replying. ¡°An important man. If you have to know, I can only tell you that his status is simr to that of the supervisor of the American CIA. You get what I mean now?¡±
¡°You¡¯re forting. What did you talk about on the ne?¡±
¡°Getting the captives back to China, and building the hydropower station for you guys. He is against it but I pushed for it and he agreed in the end.¡± Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Soon, you¡¯ll be able to use electricity. Meals cooked with electricity, water heated with electricity. You¡¯ll be able to sleep under electric-heated nkets too in cold winters.¡±
¡°Wow!¡± Smy squealed happily. ¡°Xia, can you get those olddies in the tribe some vibrators? I want to give it to them as presents. Their men are just too pathetic.¡±
Xia Lei was so flustered he nearly fell off the back of his horse.
Chapter 332 - Burning Bridges After Crossing Them
The Wakhan Corridor was actually a safe cepared to the other regions in Afghanistan because it was just a deste corridor. It was isted and empty. The Imic militants would not move in the area, and the American troops would not fly their nes here to bomb targets of no value. Only some 10,000 Tajik people popted the Wakhan Corridor and they were wandering nomads. There was no danger so long as one did not anger them. This was a quiet world.
They progressed smoothly in their return through the Wakhan Corridor as they had experienced it before and were familiar with the terrain and the route; they took much less time. They were through the Wakhan Corridor in five days and entered Afghan territory. The three of them did not meet any trouble in these five days - there was no attack, no surveince, and they didn¡¯t even run into foul weather.
Night descended and they made camp in an oasis. The area was small and there was a tiny pool with por trees and haloxylon trees. Moonlight shone on the trees and the pool, sending up a dappling of reflected light; quiet, mysterious.
Afterying out the nkets, the three of them gathered to eat some dry rations and drink some water.
¡°Not bad. We just passed through this ce thest time. I want to take a bath this time.¡± Smy had eaten and drank her fill, and she pulled Xia Lei by the hand, saying enthusiastically, ¡°Xia,e bathe with me. Taking a bath in the middle of a desert is a feeling I guarantee you¡¯d never forget for the rest of your life.¡±
¡°You bathe first. I¡¯ll wash upter.¡± Xia Lei refused. Smy was so enthusiastically open that he couldn¡¯t help feeling ufortable on her behalf.
¡°Come on, bathe with me.¡± Smy jiggled Xia Lei¡¯s arm like a pouty little girl. ¡°You can help me chase away the peeping-toms.¡±
¡°This is the desert - where are the peeping-toms?¡±ughed Xia Lei.
¡°There¡¯re no people but there¡¯re snakes. What if a snake bites me?¡± Smy kept jiggling Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°I¡¯m most afraid of snakes. They¡¯re long, soft and smooth... If one slithers on me... Ah, just the thought of it scares me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°What rubbish are you saying? You¡¯re the best at catching snakes in our tribe. You caught 20 snakesst month and roasted 15. The remaining five you put in people¡¯s bed-covers. Must you force me to reveal all these?¡± said Dayetia slowly.
¡°Chieftain!¡± Smy stamped her foot huffily.
Dayetia ignored Smy¡¯s discontent and said, ¡°Xia, you stand guard here. Smy and I will take a bath, then you.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Sure, no problem.¡±
¡°Come on Smy. You¡¯re afraid of snakes, huh? I¡¯ll bathe with you and help you chase them away,¡± said Dayetia.
Smy pouted. ¡°Chieftain, I want to CATCH a snake. You don¡¯t get it.¡±
The two White Hun women walked towards the pool, arguing as they went. They were like a pair of quarrelsome sisters.
Xia Lei watched them walk off through a patch of sparse, low haloxylon trees, and strip next to the water before going in. The moonlight was pale and they were too, but the water was blue - it was an exquisite scene. The waves rippled in the water and their curves undted with the ripples, at times like rolling hills, at at other times like the full moon. Big moons, little moons, dazzling moons. The two bathing women were about 30 metres away from him but to a person like him who could see over 4,000 metres away, they seemed to be bathing right under his nose.
¡®Oh boy, Smy is asset-heavy indeed. She¡¯s overshadowed her chieftain at such a young age. Impressive. She¡¯s also so naughty... she¡¯ll be a vixen when she¡¯s older, eh?¡¯ Strange thoughts arose in Xia Lei¡¯s head as he admired andpared the two.
If he were to choose one of them to bathe with he would choose Smy without hesitation. Dayetia was too scheming and had only the tribe in her heart. Smy was much more naive and it was rather rxing to be with her. Too bad there was no way he would be able to bathe with Smy with Dayetia around.
¡®I¡¯ve already done my best to foster a good rtionship with Dayetia and she¡¯s friendlier than before. My n should be able to work when we get to the tribe... Wait, that¡¯s not right.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s mind spun as he recalled something he¡¯d ignored earlier. ¡®I helped the White Hun Tribe get their lost sword of Att. Smy asked to be given as a most precious gift to me and this looks like a joke on the surface but Dayetia¡¯s reaction was calm, cold even. She rejected it right away with no regard for Smy¡¯s feelings or mine. She¡¯s been stopping Smy from getting intimate with me too... I don¡¯t really want take Smy and I¡¯d reject it even if she agreed to it, of course, but she just keeps getting in the way. If Dayetia truly sees me as the most treasured guest of the White Hun Tribe then why would she do that?¡¯
It was simple logic. If Dayetia treated him like the most treasured guest then she would not stop Smy from being with him, nor get in their way. She had done so and this showed that she did not trust him at all. How were they to work together if there was no trust?
This straightening out of thoughts made Xia Lei wrinkle his brows. His gaze went again to Dayetia and Smy in the water.
The moonlight was soft and pale like the women basking in it.
Dayetia and Smy seemed to be arguing about something and their disagreement marred this beautiful picture.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought and his left eye twitched. He focused on their lips.
In the pool, Smy hugged her breasts with her hands. Her great assets were given a boost and the sight of it made Xia Lei feel like he¡¯d been struck by a seismic wave. She was pouting and saying in discontent, ¡°Chieftain, Xia is a great person. He¡¯s taken good care of us this whole journey. Remember? He went up against American troops himself when we were attacked by them and let us escape first. Now he¡¯s found our sacred relic, the sword of Att. We wouldn¡¯t even be able to dream of getting it back without his help. Don¡¯t these two things mean he is our tribe¡¯s most honoured friend, our hero? A beauty for a hero; I want to be with him. Is that so wrong?¡±
Her words were reasonable, except thatst part but it would be out of character for the H-cup baby-faced Smy if she did not say it.
Dayetia wrinkled her brows. ¡°Is your head filled only with frivolities like men? Imbecile! I¡¯ve told you that you can have any man but him, and any number too. Anyone but him. Our tribe must not be connected to him.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°He is a target of the American troops, and I don¡¯t know why. This is Afghanistan. We cannot fight the Americans. If we¡¯re connected to him the tribe may be a target of the Americans too. Do you want that to happen?¡±
¡°And you¡¯re still getting him to build us a hydropower station?¡±
¡°There will be no hydropower station.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask. Speak less from now on.¡±
¡°Will you let those Chinese people go?¡±
¡°I shall decide that. Enough questions.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll stop asking and stop talking - I¡¯ll be mute from now on! You¡¯re chieftain! Your word isw!¡± Smy submerged herself angrily like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
Dayetia looked over in Xia Lei¡¯s direction but it was dark and murkiness met her eyes; she could not see Xia Lei. What she didn¡¯t know and could not expect was that Xia Lei could even see the look in her eyes clearly though she could not see him.
Her gaze was hesitant but dark, ruthless.
The look in her eyes made Xia Lei¡¯s heart sink.
This return to Afghanistan had been all smooth-sailing but it was only so on the surface.
Dayetia had no ns to build a hydropower station in the tribe, nor ns to let Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing and those experts go. This meant the promise she had made to let him excavate the ancient ruins was probably not going to happen either.
What was this chieftain thinking?
Xia Lei grew nervous, worried and angry.
He had put so much of his blood and sweat into fostering this friendship and he¡¯d been repaid with betrayal!
Dayetia and Smy climbed out of the water minutester. They put on their clothes and returned to camp.
There was not a trace of happiness on Smy¡¯s face. She pouted, but was silent. She seemed to be doing as Dayetia hadmanded, or maybe it was her sulking.
Dayetia, however, was smiling as she said to Xia Lei, ¡°Xia, we¡¯re done bathing. You can go now. We have to pick up the pace after we leave this ce so there won¡¯t be any other chance for you to bathe.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll bathe too.¡± Xia Lei got up and walked towards the pool.
Xia Lei first used his left eye to scan the area around the pool when he got to it. He stripped and entered the water only after confirming that there was no one hidden close by. The water was cool and fairly refreshing. Xia Lei popped his head out of the water and peeked in the direction of the camp. He saw Dayetia take out the set of night-vision equipment Bureau 101 had given to him and use it to look over at the pool.
Xia Lei looked away and dove into the water.
The thermal imaging device allowed one to ¡®see¡¯ through walls and see the warm-blooded bodies hidden behind walls but it could not prate the cool water to reveal the person underwater.
Xia Lei crouched in the water and used his left eye to look the water and at the camp again.
At that moment, Dayetia took out the sniper rifle he¡¯d modified from his luggage and aimed it in his direction.
¡®She wants to kill me!¡¯ Xia Lei was startled and furious at the same time.
She had the sword of Att and quite a bit of money. Killing him would also help her avoid the threat from the American front. This must be Dayetia¡¯s motive! To burn their bridges after crossing them!
Smy suddenly stood from her nkets and grabbed at the sniper rifle in Dayetia¡¯s hands.
¡°What are you doing, Chieftain?¡± said Smy angrily, ¡°Xia is our tribe¡¯s hero! You can¡¯t do this!¡±
¡°I will do anything for the tribe!¡± Dayetia rebuked angrily, ¡°Get out of the way!¡±
¡°I won¡¯t! We White Huns don¡¯t do things like this! What you¡¯re doing is wrong.¡± Smy held on stubbornly, refusing to let go.
Dayetia suddenly pped Smy across her face but Smy did not let go. She swept Smy to the ground with one foot, then pressed the muzzle of the sniper rifle to her chest. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
Chapter 333 - A Non-solution
There was not a trace of fear on Smy¡¯s face. ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m not afraid of that! I¡¯m right. The great King of the Huns is on my side; he¡¯s watching you. Kill me if you want!¡±
Att the Hun had been dead for over a thousand years so Smy was actually referring to the sword of Att.
Dayetia hesitated. The sacred relic was right next to them. She would be going against her beliefs if she killed Smy.
¡°Get up. Shut your mouth. Say nothing when Xiaes back!¡± Dayetia put away the sniper rifle, ncing at Xia Lei¡¯s bathing spot as she spoke. However, she saw only a blurry view of the water and the trees. Sniping Xia Lei in this environment seemed impossible.
¡°Can you not kill Xia, Chieftain?¡± Smy looked pleadingly at Dayetia.
¡°Who said I wanted to kill him?¡±
¡°Then, just now...?¡±
¡°I wanted to injure him, then make him... Never mind. You won¡¯t understand if I tell you anyway. Just shut up about this. Don¡¯t poke your nose into it.¡± Dayetia put the sniper rifle back in Xia Lei¡¯s luggage.
¡°Not killing him? What do you want to do then?¡±
¡°Silence, you idiot! He¡¯ll be back any time!¡± Dayetia chided Smy fiercely.
Anger shed in Smy¡¯s eyes, apanied by a trace of menace but it quickly disappeared; Dayetia saw nothing of it. She was the marks-woman of the White Hun Tribe and was the fiercest in every battle. She had killed at least 80 if not 100 of their enemies. Smy was a human-shaped beast and it was dangerous to threaten her, no matter who it was.
Dayetia and Smy¡¯s fight did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eye. It was a struggle to lip-read their conversation in Pashto but his brain had unimaginableputing power and he was able to decipher their conversation. It was not a hundred percent urate but the meaning was clear.
Dayetia putting the sniper rifle away signalled that he was out of danger for now. He climbed out of the water and put his clothes on, then walked to the camp. As he neared the camp, he bent to pick up a rock from the ground. It would be quicker for him to brain Dayetia with a rock at close distance than for her to reach for her gun and shoot him, purely because he could be much faster.
Dayetia did not shoot. She put a smile on her face when she saw Xia Lei return. ¡°How was it, Xia?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Not bad. The water was refreshing. To have a ce like this to bathe in is a gift from the Heavens.¡±
¡°Rest. We¡¯ll go on our way again in four hours. Let¡¯s try to get to the Ika Tribe by noon tomorrow,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Nn, you two go to sleep first. I just bathed so I¡¯m not sleepy. I¡¯ll stand guard.¡± Xia Lei went back to his nkets and took out his sniper rifle to inspect it.
With gun in hand, he was not worried about Dayetia making any dangerous moves against him.
Dayetia made no suspicious moves. She slept in her clothes under her nkets.
Smy looked at Dayetia, then at Xia Lei, and seemed to want to say something but didn¡¯t say a word after much hesitation.
Xia Lei had seen Smy¡¯s reaction out of the corner of his eye. She had kept silent but he did not me her for it. She had spoken up for him and risked an even greater danger of standing up to Dayetia and stopping her from shooting at him. It was already good enough for her to have done so much for him since she was a White Hun too. He could not hope for her to betray her chieftain and her tribe.
Time slipped quietly by as Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts roiled.
¡®All signs point to Dayetia not cooperating with me. She won¡¯t release Tang Yu-Yan and Ning Jing, and maybe won¡¯t let me enter the ruins to excavate artifacts either. She might even betray me and sell me to the Americans in exchange for benefits and the safety of the tribe. It¡¯ll be easy for me to kill her off now and remove the risk for her betraying me but if I do, what happens to Tang Yu-Yan and Ning Jing? Will Smy fight me? Will I still be able to enter the ruins to excavate artifacts?¡¯ Thoughts popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head one by one, churning, turning, twisting; he could not settle down.
He should kill her, but he shouldn¡¯t. If he walked on with Dayetia he would fall into a dangerous situation and when that time came, he would not be able to guarantee his own safety, much less rescue others. He¡¯d never encountered a situation like this before and it was giving him a serious headache.
Dayetia¡¯s eyes opened, just a crack, and she watched Xia Lei¡¯s movements.
Her movements were imperceptibly small but Xia Lei still spotted it. He stood calmly and looked about himself, pretending to survey his surroundings.
Dayetia seemed to be assured and a small, cold smile appeared discreetly on her lips.
After a while, Smy crawled out of her nkets and walked over to Xia Lei. ¡°Go rest, Xia. I¡¯ll stand guard.¡±
¡°I wasn¡¯t on guard for long. Why don¡¯t you sleep some more?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I can¡¯t sleep. You go.¡± Smy hugged her AK47, her face gloomy.
Xia Lei pretended to be unaware of the situation and asked probingly, ¡°Smy, what¡¯s made you so unhappy?¡±
Smy sneaked a look at Dayetia and let out a huff or air. ¡°It¡¯s...¡±
Dayetia awoke abruptly and interrupted Smy. ¡°What are you two chatting about?¡±
¡°Nothing!¡± said Smy grumpily.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Smy had just woken up and is relieving me of guard duty.¡±
¡°Forget it. Looks like we¡¯re all not sleepy. Let¡¯s be on our way. We¡¯ll arrive at the tribe even earlier like this,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Chieftain...¡± Smy started, then stopped, as if afraid that something bad would happen.
Dayetia gave Smy a cold re. ¡°Enough nonsense. Mount your horse. We¡¯re leaving!¡±
Smy went huffily to get her horse, kicking up sand as she walked.
Dayetia¡¯s gaze grew colder. She was, without a doubt, treating Smy like she was challenging her authority. As chieftain of the White Hun Tribe she could not allow anyone to challenge her authority.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Smy is still a child. It¡¯s normal for her to act immature.¡±
A smile appeared on Dayetia¡¯s face too. ¡°I think she is very cute too but sometimes she can really cause headaches. All right, let¡¯s not chatter away anymore. Pack up. Let¡¯s continue.¡±
Just then, Smy led two horses over, hers and Xia Lei¡¯s, and didn¡¯t bring Dayetia¡¯s horse over. Smy put the reins of Xia Lei¡¯s horse in his hands and said rebelliously, ¡°I can¡¯t lead three horses, Chieftain. You should get your own.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Dayetia walked off to the por trees where she had tied her horse.
Xia Lei caught a sh of anger in her eyes as she turned away. Smy had angered her.
¡°Smy, why are you angering your chieftain? She¡¯s your Chieftain. You¡¯ll get in trouble if you make her angry,¡± said Xia Lei worriedly.
¡°Humph!¡± Smy spat on the ground. ¡°I respect her and follow hermands but she¡¯s never thought about me. Every time there¡¯s an intruder I¡¯m the one on the frontlines but she still treats me like a child. Let me tell you, she would¡¯ve been killed by her rivals long ago if it weren¡¯t for me. She was able to be Chieftain because I killed her rivals but she treats me like a fool now!¡±
So there was this backstory?
Xia Lei was awash with curiosity and wanted to ask more but Dayetia had already led her horse over. He shut his mouth, alert.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Dayetia mounted her horse and gave Smy a lookced with threat. She had obviously heard Smy¡¯sints from earlier.
Xia Lei and Smy mounted their horses too and followed Dayetia out of the oasis and to the Ika Tribe.
The trio had passed through Ika Tribe territory thest time. It was a tribe with a poption of over 10,000 and hundreds of armed tribesmen. Dayetia had a good rtionship with their chieftain, Abutulu and they had crossed the Ika territory smoothly, even gaining some provisions.
They had to go through the Ika Tribe on this journey back to the White Hun Tribe but Xia Lei was already full if misgivings. If Dayetia received support in the Ika Tribe and gained helpers to move against him there, he would be in serious danger.
¡®Shit. I can¡¯t kill her even if I want to and I¡¯m heading into more danger if I follow her. Why have I gotten myself into such troublesome matters?¡¯ Xia Lei was stewing.
He wanted to turn his horse around and fuck the mission but then thought of Tang Yu-Yan and Ning Jing, trapped in the White Hun Tribe. He thought of the Bureau 101 agents who had sacrificed themselves for the mission and he could not harden his heart.
¡®I have to think of something. I need to solve this before we enter the Ika Tribe, but what can I do...¡¯ Xia Lei was hard-pressed to find a solution.
Smy slowed to draw shoulder-to-shoulder with Xia Lei and lowered her voice. ¡°Lei, go back. Don¡¯t care about your friends anymore.¡±
The moonlight illuminated Smy¡¯s worried yet angry baby-face.
Xia Lei knew the cause of her worry and why she was angry but he feigned ignorance. He gave her a toothy smile. ¡°I¡¯m not one to abandon my friends.¡±
¡°You are a fool. You don¡¯t know what you¡¯ll face.¡± Smy gave Xia Lei an anxious re.
Her worried and angry side had a different sort of attractiveness.
A sh of inspiration hit Xia Lei when he looked at her face which still possessed the innocence of childhood, and her astonishing chest. A solution which did not seem like a solution slipped into his head.
¡°I¡¯d like to be with you.¡± Xia Lei put a smile on his face and warmth in his eyes. ¡°Aren¡¯t we dating now? Are you telling me to go because you don¡¯t want to be with me?¡±
A blush crept up Smy¡¯s baby-face. ¡°Of course I want to. You¡¯re my hero. I don¡¯t want any man other than you, but...¡± She looked at Dayetia¡¯s back with an undercurrent of hate in her eyes.
Xia Lei reached out to hold Smy¡¯s hand. This was a gentle, friendly gesture and more effective than any sweet words.
Smy gentled too but only for a few minutes. Her hand went to Xia Lei¡¯s backside once he let go of her hand.
Xia Lei froze. This was Smy¡¯s style and he could not hope that she would change.
This was also Xia Lei¡¯s solution which was a non-solution. He would not use such ame n of selling himself if he had another choice - but he didn¡¯t have any, did he?
Dayetia looked back at them and yelled, ¡°Hurry up, Smy! Follow me!¡±
Smy retracted her hand from Xia Lei¡¯s buttock and said heatedly, ¡°Coming!¡± She cracked her horse whip and sped up.
A small smile sneaked into the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth...
Chapter 334 - Most Poisonous Heart
The pale light of dawn made the darkness dissipate and three people on horseback galloped towards the Ika Tribe in the glow of morning. They¡¯d ridden all night and only rested for not more than two hours in between, mostly for the horses to rest. The three of them did not sleep.
They soon exited the desertnd and their horses stepped on a dirt path. Fields of poppies were nted along this path and they were in the season where the nts were green and lush.
¡°The Ika Tribe is ten kilometres further ahead.¡± Dayetia pointed in front of them. ¡°We rest in the Ika Tribe for a bit, then continue on. We can return to our tribe after three days.¡±
¡°That¡¯s quick.¡± Xia Lei sighed with feeling. ¡°Chieftain Dayetia, please release my friends immediately after we get back to the tribe.¡±
¡°No problem. I¡¯ll let them go once we get back.¡± A sinister smile appeared in the corners of Dayetia¡¯s mouth.
Smy looked anxious, deeply worried and sick in heart.
Xia Lei moved his horse close to Dayetia and stretched out a hand to her. Dayetia hesitated, then reached out to shake his hand. When their hands touched, Xia Lei pulled her forward so that she was leaning towards him, turning the handshake into a hug. At that same time, his other hand slipped something into her cor...
They separated and Xia Lei smiled. ¡°May our friendship be evesting.¡±
¡°Hah!¡± Dayetia cracked her whip, urging her horse forward.
Xia Lei urged his horse after her.
Smy bit her cherry-plump lip. ¡°Should I tell him the truth? He¡¯s a dummy. A dummy!¡±
Xia Lei suddenly looked back and smiled as he waved at her.
Smy stared nkly for a bit, then squeezed her horse¡¯s belly, driving it forward to catch up with them.
Ten kilometres was quickly covered and a town appeared in their view. The town was in the centre with smaller viges surrounding it, and poppy fields which stretched out around it like rolling hills. Xia Lei had been here before; it was the Ika Tribe.
The armed tribesmen of the Ika Tribe stopped them before they got to the town. Dayetia informed them of her identity and the armed tribesmen let them pass, even leading them into the town.
They were led to a courtyard with fairly high walls and a security around it. Behind the wall was a wide moat and behind that was a two-storey building. The chieftain of the Ika Tribe, Abutulu, lived in that building. Xia Lei and Smy had only waited outside thest time they were here and had not gone in at all.
¡°You two stay outside and wait a while for me. I¡¯ll be right out after talking with Chieftain Abutulu,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Okay, we¡¯ll wait for you outside,¡± said Xia Lei.
Smy and Dayetia¡¯s gazes met and there seemed to be some sh in the air between them; one could almost smell gunpowder in the air.
Dayetia did not speak to Smy. She gave her a look, and entered the courtyard. She seemed to have made some sort of decision and she was frosty-cold.
The gates to the courtyard closed and the goings-on inside could not be seen from outside.
But this was no obstacle to Xia Lei. His left eye twitched and the thick gates disappeared. He saw armed tribesmen lead the way to a room.
¡°Xia, will you be sad for me if I die?¡± Smy asked suddenly.
¡°What are you saying? You¡¯re still so young; your life is just beginning,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m serious. I want to know. Tell me.¡± Smy was fairly mature in that instant, different from her usual self.
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit before saying, ¡°I will. I definitely will. I¡¯ll be very sad if you die. I will honour your memory, and burn paper clothing for you on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of every year*.¡±
Smy blinked herrge eyes. ¡°What does it mean to burn paper clothing for me on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of every year?¡±
¡°It¡¯s our tradition. A ceremony to pay homage to the dead,¡± said Xia Lei.
Smyughed. ¡°Wow, a ceremony too, huh. You¡¯d better not be joking. You must burn some for me.¡±
It didn¡¯t seem like augh from the heart; Xia Lei sensed sadness and a decided-ness from her. She seemed to have realised something and was emotionally prepared.
Dayetia went into a room in the building and the Ika tribesman who had led the way closed the door and stood outside it, on guard.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the room door, and he strengthened his X-ray power. The door disappeared from his view too. Dayetia was greeting an elderly person respectfully, and the elderly person invited her to have a seat with a smile. The elderly person had a headscarf on his head. His beard was at least a foot long, and his face was long and thin, giving one an impression of great wisdom.
This old man was Abutulu, the chieftain of the Ika Tribe.
Xia Lei locked his gaze on them and took out two receivers. He shoved one in his ear and the other in Smy¡¯s ear.
¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Smy looked at Xia Lei uprehendingly.
¡°Shh. Listen,¡± said Xia Lei.
Dayetia seated herself and started talking with Abutulu. Their voices were transmitted to Xia Lei and Smy¡¯s ears over the receivers.
¡°Respected Chieftain Abutulu, I have returned. I thank you for the help you have given. I will not forget it. Come autumn, I shall send over a hundred goats and two young female ves,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Good, good. Our two tribes are not so far away so we should show some mutual support. How long is your stay this time, and what do you need? Don¡¯t hesitate to ask. I¡¯ll get someone to prepare it for you.¡± Abutulu was all smiles. A hundred goats was a huge sum to a poor tribe. The two young female ves were for him, he knew.
very was a dark time in the history of humans but it still had not beenpletely eradicated though humans had entered a global market economy. very still existed in poor, backward ces.
¡°I need you to do me a favour.¡±
¡°What do you need me to do?¡±
¡°I have a Chinese man with me and a disobedient underling. I¡¯d like you to help me take care of those two. Also, I need a phone I can contact the Americans with. A mobile phone,¡± said Dayetia.
Abutulu looked straight at Dayetia. ¡°Who is that Chinese man? Why do you want to hand him to the Americans?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to know. Do me this favour and I will pay you 100,000 US dors when it¡¯s done,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°100,000 US dors?¡± Abutulu was so surprised his jaw dropped.
¡°100,000 US dors. You just need to tell your men to take down that Chinese man and my underling. This is your territory, so this is not anything too difficult for you. It is just one Chinese man so you don¡¯t have to worry about drawing trouble either.¡±
¡°Sounds good, but I want to know why you¡¯re not doing it yourself. Besides, he¡¯s just one man.¡±
¡°He is powerful. I wouldn¡¯t offer you 100,000 US dors otherwise. Make your decision. If you¡¯re not willing to do it then I¡¯ll take him back to my tribe and take him down there,¡± said Dayetia.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Abutuluughed. ¡°I can tell. That Chinese man is not just powerful - you have no chance and no certainty in moving against him. He is a big problem. You don¡¯t want to take him to your tribe and make your move there, huh?¡±
¡°Are you not willing?¡±
¡°200,000 US dors.¡±
¡°Deal.¡± Dayetia added, ¡°But I have one condition. Kill my disobedient underling.¡±
¡°No problem. I shall decide how your underling is to die.¡± A twisted smile appeared in the corners of Abutulu¡¯s lips.
No man in this world would bear to just shoot a baby-faced, H-cup beauty just like that, eh?
At the gates, Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision.
¡°That bitch Dayetia wants to kill me...¡± Smy was livid.
Xia Lei suddenly thrust his lips on hers, just for a while, to smother her voice before he moved his mouth away from hers. He pulled Smy towards their warhorses on one side of the wall.
Two armed Ika tribesmen stood next to the three warhorses. One of them called out sternly, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°Going out on a ride.¡± Xia Lei let go of Smy¡¯s hand. His steps quickened.
Every second was precious now.
One armed tribesman spoke. ¡°Who permitted...¡±
Before he could finish, Xia Lei moved against him, dashing forward and punching him in the carotid artery with Nail Fist.
The other tribesman reacted after seeing that and hurriedly raised his AK47 to his shoulder. Unfortunately, he was too slow. Xia Lei spun around and was next to him in an instant, punching him in his Taiyang acupressure point with a Nail Fist.
The two Ika tribesmen fell to the ground at almost the same time.
Smy¡¯s jaw dropped. She¡¯d nned on fighting too and had the dagger out from her belt but the two targets had been taken down by Xia Lei in the time she¡¯d taken to draw it; it hadn¡¯t been two seconds!
¡°Mount!¡± Xia Lei mounted swiftly.
Smy did not hesitate this time. She mounted quickly, then squeezed her horse¡¯s sides, galloping out of the town behind Xia Lei.
In the room in the building, Dayetia got to her feet and said, ¡°You can make your move now, Chieftain Abutulu.¡±
¡°Easily.¡± Abutulu pped.
The Ika tribesman guarding the door opened it and stood quietly in the doorway, waiting for his instruction.
¡°Get some men to take down those two at the gates,¡± said Abutulu.
¡°Yes, Chieftain.¡± The armed Ika tribesman turned and went off in the direction of the gates.
A cold smile surfaced in the corners of Dayetia¡¯s mouth. ¡°Do not me me for this, Smy. This is for the good of the tribe. me your own willfulness if you must. You should not have fallen for that Xia, and you should not have challenged my authority!¡±
The tribesman who¡¯d received orders got quickly to the gates. He opened them but there was no one outside. He then looked outside the walls and spotted the two tribesmen who had been knocked out.
¡°They¡¯ve run away!¡± yelled the tribesman.
¡°What?¡± Dayetia rushed out of the building, her face as dark as can be.
Abutulu also ran out and cried angrily, ¡°Gather all the men. Catch those two and bring them to me!¡±
Ika tribesmen came swarming out of their nest minutester.
Chapter 335 - Solitary Hero
Pickup trucks, off-road vehicles, horses, a few hundred men and a few hundred guns were mobilised on the dirt roads, just to go after two people. A woman was right in the lead of the pursuers - Dayetia. She was, undoubtedly, the most anxious out of all these hundreds of pursuers since Smy had taken her horse. The horse was actually not important - what was important was that the sword of Att was among the luggage her horse was carrying!
It looked like a case of trying to gain an advantage and ending up worse off for Dayetia. She would like nothing more than to chop Smy¡¯s head off!
Xia Lei and Smy had a few minutes¡¯ headstart so they were able to maintain a distance of about one kilometre between themselves and their pursuers.
¡°Nicely done. I was going to tell you to take Dayetia¡¯s horse but you did it without me reminding you.¡± Xia Lei spoke loudly as they galloped.
Smy chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve always been smart!¡±
Xia Lei felt like this was rather embarrassing for her to say so.
¡°Uphill!¡± Smy directed her horse off the dirt roads and onto the small paths between poppy fields to a section of mountain peaks.
Xia Lei followed her off the dirt road. Horses were slower than those off-road vehicles and pickup trucks on t ground, and their pursuers would catch up to them if they stayed on that road. Smy choice to go off the dirt road made her seem like she was more than a brainless H-cup woman.
Rat-tat-tat...
A machine gunner on a pickup truck fired in their direction.
A heavy machine gun had a longer shooting range than an ordinary sniper rifle* and it was just blind shooting but the amount of bullets flying their way was terrifying. Dust bloomed up like flowers on the ground next to Xia Lei and Smy, and bullets whistled past their heads; they were in an extremely dangerous situation.
Xia Lei twisted sideways on horseback and lifted his gun. He aimed, squeezed the trigger, and BANG. The machine gunner over a thousand metres away lost half his head.
His gunmanship put quite a bit of pressure on the Ika tribesmen but it also drew some of their bloodlust. They let out strange whoops and cries. An armed Ika tribesman moved from horseback to the pickup truck and shoved the corpse of the previous machine gunner aside, prepared to keep shooting.
Szzt! A bullet flew over and the recement machine gunner flew off the pickup truck. An off-road vehicle smashed into him. However, he was unable to feel pain any longer because a sniper bullet had pierced his heart when he had flown from the pickup truck, killing him instantly.
Nobody else dared to jump on that pickup truck to act as gunner anymore.
The vehicle-worthy road stretched on but their targets had gone off into side-paths. The pickup trucks and off-road vehicles could go no further and at least half of the hundreds of pursers came to a stop. Those who could still follow were the warriors on horseback, and the one leading these pursuers was Dayetia.
Dayetia dared not sit tall. She hugged her horse¡¯s back closely as she knew Xia Lei¡¯s gunmanship. What she did not know was that Xia Lei had already set his sights on her and needed two bullets at most to kill her.
¡°Dayetia¡¯s caught up. Want me to kill her?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°No! Leave her for me!¡± Smy¡¯s face was a mask of anger. ¡°She wanted to kill me and also gave permission for that old pervert Abutulu to dishonour me. I¡¯ll fight her! She always says ¡®it¡¯s for the tribe¡¯, right? She believes herself right as chieftain, so I am going to take everything away from her. I AM CHIEFTAIN!¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll leave her to you.¡± A smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth.
Dayetia¡¯s dishonesty and betrayal was a terrible thing for him, forcing him to be passive. The hostages were still in the White Hun Tribe, and the thing he needed to excavate was also in the White Hun Tribe. The hostages would be killed and he would have no chance of excavating the ruins if he killed Dayetia. In a situation like this, he had gone with an unorthodox solution, and that was to pander to Smy and let her know Dayetia¡¯s true colours, then support Smy in her uprising and have her rece Dayetia as chieftain!
The White Hun Tribe was almost primitive in nature and their way of deciding leadership was definitely not through voting. It was a fight between the most promising.
He had helped the White Hun Tribe get the sword of Att back and this sword which represented absolute rulership was now in Smy¡¯s hands. Her prestige and influence was self-evident. She had the right to challenge Dayetia for her position with the sword of Att!
Once Smy became the chieftain of the White Hun Tribe, he would be able to rescue the hostages and excavate the ruins. What was one day of excavation? Xia Lei could dig with a front-loader, no problem, and Smy would be fine with it - she would even help him clean the machine.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s n, and it was going smoothly so far.
The bare mountains were right in front of them. Rock was all around them and trees were sparse. Xia Lei was most satisfied with this terrain since it was so open and it would be easy for him to kill one person with each shot. He just needed a vantage point to camp in and he could kill anyone who dared charge up at him.
Xia Lei and Smy unloaded the luggage and chased their horses away when they got to the foot of the mountain. They took their bags with them and climbed up. Dayetia and the rest of their pursuers got to the foot of the mountain when they had gotten about 350 metres up. Xia Lei had already chosen a vantage point by that time. Smy also had a rifle equipped with a grenadeuncher in her hands. This gun was one which Bureau 101 had prepared for Xia Lei. They had more than this gun; they also had several powerful advanced weapons in their luggage.
The armed Ika tribesmen begun their charge. In their perspective, Xia Lei and Smy were skilled but they were just two people. They had the advantage of numbers and capturing or killing those two were just a matter of time.
Bang! A shot rang out on the mountain. An energetic young man who¡¯d rushed forward first had his head explode, and brain matter and blood sttered on the ground.
Rat-tat-tat...
Bang bang bang...
The armed Ika tribesmen fired in response but the guns in their hands were not much of a threat to Xia Lei and Smy at a distance of over 350 metres.
¡°Use rockets to st them!¡± ordered one of the leaders.
A middle-aged rocketuncher operator hefted a Soviet-made 105mm rocketuncher but a bullet came from above before he couldunch it and a fist-sized crater appeared in his forehead.
¡°Shit! Who is that guy?¡± The armed tribesmen leader was scared but angry at the same time.
A tribesmen went to retrieve the rocketuncher and he¡¯d just picked it up when a grenade dropped from the sky. Boom! A great roar could be heard as shards of rock and shrapnel flew in all directions, flipping several people over on the spot. This was just the beginning of despair. The rocket exploded in under a second and a sh of fire appeared at the foot of the mountain. People in the radius of over twenty metres were affected, either killed or injured by the shrapnel.
The one who had shot the rocket was Smy. She was the White Hun Tribe marks-woman, and their best warrior, so she couldn¡¯t let Xia Lei be the only one fighting in this scenario. The grenadeuncher she had did not have a range of over 300 metres but she was on higher ground and she just had to tilt the grenadeuncher to fire it over their heads.
Only a few minutes had passed since the battle begun but the Ika Tribe had already suffered huge losses. However, they did not retreat. They used the rocks to climb up and shorten the distance between them and their targets. Their snipers also worked at the same time to attack Xia Lei with their sniping.
Xia Lei and Smy fired and they moved backwards, heading to higher ground and shooting at targets which were threats to them. The snipers of the Ika Tribe naturally became Xia Lei¡¯s prime targets, and they were sniped themselves once their locations were known. They fell one after another.
The battle went on. Over a hundred people were not able to bring two people down - a scene like this could only be seen in a Hollywood movie and was almost impossible in real life. Xia Lei was like Rambo in ¡®First Blood¡¯, like James Bond in ¡®007¡¯, Jason Statham in ¡®The Transporter¡¯ - he was totally like the solitary hero in Hollywood movies. Undefeatable!
Abutulu finally came with reinforcements. His eyes spat me when he saw the corpses strewn about the mountainside but the subject of his ire was not Xia Lei and Smy - it was Dayetia. He roared at Dayetia, ¡°What did you hide from me? Who the hell is that Chinese man?¡±
¡°A Chinese special agent! I told you,¡± said Dayetia. She was under pressure.
¡°Bitch! You didn¡¯t tell me that he was so strong!¡± Abutulu screamed at Dayetia, ¡°We¡¯ve suffered so much loss because of you! How are you going to resolve this? I want that 200,000 US dors, now!¡±
¡°I...¡± Dayetia couldn¡¯t say more. She had promised Abutulu 200,000 because she was sure she could get even more from the Americans, but Xia Lei was hopping about the mountainside right now. The bounty from the Americans was just a possibility, so where was she to get that 200,000 from to pay Abutulu?
Abutulu raged. ¡°No money? Then YOU go up there and capture those two!¡±
Dozens of Ika tribesmen aimed the muzzles of their guns at Dayetia.
¡°You cannot treat me like this, Chieftain Abutulu.¡± Dayetia panicked. ¡°They¡¯re trapped on this mountain. They will run out of ammunition sooner orter. We can capture them then. I guarantee that I will not pay you a cent less than promised... No, I¡¯ll give you 300,000 US dors!¡±
¡°Fuck your 300,000 US dors! Where¡¯s the money?¡± Abutulu lost it. ¡°Get up there! Or I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
Bang bang! Someone fired at the ground next to Dayetia¡¯s feet to urge her to go up the mountain.
¡°You¡¯ll regret this!¡± Dayetia spat viciously on the ground. ¡°I will bring my warriors and may you pay!¡±
¡°Hah!¡± Abutulu snorted. He did not believe that Dayetia would return to the White Hun Tribe alive.
Dayetia carried an AK47 in her hands as she climbed up the mountain, moderately, carefully.
Chapter 336 - Chieftain Szlamy
The Ika tribesmen stopped their attack and the battlefield quieted; there were no gunshots. Dayetia braced herself and climbed upwards. Ahead was Xia Lei, with his god-like gunmanship, and behind her were the wolves and tigers of the Ika Tribe. She was stuck in the middle with no way out.
But she did not regret her choice. She did not believe that Xia Lei would fire at her and kill her because she still had hostages in the White Hun Tribe.
¡®Xia Lei won¡¯t dare to kill me so I just have to hold Smy off. I just need to persuade Smy to surrender, and Xia won¡¯t be able to hold on by himself. He¡¯ll surrender sooner orter. When he does, I¡¯ll kill Smy and hand Xia over to the Americans. I have not failed. I¡¯ve just run into someplications...¡¯ thought Dayetia. Her conviction grew stronger the longer Xia Lei held back from shooting at her. She sped up after a bit and even stopped looking for cover. She stood with her head high, climbing upwards in in sight.
Dayetia had been moving about in Xia Lei¡¯s line of sight from the start and he could have killed her long ago if he wanted to; it was just a matter of squeezing the trigger for him. However, he did not do so. He had promised Smy that he would leave Dayetia to her.
¡°She sure has guts. Does she think that we won¡¯t dare to shoot her?¡± Smy was afire. She shot at the nearing Dayetia.
Szzt, szzt, szzt. Bullets came zipping over, hitting the rock next to Dayetia and sending up sparks.
Dayetia bent her waist in a crouch but soon stood again. She shouted, ¡°Smy! What are you doing? Why did you flee?¡±
Smy stood too. She spat on the ground. ¡°You want to kill me and Xia. Was I going to just stand there and wait for you to kill me?¡±
¡°Who told you I wanted to kill you? Xia?¡± Dayetia raised her voice. ¡°He is lying to you. Why would I kill you? You are our tribe¡¯s marks-woman. I value you highly and treat you like my own little sister. Do not listen to his nonsense. I¡¯d never kill you.¡±
Smy was going to say how she knew Dayetia wanted to kill her but Xia Lei shot her a look and she shut up. She was in adtion of Xia Lei and she would do whatever he said.
Dayetia, on the other hand, thought that her words had been effective on Smy. She said as she walked, ¡°Smy, put down your weapons now. I will not hold you responsible for anything. We will be like before. Good sisters.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°Xia, you¡¯ve misunderstood me. I don¡¯t know why you ran away. Tell you what - you surrender now and I will not hold you responsible either. The agreements we¡¯ve made will still be valid. Don¡¯t you want to rescue your friends? Put down your weapon. I will exin everything to the Ika Tribe. They won¡¯t harm you.¡±
Xia Lei let out a scoffingugh on the mountain. ¡°I¡¯ve misjudged her indeed. Your chieftain is such a shameless woman. It¡¯s got to this point and she¡¯s still unrepentant. She wants to lure us out and kill us.¡±
¡°Let me kill her!¡± Smy couldn¡¯t stand it any longer. She grew more disgusted with every word which Dayetia spoke. Poor Dayetia had no idea that Xia Lei had nted a listening device on her, and that Smy knew of her secret dealings with Abutulu.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Dayetia came to a stop about 20 metres from them. She ced the AK47 slowly on the ground by her feet and raised her voice. ¡°Let¡¯s talk!¡±
Xia Lei stood and said coldly. ¡°What is there to talk about?¡±
Dayetia was straightforward. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to save your friend and those Chinese people? Give the sword back and I¡¯ll contact the people in my tribe right away to have them released.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°The White Hun Tribe doesn¡¯t even have a mobile phone. How are you going to contact the people there? It¡¯s alreadye to this, and you¡¯re still lying. I am ashamed for you. Tell me - why did you do it?¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll kill all the hostages when I get back?¡± Dayetia did not exin herself and her words took on a tough edge.
¡°There¡¯s no saving you. You¡¯re not fit to be chieftain of the White Hun Tribe,¡± said Xia Lei.
Smy threw aside the gun in her hands and a sharp dagger appeared instead. She walked towards Dayetia. ¡°Chieftain. This is myst time calling you ¡®Chieftain¡¯. Let¡¯s duel.¡±
Dayetia immediately realised what was going on. She scoffed, ¡°Duel? You think you have the right to have a duel with me? Let¡¯s talk when we get back to the tribe. I¡¯m ordering you now to take Xia down!¡±
Smy¡¯s answer was to spit on the ground.
Dayetia suddenly grabbed for her gun.
Bang! A bullet came flying and the AK47 Dayetia had ced on the ground was hit, pushed away.
¡°Try to get your gun again and the next bullet will bury itself in your head.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was cold.
Dayetia dared not make any false moves. She did not doubt that Xia Lei would shoot her. She had witnessed him kill tens if not hundreds of people, and he had not even blinked when killing them.
Xia Lei suddenly shouted down the mountain, ¡°Listen up, Ika Tribe! I¡¯ll double the 200,000 Dayetia promised you. Apensation. This money will be paid to you by Smy, the new chieftain of the White Hun Tribe!¡±
Smy stared nkly for a bit, then said hurriedly, ¡°I don¡¯t have the money! 400,000 US dors? You won¡¯t get so much even if you sold me off!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, wordless. He felt that Smy¡¯s mind was sometimes very sharp and sometimes her breasts jiggled faster than her brain. It was still fine - she had not spoken very loudly and the people down the mountain did not hear her.
A response cam quickly from down below, and it was Abutulu¡¯s voice. ¡°What are you going to pay with?¡±
Xia Lei spoke quietly to Smy, ¡°Tell them you¡¯re going to pay via bank transfer. You can pay them any time if they have the equipment.¡±
¡°But I don¡¯t have it.¡±
¡°I¡¯m giving you the money! You...¡± Xia Lei did not say the word ¡®idiot¡¯.
Smy grew confident after hearing that Xia Lei was going to fund her. She shouted loudly, ¡°I¡¯ll pay you with a bank transfer! I can pay any time if you have the equipment!¡±
¡°You¡¯re Chieftain Smy! We¡¯re friends! Wait, I¡¯ll send someone to get the equipment!¡± came Abutulu¡¯s voice. This was equivalent to him acknowledging Smy¡¯s status.
Blood had drained from Dayetia¡¯s face. Her eyes were ice-cold.
Smy walked over to Dayetia, and her demeanour had changed entirely. The baby-faced H-cup girl was like a she-wolf fighting for the alpha wolf position. She did not bare her fangs but her aura was no less imposing than Dayetia¡¯s.
Xia Lei quietly palmed a throwing knife, ready to let it fly at any moment. He had agreed to let Smy handle Dayetia but he would not hesitate to attack if Smy¡¯s life was threatened. Smy wanted it to be a fair fight because of her White Hun traditions but he didn¡¯t need to y fair. He just needed Smy to be in the position of chieftain of the White Hun Tribe.
Smy walked to Dayetia and stopped. She looked coldly at her. ¡°Take out your de and fight!¡±
Dayetia hesitated, and took the dagger from her belt. She moved slowly, as if she were fairly hesitant to do so, but she suddenly stabbed at Smy as soon as the de was in her hand. She was so quick it was almost impossible to dodge!
Smy hurriedly turned aside to avoid it but the dagger still cut her chest, drawing blood. Her breasts were too big and were a burden to her sometimes.
Xia Lei was surprised too and the throwing knife almost left his hand.
Dayetia pressed her attack, not giving Smy a chance to fight back. Her attacks were fierce and the dagger in her hand shed at Smy¡¯s heart. Smy avoided that attack, but Dayetia turned her hand and shed at her neck. Every attack she made was with the intent to kill!
Smy bent to dodge the dagger in Dayetia¡¯s hand, and her own dagger shed at Dayetia¡¯s left knee as Dayetia¡¯s attack missed. Fabric and ligaments were cut, and blood came from Dayetia¡¯s left leg.
Dayetia withdrew quickly but Smy rolled, going to her right. As she passed her, Smy¡¯s dagger shed, ripping the ligaments of Dayetia¡¯s right leg.
The fight was not over yet but Xia Lei was quite relieved. He could tell that Smy¡¯sbat abilities were far superiorpared to Dayetia and the wound she had received in the beginning was only due to a sneak attack.
The two women fought hand-to-hand on the mountain. Dayetia¡¯s legs were injured and her mobility decreased sharply. Several wounds were added to her body in the blink of an eye. Blood wet her clothes and her expression grew more and more malevolent.
¡°Kill me and you will be executed!¡± The dishevelled Dayetia seemed mad. ¡°I am Chieftain! Not you!¡±
¡°I¡¯m Chieftain if I kill you!¡± Smy darted forward and the dagger in her hand was like a venomous snake, shing erratically left, right. Every move drew blood, adding yet another wound to Dayetia¡¯s body.
Dayetia fell to her knees under the assault and her dagger-wielding right hand dropped to the ground.
Smy spun to Dayetia¡¯s back and the dagger in her hand pressed against Dayetia¡¯s neck.
¡°Smy, no... I was wrong. I admit my loss.¡± Dayetia lifted her right hand sneakily as she spoke, and the de of her dagger drew closer to Smy.
Xia Lei was about to call out a warning when Smy¡¯s hand wrenched violently. Blood fountained from Dayetia¡¯s neck.
Smy kicked Dayetia¡¯s corpse aside and spat on it. ¡°You can only use that trick once on me. Told you I was smart but you always ignored this! You bitch!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 337 - Merciless Tradition
Xia Lei¡¯s problems were solved with Dayetia¡¯s death. Smy became the chieftain of the White Hun Tribe so he did not have to worry about the safety of Tang Yu-Yan, Ning Jing and the experts. There was the permission to excavate the ruins too but wouldn¡¯t Smy grant him his request anyway?
There was one problem left now - the Ika Tribe.
Down below, Chieftain Abutulu was climbing up with dozens of his men. The tribesmen all carried guns and were on high alert. One of the tribesmen attached a white piece of cloth to a branch and held it high as a sign to Xia Lei and Smy to cease fire. They couldn¡¯t be med for being so nervous, since the battle earlier had frightened them badly.
¡°Abutulu¡¯s bringing so many men. What if they fight us?¡± said Smy worriedly.
Xia Lei was rxed. ¡°I¡¯ve never had dealings with Abutulu but I can tell that he¡¯s a greedy man. And your two tribes aren¡¯t that far away from each other so the Ika Tribe depends on you guys to some extent. Having a war does both sides no good. Besides, we¡¯re giving him 400,000 US dors. This money¡¯s enough to buy peace.¡±
Smy gave him a toothy smile. ¡°I trust you. But if they dare touch you I¡¯ll kill them all!¡±
Her smile pulled at the wound on her chest and some blood seeped out of it. The high spheres and bright red wound had their own fascinating beauty, and also made one feel some tenderness. The torn fabric also revealed white skin which made one¡¯s head fill with imagination, guessing at the whole image.
¡°Xia, help me bandage my wounds when the negotiations are done, okay?¡± Her wounds were still bleeding but Smy was smiling, carefree. Her brain seemed to be full of images of him bandaging her wounds.
¡°No problem,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile. He had to stay on her good side now. She was now chieftain too, butpared to Dayetia it was much easier to keep Smy happy.
Abutulu and his men hade close; they were about 20 metres away. Abutulu and his men stopped. They were wary of Xia Lei and Smy and were not willing to take one step closer.
¡°We¡¯re here! Youe down to talk!¡± Abutulu shouted to Xia Lei and Smy.
Smy made to go down but Xia Lei held her back and said quietly in her ear, ¡°You stay here, stay alert. I¡¯ll go talk with them.¡±
Smy¡¯s face was full of worry. ¡°But...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°I know you¡¯re worried for my safety but it is more dangerous for both of us to go. Besides, do you know how to pay them that amount of money?¡±
Smy looked embarrassed and didn¡¯t insist on going with him again.
Xia Lei picked up Dayetia¡¯s AK47, slung his sniper rifle over his back and walked towards Abutulu. He¡¯d picked up the AK47 because the sniper rifle wouldn¡¯t be effective if he needed to engage in closebat.
As Xia Lei walked down, Smy watched the Ika tribesmen warily, prepared to shoot anyone who made any suspicious moves at any time. It looked like it was just two people and that the Ika Tribe had an advantage in numbers but the two were highly skilled with the gun and unafraid of Abutulu and his men.
Xia Lei stopped before Abutulu; he was calm.
Abutulu looked at Xia Lei with burning eyes. ¡°You have the most guts I¡¯ve seen. Not afraid that I¡¯d go back on our deal and kill you?¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°What will you gain if you kill me? Just one corpse. Don¡¯t forget though that Smy is the White Hun Tribe¡¯s marks-woman. The first one she will kill is you. Do you want to test her, Chieftain Abutulu?¡±
Abutulu nced at Smy in the distance and said, ¡°You¡¯ve killed quite a number of my men. I can¡¯t revive them even if I kill you two. Their children and their wives still need to live on. I won¡¯t say more; pay up.¡±
An Ika tribesman held up a notebookputer and a satellite signal receiver to Xia Lei. He was different from the other tribesmen; he wore spectacles and looked like someone who¡¯d had an education.
¡°What do we do if I pay and you don¡¯t let us go?¡± said Xia Lei.
Anger shed in Abutulu¡¯s eyes. ¡°You don¡¯t trust me?¡±
Xia Lei kept his tone neutral. ¡°Chieftain Abutulu, you sent hundreds of men after our blood earlier. Can I trust you right away? Besides, I¡¯m not paying you a small amount. It¡¯s 400,000 US dors. Your tribe won¡¯t even earn as much for a whole year¡¯s harvest of poppy, eh?¡±
¡°Bastard! How dare you speak to our chieftain like that!¡± said an armed Ika tribesmen angrily to Xia Lei.
Abutulu quickly pressed the man¡¯s hand down, not allowing him to raise the muzzle of his gun. If anyone fired in this situation, the 400,000 US dors would be gone, and maybe their lives too!
¡°Speak. What do you want?¡± Abutulu held his anger in check.
¡°I have just one condition, Chieftain Abutulu. Swear in the name of your god, Ah.¡±
Abutulu had not expected Xia Lei to make such a request and he paused, then breezily made an oath in the name of Ah.
Xia Lei also quickly finished his transfer and 400,000 US dors was moved to Abutulu¡¯s bank ount.
A smile appeared on Abutulu¡¯s face at the sight of the numbers added. ¡°Tell me, man of China - who are you?¡±
¡°Dayetia has told you a little of my situation but what I can tell you is that I am a businessman. I am prepared to invest in the White Hun Tribe. I may work with your tribe in the future too, and you could earn even more money. As you¡¯ve seen, I am generous. I like to solve problems with money. What I¡¯m saying is - be my friend and you will get more than this 400,000 US dors,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hahaha, we are already friends.¡± Abutulu hugged Xia Lei. ¡°Come,e guest at our tribe. Yes?¡±
¡°Next time, maybe. We are hurrying back to the White Hun Tribe.¡± Xia Lei rejected the offer.
¡°All right, next time.¡± Abutulu waved his hand, and his men followed him down the mountain.
A number of the Ika people had died in this battle but lives were not the most valuable things in thisnd. People would, naturally, be unhappy and angry about the deaths in the Ika Tribe but they were up against a terrifying man with godly gunmanship. The memory of the previous battle swayed their determination and courage to continue a fight against Xia Lei and Smy.
Money and power - these were the foundation of Xia Lei¡¯s problem-solving.
Abutulu and his men left the mountain after the transaction was done, taking the corpses of their fallenrades with them.
Xia Lei watched the men leave on horseback and tension left his body. A piece of clothing suddenly came flying over at that moment and covered his head. The clothing carried the scent of blood, sweat and a certain fragrance. Thebination of these three smells was not the best but also not the worst. Smelling this, Xia Lei knew that the new chieftain must be naked now.
¡°Wheew...¡± The sound of Smy drawing a deep breath came from behind him.
Xia Lei pulled her clothing off his head and turned. Smy had not one stitch of clothing on her upper body. She was bare, and white like a bun straight out of the oven. Her sizeable breasts were exposed under the sunlight and looked like two piles of snow; it was an electrifying sight. The sh-wound was right in the middle of her right breast. It was not deep but the cut was about five centimetres long.
¡°Will it scar?¡± Smy was worried about this and she frownedically.
Xia Lei saidfortingly, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t. Sit down. I¡¯ll help you dress it.¡±
Smy sat on a rock and Xia Lei took out a first-aid kit from his luggage. He first used some gauze to clean away the blood around the wound, then stitched the wound together with needle and thread.
¡°Don¡¯t move. I can¡¯t stitch it up if you move.¡±
¡°Won¡¯t it be fine if you just hold it still?¡±
¡°How am I going to hold it? It¡¯s too big!¡±
¡°Use both hands, stupid.¡±
¡°Then which hand am I going to use to stitch up your wound?¡±
¡°Uh...¡±
Xia Lei would rather fight with the Ika Tribe if he had a choice, and not stitch a wound in that ce for this dumb-ass Smy.
Something which should have taken a few minutes ended up taking Xia Lei 15 minutes. He pressed gauze on her wound and bandaged it, then threw her jacket over her face. ¡°Put it on. We have to get our horses back.¡±
¡°I¡¯m injured. Put it on for me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei took the piece of clothing and tried to put it on her but she yfully threw herself into his embrace and kissed him on the lips.
Xia Lei froze for a bit, but was quickly drawn into the kiss. One could die at any time in thisnd so it was okay to let go, right? He knew too that this kiss of Smy¡¯s was the beginning of a more intimate rtionship between them, and he also needed this connection. He would satisfy her, no matter what she asked of him.
The two of them parted after some time. Smy smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯re mine. I¡¯m Chieftain now. No one can stop us from being together.¡±
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He had achieved his objective but his heart was full of sadness and guilt. He was going to leave afterpleting his mission - what ending would he and she have?
¡°Wait for me. I have to do something before we get the horses.¡± Smy got to her feet and walked towards Dayetia¡¯s corpse. She drew the dagger which had taken Dayetia¡¯s life as she walked.
Xia Lei looked at her curiously. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±
¡°Cut her head off.¡±
Xia Lei was thunderstruck. ¡°What?¡±
Smy was all casual. ¡°I can¡¯t be chieftain without Dayetia¡¯s head. This is our tradition so don¡¯t interfere. You can look away if you think it¡¯s disgusting.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go look for the horses.¡± Xia Lei turned to leave.
This was something he definitely could not ept.
Chapter 338 - Mysterious Ancient Book
The White Hun Tribe, three dayster.
Smy and Xia Lei returned with the sword of Att, and Dayetia was dead. These two events rocked the White Hun Tribe and caused some upheavals. As the tribe¡¯s marks-woman and the most valiant of their warriors in every battle, Smy was highly regarded among the tribe¡¯s warriors, and these warriors were in approval of Smy seeding the position of chieftain. There were supporters of Dayetia in the tribe too and these raised voices of doubt and objection. The two sides shed and the air was thick with opposition.
The recording from the listening device Xia Lei had nted on Dayetia wsa of great help when it got to a crucial moment. As chieftain, Dayetia had schemed to sell off Xia Lei, who had brought back their sacred relic for them, to the Americans. She had also implicitly allowed the Ika Tribe to do what they pleased to Smy before killing her. There was yet another upheaval in the tribe when Dayetia¡¯s conversation with Abutulu was made known. The voices of doubt and objection went quiet and Smy, logically, became the new chieftain.
The men in the tribe started ughtering pigs and goats in preparation for the ceremony to appoint Smy as chieftain.
Xia Lei used the satellite phone to call Shi Bo-Ren and update him on the progress of the mission.
¡°So the higher-ups mean for us to return to China while you stay behind?¡± Tang Yu-Yan spoke only after Xia Lei ended his call with Shi Bo-Ren. Her eyes were full of worry.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°It¡¯s what your godfather means. You get ready. Take Ning Jing and the rest and leave. Long Bing and your brother will meet you. You won¡¯t have to bother about me. I¡¯ll go back to China once I¡¯vepleted my mission.¡±
¡°But how can I just leave you here alone?¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll be careful,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Are you staying behind to finish the work that Ning Jing and the others started?¡± Tang Yu-Yan was quick-witted and quickly guessed at least some part of it right.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s your godfather¡¯s order. Only I can do this, and it won¡¯t work otherwise.¡±
¡°I can stay and help you. We¡¯ll leave after we finish the task,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
This was not a bad suggestion and it was better to have an assistant; Xia Lei was tempted to agree to it.
Du du du, du du du...
The satellite phone rang all of a sudden.
It was Long Bing. ¡°Get Tang Yu-Yan on the line.¡±
Xia Lei handed the satellite phone to Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°It¡¯s Long Bing. She¡¯s asking for you.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan took the phone and talked with Long Bing.
Xia Lei watched Tang Yu-Yan. It was a pity that he could only hear Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s voice but not Long Bing¡¯s.
¡°All right. I¡¯ll make preparations right away. I¡¯ll arrive at the specified position after six hours.¡± Tang Yu-Yan replied, then handed the satellite phone to Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei, be careful. Tang Yu-Yan will take our people out of the White Hun Tribe very soon and to the specified location to wait for our ne. Keep a satellite phone with you and maintain contact. Retreat immediately when you¡¯vepleted your mission,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
¡°I need to move now or we won¡¯t get to the ce where the ne¡¯s going to pick us up.¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked at Xia Lei with a bit of sadness in her eyes. They had gone through life-and-death situations together, and also had some blush-inducing incidents between them. These were all precious memories which were not easily forgotten.
¡°Take care. See you in China.¡± Xia Lei looked back at her too.
Tang Yu-Yan suddenly drew close and gave Xia Lei a tight hug.
Strong arms, warm, yet soft pressure, and a fragrance which filled his nose - Xia Lei grew nervous. He didn¡¯t know if he should reach out and put his arms in a hug around her waist.
¡°Promise me you¡¯lle back alive,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan by his ear. She released him.
Xia Lei came back to his senses and nodded.
A whileter, Ning Jing and the experts from China were gathered and prepared to leave the tribe with Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°Aren¡¯t you leaving?¡± Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei in astonishment when she heard that he was staying.
Many White Hun women were close by watching but Xia Lei did not worry about them understanding Chinese. ¡°I¡¯m staying to finish up the work you couldn¡¯tplete,¡± he said.
¡°Then I¡¯ll stay to finish it with you. This is my field of specialty. I can be of help.¡±
¡°No, you have to leave. This is an order from the higher-ups. Many people have died because of you guys. The higher-ups have arranged everything so the n will be disrupted if you don¡¯t go. Do you still want to be in a bad situation and need others toe rescue you again?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was stern.
¡°I...¡± Ning Jing was conflicted but also felt that what Xia Lei said was fairly logical. She was undecided.
¡°Don¡¯t be silly. Go back. I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯lle visit you when I¡¯m back.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was much softer.
¡°You muste back.¡± Ning Jing suddenly mustered her courage and threw herself in Xia Lei¡¯s arms. Her softness pressed against Xia Lei as she hugged him tightly around his waist.
She was a weak woman, and Xia Lei was a head taller than her. She looked even smaller in Xia Lei¡¯s arms, like a little bird in a human¡¯s hold.
Next to them, Tang Yu-Yan wrinkled her brows, then a small wry smile appeared in the corners of her lips. She had hugged Xia Lei and this archaeology professor was doing the same thing. She abruptly thought of a line from an old song - Just how many close little sisters do you have?
Xia Lei was embarrassed by this hug from Ning Jing because he¡¯d noticed the strange look in Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s eyes, and the gazes of all the White Hun women around them. Practically everyone in the tribe knew that he was the man of the new chieftain, Smy. These women would definitely be curious about their rtionship when seeing Ning Jing hug him like this.
Bang bang bang!
Sudden gunshots shattered the peace, scaring Ning Jing. She hurriedly let go of Xia Lei to see what had happened.
The one who had fired was Smy. The baby-faced H-cup chieftain was unhappy. ¡°I¡¯ve already allowed you to leave so why aren¡¯t you leaving? If you¡¯re not leaving then stay and feed the goats.¡±
The women of the tribe smiled in schadenfreude. They knew why she was so angry. The new chieftain had just one man, so how could she allow another woman to hold him and hug him?
¡°We¡¯re going.¡± Tang Yu-Yan responded quickly. She pulled Ning Jing with her and turned to leave.
Ning Jing looked back at Xia Lei, her eyes full of reluctance.
XIa Lei waved to tell her to leave quickly.
Tang Yu-Yan led the experts on a route along the river and they walked slowly out of their sight.
Smy went to Xia Lei¡¯s side and took his hand with a smile. ¡°Let¡¯s dance and celebrate.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What dance? I can¡¯t dance.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll learn quickly. It¡¯s simple.¡± Smy pulled Xia Lei along in a dance.
It was indeed a simple dance. Step, jump, turn, and that was it. It was like a folk dance of the Tibetan Zhang group*. Soon, the women of the tribe joined the dance and they shot in the sky as they danced. Ear-piercing gunshots rang out continuously and breasts, big and small, jiggled like no tomorrow. As the only male in the dance, Xia Lei felt very strange and had this worry that these women would suddenly wash over him like a wave, drowning him...
Dayetia¡¯s head had been ced in a wooden coffin and an old horse apanied her in her grave. The Hun were a horseback minority group and it was a mark of status to have a horse buried with the dead. Dayetia had been killed by Smy and her head chopped off but her funeral was still rather grand.
Night descended and the ceremony and celebration came to an end. Xia Lei had drunk quite a bit of the tribe¡¯s fermented horse milk and he felt heavy-headed yet light-footed. Two female warriors supported him, brought him to a room and put him on a bed, then removed his shoes and socks. Xia Lei did not want them to tend to him but he was in no state to defy the two strong women. They also discussed his merits while taking off his shoes and socks; Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry.
Xia Lei looked around the room after the two warrior left. It was not Smy¡¯s house - it was much more spacious and luxurious. He then spotted clothing which Dayetia had worn and things she had used. This was Dayetia¡¯s room.
It made sense. Smy was not chieftain. Of course she couldn¡¯t stay in her old, rundown little house. The home of the previous chieftain was hers to live in now - this was also some sort of symbol of her status.
Xia Lei looked around in the room and found an ancient book in a drawer. The cover of the book was treated skin and it had ayer of grease on it. Except for some wear and tear in the corners, it seemed to beplete.
The writing on the cover was ancient Hun and Xia Lei couldn¡¯t read a word of it. He was curious, so he flipped through its pages. The pages were old, yellowed, but the words and drawings on them were still fairly readable. Unfortunately, the words were all in ancient Hun and he did know how to read them.
He then saw some hand-drawn map in the book. He took a closer look and was surprised to discover that this was a map of the ancient ruins. The map showed walls, the pce, streets, weapons storage and the ces where warrior lived and trained.
His gaze suddenly focused on a ce in the pce. His left eye twitched and a hidden pattern in the map was erged. He was thunderstruck when he saw the image clearly.
The pattern consisted of two letters - AE!
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei scrambled to find an exnation but his brain came up empty. All his thoughts has been swallowed and he couldn¡¯t find anything to exin it.
The sound of footsteps approaching jolted him back to reality. He hurriedly put the ancient book back in its original spot and swiftly went back to lie on the bed.
The door opened and Smy walked in. Her steps were unsteady and she was chattering. ¡°I¡¯m not drunk! You hags wanna get me drunk? Hahaha... I¡¯d drink you to your graves if I weren¡¯t rushing to be a bride!¡±
Smy kicked the door shut behind her and came stumbling over to Xia Lei.
Outside the house came a trotting of steps, as if a flock of sheep were passing by.
Xia Lei looked through the walls and was shocked to see that it was already surrounded by the women of the tribe. They wereughing and chatting, jostling at the best spots at windows and doors, waiting for some great show to start.
Xia Lei wanted very much to turn into a bird in that instant and fly out from the roof.
His imagination was great and detailed but his reality was miserably stark. He stayed on the bed.
Chapter 339 - City of the White Horse of Tomorrow
Xia Lei closed his eyes and made some snoring noises. His sleeping act was so convincing he could trick himself.
However, Smy came right over and pressed him below herself without a care. Her mouth and hands roamed where they pleased and touched him all over. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t able to hold out for even a minute. He opened his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re drunk. Go to sleep.¡±
Smy chuckled. ¡°Do I look drunk to you?¡±
¡°You¡¯re pretending?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s jaw almost dropped to the bed.
¡°What¡¯s so good about drinking alcohol? I want to drink you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Smy held Xia Lei¡¯s face, her eyes full of sweet tenderness. ¡°No one can stop us from being together now. You¡¯re mine. Nobody can snatch you away from me.¡±
¡°My head hurts. I think I drank too much. I¡¯m so dizzy I should sleep for a bit first.¡± He had failed at faking sleep so he was going to fake drunkenness. He closed his eyes again.
Smy shoved Xia Lei angrily but he did not respond. She paused, then threw herself atop Xia Lei and rolled him over to ride on him. Xia Lei struggled but Smy was fierce like a wild horse. He was afraid that he would hurt her if he used all his strength against her, so he relented a little, but this little bit of giving in resulted in...
An angelic baby-face barely out of puberty, still holding onto innocence but an explosively sexy subus body... Xia Lei fell to the chieftain¡¯s ravaging, then well and truly lost himself. He didn¡¯t care anymore. He was going to do it - just be together!
The house filled with curious sounds, sometimes high, sometimes low, and sometimes melting into a mess of apanying sounds like a song praising the sounds of nature.
Arge group of tribeswomen chattered outside the house. Some peeked through cracks in the door and some peeked through wormholes in the walls. Some even rode on the shoulders of their fellow sisters to look through the window. It was like some great celebrity hade to the tribe to hold a concert.
¡°What a man! He¡¯s much more durable than the ones I have at home.¡±
¡°Sisters, do you think Smy will be weak-kneed tomorrow?¡±
¡°What ¡®Smy¡¯? Call her ¡®Chieftain¡¯ now!¡±
¡°Mama, Sister Smy is crying. Did someone hit her?¡± asked a little brat.
¡°You know nothing, kid. Smy isughing, not crying.¡±
¡°She¡¯s crying! I want to see!¡±
¡°Shoo, shoo! Brats should stay out of the way. Mama will grab some men for you when you¡¯re grown and you¡¯ll know if Sister Smy was crying orughing.¡±
¡°Really? Then I want to grow up tomorrow... But I still want to see.¡±
¡°Shoo!¡±
Bang bang bang!
Someone fired at the sky.
This was a night which was not fated to be quiet. Someone was transformed from a girl to a woman that night, and someone went from horny beast to wrung-out rag.
The rays of dawn chased away the darkness of the canyon and bright sunshine gently illuminated this paradise. A thin mist rose from the forest, making it look ethereal. The river water sshed as carp jumped out of its surface, wetting the men washing clothing by the riverside. This made for a quiet and beautiful picture, like a goddess of the world.
Xia Lei felt tenderness and a bit of guilt as he watched Smy climb out of bed and prepare some food. However, Smy¡¯s perky buttocks and seductive back quickly dispelled his guilt. There was no way to feign modesty when faced with this great stunner of a baby-face H-cup.
Smy walked oddly, as if she¡¯d goneme.
Xia Lei got out of bed too. ¡°It¡¯s better if I do it. You rest.¡±
Smy smiled back at him. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I just hit my foot. You rest. I¡¯ll call you when I¡¯m done.¡± She abruptly remembered something. ¡°But if anyone asks, you have to say that you cooked.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and nodded. Men were the ones who served women in this tribe. Smy was chieftain now, so it would hurt her image if anyone discovered that she was cooking for him.
Smy went to the kitchen but Xia Lei did not go back tozing in bed. He got dressed and went to the simple desk with drawers. He opened the drawer and took the ancient book out to flip through it again. The part he hadn¡¯t had time to look at was also in ancient Hun and had some hand-drawn pictures too. It was too bad he didn¡¯t understand the Hunnguage and couldn¡¯t decipher the contents of the book.
¡°Time to eat.¡± Smy brought a ck ceramic pot into the room. Her gaze went to the ancient book in Xia Lei¡¯s hands and she asked curiously, ¡°What are you reading?¡±
Xia Lei did not hide the book away this time. He brought it over to Smy. ¡°I found a book. It should be something Dayetia left behind, but I don¡¯t know how to read Hun writing. Do you?¡±
¡°I know some. Let me see.¡± Smy took hold of the ancient book and nagged him again, ¡°You go eat some breakfast.¡±
Xia Lei looked in the ceramic pot and found just some boiled sweet potatoes, some potatoes and a tbread. This was breakfast in their tribe and Smy was eating this as chieftain. What was the rest eating? The sight of the food made Xia Lei¡¯s heart ache, and he didn¡¯t feel good about it.
Seeing that Xia Lei had not moved, Smy said, ¡°If you want meat I¡¯ll get someone to bring some over. I¡¯ll ughter a goat for you if you want lunch.¡±
¡°No, no, no, this is okay. Vegetables are healthy.¡± Xia Lei picked up a sweet potato and gnawed on it. He¡¯d been through tough times before on construction sites and eaten food which couldn¡¯t even be used for slops. He would not reject the food Smy offered him because of the meagre poverty of the tribe. He was not the sort to forget his humble roots and lust for riches.
Smy rifled through the book and said casually, ¡°This is our tribe¡¯s book. I heard my grandmother talk about it. It records our tribe¡¯s history. You know that Att the Hun had built his own empire. It failed, but that period was our most glorious.¡±
¡°What else is in it besides history?¡±
Smy turned more pages and soon reached the hand-drawn map of the ancient ruins. She examined it for a bit and said, ¡°This also records our ancestors¡¯ capital and its buildings. You saw it. This city is where we met. It¡¯s called the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow. Legends say there¡¯s treasure but we¡¯ve dug in many ces and uncovered no treasure.¡±
So the ruins was called the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow. It was an odd name.
¡°And then? What does it say afterwards?¡±
Smy turned yet more pages. ¡°Some major traditional activities and ceremonies. And some drawings of important people. Princes, princesses, h h. This - look at this.¡± She pointed at a woman on thest few pages and said with a smile, ¡°The legendary Princess Yong-Mei, Zhu Xuan-Yue. You can guess that she¡¯s Chinese like you by the name, eh? Heh heh. My grandmother liked her best. She often told me the story of Princess Yong-Mei.¡±
She was surnamed ¡®Zhu¡¯ - wasn¡¯t that the surname of the Ming emperor? And she was a princess too. Xia Lei thought of the Ming dynastypass immediately. His brain whirred, linking persons, events and key items together. His brain seemed to have drawn a rtionship chart of all these but this chart was still iplete and he couldn¡¯t see it clearly yet.
¡°Hey, why are you spacing out?¡± Smy grinned at Xia Lei like he was a cooked sweet potato, all eager to eat him up.
¡°Um, nothing.¡± Xia Lei snapped back to his senses and said, ¡°What else does the book say? About this Princess Yong-Mei, right, and your grandmother. What story did she tell you about this princess? Please tell me. I¡¯d like to know.¡±
¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± Smy pursed her cherry lips and spoke teasingly. She was the marks-woman of the White Hun Tribe and killed easily but she was an eighteen-year-old girl in front of Xia Lei. She flirted and acted coy.
Xia Lei peeled a sweet potato for her and fed it to her; it was a very tender thing to do. He¡¯d unexpectedly found an important lead and what Smy knew was just too important to him. He would serve her and give her a bath, no problem, much less feed her food.
Smy smiled sweetly as she ate the sweet potato Xia Lei fed her. She looked blissful.
¡°Please tell me,¡± Xia Lei pushed.
¡°My grandmother...¡± She choked before she could finish her sentence.
Xia Lei hurriedly patted her on her chest to help her swallow. The patting made her chest jiggle and wiggle and ripple wondrously. All that movement made the rtionship chart in his head be a pair of round shapes; he didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry.
¡°The books says that Princess Yong-Mei built the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow. It took ten years to build it, and she stayed in the city till she died of old age but her grave is not recorded. The book says it¡¯s bad luck. No one knows.¡±
¡°Why would the princesse build a city here?¡± Xia Lei was awash with curiosity.
Smy shook her head. ¡°I asked my grandmother the same question long ago. She always said it was because of love. She fell in love with one of our Hun princes but was not able to be with him in the end. It¡¯s a beautiful love story but I don¡¯t believe it. Prince and Princess stories are the most unreliable ones.¡±
Xia Lei did not think so. In many historical events, what was written in history books were not necessarily true because history was written by victors. But folk tales were not necessarily fake because many folktales carried the grains of truth of historical events.
¡°Smy, can you do me a favour? Please trante this whole book to Pashto. I¡¯d like to read it.¡± Xia Lei was not satisfied with Smy¡¯s sloppy trantion. He wanted to know more and he needed to find more clues.
¡°I hate reading the most. But I can get someone to trante it for you. Our tribe has educated people too,¡± said Smy with a smile.
¡°Nn, thank you. I¡¯ll feed you another sweet potato.¡± Xia Lei picked up a sweet potato to curry more favour with her.
Smy¡¯srge eyes were shiny and her voice all soft as she said, ¡°No, I don¡¯t want this root. I want yours.¡±
The sweet potato in Xia Lei¡¯s hand dropped to his crotch...
Chapter 340 - Treasure Hunt in the Ruins
Sunlight spilled across the paths, every ray dancing like a sprite between the trees, off the water and on people.
¡°Chieftain, did you sprain your ankle? You¡¯re walking funny.¡± A woman with a gun across her back greeted Smy with a smirk.
¡°Uh, yeah, I identally sprained my foot.¡± Smy blushed.
¡°Chieftain, you pulled the muscles of some other foot too, didn¡¯t you?¡±
¡°You¡¯re dead!¡± Smy flipped out.
¡°Hahaha...¡± The group of womenughed.
A little girl ran over with a look of concern on her face. ¡°Big Sister Smy, you cried for a long timest time. Does it hurt?¡±
Smy¡¯s face grew redder. She red at the child but couldn¡¯t bear to scold her; she was so embarrassed she could die.
The women roared withughter again.
They had not dared to joke with Dayetia like this when she was chieftain but Smy was different. Smy was the tribe¡¯s most precious child and many of the women had watched her grow up, and this was why they dared to joke around with her.
Xia Lei naturally became a target of their jokes too and the women teased him mercilessly, saying everything that could be said. He didn¡¯t like this sort of teasing but he didn¡¯t mind and wasn¡¯t angry. He felt that the women of the tribe were simply acting true to their nature and it was nice.
A short whileter, Xia Lei and Smy rode on their horses to the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow, apanied by some female warriors. Xia Lei did not need to build a hydropower station to get the permission to excavate after getting rid of the problem of Dayetia. He had actually got the permission that morning at breakfast in exchange for a sweet potato.
The horses cantered between the trees, through mist dissipating under the sun.
¡°The equipment will arrive in a few days. I¡¯ll be able to build a hydropower station then,¡± said Xia Lei loudly. He wanted the warriors apanying Smy to hear him. ¡°I¡¯m also prepared to invest in your tribe, and you can all have prosperous days.¡±
¡°Will we be able to eat mutton every day?¡± asked a warrior.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Of course. Not just that - you can have beef, flour and grains too.¡±
¡°Wow! Can I have some sanitary napkins too?¡±
Puahaha...
Xia Lei nearly fell off his horse.
¡°Xia, you¡¯ve already done so much to help us get the sword of Att back. We cannot keep taking your money,¡± said Smy to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I¡¯m not spending it for nothing. You have to pay me back. I n to build a modern nt cultivation farm, a farm and sanitation building too. I also n to build a handicrafts factory here. You can produce traditional handicrafts and I¡¯ll take you guys to have them sold. We split the profits. How about that?¡±
How much could traditional handicrafts sell for? He did not care about this little bit of money but he did not want Smy and the people here to feel like they were receiving charity.
¡°Great!¡± Smy was not a delicate woman and she didn¡¯t think so much about it. Xia Lei¡¯s ns filled her with anticipation. ¡°Can we exchange it for guns when we get money? We¡¯recking guns and ammunition.¡±
¡°Yeah, exchange money for guns. We will be bullied by the other tribes if we don¡¯t have guns and ammunition. We need to protect our territory, our people. We need better guns, and better ammunition,¡± said a female warrior.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°Why wait? I¡¯ll make a phone call when I¡¯m back tonight and get them to deliver some weapons and ammunition too when they airdrop the equipment.¡±
¡°Really? That¡¯s awesome!¡± Smy was so excited she squealed.
The other warrior women were excited too and their eyes filled with respect when they looked at Xia Lei. He had brought their sacred relic back and be their chieftain¡¯s man. He was also going to build a hydropower station, farms, fields, even sending them weapons and ammunition. He was undoubtedly an integral part of the tribe now.
When they got to the ruins, Xia Lei whispered in Smy¡¯s ear and she arranged to have the apanying warriors wait outside while she led Xia Lei in herself.
Xia Lei had asked for this arrangement, of course. He did not want anyone to know what he was looking for. Smy was, of course, an exception. It went without saying that Smy was trustworthy, and she was also rather easy to dupe into doing something so he didn¡¯t mind her tagging along in the treasure hunt.
This was also another adorable aspect of the baby-faced H-cup Smy.
Xia Lei took out the Ming dynastypass when they entered the ruins and walked in the direction it pointed to. This was his first time using thepass and he was shocked. It had noplicated systems or electricalponents and not even any satellite support but it could follow his every footstep and adjust itself to point in the right direction from beginning to end. It didn¡¯t point north like a normalpass; it was more magically exquisite than that.
¡°It¡¯s like apass. I didn¡¯t see that before.¡± Smy looked curious.
Xia Lei spoke casually, ¡°It¡¯s not a maicpass. It¡¯s an ancientpass which points me to where treasure is hidden. We¡¯ll be able to find treasure with this.¡±
¡°I like it,¡± said Smy. This was rather out of character for her.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What do you like it for?¡±
¡°We¡¯re together because of it. I know that you wouldn¡¯t have sneaked into my house if it weren¡¯t for it.¡± Smy seemed to be still smarting over that incident and wanted to throw a little tantrum at him.
Xia Lei reached out to put his arms around her little waist and heughed as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t be angry. Be a good girl and I¡¯ll bathe you tonight.¡±
¡°Hee hee..¡± Smy giggled foolishly. ¡°You look like an upright guy but you¡¯re actually a wicked, wicked man.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s arms left her waist as he smacked her on her perky buttocks. The smack rang out and the buttocks of the baby-faced H-cup Smy rippled as the smack echoed in the empty ruins; it was wonderful.
Smy rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, then skipped towards a rock.
¡°Why are you going there?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously.
¡°To relieve myself. No peeking.¡± Smy squatted behind the rock.
Xia Lei looked at her wordlessly and at the rock which was only a foot tall. He couldn¡¯t help thinking, ¡®Why doesn¡¯t she go find a bigger rock? That small thing... and telling me not to peek? Is she kidding me?¡¯
The sunlight was shining and there were stones in the grass, as well as white legs. This was the site of an ancient and sacred ruin but there was no ominous air here; it was natural, beautiful and seductive. It had the elegant air of art.
¡°No peeking!¡± Smy shouted, her baby-face red.
Xia Lei shrugged and turned around.
¡°Ah! Snake!¡± screamed Smy.
Xia Lei rushed over to her, saying anxiously, ¡°Where? Where?¡±
¡°Hahaha... Fooled you!¡±
Xia Lei abruptly recalled Dayetia saying that Smy was an expert at catching snakes and liked to put them in people¡¯s beds. He¡¯d forgotten this in his moment of panic.
¡°No peeking! Shameless man!¡±
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth turned up. He lifted a leg and kicked her gently on her bare bottom.
Smy ripped up grass and threw it at Xia Lei.
They passed through some stone ruins and came to the centre of the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow. Before them was arge stretch of stone and some iplete statues. It spanned the area of over a thousand square metres and it was easy to imagine how majestic it had been though it was just pieces of stone now.
The image of the map in the book surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s head and he quickly marked it down. The ruins before him was the pce. He looked at thepass in his hand again. The needle was still pointing east.
¡°I¡¯m not trying to discourage you or anything but countless treasure hunters havee here before you. They brought all sorts of weird machines and tools for treasure hunting but found nothing and they became our ves in the end. We went digging too but found nothing. Thatpass in your hand - what can it find?¡± Smy was not optimistic at all.
Xia Lei said nothing. He held thepass and kept walking east. The needle trembled when he walked 20 metres forward and he adjusted himself left, right, backward. The needle was still again when he went out of the area and pointed only in that direction. He then returned to his previous position and thepass needle started trembling again.
Xia Lei looked closely at the ground below him and his brows wrinkled. The foundation of the pce was below his feet and it was covered with huge bs of rock floor tiles, with arge amount of stone and rubble atop it. There was at least 1,000 cubic metric measurements of rock, surface and underground included. This was going to be a lot of work.
¡°Discovered something?¡± Smy drew close and looked curiously at thepass in Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
¡°I¡¯m not sure yet. Help me get the shovel, drill and tools from the horses. I¡¯ll get ready to dig here,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had the tools prepared in advance for treasure hunting and had them on his horse.
¡°I¡¯ll get them for you now.¡± Smy turned and ran off to where they¡¯d tied their horses.
Xia Lei took out the satellite phone and made a call as soon as Smy left.
¡°Boss Shi, I found it.¡± Xia Lei cut straight to the chase. ¡°But there¡¯s a lot of rock on top of it and I don¡¯t know how deep we¡¯ll need to dig. This is a big job. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll need more time.¡±
¡°Hurry. It¡¯s not safe for you there,¡± came Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s voice. ¡°What do you need? We¡¯re all ready here in Pakistan. We can air-drop it to you tomorrow night at the earliest.¡±
¡°Please note down what I need, Boss Shi,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem. Speak.¡±
¡°A generator for a small hydropower station, a hundred rifles, 100,000 rounds of ammunition, ten sniper rifles...¡±
¡°Hold on, what do you need so many weapons and ammunition for?¡±
¡°This is what the White Hun Tribe wants. Would they allow us to excavate their ancient ruins without these?¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll give it to them. What else?¡±
¡°Tools for excavation - I want thempact and the most advanced, best if I can use it by myself. Plus, prepare 2,000,000 US dors in cash. Send it via air-drop too.¡±
¡°Hah?¡±
¡°Rest assured, Boss Shi. I¡¯ll pick up the tab for the money. I¡¯ll pay, not Bureau 101.¡±
¡°No problem, then.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll contact you again.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Smy ran towards him with a shovel and a drill in her hands. Her breasts swayed as she ran and made one fill with worry that her bosom would fall at any moment due to their weight.
¡°I¡¯m back!¡± called Smy with the shovel raised.
She tripped over a stone a secondter and she flew through the air beforending heavily on the ground. Her chest was the first part of her body to hit the ground.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t bear to look. He held his hands over his eyes.
Chapter 341 - Air-dropping Supplies
The two of them dug for a whole day but couldn¡¯t do much else other than make a pit 1.5 metres deep. It was not a total loss, however. The needle of thepass trembled much more in the pit than when it had been on the surface. This was proof that it was the right spot to dig and that they were getting closer to their goal the deeper they dug.
The golden afterglow of sunset spread through the forest and the horses seemed to be galloping through time. Smy was in the lead and her perky buttocks bounced in the saddle as her breasts swayed above the horse¡¯s back. Herughter echoed in the sun-dipped forest. Looking at her, Xia Lei felt like he had been transported to a time when there were Hun kings and that he was cavorting with a Hun princess.
However, Smy would never be an elegant princess and he would never be able to go to a world over a thousand years ago. It was just a romantic fantasy.
Xia Lei fulfilled his promise when he got back to the tribe. He drew several buckets of water from the river and filled a big wooden tub to give Smy a bath. She went first by herself, then she dunked him in the tub and it became a tub for two. A good portion of the water he put in the tub ended up on the floor...
Xia Lei sat under the light of the oilmp after making a mess and read the trantion of the ancient book which a young tribe-girl had delivered. The person Smy had found was efficient indeed, tranting the entire book in a day. The tranted book had about ten thousand words and were all handwritten; the hand of the girl who did the trantion must have hurt.
Xia Lei put the ancient book on the table and read it side by side with the tranted book.
The contents of the book were more or less the same as what Smy had described. It was mostly Hun history, important figures, major traditions and ceremonies and so on. All these could be found in other history books too, just not as detailed and truthful as this ancient book.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze then went to the hand-drawn maps. He looked for the trantion and started reading.
The trantion read: Princess Yong-Mei came from the Silk Road with 3,000 soldiers, 500 horses and a host of weaponry of countless varieties. The tribe lined the streets in wee, and showed her the greatest respect. Princess Yong-Mei held a t copper te in her hand and went on foot, going where the needle on the te pointed. The soldiers built her a city - The City of the White Horse of Tomorrow...
Xia Lei was gobsmacked. He couldn¡¯t be sure if thepass the princess had was thepass he had fixed but he was sure that the princess did note to this isted ce to build a city for nothing.
¡®Could this princess of the Ming dynasty be looking for what I¡¯m looking for?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
He read on. It continued describing what would happen if the princess developed the economy and defence. The Huns believed that this princess of the Ming dynasty would definitely help them revive their nation and rebuild their era of Kings. Xia Lei did not find anything about Hun princes, let alone a beautiful love story at the end of his reading.
Smy was right. The story of the prince and a princess was not true.
¡®The princess brought 3,000 Ming soldiers here hundreds of years ago not for love, and not for political marriage because the Huns were already past their glory by then. Would Emperor Yong-Le let his own daughter marry a worthless Hun prince? Obviously not. But if it wasn¡¯t for love or for politics but a simple search for treasure, she could just excavate it and go. Why build a city here?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
There were several things Xia Lei could not figure out and he was afraid that the princess had already removed the thing he was looking for; firste, first served.
¡°Xia, how long more are you going to read?¡± Smy stretched a leg out of the bedcovers and bent itzily.
Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought was interrupted. He closed the ancient book and looked at that pale exposed leg. The leg was snow-white, delicate jade, full of temptation.
¡°What¡¯s so interesting about that ancient book? I¡¯ll show you something more interesting.¡± Smy said seductively.
Xia Lei got up and walked over. Guessing would not get him answers and now was the time to be doing something instead of thinking...
---
Xia Lei went to the ruins of the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow again the next morning. Smy did note with him this time. She did want to go with him but she was chieftain and there were many things which needed her attention. Xia Lei was d for this too since his efficiency would go up without her around.
He rode his horse straight to the pce grounds without the help of thepass and quickly came to the pit. He scanned his surroundings quickly and jumped into the pit with his tools after confirming that there were no abnormalities. He dug up shovel after shovel...
He dug the whole day again, and the depth of pit was increased to three metres. It was getting difficult to move dirt out of the pit but he hadn¡¯t managed to dig anything up yet.
Xia Lei threw the shovel aside, discouraged. ¡°Damn it, why is it so deep? How am I going to dig it up if it¡¯s ten-plus or twenty metres underground? Can¡¯t Boss Shi send an excavator?¡±
He could barely throw the dirt out of a three-metre pit but if he went deeper he would have no way of getting the dirt out even if he was very strong.
Thinking about it made him gloomier and his gazended on thepass he had put on the pit wall. Thepass was about a metre off the bottom of the pit. He had nced at it during thest metre and not brought it down with him. He took it in his hands and the needle suddenly turned in a circle, then back to its original position.
Xia Lei was startled. He put thepass on the bottom of the pit and the frequency of the needle¡¯s trembling increased. It pointed south now when it had been pointing east earlier.
Xia Lei looked at the south wall of the pit and at thepass on the ground and immediately connected the dots. A smile appeared on his face. ¡°I¡¯m on the right depth now. Time to go horizontal.¡±
He did not know how far he had to dig but digging horizontally was surely much easier than digging vertically.
Xia Lei picked up the shovel and dug for a bit more before the satellite phone rang all of a sudden.
It was Shi Bo-Ren, and he cut straight to the chase, ¡°Tomorrow, 0200 hours. The ne will air-drop the items you need.¡±
¡°Good, I need them,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Any progress?¡±
¡°I dug a huge pit and I¡¯m talking to you in this pit now. I haven¡¯t dug anything up yet. Give me more time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn. We¡¯re in Pakistan. We¡¯ll find some way to gain you more time. Tell the White Hun Tribe to prepare to receive the items after you go back. That¡¯s it. Endmunication.¡± Shi Bo-Ren hung up.
Xia Lei put away the satellite phone and thought, ¡®Bureau 101 is active in Pakistan now. Boss Shi and Long Bing must have some n to attract the attention of the CIA. No wonder it¡¯s so quiet on my end. But this isn¡¯t a long-term solution either. I have to dig this up as soon as I can and leave.¡¯
The thought of leaving made Xia Lei think of Smy and he couldn¡¯t help feeling sad. He was not together with Smy out of love but there was a feeling of intimacy between a man and a woman after having that sort of rtionship, even if it wasn¡¯t love. Also, he felt like he owed Smy. This was why he wanted to give the White Hun Tribe supplies, and 2,000,000 US dors. He wanted to make it up to Smy and the White Hun Tribe in this fashion.
Back in the tribe, Xia Lei told Smy about the air-drop in the wee hours of morn. She got people to prepare for it right away, and all the carts in the tribe were gathered. They also lit signal bonfires in areas suitable for an air-drop.
The women and men of the tribe gathered to await collection. Night descended and people were gathered all around the bonfires. Chatter andughter filled the air; it was a rather lively scene.
¡°Xia, what did you dig up today?¡± said Smy intimately as she nestled in Xia Lei¡¯s arms by the biggest bonfire.
¡°Nothing,¡± said Xia Lei. Stares came from everywhere, watching him and Smy, but he was used to it already. Their ¡®wedding night¡¯ had been practically broadcast to everyone and he¡¯d gone through that, so what was this little disy?
¡°Told you there was no treasure but you didn¡¯t believe me...¡± Smy suddenly remembered something and said anxiously, ¡°You won¡¯t take our things back because you didn¡¯t dig up anything, will you?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m not a child. I won¡¯t go back on my words. Rx, I do sincerely want to help your tribe. I won¡¯t ask anything of you even if I don¡¯t manage to dig up anything.¡± After a pause, he drew close to Smy¡¯s ear and nibbled on her earlobe as he said, ¡°I¡¯m doing this for you too. I won¡¯t be so foolish to send so many supplies if it weren¡¯t for you.¡±
Smy giggled and looked full of bliss. She drew yfully close to his ear too and said with warmed breath, ¡°I can give you all of me if you want to drill deep.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
This was Smy, and she wouldn¡¯t be her if she didn¡¯t say things like this.
The whine of ne engines came from the sky past 0150 hrs. A huge Cloud20 military cargo ne appeared in the sky, flying slowly past several bonfires. Wooden crates dropped through the air, deploying parachutes as they fell and descending slowly towards the ground.
The Cloud20 ne turned around afterpleting the air-drop and flew in the direction of Pakistan; it did not linger a minute more.
The crates were quickly gathered in a pile and Smy ordered them all opened.
Everything Xia Lei had requested was in the crates. There was a hundred Russian-made AK12 assault rifles and ammunition, and ten Chinese-made sniper rifles and ammunition. There was equipment for building the hydropower station, all in small sizes, some home appliances like electric cookers, electric nkets and so on. There was some engineering equipment, batteries and transformers for impact drills and sting devices, and some professional digging tools. Last but not least was 2,000,000 US dors in many cash bundles.
The men and women of the tribe rejoiced. Some took the AK12 assault rifles for test-shooting and the gunshots were deafening. Some danced around the bonfires, and some headbutted the huge pile of US dors...
Smy did not seem interested in all of these. She went to Xia Lei and put her arms around his waist as she rewarded him with a hot kiss.
Chapter 342 - End of the Tunnel
The generator for the hydropower station had been air-dropped but Xia Lei could not do it personally for the White Hun Tribe. Who knew how long it would take for him to finish and be able to go home. There was also the danger of discovery by the CIA.
But the tribe had the equipment and the 2,000,000 US dors Xia Lei had given them, so it was very easy for them to build a small hydropower station. Lives could be sold for money in Afghanistan, much less technical staff with relevant skills.
Besides, they just needed to dig a small water channel, build a dam there and install the generator set, then open the side channel into the main channel and get the water flowing to set up a hydropower station. It wasn¡¯t veryplicated.
Xia Lei talked to Smy about the way to build a hydropower station in bed but she wasn¡¯t even thinking of it; she nodded and agreed. She wasn¡¯t using words to speak because her little mouth was busy with something else...
The next morning, Smy led arge group of women to test the guns and Xia Lei went to the ruins alone. He brought a horse this time, and all the equipment he needed.
Xia Lei¡¯s digging speed increased quite visibly with the digging equipment Bureau 101 had provided. He dug diagonally and left some of the dirt in the pit, then made a ramp. The rest of the dirt was piled outside of the pit.
He dug five metres that day, and the pit had a tunnel extending from it which one could bend over and walk into. The tunnel he had dug was also rather carefully made, wide below and narrow on top in a triangr shape. Digging like this let the walls on both sides of the tunnel be a sort of support and avoid copse.
Xia Lei put down his shovel in the tunnel and used the light from his helmet to shine on where he wanted to dig with his tools. The digging tools were not as good as a shovel but it was good for probing atyers of soil, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t be indispensable tools for tomb raiders.
He pulled out the nearly-round digging tool and grew excited when he saw the dirt that came out.
The end of the dirt sample was ck, and it was grey-white at the head. It was also denser than the dirt at the end. The grey-white dirt was man-made, not a natural dirtyer, so this meant that he was close to his goal!
Xia Lei held his excitement in check as he put down the digging tool and looked at the wall of dirt before him. His left eye twitched, calling out the power of his X-ray vision.
He had actually been using his X-ray ability in his three days of digging to look for his target under the dirt. He had to look throughyers andyers of dirt, and the rocks in the dirt too. This required a lot of effort and he could only see up to two metres through the dirt; it was not enough. That was why he was using his X-ray ability every time he¡¯d dug to a certain depth, and he continued digging when there was no result.
He quickly saw something about two metres right in front of him this time. There was a stone b in the dirt. Xia Lei pushed his X-ray sight further and saw more stone bs. They were vertical and positioned side-by-side; it looked like a man-made stone passage.
¡®What¡¯s in the passage? Where does it lead?¡¯ Xia Lei was curious and he tried to look through the stone bs but was unsessful. The stone bs were exactly two metres away and he was unable to see beyond them.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He picked up the shovel, ready to dig further.
¡°Xia! Where are you?¡± Smy¡¯s voice came from outside the pit.
¡°I¡¯m inside,¡± replied Xia Lei. He then crawled out and realised that the sky was getting dark.
¡°Dug anything up?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Nothing.¡±
¡°Dig tomorrow. It¡¯s getting dark. Time to go home and eat dinner,¡± said Smy with a smile. ¡°I ughtered a goat. It¡¯s stewing in the pot. We can eat when we get back.¡±
¡°Why ughter a goat? That¡¯s too extravagant.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve been working so hard these past few days so I wanted to get you more nourishment. You know, I don¡¯t want you to be too tired.¡± Smy grinned wickedly.
Xia Lei knew what she was hinting at, and it made his legs and waist feel a little achey. There was a saying which went ¡®women are fields and men are oxen, and there are only tired oxen but no field tired of plowing¡¯. This saying fit his current situation to a tee. Up against an unreasonable person like Smy, this ox was already getting a little worn out.
Xia Lei chucked the shovel into the tunnel and didn¡¯t bother putting the other tools away. He climbed up the ramp he¡¯d made.
¡°It¡¯s fine if I leave the things here, right?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem. No one wille here.¡± Smy hung onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°This is our sacred grounds. If anyone other than you dares toe in here, he¡¯s dead.¡±
¡°Good, then I¡¯ll leave the tools here. It¡¯s too troublesome to drag them here again tomorrow.¡± Xia Lei chatted with Smy as they walked, slowly leaving the ruins behind.
A figure crept out of a patch of forest after Xia Lei and Smy left the ruins. Her head was wrapped in a ck hood and she wore tight-fitting ck clothes. She had curves in front and back and was tall with long legs; she was sexy. Her face couldn¡¯t be seen but she was not Afghan judging from her height and figure. She seemed like a caucasian, or an Eastern European.
The woman approached the pit cautiously, and looked back at the direction in which Xia Lei and Smy had gone before she sneaked into pit to rifle through the things there. She let out a disappointed sigh after a brief search and spoke into a minimunications device. ¡°Nope, thepass is not here. He took it with him.¡±
A male voice came from over themunications device. ¡°Forget it. Come back - don¡¯t loiter. Be sure to erase all traces. He has matured and will find out.¡±
The womanughed dryly. ¡°I told you he wouldn¡¯t leave thepass. He¡¯s not some forgetful little child.¡±
¡°Right, how deep did he dig?¡±
¡°The downward pit is about three metres deep, and the horizontal tunnel is...¡± The woman drew close to the tunnel and shone her torchlight in it. ¡°The tunnel¡¯s about five metres long but it¡¯s empty. It¡¯s unknown how much deeper he¡¯d need to dig. I think he¡¯d be hard-pressed to find an answer too.¡±
¡°All right, I got it. Come back.¡± The man cutmunications.
The woman did not leave immediately. She took out a camera and took photographs of the tunnel Xia Lei had dug, then went up to the surface and took more of the pit and its surroundings. She meticulously erased all traces she¡¯s left behind after she was done taking photographs and disappeared in the night.
In the tribe, Xia Lei was also holding a camera provided by Bureau 101. He was taking photographs of the ancient book.
¡°Why take pictures? It¡¯s a tatty old book.¡± Smy then said offhandedly, ¡°I¡¯ll give it to you if you like it.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Xia Lei was touched. He already knew its contents but he wanted to bring it back so that Ning Jing could have a look at it. She was an expert in this field and she might even glean something he didn¡¯t know or find some leads. He was delighted that Smy was going to give the book to him, of course, since the actual thing was better for study than photographs.
¡°What¡¯s there to ¡®really¡¯ about? Everything in this house is yours, including me. Why wouldn¡¯t I bear to part with a book which no one even reads?¡± Smy spoke like an overly-generous person.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯ll ept it then. I¡¯ll send it back when I¡¯m done studying it.¡±
¡°Anything you want. Take photographs of me.¡±
¡°Take photographs of you?¡±
¡°Yeah. I¡¯ve never had one taken in all my life.¡± Smy blinked herrge eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Take naughty pictures of me. You too. I¡¯ll keep those pictures for myself.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Smy¡¯s hand-stitched pyjamas slipped soundlessly to the wooden floor. She was a sexy little doll, all white and naturally beautiful.
Click. Click. Click. The camera shed in the wooden house of eroticism, and Smy moved from pose to pose...
Early next morning, Xia Lei rode a horse to the ruins again. He jumped off the horse¡¯s back when he got to the pit, then massaged his aching waist. A wry smile spread across his face. ¡®Hope I finish digging today. If this keeps on I¡¯ll get worn out. She¡¯s a like a juicer.¡±
Xia Lei tied the horse to a stone and went into the pit. As he got ready to enter the tunnel, his gaze fell upon a section of the ground next to the tunnel entrance.
There was a faint trace on that section of ground, and it looked like a footprint from some animal.
Xia Lei filled with rm. His left eye twitched and the print on the ground was erged and made crystal-clear.
His left eye saw not only the print but the grains of sand and spaces between the sand.
He soon stopped using his eye, and his grew sombre. ¡®This is most likely a person¡¯s footprint, and it was deliberately erased, just notpletely. Smy didn¡¯te down into the pit yesterday, so who was it? Could it be someone else in the tribe? If it is, then there would definitely be footprints on the ramp, but there isn¡¯t.¡¯
He thought it over but could not reach a conclusion and put the matter aside. He entered the tunnel and struck at the dirt with his shovel.
He did not think about the footprint anymore but knowledge of it made him go on guard. He used his far-sight vision whenever he brought dirt up to the surface to scan his surroundings, but he didn¡¯t discover anything.
He got through thest two metres of the tunnel after two hours, and a stone b appeared at the end of the tunnel.
What was behind the stone b?
Xia Lei drew close to the stone b, and his X-ray vision silently bore through the stone...
Chapter 343 - Tomb of Princess Yong-Mei
There was no light beyond the stone b; it was absolute darkness. Xia Lei¡¯s left eye could see in darkness but this light-less environment affected his ability too. He could only see close to 20 metres of the passage behind the stone bs.
There wasn¡¯t anything much in the stone passage. Floor, walls and roof were the same stone bs, in and bare without engraving. An oilmp was ced every few metres on both sides of the passage walls. Themps were Pashtun-style duck-billed oilmps, like the ddinmp in ¡®The Arabian Nights¡¯.
He did not know if themps were a few hundred years old or over a thousand years old. The copper was covered in corrosion and would obviously never light up again.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision since he could see no further. He reached out to push at the stone b before him but it was held together with mortar and wouldn¡¯t budge. Xia Lei turned back and got the impact drill. He drilled some holes into the gaps between the bs to destroy its stability before pushing at the b again. He managed to push it in, revealing an opening big enough for him to enter.
He did not go in immediately but used the lighter to test the air inside. The me of the lighter was normal and it moved a little as a result of a bit of an airflow in the passage.
¡®Is there a vent?¡¯ Xia Lei was awash with curiosity. There was no problem with the air, so he entered the stone passageway. He organised his backpack after entering and followed the stone bs further in.
He could see 20 metres in the dark but Xia Lei did not waste his energy. He turned on the tactical torchlight provided by Bureau 101. The torchlight could ¡®see¡¯ ces further than his eye could in thisplete darkness, and he was d to let his eye rest.
Tip-tap, tip-tap...
Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps echoed in the stone passageway and it sounded like several people were walking. A strange shadow appeared asionally in the torchlight¡¯s radius as if there was a ghost lurking in the dark. The hair of even the bravest of men would stand on end if put in an environment like this.
The stone passageway was not level but nted downwards. Xia Lei counted his steps as he went and only saw the end after counting over a thousand steps. 1,400 steps - this stone passageway was 700 metres long! It was not to the point of being perpendicr but the incline of the passageway was easy enough to calcte. The end of the passageway was located 100 metres underground!
700 metres long and a drop of 100 metres was nothing much on the ground but underground, this was a great feat of engineering. It was difficult to imagine how people hundreds of years ago were able to built this underground world.
At the end of the passageway was a thick stone door two metres high and 1.5 metres wide and it looked to weigh at least a few tonnes.
Xia Lei nced at thepass in his hand. The needle of thepass was pointing straight at the stone door and trembling more violently than before.
¡®The thing I¡¯m looking for must be behind the stone door.¡¯ Xia Lei was excited as he walked to it.
There was a relief sculpture on the stone door of a girl from ancient times. The sculpting was exquisite; the girl was vividly lifelike, poised, graceful and elegant, and it looked like she would step out of stone at any moment.
Two Chinese characters were carved over the door: Mei Mound
¡®This mound means a tomb. Mei Mound - is this Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s burial tomb? If it is, then this stone girl must be Princess Yong-Mei, Zhu Ning-Yue.¡¯
There was no lock on the door or any sort oftch. Xia Lei examined it closely, then went close to the stone door and called forth his X-ray vision to look beyond it.
The stone door was about a foot thick and was of normal stone so he was able to see through it easily with his power now. However, something strange happened. The back of the stone door seemed to be covered with ayer of ck glue and his vision was ¡®stuck¡¯ in it right after it went through, like it had gone into mud. It was difficult to even keep his vision there, and it was costing him a lot of his energy.
What was this?
Xia Lei was stunned. He stopped using his X-ray vision.
This was his first time ever encountering something like this since he got his X-ray ability.
¡®Who would put glue on the back of a tomb door?¡¯ Xia Lei could not think of a reason why.
He was unable to see through it and unable to open it - Xia Lei was left with only extreme options. He pulled his backpack off his shoulders and took out the explosives which Bureau 101 had air-dropped to him. This was the most advanced adhesive sting device. He put four of these units in four gaps around the door and backed away. He detonated the device.
Boom! There was a dull boom as the huge stone door thudded to the floor.
Squeaking came from the darkness the instant the door fell. Arge, ck mass suddenly rushed at him from behind the door.
¡®That¡¯s... Bats!¡¯ Xia Lei had goosebumps and he held his head with his arms as he threw himself to the floor.
The bats did not let him off and had him surrounded in the blink of an eye. He felt every bite and every grab at his clothing while t on the floor, and all of his exposed skin became the target of the bats¡¯ attack. The bats bit at his flesh and sucked at his blood!
Xia Lei snatched up a can of fuel from his backpack in a panic and sshed fuel all over the bats on him. He then lit his lighter. Boom! mes burst from his body and arge group of bats were set alight along with his clothes. The bats were afraid of light and the sudden mes scared them; whether on fire or not, all flew away.
Xia Lei swiftly removed his burning clothing and put the mes out on the floor. Several holes had been burnt in his clothing but he could still wear them. A defence of an extrayer of clothing was very important in this underground tomb.
Dozens of bats had dropped to the floor, still alight, screaming, struggling. Xia Lei¡¯s gazed went to a bat and he discovered that the bats here were different from bats he¡¯d seen. They were twice the size of ordinary bats and were ck all over except for a circle of white on their heads which looked like a halo; it was very strange.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the door again to look at its back but there was no ck glue on it. It was the same material as the front of the door. He was surprised. ¡®Does this mean that these bats were hanging onto the stone door and blocking my vision? They cannot be seen through?¡¯
Xia Lei looked back at a dead bat and called forth the power of his eye. The result shook him. His X-ray vision could not prate the bat. Its ck ¡®garments¡¯ seemed to be imprable to his X-ray vision and his vision was ¡®stuck¡¯ when he looked at it, just like in the earlier situation.
This ce was full of strange surprises.
Xia Lei picked up the torchlight he¡¯d dropped on the floor and speared the dark space behind the stone door with light. The darkness was dispelled and an oval chamber met his eyes. It was hundreds of square metresrge, sorge it was shocking.
The light uncovered exquisite stone carvings, terra cotta, as well as artifacts like weapons and ceramics. A white jade coffin was positioned at the centre of the tomb, quiet for long centuries but it still reflected a faint light when the torchlight shone on it; there was not much dust on it.
Xia Lei stood in the stone doorway and sniffed. What surprised him most was that the tomb had no smell of decay at all. The air in the tomb was the same as the air in the passageway. The venttion here was excellent, but he still had not found where the vents were located.
Xia Lei stepped on the stone door and forward. His foot stepped on the first stone tile.
Swish, swish, swish! Dozens of crossbow bolts came shooting from the walls on the sides. Xia Lei hurriedlyy t and rolled backwards. Dink, dink, dink! The bolts hit the spot where he¡¯d stepped, sending up sparks!
Cold sweat was shocked from Xia Lei¡¯s body. First was flesh-biting, blood-sucking bats, and now it was murderous hidden traps. Danger hid everywhere in this ce and one could end up buried here if not enough attention was paid!
Xia Lei did not dare to be negligent anymore. He climbed to his feet and called up the power of his left eye to look at the floor. He quickly discovered that the floor of the tomb was not a simple floor. There were triggers under most of the stone tiles. Some stone tiles covered pits ten metres deep, full of iron thorns. Even celestials wouldn¡¯t be able to save him if he fell in!
There were normal tiles too, with in ground underneath. Xia Lei quickly found a safe route and he stepped cautiously on a normal stone tile, testing it. There were no bolts, and no hidden traps were triggered.
He took a deep breath, then went over two stone tiles with triggers below them, jumping to a safe tile. Nothing dangerous happened this time either.
Xia Lei would absolutely have toe to a tomb like this with a map of the safe route if he did not have X-ray vision or he¡¯d perish in a few steps. Regr tomb raiders could just forget the idea of getting through this.
He quickly moved to the central area close to the jade coffin.
The terra cotta around the jade coffin were all of Ming dynasty soldiers, with weapons and armour in the style of the Ming dynasty. The soldiers looked fairly realistic, every one of them with a cold and imposing expression. It felt like he was being stared at by the undead, and Xia Lei found it eerie indeed.
He jumped towards the coffin, and the needle of thepass in his hand trembled even more. A faint buzzing could be heard from inside thepass, like the buzzing of bees¡¯ wings. It was fairly quiet but it rang clear in this ce of absolute silence.
Was what he was looking for in that jade coffin?
Xia Lei bent his waist in a jump, passing two stone tiles with triggers under them and arriving next to the jade coffin.
There was a white marble tform at the head of the coffin and a jade memorial tablet on it. The memorial tablet was inscribed with the words ¡®Resting ce of Her Highness Princess Yong-Mei¡¯.
So it was indeed the tomb of Princess Yong-Mei.
Xia Lei got close to the jade coffin and awakened the power of his eye. His X-ray vision pierced the coffin...
Chapter 344 - The Mantis
A womany in the jade coffin with no clothes on. She was entirely naked, and her skin was snow white and bloodless; she looked like she was sculpted from ice. She looked exactly as depicted on the relief on the stone door, and was elegant beyondpare. Her figure was slender and she was ample where she should be and plump where she should be in a very sexy way. Shey silently in the jade coffin, quiet and serene, giving one the impression that she was not dead but asleep.
Xia Lei was beyond surprised. ¡®This Princess Yong-Mei looks barely older than 20. Did she die young?¡¯
The ancient book of the White Hun Tribe had not recorded when the princess had died, and all the history books of China, history and even folktales had no record of a ¡®Princess Yong-Mei¡¯. There was no way to verify when and how she died.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze stopped at her neck. She had a gold ne around her neck and the pendant of the ne was not a precious gem or jade but a gold pointer-needle. Jewels and precious jadey around her, every piece an exquisite work, but he did not see any green metal or anything rted to ¡®AE¡¯.
¡®There¡¯s no alloy Ning Jing talked about or any bronze book. There¡¯s just a needle. Why? Did Princess Yong-Mei hide the alloy and bronze book in another ce?¡¯ Xia Lei head was full of guesses as he then exerted his strength and pushed open the lid of the jade coffin.
Xia Lei did not need to use his X-ray vision to see Princess Yong-Mei in the jade coffin and with the lid open, he could see her even more clearly. He felt like Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s skin was even more delicate than he¡¯d imagined, like pure white flower petals. He reached out a finger and poked her thigh. The flesh on her thigh was depressed, but quickly sprang up again.
¡®There¡¯s sticity too?!¡¯ Xia Lei was gobsmacked.
As he stared at her thigh, he suddenly saw some movement under her eyelids out of the corner of his eye, as if she had opened her eyes a crack. This shocked him and he hurriedly took a step back. He was afraid that Princess Yong-Mei would rise from the dead and suddenly grab him by the neck or something.
However, Princess Yong-Mei did not move. The movement earlier when it looked like she was opening her eyes was but a hallucination.
Xia Lei observed her for a while more and stepped back to the jade coffin. He reached out to take the ne from Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s neck and put it carefully in his backpack. The needle was rted to the next treasure location and was very important.
Following that, he stuffed all the precious gems and jade into his backpack. These ancient burial items were very valuable and no one would know if he took them anyway. They were also a nicepensation for what he had spent during this mission.
Xia Lei¡¯s attention returned to Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s body after he searched the jade coffin. He had more or less gotten used to facing her body and the initial shock had worn off a little. His thoughts started whirring.
¡®There¡¯s no preservation measures so how is Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s body so well-preserved? There¡¯s no decay even after hundreds of years. This doesn¡¯t make sense... unless there¡¯s something hidden in her body?¡¯
Filling the body with preservatives could stop the body from decaying. Methods like this were present in ancient times, like how Egyptian mummies were made.
With that thought in mind, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he started a deeper observation of Princess Yong-Mei. There were no preservatives in her body anywhere, not even her stomach; he could even see her perfectly intact intestines. He then looked at her chest. Her lungs were also perfectly preserved without any preservatives. He moved his gaze to her headst, and what he saw shook him to his core!
A piece of green metal rested upon her tongue. A closer look told him that it was the alloy Ning Jing had described!
The ancient alloy in Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s mouth looked like a gear, just with very few teeth, making it look like a six-pointed star. It was fairly strange and mysterious.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Princess Yong-Mei. Please, me Boss Shi if you want to me someone. It¡¯s him who made me do this. It¡¯s nothing to do with me...¡± Xia Lei babbled. He reached to pull her chin downwards and removed the metal alloy from her mouth.
Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s lips dried up rapidly after the metal left her mouth.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei could not believe his eyes. He was so shocked he could not speak.
It wasn¡¯t just her lips. Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s skin also lost its pale translucence and quickly turned grey, then ck in the blink of an eye. What was even more bizarre was that her body became like snow under the hot sun, melting away at a visible speed.
Yes, melting!
The first thing to disappear was her lips, then her nose and her whole face. Her high and firm breasts melted quickly too, starting from the tips, then the base and finally the ribs.
The entire process wasplete in under five minutes. The perfectly preserved body of beauty was now a pile of ash. Even her bones had fallen apart, bing white ash!
Xia Lei could only watch, dumbfounded and motionless as it all unfolded before him. He slowly pulled himself together after Princess Yong-Mei was ash. He wiped at his forehead - cold sweat had beaded it.
What had just happened was probably something that couldn¡¯t be exined, not even if the world¡¯s best biologists and archaeologists gathered!
¡®So Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s boy was preserved for hundreds of years because of this?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the ancient alloy in his hand. He was filled with shock and awe.
Humans had an inborn fear of the unknown and Xia Lei was no exception. This ancient alloy which he was interacting with for the first time was like an existence equal to the gods to him!
There were no gods in this world, of course, but he did not know what the heck this mysterious and ancient alloy was.
After some quiet scrutiny, Xia Lei focused on the ancient alloy and used his X-ray ability on it. However, his ability, which normally worked perfectly fine, was met with resistance again. His vision seemed to be reflected back by something, and his left eye was affected. His vision went ck, followed by a burning sensation. It was not too serious - there was just a slight burning and his vision quickly went back to normal.
¡®What the hell is this?¡¯ Xia Lei was astounded. He did not dare use his X-ray vision on it again. He held it in his hand and looked at it closely, not leaving any detail out.
This ancient alloy was roughly the same as Ning Jing had described. It was light, but very tough and strong. He did not test it but he was someone who worked with metals a lot and could roughly judge the strength and toughness of an alloy by touching and looking at it.
This ancient alloy was obviously out of his field of knowledge, and was stronger and tougher than all the alloys he¡¯d seen. No wonder Ning Jing had said that it was most suitable for making nes.
Xia Lei had no result after scrutinising it and gave up. He put the alloy in his backpack and made preparations to return and study it.
He left the central area after putting the alloy away. He moved to an area by a stone wall via safe stone tiles where some wooden boxes were stacked. The boxes had been treated to stop decay; the wood was soaked in oil and there was ayer of wax sealing them shut. There were no locks on the boxes and he opened them easily.
The first box was filled entirely with gold coins. The gold coins were not as pure as modern gold coins but they still gleamed gold; it was exciting to behold.
Xia Lei then used his X-ray vision on the other boxes. One other box was filled with gold coins like the first, and the remaining boxes held clothes which had already decayed. The clothing was obviously part of Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s burial goods but hundreds of years had passed and the clothing could not be preserved.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡®The two boxes of gold coins can be handed to Smy, and the porcin in the tomb can go to the White Hun Tribe. I¡¯ll take the gems in the coffin, and the alloy. Everyone wins.¡¯
This was the best oue - the White Hun Tribe profited and Xia Lei would not onlyplete his mission but benefit from it too. Giving the gold coins, porcin and artifacts to the White Hun Tribe was also a way to justify his digging around in their sacred ruins. He couldn¡¯t take all the good stuff away, could he? Smy would have no way of exining herself if he did.
Xia Lei put the lids back on the boxes and exited the tomb via the safe route.
After stepping out of the tomb door, he turned back and bowed deeply to the jade coffin. Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s body would not have turned to ash if he had note here and taken the ancient alloy away. This act of his shamed him greatly.
Chi chi chi...
The sound of bats calling suddenly came from the passageway.
Xia Lei was surprised and quickly switched off his torchlight. He listened to the sounds in the passageway with bated breath. Soon, a cloud of bats came flying, brushing past his body as they went into the tomb. They disappeared into the domed roof of the tomb.
Xia Lei looked up and discovered that there was a space in the domed roof of the tomb. It was a vent which the bats could fly in and out of. He didn¡¯t find it strange since he had felt some airflow when he¡¯d entered. It was clear that there was not just one underground vent, but he was not interested in searching for them.
Xia Lei looked away and followed the stone bs up the passageway. He stopped abruptly before he walked not 20 metres.
About 20 metres above him was a woman pointing a gun at him. Her head was under a ck hood and she was in tight-fitting leather. A thermal-imaging device covered her eyes. This sort of equipment was as good as his left eye in environments like this.
¡°Give me the backpack and you can leave.¡± The woman spoke in English. Her voice was cold, threatening.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. He had neglected the greater danger for his smaller gain.
Xia Lei¡¯s mood was in the pits in that instant. The bats earlier wouldn¡¯t be startled for no reason. He should have been prepared, but he was not because he had not heard anything else. In an environment of absolute silence like this, human footfalls would reach far even if a person tread as softly as he could but Xia Lei had not heard any footfalls.
He looked at the woman¡¯s feet and discovered that she had no shoes on. She had just socks on, and had stuffed cotton between her socks and the soles of her feet.
This was a smart move. This woman was experienced, and hade prepared!
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? Give me the backpack!¡± The woman shouted at Xia Lei.
Chapter 345 - Human-shaped Artillery Shell
¡°How clever of you.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the woman¡¯s face. Theyer of ck cloth and thermal imaging device over her eyes melted away, revealing her face to him. A faint smile appeared in the corners of his mouth when he saw her face. ¡°You think I won¡¯t recognise you if you cover your face?¡±
The woman froze, but only for an instant, and she calmed again. She believed it impossible for Xia Lei to recognise her with her head covered and in this dark environment. He must be probing for a clue.
¡°I¡¯m running out of patience. I¡¯ll give you another chance. Give me the backpack or I¡¯ll shoot you!¡± The woman aimed the gun at Xia Lei.
There was no fear on Xia Lei¡¯s face, not even a trace of nervousness. He spoke evenly, ¡°Must I say your name? Yelena.¡±
The woman paused. She was the Russian agent, Yelena. Being recognised in darkness like this was unbelievable, and strange.
Yelena¡¯s reaction told Xia Lei that she had no idea about his abilities. This was also true with the CIA - they did not know what changes the AE capsules had wrought in him. His father, too, probably had no idea how his body had changed.
Xia Lei grew bolder after this discovery. He spoke darkly, ¡°Yelena, you can cover your face but your voice won¡¯t change. And you know what I¡¯m doing here. You¡¯ve helped me - on my father¡¯s request, of course, but I don¡¯t believe that you will shoot me.¡±
The sound of a gunshot exploded in the passageway as soon as the words left Xia Lei¡¯s mouth.
Yelena had fired. The bullet struck the stone wall behind Xia Lei, sending up sparks.
Xia Lei was not perturbed. He knew this Yelena was just one of his father¡¯s underlings and had no real conviction to kill him. He had actually caught sight of her moving the muzzle to avoid hitting him in the instant she¡¯d fired, otherwise he would definitely not be able to escape her attack.
Yelena spoke, ¡°I repeat...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°You can have the things in my backpack but my father has toe personally to take them.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of meing here after betraying your father?¡± Yelena did not confirm her identity but this line of hers was a sort of acknowledgement.
If she hade after betraying Xia Chang-He, then she would probably shoot him, kill him - this was what she meant.
Xia Lei opened his palm, revealing a small throwing knife. ¡°See this? If you¡¯ve truly betrayed my father this knife will take your life the next time you fire. Do you want to test it?¡±
Yelena grew nervous. She had not personally witnessed Xia Lei¡¯s prowess in killing but she had seen plenty of reports. She knew how powerful he was. She had a gun in her hand and Xia Lei had a small throwing knife, but the one who was strangely nervous was her. The pressure of being prey was not on him but her!
Xia Lei spoke again. ¡°You¡¯ve helped me before so I don¡¯t want to kill you. Go. I¡¯ll pretend you never came.¡±
Yelena lowered her gun and spoke a little helplessly, ¡°Your father told me toe. The items you took are very important to us. Give it to me, okay? I¡¯m not doing it for myself; I¡¯m doing it for your father.¡±
¡°He shoulde himself if he wants it.¡± Xia Lei was resolute.
Yelena frowned. ¡°Why are you so stubborn? He¡¯s your father!¡±
¡°I know he¡¯s my father but these belong to China. Many people have already died for what¡¯s in my backpack. Why should I give it to you because of that one line you said? And you¡¯re just here by yourself - how do I know for sure that my father sent you? How can I be sure that you won¡¯t take it for yourself if I give it to you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You don¡¯t trust me?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t trust any woman easily now.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Yelena let out an oddugh.
Xia Lei just looked at herugh and did not speak again. He wouldn¡¯t give her anything from his backpack, no matter how important it was because his father did not reveal himself. Yelena had helped him but who could guarantee that she had no ulterior motives?
¡°Will you give it to your father if he came to you personally?¡± Yelena stoppedughing and said questioningly.
¡°I¡¯ll see when hees,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yelena said no more; she turned and left.
¡°When will hee?¡± pressed Xia Lei.
Yelena looked back at Xia Lei and said with some reverence, ¡°No one can decide things for your father. He will appear before you when he feels it right.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank a little. He¡¯d hope to draw his father out to a meeting with the things in his backpack but Yelena¡¯s words seemed to imply that his father would note to meet him this time. He would havee himself to search for the items and not sent an underling if he¡¯d wanted to meet.
¡®Does this mean that what I found is not particrly important to my father? Or is he waiting for all the ancient alloy parts to be gathered before he find some way to take them all?¡¯ Questions popped out in Xia Lei¡¯s head as he watched Yelena disappear into the darkness.
He climbed up the ramp after leaving the passageway. There was no trace of Yelena.
Xia Lei looked about his surroundings - no Yelena, no Xia Chang-He. He was disappointed. He prepared to leave the ruins and return to the White Hun Tribe.
A woman¡¯s voice suddenly came from the ruins. ¡°I¡¯ll remember your face.¡±
The voice was soft, airy, eerie; it gave one the impression that it had gone through sound modification software to sound ghostly.
This voice made Xia Lei¡¯s hair stand on end. He swept his surroundings with his gaze, searching, but he saw nothing except stones.
The strange voice was heard just once.
Xia Lei shook his head and said quizzically, ¡°Am I hearing things because I¡¯ve overused my X-ray vision?¡±
He had experienced hallucinations every time he¡¯d used his X-ray ability in the beginning, and every hallucination had been fairly abnormal. There was no one else around and he had only heard something strange, so he must be having an auditory hallucination. But he hadn¡¯t had hallucinations after using his ability in a long, long time, so why was it happening now?
¡°Who was that?¡± Xia Lei shouted after a pause. ¡°Come out!¡±
Maybe someone was hiding in the ruins. He couldn¡¯t use his X-ray vision on every pile of rock. He was going to try to lure that person out like this.
No one responded. There wasn¡¯t even a wind blowing in the ruins, much less a woman¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°Looks like it really was an auditory hallucination.¡±
The rumbling of hooves came to his ear and Smy soon came galloping over, leading some White Hun warriors.
The warhorse galloped with Smy on its back yelling at it. She suddenly bounded from its back when she got close to Xia Lei with her arms open, like an extremely fat swallow.
Smy weighed roughly 50 kilograms and the horse had been going at quite a speed. Her weight and speedbined made her seem like a human-shaped artillery shell.
Xia Lei braced himself as he held out his arms to catch her. Smy knocked into him instantly. He did manage to grab her about her waist but was thrown to the ground by her.
¡°Chieftain sure is aggressive. I think Xia won¡¯tst for long,¡± said a warrior.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry when he heard that.
¡°Let¡¯s go back. I came specially to get you. I caught a rabbit when we were practicing with the assault rifles today. I¡¯ll cook it for you when we get back and give you more nourishment.¡± Smy climbed off Xia Lei and looked rather delighted.
Xia Lei looked at the rabbit she had tied to her saddle. He did feel rather hungry, but it was not the time to go back to eat. ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask me what I dug up?¡±
¡°What did you dig up?¡± Smy was still very carefree.
¡°I found Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s tomb. There¡¯s lots of gold in it, and porcin, relics and so on. It should all be valued at at least a few billion,¡± said Xia Lei.
Smy chuckled. ¡°Stop joking. Come on, let¡¯s go back and eat rabbit.¡±
Xia Lei abruptly pped her on the back. ¡°I¡¯m serious!¡±
The p resounded.
The group of warrior women looked at Xia Lei and Smy in shock. This was their first time seeing a man dare to hit Smy!
What made their jaws drop though, was that Smy just blushed and rubbed at where she¡¯d been hit; she was as gentle as a rabbit.
¡°You...¡±
Xia Lei quickly drew attention away from it. He grabbed Smy by the shoulders and said loudly, ¡°Your tribe is rich! Believe me, it¡¯s real! The gold is in the tomb. I¡¯ll bring you all in to get it right now.¡±
Smy paused. ¡°There¡¯s really gold?¡±
The White Hun warrior-women behind Smy burst into action and jumped off their horses.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon! But I have to warn you that the tomb has traps. You guys wait for me at the doorway when we get to the tomb and I¡¯ll move the things out for you to transport out.¡±
¡°Whoo!¡± The women of the tribe let out cries of joy.
Rat-tat-tat...
Bang bang bang...
They fired blindly when excited. This was a bad habit indeed.
Chapter 346 - Mission Complete
The two boxes of gold coins and valuables were all moved back to the tribe. The tribe was in celebration - ughtering pigs and goats, singing and dancing. The tribe had no concept of a ¡®God of Fortune¡¯ but everyone saw Xia Lei as a bringer of good fortune. His arrival in the tribe pulled over 10,000 out of poverty and turned it into a ce of prosperity. 2,000,000 US dors, arge number of gold coins, jade, porcin, artifacts - these were beyond the wildest dreams of the women who lived by depending on the sale of goats.
Everyone was in celebration but a person who should have been happy was shedding tears.
¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡± In the house, Smy looked at Xia Lei with tears in her eyes. ¡°Why?¡±
Xia Lei put his arms around her shoulders and said gently, ¡°I have to go. If the Americans know I¡¯m here they wille to try and capture me.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll kill them if they dare set foot here!¡± said Smy emotionally, ¡°You gave us a bunch of advanced weapons, right? We have the ability to protect you!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°How can your tribe stop the advancement of the American troops? Their nes can just fly by overhead and drop a few bombs to turn the whole ce into a sea of fire.¡±
¡°But I don¡¯t want you to go!¡± Smy hugged Xia Lei tight around the waist, afraid that he would just leave all of a sudden.
¡°Silly girl. It¡¯s not like I won¡¯te back.¡± Xia Lei poked her affectionately on the nose. ¡°I¡¯ll stille back after I¡¯ve settled things back home. Didn¡¯t I tell you that I want to invest in your tribe? I¡¯m going to build farms here.¡±
¡°Liar.¡± Smy did not buy it. ¡°It¡¯s difficult for you toe here and the Americans also want to capture you. What happens if they catch you when youe to see me?¡±
Xia Lei had no words for a reply. It would be difficult to fulfil a promise of return. Afghanistan was practically American territory and it was much too dangerous for him toe here but he could not find anything else to console Smy with other than this promise.
His time with Smy had been filled with happiness, and some aching waist and weak legs. It was already difficult for him to give up on their intimacy; he was also sad and suffering a little.
¡°I don¡¯t want you to go. I won¡¯t see you again if you go.¡± Smy hugged him even tighter, sensing that he was not going to ever return.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something and a small smile appeared on his lips. ¡°How about this - you cane to China to look for me when you miss me. If it¡¯s too far for you we can meet in Pakistan. I can buy property in Imabad and we can rendezvous there.¡±
This was like getting a golden house to keep one¡¯s mistress. It was definitely much easier for him to fly to Pakistan than to Afghanistan and he could go any time. Peshawar seemed closer but Bureau 101¡¯s intelligence station was there and he did not want them to find out about their rendezvous.
¡°Sounds good. If you buy property in Imabad then I can sell my goats there.¡± Smy seemed to be imagining herself opening a shop to sell goats and a smile appeared on her face.
Smy was easy to please and Xia Lei liked this about her the most.
¡°Never mind, let¡¯s get down to business.¡± Smy peeled herself off Xia Lei and giggled. ¡°We¡¯re going to be up all night.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s jaw almost dropped to the floor. A great ache could be felt in his waist, as if his kidneys had be stale radishes.
Smy pushed him down, and her baby-face went down on him...
She had her own boundless magic, and even an earthworm would be a lively snake under her spell.
It was dark outside but the Chieftain¡¯s house was full of spring and warm white snow...
Their all-nighter included several goodbye positions, and nothing was better than this. It was just... Xia Lei fell off the back of his horse after being assisted in mounting the next day.
The next morning, Peshawar military base.
The helicopter was not back yet but Shi Bo-Ren, Long Bing, Tang Yu-Yan and Tang Bo-Chuan were already waiting on the tarmac. Behind them stood arge group of Bureau 101 agents with guns ready, their expressions cold. Other than the people from Bureau 101, Peshawar had arge number of soldiers involved in guarding and protecting too. More than a dozen fighter nes from China were on standby in the airport; the pilots were even sitting in their cockpits, ready to fly out to attack at any moment.
This setup was because what Xia Lei was bringing back was just too important. They could not afford to make any mistakes.
¡°How much longer?¡± Tang Yu-Yan said a little worriedly, ¡°Did he meet some danger on the way?¡±
Shi Bo-Ren wrinkled his brows. ¡°Our satellites have locked on to that area. Our fighter nes will fly out immediately if any flying targets get close to the ne that Xia Lei is on. We¡¯ve already prepared till this degree so what are you worried about?¡±
Tang Yu-Yanughed at him. ¡°I¡¯m just worried about the thing that Xia Lei is bringing back.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan leaned on Tang Yu-Yan and said teasingly, ¡°Hey, little sister. You¡¯re not worried about that punk, are you?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan red at him. ¡°What kind of elder brother are you? I¡¯ll tell Grandfather!¡±
¡°Haha.¡± Tang Bo-Chuanughed, ¡°Speaking of Grandfather, I recall him saying that he would ept Xia Lei as his Last Disciple if he manages to save you.¡±
¡°What?¡± A strange expression bloomed on Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s face. ¡°If Grandfather takes Xia Lei in as his Last Disciple, then won¡¯t he be our martial-uncle? This hierarchy... No. I won¡¯t agree to it.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan shrugged. ¡°I think it¡¯s weird to call him our Disciple-Uncle too but no one can stop Grandfather from making this decision.¡±
Long Bing quirked her lips. ¡°I think it¡¯s good. If you two have to call him Uncleter, then I get to be higher up in the hierarchy too.¡±
Long Bing realised her mistake after she spoke and quickly shut up.
Tang Bo-Chuan followed it with teasing. ¡°Oh, really? When will we get to drink your wedding wine, hmm? Disciple-Aunt?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s face turned red and she red fiercely at Tang Bo-Chuan. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it that way!¡±
¡°Yeah, Old Long? Then what do you mean?¡± Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s tone of voice was a little strange.
¡°I...¡± Long Bing was the worst at retorts.
Shi Bo-Ren coughed. ¡°You guys, be serious. What¡¯s all this jibber-jabber? You can run tenps around the airport if you¡¯re bored.¡±
The three young people shut their mouths.
A military helicopter appeared on the horizon, approaching speedily.
¡°He¡¯s back!¡± cried Tang Yu-Yan excitedly.
Long Bing nced at her through the corner of her eye and the corners of her mouth turned faintly upwards.
The helicopternded a few minutester on the tarmac. Xia Lei jumped out of the helicopter and walked over to Shi Bo-Ren and the others.
¡°The things?¡± Shi Bo-Ren asked eagerly as he approached.
Xia Lei removed his backpack and opened it, then took out a cloth bag from inside. He handed the cloth bag to Shi Bo-Ren. There was an even bigger cloth bag in his backpack which filled almost half of it.
¡°What¡¯s in that cloth bag?¡± asked Shi Bo-Ren curiously.
Xia Lei opened the big cloth bag. It held dried mutton, dried beef and some other things with unpronounceable names. ¡°These are souvenirs which Chieftain Smy of the White Hun Tribe gave me. Want a piece?¡±
¡°You can keep them.¡± Shi Bo-Ren was not interested in dried mutton or beef. He nced at the contents of the big cloth bag and opened the small cloth bag to check what was inside.
The big cloth bag held precious jade and gems he had taken from Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s coffin, and were the most valuable of all the burial items in the tomb. Xia Lei had spent millions of US dors for this mission and been plunged into danger after danger, risking his life. Of course he was going to get something for himself.
He was actually not afraid of Shi Bo-Ren or Long Bing and the others finding out that he had kept these things. He could say he wantedpensation. It was just that it was best if he could just not tell them and skip the trouble.
Tang Yu-Yan, Tang Bo-Chuan and Long Bing drew close to look at the things in Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s hands - thepass, pointer-needle, the green alloy, and some gold coins and small jade items, as well as the ancient book Xia Lei had borrowed from Smy.
¡°Just these?¡± Shi Bo-Ren looked at Xia Lei.
¡°Of course not. It was the tomb of a princess of the Ming dynasty. There were also two boxes of gold coins, arge number of porcin, jade and ancient artifacts.¡± Heughed. ¡°But you can¡¯t expect me to take all of that from the White Hun Tribe, right? I brought only the most important things, and the rest are all the White Hun Tribe¡¯s. Honestly, it wasn¡¯t easy for me to bring even this much back. It¡¯s their sacred ruins after all.¡±
¡°You did well.¡± Shi Bo-Ren gave him a rare smile. ¡°Those things are just money to us anyway and we don¡¯t need that. It¡¯s enough that you¡¯ve brought back the important things. You have contributed much to the nation. I shall put in a good word for you to the higher ups when we get back and show you some appreciation for your efforts.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Well, thanks Boss Shi.¡±
Tang Bo-Chuan came over and patted Xia Lei on the shoulder. ¡°Come with me on a trip to Sichuan when we¡¯re back. I¡¯ll take you to see my grandfather.¡±
¡°Sure. I¡¯d like to visit Grandfather Tang too.¡± Xia Lei agreed easily. He wouldn¡¯t miss the opportunity to learn Tang techniques.
¡°Where¡¯s my gun?¡± Tang Yu-Yan walked over. She had not seen the sniper rifle that Xia Lei had modified for her.
¡°I gave it as a gift to Smy,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan pursed her lips. ¡°You treat her so well.¡±
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°I couldplete the mission thanks to her. You know the previous chieftain, Dayetia? She was not friendly to us and was actually nning on selling me out to the Americans... Forget it. Let¡¯s not talk about the past. It¡¯s just a sniper rifle, okay? I¡¯ll just modify another one for you when we¡¯re back in China.¡±
¡°Two.¡± Tang Bo-Chuan stared at Xia Lei, his eyes alight. ¡°Don¡¯t forget me.¡±
Xia Leiughed and nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
Long Bing went to Xia Lei and said just one line. ¡°Good that you¡¯re back.¡±
Xia Lei looked at her and smiled as he nodded again. They sometimes didn¡¯t need any words between them.
Shi Bo-Ren put the items away. ¡°All right, let¡¯s get to Imabad and back to China via charter ne.¡±
Xia Lei would buy some property in Imabad to make it more convenient for him and Smy to meet. Flying over a few times a year for a holiday or something was going to be enjoyable too. He was not going to tell anyone about something like this, of course.
For some inexplicable reason, Xia Lei felt a great ache in his waist when he thought of the baby-faced H-cup Smy, and he felt a cotton-soft weakness in his knees.
Was this some sort of ¡®Smy Syndrome¡¯?
Chapter 347 - Supernatural Incident
One dayter, a ne took off from Imabad International Airport.
On the ne, Shi Bo-Ren flipped through the pages of the ancient book Xia Lei had brought from the White Hun Tribe but he could understand neither the ancient book nor the Pashtun trantion of it.
¡°What¡¯s in it?¡± Shi Bo-Ren looked at Xia Lei and asked curiously.
¡°This is the White Hun Tribe¡¯s record of their history, people, traditions and ceremonies. There¡¯s also a little bit about Princess Yong-Mei but it¡¯s not very detailed. I borrowed this book and I¡¯ll have to return it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What did you borrow it for?¡± Long Bing couldn¡¯t help interrupting. She was actually worried about thest part where Xia Lei had said ¡®return it¡¯. She did not want Xia Lei to go back to a ce such as Afghanistan no matter what the reason.
¡°This mentions persons from the Ming dynasty and the origin of that metal. I want to bring the book back for Ning Jing to have a look at it. She¡¯s an expert in this field so maybe she can find some clues,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I will pass the book to Ning Jing. This mission is done. You don¡¯t have to find out any more about the metal and don¡¯t meddle, understand?¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°I thought I¡¯d be going with you guys to the next treasure location. You don¡¯t need me anymore?¡±
¡°Not for now. I¡¯ll let you know when we need you to act.¡± Shi Bo-Ren offered no exnations.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows and was rather dissatisfied. He was deeply interested in knowing the secret of the metal and he had put in so much work in Afghanistan, so much so that it felt like he was holding his brain in his hand whilepleting the mission. He had not expected to be shafted to one side after finding the new needle.
Shi Bo-Ren nced at Xia Lei¡¯s expression and sighed. ¡°Lei, don¡¯t be upset. This matter is too important. I cannot call all the shots. The higher ups have a special group of experts in charge of this. I may seem like I¡¯m in a position of power but I can¡¯t be mobilized without that group. I¡¯m actually also an errand-boy, just carrying out orders.¡±
A little of the anger in Xia Lei¡¯s heart dissipated with Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s words. It was true - the fighter nes at Peshawar military base, the satellite support and the submarine which appeared when he was fleeing South Korea - these all needed very high authority to mobilise. Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s rank was not high enough.
¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve already said that this was myst time doing missions like this. I won¡¯t go next time, not even if a special group is going to be ready to save me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You punk...¡± Shi Bo-Ren had a wry look on his face.
He would have unleashed a barrage of scolding if it were Long Bing or Tang Yu-Yan saying such things but he did not re up at Xia Lei. Xia Lei was a consultant who drew no sry and could say ¡®bye-bye¡¯ to him anytime.
¡°Tea, Godfather?¡± Tang Yu-Yan came over to smooth things over. She offered a cup to tea to Shi Bo-Ren, then one to Xia Lei. ¡°Lei, you have some tea too.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei epted the tea from Tang Yu-Yan.
Shi Bo-Ren put down the cup without taking a sip and got up to leave, saying, ¡°Yu-Yan, you talk to this punk. I¡¯m going to sit somewhere else. Have a good chat; you youngsters have plenty of topics to talk about.¡±
¡°No problem. I guarantee I willplete this chatting mission,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan with a smile.
Shi Bo-Ren gave her a re and went to the cockpit.
¡°When are youing to my ce?¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked at Xia Lei, all smiles.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°We can just make arrangements when we¡¯re back in Jingdu. A few days, probably.¡±
¡°Okay, it¡¯s decided then.¡± Tang Yu-Yan looked rather pleased.
Just then, Long Bing walked over and sat herself unceremoniously opposite them. ¡°We just had news. Ahn Suhyeong is in China.¡±
¡°I heard about your mission in South Korea. Could Ahn Suhyeong havee to China to try to get the sword of Att back?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°If he wants the sword of Att then he¡¯ll have to go to the White Hun Tribe himself to get it. But I think he won¡¯t have the guts to do it.¡±
Long Bing frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t think lightly of him. Be careful in your everyday life too. The Ahns are powerful and cannot be underestimated.¡±
¡°Rest assured, I won¡¯t think lightly of him and I won¡¯t think highly of him either. This is China, not South Korea. I had to stay low in Korea but in China there¡¯s no need to me toy low, is there?¡±
¡°Nn, true.¡± Long Bing suddenly switched topics. ¡°Weren¡¯t you two chatting? Carry on.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan looked at Long Bing. She had many topics she wanted to discuss with Xia Lei but she could say none now.
Xia Lei did not speak either. Someone appeared in his head.
Liang Si-Yao had bid him goodbye in South Korea. Where was she now?
The ne suddenly shook violently.
¡°Fasten your seatbelts!¡± came the captain¡¯s voice from over the speakers.
Just after the captain spoke, the ne abruptly grew silent and plummeted, down, down. The people on the ne hadn¡¯t had time to fasten their seatbelts.
¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Tang Yu-Yan was pale with fear.
¡°No idea!¡± Long Bing grabbed a handrail tight and tried to get a seatbelt in position to tie herself to it.
Xia Lei was scared too. Abilities and guns were no use in a situation like this. He suddenly thought of death and a chill went down his spine. He had survived hails of bullets - was he going to die here?
People would think of their most important people or life events at the brink of death and this happened to Xia Lei too. However, he did not think of his father or his sister Xia Xue, nor Liang Si-Yao who had hurt him deeply, but Zhu Xuan-Yue in the jade coffin. Princess Yong-Mei!
The ne dropped from the sky like a falling star and the image of Princess Yong-Mei filled Xia Lei¡¯s head. There was that one second where Xia Lei felt he had seen her blink. That terrifying look...
WOMP! There was a dull roar as the ne¡¯s engines suddenly started working again. The falling ne regained lift and finally stopped its downward fall.
Everyone on the ne had broken out in cold sweat. There was silence asposure was regained.
Shi Bo-Ren came out of the cockpit. ¡°For some unknown reason the ne suddenly lost power. Even the electricity was gone. Good thing it recovered on its own. There¡¯re no problems now.¡±
There were pearls of sweat on Shi Bo-Ren¡¯s forehead; he¡¯d been scared witless too.
¡°Why did it suddenly lose power?¡± Long Bing came back to her senses. ¡°This ne has just been through maintenance and all its equipment and circuitry have been checked. There were no problems.¡±
¡°No clue. We¡¯ll have to get it checked when we¡¯re back,¡± said Shi Bo-Ren.
Tang Yu-Yan touched Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Lei, what did you think about just now?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I thought of my sister. What is going to happen to her, all alone, if I die in a ne crash? And you?¡±
¡°Not telling you,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan yfully.
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing. ¡°Did you think of anything?¡±
¡°Your sister,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°My sister?¡± Xia Lei paused. ¡°Why did you think of her?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan also looked oddly at Long Bing. Her words made her thoughts run wild.
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°I was thinking how I¡¯d break the news of your death in a ne crash to her.¡±
Xia Leiughed at her words. ¡°If the aircraft functions had not restored themselves then everyone on this ne would probably not survive. If I die, you¡¯ll die too. How are you going to tell Xia Xue I¡¯m dead?¡±
Long Bing did not deign to answer a question like that.
Tang Yu-Yan suddenly reached out her with w-like hands and made a scary face with her tongue out. ¡°She¡¯ll be a ghost and tell your sister... Xia Xue, your brother died so horribly...¡±
¡°Stop it.¡± Xia Lei knew it was not real but he had quite a strong reaction to it. He felt like his hair was on end and cold struck at his heart. The memory of Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s body crumbling surfaced in his mind for some reason.
¡°You¡¯re no fun.¡± Tang Yu-Yan stopped making a scary face.
Xia Lei was mulling over his thoughts. ¡®I won¡¯t believe that there are ghosts in this world even if someone pointed a gun at my head telling me to believe it. But why do I keep remembering her body? And what happened earlier... Could it be connected to that alloy?¡¯
There shouldn¡¯t be ghosts and spirits in this world. If there were, there were billions of people and science had be so advanced - how could a ghost have not been discovered yet? It was ridiculous to link Princess Yong-Mei to what had just happened, but... Why would a ne which had just undergone maintenance suddenly lose power, even electricity? And just recovered mysteriously on its own after that? Xia Lei could only think of that piece of metal alloy.
¡°Boss Shi, can you let me take another look at that alloy?¡± Xia Lei stood and tried his luck asking.
Shi Bo-Ren looked at Xia Lei and said right away, ¡°No. I¡¯ve said it clearly. You should not bother with anything to do with it anymore.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged and sat back at his seat.
Chapter 348 - Man With a Tough Life
A military vehicle ran over quiet roads in the dead of night. A little ways off, Bailu Town sat quietly, its lights shining in the dark. Thunder Horse Military Factory had brought business to the town and it had prospered as a result.
Long Bing circled around the town and came straight to the main entrance of Thunder Horse Manufacturing. Xia Lei then discovered that guard posts had been mounted on the gates. A soldier stood in the guard post, straight as an arrow with a gleaming baton in his hand; he looked threatening. An electric fence had been installed on the walls too, and surveince cameras. The entire area was under strict security.
¡°I won¡¯t be going in.¡± Long Bing stopped the vehicle at the gates. ¡°I¡¯ll call you another day. Let¡¯s go for a meal.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei agreed with a smile, then took out a paper bag from his trouser pocket and handed it to Long Bing.
¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Long Bing took the bag and asked curiously.
¡°A souvenir I picked up in the White Hun Tribe. It¡¯s for you. You¡¯ve always taken care of me and I¡¯ve long wanted to get you a gift,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing smiled and was rather embarrassed. ¡°You¡¯re an odd one, aren¡¯t you? Getting me a gift for no particr asion...¡± She opened the paper bag and was stunned.
The paper bag held an exquisite ne with pearls of jade, and a sapphire pendant. Every bit of jade was crystal-jade, translucent and beautiful. The sapphire pendant was set in a gold heart-shaped base and it sparkled like a spirit in the sea; it was breathtakingly beautiful. A ne like this even without its historical value was at least over a million if one counted just the value of the jade and blue gems.
No woman disliked gems, especially a gem-studded beauty like this ne.
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei and could only speak after a pause. ¡°You... Why give me such a valuable gift?¡±
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°Didn¡¯t I just tell you? You¡¯ve been taking care of me all this time so why can¡¯t I give you a gift?¡±
¡°But... This is too much.¡± Long Bing grew nervous.
¡°You can give it back to me if you don¡¯t like that it¡¯s expensive. I¡¯ll give you a crystal ne tomorrow.¡± Xia Lei stretched out his hand.
Long Bing closed her fingers tight over the ne and even drew her hand back. ¡°Up yours. Am I a woman who¡¯s only worth crystals to you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Long Bing nced at the ne, then held it out to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°You don¡¯t want it?¡±
¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I want it? I¡¯ll take what you give.¡± Long Bing was direct. ¡°Help me put it on.¡±
¡®I¡¯ll take what you give¡¯.
Did this mean that she wouldn¡¯t ept gifts from others?
Xia Lei was still puzzling over what her words meant when Long Bing dipped her head and exposed her neck to him. Her neck was slender, tender and delicate. A ck stic band could be seen down the back of her top, barely visible in a there-not-there fashion. A mesmerising fragrance came from her hair, her skin, and Xia Lei breathed it in. He stared nkly for a bit, holding the ne in his hands but forgetting to put it on.
¡°What are you doing? Put it on me,¡± urged Long Bing.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses and put the sapphire ne on Long Bing¡¯s neck.
Long Bing drew close to the rearview mirror to see. There was no arguing that this ne fit her well. She was cold and this sapphire ne was also a cool colour, adding to the intensity of her cold aura and a degree of ss.
¡°Itplements you very well,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile. ¡°You¡¯re the most beautiful version of yourself that I¡¯ve seen tonight.¡±
¡°Look at that smooth tongue. You talk like that a lot to other women, huh?¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Do I look like the sort to lie to women to you?¡±
Long Bing suddenly drew close and gave Xia Lei a hug.
Xia Lei froze but Long Bing released him before he could move his hands.
¡°Thank you. Now get out of the car.¡± Long Bing avoided eye contact. Her face was a little red.
Xia Lei got out of the car and he leaned in to the window to say, ¡°I¡¯m off. I¡¯ll call you.¡±
Long Bing turned the car towards Jingdu City. The car zoomed on the road but her gaze was fixed on Xia Lei in the rearview mirror, and she did not look away until he went through the gates of Thunder Horse Military Factory with his backpack over his shoulder.
Long Bing touched the sapphire ne around her neck and a faint smile appeared on her lips...
There were people working overtime in the workshops and it was busy. The workers were making handguns which Shi Bo-Ren had ordered; an order worth tens of millions, just for the workers to practice and break in the factory¡¯s equipment. Only a boss like Xia Lei could get a great benefit like this.
Xia Lei stood in the doorway of the workshop for a bit but did not enter in the end. He went around the factory area to the vi behind it.
The lights in a window on the second floor was still on. It was the study. Xia Lei¡¯s eye twitched and Annina came into view. She was working on some blueprints and a very cool looking sniper rifle sat on the table. He recalled that that sniper rifle was the design from her perfected version of her father¡¯s design.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡®It was just a drawing on paper when I left and now she has a prototype. She didn¡¯t rest at all during this time. What a workaholic.¡¯
He entered the vi, went up to the second floor and pushed the study door open.
Annina looked up and let out a cry of joy when she saw that it was Xia Lei. She stepped in her slippered feet to him and threw herself in his arms. ¡°Lukas! I was just thinking that it¡¯ll be great if you were back. And here you are!¡±
Xia Let patted her buttocks gently. ¡°Close your eyes.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Annina looked at him curiously.
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°Just close them.¡±
Annina shut her eyes. She was as independent and opinionated as all women from the west, but she was a little kitten in front of Xia Lei. She did whatever he asked her to do.
Xia Lei took out a ruby ne he¡¯d prepared and put it around Annina¡¯s neck.
Annina opened her eyes and was so overjoyed and excited by the sight of the ne that she could not speak for a while.
Xia Lei grinned toothily. ¡°It¡¯s been tough on you. This is a present from me. Like it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s beautiful... I love it. You¡¯re the best.¡± Annina burrowed in Xia Lei¡¯s arms and gave him a deep kiss.
The warmth and perfume of a beautiful woman and their deep, wet kiss quickly washed away Xia Lei¡¯s tiredness, recing it with happiness he could drown in. Annina and Xia Lei were intertwined...
He had gifted two gems from Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s coffin; one to Long Bing, who had always looked out for him, and one to Annina, who worked hard for him. He was a man who would treat a person even better if the person treated him well.
The storm settled, and theyy sweaty. Annina curled up on the sofa and was rather tranquil. Xia Lei picked up the sniper rifle from the table and examined it.
¡°I¡¯ve tested it. It doesn¡¯t meet the requirements of the design,¡± said Anninazily, ¡°We needthes which are more advanced. I also need you to make adjustments.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, and said, ¡°I¡¯ll get the workshop in Haizhu to process high precision parts tomorrow. I¡¯ll work on this end too and try to upgrade ourthes as soon as possible.¡±
¡°The sooner the better. There¡¯s a light weapons exhibition in Moscow in three months. If we can get our sniper rifle there it might be a hit and get us international orders.¡± Annina¡¯s eyes were sparkling with anticipation.
¡°Light weapons exhibition in Moscow?¡± Xia Lei was interested. ¡°What sort of exhibition is it?¡±
¡°International, of course. Many countries will have their weapons on disy and there will be many vendors participating too. If our sniper rifle can be produced sessfully then the exhibition will be a great chance to create some recognition for it.¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°All right, then we¡¯ll work hard for three months and take our sniper rifle to Moscow to make it known!¡±
¡°We¡¯ll seed for sure.¡± Annina got off the sofa and walked over to Xia Lei, swaying her sexy hips as she went. Her eyes were warm and passionate as she looked at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re the best machinist in the world, Lukas. You¡¯re also the best man...¡±
Words like these made a man¡¯s testosterone levels soar and burst out.
Xia Lei was a little overwhelmed now. He hadn¡¯t fully recovered from ¡®Smy Syndrome¡¯ and now there¡¯s ¡®Annina Syndrome¡¯...
Knock knock knock. Someone knocked at the door.
The door was opened by the visitor before either of the persons in the room could react.
Annina let out a scream of surprise in that instant and hid behind Xia Lei. Xia Lei, too, held the sniper rifle up before himself to cover his important parts.
The person in the doorway was none other than Qin Xiang. He had makeup and lipstick on, as well as female clothing; he looked every inch a tranny.
¡°Oh... Oops.¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s gaze scoured Xia Lei¡¯s body. He didn¡¯t even bother ncing at Annina.
Xia Lei red at Qin Xiang. ¡°Why did you just burst in here, you rascal?¡±
Qin Xiang shrugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t I knock?¡±
Xia Lei had no words of retort.
¡°I heard the gate guard say you¡¯re back so I came to see you.¡± Qin Xiangughed. ¡°Looks like I came at the wrong time. Go on, continue. I¡¯ll wait for you two outside the door.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Qin Xiang kept a close eye on Xia Lei as he backed out of the room and closed the door behind himself.
Xia Lei walked out of the study a few minutester. ¡°We have to talk.¡±
Qin Xiang chuckled. ¡°I know what you want to talk about. Someone already came by before you came back. I didn¡¯t sell those things and I¡¯m not in a rush to get rid of them. They¡¯re all safely hidden.¡±
Xia Lei looked at him. ¡°Don¡¯t do things like this again. You nearly got in trouble this time. I can¡¯t help you if anything about this gets to the press.¡±
¡°Rx. I¡¯m not greedy. This one time¡¯s enough,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°I rest my case then,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Right, is my workshop ready?¡±
¡°It was ready long ago. It¡¯s ten times better than your workshop in Haizhu. All the tools and equipment you need are inside,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°Take me there.¡± Xia Lei had requested a personal workshop when the factory was being built but he did not know where it had been built.
Qin Xiang suddenly started giggling. ¡°Ooh, I get it. Good wine is intoxicating but no less damaging for the liver. You sure are a man with a tough life, huh? Okay, I¡¯ll take you there.¡±
Xia Lei really wanted to kick him on his ass for saying that.
Chapter 349 - Gu Ke-Wens Change
Xia Lei had manpower, equipment and had nock of materials and capital - it was much faster to upgrade histhes now than in the beginning. Other than modifying thethes, he also had to modify three sniper rifles. Two were China-made sniper rifles - one for Tang Yu-Yan and one for Tang Bo-Chuan. The third sniper rifle was the one Annina had made herself. He was going to make adjustments and modify it so that they could bring it to Moscow for the exhibition, as well as for his own use.
A fortnight passed in the blink of an eye.
In the workshop, Xia Lei and Annina worked on arge intelligentthe, modifying it. They were both excellent machinists, and Xia Lei was a high-level albeit uncertified electrical engineer too. Theyplemented each other well.
¡°We did it in two weeks.¡± Annina lifted an arm to wipe at the sweat on her forehead, then used the towel to wipe the sweat away for Xia Lei.
Plump hips, ample bosom, tall and long-legged; Annina was dressed in blue work clothes but she was still as sexy as ever. The attraction of a blue-cor woman was clearly seen in Annina.
Her movements were gentle and Xia Lei smiled at her.
His smile was like bait, and Annina was hooked. She couldn¡¯t help herself as she drew close and captured his lips.
The workers in the workshop sneaked looks at them, some hiding their smiles behind their hands while some watched with hot, envious eyes. Some others also whispered about them but whatever it was, no one dared to say anything disrespectful to either Xia Lei or Annina. The period of time Xia Lei had spent in the workshop had drawn awe from even the top-level mechanics and electrical engineers hired by the factory, and more so for the normal workers.
¡°People are watching. We...¡± Xia Lei was embarrassed.
Anninaughed. ¡°You Chinese are so shy. You obviously want it but don¡¯t dare to go for it.¡±
Xia Lei justughed and didn¡¯t discuss the attitudes of Chinese people with her. People with different cultural backgrounds would always have their differences. Westerners were more open and the Chinese more reserved and there were pros for each of these types so there was no need to say which was better.
Just then, Qin Xiang walked into the workshop. He put his hand on his hip and said, ¡°Whatcha all lookin¡¯ at? Get to work!¡±
The workers then averted their gazes and went back to work. They were afraid of Qin Xiang and they¡¯d even given him a nickname in private - Tigress.
Annina and Xia Lei separated too.
Qin Xiang walked over. ¡°You two, really? There¡¯s a rest area in the workshop. If you don¡¯t like the rest area you can go to my office, y¡¯know? I can cover for you too, so you don¡¯t have to get stared at by this bunch of naughty little rascals.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Just cut to the chase. I¡¯m not going to respond to that barb.¡±
Qin Xiang shrugged. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll just say it. Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s looking for you. She wanted toe with me but I told her to wait for you in your office.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go meet her now.¡± Xia Lei put down the wrench in his hand and left the workshop.
Qin Xiang watched him walk off and smiled as he said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to see what¡¯s going on, Annina?¡±
¡°See what?¡± asked Annina casually as she turned a screw with a wrench.
¡°Nothing. I¡¯ll help you.¡± Qin Xiang rolled up his sleeves and picked up the wrench which Xia Lei had put down.
¡°Sure. Turn every screw 10.5 times. No more and no less. Not even half a turn¡¯s error,¡± said Annina.
¡°You Germans are so rigid.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡±
¡°Nothing. I bought a new pack of facial masks. Want one?¡±
Annina said nothing.
Xia Lei came to the office area and went into his office.
Tang Yu-Yan stood from the sofa and looked at him, all smiles. She was in a teal cheongsum which entuated her bodyline. Her elegant, almond-shaped eyes, shapely eyebrows, delicate, ruby-lipped mouth, the faint blush on her cheeks and dimples made her look like ady of China who had juste from the mists of Jiangnan; she had an indescribable beauty reminiscent of the past.
¡°You¡¯re so pretty,¡± said Xia Lei in admiration.
Tang Yu-Yanughed. ¡°I¡¯m not buying that.¡±
¡°Then you¡¯re so ugly,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Up yours.¡± Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
¡°Okay no more joking. I know why you¡¯re here and I have them ready.¡± Xia Lei walked to the bookcase behind his desk and pulled open the bottommost drawer to take out two identical sniper rifles.
Tang Yu-Yan narrowed her eyes. She had seen a cooler-looking sniper rifle in that drawer. She went forward and took it out herself without asking Xia Lei for permission.
¡°You can¡¯t have that one,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why not?¡± Tang Yu-Yan raised the sniper rifle and took aim, then removed the magazine. She did not hide her delight.
¡°This is a prototype for the factory. I haven¡¯t finished with modifications yet,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then give it to me when you¡¯re done,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°No can do. I¡¯m going to take it to a light weapons exhibition in Moscow when I¡¯m done. It¡¯ll surprise our international friends. If all goes well, this might even bring us arge volume of orders,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You punk, you¡¯re not giving me the good stuff.¡± Tang Yu-Yan pulled a face. ¡°And I treated your wound in Afghanistan too. A wound in THAT ce!¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Why say it like that?¡±
The corners of Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s mouth turned up. ¡°Do I still need to exin? That Long Bing showed off the present you gave her to me. She didn¡¯t even go to Afghanistan and she got a present from the White Hun Tribe. I was on the brink on death in Afghanistan with you and I got nuh-thing.¡±
¡°I actually have something prepared for you.¡± Xia Lei opened a drawer and took out a paper bag. He put it in Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s hands.
¡°You... really got me a present?¡± Tang Yu-Yan was reserved again with the gift in hand.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that we were in and out of danger in Afghanistan and that you even sewed up my backside for me? You need a souvenir, right?¡±
¡°Up yours. Don¡¯t talk about your ugly ass again.¡± She spoke roughly but there was a smile on her face. She opened the paper bag eagerly.
The paper bag held a ssy, exquisite gem. It was linked with red sapphires and made one feel that it was most noble-looking from first nce. This was a burial item ced in the coffin of Princess Yong-Mei, so of course it was no normal item.
¡°This...¡± Tang Yu-Yan was delighted, and so touched she could not speak.
¡°Take it. It¡¯s yours,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan did not put it away obediently but put it around her neck to try it on. She only put it away after a few minutes of fiddling with it. She looked at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ve been to the White Hun Tribe and spent some time there. I didn¡¯t even see a copper basin there so why would those women give you such precious jewellery?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Then where do you think these came from?¡±
Tang Yu-Yan gave him a wicked smile. ¡°I have no idea. I suppose they came from wherever you said they came from.¡±
Their gazes met and they smiled. It was enough to know where the jewellery hade from. Tang Yu-Yan knew how much Xia Lei had done and it was only right for him to have some repayment.
¡°I¡¯ve modified the guns for you and your brother. I¡¯ve also tested them. These are about the same as the one I modified for you before.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic.
¡°Didn¡¯t expect you to be so quick.¡± Tang Yu-Yan picked up the unfinished prototype again. She seemed to really like it.
¡°This is a military factory after all. Of course it¡¯s quick,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan was finally willing to put the prototype down. ¡°I did note to get the guns this time. I came to get you toe with me to see Grandfather.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°I¡¯m busy upgrading thethes in the factory to prepare for the production of sniper rifles. Can youe again in ten days?¡±
¡°I know you¡¯re busy, that¡¯s why I came to see you now,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°I specially invited Grandfather from Sichuan to Jingdu. See how big of a deal you are? Grandfather arrived in Jingdust night. You can spare half a day though you¡¯re so busy, right?¡±
Xia Lei could not postpone it. ¡°All right. I¡¯ll go take a shower and get changed and I¡¯ll go with you.¡±
The Tang sect of Sichuan, an ancient n even more powerful than the Gu n. Grandfather Tang had alreadye to Jingdu to meet him, so it would be too imperious of him to dy their meeting with the excuse of being busy.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei got into the Land Rover which Tang Yu-Yan had driven to the military factory and came to apound with her. On their way there, she had exined that a lot of the Tang sect held positions in the military. Grandfather Tang was an old veteran who had only participated in the Liberation War but still held a high rank before his retirement; he was an important man.
The vehicle came to a stop and Xia Lei alighted. He followed Tang Yu-Yan to a small tree-lined path. The path had small one-storey buildings on both sides and the buildings were old but borate and done in good taste. The overall environment was quiet and soothing and though it was in the city there was no feel of a city.
People who could live in ces like these were not ordinary people.
¡°Does your grandfather really want me as his Last Disciple?¡± Xia Lei had heard that this was happening but he found it surreal when he was actually here.
¡°Grandfather has expressed this thought but whether ites true or not depends on you. Aren¡¯t you good at pleasing people? Get into his good graces and who knows, it¡¯ll all be confirmed if he¡¯s happy,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°I¡¯ll try my best. I want to learn the martial arts of your family. I will ept it too if I fail.¡± Xia Lei was rxed about it.
Tang Yu-Yan pointed at a building to one side. ¡°That¡¯s my home. My parents and my brother usually live here and I live somewhere else.¡±
Xia Lei looked where she pointed and saw the building. He also saw a woman walk over from the other end of the path. He wrinkled his brows when he saw who it was.
The woman was Gu Ke-Wen.
Gu Ke-Wen was in a ck dress and she carried a ck bag. Her figure was seductively mature and her attitude haughty and frosty. She seemed not to have changed at all, but Xia Lei felt like she had a deeperyer to her exterior which he could not put his finger on.
Gu Ke-Wen saw Xia Lei too. Her gaze held no hate, no enmity, just calm. There was even a smile on her lips for a familiar face; she seemed happy.
Why was she here?
Xia Lei was perplexed.
Chapter 350 - Grandfather Tang
Tang Yu-Yan saw Gu Ke-Wen too and her gaze was odd. ¡°Why¡¯s she here?¡±
¡°You know her?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Gu Ke-Wen, former debutante of Jingdu, beloved daughter of Gu Ding-Shan. How can I not know her?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°She used toe asionally to thispound to visit some old directors on behalf of her father. She¡¯s been to my ce twice. But she¡¯s in this situation now, so what¡¯s she doing here? Is she trying to pull some strings for her brother?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know her situation but I know she¡¯s now doing something for Shentu Tian-Yin,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hm? That¡¯s interesting.¡± Tang Yu-Yan was surprised.
Gu Ke-Wen walked over, her gaze fixed on Xia Lei.
She was no killer, nor an enemy agent, but Xia Lei was still on guard. He quietly activated the power of his eye and the ck dress on Gu Ke-Wen disappeared without a sound, melting away to snowy white, except for that one ce. Her little forest was as exaggerated as ever.
Xia Lei was using his X-ray vision on her to check her for weapons but his gaze was drawn to her one part. He had no words for himself. He was not a shameless pervert but he had a perverted left eye.
The three of them soon drew close to each other and Gu Ke-Wen was the first to say her greetings. ¡°Long time no see, Yu-Yan. You¡¯re bing prettier and prettier.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan smiled. ¡°Long time no see. You¡¯re still so good with words. Thank you. You¡¯re very pretty too.¡±
Gu Ke-Wen¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei after greeting Tang Yu-Yan. She had a smile on her face. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen each other in a while either, Xia Lei. You¡¯re as handsome as always.¡±
Xia Lei was not interested in talking to her but here she was, smiling and saying nice things. It would not be gracious of him to snub her. He put on a smile too. ¡°Men don¡¯t rely on their faces to eat, so what¡¯s the use in being handsome?¡±
¡°Puhaha!¡± Tang Yu-Yanughed so hard she had to hold her stomach. She hit Xia Lei. ¡°Damn it, don¡¯t make meugh like this.¡±
Xia Lei put on a nonchnt look. ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡±
Tang Yu-Yanughed, ¡°Yeah, go disfigure yourself. Your face plus status now is a goldmine to women. And you say that being handsome is useless? You? Don¡¯t you think your skin¡¯s too thick?¡±
Xia Lei was just saying whatever and didn¡¯t expect Tang Yu-Yan to read into it like that.
Gu Ke-Wen then spoke up. ¡°Xia Lei is not bad, but Ahn Suhyeong is better.¡±
Xia Lei just gave augh and didn¡¯t say anything. What she said would make many ufortable but he felt nothing.
Tang Yu-Yan looked at Gu Ke-Wen, wondering why she would say such things to make Xia Lei upset. This behaviour was different from how she presented herself to society.
Gu Ke-Wen spoke again. ¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken, I¡¯m just saying it as it is. Ahn Suhyeong is the young master of the Shinyeok Group, future heir and a man worth billions. He¡¯s handsome and very much loved by women. He has countless ways to woo a girl and he¡¯s very attentive too. Xia Lei, you¡¯re toozy inparison. I heard you went overseas a while ago, and now you¡¯re back but you didn¡¯t even give Shentu Tian-Yin a call, much less court her like Ahn Suhyeong has been doing. Xia Lei, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re not as good as Ahn Suhyeong? You¡¯ll lose to him if you keep acting this way.¡±
So that¡¯s what she meant.
Xia Lei had thought about giving Shentu Tian-Yin a call after he got back to China but he had not in the end. He was busy with the factory, preparing to manufacture the sniper rifle and he also had a problem - he could not exin what happened in South Korea to her. She would mention it for sure if he called her. They also had different points of view on matters, and they¡¯d argued about these too many times. He did not want to argue with her again.
¡°There¡¯s no need for you topare me to Ahn Suhyeong. As for Tian-Yin, I¡¯ll go visit her when I¡¯m back in Haizhu and exin things to her.¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°And you don¡¯t have to worry about things like these, so you?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for you to go back to Haizhu,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen. ¡°She is in Jingdu now. She arrived the day before, and she¡¯s at the Vientaine Group¡¯s Jingdu branch - Angel Wings Building. I¡¯m just reminding you since we met here. It¡¯s up to you, what you should do. But let me warn you - Ahn Suhyeong has been relentless in his courtship during the time you were gone. You¡¯ll lose her if you keep acting this way.¡±
No woman liked to be ignored by a man, much less a woman of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s status. She had never had ack of suitors and all of these suitors were excellent specimens.
¡°Oh, right, Ahn Suhyeong is in Jingdu too. Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group have a new coborative project after that first one. The twopanies are preparing to enter into the business of mobile phones with a brand of the level of Apple and Samsung,¡± added Gu Ke-Wen.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. Shentu Tian-Yin was expanding her business too rapidly. Was she trying to be like Bill Gates?
¡°Well, I¡¯ve said what I have to say. Goodbye, you two.¡± Gu Ke-Wen bid them goodbye politely and brushed past Xia Lei as she left, swaying her slender waist as she walked to the main gates.
¡®Was it really a coincidence that this Gu Ke-Wen was here? Or was she deliberately trying to get me to fight with Ahn Suhyeong for Tian-Yin¡¯s affections?¡¯
It was not possible. Gu Ding-Shan¡¯s death and Gu Ke-Wu¡¯s imprisonment were linked to him, so how could Gu Ke-Wen forget it ande specially to ¡®teach¡¯ him to woo women?
¡°What¡¯re you thinking about?¡± Tang Yu-Yan nudged Xia Lei with her arm.
¡°Nothing. Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yanughed. ¡°Don¡¯t lie. You must be thinking of that Shentu Tian-Yin, huh?¡±
Xia Lei had no words of retort.
Tang Yu-Yan chatted as she walked. ¡°I think what Gu Ke-Wen said is logical. You should court that Shentu Tian-Yin if you like her. You¡¯re sozy; no calls, no asking after her... What woman can stand that? You need to be nice to women.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Do you have a boyfriend?
¡°You... Why ask me this?¡± Tang Yu-Yan blinked herrge eyes and looked at Xia Lei curiously.
¡°Do you have one or not?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t even have a boyfriend so how are you a love guru?¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Gah, you¡¯re biting the hand that feeds you while unaware of my good intentions.¡±
Theyughed and chatted, and came to the Tang household. They went in, and Xia Lei saw Tang Bo-Chuan and his father, Tang Tian-Long, and an old man and woman.
The old man was at least seventy, tall and burly with long, silvery hair. He was in traditional clothing and looked fairly refined.
The woman looked about forty-plus. She had delicate features, still pretty, and had an elegant air.
It was their first time meeting but Xia Lei could guess that the old man was Grandfather Tang - Tang Yun-Hai. The woman was Tang Yu-Yan and Tang Bo-Chuan¡¯s mother, Zhang Yu-Mei. Tang Yu-Yan had spoken about these two on their walk to her home, telling Xia Lei about their characteristics, hobbies and interests.
The Tang sect of Sichuan were not just these people but those before Xia Lei were the core of the Tang.
Tang Yu-Yan made the introductions for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei spoke very politely, ¡°How do you do, Grandfather Tang. Hello, Uncle Tang. Hello, Aunt Zhang.¡±
¡°Good, good, hello to you too.¡± Zhang Yu-Mei was all smiles as she looked at Xia Lei with interest.
Tang Tian-Long nodded at Xia Lei in greeting.
Tang Yun-Hai just looked quietly at Xia Lei. His eyes were sharp, as if he wanted to see through Xia Lei with his gaze.
¡°Grandfather, Xia Lei¡¯s saying hello,¡± reminded Tang Yu-Yan.
Tang Yun-Hai then spoke. ¡°I heard him. Xia Lei isn¡¯t in a rush, so why are you?¡±
Two sshes of red appeared on Tang Yu-Yan¡¯s cheeks. She rolled her eyes at Tang Yun-Hai and looked petnt.
¡°Boy. Come to the backyard with me.¡± Tang Yun-Hai stood and walked to a door.
Xia Lei gave Tang Yu-Yan a questioning look.
Tang Yu-Yan quickly twisted her lips to one side and said, ¡°Go.¡±
Xia Lei then followed Tang Yun-Hai.
Tang Tian-Long, Zhang Yu-Mei, Tang Bo-Chuan and Tang Yu-Yan went to the backyard too.
The backyard was a small flower-garden with a patch of empty space in the middle. Stone bs were ced in the empty space and there were some mysterious cracks on many of those stone bs.
Xia Lei was looking around when Tang Yun-Hai suddenly turned with a fist flying at him. He was an old man of over seventy but his blow was quick; it left professional boxers in the dust. What was even more terrifying was that his punch was so fast it was apanied by a whooshing sound!
Xia Lei had not expected Tang Yun-Hai to attack him at all and he hurriedly lifted his arm when he could not defend properly, using his right elbow to block Tang Yun-Hai¡¯s iron fist.
Bam! A dull thud sounded. Xia Lei was pushed two steps back before he could stop himself. The right elbow he¡¯d used to stop the attack smarted and this astonished him. How could an old grandfather have such scary strength?
Tang Yun-Hai suddenly dashed forward, fists whooshing as he started a fierce attack. Xia Lei reacted to every blow. He mostly defended and only attacked a little. He was unable to gain the advantage but the ability of his eye to catch all of Tang Yun-Hai¡¯s movements made it hard for the old man to beat him. However, Xia Lei¡¯s skill was not enough to be an opponent for Tang Yun-Hai without the power of his left eye.
An obvious difference was the time they¡¯d spent practicing martial arts. How Long had Xia Lei practiced? Barely a year. Tang Yun-Hai had immersed himself in martial arts his whole life.
Tang Yun-Hai kicked, and was blocked by Xia Lei, but Xia Lei was pushed backwards several steps again by the impact.
Tang Yun-Hai did not attack again. He put his attacking foot down and chuckled. ¡°Yu-Yan, you little rascal. What¡¯s this about finding me a disciple? He¡¯s an opponent.¡±
The bout left Tang Yun-Hai secretly astounded by Xia Lei¡¯s martial capability, but he did not know that it was because Xia Lei had a miraculous left eye.
Tang Yu-Yan spoke a little rebelliously. ¡°Grandfather, you said it yourself, not me. Why are you dragging me into this?¡±
Tang Tian-Long and Zhang Yu-Mei exchanged looks; who knew what they hadmunicated with each other through their eyes.
Xia Lei spoke politely, ¡°Grandfather is a martial arts Master indeed. I would be lying on the ground now if you weren¡¯t going easy on me. The Tang sect¡¯s greatest specialty is the use of hidden weapons and Qinggong but you have not used any of those yet. My martial arts capabilities are far below yours. I cannot hope topare.¡±
Tang Yun-Hai frowned. ¡°There is no second ce in literature, and no first ce in martial arts. Strength is strength, and weakness is weakness. I know your skill so don¡¯t be humble.¡±
¡°Grandfather Tang is right to reprimand me,¡± said Xia Lei sheepishly.
Tang Yun-Hai walked over and smacked Xia Lei hard on the shoulder. Heughed as he said, ¡°I quite like you, Boy. I¡¯ve said that I would ept you as my Last Disciple if you rescue our Yu-Yan, so I¡¯m taking you in as my Last Disciple. I am a man of my word. But if you want to learn our Tang martial arts, you have to enter our Tang doors. I¡¯ll see how you perform.¡±
Xia Lei was confused.
Chapter 351 - Voices Behind
Tang martial arts were not passed on to outsiders and one had to enter the Tang family doors to learn. The problem was - how? Xia Lei felt like he had been duped somehow. An adopted son was still not a true member of the Tang sect.
There seemed to be just one path to take if he wanted to be a true member of the Tang, and that was to court Tang Yu-Yan, be the son-inw of the Tang sect and have a chubby child with her or something. That was the way to get the true Tang techniques.
However, Tang Yun-Hai did not exin his words and Xia Lei didn¡¯t feelfortable asking him about it either.
The Tang sect was much more powerful than the Gu n. The Gu n was at most considered nouveau riche but the Tang sect was an ancient n with hundreds of years of history. Entering a n like this was like a great chance to upgrade oneself for many men, and they would agree without hesitation. What¡¯s more, the bride in question was an exceptional woman; Tang Yu-Yan. However, Xia Lei had no such inclination. The Tang sect was rich, true, but he was rich too!
The Tang¡¯s chef had prepared a feast for their table, and Xia Lei stayed too for lunch.
¡°Who do you have in your family, Mr Xia?¡± asked Zhang Yu-Mei during the meal.
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed and he said awkwardly, ¡°There¡¯s just...¡±
Tang Yu-Yan cut Zhang Yu-Mei short. ¡°Mum, your son is a special agent and your daughter is one too. You might as well just ask either of us. Don¡¯t ask. I¡¯ll give you a fileter and you¡¯ll know everything about him, from the time he went to kindergarten to now, no details spared.¡±
Zhang Yu-Mei red at Tang Yu-Yan. ¡°You terrible girl. You¡¯re over twenty and still acting like a child. Mr Xia is your saviour - how can you investigate him like that? How impolite.¡±
The main point of her words was actually this: You¡¯re well into your twenties and you¡¯re not anxious, but Mum is!
Tang Yu-Yan stuck her tongue out and didn¡¯t interrupt anymore.
Zhang Yu-Mei picked up a piece of roasted duck for Xia Lei with her chopsticks and smiled as she said, ¡°Come, Mr Xia. Eat, eat.¡±
¡°Thank you, Aunt Zhang,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°How is yourpany doing, Mr Xia?¡± asked Zhang Yu-Mei.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Zhang Yu-Mei finally let go of the topic but Tang Yun-Hai took up the baton.
¡°Boy, I hear you can modify guns and the ones you modify can reach an effective range of over 3,000 metres. You¡¯re also producing sniper rifles like these in your military factory, is that right?¡± Tang Yun-Hai¡¯s topic of interest was different from womenly topics.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. But the mass-produced rifles are probably going to be worse than my personally modified rifles. I think they will reach an effective range of just 2,500 metres but there¡¯s benefits of mass-producing too and that¡¯s the automatic functions. The magazine can get to ten shots and it¡¯ll be faster to fire.¡±
¡°Haha, nice, Boy.¡± Tang Yun-Hai was all smiles. ¡°You really are an indispensable talent of our nation. If the sniper rifles you make can really reach an effective range of 2,500, and be automatic too, then it¡¯ll undoubtedly be the best sniper rifle in the world. Our country can stand proud in the light weapons field now and piss off those western bastards who initiated the technology blockade.¡±
¡°You praise me too much, Grandfather.¡± Xia Lei was as polite as ever.
¡°Grandfather, you think it¡¯s impressive that Xia Lei¡¯s modified sniper rifle can hit a target at 3,200 metres?¡± said Tang Yu-Yan with a smile, ¡°You haven¡¯t seen him go up against those Americans agents and the CIA yet. It was one shot, one kill! Those so-called elite soldiers and CIA agents ran away with their tails between their legs. They didn¡¯t even dare to look back.¡±
Zhang Yu-Mei kicked Tang Yu-Yan under the table.
Tang Yu-Yan looked at Zhang Yu-Mei.
Zhang Yu-Mei rolled her eyes at her daughter and hissed, ¡°You talk roughly like a man! This is worrying.¡±
Oh, poor parents. Those with sons want them to get pretty girlfriends, get married and have children. Those with daughters want them to get the best boyfriend they can find - gentle, caring, sessful in his career and for them to have a blissful life. However, the sons and daughters never seem to notice their parents¡¯ efforts and always seem to think that they haven¡¯t had enough fun yet.
¡°I didn¡¯t get a chance to fight those American Special Forces soldiers and the CIA, or I would¡¯ve killed them all dead too! Haha!¡± Tang Yun-Hai got more and more excited as he spoke. He didn¡¯t seem like an old man but like a hot-blooded young man.
¡°Xia Lei,¡± said Tang Tian-Long, ¡°Be strong but also don¡¯t hesitate to tell us if you have any difficulties. You must produce those sniper rifles. This is a good opportunity to gain some glory for the nation.¡±
¡°Uncle Tang, you make me want to ask you a favour when you talk like that,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Tian-Long paused, then said, ¡°Speak, what help do you need?¡±
¡°I would like mypany to take our sniper rifle to the light weapons exhibition in Moscow and I don¡¯t know who I¡¯ll have to ask for the approval to participate since I have never done something like this before. Could you help me with the approvals?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure. I can settle this for you. You can go to the exhibition but you must give a good showing,¡± said Tang Tian-Long.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°No problem. I will surely bring honour to the nation. Thank you Uncle Tang.¡±
¡°Ah, why are you still standing on ceremony?¡± Tang Tian-Long gave a mock-offended look.
Zhang Yu-Mei interrupted, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. No need to be so formal; just treat this like your own home.¡±
Tang Yu-Yan kicked her mother under the table.
The meal went by in a lively fashion and Xia Lei apanied Tang Yun-Hai for some tea before finding an excuse to go off.
It was great if he could learn martial arts and no skin off his nose if he couldn¡¯t. Xia Lei was no martial arts maniac. He had this mindset when he came to the Tang home and the same mindset when he left.
Tang Yu-Yan sent Xia Lei to the door, chatting as they went.
Two generations of Tangs were chatting by the second floor window too.
¡°This Xia Lei looks decent. He¡¯s a self-made man of millions, unmarried, good temperament and character. He¡¯s quite handsome too. More importantly, he saved the life of our Yu-Yan. I think he¡¯s the one!¡± Zhang Yu-Mei looked at Xia Lei¡¯s retreating back with a smile beaming on her face.
¡°The boy¡¯s all good except for one thing. Humility. He¡¯s too humble,¡± said Tang Yun-Hai with a smile.
Zhang Yu-Mei rolled her eyes at Tang Yun-Hai. ¡°Dad, isn¡¯t humility a plus?¡±
¡°Hahaha, yes, yes, it¡¯s a plus. I like this boy. I almost wanted to pass on some Tang martial arts to him earlier.¡± Tang Yun-Haiughed jovially.
Zhang Yu-Mei quickly said, ¡°He hasn¡¯t married into our family. There¡¯s no rush.¡±
Tang Yun-Hai looked at Tang Tian-Long next to him and said, ¡°Why have you been so quiet? And that serious face - you don¡¯t like Xia Lei?¡±
Tang Tian-Long was quiet for a while before he replied, ¡°What I¡¯m about to say cannot be repeated to Yu-Yan or Bo-Chuan, much less outsiders.¡±
Tang Yun-Hai and Zhang Yu-Mei exchanged nces, then looked at Tang Tian-Long quizzically.
Tang Tian-Long lowered his voice. ¡°There¡¯s something fishy about this guy.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yun-Hai and Zhang Yu-Mei were at a loss for words.
Tang Tian-Long continued, ¡°A year ago he was just a wage-earner working on construction sites and moving bricks. He had to support his sister so that she could study and was living at the bottom-most rungs of society. But in one year he became a self-made millionaire, and even became an important, indispensable person in Bureau 101. Don¡¯t you think this is very strange?¡±
¡°It is strange but isn¡¯t it good so long as he doesn¡¯t steal or rob? He¡¯s earning money the legal way and also doing things for the betterment and glory of the nation. Isn¡¯t this good? Is him being too good a shoring?¡± Tang Yun-Hai was of a different opinion.
Tang Tian-Long sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll be frank. Someone in the higher ranks is keeping an eye on him. If there¡¯s nothing wrong with him, then great. But if there is something wrong, then it¡¯s big trouble. Our Tang sect has stood for hundreds of years because we were cautious and careful, isn¡¯t that right?¡±
Tang Yun-Hai was silent. He had taught Tang Tian-Long those words.
¡°Tian-Long, you say that something¡¯s wrong with Xia Lei but what is it? He¡¯s a good person - why is there someone higher up keeping an eye on him?¡±
Tang Tian-Long shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know either but intuition tells me that he¡¯s hiding a lot of secrets.¡±
Zhang Yu-Mei pursed her lips. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m keeping out of it. You worry about our daughter. It was so difficult to find a match and you guys are pulling this now. Don¡¯te looking for meter when she¡¯s 30 and still unmarried!¡±
Tang Tian-Longughed dryly. It seemed like Xia Lei and Tang Yu-Yan had already gone some way with each other to him.
¡°No need to send me off,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I can just take a taxi back.¡±
¡°How can I let you do that? It¡¯s better if I send you back,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan.
¡°I¡¯d like to go to Angel Wings Building for a bit. I do feel quite bad for not even saying hello when I¡¯ve been back for so long,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yu-Yan understood what he meant right away. ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re going to see Shentu Tian-Yin. No problem, I can send you there too.¡± She then smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll leave right away after I drop you off, don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t interrupt your date.¡±
Xia Lei justughed and didn¡¯t exin himself. He wasn¡¯t even sure what rtionship he had with Shentu Tian-Yin himself, so how was he to exin it to Tang Yu-Yan? Besides, there was no need for exnations either.
Tang Yu-Yan drove towards Angel Wings Building. She broke the silence in the car. ¡°My mum likes to prattle on, so don¡¯t take anything she said to heart.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Nah, Aunt Zhang is a cheerful person. I like her.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, we said we would teach you Tang martial arts but it didn¡¯te to that,¡± said Tang Yu-Yan apologetically.
¡°It¡¯s all right. Your family has its own rules. Besides, I wasn¡¯t nning on getting to a high level in martial arts or anything. It¡¯s the age of weapons now and martials arts will lose out to guns no matter how strong you are, right?¡±
Tang Yu-Yanughed. ¡°Makes sense, but you cane look for me if you want to learn. I can teach you some.¡±
¡°Nn, thank you.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t seem very interested.
The car came to Angel Wings Building and Xia Lei alighted. Tang Yu-Yan said goodbye and drove off.
Angel Wings Building was connected at the bottom, and it was separated into two sections from the middle on. The sections were at a slight tilt and did look like a pair of barely-open wings. This building was no less impressive than the Vientaine Building in Haizhu.
Xia Lei stopped looking up at the building and started walking to the lobby.
Chapter 352 - How Dare You Act Like This In China!
No one stopped Xia Lei when he entered the lobby but security guards blocked him off when he tried to enter the lift area, asking him for the relevant employee pass or written invitation for a visit.
Xia Lei did not say much to the security guards. He took out his phone to call Shentu Tian-Yin. Just then, a group of people walked over and one of them greeted him from afar.
¡°Isn¡¯t this Mr Xia?¡± Ahn Suhyeong came strolling over with a group of bodyguards, a smile on his face.
He was dressed in a white suit and shiny leather shoes. Not a hair on his head was out of ce and with his handsome face, Ahn Suhyeong could be said to be quite a dandy. The bodyguards with him were all in ck and provided a stark contrast to him, entuating his ssiness and emphasising his status.
Xia Lei just nced at him and did not respond.
Ahn Suhyeong dropped all pretence when he got snubbed and said sarcastically, ¡°You¡¯ve sold all those artifacts you stole from my home already, haven¡¯t you, Mr Xia? Congrattions. You¡¯ve made a fortune again.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± said Xia Lei icily.
¡°Hah!¡± Ahn Suhyeong snorted. ¡°I said you sold all the artifacts you stole from me. I think you must have sold them, and you couldn¡¯t wait so you came running here to tell Shentu Tian-Yin that you made a pile of money again, huh? You want her to praise you for doing business well, am I right?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s bodyguardsughed.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth too. ¡°You seem to think this is South Korea, huh? You have weight in Korea but what are you in China? Don¡¯t piss me off, Ahn Suhyeong. This is myst warning to you.¡±
¡°What did you say? You Chinese clown!¡± A bodyguard shouted at Xia Lei in Korean, ¡°Do you know who you¡¯re talking to?¡±
Another bodyguard waved a threatening hand. ¡°Fool! Be careful or I¡¯ll beat you up!¡±
Yet another bodyguard spoke arrogantly, ¡°Do we Koreans still need to be polite in China? Bastard!¡±
¡°Enough, enough.¡± Ahn Suhyeong waved his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t argue with a little thief. This is China. He thinks he is some big deal in China so let¡¯s humour him.¡±
¡°Pah!¡± A bodyguard spat on the ground in front of Xia Lei.
The spit with a bit of yellow phlegm in itnded right on Xia Lei¡¯s shoe.
¡°Hahaha!¡± The bodyguard who had spatughed. He had not an ounce of respect for Xia Lei.
Many people in the lobby were looking over at them and whispering in low voices.
¡°Let¡¯s go. Let this fool climb the stairs.¡± Ahn Suhyeong was in high spirits. He didn¡¯t expect that Xia Lei would be so easy to bully - he hadn¡¯t even said a word of retort.
Just as Ahn Suhyeong and his bodyguards were about to enter the lift, Xia Lei reached out a hand and blocked his way.
Ahn Suhyeong wrinkled his brows. ¡°You want to fight?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s bodyguards surged forward without him telling them to and surrounded Xia Lei. The atmosphere was such that they would pummel him into the ground at any time!
Xia Lei did not even spare the bodyguards a nce. He said, ¡°Ahn Suhyeong, I will now give you two options. Option one - tell your bodyguard to kneel and lick my shoe clean. Option two - you kneel yourself and lick my shoe clean.¡±
¡°What did you say? You bastard!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was enraged.
¡°Ahn Suhyeong, do you think that I won¡¯t dare to touch you because your father is a political figure in South Korea and could possibly be President? Or do you think that it¡¯s because you¡¯re worth billions?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong raised an eyebrow. ¡°Just you try and touch me.¡±
Xia Lei let a p fly as soon as the words left his mouth and itnded squarely on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s right cheek. He was quick - so quick that Ahn Suhyeong didn¡¯t even have the time to think of a reaction, much less avoid or block it.
¡°You-¡±
PAH! Xia Lei drew his hand back and another pnded on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s left cheek. He did not hold back, and Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s handsome face started to swell.
The two ps had taken less than two seconds. The bodyguards only realised it after the ps wereplete and they sprang at Xia Lei in a jumble of fists.
Xia Lei sent Ahn Suhyeong flying with one kick, and used the rebound-momentum from Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s body to jump up higher and smash his foot down onto the head of a bodyguard who had was trying to sneak up on him from behind. Thonk! A dull thunk sounded and that bodyguard was thrown to the ground by that kick.
Xia Lei was right in the middle of the bodyguards when his feet touched the floor.
¡°B-Beat him!¡± Ahn Suhyeong held his burning cheeks, so mad he was going mad.
When had a young master of an elite Korean n been beaten like this before?!
It was a mistake to think that Xia Lei would be beaten if surrounded by a group. Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s bodyguards were beaten to a pulp in the blink of an eye. Some had bruising noses and swollen faces, while some couldn¡¯t get up after they¡¯d fallen.
¡°What are you doing?! Stop!¡± A member of the building management came charging over with a group of security guards to be a barrier between Xia Lei and Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s group.
¡°Bunch of useless trash! Beat him!¡± screamed Ahn Suhyeong angrily.
A bodyguard who¡¯d been punched in both eyes sneakily took out a smallbat knife and hid it in his hand. He took advantage of the security blocking Xia Lei and moved quietly to Xia Lei¡¯s back.
¡°What do you take this ce for?¡± The building management staff said angrily, ¡°If you have a feud, then take it outside or I¡¯ll call the police.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you know who I am? Look at me! Bastard!¡± cried Ahn Suhyeong. He pointed at Xia Lei and shouted, ¡°He has to kneel and apologise to me!¡±
¡°M,Mr Ahn, I¡¯m sorry, I apologise.¡± The management staff recognised Ahn Suhyeong and his attitude changed. It was no wonder he had not recognised him at first - Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face had ¡®fattened¡¯ quite a bit.
¡°Then get out of the way!¡± shouted Ahn Suhyeong angrily.
Just then, the bodyguard with the knife hidden in his hand charged at Xia Lei¡¯s back, aiming for his torso.
Xia Lei seemed to have eyes behind his head. He moved one step aside and avoided the knife, and he jabbed his right elbow violently backwards at the same time, striking that bodyguard in the chest.
ng! The knife in the bodyguard¡¯s hand ttered to the floor. He grasped his chest as he keeled towards the ground.
Before he could hit the ground, however, Xia Lei¡¯s right elbow jabbed backwards again, smashing into his nose. His nose fountained blood immediately.
There were no eyes on the back of Xia Lei¡¯s head and he definitely did not have the skill of echolocation - his left eye had seen a reflection off a gold pir 20 metres away. He had already noticed him when he was sneaking up on him, so there was no taking him by surprise!
After felling the bodyguard who had tried to ambush him, Xia Lei dashed forward and kicked Ahn Suhyeong in the chest.
Ahn Suhyeong let out a scream and fell heavily to the floor.
He was the amateur fencing champion in South Korea but how could a rich-boy like himpare to Xia Lei, who had tempered his body through numerous battles? The so-called swordy of his was asughable as a child¡¯s game to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei put one foot on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s chest, stepping on him and looking down at him from a higher position.
¡°Y,You¡¯ll regret this!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was both surprised and mad, and fear which he did not want to acknowledge bloomed in his heart!
¡°Regret?¡± A scornful smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°I¡¯m stepping on you now. Going to bite me?¡±
¡°You...¡± Ahn Suhyeong was so angry he could not speak. People woulde running to apologise profusely if they so much as stepped identally on his foot in South Korea, but he was actually suffering such humiliation here in China!
¡°Arrh!¡± A bodyguard who was still standing suddenly let out a shout and charged towards Xia Lei. He had thebat knife which had been dropped on the floor in his hand.
Xia Lei twisted aside to avoid it, and let loose a punch at the bodyguard¡¯s ribs.
Ribs broke and that bodyguard copsed to the floor with a scream, wailing such that the onlookers couldn¡¯t help but frown.
Ahn Suhyeong wanted to get to his feet but Xia Lei¡¯s foot was on his chest again in the next second, pressing him down.
¡°Bastard! How dare you treat me like this!¡± Ahn Suhyeong looked ready to foam at the mouth in rage.
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°I¡¯ve made it clear. Either your bodyguard kneels and licks my shoe clean or you. If you¡¯re not going to pick an option then I¡¯ll assume you want the second option.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong clenched his teeth. He wouldn¡¯t kneel to lick Xia Lei¡¯s shoe, not even on pain of death. But having his underling do it on his behalf was also a great humiliation to someone like him; it was uneptable!
¡°Looks like it¡¯s option two.¡± Xia Lei stretched out his shoe with the spittle on it to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s cheek.
¡°Damn you! I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Ahn Suhyeong had lost it.
¡°Please, Sir. Calm down.¡± The building management staff member came running over to hold Xia Lei¡¯s leg back.
Ahn Suhyeong took that opportunity to roll out from under Xia Lei¡¯s foot, and crawl off somewhere further in flight. The group of injured bodyguards also gathered around Ahn Suhyeong, using their bodies as a barricade.
Xia Lei made to go over but the staff said quietly to him, ¡°Mr Xia, our Chairman asked us to invite you up. Please don¡¯t cause any trouble for us, I beg you. Please forget it, on behalf of all of here, all the security guards who still need their rice-bowls.¡±
Xia Lei calmed at that, and he nodded.
The staff then used a tissue to clean off the spit on Xia Lei¡¯s shoe.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei turned and walked towards the lifts.
The security guard who had blocked his way earlier had run off, far far away, afraid that Xia Lei would recognise him.
¡°Xia Lei! This isn¡¯t over!¡± shouted Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Lei took one step out of the lift and he had not taken a second step before Ahn Suhyeong started running out of the building. The injured bodyguards started to tremble in fear and the most cowardly of them even fell to the ground in nervousness.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t make a fool of yourself here, Ahn Suhyeong. Go back to South Korea.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Another word of warning - don¡¯t piss me off in China or I¡¯ll beat you whenever I see you!¡±
The entire lobby was struck dumb at those words.
The lift doors closed and Xia Lei disappeared from the view of the audience.
Xia Lei had not held back and been heavy-handed this time because he still held a grudge from the time in Korea. Thinking of the scene when Ahn Suhyeong brought policemen and his family bodyguards to the cafe in South Korea made Xia Lei¡¯s blood boil!
This was China. Ahn Suhyeong was just asking to die by not recognising that this was not his turf.
As the onlookers dispersed, Gu Ke-Wen walked out from a small corridor to the side of the main lobby. A thoughtful smile appeared on her lips as she watched Ahn Suhyeong make his dishevelled departure. ¡°Ooh, how fierce. Looks like the show¡¯s about to begin, huh? I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±
Chapter 353 - Incomplete Kiss
Someone brought Xia Lei to the door of Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s office. Fu Ming-Mei was standing there and she rolled her eyes at Xia Lei as soon as she saw him.
Xia Lei knew what she meant by that and he shrugged helplessly.
¡°Sigh, you. Not even a phone call,¡± Fu Ming-Mei chided quietly. ¡°And I kindly reminded you too.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Aren¡¯t I here now? Being here in the flesh is surely more sincere than a phone call.¡±
Fu Ming-Mei red. ¡°Hurry up and get in. Make sure to make her happy.¡± She opened the door.
Xia Lei walked in.
It was a fairly impressive and luxurious office, all in cool colours, of course. The ce exuded cold and seriousness. Shentu Tian-Yin was at her desk looking at a white Apple monitor. She looked up to nce at Xia Lei when he walked in, then smiled and waved at him to tell him toe over.
Xia Lei was worried that she would be upset at him and give him a bad attitude or something but she was calm, and even smiling. He did not know why but he rxed a little. He walked over and said, ¡°I really am sorry, Tian-Yin. Recently, I...¡±
¡°Sh.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin put a finger on Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Xia Lei thought she did that because she was having a video conference but soon found out that she was watching the footage of him hitting Ahn Suhyeong and stepping on him.
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve watched it three times.¡±
Xia Lei paused. This was Angel Wings Building, the headquarters for Vientaine Group in Jingdu, so of course Shentu Tian-Yin would have received a report of what had happened in the lobby, and watched it all on the surveince system. It would have been easy enough for her to stop it but she had not and just watched - three times. He could not fathom her thoughts.
¡°Have a seat. I¡¯ll get you something to drink.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin stood and went to the wine cab.
Xia Lei sat on the sofa and watched as Shentu Tian-Yin poured him wine. He was confused by her attitude today but did not ask about it.
Shentu Tian-Yin came over with two sses of wine and handed one to Xia Lei. She clinked sses with him and smiled and she said, ¡°To our reunion.¡±
¡°Reunion?¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°Why say that?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin sat opposite Xia Lei. She drained her ss, then looked straight at Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, to our reunion.¡± Xia Lei drained his ss too.
Shentu Tian-Yin then said, ¡°You know why I didn¡¯t stop what was happening in the lobby?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. He could guess the thoughts of many people but Shentu Tian-Yin was difficult.
¡°He was constantly making trouble for you in South Korea and he even disrespected me in the hotel cafe. Only you can teach a lesson to a person as self-important and arrogant as him.¡± A faint smile appeared on Shentu Tian Yin¡¯s lips. ¡°It was really satisfying. So much that I watched it three times.¡±
¡°You dislike him? Then why are you coborating with him and doing a mobile phone project?¡±
¡°Business is business. Besides, it wasn¡¯t me who hit him.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was a smart woman indeed and there was no finding fault with what she said or did.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I was worried about your coboration with Shinyeok Group but it seems my worry was misced.¡±
¡°Why say that?¡±
¡°You¡¯re better than me at doing business. I was afraid that you would be duped by Shinyeok Group but I¡¯ve only just discovered that the one who should be worried is Ahn Suhyeong,¡± said Xia Lei.
She, as a single woman, had risen up in Vientaine Group despite the terrible internal strife. Today, all her opponents had fallen and she was advancing Vientaine Group further; it had expanded by a thirdpared to the previous year. Would a woman like her need him to worry about her getting duped?
¡°You could tell?¡±
¡°You have a project you¡¯re coborating with Shinyeok Group on in South Korea, but you cannot control it. So you came up with a mobile phone project that¡¯s in China so you can control it and Shinyeok Group can¡¯t. Ahn Suhyeong is far behind his father in terms of caution and smarts so the one to benefit the most from this project is, of course, Vientaine Group. Is this right?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled. ¡°You understand me best after all.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly felt like all the business acumen he had umted till now was like a nk sheet of paper. His capabilities in the field of business was far behind hisbat capabilities.
Just then, Shentu Tian-Yin let out a soft sigh. ¡°Lei, I don¡¯t care what others think of me - I only care about what you think of me. I hold no reservations towards you but you don¡¯t understand me. I want to get to know you very much but you keep avoiding me. You have too many secrets. They¡¯re like the smog hanging over Jingdu; I can¡¯t see you clearly.¡±
Did she know something? Xia Lei was struck by a thought but he showed no reaction. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
¡°You were asking why I said this was a reunion, right? I¡¯m getting back to your question now,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
Xia Lei smiled and waited for her answer.
Shentu Tian-Yin dipped her finger in the wine in her hand and wrote three numbers on the coffee table: 101.
Xia Lei stared nkly. He then thought of Gu Ke-Wen. If he was right, Shentu Tian-Yin probably knew about the existence of Bureau 101 because of Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°I¡¯d never have expected you to be an agent for the nation,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin, ¡°I now know what a special status you have and this exins so much of what confused me. You must have gone on some secret mission when you suddenly disappeared for a period of time aftering back from Korea, right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. She already knew of the existence of Bureau 101 and about his other identity so it was needless to hide it anymore.
¡°That¡¯s why I said our meeting today is a reunion. I think I¡¯ve only truly understood you now. This is the same feeling as when I first met you.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°It was Gu Ke-Wen who told you, huh?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin neither confirmed nor denied it.
¡°There were some things I kept from you, but not because I was hiding it deliberately - it¡¯s better if you don¡¯t know anything about it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tian-Yin smiled. ¡°I know. I¡¯ve heard a lot of these sort of lines in Hollywood spy films. Let me tell you a secret - when I was a young girl my dream was to be a secret agent, not a businesswoman. I wanted to be a female agent, one who¡¯s strong like the agent Angelina Jolie yed in ¡®Salt¡¯.¡±
Xia Lei recalled the Bureau 101 agents who had died in Afghanistan. ¡°Trust me, you won¡¯t like that sort of lifestyle. Really.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin pursed her lips. ¡°I knew you¡¯d say that.¡±
It was a small, yful movement but it showcased her warm and adorable side as a woman. She sat at ease opposite him with her beautiful face and slender figure. Her quiet gaze and her sexiness seemed to speak to him. Xia Lei suddenly felt the feeling he had when he had first seen her - she was like a celestial out of a painting, otherworldly, out of reach but tempting one to get closer, to fantasise.
The two of them grew quiet. Their eyes met and their gazes were loaded with meaning. Past misunderstandings, the many guesses all melted away.
Looking at Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s tender, painted lips made Xia Lei have an sudden impulse to kiss her. She was a goddess he had fantasised about for a long time after all and he had even dreamed about making a family with her. The desire to get her had been buried deep in his heart all along and was only just re-awakened, hence the impulse.
Two minutes passed with them just looking at each other.
¡°I... I¡¯ll pour some wine for you.¡± Shentu Tian-Yin was a woman not as bold as Xia Lei. She avoided his gaze and went to take the winess.
¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Xia Lei stood too to take the ss.
Their hands grabbed the wine bottle at the same time and touched. Both of them felt a jolt of electricity go through them in that instant; it was subtle. More interestingly, neither of them let go. Their gazes met again, heavy with meaning.
Then their heads drew slowly closer to each other... Closer... Closer...
The door to the office opened all of a sudden and Fu Ming-Mei appeared in the doorway.
Shentu Tian-Yin and Xia Lei¡¯s lips nearly met - they were just two to three millimetres apart. Shentu Tian-Yin was the first to draw back, her face red. ¡°What is it?¡±
Xia Lei was embarrassed too and he pretended to be pouring wine.
¡°Oho?¡± A smirk appeared on Fu Ming-Mei¡¯s face. ¡°Sorry, did I interrupt you two?¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin red at her.
Fu Ming-Mei sobered. ¡°The security department chief says the police havee to investigate the situation. Nn, and there seems to be people from the Korean embassy too.¡±
Shentu Tian-Yin wrinkled her brows. ¡°Ahn Suhyeong made a fuss and escted it to an international dispute?¡±
Fu Ming-Mei spread her hands. ¡°That I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°What do they take my ce for? Hold them off,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Yes, right away.¡± Fu Ming-Mei turned to leave.
Before she got out the door, however, Gu Ke-Wen appeared in the doorway and coincidentally blocked her way. She went straight to the point. ¡°You can¡¯t settle it like that.¡±
Xia Lei was not surprised that Gu Ke-Wen had turned up at this time. He watched her and tried to guess her role in Vientaine Group.
Fu Ming-Mei spoke a little discontentedly, ¡°You mean you have some brilliant idea, Assistant Gu?¡±
So Gu Ke-Wen was now Shentu Tian-Yin¡¯s assistant. This surprised Xia Lei.
¡°Speak, Ke-Wen,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°Mr Xia did injure someone, and not just one. Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s father is an old hand in the world of South Korean politics and uses strong-handed methods. Since people from the Korean embassy areing it¡¯s a sure sign that they want to take Mr Xia in for questioning. If we stop them we will be the party responsible, and possibly draw the ire of Ahn Geungan. This is not a wise move,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Xia Lei. She was troubled.
¡°I¡¯ll just go with them. Don¡¯t worry, they can¡¯t do anything to me.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll apany you to the police station,¡± said Shentu Tian-Yin.
¡°No, you can¡¯t handle it like that,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin looked at Gu Ke-Wen.
¡°With the Korean embassy in y, it is sure to be escted to higher levels. The smartest thing to do now is to have Mr Xia leave unnoticed. Go back to your military factory, where there¡¯s military secrets and strict martialw. The military will be the first to disagree to the presence of Koreans there,¡± said Gu Ke-Wen.
Xia Lei suddenlyughed. He felt that Gu Ke-Wen had matured and be smarter without the protection of her father and brother.
He wasughing, but his heart was heavy.
Chapter 354 - Bringing Trouble On Oneself
The people from the Korean embassy came chasing right after Xia Lei¡¯s foot crossed the threshold of Thunder Horse Military Factory. The group consisted of many people, including civil servants, and several police officers in charge of this case. Apanying them was a ck Hyundai limousine which just parked by the side of the road near the main gates; no doors were opened.
Ahn Suhyeong was in this car and he was in the foulest of moods.
Other than the chauffeur, the car also had two Koreans in it; one man, one woman. The man was in his early thirties and had a robust, healthy body. The woman looked to be in her twenties. She was a beautiful woman with a smoking hot figure and delicate features which drew eyes. They were both expressionless but ruthlessness lurked in their eyes and they had a negative aura about them which was very different from the aura of normal people.
The man was named Cha Gori and the woman was named Kim Jiyeon. They were both people who specialised in doing the dirty deeds of the Ahn family, like the Gu n¡¯s Dong Wu, Qin Qi and Danny.
Ahn Suhyeong was truly incensed this time, and that was why he had brought Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon with him.
In the limousine, Ahn Suhyeong leaned close to the window to watch the people from the Korean embassy talk with the military men at the gates. When he saw that they were still unable to gain permission to enter and carry out an investigation, the mes of his anger burst out of control. ¡°Fuck, how much longer? The Korean conste is here but those two soldiers are actually not letting them in!¡±
Sometimes national pride was not pride but arrogance when it got to a certain degree.
Several minutester, the situation at the military factory gates was still the same - the people from the Korean embassy were still not able to go in but the number of soldiers had increased.
¡°Looks like they can¡¯t enter,¡± said Cha Gori.
¡°That Chinese punk sure is sly,¡± said Kim Jiyeon. Her voice was gentle, sweet. Just her voice alone was quite seductive.
Ahn Suhyeong pushed the car door open. ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look. I don¡¯t believe that the Korean embassy can¡¯t enter to catch a criminal, even with policemen!¡±
Cha Gori and Kim Siyeon exchanged nces, then alighted and followed Ahn Suhyeong to the gates of Thunder Horse Military Factory.
The swelling in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face had gone down but there were still marks on his face.
Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon were behind him, one left, one right. One was tall and burly, the other small and petite; a picture of masculinity and femininity. Kim Jiyeon¡¯s round buttocks were especially noteworthy, wrapped in a ck miniskirt, plump and bouncing and wholly seductive.
Most men liked women like this because they could be held easily in their arms and would do whatever they wanted.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Ahn Suhyeong threw a fit as soon as he got to the gates. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you letting us in?¡±
¡°What do you take this ce for? This is a military factory, with military secrets. You would all have been detained long ago for causing trouble if you weren¡¯t staff of the Korean embassy,¡± said a soldier sternly.
¡°Yeah, I told you guys that this is not a normal ce and we have no right to go in. I think we should first go back,¡± said a policeman.
¡°Go back? Our people were beaten up - are we supposed to just let it go?¡± said a embassy staff angrily. He had a different attitude when Ahn Suhyeong was not here, and grew arrogant when he turned up, all to suck up to Ahn Suhyeong.
The team leader of the policemen was better tempered. He did not get angry but smiled and said, ¡°Okay then, you guy continue your talk. We¡¯ll get going now.¡±
¡°You-¡± The embassy staff was so angry he could not speak.
These police officers had received the report to arrest Xia Lei and were just going through the process. No one was going to actually do it unless he was a fool.
¡°Let me tell you - if you don¡¯t hand Xia Lei over today we will protest to your Foreign Ministry through the embassy!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was hopping mad.
The team leader and his team of policemen pretended not to hear. One of them, a fatty, even made a call to his wife to ask her to make dumplings stuffed with leek.
Just then, a gaudily-dressed man came riding to the gates on a segway. It was Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s ¡®Tigress¡¯, Qin Xiang. People who first saw him would think he was a woman - and the sort of woman one would want a one-night stand with too.
¡°What happened?¡± Qin Xiang stopped the segway and said in shrill annoyance, ¡°What do these people want?¡±
A soldier gave him a brief summary.
Qin Xiang put one hand on his hip and pointed at Ahn Suhyeong with the other as he said, ¡°I thought it was something serious but you just want money for medical fees after being beaten up. Name your price, then. How much?¡±
¡°Insolence!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was incensed. ¡°Would I, Ahn Suhyeong, need to demand money for medical fees? You bastard!¡±
¡°Who¡¯re you calling ¡®bastard¡¯?¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s retort was swift, ¡°Go back where you came from, I tell you. What do you think this ce is? It¡¯s not a ce for you Koreans to disy such shockingly bad behaviour.¡±
The embassy staff was provoked too and he said angrily, ¡°Get Xia Lei out here to assist in the investigation or we will protest to your Foreign Ministry.¡±
Qin Xiang waved his hand. ¡°Go, go. You can go protest to the United Nations too.¡±
¡°You...¡± The embassy staff was so angry he could not speak. He¡¯d always been superior - how could he be ignored like this now!
¡°Get out here!¡± Cha Gori pointed at Qin Xiang, his eyes cold.
Qin Xiang quirked his lips andughed. ¡°What¡¯s that tweet-tweet? I don¡¯t understand.¡±
¡°Come out. We¡¯ll talk.¡± Kim Jiyeon spoke this time. She had a smile on her face and looked warm and gentle but a close look at her eyes showed a cold glint of killing intent.
Cha Gori had spoken in Korean and Kim Jiyeon in Chinese. Qin Xiang heard them clearly. These two Koreans were challenging him, and on his turf too. Anger red in his heart and he hopped off the segway to walk towards the door.
¡°Come back.¡± Xia Lei finally showed himself. He was dressed in blue work clothes and had safety gloves on; the image of a blue-cor worker.
mes were practically spitting from Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s eyes at the sight of Xia Lei.
Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon looked at Xia Lei and their eyes seemed to be memorising all his characteristics.
Xia Lei walked leisurely to the gates, sweeping his gaze over the people beyond the gates and finally settling it on Ahn Suhyeong. ¡°Ahn Suhyeong, what did you bring these people here for?¡±
¡°I said this was not over. You have to pay for what you did.¡±
¡°What payment do you want?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t ask for much.¡± Ahn Suhyeong sneered, ¡°You just have to kneel and apologise.¡±
¡°Or else?¡±
¡°Or else I¡¯ll escte this to the point where you cannot take it.¡±
¡°Are you talking about the protest?¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°You can go right now and protest at any ce you wish, and to anyone. You can get someone to guide you too if you don¡¯t know where to go.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong turned to the police officers who were staying out of it and said angrily, ¡°What¡¯s this? The criminal is right in front of you! What are you waiting for? Why aren¡¯t you arresting him?¡±
The team leader spoke, ¡°Well, he has toe out first for that to happen. We have no authority to go in.¡±
¡°Bastard! How are you doing your job? Are you all still considered policemen?¡± Ahn Suhyeong let loose with a scolding.
The team leader was angered. ¡°Who¡¯re you scolding a ¡®bastard¡¯? Who do you think you are? Must we listen to you? What¡¯s this bullshit!¡±
¡°You...¡± Ahn Suhyeong pointed a finger at the policeman, so angry he could not speak.
¡°This is a public security case. We¡¯re already being very courteous ining here to investigate and you¡¯re scolding us? Fine, solve it yourself. Team, let¡¯s go!¡± The team leader was true to his word and he went off. The policemen didn¡¯t want to be here and they all left promptly.
Only the few Koreans were left at the gates in the blink of an eye.
The Koreans couldn¡¯t keep their faces calm any longer and they were in the worst of moods. They felt that it was a matter of course for Xia Lei to be taken away for investigation and it would be no trouble. Furthermore, there were reports from time to time on the inte that some foreigner threw a bicycle in some ce, and the police found it in a few hours even though the foreigner had thrown the protective covering away, they had sifted through rubbish to find it*. But why were the police just staying out of this now? They were highly ineffective and even taunted them!
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Ahn Suhyeong, I would take it as if nothing happened if I were you. I¡¯d learn my lesson too and stop trying to do things which cannot be done.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t be smug for long!¡± said Ahn Suhyeong fiercely.
The embassy staff next to Ahn Suhyeong took out his mobile phone. He looked at Xia Lei as if to tell him with his eyes that he was going to call a certain someone.
Xia Lei spoke disinterestedly, ¡°Make the call if you want and protest all you want. I hear the Koreans love their pride. I wonder how hard a knock your pride will get when this matter gets reported in the media? I did hit someone but it¡¯s just a case of public security. Even if you guys push for the maximum, the most I¡¯d have to do is to pay some medical fees, or be detained for a day. Do what you want. I can¡¯t be bothered with you.¡± He turned and left.
Qin Xiang got on his segway, but stuck his middle finger up at Ahn Suhyeong before he left.
¡°Damn you!¡± Ahn Suhyeong rushed at the door.
¡°Halt!¡± A soldier raised the assault rifle in his hands immediately and pointed it at Ahn Suhyeong.
Ahn Suhyeong stopped in his tracks and didn¡¯t dare to take one step further.
He was fit to burst with rage. He hade to cause trouble for Xia Lei but had not expected that this action of his to get a number of people involved to end up in bringing trouble to himself.
Ahn Suhyeong watched Xia Lei¡¯s disappearing back and he grit his teeth so hard they cked. His eyes were terrifyingly cold.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Young Master,¡± said Cha Gori in Korean. ¡°This is a ce under military protection. We can¡¯t do anything to him. We can only wait for him toe out to do something.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong replied in Korean, ¡°I want him dead!¡±
Kim Jiyeon drew close to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s ear and said in her sweet, seductive voice, ¡°He won¡¯t live for long. We have plenty of opportunities.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong seemed to believe in the capabilities of Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon. A faint sneer appeared in the corners of his lips. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±
And so the curtain fell on this drama.
Chapter 355 - Testing the XL2500
Ahn Suhyeong did not escte the matter up to the level of an international dispute in the end. Even if he had the clout to do so, he was not willing to sacrifice his pride, and Xia Lei knew this. Besides, even if this incident was blown up it was still just a case of public security and brawling. Bureau 101 would cover for him because of his status.
Xia Lei did not regret it at all. Putting the matter of the bad blood between them aside, Ahn Suhyeong was a real enemy to Xia Lei not because he was a love rival in their courtship of a woman but because of that incident where he had colluded with the CIA to capture him.
There was a dead calm afterwards and Ahn Suhyeong and the Korean conste staff did note to make any more trouble. Xia Lei spent all his time and efforts on upgrading histhes.
Shentu Tian-Yin did not call him during this period and he did not call her either. The iplete kiss in her office at Angel Wings Building seemed to be just an impulse and there wasn¡¯t anything behind it after they calmed down.
Sometimes he would quietly ask himself if he would be lovers with Shentu Tian-Yin, get married and have children.
There were two possibilities - maybe yes, maybe no.
If he did end up with Shentu Tian-Yin then he would definitely leave Annina, and wouldn¡¯t go to Imabad to rendezvous with Smy. He wasn¡¯t the sort to be multi-timing and tasting the nectar of every flower he came across. Smy was an ident in the process ofpleting his mission and Annina¡ He could not bear to have her hurt again.
That was why he did not have a girlfriend yet whom he wanted to marry and have children with.
He then put these thoughts out of his head. It was better to let feelings sort themselves out naturally.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
In this month, Xia Lei and Annina upgraded all thethes in Thunder Horse Manufacturing to a standard which wasparable to the intelligentthe of Josef¡¯s that he had built in Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
With thethes in ce, the few production lines of Thunder Horse Military Factory begun to move. They produced handguns and also started producing sniper rifles and the matching ammunition.
Xia Lei received a piece of good news on the third day of full production. The branchpany in Sichuan had also started production. Zhou Xiao-Hong called saying that the local government had taken care of some orders and that the overall situation was stable and positive. Xia Lei talked at length with her and instructed her on things.
Xia Lei was not worried at all about being taken advantage of with Zhou Xiao-Hong looking after things in Sichuan for the branchpany. He did not need to worry whether the branchpany in Sichuan had orders or not since he could just redirect some of the orders from Haizhu at any time. He could also get the branchpany to manufacture the gun parts which did not require high precision processing, like gun stocks, magazines and so on.
Thunder Horse Manufacturing could be said to have gone on the right track for sess in its expansion, and he was not a small boss who had to go about chasing others for purchase orders any more.
Following their current expansion, it was only a matter of time for Thunder Horse Manufacturing to be bigger and more established.
For there to be harvest there naturally had to be effort put into it. Xia Lei had not stepped out of the gates of Thunder Horse Military factory for this period of over a month, and he had lost quite a few kilograms too.
Annina was no different. She had been working alongside Xia Lei for this same period and she had also lost kilograms after they were done.
¡°Annina, I¡¯ll take you out on a drive today and treat you to a good meal afterwards, okay?¡± said Xia Lei to Annina after they walked out of the workshop.
¡°Sure! I¡¯ve long wanted to go out to sight-see. All this work has taken a toll on me,¡± said Annina happily.
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°I¡¯ll take you to the Great Wall, then some roast duck.¡±
¡°Thank you, Lukas. Every day with you is a happy day.¡± Annina drew close and kissed Xia Lei on the cheek.
Xia Lei was used to it by now.
Qin Xiang came walking over, hand on hip, and he gave a cough. ¡°Aw, you guys are too unfair. There are many boys in the factory who don¡¯t even have a partner - are you two trying to stimte them like this? They¡¯re going to buy so many tissues that the price will go up in Bailu Town.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s head was spinning. He quickly changed the topic. ¡°We¡¯re going out for a bit. Want toe with us?¡±
Qin Xiang shook his head. ¡°Nah, count me out. What am I going to do when you two can¡¯t keep your hands off each other? I don¡¯t want to be a third wheel.¡±
Xia Lei was wordless.
¡°Can I borrow Chairman Xia for a bit, Annina?¡± Qin Xiang looked smilingly at her.
Annina shrugged. ¡°You guys chat. I¡¯ll go get changed.¡±
Qin Xiang walked to Xia Lei¡¯s side after Annina left and said quietly, ¡°You two can go out but be cautious. Ahn Suhyeong brought people over to cause trouble thest time and a man and a woman challenged me to go out. Do you still remember those two?¡±
Xia Lei fired up his memory bank and the images of the two people surfaced in his head, clear as crystal; he just didn¡¯t have their names.
¡°There¡¯s something wrong with them?¡±
¡°Most likely. Those two had the smell of killers - you know what it¡¯s like. Only people who have killed a lot of people have that,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°I had a feeling when they challenged me that if it were another ce, and if it was just me and them I¡¯d probably be killed by them. I¡¯m a little afraid of them, so I¡¯ming to give you a reminder. That Ahn fellow is the type to want revenge. He came to your turf to fight you, so it¡¯s impossible that he¡¯d back down. Who knows - he may even be waiting for you to go out.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I hear you. I¡¯ll be careful.¡±
¡°Take a sniper rifle with you. Say that it¡¯s for testing,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°Yeah, good idea. I¡¯ll bring one then,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°This new model of sniper rifle was only tested indoors for basic functions and power. It hasn¡¯t been brought out yet. This will be a good change to test it out.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go get it for you.¡±
¡°Hold on¡¡± Xia Lei paused, then said, ¡°You said just now that someone who has killed a lot of people have a smell. How about me - do I have that smell?¡±
¡°Let me smell you.¡± Qin Xiang put his nose to Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
Xia Lei stepped away. ¡°I¡¯ll go get changed.¡±
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei¡¯s retreating back and smirked.
After a short while, Xia Lei drove his Chevrolet Suburban towards the ancient Great Wall with one of the new of sniper rifles in the boot.
He wouldn¡¯t have taken the gun if Qin Xiang had not reminded him to. He did not even think about how Ahn Suhyeong would seek revenge on him because this was China and he did not consider him a threat.
Annina was rather chipper. She found interesting topics to talk about on their road trip and herughter didn¡¯t seem to cease.
When they got to the Great Wall, Xia Lei took the stic engineering box holding the sniper rifle out of the boot and carried it with him. He went to an area without any tourists with Annina.
It was not peak season so there were not a lot of tourists on the Great Wall but Xia Lei did not let his guard down. He scanned practically all the tourists on his way to the secluded ce and did not find the two Korean people which Qin Xiang had mentioned.
¡®It can¡¯t be that Ahn Suhyeong would know right away that I¡¯ve juste out of the factory, right? Qin Xiang might just be too sensitive.¡¯
¡°How much further, Lukas?¡± Annina bent and massaged her ankles. ¡°It¡¯s all stone steps. My feet can¡¯t take it anymore.¡±
They¡¯de to climb the Great Wall but Annina had put on a micro-skirt and high heels - no wonder she was tired.
Her skirt had no zipper and her bending exposed her ckce panties; the shape was obvious, yet mysterious and seductive.
Annina was not shy around Xia Lei but he didn¡¯t feelfortable staring at her there. He looked about for a bit. ¡°Here¡¯s good.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Annina removed her high heels and her backpack. She took out a nket from the backpack andid it out on the ancient bricks, then dumped a big pile of snacks on it. Beef jerky, drinks, fruits, macadamia, pecans and so on tumbled onto the mat.
Xia Lei also put the stic box down. He opened it and took out the new sniper rifle model.
This sniper rifle already had a name - XL2500. The name was made up of the first English letters in each part of his name and the weapon¡¯s effective shooting range.
This was not the sniper rifle he had modified personally, of course. It looked the same but the one he modified surpassed this sniper rifle by at least 1,000 metres in range. The XL 2500 sniper rifle he modified should be called the XL3500.
The theoretical range of the XL2500 was 2,500 metres but the actual range was still unknown since this was the first test.
Xia Lei quickly installed the magazine and a .22lr scope. He didn¡¯t actually need things like scopes but this was a test and he needed to get the real numbers under normal circumstances.
¡°Hurry up with the testing, Lukas. Eat something when you¡¯re done.¡± Annina peeled an apple with a knife; she was warm and caring.
¡°I¡¯ll just empty the magazine. I¡¯ll be quick.¡± Xia Lei raised the sniper rifle and ced it on the wall. He measured the distance with his right eye, then aimed at a tree 2,500 metres away with the scope. He fired.
Bang! A shot rang out and the XL2500 recoiled. A bullet went flying and hit the trunk of the tree he had aimed at two secondster. The scope showed arge chunk missing from the trunk.
¡°How is it?¡± Annina put down the apple she¡¯d peeled and went to Xia Lei¡¯s side. She leaned on his shoulder and her bountiful bosom added pressure on Xia Lei¡¯s back.
How was he to shoot properly with this positioning?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Xia Lei fired three consecutive shots, with one second between each shot. The speed of the XL2500 was undeniable. The three shots tore the trunk of the tree 2,500 metres away apart and it fell with a crash in the forest.
¡°What¡¯s the range?¡± asked Annina anxiously.
¡°2,500 metres, maybe more.¡± Xia Lei bore with her booby-trap and set his sights on a tree further away. He squeezed the trigger.
Bang! The bullet hit the target again but there was some deviation from the scope.
Xia Lei fired more times till the magazine was empty of its ten bullets but he was unable to fell that tree.
The result of the test was out with just one magazine. The effective shooting range of the XL2500 was 2,600 metres and the probability of hitting the target beyond this range was low. But these numbers were enough to stand out on a global scale!
¡°Lukas, I want to shoot too.¡± Annina¡¯s hot breath tickled Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
Xia Lei¡¯s ear was tickled. ¡°I¡¯ll get you a magazine. There¡¯s one more.¡±
But Annina stuck to him and didn¡¯t let him move. ¡°I don¡¯t want to shoot that gun. I want to shoot YOUR gun.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 356 - Flower Boy
On their way back from the gun test, the car radio was sting the popr song ¡®Little Apple¡¯*. ¡°You are my little, little apple... I love you so much I¡¯ll never get sick of you...¡±
Annina sang along and even did some dancing.
The lyrics of this song, plus what happened earlier made Xia Lei smile a wicked smile.
Xia Lei did not encounter anything special on their way back to Jingdu. Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s people did not appear and he did not discover anyone suspicious.
Xia Lei brought Annina to get the roast duck and asked for a private room. He ordered dishes.
¡°Lukas,¡± said Annina in German, ¡°The international light weapons exhibition in Moscow is starting soon. We have to make preparations.¡±
Xia Lei replied in German, ¡°I¡¯ve already asked Senior Tang Tian-Long to help me do the applications. We should go visit him on our way back and ask about the application progress.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll have to prepare more guns for the exhibition,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It might be difficult to go to countries in the west but Russia is no problem.¡±
¡°Yeah, I have a feeling that our XL2500 sniper rifle will make an impact in Russia. We can build on that and get even more results too.¡±
Xia Lei nodded in agreement. The effective range of most advanced sniper rifle in the west was not as good as the XL2500, and the XL2500 had a very high degree of automation, as well as a magazine which could load ten bullets. The current world record by an American sniper was a target-hit as 2,200 metres, which was a huge difference from the XL2500¡¯s range of 2,600 metres. This was very important because even a difference of ten metres was a matter of life or death for a sniper, let alone 400 metres!
Just imagine - what furore will the XL2500 cause at the international light weapons exhibit in Moscow?
¡°The foreign sniper rifles with simr specifications are being sold for at least one million Chinese yuan. What price should we set our sniper rifle at, Lukas?¡± asked Annina.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°The production and adjustment for every sniper rifle is fairly troublesome so the price cannot be low. The foreign guns are inferior to ours and are being sold for over a million so ours should be even more expensive. I¡¯m thinking it should be priced at 1.2 million in foreign markets and one million locally.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t this cheaper?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°We¡¯re just starting in the military firearms business. We have no contacts yet and our product is also not known yet. It¡¯s not good if it¡¯s too expensive.¡±
¡°Hm, makes sense.¡± Annina was not used to the business side of things.
The server wheeled a food trolley into the room and ced the dishes on their table.
Just then, some guests arrived in the room next to theirs and a man called for a server in Korean.
A female voice saidughingly, ¡°Ahn Sujun, the servers here don¡¯t understand Korean. You should speak Chinese. Your Chinese is good - you should have no problem.¡±
Xia Lei froze when the girl¡¯s voice entered his ears.
He was intimately familiar with this voice because it was Xia Xue¡¯s voice.
Why was Xia Xue here?
And who was that Korean man?
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the wooden wall separating the rooms vanished. Xia Xue and a young man of simr age entered his field of vision. The young man was tall andnky, had a nice face with red lips and white teeth and was very handsome. However, he had not a bit of manliness about him. He was one of the so-called ¡®Flower Boys¡¯ which were currently popr.
Xia Xue was chatting andughing with this Korean youth and they looked rather affectionate.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡®This punk¡¯s surnamed ¡®Ahn¡¯ and called ¡®Sujun¡¯. It¡¯s just one word different from ¡®Suhyeong¡¯. Is this punk from the Ahn family?¡¯
mes of anger crackled in Xia Lei¡¯s heart at the thought.
It seemed like Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s best method to get back at him was not hiring someone to beat him up, nor hiring killers but to hurt Xia Xue!
Xia Xue was unaware that her brother was watching her next door with anger written all over his face and mes almost spitting from his eyes.
Xia Lei could not be med for being so angry. He did not forbid Xia Xue from dating but he would never let her fall in love with a Korean man - and one who might be rted to Ahn Suhyeong at that!
¡°Why aren¡¯t you eating, Lukas? Why are you looking at the wall? Is there a spider?¡± The female mechanic¡¯s thought process jumped erratically.
¡°There¡¯s a cockroach!¡± said Xia Lei angrily.
¡°A cockroach! Where?¡±
¡°Never you mind. I¡¯ll go to the washroom for a bit.¡± Xia Lei exited the private room.
Annina carefully scanned the wall which Xia Lei had been ring at and pursed her lips after a while. ¡°His vision must be suffering because his kidneys are weak.¡±
Who knew what Xia Lei would think if he¡¯d heard her.
XIa Lei went to the door of the room next to his and reached to open it but he hesitated, then put his hand down.
Go in, give that Ahn Sujun punk a p and take Xia Xue away? He could do that but Xia Xue would definitely throw a tantrum and rebel. If that punk then sneaked in under those circumstances... Xia Lei was not going to want to see such a result.
Xia Lei called upon the power of his left eye again and watched quietly...
¡°Xue, you¡¯re so pretty.¡± Ahn Sujun looked at Xia Xue with great passion, his tone so gentle it could give people goosebumps.
Xia Xue was a little shy and she was blushing. ¡°What a honeyed tongue. I¡¯m not falling for that.¡±
Ahn Sujun raised a hand. ¡°Xue, I¡¯m serious about you. I swear, you are the person I love most in my life.¡±
¡°Yeah, right. We¡¯ve only known each other for a month and I¡¯ve be the woman you love most in your life?¡± Xia Xue said dismissive words but a sweet smile appeared on her lips.
A honey-tongued flower boy was just the type of men that the girls of Xia Xue¡¯s generation liked.
Ahn Sujun reached out and grabbed Xia Xue¡¯s hand. ¡°Xue, will you believe me only when I dig my heart out and show it to you?¡±
Xia Xue pouted. ¡°Then dig it out and show me.¡±
Ahn Sujun abruptly unzipped his jacket to reveal his white T-shirt underneath. On his chest was a line written in red: Only Love Xia Xue Forever!
¡°You... you¡¯re so naughty.¡± Xia Xue smacked Ahn Sujun with a feather-light fist.
¡°Xue, I love you.¡± Ahn Sujun reached out and held Xia Xue tightly by her slender waist.
Xia Xue tried to pull apart but couldn¡¯t. She was nervous and her face reddened further.
Ahn Sujun drew closer to her and went in for a kiss.
Xia Xue moved her head back. ¡°Don¡¯t. My brother will scold me if he knew.¡±
¡°Your brother, your brother... him again.¡± Ahn Sujun was unhappy and he released her. ¡°You¡¯re already an adult. Is your brother going to take care of you your whole life? I love you and you love me - why can¡¯t we be together?¡±
Xia Xue hung her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that we can¡¯t be together. I just want my brother to meet you. We also need some time...¡±
Outside the door, Xia Lei breathed a sigh of relief. Based on Xia Xue¡¯s reaction this Ahn Sujun punk had only progressed to hand-holding with Xia Xue and they hadn¡¯t even kissed yet.
¡°Okay, I respect your views. I want to meet your brother too. I hope he will like me and ept me, or I really don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll do. I cannot be without you.¡± Ahn Sujun spoke passionately.
¡°Yeah, my brother¡¯s not some old stick in the mud, he¡¯s open-minded.¡± At that point, Xia Xue suddenlyughed. ¡°My brother¡¯s really impressive. He knows Wingchun so you¡¯d better not bully me or he¡¯ll hit you.¡±
Ahn Sujun held Xia Xue¡¯s hand again and said tenderly, ¡°How could I bear to bully you, Xue? I couldn¡¯t treasure you more. I¡¯ll protect you in ce of your brother next time and I¡¯ll beat up whoever who dares bully you!¡±
Outside the door, a server walked over, pushing a food trolley. He saw Xia Lei in the doorway and said, ¡°Sir, please move out of the way.¡±
Xia Lei moved out of the way and said, ¡°Sorry, I seem to have gone the wrong way.¡±
The server went into the private room and Xia Lei hid by the door to continue watching.
The server ced the dishes on the table and opened a bottle of red wine.
The server left the room and saw that Xia Lei was still standing by the door. ¡°Sir, did you not find the ce? Do you need my help?¡± he asked curiously.
¡°No, no, you can go about your business,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Weirdo.¡± The server muttered under his breath and went off, pushing the food trolley.
Xia Lei looked in the private room again.
Ahn Sujun suddenly pointed behind Xia Xue and said, ¡°Xue, look! What¡¯s that?¡±
Xia Xue turned to look.
Ahn Sujun dropped a white pill into Xia Xue¡¯s wine ss when she had her head turned. The white pill dissolved in the wine in two seconds and Xia Xue did not see anything after he turned back.
¡°You bluffed. Meanie! I¡¯m not going to bother about you anymore.¡± Xia Xue pretended to be annoyed.
¡°Why would I bluff? I actually wanted to give you a surprise.¡± Ahn Sujun opened the palm of his other hand to reveal a pair of exquisite ruby earrings.
¡°Oh, it¡¯s beautiful.¡± Xia Xue was very touched.
¡°Let¡¯s have a toast, Xue. I¡¯ll put the earrings on you after that. These will definitely look good on you.¡± Ahn Sujun picked up the long-stemmed ss from the table.
Xia Xue pursed her lips, smiling, and raised the ss in her hand too.
¡°Cheers.¡± Ahn Sujun clinked sses with Xia Xue.
Xia Xue tilted the ss to her mouth...
Bang! The door of the private room was kicked open and Xia Lei strode through the doorway.
¡°Brother?¡± Xia Xue was shocked. Her face turned pale.
¡°Your brother?¡± A sh of disgust appeared in his eyes but he covered it with a smile as he stood, reaching out a hand for a handshake. ¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ve long wanted to meet you. I am Xia Xue¡¯s boyfriend. My name is...¡±
Before he could finish, Xia Lei suddenly pped him across the face.
Pah! The p rang out.
Ahn Sujun staggered from the force. He held his face and said in anger and surprise, ¡°What the hell?¡±
¡°Brother!¡± Xia Xue reacted then. She stood.
But that p was not enough to quell the anger in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He grabbed Ahn Sujun by the cor and pulled downwards as his knee went up to smash into Ahn Sujun¡¯s lower abdomen. This put Ahn Sujun on his knees on the floor.
¡°Brother! What are you doing?!¡± Xia Xue came rushing over to try to stop Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pushed Xia Xue aside and did a Knife Hand on Ahn Sujun¡¯s carotid artery. The Korean youth let out a grunt as he copsed bonelessly to the floor.
Xia Xue was scared silly.
Chapter 357 - Boiling in Fury
Annina heard sounds of a fight and went to the private room next door. She saw Xia Lei, and Ahn Sujun on the floor, and froze. What had happened?
¡°Brother! What was that for?¡± Xia Xue cried, ¡°How can you treat my friend this way?¡±
Xia Lei red at Xia Xue. ¡°What sort of friends are you making? A Korean of all people.¡±
¡°What¡¯s so bad about Koreans? You¡¯re biased against them!¡± argued Xia Xue.
Annina was wise and did not interrupt. She closed the door of the private room.
Xia Xue then pointed to Annina and said, ¡°You can get an English girlfriend and I can¡¯t get a Korean boyfriend? You¡¯re being unreasonable!¡±
Annina was not English, of course, but Xia Lei had introduced her as such when they¡¯d been introduced and Xia Xue did not know Annina¡¯s real identity.
Xia Xue grew more emotional. ¡°I¡¯m already an adult, not a child! I have my own life. What right have you to police the sort of boyfriend I have?¡±
Xia Lei had calmed down. He pointed at Ahn Sujun and said, ¡°Do you know what he just did?¡±
¡°I just know that he treats me well!¡± Xia Xue was stubborn. Women in love easily lose their sense of reason and she was in this such condition.
¡°He tried to drug you!¡± Xia Lei pointed at the ss which Ahn Sujun had spiked. ¡°Is this what a boyfriend does? Is this sort of person worth your feelings?¡±
Xia Xue looked dubiously at the wine ss, and said, ¡°I don¡¯t believe it!¡±
¡°You-¡± Xia Lei was so angry he could not speak.
Annina then spoke in halting Chinese, ¡°Xue, your elder brother loves you most on this Earth. You should trust him. He won¡¯t harm you, won¡¯t lie to you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not listening! Not listening!¡± Xia Xue covered her ears.
Xia Lei raised a hand in anger, about to p her, but his hand stopped in the air. He had never hit Xia Xue in all his life.
¡°Hit me! Go on!¡± Xia Xue seemed to have been greatly wronged and tears flowed more freely down her cheeks.
Annina quickly pressed Xia Lei¡¯s hand down. She was a woman too and she understood Xia Xue¡¯s reaction. Girls in love were able to leave home for their love and their parents could not do anything about it - what more could a mere brother do?
¡°Leave! All of you!¡± Xia Lei pointed to the door of the room. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see you!¡±
¡°You¡¯re actually....¡± Xia Lei was hurt and his voice shook, ¡°You¡¯re actually telling me to leave because of a Korean you¡¯ve just met?¡±
Xia Xue screamed, ¡°Go away! I don¡¯t want to see you!¡±
Xia Lei was so angry he could not speak. He had torn up the eptance letter from Jingdu University so that she could study all those years ago. He had toiled from dawn to dusk on construction sites so that he could earn money to support them and she could study without worries. What did he get in return? She was now treating him like this because of a Korean punk!
Seeing the gap widen between the siblings, Annina got anxious too and said, ¡°You two, calm down. No more fighting.¡± She looked at Xia Xue. ¡°Xia Xue, I believe your brother. If you think this Korean boy didn¡¯t put drugs in your drink I will drink this ss and prove it.¡±
So saying, she reached for the ss.
Xia Lei grabbed her hand. ¡°If this has to be drunk then it¡¯s not going to be you. This punk should drink it.¡±
Xia Lei took the ss away and pressed Ahn Sujun¡¯s Renzhong acupressure point.
Ahn Sujun awoke with a snort. Xia Lei squeezed his mouth open before he could speak and poured the spiked wine down his throat.
¡°Uggh... Cough cough...¡± Ahn Sujun choked.
Xia Xue wanted to stop Xia Lei but she changed her mind. Annina had moved her stubborn heart when she offered to drink the ss of wine - an outsider had unwavering trust in her brother but she suspected him. She wanted to know the answer but it was going to be difficult for her to forgive her brother if the wine was not spiked. If Ahn Sujun had really spiked it then she owed her brother an apology.
Ahn Sujun grew anxious after he was force-fed the wine and he got to his feet to attempt to escape.
Xia Lei grabbed him and put him on a chair. ¡°Who is Ahn Suhyeong to you?¡±
¡°What Ahn Suhyeong? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Ahn Sujun grew nervous and his eyes darted away. ¡°Let go of me. I¡¯m Korean!¡±
Xia Lei gave a coldugh. ¡°So you can do what you want because you¡¯re Korean? This sort of talk is just like Ahn Suhyeong.¡± As he spoke, he used his X-ray vision to check Ahn Sujun for lies.
¡°I don¡¯t know any Ahn Suhyeong. Let me go!¡± Ahn Sujun struggled for a bit, to no avail. He looked pleadingly at Xia Xue. ¡°Xue, is this person really your brother? He can¡¯t be! This guy¡¯s just a thug! But I won¡¯t me you. I still love you.¡±
Pah! Xia Lei pped Ahn Sujun on the cheek. This punk was still trying to pander to his sister at a time like this!
¡°Brother! There¡¯s no drug in the wine!¡± Xia Xue seemed to have the answer she wanted. She said angrily, ¡°Do you really want to be a thug? Let him go!¡±
¡°You¡¯ll soon know if he spiked it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ahn Sujun cried, ¡°Let me go! Let me go! HEL-¡±
Xia Lei covered his mouth and stopped him from shouting. Just then, Ahn Sujun¡¯s face flushed rapidly, looking as if he had drunk Baijiu. His eyes looked about shakily, then zed over.
The drug had taken effect.
Xia Lei removed his hand from Ahn Sujun¡¯s mouth and looked at him quietly.
Xia Xue stared in shock. She could already see that the Ahn Sujun now was a different person from before. Why would he suddenly be like this if the wine had not been spiked?
Ahn Sujun shook his head, trying to clear it. However, this action was futile and he looked more and more out of it; he did not faint.
¡°Heh Heh... Many pretty girls... I like...¡± Ahn Sujun mumbled, then started tearing at his clothes, smirking as he undressed. ¡°Let¡¯s y... I¡¯ll make you feel good...¡±
Ahn Sujun spoke in Korean and only Xia Lei understood him. The girls were smart and figured out what type of drug was in the wine from Ahn Sujun¡¯s reaction to it. It was not a sedative, but a hallucinatory aphrodisiac!
Ahn Sujun was naked from the waist up. He walked unsteadily to Annina with a twisted smile on his face. ¡°Hey, baby. Let¡¯s y. My tongue can do wonders.¡±
Annina did not understand him but she knew that he wasn¡¯t saying anything nice. She kicked him between his legs.
Ahn Sujun fell to the floor but didn¡¯t seem to feel the pain. He climbed to his feet again and went towards Xia Xue. ¡°You foolish girl. My cousin told me to y with you. I¡¯m going to y with you so hard that you break.¡±
¡°You liar!¡± Xia Xue understood everything now and she was ashamed of herself. She pped Ahn Sujun across the face but her anger was not satiated. She wed at Ahn Sujun¡¯s face like a cat next and he was so slow to react he could not dodge. His handsome face was instantly ruined by a multitude of scratches.
Xia Lei did not stop her. He looked calm on the surface but he was boiling mad. He¡¯d suspected that this Ahn Sujun was rted to Ahn Suhyeong somehow and what Ahn Sujun said confirmed it. This punk was one of the Ahns, and had received orders from Ahn Suhyeong toe ruin Xia Xue.
¡®Fuck you, Ahn Suhyeong! You¡¯re dead!¡¯ dered an icy cold voice in Xia Lei¡¯s head. His gaze was frighteningly chilly.
He¡¯d asked Qin Xiang if he had the air of a killer and had no answer, but he was radiating this air now.
Ahn Sujun fell to the floor but Xia Xue was still hitting him. She kicked and kicked - he was like a football which wouldn¡¯t roll away.
Annina held Xia Xue in a hug. ¡°Stop. You¡¯ll beat him to death.¡±
¡°Wuuuh...¡± Xia Xue started crying. ¡°Brother, I... I¡¯m sorry... Please forgive me... Whuuh...¡±
Xia Lei let out a sigh. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m your brother so am I going to sulk at you for the rest of my life if I don¡¯t forgive you?¡±
¡°Brother!¡± Xia Xue ran into Xia Lei¡¯s arms and started sobbing.
The door was suddenly pushed open by a server. He looked at the goings-on in the room and said in surprise, ¡°What happened here?¡±
Ahn Sujun got to his feet and staggered towards the doorway, speaking in Chinese as he went, ¡°Hey Handsome, let¡¯s y.¡±
The server looked at Ahn Sujun in horror and stepped aside to avoid him.
Ahn Sujun removed his belt and his trousers as he walked, and even removed hisst bit of clothing in the end. He walked into the main dining area of Quande Roast Duck buck-naked.
Screams came from the women and angry cursing roars from the men; it was chaos. Ahn Sujun did not react to these at all. He threw himself on women with a smile and what came next for him was, naturally, a beating.
Xia Xue watched all this, her face ashen. She could not imagine what would have happened if Xia Lei had not turned up. What would have been the result if she drank the spiked wine that Ahn Sujun had given her? If what was happening to Ahn Sujun happened to her, she would jump off a building and kill herself.
Xia Lei had a dark thought - What would he have had to deal with if he had not brought Annina to Quande Roast Duck for a meal?
He didn¡¯t even want to think of the answer to that question.
¡°Annina, take Xia Xue back to the military factory,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Where are you going?¡± Annina looked worriedly at Xia Lei.
¡°I need to take care of some things,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll take Xia Xue back.¡± Annina did not ask further.
¡°Brother, I...¡± Xia Xue begun, and stopped. She was filled with remorse and shame.
Xia Lei smacked her upside her head and gave her a smile. ¡°Silly girl. Big Brother¡¯s fine. Go with Xia Mei.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Xue nodded obediently.
Annina brought Xia Xue out of the room.
Xia Lei suddenly called out, ¡°Wait, Xue, didn¡¯t I get Lu Sheng to protect you? Why isn¡¯t he with you?¡±
Xia Xue thought for a bit, then said, ¡°He was with me in the morning but I don¡¯t know where he went afterwards. He didn¡¯t call either.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. ¡°It¡¯s all right. You two go back first.¡±
Where had Lu Sheng gone?
Chapter 358 - You Dare Anger The Tigress!
The police came and took the crazed Ahn Sujun away.
The Ahn Sujun who had walked into Quande Roast Duck with Xia Xue had been suave and handsome but the Ahn Sujun leaving resembled a fool with a face full of bloody scratches, and was very much worse for wear.
Annina had driven his Chevrolet Suburban away so Xia Lei hailed a taxi after leaving the restaurant and went straight to the headquarters of Bureau 101.
On his way there, he tried calling Lu Sheng several times but his phone was off and he couldn¡¯t get through.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were heavy with worry.
After Lu Sheng had recovered, Xia Lei had sent him with Qin Xiang to Jingdu. Thunder Horse Military Factory had its own military security so it did not need Lu Sheng to guard it. He had just one job and that was to protect Xia Xue. He should have been next to Xia Xue or close by, but he had gone missing.
Xia Lei had a feeling that something had happened to Lu Sheng.
It was simple - Ahn Sujun would have no opportunity to make his move if Lu Sheng were around. Lu Sheng was a Special Forces soldier and had practised Wingchun for a few years so how was Ahn Sujun his opponent? Furthermore, Lu Sheng had worked as a bodyguard after retirement and was highly professional; this must have hindered Ahn Suhyeong and Ahn Sujun¡¯s ns.
It now looked like Ahn Sujun would have made his move long ago if it weren¡¯t for Lu Sheng. Ahn Sujun probably made a move today because Xia Lei had ¡®released¡¯ himself!
Xia Lei got angrier the more he thought about it. He couldn¡¯t stand to have anyone hurt Xia Xue and Ahn Suhyeong had hurt her!
Xia Lei found Long Bing in Bureau 101.
¡°I just got the news,¡± said Long Bing before Xia Lei could speak. ¡°You, calm down. Don¡¯t be reckless.¡±
She knew Xia Lei¡¯s temper. He didn¡¯t care if someone hit him but if anyone hurt Xia Xue he would be a terrifying beast and tear the man apart.
Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°I risked my life for Bureau 101 but there¡¯s someone who¡¯s now having designs on my sister, trying to use her to get to me and you tell me to calm down? I¡¯ll have you know that the bodyguard I assigned to my sister has gone missing and is not contactable. It¡¯se to this point - can I still be calm?¡±
Lu Sheng had saved Xia Xue before and almost lost his life in the process. Now he had gone missing because of her. How could Xia Lei just sit by and do nothing?
Long Bing was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°Lu Sheng. I know this person. We actually had arrangements to protect Xia Xue in secret but you sent Lu Sheng to do it. The higher-ups cancelled protection services for Xia Xue because they had his capabilities assessed and found him fully capable.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°You guys sure are thrifty.¡±
¡°Okay, I know you¡¯re not happy about it but you need to understand our higher-ups¡¯ difficulties. Our manpower is limited,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°I think Lu Sheng should have told you about your sister dating someone. This sort of thing won¡¯t happen if he had told you.¡±
¡°Xia Xue is strong-willed and independent. I¡¯ve thought about it and I think she was probably dating Ahn Sujun in secret. Lu Sheng might have known but my sister could have stopped him from telling me too. I am not ming Lu Sheng for this. I know my own sister,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing shrugged. ¡°Sure, then tell me what you want to do.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not an unreasonable person. I can understand,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯vee here for a simple purpose - Ahn Sujun has been arrested and I want to interrogate him personally. I need approval.¡±
¡°This is...¡± Long Bing did not agree right away. ¡°I need to ask Boss Shi.¡±
The door to the office suddenly flew open and Shi Bo-Ren appeared in the doorway. ¡°Ask? Go straight to investigation! Damn it, how dare he touch one of our Bureau 101 family members! He¡¯ll lose ayer of skin if he doesn¡¯t die first!¡±
Long Bing and Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces.
So Shi Bo-Ren cursed too. This was a first.
But this cursing was quite wee and a smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°Thank you, Boss Shi.¡±
Shi Bo-Ren put on a serious face again. ¡°Boy, let me remind you that you can¡¯t go overboard. Shinyeok Group is not like Thunder Horse Manufacturing. Ahn Geungan is also not an Uncle buying groceries off the streets. You get what I mean? If you cause any trouble for me I¡¯m going to make sure you pay.¡±
Xia Lei mustered up a smile. ¡°Thank you, Boss Shi.¡±
¡°Go on, shoo. You¡¯re involved in many troublesome things, Boy.¡± Shi Bo-Ren waved him away.
¡°Boss Shi, you can¡¯t pin that on me. Would I have bad blood with Ahn Suhyeong if I didn¡¯t have to go to South Korea to steal the sword of Att?¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Bo-Ren gave Xia Lei a re, but had no words of retort.
An hourter, Xia Lei and Long Bing came to the police station which Ahn Sujun was being held in with an official approval in writing.
Director Li of the police station greeted Long Bing and Xia Lei and brought them personally to a detention room.
Ahn Sujun hade to his senses and was sitting on a stool in the room. He had an outburst of emotion when he saw Xia Lei and rushed to the metal bars to shout at him, ¡°Bastard! I¡¯m going to sue you!¡±
Xia Lei ignored his outburst.
Director Li frowned. ¡°This punk is very arrogant. He keeps saying that he is a Korean citizen and that he wants to see the people from his conste, as well as hiswyer. Our officers tried to take his statement but he spoke in Korean. We got a Korean interpreter and this punk spoke English.¡±
Ahn Sujun pointed at Director Li and said, ¡°I won¡¯t hold it against you for cursing at me. This Xia Lei is a criminal. He injured me! Arrest him now!¡±
Director Liughed dryly. ¡°See that? That¡¯s his attitude. He¡¯s a difficult one. I don¡¯t know how this is going to be handled.¡±
¡°You can just hand him to us, Director Li. This is the written approval.¡± Long Bing handed it to Director Li.
Director Li nced at the document and looked like he just had a weight lifted off his shoulders. ¡°Good, then this punk is yours.¡±
Ahn Sujun screamed at Director¡¯s Li departure, ¡°Come back! Come back, you punk! Bastard! You¡¯ll regret this!¡±
¡°Quiet down,¡± said Long Bing. She opened the door of the detention room with a key.
¡°Hey, baby. How much do you make a year? I¡¯ll give you twice your annual pay if you y with me the whole night long.¡± Ahn Sujun spokesciviously as he eyed Long Bing¡¯s fantastic figure.
The back of Long Bing¡¯s right foot smashed between his legs as soon as the words left his mouth.
¡°Guh-¡± Ahn Sujun held his crotch and fell to his knees with a thump.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows; he¡¯d felt the kick too. This Ahn Sujun sure was stupid to dare to piss Long Bing off at this juncture.
¡°Hands away,¡± said Long Bing coldly.
Ahn Sujun did not follow her instruction. He opened his mouth to curse.
Long Bing suddenly stepped viciously on Ahn Sujun¡¯s hand - his hand was still over his crotch. He did have his hand over his vital part but the impact was still great. He gave a terrible scream and curled up on the ground.
Long Bing walked to his back and lifted her foot again to kick him between the legs.
¡°Argh-¡± Ahn Sujun squealed like a pig being ughtered; he almost fainted from the pain.
¡°Hands away,¡± said Long Bing softly. ¡°Take your hands away and I¡¯ll only kick once. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll just keep kicking.¡±
No blocking for a kick to that vital ce - Long Bing was just that brutal.
Tears poured from Ahn Sujun¡¯s eyes. He was full of inconsble grief and indignation but he still took his hands away at the sight of Long Bing¡¯s indifference.
Long Bing swung her foot.
¡°Aaaaah-¡± Ahn Sujun let out another dying-pig squeal.
Xia Lei was starting to doubt if Ahn Sujun¡¯s manly bits would ever function normally again.
Long Bing grabbed Ahn Sujun by the hair and pulled him off the floor. Her voice was ice. ¡°Let me exin the situation to you. Say anything even a little disrespectful again and I¡¯ll make sure you have to squat to pee for the rest of your life.¡±
Ahn Sujun¡¯s face was bloodless.
¡°Kneel!¡± roared Long Bing.
Ahn Sujun trembled and fell to his knees.
Long Bing nced at Xia Lei. ¡°He¡¯s yours. You can start now.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and brought a chair over to sit opposite Ahn Sujun, looking down at him from a higher position. ¡°I¡¯ll just ask you some simple questions. Will you answer?¡±
Ahn Sujun stared at Xia Lei. He neither agreed nor disagreed.
Long Bing pped him upside his head. ¡°Speak!¡±
¡°I... I will.¡± Ahn Sujun had been traumatised by Long Bing.
¡°Very good. First question: When did you start interacting with my sister?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve only known your sister for...¡± Ahn Sujun thought for a bit. ¡°For a month.¡±
¡°What have the two of you done?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. Really! Your sister is a very reserved girl and she only responded to my flirting after two weeks. I only got a chance to hold her hand after 20 days,¡± said Ahn Sujun.
A Korean Flower Boy like Ahn Sujun could have a normal girl in bed with him in 20 hours with his coaxing and pestering. Xia Xue wasn¡¯t a girl who could be swayed by pretty words and appearances. This was rted to Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®rich upbringing¡¯ - he gave her a credit card with a million-yuan limit so how could she be easily tempted?
¡°My second question: My sister has a bodyguard. How did you get close?¡±
¡°I transferred from Korea and I¡¯m in the same ss as Xia Xue. We¡¯re ssmates... Your bodyguard didn¡¯t suspect me because we were having ssmate interactions. Your sister is also very conservative and cautious. I had no chance.¡±
He had still seeded in the end. It had taken him 20 days to move Xia Xue¡¯s heart and get to hold her hand. Her letting him hold her hand was proof that she had epted him and treated him as her boyfriend.
¡°FInal two questions. Answer them together,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°How are you rted to Ahn Suhyeong? Where is my sister¡¯s bodyguard now?¡±
¡°I...¡± Ahn Sujun cleverly shut his mouth.
Xia Lei clenched his fist, ready to talk with it.
Just then, some noise reached their ears.
¡°You have no right to detain the citizens of our country!¡± It was a man¡¯s voice. ¡°I have the right to meet with him and provide judicial assistance!¡±
¡°I¡¯m awyer!¡± came another man¡¯s voice, ¡°If you do not follow legal procedures I have the right to protest to higher authorities and investigate the persons responsible!¡±
Xia Lei rxed his fist.
A sneer appeared in the corners of Ahn Sujun¡¯s mouth.
Chapter 359 - It’ll Be Destroyed If You Keep Kicking!
A group of people came and Director Li and the police officers were not able to stop them. They were staff from the Korean embassy and had special statuses after all. It was a sensitive situation and the police officers had their own limitations too, so they made an act of blocking those people to give Long Bing and Xia Lei a heads-up, and let the group through. This was also their way of trying to avoid trouble for themselves.
However, Xia Lei did not expect Ahn Suhyeong to be part of the group, as well as the two people Qin Xiang had mentioned - the two with the air of killers, Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon.
Ahn Suhyeong led the group over in a calm and imposing manner. His gaze when he looked at Xia Lei was thick with scorn and provocation.
Xia Lei looked at Cha Gori and Kin Jiyeon. He did sense their strange aura. He wasn¡¯t sure if this was a killer¡¯s aura but he did feel that these two were rather sinister.
¡°What are you doing?¡± said the embassy staff angrily, ¡°Why is one of our citizens kneeling on the ground? Huh? Someone exin this!¡±
Long Bing wrinkled her brows and moved to Xia Lei¡¯s side to say in a low voice, ¡°Remember what Boss Shi said about not causing trouble for him.¡±
Xia Lei gave her a faint nod. He knew too that a great furore would ensue if further corporal punishment was exacted on Ahn Sujun in front of the Korean embassy staff, and Shi Boren would be inconvenienced too.
¡°They beat me!¡± Ahn Sujun suddenly cried, ¡°I want my wounds examined! I want to sue!¡±
The embassy staff then asked, ¡°Did they force you to kneel?¡±
¡°They did. They also kicked me... down there!¡± said Ahn Sujun.
¡°Well!¡± the embassy staff said angrily, ¡°You must give me a proper exnation for this, or we¡¯ll see you in court!¡±
Ahn Suhyeong sneered. ¡°There¡¯s a witness and physical evidence now, isn¡¯t there? If the criminal isn¡¯t caught and punished this time, then can this still be awful country?¡±
The atmosphere was heavy and tense right away with politicalbels being used.
Ahn Sujun thought fast and started to moan and groan, acting like he was in great pain. It was true - he did hurt down there, but he had been hiding the pain and had not dared to show it earlier.
Xia Lei patted Ahn Sujun on the shoulder and said gently, ¡°Stop the act. No one¡¯s hitting you here., and no one made you kneel. You were repenting for your own mistake.¡±
¡°Bullshit!¡± Ahn Sujun got bolder with others backing him.
Xia Lei took no further notice of him. He stood and went to the door, opened it and stood before Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°What do you want?¡± Ahn Suhyeong spoke scornfully, ¡°If you dare touch me here you won¡¯t get away unscathed.¡±
Xia Lei put his palm on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s shoulder as soon as the words left his mouth. ¡°Does touching you like this count?¡±
¡°You...¡± Ahn Suhyeong choked, as if Xia Lei had shoved his words back down his throat.
Xia Lei patted Ahn Suhyeong on the shoulder. ¡°Ahn Suhyeong, we had just a some small discontent between us in the beginning but you¡¯ve gone and blown it all up now. The person in there¡¯s your cousin, right?¡±
¡°So what if he is?¡± Ahn Suhyeong pushed Xia Lei¡¯s hand away forcefully. ¡°You say I¡¯ve blown things up but I don¡¯t know what you mean. What I can tell you is this - I think nothing of you. I heard that my cousin was dating your sister. This cousin of mine is quite talented, and quite a pro between the sheets. I wonder if...¡±
Xia Lei cut him short. ¡°Trying to provoke me? That¡¯s not enough. I¡¯ll have you know that your cousinmitted a crime and what awaits him is the severe punishment of thew. You want to take him away? Ridiculous. What do you take this ce for?¡±
¡°What crime?¡± interjected the embassy staff. ¡°I warn you, no nonsense. I am here to take him away.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°He ran about naked and assaulted women in public. He is viable for the charges of indecent assault, sexual harassment to women and intention to rape. What¡¯s worse is that the police have taken a number of new drugs from his person. You know this too, that our country is very strict with drug-rted cases and even the Heavens won¡¯t be able to save him. Oh, right, wasn¡¯t a Japanese person shot to death as punishment recently? I¡¯m not sure if our judges would be kinder towards Koreans. You guys are ¡®The Great Korean Republic¡¯ right? Gotta spare you some dignity.¡±
Ahn Sujun was ashen. He knew full well what he had slipped in the wine. What was worse was that he still had dozens of these pills on him now.
¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± The Korean embassy staff was shaken, but he still spoke arrogantly, ¡°I¡¯m warning you to not spout nonsense without evidence, or you¡¯ll be sued for libel!¡±
¡°He¡¯s just a dog not worth my effort to exin,¡± said Xia Lei disinterestedly, ¡°You can keep making a fuss here like a woman all you want but think of the result. If the police suspect that you too, are rted to this new drug, then you won¡¯t be better off either.¡±
¡°I...¡± The embassy staff had no further words to say. He shut his mouth.
All these people hade to try to extract Ahn Sujun on behalf of the status of the young master of the Shinyeok Group, and they were doing it to gain advantages andy the foundation for a future rtionship with Shinyeok Group. Of course they would be willing to help with no risks involved, but no one was as willing when risk came into y.
Ahn Suhyeong hesitated, then raised his voice to say, ¡°Let¡¯s leave!¡±
¡°Bro! Save me!¡± Ahn Sujun crawled off the floor and rushed to the door.
Long Bing kicked him in the back and he fell to the floor.
He had refused to admit his crimes in front of the embassy staff and Ahn Suhyeong, much less after they left. Ahn Sujun was truly scared now, and full of regret.
Hate shed in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s eyes, but he did not show it on his face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Sujun. We will get you out. Stay in there temporarily for a few days and watch your mouth. Don¡¯t say anything.¡±
¡°I...¡± Ahn Sujun bit his bottom lip and nodded.
Ahn Suhyeong red at Xia Lei, then turned to leave.
¡°Hold on.¡± Xia Lei called Ahn Suhyeong to a stop. He walked up to him and leaned in to his ear to ask in a low voice, ¡°Where is my sister¡¯s bodyguard?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong sneered. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
¡°You can pretend not to know but let me tell you that you shall meet the same end if he is dead.¡±
¡°Are you threatening me?¡±
¡°And let me give you a warning - don¡¯t you make a move on my sister or there will be no one to spend your family¡¯s riches,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ahn Suhyeong had been about to retort but he could say nothing after he saw the look in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. He felt a chill run through his heart for some unknown reason.
Ahn Suhyeong let out a ¡®humph¡¯ and left with his entourage.
Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon gave Xia Lei deep looks at almost the same time as they left.
This seemed to be a hint, and Xia Lei also had a feeling that Lu Sheng¡¯s disappearance had to do with the two of them.
Xia Lei returned to the detention room.
¡°You handled it well,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°I thought you would react to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s provocation but you controlled yourself.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I did want to punch him but this concerns Lu Sheng¡¯s life. I have to hold it in even though it¡¯s difficult.¡±
¡°You spoke to Ahn Suhyeong earlier...¡± Long Bing did not rify.
Xia Lei understood what she wanted to say, and he nodded.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Long Bing¡¯s lips. ¡°Then I¡¯ll go make preparations. You still have a few minutes.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and watched Long Bing leave. Earlier, he had secretly ced a miniature tracking device in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s clothing when he went close to talk to him. The tracker was as small as a grain of rice and not easily discovered. This was his second time using this method and he had learnt well from Qin Xiang. It was as easy as pie to steal things, much less ce things.
Xia Lei looked at Ahn Sujun after Long Bing left. His voice turned icy-cold. ¡°You¡¯re still young. Your life is over if you¡¯re imprisoned for ten, twenty years. I¡¯ll give you a chance. Tell me - where is my sister¡¯s bodyguard now?¡±
Ahn Sujun avoided Xia Lei¡¯s gaze. He did not speak.
¡°You might get the death penalty,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t try to scare me, fucker! I¡¯m not going to be taken in by your lies!¡± Ahn Sujun said arrogantly. ¡°I will leave this ce. My uncle can make you guys release me with just one word!¡±
Xia Lei gave a coldugh. ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll get someone to add some drugs on you - enough to get you the death penalty. I¡¯d like to see how powerful your uncle is. Can he get you out?¡±
¡°How dare you!¡±
Xia Lei kicked him savagely in his crotch.
¡°Argh-¡± Ahn Sujun fell to the floor again and curled up like a shrimp.
¡°Last chance. Tell me where my sister¡¯s bodyguard is now.¡±
¡°I... don¡¯t know... Stop kicking me down there, I beg you... Any more and I won¡¯t be able to use it...¡± Ahn Sujun bemoaned. Tears and snot streamed down his face.
¡°Wash your butthole clean first. A nice piece of fresh meat like you going into prison - your prison-mates will be sure to treat you tenderly.¡± Xia Lei left the detention room with those words.
Ahn Sujun was still on the floor wailing and groaning. Xia Lei¡¯s words echoed in his ears like a curse, making him clench his butthole.
Long Bing¡¯s car was waiting by the side of the road when he walked out of the police station. An cigarette case-sized electronic terminal sat on the dashboard and a red dot was moving on the map of the streets of Jingdu.
The tracker which Xia Lei had used was equipment from Bureau 101, and leftover from his mission in Afghanistan. It was easy for Long Bing to get a tracking signal.
Long Bing started the car and followed the dot. She asked as she drove, ¡°Any results?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°He doesn¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, Lu Sheng will be fine,¡± said Long Bingfortingly. ¡°This is China. I think that Ahn Suhyeong wouldn¡¯t dare do anything too bold.¡±
Xia Lei let out a soft sigh. ¡°Let¡¯s hope so.¡±
¡°Right, tell you something.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°I heard the group of experts have run into some trouble.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°You mean the group of experts that Ning Jing is in?¡±
¡°Yes, that group.¡±
¡°What trouble are they in?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure yet; just some rumours in the wind.¡±
For some inexplicable reason, the image of the beautiful corpse surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s head again. Princess Yong-Mei, Zhu Xuan-Yue.
The car galloped on the roads but they maintained a distance of two kilometres between themselves and the red dot that was Ahn Suhyeong.
Chapter 360 - Gangnam Hotel
Ahn Suhyeong parted with the staff of the Korean embassy and brought Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon to a Korean-owned hotel called Gangnam Hotel. The Gangnam district in Korea was a ce Koreans were proud of and this hotel also had some capital investment from Shinyeok Group. This hotel could be considered to be the base camp of the Ahn family in Jingdu, China. Most of Shinyeok Group¡¯s business in China was conducted and negotiated here.
Long Bing stopped the car by the road opposite Gangnam Hotel. She leaned close to the ss of the car window to look at the many floors of the hotel and said, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s likely that Lu Sheng is in this hotel.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°People keep going in and out of the hotel and it¡¯s not good for hiding people. If Lu Sheng makes any noise it will be heard by the guests of the hotel too. I wouldn¡¯t hide Lu Sheng in a hotel if I were to do the job,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°What about an underground room?¡±
¡°Underground room? Possibly.¡±
¡°Can we get the blueprints for this hotel?¡±
¡°Of course. The fire brigade in this area has all the blueprints of the buildings. Hold on, I¡¯ll make a call.¡± Long Bing took out her phone and dialled.
A few minutester a document from the fire brigade arrived in her inbox. It was Gangnam Hotel¡¯s blueprints.
Xia Lei went almost cheek-to-cheek with Long Bing to look at the blueprint with her. Interestingly, Long Bing did not find it repulsive; she just looked quietly at the blueprints.
Xia Lei actually just needed one or two seconds to finish looking at a blueprint without forgetting it but considering Long Bing¡¯s memory, he waited for for her to move on to the next drawing. While waiting, his gaze went unintentionally to the area under her cor. The skin under there was nicely boosted up, pale as jade, with a deep groove which could intoxicate a man.
It was unintentional but Xia Lei was still ashamed of himself. ¡®What¡¯s with me? Why am I looking at her breasts at a time like this...¡¯
Long Bing took about five minutes to finish with the few pages of blueprints. She said, ¡°Done looking?¡±
¡°Done,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Have you looked enough?¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Were my breasts great to look at?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Look more and I¡¯ll gouge your eyes out.¡± Long Bing put her phone away and gave Xia Lei a fierce re.
Xia Lei smiled sheepishly but did not exin himself. He couldn¡¯t exin himself anyway and it would just make things worse if he did.
¡°You¡¯ve seen the blueprint of the hotel. What are your ns?¡± asked Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked at the darkening sky outside the window. ¡°Let¡¯s wait for a bit more and go in to have a look around when it¡¯s dark.¡±
¡°Tell me - what will you do if Lu Sheng is dead?¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You¡¯ll stop me for sure if I say I¡¯m going to seek revenge for him. You won¡¯t believe me if I say I¡¯m going to do nothing either. What I can tell you is this - I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do.¡±
¡°What kind of answer is this?¡± Long Bing was not satisfied.
¡°Let¡¯s wait till there¡¯s something confirmed. Anything¡¯s possible at this point.¡± After a pause, he sighed and added, ¡°Many things will always have this or that, changes happening which are unexpected. People are always changing too.¡±
¡°Did you think of Liang Si-Yao?¡±
Xia Lei shut his mouth.
¡°You changed a lot after Liang Si-Yao broke up with you,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Don¡¯t talk about her.¡± Xia Lei did not want to talk about Liang Si-Yao, especially with Long Bing.
¡°All right, I won¡¯t,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is no matter what the situation the first thing you should believe is in this country and ourws. Whoever who killed Lu Sheng will face justice and pay ordingly. But it won¡¯t be wise of you to do something extreme. I don¡¯t want you to ruin your future for Lu Sheng, and throw away all that you have now. Remember - you are not just one person. There are others who care about you too.¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°Your sister.¡±
It grew a little awkward in the car, and quiet.
The sky darkened and the streetmps were lit. Countless lights were also switched on in Gangnam Hotel, and it was resplendent with light.
A couple came out of a fashion boutique and walked towards Gangnam Hotel, hand in hand. The man had a baseball cap on, and he had a beautifully trimmed goatee. He was very manly and sexy. The woman was in a flowing dress and had beautiful long legs. She had all the right curves and was also sexy and a feast for the eyes. She had a small blue top hat on her head with a veil of whiteceing out from under it. The blue and white matched well and gave her a fairly fresh and pleasant image. It was difficult to see either the man¡¯s or the woman¡¯s face clearly with hats covering half their faces.
This couple was Xia Lei and Long Bing.
It wasn¡¯t their first time working together. They had acted as husband and wife in Germany and even slept on the same bed for over a month. Having gone through that, this little lovers¡¯ act was child¡¯s y.
They booked a room on the fourth floor and went to the room.
A member of the service staff soon pushed a food trolley into their room. The cab of the food trolley was opened and two sets of hotel staff clothing were removed, as well as handguns, a notebookputer and some spy equipment. This service staff was definitely one of Bureau 101¡¯s agents.
¡°This is Xiao Wu.¡± Long Bing did a brief introduction. ¡°He will be providing technical support for our mission.¡±
Agent Xiao Wu greeted Xia Lei. ¡°Hello, Consultant Xia. I¡¯ve heard of your respected name. It is an honour to work with you.¡±
Xia Lei shook hands with Agent Xiao Wu and made idle chatter. He found out from Xiao Wu that he was a celebrity in Bureau 101 and was of no less standing than Long Bing or Tang Yu-Yan. This wasn¡¯t very odd, considering his performance when stealing the sword in South Korea and rescuing the hostages in Afghanistan. His amazing performance had left the agents of Bureau 101 in awe.
Agent Xiao Wu quickly entered work mode. He connected the notebookputer to thework port and his fingers flew across the keyboard as he started to hack into the hotel¡¯s security system.
Xia Lei and Long Bing begun changing.
Long Bing did not cover herself up at all. She was left in just her bra and ckce underwear after taking her dress off. Her height of 175cm, perfectly proportioned body and long legs were particrly eye-catching. Fat had also gathered very nicely in her breasts and buttocks, achieving the perfect curves on her body. Even more exceptional were the faint lines of muscle due to her long years of training; she had the beauty of strength coupled with gentleness.
Agent Xiao Wu was immersed in his work and didn¡¯t even look back. Xia Lei, on the other hand, was gaping. It wasn¡¯t his first time seeing Long Bing in underwear but it had been quite some time and seeing her like this again made him fill with amazement.
Long Bing¡¯s figure was about the same as Liang Si-Yao¡¯s and the simr figure of hers made Xia Lei think of Liang Si-Yao.
Long Bing red at Xia Lei, but her gaze carried no dislike.
Xia Lei hurriedly looked away and quickly and easily peeled his own clothing off, then changed into the uniform Agent Xiao Wu had brought, and equipped himself with the spy equipment.
¡°Chief Long, Ahn Suhyeong is on the roof,¡± Xiao Wu said as he stared at theputer disy, ¡°The roof is not open to regr guests. There¡¯s just Ahn Suhyeong and his bodyguards there. Oh, and a few women.¡±
Xia Lei drew close to look at the screen. It disyed a luxurious hall and four bikini-d women fawning over Ahn Suhyeong. Two of the bikini-women were dancing an erotic, hip-swaying dance. One was feeding Ahn Suhyeong fruits from a fruit tter and one other was pouring him red wine. Two of the bikini-women were Asian, one blonde and one a ck rose; all four were sexy and beautiful.
Xia Lei also saw the two which Qin Xiang had specially mentioned, Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon. However, these two only showed on the screen for a few seconds before they exited the hall.
It wasn¡¯t appropriate for a bodyguard to hang around in a situation such as that.
A faint sneer appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°He sure knows how to enjoy himself. Xiao Wu, save the recording and hand it to meter.¡±
Agent Xiao Wu smiled. ¡°No problem, Consultant Xia.¡±
Long BIng pursed her lips. ¡°Whatever. Time to go.¡±
Xia Lei followed Long Bing out the door. He had not asked for the recording for his own enjoyment. A recording such as that would be useful for him in various ways - he could reveal it at some high-ss banquet, or when Ahn Suhyeong got too hot in his pursuit of Shentu Tian-Yin...
It was not a bad haul even if he did not find Lu Sheng this night.
Xia Lei and Long Bing went down to the basement working area in the employee lift. They avoided the hotel security guards and other staff with Agent Xiao Wu¡¯s directions and came to the entrance of the basement smoothly.
The entrance to the basement was an electronic door and needed a passcode and an ID pass. However, the tightly shut door opened automatically in a few seconds. Xiao Wu¡¯s voice came from the receivers in their ears, ¡°Go in. The surveince cameras are out of order.¡±
Xia Lei and Long Bing entered the passageway behind the door.
Cameras were installed in the passageway. It would have been fairly difficult indeed for them to enter without Xiao Wu¡¯s assistance.
The passageway lead to a lift. The doors to the lift opened by themselves when the two of them walked to it.
Xiao Wu¡¯s voice came again, ¡°There¡¯re no cameras down there so I can¡¯t see what¡¯s going on there. You two be careful.¡±
Long Bing spoke into the transmitter at her cor, ¡°Got it. Keep watch on Ahn Suhyeong and his people.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
The lift came to a stop and the doors opened. Long Bing and Xia Lei walked out and what they saw was an underground space of about a few hundred square metres. However, this was not a ce for storing goods but avishly decorated ce.
Their gazes then went to the centre of this space - a boxing ring. Lu Sheng was in this boxing ring, tied to a post. His naked top was covered with ghastly whip-marks.
Chapter 361 - Brain’s Anomaly
A tall, fat man sat on a chair next to the boxing ring. He had been napping and suddenly opened his eyes when Xia Lei and Long Bing entered to roar in Korean, ¡°Who are you? How did you get in?¡±
Xia Lei and Long Bing did not speak. They strode quickly towards him.
¡°Fuck, bastards!¡± The fat man snatched up arge hammer from the floor and stomped towards them. He scowled fiercely and his aggressive manner showed that he did not think much of Xia Lei and Long Bing.
Just then, Lu Sheng opened his eyes and a word escaped his lips. ¡°Run...¡±
Sadly, his voice was weak and it was instantly drowned out by the angry roar of the fat man.
The fat man swung the hammer at Xia Lei¡¯s head. He was aiming to take his life, no quarter given!
Xia Lei did not even dodge. He reached out and grabbed the fat man¡¯s wrist, then pulled his hairy arm forward as he swept at his feet. The fat man crashed to the floor with his hammer.
¡°Sibal gaesekki!,¡± cursed the fat man. This was a bit of cursing which meant ¡®Bastard! Die!¡¯.
The curse had just left his mouth when Long Bing kicked the hammer up lightly to her hand. She swung. The hammer cut a smooth arc through the air and smashed viciously between the fat man¡¯s legs.
The fat man¡¯s mouth opened so wide in that instant that a fist could go in. His eyebrows went up so high they almost disappeared into his hairline. Just kicking a man in that ce hurt like hell - that vicious hammer blow was so much worse. Before the fat man could scream, however, Long Bing kicked him in his Taiyang acupressure point. A robust Korean man as big as a bear fainted in two blinks, just like that. Liquid dribbled from the crotch of his trousers, giving off a terrible smell.
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing, thunderstruck. He felt his own balls shrink.
Long Bing spoke nonchntly, ¡°What are you nking out for? Go rescue him.¡±
Xia Lei snapped to attention. He smiled wryly and climbed into the boxing ring.
¡°Leave, hurry...¡± said Lu Sheng weakly.
Xia Lei heard him this time and Lu Sheng¡¯s voice made his heart heavy. ¡°What do you want to say?¡± He did not stop moving as he spoke, and used abat knife to cut the ropes holding Lu Sheng.
¡°This is... a...¡± Lu Sheng copsed as soon as the roped were loosened.
Xia Lei caught him by the waist. ¡°Tell me.¡±
¡°Trap...¡± Lu Sheng was in bad shape. Saying those words had been like a marathon race for him. He sagged weakly over Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
Long Bing reacted quickly. She drew her gun immediately and pointed it at the lift door.
The lift made no signs of moving. The disy still read ¡®-3¡¯.
Xia Lei activated the power of his left eye and scanned the underground area. There was no one else other than them and the fat man Long Bing had knocked out. There were no cameras on the walls either, or doors or other entrances.
¡°Let¡¯s leave this ce.¡± Xia Lei stopped using his eye. He had a bad feeling.
Long Bing nodded and went to the lift, gun at the ready as she said, ¡°Xiao Wu, how is it up there?¡±
Xiao Wu did not respond but a male voice came over the receiver a few secondster. ¡°Haha, you guys sure are naive. What do you think this ce is? Think you cane and go as you please?¡±
It was Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice.
Ice shed in Long Bing¡¯s eyes. ¡°You sure are bold, Ahn Suhyeong. This is China. You should think about the consequences!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you try to scare me with that! I, Ahn Suhyeong, am not going to be fooled!¡± Ahn Suhyeong sneered, ¡°This is my turf, and your fates are in my hands. Xia Lei, I told you that one day you¡¯ll have to kneel and apologise to me. The day hase.¡±
¡°Sure, I can kneel and apologise to you. Where are you? I¡¯ll go to you right away. You cane down too if you want,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Heh heh heh... You want toe up? You won¡¯t be able to,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
Long Bing went quickly to the lift and pressed the button but there was no response from the lift.
This was the only means ofing and going from this ce and Xia Lei and Long Bing were trapped if the lift could not move. This was a worse situation for Lu Sheng because he needed medical attention urgently.
Long Bing gave the lift door a violent kick. A boom sounded but the door held fast, and stood firm.
Xia Lei ced Lu Sheng carefully on the floor and bounded towards the lift door in a flying kick. A dent appeared in the door this time.
With the door open, they would be able to get up on top of the lift through the maintenance hatch and into the lift shaft. Long Bing and Xia Lei had thought of the same idea and acted upon it without needing to consult each other.
Xia Lei moved a few steps back and charged aggressively at the lift door; he was like a rocket.
Boom!
Long Bing took out her mobile phone to call for backup but her heart sank when she say the phone disy - there was no signal here.
¡°It¡¯s no use,¡± came Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice. ¡°I know what you two want to do. I¡¯ve prepared for that already.¡±
Psss...
A white smoke suddenly came billowing out from the vents in the underground room, filling the area quickly.
It was not steam. Xia Lei and Long Bing quickly smelt a bitter, medicinal smell.
¡°Anaesthetic gas!¡± Long Bing grew anxious. She and Xia Lei would be fish on a chopping board if they were put under by this gas in this enclosed room!
¡°Resign yourself to your fate, Xia Lei. You¡¯ll know what your fate ister. Hahaha!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was rather gleeful.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Long Bing shot at the lift door.
Holes appeared in the door of the lift but it did nothing to change their dire circumstances.
The white cloud approached. It did not touch them yet but their reactions were already starting tog.
The first to sumb was Lu Sheng, who was already weak. The white smoke billowed over him as he lost consciousness.
Xia Lei was anxious too and a little afraid; there was no avoiding this. But just as his brain functions slowed, it suddenly and strangely heated up. It felt like a bolt of electricity had hit him. His brain then abruptly went into an unimaginably strange state!
Words could not describe this sudden change.
His brain was like a most precise instrument and his thought processes were at mach-speed. A normal person could only recall a short bit of text, a fragment of something or a face at best in a second but Xia Lei could recall everything that happened so far this month in that same second - everything, no matter how small the detail!
A counter-n to his situation surfaced in his head without him even thinking of it, and his body reacted right away. He removed his shirt and tore the transceiver off the cor, throwing it far away. He then threw his shirt to the floor and unzipped his trousers to piss on his shirt.
¡°You...¡± Long Bing gaped at Xia Lei. His back was to her but she could still see the arc of liquiding down from between his legs and she could tell what he was doing.
Xia Lei did not look back. ¡°Quick, do the same!¡±
Long Bing flushed. Wetting her clothes with her own urine? She couldn¡¯t do something like that!
¡°There¡¯s no time! Quick!¡± called Xia Lei urgently.
Long Bing knew that this could counter the effects of the anaesthetic gas but she stopped after she threw her transceiver to one side and her clothes to the floor. ¡°Can... Can you wet these?¡±
¡°You should have asked earlier. I¡¯m empty.¡± Xia Lei had zipped himself up.
Long Bing felt like banging her head into the wall at that moment.
Xia Lei turned to look at her and he urged, ¡°Hurry up! Do you want to die here? What¡¯s there to be embarrassed about? What¡¯s more important than your life?¡±
Long Bing gritted her teeth and turned around. She pulled her trousers down and squatted on the floor to wee on her clothes.
She was flustered and nervous, and didn¡¯t think that she should have told Xia Lei to turn around, not her. The result was that she couldn¡¯t see Xia Lei but he could see her pale buttocks.
Sss...
The fine line between life and death, the pale moon of a bottom and the clear trickle of liquid - what chaos these made when they all came together!
Long Bing suddenly thought of something after a few seconds and looked back, then let out a cry.
Xia Lei quickly looked away and picked up the clothing on the floor to hold it over his nose and mouth, then turned his back on her, pretending not to have seen anything.
¡°I¡¯ll settle this with you when we¡¯re out!¡± hissed Long Bing between her teeth. She stood, pulled her trousers up and put her wet clothing to her face.
It was her own, but the smell still made her frown.
The anaesthetic gas soon came billowing over, swallowing them both.
The white gas blocked out Long Bing¡¯s sight and she could not see Xia Lei. She tried moving towards the lift but ended up bumping into Xia Lei and in his embrace. She was embarrassed to find that Xia Lei had had a reaction, and a raging one at that.
¡°Damn you, pervert!¡± Long Bing let loose with a punch.
Xia Lei caught her wrist. ¡°Don¡¯t talk.¡± Then he pulled her by the hand to the lift. They were both stuck in a white cloud of smoke but it did not affect his vision at all. It was impossible for Long Bing to teach him a lesson in this environment.
They came to the lift and waited quietly for the door to open.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice came from the receiver in their ears. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking now, Xia Lei? Aren¡¯t you an arrogant one? I¡¯m giving you a chance to curse me.¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. He knew that Ahn Suhyeong was trying to confirm his and Long Bing¡¯s condition and they would be exposed if he said anything. However, Ahn Suhyeong would not hear him even if he spoke since he had thrown his transceiver away so that Ahn Suhyeong could not hear his and Long Bing¡¯s movements.
¡°We may be on opposing sides but I have to say that I do admire you. You¡¯re smart, capable. But that¡¯s useless because you¡¯re up against me, Ahn Suhyeong!¡± His voice was mocking. ¡°Well, then. Want to know what¡¯s in store for you?¡±
Chapter 362 - Let Your Wife Remarry!
Thud! Long Bing suddenly dropped to the ground next to him.
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Lei hurriedly bent to check on her.
Long Bing¡¯s eyes were tightly shut and her chest rose and fell. She did not react and did not awaken even when Xia Lei hit her lightly on her cheeks.
Xia Lei felt the clothes she had dropped; they were still wet and the smell on them was thick. This discovery difited Xia Lei. She had also wet her clothing with urine to counter the effects of the anaesthetic gas but he was free of its effects while she had lost consciousness.
Long Bing¡¯s body was very healthy and quite resistant, especially with systemic training. She should have had a greater tolerance than him.
What was going on?
Xia Lei abruptly remembered when his brain had heated up strangely. Was that the reason?
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice came again over the receiver, ¡°Come on, Xia Lei. Talk.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was still probing. How very meticulous and cunning of him.
Xia Lei ignored him. He shook Long Bing by the shoulder again but she did not respond. He gave up.
Ahn Suhyeong spoke, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you. The Americans are very interested in you. I don¡¯t know why but I know that what awaits you must be a hellish fate. I¡¯ll cut off your manhood before I hand you to them, as payment for daring to go against me.¡±
Xia Lei made a snap decision as he listened to Ahn Suhyeong ramble on. He moved his wet clothing away from his face a little. He held his breath, then took a cautious breath of anaesthetic gas. The small inhtion made him frown with its nose-piercing pungency; he was fairly nervous. However, other than finding the smell highly unpleasant, he did not feel any numbing effect.
What was going on here?
He hesitated, then attempted an even riskier course of action. He put his wet clothes down and took two deep breaths of anaesthetic gas. He still did not feel any effects.
The result was clear - the anaesthetic gas had no effect on him!
This result shocked Xia Lei.
He did not know the exact reason but anotheryer of mystery was added to the mysteriousness of the AE capsules.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice came from over the receiver again but there was some background noise this time, and he spoke in Korean. ¡°That punk must have lost consciousness. No need to keep trying to talk to him. No one can get through a minute of this military-use anaesthetic and five minutes have passed already.¡±
¡°Stop the gas then, or he¡¯ll die down there.¡± A man spoke, also in Korean. ¡°The Americans want that punk and they specified that he has to be alive. We can¡¯t kill him.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong spoke, ¡°Go turn off the gas, Kim Jiyeon.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°Cha Gori, take some men with you ande with me to the basement.¡±
¡°And this punk in the room?¡± asked Cha Gori.
¡°Get rid of him along with the woman in the basement after we hand Xia Lei to the Americans,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
Ahn Suhyeong was using Agent Xiao Wu¡¯smunications device. He had surmised that Xia Lei and Long Bing had lost consciousness and so held nothing back. The more Xia Lei heard, the angrier he became. He couldn¡¯t wait to rush up there and give Ahn Suhyeong a one-two.
The sound of a mobile phone ringing came over the receiver and Xia Lei heard Ahn Suhyeong talk with someone on the phone in Chinese. ¡°Hello? Oh... Tianyin, I was just about to call you when you called me... Wangfu Hotel? Conference... There¡¯ll be many reporters? Nn, yes, of course the coboration between our twopanies has to have media coverage. Mm, yes. I¡¯ll be right there.¡±
It was a call from Shentu Tianyin.
¡°I¡¯ve got to go to Wangfu Hotel for a bit. You take that punk and hand him to the Americans. This punk and that woman - get rid of them.¡±
¡°Rest assured, Young Master. I know what to do,¡± said Cha Gori, ¡°But do I just hand Xia Lei over to the Americans like this? I heard you saying that you want to cut his manhood off as payment. Would you like me to cut his manhood off?¡±
¡°Heh heh heh...¡± Ahn Suhyeong chuckled. ¡°Sure, but remember not to kill him. Stop the bleeding and apply anti-inmmatory medication after you castrate him.¡±
¡°No problem,¡± said Cha Gori.
¡°You men sure are wicked,¡± said Kim Jiyeon.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Cha Gori and Ahn Suhyeongughed.
The receiver quieted after that. No sound came after there was a sound of the device being put down on some surface.
The gas stopped billowing through the vents, and the venttion fans started to work, quickly sucking the white cloud of anaesthetic gas out of the room.
The air was normal again but Long Bing and Lu Sheng did not awaken.
This was normal - even patients undergoing surgery regain consciousness after several hours, what¡¯s more with this amount of anaesthetic gas.
Xia Lei took Long Bing¡¯s handgun and went back to sit on the cold tile next to the lift door. He had both hands on guns but kept his left gun-wielding hand at an angle where the peopleing out of the lift couldn¡¯t see it. His preparationsplete, he shut his eyes and waited in silence for the battle toe to him.
A few minutester, the lift moved. It first went up, then down again.
Xia Lei took a deep breath to calm his body and nerves. His eyes were shut but his left eye saw everything in the basement clearly.
The lift doors opened and Cha Gori and Kim Jiyeon stepped out of the lift. Close behind them were four of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s bodyguards. One of them had Agent Xiao Wu restrained and another held Xiao Wu¡¯s notebookputer and some spy equipment in his hands.
It was easy to see what they were nning. They wanted to kill Long Bing and Agent Xiao Wu here, then destroy all the evidence and take Xia Lei with them to hand him over to the Americans.
Cha Gori first saw Long Bing on the floor, then Lu Sheng and finally Xia Lei. A sneer appeared in the corners of his mouth. ¡°I hear this punk¡¯s cunning and has ungodly skill with the gun. Did he think that we were going to have a gunfight with him? Haha... What a joke. The greatest weapon on this Earth is not a gun but brains.¡±
Kim Jiyeonughed. ¡°He thought we didn¡¯t know that he had ced a tracker on Young Master. He came chasing like a dog and fell right into our trap. Looks like this punk isn¡¯t as impressive as the Americans say he is.¡±
¡°He¡¯s still quite smart. He knew to use urine to counter the anaesthetic gas.¡± Cha Gori smelt the pungent smell in the air and saw the wet clothes on the floor.
¡°It was still useless.¡± Kim Jiyeon waved her hand. ¡°Get to work, boys.¡±
A tough-looking bodyguard with a goatee smiled wickedly. ¡°Manager Kim, can¡¯t we have some fun first? This Chinese woman looks good.¡±
¡°You fuckers, we don¡¯t have time to waste,¡± said Kim Jiyeon with a frown.
The bodyguard who had spoken kicked at Long Bing¡¯s thigh. ¡°We won¡¯t need much time, Manager Kim. Half an hour¡¯s enough. Don¡¯t you guys also need time to do the surgical procedure? You guys do that, and we do her. Haha!¡±
¡°Go on then, you fuckers!¡± Kim Jiyeon said in annoyance.
Two of the bodyguards lifted Long Bing off the floor and pulled her towards the boxing ring, one on each hand. Of the two other bodyguards, one threw Agent Xiao Wu to the floor and the other put Agent Xiao Wu¡¯s notebookputer and backpack on the floor, then followed the others, his tail wagging.
Cha Gori walked towards Xia Lei. ¡°Your little gun will be missing when you wake up, punk.¡±
The four bodyguards had their hands off their guns and their backs were about five metres from the lift.
Now!
Xia Lei did not even open his eyes. He lifted his right hand a little and aimed at Cha Gori¡¯s chest. He squeezed the trigger.
Bang!
A huge red flower bloomed on Cha Gori¡¯s chest and he was thrown to the floor.
Xia Lei levelled the gun again before he could react. Bang! A bullet went into Cha Gori¡¯s head.
It was all too sudden. Kim Jiyeon reacted only after Cha Gori had died.
Her reaction was not as quick as Xia Lei, who had been waiting for his moment. A bullet had already left the muzzle of Xia Lei¡¯s gun by the time she pointed her gun at him, and hit her in the knee. Her body fell towards the floor, out of her control, and another bullet went into her head before her body hit the floor.
The two leaders had died in two seconds!
The four bodyguards came back to their senses then and the furthest two took out their guns. The two in front tossed Long Bing aside and prepared to get their guns.
Xia Lei shot up from the floor, his hands whipping about and his fingers pulling at the trigger while he was in motion. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Two bodyguards were just turning around and the bullets hit them in their heads and chests, robbing them of their lives. The other two bodyguards did not even have time to adjust before they were gunned down.
Xia Lei was skilled with not just the sniper rifle - he was exceptional with the handgun too. His vision, his focus, his reactions and his body all surpassed that of a normal human!
The bodyguard with the goatee was still alive. He struggled to lift his arm and shoot back at Xia Lei.
Bang! A bullet came flying and hit the hand holding the gun in an instant. A finger went flying off from his palm along with the gun, but he could not feel the pain any longer.
Xia Lei walked over to him, his gaze cold.
¡°Don¡¯t... Don¡¯t kill me... I have... wife and kids...¡± pleaded the bodyguard with the goatee.
Xia Lei responded in Korean. ¡°Let your wife remarry.¡±
¡°No-¡±
Bang! A bullet shot from the muzzle of the gun and opened up a pit in the goateed bodyguard¡¯s head. Blood and brain matter sttered. It was fairly disgusting but Xia Lei did not have any sort of reaction to things like these anymore.
Chapter 363 - Savage Bidding
Wangfu Hotel. In a multi-purpose hall.
¡°Tianyin, why didn¡¯t you tell me you had this nned earlier?¡± Ahn Suhyeong smiled as he walked towards Shentu Tianyin, who was standing in the doorway.
Shentu Tianyin was not alone. Gu Kewen and Fu Mingmei stood with her. It looked like a disy of the flower which was Shentu Tianyin, the focus of the group of three women; one could not help fantasising. Next to Shentu Tianyin, the youngdy of the Gu n who used to be a socialite had lost her former glory and could only act as a supporting character to her.
A faint smile appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips as she said lightly, ¡°I was not the one who arranged it - it was the Jingdu Chamber of Commerce which organised this charity event. There¡¯s an entrance fee. I¡¯ve already paid for you.¡±
¡°How could I let you do that? I should be the one paying,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°It¡¯s just a small sum, so don¡¯t mind it. If you really care, then you should bid on an item or two in the charity auctionter,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°No problem. Let¡¯s go in then.¡± Ahn Suhyeong wanted to take Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hand but she had already turned and walked in.
Gu Kewen took one step into the way of Ahn Suhyeong.
Ahn Suhyeong wrinkled his brows but he did not express his anger further.
¡°Haven you seen Xia Lei, Mr Ahn?¡± said Gu Kewen softly.
Ahn Suhyeong paused and looked sharply at Gu Kewen. ¡°You must be asking the wrong person about him. I did not see him and I don¡¯t want to hear his name either.¡±
Gu Kewen gave him a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t mind me, Mr Ahn. I was just asking.¡± She left him with those words and went into the hall.
Ahn Suhyeong wrinkled his brows. ¡°Why did this woman suddenly ask if I¡¯d seen Xia Lei? Does she know something? Impossible...¡±
The guests in the multi-purpose room were lofty as clouds; there were important figures in the Jingdu industry circles as well as several well-known and respected national faces. The added worth of all these people was at least hundreds of billions. Only the Chamber of Commerce could gather people such as these - even Shentu Tianyin could not do such a thing.
The charity banquet had not officially begun yet, and the guests were all chatting in small groups.
Shentu Tianyin brought Ahn Suhyeong with her to introduce him to a few important people in the business world and made sure to praise Ahn Suhyeong for his talent and eye in business and so on. The important people who spoke to Ahn Suhyeong also liked very much that he was the young master of Shinyeok Group, and they conversed readily.
Ahn Suhyeong was rather chuffed. It was also his first time of having this feeling of being Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ¡®boyfriend¡¯.
A group of reporters soon gathered to interview Shentu Tianyin and Ahn Suhyeong about the mobile phone coboration project between Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group. This had been pre-arranged by Shentu Tianyin; she was good at using the voice of media to build momentum for business.
Fu Mingmei frowned as she watched Shentu Tianyin and Ahn Suhyeong face the reporters breezily with smiles on their faces. She grumbled to herself, ¡°What the hell is that punk Xia Lei doing? He¡¯s such a disappointment. I thought he was going to be with Tianyin thest time since they almost kissed but here he is again, ying ¡®Where¡¯s Wally¡¯. Ah, you really can¡¯t carve a bird of prey out of rotten wood...¡±
Gu Kewen walked slowly to Fu Mingmei and said softly, ¡°Tianyin and Ahn Suhyeong sure are a perfect pair. A wealthy man and a beautiful woman, and their statuses match too - this must be a match made in Heaven.¡±
Fu Mingmei rolled her eyes at her. ¡°And you used to say that about Tianyin and your brother too.¡±
Gu Kewen had indeed thought so and said such things in the past but Gu Kewu was still imprisoned.
This was undoubtedly a taunt, but there was no trace of unhappiness on Gu Kewen¡¯s face. She gave augh. ¡°My brother failed, and the victor is King. There¡¯s nothing worth mentioning about that. Men will always want to get the best woman in the world and the greatest power. Didn¡¯t my brother fight tooth and nail with Xia Lei back then only to have this Ahn Suhyeong sneak in now?¡±
Fu Mingmei gave her an odd look. ¡°You¡¯ve changed a lot.¡±
Gu Kewen let out a soft sigh. ¡°People always change.¡±
The charity banquet begun and the head of Jingdu Chamber of Commerce gave a speech. This charity banquet¡¯s theme was ¡®Love, Care, Dedication¡¯ and the items on auction were not expensive wines but some donated artwork by artists. The money raised would be used to help poor university students and the left-behind children of the mountainous regions.*
After the speech, music begun to y in the background and a huge sma disy on the main wall started to y a documentary about the living circumstances of university students in poverty and the living situation of left-behind children.
It was a good purpose and a good thing to have a charity banquet but few of the billionaires there cared about the unfortunate. They did not take notice of the documentary ying, and were not affected by the sadness of the background music - they talked business, golf and some were even hunting for pretty women.
Ahn Suhyeong was one of them. He had no interest in students or children - he only cared about Shentu Tianyin.
Ahn Suhyeong was in the best mood he had been recently. Xia Lei was in his hands and he just hand to hand him over to the CIA. They had promised to help his father¡¯s election in the next presidential election of the President of South Korea. His father, Ahn Geungan, would then be likely to be the next Korean president. He would not just be the young master of the Shinyeok Group then!
What made him happier was that Shentu Tianyin¡¯s attitude towards him had changed, and this made him see an opportunity to get closer to her.
Power, a beautiful woman - both were in his grasp!
What else could be worth getting happy about?
The art auction begun. The host put a painting of mountainous scenery on disy. A picture of the painting was also put on huge disy on the wall, big enough for everyone present to see the details of the painting clearly.
The artist was not famous and no one pushed the price up. It was finally sold for the minimum price.
The host then put up a thangka for auction - it was exquisite.
Shentu Tianyin looked at the thangka on disy and said with feeling, ¡°It¡¯s beautiful. My father is a Buddhist and he¡¯d surely love this. I¡¯d like to give this to him.¡±
¡°Uncle likes this?¡± said Ahn Suhyeong, ¡°Then I¡¯ll win the auction and give it as a present to Uncle.¡±
Shentu Tianyin did not rify if she wanted it; she just gave him a faint smile.
Her smile was like an arrow of excitement, and it shot straight into Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s heart. He raised his bidding paddle when the host said ¡®50,000¡¯ and called out, ¡°One million!¡±
The host was delighted and raised his voice. ¡°This gentleman here bid one million. Are there any other bids? This thangka is the work of thete artist, Balimu. It is fifty years old and the appreciation price for this piece is great...¡±
¡°1,100,000!¡± Someone else raised his paddle.
¡°Good, that gentleman bid 1,100,000! Anyone else cares to bid? 1,100,000 going once!¡± The host was experienced and knew what to so.
Ahn Suhyeong wrinkled his brows and nced at the man who had raised his paddle. He raised his own paddle for the second time. ¡°2,000,000!¡±
This aggressive bidding style set the bidding rival back on his haunches and he did not raise his paddle. The thangka was valuable and a work of cultural value but it was not like other works which had hundreds of years of history. This fifty-year-old thangka was not worth it when the price went above a million, much less two.
The host understood this and did not dilly-dally. He said, ¡°This gentleman bid two million. Two million going once. Two million going twice...¡±
"I, I... I bid 5,000,000!¡± A voice rang out in the hall, drawing the eyes of many.
Those present were all billionaires and spending a few million on artwork was like buying a piece of clothing for normal people - it wasn¡¯t much. However, it was fairly curious when someone was bidding 5,000,000 for something that was worth 50,000.
Who was the person who had bid?
Even Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t help looking and she was stunned when she saw who it was.
A young man wearing the uniform of the service staff of Wangfu Hotel stood under the gazes of everyone. He was holding up a bidding paddle nervously, standing straight as a rod. Sweat beaded his forehead.
Ahn Suhyeong was surprised too but he quickly recovered. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Did hee to cause trouble?¡±
The host didn¡¯t know what was going on either and he said tentatively, ¡°Listen, you need to know that if you don¡¯t buy it after bidding for it, you...¡±
Before the host could finish, the service staff cut him off and said, ¡°N, No, it¡¯s not me buying. I¡¯m bidding on the behalf of someone. The man said that, that...¡±
¡°What did he say?¡± asked the host patiently.
The service staff boy forced himself to say, ¡°He said ¡®Koreans have money to buy such expensive works of art?¡¯ And he also said if the price went up to two million, that mister sh, should...¡±
¡°Should what?¡± said Ahn Suhyeong angrily.
¡°Should go study how to make kimchi,¡± said the boy.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Some unknown personughed rudely.
Conversation buzzed in the multi-purpose hall.
It was obvious that someone had put down a deposit to have a member of the service staff do the bidding, not to participate in the auction but to humiliate Ahn Suhyeong.
Ahn Suhyeong was a smart man. He swept his gaze over the multi-purpose hall, trying to see which fellow it was who did this but he did not see anyone suspicious.
¡°5,000,000 going once!¡± The host did not care about personal grudges. The higher the price the greater hismission.
Ahn Suhyeong snorted and raised his paddle for the third time. ¡°6,000,000!¡±
¡°10,000,000!¡± The boy raised his paddle and called out a price swiftly.
The venue was abuzz. Was that hidden bidder insane?
¡°110,000,000!¡±
¡°150,000,000!¡± The boy called out; no pressure on him.
¡°200,000,000!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was afire; he had lost all sense of reason.
¡°Two bil...¡± The boy stopped and suddenly said, ¡°You win. That artwork is yours.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was rooted to the spot.
¡°200,000,000 going once, twice, 200,000,000 going thrice!¡± The host spoke faster and faster, hurrying to close the deal. The boy was not raising his paddle so the host was a fool if he believed that another fool would bid higher than 200,000,000 for a thangka worth 50,000.
Apuse rang out in the multi-purpose hall.
The apuse was in praise of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s generosity but it rang like jeering in his ears. He stared darkly at the service staff boy but could not remember where he had seen him before.
Shentu Tianyin smiled and said, ¡°Suhyeong, I did not expect that you would support the charitable cause so wholeheartedly. You¡¯ve shown me a different side of you.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong barely managed to squeeze out a smile on his face. ¡°Nothing is too expensive as long as Uncle likes it. Besides, it¡¯s for the sake of those children in poverty too.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s smile was very sweet.
Just then, a picture suddenly appeared on the huge liquid crystal disy on the wall.
Chapter 364 - Woman’s Heart
Four women and a man appeared on the screen.
Two of the women were Asian, one a westerner and one dark-skinned. All four were high up on the beautiful scale. The man was also hale and handsome, and could make women¡¯s hearts flutter.
The people present in the multi-purpose hall were all adults and practically all of them had seen films such as what was being disyed; it was nothing big. But this sort of thing being disyed in a venue such as this could not be tolerated. What was more surprising was that the man on the screen was the man who had just won the auction for the thangka for 20,000,000 - Ahn Suhyeong.
All eyes went to Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°Don¡¯t judge a book by its cover indeed - he seemed like he had good bearing but he¡¯s actually so sleazy,¡± said a woman.
¡°Sleazy? You mean filthy. How¡¯s it different from being a bull, doing things like that?¡± said a man.
¡°Is he so thirsty for such things?¡±
¡°Haha, aren¡¯t Koreans very conscious of their image? What¡¯s this now?¡±
¡°That person is the young master of Shinyeok Group. I hear his father is preparing to run in the next presidential election. I wonder - is this considered negative publicity?¡±
¡°Ah, another one of those who rely on Daddy¡¯s money.¡±
¡°If I had a son like that I¡¯d break his legs myself.¡±
The venue buzzed with conversation and varying degrees of odd looks were thrown at Ahn Suhyeong in tides. All his dreams and hopes for the future were shattered in that instant.
The scene continued ying out on the screen. The women were crying out and those cries were apanied by a man¡¯sughter; it was rather unsightly. The host and a few security staff charged backstage to try to catch the offender. The multi-purpose hall was in chaos.
Shentu Tianyin took only one look at the disy before averting her gaze. She not want to stain her eyes further by looking at it a second time.
¡°Tianyin, let me exin...¡± Ahn Suhyeong wanted to excuse himself but he didn¡¯t know how he was going to exin himself.
Shentu Tianyin spoke coolly, ¡°No need to exin anything to me. You have your own life. This has nothing to do with me.¡±
¡°I... I¡¯m not like what you think... ¡° Ahn Suhyeong struggled to clear things up.
Shentu Tianyin gave augh. ¡°There¡¯s really no need to exin anything to me. And, a 20,000,000 yuan thangka is really too expensive. My father cannot ept such an expensive gift.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s heart felt like it had been dunked in ice-water. He could take it if Shentu Tianyin had been angry at him or pped him but she had reacted coolly and rejected his gift. He had even envisioned himself getting closer to her, but it was all destroyed in the blink of an eye.
That was not the worst - the worst was that Ahn Suhyeong knew who had recorded the video, and when. This footage would have been destroyed under normal circumstances but it had appeared here. What problem did this present? He did not even want to think about it.
¡°I am really sorry that something like this has happened. I¡¯ll exin it to you another day. Goodbye.¡± Ahn Suhyeong reacted quickly and he turned to leave after saying those words.
¡°Mr Ahn!¡± A man¡¯s voice suddenly rang out.
Ahn Suhyeong looked back and saw security staff walk towards him, dragging a man with them.
Ahn Suhyeong was stunned. The man was the man who should have been captured by him, who should have had his member cut, the man who should have been handed over to the CIA - Xia Lei!
What Ahn Suhyeong had been most worried about hade to pass. He turned ashen. He would haveshed back at Xia Lei with this sort of provocation under normal circumstances but he did not even dare to speak to Xia Lei this time. He just gave Xia Lei a look and walked quickly towards the exit.
A member of the service staff and a woman in a cheongsum blocked Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s exit.
The service staff boy who had raised the bidding paddle earlier was not a real employee but Tang Bochuan. The tall woman in a cheongsum next to him was his little sister, Tang Yuyan.
Unfortunately, Ahn Suhyeong did not recognise either of them. He put out a hand to push Tang Bochuan. ¡°Get out of the way!¡±
Tang Bochuan grabbed Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s hand and said with a smile, ¡°Mr Ahn, you won the bid for the thangka. Please make payment.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong struggled to free his hand. Tang Bochuan¡¯s grip was like a vice and he could not shake him off.
Tang Yuyan spoke coldly, ¡°You¡¯d better cooperate, Ahn Suhyeong. Pay up what you should pay up. Go to prison if you should belong in there. This is awful country and we will not malign a good man, nor will we let a criminal go.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong had already guessed Tang Yuyan and Tang Bochuan¡¯s identities and he put on a mask of calm. ¡°I want to make a call.¡±
Tang Yuyan suddenly raised her leg and her high-heel struck Ahn Suhyeong on the back of his leg.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s brows furrowed in pain and he kept himself from crying out with great difficulty.
Tang Yuyan lowered her voice. ¡°I¡¯ll give you onest warning. Cooperate.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong huffed. ¡°Fine, whatever. I¡¯ll go with you, but you¡¯d better not touch me. I¡¯m not someone you can just mess with any way you want.¡±
¡°You cooperate and we¡¯ll discuss matters when we get you back.¡± Tang Yuyan thought nothing of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s threat. She did not seem to have any intention to take Ahn Suhyeong away either; she walked towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was surrounded by the security staff who were preparing to restrain him and hand him over to the police.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s first reaction when she saw the security staff bring Xia Lei out from backstage was to go over to demand an exnation but she hesitated and gave up on that idea in the end. The people present were all important people and Xia Lei was someone who had ¡®broadcast¡¯ a distasteful video. She wanted to go over and find out what was going on but her status hindered her.
Tang Yuyan walked to Xia Lei in that time of hesitation and handed the host some documentation without a word.
The host opened the documentation and nched, then returned the documentation to Tang Yuyan with both hands.
¡°You can just hand this guy to me. Go do whatever you¡¯re supposed to do,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Yes, yes, of course.¡± The host nodded in full agreement, then waved the security staff back.
Xia Lei looked at Shentu Tianyin, who was nearby and he had an inexplicable sense of disappointment. However, he was happy again when he looked over at Ahn Suhyeong and saw that his face was drained of colour. Doing something like this was ugly, but it was worth it!
¡°I helped you get the guy. How are you going to thank me?¡± Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei, all smiles.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°How would you like me to thank you?¡±
¡°How about a dance?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Here?¡±
¡°Here.¡± Tang Yuyan looked determined.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Lady Tang, this is a charity banquet. They¡¯re auctioning artwork - how can we dance? Let¡¯s just go. I¡¯ll dance with youter.¡±
Shentu Tianyin finally made her way over to them at that moment. She looked Tang Yuyan over and asked probingly, ¡°Lei, this person here is...?¡±
Shentu Tianyin had wanted to asked what was going on but the sight of this tall, leggy and seductive Tang Yuyan made her ask that question instead. She didn¡¯t even want to get to know Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei made introductions. ¡°Tianyin, this is Tang Yuyan, the youngdy of the Tang sect.¡± He then said to Tang Yuyan, ¡°This is Shentu Tianyin, the chairwoman of Vientaine Group.¡±
Two different women of two different statuses, but neither of their statuses was any less than the other. It seemed like Shentu Tianyin¡¯s status as chairwoman of Vientaine Group was greater but the Tang sect was an ancient n with hundreds of years of history. The Tangs had fingers in business and military affairs and could only be more powerful than the Shentu n!
Gu Kewen suddenly came close to Shentu Tianyin and whispered in her ear.
¡°Ah, so it¡¯s Lady Tang. Please excuse any disrespect.¡± Shentu Tianyin extended her hand first for a handshake.
Tang Yuyan shook with Shentu Tianyin and said with a smile, ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±
¡°Lei, what happened just now?¡± asked Shentu Tianyin as she observed Tang Yuyan out of the corner of her eye. Gu Kewen had already told her of Tang Yuyan¡¯s identity and this had nothing to do with her, but she felt ufortable when she saw Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei together.
¡°Ahn Suhyeong did something he should not have. We came to arrest him.¡± Xia Lei gave a simple exnation.
¡°Then the video...¡± Shentu Tianyin did not continue; she still felt it dirty.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I did it.¡± He gave augh. ¡°I know I shouldn¡¯t have but I wanted you to see clearly what sort of a person he is.¡±
Shentu Tianyin quirked her lips in augh. ¡°You really take people by surprise as always. I don¡¯t think the organisers would be mad at you though, since you helped them get a donation of 20,000,000.¡±
¡°Speaking of that 20,000,000, my brother helped quite a bit, didn¡¯t he? Come on, fulfil your promise,¡± Tang Yuyan nagged.
¡°Um...¡± Xia Lei did not know what to do.
¡°What promise?¡± asked Shentu Tianyin probingly.
Tang Yuyan abruptly put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s waist before he could say anything and grabbed his hand. She started dancing to the background music which hade on again under the watchful gaze of an audience.
A handsome man and a ssical beauty - Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s dancing became the most eye-catching thing in the hall. Their attractiveness, bodies and the way they carried themselves were all top-notch and all who saw them couldn¡¯t help envying this perfect pair.
Someone started to p, and the entire hall quickly filled with apuse.
Shentu Tianyin watched them both silently, her expression calm.
Fu Mingmei walked over to Shentu Tianyin and said with a pout. ¡°This guy sure is a chick-ma. Does he think he¡¯s James Bond or Tom Cruise? I want to punch him.¡±
Shentu Tianyin suddenly spoke. ¡°Me too.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Fu Mingmei was stunned.
Ahn Suhyeong was staring at Xia Lei with mes spitting from his eyes on the other side of the hall. He wished for nothing more than to rush over and grind him down to dust. He had never hated anyone as much as he hated Xia Lei right then. What made him feel worse was that he was seething with anger and Xia Lei was dancing in the hall with a beautiful woman in his arms! And the woman he was courting was looking at another man with her eyes alight!
¡°Want to kill him?¡± Tang Bochuan said suddenly.
Ahn Suhyeong nced at Tang Bochuan. He said nothing but a terribly dark look came upon his features.
Tang Bochuan gave augh and spoke offhandedly, ¡°If he gets my sister and doesn¡¯t treat her well I¡¯ll help you kill him. What do you say about that?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong seethed.
Tang Bochuan red at Ahn Suhyeong. ¡°What are you looking at me like that for? Come on, I¡¯ll take you to make payment for the thangka.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was speechless.
Chapter 365 - Blood Test and Slippers
Army General Hospital.
¡°Stretch your hand over more,¡± instructed the female doctor in theboratory.
Xia Lei stretched his arm into the window. The doctor tightened a rubber band around his wrist, then inserted the needle into his vein to collect blood.
¡°Wait for half an hour for the results.¡± The doctor took the blood samples and walked off.
Xia Lei walked away from the window and sat on a metal chair to wait. Few patients came in the night to theboratory and it was quiet. His imagination ran wild in this quiet.
¡®Long Bing was knocked out in that basement but I wasn¡¯t. There wasn¡¯t even any effect when I breathed it in directly. This isn¡¯t normal... Does my blood have something that is like an antibody to anaesthetic? Or is there something else in my blood? But why don¡¯t I feel anything?¡¯ Thoughts whirled in Xia Lei¡¯s head.
It was difficult to say if being immune to anaesthetic was a good or bad thing because it would be troublesome indeed if he had to have surgery one day.
Half an hour passed quickly and theboratory doctor ced his test results in the window.
Xia Lei stood and walked over with a smile. ¡°Is there anything wrong with my blood, Doctor?¡± he asked politely.
The female doctor nced at him. ¡°You should take your results and go consult a doctor.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a doctor too? I¡¯m just having my blood tested. I¡¯ll be going back if there are no problems.¡±
Maybe it was Xia Lei¡¯s handsomeness but the female doctor looked at him again and picked up the test results. She read it and said, ¡°There¡¯s no problem with your blood. You¡¯re very healthy.¡± She then smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t have to go see another doctor. What do you do?¡±
¡°I do electric welding on construction sites. I¡¯m a welder,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I see...¡± The doctor turned and walked off, not bothered to continue the conversation with Xia Lei.
This proved again that men could not depend on their faces to live. A man wouldn¡¯t be able to get a girl even if he looked like David Beckham if he were abourer.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He tore the test results up into pieces and threw them in the bin.
Xia Lei left theboratory and mulled over the results as he walked towards the wards. ¡®There¡¯s nothing wrong with my blood and I used my X-ray vision on my organs too and there¡¯s no problem there. This means I¡¯m a normal person. But why was I fine after inhaling anaesthetic gas? Does this mean that the hospital equipment is unable to find any specialponents in my blood?¡¯
The results were out and he should be heaving a sigh of relief but this problem still gued him.
Xia Lei entered a room when he got to the wards.
This was Lu Sheng¡¯s ward. He had suffered external injuries and had received treatment for them and was out of danger. He was already awake and turned to look at him when Xia Lei walked in.
¡°How is Xue?¡± asked Lu Sheng anxiously.
¡°She¡¯s fine,¡± said Xia Lei.
Lu Sheng let out a breath of relief. He made to get up but Xia Lei pressed him back on the shoulder.
¡°Don¡¯t move. Just lie back,¡± said Xia Lei.
Lu Sheng sighed. ¡°Lei, I really.... I am ashamed. I get injured all the time. It¡¯s fortunate that nothing happened to Xue, otherwise I... I really wouldn¡¯t know how to face you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I should be thanking you instead. She would have been harmed long ago if you were not protecting her.¡±
¡°This time was because I didn¡¯t do my job well. I should have told you when I discovered that that punk was interacting with Xue, but...¡± Lu Sheng did not continue.
¡°I know, it was Xue who told you not to tell me. I know my sister better than you do. She caused trouble for you. I¡¯ll get her to apologise to youter.¡±
¡°No, no, what apology?¡± Lu Sheng hurriedly rejected it. ¡°I don¡¯t need that.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Then is it fine if shees to visit you? Let her see the result of her willfulness.¡±
Lu Sheng smiled wryly. He did not reject it this time.
Xia Lei chatted with Lu Sheng for a bit before leaving his ward. He made a decision. He was going to buy Lu Sheng a good car and a house with thepany ounts when Lu Sheng was discharged. This was the best way to handle it since Lu Sheng would reject these things if Xia Lei used his personal ounts to purchase these for him, but it was a different matter if it came from thepany.
A few Bureau 101 agents nodded in greeting in the corridor.
Xia Lei gave them a smile and nodded, then entered another ward.
This was Long Bing¡¯s ward. She needed to be kept under observation for 24 hours in the hospital because she had inhaled too much anaesthetic gas.
Xia Lei did not knock and he saw Long Bing right away when he walked in. She was taking off the hospital stic trousers, and had it pulled down to her knees. The stark contrast between her ckce underwear and her white skin drew the eye.
Frostiness shot from Long Bing¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei got the hint and turned away. ¡°Sorry, I.. I didn¡¯t see anything.¡±
Smack! A slipper flew from Long Bing¡¯s hand, hitting Xia Lei in the back of his head.
Xia Lei held the back of his head and turned around to look at Long Bing. He smiled wryly. ¡°What¡¯s this for?¡±
Whoosh! Another slipper came flying.
Xia Lei dodged this time. The slipper smacked onto the door and dropped. He picked up both slippers from the floor and brought them over to the bedside. He ced them neatly by the bed, just waiting for Long Bing to put them on.
Long Bing was still looking at him angrily. She was actually mad over what had happened in the basement. Xia Lei had got her to wet her clothing and he had seen her bare bottom but she had still been knocked out by the anaesthetic gas. This humiliation, this grudge - throwing two slippers at him was not enough!
¡°Um... Are you okay?¡± Xia Lei changed the topic. He was getting nervous with her ring at him like this.
¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Long Bing¡¯s temper red and cooled quickly. ¡°Did you bring me to the hospital?¡±
¡°It wasn¡¯t me but therades from Bureau 101. I was rushing off to catch Ahn Suhyeong after I got out of the basement, so I contacted Tang Yuyan and Tang Bochuan. They arranged everything.¡±
Long Bing was silent. ¡°You weren¡¯t knocked out?¡±
¡°Nn, I was lucky. I was affected too after you were knocked out but I held on. About a minuteter Ahn Suhyeong got someone to remove the gas and I ambushed his men. Six of them, all killed by me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Six people? You sure are skilled.¡± Long Bing suddenly remembered something. ¡°We both wet our clothing. I was knocked out - why were you fine?¡±
Xia Lei had an answer ready. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I peed more. You didn¡¯t pass a lot of urine.¡±
Speaking of urine, the scene of herself exposing her pale bottom to Xia Lei while wetting her clothing surfaced in Long Bing¡¯s head again and even an iceberg like herself melted partially - her face turned red but she retorted, ¡°Are you a horse? How did you have so much urine?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You get out first. I want to change, then leave.¡± Long Bing changed the topic too.
¡°The doctor said you have to be hospitalised for 24 hours. Where are you going?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I want to question that Ahn Suhyeong fellow.¡± Resentment shed in Long Bing¡¯s eyes. She had almost ended up in his hands, and she wanted to take her anger out on him for this incident.
¡°But...¡±
¡°Get out. You want to have another look?¡± Long Bing red at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei quickly made himself scarce.
Long Bing walked out of the ward a few minutester. The Bureau 101 agents gave her odd looks but no one dared to ask why she was leaving the hospital.
Half an hourter, at the Bureau 101 headquarters, in an underground detention area.
Xia Lei followed Long Bing down a passageway. Thick iron doors lined both sides, and there was not one window. Xia Lei used his X-ray vision on two of the doors and he saw a person behind each door. The cell had no television, no bookshelves and nothing other than a bed and a toilet bowl.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s first time in this ce. The cold and gloomy atmosphere here made him feel rather depressed.
¡°The people kept here are enemy spies, agents and terrorists.¡± Long Bing exined as she walked. ¡°These are not ordinary people, so they cannot be imprisoned in normal prisons. The interrogation room is ahead; let¡¯s go.¡±
Xia Lei saw three people standing in the doorway - Shi Boren, Tang Bochuan and Tang Yuyan. They were looking at a special ss wall in front of them. There was no need to guess or use his X-ray vision to know that Ahn Suhyeong was being interrogated behind that wall.
Xia Lei did not find it strange that Shi Boren had turned up here either, since Ahn Suhyeong had a special status. Putting aside Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s status as the young master of Shinyeok Group, they had to also consider that his father Ahn Geungan could be the next South Korean president.
¡°Long Bing, why did you run here instead of staying in hospital?¡± Shi Boren saw Xia Lei and Long Bing.
Tang Bochuan and Tang Yuyan looked over too. Tang Bochuan looked at Long Bing while Tang Yuyan stared straight at Xia Lei. The siblings did not speak; they just looked.
¡°I¡¯d like to interrogate Ahn Suhyeong.¡± Long Bing cut straight to the chase. ¡°That punk is too daring. If Xia Lei had been knocked out by the gas too then Xiao Wu and I would have ended up in his hands.¡±
¡°Are you going to use force on him?¡± asked Shi Boren.
¡°Of course. He has to suffer,¡± said Long Bing fiercely.
Shi Boren shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Long Bing was discontented.
Shi Boren wrinkled his brows. ¡°Know why I¡¯m here? Because I was afraid that you¡¯d use violence on this punk. He has a special status - we will definitely have Ahn Geungan lead some international dispute against us if we use violence on him. South Korea is currently on close terms with us in Free Trade, Asian investments and banking. Both our countries havemon interests in these. If a dispute arises from the South Korean side because of this then it will affect our interests.¡±
Long Bing wrinkled her brows but said nothing.
Politics was the mostplicated thing on Earth, and this matter could not be handled normally as long as it involved politics.
Xia Lei stood before the ss wall. He saw Ahn Suhyeong inside, and a person responsible for recording his statement. That person was obviously a Bureau 101 agent, but he wore a policeman¡¯s uniform. It seemed Shi Boren did not want Ahn Suhyeong to know what sort of ce he had been brought to.
Chapter 366 - Lend Me Your Shoulder
Ahn Suhyeong was calm in the interrogation room; no trace of panic.
¡°I¡¯ve already said it clearly. Kidnapping? Does a person like me need to kidnap someone?¡± Ahn Suhyeong spoke in a frank and self-assured manner. ¡°Officer, the usations you speak of have nothing to do with me. That aside, I would like to make a call. I have to inform my father and ask him to get me mywyers. This is my right, so please allow it.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong spoke politely but his words were tough. He was sending a message: My father is a very important person in South Korea, so you can¡¯t do anything to me easily!
The agent interrogating Ahn Suhyeong mmed his hand on the table. ¡°Thew treats everyone equally. Youmitted a serious crime - your father won¡¯t be able to help you even if he came personally.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just stating my legal rights. There¡¯s no need to threaten me, is there?¡±
¡°Who did?¡± The agent interrogating him was getting a headache.
The interrogation went on but Xia Lei lost interest. He looked back at Shi Boren and asked, ¡°Boss Shi, would we have to release him?¡±
Shi Boren was quiet for a bit before answering, ¡°I don¡¯t know what the final solution is going to be either. It¡¯s up to the higher-ups to decide if this person is to be punished or let go.¡±
Anger red in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. Ahn Suhyeong had instructed Ahn Sujun to harm his sister and used Lu Sheng as bait to get him and Long Bing to rescue him. If he didn¡¯t have a special body and this resistance to the anaesthetic gas, then Long Bing and himself would not be standing here now. The result would be Long Bing getting vited by those Korean bodyguards and then killed, and Lu Sheng would not survive either. And him - he would have been castrated and delivered to the hands of the CIA to be ab rat, a life worse than death. And they still had to wait for the decision of the higher-ups when so much wrong had been done to them!
¡°Isn¡¯t everyone equal before thew?¡± Xia Lei said as he held his anger in check.
Shi Boren smiled wryly. ¡°Xia Lei, I know you¡¯re notfortable with this but let me tell you that this is just a pretty line for the masses, even in countries touted as the mostwful like America and Germany. Isn¡¯t your German friend Annina a great example? She did nothing wrong but she is someone the German intelligence and CIA want to capture. She would probably be in Guantanamo Bay now if we hadn¡¯t rescued her.¡±
Tang Yuyan interrupted to say, ¡°Hackles down, Xia Lei. Don¡¯t bother about this anymore; you can¡¯t do anything about it anyway.¡±
Tang Bochuan added, ¡°Ahn Suhyeong broke ourws here, so there surely has to be some conditions for his release. The higher-ups might use this incident to make a fuss and get us benefits we need. If a small little Ahn Suhyeong can get the support of a Korean political party and make South Korea lean towards our favour, then this is worth it.¡±
No wonder he was the tactical nner of Bureau 101. It was the same problem but Tang Bochuan had a different way of looking at it, and his way of reading the situation was also different.
Xia Lei smiled wryly but did not say anything. Tang Bochuan¡¯s words gave him a deeper understanding but he was still ufortable.
¡°You guys go back,¡± said Shi Boren. ¡°Don¡¯t involve yourselves.¡±
Long Bing let out a ¡®humph¡¯. ¡°Let¡¯s go drinking, Xia Lei.¡±
Xia Lei followed Long Bing out. He took two steps, then looked back at the ss wall, thinking, ¡®This is not over.¡¯
¡°Xia Lei,¡± said Tang Yuyan, ¡°My dad says the thing you asked him to help with has some results.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. He looked back at her. ¡°What are the results?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. You go ask him. He¡¯s on leave and will be home tomorrow,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Then I¡¯ll go to your ce to visit Uncle Tang tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan smiled. ¡°Sure. Buy more gifts.¡±
Xia Lei was about to say ¡®yes¡¯ when Long Bing grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the exit.
Tang Bochuan sighed. ¡°Aw, Chief Long is against it.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just her temper. Let her go. It¡¯ll be fine in two days,¡± said Shi Boren.
Outside the Bureau 101 headquarters, the skies were thick with darkness and the roads empty of vehicles and people; it was quiet. Xia Lei went to get his car but Long Bing stopped him. ¡°No driving. Walk with me.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t we going drinking?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Forget it. Bars are noisy. Just walk with me,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nodded and walked with her along the pedestrian walkway. The streetmps were bright and several moths danced about them tirelessly. Long Bing looked up at the streetmps asionally, at those fluttering moths, and seemed rather pensive.
Xia Lei had never seen her like this before, and he grew worried. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±
Long Bing let out a soft sigh. ¡°Say, do you think we¡¯re like those moths?¡±
Xia Lei paused, thenughed and said, ¡°I think I should apany you to the hospital.¡±
Long Bing smacked him lightly on the chest with a fist, frowning. ¡°Be serious. I rarely reflect on life like this and you¡¯re joking around.¡±
The Ice Queen of Bureau 101 can reflect on life? It really was a rare moment. Xia Lei smothered his smile and put on a serious face. ¡°Then tell me, how are we like these moths?¡±
¡°Attachment, stupid.¡±
Xia Lei paused. He abruptly understood why she had made such a strange metaphor.
Long Bing spoke gloomily, ¡°It is my honour to be part of Bureau 101, to ensure the safety of the nation, to uphold the dignity of thew. This is also my mission and I don¡¯t mind giving up my life for this mission either. But now, we clearly have the criminal in our hands so why is he not being punished? If our mission failed we would probably have died. This is the result after we risked our lives. So tell me, how are our existences different from these moths? Ramming our heads till they bleed, till we burn in the mes of themp. No one will remember us.¡±
Xia Lei spoke consolingly, ¡°Don¡¯t mull over it too much. This is politics. I can let go of it even though I want Ahn Suhyeong punished the most. You should let it go too. If I were one of the higher-ups in charge of this case I would use Ahn Suhyeong to do a trade for something beneficial to the nation too.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve already thought it through?¡± Long Bing stopped in her tracks and looked at Xia Lei, face-to-face.
¡°I¡¯m not entirelyfortable with it, but I can understand why the higher-ups are doing this,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right, I¡¯m not going to think about this anymore.¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re fine now. It¡¯s nothing much anyway - if that punk gets released there are many ways to deal with him too,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Next time I won¡¯t get him arrested. I¡¯ll use my own methods to solve the problem.¡±
¡°Hm...¡± Long Bing hesitated, then said, ¡°Can you lend me your shoulder for a bit?¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What for?¡±
¡°Are you lending it to me or not?¡±
¡°Do you feel like crying?¡± Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Then lean on my shoulder and cry. It¡¯ll all be better after you cry it all out.¡±
Long Bing leaned into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace and put her chin on his shoulder; she was quiet.
Xia Lei patted her waist. ¡°Cry if you want, don¡¯t hold back. There¡¯s no one here. I won¡¯t make fun of you.¡±
¡°Nn...¡± Long Bing opened her mouth and suddenly bit Xia Lei on the shoulder.
¡°Argh!¡± Xia Lei had not expected that at all and was startled into a shout of pain.
Long Bing let go of Xia Lei and a smile appeared on her lips. ¡°Okay, I feel much better now.¡±
Xia Lei at his bitten shoulder, his face gloomy. ¡°Why bite me?¡±
Long Bingughed. ¡°Who was the one who conned me, saying urine can help dissipate the effects of anaesthetic gas. And you also saw my... that.¡±
So that was why.
The image of her white bottom surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s head again - big, round, and that trickling sound... The pain in his shoulder disappeared mysteriously and a wicked smile appeared in the corners of his mouth. ¡°What part of yours did I see?¡±
¡°Lend me your shoulder again then.¡± Long Bing drew close to Xia Lei again.
Xia Lei quickly dodged. ¡°Are you a snapping turtle? Get away!¡±
Long Bing came chasing. The quiet, deserted road became their mock battleground. Long Bing was no longer a match for Xia Lei at his current skill level but he was on the losing end in this sort of fight from the beginning. Long Bing could use her hands and hit him on the chest but he could not hit her chest with his hands now, could he?
A phone call brought their fight to a stop.
The call was for Long Bing. Xia Lei stood to one side and watched her take the call.
¡°We¡¯re outside, not far away. What is it?¡± said Long Bing.
¡®Is the call from Shi Boren? Did something new develop in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s case? It can¡¯t be so quick, can it?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Long Bing ended the call.
¡°Was that Boss Shi?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Long Bing nodded. ¡°It was Boss Shi. It¡¯s an emergency situation.¡±
¡°Does it involve Ahn Suhyeong?¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s about that group of experts.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡±
¡°Boss Shi said that one of the experts went mad. The situation¡¯s dangerous,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Mad?¡± Xia Lei was astonished.
¡°That¡¯s what Boss Shi said. He didn¡¯t go into details either. I don¡¯t really know the situation over there so I¡¯ll have to go over to know what¡¯s going on. You go back. I have work to do,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Wait,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Can you take me with you?¡±
¡°Boss Shi didn¡¯t say you could go,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei paused, ufortable. ¡°Looks like Boss Shi doesn¡¯t see me as one of you. You go. I¡¯ll go home to sleep. Go on with whatever mission of yours, and don¡¯t look for me anymore.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be like that,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°I¡¯ll give Boss Shi a call and talk to him to let you go have a look. Besides those experts and those items were what you had risked your life to bring back to China.¡±
Xia Lei did not say anything; he waited for her to make the call.
That¡¯s right - those experts and items were that he had risked his life to bring back from Afghanistan. Not letting him to have even a look at what he had brought back was like abandoning one¡¯s benefactor after achieving one¡¯s goal, wasn¡¯t it? If this was the case then he would be a fool as big as the moon if he still did tasks for Bureau 101 after this.
Long Bing walked to one side to give Shi Boren a call. She talked for quite a few minutes, seemingly doing her best to get approval for Xia Lei to join her.
Xia Lei was waiting anxiously too. ¡®If Boss Shi doesn¡¯t allow this then I¡¯ll have to find some way to contact Ning Jing. I can only hope to understand the secrets of that alloy through her...¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Long Bing put her phone away. ¡°Let¡¯s go, you punk. You¡¯re like a child, throwing a tantrum when you can¡¯t go.¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll go get my car.¡±
Chapter 367 - Military Base in the Mountains
They drove for half an hour and came to a military base in the mountains. Long Bing showed her identification and gained entry.
They alighted, and Xia Lei followed Long Bing to a cave. He looked around the military base as he walked and saw many of the newest models of fighter nes and tanks, as well as armoured vehicles. The base also had several anti-aircraft missiles and mobile missile vehicles and radar systems. It was apparent that this was a military base which protected the Jingdu region and was a very important ce.
There was a passageway in the cave and soldiers on guard. Though papers had been presented at the gates the soldiers in the cave still checked Long Bing¡¯s identity and asked about Xia Lei¡¯s status. Long Bing gave them a brief summary, then brought Xia Lei into the passageway in the cave.
¡®Bureau 101 sure has high clearance. Showing identification at a military ce like this can gain us entry too,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Their footsteps echoed. Who knew how deep this cave was.
¡°Lei, don¡¯t probe into things when you¡¯re in there,¡± said Long Bing as she walked. ¡°I know you¡¯re close with Ning Jing but I must remind you that you cannot ask her things.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°I¡¯m not the enemy. What¡¯s the point of guarding against me like this?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not guarding against you, it¡¯s the system and limits,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°This ce has its own system and we are limited in what we can do here. It¡¯s not just you - I can¡¯t ask about what Doctor Ning Jing and the other experts are doing in here either. I will be punished if it¡¯s discovered that I got information from them.¡±
Xia Lei groaned to himself. How was he going to get information on the alloy if he could not ask Ning Jing about it?
He had not insisted oning here just to take a look around. He wanted to know the secret of the alloy and its link to AE, especially about AE. He was fairly disgruntled about not being able to get any information on the subject now that he was here.
¡®I¡¯ll have to be pragmatic. It¡¯s difficult enough toe to this military base so I must take something away from this,¡¯ grumbled Xia Lei to himself.
He memorised every single bit of surveince and guards¡¯ positions as they walked.
There was a checkpoint at the end of the passageway. Long Bing and Xia Lei handed in their phones, car keys, wallets, watches and so on at this checkpoint. They also put on an anti-bacterial suit and were brought to a lift by one of the workers there.
Long Bing nagged at Xia Lei again when they entered the lift. ¡°Remember what I said. No asking.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I know, don¡¯t worry.¡±
The lift descended for goodness knows how long and they were at the lowest level when it stopped. The lift doors opened and a space even bigger than a football field appeared in their field of vision. There was not a trace of dirt or stone in sight - the entire space was a silver-metal area. There were many pieces of scientific equipment and many researchers, giving one the impression that he had stepped into the hold of a spaceship. It all felt very scientific.
Xia Lei said in surprise, ¡°This ce is...¡±
Long Bing gave him a light kick.
¡°Oh, I nearly forgot. Sorry.¡± Xia Lei shrugged, then shut his mouth.
They were led by the worker to an isted area. They had to go through a identification-approved electric door before they could enter argeboratory.
Theboratory was isted too, with all four of its walls made of special ss. The researchers working inside could be seen through the ss, and Ning Jing was one of them. She was examining a bronze artifact and looked very focused on her task; she did not notice the newly-arrived Xia Lei and Long Bing.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the bronze item and was struck by a thought, ¡®Is that the bronze book she mentioned before?¡¯
What was written in the bronze book? Xia Lei was full of curiosity and his imagination was fired up.
The worker leading the way picked up the inte by the door and said, ¡°Schr Wang, pleasee out for a bit.¡±
The worker¡¯s voice was carried over the speakers of theboratory. A tall, skinny old man looked back at them, then stopped what he was doing and walked over.
Ning Jing looked over too and she was stunned when she saw Xia Lei standing outside the door. A smile spread unbidden across her face. She put down the bronze book in her hands and walked towards the door too.
At that moment, Xia Lei spotted the alloy he had brought back from Princess Yong-Mei¡¯s tomb. There wasn¡¯t just one piece, but two. Both the pieces of green alloy were ced on a silver-coloured metal table and were being scanned by a scanner. Two researchers were standing close by, keeping a close watch on the alloy pieces. The researchers were totally focused and the sound from the speakers did not affect them at all.
¡®Could they already have results with all this research equipment, manpower and technology avable?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
The ss door opened and the tall, skinny old man walked out. A work badge with his position and name was clipped to his chest. He was from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a Doctor, and his name was Wang Lei.
To be called ¡®Schr¡¯ and be a Doctor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences must mean that he had outstanding achievements in scientific research in a particr field or representative of it. This showed how much importance this was to the nation to have a person like this here!
¡°Chief Long, I do apologise,¡± said Wang Lei apologetically, ¡°for calling you over at this hour. It is a truly urgent matter.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t stand on ceremony, this is our job,¡± said Long Bing.
Wang Lei looked at Xia Lei. ¡°And this is?¡±
Xia Lei was about to introduce himself when Ning Jing, who¡¯d just walked out of the ss door, said with a smile, ¡°Schr Wang, he¡¯s the person I¡¯ve told you about, Xia Lei. It was him who brought back what we needed from Afghanistan."
Wang Lei paused, then said in surprise, ¡°So it¡¯s Mr Xia. Doctor Ning talks about you often. This is our first time meeting but I already know a lot about you. You really are young and capable. That¡¯s good. Our country needs more talents like you.¡±
Xia Lei took the initiative to hold both hands out for a handshake, and said politely, ¡°No, no, you praise me too highly, Schr Wang. I just did what I should. Please don¡¯t hesitate to ask if you need me to help with anything.¡±
This was a way to remind Wang Lei, and give himself a way and a chance to get close to this research project.
Long Bing nced at Xia Lei with a hint of worry in her eyes.
¡°Of course I¡¯ll ask you for help if I need it, Mr Xia. But what we need are researchers, not a soldier. I am d for you offer,¡± said Wang Lei. He then spoke to Long Bing, ¡°Chief Long, let¡¯s go take a look.¡±
Long Bing nodded. Her voice was low as she said, ¡°Please lead the way, Schr Wang.¡±
Xia Lei followed Long Bing, thinking, ¡®This Schr Wang obviously doesn¡¯t want me toe in contact with this scientific project. He rejected me without even asking what I can do. How troublesome, him being so cautious in conducting scientific research.¡¯
Ning Jing quietly pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s hand and said in a soft voice, ¡°Why have youe?¡±
¡°I came to take a look,¡± replied Xia Lei quietly.
Wang Lei looked back at Ning Jing and said sternly, ¡°Doctor Ning, there¡¯s no need for you toe with us. Go back to work.¡±
¡°I...¡± Ning Jing did not want to return to theboratory.
Wang Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°No discussion.¡±
No discussion - so it was an order.
Ning Jing pursed her lips, then turned and went back to theboratory.
¡°Pleasee with me, Chief Long, Mr Xia.¡± Wang Lei led the way.
Xia Lei looked back, and his gaze met with Ning Jing¡¯s. He saw her lips move, saying something.
Long Bing smacked Xia Lei on the hand. ¡°Come on, women make a pass at you everywhere. Aren¡¯t you tired of responding?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Long Bing red at Ning Jing and she quickly turned to return to her workstation.
Xia Lei ¡®reyed¡¯ what Ning Jing had said in his head and quickly deciphered it. ¡®Don¡¯t go. I¡¯lle find you tomorrow morning.¡¯
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth as he thought, ¡®With our rtionship, Ning Jing will tell me all she knows if I just ask. Looks like I¡¯ll have to find some way to stay.¡¯
They went through a passageway and to the door of a room.
A sign which read ¡®Medical Room¡¯ hung on the door.
They entered the room and Xia Lei saw a person lying on a gurney. He was a middle-aged man, not yet fifty and fairly thin. He was tied, arms and legs to the bed and was unable to move.
He was quiet but suddenly started getting agitated when Wang Lei brought Xia Lei and Long Bing into the room. He thrashed as his face filled with a look of terror, as if the ones who had entered were not three humans but three long-tongued demons with dishevelled hair.
¡°His name¡¯s Chen Kexue, one of the top Material Science experts in China and a Doctor in his field. He was fine at dinner tonight but changed soon after entering theboratory.¡±
¡°What happened?¡± asked Long Bing.
At that moment, Chen Kexue suddenly quieted on the bed, then spoke in a strange voice, ¡°Princess, go! Go! It will be toote if you don¡¯t go now!¡±
Chen Kexue was silent after uttering those words. He looked up at the ceiling, his eyes dark, empty.
¡°See?¡± said Wang Lei, ¡°Just like that. He started spouting some strange things and even took up a knife to hack at people. He was stopped, fortunately.¡±
¡°Why wasn¡¯t he sent to the hospital?¡±
¡°We have medical doctors here too, and our equipment are very advanced. There¡¯s no need to send him to the hospital,¡± said Wang Lei. ¡°I called you over to have an understanding of the situation. I need a copy of the report of your mission in Afghanistan. This happening is not a coincidence; we must study it.¡±
¡°What sort of report?¡±
¡°How the alloy was excavated, what was in the tomb, whether anything strange happened during the process - everything. What did you experience, what did you see, what did you hear, what did you smell - write it all in the report, then hand it in to me.¡± Wang Lei¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei as he spoke.
Xia Lei then realised that Shi Boren had not relented and let hime out of the goodness of his heart. He probably contacted this Wang Lei after Long Bing called him and got permission from Wang Lei before allowing Xia Lei toe here. Who else could write the report Wang Lei wanted other than him?
Long Bing¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei too.
Xia Lei acted like he had not noticed and he looked at Chen Kexue lying on the bed.
Just then, Chen Kexue suddenly started talking again.
Chapter 368 - Project Metal X
¡°What is that, Grandpa? There are so many birds...¡±
Who¡¯s he calling ¡®Grandpa¡¯?
Wang Lei, Long Bing and Xia Lei looked at Chen Kexue.
Chen Kexue stared back at them, but it was as if they were air. He kept talking, ¡°Hubby, let¡¯s return to Bianliang*. I miss home.¡±
Wang Lei shook his head. ¡°Insane. Really insane. What a pity. Doctor Chen Kexue is an important member of our team. His condition will affect our research.¡±
¡°Why did this happen?¡± asked Long Bing, ¡°Did he show any such behaviour before?¡±
¡°No, definitely not,¡± said Wang Lei. ¡°He¡¯s never had any psychotic episodes in all the time I¡¯ve known him. His family doesn¡¯t have any history of this sort of condition either, so it¡¯s not possible that it¡¯s hereditary.¡±
Xia Lei kept his silence while Long Bing and Wang Lei discussed the situation; he kept watch on Chen Kexue.
Chen Kexue did look insane from the behaviour he disyed but if one carefully dissected his words, a different opinion would be formed.
¡®He spoke as a soldier first, then mentioned ¡®Princess¡¯. Then he spoke like a child next and mentioned birds. Next, a woman talking about Bianliang... Bianliang was the old capital of the Ming dynasty, and the ¡®Princess¡¯ he spoke of could also be Princess Yong-Mei. And the birds mentioned by that child... Could it be the bats I encountered in the tomb?¡¯ Xia Lei analysed quietly, thinking.
¡°What do you think, Mr Xia?¡± said Wang Lei.
¡°I dare not make any assumptions,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing rolled her eyes, then nudged Xia Lei with her elbow. ¡°Just say it.¡±
¡°Yes, please speak your mind, Mr Xia,¡± said Wang Lei.
So they didn¡¯t want him to know things and excluded him from the research project but wanted him to do things for them, write reports and offer opinions. There was no reason to let them upy his time anymore, and they weren¡¯t going to give him something?
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I do have some idea, and it may be the real reason why Doctor Chen is mad.¡±
¡°What is the reason?¡± asked Wang Lei anxiously.
¡°My thoughts are still rather jumbled so I need time to sort them out. Give me some time and I¡¯ll tell you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Wang Lei wrinkled his brows, and he felt like he had been conned by Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re the only one who can write the report that Schr Wang needs. Stay here tonight and write that report. Sort out your thoughts while you write. I¡¯ll hand in your report and your thoughts on the matter to Schr Wang in the morning. Is that all right with you?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll follow that arrangement.¡± Xia Lei agreed readily.
¡°Is this all right with you, Schr Wang?¡± Long Bing asked Wang Lei.
Wang Lei seemed dissatisfied with it but he nodded. ¡°Then we¡¯ll do that. I¡¯ll get someone to arrange for your lodging. However, let me remind you that you cannot move about as you please, and that you cannot ask for information.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Long Bing gave Xia Lei a look.
¡°No problem,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chen Kexue mumbled something again, softly, and couldn¡¯t be heard clearly but Xia Lei had been keeping an eye on him. Chen Kexue¡¯s words had no coherence and his identity was changing constantly. He had changed through several identities in the span of time that Xia Lei had talked with Wang Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s first prognosis of Chen Kexue was that he was not crazy but it was difficult to say what caused this.
Wang Lei led Long Bing and Xia Lei out of the medical room, and got someone to get them rooms. He also handed a notebookputer to Xia Lei for convenience of writing the report. Xia Lei spoutedpliance and agreement but threw theputer to one side andy on the bed to rest after he entered the room.
He had no ns to hand in the report, much less stay up the whole night to write it. He had his thoughts straight - the greater the number of problems this group had, the greater his chances of getting closer to the research on the ancient alloy, and the information he wanted. He would be a big fool indeed if he did whatever they wanted him to like a good boy.
After lying on the bed for a bit, he awakened the power of his left eye and looked at the room on his left.
The room was a storage room for experimental consumables and spare equipment for research. Xia Lei examined those but didn¡¯t get any new information. He then strengthened his power and looked through the second wall, further into the room after the one next to him.
This drained a lot of his energy but he had no choice if he wanted to get more information.
The second room on the left was an office. There was aputer and a name-te on the desk and Wang Lei¡¯s name was on the namete.
¡®Wang Lei¡¯s office?¡¯ Xia Lei grew excited. ¡®Wang Lei is the person in charge of this project, and this group of experts has been conducting research here for some time so there must be some record rted to the research. I hope it¡¯s on paper. If it¡¯s all saved on theputer then I won¡¯t be able to see...¡¯
There was a room between himself that that office, and two walls but Xia Lei¡¯s left eye was like burr, sifting through the room for information which could be valuable.
A few minutester, he used his left eye to ¡®open¡¯ a locked drawer in the desk and he found a paper file inside.
The cover of the file read ¡®Project Metal X Records¡¯ and Wang Lei¡¯s name as the person in charge.
¡®Project Metal X? What a strange name.¡¯ Xia Lei was curious and his eye roamed further.
Xia Lei¡¯s vision had evolved a lot from its original state and his technique in using it have reached a point of perfection. He did not need to use his hands to turn the pages of a book anymore - he could control his left eye and ¡®turn¡¯ the pages one by one.
This seemed to be rted to the ¡®upgrade¡¯ of his brain but there was no way to prove it.
On the first page was written: Theponents of Metal X still remain a mystery after over a thousand scans, sample-taking and tests. Members of the expert groups asionally hear strange sounds which are difficult to exin. I have had simr experiences too - sometimes it is a woman¡¯s voice, sometimes it is a man. It feels very strange. Following the deeper study of this metal, some members have experienced negative effects on their bodies. Some had conditions like itchy skin, or nausea and vomiting, but they have recovered after treatment. It is unknown if it is because of their interaction with Metal X...
Xia Lei was perplexed after reading the handwritten record.
¡®I heard strange voices in Afghanistan too. A woman said she remembered my face - looks like that was not an auditory hallucination. The sounds must exist; that¡¯s why the members of the expert group can hear them. These sounds... could the sounds havee from the two pieces of green alloy? How¡¯s that possible?¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t find an exnation for it; it was unfathomable.
The sight in his left eye suddenly blurred. It was difficult for him to maintain his X-ray vision at increased strength for long periods of time, even now.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He was dizzy but experienced no hallucinations like in the beginning. He rested for a bit and quickly recovered. He then turned his gaze to the wall on the right.
The room on his right was Long Bing¡¯s room.
What would Long Bing be doing in a simr environment?
Xia Lei called up the power of his left eye with that thought in mind and the wall on the right disappeared.
Long Bing was doing push-ups.
¡®How hardworking.¡¯ Xia Lei smiled. Long Bing climbed to her feet and picked up the phone next to the head of the bed as he was about to stop using his eye.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought and he continued using his X-ray vision. He focused on Long Bing¡¯s lips.
Their mobile phones had been taken away when they¡¯d entered this ce so the phone in her room was an internal phone system. Was it Wang Lei calling at this hour?
This guess was quickly proven wrong because Long Bing¡¯s first line was ¡®Boss Shi¡¯.
It was easy for Boss Shi to phone in - he should have greater clearance than Long Bing did.
¡°Nn, yes, Xia Lei and I are staying overnight,¡± said Long Bing, ¡°Uh huh... I told him to write a report. I hope it can help the experts solve their problem... Xia Lei¡¯s reaction? Hm. Normal. He didn¡¯t say much and didn¡¯t ask much... I will continue to keep watch. Yes. Goodbye.¡±
Continue to keep watch? Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank.
Long Bing put down the phone but she did not go back to exercising. She unhooked her bra, removed herst stitch of clothing and walked towards the bathroom.
A nosebleed-worthy scene met his eyes but Xia Lei could only think of Long Bing¡¯sst line. ¡®Continue to keep watch? Watch me? Bureau 101 suspects me? What is there for them to suspect?¡¯
The more he pondered, the worse his mood became.
¡®I risked my life in Afghanistan and spent my own money to bribe the armed tribesmen. I even sacrificed my body to win Smy over. I managed to bring these things back from Afghanistan after all that trouble - fine, don¡¯t let me participate in this project but keeping watch on me? What do they take me for? A tool which can be used over and over again? Looks like it¡¯s time for me to cut ties with Bureau 101.¡¯ Xia Lei grew angrier the more he thought about it and it made him think of leaving.
Long Bing entered the bathroom and her snowy-white body disappeared behind the frosted ss door.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He was being watched by Long Bing but he felt no resentment towards her because he understood her. She was steadfast in the missions Bureau 101 assigned to her and she carried them out meticulously.
Knock knock knocking suddenly came from the door.
Xia Lei got up to open it and found Wang Lei outside. ¡°What is it, Schr Wang?¡± greeted Xia Lei.
¡°Another person has gone mad! Quick,e to theboratory!¡± Wang Lei went to Long Bing¡¯s room next. ¡°I¡¯ll call Chief Long.¡±
How could this be?
Xia Lei started running towards theboratory.
Chapter 369 - Wordless Terror
The one who had gone mad was a physicist named Luo Su. He was young, in his thirties. The people in theboratory were rushing out when Xia Lei got to theboratory. Luo Su was inside waving a experiment-use hammer about and smashing the equipment up. The floor was a mess of papers and broken pieces of equipment.
Xia Lei spotted Ning Jing. Her head was bleeding and she was in such a panic that she did not see him and ran straight into him.
¡°What happened to your head?¡± Xia Lei grabbed her by the hand and asked in concern.
¡°Luo Su...¡± Ning Jing suddenly started crying. ¡°He¡¯s gone mad. He wanted to smash the bronze book and I went to push him away but he was stronger. He hit me on the head with the hammer... Whuuh...¡±
She was weak and timid and could not bear this sort of horror.
¡°Don¡¯t cry. I¡¯m here, no one can hurt you,¡±forted Xia Lei.
It might¡¯ve been better not tofort her for Ning Jing buried herself further in his embrace and cried even more loudly.
The group of experts who had escaped theboratory all looked at the embracing pair, their gazes odd.
Xia Lei was embarrassed but he could not simply push the sobbing Ning Jing away; it would be too ungentlemanly of him.
Two soldiers came running over and they charged into theboratory to subdue the rampaging Luo Su.
¡°You pieces of trash! I am one of the Eastern Depot¡¯s Embroidered Uniform Guard*! Kneel before me!¡± Luo Su shouted as he struggled to release himself from the soldiers.
The soldiers were men who depended on their brawn for their livelihood - Luo Su stood no chance. The soldiers seized him and moved him out of theboratory like a trussed chicken.
¡°Mama, why did the sky go dark?¡± Luo Su suddenly said, his voice child-like.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡®He¡¯s in the same condition as Chen Kexue. His personality keeps changing rapidly and it doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s man, woman, elder or child. Is the same power affecting his brain?¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went abruptly to the two pieces of ancient alloy in theboratory. The experts here called it ¡®Metal X¡¯ but he preferred to call it ¡®ancient alloy¡¯.
The two pieces of ancient alloy still sat on a metal tform but the scanning equipment had been destroyed by Luo Su¡¯s hammer.
Just then, Wang Lei and Long Bing came running over. Long Bing¡¯s hair was still wet and it was apparent that she had rushed out of her shower before even having the time to wipe her hair dry. However, she had not forgotten to put on the anti-bacterial suit as per regtions in her haste; she was just missing the face-mask.
Long Bing saw Ning Jing sobbing broken-heartedly in Xia Lei¡¯s arms the moment she arrived and she wrinkled her brows as she muttered, ¡°This punk. Always a woman wherever he goes...¡±
¡°Doctor Ning, go to the medical room and patch yourself up,¡± said Wang Lei in dissatisfaction. ¡°You are already in yourte twenties. What is there to cry about for a small thing like this? Go on, move. Don¡¯t disrupt the work that has to be done here.¡±
Ning Jing felt wronged and looked gloomily at Wang Lei before she pulled herself out of Xia Lei¡¯s embrace and walked to the medical room.
Wang Lei was an old, strict scientist and a little unfeeling. Ning Jing did have a problematic personality but he should not have berated her so, especially in front of so many people.
Xia Lei had some level of respect for Wang Lei at first, especially since he was an established National Schr and a Doctor of the sciences but he now felt some disgust towards him.
It was a virtue to respect and love one¡¯s elders but it was not right to take advantage of one¡¯s seniority to bully others.
Wang Lei went to Xia Lei after making Ning Jing go away. ¡°Mr Xia, didn¡¯t you say that you had some thoughts on the matter? Tell me. Tell me now.¡±
¡°I said I needed some time to straighten my thoughts,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Tell me everything you know. I¡¯ll help you straighten your thoughts out.¡± Wang Lei was anxious.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Schr Wang, do you think I am a person who needs your help to straighten out my thoughts?¡±
Wang Lei paused, and his face turned ugly. No one had spoken to him like that, not for many years. Xia Lei was the first.
Long Bing drew close and nudged Xia Lei, telling him to watch his tone.
Xia Lei pretended not to notice. ¡°Schr Wang, I was the one who brought this alloy back. I nearly lost my life in Afghanistan because of it. You guys don¡¯t know what I¡¯ve been through. I bribed the armed tribesmen to make the journey easier and open up paths for us to take. And what is this now? Excluding me and limiting me, as if I¡¯m going to steal that alloy and the results of your research away. Let me tell you that I wouldn¡¯t even hand it to you if I didn¡¯t feel like it.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, I know you have contributed much,¡± said Wang Lei with a solemn face, ¡°But this is not the time to talk of contribution, or credit for work done. You just need to tell me all that you know.¡±
Anger red in Xia Lei. ¡°Are you saying I am here to im credit?¡±
¡°Then what do you mean?¡± Wang Lei¡¯s face was dark with discontent.
Xia Lei was so angry he gave augh. ¡°What do I mean? Simple. Do I owe you guys anything? You¡¯ve been arranging for me to do this and that from the moment I arrived, and I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on - who knows what you¡¯re trying to make me do!¡±
¡°You-¡± Wang Lei was rooted to the spot with anger.
Long Bing knew that Xia Lei had definitely note to im any credit, and that Wang Lei had misunderstood him. She knew what it was like to have been mistaken by others and it was normal for Xia Lei to feel ufortable about it but such a strong reaction was just too much. The development put her in a spot and she didn¡¯t know how to resolve it.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®I¡¯ve already decided to bid Bureau 101 goodbye so offending Wang Lei is a great excuse to exit. It¡¯ll be better the angrier he is, so there¡¯s no need to hold back.¡¯
¡°Fine. Fine!¡± Wang Lei caught his breath atst and he pointed a finger at Xia Lei as he said, ¡°Leave! I don¡¯t believe that we won¡¯t be able to conduct any research without you!¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll leave. You think I want to stay here? I wouldn¡¯t want toe even if you carry me here on a pnquin!¡± Xia Lei was really ripping into Wang Lei.
Wang Lei shook with anger. He pointed at Xia Lei but looked at Long Bing. ¡°You see this, Chief Long? See what sort of person you¡¯ve brought here! I¡¯ll be reporting this to the higher-ups!¡±
Long Bing smiled wryly and forced herself to chide Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, hold back your words, okay? It¡¯s nothing big anyway. You...¡±
Xia Lei boldly cut her off. ¡°No, say nothing more. I¡¯ll go see Doctor Ning and I¡¯ll leave.¡±
He was going to grab the opportunity to ask for valuable information in the medical room, then make himself scarce. Let Wang Lei be hopping mad!
Just as Xia Lei was about to walk to the medical room, a woman wearing a white coat came running from the medical room, crying out in panic, ¡°Oh no, no...It¡¯s terrible...¡±
¡°What¡¯s the fuss?!¡± snapped Wang Lei.
The female doctor took a steadying breath. ¡°Doc, Doctor Chen Kexue is de, dead!¡±
¡°What?¡± Wang Lei and the group of experts were stunned.
Xia Lei and Long Bing¡¯s gazes met, and both were filled with surprise and confusion.
Then everyone¡¯s gazes went to the newly-crazy Luo Su at almost the same time. They were all thinking the same thing - If Chen Kexue died, then would Luo Su die too?
Luo Su, who had been mumbling all this while, suddenlyughed hollowly. ¡°All of you shall rest with me in my grave!¡±
It was hair-raising for the whole group to hear that. The people close to Luo Su quickly scrambled to get further away.
¡°What are you still standing there for? Quick, take Doctor Luo to the medical room!¡± said Wang Lei.
The two soldiers hurried to the medical room with Luo Su. From their expressions and quick strides, it was obvious that they had long wanted to throw him in the medical room and put distance between him and them.
With Chen Kexue¡¯s mysterious death, the newly-crazy Luo Su was now like a leper and no one was willing toe into contact with him.
¡°Come, let¡¯s go take a look.¡± Wang Lei wiped at the cold sweat on his forehead and led the way to the medical room.
Long Bing made to follow him but Xia Lei pulled her back by her arm.
Long Bing looked back at him. ¡°What?¡±
Xia Lei drew close to her ear and said quietly, ¡°If it¡¯s some sort of virus then they are probably mostly infected already. Don¡¯t get too close to them.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Long Bing¡¯s expression shifted.
¡°Put on your face-mask on.¡± Xia Lei had put on the anti-bacterial suit properly when he had rushed over, mask over his mouth and all.
Long Bing followed suit and patted Xia Lei on the shoulder gratefully.
Some people stayed around the doorway and some followed Wang Lei in to see Chen Kexue¡¯s condition. Everyone had their anti-bacterial suits on and their faces covered.
All eyes were on Chen Kexue on the bed.
Chen Kexue¡¯s face was bloodless. His eyes were closed and his mouth half-open, frozen in a death rattle. Other than these, there were no signs of poison or other abnormal things on his body which could have caused his death. He looked like he was asleep.
¡°I tried to save him but it was useless. Doctor Chen said he would die and he did. There was no indication of death before he actually died,¡± said the female doctor.
¡°Put Luo Su in isted observation. Gather all the doctors and make a special team. We must find the cause of Doctor Chen¡¯s death, and we have to protect Doctor Luo,¡± said Wang Lei.
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll make calls right now.¡± The female doctor walked further into the room.
At that moment, Luo Su, who had been bound to the bed by the two soldiers suddenly started screaming in terror. ¡°Don¡¯te here, DON¡¯T COME HERE... DON¡¯T KILL ME... AAAAAHHH....¡±
A scream. A gurgle. Luo Su opened his mouth slowly and it did not shut again. His eyes closed, never to open again.
¡°Crap! Doctor Chen said the same thing earlier and died!¡± The female doctor rushed to Luo Su¡¯s side and pressed him on his chest. There was no response. She then used the cardiac defibritor on him.
She gave up a few minutester.
The room was filled with silence as a wordless terror spread in everyone¡¯s heart.
Chapter 370 - Clumsy Girl
There was no way the research was going to continue. Two of their best scientists had died in a night and this could be said to be a loss for the nation.
Xia Lei could not leave either, since everyone in the researchboratory area was restricted from leaving. It wasn¡¯t just him and Long Bing - even the two soldiers who hade to help were not allowed to leave.
Wang Lei had made the decision. He stayed behind too, as an example. He did have the right to leave and just report what had happened to a superior but he did not do so; this made people respect him.
The medical staff had not arrived yet so Xia Lei and Long Bing returned to their rooms. Long Bing went straight to report the situation to Shi Boren, and Xia Lei stayed in his room, recalling everything he had just witnessed.
Every bit of what happened from the beginning of Doctor Chen Kexue and Doctor Luo Su¡¯s illnesses to their deaths reyed in his head like a video. He brought up scene after scene in his head, trying to find possibilities...
Knock knock knocking came from the door.
Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought was interrupted. He looked over and saw Ning Jing standing outside his door. Her head was bandaged and she looked anxious.
¡®She came at the right time. I would¡¯ve needed to find some excuse to see her if she didn¡¯te on her own.¡¯ Xia Lei got up and opened the door for Ning Jing. He invited her in, then shut the door.
¡°Isn¡¯t movement restricted? Why did youe over?¡± asked Xia Lei casually.
¡°They did say that and outsiders cannote in, but we can move about freely in theboratory area,¡± said Ning Jing, ¡°Schr Wang is in a call with the higher-ups. He has no time to keep an eye on me now but he will surely do so once his call ends so I hurried over here to see you.¡±
¡°Are you scared?¡± Xia Lei looked at her.
Ning Jing nodded, and said, ¡°But... I don¡¯t feel scared when I¡¯m with you.¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice, ¡°Tell me - what¡¯s written in that bronze book?¡±
Ning Jing paused. She looked at Xia Lei but did not speak.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s all right. I know you have your protocol here and cannot reveal anything about the research to just anyone. Treat it as if I¡¯ve not asked anything if you don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±
NIng Jing bit her lip and nced subconsciously at the tightly-shut door, then drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and spoke in the softest of voices. ¡°That bronze book has a total of 32 pages and exactly 10,000 words; no more, no less. I¡¯ve checked arge volume of our resources but I have no idea of the origin or whatnguage these words are in.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t recognise even one?¡± asked Xia Lei in surprise.
Ning Jing shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not just me. I showed it to several experts in the same field, even sought advice from localnguage experts. No one has seen words like these.¡±
If the words in the bronze book were anguage an expert like Ning Jing didn¡¯t even recognise, then it surely was not an item from the Ming era of Emperor Yong Le¡¯s reign. Xia Lei had a feeling that the mysterious contents of the bronze book was rted to the mysterious alloy.
Xia Lei got pen and paper and handed them to Ning Jing. ¡°Can you write a few of the words from the book? Best if they¡¯re from the very start of the book.¡±
Ning Jing did not refuse, and quickly wrote a line of words on the paper.
Xia Lei scrutinised the paper. The words were fairly special, like a little person posing in different positions. A few of the words even had the shape of a person¡¯s head, and parts simr to eyes and lips. He had never seen anything like it, much less recognised it.
He tore the paper up after he was done reading and threw the pieces in the toilet bowl to flush them away. He would not forget anything he¡¯d seen, so there was no need to keep that piece of paper with the mysterious words. Ning Jing and himself would get into trouble if it was discovered.
Xia Lei returned to Ning Jing¡¯s side. ¡°What else do you know?¡±
Ning Jing put her chin by his ear and her lips were almost touching his ear as she said, ¡°This group of experts found nothing so far. You can say that they have gained absolutely nothing. Schr Wang is under great pressure and frequently throws a fit.¡±
The higher-ups ced great importance on this and had provided Wang Lei with personnel, money and anything he needed but there had been no result after such a long period of time researching - of course the higher-ups would be unhappy. One could only imagine the pressure Wang Lei was under.
Ning Jing¡¯s voice was tiny. ¡°But I heard that another group¡¯s set out with thepass, looking for the next treasure location.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Where did they go?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I asked Wang Lei but he scolded me and I didn¡¯t dare to ask again.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask him anymore,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°You have to be careful. It is unknown what those two pieces of alloy are. It¡¯s best if you don¡¯te into contact with them. Those two scientists who died were both people who had touched those pieces of alloy.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Ning Jing couldn¡¯t help the smile which spread across her face. ¡°You do care for me; it feels warm.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Has your mother tried to make you go for marriage meetings recently?¡±
The smile on Ning Jing¡¯s face crumbled, and she pursed her lips. ¡°I¡¯ve already moved out. I haven¡¯t been back in a long time.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡± said Xia Lei apologetically.
¡°Why apologise?¡± said Ning Jing. ¡°You¡¯ve said before that I am a person, not a thing. I should have my own life. I felt that you were right and that I should also have a life of my own. As for my parents... I¡¯ll wait for them to think this through before I go back.¡±
¡°I support your decision,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ning Jing suddenly drew close again, and her plump, moist lips touched his ear.
Xia Lei froze.
¡°Ah...¡± Ning Jing flushed immediately. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I suddenly remembered something I¡¯d left out and I wanted to tell you,¡± she said hurriedly.
¡°It¡¯s all right. What did you remember? Tell me now.¡± Xia Lei did not mind.
Ning Jing¡¯s breath was warm on Xia Lei¡¯s ear, and her voice became cotton-soft. ¡°I heard Schr Wang on a phone call. He greeted the person on the line as ¡®Boss Shi¡¯ and they mentioned you.¡±
Her speaking like that, blowing warm air into his ear tickled and Xia Lei would have moved away already if she were talking about something else but what she was saying hooked his curiosity. He tolerated her ¡®harassment¡¯ and asked, ¡°What did they talk about?¡±
Ning Jing continued breathing into his ear. ¡°I couldn¡¯t hear what that Boss Shi said and only heard a few lines of what Schr Wang said. He said not to use you to find the next treasure location, then said that you shouldn¡¯t be allowed to know too much of the secrets.¡±
Xia Lei understood immediately. Shi Boren had wanted him to be responsible for finding the next treasure location and asked for Wang Lei¡¯s opinion but Wang Lei had rejected the idea, saying that Xia Lei should not be allowed to know too many secrets about the ancient alloy.
This couldn¡¯t actually count as a secret.
¡°Nn, okay. Thank you.¡± Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Schr Wang doesn¡¯t want me to take credit. He doesn¡¯t understand me at all. I don¡¯t care for credit or glory - I already have so much of that but what use are they? Not even good for wiping my ass.¡±
It was true - he had brought back the most advancedthe from Germany. This was a great contribution to the nation. And he had built Thunder Horse Military Factory to make the most advanced sniper rifles for China. This was also a great contribution. But what had he gained so far? He did gain some benefits but he had also gained problems; it was a double-edged sword. He¡¯d long seen past the veneer of credit and glory and didn¡¯t care for them.
Ning Jing touched Xia Lei¡¯s ear again, gently, softly, lingering.
This wasn¡¯t an ident anymore but deliberate.
Xia Lei could not stay still at this contact anymore. He quickly moved his ear away and looked at her awkwardly. He was taken aback - Ning Jing had always seemed like a weak and timid girl to him, and fairly shy too. How was she so daring now, stimting a man in this way?
Their eyes met. Ning Jing¡¯s face grew redder and she grew nervous. Her generous bosom also moved up and down very obviously with each breath she took. She then closed her eyes, as if waiting for something.
This was the bodynguage of a woman waiting for a kiss. Xia Lei had long left the title of ¡®beginner in love¡¯ behind so he knew full well what she was hoping for, but the knowledge of what she wanted gave him a headache. Why did she suddenly want him to kiss her?
It wasical. Ning Jing sneaked a peek from under hershes and she shut her eyes again when she saw Xia Lei looking straight at her, continuing to wait for a kiss.
Her personality had changed a lot but she was still so clumsy in this aspect. If she were experienced and smart, she should have kept stimting him. Weren¡¯t all men like that? They would have some bottom line in the beginning but eventually the body will ovee the brain and make decisions. It wasn¡¯t just bottom lines - his bottom clothing would be gone too.
At the peak of awkwardness, a knocking came at the door.
¡°Who is it?¡± Xia Lei let out a quiet breath of relief and hurried to open the door.
Ning Jing stamped a foot in frustration and grumbled to herself, ¡°I already did as described in the book - why didn¡¯t it work? Ah, I forgot to say that it¡¯s hot and to remove my clothes... I¡¯m an idiot!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps faltered at those words and his face crumpled in a silentugh.
Wang Lei had knocked.
¡°What¡¯s the matter, Schr Wang?¡± Xia Lei maintained his polite manner.
Wang Lei looked at Ning Jing in the room, then at Xia Lei. ¡°What were you two doing?¡±
¡°Ning Jing and I are friends. What happened earlier scared her and she came to look for me, so we chatted,¡± said Xia Lei.
Wang Lei looked at Ning Jing again. ¡°Is that so?¡±
Ning Jing nodded. ¡°Yes, it was as he said.¡±
Xia Lei interrupted, ¡°Schr Wang, rx. We didn¡¯t chat about anything sensitive. Right, what did youe to me for?¡±
¡°The medical staff are here. Everybody here must undergo a full-body checkup,¡± said Wang Lei. ¡°Mr Xia, you are the first. Come with me.¡±
¡°I¡¯m the first?¡± A strange feeling grew in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. ¡°Why?¡±
¡°Is there a difference who goes first and who goesst? Enough with the questions. Come with me,¡± said Wang Lei.
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Lei followed Wang Lei out of the room.
¡°I¡¯ming too.¡± Ning Jing followed.
Chapter 371 - She’s Lying
Xia Lei expected the checks to take ce in the medical room of theboratory area but Wang Lei brought him to another zone. This zone seemed to be for biological research and had equipment more advanced than medical hospitals.
Ning Jing wanted toe along but Wang Lei chased her back before she could exit theboratory area.
Wang Lei brought Xia Lei to a room. The room already had a few people in anti-bacterial suits and face-masks waiting for him.
The gazes of the medical staff all went to Xia Lei. All of them had masks on but Xia Lei could still see their sombre expressions, and the strange feeling in his heart intensified. He asked probingly, ¡°Schr Wang, isn¡¯t everyone getting checked? Why am I here alone?¡±
¡°I said clearly that you¡¯re the first one. The medical staff will check others after they¡¯re done checking you,¡± said Wang Lei.
¡°Aren¡¯t the experts in theboratory most at risk?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Two people are dead already. They should be checked first.¡±
¡°Why are you such a troublesome fellow? Checking you is for your own good and you¡¯re still having issues with it? Look at the big picture - finding the cause of Luo Su and Chen Kexue¡¯s deaths can help the experts solve their problems too,¡± said Wang Lei discontentedly.
Xia Lei did not want to keep arguing with him. Old people like Wang Lei liked to spout great theories and they could go at it all day but he did not want to waste his time on a verbal battle. He walked towards the medical staff.
¡°Mr Xia, yes?¡± A doctor greeted Xia Lei. ¡°Pleasee with me.¡±
Xia Lei followed the medical staff as he thought, ¡®The ones who died were the experts in the research group. If there is a virus then the first ones to be checked and treated have to be the members of the expert group, but I¡¯m the first... This doesn¡¯t make sense.¡¯
A member of the medical staff brought Xia Lei to a room with a huge MRI machine installed in it. Xia Lei was asked to lie on the machine and heplied. He removed his shoes and waited on the machine bed. The medical staff left the room and went to the radiation-proof room next door.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched before the equipment was activated, and the walls of the control-room disappeared.
The medical staff were in the control-room making preparations. Wang Lei was conversing with the lead doctor.
¡°The higher-ups have instructed to do a head-to-toe scan. Everything,¡± said Wang Lei.
The lead doctor nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
¡°And bloodwork, plus DNA. Everything has to be studied and save the results. Also, tell him that we¡¯ll have to wait for results after you¡¯re done checking. Don¡¯t tell him anything,¡± said Wang Lei.
¡°Rest assured, Schr Wang. I know what to do,¡± said the doctor.
One of the medical staff started the machine after that.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye too. A huge wave was crashing at the walls of his heart.
He had gleaned a bit of information from their conversation - someone already suspected him and was using this incident as an opportunity to arrange for a check-up like this.
¡®Who can it be? Does someone in the higher-ups know about the existence of AE? Are they starting to do what the CIA wants to do to me? If they get the results they want, then what will they do to me?¡¯ These questions popped up in his head and Xia Lei felt anger bubble out of him, apanied by nervousness.
There was no avoiding this. Though he had X-ray vision and could look at his own chest and abdomen, he was unable to use this on his own brain and left eye. In other words, he had no idea what changes had been wrought in his brain and eye so far!
Ding Ding Ding...
The MRI machine made noises which difited Xia Lei and he felt like a naked woman on a beach; everyone was looking lustfully at his body.
He wanted to get up several times and stop this medical check, but he wavered whenever the thought crossed his mind. He was sure that someone had him marked and suspected something, hence this check-up. If he insisted on stopping this then wouldn¡¯t this be proof for whoever who suspected him that there was indeed a problem?
He couldn¡¯t just leave, and was worried that his secret would be uncovered if he went through the check - Xia Lei was conflicted.
All of a sudden, his brain heated up mysteriously. It was the same heat he had felt thest time in the basement, when he had been battling against the anaesthetic gas.
His life had been under threat at that time, and so his brain had reacted and he¡¯d resisted the anaesthetic gas.
This time, he was lying on the bed of the MRI machine and getting his brain scanned,yer byyer while it mysteriously heated up - what was the result going to be this time?
Xia Lei looked almost instinctively at the control-room when this thought entered his head. The wall disappeared and he saw the medical staff, and Wang Lei, then lip-read what they were saying.
¡°Strange...¡± said one of the medical staff, ¡°The machine seemed to have lost power just now.¡±
¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡± The lead doctor moved closer to the disy to take a look.
The staff who had spoken said, ¡°It¡¯s back to normal. Maybe I was seeing things.¡±
The lead doctor spoke sternly, ¡°Focus. This is very important; no mistakes.¡±
¡°Any special discovery?¡± asked Wang Lei.
¡°No. It looks normal,¡± said the lead doctor.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief in the MRI machine. ¡®Looks like that mysterious heating condition is not a coincidence. It¡¯s like a protection ability for my body. Poisonous gases or scans activate it... Looks like AE had changed more than my left eye - it¡¯s already changed my brain.¡¯
Xia Lei then recalled thest AE capsule he had hidden in the ne. He suddenly had an impulse to swallow thatst capsule right away.
The ne the capsule was hidden in had been taken from him when he¡¯d entered the militarypound but Xia Lei was not worried about it being discovered. He had made the pendant himself and made it very well. The capsule could not be found unless the pendant was cut open.
The check was done in a few minutes.
Xia Lei was then put through blood-drawing, skin-sampling and a whole battery of tests. He was not worried about all these tests with his earlier experience. Besides, he had already had his blood tested and there had been no problems.
The battery of dozens of tests wereplete about an hourter, and Wang Lei brought Xia Lei back to theboratory area. The group of experts were now going to be examined, and Long Bing and Ning Jing were in that group.
Xia Lei returned to his room to gather his thoughts.
Long Bing soon returned to theboratory area and went to look for Xia Lei.
¡°Lei, can we talk?¡± Long Bing cut straight to the chase.
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°Why be so polite with me, still? Your check was done quickly - what did they check?¡±
¡°Blood, head-scans, psychological tests and the like. Several,¡± said Long Bing casually.
Xia Lei had had over 20 tests but Long Bing had just several. Were his tests specially arranged by someone? The answer was obvious.
¡°Nn. What did you want to talk about?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t probe further.
¡°The main thing¡¯s about the report. Only you can write the report that Schr Wang needs. I know you dislike him but please write it, on my ount. I¡¯m in charge of this, so I can¡¯t finish my task if you won¡¯t write,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was silent.
Only he knew the reason why he was being at loggerheads with Schr Wang.
He knew that he was the only one who knew how the alloy had been retrieved, and only he knew what he had seen, what he had heard. Schr Wang needed this information and he had it. His n was to use this to change Schr Wang¡¯s stance and let him join the group of experts, and an opportunity to study the alloy.
This was a good n but there was no hope of iting to fruition anytime soon because of Wang Lei¡¯s stubbornness.
¡°How about it?¡± Long Bing nudged Xia Lei with a shoulder. Her tone of voice was weird. ¡°I¡¯ve never asked you for anything. Just this once. Can you bear to reject me?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Is this the first time? Who modified your sniper rifle for you?¡±
¡°Petty.¡± Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Must I spell it out? Your driving licence...¡±
Xia Lei raised his hands in surrender. ¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯ll write it, okay?¡±
Long Bing smiled. ¡°Write it and I¡¯ll make tea for you, massage your shoulders and call you Master Xia.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Long Bing had her girly moments too, just very rarely. Xia Lei felt like she was apletely different person when she showed her girly side.
Xia Lei used the notebookputer Wang Lei had provided to write the report. He wrote what he could and left out what he could.
He handed the notebookputer to Long Bing after he was done typing to let her read through it.
Long Bing read it and she looked surprised. ¡°An underground passage hundreds of metres deep? And booby traps... Coffin? You found that alloy in the coffin?¡±
Xia Lei answered her questions but did not mention the voice he had heard. It was too strange. Furthermore, someone had him marked so wouldn¡¯t it just be asking for trouble if he wrote everything he knew in the report? Besides, there was no need for him to be a stepping stone for others!
This report was not valuable and could not help the experts in their research, nor exin the mysterious deaths of the scientists. Wang Lei could use it for whatever he wanted to do, and Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t care.
¡°Can I ask you something, Long Bing?¡± Xia Lei looked at her chest.
¡°What do you want to ask?¡± Long Bing sensed which area he was looking at and subconsciously pulled at her clothing.
She didn¡¯t know that Xia Lei was not looking at her womanly parts but at her heart.
One normally looked at a person¡¯s eyes to see if he or she was lying but Xia Lei looked at the heart.
¡°If... and I say IF...¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°If one day, amanding officermands you to arrest me, even kill me off... Will you follow orders?¡±
Long Bing paused. ¡°You¡¯re not sick, are you? Why are you asking me a strange question like this all of a sudden? You didn¡¯tmit any crimes and didn¡¯t betray the country - what would I need to arrest you for?¡±
¡°You just have to answer ¡®yes¡¯ or ¡®no¡¯.¡±
Long Bing thought for a bit. ¡°Yes. So you¡¯d better not break anyws or betray the country.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, because Long Bing¡¯s heart had been so obviously different when she¡¯d said that.
She lied.
Chapter 372 - Temporary Report
All the members of the expert group finished their medical checks and the results were out. Everyone was fine and in good health; the virus they had theorised about did not exist.
What was more confusing was that there was no evidence of poison or a heart attack when autopsies were performed on the two bodies. Luo Su and Chen Kexue seemed to have reached their time and had left the world abruptly.
Xia Lei saw no hope in joining the group of experts and no chance ining into contact with the pieces of alloy and the bronze book. He handed thepleted report to Wang Lei the next morning and talked of leaving.
Wang Lei had Xia Lei¡¯s report, and the medical check the higher-ups had ordered waspleted so he did not want Xia Lei to stay on. He agreed without a second thought when Xia Lei said he wanted to leave.
Ning Jing came to send him off but Long Bing did not leave them alone. She should have given them some space but she followed them closely.
Ning Jing mustered up her courage when she saw that Xia Lei was about to step out of the passageway. ¡°Lei, will youe back?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Probably not.¡± Xia Lei did not harbour any nostalgia for this ce at all.
¡°Then I¡¯lle out and look for you,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei grunted in response and said, ¡°Remember what I told you. Stay away from those alloy pieces, and avoid touching them if you can.¡±
Ning Jing nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. They don¡¯t let me touch them either. My field is archaeology and I¡¯m only in charge of archaeological work in the group anyway.¡± She gave augh. ¡°Frankly speaking, I¡¯m just a background character.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Don¡¯t say that. You¡¯re in charge of important work too. This project has a lot of archaeology involved. All right, this is it then. Go back. Give me a call when you¡¯re out and I¡¯ll treat you to tea.¡±
¡°Um...¡± Ning Jing¡¯s face was red and she looked nervous. ¡°Let¡¯s hug.¡±
Xia Lei paused.
Ning Jing shut her eyes.
She was actually using the ¡®kiss me¡¯ bodynguage in this way?! Xia Lei was dumbfounded.
He hesitated, just a bit, then put his arms around her in a hug and patted her on the back. ¡°Go back, go back.¡±
¡°Ahem.¡± Long Bing coughed.
Ning Jing pulled away from Xia Lei and turned to run back into the passageway. She did not dare look at Long Bing, much less at Xia Lei¡¯s eyes as she retreated. Her way of running was strange too; like a pony trotting off for a shower.
¡°Was it soft?¡± Long Bing suddenly said.
Xia Lei looked quizzically at her. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Long Bing pointed at her own chest.
Xia Lei understood and he red at her. ¡°She¡¯s a cultured woman, not like us. That... was a hug goodbye. It¡¯s like that in the West too, isn¡¯t it?¡±
Long Bing made a puffingugh. ¡°I¡¯m saying that she¡¯s skinny and small but her chest is quiterge. I want to know if she stuffed her bra or something. What is your answer about, hm?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You ufortable?¡±
¡°Do you stuff your bra?¡±
¡°Up yours!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±
Long Bing seemed like a whole other person.
Xia Lei took back all his things when they exited thepound, including his ne. He used his X-ray vision on it to check on the capsule inside and he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
Xia Lei mulled over a question on their way through the mountains - Should I eat thest AE capsule?
He thought and he thought but was still unable toe to a decision.
¡°I heard Tang Yuyan say you want to go to Russia to participate in a light weapons exhibition, huh?¡± Long Bing broke the silence in the car on the mountain roads.
¡°Nn, yes. Of course we have to show off a great sniper rifle such as ours; glory for our nation,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Yeah, yeah, stop making yourself sound noble. Your main aim is to pull in international orders, isn¡¯t it?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Isn¡¯t it a good thing to have some foreign exchange for the country?¡±
¡°It¡¯s good but let me remind you that selling weapons is no simple matter,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°You cannot sell to enemy forces, much less terrorists, or you¡¯ll attract trouble.¡±
¡°I got it. I¡¯ll be careful. Thank you.¡±
¡°And I¡¯m quite familiar with the situation over there. Better not touch any women there or you might catch something.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s smile froze on his face and his words were stuck in his throat.
When had his image be so terrible?
Half the morning was gone by the time they returned to the city. Long Bing went back to Bureau 101 and Xia Lei drove to the Tang residence. Tang Yuyan had told him to bring gifts but he knew that was a joke and didn¡¯t take it seriously. The Tang sect had nock of money and Tang Tianlong¡¯s status was a little different. It wouldn¡¯t be good to turn up at his door with an expensive gift and be seen by others doing so.
As he pondered his options, he went and bought a pot of lush nts when he passed a florist and fresh fruits from the fruit stall next to it. It didn¡¯t cost much but it looked good.
Tang Yuyan opened the door for him when he knocked on the Tang door. She stared nkly when she saw the potted nt in his hands, then broke into a smile. ¡°Oh? How did youe to think of buying me flowers?¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°These aren¡¯t flowers, they¡¯re ornamental nts. I bought them when I went past the florist because I thought they looked nice.¡±
¡°They¡¯re flowers if I say they¡¯re flowers.¡± Tang Yuyan then spotted the fruits in his hands and said with a smile, ¡°You sure are a good boy, bringing gifts when I told you to bring them - and so many too.¡±
¡°I did think of buying something of greater value but I decided it was wrong to do that after thinking about it, so I didn¡¯t,¡± said Xia Lei sheepishly.
Tang Tianlong¡¯s voice came from inside, ¡°Yuyan, what are you keeping Mr Xia at the door for? Don¡¯t be discourteous. Why don¡¯t you quickly invite him in?¡±
Tang Yuyan stuck her tongue out cheekily, then took the potted nts and fruit from Xia Lei¡¯s hands and led him in.
Tang Yunhai was in the living room too. The two heads of the Tang household were sitting on the sofa and looking at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei greeted them with a smile. ¡°Hello Uncle Tang, hello Grandfather Tang.¡±
¡°Sit, sit.¡± Tang Tian-Long gestured for Xia Lei to sit and said, ¡°Yuyan, make Mr Xia some tea, then to go the kitchen and help your mother prepare the meal. We shall have Mr Xia stay with us for our afternoon meal.¡±
¡°¡®Kay.¡± Tang Yuyan agreed quickly and went to make tea for Xia Lei.
¡°How can I intrude on you like this?¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
Tang Yunhai gave him a re. ¡°Boy, you¡¯re a martial artist. What¡¯s with this wishy-washy-ness?¡±
¡°Then I shall intrude,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan brought the tea she had made over to Xia Lei and set it before him, saying with a smile, ¡°Please have tea, Master Xia. This lowly one will prepare your meal right away.¡±
Xia Lei looked at her wordlessly.
The two heads of the Tang household looked oddly at Tang Yuyan. Tang Yunhai looked ready to swing the dragon-headed cane in his hand at her.
¡°It¡¯s just a joke. What¡¯s with those eyes? Lei and I went through death-defying experiences in Afghanistan together. We came out from under a hail of bullets... Ugh, whatever. I said nothing. I¡¯ll go help Mum prepare the meal.¡± Tang Yuyan lost to Tang Tianlong¡¯s powerful re and retreated.
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Tang Tianlong¡¯s mouth. ¡°Her mother spoils her. Please excuse her, Mr Xia.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right. Yuyan and I are friends, so a small joke like that is nothing,¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
¡°Let¡¯s get down to business.¡± Tang Tianlong took out a document envelope from under the coffee table and put it before Xia Lei. ¡°The higher-ups have approved it but there are some conditions.¡±
¡°What conditions?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°The first condition is that Annina is not allowed to go to Moscow. Her status is rather special and the CIA and German Intelligence are still on the lookout for her. She will attract a lot of trouble if she shows her face in public,¡± said Tang Tianlong.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll go back and talk with her. I should be able to persuade her. This condition is eptable. What else?¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re bringing yourpany¡¯s sniper rifles to the light weapons exhibition in Moscow. The capabilities of your model of sniper rifle are sure to draw notice and cause a stir. When that happens, orders are sure toe pouring in. What the higher-ups mean is that purchase orders have to first gain the nation¡¯s approval before you sign the dotted line. Who can buy and who you sell to is not up to you to decide.¡±
Long Bing had already mentioned this and Xia Lei had been mentally prepared for this. He nodded. ¡°No problem with this condition either; I agree.¡±
Thunder Horse Military Factory was actually already busy enough with the domestic orders at its current scale and production capacity. Overseas orders would be a too much for him to handle in a timely fashion. It was perhaps a good thing that the higher-ups had made such a decision for him, since he could not be bothered to worry about it. The main purpose in going to Moscow was to make the name of Thunder Horse Military Factory known.
¡°One more condition. You cannot go alone. You must bring an assistant.¡±
¡°I have several talents in mypany. When the timees, I¡¯ll...¡±
Tang Tianlong cut him off. ¡°Yourpany assistants don¡¯t count. What I mean by assistant is someone who can ensure your safety. The higher-ups have two people in mind - Long Bing and Yuyan. Who do you think is more suitable? Pick one.¡±
¡°Pick one?¡± Xia Lei was troubled.
Both women were impressive and both had fought by his side before. He did not know who to pick.
Just then, Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came from the kitchen. ¡°If you pick Long Bing I¡¯ll put a pile of salt in your bowl!¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Okay, you¡¯ll apany me to Moscow then.¡±
¡°Heh heh, I knew you¡¯d pick me.¡± Tang Yuyanughed happily.
But Xia Lei knew that Tang Tianlong wanted him to take not an assistant but a monitor. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan would be doing the same task no matter who he picked. The mission was easy enough to guess too - who he¡¯d interacted with, what he¡¯d done, all would be reported to the higher-ups. Thest part of the mission was most likely to bring him back to China.
¡°I feel more assured with Yuyan going with you to Moscow, since you two had fought together in Afghanistan. Russia will be a piece of cake.¡± Tang Tianlong said with a smile, ¡°That¡¯s decided, then. You can go to Russia when you¡¯re done with preparations on your side.¡±
¡°There¡¯s still about a month left, no hurry.¡± Xia Lei watched Tang Tianlong out of the corner of his eye as he spoke, thinking to himself, ¡®Is the person who¡¯d marked me Tang Tianlong?¡¯
¡°There¡¯s still some time before we have our meal, Boy. Come with me to the backyard for some sparring,¡± said Tang Yunhai. He did not seem interested in their conversation.
¡°Sparring?¡± Xia Lei was unwilling.
¡°Am I too old for you?¡± Tang Yunhai pretended to look affronted. ¡°How about this - if you win with me using half-techniques I¡¯ll teach you one of the Tang hidden weapons techniques. What do you think about that, eh?¡±
¡°Right this way, sir!¡± Xia Lei changed his tune right away.
In the kitchen, Zhang Yumei said, ¡°Didn¡¯t your grandfather say that the Tang techniques cannot be passed down to people who have not married into the Tang sect? Why has he changed his mind?¡±
Tang Yuyan shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
Chapter 373 - Ruyi’s Mother
Persuading Annina was not difficult for Xia Lei. He easily convinced her beneath the covers on the night he returned to Thunder Horse Military Factory from the Tang household.
Annina wanted very much to go to Russia with Xia Lei and see the gun she had designed wow the crowds with her own eyes; this was also something her father and grandfather would wish to see. This thought was fairly attractive but she knew well that there were sure to be German and American agents in that ce. Her life would be over if she were to get caught, so she gave up on the idea of going to Moscow with Xia Lei.
The relevant preparations were all put smoothly in motion.
Xia Lei¡¯s attention went from the ancient alloy to hispany. He flew to Sichuan a few dayster to his branchpany in Deyang.
The branchpany in Sichuan had been sessfully established and production and business were running normally. The country was developing the areas in the west and had a great need for machining and processing; there was no need to worry about ordersing in. The branchpany was also always hiring and their employee count had more than doubled.
Zhou Xiaohong apanied him throughout his few days¡¯ stay in Sichuan. She did not sneak naked into Xia Lei¡¯s bed this time. Xia Lei also zed through thepany¡¯s development ns and agreed upon certain things with the local authorities regardingnd, manpower and development.
Xia Lei went straight from Sichuan to Haizhu, and back to Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
One could not deny that Guan Lingshan had grown into a fine young woman, a person who could handle everything. She managed thepany well in Xia Lei¡¯s absence and the profits were nothing to sneeze at.
Thunder Horse Manufacturing had far outstripped its early days where it depended on processing parts to get by. Their main product, the automatic surfboard, sold like hot cakes in domestic and foreign markets. Even the added production capacities from the outsourcedpanies were not exactly enough to meet demand. The situation now for Xia Lei was such that he had a steady stream of money going into his pockets whether he was sitting or lying down. The memory of worrying over having to pay wages and insurances was like a distant dream.
His riches could not bepared to Shentu Tianyin but he would surely speed along the route to catching up with her if the XL2500 sniper rifle made a ssh in the weapons market. His progress then could bepared to adding wings to his back. The most profitable business since ancient times was warfare, after all.
Would Thunder Horse Manufacturing be a military business of the level of Lockheed Martin one day? No one could say for sure. Xia Lei had another important attribute other than his myriad of abilities - and that was his youth!
The first thing Xia Lei did after returning to Haizhu City was to put his threepanies under one umbre, and officially register them under the name of Thunder Horse Group. He was the only shareholder, and the only chairman.
When Hu Hou, the mayor of Haizhu City, heard that Xia Lei hade back, he came personally to try to persuade Xia Lei to get himself listed. Xia Lei rejected him as he had done before. He did not need investors and there was no need to get listed on the market to get capital. More importantly, he did not want thepany he had painstakingly built to be taken from him, and a Board which would influence his decisions.
Thunder Horse Group was his kingdom and he was the kingdom¡¯s only king.
After he was done with the matter of uniting his threepanies under one umbre, Xia Lei worked overtime on expansion ns for the Haizhu City headquarters. The branchpany in Sichuan was also preparing for development so the main headquarters cannot do without either - it had to be even bigger.
This bit of business took several days and Xia Lei didn¡¯t even have time to go home. He only finished putting the things he needed in order on the sixth day he was back in Haizhu, and had the thought of returning home then.
¡°There isn¡¯t any more work that needs your attention today, Director Xia. Do you have any ns?¡± said Guan Lingshan with a smile. They were in the office.
The title Guan Lingshan used for Xia Lei changed after he put his threepanies in one group; he went from chairman to director. This was needed because Xia Lei had promoted her from assistant to Haizhu¡¯s CEO. The CEO in Sichuan was Zhou Xiaohong, of course, and Qin Xiang was the CEO in Jingdu. Annina was still just Chief Engineer due to her special circumstances.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t have any ns. I¡¯d like to stay at home; I haven¡¯t been back in forever.¡±
Disappointment shed in Guan Lingshan¡¯s eyes. ¡°Some colleagues and I were talking and we¡¯d like to invite you for karaoke...¡±
¡°No thanks. Maybe next time. I do want to go home and see how everything is. It¡¯s been a busy past few days and you¡¯re tired too. Go home early and rest,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn, okay.¡± Guan Lingshan did not push further.
Xia Lei looked at Guan Lingshan. ¡°Right, you¡¯ve done great work. I¡¯d like to reward you - what would you like?¡±
Guan Lingshan shook her head. ¡°Director Xia, I was just a fresh graduate a year ago, earning just a few thousand. You promoted me to the CEO of Haizhu operations with a sry of over a million. I am deeply grateful to you - how can I still ask for a reward? I cannot, I cannot.¡±
A girl who¡¯de out of university a year ago bing a CEO now was something quite legendary in the industry. Guan Lingshan was a person who knew how to be content and grateful and she did not want any further reward, of course. Xia Lei found this part of her highly invaluable, otherwise he would not have promoted her.
Xia Lei did not press her when he saw how she¡¯d reacted. He smiled. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll give you a big red packet at the end of the year.¡±
Guan Lingshan chuckled. ¡°Then thank you, Director Xia.¡±
¡°Have you found your other half?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Guan Lingshan reddened right away and said a little hesitantly, ¡°Why ask this, Director Xia? I¡¯m still young, and it¡¯s too early for me to be in a rtionship.¡±
¡°Is it wrong to show concern for you? If you fall in love and have a boyfriend I will give you a big red packet too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I... I¡¯ll go check on the workshops.¡± Guan Lingshan avoided Xia Lei¡¯s line of talk and left his office like she was running away from something.
The sun hang low in the horizon, sinking lower, lower, and the space between thend and the sky was filled with a scattering of clouds. It looked like a gigantic dragon prancing about in the sky with its fangs bared, about to burst out of the skies at any moment and up into the stratosphere.
A ck BMW M6 galloped into the setting sun, through streets and entered an old neighbourhood.
Familiar sights, familiar faces. A feeling of familiarity andfort enveloped Xia Lei once he alighted; it was afortable feeling. Only people who had drifted for some time would know this feeling.
A group of middle-aged women walked past with sound equipment and one of them recognised Xia Lei. ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t this Lei?¡±
¡°Hello, Auntie Zhao.¡± Xia Lei gave a polite greeting. He recognised all these aunties.
¡°Oh my, still so polite after making it big. How rare,¡± giggled Auntie Zhao. ¡°Do you have a girlfriend? Should Auntie introduce someone to you?¡±
Xia Lei hightailed it out of there.
The group of aunties chattered on behind him.
¡°Look at Lei. Started apany, drives a BMW... That little punk of mine sits at home every day ying that Cutie Cutie Hero game. He¡¯s driving me crazy!¡±
¡°Yeah, my little wench got herself a boyfriend but he doesn¡¯t even have a house. She won¡¯t listen to me, no matter what I say. My liver¡¯s going to explode with anger.¡±
¡°Lei sure is capable. He¡¯s a self-made man, and also has a good temperament. Any girl who marries him sure is fortunate.¡±
¡°Come on, you honking geese, or our spot will be taken.¡±
The group of aunties walked off,ughing and talking.
Xia Lei smiled wryly as he shook his head and continued walking towards the stairwell. However, he stopped in his tracks a few stepster - standing in this most familiar ce was a most familiar person. Jiang Ruyi.
Jiang Ruyi was on the balcony in her policewoman uniform. She had a great figure, with all the right curves in all the right ces, and was as mesmerising as ever, especially her bright, dark eyes. Her eyes were like two sprites which could speak and their speech was graceful, pleasant.
The sight of Jiang Ruyi stirred up childhood memories in Xia Lei¡¯s head - him and her slinging mud at each other and him ending up being the one running away despite being a boy; him and her taking a bath in the creek buck-naked, then eagerly discussing why his body had something hers didn¡¯t. When their discussion turned into a fight, she had grabbed the extra part of his that shecked and tried to rip it off him...
These were all precious memories. A smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°How have you been, Ruyi?¡±
Jiang Ruyi pouted. ¡°Same old, same old, going to work anding home. I think of this one bad fellow once in a while.¡±
Xia Lei knew who this ¡®bad fellow¡¯ was. Heughed and said, ¡°Long time no see; you¡¯re still the same, trying to bully me as soon as you see me.¡±
¡°Me? Bully you? Like hell I... ¡° Jiang Ruyi stopped suddenly. ¡°Forget it. I won¡¯t scold you. I¡¯m in the middle of changing my temperament now.¡±
Xia Lei walked over. ¡°That¡¯s the right thing to do, isn¡¯t it? Women should be gentle.¡±
¡°Not as if someone will want me if I¡¯m gentle...¡± Jiang Ruyi muttered under her breath.
A woman walked out from inside at that moment and a smile appeared on her face when she saw Xia Lei. ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this Lei? I haven¡¯t seen you in two years. You¡¯ve be so handsome! Heh heh.¡±
This woman was Jiang Ruyi¡¯s mother, Yang Lan. Xia Lei had known her since he was a child and often asked her for sweets. Yang Lan also sometimes made tasty food and let Jiang Ruyi invite Xia Lei and Xia Xue over to eat; they were always on good terms.
¡°When did you get back, Auntie?¡± Xia Lei greeted her warmly.
¡°You know how it is. Ruyi¡¯s father has always had a weak body so we moved to the countryside for him to recuperate. Her father¡¯s health took a turn for the worsest month and he¡¯s been warded now. I moved back now for her father¡¯s health,¡± said Yang Lan.
¡°Ma.¡± Jiang Ruyi rolled her eyes at Yang Lan. She did not want Xia Lei to know about her father¡¯s illness.
Yang Lan smacked Jiang Ruyi upside the head. ¡°You terrible girl. Lei¡¯s been standing outside for a long time; why don¡¯t you invite him in?¡±
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s temper had apparentlye from Yang Lan.
¡°I¡¯ll open the door for you.¡± Jiang Ruyi had never ever used the word ¡®please¡¯ with Xia Lei.
Chapter 374 - Repay the Kindness
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s home was the same as always. Xia Lei was familiar with everything about it, including the bathroom.
He¡¯d just stepped past the threshold when Yang Lan handed him a ss of water, and Xia Lei thanked her profusely.
¡°It¡¯s the holidays and schools are closed. Where is Xue?¡± asked Yang Lan.
¡°She¡¯s in Jingdu and won¡¯t be back for now. She¡¯ll definitelye visit you if she came back, Auntie,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Did you move?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯m just too busy with work and rarelye home.¡±
Yang Lan looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°I heard Ruyi say a lot of things about you. Your business is doing well, and it is important but remember that your body is important too. Don¡¯t overwork yourself. It¡¯s not good to exhaust your body.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll take care to rest.¡±
¡°You¡¯re also getting older so you should think about starting a family. Do you have a girlfriend? Bring her over, let Auntie meet her.¡± She gave Jiang Ruyi a look as she spoke, and Jiang Ruyi rolled her eyes at her.
Xia Lei was embarrassed. ¡°I had one... but we broke up.¡±
¡°Broke up? Great!¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was confused.
¡°Oh, Auntie said the wrong thing. What a shame.¡± Yang Lan covered her mouth but the smile could be seen on her face. ¡°I think someone who has grown up with you is the best...¡±
¡°Ma!¡± Jiang Ruyi cut her off. ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to go to the hospital to see Da? You should get going now or you¡¯ll bete.¡±
Yang Lan gave Jiang Ruyi a re of discontent and was about to say something when her mobile phone rang all of a sudden.
It was the hospital.
¡°No money again? Didn¡¯t we make a payment of 5,000 the day before? This is too... Okay, okay, I¡¯ll put more in the ount tomorrow. You cannot stop treatment; be flexible.¡± Yang Lan had been joking and smiling earlier but this one phone call made her smile vanish and her face dark with worry.
Jiang Ruyi looked heavy of heart too.
¡°What illness is Uncle Jiang suffering from, Auntie?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Yang Lan was quiet for a bit before she said, ¡°It¡¯s renal failure. We moved to the countryside, back to our old home because the expenses are lower there. But now Ruyi¡¯s father¡¯s health is getting worse. The doctors say he needs a new kidney. We can¡¯t find a donor, and even if there was someone it wouldn¡¯t go to us small fry first. Ruyi¡¯s father¡¯s illness has strained our family¡¯s finances the past two years too so even if there was a kind donor it would cost over a million in surgical fees. Where are we going to get the money for surgery? Sigh...¡±
Xia Lei looked at Jiang Ruyi. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me something like this?¡±
¡°I...¡± Jiang Ruyi started, then stopped.
Xia Lei was disquieted. ¡°Why did you keep something like this from me? Am I a stranger to you?¡±
Tears welled in Jiang Ruyi¡¯s eyes. ¡°It wasn¡¯t so bad before. Every time I called Ma she would say Da¡¯s condition was improving. Why would I bring this up for nothing? But I found out that Da¡¯s health problem was very serious when he came back, and I called you but I couldn¡¯t get through.¡±
Xia Lei might have been in Afghanistan at that time.
¡°Lei, you cannot me Ruyi for this. me me if you must. I didn¡¯t want my ugly family circumstances to be known and be gossip fodder for the neighbours,¡± said Yang Lan.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, and said, ¡°Bring me to the hospital to see Uncle. I¡¯ll talk to the doctors. Let me handle this matter.¡±
¡°This...¡± The tears in Jiang Ruyi¡¯s eyes threatened to fall.
Yang Lan took Xia Lei¡¯s hands, and her tears flowed freely down her cheeks. ¡°Lei, it¡¯s no use. There are no healthy matching donors. Ruyi¡¯s father won¡¯t get better even if you lend us money. We are grateful for your kindness...¡°
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°Auntie, are you treating me like a stranger too?¡±
¡°No, no, no, I¡¯ve never treated you like a stranger. I¡¯ve always seen you as my son,¡± she said.
Xia Lei did not bother reading into her words to see if there was some other meaning behind them. ¡°Good, then let¡¯s go to the hospital. I¡¯ll talk with the doctors. They will have some way for something like this. If there are no volunteer donors there¡¯s also the ck market. It can be solved so long as money crosses hands.¡±
¡°The ck market?¡± Yang Lan seemed to see a ray of hope. She was excited, yet worried. ¡°H, How much would that cost?¡±
¡°Money is not a problem. I¡¯ll pay, whatever the cost.¡± Xia Lei added, ¡°You don¡¯t have to pay me back.¡±
¡°How can that do?¡± Yang Lan didn¡¯t know what else to say.
Jiang Ruyi wanted to say something but she swallowed her words before they passed her lips. Buying a kidney on the ck market was a stupendous cost. Legal means and procedures required over a million - how many millions would it cost if it was done via the ck market option? She couldn¡¯t even begin to think of repaying that amount of money.
¡°Let¡¯s go. You¡¯re still so retarded,¡± said Xia Lei to Jiang Ruyi.
The old Jiang Ruyi would have squabbled with Xia Lei but she did not do so today. She nodded, and seemed obedient. ¡°All right. Let¡¯s go to the hospital.¡±
Yang Lan wiped her tears away and smiled, thinking, ¡®If we can¡¯t pay him back then I¡¯ll give my daughter to him...¡¯
They got to the hospital and Xia Lei visited Jiang Ruyi¡¯s father, Jiang Shuqing.
Jiang Shuqing was in arge ward in terrible condition. His condition matched that of the room; his face was colourless and his spirits low. He looked like he was on hisst legs.
Jiang Shuqing was like half a father to Xia Lei. When his father, Xia Changhe had gone missing five years ago, he had just graduated from high school and nobody wanted him, not even at construction sites. His and Xia Xue¡¯s lives had been very tough, and in that tough time, Jiang Shuqing had helped him, asking through connections to get jobs for Xia Lei, sneakily giving him money, consoling him and encouraging him. All that he had done for him was remembered, and Xia Lei would never forget it.
The Uncle who was like family to him had deteriorated to this state. Even a man of steel like Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help the stinging in his nose at the sight of him, and tears almost fell from his eyes. His voice grew hoarse. ¡°I¡¯vee to visit you, Uncle Jiang.¡±
Jiang Shuqing opened his eyes when he heard him. When he saw that it was Xia Lei, he stared nkly for a bit, then smiled. ¡°It¡¯s Lei! When did youe? I was thinking about you and here you are.¡±
Xia Lei went to his bedside and took his hand. ¡°Rx and recuperate, Uncle Jiang. You will get better.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t. I know what state I¡¯m in.¡± Jiang Shuqing sighed. ¡°What I worry about most is our Ruyi. She¡¯s a little silly, and naive. If I¡¯m gone there won¡¯t be a man at home. How will mother and daughter fare...¡±
¡°Da.¡± Jiang Ruyi wanted to tell Jiang Shuqing the truth.
Yang Lan pulled Jiang Ruyi by the hand, out of the ward, leaving the two men to chat and reminisce.
¡°What are you doing, Ma?¡± said Jiang Ruyi discontentedly, ¡°I want to tell Da that Xia Lei¡¯s going to help us. He¡¯s got some hope in curing his illness - why did you pull me out of there?¡±
Yang Lan smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you tell him a littleter. Ma wants to talk with you.¡±
¡°About what?¡± Jiang Ruyi gave her olddy an odd look.
¡°What¡¯s with you and Lei?¡±
¡°What do you mean ¡®what¡¯s with us¡¯?¡±
¡°Ma watched you two grow up together. You like him. Ma knows this more clearly than anyone else - but why aren¡¯t you two together?¡±
¡°Maybe because we¡¯re too familiar with each other and there¡¯re no such feelings.¡±
¡°Is it him who doesn¡¯t have feelings for you?¡±
¡°Ma, I don¡¯t want to talk about this.¡± This was something which had scarred her and it hurt still.
¡°Don¡¯t want to talk about it? He¡¯s helping us so much - what do you n to do?¡±
¡°These two things aren¡¯t rted, are they?¡±
¡°What do you mean ¡®not rted¡¯? Ma is anxious even if you aren¡¯t. Our family is definitely not going to be able to pay back so much money. When the timees I¡¯ll pawn you off to him. You bear him a child, wash his clothes and cook for him.¡±
Jiang Ruyi was speechless.
Xia Lei came out of the ward a short whileter, then went with Jiang Ruyi to see the doctor in charge of Jiang Shuqing¡¯s treatment.
Xia Lei cut straight to the chase as soon as they met. ¡°Doctor, give my Uncle Jiang a VIP ward. And schedule surgery for him, ASAP.¡±
The doctor in charge gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°Xia Lei. Mayor Hu Hou is my friend,¡± said Xia Lei.
The doctor¡¯s attitude changed immediately upon hearing that he was Mayor Hu Hou¡¯s friend. ¡°Ah, so you¡¯re Mr Xia. Hello, hello, nice to meet you. The situation is like this - there¡¯s currently no suitable donors. And the surgery fees would cost over a million yuan."
¡°Money is not a problem. I can transfer two million to the hospital ounts right now. If you can find a suitable kidney donor I¡¯ll give you 500,000 personally.¡±
The doctor was stunned. He then asked tentatively, ¡°Is Mr Xia joking with me?¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°I¡¯m not joking. Go search on the ck market - I guarantee that you won¡¯t lose out.¡±
The doctor then said immediately, ¡°Mr Xia, pleasee with me to my office and we¡¯ll talk.¡±
Jiang Ruyi followed them.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi left the doctor¡¯s office. There was now a smile on Jiang Ruyi¡¯s face and she seemed more rxed. Xia Lei had talked things through with the doctor and her father was about to be saved.
The doctor personally arranged for Jiang Shuqing to be moved to a VIP ward and changed his nurses to better ones. His attitude had taken a 180-degree turn.
Xia Lei stayed in the VIP ward for about an hour, then said his goodbyes and left.
Jiang Ruyi sent him out and walked with him in silence.
Xia Lei asked for Jiang Ruyi¡¯s bank ount number in the stairwell, then called Guan Lingshan and had her transfer 5,000,000 to Jiang Ruyi¡¯s ount.
¡°5,000,000! So much...¡± Jiang Ruyi panicked when she saw the amount in the message notification on her phone. ¡°I won¡¯t be using that much money.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Why are you still treating me like an outsider? I have no need for money now either, so you can take it and use it. Whatever¡¯s left can be treated as money for tonics for Uncle¡¯s recuperation.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tears welled again in Jiang Ruyi¡¯srge eyes. ¡°How can I repay you?
¡°Talk about that again and I¡¯ll get angry.¡± Xia Lei took out a paper bag and put it in Jiang Ruyi¡¯s hands.
Jiang Ruyi looked at him. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±
¡°A little something from when I went to Afghanistan. It wasn¡¯t appropriate to give it to you in front of your mother earlier. Take a look and see if you like it.¡±
Jiang Ruyi opened the bag. It was a dazzling gemstone ne. She was stunned.
¡°My schedule this time round is tight. I have to go back to Jingdu tomorrow, then to Russia to participate in a light weapons exhibition.¡±
Jiang Ruyi didn¡¯t seem to have heard him. She was still staring nkly at the gemstone ne.
¡°I¡¯m going off now. You should go back and spend more time with Uncle Jiang. Tell him that I¡¯lle visit again next time. He should have had the surgery by then. I really hope that he will get better,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Jiang Ruyi suddenly hugged Xia Lei and said in his ear, ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you toe back, no matter how long it takes. If you get tired outside, thene back and unwind.¡±
She turned and ran off after she said that.
Xia Lei watched her retreating back, and stared nkly into space for quite some time.
Chapter 375 - Chewing Gum Again
Haizhu City under the veil of night was like a dream.
Xia Lei walked out of the hospital but he was still thinking about what Jiang Ruyi had said in his ear: I¡¯ll wait for you toe back, no matter how long it takes. If you get tired outside, thene back and unwind.
Memories of his childhood and his younger days surfaced in his head and a wry smile appeared in the corners of his mouth. ¡®You said that, but what am I to do?¡¯
He really didn¡¯t know what to do with her feelings - he was carrying too much emotional debt.
He was not a yboy but he definitely was an exceptional man, and like beautiful women having several suitors, it made sense that he would have women liking him as a single man with great qualities.
¡®Maybe I really should find a woman and get married. I won¡¯t have a problem like this if I did that.¡¯ This strange thought popped into his head.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei fished his phone out of his pocket and saw an unfamiliar number. He hesitated, then epted the call.
A woman¡¯s voice came over the line. ¡°Xia Lei, this is Gu Kewen.¡±
Xia Lei was surprised that she would be so upfront about who she was. ¡°What are you calling me for?¡±
Gu Kewenughed. ¡°Can¡¯t I call to chat about old times?¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Gu Kewen, you may be working for Shentu Tianyin now but we are not friends. Say what business you have or I¡¯ll hang up.¡±
¡°All right, business.¡± Gu Kewen stopped herughing. ¡°I called to tell you something. Ahn Suhyeong has been released.¡±
Xia Lei paused. He knew that Ahn Suhyeong was going to be used for political gain but had not expected it to happen so quickly. He¡¯d imagined that it would take months for negotiations on both sides to beplete and him to be released then.
¡°He came looking for Shentu Tianyin today,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°I was just next to them when they talked about the mobile phone coboration project between Shinyeok Group and Vientaine Group. He mentioned you towards the end.¡±
Xia Lei put on a calm front. ¡°What did he say about me?¡±
¡°Not anything good, of course. He said you stole his family¡¯s sword of Att and some other antiques, that you are a thief. He then said you framed him and that you were the cause of the police arresting him, but he¡¯s innocent. He also said that he would settle the score with you for sure.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°And did Tianyin say anything?¡±
¡°She spoke up for you, of course. She even cautioned Ahn Suhyeong against being too reckless. Ahn Suhyeong agreed but I could see that he was just feigning civility. He will say yes to anything Shentu Tianyin says in front of her but whether he would honour it is another matter.¡±
¡°Let hime at me.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was ice-cold. He could kill six of the Ahn¡¯s underlings in Gangnam Hotel - he wouldn¡¯t mind killing more!
¡°That¡¯s it then. I¡¯m hanging up.¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Lei stopped her. ¡°Why tell me all these?¡±
¡°Why do you think I¡¯m telling you all these?¡±
¡°We¡¯re not friends; you and I both know that. You should be on the same page as Ahn Suhyeong, giving him advice and helping him plot against me. Isn¡¯t it a good thing for you if I die in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s hands?¡±
Gu Kewen was silent for a bit. ¡°Do you still remember that deal I spoke of that time?¡±
Xia Lei immediately recalled that night, not long after the Gu n had copsed. Gu Kewen had stripped, leaving her evening gown on the floor to try to seduce him into working with her and helping her to get revenge for her father, Gu Dingshan, by going up against the bigwigs who had caused his death. Xia Lei had rejected her then, of course, but he had not expected her to bring this up now.
¡°What I want to tell you is that the deal I mentioned to you then is still valid now. If you agree and help me get revenge then the score between us shall be settled. My whole being will belong to you and you can do what you want with me.¡± Gu Kewen had said a simr thing that night at Distinguished Gathering.
¡°Thank you for reminding me, Gu Kewen, but...¡± Xia Lei switched to more tactful words, ¡°You doing this is just debasing yourself. You were the youngdy of the Gu n - when did you fall to having to use your body as a bargaining chip? Besides, you¡¯re not my type.¡±
¡°Hehe.¡± Gu Kewen gave augh. ¡°I did use my body to try to tempt you but you were indifferent. I, Gu Kewen, will not make the same mistake twice. When I said that my whole being is yours I meant that I can make money for you. The Gu n has fallen but the connections are still there. I have a leash on many people. These are all connections which money cannot buy. Yourpany can be as big as Vientaine Group in under ten years with me helping you.¡±
Catching up to Vientaine Group in ten years - it would be a joke if anyone else said it buting from Gu Kewen, it carried weight. She did have the Gu n connections and she had a hold on the weaknesses of a lot of people. These connections were not visible but they were definitely fairly powerful, otherwise Shentu Tianyin wouldn¡¯t have her as an assistant.
Xia Lei was silent. He couldn¡¯t deny that he was tempted by the offer.
¡°Give yourself time to think it over. I have patience,¡± came Gu Kewen¡¯s voice. ¡°I will continue to keep an eye on Ahn Suhyeong. I¡¯ll let you know right away if anything happens on his end.¡±
The polite thing for Xia Lei to do would be to thank her but his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton; he could not say anything.
Gu Kewen hung up.
The night breeze blew across his cheeks, bringing the chill of sundown with it. Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts cleared with the chill and he pondered, ¡®The Gu n fell because of me. Gu Dingshan is dead and Gu Kewu is still in prison. With all that weighing in the bnce, Gu Kewen wants to work with me, and not revenge? She even said she¡¯d help me surpass Vientaine Group. I have to be really drunk to believe her.¡¯
Working together was impossible. But Gu Kewen was a smart woman - couldn¡¯t she see that? Then why was she still doing this?
What made Xia Lei puzzled was that Gu Kewen had turned up again not to seek revenge on him but to offer him help. What was her motive?
Gu Kewen was like a whole different person after popping up again and she was a mystery.
Xia Lei drove on the roads but he didn¡¯t go fast. His head was full of questions, and Jiang Ruyi. Thinking of Jiang Ruyi made his heart feel warm and affectionate.
Vroom!
A motorcycle roared past the BMW M6, going at at least 100km/h.
Xia Lei looked over. The person on the motorcycle looked familiar. Just as he got ready to chase after the motorcycle and use his X-ray vision to see the face behind the helmet, the rider in front swung an arm, and a round white something was stuck on the windscreen of the BMW M6.
It was a piece of chewed chewing gum.
The sight of the chewing gum led Xia Lei to immediately guess the identity of the motorcycle rider. There was no need to speed up and catch sight of the rider¡¯s face. She was his father¡¯s assistant, Yelena.
Yelena didn¡¯t even look back. She stepped on the elerator and was gone in the blink of an eye.
This was China and her goal was not to meet; she had already done what she needed to do.
Xia Lei moved his car to the side of the road and parked in a spot by the road, then alighted. He plucked the chewing gum off the windscreen.
¡°This same thing again, making me dig through her chewed gum. Doesn¡¯t she have other methods of passing a message on?¡± grumbled Xia Lei in the car as he pulled the chewing gum apart.
There was a note in the gum, as expected. On it was written: Son, we¡¯ll meet in Russia. I need your sniper rifle. Bring two extra with you. Someone in China has you marked. I¡¯ve begun looking into that person¡¯s identity and movements and I¡¯ll get Yelena to let you know if there¡¯s any result.
It was his father, Xia Changhe¡¯s handwriting on the note, and not a forgery. A fake would never be able to fool Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
¡®My old man wants my sniper rifles?¡¯ Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡®He sure has an eye for good stuff. All right, I¡¯ll take two extra sniper rifles with me to Russia and give them to him then.¡±
His father was finally willing to meet him; Xia Lei was excited. This meant that he could find some answers to questions which had gued him. More importantly, father and son, who had been separated for five, six years were finally going to be reunited!
Xia Lei tore up the paper note and threw the chewing gum into a bin by the side of the road.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
His mobile phone rang again.
¡°Who is it now?¡± Xia Lei took his phone out and saw Jiang Ruyi¡¯s number. He epted the call. ¡°What is it, Ruyi?¡±
¡°Are you at the airport already?¡±
¡°No. Didn¡¯t I say that I¡¯m leaving tomorrow? I want to rest at home tonight,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ah, I messed up. I didn¡¯t hear you clearly and thought you were rushing off to the airport so I didn¡¯t ask you to stay. Ma even scolded me earlier, asking why I didn¡¯t treat you to a meal. You haven¡¯t eaten yet, have you?¡±
¡°Nope. I went to your ce when I got back, then to the hospital. I¡¯m on my way home now to just cook up a little something to eat.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t go back. Come pick me up. How about we go to that barbecue restaurant we used to go to when we were in high school? My treat,¡± said Jiang Ruyi. Her voice had an indescribable sweetness to it.
¡°Okay. I¡¯ll be right over.¡± Xia Lei hung up and turned his car in the direction of the hospital.
Re-living high school days - that wasn¡¯t bad either.
In the hospital, Yang Lan gave Jiang Ruyi a thumbs-up and her smile bloomed like a flower. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Girls should be gentle, yful and cute. You cannot talk to him so fiercely like a man. Who¡¯s going to marry you?¡±
¡°Ma!¡± Jiang Ruyi stamped her foot. ¡°Say any more and I won¡¯t learn! It¡¯s gross!¡±
¡°Yes, yes, yes, I won¡¯t say any more, okay?¡± Yang Lan pursed her lips, then added, ¡°The same terrible temper as your father.¡±
Jiang Shuqing turned over in bed and faced his ass at Yang Lan.
Meanwhile, a tall, burly man walked out of a dark corner where Xia Lei had parked his car. He held up a phone and spoke in Korean, ¡°President, there¡¯s something up with this punk.¡±
A male voice came from over the line. ¡°What is it? Is it a small problem?¡±
The tall man said,¡±It¡¯s not a normal situation. I saw a woman...¡±
Before he could finish, a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap suddenly walked over from the pavement and shoved a syringe into his neck. He copsed in a second.
The man held him and walked to the side of the road to open the door of a vehicle. He stuffed the man in, then drove the vehicle away. The whole thing took less than 20 seconds, and did not draw anyone¡¯s attention.
The night deepened as the plot thickened.
Chapter 376 - Daddy Xia’s Style and Methods
Lee Sungil was an excellent agent and him avoiding detection by Xia Lei during his time having him under surveince was proof of this. This was also why Ahn Geungan had looked favourably upon him and sent him to China.
Lee Sungil was also happy to sell his services to Ahn Geungan. There was a chance of promotion in addition to the high sry, and more importantly, Ahn Geungan was likely to be the next President of South Korea. How could he not do his best in his work for the future President?
But this all ended an hour earlier and the situation for him made a turn for the worse.
Lee Sungil opened his eyes an hourter to discover that he was in a dimly-lit room. He was on a chair and his arms and legs were tied to it; he could not move.
No one lived in this room and spiderwebs hung all over the walls. There were a few posters on the walls and they looked to be 20, 30 years old based on the pictures of workers, farmers and soldiers; big brother workers holding hammers, women holding sickles and soldiers with their guns held high. There was a door opposite where he sat and it was tightly shut. He could not see outside the room.
¡°Damn it!¡± Lee Sungil struggled, trying to twist out of the ropes but was unsessful.
The door suddenly flew open and a man wearing a baseball cap and a blonde-haired, blue eyes beauty walked in. She was in tight-fitting leather and her breasts and buttocks were packaged tightly, the lines of her body seductive. Her face was expressionless and cold; she seemed mysterious. She had a ck leather case in her hands and it was unknown what was inside.
The man wearing a baseball cap took his cap off and sat on a chair opposite Lee Sungil.
Lee Sungil saw his face and he was stunned. The man in front of him looked very simr to Xia Lei - he looked like a Xia Lei who was 30 years older.
¡°You are...¡± Lee Sungil was nervous and said probingly, ¡°Who are you to Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Xia Changhe.¡± The man¡¯s voice was deep. ¡°I am Xia Lei¡¯s father.¡±
¡°What do you want?¡± Lee Sungil struggled to hold the fear in his heart at bay and show a strong front. ¡°I am an employee of the South Korean government. Let me go now and I¡¯ll pretend nothing happened.¡±
Xia Changhe spoke evenly, ¡°I know you¡¯re Korean. I also know that you¡¯re a Korean special agent named Lee Sungil, thirty years old. Last year during your mission you gunned down youths fleeing from the North. There was also a girl, just 18. You vited her, then killed her. Am I right?¡±
Sweat dotted Lee Sungil¡¯s forehead and his voice started to tremble. ¡°Wh, Who are you?¡±
Only Lee Seungil and the Heavens knew what he had done - or so he¡¯d thought. This person whom he¡¯d never seen before in his life knew about this too - it was just too strange!
Xia Changhe¡¯s tone did not change. ¡°Didn¡¯t I already tell you? I am Xia Lei¡¯s father.¡±
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s father has been missing for six years!¡± said Lee Sungil.
Xia Changhe ignored Lee Sungil¡¯s outburst and kept talking. ¡°Ahn Geungan is a father. He¡¯s a good father. He built an empire for his son, Ahn Suhyeong. He has billions. I cannotpare. We are both fathers but I cannot give my son much. But there is one thing Ahn Geungan cannotpete with me for, and that is my willing to do anything for my son and daughter, including killing people.¡±
Lee Sungil¡¯s face had drained of colour.
Xia Changhe went on. ¡°The grudge between you guys and my son should have ended when Ahn Suhyeong was released but you guys couldn¡¯t leave it be. You just had to keep going after him. Couldn¡¯t wait to start moving against him right after Ahn Suhyeong was released. We¡¯re both fathers. Ahn Geungan sent killers and agents for his son¡¯s sake, so how can I do nothing as a father myself? I can¡¯t just watch you people hurt my son, can I?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about!¡± Lee Sungil yelled, ¡°Let me go! I am a South Korean agent! You should know what will happen if you kill me!¡±
Yelena opened the ck leather case, revealing its contents.
The leather case held torture instruments - pliers for cutting off fingers, a small methrower, scalpels, nylon thread, a saw, a hammer and a few one-time-use syringes. All these things were kept spotlessly clean and they gleamed with a coldness; the sight of them made one¡¯s skin crawl.
¡°Can I start now?¡± asked Yelena.
¡°No, it¡¯s better to let me do it.¡± Xia Changhe stood and casually picked up the pliers from the leather case. He walked to Lee Sungil.
Lee Sungil was already full of terror but he was an agent who had undergone professional training after all and he did not show it. He held onto hisst facade of calm. ¡°You cannot do this. I am a South Korean agent!¡±
¡°I do things in a simple, direct way. You tell me what other people Ahn Geungan has hired and what his n is and I¡¯ll let you go. If you don¡¯t, you¡¯ll suffer. Let me warn you - don¡¯t think that you can hold out just because you had some torture training. The training you¡¯ve done is juvenile andughable. I¡¯m done talking. Do you want to live, or die?¡± said Xia Changhe.
Lee Sungil clenched his jaws and said angrily, ¡°You think I believe you? You¡¯ll kill me anyway. Don¡¯t take me for a fool!¡±
A cold smile appeared on Xia Changhe¡¯s lips. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve made your decision. All right then. I¡¯m also rather curious about your tolerance level. Let¡¯s begin.¡±
¡°You fucker!¡± Lee Sungil struggled madly but was unable to get himself out of the ropes.
Xia Changhe grabbed Lee Sungil¡¯s left hand and slowly put his index finger in the pliers. He mped down. Blood spurted and a finger fell to the floor.
¡°ARGH!¡± Lee Sungil let out a scream. The pain was so great he was left sucking deep breaths of air.
Before he could catch his breath, Xia Changhe put his middle finger in the pliers and mped down right away.
¡°ARRRH!¡± Lee Sungil¡¯s middle finger fell on the floor too and pain sprang down his every nerve. He was about to faint.
¡°Just this level? And you¡¯re not embarrassed when you say you¡¯re an agent who haspleted torture training?¡± said Xia Changhe softly.
¡°Ptoo!¡± Lee Sungil opened his mouth and spat at Xia Changhe.
Xia Changhe nodded. ¡°Now this is more agent-like.¡± So saying, he cut off Lee Sungil¡¯s thumb and ring finger.
Lee Sungil could not take it anymore. He was going to pass out cold.
Yelena picked up a syringe from the ck leather case and said, ¡°This is thepany¡¯s new product. It can keep a man conscious.¡±
Xia Changhe epted the syringe and casually pierced Lee Sungil¡¯s neck with it.
Lee Sungil was soon brought back to alertness thanks to the drug. ¡°Who the fuck are you people?¡± he screamed.
Xia Changhe did not say a word but he cut off thest finger on Lee Sungil¡¯s left hand.
¡°Bastards! You¡¯ll regret this!¡± Lee Sungil was being driven mad by the pain. He was experiencing indescribable pain but he could not escape it.
¡°Lee Sungil, I¡¯ll give you onest chance,¡± said Xia Changhe coldly, ¡°Answer my questions or I¡¯ll start the real torture. You¡¯ll feel like death is a release from your pain then.¡±
Removing all five fingers from his left hand was not real torture? Was that just an appetiser?
Lee Sungil took great gasping breaths, trying to internalise his body¡¯s pain. His psychological defences were crumbling fast.
Xia Changhe put down the pliers and took the scalpel and a bundle of nylon thread. His voice was ice. ¡°In ancient times there was a torture method known as ¡®Death by a Thousand Cuts¡¯*. Only the best executioners can do it and I just so happen to be one. I rarely do this myself but for my son, I shall let you taste lingering death.¡±
¡°I, I don¡¯t know...¡± Lee Sungil held on to thisst bit of hope.
Xia Changhe wrinkled his brows. He wound the nylon string around Lee Sungil¡¯s body. He did it skillfully and the thin nylon string tightened across Lee Sungil¡¯s skin, closing around him like a fish.
The scalpel descended a few minutester and cleanly cut out a piece of Lee Sungil¡¯s flesh.
¡°Ah...¡± Lee Sungil screamed. He crumbled.
Xia Change was focused as the scalpel met flesh, and his expression frighteningly serene. He was like an artist, turning a shapeless block of wood into a work of art. His indifference and practiced moves made him look like a master executioner of ancient times.
Lee Sungil could hold on no longer at the tenth cut. ¡°Stop! I... I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk!¡± he wailed.
Xia Changhe stopped and looked silently at Lee Sungil.
Lee Sungil cried and spoke tremulously, ¡°Ahn Geungan has a coborative rtionship with the CIA. He used money to hire some people to keep watch on Xia Lei and the people close to him, and collect every bit of information on him. Ahn Geungan also offered the CIA an astonishing amount of money. The CIA started a program called ¡®The Fisherman¡¯. They n, n to... to capture Xia Lei in Russia.¡±
Xia Changhe spoke softly, ¡°The look in your eyes tell me that you haven¡¯t told me everything. Are you testing my patience? I have no more. Let¡¯s continue.¡± He moved the scalpel to cut at Lee Sungil again.
¡°No, No...¡± Lee Sungil took huge gulps of air. ¡°I also know that Ahn Suhyeong found a team of killers himself and hired them to assassinate Xia Lei.¡±
¡°What team?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, I really don¡¯t know. Let me go. Don¡¯t kill me... Don¡¯t kill me...¡± Lee Sungil cried. He¡¯d never been so weak in his life.
¡°All right. I¡¯ll release you.¡± Xia Changhe went to Lee Sungil¡¯s back.
¡°Really?¡± Lee Sungil saw a ray of hope.
¡°Really.¡± Xia Changhe¡¯s scalpel suddenly ran across Lee Sungil¡¯s neck.
Blood spurted out like a fountain. Lee Sungil¡¯s body jerked a few times, and was properly still.
Xia Changhe tossed the scalpel in the ck leather case and sneered, ¡°The Fisherman? They¡¯ll get a shark. Clean this ce up. We¡¯re going to get ready to go to Russia.¡±
Yelena nodded and started on disposing of Lee Sungil¡¯s corpse.
Xia Changhe took out Lee Sungil¡¯s phone and scrolled to thest number Lee Sungil had called. He typed a message in Korean: President, all goes well. Xia Lei is very alert. I¡¯ll contact you immediately when there¡¯s new information.
He threw the phone at the feet of the corpse when he was done sending the message.
Yelena sshed petrol on Lee Sungil¡¯s corpse and it crackled with mes a minuteter...
Chapter 377 - Arrogant Colonel
The first people to greet him when he walked out of the airport were Qin Xiang and Xia Xue.
It was the school holiday season but the Haizhu home was empty without Xia Lei in it and Xia Xue did not want to go back to an empty ce. Xia Lei was notfortable with her staying in Haizhu by herself so he arranged for her to help out in the military factory.
Since thepany belonged to her brother, she was, naturally, going to be helping out at management-level. It was a rare chance for some practical experience and her role in the Thunder Horse Group was sure to be increasingly important with the expansion of Xia Lei¡¯s business.
Qin Xiang was driving Xia Lei¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban, and he drove like he rode his motorcycles - fast and furious.
¡°Big Sister Xiang, please slow down. Are you trying to take flight?¡± Xia Xue sat nervously in the car. She had her seatbelt on but she didn¡¯t feel safe enough; she kept a hand tight on the handrail under the car roof.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at Xia Xue. ¡°What are you calling your Big Brother Qin? Picking up bad habits, huh?¡±
Xia Xue stuck out her tongue at him. She had an added tiny fear of Xia Lei after the incident where she had almost been harmed by Ahn Sujun, and she did not dare to throw little tantrums anymore.
Qin Xiang quirked his lips in a smile. ¡°What are you scolding Xue for? I like her calling me Big Sister Xiang. All the employees in the military factory call me Big Sister Xiang too. Are you going to scold them all too?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡± Xia Xue piped up in agreement but her voice was small and only she could hear herself.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°All right, Big Sister Xiang. You have to keep an eye on Xue when I¡¯m in Russia. Don¡¯t let anything like thest time happen again.¡±
¡°You can count on me,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°I was fooled once - do you think I¡¯ll be fooled twice? I¡¯m not a silly girl, Brother. You don¡¯t have to worry about me,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°You don¡¯t know how dangerous this world is. I will protect you when I can, and when a dayes when I cannot, then you¡¯ll have to rely on yourself,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What are you trying to say, Brother?¡± Xia Xue looked worriedly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Nothing. Just be careful. Don¡¯t trust anyone easily, especially strangers.¡±
¡°Okay, I know. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± Xia Xue pursed her little mouth, but she was quietly grateful to her brother.
¡°Visit Lu Sheng in hospital more often when I¡¯m in Russia. He got hurt because of you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll go visit Big Brother Sheng tomorrow.¡± Xia Xue agreed right away.
They talked and they chatted and the Chevrolet Suburban arrived at Thunder Horse Military Factory next to Bailu Town.
Xia Lei went straight to the workshop. Annina was arguing over something with an officer. Her Chinese was not good, and the atmosphere between them was an unhappy one.
¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± Xia Lei walked over.
Annina spotted Xia Lei and a smile bloomed on her face. She spoke in German, ¡°Lukas, I was going to go with Qin Xiang to get you from the airport but the military wasing to collect a shipment. I couldn¡¯t just leave so I didn¡¯t go.¡±
Xia Lei switched to German too. ¡°It¡¯s all right. What happened here?¡±
¡°This officer wants to take all the sniper rifles. We won¡¯t be able to go to the light weapons exhibition in Russia if we give him everything,¡± said Annina.
¡°Okay, I got it. I¡¯ll talk with him.¡± Xia Lei then spoke to the officer who hade to collect the sniper rifles. ¡°How may I address you, Sir?¡±
¡°No need with the ¡®Sir¡¯. I¡¯m surnamed Tian. Officer Tian,¡± said the officer.
Xia Lei extended a hand and shook with Tian Jun, then nced at his rank and greeted with a smile, ¡°So it¡¯s Colonel Tian. Well met, well met. I am Xia Lei.¡±
¡°I know who you are. It¡¯s good that you¡¯re here. I¡¯ll talk with you - I can¡¯t get through to this woman,¡± said Officer Tian. ¡°I am from the Equipment Department. I have a collection form for sniper rifles and it¡¯s clearly stated that all sniper rifles must be taken.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brow. ¡°The situation now is that ourpany is preparing to go to Russia to participate in an international light weapons exhibition. We cannot give you all our sniper rifles. We need to take some to Russia with us. Look, how about you take those you can and we¡¯ll hand over the rest when we produce more.¡±
Officer Tian shook his head. ¡°How can that do? This is an order. I am carrying it out.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to a stack of engineering boxes. There were roughly 20 sniper rifles there. His gaze then went to arge wooden box behind Annina. His left eye twitched and he soon saw the four sniper rifles hidden inside. One of the rifles was the special one he had modified personally and could shoot up to 3,500 metres. That sniper rifle was also the rifle he wanted to bring to Russia as a sample.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and said without missing a beat, ¡°All right, then they¡¯re all there. There¡¯s only 20 this time. Get your men to transport them.¡±
20 XL2500 sniper rifles, each retailing at 1,000,000 - the shipment was worth 20,000,000. This was also what Thunder Horse Military Factory had managed to produce till now. Production was low, but in terms of value, one had to admit that the arms business was the most profitable in the world.
Officer Tian gave a scoffingugh. ¡°It¡¯s not just these 20 guns, is it, President Xia? This woman was packing a box.¡± He pointed at therge wooden box next to Annina. ¡°I saw. There are four more rifles in that box.¡±
Annina put on a helpless look. ¡°He just charged right in. Couldn¡¯t stop him.¡±
Officer Tian spoke expressionlessly, ¡°What do you think this ce is? Stop me? I have privileges in this military factory.¡±
¡°Privileges?¡± Anger red in Xia Lei¡¯s heart but he held it in check.
¡°Yes, we from the Equipment Department are direct supervisors of your military factory. We don¡¯t manage your production but we have final say on what has been produced.¡± Officer Tian was adamant. ¡°I shall take those four sniper rifles too. Please excuse me, and please don¡¯t cause any unhappiness.¡±
The mes of Xia Lei¡¯s anger burst forth. ¡°I¡¯ve already made it clear to you people that those four sniper rifles are what I want to take to Russia with me for the light weapons exhibition. I cannot give them to you. My participation in the exhibition was also approved by the higher-ups.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care about that. I care only about carrying out my order,¡± said Officer Tian coldly.
¡°Who ordered it?¡±
¡°You have no clearance to know.¡±
¡°Fine.¡± Xia Lei pointed at the workshop door. ¡°Get out. Not a single rifle for you!¡±
Officer Tian grew angry. ¡°What did you say? Men!¡±
Some soldiers outside the door came walking in. They were armed.
¡°Take all the guns!¡± ordered Officer Tian.
The soldiers did not hesitate. They went straight to the stic engineering boxes and took hold of them.
Officer Tian called two soldiers by name and raised his voice to say, ¡°You two, get that box on the vehicle.¡±
The two soldiers walked towards therge wooden box behind Anina.
¡°You can¡¯t take this!¡± Annina spread her arms. ¡°Can¡¯t you be reasonable?¡±
¡°Get out of the way!¡± A soldier reached out and pushed Annina away.
Annina stumbled and nearly fell to the floor.
¡°Damn you!¡± Xia Lei could not hold his anger back anymore and he kicked the soldier on his behind. The soldier was kicked to the floor.
The other soldier stared nkly for a bit, then abruptly raised his gun and swung the butt down at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei blocked the gun butt with one hand and punched the soldier in his lower abdomen with his other hand at the same time. The soldier let out a cry of pain, took two tottering steps back and fell on his butt.
The sudden development stunned Officer Tian and the soldiers who were busy moving the boxes. They had not expected Xia Lei to resist at all, because they were all armed.
Normal soldiers had no bullets in their guns and Xia Lei had already seen through them. He was not worried about these soldiers shooting him at all.
¡°You dare-¡± Officer Tian took out his gun.
Xia Lei kicked the gun out of his hand. That gun had bullets in it, but he was not going to give Officer Tian any chances to use them.
¡°Mutiny! Seize him!¡± shouted Officer Tian in shameful anger.
The soldiers advanced, raining kicks, punches and gun butts down at Xia Lei.
A minuteter, the ruthless soldiers were strewn about the floor like abandoned toys. Every one of them had bruised noses and swollen faces, and had lost his ability to fight.
Officer Tian finally spotted his gun in a corner. He dashed towards it and bent to pick it up. However, a foot stepped on the back of his hand just as it closed over the gun.
¡°Ah!¡± Officer Tian curled his hands in pain and let out a scream.
Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°You fucker. This is MY military factory. When did it be your stomping grounds? What do you think this ce is? Your home?¡±
¡°Release my hand!¡± Officer Tian was irate.
Xia Lei did not move his foot away. He stepped harder and ground his heel down.
¡°Ah...¡± Sweat broke out on Officer Tian¡¯s brow, but he still spoke stubborn words. ¡°You will regret this, Xia Lei!¡±
¡°I already regret producing fucking sniper rifles for you people!¡± said Xia Lei angrily. ¡°Who sent you here? Don¡¯t think that I¡¯m unaware that someone is worried that the sniper rifles I produce will make an impression at the international light weapons exhibit, and sent a piece of shit like you to cause some damage. Who is he? Tell me!¡±
¡°What nonsense are you talking about? You¡¯ll go to military court!¡±
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go. You won¡¯t be able to hide the truth from the masses!¡± Xia Lei sneered, ¡°Worsees to worst I¡¯ll move the military factory overseas. You people won¡¯t be able to buy a single one!¡±
¡°Who do you think you are? Bastard! Let go of my hand!¡± Officer Tian was mad with anger. ¡°I¡¯ll count to three. One! Two! Three!¡±
Xia Lei looked coldly down at Officer Tian kneeling on the floor. Release him at the count of three? He¡¯d like to hear him count to three thousand.
¡°Let him go.¡± A female voice came from the workshop doorway.
There was no need to look back. Xia Lei could tell that it was Tang Yuyan from her voice. He gave her a look, then removed his foot from Officer Tian.
Officer Tian suddenly snatched up the gun.
Bang! A shot rang out.
Officer Tian dropped his gun, startled.
Tang Yuyan blew at the blue smokeing from the muzzle of her gun. She spoke slowly, ¡°Officer Tian, it¡¯s not toote if you leave now. You¡¯ll be in a bad state if you keep causing trouble.¡±
¡°What are you doing, Tang Yuyan?¡± said Officer Tian coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t think that I¡¯m afraid of your father. He can¡¯t call the shots on this matter either.¡±
¡°True. You don¡¯t need to be afraid of my father. But you should be afraid of the gun I have in my hand. Xia Lei is not for you to threaten; you are under-qualified. Do you want to try? I¡¯ll give you a chance to pick up your gun. But if you aim it at Xia Lei I¡¯ll shoot you down,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Officer Tian bent to pick the gun from the floor. He wanted very much to point it at Xia Lei¡¯s head and make him kneel while apologising but he did not dare. He knew well that when someone from Bureau 101 said they would kill someone, they would.
¡°Don¡¯t dare to do it? Then take your men and scram,¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°And pass this message on to your backer: The higher-ups approved of this trip to the exhibition in Russia. If you want to sabotage it I¡¯ll make a big fuss and you won¡¯t be left unscathed.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Tang Yuyan. He had a feeling that she knew who had sent Officer Tian.
¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Officer Tian did not dare to call Tang Yuyan¡¯s bluff in the end and he gave the order to leave. The soldiers shuffled and stumbled behind him as they exited the workshop.
Chapter 378 - War, It Is
Officer Tian took him men with him and the tense atmosphere dissipated.
¡°Are you all right, Lukas?¡± Annina came to him and asked in concern. She could not help in the fight and she was worried that he had got hurt.
Xia Lei patted her shoulder and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Why don¡¯t you go back to the office? I¡¯ll talk with Yuyan.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Annina agreed obediently and left the workshop. She nodded a greeting to Tang Yuyan as they brushed shoulders on her way out.
Tang Yuyan gave her a smile too.
Xia Lei went straight to the point as soon as Annina left. ¡°I know that you know who is trying to cause trouble. Tell me who it is.¡±
Tang Yuyan was silent for a while before she spoke. ¡°It¡¯s not someone, but... apany.¡±
¡°Apany?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
¡°Hanwu Weapons,¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°Thergest military supplies manufacturer in China. They mainly produce light weapons and ammunition, as well as defensive equipment for troops.¡±
Xia Lei quickly understood the situation. He had built Thunder Horse Military Factory and produced the best sniper rifle in the world, as well as superior handguns - this would indeed step on the toes of a lot of people. In other words, he had a slice of pie from someone else, so that person was not going to just let it go, was he?
The XL2500 surpassed all of its peers in terms of specifications and was sure to make a ssh at the light weapons exhibition in Russia. What would follow was recognition of the brand, orders from the domestic market and overseas. Thunder Horse Military Factory would also be more established and be able to be more influential. How could Hanwu Weapons, producing simr things, just stand idly by?
One appearance by an Officer Tian was definitely not the end of it. This was just an indication of the beginning!
Tang Yuyan let out a dryugh. ¡°I heard a rumour in the wind from my father about an hour ago and specially came over to check on you. Didn¡¯t expect that they would reallye and try something.¡±
¡°Who¡¯s the boss of Hanwu Weapons?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Ye Kun.¡± Tang Yuyan said a name and added, ¡°He is a favourite pupil of the chairman of China Industrial Group, Mu Jianfeng.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Mu Jianfeng is involved too?¡±
¡°This I don¡¯t know. China Industrial Group manufactures heavy weaponry. You are not hindering them or taking away their privileges. However, if we think about the rtionship between Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun... It¡¯s hard to say.¡± She paused for a bit and said, ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about this either. I¡¯ll protect you. This trip to Russia will go smoothly. I came to tell you that the flight to Russia has been arranged. We can fly directly to Moscow tomorrow.¡±
¡°Those people probably know you have the ne ready so they¡¯re making ast ditch effort to snatch the guns away before you get here, huh? If I hadn¡¯t fought back and let them take the guns, what would we have to show in Moscow?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t hold back his anger. ¡°What right have they to do something like this? Just because they are a government-backedpany?¡±
¡°There will always be fights, no matter which industry or business. Plus, you didn¡¯t evene from a military background. Your Thunder Horse Military Factory is still in its infancy stage, so of course someone is going to try to kill it off before it grows. Think about it - would the people from Hanwu Weapons just watch yourpany grow into something which wouldpete with it for domestic military orders? They wouldn¡¯t bother if you weren¡¯t capable of doing so, but you are.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Hah. So you¡¯re saying I¡¯m the one at fault here?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t mean that at all,¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°I know you¡¯re angry but what I¡¯m trying to tell you is that getting angry is no use. You¡¯ve starting taking slices from their pie and you¡¯re threatening Hanwu Weapons¡¯ position. You should be prepared to have to go to war with them.¡±
Go to war? Xia Lei paused. For some reason, Tang Yuyan¡¯s words were like a club to his head, giving him a knock just hard enough to knock him awake.
That¡¯s right - he had entered the military industry, which hadn¡¯t been open to private capital before. Thosepeting with him now wererge government-backed militarypanies and he was threatening these people¡¯s positions - how could they just let it be? And him, too. He had already taken a step on the warpath and there was not way out but to fight on, unless he was going to bow out.
Would he exit from the military industry?
No. He, Xia Lei, had never been one to turn tail and run, much less one who waved the white g after being threatened!
If they wanted war, then he was going to be the tiger devouring prey!
So those people didn¡¯t want to see Thunder Horse Military Factory be sessful, huh? He was going to make it into a super arms producer like Lockheed Martin!
¡°Have you thought it through?¡± Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei, trying to guess at his thoughts.
Xia Lei suddenlyughed, and it was not forced. ¡°Thank you for your words. I¡¯ve got it; I won¡¯t think of it in aplicated manner, and not too simply either. I¡¯ll do what I should do. No matter who they are, and what sort of privileged group, I won¡¯t be scared of them. I believe our nation is not one ruled by dictatorship and that no one can keep the truth from the masses and turn ck to white."
Tang Yuyanughed too. ¡°That¡¯s good. All right, take me on a tour around this ce. I¡¯m curious to see how those sniper rifles are produced.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll get Qin Xiang to take you around. I¡¯m going to Russia tomorrow so I need to talk with Annina and hand over some matters to her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, you go do your stuff. I¡¯ll just look around,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei waved Qin Xiang over and tasked him with showing Tang Yuyan around before he went to the office.
Annina was putting the design ns in order and she put them down when she saw Xia Lei walk in. ¡°Lukas, I have some concerns.¡±
¡°What are you concerned about?¡± Xia Lei walked over.
¡°You hit those soldiers, and that military officer. They will make things difficult for you.¡± Annina frowned, worried.
Xia Lei let out augh. ¡°So what¡¯s a little difficulty? Let theme. I¡¯ll take them all on.¡±
¡°But...¡±
Xia Lei held her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that our dream is to build a super military factory known worldwide. Our XL2500 sniper rifle is just the beginning. Our dream will not be toppled, no matter the difficulty and hindrances.¡±
Annina gripped Xia Lei¡¯s hand tightly too. ¡°Yes! I feel reassured by your words. You¡¯re right - making Thunder Horse Military Factory into an internationally recognised arms producer is ourmon dream. I will be with you no matter what difficulties we face. Let¡¯s realise our dream together!¡±
No monsters and nightmares were going to hinder their dream!
¡°I¡¯m going to Russia tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I need to hand over some matters to you before I go.¡±
¡°Sure, tell me.¡± Annina was listening.
¡°Those people won¡¯t make any moves with Tang Yuyan here. They¡¯reing back for sure once we leave for Russia. Let them take the guns in the warehouses if they want. We¡¯ll burn the design ns. The specifications in theputers have to be wiped too. Don¡¯t let them get anything.¡±
Annina nodded. ¡°I got it.¡±
¡°The most important are thethes in our workshop,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Thosethes are the core of our production of the XL2500. Otherthes will not work. In other words, they are our trade secret. You cannot tell anyone.¡±
¡°Thosethes were designed by you and built by us. Every machine is unique, and only parts produced with thesethes can be put together to make the XL2500.¡± Anninaughed all of a sudden. ¡°You¡¯re sly, Lukas. Burning the design ns, wiping the drives... Even if otherpanies take our XL2500 back and made a copy they would only be able to make something that looks like it but it won¡¯t function the same way.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s start now. I¡¯ll destroy the design ns and you go wipe the drives,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, that¡¯s easy.¡± Annina got started right away, clicking at theputer and wiping the drives.
Xia Lei was sure that the first shipment of sniper rifles for the Equipment Department would not be distributed but end up somewhere in Hanwu Weapons. Someone was going to disassemble, study and replicate the sniper rifles, but that somebody would only be able to make something with simr shape but none of the superior capabilities of the XL2500.
He could rest assured and go to Russia with these preparations done.
The design ns curled up into ash and the faint smoke from the burning curled about the office.
Dududu, Dududu...
The phone on the office desk rang all of a sudden. It was an internal call from the guard post.
Xia Lei picked it up. ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°President Xia, a woman¡¯se to the gates saying she wants to meet with you.¡±
¡°She didn¡¯t say who she was?¡±
A woman¡¯s voice suddenly came from over the line. ¡°It¡¯s me. Something¡¯s up.¡±
It was Fu Mingmei¡¯s voice.
What was she doing here at a time like this?
Xia Lei was curious and he notified Annina, then left the office to go to the main gates.
Fu Mingmei stood at the gates, blocked by the soldiers on guard. The guards were also holding off Shentu Tianyin¡¯s car, the silver Rolls Royce Phantom.
Xia Lei walked up to Fu Mingmei. ¡°What is it, Mingmei?¡± He nced at the Rolls Royce Phantom as he spoke but didn¡¯t see Shentu Tianyin inside.
¡°No need to look. She¡¯s not in there. She sent me to fetch you,¡± said Fu Mingmei.
¡°Tianyin¡¯s looking for me? What is it?¡± Xia Lei was very busy and didn¡¯t want to go.
¡°A good thing, of course. Can it be bad?¡± said Fu Mingmei.
¡°I¡¯m not joking around,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m busy and I have to go to Russia tomorrow. There¡¯s a lot of work for me to do. I¡¯m not going if it¡¯s not anything important.¡±
Fu Mingmei was displeased. ¡°You¡¯re putting on airs now.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You know that I¡¯m not that sort of person. I really am busy. So tell me - what is it?¡±
¡°Someone wants to talk business with you,¡± said Fu Mingmei.
¡°Who?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t think of a person who would want to talk business with him, and what business it was either.
¡°A big person. I don¡¯t know names,¡± said Fu Mingmei. ¡°But this person must be a big deal indeed if Tianyin is inviting you over without letting me know the name. Come on, this is a good thing for you. You won¡¯t regret it if you go. Look, Tianyin let me use her ride to fetch you. Isn¡¯t that a great show of sincerity already?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll go with you and see what this is about. But I¡¯m driving my car so it¡¯ll be more convenient for me to get back.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± Fu Mingmei shot Xia Lei a smile.
Chapter 379 - Winner’s Reward
Xia Lei thought the meeting would take ce at the Vientaine Group¡¯s Angel Wings Building but Fu Mingmei drove out of the city and to the Jingdu International Golf Course on the northern banks of the Ming Tombs Reservoir.
This was the best golf course in Jingdu and it spanned 3,600 miao, had 18 holes and 72 pars. The most important feature of this course was the beautiful scenery. It was a ce that the rich, famous and celebrities of Jingdu liked toe to, and having a VIP member card to Jingdu International Golf Course was a sort of status. Xia Lei had heard of this ce but had nevere here before.
¡°You know what?¡± said Fu Mingmei from a golf cart, ¡°Tianyin booked this ce out for you to have that meeting with that person.¡±
¡°She booked this entire ce?¡± Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°How much did that cost?¡±
Fu Mingmei gave him a wicked smile. ¡°You think money means anything to her?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He felt like he had asked a stupid question. Shentu Tianyin had gained the assistance of Gu Kewen¡¯s help after the copse of the Gu n and amassed capital rapidly. Her worth now was probably close to quite some billions - would she care about the money needed to book the entire golf course?
From another perspective, the person who wanted to meet him to talk business had already disyed his power even before they met. Add this to what had happened before and it wasn¡¯t very difficult to guess the identity of this person.
¡®Could it be that Ye Kun from Hanwu Weapons?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Fu Mingmei nced at Xia Lei and hesitated, but still opened her mouth to say, ¡°Xia Lei, there¡¯s something I¡¯m not sure if I should say.¡±
Xia Lei stopped his musings and gave her a faint smile. ¡°You and I are sort of old friends so just say what you want to say. Would I get angry at you for saying just one thing?¡±
¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll say it,¡± said Fu Mingmei. ¡°You should be together with Tianyin. She needs someone like you to help her. If you two get together you¡¯ll be the most perfect, most amazong couple. You can gain even more in Vientaine Group - why ve away at your smapny? Vientaine Group is the stage upon which you can spread your wings. Tianyin is strong but she is a woman still. If you two get married and build a family, and she gives birth to your son, then won¡¯t Vientaine Group go to your son?¡±
Xia Lei just listened to her and maintained the fait smile on his face.
¡°I don¡¯t get it. Gu Kewu could see this, and Ahn Suhyeong too but why can¡¯t you? Are you actually not attracted to the great dowry which is Vientaine Group? Say something - what are you smiling at?¡± said Fu Mingmei.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°First, I¡¯d like to thank you for your kind intentions. I know you¡¯re saying it for my own good but I am not Gu Kewu or Ahn Suhyeong. I grew up in a normal neighbourhood, went to a public primary school, high school; I also worked on construction sites. I know it¡¯s tough to do business so I really appreciate all that I have now. Mypany is like my child - I will never abandon it. One more thing - and the most important - I, Xia Lei, will never live my life in the shadow of a woman.¡±
His assets now was just a tiny fraction of what Shentu Tianyin had but he had earned it all himself with his own efforts; it was his. Sure, Vientaine Group was worth close to a hundred billion but it belonged to Shentu Tianyin, to the Shentu n. What did it matter if he went to them? He was never the type of man who would live off a woman!
Fu Mingmei sighed and stopped talking.
The golf cart stopped on a patch of green.
Xia Lei saw the few people standing on the green. Shentu Tianyin, Ahn Suhyeong, Mu Jianfeng and a middle-aged man he didn¡¯t recognise. A caddy stood next to these four people; a hulking man from the West.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the man smiling and chatting with Mu Jianfeng, thinking, ¡®This guy looks to be on close terms with Mu Jianfeng. Is he Ye Kun from Hanwu Weapons?¡±
Shentu Tianyin waved at Xia Lei. ¡°Lei, over here.¡±
Xia Lei walked over.
Ahn Suhyeong looked at Xia Lei and his face darkened. There was no way he was going to forget the humiliation he had suffered because of him, and the price his father had paid to extract him from the sticky situation he was in. He wanted nothing more than to use a gun and shoot Xia Lei in the face when he saw the confident, smiling Xia Lei walking over.
The Western caddie standing to one side looked at Xia Lei too; his gaze was scrutinising.
Mu Jianfeng and the middle-aged man with him also looked at Xia Lei. Mu Jianfeng lowered his voice and said something to the middle-aged man next to him.
Xia Lei took note of all their reactions. He had some guesses but he kept a smile on his face. ¡°Tianyin, so it¡¯s Elder Mu who wants to talk business with me. Really, you could have just called me in advance. Elder Mu and I go way back. There¡¯s no need for this mysteriousness, is there?¡±
Shentu Tianyin gave augh. ¡°I did want to tell you but Elder Mu didn¡¯t let me.¡±
Mu Jianfeng chuckled. ¡°I have my reasons.¡±
¡°Hello, Elder Mu.¡± Xia Lei held out both hands to shake with Mu Jianfeng as he said politely, ¡°Long time no see. You get younger with age, Elder Mu.¡±
Mu Jianfengughed. ¡°Still as glib with the tongue, eh Boy? I could already tell back then when you were still running a small machine shop in Haizhu that you¡¯re not one to be content in a small pond and that you would rise up in the world sooner orter. And look - it has just been a little over a year, and your growth has made even an old man like me see you with different eyes.¡±
¡°Thank you for the high praise, Elder Mu,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°Lei,e, I¡¯ll introduce you. This is Ye Kun, my pupil,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°Oh, hello, Mr Ye.¡± Xia Lei held out both hands and shook with Ye Kun.
Ke Yun had a smile on his face. ¡°I¡¯d heard that a genius had arrived in Jingdu. You are indeed an extraordinary person now that I¡¯ve seen you today. Well met, well met.¡±
Xia Lei had a smile on his face too but he was scolding him inside. ¡°Well met, my ass!¡±
Ahn Suhyeong walked over with a nice smile on his face. ¡°Do you y golf, Mr Xia? If you do, why don¡¯t we y one round?¡±
How would someone who toiled on construction sites know how to y an aristocratic sport such as golf? He was clearly trying to make Xia Lei look bad.
Xia Lei looked at Ahn Suhyeong and pretended to be surprised. ¡°Oh my, isn¡¯t this Mr Ahn? You¡¯ve been released? When did you get out? Why didn¡¯t you let me know? I could have gone to fetch you.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s smile froze on his face.
¡°Pfft...¡± Fu Mingmei couldn¡¯t hold herughter back.
Shentu Tianyin shot Fu Mingmei a re and she put her hand over her mouth.
¡°How about we have a spot to drink? It¡¯ll be more pleasant to talk business too,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
She knew that Xia Lei had never yed golf before and she didn¡¯t want him to look bad.
¡°No, it makes no difference where we talk.¡± The one who had spoken was Ye Kun. ¡°Isn¡¯t it even better to talk business while we y golf?¡±
¡°Then... All right.¡± Shentu Tianyin agreed. She could not offend either Mu Jianfeng or Ye Kun.
Vientaine Group had startling mary power but Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were leaders of two national brands and represented a power. She was richer than them both and had a higher standing in that regard but other than money she had nothing topare to them with. The poor couldn¡¯t bepared to the rich and the rich couldn¡¯t bepared to officials; she knew the meaning of this expression deeply.
Ahn Suhyeong smiled. He waved at the caddy and said, ¡°Bring a club. Mr Xia doesn¡¯t have one.¡±
The caddy came running over to hand Xia Lei a golf club.
Xia Lei took the club and waved it about casually, as if testing the feel of it in his hand.
Mu Jianfeng pulled Ye Kun to one side and said in a low voice, ¡°What are you doing? You want to talk business with him, not annoy him.¡±
Ye Kun lowered his voice too. ¡°Teacher, this Xia Lei is young and hot-blooded. If we talk business directly with him he will most probably try to take the lion¡¯s share. I¡¯ll first set him up, then talk to him and we¡¯ll be doing half the work for twice the effect.¡±
Mu Jiangfeng gave augh. ¡°Ah, you. You alwayse up with unexpected things.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you teach me this, Teacher?¡± Ye Kun said with a smirk. ¡°You could buy the intelligentthe from Xia Lei, Teacher, so why can¡¯t I buy the military factory from him? He is a gold mine for us to mine.¡±
The conversation between the teacher and pupil was as quiet as church mice but they could not hide it from the lip-reading Xia Lei.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help the faint smile which appeared in the corners of his mouth. ¡®So they do have designs on my military factory. And they want to frustrate me before talking to me to stop me from asking for a lot. Their arrogance should not go beyond this extent.¡¯
Just then, Ahn Suhyeong hit the golf ball and it flew from the its tee to arc in the air, then fall to the grass and bounce towards a hole. It was just two steps away from the hole when it stopped.
Ahn Suhyeong walked over, took aim, then swung his club gently. The golf ball rolled over the grass and went into the hole.
Ye Kun pped for Ahn Suhyeong and said in praise, ¡°Mr Ahn is skilled indeed. Your style is simr to mine, and we are about the same level too.¡±
The caddy ran over to get the ball.
Shentu Tianyin drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said softly, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a brief summary of the rules of this sport. There¡¯s 18 holes in golf, and the person who gets the ball in the hole in the least number of moves wins.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°That simple?¡±
Shentu Tianyin leaned on him, just a bit. ¡°You¡¯ve never yed before, so knowing the rules is enough. It¡¯s not shameful if you lose either.¡±
Losing was nothing big but he would be made fun of if he didn¡¯t know the rules.
Ahn Suhyeong walked towards Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin with a mocking smile in the corners of his mouth. ¡°Are you trying to learn golf techniques at thest minute, Mr Xia? It¡¯s fine - I¡¯ll give you a handicap of ten.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was about to say something but Xia Lei leaned on her and said, ¡°So confident? A handicap of ten?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was dismissive. ¡°I think the handicap I¡¯m giving you is already an overestimation of your skill but I need to give you arger handicap or there wouldn¡¯t be any point in the game.¡±
Ye Kun interrupted to say, ¡°I¡¯ll join in one game too, but I don¡¯t need Mr Ahn to give me a handicap.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was polite. ¡°I¡¯m just d that Mr Ye is not giving me a handicap. How can I give you one?¡±
Ye Kun looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Do you dare take up the challenge, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Why would I need to ¡®dare¡¯ to do it? It¡¯s no big deal. But since it¡¯s apetition there should be a reward, right? How about we put up 10,000,000 each to put into a pot. Winner takes all. How about that?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun exchanged nces and smiled.
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows. She wanted to caution Xia Lei to take his words back but he looked fairly confident and self-assured. She sighed to herself. ¡®Forget it. It¡¯s good to let him eat humble pie too. He¡¯s always so willful and that¡¯s not good.¡¯
Just then, Mu Jianfeng spoke up. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll be your referee.¡±
Chapter 380 - Tyrannical Beginner
There was no connection between ying golf and talking business but Ye Kun was looking for something in which he would have the higher ground and where he could talk to Xia Lei aggressively and condescendingly. His aim in joining in Ahn Suhyeong and Xia Lei¡¯s game was to wipe the floor with Xia Lei¡¯s pride so that he would lose some of his spirit and self-esteem.
This was a sort of ¡®show of power¡¯ from a big government-backedpany boss to a small civilian boss. He did not need to pander to Xia Lei - he was going to crush Xia Lei like a road roller. He was going to pulverise Xia Lei and make Xia Lei pander to him!
As for Ahn Suhyeong, his motives were much simpler. He wanted to see Xia Lei make a fool of himself and make himself look bad.
30,000,000 was transferred to one of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ounts and the winner of this littlepetition would get this prize of 30,000,000.
The three menpeting each had their own motives. Shentu Tianyin and Mu Jianfeng watched from the sidelines, each with their own thoughts.
¡°Right, we can begin now,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°This is not apetition and there is no need for too many rules. Who¡¯s going first?¡±
¡°Let me have a try before we start ying. I yed a few times in Germany but it¡¯s been a while. I¡¯d like to find my grip again,¡± said Xia Lei.
Mu Jianfeng nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong sneered, ¡°Mr Xia, when did you y golf in Germany? Can¡¯t tell a book from its cover, eh? Oh, right, was it a construction site in Germany?¡±
¡°A prison in Germany,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face darkened when he heard the word ¡®prison¡¯.
Xia Lei ced a golf ball on the tee and swung his club, aiming for the closest hole. The golf ball dribbled off in another direction.
¡°Hahaha.¡± Ahn Suhyeongughed. This level of skill was even worse than an amateur¡¯s.
Ye Kunughed. ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve never yed golf before, Mr Xia. It¡¯s okay, you can take your money back. We¡¯ll just y a simple game, and raise the bar after you¡¯ve practiced a bit.¡±
Xia Lei was calm in the face of Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun¡¯s ridicule. He put another ball on the tee and swung the club with a whoosh, aiming for the furthest hole.
His swing, power and direction had significantly increased. Though the ball had flown to another side and not into the hole, it was not very far off.
Xia Lei swung two more times. These two swings had no real direction and were just random hits. One ball went into the water and the other flew over a grassy mound and was lost to sight.
Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces; it was difficult for them to hold back theirughter. To them, it looked like Xia Lei didn¡¯t have the skill to y properly and that it would be easy as pie to win thepetition. Both of them couldn¡¯t wait to see Xia Lei make a fool of himself.
Shentu Tianyin walked to Xia Lei and said worriedly, ¡°Lei, nobody can learn how to y golf well in a few minutes, much less y a standard game. How about just giving it up?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m still quite confident against these amateurs.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was speechless.
This line also made Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun almost choke. Someone who had never yed golf before was calling them amateurs!
¡°Elder Mu, I¡¯m ready. We may begin. I¡¯ll let those two amateurs go first,¡± said Xia Lei.
These big words! Mu Jianfeng could not keep a straight face. Ye Kun was his pupil so Xia Lei saying something like this was also disrespecting him, the teacher.
¡°Ahem.¡± Mu Jianfeng cleared his throat. ¡°Ye Kun, you start first then. y well. Don¡¯t let Mr Xia the professional look down on you.¡±
Ye Kun sneered and positioned himself, then swung. The golf ballnded on the green and rolled into the hole.
The caddy ran over to pick up the golf ball.
Ahn Suhyeong walked over too. He aimed, he swung. The ballnded even closer than Ye Kun¡¯s and rolled into the hole. He yed this hole better than Ye Kun did.
The two of them stood to one side and looked at Xia Lei with schadenfreude.
Xia Lei walked over, aimed and swung. THWACK!
Shentu Tianyin shut her eyes, not daring to see how Xia Lei had done. After a few seconds however, she did not hear anyone speak; it was strangely quiet. She opened her eyes to see the caddy running out to the hole and taking Xia Lei¡¯s golf ball out of it. She was stunned - Xia Lei had done a hole in one!
Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun were not smiling now. They had been waiting to see Xia Lei fall t on his face but Xia Lei¡¯s shot had been done even more cleanly and beautifully than either of them. The ball had not rolled on the grass at all - it had gone straight into the hole!
Mu Jianfeng had an odd look on his face too, as if he had just seen a ghost.
What Shentu Tianyin, Mu Jianfeng, Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun all didn¡¯t know was that the testing shots Xia Lei had done earlier were all for Xia Lei to learn the golfing techniques. His method of learning was not normal at all - his left eyes could measure the distance between the ball and the hole, and his brain could calcte the speed and resistance of the ball as it went through the air for his body to adjust itself to the best level of coordination. In simpler terms, his brain calcted everything before he swung, even simting the trajectory path of the ball! His brain calcted the result and his left eye locked onto where he needed the ball to go. The golf ball he was hitting was like a precise, guided missile!
With abilities like his, Tiger Woods would lose horribly to Xia Lei, much less two amateurs like Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun!
The difference was soon obvious. Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun were unable to get a hole in one at the second hole; both needed two swings to get the ball in the hole. Xia Lei had stood at the tee, then swung, and the golf ball went whooshing into the hole, not even touching the grass.
The third hole, the fourth, the fifth...
Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun¡¯s strokes increased but Xia Lei¡¯s score was domineering. He had all hole-in-ones, no matter how far away the hole was.
The spectators were gobsmacked.
The people present knew some professionals and knew what level professional yers were at, but those professional yers looked like amateurspared to Xia Lei!
Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun were thinking the same thing - Every dog has its day!
Another hole-in-one. Xia Lei held out his hands. ¡°Mr Ahn, Mr Ye, it¡¯s boring to y like this; it¡¯s a waste of time. How about I just finish all my holes and you guys chase me, huh? It¡¯s hardly anypetition to y with you guys. I don¡¯t feel like ying anymore.¡±
A hit straight to their pride, no quarter given!
Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun¡¯s faces were dark. They would have charged up to Xia Lei and beat him up if they had the capability to do so, but this was a fantasy which could never be realised.
Xia Lei put a golf ball on the tee, nced at the furthest hole, then back at the golf ball and swung hard. THWACK! The golf ball went swooshing into the air, going in an almost-straight line in the air for dozens of metres and onto the green.
It was not a hole-in-one but the ball hadnded just centimetres from the furthest hole!
The caddy¡¯s jaw dropped.
¡°Sorry, there are times when I need two strokes to get the ball into the hole too. Like you guys,¡± said Xia Leiughingly.
Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun felt like offing themselves.
This stroke had actually been calcted by Xia Lei.
Was there even a need to continue thepetition? Nope. ying on would just mean further humiliation for Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Mu Jianfengughed dryly and stepped in to mediate. ¡°Xia Lei, your golf skills are unexpectedly high. It looks like you could enter professional golfing and get the highest honours.¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°You¡¯re too kind, Elder Mu. Thepetition is not over. Maybe Mr Ahn and Mr Ye can overtake me.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong threw his golf club to the caddy. He¡¯d given up on thepetition.
Ye Kun also threw his club to the caddy. He gave two dryughs. ¡°Mr Xia, I have been utterly defeated. The prize money is yours.¡±
Xia Lei walked to the caddy and handed his golf club to him.
The caddy gave him a grateful look; he could sense Xia Lei¡¯s respect for him.
¡°Let¡¯s go have tea, Xia Lei,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°Nn, I have some business to talk about with you. I pushed back a very important meeting for this,¡± said Ye Kun.
He spoke still with the tone of a man of high rank - arrogantly.
¡°I¡¯ll have to refuse the tea. I had a stomach upset recently and I don¡¯t want to drink tea. Just say what business you have here. Your time is precious and mine is too. If I¡¯d known that it was you who wanted to talk business with me I would have gone to the movies with my friends.¡±
¡°You... ¡° Ye Kun¡¯s face changed colour.
Hanwu Weapons had already put its chess pieces in ce to acquire his military factory. They had also sent someone to cause trouble so there was no need for Xia Lei to be polite with Ye Kun anymore. He now also saw how devious Ye Kun was in sending someone to seize his guns, stopping him from participating in the light weapons exhibition in Moscow, then inviting him here to negotiate. It was already restrained enough for Xia Lei that he had not simply just given a person like Ye Kun a kick!
¡°Why is your temper still like this, Xia Lei?¡± Mu Jianfeng could not keep his expression neutral any longer. ¡°The business Ye Kun wants to discuss with you is not like the small processing purchase orders like in the past. This business can ensure you riches for the rest of your life.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°I am rich. Why would I need someone to make me rich?¡±
¡°You...¡± Mu Jianfeng was so angry he could not speak. He had not expected Xia Lei to be so disrespectful.
¡°Xia Lei, don¡¯t you want to hear what business I want to discuss with you?¡± said Ye Kun sullenly.
¡°Everyone knows. I know even if you don¡¯t say it. You¡¯re here for my military factory,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Since you know, then name your price.¡± Ye Kun was stubborn.
¡°And if I¡¯m not selling?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s not up to you,¡± sneered Ye Kun.
Mu Jianfeng cautioned from his side position, ¡°Think carefully, Xia Lei. Would I harm you? This matter is simr to the time when you sold that intelligentthe to us. And the result? You don¡¯t need me to say it to know the result.¡±
Chapter 381 - Why Pretend To Be Rich?
The mention of the intelligentthe made Xia Lei¡¯s anger re.
He had gone to Germany with Long Bing back then, risking life imprisonment and even death to steal the design ns for the intelligentthe. When he had made it back to China, China Industrial Group was unable to make a machine of the right specifications and he had built Josef¡¯s intelligentthe with his own two hands. China Industrial Group had turned up again and used their higher status to buy away histhe when he had been poised to do great work with this intelligentthe, even forbidding him from copying it.
What was sold was sold and he didn¡¯t hang onto that bit of the past - it was for the nation after all and he had also received a sizeable mary reward just at the time that he needed it. It was different now though. His business was on the right track and his future bright, so he was not going to let the fruit of hisbour be taken from him again!
Mu Jianfeng wanted to do the same thing, and repeat the forced buying deal from before - how could this not anger him?
Before Xia Lei could speak, Ye Kun interrupted to say, ¡°Xia Lei, it was a good thing for you back then to be able to sell the intelligentthe to China Industrial Group. You contributed to the nation. After we buy your military factory, you shall receive one more note of honour upon your record of contributions to the nation and you will gain even more from it. Be decisive. Name a price.¡±
¡®Be decisive. Name a price.¡¯?
What was he, the emperor?
Ahn Suhyeong looked at Xia Lei in schadenfreude. He seemed to know something.
Shentu Tianyin looked worriedly at Xia Lei. She couldn¡¯t help in matters like these and could not casually speak up either.
¡°You done?¡± Xia Lei finally spoke after keeping himself under control. ¡°If you¡¯re done then I have something to say too. One word. No.¡±
¡°You¡¯d better think it through!¡± Ye Kun was starting to turn hostile.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°I¡¯ve thought it through, nice and clear. No. Can¡¯t you hear? Who do you think you are? Think you can do whatever you want?¡±
¡°Xia Lei.¡± Mu Jianfeng stepped in to mediate again. ¡°I¡¯ll say something as a middleman. Don¡¯t think so simply of this matter. Honestly, I regard you highly, you young man. I don¡¯t want you to go too far down the wrong path.¡±
¡°Is me not selling my ownpany ¡®walking down the wrong path¡¯?¡± Xia Lei looked at Mu Jianfeng. ¡°Elder Mu, I respect you but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll listen to you. My stand on this is clear, so say no more or it would be awkward to meet again.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s meaning was clear: If you help your pupil in hoodwinking me then we won¡¯t be friends anymore.
Mu Jianfeng smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡°Stubborn as always. Must I make it clear?¡±
¡°Speak,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Never mind. It¡¯s better if you say it, Ye Kun.¡± Mu Jianfeng did not pull his old fox mask off and even left himself some breathing room.
Ye Kun looked at Xia Lei, his gaze full of anger. ¡°I¡¯ll exin it to you, Xia Lei. If you don¡¯t sell to me today, your little military factory is doomed. I have the power to make it so that you won¡¯t be able to sell a single gun. I also have the power to get people toe inspect your factory multiple times and shut down your operations. And just one word from me and the skilledbour in your military factory wille to us, Hanwu Weapons. They will have the skills needed to do your jobs ande to ourpany to make your products. What will you fight us with then?¡±
These three points were like three stabs of the knife, each one cutting at the lifeline of the newly-established Thunder Horse Military Factory. What was worse was that Ye Kun was not saying big, empty words. He did have the power to wield these knives and stab at Thunder Horse Military Factory this way.
Mu Jianfeng sighed. ¡°Sell, Xia Lei. I guarantee that Hanwu Weapons will give you a price that you¡¯d be satisfied with. You have the capabilities but you don¡¯t have to enter the military sector. Take the money. You¡¯ll be able to do a lot of things with it.¡±
To put it simply, they wanted to chase Xia Lei out of this sector.
Tang Yuyan was right. How could a civilian privatepany enter a monopolised sector? And this civilianpany had the ability to topple the mountains in this sector too!
¡°Ai.¡± Xia Lei sighed. ¡°What you said worries me. All right, all right, I¡¯ll name a price.¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun couldn¡¯t help exchanging looks, barely keeping their glee under wraps. They knew full well the value of the XL2500.
Ahn Suhyeong spoke scornfully, ¡°And I thought you had guts. You said so much and went in such a roundabout way but that was all for more money. Abourer is still abourer.¡±
Xia Lei pretended not to have heard this barb; he just smiled.
¡°Name a price, Mr Xia,¡± said Ye Kun with a smile. ¡°2,000,000,000?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head.
¡°3,000,000,000?¡± Ye Kun was cursing him inside already.
Xia Lei shook his head.
Ye Kun couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. ¡°Mr Xia, I am not Mr Moneybags. 3,000,000,000 is the highest price I can offer. Know when to stop.¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly. ¡°The price you quote is still far from what I¡¯m expecting. Adding two more zeros to the end of that number is more like it.¡±
Adding two more zeros meant 300,000,000,000.
Ye Kun¡¯s expression changed once this price was mentioned. ¡°How dare you ask for so much, Xia Lei!¡±
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°No money? Why pretend to be rich then? You want to buy but I don¡¯t want to sell. You¡¯re forcing me to sell and I¡¯ve named my price but you can¡¯t afford it. Are you joking with me?¡±
¡°You...¡± Ye Kun had never been ridiculed in this way. Never.
Mu Jianfeng did not have a pleasant expression on his face either but he didn¡¯t say anything more. He could already tell that Xia Lei had no ns to sell Thunder Horse Military Factory.
¡°Mr Ye,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°You say you have the power to shut down my military factory. I do believe that you have this power but I also believe in our country¡¯sws, and our country¡¯s decision-making. They will not let someone like you have your way.¡±
Ye Kun harrumphed. ¡°Just you try, and you¡¯ll see!¡±
¡°There is no one in our country who can keep the truth from the masses - not you either. I¡¯m going to Russia tomorrow and the XL2500 sniper rifle is going to make a ssh there. Don¡¯t even talk about not being able to sell it - the people who want it will have to see what mood I¡¯m in if they want to buy.¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s face darkened and he did not speak.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°You say you can get people to keeping to my factory to carry out inspections and make it stop operations. Let me tell you - when the XL2500 bes the best sniper rifle in the world, and when the world finally exims at the prowess of our Chinese military production, will you still be able to cause trouble for me and make me stop production? The higher-ups will be the first ones to stomp you dead!¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s face darkened further.
Xia Lei went on. ¡°And the point about you taking away our skilledbour - I wee it, as long as you pay them better. I will be d for them to earn more. My Thunder Horse Group has its roots in machining, and every worker is a machinist. I currently have almost 2,000 workers. If you take all of them then I¡¯ll throw them a sending-off party too.¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Ye Kun was irate. ¡°Just you wait!¡±
Mu Jianfeng shook his head. ¡°Forget it, forget it. I¡¯m off. It¡¯s between the two of you so you two talk it out.¡±
An old fox indeed. He had been putting pressure on Xia Lei just a while earlier but he had maintained a degree of flexibility for himself and a way out, just barely in abject opposition. It was in to see that Ye Kun was his student but had not learnt all of the old fox¡¯s wiles.
Ye Kun pointed a finger at Xia Lei but said nothing. He left.
Ahn Suhyeong was making fun of Xia Lei earlier but he could notugh now. The stance Xia Lei had disyed, his negotiation technique - these were not anything a person born with a silver spoon such as he could emte.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Ahn Suhyeong and he smiled as he said, ¡°How about we y another game, Mr Ahn? A bet of 200,000,000?¡±
¡°Humph! Let¡¯s go.¡± Ahn Suhyeong left too.
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed man stared straight at Xia Lei, and went off with Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Lei kept his gaze on that caucasian man and looked thoughtful.
¡°How unexpected.¡± Shentu Tianyinughed. ¡°I thought you wouldn¡¯t be able to stand your ground and sell off your military factory but you actually sent Ye Kun away with his ears ming. You know what? If it were me I would sell it for 5,000,000,000. I think Ye Kun would have considered it if you quoted this price.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°There are some things money cannot buy.¡±
¡°Like?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked at Xia Lei with interest.
¡°Too many to count. I¡¯ll give you a simple example. America is the leader in the weapon technology and our foreign exchange reserves rank number one in the world, but can we buy the technology of the Americans? No amount of money can buy that.¡±
Shentu Tianyin paused. She¡¯d thought that Xia Lei would use love or family as an example but had not expected him to talk about America.
It was true. The current situation was one where China wanted to exchange a fighter ne from America with its weight in gold but the Americans were not even taking notice of the offer.
Fu Mingmei interrupted with augh, ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re unexpectedly patriotic, talking about all these nice ideals so smoothly like that. But you were quite cool when you were giving that Ye Kun a tongueshing. I respect that.¡±
Shentu Tianyin rolled her eyes at Fu Mingmei. ¡°Don¡¯t add on to it. Cool is cool but can being cool solve the problem?¡±
Fu Mingmei pursed her lips but she sneakily stuck a thumb-up at Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m actually quite worried, Lei. Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun are not ordinary people. They represent a part of military power and you¡¯re entering the military industry too. That sector is one that not even I dare to think of... I¡¯m worried that you¡¯ll run into a lot of problems in the future.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I am not afraid of trouble. I would have sold just now if I were afraid of them. Why offend them? If I dare to scold Ye Kun, it means I¡¯m not afraid of him. People like him are self-righteous and arrogant. Someone has to stand up to people like him and stomp his arrogance out.¡±
Shentu Tianyin sighed again. ¡°Forget it, let¡¯s not talk about this anymore. There are many things about you which worry me but I can¡¯t seem to caution you.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you the same? I can¡¯t seem to caution you on some matters either,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fu Mingmei interrupted again. ¡°You two have stubborn characters and can¡¯t persuade each other out of stuff. Looks to me like you two should just have a fight when you have a disagreement in the future, and the winner will get to decide. Won¡¯t that work then?¡±
Shentu Tianyin was amused by her words. ¡°Won¡¯t that mean that I would have to listen to him in everything?¡±
¡°You can appoint a representative. I can fight in your ce,¡± said Fu Mingmei.
¡°Shoo, shoo, go book a restaurant,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Xia Lei is going to Russia tomorrow. We have to send him off.¡±
¡°Right away.¡± Fu Mingmei didn¡¯t want to be a third wheel. She took the caddy with her too when she left.
Just Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei were left on the green.
Their eyes met but nothing was said for quite a while.
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tianyin broke the silence. ¡°Teach me how to y golf.¡±
¡°I learnt it all from you, so why are you asking me to teach you?¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
¡°Liar. How can it be your first time ying golf when you¡¯re so good? Are you going to teach me, or not? I¡¯ll ignore you if you won¡¯t teach me.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice had a rare degree of warmth.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 382 - Glowing Ghost
Bailu Town had gone to Dreand under the cover of night; its lights were thinly spread out. Not far from Bailu Town however, Thunder Horse Military Factory was zing with light and activity. What had happened during the day had not affected the production in the factory at all.
The workers all had great passion for their jobs but this was not because of work ethics but because their President Xia had returned with cases of cash and handed out bundles of 10,000 to everyone regardless of rank.
This money was from the golf game with Ahn Suhyeong and Ye Kun so it didn¡¯t hurt Xia Lei at all to spend it in this way. Giving money out to everyone in the factory cost only about 5,000,000 and there was still enough left to distribute three more times to everyone. Ye Kun wanted to take away the talents of Thunder Horse Military Factory but Xia Lei was using Ye Kun¡¯s money now to strengthen the bond his workers had with Thunder Horse Military Factory. Ye Kun was like one who had tried to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it in this matter.
All the preparations were done, and all he had to do was wait to go to the airport tomorrow morning, then fly straight to Moscow.
In the study of the vi, Xia Lei closed the envelope on materials for the exhibition and took up a pen to write out the mysterious letters he had seen from the bronze book with his X-ray vision in the militarypound.
The letters in the bronze book were unique and also veryplicated; he took several minutes to write a few letters. He examined these few letters closely, looking at it from the left, from the right, but he could not find any leads.
¡®These letters...¡¯ After a while, Xia Lei had a thought, ¡®Ning Jing had never seen letters like these before, and neither have all the experts she had consulted... These... maybe they¡¯re not letters?¡¯
This was a bold idea.
Xia Lei looked at a letter he had taken a long time to write out. It was a circle and several strokes. If one used the imagination, the circle looked like a person¡¯s head, and those strokes could be arms and legs, or organs, or something else entirely.
After looking at it for a while more, Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡®If these are not letters, then why carve them in the bronze book? How is it rted to the ancient alloy? And what use is it?¡¯
It was difficult to get an answer to these questions.
¡°Hee hee hee...¡± A woman¡¯sughter suddenly rang out in the study.
Xia Lei was thunderstruck. He looked in all the corners of the room in rm but saw nothing.
¡°Hee hee hee...¡± The woman¡¯sughter floated into Xia Lei¡¯s ears again.
It was clearer this time.
The voice was young, fluttery and pleasing to the ear, but it sounded like it hade from a faraway ce, or from an alternate ne of reality. It was just so bizarre!
Xia Lei abruptly remembered the woman¡¯s voice he had head in the White Hun Tribe ruins. A chill ran down his back.
All the lights in the study were extinguished all of a sudden.
The door to the study opened noiselessly and a woman in a white dress appeared in the doorway.
¡°Ah!¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help crying out and he nearly fell from his chair.
The woman in the white dress in the doorway was tall and slender, and had generous curves. The crisp moonlight shone on her, making her look like a celestial who had descended from the Moon Pce; she also smelt of gunpowder. She walked haltingly towards Xia Lei and the night breeze lifted the hem of her skirt. A pair of pale, jade-like legs were revealed, white as ivory.
Xia Lei saw her face clearly then and he let out a long breath of relief.
It was not a ghost but Annina.
A light suddenly lit up but it was not a light in the study - it came from a device in Annina¡¯s dress.
¡°Hee hee hee...¡± Anninaughed hollowly.
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°I bought this off Taobao and got it delivered today. I wanted to put it on and show you.¡± Annina twirled, showing off her nicely rounded buttocks, then walked towards Xia Lei. ¡°Does it look good?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to talk to the seller and let him know what he¡¯s sold. Why did you buy something like this?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡± Annina plopped herself down on Xia Lei¡¯s thigh.
The next morning, Tang Yuyan drove over to Thunder Horse Military Factory. Long Bing and Tang Bochuan came too. Bureau 101 sent their best in these busy times; it was obvious how important this trip to Russia was to them.
The four sniper rifles for the exhibition were loaded onto the vehicle and they just had to wait for Xia Lei to get on before they set off.
Annina gave Xia Lei a hug and said in his ear, ¡°Be careful. Give me a call when you arrive.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll call you,¡± said Xia Lei.
On the other side of Xia Lei, Tang Yuyan wrinkled her brows. ¡°What rtion does this Annina have with Xia Lei?¡±
¡°You asking me?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Yeah, this woman was someone you and Xia Lei picked up from Germany. You definitely know more than me,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing spoke softly, ¡°I¡¯d need ten thousand words to exin it. Interested in listening?¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing. ¡°Ice-cold. No wonder you still haven¡¯t had a boyfriend.¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Tang Yuyan too. ¡°As if you¡¯ve had a boyfriend yourself.¡±
Tang Bochuan shrugged. ¡°Must you two talk like this when you meet?¡±
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan both rolled their eyes at each other.
There were some rtionships in this world which were destined to be unsolvable, just like Tang Yuyan and Long Bing¡¯s. The two of them would go through life and death on the battlefield together and could entrust each other with their lives, but in daily life they couldn¡¯t seem to stop arguing.
Xia Lei walked over. ¡°All right, let¡¯s go.¡±
The Bureau 101 cars went zooming on the road to the airport. Long Bing and Tang Bochuan hade but they did not board the ne. Their duty was to protect the shipment and Xia Lei during transport, and Tang Yuyan was the one to go to Moscow with Xia Lei.
¡°Be careful,¡± cautioned Long Bing before Xia Lei got on the ne.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I will, thanks. I¡¯ll have to trouble you to take care of Xue. I always have some degree of worry when I¡¯m not by her side.¡±
¡°No need to worry about that. I¡¯ll take care of her,¡± said Long Bing. She paused, then said, ¡°And don¡¯t stir up anything on your trip to Moscow.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I¡¯ll try my best.¡±
Tang Yuyan stuck her head out of the aircraft door. ¡°Hurry up, Lei.¡±
¡°I¡¯m off.¡± Xia Lei boarded the ne.
There were two people other than Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan on the ne. One was Tang Yuyan¡¯s subordinate, named Hu Hao. The other was named Ling Han, a man in his early thirties. He wore a pair of frameless spectacles, had pale, clean skin and looked rather bookish. He seemed like a civilian but Xia Lei looked him over and found that he was not. This Ling Han had a sort of aura about him which made one feel he had some sort of history.
¡°I have heard many things about you, Mr Xia, but haven¡¯t had the chance to meet you yet.¡± Ling Han took the initiative to greet Xia Lei. ¡°We finally meet on this trip to Moscow for the light weapons exhibition. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡±
Xia Lei was polite too. ¡°Nice to meet you, Mr Ling. And what are you in charge of?¡±
Ling Han nced at Tang Yuyan next to Xia Lei. ¡°Did you not inform Mr Xia, Chief Tang?¡±
¡°Sorry... Xia Lei, Mr Ling is the official representative for this light weapons exhibition. He is in charge of negotiations with foreign merchants and the approval of orders,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
So he was a supervisor.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought, ¡®This Ling Han is in charge of such an important matter at such a young age. He must have some impressive background. His rank must be much higher than Tang Yuyan¡¯s.¡¯
Ling Han smiled. ¡°Indeed, I am in charge of that work. I also ask that Mr Xia takes me in his care.¡±
¡°Of course, of course. I am in your care too, Mr Ling.¡± Xia Lei stretched out both hands to shake with him.
Ling Shan also stretched out both hands to shake with him; he did not put on the airs of an official.
The two of them made some small talk and returned to their seats.
There were many empty seats on this chartered flight but Tang Yuyan came to squeeze next to Xia Lei and sat on the seat next to his.
Xia Lei nced at her out of the corner of his eye, then drew close to her ear and asked in a low voice, ¡°What¡¯s this Ling Han¡¯s identity?¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s ear turned red. ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not sure?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
Tang Yuyan drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear, moving fairly close. ¡°I¡¯m not bluffing. I only just learnt his name too. Didn¡¯t I tell youst time that the higher-ups will send someone to supervise the work at this exhibition? I know nothing about who he is, or which department he¡¯s from. But the higher-ups see this exhibition as something very important. Based on my experience this person must have some special status, and a very high rank.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Could he be someone from Hanwu Weapons?¡±
¡°No way. Would people from Hanwu Weapons be on friendly terms with you? Don¡¯t ask about his identity. Just concentrate on doing your own things.¡±
Xia Lei straightened himself and stopped asking questions.
Tang Yuyan rubbed at her ear and rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, grumbling to herself, ¡®He really doesn¡¯t see himself as a stranger, huh. Blowing air into my ear like that and making my ear itch... Pervert.¡¯
Xia Lei was grumbling to himself too, but about something else. ¡®If the higher-ups are seeing this as important then the person they¡¯ve sent is definitely not a regr guy. How am I going to give two XL2500 sniper rifles to my father with this Ling Han following me around? And my father wants to meet me in Russia. Tang Yuyan is sticking to me like glue - how am I going to shake her off?¡¯
Xia Lei had problems even before he got to Russia.
The ne took off and the shrinking airport could be seen out the windows, getting further, further. The shape of Jingdu also quickly vanished in the distance.
Xia Lei suddenly had a feeling that this trip to Russia was not going to be a peaceful one.
Chapter 383 - Moscow
It took them over nine hours to get from Jingdu to Moscow and it was close to dusk when they alighted. There was no feeling of jetg and they still had time to enjoy a Russian meal.
The hotel had been booked in advance and it was the Crowne za Hotel in the heart of Moscow. It was close to the Red Square and the Klimt Pce was just a few minutes¡¯ drive away. Xia Lei had a good view from his hotel window and could see the toughest government house in Eastern Europe from it - the Klimt Pce.
¡®I¡¯m in Moscow now. I wonder where my father is. He wouldn¡¯t send Yelena in his ce this time, will he? It could happen. Yelena is Russian after all and this is her hometown,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
He was not worried that the CIA would try anything bold since this was the capital of Russia. If they did, the Russian Federal Security Service was sure to make them suffer. The predecessor of the Russian Federal Security Service was the KGB, and along with the CIA, Mossad of Israel, and the MI6 of Ennd, they were known as ¡®the four major intelligence agencies of the world¡¯.
Knock knock knocking came from the door.
Xia Lei looked back and saw Tang Yuyan standing beyond the door. She had changed into a blue evening gown - cleavage-showing and open-backed. Her figure was full and firm, and absolutely sexy.
Xia Lei went over and opened the door for her, then pretended to be stunned. He smiled and said, ¡°You sure got changed quickly. What are you dressed up so prettily for?¡±
Tang Yuyanughed and said, ¡°It¡¯s a rare chance for me toe out and y so of course I¡¯m going to let my hair down. I asked around and this hotel¡¯s restaurant has good Russian dinners. Let¡¯s go try it out. The ne food in the afternoon was terrible and I barely touched it. I¡¯m starving. Soe on, treat me to a feast.¡±
Xia Lei epted readily. ¡°I am honoured.¡±
Tang Yuyan drew close and took Xia Lei by the arm. This was an intimate gesture and Xia Lei froze a little but did not refuse. He and Tang Yuyan had pretended to be a couple in Afghanistan, so pretending to be a couple in Moscow was no big deal.
Xia Lei thought of something when they got the the restaurant on the second floor. ¡°Should we have asked Mr Ling to eat with us?¡±
¡°No need. He¡¯s a grown man. He¡¯lle out to eat if he¡¯s hungry,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t say anything more on that subject and picked a table by the window. He gantly pulled out a chair for Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan smiled and sat gracefully. Women liked gant men and she was no exception to this.
A Russian girl walked over and used broken English to ask Xia Lei what he wanted to order.
Xia Lei responded in fluent Russian. ¡°A bottle of 10-year Blue Valley, twomb steaks and two portions of borscht. Oh, and a chocte dessert for thedy.¡±
The Russian girl shot Xia Lei a smile. ¡°Please wait, Sir.¡±
A man who was not just handsome but elegant and with ss too. Add rich to the equation and there was nock of women no matter where he went. This was the same as a sexy woman walking on the streets and being able to attract the eyes of a huge group of men.
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips after the Russian girl walked off and said with augh, ¡°You really have girls hitting on you no matter where you go.¡±
¡°She only said to wait for the food. Is that considered hitting on me?¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°She winked at you too. She might¡¯ve asked for your phone number if I weren¡¯t here,¡± said Tang Yuyan teasingly.
¡°You understand Russian?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I need to prepare whening to Russia, don¡¯t I? I don¡¯t know Russian but Hu Hao does.¡±
Xia Lei nced about the dining area but did not see Hu Hao.
Tang Yuyan pointed at a flower close to her left breast. ¡°Pinhole camera and listening device. He can hear everything you say and see what you¡¯re doing. He¡¯s in his room and his job is to trante for me.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. He did not say anything but he thought, ¡®If she follows me closely all the time then Hu Hao will trante everything, who I meet, what I say... How are Yelena and my father going to get close to me like this? No, I have to think of a way to shake her off.¡¯
The waitress brought their dishes and the two of them enjoyed the view outside the window while they savoured the taste of Russia.
Tang Yuyan sampled a mouth of red wine. ¡°Mm, this red wine¡¯s pretty good. What¡¯s it called?¡±
¡°Blue Valley.¡± Xia Lei tranted it to Chinese for her. ¡°Aged ten years, and it doesn¡¯t lose to the French wines either. It¡¯s just not as famous... Oh, right, didn¡¯t Hu Hao trante for you?¡±
¡°Does he have a death wish? What¡¯s he going to trante when we¡¯re chatting?¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°I switched off the listening device when I touched myself over here just now.¡± As she spoke, she repeated the movement and pressed her wrist to her bountiful breast.
The amazing softness of hers moved with that little press and it made Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts go to trying to guess at the softness of her breasts and their weight. This was a meaningless bit of guessing but men couldn¡¯t help it.
¡°Oh right, the exhibition starts in three days. We need to enter the exhibition area two days before the event to set up our booth. We don¡¯t have to worry about procedures and documentation. Ling Han will take care of it.¡± Tang Yuyan talked business.
¡°Nn, okay.¡±
¡°So we don¡¯t have anything on tomorrow and the day after. We can¡¯t stay in the hotel all the time, right?¡± Tang Yuyan winked at Xia Lei. ¡°How about we go out and walk around?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped and he agreed readily. It wasn¡¯t because he wanted to go out and y with Tang Yuyan but because Hu Hao and Ling Han would be inconveniences if he stayed here. It would be bad if Yelena came looking for him but got discovered by them. It would be easier to get in contact with Yelena if he went out.
¡°That¡¯s a promise, then. Yahoo! The thought of it makes me happy,¡± said Tang Yuyan excitedly, ¡°Oh, I want to go to the Red Square, the Klimt Pce, the Virgin Mary Convent, the Winter Pce and Nyeva Street...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the door as Tang Yuyan recited names which she had seemingly memorised from a book. A group of Chinese men were striding over, and at their head was none other than Ye Kun.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows at the sight of Ye Kun. ¡°What¡¯s he doing here?¡±
Tang Yuyan saw Ye Kun too and the group of underlings with him. She wrinkled her brows too. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t receive any notification. Hanwu Weapons is our country¡¯srgest light weapons merchant so Ye Kun must be here to participate in the international light weapons exhibition too.¡±
¡°Did the higher-ups arrange for him to be lodged here at this hotel too? Is Ling Han in charge of Hanwu Weapons¡¯ participation in the exhibition too?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan shook her head. ¡°The possibility of that is very small. About Ye Kun being in the same hotel... I can only say that he does have the connections to get ahold of our schedule.¡±
Just then, Ye Kun spotted Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan, and started walking straight to them. His look and his attitude made Xia Lei suspect that Ye Kun hade just to pick a quarrel.
¡°You look beautiful tonight, Miss Tang.¡± Ye Kun greeted Tang Yuyan with a smile.
¡°Thank you.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s tone was neutral.
Ye Kun then looked over at Xia Lei. ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this our neer in the military industry, Mr Xia Lei? You really dide to Russia.¡±
¡°What do you have to say? Say it and go. Don¡¯t disturb my meal,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ye Kun spoke coldly. ¡°Xia Lei, you might not respect a senior in the field such as myself but I am still willing to give you a chance to correct your mistake. This is myst time asking you - are you selling Thunder Horse Military Factory, or not?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯re hopelessly addled, aren¡¯t you? I¡¯ll say it again. 300,000,000,000. I¡¯ll sell it to you now if you pay up right now.¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s face darkened. He¡¯d known that Xia Lei would answer like this but he just couldn¡¯t give up and needed to ask.
A man dressed like a bodyguard behind Ye Kun interrupted to say, ¡°You punk, is that the way you speak to President Ye? Didn¡¯t your mother teach you manners?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to that bodyguard and flicked the piece ofmb meat on his fork at him. The meatnded with a smack on the bodyguard¡¯s face.
Being hit by the meat was nothing much; it didn¡¯t hurt, but the sauce on the meat had sttered all over the bodyguard and his white shirt was a mess. He looked quite a mess.
¡°Bastard!¡± The bodyguard got mad and wanted to dash forward and grab Xia Lei.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t even move. It was just a bodyguard - he was nothing.
Tang Yuyan stood abruptly and the dining knife in her hand cut through the air in an arc, just barely stopping at the the bodyguard¡¯s neck.
The bodyguard looked like his soul had jumped out of his body in fright and he did not dare move a muscle.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes were cold. ¡°Is there a need to let this matter escte, President Ye?¡±
Ye Kun spoke then. ¡°Move back.¡±
The bodyguard moved cautiously backwards.
Tang Yuyan returned to her seat. ¡°We shall not be apanying you, President Ye.¡±
¡°Yuyan, I am on good terms with your grandfather and your father. I do not wish for there to be unhappiness between us because of this punk. All right, I¡¯ll go on your ord.¡± Ye Kun waved a hand and took his men with him to another corner of the restaurant.
Xia Lei knew that the trouble had not been avoided - it was just the beginning.
¡°That fellow is just like a housefly.¡± Tang Yuyan threw the dining knife and fork onto the table. ¡°My mood and appetite¡¯s been ruined by him.¡±
¡°Thank you for just now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What are you thanking me for?¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°What I did is nothingpared to what you did for me in Afghanistan.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Let¡¯s go back if you don¡¯t feel like eating.¡±
Tang Yuyan shook her head. ¡°Order some lobster for me. My mood might just get better with a different dish.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
At that moment, Ling Han walked into the restaurant too. His eyes met with Xia Lei¡¯s and he nodded at him, then sat at a table by the door. He ordered, and begun his wait for food. He looked quiet.
Xia Lei was sure that he¡¯d seen Ye Kun too, but what he found strange was that Ling Han had not even nodded in greeting to Ye Kun.
¡®Does this mean the two of them don¡¯t know each other? This Ling Han sure is a strange one...¡¯
Chapter 384 - Surveillance and Gunman
¡°Hey there, miss. You¡¯re beautiful.¡± Xia Lei leaned on the counter of the front desk and smiled flirtatiously at the Russian girl on duty.
The Russian girl covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. ¡°Is there something I can help you with, Sir?¡±
¡°Well, can you tell me which room a Chinese man named Ye Kun is staying in?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Disappointment shed in the Russian girl¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sir. Our policy here doesn¡¯t allow me to reveal the information of other guests to you.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh and slipped a folded hotel card next to the Russian girl¡¯s hand. A hundred Euros was in the folds of the card.
The Russian girl shot Xia Lei a smile, and quietly pocketed the card. She checked the records. ¡°Fifth floor, Room 418.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei turned and left.
¡°Hey, Sir?¡± The Russian girl called out to Xia Lei. ¡°I end work at twelve.¡±
Xia Lei looked back with a smile and nodded, but thought to himself, ¡®What does you finishing work at twelve have to do with me?¡¯
Fifth floor, huh. So they were on the same floor. This was obviously not a coincidence - Ye Kun must have arranged it deliberately.
The corridors on the fifth floor were empty of people. Xia Lei walked to the other end of the corridor. His room was 410 but he did not stop at his room door when he went past it. He kept walking forward and soon came to Room 418.
His eye looked soundlessly into Room 418 and the situation inside revealed itself to him.
Ye Kun was talking to a few people in the room. The bodyguard Xia Lei had hit withmb was in there, and a woman who¡¯d not shown her face in the restaurant. She was young and looked to be Ye Kun¡¯s assistant or secretary.
Xia Lei lip-read their conversation.
¡°That punk refuses to be convinced unless he sees the grim reality of his situation,¡± said Ye Kun hatefully. ¡°We need to stop him from taking his guns to the light weapons exhibition, by hook or by crook. If Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s XL2500 bes a hit on the international stage it will be very difficult to deal with him in the future.¡±
¡°Where are the guns, President Ye?¡± asked the woman.
¡°Need you ask? It must be in his room,¡± said someone.
Another person said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then you can just send us to snatch those guns, Ye Kun.¡±
Ye Kun frowned. ¡°You¡¯re underestimating that punk and the people with him. I won¡¯t talk about other people, just that Tang Yuyan with him is not someone we can go up against. She¡¯s one of the Tang sect, and a soldier of Bureau 101. She wouldn¡¯t even blink when killing someone. The people we¡¯ve brought are no match for her. Tang Yuyan is responsible for Xia Lei¡¯s safety and those guns. Won¡¯t us going to snatch those guns be a deration of war with her?¡±
The woman looked worried. ¡°There¡¯s still two days. We need to think of something, fast.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t snatch them and we can¡¯t buy them, so what else can we do?¡± said someone.
¡°Oh, right. Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan also have a bespectacled man with them. What¡¯s his identity?¡± asked the woman.
Ye Kun shook his head. ¡°No idea where he¡¯s from. I¡¯ve asked around, but nothing.¡±
Out in the corridor, Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡®Someone whose identity even Ye Kun can¡¯t find out? Who the heck is this Ling Han?¡¯
In the room, Ye Kun said, ¡°Forget it. You guys don¡¯t bother about this anymore. Go prepare for the light weapons exhibition. I¡¯ll handle this.¡±
The identities of the people in the room were obvious now. Other than the bodyguard, the rest were all employees of Hanwu Weapons, and Ye Kun¡¯s trusted underlings. This had to be the case, otherwise Ye Kun would not have brought them to Russia with him and discussed such taboo things openly with them.
Ye Kun¡¯s underlings started discussing the exhibition matters and Ye Kun himself walked out to the balcony and took out his phone to make a call. His back was to the room and to the door of the room.
Xia Lei adjusted his position but was unable to use his X-ray vision to lip-read what he said.
Ye Kun spent only a short time on the phone, roughly the time taken for a few lines to be spoken. He hung up and returned to the room with a smile on his face. ¡°All right, that¡¯s it for today. You guys go back to your rooms.¡±
¡°It¡¯s done, President Ye?¡± asked someone.
¡°You don¡¯t have to bother about it. Just do the work you¡¯re supposed to do,¡± said Ye Kun.
The rest of them didn¡¯t ask any more and stood to head to the door.
Xia Lei turned and dashed off,ing to Room 410 in the blink of an eye, and ducked inside. No sooner had the door shut behind him than the door to Room 418 opened, but Xia Lei couldn¡¯t be bothered to use his X-ray vision on those people any longer.
Xia Lei went to the bed and reached to pull out a stic engineering box he had stashed under it. He opened it to reveal two XL2500 sniper rifles. One was from the production line of Thunder Horse Military Factory and the other was personally modified by him. There was only one sniper rifle in the world with an effective shooting range of 3,400 metres.
He had brought a total of four sniper rifles with him to Russia. Two were with him, one with Tang Yuyan and one with Ling Han. He had arranged it this way as a safety measure. This way, he would still have a gun to show at the light weapons exhibition if someone stole from one or two of them.
He nced at the rifles and shut the box, then put it back under his bed.
¡®Who was Ye Kun on the phone with?¡¯ pondered Xia Lei. ¡®He was in an obviously better mood when he ended that call, and looked like he had a card up his sleeve. Did he find some way to stop me from participating in the exhibition? If he¡¯s using someone else to fulfil his motive, then who is that someone?¡¯
He thought of the CIA but quickly dismissed it. With Ye Kun¡¯s identity, he wouldn¡¯t cooperate with the CIA even if he had basketball-sized balls. Other than that possibility, however, he could not think of who Ye Kun could have asked for help since there were too many people who could do something like this as long as the right amount of money was involved.
Knock knock knocking came from the door.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he saw the person outside - Ling Han.
¡°What is it, Mr Ling?¡± asked Xia Lei politely when he opened the door.
¡°May Ie in to talk, Mr Xia?¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Please,e in.¡± Xia Lei stood aside, trying to guess at why Ling Han hade over at such an hour.
Ling Han sat on the sofa and cut straight to the chase. ¡°What were you doing in front of Ye Kun¡¯s room earlier, Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°How did you know that I was outside his room?¡±
Ling Han spoke calmly. ¡°I put two surveince cameras in the corridor when you and Tang Yuyan went for dinner. Don¡¯t be mistaken, of course, I did not do this to keep watch on you but for the assurance of thepletion of our mission. If the goal was to watch you I would have put the cameras in your room and not in the corridor.¡±
There was more than meets the eye, this Ling Han.
¡°Is it difficult for you to answer my question, Mr Xia?¡± Ling Han looked at Xia Lei, watching, analysing.
Xia Lei then said, ¡°Hanwu Weapons and Thunder Horse Military Factory are directpetitors. Ye Kun had alsoe looking for me before to try to forcefully buy mypany. This was not the first time he¡¯se to try to cause trouble for me. I suppose you know some of it, don¡¯t you?¡±
Ling Han nodded. ¡°I do know some things.¡±
¡°I am a little nervous about Ye Kun¡¯s presence here. I am sure he will cause trouble, so I wanted to listen to what he and his people were talking about in the room. It is not an honourable thing to do, I admit, but it is far more open than his background machinations.¡±
¡°So what did your overhear?¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Someone is plotting to steal my guns.¡±
Ling Han wrinkled his brows.
Xia Lei watched his expression and said, ¡°And someone suggested funding someone capable to carry the task out.¡±
Nobody had said that. Xia Lei had made it up himself to see Ling Han¡¯s reaction.
Ling Han had only frowned in response to that, and had no other reaction. He stood from the sofa. ¡°I understand. That¡¯s that then. You rest early.¡±
¡°That¡¯s it?¡±
¡°That¡¯s it.¡±
Those were thest words between the two men before Ling Han exited Xia Lei¡¯s room, closing the door behind himself.
Xia Lei looked at the tightly-shut door and stared nkly for a while before he said, ¡°What a baffling guy. This guy¡¯s colder than Long Bing.¡±
Xia Lei wanted to go talk to Tang Yuyan but he gave up on that idea after thinking about it. He took a shower, theny on the bed to sleep. However, he was wide awake and unable to get to sleep. His head was full of this and that; it was a jumble of thoughts.
He was unsettled for some reason. There was no movement outside and it was miraculously quiet. What was stranger was that this feeling did not go away with time but grew stronger and stronger.
He could not lie down anymore after more time passed. He got out of bed and put his clothes on. He pulled the engineering box out from under the bed and put it on the bed.
Just then, sounds of movement came from the corridor beyond his door. It was the sound of a dining trolley¡¯s wheels rolling on the carpet, and footsteps. There was more than one person out there.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the door disappeared from his vision. He rushed to the wall by the door as soon as he saw the situation outside.
A big foot kicked at the door and it opened with a bang. A tall, burly blonde man charged into the room, wielding thetest AK12, and fired at the bed without a word.
There was a silencer on the AK12 and the gunshots were fairly quiet. The bullets barely made any sound when they hit the nket and mattress but down escaped from the duvet and danced about in the air like snow.
This wasn¡¯t a n to snatch the guns - it was a murder n!
Xia Lei did not wait for the blonde man to empty his magazine. He suddenly grabbed hold of the muzzle of the AK12, and kicked the blonde man on the outside of his knee at the same time.
The blonde man had not expected Xia Lei to be hiding near him and he crashed to the ground before he could defend himself.
Xia Lei violently wrenched the AK12 upwards as the man fell, wresting it from his grasp.
Ptu! Ptu! Ptu!
A spray of bullets came flying in from beyond the door.
Xia Lei moved his legs and put his back to the wall, squeezing the trigger as he did so. Bullets pierced the chest of the blonde-haired man.
One down, ten more to go!
Chapter 385 - Hotel Gunfight
The gunmen were armed with AK12s and American M16s; overwhelming firepower. A team like this could even take on a police station, no problem!
Just looking at the number of gunmen and equipment told Xia Lei how much his enemy wanted him dead!
Outside the doorway, a gunman abruptly signalled another.
The gunman nodded, then took a step back andy t on the floor, his body sticking close to the floor as he crawled to the room. The gun in his hand moved to point at Xia Lei¡¯s hiding position as he moved.
Before his upper body slid past the threshold of the doorway, bullets suddenly smashed into his skull, shattering it.
This tactic might work on others but they would have to gouge out Xia Lei¡¯s left eye first for it to work on him.
A gunman pulled the body of his brain-sttered colleague back, then used the corpse as a shield as he approached the door. Eight other gunman were ready to rush into the room behind him.
It didn¡¯t matter how skilled Xia Lei was in martial arts when faced with the firepower of AK12s and M16s - he was going to lose his fighting power once he got hit by a bullet!
It was a critical situation.
At that moment, a burst of gunfire came from the room opposite and a gunman who¡¯d had his back to the door dropped to the floor.
At the same time, the door to the room next to Room 410 suddenly opened just a crack and a ck muzzle of a gun poked out.
Pop! Pop! Two gunmen were shot in the back of their heads and they copsed to the floor.
Tang Yuyan had joined the fray.
They had joined inter than Xia Lei had optimally hoped for but there was no helping it. Ling Han and Tang Yuyan did not have X-ray vision like he did, and they needed the technical support from Hu Hao which took time.
Ptu! Ptu! Ptu! Ptu! Ptu! Ptu!
The six remaining gunmen shot at Tang Yuyan and Ling Han¡¯s rooms and bullets ricocheted everywhere in the corridor. The wooden door panels were shredded. Bullets ripped through the ster of the walls and shattered ss in picture frames. The narrow battlefield was reduced to chaos in an instant.
The gunman using his colleague¡¯s corpse as a shield braced himself, to charge into Xia Lei¡¯s room. It wasn¡¯t because he was not afraid of death, but because it was very dangerous with Tang Yuyan and Ling Han shooting in the corridor. This was a risk but they would be able to reverse their unfortunate situation if Xia Lei was killed.
Ptu! Ptu! Ptu!
A gunman fired into the room with suppressing fire, and bullets went everywhere. The crystal chandelier, the ssware, all their shards flying through the air.
The instant the magazine was empty and the gunfire stopped, the gunman holding his colleague¡¯s corpse burst violently into Xia Lei¡¯s room. He pointed the muzzle of his gun out from under the corpse¡¯s armpit and shot in the direction of Xia Lei¡¯s hiding ce.
Ptu! Ptu! Ptu!
The ss door of the bathroom shattered with a loud crash. The sofa had been shot out of ce too and its stuffing danced in the air. They had not managed to hit Xia Lei. He had been behind the door earlier but it now seemed like he had vanished.
The gunman threw aside the corpse and nced subconsciously at the balcony. Two gunmen burst into the room behind him.
A breeze blew in from the balcony, making the curtains sway. The balcony was empty.
¡°Where¡¯s he?¡± asked a gunman nervously.
Ptu! Ptu! Ptu!
A spray of bullets suddenly came from above, and the three gunmen fell in pools of blood without even seeing the shadow of the man who¡¯d killed them. Headshots. Clean.
If this world had spirits then the spirits of these three gunmen would be able to see Xia Lei sticking to the wall in the corner like a house lizard. He was supporting his weight with both legs and one hand!
Xia Lei jumped down from his corner in the ceiling and rolled, picking up a M16 as he went, and hiding next to the wall again.
Scarcely two minutes had passed from the beginning of the gunfight till now but the enemy was down eight men. The battle was not over but the most dangerous window had passed.
The three remaining gunmen in the corridor had not expected that the man whom they had to kill was so powerful. There was no need to think - the three of them ran. They headed for the stairwell, shooting at Tang Yuyan and Ling Han¡¯s doors as they fled to suppress them, not allowing them toe out for fear of being shot.
The strategy of the three gunmen was a smart one, and they did it. Tang Yuyan and Ling Han did not dare to rush out under a hail of bullets to stop them. However, they had forgotten about someone - Xia Lei. Xia Lei, who could look through walls and see what they were doing.
As they dashed past Tang Yuyan¡¯s door and sped up their onward dash towards the stairs, Xia Lei suddenly rushed out of his room with an M16 in his hands. Bullets flew at the trio.
One was hit in the head, one in the back, and thest in the hip and thigh.
The gunmen hit in the head and back did not move but thest gunman turned over to return fire.
Swish! A throwing knife suddenly shed in the air and stuck itself in the man¡¯s wrist. The AK12 in his hands dropped to the floor.
Tang Yuyan had thrown the knife, and she had the same thought as Xia Lei had - leave one living to talk.
Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan walked towards thest live gunman in unspoken agreement. Ling Han emerged from his room too. He held a fully automatic handgun in his hand; he didn¡¯t even wrinkle his brows at the sight of a floor full of corpses.
Thest gunman crawled towards his gun. Xia Lei stepped on his injured leg.
¡°Argh!¡± The gunman screamed.
Tang Yuyan kicked the gun further away, then pointed her gun at the man¡¯s head.
¡°You¡¯re all dead!¡± The gunman spoke angrily in Russian, ¡°My Bratva will avenge me!¡±
He didn¡¯t seem like a professional killer, much less one of the CIA from his words; he seemed to be Russian mafia. The Russian mafia were notorious in Eastern Europe and Europe for their violence andck of fear of death. The Russian mafia would do anything for money - they would even dare to sell raw material for nuclear weapons, much less be killers for hire.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Tell me who sent you,¡± said Xia Lei in Russian.
¡°Pah!¡± The Russian gunman spat his blood at Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan kicked the man¡¯s head, then stepped on his face and said fiercely, ¡°Talk! Who sent you?¡±
Too bad the Russian gunman didn¡¯t understand Chinese. He red hatefully at Tang Yuyan, his eyes fearless and full of a beast-like ferocity.
¡°Forget it.¡± Xia Lei pulled Tang Yuyan away. ¡°Let him go.¡±
¡°No!¡± Tang Yuyan said determinedly, ¡°The police should being soon. Our chance to question him is lost when they get here.¡±
Xia Lei let go of her arm and drew close to her ear to say softly, ¡°He can see under your skirt with you stepping on him like that.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yuyan suddenly realised that she was wearing a sleeping robe and her embarrassment turned to anger. She kicked the gunman in the head again and he lost consciousness from that kick.
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. She didn¡¯t say anything but she was grumbling to herself, ¡®He¡¯s worried about things under my skirt at a time like this?¡¯
Ling Han walked over. ¡°Are you two okay?¡±
¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m okay too,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Who are they?¡± asked Ling Han.
Tang Yuyan shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t know. This guy has a tight lid and we didn¡¯t get anything out of him.¡±
¡°He¡¯s likely Russian mafia - got paid to kill me,¡± said Xia Lei. He paused, then said, ¡°Maybe the guns in my room were their target too.¡±
Ling Han wrinkled his brows. A cold voice came from his mouth, ¡°Outrageous!¡±
He seemed to have guessed who was involved with Xia Lei¡¯s words.
More rooms doors opened, and Hu Hao, who was providing technical support for both Tang Yuyan and Ling Han, emerged from his room. Ye Kun and the people of Hanwu Weapons came out of their rooms soon after, looking over cautiously at them.
Ye Kun¡¯s expression turned ugly when he saw the corpses strewn about the corridor, and the hale and hearty Xia Lei. His subordinates and bodyguard were stunned. They could not believe that Xia Lei had survived the murder attempt of so many killers!
Tang Yuyan immediately started walking towards Ye Kun, her eyes aze with a killing fury.
Ling Han held her back. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°He must be involved in this!¡± said Tang Yuyan angrily.
¡°Calm down!¡± Ling Han hissed, ¡°This is an order!¡±
Tang Yuyan paused, but gave up in the end. Ling Han was the higher-ups¡¯ designated supervisor and was in charge of all aspects of this mission. She had to follow his orders.
Ling Han¡¯s chiding calmed Tang Yuyan. Going over angrily to make trouble with Ye Kun was useless, and would bring trouble upon herself instead. Ye Kun was not someone she could treat any way she liked because of his status.
Ye Kun hesitated on his end, but still walked over in the end. ¡°What happened? Are you all okay? Russia sure is chaotic, isn¡¯t it? This is almost like a scene in a movie,¡± he said in fake concern.
Ling Han and Tang Yuyan looked wordlessly at him.
Xia Lei raised the M16 in his hands and pointed the muzzle at Ye Kun.
¡°You...¡± Ye Kun grew nervous right away. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°What do you think I¡¯m doing, President Ye?¡±
¡°P, put the gun down!¡± Ye Kun¡¯s voice trembled.
Xia Lei put the gun own and said with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t mind me. I went pretty close to the gates of death today so I¡¯m still a little edgy. Look around, President Ye. See any people you recognise?¡±
¡°What? People I recognise?¡± Ye Kun then realised what Xia Lei meant and he said angrily, ¡°What nonsense are you spouting? How would I know any of these people? You must have done something to draw killers to yourself!¡±
¡°Maybe. I do have quite a few enemies. But I¡¯m a person with principles. If I¡¯m not killed, then I¡¯ll do the killing. Look - aren¡¯t these people dead by my hands?¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s face was dark. He knew full well that Xia Lei had said that for his ears and he knew exactly what Xia Lei meant - If he didn¡¯t finish Xia Lei off, then Xia Lei would finish him off!
A sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°President Ye, it wasn¡¯t easy for you to climb up to your current position either. Take good care of yourself - don¡¯t run into any idents in Russia. It would be tragic to pass on without having spent all your money.¡±
¡°What are you trying to say? Is this a threat?¡± said Ye Kun angrily. He looked at Ling Han. ¡°You see that, Mr Ling? He¡¯s threatening me!¡±
Ling Han spoke disinterestedly, ¡°It was just words. I don¡¯t feel like it was a threat. What are you still doing here? Do you actually recognise someone here?¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Ye Kun left with a swing of his arms.
Police sirens came from outside the hotel. The police of Moscow were finally here.
Chapter 386 - Mastermind and Fly
The Russian police took away ten corpses, and the injured gunman was taken away in an ambnce to a hospital. He would be questioned after treatment and perhaps they would find out which Bratva he belonged to, perhaps nothing.
Xia Lei did not hold much hope for the result. It was just a gunman so his position in the Bratva wouldn¡¯t be high anyway. There was also the possibility that he did not know who had paid to have Xia Lei killed.
The matter was blown up but with Russia¡¯s current rtionship with China, it did not bring any unnecessary trouble. Ling Han showed his identification documents and the relevant paperwork and the Russian police checked them one by one; there was no trouble. Xia Lei answered just a few simple questions during the entire process.
But the knowledge that Xia Lei had killed seven gunmen and heavily injured one all by himself made the hardened Russian policemen look at him in awe; they looked at him like he was a monster.
Ling Han and Tang Yuyan were still giving their statements when Xia Lei turned to walk to the stairwell, out of the corridor.
¡°Where are you going?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei did not look back. ¡°To the rooftop for some air.¡±
¡°Some air?¡± Tang Yuyan almost choked on these words. She made to follow but the police officer taking her statement gestured, telling her that she could not leave.
Ling Han shrugged, and continued acting as interpreter for her.
Xia Lei did not go up to the roof. He had climbed the stairs just one floor up to the sixth floor and entered the corridor.
The hit had failed so Ye Kun was likely contacting the person who had ordered it; Ye Kun was probably the middleman. This was the best time to find out who the mastermind was. Xia Lei could not let this opportunity pass.
He quickly came to the door of Room 452 and knocked.
The door opened and a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Russian woman looked curiously at Xia Lei. She did not recognise this Chinese man at all but he hade knocking at her door. She¡¯d thought that it was the police,ing to ask about the situation. The entire hotel knew about the huge incident downstairs.
¡°Sir, you....¡± The Russian woman looked at Xia Lei in rm.
Xia Lei took out his wallet and pulled out a few 100-Euro notes. He shoved them in the woman¡¯s hand. ¡°Sorry, let me use your bathroom for a bit.¡±
He didn¡¯t wait for her reply. Xia Lei brushed past her into the room and into her bathroom.
The Russian woman stared nkly at the tightly-shut door of the bathroom, then back at the money in her hand for a while beforeing back to her senses. She didn¡¯t mind getting hundreds of Euros for letting him use the bathroom at all. Plus, this man in the bathroom was a handsome one too.
Xia Lei did not dally in the bathroom. His left eye bore through the floor of the bathroom and down into the room below.
The people of Hanwu Weapons were discussing what had happened in Ye Kun¡¯s room. Ye Kun did not join the discussion; he stood on the balcony, smoking. He then pulled out his mobile phone and dialled a number. He then seemed to realise something and waved his hand dismissively as he said, ¡°You guys get out.¡±
The Hanwu Weapons employees left the room.
Ye Kun called the number and stood in the living room of the room for the call.
Xia Lei focused on his lips.
¡°What¡¯s this, Mr Ahn?¡± Ye Kun was furious. ¡°I just wanted those guns, and you guaranteed that the matter wouldn¡¯t be blown up. Do you know what happened just now? Eleven gunmen turned up at the hotel and fired their guns everywhere...¡±
So it was Ahn Suhyeong!
Xia Lei eyes were ice.
¡°What? You¡¯re asking if he¡¯s dead? Would I be making this call if that punk¡¯s dead?¡± Ye Kun seemed to be losing it. ¡°One gunman. He killed off eight on his own! Ah, and one heavily injured. That punk left one alive - that¡¯s a problem. You¡¯d better make sure that he doesn¡¯t let slip anything... That¡¯s no problem then... Okay, I¡¯ll contact you tomorrow. It¡¯s not good to talk here.¡±
Ye Kun hung up and sat on the sofa, his expression heavy with thought.
He was not stupid. If anyone investigated and found out that he was rted to this incident he would be in big trouble.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and walked out of the bathroom.
The Russian woman was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, looking straight at Xia Lei with a bit of hesitation in her eyes.
¡°Thank you,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
The woman smiled suddenly and stripped the sleepwear from her body to stand naked before Xia Lei.
Xia Lei froze, then ran away.
¡°Hello? You¡¯ve paid already. What...¡± Xia Lei disappeared before she finished her sentence.
Russia had been sanctioned by the West because of the Crimean issue, and the price of oil had taken a dive. These two thingsbined made the domestic economic situation fairly serious so many career women became willing to make some extra money. This woman had apparently seen Xia Lei as a customer but he had run off as soon as she stripped. What was this?
Xia Lei did not go up to the roof when he got to the stairwell but down to the fifth floor.
The police were done taking statements and were getting ready to go. A few policemen nodded at Xia Lei in respect.
Xia Lei was polite too and waved back at them. He even said goodbye.
¡°Didn¡¯t you go up to the roof for air?¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°I was about to go look for you.¡±
¡°Never mind, I don¡¯t want to go anymore. What if there¡¯s a sniper too? I don¡¯t have a gun with me either - it¡¯s too dangerous.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t have to stay here. We¡¯re going somewhere else,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Where?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°The embassy. I¡¯ll go report right now. You guys pack.¡± Ling Han went back to his room.
Xia Lei returned to his room too. Carnage met his eyes. Blood all over the floor, broken ss everywhere. The engineering box was still on the bed and bullets had left marks on it but it was specially-made and the bullets had not pierced the box, nor damaged the sniper rifles inside.
The Russian police had already opened the engineering box and seen what was inside. Ling Han had produced the relevant documents and the police had not taken the guns for the light weapons exhibition away after they verified it. They surely would have taken the guns if Ling Han had not produced the documents.
There wasn¡¯t much to pack; just one suitcase and an engineering box. Xia Lei picked them up, one in each hand, and walked to the door.
At that moment, a female hotel staff member walked in, pushing a cleaning trolley before her. She was blonde-haired, blue-eyed and was wearing a face-mask.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks. He¡¯d seen the face under that face-mask and it was Yelena. He hadn¡¯t expected her to be so bold as to turn up here at this time. However, upon deeper thought, this was actually the safest time.
Xia Lei nced almost subconsciously at the doorway. Ling Han¡¯s room door was closed.
Yelena took up the broom and went through the motions of sweeping up the ss on the floor as she spoke in Russian, ¡°The n was to meet you tomorrow but this happened. He¡¯s worried about you so he got me toe check things out.¡±
¡°Where is he?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Right outside the hotel,¡± said Yelena, ¡°But you can¡¯t go to meet him. Tell me - where are you guys moving to?¡±
¡°The embassy,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, find some way toe out in the afternoon tomorrow,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Will he meet me?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°If there¡¯s a chance.¡± Yelena¡¯s gaze went to the engineering box in Xia Lei¡¯s hand, her eyes alight. ¡°Is that the sniper rifle you made?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°But I can¡¯t give it to you now.¡±
Footsteps came from beyond the door.
¡°I¡¯ll walk out of the embassy at noon.¡± Xia Lei carried the engineering box and suitcase out the door after saying that line.
Yelena continued sweeping, looking all professional in her cleaning.
Tang Yuyan was in the corridor and she was carrying a box like Xia Lei¡¯s. ¡°Are you done packing? Don¡¯t leave anything behind.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have everything packed,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Han walked out of his room too. He carried an engineering box and dragged a suitcase along with him too. ¡°The higher-ups have agreed and also arranged for someone toe fetch us. Hu Hao is downstairs waiting for us. Let¡¯s go.¡±
On the other end of the corridor, Ye Kun came out of his room. He spoke loudly when he saw the three of them with their luggage. ¡°Yuyan, where are you guys going?¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at him but did not speak to him.
Ye Kun had no shame. ¡°Mr Ling, where are you guys going?¡±
Ling Han also just gave him a look, but didn¡¯t say anything to him.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask me, Mr Ye?¡±
Ye Kun didn¡¯t say anything back. He¡¯d ask anyone but Xia Lei.
Just then, a woman walked out of his room and handed a mobile phone to Ye Kun. He held it up to his ear and said ¡®mm¡¯ softly two times, then hung up.
¡°Really, Yuyan, you should have said something about you guys going to the embassy. I was just worrying over a ce to go to. I¡¯ll go with you guys to the embassy. We are all Chinese people, so we should take care of each other, right?¡± Ye Kun¡¯s tone held an undertone of mockery.
Tang Yuyan tsked. ¡°This guy is still hanging around like a fly.¡±
Ling Han looked at Xia Lei. ¡°He wants to go to the embassy too. Do you still want to go? I¡¯ll let you make the decision this time.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go. Why not?¡±
He had thought it through. Ling Han had called not long ago, and Ye Kun knew about their itinerary soon after. There was no hiding from him so why not stay at the embassy with him instead of switching to another hotel? The Russian mafia wouldn¡¯t dare to try anything like this. He just needed to fend off the threats from Hanwu Weapons there; it was much simpler for him.
¡°All right, then. Let¡¯s go.¡± Ling Han walked off.
Xia Lei looked back at Ye Kun, his eyes cold.
¡°Humph!¡± Ye Kun scoffed. ¡°We¡¯ll pack up too and go to the embassy.¡±
The light weapons exhibition was in two days; there was not much time left. He was not willing to just give up like this. He was going to follow Xia Lei wherever he went! He would find his chance!
Chapter 387 - Awkward Incident at the Embassy
¡°Don¡¯t move... I told you not to move! It can¡¯t go in if you move about.¡±
¡°You¡¯re making me bleed. How can I just stay still?¡±
Tang Yuyan was holding a surgical needle and stitching up Xia Lei¡¯s wound for him in the room. Xia Lei was naked from the waist up. He was muscr; his body was hard, tough and nicely proportioned. The wound which needed stitching was on his waist and the cut which was several centimetres long looked like it had been made by ss.
His wound wasn¡¯t actually serious but Tang Yuyan had insisted on treating it for him.
Xia Lei drew a breath of pain as the needle went through his flesh. Blood oozed from his wound and trickled down from his waist to his underwear. He felt heat gather on his bottom; it was a strange feeling.
Tang Yuyan took a piece of gauze and shoved it in Xia Lei¡¯s waistband. Her fingers and the gauze touched Xia Lei¡¯s buttock.
¡°What... what are you doing?¡± Xia Lei looked back at Tang Yuyan and was strangely nervous.
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Wiping your blood away, of course. You think I was molesting your butt? I don¡¯t want to touch your smelly butt even if you present it to me as a gift.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He¡¯d been taken advantage of and then insulted - Xia Lei had no words.
¡°Still remember the time in Afghanistan when I stitched up your butt?¡±
¡°Ma¡¯am, can you please not bring that up again?¡±
¡°Haha...¡± Tang Yuyanughed rather happily; she seemed to like to tease Xia Lei for some reason. However, she remembered the situation then and her face turned mysteriously red.
The treatment was done in a few minutes.
¡°Want me to wipe the blood on your butt?¡± Tang Yuyan had a wicked smile on her face.
Xia Lei stood up hurriedly. ¡°No, no. I can do it on my own, thanks. You should go back to sleep.¡±
Tang Yuyan shrugged. ¡°Sure. I¡¯m in the room next to yours. Call me if there¡¯s anything.¡±
Xia Lei removed the bloodstained trousers after Tang Yuyan left, then went into the bathroom to take a shower. He wasn¡¯t worried about his wound getting inmed since it was a small one anyway.
As hey on the bed and was about to sleep, he received a call from China.
It was Annina. ¡°Lukas, it¡¯s me. Have you arrived in Moscow?¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m in Moscow. Why aren¡¯t you asleep yet?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep,¡± said Annina. ¡°I was waiting for you to call and I got worried when I didn¡¯t hear from you, so here I am calling you.¡±
Xia Lei then recalled that he had promised Annina that he would call her to say all was well in Moscow; he had forgotten this promise. He couldn¡¯t be med, however. Ling Han and Tang Yuyan were constantly by his side and he couldn¡¯t find a good time to call. Then the gunfight had happened in the hotel.
¡°I¡¯m fine, no need to worry.¡± Xia Lei added apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I made you worry.¡±
Anninaughed. ¡°Why apologise?¡± After a pause, she said, ¡°Oh, right, I called to tell you something too.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei had a bad feeling about this.
¡°That Officer Tian came again after you left. He brought men to take away those 20 XL2500 sniper rifles and he had the documents too so I couldn¡¯t stop him. The people he¡¯d brought were not all soldiers either - some were wearing casual clothing. Those people went into our workshop saying it was an inspection but I suspect that they are Hanwu Weapons¡¯ engineers, or elite machinists.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Qin Xiang didn¡¯t stop them?¡±
¡°He couldn¡¯t.¡± Annina said angrily, ¡°The produced the documents from the Equipment Department and had inspection documents too. We had no reason to stop them. I followed those people around and watched them inspect our production lines, but what they focused more on were thethes we had modified, and some specialised equipment. Oh, and someone asked to see our design ns but I said there were none.¡±
¡°Bullies!¡± Xia Lei clenched his fist.
¡°But don¡¯t worry, they could only see the outside of ourthes and not the circuitry inside. They can¡¯t get our artificial intelligence systems and our electrical wiring either,¡± said Annina, ¡°Good thing you had been prepared, otherwise we would have been in trouble.¡±
Xia Lei had only been gone for one day and the enemy had made their move, and so openly and boldly too! Barbarians!
¡°Right, and those Hanwu Weapons people even talked to our engineers and senior machinists, trying to recruit them right in front of me and Qin Xiang.¡±
¡°How did our people react?¡±
¡°Two of the engineers seemed interested but didn¡¯t say anything concrete.¡± Annina was worried. ¡°How are we going to take care of this, Lukas? Do we increase their sries to persuade them to stay?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°No. If Hanwu Weapons wants to poach our people then they¡¯re surely going to offer very high sries. We can¡¯t fight with them on the money front. If those employees want to leave, then let them.¡±
¡°But...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°Annina, we¡¯re already paying them the highest sries in the trade. This is a trap that Hanwu Weapons isying for us. Think about it - if Hanwu Weapons tries to take one person away and we offer more money, then what happens to our funds forpany expansion? If they want to poach, then let them. We¡¯ll just hire others.¡±
¡°Okay, that makes sense. I feel better about it now.¡± Annina gave augh. ¡°It looks like we¡¯ll be able to collect some penalty fees too, heh heh.¡±
The little bit they could get from penalty fees was not worth thinking about as a profit, and Xia Lei had never thought of profiting in this way. He was being forced into this situation and it was frustrating how helpless he was.
They chatted for a while more and Xia Lei hung up. He quickly went to sleep after rxing his mind and body, especially after the fight he had had.
He dreamt. Dreamt of Princess Yongmei in the jade coffin. She was naked and breathtakingly beautiful, be it her face or her body. He reached to touch her and her eyes opened suddenly.
He was not afraid this time. He looked at her quietly.
Princess Yongmei smiled. She grabbed his hand, then climbed out of the coffin. She did not speak. She kissed his lips, took his clothes off, then proceeded to have passionate, lusty rtions with him in the ancient burial site...
It was difficult to describe this strange dream in words.
A ray of sunshine came from outside the window. A bird was chirping on a branch somewhere, its chirps crisp and sweet.
Xia Lei bolted upright in bed, sweating. His head was swirling with erotic images and it had felt so real to him; the feeling lingered.
He threw the covers off, looked at the fresh underwear he had changed intost night and smiled wryly. Time to change again.
Knock knock knocking came from the door.
¡°Lei, are you up?¡± came Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice.
¡°Not yet. What is it?¡± Xia Lei took a fresh pair of underwear from his suitcase.
The door was suddenly pushed open.
¡°Ah!¡± Tang Yuyan abruptly covered her eyes.
Xia Lei hurriedly put his fresh underwear over his crotch area. He turned red and said in angry embarrassment, ¡°What the hell?!¡±
¡°I, I came to call you to have breakfast.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s face was red too.
¡°Haven¡¯t you seen enough?¡±
¡°Huh? Who wants to see that...? I¡¯ll wait for you outside.¡± Tang Yuyan scrambled out and shut the door.
Xia Lei was so depressed he could die and he grumbled to himself, ¡°Did my rtionship with her get so intimate that she¡¯s at the level where she can watch me change my underwear? Pervert!¡±
Xia Lei walked out the door a few minutester. Tang Yuyan was waiting for him in the doorway. Her delicate face was flushed red, as if she¡¯d had something to drink or had some sort of stimtion.
¡°Um, let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei was embarrassed too and didn¡¯t want to talk about the awkward incident.
¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go to the dining area.¡± Tang Yuyan let out a breath of relief but her face was as red as before.
There were many people in the dining area. Xia Lei spotted Ling Han, sitting by himself at a table and enjoying the breakfast provided by the embassy in silence. He spotted Ye Kun too, and his posse of Hanwu Weapons employees. Those people were looking at him too with cold eyes.
Hu Hao was not in the dining area; he had to watch over the guns.
Xia Lei got two portions of breakfast and sat at an empty table with Tang Yuyan. They started to eat. The breakfast was sumptuous but he did not have much appetite.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, this is our embassy,¡± said Tang Yuyan softly, ¡°That bastard Ye Kun wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything here.¡±
Xia Lei just nodded and said nothing. He wasn¡¯t thinking about how he was going to deal with Ye Kun but how he was going to shake Ling Han and Tang Yuyan off his tail so that he could meet his father.
Xia Changhe was in Moscow too. This was the best chance for them to meet and he was not going to miss it.
It was not going to be difficult for him to give two of his XL3500 sniper rifles to his father in his original n but this Ling Han had turned up unexpectedly. Ling Han was a tough character to figure out and alert too. He¡¯d sensed that this matter was no simple one in the interactions he¡¯d had with Ling Han these past two days and he would be discovered by Ling Han if he was not careful.
Xia Lei nced subconsciously at Ling Han and Ling Han was coincidentally looking at him too; their eyes met.
Ling Han gave Xia Lei a nod.
Xia Lei gave him a smile in response, thinking, ¡®I¡¯ll draw his suspicions for sure if I give two XL2500s to Yelena or my father. The Hanwu Weapons people are trying to cause trouble for me now so if Ye Kun finds out who I gave guns too he is definitely going to make a big fuss and report it. Forget it. What¡¯s most important now is to meet Dad. I¡¯ll think of some solution for the gunster.¡¯
Tang Yuyan suddenly gave Xia Lei a light kick under the table. ¡°Did you forget the promise you made with me?¡±
¡°What promise?¡± Xia Lei looked at her, confused.
Tang Yuyan wrinkled her pretty nose. ¡°You forget already? You promised to go out sightseeing with me yesterday in the hotel.¡±
¡°Oh, that. No problem. But you have to let Ling Han know. We can go out right now if he agrees to it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, wait for me. I¡¯ll go let Ling Han know.¡± Tany Yuyan was excited and didn¡¯t even want to eat her breakfast anymore. She stood and walked towards Ling Han.
Tang Yuyan spoke eagerly to Ling Han but he shook his head in a straightforward ¡®no¡¯. ¡°I¡¯d have approved the request ifst night¡¯s incident had not happened. I can¡¯t let you two go out now. Stay in the embassy. I won¡¯t have any way to ount to the higher-ups if something happens to you and Xia Lei.¡±
It was like a pail of cold water had been dumped on her head. Tang Yuyan¡¯s head drooped.
Xia Lei had expected this result. It was troublesome for him too - if he couldn¡¯t go out with Tang Yuyan, then he had to think of another way to leave the embassy himself.
Chapter 388 - Father And Son Meet
Xia Lei had idle time aplenty in the morning so he roamed about in the embassy. Ling Han, on the other hand, was the busiest of their group, starting work on the final preparations for Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s participation in the light weapons exhibition. Tang Yuyan and Hu Hao were called to assist him and Xia Lei was d for that. He would have practically no opportunity to leave the embassy and meet his father if Tang Yuyan hung around him.
It was quiet on the Hanwu Weapons end too since the employees were busy preparing for the light weapons exhibition. Ye Kun did make some phone calls and Xia Lei used his X-ray vision and lip-reading to get some information from him.
The two of the calls Ye Kun had made were to China, asking his underlings how things were going with the poaching of talent from Thunder Horse Military Factory, as well as the visit to the workshops. Another call was to Mu Jianfeng, also about Thunder Horse Military Factory. Yet another call was made to some person from the Equipment Department, asking about the eptance of the first batch of XL2500 sniper rifles.
Xia Lei saw some facts from his snooping, and that was that Ye Kun was not giving up on making things difficult for Thunder Horse Military Factory as the head of Hanwu Weapons. He also understood that he had no other choice than to break free from this siege Hanwu Weapons had put him under or he would fall from the assault of the oligarchy headed by Ye Kun.
Xia Lei expected Ye Kun to contact Ahn Suhyeong but the man was a sly fox and didn¡¯t do so.
The morning passed in this way and it drew close to noon. Xia Lei went to the doors of the embassy.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr Xia.¡± The gate guard blocked Xia Lei off. ¡°Mr Ling has informed us that you are not allowed to go out.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Why can¡¯t I go out?¡±
¡°It is what Mr Ling has instructed. Please ask him.¡± The gate guard was honest. ¡°We are just following orders, so please understand.¡±
It was not just Tang Yuyan who had to obey but the soldiers in the embassy too. What is this Ling Han¡¯s identity?
¡°Never mind. I just want to go out to buy something. If that¡¯s the case then I won¡¯t go out.¡± Xia Lei put on an unbothered front and moved away from the gate.
A small delivery van carrying vegetables, grain and oil stopped at the main gates. The driver alighted and started talking to the gate guards. The driver was a rotund Russian babushka who could speak Chinese. She did not speak it very well but the ability to do so was remarkable.
The guards checked the babushka¡¯s entrance permit and asked her to open up the delivery van for inspection but they did not get on the vehicle. They let her in.
The Russian babushka drove the delivery van to the unloading station behind the kitchens, honking at Xia Lei as she went past him.
An idea hatched in Xia Lei¡¯s head when he saw the little delivery van go past.
Lunchtime came and Xia Lei was the first to go to the cafeteria for his meal. He got a helping of food and sat at a table, eating slowly. As he ate, he stared straight at the wall opposite him, using his X-ray vision to watch the delivery van.
The kitchen workers were unloading the delivery from the babushka. They weren¡¯t very fast; it looked like they would take ten minutes.
The babushka didn¡¯t seem happy about their speed and she muttered something before walking off in the direction of the bathrooms.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. Tang Yuyan and Ling Han walked into the cafeteria at that moment.
¡°You¡¯re being toozy, aren¡¯t you, Lei?¡± Tang Yuyan grumbled as soon as she came over. ¡°We were busy the whole time and here you are eating.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Mr Ling is in charge of all of that work. My job is at the exhibition, so it¡¯s not my time to be busy yet.¡±
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips. ¡°I knew you¡¯d say that. I don¡¯t care - you must y with me after the exhibition is over. Count that aspensation.¡±
Xia Lei agreed. ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll apany you to wherever you want to go after the exhibition.¡±
The two of them chatted andughed. Ling Han did note over - he sat by himself at a table as always and ate his lunch.
¡®Ling Han looks like a loner. Does he have friends?¡¯ wondered Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan winked at Xia Lei and asked in a low voice, ¡°What are you doing in the afternoon?¡±
¡°What do you have in mind?¡± asked Xia Lei tentatively.
¡°How about ying a game with me?¡±
¡°My foot. I¡¯m sleepy, I want to nap.¡± Xia Lei stood. ¡°Don¡¯t bother me. I don¡¯t know how to y games.¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at him and muttered, ¡°Petty.¡±
Xia Lei left the dining area and quickly went to the back.
The cafeteria staff were done unloading but the babushka had yet to return from the bathroom. This was just the opportunity Xia Lei was waiting for. He climbed into the delivery van and closed the door. There were several empty stic boxes in a corner which were just right for hiding him.
Barely two minutes after he hid himself, the babushka was back. She just nced at the shut delivery van door and didn¡¯t check. The babushka went straight to the driver¡¯s seat and drove off.
The exit from the embassy went smoothly too. The gate guards did not open up the van to check it and waved the babushka through after exchanging just a few lines with her.
The babushka entered traffic, heading north. In the back of the delivery van, Xia Lei removed his mobile phone battery and the SIM card, looking outside the van with his X-ray vision as he did so and waiting for his chance to get out of the vehicle.
A song suddenly sted in the van - a famous song in Russia titled ¡®Night in Moscow¡¯s Outskirts¡¯. Xia Lei then discovered that the old-fashioned music wasing from a very small loudspeaker in the back of the delivery van.
Just as Xia Lei was about to leave his hiding ce and open the door of the delivery van, the babushka¡¯s voice came from the speaker. ¡°Don¡¯t get off. We¡¯ll be there soon.¡±
Xia Lei froze. He was astonished - this babushka knew that he was in the vehicle, and even told him directly that they were ¡®almost there¡¯. Who was she?
The babushka¡¯s voice came from over the speaker again. ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. We¡¯re on the same side.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and cancelled his n to jump out of the van. He thought more carefully about when the babushka had entered the embassy, to the time when she¡¯d exited but did not see any outward hints throughout the entire process. If even he could not tell then the staff of the embassy were even more clueless.
This was good. At least Ling Han and Tang Yuyan wouldn¡¯t find out.
The delivery van continued north and stopped after half an hour. Xia Lei called forth the power of his eye and scanned the environment outside the delivery van. This was not central Moscow any longer, but an area close to the suburbs. The delivery van had stopped before the door of a warehouse. This warehouse was quite isted and there were no people about.
The babushka honked three times and the shutter-door of the warehouse rumbled upwards. She drove inside when the door was more or less open.
The delivery van finally came to a stop and the babushka opened the back door of the van.
Xia Lei jumped out. The warehouse had stacks of frozen pork and fish, and tendrils of cold blew about everywhere; it was cold. However, he did not see Yelena or his father. He wanted to use his X-ray vision on the ce but quickly gave up on the idea because he could not see through so many hanging frozen pigs.
The babushka stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Where are the guns?¡±
¡°I¡¯m afraid there will only be a chance after the exhibition. I can¡¯t give it to you guys right now,¡± said Xia Lei.
The babushka wrinkled her brows. ¡°You made the guns though. Why is it still so difficult?¡±
¡°Who are you?¡± probed Xia Lei.
The babushkaughed, then reached out to fiddle with her chin. She grabbed skin and pulled upwards. The face full of wrinkles disappeared in the blink of an eye, reced by a young, beautiful face. She was Yelena. The sculpted mask in her hand was intricately detailed and life-like; it was astonishing.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. No wonder a delivery babushka had turned up at the time when he¡¯d most needed to escape the embassy. She had unexpectedly turned out to be Yelena,e specially to fetch him.
¡°What would you have done if I didn¡¯t get in your van?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Yelena gave augh. ¡°I¡¯d have no words to say if you didn¡¯t make use of this opportunity. Plus, I intentionally went to the bathroom to give you a chance to get in the van.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Where¡¯s my father?¡±
Yelena reached into the driver¡¯s cabin and honked twice.
Footsteps came from deeper inside the warehouse and a middle-aged man came into view. He wore grey work clothes and thick ck leather shoes with a grey baseball cap on his head. The cap covered half his face but Xia Lei recognised him at once - he was his father, Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei opened his mouth to say ¡®Dad¡¯ but no sound came out. His mind was a nk when he saw Xia Changhe, and his feelings were an absolute mess.
¡°You guys chat. I¡¯ll go out and keep watch.¡± Yelena left.
Xia Changhe walked to stand before Xia Lei and he looked at him silently. A smile yed about the corners of his mouth and his heart was full of excitement and joy.
Xia Lei looked straight at Xia Changhe too. His mind was not a nk now - images of what he¡¯d experienced shed through his head like a film in reverse. His father put him on his shoulders to run about with him as a child. His father buying him sweets. His father walking with him to cross the busy streets safely when he was a student in school. His father making sweet and sour pork ribs for him and his sister in the evening...
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes filled gradually with tears and he finally said, ¡°Dad!¡±
Xia Changhe opened his arms and enveloped Xia Lei in a hug. ¡°Lei.¡± Tears fell from Xia Changhe¡¯s eyes when he called his name.
Xia Lei had harboured some resentment towards Xia Changhe before he met him but he found that he could not hate his father after he met him.
¡°Lei, these past years have been tough on you,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei took a deep breath. ¡°Dad, why? Do you know how I lived these past few years? I sometimes huddled alone under my bed-covers and cried. I didn¡¯t dare to let Xue know. I wanted so much for you to be with us but you went away for six years. Six years without any contact.¡±
He could not hate Xia Changhe but he had kept these words inside for years and they bubbled to the surface.
Xia Changhe sighed. ¡°I know I¡¯ve let you and Xue down, and I do not hope for your forgiveness. But you have to trust me - I had no other choice. If I came back I would not help you, but bring you danger. You two are safest only if I disappear off the face of this Earth. More importantly, I have to help you gain the time you need.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°You... know everything?¡±
Xia Changhe let go of Xia Lei. ¡°Come with me. This is not the ce to talk.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and followed Xia Chenghe, going deeper into the warehouse.
Chapter 389 - Father And Son Talk
There was a little house behind the warehouse with a bed, a table and two sofas. It was simply furnished and very clean. A small river wound by the front of the house and an abandoned construction site sat on the opposite bank, silent as a grave.
¡°I lived here for a period of time,¡± said Xia Changhe. He gestured for Xia Lei to sit on the sofa.
Xia Lei sat on the sofa. ¡°Dad, there are many things I don¡¯t understand. We finally meet now so I want to get to the bottom of those things.¡±
Xia Changhe sat opposite Xia Lei. ¡°I know. Now is the time to tell you the truth.¡±
Xia Lei looked at his father, waiting quietly for him to continue.
¡°I believe you already know that I am not an ordinary civilian.¡± Xia Changhe said slowly, ¡°I am part of the FA Organisation - the Free Agents. This organisation was established a hundred years ago during World War I. You cannot imagine how powerful and how mysterious it is.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help interrupting. ¡°How... How did you join this FA Organisation?¡±
Xia Changhe gave a dryugh. ¡°I am an orphan. I grew up in an orphanage. One day a person came to the orphanage and took me away but it was not the type of adoption you¡¯d expect. I was brought to Siberia and I underwent gruelling training there. Children from all over the world were there. American, German, English, Japanese, Israeli, Saudi... Orphans from all those countries you could see on a map were sent there. FA is an international organisation of specialised, select members and I am one of many.¡±
Xia Lei then understood the reason why he had never seen any grandparents.
Xia Changhe continued, ¡°I trained in Siberia for 15 years. Many people died, and those who survived and passed the final test were sent back to their respective home countries to await our missions. I got to know your mother during that period of time.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart squeezed. His memories of his mother had gone a little hazy.
¡°I knew that a person like myself should not have gotten close to her but I could not help myself. I had entered the river of love and it was the first time I felt like I was living like a human should. And so we got married, and had you and Xia Xue. I lived in the small gap between the two worlds of home and FA. I went on missions for the FA, and yed the role of a husband and father at home.¡±
¡°Does the FA know of me and Xue?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Three people knew. They¡¯re dead now. I would never let them live. I kill whoever threatens my children,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei felt a chill cross his heart. His old man was actually this sort of person! He waspletely different from the ordinary, honest father he had in his memories.
¡°The one I am most sorry about is your mother. She did not know my real identity all through her illness and death. I received a mission after your mother¡¯s death to investigate the AE Research Center in America. I brought some of the new generation FAs with me and spent almost two years investigating the secret of the AE Research Center - the AE capsules. A drug which could let the human race fully evolve. During that time you fell ill. You had unexined headaches and your health was getting worse and worse. I brought you to the hospital for a check-up and the doctors told me that there was a tumor in your head which could not be operated on. You would live for less than a year more.¡±
¡°So you...¡±
Xia Changhe nodded. ¡°Before your mother died she told me to take good care of you two. I promised her. I could not watch you die like that. I stole the 12 AE capsules from the AE Research Center and let you eat them. This was my only hope for you to live on.¡±
Memories shed in Xia Lei¡¯s head. ¡°You let me eat one capsule a month, and I ate 11... But how did the AE capsules heal the tumor in my head?¡±
Xia Changhe shook his head. ¡°I am no biologist. I don¡¯t know how it did it but I know that evolution is a mysterious and powerful thing which can make your body stronger, more perfect. Truthfully, I gained some information when I was carrying out this mission and I deeply believed that the AE capsules would help you live on, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t have stolen them.¡±
Xia Lei subconsciously touched the pendant of the ne around his neck. He had consumed 11 out of the 12 capsules - what would he attain if he took thest?
¡°I know you still have one.¡± Xia Changhe looked at Xia Lei. ¡°When do you n to eat it?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°I want to take it and I also want to know what taking it will bring to me, but what I want to know more is what it is made of. I did some digging too and I know that they are the only capsules so I have no intention of eating it yet. I also have questions. If these were the only ones, then how did the AE Research Center get their hands on them? Who made them? America?¡±
Xia Changhe was silent for a bit before he spoke. ¡°Human science has not reached this level of technology yet. These were excavated.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was thunderstruck.
¡°The information I got was that a Ming dynasty book was found by the Japanese in a library during the invasion of Nanjing in World War II. The book had records of some absurd content - content rted to AE. It was incredible to have the letters ¡®AE¡¯ appear in a Ming dynasty book. However, the Japanese were busy invading ournd and did not take any special note of this. The war then ended and Japan surrendered. The American troops took over Japan and discovered that book. The Americans started studying it and searched with the clues found in the book. They finally found the capsules in Jerusalem.
This all sounded like a mythical story.
The Japanese invading Nanjing and discovering the book. Americans taking over Japan after World War II, finding leads and finding the AE capsules in Jerusalem. But in the end these AE capsules had ended up in the stomach of a young Chinesed. Was this fate?
Xia Changhe kept talking. ¡°If the Americans were given more time they might have solved the mystery of the AE capsules. Too bad you couldn¡¯t wait that long. I stole them and gave them to you. And so I became wanted internationally by the CIA and the FA ordered me killed too. How could I meet with you, my children, under those circumstances?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°So that means even the AE Research Center cannot confirm the origin and secrets of the AE capsules now?¡±
Xia Changhe shook his head. ¡°I can tell you for sure that no one in this world knows about the secrets of the AE capsules.¡±
¡°Then what about the ancient alloy I extracted from the ruins in Afghanistan? It also has ¡®AE¡¯ on it.¡±
¡°My investigation is still ongoing. This is why I sent Yelena to look for you to ask you to hand that piece of alloy to me. But what you did was right too, giving it to the Chinese government. The first mention of AE was in China after all and this is a return to its origins of a sort. More importantly, you had an opportunity to interact with the alloy with your status in Bureau 101, so I gave up on that idea.¡±
Xia Lei knew well that if it had been someone else retrieving that alloy his father would not have let go just like that. He would have killed that person and taken the alloy.
¡°I had done my best to keep you hidden but the CIA discovered you in the end. They sent their Chinese intelligence officer, Liang Siyao to make contact with you. I wanted to kill her during that period of time but she is highly capable and she had the protection of the CIA. Iter discovered that Liang Siyao had no intention to harm you and I just sent Yevgenia to give you some information. She was unexpectedly killed by Liang Siyao.¡± Xia Changhe gave augh at this point. ¡°What was more interesting was that she had fallen in love with you, and you with her. I had more reasons not to kill her. You wouldn¡¯t have forgiven me if I did.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help his bitter smile. His love for Liang Siyao had been a mistake.
¡°Is there anything else you want to ask me?¡± Xia Changhe looked at Xia Lei, his eyes tender.
¡°You¡¯ve told me all that you could, and I have nothing more to ask except this - what degree of investigation have you reached in your investigation of AE?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You know as much as I do now. You¡¯ll have to rely on yourself to uncover more secrets of AE. Son, only you have the opportunity toe into contact with thatpass and that alloy. I will help you from the shadows. Us, father and son working together, we will have the chance to uncover the mysteries.¡±
Xia Lei wanted to cut ties with Bureau 101 but it now looked like this n had to be annulled. How was he going toe into contact with thepass and alloy if he cut ties with Bureau 101?
Things like these couldn¡¯t be helped, like running into someone you didn¡¯t want to see, and having to do things you didn¡¯t want to do.
¡°Son, be careful,¡± nagged Xia Changhe. ¡°My identity is quite special and you will be in trouble if the people from Bureau 101 find out.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already been marked,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Who?¡± Xia Changhe wrinkled his brows.
¡°I¡¯m not sure who it is but I am sure I¡¯m being marked. Don¡¯t worry, I didn¡¯t betray the country and I didn¡¯t do anything illegal. I¡¯ve actually been contributing to the nation all the while. They wouldn¡¯t ignore my contributions and usefulness. In other words, if they do find out your identity one day I believe the higher-ups would treat me fairly still.¡±
Xia Changhe let out a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m relieved you think that way. But you¡¯ve antagonised quite a few people. I¡¯m still worried that your enemies would use this to attack you.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be careful.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°You¡¯re my Dad. You¡¯ll always be Dad no matter what your identity is, and this won¡¯t ever change. I go by thew and I can sit tall and proud. If they want to use this to attack me then bring it on. I will not back down, and I will not be afraid.¡±
Xia Changhe smiled. How could he not feel proud with a son like this?
At that moment, Yelena¡¯s voice suddenly came from in the house. ¡°Leave, now!¡±
Chapter 390 - FA Organisation
Her voice hade from a little speaker installed under the table. This seemed to be Yelena¡¯s handiwork; there had also been a little speaker in the delivery van. However, this was not the time toin about it. Xia Lei stood almost instantly after Yelena spoke. He was anxious. ¡°Is it the CIA?¡±
Xia Changhe strode towards a wall as he said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. The CIA won¡¯t dare to cause an uproar in Moscow. It¡¯s probably the FA. I¡¯m their number one target now and they want to erase me more than the CIA does.¡±
Xia Changhe reached out and tapped the wall. The seemingly t wall suddenly opened up, revealing a hidden cab. There were dozens of guns in there - long guns, short guns, explosives, grenades, grenadeunchers, anything and everything one could be equipped for!
The hidden cab also had a box and who knew what was inside.
Xia Changhe took the box out and handed it to Xia Lei. Xia Lei did not use his X-ray vision on it but asked, ¡°Dad, what¡¯s this?¡±
¡°This is a present from me to you. Open it. Wear it.¡± Xia Changhe started arming himself.
Xia Lei opened the box. A beautiful skin-coloured mask was inside and it looked like it had been taken from a live person¡¯s face. It also had hair. Long hair. Thick, clean and shiny.
¡°Put it on. Don¡¯t let the Free Agents see your face or you will be their target,¡± nagged Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei did not hesitate and he put it on. It fit like a glove and went easily on his face. He reached out to touch his face but it did not have the feel of stic or silicone. It felt like human skin, just without body heat.
Xia Changhe put an AK12 and two grenades in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°Take it. Yelena and I will cover you as we leave. You have to leave no matter what happens. Understand?¡±
Xia Lei was about to say that he would not leave him behind when he saw the intensity of Xia Changhe¡¯s gaze. It felt like he was a child again. He nodded.
Just then, Yelena walked into the house, saying anxiously, ¡°Why are you guys still here? Go!¡±
¡°How many?¡± Xia Changhe was calm. He handed Yelena a shotgun and a handgun as he spoke.
¡°I found four, but there are surely more than that.¡± Yelena swiftly loaded the shotgun and started heading out. ¡°Let¡¯s leave from the river before they have this ce surrounded.¡±
The three of them went out of the house and ran towards the bank of the river.
The water was not deep; it was knee-high. Thick wild grass grew on its banks and it was easy to hide in it. They just had to cross the river and enter that abandoned construction site and they would escape this attack.
Before they got to the riverbank, however, the forerunner Yelena was suddenly shaken. A bullet had grazed past her arm, leaving a wound. The bullet did not get lodged in her arm and blood flowed from the wound.
¡°There¡¯s...¡± Xia Lei pulled her to the ground before she could finish. At almost the same time, a second bullet struck the spot she had paused in. Grass and leaves flew, and mud sttered.
Pew pew pew...
Bullets came flying from behind, whooshing through the air like heavy rain.
Xia Changhe threw himself to the ground too and kept his head down. A dozen bullets whizzed past where his head had been right after he¡¯d thrown himself t. The tall grass was torn apart and carried about in the wind before floating to the ground.
¡°We¡¯ve been surrounded!¡± Yelena looked grim. ¡°They have a sniper too. They were prepared!¡±
Xia Changhe patted Xia Lei on the shoulder. ¡°You crawl over from the left and leave this ce. Yelena and I will hold them back. Remember what I said to you just now. Don¡¯t bother, no matter what happens.¡±
¡°No!¡± Xia Lei cried, ¡°How can I just leave you at a time like this? You¡¯re my Dad!¡±
¡°You!¡± Xia Changhe raised a hand in anger but did not hit him. His son was not the weak child of yesteryear anymore - how could he punish Xia Lei like he had in the past?
¡°Don¡¯t worry. I can get rid of them,¡± said Xia Lei. He had already awakened the power of his left eye and his brain was whirring into action, calcting and analysing the situation.
Xia Change did not know Xia Lei¡¯s current condition and he spoke fiercely. ¡°Son, they¡¯re not the CIA. They are killers of the FA. They¡¯re more skilled than any killer you¡¯ve met before and more cold-blooded!¡±
Xia Lei did not argue with Xia Changhe. He took out a grenade and pulled the pin, then threw it in a dense patch of weeds by the river.
Boom! There was an explosion and grass, leaves and mud were thrown up to cover half the sky.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Yelena looked quizzically at Xia Lei. ¡°There¡¯s no one there. Were you trying to use the hand grenade to st their sniper to death?¡±
Xia Lei did not exin himself. A fire had started on the opposite bank and the dry weeds burnt fiercely. The fire grew rapidly and thick smoke started billowing up, blocking the sight of the sniper opposite.
Yelena asked no more questions because she already knew what Xia Lei was doing.
Xia Lei crawled towards the house with the AK12.
The grass was thick and this affected his X-ray vision. He could not see through the thousands of grass stalks so he needed to shorten the distance.
Pew pew pew, pew pew pew...
The enemy was still firing blindly but all the shots were concentrated on the area close to the river. The FAs surrounding the ce were experienced killers but it was their experience which led them to make an erroneous presumption. They had presumed that Xia Lei had set the weeds opposite alight to block the sniper¡¯s sight and find a way to cross the river to escape their attack. Who would have thought that Xia Lei would turn back to hunt them down?
Xia Changhe and Yelena exchanged nces. Both were confused. Why was Xia Lei doing this? If the enemy with superior firepower discovered them, they would have no chance of surviving!
Xia Changhe and Yelena still followed Xia Lei in his crawl towards the house because they had no other choice than to trust in Xia Lei.
The first person appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s left eye as he got closer. It was a caucasian male, tall and big with a ck bandana on his head. He was also wearing a set of ckbat clothing and a bulletproof vest. He had several weapons on his weapons belt and was armed to his teeth.
The caucasian man squatted in the grass, watching the riverbank vigntly and firing intermittently.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the left of the caucasian man and he quickly spotted another one about 15 metres away. This was a ck man and he was equipped like the caucasian man was. Xia Lei strengthened his X-ray vision and discovered the rest of the FAs.
There were six in all, one every ten metres, fanned out across the grass. They were keeping in contact and advancing slowly. These six, plus the sniper hidden in the construction site opposite were a team of skilled killers.
But they were up against Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stretched the muzzle of the AK12 out and pointed it at the caucasian man in front of him. There was no hesitation. His left eye locked onto the target and he squeezed the trigger.
Bang! A gunshot rang out and a bullet instantly went through the head of the causasian killer. He wore a bulletproof vest but there was nothing protecting his head. He died when the bullet hit him in the head, without any struggle at all.
¡°There!¡± shouted someone.
Bang! Another gunshot.
A bullet had gone through the nose of the person who had shouted, sting his nose away and opening up a terrifying pit in his head before he had a chance to return fire. Brain matter, blood, bone and gristle exploded from his face - a horrifying sight indeed.
Pew pew pew...
The remaining four killers shot in Xia Lei¡¯s direction but they could not see where he was.
Xia Changhe and Yelena returned fire. They did not care to stick their heads out but they were able to pressure the enemy with some firepower.
Xia Lei had already moved to another spot with the help of his father¡¯s and Yelena¡¯s suppressing fire. He aimed, fired, killed. Every shot he made meant the death of a Free Agent. The FAs should have been the hunters in this dense grass but they had be the prey - blinded prey. They were no match for Xia Lei in this environment, no matter how skilled they were.
Thest FA fell to the ground, struck in the eyes by the bullets from Xia Lei¡¯s AK12. He had not even seen who had killed him, nor even knew where his killer had been hiding!
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the construction site on the river bank opposite after he got rid of thest FA in the grass. The smoke still billowed. His left eye looked through that smoke and at an unfinished room. He saw a man moving quickly, holding an engineering box. That man was undoubtedly their sniper and he had given up on his mission.
Xia Lei stood up in the grass after confirming the situation.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Changhe yelled angrily at him, ¡°There¡¯s still a sniper!¡±
¡°Dad, he¡¯s already gone,¡± said Xia Lei softly.
Xia Changhe stared nkly. He knew the situation. The room that sniper was in was at least 800 metres away, and there was a huge cloud of thick smoke blocking visibility too, so how was Xia Lei able to see that that sniper had left?
Xia Lei walked to Xia Changhe and drew close to his ear to say softly, ¡°The AE capsules have brought me some strange changes. My eye can see very far into the distance and I can see through walls. I¡¯ve only told you this secret so far.¡±
Xia Changhe was not an outsider and there was no need to hide it from his own father. Besides, it was his father who had given him the AE capsules.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Changheughed heartily. ¡°I get it. I get it.¡± He then hugged Xia Lei. ¡°This is your fate. I am happy for you, and proud.¡±
Yelena, who had been checking the bodies, said, ¡°They were Nightwalkers.¡±
¡°Nightwalkers?¡± This was the first Xia Lei had heard of them.
Yelena smiled wryly. ¡°A killer team in the FA. This is a small team but I don¡¯t see their captain.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°I hope it isn¡¯t Dark Mona.¡±
¡°Dark Mona? Is she powerful?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help asking.
¡°They say there¡¯s no one she can¡¯t kill on this Earth,¡± said Yelena. ¡°She is one of the best killers in the FA but your father and I haven¡¯t seen her before.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to bother about this. Yelena, send Xia Lei back to the embassy.¡±
¡°When will we meet again, Dad?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°There will be another chance.¡± Xia Changhe smiled. ¡°Our family will be reunited one day.¡±
Xia Lei nodded seriously, then followed Yelena out.
Chapter 391 - Closer, Step By Step
The meeting with his father had not solved the mystery of AE but he had gained knowledge of his father¡¯s status and what he had done for him. This was enough for Xia Lei. His father had given him life twice, and had disappeared suddenly to hide from the CIA and FAs. It was all due to circumstances - how could he resent his father?
Knowing the truth unknotted the heaviness in his heart and Xia Lei was in a good mood on his way back to the embassy. He smiled when memories of his childhood with his father surfaced in his head.
¡°You sure have nerves of steel.¡± The re-transformed babushka Yelena broke the silence in the vehicle. ¡°Those people were killers from the FA. I¡¯m still feeling nervous now. You really are quite something, aren¡¯t you? Killing six of them on your own.¡±
Xia Lei justughed and didn¡¯t say anything. He knew though that if it had been in another environment and he were visible to that team, that the result would be different.
Yelena sighed. ¡°Your father and I have to be on the run again after I send you back. We¡¯lly low for a period of time so you¡¯d better do the same.¡±
¡°Oh, right...¡± Xia Lei abruptly remembered something.
¡°What?¡± Yelena nced at Xia Lei.
¡°Never mind, it¡¯s nothing,¡± said Xia Lei. He¡¯d wanted to ask Yelena to investigate the Russian mafia members who hade to kill himst night but he remembered that his father was on the run from the FA and that it was not convenient for him to move around, so he gave up on the idea.
He¡¯d wanted to mention it when he had been talking with his father earlier but the FA team and turned up unexpectedly.
Yelena smiled. ¡°I can guess even if you don¡¯t say it. The thing you want is in the storage box. Open it up.¡±
¡°You know what I want?¡± said Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°Open it up and take a look.¡±
Xia Lei opened the storage box. There was a document envelope inside. He unwound the string of the envelope and took out its contents - printed information and some photographs. He saw a familiar face in the photographs, and the owner of that face had been killed by himst night.
It was now obvious what was in the document envelope.
¡°The mafia hit on you was carried out by a Bratva called the Violent Bears. Their leader is called Sergei. This Bratva has operations in South Korea and their main business is car smuggling, arms and drugs. Your enemy Ahn Suhyeong is familiar with Sergei. You know where I¡¯m going with this?¡±
¡°I know. Ahn Suhyeong put the hit on me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This is Russia. Do not enrage the Violent Bears. They are numerous and all of them are brainless crazies. It¡¯s not worth getting into a fight with them. It¡¯s best to deal with Ahn Suhyeong in China. After this period of running is over your father and I will help you deal with him if you need to.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°It¡¯s better for me to handle it myself. You take care of my father.¡±
Xia Changhe and Yelena were great helpers but they were being pursued by the CIA and the FA. They were threatened with death every time they surfaced. He did not know it before but he was aware now and he did not want his father to be in danger.
¡°We¡¯ll see when the timees. There¡¯s no way to decide on the future now,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei nodded. He was mulling over his thoughts.
Yelena stopped the vehicle a few hundred metres from the embassy and Xia Lei alighted, then walked over. Yelena turned the vehicle around and drove off, quickly vanishing into traffic.
Xia Lei nced back, feeling at a loss. He did not know when would be the next time he could meet with his father.
Xia Lei did not go through the front door but to the back walls of the embassy. He wanted to get in from a blind spot in the cameras but there was, unfortunately, none. There were soldiers on guard on the top floors of the embassy too, surveying the embassy and its surroundings from a bird¡¯s eye view. He finally braced himself and went to the main gates of the embassy.
Fortunately, the previous soldier who had stopped him had changed shifts. The soldier on duty stopped him but let him in after asking him for his status and checking his entrance permit.
Ling Han was still busy working in an office and didn¡¯t seem to have noticed that Xia Lei had left. This was entirely possible since he would definitely have done something if he¡¯d discovered that Xia Lei was missing. He would have at least sent someone to search for him.
Xia Lei sneaked back into his own room.
All was normal in his room except for the missing engineering box. Xia Lei grew anxious - had Ye Kun stolen it? But Ling Han and Tang Yuyan were not wallflowers; there was no way the guns could have been stolen from under their noses by Ye Kun and his cronies!
It was not Ye Kun - then who?
Knock knock knocking came from the door.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he saw Tang Yuyan outside the door immediately. She was carrying the missing box in her hand. Xia Lei let out a quiet breath of relief and went to open the door.
Tang Yuyan entered and waited for Xia Lei to shut the door again before saying, ¡°Where did you go?¡±
Xia Lei had his story prepared. ¡°I discovered a suspicious motorcycle rider after lunch. He looked like he was from the same group as the people who had tried to kill mest night, so I went over the wall to chase after him.¡±
Tang Yuyan wrinkled her brows. ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Why would I?¡±
¡°So what did you find out?¡± said Tang Yuyan, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you found nothing.¡±
¡°I did. The gunmen who came after us were from a Bratva called Violent Bears. Their boss is named Sergei. Violent Bears has business in South Korea, smuggling cars, arms and drugs. This Sergei is on close terms with Ahn Suhyeong. You don¡¯t need me to point out that the incidentst night had been arranged by Ahn Suhyeong, right?¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s the mastermind?¡± Tang Yuyan looked surprised.
¡°Not just him. There¡¯s one more, right next to us. You know who I mean,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ye Kun?¡±
¡°Yep.¡±
¡°Damn it!¡± Tang Yuyan said angrily, ¡°He dared to do this? And that Ahn Suhyeong too. They¡¯d better not let me get any dirt on them!¡±
Ye Kun and Ahn Suhyeong - both were difficult people to deal with. There was no way to pursue the matter even though they knew that they had done it. This couldn¡¯t be helped, and it was also a representation of how the world worked.
Tang Yuyan suddenly gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°You were out for just over two hours and you found out so many things?¡±
¡°What can¡¯t you buy if you¡¯re willing to spend money in this world? I caught up to that motorcycle rider and brought him down. 100,000 Euros settled it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan smiled wryly. ¡°You sure know how to spend money. You¡¯re actually willing to spend 100,000 Euros on this bit of information.¡±
¡°I spent even more in Afghanistan. You guys haven¡¯t paid me back yet,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan sighed. ¡°Forget it. Hu Hao and I know about this. He wanted to tell Ling Han but I stopped him. But there¡¯s no next time, you hear? You need to tell me the next time you make a move.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei agreed right away.
His mouth was full of lies but this couldn¡¯t be helped. Lucky thing Yelena gave him that information or it would¡¯ve been hard toe up with this bluff.
Tang Yuyan handed the box to Xia Lei. ¡°I was worried about Ye Kun and his people after you went off so I took your guns and brought them to my room. You¡¯re back now so you keep an eye on them.¡±
Xia Lei opened the box, nced inside, then closed it. ¡°Any movement on Ye Kun¡¯s end?¡±
¡°Nope. They¡¯re busy preparing for the light weapons exhibition too.¡±
Just then, knocking came from the door and a woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°Mr Xia, are you in there?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t need to use his X-ray vision to know that the woman outside was Ye Kun¡¯s secretary, Chen Man.
Xia Lei opened the door. ¡°What do you want?¡±
Chen Man had a smile on her face and she said politely, ¡°Mr Xia, our President Ye invites you over for tea.¡±
¡°No thanks,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chen Man did not give up. ¡°President Ye has something he wishes to speak with you about.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have anything to say to him. Please leave,¡± said Xia Lei coldly.
Chen Man gave augh. ¡°Mr Xia, President Ye said you¡¯ll regret it if you don¡¯t go.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Is this a threat?¡±
¡°I dare not threaten you,¡± said Chen Man.
Just then, Ye Kun walked out of his room and said in a loud voice, ¡°Are you really being so discourteous, Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Lei just looked at him coldly. He didn¡¯t even want to speak a word to him.
Ye Kun walked slowly over with a sneer in the corners of his lips. ¡°If that¡¯s the case then I¡¯ll be frank. I found out something very interesting, Mr Xia. Do you still remember the deal you had with China Industrial Group? The deal about the intelligentthe? I found out now that you were the one who had brought it back from Germany, and you brought a German girl with you too. Her name¡¯s Annina, right?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank and anger bubbled up. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
Ye Kun spoke in an odd tone. ¡°I wonder what the German would do if they knew that that woman is in yourpany?¡±
¡°You dare...!¡± Xia Lei grabbed Ye Kun by the cor, his eyes terrifying cold.
Ye Kun was not scared by Xia Lei at all. Heughed. ¡°You care a lot for her, huh? Woman orpany - pick one. I¡¯ll give you onest chance. 5,000,000,000 for yourpany and the design ns for your XL2500. We¡¯ll still be friends after this bit of business. We, Hanwu Weapons will have nock of purchase orders for you. How about it? Think about it.¡±
Xia Lei pulled Ye Kun before him and his other hand curled into a fist.
¡°Let him go.¡± It was Ling Han¡¯s voice. He walked over to them in the corridor, his face calm.
Xia Lei did not let him go and he did not rx his fist either. He hated being threatened most, especially by those who threaten to hurt him with the people close to him. He wanted nothing more than to beat Ye Kun to a pulp in that moment!
¡°Hahaha...¡± Ye Kunughed. ¡°Don¡¯t dare to hit me, huh? Then let go. You don¡¯t respect me but I am still willing to give you a chance. ept my proposal.¡±
¡°Let him go, Xia Lei.¡± Ling Han was close now.
Xia Lei thrust his hand forward violently and the chubby Ye Kun was mmed into the wall before he fell to the floor.
¡°You...¡± Ye Kun was so humiliated he was angry. ¡°Did you see that, Mr Ling? How are you going to resolve this?¡±
Ling Han spoke disinterestedly, ¡°I¡¯m not the police. I don¡¯t know how I¡¯ll resolve this. If you want me to suggest something then I suggest you don¡¯t fight with him. Will you do that?¡±
Ye Kun was speechless.
Xia Lei drew close to Ye Kun and said in a low voice, ¡°Listen up, I won¡¯t sell my military factory to you no matter what dirty tricks you use. If you have the balls to leak information to Germany then the crime of treason awaits. When that timees, I¡¯ll kill you even if Bureau 101 doesn¡¯t.¡±
The look in Ye Kun¡¯s eyes was dark and he said nothing.
Chapter 392 - I’m Not Gay
Moscow - International light weapons exhibition.
After much difficulty and this and that problems, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s XL2500 was finally disyed at the light weapons exhibition in Moscow. Russia and the Western countries were currently in a tense situation but this did not hinder the Western arms dealers from taking their weapons to the exhibition and looking for buyers.
China had just two military booths, one was Hanwu Weapons and the other was Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Hanwu Weapons had a certain poprity in third world countries and their weapons were known by the buyers from Africa, Latin America, South America and the Middle East. They had brought many weapons to this exhibition - dozens of types of light weapons. Their exhibition area was also astoundinglyrge.
Thunder Horse Military Factory, on the other hand, was unknown. The European, American and even the third world countries had never heard of it. The weapons on disy in the exhibition booth were pitifully few - just four sniper rifles. The booth was also in an inconspicuous corner and it had practically no visitors, much less buyers.
Tang Yuyan frowned. ¡°This is bad. Look at that Barrettpany there. They¡¯ve got a huge crowd. Your sniper rifle is obviously better than a Barrett sniper rifle. Why can¡¯t they see this?¡±
Tang Yuyan groused about the unfairness of it. She had expected the people here to crowd this booth but reality was far from what she¡¯d imagined.
Xia Lei was not the least bit bothered. He smiled as he said, ¡°This is Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s first foray overseas. I don¡¯t expect people to know of our existence. This situation here is normal.¡±
¡°Your aim is to use this light weapons exhibition to make a name for Thunder Horse Military Factory. If this goes on you won¡¯t meet your goal even after the exhibition is over.¡±
¡°No worries,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Looks like the outsider is more concerned than the boss. This is yourpany, your gun. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m here worrying for you for.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh and was not worried at all. He had expected this situation and he had a n in mind.
Just then, two Middle Eastern men with their heads wrapped in white headscarves went past Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth and took a look outside the door before they walked back in again.
Middle Eastern men were known for being rich.
Tang Yuyan put on a smile and greeted them in Arabic. ¡°Hello, Sirs. Please take a look. We...¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s secretary, Chen Man, appeared in the doorway before Tang Yuyan could finish her sentence and greeted the two Middle Eastern men in a sweet voice. ¡°Mr Arafat, Mr Rahman, there you are. Our President Ye is waiting for you, our distinguished guests.¡±
What was surprising was that this Chen Man was speaking fluent Arabic. It looked like Ye Kun had surrounded himself with talent and even his bed-sharing secretary had some real skills.
The Middle Eastern men nced at each other and one of them seemed to remember who Chen Man was. He smiled. ¡°Ah, so it¡¯s Miss Chen Man. All right, let¡¯s go over.¡±
The two Middle Eastern men stopped looking at Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s sniper rifles and went off with Chen Man.
Chen Man gave Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei a smug eye-roll and led the way for the two Middle Eastern men, her hips swaying.
¡°Damn it, that bitch!¡± Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t hold back anymore. She made to rush forward and ¡®talk¡¯ to Chen Man but Xia Lei pulled her back.
¡°It¡¯s just one of Ye Kun¡¯s dogs. Look at your own status - need you go pick a fight with her?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You... Ah, forget it. You¡¯re not even anxious so why should I be?¡± Tang Yuyan was discontent.
Xia Lei watched Chen Man bring those two Middle Eastern men to the Hanwu Weapons booth, and a faint smile appeared in the corners of his mouth.
The other booths were buzzing with activity but only the chirping of crickets could be heard at Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth. There wasn¡¯t even a ghost of a client there.
Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t help pursing her peachy lips when she saw this. ¡°You¡¯re not putting any effort into this. It¡¯s already like this and you¡¯re still able to smile. No, I¡¯m going to get Ling Han here and get him to think of something. That guy must have lots of ideas; he must be able to help.¡±
Their only helper in the exhibition hall, Hu Hao interrupted to say, ¡°Chief Tang, Mr Ling has stepped out. I don¡¯t know where he is now.¡±
Tang Yuyan stamped her foot. ¡°Damn it. Can¡¯t count on any of you.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help butugh at her anxiousness.
Tang Yuyan red at Xia Lei. ¡°What are youughing at? Aren¡¯t you anxious?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll think of something since you¡¯re so anxious. I¡¯ll go out for a bit. Help me watch the booth.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the n?¡± asked Tang Yuyan curiously.
¡°You¡¯ll know in a bit,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked towards the booth of the Barrettpany.
Tang Yuyan watched Xia Lei go and couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Hu Hao, what do you think his n is?¡±
Hu Hao shook his head. ¡°No idea, Chief Tang. I just know that you¡¯re anxious. Why?¡± Then he smiled. ¡°Chief Tang, do you like him?¡±
Tang Yuyan red at Hu Hao and said fiercely, ¡°Are you making fun of your Chief Tang, punk? Attention!¡±
Hu Hao leapt to his feet to stand at attention.
¡°Stand like that, no more sitting,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Hu Hao was speechless.
Xia Lei walked past Hanwu Weapons¡¯ booth. It was crowded and lively. He also saw Ye Kun and those two Middle Eastern men; Chen Man was next to Ye Kun acting as interpreter and introducing a new rifle to them.
Ye Kun¡¯s bodyguard spotted Xia Lei walking and leaned in to Ye Kun¡¯s ear to whisper something. Ye Kun looked over and saw Xia Lei, and a faint mocking smile appeared on his lips. He passed the two Middle Eastern buyers to Chen Man and walked over to Xia Lei.
¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this the famous Director Xia of Thunder Horse Military Factory? Are you roaming about because you¡¯re bored?¡± Ye Kun¡¯s tone was mocking and he looked over at Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth as he spoke. The booth was still empty of visitors.
Xia Lei showed not an ounce of anxiousness and said evenly, ¡°Yeah, I do have nothing to do so I¡¯m walking around, and also learning from the experience of the biggerpanies.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t learn from experience like this. Power and connections are most important,¡± said Ye Kun mockingly, ¡°Your little military factory will only have the right to be a rival to Hanwu Weapons after growing for 30 years. But even if you do manage to hang on till that day you¡¯ll still fail.¡±
This was a provocation, a show of contempt and disregard.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t seem bothered and he still spoke politely, ¡°Oh? My Thunder Horse Military Factory is indeed a small littlepany now but it looks to me that Hanwu Weapons is not our rival - you¡¯re under-qualified.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Ye Kun couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°Xia Lei, Xia Lei, my teacher said that you are an arrogant person and I believe him now. But your arrogance is unfounded. How can you look down on Hanwu Weapons with your little military factory? Talk like this only when the scale of yourpany is at least a tenth of Hanwu Weapons.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I speak the truth. Look, I¡¯m looking around for rivals now and I didn¡¯t even consider yourpany. I¡¯m looking at Barrett, Belgium¡¯s FN, Germany¡¯s HK. These internationally known light weaponspanies are proper rivals for Thunder Horse Military Factory. Apany such as yours which stays within the shell of China is not fit to be my rival.¡±
Ye Kun snorted. ¡°Keep dreaming. I know your n, Xia Lei. You want to make use of this light weapons exhibition to make a name for yourpany. You¡¯re a fool. The truth has beenid out before your eyes. Nobody is going to your booth, no one is taking notice of you, and no one cares. You just have one path to take and that is selling Thunder Horse Military Factory to me.¡±
¡°Forget it, I don¡¯t have time to squabble with you. I¡¯ll let you see what the result is.¡± Xia Lei walked off with those words and turned to go to the Barrett booth.
Ye Kun let out a loud huff. ¡°I¡¯d like to see how you¡¯ll manage to reach your goal. Keep dreaming!¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t even look back.
The Barrett booth had its entire range of Barrett sniper rifles on disy. The world-famous M90, M95 and M99 were there, of course and the most prestigious anti-equipment sniper rifle, the M109.
Xia Lei made a round of the exhibition booth. No one greeted him. The Barrett employees had obviously seen him as one of the gun enthusiasts who liked Barrett sniper rifles but was unable to afford one, so they didn¡¯t even bother greeting him. Those they talked to were people who had their own entourage - these were the clients they were focusing on.
Xia Lei hung around the Barrett booth for a bit, then walked off and went to the Belgium FN booth, then the German HK booth. Finally, he headed to the centre of the exhibition area, the office area. He paid a small fee and found one of the organisers, Chekhov.
Xia Lei went straight to the point when he walked into Chekhov¡¯s office. ¡°Hello, Mr Chekhov. I am the person in charge of the booth of China¡¯s Thunder Horse Military Factory. I have a business proposition for you.¡±
Chekhov gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory? I¡¯ve never heard of it. What business do you want to talk about?¡±
¡°Good business, of course,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chekhovughed. ¡°Mister, if you¡¯re here to promote yourpany¡¯s guns then I¡¯d have to ask you to leave. Look, I have a lot of work to do and I don¡¯t have time to chat. You¡¯ve got the wrong guy too.¡±
Xia Lei reached behind himself and shut the office door.
Chekhov wrinkled his brows. ¡°What are you doing?¡± He reached for his mobile phone on the table without waiting for Xia Lei¡¯s answer, prepared to call security.
Xia Lei moved forward and pressed his hand down, saying, ¡°50,000 Euros for half an hour.¡±
Chekhov gave Xia Lei a look of horror. ¡°You...¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken. I¡¯m not gay. What I mean is, I shall dy you from your work for half an hour and I¡¯ll give you 50,000 Euros aspensation.¡±
Chekhov smiled. ¡°What would you like to drink, Sir?¡±
Chapter 393 - Challenging The Arms Giants
Hanwu Weapons had many people at their booth but sincere buyers were few and far between. It was lively but not fruitful. It was like selling wares on the street - it looked like there were many patrons and people loudly approving of the wares but running away when time came to collect money.
¡°This isn¡¯t working, President Ye,¡± said Chen Man. ¡°How about we use kickbacks? The South Americans and African clients like that.¡±
Ye Kun spoke evenly. ¡°What are you anxious about? We still have some orders. Look at Thunder Horse Military Factory - not a shadow of a person at their booth. I¡¯d like to see the look on that Xia Lei¡¯s face.¡±
Ye Kun did not care how many weapons he sold or how many orders he got at this exhibition. He was bothered by Thunder Horse Military Factory and this situation he was seeing was most wee. It made him happy; more so than receiving many orders.
Chen Men let out a puffingugh. ¡°Do you even need to wonder, President Ye? That Xia Lei must be pulling a long face now. It¡¯s much too early for him to fight with you.¡±
Ye Kun smiled. ¡°Just a naive brat. He thinks he really is someone, and said that Hanwu Weapons was not qualified to be his rival, that his rivals arepanies like Barrett. It now looks like he¡¯s a clueless, daydreaming fool.¡±
Chen Man put sugar in her voice. ¡°Yes, he is a clueless, daydreaming fool, hallucinating that he¡¯d be a rival for Barrett. Look at their booth - peopleing and going in a steady stream and even more lively than our booth. The sniper rifles Barrett produces are the best in the world. He¡¯s not even fit to carry their shoes.¡±
¡°Carry whose shoes?¡± Tang Yuyan stopped in her tracks in front of Hanwu Weapons¡¯ booth, on her way to look for Xia Lei. She red frostily at Chen Man.
Chen Men let out augh. ¡°What does it matter to you who I talk about? Who is Xia Lei to you?¡±
mes of anger fanned in Tang Yuyan. She couldn¡¯t touch Ye Kun since he was the head of a government-backed corporation but a mere secretary daring to speak to her in this way? How could she stand this?
Tang Yuyan walked towards Chen Man, her eyes terrifyingly cold.
Chen Man felt a chill across her heart and hid behind Ye Kun.
Ye Kun sneered, ¡°Yuyan, I¡¯d advise you against this. Chen Man is one of the employees of Hanwu Weapons, and my secretary. If you hurt her then I¡¯ll make a call to your Boss Shi and ask how he manages his subordinates.¡±
Fire burned in Tang Yuyan, the mes shooting high but having no way out; it felt rather unbearable.
¡°Go back,¡± mocked Ye Kun, ¡°This exhibition is not over yet but I can see the result already. You should gofort Xia Lei now. He needsforting most in this time.¡±
¡°You¡¯reughing too early, Ye Kun. The gunmen in the hotelst night are rted to you. You¡¯d better not let me find evidence,¡± said Tang Yuyan coldly.
Ye Kun scoffed. ¡°Tang Yuyan, don¡¯t think that you can spout nonsense just because your grandfather and father have some rtions with me. Let me tell you that I¡¯ll sue you for libel if you say this again!¡±
¡°We¡¯ll wait and see!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll say this,¡± said Ye Kun, ¡°Don¡¯t get too close to that Xia Lei punk, or you¡¯ll get burnt too!¡±
The words had just left his mouth when a sound suddenly came from the sound system of the exhibition hall. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests and our respected exhibitors, I am the organiser of this Moscow International Light Weapons Exhibition, Levansky Chekhov. I am honoured to announce something to you all. Director Xia of China¡¯s Thunder Horse Military Factory has put up a reward of 20,000,000 Euros for anypany or anyone whose sniper rifle can win against Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s sniper rifle. If you win, the money is yours. If you lose, there is no penalty. This challenge is effective immediately.¡±
Following that, the message was repeated in severalnguages over the sound system, including English, Arabic and Latin.
The Moscow International Convention and Exhibition Centre broke into buzzing. The vast majority were hearing of Thunder Horse Military Factory for the first time, and most were also of the mindset that Chinese military products were counterfeits, and that China had never produced any top sniper rifles. With that sort of mental backdrop, a little no-name Chinesepany was actually issuing a challenge such as this!
20,000,000 was not a small number. Win, and get the money; lose, and you don¡¯t have to pay a cent. Who was going to reject something like this? Besides, those internationally renownedpanies valued their name-brands highly. Wasn¡¯t this person taking them lightly by issuing a challenge like that in an international light weapons exhibition such as this? And it was a challenge from a small no-namepany from China too!
¡°Whatpany this that? That Xia Lei, is he crazy?¡± An employee of the Barrettpanyughed and looked rather gleeful. ¡°If it was a German or Belgiumpany then maybe they¡¯d have some right to challenge us when ites to sniper rifles. A Chinesepany? Hahaha, what a joke.¡±
¡°Chinese products are a joke,¡± agreed someone, ¡°I¡¯d believe it if it¡¯s socks and shirts but top-level sniper rifles? Who¡¯d believe that?¡±
An executive of the German HKpany on the other side alsoughed. ¡°Is that Chinese man named Xia Lei insane? 20,000,000 Euros? Who¡¯s he nning to give it to? Don¡¯t even talk about challenging Barrett with their stronghold of sniper rifles - even ourpany¡¯s sniper rifles would be able to beat the sniper rifles his Thunder Horse Military Factory produces.¡±
One of his subordinates said, ¡°Mr Mueller, this may be that Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s promotion n. They¡¯re deliberating putting on a show like this to gain attention and be famous.¡±
The executive named Mueller said, ¡°Then let him pay the bill for his hallucination. You, go. ept the challenge. Our newly-produced sniper rifle can also borrow this opportunity to shine. I want everyone to know that we, Germany, are the real kings of manufacturing!¡±
On Barrett¡¯s end, their executive named Joe Barton made the same decision and sent a Barrett employee to the office area to ept the challenge.
The executive of the Belgiumpany FN, Ileva, also sent an FN employee to the office area to ept the challenge.
The challenge had not yet begun but the people in the exhibition hall were already heading to Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth.
Tang Yuyan snapped back to her senses in the Hanwu Weapons booth and started chuckling. ¡°Xia Lei, you rascal! I¡¯ve really got to hand it to you! I was worried about you but you¡¯d already had your own idea - and such an awesome one too!¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s expression turned ugly because he knew the capabilities of the XL2500 from Thunder Horse Military Factory. He also knew that if no idents urred, no one would be able to win against Xia Lei¡¯s XL2500!
¡°Just you wait, Ye Kun! Haha!¡± Tang Yuyanughed wickedly, then walked out of the Hanwu Weapons booth in an exaggerated manner.
Hu Hao was already up to his eyeballs in work at the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth. He could only wish to grow eight more mouths to talk to theing visitors about the capabilities of the XL2500 sniper rifle. Tang Yuyan returned to the booth at the right time, and she also acted as a promoter for Thunder Horse Military Factory.
¡°What?¡± a merchant from Iran was surprised, ¡°This sniper rifle has an effective shooting range of 2,500 metres? How is this possible? There¡¯s definitely no such sniper rifle in this world.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s smile was sweet and her Arabic smooth as silk. ¡°Sir, 2,500 metres is actually not the highest value. Its effective range is actually 2,600 metres, but there will be a slight error at that distance.¡±
Hu Hao tranted Tang Yuyan¡¯s words to English and repeated it for more people to hear.
The booth was abuzz with spection. Some were amazed, some questioning, some mocking but none believed.
Just then, Xia Lei¡¯s voice came over the sound system and he spoke in English, ¡°Dear respected guests, I am Xia Lei, the person who issued this challenge. Currently, the Americanpany Barrett, Belgiumpany FN and Germanpany HK have epted my challenge. In half an hour, we will conduct a sniper rifle test on the rooftop of the Moscow International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Those interested can move up to the roof to spectate.¡±
People soon headed in the direction of the stairs after hearing Xia Lei¡¯s announcement. An emerging military factory from China daring to challenge the authority of Barrett, FN and HK in the light weapons realm? This had to be witnessed - and it was a 20,000,000 Euro bet too!
The Iranian merchant talking to Tang Yuyan said, ¡°If your gun can really shoot 2,500 metres then I want to ce an order with yourpany. I¡¯m from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp. We are good friends with China.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll need our Director Xia to make the decision. I¡¯d suggest that you first go up to the roof to have a look, Sir,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll go,¡± said the Iranian merchant.
Just then, Xia Lei¡¯s voice came from over the walkie-talkie which Tang Yuyan had on her. ¡°Yuyan, bring two sniper rifles up. One XL2500 and the one I¡¯ve modified.¡±
¡°Got it. I¡¯ll be right up.¡± Tang Yuyan then said to Hu Hao, ¡°Hu Hao, stay here and tend to the booth. I¡¯m taking two sniper rifles up to the roof.¡±
Hu Hao grinned. ¡°No problem. Go on, and good luck!¡±
Tang Yuyan quickly packed the two sniper rifles Xia Lei requested and arge box of ammunition, then headed for the lift.
Hanwu Weapons was close to the entrance of the exhibition hall and Ye Kun watched Tang Yuyan and the stic box she carried with dark eyes. He had been mocking Xia Lei and Thunder Horse Military Factory earlier but he could notugh now.
In less than half an hour, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s XL2500 was going to be fired and send shock-waves across the world!
Would Hanwu Weapons still be able to stop Thunder Horse Military Factory then?
¡°President Ye, should we go up and take a look?¡± asked Chen Man cautiously.
Ye Kun reacted like his foot had been stomped on and barked, ¡°Look? What is there to look at?! You, think of something quickly to ruin Xia Lei¡¯s n! Hurry up, think!¡±
Chen Man¡¯s lips move as if to say something but she did not say it.
What could shee up with in this situation?
Chapter 394 - Rooftop Guns
The rooftop was full of people, so many that the security staff had to block off entrances to the roof and stop people from going up.
The challenge had not begun but Xia Lei had already transferred the 20,000,000 Euros to the bank ount of the Moscow International Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Chekhov became the officiator of the challenge. 50,000 Euros was enough for him to take on these duties.
Tang Yuyan put the box with the two sniper rifles in Xia Lei¡¯s hands and he opened it with practiced motions. Quite a few reporters were taking pictures of him and these pictures would appear on international mediater.
The sniper-employees picked by Barrett, HK and FN were already in position. The executives of the threepanies had alsoe up to the rooftop, interested in seeing the power of this XL2500. They did not think that a China-made sniper rifle would be up to par.
¡°Mr Xia, do we begin just like this?¡± The Belgium FNpany¡¯s executive, Ileva walked up to Xia Lei and looked at him with an odd gaze.
Xia Lei was amiable. ¡°Ms Ileva, I think we¡¯re ready. Mr Chekhov has prepared the targets for us on the rooftops of several buildings opposite us. We can begin at any time.¡±
Just then, Chekhov spoke into the inte, ¡°Raise the targets.¡±
A target was soon raised on top of a building opposite the Moscow International Convention and Exhibition Centre, about 800 metres away. The target had a circle of LED lights and was visible from far away.
¡°Are you kidding me?¡± The Barrett executive, Joe Barton scoffed. ¡°A target at this distance can be hit easily with ourpany¡¯s guns from ten years ago. You¡¯re not using that target to test our guns¡¯ capabilities, are you?¡±
The HK executive, Mueller, also spoke up, ¡°Yes, and if we all hit the target then how do we determine who¡¯s won?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What you see now is just one of the targets. I was taking the capabilities of your sniper rifles into consideration when I requested for a target at 800 metres. I don¡¯t actually need it. I want to hit the target at 2,500 metres and 2,200 metres.¡±
The expressions on the faces of the executives of the threergepanies changed.
¡°The targets further out are on the rooftops of buildings too but you¡¯ll need professional snipers to hit them,¡± added Xia Lei.
The executives picked up their respectivepany¡¯stest surveince equipment and looked. They did spot the targets further out. One was 1,500 metres away, another at 2,000 metres and the ones at 2,500 metres and 2,200 metres like Xia Lei had mentioned.
On the other side, Chekhov had invited some media reporters to observe targets further away with telescopes. Those targets also had a circle of LED lights and were easy to spot.
Some military enthusiasts had also spotted the furthest target with the telescope and were abuzz with discussion.
¡°Oh my gawd, that snipe¡¯s far out! The bullet¡¯s got to fly like three or four seconds. If the bullet can hit that, then it¡¯s gonna be LEGENDARY!¡±
¡°Nah, likely not. This Chinese guy¡¯s prepared. He¡¯s set up so many targets at different distances. He just needs to shoot what the otherpanies shoot and he won¡¯t lose.¡±
¡°That must be it. Who¡¯s gonna just give 20,000,000 Euros away?¡±
¡°Ah! 20,000,000 Euros! I should¡¯ve brought my Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle today to participate in this challenge. I could have a chance to win that money.¡±
¡°Dream on. This is a challenge betweenpanies. Individuals aren¡¯t qualified to participate.¡±
¡°Yeah, what would it benefit him to win against you? If that Chinese guy wins against Barrett, a new king of sniper rifles will have to be crowned.¡±
These words were overheard by the Barrett executive and they stung like a provocative barb.
¡°Mr Xia,¡± said Joe Barton, ¡°We¡¯ll need to sign an agreement before we begin. If you lose, you have to hold up your end of the bargain and pay the 20,000,000 Euros. And if you lose, you¡¯ll have to leave. Finish up whatever yourpany has at this exhibition and withdraw from the exhibition.¡±
The FN executive also spoke up, ¡°Yes, that has to be added too. This farce should end itself early.¡±
This was not a fair agreement. If Xia Lei lost, he would have to not only pay the 20,000,000 but pull Thunder Horse Military Factory from the exhibition too. Barrett, FN and HK, on the other hand, would suffer no losses.
Some media reporters started whispering amongst themselves when they heard the terms of the agreement; they felt it unfair.
Just when everyone thought that Xia Lei would refuse, heughed and said breezily, ¡°No problem. I can sign an agreement like that.¡±
Chekhov then had his people draft the agreement and print out four copies to be sent up to the rooftop. While this was going on, the snipers from Barrett, FN and HK were making their preparations, testing wind speed, light refraction and distance and adjusting their sniper rifles.
Xia Lei signed the agreement. Joe Barton, Mueller and Ileva also signed.
And so they entered the final stage of preparations for the challenge.
The spectating crowd suddenly surged as they were bodily pushed aside to open up a passage. Some bodyguards surrounding a blonde-haired, blue-eyed towering woman and a cameraman walked onto the challenge grounds. The woman held a microphone in her hand with the Russian National television station logo on it.
The Russian National television station covered the entire Russian Federation and was the biggest television station in Russia with the highest viewership. Their appearance here was a pleasant surprise for Xia Lei.
The impressive female reporter entered work-mode as soon as she stepped into the challenge area. She held the microphone and spoke confidently into the camera, ¡°Hello viewers, I am Natalya. I am now at the Moscow International Convention and Exhibition Centre where an emerging Chinesepany has challenged the giants of the light weapons industry. It is reported that this Chinesepany, called Thunder Horse Military Factory, has put 20,000,000 Euros on the line. If thepany fails, 20,000,000 Euros will be awarded to the winning party. This is a huge sum, and thepanies, Barrett, FN and HK, who have epted this challenge are giants in the light weapons industry. Just who would be awarded this huge sum of 20,000,000 Euros? Let us wait and see...¡±
It was in that the beautiful Natalya from the Russian National television station did not think well of Xia Lei¡¯s chances of winning. He was challenging the giants of the industry after all and they had been the ¡®kings¡¯ of this field for dozens of years. His little Thunder Horse Military Factory was just an unknown upstart.
¡°May we begin?¡± Joe Barton had lost his patience. ¡°This farce has gone on for long enough.¡±
Xia Lei smiled faintly. ¡°Then let¡¯s begin. You guys go first. You can shoot at any target you¡¯d like. Your snipers and your sniper rifles show some result first, then I¡¯ll shoot and show the capabilities of the XL2500 to everyone.¡±
Joe Barton snorted, then signalled for the Barrett sniper to shoot.
The Barrett sniper took his position, aimed and fired. He hit the target at 800 metres, and in the nine ring too; this was an impressive result.
A round of apuse rang out on the roof in praise of the skill of the Barrett sniper and the capabilities of the Barrett sniper rifle.
The FN and HK snipers took their shots too. The FN sniper hit the target in the eight ring at 800 metres, and the HK sniper hit the ten ring. This result made the HK executive smile, and he looked confident that he would pocket the 20,000,000 Euros.
¡°Your turn.¡± Mueller looked smugly at Xia Lei. ¡°Mr Xia, you can admit your loss right away too; no need to drawughter.¡±
Xia Lei was not upset at all and he maintained his amiable smile. ¡°Mr Mueller, I¡¯ve said that I will shoot after your snipers have shown their best results. Please continue. Let your snipers shoot and reach the the level that they can reach.¡±
This arrogance! He was looking down on the three industry giants!
Mueller couldn¡¯t be bothered to argue with Xia Lei any longer and he signalled the HK sniper to keep shooting.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The three industry giants¡¯ snipers went on to shoot at targets further away.
Apuse and cheers came from the rooftop after every shot, and the venue was very lively indeed.
And during that time, Xia Lei, who should have felt nervous, was standing on the rooftop and being interviewed by Natalya.
¡°Mr Xia, can you tell me the reason why you¡¯ve done something like this?¡± Natalya stood next to Xia Lei and put the microphone before him when she was done speaking.
Xia Lei smiled naturally and said, ¡°I put up 20,000,000 Euros for this challenge because I want to prove to everyone that China does not just produce socks and shirts. Our manufacturing industry has had new developments and our quality is not inferior to the West. Take mypany¡¯s XL2500 for example. I dare say that it is the best sniper rifle in the world, and that no otherpany can surpass it.¡±
¡°Wow, Mr Xia, your Russian is very good.¡± Natalya¡¯s smile was wide. ¡°Right, the otherpanies have their own professional snipers but I don¡¯t see any such person for yourpany. Who is going to be taking the shots?¡±
¡°I am. I can be counted as a sniper too. I am an amateur but I am confident that I canplete my shots,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Amateur? Oh my, but the other threepanies have sent professionals.¡±
Xia Lei spoke honestly, ¡°It¡¯s all right. Our gun is good so it can make up for my gap in technique.¡±
Tang Yuyan, who was standing next to Xia Lei, wanted to give Xia Lei a kick. If he was an amateur sniper then who could qualify to be called a professional sniper in this world? She thought of the time in Afghanistan where he had done one-shot-one-kill in the fight against the American Special Forces and her face grew hot.
At that moment, the crowd on the rooftop eximed all of a sudden. Barrett and HK¡¯s snipers had hit the target at 2,000 metres, and in the five ring.
¡°Looks like we¡¯ll have to split the prize,¡± said Muellerughingly to Joe Barton.
Joe Bartonughed. He could ept this result too.
¡°Mr Xia, you may shoot now,¡± said the FN executive, Ileva.
Chapter 395 - Making A Name
While Ileva was asking Xia Lei to shoot, the snipers of the threepanies had achieved their final results. The Barrett sniper with the M90 sniper rifle had hit the target at 2,000 metres in the five ring. HK¡¯s sniper used thepany¡¯stest sniper rifle and also hit the target at 2,000 metres in the five ring. FN was a littlecking inparison, only hitting the target at 1,500 metres.
The snipers of Barret and HK had actually attempted shots at the targets further away but were unsessful. A distance of 2,500 metres was already an insurmountable mountain to climb to them and their sniper rifles so a target at 3,200 metres was simply beyond imagining. However, they were also of the opinion that Xia Lei would not be able to hit a target at that distance.
Xia Lei walked toward the shooting area and all eyes went to him. Discussions started up.
¡°This Chinese guy¡¯s not a professional sniper but he issued a challenge like this. The 20,000,000 Euros is a sure-lose for him.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t the Chinese all like this? They like to unt their wealth. But using 20,000,000 Euros just to try and stand out is too foolish.¡±
This Chinese guy is surely going to fail but he¡¯s achieved his goal. He and hispany¡¯s names are going to be on headlines in the media, haha, but they¡¯re going to be a joke.¡±
¡°China¡¯s importing weapons from Russia too. Can the Chinese weapons surpass the giants of the West? This is a joke. They can¡¯t even surpass our Russian weapons.¡±
¡°He¡¯s so handsome...¡±
Xia Lei stood in the shooting area amidst a jumble of conversation. He ced his unmodified sniper rifle on the standing-rack and got ready to shoot.
He didn¡¯t actually need this sort of assistance in shooting but he had earlier said that he was not a professional sniper. His lie would be uncovered if he crouched and hit a target which others couldn¡¯t hit.
This was one of his strategies. By iming to be an amateur, more of the focus would go to the capabilities of the XL2500.
¡°Please hurry up, Mr Xia,¡± urged Joe Barton. ¡°You¡¯ve dragged it on for long enough. This farce should end.¡±
HK¡¯s Mueller alsoughed and said, ¡°I¡¯m ready to receive the transfer, Mr Xia.¡±
Bang! A shot rang out.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s reply.
¡°He¡¯s hit the ten ring of the target at 800 metres!¡± called out a gun enthusiast from before a telescope.
This was the same result as the snipers from Barrett and HK.
Mueller and Joe Barton couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces. Both were surprised. Xia Lei being able to hit the ten ring at 800 metres proved that the XL2500 was an excellent sniper rifle.
Bang! Another shot rang out.
¡°Woah!¡± Another person called out, ¡°He hit the ten ring at 1,500 metres!¡±
The rooftop had grown silent.
Joe Barton, Mueller and Ileva¡¯s expressions grew heavy.
The executives of the three industry giants were getting nervous for some reason.
Bang! The third gunshot.
¡°Holy shit!¡± eximed someone, ¡°He hit the ten ring at 2,000 metres!¡±
The rooftop burst into activity at those words.
¡°How¡¯s that possible? The guns from the industry giants only hit the five ring and he hit the TEN?¡±
¡°This result has already surpassed the three giants. What the hell? Chinese sniper rifles have reached these levels? I don¡¯t believe it!¡±
Natalya, the reporter from Russian National television station, was also moved by his performance. ¡°I dare not believe my eyes. A sniper rifle produced by a Chinesepany has actually hit the ten ring at 2,000 metres, surpassing the sniper rifles of Barrett and HK. Around the world, rumours have started going around that China is rising up to challenge the dominance of the European and American products in the market. I can believe these rumours now. What we have just witnessed is an example of just such a thing happening. A small Chinese military factory has challenged the giants in the industry and won. A beautiful victory! NO! The challenge is not over! Let us keep watching...¡±
Bang! The fourth gunshot.
Xia Lei had hit the target at 2,500 metres in the ten ring!
The jaws of the three executives dropped when they observed the result with their surveince equipment. They¡¯d been imagining the prize of 20,000,000 Euros being transferred to their ounts before Xia Lei had taken his shots but they were now discovering that that money was totally out of their reach - the money had been bait all along!
¡°Oh my god!¡± Natalya yelled excitedly, ¡°2,500 metres in the ten ring! This is a miracle! It¡¯s the beginning of a sniping world record!¡±
But this was not the end of it.
Xia Lei put down the factory-produced XL2500 and switched to the XL2500 he had personally modified.
¡°What is he doing? Is he going to shoot at that target at 3,200 metres?¡± Natalya¡¯s face was alight with delight. ¡°If he seeds... Oh my god. I might have to announce to the whole world that the best sniper rifle in the world is produced by China¡¯s Thunder Horse Military Factory!¡±
Bang! A shot rang out and smoke wafted.
The rooftop was silent, waiting for a sighting to be called out.
The first to speak was not one of the enthusiasts in front of the telescopes but Barrett¡¯s sniper. ¡°He... He hit the target at 3,200 metres. Ei, Eight ring!¡±
The rooftop burst into activity again. Apuse, cheers and a myriad of discussions and praise swept towards Xia Lei like a wave.
Xia Lei put his sniper rifle away and looked rxed, smiling. ¡°I¡¯m done shooting. If you¡¯re not satisfied with the result then I can go again. If you guys can hit the furthest target too then I¡¯ll still give you the prize of 20,000,000 Euros.¡±
The three executives couldn¡¯t help exchanging looks again; they were all silent and their faces filled with shame. They knew well the capabilities of their sniper rifles. There was no way they would be able to hit the target at 2,500 metres, much less the one at 3,200 metres!
Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s XL2500 had left Barrett and HK in the dust with an effective range which was 1,200 metres more than their sniper rifles. These numbers were like a deration: The best sniper rifle in the world was no longer a product of the European or Americanpanies but China! China¡¯s Thunder Horse Military Factory had risen to the top and made a name for itself!
¡°Well then, gentlemen, anddy, can I announce that I¡¯ve won?¡± Xia Lei acted polite and magnanimous.
This act, however, was like a barb to the three executives.
¡°I admit your victory,¡± said Joe Barton, ¡°But I want to buy your gun. I want to see what¡¯s going on here.¡±
¡°Sure, you can buy my gun but it¡¯ll have to go through my government¡¯s approval,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What?¡± Joe Barton wrinkled his brows. ¡°If you¡¯re not selling then why are you participating in this exhibition?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You¡¯re American, aren¡¯t you, Mr Barton?¡±
¡°So what if I am?¡± Joe Barton frowned.
¡°Then I¡¯ll answer your question. There¡¯s international weapons exhibitions every year but are all the weapons on disy for sale? So will you sell your Raptor F22 fighters if I want to buy them? And Mr Mueller, would you sell Germany¡¯s Leopard 2 tanks to me if I wanted them? Your blockade on technologyes first, and my sniper rifle has our own technical skills involved too, and these are not open to you.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Joe Barton did not want to talk further with Xia Lei.
Mueller also motioned for his people to leave the rooftop.
Barrett had suffered the biggest loss of the three giants because they were publicly acknowledged to be the leader of sniper rifles, the undisputed champion. A small, unknownpany, however, had toppled Barrett from its high perch!
The three executives exited the rooftop, not wanting to appear in the media at this point of time. This was like a shaming episode for them.
¡°Mr Xia, can you tell us about yourpany?¡± Natalya could not let go of the opportunity to interview Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stood smiling in front of the camera. ¡°Of course. We, Thunder Horse Military Factory, are a gunspany startup. It is a reflection of the progress of the manufacturing industry in China...¡±
He spoke well and was poised. Before the camera, Xia Lei gave one the impression of rxed confidence.
Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei, her gaze unknowingly starstruck.
Ling Han appeared behind Tang Yuyan and said, ¡°This guy is pretty clever, huh.¡±
Tang Yuyan nced at Ling Han. ¡°Where did you go? We were so busy earlier and needed you to help but couldn¡¯t find you.¡±
¡°I went to investigate where Xia Lei had gone the day before,¡± said Ling Han.
Tang Yuyan wrinkled her brows. ¡°You knew?¡±
¡°Is it strange that I know?¡± said Ling Han.
¡°What did you find?¡± asked Tang Yuyan probingly.
Ling Han shook his head. ¡°Nothing. That¡¯s why I say Xia Lei is a clever one.¡±
¡°Are you friend or foe?¡±
¡°Is that important?¡±
Tang Yuyan looked straight at Ling Han. ¡°Tell me.¡±
Ling Han spoke softly. ¡°Friend, of course. At least for now.¡±
Tang Yuyan breathed a mental sigh of relief. ¡°Then why did you secretly investigate him?¡±
¡°He is fairly intriguing. Don¡¯t you think there¡¯s more than meets the eye?¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Sometimes. But I trust him. He¡¯s a good person. He has not done anything that would go against the country since I met him. Conversely, he has contributed much to our nation. This right here is an example. Can you hope for the government-backed Hanwu Weapons to have achieved what he had?¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Ling Han¡¯s lips. ¡°It¡¯s precisely because of this that I am friend, not foe. But even if we are friends I want to understand what sort of friend he is. Don¡¯t you want to get to know him too?¡±
Tang Yuyan said nothing more. Her gaze went back to Xia Lei. At that moment, the reporter Natalya suddenly kissed Xia Lei on the cheek.
Tang Yuyan wrinkled her brows and muttered under her breath, ¡°Bitch.¡±
Chapter 396 - Our Child Is Burning Up
The three industry giants defeated by an small unknown military factory - this news spread like wildfire around the world. Xia Lei¡¯s name also appeared on major search engines like Yahoo, Google, NetEase, Sina and so on...
The search ranking of the keyword ¡®Xia Lei¡¯ was rocketing to the top of search engines.
And this was just the beginning. With severalrge media tforms digging for more information, Xia Lei was the hottest topic around the world because he had forcefully overturned the prejudice of ¡®Chinese manufacturing¡¯ on its head - and he was also very handsome.
Night descended and the lights of Moscow lit up, illuminating the uniqueness of Eastern Europe. However, the streets were filled with few pedestrians and it looked lonely. The emptiness seemed rted to Russia¡¯s current poor economy; the masses had no extra money to squander.
¡°A toast.¡± The Russian reporter, Natalya, raised a ss to Xia Lei in a high-end restaurant. She was wearing a red evening gown which was low-cut and bared her shoulders. The deep V of her neckline drew the eye in and a seductive smile graced her lips. ¡°To your victory.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and raised his ss to clink it lightly against hers, then drank the red wine in his ss.
Natalya picked up a bottle of Lafite and poured more for him.
¡°Are you trying to get me drunk, Miss Natalya?¡± said Xia Leiughingly.
Natalya gave Xia Lei a suggestive look and her voice was cotton-soft; it sounded like it was dipped in honey. ¡°What do you mean by that, Mr Xia? You¡¯re a man. Are you afraid of getting drunk? Even if you do get drunk, are you worried that I¡¯ll do something to you?¡±
She was sending signals. Very obvious signals.
If Xia Lei recalled right, his old ssmate Chi Jingqiu was also this sort of coy and seductive woman but she paled inparison to a stunner like Natalya. Natalya¡¯s teasing made his left eye act like a naughty boy and it brusquely brushed aside the fabric to stare at Natalya¡¯s bare breasts. His left eye had a close, intimate look at her snowy peaks.
¡®A little too dark...¡¯ sighed Xia Lei to himself. It was like he had seen a w in otherwise exquisite jade and he felt it a waste.
¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking, Mr Xia?¡± Natalya looked straight at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked away from her breasts and coughed dryly. ¡°Uh, thank you for your invitation. Honestly, your interview has helped to increase the attention on mypany.¡±
¡°So how are you going to thank me?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°This meal is on me, and...¡± He took out an envelope from his pocket and ced it lightly before Natalya. ¡°A small token of appreciation. Please ept it.¡±
He was having a meal here with Natalya because she had conducted an exclusive interview with him after the challenge with the three industry giants. The interview had taken ce at the Russian National TV Tower. This great favour had to be repaid so he had prepared 20,000 Euros in an envelope beforeing to this high-end restaurant.
Natalya put the envelope in her handbag and took off her high heels, slowly stretching her foot to Xia Lei¡¯s.
Xia Lei froze. He¡¯d thought that Natalya had identally stretched her leg too far at first but her foot was travelling slowly up his calf.
¡°Miss Natalya, you...¡± Xia Lei grew nervous. ¡°Miss Natalya, what are you doing?¡±
Natalya quirked her lips in a smile. ¡°You¡¯re a good actor. I¡¯ll see how long more you can act.¡±
Xia Lei could just stand up and leave but she had done him a huge favour and there was also some possible use he could get out of herter, so he hesitated, not wanting to offend her. But if he let her do as she wanted, he would probably be unable to hold out for long, especially with her technique. His face was calm but inside, he was on pins and needles.
¡°Mr Xia, there is a hotel behind this restaurant. The rooms there are quite nice. I¡¯m a little drunk now - how about you escort me to have some rest?¡± Natalya was taking the initiative.
Xia Lei braced himself. ¡°This...¡±
At that moment, Tang Yuyan walked through the doors of the restaurant and marched over to them.
Natalya hurriedly withdrew her foot when she saw Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief and quickly greeted Tang Yuyan. ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten yet, have you, Yuyan? Let¡¯s eat together.¡±
Tang Yuyan red at him and said in irritation, ¡°You¡¯re eating at this time? Our child has a fever. Come with me to the hospital now.¡±
She deliberately spoke in English to let Natalya hear.
¡°Huh?¡± The fork dropped from Xia Lei¡¯s hand to tter on the table.
When did he have a child with Tang Yuyan?
Natalya looked at Tang Yuyan in shock. She couldn¡¯t believe it.
¡°My apologies, Miss Natalya. My husband can¡¯t apany you any longer,¡± said Tang Yuyan in a business-like manner.
¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. Childrene first,¡± said Natalya. ¡°How about Ie with you?¡±
¡°No need.¡± Tang Yuyan rejected her offer right away. ¡°We can go ourselves.¡±
Xia Lei stood and said apologetically, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Miss Natalya, I¡¯ll have to make a move first.¡±
¡°Nn, yes. Goodbye.¡± Natalya spoke normally but she was inwardly kicking herself. Why were all the good men already married?
The awkward situation in Xia Lei¡¯s crotch went down after he walked out of the restaurant. Heughed and said, ¡°When did we have a child, Yuyan? You didn¡¯t have to go so far in helping me out of that situation, did you?¡±
¡°You think I wanted to say that? You think too highly of yourself.¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°You should have heard of the expression ¡®one who is unountably solicitous is hiding evil intentions¡¯? This Natalya gave you an exclusive interview and was trying to seduce you to her bed. Her motives aren¡¯t that simple. The female spies in Russia are very skilled and you¡¯ll get tricked if you¡¯re not careful.¡±
¡°Is she a spy?¡± said Xia Lei in surprise.
¡°Even if she isn¡¯t there¡¯s also the possibility of her being some Russian bigwig¡¯s pawn. Ling Han told me that she was interacting with a certain big man in the Russian military before she gave you that exclusive interview. You should avoid her for safety reasons,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°What did she want from me?¡±
¡°You¡¯re our national treasure now, buddy. Boss Shi gave me a call and was full of praise for you, saying you brought glory to the nation and that the higher-ups are very happy. He also ordered me to protect you well, no matter what. Plus, he specially reminded me to keep a close eye on you and definitely definitely not let any Russian woman poach you. He said that if you want to get a wife you¡¯ve got to get a wife from your Mothend. Keep the goodies within the family, y¡¯know?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Boss Shi must¡¯ve been drunk on joy to give this order and Tang Yuyan had swiftly carried it out, resulting in the scene earlier where she had said that their child had a fever. She was using this method to chase away Natalya, who had intentions of seducing Xia Lei to her bed.
Was it like that?
Xia Lei was not sure but his brain was already all fuzzy.
Meanwhile, South Korea, in an American military naval base.
A video was ying on a disy screen in a meeting room. Xia Lei was in that video; he put the sniper rifle in position, aimed and fired, and the crowd cheered.
This was the video of the shot Xia Lei had made for 3,200 metres. It had been yed dozens of times in the meeting room.
A burly ck man pressed a button on the remote control in his hand and the video on the liquid crystal paused on Xia Lei¡¯s face. Xia Lei looked calm and one could not tell what he was feeling in that moment.
The ck man¡¯s name was Ramsbigg and he was the director of CIA Asia. He had received the mission targeting Xia Lei from Goodson, the director of CIA Middle East.
Liang Siyao was also in this meeting room. She looked at Xia Lei¡¯s face on the disy, her face calm. She was thinking wistfully, ¡®If I didn¡¯t join the CIA and I weren¡¯t an intelligence officer we would have been a blissful couple, wouldn¡¯t we? If I were by his side when he achieved this honour he would have kissed me, right?¡¯
Ramsbigg broke the silence in the room. ¡°Liang Siyao, you interacted with Xia Lei for a period of time and you know him well. Tell me - how did he do it?¡±
Liang Siyao snapped back to reality. She shook her head. ¡°How would I know? Didn¡¯t Xia Lei say in the video that the Chinese standards of manufacturing have improved?¡±
¡°We know very well what the Chinese standards of manufacturing are, no discussion. I can confirm that even we can¡¯t manufacture a sniper rifle with an effective shooting range of 3,200 metres. I have a feeling that the XL2500 that Thunder Horse Military Factory produced has nothing to do with China¡¯s manufacturing standards, and all to do with Xia Lei¡¯s ability,¡± said Ramsbigg.
Liang Siyao did notment.
Ramsbigg continued, ¡°Xia Lei is in Russia. It¡¯s a restricted area for us and there¡¯s practically no way we can move too overtly. However, I have received a new mission. Liang Siyao, you have to think of a way to get your hands on a XL2500. The military wants to analyse it.¡±
¡°Me?¡± Liang Siyao wrinkled her brows.
¡°You have one month. Get ready,¡± said Ramsbigg.
¡°You mean I¡¯m to go to China?¡± Liang Siyao was pissed. ¡°Bureau 101 already suspects me. If I appear in China then there¡¯s no need for me to tell you what will happen, huh?¡±
Ramsbigg shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t care about that. Your position will be terminated if you can¡¯tplete the mission.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Liang Siyao pushed her chair away and walked off. She mmed the door heavily on her way out.
After Liang Siyao made her exit, Ramsbigg said, ¡°All right, now let¡¯s talk about how we¡¯re going to deal with Xia Lei.¡±
Out in the corridor, a faint smile appeared in the corners of Liang Siyao¡¯s lips.
Chapter 397 - Zipper Butterfly Effect
Thunder Horse Military Factory became the busiest booth at the exhibition after the sniper rifle challenge. The merchants and gun enthusiasts came in a steady stream. Almost all of the merchants were intent on buying the XL2500 and the orders flying at Xia Lei could drown him in their volume. However, Xia Lei already had a prior agreement and he could not approve of orders on his own - this decisiony in the hands of Ling Han.
Xia Lei was worried that Ling Han would not ept purchase orders from international clients in the beginning, and that even if he did, that it would be some small orders for show. His worry was unfounded, however. Ling Han had signed dozens of big contracts; Pakistan, Iran, Argentina, Venezu, Brazil, Mexico. All countries with good rtions with China. He signed with them as long as it was them cing orders.
Xia Lei was troubled by this again - he was going to have to spend five years toplete the orders at the current rate of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s production capacity!
It seemed like expansion was now something which had to be done urgently.
Additionally, Xia Lei was getting more and more intrigued by this Ling Han. He didn¡¯t seem to have any need to seek further instruction from China to approve and sign purchase orders. He simply negotiated directly with the merchants and signed the contracts. This proved that he had very high clearance. So who the hell was he?
Xia Lei had tried digging, sneakily observing and also used the power of his left eye but he had no result. This Ling Han was very cautious and just had too much that was hidden.
The light weapons exhibition in Moscow ended seven dayster. Xia Lei kept his promise and went out sightseeing with Tang Yuyan. They first went to the Church of Our Lady, then to the Klimt Pce and finally went shopping at Arbat Street.
Apanying women on shopping trips was an undeniable headache and Xia Lei was experiencing it right now. Tang Yuyan went from one shop to another and the shopping bags in Xia Lei¡¯s hands multiplied to the point where he couldn¡¯t even hold them all.
¡°These things are sold in China too, and might even be manufactured in China. Why are you buying them here? Don¡¯t even talk about the price - bringing them home will be troublesome.¡± Xia Lei refused to take one step further when Tang Yuyan made to go through the doorway of yet another clothing shop.
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips. ¡°You promised. I haven¡¯t had my fill yet and you¡¯re fed up already?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°No...¡±
¡°Thene inside with me.¡± Tang Yuyan pulled Xia Lei into the clothing shop.
Xia Lei put all the bags at the counter for safe-keeping and went to apany Tang Yuyan in the choosing of clothing. He also acted as a Russian interpreter for Tang Yuyan and the shop assistant.
Tang Yuyan quickly selected a dress and a working-suit and went into the fitting room to try them on.
¡°Your girlfriend is so lucky.¡± The shop assistant flirted with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave her a smile but didn¡¯t say anything. Tang Yuyan was not his girlfriend but there was no need to exin anything to a Russian girl.
The door to the fitting room opened again and Tang Yuyan poked her head out. ¡°Lei,e here.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What for?¡±
¡°Come help me pull up the zipper,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
The young shop assistant covered her mouth as sheughed and said, ¡°Go on, it¡¯s fine. She¡¯s your girlfriend.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and braced himself as he entered the fitting room.
It was a narrow fitting room with a mirror and a clothes-rack. Tang Yuyan stood before the mirror in a dress, and the zipper on the back of her dress was not pulled up.
Xia Lei stared at Tang Yuyan¡¯s back and she stared at him in the mirror. Their gazes did not meet but there were still sparks flying. The small fitting room quickly filled with an ambiguous atmosphere and the sweet scent of Tang Yuyan¡¯s body.
¡°Ahem. I asked you toe here to help zip me up, not to peek.¡± Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t bear the atmosphere any longer and broke the silence with a reminder to Xia Lei, her face red.
Xia Lei came back to his senses and hurriedly grabbed the zipper, pulling upwards. Perhaps he¡¯d used too much strength, or perhaps the new zipper was stiff but the zipper only moved two centimetres up before it was stuck in the fabric, refusing to move any higher.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan nced over her shoulder and said grumpily, ¡°Why are you so stupid?¡±
Xia Lei was so embarrassed he could die and he put more strength into his fingers to pull up. Pop! The zipper head was broken.
Tang Yuyan red at him with her big eyes. She opened her mouth as if to say something but couldn¡¯t say it.
Xia Lei was taken aback too. He held the zipper head he had ripped off and didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°It wasn¡¯t on purpose,¡± said Xia Lei.
It would¡¯ve been better if he hadn¡¯t spoken. Tang Yuyan reacted like she was a cat which had its tail stepped on, and let out a yowl.
Xia Lei hurriedly moved forward and put his hand over her mouth, saying anxiously, ¡°Sh! Don¡¯t shout. If you shout, people will think that we...¡±
The Russian girl¡¯s voice came from beyond the door. ¡°Sir, what happened?¡±
¡°N, Nothing happened,¡± replied Xia Lei evasively.
¡°But...¡± The Russian girl tried asking again. ¡°Did anything happen, Miss?¡±
Xia Lei abruptly removed his hand from Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth and she made an ¡®Ah!¡¯ the moment he rxed his hand.
Knock, knock, knock! The Russian girl was knocking now. ¡°Sir, please open the door!¡±
¡°Yes, right away.¡± Xia Lei was flustered. ¡°M, My girlfriend¡¯s changing. She¡¯ll be done soon.¡±
Tang Yuyan paused when those words came out of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. She had been about to fly into a fury but she calmed down in the blink of an eye.
¡°Miss, what happened?¡± The Russian girl still suspected that something had happened in the fitting room.
Xia Lei was hard-pressed for an answer and he didn¡¯t know how to hide it anymore.
At that moment, Tang Yuyan spoke up. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I saw a cockroach.¡±
She¡¯d spoken in English but the Russian girl seemed to have understood and she didn¡¯t ask more; she walked away from the door of the fitting room.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief, but the awkwardness was still there.
Out of the fitting room, Xia Lei paid for the dress with the broken zipper, then exited the shop with Tang Yuyan like he was escaping from it. Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were still lingering on the small fitting room in the hustle and bustle of Arbat Street, and his head was full of Tang Yuyan¡¯s full and luscious body; it was impossible to forget it.
The two of them did not speak. They walked in silence, ncing at each other once in a while in awkwardness.
Xia Lei stood by the road to hail a taxi after getting out of Arbat street. Tang Yuyan suddenly reached out and held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Just now, was what you said true?¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What¡¯s true?¡±
Tang Yuyan leaned on Xia Lei¡¯s waist with her elbow. ¡°You said you¡¯re my boyfriend.¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei was at a loss for words.
Tang Yuyan put her chin on Xia Lei¡¯s arm, not daring to look him in the eyes. Her voice was barely above a whisper. ¡°Then I... will take it to mean that it¡¯s true.¡±
Her saying it like that was like a proposal, an outright confession. How many men in this world could say no to a woman like Tang Yuyan? She had the beauty, the body and status - the status of the youngdy of a long-standing n of hundreds of years. If she were to be a couple with Xia Lei then they would be a match made in heaven; an ideal pair.
But Xia Lei hesitated. The faces of several women appeared in his head in an instant. Liang Siyao, Jiang Ruyi, Annina, Smy and Shentu Tianyin. He felt a headacheing on and was stumped.
¡°Give me some time,¡± said Xia Lei, his voice small and pitiful.
An answer like that was better than a rejection, and better than agreeing outright.
A smile appeared on Tang Yuyan¡¯s face and she nodded lightly.
Chapter 398 - Meal in the Mortuary
One dayter, China.
Equipment Department, Agency Building.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Tang Tianlong patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and said with a smile, ¡°Xia Lei, this trip to Russia has brought us great honour. We are proud. You have gained much too.¡± They were in an office.
Xia Lei replied politely, ¡°Enough praise, Uncle Tang. It was just luck.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be humble. It was your good product and your clever brains. I wouldn¡¯t have thought of challenging the three industry giants if it were me. Anyway - Well done!¡±
Xia Lei just smiled and didn¡¯t say anything. Acting humble again would be hypocrisy.
¡°Come, tell me what reward you¡¯d like.¡± Tang Tianlong looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused, thenughed and said, ¡°I can request a reward?¡±
¡°You did an excellent job in Russia and attained glory for the nation. The higher-ups mean to reward you so they¡¯ve asked me to ask you what you¡¯d like. Don¡¯t hold back now - just say what you¡¯d like.¡± Tang Tianlong smiled. ¡°Besides, we¡¯re not strangers. Speak, speak.¡±
These words were a little embarrassing and Tang Yuyan, who was standing behind Xia Lei, rolled her eyes at her father. She seemed annoyed but she was happy inside.
Tang Tianlong took note of this reaction and was also secretly d.
He had been worried about Xia Lei¡¯s unknown background in the past when Tang Yuyan was in contact with Xia Lei, worried that she would be implicated in something. But this recent performance in Russia assuaged his concerns.
Xia Lei did not see the looks exchanged between father and daughter. He thought for a bit, and said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case then give me a piece ofnd, and a cash reward of 5,000,000,000. Ling Han signed so many purchase contracts in Russia that it would be impossible toplete all those orders with my current output. I need to expand Thunder Horse Military Factory and for that,nd and capital are needed.¡±
¡°Thend is no problem. You can take up as muchnd next to Thunder Horse Military Factory as you want. About the cash... It is arge sum. I¡¯ll have to talk to the higher-ups about it. I think it should be no problem though. The higher-ups know your current situation too.¡±
¡°Then thank you, Uncle Tang,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Tang Tianlong feigned discontent. ¡°Look here, you did it again, didn¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei put his hands up. ¡°Okay, okay, I was wrong. I shall not be so distant.¡±
Tang Yuyanughed. ¡°Lei, don¡¯t go back to Thunder Horse Military Factory today. Come to my ce for dinner. I¡¯ve got a spare room; you can just stay over at my ce.¡±
¡°A meal is no problem, but staying at your ce...¡±
Tang Yuyan cut him short. ¡°Oh, what¡¯s the big deal about staying one night? No need to be such a stranger. It¡¯s decided then. I¡¯ll call my mother and get her to buy more groceries.¡±
¡°Yes, yes, ask your mother to get more groceries,¡± said Tang Tianlong in support. ¡°Let Lei and your grandfather have a drink or two together, then learn from each other.¡± He thenughed. ¡°I think that old man won¡¯t give up till he passes on that specialty skill he has stashed at the bottom of his chest.¡±
There was no rejecting the invitation when so much had been said. Xia Lei could only nod and say, ¡°Then I¡¯ll have to intrude on you.¡±
Just as Tang Yuyan was about to call her mother, Tang Tianlong¡¯s mobile phone rang. Tang Tianlong nced at the iing call and walked out to the balcony to take the call.
Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei, all smiles. ¡°Tell me what you¡¯d like to eat. I¡¯ll get my mother to cook it for you.¡±
Xia Lei spoke a little ufortably, ¡°Any dish would do, no need for such hassle. How about I make the meal? I¡¯m very good at cooking.¡±
Tang Yuyanughed. ¡°I know you¡¯re good at it. Long Bing praised your cooking skills in front of me before. But you¡¯re the guest - how can I make you do the cooking? My mother¡¯s skill in cooking is not bad too. You can just eat what she¡¯s cooked.¡±
What a thoughtful woman. She¡¯d suddenly be so warm and thoughtful but this was giving Xia Lei a headache. He¡¯d said to give him some time when Tang Yuyan had confessed to him in Moscow but he¡¯d not expected that she would not only give him no time, but to take it as an eptance of her feelings.
That clothing shop¡¯s fitting room was to me. If it hadn¡¯t been for that lousy zipper, then he and Tang Yuyan wouldn¡¯t have this tangle of a rtionship now.
That¡¯s right - the woman was already leaning in that direction when the man saw her in apromising state. It was no wonder that she had stuck to him.
Just then, Tang Tianlong walked back into the office, his brows furrowed. ¡°I won¡¯t be going home tonight. Lei,e to a dinner party with me.¡±
There was an odd look in Tang Tianlong¡¯s eyes, and Xia Lei¡¯s head filled with guesses. ¡°Whose dinner party?¡±
Tang Tianlong hesitated. ¡°Mu Jianfeng¡¯s dinner party.¡±
Xia Lei guessed what sort of dinner party it was right away when he heard that it was being hosted by Mu Jianfeng. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m not going.¡±
Tang Tianlongughed dryly. ¡°Lei, Mu Jianfeng actually wants to invite you but he knows that you definitely won¡¯t go if he called you directly. Go for a bit, on my ount, eh? If you¡¯re not happy there then you can just sit around for a bit and go off. Is that okay, hm?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t want to go but he did not want to hurt Tang Tianlong¡¯s pride either so he was undecided.
He knew that Tang Tianlong had to show Mu Jianfeng respect since China Industrial Group was a huge government-backedpany in the military industry and the Equipment Department had rtions with them which could not be broken. He was also requesting that Tang Tianlong help with acquiringnd and capital, so he could not disrespect him by refusing.
Tang Yuyan nudged Xia Lei¡¯s heel with her toe, saying, ¡°How about Ie too? In case Lei feels ufortable there.¡±
Xia Lei finally nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±
Two hourster, Wangfu Hotel.
A Hongqi car stopped at the entrance of the hotel. Tang Tianlong, Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan alighted, and the driver moved the car to the carpark.
Tang Yuyan held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm as soon as they got out of the car. She was in a blue-and-white porcin-patterned cheongsam, matched with cyan fabric-tie heels add her wonderful curves which went high and low, full and bountiful, and she looked like a prime example of ssical Chinese beauty; she was refreshing yet noble. This version of her was pleasing to the eye and made one feelfort too.
Xia Lei was not too shabby himself. He was in a sharp suit and was poised and handsome; he and Tang Yuyan were well-matched.
A middle-aged man approached in wee just as they entered the front hall of the hotel to greet Tang Tianlong, Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei. Xia Lei remembered him - China Industrial Group¡¯s human resources director, Jiang Xin. This was not his first time dealing with this man and he was a little familiar with him. However, his status at this dinner party was clear - the human resources director, delegated to greeting guests at the door?
Jiang Xin led them into the hotel and they entered a luxurious private room. Xia Lei spotted where Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were sitting as soon as he stepped into the doorway, with a few people he did not recognise. They were all male, and the youngest of their group was between 40 and 50 years old; every one of them had the air of an official.
All eyes went to Xia Lei as soon as he stepped into the private room. No one greeted him and the atmosphere was heavy.
Tang Tianlong spoke first and greeted, ¡°Elder Mu, Ye Kun, and our old friends, why have you alle so early? My apologies, there was a bit of a traffic jam on our way here. We¡¯ve made you wait.¡±
Mu Jianfeng spoke only then. ¡°It¡¯s all right. Tianlong, Yuyan, Xia Lei, you three have a seat.¡± He added, ¡°Jiang Xin, tell them to start serving the dishes.¡±
Jiang Xin made a sound of agreement and went off. The table had plenty more space but he was evidently not highly-ranked enough to have a seat at the meal.
Xia Lei did not greet anyone and seated himself in a random chair, then took out his phone to y games. Tang Yuyan seemed to be worried that he would offend others so she quietly nudged him with her foot. He pretended not to notice and continued ying games on his phone, checking messages and his WeChat app.
He saw a WeChat message from Shentu Tianyin: Noting to visit me after you¡¯re back?
The message had been sent that morning but he hadn¡¯t seen it.
Xia Lei replied: I received a lot of purchase orders in Russia. I¡¯m sorting out the expansion of the military factory and a loan too so I¡¯m crazy busy. I¡¯m apanying some bigwigs at their meal right now.
Tang Yuyan drew close and pursed her lips when she saw Shentu Tianyin¡¯s profile picture on the WeChat message.
A few seconds after Xia Lei replied, and very coincidentally too, Shentu Tianyin sent her reply: Where are you having the meal?
Xia Lei replied: Wangfu Hotel.
Shentu Tianyin replied: What a coincidence! I¡¯m at Wangfu Hotel having dinner too!
Xia Lei: ...
Shentu Tianyin: Where are you? I¡¯lle over.
Xia Lei looked up but didn¡¯t see if the room had a name. He leaned in to Tang Yuyan¡¯s ear and asked softly, ¡°What¡¯s the name of this private room?¡±
Tang Yuyan gave him a sweet smile. ¡°I¡¯ll help you reply.¡± So saying, and before Xia Lei could react, she took the phone from Xia Lei¡¯s hands and quickly typed ¡®Mortuary¡¯. Her fingers shed and the message was sent with a swipe of her finger.
Xia Lei looked wordlessly at Tang Yuyan. He didn¡¯t know what to say.
Tang Yuyan returned the phone to Xia Lei, the sweet smile still on her face. ¡°Done.¡±
¡°Ahem!¡± Mu Jianfeng couldn¡¯t take it anymore and he cleared his throat loudly at the other side of the round table.
Ye Kun also looked angrily at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, Elder Mu is still your senior. You did not even greet him when you came and you¡¯ve been ying games on your phone all this while. Are you looking down on others because you have wings to soar with now?¡±
The fuse had been lit and Xia Lei didn¡¯t have the finesse to send any more messages to Shentu Tianyin so he put the phone away and smiled. ¡°I¡¯m the sort who likes to make a clear distinction between what I like and what I hate. If someone respects me, then I¡¯ll respect him. You guys tried to hinder my military factory and ruin the chances of me bringing the XL2500 to Russia. You¡¯ve gone to that extent already so do I still need to put on a smile and talk nicely to you people?¡±
¡°You-¡± Ye Kun pointed a finger at Xia Lei. He wanted to curse at him but did not curse aloud in the end.
Xia Lei sneered. ¡°Me? Me, what? I didn¡¯t hire gunmen to assassinate you in Moscow, did I? Ye Kun, this matter is not over just like that, I tell you. I¡¯ve already investigated it very clearly.¡±
¡°Enough, enough.¡± Mu Jianfeng acted as mediator. ¡°Really, you two, fighting as soon as you meet? Both of you aren¡¯t children anymore so don¡¯t act like children. Now, don¡¯t talk about that bit of bad blood between the two of you on my ount, all right?¡±
A waiter pushed the dining trolley in and named the dishes as he set them down. This temporarily shut Xia Lei and Ye Kun up, and the two of them put their fight on hold.
Chapter 399 - Disrespecting Elders and Trouble
The waiter served the food but no one touched the chopsticks. The people had note for the food, and everyone knew it.
The atmosphere in the room grew heavy again after the waiter left.
This was a negotiation. Xia Lei knew well what their motives were. He didn¡¯t speak and just waited for them to make their move.
¡°Ahem.¡± Mu Jianfeng gave a cough. He was finally making his move. ¡°Xia Lei, you were invited here today because we still want to discuss the matter of the military factory with you. You don¡¯t mind, do you?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Elder Mu, do you care if I mind or not? Speak, no need to hold back.¡±
Mu Jianfeng was calm and not angry at all. ¡°Before I speak of it, I¡¯ll introduce some friends to you.¡± He then introduced them one by one. ¡°This is Mr Ma Binma, a leader of ICBC; Mr Hu Chenghu, leader of the Agricultural Bank of China; Mr Wu Shengxin, leader of the Bank of China and Mr Yao Yifu, leader of CCB.¡±
The people being introduced nodded in greeting to Xia Lei and he nodded back. Xia Lei still looked calm but he was full of dread. Mu Jianfeng had brought the leaders of the four major banks here, right when he most needed funds for the expansion of Thunder Horse Military Factory. Mu Jianfeng¡¯s motives were as clear as day!
Ye Kun looked gloatingly at Xia Lei as Mu Jianfeng did the introductions. He did not hold back his schadenfreude - You signed so many contracts so you need money to upgrade your military factory, don¡¯t you? I¡¯ll make sure you can¡¯t afford it!
As expected, Mu Jianfeng said after the introductions, ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯ve signed so many contracts. You must need to expand your military factory and that would cost a lot, wouldn¡¯t it? Look, I¡¯ve invited some leaders of banks here for a meal together. You can put forth your financing requests if any. We all know each other here, so we¡¯ll definitely help you if we can.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t even bother mentioning it because he knew that he would be ridiculed on top of being refused a loan. Why even open himself to that when he knew that it wasing?
Tang Tianlong spoke up, ¡°Elder Mu, we should eat since this is a dinner. Let¡¯s eat. Business can wait for office hours.¡±
Tang Yuyan also added, ¡°Nn, I¡¯m quite hungry too. Why aren¡¯t you guys touching your chopsticks?¡±
The Tangs were evidently on Xia Lei¡¯s side.
Mu Jianfeng chuckled and picked his chopsticks up. ¡°Right, right. Eat. We can chat as we eat.¡± As he spoke, he gave the ICBC leader, Ma Binma, a look.
Ma Binma gave a cough and said slowly, ¡°Our bank has recently seen a half percentage point increase in bad debt. Ah, I don¡¯t know what to do anymore. It¡¯s so troublesome - I don¡¯t dare to approve of either big loans or small loans.¡±
The leader of the Bank of China, Wu Shengxin, also added, ¡°Our situation is simr to yours. Ah, the economy is not good now. I have to send a notice out tomorrow to tell my subordinates to review loan applicants carefully.¡±
The leaders of CCB and the Agricultural Bank of China also said their piece, and the meaning behind their words was the same as the other two. The four of them were all indicating the same thing to Xia Lei - Don¡¯t you think of getting a loan!
The headquarters of these banks were all in Jingdu, so it was easy enough for Mu Jianfeng to invite these bank leaders to a meal to have a few words. This move of his was akin to grabbing Xia Lei by the throat and not letting him have anything to eat; he was going to starve Xia Lei!
This move was targeted at Xia Lei and Tang Tianlong at the same time. Mu Jianfeng was hinting to Tang Tianlong: I¡¯ve already given my greetings to the four major banks and they will not approve of any loans to Xia Lei. The capital acquisition you¡¯re helping him with will flop and I am your opposition!
Tang Tianlong was a smart man too and it wasn¡¯t possible that he would be unaware of Mu Jianfeng¡¯s intentions. His expression turned ugly. This was outright bullying!
Mu Jianfeng was still putting on an act. ¡°Really, you guys. I actually wanted Xia Lei to have some help from you but you¡¯re all saying how tough it is. How insincere. Xia Lei, a toast for the bank leaders, perhaps? I¡¯ll help you persuade them again.¡±
The meal had begun but no one had poured any alcohol or raised a toast. How could this happen at a table with big bosses? Rarely.
Xia Lei did not move.
Pour them alcohol? He¡¯d pour them piss!
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ye Kun could not hold back anymore and he thundered, ¡°Elder Mu is talking to you! Don¡¯t you hear him? All these leaders are here at a table. Telling you to give them a toast is because they acknowledge you but you¡¯re keeping quiet. What is the meaning of this? You fail to appreciate kindness!¡±
Tang Yuyan grew angry too. ¡°Watch your words!¡±
¡°Yuyan! Hush!¡± yelled Tang Tianlong.
¡°Dad!¡± Tang Yuyan was very obviously discontent.
Tang Tianlong gave her a cold re. ¡°You, go home.¡±
¡°I...¡± Tang Yuyan had never dared to go against her father¡¯s wishes but she did not want to leave Xia Lei alone here to suffer this treatment.
¡°Go home!¡± Tang Tianlong yelled again.
Tang Yuyan left her seat huffily and turned to walk out the door of the private room.
Tang Tianlong sighed and did not speak again. He wanted to help Xia Lei, but he could not. Even more so could he not let Tang Yuyan offend two leaders in the military industry, Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, because of Xia Lei. If that happened, it was not just his task that would fail - the Tangs would be dragged into it too.
Xia Lei was aware of all of these too, so he did not hold anything against Tang Tianlong. As the head of household, Tang Tianlong¡¯s main priority was to look after the welfare of his family. Xia Lei was an outsider and even if he became Tang Yuyan¡¯s boyfriend, would the Tang sect start a fight with two leaders in the military industry because of him? Obviously not. People were realistic.
Tang Tianlong¡¯s approach to the situation seemed to please Mu Jianfeng and a faint smile appeared in the corners of his mouth. ¡°What¡¯s with you today, Xia Lei? You¡¯re not saying anything.¡±
Xia Lei gave Mu Jianfeng a look and opened his mouth to say, ¡°Elder Mu, I understand what you mean, and I know what you¡¯re trying to do. You¡¯re trying to kill me off by cutting off the avenues by which I can get capital, right? This will be troublesome for me, true, but it¡¯s not like I have no solution. What else do you want me to say about this situation?¡±
Mu Jianfeng smiled. ¡°Since you¡¯ve put it like that then there¡¯s no need for me to beat about the bush.¡± He paused, then said, ¡°This time it¡¯s not Hanwu Weapons buying your military factory but China Industrial Group.¡±
Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°Must I sell if you want to buy?¡±
¡°You will sell. Like thest time, when you sold that intelligentthe to us,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°I fell for it once. You think I¡¯d fall for it again? You see me as that big of a fool?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ve never seen you as a fool. I tell everyone who asks about you that you are a smart man,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°And if you¡¯re smart enough you should know the status of China Industrial Group and the authority we hold in the military industry. Using to buy your military factory is its best recourse. You can make a huge sum of money and leave the military sector. You can then go for greener pastures in other industries.¡±
¡®I will not let you grow in the military sector!¡¯ was what he was saying.
¡°Not selling.¡± Xia Lei said just two words; resolute and decisive.
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s eyebrows went up slightly. ¡°Xia Lei, if I can buy your intelligentthe then I can buy your military factory. You should know full well that the military industry is not for just anyone to enter. Your XL2500 is excellent indeed but it is just a gun. It will be very difficult for you to expand and grow your business. Sell the military factory to China Industrial Group and we can do it. This is also for the good of the nation. I think the higher-ups will approve too.¡±
Xia Lei snorted. ¡°Elder Mu, forced buying is robbery and you¡¯re likening this behaviour to ¡®good for the nation¡¯? I am impressed.¡±
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s expression chilled. It seemed he had not expected Xia Lei to be so unappreciative. He did not pull off his friendly mask previously at the golf course because it had been Ye Kun, director of Hanwu Weapons, who was leading the bid to buy Xia Lei¡¯s Thunder Horse Military Factory. This time, it was him, Mu Jianfeng, who was doing the buying. He had imagined that Xia Lei would be unwilling and ask for arge sum of money, but finally cave in the end and allow him to take Thunder Horse Military Factory and the designs for the XL2500 in the end. He was not prepared for Xia Lei calling him a robber in front of so many people!
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Mu Jianfeng held his anger in check but his tone changed. ¡°I¡¯ll be direct. You cannot get a loan and I have the ability to get the military to reduce your purchase orders too. You are a fish in a pond. How will you survive if I drain the water in your pond? Stop being ungrateful and sell. 5,000,000,000 - I¡¯ll give it to you right away.¡±
Xia Lei started chuckling.
¡°What are youughing at?¡± said Mu Jianfeng coldly.
¡°I¡¯mughing at you senile old goats. Your ways of thinking have not just fossilised - even your brains don¡¯t work well anymore,¡±ughed Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ye Kun pped the table violent. ¡°Curb that impudence!¡±
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°I¡¯m impudent, so what? Hit me then. Come on, hit me.¡±
¡°Ye Kun, let him continue,¡± barked Mu Jianfeng.
Ye Kun glowered at Xia Lei but quieted down.
¡°Xia Lei, I am indeed advanced in years but tell me how I have fossilised thoughts and how my brain isn¡¯t working well, hm?¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°It¡¯s the era of globalisation now. There¡¯s more than the few banks in China, isn¡¯t there? Let¡¯s take loans for example. Let¡¯s put aside the matter of you blocking my avenues to a loan. The situation now is one where I can go overseas and let out some farts and some foreign bank will naturallye contact me and offer me a loan with no prodding. Other than the foreign banks there are also foreign venture capital funds. Is there any doubt that I would not get funding with how the XL2500 is leading in its performance?¡±
The leaders of banks couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces after hearing Xia Lei¡¯s words.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s expressions turned ugly. It was true. They could use their connections to hinder Xia Lei from getting funding in China but there was no stopping the foreign loan providers. The XL2500 had made an international ssh at the Russian light weapons exhibition, rocking the whole world. It would be as easy as pie for Xia Lei to get overseas funding!
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Now let¡¯s talk about the purchase orders. You guys do have the ability to get the military to ce less orders and buy more rubbish from Hanwu Weapons. There¡¯s the most advanced sniper rifle in China and the military¡¯s not stocking up on those but buying rubbish from Hanwu Weapons instead - How would the higher-ups go about handling the matter once they find out? You¡¯d better be prepared to deal with the consequences of that investigation. One more thing - even if not a single orderes domestically for the guns I still have orders from overseas. Can you stop those purchase orders too? You guys think you¡¯re gods?¡±
The private room was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
At that moment, the door to the private room was suddenly opened, and a beautiful face appeared before them.
¡°It¡¯s just some billions. Why go to the banks? I¡¯ll give it to you,¡± she said.
Chapter 400 - Number One Assistant
Just some billions!
Words like these could not fall from the lips of peasants. Even that was too much for boasting, wasn¡¯t it?
It was a whole other matter when it was Shentu Tianyin saying it, however. No one would say that she was boasting because 5,000,000,000 was nothing to someone like her who had a worth of close to 100,000,000,000. Think of it this way - If you had $1,000 in your pocket, would you be willing to spend $5 of it to help someone you liked?
And Shentu Tianyin had said ¡®give¡¯, not ¡®loan¡¯.
She was willing to give Xia Lei 5,000,000,000!
A woman willing to give a man 5,000,000,000 - what did this prove?
Tang Yuyan stood bitterly in the doorway of the private room; she had not left. She¡¯d wanted to help Xia Lei too but could not in his time of need. The situation earlier was like a ssh of cold water to her face. Tang Yuyan was from a powerful n too but the rules of a n hundreds of years old held all of the n in a vice. Besides, she was just a woman. She still had an elder brother with higher standing so there was no way she could take 5,000,000,000 out of the Tang sect to help Xia Lei. She could neverpete with Shentu Tianyin on that front.
A wry smile appeared on Tang Tianlong¡¯s face; he knew his daughter¡¯s pain. He knew his daughter liked Xia Lei and that Xia Lei was a perfect future son-inw - he scored high on politeness, handsomeness, capability, career, temperament and character and the whole family liked him. But Tang Tianlong abruptly realised that his own daughter was no match for this Shentu Tianyin when she showed up in the doorway.
A good woman would have many suitors and a good man would have many women fighting over him.
Xia Lei stood and said with a smile, ¡°Tianyin, what are you doing here?¡±
Shentu Tianyin gave him a light smile. ¡°Didn¡¯t I say that I wanted toe over? This is not a big ce. I found where you are just by asking.¡± She did not mention the message which had said ¡®mortuary¡¯ because she knew that Xia Lei had not been the one to send it.
¡°Never mind, let¡¯s go somewhere else. Some people are ruining my appetite,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin gave a small nod. ¡°Let¡¯s go to my ce. Father misses your cooking and I would like to have the dishes you make too.¡±
Was this a public disy of affection?
Mu Jianfeng could not take it anymore. He had failed to make Xia Lei bend to his will even though he had personally gotten involved - where was he to hide his face if he just let Xia Lei walk off like this?
¡°Miss Shentu.¡± Mu Jianfeng stood too, his face unfriendly. ¡°You say you¡¯re going to give Xia Lei 5,000,000,000? Is this true?¡±
Shentu Tianyin spoke softly, ¡°I would not be the person I am today if not for Xia Lei. And if not for Xia Lei, Father would not have the health he has now, much less a peaceful elderly life. Xia Lei is dearer than rtives to me. He needs help now so why wouldn¡¯t I help him? I would even give him 10,000,000,000 if he needs it.¡±
As she spoke, Shentu Tianyin nced surreptitiously out of the corner of her eye at Tang Yuyan by the door. She was saying these words to Mu Jianfeng, and also to Tang Yuyan. This was a deration of power!
The queen had made a precise attack and Tang Yuyan had no counter.
Xia Lei was greatly moved by Shentu Tianyin. He would have been happy with just her words even if he did not need her money.
¡°Humph!¡± Mu Jianfeng scoffed. ¡°Think carefully about this, Miss Shentu. I can tell you frankly that you doing this is like dering war upon China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons. I know what power you have. Your wealth already ranks among the top three of China¡¯s wealthiest and your worth is close to 100,000,000,000. 5,000,000,000 is nothing to you. But aren¡¯t you worried about someone targeting the shares of Vientaine Group? Afraid of someone investigating the source of your wealth?¡±
This was a bare threat.
The rich cannot fight the officials - this was something which had been proven since ancient times!
A wrinkle of anger appeared between Shentu Tianyin¡¯s brows. She had never challenged high-ranking officials before but if all the masks wereing off, she was not a woman who was afraid to take the bull by the horns. She was a headstrong woman, so how was she one to be easily scared by words from Mu Jianfeng?
But just as she was about to retort, Xia Lei pulled her by the hand and said with augh, ¡°Tianyin, this is between me and China Industrial Group; you stay out of it. I appreciate your kind intentions but I cannot ept your money. I, Xia Lei, am not the sort of man who would take money from women. You wouldn¡¯t make me into a man like that, would you?¡±
Shentu Tianyin started to say something, then stopped. She was a smart woman and she understood the underlying reason. She knew too that Xia Lei was saying and doing this to protect her and distance her from the damage. However, him doing that made her heart soften further and her desire to help him stronger.
Xia Lei spoke again before Shentu Tianyin could speak. ¡°Let¡¯s go. No talking about business in the evening. Let¡¯s go have dinner. I haven¡¯t visited Uncle Ren in a long time too, so I was just thinking of visiting him.¡±
Shentu Tianyin sighed. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll follow you.¡±
Only two men in the whole wide world could make the queen of Vientaine Group listen - one was Shentu Ren and the other was Xia Lei.
Before Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin left the private room, Mu Jianfeng suddenly snatched up a ss from the table and smashed it to the floor.
Smash! The winess shattered and shards flew everywhere.
¡°Xia Lei! I¡¯ve been nice enough to you, and I¡¯ve also pushed the price up to the maximum. Are you really going to throw away all pretences and make me an enemy?¡± Mu Jianfeng was menacing.
Xia Lei looked at the angry, humiliated Mu Jianfeng, and ireced his words. ¡°Director Mu, I¡¯ve already made things clear. I am not selling, and that¡¯s final. You want to hinder the growth of my military factory but you cannot. I have a question for you - You¡¯re almost at retirement age so why are you still fighting? I am doing good for the nation and everything I do rests easy on my conscience. I am not the least bit afraid of you!¡±
¡°Fine, you¡¯re not afraid, are you?¡± sneered Mu Jianfeng. ¡°Is that German girl in your Thunder Horse Military Factory afraid of me then?¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly. Annina was the backbone of Thunder Horse Military Factory, and also his weakness.
Ye Kun scoffed. ¡°I heard that the German side¡¯s been looking for her. We definitely wouldn¡¯t say anything but if someone does identally let it slip then that German machinist will have to be sent back to Germany. What would happen then, I wonder?¡±
Xia Lei mmed his fist on the dining table and the dishes jumped up in a great tter, then fell with clinks and tinks. He red at Ye Kun. ¡°You dare!¡±
Ye Kun shook his head. ¡°Is this how street thugs solve problems? You think this is going to be effective? Be realistic, Xia Lei. Be a good man and sell your military factory. Leave the military industry. This is for the good of everyone.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s good.¡± A male voice suddenly came from the doorway.
Xia Lei turned to see Ling Han.
Ling Han stood in the doorway in a ck suit and spectacles; he looked fairly schrly. He didn¡¯t look one inch like the sort of person to use violence, but the aura he exuded was one of danger, an aura so great it pressured everyone in the room!
Xia Lei still did not know what position this Ling Han held, and did not know how he could have appeared at this juncture, and so obviously on his side at that.
¡°Who are you?¡± demanded Mu Jianfeng rudely.
Ling Han took out an identification document, opened it and showed them what was written on it.
The document was two-sided. One side had the national emblem and the other side read: First Office. Assistant. Ling Han.
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s arrogance shrank at the sight of this document.
Mu Jianfeng shrank and Ye Kun shrank further, his earlier arrogance gone immediately.
¡®Assistant to the First Office? What office? Whose assistance?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
He had his guesses but he did not dare confirm anything.
Ling Han put his identification away and walked over. He first patted Xia Lei on the shoulder, then said, ¡°Sit, sit, sit. It¡¯ll be a waste not to eat such a spread. People in Africa sell their own sons and daughters for a bite of food. How can we be so wasteful?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, then nodded and pulled out a chair for Shentu Tianyin. She sat next to Xia Lei. She was curious, too, about this Ling Han¡¯s identity and wanted to know the end result of this matter.
¡°Have a seat too, Elder Mu.¡± Ling Han had seated himself on a chair. He smiled. ¡°Really, you. So fiery still at your age. Sit, sit. We¡¯ll talk as we eat.¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun exchanged nces. They were fairly unwilling but they still sat down in the end.
The table was full of good food but Xia Lei¡¯s angry m had upset the dishes and soup and sauces were sttered everywhere; it was a mess. But Ling Han dug right in and even seemed to be enjoying the meal.
Only Ling Han was eating at the table. He hade all of a sudden and was behaving oddly too.
Mu Jianfeng soon could keep quiet no longer. ¡°What are you doing here, Mr Ling? Please be direct.¡±
¡°All right, then I¡¯ll be direct.¡± Ling Han dabbed at his mouth with a serviette. ¡°I was in charge of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s participation in the light weapons exhibition in Moscow - I think you all know that. You all should also know who I work for, yes? The situation is like this - the Boss is very pleased with the results Thunder Horse Military Factory had achieved on the international stage. He is full of praise, saying that this has raised the prestige of the nation. He looks very favourably upon thisrade of ours and says he can surely achieve greater things and bring glory to the nation.¡±
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t help exchanging looks at that point. They did not speak but both were thinking the same thing - who was this Ling Han¡¯s boss?
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun seemed to know the identity of this Ling Han, and his Boss. It also was because they knew that their expressions were turning uglier and uglier.
Ling Han continued, ¡°So it¡¯s like that. The higher-ups mean to provide full support for Comrade Xia Lei. Give him everything and anything that he wants -nd, capital, manpower. All these are not a problem. I came for this reason. Look, shouldn¡¯t you all stop fighting? It¡¯s not good if the higher-ups find out that you¡¯ve been squabbling like this, right? It¡¯s not worth it to make the higher-ups angry over a little thing like this, yes?¡±
¡°Mr Ling, we...¡± Ye Kun was first to crumble. ¡°We were just talking business. Not causing trouble.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good.¡± Ling Hanughed. ¡°That¡¯s settled, then. I¡¯ll take it as you all haven¡¯t had any fights.¡±
Mu Jianfeng made no sound but it was clear to him that this matter was closed.
¡°Oh, one more thing. The German woman at Thunder Horse Military Factory is actually English. You¡¯ve got the wrong person. If anyone says anything to Germany and cause any international disputes then I dare say that no gods can save that person.¡± Ling Han smiled. ¡°You guys get what I mean by that?¡±
Silence.
¡°All right, I still have some matters to tend to. You can go on with your meal.¡± Ling Han stood and walked out, patting Xia Lei again on the shoulder as he went past him. ¡°The leaders of the banks are all here, so why don¡¯t you talk with them about capital?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sure. Take care!¡±
The leaders of the banks scrambled to get in front of Xia Lei as soon as Ling Han exited.
¡°5,000,000,000 was it, Mr Xia? We will bring it to you.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ll send someone to yourpany right away. Any sum at all is fine. It will be in your ounts in a minute.¡±
¡°Mr Xia...¡±
¡°Mr Xia...¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to discuss business outside of office hours. Let¡¯s talk tomorrow.¡± Xia Lei walked off with Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hand in his.
Chapter 401 - Give My Heart
People came and went on the streets under the sky of night.
¡°Yuyan, do you hold it against me for telling you to get out of that private room?¡± said Tang Tianlong apologetically after they walked out of Wangfu Hotel.
Tang Yuyan smiled wryly but did not say anything. She surely hadints but she did not want to articte them.
Tang Tianlong sighed. ¡°You know the rules of the Tang sect. It¡¯s been hundreds of years and every generation is the same, otherwise we Tangs wouldn¡¯t have persevered to this day. We have to guarantee the sect before all else, and the interests of the sect are far from what¡¯s right and what¡¯s wrong. Neither Mu Jianfeng nor Ye Kun are people we can offend.¡±
¡°But Shentu Tianyin dared to.¡± Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t help thinking about the courage Shentu Tianyin had to intervene in that situation. She did not fear death on the battlefield but shecked that sort of courage.
¡°You cannotpare yourself to her. The Shentu n has only established itself for the past thirty years. It is a n formed via rapid growth and it has no foundations. You are a woman of the Tang - you are different.¡±
¡°A woman of the Tang?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice carried a hint of bitterness. ¡°So what if I am a woman of the Tang? I cannot dare to offend Mu Jianfeng, and Ye Kun. I actually can¡¯t evenpete with Shentu Tianyin. Why should I want this distinction?¡±
¡°Our Tang sect has stood for hundreds of years but the Shentu n will not see its hundredth year. Didn¡¯t you see it? Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes were fearful when Mu Jianfeng said he would attack the Vientaine Group shares, and investigate the acquisition of her assets. Xia Lei insists that Shentu Tianyin not be involved to protect her. Would a n like hers persevere?¡±
¡°Forget it. I don¡¯t want to hear all these.¡±
¡°I have to say it even if you don¡¯t want to listen.¡± Tang Tianlong continued his lecturing, ¡°I know you like Xia Lei. Your mother and I, and your grandfather also quite like him. It would be good if you two can be together but if this threatens the interests of the Tang sect then we can only give up. If you cannot win against Shentu Tianyin then don¡¯tpete - distance yourself from Xia Lei.¡±
Tang Yuyan bit her cherry-red lip lightly. She found it unfair. How could one just give up on liking someone? Besides, Xia Lei had saved her life and she would not forget their shared experiences in Afghanistan for the rest of her life.
¡°I know it¡¯ll be difficult to persuade you,¡± said Tang Tianlong, ¡°So I¡¯ll put it this way - Seeing how Xia Lei behaved in the hotel today, I think he is a ticking time bomb which will go off at any time. He will tear himself apart, and hurt those close to him too. You are my daughter so of course I wish for you to have your happiness, but I do not wish to see you hurt.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve investigated and found nothing. When did he be a ticking time bomb? Forget it, I don¡¯t want to talk about this with you anymore. You go home first. I want to take a walk on my own.¡± Tang Yuyan didn¡¯t want to talk anymore and left alone.
Tang Tianlong sighed. He watched the single silhouette of his daughter and did not move for quite a while.
Under the same sky, a different scene was ying out in a vi in a high-end residential district.
¡°Okay, okay, we can start eating now.¡± Xia Lei walked out of the kitchen holding a tray with three bowls of in noodles in broth on it.
Shentu Tianyin pursed her little mouth and said discontentedly, ¡°This is the dinner you¡¯re making for us? I was looking forward to a feast. Just three bowls of noodles?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Look at the time - it¡¯s almost ten. When can we start eating if I make a feast? I¡¯m not afraid of hunger but Uncle Ren¡¯s body cannot be starved.¡±
Shentu Renughed. ¡°Look how good Lei is with his words. Let¡¯s not go to the dining room and just eat here in the living room. We can watch the telly too.¡±
¡°Father, you always take his side.¡± Shentu Tianyin pretended to be unhappy but could not keep the act up for long. She smiled when Xia Lei put a steaming bowl of noodles in her hands.
The three of them sat in the living room, eating noodles as they watched television.
Shentu Ren seemed to have picked Phoenix Military Channel on purpose, and a programme was ying. The male host in camo clothing spoke loudly and was rather imposing.
After talking about thetest American destroyer, the video switched to a sniper rifle. Xia Lei recognised it immediately - it was the XL2500 which he and Annina had developed.
¡°Look, Tianyin. This is the gun Lei developed. The XL2500 sniper rifle,¡± said Shentu Ren excitedly.
¡°This is the gun? I haven¡¯t seen it before. Father, how did you recognise it?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked curious.
¡°You don¡¯t know about it? These days the newspapers, news channels and the inte¡¯s all abuzz, talking about Xia Lei and his XL2500 sniper rifle. I¡¯ve seen it over and over - how can I not recognise it?¡± said Shentu Ren.
Shentu Tianyinughed. ¡°The media is all over it and so much attention is on it... and Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were trying to pressure Xia Lei in this situation? They¡¯re going against the natural order of things!¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t seem to have heard Shentu Tianyin and Shentu Ren¡¯s conversation. It was his first time watching news about himself and he seemed fairly focused.
On the screen, the host used a baton to point at an XL2500 on a disy screen. He spoke in a changed tone, almost bragging, ¡°This is a new generation of sniper rifle produced through independent research in our homnd, China. The XL2500. It made its first appearance at the Moscow International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Mr Xia Lei, the youngest military scientist in China, used it to defeat Barrett, thepany which had dominated the sniper rifle world for dozens of years...¡±
The screen then changed to show the rooftop of the Moscow International Convention and Exhibition Centre. A tall, handsome Chinese young man put a rifle in position; his stance was exceptional. He looked undefeatable in that instant and was just too freaking cool.
Shentu Tianyin looked quietly at Xia Lei on the television screen. She was fully absorbed in the programme too.
Xia Leiughed abruptly after the programme was over. ¡°When did I be a military scientist? People willugh at thisbel they put on me.¡±
¡°Who would dare?¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°You can be called a military scientist because you made that gun. What have those scientists with research funding and subsidies achieved then?¡±
Shentu Ren piped up too. ¡°Yes, yes, Lei, you cannot undervalue yourself.¡± Heughed. ¡°Looks to me like you¡¯re not just a military scientist but a miracle-doctor too. You¡¯ve cured a person such as me who was on the brink of death. Who can dare say you¡¯re not a gifted doctor?¡±
Xia Lei was ufortable with all the praise he was getting. ¡°Let¡¯s eat our noodles.¡±
Xia Lei gave Shentu Ren a massage after they had their noodles. Shentu Ren could already walk slowly without crutches after a period of rest and rehabilitation. He had not even dared to dream of this sort of recovery years ago.
Shentu Tianyin called Xia Lei to her study after he exited Shentu Ren¡¯s room.
¡°Lei, I think you shouldn¡¯t go to the banks for that 5,000,000,000. Just the interest itself is a heavy burden.¡± Shentu Tianyin cut straight to the chase. ¡°I¡¯ve said that I would give you 5,000,000,000 and I mean it. You just have to give the nod and I will get the Finance Department to raise the sum for you.¡±
5,000,000,000 was a huge sum and it would take some time to prepare it even if it was Shentu Tianyin who wanted to use it.
Honestly, Xia Lei was very moved but he still shook his head after some thought. ¡°Tianyin, it¡¯s not that I¡¯m unwilling to receive your help but I don¡¯t want you to get involved. You¡¯ve witnessed the situation at Wangfu Hotel and you should know how it is. What I want to say is that you¡¯re a business person and Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun are both officials. The expression ¡®the poor cannotpete with the rich and the rich cannotpete with officials¡¯ is apt in this situation. Moreover, Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun also represent a part of our country¡¯s military industry. There are countless people behind them backing them up - how many can you fight?¡±
¡°But didn¡¯t that Ling Han solve your problem? He is working for someone big and Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were visibly cowed. Would they still dare to hinder you if I¡¯m the one giving you money?¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°If you really think that that was the end of it then you¡¯re too naive. They¡¯re representatives of a huge group of collective interests and they will not give up - I know all too well. Anyway, just don¡¯t get yourself involved in this. I can use the connections on Ling Han¡¯s side and get a low-interest loan.¡±
Shentu Tianyin sighed. ¡°You always refuse my help. My father and I both owe you a debt for saving his life. And Vientaine Group would have fallen into the hands of my Second Uncle¡¯s family if it had not been for you. We owe you so much - how can we repay you?¡±
¡°Why do you...¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say. He had never been the sort of person who would act on something because he expected a reward.
Shentu Tianyin looked quietly at Xia Lei and said some joking words which did not exactly sound like a joke. ¡°You¡¯re not asking me to pay you back by giving my heart to you, are you?¡±
Xia Lei stared dumbly; he did not know what to say in response to that.
Women¡¯s hearts were the mostplicated things on Earth. Sometimes they would say they didn¡¯t want something though they wanted it, and sometimes they said they wanted something but didn¡¯t really want it at all. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s words seemed to imply that she didn¡¯t want to give her heart to him but who knew if she truly wanted to or not?
Shentu Tianyin had been Xia Lei¡¯s dream girl so he surely did want her, but how could he just decide on something like this in this manner? He needed some mental preparation.
Hurt shed in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes but a smile appeared on her pretty face. ¡°I was just joking with you. Don¡¯t take it seriously.¡±
Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°Oh, I won¡¯t, I won¡¯t.¡±
But he had forgotten that Shentu Tianyin was not a woman who joked around.
¡°Then I¡¯ll respect your wishes. However, you have toe to me if you need my help. I¡¯ll be upset with you if you don¡¯t.¡±
¡°Nn, I will.¡±
¡°You should stay in the guestroom tonight. I¡¯ll drive you back to Thunder Horse Military Factory in the morning.¡±
¡°Nn, good night.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t know why but he felt a pang of disappointment for some unknown reason.
Chapter 402 - Catch A Thief
Ling Han had to just put in a word and thend was acquired. The newly-acquirednd spanned over 500 mu (333,350m2), and Thunder Horse Military Factory was set to be arge military enterprise when the new factory was finished. The loan of 5,000,000,000 was also approved and interest was half of the usual rate because of special conditions and advantages offered by the nation, to be paid off in ten years.
Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s current momentum of development and profitability was high enough that they wouldn¡¯t need ten years to pay off this loan.
They hadnd, and they had capital - what was next was to build a new factory. Xia Lei threw himself headfirst into work. He had to finish up an intelligentthe which was bigger than Josef¡¯s before the new factory was ready. Thethe¡¯s capabilities were also going to be more advanced and perform better. He then also had to modify the equipment and special intelligentthe for the new factory.
This was a huge undertaking but he was just one man. Other than his capable and invaluable assistant Annina, Thunder Horse Military Factory had its own team of high-level machinists and electrical engineers too. He also had the support of two production bases from Haizhu and Sichuan so it was not terribly difficult for him toplete this task. Of course, all these upgrades had toe after hepleted the huge integrated intelligentthe.
Xia Lei had named this machine ¡¯ming Dragon¡¯.
The design n for ming Dragon took over a hundred pages and around 500 parts were needed to build it. A huge machine like this super giant could probably only be conceived by a brain like Xia Lei¡¯s.
His brain had acted like a human-assisted supeputer during the design process. Itsputing and analysis capabilities were quick beyond imagination. Other electrical engineers needed quite some time to do their calctions and to analyse for a time to solve problems but his brain could power through it all like a high-speed roller, crushing all the problems to bits!
In the process of designing thisthe, he had practically absorbed all the knowledge of electrical engineering in the world bybining what he had learnt in Germany, what he had consumed after he¡¯de back to China, his ongoing learning and his own knowledge of electrical engineering. Add his own experiences and his own intuition and he had already unknowingly be the most skillful electrical engineer in the world. The him now was so awesome that he would not be beaten even if Europe and America assembled a team of a hundred elite electrical engineers to challenge him!
The ming Dragon he had designed was a miracle, and he himself was a miracle of miracles.
He could only guess at whether his brain had evolved and could not confirm it in the past but he had his final answer after overloading his brain recently - his brain had already evolved to a terrifying degree!
Maybe this evolution would still go on over time.
What was the end-point?
There was no answer to that.
But one thing was for sure - ming Dragon would be the most advanced, most intelligent and most precisethe in the world when it waspleted! It would be the treasure of Thunder Horse Military Factory!
Xia Lei finished the design ns after 20 days, and the parts he needed were shipped from Haizhu and Sichuan to Thunder Horse Military Factory. Next was to work on processing those parts and putting them together. But before that, there was one thing he needed to do.
Xia Lei put all the design n papers together in a stack in his office. The papers made a stack almost two feet high on his desk and he stood before his desk with both hands pressed on its surface. He called up the X-ray power of his left eye and looked through the stack,yer byyer.
Piece after piece of the drawings were assembled in his brain and they moved about, following their circuits to be put together into theplete form of ming Dragon. What was more amazing was that the ming Dragon assembled in his head had not just all the parts and electrical circuits but every single measurement and functionality calcted too!
¡°Eh? That¡¯s not right! Good thing I checked; this part here is wrong.¡± Ten minutester, Xia Lei lifted part of the pile to pick up the 88th piece. He corrected something in the design n and smiled in satisfaction.
If an ability like this was made known there was sure to be a global uproar!
A pair of eyes silently peeked in from the office window to spy on Xia Lei.
The person standing outside was an electrical engineer of Thunder Horse Military Factory and was named Huang Xuedong. He drew a high sry.
Xia Lei discovered Huang Xuedong as soon as he appeared.
¡®Peeking?¡¯ thought Xia Lei, ¡®What is he up to?¡¯
¡°Engineer Huang, what are you doing here?¡± Annina¡¯s voice came from outside the door. She had been in China for some time and her Chinese had improved by leaps and bounds.
Huang Xuedong moved away from the window and said with a smile, ¡°Oh, nothing. I¡¯m heading to the Design Department. You¡¯re looking for Director Xia, aren¡¯t you? He¡¯s probably in his office. Go on. I¡¯m going off.¡±
Huang Xuedong¡¯s reaction had not escaped Xia Lei¡¯s notice. ¡®He had obviously seen me but said that I am probably in the office. Is he hiding the fact that he was spying on me? Why?¡¯
It wouldn¡¯t have been anything if he¡¯d just stopped to take a look while walking by but covering up something like this and lying about it meant that there was a problem.
Annina walked in with a stack of papers in her arms. ¡°Lukas, a shipment of parts were returned again. Come take a look and see if they¡¯re right.¡±
Xia Lei flipped casually through the papers and said, ¡°Annina, did that Huang Xuedong earlier have anything off about him recently?¡±
Annina looked puzzled. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Like, did he take pictures in the workshop, or make sneaky phone calls?¡±
Annina thought for a bit. ¡°Nope, he didn¡¯t do any of that. He works hard too. Why are you asking this?¡±
¡°Oh, nothing.¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s been tough on you these days.¡±
Annina leaned lightly on Xia Lei. ¡°So how are you going to thank me?¡±
The first part of Xia Lei to respond to her words was not his brain but his waist - it ached. This really was a very strange thing.
At that moment, Xia Lei looked abruptly at the wall adjacent to the corridor and his left eyes twitched. The scene behind the wall entered his vision.
That Huang Xuedong had not left. He stood by the wall and seemed to be listening to something.
Xia Lei¡¯s suspicions grew. He suddenly said, ¡°Annina, let¡¯s go to the lounge.¡±
¡°Now?¡± Annina looked shy when it was her on the receiving end and she became hesitant. ¡°Um, but Lukas, it¡¯s morning now, and work hours... It¡¯s not good to... right?¡±
¡°I have something I want to discuss with you. Come on, let¡¯s go to the lounge.¡± Xia Lei deliberately spoke loudly.
¡°Okay.¡± Annina¡¯s voice was small and her cheeks red in a blush.
The lounge was in the office, behind a door.
Annina tossed the papers in her hand on the sofa once she went through the door and threw herself into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. Her hands and her legs were touching, rubbing. She was a model engineer of Thunder Horse Military Factory before entering the door but once inside, she tore off her mask of professional and became the lover of Director Xia. This change took her just three seconds.
¡°What are you doing? Match my actions; I want to catch a thief,¡± said Xia Lei quietly. He did not look away from the door of the lounge.
Annina became a good girl again.
As expected, Huang Xuedong appeared in the doorway of the office a few minutester. He first looked left, then right, and stepped quickly into the office. He sprinted straight to Xia Lei¡¯s desk once inside and took out his phone to take pictures of the design ns on Xia Lei¡¯s desk.
He would have been done quickly if it were just a few pages but unfortunately for him there were over a hundred pages. There was no way he was going to be finished in a short amount of time. He was anxious and his hands shook; sweat beaded his forehead.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows furrowed further, not just because he had discovered an industry spy but because of Annina. She was being as ¡¯persuasive¡¯ as ever and making it difficult for him to dash out and catch the thief.
Huang Xuedong took picture after picture and his limbs grew more steady as he went on. He had been worried that Xia Lei woulde out from the lounge suddenly when he had begun taking the pictures but he grew less tense as more time psed and Xia Lei did not emerge from the lounge. If he had a chance to finish taking all the pictures in one go, then why not?
Plus, he could hear the noises Annina was making through the door of the lounge.
¡°Horny dogs!¡± Huang Xuedong smiled in a vulgar manner. ¡°I¡¯ve made it big this time. Hanwu Weapons promised me 10,000,000. The money is mine!¡±
The door to the lounge opened all of a sudden while Huang Xuedong was taking pictures and dreaming about money. Xia Lei appeared in the doorway.
Huang Xuedong hurriedly put his phone away and tried to tidy the pile of papers, flustered. ¡°I¡±m sorry Director Xia, I identally knocked your papers over.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Enough with the act. Give me the phone.¡±
¡°Wh, What phone?¡± Huang Xuedong was very nervous.
¡°The phone you used to take pictures. I¡¯ll get it from you myself if you don¡¯t hand it over.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice turned ice-cold.
Huang Xuedong suddenly tried to run but Xia Lei cut him off before he could round the table. Xia Lei grabbed him by the cor and threw him to the ground.
Just then, Annina walked out of the lounge, her face red.
Xia Lei took Huang Xuedong¡¯s phone and looked at the pictures he had taken. He spoke softly, ¡°I¡¯m giving you one chance now. Tell me - how many more of you are in mypany?¡±
¡°Wh, What are you talking about? I don¡¯t know.¡± Huang Xuedong was very nervous and his voice trembled.
Xia Lei kicked him violently in the chest. ¡°If you don¡¯t talk then I¡¯ll sue you. You¡¯re stealing state secrets. You¡¯ll be thrown into jail! Tell me and I¡¯ll let you go instead of investigating you.¡±
A weak electrical engineer like him had never been frightened in this way before. Huang Xuedong quickly crumbled and said, ¡°I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk.¡±
Chapter 403 - A Threat When Starting Work
Huang Xuedong outed 16 people all in all. These 16 were mostly elite machinists and electrical engineers in Thunder Horse Military Factory, and some designers too. There were also two regr workers, the ones who worked on production lines.
These people covered almost all the areas in Thunder Horse Military Factory. Hanwu Weapons might really have stolen something valuable if Xia Lei had not coincidentally spotted Huang Xuedong¡¯s suspicious behaviour and caught him in time.
Was it just Hanwu Weapons? Xia Lei didn¡¯t think so. He was sure that China Industrial Group was also involved. They were going to steal it in secret since they could not take it outright - this seemed to be the fastest way the leaders of the twopanies could think of to achieve their goal.
This was despicable but also within Xia Lei¡¯s expectations.
Ling Han came after receiving Xia Lei¡¯s call. He had been in charge of bringing the XL2500 to Moscow so he was now the direct contact with the government regarding the expansion of the factory. He also had the special role of supervisor so of course he had to handle it when something like this had happened at Thunder Horse Military Factory.
The corporate spies, Huang Xuedong included, were all closed in a meeting room. Xia Lei, Ling Han and Qin Xiang were in the meeting room too. These spies were obviously not professional spies; they were all money-hungry folk who had been bribed by Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group. They had nothing of the aura of a spy and all of them hung their heads low when met with the three cold, threatening faces; they did not dare look at them.
¡°Speak,¡± said Ling Han coldly. ¡°Who¡¯s the leader of your group?¡±
The group stayed silent, but quite a few nced subconsciously at Huang Xuedong. This did not escape Xia Lei, Qin Xiang and Ling Han¡¯s notice and the three of them looked at Huang Xuedong at almost the same time.
¡°His name¡¯s Huang Xuedong, one of our electrical engineers,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Han pped the desk aggressively and said angrily, ¡°How dare you, Huang Xuedong! Stealing state secrets and acting as a spy for foreign forces. Do you know that this is a crime which earns you death by shooting?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Huang Xuedong¡¯s face drained of colour and he said hurriedly, ¡°It¡¯s n, not foreign forces, it, it¡¯s Hanwu Weapons... Ye Kun, Ye Kun¡¯s secretary Chen Man met me and we had a meal together. She gave me 500,000 to uncover Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s trade secrets.¡±
¡°Chen Man?¡± Xia Lei wrinkled his brow. ¡°Ye Kun did not contact you?¡±
Huang Xuedong spoke carefully, ¡°Why would someone of his status meet with a small fry like me? It was all the doing of his secretary, Chen Man.¡±
If Ye Kun had not shown himself then the most Ling Han could do was to sue Chen Man if he pursued the matter; he wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt Ye Kun. This Ye Kun was a sly, cautious one.
Xia Lei then asked, ¡°Which of you were bought by China Industrial Group?¡±
No one said anything but a few people looked nervous.
Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°Cooperate. It¡¯s the same whether you were bought by Hanwu Weapons or China Industrial Group. If you have any information on them bribing you, bring it out and your sentence may be light. The punishment will be severe if you keep the information to yourself!¡±
A person quickly confessed that he had been bought by China Industrial Group, but his situation was simr to Huang Xuedong¡¯s. The contact person and the person who had given him money were unimportant people in China Industrial Group. The trail would end at these people if they pursued the matter, and it was difficult to link it to Mu Jianfeng.
After hours of work, the information in the meeting room was all sorted out and handed to Ling Han. Huang Xuedong and all the people he outed were taken away.
Xia Lei sent Ling Han off, saying as they walked, ¡°The truth is in to see. Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group were buying my employees¡¯ loyalty to get them to steal mypany¡¯s trade secrets. How is this matter going to be handled?¡±
Ling Han smiled wryly. ¡°It is obvious but we can¡¯t touch the people you want punished with the evidence we have.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brow. ¡°Is it going to stay unresolved like that?¡±
¡°Of course not,¡± said Ling Han. ¡°The ones found should get their punishment. This will also give those twopanies a warning and make them straighten up. I know what result you want but I don¡¯t have the capability to achieve it. You shouldn¡¯t hope that others will be able to do it for you either.¡±
The result Xia Lei wanted was for Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng to be punished, of course, but he was also aware that these were two big crocodiles which he had no hope of toppling at his current level. China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons were both military enterprises backed by the government and eachpany represented a group of interests - would those people sit still if war were dered on their interests? If it came to that, he would not only fail to bring down the target people but bring trouble upon himself!
Xia Lei understood this and he didn¡¯t push further. ¡°All right, Mr Ling. This matter is in your hands and push as far as you can. I have no objections.¡±
Ling Han patted him on the shoulder. ¡°I know you feel wronged. There¡¯s an old saying that goes ¡®the Heavens are watching what you¡¯re doing¡¯. You just have to act within the bounds of thew and hold to your morals and no one can harm you. Work hard - don¡¯t disappoint the higher-ups.¡±
Xia Lei asked probingly, ¡°Mr Ling, your superior... Who is it?¡±
Ling Han gave augh. ¡°Don¡¯t ask about that and don¡¯t ask around. You¡¯re a smart man. Some things are best left unknown.¡±
This seemed to be a hint.
Xia Lei shrugged and stopped asking.
He was sure about one thing now - Ling Han could be considered a friend. But he didn¡¯t know how long he would stay his friend. Ling Han¡¯s identity was very special and who knew if he would turn from friend to enemy if the higher-upsmanded him to one day.
Xia Lei went straight into a workshop after sending Ling Han off.
Parts from Haizhu and Sichuan were piled all over the floor in the workshop. There was also athe which he had modified and other equipment and tools.
This workshop was Xia Lei¡¯s personal workshop where he nned to work on ming Dragon. Other than himself, only Annina and Qin Xiang were allowed in this workshop.
Annina followed him into the workshop. She used a pushcart to move the paper stack of over a hundred drawings, and the phone which Huang Xuedong had used to take pictures.
Ling Han had wanted to take the phone as evidence but Xia Lei had not let him. He did not want anyone else to see even one piece of his design ns.
¡°Are you going to start working on it now, Lukas?¡± Annina pushed the pushcart next to Xia Lei¡¯s workstation with an odd look on her face. ¡°I don¡¯t get how you finished these design ns. I had a brief look at them and it looks like it would take a month even if 50 electrical engineers were working on it but you took just 20 days.¡±
Xia Lei justughed and didn¡¯t exin himself. There was no way he could exin how he finished these drawings to anyone.
¡°Forget it. I¡¯ve always wondered how your brain¡¯s wired but I think you don¡¯t know the answer either.¡± Annina was not the sort of woman who was very curious either. ¡°I¡¯m going to do my work. Just give me a call if you need my help.¡±
¡°Nn, okay.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t keep her.
Annina was currently working on designing a new rifle. She was talented in this and highly capable. Like the XL2500, Xia Lei would make adjustments after she finished her design, perfecting her original.
It was estimated that Thunder Horse Military Factory would be able to greet the world with the new rifle when the construction of the new factory area was done. When that time came, Thunder Horse Military Factory would not have just one sniper rifle as its product - it would have a handgun and a rifle.
The first thing Xia Lei did after Annina went off was not processing the delivered parts but putting the drawings on the floor and setting them alight. Huang Xuedong¡¯s phone was no exception and it was turned into a ck lump of coal too.
Annina would have thought Xia Lei had gone mad if she¡¯d seen him. The reality was that Xia Lei had no need of these drawings. Every single piece was saved in his brain, and his brain could assemble all those drawings into a 3D model. In other words, the physical building of ming Dragon had not begun but he already had aplete machine in his head!
Why would he keep these drawings around when he could already do this? Leaving the designs around would only open him up to theft.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang just as he was about to start work.
He nced at the disy and abruptly remembered whose number it was - Mu Jianfeng.
What did Mu Jianfeng want by calling at this time?
Xia Lei had his suspicions and he waited till the ninth ring before he picked up. ¡°Director Mu. What is it? Speak.¡±
He was not using the polite title of ¡®Elder Mu¡¯ any longer.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Mu Jianfeng¡¯s voice came from over the phone. ¡°You really are impressive, Xia Lei. I heard you caught several corporate spies.¡±
Xia Lei snorted. ¡°You¡¯re calling to get an idea of my intentions?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t put it in such an ugly way. Am I someone who would need to do that? Besides, you have no evidence. What can you do to me even if you do?¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
Anger burned in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. ¡°True, I cannot do anything to you but remember this: there is such a thing as karma, and you will pay for all that you¡¯ve done one day.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh... Oh, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, huh? Let me tell you something, Xia Lei. I am not someone you can trifle with.¡± Mu Jianfeng said evenly, ¡°And I¡¯m calling because I hear that you¡¯re building an integrated intelligentthe. I¡¯m giving you a special reminder that you sold the intelligentthe to us, China Industrial Group. You have no right to build the same intelligentthe. I will sue you if you build it and make sure that you go bankrupt.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°So you¡¯re calling for this. Then let me tell you too that what I sold to you is actually a failed product I didn¡¯t want. I do intend to build an intelligentthe but it is not the same type I sold to you. It is truly the most advanced intelligentthe in the world. You want to sue me? On what basis? Because they¡¯re boththes?¡±
¡°Huh! What kind ofthe is it?¡± Mu Jianfeng was losing his cool.
¡°Who do you think you are? Why should I tell you? You want to know? Then send more spies!¡±
¡°You-¡±
Xia Lei hung up. He did not want to hear any more of Mu Jianfeng¡¯s voice.
An elder he had respected in the past was now his enemy. Life really was unpredictable and impermanent.
Chapter 404 - Unaware
0200 hrs.
Venezu, La Guaira Port.
A military container truck trundled out of a port warehouse under the cover of night, heading towards the nearest military base. The truck had just left the port when a girl on a skateboard suddenly shot out from the side, almost colliding with the truck.
¡°Bitch!¡± The truck driver cursed in Spanish. ¡°You blind?¡±
The girl didn¡¯t even look back. She brushed past the truck and back, disappearing from the driver¡¯s sight in the blink of an eye.
¡°Shit!¡± muttered the driver, ¡°Almost ran her over. It¡¯s fucking two in the morning! Skateboarding? Must be some restless student sneaking out at night to meet with her boyfriend.¡±
The soldier in uniform in the passenger seatughed. ¡°That bitch had a good body. Would be great if I could fuck her. Haha!¡±
The driver smiled a vulgar smile too. ¡°Stop fucking dreaming. Let¡¯s get this shipment of firearms from China to the base then have a drink or two at the club. We could get lucky there.¡±
As the two Venezun soldiers chatted about women, the skateboarding girl was at the door to the container. In just ten seconds, she had the lock to the container open and she entered.
The container truck carried light weapons imported from China, and most were rifles, grenadeunchers and some other rocket-type weapons from Hanwu Weapons. There were also five XL2500 sniper rifles purchased from Thunder Horse Military Factory.
The skateboarding girl quickly found those five sniper rifles; they were in a veryrge wooden crate. Each XL2500 was in a stic engineering box.
A small smile appeared in the corners of the skateboarding girl¡¯s mouth. She picked up a box containing the XL2500 from the crate.
She was Liang Siyao.
The director of CIA Asia, Ramsbigg, had given her the mission of getting her hands on an XL2500 sniper rifle for the military to study. She couldn¡¯t go to China toplete this task so she had turned her sights to the overseas clients who had purchased the XL2500. This was why she had turned up here.
¡®It really is limited. The Venezun military only managed to buy five.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s face surfaced in Liang Siyao¡¯s head and her thoughts ran deeper. ¡®What changes have AE brought to him? I shouldn¡¯t have used condoms back then when we were having sex. I lived together with him for a period of time... I could get pregnant with his child if we hadn¡¯t used protection, and give birth to a miracle baby... If that happened then my baby might inherit some of his incredible genes, won¡¯t it?¡¯
These were very interesting thoughts.
Liang Siyao came to the door of the container truck and pulled it open, prepared to jump off. However, she froze the instant the door opened.
A motorcycle was close behind the truck, tailgating. The rider of the motorcycle was a woman and her passenger was a man. The man had a handgun pointed at her and his other hand was turned upwards towards her, his fingers in a V.
V for victory?
This looked like a bit of sarcasm directed at her. Several countermeasures shed in her head in that instant. She thought of closing the door but that would give the Venezun military a chance to catch her, the thief. She thought of jumping but she would surely be captured by these two.
What was she to do?
Liang Siyao¡¯s head was a mess and she did not dare make a decision.
At that moment, the man on the motorcycle removed his helmet, revealing his face.
¡°Xia... Changhe!¡± Liang Siyao was stunned.
Xia Changhe waved at Liang Siyao, then pointed at the box in her hand and made a V with his fingers again.
Liang Siyao then understood what he meant. This was no V for victory - it meant two. Xia Changhe meant for her to throw him two XL2500 sniper rifles. And him showing his face meant that he meant her no harm, and wouldn¡¯t shoot at her. His aim was just to get the XL2500 sniper rifles.
Liang Siyao nodded and tossed the box in her hands to them.
Yelena reached out and grabbed that box, then handed it to Xia Changhe behind her.
Liang Siyao then went back in and took two more boxes. She did not throw anything to Yelena this time but closed the door and jumped down.
The container truck was not going fast so she rolled just twice and stopped. She was skilled enough that this sort of manoeuvre did not injure her.
The truck continued on its route. The soldiers on it were still talking about women, one bragging that he could go on for two hours and the other bragging that he could satisfy three horny women at once, and that he often did so.
The motorcycle came to a halt scant centimetres from Liang Siyao¡¯s shoulder.
¡°Hand over the gun.¡± Yelena¡¯s voice was cold.
Liang Siyao handed a box to Xia Changhe. She took no notice of Yelena and was not interested in her at all. Only Xia Changhe was of interest to her. This was a legendary man, alive and well after so many years of being chased by the CIA. He was a living legend worthy of great study among agents.
¡°One more,¡± said Yelena coldly.
Liang Siyao spoke evenly, ¡°You guys have got to leave one for me toplete my mission. If we fight here then neither of us will get the XL2500. We might even all end up in Venezun prison.¡±
Yelena moved to snatch the gun away but Xia Changhe pressed her hand down.
Xia Changhe looked at Liang Siyao, his voice calm. ¡°Ramsbigg ordered you to go to China to get the gun because America wants to study it, right?¡±
Liang Siyao nodded.
¡°Looks like you¡¯ve been abandoned. You won¡¯t be able to change your situation even if youplete your mission now. Why not leave the CIA? Joining it was a mistake in the first ce. It¡¯s not toote if you correct this mistake now,¡± said Xia Changhe.
¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about me. If you wanted this gun then you could have just asked Xia Lei for it. Whye all the way to Venezu to steal it?¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°I didn¡¯t want to trouble him, and I also didn¡¯t want to get him in trouble,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Liang Siyaoughed dryly. ¡°I get it.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t make things difficult for you on Xia Lei¡¯s ount. You sort yourself out. Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Changhe.
¡°Where are you going?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
Yelena had already turned around and she elerated, zooming off. Xia Changhe did not answer her question either.
Liang Siyao had not expected to get an answer. She turned away from the road as Yelena and Xia Changhe went off, and entered the green belt.
Half an hourter, a fishing boat pulled out of La Guaira port, heading towards the darkness of the big sea.
In the cabin, Xia Changhe opened the two boxes and smiled when he saw the XL2500 sniper rifles in them. ¡°We¡¯ll have greater security out on jobs with these two guns.¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t you let me kill her earlier? She¡¯s CIA,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Kill her? Not so easy. She is Liang Yichun¡¯s daughter and a descendant of Wingchun. She¡¯s better than average in martial arts. Besides, the CIA has abandoned her, just like you were abandoned by the Russian Intelligence Agency.¡±
Yelena was reminded of some past events and her voice grew soft. ¡°Yevgenia and I were being pursued by our ownrades back then. If you hadn¡¯t saved us...¡± A self-mocking smile appeared in the corners of her lips. ¡°The grass next to our graves would reach the waist of a man, eh? And our families. If it hadn¡¯t been for you they would probably not be on this Earth anymore.¡±
This was the reason why Yevgenia and Yelena were willing to follow Xia Changhe. They owed him too much.
Yevgenia had died at the hands of Liang Siyao and this was why Yelena wanted to kill her, but she would listen to Xia Changhe and not kill her because he wished it. Besides, after calming down, she became aware again of how Liang Siyao was not just another agent. She was the sessor of Wingchun and had also undergone the CIA training system so she was not an ordinary person. How could there be no blood price to be paid if one killed Liang Siyao?
¡°All right, put your vengeance aside for now. Our task now takes priority.¡± Xia Changhe took out a map from his trouser pocket and spread it out on a small table.
Two ces were circled in red on the map. One was China¡¯s Yongle Pce and the other was the White Hun Tribe in Afghanistan. These two ces were where the mysterious ancient alloy had been excavated.
Yelena put her feelings aside and drew close to the table to look at the map. ¡°What¡¯s our next destination?¡±
Xia Changhe lifted his pen and circled a point where Israel and Palestine met - Jerusalem. ¡°We¡¯re going here.¡±
¡°You sure?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°A business delegation from China went to Israel and there was an archaeologist in that group. I suspect that this business delegation was actually a team that¡¯s after the next treasure location, and that it is in Jerusalem.¡±
Yelena was quiet for a bit before she spoke. ¡°We had a chance to get our hands on that alloy thest time, and those treasures in the princess¡¯s tomb too but you gave it up. What are we going to do this time if the Chinese archaeologists finds the treasure? Let them take it back to China, or take it from them?¡±
¡°It¡¯s too early to make this sort of decision now. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s hidden in the ce thepass points to. Wait till we have confirmation on what is in the third treasure location before we decide,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°If the third treasure location has nopass needle then that would indicate that there is no fourth treasure location and we will take everything. If there is a needle it would mean that there¡¯s another location. We will do nothing and only act when we are sure of what they have excavated.¡±
Yelena wrinkled her brows. ¡°Can¡¯t we just take thepass? We can have both thepass and the needle and find the fourth treasure location ourselves.¡±
Xia Changhe shook his head. ¡°This seems simple and also advantageous for us but have you thought about what if the fourth treasure location was in some country¡¯s city where a building needs to be moved or an entrance needs to be dug? You and I are entirely unable to do that but the Chinese government can. Besides, even if they bring the loot back to China it¡¯ll all just end up in my hands anyway.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll do as you say. Let¡¯s go to Jerusalem,¡± said Yelena.
Night hung in the sky and there seemed no end to the sea. The rolling waves washed them forward, pping against the sides of the boat with a ¡®ssh, ssh¡¯.
This sound seemed like an ancientnguage from ten thousand years ago.
Chapter 405 - Different Solutions for Different Problems
China Industrial Group did send someone, and it was a group led by Mu Jianfeng too. The big group consisted of elite machinists and electrical engineers from China Industrial Group,wyers and Mu Jianfeng¡¯s bodyguards.
But these people were all stopped at the gate.
The people stopping the representative group from China Industrial Group were not soldiers from the Equipment Department but Lu Sheng and the security team from Thunder Horse Military Factory. Mu Jianfeng could make the soldiers stand down but he could notmand the security team of Thunder Horse Military Factory. The one in charge of security was Lu Sheng after all.
Lu Sheng was like a steel wall before the gates. The China Industrial Group machinists were all thrown to the ground one by one as they tried to charge in.
¡°What are you doing?¡± One of thewyers pointed a finger at Lu Sheng and said angrily, ¡°How dare you cause willful harm!¡±
Lu Sheng gave thewyer a dismissive look. ¡°Keep yakking and I¡¯ll ¡®willful harm¡¯ you too!¡±
¡°You, you...¡± Thewyer was so angry his face and neck turned red. ¡°I¡¯ll sue you!¡±
Lu Sheng pointed in the direction of Bailu Town. ¡°There¡¯s a police station there. Go on. It¡¯s not far. You can make a report in ten minutes.¡±
Thewyer was so mad he could not speak. He was a bookish man and Lu Sheng was a soldier. His books were no match for Lu Sheng.
¡°Just a guard dog and you dare to put on airs!¡± One of Mu Jianfeng¡¯s bodyguards walked up to Lu Sheng, swinging his fist at him.
His aim was simple - topple Lu Sheng with a punch and let the China Industrial Group enter. But Lu Sheng twisted his shoulder aside before his blownded and grabbed his fist. He pulled him forward, threw him over his shoulder and they were done.
Bam! Mu Jianfeng¡¯s bodyguard was a burly man too but Lu Sheng had himid out on the floor in the blink of an eye. The bodyguard was one which the Equipment Department had assigned to Mu Jianfeng and was a soldier more capable than the regr Special Forces but how could he be a match for Lu Sheng, who was well-versed in Wingchun? Lu Sheng had also trained as a Special Forces soldier so he knew well the fighting techniques used by them.
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s other bodyguard grew angry too and he came charging at Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng suddenly wrenched the hand of the bodyguard under his feet in the other direction. The bodyguard on the ground let out a scream and cold sweat popped out on his brow.
¡°Come at me if you want him crippled.¡± Lu Sheng was domineering. ¡°If you want to end up like him too, thene at me!¡±
The bodyguard charging at Lu Sheng stopped in his tracks.
The China Industrial Group group had been full of arrogance when they¡¯d first arrived, mouring to investigate if Thunder Horse Military Factory had infringed on copyrights and had built the intelligentthe which had previously been sold to them. But now, they were not even able to enter. This reality was a huge difference from the situation and result they had imagined.
When had the high and mighty China Industrial Group every suffered this sort of humiliation?
Mu Jianfeng had been behind the group, waiting to enter the factory and conduct the investigation. He couldn¡¯t keep his old face calm any longer. He had brought this group to Thunder Horse Military factory with the aim of stopping Xia Lei from copying the intelligentthe he had sold to China Industrial Group and to have a look at what sort of intelligentthe Xia Lei was building so that he could go on to the next step.
His next step was to use thew to get his hands on this newthe¡¯s design ns and technical data. He believed he had the capability to obtain these things. His strategy was simple too - im that Xia Lei¡¯sthe was a copy of thethe at China Industrial Group. His im would hold true unless Xia Lei produced the design ns and data to prove that it was not the same, and if Xia Lei handed in this ¡®evidence¡¯ to the court they would all end up in his hands too.
But this brilliant strategy was being stymied by this barbaric Lu Sheng!
It was time for him to get personally involved.
Mu Jianfeng walked from the back of the group to the front to face Lu Sheng square on. ¡°Punk, I have one word for you - shoo.¡±
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s voice was heavy with threat and he had an air of someone one could not afford to offend.
Lu Sheng did not budge. He did not speak to Mu Jianfeng.
¡°Fine.¡± Mu Jianfeng¡¯s gaze went to the soldiers in the gate area and he said, ¡°Soldier, call your leader over.¡±
¡°This...¡± The soldier hesitated. He did not want to be involved in what was transpiring before him and he was troubled when Mu Jianfeng told him to call his leader over.
¡°This is an order,¡± shouted Mu Jianfeng.
¡°Yes, Sir!¡± The soldier ran off.
As the director of China Industrial Group, Mu Jianfeng held a military rank too. A little soldier could not argue with him when he decreed it an order.
Mu Jianfeng looked at Lu Sheng again. ¡°I¡¯ll have you arrested once hees. You either let us through right now or keep going against me and end up in a worse situation.¡±
Lu Sheng still looked calm on the surface but he was getting a little worried.
The group of people behind Mu Jianfeng looked on in schadenfreude. No one spoke but there seemed to be a voice saying ¡®Aren¡¯t you a violent man? Let¡¯s see how much longer you can act violently!¡¯
¡°Lu Sheng,¡± came Xia Lei¡¯s voice, ¡°Return to the security office. This doesn¡¯t concern you anymore.¡±
Xia Lei appeared before them in blue work clothes. He had grease-stained gloves on and the blue work clothes he wore also had several scorch marks from electric welding. He did not look like the director of Thunder Horse Group, nor the hot ¡®young military scientist¡¯ in the news but like a blue-cor worker.
Lu Sheng said, ¡°Director Xia, these people...¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll take care of it. You go back first,¡± said Xia Lei.
Lu Sheng nodded, released Mu Jianfeng¡¯s bodyguard and walked away from the gates of the factory.
The leaders of Thunder Horse Military Factory and China Industrial Group were now face-to-face.
¡°What are you trying to do, Director Mu?¡± said Xia Lei softly, ¡°Bringing so many people here to cause trouble for me. Isn¡¯t that too much?¡±
¡°Too much?¡± Mu Jianfeng snorted. ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s too much.¡±
¡°How?¡±
¡°You know how,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°Back then you sold the intelligentthe to us and we paid you the price of over 200,000,000. Have you forgotten the contract you signed with us? You have no right to build another one of these intelligentthes.¡±
¡°And have you seen me build that type ofthe?¡± Xia Lei was calm.
¡°Then let us in and take a look,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°And show us the relevant drawings and specifications. You can prove that you¡¯re not building that type ofthe if you show us all of that.¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t then that¡¯s simple too. We will sue you and make you provide proof that you¡¯re not building that sort ofthe,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°So to put it inly, you¡¯re still after my design ns and my technology.¡± A faint scornful smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Director Mu, you¡¯re a man of many years but why are you still so naive? You think you¡¯ll get what you want with this method?¡±
¡°You said that thethe you sold to China Industrial Group was the most advanced in the world when you sold it to us for over 200,000,000. Now you¡¯re saying that you¡¯re going to build athe that is even more advanced than the one you sold us and you¡¯re not going to share the technology with us. Fine, then I won¡¯t allow Thunder Horse Military Factory to have athe that is more advanced unless you share the technology. We¡¯ll use legal channels to make it happen,¡± said Mu Jianfeng with great conviction.
His words seemed to make some sense but a closer look revealed that it was almost the logic of a robber. And he did have the capability to put pressure on Xia Lei too, to force Xia Lei to submit.
¡°Leave. Stop wasting time,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°You want to go the legal route? Sure. I¡¯ll go along with it.¡±
¡°I will leave, but not before I have a look inside.¡± Mu Jianfeng sneered, ¡°And when I go, and how I go shall not be dictated by you. I will leave when I leave.¡± Mu Jianfeng was stubborn and his tone scornfully disdainful.
He did not treat Xia Lei like the owner of the ce at all, much less think anything of him!
At that moment, the leader of the guards at Thunder Horse Military Factory came hurrying over with a squad of soldiers. This military officer was named Wang Wei and he was a Captain from the Equipment Department assigned to Thunder Horse Military Factory to provide protection. He was not under orders from Xia Lei but from the Equipment Department.
Wang Wei stood at attention right away and gave Mu Jianfeng a military salute. ¡°Greetings, Senior Official.¡±
Mu Jianfeng smiled and nodded. ¡°Take these people aside. I want to enter the factory for inspections.¡±
¡°This...¡± Wang Wei hesitated and looked very troubled.
¡°This is an order!¡± said Mu Jianfeng in a raised voice.
Wang Wei did not move still; he nced at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei then took out a walkie talkie from the pocket of his work clothes. ¡°Qin Xiang, get all the workers out to defend our Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
In under a minute after Xia Lei uttered those words, hundreds of workers came pouring out from the various workshops. They carried various tools in their hands and some female workers were even carrying brooms and mops. They looked like a ragtag bunch but their number and enthusiasm were great.
A dark mass of workers filled the entrance area, ring at the group from China Industrial Group. Some couldn¡¯t help cursing at them, and the curses were quite terrible.
¡°What are you nning, Xia Lei?¡± Mu Jianfeng¡¯s expression darkened.
Xia Lei raised a hand to gesture for everyone to quiet down. All the workers grew silent when he raised his hand.
Xia Lei raised his voice, ¡°The people from China Industrial Group are here to smash your rice bowls. What will you do?¡±
¡°Beat them up!¡±
¡°Robbers!¡±
¡°Come into the factory if you dare! You¡¯ll find out what asphyxio-balling is!¡±
¡°Shameless! Thieves!¡±
¡°Your grandchildren will be born retarded!¡±
Curses fell upon their ears like rain.
The sry Xia Lei paid his employees were higher than average and that did not include bonuses and other benefits either. No employee wanted Thunder Horse Military Factory to be shut down. Of course they were going to protest if someone was going to try shut them down!
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°You¡¯re a stubborn man, Director Mu. You have the authority to order these soldiers around but do you dare order these soldiers to shoot at my military factory employees? Or let your people have a faceoff with my people?¡±
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s lips moved a little but he did not voice his threat. He was a wily old fox but he did not understand the logic behind Xia Lei¡¯s actions. Situations involving amunity were most dreaded in China. It was risky enough that he had led a group to pressure Xia Lei but if it incited a mob, the soldiers got involved and people got injured, then he would be the one in trouble!
¡°I¡¯m waiting for you to make a decision, Director Mu,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Humph! Wait for ourpany to send you a summons to court.¡± Mu Jianfeng snorted. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±
At the same time, Xia Lei turned around to face his employees. ¡°An extra meal for everyone today!¡±
Cheers erupted.
Chapter 406 - Assault Rifle Gust
China Industrial Group did send a court summons suing Xia Lei for breach of contract and Thunder Horse Military Factory for infringement of copyright. These matters didn¡¯t need Xia Lei¡¯s attention, however, and was handled by the Thunder Horse Groupwyers.
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s aim was to get the drawings and specifications for ming Dragon, the integrated intelligentthe, but the drawings provided by Thunder Horse Military Factory were those downloaded from the inte, and an electrical engineering textbook. The China Industrial Groupwyers were all so angry they could cough blood whenever they met the Thunder Horse Groupwyers in court, but could do nothing about them.
Mu Jianfeng wanted to put more pressure on Xia Lei but he was afraid of triggering the media and Ling Han, so he did not make that move.
In his eyes, Xia Lei was like a willful little boy, clever but stubborn - hit him, and he dodges, try to control him and he weaves about in front of you, doing all sorts of things which would anger you. And this willful child was constantly growing stronger. If he waited, this child would be too powerful for him to take in hand.
He was the sand in his eyes, the thorn in his side. This was the situation.
Thewsuits of China Industrial Group and Thunder Horse Military Factory still had no result after a month, and Xia Lei¡¯s ming Dragon, the integrated intelligentthe, wasplete.
Weighing in at five tonnes, ming Dragon was definitely a giant in thethe world. It¡¯s capabilities and functions also surpassed the intelligentthe Xia Lei had sold to China Industrial Group by a wide margin.
Modifying normalthes was as easy as pie with ming Dragon. Xia Lei no longer needed to do high precision parts processing personally; any machinist could do the task. He just needed to finish the CNC program and the electrical wiring, and these were familiar tasks to Xia Lei.
Next, other than modifying the neededthes and special equipment for the new production line, he also started on perfecting Annina¡¯s design for Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s first assault rifle.
This rifle was named Gust.
Xia Lei and Annina did not focus on excellence in shooting range this time. They focused on increasing overall stability and reducing recoil instead.
In the world of assault rifles, the power and recoil of a rifle were directly proportional. For example, the AK47 had great power but its recoil was also a headache. People using the AK47 on the battlefield would find it difficult to hit their target when shooting continuously, even when the target was in range.
America¡¯s M16 was also world-famous. It had reliable performance and was quite stable overall, but its power and range was weaker than Russian weapons.
The Gust which Xia Lei and Annina designed had the power and shooting range of the AK47 and the reliability and stability of the M16. This assault rifle was also going to have less recoil than the AK47 and M16!
Thisbination of Russian and American assault rifles would, undoubtedly, take the throne of assault rifles once it was introduced to the world! As for purchase orders, there was no need to even worry about it. Just the domestic orders from China were going to be enough to make the workers of Thunder Horse Military Factory dizzy with work!
Xia Lei¡¯s every day was packed with modifying thethes and special equipment needed for the new workshops and perfecting Annina¡¯s Gust prototype.
Two monthster...
Rat-tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat...
Xia Lei stood holding an unremarkable-looking assault rifle on a hillside behind Thunder Horse¡¯s factory building and shot continuously at several targets at 500 metres.
Bullet shells jumped, clinking to the ground as smoke puffed from the gun and was carried away by the autumn wind.
The fixed targets 500 metres away were shot full of holes. Almost every bullet which had been shot from the assault rifle in Xia Lei¡¯s hands had hit the targets, and all had hit in a quick sweep! Other assault rifles would not have this sort of result even if it was targeted shooting.
This made one feel like the rifle Xia Lei was holding was not an assault rifle but a lighter version of a sniper rifle!
This was Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s first assault rifle - Gust.
As its name implied, it was as quick as the wind and invincible!
What was even more amazing and incredible about this rifle was that Gust barely shook at all with all that quick shooting, and was miraculously quiet. This recoil was almost the same as that of a handgun!
This was a miracle.
The secrety in the body of Gust, where Xia Lei and personally designed a mechanical shock-absorption device. This device was divided into two parts, one part in the body and one part in the butt. These two parts were connected in an ergonomic weight-bearing system. The recoil generated by shooting was absorbed and dissipated by the shock-absorbing device and the person firing the assault rifle could almost not feel any shaking from the gun.
Of course, this was a prototype which Xia Lei had made personally. The mass-produced guns would not be able to reach this level. Even so, it was sure to be the most advanced assault rifle in the world, and none could surpass it!
He had emptied the magazine. A satisfied smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Annina removed her earplugs and said excitedly, ¡°Lukas, I have no words to describe your awesomeness. I just designed a normal assault rifle but you turned it into a miracle! I dare say we will surpass Hanwu Weapons soon after we mass produce and put our rifle on the market. We will be China¡¯s biggest light weapons merchant then.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Half of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s sess is due to you. Tell me - what would you like when we reach the top?¡±
¡°Half? No, no, no. I know full well that my contribution is just one fifth.¡± Annina was not being humble - she was speaking the truth.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Okay, as you say. We don¡¯t have to split it into precise percentages. Oh right, you haven¡¯t told me what you¡¯d like.¡±
Annina thought for a bit and said, ¡°You¡¯ve already given me so much. I haven¡¯t thought of asking for anything. If you¡¯re talking about dreams then I do have one.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously. He had never heard Annina talk about her dreams.
¡°Nn.¡± A faint, sweet smile appeared in the corners of Annina¡¯s mouth. ¡°I would like to build a Bavarian castle along the Isar River in Munich, and have a big farm next to the castle. I¡¯d nt all sorts of grapes on the farm for Cabe Sauvignon. I want to make the best wines.¡±
¡°A castle, farm and a vineyard. No problem. I¡¯ll help you realise your dream,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina smiledughed bitterly. ¡°I¡¯m now on Germany¡¯s wanted list and the CIA is after me too. I believe you have the resources to help me realise my dream but... There¡¯s no way you can make ite true.¡±
The German government was sure to detain her once she stepped on German soil and when that happens, she could forget about freedom. This dream of hers was not an issue of money but of politics.
Xia Lei put his arms gently around her shoulders and said in her ear, ¡°It¡¯s true that I cannot help you realise your dream now but believe me - I will help you realise it one day.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Annina was touched.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course. When have I ever lied to you?¡±
¡°You lied to mest night. You said you woulde spend the night in my room but you worked the whole night in your workshop.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Qin Xiang came walking over from the factory and saw Annina leaning forward in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace from afar. He coughed.
Annina then quickly withdrew her fondling hand and stood sheepishly to one side.
Qin Xiangughed. ¡°Did Ie by too early? It¡¯s okay, I can go back. I¡¯ll be back again in half an hour.¡±
Xia Lei was annoyed. ¡°Up yours. Just say what you came to say.¡±
¡°Long Bing came looking for you. She¡¯s in the factory,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°She didn¡¯t say why she¡¯s here?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°She¡¯s a mobile iceberg. I¡¯m not going to ask her why she came looking for you,¡± said Qin Xiang. ¡°You¡¯d better go ask her yourself.¡±
Xia Lei handed the assault rifle to Annina. ¡°Put this gun in the safe in the vi after you get back. Don¡¯t tell anyone of its capabilities. We¡¯re still working overtime onpleting the purchase orders for the XL2500 so we don¡¯t have enough manpower to manufacture this assault rifle.¡±
Annina nodded. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll do as you say.¡±
There was no way of stopping anyone if he stole the Gust prototype. The drawings and relevant specifications had been burnt by Xia Lei. More importantly, the core of the gun was the shock-absorption device which Xia Lei had designed. The device would fall apart once opened and the parts inside would be reduced to scrap.
Not letting it be discovered by others was best, of course. They would be able to avoid unnecessary trouble this way.
Annina took Gust back with her to the vi and Xia Lei went with Qin Xiang to meet Long Bing.
Long Bing was not waiting in his office but in the carpark. She opened the door to an unmarked military vehicle. As soon as Xia Lei drew close, she said, ¡°Get in.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Where are we going? What are we going to do?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you on the way. Get in the car first,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was rather unwilling. ¡°I¡¯ve been busy for almost four months and finally could take a bit of a breather today. I was going to give myself a day off and have a good few days¡¯ rest...¡±
Long Bing interrupted before he could finish hisint. ¡°Looks like you won¡¯t get your rest. Come with me. The expert group¡¯s in trouble.¡±
Xia Lei knew what expert group Long Bing was talking about. ¡°What happened now? Did someone die again?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a death this time. All of them have gone mad.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned.
Long Bing got into the driver¡¯s seat and said, ¡°What are you waiting for? Don¡¯t you want to see your friend? That Doctor Ning?¡±
¡°Ning Jing, she... she¡¯s mad too?¡± Xia Lei could scarcely believe that it was true.
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei but did not answer him.
¡°All right, I¡¯lle with you.¡± Xia Lei walked around the bo of the car and got into the passenger seat.
Long Bing started the engine, stepped on the elerator and they were off.
Qin Xiang stared glumly at the disappearing military vehicle and spoke only after a spell. ¡°Look at you. You make so much money but you work like a machine. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s all so very meaningless?¡±
Chapter 407 - One Plus One Equals Three
The military vehicle galloped over the mountain roads, going up and down the range; the red leaves were like mes.
The scenery was picturesque but Xia Lei was in no mood to admire it. He grew increasingly anxious the closer they got to that military base. ¡°Tell me - How is Ning Jing now?¡±
This was his third time asking this question.
Long Bing¡¯s first answer: Just a small problem.
Long Bing¡¯s second answer: You¡¯ll know when you see her.
This time, Long Bing nced at Xia Lei and sighed. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll tell you. She¡¯s gone mad.¡±
¡°Ha?¡± Xia Lei paused, not daring to believe it. He clearly remembered that he had specially nagged Ning Jing not to interact with those two pieces of alloy when he¡¯d left, but something had still happened to her.
A hint of puzzlement tinged Long Bing¡¯s voice. ¡°I didn¡¯t quite believe it when I received the notice either. But I¡¯ve seen them and Ning Jing too. They were definitely mad. The best specialist doctors in the nation had examined them but they could not find the cause. It seems to be a collective disease, and the cause is unexined... This is very strange.¡±
The images of the two pieces of ancient alloy and the bronze book surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s mind, followed by Ning Jing¡¯s face.
Ning Jing had finally gotten out of the shadow of her parents to pursue her own happiness and live her own life, but she had unexpectedly run into this sort of thing now. She really was an unfortunate woman.
Scenes of what he had experienced with Ning Jing yed like a video and Xia Lei¡¯s heart filled with hurt and worry. He had always treated Ning Jing as a good friend and he could not ept the fact that she had gone mad.
Long Bing sighed. ¡°I know you¡¯re close with Doctor Ning but don¡¯t be so worried. She and those experts have not been mad for long. There¡¯s still hope in curing them.¡±
Xia Lei stopped thinking about it. ¡°I hope so. She¡¯s actually quite a pitiful woman.¡±
¡°Many women are pitiful creatures in need of help in your eyes.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Stop joking with me. I¡¯m not in the mood now.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Tell me - was it you who wanted me toe take a look or was it someone in the higher-ups who specified that I shoulde?¡±
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°The people in the research group are either dying or going mad. If it were up to me to decide, would I tell you toe? It¡¯s the higher-ups.¡±
¡°Boss Shi?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know the details of this matter but I¡¯m guessing that he¡¯s just the mouthpiece even though the order came from him. The research project on the mysterious alloy is on of the nation¡¯s most secret and there¡¯s someone in the higher-ups in charge. Boss Shi cannot oversee such an important matter. Don¡¯t ask me who it is, though. I don¡¯t know either,¡± said Long Bing.
It was a material which could change the manufacturing industry of a nation and raise the standing of the whole of China on a global scale - if one looked at it this way, then Boss Shi¡¯s status was definitely not high enough to have this sort of responsibility.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°Then why are they getting me to take action? The danger of that alloy is apparent - people who havee in contact with it either die or go mad. I might die or go mad too if I get involved.¡±
¡°I think that someone in the higher-ups is of the opinion that you¡¯ll be fine since you were the one who excavated the alloy in Afghanistan. Besides, you¡¯ll get some information for yourself too. That¡¯s why the higher-ups want you to try something.¡±
Xia Lei did a cryingugh. ¡°They didn¡¯t want me to interact with the alloy in the past because they were afraid that I¡¯d learn some secret and now that those experts are either dead or mad and there¡¯s no one else, they think of me. Am I a useful bit of cannon fodder to them?¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Other people can only dream of being cannon fodder. Stopining. Individual gains and losses are insignificant whenpared to national interests.¡±
Xia Lei grew silent and did not continue the conversation. He¡¯d put on a show of unwillingness but he was actually quite willing indeed. He had been waiting for the opportunity toe into contact with the ancient alloy and that bronze book and this opportunity hadnded on hisp now. Why would he reject it?
There was still a risk since the people who hade into contact with these items had either died or gone mad, but how was he to unravel the mysteries of AE without taking this bit of risk?
His career progression and how much money he made were not the most important to Xia Lei. What mattered most was to unravel the mysteries of the ancient alloy and AE!
The military vehicle entered the military base. Long Bing handed Xia Lei an entrance pass when they alighted.
Xia Lei looked at the card. It had his picture, a maic strip and the words ¡®Special Authority¡¯. He asked curiously, ¡°What does ¡®Special Authority¡¯ mean?¡±
¡°It means you have the same level of authority as Schr Wang Lei. You can freely enter and exit this base if youply with the regtions. You can transport whichever resources you need for your use, including manpower. You also have the authority to mobilise some people.¡±
Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°Including you?¡±
Long Bing looked back at him. ¡°If you want me to loosen your joints and give you a beating, then my answer is ¡®Yes¡¯.¡±
So it was a yes.
Ordering Long Bing around? This was the first time Xia Lei had this sort of authority and it all felt quite strange to him.
Having special authority was quite different. The soldiers guarding the passageway in the research area did not conduct a body search on Xia Lei and only reminded him to leave his mobile phone behind. Xia Lei had to remove the ne from around his neck thest time but there was no need for that this time.
He left his phone in their care and followed Long Bing into the research area in the mountain, sooning to where they had been before - the area where the ancient alloy was being studied.
This area was sealed off and some gun-toting soldiers were guarding the entrance and exit to the passageway. The lights were on but there was no sign of activity. It was quiet and the area was filled with a gloomy and strange atmosphere.
¡°Are you going to look at the research area or at those experts first?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Ning Jing and those experts are not in there?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°That ce is a very dangerous ce to those experts now. How could we still allow them to remain in there? They¡¯ve been moved to another zone.¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s first see the people.¡±
Long Bing led him to another zone and they arrived a few minutester. This area had gun-toting soldiers too. They showed their passes and were given clearance to enter.
After they entered, a doctor led them to arge room. Xia Lei saw Wang Lei, some experts and Ning Jing.
Wang Lei was crouched over on the floor ying with a shoe and mumbling to himself. ¡°Beepbeep, beepbeep... Truck¡¯sing, truck¡¯sing... Beep beep...¡±
A Schr of science, reduced to that. This was quite a loss to the nation.
The other experts were in bad shape too. One was looking vacantly at the ceiling. Another was shredding paper towels in his hands, and one was doing mathematical calctions with pen and paper. On the paper was written ¡®1+1=11¡¯.
Any person who could make it into this group of experts had at least five years of excellent learning but this person¡¯s intelligence had degraded so badly that it was worse than a primary school student¡¯s! There was sure to be a great uproar if news of this leaked.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Ning Jing.
Ning Jing was in white patient garb, sitting on a chair. She held a makeup mirror in her hand and a lipstick too. She looked at herself in the mirror as she applied the lipstick over and over to her lips. Her originally petite, peachy lips were now a huge red swath of lipstick and it looked like she had just gulped blood.
A doctor standing to one side said, ¡°Their intelligence now is not over five years of age. Doctor Ning¡¯s condition is a little better but not normal either. We¡¯ve thought of everything we could and used all treatment methods we could but their condition is not improving.¡±
¡°Hm, I see. Thank you.¡± Xia Lei walked towards Ning Jing.
Ning Jing did not sense him approaching at all. She looked at herself in the mirror, then put a red dot on her forehead with the lipstick.
¡°Ning Jing, it¡¯s me.¡± Xia Lei squatted by Ning Jing and said gently, ¡°Do you still remember me?¡±
Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei then and she stared nkly before suddenly reaching out to hold Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re here, Xiao Ming! You¡¯rete again! The kindergarten teachers will scold you but don¡¯t be afraid - I won¡¯t tell the teachers,¡± she said excitedly.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say. A ringing was echoing in his brain.
Ning Jing abruptly drew closer again and gave Xia Lei a smacking kiss on his forehead.
Xia Lei froze. A blood-red kiss mark appeared on his forehead.
¡°Let¡¯s y house, Xiao Ming. I¡¯ll be Mother, you¡¯ll be Father.¡± As she spoke, she reached into her cor and groped around. She took out a ss marble from her bra. ¡°This is our child.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Xia Lei.¡± Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°You can¡¯t help her now. Let the doctors take care of her.¡±
¡°Give me a few more minutes,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei called up the power of his eye and focused on Ning Jing¡¯s head. He was going to do a deep X-ray.
There were no anomalies in Ning Jing¡¯s brain and all seemed normal. He then scanned the rest of Ning Jing¡¯s body and it was all normal too. His impression was that Ning Jing was in very good health except for the times when she suddenly returned to her childhood.
¡°Stay here, Ning Jing. I¡¯lle visit youter.¡± Xia Lei stood and patted Ning Jing on the head.
¡°Noooo, Xiao Ming, you¡¯re skipping ss again! I¡¯m going to tell the teacher! She¡¯s going to spank you!¡± Ning Jing was huffy.
Xia Lei sighed and turned to leave. He was not going to be of any help even if he stayed. He had to find the cause of Ning Jing and the experts¡¯ madness to solve this problem - and this seemed directly rted to the secrets of the ancient alloy and AE too!
Xia Lei exited the room and asked the doctor, ¡°Did they all go mad at the same time or was it one by one?¡±
¡°They suddenly became like this a week ago, at 9pm on Saturday. This is what we found from the surveince footage, but we couldn¡¯t find the cause.¡±
So this had begun a week ago and the higher-ups had not let Xia Lei be involved till now. It was apparent that the person or team in charge of this had tried all the methods thinkable during this time, and let Xia Lei do something about it only after weighing the potential risks and potential for sessful treatment.
¡°Thank you. Please take good care of Doctor Ning. She is my friend,¡± said Xia Lei to the doctor.
The doctor nodded. ¡°No problem. Rest assured.¡±
Xia Lei left.
Chapter 408 - Ghost-like Beauty
¡°Don¡¯t go in.¡± Xia Lei stopped in his tracks before a few soldiers. ¡°Wait for me here.¡±
Long Bing hesitated. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you letting me go in with you?¡±
¡°The people who¡¯vee into contact with that alloy are either dead or mad. It¡¯s not safe for you to go in. It¡¯s better for you to stay outside,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing was touched. ¡°But aren¡¯t you going in too? How can I let you go in alone? What if something happens? What then? I¡¯d better go in with you. I can be your support.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better if I go in alone. Aren¡¯t I sacrificing myself in times of crisis anyway by ying the role of cannon fodder? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be fine. It¡¯s decided then. Don¡¯t follow me.¡±
¡°No, I have to go in with you.¡± Long Bing was stubborn.
¡®Didn¡¯t you say that I have special authority in this matter? You have to follow mymands too. I¡¯m telling you to stay behind, so stay behind.¡±
¡°You...¡± Long Bing was annoyed but she did not disobey Xia Lei¡¯smand.
Xia Lei said no more and entered the research area as he said to the soldiers, ¡°Don¡¯t let anyone in.¡±
¡°Yes, Sir!¡± replied the soldiers in the passageway; their voices were loud and crisp.
Xia Lei nced back at Long Bing before he disappeared from her sight.
Long Bing opened her mouth to say something but did not voice it in the end. These soldiers before her did not have the authority to stop her and she could enter if she wished but she did not. It was not because she was afraid of death but because she respected Xia Lei¡¯s decision and was touched by his concern.
The research area was quiet and nothing made sound. Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps became the only sounds in the area, echoing off the walls and making it sound like several people were walking. Light came from above, shining down on Xia Lei¡¯s body and blurring his shadow.
¡®I¡¯ve eaten the AE capsules and that resulted in an immunity to anaesthesia. I hope I¡¯ll be all right after interacting with the ancient alloy,¡¯ thought Xia Lei as he came to a halt at the doorway of theboratory led by Wang Lei.
No one could remain entirely calm when faced with the very real possibility of going mad or dying, not even Xia Lei. He could not avoid the instinctive fear humans had of the unknown.
Xia Lei still pushed the ss door open after a short period of hesitation, and walked in. He had entered the area in an anti-bacterial suit thest time but not this time. Wang Lei and the researchers had worn these suits every day but they still went mad or died anyway. This proved that wearing a suit was not going to be of any use, so he didn¡¯t wear it.
He spotted those two pieces of ancient alloy when he walked in. They sat quietly on the research table. The bronze book too - it sat silently on Ning Jing¡¯s work table.
The pieces of ancient alloy and bronze book were not living things but the feeling that they were sentient grew in Xia Lei as he watched them in silence. He did not know why he had this feeling but it was a very real and clear feeling.
Xia Lei walked to Ning Jing¡¯s work table and reached out to flip through the pages of the book. The strange letters she had shown him were engraved on the bronze book - some looked like tadpoles and some looked like human faces, while some others looked like a mass of chaotic lines.
Was this some ancient lettering?
Xia Lei had his suspicions before but the feeling was stronger now. This was not ancient lettering. But if they weren¡¯t letters, then why were they carved on a bronze book? And was it something from the Ming dynasty? How was it linked to AE?
Questions popped up one after another in Xia Lei¡¯s head, dancing around and washing over him like a tidal wave; he grew restless.
Xia Lei had no new clue after looking at the letters. He walked over to the pieces of ancient alloy and brought them over to the bronze book, putting them all together.
The two pieces of ancient alloy looked like parts of some machine and were shaped differently. They were made of the same material - very light, but very strong. They were stronger than most modern alloys of the world. It was the perfect material to make jets or space shuttles with so it was no wonder the nation saw it as something important.
A thought came into Xia Lei head after observing them for a while, ¡®My ability came from AE. These two pieces of alloy are also inextricably linked to AE, and this bronze book too... Would there be some sort of reaction if I used my X-ray vision?¡¯
This was a very bold thought.
Xia Lei called forth the power of his eye after the thought popped into his head and he turned his gaze to one of the pieces of ancient alloy.
He felt like his vision was being sucked into a vortex instantly, and was falling, falling into a dark abyss. He could not see anything. His body seemed to have been thrust into an icehouse too and he was immediately cold from head to toe, frozen and unable to move.
¡®What... What¡¯s happening?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s heart filled with terror.
His vision returned to normal after two minutes and he was able to move his body again. He reached to touch his forehead and discovered that it was covered in pearls of icy sweat. He then touched the two pieces of ancient alloy but there was no reaction.
¡®I wonder what reaction I¡¯ll have if I use my X-ray vision on the bronze book.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the bronze book.
If someone made this bronze book then there must be some way to decipher it no matter what the contents were. Its existence would be meaningless if that weren¡¯t true!
What he had experienced earlier was terrible to bear and terrifying but this could be the only way to decipher the bronze book. Xia Lei looked at the bronze book and his left eye twitched. His X-ray visionnded on a letter in the book.
His brain seemed to quake the instant his left eye¡¯s X-ray ability was applied to the letters, as if someone had mmed a wooden mallet into his head. There was no pain, though - just a shock. Just when he thought that was it, a strange sound yed in his head.
This sound had just one syble, as if it represented a word. This was simr to Chinese, where one syble represented one word.
But though he could hear the sound, it was still an aliennguage and he did not know what the sounds meant.
But this discovery was enough to make Xia Lei¡¯s excitement bubble over. He used his X-ray vision on other letters and followed the letters one by one with his gaze. He heard more sybles - if the letters were the same they had the same syble sound and if they looked different, they had a different sound.
Thought he did not understand the sounds which rang through his head, this discovery confirmed that the bronze book did have some content in it. The letters carved on the bronze book was maybe some sort of writtennguage, or perhaps a sort of ¡®CD¡¯. Most importantly, it was linked to AE!
Wang Lei and the experts have researched for so long, and used whatever methods and apparatus they had but it had all been for naught. However, he had simplye and used his X-ray vision and discovered the secret hidden in this bronze book. Wasn¡¯t this proof of how his ability hade from AE?
¡®There¡¯s more than meets the eye indeed. How miraculous...¡¯ sighed Xia Lei to himself. ¡®It¡¯ll be great if I could understand these sybles I hear. If I could then maybe I¡¯d have already uncovered the mysteries of the ancient alloy and the bronze book.¡¯
Perhaps that was true. But who else on this Earth could understand this mysteriousnguage?
Just as Xia Lei was finished with his ¡®survey¡¯ of the bronze book, a woman¡¯s voice came to his ear. ¡°I remember your face.¡±
This voice was young, clear, but gave one the impression of coldness. It was the same voice he had heard in Afghanistan!
The hair on the back of Xia Lei¡¯s neck stood on end. He looked all around himself but saw nothing.
¡°I remember your face.¡± The woman¡¯s voice came again, repeating the same sentence.
This was different from the time in Afghanistan. He had only heard it faintly back then and it had not been repeated, but the voice repeated the same thing this time. This repetition also meant that this was a problem - this was not a hallucination!
¡°I remember your face.¡± The woman¡¯s voice said again for the third time in Xia Lei¡¯s ear, and it seemed to him like it was an unseen woman standing right next to his ear who was saying it.
Xia Lei was about to say ¡®Who are you?¡¯ but shut his mouth tightly before the words escaped his lips.
This researchboratory had cameras installed so others would think that he had gone mad if he spoke to an unseen person. The higher-ups might think he¡¯d gone mad too.
¡°I¡¯ve waited for you for so long, so long, so very long...¡± The woman¡¯s voice said again in Xia Lei¡¯s ear, closer this time, and clearer. Right to his left.
Xia Lei abruptly turned to look to his left.
There was an empty space on his left, and behind it was a wall with nothing on it.
As soon as he saw things clearly on his left with his normal vision, his left eye twitched and his X-ray vision was activated. The eye was at full power, at a degree strong enough to look through bricks and human bodies. But what the eye was looking at was not the wall, nor the floor beneath his feet, but the empty air in front of him.
Xia Lei froze in the next second, as if a cold draft of -200 degrees celsius had swept over him and turned him into a statue of ice.
Right in front of him in that empty space was a naked woman. She was looking at him quietly. Her snow-white skin was pale as jade, almost transparent. Her features were exquisite, beautiful, and her deep eyes burned with an inhuman aura. She was tall and full-figured, so sexy that one could barely hold back an impulse to react to it.
But these were not what made Xia Lei freeze like an ice statue. He was so shocked because she was Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue!
Chapter 409 - Princess Yongmei Is A Stalker
Nonguage could describe the bizarre scene before him.
There was no way anyone could see her with normal vision but Xia Lei could see her with his X-ray vision. If one were to argue that ghosts exist, then how could one exin how Xia Lei had never seen a ghost in two years of using his X-ray vision but was seeing Princess Yongmei right now?
But if ghosts didn¡¯t exist, then what was she doing before him?
In that instant, Xia Lei felt like his imagination had expanded to its very maximum but was still not enough. The truth behind Princess Yongmei¡¯s existence aside, he didn¡¯t even dare believe it was real!
The air seemed to freeze and stop moving. Light from themps shone and the shadow beneath Xia Lei¡¯s feet did not waver.
Xia Lei looked at Princess Yongmei and Princess Yongmei looked back at him. Their gazes seem to cross two different dimensions to meet, to mingle.
After a longer period of looking, Xia Lei begun to feel like Princess Yongmei¡¯s body was real.
¡°I remember your face.¡± Princess Yongmei¡¯s voice came clearly from her pink lips.
This line again. She¡¯d said this line the most.
Her words jolted Xia Lei back to his senses. He looked at the camera on the wall out of the corner of his eye, then turned and headed for the door.
Xia Lei looked back once he was out the door. He was still using his X-ray vision and he saw Princess Yongmei follow. Xia Lei thought she woulde floating over like those ghosts in movies but she did not. She walked on the floor with her legs in an elegant and mesmerising way.
Princess Yongmei quickly came to the ss door. The door had shut automatically behind Xia Lei and she looked like she was going to hit it. Xia Lei felt an impulse to reach out and open the door for her but the impulse shed past and he did not act on it.
And in that instant, Princess Yongmei went soundlessly through the ss door to appear before Xia Lei again.
¡°I¡¯ve waited for you for so long...¡±
Xia Lei resisted the urge to speak to her and turned to walk to the room he had upied thest time he was here.
Princess Yongmei followed, as elegant and mesmerising as ever. She seemed neither shy nor ashamed about her body.
Meanwhile, in a secret office in the military base, Ling Han and a few elderly gentlemen watched a wall of monitors closely. One of those monitors showed Xia Lei walking slowly, as if his steps were heavy with thoughts.
It was not just this scene. All of Xia Lei¡¯s time in theboratory had been recorded too and nothing was left out.
¡°Why did he leave?¡± An elderly gentleman broke the silence in the office.
¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± said another elderly gentleman, ¡°But he was acting a little strange in the researchboratory. He looked at those two pieces of alloy and the bronze book, then looked about... Did he discover something?¡±
¡°What can he discover? There¡¯s nothing in the research area. If there were something then we would have discovered it too.¡±
¡°Could he have gone mad?¡±
¡°Maybe something really did go wrong with him. His movements are a little strange. Weren¡¯t the initial signs of madness in those scientists looking about and talking to themselves?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s not make any conclusions yet and keep watching,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°What should we do if he really has gone mad?¡± said the elderly gentleman who had spoken first.
Ling Han wrinkled his brows. ¡°If he¡¯s gone mad then who¡¯s still going toe study that mysterious alloy and that unsolvable bronze book? Give him some time. We need to put some trust in him.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust him. First, he¡¯s not an archaeologist and second, he is not a material science expert. Mr Ling, I don¡¯t know why you suggested having Xia Lei to take over the research work of the mysterious alloy but from what I see this will be a fruitless endeavour,¡± said one.
¡°True. He is an amateur. What is he using in his research?¡± said another.
Ling Han did not seem bothered. ¡°Because the people who have interacted with the mysterious alloy have either died or gone mad. By ¡®interact¡¯, I mean ¡®touched with bare hands¡¯. Shi Boren does not count. I¡¯ve asked him and he said that Xia Lei had handed it to him wrapped in cloth. He only opened the cloth to look inside and handed it to Schr Wang right after he returned. But Xia Lei was the first person to excavate that piece of alloy. Who knows how many times he¡¯s touched it but he¡¯spletely fine.¡±
¡°What are you trying to say, Mr Ling?¡± asked someone.
Ling Han spoke evenly, ¡°Our experts have exhausted all methods and instruments but are no closer to finding out what the mysterious alloy is made of, nor achieved any result. Perhaps we should look at this problem from another angle. Not all the questions on this Earth can be answered with scientific knowledge. Besides, our scientific knowledge is not as great as we¡¯d imagined. There is still no definitive answer for the origin of the universe, or even us, human beings. You are all schrs of the Academy of Sciences so you may not approve of what I¡¯m saying but you cannot deny this truth.¡±
So these elderly gentlemen were scientific schrs!
The schrs looked at each other and they all fell silent.
It was true - if scientific knowledge and instruments were of any use then they would already have had some result with the resources they had here, but there was none. What was worse was that precious talent had lost lives and gone mad, and the cause could not be found!
Ling Han¡¯s gaze swept over the schrs and he said, ¡°Schrs, I am putting my life in danger by presiding over this matter so I have my own opinions, of course. And you have to know that I had Xia Leie here with the aim of protecting you all. I know you want to unravel the secrets of the bronze book and the mysterious alloy but you know what the result is if youe into contact with that alloy.¡±
¡°Never mind.¡± An elderly scientist sighed. ¡°We trust you, Mr Ling. Let¡¯s give that Xia Lei some time.¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Ling Han¡¯s lips. It was no easy task to persuade these elderly scientists.
On the monitor just then, Xia Lei opened the door to a room and walked in. He was lost from sight when the door closed behind him.
¡°Are there no cameras in the room?¡± asked an elderly scientist.
Ling Han shook his head. ¡°No cameras. It is a private room so how can we install cameras?¡±
¡°What did he go in there for?¡± asked someone.
No one could answer that.
Ling Han took out his mobile phone to call Long Bing but he stopped after taking it out. He knew that Xia Lei had not allowed Long Bing to enter the research area, so Xia Lei would know that he was being watched if Long Bing went in to see what he was doing.
It would be a disaster if Xia Lei was angered and washed his hands off this.
Xia Lei used his left eye to do a quick sweep of the room and he rxed only after he confirmed that there were no cameras or listening devices. He turned just in time to see Princess Yongmei pass through the door and enter the room.
The light in the room was a little better and Princess Yongmei looked more real. It looked like the flesh on her was warm.
Princess Yongmei stopped in her tracks before Xia Lei, leaving just 30 centimetres between them.
Xia Lei could not feel Princess Yongmei¡¯s breathing even though they were so close.
She did not say anything this time but just looked at Xia Lei.
¡°Who are you?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly; he kept his voice low.
¡°I remember your face.¡± Princess Yongmei spoke, but it was the same line.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°So what if you remember? I¡¯m asking who you are.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve waited for you for so very long...¡±
Xia Lei paused. This incongruous answer was not what he wanted. He had thought hard about how to lure Princess Yongmei over to figure out what she was, and he¡¯d even hoped to gain some information on the alloy and bronze book from her but it now looked like she was only capable of saying these two lines. She was like a broken record!
Xia Lei tried another question after some thought. ¡°Where are your clothes?¡±
¡°I remember your face.¡±
¡°There¡¯s a fly on your butt.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve waited for you for so very long...¡±
¡°I am your father, Emperor Yongle.¡±
¡°I remember your face.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
There was no sense in asking any further questions in this situation.
Xia Lei was then struck by a thought. He immediately reached out to grab Princess Yongmei¡¯s arm. She did not dodge but his hand grabbed empty air. He stared nkly at the closed fist in Princess Yongmei¡¯s arm, and felt like he was in a dream.
He did not manage to grab anything but the fist that was in her arm felt especially cold. He was able to bear it for the first few seconds but he quickly could not and he hurriedly withdrew his hand.
¡°This... Could she be a type of ability?¡± Xia Lei was gobsmacked.
Princess Yongmei flickered, then suddenly disappeared into thin air.
Xia Lei looked about for her but could not see her.
¡®It looks like I¡¯ll have to gather all theponents before I can solve the mysteries of the alloy and bronze book. I wonder where they¡¯ve sent this expert group?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s head was full of guesses.
A voice suddenly came from the speaker system outside the room door. ¡°Mr Xia, pleasee up to the surface.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought was interrupted. He reyed the voice he had heard in his head and quickly thought of a person.
Ling Han. What was he doing here?
Chapter 410 - Only Condition
Ling Han and some Schrs from the Academy of Sciences were in a meeting room on the surface. The Schrs looked at Xia Lei and Long Bing as they walked in and their gazes were doubtful.
Ling Han went straight to the point after Xia Lei and Long Bing were seated. ¡°Mr Xia, you should already know why we have invited you here this time.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
¡°You have seen the members of the expert group. You have taken a look at the research area. What are your views?¡± asked Ling Han.
Xia Lei thought for a bit before answering. ¡°The members of the expert group have all gone mad, and their intelligence have deteriorated to that of a child of five and below. The doctor tells me that no cause has been found. I cannot find a cause either. As for the researchboratory, I did go in but all useable methods and apparatus have been used by the experts. I think there is no way to unravel the mysteries of the alloy and the bronze book with the current methods. This is what I think, Mr Ling.¡±
Ling Han was silent. He¡¯d been expecting a different opinion, one that was constructive, but Xia Lei¡¯s opinion was the same as his - it was as good as not saying anything.
¡°Mr Xia,¡± said an elderly Schr, ¡°Do you mean to say that you have no solution either?¡±
Another Schr sighed. ¡°I knew it. How could we get a machinist toe solve something like this? What we need are scientists, not a person who builds guns.¡±
These were impolite words but Xia Lei took no offense. Those involved in the sciences were not good atmunicating with others, and there was no need to argue with an old scientist over such a remark.
¡°I propose,¡± said an elderly Schr, ¡°that we build a new team, and begin research anew on the mysterious alloy and the bronze book.¡±
¡°Yes, I agree. The earlier we take action the sooner we shall solve it,¡± said someone.
¡°What if more die, or go mad?¡± said Ling Han.
¡°The sacrifice is an invaluable honour for the sake of the nation¡¯s great rejuvenation,¡± said someone.
Ling Hanughed. ¡°I do not doubt the noble intentions of all of you here, but every scientist is a precious resource to us, especially you elderly Schrs. It would be a terrible blow if anything happened to any of you.¡± After a pause, he looked at Xia Lei again. ¡°Mr Xia, are you confident that you will be able to solve the mysteries of the alloy and the bronze book if I let you handle this matter?¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°I am about 60% sure.¡±
Ling Han¡¯s eyes gleamed. ¡°60%? This is more than half. Tell me - what gives you such confidence?¡±
¡°Just a feeling,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ah? Hahaha,¡±ughed an elderly Schr. ¡°You say you are 60% sure based on a feeling of yours? For something like this? Mr Xia, are you jesting?¡±
¡°This is a very serious matter. How can you joke around with us,¡± said someone in discontent.
¡°It¡¯s logical for you not to trust me. I have my own reasons for saying I¡¯m 60% sure but it doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t believe me. I don¡¯t have to be in charge of this matter. Besides, it¡¯s also very dangerous.¡±
Xia Lei did want to be in charge of the project but he still put on a disinterested front. He could have this much confidence because he knew well that he would not have been invited here if these people had another solution.
Putting on this attitude now was a bit of preparation for the next step.
Long Bing, however, was afraid that Xia Lei would offend Ling Han and the elderly Schrs, so she kicked Xia Lei¡¯s foot lightly under the meeting table.
Xia Lei did not react. He was waiting for Ling Han¡¯s reaction.
Ling Han was quiet for a bit. ¡°Then tell me, Mr Xia, what do you n to do after you take charge?¡±
Xia Lei was about to voice his thoughts when his left eye suddenly twitched on its own. Princess Yongmei appeared.
Xia Lei¡¯s mouth opened but no words came out. It wasn¡¯t because Princess Yongmei had appeared, but because she had triggered his left eye¡¯s X-ray ability to appear and make him see her!
Princess Yongmei was a foot away from him on the meeting table.
She was naked and under the natural light, she seemed like a Celestial,e down from above. The sense of ¡®realness¡¯ about her was much stronger than it had been underground. Her skin, her chest, her waist, her everything was so sexy and beautiful, so clear and splendid. The horror from before was gone and Xia Lei was actually stimted; he had a very male instinctive reaction.
There was no avoiding it. Normal men would have some reaction even from watching videos - this was a really realistic naked princess here! And she was the most beautiful, most sexy woman Xia Lei had ever seen.
Princess Yongmei had appeared without a sound and was standing on the meeting table. She looked at no one else. She stared straight at Xia Lei, then slowly bent to sit on the meeting table. Her hands gripped the edges of the table and she swung her legs gently; the posture was elegant and charming.
¡®Why did she appear again? What¡¯s she doing sitting next to me?¡¯ Xia Lei was a mess of feelings and images inside. ¡®Is she attached to me now? If she leaves this ce with me, and she appears when I¡¯m eating, showering or having sex with Annina... Shit, what am I going to do?¡¯
He was beginning to suspect that he had triggered something after using his X-ray vision on the alloy and the bronze book, and Princess Yongmei had appeared and stuck to him because of it!
¡°Mr Xia, are you all right?¡± Ling Han stared suspiciously at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. His gaze went from Princess Yongmei to Ling Han. ¡°If I¡¯m taking charge then I want to move the researchboratory to Thunder Horse Military Factory. You guys will provide me with whatever I need. Plus, the items found with thatpass have to be sent to Thunder Horse Military Factory too.¡±
Ling Han wrinkled his brows. ¡°How can that do?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I need to handle the matters of Thunder Horse Group. This is one of the reasons. Another reason is that I don¡¯t wish to work in an environment where I¡¯m being watched by others, much less disturbed and hindered.¡±
Ling Han wrinkled his brows further. ¡°Mr Xia, these conditions of yours put me in a bad spot.¡±
¡°I just have this one condition. Satisfy it and I will take charge of the project. Don¡¯t, and I will wash my hands off it.¡±
Yeah, I¡¯m risking my life here to take over this mess. Why should I talk further with you when you¡¯re not going to be willing to meet this condition? - This was Xia Lei attitude!
The elderly Schrs started talking amongst themselves before Ling Han spoke of his position on the matter.
¡°What sort of joke is this? Moving the researchboratory to hispany? What does he take such an important project as this for?¡±
¡°Yeah! He is just a machinist. Sure, he¡¯s good at making guns but research? He¡¯s a total greenhorn.¡±
¡°Such big words. And we haven¡¯t even discussed what happens after it fails. Who¡¯s going to take responsibility?¡±
They talked and not one of the elderly Schrs had a good opinion of Xia Lei, and they were all disproving of Xia Lei¡¯s condition.
Xia Lei did not seem to hear them. He looked quietly at Princess Yongmei sitting next to him.
Princess Yongmei looked quietly at him too, swinging her pretty legs. She seemed tranquil; not speaking, not smiling.
Xia Lei reached out and pressed his hand through her thigh. His palm felt icy-cold. Princess Yongmei flickered twice, then disappeared into thin air.
¡®She disappears if I touch her. Why? Is it because I disturbed her structure? Or is she avoiding me as some sort of defense mechanism?¡¯
Before Xia Lei could think of an answer, his left eye abruptly twitched again and Princess Yongmei appeared. She did not appear on the meeting table this time but under a window. She stood silently before the window, leaning on the windowsill and looking out into the distance.
Beyond the window was a view of mountains which went up and down, leaves as fiery as fire and blue skies and white clouds. And in a scene like this, a naked princess had appeared. Hips pale as snow, peaks high and proud. It was a strange indeed.
¡°Mr Xia, look, can¡¯t you change your condition? The researchboratory stays here. Other conditions are entirely negotiable. How about this?¡± said Ling Han.
Xia Lei did not look away from Princess Yongmei. ¡°I just have this one condition. I will take the job if you agree to it and I won¡¯t take the job if you won¡¯t.¡±
¡°You really are...¡± Ling Hanughed dryly. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll have a phone call and ask for further instructions. If the higher-ups agree then we ept. If they don¡¯t, then you go back.¡±
Xia Lei nodded; he said nothing.
Long Bing drew close to his ear and looked where he was looking. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± she asked curiously.
¡°Nothing,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing rolled her eyes discontentedly at Xia Lei and didn¡¯t say more.
Ling Han made a call outside the meeting room. It took less than five minutes. He returned to the meeting room and said, ¡°The higher-ups agreed. The researchboratory will be moved to your Thunder Horse Military Factory. But there is a condition: You cannot take the mysterious alloy and the bronze book out of yourpany. The higher-ups will post some Special Forces soldiers to guard yourboratory and put restrictions on you at the same time. Are any of these a problem for you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled faintly. ¡°No problem.¡±
This result had been within his calctions and was based on the same reason - if the higher-ups had any other solution then they wouldn¡¯t have called him here.
¡°Whatever manpower you need, whatever equipment, just ask and we will provide. But you have to ensure the safety of all the manpower we loan to you. Is there any problem with this?¡± said Ling Han.
¡°I may need some equipment but I don¡¯t need manpower. I cannot take on that sort of responsibility. If anyone has to die, then just myself would do,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Hanughed. ¡°Die, you say? You¡¯ll be fine. I wish you sess. Sess for the nation.¡±
Xia Lei stood and shook hands with Ling Han. ¡°Thank you for your kind words.¡±
¡°You can start packing now and bring the things back with you when the Special Forces the higher-ups sent arrive here,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Nn, okay.¡± Xia Lei turned and left.
Princess Yongmei followed right behind Xia Lei. She really was a stalker - a naked stalker.
Chapter 411 - A Box?
The mountain roads were twisting but an armoured personnel carrier equipped with heavy guns zoomed over the surface of these roads. Dozens of off-road vehicles followed closely behind it, whizzing over the mountain roads.
In the sky, a military helicopter with shells equipped hovered at low altitude, surveying the surroundings as it went past.
Who would dare to get in their way? Who would dare to mess with them?
This was the Special Forces team that the higher-ups had sent. 60 Special Forces soldiers, one Colonel. They were to go with Xia Lei to Thunder Horse Military Factory, and to guard those two pieces of alloy and the bronze book. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have to worry about anyoneing to steal these items with these people there to guard them - unless the person attempting to steal it didn¡¯t want his life anymore.
Outside the window, the skies were blue, the mountains were green, the leaves were red and the scenery mesmerising. Xia Lei¡¯s gaze, however, was fixed on a chair opposite him. A woman so beautiful one could hardly believe she was real sat on that chair, looking quietly back at him.
She was Princess Yongmei and she was naked.
Xia Lei half-suspected that he had destroyed her clothes in that ancient burial site, and that was why she was naked now. He had no way of confirming what sort of existence she was now, and whether she was sentient, but these did not seem to stop him from admiring her beauty and nosebleed-inducing sexiness.
Long Bing reached out a hand and waved it in front of Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°What are you looking at? You¡¯re staring.¡±
Xia Lei came back to his senses and gave augh. ¡°Nothing, just thinking of stuff.¡±
¡°Thinking of how to solve the mystery of the alloy and the bronze book?¡± guessed Long Bing.
¡°Yep.¡± Xia Lei was d she thought that way. ¡°This is quite a troublesome matter. I wouldn¡¯t have agreed to this task if it weren¡¯t for you.¡±
Long Bing lifted a corner of her mouth in a smirk. ¡°Yeah, right. I¡¯m not the type of woman to be tricked easily. Men who lied to me have mostly ended up in the hospital.¡±
¡°And that¡¯s why you haven¡¯t had a boyfriend till now,¡± said Xia Lei with augh. ¡°You should act dumb a little and let men lie a little to you, coddle you.¡±
Long Bing gave Xia Lei a look. She held off for about ten seconds, then suddenly stomped on the back of Xia Lei¡¯s leg.
Xia Lei held in his cry of pain. He changed the topic, ¡°Let me ask you something, Long Bing.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°You think there are ghosts on this Earth?¡±
¡°What made you think of asking me a childish question like this?¡±
¡°I¡¯m just asking. Just tell me what you think,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I think ghosts don¡¯t exist in this world. If there are ghosts then people like you and me will have uncountable ghosts hanging onto us every night,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei paused. He knew what she meant - they were both people who had their hands soaked in blood. If there really were ghosts, then wouldn¡¯t those they killede back to haunt them? His gaze went back to Princess Yongmei. If she was not a ghost, then what was she?
¡°You¡¯re not thinking of researching the alloy and bronze book from the ghost angle, are you?¡± Long Bing looked oddly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei quirked one corner of his mouth. ¡°Didn¡¯t I say I was just asking? Why link it to researching the alloy and the bronze book? I did graduate from high school, you know? I can be considered an intellectual too, yeah?¡±
Long Bing sputtered withughter. ¡°You¡¯d better not say such things in front of Ling Han and those Schrs. They¡¯llugh at you.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t youughing at me now?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t actually mind it. He just wanted to divert Long Bing¡¯s attention.
¡°Oh, right, did Tang Yuyane looking for you recently?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Nope. I¡¯ve been busy and I had my mobile phone off for a lot of the time. I¡¯ve only just passed my busy stage today but you came along. And I was thinking about a holiday too... Right, why ask?¡±
¡°Just asking,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. His gaze returned to Princess Yongmei.
Just then, Princess Yongmei suddenly smiled at him and she was instantly so very, very charming...
Back in Thunder Horse Military Factory, Xia Lei arranged for theboratory to be moved to the basement of the vi. This would reduce the chances of being seen by others and also reduce the amount of surveince the Special Forces would put on him. More importantly, the basement had a safe that he had personally modified, and he felt more assured when he put the items in there.
The two pieces of alloy and the bronze book were delivered to the basement.
The Colonel of the Special Forces, Wu Xiaoguo shook hands with Xia Lei after the handover wasplete. He then cut straight to the chase, ¡°Mr Xia, this basement will be guarded round the clock from now on. You can order my men to leave when you are working but you must have my people watching when you are putting the items away. Additionally, no one else is allowed to get close to the vi other than you.¡±
¡°No, no, no, there¡¯s someone else. Her name¡¯s Annina. She¡¯s actually living here in this vi. She¡¯s entirely okay. I can vouch for her and take responsibility for all her actions.¡±
Wu Xiaoguo was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°All right, then she is included. There can be no third person.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no one else. The soldiers can use the first floor of the vi, and they can have meals at the cafeteria too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you. I hope we work well together.¡± Wu Xiaoguo ended their conversation.
Just Long Bing and Xia Lei were left in the basement after Wu Xiaoguo took his men with him and left. Them and the safe with the two pieces of alloy and the bronze book in it. There was also a very special existence - Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue. Too bad Xia Lei was the only one in this world who could see her.
Long Bing looked around at the workstation and some machining tools in the basement and she wrinkled her brows. ¡°There¡¯s nothing here. I really wonder how you¡¯re going to start your research.¡±
¡°No need to worry about that. I have my ways. All right, I have to get to work now. You should go. It¡¯ll be dangerous if you stay.¡±
Long Bing hesitated, then said, ¡°All right, I¡¯ll go ask about the progress in Jerusalem. I¡¯ll give you a call if there¡¯s any news.¡±
Xia Lei watched Long Bing leave. He opened the safe only after she had disappeared from sight. He took out the two pieces of alloy and the bronze book and ced them on his worktable.
He stood before the worktable and looked closely at the alloy and book.
Princess Yongmei drew close too and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, staring straight at the items on the worktable.
¡°I remember your face,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
¡°Okay, okay, I know. You remember my face.¡± Xia Lei gave Princess Yongmei a look of distaste. ¡°What the heck are you? Is there some meaning in you following me around like this?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve waited for you for so very long.¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to piss. Are you going to follow me too?¡± Xia Lei walked towards the bathroom and actually did pull his zipper down after entering. He got ready to pee.
Princess Yongmei appeared soundlessly next to him. Her voice was attractive as she said, ¡°I remember your face.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He did not pull his equipment out to pee; he could not, not with Princess Yongmei watching. If going to the bathroom was like this, then he could not imagine what it would be like if she floated about his bed while he slept. He also could not imagine the sort of life he would have to lead if Princess Yongmei were to be right next to him all the time.
The first thing he had to solve was not the mysteries of the alloy and the bronze book but the problem of Princess Yongmei¡¯s stalking.
Xia Lei wracked his brains back at the worktable and finally called forth the power of his left eye to use his X-ray vision on the piece of alloy he had not looked at yet.
The terrifying and strange feeling enveloped him again when his gaze met that piece of ancient alloy. He felt like his entire being had been sucked into a dark and cold icehouse. He could not see anything and could not hear anything - the whole world seemed to have died, including himself.
After two minutes, Xia Lei¡¯s vision went back to normal. He was covered in cold sweat. He looked about himself and found that Princess Yongmei had disappeared.
¡°Where are you?¡± Xia Lei tried calling for her but he received no reply.
If he could see while he was using his X-ray vision on the alloy, he would have seen what had happened. But everything during that process had been one of darkness to him and he had seen nothing. Of course he didn¡¯t know why Princess Yongmei had disappeared.
After a pause, Xia Lei used his X-ray vision again on that same piece of alloy.
His vision entered a dark void again, and it felt like he had been plunged into an icehouse of absolute darkness. This was his third time experiencing this feeling but his heart was still full of terror and awe.
Then something strange happened.
Princess Yongmei appeared again when his vision returned to normal. Her nakedness was so breathtakingly beautiful. She looked at Xia Lei with a quiet smile on her lips.
This was her second time smiling. A smile like that made Xia Lei suspect that she was actually sentient.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the two pieces of alloy and a bold idea formed in his head. ¡®What if... it¡¯s a box? And my X-ray vision is the key to opening this box? I open the box, and Princess Yongmei appears. I close the box and she goes back?¡¯
This was quite a bold assumption but it seemed quite usible.
¡°I remember your face,¡± said Princess Yongmei into Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
¡°What else do you remember other than my face?¡± said Xia Lei in annoyance. He used his X-ray vision on the other piece of alloy.
Princess Yongmei had disappeared when his vision went back to normal.
He had a proven result now. The two pieces of alloy seemed to function as a ¡®soul box¡¯. Open it, and Princess Yongmei would appear. Close it, and Princess Yongmei was sealed away.
Xia Lei did not release Princess Yongmei again after he sealed her away. He wouldn¡¯t mind letting her out if she could help him solve the mysteries of the alloy and the bronze book, or talk normally with him. But she could only say two lines, so letting her out was unnecessary. Besides, it was just too creepy to have her stalking him.
¡®If all the alloy parts were gathered and put together, would they form a box? And if I use my ability to unlock thatplete box, would I be releasing theplete Princess Yongmei?¡¯ An even bolder idea popped into Xia Lei¡¯s head.
This hypothesis of his could not be proven; not yet.
Chapter 412 - Upstage
The next few days were spent on examining the alloy pieces and the bronze book. Xia Lei put more attention on the bronze book and he used his X-ray vision on all the ¡®letters¡¯ in the book. Every ¡®letter¡¯ had a syble. There were 10,000 ¡®letters¡¯ so it was possible that this was an essay, or perhaps a record of history or something else. There were countless possibilities but no way to confirm it.
Xia Lei memorised every single syble, then tried to sound it out and record it on his phone. And so he had a file with an audio recording of all the sybles which he yed over and over. In the beginning he felt like it sounded like a single person reading, but gradually started to think that this was a recording of a conversation, a ¡®bronze tape¡¯ of sorts.
There was no way for him to confirm any of the possibilities.
Afterwards, the study of the alloy pieces and the bronze book reached a stage of stagnation.
Xia Lei called the Special Forces soldier on guard in the basement into the room after two hours of research memo-writing. He put the pieces of alloy and the bronze book into the safe under the soldier¡¯s watchful gaze.
He did not put the research memo into the safe. It was a prop that he put out deliberately for disy. What he wrote in there were someplicated material analysis notes, some research thoughts of his and so on. He believed that all these research memos would eventually be read by Ling Han and those elderly Schrs.
His aim in doing this was also to show these people that ¡®Yes, I am doing research, and very reliably too¡¯.
Xia Lei ran into Colonel Wu Xiaoguo when he walked out of the vi and he greeted him, then said, ¡°Colonel Wu, I¡¯ve put the items away. I need to look up some information and settle some other matters so I won¡¯t be going into the basement for the next few days. I¡¯d have to trouble you all to look after those items.¡±
¡°Rest assured, Mr Xia. I have received my orders. If the items are there, I¡¯m there. If the items are lost, I¡¯m dead. I am only in charge of this, so there is no need for you to exin about other things,¡± said Wu Xiaoguo.
¡°Mm, okay. See you, then.¡± Xia Lei left.
As soon as he left, Wu Xiaoguo pulled out his mobile phone and made a call. ¡°He¡¯s gone. Said he¡¯s going to look up some information and settle some other matters... Yes, I¡¯ll go take a look in hisboratory and send it to you.¡±
Wu Xiaoguo ended the call and entered the vi.
Behind a wall, Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and walked off. He¡¯d guessed right. What he had written would soon be sent out to the eyes of others.
¡®Read it if you want. I don¡¯t care even if you find out that I¡¯m disregarding you. You guys were conducting research for about a year and people died and went mad. No scientist dares to research it now. Now that I¡¯ve taken over the research, you expect me to be sessful in some days? Wait on.¡± A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He was in no rush at all in this matter.
If the higher-ups were anxious then let them be anxious.
Xia Lei walked one round around the new factory area; it was a a pleasing, busy sight.
The value of Thunder Horse Military Factory had risen at least tenfold with the investment capital of 5,000,000,000, and the creation of ming Dragon, the integrated intelligentthe. Completing the purchase orders Ling Han had signed within the time limit was no problem at all with this level of production capacity.
Once those orders wereplete, and his manpower and equipment free to work on the next task, he was going to y another trump card of his - the assault rifle he and Annina had designed.
And once he started his production of this assault rifle, it would not be unthinkable for his Thunder Horse Military Factory to be a pir in the industry, like China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons!
Qin Xiang found Xia Lei and he brought with him a bit of good news. ¡°Lei, ourwyer called from the courts. He said that China Industrial Group withdrew their allegations of infringement for some unknown reason.¡±
¡°This was just a farce anyway. That old fox Mu Jianfeng probably withdrew when he saw that he had no chance of winning against us,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This is good too. Court cases are troublesome and a waste of money,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei stretchedzily and saidughingly, ¡°Well, looks like our busiest time is past. It¡¯s time to rx a little.¡±
¡°Afraid not,¡± said Qin Xiang, ¡°One more thing - Shentu Tianyin sent someone over with an invitation.¡±
¡°An invitation for...?¡±
¡°Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group¡¯s mobile phone coboration project¡¯s production line isplete. They¡¯re going to have a groundbreaking ceremony and they¡¯ve invited you to participate,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei quirked one side of his mouth in a smile. ¡°Shentu Tianyin sure moves fast. Her mobile phone factory is going to start operations soon.¡±
Qin Xiang gave augh. ¡°Not as fast as you did. You were just a small roadside workshop owner two years ago but now you¡¯re the head honcho of military weaponry. Think of the you two years ago, and me too - I feel like this is a dream.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t call me a head honcho yet. Give us two more years. We¡¯ll make it.¡± Xia Lei patted Qin Xiang¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Oh, right, when did Shentu Tianyin say it was?¡±
¡°Tomorrow.¡± Qin Xiang produced an invitation and put it in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°The one who delivered the invitation was that tigress, Fu Mingmei. Sheined that your phone was always off and Shentu Tianyin sent her on an errand to deliver the invitation because she couldn¡¯t get through to you on the phone. Fu Mingmei also wanted me to pass on a message. Want to hear it?¡±
¡°What did she say?¡±
Qin Xiang pursed his lips andughed. ¡°She said: What did you buy a phone for when you aren¡¯t even turning it on? You should go back to the primitive times and be like a neanderthal who wears only one leaf.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and casually stuffed the invitation into his trouser-pocket. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll go over first and have a look.¡±
¡°Go on, go on, look for the right chance to confirm some things between yourself and Shentu Tianyin. Don¡¯t drag things on. You¡¯re not getting any younger and she neither - you can¡¯t let her keep waiting for you, eh?¡±
Xia Lei knew what he meant and he gave Qin Xiang a re of annoyance.
Qin Xiang fluttered his manicured hands and put on an innocent face. ¡°You mean you¡¯re only going to marry her when she turns 30?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going to chat any more with you. I¡¯m off.¡± Xia Lei turned to escape the conversation. He did not want to talk about things like this with Qin Xiang; it was embarrassing.
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei¡¯s back and sighed. He muttered to himself, ¡°It¡¯s for your own good, you know. You won¡¯t have so many women bothering you if you get married. You can¡¯t run away from the day that you¡¯ll be married and be a father, so why not have it happen earlier?¡±
Angel Wings Building.
Fu Mingmei was waiting for Xia Lei inside and she rolled her eyes at him just as he walked into the lobby of building. ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this our big Hero Xia Lei? What, you have time toe over today now?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t mind Fu Mingmei¡¯s snarky attitude. Heughed and said, ¡°So sorry, I was just too busy recently. But I¡¯m here now, right after I finished what I was busy with. Look, I brought you a gift too.¡± He shoved the huge bag of snacks he had in Fu Mingmei¡¯s hands. He had bought a pile of nuts and chocte from the supermarket.
Fu Mingmei was less angry then, but she still gave Xia Lei a re. ¡°Argh, you! I have no words. You didn¡¯t contact Tianyin for such a long time - don¡¯t you think she¡¯s forgotten you already? Which woman can stand something like this?¡±
Xia Lei just listened and did notment. He didn¡¯t actually feel anything. Shentu Tianyin and he were just good friends at this point, not lovers. It would be terrible of him to not contact her for months if they were lovers - it might even lead to a breakup.
¡°Did you buy a gift only for me?¡± Fu Mingmei scowled. ¡°You! Don¡¯t you know how to buy Tianyin a bouquet of flowers?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I did bring a gift. Don¡¯t you worry about it.¡±
Fu Mingmei thought for a bit, then smiled abruptly. ¡°Oh wow, you didn¡¯t bring a ring to propose to her with, did you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He didn¡¯t bring any proposal ring but he did bring a fairly luxurious ne. It was one of the items he had taken from Princess Yongmei¡¯s burial tomb, and he had picked the prettiest one before he came here. He had not given it to her before now because he felt that Shentu Tianyin had no want of nes of precious gems. He was giving it to her now because he had not contacted her for two months and he was using it as a way to show how apologetic he was.
¡°What is it? Can I see?¡± Fu Mingmei was curious one.
¡°Why the rush? You¡¯ll see it in a bit,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fu Mingmei pursed her lips in discontent.
There was a crowd of people when they got to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s office. There were reporters and important people of the business world in Jingdu. Shentu Tianyin was fielding questions from the reporters, calm and in control of the entire situation.
Xia Lei also saw someone he didn¡¯t want to see - Ahn Suhyeong.
Ahn Suhyeong stood by Shentu Tianyin in a white suit. He was handsome and his body well proportioned, and he looked like a perfect match standing together with Shentu Tianyin. He seemed to be ying the role right then, a willing supporter of her power.
Xia Lei outssed Ahn Suhyeong in many aspects but he was outssed himself when it came to courting women.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei as soon as he stepped through the doorway. Their gazes shed in the air and there was no sound, but the air seemed to fill with the smell of gunpowder.
Xia Lei was definitely not going to forget what had happened in Moscow. Ahn Suhyeong had ordered a hit on him, and nearly seeded.
Shentu Tianyin also spotted Xia Lei. She paused, then smiled at Xia Lei in wee.
Xia Lei smiled back but did not speak since she was being interviewed. He stood in a corner where there was nobody to wait for the interviewing to be over.
However, one of the reporters discovered him and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Xia Lei?¡±
Several other reporters looked over at those words, and started to surround him.
¡°Why are you here, Director Xia?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, has your Thunder Horse Military Factory had any new developments after the light weapons exhibition in Russia?¡±
¡°Director Xia, are you here because of the mobile phone coboration between Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, I heard you used to be Shentu Tianyin¡¯s fianc¨¦. Is this true?¡±
¡°Have you two broken up?¡±
¡°Are the two of you secretly dating?¡±
Questions came at Xia Lei like a flood and he did not know how to respond.
Chapter 413 - The Queen’s Spousal Requirements
This seemed to be a press conference for Shentu Tianyin but these reporters had turned their attention to Xia Lei, making things awkward. Xia Lei did not want to be the centre of attention but the situation now was such that he was.
¡°Sorry, my apologies. I have noment. Please make an appointment on another day if you want to ask questions.¡± Xia Lei refused to answer the reporters¡¯ questions.
¡°Hah!¡± snorted Ahn Suhyeong, his face dark, ¡°What¡¯s this punk doing here? He¡¯s interrupting our press conference. Who does he think he is? A big star? Someone important?¡±
He said these for Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ears and to sully rtions between Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei. However, Shentu Tianyin just listened to the words but did not react.
The reporters could not pester Xia Lei when he was not answering any questions so they turned their attention back to Shentu Tianyin. However, the questions they posed were not simply about the mobile phones anymore - the questions included Xia Lei. Back then, Shentu Tianyin had told the media that Xia Lei was her fiance in order to deal with her inner family conflict. Him being her fiance was not true but the reporters thought different. They had vivid imaginations and great curiosity.
¡°Miss Shentu, what is the rtionship between you and Mr Xia now?¡±
¡°Miss Shentu, Mr Xia has risen quite a bit in the world the past two years - was it with your financial help?¡±
¡°Miss Shentu, will you and Mr Xia get married?¡±
Shentu Tianyin kept her cool under the onught of these questions. She neither confirmed nor denied, and was vague. She did not stay silent either - she answered only the questions rted to mobile phones.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s reaction was like this but Ahn Suhyeong reacted in another way. He was content to be Shentu Tianyin¡¯s support before Xia Lei turned up but he could not sit back and let Xia Lei take the limelight away from Shentu Tianyin once he turned up.
¡°I¡¯ll answer your questions,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong after Shentu Tianyin answered a question a reporter had asked regarding mobile phones. ¡°But I shall also state that you can only ask questions which are rted to mobile phones. I will politely ask you to leave if you pose any gossipy, personal questions.¡±
Xia Lei was a ¡®gossipy¡¯ person to Ahn Suhyeong; this showed his contempt and disdain of Xia Lei.
Ahn Suhyeong had a domineering presence and the reporters did not dare offend him. All their questions which followed were rted to Shinyeok Group and Vientaine Group¡¯s coboration.
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei exchanged looks when Ahn Suhyeong was answering questions from the reporters.
She was as elegant and aloof as ever even afters months of not seeing her, and she had a strong presence. Not many men on this Earth could handle a woman like her. As for men who had the right to even woo her - they had to be one of those who were outstanding talents.
A faint smile hovered about the corners of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips. She rarely smiled, especially at men, but Xia Lei was an exception.
Her smile seemed to be saying something.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts went to the time when he had dealt with Shentu Yi and his family with her. His heart had been moved then, and he felt like he could be with her, and be a happy pair with her. But Liang Siyao had stepped in and shattered his dream...
Liang Siyao had left now. Did he want to make this dream a reality?
¡°The mobile phone that we, Shinyeok Group and Vientaine Group are coborating to make is a new force in this industry. We believe that this mobile phone, Era Timewear, will be a leading product in the mobile phone industry. We are going to release two products, one for men, which focuses on the mobile gaming experience, and another for women which is elegant in design.¡± Ahn Suhyeong talked on, ¡°I believe you¡¯ll be able to tell what the phones are like from their names. The gaming-series mobile phone ispatible with all current high-configuration games, and is equipped with a 1080p camera...¡±
Ahn Suhyeong went on to describe the product and his assistant put two mobile phones on disy. One was the gaming phone targeted at men and the other was the elegantly-designed phone targeted at women. As far as workmanship was concerned, the phones did look quite good.
The reporters snapped pictures of the mobile phones on disy.
Ahn Suhyeong picked up the gaming phone to show its features and gaming functions. His movements were graceful and elegant, and his speech candid. The current him was not as inspiring as Apple¡¯s Steve Jobs, butparable to Lei Jun*. Overall, his performance was splendid.
Just then, Gu Kewen walked in through the office doorway. She nodded in greeting to Shentu Tianyin first, then went straight to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not greet her; he just nced at her. Gu Kewen seemed to be behaving herself but he would always be guarded towards this woman.
¡°What, you don¡¯t even want to talk to me?¡± Gu Kewen broke the silence between them.
¡°Talk about what?¡± said Xia Lei disinterestedly.
Gu Kewen quirked one side of her lips in a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that. I¡¯m on your side. Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯d given you information in the past. You¡¯ve always rejected me but I do want to reconcile with you.¡±
Xia Lei gave a softugh. ¡°We¡¯ve reconciled.¡±
Had all the grudges been written off? Xia Lei did not know if Gu Kewen believed it but he knew that he wouldn¡¯t.
¡°You¡¯ve grown so quickly this year. Impressive.¡± Gu Kewen changed the subject. ¡°Many want to enter the military industry butck the right to do so. And you - you not only entered but you¡¯re zing to the top. I believe China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons won¡¯t be taking all this lying down.¡±
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡°What do you know about it?¡±
Gu Kewen drew close to his ear and said softly, ¡°Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun are meeting more frequently recently. They must be discussing how to deal with you. And these two military arms representatives are a force to be reckoned with. You¡¯ve snatched their cake, so how are they going to just let it slide?¡±
Thunder Horse Military Factory had expanded rapidly. Once the assault rifle wasunched, there was sure to be another boom in growth and it could be a pir in the industry, like China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons. Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun would not sit by and let something like this happen, so they were sure to make a move. Xia Lei knew this.
¡°I know you¡¯re mentally prepared but I¡¯m going to tell you some valuable information anyway.¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice grew softer, ¡°Still remember those people I asked you to work with me to take down? They¡¯re the ones in Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s camp. These people are wily and very sly. You have to be careful.¡±
They were the people who had killed Gu Dingshan off. Gu Kewen was not going to forget about getting her revenge on them. Her mentioning them at this juncture and specifically mentioning that they were in Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s camp made Xia Lei take more notice of the matter.
Xia Lei just gave her a smile. ¡°Thanks for telling me all these.¡±
Gu Kewen let out a small sigh. ¡°I know you don¡¯t believe me that easily.¡±
¡°You can die without regrets - I believe you. But I can¡¯t just go off and kill those people, can I? I¡¯m doing my business and they¡¯re making their money. Why would I go anger them when they haven¡¯te to disturb me?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Forget it. Let¡¯s talk about you and Shentu Tianyin.¡±
¡°Me and Shentu Tianyin?¡± Xia Lei nced at Gu Kewen, curious why she had said that.
Gu Kewen gave a smallugh. ¡°Shentu Tianyin told me before that she would only marry the most excellent man in her life. She did not say what makes the man excellent but she and I are both women and I know her standards.¡±
¡°What standards?¡±
¡°You are the standard. And you¡¯ve already reached her highest expectations. There¡¯s nothing she can fault you with already.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned.
¡°Looks like you don¡¯t quite get what I mean. All right, I¡¯ll exin it to you.¡± Gu Kewen lowered her voice, ¡°I won¡¯t talk about your physique - I have higher standards than Shentu Tianyin in this regard. I¡¯ll give you nine points.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh, but he did believe that her standards were very high, since she used to be a woman who lived in a world like Shentu Tianyin¡¯s.
¡°You¡¯re a self-made man, and you amassed a worth of billions in a short period of about two years. Plus, you¡¯ve entered the military industry in China. Your potential for further growth is difficult to quantify. More importantly, your ability and your sense of responsibility are what Shentu Tianyin finds most appealing,¡± said Gu Kewen, ¡°I can dare guarantee that she will 100% say yes if you pull out a ring right now and propose to her.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°Why?¡±
Gu Kewen rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Are you stupid? She¡¯s highly capable but she¡¯s still a woman. Won¡¯t she be worried about men approaching her for money since she has a worth of billions and billions? She needs to protect all these butcks the capability. She needs someone strong enough - a man who can protect her and her wealth, and not have designs on her wealth. If you use these metrics on yourself, then haven¡¯t you surpassed her standards already? Besides, she isn¡¯t getting any younger.¡±
So these were Shentu Tianyin¡¯s requirements.
It was Gu Kewen saying it but Xia Lei still believed it to be true.
Shentu Tianyin was still just a woman no matter how strong-willed and wealthy she was. She needed protection, and her wealth too. This was why she needed a man who was strong enough!*
And he - he had built his own wealth, and entered the military industry in such a way that he could be on fighting terms with China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons. What was this if not evidence of his strength?
¡°I¡¯ve said my piece. It¡¯s up to you how you¡¯re going to do something about it,¡± said Gu Kewen.
Xia Lei just smiled and said nothing. His thoughts were a jumble too and he did not know how to approach this matter.
At that moment, Ahn Suhyeong suddenly ended his presentation. He smiled as he said to Shentu Tianyin, ¡°Tianyin, pleasee over here.¡±
Shentu Tianyin paused. ¡°Why? You¡¯re doing a good job with the presentation.¡±
¡°Juste over.¡± Ahn Suhyeong bent at the waist in a gentlemanly gesture of invitation.
Shentu Tianyin then got up and walked to his side.
Ahn Suhyeong went abruptly on one knee and an exquisite little jewellery box appeared in his hands. He popped the little box open and said tenderly, ¡°Marry me, Tianyin.¡±
Chapter 414 - I Want You To Kneel And Propose!
A diamond ring sat in the jewellery box. It looked to be at least ten carats, and it sparkled under the light. A stone like this was worth millions, but it was just a drop in the ocean to the young master of the Shinyeok Group.
Shutters shed as the reporters took pictures. The business guests who¡¯d been invited to the event were also stunned. Some women held their hands over their mouths, afraid that they would ruin the romantic scene with their voices.
But the person being proposed to was very calm. Shentu Tianyin just nced at the ring and said softly, ¡°What are you doing with this, Ahn Suhyeong?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong spoke warmly, ¡°Tianyin, do you not know my feelings for you? I fell deeply in love with you when I firstid eyes on you. The longer I interact with you, the harder it is for me to leave you. Today, I have summoned my courage to ask for your hand in marriage. I hope you ept me. I swear I will love you and make you the happiest woman on Earth.¡±
If it were another woman, she probably would have been in tears by now if she were proposed to by a super second-generation rich man in such a romantic fashion. But the one Ahn Suhyeong was proposing to was Shentu Tianyin and she was never the sort of woman who would depend on others and ask for protection.
Shentu Tianyin said nothing. She turned her gaze to Xia Lei.
The reporters also turned to Xia Lei.
They had been asking if Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin were lovers earlier and now there was someone proposing to Shentu Tianyin right in front of Xia Lei. Something like this was like a fly discovering a rotten egg to the media - there was no reason not to charge at it.
Click, click, click...
Camera shes went off.
Xia Lei froze too. He had not expected things to develop in this way. But he did know why Shentu Tianyin had looked at him at this time - this was forcing him to state his position!
Shentu Tianyin had been his dream woman and was unattainable to him. He used to only dream and fantasise about being with Shentu Tianyin. He nearly did make those dreamse true too, if it had not been for Liang Siyao. Now, Shentu Tianyin was still single and Liang Siyao was out of the picture. Was he going to make his dream a reality?
This thought popped into his head and he immediately thought of Liang Siyao, Annina, Tang Yuyan, Jiang Ruyi and Smy in Afghanistan. His heart wavered and he did not dare meet Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes.
Hate shed in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s eyes but it disappeared quickly. He pretended not to be bothered about Shentu Tianyin looking at Xia Lei with a gaze which made his jealous. He spoke in a gentle voice, ¡°Tianyin, don¡¯t you understand? If there is a man on Earth who could be your match then that man is me, no one else.¡±
Shentu Tianyin remained silent. She kept looking at Xia Lei, and tears welled up in her doe-like eyes.
She had taken the initiative to chase Xia Lei before but had lost to Liang Siyao. After that, she had closed her heart up and sworn to let Xia Lei chase her. But Xia Lei had maintained just a friendship between them, a status lower than that of lovers. Was she still going to chase after him now? No, she was an extremely strong-minded woman and she could not do it.
¡°Tianyin.¡± Ahn Suhyeong continued attacking, ¡°Say yes. I will give you anything, including Shinyeok Group. After we get married, our two businessesbined will surely be the greatest consortium in Asia.¡±
Shentu Tianyin sighed. ¡°Tell me why you¡¯re proposing to me now.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tone seemed to have rxed and Ahn Suhyeong seemed to see some hope. A smile appeared on his face. ¡°I was going to wait longer, till you have epted me, to propose to you. But the elections are already underway in South Korea. My father wishes for me to settle down so that his position will be strengthened. It would also be easier for me to take over control of Shinyeok Group after he leaves.¡±
An unmarried man was hard-pressed to earn the approval of the elderly in the political and business world. Ahn Geungan¡¯s son getting married would bring him two advantages in his participation in the election. One was the political aspect. The other was that some elderly people would have nothing to nitpick about if Ahn Suhyeong were married, and would not interrupt in the handover of Shinyeok Group from father to son.
Ahn Suhyeong was indeed sincere if one looked at it from this perspective.
This world was full of political and business marriages. If Ahn Suhyeong and Shentu Tianyin were married, then they would undoubtedly form a huge consortium. Their marriage would definitely shake the business worlds of both China and South Korea!
Ahn Suhyeong went on, ¡°Tianyin, we are both not getting any younger either. Why hesitate? Believe me - I will make you the happiest woman in the world.¡±
Xia Lei was still staring nkly during Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s little speech. He looked calm on the surface but he was roiling inside and he was fairly unsettled. ¡®Tianyin obviously wants me to say something but what can I say? Should I say something?¡¯
Gu Kewen suddenly kicked Xia Lei in the back of his leg and hissed, ¡°Hey! Say something. Are you going to let Ahn Suhyeong take Tianyin? He says nice words but he¡¯s a poisonous wolf. Tianyin will be jumping into the fire pit if she marries him.¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei definitely did not wanted Shentu Tianyin to ept Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s proposal but his heart was a mess. He had never experienced something like this and he had no idea what to say.
Just then, Fu Mingmei couldn¡¯t stop herself and she came through the door to get close to Xia Lei. She reached out and pinched the flesh at his waist. ¡°This isn¡¯t the time for you to pretend to be dead, okay?¡±
Xia Lei tolerated the pain and braced himself as he took a step forward. It was just one step - he could not make such an important decision in such a short amount of time.
¡°Tianyin, please ept this ring.¡± Ahn Suhyeong raised the ring box high above his head, quietly urging her to make a decision.
Shentu Tianyin looked again at Xia Lei. Her voice trembled, ¡°Xia Lei, he¡¯s proposing to me. Do you think I should ept?¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. How could he make the decision for her for something like this?
More tears appeared in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s doe-like eyes. ¡°Fine, then do you still want to maintain this sort of rtionship with me? I¡¯m saying just this today - kneel down and propose to me, or I¡¯ll agree to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s marriage proposal.¡±
A queen indeed! ¡®I want you to kneel and propose!¡¯
She was still so strong-willed, so domineering! Xia Lei was under pressure and he didn¡¯t know what to do.
Ahn Suhyeong stared hatefully at Xia Lei. He did not say anything but he had already cursed Xia Lei in his heart for the umpteenth time. Hate made its way into his eyes as he looked at Shentu Tianyin. He was no fool. He knew that Shentu Tianyin was pressuring Xia Lei to propose to her with those words. In other words, she had only Xia Lei in her eyes from the beginning!
¡°Looks like you don¡¯t n to kneel and propose to me.¡± Tears came down in two lines from the corners of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes.
These tears melted Xia Lei. In that instant, he thought to himself, ¡®Liang Siyao and I have already broken up and we cannot be together again. Jiang Ruyi and I grew up together and we¡¯re as close as siblings so I cannot love her like I loved Liang Siyao. I would hurt her if I date her. And Annina... we are just friends with benefits and I have no true love towards her. As for Smy... that¡¯s not love and we cannot be together either. As for Tianyin... I¡¯ve only now discovered that I had been excluding her because of her headstrong and domineering ways, but she¡¯s always been in my heart...¡¯
Shentu Tianyin faced Ahn Suhyeong. ¡°All right, I...¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Xia Lei strode over and grabbed Shentu Tianyin¡¯s slender shoulders. He looked straight into her eyes. ¡°I want you to repeat what you said.¡±
It was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s turn to stare nkly.
¡°This has nothing to do with you, Xia Lei! Do you have any decency? Any manners?¡± said Ahn Suhyeong angrily.
¡°Scram!¡± Xia Lei spat the word from the side of his mouth - this was his stance. You¡¯re the young master of the Shinyeok Group? The son of the future President of South Korea? You¡¯re nothing in my eyes!
¡®You dare-¡± Ahn Suhyeong stopped himself before he cursed. He could not win against an opponent such as Xia Lei, and he could not out-curse him either. He was also not a Korean, so how was he to deal with him?
Shentu Tianyin came back to her senses, and she seemed to understand which line Xia Lei meant. She took a deep breath and said, ¡°I want you to propose to me.¡±
¡°No, you left something out.¡±
¡°I want you to...¡± Shentu Tianyin suddenly burst out excitedly, ¡°I want you to kneel and propose to me!¡±
¡°That¡¯s the line. I like that.¡± Xia Lei smiled. He went on one knee and reached into his pocket to pull out a crumpled paper bag.
¡°What¡¯s that?¡± said a female guest curiously, ¡°He¡¯s the director of Thunder Horse Group and he¡¯s being so stingy? That paper bag is so crumpled - what¡¯s in it? Nuts?¡±
¡°Nuts? Haha. I think Shentu Tianyin will still ept even it if is nuts,¡± said a male guest with augh.
Gu Kewen couldn¡¯t help giving a look to Fu Mingmei, who was next to her. ¡°You¡¯re the one who brought him up. Do you know what¡¯s in that paper bag?¡±
Fu Mingmei shook her head. ¡°No idea. Could it be choctes?¡±
Gu Kewen¡¯s face was dark with gloom.
Ahn Suhyeong started to ridicule Xia Lei before he opened the paper bag. ¡°Xia Lei, I can lend you money if you can¡¯t afford a diamond ring. Oh, right, I heard you applied for a loan of 5,000,000,000. You must be penniless now, huh? It¡¯s okay, I will give you a few million if you ask - no need to return it.¡±
Xia Leiughed softly. ¡°You¡¯re being so magnanimous in spending your father¡¯s money. If I had a son like you I¡¯ll kick him flying. It¡¯s just a lousy ring anyway - is that enough for you to be so cocky?¡±
He opened the paper bag and took out a gemstone ne.
Gasps of amazement filled the office and whistles of awe blew about when the ne made its appearance.
Chapter 415 - Blissful Pair
It was a ne of red and blue gemstones and it was dazzling. The pendant, in particr, wasparable in size to a pigeon egg. Its base was also iid with a circle of diamonds, each close to one carat. Even more astounding was that these diamonds were the most valuable coloured diamonds, not the normal, clear ones.
This ne was the one which was been around Princess Yongmei¡¯s neck, and also the first one Xia Lei had taken from the coffin.
The value of this ne was incalcble, but it very definitely left Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s ten carat diamond ring in the dust.
Xia Lei had only just realised that he had kept the best ne for Shentu Tianyin after he took it out.
The office was filled with voices.
¡°Good Heavens! How is there such a beautiful ne in this world? Those precious gems... those coloured diamonds... how much do they cost?¡± said a female guest in surprise.
¡°Who knows. I¡¯ll marry whoever proposes to me with that ne.¡± Another female guest stared passionately at the ne in Xia Lei¡¯s hands with eyes full of envy.
¡°As expected of someone in the arms business. Such extravagance,¡± sighed a reporter.
¡°It can¡¯t be fake, can it? How can such a ne exist?¡± said a male guest doubtfully.
¡°Heh, I¡¯d rather know who Shentu Tianyin¡¯s going to pick,¡± said a male guest. ¡°They¡¯re both great candidates. What a dilemma.¡±
¡°What¡¯s so difficult about that?¡± said a male guest, ¡°If Tianyin were my daughter I¡¯ll get her to pick Ahn Suhyeong. Shinyeok Group is a huge business in South Korea and Ahn Geungan is likely the next Korean President. How can Xia Leipare with that?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± said the woman next to him, ¡°If I were Shentu Tianyin I¡¯d choose Xia Lei. He is a self-made man and amassed millions in over two years. He¡¯s been through hard times and knows how to cherish people. Living with a man like that is real marital bliss. Ahn Suhyeong? A second-generation rich boy born with a golden spoon in his mouth. He is most sessful at having a rich father.¡±
There were dozens of people in the office and they said anything they liked.
Shentu Tianyin made her choice in the middle of all this rabble. She stretched a slender arm out to Xia Lei. Her lips trembled; she was too excited to speak.
She had chased Xia Lei but lost to Liang Siyao. She had then closed her heart off but still dropped hints to Xia Lei to chase her. Now, Xia Lei was finally kneeling before her, expressing his sincerity.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face was cold and his eyes terrifying.
But Shentu Tianyin did not take the gemstone ne from Xia Lei¡¯s hands. The tears swam in her doe-like eyes and her hand hovered above the ne, just that little bit away from touching it.
Xia Lei was quietly stunned, and thought, ¡®Does this mean that she doesn¡¯t want it? Why is she hesitating when it¡¯se to this?¡¯
Next to him, Ahn Suhyeong seemed to see a ray of hope and he said, ¡°Tianyin, don¡¯t make the wrong choice. I am the best choice for you. Think about what it will be like when our two families are joined. Think of the mobile phones we are making now. Think about what our future children will stand to have.¡±
These words could move most women¡¯s hearts.
But Shentu Tianyin¡¯s gaze did not move to Ahn Suhyeong at all - she kept looking dumbly at Xia Lei. Her eyes were filled with tears but these were tears of bliss and joy.
Xia Lei grew more puzzled. Why wouldn¡¯t she take the ne?
Fu Mingmei suddenly spoke up, ¡°Xia Lei, you idiot! Say something! Is this how you propose? How¡¯s she going to ept your proposal if you don¡¯t say anything?¡±
Her words startled him out of his daze.
Xia Leiughed sheepishly and opened his mouth to say, ¡°Tianyin, I... Marry me.¡±
Shentu Tianyin did a small squeal and reached to take the gemstone ne from Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°I¡¯ve waited so long for you to say this... I will!¡±
Fu Mingmei then raised her voice and said, ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re still missing some words.¡±
Xia Lei turned back to re at her but he was trying to figure out what he had missed.
Fu Mingmei called out impatiently, ¡°Say you love her!¡±
Xia Lei then reacted and he opened his mouth to stutter awkwardly, ¡°Tianyin, I love... you.¡±
He¡¯d always been a bit of a shy man and a little more traditional. It was difficult for him to say what other men found easy but once he said it, he meant it and wouldn¡¯t change his mind easily.
Shentu Tianyin pulled Xia Lei to his feet and enveloped him in her lovely bosom.
¡°Humph!¡± Ahn Suhyeong could not stand it anymore. He stood, and turned to leave. A reported blocked his way and was pushed violently aside.
¡°Kiss her, Xia Lei!¡± urged Fu Mingmei from the side.
¡°Kiss her! Kiss her!¡± The guests took up the chant.
The office filled with an atmosphere of great cheer.
Shentu Tianyin looked at Xia Lei, all smiles, and looking like she was waiting for something.
Xia Lei had experienced a kiss with Shentu Tianyin before, when she was under pressure from Shentu Yi and his family. The kiss back then had been an act to show Shentu Yi but it was different now. A traditional-minded man like himself found it rather embarrassing to kiss Shentu Tianyin in front of so many people.
But he had already proposed to her and she had epted, so what was the big deal in kissing her?
Xia Lei let go of his inhibition when this thought crossed his mind. He mustered his courage and kissed Shentu Tianyin on the lips. Her lips were tender, soft, and covered with a fragrant moistness; it was an alluring taste. This kiss felt different from the first time he had kissed her - because he was now kissing his fiancee.
Xia Lei¡¯s strong arms, his lips, his taste - all these stirred Shentu Tianyin¡¯s emotions. She closed her eyes demurely but she was the one who took the initiative to part Xia Lei¡¯s lips and stretch her tongue into his mouth, teasing him, tasting him.
A light kiss had transformed to a wet kiss and then a French kiss. This series of changes went by smoothly and naturally. The onlooking guests and reporters also smiled and apuded. The cameras did not miss this, of course. Click, click, click! shes went off in rapid session.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin parted lips a minuteter. Both their cheeks were red and they seemed a little embarrassed.
¡°That¡¯s it for today. Dear guests and reporters, please participate in the groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow,¡± said Fu Mingmei. She was starting to clear people out.
The guests and reporters made their way out and Shentu Tianyin sent them to the door, courteous and thoughtful.
After thest guest was gone, Fu Mingmeiughed and said, ¡°Congrats on finally bing a couple, you two. I won¡¯t be disturbing you then. You two have a good chat. But don¡¯t get too anxious, eh?¡±
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei both rolled their eyes at Fu Mingmei - the same look and the same action. It looked like they had rehearsed it in advance.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Fu Mingmei turned and left.
Gu Kewen smiled too but did not say anything. She went out after Fu Mingmei. She closed the door to the office behind her when she went out the door.
There was just Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin left in the office. The two of them looked at each other and the air filled with sweet awkwardness.
It was a dreame true for Xia Lei. He had the woman he had dreamt of.
For Shentu Tianyin, this rtionship of theirs had gone through several twists and turns but she was now finally with the man she loved. This feeling was precious indeed.
¡°What do you keep looking at me for?¡± Shentu Tianyin broke the silence with a smile in the corners of her lips. ¡°Where did you purchase this gemstone ne? It¡¯s beautiful. It looks like it cost tens of millions. How did you think of getting me such a valuable gift?¡±
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed. ¡°I didn¡¯t buy it. I excavated it from a burial tomb in Afghanistan. Uh, you won¡¯t believe it if I told you but it was worn by a princess from the Ming dynasty. The princess was named Zhu Xuanyue, Princess Yongmei.¡±
¡°Huh? It has such a history? Then this is a priceless treasure.¡± Shentu Tianyin was gobsmacked.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°It will definitely look good on you. I¡¯ll put it on you.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tianyin made a small sound of agreement and handed the gemstone ne to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei went to her back and moved her hair aside to fasten the ne around her snowy-white neck. Her supple, snowy skin, crystal clear red sapphires, brilliant coloured diamonds - the ne seemed more noble and dazzling on her. They were a perfect match.
¡°You have to add a ring too.¡± Shentu Tianyin turned around and stared straight at the close-up Xia Lei with burning eyes. ¡°It¡¯s a proposal. How can a proposal be done with a ne? I want a ring.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Mm, I¡¯ll go pick a ring out for you right away.¡±
Shentu Tianyin abruptly put her arms around him and kissed him on the lips...
The two of them separated some timeter and both their bodies smelt of each other; it was like they had be one.
¡°Earlier...¡± Xia Lei spoke softly, ¡°Tianyin, if I had not proposed earlier, would you have agreed to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s marriage proposal?¡±
A sly little smile appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips. ¡°I¡¯ve always been waiting for you. Do you think I will agree to his proposal?¡±
Xia Lei smiled too. He felt a little like he had been duped but he wasfortable with it and didn¡¯t mind it.
¡°Come back with me. I want to tell Father about us. He will be so happy,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. Her voice was filled with happiness.
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll go to your ce,¡± said Xia Lei, and he thought of his father. He had a fiancee now - this was definitely something his father should know about, but where was Xia Changhe now?
A trace of worry touched Xia Lei at the thought of Xia Changhe but he did not show it. It was a good day today. He did not want Shentu Tianyin to feel any regret on this day.
Shentu Tianyin packed a few things and left her office with her arm in Xia Lei¡¯s. The employees in Angel Wings Building all smiled at them on their way out. Some female employees stared at Xia Lei and whispered amongst themselves. These reactions all indicated that the news of the two of them getting engaged had spread and was no secret.
And this was just the beginning. Once the media started reporting it, the news of the director of Thunder Horse Group and the chairwoman of Vientaine Group getting engaged would sweep across the whole of China like a hurricane!
Chapter 416 - Sacred Heart
Ahn Suhyeong was smart and he¡¯d used the connections of the coboration between Shinyeok Group and Vientaine Group, his father¡¯s authority, and the media and guests present - but he had not ounted for the sudden appearance of Xia Lei. And he had been outmaneuvered too!
How could the young master of the Shinyeok Group bear such humiliation?
¡°I want him dead!¡± Ahn Suhyeong screamed in shameful anger in a Bentley in the underground parking space. He smashed a fist into the steering wheel.
In the backseat of the Bentley, a tall, burly golden-haired man said in English, ¡°Mr Ahn, the killers from the Russian Violent Bears were not able to finish Xia Lei off. You¡¯ll have to spend a huge sum to get the best killer to do the job if you want him dead.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong looked back at him and said frostily, ¡°Mr Hoffman, do you mean yourself?¡±
The golden-haired man named Hoffman replied evenly, ¡°I¡¯m good in this field but not exceptional. But I have connections. As long as you¡¯re willing to spend money there will be someone who will be willing to take Xia Lei¡¯s life.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care about the cost!¡± Ahn Suhyeong wanted nothing more than to have Xia Lei dead immediately, and for it to happen in front of him!
¡°All right, I¡¯ll contact the middleman.¡± Hoffman took out his mobile phone.
At that moment, a woman walked over from the back of the car and knocked on the driver¡¯s window.
Ahn Suhyeong looked up and was stunned...
Meanwhile, a Chevrolet Suburban moved out of a roadside parking space and into traffic. It left Angel Wings Building behind in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei was driving and Shentu Tianyin was in the passenger seat. He looked at the road ahead and she looked at him. A smile stayed on her lips and she was blissful, serene.
Xia Lei proposing to her was a perfect ending for Shentu Tianyin. She had waited two years, and gone through ups and downs before things had led to this result.
But to Xia Lei, this development was fairly dramatic. He had not in his wildest dreams imagined that he would propose to Shentu Tianyin when he stood in front of Angel Wings Building and that he would be her fiance after stepping out of it.
Come to think of it, if it had not been for Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s arrogant belief that he would attain Shentu Tianyin by proposing to her in that setup, Xia Lei would not have proposed to Shentu Tianyin then.
Life was unpredictable; life was like a y.
¡°You keep looking at me. I can¡¯t concentrate on driving,¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
¡°I¡¯m looking at my fiance. I can¡¯t?¡± Shentu Tianyin said lightly, ¡°It¡¯s your fault for being so good-looking.¡±
Words like theseing from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mouth were very different from her usual self and it made Xia Lei chuckle.
Shentu Tianyin gave him a smack. ¡°Whyugh at me? I¡¯ll take my words back then - you¡¯re so ugly.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right, you can be the pretty one. Men don¡¯t depend on their looks to eat,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
The mantle of ¡®fiance¡¯ had been thrust upon him unexpectedly; Xia Lei was unprepared. He was not used to it in the beginning but the longer he spent with this status and in thepany of Shentu Tianyin, the morefortable he felt with it.
The two of them chatted andughed in the car and also talked about an engagement banquet, but Shentu Tianyin decided in the end that this banquet should be decided by her father, Shentu Ren. Xia Lei did not object, and wondered if Shentu Ren would get too excited and choose a date which was soon - that would be too quick!
They chatted, they talked, and the Chevrolet Suburban came to Chow Sang Sang Jewellery Shop*.
The manager of the shop recognised Shentu Tianyin immediately and he showed her and Xia Lei to the VIP lounge when he heard that they were here for an engagement ring. He also called employees to take out some treasures of the shop from the vault for Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin to pick from.
As Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin browsed rings, the shop manager stared straight at the gemstone ne around Shentu Tianyin¡¯s neck in bedazzlement.
The female shop assistants waiting on Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin whispered amongst themselves.
¡°Know what? That woman is Shentu Tianyin! The richest woman in China,¡± said one quietly.
¡°Ah, it¡¯ll be great if I can be her friend,¡± said another softly.
¡°Isn¡¯t that man Shentu Tianyin¡¯s fiance? He¡¯s really handsome.¡±
¡°Would Shentu Tianyin even look at him if he was average-looking? I think he¡¯s probably her boy-toy.¡±
¡°He¡¯s here to pick out a ring. It must be Shentu Tianyin footing the bill - I¡¯ll bet on it!¡±
The female shop assistants spoke softly but their whispers did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s sharp hearing. Their gossip made him ufortable, especially the part they said about him being a boy-toy. Did he look like someone who would be a boy-toy? He did notin though - they were just low-level employees and it was meaningless to cause trouble for them.
He¡¯d actually already expected gossip like this when Shentu Tianyin had epted his proposal. There was no avoiding it - she was richer than him after all.
The manager seemed to have heard a bit of their gossiping too and sent them an angry re. The female shop assistants shut their mouths.
¡°Miss Shentu, may I ask where you purchased the ne you have around your neck?¡± The manager was deferential and humble.
Shentu Tianyin tilted her chin downwards to nce at the gemstone ne around her neck and said, ¡°You recognise this ne?¡±
Xia Lei looked over at the manager. He wanted to know the answer to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s question too.
¡°I saw this ne in a handmade book about famous and valuable precious stones. The book belonged to my Master and was written in English. It is almost 200 years old.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°Miss Shentu, can you tell me where you purchased this ne from?¡±
¡°My fiance gave this to me,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Ah...¡± The manager looked surprised.
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows.
The manager was an observant man and he said, ¡°Please do not misunderstand, Miss Shentu. I don¡¯t mean anything bad. I am just shocked because this ne is valued at 20,000,000 US dors on the European market*. Your fiance must love you very much to gift you such a valuable ne.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was gobsmacked when she heard that, and the shop assistants too. No one dared to say that Xia Lei was a boy-toy now. 20,000,000 USD was 130,000,000 RMB - was he a person whocked money if he could give such a valuable ne as a gift?
Xia Lei had no idea how much it cost when he had given it to Shentu Tianyin but he did not feel the pinch either when he found out how much it was. If he was going to marry her, then he should get her the best in the world!
¡°Mr Manager, you said you saw this ne in a book. How did the book describe it?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s called ¡®Sacred Heart¡¯, Sir. It is a marriage gift from thest King of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, to his older sister. Baldwin IV was already in the final stages of leprosy then and Jerusalem desperately needed a new King to preside over it. Baldwin IV had no heirs and so his only recourse was to get his sister a husband to manage the kingdom. Oh, right, did you watch that ssic movie, ¡®Kingdom of Heaven¡¯? I like it very much and was deeply moved by this story. I did not expect to be able to see the coronation gift Baldwin IV gave to his sister Siby today,¡± said the manager.
The Holy Land, Jerusalem, Baldwin IV and his sister Siby - these people and stories had been buried in the sands of history 900 years ago. But this ne hadnded in Princess Yongmei¡¯s hands - who knew of the background of that story?
Xia Lei quietly took note of the story. This could lead to some clue to uncovering the mysteries of the alloy and the bronze book. He did not change his expression and said evenly, ¡°Thank you, your story is very interesting. Oh, Tianyin, have you picked something?¡±
Rings worth millions sat before Shentu Tianyin but she was embarrassed to ask for one of these rings after knowing that the ¡®Sacred Heart¡¯ which Xia Lei had given her was worth 20,000,000 USD.
¡°Never mind. We should just pick something cheaper,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°You¡¯ve already given me such an expensive gift; I¡¯m more than satisfied.¡±
¡°How can that do? You¡¯re my fiancee. People willugh at me if you wear a ring that¡¯s only a few thousand.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was a smart woman and she knew what Xia Lei meant. She let out a puffingugh. ¡°Mm, I am your woman, and also your face. I cannot sully your image. Hm, then this three million-yuan ring will do.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. Dumb women had their plus points and smart women had their plus points. Shentu Tianyin was showing the maximum value of her points.**
¡°Much much discount can you give us, Manager?¡± Shentu Tianyin was already starting to act like a wife.
¡°There¡¯s... no discount.¡± What a joke - Shentu Tianyin needing a discount when buying an engagement ring? Chow Sang Sang¡¯s manager had not got to his current position without wits.
¡°Thirty percent. We¡¯ll go to another shop if you don¡¯t give us a discount. Yours is not the only one in town,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°This...¡± The manager looked troubled.
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows. ¡°I¡¯ll go back and check if your Chow Sang Sang shop rents from us, then talk to your boss about the issue of rent.¡±
¡°Miss Shentu, please hold on, I, I will call our boss and ask him about it.¡± The manager could not take it any longer - this was not a discount, it was highway robbery!
Half an hourter, Shentu Tianyin walked out of Chow Sang Sang, arm in arm with Xia Lei. She lifted her left hand to admire the engagement ring on her finger.
Sunlight shone on her face and a bit of her mour fell away, but she became more charming too.
Xia Lei looked dumbly at her. His feelings seemed to return to the past, to that time on that ind...
Love was the mostplicated thing on Earth but sometimes it was simple, just like right now. One¡¯s dream hade true and another had desires fulfilled - both were happy, both were blissful.
Chapter 417 - Pigeon Pair Tempo
Night descended and the city changed. Neon lights shed and the lights of traffic winked with passing cars. Men and women alike were lost in music and alcohol, indulging in a life of luxury.
Xia Lei changed too - his status was set anew in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s Jingdu home. He was the fiance of Shentu Tianyin, the future son-inw of Shentu Ren. He was a chef now. He was busy in the kitchen showing off his spectacr cooking skills. There were two other people in the house - one his future father-inw and the other his wife-to-be, so of course he had to show his hand and make a good impression.
Shentu Tianyin and Shentu Ren chatted in the living room while Xia Lei worked in the kitchen.
¡°It¡¯s so unexpected that you two would just...¡± Shentu Ren faked unhappiness. ¡°You two, really. Why didn¡¯t you talk to me about such a big matter before doing it? I¡¯m your father, you know.¡±
¡°Father.¡± Shentu Tianyin spoke formally, ¡°I got you such a good son-inw - don¡¯t pretend that you¡¯re losing out when you¡¯re actually at an advantage.¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Shentu Ren chuckled. ¡°Ah, you. I understand you so I won¡¯t be mad at you for talking to me like this but you¡¯re too distant and too proud. Pay attention to your tone when you talk to Xia Lei, and don¡¯t be too stubborn. Women can be strong-willed in the workce but at home, in everyday life, you have to be gentler.¡±
Shentu Tianyin held Shentu Ren¡¯s hand and said softly, ¡°Father, I know you mean well, but do you think your daughter does not know how to treat her own man? Don¡¯t worry. He is mine, and no one else can take him away.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not for certain. He¡¯s an outstanding, aplished man and there are sure to be other women keeping an eye on him. Besides, you two are just engaged now, not married.¡±
¡°Father, it is my big day today. Can you not be a wet nket?¡± Shentu Tianyin pouted.
Shentu Ren lowered his voice. ¡°It¡¯s for your own good. Never mind, I won¡¯t be counting on you. I¡¯ll go to the Master of the Shaolin Temple tomorrow to let him have a look at the auspicious dates. We¡¯ll look at the closest auspicious date and get the two of you married as soon as possible.¡±
A faint smile appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips. ¡°It¡¯s me getting married, not you. Why so anxious?¡±
¡°How can I not be anxious? My friends from way back are already holding their grandchildren in their arms. I¡¯m still waiting to hold my own grandchild.¡± Shentu Ren chuckled. ¡°Oh, but the matter of grandchildren should be handled by you two.¡±
A blush appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s pale cheeks. She had had some intimate interactions with Xia Lei but it had been too long; she¡¯d almost forgotten what it was like. Now with her father talking about ¡®holding a grandchild¡¯, the fuzzy memory of her feelings and the situations back then surfaced in her head again. She was a little hopeful, and little scared, a little longing, a little shy.
Shentu Ren patted Shentu Tianyin on the shoulder and sighed. ¡°Ah, if only your mother were still alive. That would be great. She would definitely be happy for you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin gave a small nod. Bliss and painnced through her in that instant.
¡°Time to eat.¡± Xia Lei called Shentu Tianyin and Shentu Ren to have dinner as he walked towards the dining room with four dishes in his hands.
¡°Go on, help him.¡± Shentu Ren gave Shentu Tianyin a look.
¡°You¡¯re already on his side. Humph.¡± Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her little nose and stood to help Xia Lei.
Shentu Ren smiled wryly and looked out the window at the night sky dotted with stars. He said softly, ¡°Do you see this, my dear? Our daughter finally found a partner for life. Xia Lei is a good man - very good. You¡¯ll surely like him.¡±
A night breeze came, rustling the curtains as if in reply to a loved one.
Shentu Ren wiped the tear from the corner of his eyes and walked towards the dining room.
Xia Lei had made six dishes - Mutton soup, abalone in sauce, steamed scallops, two vegetable dishes and German-style pork cutlets fried in butter. The Chinese and Western dishes were nicely matched and smelt fantastic.
Shentu Ren fetched what looked like a very old bottle of red wine to the table and opened it. He poured it into the decanter and swirled it gently.
Xia Lei looked at the old bottle of wine and asked curiously, ¡°What red wine is this, Uncle Ren? It looks very old. It has to be very aged, yes?¡±
Shentu Ren chuckled. ¡°This is the dry red wine I¡¯ve kept for ten years. Penfolds Grange. There are only 20 of these bottles in the world. I bought this from an European collector back then for 10,000 USD.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°Uncle Ren, how could you just open a bottle of wine like this! It¡¯s worth over 600,000!¡±
This was just a normal family dinner. It was just too wasteful to drink a bottle of red wine valued at over 600,000, even if they were wealthy. A lot of people would have to work their whole lives to be able to earn enough money as the value of a bottle like this!
Shentu Ren did not exin why he had opened such a valuable bottle of red wine but he gave Xia Lei a dissatisfied look. ¡°Lei, why are you still calling me ¡®Uncle Ren¡¯?¡±
Shentu Tianyin nudged Xia Lei under the table.
Xia Lei then said, ¡°Father.¡±
¡°Heh heh!¡± Shentu Ren beamed. ¡°You asked just now why I opened this bottle of red wine. For this. For you calling me ¡®Father¡¯. Today is a good day for you both. I am happy - when will I open this bottle of wine if not today?¡±
Shentu Tianyin retorted, ¡°You can open it on the wedding day too.¡±
Shentu Ren rolled his eyes at Shentu Tianyin. ¡°I have wine for your marriage day too. I¡¯ve also prepared wine for the day you two have a child and I get to hold my grandchild!¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face reddened. ¡°What are you saying, Father? Why talk about having children? Do you think it¡¯s like steaming buns? Knead the dough, put it in the steamer and a bunes out?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
It was unimaginable that the queen of Vientaine Group would make aparison like this.
The three of them enjoyed their dinner. One thing which struck Xia Lei was that the bottle of red wine worth 600,000 was not particrly praiseworthy; he felt like it was more or less the same as a bottle of red wine worth 2,000.
But who understood the world of the rich?
He was a rich man too himself but he would not spend money like this.
The dinner came to an end and Shentu Tianyin took the initiative to clear away the dishes. Xia Lei wanted to help but she didn¡¯t let him, insisting on doing it alone. The servants usually did this, or Fu Mingmei or Fu Chuanfu, but today was a special day and these people had been sent out.
Xia Lei had nothing to do, so he went upstairs to the study.
He used Shentu Tianyin¡¯sputer to search for ¡®The Holy Land¡¯ and the Baidu search results returned a whole lot of information. Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, his sister Siby, and the French Knight of Syracuse, Barrian. These were ancient characters and it would be difficult to find a tomb. But their story had touched him, hundreds of years from their time, and made him go look for the secrets hidden within.
¡®There¡¯s nothing describing a ¡®Sacred Heart¡¯. That¡¯s not odd, I guess. It¡¯s just a ne. I guess only Princess Yongmei can tell me how the ne ended with with her, and as part of her burial items.¡¯ The thought of Princess Yongmei called up an image of her in Xia Lei¡¯s head - naked, beautiful and just absolutely stunning.
He couldn¡¯t help thinking - what strange actions would Princess Yongmei make if she were next to him right now?
Shentu Tianyin walked through the doorway and kicked the door lightly, making it close with a soft click behind her.
¡°What¡¯re you looking at?¡± Shentu Tianyin walked over to Xia Lei and drew close to look at the screen, thenughed. ¡°So it¡¯s that story the manager talked about. I¡¯ve watched the movie. It¡¯s heroic, sad and beautiful. I really didn¡¯t expect to have Princess Siby¡¯s ne. I will make it a family heirloom and have it passed from generation to generation.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Who will you give it to if we have one boy and one girl?¡±
Shentu Tianyin thought for a bit. ¡°To the son, of course. The daughter will be married off after all. It¡¯s a family heirloom so it has to be passed on to the son.¡±
Xia Lei held her chin gently. ¡°Then if we have two sons and a daughter, which son will you give it to?¡±
¡°Huh? You want three children?¡± Shentu Tianyin frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not giving birth to so many. It hurts to give birth.¡±
¡°But you haven¡¯t given birth before so how would you know?¡±
¡°I¡¯m a woman so I just know.¡± As she spoke, Shentu Tianyin bent and her softness pressed intimately against Xia Lei¡¯s arm and a part of his shoulder.
This soft pressure was an obvious signal.
Xia Lei looked at her and saw only her. She seemed to have some sort of force which was drawing him closer, closer.
Shentu Tianyin did not move away. She closed her eyes and her lips moved closer and closer to Xia Lei. Their lips finally met and their tongues entwined like two fighting fish, tussling about in a pond to find out who the winner was.
There was no conversation but there were several vague sounds which came from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s throat. She seemed to be in pain and in bliss at the same time.
An elderly man walked slowly towards the study in the corridor outside, carrying two steaming cups of tea in his hands.
The former heavyweight in the industry and head of Vientaine Grouping to deliver tea to his future son-inw - only Xia Lei was blessed enough to have this treatment.
A soft cry came from behind the door before the happy old man got to it.
¡°N, No... You¡¯re so naughty....¡± This was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice and every syble she uttered seemed to have been dipped in honey.
Shentu Ren froze in his tracks and paused before smiling wryly and shaking his head. He turned to leave. He did want to hold a grandchild soon but he didn¡¯t want to hear it happen.
And something else was going on in the study.
Xia Lei¡¯s loins were ame but his fire was quickly doused.
Shentu Tianyin bit her lip, her face red. She looked at Xia Lei¡¯s sneaky hand and her tear-filled eyes threatened to drown him.
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei coughed dryly. ¡°How about we go watch the news?¡±
Shentu Tianyin suddenly bit Xia Lei¡¯s ear and her voice was oh so hot. ¡°You look like an upright man but you¡¯re actually so naughty. I feel like I¡¯ve jumped into a fire pit.¡±
Xia Lei stuck his hands into her armpits and tickled as he saidughingly, ¡°Then I¡¯ll let you taste the power of this fire pit!¡±
Shentu Tianyin pleaded loudly for mercy. ¡°Ah! It tickles! It tickles! Be more gentle - my skin¡¯s going to tear!¡±
Shentu Ren froze in the stairwell and the cups in his hand fell on his feet with a smack.
This battle of theirs - was it the tempo of the making of a pigeon pair?
Chapter 418 - Nothing to Sneeze At!
Early the next morning, Xia Lei came with Shentu Tianyin to an industrial park on the outskirts of Jingdu. The mobile phone factory was there.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s strategy was to wait for the brand to mature before increasing production in ordance with increased sales, cing orders with OEM factories. Before that though, the project was going to be go-it-alone, and the quality and after-sales were going to be guaranteed too. It was easy to tell from this that she was an ambitious woman and that she had a cautious side too.
Xia Lei thought Ahn Suhyeong would note but he found that he was already waiting when they arrived at the factory.
Their gazes met and intense hate burned in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s eyes but he smiled in the next instant. He was breezy and unconcerned and seemed to have forgiven all wrongs. He took the initiative to wee them and greeted Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Good morning, you two. I thought you¡¯d take longer to some; didn¡¯t expect you here so early.¡±
Shentu Tianyin just gave him a slight nod. ¡°Good morning to you too.¡±
She said just those words and nothing else. She knew how it was between Xia Lei and Ahn Suhyeong and she did not want to talk further with Ahn Suhyeong in case it made Xia Lei unhappy. She was now Xia Lei¡¯s fiancee so she had to approach some matters from the angle of Xia Lei¡¯s fiancee.
A smart woman would not make mistakes easily.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t even want to greet Ahn Suhyeong. He spoke to Shentu Tianyin, ¡°You go on and talk, Tianyin. I¡¯ll go to the workshop and have a look at your production line.¡±
¡°Nn, okay,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°You¡¯re the best machinist and electrical engineer in China, so please help me out if you spot any problems.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°No problem.¡±
A sinister smile appeared in the corners of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s lips as he watched Xia Lei walk off. He seemed to be hiding something and this something was helping him get his revenge more quickly.
¡°Suhyeong,¡± said Shentu Tianyin, ¡°Xia Lei is my fiance now. I hope you can ept this reality and behave ordingly. If you cannot, it will affect our coboration.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong shrugged and pretended to be cool about it. ¡°Business is business. I won¡¯t ruin the rtionship between our two families because he snatched you away. China is a huge market and I am looking very favourably upon the future of our coboration.¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re thinking this way. You¡¯re going to be taking over control of Shinyeok Group in the future, so you have to be open-minded,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Ahn Suhyeongughed and said, ¡°Tianyin, you¡¯re his now but we are still friends. Look, didn¡¯t I greet Xia Lei first this morning? But he ignored me. He was rude but I didn¡¯t harp on it. Isn¡¯t it gracious of me, not bringing up his rudeness?¡±
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows. She did not like Ahn Suhyeong saying Xia Lei was rude but she did not want to talk about Xia Lei with him any more. ¡°The reporters and guests are not here yet. I¡¯ll take a look in the workshop,¡± she said.
¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Ahn Suhyeong followed Shentu Tianyin to the workshop.
Gu Kewen and Fu Mingmei followed behind the two. Two women - one was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s assistant and the other her bodyguard - of course they had to follow Shentu Tianyin closely.
¡°An engaged woman is different indeed.¡± Fu Mingmei rarely spoke to Gu Kewen before but she initiated conversation today with a smile on her face. ¡°Say, Miss Gu, is the power of love that strong?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± A trace of a smile appeared in the corners of her mouth. ¡°Haven¡¯t you been in love before?¡±
Fu Mingmei shook her head. ¡°No. I¡¯m not an easy woman.¡±
She seemed to be insinuating something with her words but Gu Kewen didn¡¯t mind. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin have already done itst night. Only ¡®that¡¯ is considered a proper love.¡±
¡°Whatever, I¡¯m not discussing this with you anymore.¡± Fu Mingmei quickened her steps.
Gu Kewen giggled, and was right behind her.
Just then, Ahn Suhyeong looked back at Gu Kewen, then avoided her gaze.
In the workshop, Xia Lei did actually find a problem. He looked about, then asked loudly, ¡°Who¡¯s in charge here?¡±
Two people walked over right after he spoke. One was a middle-aged man and the other a young man. The middle-aged man¡¯s work badge read ¡®Head of Technical Department - Park Jangheung¡¯. The young man¡¯s badge read ¡®Technician - Zhang Jia¡¯.
It was in to see that the middle-aged man was an employee of Shinyeok Group and the young man was just a worker on the Vientaine Group side.
¡°Who are you?¡± Park Jangheung strode over with a face of discontent. ¡°What are you raising your voice for?¡±
This Park Jangheung was apparently able to speak fluent Chinese.
¡°Are you in charge of the instation of the production line?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°So what if I am?¡± Park Jangheung was rude. ¡°I asked who you are. Answer my question.¡±
Xia Lei did not introduce himself and just said, ¡°I¡¯ve found a problem. It will be a huge safety hazard if it¡¯s not taken care of.¡±
¡°Hey, you punk,¡± sneered Park Jangheung, ¡°How did you get in here? Where¡¯s your work badge?¡±
Xia Lei held his anger in check. ¡°I don¡¯t have a work badge.¡±
¡°Then you aren¡¯t from our factory. Get out!¡± Park Jangheung pointed at the exit, acting all imperious.
The young man from Vientaine Group, on the other hand, was polite. ¡°What problem did you find, Sir?¡± he asked inquisitively.
¡°One of the nuts in the foundation of the conveyor belt has not been tightened. People will be hurt if the conveyor belt moves from its track when it¡¯s running. How are you guys carrying out checks? This is a serious error.¡±
The young worker looked at the nut on belt foundation but did not see any obvious looseness in the nut. He still checked.
¡°You punk! Can¡¯t you hear me?¡± Park Jangheung grew more aggressive and he pushed Xia Lei, growling, ¡°Get out!¡±
Park Janheung was definitely using a lot of force since he was angry at being overlooked, but Xia Lei did not even budge.
¡°Eh? Bastard!¡± Park Jangheung paused, then suddenly swung his hand at Xia Lei¡¯s cheek.
This Park Jangheung was a textbook case of someone who had a violent temper.
But the person he was up against was Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not want to argue with this Korean Head of Technical Department. This was Shentu Tianyin¡¯spany after all and nothing to do with him. However, this Park Jangheung seemed to think he was a bullying target because he had kept quiet. He was aggressive, pushed him and even tried to p him. Need he tolerate such things?
Park Jangheung¡¯s hand wasughably slow in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes and the strength behind the swing pitiful. Xia Lei reached out and grabbed him by his wrist, then pushed his hand in an anti-clockwise direction.
¡°Ah!¡± Park Jangheung let out a cry of pain. He could not stand stably on his two feet and started to fall in the direction of the push. But Xia Lei held on to his wrist and did not let him fall.
¡°I¡¯ll teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents,¡± said Xia Lei. He swung his hand and a p rang across Park Jangheung¡¯s face.
Smack! Park Jangheung¡¯s face swelled like he had been hit by a heavy punch. The skin on his face swelled where he had been hit, and his lip had been split too; blood and spit flew from his mouth.
Before Park Jangheung could cry out, Xia Lei abruptly let got of his wrist and gave him a p on his other cheek. This next p almost made his teeth fall out!
Xia Lei did not hit him a third time. Two ps were enough. There was no meaning in beating up a Korean Department Head.
¡°Y, You...¡± Park Jangheung was livid but he did not dare to charge at Xia Lei again.
Just then, several people came rushing from the direction Park Jangheung hade from, holding metal pipes and wrenches or other tools in their hands; they were aggressive.
Park Jangheung seemed to gain courage at the sight of these people. ¡°H, He hit me!¡±
¡°Fucker! You dare hurt one of us Koreans!¡± scolded a young man in Korean. He did not waste time saying more and swung the metal pipe in his hand at Xia Lei¡¯s head immediately.
These people seemed to be Koreans and were quite united.
But it was useless - Xia Lei grabbed the iing metal pipe and let loose with a kick. The ¡®enemy¡¯ young man flew upwards, thennded heavily on the ground, groaning. He did not get up even after some time had passed.
The Koreans paused, then came charging at Xia Lei together.
¡°Stop!¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice came from beyond the workshop door.
But the Koreans only spared her a nce and did not listen to her words at all. They paused for a bit, then swung their metal pipes, helpers and hoes and so on at Xia Lei¡¯s dead.
¡°Stop!¡± Ahn Suhyeong spoke.
The Koreans stopped this time, and looked fiercely at Xia Lei.
The expression on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face was ugly. Her words had no effect but Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s did. It was apparent that these Koreans did not respect her as a chairwoman.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Ahn Suhyeong put on a show of anger, berating the Koreans from Shinyeok Group. ¡°Do you know who he is? He is Tianyin¡¯s fiance!¡±
The Koreans did not look surprised; the corners of their mouths turned down in distaste.
Shentu Tianyin spoke coldly, ¡°What is going on here? Ahn Suhyeong, give me an exnation!¡±
Ahn Suhyeong shrugged. ¡°It must be some sort of misunderstanding. Mr Xia doesn¡¯t have a work badge on him after all. By right, he should not be allowed to enter. My people must have tried to enforce this rule and this resulted in a conflict. It¡¯s all right - this is just a misunderstanding.¡±
He was obviously siding with the Koreans.
Shentu Tianyin made to speak again but Xia Lei patted her on her shoulder. ¡°You said to help you solve some problems, so let me do it. This is a serious problem. Some people don¡¯t know what ce they¡¯re in and what their status is.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong wrinkled his brows. He felt like this was aimed at him, hinting something to him!
Xia Lei moved as soon as he finished his sentence. He shot forward like a cannonball, going straight at those Koreans.
A Korean youth on Xia Lei¡¯s trajectory had no time to react; Xia Lei¡¯s feet were on his chest almost at once. There was a dull thud and he was sent flying into the air beforending heavily on the ground.
Xia Leinded on both feet and let a punch fly at a Korean man who was just beginning to dodge. The fight was on.
Ten secondster, Xia Lei put his fists and legs down. Several Koreans were lying about on the ground around him, moaning. Their faces had been beaten out of shape. They were a tragic sight.
Chapter 419 - Skilled in Both
Everyone who worked in Korean-ownedpanies knew what it was like. Koreans were short-tempered and fights urred once in a while with the Chinese workers¡¯ side. Many of the bullied Chinese also did notin and kept quiet because they wanted to keep their jobs.
This meant that the Korean side not only continued their bullying but their behaviour grew worse. This situation was also happening in the mobile phone factory, and the Shinyeok Group employees were not respecting the Vientaine Group employees at all. They did not even listen to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s words. If they acted like this in the presence of Shentu Tianyin, what were they like when she was not around?
It looked to Xia Lei that the loose nut he had found was just a small problempared to the true problem - Shinyeok Group¡¯s employees!
A group of Koreans who did not even respect Shentu Tianyin was working in herpany, drawing high sries under the hats of technicians, and trying to lord it over everyone!
How could Xia Lei just stand by and let this happen!
That was why Xia Lei had beaten the Koreans up even though Ahn Suhyeong had scolded them. Lord it over everyone, huh? They had to have their arrogance beaten out of them!
The bullied employees couldn¡¯t help smiling and cheering when they saw the Koreans beaten up in a sh and lying groaning on the floor.
They were happy but Ahn Suhyeong was fit to burst with rage. He had already stopped his people but Xia Lei had still beat them to the point where they could not stand, right in front of him! This was like a p to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face!
¡°Bastard!¡± Ahn Suhyeong pointed at Xia Lei and shouted angrily, ¡°Get out of here!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face turned cold and he walked towards Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°You...¡± Ahn Suhyeong backed away abruptly, looking nervous.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s bodyguard, Hoffman, cut into his path looking nervous, like he was a formidable enemy. Few people in the world would dare to look down on Xia Lei¡¯s capabilities at his current strength, not even top killers who killed people like ants.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks. He had to get through this wall of a Western bodyguard to get to Ahn Suhyeong. He smelt danger from this Hoffman, and it made him take a second look at him.
¡°Shentu Tianyin!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was not showing her any respect anymore and he spoke aggressively, ¡°How are you going to resolve this, hah?¡±
Shentu Tianyin spoke evenly, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
Ahn Suhyeong said angrily, ¡°Xia Lei beat up my Korean employees. How are you going to resolve this?¡±
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows. ¡°So what if they were beaten up? It was no big deal. They were dogs who had an insatiable appetite so it was good to teach them a bit of a lesson, otherwise they would think that Vientaine Group was the yground of Shinyeok Group. They don¡¯t know who their real master is.¡±
There was another message in her words.
Ahn Suhyeong was a smart man and he knew what she meant. His face darkened. ¡°What is the meaning of this, Shentu Tianyin?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I make it clear?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked at Ahn Suhyeong, her voice cold and hard, ¡°I have a 70% share in the mobile phone coboration. Your Shinyeok Group has just a 30% share. How thispany is run and managed is decided by me. These Koreans actually dared to raise a hand against my fiance and speak rudely to him. They don¡¯t have toe to work anymore. Tell them to go back where they came from.¡±
In other words, it was like a military strategy of the Song dynasty¡¯s Zhao Yu, removing those people of Shinyeok Group from the mobile phone coboration.
¡°Shentu Tianyin, are you cutting ties?¡± Ahn Suhyeong was mad. ¡°Our people designed the production line, and brought Korean technology to the line. We¡¯ve only justpleted the work and you¡¯re chasing my people away! You¡¯re too much!¡±
¡°Not happy?¡± Shentu Tianyin scoffed. ¡°You can withdraw.¡±
¡°You...¡± Ahn Suhyeong almost choked on these words.
Xia Lei was pleased by these words. This was the first time he was seeing Shentu Tianyin in action like this. The Korean side had put in their investment, designed the production line and brought their technology but she had told them to withdraw before they¡¯d even made one cent!
Shentu Tianyin spoke softly again. ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to withdraw. I can exchange it for the shares of the electronicspany we coborated on. If you are not willing to do the exchange then you¡¯d better wise up. My word isw here.¡±
This was the queen of Vientaine Group - overbearing!
Xia Lei, who had beaten others up so mercilessly, and this Shentu Tianyin who had spoken so high-handedly were indeed a perfect match. Both of them were so headstrong!
Ahn Suhyeong seemed to realise something and he sneered, ¡°So you¡¯ve been using me from the start?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care what you think. I only care about the result. Get your people out of here,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Must you do this?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve made myself clear,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Fine. We¡¯ll talk about the divestment andpensation after the opening ceremony,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong. ¡°Or we can talk in court.¡±
¡°An equity exchange does not have to be brought to court. Pick a ce and time and I¡¯ll talk with you,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Just wait for my call.¡± Ahn Suhyeong spat these words at her feet and turned to leave. He did not want to spend a second more in this ce.
The Koreans who had been beaten to a pulp by Xia Lei also dragged themselves off one by one. As they shuffled past Xia Lei, he looked at one of them and the poor fellow fell to the floor in terror.
¡°Disperse. Go back to what you should be doing,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
The watching workers dispersed.
Xia Lei then spoke up, ¡°Tianyin, are you really going to let Shinyeok Group pull out their investment?¡±
A faint smile appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips. ¡°It was my n all along to get them to divest. I was willing to invest in their Korean electronics project because they had the mobile phone production line, and the technology. I have reached my goal so getting them to divest is part of the n. It¡¯s just that the n has been brought forward because of what happened just now.¡±
Xia Lei was thunderstruck. He had not imagined that Shentu Tianyin¡¯s n had been set in motion for so long, back to that trip to South Korea. His future wife was no meek girl, no sir!
¡°I let them get the upper hand in that investment, and that investment naturally became the temte for this investment. Every bit of disadvantage I suffered then - now is the time for them to taste the same,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Her n was notplicated at all. First show absolute sincerity in doing business and let Shinyeok Group have the upper hand, then use the fact that Ahn Suhyeong was courting her to move to this new coboration. Now that her goal had been met, she was now crossing the river and destroying the bridge behind her.
It now looked like the divestment would have urred anyway even if Xia Lei had not beaten up those employees.
¡°I¡¯m not making this decision because you beat up the Korean employees. This is something which was going to happen anyway, so don¡¯t dwell on it.¡± Shentu Tianyin wasforting Xia Lei instead.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Looks like I amcking in business dealingspared to you. Teach me some when you have time.¡±
Shentu Tianyin smirked and let out augh. She reached out to hold Xia Lei by his arm. ¡°You are my fiance. I¡¯ll teach you whatever you want to learn. But I don¡¯t think you need me to teach you anything. You have the skills and you depend on your own capabilities to make something of yourself. I am different from you. I focus on strategy and capital management. I am the pen and you are the sword. Combined, we shall be skilled in both; we will be invincible.¡±
Xia Lei smiled at her words but felt like what she said was true. These past years, he had fought his way forward, depending on his skill and bravery to forge himself a path. He was a sword. And Shentu Tianyin was a weak woman. She had taken ownership of Vientaine Group in a time of unrest, with enemies within the n and out. She would have been eradicated if she had no strategic acumen and wisdom!
¡°Did I say something wrong? You¡¯reughing at me.¡± Shentu Tianyin put on an affronted face.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°No, I think you said it all very nicely.¡±
Shentu Tianyin suddenly recalled something and a blush spread across her jade cheeks. ¡°You must beughing at me saying bined¡¯ earlier, right?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
It could be troublesome sometimes when women were too smart.
The two of them chatted andughed and left the workshop.
Fu Mingmei and Gu Kewen followed at a distance.
¡°Ah, he really is a ma for trouble. It springs up wherever he goes.¡± Fu Mingmei sighed.
Gu Kewen replied softly, ¡°I think he did a good job. The n of getting Shinyeok Group to either divest or exchange stock was actually concocted by Shentu Tianyin and myself. It would have been troublesome to find an excuse to do that if that incident earlier had not urred. He just coincidentally solved this problem for us.¡±
Fu Mingmei gave Gu Kewen a look. ¡°I really can¡¯t tell what goes on in your head.¡±
¡°What are you talking about?¡± asked Gu Kewen.
¡°There¡¯s bad blood between Xia Lei and yourself but you pushed for him to be with Tianyin. You even helped Tianyin to acquire the assets your n used to own. Tell me - what are you doing all these for?¡± said Fu Mingmei.
Gu Kewen smiled faintly. ¡°People change. I¡¯ve lost the support of my father and brother, so I have to find a safe harbour. You can distrust me - I don¡¯t mind.¡±
¡°No. So many things have happened; I believe that you¡¯ve changed, really,¡± said Fu Mingmei. ¡°I didn¡¯t use to want to talk to you at all but aren¡¯t we talking right now?¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± A pleasant smile spread across Gu Kewen¡¯s mouth. ¡°We should get going. Those reporters and guests are here and the opening ceremony will begin soon.¡±
The factory area had been empty before but it was full of activity now. The employees of the mobile phone factory were busy setting up seats and making tea for the reporters and guests.
Ahn Suhyeong had not left. He sat on the stage and looked coldly at the approaching Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei. A cold smile still bent his lips even though he had suffered humiliation earlier. Then his gaze moved from Shentu Tianyin to Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewen did not avoid his gaze this time; she smiled faintly.
Chapter 420 - Like An Executioner
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei were gued by reporters before she could get up on stage.
¡°Miss Shentu, may I ask when your wedding will be?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, when did you get to know Miss Shentu?¡±
¡°Miss Shentu, Mr Xia, will Thunder Horse Group bebined with Vientaine Group after you two are married?¡±
¡°Miss Shentu, will Vientaine Group enter the military industry?¡±
¡°Mr Xia...¡±
A big group of reporters, a whole load of questions, and none were about mobile phones. The focus of the media was on what the public was interested in and the public was not interested in mobile phones. The public was interested in Xia Lei¡¯s guns and this high-profile love and marriage with Shentu Tianyin.
¡°I shall answer all of your questions at once,¡± said Shentu Tianyin, ¡°Our wedding date is not far off - it¡¯s closer than you think. But the exact date is still not confirmed yet. You¡¯ll definitely be notified when the timees, and you¡¯ll be invited over to have a cup of wedding wine.¡±
Xia Lei was thunderstruck. When did the wedding date get set and why didn¡¯t he know about it? And it was closer than the media thought too!
The reporters had more questions but Shentu Tianyin went through them, pulling Xia Lei with her and taking him up to the stage with her.
Xia Lei was introduced topany directors in attendance by Shentu Tianyin. He did not recognise these directors but they recognised him. Xia Lei¡¯s name had blown across the nation ever since Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s XL2500 was introduced so explosively at the light weapons exhibition in Russia and practically everyone knew who he was.
His fame actually far outstripped several big-name celebrities.
Whether it was the directors of thepanies in Jingdu or the distinguished guests who¡¯de to attend the ceremony, Xia Lei greeted them politely and confidently. If he was to be Shentu Tianyin¡¯s man, then he had to maintain excellence in all aspects - because Shentu Tianyin was a most excellent woman of this modern era. He was to be the man to support her, so how could he not be the best?
After some small talk, Shentu Tianyin started her speech. Xia Lei sat on a chair next to Ahn Suhyeong. He looked at him but didn¡¯t speak.
Ahn Suhyeong felt his skin crawl when he saw Xia Lei staring at him but he quickly regained hisposure. He put on an unaffected front. ¡°Shentu Tianyin chose you. You won, and I have nothing to say about it. But I don¡¯t think much of you two. Even if you get married your marriage won¡¯tst for long.¡±
Xia Lei spoke disinterestedly, ¡°You think your words are meaningful? No. Whether or not our marriage is a longsting one is our business, not yours. Besides, even if we do get divorced you won¡¯t get her either. You¡¯re just a prick with a rich father. You¡¯re nothing without your father.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was not provoked; heughed. ¡°Don¡¯t you have this saying in China? ¡®Reincarnation is a skill too¡¯. I do have a rich father, and it¡¯s my fate to have a life of luxury. But you. Your father...¡±
Ahn Suhyeong suddenly stopped talking.
Xia Lei seemed to sense something in that instant and he narrowed his eyes at Ahn Suhyeong. ¡°What about my father?¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Ahn Suhyeong said distastefully, ¡°How would I know who your father is? I can guess, based on your upbringing. Your father must be a manualbourer on construction sites. Xia Lei - no blue blood, no aristocratic upbringing. You¡¯ve made something of yourself and earned money but you are never going to be high ss. You¡¯re just a noveau riche. The foundation I have is nothing you can ever have.¡±
Xia Lei did not seem to have heard the mocking. Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s unfinished sentence kept reying in his head, over and over. Every movement of his lips surfaced in his brain, clear as day. ¡®That time in Korea, in that cafe in the hotel... Ahn Suhyeong is obviously linked to the CIA. Ahn Geungan is someone who is likely to be the next president of South Korea in the next election, so won¡¯t he seek the support of America? If that¡¯s the case, then he must know something about my father from his CIA connections, otherwise why would he have cut himself off midway, then cover it up?¡¯
¡°What, I hit a nerve? Nothing to say?¡± Ahn Suhyeong threw out a barb.
Xia Lei looked at Ahn Suhyeong with a faint sneer in the corners of his lips. ¡°Ahn Suhyeong, I¡¯ll tell you this: Don¡¯t think that you can do what you want because you have the support of your father and the CIA.¡±
¡°CIA? The Central Intelligence Agency of America? Ha!¡± Ahn Suhyeong denied it right away. ¡°You should be a screenwriter.¡±
¡°Let me finish. I killed dozens of American Special Forces in Afghanistan, and some CIA agents too. They¡¯ve attempted to capture me a few times but have not seeded. You think you¡¯re more powerful than them? You paid the Violent Bears to murder me in Russia. They¡¯re dead but I¡¯m alive. You think you¡¯re more vicious than them? Ahn Suhyeong, you can be my enemy; I don¡¯t mind having an enemy like you. But I have one thing to say to you - stop fucking around. Do what you¡¯re able to. I have limits to my patience. Cross those limits, and I...¡± He drew close to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s ear and his voice turned icy-cold. ¡°I will take your life!¡±
Ahn Suhyeong froze. He didn¡¯t want to admit it but he could not lie to himself. He¡¯d been scared when Xia Lei said those words to him!
Right then, he abruptly felt that Xia Lei was no director of a business, not fiance of Shentu TIanyin but a cold-blooded killer. There was an aura of death around Xia Lei, and this aura made him feel a shiver run over his heart - terror!
Xia Lei had killed at least 70 or 80 people so far, if not a hundred. There was no way he would not have the aura of a killer when he showed his intention to kill!
Shentu Tianyin kept talking on stage, painting the bright prospects of their Era mobile phones. Ahn Suhyeong had no mind to listen, and he looked heavy with thought.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang.
He took it out, nced at it and stood to leave, picking up the call as he walked.
The call was from Shi Boren. Xia Lei heard his gravelly voice as soon as he epted the call. ¡°Boy, the nation has entrusted such an important task to you and you¡¯re sneaking out to enjoy life? Is this how you¡¯re repaying the trust of the higher-ups? Of me?¡± His voice was like sandpaper, scraping at his ear.
Xia Lei kept walking towards an area with no one else around and heughed dryly, ¡°Boss Shi, the group of experts researched for so long and didn¡¯t produce any result. You can¡¯t expect me to produce results in a week or a month, can you? Besides, would this project have fallen to me if the higher-ups had any other way? I said that I¡¯d take over if I¡¯m allowed to research how I¡¯d like. Can you guys not be so anxious?¡±
¡°Sure, sure, sure. I can¡¯t out-talk you, Boy.¡± Shi Boren scoldedughingly, ¡°You went out for a bit and got engaged to Shentu Tianyin. I only knew about this when I read about it in the newspaper. What¡¯s this about?¡±
¡°It¡¯s very normal. We already knew each other from two years ago. We like each other, so we¡¯re together.¡±
¡°Ay, my god-daughter likes you though. Grandfather Tang also thinks highly of you. Won¡¯t you reconsider? You can¡¯t joke around with a big thing like a marriage. What I mean is that I was rooting for you and Yuyan to be together. You¡¯re both part of my Bureau 101, and you¡¯ve gone through life-and-death situations together. Yuyan is also beautiful and generous, learned and logical... Good match for you in many aspects.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Did Shi Boren call at this time to try to break him and Shentu Tianyin up? It was possible, for Tang Yuyan; she was his god-daughter. This was a headache for Xia Lei.
It wasn¡¯t as if he had not thought about Tang Yuyan. He would not forget his experience in Afghanistan, not ever in his lifetime, especially when Tang Yuyan had sewn up his backside. And that incident between them in the changing room in Moscow. These were beautiful memories; interesting, moving.
But the Tang sect was not a good fit for him.
The Tang sect was a powerful family with hundreds of years of history but their long existence also meant many rules and rigid, outdated ways of thinking. He did not like that. Plus, there were too many members of the Tang sect in the government. He did not want to be part of the Tang sect because of his father, Xia Changhe. If his father¡¯s identity were to be revealed there would be an uproar and the Tang sect would surely cut ties with him, casting him out and sacrificing him in order to protect themselves!
Why would he choose Tang Yuyan and be part of the Tang sect with all these looming over his head?
¡°Forget it. You young people go about your own love matters. I¡¯m just saying something random. You can take it as I¡¯ve said nothing.¡± Shi Boren changed the topic. ¡°Let¡¯s talk official business. The treasure-seeking group the higher-ups sent out have found something. I just got the news.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Did they find a new piece of ancient alloy?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not convenient to talk about it over the phone. I sent Yuyan to your military factory. You head back now. She had the thing they brought back so you study it when you go back. Tell me as soon as you discover anything.¡± Shi Boren was strict.
¡°Yes, right away.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Just then, Shentu Tianyin ended her speech and prepared to cut the ribbon with Ahn Suhyeong and a director.
Xia Lei walked over and drew close to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ear to say softly, ¡°Something¡¯se up at thepany. I have to go back.¡±
¡°Nn, you go about your work. Call me when you¡¯re done.¡± Shentu Tianyin was not a clingy woman.
Xia Lei whispered again, ¡°Ahn Suhyeong is a conniving man who pays tit for tat or more. He¡¯s sure to want revenge for what you¡¯ve done. Be careful. Best to call me when you¡¯re negotiating with him. I¡¯ll be by your side.¡±
A small smile appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips. ¡°Nn.¡±
¡°And...¡±
¡°And what?¡±
¡°Nothing, never mind. I¡¯m off. I¡¯ll call you.¡± Xia Lei did not dally and he strode off.
He¡¯d wanted to tell Shentu Tianyin to be careful of Gu Kewen too but he had told her several times and she¡¯d ignored his warnings. She would probably ignore it this time too if he¡¯d reminded her.
Gu Kewen met him with a smile below the stage. ¡°Leaving so soon? Something came up at thepany?¡±
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks and gave Gu Kewen a look. He nodded, then brushed past her.
Gu Kewen was protecting the interests of Shentu Tianyin and had been on his side several times, speaking up for him, giving him suggestions, but for some reason he did not trust her, not one bit.
The Gu n had copsed because of him, and Gu Dingshan had perished because of him. Was there someone on this Earth so saintly she could still smile at the cause of her family¡¯s destruction?
Gu Kewen watched Xia Lei leave with the smile still on her face. The smile seemed to have been glued on - it did not waver for quite some time.
Chapter 421 - What Breakup Is This
Read the original trantion on wuxiaworld .
Xia Lei felt rather awkward when he saw Tang Yuyan and didn¡¯t know what to say.
Tang Yuyan, on the other hand, seemed fairly open-minded about it and smiled as she said, ¡°Congrattions. Shentu Tianyin is a great woman. You¡¯ll find happiness if you¡¯re with her.¡±
She said all that but hurt lingered behind her veneer of eptance.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei was not too willing to discuss the matter of his engagement with Shentu Tianyin. He moved on to another topic after greeting Tang Yuyan and showed her to a seat. ¡°Right, Boss Shi said that you¡¯re bringing something. Let me see it.¡±
Tang Yuyan handed a document envelope to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei took out the contents of the envelope - some photographs and a document.
The photographs were of the Old City of Jerusalem, including the world-famous Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was the site of the tomb of Jesus and a sacred ce to Christians.
Jerusalem was a ce of worship for three major religions; Im, Christianity and Judaism. Jerusalem also had the Jewish Wailing Wall and the Imic Dome of the Rock, both representatives of holy sites of the religions. However, the photographs in the document envelope did not have pictures of the Wailing Wall or the Dome of the Rock.
¡®Is the third treasure location in Jerusalem?¡¯ this thought popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
It was. He read the document and it said: Thepass pointed to the depths of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There is no passage in. The holy site cannot be desecrated and there is no way to excavate. We have gone through all our avable solutions and tried all we could but nothing worked. The mission is in stagnation. Support requested.
The document also described the solutions they hade up with and the methods they had used, as well as some of the situation in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The contents of this document served to tell the higher-ups that they had tried their very best but were unable to progress.
True - the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was sacred ground for Christians, the ce where Jesus was buried - how could they allow excavation to take ce there?
This was not a problem which could be solved with money or a country¡¯s power. It was a problem of faith, and the power of money paled inparison.
Tang Yuyan stared quietly at Xia Lei as he looked through the contents of the envelope, thinking about something.
Xia Lei finished reading the document and put it and the photographs back in the envelope, then handed it to Tang Yuyan.
¡°Done?¡± Tang Yuyan broke the silence between them.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Done. It is quite troublesome.¡±
¡°Why did you suddenly propose to Shentu Tianyin?¡± This was Tang Yuyan¡¯s second question. Her train of thought sure changed tracks quickly.
Xia Leiughed sheepishly. ¡°I thought you were going to ask my opinion on the expedition - why ask about this?¡±
¡°Just asking. You can not tell me if you want,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°When Ahn Suhyeong proposed to Shentu Tianyin all of a sudden, I didn¡¯t know what happened either... I just... proposed.¡±
¡°Shentu Tianyin probably said that she would ept Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s proposal if you didn¡¯t propose to her, huh?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was bbergasted. She could actually guess something like this! He did not talk about it because he did not want Tang Yuyan to think that Shentu Tianyin schemed this but she¡¯d unexpectedly guessed it all.
¡°Looks like she did say that.¡± Tang Yuyan lifted a corner of her mouth in a tiny smile. ¡°She¡¯s a smart woman indeed, using Ahn Suhyeong as leverage to get to you. You¡¯re such a good boy too - youplied just like that?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Don¡¯t say it like that. I proposed to her because I do like her. I wouldn¡¯t have proposed otherwise.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t care if Shentu Tianyin used people and if she schemed - he only cared that he did like her.
Honestly, if a reason had to be found, then it was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tears. Her tears had melted his steely exterior and awakened his feelings for her. This also made him realise that he had her in his heart all along and the seeds of love had been nted long ago.
Tang Yuyan shrugged. ¡°Then I¡¯m saying too much. Whatever it is, the two of you are already together. I give you two my blessings.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±
¡°All right, let¡¯s get down to business.¡± Tang Yuyan changed the topic. ¡°You¡¯ve seen the report and the photographs. What do you think?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s a no-go. If it¡¯s really buried below the church then there¡¯s no way we can excavate. That ce is sacred ground for Christians and Christians all around the globe would be hopping mad if anyone disturbed that ce. Don¡¯t even talk about the Christians - international public opinion will be so great that you¡¯d drown in it.¡±
¡°You have no solution either?¡±
¡°None.¡± After a pause, Xia Lei added, ¡°But just looking at these photographs and this report is not enough for me to make an analysis. I might be able to see something different if I go.¡±
¡°You want to go to Jerusalem?¡± Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit before saying, ¡°The higher-ups handed the alloy and bronze book research project to me. Progress has been dismal. I need more leads. If there really isn¡¯t a way to excavate the third treasure location then I¡¯ll probably not have any result for my research either. This is why I want to go take a look, even if it¡¯s very dangerous.¡±
¡°Good, then I¡¯ll notify the high-ups. We¡¯ll go to Jerusalem if they agree,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°You¡¯re leaving? So soon?¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan quirked her lips in a smile. ¡°I¡¯m meeting with an engaged man now. I don¡¯t want Shentu Tianyin to be mistaken. That¡¯s it, then. I¡¯m going back to HQ.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei sent Tang Yuyan off and he went out of the office building and to the area where the new factory was being built. It was a little awkward when meeting Tang Yuyan face-to-face and talking about his engagement to Shentu Tianyin. And Annina... it was beyond awkward. He did not know how he was going to bring this up with her, and even less about how he should interact with her.
She had followed him wholeheartedly, doing things for him and sleeping with him - and now he was engaged to another woman. There was no way a woman was going to ept something like this, no matter what the reason.
Xia Lei found Annina in the new workshop. She was fixing an XL2500 sniper rifle with reported problems. Annina was engrossed in her work and did not sense Xia Lei¡¯s arrival. The work ethic of Germans was known worldwide and she was no exception; everything else took a backseat in her mind when she entered work mode.
Annina¡¯s assistant spotted Xia Lei and informed her.
Annina then looked up at Xia Lei with a dazzling smile.
This smile, thisck of negativity, was sincere. Xia Lei was bewildered. Did this mean that she didn¡¯t know?
¡°Busy?¡± Xia Lei said in awkward greeting.
Annina¡¯s assistant was a quick thinker and ran off after greeting Xia Lei.
¡°This shipment of 100 guns is to be sent to Argentina. This one here has a problem so I¡¯m fixing it,¡± said Annina.
¡°Mm, good work.¡± Xia Lei abruptly felt like his mouth was saying stupid things and didn¡¯t know what to say next.
Some things were embarrassing just thinking about them. To talk about it and face it required courage and technique.
Anninaughed and said, ¡°You¡¯re being weird today. Is there something you want to tell me?¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei still couldn¡¯t bring himself to say it.
¡°Let¡¯s go out for a stroll,¡± said Annina. ¡°I¡¯ve been in here for hours and my waist hurts.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and went out of the new workshop with Annina.
The sun was shining brightly and the green hillside behind the factory was painted in gold. The gold-tinted scenery was like a painting and fairly pleasant to look at.
The two of them followed a leaf-covered path to the hill. Neither of them spoke as they walked.
Just walking like this let Xia Lei realise that Annina must know about him and Shentu Tianyin getting engaged, otherwise she would be chattering on like her usual bubbly self.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks under a tree. ¡°Annina, I...¡±
Annina abruptly let out augh. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you to bring it up but you haven¡¯t. All right, I¡¯ll say it. Someone told me about you and Shentu Tianyin yesterday. You two are engaged. I saw the news on televisionst night too. Honestly, I was quite hurt in the beginning but I¡¯ve thought it through now.¡±
Xia Lei could not speak up after that and he silently wondered how she was feeling. He could not tell if Annina was happy or hurt - the smile on her face seemed real, yet a great cover for her pain at the same time.
Annina punched him lightly. ¡°I know you¡¯ve never truly loved me from the time we met in Germany to now. You¡¯re just pitying me when you¡¯re with me. But I really like you and I want to be with you even though I know you¡¯ll never truly love me. I told you that I am am ¡¯intuitionist¡¯, right? I don¡¯t care about anything else other than how I feel. You¡¯re engaged to Shentu Tianyin now, so it¡¯s time for me to wake up too. Don¡¯t worry about me - I¡¯ll adjust soon. I still have my dream even though I don¡¯t have you. It¡¯s now time for me to focus all of my attentions on my dream.¡±
This was ¡®intuitionism¡¯. This was Annina. Women from different cultures were different indeed. Women of the West were more free and easy with their feelings than women of the East, and were able to let go when needed; they would not be hung up about it. They also didn¡¯t see love and marriage as the most important thing in their lives.
¡°Thank you.¡± The thousands of words he wanted to say were condensed into these two words. Two sincere words.
Annina pouted and smiled, then turned towards the hill.
¡°Where are you going?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously.
¡°You¡¯re going to be someone else¡¯s husband soon. You should have a bachelor¡¯s party before that, right? I want to give you a special bachelor¡¯s party,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Plus, you promised to help me realise my dream. Before that though, you have to fulfil my needs. Other men don¡¯t appeal to me.¡± Annina seemed earnest.
Small beads of perspiration appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s forehead. What sort of breakup was this?
Before he could speak, Annina grabbed him by the hand and started running towards the hill.
¡°I know a ce where the grass is particrly soft, just like carpet.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 422 - Sudden Situation
Annina had known from the beginning that Xia Lei would never love her and she was just chasing after that gratification, fulfilling her own emotional and sexual needs by being with him. Would she need to care about Xia Lei getting engaged to Shentu Tianyin in this situation?
On their way back from the patch of grass as soft as carpet, Xia Lei grumbled to himself about his aching waist and weak knees but he thought of something. ¡®Looks like I¡¯ll have to avoid Annina in the future. If there¡¯s no avoiding her then I¡¯ll... I¡¯ll satisfy her a little. She will slowly forget about me. I also have to work on realising her dream - this should be the right way to go about solving this problem.¡¯
Annina¡¯s dream was to build a Bavarian style castle on the banks of the Isar River in Munich, with a farm close to the castle and a winery. Money was no object to Xia Lei at this point; the problem was getting Germany to give up on pursuing and persecuting Annina. Xia Lei had a headache whenever he thought about this problem and there was nothing he could do about it.
Back at Thunder Horse Military Factory, Xia Lei closed himself up in his basementboratory. Only work could get his mind off his women problems now.
He used his X-ray vision on the symbols in the bronze book and the mysterious sybles formed in his head again, sounding like someone reading them. Or perhaps someone reciting scripture? This was a mysteriousnguage - it wasn¡¯t even a knownnguage so there was no way to read it.
Xia Lei switched over to a piece of alloy. A pale, naked figure appeared as soon as he used his X-ray vision on it.
Princess Yongmei walked about the basementboratory, her steps graceful. Her head was lowered as if in thought.
In the past, she was sure to say a line whenever she appeared, which was ¡®I remember your face¡¯, and the line that followed was ¡®I¡¯ve waited so long for you¡¯. But she was silent this time and she just walked about with her head bowed in thought.
¡®Is her consciousness not stable? It changes?¡¯ Xia Lei was intrigued and he watched her for a bit but found nothing which could act as a rule for her behaviour.
¡°Ay.¡± Princess Yongmei suddenly sighed and sat on a chair.
Xia Lei was gobsmacked. He was just thinking that Princess Yongmei was not able to behave like a normal human being and she¡¯d immediately proven him wrong!
It was just a sigh but to Xia Lei, this was as exciting as her speaking 300 words. The reason was simple - why would she sigh if she had no emotions and consciousness like a normal person?
While Xia Lei was caught up in spection, Princess Yongmei put her pretty head in her hands and her doe-like eyes stared straight at him.
Her chest was covered in this position but the area between her legs had nothing covering it at all. Her intimate garden could make one¡¯s nose bleed and turn a man into a primitive man-beast.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know where to look, but he could not stare straight at her either to watch her for changes. Their eyes met for a bit and he said tentatively, ¡°Your zipper¡¯s open.¡±
Princess Yongmei looked down.
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡®She knows what I¡¯m saying!¡¯
Princess Yongmei raised her head a secondter and looked at Xia Lei. ¡°I remember your face.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
All his spections were busted in that instant.
He gave up after several more attempts. Princess Yongmei did not say anything new other than that strange sigh, and kept repeating her same two lines. These two sentences seemed to be her answer to everything and she used them in response to every single question he threw at her. He was going to go mad at this rate.
¡®Looks like I¡¯ll have to go to Jerusalem. The first thing to do if I want to solve the mystery of the alloy pieces and the bronze book is to gather everything. After I have everything gathered... Would the pieces of alloy which look like parts form a box whenbined? What if it is Pandora¡¯s Box, a box of disaster?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s head filled with worries and thoughts.
Xia Lei exited his basementboratory after a while. He called the soldier in the doorway in before he left and ced the alloy pieces and bronze book into the safe under the soldier¡¯s watchful gaze. The soldier was in full protective gear, as if afraid that he would be infected by something. He always stood further away, even when he was just looking.
Xia Lei left after putting the artifacts away and he did not lock Princess Yongmei up this time.
He was considering something. Princess Yongmei had let out a sigh out of nowhere so if he gave her more time on the ¡®outside¡¯ and let her interact more with her surroundings, would she be more aware? This was his goal. He wanted to return Princess Yongmei¡¯s ¡®freedom¡¯ to her.
He wasn¡¯t worried at all about her going somece far off and losing contact with him since she¡¯d behaved like a stalker from the first time he¡¯d let her out. Wherever he went, she went.
Xia Lei discovered that the sky had gone dark after he exited the basementboratory and he suddenly felt hungry. He went into the kitchen of the vi and fried up two portions of steak - one for him, one for Annina.
Annina came back right when he was walking out of the kitchen. She smelt the wonderful aroma of meat and eximed happily, ¡°Woah, Lukas, you made steak? It smells so good! Any for me?¡±
¡°I know you must be hungry. I made you a portion too. Let¡¯s eat together,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina walked into the dining room and kissed Xia Lei on the cheek, then sat at the table to enjoy the steak he had made.
Xia Lei poured two sses of red wine, one for Annina and one for himself.
¡°Thanks.¡± Annina took a sip of wine and looked content,fortable. ¡°This is the atmosphere of a bachelor party. Have you thought of a program? If you haven¡¯t I have some good ideas. I¡¯ll definitely throw an unforgettable party for you.¡±
Xia Lei nearly dropped the piece of steak on his fork at those words. This had gone from a sad breakup to this female machinist throwing a party for him so cheerfully - and a themed program too!
Princess Yongmei suddenly drew close and dipped her chin down to the tall-stemmed ss by Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
This caught Xia Lei¡¯s attention and he was surprised. ¡®What¡¯s she doing? She wants to drink wine?¡¯
A woman without an actual body trying to drink wine - this was weird.
Princess Yongmei¡¯s chin stopped about a foot above the wine ss. Her nose moved slightly, as if she were sniffing the wine. Then she reached down to pick the ss up. However, her slender fingers went through the ss and she did not manage to pick anything up.
Xia Lei sighed to himself. ¡®You don¡¯t even have hands. How are you going to lift the wine ss?¡¯
Princess Yongmei abruptly pressed her head down and the wine ss went through her cheek. Her mouth went into the red wine. She seemed to be trying to drink the wine in this way.
A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡®That¡¯s not going to work.¡¯
Then the red wine in his ss rippled, like wind across the surface of ake.
Xia Lei was shocked.
Good thing Annina didn¡¯t notice this strange thing happening. She kicked Xia Lei lightly under the table and blinked herrge blue eyes at him. ¡°Lukas, the first program will be us showering together. What do you think?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei snapped back to his senses.
¡°Hm? Why¡¯s your wine moving?¡± Annina discovered the rippling in Xia Lei¡¯s ss and asked curiously.
Xia Lei then nudged the table with his kneecap. ¡°I probably hit the table by ident.¡±
¡°I see. I thought an earthquake wasing,¡± said Annina.
Princess Yongmei moved away from Xia Lei¡¯s wine ss. She stuck out her tongue and licked her cherry-red lips, as if some wine had gotten on her lips. However, Xia Lei could clearly see that she had nothing on her lips.
¡®Should I lock her up? She¡¯ll be discovered if I leave her out and she makes unusual things happen. But how am I to discover any valuable leads if I don¡¯t let her roam and interact with the outside world?¡¯ Xia Lei was hesitant.
Annina finished her steak and the wine Xia Lei had poured for her. She dabbed at her mouth with a serviette and said, ¡°Lukas, I¡¯ll wait for you in the bathroom upstairs. Come quick. You usually finish eating so quickly but you¡¯re slow today. Today¡¯s your bachelor party - don¡¯t waste time on steak.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A phone call came not long after Annina walked off.
¡°What¡¯s up, Mingmei?¡± Xia Lei recognised Fu Mingmei¡¯s phone number.
¡°Sir, what rtionship do you have with the owner of this phone?¡± The voiceing from over the line was male.
Xia Lei tensed up and he had a bad feeling. ¡°Who are you?¡± he asked tersely.
¡°I am a doctor at Boai Hospital. Your friend¡¯s injured and in hospital now. She has no identification on her, and she has just your number in her phone so I called to ask.¡±
¡°What happened to her?¡± Xia Lei was getting anxious. ¡°Tell me, quick!¡±
¡°She¡¯s seriously injured. She¡¯s been beaten up and copsed by the road. A passer-by called the emergency number and our hospital was close by so the emergency response hotline directed our hospital¡¯s ambnce to her. She needs surgery to save her life. Please hurry here. Also, please bring her medical insurance card and some extra money,¡± said the doctor.
Xia Lei was anxious and he said, ¡°I¡¯ll be right there, but you have to operate on her right away. Save her!¡±
¡°But...¡± The doctor started to say something, then stopped.
Xia Lei spoke fiercely, ¡°I am Xia Lei. I have money. I¡¯ll pay for her medical expenses, be it 10,000,000! And she¡¯s Shentu Tianyin¡¯s bodyguard too. You don¡¯t have to worry at all about being shortchanged!¡±
¡°Oh, so she¡¯s... Okay, yes, of course, I¡¯ll arrange for her to get surgery right away!¡± The doctor hung up.
The doctor must be in the stone age if he didn¡¯t know Xia Lei. Xia Lei was everywhere on the news and on the inte, and there was no need to doubt who Shentu Tianyin was. She was the richest woman in China and her name was known all over China already. Would Shentu Tianyin¡¯s bodyguardck money for treatment?
Xia Lei put his phone away and ran out. He had forgotten all about Annina waiting for him in the bathroom in that instant.
His bachelor party hade to an early end.
The only one following Xia Lei was Princess Yongmei. She trailed behind him like a shadow no matter how fast he ran, maintaining a distance of a few steps.
However, Xia Lei was of no mind to observe changes in her. He was worried about Fu Mingmei, but even more worried about Shentu Tianyin!
Read the original trantion on wuxiaworld .
Chapter 423 - Race Against Time
Fu Mingmeiy on the operating table. Her originally pretty face had been disfigured; her lips were turned outwards due to swelling. Her eyes were dark with bruising and they were swollen too. Her chest and torso had knife wounds and these wounds were still bleeding.
The nature of her injuries were clear at first nce - someone had attacked her!
Outside the operating theatre, anger red in Xia Lei¡¯s heart after he used his X-ray vision and saw the situation inside. He took out his mobile phone and called Shentu Tianyin¡¯s number again, but her phone was still switched off.
Xia Lei had called Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mobile phone number more than once on his way to the hospital but could not get through to her.
Now, Fu Mingmei¡¯s life hung by a thread on the operating table and she was obviously not able to tell him what had happened. Right then, Xia Lei felt like his eyes had been covered, his ears deafened, and like he had been thrust into a tight space, unable to get the information he needed.
After some hesitation, Xia Lei called Shentu Ren. ¡°Father...¡±
¡°Lei? What is it?¡± Shentu Ren seemed happy to receive a call from Xia Lei.
Xia Lei held his worry and anxiousness in check and spoke calmly. ¡°Father, I called to ask if Tianyin is home.¡±
¡°No, she¡¯s not. She left early this morning with you and hasn¡¯t been back since. I called Mingmei but I didn¡¯t manage to get through,¡± said Shentu Ren.
Xia Lei froze. He abruptly realised that the phone the doctor had found on Fu Mingmei was not her phone at all, but a phone someone had deliberately left on her. The doctor had also said that he was the only contact on the phone.
¡°Lei? What¡¯s happened?¡± Shentu Ren grew nervous.
¡°Nothing, it¡¯s fine. No need to worry. They¡¯re probably in a zone with no reception. All right, I¡¯ll go look for her; I know where she is. I¡¯ll call you right away when I find her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay. Drive safe,¡± nagged Shentu Ren.
Xia Lei hung up. He had not received any sort ofmunication but he more or less knew for sure now - Shentu Tianyin had been kidnapped!
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone in his hand rang all of a sudden.
It was from a number he¡¯d never seen before.
Xia Lei took a deep breath and picked up. ¡°Who is this?¡±
A deep male voice came from over the line. ¡°Xia Lei?¡±
¡°This is he,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Let¡¯s be calm. How much do you want? Name your price.¡±
¡°Heh heh, looks like you already know what happened,¡± said the man. ¡°Listen carefully, I won¡¯t repeat myself. Shentu Tianyin is in our hands. Do not contact the police. Prepare 200,000,000 in cash immediately and go to Baoding two hourster. I will contact you again in two hours.¡±
¡°Two hours for 200,000,000? The banks are closed now - how am I going to get this money? Even if it¡¯s the bank operating hours, there¡¯s no way I can withdraw such arge sum in two hours. Plus, I¡¯ll need these two hours to get to Baoding. Would a bank transfer work? You provide an ount number and I¡¯ll transfer the money to you immediately when I see Shentu Tianyin,¡± said Xia Lei.
The man was silent for a bit, then said, ¡°A transfer works too, but the ransom is 300,000,000. See you in Baoding in two hours. Remember - no police! Or you¡¯ll be seeing her corpse!¡±
¡°I won¡¯t call the police. Let me hear her voice.¡± Xia Lei tried to keep himself calm.
¡°Whuuh... Xia Lei... No...¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice came from over the line but disappeared quickly.
The man¡¯s voice was heard a few secondster. ¡°You¡¯ve confirmed her condition. Get moving. Don¡¯t bete.¡± And he hung up.
Xia Lei put his phone away and started running to the hospital¡¯s carpark.
The night was dark and the neon lights of the city shed as cars came and went on the roads. A Chevrolet Suburban dashed madly on the streets, going straight through every light like a rampaging beast.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows were locked in a frown in the car, his thoughts heavy. He thought of calling either Long Bing or Tang Yuyan to get Bureau 101 to help. This seemed to be the best choice but he gave up on that idea though he¡¯d decided to do so.
He couldn¡¯t.
In that instant, his brain functions sped up to its maximum.
If this was a normal kidnapping then Fu Mingmei would have been able to fend it off. Whenever Shentu Tianyin went out, she had four male bodyguards in addition to her close aide Fu Mingmei. These bodyguards of hers were no ordinary people either - no regr kidnappers would be able to kidnap Shentu Tianyin with the level of her bodyguards!
If they weren¡¯t normal kidnappers, then who were they?
If he did not know the enemy¡¯s power and called Long Bing or Tang Yuyan to get Bureau 101¡¯s help, he might make things worse!
¡®The man who called demanded 200,000,000 in cash and he didn¡¯t think much when I suggested a bank transfer. He¡¯s obviously thought of this possibility. If it¡¯s a bank transfer then he could ask for 1,000,000,000, or even more. The one he¡¯s kidnapped is Shentu Tianyin after all. But he only asked for 100,000,000 more... Why?¡¯ Question after question popped up in his head and he couldn¡¯t answer them.
His brain was still swiftly reying, analysing.
¡®There was the sound of wind when the man was talking earlier. Not a lot of time has passed from when Fu Mingmei was discovered too, so does this mean the kidnappers are on their way to Baoding with Shentu Tianyin? Was the wind sound I heard from a gap in the car window? If it¡¯s like that, then why must it be in Baoding? The exchange can take ce in Jingdu too. What are they hiding?¡¯ Xia Lei grew increasingly afraid the more he thought about it. He had a feeling that this was not a normal kidnapping and that the kidnappers had some motive other than money. And they likely knew his identity too - they were asking for the exchange to take ce in Baoding to avoid Bureau 101!
Xia Lei felt even less inclined to contact Long Bing and Tang Yuyan at that thought.
The car zoomed out of the city and got on the highway, straight to Baoding.
There were several vehicles on the road to Baoding, and the kidnappers¡¯ vehicles was among them. However, there was no way to know which one it was.
Soon after getting on the highway, Xia Lei pulled out his phone and dialled Gu Kewen¡¯s number.
Gu Kewen¡¯s phone was not switched off and the call connected quickly.
¡°Xia Lei? What is it?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice came from over the line.
¡°Do you know where Tianyin went today?¡± Xia Lei kept his emotions under control; his voice was calm and probing.
¡°I don¡¯t know. I went home after Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s negotiations,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°Negotiations have started so soon?¡±
¡°You know what Tianyin is like. She won¡¯t change her decision once she¡¯s made it. She¡¯s also a person who likes efficiency. Since she¡¯s pulled off the masks with Shinyeok Group, when negotiations happen makes no difference to the results.¡±
¡°Is the chairman of Shinyeok Group not involved?¡±
¡°This... I¡¯m not sure. Ahn Geungan controls Shinyeok Group and what this means for Ahn Suhyeong is probably just a phone call to his father. This matter can actually be settled simply,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°I see.¡± After a pause, Xia Lei said, ¡°Where are you?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I just tell you? I¡¯m at home,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°You¡¯re being weird today. Why are you asking me strange questions like these?¡±
¡°No, I just find it a little noisy where you are.¡±
¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why you¡¯re asking. I¡¯m on the balcony. There¡¯re people downstairs,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°That¡¯s that, then. I won¡¯t be disturbing you further.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were cold, but his heart was colder.
He had not heard any sort of background noise earlier but Gu Kewen had said she was on the balcony when he probed. Was she feeling guilty or was she hiding something?
¡®Could Gu Kewen and Ahn Suhyeong conspired in this kidnapping? If so, then I¡¯m going to kill them!¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s heart was ame with anger.
This was just a guess, of course, but he was going to have his revenge once he got to the bottom of it!
He hated those who target people close to him the most - and they¡¯ve targeted his fiancee this time!
Xia Lei entered the Baoding area an hourter. He stopped his car by the road and dialled the number which had called him earlier but the phone was switched off. His heart sank. The kidnappers were prepared. He was in the dark while they knew what was going on - it was extremely dangerous for him tonight!
Xia Lei opened the boot of the Chevrolet Suburban. Inside was his personally modified XL2500 sniper rifle. This was not his first time in a life-or-death situation and he¡¯d always felt safe and confident with a sniper rifle at hand but it was different this time. He did not feel safe at all.
This was because Shentu Tianyin was in the enemy¡¯s hands.
Xia Lei closed the boot and looked around, then went into a supermarket along the road. He bought a small knife in the supermarket and hid it in his sock. He had also inserted needles into the soles of his socks and he hid more in his underwear.
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang not ten minutes after he got back to his car.
It was another number this time, but the person speaking was the same.
¡°Where are you now?¡± The man¡¯s voice was deep, cold and emotionless.
¡°I¡¯m in the Baoding city area right now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Get out of the city. Head east - Shuntian Chemical nt. I¡¯ll be waiting for you there,¡± said the man.
¡°I want to hear Tianyin¡¯s voice!¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Whuuh... Xia Lei! Don¡¯te here!¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was full of tears, terror and despair.
¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯ll bring you home,¡± said Xia Lei.
The man¡¯s voice came over the phone, ¡°All right, get moving. No tricks or I¡¯ll kill her!¡±
¡°Calm down. What you want is money, not disaster. I will pay you the money. You take the money and go, and I bring her home,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Bah.¡± The man snorted, then hung up.
Xia Lei started his engine and headed east.
Half an hourter, the Chevrolet Suburban came to a remote road in the suburbs with the help of the car¡¯s navigation system.
A dpidated factory sat at the end of the road. No lights were on; it was inky-ck.
Xia Lei nced at the watch on his wrist. Ten more minutes till the two hours the kidnappers had specified. These kidnappers had timed things well.
Chapter 424 - Desperate Straits
The chemical nt sat at the end of the road.
Xia Lei was two kilometres away from it when he saw it. Truthfully, he had seen not just the nt but the sniper squatting on the water tower, and two gunmen hidden behind the gate.
He¡¯d only discovered three people but he was sure that there were more. Due to the distance, however, he was unable to use his X-ray vision to search for more targets.
¡®Snipers. These are definitely not ordinary kidnappers.¡¯ His earlier guess had been right.
Xia Lei drove his Chevrolet Suburban to a small track off the road with his lights off, then plunged the car into a patch of man-high reeds. He then got out of the car and retrieved the XL2500 sniper rifle which he had personally modified. He attached the gun silencer to the barrel.
Borrowing the cover of night, Xia Lei swiftly got close to the dpidated nt from the patch of reeds. The trees and tall grass in the deserted area made for very good cover.
He bounded forward like a bloodhound. Princess Yongmei followed closely, tirelessly, maintaining the distance of a few steps. Her pale, naked form was like a jade rabbit, and the jiggling of her breasts as she ran was exceedingly sexy.
Too bad Xia Lei was of no mind to take notice of her.
Xia Lei stopped about 3,000 metres from the nt. He put the XL2500 sniper rifle in the crook of a tree branch and adjusted the direction it pointed in to aim at the sniper on the water tower.
The sniper was wearing a hood. He was unable to see the sniper¡¯s face clearly earlier at over 4,000 metres since that was the limit of his left eye. He could only see a blurry human figure at that distance, and no details.
Now, at 3,000 metres, he could see the features of the sniper clearly with his left eye. That sniper was tall, big and sturdy. His exposed eyes were blue.
It was a caucasian.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡®Caucasian... Does this mean... CIA?¡¯
Xia Lei then looked at the two gunmen inside the gates. They weren¡¯t Asian either; one was a ck man and one was white.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
His mobile phone rang all of a sudden.
The number disyed was not a familiar one but Xia Lei knew who was calling. He picked up. ¡°Speak. I¡¯m almost there. Surely you¡¯ll wait a few minutes more?¡±
¡°I know that you¡¯re already here.¡± It was the same man again, his voice deep and emotionless. ¡°I also know that you are highly skilled. I advise you to not make any false moves. If I find that my people have had any sort of ident I¡¯ll kill Shentu Tianyin immediately.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. He just had to squeeze the trigger right now to send that sniper on the water tower to hell. Killing that sniper was as easy as stepping on an ant to him but he did not dare do it now.
¡°Who are you people?¡± Xia Lei ventured after a short period of silence.
¡°People who need money.¡± The man gave augh. ¡°I know you¡¯re close by. It¡¯s thest ten minutes - I¡¯ll kill Shentu Tianyin if you don¡¯t show yourself.¡±
¡°Do that and you¡¯ll all die too.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was ice-cold.
¡°So we should do our best to avoid that scenario. Give us the money and I¡¯ll let her go. This is the best for everyone,¡± said the man.
¡°We¡¯ll have the exchange in ten minutes.¡± Xia Lei hung up and quickly ran back.
Ten minutester, the Chevrolet Suburban came to the gates of the dpidated chemical nt. The headlights red as the two gunmen inside opened the gates mottled with rust. Xia Lei drove the car forward, and his gaze swept over the structures on his left, right and in front of himself. He saw more people - a total of 20 gunmen, and Shentu Tianyin. She was under the guard of two gunmen in a warehouse with a hood over her head and her hands bound with stic ties. There was a bruise on the exposed skin of the calf of her left leg, seemingly from a kick.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyebrows went up at the sight of the bruise on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s leg, and his gaze grew menacing. These people had dared to hit his woman!
Ding! Headlights of a Ford Raptor in front of the warehouse suddenly came on, and bright light came shooting into his eyes. This light did not affect Xia Lei¡¯s vision but he still pretended to avoid it and raised his hand to his eyes to block out the light.
Xia Lei looked past the light and saw a ck man standing before the Ford Raptor. The man was burly and rather intimidating. He was dressed inbat clothing and had several weapons hanging from his belt. He also had a M16A1 assault rifle in his hands.
It was none other than the Director of CIA Asia, Ramsbigg. Xia Lei did not know his name; this was their first meeting. However, Xia Lei could confirm that the CIA had kidnapped Shentu Tianyin based on their weapons, equipment, behaviour and the military training they¡¯d disyed.
¡°Get out of the car!¡± said Ramsbigg loudly.
Xia Lei opened the car door and alighted.
A CIA agent then came from the side and searched Xia Lei. Another searched the insides of the Chevrolet Suburban.
The knife and gun Xia Lei had hidden about his person were soon discovered but the needles in his socks were untouched.
The agent searching the Chevrolet Suburban concluded his search of the vehicle too and he did not find any weapons. Xia Lei had hidden his sniper rifle in the tall grass after determining that he would not be able to shoot and rescue her. He was not going to deliver his personally modified sniper rifle to the hands of these people.
¡°We finally meet, Mr Xia Lei.¡± Ramsbigg walked up to Xia Lei and looked him right in the eyes with a small smile of triumph on his lips. ¡°I¡¯ve waited a long time for this day. Look, I¡¯ve even shaved, specially to leave a good impression on you.¡±
Ramsbigg¡¯s Chinese was excellent - better than a lot of native Chinese.
Xia Lei took a deep breath. ¡°You guys are not kidnappers. You¡¯re CIA.¡±
Ramsbigg shrugged and looked around, then made an exaggerated face. ¡°You guys see this? This is our opponent. Scary, eh? Smart, eh?¡±
People sneered and people snorted. They seemed to have taken Ramsbigg¡¯s words as a bit of sarcasm - a smart and scary opponent, but he was still in their trap now!
Xia Lei could not stand by to be ridiculed. ¡°What you¡¯re doing here is an armed assault in China. Do you know the consequences of this? There will be a fierce reaction from China, and the results will be serious indeed. No one will be able to take this bacsh.¡±
Ramsbigg shook his head. ¡°No one will know.¡±
¡°There is no imprable wall in this world,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ramsbiggughed disdainfully. ¡°Then let the wall fall. You know that America has this might. We have specialists to assess the risk of this action. The worst that can happen if this gets out is just a war of words with China. What else can you guys do? Use guided missiles to bomb our military bases in Asia? Or do you want to attack our ships? Hahaha...¡±
This was an outright show of contempt and provocation.
Weaker countries had no diplomatic protection and American warnes could just enter their airspace and bomb the so-called terrorists. But the ones bombed were mostly innocent civilians. Which one of these war-torn countries could do anything about America?
China was not a weak country and she had the best soldiers in Asia, but up against a huge opponent like America, she was only able to defend itself and not take the initiative to attack. So even though this incident was made known, China could not dere war on America and she would not actively attack the American bases.
What Ramsbigg said was true if one looked at it from this perspective.
Thew followed by the world from ancient times was thew of the jungle. America, strong enough to sweep away any other country, was the king of the jungle.
mes of anger burned in Xia Lei¡¯s heart but he pushed it down. He could maintain his calm. ¡°You have me now. You guys should also keep your promise. Release Shentu Tianyin.¡±
¡°No rush,¡± said Ransbigg. ¡°I¡¯m curious - you¡¯ve guessed our identities so whye? You can just escape.¡±
¡°You know why,¡± said Xia Lei coldly. ¡°Shentu Tianyin is my fiancee. She is innocent. Let her go!¡±
The two CIA agents in the warehouse brought Shentu Tianyin out, and one of them pulled off the hood on her head.
Shentu Tianyin let out a cry at the sight of Xia Lei. ¡°Go! Leave me!¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± A CIA agent hit Shentu Tianyin in the back with the butt of his gun and she fell to the ground.
¡°Damn you!¡± Xia Lei lost control of himself and charged forward.
¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Ramsbigg raised his M16A1 assault rifle and pointed it at Xia Lei¡¯s head.
On the other side, the CIA agent who had hit Shentu Tianyin pointed his gun at her head and said in English, ¡°Don¡¯t move or the first to die is your woman.¡±
Xia Lei forced himself to stop in his tracks. ¡°Let her go and I¡¯ll go with you!¡± he roared.
Ramsbigg let out a tugh. ¡°Mr Xia Lei, you really are a fool for love. You think I will release your woman? No. Letting her go will only bring trouble to us. You¡¯re a difficult opponent - you¡¯ll be much more obedient with this woman in our hands. That¡¯s why we¡¯re going to take her with us out of China. You cooperate, she lives. You don¡¯t, she dies.¡±
Xia Lei gnashed his teeth. The mes of his anger were enough to set everything burning but he was helpless in this situation. This was also his first time in a dilemma such as this, and the feeling of being taken advantage of in this way hurt him, incapacitated him.
¡°Why are you so foolish?¡± Shentu Tianyin was breaking down. She shouted at Xia Lei, ¡°Why did youe to rescue me even though you knew? You¡¯re sending yourself to the ughter, you dummy!¡±
¡°Because you are my woman,¡± said Xia Lei. He would do the same if he had the chance to choose again.
Tears sprang from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes - tears for Xia Lei.
Princess Yongmei stood next to Shentu Tianyin, looking at her curiously. She then looked at the CIA agent who had hit Shentu Tianyin with a gun and suddenly reached for the man¡¯s head.
Xia Lei was surprised to see her doing that. ¡®What is she nning to do?¡¯
Chapter 425 - Princess Yongmei’s Hand
Princess Yongmei¡¯s hand went into the CIA agent¡¯s head. It was a very strange sight - a slender arm sticking through the head of a hardened man, and that man totally unaware of it!
Princess Yongmei quirked the corner of her mouth and withdrew her hand.
Xia Lei thought she wanted to kill that CIA agent when she¡¯d first made her move, and that the man would die too, but the agent was still alive after she withdrew her hand. Don¡¯t even talk about death - this agent had no reaction at all. She was unable to move a ss of red wine after being let loose this time, so how was she going to attack a hale and hearty CIA agent?
But this action was a new discovery for Xia Lei. Princess Yongmei did have her own consciousness, and her own moods!
Her type of existence was unknown but it could be confirmed that she was definitely not some illusionary projection. Her existence was real!
This was a startling discovery but this was not the time to study Princess Yongmei or the ancient alloy. Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts soon returned to the real world. He was up against trained CIA agents, armed to their teeth, and any carelessness on his part could spell disaster!
¡°What are you ring at me for? Bastard!¡± The CIA agent pointing a gun at Shentu Tianyin¡¯s head saw Xia Lei ring at him. He suddenly took a step forward and kicked Xia Lei in the lower abdomen.
It was a hard kick and Xia Lei stumbled two steps back before he stabilised himself. His lower abdomen hurt but he didn¡¯t show it.
¡°What are you doing?¡± said Shentu Tianyin angrily, ¡°Let him go! I¡¯ll give you money! How much do you want? 5,000,000,000? I¡¯ll give you 5,000,000,000!¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± The agent who¡¯s just kicked Xia Lei raised his gun again.
Shentu Tianyin shot him a re - there was no fear in her eyes, only anger.
¡°Enough, Hank.¡± Ramsbigg stopped him. ¡°This woman is very useful to us. She¡¯s delicate. We¡¯ll have trouble if something happens to her when you hit her.¡±
The agent named Hank stopped upon hearing that.
But Xia Lei had already remembered his name.
¡°Cuff him. Take them away,¡± ordered Ramsbigg.
An agent came forward and tied Xia Lei¡¯s wrists with stic ties, then shoved him and said aggressively, ¡°Get in the car!¡±
Xia Lei reached out to pull at the car door but was kicked by that agent. ¡°You¡¯re not good enough for seats. The cargopartment is where you should be,¡± said the agent mockingly.
Xia Lei was pushed to the back of the Ford Raptor and the agent opened the back to let Xia Lei climb in.
Shentu Tianyin was pushed over too, then lifted bodily by Hank and thrown roughly into the cargopartment.
¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯ll bring you home,¡± consoled Xia Lei. He made his legs pillows for her to keep her back off the chilly cargopartment surface.
Shentu Tianyin was trembling. Xia Lei was a measure offort and provided some sense of security to her but it was not enough. She could not help imagining herself being abused by these people, being killed, and whichever scenario she thought of made her quake in terror.
The only one maintaining calm throughout all these was Princess Yongmei. She floated lightly into the cargopartment after Shentu Tianyin was flung in, to stay close to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not care anymore what she did now.
Ramsbigg appeared at the back of the vehicle with two syringes in his hand and a sinister smile on his face. ¡°I have to admit that you¡¯re a good guy but the chances of you bringing her home are nil. Go to sleep. You¡¯ll wake up on our military ship. Prepare to wee your new life, Mr Xia.¡±
Xia Lei barely kept his anger in check. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±
Ramsbigg paused, thenughed abruptly. ¡°What? You want revenge?¡± He looked at his subordinates andughed even louder. ¡°You guys hear that? He wants revenge!¡±
Laughter ensued.
¡°I¡¯ll give you onest chance. Let Shentu Tianyin go,¡± said Xia Lei icily.
¡°You¡¯re threatening me? What will you do if I don¡¯t let her go?¡± Ramsbigg did not think anything of Xia Lei¡¯s threat.
¡°I will kill you. I will kill you even if we get to America,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ramsbigg immediately let fly a punch at Xia Lei¡¯s face, and Xia Lei¡¯s head hit the wall of the cargopartment with a thud.
Shentu Tianyin let out a cry and threw herself across Xia Lei, using her own body to protect him.
¡°What a loving pair.¡± Ramsbigg scoffed, then stabbed a syringe into Shentu Tianyin¡¯s snowy neck. His thumb pressed down, pushing the anaesthetic in the syringe into Shentu Tianyin¡¯s body.
Shentu Tianyin copsed on Xia Lei and lost consciousness.
Ramsbigg grabbed Xia Lei by the cor and pulled him before himself, then plunged the other syringe into Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
Xia Lei did not resist and let Ramsbigg inject the contents of the syringe into his body.
His body was immune to anaesthetic. Only a few of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s underlings knew that but those who knew were already dead, so Ramsbigg had no idea about this immunity.
However, Xia Lei still pretended to get drowsy after getting injected and he copsed in the cargopartment.
Princess Yongmei wrinkled her brows and suddenly reached towards Ramsbigg¡¯s head. It was useless. Her hands went through Ramsbigg¡¯s head instantly and nary a thing happened to him.
¡°Move out!¡± Ramsbigg reached out a hand and closed the door to the cargopartment.
Princess Yongmei rushed at the cargopartment and screamed, her teeth bared like a feral, spitting cat full of aggression.
This development did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eyes even though it was dark in the cargopartment.
¡®She shows aggression when someone harms me and tries to attack whoever hurts me. Her attacks are useless but she has this mental capacity to do so. Looks like releasing her was the right choice. She¡¯ll have different reactions as she interacts more with the outside world, and from these reactions I may be able to find some clue to solving the mystery of the ancient alloy and the bronze book...¡¯
Just then, Hank¡¯s voice came from outside the cargopartment and it was full of surprise. ¡°Did you guys hear something?¡±
¡°Hear what?¡± said someone. ¡°I don¡¯t hear anything. You okay, man?¡±
¡°Fuck. I¡¯m sure I heard some voice but I don¡¯t understand it. It¡¯s weird,¡± said Hank.
¡°Get on!¡± Ramsbigg¡¯s voice. ¡°We have no time to waste! Go, go, go!¡±
Xia Lei used his left eye to look through thepartment wall and he caught sight of Hank getting ready to board the vehicle, shaking his head as if to clear it. It seemed like he was still hearing something, and he was trying to rid himself of it.
Xia Lei turned his gaze to Princess Yongmei.
Princess Yongmei looked straight back at him with an innocent look on her face.
¡®She put her hands through Hank¡¯s head and he¡¯s hearing strange things now... Isn¡¯t this the same situation as the two scientists in theboratory who died? Could she be the cause of those scientists going mad and dying?¡¯ thought Xia Lei, but he rejected the possibility right away. Princess Yongmei had not appeared when those two scientists had died, so in other words, the death of those two were more closely linked to the ancient alloy and bronze book.
Then he thought of another possibility.
Princess Yongmei might have characteristics simr to the alloy or bronze book, and this characteristic could make people go mad or die.
There was a high possibility of this because Princess Yongmei could enter the alloy pieces - the alloy pieces were like her ¡®body¡¯ in this world!
The Ford Raptor started moving while Xia Lei was musing over this.
The CIA agents had two other off-road vehicles, and they did not take Xia Lei¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban.
They left the deserted industrial area single-file - one off-road vehicle forward and back, and the Ford Raptor in the middle. The three vehicles zoomed along the quiet roads.
Xia Lei reached into his underwear and pulled out a needle from the waistband. He poked the needle through the stic tie and made five holes, destroying the integrity of the stic tie. He then clenched his hands into fists and wrenched them apart violently.
Pop! There was a soft sound as the stic tie was broken.
Xia Lei used the same method to get the stic ties off Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hands but she was unconscious and did not feel it.
Xia Lei then used a long needle to pick the lock of the cargopartment. He held the lock in his hands and put gentle pressure on it, not letting it lock itself again and not letting it spring open.
This was why he had purchased needles and hidden them. He¡¯d learnt how to turn these needles into weapons with the skills of the Tang sect, and the skills he¡¯d learnt from Qin Xiang enabled him to pick locks and escape.
The three vehicles quickly came to the spot where Xia Lei had hidden his car earlier, and thick grass and reeds lined the road. Just ahead was the highway and it would be difficult for Xia Lei to escape then.
Now! Xia Lei suddenly let go of thepartment door and let it swing up and outwards. He gathered Shentu Tianyin in his arms and dashed towards the thick reeds by the side of the road.
Rustle! Arge area of grass was suddenly ttened.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin had just touched ground when the agents in the vehicle behind them finished raising the rm. The three vehicles stopped at almost the same time and doors opened, releasing 20 CIA agents.
Xia Lei did not wait for them to catch up. He carried Shentu Tianyin in his arms and went into the grass.
Pew pew pew... Pew pew pew...
Hanks shot in a sweeping arc in the direction of Xia Lei¡¯s escape with a silencer on his M16A1 assault rifle.
¡°Bastard!¡± Ramsbigg pressed the gun in Hank¡¯s hands down and shouted angrily, ¡°We want him alive, not dead!¡±
Hank shook his head and there was a strange look in his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on... It¡¯s like there¡¯s people talking in my head. Buzz, buzz, so many people!¡±
¡°Make an appointment with the psychiatrist when you get back.¡± No sooner had the words left Ramsbigg¡¯s mouth than he looked off in the distance behind himself and barked, ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±
Several CIA agents close to Ramsbigg looked behind themselves in rm but saw nothing other than weeds and tall grass.
Ramsbigg shook his head hard too. ¡°Go after him! We have to catch him, no matter what. He has a woman with him - he can¡¯t get far!¡±
The CIA agents split up and went in three directions, two groups adjacent to where Xia Lei had headed and one group right after him.
They were the elite of the CIA. They did not know why the anaesthetic had stopped working but they believed that it was going to be no problem to catch up to Xia Lei and capture him in this situation.
Chapter 426 - Consequence of Hitting My Woman
The dark sky held no moon or stars and grey clouds covered the sky. Visibility was low. However, this was no obstacle to the CIA team because they had night-vision equipment.
Ramsbigg led three people in pursuit of Xia Lei, following the tracks he had left behind andmunicating with the nking teams at the same time. Hank was right next to him. Hank was violent and rather heavily inclined towards violence but he was the best performer on his team. He had been through a hundred battles and Ramsbigg¡¯s trust in Hank was rock-solid.
¡°Shit! How did that fucker wake up?¡± cursed Hank. ¡°Are the anaesthetics we got a dud?¡±
¡°Capture him and we¡¯ll know,¡± said Ramsbigg.
Hank spat on the ground. ¡°That fucker is as annoying as all these reeds. I¡¯m going to crush his kneecaps when we catch him. Let¡¯s see if that bastard can still run!¡±
¡°Good thing he didn¡¯t have a gun, or we¡¯ll all be in danger,¡± said Ramsbigg.
¡°Is he that good with a gun? Pshaw!¡± Hank suddenly looked back, as if he¡¯d heard voices talking, nagging.
Ramsbigg also reached up a hand to hold his head; he looked pained.
¡°What¡¯s wrong, Boss?¡± asked an agent suspiciously.
¡°Nothing, just a headache. Keep going after him.¡± Ramsbigg tolerated the pain and kept going forward.
And Xia Lei¡¯s tracks abruptly disappeared.
The four of them stopped in their tracks.
An agent¡¯s voice came from over themunications device just then. ¡°I think we see him!¡±
¡°Where?¡± said Ramsbigg, ¡°Report!¡±
¡°He¡¯s...¡± There was suddenly no sound from themunications device.
Nervousness flickered in Ramsbigg¡¯s eyes.
A voice suddenly came from themunications device. ¡°He¡¯s attacking us! He¡¯s...¡±
The speaker was silenced again.
¡°Talk!¡± screamed Ramsbigg. ¡°Bastard!¡±
The team which reported seeing Xia Lei was the one which had gone left andprised of four agents with night-vision equipment. They had been wiped out before they could report Xia Lei¡¯s location!
This must¡¯ve been what happened, because there would have been gunshots and a follow-up report if any of the team were still alive. But none of these had happened - what can it be other than death for those four?
Ptu ptu ptu...
Gunshots suddenly came from the right.
¡°Where¡¯s he?¡± shouted someone. ¡°I can¡¯t see him, damn it!¡±
¡°Someone¡¯s been hit!¡±
¡°Retreat! Retreat!¡±
The right nk was in chaos. The situation was dire and the team on the right had no time to report their situation to Ramsbigg.
Ramsbigg and Hank charged to the right nk and the other two CIA agents followed. They moved with their M16A1 assault rifles, pushing the reeds aside as they advanced and looking warily at their surroundings. The night-vision equipment allowed them to see in the dark and in their surroundings but there was a limit to their range of vision and they couldn¡¯t see far off into the distance.
Ramsbigg got to the ce the gunshots hade from a few minutester.
Four corpsesy in a patch of reeds. Every one of them had been killed by a head-shot; the gunmanship was so precise it was spine-chilling.
The nking groups had been eradicated in a short span of a few minutes, and this was something Ramsbigg and Hank could not ept.
Terror loomed silently.
¡®That fucker actually hid a sniper rifle here. Did he know how we were going to handle him?¡¯ Ramsbigg was filled with terror and he wanted to retreat, but was also unwilling to do so. If they couldn¡¯t even capture Xia Lei after using the threat of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s kidnapping then there would be no chance at all in the future.
But continuing the mission and having a gunfight with Xia Lei in this environment meant their chances of victory were zero!
¡°Retreat!¡± Ramsbigg gave the order.
Pzzt! The words had just left Ramsbigg¡¯s mouth when a bullet came flying over, burying itself instantly in the brain of an agent. Blood and brain matter spurted from his head, sttering quite a distance.
The remaining three threw themselves to the ground at practically the same time.
Hank lifted his gun and returned fire in the direction the bullet came from. The shells clinked to the ground as a swath of reeds were cut down.
Pzzt! Another bullet came flying and it buried itself viciously in the head of a CIA agent - and the agent¡¯s head had been just a foot above the ground.
¡°How is this possible!¡± Goosebumps crawled across Ramsbigg¡¯s back and he broke out in cold sweat.
There was no way Xia Lei could kill his target in such a position unless he was firing from a close range in this situation, based on the simple fact that the reeds were a great visual block.
Unless he could see through these reeds!
¡°AE! It must be AE!¡± Ramsbigg was losing it. ¡°I have to report this to headquarters!¡±
¡°What¡¯s AE?¡± Hank quickly returned fire.
¡°Don¡¯t ask if you don¡¯t know. Cover me!¡± Ramsbigg pulled out a satellite phone.
Hank did not ask further; he raised his gun and shot blindly.
Ptah! A bullet came flying instantly ripped through Ramsbigg¡¯s wrist. The phone in his hand fell to the ground. Ramsbigg let out a cry of pain. Two-thirds of his wrist had been blown off, and just ayer of skin was left.
Three secondster, the same thing happened to Hank. His right wrist of his hand holding the gun was torn apart by a bullet and his palm fell to the ground.
Rustle...
Footsteps came from further off in the reeds, heading towards them.
¡°Shit!¡± Hank let out a shout of anger. He climbed to his feet, and took a handgun from his weapons belt with his remaining left hand.
A bullet came whistling over before he could shoot and hit him in the left arm. The sniper bullet¡¯s prating power was terrifying; the bone of his left arm was shattered and the flesh shredded.
Hank, a seasoned CIA agent, was reduced to a cripple in under a minute. He fell to the ground with a thud, but he was tough enough that he did not lose consciousness, even with his serious injuries. Hey on the ground and took deep breaths. The terror of impending death infused every fibre of his being.
Ramsbigg crawled two steps and reached for the satellite phone he¡¯d dropped.
Pzzt! A bullet zoomed over and the hand Ramsbigg was reaching towards the phone exploded. Blood, flesh and dirt sprayed up.
Intense pain almost made Ramsbigg pass out but he held fast. He finally saw the man walking out of the reeds - Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was carrying his sniper rifle. He was calm and his face expressionless.
Ramsbigg gasped, ¡°Y, You won. You can take me in.¡±
¡°Arrest you? Huh, you mean get you an ambnce and a doctor to rush over, stop your bleeding and give you medical treatment?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You can¡¯t kill me, you c,can¡¯t.¡± Ramsbigg bit the bullet. ¡°I am the director of CIA¡¯s Asian division. My rank is... higher than you think.¡±
Xia Lei stopped by Hank and looked down at him. ¡°Oh, right, you kicked my woman. Which foot did you use? Left? Right?¡±
Hank paused, then screamed, ¡°Shoot me! Kill me!¡±
¡°Shoot you? Are you worth shooting at?¡± Xia Lei lifted his foot and stomped down on Hank¡¯s shattered wrist.
¡°ARGH-¡± Hank screamed. His chest heaved with great gasping breaths but there was no way for him to be rid of the pain he was experiencing, not even with all the air in the world.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ramsbigg shouted, ¡°We are Americans! You should know the consequences of your actions!¡±
A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°Thanks for the reminder. I¡¯d have forgotten if you didn¡¯t tell me. It¡¯s you Americans who kidnapped my woman, injected me with anaesthetics, and want to drag me to America. I asked you to let my woman go and I was willing to go with you if you did... But what did you say?¡±
Ramsbigg could not speak. He had been arrogant earlier but this arrogance was gone now. Xia Lei was meat on the chopping block earlier and subject to his whims but he was now the meat on the chopping board, ready to be cut up. He found it ufortable indeed when the tables were turned on him.
Princess Yongmei stood by Xia Lei and looked inquisitively at Hank lying on the ground. She seemed to be thinking of something.
Hank suddenly started mumbling but he did not produce any real words, nor any sybles which sounded like Chinese. His voice was vague, weird. He looked terrified.
Xia Lei was surprised. ¡®This guy was all tough earlier - what¡¯s wrong with him now? It¡¯s like he¡¯s gone mad.¡¯
¡°What did you do to him?¡± Ramsbigg grew nervous. Xia Lei was undoubtedly like an unknown creature in Ramsbigg¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei removed his foot from Hank¡¯s torn wrist and slowly walked over to Ramsbigg. He was not going to kill Hank. If he did, then it would be an execution and Bureau 101 will chastise him for not leaving a living witness. And he didn¡¯t need to do that either - Hank wouldn¡¯tst past half an hour with all the injuries and bleeding he was suffering. Additionally, he could observe the changes in Hank in this half an hour and get some information on Princess Yongmei.
Xia Lei squatted next to Ramsbigg and looked at him. ¡°Tell me how you kidnapped my woman.¡±
Ramsbigg¡¯s gaze was unsteady; he avoided Xia Lei¡¯s gaze.
¡°Tell me - what part did Ahn Suhyeong and Gu Kewen y in this?¡± Xia Lei continued his line of questioning.
¡°Call for an ambnce and I¡¯ll tell you,¡± said Ramsbigg.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I know even if you don¡¯t say it. Ahn Suhyeong and Gu Kewen must be involved. There is no way for you guys to do something like this in Jingdu without their help. Am I right?¡±
If Bureau 101 did not react to dozens of CIA agents kidnapping China¡¯s wealthiest woman, then it would lose its meaning for existence. No news and no action from Bureau 101 meant that something was wrong. Xia Lei and thought it over and could not find anyone else with the ability and motive to do such a thing.
Ramsbigg shut his mouth; not one word escaped his lips.
Xia Lei grew silent. He suddenly reached out and broke off a stalk of reed, and plunged the sharp end of the stalk into Ramsbigg¡¯s broken mess of a wound.
¡°AAAARGH!¡± Ramsbigg let out a scream and his entire body trembled.
Xia Lei pushed the reed further into Ramsbigg¡¯s wound, adding pressure as he went. ¡°What are you holding out for? True, I won¡¯t kill you since you have a special rank. Killing you will draw a lot of trouble. But if you keep dragging for time like this you¡¯ll die from blood loss, not me killing you. Tell me what part Gu Kewen and Ahn Suhyeong yed in this kidnapping and I¡¯ll call for the ambnce right away.¡±
On one side was unbearable torture, and a chance to live on the other. Ramsbigg¡¯s psychological defences were crumbling fast.
Chapter 427 - Tender Heart
Xia Lei had never been a cruel man but he was definitely an evil, cruel demon right now. Ramsbigg screamed, groaned and was in so much pain he wished for death but Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were devoid of pity. He was merciless too, continuing to stab the reed into Ramsbigg¡¯s flesh, again, again, driving it in, twisting it around. Every movement brought Ramsbigg tremendous pain.
¡°Speak. Tell me what I want to know and you¡¯ll live.¡± Xia Lei worked on tearing down Ramsbigg¡¯s psychological defences as he carried out his torture. ¡°You should know, given your status, that you definitely won¡¯t be judged in China. You¡¯ll be sent back to America, to be a hero.¡±
¡°Stop...¡± Ramsbigg¡¯s nerves were shot and his vision getting blurry.
¡°I can help you stop the bleeding. Just tell me what I want to know,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Gu Kewen...¡± Ramsbigg crumbled atst. ¡°Gu Kewen, she... She¡¯s one of ours.¡±
¡°Eh?¡± Xia Lei was stunned.
He¡¯d guessed that Gu Kewen was involved in this kidnapping of Shentu Tianyin because she wanted revenge on him, but he had not expected that she would be working for the CIA!
¡°Her father¡¯s whereabouts unknown, her brother imprisoned... We knew about this and had our sights on her. We took her captive once in Haizhu, from Distinguished Gathering.¡± Ramsbigg went on, ¡°W, We worked on changing her ideology, and trained her. Then she returned to China and became Shentu Tianyin¡¯s close aide to gain her trust.¡±
¡°Her aim in bing Shentu Tianyin¡¯s assistant was to get close to me?¡± Xia Lei abruptly put two and two together.
¡°Yes. She is a very clever woman. She knew that you liked Shentu Tianyin. She¡¯s been working on matching you up with Shentu Tianyin to gain the trust of Shentu Tianyin and yourself while preparing for this mission.¡±
Gu Kewen! This woman¡¯s schemes ran deep!
¡°And Ahn Suhyeong?¡± asked Xia Lei, ¡°What role did he y in this mission?¡±
¡°H, He set the trap to get Shentu Tianyin to negotiate with him. Gu Kewen acted as the internal contact. We sent two people ahead to ambush the negotiation location and injured Shentu Tianyin¡¯s bodyguards, then abducted Shentu Tianyin...¡±
Xia Lei knew what happened next and did not need Ramsbigg to continue.
¡°What about Liang Siyao?¡± Xia Lei asked about her for some reason.
¡°Fuck! How many more questions do you have?!¡± Ramsbigg said angrily. He felt like he was being toyed with.
¡°Last question,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°She failed her mission and was removed from this mission,¡± said Ramsbigg. ¡°She was tasked with acquiring one of the XL2500 sniper rifles you produced and went to Venezu recently. She should be in America now. I don¡¯t know her whereabouts.¡±
Good thing Liang Siyao was not involved in this mission - Xia Lei did not know if he would shoot at her. Just thinking about shooting at her made his head hurt.
¡°I answered all your questions. Stop the bleeding, hurry!¡± urged Ramsbigg. His heartbeat was racing and he could not suppress it any longer.
¡°No problem. I¡¯m a man of my word.¡± Xia Lei threw away the reed in his hand and said, ¡°Dang, I don¡¯t have any dressing. What do I do?¡±
¡°You...¡± Ramsbigg wanted to curse at this man before him but he pleaded instead, ¡°Then call me an ambnce. Please, I beg you.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°You say you¡¯re the director of CIA¡¯s Asian division and that you¡¯re an important man but you seem less hardy than your subordinate, Hank. You still hope to survive when things havee to this? Perhaps... you¡¯re thinking of bringing all that you know back to America? You think I¡¯ll let that happen?¡±
¡°AE. What has AE done to your body?¡±
¡°It won¡¯t matter if I told you but I¡¯m not interested in talking about it,¡± said Xia Lei softly. ¡°Why should I satisfy your curiosity?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll go to hell! I... curse you!¡± Ramsbigg¡¯s voice had lost its strength.
¡°Enjoy yourst moments.¡± Xia Lei turned his gaze to Hank.
Hank twitched a few times and his breathing stopped.
His death came faster than Xia Lei had expected.
¡®Hank was a fairly robust agent, and much more sturdy than the average person. I¡¯d estimated that he wouldst half an hour but only half this time had passed. Why¡¯s he dead? Is it because of Princess Yongmei?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Xia Lei looked at Princess Yongmei and was struck dumb. She was facing Hank¡¯s corpse and smiling. Her smile was bright and gorgeous, and gave one the impression of flowers in bloom.
Was Hank¡¯s early departure really linked to her?
She could kill people?
A chill went down Xia Lei¡¯s spine at that thought, and fine beads of perspiration popped on his forehead.
¡°You want to know the s, secrets of AE? Save me... I¡¯ll tell you...¡± Ramsbigg¡¯s voice was already waning.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Based on your rank you probably only know of the existence of AE. You know its secrets? I don¡¯t think so. I would have asked you earlier if I thought you knew.¡±
¡°You... Guh...¡± A strange sound came from Ramsbigg¡¯s throat, and his heart and breathing stopped.
He had not given up hope of survival till the end. Too bad Xia Lei was unmoved.
It was going to be great trouble for him if any of the CIA agents lived. It was best for him if they all died. China would act as if nothing happened and America would deny the existence of this mission; America would not admit to the identities of these people.
As for Xia Lei, he had just killed a group of militant kidnappers. China would find no trouble with him, and America could do nothing to cause trouble for him.
Xia Lei moved away from the stench of blood and walked about 500 metres forward to a patch of grass. Shentu Tianyiny quietly in this grass; she was peaceful. She was not aware of what had happened and felt no terror.
Xia Lei sat, pulled her into his embrace and plucked at the leaves and grass in her hair. The reeds had torn quite a bit at her clothes while he¡¯d been running for their lives. There were several tears in her clothing and red wounds all over her skin. These wounds made Xia Lei¡¯s heart ache.
True feelings were made known in times of danger.
Back in the dpidated nt, Shentu Tianyin had insisted on him leaving even though she was surrounded by dozens of CIA agents, insisted on him leaving her, and offered 5,000,000,000 to buy his safety. She had used her fragile little body to try to protect him in the back of the Ford Raptor, to stop Ramsbigg from hitting him. She had done all that - how could he not be moved?
If he¡¯d suspected that Shentu Tianyin had some ulterior motive in getting engaged with him, then this doubt in him waspletely blown away now. Xia Lei¡¯s heart filled with tenderness and adoration as he looked at Shentu Tianyin in his arms.
A mosquitonded on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s scratched up, bleeding thigh and got into position to suck some blood. Xia Lei swung his palm down and ttened the bugger. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s thigh rippled, and a sh of purplece appeared under her tattered skirt; the shape below was peachy and alluring.
Xia Lei lifted a corner of his mouth in a wry smile and cursed himself for being a pervert. He carried Shentu Tianyin in his arms out of the grass, going around the reeds to the road. There were too many mosquitoes and insects in the grass and he could not bear to let them bite his woman.
Back at the road, Xia Lei ced Shentu Tianyin on the backseat of one of the off-road vehicles and got a first-aid kit from the boot. He cleaned Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wounds with antiseptic; wounds on her cheeks, her arms, her chest and on her thighs.
He was hesitant at first about cleaning the wounds on the insides of her thighs and deeper in but he still lifted her skirt and cleaned them. Shentu Tianyin was already his fiancee, so she was going to bear his children sooner orter. What spot on her body could he not see or touch?
It was actually very easy for him to look at her body but he did not do so. He wanted her to keep those beautiful moments to herself and reveal them naturally to him, not peek at them with his ability.
Shentu Tianyin was still unconscious after he was done tending to her wounds. The effects of the anaesthetic had not worn off.
Xia Lei used the phone the CIA had left on Fu Mingmei to call Long Bing. ¡°It¡¯s me, Xia Lei.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Long Bing was curt too.
¡°The CIA kidnapped Shentu Tianyin.¡±
¡°What?¡± There was a sound as if Long Bing had bolted up in bed.
¡°I¡¯m their target,¡± continued Xia Lei.
¡°Where are you now? Don¡¯t make any false moves.¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was anxious. ¡°I¡¯ll inform Boss Shi right now!¡±
¡°No need. They¡¯re all dead.¡±
¡°This...¡± Long Bing was at a loss for words.
¡°There won¡¯t be trouble, don¡¯t worry,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m in the eastern suburbs of Baoding right now, close to Shunfeng Chemical nt. Don¡¯t get the Baoding police toe over. Just you guys are enough.¡±
¡°One and a half hours. Don¡¯t leave.¡± Long Bing hung up.
The only thing the Bureau 101 people could do when they got there was to take care of the corpses.
Xia Lei turned his gaze out the window and it turned icy. ¡°Gu Kewen, Ahn Suhyeong, you two will pay for this!¡±
A noble face suddenly appeared outside the window to stare straight at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was taken by surprise and he started. ¡°Can you make a noise or something? Are you trying to scare me to death, appearing suddenly like a ghost? Are you a ghost?¡± said Xia Lei grumpily.
¡°I remember your face,¡± said Princess Yongmei earnestly.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I¡¯ve waited for you for so very long,¡± said Princess Yongmei again.
Xia Lei paid her no heed since it was the same no matter how many thousands of words he said to her; she could only say these two lines. Additionally, he was forced to consider a problem after tonight¡¯s events - What was he to do if he let Princess Yongmei continue to have her freedom and she killed again by putting her hands in a person¡¯s head?
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help ncing at Shentu Tianyin in his arms when the thought entered his mind, then looking at Princess Yongmei outside the window. He grew inexplicably nervous.
Who could stop Princess Yongmei if she decided to harm Shentu Tianyin?
It scared him the more he thought about it!
Chapter 428 - Public Show of Affection
Bureau 101 agents arrived at the scene in under half an hour, not by car but by helicopter. Shi Boren led the team himself, and Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Tang Bochuan were all here, plus a big group of Bureau 101 agents.
The corpses were quickly carted away, the scene photographed, evidence recorded then cleared. The Bureau 101 doctor who hade along started treatment on Shentu Tianyin to wake her up.
Xia Lei gave a description of what had happened to Shi Boren, then looked at him, observing his reaction.
Shi Boren¡¯s face was dark and he exploded once Xia Lei was done talking. ¡°Shit, what do they take our country for? Syria? Iraq? They actually sent so many agents to kidnap and hold someone hostage! They¡¯re too much!¡± He then pped Xia Lei hard on the shoulder. ¡°Good job killing them! Kill them, kill all these invaders! Kill as many as needed!¡±
Xia Lei was quietly relieved when he saw Shi Boren¡¯s reaction.
¡°It¡¯s just...¡± Shi Boren¡¯s tone changed. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you leave one alive?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I left two alive but they died due to excessive blood loss. There was no way for me to leave others alive wither. They were all CIA field agents and battle-hardened. They would have killed me, and Shentu Tianyin too if I didn¡¯t kill them.¡±
¡°Is she all right?¡±
¡°She¡¯s fine. Just some light wounds,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Boren nced at Tang Yuyan out of the corner of his eye, then drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and lowered his voice. ¡°See? I told you. Something like this happened right after you got engaged with Shentu Tianyin. Your stars don¡¯t align. How about you consider my god-daughter?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Haha! Just kidding. Write me a detailed report when you get back!¡± Shi Boren let out two tughs and said, ¡°And don¡¯t write that the CIA were after Shentu Tianyin¡¯s money - I know they¡¯re after you.¡±
Xia Lei paused. What did Shi Boren mean by that?
¡°Hah! Having designs on the alloy and the bronze book? In their dreams! You and Yuyan will go to Jerusalem right after you write that report. The Americans must have found out about this already; we cannot dally,¡± said Shi Boren.
This seemed to be what Shi Boren meant. He linked the attack to the alloy and bronze book, but didn¡¯t guess anything about AE capsules. Xia Lei rxed a little. This was normal - the AE capsules were top-secret even in America and the director of the CIA¡¯s Asian division had only known of their existence and nothing more, much less Chinese agents.
¡°Boss Shi, I got some information too,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°This incident involved Gu Kewen and Ahn Suhyeong too. These CIA agents would not have dared to go to Jingdu to kidnap Shentu Tianyin without the help of these two. The director of the CIA¡¯s Asian division admitted it to. They turned Gu Kewen. She is one of them now.¡±
Cold glinted in Shi Boren¡¯s eyes. ¡°You sure about this?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡±
¡°Any evidence?¡±
¡°No, but you¡¯ll surely find something if you investigate,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Boren said, ¡°It¡¯ll be easy to catch one little Gu Kewen, but it¡¯s going to be troublesome to catch Ahn Suhyeong. He is Korean, and his father is an important figure in Korean politics. If there¡¯s no evidence...¡±
Xia Lei cut him short. ¡°I will find evidence.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be reckless,¡± warned Shi Boren. ¡°People die left and right whenever you make a move, Boy. If you don¡¯t hold back and end up killing Ahn Suhyeong, you¡¯ll be in trouble.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I won¡¯t act recklessly.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll send people to arrest Gu Kewen now. You question her after we get her.¡± Shi Boren walked off to one side to make a call and send people after Gu Kewen.
Xia Lei had a different opinion, however.
Gu Kewen was no fool. She could stay by Shentu Tianyin¡¯s side for such a long period of time before being discovered, so would she just sit still and wait for Bureau 101 to arrest her? Xia Lei recalled when he had given Gu Kewen a call, when he had heard a wind-like noise in the background of their conversation. Gu Kewen must¡¯ve been driving to the airport, fleeing. She was probably already in foreign airspace now.
Long Bing walked over. She saw Xia Lei covered in scratches from his face to his hands, and his tattered clothes, and asked in concern, ¡°You should hurry up and go ask the doctor to have a look at you too. You¡¯re even willing to throw your life away for Shentu Tianyin.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I know what you want to say but I didn¡¯t dare inform you guys at the time. Honestly, my decision was right. If you guys got involved then the CIA would definitely have killed Shentu Tianyin and retreated. They¡¯re not the sort to leave clues and live witnesses.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t nitpick, but...¡± Long Bing drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and lowered her voice. ¡°Put in a request for the mission to Jerusalem. Count me in.¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly, then lowered his voice too. ¡°Boss Shi assigned Tang Yuyan to go with me. How can I...¡±
Long Bing shifted one foot to press on Xia Lei¡¯s leg, applying pressure as she said, ¡°He¡¯s taking care of his god-daughter. Are you taking care of her too? Who are you to her? You¡¯re in charge of the Jerusalem mission. Can the higher-ups refuse if you request for me? Even if they don¡¯t agree, don¡¯t you know how to kick up a fuss and insist on bringing me? Don¡¯t worry - If you have me with you on the trip I¡¯ll take gooooood care of you.¡±
Pick me, insist on me, have me and I¡¯ll take gooood care of you - these words seemed to take on a different meaninging from Agent Long Bing.
Xia Lei nodded almost unwillingly. It made no difference who went with him, Tang Yuyan or Long Bing, but it would be awkward if he went with just Tang Yuyan. The situation would be a little better if Long Bing went.
¡°Hey?¡± Tang Yuyan seemed to sense something. ¡°What are you guys talking about? Whisper, whisper - is it something shameful?¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Tang Yuyan. ¡°What are you saying? I¡¯m asking Xia Lei when he¡¯s going to get married. I¡¯m going to drink some congrattory wine.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re going to get married to Shentu Tianyin already?¡± Tang Yuyan looked surprised. ¡°Not that quick, right?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly felt like kicking Long Bing.
Tang Bochuan, who was a little to the side, spoke to himself like a madman, ¡°Ah, people these days... They seem to have shotgun marriages a lot, huh? ording to official reports, as many as 80% of shotgun marriages end in divorce. I really don¡¯t know what these people are thinking. How can they treat marriage like a game?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A doctor walked over. ¡°Mr Xia, Miss Shentu is awake. She wants to see you, so please go over to her.¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei took the opportunity to follow the doctor and walk off.
Some brightness disappeared from Long Bing¡¯s eyes as she watched him go; there was an indescribable feeling.
Tang Yuyan let out augh. ¡°Others may not understand you, Long Bing, but I do. Don¡¯t use Shentu Tianyin to provoke me. Aren¡¯t you pretty disappointed by Xia Lei¡¯s engagement too?¡±
¡°Was I?¡± Long Bing smiled wanly. ¡°You should get your eyes checked. And let me tell you something - people in our line of work should keep certain feelings inside. If one truly gets involved, then he¡¯s bringing harm to the family, and the children. I¡¯ve never thought of marriage and I advise you to forget about it too. Our springtime belongs to the nation.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips moved to retort but she could find no words to fling out.
Tang Bochuan let out a sigh. ¡°I say, you two, would you die if you didn¡¯t fight every time you meet?¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing turned to Tang Bochuan at the same time and rolled their eyes at him.
Xia Lei got to the off-road vehicle and Shentu Tianyin struggled to get up from the backseat. She was not totally free of the effects of the anaesthetic yet and was still disorientated; she almost fell off the seat. Xia Lei hurriedly reached out to hold her by the waist.
¡°Don¡¯t move. Just lie down.¡± Xia Lei climbed into the vehicle.
Shentu Tianyin reached out and put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s waist. She pressed her cheek to Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. She did not speak but her bodynguage said more than a whole night of talking.
Xia Lei gently caressed her hair and back as heforted her. ¡°It¡¯s all in the past now. Everything¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t be scared.¡±
Shentu Tianyin lifted her head to look at Xia Lei and smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not scared. I¡¯m not scared with you by my side.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Xia Lei was doubtful.
¡°Okay, I was a little scared but I believed that you would surely bring me home. My man is the most excellent, the strongest in this world. No one can harm me when I¡¯m by your side,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei smiled. No man would not feel happy if he heard praise such as this. What¡¯s more, this praise hade from Shentu Tianyin herself.
¡°I heard from the doctor that you killed off all those people.¡±
¡°Mm, they¡¯re all dead.¡± Xia Lei added, ¡°Don¡¯t think about that. You won¡¯t like it.¡±
¡°Okay, I won¡¯t.¡± Shentu Tianyin reached out to stroke Xia Lei¡¯s cheek, avoiding the small wounds on his face as she did. She spoke tenderly, ¡°You¡¯re hurt. I¡¯ll get the doctor toe tend to your wounds.¡±
¡°No need. It¡¯s just scratches from the reeds. I can just take care of them when I get back,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin thought for a bit. ¡°Come to my ce - I¡¯ll clean your wounds for you. You have small wounds like these all over your body. You can¡¯t clean them all yourself.¡±
Xia Lei nodded lightly. ¡°We¡¯ll go home once they¡¯re done there.¡± He took a sharp breath right after he spoke. Shentu Tianyin had reached a finger into a tear in his trousers and touched a wound gently.
¡°Does it hurt?¡± Shentu Tianyin quickly retracted her finger. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks. The wound was in a sensitive area, and she had been prompted by curiosity for some reason to reach out and touch it.
¡°Nope, nope.¡± But scenes of Shentu Tianyin helping him clean his wounds surfaced in his head and those scenes made his temperature rise.
¡°Then can I touch you again?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
This seemed to be a scene of pleasures from a boudoir, just at the wrong ce and at the wrong time.
Just then, Long Bing came walking over and she gave a cough. ¡°Our people are done cleaning up. Do you two want to get in the helicopter or drive?¡±
Shentu Tianyin spoke before Xia Lei could decide. ¡°Lei, let¡¯s drive back. I don¡¯t want to ride in a helicopter.¡±
There was sure to be other people in a helicopter but it would be just her and Xia Lei if they drove.
Xia Lei agreed readily. ¡°All right, let¡¯s drive back. Oh, right, Long Bing, I went through quite a few red lights on my way here and I sped on the highway too. Please help me erase those records.¡±
¡°No problem. I¡¯ll help you with this but you have to help me with what I want too. I¡¯lle after you if you don¡¯t hold up your end of the bargain,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Leiughed dryly.
Chapter 429 - The Shy Rose Blooms Quietly
Mature Images Warning
Back in Jingdu, the first thing Xia Lei did was to return to Thunder Horse Military Factory and seal Princess Yongmei away. He did not dare to just casually let her out anymore after discovering that she could make people go mad and die. He then went with Shentu Tianyin to Boai Hospital to visit Fu Mingmei.
Fu Mingmei was out of the operating room but not yet awake from her anaesthetised sleep. Shentu Tianyin arranged for someone to take care of her, then left the hospital with Xia Lei.
¡°I think we should tell Mingmei¡¯s father. He should know about this,¡± said Xia Lei to Shentu Tianyin as they exited the hospital.
¡°Tell him tomorrow. You don¡¯t have to worry about this, I¡¯ll take care of it,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Lucky thing those people had no intention to kill her or she wouldn¡¯t be on this Earth any longer. Be more careful from now on. Take more bodyguards with you when you go out.¡±
Shentu Tianyin took Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Nn, I¡¯ll do as you say.¡± She abruptly remembered something. ¡°Oh, right, I¡¯ll give Gu Kewen a call. I wonder if she¡¯s all right.¡±
¡°No need. Her phone is definitely switched off,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No way. I¡¯ve told her that her phone has to be on, 24/7.¡± Shentu Tianyin did not believe it and took out her phone to call Gu Kewen. Xia Lei was right - Gu Kewen¡¯s phone was off.
Shentu Tianyin was a smart woman and she seemed to realise something. ¡°Gu Kewen, she...¡±
¡°She works for the CIA. She was undergoing CIA training during the time she¡¯d gone quiet. She came back, to your side, to assist you in umting her old Gu n assets to gain your trust. If she hadn¡¯t acted as an internal contact this time, you wouldn¡¯t have been kidnapped and Fu Mingmei wouldn¡¯t have been injured.¡±
Shame flickered in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes and she was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°You warned me early on that I should not trust Gu Kewen but I still trusted her. But it¡¯s not because I didn¡¯t trust your judgement, it¡¯s because I thought I had the ability to control her. I didn¡¯t expect that... ¡°
Xia Lei gave her a smile. ¡°Never mind that. No need to bring up what¡¯s passed. Gu Kewen has probably fled the country, and the chances of you two meeting again is as good as nil. Plus, Ahn Suhyeong is involved too - you have to be very careful.¡±
Shentu Tianyin looked into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯ll beat him up if hees to harm me, right?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked surprised.
Xia Lei smiled right away. ¡°I¡¯ll tten him before he hurts you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin hit Xia Lei lightly in coquettish anger.
Xia Lei caught her hand. ¡°Tianyin, there are a lot of people after my life, and what¡¯s in my brain. There will be a lot of unexpected dangers if you¡¯re with me. It¡¯s like this, so... are you still willing to be with me?¡±
Shentu Tianyin red at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to say things like this. You are my fiance. You are the man who¡¯s fated to be with me for the rest of our lives. epting your proposal means I¡¯ve epted all of you, and I don¡¯t care what danger there will be - it will not separate us.¡±
Xia Lei was touched. ¡°I...¡±
Shentu Tianyin suddenly kissed him on the lips, not letting him say more.
This kiss seemed to be the best answer. There was no need for words.
Quite a few people were standing and looking in the entrance of the hospital but they ceased to exist for Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei. It had been over two years from their meeting to them getting engaged; their rtionship had gone through twists and turns and they had suppressed their feelings all this time. Why would they care about about how the world saw them, when they finally had the chance to let their feelings show?
However, they were still in public after all and they fled from the hospital after their impulsiveness cooled.
Back in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s Jingdu home, her father, Shentu Ren had already gone to bed. She had not nned on telling him about the kidnapping anyway so as not to worry him. This was good. There wouldn¡¯t be troublesome exnations.
They went upstairs and Shentu Tianyin pulled Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Come to my room. I¡¯ll treat your wounds.¡±
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed and a little nervous, but these feelings quickly disappeared. Shentu Tianyin and him were already fiance and fiancee, one level more intimate than he had been with Liang Siyao. What was there to be embarrassed and nervous about when going to her room to get his wounds tended to?
¡°I¡¯ll get the first-aid box. Wait here,¡± said Shentu Tianyin after she led him into her room.
¡°Then I¡¯ll take a shower first. I¡¯m a little itchy,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin gave augh. ¡°Then you¡¯ll have to use my towel and my bathrobe. Father is already asleep and I don¡¯t want to take his towel and bathrobe from his room.¡±
Xia Lei had put his embarrassment aside but the thought of using a woman¡¯s towel and bathrobe brought the embarrassment out again.
He went into the bathroom after Shentu Tianyin left the room. He did not use the bathtub but used the shower head to rinse away the blood and sweat on his body, the reed pollen which had stuck to his body in the reeds, and other dirty things. While showering, he discovered that his body was covered with small cuts from the sharp edges of reed leaves.
He looked at the wounds on his backside in the mirror and frowned, mumbling to himself, ¡°Is Tianyin going to treat the wounds here too? It¡¯s too embarrassing, right?¡±
It was still awkward.
Xia Lei put on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s bathrobe after getting out of the shower. It was pink and had flowers on it; it was very girly.
Xia Lei sat by the bed to wait after he was done straightening himself out. The wait took half an hour. He was puzzled. ¡®Did she go out to buy a first-aid kit because she doesn¡¯t have one at home?¡¯ He then smiled wryly. ¡®Good thing it¡¯s just small wounds. I¡¯ll die if I had big wounds and had to wait so long.¡¯
It was hard not to let his thoughts wander when he was alone in the room.
He waited a few minutes more and Shentu Tianyin returned. She had taken a bath and put on a pure-white bathrobe. Her raven-ck hair gleamed on her shoulders; there were still some water droplets between the ends of her hair. There was a fragranceing from her, and she looked to have put on some makeup. She was a beautiful woman with elegant almond-shaped eyes, plump, peachy lips all soft and tender, and a face as exquisite as fine jade; a fairy-like beauty.
She carried a first-aid box in her hands and a meaningful look in her eyes. She would be the most beautiful nurse in the world if she put a nurse¡¯s uniform on.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help being dumbstruck. She was his woman. This ridiculously good-looking person was his woman. His heart was filled with bliss.
Xia Lei¡¯s reaction made Shentu Tianyin smile. She walked over to him and went straight to the point. ¡°Take off the bathrobe. I¡¯ll tend to your wounds.¡±
Xia Lei then snapped back to his senses and untied the bathrobe belt.
¡°Heehee...¡± Shentu Tianyin suddenly held a hand over her mouth and bent over inughter.
Xia Lei then discovered that he had exposed the redce underwear he was wearing. He should have told Shentu Tianyin, to prepare her for the sight, but he had forgotten.
¡°Um... Mine was torn, and dirty,¡± exined Xia Lei sheepishly. ¡°So I... I wore yours. You don¡¯t mind, do you?¡±
Shentu Tianyinughed with her hand over her mouth. ¡°We¡¯re almost husband-and-wife, so what¡¯s there to mind? If you want to wear this, then I have many others in different colours and designs.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s expression was like the Chinese character ¡®ƒ×¡¯.
¡°You look quite good in it.¡± Shentu Tianyinughed again.
¡°Can you stop talking about it?¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯m embarrassed enough.¡±
¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t tease you anymore. I¡¯ll treat your wounds.¡± Shentu Tianyin opened the first-aid box and took a bottle of hydrogen peroxide to spray on Xia Lei¡¯s wounds.
Xia Lei clenched his jaw in pain as the hydrogen peroxide lit on his flesh.
After spraying his front, Shentu Tianyin said, ¡°Lie on the bed. I¡¯ll spray the wounds on your back.¡±
Xia Leiy t on the bed, the thoughts in his head in uproar.
Shentu Tianyin quickly sprayed the wounds on his back and legs.
Xia Lei grew nervous. ¡°Tianyin...¡±
Szzt! Hydrogen peroxidended.
Xia Lei let out a soft groan as the cleansing burn consumed his skin. He swallowed the words he wanted to say.
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https://tenor/view/love-kiss-couples-arguing-gif-5093595
Chapter 430 - Xiang Yu and Ximen Qing
Rays of sunshine came shining in through the window, lighting up the room. Xia Lei woke slowly. Shentu Tianyin was not by his side but her scent lingered in the folds of the bedcovers. This fragrance was like a rope, dragging him back tost night and making him recall the pleasures he had. He could not help the smile in the corners of his mouth. His smile froze - backache and weak legs hit him.
Women were fields and men oxen. This ox had still been raring to go after plowing the field once, but plowing twice, then thrice... It was impressive enough that the ox did not copse.
Xia Lei stopped daydreaming and spotted a brand new suit on the bedside table. There was a shirt and underwear too, and a pair of new shoes under the bedside table. Even the socks had been prepared; they sat neatly in the leather shoes.
What a thoughtful woman. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help smiling again. He was full of bliss and contentment. Wasn¡¯t this the life he¡¯d wanted? A warm home and a woman he loved. All of these belonged to him now.
Xia Lei put on the shoes and clothing and walked out the door just in time to bump into Shentu Ren,ing out from another room.
Shentu Ren paused when he saw Xia Leie out of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s room but quickly recovered. A smile appeared on his face and he greeted Xia Lei first. ¡°Ahem. You¡¯re awake.¡±
¡°Yes... Father. You¡¯re awake too.¡± Xia Lei was so embarrassed.
The first words the two men exchanged in the morning were very awkward. If he wasn¡¯t awake, then was he still in bed?
Just then, Shentu Tianyin poked her head out of the stairwell. ¡°Father, Lei,e have breakfast. I¡¯ve specially made congee and some side dishes. Come eat.¡±
¡°Eat. Let¡¯s go eat.¡± Shentu Ren was very evidently relieved to escape the awkwardness.
As a father, the feeling when seeing the daughter he had painstakingly raised be a man¡¯s woman was painful andplicated but this was something every father of a daughter had to experience. And handing Shentu Tianyin to Xia Lei was something Shentu Ren was willing to do. The pain of losing his daughter soon faded, reced by relief.
What else couldpare with the joy of his daughter finding a good husband?
One table, one elderly and two young, three bowls of congee, two dishes - it was simple but full of a family¡¯s warmth.
¡°I¡¯ll get Fu to apany me to the Shaolin Temple for the Master to pick an auspicious date,¡± said Shentu Ren jovially.
¡°Father.¡± Shentu Tianyin rolled her eyes at Shentu Ren but she could not hide the smile in the corners of her mouth.
Shentu Ren ignored her. He looked at Xia Lei and said tentatively, ¡°Lei, what do you think?¡±
Xia Lei hurriedly replied, ¡°I have no objections. I¡¯ll go with anything Father arranges.¡±
¡°Heh heh, good, good.¡± Shentu Ren was overjoyed.
Shentu Tianyin elbowed Xia Lei with a look of discontent. ¡°You and Father are joining forces to bully me.¡±
¡°You¡¯re smiling and saying we¡¯re bullying you? You can¡¯t wait to get married, eh?¡± Shentu Ren teased his daughter.
¡°Father!¡± Shentu Tianyin turned red.
She was the cold and noble Vientaine Group queen outside but at home, she was a warm and thoughtful woman. She was a woman of many sides. Xia Lei would see all her sides when they were husband and wife, and every one of her sides was precious.
After breakfast, Xia Lei sent Shentu Tianyin to Angel Wings Building. He was moving to get out of his car when he saw an off-road vehicle with military tes, as well as Long Bing in its driver¡¯s seat.
Shentu Tianyin saw the vehicle too, and Long Bing. A wrinkle of worry appeared between her brows.
¡°I was going to help to pick some bodyguards but Long Bing is here. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to do it next time,¡± said Xia Lei softly.
¡°It¡¯s all right. There¡¯s no real need to pick any. Do you still remember the four men Uncle Fu hired some time ago? I n to ask Uncle Fu to employ them again. They will protect me,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei remembered those four, of course. They were seasoned mercenaries in South East Asia, loyal, and were not afraid of death. He rxed a little when he heard Shentu Tianyin talk about them. ¡°Yep, I remember. Pak Taiji, Pak Canlie, Jin Zhenhuan, Jin Dahu. They¡¯re good. I¡¯ll feel assured with them protecting you. But you still have to be careful, even with those four protecting you. Contact me right away if anything happens. I can get someone to go over to protect you if I cannot go myself.¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll be careful.¡± Shentu Tianyin alighted.
Xia Lei alighted too and apanied her to the lobby of Angel Wings Building.
Long Bing did not get out of her vehicle. She watched Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei from the window.
Shentu Tianyin suddenly stopped in her tracks in the front hall and reached out to put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s waist. She kissed him on the lips. Her movements were familiar, natural, and had an indescribable beauty to them.
This kiss stunned the employees of Vientaine Grouping in to work. Shentu Tianyin was a mobile iceberg, as frosty as can be to them. But a woman like this was actually kissing a man passionately in front of so many people. They knew that this man was her fiance, but this was way out of character for their queen!
An entire minuteter, Shentu Tianyin released Xia Lei and said gently, ¡°Be careful, whatever you¡¯re doing.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Nn.¡±
Shentu Tianyin turned and nced purposefully at Long Bing, sitting in the vehicle. The kiss earlier had been for Long Bing to see - He¡¯s mine!
Long Bing smiled wryly and looked away from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s possessive gaze.
Xia Lei walked over to her window. ¡°You could just call if you needed something, no need toe personally.¡±
¡°I was going from my ce to the headquarters when Boss Shi told me to take you with me. I presumed that you would surely bring Shentu Tianyin to herpany to I came here to wait for you. I actually arrived only a few minutes before you came,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°What else did Boss Shi say?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Let¡¯s go. You¡¯ll know when we get to headquarters, right?¡± Long Bing nced over in the direction of Angel Wings Building and let out augh. ¡°What, in the sticky newly-wed phase and can¡¯t bear to leave?¡±
¡°Ahem. I¡¯ll get my car.¡± Xia Lei did not want to talk about these personal matters and walked off.
Long Bing let out a small sigh and started her engine.
-
Bureau 101, underground offices.
Shi Boren handed a cup to tea to Ling Han and his tone was polite too. ¡°Mr Ling, you could just give me a call. There¡¯s no need to pay a personal visit. Is this about what happenedst night?¡±
Ling Han took a sip of tea. ¡°Director Shi, I have indeede today aboutst night¡¯s incident. Has Xia Lei handed in the report?¡±
Shi Boren wrinkled his brows. ¡°That boy. I instructed him to write itst night but he went to spend the night at Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ce. AH, femme fatales and youthful mistakes. I¡¯m guessing that boy didn¡¯t write a single word.¡±
¡°Director Shi, this is a fairly special matter and there will be big trouble if this is not handled well. The higher-ups have instructed me to read this report personally. What time will he be here?¡±
¡°Soon, I think,¡± said Shi Boren. ¡°I¡¯ve tasked Long Bing to bring him here.¡±
Ling Han smiled wryly. ¡°This punk. I do admit that he has contributed greatly to our nation and has outstanding merits. But he definitely is a walking ma for trouble. He went to Russia and gunmen came after him. He just got engaged to Shentu Tianyin and someone kidnapped her.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°What are your views, Director Shi?¡±
¡°My views?¡± Shi Boren paused, then said tentatively, ¡°My views on what, Mr Ling?¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll be frank. I¡¯m talking about what happenedst night.¡±
Shi Boren thought for a bit and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll just say what I think. I think the Americans know what we are researching and they can¡¯t sit still anymore. Think about it - once we solve the mystery of the ancient alloy, our materials technology will be the leading technology in the world. What would follow is innovation in engines, upgrades in aviation and ship building. What would America have to stop our growth once they lose their upper hand in military power? This is what I think. It must be rted to the ancient alloy.¡±
Ling Han was silent for a spell. ¡°I think that way too, but... I still think there¡¯s something else. Xia Lei. This person... I can¡¯t seem to figure him out.¡±
¡°What are you getting at, Mr Ling?¡±
¡°Nothing.¡± Ling Han was bothered by something but he was not willing to talk about it.
¡°Mr Ling, I know you¡¯re the one who¡¯s been watching Xia Lei in secret. I do not object to your actions since you are within your rights to do so but I also think that there is no need to do so. Xia Lei may have some secret but which one of us has no secrets? What I value is his character and the contributions he has made to this country. Would you find anything that could harm the nation if you looked through all his past deeds? No, not one.¡±
Ling Han chucked. ¡°Okay, okay, Director Shi. You¡¯re starting to sing his praises again. I have no bad intention in observing him. It is all business, so don¡¯t get anxious.¡±
A knock came from the office door in the middle of their conversation.
¡°Let¡¯s leave our conversation here,¡± said Ling Han.
Shi Boren nodded and raised his voice. ¡°Enter.¡±
Long Bing opened the door and led Xia Lei in.
¡°Boss Shi, Mr Ling.¡± Xia Lei greeted them with a smile.
Shi Boren had an unhappy expression on his face. ¡°I told you to write a report. Have you written it?¡±
¡°Ah... I forgot. I¡¯ll write it right now.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t actually forget. It was just thatst night had been such a pleasurable night... What report?
Shi Boren red at Xia Lei. ¡°Boy, lots of heroes and great people in the past died under the skirts of a woman. Xiang Yu was one of them. Do you want to be another one?¡±
What sort ofparison was this?
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Ahem.¡± Long Bing coughed to show that there was a female present.
Shi Boren red. ¡°What are you still doing here? Go, take Xia Lei to write his report.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Long Bing prodded Xia Lei. ¡°Go write it in my office.¡±
¡°Okay, to your office,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll get someone to prepare an office space for youter. You are Bureau 101¡¯s ace consultant so how can you be without your own office? Oh, right, do you want a secretary? How about it get two young and pretty secretaries?¡±
¡°Pfft....¡± Xia Lei bit his lower lip to keep fromughing.
Shi Boren was not treating him like a hero like Xiang Yu. He was treating him like Ximen Qing, wasn¡¯t he?
Chapter 431 - New Skill
Xia Lei had to weigh his words and choose them carefully for the report so he took almost an hour to write the report. He wrote about what had happened from the time he received the phone call from the doctor to the end of the fighting. He left out the part about being injected with anaesthetic and the part where he interrogated Ramsbigg. He would definitely not mention AE. He only wrote about Ramsbigg saying that Gu Kewen was a CIA spy and that Ahn Suhyeong had been involved in the targeted kidnapping of Shentu Tianyin.
Ramsbigg was already dead and his subordinates too. The dead told no tales so some secrets were safe, for now.
Ling Han and Shi Boren read Xia Lei¡¯s report.
¡°Damn it!¡± Shi Boren was angered. ¡°The CIA is inciting a war! Are they belittling us Chinese? Good job killing them! That¡¯s how it should be done! Come one, kill one - let¡¯s see how arrogant they can get then!¡±
China was a sovereign country so the CIAing into her territory to kidnap someone was an act of war. Even regr citizens would be outraged at this, not just Shi Boren.
¡°Director Shi, calm down. Those people are all dead. This matter will be handed to the higher-ups to handle. Let¡¯s not voice any more opinions about it,¡± said Ling Han.
Sho Boren snorted. ¡°How are the higher-ups going to handle this? Looks to me like everyone will just pretend not to know about it. Even if we protest about this the Americans aren¡¯t going to admit to the identities of those people.
Xia Lei had been watching Shi Boren and Ling Han¡¯s expressions. Fortunately, the two of them had not asked further questions about the contents of the report, saving him the trouble of exining. From his perspective, this was something which was going toe to an end sooner orter anyway. He didn¡¯t care how China was going to handle it or how America was going to take care of it. It was no use caring.
Tang Yuyan walked in just then and said right away, ¡°Thetest intelligence - Gu Kewen disembarked in New York. Ahn Suhyeong also returned to South Koreast night.¡±
¡°These two are suspicious!¡± Shi Boren¡¯s expression was cold.
¡°This matter shall be left at this. Capture Gu Kewen if she everes back. If Ahn Suhyeong re-enters China I want him under surveince and we¡¯ll decide on what to do with him then. What do you think of this, Director Shi? I¡¯m just making a suggestion here,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°What else can we do? The people who should die are dead. We don¡¯t have any proof to get the Koreans to hand him over either. This matter ends here for now. We¡¯ll get Gu Kewen and Ahn Suhyeong to pay if we get the chance!¡± said Shi Boren.
¡°Good,¡± said Ling Han. ¡°Xia Lei, get yourself ready to go to Jerusalem.¡±
¡°When?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°The sooner the better,¡± said Ling Han. ¡°Hurry up and tie up what loose ends you have. Best to leave in the next three days.¡±
¡°So quick?¡± Xia Lei pretended to look surprised and troubled.
¡°We know you¡¯re very busy but this incident has already attracted America¡¯s attention. We need to get the item that¡¯s in Jerusalem back to China as soon as possible,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°All right, three days,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s that then. I¡¯ll make a move first. I wish you a safe journey, and a quick return.¡± Ling Han left Shi Boren¡¯s office with these words.
Shi Boren looked at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Yuyan, you get ready too.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have much to prepare. I can be mobilised anytime,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing stared straight at Xia Lei, then winked.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and forced himself to say, ¡°Boss Shi, two people aren¡¯t enough, right? Jerusalem¡¯s a mess and Israel¡¯s Mossad and the Palestinian Hamas are not anything to sneeze at. I¡¯d like Long Bing toe with us. Is that... possible?¡±
Shi Boren gave Xia Lei a look then looked at Long Bing.
Long Bing then red at Xia Lei and said, ¡°Really, you sure know how to find busy-work for me. You don¡¯t even dare to go to Jerusalem without me. I¡¯m not your nanny.¡±
Xia Lei looked woodenly at Long Bing; he was at a loss for words. She had requested him to ask Shi Boren to include her in the mission and she was saying this now, when he did as she asked? Women were so unreasonable sometimes!
¡°Stop the act.¡± Shi Boren waved his hand. ¡°You three all go.¡±
Long Bing smiled. ¡°All right, then I¡¯ll go to Jerusalem.¡±
Shi Boren red at Long Bing. ¡°Trying to act innocent after getting your way? You¡¯re bing more and more disobedient.¡± He looked at Xia Lei next and said meaningfully, ¡°You, Boy. You¡¯ve taken the two most beautiful female employees in Bureau 101. I¡¯m not going to say anything about it but you have to focus on official matters. Let me remind you that I¡¯ll beat you up if you fail to bring the items back!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei left Bureau 101 and went to Thunder Horse Military Factory.
He was going to Jerusalem in three days, so he had to make his preparations in these three days.
Jerusalem was the epicentre of Palestinian-Israeli conflict and he would have to deal with Israel¡¯s Mossad and the militant Hamas. What worried him most was still the CIA. Israel was an ally of the United States in the Middle East and they shared intelligence. There would be practically no obstacle to the CIA when they operated in Jerusalem.
So it was must for him to bring the realistic mask his father had given him for this mission to Jerusalem. Weapons, too. He was going to bring his modified XL2500 sniper rifle and the assault rifle he had made himself.
The only problem was how he was going to exin how he had acquired the mask to Long Bing and Tang Yuyan. He thought and he thought and he thought to find a solution.
He analysed the materialposition of the mask and searched for some mask-making methods on the inte. Once he was done with these preparations he carved a mold and bought silica gel and other materials, then made a mask himself. This was all fine work, and needed close attention, but it was as easy as pie to Xia Lei with his ungodly learning capacity.
His original aim in doing this was to exin the origins of the mask he had and avoid suspicion by Tang Yuyan and Long Bing, but he found that the mask he made himself was better than the original. This was, of course, due to his eye. The mask he made was supremely detailed, practically a real face. Plus, his left eye let him see the minute changes in the material during the process of making it, letting him make the appropriate changes and get closer to perfection.
Once he had his surprisingly good results, Xia Lei threw the mask his father had given him into the fire without hesitation, destroying it. Why? Simple. He had a better one so why use the one that¡¯s worse? Plus, he wasn¡¯t going to be able to exin where he¡¯d gotten the first mask from.
He put on the mask he made and looked at himself in the mirror. Xia Lei found that he looked like a whole other person. The him in the mirror was an Asian man in his early thirties, tanned and in-looking. He looked like abourer at first nce.
¡®I wonder how Annina and Qin Xiang would react if they saw me,¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He was curious.
He left his workshop and went to Annina¡¯s office.
Annina had her head buried in work in the office. She was already looking into the design on the production line for the assault rifle. ording to Xia Lei¡¯s n, the assault rifle was going to go into production when the orders received for the XL2500 reached 70%pletion. Thunder Horse Military Factory was going to have a load of new orders at that time.
Xia Lei appeared in the doorway and knocked on the door.
Annina nced up at Xia Lei. ¡°Who¡¯re you looking for?¡±
Xia Lei did not speak. He walked in.
Annina wrinkled her brows. ¡°Which workshop are you from? What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei changed his voice and spoke quietly with an evil smile on his face. ¡°Let¡¯s y, girlie.¡±
¡°Perv!¡± Annina reached out to snatch up the phone on the desk, prepared to call security.
Xia Lei was faster. He pressed the phone down, not letting her call anyone.
Annina suddenly let a punch fly at Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei moved his head and easily dodged Annina¡¯s punch. He then grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his embrace. Annina opened her mouth and bit his hand, and Xia Lei hurriedly let go. Annina suddenly swung her leg and kicked viciously at Xia Lei¡¯s crotch.
Xia Lei hopped backwards and avoided that kick, thenughed. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±
Annina paused, opening her mouth in shock. She spoke after a while. ¡°Lukas...? It¡¯s you?¡±
Xia Lei reached out and pulled off his mask. There was a smug smile on his face. ¡°Looks like you didn¡¯t recognise me. It¡¯s a great sess.¡±
Annina took the mask from Xia Lei¡¯s hands and turned it over, then said in praise, ¡°It¡¯s so detailed. Even I was fooled. Is this what you were working on in the workshop the past two days?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll take it with me to Jerusalem.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to Jerusalem?¡± Annina was surprised.
¡°Nn, you¡¯d better not ask. I¡¯ll be leaving the factory in your and Qin Xiang¡¯s care,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know. You must have some new mission. I won¡¯t ask further.¡± She smiled. ¡°But you have to make me a mask like this too. Hm, I want to be Marilyn Monroe, oh! And Rihanna!¡±
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll help transform you into Marilyn Monroe when I get back. And Rihanna.¡±
¡°Then...¡± Annina paused, then said in a small voice, ¡°Can you be with me tonight?¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit, but he still said it. ¡°Annina, I¡¯m already engaged. We... we can¡¯t be like we were before.¡±
It was fine for him to y around when he was single but he was engaged to Shentu Tianyin now. A man should have a man¡¯s morals and responsibilities. If he maintained this vague rtionship with Annina, then what sort of man was he? He would not be able to face Shentu Tianyin if he did that.
These words were hurtful but they had to be said sooner orter.
Annina¡¯s eyes filled with hurt but she struggled to form a smile on her lips. She shrugged, and said in pretend nonchnce, ¡°You¡¯re a good man. You could just keep our rtionship a secret but you didn¡¯t. I know it¡¯s because you won¡¯t be able to face your future wife. All right, I respect your decision.¡±
Women of the West were strong and independent, and were able to let go more easily than their Eastern counterparts. A woman of the East would probably have already started the waterworks and ¡®great show¡¯ at this point.
¡°Annina, I...¡± Xia Lei was ashamed.
¡°No need to apologise. You didn¡¯t do anything to feel sorry for. It was me who initiated it. You¡¯ve apanied me through a wonderful time and I¡¯m content. I am grateful to you too,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei was silent. ¡°I¡¯ll help you realise your dream. For sure.¡±
¡°Nn. Give me a hug,¡± said Annina with a smile.
Xia Lei held her in his arms. There was no awkwardness, and he felt like a rock had been lifted off his heart.
Chapter 432 - Mask and Grapes
The next day, afternoon.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan walked shoulder to shoulder. Both were tall and striking women, and they attracted the gazes of the employees of Thunder Horse Military Factory.
¡°These two beauties must be here to see our Director Xia, huh?¡± A young man had an envious look on his face. ¡°It¡¯ll be great if I could get acquainted with one of them. I¡¯m not greedy, really. Just one.¡±
¡°Pfft. Dream on,¡± said another young man dismissively. ¡°You dare have designs on Director Xia¡¯s friends? Want to get fired?¡±
¡°Our Director Xia is already engaged to Vientaine Group¡¯s chairperson, Shentu Tianyin. These two aren¡¯t his girlfriends, are they?¡±
¡°What do you know? Our Director Xia has the body and the talent. He made his own wealth and he¡¯s good-natured too. What does it matter if he has a few girlfriends?¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing looked over suddenly, their faces masks of cold. The employees who had wagged their tongues ran off.
¡°What do those two guys take us for?¡± Tang Yuyan said in annoyance. ¡°Tianyin¡¯s spare tyres?¡±
Long Bing looked unconcerned. ¡°It¡¯s just two kids wagging their tongues. What¡¯s with your reaction? Do you actually feel like Tianyin¡¯s spare tyre?¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing. ¡°I haven¡¯t been in a good mood these past few days. Don¡¯t piss me off.¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Long Bing walked towards Xia Lei¡¯s workshop.
Xia Lei¡¯s workshop door and windows were tightly shut and they could not see in.
Long Bing knocked on the door. ¡°Xia Lei, it¡¯s me. Open up.¡±
The door to the workshop opened and a tanned, middle-aged man appeared before Tang Yuyan and Long Bing.
Long BIng looked inside the workshop but did not see Xia Lei. She was immediately on the alert. ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°I...¡± The man looked nervous, and he suddenly started running.
Tang Yuyan jumped up and let loose a kick at the middle-aged man. She was of the same opinion as Long Bing - this middle-aged man was suspicious!
Tang Yuyan used her Tang martial arts, of course. Her kick was executed cleanly and powerfully. However, the middle-aged man twisted his waist and dodged her kick by a hair¡¯s breadth.
¡°You have some moves there, huh!¡± Tang Yuyan reached to grab his cor.
The middle-aged man twisted and dodged again.
Long Bing took two running steps and cut off the man¡¯s path of retreat. She aimed a kick at his crotch as she moved to block him off.
The man stretched out a hand and caught Long Bing¡¯s long leg, lifting it up. He lifted her kicking leg above his head. Long Bing was wearing tight-fitting jeans and her underwear was not exposed but the material almost split with this upward stretching. This was enough to make her hopping mad.
¡°Kiss the floor!¡± Long Bing let out a shout, and moved backwards. She suddenly lifted her left leg, which had been supporting her body weight, and aimed a kick at the man¡¯s chest.
The man let go of Long Bing¡¯s right leg and twisted aside again. He brushed past Long Bing¡¯s left leg as he moved forward, reaching out both hands to envelop the kicking Long Bing in his arms by her waist. His movements were quicker than a darting bird, and more lively than a sshing fish!
Long Bing had been a fiercebatant, kicking aggressively at this stupid man, but she was caught in his arms a secondter. She had be a bird in a cage!
Tang Yuyan abruptly took her gun out and pointed it at the man. ¡°Don¡¯t move! Release her!¡±
This was a contradictorymand, and the man chose thetter option. He put Long Bing down.
Long Bing immediately kicked at the space between the man¡¯s legs as soon as her feet touched the floor.
¡°Ugh...¡± The man opened his mouth wide; he couldn¡¯t close it.
Long Bing swung a fist at him.
¡°It¡¯s me!¡± yelled the man. ¡°Xia Lei!¡±
Long Bing¡¯s fist stopped at his cheek and didn¡¯t move closer. She recognised his voice.
¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Tang Yuyan lowered her gun. She recognised Xia Lei¡¯s voice too.
Xia Lei reached out a hand and fiddled at his cheek for a bit, and soon pulled off the mask to reveal his handsome face.
¡°This...¡± Long Bing took the mask from Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Where did you get this?¡±
¡°I made it myself,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan drew close too and took a close look. She touched the mask and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you made it.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I called you two over to see the mask I made. I think it will be quite chaotic on this trip to Jerusalem. America has great pull there, and there¡¯s also the Israel¡¯s Mossad. They¡¯re world-famous agents. This is what I¡¯m thinking - we use new faces in Jerusalem. We¡¯ll be much safer this way and it¡¯ll be easier for us toplete our mission too.¡±
¡°You mean you¡¯re going to make masks like this for us too?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I mean,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s so ugly. And it¡¯s a man too. How am I to put this on?¡± Tang Yuyan wrinkled her brows. ¡°Plus, Long Bing and I are women. There are certain parts which cannot be hidden, right?¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help ncing at Tang Yuyan¡¯s generous bosom, then at Long Bing¡¯s chest. True, one would have to be blind to mistake them for men with those measurements.
¡°What are you looking at?¡± said Long Bing fiercely. ¡°Want me to kick you again? Let Shentu Tianyin hate me for a lifetime?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°You guys are looking at it too simply. This mask I made is not some mass-produced item. I need to measure your faces, then modify my molds to turn you two into different women.¡±
¡°That simple?¡± Long Bing couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces with Tang Yuyan.
¡°Come with me.¡± Xia Lei entered his workshop.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan looked at his tools. He had a mold, some metal and ster, and some materials which they couldn¡¯t name. The mold looked fairly crude but they had to admit that Xia Lei¡¯s craftsmanship was top-notch. They had not recognised him earlier and was fooled by him.
Xia Lei let Long Bing and Tang Yuyan see his tools, then pulled out a tape and measured their faces. He didn¡¯t actually need to measure them; he was just putting on a show with the measuring tape.
¡°Sit still. Don¡¯t move your head. Why re at me?¡± Xia Lei gave Long Bing instructions as he pretended to take measurements of Long Bing¡¯s face. He reached out once in a while to pinch her chin and poke at her face. He would have been taken for a pervert if he didn¡¯t have the excuse of making a mask for her.
Long Bing glowered. She knew well that Xia Lei was taking his little revenge on her for kicking him in the crotch earlier but she could not find the words to stop him.
Xia Lei went to Tang Yuyan after measuring Long Bing¡¯s face. He put the tape to her face and took some measurements here and there. He poked at her too, but not as much as he had done to Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan was a little awkward, a little nervous. ¡°I didn¡¯t hit you, if you know what I mean.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Mm, then I¡¯ll make your face prettier.¡±
Long Bing spoke fiercely, ¡°You punk! I just kicked you once down there. You¡¯re so petty. I¡¯ll beat you up if you make my face uglier than Tang Yuyan¡¯s!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He started modifying the mold after measuring their faces, turning it into a womanly shape. He spent half a day on it, and the two masks wereplete.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan put on the masks Xia Lei had made for them and stood before the mirror he had prepared for them. They did not move a muscle for up to 15 seconds. On the 16th second, they suddenly rushed at Xia Lei, raising their legs at the same time to kick at him.
Both had long legs, coolness and grace, and sexy hot bodies. This was a very nice sight but it was no joke to be caught between their legs. These women didn¡¯t y around!
Xia Lei dodged and fled as he tried to exin himself. ¡°I did this for our mission! Think about it - beautiful women garner attention wherever they go, and also get approached by men. These are all potential dangers! These potential dangers all go away when I make you two ugly!¡±
A hammer and a spanner came whistling from the back, nearly hitting Xia Lei in the back of his legs.
¡°See you tomorrow.¡± Xia Lei did not look back; he ran off in the blink of an eye.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan looked at each other in the workshop doorway, both with angry expressions on their faces. Xia Lei had made their faces quite ugly.
¡°Hey, if he made a mask for Shentu Tianyin, what do you think it¡¯ll look like?¡± asked Tang Yuyan for some reason.
¡°The prettiest type, I guess,¡± said Long Bing with a wry smile in the corners of her lips.
¡°Will he and Shentu Tianyin... get married?¡±
¡°Go ask him. Why¡¯re you asking me? I¡¯m not his mother,¡± said Long Bing in annoyance.
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips. ¡°No wonder you don¡¯t have a boyfriend. Who¡¯ll want you with that stinking attitude?¡±
Long Bing scoffed. ¡°You have a nice attitude but you still lost to Shentu Tianyin.¡±
Tang Yuyan was speechless.
-
Night descended. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s room was warm with love, and even the air was thick with loving.
¡°Open your mouth.¡± Shentu Tianyin moved a grape on a toothpick to Xia Lei¡¯s mouth and she pulled it back when he leaned forward to eat it, then put it in her own mouth.
Xia Lei looked at her, all smiles. Under the light, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s skin was pale as jade and she was as pretty as a fairy.
¡°Open your mouth. I¡¯ll really feed you this time.¡± Shentu Tianyin looked sincere.
Xia Lei opened his mouth obediently but the grape escaped his lips again just as it touched his tongue, and into Shentu Tianyin¡¯s pink mouth. He tried to grab it, but she escaped him.
Shentu Tianyinughed and said, ¡°Father called from Shaolin Temple. He said the Master looked at our stars and said we are a match made in heaven. He also calcted an auspicious date for us - the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. Um, what do you think?¡±
¡°The date the Master picked must be a good date. Let¡¯s get married on that day, then,¡± said Xia Lei.
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometres away, in a room in Shaolin Temple, Shentu Ren was smiling. ¡°Master, can you also calcte when I¡¯ll be able to hold my grandchild?¡±
The Master did his calctions. ¡°Nine monthster.¡±
Chapter 433 - Tang Yuyan’s Block
Ben Gurion International Airport, Jerusalem.
A man and two women pulled their suitcases towards the security checkpoint. These three were Xia Lei, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, and they hade from China. Xia Lei right now was not his usual handsome, eye-catching self. He looked like a normal guy who¡¯de to Jerusalem for work. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan also looked like middle-aged women in their thirties, not pretty at all - one could even say that they were a little ugly.
The faces of these three would not draw attention anywhere.
They went through the security checkpoint smoothly. Their passports had been forged very professionally and nothing wrong could be found with them at all. Their weapons were going to be delivered to them via special delivery channels and would not appear in their luggage.
Just as the three of them went past the security checkpoint, an Arabian middle-aged man was thrown to the ground by two Israeli inclothes policemen and taken away without having his crime cited to him.
Xia Lei was stunned, and he asked curiously, ¡°Did that person bring in something illegal?¡±
¡°You mean drugs?¡± said Tang Yuyan, ¡°The people here are all Jewish and they won¡¯t dabble in drugs. That Arab man won¡¯t try to sell drugs here even if he was desperate to make money.¡±
Long Bing spoke up too, ¡°Those two in inclothes are most likely members of Mossad. It¡¯smon for them to arrest Arabs, so it¡¯s nothing surprising. Regr Arabs will also have to go through hours of questioning at security checkpoints.¡±
Xia Lei gave a dryugh but said nothing. The war on this piece ofnd in the Middle East had raged for thousands of years and was still not extinguished, even today. This was a real battleground, and one had to adapt to the local tensions whening here.
The trio left the airport and took a taxi to the city of Jerusalem.
Tang Yuyan could speak Hebrew and she exchanged a few simple lines with the driver. Xia Lei sat quietly in the backseat, reading a Hebrew learners¡¯ book. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan sat on either side of him, and it was rather crowded.
Any one of them could actually just sit in the passenger seat in front but no one did. This was fairly interesting.
¡°Dabao, are you learning Hebrew like this? Can you actually learn?¡± Long Bing seemed to be discontent with Xia Lei¡¯s silence and pressed on him with her thigh.
¡®Dabao¡¯ was Xia Lei¡¯s name for this trip. His full name on his passport was ¡®Niu Dabao¡¯, an old-fashioned name which matched with his current drab self.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s new identity was ¡®Hu Meijuan¡¯ and Long Bing¡¯s new identity was ¡®Yang Xiaohong¡¯, names which were very in indeed and fit their current appearances very well.
Their purpose of travel on paper was for a holiday, and it was a very normal reason too, since Chinese tourists were travelling all over the world for their holidays.
On paper, Xia Lei was Tang Yuyan¡¯s husband and Long Bing was Tang Yuyan¡¯s cousin, making her Xia Lei¡¯s cousin-inw. This rtionship they had was simple and also very normal.
Yang Xiaohong spoke as a cousin-inw and Niu Dabao, her cousin-inw, buried his head in the book still, mumbling to himself. He seemed to be practicing pronunciation.
Long Bing was straightforward too. She reached out to Xia Lei¡¯s thigh and pinched hard.
¡°Agh! You...¡± Xia Lei red grumpily at Long Bing, then nced at the driver in front. He lowered his voice, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°Nothing, just wanted to disturb you,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Tang Yuyan leaned in too. ¡°Dabao, when are you and your fiance going to get married?¡±
¡°What are you asking this for?¡± Xia Lei looked at her, feeling a little awkward.
¡°What, I can¡¯t ask?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Of course you can. Why not? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll definitely send you an invitation when the timees.¡±
¡°So you think I¡¯lle if I¡¯m invited?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You haven¡¯t answered my question. When are you two getting married?¡± asked Tang Yuyan again.
It seemed like she would keep asking if he didn¡¯t answer. Xia Lei braced himself and said, ¡°Tianyin¡¯s father picked the date. The 29th day of the 12th lunar month.¡±
¡°Huh? So quick?¡± Tang Yuyan looked surprised. A strange look came into her eyes.
Long Bing joined in the discussion. ¡°It¡¯s because you made her pregnant, huh?¡±
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei had no more words.
Long Bingughed. ¡°You¡¯re quite a stud, huh? I didn¡¯t take you for one, Dabao.¡±
¡°Stop, stop!¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t take it anymore. ¡°Can we not talk about this? I¡¯m embarrassed and I¡¯m a man. You two are women! Don¡¯t talk about ¡®pregnant¡¯ or ¡®stud¡¯ - I feel embarrassed for you two.¡±
Long Bing reached out and pinched Xia Lei¡¯s thigh again. Tang Yuyan seemed to have caught the same virus too, and she, in a bad mood, reached out and grabbed hold of the flesh of Xia Lei¡¯s thigh in a pinch.
Xia Lei wanted to cry out but didn¡¯t dare to. His expression was quite the sight.
The Israeli taxi driver peeked in the rearview mirror and couldn¡¯t help smiling wryly. He felt like this Chinese man was quite the lucky dog, just that his two women were a little ugly.
Half an hourter, the taxi entered the city of Jerusalem. The three of them checked-in to a hotel. The hotel¡¯s name, when tranted from Hebrew, was ¡®Oasis of the Desert¡¯ and its architectural design was reminiscent of the ancient Jaffa style. It was not of a very high grade, but there were tourists from all over the world and few locals.
There was just one reason for picking this hotel, and that was that the expert group China had sent were in this hotel.
The three of them asked for two rooms. Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan in one room, and one room for Long Bing. There was no way around it. Shi Boren had decided on the identities before they¡¯d set out. Tang Yuyan was the wife and Long Bing was the cousin-inw. Xia Lei could not be in a different room from his ¡®wife¡¯ and he could not be in the same room as his ¡®cousin-inw¡¯, could he? It couldn¡¯t be helped but staying in the same room as Tang Yuyan was fairly awkward.
Tang Yuyan threw aside the luggage in her hand as soon as she entered the room andy t on the soft bed, groaning, ¡°Argh, I¡¯m so tired.¡±
Xia Lei scanned the room but he did not find any surveince equipment or listening devices.
¡°Dabao,e over here and massage my shoulders. I¡¯m sore,¡±ined Tang Yuyan.
¡°Yuyan, I...¡± Xia Lei did not move and he did notplete his sentence either. He wanted to say that he was already engaged and was soon to be married so he could not y around anymore. But if he did say it, it would be awkward so he could not bring himself to say it.
Tang Yuyan looked back and rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You have Shentu Tianyin now so you find me a bother, huh?¡±
These words were deeply resentful and carried discontent as well as a sourness. But Tang Yuyan¡¯s tone seemed to give off the impression that she was Xia Lei¡¯s ex-wife, and Shentu Tianyin was just the wife he had after her.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and forced himself to walked over. He reached out to give Tang Yuyan a massage.
¡®Marriage? Hah!¡¯ said a little voice in Tang Yuyan¡¯s head. ¡®Talk about it only after you get past me! Don¡¯t think you¡¯re the only one who can y mind games. I can too!¡¯
Xia Lei could not hear this little voice, of course. He was in a fairly sheepish state. ¡®I¡¯m actually having feelings and reactions I shouldn¡¯t have. This cannot be happening. If Tianyin knows what I¡¯m doing now she¡¯d be very unhappy, won¡¯t she? Whatever, I should stop here. If I keep massaging I might not be able to hang on and make a mistake.¡¯
Just as Xia Lei was thinking up excuses to end his ¡®free services¡¯, a knocking came from the room door.
¡°Cousin-inw, Elder Sister, are you two asleep?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice. ¡°It¡¯s me, Xiaohong.¡±
The smile hidden in the corners of Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth disappeared when she heard Long Bing¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei let out a silent breath of relief and took his hands off Tang Yuyan. He smiled and said, ¡°Meijuan, your Little Sister is here. I¡¯ll go open the door.¡±
¡°Ask her what she wants. If it¡¯s nothing, then get lost,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei froze in his tracks for a bit. This aggression... would it be better to ask for one more room at the reception desk?
Long Bing walked into the room without a word when he opened the door. Tang Yuyan climbed out of bed since it would be too impolite to keep lying down, and looked neutrally at Long Bing.
¡°What, did I spoil your fun?¡± said Long Bing. She saw the redness in Tang Yuyan¡¯s cheeks and neck. She was a woman too and she knew what reaction that was.
¡°No, don¡¯t be mistaken. We didn¡¯t do anything,¡± said Xia Lei hurriedly.
Tang Yuyan then opened her mouth and said, ¡°What is it? Go back to your room if it¡¯s nothing. I want to go to sleep.¡± She yawned widely after saying that and actually did look tired.
Long Bing shrugged. ¡°You really think you¡¯re here for a holiday? Don¡¯t forget our mission. We have to find some way to contact the expert group tonight.¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing. ¡°Tell me what you n to do then.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t I here right now to discuss it with you?¡± Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re the leader for this mission. You decide on the mission n.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Let¡¯s go have something to eat first. And can the two of you not fight?¡±
Chapter 434 - Connect
An outsider consultantmanding two Bureau 101 chiefs - this arrangement made it in to see how much importance the higher-ups had put on this mission. However, Xia Lei had his troubles as team leader too. Which one of his team members, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, could hemand to do things? What happened earlier was an example. He¡¯d been ordered by Tang Yuyan to give her a massage right after they got to their hotel room. He would be considered fortunate to not be ordered around with these two outstanding team members.
The three of them came to the hotel¡¯s restaurant as the sun went down, and the restaurant already had a number of diners. Tang Yuyan ordered food for them. Xia Lei observed their surroundings, not leaving any corner unscanned. Long Bing was doing the same but she could not reach Xia Lei¡¯s level of scanning, of course.
Some female Israeli soldiers walked into the restaurant when the waiter brought their food. The women were in military gear, and had plump, well-rounded hips and assault rifles across their backs. The assault rifles made Xia Lei¡¯s eyes light up because he recognised them. Those were thetest TAR-21 assault rifles from a coboration between IMI and Barrett, known for being the most advanced assault rifle.
If Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Gust assault rifle was to have a rival, then it would be this TAR-21.
Xia Lei had be more attentive of the industry after bing an arms dealer and entering the field. He would not miss the IMI-Barrett coboration product, of course.
¡®I wonder how far behind my Gust will leave this TAR-21 if I were topare them?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself. A faint smile appeared in the corners of his mouth.
The TAR-21 assault rifle had an effective shooting range of 300 to 600 metres, and could fire 700 to 900 rounds per minute. The initial bullet speed could go up to 960 metres per second. The Gust assault rifle had an effective shooting range of 500 to 800 metres, and was like a light sniper rifle. It could also fire 800 to 1,000 rounds per minute, and the initial speed was 1,100 metres per second. More importantly, Gust¡¯s recoil was only equivalent to that of a regr handgun!
There was actually no need topare guns - Gust had already left the TAR-21 in the dust.
Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei, then followed his line of sight to the female Israeli soldiers. She wrinkled her brows. ¡°Pervert. Aren¡¯t you ashamed, looking at their butts?¡±
Xia Lei looked away. ¡°What are you talking about? I¡¯m looking at their guns. That¡¯s the TAR-21 which was produced by the IMI-Barrett coboration. It¡¯s known as the world¡¯s best.¡±
Tang Yuyan lowered her voice. ¡°Oh, I nearly forgot you¡¯re already an arms dealer now. But can you dare say that you did not look at those girls¡¯ butts?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He did look but it was entirely a matter of course for a man to look at women¡¯s butts, wasn¡¯t it? Which woman hid her buttpletely out of sight when she went outdoors?
She was obviously finding fault.
Long Bing kicked Xia Lei lightly under the table and said quietly, ¡°There¡¯s no guarantee that there aren¡¯t any people of the Mossad or the CIA here. Be careful what you say; don¡¯t get discovered.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡±
The three of them busied themselves with eating and didn¡¯t chat further. They thought their own thoughts.
A few minutester, two men and a woman walked through the doorway of the restaurant. One man was in his early forties while the other was in his twenties. The older man wore a pair of ck-rimmed spectacles and looked quite bookish, like a learned man. The young man was fit and his eyes were alert, giving one the impression of danger. The woman was in her thirties and also wore spectacles. She had fair and clear skin, was gentle and quiet, and looked very much like someone in the secretarial line of work.
Xia Lei fixed his gaze on them out of the corner of his eye once those three walked through the doors.
These three people were who China had sent on the treasure-seeking mission. Dr Qin Changqing, Middle East expert, Dou Yong, Bureau 101 agent and Ma Li, archaeologist.
Xia Lei had all three of their profiles memorised before setting off from China. China had sent more people than these three to seek the treasure, but the rest of the people were probably still in their rooms. The group had most likely set shifts to take their meals so as to avoid attracting attention due to the size of their party.
¡°They¡¯re here,¡± said Tang Yuyan softly, ¡°They only know that people areing to take over the mission but don¡¯t know who. Let¡¯s eat slowly and wait for them to finish, then leave with them. We¡¯ll give them a signal on our way out.¡±
Xia Lei and Long Bing nodded.
Qin Changqing, Dou Yong and Ma Li sat at a table opposite, close to the windows. They ordered their food and while they waited, Qin Changqing and Ma Li discussed something in low voices. Dou Yong looked at all the people in the restaurant and his gaze swept over Xia Lei, Tang Yuyan and Long Bing, but he did not discover anything. He just nced at them and his gaze did not linger on them.
Xia Lei savoured his hummus and pita as he used his lip-reading ability to decipher Qin Changqing and Ma Li¡¯s conversation.
¡°The contact said the our side has sent a small mobile team to take over. This team is probably in Israel now but they have not made contact with us. It¡¯s so worrying,¡± said Qin Changqing.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, Dr Qin. The higher-ups must have sent the elite of the elite this time. We willplete our mission. That team hasn¡¯t appeared yet because they haven¡¯t arrived here - that must be it. Let¡¯s wait a while longer,¡± said Ma Li.
¡°I really hope nothing¡¯s happened to them. I¡¯ve been quite jittery these past two days, always worried that something will go wrong,¡± said Qin Changqing.
¡°Dr Qin, we¡¯re not from this line of work after all. I¡¯m worried too, and scared, but I believe we will be all right,¡± said Ma Li.
Just then, Dou Yongpleted his scan of their environment and he lowered his voice too. ¡°You two - don¡¯t discuss sensitive matters in this sort of environment. This is very dangerous.¡±
Qin Changqing and Ma Li shut their mouths.
Xia Lei understood something from observing that short scene. Qing Changqing and Ma Li obviouslycked the ability to be spies and their alertness was also extremely low. On the other hand, the Bureau 101 agent Dou Yong was quite experienced. This made sense, since the three of them had different jobs and statuses.
Over ten minutester, they finished their meal and exited the restaurant.
Xia Lei and his team paid their bill too and followed closely behind Dr Qin¡¯s group.
Dr Qin¡¯s group walked towards the lift lobby to take a lift up.
Xia Lei increased his pace and caught up to Dr Qin¡¯s group. As he brushed past, he said to Dou Yong, ¡°ZD, go to the stairwell.¡±
ZD - the initials for Emperor Yongle, Zhu Di. Thepass used for the treasure hunt had been made by Emperor Yongle, so the treasure-seeking mission was like a continuing mission from the Ming dynasty. That was why ZD had be the contact code for this mission.
Dou Yong froze for a millisecond before he reacted with a nod.
Qin Changqing and Ma Li heard the contact code too and they both looked at Xia Lei. However, Xia Lei had already brushed past them and was heading to the stairwell. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan followed closely behind him and they entered the stairwell first.
The six of them climbed upwards in the stairwell, one group after another.
Xia Lei stopped after climbing to the sixth floor to wait for the three people below.
Some hotel guests on the lower floors would choose to take the stairs so it was not a suitable ce to have a conversation. The guests on floor six and up would not normally take the stairs so the stairwell became the most ideal ce to talk. Most importantly, there were no cameras in the stairwell.
Xia Lei cut to the chase as soon as Dr Qin¡¯s group caught up. ¡°We¡¯re the team sent to take over. Tell me, what location did thepass point to?¡±
Qin Changqing nced at Dou Yong, as if asking for his opinion.
Dou Yong did not speak; he just looked at Xia Lei and the two ugly women behind him. He seemed to want to confirm the identities of these three people one more time.
Long Bing then reached out to pull her silicone mask off to reveal her real face.
¡°Long...¡± Dou Yong nearly called out her name but abruptly shut himself up. He then said, ¡°Dr Qin, there is no problem with their identities. You can tell them.¡±
Long Bing put her mask back on and adjusted it.
Qin Changqing was reassured and said softly, ¡°Thatpass brought us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We went to the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus and thought that it would be in the tomb but thepass pointed downwards. We racked our brains and found the architectural ns of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and discovered that there is no passage or hidden room underground. There is no way for us to continue in this situation.¡±
There truly was no way to proceed if the treasure was located in the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus. Who would dare defile that tomb?
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°You guys are sure that it¡¯s under the tomb of Jesus?¡±
¡°I¡¯m afraid so. We cannot guarantee it 100% but we are 70 to 80% sure about this. Honestly, we¡¯d even investigated the surroundings of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to no avail. Thepass keeps leading us to the tomb of Jesus. We would havepleted our mission and gone back to China long ago if it were another ce,¡± said Qin Changqing.
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit. ¡°Dr Qin, give me a copy of the architectural ns you¡¯ve acquired. I want to take a look.¡±
¡°No problem. Give it to him, Ma Li,¡± said Qin Changqing.
Ma Li opened her handbag and took out an envelope. She delivered it to Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
Xia Lei did not open it. He put the envelope in his trousers. ¡°You three go back to your rooms. Wait for further instructions.¡± So saying, he turned and left, entering the sixth floor corridor.
¡°He¡¯s...?¡± Dou Yong looked at Long Bing and asked tentatively.
¡°Don¡¯t ask. Go back to your rooms. Keep the number of times you¡¯re out at minimum,¡± said Long Bing.
Dou Yong nodded and left, taking Dr Qin and Ma Li with him.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan went out into the sixth floor corridor too, then entered the room shared by Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei took out the ns from the envelope andid them out on a small table. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan drew close too, standing on either side of him to look.
The drawings were old and several ces were nk due to damage. The lines on it were also not clear but it still provided an overall picture.
The drawings were notplicated and Xia Lei was soon finished with it. ¡°I can¡¯t see any leads from this. I believe Dr Qin and the rest have already pored over this a hundred times. They wouldn¡¯t be so helpless if they could find a lead from this.¡±
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°What do you n to do?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°We¡¯ll stay here for the night and go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre tomorrow to take a look.¡±
Long Bing did not move; she kept looking at the drawings.
Tang Yuyan looked at her. ¡°Hey, Cousin. Your room¡¯s next door.¡±
Chapter 435 - 3D Map
Long Bing left Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s room and Tang Yuyan even locked the door after closing it. Xia Lei was puzzled by her locking the door and also strangely nervous. He did not say anything, however. He knew that he would not get an answer if he asked and could even have an explosion go off in his face if he did.
Tang Yuyan turned back to him and took off her jacket. She was wearing a white cotton T-shirt.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei wanted to say something but he faltered and couldn¡¯t speak.
Tang Yuyan on the other hand was acting all natural and she quite efficiently got ready for bed.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know where to direct his eyes.
¡°You sure are a pervert. What are you looking at? What haven¡¯t you seen already in Moscow?¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. She acted naturally and was not the least bit shy, much less embarrassed.
¡°Hrrmm.¡± Xia Lei gave a dry cough and tried to defend himself. ¡°Can you me me for looking when you stripped like that? And that time in Moscow was an ident. I didn¡¯t do it on purpose; the zipper was of low quality.¡±
Tang Yuyan turned her mouth downwards. ¡°I want to go to sleep - are you going to stop me from taking my clothes off? Don¡¯t forget that we are husband and wife now. Husbands and wives sleep on a bed together. Don¡¯t tell me they still wear trousers and jackets in bed.¡±
Xia Lei groaned internally at this headache. ¡°That¡¯s... I¡¯d better sleep on the sofa. You sleep on the bed.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not sleeping with me?¡± Disappointment shed in Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes.
¡°How can I do that? You sleep on the bed, I sleep on the sofa,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips moved a little but she said nothing. Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin were engaged and she was a little bitter about that. She did have some intention to seduce Xia Lei and make him cheat on Shentu Tianyin but she had already gone this far and Xia Lei was still resisting, not refusing to budge. She was a proud woman too and she could not take the next step.
Xia Lei really did lie on the sofa. He then looked at the old drawings again. He had already memorised every detail of the drawings but he still put on an act, looking at it to distract himself.
Tang Yuyan climbed onto the bed and under the covers. ¡°Do you love her?¡±
Xia Lei knew she meant Shentu Tianyin. ¡°I do. Why would I propose to her if I don¡¯t love her? We met two years ago, went through some ups and downs, and now we¡¯re together. We treasure our feelings for each other,¡± said Xia Lei.
A bitter smile appeared in the corners of Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth. ¡°I can tell. I would actually kick you off the bed if you¡¯d agreed to sleep with me.¡±
Would she have done that? Xia Lei did not know the real answer to that.
Their conversation stopped again and the room filled with awkwardness and silence.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to thempshade on the bedside table - there was a small shadow in the light which came from themp. His left eye twitched and a miniature listening device inside thempshade appeared in his vision.
Xia Lei was filled with anxiousness. He stood and went towards the bed.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan grew nervous and her face flushed red. She had not expected Xia Lei to change his mind so suddenly ande towards her.
Xia Lei gave her a gesture to shush, and came to the bedside.
¡°D, Don¡¯t do anything hasty. I¡¯m not that sort of easy woman. If you want to, to do anything lewd, you.... You have to take responsibility!¡± Tang Yuyan grew increasingly nervous.
Xia Lei suddenly reached out and covered Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth.
Tang Yuyan froze, then reacted. She threw off the bedcovers in one move, revealing her beautiful body d only in underwear. One slender hand reached out like a wild bolt of lightning to grab hold of Xia Lei¡¯s belt.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei said in a low voice.
¡°Mmf?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth was still covered by Xia Lei¡¯s hand and she could not speak.
Xia Lei then reached out and took out the hidden miniature listening device from thempshade, then held it up before Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes.
Tang Yuyan stared nkly at it as she loosened her grip on his belt, then let her hand fall away.
Xia Lei looked a little more closely at the listening device; he found it familiar.
Tang Yuyan suddenly grabbed the listening device and screamed into it, ¡°Long Bing, you bitch! How dare you install a listening device next to my bed! You want to die? Get over here! Fight me!¡±
The listening device was not a speaker and Long Bing¡¯s voice could not be transmitted over it but she did not react to Tang Yuyan¡¯s anger. She was also definitely not going toe over to fight with Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was also at a loss for words. Long Bing actually installed a listening device in his and Tang Yuyan¡¯s room! Why would she do something like this? What did she hope to hear?
¡°Damn it, I¡¯m going to settle the score with her!¡± Tang Yuyan said as she made to get off the bed.
Xia Lei pressed down on her shoulders. ¡°Calm down. You want to expose us all?¡±
These words were like a ssh of cold water in Tang Yuyan¡¯s face and she came to her senses immediately.
Xia Lei saw her calm down and he slowly let go of her shoulders.
Tang Yuyan buried herself in the bedcovers and covered every inch of herself up. She¡¯d gone so far as to pull at Xia Lei¡¯s belt earlier and this happened! How could she feel any more embarrassed! She wished for nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow her.
Xia Lei said slowly, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, actually. I think she was just ying a prank on us and testing if we¡¯ll make any mistakes... Hush, now. I¡¯m going to sleep.¡±
Tang Yuyan stayed with the covers over her head.
In the next room, Long Bingyughing soundlessly on her bed. ¡°D, Don¡¯t do anything hasty. I¡¯m not that sort of easy woman. If you want to, to do anything lewd, you.... You have to take responsibility! Hahaha!¡±
It was surprising that she had this side to her, and it was hard for anyone to imagine her doing this.
But one thing was for sure - Tang Yuyan would have done the same if Long Bing shared a room with Xia Lei.
Early the next morning, Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan went out of their room and Long Bing came out of hers. Tang Yuyan red fiercely at Long Bing but Long Bing pretended like she knew nothing and smiled as she greeted them. ¡°Sister, Cousin-inw, good morning.¡±
Tang Yuyan kept ring at Long Bing, her eyes alight with fire.
¡°Let¡¯s get a bite to eat,¡± said Xia Lei quickly.
¡°Nn.¡± Long Bing shed a pouch in her hand at them and spoke in a low voice when she got to Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s side. ¡°I got the itemst night. We can go take a look around The Church of the Holy Sepulchre after breakfast.¡±
Xia Lei gave a slight nod. He knew that the item Long Bing was talking about was the Ming dynastypass.
¡°Humph!¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s foot descended on the back of Long Bing¡¯s leg. ¡°You deserve this.¡±
Long Bing just wrinkled her brows and made no other reaction. She said quietly, ¡°I actually did it for your own good. I don¡¯t want you two to make any mistakes. You guys have passed the test. Very good.¡±
¡°Go die.¡± Tang Yuyan wanted to kick her again, and harder.
Xia Lei hurriedly inserted himself between the two women, using his body to separate them, then took Tang Yuyan¡¯s and Long Bing¡¯s hands. ¡°Come,e. Let¡¯s go eat.¡±
The three of them walked out of the hotel and to a small breakfast restaurant for breakfast. They then went in the direction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre afterwards.
Qin Changqing and the treasure-seeking group did not follow. Long Bing had given them instructions to wait in the hotel.
Xia Lei was worried that Tang Yuyan and Long Bing would continue their spat on their way there and make things worse but he¡¯d been worried for nothing. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan soon went back tomunicating normally and evenughed once in a while. What had happenedst night did not affect their rtionship at all, since the two women were able to hand their lives to each other on the battlefield. What was the little prank fromst nightpared to this?
The three of them came to the centre of the Old City in half an hour. They could see the world-famous Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Jewish Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount all at once. This area of one square kilometre was the most sacred of three major religions in the world and was a historical miracle. All the stories of what happened on thisnd could not be finished in telling if one went on for a thousand days and nights.
Long Bing opened her pouch to look at thepass inside when they got close. ¡°Confirmed. It points here.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go in and take a look,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°No rush. Let¡¯s walk around before we go in. We¡¯ll be seeing the same thing Dr Qin and the rest have already seen if we go in now, and I¡¯m sure they¡¯ve taken more than one look around.¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing exchanged nces, then nodded in agreement.
Xia Lei led the two women on a walk around the streets surrounding the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As he walked, his left eye was at work like an X-ray camera, recording all the structures and internal structures of the buildings near the church. This entire area was like a 3D drawing to his eyes and no ce could hide its contents from him!
This was hugely energy-draining, of course. Xia Lei was exhausted after walking one round around the church. However, he was just physically exhausted and did not experience hallucinations.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were right by his side but they had no idea what he was doing. The female chiefs of Bureau 101 were observant too but they could only observe the overall terrain, and the pedestrians on the street.
Back at the main gates of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Xia Lei closed his eyes. His brain rendered all the images he had recorded with his X-ray vision into a model. It was a true 3D architectural map, and not of just one building but all the buildings around the church!
¡°What are you doing?¡± Tang Yuyan looked curiously at Xia Lei.
Her voice scattered the 3D map Xia Lei had in his head. He opened his eyes. ¡°Nothing. Let¡¯s go in and take a look.¡± He thought to himself, ¡®I¡¯ll go into the church and get the structure recorded in my X-ray vision. I can then make aplete 3D map of the ce in my head. I should be able to find the hidden treasure then, right?¡¯
Chapter 436 - Reunion of the Old Lovers
The great changes wrought by history and the sacredness of religion met the eye wherever one looked when they entered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Devout Christians knelt at the red marble which Jesus¡¯ body hadid upon, praying and wiping at marble with their clothing. It was said that doing so was like taking a bit of the blood of sacrifice Jesus had shed in suffering, and that it would bring good luck.
Several white sanctuarymps hung from the marble, shining with light. They belonged to the Franciscan, Greek Orthodox Church and Armenian Sects, and were known as the Light of Life.
Xia Lei walked over to the red marble after the person praying in front had moved off and knelt in pious prayer.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing exchanged nces, then knelt on either side of Xia Lei and prayed with him.
¡®I¡¯m not a Christian but I believe in your existence. If you can hear me, please bless my father and let him have peace. If he has sinned, please transfer that sin to me. Also, please bless my sister. She is a kind girl. Please bless my fiancee Shentu Tianyin, a kind woman.¡¯ This was not a very standard prayer but Xia Lei¡¯s heart was sincere.
When he was done praying, he also removed his jacket and rubbed it lightly on the red marble. As he did this, his left eye twitched and and his vision cut downwards like a knife through tofu, quickly going through the red marble and down.
Under the marble was a stone b, and under the stone b was dirt. His left eye could not see very deep down and he did not discover anything. He would have discovered something if there were anything hidden there but there was nothing there.
Xia Lei¡¯s line of sight went to the pouch Long Bing carried. He used his X-ray vision on it and saw the Mingpass, and where its needle was pointing. The needle was trembling violently.
¡®This looks like the item is hidden under this marble but I cannot see deeper down. How can we dig it out if it really is underneath?¡¯ Xia Lei frowned heavily. No one could dig here. If the item truly was here, then the mystery of the alloy and the bronze book would forever be unsolved. There was Princess Yongmei too. The mystery of her existence would sleep on, indecipherable.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan took off their jackets too and pretended to wipe at the red marble.
Long Bing opened her pouch, nced in, then closed it again. She said nothing and was very alert.
The three of them moved away from the marble and walked out of the area, then went up the stairs next to the church doors to the second floor. They then went on up higher to the Golgotha. That hill was sacrednd of the Christians, where Jesus was crucified. The trio were not going there to sight-see but to get to higher ground to have a view of the terrain.
Long Bing looked in her pouch again as they walked, then wrinkled her brows and said, ¡°Thepass is pointing to the ce we just exited. The item is most likely underground, beneath the church.¡±
¡°Is the needle still trembling?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s still.¡±
¡°This means the item really is down there. What now?¡± Tang Yuyan frowned worriedly too.
Long Bing nudged Xia Lei with her elbow. ¡°Hey, say something. Do you have any ideas?¡±
¡°None so far. Nobody¡¯s going to be able to dig it out if it¡¯s really down there.¡±
¡°Who buried it there?¡± Tang Yuyan said in frustration, ¡°He probably buried the item there because he thought no one would dare to dig it up, huh?¡±
¡°I¡¯d give him a good beating if he¡¯s still alive. He¡¯s brought us so much trouble!¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei said nothing, but Tang Yuyan and Long Bing¡¯s conversation sparked some thoughts.
¡®The ¡®Scared Heart¡¯ I gave to Tianyin is from the period of the Kings of Jerusalem. It ended up in Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb in the end. The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ming dynasty Princess Yongmei was from has a difference of 200 years, so the their timelines definitely did not intersect. Princess Yongmei made it her mission to use thepass to search for treasure, but did she ever go to Jerusalem?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were hopping. ¡®Wait... I forgot an important clue! The Church of the Holy Sepulchure was built by Emperor Constantine in 335 AD. It¡¯s much older than the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ming dynasty. Who would dare bury something in the sacred ground after Jesus wasid there? So this means... the item must have been buried before 335 AD!¡¯
Xia Lei seemed to have caught onto something there. This was a feeling, an inspiration like an author has before setting his pen to paper. This inspiration was blind but there was sure to be a reward if he went with it.
¡®Thepass is an item from the Ming Dynasty but the alloy is not an item from the Ming dynasty. Princess Yongmei went to Afghanistan in search of the alloy and obtained a piece. She also obtained Princess Siby¡¯s ne...¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought was still at full speed. ¡®But she died. The body which had been preserved in the coffin was very young. Unless... her death was rted to the alloy too?¡¯
Xia Lei was stunned by the thought as soon as he thought it.
This was his first time thinking about the cause of Princess Yongmei¡¯s death.
¡°What are you thinking about?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice, breaking his train of thought.
¡°A solution to the problem, of course,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m thinking... What are we going to arrange for Dr Qin and the rest if we need a long time to finish this? If we keep them at the hotel there will be too many people and it¡¯ll attract the attention of some people. I think they should stay at the embassy, or go back home.¡± After a pause, she said, ¡°Xia Lei, do you think they will be of help if we keep them around?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°I feel we don¡¯t need them. Let them go straight home.¡±
Tang Yuyan nodded. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll get them to go back to China after we get back to the hotel.¡±
What Xia Lei needed to do, be it looking for the treasure location or excavating it, did not require the presence of Dr Qin and the others, especially when it came to the dangers of excavating treasure and the alloy. He would not let Tang Yuyan or Long Bing interact with the alloy either, much less those experts. Keeping them here posed potential danger so it was better to let them return home earlier.
Up on the peak of the Golgotha, they could see the site of where Jesus had been crucified right away. Numerous Christians were in a line to touch the hole where the cross had been erected. There were many people but it was silent, and the whole area was soaked in a solemn atmosphere.
Xia Lei did not walk over. He stood on a piece of rock overlooking the church and its surrounding areas. As he observed these ces, the 3D map in his head appeared again. Hepared the two, detail by detail, looking for clues.
A few Christians walked away from Jesus¡¯ Cross and towards them.
A young, long-legged woman was in the group. She was Chinese, with dyed blonde hair. Her body was fairly sexy and eye-catching, especially those legs encased in tight jeans. Her legs were in a body ratio proportion of 3:2 - perfect.
The young woman looked at Xia Lei standing on the rock and she paused.
Xia Lei stopped using his power just then, and coincidentally looked over to see her.
Their gazes met. Xia Lei was stunned, while the young woman looked away from his gaze and kept on walking.
Then Xia Lei looked from her legs to her face, and his left eye twitched. His expression changed.
This woman was none other than Liang Siyao.
Liang Siyao¡¯s best feature was her pair of legs, and those legs had grabbed his attention just now. He knew everything about her, and he had caressed those legs countless times. He was indescribably familiar with those legs and it was this familiarity which prompted him to check her face, and see the hints of a disguise there. He had then used his X-ray vision to see past the mask and at her face below.
This all took ce in two to three seconds and was over in that time but the result of what he saw left him at a loss.
¡®Why is she here in Jerusalem?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Liang Siyao did not stop walking, and she slowly got further away, following the group. She did not look back but she had a sort of feeling. ¡®That person... he¡¯s a stranger, but why do I feel like he¡¯s very familiar and a nice guy? Why is his height and his body so simr to his?¡¯
Xia Lei could make a very realistic mask and change his appearance to another person¡¯s but he could not change his height or body shape. However, Liang Siyao did not have his X-ray sight; she was familiar with his body but she could not see his true face.
Liang Siyao looked back after walking about a dozen metres. She discovered that that man was still looking at her with a burning gaze. She then looked at the two women standing next to him, and found the body shape of one of them very familiar. She seemed to have thought of something in that instant and it shook her.
Long Bing¡¯s gaze went to Liang Siyao too, her eyes full of suspicion and wariness.
Liang Siyao looked away and quickened her steps; she did not look back again.
¡°That woman...¡± said Long Bing, ¡°Why do I feel like she looks like someone?¡±
¡°Like who?¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Never mind.¡± She changed the topic. ¡°Did you discover anything?¡±
Xia Lei did his best to chase away the Liang SIyao in his head. He was quiet for a bit before saying, ¡°I have a feeling that the ce we are looking for is under this hill.¡±
Tang Yuyan cut in. ¡°Under this hill? Isn¡¯t this more difficult excavate than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, it could be much simpler than what you¡¯re thinking.¡±
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan both looked at Xia Lei and spoke at almost the same time. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go back. I need a set of exploration equipment, a rubber suit, oxygen cylinders, searchlights and so on. It¡¯s best if these can be prepared for me as soon as possible,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing exchanged nces, their gazes equally puzzled.
Chapter 437 - Bloodbath
A few police cars passed on the streets, sirens ring.
Xia Lei nced at where the police cars were heading and a bad feeling suddenly crept into his heart. The cars were going in the direction of the Oasis of the Desert Hotel.
Liang Siyao turning up, the wailing sirens... these made Xia Lei uneasy.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing seemed to sense something too, and they grew a little nervous.
¡°It can¡¯t be... that something has happened to Dr Qin and the others?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Let¡¯s hurry over and take a look.¡± Tang Yuyan quickened her steps.
The three of them came to the street the hotel was on a few minutester. They kept their distance, not daring to get close. The police cars had stopped at the entrance of the hotel as expected, and all exits were blocked by the police too.
There were not just police officers but Israeli soldiers in military uniforms and unidentified inclothes forces. This was a big crime scene, and there was no need at all for so many people if they were going to be arresting normal criminals.
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°The worst oue is Dr Qin and the others getting discovered. The best we can hope for is that these guys are here for someone else and not them.¡±
¡°What do you think?¡± Tang Yuyan prodded Xia Lei in the waist.
Xia Lei was still positioned to look at the seventh floor of the hotel. He was looking for the rooms of Qin Changqing, Ma Li and the rest. Before he found it and could spy on their situation, however, a round of gunshots rang out from the hotel.
The police and Israeli soldiers guarding the doors and exits charged into the hotel when gunshots rang out. A few inclothes forces followed behind the police and the Israeli soldiers. Their movements were swift and they covered each other. They seemed to have a higher level ofbat training than the police and Israeli soldiers.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡®Could they be CIA agents?¡¯
Bang bang bang...
The gunfire in the hotel grew more intense.
Several people came sprinting out of the hotel, screaming. It was chaos.
Crash! A ss window on the seventh floor was suddenly shattered. A person plunged out of the window and smashed onto a police car. The roof of the police car caved with a boom, and the force of the impact shattered all the car windows. The person who hadnded on the car roof was a Chinese man all covered in blood. He was already dead.
Xia Lei, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan looked at the Chinese man¡¯s face at almost the same time and their hearts sank - he was Dou Yong, an agent of Bureau 101!
Something really had happened to the Chinese treasure-seeking group!
¡°They were fine before we came here but something happened after we got here.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s expression grew icy. ¡°Someone betrayed us and leaked our location!¡±
¡°Has our mission beenpromised?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s face paled, and an almost uncontroble fire kindled in her heart.
¡°Don¡¯t have hasty conclusions.¡± Long Bing appeared strangely calm. ¡°We have four agents protecting the treasure-seeking group. Only one is dead now and we haven¡¯t seen anyone take our people out. There might be a change in the situation.¡±
Her words seemed to be meant tofort Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan but neither of them believed that it would change for the better. There was nothing bad to say about the Bureau 101 agents - they were all patriotic men, willing to die for their nation. They would not reveal information on the secret mission of the treasure-seeking group. But the experts were another matter. They were not soldiers and had never undergone any sort of military training - they would all crumble straight away if they were questioned!
And once someone confessed, there was no keeping the ancient alloy a secret any longer!
Bang bang bang...
The gunshots went on in the hotel.
Xia Lei, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan wanted very much to charge in and fight, to help theirrades, but the importance of the mission weighed on their thoughts like a mountain, not letting them breathe, not letting them move.
Charge in and... what then?
There was no ¡®then¡¯. Xia Lei, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were not match for the Israeli soldiers and the Mossad even if they could take enemies on one-on-100. The final result could only be death, or capture, nothing else.
There was also a political reason. China had provided shelter for the Jews in World War Two, and the Jews were a people who knew to show gratitude. After the war, Israel helped China quite a bit in building up her national defence and were not stingy with their advanced technologies. The rtions between the two countries were quite good till this day and would probably be even better without the pressure from America. How could the three of them dash in and fight with the Israeli police and soldiers in this sort of situation?
No way.
But the feeling of watching one¡¯srades die was heartrending and absolutely torturous!
This torture soon ended and the sounds of gunfire ceased.
Someone shouted from the hotel lobby in English, ¡°Surrender! You have no way of escape. This ce has been surrounded!¡±
¡°Back away!¡± responded a person in the lobby in English, ¡°Or I kill him!¡±
The police and soldiers in the lobby backed out, then the inclothes forces. They had been thest to go in and thest toe out. One could tell that they would actually be the first on the frontlines when fights broke out.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on a bald man holding a megaphone and he recognised him right away. He had seen this man in Seoul. This man was the onemanding the CIA agents. Yelena had told him of this man¡¯s identity in Afghanistan. He was the director of CIA Middle East, Goodson.
Xia Lei immediately thought of Liang Siyao. She had turned up and Goodson too - this was not a coincidence. He could confirm a terrible thing once he saw Goodson, and that was that the CIA already knew that he hade to Israel and were putting their operation n in action.
As Xia Lei thought of all these, a young Chinese man walked out of the hotel doors, with a golden-haired man under his arm. He was covered with blood and heavily injured but his eyes were terrifying. He had his arm mped around the blonde man¡¯s neck and a gun in his other hand. The gun was pressed to the blonde man¡¯s head.
¡°Put the gun down!¡± Goodson tried to negotiate. ¡°You¡¯re injured and you need treatment. Put down the gun and we will get you treatment. I can guarantee that no one will harm you. You will get fair sentencing. If you have anything of value on you we can also make a deal with you. You know what I mean.¡±
Long Bing lowered her voice. ¡°He¡¯s named Wang Hai, from the other team. I heard he¡¯s a very filial son and his mother...¡±
She could not continue.
Xia Lei watched Wang Hai¡¯s face. Wang Hai¡¯s face was stained with blood but he looked inexplicably radiant in that moment. Xia Lei¡¯s heart was touched.
¡°Brothers!¡± Wang Hai suddenly shouted in Chinese. ¡°Leave first. I¡¯ll be right there! And our vige sheep have gone back to the sheepfold!¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Goodson could obviously not understand what Wang Hai had said but he could guess what Wang Hai was nning to do. Goodson roared, ¡°Put down your weapons! Don¡¯t be reckless! You¡¯ll die!¡±
¡°Pah!¡± Wang Hai spat blood on the ground. ¡°If I¡¯m going to die then I¡¯ll take a few of you with me!¡±
¡°You-¡±
Bang! A gunshot rang out. Wang Hai shot the blonde man in the head, then turned the muzzle of his gun to Goodson and fired.
Unfortunately, he was not able to fire once more. A bullet came flying from the side and hit his body.
Blood spurted and Wang Hai fell to the ground.
¡°Shit!¡± Goodson dashed the megaphone in his hand to the ground as he screamed, ¡°You useless pieces of trash! Not one captured alive! Search! Go search their rooms! We must find something!¡±
A few inclothes CIA agents rushed into the hotel.
Afterwards, two Israeli policemen carried out a body. It was a Chinese man too. Dou Yong had fallen on top of a car, and Wang Hai had been shot dead - add this corpse to the count, and three of the four Bureau 101 agents had perished. There was still one missing.
¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°Things could change.¡±
Xia Lei knew what change she meant. Three of the four Bureau 101 agents were dead and the whereabouts of the remaining one was unknown but the treasure-seeking group of experts had yet to be seen. There was one scenario which fit, and that was that the four Bureau 101 agents had sensed something and taken the experts to a safe location in time.
¡°Do you remember what Wang Hai said?¡± said Xia Lei thoughtfully, ¡°He said the sheep have gone back to the sheepfold. Isn¡¯t this a hint at something?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s voice was heavy. ¡°Should be. Let¡¯s leave this ce. I¡¯ll contact our intelligence personnel to confirm the situation.¡±
The trio left with hurried steps.
Xia Lei looked back when they got to the corner of the street.
Goodson stood in the main doorway of the hotel, looking left and right for something. Arge group of Israeli soldiers were cleaning up the scene and maintaining order.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze suddenly went to a group of spectators by the road, stopping on a young woman. That young woman was none other than the person he had met on Golgotha - Liang Siyao!
His heart filled with turmoil. ¡®Isn¡¯t Liang Siyao a CIA agent? She should be participating in the mission at this time but she¡¯s watching sneakily from the crowd. Has she left the CIA? Or does she have another mission?¡±
There was no way to find answers to these questions unless he asked Liang Siyao himself.
The three of them rounded the street corner. Long Bing took out her phone and made a call. She first said a chain ofplicated code and only spoke when the other party confirmed. ¡°Our situation is very dangerous. We need protection. Also, I need thetest intelligence.¡±
Xia Lei watched Long Bing speak. He could not hear the voice over the phone but he could guess that the person was arranging protection for them and giving her thetest intelligence. He was the team leader of this treasure-seeking mission but he did not have the right to use the intelligencework of Bureau 101.
Long Bing ended her call and said, ¡°We¡¯ll go to the intelligence station. The agent still alive is named Liu Qiang. He was the one who brought the experts to the intelligence station. The station received urgent news while we were at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and managed to inform them in time. They had no time to report to us and had immediately started on moving the experts.¡±
Xia Lei let out a long breath. ¡°This is good, this result. Otherwise our trip were would have to be cut short.¡±
Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re saying we still have a chance toplete our mission?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know how the CIA knew we had an expert team here but I believe that even if they had gotten some information, they don¡¯t know enough to know what the experts havee here for. The expert group was here for a long time so if they did make a move they wouldn¡¯t have waited for today,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Stop talking. Talk when we get to the intelligence station.¡± Long Bing stood by the road and waved for a taxi.
Chapter 438 - Jerusalem Intelligence Station
The intelligence station was in the New City of Jerusalem. Xia Lei and his group alighted from the taxi at a spot further away from the intelligence station and walked over to it. Its front was an adult shop run by a Chinese business. People normally stayed away from shops like these and people rarely paid attention to these ces, much less go in. One had to admit that this cover was very loud.
Xia Lei then found out that the expert group had been sent to the embassy when they got to the intelligence station. The embassy was just one street away from the intelligence station. The intelligence agents had already moved the experts to the embassy while Xia Lei and his team were hurrying over due to the urgency of the situation.
This was a very sensible move. The embassynd was practically the same as Chinese soil, and the Israeli people would not go in to investigate, much less arrest people. Considering Israel¡¯s current rtionship with China, it was also believed that the Israeli officials would not allow the Americans to enter the Chinese embassy andmit any crimes.
The agent who had brought the expert group to the intelligence station was named Liu Qiang. He had stayed behind and not followed the expert group into the embassy. He had stayed to report what had happened to Xia Lei and his team.
¡°We received the urgent news from the intelligence station and immediately started moving the members of the expert group.¡± Liu Qiang recalled the situation in a hidden underground room. He was still tense. ¡°At that time we had already discovered the activity of the Israeli soldiers and police in the area. And CIA. They should be the leaders.¡±
Long Bing gnashed her teeth. Her voice was cold. ¡°Continue.¡±
¡°Our n was to move them all together but the situation then did not allow for it. Dou Yong made the decision. He and the others stayed to draw the attention of the CIA and the Israeli, and to give me and the expert group a chance to escape. I led the group to the back door of the hotel and Dou Yong and the others broke the windows in the rooms, then fired at the sky. We managed to escape in time but they...¡± Liu Qiang could not go on. This man of steel had tears in his eyes.
¡°Don¡¯t be sad.¡± Tang Yuyan patted Liu Qiang on the shoulder. ¡°Their blood was not shed for nothing. CIA... I will make them pay ten times the blood price!¡±
Xia Lei looked at a middle-aged man in the room with them and asked his question. ¡°Mr Qiao, did you find out who leaked our location?¡±
The middle-aged man¡¯s name was Qiao Ping and he was the chief of the intelligence station. His rank was equal to Long Bing and Tang Yuyan¡¯s.
¡°I can¡¯t find anything. Things like this can¡¯t be found out quickly. It would be difficult to find outter too,¡± said Qiao Ping.
Xia Lei fell silent. He¡¯d actually thought of some people, like Mu Jianfeng, Ye Kun, or Gu Kewen. However, there was no evidence though these people were suspicious so he dared not jump to conclusions. Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, in particr, were suspicious. They both had the motive and motivation to kill him, but both were bosses of military enterprises and the risk of doing so was too great. Those two would not dare to take such a risk. That left Gu Kewen. She had joined the CIA not long ago, and her rank in China was not very high either. How would she be able to get this level of industry intelligence?
Xia Lei could not think of anyone else other than these three.
Just then, Qiao Ping let out a sigh. ¡°Good thing the expert group was moved in time and their mission details were not leaked, or there¡¯ll be no saving the situation.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°With all that¡¯s happened, I guess your mission has been cancelled. I¡¯ll arrange for you guys to go home.¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing looked at Xia Lei, waiting for his opinion. The higher-ups would not me them for returning since something like this had happened. Continuing the mission would be very risky but if Xia Lei wanted to stay they would follow and remain to apany him in carrying out the mission.
They could avoid danger if they went home but the mystery of the ancient alloy and bronze book would not be solved. This made Xia Lei hesitant. He thought for a bit. ¡°I want to stay andplete the mission. Mr Qiao, can you do me a favour?¡±
¡°What do you need me to do?¡± asked Qiao Ping.
¡°I need a map of the drainage system in Jerusalem Old City,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qiao Ping stared nkly. ¡°What do you need that type of map for?¡±
¡°To use it, of course,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°The older the better, for the map I want. Will you be able to obtain this?¡±
¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll go ask my people and see if they can get it.¡± He left the hidden room.
¡°Liu Qiang, go rest. You go back with the expert group when they go back to China,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°No, Chief Long,¡± said Liu Qiang. ¡°Let me stay andplete the mission with you. I don¡¯t want Dou Yong and the others to have sacrificed in vain.¡±
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°You decide.¡±
¡°Stay if you want. One more person means one more set of helping hands,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you,¡± said Liu Qiang.
Xia Lei did not say anything; he just nodded.
Qiao Ping soon returned to the hidden room, and he went straight to the point. ¡°Sorry Mr Xia. We have no way of getting you maps like that. But one of our intelligence officers¡¯ boyfriend works at the Jerusalem Museum and she goes in and out of there quite often. She says she saw a very old map in the archaeological section of the Jerusalem Museum. The map has the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on it and is simr in size to Jerusalem Old City. This might be the map you want.¡±
¡°Museum?¡± A bitter smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. He¡¯d just escaped from the tiger¡¯s jaws earlier and he had to go to a museum now - there really was no rest for the weary.
¡°Mr Xia, I do not rmend going to the museum and stealing the map. The security there is very tight. You know that this ce is in a constant state of war. ces like museums normally have military police and the Mossad guarding them. The Mossad in particr are very experienced and very difficult to shake off,¡± said Qiao Ping.
¡°No need to steal. I just need to take a look at the map,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You want to go now?¡± asked Qiao Ping.
¡°No, tomorrow. There¡¯s surely going to be arrests being made under martialw outside right now. It¡¯s too risky to go now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Good, then I¡¯ll arrange rooms for you,¡± said Qiao Ping.
About fifteen minutester, Qiao Ping led Xia Lei, Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Liu Qiang back to the surface, and up to the second floor of the sex goods shop. The underground rooms were for the intelligence station and this second floor was for amodation. However, there were just two bedrooms.
Qiao Ping opened the door of one of them. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll have to ask all four of you to stay in one room. My people and I will stay in the other room.¡±
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan frowned.
Liu Qiang then said, ¡°I¡¯d better stay in that underground room from earlier. There¡¯s a table there. Give me a nket and I¡¯ll be fine.¡±
Liu Qiang did not even want to think about sharing a room with two female Bureau 101 chiefs.
Xia Lei opened his mouth. ¡°Me too, I¡¯ll...¡±
Before he could finish, Tang Yuyan said, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t go. Stay with us.¡±
Xia Lei was very embarrassed but could not say anything.
Qiao Ping seemed to sense something was up and he quickly said, ¡°You guys go in and rest. Call me if you need anything. Oh, right, your weapons have been delivered. They¡¯re in the intelligence station. You can take them anytime.¡±
¡°We don¡¯t need them for now,¡± said Long Bing. These words were like an invitation for him to leave.
Qiao Ping and Liu Qiang took the hint and left.
Xia Lei braced himself and entered the room. He was in trouble as soon as he stepped through the doorway. Adult toys were all over this room - electric tools, realistic dolls, translucent lingerie, and nurse outfits, school uniforms and so on. Every toy imaginable was avable. The most outrageous was the wall by the bed, which was covered in long silicon shapes with electrical functions, in various colours, lengths and thicknesses. It was bedazzling.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were also so embarrassed they could die. The toys for female use made their faces and ears turn red. What made them even more embarrassed was that their minds were matching those tools to Xia Lei¡¯s body and those images were very shameful indeed.
¡°Um...¡± Xia Lei broke the silence in the room. ¡°This ce should be a product disy room, huh? Or a storage room.¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡± said Tang Yuyan crossly before muttering, ¡°Pervert.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged awkwardly and pretended not to hear it. He walked to the window and moved a corner of the curtains aside to look at the street below.
A police car went past, sirens ring. The policemen in the car were scanning the vehicles and pedestrians on the road with serious faces.
It was as he¡¯d guessed. The whole city was under martialw.
Zuu Zuu Zzuu...
A strange sound suddenly came from behind him.
Xia Lei looked back to see Long Bing bolt up from the sofa. A long-shaped tool behind her butt had been turned on by ident and had started buzzing with movement.
This was quite a funny thing but Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan were not able tough. The sacrifices of the three Bureau 101 agents weighed heavily on their hearts like three stones.
¡°Shit!¡± Long Bing grabbed the thing and threw it in the corner of the room, saying in shameful anger, ¡°How can anyone stay in this room?¡±
Tang Yuyan didn¡¯t retort as usual. She sighed. ¡°Just bear with it. We¡¯ll switch to another ce tomorrow.¡±
¡°You two sleep on the bed tonight. I¡¯ll take the sofa,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing exchanged nces. They did not speak but both knew that it would be impossible for anything to happen with three of them in a room.
In the time afterwards, Xia Leiy on the sofa and silently recalled everything he¡¯d seen. All the buildings and streets were swiftly modeled in his head, and his thoughts flew about Jerusalem Old City like a bird, looking for something.
In the afternoon, Xia Lei got to a notebookputer and used the Google search engine to search for information on the Jerusalem Museum. He clicked on site after site and remembered all of their content.
If that Jerusalem Museum really had an ancient map, he needed to look at it just once to memorise it. He did not need to steal it. That was why it was not difficult to carry out his n in the museum. The only danger was that he needed to avoid the Mossad and the CIA.
At night, Long Bing and Tang Yuyany on the bed to sleep and Xia Lei slept on the sofa, perfectly safe. However, sleeping in the same room, full of messy, interesting things, as two women was a very strange experience indeed.
That night, Xia Lei had a dream. He dreamt that Shentu Tianyin had given birth. Heughed loudly, and told the child to ¡®call me Daddy¡¯.
A slipper and a pair of women¡¯s trousers then descended on his head...
Chapter 439 - From Shanghai
Early next morning, Xia Lei led the two women out of the door. They took a regr taxi to the Jerusalem Museum.
Police cars zoomed past every so often on their way to the museum, making the trio inexplicably nervous.
Liu Qiang wanted to go too but Xia Lei refused. Liu Qiang was to stay at the intelligence station and be on standby to drive over and pick them up. The car he was to drive had their weapons loaded onto it - three XL2500 sniper rifles, one Gust assault rifle.
Xia Lei had his considerations too when refusing to let Liu Qiang participate. The expert group had been exposed and Liu Qiang had stayed at the hotel for a long time so the hotel surveince cameras had taken who knows how many shots of his face. It would be a terrible decision to take Liu Qiang to the museum with them under these circumstances.
They got out of the taxi and went into the museum, straight to the archaeology section. The full name of this ce was the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Archaeology Wing, which was a mouthful indeed.
Xia Lei spotted surveince cameras and rms everywhere, as well as security personnel on his way to the map. It would be impossible to steal anything from this ce even if he and Qin Xiang were to work together. Fortunately, he just needed to take a look at that ancient map.
A bookish, bespectacled girl came up to them in wee when they entered the archaeology section. She greeted them softly, ¡°It¡¯s me. Come with me.¡±
This girl was the one Qiao Ping had mentioned. Her name was Duan Ningning, and she was the one who had given them the information on the map.
They followed Duan Ningning deeper into the museum. They did not go fast, and pretended to admire artifacts as they walked. This museum had almost 6,000 artifacts in it. Most were rted to religion and every artifact had a small description of the history of the item behind it.
Xia Lei quickly spotted the ancient map with the help of Duan Ningning. It was actually not one piece but some pagesbined. The material of these pages was treated animal skin, and it had been treated so that it would not corrode but the passage of time had fused these pages together and it was impossible to separate them. Only the top piece could be seen clearly.
Next to the bulletproof ss disy, Duan Ningning whispered, ¡°This is it. They say it was already like this when they excavated it. There¡¯s no way to peel it apart, but good thing the top piece can still be read clearly. Have a look - is it the type of map you wanted?¡±
Xia Lei had had his gaze fixed on the map in the disy from the time he saw it. The map was indeed of Jerusalem Old City and was ancient. Who knew how old it truly was.
The ancient map had a drawing of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on it but there was no drawing of the Dome of the Rock, unfortunately.
This discovery made Xia Lei¡¯s estimate of this map¡¯s age go up by a huge margin. ¡®The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built by Emperor Constantine in 335AD while the Dome of the Rock was built between 687 and 691 by the Ninth Caliph Abdul Malik. There is a difference of over 300 years between the two structures. This map has no drawing of the Dome of the Rock, so that means it was made not long after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built, and is at least 1,600 years old.¡¯
Tang Yuyan spoke, ¡°This map is very old and it¡¯s not detailed either. Useless.¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. His left eye focused on the map behind the ss case and it twitched. His X-ray vision prated the ss andnded on the map, and the ancient leather slowly disappeared, revealing the hidden drawings below.
The second piece of the map had no buildings on it but it had some thick, ck lines, and notes written in Hebrew.
Those lines, and those Hebrew words... Xia Lei¡¯s brain went into explosive overdrive, pulling out thousands of Hebrew words. His thought processes sped up simultaneously,paring those Hebrew words. It was tranting!
Xia Lei¡¯s current brain capabilities were such that he did not need to go through gruelling learning of a minoritynguage. He just needed to read a dictionary of thisnguage and he could trante everything from thisnguage. This right now was an example. He did not actually know Hebrew but he could trante it at a nce as long as it was in Hebrew.
Xia Lei was now like a machine tranting system after his brain evolved. There would be gaps in content forrge amounts of text, of course, and be quite messy, but short phrases and sentences were no problem.
Xia Lei filled with excitement after he tranted the Hebrew writing. ¡®I found it! It¡¯s the drainage system of ancient Jerusalem! There¡¯s a drainage pipe under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre!¡¯ After a pause, he thought, ¡®Wait, there¡¯s a total of three pieces stuck together. What¡¯s on thest piece?¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye kept going, and the second piece disappeared.
Xia Lei was staring hard at the map behind the ss disy, as if possessed. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan could not help exchanging looks. The two women¡¯s eyes were filled with curiosity and iprehension.
¡°Hello? Did you find something?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°Is he out of it?¡± came Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice.
Just then, two uniformed security guards came walking towards them. One of them was talking into a walkie-talkie.
Duan Ningning grew nervous. ¡°Leave, quick. We¡¯ve attracted attention.¡±
Xia Lei still stood before the ss disy, unmoving, unblinking. The him right then seemed to be held in ce by something, and there was no shaking it off.
Long Bing gave Xia Lei a push but there was still no response from him. He seemed possessed.
Tang Yuyan made a quick decision. ¡°Miss Duan, go. We¡¯ll take care of this.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s rank was much higher than Duan Ningning¡¯s and she did not hesitate; she turned and left.
The two security guards came over and one of them spoke in English. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
Long Bing answered in English, ¡°Nothing, just looking at artifacts.¡±
As Long Bing held the two security guards off, Tang Yuyan stomped hard on the back of Xia Lei¡¯s leg and hissed, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. He closed his eyes and shook his head gently.
¡°Are you all from China?¡± asked a security guard.
¡°Yes, we like Israel. Is there a problem?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Please let us have a look at your passports,¡± said the security guard.
¡°Why?¡± Long Bing wrinkled her brows.
¡°There is no ¡®why¡¯. Just a routine check,¡± said the security guard, then he added, ¡°Hurry up, don¡¯t cause trouble.¡±
This seemed to be a warning.
Long Bing was about to show their passports when Xia Lei walked up to them with a smile. ¡°Hello, gentlemen, would you like to be friends? We are all Chinese, from Shanghai. You know Shanghai?¡± He then cleared his throat and uttered a phrase of gibberish Shanghainese. ¡°Wir ol¡¯ fwiendz o a.¡±
That horrendous rendition of Shanghainese made Long Bing want to kick him. But she was impressed by his quick thinking.
The German Nazis had persecuted the Jews in World War Two and not everyone had been willing to provide shelter to the Jews. China had provided shelter. There was a settlement of Jews in Shanghai with a number of Jews who had taken refuge there. There were still Jewish survivors now who go to Shanghai to express their gratitude to the Chinese who had helped them. Xia Lei talked about Shanghai and pretended to be Shanghainese because of this.
Sure enough, a smile appeared on the face of one of the security guards when he heard that they were from Shanghai. ¡°Sir, I know Shanghai. My grandfather and grandmother lived in Shanghai for a while. Thank you for the help that they¡¯ve been given.¡±
¡°Oh my, what a coincidence,¡± said Xia Lei with augh. ¡°My grandparents helped a good many Jewish people. My grandma often tells me what a tough time the Jewish people had. She is a very kind soul. She doesn¡¯t even bear to eat the eggs she collected from chicken nests - she gave them all to the Jewish people.¡±
¡°Your grandmother is a noble woman.¡± The security guard talking to Xia Lei drew close and gave Xia Lei a grateful hug.
After the hug, Xia Lei asked probingly, ¡°Sir, we¡¯re being blocked by the police on the streets too and had our passports checked. They also asked a lot of questions. I don¡¯t feel very weed as a Chinese person. Is this the case?¡±
The security guard who had hugged Xia Lei quickly waved his hands and looked apologetic. ¡°No, it¡¯s not like that, Sir. It¡¯s because of an attack yesterday. The higher-ups have instructed us to check the identification of suspicious-looking Chinese people and ask them their reason foring here. It¡¯s not something we Israeli want to do, it¡¯s...¡±
¡°It¡¯s?¡± Xia Lei actually knew the answer already.
¡°Oh, never mind. Carry on with your sightseeing. So sorry for disturbing you.¡± The security guard who¡¯d hugged Xia Lei gave his colleague a look, and they moved off.
¡°Yer gawta koem to Shanghai fer sigh-ceeing!¡± called Xia Lei.
The two security guards turned back with smiles, and seemed quite friendly. However, Xia Lei¡¯s Shanghainese was Greek to them.
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°What the hell was that? Shanghainese? It¡¯s making my skin crawl.¡±
¡°Have they heard Shanghainese? If I say it¡¯s Shanghainese then it¡¯s Shanghainese,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re clever. Those two were following orders, and these orders are probably from the CIA,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Let them do their search. We focus on our own task. I¡¯ll settle the score with them after we excavate the items,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing was surprised. ¡°What have you discovered?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll tell you on the way.¡±
Earlier, he had looked past the second page and seen more of the ancient and mysterious contents of the map. What was written there was probably something even the Israeli archaeology museum did not know.
Chapter 440 - Secret of the Map
The third leather page of the map had an ancient tomb marked on it. It was a triangr-shaped tomb, very much like an Egyptian pyramid yetcking the characteristics of a pyramid. There was no description of the area of the tomb so Xia Lei did not know if it was arge tomb or if it was just a small, ordinary tomb. What he could confirm was that it was located under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and under the ancient drainage system.
There were three pieces to the map. The first was the surface map of Jerusalem Old City, the second of the underground drainage system and the third was a drawing of a tomb. These three pieces looked like three separate pieces with no ovepping details but if one took away the leather it was drawn on and the descriptions, it was a basic 3D map!
People of ancient times had noputers to make 3D models, but ovepping three different pieces together also reached about the same result. The ancient Jews had to be admired for this ingenuity.
If all the modern day scientific equipment could separate the three fused leather map pieces, the Israeli archaeologists would have gone to excavate that tomb long ago. Unfortunately for them, Xia Lei was the only one who could use his ability to see the information on second and third pieces.
The sunlight washed over their faces, warming them as they walked out of the Jerusalem Museum. Xia Lei¡¯s mood matched the weather - bright, sunny, and clear with a light breeze. The best weather. He was in such a good mood because he saw some hope in solving the mysteries of the alloy and the bronze book.
The answer could well lie in that tomb. This was a tomb which Princess Yongmei did not yet get to and it was now just one step away for him. It was right within reach - how could he not be excited?
¡°What are you smiling about?¡± Tang Yuyan wrinkled her brows. Xia Lei had been behaving very erratically recently and she was a woman who was already curious about him. Her brain was already full of the various problems and doubts she had about Xia Lei.
Long Bing kept an eye on Xia Lei too, and observed him. She, like Tang Yuyan, felt that Xia Lei was not acting like his usual self.
¡°Say something,¡± said Tang Yuyan in dissatisfaction. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯ll tell us? We¡¯ve left the museum now. Long Bing and I are waiting for you to talk.¡±
Long Bing nodded. The two dissenters seemed to finally be on the same page.
Xia Lei then said, ¡°Jerusalem Old City does have an ancient drainage system underground, and part of it goes under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. So we just need to find the entrance to that drainage system and we can get to the area beneath the church.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan said in surprise, ¡°How do you know that there¡¯s an ancient drainage system under Jerusalem Old City?¡±
¡°I looked at the map,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Didn¡¯t you guys see the map? There were hints on it.¡±
Tang Yuyan could not help looking at Long Bing. ¡°Did you see any hints?¡±
Long Bing tried her best to recall the contents of the map but she had not looked long at it and didn¡¯t know Hebrew. There was no way she could tell if there were hints. She shook her head. ¡°No.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°You can go take another look if you want. I¡¯ll wait for you.¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing did not move. They were doubtful but could not think of any exnation for why Xia Lei would know about a drainage system other than what he¡¯d told them.
¡°All right, let¡¯s go back,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I need a set of protective equipment for tunnelling, and some digging and archaeological equipment. Get these for me as quickly as possible.¡±
¡°A set? You mean you¡¯re going to enter that drainage system alone?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Yes, alone,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing cut in, ¡°No, I¡¯m not letting you go in alone. You can get Yuyan to wait outside and act as lookout but I must go in with you and search.¡±
¡°What do you mean by that, Long Bing?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s pretty face darkened with anger. ¡°Why not you stay outside and I go in with Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Okay, okay, stop fighting.¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You two can go in with me too but let me tell you that you two must remain outside if we discover a tomb underground; noing in with me. You know that this is a very dangerous thing. Those experts who¡¯ve died and gone mad are proof.¡±
¡°But you¡¯re fine?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei could not exin that.
¡°Whatever. We¡¯ll see when we get there,¡± said Long Bing.
A pickup truck came to a remote section of the edges of Jerusalem Old City in the afternoon. Liu Qiang was driving and he drove off after letting Xia Lei and his team out.
All three were carrying arge travel bag each, looking like backpackers.
Xia Lei looked around, then went to a manhole cover by the road. He used a crowbar to open the manhole cover, revealing a rusty irondder below. A terrible moldy smell wafted out of the manhole and Tang Yuyan and Long Bing wrinkled their brows.
¡°You sure it¡¯s here? This looks like it¡¯s been built recently. Is this the entrance you found?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes were full of doubt.
¡°What¡¯s with all the questions. Come with me.¡± So saying, Xia Lei grabbed hold of the rustydder and climbed down.
Long Bing followed closely after.
Tang Yuyan was thest to go down. She reached out and pulled the manhole cover as she descended, covering the manhole.
Crack! A light stick was lit and a green glow illuminated this section of drainage system. There was no water below, just some dirty refuse deposited by sewage. The horrible smell came from this; there was a rotting rat in it.
¡°Gross! How did it die here? Eek!¡± cried Tang Yuyan as her hair stood on end.
¡°Weak,¡± muttered Long Bing. ¡°The youngdy of the Tang sect is weak. It¡¯s just a dead rat, not a dead person. Even if it was a person, you¡¯ve killed more than a few yourself. Are you afraid of dead people?¡±
Tang Yuyan really wanted to smash her fist into Long Bing¡¯s nose. She¡¯d put on a helpless and feminine act to attract Xia Lei¡¯s attention but Long Bing was messing with her act - that bitch!
¡°Really, you two? Fighting on the surface and here too? Were you two married in a past life?¡± Xia Lei took out the equipment from his travel bag as he spoke.
There was a lot of equipment in the bag. One set of waterproof clothing, waterproof shoes and a small oxygen bottle, enough for two hours. There was also a knife, tools, a hammer, a copsible military grade shovel and the like, dozens of them. One big pile of them. Additionally, there was also a handgun manufactured by Thunder Horse Military Factory, two magazines and the pre-loaded magazine, totalling 30 rounds.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing did not continue their fight. Fighting to them was just a habit and they felt a little unnatural if they did not engage in a fight. They started unpacking their bags too and took out their equipment one by one. They had the same items as Xia Lei.
Xia Lei changed into the rubber clothing.
Sounds of rustling and squeaking came from behind him as the women got changed too and Long Bing¡¯s voice then said, ¡°We¡¯re done. You can turn around now.¡±
Chapter 441 - Ancient Drainage System
They followed the drain to the Old City and there was sewage in the drains. It was the city sewage, ck and horrendously smelly. Xia Lei was still all right but Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were past their limits.
¡°How much further?¡± asked Tang Yuyan, frowning. ¡°You sure this is the right way?¡±
¡°This drain is obviously modern. How can it be part of an ancient drainage system? Xia Lei, review your route - could we have gone the wrong way?¡±
Xia Lei turned back to the two women and said with a smile, ¡°You can return to the surface if you can¡¯t take it anymore. I can go on by myself.¡± As he spoke, his eyes were uncontrobly drawn to their beautiful legs.
The rancid sewage water had stained their knees and the thighs above the water line were like lotus stalks. Lotus buds sat between these stalks, the shape and outlines of petals in to see, and very clearly too.
Tang Yuyan put both her hands between her legs to block the sight. She said fiercely, ¡°You¡¯re a pervert. Keep looking and I¡¯ll gouge your eyes out.¡±
Long Bing reacted in a more exaggerated fashion. She put the torchlight in her hand between her legs, shining the light from there to Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
¡°Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re almost there.¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly and looked away. He continued leading the way.
After advancing for about a kilometre, Xia Lei stopped. This section of drains did not have sewage and was fairly dry. It was not far off from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, roughly a kilometre away.
This part of the sewers ended in a cement wall. There was a metaldder on this wall and a rusty manhole cover at the top of thedder. There was no way forward.
¡°So it was the wrong way.¡± Tang Yuyan looked depressed.
Xia Lei took out his hammer and walked to the foot of the wall. He swung hard and struck at the base of the wall.
Bam! A great thud echoed throughout the drains, going far and wide.
¡°Be careful. People outside may hear what¡¯s happening here,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°A building is on top of us and we¡¯re three metres below the surface. No one¡¯s going to hear us,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing did not believe him. She went around Xia Lei and grabbed the metaldder, climbing upwards. She went up to the manhole cover to listen for sounds outside but heard nothing. She then reached her hand out to push the manhole cover outwards. The cover did not budge. It was like a mountain was pressing it down.
There was a thick metal cover on top but Xia Lei had already checked the situation outside with his X-ray vision. There was a metre of concrete above that cover and no one could move it.
Long Bing¡¯s buttocks were right above Xia Lei¡¯s head, about three inches away. The rubber clothing wrapped her lovely buttocks tight, so tight it was like she was wearing nothing. There was a deep groove and those plump, luscious ups and downs which sat temptingly, unobtrusively, in his line of sight.
Long Bing obviously had no intention to seduce Xia Lei or anything but he was stimted by the sight still and a tent formed in a certain part of his clothing.
Tang Yuyan suddenly shone the light of her shlight in his eyes.
Xia Lei knew why she was doing this and said nothing; he bent his head and continued hitting at the wall.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Xia Lei¡¯s hammer fell again and again, dancing with a rhythm, with strength.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were the ones staring now. The buns of Xia Lei¡¯s muscled butt were wrapped nicely in his rubber suit and his movements made his muscles ripple, especially in certain ces. These made the two women stare in admiration, and be a little dumb with awe.
The wall was not thick and there was hollow brick behind the thinyer of cement. Every hit of Xia Lei¡¯s hammer broke a brick, and he quickly knocked a hole roughly one metre in diameter in the wall. Whaty behind the wall was dirt. Very dry dirt.
¡°Ha, you were just bluffing,¡± said Tang Yuyan mockingly. ¡°There¡¯s no way through. I say, Comrade Xia Lei, do you n to dig a tunnel under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? How long do you n to dig? A year, or two?¡±
Xia Lei put down the hammer and took the foldable shovel from his bag. He started digging.
¡°You really...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei¡¯s butt and she didn¡¯t say more.
Long Bing jumped down from the metaldder and stood behind Xia Lei, blocking Tang Yuyan¡¯s line of sight. ¡°Want me to help?¡±
Xia Lei did not look back. He kept digging as he said, ¡°No need. I¡¯ll be done soon.¡±
¡°Done soon?¡± Long Bing thought she was hearing things.
Sure enough, ten minutester, Xia Lei¡¯s shovel struck the dirt and a hollow sound came from it. He swung his shovel again, hard. Boom! The wall of earth before him copsed, revealing an inky-ck cavity.
Tang Yuyan drew close and shone the light in the hole. The white light shot forth, chasing the darkness away. Behind the dirt wall was an ancient drainage ditch, almost two metres high and 1.5 metres wide. The walls and domed roof were made of stone and the floor was made of mortar bs.
There was no sewage in the ditch and the ground was very dry. There were several ck marks and residual sediment on the bs, and who knew how old they were. The drain went straight on, and there as no end in sight. Every stone brick and every stone b seemed ancient.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan gave Xia Lei an odd look, and paused for quite a while before saying, ¡°How did you know that there¡¯s a passage behind the wall?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡± Long Bing snapped back to her senses, though still surprised. ¡°It¡¯s like you can see what¡¯s behind the dirt.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°If I had that power then won¡¯t I be able to see your bodies at a single nce, with you two wearing that? Wow, if I did have this sort of power then won¡¯t all the pretty girls on the streets be naked to me? Haha!¡±
¡°Bah, a pervert¡¯s still a pervert.¡± Tang Yuyan huffed, her face red. ¡°Dream on. No one on this Earth has that sort of ability.¡±
Xia Lei put his smile away. ¡°It¡¯s that map. The entrance was marked on the map. I remembered this entrance so I brought you here. You can go to the museum to look at the map if you don¡¯t believe me.¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing exchanged nces. They had that feeling again; their intuition told them that matters were not so simple but they could not find any other exnation for it. No matter how they spected, however, they would not believe that Xia Lei could see behind the dirt, and that he could see through their clothing.
Xia Lei put his tools away. He was the first to enter the ancient drainage system.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan followed. They were full of doubt but this was not the time to be getting to the bottom of it.
Xia Lei mulled over a little question as he walked before the two women. ¡®How would they react if they knew I have X-ray vision and that I can see through their clothing? Will they hit me?¡¯
He had already seen through their clothing, just that he wouldn¡¯t tell anyone.
After walking for roughly a kilometre down the ancient drainage, Xia Lei stopped in his tracks and said, ¡°Long Bing, take out thepass. We¡¯re almost there.¡±
Long Bing took thepass out of the travel bag and held it in her hand. The needle of thepass trembled violently, reacting the same way it had yesterday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Xia Lei looked at it and said excitedly, ¡°It¡¯s here. We¡¯re already here.¡±
Tang Yuyan raised her head to look at the domed roof of the ancient drainage system and said, ¡°You mean we¡¯re already under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes. To be exact, we are now standing under the red marble where Jesus wasid to rest.¡±
Long Bing looked down at the stone b beneath her feet. ¡°Is the ce we¡¯re looking for under our feet?¡±
¡°Right under our feet. Let¡¯s get to work. We need to dig through this drain,¡± said Xia Lei.
The three of them took their bags off their shoulders and took out their various equipment to dig.
There was mortar between the stone bs and this ancient ¡®mud¡¯ was still very hard even though it was over a thousand years old. Shovel and hammer struck at stone and sparks flew as the sound of metal rang out. However, the drainage canal was sloping downwards and their current position was about ten metres from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre above them. The people above could not hear a peep from them.
Pounding, lifting, trembling... lots of jiggling. Xia Lei had his jiggling and Tang Yuyan and Long Bing had their jiggling which were miles better to look at than Xia Lei¡¯s jiggling. Tang Yuyan and Long Bing¡¯s breasts didn¡¯t seem to get any rest from swaying and jiggling, from what Xia Lei saw. He couldn¡¯t help worrying that their breasts would jiggle all the way to the floor and roll far off like rubber balls. And their buttocks. Every movement brought a bit of an electrical shock, like fine ripples moving up and down. Between their legs too. The shaking there was very small but still discernible, especially for Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
Man and women working togetherplemented each other well.
Maybe it was because Tang Yuyan and Long Bing had started to like the clothing they were wearing, or perhaps it was some other reason, but they did not say anything - they just kept looking at Xia Lei once in a while as they worked.
They moved the stone b aside and dug up the earth below. The two piles of dirt on either side of the hole grew as they dug deeper. Two hourster, a pit roughly two metres was formed but there was still no end in sight.
¡°How much longer do we need to dig?¡± Tang Yuyan wrinkled her brows. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to move the dirt up to the top if we keep digging.¡±
Long Bing also threw the shovel in her hand to the ground defeatedly and sat on the dirt. ¡°I¡¯m hungry. Let¡¯s take a break. Eat something, then keep digging.¡±
¡°You two go up first. I¡¯ll be right up after I dig some more,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan looked at the dirt which stretched up above her head and thought for a bit. ¡°It¡¯s so high up. I can¡¯t climb. You be a stool for us.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei made a face. ¡°You¡¯re the youngdy of the great Tang sect. This pit is only about two metres deep - you can¡¯t climb out?¡±
¡°Rubbish. Would I still need you to be a stool if I can climb out?¡± Tang Yuyan pressed down on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder before he could respond, moving to climb up using his body.
¡°All right, all right, I¡¯ll act as a stool for you guys.¡± Xia Lei did not want to quibble with her and he bent.
Tang Yuyan climbed onto Xia Lei¡¯s back, but she was not in a position of higher up in a horse-riding position. She gripped Xia Lei¡¯s waist between her thighs as she said, ¡°Hey, help me get up.¡±
Long Bing got to her feet and jumped to step on Xia Lei¡¯s butt. Xia Lei fell to the ground before she could reach out and grab the edge of the pit, and the three of them fell in a tangle, one pressing on another, another pressed up against another, legs around waists and a head between breasts...
The pit contained a scene which would have to be censored if shown on television.
Chapter 442 - Ancient Corpse in Stone Coffin
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing sat by the pit, eating and watching Xia Lei toil in the pit. Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks became their focal point.
¡°Men wearing these type of bottoms are so ugly,¡±ined Tang Yuyan as she chewed on an energy bar.
¡°It¡¯s still not yours even if it¡¯s ugly,¡± said Long Bing evenly.
Tang Yuyan bit into the energy bar and gave Long Bing a fierce look.
A dull thud suddenly came from the pit. Tang Yuyan and Long Bing both looked at the pit and saw that a brown stone b had appeared at Xia Lei¡¯s feet. Not all of it had been uncovered but one could clearly see the difference between the b and dirt.
Xia Lei dug around it for a bit and the whole stone b was revealed. ¡°Found it! What we¡¯re looking for should be below!¡± he said excitedly.
¡°What¡¯s underneath?¡± came Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice, filled with surprise.
¡°Is it a tomb below?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei raised his head to look at the two women and said, ¡°Probably a tomb. Get the rock leavening agent from the bag for me. I want to open it up.¡±
Long Bing quickly brought it over and threw it down to Xia Lei.
¡°Need us to help?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°No, I¡¯ll be done quickly,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei made holes in the stone b gaps with the shovel and a special digging drill. Cement did not exist in the era these stone bs were made, so mortar held the bs together. This specially made mortar was very hard and had a certain degree of strength but it could not bepared to cement. He did not take long to make four holes in the four corners of the stone b, then put the leavening agent in the holes.
The agent reacted with the air and a chemical reaction soon took ce. Crackling sounds could be heard from the gaps in the stone b, and the b started to loosen with the force of the expansion and move upwards. Finally, after it had expanded to maximum, the stone b was pushed up from the ground.
Xia Lei stuck the metal drill under it and levered it loose.
Under the stone b was a ck hole. A musty, moldy smell wafted up from it. Xia Lei did not know if it was poisonous, so he moved away from the hole.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing could not sit still any longer. They jumped into the pit, one after another. Tang Yuyan shone of the torch in her hand at the hole, sending light into its depths.
Under the hole was a stone-lined passage at a 40 to 50 degree downward angle. The passage was long, and at its angle, the light from Tang Yuyan¡¯s torch was unable to illuminate further in.
Long Bing took out a small cylinder of lighter fluid, lit it, and threw it down. The me was quickly extinguished, telling them that there was no oxygen in the passage.
This was quite normal. The ancient tomb was built under a drainage system, so it must have been sealed very well or it would have been flooded by the water in the drainage system long ago.
¡°Go wait for me up there. I¡¯ll go in and take a look,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°There¡¯s no air down there. It¡¯s dangerous to go alone,¡± said Long Bing worriedly.
¡°Yeah,¡± said Tang Yuyan, ¡°Better to let use with you. Safety in numbers.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, there is no air down there. I can use the oxygen bottle and solve this problem but those things can make a person go mad or die. So you two can¡¯te with me. Stay outside and wait for me.¡±
¡°But...¡± Long Bing started to say, then stopped.
Xia Lei gave her a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be fine. I opened up a tomb in Afghanistan too, and took the alloy piece out, right? I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m all right but you guys are not like me. You cannot risk it. It¡¯s decided, then. I¡¯ll go down first.¡±
A few minutester, Xia Lei was all equipped and he entered the stone passage through the hole. He held a torchlight in his hand and moved deeper into the passage.
¡°Be careful, Xia Lei,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei looked back to see Tang Yuyan and Long Bing at the hole, their faces full of worry. He also saw the ups and downs between their legs, highlighted by the tight rubber clothing. This was a strange feeling for him and he smiled wryly but did not say anything. He just waved and continued downwards.
The passage was at a tilt and Xia Lei walked for about 50 metres beforeing to the end.
A stone door stood at the end of the passage, and the facade wasrger than the one in Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb. Xia Lei drew close to the stone door and called up the power of his eye. His X-ray vision went through the stone door but did not encounter the blocking ¡®glue¡¯.
That glue had been arge group of bats in Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb, and those bats were very fierce, biting the flesh of humans. But he did not run into them this time. There was no air here, so the bats would have no way of surviving.
The tomb beyond the door was in absolute darkness. Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision went through the stone door but all he could see was darkness. After he got used to the darkness, all he could see was some blurry outlines like pirs and a stone coffin.
Xia Lei observed the insides for a bit, then took out the stone sting unit and stuck them at the four corners of the stone door. He retreated to a safe distance and detonated.
The stone door fell with a crash after some loud explosions. Dust swirled up from the ground, curling about the passage and filling it. Xia Lei had his oxygen mask on but he could still feel the wind of the st on his face.
He shone the light into the doorway of the tomb after the stone door copsed. He had learnt from his experience in Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb; he first used his X-ray vision on the floor and entered only after confirming that there were no trap triggers.
This tomb wasrger than Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb but it was much more simply furnished. There were no chests of gems or jewellery, no exquisite porcin. There were just four crude-looking stone statues. These stone statues looked like ancient warriors in armour, holding swords and shields.
Behind the four stone warriors was a stone altar. A stone coffiny on that altar. This was also not as fancy as Princess Yongmei¡¯s - she had a jade coffin.
Other than the four stone statues, there was just the stone coffin in the tomb. This made it simple for Xia Lei to scan the area, and the needle of thepass in his hand pointed to the stone coffin, shaking and trembling at its limits.
Xia Lei went up to the altar and used his X-ray vision on the stone coffin. He opened it after confirming that there was no danger.
A male corpsey in the coffin, perfectly preserved. Its skin looked like it still maintained sticity, just like Princess Yongmei¡¯s corpse had. The male looked about 60 or 70. He was plump, and had a thick head of golden hair and a beard. He was dressed in clothes too and the clothing was made of cotton and silk and was of a simple design. It was impossible to tell which era it was from.
There was just one thing in the stone coffin - a ck pointer needle.
¡°There¡¯s another treasure location?¡± Xia Lei wrinkled his brows.
Discovering another needle meant that there was one more treasure location. Change the needle on thepass and it would point in a new direction leading to the next treasure location.
The existence of the needle presented problems for Xia Lei but he still put the needle away. Then, he opened the male corpse¡¯s mouth and removed a piece of ancient alloy from his mouth.
Weirdly, this male corpse stayed intact. Back in Afghanistan, Princess Yongmei¡¯s body had turned to dust rapidly, her even bones turning to powder after he had taken the alloy out of her mouth. This male corpse however, was still in good shape and did not deteriorate.
¡°Eh?¡± Xia Lei was very surprised. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
He called forth the power of his left eye and looked more deeply at the corpse. His hair stood on end when he saw what was inside - this male corpse had several pieces of ancient alloy in the stomach!
No wonder the male corpse did not fall to dust when he removed the alloy from the mouth.
¡®Who the heck was this old man?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s mind whirred. ¡®Princess Yongmei had just one piece of alloy but this old man has one in his mouth and four more in his gut. Five pieces in all! He has no crown, no scepter, so he¡¯s not some king. But this tomb is hidden under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and in the same spot as where Jesus wasid to rest... Is he Jesus?¡¯
Xia Lei was stunned by this thought.
He dismissed this bold thought in the end. The Christian stories said that Jesus had been resurrected three days after his death. There were no remains of Jesus.
Xia Lei thought and pondered but could not guess this old man¡¯s identity. One thing was for sure though, and that was that this old man was from a time period before the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He was possibly from 300 years before Christ, someone important then, perhaps.
Xia Lei then opened up the old man¡¯s clothing to cut into his flesh with a knife. However, the sight of several strange drawings on the old man¡¯s chest made Xia Lei freeze in shock.
The drawings were not tattoos, but some sort of pigment or blood. These drawings were still clear andplete, even after a thousand years, or even more. The drawings were of a flying bat, a square box, ck, burning mes and an arched stone door.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to that box and he could not look away.
He¡¯d always suspected that those alloy pieces would form a box. This hypothesis was confirmed now. He could see the same exact pattern of the alloy pieces on the drawing of the box, and the shape and size of the pieces matched the drawings exactly!
He then moved his gaze to the bat and understood something. ¡®No wonder I didn¡¯t see these drawings when I used my X-ray vision on this old man¡¯s body. These drawings were drawn with the blood of that species of bat. This bat species has a special power to nullify my X-ray vision.¡¯
Xia Lei looked at the arched stone door next and was puzzled. ¡®What is this arch? This was drawn on this old man¡¯s body... Is it a sort of clue?¡¯
Mysterious bats, mysterious box, mysterious door - how were these three rted?
If he collected all the alloy pieces and made aplete box, what would it bring?
These questions gued Xia Lei and he racked his brains but could not find an answer.
A few minutester, he cut into the old man¡¯s torso with a knife. The sharp, cold de separated the old man¡¯s skin and flesh. No blood came from the cut; the white corpse flesh was as soft as cheese and provided hardly any resistance.
There was no sound in the tomb but Xia Lei seemed to hear someone whispering in a corner in the dark, as if cursing him.
After opening up the old man¡¯s torso, Xia Lei held back his feeling of disgust as he pulled the four pieces of ancient alloy from the stomach.
The old man¡¯s corpse turned to dust instantly once the four alloy pieces left the stomach, and his clothing crumbled with his body to be dust in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei did not leave the tomb right away. He focused on one of the alloy pieces, and his left eye twitched...
Chapter 443 - A More Complete Princess Yongmei
There was no change in the alloy part which Xia Lei was using his X-ray vision on, but Xia Lei¡¯s own vision had entered a vortex. Cold and a strange terror washed over him, then darkness. He felt like he had been dropped into a dark abyss, frozen and unable to move.
He was familiar with this feeling. This was the same feeling he had whenever he used his X-ray vision on the ancient alloy. It was unbearable every time and there was no getting used to it.
Two minutester, Xia Lei¡¯s vision returned to normal. The ancient tomb had an added existence and Xia Lei was shocked again.
It was not an old man who had appeared, nor any other creature - it was Princess Yongmei. She was icy-pale and jade-boned, snow-white and clothless. With her exquisitely beautiful features and full-figured body, not one inch of her naked body was not tempting.
But Xia Lei knew she did not exist and was not real.
Xia Lei looked at the dust in the coffin, then at Princess Yongmei standing before him. He paused for a long while before saying, ¡°Why is it you, and not him?¡±
A simr thing had happened in the ancient ruins in Afghanistan. He had taken the ancient alloy from Princess Yongmei¡¯s mouth and she had appeared. Now, he had taken the alloy from the old man¡¯s body so it should have been the old man who appeared but it was still Princess Yongmei.
¡°I remember your face.¡± Princess Yongmei was still using this line.
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on as soon as she spoke. Heughed dryly. ¡°I know, you remember my face. I also know that you¡¯ve waited for me for so very long, right?¡±
¡°They¡¯re all dead,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
Poof! Xia Lei¡¯s mind felt like it had been blown, and he was so shocked he could only stare nkly and gape.
Princess Yongmei said a line she had never said before!
¡°They¡¯re all dead.¡± Princess Yongmei repeated the line.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. ¡°Who¡¯s all dead? What else do you know? Tell me everything!¡±
He had a feeling in that instant that this Princess Yongmei who had appeared here was moreplete than the Princess Yongmei in China - maybe she had strongermunication power!
Sure enough, Princess Yongmei stared dumbly at Xia Lei and said another new line. ¡°Take me home.¡±
¡°Wh, Where¡¯s your home?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was shaking. He thought of the Daming Pce and the Forbidden City. That world-famousndmark was built by her father, Zhu Xi.
Princess Yongmei did not answer Xia Lei¡¯s question. She walked towards him, her voice ghostly. ¡°I¡¯m so cold. I¡¯m so cold...¡±
Xia Lei took a subconscious step backwards, then stopped. Princess Yongmei was not his enemy, he knew that better than anyone. She had used her hands because the CIA had hit him, and damaged Ramsbigg¡¯s and Hank¡¯s brains. The two of them had had hastened deaths.
She was not an enemy and did not have a physical body; avoiding her was meaningless. He was curious, too, about what she would do.
Princess Yongmei walked up to his side as he looked on curiously and slowly came close to his body. Then she snuggled in his arms.
Xia Lei did not know if Princess Yongmei felt warmer then, but he was freezing. She had no real body and was a type of manifestation of energy but this energy was extremely cold. He felt like he was in a freezer hugging a cylinder of liquid ammonia!
¡°T, Tell me... Guh...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t seem to control the chattering of his teeth. ¡°Tell me who died? Who¡¯s this old man? What are you looking for these metals for?¡±
He asked a string of questions and wanted to know the answer to every one of them.
¡°They¡¯re all dead,¡± said Princess Yongmei. She seemed to feel a little better, snuggled in Xia Lei¡¯s arms. She looked quite docile, like a kitty cat.
¡°Tell me. You tell me,¡± urged Xia Lei.
¡°I want to go home,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
Xia Lei did not give up. He repeated his questions but only got these two lines in response.
The light of hope he had seen was extinguished yet again.
This Princess Yongmei who had appeared here seemed more plete¡¯ but she was far from properpletion. She could say more lines and seemed more humane but this was not enough.
Xia Lei was in no mood to keep asking her questions because he was about to be a human icicle. He moved his gaze to a piece of ancient alloy and called forth the power of his eye.
Princess Yongmei disappeared, same as she did when he did the same in China.
Xia Lei stood quietly in the tomb for two minutes, then put the five alloy pieces into a special radiation-proof container and left the tomb.
¡°Xia Lei, Xia Lei?¡± Tang Yuyan and Long Bing¡¯s voices came from beyond the entrance. They sounded excited, anxious, and they were shining their lights in his direction.
Xia Lei increased his pace when he saw the lights.
¡°It really is him! He¡¯s out!¡± said Tang Yuyan excitedly.
Long Bing dangled her upper body eagerly into the pit and reached out a hand, ready to pull Xia Lei up.
Xia Lei grabbed Long Bing¡¯s hand and climbed out.
He sat as paralysed in the pit after climbing out of the hole, and seemed exhausted. The continuous use of his X-ray vision was part of the reason and the other part was that Princess Yongmei had frozen his muscles and nerves with her bone-piercing cold when trying to get heat from his body; he had not recovered from that yet.
Long Bing reached out and pulled the oxygen mask off Xia Lei¡¯s face. She also removed the tank and his bag as she asked in concern, ¡°You¡¯re very cold. Was it cold down there?¡±
Xia Lei took a deep breath to calm himself before replying. ¡°It is cold down there. I¡¯ve got the items. Let¡¯s leave this ce.¡±
¡°You have them? What did you take?¡± asked Tang Yuyan. She was rubbing Xia Lei¡¯s hand gently, trying to warm it up.
Xia Lei hid nothing from them. ¡°A new pointer needle, and five pieces of alloy. Nothing else other than that.¡±
¡°This ancient tomb seems really big. Not one piece of treasure?¡± Tang Yuyan seemed rather dissatisfied.
¡°I don¡¯t know whose tomb it was. There was no body and there were only four stone statues in the tomb. You can go in and take a look if you don¡¯t believe me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No I won¡¯t.¡± Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei and suddenly gave him a sly smile. ¡°Did you hide the gems or whatever away? I¡¯m going to search you.¡±
Xia Lei stretched out his arms and parted his legs, all ready to be searched by her. ¡°Search me if you want.¡±
He had not one gem but two walnuts - Xia Lei wondered if she would dare touch them.
Tang Yuyan did not search Xia Lei in the end. She had been joking, helping him rx.
After a short rest, Xia Lei climbed out of the pit with the help of the two women. The trio threw their now-useless tools into the pit and went back the way they hade.
The ancient drainage system echoed with their steps and the sound travelled far.
¡°I really want to see the alloy pieces you excavated,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing made no sound but she was curious too.
What the two women were actually curious about and wanted answers for was: Why was Xia Lei the only one who was not affected by the harmful effects of the alloy? He didn¡¯t go mad, didn¡¯t die, but the others who hade into contact with the alloy either went mad or died, no exceptions!
Xia Lei seemed to sense something. He thought for a bit and said, ¡°I know you¡¯re curious, not just about the alloy but about why I seem immune to it. Honestly, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on either. I want answers too. If you really want an answer, I think... it¡¯s probably because I fixed thepass in the past.¡±
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t help exchanging looks. Both said nothing but they had the same doubt. Was it really like that?
However, they could not find any other exnation.
The journey back was smooth and no idents or incidents happened. The trio got to that drainage point, took off their rubber clothing and changed back into the clothes they had left in that spot.
Xia Lei had a feast for his eyes during this process.
Tang Yuyan did not scold Xia Lei this time. Instead, she said generously, ¡°Xia Lei, can I ask you a question?¡±
¡°What question?¡± Xia Lei looked at her thigh and said with a wide smile. ¡°Ask whatever you want.¡±
¡°Um, what size is Shentu Tianyin¡¯s underwear?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°If you two really get married then how¡¯s the split of assets and management of it going to be? Will Thunder Horse Group and Vientaine Group merge?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless again.
He didn¡¯t even worry about these, so why was she worrying?
Long Bing called Liu Qiang with the satellite phone and sounds of a car approaching came from above their heads a few minutester. Three knocks came afterwards. This was Liu Qiang¡¯s signal.
Xia Lei was the first to climb up. He reached out and pushed the manhole cover up.
The manhole cover was pushed aside and Xia Lei, Tang Yuyan and Long Bing climbed out of the manhole and into the car. Liu Qiang covered the manhole up again and went back into the driver¡¯s seat. He started the engine and drove off.
¡°Any new development?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°The expert group has departed through safe channels. The Israeli asked the embassy questions and requested information on the identities of my three colleagues. The embassy¡¯s response was that it is unclear and that we have no agents active in Israel.¡±
This sort of response was not surprising. America would not identify Ramsbigg or the others, so China was not going to identify Dou Yong and the others. This was the world of agents. Even their final glory had to be sacrificed for the nation.
¡°We need to hurry back as soon as possible too,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°It is not safe here. The items in my bag are too important; they must not be lost.¡±
Long Bing nodded. ¡°Go back to the intelligence station and arrange for the journey home immediately.¡±
A vehicle suddenly appeared on the road to the east as soon as the words fell from Long Bing¡¯s lips. It had appeared out of nowhere and was going at breakneck speed, but it came to a screeching halt just as it seemed it would go roaring through the intersection!
Chapter 444 - Life and Death
The container truck came to a stop and Liu Qiang swerved in another direction at almost the same instant. The pickup truck made lines on the road as it turned sharply. He then stepped on the elerator and sped off in the other direction.
The door to the container truck opened and some militants in ckbat gear jumped out of the container, quickly getting to their feet. They had no national symbols on them but their gear was the same as the American Special Forces Xia Lei had encountered in Afghanistan.
These Special Forces soldiers did not fire their weapons; they closed off the exit from this road.
Xia Lei abruptly remembered something and shouted, ¡°Leave this road, now!¡±
Before Liu Qiang could react, several Hummer military vehicles appeared on the road opposite them, carrying more soldiers in ckbat gear. The foremost Hummer had a heavy machine gun installed on it and the machine gunner was already in position.
Liu Qiang knew what Xia Lei wanted - there was no surviving in a battle on the road. He turned the steering wheel sharply and stepped on the elerator again. The pickup truck dashed off the road and smashed into the forest by the road.
Bang bang bang...
Gunshots rang out.
Those soldiers were obviously not going to let Xia Lei and his group have the chance to escape.
The bullets zipped into the trees by the side of the road and hit the carriage of the pickup truck too. Wood chips flew and several bullet-gouges appeared on the carriage of the car.
Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei had already pushed open the doors before the vehicle came to a stop and exited. Xia Lei snatched up therge military bag he had stashed under the backseat of the vehicle as Long Bing jumped down behind him. He rolled, his body close to the ground, dragging the military bag behind him till he got to a tree.
Zzzt! Xia Lei unzipped the bag and took out an XL2500. He threw it to Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing came charging towards him, bent over. She reached out and grabbed the XL2500 Xia Lei had modified for her before he could give it to her.
There was one more XL2500 in the bag, and it was the one which Xia Lei had modified to be able to shoot 3,400 metres. However, he did not pick up the XL2500 this time - he armed himself with the Gust assault rifle.
A mid-distance gunfight was the best battleground for the Gust assault rifle!
Xia Lei did not shoot immediately with the gun in his hands. He looked behind himself at the forest. The forested area was notrge, and right behind it was an Israeli residential area. This was a terrible situation. The Israeli were all soldiers and practically every household had weapons. Even if they went through the forest and into the Israeli residential district, it would be terrible indeed if they were taken for the enemy.
¡°Xia Lei! Take the items with you! We¡¯ll cover you!¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice. She sounded determined.
Tang Yuyan and Liu Qiang did not speak but they seemed to agree with Long Bing¡¯s decision by the look on their faces.
¡°Are you kidding? You guys go, I¡¯ll cover you!¡± said Xia Lei. He was sure that these soldiers were American Special Forces and CIA agents. These people wouldn¡¯t kill him. But Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Liu Qiang would be killed without hesitation.
¡°Who¡¯s going to do that research if you¡¯re gone? Get out!¡± shouted Long Bing at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei froze. He had not expected Long Bing to be so determined and that he would not be allowed to go against her wishes.
Just then, a woman¡¯s voice suddenly came from the right. ¡°Xia Lei, I know it¡¯s you. Surrender. You won¡¯t be harmed. I can guarantee that your colleagues won¡¯t be harassed if you surrender. They can leave.¡±
This voice was all too familiar - it was Gu Kewen¡¯s voice.
From a Chinese socialite, youngdy of a powerful n, to an aide for her rival, and now one of the CIA - her life was like a roller coaster, sweeping up and plunging down, twisting sharply left and right, and difficult to adapt to.
¡°It¡¯s that bitch! I¡¯m going to kill her!¡± said Long Bing angrily. She aimed towards Gu Kewen¡¯s voice.
Gu Kewen showed herself. She was standing on the road but she had a bulletproof shield before her. It wasn¡¯t just her - several soldiers were carrying bulletproof shields too, and advancing slowly.
It was apparent that the CIA had grown fearful of Xia Lei and his gunmanship after their various shes. Even the battle-hardened soldiers and agents were being cautious, holding bulletproof shields before themselves as they advanced and not giving him the chance to attack.
The soldiers closing in on both sides did not fire again after shooting at the pickup truck. They just cautiously approached the location of Xia Lei and his group.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing did not dare to shoot carelessly either because the bullets which would fly from both sides would be enough to rip through this fragile position. Don¡¯t even talk about the firepower of the dozens of soldiers - just the machine gun on that Hummer alone would be enough to tear this little forest to shreds!
This potential oue made it meaningless for them to attack, even if they were able to kill a few targets.
Terror, nervousness and pressure caged this forest. It became increasingly disadvantageous for Xia Lei and his group the longer this dragged out.
¡°What are you waiting for?¡± said Long Bing fiercely, ¡°You want to die together with us? I¡¯m telling you to go. GO! Don¡¯t let our sacrifice be in vain!¡±
¡°Go!¡± Tang Yuyan shouted at Xia Lei too.
Xia Lei suddenly pointed the muzzle of the Gust assault rifle at his own head. ¡°You three go. Right now, or I¡¯ll shoot myself!¡±
¡°You...¡± Long Bing was so mad she choked.
Tang Yuyanughed tly. ¡°Okay, then we¡¯ll charge out of this forest together. Life and death are ruled by fate!¡±
Xia Lei thought about it for a second. He nodded and shouted, ¡°Go!¡± He raised the Gust assault rifle, aimed to the left of Gu Kewen¡¯s location, and pulled the trigger.
Bang bang bang...
Bullet shells danced and bullets flew.
The assault rifle had no obvious recoil even in rapid fire mode. Its performance was superior to all else - the world¡¯s best!
But no matter how wonderful the gun was it was just one, and could not turn the tide.
Rat-tat-tat...
Bang bang bang...
The soldiers on both sides opened fire. Their targets were Tang Yuyan, Long Bing and Liu Qiang, of course. Xia Lei was practically untouched.
Bullets fell like rain. Twigs, leaves and dirt sprayed up as if caught in a wild storm.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing ran as they shot. Bullets whizzed behind them.
Bam bam bam...
The machine gunner on the Hummer started firing. Bullets came from afar, tearing through the wood of the forest.
Right at the back, Liu Qiang was not able to avoid this wave of attack and a bullet buried itself in his back, tearing it open. He fell in a spurting of blood and could not get up again.
The heavy machine gun shot wildly and trees fell to the ground in pieces.
Xia Lei and his group dashed to the edge of the forest but there was arge open space. They could only escape this first wave of attack if they manage to get past this open space.
¡°Long Bing, please take care of my sister if I die,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing¡¯s voice was ice. ¡°Go take care of her yourself. I¡¯ll be dying before you.¡±
¡°Go!¡± Tang Yuyan shoved Xia Lei, pushing him out of the forest.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei turned around.
Bang bang bang!
Tang Yuyan fired thrice with her handgun, and all three shotsnded on the ground before Xia Lei.
¡°I want you to remember me your whole life and owe me for your life.¡± A bitter smile appeared in the corners of Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth.
Xia Lei knew what she wanted to do. She was going to use her life to buy him time to escape. Face with this gesture of hers, Xia Lei felt an impulse to hold her in his embrace in that instant.
However, he did not act on his impulse and he did not leave either. He could not leave Tang Yuyan and Long Bing behind at this time; he would not do such a thing.
¡°I¡¯ll say it onest time. You two, leave! I¡¯ll stay. Didn¡¯t you hear me just now? They won¡¯t kill me. They just want me to surrender - they¡¯ll even let you go.¡± Xia Lei pointed the muzzle of his gun to his head again. ¡°I¡¯llmit suicide right away if you don¡¯t leave.¡±
Moisture appeared in Long Bing¡¯s eyes, and that moisture soon became tears which fell from her eyes. This was the first time Xia Lei had ever witnessed her crying tears.
Boom boom boom...
An Apache helicopter suddenly came roaring from the other side of the residential area, cutting off theirst escape route. Truthfully, even if Xia Lei, Tang Yuyan and Long Bing not wasted the past ten seconds, they would have been unable to cross that open space either.
This was a well-prepared trap. Land and air - and it was not time to close the.
¡°Stop your struggle, Xia Lei. It¡¯s useless.¡± It was Gu Kewen¡¯s voice. ¡°You¡¯re very sly. You¡¯ve changed your face but you cannot change your body. Don¡¯t you know that there¡¯s been a satellite focused on searching for traces of you from the moment you stepped into Jerusalem? There are also five more, scanning the globe for you. It¡¯s good enough that you¡¯ve managed to live for so long.¡±
This was an outright mockery.
The soldiers holding bulletproof shields appeared in the forest. They advanced slowly.
Xia Lei raised his voice, ¡°Gu Kewen, I surrender! Let them go!¡±
¡°Heh heh!¡± Gu Kewen sneered. ¡°Xia Lei, you have reached the end of the road, huh? Did you ever think you would end up like this one day, back when you ruined my father and my brother?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go with you people!¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t plead with her!¡± Tang Yuyan said decisively. ¡°If you¡¯re dying, we¡¯re dying together!¡±
¡°Yes, you will not be alone on the road to hell,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°We¡¯ll still be together in hell.¡±
Gu Kewen¡¯s voice came to their ears, ¡°You have no room to bargain. I said I would let them go earlier, and that was earlier. It¡¯s different now. You can choose one to leave alive. The other - dies!¡±
Raging anger burst in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He was already prepared to surrender but Gu Kewen was using this to y with him! Choose either Long Bing or Tang Yuyan to live? Gu Kewen was a real poisonous bitch!
¡°I¡¯ll give you ten seconds. Both of them will die if you don¡¯t make your decision then.¡± Gu Kewen counted down with a megaphone. ¡°Ten seconds, nine seconds, eight... five...¡±
Szzuuu! A missle suddenly flew from the top of a building in the Israeli residential area and hit the Apache helicopter in the air.
BOOM! The missile exploded and the Apache helicopter was blown to smithereens. The propeller was separated from the fusge and it spiralled into the trees as arge area of canopy was chopped to the ground.
Szzzuuu! Another missile came from another direction in the residential area, then exploded in the forest. It was a powerful anti-infantry rocket. The rocket¡¯s explosion set a huge fire loose, burning the oxygen away, sending shrapnel flying in all directions and scattering therge group of soldiers.
No one expected this turn in events.
¡°Go!¡± There was no time to guess who was helping them. Xia Lei let out a shout and turned to run towards the residential area.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing started their wild sprint too.
Chapter 445 - Save the Situation
An Apache helicopter gone, just like that. Dozens of elite soldiers armed to the teeth gone, too. Some breathed theirst, some were burnt and some were sted apart by the explosion. Gu Kewen had not in her wildest dreams imagined that the situation would change in this way.
¡°Give chase! We must capture him!¡± Gu Kewen got to her feet and screamed crazily.
She¡¯d been so close to capturing Xia Lei; she had had him in the palm of her hand but he¡¯d escaped in the next second. She could not ept this result. She wanted her revenge, and to gain rank within the CIA too!
The soldiers under Gu Kewen¡¯smand charged out of the forest, after Xia Lei and his group.
Gunshots rang out and bullets went whistling past the tops of their heads. Xia Lei threw himself on Tang Yuyan and Long Bing, pushing them to the ground, and their bodies hugged the ground. Several bullets pierced the grass a few metres in from of them, sending dirt up into the air.
Xia Lei got up from Tang Yuyan and Long Bing¡¯s bodies and turned around to return fire. The Gust assault rifle gave an angry roar as bullet shells danced, but there was no obvious recoil in the gun. Several Special Forces soldiers in the frontline were pushed back to the ground - all had been killed by headshots.
These Special Forces soldiers were wearing bulletproof clothing so Xia Lei did not shoot at their bodies. The Gust assault rifle in his hands was like a weaker version of the XL2500 sniper rifle. Even though the shooting range and power were smaller and weaker, the rate of firing was a whole lot faster. Add its feature of having practically no recoil and it was simply just the king of assault rifles!
Bang bang!
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing fired too.
Two bullets hit two targets. One was a headshot and another one was hit in the chest. Both died quite quickly. Those Special Forces soldiers were wearing bulletproof gear but the gear was no defence against sniper rifle bullets.
These Special Forces soldiers did not seem to have expected Xia Lei¡¯s group to be brave enough to return fire, and for each shot to take a life too. They panicked a little. Some threw themselves t on the ground, not daring to poke their heads up. Some turned back to get the bulletproof shields they had abandoned. There was no way for them to run quickly while carrying those bulletproof shields.
Bang bang bang...
Xia Lei fired a few more times but these shots were not aimed at targets, just suppressing fire. As he fired, he yelled, ¡°Go!¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing crawled to their feet on the grass and continued running towards the Israeli residential area.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Two Predator nes hovered in the air.
The enemy had reinforcements!
Xia Lei¡¯s group had just escaped danger but they were instantly anxious again. There was no need to guess - Jerusalem right at this moment was likely under martialw, and roads had been closed. The was closing in, just waiting to catch prey!
¡°Who helped us earlier?¡± asked Long Bing as they ran.
Xia Lei had actually been looking for the person who had secretly helped them, but not seen the person, unfortunately. Though he had not seen who had helped them, who else could help them in this sort of situation other than his father, Xia Changhe?
¡°Could it be the Hamas?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°The Hamas?¡± Long Bing frowned. ¡°Can the Hamas hide in the Israeli residential area?¡±
She obviously didn¡¯t believe this.
Xia Lei bit the bullet and said, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate the Hamas. It¡¯s not the first time that they have attacked Israel. They could do anything.¡±
¡°Who cares? Are you going to write them a letter of appreciation after you find out their identity?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
This seemed to be aimed at Long Bing. She was squabbling with Long Bing even in this dire situation - this really was an ingrained habit.
Long Bing red at Tang Yuyan but did not say anything. She threw the military bag she had over her shoulder to Xia Lei. ¡°Take your sniper rifle. You can use it when we have some distance.¡±
Xia Lei reached out and grabbed the military bag without slowing down and continued running towards the Israeli residential area. Just then, his gaze suddenly went to the rooftop of a small building. A man in long ck robes and a Jewish wide-brimmed hat appeared in his field of vision. That man was big and tall, and had a mask over his face so his face could not be seen.
However, Xia Lei still recognised him on sight. That man was his father, Xia Changhe.
Xia Changhe raised his right hand high, then pointed at the building below him. He then disappeared from Xia Lei¡¯s sight.
Xia Lei could not help the wry smile in the corners of his lips. ¡®My old man is probably the craziest old man in the world, huh?¡¯
He guessed that Yelena was close by too, just that she didn¡¯t show herself.
He also knew well what Xia Changhe¡¯s gesture meant. He was pointing out an escape route to him.
¡°Go to that building!¡± Xia Lei pointed to the building after Xia Changhe disappeared.
Xia Changhe would definitely not meet with Tang Yuyan and Long Bing with his status.
¡°Why?¡± Long Bing ran with Xia Lei as she voiced her doubt.
¡°Don¡¯t ask. I saw the person helping us. He¡¯ll escape for sure too, so there must be a chance to escape there.¡± Xia Lei increased his pace.
This exnation made sense.
The trio entered the Israeli residential area. The situation they had been worried about did not happen. All the windows and doors were tightly shut in a fierce battle, and there was no one on the streets.
Some Israeli residents peeked out from behind their curtains. Xia Lei looked back at them and they hid right away, not daring to meet his eyes, much less shoot at them.
Thumpa thumpa thumpa...
Yet another Apache helicopter came flying over from the other side of the residential area. It started firing at a distance of two kilometres.
The gun barrel of the machine turned towards them and bullets the size of missiles came zooming out. Two deep trenches were carved in the surface of the cement road. The green belt by the road was also torn like wilted grass in a hurricane, and they danced up into the air.
Xia Lei took a few leaping steps and jumped off the ground to hide behind a wall.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing reacted lightning-quick too. They, too, got off the ground and hid next to Xia Lei before the bullets got close. The trio had only just left the road when the perfectly functional road was turned into rubble.
The Apache helicopter had lost its target. It gained altitude, going up higher to monitor the area.
¡°It wants to contain us!¡± Long Bing¡¯s face was filled with anxiousness.
¡°Can we go around?¡± Tang Yuyan was anxious too. Arge number of Israeli soldiers were already approaching.
¡°No, that¡¯s too slow! They want to hold us here.¡± Xia Lei slung the Gust assault rifle over his back and opened therge military bag to take out his XL2500 sniper rifle.
¡°You... can¡¯t be thinking of using the sniper rifle to have a showdown with the Apache helicopter, are you?¡± Long Bing said incredulously.
Xia Lei had already dashed out of the cover of the wall and raised his gun muzzle to aim at the Apache helicopter in the sky.
The people in the Apache helicopter saw Xia Lei too. The helicopter tilted downwards, preparing to shoot at Xia Lei.
Bang! The sniper rifle in Xia Lei¡¯s hands roared, and a bullet shot from its barrel. Two secondster, a hole appeared in the cockpit of the Apache helicopter. The pilot who had been readying the guns had his head sted away. Blood stained the cockpit of the helicopter.
Xia Lei rolled, dodging. Dozens of bullets sprayed on the road, tearing it up into countless little pieces of cement.
The Apache helicopter in the sky suddenly plunged towards the ground. Secondster, a great fire spanning three kilometres bloomed on the ground. The intense explosion rattled all the windows in the Israeli residential area, and some windows even cracked.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei was on the move again, dashing towards that small building.
¡°He really did it... Incredible!¡± Long Bing pursed her lips and sprinted in Xia Lei¡¯s direction, after him.
Tang Yuyan was shoulder to shoulder with Long Bing but she was not looking at buildings, nor the American Special Forces and Israeli soldiers hot on their tail. She was looking at Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks. She abruptly felt that Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks were the sexiest male buttocks in the world.
A man did not necessarily need money to win a woman¡¯s heart. It could also be won like this - in the chaos of a hail of bullets!
Two minutester, the trio got to the small building Xia Changhe had appeared on.
The door was wide open but there was no one inside. Xia Lei discovered military-grade sting equipment hidden in a dark corner after running in. The amount of explosives there was enough to level an entire cinema, much less this little building it sat in!
Other than the sting equipment, Xia Lei also spotted an underground entrance. It was hidden under the carpet of the living room. The carpet was pulled aside and the wooden floorboards to the entrance were open and just waiting for him to go in.
¡°This...¡± said Long Bing in surprise, ¡°Why are they helping us like this?¡±
¡°The enemy¡¯s enemy is a friend. Probably. Whatever, you two get in first. I¡¯ll follow,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No! If we¡¯re leaving then we all leave together!¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Bang bang bang! Gunshots came from outside and some windows were shattered.
Xia Lei immediately gave Tang Yuyan¡¯s butt a kick. ¡°Get in!¡±
This kicknded right in the centre of her butt, in the fleshiest spot. There was some bounce-back but Xia Lei had used quite a bit of strength and Tang Yuyan tumbled into the entrance of the passage before she could react.
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing.
¡°I¡¯ll get in by myself,¡± said Long Bing. She bent and jumped into the underground passage.
Xia Lei nced at the sting equipment hidden under the coffee table. There was a an electronic timer disy on it; there were still five minutes left.
This was why Xia Lei had wanted to stay behind. If the three of them had entered the passageway together, the soldiers would continue their pursuit if they discovered the entrance. But if he was ¡®sted dead¡¯ during battle then this could be a trap to confuse the enemy. Even if those soldiers discovered the passageway in the end, he and Tang Yuyan and Long Bing would already have moved to a safe ce.
¡°Why aren¡¯t youing down?¡± urged Long Bing.
¡°Four minutes. You wait. Wait four minutes for me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Long Bing started to say something, then stopped. She was anxious.
Xia Lei moved to the windows. He raised his gun and aimed at a Special Forces soldier.
Behind that Special Forces soldier was a ck mass of Israeli soldiers and American Special Forces. They wereing not just from head-on but from another direction too. This ce was totally surrounded!
Chapter 446 - Escape From Death
The two-storey building waspletely surrounded. Israeli soldiers, American Special Forces and CIA agents had appeared on the streets and on the roofs of the buildings around them. It was now impossible for even a bird to escape from this ce.
Gu Kewen had appeared and the CIA Middle East director, Goodson, too.
¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you could persuade Xia Lei to surrender?¡± Goodson¡¯s face was dark with anger. ¡°I believed you and gave youmand but Xia Lei is still fighting now. Don¡¯t you need to give me an exnation?¡±
¡°There¡¯s someone helping them, otherwise Xia Lei would have been captured by us long ago,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°I don¡¯t need excuses.¡± Goodson pointed at the surrounded building and said, ¡°Xia Lei is inside. I¡¯ll give you one more chance. Get him toe out and surrender.¡±
¡°Mr Goodson, you...¡± Gu Kewen hesitated.
Goodson frowned. ¡°What, not willing to follow my orders?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯ll... go.¡± Gu Kewen forced herself to nod, then walked towards the small building.
She was filled with regret and dismay. She knew that she was of no more use to them, and that was why Goodson ordered her to go to Xia Lei. And she - she could be shot dead by Xia Lei at any time!
¡®To boil the hound once it caught the rabbit¡¯ was an apt expression for her now.
However, she still had to brace herself toplete this practically impossible task even though she knew that she was being used as cannon fodder. If Xia Lei was going to surrender he would have done so in the forest, not wait till now.
Gu Kewen¡¯s steps were slow; she was thinking of how she was going to persuade Xia Lei as she walked.
Goodson watched Gu Kewen walk towards the small building and a cruel sneer appeared on his lips. ¡®Would I let a woman like you, who would betray anything, to stay in the CIA and grow? Dream on. Let Xia Lei transfer his anger to you, then I¡¯ll capture him. This is the perfect ending.¡¯
¡°Xia Lei.¡± Gu Kewen got close to the small building and she finally spoke. ¡°Don¡¯t be foolish. Come out and surrender. You¡¯ve been surrounded and there¡¯s no way out. Come out - I guarantee no one¡¯s going to hurt you.¡±
Xia Lei watched Gu Kewen from under the windows of the small building. He just needed to point the XL2500 out of the window and squeeze the trigger to finished Gu Kewen off in that moment. However, when he moved to do so, a bit of conflicted feelings and hesitation pulled at his heart-strings.
This was not kindness. Gu Kewen had been involved in the kidnapping of Shentu Tianyin, and in the operation against the expert group. So many of hisrades had died - she could not be forgiven for these sins. He was conflicted and hesitant because he had lip-read the conversation between Goodson and Gu Kewen earlier. Goodson wanted to use him to kill off Gu Kewen so if Xia Lei did that, wouldn¡¯t he be doing as the enemy wished?
¡®Goodson must have some reason for wanting to kill Gu Kewen off, but what?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Gu Kewen¡¯s voice came again, ¡°Xia Lei, you have no time to ponder. Come out and surrender. I guarantee that you will be unharmed. Those two women can live too.¡±
Xia Lei nced back that the sting equipment hidden under the coffee table. The disy showed four minutes still. He also spotted two pretty heads poking out of the underground passage entrance.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing also saw the sting equipment under the coffee table and they understood Xia Lei¡¯s n immediately.
¡°Gu Kewen!¡± Xia Lei looked back and raised his voice. ¡°You¡¯re just a CIA dog! You¡¯re not fit to negotiate with me. Get Goodson toe talk with me.¡±
¡°I¡¯m representing him,¡± came Gu Kewen¡¯s voice, ¡°You can tell me what you want!¡±
¡°I want Goodson toe here and talk to me,¡± said Xia Lei.
On the street, Gu Kewen turned to look at the agents hiding behind Goodson. She gestured. ¡°Mr Goodson, he wants to talk with you.¡±
Goodson did not move; his face was dark.
Xia Lei spoke again, ¡°You tell him that if he doesn¡¯te over to talk with me I¡¯ll fight to the death. I have explosives on me, and I can st myself apart at any time. He won¡¯t even get to pick up my corpse if I do that.¡±
Gu Kewen passed on Xia Lei¡¯s words.
¡°Cover me, I¡¯ll go over.¡± Goodson finally made his decision.
The CIA¡¯s objective was to capture Xia Lei so he would have no way to give the higher-ups any results if he couldn¡¯t even hand a body over. Going over to Xia Lei was a huge risk but he had to take this risk.
The group of CIA agents covered Goodson as he drew close to the building. They were a living human wall for Goodson.
¡°I¡¯m here. What are your conditions? Say them!¡± said Goodson loudly.
¡°My conditions are simple. Let my colleagues go. Let them go, and I¡¯ll surrender when I receive a message that they are safe.¡±
¡°No problem, I can promise that.¡± Goodson let out a quiet sigh of relief. ¡°Get them toe out.¡±
¡°What did you say? I can¡¯t hear you.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s sounded irritated. ¡°You¡¯re too far away from me. You¡¯re not being sincere. Come closer and talk!¡±
¡°You show yourself, and I¡¯lle over!¡± said Goodson cautiously.
Xia Lei showed himself in the window. A man and a gun, surrounded on all sides, but he still had a domineering presence.
Gu Kewen seemed to sense something and her gaze turned odd. She surreptitiously moved backwards, behind the group of agents, then further back.
Goodson and the group of agents did not notice Gu Kewen¡¯s strange actions, but this did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s attention.
¡®Gu Kewen is a slippery one indeed. She must have sensed something, and she didn¡¯t even draw attention to what she discovered. Is she hoping to get promoted if Goodson dies? If that¡¯s the case, then she really is a dangerous woman. No wonder Goodson wants to use me to kill her off...¡¯ Xia Lei thought many thoughts in that instant.
Goodson raised his voice. ¡°Xia Lei, I¡¯ve shown you my sincerity. Get your colleagues to show themselves, then youe with us.¡±
¡°Sure, give me a minute. I want to have a few words with them.¡± Xia Lei disappeared from the window.
Once away from the window, Xia Lei jumped into the passageway.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing went to support Xia Lei right away.
¡°Go! The explosives are set to blow in one minute,¡± said Xia Lei as he ran. He was not staying one second more.
The passageway was not wide but it allowed for a person to move quickly while bent over. Xia Lei led the way, with Tang Yuyan and Long Bing following behind; the trio fled quickly.
Xia Changhe should have escaped from this passageway too but Xia Lei was not worried at all that he would bump into his old man here. Through their interactions, Xia Lei¡¯s opinion of his old man was that he was way more powerful and old-school than Long Bing and Tang Yuyan as an agent. His old man was one who was still hale and hearty after being pursued all over the world by the CIA after all!
A minute passed in the blink of an eye.
¡°Xia Lei?¡± called Goodson, ¡°Are you done talking? I don¡¯t have that much patience!¡±
There was no response from the building.
Goodson looked back and saw Gu Kewen. She had already retreated at least dozens of metres, and there was a strange smile on her face.
¡°You...¡± Goodson abruptly realised something and he became nervous. He shouted, ¡°Get clear!¡±
BOOM! The small building exploded just after Goodson yelled. He and the agents protecting him had no time to react. The violent shockwaves of the explosion sent heat sting outwards, as well as countless bits of debris. A storm of mes engulfed Goodson and the agents protecting him.
Gu Kewen had already retreated to a safe enough distance but she was still thrown to the ground by the shockwave.
Boom...
Another series of explosions.
The small building had been levelled. The buildings around it were also seriously damaged, and not left intact.
The terrifying st died down. Gu Kewen¡¯s finger twitched, and she opened her eyes. Several pieces of debris had pierced her body and it hurt like hell but a strange smile appeared in the corners of her mouth. ¡°Xia Lei... We will meet again...¡±
Dirt trickled down in the passageway. It felt like the tunnel would copse at any time and it was nerve-wracking.
¡°I don¡¯t know who nned this but I have to admit that he¡¯s very clever. He calcted everything,¡± said Long Bing appreciatively.
An image of Xia Changhe¡¯s face appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s head - he had a smile in the corners of his mouth. Sons would always see their fathers as role models and right now, Xia Lei was feeling very proud of Xia Changhe.
¡°Goodson and Gu Kewen were sted dead?¡± came Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice. She felt a rush from getting some revenge.
Xia Lei kept moving. ¡°Goodson, I believe is dead. But Gu Kewen...¡±
¡°You mean she¡¯s not dead?¡± Tang Yuyan was surprised.
¡°She¡¯s very sly. She sensed something when I said I needed a minute to talk with you guys and then she backed away. I think she¡¯ll escape this trap,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Damn! That woman... Why didn¡¯t you shoot her?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice wasining, ¡°You had plenty of opportunities to kill her when she came over.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to kill her but I felt something was off earlier. I had a feeling Goodson was trying to use me to kill Gu Kewen, so I hesitated. I used her to get Goodson to approachter too so I did not shoot her. I¡¯d nned to kill her and Goodson in the st together, so there was no need to shoot her but I didn¡¯t expect that she would sense that there were explosives in the building.¡±
¡°That bitch sure is tenacious. She¡¯s definitely going to be a big problem in the future,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Hold on.¡± Long Bing seemed to remember something. ¡°You said she sensed that there were explosives in the building. Why didn¡¯t she warn Goodson? Goodson and those agents would have had time to leave if she¡¯d warned them.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°Goodson wants her dead, so why would she warn him? I think she has her own motive, and that¡¯s to rece Goodson. CIA¡¯s Middle East and Asia directors are dead so she has a chance to get promoted.¡±
¡°Never mind, don¡¯t talk about that bitch anymore.¡± Long Bing was annoyed and she changed the subject. ¡°Where does this lead to?¡±
¡°I have no idea, but I think we should be fine. It¡¯ll be difficult for the CIA to discover this tunnel, and we will be far far away by the time they find it,¡± said Xia Lei.
All of a sudden, Tang Yuyan, who was behind Xia Lei, raised her leg and kicked him in the butt.
She did not put much force behind her kick but a footprint was added to Xia Lei¡¯s butt.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei looked back at Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan suddenly pped Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks. ¡°You kicked my butt so I¡¯m returning the kick. Oh, right, the p just now was interest.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 447 - Modifying the Mask
The passageway ended not outside of the Israeli residential area but in a sewer. A functioning sewer. The sewer was filled with thick ck sewage which was apanied by a choking putrid smell, so bad it made one scowl.
The trio went in the direction of the sewage flow and they moved quickly. Xia Lei looked up once in a while to use his X-ray vision on their surroundings.
Half an hourter, he stopped under a manhole cover. He spotted traces of sewage on the metaldder, and these traces were still fresh, meaning someone had recently climbed up from here.
Xia Lei looked up. Above him was a house with a few rooms and a yard. He saw no one, only an off-road vehicle.
¡°Let¡¯s go up.¡± Xia Lei grabbed hold of thedder and climbed upwards.
¡°Wait,¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s up there? If you just climb up like this... What if we get surrounded again? We won¡¯t get a chance to escape.¡±
Xia Lei did not exin himself. He reached out and pushed the manhole cover open.
Light came streaming down into the sewage drain. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan both used their hands to block the light from their eyes. Artificial light and natural light was different, and they needed time to adjust. While they had their eyes covered, Xia Lei¡¯s sexy buttocks went out of their field of vision and up as he climbed up.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan climbed up too. Even if there were enemies above, they would not let Xia Lei fight alone.
The house was as silent as a tomb.
The doors and windows of the house were tightly shut too, and no human activity was to be seen.
Xia Lei looked about, then discovered that this ce was already outside the Jerusalem Old City. It was an isted location with no other houses close by.
Add the traces he¡¯d spotted in the sewage drain just now and Xia Lei was sure that this was his father, Xia Changhe¡¯s safehouse.
Xia Lei looked up at the sky again and suddenly remembered something. He ran to hide under the eaves of the house, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t stand there. Gu Kewen said that the CIA is using satellites.¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing also ran to hide under the eaves of the house.
Xia Lei pushed a door open. Behind it was a bedroom. There was a bed, a wardrobe and even a dressing table with several pieces of makeup.
¡°What the? Whose room is this?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s face reddened, and she sputtered as she spoke.
Xia Lei looked where she was looking and saw two ¡®sticks¡¯ of womanly-pleasuring items, of the transparent silicone variety.
Long Bing spotted those two items too and she wrinkled her brows.
Xia Leiughed all of a sudden and walked over quickly to snatch up the items in his hands, chuckling as he said, ¡°Great stuff. Real great stuff.¡±
¡°Gross.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s face grew redder. ¡°I¡¯ll tell Shentu Tianyin once we get back. I¡¯ll tell her you¡¯re a pervert.¡±
Xia Lei went to Tang Yuyan and Long Bing and waved one of the silicone sticks in front of the two women. ¡°I¡¯m going to use this on you two.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yuyan was so shocked she could not close her mouth.
Long Bing was bbergasted too. She could not believe that Xia Lei would say such a thing, and right to Tang Yuyan¡¯s face too.
Did this mean... that he wanted a threesome?
This was too disgusting... and such greed!
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°What are you thinking? I¡¯m serious.¡±
Tang Yuyan suddenly swung a heavy fist at Xia Lei¡¯s heart and Long Bing, too, kicked at the ce between Xia Lei¡¯s legs.
He wanted to enjoy the pleasures of having several partners, and two at once? Beat him up!
Xia Lei did not retreat. He used the stick-like items to block their attacks, one hand, one leg.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing dodged like they were being approached by a demon, afraid to get touched by the evil of the items in Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
¡°I¡¯m serious. I¡¯m not kidding,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You... You y with Long Bing. I¡¯m not going to do it with you,¡± said Tang Yuyan with a red face. She cursed him silently for being such an incorrigible pervert.
Every spot on Long Bing¡¯s face was coloured red, and she could not speak clearly. ¡°D, Don¡¯t even think about it. I don¡¯t use those things.¡±
Tang Yuyan looked oddly at Long Bing. Did this mean that Long Bing didn¡¯t want to use fakes... and would do it with Xia Lei if it was the real thing?
Long Bing suddenly snapped to her senses and said fiercely, ¡°Bastard! That¡¯s not what I mean!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°What weird things are you two thinking of? I mean I¡¯m going to melt these two items down and change our current appearances. We can drive the car out of here if I do that. Our appearances would have changed and the chances of us being discovered would be much lower.¡±
¡°You...¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Uh...¡± said Long Bing.
The two women exchanged nces, so embarrassed they would die.
The main ingredient for the realistic masks Xia Lei made was silica gel. By melting the silicone, he could modify the masks and make the faces fatter, or change the nose bridge, chin and forehead. Most importantly, he could use the makeup products to change the skin colour of the mask. With these materials, he was able topletely change the masks of himself, Tang Yuyan and Long Bing. The likelihood of them being discovered if they ran into security checks would be much lower.
Xia Lei did as he said he would and went straight to the kitchen. He put the two silicone items in a stainless steel bowl, then used a gas burner to melt them down. In the process of melting, he threw in some makeup to colour the material.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing stood in the kitchen doorway, watching.
¡°I¡¯ll go take a shower first. You do what you need to do.¡± Tang Yuyan peeled the mask off her face.
¡°Uh, I¡¯ll go take a shower too. You can make the mask look like anything.¡± Long Bing walked off too.
The three of them stank badly aftering out of the sewers. Xia Lei could bear the smell but the two women had had more than enough of smelling it.
¡°Hurry up, you two. You have only five minutes,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei took the melted materials back to that room after Long Bing and Tang Yuyan went off. He then used the makeup tools to change the features of the masks. This was notplicated at all; if one wanted the forehead of the mask to be higher, putting more silicone on the forehead section was enough to change it. Raising the nose bridge, fattening the cheeks, pulling the chin down - all very simple modifications.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were showering in the bathroom of the room Xia Lei was modifying the masks in. They were not far apart.
Five minutes were soon up and Xia Lei was done modifying all three of their masks. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were still in the bathroom.
¡°Are you two done? We don¡¯t have any more time,¡± urged Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came from the bathroom. ¡°Xia Lei, can you look in the wardrobe if there¡¯s any clothing suitable for women? Our clothes were dirtied in the sewers. I don¡¯t want to wear them anymore.¡±
¡°I want a set too. Best with underwear too,¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head. He opened the wardrobe and found that there was enough clothing for five sets. The owner of the clothing seemed to be have about the same measurements as Long Bing and Tang Yuyan and he soon picked two sets of clothing which were fairly ordinary. He found bras, underwear and socks in the bedside table and went to the bathroom with a small pile of clothing in his hands. He kicked the door open.
The shower door opened a crack, and a snow-white hand reached out. It was Tang Yuyan¡¯s arm.
Tang Yuyan grabbed the clothing but there were too many pieces and she dropped several on the floor. She was flustered and bent to pick up the dropped pieces, just as Xia Lei bent to pick them up. Their heads collided through the gap in the door.
¡°Hahaha...¡±ughed Long Bing.
Two minutester, Tang Yuyan and Long Bing walked out of the bathroom. Long Bing was all smiles but Tang Yuyan was all gloomy, and looked ufortable. She did not hit Xia Lei, though. It was not the time to make a fuss. Once those CIA agents found the tunnel they would very likely begin expanding their search range. This ce was only a few kilometres from there and it would be easy for them to find them here.
Xia Lei pretended nothing happened. He put on the masks for Tang Yuyan and Long Bing, then used the remaining materials to cover the gaps between skin and mask, making it appear seamless.
The three of them were transformed into fatties, and they were more tanned too. They looked like local Middle Eastern people, and one could not tell that they were Chinese.
¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Lei after he was done.
Tang Yuyan pulled Xia Lei towards the bathroom. ¡°You stink to high heaven. Your stink is going to draw suspicion if there¡¯s a search going on. Go shower. I¡¯ll get the car.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Lei entered the shower and did a quick wash.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing went to the car. She pulled at the car door, testing, and it opened unexpectedly. She looked in the driver¡¯s seat and said in surprise, ¡°Strange, there¡¯re keys in there.¡± After a pause, she said, ¡°And some food and water.¡±
¡°It looks like it was specially prepared for us. What is the intention of these people? Even if they¡¯re the Hamas they needn¡¯t take such good care of us, right?¡± said Long Bing.
In the shower, Xia Lei washed the sewage off his body while mulling over a problem, ¡®Those two silicone items were probably left on purpose by Dad, right? If it¡¯s not, then it¡¯s Yelena¡¯s toys... Ew, gross.¡¯
Yelena¡¯s used toy, now part of the mask on his face... Just thinking about it was quite disgusting.
One minuteter, the car moved out of the house. It did not head towards roads but to further out, to empty areas. Good thing it was an off-road vehicle and could go over rough terrain. If it was a normal car, they would only be able to go on normal roads and it would be very dangerous.
The off-road vehicle went in the direction of Jordan. Jordan bordered Israel, and it was chosen because it was the quickest route out of Israel.
Chapter 448 - Beautiful Ice-person
Jordan, Amman.
This city was not far from Jerusalem but they needed to cross the Palestine border. Xia Lei only reached Amman at nightfall. This was the capital of Jordan, and it was prosperous and a rare oasis of peace in the Middle East.
Xia Lei found a hotel in Amman and checked in. Long Bing used her satellite phone to call China and report their situation.
¡°Someone wille pick us up tomorrow,¡± said Long Bing after ending the call with Shi Boren. ¡°He told us to stay in the hotel and guard the items well.¡± She then looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Especially you. Boss specially told me that you have to be protected well. You¡¯re like a National Treasure now.¡±
Xia Lei rubbed his fat mask-face andughed. ¡°I do look like a panda now but I don¡¯t need your special protection. Just protect yourselves. This is Jordan but the CIA¡¯s might reaches all over the world. We should still be careful.¡±
¡°Okay, okay, Long Bing, it¡¯s gettingte. You should go back to your room and rest,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing spoke evenly, ¡°I was the one who booked the rooms. Three rooms. Your room is next door. Why are you still here?¡±
¡°I... I¡¯m on my way back to my room.¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing and walked to the door.
Long Bing drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear andined, ¡°She¡¯s quite good in her seduction methods. Don¡¯t get hooked. If anything happens between you two Shentu Tianyin will soon hear about it, and the one who leaks it will be none other than her. Don¡¯t me me for not warning you then.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°What are you talking about?¡± Tang Yuyan looked back at Long Bing and Xia Lei.
¡°I was reminding him to lock his door in case of thieves. You know, some things must not be lost,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Mm-hm, I¡¯ll be careful,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan then opened the door and left.
Xia Lei sent Long Bing out the door and did actually lock the door. He recalled the words Long Bing had just said and a wry smile appeared in the corners of his mouth. ¡®If something happens between Tang Yuyan and I, would she really tell Shentu Tianyin?¡¯
Just thinking about it gave one a headache.
Tang Yuyan was beautiful and well-rounded, definitely one who stirred mes of desire; difficult for men to resist her charms. But to Xia Lei, having just Shentu Tianyin was enough.
Xia Lei sat staring nkly for a bit, then opened his travel bag and took out the items he had taken from the tomb, and thatpass.
This was the first time he had thepass and a new needle in his hands at the same time. This was an opportunity for him to see which direction the new needle would point when he put it on thepass. This was quite important to him because the next time a group was going to be sent after treasure, it would likely not be a treasure-seeking group but him.
He changed the needle and it pointed straight east.
¡®East?¡¯ Xia Lei was surprised. ¡®Could it be in China? No way. A treasure location was already found in China. If it¡¯s in China then Princess Yongmei would have excavated it long ago. She only had one piece of alloy in her coffin. But if it¡¯s not in China then where in the east?¡¯
He quickly thought of a ce.
¡®Could it be Japan?¡¯ Xia Lei frowned when he thought of Japan. ¡®Japan is almost like a subordinate country to America. If it really is in Japan then it¡¯ll be quite troublesome. If I have to go to Japan to look for treasure I could be surrounded by American soldiers once I step off the ne. I hope it¡¯s a small ind in the east, or some other region.¡¯
There was no use over-thinking things like these. He had no way of choosing the next treasure location. If it really was Japan, then he could only grit his teeth and go excavate.
He put away thepass and turned his attention to the alloy pieces. He picked up the pieces and tried to put them together, piece by piece. He managed to form a surface - a t, square surface.
¡®Damn, is it really a box?¡¯ Xia Lei held the t surface in his hand and looked closely at it, feeling very surprised indeed.
Five pieces made a square surface. If it really was a box, then ording to what he had now, five pieces made one surface... so he needed 30 pieces to make aplete box. He currently had seven pieces - he was short 23 pieces!
This made Xia Lei want to groan in dismay. He had gone through two highways to hell for just seven pieces - how many more death-defying trips would he have to make to get all the pieces?
After a bit, Xia Lei used his X-ray vision on a piece of ancient alloy. He experienced that feeling again, and when that passed, a snow-white Princess Yongmei, so beautiful she could take one¡¯s breath away, appeared in his room.
He had not had time to observe Princess Yongmei in that ancient tomb under the church but he had a lot of time now.
Princess Yongmei stared straight at Xia Lei, who was lying on the bed. She did not speak.
Xia Lei greeted her first. ¡°Hi, how¡¯re you doing?¡±
Xia Lei expected her to say the same old lines. Princess Yongmei could only say two lines in China and the Princess Yongmei who appeared here could say four lines.
¡°Hello,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
¡°Ah?¡± Xia Lei was gobsmacked. This Princess Yongmei could say more than four lines! This ¡®hello¡¯ was the fifth line she could say.
And this line was even more of a positive indicator because this was her greeting him!
¡°I¡¯m so cold.¡± Princess Yongmei said another line.
Xia Lei paused, then abruptly took up the jacket he had put on the bedside table and got off the bed. He walked up to Princess Yongmei and stretched out the jacket to her.
His jacket fell on her graceful shoulders but it did not stay on her shoulders - it dropped to the floor right away.
¡°It¡¯s no use,¡± said Princess Yongmei, ¡°I cannot wear it.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the jacket on the floor and at Princess Yongmei standing before him, and no words could describe how thunderstruck he was.
What he could confirm was that the Princess Yongmei who had appeared before him right now had very clear consciousness and an ability tomunicate! She could say greetings, felt cold, and knew she could not put clothes on!
Xia Lei took a deep breath, trying his best to calm himself down. He then said carefully, ¡°Princess Yongmei, I... I am your friend. I want to help you but I need to understand some things. Can you tell me what type of alloy this is? Why are you looking for them?¡± He pointed at thepleted t surface of alloy pieces on the bed as he spoke.
Princess Yongmei held her head in her hands and looked confused and in pain. ¡°Why don¡¯t I remember who I am? Alloy... What alloy?¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. She didn¡¯t remember!
¡°What¡¯s wrong with me... I¡¯m so cold...¡± Princess Yongmei seemed to be in greater and greater pain.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the alloy pieces, assembled into a t surface and he made a bold conclusion. ¡®The Princess Yongmei in China could say just two lines and had practically no clear consciousness. In the tomb under the church she could say four lines and had a higher level of consciousness. The Princess Yongmei tonight seems to have a high level of conscious thought and personality. Could these changes be rted to the number of alloy pieces, and the fact that I had pieced them together into one of the surfaces of a cube?¡¯
Indeed, Princess Yongmei had a huge change from the beginning, and every change was rted to the number of alloy pieces gathered. He had not put the pieces together in the tomb but he had now, and she had a clearer consciousness now. So this was not just rted to the number of alloy pieces but also the shape they formed!
Xia Lei could not help hypothesising. If he put all the alloy pieces together and made aplete box, what would Princess Yongmei be then?
This was a mind-blowing thought.
¡°You are Princess Yongmei, a Ming dynasty princess. Your father is Zhu Xi, Emperor Yongle.¡± Xia Lei tried to direct Princess Yongmei¡¯s thoughts after his surprise subsided. ¡°Try to remember. Is it your father who told you to look for this sort of alloy? What are you looking for them for?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m so cold.¡± Princess Yongmei drew close, into Xia Lei¡¯s arms, trying to get warmth from his body.
A wave of cold came from Princess Yongmei¡¯s ¡®body¡¯ and Xia Lei was frozen instantly. He wanted to send Princess Yongmei back into the alloy pieces but was a little unwilling to do so. After some hesitation, he took a few steps back and out of Princess Yongmei¡¯s range. He then took off his top and bottoms and walked to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and let the hot water fall on his body.
Princess Yongmei appeared in the bathroom too. She looked with wide eyes at Xia Lei in his briefs. The hot water sshing off Xia Lei¡¯s body fell on her too, and a strange thing happened a second water.
The water droplets which fell on Princess Yongmei turned into ice droplets and fell to the floor in a tinkle.
This scene shocked Xia Lei. He could not help thinking that Princess Yongmei wouldn¡¯t take long to freeze a swimming pool if she were thrown into one.
A woman like this was a true ice queen!
¡°So warm.¡± Princess Yongmei seemed to feel the warmth of the hot water. She walked under the shower to take a shower with Xia Lei.
Plenty of water came from the shower head so her body could not freeze all that wasing out. Under her feet, however, the floor of the shower soon iced up, and a thinyer of frost covered the surface of the bathroom and spread towards the wall.
¡°Are you feeling better now?¡± Xia Lei kept probing. ¡°If you feel better, please tell me - what are those alloy pieces?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Then what do you know?¡±
¡°I know...¡± Princess Yongmei thought for a bit and said suddenly, ¡°You¡¯re the one. I¡¯ve been waiting for you.¡±
¡°What do you mean? Please exin it.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask me. I don¡¯t know.¡± Princess Yongmei red into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. Her eyes were dark ponds, as deep as the stars in the night sky. He eyes were like a whirlpool, sucking out the soul of a human.
Xia Lei shook his head to free himself of her gaze, and broke free from his trance. ¡®Looks like I¡¯ll need to find more alloy pieces toplete the box and solve this mystery.¡¯
¡°The One. What is this?¡± said Princess Yongmei.
¡°The One?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°Is this the name you¡¯re giving me? My name¡¯s Xia Lei, not ¡®The One¡¯.¡±
¡°The One,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Okay, call me whatever you want.¡± He then remembered something. ¡°What did you say just now?¡±
Princess Yongmei suddenly reached out and patted Xia Lei on the shoulder.
¡°Waaaah!¡±
He came running out of the bathroom a secondter, knocking at the ice on his shoulder with his fist.
Chapter 449 - Hidden Daggers in the New Recruit’s Smile
Jerusalem.
Over 30 bodies wereid out in the morgue of a hospital. Some of these had died of gunshot wounds, some from an explosion. The ones killed by guns were a little better - at least they were intact. The bodies which had been sted apart had been picked up in a hurry and were a terrible sight for the eyes.
Gu Kewen stood in the morgue. She had a mask on but the burnt smell of the bodies was still thick enough to make her frown.
Goodson¡¯s bodyy in a body bag. He was missing a leg which could not be found anymore. His face had been half-burnt away; one eye was missing and half his lips were gone, exposing white teeth.
Gu Kewen looked emotionlessly at Goodson in a body bag and a cold voice said in her head, ¡®You wanted to make use of me and kill me? I, Gu Kewen, am not some chess piece you can just use as you please. I am not your cannon fodder! Look, now you¡¯re dead and I¡¯m still alive and healthy.¡¯
Goodson was not able to respond to this provocation. He had died in the explosion in the Israeli residential area and over ten hours had passed since then. From a physiological point of view he was utterly andpletely dead. Not one cell in his entire body was alive.
¡®I had people in China and I could get my hands on information you people could not obtain. If you thought I had no more use then you are very wrong. If I had not got the information that Xia Lei hade to Jerusalem this time, would you have known he was here? You couldn¡¯t capture him and you want me to take the me? In your dreams!¡¯ A sneer appeared in the corners of Gu Kewen¡¯s lips.
The morgue door was pushed open and a CIA agent walked in. ¡°Miss Gu, the higher-ups have sent someone. This person wants to see you.¡±
¡°Who is it?¡± Gu Kewen asked reflexively.
¡°What are you asking that for? I¡¯m just the messenger. Come with me.¡± The messenger-agent turned and left.
Gu Kewen looked at Goodson¡¯s body in the body bag again. ¡°Bye, Mr Goodson. I guess the CIA will appoint me to another position. Just you wait - I will climb up one day. I, Gu Kewen, am a born leader, not a foot soldier. Too bad you didn¡¯t get this into your head, not even till your death.¡±
If Goodson could hear her and if he could move, he would probably grab Gu Kewen by the throat and strangle her to death.
Gu Kewen left the morgue and followed the messenger to the rooftop of the hospital. The messenger-agent didn¡¯t say anything more either, and left after he brought Gu Kewen to the rooftop.
At the edge of the rooftop stood a tall woman with long legs. She had a pair of beautiful legs in a body ratio of 3:2. Her back was to the stairs and her profile was slender. She stood quietly at the edge of the rooftop, looking in the direction of Jordan. The city¡¯s lights were not enough to illuminate her features but the sight of her back was already vaguely familiar to Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewen walked over and said in English, ¡°May I know who you...¡±
The woman turned around. Pretty features and a superbly sexy body - a real live femme fatale.
This woman was none other than the woman Xia Lei had seen on Golgotha hill. Liang Siyao.
Gu Kewen¡¯s expression changed when she saw Liang Siyao¡¯s face clearly. ¡°It¡¯s... you.¡±
Liang Siyao spoke softly, ¡°We meet again, Gu Kewen. Surprising, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°You¡¯re CIA?¡± Gu Kewen was astonished. ¡°How is this possible?¡±
Liang Siyao scoffed. ¡°If the youngdy of the Gu n can be a CIA agent, then why can¡¯t I be CIA?¡±
Gu Kewen shut her mouth. Questions popped up in her head all at once, all rted to Xia Lei and Liang Siyao.
It was normal for her not to know about Liang Siyao¡¯s identity because even Long Bing was not quite sure about her; she¡¯d only suspected her before.
¡°Surprised?¡± Liang Siyao walked up to Gu Kewen and watched her eyes.
Gu Kewen was surprised but she put on a facade of calm. ¡°It is indeed a surprise. But now I know why you were with Xia Lei back then. What secret does he have that makes it worth it for us to treat him in this way? Killing him is much easier than capturing him live, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Gu Kewen.
A chill shed in Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes but it disappeared quickly and a faint smile appeared on her lips. ¡°How long have you been in the CIA? You¡¯re just a fresh recruit. You think you have the authorisation to know the secret Xia Lei holds?¡±
Gu Kewen shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s true, I don¡¯t have authorisation. Take it as I¡¯ve asked nothing.¡±
¡°This operation should have seeded. Unfortunately, you and Goodson screwed up,¡± said Liang Siyao softly, ¡°The higher-ups sent me to take over. You are under mymand from now on.¡±
¡°You¡¯re taking over?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s expression changed and her heart filled with worry.
¡°Yes. The Director of CIA Asia stands before you,¡± said Liang Siyao with a smile.
¡°Congrattions.¡± Gu Kewen looked away from Liang Siyao¡¯s gaze. ¡°I will do my tasks well. We will surely capture Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Oh, really? I look forward to your excellent performance,¡± said Liang Siyao. ¡°America is a free and open-minded country. You can realise your dream if you put effort into it. Looks like your dream is to kill Xia Lei to avenge your father and brother, hm?¡±
Gu Kewen was silent, but she checked on Liang Siyao¡¯s expression out of the corner of her eye.
¡°The drive for vengeance cannot be underestimated. I believe we will capture Xia Lei with your help,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Miss Liang, I¡¯ll tell you honestly that my joining the CIA was forced. Your people kidnapped me. I have no other choice now. Is there anything I can do other thanplete my mission? I have no way of going back to China. America is my new home. If you¡¯re testing my loyalty then there¡¯s no need,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°Heh heh, of course I trust you to be loyal. You did quite well in this operation. Goodson could not see your value but I can. The Gu n was one of the elite in China and you have several important resources avable to you. Perform well. You can definitely be an irreceable asset to the CIA one day,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Thank you. I will work hard.¡± Gu Kewen seemed humble.
Liang Siyao spoke again, ¡°I have a small task for you. You can treat this as my test.¡± She pointed at a building under construction opposite the hospital. ¡°My people have caught a Chinese intelligence officer. Go kill him.¡±
¡°You¡¯remanding me to kill?¡±
¡°What, you don¡¯t dare to kill?¡±
¡°No. Am I going alone?¡± asked Gu Kewen.
¡°No, I will send an assistant to go with you,¡± said Liang Siyao. She looked up at the sky. ¡°It¡¯s almost dawn. Move quick. Don¡¯t forget to clean up the scene after you kill that person.¡±
¡°I know what to do. I¡¯ll go right now.¡± Gu Kewen turned and left.
Liang Siyao took out a satellite phone after Gu Kewen left and dialled a number. ¡°She¡¯sing, Uncle Xia. Kill her, and the person I send.¡±
A male voice came from over the line. ¡°The debt you owe me is paid. I¡¯ll give you a warning as a gift too. The CIA promoted you to Director of Asia but it¡¯s not a true promotion. They¡¯re using you onest time.¡±
Liang Siyao was quiet for a bit before saying, ¡°I know what I should do. Goodbye.¡±
In the building under construction opposite, a man put away a satellite phone. He had an unfamiliar face but if he took off his mask and revealed his face, the CIA and FA would be in hot pursuit. He was Xia Changhe.
¡°Uncle Xia.¡± Yelena¡¯s voice came from out of the darkness. ¡°Why did you warn that woman? She¡¯s the person who wants to capture your son.¡±
Xia Changhe smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve got to remember that turning an enemy is way more valuable than killing ten of them.¡±
¡°So you want her to work with you?¡±
Xia Changhe did not reply.
¡°Forget it.¡± Yelena released the safety on her gun. ¡°That Gu woman is a bad one. Let me kill her.¡±
¡°We have to leave Israel once we¡¯re done here,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°We¡¯re going to Jordan.¡±
¡°You want to meet your son?¡±
¡°No, that¡¯s too dangerous,¡± said Xia Changhe, ¡°He has two Bureau 101 chiefs with him. We¡¯ll be discovered if we¡¯re not careful. I just want to see him. Maybe he will leave me some hints too.¡±
¡°That woman and the CIA agent are here,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Changhe stopped talking. A gun with a silencer appeared in his hand.
Gu Kewen walked out of the doors of the hospital. She looked back up at the rooftop of the building but she did not see Liang Siyao.
¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± urged the CIA agent.
¡°Have you been under Liang Siyao¡¯smand for long, sir?¡± asked Gu Kewen as she walked.
¡°Don¡¯t ask me any questions.¡± The CIA agent¡¯s face was a mask of cold.
Gu Kewen smiled. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m a new recruit. I don¡¯t quite know the rules. I¡¯ll repay you if you show me the ropes.¡±
¡°Eh? What sort of repayment are you going to give me?¡± The CIA agent¡¯s gaze went to Gu Kewen¡¯s breasts.
¡°Oh, you¡¯re very handsome so you should know what I mean. Um, hold on. I need to relieve myself over there.¡± Gu Kewen did not wait for the agent to agree before she tottered into some greenery by the side of the road. She pulled down her skirt over a patch of grass and peed right in front of the agent.
The agent smiled. He knew well what sort of repayment Gu Kewen was talking about.
¡°Can you turn around? I can¡¯t pee with you looking like that.¡± Gu Kewen put on a bashful look.
¡°Sorry. You hurry up. Let¡¯s finish this task and I¡¯ll treat you to a drink. How about it?¡±
¡°Of course,¡± said Gu Kewen with a smile.
The CIA agent turned his back on her.
Just as he turned around, Gu Kewen swiftly took out a handgun she had hidden on her inner thigh and aimed at the back of his head. She fired.
Bang! Blood spurted. The CIA agent had been fantasising about Gu Kewen¡¯s lewd spot but his fantasies ended there.
Gu Kewen pulled up her bottoms and dashed into the trees, disappearing quickly into the night.
It would be daylight soon. Some people would be able to embrace the daylight, while some others sank in darkness.
Chapter 450 - Information in the Toilet
It was morning and Xia Lei walked out of his room. Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were already waiting for him at the entrance.
¡°Boss informed me that a chartered ne will arrive in the afternoon. We¡¯re flying back,¡± said Long Bing, straight to the point.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°This is best. The sooner we get back the safer we¡¯ll be.¡±
¡°Nn. Let¡¯s go eat something,¡± said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan walked next to Xia Lei and said in a low voice, ¡°I went past your roomst night and heard you talking to someone. Who was in your room?¡±
Xia Lei was sure that Tang Yuyan could not hear Princess Yongmei¡¯s voice because she was broadcasting her voice via brain-waves or something. That sort of voice just popped into the brain and ears could never catch it. He was wary of this situation though, and was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°I was practicing Hebrew.¡±
Tang Yuyan gave Xia Lei a sideways look but did not ask more.
The three of them ate their breakfast in the hotel, paid their bill and left. They used the same off-road vehicle they had arrived in. Xia Lei surmised that this vehicle had been left behind by his father, Xia Changhe, so he did not intend to change vehicles. He also suspected that there was a tracking device on the off-road vehicle and that his father would use the tracker to locate him.
If Xia Changhe was going to show himself, then Xia Lei wanted to tell him some things, the most important of which was that he was now in charge of the research on the ancient alloy, and that the alloy pieces andpass were in his hands. He did not want his father to keep getting involved with this matter - it was too dangerous.
The only problem was that Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were sticking to him. This posed problems for him and his father to meet.
Xia Lei drove the vehicle aimlessly around on the streets of Amman, looking for Xia Changhe and Yelena. An hour passed, and he found nothing.
¡°How long more are you going to drive round and round like this?¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°I¡¯m getting dizzy.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the airport. We¡¯ll leave right when the ne arrives.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Right, is there anyone in charge of documents like passports and such?¡±
¡°Do we need you to worry about things like these? Of course there¡¯s someone in charge of it. We only need to bother about getting the items on the ne,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
The car moved out of Amman as they chatted. It went on the highway to the airport and on for 20 kilometres more beforeing to Queen Alia International Airport.
The airport was very busy. Xia Lei found a parking spot by the side of the road and parked.
There was a petrol station next to the road too, and a supermarket next to the supermarket.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze stopped on the petrol station. A woman was at the petrol station getting petrol for her motorcycle.
¡®It¡¯s her!¡¯ Excitement sprung in Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
The woman was Xia Changhe¡¯s assistant, Yelena. Just as he¡¯d guessed, Xia Changhe must have some way to track this vehicle since he left it behind, and follow him all the way here. Yelena had appeared too so his father must be close by, right?
Xia Lei looked away from Yelena and around but he did not spot his father. He understood why Xia Changhe would not want to show himself, though. He had two Bureau 101 chiefs with him and they were clever women indeed. Their meeting would only bring unnecessary trouble.
Xia Lei stopped looking and said, ¡°You two wait in the car for me. I¡¯ll go use the toilet. I¡¯ve been driving around for so long, my dder¡¯s bursting.¡±
¡°Since you¡¯re saying that I feel like I need to go too. Let¡¯s go together,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You two go ahead. I¡¯ll stay in the car and watch our things,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan alighted, then walked towards the toilets of the petrol station.
Yelena didn¡¯t even give Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan a nce.
Xia Lei went into the male toilet and Tang Yuyan went into the female toilet.
Xia Lei was nervous in the male toilets. ¡®I want to go to the toilet and she wants to go too. Did she discover something? Is she following me?¡¯
It was possible.
Xia Lei could not sit idle at that thought. His left eye twitched and the wall between the male and female toilets disappeared. A squatting Tang Yuyan entered his field of vision. Snowy, parted thighs and running liquid... She really was relieving herself.
Xia Lei hurriedly stopped using his X-ray vision after catching just a look; he didn¡¯t dare to keep looking.
If Tang Yuyan was following him then she would probably be with her ear to the wall right now, or climbing up the wall to spy on him. But no. She was relieving herself. How was a woman going to spy on others when she was relieving herself?
¡®What do I do? How do I get the information I want to tell my father to Yelena?¡¯ Xia Lei was getting anxious, but his mind was a nk and he started to sweat.
Two minutester, Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came from outside the door. ¡°Are you done? Hurry up.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s brow darkened with gloom in the male toilet. She was even nagging him in the toilet - how much more intrusive was she going to get?
¡°Hello? Are you okay? I¡¯lle in if you don¡¯t respond!¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice carried some worry and anxiousness.
¡°I¡¯ll be right there!¡± said Xia Lei grumpily.
It seemed she was acting out of concern but it was still ridiculous to him.
Xia Lei walked out of the bathroom and the image of Tang Yuyan relieving herself surfaced in his head again when he saw her. He had only had a glimpse of it but it was burnt into his memory, never to be erased. He just had to think of it now and to stimte him and make him secretly ¡®excited¡¯.
¡°Why¡¯s your face red?¡± Tang Yuyan looked curiously at Xia Lei.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I was using the toilet, okay? Why do you have so many questions?¡±
¡°You must be red from constipation. You¡¯ve got a problem,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei had no words to counter that remark.
¡°I want to go buy something from the supermarket. Want toe with?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°No, you go ahead. I¡¯ll go back to the car and wait for you.¡± Xia Lei found another excuse, ¡°Long Bing¡¯s alone in the car. I¡¯m a little worried.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Tang Yuyan started walking towards the supermarket.
Just then, Yelena came walking towards Xia Lei. She had her helmet on and her face could not be seen.
Xia Lei turned around and turned on the tap in the sink to wash his hands.
Yelena brushed past as she went towards the female toilet.
Xia Lei spoke in a low voice, ¡°I excavated the items but I don¡¯t have all the parts. I¡¯m in charge of this project now. Tell him not to get involved anymore. Too dangerous.¡±
Yelena gave a slight nod.
Xia Lei turned off the tap and left. He had not looked at Yelena during the whole exchange.
Back in the car, Xia Lei said without batting an eyelid, ¡°Did you see anyone suspicious?¡±
¡°No.¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was indifferent, ¡°But if you want to talk about suspicious, then you and Tang Yuyan were suspicious, even going to the toilet as a pair. You two having an affair?¡±
Xia Lei was frozen, speechless.
Tang Yuyan returned quickly from the supermarket with a big bag of Jordan specialty snacks. ¡°Eat up, my treat,¡± she said with a smile.
The two women went through the pile of snacks in the car but Xia Lei was not that interested. He saw Yelena leave in the rearview mirror and he started the car engine a few minutester to move to the to a more secluded spot. He parked.
They had three XL2500s in the car, and one Gust assault rifle. These weapons could not be brought into the airport.
After he parked, Xia Lei put his seat down t andy on it to take a nap. Tang Yuyan and Long Bing continued eating snacks and chatting about girly topics. They were entirelyfortable with Xia Lei but he did not interrupt their conversation. He closed his eyes and faked sleep.
Long Bing received a call in the afternoon.
Half an hourter, people from the embassy came and drove the car Xia Lei had driven to the airport. Embassy staff had diplomatic immunity and were able to help Xia Lei and his group to move the alloy pieces and the guns to the ne without interference from the airport security restrictions and staff.
They boarded the chartered ne from China smoothly and their luggage were simrly loaded safely onto the ne.
On the ne, Xia Lei saw Shi Boren and the suited Ling Han.
¡°Impressive indeed, Boy!¡± Shi Boren pped Xia Lei hard on the shoulder as soon as they met. ¡°Well done! I¡¯ll throw a celebratory party for you when we get back.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll have a few drinks with Boss Shi, then,¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
¡°That¡¯s a promise.¡± Shi Boren was jolly.
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips. ¡°Godfather, Long Bing and I also risked our lives alongside Xia Lei. We nearly died in Jerusalem. How about some praise for us?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±ughed Shi Boren, ¡°You two have put in a lot of effort too. You will have your reward when you get back. Don¡¯t make a fuss here.¡±
¡°Humph. You only praise Xia Lei.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was tiny.
Long Bing was a picture of calm and said nothing. Tang Yuyan was being cute for her godfather but what was she going to act cute for? Besides, she wasn¡¯t a woman who would do such things.
¡°Where are the items, Mr Xia?¡± asked Ling Han.
¡°In my rucksack. Would you like to have a look, Mr Ling?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, no,¡± said Ling Han. ¡°I was just asking. I¡¯m just assured that you did your job. No need to show me.¡±
The ancient alloy was like a gue and the people who knew of its power definitely didn¡¯t want toe into contact with it.
After a pause, Ling Han said, ¡°Did you find a new pointer needle, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Yes. I¡¯ve already put it on thepass,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Where does it point?¡±
¡°East,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I suspect the next treasure location is in Japan, or on some eastern ind.¡±
¡°Japan?¡± Ling Han wrinkled his brows. ¡°If it really is in Japan then things will get difficult.¡±
Japan and America were long-standing allies and Japan was totally reliant on America for protection. Digging for treasure in Japan was not going to be easy!
¡°Who cares where it is. Boy, I think it¡¯ll be no problem as long as it¡¯s you tackling it. See, after getting the call from Long Bing, the higher-ups implied that they won¡¯t be sending a treasure-seeking group for the next location. They¡¯re going to let you choose your team, and you bring that team with you,¡± said Shi Boren.
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. He¡¯d expected this.
The ne took off a few minutester. Queen Alia International Airport was left in the distance, bing smaller and smaller till it could not be seen anymore.
Chapter 451 - Tang Yuyan Was Here
Shi Boren really did hold a celebratory party for Xia Lei - it was not in a luxurious hotel but in the cafeteria of Bureau 101. Only Xia Lei, Long Bing, Tang Yuyan, Ling Han and Shi Boren sat at the table.
Ling Han¡¯s alcohol tolerance was astonishing and he was also the one who poured and toasted for Xia Lei the most. There was no refusing the toasts from Ling Han due to his status, and Xia Lei drank ss after ss of baijiu, so much that he was dizzy. However, he was still conscious and aware that he should stop or he would get dead drunk.
¡°Xia, Bro, it¡¯s the nation¡¯s great fortune to have a talent like you. You¡¯ve not only raised our country¡¯s intelligentthe technology but made the most advanced sniper rifle too. Come, another toast. To you!¡± Ling Han raised his ss and gulped it all down.
¡°I¡ c, can¡¯t drink any more¡¡± Xia Lei felt like he couldn¡¯t control his tongue.
Ling Han put on an unhappy look. ¡°Bro, I¡¯m treating you like a Brother. If you¡¯re not going to drink then it means you¡¯re looking down on me.¡±
People under the influence always have reasons for others to keep drinking with them.
Shi Borenughed and said, ¡°You¡¯re wrong there, Xia Lei. How can you not drink when Mr Ling is giving you a toast? It¡¯s just alcohol, not poison.¡±
¡°I, I¡¯ll¡ help you drink.¡± Long Bing was slurring worse than Xia Lei. She was already drunk but was still insisting on drinking on Xia Lei¡¯s behalf.
¡°I¡¯ll drink.¡± Xia Lei raised the ss and forced himself to down the alcohol.
The alcohol dropped down to his belly and his throat was set on fire. His gut was churning and his heart thumped quickly. His brain¡ it was long past coherence. Xia Lei was truly drunk with this ss, and he flopped on the table.
¡°He¡¯s drunk,¡± said Ling Han. ¡°Boss Shi, I¡¯ll take him to rest in a room.¡±
Shi Boren said, ¡°How can we let you do something like this? I¡¯ll get someone¡¡±
Ling Han cut him short. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll take him.¡±
Shi Boren seemed to understand something and he did not say more.
Just then, Xia Lei¡¯s brain cleared up all of a sudden. It felt like a cold force had spread from his brain and out to the rest of his body, sobering him. This power quickly nullified the effects of the alcohol.
¡®This feeling¡¡¯ Xia Lei was stunned by his clear consciousness. ¡®I had this feeling too when I was force to inhale the anaesthetic gas in that basement, and I became immune to anaesthetic afterwards. I got drunk now and this power appeared again to wake me up. Does this mean that this power appears when my brain is not fully conscious?¡¯
This situation was like his body had a type of super immunity - once his brain was not fully conscious and his body affected, it would awaken and help his brain and body recover normal functions.
Ling Han got up and reached out to support Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was about to say that he was not drunk but he quashed the thought. ¡®Boss Shi said he would call someone to take me to a room to rest earlier but Ling Han insisted that he would take me himself¡ Does he have some other motive?¡¯
At that thought, Xia Lei went on pretending to be drunk.
¡°All right, all right, that¡¯s it for today. Yuyan, you didn¡¯t drink much. You send Long Bing off to rest,¡± said Shi Boren.
Tang Yuyan supported Long Bing as she mumbled, ¡°I st,still want to, to drink with Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Drink, my foot. You¡¯re already drunk. I¡¯ll take you to rest,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing went on, ¡°You¡ You¡¯re actually getting married¡ You bastard!¡±
Tang Yuyan paused.
Xia Lei heard this outburst too. There was a flicker of something in his heart, but he pretended not to have heard and kept up his drunk act.
Even if he was not drunk, what else could he do other than pretend not to hear Long Bing say something like this?
Shi Boren sighed. ¡°You kids. What¡¯s with these messy rtionships? I don¡¯t get it. Never mind, I¡¯d better go home and sleep.¡±
Ling Han helped Xia Lei out of the cafeteria and into a room. He put Xia Lei on a sofa and observed him quietly.
Xia Lei¡¯s brain and bodily functions were normal again but his face still had a drunken red flush. This red flush seemed to convince Ling Han of something and he watched Xia Lei for about a minute, then said, ¡°Xia Lei, about the alloy¡ What have you found?¡±
He did have a motive.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and muttered, ¡°It, It¡ Guh¡¡±
¡°What did you say?¡±
¡°It, It¡¯s a box,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What box?¡±
¡°N, No idea.¡±
¡°Have you analysed theposition of the ancient alloy? Can it be reproduced?¡±
¡°I¡ don¡¯t know. This¡ Aren¡¯t I doing this? What¡ What¡¯s the rush? Who are y, you?¡± Xia Lei was fully into his drunken act.
Ling Han was silent for a bit. ¡°You¡¯re a mystery, aren¡¯t you. Tell me - what secret do you have?¡±
¡°Heh heh heh¡¡± Xia Leiughed foolishly. ¡°I d, do have a secret.¡±
There was excitement in Ling Han¡¯s gaze. ¡°Tell me what secret you have.¡±
¡°M, My¡¡± Xia Lei pointed. ¡°My dick is very big!¡±
Ling Han was bbergasted.
¡°Don¡¯t believe me? Let¡¯spare!¡± Xia Lei made to remove his trousers as he said it.
¡°Go to sleep. Have a good rest. I¡¯m going back.¡± Ling Han turned and left.
Xia Lei stilly on the sofa after Ling Han left, and a mean smile crossed his face. He knew the motive behind Ling Han getting him drunk and questioning him afterwards. A person¡¯s defences and consciousness would not be at full capacity when drunk and secrets slipped from drunken lips fairly easily. It was quite normal that Ling Han would want to know his progress on the research on the alloy and also if he had any secrets.
Tang Yuyan and Ling Han¡¯s voices came from beyond the door.
¡°Are you going back, Mr Ling?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Yes, I have to get back,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Can you still drive? I can send someone to take you back if you can¡¯t drive,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°No need, no need. I can drive, thank you. That¡¯s that, then. Goodbye,¡± said Ling Han.
Then there was the sound of footsteps and the door to the room was pushed open by Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan came straight over with a dazzling smile on her face. Xia Lei had no idea what she was smiling about but lying on the sofa, he felt like a fish on a chopping board.
¡®What¡¯s she nning to do bying over at this time?¡¯ Xia Lei asked himself.
Tang Yuyan walked to the sofa and reached out to pinch Xia Lei¡¯s face without warning. ¡°You rascal. You kicked my butt in Jerusalem and peeked on me showering in Amman. You¡¯re taking advantage of me but not taking responsibility. You think I¡¯m a great target to bully?¡±
Xia Lei kept his eyes shut and pretended he couldn¡¯t hear.
Tang Yuyan pinched his face.
This ¡®abuse¡¯ was not very hard; Xia Lei had greater trouble fighting his male instincts than his pain.
Just as Xia Lei was about to open his eyes and stop Tang Yuyan¡¯s ¡®violence¡¯, he saw her take a marker out of her bag. He was curious. ¡®What is she nning to do?¡¯
Tang Yuyan put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s waist and turned him over. She used the marker to write something on his body.
After she was done, she put Xia Lei¡¯s trousers back on and turned him back again.
¡°Ay, I¡¯ll be a good person to the end, hm? I¡¯ll get someone to send you home.¡± Tang Yuyan chuckled evilly. ¡°Send you back to Shentu Tianyin, yeah?¡±
Xia Lei guessed that she had drawn something on his back, maybe a turtle or something else.
Tang Yuyan helped Xia Lei to his feet and spoke in his ear, sting her hot breath, ¡°I wrote something on your back. Tang Yuyan was here. I wonder what expression Shentu Tianyin will have when she sees it. Hahaha¡¡±
Xia Lei then knew what Tang Yuyan had written on him and what she was up to. This was not your regr prank!
If he¡¯d really been drunk and unaware of what was going on and was sent back to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s home, Shentu Tianyin would surely take care of him if she saw him drunk. Then she would give him a bath or something and see ¡®Tang Yuyan was here¡¯ doodled on his back¡ What would she think then?
¡®This girl! I really didn¡¯t expect this of her¡¡¯ Xia Lei felt very much like kicking her.
Sure enough, Tang Yuyan called one of her subordinates over and got the agent to send Xia Lei to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s home.
Xia Lei was not going to bother exposing her plot. It was best to pretend to know nothing about this sort of thing.
Half an hourter, the agent brought Xia Lei to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s neighbourhood. As the agent was about to help Xia Lei from the car, Xia Lei ¡®woke up¡¯ on his own and told the agent to go back, and that he was fine on his own. That agent did not know of Tang Yuyan¡¯s ulterior motive, and, seeing that Xia Lei was able to walk normally, drove off.
Xia Lei did not dare to go straight to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s home after he entered the neighbourhood. He went to a public toilet and cleaned himself in there before he went to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s home.
Fu Mingmei opened the door for Xia Lei. She smelt the alcohol on Xia Lei and wrinkled her brows. ¡°Dang, why did you drink so much? Tianyin hates drunkards the most.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m not drunk. And how do you know that Tianyin hates it when I drink? She drank with me before.¡±
Fu Mingmei pursed her lips. ¡°Yeah, yeah impressive. She¡¯s yours now so you¡¯re starting to let loose? You men are all the same, so very nice when you¡¯re in courtship and then showing your true colours when you get the girl.¡±
Xia Lei did not want to debate with her. ¡°Is she asleep?¡±
¡°Not yet. She¡¯s still up in the study working. I¡¯ll go let her know,¡± said Fu Mingmei.
¡°No, no, I¡¯ll go take a shower, then go to her.¡± Xia Lei felt like he had washed for nothing.
Fu Mingmei then smiled faintly. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Wash yourself clean and fresh, then she¡¯ll be in the mood to make little persons with you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Work hard, okay? Get her pregnant as soon as possible. The Old Master is looking forward to holding his grandchild.¡± Fu Mingmei smiled more brightly now.
Xia Lei was speechless again.
Chapter 452 - Who’s More Anxious
Shentu Tianyin was sitting at the desk in the study reading a document quietly.
The document was from Shinyeok Group, asking for ridiculouspensation.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°Who does this Ahn Geungan think he is? He¡¯s trying to eat all he can - must I feed him? He really is an arrogant fellow.¡±
Fu Mingmei knocked and walked into the study. She put a steaming cup of coffee on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s desk and said quietly, ¡°He¡¯s back.¡±
Shentu Tianyin paused, and a smile appeared on her pale face. ¡°Why didn¡¯t hee over? He doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯m in the study?¡±
¡°I told him.¡± Fu Mingmei gave her a wicked smile. ¡°He drank some alcohol and I said you didn¡¯t like the smell so he went to shower.¡±
Shentu Tianyin rolled her eyes at Fu Mingmei. ¡°Which man doesn¡¯t drink? I don¡¯t like the smell of alcohol but that¡¯s for other people. Is he ¡®other people¡¯?¡±
¡°Would you be able to see how he cares for you if I didn¡¯t say that? And now here you are, scolding me for it,¡± said Fu Mingmei.
Shentu Tianyin closed the document and stood. ¡°I¡¯ll go see him. He drank so he needs someone to take care of him.¡±
Fu Mingmeiughed, ¡°He didn¡¯t drink so much. He¡¯s wide awake and doesn¡¯t need you to take care of him.¡±
¡°Still, I¡¯ll go over and see.¡± Shentu Tianyin still wanted to leave the study.
Fu Mingmei blocked her. ¡°Then drink the coffee I made for you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin looked suspiciously at Fu Mingmei. ¡°You¡¯re being weird tonight. Spit it out - what¡¯s going on?¡±
Fu Mingmei sighed. ¡°Okay, I can¡¯t hide anything from you. It¡¯s the Old Master¡¯s idea. He got people to concoct some medicinal herbs to boost your ovtion. I made a soup with these herbs and added some to your coffee.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression was a cross betweenughing and crying.
Fu Mingmei shrugged. ¡°This doesn¡¯t concern me. It¡¯s Old Master who wants to hold his grandchild. I told him that your wedding is going to take ce in four months so he doesn¡¯t have to be so anxious, and he said that it can¡¯t be seen in four months anyway even if you get pregnant now. Plus, he¡¯ll get to hold his grandchild four months earlier. So if you want to find fault with someone, go take it up with Old Master.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was speechless.
¡°So are you drinking it or not?¡± asked Fu Mingmei.
Shentu Tianyin picked up the cup of coffee and took a tentative sip. It tasted a little weird; she wrinkled her brows but still gulped the mixture of herbs and coffee down. She then wiped her mouth with a serviette and left the room.
Fu Mingmei stared nkly for a bit, then said, ¡°She¡¯s saying one thing but doing another. Looks like she¡¯s more determined to get pregnant than Old Master¡¯s want to hold a grandchild.¡±
In the shower, Xia Lei scrubbed and scrubbed and nearly turned himself into swiss cheese, all for Shentu Tianyin to get a taste of him.
He took another look in the mirror after he was done showering and walked out of the bathroom only after he had confirmed that he had erased all dirt.
He was stunned when he walked out of the bathroom. Shentu Tianyin was already under the covers and looking at him with anticipation. They had not seen each other for just a few days but seeing her all of a sudden like this was like seeing her again after three years. The passion and excitement in his heart could not be contained nor fully described in words.
¡°Weren¡¯t you in the study?¡± Xia Lei snapped back to his senses and said with a smile, ¡°I was about to go look for you in the study.¡±
¡°It¡¯ste. We should go to bed,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
They were full of passion.
¡°Wait.¡± At the most critical moment, Shentu Tianyin stopped Xia Lei and said, ¡°Mingmei said you were drinking. Will it affect our baby?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was awash with emotion. ¡°You¡¯re pregnant?¡±
¡°No, not that quick! I mean, you were drinking and if I get pregnant tonight, will it affect our baby?¡±
Small droplets of sweat popped out on Xia Lei¡¯s head. How was he to answer a question like this?
¡°Father had medicinal herbs for childbearing brewed for me. Will we get pregnant tonight?¡±
¡°I... only drank a little bit. Take a sniff - do I smell of alcohol?¡±
Shentu Tianyin leaned in and sniffed Xia Lei all over with her petite nose. She did not smell any alcohol. She then gave Xia Lei a smack. ¡°Tell me earlier if you didn¡¯t drink much. You made me worry for nothing.¡±
Xia Lei had actually freed himself of his drunkenness at Bureau 101, and he had taken a shower too. His body really was a miracle.
¡°So, we...?¡± Xia Lei seemed a little anxious.
The night passed pleasurably, and they were in no mood to sleep - there was tenderness and a tangling of limbs.
The next morning, Fu Mingmei came to the door to wake them. Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei woke up, washed up, and went to eat breakfast.
Fu Mingmei had prepared breakfast in the sparse, Western style of bread, milk and omelettes.
Breakfast was an interesting time too. Who knew what he was thinking but Shentu Ren kept chuckling when he looked at Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
¡°How have you been feeling, Father?¡± Xia Lei felt a little embarrassed, being stared at like this.
¡°Oh, good,¡± said Shentu Ren with augh, ¡°The Shaolin Master did some divine calctions for me and he says I can live till 80.¡±
¡°Father, with your current condition living to 90 would be no problem. That Master must have calcted wrong,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Heh heh, I¡¯m content with living till 80. The grass past my tombstone would be at waist height by now if it weren¡¯t for you,¡± said Shentu Ren feelingly.
¡°Father, why are you talking about such inauspicious things when it¡¯s all going nicely?¡±
¡°All right, all right, I won¡¯t say it.¡± Shentu Ren changed the topic. ¡°Right, I¡¯ve booked the hotel you two will be having your wedding in. It¡¯s in our own hotel in Haizhu City. What do you think?¡±
¡°Pbbt...¡± Shentu Tianyin spat out the milk she had just sipped.
Shentu Ren frowned. ¡°What sort of reaction is that?¡±
Shentu Tianyin wiped her mouth. ¡°Father, aren¡¯t you being too hasty? There are still several months to go. Who books the hotel so quickly?¡±
¡°Early? No,¡± said Shentu Ren, ¡°There¡¯s still about four months to go and that will pass in the blink of an eye. Besides, I booked the hotel but you two need to hurry up and get the certificate.¡±
This was Shentu Ren¡¯s real intention. Xia Lei and his daughter were more or less considered to be living together, and based on their ages they could both go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to apply for a marriage certificate at any time.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei, waiting for his response. She was as nervous as the time Xia Lei had knelt and proposed to her.
Shentu Ren watched Xia Lei closely too, waiting for his response.
Xia Lei thought for a bit and a small smile appeared on his lips. ¡°No problem. There¡¯s nothing major I need to take care of these few days anyway so Tianyin and I can go back to Haizhu and get the certificate.¡±
Shentu Tianyin and Shentu Ren smiled at the same time.
¡°But I have something I want to say,¡± added Xia Lei.
¡°Feel free to say it. This is your home - why the formality?¡± said Shentu Ren.
¡°I will not work in Vientaine Group after Tianyin and I are married.¡± He then looked at Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Tianyin, you have to register your assets too. Best to get yourwyer to draft an agreement.¡±
¡°This is...¡± Shentu Ren started to say, then stopped.
Shentu Tianyin, on the other hand, smiled. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll have it handled like you said.¡±
She understood why Xia Lei wanted to do this. She was the owner of Vientaine Group and was worth hundreds of billions. Xia Lei was the owner of Thunder Horse Group but he was only worth a few billion. He was a man, and a very strong-minded man too. People were sure to talk about their marriage and have rumours so he did not want to be seen as a man who was greedy and borrowing the wealth of a woman to get ahead in life.
Seeing Shentu Tianyin agree so readily made Xia Lei feel that she understood him, and a rock was lifted off his heart. He shot a smile at Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Thank you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin nudged his thigh under the table and said rebukingly, ¡°Why so formal?¡±
Shentu Ren seemed to understand Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts on the matter too and he smiled too. ¡°Good, good, I won¡¯t interfere with you young people, go ahead and handle it however you like. If it¡¯s like this though, it feels a little strange.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about this, Father. Xia Lei is in the arms business and his business is global. His Thunder Horse Group would take just a few years to catch up to our Vientaine Group. When that timees, he will merge Vientaine Group and Thunder Horse Group without you asking,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
This seemed to be a way for the owner of Vientaine Group to show her sincerity. Though their assets were separate and both ran their own businesses, the decisions of this family were still for Xia Lei to make. The merging of the two business groups would be up to Xia Lei.
What regret had Xia Lei with a wife like this?
Xia Lei was all smiles. ¡°So when shall we go to Haizhu, Tianyin?¡±
They were both residents of Haizhu so of course they needed to go to Haizhu to register their marriage.
¡°I can go back tomorrow. I am going to thepany to send an official letter to Shinyeok Group to tell them to send representatives to Haizhu for negotiation,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°The issue between you and Shinyeok Group is still not settled?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No,¡± said Shentu Tianyin, ¡°Ahn Suhyeong and I were supposed to talk about it but that day, I...¡± She did not continue but changed the topic. ¡°This matter was left hanging. Ahn Geungan is now trying to get the lion¡¯s share. I¡¯m prepared to talk directly with his representatives.¡±
Xia Lei remembered that Shentu Tianyin was supposed to meet Ahn Suhyeong for business negotiations that day but it had been a trap. Ahn Suhyeong and Gu Kewen worked together to help the CIA kidnap Shentu Tianyin. Both Gu Kewen and Ahn Suhyeong had escaped that night. Now, this Ahn Geungan still dared to try to take the lion¡¯s share and pressure Shentu Tianyin!
Xia Lei was silent for a bit. ¡°Nn, then let¡¯s go together.¡±
Shentu Ren interrupted, ¡°Go get the certificate first, then talk business.¡±
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces andughing.
Chapter 453 - I Want to Shower With You
Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s operations went smoothly without interference from Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group. The military factory production and gun quality were guaranteed, and Xia Lei¡¯s n to produce the Gust assault rifle could be brought forward.
However, Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group¡¯s ¡®silence¡¯ made Xia Lei worry a little. Would these two market leaders be willing to let his business expand and take up more of the market share? Obviously not. This was just the silence before the storm.
He was aware of the situation but was unable to do anything about it. There was no way he could be the first to go on the offensive with his current strength. Besides, there was a group of people with interests invested in the arms market standing being Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, and these wererge groups indeed.
There was no way Xia Lei could walk out of this situation whole so he only thought about it but did not take action. He first went to see Qin Xiang after getting back to Thunder Horse Military Factory, then Annina.
He was going to get married with Shentu Tianyin and he wanted to tell her this.
It wasn¡¯t just Annina - there was Jiang Ruyi too. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help feeling a sense of guilt when he thought of Jiang Ruyi. He did not have any romantic love for her but Jiang Ruyi had waited for him for so many years - he could not pretend that he did not see it and that her feelings did not exist.
Annina was in the office sketching on paper, looking quite focused. She was the same as always, bing another person when she worked; the serious and precise German style.
She did not even sense it when Xia Lei walked into the office. Xia Lei saw that the ss of water on her desk was empty so he picked it up and went to the water dispenser to fill it up with warm water, then put it next to her hand.
Annina then noticed that there was one more person in the office. She raised her head to look and let out a cry of joy when she saw that it was Xia Lei. She stood from her office hair and gave Xia Lei a passionate hug. Her generous bosom pressed tight against Xia Lei¡¯s chest, so tight they changed shape.
¡°Lukas, I¡¯ve been worried about you the past few days. It¡¯s great that you¡¯re back,¡± said Annina. She then gave him a peck on the cheek.
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed. ¡°Annina, I... I¡¯m going to get married soon. To Shentu Tianyin.¡±
Annina paused but did not let go of Xia Lei. She kissed him on the other cheek. ¡°Congrattions.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
This was the reaction of ¡®Intuitionist Annina¡¯. The married Xia Lei was no different from the unmarried Xia Lei to her - he was still Xia Lei.
She kept holding him like that for a minute before she released him.
¡°The new production line is progressing smoothly, and capacity is higher than we¡¯d expected. Plus, the workers are enthusiastic about their work. What I¡¯m trying to say is that our n to produce Gust may be brought forward. I¡¯m already working on making this happen,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei put a smile on his face. ¡°Nn, good work.¡±
Annina grinned. ¡°You should do a bit of work too. Gust is the world¡¯s most advanced assault rifle, a most excellent product. It¡¯s going to be difficult to get it off the shelves if no one knows about it. So, I¡¯m proposing that you hold a press conference or something, and invite not just the local media but overseas as well.¡±
Xia Lei lit up and said happily, ¡°This is a good idea. Give me a rough approximation of the Gust assault rifle production timeline and I can arrange invitations to local and overseas media to build hype for the product.¡±
¡°No problem,¡± said Annina with a smile. ¡°But how are you going to reward me?¡±
¡°Eh?¡± Xia Lei did not expect her to ask for a reward.
¡°Kiss me.¡± Annina opened her arms wide, waiting for Xia Lei to hug and kiss her.
So this was the reward she wanted. Xia Lei smiled wryly and made himself move in to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
This should have been a standard Western-style hug but Annina grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hands and put them on her buttocks and said in his ear, ¡°Lukas,e look for me when your missus is pregnant and can¡¯t satisfy you.¡±
Her buttocks were plump and bouncy.
Xia Lei was bbergasted.
Xia Lei went to the basement of the vi after he left Annina¡¯s office.
His main objective in returning this time was to settle the matter with the ancient alloy.
Xia Lei bumped into the Special Forces colonel, Wu Xiaoguo, at the vi gateway. This poker-faced man shook hands with him and cut straight to the chase. ¡°Mr Xia, the items are in yourboratory. You can go in to inspect them any time.¡±
¡°All right. I was just about to go to theboratory,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
Xia Lei had handed the five pieces of alloy and thepass to Bureau 101st night when he had left. These items had nowe back to him and were in his undergroundboratory. He saw the anti-radiation container holding the alloy pieces and the Ming dynastypass once he entered theboratory.
¡°Please check it, Mr Xia. I¡¯ll make my way out.¡± Wu Xiaoguo exited theboratory with these words. He was quite afraid of the ancient alloy.
Just Xia Lei was left in the undergroundboratory, and he muttered to himself, ¡°Everyone¡¯s afraid of the ancient alloy except me because I¡¯m not affected - I guess this is drawing their attention, huh? That must be why Ling Han made me drunk and tried to question me.¡±
It was no use doing that though. No one on Earth knew what was going on with Xia Lei¡¯s body, not even himself.
Xia Lei opened the container and took out the five alloy pieces. He then opened the safe and took out the two pieces of alloy.
He had made a hypothesis in Jerusalem that the more pieces he had, the closer he came topleting the box and the Princess Yongmei he called forth would be more plete¡¯. This was just a hypothesis and he needed to prove it.
He put the alloy pieces he had brought back from Jerusalem together to form a surface, then added the other two pieces to it. Next, he called up the power of his left eye and used his X-ray vision on the seven connected pieces.
Princess Yongmei appeared in theboratory, snow-white and unclothed; an unearthly beauty.
There was an obvious temperature drop in theboratory as soon as she appeared. She had not opened her mouth to speak yet but Xia Lei already could feel that this Princess Yongmei was more plete¡¯ than all the previous versions of herself. Why he thought so was simple - she looked more powerful than she had before!
Princess Yongmei looked at Xia Lei and said, ¡°The One. We meet again.¡±
¡®The One¡¯ was the name Princess Yongmei had given him. Xia Lei was the only one who could see her and the only one who could get her out of the alloy pieces, as well as the only person she had been waiting for.
Xia Lei held back his shock and said probingly, ¡°Do you remember how many times we¡¯ve met?¡±
¡°That is not important.¡±
The shock Xia Lei experienced skyrocketed at this short exchange. He could not control his excitement any longer. ¡°You seem much better now. Tell me - what is this alloy? Why do you exist?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve asked me two questions. I only have one answer.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei felt like he was getting closer to solving the mystery!
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
This answer nearly made Xia Lei choke.
¡°But I can answer the question you asked thest time,¡± said Princess Yongmei. ¡°I am Zhu Xuanyue, a princess of the Ming dynasty. Princess Yongmei.¡±
Xia Lei knew this already, and her saying it was no different from her not saying it. However, having her say it was an indicator that she had regained a part of her memory. She had not known who she was in Jerusalem, but she knew her identity now.
Princess Yongmei walked to the work table and reached out to the Ming dynastypass on it.
Xia Lei watched closely.
Princess Yongmei¡¯s slim hand swept over thepass but did not pick it up. Thepass moved, just a little.
Xia Lei was astonished. This proved that Princess Yongmei was able to nudge some lightweight physical items now. Sure enough, just as he was thinking this, Princess Yongmei reached out and picked up a piece of paper on the work table.
This piece of paper was lifted a foot high before it dropped.
Princess Yongmei sighed. ¡°Why is it like this?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t remember what happened to you?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Princess Yongmei shook her head. ¡°I can remember some things but most of it is a blur and I can¡¯t remember it. What¡¯s happened to me?¡±
¡°Then do you remember Afghanistan, and the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow?¡± prompted Xia Lei, ¡°Huns live there.¡±
Princess Yongmei turned to look at Xia Lei. ¡°Are you reminding me that I¡¯m dead?¡±
Xia Lei just looked at her. He did mean it that way to remind her and make her remember her tomb.
Princess Yongmei had an intensely cold look but a faint smile appeared on her lips. ¡°If I¡¯m dead, then how am I standing here talking to you? I know my tomb - I built it. It took two years.¡±
¡°It took two years... Then you knew back then that you would be... like this? You were still so young - why did you think of building a tomb for yourself?¡± said Xia Lei.
Princess Yongmei shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
They had exchanged quite a few sentences at this point but Xia Lei still felt a gloom settle over him. This Princess Yongmei before him could not answer the questions he wanted answers to. Though she could talk normally and naturally with him, it was no use in helping him solve the mystery of the ancient alloy.
¡®Looks like I¡¯ll still need to get all the pieces of alloy andplete the box before she can be trulyplete,¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He could not help wondering what aplete Princess Yongmei would be like then.
More extraordinary than him?
More powerful than him?
Or a totally new form?
All these could not be confirmed.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the Ming dynastypass again. It was pointing stubbornly east. This was a guide, and also something which led him into a new danger.
¡°I¡¯m so cold. I want to shower with you,¡± said Princess Yongmei all of a sudden.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei turned his gaze back to Princess Yongmei and she was before him in the blink of an eye, bringing cold with her.
He abruptly remembered thest time he had showered with Princess Yongmei and the part of his body which had almost be an icicle. A shudder ran through his body.
Princess Yongmei made to take Xia Lei¡¯s hand but failed. She seemed anxious. ¡°I¡¯m so cold. I want to shower with you.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the alloy pieces and his left eye twitched...
Taking a shower with Princess Yongmei was definitely not a pleasurable experience.
Princess Yongmei disappeared from the undergroundboratory.
Xia Lei stood quietly for a while, then left the undergroundboratory. He needed to get married to Shentu Tianyin before the next treasure-seeking expedition begun.
Chapter 454 - Relationships Are Most Difficult
Back in Haizhu, the first person Xia Lei met was not Guan Lingshan, who managed Thunder Horse Manufacturing for him, but Jiang Ruyi.
The two of them walked along a walking path by the sea and did not speak for quite a stretch of path, just walking quietly.
This was fairly awkward and Xia Lei had things he wanted to say but didn¡¯t know how to say them.
They walked on for a little more and Xia Lei stopped before a pavilion. ¡°Ruyi, let¡¯s sit down for a bit.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Jiang Ruyi nodded lightly and did not say anything more. She sat on a bench with Xia Lei, then looked out in the distance at the sea, keeping her silence though her eyes were full of pain she could not hide.
She knew what Xia Lei hade to talk to her about. Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s engagement was hot news and in this information age, big news like this was all over - there was no avoiding it.
¡®How is he going to tell me?¡¯ A bitter smile appeared in the corners of her mouth. ¡®Do I still care how he will say it? What meaning does this hold?¡¯
¡°Ruyi...¡± Xia Lei finally spoke, but he just called her name.
Jiang Ruyi took a deep breath and forced her face into a smile. ¡°Just say what you want to say. You¡¯ve always been pretty straightforward and you always have your opinions on things. Why are you beating about the bush today?¡±
Xia Lei was silence for a bit before he said, ¡°I am getting married to Shentu Tianyin.¡±
Tears welled in Jiang Ruyi¡¯s eyes but she still kept the smile on her face as she rushed to say, ¡°Oh, congrattions to you. I... I knew you two would get together.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Xia Lei did not dare to look her in the eyes. His heart stung and he felt bad.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Jiang Ruyi faked augh. ¡°Why say sorry to me? You didn¡¯t do anything you need to feel sorry for. I¡¯m just... just...¡±
She could not continue.
Xia Lei braced himself and said, ¡°I know your feelings for me, but I...¡±
¡°I know. We are too close. You have no feelings for me.¡± Jiang Ruyi could not hold back her tears any longer and they rolled unchecked from her eyes. ¡°I regret it so much now... If I hadn¡¯t bullied you when we were kids, if I didn¡¯t bathe naked with you in the river, you probably wouldn¡¯t feel like we¡¯re too close, huh?¡±
¡°Ruyi, I...¡± Xia Lei did not know how to respond.
¡°Forget it. It¡¯s useless to talk about it now. You¡¯re getting married to Shentu Tianyin. I give you my blessings.¡± Jiang Ruyi wiped her tears away. Her heart was shattered but she was still forcing herself to smile.
¡°Ruyi, you¡¯ll definitely find a guy better than me,¡± said Xia Lei gently.
¡°Fuck you!¡± said Ruyi suddenly.
Xia Lei was shocked; he did not understand why Jiang Ruyi would react in this way.
Jiang Ruyi gave him a fierce punch. ¡°I won¡¯t find any fault with this if someone else said it but it¡¯s a bit riching from you. A better man than you? Point one out to me - I¡¯ll marry him right away.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head and smiled wryly.
¡°Shentu Tianyin is a lucky woman.¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice was faint. ¡°When are you getting married?¡±
¡°Our wedding is on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, but her father wants us to get the paper certification in these few days. I came back to Haizhu this time mainly to take care of this matter.¡±
¡°Her father sure is anxious. He must be afraid that you¡¯ll taken away by some other woman,¡± said Jiang Ruyi sourly.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Ruyi, you know I¡¯m not that sort of man.¡±
¡°I like you because you¡¯re a good man. And Shentu Tianyin wants to marry you because you¡¯re a good man. It¡¯s because you¡¯re good that...¡± Jiang Ruyi choked and could not continue. She suddenly threw herself into Xia Lei¡¯s arms and started wailing.
Xia Lei held her gently and patted her on the back. He wanted tofort her but did not know how to.
Jiang Ruyi felt better after crying it out but she did not extricate herself from Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. She leaned in to his ear, ¡°I... will wait five more years for you.¡±
This was a terribly sad promise.
A woman¡¯s most precious time to get married was that short period, and she had waited for him since the beginning of her girlhood. If she waited five more years for him... five years - she¡¯d be a ¡®leftover woman¡¯! *
¡°Ruyi, there¡¯s no need to do this to yourself, really. I...¡± This promise weighed too heavily on him and he could not bear the responsibility.
Jiang Ruyi looked tearily at Xia Lei, her gaze resolute. ¡°This doesn¡¯t concern you. I fell in love with you. Can I ept any other man than you for the rest of me life? I¡¯m willing to wait. I¡¯ll wait forever for you to be with me.¡±
¡°This is not fair to you, Ruyi. You...¡±
¡°You cannot apply fairness to love. If you pity me thene visit me when you¡¯re back in Haizhu. Come visit my Da. I¡¯ll be satisfied with that,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
What was this?
Xia Lei was at a loss.
¡°You¡¯re getting married. You¡¯re going to be another woman¡¯s husband, but you are not her husband now. I¡¯ve waited for you for so many years, you... ¡° Jiang Ruyi shut her eyes. ¡°Can you kiss me?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, but still moved close and kissed Jiang Ruyi¡¯s lips in the end. Her red lips were tender and tasted of tears.
The instant Xia Lei¡¯s lips touched hers, Jiang Ruyi froze and couldn¡¯t move. However, she took the initiative a secondter and parted Xia Lei¡¯s lips with her little tongue to wrap her tongue around his. If this was going to be her only kiss with Xia Lei, then she was not going to be satisfied with a light kiss - she wanted a hot french kiss!
Jiang Ruyi released Xia Lei several minutester, after her tongue got numb.
¡°Remember what I said. I¡¯ll keep waiting for you. I love you!¡± Jiang Ruyi threw these words out before she turned and ran off.
A tear rolled off Jiang Ruyi¡¯s cheek and floated in the wind to ssh on Xia Lei¡¯s cheek. This tear was like the cing of a curse, locking Xia Lei on that bench. He had been about to chase after Jiang Ruyi but he did not take the first step to do so.
What could he say if he caught up to her?
Would he give up on marrying Shentu Tianyin and be with Jiang Ruyi if he caught up to her?
Love was like this - sometimes sweet as honeyed wine, getting one drunk on it, sometimes a scar on one¡¯s soul with no medicine to cure it.
Someone would get happiness and someone would get hurt no matter who he chose. This was a problem with no solution, and even the Gods couldn¡¯t help him.
Jiang Ruyi disappeared from sight. Xia Lei still sat dumbly on the bench. He was still chewing over the words Jiang Ruyi had spoken into his ear - ¡®You cannot apply fairness to love. If you pity me thene visit me when you¡¯re back in Haizhu. Come visit my Da. I¡¯ll be satisfied with that¡¯.
He then smiled wryly and shook his head. ¡®Is she hinting to me that I can still be with her even though I¡¯m married to Shentu Tianyin? This hint, I...¡¯
This seemed like a simple request from her, and he just needed to take that first step but the problem was that step - wouldn¡¯t he be having an affair if he had a rtionship with Jiang Ruyi while married to Shentu Tianyin?
A decision like this needed courage and wisdom.
¡®Forget it. I¡¯ll think about this another time.¡¯ Mulling over it brought him headaches and no solution so Xia Lei gave up. He stood and left the pavilion to go home and check things out.
No one lived in that home anymore but it still held many things for him; a truly meaningful ce to return to.
He drove home and found that nothing had changed.
Xia Lei took off his jacket and clean up the ce.
While he was cleaning his bedroom, he discovered a piece of chewed chewing gum which had fallen to the floor. He paused when he saw the chewing gum, then smiled. ¡®This again? I¡¯ll have to have a talk with Yelena next time. She¡¯s passing on a message but it needs to be hygienic too.¡¯
He pulled the chewing gum apart and sure enough, there was a paper note hidden inside.
Xia Changhe¡¯s handwriting was on that paper and he wrote: I got info that Ahn Suhyeong contacted two groups of killers. Don¡¯t know who took the job yet but the peopleing are no ordinary killers. Be careful. I¡¯m going to Korea for a bit. Don¡¯t read aloud.
Xia Lei crumpled the paper into a ball and his eyes were terrifyingly cold. ¡®Ahn Suhyeong. You hired hitmen to kill me in Moscow, and you worked with Gu Kewen to kidnap my fiancee in Jingdu. I haven¡¯t settled the score with you for these two offences yet, and you¡¯re hiring killers to go after me now? Fine. If you want me to die so badly I won¡¯t let you live either.¡¯
Some grudges could only be buried in death.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
His mobile phone rang all of a sudden.
Xia Lei looked at his phone disy and took a deep breath to quell the anger in his heart before he picked up. His voice was gentle. ¡°What is it, Tianyin?¡±
¡°Where are you and what are you doing?¡±
¡°I¡¯m at home cleaning up.¡±
¡°Hm, you sure are diligent. Want me to help?¡± said Shentu Tianyin with augh.
¡°Heh heh, you should have asked earlier. I¡¯m almost done.¡±
¡°Hee hee.¡± Shentu Tianyinughed too. ¡°Thene over to my ce. We¡¯re getting married so the family wants to see you and have a family meal with you.¡±
¡°Nn, okay. I¡¯ll be right over,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you at home,¡± said Shentu Tianyin, ¡°Oh, right, I¡¯ve contacted Ahn Geungan.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°What did he say?¡±
¡°He¡¯s being stubborn and refuses to budge. He even mentioned you. He said you...¡±
¡°What did he say about me?¡±
¡°He said you¡¯re a thief, that you stole his Sword of Att. He wants you to return the sword if negotiation is to happen,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Is this the condition he set?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, but you don¡¯t have to bother about him. There isn¡¯t much he can hold over my head as a bargaining chip. I can take him on,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°When are you negotiating?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Tomorrow. I¡¯ve arranged for it to take ce at Distinguished Gathering.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit. ¡°I¡¯lle over right now and we¡¯ll discuss tomorrow¡¯s event.¡±
¡°Mm, I¡¯ll be waiting at home for you... Kiss me,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei kissed his phone, then hung up.
The paper burned in the paper basket and quickly turned to ash.
¡°Ahn Geungan, you¡¯re up against us Xias and the Xia family is not one to be bullied!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was like ice.
The two men of the Xia family were him and his father. One was an ace old agent of the FA, and the other was the ace of Bureau 101!
If anyone on this Earth wanted a life of one of the Xia family, he must first put his own life on the gambling table!
Chapter 455 - Father-in-law’s Super Dowry
Thest time Xia Lei had gone to the Shentu n residence was under the guise of a fake fiance and he had suffered rolling eyes and cold shoulders. This time, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s uncles, aunts and cousins were all waiting at the doorway for him, afraid to miss the arrival of the son-inw of the Shentu n.
The past conflict was just from Shentu Wei and Shentu Yi¡¯s family, and none of the other members of the Shentu n felt like Xia Lei was not a good match for Shentu Tianyin due to the results Xia Lei had achieved in these past two years. Of course - how many people on this Earth could be a self-made billionaire in a short span of two years, all by themselves?
Xia Lei¡¯s BMW M6 came to a stop and a big group of Shentu came gathering.
¡°Big Brother, please,e in. Our family¡¯s been waiting for you,¡± said a young man politely with a smile.
¡°Little Xia, oh my, you¡¯re quite a talent, aren¡¯t you. What a perfect match with our Tianyin,¡± said a middle-aged woman tteringly.
Therge group of people fought to give greetings to Xia Lei and were as nice as can be. These same people had given the cold shoulder to Xia Lei in the past and couldn¡¯t wait to chase him out. Now that Xia Lei had made something of himself, they were in hot pursuit of him. This was how the world was - rich men hiding deep in the mountains would have rtives far and wide but poor people would not be asked after even in a busy city. One reason they were fawning over Xia Lei was because of his ability, but the most important reason was that gaining his favour would be as good as gaining Shentu Tianyin¡¯s favour, and they were all people living under Shentu Tianyin¡¯s feet.
Xia Lei was a little disgusted by these people but he still put on a polite front and smiled back and exchanged pleasantries no matter who greeted him.
He saw Shentu Tianyin standing in the forecourt once he walked in. She was in a cyan dress with a white cotton Chinese waistcoat. Her beautiful face and her tall and sexy figure made her seem like a beauty who had walked out of a painting.
There weren¡¯t many on Earth with the qualifications to woo this woman, and Xia Lei was the only one who had seeded.
¡°Tianyin.¡± Xia Lei greeted her warmly.
Shentu Tianyin walked over in wee and grabbed his hand intimately. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Come with me to see Father. He said he¡¯s going to give us a gift after we registered our marriage. I told him that there¡¯s no need to but he insisted. Please talk some sense into him; he¡¯ll listen to you.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What¡¯s so bad about him giving gifts?¡±
¡°Go see what he¡¯s going to give us before you talk,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei nodded and followed her.
Shentu Tianyin looked back and said, ¡°Uncles, Aunties, please head back and go about your normal routine. Just give us a call when it¡¯s time for dinner.¡±
¡°Yes, of course,¡± agreed one of her Aunties immediately, ¡°I¡¯lle to call you for dinner.¡±
Shentu Tianyin wasted no more words; she took Xia Lei¡¯s hand and walked off.
The Shentu n quickly dispersed. They could do nothing but bear the cold eyes of Shentu Tianyin - who could they me but themselves for supporting Shentu Yi and trying to topple her from her position? It was already very kind and generous of Shentu Tianyin to not have chased them out of Vientaine Group.
Shentu Tianyin whispered to Xia Lei as they walked to the study, ¡°Lei, there¡¯s no need to be polite to these people next time. You know how they treated me and you back then. Vientaine Group would have fallen to Shentu Yi¡¯s family if it weren¡¯t for you, and I would most likely have been murdered by the killers Shentu Tianfeng hired.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°I was just being polite. Don¡¯t worry, I know how to deal with them.¡±
Shentu Tianyin suddenly stopped in her tracks.
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei looked at her curiously.
Shentu Tianyin quirked her lips in a smile and her voice was soft. ¡°Hubby.¡±
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei paused. This was the first time Shentu Tianyin was calling him ¡®Hubby¡¯, and she had said it rather suddenly. He was a little unsure as to what to do.
¡°We¡¯re going to register our marriage soon, so calling you ¡®Hubby¡¯ is a matter of course. Yep, I called you ¡®Hubby¡¯ so it¡¯s your turn,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Wifey.¡±
¡°Hee hee...¡± Shentu Tianyin let out a silvery tinklingugh.
The two of them chatted andughed and came to a study. Shentu Ren was flipping through a magazine.
¡°Father, Xia Lei is here,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Shentu Ren put down the magazine and walked over to hold Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°Lei, you came at the right time. You two are about to be legally married. As father of the bride, I have to give some form of dowry. Tell me, what should I give you?¡±
¡°Father, we are one family. There¡¯s no need to be so formal. It¡¯s enough if you just give us some cakes, flowers or the like,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Ren wrinkled his brows and looked at Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Youngdy, what did you say to Lei?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t say anything, Father.¡± Shentu Tianyin put on an innocent face.
¡°Father, there really is no need for a dowry. We don¡¯tck anything,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°But you must have a dowry. How can I, Shentu Ren, not give a proper dowry when marrying off my daughter? Other people will talk bad about me.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Never mind, asking you two is as good as not asking. I¡¯ll just do what I¡¯d originally nned. Nn, that¡¯s what I¡¯ll do. Lei, I¡¯ll give you a Boeing 737.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A Boeing 737 cost about 300,000,000 Chinese yuan, and its other added costs probably drove the price up closer to 400,000,000. Only old gentlemen like Shentu Ren would be this extravagant and offer up a ne as a present. However, if one kept in mind Shentu Ren¡¯s status as the former chairman of Vientaine Group and the elite of China¡¯s wealthy folk, how low could his dowry for his daughter¡¯s marriage be?
¡°What expression is that, Lei?¡± Shentu Ren affected unhappiness. Shentu Ren actually liked Xia Lei as much as Shentu Tianyin liked him, and he would not have offered such and extravagant dowry if it were someone else marrying his daughter.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Father, Tianyin and I will make the headlines if you give us such a dowry.¡±
¡°So be it. Don¡¯t you make the headlines frequently anyway? Stop trying to persuade me against it. That¡¯s settled, then,¡± said Shentu Ren.
¡°Father, if you give us such a gift, I... How much should I give for the betrothal gift?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
¡°You are the best betrothal gift. Don¡¯t talk about money with me or I¡¯ll get upset.¡± Shentu Ren spoke matter-of-factly, ¡°You know that I¡¯m in poor health. I¡¯ll get sick easily if I get angry.¡±
This was as good as shutting down Xia Lei¡¯s offer of a betrothal gift.
Shentu Tianyinughed and said, ¡°All right, all right, just ept it, Hubby. Father means well.¡±
¡°All right, I have no objections.¡± Xia Lei went with it.
¡°Isn¡¯t this great? You two chat. I¡¯ll go find someone to ask around on how to purchase a ne.¡± Shentu Ren made room for Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei to be alone.
After Shentu Ren left, Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°You actually agreed to it, didn¡¯t you, Tianyin? You were just putting on an act to get me to convince Father otherwise.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t hide anything from you.¡± Shentu Tianyin burrowed into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. ¡°We¡¯re both quite busy and often fly here and there. It¡¯s much more convenient with a personal ne. I don¡¯t want to spend my time outside work on waiting formercial flights. I want to have more time to spend with you.¡±
What could Xia Lei say in the face of this exnation from his gentle, virtuous and clever wife?
Their eyes met and the need for words melted away. Their lips were touching in the blink of an eye, then their tongues. Chasing you, chasing me, twirled around each other and inseparable.
Their passion burnt like a me and the hot kiss drew their bodies close, intertwining. However, they came to an unanimous stop just as they were about to lose control. It was still daytime after all, and they were in the study. Anyone coulde in at any time and there would be a big stink if anyone saw.
Shentu Tianyin hurriedly re-tied her ckce side-tie panties, her face red. ¡°You¡¯re such a wicked man. Goodness, you scare me.¡±
Xia Lei held both hands out and showed her the unzipped zipper. He smiled and said, ¡°Who¡¯s the wicked one?¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be so embarrassing if anyone saw. I¡¯ll zip you up.¡± Shentu Tianyin reached for the zipper and zipped Xia Lei up.
¡°Let¡¯s talk about the negotiation between Vientaine Group and Shinyeok Group.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic.
¡°Ahn Geungan did not agree to the divestment at first. He said he wanted a share of the profits from Era Mobile even if he lost management rights. I proposed equity exchange of the electronicspany in South Korea but he still refused. Finally, he said it was fine if he divested but there¡¯s a condition - you return the Sword of Att to him and kneel down to Ahn Suhyeong and apologise,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei could not help the small sneer in the corners of his lips. ¡°That bastard. He thinks he¡¯s really the president of South Korea.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Tianyin, what are your thoughts?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t agree to it, of course. He¡¯s not going to humiliate you even if I have to close the Era Mobilepany. You are my man, and I won¡¯t allow anyone to disrespect you,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei was touched. ¡°Will Ahn Geungane tomorrow?¡±
¡°He should, but I have no idea about Ahn Suhyeong. I don¡¯t think he wille. Ahn Guengan has been the one in talks with me over this matter,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Of course Ahn Suhyeong wouldn¡¯te - if Bureau 101 didn¡¯t arrest him, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t let him go!
¡°What do you think, Hubby?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Tianyin, you are my wife. I don¡¯t want to hide anything from you. I¡¯d like to tell you that I did steal that sword.¡±
Shentu Tianyin received the news calmly. She was a very smart woman. Ahn Guengan¡¯s Sword of Att had been stolen during the time Xia Lei went with her to South Korea, then Xia Lei had been chased all over Seoul - could she not have guessed that Xia Lei had stolen the sword?
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s reaction left Xia Lei unsettled. He said, ¡°I stole the sword because the nation needed it. You know that I help Bureau 101 out. What I want to tell you is that my business needs the help of these people and I have to help them in return, otherwise mypany would not have grown so rapidly.¡±
¡°Gu Kewen was the one who told me.¡± Shentu Tianyin finally spoke. ¡°What I mean is that I know about all these but you telling me personally shows that you love and respect me. I will support you no matter what you do.¡±
¡®Follow the man you marry, be he cock or dog*¡¯ was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s attitude before they registered their marriage.
Chapter 456 - Guest Overwhelms Host
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin came to Distinguished Gathering in the afternoon the next day. This used to be one of the Gu n¡¯s assets but its owner now was Shentu Tianyin. Back then, Xia Lei had fought with Gu Kewu¡¯s underlings here for Shentu Tianyin¡¯s sake, and it had been dangerous. Xia Lei felt some emotions stirring in him when he re-visited this ce.
No matter how great a person or an event was, it would turn to smoke over time. Treasuring the present and enjoying life was the best way to approach life.
Xia Lei was doing so. Ahn Geungan and the Shinyeok Group representatives had not yet arrived, but he and Shentu Tianyin were not wasting time. They sat in the tea lounge, having tea and discussing some business topics.
The focus of Thunder Horse Group had turned to arms dealing, and it was a dark horse. Vientaine Group had major roles in the real estate, energy and service industries. They were both at the peaks of their careers, so business topics were unavoidable when this couple drank tea together.
¡°Hubby, you have nock of capital now. You can try entering the real estate industry. With your connections you can get good plots ofnd and it won¡¯t cost you too much. If you enter the real estate industry, I can guarantee that your worth will increase tenfold in a few years,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not familiar with the real estate industry, and Thunder Horse Military Factory still has a loan of 5,000,000,000 to pay off. I¡¯m not as wealthy as you think to just casually invest in real estate projects.¡±
Shentu Tianyin made a small frown. ¡°I know money is no object - you just don¡¯t want to enter the real estate industry. You have connections I envy but you refuse to enter this industry. Can you tell me why?¡±
Xia Lei knew well which connections she was referring to - his connections with Bureau 101, and some people of high status like Ling Han. True, these were all connections normal businessmen would be envious of. He could get good plots ofnd using his connections if he entered the industry since he was a great asset to the nation. The higher-ups would definitely make things easy for him as a form of reward but he was not interested.
¡°Who doesn¡¯t want to make money when there is money to be made?¡± said Xia Lei with augh, ¡°Since you¡¯re asking if I¡¯m willing, I¡¯ll tell you. I don¡¯t think well of the real estate industry right now. This market has reached heavy saturation and I actually want to caution you to move out of this industry too.¡±
¡°I¡¯m urging to to join and you¡¯re urging me to leave.¡± Shentu Tianyinughed dryly. ¡°Looks like our views on business areplete opposites.¡±
¡°Tianyin, I¡¯m serious. Our country¡¯s poption will soon be aging and the elderly will outnumber the young. These old folk will leave this world but once they leave, every city will have huge numbers of empty homes. Every young person will have his or her own house, or even several. Our country currently houses hundreds of millions of people. Who¡¯s going to buy so many houses? Don¡¯t forget that the country is now opening up the policy for a second child but progress has been slow. It is difficult for young people now to get married, so how are they going to afford two children? If there is no demand for housing then this market bubble will burst sooner orter,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°These are just numbers. I am still optimistic about this industry,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Our country¡¯s urbanisation has been progressing rapidly and more people will enter the cities. They will need housing.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this. My thought is to turn Thunder Horse Group into an international arms supplier and surpass Barrett and FN. I have this goal in mind and I do not want to shift my attention and efforts to other industries. You may be right but there are too many ways to turn a profit. We have no way of having a slice of every cake, and there is no need to have it either.¡±
¡°Nn, okay, let¡¯s talk about other things.¡± Shentu Tianyin gave a thin smile. She knew that Xia Lei had different ideas and that there was no convincing him.
However, this did not affect their rtionship.
Shentu Tianyin poured more tea for Xia Lei and he grabbed her hand. She fell onto hisp.
There were in business-mode earlier but in husband-and-wife-mode now.
¡°Let¡¯s go to the Civil Affairs Bureau and get registered after the negotiations with Ahn Geungan,¡± said Shentu Tianyin with passionate eyes.
Xia Lei rubbed his palms on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s plump buttocks, his voice gentle, ¡°Mm. I hope it¡¯ll be done quick and we can register right after.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s hands seemed to have some sort of magic, and Shentu Tianyin was soon soft and pliable in his hands. She huffed in Xia Lei¡¯s ear, ¡°I¡¯m going to be your wife soon. Promise me that you¡¯ll protect me and take care of me my whole life. Love me for life.¡±
¡°Mm, I promise.¡±
¡°And you¡¯re not allowed to be close with other women.¡±
Xia Lei paused. He instantly thought of Jiang Ruyi, and what she had said to him, but he responded quickly and said, ¡°I promise you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was a strong-handed woman and she definitely wouldn¡¯t let him have women outside their marriage. He¡¯d been prepared for this when he agreed to marry Shentu Tianyin, and he had made things clear to Annina too.
Shentu Tianyin bit Xia Lei¡¯s ear, her voice seductive, ¡°You¡¯re a good boy. I¡¯ll reward you and let you get some for a bit.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and reached a hand into her clothing.
¡°Ahem.¡± A woman¡¯s cough suddenly came from beyond the doorway.
Xia Lei hurriedly retracted his misbehaving hand and turned to see Fu Mingmei standing in the doorway.
Shentu Tianyin stood from Xia Lei¡¯sp too and looked embarrassed. She looked somewhat balefully at Fu Mingmei.
Fu Mingmei put on an innocent face. ¡°Did Ie at the wrong time? But I have toe over. Ahn Geungan and the Shinyeok Group representatives have arrived. I brought them to the meeting room to wait for you.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°Um, you need me to tell them to wait half an hour more?¡±
Shentu Tianyin red at Fu Mingmei. ¡°What are you still standing there for? You go tell Ahn Geungan that we¡¯ll be right there.¡±
¡°Yes, right away.¡± Fu Mingmei didn¡¯t want to really anger Shentu Tianyin, and she¡¯d meant her words earlier as a jibe at Xia Lei.
Was Xia Lei only able to go on for half an hour? Fu Mingmei had no data on that but Shentu Tianyin did. Shentu Tianyin had first-hand information.
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei left the tea lounge after straightening their clothes and they headed to the meeting room.
¡°You¡¯ll talk to Ahn Geungan first, and I¡¯ll deal with him next,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin nodded, her gaze fierce. ¡°No need to be polite with him. He is someone in Korea but he¡¯s nothing in China.¡±
The couple entered the meeting room and saw Ahn Geungan right away, sitting at the head of the table. Representatives from Shinyeok Group sat to the left and right of him.
Representatives from Vientaine Group were present and seated too, and they were just waiting for Shentu Tianyin to take her seat.
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows when she saw the situation in the meeting room. Normally, she would be the one at the head of the table but Ahn Geungan had ced himself there, taking her spot. This seemed to be a small matter regarding seating but Ahn Geungan was using this to tell her his stance - I am Ahn Geungan and I am the main party of this negotiation!
Shentu Tianyin was just about to speak when Xia Lei pulled at her hand. ¡°Come, let¡¯s just sit opposite.¡±
The negotiations had not yet begun. There was no need to start fighting over seating.
Shentu Tianyin followed his lead and sat at the opposite end of the table. She then cut straight to the chase and said, ¡°Mr Ahn Geungan, we may begin. Let us all save time. State your conditions.¡±
Ahn Geungan¡¯s gaze was fixed on Xia Lei since the time Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei walked through the door. He only looked at Shentu Tianyin when she started speaking. He gave a tugh and said in stilted Chinese, ¡°Conditions? I have stated them already. Get this thief to return the Sword of Att. And kneel and apologise to my son.¡±
¡°Humph! Looks like you don¡¯t want to negotiate!¡± Anger filled Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face.
¡°Let me,¡± said Xia Lei. He looked at Ahn Geungan and said evenly, ¡°Mr Ahn Geungan, you want me to kneel and apologise to your son. No problem. Where is he? Get him toe over and I will fulfil this condition of yours.¡±
Shentu Tianyin looked uprehendingly at Xia Lei. She¡¯d thought that Xia Lei would stand firm but he had given in unexpectedly.
She didn¡¯t understand Xia Lei¡¯s motive. If Ahn Suhyeong showed himself, what waited for him was not an apology but an arrest!
Ahn Geungan looked at Xia Lei andughed abruptly. ¡°Suhyeong is busy. He¡¯s not in China, but kneeling down to me will be the same.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You two are the same? I don¡¯t get it - are you his father or is he your father? Is your wife his wife, or his mother?¡±
¡°Bastard!¡± A Shinkyeok Group representative burst out violently and got to his feet before Ahn Geungan reacted. He mmed a hand down on the meeting table. ¡°You punk! You dare be disrespectful towards our president?¡±
Xia Lei stood immediately too and pped the meeting table. He used one hand to hit the table too, but his hit made the meeting table shake. The teacups on the table jumped up and several tipped over, spilling tea everywhere.
The Shinyeok Group representative who had been trying to threaten Xia Lei was cowed.
Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°Ahn Geungan, discipline your dog! Tell it not to bark or I¡¯ll break his dog legs!¡±
Shentu Tianyin then saw Xia Lei¡¯s strength, and his maleness made her heart flutter.
Ahn Geungan¡¯s brows twitched but he was unable to contain his anger. He shouted, ¡°Xia Lei! You stole my Sword of Att! This matter shall not be put to rest. You think you will be unscathed? Let me tell you that I am here in China to make formal negotiations with your government, and they will be handling this!¡±
This was a threat but Xia Lei was not bothered by it at all. He had stolen the Sword of Att on Shi Boren¡¯s orders, and the purpose in stealing that sword was to excavate the ruins to get the ancient alloy. This was China¡¯s top secret. Ahn Geungan was going to threaten him with this? Xia Lei was not going to be bothered by him!
Chapter 457 - Protect the Frail Wife
¡°Mr Ahn, you say that my husband stole your sword. Do you have proof?¡± Shentu Tianyin said, ¡°If you have no proof then this is libel. I have the right to sue.¡±
Ahn Geungan sneered. ¡°Sue me? In Chinese court or in Korean court? Looks like you can only do so in Chinese courts. You are nothing in Korea. You¡¯re just a Chinese woman who is richer than me. And your so-called husband is just a boy toy.¡±
¡°You... Impudence!¡± Shentu Tianyin could not tolerate someone treating Xia Lei like that.
Xia Lei pressed a hand on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s shoulder. ¡°No need to get angry over this arrogant person. His aim is to make you angry and make you mess up.¡± He then looked at Ahn Geungan and said softly, ¡°Ahn Geungan, who do you think you are? You really think you¡¯re the President of South Korea? You¡¯re not the president now but even if you were, you¡¯re just scum to me.¡±
Ahn Geungan said angrily, ¡°Xia Lei, you think I cannot touch you? I could put pressure on your government and make them release my son. I can pressure them again now and give you the punishment you deserve!¡±
Xia Lei was unaffected. ¡°Sure, go ahead. Call them now.¡±
Ahn Geungan wanted to put pressure on the government as part of the South Korean Grand national party? It would work in getting Ahn Suhyeong out of prison but it was pointless to try it on punishing Xia Lei. Xia Lei was charged with the task of researching the ancient alloy, and he was also the owner of China¡¯s dark horse, Thunder Horse Military Factory. If the government punished Xia Lei, it would be equivalent to giving up on the ancient alloy research and the world¡¯s most advanced light weapons. Based on these factors, the Chinese government was not going for prosecute Xia Lei.
Ahn Geungan was a big figure in South Korean politics but he was not the President of South Korea. To put it inly, it was enough that China had given him some respect, and he now wanted more? He was inviting more dishonour upon himself!
Ahn Geungan hesitated when Xia Lei told him to make the call. He actually knew that making demands once was overreaching and this second time would be overboard.
¡°Don¡¯t want to make the call, or can¡¯t make the call?¡± A small sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Let me tell you, Ahn Geungan, I am not someone you can take care of easily. You came to China this time to talk about the problem with Era Mobile with my wife. You¡¯re pulling me into this to try to pressure me and force my wife into making concessions. Your little tricks should not be used again; they¡¯re useless.¡±
Ahn Geungan¡¯s face darkened. He hade personally to China not just to use Xia Lei to put pressure on Shentu Tianyin, but also to get the Sword of Att back and his lost pride too. However, so far he had reached not one of his goals but been absolutely pummelled by Xia Lei!
The atmosphere in the meeting room grew heavy, and the smell of gunpowder seemed to thicken.
After a short silence, Ahn Geungan said, ¡°My goal is simple. I can withdraw from Era Mobile but my condition for the withdrawal is that Vientaine Group has to pay us 2,000,000,000 on top of the shares in the electronicspany in Korea. Additionally, the Sword of Att has to be returned to its original owner. We can sign the contract if you fulfil these two conditions.¡±
¡°Shinyeok Group has only invested under 800,000,000 in Era Mobile and you¡¯re now asking for 2,000,000,000? Vientaine Group has invested 1,000,000,000 in that eletronicspany in Korea and you want to take it all. You really know how to do business, huh. Is this how Koreans so business?¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Ahn Geungan scoffed. ¡°We put our technology and our equipment into the Era Mobile project. You want to swallow it all now, once the production line has been established? Is this how you Chinese do business?¡±
They were tit for tat and neither party was willing to give in.
What had passed earlier was just a prelude. The real negotiations started now.
¡°I refuse.¡± Shentu Tianyin was stubborn. ¡°My best offer is the return of shares in both projects, that¡¯s it. Even so, Shinyeok Group is profiting 200,000,000 from this deal. Do not be too greedy, Ahn Geungan. Do not overstep.¡±
Ahn Geungan sneered, ¡°It¡¯s you who wants to gobble up Era Mobile. Thepensation I¡¯m asking for is a matter of course. If you don¡¯t fulfil my two conditions then we can go to court over this in China. There is no way you can start production for Era Mobile before a victor has been decided in court. Also, I have the means to make sure you¡¯ll get nothing from your investment in Korea.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a few billion; nothing much to me. I can just throw Era Mobile away. You people won¡¯t get any profit from it then.¡±
¡°Then what is there to negotiate? You should not have invited me over for talks.¡± Ahn Geungan looked like he was not going to let things go. ¡°As for your attitude, let me tell you that this is not over with you losing money. I will put pressure on the South Korean parliament to change previous agreements with your country. You shall bear the final consequences of these. It may be a little more difficult for me to deal with your husband since he is a thug but you are much simpler - you are just a normal business-person.¡±
¡°You¡¯re threatening me?¡± Shentu Tianyin was beside herself with rage but she could not help the trace of fear in her heart. Her opponent was the leader of arge political party in South Korea after all and Ahn Geungan was sure to have connections with the officials on the China side too. If Ahn Geungan really did as he said then she would have no way of bearing the consequences.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s gaze turned subconsciously to Xia Lei. She needed her man to step forward most at this moment to help her, protect her.
Just then, Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang all of a sudden.
Xia Lei looked at the screen of his phone - it was a number from South Korea. He had a feeling he knew who it was when he saw the country code and he said, ¡°Wait for me, Tianyin. I¡¯m taking this call.¡±
Disappointment surfaced in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes but she nodded. ¡°Nn.¡±
Xia Lei walked out of the meeting room, phone in hand.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Ahn Geunganughed. ¡°Tianyin, is this the man you chose? Looks like it¡¯s some woman calling.¡±
¡°Humph! Don¡¯t talk nonsense!¡± Shentu Tianyin said that but her gaze went to the door. Too bad she couldn¡¯t see Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t know how our Suhyeong doesn¡¯t measure up to this punk. He¡¯s a thief, a thug. You will regret this, really. You will never be at peace with him. I know you picked him because he is capable and strong enough. You hope that he will protect you, take care of you - but you are wrong. He is a burden. He can¡¯t even protect himself!¡± Ahn Geungan knew some insider information, of course, and he had his own opinions.
Shentu Tianyin did not retort. She was indeed marrying Xia Lei for the reasons Ahn Geungan said but the most important thing was that she loved Xia Lei. If there was no foundation of love, she would not marry Xia Lei even if he were a king.
¡°I¡¯ve made myself clear enough. The choice is yours. 2,000,000,000 is nothing much to you and it isn¡¯t much to me either. My goal is to get my Sword of Att back, and Xia Lei¡¯s apology. I would not have set these conditions if he weren¡¯t your husband. So who made him your husband? You chose him, so his problems are your problems. I heard that you were kidnapped once. This is an example.¡± Ahn Geungan took the opportunity of Xia Lei¡¯s absence to shake the determination of Shentu Tianyin to marry Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s no use for you to say all these. I love him. By choosing him I am prepared to face all his troubles with him. You can threaten me but I don¡¯t think you will be able to carry out your threat,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Heh heh, you¡¯re still such a youngling.¡± Ahn Geungan said meaningfully, ¡°I¡¯ll be frank. I know a lot of people in the government here in China and we are on good terms. I also know that you acquired a number of assets of the Gu n after their fall, and that arge number of these assets are government-owned. You paid very little for government assets of high value, and this is no small matter. I can get the evidence from Gu Kewen. Now, what do you think will happen to you if this evidencends in the hands of someone highly-ranked here?¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression changed right away. She abruptly remembered Xia Lei¡¯s warnings to not touch the Gu n assets. She had not listened to his warnings and she was starting to regret it now.
This was the card Ahn Geungan was ying and Shentu Tianyin had no counter.
¡°Be a smart woman. I don¡¯t think much of a few billion, including Era Mobile. I do mind about you. Leave Xia Lei. Our Suhyeong has his heart set on you, and only you can be the nextdy of the house of Ahn. Think it over carefully. I will stay in China for one day, and you give me a clear answer after this one day. Before you make your decision, I have to remind you that choosing Xia Lei is the same as choosing extermination. Choose our Suhyeong and you will get peace and prosperity.¡± Ahn Geungan smiled.
This seemed to be his true motive. He didn¡¯t care about the projects worth billions.
Shentu Tianyin was flustered and her fear became more evident. She couldn¡¯t help ncing again at the door to the meeting room. Xia Lei walked in right then.
Xia Lei returned to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s side and held her waist gently. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I am your man. No one can threaten you if I¡¯m here, much less harm you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tense body rxed.
¡°Haha...¡± Ahn Geunganughed. ¡°What is this manly act, Xia Lei? Fighting with me? You¡¯re not qualified to fight me.¡±
¡°Is that right?¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You use Gu Kewen to threaten my wife - you think you can reach your goal like this? You¡¯re advanced in years but still so immature. I really wonder how you became the leader of the Great National Party. Oh, you have Gu Kewen as a trump card. Not bad, but I have something up my sleeve too. I think you should take a look.¡±
¡°What something?¡± Ahn Geungan was not impressed.
¡°Oh, nothing good. Some things which couldnd you in prison,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ahn Geungan¡¯s expression changed.
Chapter 458 - Couple Hints
There was no way Ahn Geungan was clean since he managed to climb up to the position of leader of the Great National Party. Shinyeok Group¡¯s rapid climb to the top was also not possible with entirely legal means - it had its roots in some dark history. Ahn Geungan was the leader of the Great National Party and also the chairman of Shinyeok Group. Just these two statuses made it clear that what ran through his veins was not clean blood but the blood of a sinner.
Getting hold of evidence of Ahn Geungan¡¯s illegal activities was akin to shattering his dreams of being the President of South Korea. It would even put him in prison and shake the foundations of Shinyeok Group!
Xia Lei¡¯s words put pressure on Ahn Geungan but he was a man who had been through much and he quickly calmed down. He chuckled. ¡°You are a smart one, Xia Lei, but who are you trying to scare? You say you have something which can put me behind bars? Let¡¯s have a look.¡±
Xia Lei looked down and turned his phone over.
¡°Don¡¯t have anything?¡± Ahn Geungan suddenly hit the table. ¡°My patience has its limits, Shentu Tianyin! I won¡¯t give you a day now. Give me a reply, now. That, or get this punk out or you¡¯re done!¡±
Shentu Tianyin made to speak but Xia Lei abruptly slid his phone along the table, over to Ahn Geungan.
Xia Lei¡¯s phone slid to Ahn Geungan and a picture was disyed on the screen. The Ahn Geungan in the picture was quite young, with a full head of long ck hair and wearing a id shirt. An elderly man was holding onto his leg, pleading with him and a group of people were tearing down a house to one side.
The picture looked to have been taken in the 70s or 80s, when Seoul was expanding rapidly. Gangsters, government officials and businessmen colluded with each other to take thend and ancestral homes of the people, bing rich off others¡¯ misfortune. Shinyeok Group grew during that period - it was just a small factory before that.
Ahn Geungan¡¯s face darkened again when he saw the picture. The arrogance he disyed earlier died out. The reason was simple - he had no idea who had taken that picture, why the picture existed and how it was in Xia Lei¡¯s hands!
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°Ahn Geungan. You say I¡¯m a thief but what are you? You¡¯re a robber. You are even hard-hearted enough to take an elderly man¡¯s house from him. How can a person like you be the President of South Korea? I wonder how many Koreans would vote for you if this picture gets released to the media.¡±
Ahn Geungan held his anger in check. ¡°How did you get this picture?¡±
¡°You want to know?¡±
Ahn Geungan nodded.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°But I don¡¯t want to tell you. Want I do want to tell you is that I have more than just this picture. Take a look, then decide what attitude you¡¯re going to take with me.¡±
Ahn Geungan picked up Xia Lei¡¯s phone and swiped, bringing another picture up on the disy screen. He was not young in the picture anymore - he looked about 40. He was in a private karaoke room with his arms around two young women. His hands were thrust into the necklines of the two women and he looked to be groping them. However, these two women were not karaoke hostesses; they were dressed in office clothing. One of them even had tears in her eyes and looked fairly humiliated.
Ahn Geungan recognised these two women straightaway. They had made mistakes in Shinyeok Group and he had punished them in this way. He had had his fun that night but he did not expect this picture to exist.
If this picture were leaked, he would not only lose his chance at presidency but he¡¯d have to resign from being leader of the Great National Party too!
Ahn Geungan swiped to the next picture and saw a contract. He recognised this contract too. If this contract appeared on the desk of a prosecutor, he would receive a summons in under 24 hours.
Ahn Geungan swiped past the picture of the contract but there were no more.
However, just these three pictures were enough to put fear in Ahn Geungan!
He did have some dirt on Shentu Tianyin so he wanted to use it to make her leave Xia Lei and be with Ahn Suhyeong to realise the dream the Ahn family had - get a rich daughter-inw, a male descendant for the Ahn line, and the Vientaine Group for the Ahns. They could also use Shentu Tianyin as a stepping stone to enter the Chinese market, eventually surpassing Korea¡¯s Samsung Group and Hyundai Group!
This dream was still possible for him two minutes earlier but it was shattered now. Ahn Geungan¡¯s problem now was not trying to force Shentu Tianyin to do as he wanted but to persuade Xia Lei not to leak these pictures!
Ahn Geungan was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°Mr Xia, can your people please step outside for a moment?¡± After a pause, he said to his Shinyeok Group representatives, ¡°You guys too.¡±
The Koreans got to their feet, bowed and left.
The people on the Vientiane Group end didn¡¯t move - they looked at Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei, waiting for their instructions.
Shentu Tianyin asked softly, ¡°Do we get them to leave, Hubby?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Go outside as well,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
The people from Vientiane Group exited too and therge meeting room held just Shentu Tianyin, Xia Lei and Ahn Geungan. The atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy, silent. However, this silence was just the calm before the storm and was not going to stay for long.
¡°It seems...¡± Ahn Geungan finally spoke. ¡°It seems I¡¯ve underestimated you, Mr Xia. These pictures you showed me, I didn¡¯t even know they existed. How did you get your hands on them?¡±
¡°If I tell you, you¡¯ll go have that person killed. See, if I know that that¡¯s what you¡¯ll do, why would I sacrifice my source? Don¡¯t be naive and face reality. If this is your attitude after thinking over things then I¡¯m prepared to contact the Korean media.¡± Xia Lei waved his hand. ¡°Hey, the one surnamed Ahn. Could I trouble you to hand your phone to me?¡±
Ahn Geungan did not move but he forced a smile on his face. ¡°Mr Xia, is there a need to cause such unhappiness between us? I¡¯ll take back the words I said earlier. Tell me - what do you want from me?¡±
Ahn Geungan had softened his stance - he had been forced to.
Xia Lei let out a chuckle. ¡°You were a savage wolf in the beginning and was acting all arrogant - what are you like now? You¡¯re like a dog. This isn¡¯t you. Do you need me to get you a mirror to look at yourself, to see how you¡¯ve changed?¡±
The corners of Ahn Geungan¡¯s mouth twitched, and his eyes were full of hate. However, all these vanished in a second. He seemed calm. ¡°If you¡¯re trying to humiliate me then you¡¯ve reached your goal. You have the upper hand. Are you satisfied now? If you are, then name a price. If you¡¯re not, then keep cursing me - I¡¯ll listen.¡±
This was Ahn Geungan¡¯s control. He did not panic at this development and it was clear that him being able to operate till today was no coincidence.
Shentu Tianyin grabbed at Xia Lei¡¯s thigh under the table. This was a signal from her that she did not want the matter to be blown up into an irreparable state.
Xia Lei understood what she wanted and said, ¡°All right, I forgive you since you have a good attitude.¡±
¡°Name a price.¡± A faint smile appeared on Ahn Geungan¡¯s face, and he gave off the impression of harmlessness.
Shentu Tianyin was about to say something but Xia Lei grabbed her thigh under the table and spoke before she did. ¡°Ahn Geungan, how about this: you transfer the shares of Era Mobile to Vientaine Group at the price of one yuan. Additionally, the investment Vientaine Group made in Korea is to be transferred to their ounts in cash at the current market rate.¡±
¡°You¡¯re being an intolerable bully!¡± Ahn Geungan¡¯s control dissolved when faced with these conditions. This was equivalent to swallowing all of the investment Shinyeok Group had put into China!
Xia Lei spoke softly, ¡°Ahn Geungan, didn¡¯t you say it yourself earlier? You think nothing of billions, so how is this making you nervous? If you think this is too much for you to lose then I should just contact the Korean media.¡±
Shentu Tianyin piped up, ¡°Yes, that bit of money is nothing to me.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget that I have dirt on you too, Shentu Tianyin!¡± said Ahn Geungan angrily.
¡°I don¡¯t know what dirt you have. Even if you did get something from Gu Kewen it¡¯s just a card you can y. Okay, I¡¯ll break it down for you. You y your card and someone here investigates my wife. I can interfere and reduce her punishment and losses to the minimum. However, if I y my card you will lose everything. You don¡¯t need me to remind you of that, do you?¡±
If Xia Lei yed his card, Ahn Geungan would first lose his seat as leader of the Grand National Party, then his right to run for President of South Korea! This loss was something Ahn Geungan could not bear.
¡°Let¡¯s not talk about dirt. The equity exchange is my best offer,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
¡°Shit, you think I¡¯m one of the members of your parliament?¡± Xia Lei pounced to his feet and strode towards Ahn Geungan.
¡°You... What do you want?¡± Ahn Geungan grew nervous when faced with the pissed off Xia Lei.
Xia Lei grabbed his phone from Ahn Geungan¡¯s hand and started dialling.
¡°Wait!¡± Ahn Geungan panicked. ¡°I... I agree!¡±
Xia Lei stopped dialling.
¡°But I have a condition. You have to give me the originals of those pictures,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
¡°Then I want the same. Give me the originals of what you got from Gu Kewen,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We¡¯ll talk again another day. I have to get it from South Korea,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
Xia Lei pressed Ahn Geungan back down in his seat. ¡°Settle the matter with the shares first, then other matters.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t overstep!¡± Ahn Geungan was mad that his stalling method had not worked.
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°Get ready to make headlines - I just have to make one call.¡± He started to dial again.
Ahn Geungan had no other recourse. ¡°I... I ept.¡±
¡°Tianyin, call your people in to talk to Mr Ahn about the one-yuan deal. I have change if you don¡¯t have any,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin smiled. Her smile was like sunshine. ¡°I¡¯ll make you something delicious at dinnertime,¡± she said.
Xia Lei smiled too. To him, this was a hint at something between husband and wife.
Chapter 459 - Father’s Advice and Blessings
Shinyeok Group¡¯s convoy left Distinguished Gathering at a moderate speed. Ahn Geungan stuck his head out the car window to look at Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei cuddling. He had believed that Shentu Tianyin wouldpromise and be a woman of the Ahn family if he came personally to talk to her. Now, however, this hope was dashed. He knew too that his son, Ahn Suhyeong, would never have a chance to get close to Shentu Tianyin again.
However, this dashing of his hopes was not the worst for Ahn Geungan. The worst was that Xia Lei had all that dirt on him. He could not imagine how Xia Lei had got his hands on those pieces of evidence.
¡®Only your death would assure me now.¡¯ Ahn Geungan looked away from them.
The convoy disappeared from their sight and Shentu Tianyin immediately moved to stand in front of Xia Lei. She hooked both arms around his neck and pressed her body to his. She had a teasing smile on her face. ¡°You know what, Hubby? You looked so sexy reprimanding Ahn Geungan. You¡¯re the best thing to happen to me.¡±
Her softness pressing on Xia Lei made him rx too and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°You¡¯re the best thing to have happened to me too.¡±
¡°I now know how deeply I love you. I¡¯ll never leave you.¡± Shentu Tianyin kissed Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Touching words, a sweet kiss... Xia Lei was content, blessed.
Fu Mingmei glowered at them kissing passionately and said in quiet envy, ¡°They went through many twists and turns but are finally together. I suddenly really want to fall in love, too. I¡¯ll start wearing a skirt tomorrow...¡±
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei parted atst. Xia Lei¡¯s trousers had an obvious tent. He was quite embarrassed but he couldn¡¯t hold his hand over it either. Shentu Tianyin held a hand over her mouth to hide her smile while her eyes stared closely at that ce. She did not feel like Xia Lei had been rude to her - it was evidence of her attractiveness to him, and this made her happy.
¡°Let¡¯s go to the Civil Affairs Bureau,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. Fu Mingmei was right behind and she did not want her to see her Hubby¡¯spromising tent.
¡°Nn, let¡¯s go to the Civil Affairs Bureau,¡± agreed Xia Lei.
The two of them went to the carpark, hand in hand.
Fu Mingmei caught up with them, asking, ¡°Where are you going?¡±
Shentu Tianyin looked back with a smile. ¡°To the Civil Affairs Bureau.¡±
Fu Mingmei looked at the time on her watch and said, ¡°It¡¯s almost five. They¡¯re going to be clocking out before you get there. You won¡¯t make it today, will you?¡±
Xia Lei looked at his watch too and he wrinkled his brows. ¡°Tsk, it¡¯s almost five. We won¡¯t make it. How about tomorrow?¡±
¡°No, today.¡± Shentu Tianyin took out her phone and said with smile, ¡°I¡¯ll call Mayor Hu right now and get him to greenlight the staff¡¯s overtime at the Civil Affairs Bureau.¡±
Xia Lei paused, thenughed.
Fu Mingmei chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re so eager to get married, Big Sister Tianyin? Aren¡¯t you too eager? Brother-inw Xia willugh at you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin red at Fu Mingmei. ¡°It¡¯s youughing at me, isn¡¯t it? Should I dock your pay?¡±
¡°No, no. I¡¯ll go get the car to drive you two over.¡± Fu Mingmei did not dare say a word more and jogged to get the car.
The silver Rolls-Royce Phantom glided out of Distinguished Gathering. The asphalt road was set aglow with the rays of sundown, and the shading of leaves. It looked like a road to love, and the setting sun and dappled shadows looked like petalsing from the sky, filling the atmosphere with romance.
In the car, Shentu Tianyin leaned into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, blissful. ¡°Oh, right, Hubby. Can I ask you a question?¡±
Xia Lei stroked her smooth hair and his voice was gently. ¡°What can¡¯t you ask? What is it?¡±
¡°Those incriminating pictures - how did you them?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eye.
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then said, ¡°I am a consultant for Bureau 101. I have my own channels to get things like that. However, matters rted to Bureau 101 are confidential so I can¡¯t give you any details. Please understand.¡±
¡°Of course. I was just asking,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone about this,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I still have to use those pictures in exchange for the things Ahn Geungan is using to threaten you.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tianyin was allpliant. ¡°I regret not listening to your warnings now. Gu Kewen¡¯s a venomous snake. I¡¯d never imagined that she would do such a thing, and working with Ahn Geungan against me too.¡±
¡°Be more careful in the future. Take more bodyguards when you go out and go to public ces less often,¡± nagged Xia Lei.
¡°Nn.¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Never mind, let¡¯s not talk about these things. Today¡¯s a celebration-worthy day - our marriage. Let¡¯s not get upset over these matters.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh and thought of his father, Xia Changhe.
The call he had received in Distinguished Gathering had been from Yelena. The pictures he had used to cow Ahn Geungan had also been sent by Yelena. His father did not show himself but he knew that this was his father¡¯s gift. Truthfully, only Xia Changhe or people like him would be able to get things like these. Xia Changhe had gone to South Korea to deal with Ahn Geungan!
How could he tell Shentu Tianyin the truth about this?
Anything involving Xia Changhe had to be buried in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He could not even tell his own sister!
¡®Is Dad going to handle Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong like this? I¡¯m so worried for him... but I can¡¯t fight alongside him...¡¯ Xia Lei brooded over this.
¡°Argh, can you two stop being so lovey-dovey? Think of this lonely single.¡± Fu Mingmei said from the driver¡¯s seat, interrupting Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts.
Shentu Tianyin untangled herself from Xia Lei¡¯s arms and pped Fu Mingmei upside the head, saying fiercely, ¡°Concentrate on driving.¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Fu Mingmei was still yful. ¡°Brother-inw Xia, do you have a younger brother? Best if it¡¯s a twin brother. Introduce him to me; I want to fall in love too.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shentu Tianyin gave her a p straightaway.
Haizhu¡¯s Civil Affairs Bureau staff really were working overtime and waiting for Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei to register their marriage.
Under normal circumstances, one would need to go through this and that formality, and get stamps from here and there in order to get the certificate. It could get so busy that eight legs wouldn¡¯t be enough for all the running around one would have to do. However, Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei were not regr people - this same thing only required a phone call of them. Additionally, the staff were fairly hospitable and feared keeping Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei too long. The staff had had everything prepared by the time they arrived, just waiting for the photograph-taking and signing.
¡°Smile! Good, just like that. Okay.¡± The staff took a marriage picture of Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
The director of the Civil Affairs Bureau then said, ¡°The photograph development process will take some time, Miss Tianyin and Mr Xia. Pleasee have a seat in my office. You can get the certificate once the photograph is done.¡±
¡°Nn, okay. Thank you.¡± Shentu Tianyin was polite.
Just then, Xia Lei mobile phone rang all of a sudden. He looked at his phone screen and said, ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯ll be taking this call.¡± He walked out of the photo-taking room.
Shentu Tianyin made to follow, but she hesitated and gave up on the idea.
She was a smart woman and knew that nothing good woulde out of a woman holding onto her man too tightly or minding his business too closely.
Xia Lei epted the call in the corridor.
A male voice came over the line. ¡°Are you really getting married to Shentu Tianyin?¡±
This was Xia Changhe¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei held his excitement in check. ¡°Dad, why do you ask this? I¡¯d wanted to tell you this for some time and I would like you to attend my wedding but I had no way of contacting you.¡±
It was always Xia Changhe initiating contact, but he had no idea how to contact Xia Changhe.
¡°You¡¯re getting married. As your father, I should be happy for you,¡± said Xia Changhe, ¡°but I¡¯m going to give you a warning.¡±
¡°What are you trying to say, Dad?¡± Xia Lei was confused.
¡°Your mother and I were in love. I thought I¡¯d be able to grow old with her, but your mother... Never mind, I¡¯ll just say it simply. You¡¯re up against the CIA and the FA¡¯s independent agents. They will not let you off. I know their modus operandi and I know their capabilities. And you can¡¯t rx in China either. China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons will not let you off. They¡¯re waiting for you to make a mistake, an opportunity for them to chase you out of the arms market. You have enemies within and without - can you also manage your marriage well?¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit. ¡°Dad, I am aware of what you just talked about but I¡¯m not afraid of the, I believe I have the ability to manage my marriage well, and that I have the capability to protect my wife.¡±
¡°Youck neither bravery nor capability. You were able to do all these in a short period of time, but...¡± After a pause, Xia Changhe went on, ¡°Son, I have not met my daughter-inw face-to-face but I know her very well. She is a woman with ambition. She knows what she wants. She¡¯s also too eye-catching. You and her together... Honestly, I don¡¯t think well of your marriage. Believe in my instinct and my analysis. You will get divorced not two years after marrying her.¡±
Xia Lei was rooted to the spot. He did not know what to say.
Fathers normally gave their blessings when their children were getting married but his father was throwing cold water in his face and telling him that he and Shentu Tianyin would get divorced in under two years.
¡°Are you still listening?¡±
¡°I¡¯m listening, Dad.¡± Xia Lei took a deep breath. ¡°There is some sense in what you¡¯re saying but what I want to tell you is that I¡¯ve always wanted a normal life. Do work that I like, marry someone I like and have two children with her, then nurture our children. I don¡¯t want to be a hero. I just want to be a regr man. A chance for this is right before me now. I don¡¯t want to miss this chance - and I cannot let Tianyin down.¡±
Xia Changhe sighed. ¡°You think you¡¯re still a regr man now?¡±
Xia Lei paused. He could not answer this simple question.
¡°Forget it. You really are like me when I was younger. All right, I give you two my blessings,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°I will solve this Ahn Geungan problem. You get your things in order and quickly go find the next treasure location.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei made a sound of agreement.
Their conversation ended, just like that.
Shentu Tianyin came out of the room. ¡°Hubby, the photograph¡¯s done. Come on.¡±
Xia Lei smiled toothily and walked towards Shentu Tianyin.
Chapter 460 - Failed Assassination
Rezydencja Shentu by?a ozdobiona ?wiat?ami i n Shentu ?wi?towa?. Po kcji Xia Lei i Shentu Tianyin wr¨®cili do okropnie urz?dzonego pokoju. Nie mogli nic z nim niestety zrobi?, poniewa? musieli uszanowa? tradycje.
Szybko zrobi?o si? gor?co i zacz?li si? do siebie przyt?, kiedy Xia Lei przypomnia? sobie ostrze?enie ojca. Idiota decyduje si? zignorowa? ostrze?enie i kontynuuje czyn.
Nast?pnie Xia Lei i Shentu Tianyin rozmawiaj? o imionach dzieci. Xia Lei nazywa ich dzieci na cze?? umar?ych, ale Shentu Tianyin si? to podoba.
Maj? wi?cej seksownego czasu, a Xia Lei dostaje b¨®lu plec¨®w.
W mi?dzyczasie w Korei Po?udniowej, w Seulu, w Rezydencji Ahn. Ahn Geungan wpada w furi? jak doros?y m??czyzna.
PEW PEW PEW.
Tatu? Xia pr¨®bowa? zabi? Ahn¨®w, ale si? nie uda?o. Nowa wielka z?a Hiena by?a w mie?cie i by?a na tyle kompetentna, by odeprze? atak.
?Id? zabi? Xia Lei!¡± krzycz? Ahnowie.
Hiena: OK.
The Shentu residence was decorated with lights and festivities were in full swing. Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin had not had their wedding yet but they were still formally wed with the certificate signed. The Shentu n was sure to celebrate such an event.
The family ate together and all was lively.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin returned to their room after dinner. This was a room Shentu Ren had renovated specially for them, with all-new appliances. The bed was decked out in red, and even the carpet was red. Shentu Ren had even instructed someone to light a pair of red auspicious candles.
Shentu Tianyin burst out in a puffing giggle once she walked through the door.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing either. ¡°What is Father trying to do, making the room so red.¡±
Shentu Tianyin smiled, ¡°Fathers have different ideas from us younger people. Marriages in his generation were like this. This is way of expressing his blessings.¡±
Xia Leiy on the bed and rxed. ¡°As long as the elder is happy.¡±
Shentu Tianyin walked over and pressed herself lightly on Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m your wife from now on. You have to treat me well; don¡¯t bully me.¡±
Xia Lei reached out and spanked Shentu Tianyin on her perky buttocks. A smack rang out clearly and the perky buttocks rippled.
Shentu Tianyin bit her cherry lips as her eyes filled with gloom. ¡°You¡¯re bullying me right after we got married? Looks like I won¡¯t be having any more sunny days.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Is this considered bullying? What if I want to spank youter? I can¡¯t anymore?¡±
¡°I¡¯m all yours. Is there a part of me you cannot spank?¡± Shentu Tianyin kissed Xia Lei on the lips, and the two of them were entangled on the red bed...
For some strange reason, Xia Lei recalled his father¡¯s words from the phone call, right in the middle of this romantic time. As he kissed Shentu Tianyin, he thought, ¡®She loves me a lot and I love her too. I have the ability to protect her too. Why does Dad not think well of our marriage?¡¯
While he was thinking that, pieces of clothing were being dropped to the floor one by one. The new couple were then one. In that instant, Shentu Tianyin was in bliss, and Xia Lei too. What joy on Earth couldpare with bing one with the one you love?
Even volcanoes had times when they were dormant - the newlyweds quieted down after their lust subsided. They cuddled and talked.
¡°Hubby, what should we name our first child?¡± Shentu Tianyin drew circles on Xia Lei¡¯s chest with her finger.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°We don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s going to be a girl or a boy. How are we going to pick a name?¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you just think of a name for a boy first, then a girl?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Xia Le if it¡¯s a boy and if it¡¯s a girl... Hm... Xia Yue. What do you think?¡±
¡°Xia Le? Xia Yue?¡± Shentu Tianyin repeated them twice and smiled. ¡°Xia Le - Summer joy. Summer is a happy season. This is a good name. Xia Yue - Summer moon. The moon on summer nights is most beautiful. Our daughter will surely be a beauty. I like this name too. Hubby, how did you think of these names?¡±
¡°I just thought of them,¡± said Xia Lei. This was not the case, however. He had chosen the ¡®Le¡¯ from Emperor Yongle and the ¡®Yue¡¯ from Zhu Xuanyue. He picked these because his greatest wish was to solve the mystery of the ancient alloy and of AE.
Shentu Tianyin had no idea of what went through Xia Lei¡¯s mind. She drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said with hot breath, ¡°Hubby, I like both these names. What do you think we should do?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You want a pigeon pair?¡±
Shentu Tianyin nodded. ¡°Nn, exactly. I do want a pigeon pair. Won¡¯t we get to use both names if we have a pigeon pair?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll have to see our luck.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not all luck. I¡¯ve asked the doctor and she said that the chance of getting twins is much higher if the second round is done within fifteen minutes of the first.¡± Shentu Tianyin gave him a dimpled smile. ¡°What do you think we should do, Hubby?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shentu Tianyin was a cold, haughty queen outside and people did not dare to approach her. At home, she was afire with passion and was coy. She was so hot she could melt steel beams. With this demanding wife, Xia Lei abruptly felt like it would be best to evolve not his eyes or his brain first, but his back.
Meanwhile,
South Korea, Seoul, Ahn Residence.
¡°Shit!¡± Ahn Geungan smashed the teacup a servant had handed him to the floor. His anger did not subside, and he stepped on the broken porcin to grind it into fragments.
The servant shuddered. She wanted to clear away the broken pieces but was afraid that Ahn Geungan would turn his anger on her. She stood there, not daring to move and not daring to leave.
Ahn Geungan red at her. ¡°What are you still standing here for? Get out.¡±
The servant excused herself and exited as if she had been granted amnesty.
¡°Dad, what¡¯s the result of the negotiations?¡± Ahn Suhyeong had already guessed the result from his father¡¯s reaction but he did not dare confirm it.
¡°Humph!¡± Ahn Geungan snorted. ¡°Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin are conniving. They worked together to take advantage of us, and the condition they set was that they buy back the shares of Era Mobile at the price of one yuan, and we have to return them the investment in South Korea at market price!¡±
¡°Have Xia Lei and that bitch gone mad with lust for money?¡± Ahn Suhyeong smiled angrily. ¡°Who¡¯s going to agree to that? They¡¯re dreaming!¡±
¡°No, I¡¯ve signed already,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
¡°Huh?¡± Ahn Suhyeong was stunned.
¡°I¡¯ve also paid up on top of signing. This is the coin I got from them. I¡¯ll keep it till the day Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin meet their end!¡± He took out a one-yuan coin. This was the coin Xia Lei had given him after he¡¯d signed the deal with Shentu Tianyin.
Ahn Geungan held the coin in his clenched fist. He wanted very much for the coin to turn into Xia Lei¡¯s heart so he could crush it with his bare hands!
¡°Dad, didn¡¯t you use the things Gu Kewen supplied to us to threaten Shentu Tianyin?¡± Ahn Suhyeong came back to his senses.
¡°It¡¯s no use.¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible,¡± said Ahn Suhyeing, ¡°I know Shentu Tianyin. We just have to use the dirt we have on her to threaten her and she willply if she doesn¡¯t want it to affect Vientaine Group.¡±
¡°You know Shentu Tianyin but what about Xia Lei? Shentu Tianyin is his wife now. We can¡¯t take Shentu Tianyin down with Xia Lei helping her.¡± Ahn Geungan smiled angrily. ¡°Now I know why Shentu Tianyin was so anxious to marry Xia Lei. She is after that punk¡¯s ability - he¡¯s a terror.¡±
¡°What did Xia Lei do?¡±
¡°He got his hands on some things which cannot be revealed or I will be forced to resign from my position in the Grand National Party. It will be impossible for me to run for President. He also has evidence of some business in Shinyeok Group which must not see the light of day. How could I not sign when he has this trump card?¡±
¡°How is this possible?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know either. There must be someone helping him, and someone powerful too.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong tried to guess who it could be but couldn¡¯t think of anyone.
The lights in the living room were suddenly extinguished and the house was plunged into darkness.
¡°The power¡¯s out?¡± Nervousness stirred in Ahn Geungan¡¯s heart.
¡°Get down on the floor!¡± A cold voice suddenly came from a corner of darkness.
The person who had spoken pushed them to the ground before Ahn Suhyeong and Ahn Geungan could react.
SMASH! The floor-to-ceiling window in the living room was shattered as a bullet struck the sofa behind Ahn Geungan. The sofa shook, and white feathers plumed out of the tear in the leather to fly about in the air.
In the darkness, the Ahns¡¯ rescuer kicked the tea table over to use it as a shield.
Pew, pew, pew! A few more bullets came flying and they all hit the tea table. A bullet went through the table, past the scalp of Ahn Suhyeong, and into the floor.
The Ahns¡¯ rescuer took out his gun and returned fire. His hands were steady and he shot several times in session - the muzzle of the gun did not waver!
Bang! A gunshot came from outside the living room.
Ahn Suhyeong shook with fear. ¡°Hoffman, is it an assassin? An assassin... came?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be nervous. That¡¯s just Hyena shooting.¡± Hoffman let go of Ahn Suhyeong and Ahn Geungan.
The Hyena he spoke of was the professional killer Ahn Suhyeong had hired from the international killers¡¯ group after he had left China. No one knew Hyena¡¯s real name but in the world of killers, ¡®Hyena¡¯ was an insurmountable mountain, a king not to be challenged!
The hyena is a special canine breed from Madagascar. It was a dog but it was fiercer than a wolf, and lions and tigers avoid them when they see them too!
Ahn Suhyeong rxed a little after hearing that it was Hyena doing the shooting.
¡°Is he reliable, Hoffman?¡± asked Ahn Geungan.
¡°Rest assured, Mr Ahn. He is king in the world of killers. No one who¡¯s be his target can live,¡± said Hoffman.
Ahn Geunganughed. ¡°Good, then tell him to kill Xia Lei!¡±
¡°Xia Lei is already his target,¡± said Hoffman.
The lights in the living room were suddenly restored and a man holding a sniper rifle walked into the living room. This man was half-ck and half-white. He had a white man¡¯s features but the skin tone of a ck man. He was in his early thirties, big and tall, and icy-eyed. The temperature in the living room seemed to drop by a few degrees at his appearance. He had a suffocating, hell-like aura!
He was Hyena, king of the killer world.
¡°Two people. One man, one woman,¡± said Hyena in English. ¡°They escaped.¡±
¡°Escaped?¡± Ahn Suhyeong wrinkled his brows.
Hyena spoke softly, ¡°The enemy is sly. They discovered me - this is no regr enemy. If you want their lives, you have to pay another fee.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong seemed to have something stuck in his throat and he could not speak.
¡°Did you see their faces?¡±
¡°No.¡± Hyena spoke little; every word was as precious as gold.
¡°The people who came to kill me must be connected to Xia Lei. Go to China immediately and finish him off!¡± Ahn Suhyeong had his own presumptions.
Hyena said nothing; he nodded slightly.
Chapter 461 - Ruyi’s Tears
¡°Be safe.¡± Xia Lei held onto Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hand at the departure gate. ¡°Remember what I said - take more bodyguards with you when you go out, avoid public spaces and call me immediately if you feel something¡¯s not right. I won¡¯t be by your side but I can get Long Bing toe help you.¡±
¡°Okay, okay.¡± Shentu Tianyinughed and said, ¡°You¡¯re like my father. You nagged me at home - I can memorise what you said already.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll return to Jingdu when I¡¯ve taken care of some matters.¡±
Shentu Tianyin put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s neck and gave him a sweet kiss. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting.¡±
¡°Ahem.¡± Fu Mingmei coughed. ¡°Don¡¯t you two see a bunch of people around taking pictures with their phones? Be more aware of your image.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was the wealthiest woman in China and drew a lot of attention. Xia Lei had risen to fame at the Moscow light weapons exhibition and be the hero of countless Chinese. The public paid great attention to him too. People were sure to record them kissing at the airport.
Shentu Tianyin was not concerned. She smiled and said, ¡°Let them take all the pictures they want. Who¡¯s going to interfere with me kissing my husband?¡±
Shentu Tianyin seemed like a changed woman after marriage; she was more womanly.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m kissing my wife, not another woman. Who¡¯s going to point fingers?¡±
¡°Huh? You want to kiss other women?¡± Shentu Tianyin pretended to be mad and pped Xia Lei on his buttock.
This did not escape the recording phones, of course, and it was all recorded. Pictures and videos of Shentu Tianyin pping Xia Lei¡¯s butt were sure to be a hot topic all over the inte.
Xia Lei kept a straight face at first but he couldn¡¯t take it and said awkwardly, ¡°Um, you go in. I should get going too.¡±
¡°Nn,e back to Jingdu when you¡¯re finished.¡± Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t bear to let Xia Lei go.
Xia Lei nodded and left.
Fu Mingmei put her hand on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s slender waist and guided her through the ticket gate. Pak Taiji, Jin Zhenhuan, Pak Canlie and Jin Dahu also followed them through the ticket gate. Xia Lei was more assured with these four from Yanbian protecting Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei walked out of the airport. Haizhu City¡¯s lights were shining and the sky was so clear it was like it had been washed, and it was dotted with stars. Xia Lei moved his car onto the road home and he felt like his heart was empty, missing something after sending Shentu Tianyin off. He had be herwfully-wedded husband after signing that marriage certificate with her and be rted to her on top of his love for her. How could he not feel a little concerned about her?
Xia Lei did not actually return to Jingdu with Shentu Tianyin because he needed to handle Thunder Horse Manufacturing matters. He had Guan Lingshan helping to run it and he trusted her. He¡¯d stayed to wait for Yelena and Xia Changhe. He had not set a time and ce to meet them but he believed that either Yelena or his father would appear and give him what he needed - dirt on Ahn Geungan.
He could only exchange the dirt for the weakness of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s which Gu Kewen had given to the Ahns. The wife¡¯s problems were the husband¡¯s problems and he had to solve them.
Back in his neighbourhood, Xia Lei nced at Jiang Ruyi¡¯s home. The lights in her home were not on, and it wasn¡¯t clear if she¡¯d gone to bed or to the police station to work overtime.
An impulse to knock on her door came to Xia Lei but he quickly dismissed it. ¡®I¡¯m Tianyin¡¯s husband now. It¡¯s not appropriate to knock on Ruyi¡¯s door in the middle of the night.¡¯
He wanted very much to chat with Jiang Ruyi but he gave up on that idea.
His home was cold and quiet. Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the tea table as soon as he opened the door. He had cleaned up thest time he was home but there was a document folder on his tea table now.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he instantly scanned the rooms in his home. There was no one else in the t.
Xia Lei walked over, picked up the document envelope and opened it. There was a stack of photographs in the envelope and a few documents. He scanned through them quickly. These were all evidence which could be used against Ahn Geungan. There was also a nicely-folded letter.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He had stayed in Haizhu to get these things but he had them as soon as he returned home. His father seemed to either have telepathy or was a part of him - he always knew what Xia Lei wanted.
¡°Why not meet since you¡¯re here?¡± Xia Lei muttered to himself after a long pause.
He opened the letter.
It was Xia Changhe¡¯s handwriting on the letter and it read: Son, I¡¯d originally nned on killing off Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong for you but Yelena and I ran into Hyena. He¡¯s from the international killers¡¯ group. He¡¯s a formidable professional killer and has never failed since he started in this profession. He is king in the world of killers. You must be on guard. Be very careful.
A sketch was included at the bottom of the letter. It was a sketch of Hyena.
Xia Lei went to the balcony with the letter in hand. He focused his eye and quickly saw a person standing on a building about 500 metres away. That person was his father, Xia Changhe. He was holding the scope of an XL2500 to look at Xia Lei on the balcony.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and mouthed the words ¡®I will be careful. You be careful too.¡¯
Xia Changhe smiled too. He put away his scope and disappeared into the night.
¡®Dad probably saw the killer called Hyena with the scope, then sketched him for me. He has an XL2500 sniper rifle but he couldn¡¯t kill Hyena - this Hyena... is he really formidable?¡¯
The letter his father had left made Xia Lei¡¯s spirits sink.
He did not fear this killer called Hyena but he was worried that this person would go after the people close to him. Xia Xue and Shentu Tianyin were both ordinary women and their chances of survival were practically zero if Hyena went after them.
Knock knock knocking came from the door behind him.
Xia Lei looked over and his left eye looked through the door in a breath. He saw Jiang Ruyi standing in the doorway with a bag in her hand.
¡®What is she looking for me for at this hour?¡¯ Xia Lei was curious and also felt a headacheing on.
Knock knock knock. Jiang Ruyi knocked three more times.
¡°Who is it?¡± Xia Lei walked to the door.
¡°It¡¯s me, Ruyi,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei opened the door with a smile on his face. ¡°Oh, Ruyi. Please,e in.¡±
Jiang Ruyi entered the door and went straight to the sofa to sit down without any prompting from Xia Lei. She put the bag in her hand on the tea table.
¡°Um, I¡¯ll make tea for you,¡± said Xia Lei. He was nervous for some reason.
¡°No need. You have no hot water at home - what tea can you make?¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei shrugged awkwardly and sat opposite Jiang Ruyi. ¡°Ruyi, uh, what¡¯s up?¡±
Jiang Ruyi looked resentful. ¡°We can¡¯t even be friends anymore now that you¡¯re married?¡±
¡°What¡¯s this for?¡± Afraid she¡¯d misunderstand, Xia Lei hurriedly exined, ¡°I just think that something must be up for you toe visit me at this hour.¡±
Jiang Ruyi unzipped the bag and took out five bundles of cash from it, as well as a jewellery box and a savings card. She pushed them all towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°Ruyi, you... what are you doing?¡±
¡°This is the money you gave me. Da used 500,000 for his treatment. I¡¯ve brought the remaining money back to you, and the ne of precious gems - I¡¯m giving it back too. I¡¯ve saved up 50,000 and I brought that too. I¡¯m still short of 450,000. I... I will repay you bit by bit, annually. It¡¯ll be slower but I¡¯ll be sure to pay it all back,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei felt like his heart had been pricked by a needle. He looked at Jiang Ruyi. ¡°What are you doing, Ruyi? Didn¡¯t I already say that a part of the money is for Uncle¡¯s treatment and the other for his recovery when I gave it to you? I don¡¯t need money either - why are you returning it to me?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t need money but why must I ept so much money from you? And this ne?¡± Jiang Ruyi opened the jewellery box, revealing the ne Xia Lei had given her. ¡°I went to the jewellery store to have it verified. The shop offered me 5,000,000 for this ne!¡±
¡°I¡¯ve given it to you and you¡¯ve epted it. I don¡¯t want it back. Take the money and the ne. Don¡¯t make a fuss,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyi stared straight at Xia Lei and tears welled in her eyes. ¡°Wh, Who am I to you? You give me money, and such a valuable ne... Tell me - what am I to you?¡±
¡°We¡¯re... We¡¯re friends,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s tears fell. ¡°Friends, my foot. I have many friends but they give me just a few yuan over Wechat, and we split the bill when we go out for meals. Why don¡¯t these friends give me millions? You have so many friends too. Why don¡¯t you give them millions and a ne valued at 5,000,000 too? Go on, give these to them. I¡¯ll believe we are friends if you give all your friends millions and valuable nes.¡±
Xia Lei had no words to say. He couldn¡¯t give every friend money and nes even if he were the richest man on Earth.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s tears flowed faster. ¡°Deep down somewhere in your heart, you actually think of me as your woman, don¡¯t you?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei opened his mouth but only that one word came out. He was also thinking ¡®Do I really think of her as my woman?¡¯
He didn¡¯t know the answer to that question himself.
¡°We grew up together. You said you have no feelings for me but I don¡¯t believe it. You helped me solve the case when I was just a little pencil-pusher. You helped me be Police Chief. When Da got sick, you came to the rescue. You saved Da and even gave us a better life. You then gave me a ne worth millions for no reason. You actually see me as your woman, don¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Ruyi, I...¡± Xia Lei did not know what to do.
¡°If you see me as your woman, then why don¡¯t you touch me?!¡± Jiang Ruyi was losing it.
Xia Lei froze.
¡°I¡¯ll give you two choices.¡± Jiang Ruyi stood up with tears streaming from her eyes. ¡°Embrace me or take the money and the ne back, and we will forever be just debtor and debtee.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s headache suddenly magnified twofold.
Chapter 462 - Make A Scene
It made sense to return money which was owed and people had the right to ept or refuse a gift too. If one looked at this situation from this perspective, Jiang Ruyi had enough reasons to return the money and items Xia Lei had given her. Once he took them, however, it meant that their rtionship of over 20 years waspletely over and they would just be debtor and debtee.
Would Xia Lei be able to do something like this with his personality? Let Jiang Ruyi and her parents lead frugal lives? He didn¡¯t even want to think about it. He was a person who returned the kindness he was shown, and Jiang Ruyi¡¯s father had lent him a lot of help when he had been forced to be breadwinner of the family after his father¡¯s disappearance. Jiang Ruyi¡¯s mother had helped him too. He had received all this help in his time of need, so could he do something like this?
¡°Ruyi, I think... you should stop making a fuss. Take the money back, and the ne too.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was soft, beseeching.
¡°Choose. Don¡¯t change the topic.¡± Jiang Ruyi got close to Xia Lei. She was crying but she still put quite a bit of pressure on Xia Lei.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Ruyi, this is... How can I choose?¡±
Jiang Ruyi took another step forward and her bountiful bosom nearly hit Xia Lei. Xia Lei panicked a little and backed away, then fell on the sofa. He sat with a ¡®fwump¡¯.
This was an awkward position and also quite weird but Jiang Ruyi¡¯s tears kept falling in two streams to pitter-patter on Xia Lei¡¯s face.
A woman who had grown up with him and been together with him for over twenty years - she had been waiting for him to confess since her girlhood. However, she had waited and waited and he had married another woman. How could she not be hurt by this result?
Perhaps she would not have done this today if she had not gone to the jewellery store to have the ne valued. Come to think of it, what did it mean when a man gave a woman a ne worth millions?
Whether this was the reason or not, Jiang Ruyi had already gone to the limits of all she could have done as a woman.
Xia Lei had to choose now - A or B.
A man should have be responsible but he had just signed the marriage certificate with Shentu Tianyin and bewfully wedded. How could he cheat on Shentu Tianyin with Jiang Ruyi?
¡°You¡¯re not going to choose? Then I¡¯ll choose for you!¡± Jiang Ruyi was insistent.
Xia Lei braced himself. ¡°Ruyi, calm down. I really don¡¯t have any deeper meaning to my actions. I just want you and Uncle Jiang and Auntie Yang to have better lives. You...¡±
¡°Bwaaah!¡± Jiang Ruyi wailed. ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve already made your choice. Fine, I¡¯ll leave. I¡¯m leaving the money and the ne too. I¡¯ll pay you back 20,000 more when I get my annual bonus.¡±
Jiang Ruyi got up from the sofa and actually did turn to leave.
Xia Lei panicked and grabbed her hand.
¡°Let me go!¡± Jiang Ruyi struggled.
Xia Lei did not dare to let her go because he was sure that Jiang Ruyi would really leave if he did, and he and her would just be debtor and debtee. He pulled hard and Jiang Ruyi stopped struggling immediately. She mmed into his embrace and fell onto the sofa with him.
¡°You already taken advantage of me. I¡¯ll take it as you¡¯d taken the second choice,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei hurriedly said, ¡°What choice? Listen to my exnation, Ruyi.¡±
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s tears pitter-pattered down again. ¡°You gave me so much money and such a valuable ne. Isn¡¯t that because you want me as your mistress?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was stunned. When did he have this sort of motive?
Jiang Ruyi went on stubbornly, ¡°Don¡¯t deny it. There are so many bastards like you in this world. They¡¯re married at home and unmarried outside. They keep the marriage intact while having affairs outside the marriage. Isn¡¯t this something you men say?¡±
Xia Lei bit the bullet and said, ¡°Ruyi, I¡¯m not like those men. I¡¯m not that sort of man.¡±
¡°I know you aren¡¯t - but you can learn to be like them!¡± Jiang Ruyi was anxious.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Those men with worths of only a few million have mistresses. You have billions! You even gave me almost 10,000,000. What will it matter if you have just me on the side? Are you worse than those men?¡±
Xia Lei was at aplete loss for words. He suddenly found that the thought process of the Ruyi tonight had surpassed the regr range of a woman¡¯s - she was god tier.
¡°I don¡¯t care. You either take the money back or take me as your mistress.¡± Jiang Ruyi cried as she spoke.
Xia Lei had never been a stone-hearted man and his heart had actually softened from the first tear which had fallen from Jiang Ruyi¡¯s eyes. His heart and long gone soft since he had been with Jiang Ruyi for so long. He sighed. ¡°Ruyi, don¡¯t cry. Let me think about it again. I... You know me. I just signed the marriage certificate with Shentu Tianyin, right? Who goes and gets a m, mistress as soon as he¡¯s married? Besides, how can I take you as a mistress?¡±
¡°Shentu Tianyin is Shentu Tianyin. I am me,¡± said Jiang Ruyi. ¡°How about you divorce her and marry me?¡±
¡°How can I do that?¡±
¡°Then what do you want me to do? I¡¯m willing to be your mistress. What else do you want? Do you want to drive me into a corner? Want me to die? I¡¯ll jump right now, just you watch.¡± JIang Ruyi climbed off Xia Lei and strode towards the balcony.
Xia Lei grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back onto the sofa. He spoke pleadingly, ¡°Ruyi, you... How about this: you give me some time for me to think, okay?¡±
¡°Ten minutes. I¡¯ll give you ten minutes to consider it.¡± Jiang Ruyi was determined.
Xia Lei shut his eyes painfully.
¡°I know you¡¯ve got money now and that I¡¯m not good enough for you. Shentu Tianyin is great. She¡¯s the richest woman in China and has a worth of billions. She¡¯s a perfect match for you. Stop thinking about it. Let me go. I won¡¯t jump anymore - I¡¯ll go home and inhale some gas,¡± said Jiang Ruyi tearfully as she bit her lip.
¡°You sure know how to cause trouble for me. All you know is to bully me since we were kids.¡± Tears appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes too.
Jiang Ruyi sobbed loudly at those words and her tears fell faster.
Xia Lei looked quietly at Jiang Ruyi. ¡°Ruyi, didn¡¯t you say that you would wait five years for me? Today, why...¡±
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s face turned red and she heaved as her voice grew shaky. ¡°You cruel bastard. I waited for you for more than twenty years. I¡¯m at this age now but I¡¯ve never seen a man¡¯s body. Five years? I¡¯ll be old in five years. Are you going to make me wait till I¡¯m old and grey to touch me?¡±
Xia Lei was a puddle of melted butter by now.
¡°I¡¯m in my most beautiful ago now. What are you still waiting for?¡± Jiang Ruyi bit her lip. She was so embarrassed and nervous she could die but she still mustered her courage to say those words.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring. The phone suddenly rang at this key moment.
Chapter 463 - Very Dark Night
It grew tense in the living room again.
¡°Is,Is it Shentu Tianyin?¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s courage failed and she retracted her criminal hands in a panic.
Xia Lei was nervous too. ¡°I d,don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°W,What are you afraid of? Pick up.¡± Jiang Ruyi faked calm. ¡°It¡¯s just a call, right? No one caught us in bed!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring. The phone kept ringing.
Xia Lei took a deep breath and fished his phone out of his clothing, then stood from the sofa to take the call. He looked at the disy - it was not Shentu Tianyin calling but a phone number from South Korea. ¡°It¡¯s not Tianyin¡¯s number.¡±
Xia Lei epted the call.
Ahn Geungan¡¯s voice came from over the line. ¡°Mr Xia, I have prepared the things you wanted. I am on Haizhu¡¯s Sanshen Ind now. I¡¯ll give you two hours toe to the ind and make the exchange with me.¡±
¡°Sanshen Ind?¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Why must I go to that ind? I¡¯m the one with the upper hand, not you. The time and ce shall be decided by me, not you.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, Haizhu is Chinese soil. Are you still afraid of me? I can do the exchange with you on the ind but not at the time and ce you specify. I will never step upon the soil of the maind again.¡±
¡°How many people did you bring?¡±
¡°Just me, and two bodyguards,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
¡°And why should I trust you?¡±
¡°You have what I want. Would I lie to you?¡± said Ahn Geungan. ¡°And I want to tell you that I know where Gu Kewen is. I will tell you as a gift. I know you¡¯ll want to know where she is.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Two hours. It¡¯s night right now too - where will I get a boat to take me there?¡±
What was of interest was not the dirt which Ahn Geungan had on Shentu Tianyin but the Gu Kewen who was alive and kicking. She was like a ticking time bomb wound around Shentu Tianyin, and could explode at any time. This ¡®gift¡¯ of Ahn Geungan¡¯s was something Xia Lei wanted.
However, Xia Lei was not the young hothead he used to be. A string of life-and-death situations had tempered him and turned him into an experienced agent. Ahn Geungan was asking to meette at night, and on a little-known ind - how could he not be suspicious?
Ahn Geungan let out a scoff over the line. ¡°I am anxious to get my items back, otherwise I wouldn¡¯te personally. And this is just a one-time gift. You¡¯ll have to think of your own ways to find Gu Kewen next time.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll see you on Sanshen Ind in two hours.¡±
A sketch appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind after he hung up. He had a feeling that this Hyena killer whom even his father felt dangerous was most likely on that ind. And the blonde-haired bodyguard who had been following Ahn Suhyeong around would likely be on that ind too. He was no featherweight either.
If he was right, then Sanshen Ind was a battleground. A battleground full of danger.
Xia Lei pondered, ¡®One of the Ahn father-son pair must be on the ind. What I have in my hands is much too important for them to send anyone else. They have to get it themselves and destroy it. Based on Ahn Geungan and Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s personalities, they definitely wouldn¡¯t let a third party touch those things for fear of being ckmailed again. This is a great opportunity to take care of this Ahn family business. I¡¯m going!¡¯
Opportunity and danger went hand-in-hand.
He would dash on even if he knew there were tigers there!
Xia Lei felt rxed after making his decision. Hyena was the king of the killers¡¯ world but Xia Lei was The One on this Earth! Princess Yongmei had said it too. He was The One in this world, and he was confident he would kill off the enemy!
Jiang Ruyi drew close. ¡°What happened, Lei?¡±
¡°Nothing. You stay out of it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyi was unhappy. ¡°I even took your trousers off. That person called and told you to go meet on some ind - how can I not care?¡±
She had endured for over twenty years, and that bastard had called to ruin it when she was just about to make her wishese true. How could Jiang Ruyi not get angry over this? How could she not care? If that person who called were standing in front of her, she would definitely kick him!
¡°Stay out of this, Ruyi.¡± Xia Lei grabbed her shoulder. ¡°You wait for me at home. I¡¯ll go out ande back.¡±
¡°What is it about?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask. I¡¯m leaving.¡± Xia Lei hurriedly pulled his trousers up and belted himself up.
¡°I heard you say ¡®Sanshen Ind¡¯. I know that ce. It¡¯s remote and no boats go there. Why is that person asking you to meet in such a ce? Something must be going on.¡± Jiang Ruyi grabbed at Xia Lei¡¯s hand to stop him from leaving. ¡°Let me help you. You¡¯re my man too. How can I just let you go to that sort of ce alone?¡±
This was Jiang Ruyi¡¯s first time saying Xia Lei was her man. They had not gone to that step earlier, but Xia Lei had already acknowledged her existence.
Xia Lei sighed, then checked his watch. ¡°You really want to help me?¡±
¡°Duh! You¡¯re my man. Who else am I going to help?¡± Jiang Ruyi called him her man again but she blushed this time.
¡°Fine, then can you get a speedboat? Help me find one, then go home and wait for me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°The SWAT has speedboats at the training base by the sea. I can borrow one. I¡¯ll take you there.¡± Jiang Ruyi pulled Xia Lei by the hand as she walked.
Xia Lei went down the building and into his car to drive towards the seaside.
¡°Say, Lei...¡± said Jiang Ruyi haltingly in the car. ¡°If Shentu Tianyin were the one calling earlier... What would you have said?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°You¡¯re so stupid. Come, I¡¯ll teach you.¡± Jiang Ruyi thought for a bit and said patiently, ¡°You should talk to her like everything¡¯s normal. If she asks where you are, you say you¡¯re working overtime at thepany. If she hears my voice, you tell her your secretary¡¯s talking and asking if you want tea or something. You just need to pretend that nothing¡¯s happened.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
As expected of a police chief. Her anti-detection skills were no joke.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei¡¯s BMW M6 came to a training ground by the sea. He opened the boot and took out the case containing an XL2500 sniper rifle, then followed Jiang Ruyi in.
He did not have the right to carry firearms before but it was different now. He had fought for the country several times and killed many people. Bureau 101 had not given him official papers to allow him to carry weapons but they quietly agreed to let him carry firearms and use them.
Jiang Ruyi talked with some people in the SWAT training grounds and sessfully borrowed a speedboat.
Xia Lei took the keys and got on the boat at the jetty. Jiang Ruyi made to get on too but Xia Lei pushed her back. ¡°Be good, Ruyi. Go home and wait for me. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±
¡°I...¡± Jiang Ruyi stared at Xia Lei with wide eyes, her face full of worry.
¡°Go back. Wait for me toe back.¡± Xia Lei said nothing else and turned the speedboat towards the sea.
Jiang Ruyi stamped her foot on the jetty and shouted, ¡°Be careful, Lei!¡±
Too bad Xia Lei could not hear her anymore. He and the speedboat disappeared into the night sea.
Before Xia Lei got very far, Jiang Ruyi took out a set of keys from her trousers and smiled. ¡°Trying to shake me off? Not that easy. Not letting me follow? I¡¯ll follow you! I¡¯ll follow you my whole life! Shentu Tianyin, just you wait. This girl will make your man cheat on you! Humph!¡±
Jiang Ruyi drove her speedboat to Sanshen Ind and soon caught up.
The voice of the sea drowned out the noise of the speedboat. Xia Lei did not discover that Jiang Ruyi had caught up but while he was heading to Sanshen Ind, images of Jiang Ruyi kept surfacing in his mind. The Jiang Ruyi as a child, the Jiang Ruyi as a girl and a grown up Jiang Ruyi. Finally, the Jiang Ruyi who had been hot and heavy with him on the sofa. These Jiang Ruyis swirled about in his head and refused to leave.
¡°Ay...¡± Xia Lei sighed, ¡°How did I get a mistress? And which mistress gives lesson on how to avoid detection by the wife?¡±
This was a problem but even the gods wouldn¡¯t be able to give Xia Lei the answer he wanted.
Xia Lei drove the boat for a solid thirty minutes before he saw Sanshen Ind on the navigation system. This ind was small; only a few square kilometres. There were three peaks on this ind and the peaks and their surrounding were covered with dense forest. There was no light on the ind. It was uninhabited.
Xia Lei cut the lights and slowed just before he got close to the ind. He approached the shore cautiously. As the speedboat moved slowly, Xia Lei used his left eye to scan the beach and the forest beyond the beach.
The beach was silent and devoid of people. The forest beyond the beach was thick and dark, and he did not see anyone hiding in it.
¡®Could Ahn Geungan and his people be on the other side of the ind?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Xia Lei drove his speedboat to the other side. The few kilometres passed in the blink of an eye and the situation on the opposite beach entered his field of vision. He did not see any speedboats but he saw traces of a helicopter¡¯snding.
Xia Lei stopped his speedboat and looked up at the three peaks on the ind. A sneer appeared on his lips. ¡®What exchange is this - you want to kill me on this ind. Fine. I want to kill you all on this ind too!¡¯
Xia Lei quashed his anger and anchored the boat. He then took out the XL2500 from the case, and a box of bullets. Following that, he plunged into the icy waters of the sea and headed towards a more rugged section of beach.
The night was very dark.
Chapter 464 - This Bitch
The waves pped against the reef, making sloshing noises. The sea breeze blew at the forest and the leaves were lifted in a wave. Xia Lei lurked about on the reef for a few minutes before moving towards the forest. Every step he took was careful, and he watched his surroundings carefully. He had to in this sort of environment, even though he had X-ray vision. His left eye could not see through the thick forest to spot the killer hidden within.
Too bad he didn¡¯t have heat-vision equipment. If he had, he would be able to move about in a more rxed way.
However, he had his own special method of tracking people, and that was his left eye¡¯s zoom-in ability. He could use his left eye to do high precision processing, so traces of a person¡¯s passing was too easy. As long as someone entered the forest from this beach, he would be able to follow the traces left on the ground and discern where the person was hiding!
¡°One, two, three... Six.¡± Xia Lei made his analysis ording to the tracks he¡¯d spotted. ¡®Six people hade out of the helicopter and they¡¯re in this forest. They could not have gone deep, so they must be close by along this stretch. Their aim ining here is to get the goods and kill me anyway. What I don¡¯t know is if it¡¯s Ahn Geungan or Ahn Suhyeong in charge.¡¯
No matter who it was, the person had set a trap to kill him. There was no need to be civil with them anymore. Find one, kill one!
Xia Lei attached the silencer to the XL2500 as he tracked.
He hade out of the water, and it was the start of winter now so his temperature was a little lower. This was why he was not that worried about the enemy giving him trouble if they had heat-vision equipment.
Xia Lei quickly discovered the enemy¡¯s tracks when he entered the forest. It was as he¡¯d thought - their goal was to kill him and take away what he had brought, so they had not gone deep into the forest. However, he saw only four people. They were all Asians inbat gear and holding American M16A2 assault rifles. They also had handguns and grenades on their weapons belts. These four were wearing bulletproof vests and helmets too. Their getup was as good as the Korean Special Forces.
Xia Lei used his X-ray vision to scan his surroundings. Unfortunately, he did not spot the Hyena person his father had sketched, nor the blonde-haired bodyguard named Hoffman who he¡¯d seen following Ahn Suhyeong around.
Xia Lei quietly raised the XL2500 in his hands and aimed at a target.
He had only to squeeze the trigger gently now to st that person¡¯s head apart. But at that moment, he suddenly realised something and he moved his finger off the trigger.
¡®Six people came off the helicopter but there are only four here,¡¯ he thought to himself, ¡®Who are the other two? Where are they? Wait, these two can¡¯t be Ahn Guengan or Ahn Suhyeong. It must be Hyena and Hoffman. These four are bait. Hoffman and Hyena will attack me once I shoot! One of the Ahns must still be on that helicopter. He¡¯ll turn up to take the things from me after Hyena and Hoffman have killed me.¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the left at that thought. Ahead of this wasyer uponyer of forest, blocking his X-ray vision. He was able to see through a portion of the trees but it was not enough. Simrly, if the enemy had heat-vision equipment, it was not powerful enough to see through so many trees and discover his presence.
¡®Since those four are bait, Hoffman and Hyena¡¯s best positions to hide in are further back on the left and right. Once I start battling with those four gunmen, those two elite killers would close in on me like a and shoot me. They shouldn¡¯t be far from these four!¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s analysis was very urate.
He looked at the watch on his wrist - ten minutes more to the meeting time.
Would he be able to finish Hyena and Hoffman off in these ten minutes?
Xia Lei decided to give it a go. He chose to go left, and crouched over, using tree after tree as cover as he moved.
A proper target came into range after three minutes. It was Hoffman. He was hiding on arge cedar tree. The top of the tree was about 30 metres up and it was enough to give him a good view of the beach. Hoffman was hidden in the tree canopy and holding a Barrett sniper rifle which was aimed at the beach.
Fortunately, Xia Lei had approached from the reefs. If he had approached by the sea, he would have been shot by Hoffman before he even made it to shore!
A thermal imaging device hung around Hoffman¡¯s neck and he raised it to his eyes every ten seconds or so to check the forest around himself. Unfortunately, he was unaware that Xia Lei had already sneaked past him from the side to his back.
It wasn¡¯t because Hoffman was slow to react or that he was not alert but because he was unable to use the thermal imaging device to see Xia Lei, who was over 500 metres away. He had chosen a very good location to attack from since the tree he was in was the tallest in this area, and he could see quite far into the distance in its canopy as well as shoot at targets on the beach. However, it was also because of his position that he had been discovered by Xia Lei first.
Hoffman suddenly put down his device, raised his gun and aimed at the beach.
This was a position to take when he was going to shoot someone. This meant that a target he wanted to shoot had arrived on the beach!
¡®Oh no!¡¯ Xia Lei suddenly thought of a person - Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei grew anxious immediately. He swiftly raised his gun and aimed at the back of Hoffman¡¯s head.
Hoffman steadied his gun and moved the index finger of his right hand to the trigger. His mouth curled in a cruel smile.
Pow! There was a sound of a sharp object hitting a human head, and half of Hoffman¡¯s brains were separated from his skull. Brain matter and blood spurted through the air like sauce and his corpse dropped from the tree canopy.
Xia Lei was on the move right after killing Hoffman. He turned towards the beach. He could havepleted his quiet assassination easily but it had now be a race against time!
If Jiang Ruyi had really followed him then she must be on the beach now. This was a terrible thing indeed, because if Hoffman could spot her, then Hyena could spot her too.
Xia Lei quickly got to the edge of the forest.
The speedboat had juste to a stop and Jiang Ruyi jumped off to wade through the water and head to the beach.
Jiang Ruyi seemed to be on the alert too. She held her gun as she waded and surveyed the beach and the forest.
¡®This girl...¡¯ Xia Lei had a terrible headache. If this was an exercise, he would have dashed forward to press Jiang Ruyi to the ground and give her a thorough spanking - till her buttocks were swollen!
But from another perspective, Jiang Ruyi had followed him because she was worried about him. A woman showing so much concern for you... She did the wrong thing, but could you bear to berate her?
Jiang Ruyi got to shore and looked about, then continued walking towards the forest.
¡®This girl!¡¯ Xia Lei sighed, and abruptly raised his gun to fire at the beach in front of her.
Ptu! The bullet struck the beach and sent up a shower of sand.
Jiang Ruyi got a scare and threw herself to the ground.
Xia Lei turned the muzzle of his gun around and shot into the forest edge. A gunman who had charged out of the forest to capture Jiang Ruyi was killed by a head-shot. He was wearing a bulletproof helmet but the XL2500 bullet had entered from his cheek. With gunmanship like that, it was useless even if he wore ten helmets.
Xia Lei fired again. This shot did not kill a gunman but the bullet hit a tree. The remaining three gunmen were startled and immediately rushed out to the beach to capture Jiang Ruyi.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Gunshots rang out.
The three gunmen did not dare leave the forest due to Xia Lei¡¯s suppressing fire but they kept firing at Jiang Ruyi on the beach.
Bullets kicked up sand on the beach and Jiang Ruyi held her head, terrified.
¡°Crawl over!¡± Xia Lei shouted anxiously. He had to show himself to yell at Jiang Ruyi.
She heard his voice and it was like seeing hope in the midst of despair. She moved her limbs and crawled towards Xia Lei like a wet noodle.
Krak! A bullet suddenly hit the trunk of the tree Xia Lei was hiding behind.
This shot hade from the left and the bullet shook the tree. This was a powerful sniper rifle!
This shot also posed a problem. That terrifying killer had discovered his location and made his move!
Xia Lei instinctively threw himself to the ground. A bullet hit the same spot just after he did, and this bullet actually went through the trunk to hit a tree behind Xia Lei.
A chill ran over Xia Lei¡¯s heart - Hyena was using armour-piercing bullets!
¡°He¡¯s over there!¡± shouted someone in Korean from the edge of the forest. ¡°He can¡¯t get away now. Kill him!¡±
Bang bang bang! The sounds of gunfire from M16A2 rifles came afterwards. However, the three gunmen¡¯s bullets were unable to get through theyer of forest and be a threat to Xia Lei.
Krak! An armour-piercing bullet hit the trunk Xia Lei was hiding behind, just three feet high!
Xia Lei rolled away to avoid it and a second bullet hit the same spot just as he left his hiding ce. That bullet went through the tree trunk and hit the ground. If Xia Lei had not rolled away, he would have been in that spot and his head would have exploded!
These four shots had confirmed Hyena¡¯s location for Xia Lei. He was not on the right, but on the peak behind the forest. He was even higher up!
Xia Lei did not believe that Hyena had X-ray vision like him. Hyena had found his location through the warning shots he had fired earlier. He had fired four shots and two of these shots had been threats. This Hyena must have had unimaginable amounts of experience!
King of the world of killers - this was how Xia Changhe had evaluated him. This evaluation spoke volumes of Hyena¡¯s might.
Hyena was miles ahead of Xia Lei in terms of experience!
Up against an opponent like this, and with a stupid battered girl crawling towards him, Xia Lei was not able to rx at all.
Chapter 465 - Scary Opponent
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Jiang Ruyi crawled to Xia Lei¡¯s side.
Xia Lei did not answer. He raised his hand and hit Jiang Ruyi¡¯s plump ass. SMACK!
¡°You...¡± Jiang Ruyi gave him a wronged look.
¡°What did youe here for?¡± Xia Lei spoke softly but harshly.
¡°I was worried about you so I followed you. I¡¯ll be of help in case you run into any trouble,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
She did not help ining but gave him more problems instead. Xia Lei could have gone all out and killed the enemy but he had to keep himself in check with her arrival.
¡°Who are those people?¡± asked Jiang Ruyi.
Krak! The trunk they were hiding behind shook.
Xia Lei grabbed Jiang Ruyi by the waist and rolled on the ground with her. They¡¯d just rolled clear when another armour-piercing bullet went through the trunk.
The bullet hit a rock on the ground, sending up sparks.
Jiang Ruyi was pale with fright.
¡°See that? Tell me what help you¡¯ll be,¡± said Xia Lei angrily. He pped her ass again, hard.
Jiang Ruyi tightened the corners of her mouth but did not retort. She didn¡¯t dare to hit him back either.
¡°Surround them!¡± shouted someone in Korean.
Bam! A dull sound rang out and a grenade hit the trunk. mes leapt about the forest. Pieces of wood and shrapnel flew in all directions and the sound was deafening.
The three Korean gunmen surrounded them.
Xia Lei pulled Jiang Ruyi deeper into the forest, avoiding Hyena¡¯s location.
There were four of the enemy now. Xia Lei just needed to hide Jiang Ruyi deep in the forest so the enemy would find it difficult to locate them.
¡°They¡¯re escaping! Chase them!¡± shouted a Korean gunman.
Bang bang bang...
Someone fired and all the bullets hit tree trunks. It was no threat to Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi at all.
Rip! The sound of something tearing came from Jiang Ruyi. Thorns had torn a hole in her trousers, revealing arge patch of pale skin.
¡°My trousers!¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
¡°It¡¯s not time to care about your trousers. What¡¯s more important - your life or your trousers?¡± Xia Lei did not stop moving. There were bushes ahead blocking him but he did not even stop. He went right into them.
¡°Who the heck are they?¡± asked Jiang Ruyi again.
¡°Don¡¯t talk!¡± Xia Lei wanted to hold his hand over her mouth.
Bang bang bang! Shots came from behind them.
¡°There! They¡¯re ahead!¡± shouted someone.
It was impossible for Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi to leave no tracks in the forest as they fled. The three Korean gunmen were not on the same level as Hyena but they were not amateurs either if they had been entrusted with this task. Besides, Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice was the guiding beam for them in their pursuit.
Jiang Ruyi wanted to p her own mouth when she realised her mistake.
Xia Lei pulled her before him and he turned around and raised his gun.
A Korean gunman soon came into his field of vision. He squeezed the trigger a secondter.
Pew! The face of the gunman right in front exploded. He had not even managed to let out a sound before he was killed. His body was lifted off the ground by the impact and it thudded against a tree trunk.
The remaining two came to a halt and hid behind tree trunks, not daring to show their heads.
It was them doing the hunting, wasn¡¯t it? Why did they feel like they were the prey?
Xia Lei was indeed hunting them. The only one he was avoiding was Hyena. They were nothing to Xia Lei!
Xia Lei had been within Hyena¡¯s range earlier. The four gunmen added to that meant that he could not dare to stay too long in one ce. That was why he had run away with Jiang Ruyi. Once they were out of Hyena¡¯s range, he was not the prey anymore but the hunter!
The other two hid after that one was killed and Xia Lei pulled Jiang Ruyi along in flight again. He reached out a hand and gestured to Jiang Ruyi to lie on the ground.
Shey on the ground at Xia Lei¡¯s second time gesturing. She looked nervously at her surroundings with both hands on her gun, waiting for a target to appear.
Xia Lei crouched and said quietly in her ear, ¡°Lie here, don¡¯t move. Don¡¯t fire unless you have targets within range. Got that?¡±
Jiang Ruyi nodded.
For some reason, Xia Lei reached out a hand and spanked her butt lightly, and he retracted his hand slowly, like he was deliberately feeling the curve of her buttock.
Jiang Ruyi stared at him. She was all nervous but she knew that Xia Lei had not actually hit her but groped her. Her face turned red immediately.
Xia Lei acted like nothing had happened. He went around a few tree trunks and approached the two gunman from their side.
Visibility in a forest like this was a few metres at best in the dark, even with moonlight and starlight. However, an environment like this was clear as day to Xia Lei and he was not affected at all. He could use his X-ray vision to see through some trees and lock on to the location of those two Korean gunmen.
The two Korean gunmen had their backs to tree trunks and they were nervous, breathing heavily.
Two of their colleagues were dead and they did not know who was next. No one could remain calm in this sort of situation.
A Korean gunman took out a walkie-talkie and said in a low voice, ¡°Mr Hyena, Xia Lei and a woman are ahead of us. Two of our team are dead. Please send support!¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°We will hold him back. He has a woman with him so he can¡¯t run fast.¡±
The other gunman said, ¡°Shit, why isn¡¯t Young Master sending more support? That punk is trapped here on this ind. Now is the time to surround him and kill him!¡±
¡°Mr Hyena has probably disseminated the information that Xia Lei is on the ind. Let¡¯s wait. There will be support troop soon. That Chinese punk will be dead then!¡±
¡°I hope Young Master will be quick. I feel like that guy is a scary one and not easy to handle.¡±
Pew! The face of the gunman who¡¯d called Xia Lei scary exploded. His brains sttered on the tree trunk and fell to the ground.
The other gunman then realised that Xia Lei had sneaked up to them and he hurriedly readjusted the muzzle of his gun. Before he could shoot, abat knife came flying over and nted itself viciously in his arm. The gun in his hands dropped to the ground.
Thest gunman moved to take his knife out but Xia Lei lowered his XL2500 to press the muzzle against his head. The gunman grewpliant and looked at Xia Lei in terror, trying to guess at his fate.
Xia Lei spoke in Korean, ¡°I don¡¯t know you and you don¡¯t know me. We have no grudges. I have no need to kill you, so if you cooperate, I¡¯ll just knock you out and not kill you. Do you agree? Nod if you do. I¡¯ll send you on your way if you don¡¯t.¡±
The gunman hurriedly nodded. He knew without a doubt that Xia Lei would st his brains out if he said ¡®no¡¯.
¡°Are there just the six of you on this ind?¡± This was Xia Lei¡¯s first question.
The gunman nodded. ¡°Yes, just us six.¡±
¡°Who is inmand of this operation - Ahn Geungan or Ahn Suhyeong?¡± This was Xia Lei¡¯s second question.
¡°It, It¡¯s Young Master.¡±
¡°Where is he?¡±
¡°I, I¡¯ll tell you. Will you really let me go?¡±
¡°I will. I told you I have no need to kill you. I believe you¡¯re just following orders and not acting of your own volition,¡± said Xia Lei rather sincerely.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you.¡± The gunman said, ¡°Ahn Suhyeong is on a nearby ind. He wille over via helicopter once we are done here.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face darkened and a cruel glint appeared in his eyes. ¡°Do you believe that I won¡¯t kill you?¡±
¡°Wh, What do you mean?¡± The gunman grew nervous. ¡°I¡¯ve already told you all that I know.¡±
¡°Bastard, I heard you talking. You said that Ahn Suhyeong would bring support troops once it was confirmed that I am on the ind!¡±
¡°I... I...¡± The gunman¡¯s face drained of colour and he said in a panic, ¡°I didn¡¯t lie to you on purpose! I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk! Ahn Suhyeong has people on another ind too. Dozens. Those people are professionals he¡¯d hired from Korea. And, And Russian gangster gunmen. He wants to kill you. An exchange won¡¯t happen. Please let me go and escape quickly. He¡¯ll soon bring people over.¡±
Xia Lei stepped on his neck as soon as the words left his mouth.
CRACK! His neck snapped. Thest gunman stopped breathing. His death-mask was a terrible sight; tongue out and eyes bugging. A wide-eyed death.
¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll never keep promises with people like you,¡± said Xia Lei softly.
Xia Lei stripped him of his gear, and the other two gunmen too. He took all their equipment. He took off two bulletproof vests from the corpses and two walkie-talkies. Ahn Suhyeong was probably on his way to Sanshen Ind now, and Xia Lei needed these weapons and equipment for the uing battle. The bulletproof vest was mainly for Jiang Ruyi.
He returned to Jiang Ruyi¡¯s hiding spot and saw that she was still lying on the ground, looking nervously at her surroundings. She was still in a shooting posture.
¡°You... Killed them?¡± Jiang Ruyi saw the things in Xia Lei¡¯s arms, and the bulletproof vests. Even if she was dumb, she could guess what had happened - she just didn¡¯t quite believe it.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Mm. We¡¯re safe for now.¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t you get me a pair of trousers?¡± said Jiang Ruyi discontentedly.
Xia Lei was surprised. ¡°Eh? When did your trousers get ripped?¡±
¡°You...¡± Jiang Ruyi could not go on. He¡¯d even touched her earlier and now he was acting like he¡¯d just realised it? He was obviously bullying her!
Xia Lei kept a straight face. ¡°This is fine too. It¡¯s your own fault foring here.¡±
Jiang Ruyi crawled to her feet and hurrumphed. ¡°You¡¯re my man. Why should I worry about you seeing my butt? I¡¯ll let you see all you want.¡± She then turned around and bent over to show him her pale buttocks.
The weapons and equipment in Xia Lei¡¯s hands went crashing to the ground a secondter.
Chapter 466 - Stone Wall on Mountain
The helicopter flew towards Sanshen Ind, hovering not far from the surface of the sea. On the water, several speedboats carrying gunmen armed to the teeth broke through the waves as they sped after the helicopter.
On the helicopter, Ahn Suhyeong was talking into a satellite phone with Ahn Geungan. ¡°Dad, that guy is in the. There¡¯s no escape for him now. I will kill him and take those things back.¡±
¡°Come back right away after it¡¯s done, Suhyeong. Do not linger in China. If something like this is discovered it¡¯ll be difficult to clean up,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, Dad. There is no phone signal here. He won¡¯t be able to call for help. This ind is also a deserted one - no on will discover us. We will bury Xia Lei¡¯s corpse on this ind and no one will find his bones even after a hundred years,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°Good. Remember, that punk is not easy to deal with. Killing is Hyena¡¯s job. You¡¯re only to take the things back. Don¡¯t take any risks. You are not to get close to him before he¡¯s dead,¡± warned Ahn Geungan.
¡°Nn, got it, Dad. That¡¯s it.¡± Ahn Suhyeong hung up.
The helicopternded on the beach. The speedboats also stopped close by in the sea and dozens of gunmen in full gear went ashore. There were some hunting dogs too. The dogs sat on the beach, waiting for instructions. It was apparent that these dogs were trained military dogs.
A Korean gunman handed Ahn Suhyeong a walkie-talkie and he spoke into it. ¡°Mr Hyena, we¡¯re here.¡±
A man walked out of the forest. He was in sniper camouge and his face was painted in green, ck and dirt-brown. His eyes were like those of a wolf. He was the main star of this operation, the king of killers - Hyena. He carried a Barrett M107 sniper rifle, and it had obvious modifications done to it.
Hyena walked towards Ahn Suhyeong and he had a suffocating aura of fear. Some of the hunting dogs were disquieted and they made low sounds and backed away. Their owners scolded them but it was no use.
¡°Mr Hyena,¡± Ahn Suhyeong said, ¡°where is Hoffman?¡±
¡°Hoffman is dead. Your men are dead too,¡± said Hyena.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s expression grew serious, because he knew Hoffman¡¯s capabilities. However, this did not affect his determination to kill Xia Lei off and he quickly put Hoffman out of his mind. ¡°Mr Hyena, Xia Lei is powerful indeed but we have dozens of men, and dogs. We also have you, the king of killers. He cannot possibly win. That¡¯ll never happen.¡±
Hyena had no reaction to Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s ttery. He spoke softly, ¡°Xia Lei is not alone either. A woman hase to this ind.¡±
¡°Woman?¡± Ahn Suhyeong immediately thought of Shentu Tianyin, and his heartbeat increased.
¡°The woman has had somebat training but she can be discounted. With her skills, she will not be an asset to Xia Lei but a hindrance,¡± said Hyena.
Somebat training - it was not Shentu Tianyin for sure. Ahn Suhyeong then thought of Bureau 101¡¯s Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, but those two women were elite Chinese agents. They would surely have had plenty ofbat skills, so it could not be them either. But if it was not either of them, then he had no idea who the woman was.
Jiang Ruyi was just an ordinary woman and her social life was limited to Haizhu City. It was normal for a Korean like Ahn Suhyeong to not know of her existence.
Hyena took out a piece of torn-up cloth and gave it to a Korean gunman with a dog. ¡°This dropped from that woman¡¯s body. Let your dogs remember her scent, then follow that woman. Xia Lei must be next to her.¡±
A smile appeared in the corners of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s mouth. ¡°Kill Xia Lei for me, Mr Hyena.¡±
¡°I¡¯llmand the men you brought. You shall see his corpse in 24 hours,¡± said Hyena.
¡°24 hours?¡± Ahn Suhyeong had not expected it to take so much time. He¡¯d imagined that it would take just an hour to solve this problem.
Hyena scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m talking the ideal time, if all goes smoothly. It could take even longer. Additionally, my fees have to be doubled. Get your father to transfer the amount to my ount now.¡±
¡°You what?¡± Ahn Suhyeong wanted to throw a tantrum but held back. ¡°My Hyena. What you¡¯re doing goes against the contract.¡±
¡°There is no such thing as a contract in my world.¡± Hyena sneered, ¡°You told me that my target was just a businessman but he killed Hoffman and four of your underlings. I exchanged fire with him and his capabilities gave me a surprise. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯s the most difficult target I¡¯ve ever had. I may die here, up against him. You have to double my fees or you can kill him yourself.¡±
¡°You...¡± Ahn Suhyeongpromised and said angrily, ¡°I¡¯ll call my father right now!¡±
The hunting dogs ran into the forest a few minutester. The 30-plus Korean and Russian gangsters Ahn Suhyeong brought went into the forest too. Under Hyena¡¯smand, they were split into three - one after the dogs, and the other two to the sides to surround the area. Hyena was not part of any group. He quickly disappeared after entering the forest, like a fish swimming into the ocean.
Meanwhile, on a part of the peak on the left side of the ind.
¡°No signal. Why is there still no signal?¡± Jiang Ruyi waved her phone about but the phone disy showed no signal reception.
Xia Lei looked at the snowy white skin dancing about in front of him and he could not help the wry smile on his lips. ¡°Stop trying. This ind won¡¯t have a phone signal unless it¡¯s a satellite phone. They want to kill me here, so they definitely won¡¯t give me a chance to call for help.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t I your helper?¡±
Xia Lei said nothing.
¡°Who the hell are they?¡±
¡°Koreans. People who belong to Ahn Geungan, leader of the Grand National Party. His son Ahn Suhyeong is probably on his ind already.¡± She¡¯d risked her life toe help him so she was entitled to know this bit of truth.
¡°The hell? Leader of the Grand National Party? This is really... why? Why does he want to kill you?¡±
¡°I have dirt on Ahn Geungan that can topple him from his position, and even put him behind bars,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°If you have something like that you can give it to the Korean police. Why risk the danger ande here? You obviously know that they want to kill you.¡± Jiang Ruyi could not understand Xia Lei¡¯s actions.
Xia Lei¡¯s motive was to kill them too, on top of getting the location of Gu Kewen and the information they have on Shentu Tianyin which could bring her down. He couldn¡¯t tell Jiang Ruyi this, of course.
Xia Lei patted Jiang Ruyi¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Stop asking, Ruyi. It¡¯s better if you know little of such things. Let¡¯s keep walking. We need to put some distance between them and us.¡±
¡°My legs feel as heavy as an anchor. I can¡¯t walk any more.¡± Jiang Ruyi spoke with a frown as she massaged her thighs. She looked like she could not go on.
Xia Lei crouched in front of her. ¡°I¡¯ll carry you.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Jiang Ruyi smiled immediately.
¡°Don¡¯t waste time. Hurry up, or you walk on your own,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re tired too. I can¡¯t bear to make you more tired. Forget it, I¡¯ll walk on my own. I can still walk,¡± said Jiang Ruyi with a smile.
Xia Lei stood. ¡°Let¡¯s go, then. We need to get to the peak before daybreak.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Jiang Ruyi nodded, then followed Xia Lei up. Xia Lei¡¯s show of concern seemed to have energised her and her legs were livelier.
They climbed dozens of metres more and a stone wall of more than two metres loomed before them. The stone wall stretched to the left and right and they could not see an end.
Jiang Ruyi stood on the left side and jumped to try to catch hold of the edge of the stone wall but was unsessful. Her jump was so weak it could barely be called a jump, but the bounce in her chest was astounding. Her feet and touched ground again but her two mounds still jiggled for a bit before they stopped moving.
¡°Lei, I can¡¯t climb up,¡± said Jiang Ruyi. She was discouraged.
¡°I¡¯ll push you up.¡± So saying, he moved forward and out his hands around Jiang Ruyi¡¯s slender waist. He raised her up.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s hands grabbed the edge and her legs gained purchase on the wall. She started to climb but her body stuck to the wall like a wet noodle when Xia Lei stopped pushing. She could not go on.
Xia Lei sighed. He braced himself and raised her up again.
Jiang Ruyi gritted her teeth and climbed up.
¡°Aaah!¡± Jiang Ruyi let out a cry of surprise as she fell from the wall.
Xia Lei had no time to recover; Jiang Ruyi smashed into him.
¡°Lei, are you all right?¡± Jiang Ruyi hurriedly got to her feet and looked anxiously at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused for a while before he said seriously, ¡°Let¡¯s try again.¡±
Jiang Ruyi was speechless.
Chapter 467 - Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child!
Two hourster, Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi climbed up to the peak. Xia Lei searched for his ideal sniping spot along the way but he only found it when he reached the top. It was arge rock which jutted out from the peak. It was the highest point to the left of the peak and was very big, over a thousand tons, and there was a metre of higher rock on that rock which could act as a shield for bulletsing from the left.
The distance between the peak in the middle of the ind and the mountaintop on the left was about 2,200 metres, and with Hyena¡¯s capabilities, this was not a safe distance. This extra outcropping of rock, however, was what made Xia Lei not worry about an assassination from the left if Hyena climbed the mountain there.
However, there was another problem, and that was that this rock was dozens of metres high. Xia Lei could climb up easily but it was impossible for Jiang Ruyi. He could not just leave her below either - it was too dangerous.
Pushing her up the surface of the rock by her bum was not going to work. Xia Lei thought and thought and came up with a solution. He removed all his equipment and squatted in front of Jiang Ruyi. ¡°Ruyi, climb on my back. I¡¯ll carry you up.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Jiang Ruyi shook her head hard. ¡°No, no. We¡¯ll fall.¡±
¡°We have to go up. Staying down here is dangerous.¡± Xia Lei said sternly, ¡°You heard the helicopter just now. Ahn Suhyeong will bring dozens of gunmen here to kill us. I have to get to a good sniping spot to guarantee our safety.¡±
¡°Dozens of gunmen? Oh my god... we¡¯re going to die!¡± Jiang Ruyi was so panicky she paced about on the spot, and tears filled her eyes. ¡°I, I just made up with you, and not even a night has passed and I¡¯m going to die. I don¡¯t want to die like this!¡±
She was childhood friends with Xia Lei for over 20 years, and this meant she had waited for him for over 20 years. Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin were married but she was not willing to let go; she was even willing to be his mistress. This was how deep her love for Xia Lei ran. Her wish hade true with great difficulty and Xia Lei and her could be considered to be together because of her various methods, but she was not willing to go down like this when her love of over 20 years was going to end right when it had onlye to the beginning.
Xia Lei red at her. ¡°Stop bbering. I told you to get on. Hurry up, we¡¯ll lose this chance if they catch up to us.¡±
Jiang Ruyi looked at the rock which was over five metres tall again and hesitated. ¡°It¡¯s so high up. What if we fall? Our bottoms will split open. If we get hurt in the fall we could die on this ind before those peoplee to kill us.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll count to three and you get on my back, or I¡¯ll hit you,¡± said Xia Lei fiercely.
¡°You...¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s mouth moved, about to say something but she didn¡¯t.
Xia Lei counted. ¡°One, two, three.¡±
Jiang Ruyi had not climbed onto his back but she said what had been on her mind. She had a hurt look on her face as she said, ¡°Would you dare to hit Shentu Tianyin? If you¡¯ll hit her, then I won¡¯t object to you hitting me. But you won¡¯t dare to hit her, and you¡¯re so fierce to me... I¡¯m even willing to be your woman on the side but you don¡¯t care for me. I¡¯m sad.¡±
Xia Lei stood and made to hit her.
¡°You¡¯re really going to hit me?¡± Jiang Ruyi said, humiliated.
Xia Lei swung his hand and he put a bit of strength into it. A red p-mark appeared on white skin.
¡°Don¡¯t hit me. I, I¡¯ll listen to you, okay?¡± Jiang Ruyi hurt from the p, and it was not just her butt which turned red - her face was red too. She actually liked it deep down, Xia Lei hitting her like this.
Xia Lei let go of Jiang Ruyi and rolled his eyes at her. ¡°You¡¯re always like this. You try to step all over me unless I show you who¡¯s boss. I won¡¯t hit Shentu Tianyin, but is she as meddlesome as you? You¡¯re you and she¡¯s herself. I won¡¯t hit her but I¡¯ll hit you.¡±
Jiang Ruyi had been hit twice, and scolded on top of that but she was not angry. She giggled and climbed obediently onto Xia Lei¡¯s back. She held him tightly around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist so that he could climb up the rock with her.
Jiang Ruyi was still in good spirits after being hit and scolded because this was how she and Xia Lei had always been - fighting, crying,ughing. Xia Lei hitting her and scolding her now was like she had gone back to the familiar old feeling, and she felt like Xia Lei had truly epted her now.
¡°Hey, what will you do if Shentu Tianyin knows that we¡¯ve made up?¡± said Jiang Ruyi in Xia Lei¡¯s ear as he climbed.
Xia Lei was struck by nervousness and almost fell off the rock. His slip scared Jiang Ruyi and she was so scared she quickly tightened her hold around his waist and said, ¡°Forget it, take it as I haven¡¯t said anything. I swear to you that I¡¯ll never reveal our rtionship. I won¡¯t even tell Ma and Da, okay?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I know you want an answer so I¡¯ll tell you honestly, I... I don¡¯t know either. I, I still feel ashamed of it.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not allowed to feel ashamed. We¡¯ve been together for 20 years and she¡¯s only known you for two. It¡¯s just a fraction of how long we¡¯ve known each other. I¡¯ve already let her be the first wife, so what else does she want? Does she want me to die?¡± Jiang Ruyi wanted to punch her own mouth. Why was she bringing up Shentu Tianyin for no reason?
Xia Lei sighed, and was gloomy as he continued his climb.
What would he do if Shentu Tianyin discovered Jiang Ruyi¡¯s existence?
This was a simple question but there was never going to be an answer or a solution to it.
Nothing in this world was permanent or perfect. Even diamond had impurities and the dazzling light had dark spots. How could the love between him and Shentu Tianyin be forever perfect?
¡®A lifespan is just a short time of some decades. What meaning would there be in life if we lived all ording to the rules? I am already married to Shentu Tianyin, and I should be loyal to our love and our marriage, that¡¯s correct, but... Jiang Ruyi has waited for me for over 20 years. If I let her down, it¡¯ll weigh on my conscience. It¡¯s cruel to her too. Never mind, I¡¯ll just leave it be. I¡¯ll leave it all up to the Heavens to decide,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Xia Lei rxed after thinking it through like this.
The top of the rock was like a °¼ with the left side chopped off. There was an indentation on the bottom too, which allowed for him and Jiang Ruyi to hide inside. It was a natural fort.
Up on the rock, Xia Lei set Jiang Ruyi down.
Jiang Ruyi looked nervously at Xia Lei, worried that he was still mulling over the careless words she¡¯d said earlier.
Xia Lei patted her lightly on her shoulder and said with a smile, ¡°Here¡¯s what I think: let it be. It¡¯s good as long as we¡¯re happy. What do you think?¡±
Jiang Ruyi felt like a rock had been lifted off her and a small smile appeared in the corners of her mouth. ¡°Mm, I¡¯ll listen to whatever you say.¡±
¡°Lie down. Don¡¯t poke your head out. I¡¯ll go down and get the equipment,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyiy down in the indentation in the rock and looked up at Xia Lei. ¡°Be careful. Come back up quickly.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help looking at her ass. He¡¯d lent her his underwear but her buttocks were too plump and the triangle of cloth was not enough to cover all of her buttocks. It looked like she was wearing a T-back. Full, round, pale buttocks, firm and bouncy. Add the shape of the ¡®T-back¡¯ and it was a nosebleed-inducing sight indeed.
Jiang Ruyi looked back at her own buttocks and her face turned red. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say we were tight on time?¡±
Xia Lei looked away and climbed down. He brought all the equipment to the top of the rock. He made the trip in three minutes this time, without the weight of Jiang Ruyi, and his quick and nimble climb down and up was like he was a monkey. Jiang Ruyi was astounded.
Xia Lei handed Jiang Ruyi a bulletproof vest he had taken from a corpse. ¡°Put it on.¡±
Jiang Ruyi quickly put it on obediently but her breasts were too big and they spilled out of the vest.
Xia Lei was at a loss for words. ¡°What did you eat growing up? They¡¯re so big.¡±
¡°I gave you a portion of whatever nice food I had. You know well what I ate, don¡¯t you? Making fun of me? Humph.¡± Jiang Ruyi said discontented words but she was happy inside.
Xia Lei did not want to squabble with her. He put on a bulletproof vest too, then took his sniper rifle andy on the side of the indentation in the rock to survey the situation below.
There was still time till daybreak, and this was the darkest time of night. The stars in the sky had disappeared and clouds had covered the sky. Without the starlight, the ind was shrouded in darkness and visibility was low. Xia Lei¡¯s left eye could see only dozens of metres in conditions like these and the gunmen were only dozens of metres away. This was a very advantageous situation for him because his left eye gave him a huge advantage.
Jiang Ruyi held an M16A2 assault rifle with a grenade attachment in her hands and crawled to Xia Lei¡¯s side. She poked the muzzle of the gun over the edge of the rock.
The top of the rock was quite a cramped space and the two of them were pressed together like patties sandwiched in hamburgers - very tightly and snugly.
¡°When are those gunmening here?¡± Jiang Ruyi was a little anxious. ¡°It¡¯s so dark below. I can¡¯t see them.¡±
¡°They have a lot of people so they¡¯ll definitely keep chasing us. This is China so they won¡¯t dare to stay for long. I¡¯m guessing that they will be here soon and exchanging fire with us.¡±
¡°Lei, will you help me take care of my Ma and Da if I die? I know they¡¯ve always wanted you to be their son-inw and seen you as one.¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice carried a tinge of hurt.
¡°You¡¯re not allowed to say things like that. You won¡¯t die,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m saying ¡®what if¡¯.¡±
¡°There is no ¡®what if¡¯,¡± said Xia Lei.
He¡¯d known that this was a trap to kill him but he hade anyway because his motive was to kill Ahn Suhyeong and Ahn Geungan!
¡°I¡¯m just saying it in case.¡± Jiang Ruyi wanted very much to know if Xia Lei would take care of her parents.
Xia Lei swung his hand, and pped Jiang Ruyi with a bit of strength behind his swing.
Pah! A smack rang out from the peak.
Jiang Ruyi shut her mouth.
Just then, the sound of dogs barking came from below.
Chapter 468 - Cold-blooded Killing
Dogs had a far superior sense of smell than humans and they could see quite a distance in the dark, and clearly too. With the scent from the ripped part of the trousers Jiang Ruyi had left behind, the trained dogs were able to quickly trace them to their location.
The dogs were here so the gunmen were definitely close by too.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the sight of the trained dogs dashing over came into his vision. They barked as they ran. Once in a while, they¡¯d stop and sniff about in the air, then follow the smell onward.
A team of gunmen soon entered Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision. The team was following the dogs, and the terrain in the forest was rough but they moved quickly. Xia Lei could tell in a nce that they were selected elite and had a lot ofbat training.
Unfortunately, Xia Lei did not see Ahn Suhyeong and Hyena. He was a little concerned that he could not spot these two. He was nning to draw Ahn Suhyeong and Hyena out, then kill them both. Once these two were dead the gunmen would be like fish on the chopping block. However, with these two people hidden, he would make these two go on the alert if he shot and killed these gunmen and trained dogs.
How was he going to gain the upper hand? It was a difficult decision to make.
While he thought about what to do, the trained dogs and gunmen got closer.
¡°Where are they?¡± Jiang Ruyi was nervous. ¡°I hear dogs barking. Are they here?¡± The hands she had on the gun started trembling.
She was originally a pencil-pushing policewoman. Catching a thief was an appropriate job for her but these were cold-blooded killers, gunmen. Her little bit of skill was not going to be of help.
Xia Lei held her hand gently. ¡°Don¡¯t be scared. I¡¯m here. I won¡¯t let anyone harm you as long as I¡¯m alive.¡±
Jiang Ruyi was awash with gratitude and felt warm all over. What else could make a woman feel cared for and protected when in a life-and-death situation? This made her feel like she had made the right choice in handing her life to the man before her. It was the most fortunate choice for her.
¡°Remember - you just have to keep yourself hidden. Don¡¯t ever stick your head out. They have a sharpshooter. You¡¯ll be killed if you stick your head out,¡± nagged Xia Lei.
¡°But... they have dozens of people. You can¡¯t fight all of them on your own.¡± Jiang Ruyi looked worried.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Wait and see. Oh, and you shoot down there when I need suppressing fire, but don¡¯t ever stick your head out.¡±
¡°Will this work?¡± Jiang Ruyi could not believe that this was all she had to do.
Xia Lei raised his hand.
Jiang Ruyi hurriedly said, ¡°I¡¯ll listen to everything you say. I¡¯ll keep my head down and shoot when you tell me to.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, then turned his gaze to the forest below.
Just then, a dog charged out the forest on the mountain and headed for the rock.
Xia Lei adjusted the muzzle of his XL2500 and squeezed the trigger. A bullet flew from the barrel and through the dog¡¯s skull in two seconds. The dog had not had time to bark before the force of the bullet lifted it from the ground and smashed it back down to slide for quite a few metres before stopping.
The remaining dogs paused for a bit, then continued with their charge. They had had professional training and there was nothing that was going to stop them from carrying out themand their masters had given them.
Jiang Ruyi looked down but she did not see anything. She only saw Xia Lei fire but she did not know what he had shot. After Xia Lei¡¯s second shot, she could not help herself and asked, ¡°What are you shooting at, Lei?¡±
The words had just left her mouth when Xia Lei fired the third shot. The XL2500 with the silencer attached let out a soft sound and the three dogs in the distance fell to the ground, dead.
¡°The enemy¡¯s trained dogs,¡± said Xia Lei. He adjusted his gun again and aimed at thest dog. He fired.
The fourth dog fell to the ground.
Losing their dogs was like losing their seeing-eyes for the gunmen. They had tracked Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi to a radius of 1,000 metres but it hade at a heavy price. That 1,000-metre mark was Xia Lei¡¯s kill zone. He would not let any gunman intrude on this space. This sniping spot was perfect but the enemy could use the grenadeunching function on their M16A2 assault rifles and shoot a grenade at the rock. Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi could still be dead due to the explosion even if it didn¡¯t hit them.
¡°Okay, all dead. Remember, if they bunch up and attack, you shoot when I tell you to shoot. Don¡¯t care if there¡¯s a target or not. Just shoot down below. And don¡¯t ever stick your head out.¡± Xia Lei was afraid Jiang Ruyi would forget and he nagged her again.
¡°Nn.¡± Jiang Ruyi nodded obediently and didn¡¯t forget to tter Xia Lei either. ¡°You¡¯re so awesome. How did I never see that you¡¯re so awesome?¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°You used to only know to bully me. How would you know to look for my good points?¡±
Jiang Ruyi pursed her lips. ¡°I was wrong, okay?¡± She then quickly drew close and kissed Xia Lei¡¯s cheek, then smiled and said, ¡°This is a part of my apology. No, wait, count this as interest. I¡¯ll pay all of it back when we leave here alive.¡±
This was a loaded hint, and one could not help but wonder at her ¡®payment¡¯.
Just then, people appeared in the forest below. Xia Lei quickly counted them all. This team had 12 people. They were dozens of metres away from the dead bodies of the dogs and have not walked out of the edge of the forest yet.
Xia Lei aimed at one of them but did not fire. He said softly, ¡°They¡¯re here. Remember what I said.¡±
Jiang Ruyi grew nervous and she looked cautiously down but was unable to see anything. It would be difficult to see anything at 1,000 metres in daytime, let alone in the dark of night.
The gunmen were in the same boat as Jiang Ruyi when it came to visibility. They were unaware that they had be targets in Xia Lei¡¯s sights. It would be as easy as pie for Xia Lei to pick off anyone he liked right then and there.
¡®Shit, why isn¡¯t that bastard Ahn Suhyeong showing himself? It¡¯s not going to be easy for me to kill him if he hides himself away behind the teams,¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He kept looking in the forest but Ahn Suhyeong was too crafty to appear there.
Ahn Suhyeong did not appear but gunmen did - on both sides of the peak. Even Jiang Ruyi was able to spot them this time because they were holding torchlights in their hands, sweeping the forest as they went and being visible from far off.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡®The teams on both sides have torchlights but the one in the middle has none. The enemy must not want me to discover the team in the middle. They are sly and careful, huh. They want to kill me but they don¡¯t want to be my target.¡¯
Sure enough, Ahn Suhyeong appeared in the forest in the middle just as Xia Lei reached this conclusion. Xia Lei felt like Ahn Suhyeong had overdone it when he saw him. Ahn Suhyeong was in thick protective clothing and the armour he had on was no ordinary bulletproof clothing - it was advanced armour-like protective gear made of carbon fibre. This gear covered him from head to toe and not one inch of skin was left uncovered. He also had a bulletproof shield in his hand on top of all that gear he had on.
Even a bullet from the XL2500 can¡¯t finish him off with all that equipped.
Fortunately, something like this could not be mass-produced or every gunman on this ind would be wearing it. There would be no need for a gunfight then, and Xia Lei would have despaired of leaving the ind with Jiang Ruyi long ago.
A shout suddenly came from the forest on the right. ¡°Xia Lei, I am Ahn Suhyeong. I know you¡¯re up there. I¡¯ve brought what you want, and information on Gu Kewen. Show yourself! Let¡¯s make the exchange!¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was obviously in the middle but there was someone on the right iming to be him - the voice was exactly the same too.
Xia Lei looked over and saw a gunman walking quietly towards the peak with a loudspeaker in his hand. As he walked, he pressed a button to y a pre-recorded message in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice.
A sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth and he thought, ¡®He wants to kill me but doesn¡¯t want to take the risk. He¡¯s getting his underling to make me show myself. Ahn Suhyeong, Ahn Suhyeong, whatever you do is useless. You¡¯ll die on this ind if I want to kill you.¡¯
Pew! A soft sound came from the XL2500. A gunman who had gotten close to the body of one of the dogs fell to the ground. A fist-sized cavity appeared in the forehead of the man and blood and brain matter spurted from his head. He died horribly.
¡°He¡¯s here!¡± A gunman discovered hisrade¡¯s body and sounded the rm.
Pew! A bullet went through that man¡¯s open mouth and hole bigger than a fist appeared in the back of his head!
Bang bang bang! The gunmen in the middle were the first to fire up at the peak. Unfortunately, the M16A2 assault rifles they were armed with had an effective shooting range of only 600 metres and bullets which went beyond that range just flew wildly without hitting the target. Some bullets still hit the peak where Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi were hiding, throwing up sparks.
This was why Xia Lei did not let them cross the 1,000-metre mark. It wasn¡¯t just grenades which could pose a threat to Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi - stray bullets were threats too. Who could guarantee where the bullets wouldnd? One would have his brains sted out if he were unlucky.
Xia Lei was calm andposed but Jiang Ruyi was panicky. She¡¯d never experienced battle like this in all her life. When the gunfire intensified, she held her head with her arms and shook all over.
Xia Lei could understand how she felt. He had hidden behind the rock in his first battle against the American Special Forces and CIA in Afghanistan, not daring to move and nervous as heck. His first time was like that, so it must be worse for Jiang Ruyi, a woman who screamed at the sight of cockroaches.
There was no way he couldfort her now. He swiftly found targets in the forest and death was delivered to whomever he had his left eye on in the space of one second!
Chapter 469 - Cold Wind Cold Rain
The battle raged but it was an unbnced battle. Bullets came constantly from the peak, killing the gunmen at the edge of the forest. Too bad those gunmen could not see who was shooting at them. They were sure that Xia Lei was using a sniper rifle but they were unable to fight back with the assault rifles they were equipped with. They had the numbers but they were at the disadvantage.
Another gunman who¡¯d charged out of the forest was killed. The battle had raged for ten minutes and anyone who came out of the forest was killed. The border between forest and mountain peak became a sort of kill-zone. The realm of humans in the forest, and the realm of hell on the peak, with Xia Lei as the judge of death and the XL2500 as his gavel.
The gunmen were scared by this. They knew Xia Lei was at the peak but they were afraid to charge at him. They hid behind tree trunks and shot blindly upwards. The sound of their gunshots were frightening but totally useless. This was not because they had poorbat skills but because no one could win in a shooting battle against an enemy you couldn¡¯t see.
Fifteen corpses littered the edge of the forest. Men from every direction had been killed, and each man was killed the same way - a headshot. This gunmanship was terrifying!
Ahn Suhyeong grew difited upon receiving news over the walkie-talkie. He¡¯d brought over thirty gunmen and Xia Lei had wiped out about half of them in one exchange. They¡¯ve only been battling for ten minutes - what was going to happen if thing battle dragged on for longer?
¡°Retreat!¡± Ahn Suhyeong issued themand. ¡°Get out of the forest. We attack again when it¡¯s light.¡±
The gunmen hiding in the forest gave a collective sigh and retreated quickly after hearing Ahn Suhyeong¡¯smand. However, Ahn Suhyeong did not let them retreat far; he gathered them all about 50 metres away. It was just 50 metres but the forest was thick and Xia Lei¡¯s sniper rifle bullet was unable to prate this thick forest and kill people.
¡°Mr Hyena?¡± Ahn Suhyeong spoke into the walkie-talkie with a group of gunmen around him for protection. ¡°What¡¯s going on with you? You took my money so you should kill that punk. Over ten people are dead on my side and you haven¡¯t moved a muscle on your end. Did I pay you to sight-see?¡±
There was no response from over the walkie-talkie.
¡°Hello? Say something, Mr Hyena!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was mad.
There was still no response from over the walkie-talkie.
¡°Fuck!¡± Ahn Suhyeong raised the walkie-talkie high, but did not dash it to the ground.
¡°Did that guy lie to us?¡± said a Korean gunman.
¡°Yeah, he¡¯s probably a scammer,¡± agreed someone, ¡°We¡¯re in battle and he¡¯s hidden himself somewhere. Shit, where did Mr Hoffman get this guy? He¡¯s an excellent killer? Fuck, I don¡¯t believe it!¡±
ng! There was suddenly a sound of metal being cracked open.
The gunman who¡¯d cursed paused, then subconsciously touched his head and felt a hole in his helmet.
The person who had fired was not aiming at life but to destroy his protective gear.
The person who¡¯d fired didn¡¯t want to kill him, just shatter his head gear.
The group of gunmen grew nervous. They looked about and the guns in their hands were ready; they would shoot at any time.
Hyena¡¯s voice came from a corner of darkness. He said in English, ¡°I¡¯ll kill anyone who disrespects me.¡±
Hyena¡¯s voice was ice-cold. This was his warning.
The Korean gunman who¡¯d had his helmet ruined snapped back to his senses. He lowered his head to see that he had wet himself.
The temperature in this area of forest seemed have decreased by a few degrees at Hyena¡¯s appearance. He walked leisurely over, ignoring the guns in the hands of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s men. This attitude of his seemed to say that he could send these men to hell at any moment he chose.
Ahn Suhyeong held his anger in check and said, ¡°Mr Hyena, please forgive their rudeness. But you must know that we¡¯ve already lost more than ten people on our side. That punk has us stopped at the peak. Why haven¡¯t you made your move?¡±
Hyena spoke softly, ¡°I¡¯ve already gone up to that peak in the middle before you started exchanging fire with Xia Lei. He¡¯s hiding behind rock. I have no chance at shooting at him so I came here. I told you that he is a very crafty, very powerful enemy. Starting a battle like this? You didn¡¯t bring enough men for him to kill.¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t you answer me earlier?¡±
¡°He killed Hoffman, and the people you sent. He has a walkie-talkie with him so he can hear everything you say over it. Commanding your men to attack over the walkie-talkie is like telling him to get ready to shoot.¡±
¡°Shit!¡± Ahn Suhyeong let out a shout of anger.
After a bit of silence, Hyena said, ¡°Mr Ahn, after this exchange with Xia Lei, it seems like...¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡± asked Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°It seems like it¡¯s not you who wants to kill him but he who wants to kill you.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong was rooted to the spot.
Hyena went on to say, ¡°He¡¯s clever. There¡¯s no way he couldn¡¯t see that this was a trap to kill him but he still came, and with a sniper rifle too. When he got to the ind, he killed Hoffman and your men before you even turned up. Mr Ahn, I don¡¯t know what grudge you have against him but what I¡¯m trying to tell you is that you have made an enemy of a man like this. He will be your nightmare if you¡¯re unable to kill him now.¡±
¡°Nonsense. I¡¯m here to kill him,¡± said Ahn Suhyeong frostily. ¡°Mr Hyena, you are the best killer in the world. You must have some way to kill him. Tell me what I should do.¡±
Hyena looked up at the cloud-filled sky. ¡°It¡¯ll rain soon. The spot Xia Lei picked is perfect but there are no trees there. He and that woman will be exposed to the wind and rain. His body will have to expend a lot of energy to maintain his body temperature. A tired and hungry man with a body half-frozen - hisbat ability will decrease.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong thought for a bit and said, ¡°You mean we should surround this peak and not attack... We wait till he¡¯s dizzy with hunger and frozen with cold, then go up and kill him?¡±
Hyena nodded. ¡°This is a deserted ind and there is no phone signal here either. We don¡¯t have to worry about him or that woman contacting the Chinese police. No water, no food, the wind and the rain. We just need to wait for 30 hours. In 30 hours, or the morning the day after, we attack again. We shall end his life then.¡±
A siege. This was amon tactic in ancient warfare. Xia Lei had taken the most perfect sniping spot on this ind. His one-shot-one-kill made this peak an imprable fort but this fort had no water, no food, and no shelter from the elements. That was why there was no need to attack this fort. Surround it and wait, and it would copse on its own!
Ahn Suhyeongughed. He gave Hyena a thumbs-up. ¡°Mr Hyena, I have to admit that you are fairly experienced.¡±
There was no change in Hyena¡¯s expression at Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s praise. He spoke softly, ¡°Let your men get ready to do battle in this time.¡±
¡°What do you need me to do?¡± asked Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°Attack after 30 hours. Before that, your men need to gatherrge amounts of wood. Dry wood and wet wood. Light it before battle to obscure Xia Lei¡¯s vision. Additionally, get two people to ride in the helicopter to do an aerial assault.¡±
The smile on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s face grew bigger. ¡°As you say, Mr Hyena.¡±
¡°One more thing,¡± said Hyena. ¡°Xia Lei and that woman came on two speedboats. You have to get your men to destroy them or someone will use the tracking devices on those speedboats to find this location when too much time passes with no return.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong looked back at a Korean gunman and said, ¡°What are you standing there for? Get going.¡±
The Korean gunman then ran down the mountain.
Rustle, rustle. The leaves of trees let out a soft whisper and drop after drop of rain fell through the gaps in the tree canopy and down to the ground. The rain was here.
The wind blew too, through the trees on the peak, swaying and wailing. The sea in the distance roiled in the darkness, tossing, turning, rumbling and restless.
On the huge rock at the peak, Xia Lei put down the walkie-talkie in his hand. He did not hear anything. Ahn Suhyeong had obviously changed frequencies.
The wind had only just blown past when rain came right after it, pattering on Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi¡¯s bodies. Their body temperature dropped rapidly.
¡°G, Guh...¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s teeth were chattering and she could not talk straight. ¡°L, Lei, so cold, hrm, why did those guys stop? How long more must we stay here?¡±
Xia Lei stopped surveying the area below and his face was sombre. ¡°I¡¯m guessing at least a day.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°A day? Why so long? Rain¡¯sing down and it¡¯s so cold. We¡¯ll get sick. There¡¯s nothing to eat either. We won¡¯t be able to hold out for long.¡±
¡°Who says?¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°You think I came unprepared?¡±
Jiang Ruyi looked at Xia Lei in confusion. She could not see how Xia Lei had prepared himself.
Xia Lei took out a vacuum-packed something from his jacket and ripped it open. He pulled out a rain-proof poncho from it. This was made of a new type ofposite material and was very thin but blocked out wind nicely. There was even a thinyer of fleece under the poncho to keep a person warm.
Xia Lei opened up the poncho and covered himself and Jiang Ruyi with it. He used his body to cover up the gaps and prevent the wind and rain from getting in. The peak was cold with wind and rain but he and Jiang Ruyi felt like they were in a warm nket. There was also a walls of rock around them which helped to block the wind, so it did not affect them as much.
Jiang Ruyi was heartened. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯d have this prepared. You really think of everything. The problem of rain has been settled but... what about food and drink?¡±
Xia Lei took out some energy bars from his clothing, then took the helmet off Jiang Ruyi¡¯s head and put it on the rock to collect rainwater.
The problem of food and drink was solved.
Would he not be prepared for a battle on a deserted ind with his experience?
He was Bureau 101¡¯s ace after all!
Chapter 470 - Contest Between Hunters
The rain kept falling without end. Dawn camete, about an hour after it usually did. Ayer of mist hung over the forest below the peak and the trees stood in a fog, full of mystery and a certain primitiveness.
Up on the huge rock, Xia Lei watched the forest down below; he was on high alert. The rain and the mist affected his vision. His left eye could see up to 4,000 metres under normal circumstances but he could only see about 1,000 metres now.
A mass of rock sat under the peak, with no vegetation. The wind also dispersed the fog in time, otherwise Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s men could have sneaked close under its cover. Closebat was something he definitely couldn¡¯t take.
Next to him, Jiang Ruyi was still asleep. She had stayed up with him right before dawn, till she could not hold on anymore. The periods of anxiousness and tiredness from climbing the peak had exhausted her body; it was already impressive enough that she had held on.
She slept quietly, with a faint smile on her lips. She seemed to be having a good dream.
Xia Lei looked at the smile on her lips and recalled the night he had spent with Jiang Ruyi.
They shared so many things; uncountable memories. They¡¯d grown up together. She was like a mirror which had grown up with him. He looked at her and saw his past, the bitter, the sweet, the frustrations and the joy.
Shentu Tianyin would never be able to give him this.
Jiang Ruyi was a regr girl and she led a simple life too. She¡¯d gone to school like normal and started working after university like normal. Without his interference, she would likely still be just a little pencil-pusher in the police station now, with a small sry and a normal life. However, it was because she was so normal that she seemed more real, and closer to others.
There were fewer than few women like Shentu Tianyin in this world. She was the queen in the castle, with vast resources and manpower. There were many women like Jiang Ruyi in this world and every guy had this sort of girl-next-door in his life who grew up together with him and argued but they grew into beautiful people because of their rtionship.
Some men would marry girls like these, some men would marry others and meet once in a while, but would still have that feeling of closeness every time they met. Girls like these were a part of a man¡¯s life and no one could erase them.
In that moment, the seeds the young Jiang Ruyi had nted all those years ago as children came out of dormancy and took root in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. Xia Lei used to not have any feelings at all when he looked at Jiang Ruyi but he found her more and more pleasing to the eye now, and was developing some feelings for her.
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth and he thought, ¡®She always squabbles with me but she always gives me some of her tasty sweets when she has them. She always stood on my side when I argued with someone, and helped me whether I was right or not. It must¡¯ve been from that time that... I¡¯ll never be able to shake her off, will I?¡¯
¡°Lei, don¡¯t get married... Don¡¯t get married...¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s dream seemed to have changed and the smile disappeared from her lips. Pain crossed her face.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help stroking her hair and her cheek. ¡°Shush, don¡¯t fuss. Sleep, sleep.¡±
Jiang Ruyi mumbled aint, ¡°Lei, you idiot. You heartless guy. I¡¯ve liked you since I was 13 but you had no clue... You idiot. Idiot...¡±
This dream-speak made Xia Lei nk out in surprise. ¡°Y, You¡¯ve liked me since you were 13? This... Didn¡¯t you mature too quickly?¡±
Girls reached puberty earlier than boys, but boys rarely noticed this.
Jiang Ruyi heard Xia Lei but she responded to the boy in her dream. ¡°Lei, take me. I¡¯ll have your children.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Bam! A loud crash came from under the rock.
Xia Lei hurriedly went to look down.
The forest below the rock was still shrouded in fog and it was difficult to see what was going on among the trees. Xia Lei knew, however, that the person who had fired was in the forest and about 1,000 metres away from him. The enemy was in his shooting range, and he was in the enemy¡¯s shooting range too.
Was it Hyena?
Bam! The rock was hit this time. The force of the bullet was not great enough to move this huge rock but the sparks which were thrown up at impact entered Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision. This meant that the bullet had hit close to where he and Jiang Ruyi were hiding!
Xia Lei looked for Hyena; he turned his X-ray vision on. Unfortunately, the fog in the forest blocked his view. Add the distance and he was unable to find a target. However, he could analyse where Hyena was hiding because of the bullet trail.
Xia Lei put his finger on the trigger of the XL2500, ready to shoot.
¡®Wait, Hyena is shooting now? This means he¡¯s not aiming to kill but aiming to see my reaction and my condition¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He rxed his finger.
The rain kept falling and the wind blew strongly. An experienced killer would definitely use these natural urrences to affect the oue of the battle. Who was Hyena? The king of killers! Would heck this experience?
Just as Xia Lei made this observation, Hyena shot a few more times again. Every shot hit the huge rock on the peak. Xia Lei did not react. Hyena would have no way of knowing his current condition if he did not react. However, if Ahn Suhyeong got any of his men to charge, Xia Lei would kill all who crossed the line he¡¯d drawn!
His condition would only be known when he killed again.
A few minutester, a Russian gunman came walking out of the forest holding a bulletproof shield. He stepped carefully towards the peak.
Xia Lei¡¯s finger hooked around the trigger again but he refrained from shooting the Russian gunman when he saw that no one else had stepped out of the forest.
The Russian gunman crossed Xia Lei¡¯s line and walked past corpses, onwards. He advanced for about 100 metres, then stopped and slowly retreated to the forest.
This was a sort of scout too. If Xia Lei killed this Russian gunman, then Hyena would easily be able to tell what condition Xia Lei was in.
A small sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth when the Russian gunman returned to the forest. ¡®Hyena is a top-tier killer with a terrifying amount of experience. Testing to see what condition I¡¯m revealed his intentions.¡¯ Xia Lei looked up at the sky and the rain falling out of it, then mumbled to himself, ¡°They should be starting the attack tomorrow morning.¡±
People who were too clever would be tricked by their own cleverness. Experience was the same - having too much of it was not a good thing sometimes, and mistakes would arise.
In the forest, Hyena put his sniper rifle away. He could judge roughly where Xia Lei was but he could not see even a strand of Xia Lei¡¯s hair. He was afraid of being exposed in front of Xia Lei, too. He knew how strong Xia Lei was, but once he revealed his goal, he would be Xia Lei¡¯s first target.
He used these two methods to test Xia Lei¡¯s reaction but received none, so he was not entirely sure what to do. After the Russian gunman returned, he tried figuring it out. ¡®Did he really get sick after getting rained on for the whole night? Did he get a fever so bad he can¡¯t fight? Why else would he just let a target go like that?¡¯
Ahn Suhyeong walked over. ¡°Mr Hyena, Xia Lei must be sick from the rain. The temperature during the night was quite cold - even a hardened man would sumb.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°How about we start the attack now? I¡¯ll get my men to charge together and you find an opportunity to kill him in one shot.¡±
This suggestion was tempting.
Hyena thought for a bit, then shook his head. ¡°Xia Lei is not that weak. He must be holding back from firing to lure us out. We should still wait till tomorrow morning. Our people have this peak surrounded so he has no way of escaping. It is too risky to act now and there are no guarantees. We have a better chance in finishing him off if we make our move tomorrow morning.¡±
¡°Fine, we¡¯ll wait another 24 hours. I will have him killed tomorrow morning!¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
Hyena looked up at the misty peak, pondering.
Up on the peak, Xia Lei was looking down at the forest below too and thinking, ¡®If I¡¯m right, they will charge up here tomorrow morning. Would Ahn Suhyeong turn up then? I¡¯ll kill him if he appears!¡±
This was a contest between hunters and only the strongest would leave this deserted ind alive!
Jiang Ruyi was still sleeping soundly and clueless of what had just happened. She felt no danger by Xia Lei¡¯s side; all she sensed as calm and sweetness.
This was probably a ¡®honeymoon¡¯ to her.
Chapter 471 - Night Before the Final Battle
The rain finally stopped when night descended. The rain-drenched ind was wet and cold, especially the at the peak where the chilly wind blew in from the north. It was so cold it seemed to freeze everything. However, the indentation in the rock at the top was warm and cosy.
Two people stuck close together in that cramped space. They had a special raincover and the cold wind was kept out. It was all inky darkness below the peak - no lights and no human activity. Hyena and Ahn Suhyeong were being astonishingly patient, and had made no moves before the nned morning. The quiet below gave one the false impression that Ahn Suhyeong and Hyena had withdrawn and given up on this hunt.
But Xia Lei knew that this was just the calm before the storm.
¡°Lei, I want...¡± Jiang Ruyi spoke haltingly in the warm ¡®nest¡¯.
Xia Lei kept watch on the situation below and asked casually, ¡°Want what?¡±
¡°To tinkle,¡± said Jiang Ruyi with a red face.
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed and he nced at the are to the right of the indentation and said, ¡°Crawl over to the right side to relieve yourself. I¡¯ll cover you. Come back and switch with me when you¡¯re done.¡±
¡°You need to go too?¡±
¡°Uh. Everyone would need to go sometime,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyi giggled. ¡°I need cover even when going to tinkle. How interesting. I¡¯ll go first - no peeking.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t.¡±
Jiang Ruyi pouted. ¡°You peeked when we were in the third year of primary school. And in the sixth year too. Don¡¯t even talk about kindergarten - you looked so many times.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Jiang Ruyi moved carefully out from under the raincover and crawled towards the right. She picked a spot, then unzipped her torn trousers and pulled down the underwear Xia Lei had lent her. A trickling sound came through the cold air and it made one¡¯s head fill with imagination.
Xia Lei was a little affected by his imagination but he did not turn to peek. He kept on the alert and continued surveying the area below.
¡°Ah!¡± Jiang Ruyi suddenly let out a surprised cry, then covered her mouth, cutting her cry off.
¡°What happened?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s first reaction should be turning around but he did not.
¡°Sn, snake!¡± said Jiang Ruyi in a shaky voice.
Xia Lei could not hold still any longer and he looked in Jiang Ruyi¡¯s direction. There was indeed a snake, and it was one with warning colours and a triangr head. All its characteristics indicated that it was a venomous snake. It was right between Jiang Ruyi¡¯s legs, and it could bite her at any time it wished.
Jiang Ruyi was scared to death. Her legs supporting her body were getting weak.
Xia Lei grew nervous.
¡°Wh, What do I do?¡± Jiang Ruyi was close to tears. She was deathly afraid of cockroaches - this snake was more than she could take.
¡°Don¡¯t be scared. Don¡¯t move.¡± Xia Lei crawled out from under the raincover and slowly crawled to her. He reached out a hand to the snake between Jiang Ruyi¡¯s legs.
A venomous snake, a man¡¯s reaching hand, Jiang Ruyi¡¯s legs... this was a scene one could not look at straight on.
The snake did not sense Xia Lei¡¯s hand. It watched Jiang Ruyi warily, locked in motion.
Xia Lei suddenly grabbed the snake and it curled its body towards his wrist. He swung his arm and threw it off the peak.
The danger gone, Jiang Ruyi let out a long breath of relief. However, she let out a soft cry of rm a secondter. ¡°N, No peeking!¡±
¡°What¡¯s the point of this?¡± Xia Lei did his best to seem all business-like. ¡°My turn.¡±
Jiang Ruyi was speechless.
She returned to the raincover to stand guard for Xia Lei but she peeked a secondter. As she watched him relieve himself, she couldn¡¯t help giggling. Her face turned red as she giggled.
Xia Lei shrugged, feeling extremely ufortable. ¡°I can¡¯t go if you¡¯re watching.¡±
Jiang Ruyi let out a small huff. ¡°I don¡¯t care so much that I¡¯d peek.¡±
¡°Then why are you staring?¡±
¡°I...¡± Jiang Ruyi finally turned back, but she looked sneakily back again two secondster.
Xia Lei could not be bothered with her anymore.
Back under the raincover, Xia Lei quickly scanned the area below. The area under the peak and the forest was still quiet and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Darkness shrouded the ce but his left eye saw it as clear as day. He could even see the snake he¡¯d thrown off the peak, slithering down towards the forest.
¡°Lei, do you think they¡¯ll attack tomorrow morning?¡± said Jiang Ruyi in his ear. The warm air of her breath tickled his eardrums.
Xia Lei grew strangely nervous. ¡°Yes. If I¡¯m right, they will make their move tomorrow morning.¡±
¡°Will we die?¡±
¡°No, don¡¯t say things like that. I¡¯ll get you out of here,¡± said Xia Lei. He had the confidence to say things like this because he hade to this ind to kill, not to be killed.
¡°But what if?¡±
¡°There is no what if.¡±
¡°There¡¯s always a what if,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei looked at her in exasperation. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
Jiang Ruyi held him suddenly, seemingly unable to hold her emotions back. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die. If something happens, I want... I want to be your woman before I die. Lei, you t,take me now.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned.
Before Xia Lei could respond, Jiang Ruyi drew close and kissed him on the lips. Xia Lei¡¯s first reaction was to not respond, since this was a dangerous environment. However, Jiang Ruyi put her all into it and her passion, and her sexy lips, her everything was seducing him into making a decision.
After a bout of passion, Xia Lei recovered a bit of reason and said in a shaky pant, ¡°Ruyi, we can¡¯t do this. We¡¯re still in a dangerous situation.¡±
Jiang Ruyi was panting too. ¡°You¡¯re on top. Can¡¯t you see what¡¯s below?¡±
Xia Lei was at a loss for words. Jiang Ruyi¡¯s words could also mean a certain position, and he could not find any other reason to refuse anymore. Besides, he didn¡¯t want to refuse any longer now that things had developed to this point.
¡°Lei, I¡¯ve waited more than 20 years for this day. M,Make me yours.¡± Jiang Ruyi hooked her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her.
The night deepened and the wind stopped. However, the raincover was still moving even though the wind had stopped blowing, and it was moving to a rather rhythmic beat.
Jiang Ruyi had nted a seed in Xia Lei¡¯s heart years ago and this seed had finally taken root and flourished after all these years. This was as precious as life itself to Jiang Ruyi, and there was nothing else in the world, only Xia Lei. Her heart was full of Xia Lei and her body was full of Xia Lei. In that moment, she was in bliss - the most blissful bliss.
There were some people who could never be removed from one¡¯s life, so if that was the case, then Xia Lei was going to ept it.
In the forest, Ahn Suhyeong looked carefully up at the huge rock on the peak with binocrs as he said to Hyena, ¡°Mr Hyena, that guy hasn¡¯t made a move in 24 hours. Do you think he¡¯s really fallen sick?¡±
¡°The rain fell for a whole day and he was exposed to it for all that time. I wouldn¡¯t be able to remain healthy either in that situation. I can dare say that he¡¯s sick. He¡¯ll be feverish and unable to fight.¡±
A small smile appeared in the corners of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s lips. ¡°I think so too. It¡¯s cold and it rained the whole day. Even a man with a body of iron would copse. We¡¯ll attack at first light. Kill him and that woman, then leave this bloody ce.¡±
¡°Get your men ready. Pile up the wood well and light them at daybreak. Your helicopter will be used in the fight too. Harass Xia Lei from above.¡±
¡°He¡¯s already not battle-worthy. Why go to this trouble?¡± said Ahn Suhyeong.
¡°A tight n and perfect preparation is how you ensure victory over the enemy. I should go make preparations of my own too. Wait for mymand tomorrow morning, and light the fires and attack.¡±
Ahn Suhyeong nodded.
Hyena withdrew into the forest and quickly disappeared.
After Hyena left, Ahn Suhyeong got his men to move the wood to the edge of the forest, close to the "death line". Some of that wood was dry, some wet. The oil for lighting the wood was readied too and when the time came, they just had to ssh the oil on and light it all up to create thick smoke.
On the beach, the helicopter was ready too. Two gunmen and the helicopter pilot were just waiting for Ahn Suhyeong to give themand to fly up and attack Xia Lei from above.
The enemy had made their preparations. The bow had been drawn and the arrow was set to be let loose.
On the peak was another story.
The battle between Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi was over but the two of them were still pressed close to each other, feeling each other¡¯s closeness and unwilling to part.
Xia Lei had actually seen Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s men stack all that wood up but he did not do anything about it. The sight of the wood let him understand Ahn Suhyeong and Hyena¡¯s n. He didn¡¯t care. The smoke the wood would produce when burnt would affect him but the effect was small. He was on higher ground too, so he would surely be less affected than the gunman who would have to run through all that thick smoke!
He had his silencer on his XL2500 and he could shoot his targets in the smoke. If Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s men were going to scatter about in their charge, then no one would be able to see fallenrades in the thick smoke!
¡°He¡¯s fallen prey to his own cleverness. People really should just keep it simple sometimes,¡± mumbled Xia Lei.
¡°What did you say?¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice was soft and weak, as if she¡¯d just run a marathon.
¡°Nothing,¡± said Xia Lei. He looked at her eyes. That familiarity, that warmth, and thatfort was all suddenly magnified.
Jiang Ruyi grew shy. ¡°H, Haven¡¯t you seen enough?¡±
Xia Leiughed, then suddenly remembered something and grew nervous. ¡°Ruyi, we didn¡¯t use a condom. What do we do if you get pregnant?¡±
This problem wouldn¡¯t exist if they had a shop selling daily necessities on this peak but there was no such thing there.
Jiang Ruyi thought for a bit. ¡°Then I¡¯ll have the baby. I¡¯ll give the child the Jiang surname so Shentu Tianyin won¡¯t know our secret.¡±
Xia Lei let out a silent breath of relief.
¡°Lei, I want more.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 472 - Two Shots To Break The Legs
Dawn approached and the sky whirled with dark and light in coexistence.
The life on the ind had not stirred yet but the humans who¡¯d invaded it were already busy with activity. Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s men lit the piles of wood with the help of oil, and the fires quickly started, sending out thick plumes of smoke. The morning breeze soon brought the smoke to the peak. The smoke was thickest at Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®death line¡¯ and one could hardly see the rock or vegetation there.
¡°We may begin.¡± Hyena¡¯s voice came from over the walkie-talkie; it was like it had been bathed in ice.
¡°Roger that.¡± Ahn Suhyeong copied, then shouted, ¡°Charge!¡±
Over 20 gunmen charged towards the peak under the cover of smoke. They split up and moved quickly,ing to Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®death line¡¯ in the blink of an eye.
There were no gunshots and no one was killed. Xia Lei really did seem like he had fallen ill on the peak and lost all hisbat ability. This smooth proceeding gave the gunmen the false impression that Xia Lei might even be dead up there.
Amidst these thoughts, a Russian gunman in the smoke had half his head blown away by a bullet. He died cleanly, without pain, and without anyone discovering his corpse. The thick smoke obscured the vision of his colleagues.
Pew! Another bullet came flying silently over and a Korean gunmen fell. About 20 metres away from him, his Korean colleague continued his forward charge. He had not seen him. Five secondster, that colleague met a simr fate, and half his head was blown away by a bullet.
Xia Lei continued his merciless ughter. The thick smoke affected him somewhat but its effect was pitiably small. It was because the smoke did not obscure his sight in the areas close to him, and it was gathering below the peak, a few metres thick. His left eye could track all of the enemy¡¯s movements and he could pick them off easily.
It was not as rxing for the gunmen in the thick smoke. They thought Xia Lei could not see them because they could not see him. Additionally, it had rained yesterday and they thought Xia Lei was incapacitated by illness.
Whumpa whumpa...
The helicopter lifted off from the beach and climbed towards the peak.
Ahn Suhyeong had wanted the helicopter to scout out the situation yesterday but Hyena had stopped him for fear of alerting the target. Ahn Suhyeong had given up on the idea after some consideration. He was also worried that Xia Lei would see the helicopter and flee before the grand attack because he feared an aerial attack.
Unfortunately for Hyena and Ahn Suhyeong, they were unaware that Xia Lei had already destroyed several helicopters. In all honesty, if Ahn Suhyeong had mobilised his helicopter yesterday, it would have been destroyed yesterday.
Ahn Suhyeong finally emerged from the forest and walked to the peak as the helicopter flew to it. He had presumed that Xia Lei had lost his ability to fight but he was still cautious. He held a bulletproof shield in his hands and he wore that set of special bulletproof armour.
Ahn Suhyeong was entirely suited to be the protagonist in a heroic Hollywood movie in that getup; like Captain America, or Batman or something. He was just so cool. *
Ahn Suhyeong and his men had begun the battle, but Hyena seemed to have disappeared from this battlefield.
Where was he?
No one knew.
Neither did Xia Lei.
The helicopter got up to the peak in seconds.
A Korean gunman surveyed the huge rock with his binocrs as he reported the situation. ¡°Young Master, there is a huge rock on the peak. I don¡¯t see Xia Lei and that woman.¡±
¡°Impossible!¡± Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice came from over the walkie-talkie. He shouted, ¡°Look properly!¡±
¡°Wait, that¡¯s...¡± He was cut off. A bullet hade from the peak and shattered the binocrs. It went straight into his eye.
¡°What happened?¡± Ahn Suhyeong seemed to have sensed something.
Unfortunately for him, the Korean gunman had already fallen from the helicopter. His body was suspended in the air for seconds before smashing to the ground.
Unfortunately for Ahn Suhyeong and his men, they did not discover this because they were ensnared in the thick smoke.
The other gunman on the helicopter did discover this and he screamed into the walkie-talkie, ¡°He¡¯s on that rock! He¡¯s camouged!¡±
It was actually not camouge but Xia Lei¡¯s special raincover. It was in a camouge print and matched the colour of the rock very well.
The gunman¡¯s report ended there. A bullet came flying over immediately, through the windscreen of the helicopter, and into the pilot¡¯s brain. The out-of-control helicopter went past the peak and down in the forest on the other side.
Ahn Suhyeong knew something was going on then. The remaining gunman on the helicopter cried for help over the walkie-talkie in terror, and there was a great explosion from the other side of the peak.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s heart grew cold with fear, and that cold spread from his heart to every nerve in his body. ording to his n, the helicopter was to harass Xia Lei from the air. It had notsted beyond a minute.
What did this prove?
Xia Lei was still alive and not sick at all!
Ahn Suhyeong was unable to take a step further in that thick smoke. He lusted for the scene where Xia Lei would be killed, and wanted to be the one to shoot him, to tear him apart. However, this situation before him waspletely different from what he had imagined. He stood frozen for a few seconds, then turned and ran back, towards the forest.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s n had changed now. It was best if his men and Hyena were able to kill Xia Lei. If not, he would still have time to escape and leave this ce quickly!
¡°Running?¡± Up on the peak, a faint sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He squeezed the trigger.
The XL2500 shook, and the bullet left the barrel. It covered 1,000 metres in a second and struck Ahn Suhyeong viciously in the bend of his right leg.
Ahn Suhyeong thumped to the ground.
He was dressed in very advanced armour but Xia Lei had chosen to shoot him in the bend of his leg, which was one of the weakest points in his armour. It was simple - there was no way the manufacturer could make areas like the bends of knees as hard as the breastte. Too rigid and the suit will lose its maneuverability.
Xia Lei had observed well and chosen the spot to attack well. The joints of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s suit was not carbon fibre like the rest of the suit but a special connecting material. It was very tough and flexible and provided great flexibility in the joints but it was not bulletproof.
¡°Argh!¡± Ahn Suhyeong cried out after he hit the ground. The pain which washed over him nearly made him faint. He struggled to crawl to his feet but to his horror, he discovered in the next second that his right left had been torn away. The leg below his knee would have fallen to the ground if it had not been for the armour encasing his leg!
Blood streamed from the wound but Ahn Suhyeong was left with no chance to stem it. He crawled on his hands. Thoughts of killing Xia Lei off were gone from his mind now. He was consumed by one thought - leaving this ind alive!
¡°Toote.¡± Xia Lei adjusted his gun and another bullet flew from the XL2500 sniper rifle in the next second. It tore the bend of Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s left leg apart.
Ahn Suhyeong fainted from having both his legs broken in this way.
Bang! A bullet grazed past Xia Lei¡¯s head and hit the ¡®rock wall¡¯ on the right. A chunk of rock broke off from the rock and a shard pierced Xia Lei¡¯s cheek. The cut burned.
Xia Lei moved his head back. A bullet struck again right after he moved, hitting the ¡®rock wall¡¯.
Hyena was finally making his move.
The shot shots Hyena had made hade from the left side of the forest.
The first shot was a test. He needed to gauge the effect of wind speed on the bullet, and that shot had nearly hit Xia Lei.
Xia Lei would have been hit by Hyena¡¯s second shot if he hadn¡¯t moved!
Hyena needed just one shot to get all the information he needed to control the situation. His experience and strength had reached terrifying levels!
Xia Lei snatched up the helmet he had set aside to collect rainwater, and moved slowly to the edge of the rock.
The helmet had just been stuck out a little when it was hit by an armour-piercing bullet and smashed to smithereens!
Hyena had locked-on to this ce, and he was not giving Xia Lei any chances to shoot down at the gunmen below!
The gunmen had gotten to the 300-metre range down below. Assault rifle sts hit the rock like rain, and it sounded like a drumroll to death.
They could not be allowed to advance further. If they got close, they would start throwing grenades. Xia Lei would die from the shrapnel even if he did not die from the st.
¡°Ruyi! Suppression fire!¡± shouted Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyi held her arms around her head still. Her face was ashen and she shook all over. Her mind was a nk now and she was not able to fight at all.
Xia Lei snatched the M16A2 with the grenadeuncher attachment from her hands. He raised theuncher and released a grenade into the sky. The grenade fell down, down and exploded in the blink of an eye.
Boom! A Korean gunman was sted by the shrapnel.
¡°Ruyi! Get hold of yourself! See that? Use the grenadeuncher like I did just now. I need your help!¡± Xia Lei grabbed Jiang Ruyi¡¯s shoulder and shook her.
Jiang Ruyi snapped back to her senses and nodded, hard.
Xia Lei loaded a grenade on theuncher and handed the M16A2 assault rifle to Jiang Ruyi.
She copied what Xia Lei did and let loose a grenade into the air.
Boom! Another explosion came from down below. She had not calcted the angle. This grenade had not killed anyone but it had scared some gunmen into slowing down.
Xia Lei had no time to teach her how to use the weapon. He grabbed his XL2500 sniper rifle and searched cautiously at the edge of the rock for his target. Jiang Ruyi was going to gain some time for him, and he was going to use this time to kill Hyena!
Chapter 473 - Goodbye, Ahn Suhyeong!
In the forest, on a tree which several men could encircle.
¡°You¡¯re dead.¡± A cruel smile appeared in the corners of Hyena¡¯s mouth. He looked through the scope and locked-on to the rock at the peak.
His Barrett sniper rifle had been modified. Even his scope had been custom-made to allow him to spot targets 3,000 metres away. The distance between himself and Xia Lei was under 2,000 metres so he could see Xia Lei poking his gun barrel out from the rock.
Hyena could see Xia Lei¡¯s gun but the king of killers was still unable to use his Barrett sniper rifle to shoot Xia Lei¡¯s gun muzzle, and at a distance of 2,000 metres too.
¡°You¡¯ve found my location? I let you.¡± The cruel smile deepened in Hyena¡¯s face. He ced his finger gently on the trigger, waiting for Xia Lei to show his head. He was going to show him to way to hell.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s gunmen were also helping to give Hyena this chance. Xia Lei did not dare let the gunmen get close. Xia Lei had no time to wait, but he did. In a fight between elite snipers like this, it was not a contest of gunmanship or experience - it was patience! Xia Lei had no chance to be patient.
The scales of victory dipped in Hyena¡¯s favour.
Up on the huge rock, the XL2500 sniper rifle poked out from the rock, then stopped. The muzzle was pointed towards the sea. However, it did not stay level - its muzzle moved at a speed slower than the eye could discern.
¡¯What is he nning? A blind shoot?¡¯ Hyena raised his eyebrows, disbelieving. ¡¯Impossible. We are 2,000 metres apart. How could he shoot blindly at me from this distance? Is he trying to lure me into shooting, then shoot at me after I take my shot? That must be it. I won¡¯t fall for that unless he shows his head.¡¯
Xia Lei did not show his head at all, but the gun was pointed and aimed at Hyena¡¯s location. It was a straight line from the muzzle of the gun to Hyena!
Unfortunately for Hyena, he was unable to use his scope to see details at that distance. It was just a small, blurry thing in his scope and he relied on his experience to tell him that it was Xia Lei¡¯s sniper rifle. He could not sense that the gun was already pointed at him.
¡¯Still not showing your head? This guy sure is patient. Too bad he¡¯s out of time.¡¯ Hyena kept waiting for Xia Lei to show his head and give him the chance to shoot.
A leaf next to him suddenly moved, then fluttered from the tree.
A soft fluttering did not escape Hyena¡¯s notice and he nced at it out of the corner of his eye. He saw a white mark on the branch - a bullet had grazed past and scraped the surface of the bark!
Hyena was stunned. He stiffened.
And in this breath of time, a bullet came flying through the air. It shattered the scope of the Barrett. The bullet had entered Hyena¡¯s head through his right eye before the scope was totally broken apart, and it made a fist-sized crater in his head.
All thought processes stopped in this second, and Hyena toppled from the tree canopy.
Till his death, he¡¯d believed that he had Xia Lei in his sights and under pressure, and that he would be able to kill Xia Lei, given time.
Too bad - this bullet was a full-stop to the like of the killer Hyena.
If there really was a hell, then Hyena would be there right now wondering how Xia Lei killed him.
Up on the rock, a smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He had killed Hyena quite simply - he used his X-ray vision to see Hyena through the rock and shot him without showing his own head. It was far, and the wind had affected his shooting so the first shot had not hit Hyena. But his left eye had caught the marks the first bullet had made and he¡¯d re-adjusted, way faster than Hyena could ever do!
Hyena had died in the second shot.
No one on Earth couldpare with Xia Lei when it came to sniping.
Xia Lei and the XL2500 was an unbeatablebination and Hyena would not have epted this job if he had known.
¡°Oh no!¡± cried Jiang Ruyi nervously, ¡°I¡¯m out of grenades! What do we do, Lei?¡±
¡°Just lie t. I¡¯ll do the rest.¡± Xia Lei pressed her down.
There was no need to be so cautious now.
Xia Lei popped his head out from the rock. He aimed, fired, aimed, fired. A man fell at every shot and each and every one of them died from a messy head shot.
All the men Ahn Suhyeong had broughty on the ground in a scant few minutes.
The smoke on the battleground thinned gradually; the wood was almost all burnt out.
Jiang Ruyi paused at the ceasefire, then said in surprise, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Did they retreat?¡±
¡°Seems like it,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°You stay here. I¡¯ll go down and take a look. Remember - don¡¯t stick your head out.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t let you go alone,¡± said Jiang Ruyi worriedly.
Xia Lei gave her a re. ¡°Listen to me and we¡¯ll live. Disobey and we may die here. Think of your Ma and Da, and of the good days toe. Remember - don¡¯t stick your head out.¡±
This seemed to persuade Jiang Ruyi and she hid under the raincover. She did think of her parents and the future she¡¯d have. She was his mistress and could not be brought out openly but for someone like her who loved Xia Lei deeply, she was the happiest if she could be with him. She had done it after much difficulty, so why wouldn¡¯t she treasure it?
Xia Lei got to the battlefield and soon found Ahn Suhyeong of the two broken legs.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s wounds were still bleeding and there was a big pool of blood around him.
Xia Lei squatted next to him and hit Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s Renzhong acupressure point.
Ahn Suhyeong was brought back to consciousness but he felt pain no longer. He looked at Xia Lei and terror infused his every fibre. ¡°Y, You... can¡¯t kill me.¡±
Xia Lei spoke tly, ¡°I didn¡¯t say I was going to kill you. You¡¯re a big man in South Korea. I wouldn¡¯t dare kill you.¡±
These words seemed like apliment but it stung like a barb to Ahn Suhyeong. ¡°S,Save me. I¡¯ll give you anything you want.¡±
¡°I can help you stop the bleeding. I can also treat your wounds. I know first-aid and I¡¯m none too shabby at doctoring. You can definitely live if I help you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then what are you waiting for? Stop my bleeding!¡± Ahn Suhyeong was anxious.
Xia Lei was cool as a cucumber. ¡°I can do that, but you have to tell me where Gu Kewen is.¡±
¡°Japan. In Tokyo. She sold me the stuff, and I gave her a load of money. She went to Japan.¡±
¡°What part of Tokyo in Japan?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, I really don¡¯t. I have to reason to lie to you.¡± Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s voice was pleading.
¡°Where¡¯s the stuff?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s on me. It¡¯s a USB sh drive. There¡¯s evidence of Shentu Tianyin amassing government-owned assets on there. She will be in big trouble if thises to light. Save me and I¡¯ll give it to you.¡±
Xia Lei loosened the armour on Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s body and found the USB in his clothing. He put the USB sh drive away, then stood.
¡°You... You lied?¡± Realisation dawned on Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t get anxious - I won¡¯t lie to you. I¡¯ll go back to Haizhu right now and call for an ambnce for you. There¡¯s no phone signal here on this ind, you know? I can¡¯t make the call for you now. Tsk, tsk, you. Of all the ces to pick, you picked one with no phone signal.¡±
¡°Die!!¡± screamed Ahn Suhyeong angrily.
¡°You kidding me? You¡¯re in that state and you¡¯re telling me to die?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Ahn Suhyeong was so angry he could not speak.
Xia Lei spoke emotionlessly. ¡°Let me tell you what¡¯ll happen, Ahn Suhyeong. You will die from blood loss. This process will be slow and painful. Your father will be in more pain though. I n to give what I have to the South Korean media and your father¡¯s political enemies. Everything your father¡¯s done will be exposed. He will lose everything, and spend the rest of his life in prison.¡±
¡°No, no...¡± Ahn Suhyeong started crying brokenly. ¡°Xia Lei! Mr Xia Lei, I¡¯ll admit my wrongs to you. I¡¯ll give you all my wealth. Please save me! I don¡¯t want to die, I don¡¯t want to die!¡±
Xia Lei shook his head and turned to leave.
¡°Mr Xia, I beg you. Whuuh...¡± Ahn Suhyeong kept crying. His voice was full of despair and regret, as well as terror.
Xia Lei did not look back. He had no kindness for his enemies. Ahn Suhyeong had brought dozens of gunmen to the ind and hired a top-tier killer to murder him. He would have been killed by Ahn Suhyeong long ago if he were not capable of defending himself. If he were the one on the ground pleading for his life, Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s response would probably be to shoot him one more time.
The smoke cleared, revealing all the corpses littering the ground.
Xia Lei swept his gaze over the bodies and thought, ¡®Should I report this to Bureau 101? If I do, they might investigate and dig out information on the assets Gu Kewen and Tianyin acquired. Better to forget it. I¡¯ll clean up the bodies and persuade Ruyi to keep it secret. This can be hidden.¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s first choice would be to report this to Bureau 101 if it would not uncover evidence which was threatening to Shentu Tianyin. However, this involved her so he had to take the risk of hiding this from Bureau 101.
Xia Lei then dragged corpse after corpse into the forest and threw each and every one of them into a naturally-made trench.
Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s corpse was thest to get thrown in.
Xia Lei threw a grenade he¡¯d taken from a gunman¡¯s corpse into the trench.
Boom! There was an explosion and a dirt wall by the trench copsed due to the force of the explosion. It buried all the bodies.
¡°Goodbye, Ahn Suhyeong,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chapter 474 - Ruyi’s Ma
Jiang Ruyi came down from the rock but what she saw was a cleaned-up battleground. There were no bodies, no weapons. This made all that she¡¯d experienced seem surreal, like a dream.
She was not the sort of woman to be smart but she was not stupid either. She knew that Xia Lei had cleaned up, and she tried to guess at Xia Lei¡¯s motives. She was also worried but she did not voice her thoughts and worries.
¡°Ruyi.¡± Xia Lei broke the silence between them. ¡°I¡¯d like you to...¡±
He did not continue. Jiang Ruyi leaned her arm on Xia Lei and said in mild annoyance, ¡°Lei, look at our rtionship. I¡¯m your woman. Say what you want to say, no need to hold back.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Ruyi, this is a unique case. I¡¯d like you to keep this a secret for me. Don¡¯t mention it to anyone. I know you¡¯re a police chief and this will put you in a tough spot, but I...¡±
Jiang Ruyi cut him off. ¡°This police chief will help you. Didn¡¯t I tell you that I¡¯m your woman? What this about a tough spot? If you tell me not to talk about it, I won¡¯t talk about it. I won¡¯t tell anyone. Will this do?¡±
A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Yep, so that¡¯s agreed, then. Thank you, Ruyi.¡±
Jiang Ruyi suddenly pped Xia Lei on the ass. ¡°You¡¯re thanking me? You¡¯re thanking me!¡± She raised her hand to hit him again but he escaped.
They started a game of catch in the forest.
They ran and they ran and finally rolled together on a patch of grass.
The great outdoors was as pretty as a picture but thebining of two into one was the most beautiful of all.
After a life-and-death battle, now was the time to rx and enjoy life.
Before they left the ind, Xia Lei destroyed the speedboats, leaving just one for them to return to Haizhu. Back in Haizhu, Xia Lei destroyed thest speedboat too. They got ashore and he said to Jiang Ruyi, ¡°Ruyi, tell the Special Forces training base that you lost the speedboats. Pay them back and don¡¯t say anything more.¡±
Jiang Ruyi agreed right away. ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll do as you say.¡±
Jiang Ruyi had been at loggerheads with Xia Lei since they were children but she seemed like a whole other person now that she¡¯d be Xia Lei¡¯s woman. She was not opinionated, was obedient, gentle, and listened to Xia Lei. Thinking back, all their past squabbles were just ways to draw Xia Lei¡¯s attention to her.
There were quite a few women who liked Xia Lei but the one who loved him most deeply was her.
It was evening when they returned to their neighbourhood after settling their matters. Xia Lei went to Jiang Ruyi¡¯s ce, and Jiang Shuqing and Yang Lan were both there. Jiang Ruyi had called ahead and Yang Lan had prepared dishes. She was just waiting for Xia Lei toe to start serving the food.
Jiang Shuqing had had surgery not long ago and didn¡¯t dare drink. He did, however, personally pour some alcohol for Xia Lei.
¡°Da, don¡¯t give Lei too much to drink. It¡¯s not good for the body.¡±
Jiang Shuqing was a little miffed. ¡°It¡¯s not every day that Leies to our ce for a meal. You¡¯re not pouring any alcohol for him - why nag me about pouring for him?¡±
¡°Da, I¡¯ll be really angry at you if you make him drunk.¡± Jiang Ruyi pouted adorably.
Yang Lan paused, then nced at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eye. She seemed to sense something and she asked tentatively, ¡°Lei, I heard you¡¯re engaged to Shentu Tianyin, right?¡±
Xia Lei was a little awkward. ¡°Uh, yes.¡±
Yang Lan let out a soft sigh. ¡°Aunt Yang is happy for you. I¡¯ve heard of that woman. She¡¯s the wealthiest woman in China - she is the one who¡¯s a good match for you.¡±
¡®She is the one¡¯ seemed to be the key words of her sentence. She seemed to be saying that her daughter was not good enough for him; her words had a tinge of sourness to them.
It was unavoidable for her to feel this way. She¡¯d watched Xia Lei grow up with her daughter and she already saw him as part of her family. However, Xia Lei was with Shentu Tianyin now, and she could not be entirely happy for him.
¡°Auntie, I¡¯m not with Tianyin for her money. We signed an agreement. Our assets are separate, and we are minding our ownpanies,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Is that how it is? Was she the one who brought it up? Is she worried that you¡¯re after her money?¡± said Yang Lan.
Xia Lei¡¯s first response was to speak up for Shentu Tianyin because he had been the one to bring up the topic of an agreement, and it had nothing to do with her. Then he had the thought that Auntie Yang was saying this because she was upset as Shentu Tianyin taking her daughter¡¯s spot and that it was on purpose. There was no use exining things in that case, and it would be better to just listen.
Sure enough, Yang Lan went on to criticize Shentu Tianyin, on and on. Xia Lei just listened and nodded once in a while, as if he were absorbing it all.
Jiang Ruyi, on the other hand, was not happy to hear this gossip. ¡°Ma, don¡¯t say that. She¡¯s living in a different world from us; not the same as usmon folk.¡±
Yang Lan gave her a re. She did not say anything but she thought, ¡®You airheaded girl. Your Ma is helping you make her look bad and you¡¯re chiding me? You¡¯re as dumb as your father.¡¯
Jiang Ruyi met her mother¡¯s eyes, looking like she would defend Xia Lei to the death.
After the meal, Xia Lei and Jiang Shuqing had some tea and chatted. Xia Lei then got up and bid them goodbye.
¡°I¡¯ll send Lei home.¡± Jiang Ruyi followed Xia Lei out the door and went to his ce.
Yang Lan and Jiang Shuqing thought she would be back soon but they did not see hering back after dozens of minutes.
¡°What¡¯s going on, Dear?¡± Yang Lan asked suspiciously.
Jiang Shuqing was confused. ¡°What do you mean ¡®what¡¯s going on¡¯?¡±
¡°Lei¡¯s ce is on the second floor. Why hasn¡¯t Ruyie back yet? It¡¯s been almost 20 minutes,¡± said Yang Lam.
¡°Why bother so much about it? That kid Ruyi¡¯s liked Lei since she was a girl. What¡¯s so bad about them chatting for a while? Stop poking your nose into it. She¡¯s a grown girl, she knows what to do,¡± said Jiang Shuqing.
Yang Lan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You sure are taking it easy. Lei¡¯s a good one, and we¡¯ve watched him grow up. Ruyi¡¯s liked him for a long time too. Great, now he¡¯s with another woman. Our Ruyi must be so heartbroken. I feel bad for her, and you? Good for you, you don¡¯t see anything wrong with it.¡±
¡°Lei¡¯s done good for us. Don¡¯t criticise him like that. Him being with another woman¡¯s his life, his fate. I understand your dissatisfaction but there¡¯s no point,¡± said Jiang Shuqing.
¡°Never mind, I¡¯m not going to bother talking about it with you. I¡¯ll go see why Ruyi¡¯s not home yet. I¡¯m worried she¡¯s outside crying.¡± Yang Lan made to go out.
¡°Talk to Ruyi when you find her. She has to bear with it no matter what,¡± said Jiang Shuqing.
Yang Lan red at him again, then went out the door. She went up to the second floor, to Xia Lei¡¯s door and reached out to knock when she heard a voice from inside.
It was Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice. As her mother, Yang Lan could tell right away. Jiang Ruyi sounded like she was in pain, yet in great joy at the same time. There was a lot of jumbled dialogue too - sometimes praising, sometimes begging for mercy.
Yang Lan was a smart woman and she knew what activity elicited these noises. Her face turned red and she clenched her jaw as she grumbled, ¡°You wench! And I was worried you were hiding somewhere to cry too! You¡¯re having an affair with Xia Lei!¡±
The sounds from the t came out in bursts.
It was Xia Lei¡¯s voice now. ¡°Ruyi, would Auntie be mad at me if she finds out?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t care about her. Aaaaah...¡± It was Ruyi¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a son. She wants a grandchild too. Hnnngh.¡±
¡°Shh. Don¡¯t let the neighbours hear.¡± Xia Lei was nervous.
¡°Who¡¯s going to eavesdrop shamelessly outside the door? Hhaaah¡±
Outside the door, Yang Lan was beet-red. She stamped her foot lightly, then said, ¡°You immoral child! You¡¯re doing such a thing with Lei and you still want to give me a grandchild? No way! I¡¯ll wait for you to get home and discipline you!¡±
But Yang Lan smiled after saying that.
If she really were angry she would have kicked the door down. She didn¡¯t, though. She just stood outside and eavesdropped, and she was quite happy about what she heard. She could understand why Jiang Ruyi and Xia Lei had ended up with this sort of rtionship, and she was happy as long as her daughter was in it willingly and was happy. She could ept it.
As for not helping with the child - it was just angry-speak. If Jiang Ruyi really did have a child with Xia Lei, Yang Lan was going to be a proper grandmother.
The sounds from the t were still continuing, and Jiang Ruyi¡¯s words were getting more incoherent. Yang Lan was too embarrassed to listen further and she returned home quietly.
Jiang Ruyi was finally quiet not long after Yang Lan returned home. Shey in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace and enjoyed the after-sexziness and good vibes.
¡°Ruyi, I¡¯m going back to Jingdu tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei softly.
¡°Can¡¯t you stay for a few more days?¡± Jiang Ruyi was sad straightaway.
¡°I want to stay a few more days with you too but I have too much on my te. I need to go back and settle them,¡± said Xia Lei.
The production line n for the Gust assault rifle and the research on the ancient alloy were very important matters, and both needed his personal attention.
¡°Mm, I can¡¯t bear to be apart, but I know you men treat your careers very importantly.¡± Jiang Ruyi then said sadly, ¡°So when are youing back?¡±
¡°Haizhu is my home. I¡¯ll be back often for sure,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyi smiled then. ¡°You need to remember you have a mistress in Haizhu. You¡¯d better not forget me. Come back to be with me sometimes - I only wish for that.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei held her and thought of Shentu Tianyin as he made that promise. Guilt poked at him.
If he chose to be entirely loyal to Shentu Tianyin, then Jiang Ruyi would be inconsbly hurt. He¡¯d epted Jiang Ruyi but betrayed his marriage to Shentu Tianyin. This made him guilty, ill at ease. He was caught between two women and he would hurt either of them no matter what decision he made.
There was no solution.
He was going to let it be.
Chapter 475 - Ahn Geungan’s Apology
Back in Jingdu, Xia Lei was brought to Bureau 101 by Long Bing before he even had time to go to Thunder Horse Military Factory. Ling Han was in Shi Boren¡¯s office too.
They greeted each other, and Shi Boren ced a document envelope on the tea table, then pushed it before Xia Lei.
¡°What¡¯s this?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Open it up and you¡¯ll see,¡± said Shi Boren.
Xia Lei opened the envelope and looked inside. There was a health insurance n, a set of keys and a driver¡¯s licence. The names on all three documents were the same - Katou Takasuke. All the documents had Xia Lei¡¯s picture on them too.
Japan was not a country which had national identity cards, and the health insurance was a sort of proof of identity, as well as a driving licence. Xia Lei understood what Shi Boren meant when he saw these two documents. He was to take on the identity of a Japanese man because he would be going to Japan.
Xia Lei moved his gaze to the keys and saw that they were keys to a Toyota and to an apartment. He was curious, and asked, ¡°Boss Shi, you made a Japanese ID for me... Does this mean that you¡¯ve prepared a car and a ce too?¡±
Shi Boren nodded. ¡°Our intelligence station there made these. Someone on that side will receive you when you get there. The apartment and the car have been prepared, and your identification too.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°I only said that the next treasure location may be Japan. I didn¡¯t confirm it. Aren¡¯t you moving too fast by preparing all of these?¡±
Shi Boren nced at Ling Han.
¡°Mr Xia, the higher-ups are giving the Alloy X Project great importance and would like to keep a close eye on it too. We got Long Bing to bring you here today to talk with you and ask for your opinion. Look, we¡¯ve prepared everything for you - when can you be mobilised?¡± said Ling Han.
The Alloy X Project referred to the ancient alloy.
Xia Lei had just returned to Jingdu and he was being sent to Japan - the higher-ups sure were impatient.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°And if it¡¯s not Japan?¡±
Ling Han chuckled. ¡°We believe in your judgement, Mr Xia. This is why we¡¯ve made prior preparations.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the health insurance certificate and the driver¡¯s licence on the table and smiled wryly. ¡°You¡¯re not going to tell me that you¡¯re sending me off to Japan just like this, are you? I can guarantee that I¡¯ll be invited to drink coffee with the Japanese inspectors and the CIA once I get off the ne if I go just like this.¡±
Ling Han and Shi Boren exchanged nces.
¡°You won¡¯t be acting alone. Our people will receive you on the other side. We have an intelligence station in Tokyo too,¡± said Shi Boren.
¡°There will definitely be a risk but the Alloy X Project is much too important to our nation. This risk has to be taken. The higher-ups were clear - all of your wants will be fulfilled,¡± said Ling Han.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°This trip to Japan will be very dangerous. You need to give me at least a month to prepare. Additionally, you¡¯ll need to let me hold thepass and go around Japan on the ne before I enter Japan. I want to confirm that the next location is in Japan before I enter.¡±
¡°Go one round around Japan?¡± Shi Boren was incredulous. ¡°You¡¯re asking for such a thing, Boy? You think Japan is ours? That we can just fly around where we like? You know that Japan has restrictions - can our nes fly one round around it?¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°A Russian ne can do it. I¡¯ll go to the Four Inds in the north after a month. You guys think of some way to get a Russian fighter ne to take me around Japan.¡±
¡°Are you serious?¡± Shi Boren stared disbelievingly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not kidding.¡±
Shi Boren looked at Ling Han again. This was obviously not something he could decide on.
Ling Han thought for a bit, then said, ¡°Okay. We can fulfil this request. Is there anything else?¡±
Xia Lei slid the health insurance document back to Shi Boren. ¡°I¡¯ll take a few pictures after I go back. You guys use my pictures to make documents. Using my original face for these documents is too risky.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll get Long Bing to get the pictures from you when you¡¯re done,¡± said Shi Boren.
¡°Boss Shi, Mr Ling, is there anything else? I¡¯ll be going back to the factory if nothing else is needed of me,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Han seemed to remember something. ¡°Oh, right, I nearly forgot. The Ministry of Defence will hold a weapons exhibition at the end of the year. This is no regr exhibition. The military will be showcasing several weapons to variouspanies, and conducting analytical andprehensive tests to select and rate the best light weapons.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Select and rate the best light weapons?¡±
¡°This is no simple selection, and there is no winning certificate if the weapon is picked. I¡¯ll give you a personal bit of intel since we¡¯re friends. Our country¡¯s troops need to update their assault rifles. I feel that this is a rare chance for you. If Thunder Horse can beat out Hanwu Weapons and the otherpanies, I dare say your Thunder Horse Military Factory will have great development opportunities.¡±
This was indeed a once in a lifetime opportunity!
Xia Lei held his excitement in check. ¡°Mr Ling, when does this weapons exhibition begin? And where?¡±
¡°It¡¯s in Jingdu, at the year¡¯s end,¡± said Ling Han. ¡°The end of the lunar year. There¡¯s still around 20 days left. You¡¯ll have time to make your preparations.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Thank you, Mr Ling. This is important news for me.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll be an exhibitor at the exhibition but remember - the mission you have is most important,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°I will not make any mistakes in either of these matters. Rest assured.¡± Xia Lei had requested for a month before he went to Japan, not entirely because he needed to make his preparations but because he wanted to rx for a bit and spend some time with Shentu Tianyin.
Ling Han stood and held out a hand to Xia Lei with a smile on his face. ¡°Brother Xia. I await your good news.¡±
Xia Lei grasped Ling Han¡¯s hands in a shake. ¡°I will be sure to do well, Brother Ling.¡±
Ling Han¡¯s term of address for Xia Lei had changed from "friend" to calling his name directly, to "Brother Xia". Xia Lei was not going to refuse a friendship like this, and it was just a matter of course to call him "Brother Ling".
Ling Han had been neither an enemy nor a friend to Xia Lei. He had even had Xia Lei investigated, but he was his friend now.
Xia Lei did not ask Long Bing to take him back after walking out of Bureau 101. He called for a taxi and took it to Bailu Town.
The taxi has just arrived at Bailu Town when Xia Lei received a call.
It was from a local number but he had never seen it before. Xia Lei hesitated, but he epted it. ¡°Hello, who is this?¡±
A familiar voice came over the line. ¡°Let¡¯s meet, Mr Xia.¡±
This was Ahn Geungan¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°It¡¯s you. You want to meet me? Where?¡±
¡°I am in the hotel in the town next to your military factory. I¡¯ll wait for you there,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
Xia Lei then said to the driver, ¡°Sir, please stop here. I¡¯m getting off here.¡±
The taxi stopped. Xia Lei paid and alighted, then pulled his luggage behind him as he walked towards Bailu Town. He spoke with Ahn Geungan as he walked. ¡°Mr Ahn, can you tell me why you want to meet?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not convenient to talk over the phone. Let¡¯s meet.¡± Ahn Geungan was not willing to say more.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the hotel in the distance. He watched the ce as he said, ¡°Mr Ahn, you know well what sort of ce this is. You¡¯d better not be trying anything funny.¡±
¡°No. I chose this as our meeting spot to show my sincerity,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
¡°I¡¯ll be there in five minutes.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Ahn Geungan had actuallye all the way to China.
¡®It¡¯s impossible that Ahn Geungan doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯ve killed Ahn Suhyeong. Is he here for revenge? Impossible. He wouldn¡¯t be so stupid as to deal with me here - it¡¯ll be suicide. If it¡¯s not for revenge for Ahn Suhyeong, then it is for the evidence I have. Why does he think that I¡¯ll give it to him?¡¯
There was no card for Ahn Geungan to y now. His son was dead and he¡¯d lost the evidence he had to threaten Shentu Tianyin with. What was he going to use to convince Xia Lei to hand over the evidence which could put him in prison?
The town seemed normal, and there were no suspicious people around the hotel either. Xia Lei used his X-ray vision on the building when he got close too, and did not spot any hidden gunman.
A Korean man bowed respectfully to Xia Lei once he stepped into the hotel lobby. He said politely, ¡°Mr Xia, pleasee with me. Our chairman is waiting for you in the room.¡±
Xia Lei gave a slight nod and followed the Korean man to the door of a room.
The man knocked, and Ahn Geungan¡¯s voice came from behind the door. ¡°Enter.¡±
Xia Lei entered. There was just Ahn Geungan in the room.
The look of pride and arrogance had vanished from Ahn Geungan¡¯s eyes, leaving him listless. His hair had greyed considerably, as if he¡¯d aged ten years in one night.
Xia Lei rxed his guard and said softly, ¡°What did youe see me for, Mr Ahn?¡±
Ahn Geungan waved his hand and the underling at the door shut it.
¡°Mr Xia, can you tell me... My Suhyeong...¡± Ahn Geungan was silent for a bit before he managed to say, ¡°Is he alive?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Is this a joke, Mr Ahn? How would I know if your son is dead or alive? If you came all the way here to ask me this, then you can go back to Korea. This is my answer.¡±
Ahn Geungan¡¯s expression darkened as he tried to infer some sort of answer from Xia Lei¡¯s tone and behaviour. He had actually known the answer before he¡¯de but a ray of hope still lingered in his heart. Now even that ray had been extinguished.
Ahn Geungan took a deep breath. ¡°All right. He came to kill you but you¡¯re still alive. There is no need for me to ask further. Let¡¯s cut straight to the chase - name a price for what you have.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Are you kidding, Mr Ahn? You¡¯ve admitted that you let your son bring dozens of men to kill me, and a world-ss killer. You still have the gall to negotiate with me now?¡±
¡°There is no exchange that can¡¯t be negotiated in this world. Trust me - there isn¡¯t.¡± Ahn Geungan bowed to Xia Lei. ¡°I express my deepest sincerity, and ount of my lost son, please,plete this exchange.¡±
¡°Huh. You can still do this?¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°You Koreans sure are a mystery. You think I will fulfil your wish if you apologise to me?¡±
Chapter 476 - Hidden Investment
Ahn Geungan straightened. He looked serious. ¡°You will. I know this more clearly than you.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°You know me better than I know myself, Mr Ahn? You¡¯re overestimating yourself, aren¡¯t you? I do admire the thickness of your skin, though. It does take skill to say something like this to my face.¡±
Ahn Geungan did not get mad at this provocation. He said, ¡°Mr Xia, what will you gain from giving those things to the Korean media? Only a rush from having your revenge. If you do that, I will fall and be thrown into prison but you won¡¯t get anything out of it other than the satisfaction of putting me there. Cut a deal with me and you can gain much more. It¡¯s not that I have thick skin but that I am not blinded by revenge.¡±
Xia Lei paused. He suddenly found that his enemy was no ordinary person. He¡¯d killed his son but this man was actually apologising to him, and asking to make the exchange to protect himself! Could a man who was capable of doing such a thing be a simple man?
¡°You killed my son. I should hate you, but hate does not solve any problems. A man cannot live his life in hate either.¡± Ahn Geungan¡¯s words were sincere. ¡°Mr Xia, this is what I learnt from the philosophers of your country. I ask for you to ept and make the exchange with me. Name a price.¡±
¡°You want to buy what I have with money?¡± Xia Lei asked.
Ahn Geungan nodded. ¡°Yes. Name a price.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°I hope it will be a reasonable price.¡±
¡°Do you think Ick money?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Ahn Geungan stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Then what do you want?¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. He stared back at Ahn Geungan. He had his own thoughts on the matter. ¡®If I want money, I¡¯ll likely get a few tens of millions out of him or even more. Money doesn¡¯t mean anything to me. Ahn Geungan is the leader of Korea¡¯s Great National Party, and the chairman of Shinyeok Group. He is going to run for president too. I didn¡¯t think he would win before, but seeing how he¡¯s acting today. What if...¡¯
¡°Mr Xia?¡± Ahn Geungan was unsettled, and he said probingly, ¡°If you don¡¯t want money, I can coborate with you in business. You will profit, and also invest in Korea. With my help, yourpany will be able to make a name for itself in the Korean market.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head.
¡°What do you want, then?¡± A glimmer of savagery shed in Ahn Geungan¡¯s eyes.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°How about this, Mr Ahn - You go back to Korea and I¡¯ll help you in the elections.¡±
¡°What?¡± Ahn Geungan was stunned. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
¡°The only goal in life for you now is to be the president of Korea, isn¡¯t it? I didn¡¯t stutter. I will help you in the elections and make you the president of Korea,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mr Xia, please don¡¯t joke around like this. What can you help me with?¡± Ahn Geungan controlled the mes of anger in his heart. ¡°I¡¯ve already shown you my deepest sincerity. If you keep humiliating me like this, then one of us must die.¡±
¡°I am not humiliating you. You asked what I can help you with and I¡¯m answering that question. I can help you keep your illegal activities secret. Isn¡¯t this enough?¡±
Ahn Geungan abruptly understood Xia Lei¡¯s motive and he could not hold back his anger any longer. ¡°Xia Lei, you want to use that to keep me under your thumb? You want control of a Korean president! You¡¯re too much!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°You don¡¯t want it? Then rot in prison.¡±
¡°You...¡± At hearing the word ¡®prison¡¯, Ahn Geungan¡¯s anger fizzled out.
Xia Lei spoke softly. ¡°Be president or rot in prison. How can a smart man like yourself not know what to choose?¡±
Ahn Geungan screamed at Xia Lei, ¡°Bastard! You can¡¯t do this!¡±
¡°How about this,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°we shall reach an agreement. I will hold the evidence safe. If you¡¯re victorious in the election, I just need you to do ten things for me. When those things are done, I¡¯ll return all the evidence to you. If you don¡¯t win the elections I¡¯ll hand all that evidence to the Korean police and the Korean media. I¡¯ll send you down to hell.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not being fair. I can¡¯t guarantee that I¡¯ll win the election!¡±
¡°I did say that I¡¯ll help you,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I can get evidence of your illegal activities so I can get evidence of your opponents¡¯. This is my sincere offer.¡±
Ahn Geungan was silent.
¡°I just have this one condition. I¡¯ll give you a minute to consider it. I will leave this ce after this minute is over, and I won¡¯t make any deal with you if youe looking for me after,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ahn Geungan¡¯s expression wavered, and his brows were heavy with thought.
Xia Lei looked at his watch a minuteter. ¡°Time¡¯s up. Tell me what you¡¯ve decided.¡±
Ahn Geungan sighed. ¡°Deal.¡±
Given another choice, Ahn Geungan would not make a deal like this. The problem was, though, that he had no other choice. Reject Xia Lei¡¯s offer, and he would lose all he had, plus get thrown in prison. Take the deal, and he would keep all he had, on top of getting to the position of president. What else could he do besides take Xia Lei¡¯s deal?
Half an hourter, Ahn Geungan left Bailu Town. Xia Lei walked towards Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Xia Lei smiled rather merrily on his way back. He couldn¡¯t help envisioning Ahn Geungan as president. Ahn Geungan would be in charge of the fate of Korea then, and he would be in control of his fate. Xia Lei would have this trump card in his hand then, and it was difficult to imagine what he would be able to obtain when that time came.
¡®If I ask for the technology of the F35 fighter jet America sold to South Korea, Ahn Geungan would probably have to give it to me obediently then, huh?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
This was just a thought and out of reach in reality but just the thought of it was rather exciting.
Back in Thunder Horse Military Factory, Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts moved away from Ahn Geungan. Ahn Geungan¡¯s existence was just a sort of hidden investment to him. If Ahn Geungan could win in the elections then that would be good but Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t lose anything either if he couldn¡¯t win. Theunch of the assault rifle was the most important thing for him to settle now. Time was tight, and he had to be busy for some time again.
The upper management of Thunder Horse Military Factory came to see him once he got back. Xia Xue was there too, and they were as close as ever in their meeting.
¡°What are you doing here instead of at school?¡± In his office, Xia Lei put on a stern look.
¡°Brother, are you so busy that you forgot? Today¡¯s Saturday. There are no sses. I came over to help out, so you have to pay me wages.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t keep the stern act. He smiled. ¡°Didn¡¯t I give you a card? The limit on that card is a million yuan. Is that money not enough for your expenses?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not short on cash. I¡¯m short on love.¡± Xia Xue pouted. ¡°You, on the other hand, have signed the papers with Shentu Tianyin but I¡¯m thest to know about it. Do you still have this little sister in your heart?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say things like that. Don¡¯t you know what sort of person your brother is? How about this - we¡¯ll go to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ce in the evening. You can go see your sister-inw.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Xue smiled then. ¡°My sister-inw is the wealthiest woman in China and super duper impressive. I will definitely learn a lot from her. But... I¡¯m quite nervous about meeting such an impressive woman.¡±
¡°You silly goose. She¡¯s your sister-inw. She might be intimidating but she¡¯s still your sister-inw - what are you nervous about? Besides, she¡¯s all fierce outside but very gentle at home. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll have any problem getting along with her.¡±
¡°Okay. I¡¯ll do some work, then we¡¯ll go to Sister-inw¡¯s ce after work.¡± Xia Xue went off happily.
Xia Lei stayed for a bit in the office, then went out too. He went to Annina¡¯s vi. She was the only one who had note to see him on his return. This was not because he was married to Shentu Tianyin but because she had stayed upte into the night and was exhausted.
The vi was under guard by Wu Xiaoguo and his soldiers, and not even a sparrow could fly in. However, Xia Lei had the highest authority there and he could enter and exit without any restrictions.
Xia Lei entered Annina¡¯s room. She was in deep sleep on the bed and did not sense him entering at all. There was arge pile of drawings and documents on the desk in the room and a half-cup of already cold coffee.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help the soft sigh and the tinge of guilt which hit him. He had drawn clear boundaries between himself and Annina because he wanted to be with Shentu Tianyin, but he had epted Jiang Ruyi. Looking at it this way, it was unfair to Annina. This German woman had lost everything, clung onto him for dear life, worked for him - how could he do this to her?
However, one Shentu Tianyin and one Jiang Ruyi were enough of a headache for him. If he added one Annina to the mix, he wasn¡¯t sure if his heart could take more messing up.
Xia Lei watched Annina silently for a while, then walked to the desk and wrote on a piece of paper with a pen: I¡¯m back. You¡¯re asleep so I don¡¯t want to disturb you. Have a good rest. Don¡¯t tire yourself out. I want to talk with you about the Gust assault rifle tomorrow.
He left Annina¡¯s room and went to his basementboratory.
He put the seven pieces of ancient alloy, the bronze book and thepass on his work table. His left eye twitched and Princess Yongmei appeared in his undergroundboratory. She was clothless and breathtakingly beautiful.
¡°Don¡¯t trap me in there again!¡± Princess Yongmei shouted at Xia Lei as soon as she appeared; she seemed furious.
¡°You...¡± This was his first time seeing her so angry. Xia Lei was shocked and didn¡¯t know how to respond.
¡°I don¡¯t want to stay in such a cold ce ever again! Never!¡± Princess Yongmei seemed to be on edge and the temperature in the undergroundboratory plummeted.
Some liquid left in a ss on the worktable was frozen in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 477 - Sisters-in-law
Princess Yongmei was bing more plete¡¯ with the umtion of alloy pieces. The actions and emotions she expressed were getting more and more like a real person¡¯s.
It wasn¡¯t just that. Xia Lei discovered that the temperature of the area Princess Yongmei was in would drop if she was angry. Her strange power seemed to be linked to her moods.
The angry Princess Yongmei made Xia Lei fearful since she had the ability to kill people without leaving any traces. She called him ¡®The One¡¯, but who could guarantee that she would not harm him when she was angry?
¡°Please calm down.¡± Xia Lei was nervous. He took two steps back.
¡°You¡¯re afraid of me?¡± Princess Yongmei seemed to sense something,
Xia Lei put on a face of calm. ¡°A little. I don¡¯t know what you are. You scare me.¡±
¡°I will never hurt you, because you are The One,¡± said Princess Yongmei. ¡°And don¡¯t you know? I have no way of killing you.¡±
Xia Lei understood - he recalled the experts who¡¯d either gone mad or died. They had interacted with the ancient alloy too but he was the only one who was unaffected. If killing or driving someone mad was a sort of ability, then he would not be killed by this since he was immune to it.
¡®Hold on...¡¯ A thought shed in Xia Lei¡¯s head. ¡®Why am I immune to the effects of this alloy and to Princess Yongmei¡¯s power? Do I also have this sort of ability and it¡¯s just that I haven¡¯t detected it yet? Or is it dormant in my body, yet to be awakened?¡¯
This was a fairly bold idea but it was entirely possible too!
Xia Lei broke out in cold sweat after this thought ran through his head. He thought of Shentu Tianyin. If he had an ability like Princess Yongmei¡¯s and if it activated while he was being intimate with Tianyin... would she be made into a literal ice queen?
Princess Yongmei looked quietly at Xia Lei. Her eyes seemed to bore into his soul.
Xia Lei had another thought. ¡®If I have the same sort of ability as hers, then will it be activated if I eat thest AE capsule? Would I be like her?¡¯
This thought made him break out in cold sweat again. If taking thest capsule meant that he would be an existence like Princess Yongmei¡¯s, then he would not want to take it, not even if it meant having greater powers.
¡°What are you thinking about?¡± asked Princess Yongmei probingly. She could not see his thoughts.
Xia Lei came back to his senses. ¡°You want to stay outside?¡±
¡°Yes. I don¡¯t ever want to go in again.¡±
¡°What¡¯s in there?¡±
¡°Nothing. Darkness. Darkness without end.¡± Princess Yongmei looked pained, unwilling to bring up memories of what it was like inside.
¡°Darkness without end? You can¡¯t see anything? Nothing other than darkness?¡±
Princess Yongmei shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve said it clearly. Darkness. Just darkness. I can see nothing and touch nothing.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Can you describe that void to me?¡±
¡°Void? Perhaps you¡¯re right that it¡¯s a void, but I don¡¯t know anything,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
Xia Lei was absorbed in his thoughts again. He¡¯d guessed that it was an empty void. Dark, cold, empty. His gaze went to the single assembled side of a box. The side had a pattern of arches on it. Was that a depiction of the arched doorway to that void?
¡°Promise me that you won¡¯t close me up in there again.¡± Princess Yongmei looked pleadingly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei considered it, then said, ¡°I can, but I have two conditions which you have to agree to.¡±
¡°What conditions? Speak.¡±
¡°I know you can kill people, and damage brains to make them go crazy. You can stay outside if you want but you cannot harm anyone,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What if someone wants to harm you, and I want to help you?¡± asked Princess Yongmei.
¡°In that case, you can help me - but you need my approval,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem, I agree to that. What is the other condition?¡±
¡°The area around you will turn cold whenever you appear. Others will discover this and it¡¯ll bring me trouble. Also, I¡¯d like to have my privacy. I don¡¯t want you to turn up next to me when I¡¯m in the toilet or taking a shower, for example. Can you agree to this condition?¡±
Princess Yongmei thought for a bit. ¡°I can. I can hide in your ne when you don¡¯t want me to appear.¡±
Xia Lei looked down at the ne around his neck, at the pendant holding thest AE capsule. He¡¯d never told Princess Yongmei about thisst AE capsule but she knew of its existence. This was surprising.
¡°The thing hidden inside gives me a warm feeling. It feels like it is a part of me. I can enter it,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
¡°How do you enter it?¡±
Princess Yongmei smiled. Her smile was a little strange. Her body suddenly begun to condense, like it was copsing on itself. She rapidly shrunk till she was a small ball of light the size of a capsule, and she flew towards the pendant around Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
Cold flew at Xia Lei, but the cold was not unbearable - his soul though, was shaken.
Xia Lei abruptly moved his gaze to the ancient alloy on the work table just before the light entered his pendant, and he used his X-ray vision. Cold and darkness swirled towards him, and it felt like his soul was being sucked into a dark abyss. This feeling soon vanished, and Princess Yongmei was nowhere to be seen when his vision returned to normal.
He then looked at his pendant with his X-ray vision. The AE capsule was undamaged.
Xia Lei had gone back on his promise to not close her up in the alloy pieces.
Thest smile Princess Yongmei made had sent a chill through his heart. He had immediately remembered those experts who had been killed or driven mad by her, and realised that making this sort of deal with her was unwise. The moreplete Princess Yongmei was, the more powerful she became. She was also quick to anger now, and lose control. He could just barely control her now but if he collected more alloy pieces, she would be more powerful and he would have no way of controlling her!
Most importantly, he suspected that Princess Yongmei had had designs on his AE capsule in thatst second.
Since she couldpress herself, she could hide in a pen, or in a wallet - why did she have to hide in the AE capsule?
The AE capsule around his neck was the source of his powers and everything he had had been built upon it. This was more important than anything else, and Princess Yongmei was not to sully it!
¡®Phew. I nearly fell for her trick. She said she did not want to stay inside but wasn¡¯t she in there for hundreds of years? Forget it - I¡¯m not going to let her out again, not before I solve the mystery of the ancient alloy.¡¯ Xia Lei made his decision.
Xia Lei left theboratory and went to the office to sit down for a bit, and settle some paperwork. After work, he brought Xia Xue to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s Jingdu home. On their way there, Xia Xue insisted on getting a gift, and Xia Lei could not refuse. He parked and apanied her on a shopping trip to buy a pile of gifts to bring to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ce.
Shentu Tianyin was waiting at the door thanks to Xia Lei¡¯s call.
This was the first meeting of the sisters-inw. This was why Xia Xue had insisted on getting gifts and why Shentu Tianyin hade out to greet them personally.
¡°Hello, Sister-inw.¡± Xia Xue was polite and she greeted her warmly.
Shentu Tianyin was all smiles. ¡°Little Xue is so pretty - like a doll.¡±
Xia Xue giggled. ¡°No, Sister-inw is the true beauty here. You¡¯re the most beautiful woman I¡¯ve seen.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was pleased. She subconsciously thought of Liang Siyao, Xia Lei¡¯s first girlfriend. Xia Xue must have seen her. She said she was the most beautiful woman she¡¯d seen, so this must mean she was more beautiful than Liang Siayo. This was just an offhandedment and there was no real beauty standard-marker but Shentu Tianyin was still pleased by what she heard from this youngss¡¯s mouth.
¡°Xue, this is your home too from now on. There¡¯s no need to buy gifts either - no need to buy gifts when you¡¯reing back to your own home,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Mm, yes, Sister-inw.¡± Xia Xue put honey in her words, sweet as can be.
Back and forth they went, exchanging pleasantries. They chatted happily, leaving Xia Lei out in the cold. He only found a chance to speak to Shentu Tianyin after they got through the door. He called her to the study, and took out the sh drive he had taken from Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s corpse. Xia Lei handed it to Shentu Tianyin.
¡°This is the thing which Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s using to pressure you. The originals are with Gu Kewen,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I managed to get this sh drive but I am sure Gu Kewen has a copy.¡±
¡°Hubby, I...¡± Shentu Tianyin burrowed into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. ¡°I should have listened to your warning back then. I¡¯m worried now. What am I going to do if Gu Kewen uses what she has against me?¡±
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit before saying, ¡°Tianyin, be honest. How many government assets did Gu Kewen help you purchase?¡±
¡°Twenty... Over twenty billion,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°You-! Argh!¡± Xia Lei sighed and furrowed his brows. The amount Shentu Tianyin had uttered was much higher than he¡¯d anticipated.
Illegal acquisition of state-owned assets as the same as embezzlement. It was a very serious crime. There was a heavy punishment for people who had misappropriated tens of millions... Over twenty billion? This might end with losing a head!
Shentu Tianyin grew nervous too. ¡°Hubby, I didn¡¯t want this either. But such irresistible assets... someone else would take them even if I didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t expect that Gu Kewen would do such a thing, and a thing so serious at that. What should I do?¡±
¡°Let me think about it. Don¡¯t tell Father about this. Don¡¯t let him worry.¡± Xia Lei could not think of anything on the spot.
Xia Xue suddenly stuck her head in the doorway and giggled. ¡°Sister-inw, Brother, you two don¡¯t have to be so lovey-dovey. How is a sad single like me supposed to interact with you?¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Hang out with your sister-inw for a bit. I¡¯ll go make dinner.¡±
¡°Okay! Brother sure is a good husband,¡± said Xia Xue with a smile.
A small smile appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face too, but she had too many heavy thoughts on her mind to be in a jovial mood.
Chapter 478 - Queen’s Heart
They ate as a family and Xia Xue went to the room which Shentu Tianyin had had prepared for her. Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin returned to their room.
Shentu Tianyin had been able tough and chat during dinner but she was a whole other person when she went into the room. Her eyes grew clouded with thought and it looked like there were things weighing heavily on her mind.
She could not make herself happy.
There were many people who¡¯d embezzled state-owned assets in China, and it wasmon to see officials and businessmen sh too, but punishments were rare. It was because of this norm that Shentu Tianyin had taken Gu Kewen¡¯s advice back then, and purchased the Gu n¡¯s old assets with her help. She had not expected that her smooth acquisition of these assets would be the guillotine above her neck, ready to fall at any time!
¡°Tianyin, I don¡¯t get it. You have nock of money - why did you move to acquire those assets?¡± asked Xia Lei softly.
¡°It¡¯s true that I don¡¯t need money; it¡¯s just a number. My thought was that I would be able to raise Vientaine Group to an international level, like Apple, Microsoft or General Electric. I acquired high-quality assets with hidden values which are much higher than reported. I wanted to acquire them because they could be an ideal foundation for my goal, and Gu Kewen just so happened to be of help, so...¡±
So it¡¯d ended up like this.
She had ambition and smarts - she knew it was not going to be easy to make Vientaine Group like Apple, Microsoft or General Electric. It could even be said to be a pipe dream. That was why she needed capital - lots of capital - to fuel her dream. Besides, many others were also making moves on state-owned assets and they weren¡¯t being punished... so why not?
In short, she had been too ambitious and overreached.
Xia Lei understood all of these but there wasn¡¯t anything he could do about it either. ¡°Tianyin, I¡¯d like mypany to be a world-sspany too but it¡¯s just a thought, not a must. I would be happy if I could do it but I won¡¯t be affected if it doesn¡¯t either. I¡¯m quite satisfied with what I have - you should be too. You¡¯ll be happy if you¡¯re content.¡±
¡°I know the concept, but life is too short. I want to leave a bright mark on this earth. I want Vientaine Group to be a great MNC. This is my dream, and I¡¯m willing to take some risk for my dream.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t regret it even if it results in serious consequences?¡±
Shentu Tianyin shook her head. ¡°I won¡¯t.¡±
Xia Lei could not help sighing silently. He knew he could not persuade his wife; not then, not now.
Shentu Tianyin drew close and put her arms tenderly around Xia Lei¡¯s waist. ¡°Hubby, you¡¯ll help me tide through this, won¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You are my wife. We are family. Your difficulties are my difficulties so how can I not help you? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll help you get rid of this Gu Kewen problem.¡±
¡°Are... Are you going to kill her?¡± Shentu Tianyin became nervous, and her voice filled with worry.
¡°She¡¯s joined the CIA and is suspected of having betrayed national interests. She¡¯s a dead woman walking in Bureau 101¡¯s eyes. I¡¯ll kill her if I find her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Say no more. I am too scared to think about it.¡± Shentu Tianyin put her chin on Xia Lei¡¯s chest. She found the security she wanted in his arms.
¡°I have information that Gu Kewen is in Japan now. It¡¯ll be difficult to locate her.¡± Xia Lei had to say it. He wanted Shentu Tianyin to know the severity of the situation. ¡°So you have to be prepared for the worst.¡±
¡°The worst?¡± Shentu Tianyin bit her lip. ¡°Prison?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t let you be put in prison, even if Gu Kewen releases that information to the public. Before the police investigate, I probably... have a way to make sure you¡¯re okay,¡± said Xia Lei.
A small smile appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips. She looked at Xia Lei with a gaze full of love, and respect.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, was not feeling so good about this. He¡¯d said that he would keep Shentu Tianyin safe before the police investigated but that¡¯s if he used his connections to pull some strings. He had just two cards to y. One, was Thunder Horse Military Factory, and the other was the Alloy X Project. However, he might not reach his objective even if he yed both these cards, and it was possible that he would be pulled into this situation himself too!
¡°Hubby, let¡¯s not talk about these unhappy things. We should go to bed.¡± Shentu Tianyin breathed warm air into his ear.
¡°Mm, yeah, let¡¯s not talk about it. Don¡¯t worry too much about it either. It might not be as bad as I make it out to be. You have me.¡± Xia Lei put his worries aside.
Shentu Tianyin was touched and her heart warmed. She put her hands on Xia Lei¡¯s chest and pushed him lightly. She did not use much strength, but Xia Lei tumbled backwards to flop on the soft bed.
Shentu Tianyin moved forward, and climbed atop Xia Lei...
It was a feat in itself to get to marry a woman like Shentu Tianyin. It was even more impressive to get this sort of service from her. What more did Xia Lei want?
Adele¡¯s new song, ¡®Hello¡¯, suddenly yed. It was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ringtone.
They were creating life here - who was calling?
Shentu Tianyin ignored it and continued giving Xia Lei pleasure and happiness, but Adele kept singing. She finally crawled off Xia Lei and grabbed her phone.
¡°A call from Japan.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression sobered and she asked nervously, ¡°Can it be her?¡±
Xia Lei got up too. ¡°Put it on speakerphone and ept the call.¡±
Shentu Tianyin put it on speakerphone and picked up. ¡°Hello, who¡¯s this?¡±
A woman¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°Long time no see, Shentu Tianyin. How¡¯re you doing?¡±
This voice was familiar to Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei. It was Gu Kewen.
Shentu Tianyin nced at Xia Lei and said, ¡°What are you calling me for, Gu Kewen?¡±
¡°You¡¯re a little short on breath. Just did some exercise?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice was mocking.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s cheeks reddened and she said in annoyance, ¡°Enough bullshit. Tell me what you called me for.¡±
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s with you, isn¡¯t he?¡±
Shentu Tianyin paused; she didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°I¡¯m calling you at this hour because I¡¯m looking for Xia Lei, not you,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°Xia Lei, I know you¡¯re next to Shentu Tianyin. Stop hiding. Speak.¡±
Xia Lei took the phone from Shentu Tianyin and spoke into it. ¡°This is Xia Lei. What do you want?¡±
¡°Hahaha... So you ARE there.¡± Gu Kewenughed. ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re having fun with Shentu Tianyin in bed but I¡¯m here in a strangend, all by my lonesome self. I miss the old days. My father and my brother were still around then, and I was their precious pearl. I could get whatever I wanted. This is but a memory now. Every time I think of my father and my brother, my heart feels like a knife has been stabbed into it. It hurts.¡±
Xia Lei interrupted Gu Kewen¡¯s speech. ¡°I have no time to hear your long-winded story. State your business or I hang up.¡±
¡°Hang up and your Tianyin will be in the headlines tomorrow morning. Go on, hang up if you dare.¡±
Shentu Tianyin suddenly grabbed the sheets and her slim fingers wrung the material. She¡¯d evidently taken the sheets for Gu Kewen, and was intent on twisting off all her hair, and her neck!
After some silence, Xia Lei said, ¡°Let¡¯s not waste words. What do you want?¡±
¡°Sure. I want my brother. Give me my brother back and I¡¯ll give you Shentu Tianyin¡¯s dirt.¡± Gu Kewen stated her wants.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Are you kidding me? Your brother was sentenced and he¡¯s now in prison. How can I get him out?¡±
¡°Others won¡¯t be able to, but you can. I believe you¡¯ll find a way.¡± Gu Kewenughed as she said, ¡°Xia Lei, why do you think Shentu Tianyin married you? She¡¯s ten times smarter than you think she is. What she¡¯s marrying is your capability, not you. She had her eye on you because you are the only one in this world who can satisfy her ambition, and only you could meet her requirements.¡±
¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Shentu Tianyin retorted. ¡°Gu Kewen, state your business, and your business only. Why are you sowing discord between us? I love my husband. Our love is not something you can shake just like that.¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah, we¡¯re both women. You think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re after?¡±
Shentu Tianyin made to say more but Xia Lei put a finger on her lips to tell her not to fight with Gu Kewen. He then said, ¡°Gu Kewen, let¡¯s negotiate with something else. How much do you want?¡±
¡°How much?¡± A twistedugh came from the phone. ¡°The Gu n assets used to be valued in the billions, the same as the Shentu n. If you¡¯re going to settle this with money, then give me all that I¡¯ve lost. I¡¯m not greedy either. 50,000,000,000 will do.¡±
Anger red in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. ¡°Don¡¯t you get too greedy, Gu Kewen!¡±
Chapter 479 - Take It Out By The Roots
They were miles and miles apart but the smell of a fight was in the air.
¡°Are you threatening me? Xia Lei, I have just this one condition. Get my brother out, then make the exchange. I¡¯ll give you two minutes to think about it. If you refuse, I hand what I have to the media and the relevant authorities. Your Shentu Tianyin will be sent to prison!¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°Oh, right, the amount she¡¯s embezzled is enough to earn her death by shooting. Better hurry up and choose a nice burial spot for her. You can go to the graveyard to see her if you miss her.¡±
Xia Lei was in deep thought.
Shentu Tianyin looked at Xia Lei anxiously. Right in that moment, Xia Lei was her earth, her sky, her everything.
Two minutes were very short.
¡°Time¡¯s up. What have you decided?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s tone was forceful.
¡°I agree to your condition,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°but you have to give me two months.¡±
¡°No. I can¡¯t give you that much time. Two weeks, at most.¡±
¡°Gu Kewen, there¡¯s no use hurrying it. You should be happy that I¡¯ve even agreed to it. I know you have something which definitely threatens my wife but you should know my capabilities well too. I can still cover it up even if you give the information to the media and the authorities. Worsees to worst, I¡¯ll take the rap for her. You can¡¯t do anything!¡±
The line was silent for a while before Gu Kewen spoke again. ¡°Shentu Tianyin really did marry a good man, huh. How¡¯s this - we¡¯ll cool our heads a little. One month. Bring my brother to Japan after one month and we¡¯ll make the exchange.¡±
¡°Deal. I¡¯lle to Japan a monthter.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
¡°You¡¯re really going to Japan?¡± asked Shentu Tianyin nervously.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes. She¡¯s a threat to you alive. I won¡¯t allow anyone to threaten you.¡±
He¡¯d made it clear - he was going to Japan to kill Gu Kewen!
Shentu Tianyin shook her head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want you to go to Japan. It¡¯s too dangerous. You said that Gu Kewen is already part of the CIA. She¡¯s not alone. You may nevere back if you go there.¡±
Xia Leiughed and put on a rxed front. ¡°I¡¯m willing to risk it for your sake. Don¡¯t worry about this anymore. I¡¯ll handle it.¡±
Shentu Tianyin put her arms around Xia Lei. She was touched and her heart filled with love for him. Her voice was small as she said, ¡°It¡¯s enough for you to say it. I don¡¯t want you to risk it. Besides, Gu Kewen¡¯s condition is unreasonable. There¡¯s no way you can get an incarcerated man out of prison, and take him to Japan on top of that. Let me shoulder the responsibility of my own wrongs. What¡¯s the meaning in me living if you leave me?¡±
Xia Lei stroked her silken raven-ck hair. ¡°Silly girl. Why would I leave you? I dared ept Gu Kewen¡¯s condition because I have my own methods. Don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°Hubby, you... you believe what Gu Kewen said?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked up at Xia Lei in his arms and met his eyes. She seemed to be trying to look into his heart for an answer.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I love you. I love all of you, not just your good side but your bad side too. You¡¯re my wife, and I¡¯ll ept all of you. I don¡¯t care about what Gu Kewen said.¡±
"Love all of you and ept all of you" was Xia Lei¡¯s promation of his love. It was more touching than a thousand sweet nothings. More importantly, Xia Lei was true to his word. No matter what Shentu Tianyin did, he was going to support her, and love her, cherish her, even risk his life for her!
This was a man¡¯s resolve, and it was unshakable.
Shentu Tianyin looked at Xia Lei with emotion. There were no words to describe how touched and blessed she felt. There were no words, but she had a special female way of showing her feelings. Her hands went to Xia Lei¡¯s chest again and she pushed him down, then lowered her chin...
Love was the most beautiful thing on Earth because it could be felt in body and soul. It was like they had ascended when they coupled.
The next day, Xia Lei brought Xia Xue out after breakfast.
Shentu Tianyin told Xia Lei to wait, then straightened his tie tenderly as she said, ¡°Drive carefully. I¡¯ll wait for you for dinner.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll call you when I¡¯m on my way back.¡±
Xia Xue giggled. ¡°You two are so lovey-dovey. It makes me want to fall in love too.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°What love? Study hard. Talk about love after you¡¯ve graduated.¡±
Xia Xue pouted and put on a disgruntled expression.
Shentu Tianyin smacked Xia Lei lightly and put her arm around Xia Xue. ¡°Come on. Xia Xue is an adult now. She must have quite a few suitors since she¡¯s so pretty. What¡¯s wrong with dating if there¡¯s one among them whom she likes?¡±
¡°You¡¯re taking her side,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Xue drew close and took Shentu Tianyin¡¯s arm. ¡°Sister-inw¡¯s the best. We¡¯rerades on the battle-line now. I¡¯ll team up with you if my brother dares to bully you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly but he was happy. His little family was getting along well, and it was a good thing.
Xia Lei sent Xia Xue to school, then drove towards Bureau 101¡¯s headquarters.
He got a call from Annina on his way there.
¡°Lukas, I read the message you left. Why did you go off?¡± asked Annina. ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to talk to me about the Gust assault rifle?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be at the factory in the afternoon. Just do what needs to be done first,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem. I¡¯ll wait for you at the factory.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t tire yourself out. You should rest when it¡¯s time to rest,¡± said Xia Lei in concern.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Annina¡¯sugh was sweet. ¡°Thank you. I knew you still cared for me. Oh, right, bring some toys back for me.¡±
¡°Toys? What toys?¡± Xia Lei was confused.
Annina lowered her voice. ¡°Y¡¯know... Toys women use. I can¡¯t go out and I don¡¯t know where they sell these toys. Bring a few types back for me.¡±
Her words struck him like lightning bolts and he was too stunned to formte a response.
¡°You¡¯re not buying them for me?¡± said Annina. ¡°Then give me the real thing.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
However, he was not repulsed by Annina¡¯s adult conversation topic and he did not reject it. It was all fine to talk about anything as long as she was happy. As for lending her the real thing... He¡¯d have to consider it carefully.
Xia Lei bumped into Tang Yuyan in the Bureau 101 building and they went into the secret lift together.
For some reason, the lift filled with a slight awkwardness, tinged by sourness.
¡°Uh, Xia Lei, can I ask you something?¡± Tang Yuyan broke the silence in the lift.
¡°What?¡± said Xia Lei casually.
¡°I know you¡¯ve signed the certificate with Shentu Tianyin. You¡¯re her husband now. Are you happy?¡± Tang Yuyan looked straight at Xia Lei, waiting for his answer.
Xia Lei paused, then said with a smile, ¡°Why ask me such a strange question?¡±
Tang Yuyan stretched out her leg and kicked Xia Lei, then rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Are we married or something? Is it such a chore to answer my question? Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯rerades who¡¯ve fought together with our lives on the line.¡±
Xia Lei felt like he was having a headache and he didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°Not saying anything? Fine. We¡¯re not friends anymore,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll say something. It¡¯s going okay. It¡¯s just like that. I feel like I¡¯ve shouldered more responsibility. I¡¯m very happy too, of course.¡±
The lift doors opened.
Tang Yuyan walked out of the lift, then looked back and rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Don¡¯t invite me to your wedding banquet. I¡¯ll treat you to alcohol when you get divorced.¡±
¡°What the hell? Who invites people to a drink like that?¡± Xia Lei kicked at her.
Tang Yuyan avoided it nimbly. She had a smile on her face but her heart hurt.
Xia Lei came to Shi Boren¡¯s office.
Shi Boren was surprised to see Xia Lei. ¡°You rarelye here of your own initiative, Boy. What is it?¡±
Xia Lei cut straight to the chase. ¡°Boss Shi, didn¡¯t you tell me to n for the trip to Japan? I have a n now.¡±
¡°Hm? A n, so quick? Speak, speak.¡± Shi Boren was interested.
¡°You should know about Gu Kewen¡¯s identity, Boss Shi,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Boren nodded. ¡°I do. The top target of Tang Yuyan¡¯s task force is Gu Kewen. She shall not live to see the sun rise on another day if she everes back to China. But your mission in going to Japan is to search for treasure. How is this rted to Gu Kewen?¡±
¡°Gu Kewen went after me, Tang Yuyan and Long Bing thest time in Jerusalem. She¡¯s gone to Japan now, and she has be a threat to me and the people involved in the Alloy X Project. She must be terminated if I go to Japan to search for treasure, otherwise she¡¯ll be a threat.¡±
¡°It won¡¯t be difficult to kill her, but she is in Japan. This will be troublesome,¡± said Shi Boren. ¡°Youing here to talk to me means that you already have some ideas. Tell me - what are you thinking of doing?¡±
¡°It¡¯s simple. Give me her brother. I¡¯ll lure her out, then kill her,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Boren was silent, watching Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was unsettled by this but he kept his veneer of calm. ¡°I know my n doesn¡¯t sit well with the rules, and it¡¯s not glorious either. However, I¡¯m willing to do any sort of dirty work for the Alloy X Project. Boss Shi, I am just making a suggestion. The decision is yours. It¡¯s fine if anything happens to me, but losses faced by our country would be unimaginable if the Alloy X Project fails.¡±
Shi Boren finally spoke. ¡°I can hand Gu Kewu to you, but...¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°Send both Gu Kewen and Gu Kewu to eternal sleep,¡± said Shi Boren. ¡°Do it well, and thoroughly. Leave no traces and no loose ends.¡±
Xia Lei smiled immediately. ¡°No problem. It¡¯s agreed, then. I¡¯ll take Gu Kewu with me when I leave.¡±
¡°Tell no one about this.¡±
¡°Rest assured, Boss Shi. I won¡¯t even tell my wife,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Your wife, your wife. The word irks me.¡± Shi Boren frowned. ¡°Go check on Yuyan. She¡¯s been in a bad mood recently. She used to be lively and lovable but she seems so distracted now, always staring into space. Go spend some time with her and chat with her.¡±
¡°Oh no! I just remembered that there¡¯s a meeting I have hold at work! I¡¯ll be going off first, Boss Shi! Bye.¡± Xia Lei turned and left, not daring to stay a second longer.
Shi Boren stared at the empty doorway for quite a while before he snapped back to his senses.
Chapter 480 - Who’re You Fooling?
Back at Thunder Horse Military Factory, Annina came bouncing over as soon as he entered the office and gave him a tight hug. She kissed him on the cheek too.
Xia Lei was used to her Western habits by now and he smiled as he said, ¡°How have you been do... Hnng!¡±
Before he could finish, Annina grabbed him by his cheeks and gave him a solid kiss on the lips. She then slid her tongue into his mouth and begun twirling it about like a flopping fish.
Xia Lei¡¯s initial thought was to push her away, but he thought again, and didn¡¯t. Let her take advantage of him. This German girl had neither kith nor kin; she was rather lonely.
Annina let go of Xia Lei only two minutester. Her face was red and she was panting. She pretended to be sorry about it, saying, ¡°Oh, sorry, Lukas. I forgot you¡¯re married.¡±
¡°Ahem.¡± Xia Lei coughed dryly. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the production n for the Gust assault rifle.¡±
¡°Okay. I¡¯ve done the preparations, including your sample.¡± Annina turned to go to Xia Lei¡¯s office. She opened a stic box to reveal the Gust assault rifle which Xia Lei had made on his own.
There was a stack of papers and a nner-book on the desk too.
There was no need to test the sample Gust assault rifle because it had been made personally by Xia Lei, and he had used it in actual battle. What he needed for the local weapons exhibition was a production n which would interest the military, and design drawings.
¡°Look through my n. It¡¯s in German but you should know how to read it,¡± said Annina. She handed the book to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei opened it up and read it. Annina¡¯s n was fairly detailed, covering the project from materials to machinery, and then to the requirements of the personnel and so on. She had considered everything, and made the appropriate arrangements. It was easy to see that she had put a lot of effort into the n, and it was outstanding.
¡°This is great. You must have spent a lot of time on this,¡± said Xia Lei in admiration.
Annina smiled. ¡°I started working on this from thest time we talked about the Gust assault rifle ns. It took me about a month and really tired me out. How are you going topensate me for that?¡±
This sentence of hers seemed to have another meaning behind it but Xia Lei did not want to broach the topic.
¡°Oh, right, what about those toys I asked you to get?¡± Annina suddenly remembered about her request.
Xia Lei paused, then asked in surprise, ¡°You were serious?¡±
Annina spread her hands and looked disappointed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t kidding, Lukas. Aren¡¯t you even going to help me with this small favour?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Annina, a big man like me, going to buy those things? Too embarrassing. I¡¯ll ask Qin Xiang to help you buy some next time. He¡¯s like your sister, so there won¡¯t be anything to be embarrassed about. Let¡¯s just talk about the production n now, okay? I got a piece of news. Over here, we need to make a...¡±
Annina cut him off. ¡°I don¡¯t want Qin Xiang to buy the toys for me. I want you. If you buy it, it¡¯s yours. It¡¯s all right if you don¡¯t want to buy them either but you¡¯ll have to give me the real thing.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Annina suddenly walked over to Xia Lei with eyes full of intent. She was looking at him like he was a piece of chocte cake, and he was her favourite heart-shaped chocte cake too.
Xia Lei had made his engagement clear to her and she had epted it but it looked like her eptance had limits. She was past this limit.
Annina drew close to Xia Lei, but her breasts pressed up against his chest stopped their faces from getting too close together.
Xia Lei took a short step back and said awkwardly, ¡°Annina, let¡¯s just talk about the production n. This weapons exhibition is very important to ourpany. It is a huge opportunity.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve read the n. All the things which should be done have been arranged, and we also have specifics. We just need to get workers to man the assembly line. I¡¯ve done all that should be done, so what is there to talk about?¡± Annina drew close again.
Xia Lei had a huge headache now. Why didn¡¯t she understand what he meant? Why wasn¡¯t she willing to end her rtionship with him?
Women, and women¡¯s rtionships were now Xia Lei¡¯s biggest headache.
Footsteps came from beyond the door.
¡°Someone¡¯sing!¡± said Xia Lei hurriedly, and he took a step backwards from Annina.
Annina did note close again. She looked at Xia Lei with some dissatisfaction, and looked ready to eat him up.
Lu Sheng appeared in the office doorway. ¡°Director Xia, many people have turned up at the gates, iming that they¡¯re here to visit the factory. I¡¯ve blocked them off, but it¡¯s only temporary. It¡¯s best if you go over and see what¡¯s going on.¡±
¡°Visit?¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°Who are they?¡±
¡°Most are military, and there are some in in clothes too. They look like officials of some sort.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Oh, right, the old man who led a group of troublemakers thest time is in this group too.¡±
The old man Lu Sheng was talking about was Mu Jianfeng, boss of China Industrial Group. Xia Lei understood what was going on at once, and he said, ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look. Annina, you go back to the vi.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Annina did not want to go back - she wanted to be with Xia Lei.
¡°Those people are not friends. Your status is rather unique; you cannot meet with those people. Be good. Go back,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then you buy those toys for me,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei gave her a frustrated eye-roll but still nodded.
Lu Sheng¡¯s face was a mask of suspicion when they walked out of the office. ¡°Director Xia, Miss Xia Mei is a grown woman - why would she want toys?¡±
An image of that sort of toy popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head, moving and whirring. It was really odd and very embarrassing but he kept his face straight. ¡°She, uh, must miss her childhood. I like toys too. Sometimes I¡¯ll buy a Transformers toy and y with it for a bit. Would you want one? I¡¯ll give one to you.¡±
¡°Me? No, no.¡± Lu Sheng shook his head vigorously.
They chatted as they walked towards the gates. Xia Lei spotted the uniform-wearing men, and some in casual clothing from far off. There were some vehicles behind the group too, and most had military tes. It was a big gathering.
Xia Lei spotted Mu Jianfeng. The man had put on a military uniform too. He was tall and thin and had a bit of a military man¡¯s aura. There was also Ye Kun from Hanwu Weapons. He was dressed in casual clothing, but he had a presence too.
¡®I¡¯d only just got news of the local weapons exhibition and Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun haveing running over here. This visit of theirs is just a cover to spy on me, isn¡¯t it?¡¯
This was what Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun hade for.
Thunder Horse Military Factory was still a small operation and not very powerful but it threatened the position of these two giants. People like Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun would not bother with him otherwise, even if he sent a pnquin in invitation!
¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this Chairman Mu Jianfeng of China Industrial Group, and Chairman Ye Kun of Hanwu Weapons? Which wind has blown you fine gentlemen my way?¡± Xia Lei pushed down his disgust and gave them a fake cheery greeting.
There were several military men outside the gates too, and they were of rank. However, Xia Lei did not bother greeting them because he knew that they were Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s supporters.
¡°Director Xia, you have quite a few restrictions here,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°We came to visit and but your men won¡¯t let us enter.¡±
¡°You guys came for a visit?¡± Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Chairman Mu, let me ask you something... Hm... Must I receive guests?¡±
Both parties had made their stance clear - they were not friends but opponents. Mu Jiangfeng was not ruffled by Xia Lei¡¯s rude words. He took out a document and held it up before Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°This document has been issued by the Equipment Department. You¡¯re producing weapons and earning money from the Equipment Department. We, as part of the visiting Equipment Department group, are to be received as guests.¡±
¡°I see. Come in,e in.¡± Xia Lei shot Lu Sheng a look. Lu Sheng called the Thunder Horse Military Factory security staff to withdraw and open up a path for the group.
Xia Lei said some words in a low voice in Lu Sheng¡¯s ear. Lu Sheng nodded, then jogged back to the office building.
They had left the office in a hurry and had not put away the drawings and ns Annina had ced on the table. Xia Lei had told Lu Sheng to clear these away so this group of people won¡¯t see them.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun exchanged nces.
Xia Lei walked in front, leading the way and saying, ¡°I¡¯ll be your guide. First, let¡¯s wee all of you leaders to my humblepany. I would like to extend a warm wee to you on behalf of all the employees of Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
No one spoke, and thin smiles of distaste appeared on some faces.
Xia Lei pretended not to see. He kept talking, ¡°It¡¯s good of you all toe visit the factory. Ourpany is small but we have ourpanies rules too. No photographs to be taken casually. No striking up conversation with the employees and affecting their work. Oh, I¡¯ll bring you guys to our canteen first. Our canteen is clean and hygienic; the tiles can show your reflection. Go take a look if you don¡¯t believe me.¡±
The big group of people exchanged looks, and some had their faces twisted in anger.
They wanted to make a fool of Xia Lei but he was doing the same too.
¡°After the visit to the canteen, I¡¯ll lead you guys to the workers¡¯ dormitories. The female dormitories are usually off limits but you guys are all directors and all, so I¡¯m willing to break this rule and show it to you.¡± Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°Let me tell you guys, thepany¡¯s female employees are all young, pretty and full of spirit and vigour...¡±
Mu Jianfeng could not take it anymore. He stopped walking, and the people behind him stopped too. The group of people came to a halt, and all of them stared at Xia Lei with cold eyes.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you walking anymore, dear guests? The canteen¡¯s up ahead. It¡¯s not far.¡±
Mu Jianfeng scoffed. ¡°Xia Lei! Who do you take us for? Are we here to view the canteen and the dormitories?¡±
Xia Lei put on a hapless look. ¡°Which ces do you want to visit then?¡±
¡°The production workshops, and warehouses!¡± Mu Jianfeng stressed these two ces.
Ye Kun added, ¡°And the research and development department.¡±
¡°But the document you guys brought didn¡¯t name which ces you can visit. You¡¯re trying to make things difficult for me, aren¡¯t you?¡± said Xia Lei.
Chapter 481 - Big Payoff For Little Effort
Xia Lei¡¯s words made Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun choke. They were both high-ranking men inrge business groups, and were friends with the movers and shakers but Xia Lei had mocked them in front of so many people; he¡¯d mopped the floor with their faces! How could they take this lying down!
¡°Xia Lei! Did you mean that?¡± Mu Jianfeng¡¯s expression was so dark it was scary. He looked ready to blow his top at any time.
Ye Kun spoke in an exaggerated voice too. ¡°Did you see that, everyone? A smallpany is already being arrogant when it hasn¡¯t made it big yet. What will happen when it expands? Looks to me like even the Equipment Department would have to take orders from him, huh?¡±
Some people whispered and talked; they were not happy with Xia Lei¡¯s attitude and his way of doing things.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t mind. It wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t know better and was making enemies - he knew that those who hade were not friends. They were Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s friends, rted to China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons in some way. These people would never be his friends, even if he knelt and begged. If that was the case, then why worry about offending them? Besides, he wanted these people to see that he was not threatened by Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun. He, Xia Lei, was a capable individual!
Doing this had one advantage too, and that was if anyone saw him or Thunder Horse Military as a good investment, that person may be swayed. Perhaps the person would even join his side, and be invested in the interests of Thunder Horse Military Factory.
There were no perpetual enemies in this world, just eternal interests.
It was time to pull in the line after reaching his goal. Xia Lei said, ¡°Dear directors, I do apologise. So, you wanted to pay a visit to the workshops and warehouses? Sure, I¡¯ll take you there right now.¡±
Xia Lei brought them to the workshops.
The workers were assembling the XL2500 in the workshops. It was busy, but the work spaces were neat and tidy.
¡°The XL2500 is produced like this?¡± said a uniform-wearing man from the Equipment Department. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that a small factory like this actually produces the world¡¯s most advanced sniper rifle.¡±
¡°Yeah. If they keep going, thispany¡¯s potential is limitless. It could be our country¡¯s Barrett,¡± said someone.
¡°It really is a case of the product being an extension of the creator. This Xia Lei has personality and the XL2500 sniper rifle is the same. It beat the Barrettpany¡¯s sniper rifles hands down. Impressive. Impressive, indeed,¡± said someone.
These words reached Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s ears, and their faces darkened. The people they¡¯d brought were those who had shared interests with China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons, but not their underlings. The praise for Thunder Horse Military Factory which slipped from their mouths made these two men sensitive and ufortable.
A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips when he heard these same words. ¡®Any group of interest is not going to beprised of fools. The connections the Gu n had made is one such example. Those people had gotten rid of Gu Dingshan after his fall from grace to protect themselves. China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons are no different. These people are going to only protect their interests, and they will lean towards me if they feel I can bring them greater benefits.¡¯
And he believed that this day was not far off. Once the Gust assault rifle got introduced to the market and shook the world, he would have orders flooding in from the Chinese military and more people would be on his side. They would share the interests of Thunder Horse Military Factory!
¡°Director Xia, please take us to the warehouse.¡± Mu Jianfeng did not want to stay in the workshop any longer.
¡°Pleasee with me.¡± Xia Lei led these people to the warehouse. He watched Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun out of the corner of his eye as he walked.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were talking quietly.
¡°Xia Lei and his factory aren¡¯t producing assault rifles. Thunder Horse Military Factory only has the XL2500 and handguns in their product list. Looks like he doesn¡¯t know what the local arms market and military want.¡± Ye Kun¡¯s voice was low.
Mu Jianfeng spoke quietly too. ¡°We can¡¯t be careless. Xia Lei must have his own source of information. He should know about the local military needs. We¡¯re here today to see if he¡¯s preparing for the weapons exhibition.¡±
¡°If he is?¡±
¡°If he is, then we need to gather information and prepare a counterattack. If we let him make a name for himself at the uing weapons exhibition then it¡¯ll be difficult for us to stop hispany from bing a big name.¡± Mu Jianfeng¡¯s expression was serious.
Ye Kun nodded and looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei slid his gaze away and pretended not to know anything. He¡¯d guessed their motive when he was informed of their arrival. These two were trying to see if he¡¯d produced the local military¡¯s much-needed assault rifle, and they would probably do their utmost to cause trouble for him and ruin his chances of participating in the weapons exhibition if he was.
A sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡®Mu Jianfeng, you old fox. Ye Kun, too. Even if you two were very smart and used all your fox-methods, you won¡¯t get anything out of this. Just you wait - I¡¯ll give you a big surprise on the day itself.¡¯
He only had a sample for the Gust assault rifle now. The design ns for the most critical parts of the gun existed only in his head. What could Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun hope to gain when they didn¡¯t even know of the existence of the Gust assault rifle?
In the warehouse, there were a small number of XL2500 sniper rifles stored there, but arge number of handguns, over 1,000.
ording to Annina¡¯s n, Thunder Horse Military Factory would stop producing handguns in its production lines once the Gust assault rifle production n was put in motion. Almost 60% of production capacity would go to producing Gust. Additionally, if they received arge order from the military, Annina¡¯s n included expansion. This meant further investment and the building of a new production line.
These were all top secret in Thunder Horse Military Factory, and Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun had no idea.
A military officer picked up an XL2500 to try it out. It was not loaded, but the gun¡¯s quality made praise fall from their lips again.
¡°Director Xia, please take us to yourpany¡¯s offices now,¡± said Ye Kun.
Xia Lei looked at Ye Kun. ¡°Are the workshops and warehouse not enough for your visit? What is there to see in the offices?¡±
Ye Kun smiled a heartless smile. ¡°Director Xia, we are here on behalf of the Equipment Department. It¡¯s called a ¡®visit¡¯ to cate you. This is actually an inspection. You understand me? We will see what ces we want to see today.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°So you really want to see our research and development, huh?¡±
¡°We can¡¯t?¡± Ye Kun sneered, ¡°Not just your research and development. I want to take a look at your office too. I¡¯d like to know how you¡¯re managing this factory.¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Please lead the way, Director Xia. We have to take a look at your office,¡± said a uniformed officer. ¡°We¡¯d like to know how your military factory is operating. We will write you up if there has been any vitions and you¡¯ll have to correct these vitions in timely fashion.¡±
This officer who¡¯d spoken was obviously closely connected to Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun. He knew the purpose in their visit to Thunder Horse Military Factory and he was already starting to act on their behalf.
¡°Sure, sure. I¡¯ll take you guys there.¡± Xia Lei did not refuse.
The more he resisted the more Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun would suspect that he had some sort of secret. Why not just let them take a look and quash their hopes on top of lowering their guard?
Lu Sheng came over when they exited the warehouse and spoke softly in Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°Director Xia, the items have been put away. They¡¯ve been sent to the vi.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Got it. Go back to your duties.¡±
Lu Sheng made a sound of acknowledgment and walked off.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun exchanged looks.
Xia Lei brought the group to the office, and Ye Kun looked around the research and development department as he pleased, as well as Xia Lei¡¯s office. However, neither he nor Mu Jianfeng found any clues that Thunder Horse Military Factory had ns to produce assault rifles.
The group went one round around the office and gained nothing. They left the office with Xia Lei leading them.
¡°Gentlemen, the tour of Thunder Horse Military Factory is finished. Would you like to stay for a meal, or return to your establishments? If you¡¯re staying, I¡¯ll notify the canteen to make preparations now.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he spoke, as amiable as can be.
¡°Hold it,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°I saw that your factory has a vi on its premises earlier. Take us there to have a look.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Chairman Mu, that is where I live. You¡¯re interested in looking there too?¡±
¡°Of course. Lead the way,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
Xia Lei spoke casually, ¡°That ce, huh. I have authorisation to go in, but you don¡¯t.¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Ye Kun sneered. ¡°Director Xia, this is a visit by the Equipment Department. What ce can we not enter? Is there some secret which cannot be revealed in that vi?¡±
The group talked and said things to pressure Xia Lei.
Mu Jianfeng seemed even more determined to have a look at the vi because he felt that it hid some secret. ¡°Director Xia, enough of thinking about it - it¡¯s no use. Don¡¯t tell us we have no authorisation. I can guarantee that any one of us here has greater authorisation than you. Stop saying suchughable words.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Great, then I¡¯ll take you there.¡±
The group followed Xia Lei to the vi.
Before they got close to the gates, Wu Xiaoguo and some Special Forces soldiers in full gear stepped forward and blocked the entrance.
Xia Lei did not stop in his tracks. He walked up to the gate and the Special Forces soldiers stepped aside to let him pass. However, when Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun tried to enter, the soldiers blocked their way. Wu Xiaoguo and his men raised their guns.
¡°Halt!¡± Wu Xiaoguo¡¯smand was sharp. ¡°Stand back!¡±
¡°This...¡± Mu Jianfeng paused, then said angrily, ¡°Which team do you belong to? Why are you blocking my way?¡±
Wu Xiaoguo spoke aggressively, ¡°You have no authorisation to know, and no authorisation to enter. I shall warn you again to step back. Do note looking for trouble!¡±
Mu Jianfeng was so angry he could not speak.
An officer came forward and handed Wu Xiaoguo his documents. ¡°Who is your leader? I¡¯ll call him right now.¡±
Wu Xiaoguo nced at the document and chucked it on the ground.
¡°You-¡± The face of the officer who had shown his rank turned the colour of pig liver.
Wu Xiaoguo spoke coldly. ¡°I¡¯ll give you ten seconds to move away, or I¡¯ll arrest you all!¡±
Bang bang bang! A Special Forces soldier fired up into the sky in warning.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were scared by this and they retreated hurriedly.
Xia Lei walked out of the vi and said with a smile, ¡°Gentlemen, you saw it with your own eyes. I¡¯m not lying, am I? I¡¯m really the only one who can enter this ce. You have no authorisation.¡± After a pause, he said loudly, ¡°Chairman Mu, Chairman Ye, don¡¯t be so arrogant next time. You¡¯re not the greatest thing on Earth. There are many more who are bigger than you. Stoping here to damage your own reputation. And let me tell you something else - Thunder Horse Military Factory is not going to go down just because you say so!¡±
These words seemed to be aimed at Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, but it was actually meant for the people behind them.
His message to them was: Thunder Horse Military Factory has an even bigger backer than you guys. I have the political and financial benefits you want here. Think carefully if you still want to be on Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s side and make an enemy out of me!
¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Mu Jianfeng did not want to stay in Thunder Horse Military Factory for a second longer.
Ye Kun raised a finger at Xia Lei, but said nothing. He had a scary look in his eyes.
The group hade making a lot of noise but they¡¯d left with nary a word.
Chapter 482 - Double Agent
Xia Lei gathered all the workers in thergest meeting room the day after Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun exited Thunder Horse Military Factory. He put a big pile of drawings and the nning book Annina had spent a month on in front of him.
Annina sat next to Xia Lei, and Qin Xiang too. Qin Xiang managed the staff when Xia Lei was away, and Annina managed the production and technology. These two yed important roles in thepany.
Xia Lei gestured for everyone to be quiet when they had all gathered. The hundreds of people in the meeting room quieted down in the blink of an eye, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
¡°I called everyone here today to make a very important announcement. There will be a national weapons exhibition soon and it includes light weapons. We don¡¯t need to bother about heavy weapons - our focus is on light weapons. Our aim now is to defeat Hanwu Weapons and getrge-volume orders from the military!¡± said Xia Lei.
The meeting room broke out in a buzz of conversation after Xia Lei spoke.
What he had announced was very important to them because this had to do with Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s growth, and their ie.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze swept quickly over each face in the meeting room, taking note of their reactions. There were many people in Thunder Horse Military Factory and there was no way he could guarantee that every one of them would be loyal. He had gotten rid of several of the moles Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group had nted thest time but it was hard to say that they wouldn¡¯t try to bribe his people again.
For a single person to observe small changes in hundreds of people and their reactions was something pretty much impossible to do, but Xia Lei was The One. His left eyes swept over every face and he remembered everything he saw. His brain worked with his left eye and quickly brought up face after face,paring, analysing and looking for possible suspects.
Xia Lei found two suspicious people with this method in under five minutes. A man was sneakily making an audio recording, and a woman was more excited than the people around her, but she acted calm. Her eyes were glued on the drawings and nning-book in front of Xia Lei.
Xia Lei saw it all but did not let it show. He said, ¡°There are still about 20 days to go to the weapons exhibition. We need to move 60% of our production output to the manufacturing of our new weapon during this time, and win the military¡¯s purchase orders with the weapons we make for the exhibition.¡±
¡°What new weapon, Director Xia?¡± asked an old engineer. ¡°We know nothing of this.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell youter.¡± He quietly observed the two he had ¡®picked out¡¯ as he spoke.
As expected, the two people had an obvious change in expression. The man moved his phone forward, thinking to record what Xia Lei would say next. The woman adjusted her clothing around her chest. This looked like a normal movement but there was a pinhole camera in the button on her chest. She could not hold herself back anymore and started recording the meeting.
The man and woman were waiting for Xia Lei to announce what the new weapon would be, and Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s ns, but Xia Lei stopped talking.
He picked up a ss of water on the meeting table and used it to cover his mouth as he spoke quietly to Qin Xiang, ¡°Qin Xiang, third row, fifth person, male. Fifth row, second person, female. These are industry spies sent by Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group. Call Lu Sheng toe in with some people and take these two away.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Qin Xiang looked surprised. ¡°How do you know that?¡±
¡°Never you mind. Just do as I say.¡± Xia Lei put the ss of water down.
Qin Xiang got up and left the meeting room.
The people in the meeting room were getting more curious about the new weapon and were asking more and more questions, but Xia Lei kept his silence. The room grew rowdy, but he did not stop them.
A few minutester, Lu Sheng came in with two other security men. Lu Sheng looked at Xia Lei, and Xia Lei nodded. Lu Sheng then went straight to the spies, caught them and pushed them out the meeting room.
¡°What are you doing?¡± The man panicked and shouted, ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this, Director Xia? I do my job. I¡¯m working here honestly - why are you treating me like this?¡±
The woman also cried, ¡°Director Xia! Y, You¡¯re mistreating a good person! I didn¡¯t do anything that would harm thepany!¡±
Xia Lei smiled tly. ¡°You two know what you¡¯ve done.¡±
¡°I quit! Let me go! I want to quit!¡± shouted the man.
¡°Yeah! I quit too! I¡¯ll just not work here anymore!¡± shouted the woman.
Discussions broke out in the meeting room again. No one had expected anything like this to happen and most had no idea why Xia Lei was doing this. Some people who were close to the two people felt bad for them and made biased remarks.
Xia Lei pped his palm on the meeting table and pointed at the two spies. He spoke angrily, ¡°I treated you well and you repay me by selling mypany secrets? I¡¯ll have you know that you¡¯re selling national secrets! Prison awaits you!¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Lu Sheng, take his phone and take the woman¡¯s second button. They¡¯re evidence.¡±
Lu Sheng did as told. The man¡¯s phone and the woman¡¯s button were ced before Xia Lei.
The meeting room had quieted down again. People would be disgruntled if Xia Lei did this for no good reason but it was another matter when there was evidence. Industry spies like these would have no sympathy.
Xia Lei yed the recording in the man¡¯s phone, and showed them the pinhole camera in the woman¡¯s button. He wanted his employees to see what fate awaited industry spies!
This convinced all the employees. Who could doubt this?
¡°All right, I¡¯ll deal with these two spies. No need to bother about them anymore. We¡¯ll continue with our meeting.¡± Xia Lei moved the topic on to the meeting.
The meeting stretched on for an hour, scattered by discussions.
Xia Lei announced another thing after the meeting was over. ¡°From now on, it¡¯ll be best if everyone lives in the factory. We have to work overtime to produce the Gust assault rifle for the weapons exhibition.¡±
The meeting room buzzed with conversation again.
Xia Lei raised his hand to quiet the room and said, ¡°It will be tough for over 20 days but your hard work will not be in vain. I¡¯ve decided that you will get a bonus of 10,000 on top of overtime pay. This bonus will be paid out when the need to have overtime is over.¡±
The employees had wanted to object at first but Xia Lei¡¯s announcement blew their negativity away. They let out a cheer. They would get overtime pay for over 20 days and a bonus of 10,000 - who was going to object to that?
The meeting ended and Xia Lei went to the security department.
The two spies looked down, afraid to meet Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
¡°Director Xia, the man¡¯s name is Wu Bin and the woman¡¯s named Hu Hui. I¡¯ve tried questioning them but they won¡¯t say anything. How should we handle this?¡± said Lu Sheng.
¡°I¡¯ll handle this.¡± Xia Lei looked at Wu Bin and Hu Hui and said, ¡°Don¡¯t think Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group will protect you. I have evidence against you. They will be more than willing to cast you off. Don¡¯t you get it? They won¡¯t bother about you now, no matter what I do to you.¡±
Wu Bin and Hu Hui exchanged looks but still did not speak.
¡°How about this - I¡¯m willing to give you two one more chance. Work with me and you will not just get the money Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial promised but some little benefit from me too.¡±
¡°Director Xia, I...¡± Wu Bin hesitated, then said, ¡°I¡¯ll work with you.¡±
Hu Hui was afraid of losing out, and she also said, ¡°Director Xia, I¡¯ll work with you too. I, I was forced into this. My child is sick and needs money for the operation. Th, That¡¯s why I had to betray you and thepany.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I understand you two. Who doesn¡¯t have tough times in life? Come, tell me. Which one of you got bought by Hanwu Weapons and which one by China Industrial Group?¡±
¡°I... The person who contacted me is from Hanwu Weapons,¡± said Wu Bin. ¡°He gave me 100,000 and said he would give me 100,000 more if I got him valuable information.¡±
Hu Hui held her head. ¡°The person who contacted me is from China Industrial Group. He gave me 90,000 and said he would give me more if I manage to gather information for them.¡±
After they spoke, Lu Sheng said angrily, ¡°You pieces of trash! Director Xia pays you more than that annually! You also have insurance on top of your sry! Has your conscience been eaten by dogs?¡±
Hu Hui and Wu Bin hung their heads in shame. They¡¯d thought that they wouldn¡¯t be discovered, and this was just money waiting to be made. They had not expected to be caught like this by Xia Lei.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°How about this - I give you some information and you hand it to Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial so you can get the money. When it¡¯s done, you two quit of your own ord. I won¡¯t go chasing after you to take responsibility. What do you think?¡±
Wu Bin and Hu Hui stared nkly. They had not expected this sort of punishment from Xia Lei.
Lu Sheng shouted, ¡°Director Xia is talking to you!¡±
Wu Bin trembled, then said, ¡°I¡¯ll do it. What sort of information do you want me to hand to Hanwu Weapons, Director Xia?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. Just give what I hand you to them,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I, I¡¯ll do it too.¡± Hu Hui agreed.
Xia Lei spoke to Lu Sheng, ¡°Brother Sheng, find two rooms for them to stay in. Also arrange to have them guarded. I want our people to be present when they contact the Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial people.¡±
Lu Sheng nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know what to do.¡±
¡°Remember - you have this one chance. Screw up and you go to prison,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hu Hui knelt on the floor and cried as she said, ¡°I¡¯ll never do something so foolish again, Director Xia. I¡¯ll do whatever you say.¡±
Wu Bin said nothing but he threw himself on his knees before Xia Lei.
Xia Lei sneered to himself. ¡®Mu Jianfeng, Ye Kun, you want my secrets? Fine. I¡¯ll give you secrets.¡±
Chapter 483 - Spy Game
A weekter, Hanwu Weapons Jingdu Headquarters, Chairman¡¯s office.
Ye Kun respectfully poured a cup of Anxi Iron Goddess of Mercy tea for his visiting teacher, Mu Jianfeng, then sat opposite him. ¡°Has there been any news on your end, Teacher?¡±
Mu Jianfeng took a sip of the tea and said with a smile, ¡°What do you mean by that, Kun? I don¡¯t quite understand.¡±
Ye Kun smiled. ¡°You are my teacher. You know what I mean.¡±
Mu Jianfeng sipped his tea again. He drank, but did not speak.
Ye Kun put on a smiling face. ¡°I¡¯ll be straightforward, Teacher. I had someone ce a pawn in Thunder Horse Military Factory but a week has passed and no information hase through. The date of the weapons exhibition draws closer and closer - I¡¯m getting anxious.¡±
Mu Jianfeng spoke softly, ¡°You think I ced a pawn there because you did? And you¡¯re asking me if there¡¯s been any news? Why would Ie here if I¡¯ve received any news?¡±
This was almost the same as him admitting to cing a spy in Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Ye Kun wrinkled his brows. ¡°Ay, looks like Teacher¡¯s guy didn¡¯t get any information either. That punk Xia Lei¡¯s not letting any of his employees out of the factorypound these days and not letting anyone in either. He must be up to something. I¡¯m worried about this. That punk¡¯s really sly, so I¡¯m afraid he¡¯ll give us a surprise again, like in Moscow.¡±
Mu Jianfeng sighed. ¡°I¡¯m worried too. I can¡¯t tell what that punk¡¯s thinking.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better on your end, Teacher. You¡¯re doing heavy weaponry, but I¡¯m bearing the brunt of it as a light weapons producer. If we let this punk outss us this time, the result would be too horrible to imagine.¡±
¡°That punk¡¯s not just a threat to Hanwu Weapons. We¡¯re under threat too. We may be making heavy weaponry but once that punk expands Thunder Horse Military Factory, who¡¯s to say that he won¡¯t move into heavy weaponry? Besides, you¡¯re my student. It will bring me dishonour if you lose to him.¡± Mu Jianfeng sighed. ¡°The teeth will be cold without lips; we are closely interdependent.¡±
¡°How about we go to Thunder Horse Military Factory again to look around?¡± said Ye Kun. ¡°We can use the same reason again.¡±
Mu Jianfeng shook his head. ¡°He¡¯s already prepared. There¡¯s no use going. Besides, haven¡¯t you suffered enough humiliation thest time? You want to go again?¡±
Ye Kun abruptly remembered something. ¡°Teacher, what do you think is with that vi there? Those soldiers actually refused to recognise your authority.¡±
¡°There must be something fishy about that vi. The worse thing for us is that the higher-ups will give important projects to Thunder Horse Military Factory to research.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Now that you mention it, Teacher, I think so too. Why would those soldiers behave in that way if there was no important project there?¡±
Ginger got spicier with age but even the sly old Mu Jianfeng could not guess that it was the ancient alloy.
Just then, a young woman appeared in the office doorway. She saw Mu Jianfeng and greeted him sweetly, ¡°Hello, Elder Mu. You¡¯re getting younger and younger every year.¡±
Mu Jianfeng just gave a slight nod in response.
¡°What is it, Xiaoqi?¡± said Ye Kun.
This woman named Xiaoqi was Ye Kun¡¯s secretary. She did not speak right away, but nced at Mu Jianfeng.
Mu Jianfeng wrinkled his brows. ¡°What, you want me to leave?¡±
¡°Xiaoqi, have your brains gone to mush? Elder Mu is my Teacher. There is nothing to hide from him. It¡¯s fine, just say it, whatever it is,¡± said Ye Kun.
¡°That person named Wu Bin just called. He said he got something. He¡¯s found a way to sneak out and he¡¯s preparing to send the thing over. He¡¯s also asked to meet at the cafe opposite ourpany. Oh, and, he¡¯s asking me to prepare 1,000,000 for him,¡± said Xiaoqi
¡°1,000,000?¡± Ye Kun sneered, ¡°What a greedy man!¡±
¡°Wait,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°Did he say what he got? 1,000,000 is nothing if what he has is valuable.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve asked him and he gave a brief overview. He said he got information on the new model of assault rifle that Thunder Horse Military Factory is making. He¡¯s got the design ns, and the relevant numbers,¡± said Xiaoqi the secretary.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng¡¯s eyes lit up when they heard that.
¡°When will he get there?¡± asked Ye Kun excitedly.
¡°He¡¯s already on his way,¡± said Xiaoqi.
Ye Kun pped his thigh andughed. ¡°Xia Lei, Xia Lei, you¡¯re smart but you¡¯re going down this time!¡± He said loudly after a pause, ¡°Xiaoqi! Get the finance department to take out 1,000,000 in cash right away. I¡¯ll go personally to make the exchange with Wu Bin.¡±
¡°Right away, sir.¡± Xiaoqi turned to leave.
¡°Hold it.¡± Mu Jianfeng stopped her. ¡°That Wu Bin - did you bribe him?¡±
Xiaoqi nodded. ¡°I did. I put in a lot of work in bribing him.¡±
¡°What does this Wu Bin do in Thunder Horse Military Factory?¡±
¡°He is part of their research and development department.¡± Xiaoqi smiled. ¡°Elder Mu, I¡¯ll definitely not bribe some low-level cleaner. Don¡¯t worry, he will have opportunities to interact with Xia Lei¡¯s design ns.¡±
Mu Jianfeng said, ¡°It¡¯s better to be careful. For such an important thing to fall onto ourps so suddenly... I feel like...¡±
Ye Kun interrupted him. ¡°Teacher, we both bribed quite a few of the Thunder Horse Military Factory employees thest time. Xiaoqi was very discreet this time with the experience we¡¯d gained from the previous time. She bribed just one. Xia Lei is no god either, so he can¡¯t have discovered him.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve had something on your end, but my end...¡± Mu Jianfeng knew that the name of the person who¡¯d been bribed was Hu Hui, but she had not brought anything of value to him so far.
¡°Teacher, this situation is a further indication of why it¡¯s no problem. Think about it - if both our spies got hold of the design ns, then that would be a problem. It¡¯s just Wu Bin who¡¯s got something now and ising over to make the exchange. We cannot miss this opportunity,¡± said Ye Kun.
Mu Jianfeng thought for a bit. ¡°Don¡¯t go personally. Let your secretary go.¡±
Ye Kunughed. ¡°You are too cautious, Teacher. All right, I¡¯ll listen to you. Xiaoqi, take the money and go make the exchange. Remember - bring the design ns back to me at all costs. There will be plenty of benefits for you if you¡¯re sessful.¡±
¡°Thank you, Chairman Ye.¡± Xiaoqi the secretary left the room happily.
In the office, Mu Jianfeng continued savouring his tea while Ye Kun paced anxiously.
¡°Calm down,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°You have to be collected at times like these.¡±
Ye Kun gave him a smile. ¡°Yes, Teacher. I appreciate your wisdom but I just cannot calm myself. Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s XL2500 made a worldwide impact and we cannot fight its poprity even now. Xia Lei has designed a new assault rifle now. I dare guarantee that he is aiming for therge-volume contract from this uing weapons exhibition. How do I stay calm in my position?¡±
¡°What do you n to do after you¡¯ve obtained the drawings and the numbers?¡± asked Mu Jianfeng.
Ye Kun did not even pause to think. He said, ¡°I¡¯ll put production into overtime to manufacture it, of course. We have dozens of times the production capacity of Thunder Horse Military Factory. We can produce a whole load of their new guns. When he participates in the weapons exhibition with the same gun, I¡¯ll sue him for infringement and giarism of ourpany¡¯s designs. Once we have that kid in court, I¡¯m not going to let him off!¡±
¡°Bravo!¡± Mu Jianfeng smiled too. ¡°Your n¡¯s good but you need to add one more step.¡±
¡°What is this step?¡±
¡°First verify the uracy of the drawings and numbers, and their authenticity. We have our engineers, so we can check it all fairly quickly. If Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s new assault rifle is outstanding, then we follow your n. If it¡¯s a in, unremarkable gun, then there¡¯s no need to put it into production,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°Teacher is still best at this.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m the best, but that I¡¯m calmer than you.¡±
The two men¡¯sughter rang in the room.
Half an hourter, Wu Bin appeared in the doorway of the cafe opposite the Hanwu Weapons Headquarters. He looked about, then entered the cafe. Xiaoqi the secretary appeared at almost the same time. She carried a ck locked briefcase into the cafe.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng observed all these through binocrs from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the office.
In the cafe, Wu Bin chose a table next to the window and took a seat. He carried a ck briefcase with him, and he didn¡¯t set it down, not even when the waitstaff came over and asked what he would like to order.
Xiaoqi sat opposite Wu Bin before the waitstaff walked off and she said casually, ¡°A cappino and a chocte dessert, please.¡±
¡°Yes, miss. Thank you for your order.¡± The waitstaff walked away.
Xiaoqi cut straight to the chase. ¡°You brought it?¡±
Wu Bin nodded. ¡°You brought the money?¡±
¡°I have it here. You sure are greedy, asking for so much at once.¡± Xiaoqi put on a look of discontent.
¡°You don¡¯t know how much risk I took to get these drawings. I don¡¯t dare to go back now. I need this money to feed my family, so of course I¡¯ll want more. If you¡¯re not agreeing to this then I¡¯ll leave immediately. People would want these drawings - I could even get a higher price too,¡± said Wu Bin.
¡°Okay, don¡¯t talk about that. Let me see the drawings,¡± urged Xiaoqi.
¡°Let me see the money.¡± Wu Bin was cautious.
¡°You don¡¯t trust me?¡± Xiaoqi rolled her eyes at Wu Bin. She put the locked briefcase on the table and opened it after entering the rightbination. She let Wu Bin look in the briefcase.
There was stack after stack of cash, fresh from the bank.
Wu Bin¡¯s eyes lit up and stayed glued to the money.
Xiaoqi closed the briefcase with a snap and ced it by her feet. She spoke sarcastically, ¡°You don¡¯t want to count it, do you?¡±
¡°No need, no need. I trust you Hanwu Weapons people,¡± said Wu Bin.
¡°Then how about showing me what you have?¡± Xiaoqi was anxious.
Wu Bin handed his briefcase to Xiaoqi.
She opened it and saw a stack of drawings, and the relevant numbers. She¡¯d seen quite a few of these in Hanwu Weapons and she quickly confirmed that these looked authentic. She kicked the briefcase at her feet to Wu Bin, then left with his briefcase.
¡°Miss, your coffee and dessert.¡± The waitstaff brought Xiaoqi¡¯s order to the table.
Xiaoqi did not even look back. She couldn¡¯t wait to run to Ye Kun and show him the prize; she was in no mood to have coffee and dessert.
Wu Bin left the cafe a littleter and walked across a road. He took out his phone and dialled a number. ¡°Director Xia, I¡¯ve done as you instructed.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice came over the line. ¡°Give Hu Hui 400,000, then make yourself scarce.¡±
Chapter 484 - Sexy Mature God of a Man
Five minutes ago.
Secretary Xiaoqi walked out of the cafe and the winter sun shone on her face, warming it. Her smile was brighter than the rays of the sun, and she was in a mood as light as light. She was already fantasising about the benefits this exchange would bring her, like a promotion, or a reward of over a million.
Xiaoqi was not paying attention and she bumped into a man. The briefcase in her hand dropped to the ground and she fell backwards.
The man moved forward and caught her by the waist. His arms were strong and he did not let her fall to the ground.
Xiaoqi then saw the man clearly. His handsome face... and the little bit of stubble on his upper lip, plus his healthily buff body. This man was mature and sexy. What¡¯s more, he was dressed in a Giorgio Armani suit and he had a limited edition Patek Philippe watch on his wrist. He was full of elegance and ss.
Their gazes met and Xiaoqi¡¯s heart started to thump loudly in that instant.
Mature sexiness, elegant handsomeness, sessful - women would be after him even if he were squatting by the roadside eating pancakes. A man like this would find it easy as pie to get a woman¡¯s heart.
¡°Are you all right, miss?¡± asked the man in concern. He still kept his arm around her waist. They looked like they were doing atin dance and had frozen in this pose.
¡°I¡¯m all right. You...¡± Xiaoqi¡¯s face turned red. This man kept her in this position all this while and it made her heart flutter. She was a little nervous too.
¡°Oh, sorry.¡± The man helped her up.
While he did that, he slipped a small t thing into the back of her suit. He was quick, and Xiaoqi didn¡¯t feel a thing.
Xiaoqi suddenly remembered something and she picked up the briefcase from the ground.
The man smiled warmly. ¡°Miss, you look like a friend of mine. Could I ask for your phone number?¡±
Xiaoqi paused. She could barely contain the joy in her heart but she tried to keep a straight face. ¡°Sir, is this how you pick up girls? We don¡¯t know each other and you¡¯re asking for my number? I¡¯m not the sort of woman you think I am.¡±
The man¡¯s face was full of sincerity. ¡°I¡¯m not lying to you. I¡¯ll show you something.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xiaoqi was intrigued.
The man took out a wallet and opened it. A very old-looking photo was pressed in its folds, and it showed a man and a woman smiling, with their heads together. The Egyptian pyramids were behind them. It was easy to tell that this was a picture from a holiday.
Xiaoqi¡¯s gaze went to the woman in the picture and she was struck dumb. This woman looked about 70 to 80% like her. The only difference was that the woman in the photograph looked a little older than her.
The man sighed, and his eyes filled with hurt. ¡°Miss, to be honest, her name¡¯s Kyouka Minako. She¡¯s my girlfriend... but we were attacked two years ago in Iraq and she lost her life.¡±
¡°Your girlfriend¡¯s Japanese?¡± Xiaoqi looked surprised.
The man suddenly bowed to Xiaoqi. ¡°I am Japanese too. My name is Katou Takasuke. I do international trading and I¡¯m here in China for business. I didn¡¯t expect to meet you, Miss. I was reminded of Kyouka Minako when I saw you. Please give me a chance to be your friend, Miss.¡±
Xiaoqi giggled. ¡°Sir, you¡¯re so fluent in Chinese but you¡¯re actually Japanese. It¡¯s quite unexpected.¡±
The man then spoke in Japanese. ¡°I¡¯ve always liked Chinese culture since I was a child and I started learning Chinese from a young age. I am also half-Chinese because my mother is Chinese. This is why I feel a natural fondness for Chinese women.¡±
Xiaoqi stared nkly at his little speech; she did not understand a thing.
The man repeated what he¡¯d said in Chinese, then added, ¡°Miss, please give me a chance to get to know you.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll agree since you¡¯re being so sincere. This is my business card. I get off at five today.¡± Xiaoqi handed the man a card.
The card had her full name, Ye Xiaoqi, and her phone number.
The man put the card away and bowed to Xiaoqi again. ¡°Thank you, Miss Ye.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi pursed her lips in augh. ¡°Just call me Xiaoqi. I¡¯ll wait for you to call. I have to go to work now, so goodbye, Mr Katou Takasuke.¡±
The man smiled and nodded. He watched Ye Xiaoqi cross the street and enter the Hanwu Weapons building.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring went the man¡¯s phone.
The man took out his phone and epted the call. He said just one line. ¡°Give Hu Hui 400,000, then make yourself scarce.¡±
This sexy, mature man was none other than Xia Lei.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng were ying a spy game with him, and they had made two moves in the game already. It was now the third time and Xia Lei was tired of ying passive defence. He was going to go on the offensive now.
They liked to y spy games, didn¡¯t they? It would be a real embarrassment if the ace of Bureau 101 didn¡¯t show his hand, then.
Xia Lei had researched who Ye Kun¡¯s current secretary was, and the photograph in his wallet had been photoshopped. The Katou Takasuke identity had just been put into use a little earlier than scheduled. Besides, he had to use this identity when going to Japanter.
Xia Lei ended the call and went into the cafe. He walked straight to the table where Wu Bin had made the exchange. He sat down and ordered atte. After the waitstaff walked off, Xia Lei retrieved a pinhole camera from the nt by the table and put it in his pocket.
He had instructed Wu Bin to pick this location and arranged for him to sit in this spot for the exchange.
The exchange between Wu Bin and Ye Kun¡¯s secretary had been recorded on this pinhole camera, and this footage would y a major role in Xia Lei¡¯s ns.
The waitstaff brought atte.
Xia Lei drank the coffee and looked at the Hanwu Weapons building opposite. Ye Kun was in that building but he could not find him in the building which was dozens of storeys high. However, he had slipped a listening device on Ye Xiaoqi and that device was going to give him what he wanted.
Xia Lei took a sip of coffee and put his earphones in, waiting quietly for Ye Xiaoqi to meet Ye Kun.
Ye Xiaoqi walked out of the lift and to the chairman¡¯s office of the Hanwu Weapons building. She couldn¡¯t help thinking of the handsome man she¡¯d met and she smiled. ¡®Is this my lucky windfall? I got a new opportunity in my career and I also met a big fish. He¡¯s in international trade, and judging by his outfit, he must be a billionaire at least. He¡¯s also so handsome and so sexy... Today must be my lucky day.¡¯
Ye Xiaoqi reached out a hand and knocked on the door of Ye Kun¡¯s office.
¡°Enter.¡± Ye Kun¡¯s voice came from behind the door.
Ye Xiaoqi took a deep breath and focused her thoughts on work. She pushed the door open and walked in. ¡°Chairman Ye, Elder Mu, I¡¯ve brought the items back. I¡¯ve checked and they¡¯re real.¡±
¡°Quick, bring them over here. Let¡¯s take a look.¡± Ye Kun could sit still no longer and he went over in excitement.
The drawings from the suitcase were ced on Ye Kun¡¯s desk. It was the design n for the Gust assault rifle, and the relevant technical numbers.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng drew close to the desk and they flipped through the drawings.
A few minutester, Ye Kun abruptlyughed aloud. ¡°That punk Xia Lei is our rival but I have to give it to him. He¡¯s a weapons genius. I can tell - just these drawings have already far surpassed what assault rifles we¡¯ve designed in Hanwu Weapons.¡±
Mu Jianfeng was fairly reserved in the beginning and cautious too, but he believed that the drawings were authentic after he saw them. He and Ye Kun had climbed up from lower ranks in the industry and they both had technical knowledge. This technical knowledge also let him smell the great opportunity to be had from this.
¡°No need to get the professionals to verify this, Ye Kun. This gun can be produced,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°This is the new assault rifle our twopanies produced through a coboration. You pick a new name for it.¡±
Ye Kun looked nkly at Mu Jianfeng. He was silent.
¡°Teacher, no, this...¡± Ye Kun did not want to parcel out the gains he had gotten, but he could not reject Mu Jianfeng; he was not just his teacher but his benefactor.
Mu Jianfeng spoke evenly, ¡°Both of us bribed people to be spies in Thunder Horse Military Factory. Your spy seeded, but mine didn¡¯t. How about this, then? Hanwu Weapons take 60% and China Industrial Group takes 40%.¡±
Ye Kun hesitated, but nodded in the end. ¡°We¡¯ll do that, then. You¡¯re my benefactor after all.¡±
¡°Hahaha, I¡¯ve always favoured you. It wasn¡¯t a waste of me helping you rise through the ranks since you¡¯re thinking of me in times of sess now,¡± said Mu Jianfeng with augh.
¡°Teacher, since it¡¯s a coboration between ourpanies, I¡¯ll name this assault rifle ¡®Shenwu¡¯. The namees from one word from each of ourpanies,¡± said Ye Kun.
¡°Shenwu, Shenwu... I like it. Let¡¯s name it Shenwu.¡± Mu Jianfeng was very happy. ¡°I¡¯ll call the patent office right away. We¡¯ll get this patented and cut off Xia Lei¡¯s chance of an advantage.¡±
¡°Swift and resolute, as expected of Teacher!¡± Ye Kun ttered Mu Jianfeng.
Mu Jianfeng used the phone on the desk to make the call.
Ye Kun nced at Ye Xiaoqi and said tly, ¡°What are you still doing here? Go do your work.¡±
¡°I...¡± Ye Xiaoqi started to say something, then stopped.
¡°Oh, right, you did well this time. I¡¯ll get the finance department to give you 50,000 as a reward.¡± Of course Ye Kun knew why she was still standing there.
¡°50,000?¡± Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s fantasies came crashing down around her.
Ye Kun wrinkled his brows. ¡°You¡¯reining that it¡¯s too little?¡±
¡°No, no, no... I¡¯ll go do my work now. Thank you, Chairman Ye.¡± Ye Xiaoqi turned and left, cursing Ye Kun¡¯s family as she went. ¡®Fuck you. I helped you get your hands on such important drawings and you gave me just 50,000 as a reward? Am I a beggar to you? Curse your whole family! May they all die! May you meet with an ident after work. Get crushed by a truck - your head, arms and legs all jumbled up! Die in pieces!¡¯
Women had the most poisonous hearts.
Chapter 485 - Picking Up Chicks
Ye Xiaoqi appeared in the underground parking space in the afternoon at 1710 hrs. She pressed a button on a remote an a champagne-coloured BMW 510li chirped, lights shing. She walked over with her long legs shing, getting ready to drive home.
¡®No promotion and a reward of just 50,000! Go die, Ye Kun!¡¯ Ye Xiaoqi was still cursing him.
Ye Xiaoqi couldn¡¯t move when she got to her car because a red Ferrari FF four-seater supercar was parked next to hers.
BMW was a world-known car brand too but her 520li was like a scooterpared to this Ferrari FF. Her entire car value would just be equal to the cost of one Ferrari tyre.
¡®It¡¯ll be great if I had one too.¡¯ Ye Xiaoqi couldn¡¯t help fantasising about driving a car like this Ferrari FF.
The window of the Ferrari FF suddenly wound down and a handsome face looked out. He was smiling at Ye Xiaoqi.
¡°Mr Katou Takasuke, you...¡± Ye Xiaoqi held a hand over her mouth, so excited she could not speak.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°We meet again, Miss Ye.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi recovered and gave Xia Lei a dazzling smile. ¡°Mr Katou Takasuke, why didn¡¯t you give me a call? Didn¡¯t we agree on that? I waited the whole afternoon for your call.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice filled with charm. ¡°Rather than a call, I think waiting down here for you to get off from work is more sincere. I paid the security staff here a small fee and he brought me to this ce. I waited for you here.¡±
¡°No, no,¡± said Ye Xiaoqi coquettishly. ¡°I waited a whole afternoon for you but you didn¡¯t call. I want you to apany me.¡±
¡°No problem. Get in the car. I¡¯ll take you out for a meal, then we¡¯ll talk aboutpensation, yes?¡± Xia Lei reached out and opened the door of the Ferrari for Ye Xiaoqi.
Ye Xiaoqi looked at her BMW 520li, and at Xia Lei¡¯s Ferrari FF. She hesitated for just one second before she got into Xia Lei¡¯s car.
The Ferrari FF roared and Xia Lei drove out of the parking space. They entered the stream of traffic and the Hanwu Weapons building was soon left behind in the distance, disappearing from sight. Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s thoughts were far away from Hanwu Weapons too. Her head was full of dreams. Who cared about promotion and rewards? Hooking a big fish like this Katou Takasuke was more important!
Half an hourter, the Ferrari FF came to Jingdu¡¯s Hilton Hotel. Xia Lei handed the keys to the concierge, then lef Ye Xiaoqi into the hotel, to the restaurant.
Xia Lei ordered French foie gras and French truffles, paired with French steaks and French red wine. It made one feel like he was in France having a French meal.
Ye Xiaoqi looked at the dishes the waiter brought and was shocked. This meal cost at least tens of thousands. She was not some country bumpkin and also earned quite a bit at dozens of thousands per year, but she wouldn¡¯t ever dare toe dine at a restaurant like this.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t even look at the food and wine on the table. He dipped his chin and looked silently at Ye Xiaoqi. His eyes were gentle, full of emotion, andced with a bit of sadness.
Nothing could surpass that gaze.
¡°Mr Katou Takasuke, you... Why are you looking at me like this?¡± Ye Xiaoqi was delighted but she put on a mask of shyness.
Xia Lei then ¡°came to his senses¡± and hurriedly straightened up. He bowed his head in apology. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯ve made you ufortable, Miss Ye.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi pursed her lips in a smile. ¡°Are all you Japanese people so polite, Mr Katou?¡±
¡°Not all. There are crude people too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re an exception, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°My mother influenced me a lot. She taught me morals since I was a child. She taught be to be polite, to be humble, and to be gentle to women.¡±
¡°Your mother is wonderful.¡±
¡°She would be very happy if she could meet you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Meet your mother?¡± Ye Xiaoqi looked hesitant. ¡°This is... We...¡±
Xia Lei spoke gently, ¡°You two just look so much alike. If my mother saw you, she would definitely think you¡¯re Kyouka Minako.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to be a substitute.¡± Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s voice was small.
¡°No, you are not Minako¡¯s substitute,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ve been quite unhappy these past two years and I¡¯ve finally managed to walk out of the cloud of sadness of Minako¡¯s death. Did you know that I felt a warmth spread in me when I saw you in that cafe doorway today? You look a lot like Minako but you are not her. I will also not see you as her. You are you, Miss Ye. Please believe me, I...¡±
Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s heart filled with nervousness, excitement and bliss. She spoke expectantly, ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei hesitated, then gathered his courage and said, ¡°I like you. I liked you from the moment I saw you. Miss Ye, please be my girlfriend.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Ye Xiaoqi didn¡¯t know what to do.
¡°I know this is very sudden but I cannot resist your charms and my impulses towards you.¡± Xia Lei gave Ye Xiaoqi a look. ¡°Please say yes, Miss Ye. I will be good to you. I¡¯ll make you the happiest woman on Earth.¡±
¡°Mr Katou, I... We... This is too quick, isn¡¯t it?¡± She said the words but her heart was screaming yes.
¡°Miss Ye, love is universal and without limits of time. Please believe me. Our meeting was fate¡¯s arrangement. You are the woman I am fated to marry, and I am the man destined for you.¡± Xia Lei spoke fairly convincingly.
¡°I... We...¡± Ye Xiaoqi kept pretending, pretending to be reserved.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°This is indeed too quick. I¡¯ll give you some time to consider it. I¡¯ll let you see my sincerity during this period of time. Nn, let¡¯s drink.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi pinched herself and scolded herself silently. ¡®Why did I act the chaste girl? I won¡¯t get this sort of chance for a second time in my life!¡¯
Xia Lei poured two sses of red wine. He handed one to Ye Xiaoqi, then clinked sses with her. ¡°For our futures.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi downed everything in her ss in one gulp.
¡°What sort of business are you doing in China, Mr Katou?¡± Ye Xiaoqi started investigating his background.
¡°I¡¯m in international trade. Hm. I¡¯m here in China this time to purchase weapons for my Middle East clients. Ah, I don¡¯t know whichpany to choose over here in China. I know China¡¯s Hanwu Weapons is an old name in the game, but Thunder Horse Military Factory is making waves too. Thepany¡¯s doing well, especially their XL2500 sniper rifle. It¡¯s said to be the best sniper rifle in the world.¡±
¡°You¡¯re an arms dealer?¡± Ye Xiaoqi looked very surprised.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not just weapons. South African diamonds, oil from Iraq ¨C I do whatever makes me money. I¡¯m just so busy. I am always flying from one ce to another. It would be nice if you could help me. I¡¯ll be able to rx a little then.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi thought for a bit. ¡°I¡¯m not so familiar with the other industries but arms dealing is my specialty. You may not know it but I am the secretary of Ye Kun, the chairman of Hanwu Weapons.¡±
¡°Eh? You¡¯re Ye Kun¡¯s secretary?¡± Xia Lei looked surprised, then he smiled. ¡°You actually can help me then. How about you choose for me between Hanwu Weapons and Thunder Horse Military Factory? My Middle East clients have nock of money. They want the best.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t give you rmendations right on the spot for something like this. How about you give me a day? I¡¯ll think properly about it and give you an answer,¡± said Ye Xiaoqi.
¡°No problem. Let¡¯s toast again.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he poured more for her, smiled as he clinked sses.
Ye Xiaoqi was quickly drunk, not because she had low alcohol tolerance but because Xia Lei had added special ingredients to her wine.
Xia Lei brought her to a royal suite in the Hilton Hotel and put her on the bed. This suite was shockingly huge at about 200 square metres. It was done up in a ssical style and oozed nobility and luxury.
¡°I¡¯m not drunk. I can still drink...¡± Ye Xiaoqi gurgled.
Xia Lei retrieved the listening device from her cor and put it in his pocket. He then opened her clutch and rifled through her things. His focus was on her phone. He opened up the phone to take its memory card out and copied the information on it to his own phone.
¡°Ye Kun, you bastard... Go to hell! I got you the drawings and y, you didn¡¯t promote me or increase my sry! I hate you!¡± Ye Xiaoqi was still talking drunkenly.
Xia Lei unbuttoned her clothing, took her skirt off and removed her underwear. This was not because he was attracted to her but because he was carrying out his n.
¡°Go away... Don¡¯t touch me. I want to marry you, my Mr Katou...¡± Ye Xiaoqi mumbled.
A snowyndscape met Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. Majestic peaks, a t stomach, white thighs, and... One could not deny that this gold-digger had something to exchange for gold. She was young, pretty, mature and sexy. She was the image of what most men wanted, and most men would be very willing to sleep with her too, no matter what the motive she had for it.
However, Xia Lei did something which most men would not do.
Xia Lei took out a toy from his briefcase and talked solemnly to himself. ¡®Tianyin, I am not straying. This is for Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡¯
The toy started to buzz. Xia Lei sat next to the bed and frowned at the writhing Ye Xiaoqi, and the toy. When the toy got loose, he reached out a hand to steady it, then continued maintaining the situation and making sure that the toy worked normally.
¡°Katou, my Katou... You¡¯re my everything...¡± Ye Xiaoqi cried out deliriously.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡®I¡¯m not straying, Ruyi. I¡¯m doing this because... Wait. Why do I have to apologise to Ruyi? She won¡¯t mind me doing this. She slept with me behind Tianyin¡¯s back, so she wouldn¡¯t mind if I slept with anyone else other than her and Tianyin, right?¡¯
These meaningless, empty thoughts were just to upy his attention. Neither Shentu Tianyin nor Jiang Ruyi could hear him. If they could, he would never have a peaceful day in his life ever again.
Chapter 486 - I’m Coming, Ye Kun!
Snow fell in the middle of the night, and the world glittered when the sun came up. North China was beautiful when all the dirt was hidden under ayer of white.
It was freezing cold outside but indoors was all warm andden with sex.
¡°Hnnn...¡± Ye Xiaoqi looked down and brought her hands up to cover her face. She didn¡¯t bother to cover her front anymore ¨C she cried sadly.
Xia Lei was next to her being consoling and saying sweet words. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Xiaoqi. I just love you too much. I couldn¡¯t help myself. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡±
¡°Boohoohoo... I¡¯d never have thought that you were a person like this. You made me drunk, then slept with me. I... Boohoo...¡± Ye Xiaoqi started crying again before she finished her sentence.
Her crying produced no tears and the hands covering her face had gaps between her fingers where she could peek at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pretended not to see and continued consoling the woman he had ¡°slept¡± with. ¡°Xiaoqi, do you want me to swear? All right, I swear to the Heavens that if I don¡¯t take responsibility, I will get...¡±
Ye Xiaoqi abruptly covered Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t say that. I believe you. Katou, we¡¯re already at this stage. I¡¯m your woman now, so how can I let you swear something like that? If something bad happens to you then I won¡¯t want to live either.¡±
¡°You¡¯re such a good person, Xiaoqi,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Ye Xiaoqi suddenly threw herself forward and hugged Xia Lei. ¡°I love you, Katou,¡± she said passionately.
¡°The love I have for you is deeper than the sea.¡± Xia Lei felt the hair on his back stand.
Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s hands started roaming, and her voice took on the quality of honey. ¡°Katou, I was drunkst night. You satisfied yourself but I don¡¯t remember anything at all. It¡¯s unfair, isn¡¯t it? Let¡¯s do it again.¡±
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei had a problem.
Before he could answer, Ye Xiaoqi pushed him down on the bed and climbed on top of him. She was like a hungry rabbit which had discovered a carrot, gnawing at Xia Lei¡¯s neck and chest as if she wanted to swallow him up.
Xia Lei was at a loss. ¡®If I¡¯d known, I would have put my clothes on and sit on the sofa to wait for her to wake up. What do I do now? What do I do?¡¯
While he hesitated, Ye Xiaoqi went under the covers and Xia Lei¡¯s brows went up secondster.
Ding-dong went the room doorbell.
Xia Lei hurriedly extricated himself from Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s servicing, almost vaulting out of the bed. He put his trousers on as he asked, ¡°Who is it?¡±
¡°Room service,¡± came the hotel staff¡¯s voice. ¡°The breakfast you ordered is here, Sir.¡±
¡°Tell him to send it inter,¡± said Ye Xiaoqi in annoyance as she stuck her head out of the covers.
¡°That¡¯s not good. The food won¡¯t taste good when it¡¯s cold.¡± He opened the door for the hotel staff toe in as he spoke.
The hotel staff rolled the food trolley in. Xia Lei was already dressed.
Ye Xiaoqi pulled the covers tightly around herself and her face filled with disappointment. Even if Katou Takasuke was not a billionaire, he still was handsome and had a nicely-built body which was entirely delicious to Ye Xiaoqi. She had been about to get a good thing going when the doorbell had rung, so who could me her for being disappointed?
The hotel staff left the room but Ye Xiaoqi couldn¡¯t express her thirst for action when Xia Lei was fully dressed. This was a big fish which would guarantee her a life of luxury and riches, so she had to tell herself to take things slowly and not rush things. She got dressed after the hotel staff left the room.
She did not cover herself up while she was looking for her clothes to put on, and the stimted Xia Lei could not hold back his basal instincts; a rather tall tent appeared in his trousers.
Ye Xiaoqi smirked when she saw Xia Lei¡¯s reaction. ¡°Look at you. Didn¡¯t you have enoughst night?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re too intoxicating. I can¡¯t ever be full. I¡¯ll keep tasting you for life.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll let you have your fill tonight,¡± said Ye Xiaoqi flirtatiously.
¡®What excuse can I use to refuse her tonight?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
After breakfast, Xia Lei drove Ye Xiaoqi to Hanwu Weapons. He opened the car door for her, and waited for her to get out of the car before he asked, ¡°My darling Xiaoqi, you said you would give me a rmendation. Can you let me know your rmendation today?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll definitely give you a very good rmendation, but you have to tell me what sort of weapons your client wants. How many?¡± said Ye Xiaoqi.
¡°This is a order worth USD 200,000,000. He¡¯s mainly interested in assault rifles and grenades. My client is tired of the low quality of the AK47. It¡¯s not urate at all and most of the bullets miss the enemy targets. My client wants the best assault rifle and he is quite satisfied with the Chinese weapons quality and prices, so I¡¯m here.¡±
¡°This is a huge order. I¡¯ll talk to Chairman Ye about this and see what he thinks, then give you a quiet call and make my rmendation. How about this?¡± Ye Xiaoqi put on a ttering smile.
¡°Okay. You¡¯ll be in charge of scouting out Hanwu Weapons, and I¡¯ll take a look around Thunder Horse Military Factory,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re going to Thunder Horse Military Factory?¡±
¡°Yes, their XL2500 sniper rifle is the world¡¯s most advanced. My client is very interested and I must go take a look,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right. Wait for me to call.¡± Ye Xiaoqi drew close and put her arms around Xia Lei. She gave him a feather-like kiss on his cheek.
Some Hanwu Weapons employees hurrying to work were astonished by this scene. The Ferrari FF supercar and the handsomeness of Xia Lei made some of the female employees green with envy. They whispered amongst themselves ¨C What luck did that bitch Ye Xiaoqi have to reel in a man of that standard?
Ye Xiaoqi kissed Xia Lei in front of everyone with the aim of showing off. Under her colleagues¡¯ watchful eyes, she swayed her hips and strutted into the Hanwu Weapons building like she was an international supermodel on the runway.
Ye Kun had been at work bright and early, and he was sitting at his desk reading the newspaper.
¡°Why are you so early today, Chairman Ye?¡± Ye Xiaoqi greeted him, but she still cursed him inside. ¡®You fat pig. Why are you still alive? The world isn¡¯t fair.¡±
Ye Kun smiled. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Xiaoqi. You came at the right time ¨C make me tea.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Ye Xiaoqi went to make the tea and she spat in it before she served it to him.
Ye Kun nodded. ¡°Xiaoqi, I am grateful to you. Don¡¯t worry, I will promote you when there is an appropriate opportunity to do so. As for your performance... That depends on yourself.¡±
He seemed to mean something else.
Ye Kun¡¯s gaze had gone to Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s full buttocks as he spoke.
Ye Xiaoqi was the type of women who knew what he meant by that and she would have epted his advances too, if ¡°Katou Takasuke¡± had not turned up. When shepared them now, however, it was likeparing a nag and a pedigree horse. She wouldn¡¯t even consider Ye Kun worth it because she had Katou Takasuke, much less be Ye Kun¡¯s ything.
Ye Kun thought Ye Xiaoqi was testing his resolve, so he reached over slowly for her thigh. Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s legs under her office skirt were wrapped in flesh-coloured stockings, smooth and full; he¡¯d wanted to y with them for a while now.
Ye Xiaoqi suddenly took two steps back. ¡°Ahem, Chairman Ye, let¡¯s talk about some business.¡±
¡°You want to talk business with me?¡± Ye Kun seemed mad. ¡°Are you thinking of quitting?¡±
¡°Chairman Ye, I made a huge contribution to thepany and you want me to resign?¡± She got mad too. ¡°Chairman Ye, aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll go over to Thunder Horse Military Factory now and talk to Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Ye Kun made two dryughs. ¡°I was just kidding, Xiaoqi. Don¡¯t take it seriously. Come, tell me, what business do you want to talk about?¡±
¡°My boyfriend is in the arms business. He has a client from the Middle East who wants to purchase USD 200,000,000 of assault rifles,¡± said Ye Xiaoqi. ¡°My boyfriend was going to go to Thunder Horse Military Factory but I work for Hanwu Weapons, so I¡¯m going to convince him to buy from us, of course. Now, I¡¯m not sure if I should tell him to buy from Hanwu Weapons...¡±
¡°When did you get a... a boyfriend like this?¡± Ye Kun was surprised.
Ye Xiaoqi spoke smugly. ¡°Can¡¯t I have a boyfriend like this? He is Japanese, and his name¡¯s Katou Takasuke. Oh, right, he¡¯s on his way to Thunder Horse Military Factory now.¡±
¡°What¡¯s he going there for?¡± Ye Kun could not stay seated anymore and he got to his feet anxiously. ¡°Hurry up and invite him here.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi took her time to say, ¡°Invite him here?¡±
¡°How can we let Thunder Horse Military Factory get a USD 200,000,000 contract? Theirpany will grow stronger if Xia Lei gets this contract. Call your boyfriend toe over right away. I want to talk with him.¡±
¡°About that...¡± Ye Xiaoqi started to say something, then stopped.
Ye Kun seemed to understand what she was thinking and he smiled and said, ¡°How about this, Xiaoqi. If you can get this order for Hanwu Weapons then I¡¯ll give you 2,000,000 as a reward.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll keep your word?¡±
¡°Yes. We can have it written down too,¡± said Ye Kun.
¡°No need for that. I¡¯ll call my boyfriend right now.¡± Ye Xiaoqi took out her phone and called the number Xia Lei had given her that morning in the Hilton Hotel.
The voice of ¡°Katou Takasuke¡± came from over the line. ¡°What is it, Xiaoqi?¡±
¡°You¡¯re not at Thunder Horse Military Factory yet, are you?¡±
¡°No. I don¡¯t really know the roads here. I think I took a wrong turn. Ay, I should have taken you with me.¡±
¡°No need to go there anymore. Come to Hanwu Weapons. Chairman Ye wants to meet you.¡± At that point, Ye Xiaoqi lowered her voice. ¡°I¡¯ll let you in on a secret ¨C you¡¯ll get the same assault rifle even if you go to Thunder Horse Military Factory. However, Hanwu Weapons has greater production capability and will take less time toplete orders.¡±
¡°Eh? Why¡¯s that?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to bother about that. I¡¯ll tell you another time.¡± Ye Xiaoqi kissed the phone. ¡°Hurry, I miss you.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right there.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi ended the call and said to Ye Kun, ¡°My boyfriend¡¯sing over now. You have to give him a good price too, Chairman Ye.¡±
Ye Kun paused, thenughed. ¡°You¡¯re helping your boyfriend save money now, eh?¡±
¡°Of course. Half of the money he¡¯s making now will be mine one day.¡±
Ye Kun silently cursed her for being a slut but chuckled as he said, ¡°Haha, I¡¯ll definitely toast you at your wedding.¡±
Meanwhile, a Ferrari FF supercar suddenly turned around on the road and headed towards the Hanwu Weapons building.
In the car, a smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°I¡¯ming, Ye Kun.¡±
Chapter 487 - Blade Hidden Behind Smiles
Ye Kun stared nkly when ¡¯Katou Takasuke¡¯ was led into the office by a security guard. He had a feeling he¡¯d met this person before, but this feeling quickly disappeared when ¡¯Katou Takasuke¡¯ greeted him in Japanese.
A person could use makeup to change the way he looked but he could not change his height and body shape, as well as his aura. However, ordinary people rarely noticed all these and Ye Kun was obviously not a trained agent; he trusted his own eyes more than a fleeting feeling of having met someone before.
¡°Katou, Darling, your Chinese is very good. You don¡¯t need to speak in Japanese,¡± said Ye Xiaoqi with a giggle. ¡°Chairman Ye doesn¡¯t understand Japanese, and there is no Japanese interpreter here.¡±
¡°I do apologise.¡± Xia Lei bowed to Ye Kun. ¡°It is my habit. I hope Mr Ye forgives me.¡±
¡°No, no, it¡¯s all right, nothing to apologise about. Please, take a seat, Mr Katou. Let¡¯s sit and talk.¡± Ye Kun invited Xia Lei to sit but said to Ye Xiaoqi, ¡°Xiaoqi, make a cup of tea for Mr Katou.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi was unhappy with Ye Kun ordering her to do this sort of humble work in front of Katou Takasuke and she rolled her eyes at him, but still went to make tea.
Ye Kun looked Xia Lei up and down, then cut straight to the chase. ¡°I hear you are in the arms dealing business, Mr Katou?¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°Not just arms dealing. I also deal in oil and diamonds. The price of oil, however, has recently taken a dive and is not as profitable anymore. The Middle East is in chaos and needs arge amount of firepower. I¡¯ve moved my business focus to arms dealing.¡±
¡°True, the war in the Middle East has raged for thousands of years. You are a smart businessman, Mr Katou. It is also smart toe here. We, Hanwu Weapons, are the biggest light weapons manufacturers in China. Ourpany supplies the Chinese military with the best weapons, and ourpany can also supply your client with the best. Additionally, our prices are much morepetitive than Europe, America and Russia.¡± Ye Kun observed the changes in Katou Takasuke¡¯s expression as he spoke.
Xia Lei was calm. ¡°Since you¡¯ve said it, Mr Ye, I¡¯ll be blunt too. I¡¯vee to China to make a purchase order of USD 200,000,000. The main aim is to purchase assault rifles and grenades. I also have instructions to purchase some XL2500 sniper rifles. My n is to go to Thunder Horse Military Factory to have a look around. They are the only ones producing the XL2500 sniper rifles, and if they also have excellent assault rifles, I would just make my entire order with them.¡±
¡°There is no need to go to Thunder Horse Military Factory,¡± said Ye Kun. ¡°It¡¯s just a small military factory and their production capacity is limited. Some South American buyers wanted to purchase their XL2500 sniper rifles ¨C Venezu, for example. Their first shipment of XL2500 sniper rifles were for just five guns. Think about it ¨C how long are you going to wait to get your order of XL2500 sniper rifles?¡±
¡°But that is the world¡¯s best sniper rifle. It is normal that it would be limited like this. My client is willing to wait longer,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ye Xiaoqi ced a cup of tea in front of Xia Lei and sat ostentatiously next to him. This was her showing her stance, that she was on his side and had the standing to negotiate with Ye Kun.
Ye Kun frowned. ¡°Mr Katou, you don¡¯t know this but Thunder Horse Military Factory signed an agreement with the Equipment Department. They actually have no power to decide on which international clients they can sell to and have to get the approval of the Equipment Department. All the XL2500 sniper rifles which Thunder Horse produces goes to the Equipment Department and it¡¯s up to them to decide where those guns go.¡±
¡°Eh? There¡¯s something like this?¡± Xia Lei pretended to be surprised. He nced at Ye Xiaoqi, looking as if he was asking for her opinion.
Ye Xiaoqi nodded. ¡°Chairman Ye is right. China is very strict in her gun control, and even manufacturers cannot made the decision to sell to anyone they¡¯d like. They are required to get the approval of the Equipment Department before they can sell to overseas clients. We Hanwu Weapons are under this restriction too.¡±
¡°Ye Xiaoqi.¡± Ye Kun red at her. ¡°Go do your own work.¡±
¡°I...¡± Ye Xiaoqi was unhappy but she could not go against Ye Kun outright. She had spoken up about Hanwu Weapons¡¯ situation because she wanted to protect the rights of ¡¯Katou Takasuke¡¯ but she did not want to anger Ye Kun any further.
Xia Lei held Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s hand gently. ¡°Mr Ye, Xiaoqi is my girlfriend. She is just thinking of me by giving me her opinion while I talk business with you. I like having her with me, so please let her stay.¡±
¡°It is office hours now. She has her job to do,¡± said Ye Kun.
Xia Lei held a hand up. ¡°If you must have her leave, then there is no need for me to stay either. Since the situation is the same, I can just go to Thunder Horse Military Factory. I think Mr Xia of Thunder Horse Military Factory will have his own connections to get the Equipment Department¡¯s approval.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s chest swelled at this show of support from her boyfriend, and a small challenging smile appeared in the corners of her lips. It was no wonder ¨C she¡¯d found a billionaire and could jump ship to Katou Takasuke¡¯spany at any time to be a boss-wife. Would she still need to be a secretary pouring tea for Ye Kun?
Ye Kun was ufortable but he put a smile on his face. ¡°You¡¯re so lucky, Xiaoqi. You¡¯ve found such a good man as Mr Katou. All right, you can stay here with him. Let¡¯s continue our talk, Mr Katou.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Xia Lei was polite.
¡°I¡¯ll be frank with you, Mr Katou. I have connections and I can get you a one-time shipment of 50 XL2500 sniper rifles. If you ce your order with us, you¡¯ll be able to get all that you want and not have to wait long for it either.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great if that¡¯s the case. I¡¯m willing to ce an order with Hanwu Weapons, but I want to see your assault rifles,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°The main aim of this purchase is to get assault rifles after all.¡±
Ye Kunughed. ¡°It just so happens that ourpany hase up with a new assault rifle design. It is very advanced.¡±
¡°Is that right? Great. I¡¯d like to see your assault rifle.¡± Xia Lei put on an interested face.
¡°You can see the sample in seven days,¡± said Ye Kun.
¡°Why do I have to wait for seven days?¡±
¡°Because it is just too advanced and ourpany¡¯s top secret,¡± said Ye Kun.
Xia Lei made a disappointed face. ¡°I see. All right, I¡¯lle back in seven days.¡±
¡°Mr Katou, when can we sign the deal?¡± asked Ye Kun probingly.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Mr Ye, I haven¡¯t even seen what your gun looks like and you want me to sign a deal? I¡¯m no greenhorn in the arms dealing market.¡±
¡°We are China¡¯srgest light weapons manufacturer. Are you afraid that we would scam you? Rest assured, Mr Katou. Work with us and you will not lose out,¡± said Ye Kun.
Xia Lei nced at Ye Xiaoqi.
Ye Xiaoqi shook her head.
Ye Kun cursed silently but said, ¡°How about this, Mr Katou? I cannot let you see the gun now but I can show you the design ns. You are an experienced man, so you will see how advanced our design is if you look at the drawings.¡±
Xia Lei looked interested. ¡°Okay, let me take a look at them. I am experienced in this field and I can tell what¡¯s good and bad about a gun from the drawings.¡±
Ye Kun walked to a corner and opened a safe. He took out a stack of drawings.
The drawings were what Ye Xiaoqi had taken from Wu Bin and brought back to Hanwu Weapons.
Ye Kun handed the drawings to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei flipped through the drawings and said excitedly. ¡°My goodness! Who designed this assault rifle? He¡¯s a genius! I daresay that this will be the world¡¯s most advanced assault rifle once it¡¯s produced!¡±
Ye Kun took the drawings from Xia Lei¡¯s hands before he could finish looking through them. He spoke proudly, ¡°Mr Katou, I¡¯ll be honest with you. You¡¯vee at a very fortunate time. The price of this assault rifle will surely riseter. If you make an order after the weapons exhibition, it¡¯ll be hard to say if you would get such a good price. Whether we sell to you is not a given either. Additionally, we must fulfil the needs of our own military first.¡±
Xia Lei looked hesitant.
One had to admit that this Ye Kun was good at talking business.
¡°Consider it, Mr Katou. This is your chance ¨C don¡¯t me me if you miss it,¡± said Ye Kun.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Mr Ye, I can ce an order with Hanwu Weapons but because I haven¡¯t seen the sample gun I cannot just believe in the name of Hanwu Weapons and make an order. How about this ¨C I put down a deposit of 5,000,000 and we sign the deal.¡±
¡°In Chinese yuan or American dors?¡±
¡°Chinese yuan, of course.¡±
Ye Kun shook his head. ¡°That won¡¯t do. You¡¯re cing an order of USD 200,000,000 but only putting down a deposit of RMB 5,000,000? ording to the current exchange rate you¡¯re only putting down a deposit of around USD 80,000. This is much too low. How about you put down a deposit of USD 10,000,000, and provide all materials and documentation required for the production?¡±
¡°USD 5,000,000, and not more. This is too much risk for me,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ye Xiaoqi cut in to say, ¡°Chairman Ye, Katou has already given in a little, so you should too. This benefits both parties. Besides, Katou hasn¡¯t even seen the sample gun and he¡¯s giving you USD 5,000,000. Isn¡¯t he being sincere enough?¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Ye Kun pointed at Ye Xiaoqi and said with augh, ¡°All right, I have no objections on Xiaoqi¡¯s ount. When will you be able to deliver the relevant materials and documentation to me, Mr Katou? Oh, and the deposit. When can it be transferred?¡±
Xia Lei patted his briefcase. ¡°I have it all prepared. We can sign now and make the transfer.¡±
¡°Haha! Let¡¯s talk about our contact now, then.¡± Ye Kun was happy.
Xia Lei smiled too. He smiled naturally and in quite a friendly way. However, his smile hid a de ¨C a very sharp de.
Chapter 488 - Trap Him
It was just one contract and the signing took only one minute, but the business talk that came before it took hours, stretching all the way to five in the afternoon. Xia Lei transferred USD 5,000,000 to the Hanwu Weapons ount, and signed the name ¡¯Katou Takasuke¡¯ on the contract.
¡°Let¡¯s work well together.¡± Ye Kun¡¯s face filled with a smile. He shook hands with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gripped Ye Kun¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s work well together. Mr Ye, I am only signing this on Xiaoqi¡¯s ount. However, I have to remind you that ording to the contract, your side has to supply 30% of the goods in a month, and the next 30% in the second month. All goods have to be delivered by the end of the third month. If you do not meet the deadline, you must pay a penalty of 50% of the order price. You will need to pay twice the purchase price if there are serious problems with the product quality.¡±
Ye Kun was unperturbed. ¡°There is no need to remind me, Mr Katou. These are all written in the contract. I have to remind you, too, that you have to pay 50% of the total purchase price when we deliver the first shipment. Get the money ready. If you default on the payment you will also need to pay a penalty of 50% of the purchase price.¡±
¡°Money is no object. You can rest assured, Mr Ye. Would a client from the Middle Eastck money?¡± said Xia Lei.
Ye Kunughed. ¡°It iste, Mr Katou. How about I be your host and we have a drink together to celebrate our coboration?¡±
Ye Xiaoqi interrupted them. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the Hilton Hotel. It¡¯s nice there.¡±
¡°I would like to go but I have to hurry back to the UAE. I have to get this contract back to my client and talk with him about your Shenwu assault rifle. My client actually called me to ask how things were going in China when I was in the bathroom. Next time, then. I¡¯ll drink with you next time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I see. Well, whatever is convenient for you.¡± Ye Kun had the purchase order confirmed so he did not need to act so friendly anymore.
Ye Xiaoqi, on the other hand, looked disappointed. ¡°When will you be back, Katou?¡±
¡°I¡¯d have to spend about three weeks there,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh? So long?¡± Ye Xiaoqi was upset.
Xia Lei went to Ye Xiaoqi and reached out to fold her into his arms. He spoke in her ear, ¡°I can¡¯t bear to leave you either but a man must put his career first. I have to be responsible to my client. Also, you can help me keep an eye on the situation in Hanwu Weapons if you stay here and send me updates via messages.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi was not willing to let him go at all, but she nodded.
Xia Lei then said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Once this deal is done you can quit working at Hanwu Weapons ande work with me.¡±
A small smile appeared in the corners of her lips. ¡°Nn, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± She then put her hands on his face and gave him a kiss.
Xia Lei did not retreat from this advance. He was very into his role and actually took the initiative to kiss her deeply.
Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s knees grew weak and she melted into Xia Lei¡¯s arms. She looked like she wanted to melt Xia Lei and eat him up like he was a Haagen Daz ice-cream.
¡°Ahem.¡± Ye Kun could watch no further.
Xia Lei and Ye Xiaoqi pulled apart.
Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s face was red and she avoided Ye Kun¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei said awkwardly, ¡°That¡¯s that, then. Goodbye. I¡¯ll meet you again in three weeks.¡± He walked out of the office with his briefcase.
The weapons exhibition in China would have started after three weeks. That was when he would close his trap.
The winter night came especially early. It was just five, but the sky was as dark as ink. The city¡¯s lights had been turned on long ago, winking and twinkling like the Milky Way. The red Ferrari FF could not move quickly through traffic since it was the peak hour ¨C even a supercar could not outpace the small battery-cars.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei drove the Ferrari FF into an underground parking space. He was not Katou Takasuke any longer when he walked out of that parking space. He had even changed his clothes and there was no trace of Katou Takasuke left.
Xia Lei called a taxi and took it to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s home. He turned on another phone in the taxi; the phone had several missed calls, all from Shentu Tianyin.
¡®So many calls... What did she need?¡¯ thought Xia Lei as he called her back.
The call quickly went through and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice came from over the line. ¡°What were you busy with these past two days, Hubby? Your phone was off whenever I called. I was so worried.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart softened at her words. ¡°It was some business stuff. I can¡¯t talk about it over the phone, so I¡¯ll tell you when I get home, all right darling?¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll be home waiting for you to have dinner. Bye-bye.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was gentle. She hung up.
¡®I¡¯ve cheated on her, but I can¡¯t watch Ruyi jump off a building either... Ay... I¡¯ll feel less guilty if I treat her better¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
He was guilty about his and Jiang Ruyi¡¯s rtionship but he what he did with Ye Xiaoqi did not weigh on his conscience at all. It wouldn¡¯t have been difficult for him to have sex with Ye Xiaoqist night but he had used a toy instead of touching her. This was enough to prove that he didn¡¯t feel anything for her.
Jiang Ruyi was an exception, because there was only one Jiang Ruyi in this world.
He arrived home, and Shentu Tianyin opened the door for him. She even ced some slippers on the floor for him. She did not put on any airs and was warm and gentle like a perfect wife. Her husband hade home from work and she was taking care of him, giving him the warmth of a home.
Shentu Ren was watching a television programme in the living room and he spoke before Xia Lei greeted him. ¡°Lei is back. Let¡¯s start the meal. Us two shall have some drinks tonight.¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°Of course, Father. I¡¯ll drink with you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin pretended to be unhappy. ¡°You two are drinking as soon as you meet. Are you turning into alcoholics?¡±
Shentu Ren chuckled. ¡°Then we¡¯ll turn into alcoholics. Who doesn¡¯t drink?¡±
Shentu Tianyin drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said, ¡°Drink less. It¡¯s not my safe day today.¡±
¡°Safe day?¡± Xia Lei paused and asked in surprise, ¡°Are you in some sort of trouble?¡±
Shentu Tianyin pinched him lightly and said in embarrassment, ¡°You dummy! You don¡¯t know what a woman¡¯s not-safe day is? It¡¯s the third day after a woman¡¯s period is over. It¡¯s easiest to get with child if we have sex today.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The words which came out of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mouth made Xia Lei see her in a new light again. He was intrigued and itched to get into a room and make babies with her right away.
Shentu Ren seemed to have heard a little of their conversation and he changed his tune. ¡°Haha, forget it. I don¡¯t feel so good today. Lei, let¡¯s drink another day.¡±
¡°Yes, Father. As you wish.¡± Xia Lei agreed right away.
The meal begun in happy spirits and ended on a rxed note. The house help came to clear the dishes away and Shentu Ren went back to watching television. He did not ask to drink tea or chat with Xia Lei to give him and Shentu Tianyin an opportunity to get frisky. He was the one who most wanted to hold a grandchild in this household, and his wish was going toe true.
Xia Lei followed Shentu Tianyin into her room.
Shentu Tianyin kissed him and said softly, ¡°I¡¯ll go get the bath ready.¡±
Xia Lei held her back. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you asking where I¡¯ve been the past two days, Tianyin?¡±
¡°You have your own matters to tend to and I cannot ask about everything or you¡¯ll feel like I¡¯m too controlling and not giving you space,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Guilt flooded Xia Lei. ¡°Tianyin, I...¡±
Shentu Tianyin ced a finger on his lips. ¡°Hubby, you have a special status. What you¡¯re doing for the country is a national secret, so there really isn¡¯t a need to tell me.¡±
So kind, so understanding; so warm and thoughtful.
The wife-Tianyin and the Tianyin before bing his wife were like two different people. Xia Lei could see how much importance she ced on their love for each other and this family from what she had said. She was enveloping all of him into her wide and warm embrace.
Xia Lei kissed the finger she had ced on his lips and held her wrist as he said gently, ¡°Tianyin, marrying you was the most fortunate thing to have happened to me.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips moved in a smile of some shyness, and a lot of bliss.
Xia Lei continued. ¡°It was not Bureau 101 this time but about Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
¡°Is your military factory having problems? What can I help you with?¡±
¡°No need. I¡¯ve already taken care of most of it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Tell me - what¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°Do you remember Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng?¡±
Shentu Tianyin nodded. ¡°Of course I remember. Did they cause trouble for you again?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°They bribed two people to be spies in my factory, most likely to hinder my participation in the weapons exhibition. So I...¡±
He gave her a brief summary.
¡°Wait, wait, I¡¯m confused.¡± Shentu Tianyin looked incredulously at Xia Lei. ¡°You said you gave that spy the drawings for the Gust assault rifle, and those drawings are real? Then you disguised yourself as a Japanese arms dealer to ce an order with Hanwu Weapons, and put down a deposit of USD 5,000,000... Hubby, are you sure you¡¯re doing the right thing?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Of course I¡¯m sure. Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun have always been trying to stop the growth of Thunder Horse Military Factory, and not just once or twice. I¡¯m sick of defending so I¡¯m going on the offense now. I¡¯m going to dig a huge pit of a trap for them and get them to jump into it.¡±
The corners of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mouth turned downwards. ¡°I still don¡¯t get it. If Ye Kun has your drawings and produces the Gust assault rifle, then where¡¯s the trap?¡±
¡°The drawings he has are missing the most vital part. Without that part, the assault rifles Hanwu Weapons makes from the drawings would be a joke,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Huh? I see... You sure are crafty. I was fooled too.¡± Shentu Tianyin punched Xia Lei lightly but she felt proud of him.
¡°If I can fool even you, then that Ye Kun will never see it. I had the drawings given to Ye Kun and not Mu Jianfeng because of this. Mu Jianfeng is too sly and not an easy man to trick,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s waist. ¡°Remember that whoever the enemy is, you are not fighting alone. I am your wife, and your enemy is my enemy.¡±
Xia Lei was touched. He kissed Shentu Tianyin¡¯s cherry lips.
A minuteter, Shentu Tianyin was flushed and panting as she said, ¡°I¡¯ll go draw the bath.¡±
Xia Lei gathered her up in his arms and walked towards the bed. ¡°We¡¯ll go take a bathter.¡±
Shentu Tianyin knew what wasing and she shut her eyes. She nodded shyly.
Theing night was sure to be a sleepless one.
Chapter 489 - Pinhole Camera
Hanwu Weapons Headquarters Building, Chairman¡¯s office.
Ye Xiaoqi put a cup of tea she¡¯d spat in on Ye Kun¡¯s desk, then went out of the office to call Katou Takasuke. Unfortunately, Katou¡¯s phone was off and she could not get through.
¡®Why did he turn it off? Even if he is in the UAE, he wouldn¡¯t need to mind the long-distance fees, right? Did something happen to him?¡¯ Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s head was full of guesses, and her mood plummeted.
A woman like her would never truly fall in love with a man, and what moved her was only Katou Takasuke¡¯s money and what she could get out of him.
¡°Ahem.¡± Ye Kun appeared in the doorway with mockery in the corners of his lips. ¡°What, you boyfriend¡¯s not taking your calls?¡±
Ye Xiaoqi paused. She did not look back at Ye Kun but suddenly spoke into her phone. ¡°Katou, the wind storms there are terrible, so take care when you¡¯re out and about. It¡¯s best if you wear a face-mask whenever you go out... Me? I¡¯m doing fine. You¡¯re so sweet for showing me so much care. Mm-hm, I¡¯ll wait for you toe back.¡±
Ye Kun paused then. He¡¯d thought that Katou Takasuke had been ying around with Xiaoqi, but the two of them were unexpectedly in a rtionship.
Ye Xiaoqi put her phone down then looked back at Ye Kun. ¡°Is there something you needed, Chairman Ye?¡±
Ye Kun gave augh. ¡°Nothing. I just wanted to remind you that you can¡¯t rely on Japanese people. If he really is good to you, then it¡¯s no problem to be with him. If he¡¯s just ying with you, however... I¡¯d advise you not to do anything foolish.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi was unsettled. ¡°What are you trying to get at, Chairman Ye?¡±
Ye Kun scoffed. ¡°You don¡¯t get what I mean? You¡¯re one of the employees of Hanwu Weapons. You¡¯d better watch yourself as long as you¡¯re working here. Don¡¯t be telling outsiders aboutpany matters!¡±
¡°Chairman Ye, you...¡± Ye Xiaoqi flushed red. She wanted to retort but lost her courage midway. She¡¯d begun to waver then, wondering if Katou Takasuke was only ying with her because he wasn¡¯t taking her calls. Going against Ye Kun would then be the stupidest thing to do.
Ye Kun spoke coldly, ¡°I would have fired you because of your behaviour yesterday if not for you getting hold of the drawings from Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi hurriedly got to her feet and put a smile on her face. ¡°Chairman Ye, I¡¯m a loyal employee. Why else would I have brought Katou Takasuke to Hanwu Weapons to make his order? Furthermore, we are both surnamed Ye. Aren¡¯t we family?¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s expression softened a little. He walked towards his desk. ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep so wellst night. Give me a massage.¡±
¡®Pervert!¡¯ Ye Xiaoqi cursed him silently but still put on a pleasing smile. ¡°Nn, it¡¯s my honour to tend to Chairman Ye.¡±
Ye Kun sat on the leather chair in the office andid the backrest down and the chair was turned into a recliner. Ye Xiaoqi stood behind him and reached her hands put to give him a massage.
The soft kneading of fingers and the fragrance of a woman made Ye Kunfortable and he was in a good mood. Then he thought of a person ¨C Xia Lei.
¡®That punk must still be dreaming about beating me at the weapons exhibition and taking the huge order from the military, eh? Hahaha... what awaits you is an infringementwsuit. I¡¯llugh as I watch you get ruined¡¯ thought Ye Kun.
¡°Feel better now, Chairman Ye?¡± said Ye Xiaoqi sweetly.
Ye Kun smiled and reached his hands backwards to grab Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s round buttock. Her rump was soft and firm, and the bounce was astounding.
¡°Chairman Ye, you...¡± Ye Xiaoqi was nervous and she struggled for a bit, but Ye Kun¡¯s hands held her in ce like a rope, not letting her leave.
Ye Kunughed. ¡°Don¡¯t you know how I feel towards you, Xiaoqi? It¡¯s more beneficial for you to be with me than with that Japanese man. I can give you tangible benefits. That Japanese man is just cheating you, ying with you.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi hesitated.
¡°Think about it. I can promote you and give you a raise at any time, plus thepany¡¯s benefits are going to be allocated soon. I can give you a t that¡¯s 200 square metres big. That¡¯s worth a few million, you know. Can that Japanese man give you all these? Don¡¯t believe his words. The benefits you can have in your hand is better.¡±
¡°Chairman Ye, I...¡± Ye Xiaoqi was shaken. Katou Takasuke¡¯s handsome face appeared in her head, but it was overshadowed by arge t, and an annual sry of over a million, plus subordinates who would do her bidding.
Ye Kun¡¯s hand slid into her skirt and started wandering about.
Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s breath grew short and she thought, ¡®Ye Kun has a wife and children. He won¡¯t leave them for me. The most he¡¯d do is to keep me and make me his mistress. Katou Takasuke isn¡¯t here either, so why don¡¯t I agree to it first? I¡¯ll get these benefits while I wait for Katou, and if Katou really was just ying with me I don¡¯t lose out either. Why should I put all my eggs in one basket?¡¯
At that thought, Ye Xiaoqi stopped resisting the probing hand under her skirt and her attitude changed noticeably. She weed his advances though she said the opposite. ¡°Chairman Ye, you can¡¯t do this. No... No, don¡¯t be like this.¡±
Ye Kun was an old hand at this. Ye Xiaoqi did not avoid him or move away though she said no, so he knew what she meant. Honestly, he couldn¡¯t wait anymore ¨C he pulled Ye Xiaoqi over to himself, into his arms and kissed and nibbled.
¡°No, no. People will see.¡± Ye Xiaoqi pretended to resist, to reject him, but her body was pleasing Ye Kun, tempting him in the way only women could.
This was the workce and Ye Kun did not dare do the deed, no matter how anxious he was for it. However, he also had a ce for such things. He stood up and wanted to carry Ye Xiaoqi to the rest lounge, but he floundered after two attempts and dragged her into the room. Throughout the process, Ye Xiaoqi was pushing and pulling, saying she didn¡¯t want it but taking her clothes off and acting like she would do the deed at any time.
As the two of them rolled about the rest lounge, a pinhole camera hidden in the bookcase in the room recorded everything that was happening.
Xia Lei had been in this rest lounge yesterday, and he was the owner of this pinhole camera.
A few minutester, Ye Kun and Ye Xiaoqi walked out of the rest lounge. Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s face filled with contempt when her back was to Ye Kun.
Ye Kun, on the other hand, was fairly satisfied and totallyfortable with himself.
Just at that moment, Mu Jianfeng appeared in the doorway of the office. He looked at Ye Kun, then at Ye Xiaoqi. Ye Kun had not pulled his zipper up and Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s face was still flushed. He seemed to understand what had just happened but he did not react.
¡°Why have youe, Teacher?¡± Ye Kun greeted him.
¡°You know why I came. Would you have called if I didn¡¯te?¡± said Mu Jianfeng mildly.
Ye Kun paused. He¡¯d sensed discontent in Mu Jianfeng¡¯s tone of voice and he guessed what Mu Jianfeng hade for.
¡°Please leave us for a bit, Miss Ye. I have something I¡¯d like to discuss with your Chairman Ye,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°Yes, Elder Mu, Chairman Ye. Please take your time. I¡¯ll go out.¡± Ye Xiaoqi left the office. As she walked, she straightened her short office skirt and the underwear underneath.
¡°Let¡¯s talk in the rest lounge, Teacher,¡± said Ye Kun.
Mu Jianfeng nodded and followed him in.
¡°I know why you¡¯vee, Teacher. I was just about to call you.¡± Ye Kun addressed the matter as soon as they entered the room. Speaking about the matter first showed some sincerity, and it would be bad if Mu Jianfeng spoke about it first.
Mu Jianfeng was curt. ¡°Ye Kun, I single-handedly pulled you up through the ranks to get to this position you have today. You cannot forget your roots. You signed a deal for USD 200,000,000 yesterday selling the Shenwu assault rifle which belongs to us. You didn¡¯t even tell me about something like this. You¡¯re breaking my old heart.¡±
¡°Teacher, what you say is...¡± Ye Kun looked ashamed. ¡°Teacher, the workday was over by the time I signed the deal with the Japanese man, so I decided to call you today. I was just about to call you when you arrived. It was just a little dy in informing you, wasn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°All right, I believe you.¡± Mu Jianfeng said evenly, ¡°Tell me, what are you nning to do?¡±
Ye Kun thought for a bit and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s best for you to make the decision, Teacher. I¡¯ll do whatever you tell me.¡±
¡°Have you checked that Japanese man¡¯s identity and hispany¡¯s background?¡± asked Mu Jianfeng.
¡°I¡¯ve checked. I had someone verify the information yesterday and there are no problems. That Japanese man is named Katou Takasuke, from Hokkaido. He has a registered international tradingpany in the UAE which deals in arms, oil and the like. Hispany¡¯s books look good,¡± said Ye Kun.
¡°Who is his client?¡±
¡°Teacher, as you know, the Middle East is chaotic. Besides, this is his client and his business secret. We can¡¯t find out even if we want to.¡±
Mu Jianfeng nodded. ¡°It¡¯s good so long as hispany and money are good. Looks like you were quite careful. All right, you work on this order. You know what I mean, though.¡±
Ye Kunughed. ¡°Teacher, I won¡¯t forget you. Rest assured. The Shenwu assault rifle is a coboration between us. It is the product of both our research and development teams working together. The profits will be split as agreed, be it military orders or international orders. Hanwu Weapons 60% and China Industrial 40%. As for credit, you are always far above me, Teacher.¡±
This made Mu Jianfeng smile. ¡°That¡¯s good. I did not nurture you for nothing.¡± After a pause, he suddenly said, ¡°Kun, pull up your zipper.¡±
Ye Kun looked down, and his face turned the colour of pig liver.
Mu Jianfeng spoke slowly. ¡°Kun, it¡¯s okay to y around but don¡¯t let anyone get hands on evidence against you. We are public officials and investigations are strict now. Do not rock the boat.¡±
Ye Kun quickly said, ¡°I will be careful, Teacher. It¡¯s just ying around. Nothing will happen.¡±
The pinhole camera in the bookcase recorded everything.
Chapter 490 - Scheme-ception
Katou Takasuke had disappeared and no one could contact him.
But Katou Takasuke¡¯s disappearance did not affect Hanwu Weapons¡¯ production. From Ye Kun¡¯s perspective, Hanwu Weapons would make no loss even if Katou Takasuke was killed by terrorists in the Middle East, but get the deposit of USD 5,000,000 with no strings attached. The Shenwu assault rifles Hanwu Weapons would produce would draw orders from not just the military, so there was no worry of no demand. Additionally, if something did happen to Katou Takasuke, then Ye Xiaoqi would be his exclusively. What was there for Ye Kun to worry about then?
China Industrial Group was manufacturing some of the parts for Hanwu Weapons, and Hanwu Weapons manufactured the rest of the parts and assemble them. The Shenwu assault rifles came off the production line one by one at an astonishing speed.
A simr situation was happening in Thunder Horse Military Factory; their production line had started for the Gust assault rifle. Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s production capacity could not bepared to Hanwu Weapons¡¯, especially since China Industrial was helping to produce some parts. The Thunder Horse Group had two other manufacturing nts supplying it with parts too but its production capacity definitely could not bepared to China Industrial Group.
However, though they had the same drawings for the same gun, the gun Hanwu Weapons was producing was missing a key feature ¨C shock-absorption. Only Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin knew about this.
One weekter, night time.
Xia Lei finished his dinner and stood. ¡°Let¡¯s go out for a bit, Tianyin.¡±
¡°It¡¯ste. Where do you want to go? Back to the factory? If you¡¯re going back then I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Shentu Tianyin wanted to stay with Xia Lei the longer they were together.
¡°Go on, go on, you don¡¯t have to bother about home,¡± said Shentu Ren as he ate at the table.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°All right, let¡¯s go. Give us a call if anything happens, Father.¡±
¡°Go, go. What can happen to me? Nothing,¡± said Shentu Ren with augh.
Xia Lei went out with Shentu Tianyin and she moved to get the car but he stopped her. ¡°No need to drive. Let¡¯s get a taxi.¡±
¡°You drive, and I drive too. Why call for a taxi?¡± asked Shentu Tianyin in puzzlement.
Xia Lei put his arm around her shoulders and walked towards the gates of the neighbourhood. ¡°I¡¯m not actually going back to the military factory. I¡¯m going to do some things.¡±
¡°Some things? Is it okay if I go too?¡±
¡°It¡¯s been a week since Thunder Horse Military Factory started manufacturing the Gust assault rifle. Hanwu Weapons has also started production for a week now. There¡¯s something I have to do now, or the trap I¡¯d dug earlier will get filled up.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you sign an agreement with Ye Kun?¡±
¡°We signed, but he has only one foot in the trap. I need him to plunge into it.¡±
Shentu Tianyin gave him a light hit. ¡°Geeze, can¡¯t you tell me your n all in one go and save me the trouble of guessing. I¡¯m so anxious and here you are chuckling.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°All right, see, a gun needs to pass various tests before it cane off the production line, like ballistics, rate of fire, range and so on. These tests usually take a week. Hanwu Weapons took mypany¡¯s drawings and is producing the Shenwu assault rifle now, whichcks the key shock-absorption function so it¡¯s fairly unstable. The first and second tests will be no problem but the third will definitely have problems. I¡¯m guessing that their technical department just did the third test today and they had problems.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was a smart woman and she guessed what Xia Lei was thinking right away. ¡°You¡¯re afraid that Ye Kun would stop the production of Shenwu rifles once he knows about it?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°This is the problem I¡¯m going to solve.¡±
¡°How are you going to solve something like that? They will surely know that they¡¯ve been had when they find problems in testing,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Ye Kun is a sly person, and Mu Jianfeng even more so as his teacher. You¡¯veid this trap and it¡¯s impressive enough that you¡¯ve made them step in it. How are you going to shake Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group? They¡¯re bothrge government-backed corporations.¡±
¡°Wait and see. I¡¯ll get them to fallpletely into my trap,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin was not satisfied with that and she pinched Xia Lei¡¯s waist. ¡°You¡¯re doing that again. Bully.¡±
Xia Lei justughed and walked through the neighbourhood gates with his arm around Shentu Tianyin.
The taxi zoomed on the road. Shentu Tianyin put her chin on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and looked quietly at his face with a sweet little smile on her lips. She was happy ¨C this was Xia Lei¡¯s first time taking her along to do ¡°bad things¡±. She was excited and curious, yet not worried at all. She felt like the safest woman in the world by Xia Lei¡¯s side.
About half an hourter, the taxi stopped in front of a hotel. Xia Lei paid the fare and they alighted.
A motorcycle immediately zoomed over from the middle of the street toe to a sudden stop before Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin. The motorcycle¡¯s front wheel stopped just millimetres from Xia Lei¡¯s trousers.
The motorcycle rider hopped off the motorcycle and the helmet was taken off. The face revealed was one that was more beautiful than most women. Right below this face, however, was an obvious Adam¡¯s apple ¨C he was a man.
The motorcycle rider was Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang removed the backpack from his back and threw it to Xia Lei as he greeted Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Good evening, Sister-inw.¡±
¡°Hello, Qin Xiang.¡± Shentu Tianyin knew the important people close to Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang rolled his eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Really? Why would you bring your wife along for things like this?¡±
¡°I¡¯m bringing her as a distraction from myself. Besides, it¡¯s just a regr person and no danger.¡± After a pause, he asked, ¡°Right, has the target appeared yet?¡±
¡°Just went in,¡± said Qin Xiang with a wicked smile.
¡°Keep watch outside. I¡¯ll go in with Tianyin.¡± Xia Lei went to the hotel lobby with Shentu Tianyin.
Qin Xiang watched them go in, then muttered after a while, ¡°I was supposed to y the role, and now it¡¯s changed to Shentu Tianyin. Is he trying to train her up to form a husband-and-wife duo? She¡¯s a rich youngdy ¨C is she suitable for it?¡±
Shentu Tianyin didn¡¯t hear a word of what he said.
A few minutester, Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin took the lift up to the eighth floor. Xia Lei took out a room card from the backpack and opened a room door with it.
This room had been pre-booked and a notebookputer sat at the bedside table.
Xia Lei opened it up and tapped it out of sleep-mode. A video feed of another room appeared on the disy screen.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s pale cheeks grew red with embarrassment when she saw what was on the screen. She turned her back on it and stopped looking.
The screen showed an overweight man on top of a young woman, and they were doing a shameful act.
This man was Xia Lei¡¯s target. He was Zheng Xu, the person in charge of gun testing in the technical department of Hanwu Weapons. He was one of the department directors in Hanwu Weapons.
The young woman was beautiful and had a seductive figure. Her name was Zhang Yingying and she was good at pleasing men. Qin Xiang had found her.
When Zhang Yingying had met Zheng Xu a week ago, their meeting was like kindling to me. They had checked-in to this hotel on the first day they¡¯d met. This room had been booked by Zhang Yingying, of course. Her role was simple in Xia Lei¡¯s scheme. She was to seduce Zheng Xu, sleep with him, and make a video of their acts.
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s back was to the notebookputer but she looked at Xia Lei with surprise. ¡°You nned all this a week ago?¡±
¡°Not a week. Two weeks ago,¡± said Xia Lei.
Two weeks ago ¨C that was after Xia Lei had discovered the spies which Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group had bribed. He needed a perfect n to fight back. He had registered apany in the UAE, and ¡°sold his body¡± on top of spending money to get Ye Xiaoqi, while using a beautiful woman to seduce Zheng Xu, the director of gun testing. His schemes didn¡¯t end there. He had things nned for possible future scenarios too, and countermeasures. This was a huge andplicated scheme but with his brain now, this sort of nning was asplicated as writing an essay; it was as easy as pie.
Shentu Tianyin stared nkly for a bit, thenughed. ¡°You¡¯re too clever. It¡¯ll be great if our children have your smarts.¡±
¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Shentu Tianyin pursed her lips. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°I¡¯m smart and you¡¯re smart, so our children will be smarter than us.¡±
Shentu Tianyinughed too. She would have started on the process of making these clever children of theirs right then if Xia Lei didn¡¯t have something important to do.
On the disy screen, Zheng Xu was finished and hey tiredly on the bed.
Zhang Yingying pulled the covers over herself and Zheng Xu as she said sweetly, ¡°Xu, darling, when are you going to divorce your wife? You¡¯re not lying to me, are you? If you¡¯re lying then I¡¯ll go to your home to jump off the building. I¡¯ll die right before your eyes.¡±
Zheng Xu said tiredly, ¡°What the hell. It¡¯s not going to be so quick. Give me more time. I¡¯ll definitely divorce my wife.¡±
¡°Then write me a guarantee. Guarantee that you¡¯ll divorce your wife.¡±
¡°What guarantee?¡±
¡°You¡¯re not going to write it? I¡¯ll go to your home and jump. Watch me die.¡± Zhang Yingying spoke fiercely, and casually brought out a pen and a piece of A4 paper from the bedside table.
¡°I mean... Why write a guarantee? Wait for me to get my sry for the month, and I¡¯ll buy you a gold ne. How about that?¡±
¡°Boohoohoo...¡± Zhang Yingying started crying. ¡°You can say anything when you want my body. I believed you and slept with you, and you¡¯re not even willing to write a guarantee? I.. I don¡¯t want to live anymore! I¡¯ll die right not! Watch me die!¡±
Zhang Yingying moved to get out of bed.
Zheng Xu hugged her and relented. ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll write it, okay?¡±
Zhang Yingying wiped her tears away. ¡°Then write it.¡±
Zheng Xu forced himself to write a guarantee that he would divorce his wife and be with Zhang Yingying on the paper provided.
Zhang Yingying took the guarantee and gave Zheng Xu a smacking kiss on his fat face. ¡°You¡¯re the best, Hubby.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll rest for a bit before I take another pill.¡± Zheng Xu had ascivious smile on his face. ¡°We¡¯ll y again.¡±
Zhang Yingying pointed a finger at Zheng Xu. ¡°Were you born in the year of the pig? You can¡¯t seem to eat your fill.¡±
In the other room, Xia Lei opened up the backpack and took out a silicone mask.
It was his turn to make an appearance now.
Chapter 491 - Stick and Carrot
Xia Lei became another person in the short span of two minutes. His skin became rough, dark, and pockmarked. He looked like a mean and vicious person.
¡°How did you...¡± Shentu Tianyin was so surprised she could not speak.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I made this. I can make one for you too if you¡¯d like one.¡±
Shentu Tianyin shook her head. ¡°No thanks.¡±
¡°I¡¯m going over. Wait here for me.¡± Xia Lei left the room.
Shentu Tianyin looked at the screen of the notebookputer. She could not contain the excitement she felt. She had never experienced something like this before and everything was new to her. However, what made her happiest and most touched was that Xia Lei had brought her along to see him carrying out his n. This proved that he was truly treating her like family and that she had an irreceable position in his heart.
On the screen of the notebookputer, Xia Lei used the card and opened the door.
Shentu Tianyin watched the screen closely. The video was showing some things which should not be seen but she did not want to look away. She wanted too much to know what Xia Lei was going to do.
In the other room, Xia Lei scared Zheng Xu with his sudden entrance. Zheng Xu was still naked when he pointed angrily at Xia Lei and roared, ¡°Who are you? Get out!¡±
Xia Lei rushed forward and grabbed Zheng Xu by the wrist. He wrenched, and Zheng Xu shouted in pain.
Zhang Yingying crawled out from under the covers and slowly started putting her clothes on.
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows. ¡°How shameless.¡±
In the other room, Xia Lei said fiercely, ¡°You! The one surnamed Zheng! You dare touch Big Brother¡¯s woman? Are you sick of living?!¡±
¡°Who¡¯s your Big Brother?¡± Zheng Xu was scared silly.
¡°You¡¯re not qualified to know who my Big Brother is but I can tell you that he is powerful in Jingdu¡¯s underworld and politics. Even Ye Kun has to bow to him.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s ims were big indeed.
Zheng Xu looked over at Zhang Yingying. He could not figure out how this woman had be an important person¡¯s woman.
Zhang Yingying suddenly got to her knees next to Xia Lei and wailed, ¡°Brother Scar, I,I,I was wrong. Please, please don¡¯t tell Big Brother! I¡¯ll die if he finds out!¡±
Zheng Xu¡¯s face grew pale; all the blood had drained from it.
¡°Big Brother already knows. I would not havee here otherwise,¡± said Xia Lei coldly.
¡°What? I¡¯m dead... I¡¯m dead! What do I do? What do I do?¡± Zheng Yingying was on the verge of copsing.
Xia Lei red fiercely at Zheng Xu. ¡°Speak. Tell me how you want to die. Buried alive? Hacked to death? Strangled? Or shot?¡±
¡°I, I, I...¡± Zheng Xu was so scared he could not speak.
¡°I¡¯ll choose for you. The gun is best.¡± Xia Lei took out a gun from his waist and pressed its dark muzzle on Zheng Xu¡¯s forehead.
A warm puzzle formed between Zheng Xu¡¯s legs, and the nket covering him was wet. He was a cowardly man and he had been scared into pissing himself.
¡°Well, my Big Brother is willing to let you live.¡± Xia Lei changed his tone, and even put a faint smile on his face. ¡°And if you do as he says, you¡¯ll get to reap some benefit too.¡±
Zheng Xu saw a ray of hope and he grabbed at it like a drowning man grasping at straw. He quickly asked, ¡°Wh,Wh,What does he want me to do?¡±
Xia Lei spoke slowly. ¡°My Big Brother also had a request. This person is an important person, so don¡¯t ask. Just do as Big Brother says.¡±
¡°What do you want me to do?¡±
¡°Simple. You¡¯re in charge of the gun testing in Hanwu Weapons. Didn¡¯t you justplete the Shenwu assault rifle testing this week?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Zheng Xu calmed a little. ¡°The design of that gun is quite unique but it has a very big w. The first and second tests were no problem and it performed very well. The problem appears in the third test. The trajectory is off, the range is halved, and the overall performance of the gun is unstable. Jamming and damage from the recoil of firing appears.¡±
¡°What is your analysis?¡±
¡°This gun cannot be put into production. Problems will ur after firing only a few bullets, and putting it into production would be as good as producing scrap,¡± said Zheng Xu.
¡°When do you n to tell Ye Kun?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯d nned on telling him today, but...¡± He nced at Zhang Yingying and stuttered, ¡°She said she was pregnant and she wanted to negotiate with my wife. I, I had no time to meet Ye Kun. I nned on settling the problem with her first before meeting with Ye Kun... B, But then you came.¡±
Zheng Xu was a man who was afraid of his wife, but he was also a lustful man. In his world, the mistress meeting the wife was a matter which was much more critical thanpany matters. Xia Lei had investigated this, otherwise he would not have arranged things this way. Everything that was happening was due to his meticulous scheming.
¡°Good thing you haven¡¯t told Ye Kun,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ah? Why do you say that?¡± Zheng Xu did not understand.
¡°Big Brother doesn¡¯t want you to tell Ye Kun. And you¡¯ll have to modify the test results of the Shenwu assault rifle. You¡¯re to report that there are no problems with this gun and that it is excellent.¡±
¡°Th, This...¡± Zheng Xu was troubled. The consequences for this would be dire.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°If you don¡¯t do this, your wife will see the video of you checking into a room with this woman. Your precious daughter won¡¯t want to see you ever again. And Big Brother will send you down to hell.¡±
Zheng Xu¡¯s face turned ashen again. His voice trembled as he said, ¡°I can¡¯t do that. I¡¯ll be fired if I do that. And... And I¡¯ll be held ountable. My life afterwards would be ruined.¡±
¡°Big Brother has thought it out for you.¡± Xia Lei took out a bank card and threw it at Zheng Xu¡¯s face. ¡°There¡¯s 5,000,000 on that card. It¡¯s enough for you to do something else. The code is thest six digits on the back of the card. You can withdraw the money at any time.¡±
One side was threat of death by a figure in the underworld and his family being ripped apart, and on the other was 5,000,000. Zheng Xu made his decision after thinking for only a few seconds. ¡°I, I¡¯ll do as you say.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You¡¯re a smart man. You made the right decision. But I have to warn you ¨C no tricks. Our Big Brother has given you 5,000,000 so you have to do as he instructs or you¡¯ll die.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t y any tricks. I¡¯ve long be weary of Ye Kun. I can just quit and not work at Hanwu Weapons anymore. What can he do to me?¡± Zheng Xu bbered.
¡°Very good. That¡¯s it, then.¡± Xia Lei put the gun away, then said to Zhang Yingying. ¡°What are you still doing here? Go kneel to Big Brother and beg for forgiveness!¡±
¡°I, I¡¯ll go right now.¡± Zhang Yingying crawled to her feet and rushed out the door.
A minuteter, only Zheng Xu was left in the room. He held the card Xia Lei had given him and looked at it for a long while before a smile suddenly appeared in the corners of his lips.
5,000,000 was a huge sum for a sried worker. One would have to work his whole life to maybe get that much. Zheng Xu was better off than a lot of the sried people but 5,000,000 was still arge sum to him. This money seemed to havee down from the heavens for him.
¡°I¡¯ll go check the bnce. If the number in there is as he¡¯d imed, I¡¯ll go back to thepany and give my report right away!¡± Zheng Xu left the room too.
In the other room, Shentu Tianyin hugged Xia Lei, who had just removed his mask. She smiled a dazzling smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to solve the problem this way. I think it you¡¯ll be a big star if you change career paths and tried being an actor.¡±
Xia Lei put his arms around Shentu Tianyin¡¯s slender waist and said gently, ¡°I didn¡¯t know how to do these before. I learnt it all at Bureau 101. Some things cannot ever be aplished via legal channels. I only did this because I had no other choice.¡±
¡°I understand,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°State-owned enterprises upy the best part of the market. They¡¯re rich and also arrogant. The privately-owned businesses cannotpete with them and get the upper hand at all. You snatched the cake from the hands of Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group so they will surely try to take you down and chase you out of their territory. You can only use these sort of methods to protect your own business and rights, to get some justice for yourself. It¡¯s all right. I¡¯ll support you, no matter what you do.¡±
Her words touched Xia Lei and he kissed her cherry lips. Shentu Tianyin let out a soft moan, and Xia Lei melted her instantly. Only one man in this world could make Shentu Tianyin this way, and that was Xia Lei.
Clothing dropped to the floor, piece after piece. A passionate collision of flesh urred, over and over.
Half an hourter, everything quieted down.
¡°Hubby, a month is almost up. Gu Kewen...¡± Shentu Tianyin started to say something, then stopped. Her brows were wrinkled with worry.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already obtained permission. Boss Shi of Bureau 101 is allowing me to take Gu Kewu to Japan,¡± consoled Xia Lei.
¡°You got permission for something like this?¡± Shentu Tianyin was astonished.
¡°I do things for them, so they have to give me something in return,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Anyway, you don¡¯t have to worry about this. Run Vientaine Group well. I¡¯ll help you settle your other matters.¡±
¡°Nn. But I¡¯m still worried about your trip to Japan.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right. You saw that I can make a very realistic mask. I¡¯ll change my face and go to Japan. No one will recognise me.¡±
¡°But Gu Kewen is not an amateur. You said yourself that she¡¯s one of the CIA now. She must have people helping her. You¡¯ll be in danger.¡±
Xia Lei drew close to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s jade ear and said in a low voice, ¡°The higher-ups have given me instructions to kill Gu Kewen and Gu Kewu. I won¡¯t negotiate with her. Plus, I¡¯m not working alone. Bureau 101 will support me.¡±
Shentu Tianyin rxed. Shey peacefully in Xia Lei¡¯s arms, the flush of exertion still not gone from her cheeks.
Chapter 492 - Banquet Queen
Two weekster, Jingdu International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
China¡¯s ¡°International Weapons Exhibition¡± banquet.
A silver Rolls Royce Phantom came up to the doors of the International Convention and Exhibition Centre, and an elegant young man and an ice queen stepped out from the car. They walked into the Centre.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that Vientaine Group¡¯s Shentu Tianyin?¡±
¡°I heard the two of them got married in secret and they¡¯re holding their wedding at the end of the year.¡±
¡°What secret is that? The media covered that already.¡±
¡°These two really look good together. I¡¯m so envious.¡±
¡°Xia Lei can¡¯t be with Shentu Tianyin because of her money, can he?¡±
¡°What are you talking about? Xia Lei made his own money. He became a billionaire in the short time of over two years. Would a guy who¡¯s so capable be gunning for Shentu Tianyin¡¯s money?¡±
¡°I wonder what new weapon Xia Lei will bring out this time. He made waves in Moscow thest time.¡±
¡°A small private business is lucky enough to enter the arms dealing industry. So what if he¡¯s making waves? Xia Lei is just a little monkey who can¡¯t shake the Heavens like the Monkey God, not with Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group keeping him down.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t say that. The times are changing. The country¡¯s reforming itself too. I believe Xia Lei can make a name for himself in the arms market.¡±
Discussions flowed, and some opinions were good, some bad.
These whispers were heard by Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin but they did not respond. They treated these words like the wind. Their lives were theirs to lead, not anyone else, so these people could say what they want.
The wine reception being held in the Centre was luxurious and the space huge. There were already a lot of guests when Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin entered the reception. Some of the guests¡¯ gazes went to them and the situation was the same. People started whispering among themselves, talking about Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
The two of them drew attention wherever they went.
This was because of Xia Lei¡¯s handsomeness. His sturdy and well-toned body lines, his confidence and this special aura of his drew the attention of all. And Shentu Tianyin¡¯s beauty was unparallelled. She had a great presence and after marrying Xia Lei, she was stained by love and her aura had an added tinge of sexiness to it. Her special status as the wealthiest woman in China also made it impossible for people not to notice her.
Whether it was looks, poise, or capability, Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin were a perfect match. Their marriage was like a perfectbination and it made everyone envious.
Of course, there were those who saw this newlywed couple as a thorn in their side too.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng were examples of people like these.
¡°That punk is here.¡± A smile of distaste appeared in the corners of Ye Kun¡¯s mouth. He was in the corner of the banquet hall. ¡°He¡¯s probably still enjoying the looks he¡¯s getting with Shentu Tianyin, huh? He must be thinking of surprising everyone at the exhibition tomorrow, huh? Humph. What¡¯s waiting for him is a painfulwsuit.¡±
Mu Jianfeng held a ss of red wine in his hand and said softly, ¡°Kun, is your team ofwyers prepared?¡±
¡°Of course they are.¡± Ye Kunughed. ¡°We¡¯ll just wait for Thunder Horse Military Factory to disy their gun at the exhibition tomorrow. I¡¯ll make sure that Xia Lei would have a one-way ticket to hell then.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll go talk to an old friend.¡± Mu Jianfeng walked away from Ye Kun¡¯s corner.
Ye Xiaoqi brought a ss of orange juice over to Ye Kun. Her voice was gentle, ¡°Have some orange juice, Chairman Ye. It¡¯ll be better for your body afterwards when you drink alcohol.¡±
¡°How thoughtful of you.¡± Ye Kun reached out to take the ss, and he grasped her little hand as he did so. Her soft hand made him flood with lust as he recalled the exertions of thest night.
Ye Xiaoqi pretended to be shy. ¡°I¡¯m already yours. Who will care for you if I don¡¯t?¡±
¡°Hm. That Katou Takasuke hasn¡¯t contacted you?¡±
A trace of hate appeared in Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s eyes at the mention of Katou Takasuke¡¯s name. ¡°Don¡¯t talk about that bastard. He tricked me. I couldn¡¯t contact him at all.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken, Chairman Ye. I only contacted him aboutpany matters. I won¡¯t give him a second look even if he kneels down before me right now. He can¡¯t evenpare to a toe of yours.¡±
Ye Kun loved hearing that and he smiled as he said, ¡°I told you that Japanese people cannot be trusted. You just be with me and you¡¯ll have a good life.¡±
¡°Yes. I¡¯ll do whatever you want me to do.¡± Ye Xiaoqi blinked flirtatiously at Ye Kun. She had her tricks in dealing with men.
¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll take you to see my rival.¡± Ye Kun started walking in the direction of Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
Ye Xiaoqi followed Ye Kun, and her gaze fell on Xia Lei. It was her first time seeing him, but for some reason, she felt like he was familiar. That build... that height... it was simr to Katou Takasuke¡¯s. However, this feeling quickly vanished. The presence of Shentu Tianyin next to Xia Lei was too strong, and Ye Xiaoqi felt like she was being defeated somehow the closer she got to her. She could not look closely at Xia Lei because of this.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on Ye Xiaoqi too but he just nced at her and looked away. He had no feelings for a woman such as her, and he had just used her. There was nothing beyond that.
¡°I hope you¡¯ve been well since west met, Mr Xia.¡± Ye Kun said pleasant words but a smile of disdain was in the corners of his mouth.
¡°Mr Ye.¡± Xia Lei smiled too as he said, ¡°We¡¯ve known each other for a while now, so we¡¯re sort of friends. I¡¯ll give you a friendly warning. I see your Yintang point is growing dark. It looks like you¡¯re going to have bad luck.¡±
¡°Humph. When did you learn how to do fortune-telling?¡± Ye Kun scoffed. ¡°But you should be changing your career path. I¡¯ll introduce some customers to you if you open up a fengshui shop. You¡¯ll make money for sure.¡±
Xia Lei did not react to the barb and said, ¡°Oh, and Mr Ye, your eyebags are quite puffy. You don¡¯t look so good either. Don¡¯t be too greedy for women now, you hear?¡± He nced at Ye Xiaoqi as he spoke.
Ye Xiaoqi looked away.
Ye Kun looked at Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Miss Tianyin, look at what your husband is saying. This is a very serious venue.¡±
Shentu Tianyin spoke casually, ¡°My husband has always varied his words ording to who he¡¯s speaking to. It¡¯s best for you to take his advice.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh.¡± Ye Kun let out a fewughs. ¡°I¡¯ve said too much. You are Xia Lei¡¯s wife, so why would you listen to my words of kindness? Never mind, Mr Xia. Let¡¯s talk about business.¡±
¡°What would you like to talk about with me?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°The weapons exhibition will start tomorrow. Ourpanies are both manufacturing light weapons... I wonder if yourpany has any weapons to put on exhibition?¡± said Ye Kun.
¡°Why would I tell you?¡±
¡°Heh heh. Still trying to keep it secret from me? It¡¯s all right. I¡¯ll see it tomorrow,¡± said Ye Kun, ¡°But I¡¯ll have to remind you that you have to keep to your own role when doing business. Don¡¯t copy the designs of others or you¡¯ll get in trouble.¡±
¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Xia Lei put on a quizzical look.
¡°You don¡¯t get it? You¡¯ll see for yourself.¡± Ye Kunughed. ¡°You¡¯re still young. You¡¯ll know the meaning of this in time. You don¡¯t have to worry about losing out either. Get some lessons and you¡¯ll get smart.¡±
¡°But I¡¯m afraid that there are those who think they¡¯re all superior and won¡¯t ever learn.¡± Ye Xiaoqi interjected. She was helping Ye Kun put Xia Lei down.
Xia Lei did not react.
Shentu Tianyin, on the other hand, red at Ye Xiaoqi. ¡°What did you say? Who are you?¡±
Ye Xiaoqi dared not respond, and dared not look Shentu Tianyin in the eye.
¡°She is my secretary. Is there a problem?¡± said Ye Kun.
Shentu Tianyin spoke tly. ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re his secretary. What a good match. Secretary, a word of advice. It¡¯s best that you think about what you¡¯re going to say before anythinges out of your mouth. You can¡¯t just say anything, especially for people like you. What right do you have to say such things to my husband? What are you to my husband? Nothing.¡±
¡°You...¡± Ye Xiaoqi was angry but she could not retort. She alsocked the courage to go up against Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Enough. What¡¯s the use in bullying a young girl, Shentu Tianyin?¡± Ye Kun shot back. ¡°Say what you need to say to me. I¡¯d like to see how strong the rtionship is between you two as husband and wife.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t get cocky too soon, Ye Kun. There¡¯s an old saying that goes ¡®tragedyes from joy¡¯. Why don¡¯t you try to amass good karma? Be wary of retribution.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, just you wait. You¡¯ll see who sees tragedy.¡± Ye Kun sneered, and left with Ye Xiaoqi in tow.
There was no need for this exchange of verbal attacks, whether it was Xia Lei or Ye Kun. Neither of them could be easily toppled by harsh words. The exhibition on the next day was to be the true time to go all out, and today was just a warm-up.
Ye Kun took Ye Xiaoqi with him and Shentu Tianyin smiled. ¡°I couldn¡¯t help imagining what he¡¯d look like earlier when he¡¯s fallen into the trap.¡±
¡°Shh.¡± Xia Lei pulled her hand and squeezed it gently, telling her not to talk about things like this in this venue.
Shentu Tianyin resumed her ice queen persona and was all lofty again.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± A gruff old voice suddenly came from behind.
Xia Lei looked back to see the old master of the Tang n, Tang Yunhai. Tang Yuyan was there too, in a beautifully embroidered blue-white cheongsam. Around her neck was the ne which Xia Lei had given her. She was a ssical beauty, dignified, beautiful and sweet-tempered. She was also a rare good-looker who made eyes light up when looking at her.
Tang Yuyan would be the most beautiful person to look at if Shentu Tianyin were not attending this banquet. With Shentu Tianyin there, however, she could not surpass her in beauty and be the best-looking at this banquet.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s gaze went to the ne around Tang Yuyan¡¯s neck, and she nced subconsciously at the ne around her own neck. However, women with gemstone nes at this event were everywhere and she did not suspect anything. Besides, she was sure that the ne Xia Lei had given her were the most valuable, and the only one of its kind, because it was a treasured item of thest Queen of Jerusalem.
Xia Lei had sensed a raging headache about to happen when he saw Tang Yunhai, Tang Yuyan and the ne around her neck. He couldn¡¯t help thinking ¡®Why have Old Master Tang and Tang Yuyane? The Tang n is not involved in arms dealing, are they? If they¡¯re not, then are they here to cause trouble for me? That¡¯s impossible, right?¡¯
His thoughts were a mess of guesses.
Tang Yunhai and Tang Yuyan hade over by then, and right behind them was Mu Jianfeng.
It was a meeting of enemies on a narrow road!
Chapter 493 - Fight Between Women
¡°Grandfather Tang. I didn¡¯t expect to meet you here.¡± Xia Lei greeted him first, and he put a smile on his face. ¡°Yuyan, too. You¡¯re beautiful tonight.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± said Tang Yuyan. She then looked at Shentu Tianyin and said with a smile, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to introduce us?¡±
Tang Yunhai spoke discontentedly, ¡°That¡¯s right, Boy. Why didn¡¯t you tell me you got married? And you¡¯re not making introductions? What¡¯s this, eh?¡±
Xia Leiughed awkwardly and made introductions. ¡°This is my wife, Shentu Tianyin.¡± He then gestured at Tang Yuyan and Tang Yunhai with an open palm. ¡°Tianyin, this is Grandfather Tang of the Tang n. This is his granddaughter, Tang Yuyan.¡±
Shentu Tianyin smiled faintly. ¡°Hello, Grandfather Tang. Hello, Miss Tang.¡±
She said nothing more than that. She was not cold, and not friendly either; her attitude was fairly neutral. She was Shentu Tianyin, the chairperson of Vientaine Group, the wife of Xia Lei. Whichever status it was, she had not obligation to pander to anyone. There were only two men she had been gentle to in her life, and they were her father, Shentu Ren, and her husband, Xia Lei.
¡°She¡¯s extraordinary indeed.¡± Tang Yunhai gave a sigh. ¡°Congrattions, Xia Lei. You found a good wife.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
Tang Yuyan was still staring at the ¡°Sacred Heart¡± ne around Shentu Tianyin¡¯s neck. Shentu Tianyin did not know where that ne hade from but she knew. This made her a little jealous, because the ne Xia Lei had given Shentu Tianyin was obviously much better than hers.
But being jealous didn¡¯t change anything. Xia Lei was already Shentu Tianyin¡¯s husband. Could a gift from husband to wife be worse than a gift to a friend?
At that moment, Mu Jianfeng came close with a smile of familiarity. ¡°Time sure passed quickly, Xia Lei. When I first saw you, you were running a roadside machining shop but you¡¯re the Chairman of Thunder Horse Group now. You¡¯re quite an impressive young man. I rarely admire others but you are one I do admire.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too kind, Chairman Mu,¡± said Xia Lei evenly.
¡°I am speaking the truth, not being polite.¡± Mu Jianfengughed. ¡°Xia Lei, I¡¯ll have to say something in caution, though. ¡®An outstanding person is more likely to be attacked by the jealous¡¯ and ¡®the wind shall make the forest bow¡¯. You¡¯re still young and youck these experiences. I do look favourably upon you, young man, and I hope that you will make the right decisions in certain matters. Do not act on emotions.¡±
His words were subtly hinting at something but Xia Lei understood what he meant. Xia Leiughed. ¡°Thank you for your kind words, Chairman Mu. What you say does sound reasonable, but those are old ideals. The times are changing now, and I prefer the new lines of thought.¡±
¡°Oh, I¡¯m interested. Tell me about them,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°Our country is reforming, and the market is also rapidly maturing. Some people want to monopolise the market for the benefit of a few and hinder the progress of the nation. This is undoubtedly a situation where one has overrated himself and is attempting the impossible, and also self-destruction,¡± said Xia Lei.
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s face darkened. He understood what Xia Lei was getting at.
¡°Heh heh, what¡¯s going on?¡± Tang Yunhaiughed. ¡°I¡¯m a practitioner of martial arts and I dislike these philosophical mumblings. Let¡¯s just drink.¡±
Tang Yuyan waved and a waiter walked over with a serving tray.
Each of them got a ss of red wine, clinked sses and drank. This looked like a scene of harmony, but each person had his or her own thoughts and ns.
¡°Miss Tianyin, your ne is beautiful. It¡¯s very valuable, isn¡¯t it?¡± Tang Yuyan stood opposite Shentu Tianyin and started some girly chit-chat.
Shentu Tianyin spoke evenly, ¡°My husband gave this to me and it is indeed very valuable. Oh yes, your ne is not bad either. Where did you buy it from?¡±
¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t buy it. Someone gave it to me as a gift.¡± Tang Yuyan nced at Xia Lei and giggled. ¡°Xia Lei gave it to me.¡±
Xia Lei had a fierce and sudden headache. Tang Yuyan had done this on purpose, and it was not the first time either. She had written ¡°Tang Yuyan was here¡± on his buttocks thest time, and specially arranged for her subordinate to send him home to Shentu Tianyin. She had done that to make it known to Shentu Tianyin, hadn¡¯t she? And it was in to see now that Tang Yuyan still harboured feelings for Xia Lei even though he was married to Shentu Tianyin, and she was causing trouble for him whenever she could. He knew her motives, but he could not do anything about it.
How was Shentu Tianyin going to react to such a challenge?
Mu Jianfeng had a faint smile on his face as he looked on in schadenfreude.
Tang Yunhai gave Tang Yuyan a re, but he did not say anything to his grandchild.
Only Xia Lei was nervous, and he couldn¡¯t help observing the change in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression out of the corner of his eye. He had a clear conscience about giving Tang Yuyan the ne, since she had gone through life-and-death situations in Afghanistan with him. He had taken the gems from Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb and he didn¡¯t want to take them all, so he had given some to Tang Yuyan. Additionally, he had also given gems to Long Bing and Annina, all as gifts. However, he was unable to do anything about it if Shentu Tianyin attached some other meaning to these gifts.
Everyone was looking at Shentu Tianyin¡¯s reaction. She reached out a hand and held Xia Lei¡¯s arm. She smiled faintly as she said breezily, ¡°Well, it¡¯s fortunate that he¡¯s given me the most valuable, or I¡¯d be jealous.¡±
These words almost made Tang Yuyan choke.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief. Before he could calm down, however, Shentu Tianyin quietly pinched him on his waist. This pinch was hard, and it stung.
She said she was not jealous but it was a lie. She could tell that the ne Xia Lei had given Tang Yuyan was worth millions at least. In a normal context, a man giving a woman such an expensive ne was not something normal at all. She was not magnanimous enough to allow Xia Lei to visit several flowers at once, much less this wildflower called Tang Yuyan, who was trying to challenge this cultured rose that was Shentu Tianyin.
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He was starting to regret bringing Shentu Tianyin to this banquet now.
Just at that moment, music started in the grand hall, and quite a few guests begun to ballroom dance on the dance floor.
Tang Yuyan smiled. ¡°Would you care for a dance, Xia Lei?¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression was ice itself. She could see that this Tang Yuyan liked her husband, and it wasn¡¯t a normal level of ¡®like¡¯ either! How dare this Tang Yuyan try to challenge the rtionship between her and Xia Lei so openly like this!
Shentu Tianyin nced at Xia Lei, and some nervousness sprang in her heart.
Xia Lei gave a cough. ¡°Uh, Yuyan, my foot¡¯sme. I can¡¯t dance. So sorry.¡±
¡°Your foot¡¯sme? You looked perfectly fine earlier.¡± Tang Yuyan was not giving up.
Xia Lei did not want to say more about it and he changed the topic. ¡°Grandfather Tang, you¡¯re not in the arms dealing business. Why have youe today?¡±
¡°I am a martial artist, and also a military man. I like weapons. Our country is holding such arge weapons exhibition, so of course I¡¯lle to participate in the activities. I heard the sniper rifle you¡¯re producing is good, Boy. I hope I see it at the exhibition tomorrow. Oh, right, do you have a testing range? I want to try out your Thunder Horse Military Factory guns tomorrow,¡± said Tang Yunhai.
¡°Of course. Ourpany will provide the best customer service for our clients, and that includes a live test. Only guns which have been properly tested live are the best guns.¡±
Tang Yuyan seemed to remember something. ¡°Oh, right, I remember you developed an assault rifle. It was very impressive. Will you be bringing it out at the exhibition tomorrow?¡±
She seemed to have stopped meddling in his love affairs.
¡°Of course I will. It is ourpany¡¯s main item. My n is to take over the domestic market, then enter the international military market. The American and European manufacturers have dominated this market for too long. I want to show the world the true capabilities of Chinese manufacturing, and let the world hear our voice.¡±
Mu Jianfeng had a mysterious smile on his face, and he spoke lightly. ¡°Young man, it¡¯s good to have ideals but not all your ideals will be reality. I think you¡¯ve set your target too high, and you won¡¯t even be able to dominate the domestic market. Don¡¯t forget that Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s influence is not even a tenth of Hanwu Weapons¡¯. From what I know, Hanwu Weapons will also have an excellent product that they¡¯re going to showcase at the exhibition. They are confident that they will get thatrge order from the Chinese military.¡±
¡°Elder Mu, that¡¯s not right. This world belongs to the young¡¯uns. Our Chinese youth should have their own ideas and the daring to carry them out, to fight. If their ideals and drive are taken away, then what can our country do? How will it grow strong?¡± said Tang Yunhai.
Mu Jianfeng did not argue with Tang Yunhai.
A staff member of the exhibition walked over just then and handed a letter to Xia Lei. ¡°Mr Xia, this is the booth space that the management has assigned to Thunder Horse Military Factory. Please take a look. You can let your people enter the exhibition area to start setting up the booth after the banquet.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± The staff member walked off.
Xia Lei opened the letter. There was theyout of the exhibition area in there, and Thunder Horse Military Factory had been assigned to a far-off corner next to the public toilets. The booth space was also pitifully small.
This was outright insulting!
¡°How can they do something like this?¡± Shentu Tianyin was angry too.
Mu Jianfeng did not even look at the paper. ¡°Xia Lei, how about I talk to someone to see if you can get assigned to another space?¡±
Xia Lei took a deep breath and did his best to calm the mes of anger in his heart. ¡°You must know something of this, Chairman Mu. It¡¯s all right. There¡¯s no need for you to speak on my behalf. I am confident that I can still triumph and win that big military contract even if my booth is in the toilet.¡±
¡°Oh, really. Then congrattions in advance. Hehehe.¡± Mu Jianfeng chuckled.
¡°Hubby, apany me to the bathroom,¡± said Shentu Tianyin softly.
Xia Lei nodded, and he walked towards the bathrooms with Shentu Tianyin on his arm.
Tang Yuyan watched Xia Lei¡¯s legs and pursed her lips. ¡°His leg¡¯s totally fine, yet he says it¡¯sme. Really. He¡¯s even apanying Shentu Tianyin to the bathroom. What a henpecked man.¡±
Tang Yunhai gave Tang Yuyan a re. ¡°You wench. Why are you trying to cause trouble for Xia Lei in front of Shentu Tianyin? I know you like Xia Lei but this is not the way to show how you like him. This is foolishness, you know that? If you keep doing this you¡¯ll ruin your chances of getting the man, and even ruin your friendship with him.¡±
Tang Yuyan sighed. ¡°I¡¯m just not willing to give up. Okay, okay, I know what to do. I won¡¯t act like this again.¡±
Chapter 494 - Pride and Prejudice
Tang Yuyan came to cause trouble but Xia Lei did not hold it against her. He understood her, that she was a woman and that love was a selfish thing in the world of women. The life-and-death situations in Afghanistan, the changing room in Moscow ¨C these were experiences Tang Yuyan would never forget. He would not forget them either but they were just memories. He did not have designs on Tang Yuyan.
Shentu Tianyin did not really want to go to the bathroom. They went into the corridor and stopped walking when there was no one else around. She turned around to look at Xia Lei. She said nothing, and just looked at him.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and bit the bullet. ¡°I know what you want to ask me. Let me exin.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve told you that the ne was from Afghanistan. It was when I was on a mission. I got all these from the tomb of a princess, and I did not hand these in. I couldn¡¯t just take them all for myself either, so I gave Tang Yuyan a ne. It wasn¡¯t just her. I gave a ne to Long Bing too. I also gave one to Annina and to Jiang Ruyi. Annina is the Chief Engineer at Thunder Horse Military Factory. She¡¯s German but she¡¯s wanted by the German and American intelligence, so her name here in China is Xia Mei.¡±
He had to say it all at once, so Shentu Tianyin would not make wild assumptions and get jealous if she found out about the nes Jiang Ruyi and Annina had.
Shentu Tianyin felt a little better after hearing Xia Lei¡¯s exnation. ¡°I¡¯m not that petty. I just think that Tang Yuyan¡¯s a little overboard,¡± she said.
¡°Don¡¯t quibble with her. She¡¯s a martial artist and quite a headstrong woman who does what she wants. She rarely considers the feelings of others.¡±
Tang Yuyan writing on his buttocks was an example of this.
The corners of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mouth turned slightly downwards. ¡°I don¡¯t care what sort of personality she has, but I do mind one thing. I can tell that she likes you a lot.¡±
Xia Lei felt a sharp stab of a headache. There was no way he could stop Tang Yuyan from liking him. Simrly, there was no way Shentu Tianyin could stop Gu Kewu from liking her in the past too. How was he going to solve this problem when the problem was not with him?
¡°Promise me that you¡¯ll spend less time around her, all right?¡± Shentu Tianyin stared straight at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Mm, I promise.¡±
Shentu Tianyin smiled then. ¡°How many gemstone nes did you get from Afghanistan?¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°I still have some, about seven or eight. Why ask?¡±
¡°Hand them to me. I want a guarantee that you won¡¯t give them out to more people. I¡¯ll let Xia Xue pick two, and the rest shall be added to the heirloom list, like this ne. They shall be passed down to our daughter, our son.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shentu Tianyin pouted again. ¡°Are you giving them to me, or not?¡±
¡°I will.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°I¡¯ll hand them over to you when we get back.¡±
Shentu Tianyin took Xia Lei¡¯s arm and said with a smile, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go to the bathroom anymore. Let¡¯s go back to the banquet.¡±
Xia Lei let out a long, silent breath of relief. This spat between the couple was settled. It was a good thing that Shentu Tianyin was an intelligent and reasonable woman. If it were another woman who was very petty, then the situation would have escted dramatically.
Back in the banquet hall, the banquet was in full swing.
Xia Lei led Shentu Tianyin to the doorway. He already knew the location of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth, so there was no need to stay longer.
Tang Yuyan watched Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin go, and her lips twitched, but she did not say what she wanted to say. Her eyes had met Shentu Tianyin¡¯s in that instant, and there was gunpowder in the air as their gazes shed.
¡°Xia Lei, the banquet is not over yet. Are you leaving?¡± came Ye Kun¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei looked back to see Ye Kun on the stage and looking at him with a wireless microphone in hand.
¡°Don¡¯t be in a rush to leave. The management will invite the vendors and the guests to view the exhibition area afterwards. Don¡¯t you want to see where your booth is located?¡± Ye Kun¡¯s voice was filled with mockery.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks.
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows. ¡°This guy is really annoying. Are you staying? I¡¯ll apany you if you¡¯re staying.¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to stay and take a look,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn, I¡¯ll stay with you.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was gentle.
Following that, Ye Kun said some words on behalf of Hanwu Weapons, and it was Mu Jianfeng¡¯s turn to say something for China Industrial Group. Both their speeches were more or less the same ¨C empty words.
After Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun spoke, they went to mingle with the representatives of manufacturers. It was obvious that this weapons exhibition was controlled by China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons. These twopanies were like two huge crocodiles which had marked out their territories in the river, and they were working together to take over the whole river. This was a monopoly, and onlyrgepanies like Hanwu and China Industrial had the arrogance to do this.
After a representative of the management said a few words, the banquet guests were brought to the exhibition area.
The huge exhibition space already had several booths set up there, and products put on disy. There were still many workers busying about setting up booths when the representative led the guests in. It was a hustling and bustling scene.
The most eye-catching booths at the exhibition belonged to China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons, of course. The twopanies had had their booths set up in advance, and both booths had employees ready to promote their products.
When Xia Lei saw this, he immediately understood why he had been the only one to receive a letter at the banquet. The management had deliberately done so. They had informed himst, so that he could not set up the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth in advance. They had done this on Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s instructions, no doubt about it.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Hanwu Weapons¡¯ booth. He spotted several light and heavy firearms, small guns, big guns, guns ranging from sniper rifles to heavy machine guns - there was a variety of guns. However, one part of their booth was covered by ck cloth, and no one could see what was behind it.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched, and the ck cloth disappeared from his vision. He saw dozens of the so-called ¡°Shenwu¡± assault rifles. These guns looked exactly the same as his Gust assault rifles on the surface, just without the core shock-absorption mechanism.
The stone weighing on Xia Lei¡¯s mind fell away at the sight of those Shenwu assault rifles, and a sneer appeared in the corners of his mouth.
Ye Kun walked over and said with a smile, ¡°Chairman Xia, what do you think of our exhibition booth? Not bad, eh?¡±
Xia Lei nodded and said with a smile, ¡°Very nice. It¡¯srge and nicely designed. Good location too.¡±
¡°Where is Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth?¡± said Ye Kun mockingly. ¡°I¡¯d like to see where your booth is located and what it looks like.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I just received the notification at the banquet and I had no idea where my booth was going to be located before that. Where would I have the time to set up a booth?¡±
Ye Xiaoqi interjected. ¡°Chairman Ye, isn¡¯t it easy to find Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth?¡± She raised her arm and pointed at the public toilets far, far away. ¡°It¡¯s over there. Those going to the toilets would see it.¡±
¡°Hm? Well then, that¡¯s quite a good spot too.¡± Ye Kunughed loudly.
Xia Lei was calm as he watched Ye Kunugh. He wasughing inside too. This man had already fallen into his trap, so who¡¯s going to be the oneughing?
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows and said, ¡°What is the meaning of this? Are you hitting someone who is down?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Ye Kun said with a smile, ¡°A small little civilian business entering arge national defence exhibition like this is already a feat in itself. Do you mean that you want more?¡±
¡°It¡¯s human nature. Always greedy,¡± quipped Ye Xiaoqi.
Shentu Tianyin was mad. ¡°You...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°Tianyin, let¡¯s go see my booth. We¡¯ll go home when we¡¯ve seen it. This spot here stinks.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Shentu Tianyin walked with Xia Lei in the direction of the toilets.
Ye Kun watched them go and he muttered, ¡°I just don¡¯t get it. Why would a woman like Shentu Tianyin marry Xia Lei? She could get any man she wanted with her profile.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi spoke huffily, ¡°Chairman Ye, do you like Shentu Tianyin too?¡±
Ye Kun sighed. ¡°Who wouldn¡¯t like a woman like that? But I¡¯m old, ha ha. I¡¯m not her type anymore. I¡¯m your type though.¡±
¡°Aw, geeze. You¡¯re so naughty,¡± said Ye Xiaoqi flirtatiously. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to go home tonight. Come to my ce.¡±
Ye Kunughed and nodded. His wife at home could notpare to this vixen of a woman.
Mu Jianfeng walked over, and Ye Xiaoqi backed away smartly for the two men to talk.
Mu Jianfeng cut straight to the chase. ¡°Kun, that Katou Takasuke hasn¡¯t contacted you?¡±
¡°No, but it¡¯s not time to ship the goods yet. We¡¯d agreed on the first shipment to be sent on thest day of the exhibition. I am in no hurry,¡± said Ye Kun.
Mu Jianfeng made a small frown. ¡°I feel like something is wrong with this deal for some reason.¡±
¡°Teacher, you¡¯re too paranoid.¡± Ye Kunughed. ¡°I am in no mood to think about the deal with Katou Takasuke now. I¡¯m more concerned with how I¡¯ll deal with Xia Lei tomorrow. He would surely bring his Gust assault rifle to the exhibition tomorrow and my team ofwyers are going to give him a good showing then.¡±
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s backs. He watched them for a while, then said, ¡°We have to tear him to pieces this time. Leave nothing behind.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t go easy on him,¡± sneered Ye Kun.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin finally spotted the booth space the management had allocated to Thunder Horse Military Factory. It was right next to the public toilets and fairly small on top of being far from the entrance. It didn¡¯t lookrger than 20 square metres, and it was even smaller than a little studio.
What exhibition booth was this? This was a stall-space at a vegetable market!
Shentu Tianyin sighed. ¡°They¡¯re such bullies. A civilianpany is still one of thepanies of this nation. How can they treat you like this?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Nothing¡¯s fair in this world. If you want it to be fair then you¡¯ll have to fight for it. I don¡¯t care about this. I believe in my guns. I am confident that I¡¯ll be able to attract everyone even with my booth was moved to inside the toilets.¡±
¡°You know, your confidence has always attracted me, and captivated me.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes were full of tenderness. ¡°But how are you going to promote your booth?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Come over if you have time tomorrow and you¡¯ll see.¡±
Shentu Tianyin wrinkled her brows, then pinched Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re being secretive again. What a bad bully. I¡¯ll have my revenge on you when we get home.¡±
Xia Leiughed.
Chapter 495 - The Queen Heats Up The Floor
It was no surprise that Thunder Horse Military Factory had be the joke of this weapons exhibition. This joke was not known by many, however, because the people participating in the exhibition did not know where Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth was.
Xia Lei seemed to have be reckless because of the hopeless situation. He did not put anything up and just brought a few people and some guns and ammunition to the exhibition booth. Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifle and the newly-designed Gust assault rifle were put inrge boxes and wheeled into the exhibition hall on a handcart.
Xia Lei got his people to open up the boxes when they got to the booth. Theyid out stic sheets and put the XL2500 sniper rifles and Gust assault rifles haphazardly on them. They put some up on the boxes themselves too, and that was it for the setting up of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth.
This setup was just like putting out vegetables for sale at a wet market.
¡°Director Xia, this won¡¯t do,¡± said a young female employee. She volunteered to do something better. ¡°How about we move two containers over to make a counter. We can also dress sexier and draw some eyes.¡±
¡°No need.¡± Xia Lei shot down the employee¡¯s suggestion.
The female employee pursed her lips but didn¡¯t say more. She¡¯d been prepared to sacrifice herself to draw customers, but her boss¡¯s attitude was like this. She couldn¡¯t say anything more. Let him be reckless!
Qin Xiang, who hade over too, came up to Xia Lei and said in a soft voice, ¡°That girl¡¯s suggestion is not bad. This location is so lousy that no one ising here. Who would know what we¡¯re doing here? How about we let the customer service girls dress sexier and draw customers?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What are you guys so anxious about? Didn¡¯t we bring a banner? Put it up.¡±
Qin Xiang shrugged. The banner Xia Lei was talking about was just a simple line of cloth with ¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory¡± printed on it. What use was this in banner going to be?
Just as the employees were wondering if Xia Lei had given up on this exhibition because he¡¯d argued with Shentu Tianyin or something, Xia Lei gave his second set of instructions. He said to the female employee who had spoken up earlier, ¡°Take two people with you. Give my name card to the overseas purchasers and the foreign reporters. If they ask you for details, say that we, Thunder Horse Military Factory, have manufactured the most advanced assault rifle in the world and it¡¯s time for the European and American assault rifles to get pushed out of the ying field.¡±
¡°Is this... going to work?¡± The female employee was doubtful.
¡°Why won¡¯t it? It¡¯ll work if you do as I say,¡± said Xia Lei.
The female employee walked off with two other female colleagues, each of them with carrying a prepared stack of name cards. They were on the hunt for overseas purchasers and reporters.
Qin Xiang looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Will this work?¡±
It was the same question but Xia Lei answered this time. ¡°I defeated Barrett in Moscow, and bested FN and HK too. This is my basis. Our XL2500 is the best sniper rifle in the world. The European and American media may not admit it but they have taken note of the Thunder Horse name. I¡¯m getting our employees to tell them and we have not just the world¡¯s best sniper rifle but the world¡¯s most advanced assault rifle. So, do you think they¡¯lle take a look?¡±
Qin Xiang understood then, and he chuckled. ¡°Oh boy, that¡¯s a good one. You¡¯ve thought of this already, haven¡¯t you? I have to give it to you ¨C you made us worry for nothing.¡±
Xia Lei was about to say that ¡¯the eunuch worries more than the emperor¡¯ but he swallowed the joke when he remembered Qin Xiang¡¯s ambiguity. He said, ¡°Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group want to crush us but they forgot something. We have already achieved a high rating for ourselves in the international market. Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group look down on us but Barrett, HK and FN see us as their biggest rival. How can we, Thunder Horse Military Factory, be crushed by whomever who wishes us crushed?¡±
Their own domestic brethren looked down on them but the ¡¯outsider white people¡¯ were treating them as close rivals. This was a bit of a tragedy.
Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group were working together to crush Thunder Horse Military Factory and they looked down on it, but Thunder Horse was a true dark horse in the international market!
Thunder Horse was known internationally, and it now had the best sniper rifle and assault rifle under its roof ¨C people would travel thousands of miles toe talk business with them, even if they were put in the middle of the Gobi desert!
Qin Xiang quirked his lips in a smile and hit Xia Lei with a pale fist.
Xia Lei looked awkwardly at him. ¡°What?¡±
Qin Xiang didn¡¯t respond. He walked over to the exhibition area and told the girls to get to work. Xia Lei did not tell them to set up the booth, but Qin Xiang got the girls to take out the boxes of ammunition and make flower or fruit patterns with them. These patterns were made between the XL2500 sniper rifles and Gust assault rifles. The wooden crates were used too, and they became a rough-looking counter.
¡°Good idea, Sister Xiang. It looks much better now,¡± said a female employee.
Qin Xiang giggled. ¡°Look lively, girls! Be warm and friendly when the customerse. Promote our guns.¡±
¡°Yes, Sister Xiang.¡± The female employees were bubbly.
Soon, the girls who¡¯d gone to give out name cards were back. It was just them, and no customers or guests. The three girls were sullen and smile-less.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows wrinkled. ¡°What happened? Did you do as I told you?¡±
¡°Director Xia, they¡¯re such bullies!¡± said the team leader.
¡°What happened? Tell me.¡±
¡°A big group of Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial people kept a close watch on us. They stopped us from entering their areas to give out your name cards, and when they found out we were talking to foreigners they came over to interrupt. They didn¡¯t even let us finish talking.¡±
¡°There¡¯s more,¡± said another female employee. ¡°Director Xia, they put signage to point people to the toilets at the other end. Some people walked in this direction but they went up to them and told them that the toilet here is broken and out of service.¡±
¡°Damn it!¡± Qin Xiang exploded before Xia Lei could speak. ¡°I¡¯m going talk sense into them!¡±
Xia Lei stopped Qin Xiang. ¡°It¡¯s useless to talk sense into people with no sense. It¡¯ll be like talking to pigs.¡±
¡°Are we just going to let it be? I¡¯m not going to take this lying down!¡± said Qin Xiang angrily.
At that moment, Ye Xiaoqi came walking over with some people.
¡°Oh, isn¡¯t this Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth?¡± Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s face was mocking. ¡°Director Xia, why don¡¯t you have any nice arrangements for your booth? Are you selling vegetables in the market?¡±
Qin Xiang was about to retort but Xia Lei pushed him behind himself, blocking him off.
¡°It¡¯s Ye Kun who told you toe mock us, wasn¡¯t it?¡± said Xia Lei softly. ¡°Why didn¡¯t hee himself?¡±
¡°Our Chairman Ye specially instructed me toe over and check on your situation here, to see if you¡¯ll need any help. You guys got notified onlyst night, after all, and had no time to set up your booth. Look, our Chairman Ye is so kind, but you keep wanting to go against him. What¡¯s the use of doing that?¡± Ye Xiaoqi spoke breezily as she eyed the Gust assault rifle in Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth.
Her gaze betrayed her aim ining here. Ye Kun got her toe to see if Thunder Horse Military Factory had put the Gust assault rifle on disy.
¡°You¡¯ve seen how it is. We don¡¯t need anyone¡¯s help. You can go back to Ye Kun and tell him that,¡± said Xia Lei evenly.
¡°Humph!¡± Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s attitude took a sudden change. ¡°Director Xia, your Gust assault rifle looks exactly the same as our Shenwu assault rifle! What¡¯s going on here?¡±
Xia Lei pretended not to have heard her clearly. ¡°What did you say?¡±
Ye Xiaoqi sneered, ¡°Acting dumb? You know full well what I said. Just you wait, you¡¯re in big trouble!¡±
¡°What are you saying? Who¡¯s acting dumb?¡± Qin Xiang poked his head out from behind Xia Lei. He put a hand on his hip and pointed at Ye Xiaoqi, his stance was that of one who was ready to fight.
¡°Hm? Who¡¯s this?¡± said Ye Xiaoqi said scathingly. ¡°Xia Lei, this can¡¯t be your squeeze, can it? Speaking up for you so passionately... Does Shentu Tianyin know about this?¡±
Xia Lei abruptly walked up to Ye Xiaoqi and raised his hand to p her.
Qin Xiang was his friend, and he would not allow Ye Xiaoqi to talk about him that way.
¡°Hold it!¡± A female¡¯s voice came all of a sudden.
Xia Lei¡¯s palm stopped just milimetres from Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s cheek. He didn¡¯t have to look to know who hade, because he knew that voice most intimately.
Shentu Tianyin hade.
It wasn¡¯t just Shentu Tianyin. Arge group of people were behind her.
Shentu Tianyin stepped closer. Her ck dress flowed with her movements - she was extraordinarily captivating.
The people behind her were no simple folk either. Some were big-name celebrities in the entertainment world, some were well-known people in the business world, and there was also a big group of media professionals with their cameras, microphones and recording devices in tow.
Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial wanted to iste and keep his booth empty? Shentu Tianyin was here to make it all lively!
This was marriage.
A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. He suddenly felt that Shentu Tianyin was as regal as a queen walking in her own court. Her poise, her calm, that loftiness ¨C it was all top-notch!
¡°Won¡¯t your hand be dirtied if you hit a dirty face like that?¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei retracted his hand and said with a smile, ¡°Yes, my dear. You¡¯re right. If I hit a dirty face like that and touch your face afterwards, we¡¯ll both get dirtied.¡±
The married couple seemed to be talking to each other only and they left Ye Xiaoqipletely out in the cold.
¡°Just you wait!¡± Ye Xiaoqi stamped her foot and left in a huff.
Shentu Tianyin walked to Xia Lei and hugged him, then kissed him on his cheek.
Click! Click! Click! Camera shes went off. The reporters who¡¯de were not going to miss this.
Chapter 496 - Tearing Up the Floor
Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group had interfered and not let potential clients or the media get close, but Shentu Tianyin had her own ways to help her husband solve the problem. Her connections and her status made it as easy as pie to fill the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth.
The top stars of entertainment world started to get things heated up for Thunder Horse Military Factory before Xia Lei could greet them. They¡¯d brought their own acoustic instruments and they started showing off their skills, singing and dancing next to the booth.
Celebrities would always draw attention, and the purchasers and customers from other parts of the exhibition came gathering within minutes, crowding up the whole area.
The female employees did not stand idle either. They took the opportunity to give Xia Lei¡¯s name card to the foreign purchasers and to talk about XL2500 and Gust. Every word they said had been carefully constructed by Xia Lei ¨C Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Gust assault rifle was the best in the world, and the American and European manufacturers would have to bow out.
The foreign purchasers were doubtful, of course. And so they came to the booth to see this amazing Gust assault rifle. This visit then became a first-hand interaction with the Gust assault rifle, and an introduction to its capabilities.
All who saw the written description that it ¡¯had a shooting range of 1,000 metres¡¯ were greatly surprised!
A shooting range of 1,000 metres? Most of the sniper rifles in the world had a shooting range of just 800 metres! This meant that the Gust assault rifle could be used like a sniper rifle!
¡°My God... Recoil...¡± A blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner grasped the English brochure in his hand and eximed in surprise. ¡°Zero recoil! Impossible!¡±
This outburst started a buzz.
No one was willing to believe that this was real, because even handguns had a recoil of about two-point-something N, and that was like a few kilograms of force pressing into the hand. But the Gust assault rifle¡¯s recoil was almost zero. In other words, it had a smaller recoil than a handgun!
Those who had an intimate understanding of guns would not believe something like this, but Thunder Horse Military Factory had it clearly printed in back and white on their promotional material that the recoil was almost zero. Add the im that the shooting range was 1,000 metres, and this would indeed be the king of assault rifles in the arms world. No country and no weapons manufacturer could beat these!
¡°This is impossible! Definitely impossible!¡±
¡°Yeah, how can this be true?¡±
¡°Are they exaggerating it or is this a printing error?¡±
¡°Who knows? I wouldn¡¯t believe that there¡¯s such an assault rifle in this world, not even if you beat me up.¡±
¡°It¡¯s China-made. That¡¯s always been synonymous with inferior quality and low prices. When did they start making assault rifles like this? They don¡¯t have to brag like this, do they?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say that. This is Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s assault rifle. Their XL2500 sniper rifle is widely acknowledged to be the best in the world. They can manufacture the world¡¯s best sniper rifle, so why can¡¯t they produce the world¡¯s best assault rifle?¡±
A buzz of conversation started. Some believed, some were doubtful, and all were talking.
Shentu Tianyin tapped Xia Lei lightly on the shoulder and said with a smile. ¡°Go on, it¡¯s time for you to take the stage. No need to worry about things here, I¡¯ll look after the booth for you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You¡¯re so resourceful, Wifey. Thank you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin pursed her lips. ¡°I told you there¡¯s no need to thank me. What are you going to thank me with, then?¡±
Xia Lei whispered in her ear. ¡°Twins.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s jade skin flushed red. She rolled her eyes at Xia Lei but it was a honeyed, gentle roll of deep love.
Xia Lei walked into the exhibition zone and Shentu Tianyin motioned for the celebrities to stop their activities. However, fans had gathered and were mobbing the celebrities for autographs.
The area had been cold and empty before but it was now full of people, and the other area was empty.
While Xia Lei talked about the capabilities of the Gust assault rifle, Shentu Tianyin greeted the purchasers and directed the employees. Husband and wife worked perfectly together and it was a wonderful thing to see.
Some people were happy, but some others were jealous.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were these jealous people. Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth didn¡¯t have anyone there before, much less any of the media, but even the national television station¡¯s reporters were running to the booth to record a segment. Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial¡¯s booths were getting emptier.
¡°This punk. He really knows how to make people hate him.¡± Mu Jianfeng¡¯s face darkened.
¡°Humph!¡± Ye Kun sneered. ¡°I have to hand it to him for his adaptability though. Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin are not easy to deal with, but how long more is this couple going to be able to smile? They may smile now, but I¡¯m going to make them so sad they can¡¯t even cry!¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to make your move?¡± asked Mu Jianfeng.
Ye Kun nodded. ¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory has be popr now. The reporters are all there, so it¡¯s the best time to make my move.¡± He shot a look at Ye Xiaoqi.
Ye Xiaoqi picked up a walkie-talkie and said, ¡°You guys get ready. Come over in five minutes, after Chairman Ye and I go over.¡±
¡°Roger. We¡¯re ready.¡± A man¡¯s voice came from over the walkie-talkie.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng looked at each other and smiled, and the two of them walked towards the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth.
¡°Move! Get out of the way!¡± A group of Hanwu Weapons employees pushed people out of the way roughly to open up a path for Ye Kun, Mu Jianfeng and Ye Xiaoqi.
Some people were unhappy at being shoved aside but they did not dare speak up against the group of aggressive Hanwu Weapons employees.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng had smiles on their faces. They were calm andposed as they walked through the pathway which had been made for them, and they came to the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth.
¡°Enough noise! Quiet down!¡± said Ye Xiaoqi loudly. ¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory is suspected of infringing on rights. Hanwu Weapons¡¯ Chairman Ye has something he wants to say!¡±
What was this situation?
It quieted down around them right away. People were talking too, but they were doing it in whispers.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t seem to have heard Ye Xiaoqi. He continued talking in English to a potential client from Argentina with the Gust assault rifle in his hands. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe in the capabilities of the Gust assault rifle, I can take you to the firing range to test it out. I can say ten thousand words about it, but it won¡¯t be as convincing as you testing it out yourself once.¡±
The purchaser from Argentina was hesitant. The description of this assault rifle seemed quite exaggerated after all. All the specifications and capabilities listed were beyond what he understood and would expect about rifles, and he could not easily believe in it.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Mr Lucas, you only have this once chance. If youck the courage to try now, you¡¯ll miss out on an opportunity to make Argentina stronger.¡±
The Argentinian named Lucas finally nodded. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll test out your Gust assault rifle. If what you say is true, then it truly is a miracle.¡±
¡°Yes, let¡¯s go this way.¡± Xia Lei picked up a box of ammunition and brought Mr Lucas to the prepared testing range.
Ye Xiaoqi suddenly blocked their way and said arrogantly, ¡°Xia Lei, didn¡¯t you hear what I said earlier?¡±
¡°What did you say earlier?¡± said Xia Lei tly.
¡°Are you still acting dumb? I said that you, Thunder Horse Military Factory, your assault rifle is a copy of our Hanwu Weapons¡¯ Shenwu assault rifle!¡± Spittle flew from Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s mouth. ¡°Our Chairman Ye is here. You¡¯d better give him an exnation!¡±
Xia Lei nced at Ye Kun, and Mu Jianfeng behind him, and said evenly, ¡°Must I give an exnation to all the cats and dogs whoe here?¡±
¡°You...¡± Ye Xiaoqi had not expected Xia Lei to talk back like this. Her show of power had not worked and she was angered by Xia Lei¡¯s attitude.
¡°What a savage!¡± Ye Kun smiled in anger. He pped lightly, and said, ¡°Xia Lei, you stole ourpany¡¯s patented technology and manufactured this so-called Gust assault rifle. You stole it, but you¡¯re being so arrogant about it and even dare to speak to me this way. Do you really think I can¡¯t cure you of that?¡±
Xia Lei just looked at Ye Kun. He said nothing.
Ye Kun suddenly pped the wooden crate in front of him and pointed a finger at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei! You¡¯re finished this time! You stole ourpany¡¯s patented designs. I¡¯m going to make sure you go bankrupt. Prepare to spend the rest of your life in prison!¡±
Xia Lei still looked at Ye Kun, silent.
It wasn¡¯t just Xia Lei, his wife, Shentu Tianyin, was looking expressionlessly at Ye Kun and staying silent too.
Whispers started around them, about why Thunder Horse Military Factory copying Hanwu Weapons¡¯ patented technology. Some people believed it, some didn¡¯t.
¡°You have nothing to say, Xia Lei?¡± Ye Kun was looking down at him from his high horse. In his eyes, Xia Lei was not standing in the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth, but in the courtroom as the used, and what awaited Xia Lei was a severe punishment.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°Are you done talking? Then get out. I¡¯m not going to waste any words on you. You say I¡¯ve copied your patented design? Just saying it is not enough. Where is your evidence of this?¡±
¡°Evidence? What¡¯s in your hands is evidence.¡± Mu Jianfeng finally said something.
A group of people drew close. Some of them were holding cameras and some were holding printed patents, and there were people who looked like bodyguards blocking the way too, to stop Xia Lei from running away.
This setup ¨C they were not going to give Xia Lei any chances. Once they proved that Xia Lei had infringed on the rights of Hanwu Weapons, Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng were going to make sure Xia Lei went down!
¡°What nonsense are you spouting? How can we, Thunder Horse Military Factory, have stolen your patented technology?¡± Qin Xiang spoke up.
¡°That¡¯s right. Our Director Xia is an upright man. He is not that type of man you say he is!¡± A female employee stepped bravely forward despite Ye Kun and the group of fierce thugs behind him.
¡°You guys wait quietly. You won¡¯t be of help with this. Just let me handle it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°How are you going to handle it?¡± A middle-aged man in a suit put the patent in his hand on a wooden crate and said coldly, ¡°The Gust assault rifle Thunder Horse Military Factory made is exactly the same as our Hanwu Weapons¡¯ Shenwu assault rifle. We are the ones with the patent. How are you going to settle this?¡±
The venue was in uproar.
Chapter 497 - Arrogance
No one suspected that the patent the Hanwu Weaponswyer took out was fake. If they dared take it out, then it should be able to stand in court.
¡°How can this be? Thunder Horse Military Factory infringed on Hanwu Weapons¡¯ patent? How bold of them!¡± said someone.
¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory is dead now. They dare steal from Hanwu Weapons? And they brought the item out to disy at this exhibition? Are they walking right into a trap? Wow,¡± said someone.
¡°Ah, what a waste. It wasn¡¯t easy for a civilian business to enter the military industry. Great, they¡¯re screwed now,¡± sighed someone.
Discussions started and several expressed regret on Xia Lei¡¯s behalf.
Xia Lei stayed calm. He wrinkled his brows as if he were thinking of something.
¡°Say something!¡± demanded the Hanwu Weaponswyer. ¡°How are you going to resolve this?¡±
Xia Lei then said, ¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll get ourwyer here.¡±
Ye Kun sneered, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to resolve this even with 100wyers. Be prepared for awsuit, Xia Lei!¡±
Xia Lei did not show any heat getting to him. ¡°Even if I¡¯m getting sued, I¡¯ll need mywyer. I¡¯m not too familiar with court cases, so mywyer with talk with you.¡±
Xia Lei took out his phone. He was going to give the Thunder Horse Groupwyer a call and get him toe over, but thatwyer had already received prior instructions and was waiting outside the Jindgu Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Xia Lei called Ling Han. ¡°Brother Ling, where are you?¡±
Ling Han¡¯s voice came from over the line. ¡°I¡¯m on my way to the exhibition. Hehe, I¡¯m noting alone either. Some military representatives areing too, specially to see what good stuff your Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s putting up on disy. The XL2500 you manufacture is very popr in the military now, you know.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°That¡¯s great. I¡¯ll wait for you toe over.¡±
¡°Hold on, did you need something when you called me?¡± asked Ling Han.
¡°There is one thing... but it¡¯s not convenient to talk about it over the phone. Let¡¯s talk when we meet, since you¡¯re on your way here. Goodbye,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei hung up. Ling Han bringing military representatives over was a good piece of news for him.
It was getting noisy around them. Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng did not manage to hear who Xia Lei had called, but they were disturbed by Xia Lei¡¯sck of nervousness and his smiling. Did this punk not know how serious this was?
¡°Kun,¡± said Mu Jianfeng softly in Ye Kun¡¯s ear, ¡°I feel like something¡¯s wrong with this situation. Are you sure that nothing of this has been leaked?¡±
Ye Kun was certain. ¡°Of course not. Everything has been in the palm of my hand from start to finish. Teacher, this punk is just bluffing. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure he can¡¯t act so arrogantly.¡± He shot a look at the bodyguards andwyers around him as soon as he was done talking.
This was the signal to make their move.
¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s exhibition is over. Leave, all of you!¡± A bodyguard shouted at the foreign purchasers in the exhibition area.
Some bodyguards went to push the reporters and onlookers away.
The Hanwu Weaponswyers were on the move too. The leadwyer spoke to Xia Lei in an official tone, ¡°Please excuse me, Director Xia. We are going to inspect your Gust assault rifle. It is the evidence of your giarisation of our Shenwu assault rifle technology and it shall be used as evidence in court.¡±
The burly Hanwu Weapons employees rushed into the booth without any spoken instructions and made to seize Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Gust assault rifle for inspection.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression was ice-cold. ¡°How are you!¡±
¡°Ha! I dare!¡± sneered Ye Kun. ¡°And not just your gun. You¡¯ll have toe with us too!¡±
Two of Ye Kun¡¯s bodyguards reached abruptly for Xia Lei¡¯s arms.
Xia Lei lifted his arms immediately, avoiding the bodyguards¡¯ grab, then struck them lighting-quick in their faces. The two bodyguards were hit in the nose before they could react, and they lost their bnce as blood spurted from their noses. They fell to the floor.
Xia Lei lifted his leg next, and kicked a Hanwu Weapons employee in the shoulder. The employee had been about to seize the Gust assault rifle for inspection, but he was kicked out of the booth.
¡°H, How dare you!¡± Ye Kun was shocked, and mad.
Why wouldn¡¯t he dare?
Just as the words left Ye Kun¡¯s mouth, Xia Lei grabbed another Hanwu Weapons employee and lifted him up, then flung him bodily out of the booth. The unlucky man had nned on showing Ye Kun his might but he had been instantly sent flying out of the booth unexpectedly. He fell in a daze and was unable to pick himself up for a while.
Qin Xiang did not stay still either. He kicked a Hanwu Weapons employee between the legs, then kick his butt when the man doubled over in pain, booting him out of the booth.
The remaining few escaped the area before Xia Lei and Qin Xiang made any further moves.
No one wanted to fly out the Thunder Horse Military Factory like bedraggled chickens.
¡°He¡¯s revolting!¡± Mu Jianfeng was hopping mad. He roared, ¡°Go! Go get the police toe here!¡±
There wasn¡¯t actually a need to get the police because they were watching it all happen. Ye Kun had given them greetings earlier and asked them not to interfere. However, they had not expected Xia Lei to be so strong, throwing their men out like he was plucking weeds!
Mu Jianfeng had just uttered the words when policemen came pushing through the crowd.
¡°Arrest him!¡± Ye Kunmanded. ¡°He hurt my people. Arrest him immediately!¡±
The leading police officer did not know Xia Lei¡¯s strength but he knew what Ye Kun¡¯s status was. He did not second-think it, and went straight to arrest Xia Lei at Ye Kun¡¯s order.
The police officers came rushing towards Xia Lei, intent on arresting him.
¡°What are you doing?¡± The Thunder Horse Military Factorywyer had arrived, and he shouted, ¡°Who gave you the right to arrest him? Let me tell you that it¡¯ll be easy to arrest him now, but you¡¯ll face a lot of difficulties when you have to release him!¡±
The leading policeman gave Xia Lei¡¯swyer a frosty look. ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°I am the legal counsel for Thunder Horse Military Factory, Ai Wenqing.¡± Thewyer made his status known.
The leading police officer frowned. Lawyers could talk circles around people and were very difficult to deal with. He was hesitant now that awyer for Thunder Horse had turned up, especially since he did not have a warrant for arresting Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re disturbing ourpany¡¯s participation in the exhibition for no good reason. This is harassment. You also attacked people in our booth, damaged ourpany¡¯s property and hurt our female employees. Who gave you such authority?¡± Ai Wenqing¡¯s voice rang out clearly and righteously.
This Ai Wenqing was a smart man, or Xia Lei would not have hired him to be the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s legal counsel to handle the legal matters of thepany.
Ai Wenqing¡¯s words were actually a signal.
Right after he spoke, the female employees of Thunder Horse Military Factory held their stomachs and groaned, acting like they had been hit. They hade into physical contact with the employees of Hanwu Weapons, and they were all burly men. They were frail, weak women so how many would doubt their act?
The policemen who were about to arrest Xia Lei hesitated too, and nced back at their leader for instructions.
The leading officer had a headache too, and he looked at Ye Kun.
Ye Kun said angrily, ¡°What are you waiting for? Take him away! Seize the guns! I¡¯ll take responsibility if it¡¯s needed!¡±
Those words were enough. The leading officer gave themand. ¡°Take him away!¡±
¡°How dare you!¡± Ai Wenqing stood in their way.
¡°Take this obstruction with us too, to assist in the investigation,¡± said the leading officer.
Two police officers grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s arms and jerked them backwards, bringing his arms to his back. One of the officers cuffed Xia Lei. They actually did arrest him.
Shentu Tianyin, who had been keeping silent, could not keep silent any longer. She moved forward and stood before Xia Lei. ¡°What are you doing? How can you arrest someone like this? I want to see your arrest warrant!¡±
¡°That¡¯s right! How could you policemen arrest someone without a warrant! Who are you working for, the people or for yourselves?¡± said one of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s subordinates.
¡°Yeah, are there people who are above thew in this country? This is just too much!¡± said one of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s celebrity friends loudly.
¡°What gives you the right to arrest him?¡±
¡°What right do you have to arrest him?¡±
The onlookers begun taking up the shout and their voices of protest came in waves.
Sweat formed on the leading officer¡¯s forehead.
¡°Take him away! Ignore her!¡± Ye Kun was getting anxious.
Mu Jianfeng was also worried that the situation would get out of hand the longer he left it, so he spoke up too. ¡°Do as Chairman Ye says. Take him away. What¡¯s with you all, making such noise here? Are we still holding this exhibition? How will you be responsible for this if something happens?¡±
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng spoke at the same time, and the leading officer put hisst doubts away. He waved his hand and said loudly, ¡°Take him away. Anyone who gets in the way will be found to be in obstruction of justice!¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face was pale with anger. She was not a woman who would be scared easily, and she kept her position in front of Xia Lei, not letting the police officers take him away.
¡°Tianyin, move aside. Just watch from the side,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°But they...¡± Shentu Tianyin was full of worry.
Xia Lei smiled toothily. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be fine. Do you think something will happen to me?¡±
These words seemed to awaken Shentu Tianyin. That¡¯s right ¨C Xia Lei was setting them up, from beginning to end. He had dug a pit for Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng to fall into, and these two were just baring their fangs at Xia Lei in the pit. How could they hurt him? Besides, other than this identity, Xia Lei¡¯s other status made him someone whom Ye Kun could not easily mess with!
Worry vanished from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s heart when she thought about it, and she stood aside.
The police officers dragged Xia Lei out.
Click, click, click. The media were going crazy recording this series of events.
The reporters¡¯ frenzied picture-taking did not make Ye Kun shy away. It made him sneer instead. ¡®Go ahead, take pictures. So what? Take as many pictures as you¡¯d like. It¡¯ll be no use when it¡¯s found that Thunder Horse stole patented technology from Hanwu Weapons.¡±
Mu Jianfeng let out a silent sigh of relief too. It was about 80% done at this stage. The remaining 20% were just surface procedures.
Just then, a voice full of anger rang out in the exhibition hall. ¡°What are you doing? Which department are you from?¡±
Chapter 498 - Genuine Article
Ling Han had finallye, and he had brought men in uniform with him. The ranks on these military men¡¯s shoulders were enough to scare people. The appearance of these men made the hair on all the police officers¡¯ necks stand, no matter their rank.
These people had the strong presence of upper-military too, and their aura was enough to quiet the area without them having to say anything.
The police officers stood dumbly and did not dare to take Xia Lei away by force.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun could not help exchanging nces, and both became uneasy.
However, Ye Kun quickly regained hisposure and he went up to them in wee, with a smile on his face. ¡°Mr Ling, officers, hello. What brings you here?¡±
As the chairman of a military manufacturer, Ye Kun knew a part of this group of military men. This was why he hade forward with a smiling face to act close with them.
Ling Han looked at Xia Lei, who was still cuffed, and his brows wrinkled. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Who cuffed Director Xia of Thunder Horse Military Factory?¡±
¡°That¡¯s because...¡± Ye Kun avoided answering Ling Han¡¯s question and said, ¡°What¡¯s happening is that Thunder Horse Military Factory stole ourpany¡¯s patented technology. I¡¯ve brought people to investigate, and we found evidence to prove it. It¡¯s not just that. I wanted him to stop his illegal activity immediately and he injured my employees, so the police came over to take him to the station to assist in the investigation.¡±
The policemen stared at Ye Kun, bbergasted. Ye Kun had confidently dered that he would take responsibility earlier, but he was selling them out now!
¡°Xia Lei stole yourpany¡¯s patented technology?¡± Ling Han nced at Xia Lei again with surprise. He could not believe what he was hearing.
Xia Lei did not argue; he was quiet.
Mu Jianfeng interjected. ¡°Mr Ling, this is true. I know some of the situation. The Gust assault rifle that Thunder Horse Military Factory made is exactly the same as Hanwu Weapons¡¯ Shenwu assault rifle. The Shenwu assault rifle is the result of a coboration between Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group¡¯s research and development departments, and we even have arge order from apany in the UAE for these assault rifles. This order is worth USD 200,000,000. We did not expect that Thunder Horse Military Factory would steal our design and manufacture our assault rifle in secret. This is a very serious matter, and I think it is imperative that Xia Lei be brought back for an investigation.¡±
The highly-ranked military representatives bent their heads in discussion and they looked disappointed.
Thunder Horse Military Factory was a dark horse in the Chinese military industry, and could be said to be China¡¯s only brand to be proud of in the international market. The military had a need for assault rifles now, so they were naturally interested in Thunder Horse Military Factory. This was why they hade to take a look, but they had run into this sort of situation before even seeing thepany¡¯s assault rifle.
Ling Han¡¯s expression turned ugly. He looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Is this true?¡±
Xia Lei spoke only then. ¡°Of course it¡¯s not true. Why would I steal their patent and boldly put it into production?¡±
¡°Humph! Not true?¡± sneered Ye Kun. ¡°We have the patent. The Gust assault rifles you¡¯ve brought to this exhibition is evidence too. You¡¯re still denying it? It¡¯s no use arguing. You¡¯d better save your breath for the courthouse.¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°Patent? What can a piece of paper prove? Can it heighten our national security? Can it raise the standards of our manufacturing? I can bet my own neck that the Shenwu assault rifle you manufactured is rubbish. Our Gust assault rifle is the best assault rifle in the world.¡±
Ye Kun sneered. ¡°Ridiculous. Is your wordw? What are patentws for, then?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know how Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group got their hands on our design drawings but it¡¯ll be easy to prove this,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Ye Kun, would you dare put your Shenwu assault rifle in the testing range for a match against our Gust assault rifle? We¡¯ll know who the fake is once wepare them.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s words made Mu Jianfeng¡¯s brows grow heavy. This old fox had been worried that something was wrong, but he could not find anything. Xia Lei¡¯s words now made his feeling of unease grow stronger.
Ye Kun had the same feeling, but he could not dwell on it at this point. ¡°Are we to have a contest because you say so? Who do you think you are? You stole ourpany¡¯s patented technology and you¡¯re demanding that we fulfil your meaningless request now? You think you¡¯re such a big shot?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t even dare to do a one-on-one test. Is it because you¡¯re feeling guilty? If they¡¯re the same, then it¡¯ll all be clear which is the genuine article and which the fake when we take them to an expert to have them tested andpared. Or is it because you know that your Shenwu assault rifle is a copy of the Gust assault rifle?¡± said Xia Lei.
Ye Kun did not want to argue with Xia Lei any longer. He said angrily, ¡°What are you still standing there for? Take him away!¡±
The policemen did not move. They¡¯d just been betrayed by Ye Kun, and now Ye Kun was ordering them around again. Who would just let that pass and just be obedient?
The onlookers started jeering.
¡°They don¡¯t even dare topare the guns. Are they actually guilty?¡±
¡°Whether it¡¯s real or fake, shouldn¡¯t you take it out and prove it?¡±
¡°Yeah, if you want to take this to court, you¡¯ll need evidence, right?¡±
¡°This is definitely not like Hanwu Weapons say ¨C why won¡¯t they do a live test?¡±
Most of the people making thesements were those Shentu Tianyin had brought, and they were working to escte their protests so that they would be heard.
The voices of doubt grew, and Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng¡¯s expressions turned ugly. The policemen also stood there like blockheads, neither letting Xia Lei go nor taking him away. They were not fools either. They did not know Ling Han¡¯s true identity but the men behind him were all people of rank. Would a man walking with them be any lower in rank? This was why they had decided to observe the situation before they made any more decisions.
Ling Han spoke then. ¡°How about this... You guys release Xia Lei first.¡±
The policemen did not hesitate. They uncuffed Xia Lei immediately.
The military men spoke in low voices for a short while, and one of them went to Ling Han to whisper something in his ear.
¡°All right, let¡¯s not talk about who stole from whom; it¡¯s a matter for the courts. Before we go any further, the military representatives would like to see both your assault rifles.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Prepare your ammunition. Let¡¯s go to the firing range.¡±
The bigwigs of the military had spoken, and Ye Kun could not refuse. He bit the bullet and nodded, then sent for someone to fetch ammunition.
Ling Han pulled Xia Lei into the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth to talk to him. ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±
¡°I called you earlier because of this. Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng came to cause trouble at our booth.¡± He pointed at Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s booth and put on an expression of one wronged. ¡°You saw it yourself, Brother Ling. This is the booth they assigned to me. How is this a good exhibition spot? Their intent is to humiliate me. The employees of mypany and myself have contributed to the building of national defence. We¡¯ve worked so hard, but what did we get in return?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This is outrageous! Who gave them this right?¡± Ling Han was angry too. The internationally regarded dark horse of the arms dealing world was facing such discrimination and humiliation on its home ground ¨C this was uneptable!
¡°And this whole situation is because Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group bribed employees to be spies, and they stole our technology. They¡¯re trying to frame me now and have me arrested. I must have justice!¡± Xia Lei continued his act of being the wronged party.
¡°Don¡¯t worry. They won¡¯t be able to get away with it if it¡¯s found that Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng are behind it,¡± said Ling Han.
Xia Lei nodded and thought, ¡®I¡¯ll bring out the evidence I have, and the judge will sentence Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng!¡±
The highly-ranked military men looked at the guns in the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth and talked in low voices.
One of them picked up an XL2500 sniper rifle and was full of praise for it. Another picked up the Gust assault rifle with a look of astonishment on his face.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin exchanged nces, and the couple had an almost imperceptible smile on their faces. Things were unfolding as Xia Lei had nned, so they were in a good mood. They just had to keep acting like they were being bullied and wronged.
¡°Practically zero recoil?¡± eximed a military man. He look at Xia Lei with his gaze alight. ¡°Is this true?¡±
Xia Lei spoke politely, ¡°Yes, Sir, of course. I wouldn¡¯t dare to print it in the brochures if it isn¡¯t.¡±
¡°How¡¯s this possible?¡± The man was still disbelieving.
¡°Sir, let¡¯s wait for Hanwu Weapons to bring their Shenwu assault rifle out. You¡¯ll know if it¡¯s true when you get to the firing range and test our Gust assault rifle.¡±
¡°Good! I¡¯ll test it myself!¡± The military man¡¯s voice rang loudly, and his voice was tinged with excitement.
If China¡¯s troops were equipped with these Gust assault rifles with almost zero recoil, the military¡¯s might would definitely increase! The surrounding countries would not dare to test or challenge the Chinese military easily!
Ling Han picked up a Gust assault rifle himself and turned it around in his hands. ¡°Xia Lei, if your Gust assault rifle is truly as advanced as you im, I¡¯ll get the higher-ups to award you a specialmendation. You shall be our nation¡¯s Father of Rifles.¡±
Father of Rifles?
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s jade cheeks turned red when she heard that. She did not say anything, but she thought, ¡®Whatmendation is that? I haven¡¯t felt any kicking in my belly yet, and you¡¯re giving him the title of ¡°Father of Rifles¡±? He¡¯s be the father of rifles, but what about me?¡¯
The atmosphere in the Thunder Horse Military Factory booth grew more rxed while the Hanwu Weapons side grew heavy and dark like thunderclouds about to burst into storm.
Ye Kun¡¯s face was darker than thunderclouds. ¡°Damn it! We were going to finish it, but this Ling Han came!¡±
Mu Jianfeng frowned too. ¡°Kun, I have a bad feeling about this. Think again ¨C is there any hole in the n?¡±
Ye Kun thought for a bit and shook his head. ¡°No, definitely not. We have the patent, and we have an international order. We can prove that we designed and manufactured this assault rifle. Xia Lei hasn¡¯t applied for any patent on his end, so what can he use to prove that this assault rifle is Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s design? He¡¯s dead when this goes to court!¡±
¡°Then... the gun has no problems?¡±
¡°It won¡¯t. We¡¯ve tested it and all its functions are excellent. Besides, it¡¯s the same design n that¡¯s being mass produced, both on our side and Xia Lei¡¯s. How much better can theirs be?¡±
Mu Jianfeng was silent for a bit, and he felt a little better about it. ¡°All right, get someone to call the Thunder Horse Military Factory people to the firing range. We¡¯ll get him there.¡±
Ye Kun swept his gaze over the people near him and his gazended on Ye Xiaoqi. ¡°Xiaoqi, go notify the Thunder Horse Military Factory people that we¡¯ll be going to the firing range with our gun first.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s smile was sweet. ¡°Yes, Chairman Ye. Right away.¡±
Chapter 499 - Amazing Gun, Amazing Shooter
The firing range was on an empty field behind the exhibition hall. It had targets at only 300 metres and not further. However, the distance of 300 metres was already a difficult distance for most assault rifles ¨C not many had an effective firing range of 300 metres. Anything beyond this distance was unprecedented.
Ye Kun, Mu Jianfeng and Xia Lei went to the firing range, as well as Ling Han and the military representatives. As for the reporters, purchasers and onlookers... there were too many to count.
An employee of Hanwu Weapons brought a Shenwu assault rifle over, and it looked exactly the same as Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Gust assault rifle. The measurements, the look, and the caliber were virtually the same. It would be extremely difficult to tell the two guns apart when put together.
This made Ling Han and the military representatives waver. The guns looked exactly the same, and there was no telling who made what. They could not tell which gun was better either, since the two guns had the same ammunition on top of looking exactly alike.
Ling Han pulled Xia Lei to one side and said worriedly, ¡°Xia Lei, both your guns look the same. The ammunition is the same too. Can you guarantee that yours is better than Hanwu Weapons¡¯ gun? If there¡¯s no difference in the specifications, and Ye Kun has the patent, you¡¯ll have to take the fall when he insists that you stole his patented technology.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Brother Ling. I won¡¯t have any rebuttal if their gun is as good as mine, and I¡¯ll take the rap.¡±
Bang bang bang!
The shooter from Hanwu Weapons shot at the target at 300 metres, and all three bullets hit the target, right in the centre.
¡°That¡¯s a good gun!¡± said a military representative in praise. He walked over. ¡°Hand it to me. I want to try it out.¡±
The Hanwu Weapons employee handed the Shenwu assault rifle in his hands to him and stepped back.
Bang bang bang...
The military representative shot at the target, and most of the bullets hit it. However, the firing speed and power was apparent.
¡°This is a good gun! It¡¯s more powerful than the AK47, and more stable. Not bad, not bad. It¡¯s the best assault rifle in China.¡± The military representative who¡¯d tested the gun was not shy with his praise.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng could not help the smile on their faces when they heard those words. The stone which had been weighing on their hearts fell to the ground.
¡°See that? Same design drawings, same gun. Does Xia Lei think the gun he manufacturers will be better than ours? Dream on!¡± said Ye Kun with augh.
Mu Jianfeng spoke softly, ¡°This should end now. I don¡¯t want to see that punk Xia Lei¡¯s face any longer. His greatest mistake was entering the arms dealing industry. Is this a market for him to y in? How childish.¡±
¡°Good, good. Our troops should be equipped with this gun.¡± The military man put down the Shenwu assault rifle, then walked to the corridor. ¡°Mr Xia, let me try your gun.¡±
Xia Lei handed the Gust assault rifle in his hands to the military representative.
The man looked the Gust assault rifle over, then shook his head. ¡°This gun looks exactly the same. I can dare guarantee that it will have the same results.¡±
Conversations started around them.
¡°If the gun is exactly the same, then won¡¯t the capabilities be the same?¡±
¡°How did this happen?¡±
¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we really can¡¯t tell who copied whom.¡±
¡°Ay, Thunder Horse Military Factory is in trouble now.¡±
These words all reached Xia Lei¡¯s ears but he did not react. He kept the same faint smile on his face and exuded confidence.
¡°Don¡¯t hold on to hope, Xia Lei,¡± sneered Ye Kun. ¡°ept your fate when the gun testing is over.¡±
¡°My fate? Heh heh.¡± Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Please try the gun, Sir.¡±
The military representative gave Xia Lei a look and released the safety. He started firing at a target.
Bang bang bang...
Bullets shot from the muzzle, and every one of them hit the target. The gun fired faster, was more powerful and most amazingly, the Gust assault rifle only shook slightly though it had fired so many bullets!
Even a handgun had a greater recoil than this!
The description of the Gust assault rifle had imed almost zero recoil, and it was true.
The military representative testing the gun did not stop firing till the magazine had been emptied. He gaped at the Gust assault rifle in his hands and was struck dumb for quite a while.
It was quiet all around him too. Everyone¡¯s eyes were on the military representative and the Gust assault rifle in his hands.
¡°This... How is this possible?¡± Ye Kun finally came to his senses. He had an odd look on his face.
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s expression was heavy. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that there were no problems?¡±
¡°H, How would I know! You saw it yourself ¨C the guns are exactly the same.¡± Ye Kun was getting anxious. He flipped frantically through his memories, looking for any mistakes which could have been made, but he could not recall anything.
Just then, the military representative snapped back to his senses andughed loudly. ¡°A miracle! A miracle! It¡¯s a miracle!¡±
He had said ¡®miracle¡¯ three times!
Ling Han hugged Xia Lei unabashedly. ¡°Haha! Good one, kid! A gun like this is undoubtedly the best assault rifle in the world!¡±
The military representative walked over and he was excited. ¡°What is happening here, Mr Xia? The guns are the same, but their capabilities are vastly different.¡±
Xia Lei was just about to speak when Ye Kun lost his cool and strode over. ¡°Impossible! Please try our gun again, Sir. The same gun hit the target at 300 metres. How can there be such a great difference? There must be something wrong with this gun! It¡¯s not a mass-produced gun but a modified one!¡±
¡°Is that so?¡± The military representative looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not reply. He took another Gust assault rifle from the hands of his employee, attached the magazine, opened the safety and shot at a new target.
Bang bang bang...
The Gust assault rifle shook slightly. All the bullets hit the centre of the target, ripping a hole through it.
Ye Kun¡¯s lips moved but no words came out. He¡¯d wanted to say that the gun in Xia Lei¡¯s hands had been modified too, but it wasughable if he said it out loud.
Xia Lei did not empty the magazine. He pointed at a lightning rod on the top of a building in the distance and said, ¡°Sirs, do you see that lightning rod over there? It¡¯s about 1,000 metres away. The Gust assault rifle¡¯s effective shooting range is 1,000 metres. I am going to use the gun in my hands to shoot that lightning rod now. You can observe my shooting with your binocrs.¡±
The crowd could not stay quiet at these words. This was a difficult thing to aplish for a sniper rifle, let alone an assault rifle!
The military representative and Ling Han were tongue-tied too; they could not believe it.
A female employee of Thunder Horse Military Factory handed a scope to Xia Lei, and he attached it to the assault rifle with practiced hands.
The military representative suddenly said, ¡°Mr Xia, if you hit that lightning rod at 1,000 metres, I¡¯ll report this immediately ¨C we must gave your guns!¡±
¡°Sure, that¡¯s a promise, then!¡± Xia Lei raised the gun and took aim.
He didn¡¯t actually need the scope but people would look at him weirdly if he didn¡¯t use it. Besides, most people won¡¯t be able to see a lightning rod at that distance, much less hit it with a bullet from a gun.
The female employees of Thunder Horse Military Factory handed the military representatives binocrs so that they¡¯d be able to see Xia Lei¡¯s shot.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng could not help themselves either; they stared at the lightning rod through their binocrs.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
A thousand metres away, the lightning rod on the roof of the building sparked and shook violently. The straight rod had been bent out of shape by a bullet!
An amazing gun!
And an even more amazing shooter!
The venue was silent.
A whole ten secondster, the military representative collected themselves.
¡°Hahaha! Mr Xia, you must sell your guns to us!¡± a military representativeughed loudly. The other military representative were excited too.
Ling Han patted Xia Lei on the shoulder. He did not say anything but there was a smile all over his face and respect in his eyes.
Shentu Tianyin was over the moon too. She had a share of some of Xia Lei¡¯s glory too, and she was proud of him.
¡°This is not fair!¡± Ye Kun was panicking. The military representatives behaving this way meant that Xia Lei had the military order practically confirmed. What was Hanwu Weapons to do?
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng had caused trouble for Xia Lei time and again, trying to chase him out of this industry. Wasn¡¯t all this effort to monopolise the market? Now, Xia Lei had actually managed to get the military order despite facing adversity. How could he ept this!
¡°Please, officers!¡± Mu Jianfeng could not hold back and he said, ¡°Xia Lei has always been a marksman. This is not fair to Hanwu Weapons. We can get a marksman too, and use our Shenwu assault rifle to hit a target at 1,000 metres. You¡¯ve seen it too, that the guns are actually the same. There is no difference in their capabilities.¡±
The military representatives lowered their voices in discussion, considering Mu Jianfeng¡¯s suggestion.
¡°There¡¯s no need for you to hit a target at 1,000 metres. Use your assault rifle to fire 500 rounds. If it can still hit the target at 300 metres then I¡¯ll concede defeat.¡±
Ye Kun paused, then said abruptly, ¡°You said it yourself!¡±
Mu Jianfeng shot a look at the shooter for Hanwu Weapons, and the man picked up a Shenwu assault rifle and started shooting.
Bang bang bang...
Bullet shells danced, ttering to the ground.
Every bullet was like a drum, thump thump thumping on Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s hearts.
Why did Xia Lei say something like that?
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were not fools. On the contrary, they were very smart and very crafty men and they knew that Xia Lei must have had his reasons for daring to say such a thing. However, this unknown reason was unsettling them and they could not sit easy.
Ye Kun still had no idea what had gone wrong. He¡¯d evidently believed that Hanwu Weapons¡¯ Shenwu assault rifle had no problems because it had passed the strict tests that they had performed on it.
Bang bang bang...
The gunshots continued.
Chapter 500 - Exposed
The shots were deafening. The Shenwu assault rifle roared like an enraged beast. Bullets shot from the muzzle, and some hit the target at 300 metres while some went wide.
It wasn¡¯t just the military representatives who saw the vast difference between the Hanwu Weapons Shenwu rifle and the Thunder Horse Military Factory Gust rifle ¨C the purchasers and onlookers could see it too. More importantly, the longer the the Shenwu rifle kept firing, the worse its shaking got. Itpletely missed before it had got to the end of 500 rounds, and couldn¡¯t hit the target at 300 metres anymore.
¡°What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s going on!¡± Ye Kun saw the problem, and he turned ashen. His forehead was beaded with sweat.
¡°Kun, didn¡¯t you say there were no problems? You said there were no problems!¡± Mu Jianfeng said angrily, ¡°Is this what you meant when you said there were no problems?¡±
¡°Teacher, I... It¡¯s the same drawings. Why is there such a big difference between the guns which were produced? I don¡¯t get it, but I don¡¯t believe we have made a mistake in the process. Didn¡¯t you see it too? The Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s rifle is exactly the same as ours.¡± Things had already got to this point, but Ye Kun was still harbouring a shred of hope.
¡°Humph! ¡®Ours¡¯?¡± Mu Jianfeng spoke coldly. ¡°It¡¯s the gun you, Hanwu Weapons, manufactured. It had nothing to do with me.¡±
Ye Kun stared nkly. ¡°Teacher, you...¡±
Mu Jianfeng was done talking. He did not want to exchange any further words with Ye Kun.
The ¡®teacher¡¯ hade when there were advantages to be had, touting past kindness shown and asking for a share. Now that something had happened and they¡¯d run into trouble, the teacher was wiping the te clean and avoiding being dragged into it. This was Ye Kun¡¯s teacher, the old fox Mu Jianfeng. He had lived to this age and got to this level, and he knew what to do.
The Hanwu Weapons shooter was done firing the 500 rounds. The gun muzzle was smoking, and his forehead was hot too, though it was winter. He looked at Ye Kun, and his eyes were full of doubt. He said nothing, but his expression and his eyes told Ye Kun something ¨C the gun he had in his hands was rubbish!
The military representatives were staring daggers at Ye Kun too, stabbing at him with their suspicion and discontent. Ye Kun had loudly proimed that Thunder Horse Military Factory had stolen Hanwu Weapons¡¯ patented technology earlier and even wanted him arrested and put under investigation. They could clearly see now, however, who had stolen from whom, and not very sessfully either!
These military representatives were all of high rank, and every one of them had influence. The actual punishment had not been meted out yet, but Ye Kun¡¯s heart chilled when he saw them looking at him with those eyes.
¡°I believe you¡¯ve all seen for yourselves. Hanwu Weapons¡¯ Chairman Ye said that I stole hispany¡¯s patented technology, and that our guns were exactly the same. Do you believe his words?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jeeringughter came from all sides.
Xia Lei far outssed Ye Kun, and Gust far outssed Shenwu too. People would not believe Ye Kun now, even if he brought out evidence.
¡°Chairman Ye, do you not have any exnation for this?¡± Ling Han¡¯s voice was cold and fairly angry.
Ye Kun braced himself. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what happened myself. Ourpany designed this and it was put into production. I don¡¯t know how they came up with the design. How can I question them personally on every step when mypany is so big?¡±
¡°Then what about you insisting that Xia Lei stole your patented technology?¡± Ling Han¡¯s eyes grew colder.
¡°That¡¯s...¡± Ye Kun paused for a bit and said slowly, ¡°That¡¯s the work of ourpany¡¯s team ofwyers. I¡¯ll know more details when I return and check. Rest assured, Mr Ling. This matter must have been a misunderstanding. However, I won¡¯t let any perpetrators go free. I¡¯ll fire whoever needs firing and hold the relevant persons responsible for their actions.¡±
It was a crafty escape n. Ye Kun was no greenhorn and he quickly found scapegoats for himself while he distanced himself from the situation and kept a low profile till things blew over.
Ling Han wrinkled his brows. He knew that Ye Kun was trying to crush Thunder Horse Military Factory and that he had attempted to frame Xia Lei, but he could not do anything to Ye Kun without evidence.
Xia Lei walked up to Ye Kun and said softly, ¡°I am actually envious of you, Chairman Ye.¡±
¡°What are you envious about?¡± Ye Kun looked away from Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, his heart full of resentment and hate. He didn¡¯t want to see Xia Lei right then, much less talk to him.
¡°Look at you, the chairman of Hanwu Weapons. Commit a crime and get zero penalty. I didn¡¯t do anything wrong, and I was almost arrested. Say, we¡¯re both people ¨C why is there such a big difference? How can I not envy you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense!¡± said Ye Kun coldly. ¡°This was a misunderstanding. I¡¯ve made it clear just now that it must¡¯ve been my subordinates who¡¯d made a mistake due to misunderstandings. I need some time to investigate and handle this matter. There will be a conclusion to this, so why are you in such a rush?¡±
¡°You¡¯re getting scapegoats aren¡¯t you, Chairman Ye?¡±ughed Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ye Kun was mad. ¡°I was being polite! Don¡¯t you dare bite off more than you can chew. I¡¯ve agreed to do an investigation. What more do you want?¡±
¡°Justice!¡± Xia Lei roared at Ye Kun. ¡°I want justice!¡±
Xia Lei suddenly seemed like a whole other person. He was no longer the elegant businessman but the soldier on the battlefield, the beast in the forest!
Ye Kun was struck dumb but he quickly recovered. ¡°Justice? I¡¯ll help you find out who¡¯s responsible. Let me tell you that this has nothing to do with me, and you won¡¯t find anything linked to me. If you think it¡¯s unfair, you can go to court and sue me. I¡¯ll fight you to the end.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be so arrogant still at this point.¡± A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face and his tone became cordial. ¡°Chairman Ye, you¡¯ve done lots of bad deeds these dozens of years and yet you¡¯re still Chairman of Hanwu Weapons, enjoying riches and luxuries. Without anyone holding you responsible, your crimes are zero. However, that¡¯s because your opponents were other people. Today, your opponent is me. Committing a crime against me will never result in zero responsibility for you.¡±
Ye Kun smiled angrily. ¡°You¡¯re being arrogant today too, but just today. I don¡¯t feel like sparring verbally with you today, so this is it. You keep performing your oral gymnastics here. I won¡¯t entertain you anymore.¡± He waved a hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±
The group of Hanwu Weapons employees started packing up, preparing to leaving the firing range.
Xia Lei stretched out his hand and grabbed Ye Kun¡¯s shoulder.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Ye Kun turned back to re at Xia Lei. ¡°Let go!¡±
¡°You can¡¯t walk away today, Chairman Ye,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Hahaha!¡± Ye Kunughed. ¡°What, you want to hit me? Fine, go ahead. I won¡¯t hit back.¡±
Xia Lei did not hit Ye Kun.
¡°That¡¯s all you have. I can give you ten guts and you won¡¯t dare to hit me,¡± Ye Kun said mockingly.
¡°I won¡¯t hit you, but I¡¯ll show you something,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ye Kun paused. Nervousness sprung in his heart for some reason.
Xia Lei released Ye Kun¡¯s shoulder and said loudly, ¡°Everyone, please look at the big screen!¡±
There was arge disy screen at the side of the firing range, for the purpose of disying notices and shooting done at the firing range.
The screen changed to another scene at Xia Lei¡¯s words, and all eyes were drawn to it.
On the screen was a cafe. Ye Xiaoqi was urging Wu Bin to give the drawings to her, and Wu Bin insisted on seeing the money first. Ye Xiaoqi opened the briefcase and showed him the money, then Wu Bin opened his briefcase and let Ye Xiaoqi see the drawings.
The video paused, and the huge screen showed that it was the drawings for Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Gust assault rifle. Thepany logo could be seen too.
The exchange wasplete, and Ye Xiaoqi left the cafe with the briefcase of drawings. She entered the Hanwu Weapons building.
Ling Han¡¯s gaze went abruptly to Ye Xiaoqi, who was standing behind Ye Kun.
It wasn¡¯t just him ¨C the military representatives looked at her too.
Ye Xiaoqi was Ye Kun¡¯s secretary, but would a little secretary do something like this without instructions from Ye Kun?
Thousands of eyes were on Ye Xiaoqi, and her face drained of colour. She panicked and stuttered, ¡°I, I... This has nothing to do with me! It, it¡¯s... ¡° She looked at Ye Kun but did not dare to speak further.
Ye Kun panicked too. ¡°What are you saying, Ye Xiaoqi? You be responsible for your own actions!¡±
Ye Xiaoqi opened her mouth but no words came out. He had just been intimate with herst night, calling her ¡®baby¡¯, and now they were strangers. This Ye Kun abandoned her faster than a rat leaving a sinking ship!
Ye Kun blinked at Ye Xiaoqi, signalling something to her.
The scene stopped ying on the huge screen.
Mu Jianfeng drew close spoke in a low voice next to Ye Xiaoqi, ¡°Take the me for this. You won¡¯t end up in prison. Agree, and you¡¯ll spend the rest of your life in luxury.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi was torn. What should she do?
Just as everyone thought that this was the end of it, and that the video was evidence, another scene started ying on the screen.
Ye Kun and Ye Xiaoqi were talking. He praised her for doing a good job, then the two of them went into the rest lounge and tumbled about. This scene had been censored, and no intimate bits were revealed. Their tumbling was short too; about a few seconds.
The screen went quiet again.
Cold sweat broke out on Ye Kun¡¯s brow.
¡°Ahem.¡± Mu Jianfeng stepped away from Ye Xiaoqi. He looked at Xia Lei with a smile on his face. ¡°Nicely done, Xia Lei. You¡¯ve proved your innocence. Not bad. Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Gust assault rifle is undoubtedly the best assault rifle in the world. I am proud that our nation has a talent like you!¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Heh heh heh...¡±
And another video started ying on the screen.
Chapter 501 - Easily Swayed
Up on the screen, Ye Kun talked in private with Mu Jianfeng. The drawings which had been stolen from Thunder Horse Military Factory sat on the tea table between them.
Ye Kun suddenlyughed out loud. ¡°That punk Xia Lei might be up against us but I¡¯ve got to hand it to him. This punk¡¯s a mechanics genius. Just based on these drawings alone, what he has is way more advnaced than all the assault rifles Hanwu Weapons has designed.¡±
¡°Ye Kun, there¡¯s no need to get the experts to verify it. This gun can be manufactured,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°This is the new assault rifle our twopanies havee up with after coborative research. You pick a name for it.¡±
Ye Kun stared nkly at Mu Jianfeng, speechless.
Mu Jianfengughed. ¡°You¡¯re not willing to do it, Ye Kun?¡±
¡°Teacher, no, this...¡±
¡°Ourpanies bribes one industrial spy each in Thunder Horse Military Factory. Your spy seeded, but mine didn¡¯t. How about this ¨C Hanwu Weapons take 60% and China Industrial takes 40%.¡±
Ye Kun hesitated, and finally nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll do that then. Because you are my benefactor.¡±
¡°Hahaha, I¡¯ve always favoured you. Helping raise you through the ranks was not for nothing, since you¡¯re thinking of me now,¡± said Mu Jianfeng with augh.
¡°Teacher, since this is a coboration I¡¯ll name this assault rifle ¡®Shenwu¡¯, taking one character from each of ourpany¡¯s names,¡± said Ye Kun.
¡°Shenwu, Shenwu... This is a good name. Let¡¯s use it.¡± Mu Jianfeng was happy. ¡°I¡¯ll call the patent office right away and get the patent. We¡¯ll cut Xia Lei off.¡±
The video ended there.
Everyone¡¯s eyes went to Mu Jianfeng. No one spoke, but they looked at him like he was a vile, disgusting rat.
All smiles had vanished from Mu Jianfeng¡¯s face. He was ashen, and his forehead dotted with cold sweat.
He would have some way of saving himself if Xia Lei had submitted all these evidence to court to let the court decide on the punishment. He could make these pieces of evidence not see the light of day again, or ¡®mysteriously disappear¡¯. However, Xia Lei had broadcast it all on the big screen for an audience to see, including reporters. Whatever method he used was not going to be enough to stop these people from spreading it!
Mu Jianfeng was regretting it now. Regretting his greed for the political capital to be gained from the Shenwu assault rifle, regretting lusting for the mary benefits. If he¡¯d known, he wouldn¡¯t have gone to Ye Kun and insisted on having a share of 40% of it. He could have shaken this off and let Ye Kun take responsibility for it all, but Xia Lei had disclosed this evidence and there was no running away now!
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to say something, Chairman Mu?¡±
Mu Jianfeng then snapped back to his senses and he looked frostily at Xia Lei. ¡°Good, Xia Lei. Well done. You won. You won¡¯t keep winning though. Just you wait.¡±
Mu Jianfeng turned and walked off.
Ye Kun paused, then chased after Mu Jianfeng and left too.
Xia Lei did not stop the two of them from leaving because there was no point. He did not have the right to arrest them like police officers did, and he did not have the right of a court judge to sentence them. He could only do the best he could, and wait for justice.
¡°Xia Lei, these things...¡± Ling Han drew close, about to ask him something, but he changed his words. ¡°Never mind. It¡¯s not difficult for someone of your capabilities to get hold of evidence like that, so I won¡¯t bother asking. Hand the evidence to me. I¡¯ll make sure you get justice.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and smiled. ¡°Nn, thank you, Brother Ling.¡±
¡°What¡¯s with the formalities? Come, let¡¯s take a look at your gun.¡± Ling Han put a hand on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and they talked closely as they walked towards the exhibition hall.
Back in the exhibition hall, a big group was waiting for them, and they came forward to talk to Xia Lei.
¡°Director Xia, it was my oversight. I did not do my job well.¡± The person who spoke was big-bellied and looked like a leader of some sort.
There was another man of simr stature next to him, also with an apologetic smile on his face. ¡°I do apologise, Director Xia, I...¡±
Xia Lei cut him off. ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°Um, I¡¯m the president of the exhibition management association. I am also surnamed Xia ¨C Xia Wentao. We¡¯re family, aren¡¯t we?¡± said the first man who¡¯d spoken.
¡°I am this exhibition¡¯s chief. I¡¯m surnamed Ma ¨C Ma Dinggui.¡± The other man introduced himself too.
¡°What is your business with me?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Well.¡± Xia Wentao looked apologetic. ¡°It¡¯s because I didn¡¯t do my job well. I was negligent and some employees were instructed by Ye Kun to move Thunder Horse Military Factory to this spot.¡±
Ma Dinggui spoke too. ¡°Whatever the cause, it was our mistake. We would like to make up for this, so we have specially arranged for a new booth for you. We¡¯ve brought staff over to help you move too. Is this all right for you?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m fine right here. Why move?¡±
Ma Dinggui spoke softly, ¡°Director Xia, please...¡±
Xia Lei scoffed to himself and did not respond. Would these two have turned up to apologise to him and arrange for a new booth for him if he had not ¡®defeated¡¯ Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng? Not at all. Now that Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng have got in trouble, these two had easily swayed to his side. Why should he make things easy for these type of people?
Xia Wentao came to persuade him too. ¡°Director Xia, we¡¯ve given the biggest booth in the exhibition to you. The booth has all been set up and it¡¯s just waiting for you to move in. Please, on our ount, move to the new booth.¡±
Xia Lei did not agree. He looked tly at Xia Wentao and Ma Dinggui. These two people disgusted him.
¡°Ma Dingui and Xia Wentao, yes? Go back and wait to be investigated,¡± said Ling Han.
Xia Wentao and Ma Dinggui stared nkly, at a loss as to what to do.
A military representative said angrily, ¡°You people are earning a living from the nation and using the nation¡¯s resources, but you used what the nation gave you to do these sort of things for Ye Kun. You have the cheek to ask Mr Xia to help you cover it up now? Thunder Horse Military Factory is our nation¡¯s best military enterprise. The XL2500 is internationally acimed, and the Gust assault rifle is a miracle in the assault rifle world. You¡¯re actually putting these two outstanding guns next to the toilets? Have you more guts than brain?¡±
¡°We...¡± Ma Dinggui and Xia Wentao started to say something, then stopped.
¡°Scram!¡± yelled the military representative.
They did not dare linger, and both slunk off.
Ling Han looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Do you want to move, Xia Lei? I¡¯ll get someone to make the arrangements if you want to move.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°The military leaders already know about my Gust assault rifle, as well as the many purchasers. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a need to go to that trouble.¡±
Ling Han leaned in and said quietly, ¡°Bro, there are so many reporters. Having the two best guns in the world next to the toilets, and in a booth looking like a market stall... It¡¯ll be a p to the higher-ups¡¯ faces if this gets out in the news. I think you should move.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll move right away.¡± Xia Lei had not thought of that, and he understood as soon as Ling Han mentioned it. It was true ¨C the Gust assault rifle would shake the world, and international media would surely cover it. If Thunder Horse Military Factory stayed in the booth next to the toilets, it wouldn¡¯t just be his dignity hurt but the entire country¡¯s. Something like this could not be allowed.
Thunder Horse Military Factory was moved to the new booth. It was a better space, andrger too. The booth was also made in a very modern style and was beautifully set up.
Xia Lei got busy too. He first talked to the military representative about cing orders, then handled the enquiries of the foreign purchasers. He then had to talk to the media. Shentu Tianyin helped him out through all these, and lightened the load quite a bit.
Xia Lei rxed a little after he sent Ling Han and the military representatives off. He finally had a little bit of a break.
¡°Look at you, you¡¯re all sweaty.¡± Shentu Tianyin drew close and wiped the perspiration from Xia Lei¡¯s brow.
Xia Lei was flooded with warmth. He smiled and said, ¡°You must be tired too, Tianyin. Tell me how I can repay you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin covered her mouth andughed. ¡°Nn, then how about a massage in the evening, at home?¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll give you a massage when we get home. I¡¯ll massage you in whichever way you want.¡± Images popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head ¨C high peaks, deep valleys, a snow-white moon... He could never get enough of her beauty.
As the husband and wife flirted with each other, Ye Kun was shouting angrily at Ye Xiaoqi in a car. ¡°You bitch! Look at what you¡¯ve done! You¡¯ve ruined me!¡±
¡°How did I ruin you?¡± Ye Xiaoqished back. The words shot from her mouth. ¡°I did what you wanted. What I did was on your instruction. Don¡¯t you be fierce with me, or I¡¯ll tell them everything when they investigate!¡±
¡°How dare you!¡±
¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare? It¡¯s already got to this ¨C can I hope for anything from you? I¡¯m telling you now, Mr Ye, that when the investigation teames I¡¯ll not only spill about this but about all the other things you¡¯ve done!¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s face fell, and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Xiaoqi, my baby, I only said that earlier because I lost my temper. Don¡¯t take it to heart. I¡¯ll give you 100,000ter, no, 200,000. Use the money to renovate your ce, hm?¡±
¡°Humph! That¡¯s more like it. I did things for you and even slept with you but I¡¯m not going to be your scapegoat. Worsees to worst, I¡¯ll wait for my Katou Takasuke toe back and I¡¯ll leave the country with him,¡± said Ye Xiaoqi.
¡°Katou Takasuke...¡± Ye Kun suddenly remembered a problem. ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s time to ship the goods in two days. Would Katou Takasuke still want our Shenwu assault rifles if he finds out about what happened today?¡±
Ye Xiaoqi sneered at Ye Kun. ¡°You sure are unlucky.¡±
¡°Xiaoqi, my Xiaoqi... Help me to put in a good word when Katou Takasukees to collect the goods. Keep it from him. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll give you another 500,000, okay?¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll put in a few good words for you. But I want to see the money today.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give it to you when we get back.¡± Ye Kun had run out of ideas.
Ye Xiaoqi thought, ¡®I¡¯m still nning on having a good life with Katou Takasuke. Would I keep it from him? I¡¯ll get the money, then tell Katou the truth in secret. I¡¯ll see how he takes care of you! Where are you, my Katou?¡¯
Chapter 502 - Two Flowers
Xia Lei. This name blew about the world like a raging wind. The online searches for ¡®Xia Lei and Gust assault rifle¡¯ and XL2500 sniper rifle¡¯ increased by the tens of millions. His picture, and images of the Gust assault rifle and XL2500 sniper rifle appeared on all the online and paper print media outlets.
Father of Rifles ¨C this was the honorary title which China had bestowed upon him. This title also became the most cited keyword by the media.
All this extensive reporting meant that Xia Lei¡¯s background was also dug up. Ordinary family, ordinary school, and only a high school diploma. His history of working on construction sites and his love life was also made public, and that made him a great aspiring figure to millions of youths. His inspirational life experiences also became an example for parents educating their children.
This sort of idolisation was not celebrity idol worship, since Xia Lei¡¯s skills and capabilities were not the same as those so-called celebrities.
Theunch of the Gust assault rifle seemed to ce Xia Lei on an insurmountable peak. However, he knew that his journey had just begun, and he did not know where this road ended.
Bureau 101 Headquarters, Shi Boren¡¯s office.
¡°Haha!¡± Shi Boren gave Xia Lei a rare hug. His serious face wrinkled with a smile, like a big happy child. ¡°Boy, Boy! I have no words for your greatness. Our nation is honoured to have a talent like you!¡±
Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°You¡¯re praising me too much, Boss Shi. It is my honour to do what I can for the nation. And can you let me go? My bones are creaking.¡±
¡°Eh... my boy!¡± Shi Boren released Xia Lei and pped him on the shoulder.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. That hurt.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan looked wordless at the two men.
¡°Then you tell me.¡± Shi Boren looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Everyone now knows that Ye Kun stole your technical drawings and manufactured the Shenwu assault rifle, but how is it that the Shenwu assault rifle¡¯s performance is so much worse than the Gust assault rifle when it looks exactly the same?¡±
¡°Simple. I designed a shock absorber that¡¯s right in the Gust assault rifle. It can reduce the recoil produced by shooting, and provide a stable shooting experience over sustained firing, even at high speeds. The gun barely even shakes,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I see. You¡¯re a genius, Boy,¡± Shi Boren said admiringly.
Tang Yuyan said, ¡°Uh, Xia Lei, the drawings you gave Ye Kun didn¡¯t have the shock absorber, did they? You made this gun quite powerful so it was no wonder Hanwu Weapons¡¯ assault rifle had problems without the shock absorber.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Give? He stole them, okay?¡±
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips. ¡°Shentu Tianyin taught you bad habits. She was the one who came up with this, wasn¡¯t she?¡±
She seemed to have a deep-rooted dislike for Shentu Tianyin to have linked this shoring to her. Xia Lei was perturbed by this and did notment. The more Tang Yuyan behaved like this, the less he liked her.
How would his life had changed if he had chosen Tang Yuyan?
This question seemed moot, but he could not help thinking this whenever he met with Tang Yuyan. He would also recall the time he¡¯d spent with her in Afghanistan, in Moscow and in Jerusalem.
A woman who had gone through bullet-rain and fire with you, who had been through great danger with you, and loved you deeply ¨C could you forget her?
Some men could, but Xia Lei could not.
¡°Hey, how Shentu Tianyin is living life with Xia Lei is their own matter as husband and wife. Let¡¯s not talk about that.¡± Long Bing of few words finally spoke up. She handed an envelope in her hand to Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s all prepared. Take a look. It¡¯s what you need for your trip to Japan.¡±
Xia Lei opened the envelope and looked at its contents. A health insurance certificate, a driving license, a set of keys and two bank cards, one from the Central Bank of Japan and one from Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ.
The name on all these documents was ¡®Katou Takasuke¡¯ and the face was of another man too ¨C the face of Katou Takasuke, who had made a USD 200,000,000 deal with Hanwu Weapons.
Xia Lei looked at the items and said, ¡°There¡¯s still a week to go. I¡¯ll make preparations to leave in this week.¡±
Shi Borenughed. ¡°I don¡¯t have to worry at all when you¡¯re on the job. I¡¯ll just wait to celebrate when youe back.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You sure are rxed, Boss Shi. Japan seems peaceful but it¡¯s only because of support from America. This trip to Japan will be more dangerous than the one to Jerusalem.¡±
¡°That¡¯s no problem. I believe in you.¡± Shi Boren reached out to p Xia Lei on the shoulder, but he dodged. Shi Boren wrinkled his brows. ¡°There¡¯s still a week to go, but you have to make a decision now. Who¡¯s going to be your support ¨C Tang Yuyan or Long Bing?¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing¡¯s eyes went to Xia Lei, full of expectation.
Xia Lei was put on the spot. ¡°I have to make this decision so early?¡±
¡°Of course. Decide on the person early and she¡¯ll be able to prepare too,¡± said Shi Boren.
¡°Then I¡¯ll...¡± Xia Lei looked at Tang Yuyan, then at Long Bing. He bit the bullet and said, ¡°I¡¯ll pick Long Bing.¡±
A smile appeared on Long Bing¡¯s face.
¡°That was deliberate, wasn¡¯t it, Xia Lei?¡± said Tang Yuyan huffily.
Xia Lei avoided her eyes, clueless as to how to exin it to her. He¡¯d chosen Long Bing for the simple reason that Tang Yuyan was still trying to im him as hers. An example of this was the previous experience of her writing ¡®Tang Yuyan was here¡¯ on his buttocks. If they went to Japan, just them, and Tang Yuyan went all out to ¡®im¡¯ him... and if he couldn¡¯t resist her temptations and something happened between them... The first to know would probably be Shentu Tianyin. He was sure that Tang Yuyan would do something like this.
There won¡¯t be this sort of problem if he chose Long Bing.
Long Bing didn¡¯t stay silent though Xia Lei said nothing. ¡°What do you mean by that, Yuyan? Do you mean that he has to choose you?¡±
¡°You want a fight, Long Bing?¡± Tang Yuyan was in a bad mood.
Shi Boren coughed. ¡°Okay, okay, you¡¯re going on a mission, not a honeymoon. What¡¯s there to fight about? Get out, all of you. I don¡¯t want to see you.¡±
The three younger people left his office, and Tang Yuyan grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand as soon as they stepped out. ¡°Fine, don¡¯t choose me. Give me one Gust assault rifle. No, two. One for my brother.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
An hourter, Xia Lei returned to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s home.
Shentu Tianyin had gone to bed. Xia Lei sneaked quietly in and put a cloth bag on the bedside table. Shentu Tianyin awoke abruptly and switched the light on to look sleepily at Xia Lei. ¡°Geeze, that Bureau 101 boss... His talk with you went on to this hour? Can¡¯t he talk tomorrow?¡±
¡°Bureau 101 is not a normal department. There are no set working hours.¡± Xia Lei slid under the covers as he spoke.
It was warm under the covers and the sheets smelt of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mesmerising fragrance.
Xia Lei pulled the cloth bag over and put it on the covers.
Shentu Tianyin reached out to touch it. ¡°It¡¯s hard. What is it?¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°It¡¯s hard. What do you think it is?¡±
Shentu Tianyin recalled the words she said, and pinched Xia Lei in embarrassment. ¡°You perv! I¡¯m talking about normal things. What are you talking about?¡±
Xia Lei kept a straight face as he said, ¡°I was talking about normal things too, wasn¡¯t I?¡±
¡°You did that on purpose, didn¡¯t you?¡± Shentu Tianyin blushed.
Xia Lei up-ended the cloth bag, spilling its contents out on the covers.
They were gemstone nes. Various gems, gold, silver, and jade tumbled onto the covers, sparkling under the light.
¡°Wow...¡± Shentu Tianyin was the richest woman in China, but she was still stunned at the sight of all these precious gems. Her eyes glittered as she looked at the gemstone nes.
These nes were what were left after Xia Lei had picked some out as gifts, but every one was valuable and had high mary value.
¡°You said thest time that I should leave this in your care. They¡¯re yours now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°I won¡¯t have to buy nes for the rest of my life. Oh, this one¡¯s for Xue. This one too. This shall be for our daughter when she gets married, and this for our son when he gets a wife...¡±
Xia Lei looked quietly at her, at her excitement, at her happiness. His heart was peaceful too, and content.
¡°Eh? How do you put these two gold flowers on?¡± Shentu Tianyin lifted two exquisitely made gold roses up, curious.
These two flowers looked like they were in the shape of ancient uncovered oilmps, but there were two circr indentations in the gold flowers, and it looked like something could be ced inside.
Xia Lei whispered the answer to her.
Shentu Tianyin let out a short huff. ¡°How shameless. I didn¡¯t think the people in ancient times did things like this and that they actually designed this.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°China was the most advanced civilisation for thousands of years. Ancient Chinese culture is not as backward as you think.¡±
Shentu Tianyin abruptly thrust the flowers in Xia Lei¡¯s hands, then looked him straight in the eye. ¡°What are you waiting for? Put it on for me and let¡¯s test it out.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 503 - Middle Eastern Prince
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
The Chinese weapons exhibition was not over, but Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng were in no mood to keep participating. That exhibition had became a springboard for Thunder Horse Military Factory. The two chairmen of the government-backed corporations were concerned about one thing ¨C ording to rumours in the wind, the higher-ups had formed a small investigation team, and that team could turn up before them at any time.
In the Hanwu Weapons building, Ye Kun¡¯s office was nketed with a heavy atmosphere. Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng had thoughts weighing heavily on their minds, but Ye Xiaoqi was acting like it had nothing to do with her; she was looking at herself in the mirror and putting lipstick on.
Today was the day Katou Takasuke wasing to collect the shipment, so she had to make herself pretty. Ye Kun¡¯s financial support had more of less crumbled in her eyes, so she had to get her hands on this Katou Takasuke. A life of luxury and riches depended on Katou Takasuke, so she had to make herself as pretty as she could.
¡°Have you made sure about your secretary?¡± Mu Jianfeng looked at Ye Xiaoqi outside the office in distaste.
Ye Kun spoke in a low voice. ¡°I¡¯ve already given her 500,000. She shouldn¡¯t say anything.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Mu Jianfeng scoffed. ¡°I want a definite answer, not a ¡®maybe¡¯.¡±
Ye Kun was quiet for a bit, then said, ¡°Xiaoqi,e in.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Ye Xiaoqi was not as respectful towards Ye Kun as she was before. She did not even get up, and continued putting lipstick on.
This attitude pissed Ye Kun off and he pped the table. ¡°I told you toe in here. Did you hear me?¡±
Ye Xiaoqi then stood and walked over. ¡°What is it, Chairman Ye?¡± she said slowly.
¡°Call Katou Takasuke right away, and see how he reacts,¡± said Ye Kun.
Ye Xiaoqi did not move.
Mu Jianfeng said coldly, ¡°Miss Ye, Ye Kun has been good to you. He hasn¡¯t fallen yet and you¡¯re giving him this attitude? Do you think you can act this way because your fledgling wings have grown?¡±
¡°I...¡± Ye Xiaoqi was not afraid of Ye Kun, but this Mu Jianfeng was still scary.
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s eyes were cold. ¡°Let me tell you this, Miss Ye. I will still be here though Ye Kun falls. One word and I can erase a woman like you, so you¡¯d better be smart and not go overboard.¡±
Ye Xiaoqi was guilty and she put on a smile. ¡°What are you talking about, Chairman Mu? I was not disrespecting Chairman Ye. I¡¯m just a small officer worker ¨C how can I go up against bigwigs like you?¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that you understand this. You¡¯re a smart woman, so you should know what you can say and what you can¡¯t, right?¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
Ye Xiaoqi nodded. ¡°I do, I do. Rest assured, I won¡¯t say anything.¡±
¡°What are you waiting for, then? Call Katou Takasuke right now,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
Ye Xiaoqi took out her phone and called Katou Takasuke¡¯s number.
¡®Bitch!¡¯ cursed Ye Kun silently.
Ten seconds passed and the smile on Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s face disappeared. The number she had dialled was not in service, and there was no way for her to reach Katou Takasuke. The number had been unavable earlier but it was not in service now.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Ye Kun could not keep quiet any longer.
Ye Xiaoqi started. ¡°Chairman Ye... I can¡¯t get through.¡±
¡°Weren¡¯t you and that Katou Takasuke intimate? Why can¡¯t you get through to him?¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°The number is out of service.¡± Ye Xiaoqi¡¯s heart filled with disappointment as she uttered those words.
Just then, the phone on the office desk rang.
Ye Kun pressed the speaker button and said, ¡°What is it?¡±
A man¡¯s voice came from over the line. ¡°Chairman Ye, several arab men have appeared at the door, a, and...¡±
¡°Who else?¡±
¡°And Xia Lei of Thunder Horse Military Factory,¡± said the man. ¡°He wants to meet with you. I don¡¯t know if you want to see him, Chairman Ye, so I¡¯ve called to ask.¡±
¡°Let hime up!¡± Ye Kun hung up.
Mu Jianfeng was quiet for a bit before he spoke. ¡°Arab men? Could they be the clients who¡¯ve purchased Shenwu assault rifles from Hanwu Weapons? But why is Xia Lei with them?¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s face was full of anger. ¡°I don¡¯t know either. Damn it, that Xia Lei has actuallye to my door! He¡¯s just the owner of a small civilianpany! How are he be so arrogant!¡±
Those were empty words, however. The Xia Lei now was not the Xia Lei of the past, and he had been given an honorary title by the nation. He now had uncountable bigwigs who would support him, so who could do anything to him now even if he swaggered about the Hanwu Weapons offices?
Xia Lei was led in by a Hanwu Weapons security guard a few minutester. Along with him came three arab men, dressed in white robes and with white headscarves on.
One of them was obviously the boss, and the other two were assistants. The assistant were carrying briefcases and walking on either side of the man in front. Hierarchy was important in the arab world, and lesser-beings had no right to walk in front of their betters.
This ¡®mighty one¡¯ was young, perhaps 30 or so in age. He had blue eyes, and his face was long and thin. He had a thick beard, and he gave one the impression of healthy handsomeness.
Xia Lei did introductions when they arrived. ¡°Chairman Ye, Chairman Mu, let me introduce you to Khalifa Muhammad Azter, a prince of the UAE. ording to their custom, you may address him as ¡®Prince Khalifa¡¯ or ¡®Mr Khalifa¡¯.¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were stunned. Xia Lei had introduced a prince as soon as he turned up ¨C what was going on?
Prince Khalifa gave a slight nod, and said in stilted Chinese, ¡°Harrlow, jentlemun.¡±
Ye Kun was in no mood to entertain a prince. He looked at Xia Lei and said in a somewhat rude tone of voice, ¡°What did youe here for, Xia Lei? You can¡¯t be so arrogant to think that you¡¯d be wee here, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I came here to assist Prince Khalifa in settling some matters with yourpany, so I can¡¯t do anything about it if I¡¯m not wee. Let¡¯s not waste words and go straight to business. We both know about the purchase order ¨C how are you going to settle it?¡±
Mu Jianfeng, Ye Kun and Ye Xiaoqi all looked at each other. All three of them knew that it was Katou Takasuke who had signed the deal with them ¨C so how did Xia Lei get dragged into this?
Just then, one of Prince Khalifa¡¯s assistants said, ¡°Let me first introduce myself. I am Ali Khan, assistant to his Royal Highness. Our prince does not speak Chinese well, so he cannot speak directly to you. Our Royal Highness has conferred the rights to handle this entire matter to Mr Xia Lei. He shall represent our prince in negotiating with you.¡±
¡°What is going on here?¡± Ye Kun¡¯s face turned dark. ¡°What about that Japanese man? Katou Takasuke? You know who I¡¯m talking about.¡±
¡°Katou Takasuke? Heh. That unlucky soul was kidnapped by terrorists when he returned to the UAE, and we received a ransom note. We do not deal with terrorists, however, and especially not for a Japanese man. He is just a worker to our prince,¡± said Ali Khan.
¡°How could you?¡± Ye Xiaoqi was emotional and losing it. ¡°Save him! Save him right now!¡±
Ali Khan spoke disinterestedly, ¡°Miss, we¡¯re sorry but we have our morals. It¡¯s been days, so it¡¯s toote now. That terrorist gave us a time limit of 48 hours. He is probably dead now.¡±
¡°You... Whuuuh...¡± Ye Xiaoqi let out a wail and cried in despair.
Herst source, her ticket to a life of luxury and riches, was gone. This was a tragedy, especially to women like her.
¡°Stop crying!¡± said Ye Kun angrily. ¡°It¡¯s not as if your father is dead. What are you so heartbroken for?¡±
¡°I...¡± Ye Xiaoqi couldn¡¯t speak but her crying stopped.
¡°Hold on!¡± Mu Jianfeng stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Even if Katou Takasuke is dead, this shouldn¡¯t have been put in your hands.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve heard it yourself, Chairman Mu. Prince Khalifa has given me full rights to handle this matter. How could I refuse?¡±
¡°How did this Prince Khalifa find you?¡± Mu Jianfeng¡¯s gaze went to Prince Khalifa. He was doubting this person identity.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, Chairman Mu. This Prince Khalifa is the real deal, let me tell you that. You can check with the UAE. Katou Takasuke was just a high-flying employee who worked for him. Katou Takasuke signed the contract with you on behalf of Prince Khalifa¡¯s arms dealingpany, and you know the name of thepany too. It¡¯s Desert Guardian. So, though Katou Takasuke is dead, the contract is still very much valid and has legal weight. We havee now with the aim of negotiating how this business should be handled.¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun could not help exchanging nces. They had been thinking of how they could lie to Katou Takasuke before Xia Lei turned up, and sell the Shenwu assault rifles to the Middle East, but Xia Lei had been unexpectedly involved now. All their earlier scheming had been for naught!
¡°All right, I¡¯ll be frank so you won¡¯t harbour ill-will. Desert Guardian reached out to Thunder Horse Military Factory to purchase our XL2500 sniper rifles. Who wouldn¡¯t like clients from the Middle East? They have a problem now, so I¡¯m d to help them solve this problem. I have some advantage to be gained here, right?¡±
Ye Kun growled, ¡°The guns are in the warehouse and can be shipped at any time. Have you prepared the payment? ording to the contract, you people must pay 50% of the total purchase price, and the remaining aboutter at the next shipment.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Mr Ali Khan, please interpret this for your Royal Highness. Chairman Ye wants you to ept those horribly defective assault rifles, and pay 50% of the total order. Are you going to ept that?¡±
Ali Khan conveyed the words to Prince Khalifa.
¡°International Court of Justice.¡± Prince Khalifa uttered just four words, but they were as clear as day.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng¡¯s expressions turned ugly.
Chapter 504 - Prince and Lion
One month ago, UAE, Abu Dhabi International Airport.
A young asian man walked out of the arrivals hall. This young man was in a ck suit and had ck sunsses on. He was tall, handsome and very cool.
The young asian man walked out of the airport and got into a Lamborghini taxi. He told the driver his destination in Arabic, and this luxurious taxi brought him galloping to the Abu Dhabi Pce Hotel.
The taxi stopped in the driveway of the hotel, and the young man stepped out of the car. The hotel security staff stopped him before he walked through the doors of the hotel, but he spoke in Arabic to the man for a bit, and the security staff went into his security post, made a call, and let the young man pass.
The Abu Dhabi Pce Hotel was not as famous as the Dubai Hotel but it was one level above, an eight-star hotel. Not anyone could step foot into this hotel, and it catered only to distinguished guests.
And Prince Khalifa was one of them.
This young asian man was able to pass through its gates because he had an appointment with Prince Khalifa.
The young man walked into the hotel lobby, and a white-robed man in a white headscarf was already waiting there for him. He moved forward in wee when he saw the young man. ¡°Are you Mr Xia from China?¡±
The young asian man nodded.
¡°Hm?¡± The middle-eastern man looked more carefully at his face and said doubtfully, ¡°You are not Xia Lei. Ourpany¡¯s employees have been to Thunder Horse Military Factory and taken pictures with Mr Xia. You are not him. Who are you?¡±
The young asian man lifted his head and looked at the surveince cameras, then said in Arabic, ¡°This is not the ce to talk. Could we move to somewhere more private?¡±
The middle-eastern man hesitated, but he still nodded. ¡°Come with me.¡±
The young man followed the middle-eastern man across the lobby and into the stairwell. They stopped in a corner. He reached under his chin and fiddled about, then carefully removed his mask to reveal his true face.
This young asian man was Xia Lei.
¡°This... Mr Xia, you...¡± The middle-eastern man gaped at the ¡®transformed¡¯ Xia Lei and was at a loss for words.
¡°Please forgive me. There are too many people who are after my life, so I must be careful. When can I meet Prince Khalifa?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Forgive me, I must touch your face before I answer your question,¡± said the middle-eastern man.
Xia Lei shrugged, and nodded.
The man touched Xia Lei¡¯s cheeks, and pinched him. He spoke after confirming that this was indeed Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Come with me. His Royal Highness is waiting for you in his room. Oh, yes, I am Ali Khan, head of Desert Guardian. I am happy to work with you.¡±
Xia Lei shook hands with him, and followed him up to the second floor. They came to a room door, and a bodyguard did a body search on Xia Lei to confirm that he did not have any weapons on him before he was allowed to enter the room.
Xia Lei went through the door and saw some sexy girls in bikinis, and a handsome young middle-eastern man, as well as the lion by his feet.
People of status in the Middle East liked to have wild animals like lions or tigers as pets, and this Prince Khalifa was one of them.
The lion which had been lying at Prince Khalifa¡¯s feet got up when Xia Lei entered, and walked slowly over to him.
Prince Khalifa stared at Xia Lei. He wanted to see Xia Lei¡¯s reaction.
There was no expression on Xia Lei¡¯s face as the mighty lion approached. The lion went up to Xia Lei, looking at him withrge eyes. Xia Lei suddenly reached out a hand to pat the lion¡¯s head and he said in Arabic, ¡°I have no meat for you, little one.¡±
The mighty lion did not react. It enjoyed Xia Lei¡¯s petting.
Prince Khalifa looked at Xia Lei in astonishment. He could not believe his eyes. This lion of his had not been de-fanged, and was a true beast. It would not attack anyone without hismand, but Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t know this. Yet, he had dared to pet the lion. This courage was impressive!
What Prince Khalifa didn¡¯t know was that the lion would be no match for Xia Lei even if he had given themand to attack. Strong against the weak ¨C would the strong be afraid of the weak?
Ali Khan snapped back to his senses. ¡°Your Highness, this is Mr Xia Lei, from China¡¯s Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
Prince Khalifa stood from the sofa and walked up to Xia Lei. He reached a hand out. ¡°Nice to meet you, Mr Xia. Your courage is impressive.¡±
Xia Lei shook with the prince. ¡°Your Highness, it is my honour to meet you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too polite, Mr Xia. Come, sit, sit.¡± Prince Khalifa invited Xia Lei to sit down.
A bikini-d girl handed Xia Lei a cup of coffee, and looked at him with interest.
¡°What have youe from China to see me about, Mr Xia?¡± Prince Khalifa went straight to business.
¡°For a cooperative business.¡± Xia Lei was direct too.
¡°Cooperative?¡± Prince Khalifaughed. ¡°I have Desert Guardian. I have purchased weapons from you, Thunder Horse Military Factory, but I only managed to get five XL2500 sniper rifles. You¡¯ve nowe specially to see me, and you¡¯re talking about a cooperation? Do you think this is a joke?¡±
¡°The XL2500 sniper rifle is primarily for our own nation¡¯s troops, and international purchasers are only allowed a fraction of the rifles. I havee today to offer you 200 XL2500 sniper rifles. Additionally, you also stand to purchase Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s newest Gust assault rifle.¡±
¡°Gust assault rifle?¡± Prince Khalifa shook his head. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of it. We have the most advanced assault rifles from Europe and America.¡±
¡°The most advanced assault rifles from Europe and America? That is because you haven¡¯t seen Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Gust assault rifle.¡± Xia Lei took out an Apple tablet from his briefcase. He activated the disy, then handed it to Prince Khalifa.
The tablet disyed an introductory video of the Gust assault rifle.
The video showed not just the Gust assault rifle¡¯s samples, but also details about the gun, finally ending with a clip of the Gust assault rifle being fired.
The video was just a few minutes long but Prince Khalifa only spoke a minute after the video had ended.
¡°Is this real, Mr Xia?¡± said Prince Khalifa in surprise. ¡°An effective shooting range of 1,000 metres, and practically zero recoil?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve received the XL2500 sniper rifles, so I believe you have some trust in Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s capabilities. I can tell you with confidence that we are working overtime to produce the Gust assault rifle. I can bet my neck that all that¡¯s been shown in the video is true. I am unable to bring one with me on my trip to the UAE this time, or I would be able to show you its capabilities.¡±
Prince Khalifa could not help exchanging nces with Ali Khan. Both their gazes could not contain their excitement and want for this gun.
¡°Mr Xia, if your Gust assault rifle is as impressive as it seems, it is unquestionably the best assault rifle in the world, and surpasses the assault rifles of Europe and America. You will have no need to worry about selling it. Why did youe to the UAE to meet with me, and to work with me? I cannot understand this. Please, tell me the reason.¡± Prince Khalifa looked straight at Xia Lei, as if searching for an answer in his eyes.
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit before he said, ¡°Prince Khalifa, I would like to be friends with you, and ask a favour of you.¡±
¡°What is this favour?¡±
¡°I would like to borrow the name of yourpany, Desert Guardian, to make a purchase order of USD 200,000,000 with China¡¯s Hanwu Weapons.¡±
¡°Eh?¡± said Prince Khalifa in surprise. ¡°What is this for? I want to buy your guns but you¡¯re telling me to make a purchase order with anotherpany? And for USD 200,000,000? Mr Xia, I respect you, but do not joke with me.¡±
¡°I shall be making this order, under the name of Katou Takasuke, a high-flying employee of your Desert Guardianpany. I¡¯m asking you to put me on file, and provide documentation which can stand against a background check. I¡¯ll handle the cing of the order, and you just have to wait to receive my notice to go to China and show yourself for a bit.¡±
Prince Khalifa did not understand what Xia Lei wanted, still. He was getting angry.
Ali Khan was displeased too. ¡°Mr Xia, His Highness was already humouring you by meeting with you. How could you make this sort of joke? Don¡¯t you think this is very disrespectful of you? I¡¯d have to ask you to leave if you try this again.¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°Your Highness, I have no intention of disrespect. I am not begging you either ¨C I want to be friends with you.¡±
¡°Who makes friends like this?¡± said Prince Khalifa coldly.
¡°A benefit of having a friend like me is that I can help your troops be more powerful, and undefeatable in this part of the Middle East. You just have to nod, and help me out with this,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why?¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll tell you the reason. I¡¯d like to crush my rival, Hanwu Weapons,¡± said Xia Lei.
Prince Khalifa and Ali Khan exchanged nces again. Prince Khalifa thenughed. ¡°So that¡¯s why. No problem, my friend. I will fulfil your request.¡±
Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°Thank you, my friend.¡±
The three of them started talking...
Over a monthter, now.
Prince Khalifa looked furious. ¡°Your guns have a serious stability issue, and you¡¯re suspected of infringing on rights. You can¡¯t even solve a problem like this and you want me to ept your shipment and pay for them? Do you take me for a fool? I shall go to our ambassador and tell him to make a diplomatic protest. We¡¯ll see you in International Court!¡±
Ali Khan interpreted for Prince Khalifa.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s faces turned green when they heard what Prince Khalifa had said.
They would be in enough hot soup as it is, whether it was a diplomatic protest or the International Court of Justice. They were the ones who were thieves, who had stolen Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s drawings. How could they let this embarrassing matter be escted to the international level? They had lost the case even without going to the International Court of Justice!
Chapter 505 - Fox and Hunter
There was a saying which went ¡®when it rains, it pours¡¯ and this aptly described Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s situation now. The investigative team had note down to investigate them yet, but a Middle East prince hade! Not only that, this prince had brought Xia Lei with him too!
If there were magic on Earth, Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng would pay any price for magic which could make Xia Lei disappear from the face of this Earth. There was no magic, however, so they could do nothing about Xia Lei turning up before them.
¡°Speak. How are you going to resolve this?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence. He did not want to give Mu Jianfeng or Ye Kun enough time to think.
Ye Kun bit the bullet and said, ¡°How do you n to resolve it?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll settle it based on the contract terms, of course. You are unable to hand over the promised goods now, and it¡¯s because you defaulted. You have to pay double the purchase contract price, and that¡¯s USD 400,000,000.¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Ye Kun panicked. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, Xia Lei, that you are Chinese. You should be on our side. Why are you helping someone from the Middle East get money now? You¡¯re selling out your country!¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°Stop painting me that way, Ye Kun. I won¡¯t buy that. I¡¯m not selling out, and I am very sure that I¡¯ve been good to this country and my conscience is clear. You, however, Ye Kun... You¡¯re corrupt, you ept bribes, and you¡¯ve done quite a few bad deeds but you¡¯re still lounging in your high position, abusing others like a tyrant. You say I¡¯m a sellout? You¡¯re a traitor to the nation!¡±
¡°You...¡± Ye Kun could not retort. He was so mad he could not speak.
¡°Enough, enough. Don¡¯t fight.¡± Mu Jianfeng tried to calm things down. ¡°Xia Lei, this has nothing to do with you. Please leave. We know how to talk to Prince Khalifa.¡±
¡°Prince Khalifa has given me the authority to negotiate with you on his behalf. I am his representative. You dare chase me away?¡± said Xia Lei
¡°Don¡¯t try that with me!¡± Mu Jianfeng was stubborn, and angry. ¡°Let me tell you that this is China, not the UAE. He can¡¯t do whatever he wants. He has to go by our rules, even if it¡¯s just negotiating.
¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Ye Kun sneered. ¡°Don¡¯t think you¡¯re all that, Xia Lei. You¡¯re not wee here. Scram, or I¡¯ll get security to drag you out.¡±
¡°Sure. You two have quite the temper, huh? I¡¯ll leave.¡± Xia Lei turned to leave.
Prince Khalifa looked at Xia Lei and turned to leave too.
Ali Khan pointed at Ye Kun. ¡°This was your choice. Just wait. There will be a diplomatic protest and we¡¯ll see you in the International Court of Justice.¡±
Ali Khan turned to leave too when he was done speaking.
Ye Kun panicked. ¡°I was only telling Xia Lei to leave. I didn¡¯t say that I wasn¡¯t going to talk with you. Why are you leaving?¡±
¡°His Highness has made it clear. He has given all authority to Xia Lei to handle this matter. Xia Lei represents His Majesty. Your treatment of Mr Xia is tantamount to insulting His Majesty! Goodbye!¡± said Ali Khan.
¡°Wait!¡± Ye Kun was reluctant but he still said, ¡°Xia Lei, please stay.¡±
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Ye Kun. A smile of distaste hung in the corners of his mouth. ¡°Ye Kun, do you think you¡¯re a god or something? That I will leave or stay because you tell me to?¡±
¡°You...¡± Ye Kun was rooted to the spot in anger.
Mu Jianfeng spoke frostily, ¡°That¡¯s enough, Xia Lei. You want to stay to see us make fools of ourselves, don¡¯t you? I¡¯m giving you enough respect by allowing you to stay. What else do you want?¡±
The way he said it, it was like he was being gracious in letting Xia Lei stay.
Xia Leiughed in anger. ¡°You know what I hate most about you? You¡¯re obviously in deep shit, but you¡¯re still putting on airs. People like you have got too used to having your own way, and you think everything will go ording to what you want. I¡¯ll let you understand today that not everyone will bend to your wishes. You want me to stay? Sure. Apologise to me.¡±
¡°You...¡± Mu Jianfeng was so angry he could not speak.
¡°Xia Lei! Don¡¯t you go overboard!¡± Ye Kun snarled.
Xia Lei shrugged, and turned to leave.
Prince Khalifa and his two assistants followed him too, and the four of them were soon at the office door.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces. They were in a state of confusion and neither could think of any ideas. One thing was clear, however, and that was that this matter must not be escted to the international level. It was an ugly enough situation for them, and if Prince Khalifa brought this to a diplomatic dispute, the two of them would be ruined even before the investigation into them begun!
Xia Lei was almost out the door when Ye Kun relented and forced himself to say, ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡±
This matter could be resolved with money if they had Xia Lei stay and negotiate with them. The investigation team would investigate the matter of Hanwu Weapons stealing technical drawings from Thunder Horse Military Factory, and maybe find some problems with his work and personal life. There was still some hope of recovering from all these problems, but there was no saving him if this matter escted.
Xia Lei turned about and said softly, ¡°One more person has not apologised yet.¡±
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s lips thinned in fury. Who was he? The chairman of China Industrial Group! A small boss of a civilianpany wanted him to apologise? This hit to his pride was one he could not take!
Ye Kun red at Mu Jianfeng. He did not say anything but he was getting disgruntled. He had put his own pride aside and apologised to Xia Lei in order to stop the matter from getting worse. Why couldn¡¯t Mu Jianfeng do the same!
¡°So Chairman Mu has never apologised to anyone in his life, huh? Fine, I won¡¯t force you to either so your life of officialdom will still remain perfect. I¡¯d better leave.¡± Xia Lei made to leave again.
¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Mu Jianfeng finally said it. His heart filled with hate in that instant, but he put a smile on his face. ¡°It¡¯s just an apology, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s not impossible. If an apology can make calm your anger, then I¡¯ll even apologise a hundred times if necessary. Look, Ye Kun and I have apologised to you already. Let¡¯s let the unhappiness of before go, eh? Let¡¯s sit and talk. I believe we can talk things through.¡±
¡°Sure, then let¡¯s talk.¡± Xia Lei returned to Ye Kun¡¯s office.
Ye Kun looked at Ye Xiaoqi, who¡¯d been hovering in the background. ¡°What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and make tea for Director Xia and our middle-eastern guests.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Ye Xiaoqi then looked away from Xia Lei and went to make tea.
Mu Jianfeng oberved this, and he wrinkled his brows, pondering something. They seated themselves, and Mu Jianfeng seemed to reach a conclusion and had made a decision by the time Ye Xiaoqi came with the tea. ¡°Xia Lei, since Prince Khalifa has given you full authority to handle this matter, why don¡¯t we just settle this simply? We¡¯ll negotiate with you ¨C what do you think?¡±
¡°Teacher, this...¡± Ye Kun did not understand Mu Jianfeng¡¯s intentions.
Mu Jianfeng gave Ye Kun a look, but did not give him any exnations.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°No problem. What do you want to negotiate?¡±
Mu Jianfeng stood and said, ¡°Come, let¡¯s talk in the rest lounge.¡± He then added, ¡°Xiaoqi, take care of the middle-eastern guests.¡±
Prince Khalifa and his assistants did not respond, and Ye Xiaoqi was happy to tend to these rich people too.
Xia Lei followed Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun into the rest lounge.
Mu Jianfeng closed the door and went straight to the point. ¡°Xia Lei, let¡¯s just be frank with each other. You sent Katou Takasuke, didn¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei paused, then said, ¡°What do you mean, Chairman Mu? I don¡¯t understand you.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± Mu Jianfeng snorted. ¡°Stop with the act. I remembered earlier. How did you get the video of Ye Kun and Ye Xiaoqi having sex? And in this rest lounge too.¡±
Realisation dawned on Ye Kun. He red at Xia Lei. ¡°So it was you! This was all your n! You hateful punk!¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°Is what you say true? You should have evidence when saying things like this. Where¡¯s the camera that was used to record this? Where is it? It should have that Katou Takasuke¡¯s fingerprints on it, right?¡±
What had actually happened was that Qin Xiang had broken into the Hanwu Weapons building in the night and taken the thing which Xia Lei had left under the guise of ¡®Katou Takasuke¡¯. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t tell this to Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, of course.
So whatever guesses they made, Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were unable to produce any evidence.
¡°Hold on...¡± Ye Kun seemed to remember something. ¡°The first time I saw that Katou Takasuke, I felt like I¡¯ve met him before. His build was like yours... Xia Lei! You are Katou Takasuke!¡±
Neither Mu Jianfeng nor Ye Kun were fools. They were smart, cunning people. Xia Lei did not find it strange that they hade to this conclusion with just a few clues. Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun would not have gotten to where they were now if they had not been smart and cunning people.
But Xia Lei did not care because they were unable to bring out any evidence. On the other hand, the contract between Hanwu Weapons and Desert Guard was in ck and white, and there was nothing fake about it.
¡°Xia Lei, I have never had such a trapid for me before. You are the first to have done this. I acknowledge your ruthlessness.¡± Mu Jianfeng was overflowing with hate, but he made no moves on the outside. One could not tell that he was angry.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Sure, take it as I¡¯ve meddled. You¡¯ve caused trouble for me several times. I return the favour just once, and you can¡¯t take it? Why do it at all? Let¡¯s not talk about this meaningless topics any longer and go straight to business. My requirements are simple ¨C the penalty fee of USD 400,000,000. Give it to my client and this case is closed. If you don¡¯t, then you know what that prince outside will do.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve only taken a USD 5,000,000 deposit and you want to collect a penalty fee of USD 400,000,000? You¡¯re too much. No, I am only willing to pay USD 20,000,000!¡± Ye Kun looked determined.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Then you two have a nice long chat. I¡¯ll not hang around.¡±
Mu Jianfeng grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°USD 400,000,000 is definitely out of the question. Nothing good wille out for this for anyone if this matter gets blown up. You have to remember that you¡¯re representing a middle-easternpany, but you are also helping apany registered in the UAE take away money from a government-backed enterprise. Ye Kun and I would have to leave the stage then, but you won¡¯t be free from it either. You take one step back, and we sill too. Both sides benefit.¡±
Cheating money from the nation ¨C this was like digging your own grave.
Chapter 506 - Biggest Winner
Mu Jianfeng had always been a tough guy, and he was still looking for ways to fight back and turn the tide though he had been forced to wade into deep waters. Ye Kun could never surpass Mu Jianfeng in this.
Xia Lei was silent, seemingly feeling the jab of something.
Ye Kun sneered, ¡°Guilty now, Xia Lei? You want USD400,000,000? Can you take that money with a clear conscience even if we give it to you? Don¡¯t open your mouth so wide if you have no appetite for it!¡±
Xia Lei kept his silence.
Mu Jianfeng said, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about 400,000,000 or 200,000,000. Just USD50,000,000 will do. This is a huge sum too. I believe you¡¯ll be able to persuade your prince friend, won¡¯t you?¡±
He seemed to mean something else by that.
Xia Lei raised his head at that and looked at Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun. He gave augh. ¡°USD 50,000,000? You actually dared to suggest it? Even if I agree to it, Prince Khalifa won¡¯t. What is USD 50,000,000 to him? Let me remind you that it is not me who is asking for this money but the Desert Guardianpany. This is an agreement between you and them, and I¡¯m not involved. I am just helping my client out in my own capacity.¡±
¡°Stop with the act. Speak. How much do you want?¡± Ye Kun had lost his patience.
Xia Lei spoke softly. ¡°We¡¯re rivals and you two have given me a lot of trouble, but I¡¯ll give you a way out since you¡¯re my countrymen.¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun couldn¡¯t help exchanging looks. Their eyes were full of distrust. Would Xia Lei be so generous? They did not believe it.
¡°Don¡¯t believe me? No matter. I¡¯ll tell you anyway.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Prince Khalifa has nock for money. Hecks guns. The Middle East is in a state of chaos and Prince Khalifa wants his troops to be the best in the Middle East. My Gust assault rifle can help him aplish this, and it is the weapon he wants.¡±
¡°And what does this have to do with us?¡± said Mu Jianfeng coldly.
¡°It doesn¡¯t seem rted to you on the surface but you can be linked to it if you want,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you mean by that?¡± asked Ye Kun.
¡°Didn¡¯t you guys process a lot of parts for the Shenwu assault rifle? Sell those parts to me at a low price, and it¡¯ll ount for a portion of the liquidated damages. Additionally, your twopanies can keep supplying Thunder Horse Military Factory with the parts we need to offset the rest of the damages. The newly-processed parts can be bought at an objective price. You¡¯ll soon be able to offset the damages in this way,¡± said Xia Lei.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were rooted to the spot.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s n. The solution he had proposed to them was what he had schemed for.
This was a brilliant move on the chessboard that business.
Taking money from a state-backed enterprise? Xia Lei was not so foolish. If he did take money, he would have to pay for the consequences one day, even if his n was foolproof. Purchasing the parts which Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group had already manufactured not only solved the problem of Thunder Horse Military Factory needing parts, but also gave one the impression that Thunder Horse was benevolent. After all, the Shenwu assault rifle could not be produced anymore, and those parts would have to go to waste otherwise. Being able to sell these parts was beneficial to both parties.
Additionally, Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group would be able to sell parts they produce in the future to Thunder Horse Military Factory at a fair price, so what could theyin about to Xia Lei?
Through this sort of cooperation, Thunder Horse would essentially make Hanwu and China Industrial its logistics base, and these twopanies would help boost Thunder Horse expansion greatly.
¡°Well, well, Xia Lei. I¡¯ve really underestimated you.¡± Mu Jianfeng smiled wryly. He looked like he had aged in an instant. ¡°Ye Kun and I were aiming to drive you out of the market, but you¡¯ve managed to thrive in spite of that. On top of that, you¡¯re now trying to make us into your stepping stone for greater sess. An excellent move! This won¡¯t be seen as taking the nation¡¯s money but as you saving the government¡¯s business and attaining glory for the nation. You¡¯ll beuded as a capable man and a man with a patriotic heart. You¡¯ve taking all the advantage - what is left for us, then?¡±
¡°The advantage you can get out of this is a solution to your problem with Desert Guardian. What else do you want other than this?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Add one more thing,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory will not sue Hanwu Weapons for copyright infringement.¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s eyes lit up and he seemed to see a ray of hope. ¡°Yes, this has to be added! You can¡¯t have all the advantages,¡± he said excitedly.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei pretended to hesitate. He had his own ns.
¡°Xia Lei, you have topromise a little. We can buckle down and give you USD 400,000,000 too, but I believe you have your sights set on more than this money. The military contract is already yours. Your ambition however, tells me that you¡¯ll aim for the international market too. If that¡¯s the case, you¡¯ll needrge volumes of high-quality parts, but based on Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s production capabilities, you¡¯ll need several years just to increase your production capacity. Time is money. Would you miss out on this rare opportunity for expansion?¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun had been scheming to crush Thunder Horse Military Factory just yesterday, but they were now on Xia Lei¡¯s side and looking into the future for Thunder Horse, making suggestions. Life really was unpredictable!
¡°You¡¯re getting us to do things for you now. Do you really want to force us into a corner? All right, assume that Thunder Horse sues us, and we resign. A whole new set of management will take our ces. Would these new people be willing to work with you, and make parts for Thunder Horse Military Factory? That¡¯s a pipe dream. The new management will be like us. They will want to drive you out of the market,¡± said Ye Kun.
¡°Hmm... We can discuss this. Mr Ling has asked me for the relevant evidence, and I haven¡¯t handed it to him yet,¡± said Xia Lei slowly.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng couldn¡¯t help exchanging looks again. Their eyes had a glimmer of joy in them now. What they wanted to avoid the most was the impending investigation, and to keep their positions. And only Xia Lei was able to give them what they wanted. It seemed like Xia Lei was hinting at something to them now.
¡°Tell us, Xia Lei. Let¡¯s not go in circles. Tell us what other requirements you have,¡± said Mu Jianfeng. ¡°We have what you want and you have what we want. This exchange will benefit both of us. Since this is a win-win for us, you should be more sincere.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°All right, I can agree to not suing you, and not handing in the evidence for the investigation. However, we¡¯ll have to sign a new contract clearly stating the price, quantity and deadlines for the shipment of the parts. I have to be cautious with people like you, because I don¡¯t trust you.¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun huddled together, whispering.
Mu Jianfeng then said, ¡°Deal. But you have to give the evidence to us.¡±
¡°Sure, no problem. I¡¯ll give you the evidence after we¡¯ve signed the contract.¡± Xia Lei agreed quickly this time.
The video evidence could be copied and the paper evidence too. Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun could take all the time they needed. Xia Lei would always have a copy, just to have them in the palm of his hand.
¡°Then let¡¯s go through the details of the agreement,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
¡°No need. I¡¯ve had it prepared for you two.¡± Xia Lei opened his briefcase and took out six copies of a contract. It was a thick stack.
Mu Jianfeng stared dumbly at the stack of paper for a while, then said, ¡°You... you¡¯d predicted that we would work with you? You¡¯ve prepared everything!¡±
¡°Chairman Mu, you¡¯re an intelligent man. Do you think you¡¯ll have any choice other than to work with me? Take a look at the contract and sign if you have no problems with it.¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun picked up a copy of the contract each, and started reading...
Two hourster, all three of them signed.
Xia Lei put four copies for Thunder Horse Military Factory in his briefcase and ced a USB stick on the table. ¡°Take it. This is the evidence you wanted.¡±
Ye Kun snatched it up, as if afraid that Xia Lei would take it back. He said probingly, ¡°Xia Lei, you don¡¯t have a copy, do you?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Am I that sort of person? I¡¯m only concerned about the quantity of the parts you will produce and their shipping times. This is your only chance, and it¡¯s your own problem if you don¡¯t take it.¡±
Xia Lei lifted his briefcase and walked out the rest lounge when he finished speaking.
His n wasplete, and this was the result he had wanted when he put it all in motion a month ago.
This was a more advantageous solution than forcing Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun out of the equation. He would just only have the rush of kicking them out, and there would be nothing after that rush had faded. Making them work for him, and making Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial manufacture parts for him would give him the needed boost to expands Thunder Horse Military Factory. This was the smart choice.
¡°Damn it!¡± Mu Jianfeng pped the surface of the table after Xia Lei exited the room. ¡°He was just a roadside shop owner when I saw him two years ago. He¡¯s now making me work for him!¡±
¡°I can¡¯t take this lying down either.¡± Ye Kun seethed, ¡°But what can we do other than to work with him?¡±
Just then, Ye Xiaoqi appeared in the doorway and said cautiously, ¡°Chairman Ye, Chairman Mu, Xia Lei and the three middle-eastern men have left.¡±
Ye Kun looked at her and said coldly, ¡°Ye Xiaoqi, go report at the Production Department tomorrow. I hear they¡¯recking a cleaner. Someone new will take your ce tomorrow.¡±
Chapter 507 - Poor Wretch
Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group had be support for Thunder Horse Group. No one had seen thising. However, not many knew about this because the threepanies had signed the contract in secret.
A huge shipment of parts from Hanwu Weapons arrived the day after Xia Lei, Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng signed the contract. Thunder Horse Military Factory only needed to test the quality of these parts and assemble them.
The parts produced by Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial should have a high standard, since the Shenwu assault rifle only failed because of the omission of the shock-absorption device. Xia Lei was not worried at all about quality issues of the partsing from them. If any problem arose, he could just reject them, and it was not going to affect him very much.
With the support from Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial, Thunder Horse was now able to speed up the production of the Gust assault rifle, and produce them at a more steady pace. The quicker the domestic orders were done, the quicker they could fulfil the international ones.
However, Xia Lei was not satisfied with that. He did not believe that he would be working long-term with Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial. The USD 400,000,000 of parts he was getting from Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial would be Gust assault rifles, doubling his profit on them, and this profit would be used to increase Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s production capacity. A new workshop, new production line, and new employees were all in the ns.
The Gust assault rifle and the industry espionage associated with it also became the turning point for Thunder Horse Military Factory. It allowed Thunder Horse to have a firm footing in the Chinese market and a foundation to build upon. Its strength and its potential for growth would soon be realised!
Before that, though, Xia Lei still had something important to do ¨C the trip to Japan.
¡°We¡¯re leaving the day after. Have you prepared all that you need?¡± Long Bing broke the heavy silence in the Jeep. Her expression was a cold and aloof as ever.
¡°I¡¯ve prepared what I should, no problems. How about you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I made my fake documents with the mask you gave me. My name¡¯s Ooka Mika, 25 years old. I¡¯m from Hokkaido and I¡¯m your childhood friend cum girlfriend. Is this correct, Mr Katou Takasuke?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°No need to recite it to me. Just memorise your own bio.¡±
Agents needed to memorise all of a cover identity¡¯s background before going on missions, and always be on the alert for situations where their cover could bepromised. This was quite basic, and Long Bing was a professional who would not mess up.
¡°Right, our mission. Don¡¯t let Shentu Tianyin know the rtionship of our cover identities,¡± said Long Bing coldly. ¡°She is a jealous woman. I don¡¯t want to be seen as someone trying to encroach on her territory.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Do I seem like such a henpecked man to you?¡±
Long Bing gave Xia Lei a look. ¡°You mean you¡¯re not?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He was not a man who was afraid of his wife, but a man who loved and cherished his wife. He did not want her to be unhappy and he did not want her hurt. Men should be open-minded and be aodating. If he nitpicked about everything with Shentu Tianyin because he was the man in the rtionship, then what was the point in that sort of life?
¡°Oh, yes, the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle for our use has already been shipped to Japan through our channels. Someone will bring them to us when we¡¯ve crossed the border,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I¡¯d rather we not have to use guns on mission in Japan. That ce is not Jerusalem, and not Afghanistan. It¡¯s still quite safe for us to go there with our false identities, unless there¡¯s CIA or highly-specialised people there.¡±
¡°Have you forgotten about Gu Kewen?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were jerked back to the present at the mention of that name, and he wrinkled his brows.
The biggest threat in this mission in Japan was Gu Kewen.
Long Bing spoke tly, ¡°I don¡¯t have any friendly feelings for Japan. I won¡¯t go easy one anyone if there¡¯s going to be a fight. If I can kill two, I¡¯ll kill them both. I¡¯ll handle the specialised agents and the CIA. You¡¯ll handle Gu Kewu and Gu Kewen.¡±
Long Bing was Long Bing, the ice-queen killer of Bureau 101. Her words wereced with frost.
Xia Lei said nothing. He just nodded. He understood Long Bing, since there was a strained, bloody history between Japan and China. Every Chinese national of the Republic would remember the crimes Japan hadmitted in those war-years. Long Bing was one of those who remembered this bit of history, and she would not go easy if a war broke out again. Xia Lei would choose to do the same too.
An hourter, the Jeep came to a prison. Long Bing showed her documents and the prison guard let them through. A prison warden brought Long Bing and Xia Lei to the door of a cell.
Ordinary inmates were only able to see their visitors in the visiting room, under the watch of the wardens. However, Long Bing and Xia Lei did not have to do this. They went straight to Gu Kewu¡¯s cell, and no prison warden was there to watch them either.
The warden opened the door, and walked away.
Xia Lei pushed the door open and saw Gu Kewu in there right away. The sound of the opening door had startled him, and he looked over. Their eyes met.
¡°You...¡± Gu Kewu was astonished. ¡°What are you doing here, Xia Lei?¡±
Xia Lei smiled toothily. ¡°Long time no see, Gu Kewu. You¡¯ve grown fat, and paler too.¡±
Gu Kewu¡¯s expression turned ugly. He could hear the mockery in Xia Lei¡¯s words. The old him in his prime would have returned that favour, and told his bodyguards to beat Xia Lei up. He was different now. The long time in prison had drained him of his arrogance and he did not dare to oppose Xia Lei. There was no meaning in it.
Long Bing poked her head in the doorway and said, ¡°You talk with him. I¡¯ll wait outside.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei nodded. He did not move his gaze from Gu Kewu.
Gu Kewu saw Long Bing too, and he was scared. He subconsciously moved two steps back. ¡°Wh, What do you two want?¡±
¡°What, has your courage shrunk after spending time in prison?¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Kewu bit his lip, and hate shed in his eyes. That was all the reaction to be had from him, though.
¡°Sit, sit. I¡¯ll stand. Let¡¯s talk,¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Kewu did not sit. Heughed dryly. ¡°Say it. What did youe here for? Tough at me? You¡¯ve achieved your goal. You can leave now.¡±
¡°Say, if you¡¯d been so understanding like you are now, would you have ended up this way?¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Gu Kewu could not stand it any longer. He said angrily, ¡°What the hell do you want, Xia Lei? You want to beat me up? I¡¯m right here! Come on, hit me! Beat me to death!¡±
Xia Lei abruptly felt that the Gu Kewu now was very pitiful, but not worthy of sympathy.
Xia Lei sighed, and suddenly shouted, ¡°SIT!¡±
Gu Kewu shot to his prison bed like immediately. He looked at Xia Lei in trepidation. His mind raced with thoughts, trying to guess at why Xia Lei hade.
¡°I came to tell you,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°that you¡¯re free to go.¡±
¡°What?¡± Gu Kewu could not believe what he was hearing.
¡°This is all thanks to your good little sister, Gu Kewen. You might not know it but she¡¯s one of the CIA now.¡± Xia Lei watched Gu Kewu for changes in his expression as he spoke.
Gu Kewu avoided Xia Lei¡¯s gaze.
Xia Lei was stuck by this, and he thought, ¡®Looks like Gu Kewu already knows about his sister betraying our nation and bing a CIA agent. It¡¯s not difficult for her to tell him this, with her connection. The Gu family copsed, but they still have loyal followers.¡¯
¡°I don¡¯t believe you. My sister is just an ordinary girl. How could she be a CIA agent? Xia Lei, you¡¯vee to the wrong ce if you¡¯re here to get information on my sister. I know nothing,¡± said Gu Kewu.
Xia Lei had reached a conclusion at Gu Kewu¡¯s words. He said, ¡°It¡¯s not important if you know about it or not. I¡¯m here to tell you that I¡¯m going to Japan in two days, and I¡¯ll hand you over to your little sister there.¡±
¡°This...¡± Gu Kewu was gobsmacked.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Stop pretending. You actually know everything. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not here to investigate who passed the information on to you. It¡¯s meaningless.¡±
Gu Kewu put his face of surprise away. He red coldly at Xia Lei. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll go to Japan with you.¡±
Xia Lei walked up to Gu Kewu and grabbed his shoulder. His voice was ice-cold. ¡°Let me warn you, Gu Kewu. Do not try any tricks on our way there. Death awaits you if you run. Death awaits you if you say anything that willpromise our identities. Got that?¡±
Gu Kewu was silent.
¡°Got that?¡± Xia Lei increased the pressure in his grip.
¡°Argh¨C¡± Xia Lei had Gu Kewu¡¯s corbone in his hand, and he pulled upwards. It was so painful that Gu Kewu screamed.
¡°DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!¡± thundered Xia Lei.
¡°I do! I understand!¡± Gu Kewu begged for mercy. ¡°Let go! Let go!¡±
Xia Lei released him. ¡°It¡¯s good that you understand. Let me tell you one more thing. Because of your sister¡¯s identity, I have the right to kill you at any time. This is what you should remember. You¡¯re a smart man. You know what you should do now?¡±
The look in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes made a chill creep over Gu Kewu¡¯s heart. He nodded.
Xia Lei turned to leave. He did not give Gu Kewu a second nce.
This person had once been his greatest rival, but he was now just a poor wretch.
Chapter 508 - Honorary Citizen
Snow came falling down in the evening and the world was nked in silver. The pine trees by the side of the roads had icicles hanging off them, and they seemed to glow under the city lights; they were beautiful.
A Chevrolet Suburban zoomed through the city and came to a mountain. Halfway up the side of this mountain was a wealthy neighbourhood called Royal Garden. This little neighbourhoodprised of ssic Spanish vis, with an atmospheric style. The vis clung onto the mountainside like a little vige in Spain, making for quite a mesmerising sight.
This Royal Garden project was one of the many real estate projects Vientaine Group had under its brand, and Shentu Tianyin was the owner here. Those who could afford a ce here were extremely wealthy, and even those with a worth of tens of millions were considered poor.
Royal Garden had justpleted the eptance process, and Shentu Tianyin said she had chosen a vi here for Xia Lei and herself, a new home for their marriage. Xia Lei came driven over after receiving her call.
Prince Khalifa and his two assistants from the UAE, Ali Khan and Zamaha, hade with Xia Lei too.
The dispute between Desert Guardian and Hanwu Weapons had been resolved quite perfectly, but Prince Khalifa¡¯s trip to China was not over. He had sent in a request to purchase 20,000 Gust assault rifles and 200 XL sniper rifles to the Equipment Department, and this request was now under review. Prince Khalifa would return to the UAE when he had this order confirmed.
This request was just a formality. China purchased oil from the UAE, and the UAE purchased weapons from China. The two countries had always traded with each other, and had good rtions. Xia Lei had the title of ¡®Father of Rifles¡¯ too, and this meant that there would be no problems with this purchase order.
Xia Lei was taking Prince Khalifa to his and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s new home to be his guest, and this was also a show of his respect and goodwill towards Prince Khalifa. It was good to have friends from the Middle East.
Seeing the Spanish vis on either side of the road, and the cityscape of Jingdu in the distance, Prince Khalifa sighed. ¡°My friend, China has developed so quickly these past few years. I would not have believed the reports about the rise of China if I had not seen it myself.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Prince Khalifa, China has a history of 5,000 years, and it was the greatest empire in the world. This is now the world¡¯s secondrgest market. There are countless business opportunities to be found here. China would be a good choice if you¡¯d like to invest.¡±
¡°This trip to China has changed my perception of it. Hm, what you say is logical. It looks like I¡¯ll be moving my investment focus from the European and American markets to China. I would also like to invite you to invest in the UAE,¡± said Prince Khalifa.
¡°Yes, I will. The UAE is and of gold. I like it.¡±
¡°My friend, if you do invest in the UAE, I¡¯ll give you an honorary citizenship. This is because of our rtionship and our business dealings. You¡¯ll have an opportunity to be part of the aristocracy too.¡±
¡°This... Thank you, Your Highness. However, China doesn¡¯t recognise dual-citizenship.¡±
¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. An honorary citizenship doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯ll have to change your citizenship. You¡¯ll have the same rights as any other citizen of the UAE with an honorary citizenship.¡± Prince Khalifa suddenlyughed. ¡°My friend, all the men in the world want to have this status, but not anyone can get it.¡±
¡°Huh? Why?¡±
¡°Heh heh. Men are allowed to marry several wives in the UAE. It is legal.¡±
¡°Haha!¡± Xia Leiughed wickedly. ¡°That¡¯s really nice! Let me think about it.¡±
As an honorary citizen of the UAE, he would have the same rights as a citizen of the UAE, including the right to marry several wives. This was very tempting to a lot of men. The thought of Shentu Tianyin, however, made Xia Lei feel guilty. Having one mistress, Jiang Ruyi, was enough to shame him deeply ¨C how could he marry many wives?
For Prince Khalifa, it was advantageous for him if Xia Lei and himself deepened their friendship. Thunder Horse Military Factory was a valuable friend indeed.
As they talked andughed, Xia Lei spotted Fu Mingmei standing by the road. He stopped the Chevrolet Suburban, opened the door, and got out. Prince Khalifa and his assistants alighted too, and Xia Lei led them towards Fu Mingmei.
It was then that Xia Lei saw what the ¡®new home¡¯ Shentu Tianyin had chosen was like. It was practically a tenth of the entire neighbourhood, and at its centre was a huge European-style pce. It resembled the Royal Pce of Seville, and was also simr to the Spanish Royal Pce. It was surrounded by sprawling gardens and the garden boasted Chinese-centric garden features ¨C pavilions, walking paths and beautiful little streams and pools. It was breathtaking.
The arch behind Fu Mingmei had a gilded que on it which read ¡®Leiyin Home¡¯. The characters flowed together harmoniously, and the calligraphy was excellent. One look and you knew that a great Master had written it.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s first timeing to his new home, and he was thunderstruck. He gaped at the extravagant home behind Fu Mingmei, speechless.
¡°Master, what is with that expression of yours?¡± Fu Mingmei smirked.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. ¡°This is way overboard, isn¡¯t it? How many people would we need to fill this huge house?¡±
Fu Mingmeiughed. ¡°It¡¯s just going to be you and Tianyin. Oh, and Old Master. If you think you¡¯ve got too many rooms, then have more children with Tianyin and fill those rooms. Won¡¯t it be more lively then?¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at Fu Mingmei, then invited Prince Khalifa and his assistant in.
Prince Khalifa was stunned by Xia Lei¡¯s new home too. This property was more luxurious and extravagant than his own in the UAE.
Ali Khan drew close to Prince Khalifa¡¯s ear and said in a low voice, ¡°Your Highness, Xia Lei¡¯s wife is the chairwoman of Vientaine Group. Her name is Shentu Tianyin, the wealthiest woman in China with a worth of 14 billion US dors.¡±
¡°I see.¡± Prince Khalifa smiled. ¡°The best thing we have gained from this trip to China is not those weapons, but this friendship with this couple.¡±
Prince Khalifa spoke in a low voice with Ali Khan but Xia Lei still heard them. A smile appeared in the corners of his mouth. He had shown Prince Khalifa how capable he was, over and over, and now Shentu Tianyin had been added to his profile too. His aim in presenting himself such was to expand into foreign markets with Prince Khalifa¡¯s help. Bing friends with Prince Khalifa was not only beneficial for Thunder Horse Group, but for Vientaine Group too.
Shentu Tianyin appeared in the doorway of the pce in a ck evening gown. Around her neck was the Sacred Heart ne Xia Lei had given her. Tonight, she seemed more like a noble than usual, and the grand pce behind her made her look like a queen of some country.
Xia Lei made the introductions. ¡°Your Highness, this is my wife, Shentu Tianyin.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°Tianyin, this is Prince Khalifa of the UAE.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you, Prince Khalifa.¡± Shentu Tianyin greeted Prince Khalifa elegantly, and shook hands with him.
Ali Khan interpreted for Shentu Tianyin.
Prince Khalifa smiled. ¡°You are a very outstanding pair. It is my honour to be your friend.¡±
¡°You are too kind, Your Highness. Please,e in. Dinner is ready.¡± Shentu Tianyin invited their guests in like the gracious host she was.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes met hers, and they spoke with their eyes. The husband and wife were getting more and more in sync.
Dinner progressed in joviality, and ended on a happy note. Xia Lei, Shentu Tianyin and Prince Khalifa talked about various topics - the situation in the Middle East, the crude oil market, family backgrounds, hobbies and interests and so on.
Dinner came to an end, and the husband and wife had some tea with Prince Khalifa, then retired to their bedroom.
Xia Lei was stunned again by the room when he walked through its doors. The room was about a hundred square metresrge, and a massive European-style bed sat in it. It wasrge enough to fit five or six people. The bathroom was about 50 square feet, and it had a bath with multiple functions, a heated bath and a sauna. There was no need to add that the decor was also extremely extravagant.
¡°Is this our new home?¡± Xia Lei was speechless. ¡°Isn¡¯t this too opulent?¡±
¡°It¡¯s my new home, so of course it has to be the best. You don¡¯t like it?¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I like it. I like whatever you choose.¡±
Shentu Tianyin gave him a small smile and pulled him by the hand towards the ridiculously-sized bathroom. She said as they walked, ¡°I love bathing with you, so I had this multi-function bath designed and installed. I haven¡¯t tried it out yet. I want to try it with you.¡±
Xia Lei was touched. He could not refuse a request like this.
Shentu Tianyin dropped her ck evening gown to the carpet, and Xia Lei¡¯s suit followed. Clothes were most unneeded in this intimate moment.
They entered the heated bath and enjoyed the kneading and massaging of water. He looked at her and she looked at him, and they were naturally drawn to each other. The rxation in the bath turned to tenseness, and their bodies entwined in that warm, warm liquid...
Passion burned, and sparks flew.
Shentu Tianyin was an ice queen in front of others but for Xia Lei, she was a sweet, gentle woman who could also him with her passions. She showed her wonderful side to Xia Lei, and Xia Lei alone.
They calmed down after their passions had been satisfied, and floated halfzily in the hot water, not feeling like moving at all.
¡°Tianyin, I¡¯m being mobilised tomorrow. I¡¯m going to Japan.¡± Xia Lei did not want to leave Shentu Tianyin, but he had no other choice.
Shentu Tianyin put her arms around Xia Lei, holding him tight like she wanted to fuse him to her. ¡°Be careful. Remember ¨C I¡¯ll be waiting for you toe home.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. He was tense for some reason.
Chapter 509 - Clean Shit Up
One dayter, Iturup Ind.
A silver Ilyushin 38 surveince aircraftnded on the military base on Iturup Ind in the twilight. The door to the cabin opened, and Xia Lei and Long Bing stepped out of the aircraft. A group of Russian soldiers looked curiously at these two Chinese people, trying to guess what what they¡¯de here for.
Xia Lei and Long Bing¡¯s aim was simple. They wanted to confirm the fourth treasure location with the ancientpass.
The Ilyushin 38 had made a circle around Japan, and thepass had not left Xia Lei¡¯s hands. The flight had given them a result, and that was that the general location of the fourth treasure was somewhere in the Ryukyu Inds, and not the maind.
This result surprised Xia Lei, but it wasn¡¯t that surprisingly when he thought about it.
The Ryukyu Inds was part of the territories owned by the Ming during the Ming dynasty, and the kings of the past all had their titles conferred by the Ming emperor. Afterwards, Japan had seized the Ryukyu Inds and added it to her territories but voices calling for the independence of this territory from Japan had not ceased. Thepass was an item from the Ming dynasty, so it made sense that the treasure location was hidden somewhere on a vassal state.
This was a guess, of course.
Xia Lei and Long Bing walked to a barrack under the watchful gazes of arge group of Russian soldiers.
¡°This result is unexpected.¡± Long Bing frowned. ¡°Thepass shook the most when we were close to Ryukyu Inds, and it obviously pointed to Okinawa. That¡¯s where the American military base is located. Our mission will be very dangerous.¡±
The Okinawan inds was where the American base was, and there were four major branches, sea,nd, air, and marines stationed there with over 20,000 soldiers. These inds could be said to be military inds, an unsinkable aircraft carrier blocking China¡¯s passage to the western Pacific.
Digging for treasure there was like selling drugs in a stand next to a police station. The danger level was so high that it could not be recorded.
¡°We can¡¯t do anything about it.¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I hope the fourth treasure location is not under any of the American military runways. How are we going to get them to let us dig there?¡±
Long Bing red at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re still in the mood to joke? If it really is under a runway I¡¯ll give you a shovel and a hoe. Go dig.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°It can¡¯t be.¡±
¡°How are you going to handle Gu Kewu and Gu Kewen?¡± Long Bing changed the topic. ¡°We can¡¯t take Gu Kewu to Okinawa with us.¡±
¡°Gu Kewen wants to meet in Tokyo. Looks like I¡¯ll have to go to Tokyo first, settle the matter with Gu Kewen and Gu Kewu, then go to Okinawa.¡± Xia Lei looked at Long Bing. ¡°So you go to Okinawa first. I¡¯ll be about ready toe over once I deal with them.¡±
¡°You want to take Gu Kewu to Tokyo alone?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Gu Kewen and I have some personal matters to settle between us. Trust me, I¡¯ll meet up with you in Okinawa.¡±
¡°You made your decision?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve made my decision.¡±
¡°All right, then I¡¯ve decided too. I¡¯ming with you to Tokyo, then to Okinawa.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You are the only person on the Alloy X Project, and the only one who can go treasure-hunting. How can I rest easy and let you go to Tokyo alone? You¡¯re up against Gu Kewen, and the CIA is backing her,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was troubled by this but Long Bing was adamant. From what Xia Lei knew of her, there was no persuading her to go to Okinawa to wait for him. However, if he brought Long Bing with him to Tokyo, Long Bing would surely find out about what Gu Kewen had on Shentu Tianyin, and that was going to be troublesome too.
¡®Should I tell Long Bing the truth?¡¯ pondered Xia Lei. ¡®She is a patriotic woman, and she wouldn¡¯t forgive this. What would she do if she found out that Tianyin had embezzled so many state-owned assets through Gu Kewen?¡¯
He wouldn¡¯t keep things from Long Bing if it was about other things, but this involved Shentu Tianyin. He hesitated, not sure what to do.
Xia Lei was quiet, deep in thought, and Long Bing looked at him expressionlessly but her eyes were sharp. Her eyes seemed to bore into Xia Lei¡¯s own, and into his soul.
¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we should prepare ourselves. We¡¯ll take a ship to Japan in the morning.¡± Xia Lei looked away from Long Bing¡¯s eyes and continued walking to the barracks.
Long Bing must have some of her own spections but she did not ask since Xia Lei did not talk about it.
These were the barracks of the Russian soldiers, and Gu Kewu was in one of them.
Gu Kewu¡¯s head had been covered in a ck cloth all this while, and he was cuffed and restrained to a wooden chair, unable to move and unable to see outside. This was to because they had promised the soldiers on Iturup Ind that they would not be dragged into this. It was a must that Gu Kewu be unaware of what ce this was.
The cost of using the Ilyushin 38 surveince aircraft was substantial, of course. Xia Lei paid the relevant people USD 500,000. This included the fee to help him enter Japan, but it was still quite a hefty sum.
Gu Kewu lifted his head at the sound of the door opening and turned towards it. He could not see Xia Lei or Long Bing and this made him nervous. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±
¡°Me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Where is this?¡± asked Gu Kewu.
¡°Japan. We¡¯re in Japan,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why is my head still covered? Uncuff me.¡± Gu Kewu struggled for a but, but he could not get up.
¡°I will uncuff you when it¡¯s time to uncuff you. Be a good boy and don¡¯t open your mouth unnecessarily, or you¡¯ll suffer,¡± warned Xia Lei.
¡°No, take the hood off. I can¡¯t see anything. How do I know if you¡¯re not lying to me?¡± said Gu Kewu.
Long Bing walked over and smashed the handle of her knife on Gu Kewu¡¯s carotid artery. Gu Kewu fainted with a muffled groan.
Xia Lei looked wordlessly at Long Bing.
Long Bing shrugged. ¡°Why waste words with him? Let him be quiet. Isn¡¯t that better?¡±
Of course he was quiet ¨C he was unconscious! It was just a little strange to Xia Lei that a woman was using this sort of method to solve problems.
¡°He can¡¯t hear anything now.¡± Long Bing spoke probingly, ¡°Don¡¯t you have something you want to tell me?¡±
¡°Um...¡± Xia Lei did not know how to broach the subject. What was worse was that he had not decided if he was going to tell Long Bing some of the truth.
Long Bing sighed. ¡°Looks like I¡¯m not one of your trusted friends.¡±
She seemed upset by this.
¡°No, no,¡± said Xia Lei hurriedly, ¡°Why would you think that? You¡¯re like family to me. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t know how I can talk to you about this. It goes against your principles...¡±
Knocking came from the door before Xia Lei could finish. A Russian soldier said in Russian, ¡°Sir, I¡¯ve brought your dinner.¡±
Xia Lei went to open the door and ept the dinner the Russian soldier had delivered. Bread, cheese and two sausages. Xia Lei took the dinners, but the Russian soldier still stood in the doorway, looking at Xia Lei. He seemed to be waiting for something, and had no intention of walking away.
¡°Oh, sorry, I nearly forgot. Here¡¯s a tip. Thanks.¡± Xia Lei took out a USD 100 note from his pocket and handed it casually to the Russian soldier.
Xia Lei¡¯s generosity made the Russian soldier smile. He said, ¡°Sir, the fishing vessel we have prepared for you leaves at 0400 HRS. It is still early now. You can sleep, and I wille get you.¡±
¡°We¡¯re using a fishing vessel to get to Japan?¡±
¡°Of course. We can¡¯t use a military vessel.¡± The Russian soldier smiled, then said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s a Japanese fishing vessel with Japanese fishermen. There won¡¯t be any problems.¡±
¡°I understand. Thank you,¡± said Xia Lei. He reached to close the door after the Russian soldier had left.
Long Bing took one dinner from Xia Lei and went to the table to eat. She was still upset at him. He could tell when she was upset at him in one look.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He carried his dinner to that same table and said, ¡°All right, I¡¯ll tell you but you have to promise me that you won¡¯t tell anyone. This is very important to me, and Tianyin and I will be in huge trouble if word of this gets out.¡±
Long Bing looked up at Xia Lei. She gave a slight nod.
Xia Lei told her everything, then observed her.
Long Bing did not react. She chewed her food slowly, as if she had just heard some inconsequential bit of trivia.
Long Bing¡¯s silence made Xia Lei nervous. ¡°I¡¯ve told you everything. This goes against your principles, but you made me tell you. I¡¯ve told you now and you¡¯re not saying anything. What do you mean by this reaction?¡±
Long Bing then spoke evenly, ¡°I haven¡¯t let go of my principles. Once this mission is over and we¡¯re back in China, I¡¯ll arrest Shentu Tianyin. I¡¯ll handle this case in the way it should be handled.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei was so shocked he could not speak.
Long Bing threw the bread in her hand at Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°You idiot. What sort of woman did you marry? She¡¯s so bold, so ambitious. You¡¯ve dug a trap for yourself and you¡¯re going to fall into itter.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I¡¯m cleaning her shit up now, aren¡¯t I? I have no choice either. I¡¯m her husband.¡±
Long Bing sighed. ¡°Sometimes I really envy Shentu Tianyin. Born with a silver spoon in her mouth, bing the chairperson of Vientaine Group right after graduating from university... And when it came to marriage, she married a good man like you. She must have nothing to regret in her life as a woman.¡±
¡°About that, she... She does have some tough times too, sometimes.¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah, stop protecting your wife.¡± Long Bing red at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m a woman too. Howe I don¡¯t see you showing concern for me, and thinking of my feelings?¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly. He didn¡¯t know how to respond to that.
¡°I was just joking around with you. I¡¯ve already forgotten what you¡¯d said. I¡¯ll take it as you¡¯ve said nothing.¡±
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief.
¡°But I have to remind you that though Shentu Tianyin is your wife, you cannot baselessly protect her. If you do this, her ambition and greed will grow. You¡¯ll clean her shit up this time ¨C what about next time? And the next, next time? There wille a day where you won¡¯t be able to clean the shit off yourself.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
Who knew what the future would be like? He could not imagine it, but right now, he had to clean Shentu Tianyin¡¯s shit up.
Chapter 510 - Risk of Speaking Ones Thoughts
The night deepened gradually, and Iturup Ind was especially cold with the currentsing in from Siberia. Xia Lei had huddled up on the sofa to sleep but he was soon awakened by the cold and was unable to go back to sleep.
¡®Why doesn¡¯t this bloody ce have heaters?¡¯ grumbled Xia Lei to himself. ¡®I gave them USD 500,000 and I get this sort of service? The Russians sure are miserly.¡¯
Spending money during missions and not iming it from expenses was something only Xia Lei did in Bureau 101. He did not know that he had a nickname in Bureau 101 ¨C Moneybags Xia.
Xia Lei looked at his watch. Four more hours to go to 0400 hrs. He frowned. How was he going to bear the next four hours? His gaze went to Gu Kewu. That guy had not woken up after being knocked out. For safety considerations, Xia Lei shoved Gu Kewu into a sleeping bag so he would not freeze.
His gaze thennded on Long Bing.
There were three of them in the room and only Long Bing had the bed and nkets, warm andfortable.
For some reason, Xia Lei thought of the time he had spent with her in Germany. They had been pretend-spouses, and slept on the same bed in case of sudden investigations. They had slept on the same bed for over a month, and had various intimate interactions during that time too.
He wanted to get on the bed and sleep with her, and they already had plenty of experience sleeping on the same bed. However, he thought of Shentu Tianyin and he scolded himself. ¡®How can I think like this? I¡¯m a married man. How can I sleep on the same bed as her?¡¯
Just then, Long Bing opened her eyes. ¡°Come up on the bed. Sleep with me.¡±
¡°How can I do that? Sleep. Don¡¯t bother about me,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
¡°It¡¯s cold. How are we going to do our mission if you fall sick? You¡¯re the key person in this mission. What am I going to do if something happens to you?¡±
Xia Lei still shook his head. ¡°No, no thanks. Go to sleep. You really don¡¯t have to bother about me.¡±
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°Fine. You¡¯re noting over, huh? I¡¯ll call Boss Shi right now and tell him about Shentu Tianyin¡¯s situation.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei froze. ¡°You¡¯re using this to threaten me?¡±
¡°This is for your own good. Are youing over here, or not?¡±
Xia Lei was at a loss for words.
¡°I¡¯m calling. You know me. I¡¯ll do what I say I¡¯ll do.¡± Long Bing got out from under the nkets to reach for her phone in her clothes.
¡°Don¡¯t, don¡¯t! I¡¯lle over.¡± Xia Lei bit the bullet and went to her. He took off his shoes and got ready to get under the nket.
¡°Take off your jacket and your trousers too, or you¡¯ll catch a cold easily when you wake up. I¡¯m saying this for your own good too,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
He did take his jacket and trousers off in the end and went under the nket. He didn¡¯t really mind this because he had slept like this with Long Bing every night in Germany. Plus, he knew that Long Bing was threatening to report Shentu Tianyin was more a jest then an actual threat, and that she really was doing it for his own good. How could he get angry at Long Bing for this?
The bed in the room was an army bed, and it was quite narrow.
¡°Say, if Shentu Tianyin finds out that we¡¯re sleeping together on a cramped bed now, would she get so mad she¡¯d want to divorce you?¡± asked Long Bing all of a sudden.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°No. We didn¡¯t do anything.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. We lived together in Germany for over a month and we didn¡¯t do anything.¡± Long Bing seemed to be recalling those times. Her gaze was gentle. A rare gentleness. A faint smile traced her lips, peaceful.
¡°Let¡¯s not chat anymore. Go to sleep and rest up. We¡¯re going to be sneaking into Japanter.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t sleep. Chat with me. Tell me, what do you do when you¡¯re on a bed with Shentu Tianyin?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
This Long Bing tonight seemed like a whole other person. There were many times where she had not seemed like a woman but a cold robot, a cold, beautiful, sexy robot like in The Terminator. Tonight though, she had be a real woman of flesh and blood, with a woman¡¯s thoughts and emotions.
¡°Tell me,¡± urged Long Bing.
Xia Lei¡¯s head hurt. He could not say it, and he was rather nonplussed too. Even middle-school children knew about these things, right? She should already know as an adult, so why was she still asking? Was she trying to make things awkward on purpose?
¡°Tell me,¡± urged Long Bing again.
¡°Tell you what? That thing... that thing is...¡± Xia Lei looked at Long Bing. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s wrong with you today? Why do you keep asking me these weird questions?¡±
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei too. Their faces were centimetres apart.
Xia Lei lost, and looked away.
A rare smile appeared on her lips. ¡°I¡¯m just asking you a question. Why¡¯d you have to get so nervous? I¡¯m not a tigress. Why¡¯re you avoiding me?¡±
XIa Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Think about the question you¡¯re asking. That sort of thing is like that. What¡¯s there to ask about?¡±
¡°That...¡± Long Bing was silent for a bit, her eyes distant. ¡°I¡¯m asking you because I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m almost 26, but... But that sort of thing is still a nk te to me. I don¡¯t feelfortable asking others about it too, so I¡¯m asking you.¡±
What was this? Xia Lei was uneasy and his head filled with jumbled thoughts and feelings.
¡°I¡¯d never thought about falling in love with anyone before, or getting married and having children. I¡¯d also thought that I would never have a normal woman¡¯s life. But after you and Shentu Tianyin got married, I suddenly felt very lonely. This feeling is not so apparent when I¡¯m working but every night, when I go home and see my empty house, this feeling keeps growing stronger and stronger... What do you think is wrong with me?¡±
These words of hers seemed to be her true thoughts.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart softened, and he felt a pang of sadness, a trace of pity. To him, Long Bing was a woman who had sealed herself up in an iceberg. She would not get close to people, and others found it hard to approach her too. It was only now that he sensed her loneliness, her istion. She was still flesh and blood after all, and had the emotions and consciousness of a woman. Which woman didn¡¯t want someone to love her and be with her?
¡°You should find a good man and fall in love. You¡¯re a woman, and you should have a man to love you. Are you going to be an agent your whole life? You¡¯ll have to retire from the field one day. Getting into a rtionship and finding love at ater age is much more difficult then. What¡¯s a woman¡¯s most precious time? Her youth. You¡¯ve given all of your youth to the nation ¨C what about yourself? You have to take care of yourself too. You have to be better to yourself.¡± Xia Lei spoke, and he spoke his mind.
¡°Who should I fall in love with?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t give you advice on that. What type of man you like, what sort of requirements and criteria you have ¨C it¡¯s all your own preferences. You¡¯re beautiful. If you want to fall in love, there will surely be a man who fits all your criteria who will woo you. Really, trust me on that.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve always trusted you. So introduce someone to me.¡±
¡°Uh... I do know quite a few outstanding young men, but I feel none of them is a match for you. Besides, you have to be the one to decide on things like this. I can¡¯t help you with it.¡±
¡°I think other men aren¡¯t a match for me too.¡±
¡°See, we share the same point of view. What type of man do you like, then? Tell me. I¡¯ll help keep a lookout for you, and I¡¯ll make introductions if I meet anyone suitable.¡±
¡°I like bright and handsome men. About your height, and your build. Oh, and more importantly, he has to be strong. Stronger than me, and be able to protect me when I¡¯m under fire. He should be willing to sacrifice himself and buy time for me when enemies are after my life.¡±
Xia Lei paused. All this criteria she listed... Wasn¡¯t she talking about him, Xia Lei?
Was this a heart-to-heart talk between friends or a heartfelt confession?
Under the nket, Long Bing suddenly grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Xia Lei grew nervous immediately. He looked at Long Bing. ¡°You...¡±
Long Bing bit her pink lip. ¡°A woman who has, including today, slept on the same bed as you for a month and 13 days, is now telling you that she wants to fall in love and is looking for a man she can spend the rest of her life with. Instead, you¡¯re volunteering to be a middleman to introduce her to other men. Are you really clueless or are you pretending to be clueless?¡±
¡°Long Bing, I... I do get it, b, but...¡± Xia Lei was having a headache. ¡°I¡¯m married. I can¡¯t give you what you want. I can¡¯t hurt you either. You can find a man better than me, really.¡±
¡°Really, my foot. Who¡¯s better than you? More outstanding than you? And the criteria I mentioned ¨C who can fulfil those?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You know what I want?¡± Long Bing¡¯s eyes were ame. ¡°I want to feel like a woman. You said it yourself, that what¡¯s most precious to a woman is her youth, I¡¯ve given most of my youth to the nation. I want some of my youth for myself. I don¡¯t want to remain untouched by a man in my prime. The work I do is also far from the norm, and I can leave this world on any day. You¡¯ve had your fun with Shentu Tianyin, Liang Siyao and that German girl, but have you ever thought about how I feel?¡±
Xia Lei did not know what to say anymore.
She really was a woman who dared act on her thoughts, and in that moment, she had no care for Shentu Tianyin, or that Xia Lei had dated other women before. She wanted to do it, so she was doing it. Xia Lei¡¯s feelings about it? Fuck his feelings!
Chapter 511 - Takeshita Nobu and the Stowaways
Knock knock knock...
The sound of knocking came suddenly to their ears, followed by a male Russian voice. ¡°Sir, it¡¯s time to go.¡±
The two people on the bed stiffened, as if they had been instantly frozen by the Siberian wind.
Knock knock knock...
¡°Sir, did you hear me?¡± came the Russian man¡¯s voice.
Long Bing and Xia Lei came back to their senses and hurriedly got off the bed.
Knock knock knock...
¡°Stop knocking,¡± said Xia Lei in Russian. He was annoyed. ¡°We hear you.¡±
¡°Yes, Sir. I¡¯ll wait out here,¡± said the Russian soldier outside the door.
Long Bing had her clothes on already. She looked at the watch on her wrist and frowned. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be 0400 hrs? It¡¯s not even 0100 hrs yet. Is this how Russian people keep time?¡±
She was in a bad mood. A rare chance hade for her to experience what it was like to be a woman, and she had bravely made her decision, but a damned Russian guy with no time-keeping sense hade to ruin it at this crucial time. This feeling was like if one had been walking in the desert for days and suddenly spotted an oasis, then run over only to find out that it was a mirage.
Xia Leiughed awkwardly, finding it difficult to give her an appropriate response. He could not help recalling the situation earlier ¨C that beautiful whitendscape had excited him and unsettled him at the same time. Xia Lei had not thought of Shentu Tianyin once earlier, but he thought of her now, and was stabbed with guilt.
Xia Lei put his clothes on quickly too and went to open the door.
The Russian soldier in the doorway was different from the one who had brought them dinner. This Russian guy put a smile on his face, unaware of what he had interrupted.
¡°Wasn¡¯t it agreed that it would be 0400 hrs?¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s only 0100 hrs now. Why has it been brought forward?¡±
¡°It¡¯s because the fishing vessel arrived early. Ourmanding officer says we can¡¯t let it stay here for hours, so he¡¯s ordered me to urge you to get on board. It¡¯s nothing big. There¡¯s no difference if ites earlier orter. You don¡¯t have to worry about any special circumstances.¡±
Long Bing appeared in the doorway too and said coldly in Chinese, ¡°I hate you Russians. You have no concept of time.¡±
The Russian soldier paused and said suspiciously, ¡°What did you say, Miss?¡±
¡°I said you¡¯re a stupid pig,¡± said Long Bing in annoyance.
The Russian soldier shrugged and said with a smile, ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t understand Chinese.¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°She said you¡¯re a good guy and you¡¯ll have a bright future.¡±
¡°Aha. Thank you.¡± The Russian soldier smiled cheerily.
¡°Carry that guy up on the fishing vessel for me. I¡¯ll give you USD 200,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem.¡± The Russian soldier agreed readily. USD 200 was enough money for him for some time, and he was only going to do a bit of work. Of course he¡¯d be happy to do it.
A few minutester, the Russian soldier led Long Bing and Xia Lei to the fishing vessel while carrying Gu Kewu over his shoulder. The room was next to the pier, and not far away at all. Xia Lei spotted the fishing vessel from far away. There was a Japanese g on the mast, pping in the sea winds. Xia Lei always thought the bright red circle with its white background was weird.
Long Bing grumbled as she walked. ¡°You gave him two hundred? You should give him two ps. Why does this irritating guy gets a big tip? This world isn¡¯t fair.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
If this was the battlefield, Long Bing, and her temper, would have shot the Russian man. Not in the head or the heart, but in his limbs, to cripple him.
Xia Lei was unsettled by Long Bing¡¯s behaviour, and part of it was because of the guilt he felt towards Shentu Tianyin, and part due to what he felt he owed Long Bing. This feeling was unbearable.
Men were like this. Once impulse was acted upon, and after it was satisfied, trouble came. The result was obvious and known to all, but that did not stop the millions of men from doing it in the first ce.
The captain of the fishing vessel was a Japanese-Russian man of about 40. He was stout, with blue eyes but a Japanese face, small-eyed and short nose. He was not a sample of the beautiful mixed-race poption. The man had a Japanese name ¨C Takeshita Nobu.
¡°You know what? His mother had him from an affair. The cheating took ce in a bamboo forest, so the ¡®taka¡¯ of bamboo was used when he was named. Haha! Interesting, isn¡¯t it?¡± The Russian soldier spoke in a low voice to Xia Lei as they walked up to the fishing vessel. ¡°He specialises in smuggling and it¡¯s rumoured that he has a Yakuza background. Our sergeant can control him but you guys have to be careful, still. People like these probably have no morals. Take this bit of information as a sort of repayment, Sir. You really are generous.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei smiled in appreciation of the Russian soldier¡¯s goodwill.
Be good to others and others will be good to you ¨C this was quite true.
This Russian soldier did not give very valuable information but it dad make Xia Lei more alert.
The soldier carried Gu Kewu on board the fishing vessel and spoke to Takeshita Nobu. ¡°Take care of them. They¡¯re not the goods you used to smuggle.¡±
Takeshita Nobu looked Xia Lei and Long Bing up and down, then at Gu Kewu lying on the nks. He spoke in Russian, ¡°What¡¯s with this guy?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to bother about this one,¡± said the Russian soldier.
¡°This ain¡¯t right. We¡¯d agreed on two. There¡¯s one more now, so they have to pay more.¡± Takeshita Nobu was not giving ground.
¡°How can you do this?¡± said the Russian soldier in discontent.
¡°This ain¡¯t your business no more. Go away,¡± said Takeshita Nobu rudely.
The soldier made to say something more but Xia Lei cut him off. ¡°It¡¯s all right, Friend. Leave. I will talk with him.¡±
¡°Okay. Remember what I told you just now.¡± The Russian soldier gave Xia Lei a warning before he disembarked.
Takeshita Nobu spoke aggressively as soon as the Russian soldier left. ¡°Who¡¯s in charge here? You need to pay USD 10,000 more. No money, no boat to Japan.¡±
¡°USD 10,000? No problem.¡± Xia Lei took out a bundle of American dors from his backpack and handed it casually to Takeshita Nobu. ¡°This is USD 10,000. You can start the boat.¡±
Takeshita Nobu thumbed the bundle swiftly while looking at the backpack over Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder out of the corner of his eye. He then gave augh. ¡°Money talks. Get into the cabin. We¡¯re leaving.¡±
A sailor led Xia Lei and Long Bing to a cabin.
Xia Lei put Gu Kewu on the cabin floor. There was garbage all over the floor; takeaway boxes, condoms, tissues and whatnot. It was a mass of mess. The cabin smelled bad enough to make one frown.
¡°Stay here obediently and don¡¯t move about, or I¡¯ll get nasty!¡± snarled the sailor in Japanese. He looked very fierce. With a gun hidden at his waist, it was easy to tell that he was not a fishing boat sailor.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t,¡± said Xia Lei.
The sailor looked Long Bing up and down, stopping at her breasts. Lust shot through his gaze in that instant, and a perverted smile bent his lips.
Long Bing¡¯s gaze was cold, but she did nothing else. This sailor made her ufortable but she was not going to make a move because of a rude look. Besides, they needed this fishing boat to get to Japan.
The sailor left the cabin, and sounds of a metal lock being locked came from the door.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and the cabin melted away from his sight, revealing the Japanese sailor.
¡°Chinese pigs! Bah!¡± cursed the sailor, but softly.
Xia Lei lip-read that curse, and he scowled. His eyes turned cold.
¡°Why did they lock the door?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°This ship is a little strange. We¡¯d better be on guard.¡±
¡°We are in contact with the relevant people on the Russian side, and the Russian side arranged for this boat for us. I¡¯m not sure about the details. If I¡¯d known, we would¡¯ve used our own channels to enter Japan,¡± said Long Bing.
Just then, Gu Kewu stirred and was conscious. ¡°Where¡¯s this...¡±
Before he could finish his sentence, Long Bing stomped on his carotid artery and he fainted with a moan.
Vrr-rr-r-rr-rr...
The fishing vessel¡¯s motor started, and the hull of the boat humped the waves as it moved towards the Japanese maind.
Chapter 512 - Killer Pair
There were three people in the cabin, one unconscious, two awake. The heavy atmosphere in the cabin turned awkward and uncertain.
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei forced himself to break the silence. ¡°About earlier, I¡¯m sorry, I... I didn¡¯t control myself. I¡¯m sorry.¡±
In actual fact, it was Long Bing who had not controlled herself. Xia Lei was smart to apologise. Women were very conscious about being forward, and him iming to have initiated it made it less embarrassing for Long Bing.
However, Long Bing did not let up. She red at him. ¡°You putting it like that seems like you¡¯re telling me it¡¯s a mistake, and that you¡¯d never make the same mistake again.¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei wanted to say ¡®yes¡¯ but he swallowed it when he saw the hurt in Long Bing¡¯s eyes.
As Xia Lei scrambled for words to say to calm Long Bing down, she suddenly drew close and hugged him recklessly.
¡°Long Bing, we... Hnng!¡±
Long Bing had always been a woman of fewer words and more action. She was not like Jiang Ruyi, and didn¡¯t need tears to move Xia Lei. She just needed action. There was no need to waste words with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s sense of reason was under assault again, and he did his best to resist.
Long Bing drew close again.
¡°Stay back!¡± Xia Lei put both hands up to stop her and smiled wryly. ¡°What the heck are you doing?¡±
Long Bing did not withdraw, and she ignored his hands. She stepped forward, and her body touched Xia Lei¡¯s upturned hands.
Xia Lei was panicking. He back away, but only managed to move two steps before he hit the door.
Long Bing was not letting him off. She put more pressure on his hands.
They looked like they were in some sort of twisted fantasy martial arts movie, wherebatantspeted with their internal energies with their palms pressed together. Long Bing was winning, and she wasn¡¯t even using her hands, but her breasts.
Long Bing¡¯s nose touched Xia Lei¡¯s and she said firmly, ¡°Remember this. You¡¯re the first man to have slept with me, and the only one. You owe me, so don¡¯t try to shake me off.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t even begin to measure his headache.
Now that he thought about the time they had lived together in Germany, it had been a mission on the surface but she had not thought that way. He would have asked to act as siblings rather than a married couple if he¡¯d known.
Long Bing released Xia Lei atst. She had been domineering, but a rare blush of embarrassment spread across her cheeks after that disy of dominance was done.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°This isn¡¯t fair to you. I¡¯m married. I can¡¯t give you want you want, really.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s gaze grew icy. ¡°How do you know what I want? Don¡¯t say you don¡¯t like me. I can tell that you do. You talk about Shentu Tianyin because you¡¯re thinking for her feelings, but have you considered my feelings? Even if Shentu Tianyin knows of my existence one day, I¡¯ll just settle her for you if she makes trouble. She cane to me too, if she wants to rot in prison.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He already regretted telling Long Bing about Shentu Tianyin and Gu Kewen. It had now be a card in Long Bing¡¯s hand. He half-suspected that this very recent chain of events was because Long Bing hade to know about this.
He thought of his father, Xia Changhe, for some reason at this conjecture. A voice mused in his head, ¡®I wonder if Dad knows about the mess that is my love-life. What would he think about it? Never mind, he isn¡¯t much better. I wonder if it¡¯s inherited...¡¯
Long Bing punched him lightly. ¡°Speak. What do you mean by this silence?¡±
Xia Leiughed tly. ¡°Is what I say important? You do what you want anyway, and I can¡¯t stop you. I went along with you earlier when you messed with me.¡±
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Long Bing¡¯s mouth, and her voice grew small too. ¡°It was deliberate. I couldn¡¯t help wanting to... But this ce is so dirty. I don¡¯t want my precious first time to be in a ce like this.¡±
So that was why. Xia Lei let out a quiet breath of relief and thought, ¡®Maybe it was just an impulse on her part. She¡¯ll change her mind, maybe, after she calms down and the impulse passes.¡¯
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei with expectant eyes. She stopped talking, then shut her eyes, waiting for something.
Xia Lei was an experienced man by now, and he could tell that Long Bing was waiting for him to kiss her. He hesitated. He wanted to kiss her, but he could not bring himself to take that step. When he tried, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face hovered before him, angry, pressuring.
The motor of the fishing boat was suddenly silent, and the boat stopped. Only the waves pushed the boat forward, rocking it.
Footsteps came from outside. It was not one person, but several,ing from both sides.
Long Bing¡¯s eyes flew open. She was one of the elite agents of Bureau 101, and was able to stay alert, even in a lusty condition. She went into battle mode instantly.
Long Bing had only heard the footsteps, but Xia Lei had seen what was going on outside.
Six Japanese men were approaching the cabin with guns in their hands. The man leading the group on the left was Takeshita Nobu.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision, and took out a hunting knife he had hidden at his waist.
The sight of the knife confirmed what Long Bing suspected. She bent and took out a hunting knife from her boot.
They had not brought guns because they were entering a Russian military area and also borrowing their ne. They had explicitly stated that no weapons were allowed during all these processes when the nning had been carried out. It now looked like this request of theirs had resulted in this problem.
Knife against gun. Long Bing was an experienced fighter but she could not help being nervous still.
Xia Lei took her hand gently and said in her ear, ¡°Six people. Three on the left, three on the right. Move back. Stand behind me. I¡¯ll get the first one and you take his gun.¡±
Long Bing paused, and a warmth spread in her heart.
How much a man cared for a woman was apparent in times of danger. Xia Lei stood in front of her without hesitation in Israel, taking on the most danger for himself. He also turned the tide in their situation, even under the pressure of gunfire. He brought warmth and security to Long Bing. How could she not love a man like this?
Xia Lei had already pushed Long Bing behind himself without waiting for her to decide. He stuck to the wooden wall beside the door, waiting for it to be opened.
The metal lock was opened, and a sailor burst through, dashing forward before the door was fully open.
Xia Lei reached out abruptly and grabbed the sailor¡¯s right hand, stabbing his hunting knife violently into the man¡¯s heart as he did so.
The first sailor to some into the cabin died in a second, but his body blocked the doorway, getting in the way of the sailors behind him
Long Bing took the gun from the man¡¯s hand and a gunshot rang out a secondter. A bullet grazed past Xia Lei¡¯s cheek and buried itself violently in the second sailor¡¯s brain. Blood spurted, and the sailor fell face-up outside the cabin.
Only two or three seconds had passed, and they had killed two people.
Xia Lei and Long Bing worked perfectly in sync with each other!
Shentu Tianyin was a perfect match with Xia Lei, a Mandarin duck pair in everyday life and in their careers. However, in Xia Lei¡¯s other identity as a bullet-dodging agent, he and Long Bing were perfect for each other. Long Bing and Xia Lei were a killer pair!
Chapter 513 - Quick Death
Xia Lei yanked the body of the dead sailor in the doorway to himself to use it as a shield. Takeshita Nobu shot twice at him at almost the same instant.
Bang! Bang! Two bullets struck the sailor¡¯s body. However, a handgun was not powerful enough to go through a body and hit Xia Lei.
Long Bing raised her gun and shot in Takeshita Nobu¡¯s direction.
Takeshita Nobu was no greenhorn either. He dove to the floor. He¡¯d avoided the shot, but a sailor behind him was not so lucky. That poor guy got three shots in the chest, one of which pierced his heart. Blood spurted almost two metres from his chest!
Xia Lei wrenched the hunting knife from the sailor¡¯s chest, and shoved the corpse out the door. He flung the blood-stained knife at the same time, and that knife travelled like a bullet, shing into the narrow corridor. Stab! It stopped in the head of the third sailor.
Takeshita Nobu rolled to the left.
He had brought five sailors but three had been done in in seconds. There was no time to regret his decision, however ¨C the battle was not yet over!
Xia Lei and Long Bing had got past the most difficult part, and they had just three to deal with now. It was now a more evenly-matched three versus two. In terms of fighting ability though, the other three were like boy scouts to Xia Lei and Long Bing.
They did not charge out, however, because Takeshita Nobu and the other two sailors were on both sides of the door. The corridor was narrow too, and there was no ce to dodge. They would be shot full of holes if they went out, so it was fairly dangerous.
¡°Who the hell are you?¡± Takeshita Nobu was finally calm enough to growl at them in Japanese.
Xia Lei replied in Japanese. ¡°Who we are is not important. Why do you want to kill us?¡±
¡°Money!¡± shouted Takeshita Nobu. ¡°Give me another USD 10,000, then throw your gun out, and we¡¯ll have a ceasefire.¡±
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll set you on fire!¡± Takeshita Nobu have the order. ¡°Go get the petrol!¡±
In the cabin, Xia Lei suddenly gestured at a spot to Long Bing. There was a wooden wall between them, but he had spotted a sailor¡¯s head.
They wouldn¡¯t get the petrol anyway. This fishing vessel was their tool for smuggling goods, not a fishing vessel owned by someone else. They wouldn¡¯t set fire to their own vessel unless their situation was dire. Takeshita Nobu had actually only said this to put pressure on Xia Lei and Long Bing, to force them into making a mistake.
Giving him the money and the gun would be suicide.
Takeshita Nobu¡¯s n was fine, but he did not know who he was up against.
Xia Lei moved his fingers away, and Long Bing shot at the spot he¡¯d pointed at without hesitation.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Three bullets shot in one spot. The first weakened the wood. The second made a hole, and the third went through the wood and into the sailor¡¯s head.
The three shots had been fired in the same second, so quick and precise it seemed like it had been one. The sailor who¡¯d been shot was dead as soon as he felt the shot.
¡°Bastard! Kill them!¡± Takeshita Nobu roared. He waved for his underling to charge in, but he himself got to his feet and escaped the corridor.
Thest sailor was no fool. He turned to run away when he saw Takeshita Nobu making his escape.
Long Bing suddenly dashed out from behind the cabin door and shot at the head of thest sailor.
Bang! A huge chunk of his head was blown away. Blood and brain matter bloomed on the walls. His corpse fell forward and hit the floor heavily.
Long Bing moved her gun to shoot at Takeshita Nobu.
Xia Lei grabbed her wrist and hollered. ¡°Stop right there!¡±
Takeshita Nobu froze in his tracks at the entrance of the corridor. He didn¡¯t dare move.
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°Why don¡¯t you let me kill him?¡±
¡°We need someone to drive the boat. Can you drive one?¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing shook her head.
¡°Me neither. So let¡¯s wait till we get to Japan to finish him off,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing nodded but she did not put her gun down. She kept it trained on Takeshita Nobu.
¡°Put your gun down!¡± shouted Xia Lei at Takeshita Nobu.
¡°Okay, don¡¯t shoot. Don¡¯t kill me. I¡¯ll listen to whatever you say.¡± Takeshita Nobu was nervous. He put down his gun and turned slowly to face Xia Lei and Long Bing.
Xia Lei was cool and handsome and Long Bing was sexy and beautiful, but they looked like two demons which had just emerged from Hell to Takeshita Nobu. They scared him and he was terrified of them.
Xia Lei walked over and picked up Takeshita Nobu¡¯s gun. Long Bing pick up the rest of the guns in the corridor. She kept two, and threw the rest in the sea.
Takeshita Nobu was brought to the ship cockpit. Xia Lei pressed the gun Long Bing handed him to Takeshita Nobu¡¯s head, and said threateningly, ¡°You¡¯ll drive the ship to Japan. Let me warn you not to y any tricks, or I¡¯ll kill you.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take you to Japan. I¡¯ll do anything you say as long as you don¡¯t kill me.¡± His temper was all gone now.
¡°Where do we disembark?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Hokkaido. We¡¯ll anchor at a fishing vige in Hokkaido,¡± said Takeshita Nobu. ¡°We¡¯ll get to it before the sun rises. I¡¯ve been there plenty of times. Lots of Filipinos and Vietnamese enter that way through my methods.¡±
Xia Lei tranted what Takeshita Nobu said for Long Bing. She thought for a bit, then said, ¡°Ask him if he has his people in that fishing vige.¡±
¡°Do you have your people in that fishing vige?¡± asked Xia Lei in Japanese.
Takeshita Nobu¡¯s gaze wavered for bit, but he said confidently, ¡°No. It¡¯s just an ordinary fishing vige. Regr fishermen live there. I¡¯m also a fisherman who dabbles on some extra business on the side, and I made a mistake because I was reckless. You must forgive me. Forgive me, please.¡±
Xia Lei did not believe this Takeshita Nobu at all because the look in his eyes had been strange. People in the smuggling business had no morals, and they would even kill their stowaways and sink the bodies if they encounter navy patrols. They would do this to avoid being taken in by the long arm of thew, so how could their disembarkation point not have one of their own there?
¡°He said it¡¯s just an ordinary fishing vige and he has no people there. I don¡¯t believe him. What do we do?¡± said Xia Lei to Long Bing.
Long Bing thought for a bit. ¡°Kill this guy before we get to the fishing vige, then sink this boat. We swim to Hokkaido.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll do that.¡±
¡°She... What did she say?¡± Takeshita Nobu asked craftily.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°She said you lost quite a few men. We¡¯ll give you another USD 10,000 when we get to that fishing vige aspensation.¡±
¡°Ah, you¡¯re such a good man. I really like China, and Chinese people. Oh, right, that ind belongs to China. Yes, I¡¯ve always said that. Really, I detest the right-wing politicians. Fuck them! They don¡¯t know history at all.¡± Takeshita Nobu spoke words to please Xia Lei and Long Bing. ¡°They can¡¯t see the whole picture. How big is China? And how big is Japan? It¡¯s not the same now. If there really is a war now, and bullets start flying... we¡¯re all gonna die, eh?¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Xia Lei smiled what what he said. ¡°You¡¯re an interesting guy.¡±
¡°I am a peace-loving man who¡¯s against war. My father is Chinese.¡±
Takeshita Nobu was willing to say anything to live.
It was 0400 hrs and the sun had not risen yet, but a strip of beach had already appeared on the horizon. Xia Lei looked up at it, but could not see if there was a fishing vige with his left eye. It was still too far away.
¡°How much longer?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Half an hour,¡± said Takeshita Nobu. ¡°I¡¯ve kept my promise. You have to keep your promise too.¡±
Bang! A gunshot.
Takeshita Nobu sprawled across the deck of the ship cockpit. A hole the size of a winess had opened up in his head, spilling blood and brain matter.
Long Bing blew at the smokeing from the muzzle of her gun and said tly, ¡°I gave him a swift death on ount of him saying all those nice things.¡±
It was a swift death indeed. Takeshita Nobu had not even realised that Long Bing wanted to kill him when she ended his life with a shot to the head. No suffering.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°There¡¯s still half an hour before we get to Hokkaido. If we go ording to your n and swim, how long would that take us?¡±
¡°Destroy the ship. We¡¯ll be discovered if we get too close. It¡¯s no big deal to swim for a bit if we want to err on the side of safety. Besides, you have me, don¡¯t you?¡± said Long Bing.
An explosion came from below the boat about ten minutester, and it started sinking. Out on the surface of the sea, three lifebuoys bobbed, heading for the Hokkaido shore.
¡°Where is this? Huh? What is this ce?¡± The cold shocked Gu Kewu awake, and he shouted in a panic. ¡°Why am I... Guh!¡±
Long Bing smashed the butt of her gun onto Gu Kewu¡¯s head, and he fell silent.
¡°I think we can get ashore on Hokkaido at daybreak. We¡¯ll avoid a fishing vige if there is one.¡± Xia Lei peered at the shoreline, looking for an appropriate ce to swim to.
¡°You¡¯ve been married to Shentu Tianyin for a while. Is she pregnant yet?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°How many times a night do you two do it?¡±
¡°Hey! I¡¯m talking about serious things here. What nonsense are you talking about?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t get agitated. I¡¯m just chatting with you. Tell me ¨C how many women have you slept with?¡±
Xia Lei buried his head in the ice-cold sea...
Chapter 514 - Hokkaido’s Bonfire
The rays of dawn chased away thest bits of darkness. Wavespped against the rocks by the sea, sending up a swooshing sound. There was a forest close to the sea, and a white mist hung in it. This mist made everything in the forest a haze, made it mysterious.
The three lifebuoys got close to the shore, and Xia Lei and Long Bing walked out of the water, dragging the unconscious Gu Kewu ashore after them.
Gu Kewu was unlucky indeed. He had been knocked unconscious three times by Long Bing so far on this trip to Japan. Thisst knockout was the worst, however, and the swelling from the hit on his head had not gone down.
¡°It¡¯s cold.¡± Long Bing shivered, and her voice shook a little. ¡°This damned weather. We should¡¯ve juste through our own channels. The Russians are unreliable, and the Japanese too.¡±
¡°And they took USD 500,000 for this service too. It¡¯s a horrible deal.¡± Xia Lei was unhappy too.
Long Bing looked about. ¡°There¡¯s a forest there. Let¡¯s go gather some firewood and make a fire. We have to dry our wet clothes or we¡¯ll get sick.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Lei lifted Gu Kewu from where heid on the lifebuoys.
Long Bing had hit Gu Kewu very hard and he was still unconscious. It wasn¡¯t just that ¨C he was also pale, and his breathing weak. Xia Lei and Long Bing were not sick, but he was. Gu Kewu had suffered a series of scares and several blows to the head on top of being soaked in seawater for almost two hours. Even a professional agent like Long Bing was feeling the strain, so this pampered man-boy was feeling very much worse.
There was no one living close to this stretch of beach, and no fishing vige in sight. Xia Lei and Long Bing crossed the beach and entered the forest. Xia Lei put Gu Kewu on the ground and went looking for some dry twigs and leaves, then started a fire on a patch of bare ground in the forest.
Gu Kewu was moved to a spot by the fire, and the mes dried the moisture off his body, bringing warmth. He was still unconscious but his face had regained some colour.
Long Bing removed her jacket and squatted next to the fire to dry her clothes. Moisture evaporated from her jacket, steaming up, and from her underwear too. She seemed to be shrouded in a fine mist.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched for some reason, out of his control. He had never used his X-ray vision on Long Bing before, but he could not stop himself now. He looked away, and a wry smile appeared on his lips. ¡®Why is my love life soplicated? I thought it would all be settled if I got married, but it¡¯s still a mess. What a headache.¡¯
A man could y around before he got married, no problem, but he had to be a responsible husband after he got married. He did not want to entangled with other women but it was just wishful thinking. First was Jiang Ruyi, and now it was Long Bing.
Jiang Ruyi was his childhood friend and she¡¯d waited for him for over 20 years ¨C how could he just reject her?
He had met Long Bing in Macau, and saved her life upon their meeting. He had acted again in Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s basement-trap, saving her life, and then there was Jerusalem... Her feelings for him had been born out of a hail of bullets, at the cusp of life and death. Could he reject these feelings?
He could not refuse or reject, and these feelings could not be made clear... so just let things y out naturally.
That was Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought. He could not find any way to solve his love problems other than to just let it be.
¡°Hey, take your clothes off and dry them close to the fire. They¡¯ll dry faster,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. He removed his clothing and squatted by the fire to dry his clothes.
Long Bing¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei¡¯s body and a blush she was not aware of appeared on her cheeks.
Xia Lei subconsciously lowered the wet clothing in his hands to cover the spot between his legs.
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°What are you covering up for when you¡¯re a man? Are you embarrassed? Look at me ¨C you can look all you want. I won¡¯t cover up.¡±
Xia Leiughed awkwardly. ¡°I didn¡¯t cover up. I just want my clothes to dry more quickly. We¡¯re on the battlefield now, so I¡¯m not going to be paying attention to modesty. It¡¯s no problem to strip naked to dry my clothes if there¡¯s a need for it.¡±
¡°Oh, really? Then strip and dry your clothes. I¡¯ll do it if you do it.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
It was difficult to imagine this. Two elite agents of Bureau 101, sneaking onto an ind in Hokkaido and stripped naked to dry their clothes in a forest!
Long Bing¡¯s suggestion was tempting but Xia Lei did not act on it. He moved slowly, pulling his backpack over and taking out the satellite phone in it. He dialled the number Gu Kewen had used to call him.
He was contacting Gu Kewen now not to resolve the grievances between himself and Gu Kewen quickly, but to distract himself and Long Bing.
If they stripped naked, they were sure to do something else other than drying their clothes.
Gu Kewen picked up quickly, and her voice came from the satellite phone. ¡°You finally called. Where are you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m in Japan. Where are you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Tokyo.¡±
¡°I¡¯m in Hokkaido. Come to Hokkaido. We¡¯ll meet here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Tokyo. We meet in Tokyo, no discussion,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°And I want to hear my brother¡¯s voice.¡±
¡°Your brother...¡± Xia Lei nced at the unconscious Gu Kewu and felt a little guilty.
¡°You didn¡¯t bring my brother? Xia Lei! You lied to me!¡± said Gu Kewen angrily. ¡°Think of the consequences of your actions!¡±
¡°I brought your brother, but he¡¯s sleeping now.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t believe you! Just you wait ¨C Shentu Tianyin will be sentenced in court!¡±
Long Bing abruptly put down the clothing in her hands and picked up a burning branch. She pressed it to the back of Gu Kewu¡¯s hand.
¡°Aarghh¨C¡± Gu Kewu awoke with a scream of pain.
Long Bing moved the burning branch away. Gu Kewu¡¯s hand had be a burnt mess, and it was smoking. The smell of burnt flesh hung in the air.
¡°Brother! Brother!¡± cried Gu Kewen in shock and anger. ¡°What did you do to my brother?!¡±
¡°Nothing. He probably had a nightmare and was scared awake,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I want to speak to my brother! Don¡¯t you lie to me!¡± said Gu Kewen.
Xia Lei brought the satellite phone over to Gu Kewu and looked at him coldly. ¡°Your sister wants to talk to you. You know what you should say, don¡¯t you?¡±
Gu Kewu red hatefully at Xia Lei, then at Long Bing. He moved close to the satellite phone and said, ¡°Kewen, it¡¯s me. It¡¯s your big brother.¡±
¡°Brother...¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice softened. ¡°What did they do to you? Did they injure you?¡±
Gu Kewu looked at Long Bing again. Her eyes were cold, and a hunting knife gleamed in her hand. Gu Kewu lost his nerve at the sight of those eyes, and that knife, and he said, ¡°No. They¡¯re treating me well.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, Brother. I¡¯ve arranged everything. We Gu siblings will be able to be reunited soon,¡± said Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewu warned, ¡°Kewen, you have to be careful...¡±
Xia Lei took the phone away before Gu Kewu could finish and said, ¡°Gu Kewen, you believe me now? Your brother is next to me. Come to Hokkaido and we¡¯llplete the exchange. You take your brother with you, and I take what I want with me.¡±
¡°Tokyo.¡± Gu Kewen was stubborn. ¡°Give me a call when you get to Tokyo. I¡¯ll organise the time and ce for us to meet.¡±
¡°Your brother is in my hands. You stand to lose much more than I, and you still dare to talk to me this way? Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll kill your brother?¡±
Gu Kewen sneered, ¡°Xia Lei, do you think we Gu siblings still stand to lose anything? We have fallen to where we are today because of you! Go on, kill my brother if you dare. See how I¡¯ll get my revenge.¡±
Ice shed in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. He knew how much of a venomous snake this woman was. If he didn¡¯t kill her this time, she would not stop until she had her revenge.
¡°Oh, and don¡¯t think I¡¯m unaware of what you¡¯re thinking. If I go to a remote ce in Hokkaido, you¡¯ll just kill me and my brother once you get what you want. Getting rid of potential problems, huh? I¡¯m not as foolish as you think I am. Let¡¯s stop wasting saliva talking. I¡¯ll give you 24 hours. Come to Tokyo immediately.¡± Gu Kewen hung up as soon as she was done talking.
Long Bing was quiet for a bit, then she said, ¡°Tokyo. She keeps insisting on meeting you in Tokyo. I worry that she has a trap set for you there. It¡¯s better if you don¡¯t go. We kill this guy, then leave Japan.¡±
¡°What?¡± Gu Kewu anxious. ¡°You can¡¯t do this! I didn¡¯t do anything! You were the ones who took me out of prison. You... You guys put me back in! I¡¯d rather be in prison!¡±
Xia Lei suddenly swept a kick at Gu Kewu¡¯s head. Gu Kewu grunted, and crashed to the ground like a felled tree.
¡°We go to Tokyo.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was determined. ¡°This is our best opportunity to kill Gu Kewen. I have to settle this.¡±
¡°Since you¡¯re decided, then I¡¯ll go with you. Come hell or high water, we¡¯ll face it together,¡± said Long Bing.
Chapter 515 - Ice Queen’s Plan
It was night. A Mitsubishi off-road vehicle exited the highway and entered Tokyo city.
This city was thergest in Asia and the secondrgest in the world. It was a huge forest, formed out of concrete and moulds. Tall buildings, never-ending traffic, and lights which blurred into each other; the hustle and bustle was like a dream of grotesque monstrosity.
Many Chinese had bad opinions about Japan, but they had to admit that it was a powerful country. The pragmatic attitude of the Japanese was worth learning from.
The Mitsubishi off-road vehicle went down a road. In the car was Xia Lei the driver, and Long Bing. She sat in the back and was in charge of keeping watch on Gu Kewu. Things had gone smoothly so far, and Gu Kewu was still unconscious. The poor man had been given several concussions by Long Bing since he was taken from the prison.
¡°It sure is a busy city,¡± sighed Xia Lei.
¡°You like cities?¡± Long Bing moved her gaze away from the window.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, I like quiet and simple ces, like a tranquil mountain vige, or a little ind with an amazing view. What about you?¡±
¡°Me too. I like quiet ces with good scenery. Mountains and rivers, a house with a tiled roof. Oh, and a bamboo grove. I¡¯d like to live in a ce like that where I can read a book when I have time, and bask in the sun.¡±
¡°Why a bamboo grove?¡±
Long Bing thought for a bit. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but don¡¯t they always have that in movies? A bamboo forest next to a tiled house or grass-roofed hut. It¡¯s very pretty.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to like the ssics. How about this ¨C if weplete this mission sessfully and go back to China, I¡¯ll find a piece ofnd for you and make a tiled house for you like you want. Then I¡¯ll have a bamboo grove nted next to it. What do you think?¡±
Long Bing paused, and said, ¡°What, you¡¯re buying me a house already? Is this a golden house to keep your mistress? Aren¡¯t you afraid of Shentu Tianyin finding out and divorcing you?¡±
¡°Uh. Pretend I said nothing.¡± Xia Lei was embarrassed. He¡¯d simply thought that he could easily help Long Bing fulfil this wish, and was not thinking of getting a house for a mistress at all. Besides, was a woman like Long Bing the delicate, sheltered type?
¡°No, you should mean what you say. Build a house like that for me when we get back. Build it close to your military factory, and nt a bamboo grove. Right, I want moso bamboo,¡± said Long Bing with a smile.
¡°Wh, Why build it close to my military factory?¡±
¡°It¡¯s nice there, and it¡¯s close to mountains and a river like I wanted. Oh, I get it. You¡¯re afraid of me being too close and following you around, huh?¡±
¡°No, no, no, I don¡¯t mean that.¡±
¡°What do you mean, then? Hm. You¡¯re afraid of Shentu Tianyin getting suspicious?¡±
¡°Is giving you a house not enough?¡±
¡°I¡¯m just kidding around with you. I have my own house, so I don¡¯t want one from you. Besides, this rtionship we have now is pretty good. I don¡¯t want to change anything more,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Men and women interacted a certain way before reaching a level in their rtionship, and then interacted another way when they¡¯d reached that level. What was stressing Xia Lei out was that he and Long Bing had somehow gone to the second type of interaction though nothing had really ¡®happened¡¯ between them yet.
They talked, they chatted, and they came to a street half an hourter with directions from the navigation system. Xia Lei parked the car in front of a video store, then alighted with Long Bing and went in.
The video store was notrge, and it was full of various video material. There were regr movies sold there, as well as adult movies. Adult DVDs such as these could be put out on disy and sold in Japan.
Some middle-aged uncles were in the store picking through the adult DVDs, and their gazes turned odd when they saw Long Binge in behind Xia Lei. It was a normal thing for men toe to stores like these, but rare for a woman to shop for one.
Xia Lei casually picked a few normal DVDs, like ¡°Mission Impossible 5¡± and ¡°Fast and Furious 7¡±. Just as he turned towards the cashier, Long Bing swiftly grabbed two adult DVDs and shoved them into his hands, like she was moving something dirty.
Xia Lei looked down at the two DVDs she had chosen. Yui Hatano¡¯s ¡°Desire Search Officer¡± and Tokyo¡¯s hot-selling ¡°Girls in Jeans¡±. He looked back up at Long Bing¡¯s face, dumbfounded.
Long Bing gave him a re, but said nothing.
Xia Lei walked to the cashier.
A man in his early fifties was at the counter. He looked fairly normal. He scanned the DVDs, then said in Japanese, ¡°It¡¯s a total of 5,000 yen, sir. Thank you.¡±
Xia Lei took out his wallet, got 5,000 yen out of it, and handed it to the man. The first Japanese note had an X on it, written in pencil.
The man looked at that X, and his gaze went to Xia Lei¡¯s face. His eyes turned wary.
Xia Lei said, ¡°May I use your restroom, sir? I drank too much water and I can¡¯t hold it for much longer. I¡¯m really sorry to have to trouble you.¡±
¡°No problem. Go in through this door, and you¡¯ll find the toilet at the end.¡± The man pointed at a door next to the cashier.
¡°Wait here for me,¡± said Xia Lei to Long Bing.
Long Bing nodded, and took the DVDs from Xia Lei.
Xia Lei opened that door and entered a narrow corridor. There was no toilet at the end of it, but a security door with an electronic lock. He walked up to the door and entered his Bureau 101 passcode. The heavy security door let out a soft click, and opened.
Behind the door was a room which was about ten square metres. It was empty save for arge bag on the floor. Xia Lei went to it and opened the bag to reveal a pile of gun parts and ammunition.
These gun parts had been shipped from China, and could be assembled into an XL2500 sniper rifle and a Gust assault rifle, plus two handguns.
Xia Lei nced at them, then zipped the bag closed again. He took the bag out of the room.
This was one of Bureau 101¡¯s intelligence stations.*
Xia Lei and Long Bing left the video store and got into the car. They drove out of the neighbourhood. Xia Lei had driven slowly on the way there, but he was almost speeding on his way out. He parked the car in a roadside parking space after putting a distance of about ten kilometres between himself and that video store.
Xia Lei took out the satellite phone and dialled Gu Kewen¡¯s number. He went straight to the point. ¡°I¡¯m in Tokyo.¡±
¡°You were pretty quick,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°Tell me the ce and time.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the rush?¡± said Gu Kewen. Her voice was yful. ¡°I¡¯m not rushing even though my brother¡¯s in your hands. HOw about this? You look for a hotel to stay in. I rmend...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°Don¡¯t y games with me. You wanted me toe to Tokyo and I did. If you¡¯re not going to make the exchange then I¡¯ll kill your brother right now.¡±
¡°All right. I¡¯m in the Mount Fuji area, in Oshino Hakkai. Come over. I¡¯ll contact you again when you get here.¡± Gu Kewen cut the call right after she was done speaking.
The Mitsubishi off-road vehicle zoomed towards Mount Fuji, aided by the navigation system.
Xia Lei was annoyed. ¡°That bitch Gu Kewen. Her brother¡¯s in our hands but she still dares to jerk me around. Isn¡¯t she afraid that I¡¯ll kill her brother?¡±
¡°What can¡¯t a woman like Gu Kewen do for her own agenda? I suddenly feel like she doesn¡¯t care about her brother. If she really was concerned about him, she would have agreed toe to you in Hokkaido this morning, and make the trade with you in Hokkaido,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°So what you mean is...¡± Xia Lei seemed to realise something. ¡°Had Gu Kewu just been a cover for something else all this while? Her true motive is not to save her brother, but to deal with me?¡±
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back, Xia Lei. Don¡¯t meet with Gu Kewen; it¡¯s too dangerous. I can predict the danger. She¡¯s not alone. She must have some trap set at that ce and she¡¯s just waiting for you to step into it. Let¡¯s leave Tokyo and find somewhere isted to kill Gu Kewu, then go to Okinawa and do what we should be doing.¡±
Xia Lei ced his foot on the brake pedal, but hesitated and did not step down.
Leaving Tokyo was the best choice to make, sure, but if he gave up on the exchange, killed Gu Kewu and left Tokyo, Gu Kewen would release all the dirt she had on Shentu Tianyin andnd her in huge trouble. He had promised Shentu Tianyin that he would solve this problem for her ¨C how could he just leave like this?
Xia Lei put his right foot back on the elerator and pushed down. The Mitsubishi roared forward on the road like a beast.
Long Bing sighed. ¡°Ay, Shentu Tianyin sure is fortunate to have married a man like you. You¡¯re cleaning her shit up, and solving her problems for her. You know you could die here, but you¡¯re still going. There aren¡¯t many men like you on Earth.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Are you praising me or mocking me?¡±
¡°Both,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Right, you get down first at Oshino Hakkai. Take the assault rifle and look for sniping spots. I¡¯ll go meet with Gu Kewen,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This is your n?¡±
¡°Do you have a better idea?¡±
Long Bing thought for a bit. ¡°Have you heard of this idiom which goes ¡®the onlooker sees more of the game¡¯?¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Of course I have. What are you trying to say?¡±
¡°I¡¯m saying that your head¡¯s in a mess because Shentu Tianyin is involved. This is what Gu Kewen wants. You¡¯re anxious to get rid of Gu Kewen and destroy the evidence she has against Shentu Tianyin, and this makes it difficult for you to reach your goal. You¡¯ll fall into the trap Gu Kewen prepared for you.¡±
Xia Lei knew his situation. Gu Kewen had been in Japan for a while, and had plenty of time to prepare. She wouldn¡¯t juste all dressed prettily to meet him, make the exchange, and walk off, would she? However, he still had to go even though he knew it was a trap. He had no choice.
¡°I want you to live. Don¡¯t get into unnecessary danger because of Shentu Tianyin. How about you listen to me.¡±
¡°What¡¯s your n?¡±
Long Bing thought for a bit. ¡°I heard the hot springs there are pretty good. Let¡¯s choose a hot-springs hotel and stay there. Enjoy some Japanese hot springs culture.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
This was her n?
Chapter 516 - Mysterious Woman
Oshino Hakkai, in the pool of a hot-springs hotel.
Gu Kewen sat on a t rock. Warm water rose from the cracks in the stone, washing over her skin. The water was clear, and the pool faced beautiful scenery. Outside the window was a snowyndscape, while inside was steamy, hot and lush; it looked like two different seasons.
A satellite phone sat next to the pool. She had just used this phone to talk to Xia Lei and tell him toe to Oshino Hakkai.
¡°Come. Hurry here. Let me kill you.¡± A smile appeared in the corners of Gu Kewen¡¯s mouth as she talked to herself. ¡°You¡¯ll be the first, then Liang Siyao is next. That bitch actually tried to have me killed. Humph. Am I that easy to kill? In your dreams!¡±
Liang Siyao had worked with Xia Changhe in Jerusalem, betraying her fellow CIA agent Gu Kewen. She¡¯d told her to go to an abandoned construction site so that Xia Changhe could kill her off. However, Gu Kewen had been smart. She¡¯d seduced a fellow CIA agent who¡¯d been sentenced to die, and escaped.
Liang Siyao¡¯s betrayal, being pursued, and the things which happened during her escape from death had changed Gu Kewen. She had survived, but she was not her old self any longer.
¡°Xia Lei. I¡¯ll kill you, and Liang Siyao. I¡¯ll go personally to Shentu Tianyin and make her cough up all the Gu assets she¡¯d taken, and then I¡¯ll destroy her. Heh heh heh...¡± Gu Kewen talked to herself andughed, but her eyes were those of a wolf, feral and without humaneness.
She¡¯d mentioned Xia Lei, mentioned Liang Siyao, mentioned Shentu Tianyin, but she had not mentioned the person she should be most concerned about ¨C Gu Kewu.
Just then, a sliding door next to the pool was pushed open, and a naked woman walked in.
This woman was almost 190 centimetres tall. She was long-legged, and her body was plump and well-proportioned. She was very sexy. This woman had a huge tattoo of a death god holding a scythe on her upper body. The death god peeked from between her breasts, and the scythe curved out on her left breast. Her white skin and the ck-red of the bloody scythe made for a unique visual contrast.
This woman was also very beautiful. She had the exquisite features of an Eastern beauty, and the sexy blue eyes and lips of a South American. Her blue eyes were difficult to meet, however. Demons seemed to lurk in her eyes, and she looked ready to attack at any time, to take one¡¯s soul away.
She seemed to be a mix of Indian and South American, and features of her ancestry could be observed. It was quite apparent with her plump buttocks, full and firm and so very absolutely sexy. Her long legs were mesmerising too, because there didn¡¯t seem to be a gap between them when she put them together. She did not need to use any bodynguage to arouse men. She could just stand still, and the men would go crazy over her, lusting to do thing to her.
Sexy, beautiful, enchanting, and dark summarised what she was. She looked so very different from the masses, and was unforgettable.
¡°Has he contacted you?¡± The mixed-blood woman came to the side of the pool and spoke in Chinese. Her Chinese was excellent.
She was fluent in not just Chinese but English, German, French and Spanish. She could also converse in Arabic and Hebrew.
A professional killer worked internationally, andnguages were a basic skill set.
Gu Kewen stood. She nodded slightly, not daring to meet the woman¡¯s eyes. Her voice became humble too. ¡°I was contacted by him earlier. He was in Tokyo, and he¡¯s likely making his way here now.¡±
¡°Is he alone, or with a colleague?¡± The mixed-blood woman stepped elegantly into the hot-springs pool. Her long legs soaked in the pool like ivory; they were wless.
¡°I don¡¯t know about that,¡± said Gu Kewen, ¡°but I¡¯ll find out in the next phone call. If he does have a colleague, then I¡¯ll get home toe alone.¡±
¡°No. Don¡¯t alert him to more danger. The result will be the same no matter how many he brings.¡± The woman walked towards Gu Kewen. The water in the pool went up to Gu Kewen¡¯s waist, but only reached the woman¡¯s thighs. Gu Kewen looked very small in deed when the woman stood next to her.
The mixed-blood woman sat on the rock which Gu Kewen had just vacated, and Gu Kewen stood behind her without further instruction, reaching out to massage her neck for her.
The woman epted the massage, and her voice was soft. ¡°Xia Lei will be here soon. Are you nervous?¡±
Gu Kewen shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not nervous. He¡¯s impressive, I admit, but I know that he is no match for you. I¡¯m very happy that you¡¯re going to take care of him personally. I¡¯d love if I could see him die right now.¡±
¡°You will. I swore to you when I saved you in Jerusalem, and I will keep my promise. However, the time and ce are for me to decide. You understand me?¡±
¡°I do. I just want results, and I don¡¯t mind waiting longer.¡±
¡°Very good. I¡¯ve heard the story of you and Xia Lei, but I¡¯d like to ask you about someone else now.¡±
¡°Who do you want to ask about?¡±
¡°Xia Changhe, Xia Lei¡¯s father. What do you know about this person?¡±
¡°I know Xia Lei had a father named Xia Changhe, but I heard that he went missing years ago. He¡¯s still missing.¡± Gu Kewen thought of something and her hands stopped moving. ¡°Why are you asking about his father? His father should¡¯ve been just an ordinary worker.¡±
The woman looked back at Gu Kewen, her eyes cold. ¡°I¡¯ve told you not to ask questions, so don¡¯t ask. Some questions can kill you.¡±
A chill danced across Gu Kewen¡¯s heart. She avoided the woman¡¯s gaze and resumed the massage. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll remember next time.¡±
The woman spoke softly. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s useless to ask you too. You¡¯re just a newbie in the CIA, and the amount of information you can get is pitiful. I do admire your smarts and your enthusiasm. Being able to escape from Liang Siyao also takes skill. Once this is over, you¡¯ll go back to the CIA. Your boss won¡¯t be the White House anymore, but me. You got it?¡±
¡°You want me to go back to the CIA? I...¡± Gu Kewen wrinkled her brows. ¡°You know that Liang Siyao wants to kill me. I would have been killed by her in Jerusalem if it hadn¡¯t been for you. Can I still live if I go back to the CIA?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. ording to my sources, Liang Siyao is in Japan now. Director of CIA Asia. I wonder who the next director will be,¡± said the woman.
This made Gu Kewen smile. She heard from the tone of the woman¡¯s voice that she didn¡¯t just want to kill Xia Lei, but Liang Siyao too. Gu Kewen got all prickly when she thought of that woman. She would be very happy if Liang Siyao died in front of her.
¡°Stop the massage. It takes less than hour to get here from Tokyo. Give Xia Lei a call now, and tell him to check in to the hot-springs hotel next door,¡± said the woman.
Gu Kewen was puzzled. ¡°In the hotel next door? I don¡¯t get why. Your people are in this hotel, ambushed everywhere. Why tell him to check in to the hotel next door?
The woman gave Gu Kewen a frosty look, and her eyes seemed to gleam with ice.
¡°I... I¡¯ll call him right away.¡± Gu Kewen picked up the satellite phone she had ced next to the pool.
¡°Put it on speaker.¡± The woman spoke before the call conneed.
Gu Kewen turned on the speaker phone and Xia Lei¡¯s voice could be heard. ¡°Gu Kewen, I¡¯ll followed you instructions ande to Oshino Hakkai. You¡¯d better not be ying any tricks or I¡¯ll kill him.
Gu Kewen spoke tly, ¡°You¡¯d better not do that, or you¡¯ll regret it.¡±
¡°Humph! You know what I¡¯ll do if you test my patience,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Whatever. I¡¯m bored of hearing the same thing. It¡¯s just a simple exchange, isn¡¯t it? I¡¯ll take my brother, and you¡¯ll take what you want. We¡¯ll never meet again.¡±
¡°That better be the case.¡±
¡°You didn¡¯t take along someone else, did you? I¡¯m alone here. How am I going to show myself and make the exchange if you¡¯ve brought people from Bureau 101?¡±
¡°There is no third person next to me. Just your brother.¡±
¡°Good. Go check in to Taketa Hotel when you arrive at Oshino Hakkai, and wait for me to contact you.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll wait for your call.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Gu Kewen put the satellite phone next to the pool and looked at the woman silently. Her only responsibility in this was to lure Xia Lei out. She was not allowed to interfere. However, Gu Kewen was responsible for the most important part, because it would be impossible to lure Xia Lei to Japan without the dirt she had on Shentu Tianyin, and her brother ¨C the cover for their true goal.
The woman was silent for a bit before saying suddenly, ¡°He has someone with him, and it¡¯s definitely not your brother.¡±
¡°You... How do you know?¡±
¡°Breathing. That was the sound of a woman¡¯s breath.¡±
Gu Kewen looked at the woman in surprise, in disbelief that she was able to tell that Xia Lei had a woman next to him based on the sound of breathing. She had had several phone calls with Xia Lei, and she had not discovered this!
¡°Amazing, isn¡¯t it? I can train you. You will grow strong.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Gu Kewen was excited. Her ambition grew.
Meanwhile, in the Mitsubishi car.
Xia Lei put down the satellite phone in his hand. ¡°Gu Kewen has a woman next to her.¡±
¡°A woman? How can you tell?¡± Long Bing was surprised.
¡°Breathing. Men and women breathe differently. I heard that woman¡¯s breathing when I was talking to Gu Kewen.¡±
¡°Howe I didn¡¯t hear it?¡±
¡°You didn¡¯t hear because you were too far away. That woman was standing next to Gu Kewen, probably listening to my call with Gu Kewen. I wouldn¡¯t have heard her either if she wasn¡¯t standing close to Gu Kewen.¡±
¡°A woman... Who can it be?¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°We¡¯re dealing with something shady here, but that woman could just stand there and listen. This means she isn¡¯t some ordinary person.¡±
¡°Could it be someone from the CIA?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. He did not know.
For some reason, he thought of Liang Siyao.
Where was she now? Was she doing well?
Chapter 517 - (Useless Title)
Oshino Hakkai was a small mountain vige at the foot of Mount Fuji. It was night, but the majestic Mount Fuji could still be seen. It was very special; snow on its peak, and greenery starting from its middle and downwards. It looked mysterious under the moon and stars, like a woman¡¯s face behind ace veil. Remove the veil, and you may find a beauty, or a demon.
The Mitsubishi car stopped before it got close to Oshino Hakkai. Xia Lei looked quietly at the mountain vige before him, and Mount Fuji in the distance. The scenery before him was beautiful, but it was a ce of danger for him.
¡°We¡¯re here. Now tell me.¡± Xia Lei turned to look at Long Bing in the backseat. ¡°Can you tell me your n now?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you my n already? Look for a simple hot-springs hotel. Don¡¯t care about anything else, and just stay there for a night. Make a decision tomorrow,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei gave her an odd look. ¡°Stop joking. It¡¯s not the time for jokes.¡±
Long Bing pointed at the small hotel close to the vige entrance. ¡°That one doesn¡¯t look too bad. Let¡¯s stay there tonight.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say.
Long Bing put a hand on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and pinched him gently. ¡°I want you to live, and not get into unnecessary danger. You said it yourself, that Gu Kewen might just be using her brother as bait to lure you to Japan. I know you¡¯re really strong and think nothing of Gu Kewen, but have you considered if Gu Kewen has someone very powerful to help her? Don¡¯t be too hasty. Gu Kewen¡¯s target is you, and your target is Gu Kewen, so don¡¯t rush. Find your feet, observe the situation, then decide.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll listen to you.¡± Xia Lei started the car again and drove towards the hotel close to the vige entrance.
On the backseat, Gu Kewu moved, then opened his eyes. He saw Mount Fuji outside the window and stared nkly, then said, ¡°Where are you guys taking me?¡±
¡°To see your sister. You must be happy to hear that, huh?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Ha. Happy?¡± said Gu Kewu angrily, ¡°Look at my head! How many times have you knocked me out? My head is still...¡±
Long Bing¡¯s hand shed before Gu Kewu could finish his sentence and the butt of her gun hit him on the head. There was a thunk, and Gu Kewu drooped again. A trickle of blood came down his head, leaving a red trail across his face. The blood from before had dried ¨C this was fresh blood.
¡°Is he going to die from all that hitting?¡± said Xia Lei worriedly.
Long Bing was unconcerned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he won¡¯t die. I¡¯m knocking him out for safety reasons. Gu Kewen definitely has eyes in this ce. We have masks on, but Gu Kewu doesn¡¯t. If Gu Kewen¡¯s people recognises him, they will be able to tell who we are. It¡¯s very dangerous for us.¡±
¡°How do you n to deal with him?¡±
Long Bing took out a roll of tape from her backpack and bound Gu Kewu¡¯s hands and feet. She then taped his mouth. She opened up the backseat of the car, then shoved Gu Kewu in the boot.
Xia Lei had no further questions.
A few minutester, the Mitsubishi car pulled up to the small hotel. Xia Lei parked the car at a roadside parking spot, then dragged their various pieces of luggage to the hotel. Long Bing followed close behind. She looked like she was walking normally, but she was actually scanning their surroundings.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to a car parked close to the entrance of the vige. The doors of the car were tightly shut, and dark shades covered the ss of the windows. One could not see what was inside.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched, and the windows disappeared from his vision.
There were two men in there, one white, one ck. Both looked about 30 years old, were burly, and had sharp gazes. One look and you could tell that they were not regr people. Plus, regr people would be in bed at this hour, not sitting in a car.
Just as Xia Lei discovered the two men, a Toyota sedan passed on the road leading to Oshino Hakkai. In those few seconds, the two men¡¯s eyes went to the Toyota, staying on it till it moved away from them.
It was obvious that these two men were observing the cars entering Oshino Hakkai.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought, and he strengthened his X-ray vision. It was as he had expected. The two men had guns ¨C automatic handguns with silencers. Guns like these were called handguns but the ammunition load and firing speed was almost equivalent to a mini submachine gun. It had great firepower!
¡°Is there a problem with that car?¡± Long Bing discovered Xia Lei obersing the car.
Xia Lei nodded slightly. ¡°Don¡¯t look. Let¡¯s go in.¡±
The two men in the car looked over at the hotel. They had already observed Xia Lei and Long Bing earlier, when they¡¯d driven in. However, they had not discovered anything out of the ordinary, and a car had entered Oshino Hakkai at around the same time too, so they had stopped looking. There were no other targets to observe at this time, so they watched Xia Lei and Long Bing.
¡°Shit. They¡¯re watching us.¡± Xia Lei said quietly.
Long Bing held Xia Lei¡¯s arm and walked towards the hotel as she said, ¡°Darling, I want to have sashimi. I hear that Japan¡¯s sashimi is super delicious. Get it for me, hmm? Don¡¯t be a meanie and treat me to some, or I¡¯ll break up with you!¡±
Long Bing was a first-rate actress when on missions. The usual ice queen had morphed into a naive young girl, and she was doing a good job as a brat.
¡°Okay, okay. We¡¯ll eat it. You just love eating, don¡¯t you? Why don¡¯t you ever get fat?¡± Xia Lei grumbled as he walked towards the hotel.
Xia Lei kept a lookout on that car out of the corner of his eye.
The two men in the car were smiling wickedly and saying something.
Xia Lei was unable to use lip-reading on them. Thenguage which the two men were using was not one he had learnt, and suspicion grew in his heart. ¡®If it¡¯s the CIA, then these two would definitely use English. If they¡¯re Japanese specialists, then they should be using Japanese. But theirnguage is not even Hebrew or Arabic. Where are they from? And what is their identity?¡¯
This small discovery from his bit of scanning with his X-ray vision gave him a big hint. These two men were not CIA, and not from the Japanese side, but from some organisation he had not interacted with before!
In that instant, the gears in Xia Lei¡¯s brain kicked into gear. All the information he had flooded into his head. CIA, Mossad, Afghan Armed Forces, AE Research Center, FA Organisation...
Xia Lei¡¯s thought stopped on FA Organisation. It felt like he had received the results from an online browser engine search, just with his brain. One secondter, however, he rejected the result his brain had given him. This was a fight between him and Gu Kewen, and she was part of the CIA. She was not rted to the FA Organisation.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t inquire about the prices after entering the hotel. He asked for the most expensive room right away, and ordered a feast.
Thedy-boss of the hotel liked customers like Xia Lei very much. She personally led Xia Lei and Long Bing to their most expensive room. Xia Lei was stunned when he walked in. The room wasrge, and it held its own natural hot-springs pool. The room seemed to have been built around this pool.
Long Bing walked one round around the hot-springs pool after thedy-boss left. She looked up at Xia Lei with smouldering eyes. ¡°You chose this room on purpose, didn¡¯t you? I¡¯m not falling for this, okay? I¡¯m not going to bathe with you.¡±
Xia Lei looked wordlessly at her, wondering if he should try exining himself. Exnations wouldn¡¯t help at all. He walked to the window and opened the curtains. Unfortunately, he was unable to see the car parked close to the vige entrance from where he was standing.
The satellite phone rang all of a sudden.
Chapter 518 - Busy Young Man
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei picked up.
Long Bing held her breath when Xia Lei picked up.
Gu Kewen¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°Where are you now? I¡¯m at the entrance to Taketa Hotel. Why don¡¯t I see you?¡±
Xia Lei knew that Gu Kewen must have calcted the time and called to check when she estimated that he¡¯d arrived. He was silent for a bit, then said, ¡°My car ran into some problems on the way there. I can¡¯t drive it. Give me a bit more time. Wait for me to fix the car before I get there.¡±
¡°Which road are you on now?¡±
¡°Heh. Gu Kewen, you think I¡¯ll tell you where I am now? I don¡¯t trust you.¡±
¡°You bastard. Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll¨C¡±
¡°Gu Kewen, I¡¯ll kill your brother and go back to China right now if you threaten me one more time. Do what you want. That evidence you have is no guarantee that you¡¯ll send my wife to prison. Besides, I have my connections. I can get a pardon for her, or a lighter sentence. Your brother, however, has just one life. Once it¡¯s gone, it¡¯s gone.¡±
¡°How much time do you need?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s tone had softened. She had been demanding before, and uncaring of her brother¡¯s condition.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely be able to make it before sunrise tomorrow.¡± He hung up.
¡°Phew¨C¡± Long Bing let out the breath she¡¯d been holding, then took a deep breath. Her face had turned red from the exertion of holding her breath.
¡°Why did you hold your breath?¡±
¡°You can hear that woman breathing, so maybe that woman can hear me breathing too. She won¡¯t hear me if I hold my breath. This can help mislead her, and Gu Kewen,¡± said Long Bing. Her breathing was back to normal after a few deep breaths, but a blush still lingered on her cheeks.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°She can¡¯t be that good. But the other thing you said is true. Gu Kewen doesn¡¯t care if her brother lives or dies.¡±
¡°So her target really is you.¡±
Xia Lei recalled the two gunmen at the vige entrance. They were obviously not from the CIA, but he still couldn¡¯t guess where they were from. That woman with Gu Kewen, too. He didn¡¯t know who she was.
Gu Kewen was the enemy, that was for sure. Xia Lei was not afraid of dealing with her at all, but that woman and those two mysterious gunmen made him uneasy. They pressured him.
¡°It¡¯s not toote for us to leave now.¡± Long Bing drew close to Xia Lei, just milimetres away from him. Her eyes were smouldering. ¡°What you said to Gu Kewen made sense too. She does have evidence which will make things difficult for Shentu Tianyin, but you have your connections too. That Mr Ling treats you well, and he¡¯s a bigwig too. And you¡¯ve contributed so much to the nation. The XL2500, and Gust. You¡¯ve pretty much single-handedly increased the military power of our Chinese troops, and gained glory for China on an international scale. The higher-ups wouldn¡¯t sentence Shentu Tianyin to death by shooting. She¡¯s your wife after all.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I know that. I also know that leaving now is the smartest thing to do, but... using my contributions in exchange for Shentu Tianyin... This may work, but only once. I don¡¯t want all the merits I¡¯ve painstakingly umted to be used up like this.¡±
He didn¡¯t want to use his credits in this way even though it could guarantee Shentu Tianyin¡¯s safety, because he could only use this once. And if he had to use all his merit in one go, he would rather use it for his father, Xia Changhe.
Xia Changhe¡¯s status was fairly unique. He would get in huge trouble, and his father too, if Xia Changhe¡¯s identity were to be revealed. That would be the time for Xia Lei to use his umted merits. It would be a waste to use it now.
XIa Lei could not tell Long Bing this, however.
Their close rtionship was one thing, but he could only hide it when it came to Xia Changhe. He had no other choice.
Knock knock knocking came from the door.
¡°Sir, I¡¯ve brought the food you ordered. May Ie in?¡± Thedy-boss¡¯s voice came from behind the door, polite.
Long Bing looked down. Another obstacle.
Xia Lei gave a helplessugh. He put Long Bing down, and went to open the door.
Thedy-boss pushed a food trolley into the room and arranged the dishes on the table. She bowed respectfully, and back out of the room.
A feast was spread out before them on the table, but the man and woman in the room did not even nce at it. What they wanted to eat was each other. The instant thedy-boss exited the room, they pounced at each other, and their bodies intertwined.
There was no knocking this time, nor any damned phone ringing.
Meanwhile, the car at the entrance to the vige started moving, going in the direction of Tokyo.
The white man driving spoke in Italian. ¡°Boss, we¡¯re moving off. I cannot confirm that I¡¯ll find that guy on the road. He might be lying.¡±
A woman¡¯s voice came from over the line. ¡°Drive towards Tokyo for 50 kilometres. Report to me immediately if you spot the target. Return immediately if you don¡¯t find him.¡±
¡°Yes, Boss.¡± The white man driving stepped on the elerator, and the car sped towards Tokyo.
There were no less than 20 armed men in Oshino Hakkai, searching. They entered hotels with Xia Lei¡¯s picture and asked the hotel staff if they had seen this man. Some of the armed men even burst into the rooms of tourists to see if their faces matched the picture.
These gunmen all spoke in Japanese, and were members of the Yakuza. The owners of the hotels did not dare say a word against them, much less call the police. The hotel staff and tourists also chose to cooperate with these fierce members of the Yakuza for fear of getting hurt. However, not one of the cooperating people had seen the young man in the picture.
That young man was very busy, and had no time to think of other things.
Chapter 519 - Spirit in the Dark
Their lust subsided, and Xia Lei started to worry about his future. He had had an affair with Jiang Ruyi after marrying Shentu Tianyin, and now with Long Bing. It was best if Shentu Tianyin never knew about these but she was sure to flip if she found out.
Ah, the pitfalls of being a man. He¡¯d acted on impulse, and had his time of pleasure, but what came afterwards? A huge steaming pile of problems. However, men all over the world still got themselves in trouble even though they knew full well what the result of their actions would be.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts ran while Long Bingzed about. She made a pillow out of her arms for Xia Lei, and herrge eyes did not leave his face. Xia Lei was handsome, and there was no angle where he was ugly. She thought he looked very sexy from the front. She was, quite obviously, satisfied, happy and content.
Their positions seemed to have been reversed, however. She should¡¯ve been the one to lie in Xia Lei¡¯s arms, not him in her arms. It would have been even more messed up if she were the one smoking a cigarette after doing the deed.
¡°What¡¯re you thinking about?¡± asked Long Bing softly.
Xia Lei chased his thoughts away and smiled. ¡°Nothing.¡±
¡°Um...¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Footsteps suddenly came from the corridor, followed by fierce words being spoken.
¡°So what if I opened your door? Fucker! Asking for a beating?¡± It was a male voice.
¡°Sorry, I¡¯m sorry! My husband was... was rude.¡± This was a woman¡¯s voice, and it was full of terror.
¡°Bastard! Look again! Have you seen this guy?¡±
¡°No, I really haven¡¯t seen him...¡±
Long Bing and Xia Lei exchanged nces and jumped out of bed at the same time. They picked up their clothing and underwear from the floor at lightning speed.
¡°Where¡¯s my... Y¡¯know.¡± Long Bing was panicky.
Xia Lei looked at the clothes in Long Bing¡¯s hands and he abruptly recalled where he had seen itst. He looked up and saw the ckce underwear dangling from the hangingmp. Xia Lei jumped, and snagged the underwear, then handed it to her.
¡°It¡¯s all your fault. Why did you throw it up so high?¡± Long Bing red at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei said nothing. He shrugged, and made a helpless expression. ording to what he remembered, it was Long Bing who had thrown it up there herself. That throw of hers had been awesome.
They¡¯d just put on their clothes when knocking came from the room door.
¡°Who is it?¡± asked Xia Lei in Japanese. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Open up now! It¡¯s the police!¡± said someone aggressively from behind the door. ¡°We are pursuing an escaped criminal. Open your door right now, so we can investigate!¡±
Xia Lei opened the door. Some men stood outside, and they were mostly in their twenties. They were all fierce, unsavoury characters. They¡¯d called themselves the police, but not one of them was in a uniform, and they were covered in tattoos. These people were obviously thugs, not policemen.
Xia Lei first thought of Gu Kewen when he saw these people. She had been in Japan for a period of time, and it was very possible that she had bought the services of thugs, based on the way she worked. These thugs before them were most likely working for her.
Xia Lei guessed their identity, but he kept his face impassive. He smiled. ¡°Officer, what is it? My girlfriend and I are from Hokkaido. We¡¯re just tourists, and we don¡¯t want any trouble.¡±
The thug leader shoved Xia Lei aside and led his underling into the room. They looked everywhere, including in the bathroom. Unfortunately for them, there was no third person in the room, and they found nothing.
¡°Not bad, punk.¡± The thug leader looked Xia Lei up and down. ¡°How much is this room per night?¡±
¡°20,000 yen,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Shit, that¡¯s expensive!¡± The thug leader looked at Long Bing, who was standing next to Xia Lei. Long Bing was wearing a mask, but the face on her mask was quite pretty too. Her body had not changed, and its generous curves and sexy lines were ming hot.
¡°What¡¯s your name, Miss?¡± The thug approached.
Cold shed in Long Bing¡¯s eyes. This was a sign that she could attack at any time.
Xia Lei stepped in front of the thug and took out his wallet. He took out a wad of Japanese yen and shoved it in the thug¡¯s hands. ¡°We don¡¯t want any trouble, Officer. Please, take this money and have a drink.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s hand shed past the thug¡¯s jacket pocket as he spoke, and a tiny listening device dropped into the thug¡¯s pocket.
The thug looked at the Japanese yen in his hand and a smile crossed his face. ¡°You¡¯re a smart guy, eh? I won¡¯t trouble a smart guy. Enjoy your night.¡±
¡°Take care, Officers,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Hold on.¡± The thug leader took out a photograph and held it up to Xia Lei. ¡°Have you seen this guy?¡±
Xia Lei had most certainly seen that guy. It was him.
¡°No.¡± Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Is he a wanted felon?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t poke your nose into it!¡±
¡°Yes, of course. I never asked.¡±
The thug left with his underlings. Noise soon came from the corridor again. These thugs seemed to be searching the entire hotel.
¡°These guys could be Gu Kewen¡¯s men,¡± said Xia Lei quietly. ¡°She¡¯s somewhere in Oshino Hakkai, and that woman too. They should be together.¡±
¡°Do they suspect that we¡¯re already in Oshino Hakkai?¡±
¡°Gu Kewen has always been paranoid. It¡¯s not weird that she would be so suspicious.¡± Xia Lei thought for a bit, and said, ¡°About that woman... I can¡¯t guess who she is, but those people close to the vige entrance are probably her people.¡±
¡°What do you n to do?¡±
¡°I put a listening device on that thug. I can confirm Gu Kewen¡¯s location when he goes to report to herter. That¡¯ll be the time we make our move,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing went to the bed and pulled out the luggage right away. She unzipped it and tipped out the gun parts on the bed.
An XL2500 and a Gust assault rifle were assembled in under a minute.
Long Bing reached for the sniper rifle, but Xia Lei grabbed her hand. ¡°Stay in the room and listen for the thug¡¯s conversations. Report what you hear to me. I¡¯ll analyse it and I¡¯ll take the shot.¡±
¡°How can I let you do that?¡± Long Bing wasn¡¯t so willing to go along with it.
¡°Someone has to do it. If not you, then me. My gunmanship is better than yours, so let me do it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing could not argue, and she nodded. She knew though, that Xia Lei wanted her to stay to protect her, not because his gunmanship was better.
Xia Lei took the walkie-talkie and wiped the sniper rifle with a ck cloth. He opened the window and sprang out of it.
A small forest was behind the window, with a little bridge and a small river, as well as tree-lined stone paths. It was a beautiful little bit ofndscape. The vige of Oshino Hakkai was beyond this little forest.
Xia Lei stopped at the trees and climbed up a cherry tree. Cherry blossom season was long over, and the tree was bare. It was deep night, however, and he was not worried about being discovered if anyone walked by.
The far-off vige came into his sight when he climbed up. Awork of springs, little rivers, buildings and trees met his eyes, pretty as a picture. There were several hot-springs hotels in the vige, and homes too. Some had lights on in them, and some were dark. There was no way Xia Lei could find Gu Kewen and that woman in all those houses.
¡®Where are you, Gu Kewen? And that woman too. Who the hell is she?¡¯ These questions popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head, and circled around.
Just then, Xia Lei spotted the thugs who had burst into his room. They were heading to the centre of the vige. Long Bing¡¯s voice spoke into his ear at the same time.
¡°They¡¯ve left. How is it over there?¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice wasced with worry.
¡°All normal here. I¡¯m on a tree, but this is not a good sniping spot. I¡¯ll look for another er,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Be careful,¡± nagged Long Bing.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be fine. You be careful too.¡±
¡°Nn.¡±
¡°Right, what did they say?¡±
¡°They mentioned a boss. They don¡¯t know the boss¡¯s name, but they¡¯re probably going to meet Gu Kewen.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ve got to go. Let me know if anything happens.¡± Xia Lei jumped down from the cherry tree and started on the trail of the thugs, far away in the vige centre.
Ten minutester, the thugs came to a hotel called ¡®Heart of Oshino¡¯, and walked in.
Xia Lei looked up at the hotel, and turned his gaze abruptly to the hotel next to it. He was a signboard which read ¡®Taketa Hotel¡¯. He abruptly remembered that Gu Kewen had instructed him to check in to that hotel when he got to Oshino Hakkai.
These thugs had now entered the hotel next to ¡®Taketa Hotel¡¯, so what did this prove?
A faint sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°I¡¯ve got you, Gu Kewen!¡±
He scanned the area and quickly found a good spot. That spot was on a hill behind Heart of Oshino, and it would allow him to see all of the building at once. He could fire and kill Gu Kewen off once he found her, and make his exit!
His sniping target confirmed, Xia Lei went around Heart of Oshino and headed for the hill. He was wearing a ck jacket, had painted his face ck with dirt, and was carrying the ck cloth-wrapped XL2500. He was like a spirit in thend of darkness.
Chapter 520 - Locked-on
Snow came down from the sky, and they danced about in the air. Biting cold wind whooshed, making the snow spiral up, up to the treetops, the roofs. A thickyer of snow covered the the hill, measuring half a foot deep. Xia Lei frowned after he got to the base of the hill behind Heart of Oshino. It was impossible for him to leave no traces if he wanted to climb the hill to get to a good sniping spot. Anyone could find him if one followed his footprints in the snow.
Long Bing¡¯s voice suddenly spoke in his ear. ¡°Where are you?¡±
¡°Behind a hotel called Heart of Oshino. I think Gu Kewen is inside.¡± Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°I¡¯m getting ready to climb up a hill and find a sniping spot to kill her and solve the problem.¡±
¡°Wait. I hear talking. I¡¯ll transfer the line in and you listen.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s Japanese was only at a beginner¡¯s level, so she could not tranteplicated sentences.
¡°Okay. Do the transfer,¡± said Xia Lei as he felt carefully for footholds on the hill. He climbed, step by step, up the hill. Long Bing wanted him to wait but he would not. The time and opportunity could pass, and he didn¡¯t want to miss it. There would be dire consequences if Gu Kewen escaped again this time!
A conversation came in over the receiver.
¡°Boss, my men and I have searched all the hotels in Oshino Hakkai. We¡¯ve even gone asking around the vigers¡¯ homes. The person you want is not here.¡± It was the leader¡¯s voice.
¡°Then have you seen anyone suspicious? Simr build?¡± It was Gu Kewen¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped, and he stopped in his tracks. He couldn¡¯t help looking at the Heart of Oshino hotel down the hill. Gu Kewen was in there! He could finish her off in one shot.
¡°Simr build?¡± said the thug. ¡°Boss, I haven¡¯t seen the punk. You¡¯ve only given me a picture, so how would I know what build he has?¡±
¡°He¡¯s about 185 centimetres tall, strong, but well-proportioned and shaped quite pleasingly. Oh right, he also has a woman with him. So, two people, a man and a woman. Think again. Was there anyone who fit this description?¡± said Gu Kewen.
Xia Lei cursed when he heard that. This Gu Kewen was craftier than a fox, and much smarter too! An enemy like this had to be eliminated!
¡°185... A man and a woman...¡± The leader seemed to remember something and said excitedly, ¡°Come to think of it, there was someone like that!¡±
¡°Where is he!¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice was anxious.
¡°He¡¯s in the hotel close to the vige entrance. He said he¡¯s from Hokkaido. His Japanese was great but he didn¡¯t have an ent of someone from Hokkaido. Oh yeah, there was a woman with him too. She¡¯s very pretty. He said she¡¯s his girlfriend, but that woman didn¡¯t say a word the whole time. The guy even gave me some money to get me to leave. He¡¯s generous, and the room he was in was also the most expensive in the hotel.¡± The leader said everything he knew.
¡°It¡¯s most likely him!¡± Gu Kewen suddenly shouted, ¡°Go! Take your men, and surround that hotel immediately. Don¡¯t rush in. Wait for instructions!¡±
¡°He only has one woman with him. My men and I can take care of him easily,¡± said the thug.
¡°You and your men? I¡¯m not trying to erode your confidence, but this guy has killed nearly 100 American Special Forces soldiers and CIA agents!¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°Hurry, go. I¡¯ll pay you 10,000,000 yen more after the job¡¯s done!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s move! Men, contact the others searching in other areas. Get them all and surround that hotel!¡± said the leader.
There were always fools who would brave danger for the reward.
Up on the hill, Xia Lei¡¯s mood had been ruinedpletely. He grabbed themunications device and said, ¡°Long Bing, quick! Leave that hotel!¡±
¡°What happened?¡± Long Bing had not understood the Japanese conversation between Gu Kewen and the thug.
¡°Gu Kewen knows our location!¡± said Xia Lei anxiously, ¡°Leave that ce now. Leave from the window I used, then hide!¡±
¡°Keepmunications open!¡± said Long Bing. Sounds of packing up came from over the line.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t care about leaving footprints any longer. He stomped on the snow, inhaling and gathering power in his abdomen as he moved through the snow. This was the Tang Qinggong martial art he had learnt from Tang Yuyan, and it was most useful now.
All of the Tang Qinggong he had learnt was not the true martial art, but he could get to up to 60% of the true form just from observation and study with his ability. This level was enough for practical uses, and the result was that he left just a string of shallow footprints in the snow, and these prints would soon be covered with snow.
However, there were drawbacks to this too, and that was that it drained too much of his physical strength. This was why he had not used this martial art to get to a sniping spot from the start. It was not going to be a quick and simple battle, and he needed enough energy to expand upon his operations!
Xia Lei climbed up the 50-metre hill in three minutes. Once he got to the sniping spot he was aiming for, he threw himself to the ground, gasping. His lungs burned and his legs trembled ¨C signs of physical exhaustion.
The Tang Qinggong was a secret martial art, passed down through history. Martial arts like these were not for people to y around with. Jumping over walls didn¡¯t count, since that took just a second or two and was over in the blink of an eye. Longer minutes of sustaining this state, like Xia Lei had done, was a little too much for him to handle!
His body reacted violently to this treatment of it, but Xia Lei had no time to rest. He opened the bag holding the XL2500 and positioned it on the rock in front of him. He didn¡¯t bother using the scope, and locked-on to the Heart of Oshino hotel.
At that moment, the leader came out of the hotel with his men. More of his men came gathering,ing from both left and right of the hotel. There was 23 of them in all.
These Japanese gangsters were using walkie-talkies, and they started moving towards the hotel close to the vige entrance before they had all gathered in one ce. From what could be seen of their speed, they would need just five minutes to surround that hotel. Five minutes, plus the three minutes from before, meant that Xia Lei could confirm that Long Bing was at least 100 metres away from the hotel by now.
¡°Where are you?¡± said Xia Lei into hismunications device.
Long Bing¡¯s voice came from over the line. ¡°I¡¯m on the west side of the vige. I can see Heart of Oshino. Are you on the hill behind it?¡±
¡°Yes, about 50 metres above sea level, 2 o¡¯clock from Heart of Oshino. Can you circle over here?¡± Xia Lei reported his own position.
¡°No. They will discover that car and find Gu Kewu. We won¡¯t have a card to y if they get Gu Kewu,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Why even bother about Gu Kewu at this point? Your safety is what¡¯s most important! Leave that ce, get up the hill, ande to me!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was stern.
Long Bing was silent for a bit. ¡°All right. Give me 20 minutes.¡±
¡°Be careful,¡± nagged Xia Lei. He stopped talking, and focused on the Heart of Oshino hotel.
Gu Kewen was very crafty and she did not show herself. She knew that he was already here, but she was still so calm!
¡®Let¡¯s see how long you can keep hiding. It¡¯s not use ¨C you think I won¡¯t be able to find you if you hide in the hotel? I¡¯ll be able to find you even if I went room by room. I¡¯ll kill you off in one shot!¡¯ Xia Lei was burning with anger, and his eyes gleamed with killing intent.
Darkness, guns, and a man thirsting for a kill. All these made for an especially cold ce on that hill.
Bzz bzz bzz, bzz bzz bzz...
The satellite phone in his pocket rang all of a sudden.
Xia Lei hesitated, then took the phone out and answered it. He spoke coldly, ¡°Can¡¯t sleep, Gu Kewen?¡±
Gu Kewen¡¯s voice came over the line. ¡°I¡¯m lonely. How can a lonely woman sleep? Xia Lei, why didn¡¯t youe look for me when you¡¯re already here? Come over and apany me. I guarantee that no one will harm you. I can also give you the most wonderful thing. Heh heh... Remember that time, at Distinguished Gathering? I was willing to work for you, and sleep with you but you rejected me. That was the biggest mistake you made in your life. You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re missing out on. I¡¯m not as beautiful as Shentu Tianyin, true, but I know a man¡¯s heart better than she does. I¡¯ll let you experience what other men can only dream about...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°No, you¡¯re wrong. It was the best decision I made in my life.¡±
¡°Fine.¡± Gu Kewen sighed. ¡°Fine. Looks like we can only be enemies. You¡¯ll regret this. I guarantee that.¡±
Xia Lei shifted his gun muzzle to point at a room. There were no lights on in that room and the doors and windows were shut. There was a thinyer of mist on the window, indicating that the room was warm though the air outside was cold.
Gu Kewen was still talking. ¡°What, we¡¯re already at this stage. Aren¡¯t youing out to meet me? Are you nning on being a coward? You don¡¯t dare toe out and deal with a weak girl like me? My impression of you is that you¡¯re an excellent specimen of a man, so what¡¯s wrong with you today? Have you be cowardly and weak after marrying Shentu Tianyin?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s meet, then. Fine. I¡¯m already here in this vige, and I¡¯m in the hotel close to the vige entrance. Come over and let¡¯splete this exchange. Let me remind you that your brother is still in my hands, so don¡¯t you try any tricks.¡±
¡°I know you¡¯re the best sniper in the world. You¡¯re asking me toe out? What if you¡¯re hiding somewhere to shoot me as soon as I show myself? Let me tell you, Xia Lei, that I can survive to this day not because my beauty and body but my smarts. I¡¯m in Heart of Oshino. YOUe to ME!¡±
Xia Lei was not responding to Gu Kewen anymore. He took a deep breath and held it. His left eye twitched, and the walls of the room he was looking at about 60 metres away disappeared from his sight.
The two women in the room entered his field of sight in that second.
One was a statuesque mixed-blood woman, and the other... was Gu Kewen!
Chapter 521 - Forever Goodbye
In the room.
¡°Hello? Why are you quiet?¡± Gu Kewen held on to the satellite phone and her face filled with wariness.
A sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. His put right index finger on the trigger on the trigger, and squeezed it.
At the exact instant ofbustion, the mixed-blood woman next to Gu Kewen dived, pulling Gu Kewen to the ground with her.
Ping! A bullet went through the tile of the room¡¯s roof and struck the spot where Gu Kewen had stood. The wooden floor splintered, sending fragments up. If the woman had been half a second slower, Gu Kewen¡¯s head would have been torn open by this bullet!
Xia Lei was stunned too, in that instant. This woman... Whether it was experience or capability, she was miles better than that so-called king of killers named Hyena!
This woman was more powerful than the king of killers. Who was she?
Xia Lei still couldn¡¯t figure out this woman¡¯s identity but he was not slow to react either. He had fired for the second time when the mixed-blood woman pulled Gu Kewen to roll across the floor.
Ping! Another tile on the roof was shattered.
The second shot hit Gu Kewen in the back!
No one had ever escaped his sniping once his left eye had locked on! Besides, there was just 70 to 80 metres between him and the two women. He could even use a handgun like a sniper rifle at this distance!
¡°He¡¯s behind the hotel. Two ¡®o clock! 80 metres out!¡± yelled the mixed-blood woman at the walkie-talkie which had dropped to the floor.
Xia Lei could not hear her, but he knew what angry shouting meant.
Sure enough, a light shone from the snowy top of another hill at his ten o¡¯clock before he could fire a third time. Out of abination of pure instinct and experience, Xia Lei threw himself to the snow behind the rock as soon as he caught that light out of the corner of his eye.
Pew! There was a dull sound as a sniper rifle bullet hit the stone before him.
The rock shook and sparks flew. Small shards of rock flew past his head, and a piece ricocheted and hit him in the neck. Warm blood came from the wound. Fortunately, the piece had not hit hard, and it had just scratched his skin without cutting any major blood vessels.
Pew! There was another dull sound, and several cracks suddenly appeared in the rock in front of him!
His enemy was using something powerful, something like an armour-piercing bullet!
This sniping spot waspromised. Xia Lei hugged his XL2500 and rolled, heading for the other side.
Snow plumed on the snow-nketed ground.
This was the enemy¡¯s third shot. This guy¡¯s gunmanship seemed to be on par with Hyena¡¯s!
Xia Lei, however, did not give him the chance to shoot for a fourth time. He had rolled out of his enemy¡¯s sights. The enemy has fired thrice, and Xia Lei had calcted his position. However, the hill and thick forest made it difficult for the enemy to aim at him, and he could not fire.
Long Bing¡¯s voice came from over themunications device. ¡°Are you okay? Talk!¡±
¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°Stay low. The enemy has a sniper. He¡¯s on the left of my old position, ten o¡¯ clock from the hotel.¡±
¡°Leave that hill as soon as you can. I saw many gunmen going to your location.¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was filled with worry.
Xia Lei had seen it already. It wasn¡¯t just the thugs in Gu Kewen¡¯s employ ¨C there were even gunmen he had not spotted before. Some were white, some were ck, and they came out of buildings under construction, holding guns and converging on his location. These gunmen seemed well-versed in fighting, and could even be more powerful than American Special Forces soldiers!
Who the hell were these people?
This question nagged at Xia Lei, but he knew that this was not the time to ponder it. He raised the XL2500 sniper rifle and dashed out of the forest, running towards the ten o¡¯clock position on the left.
The enemy sniper was a target he had to eliminate!
There were no roads in the forest and thick snow covered the ground. It would¡¯ve been very difficult for a person to walk about on this ground under normal circumstances, but Xia Lei was practically flying over the ground. He was quick, and his movements nimble, like he was a wolf which inhabited this forest. This was his domain!
Darkness, snow and thick forest. None of these could stop Xia Lei¡¯s charge. Kill or be killed. He was putting all his efforts into living, and his body like like a well-oiled battle machine!
Three minutester, Xia Lei moved through the forest and appeared on the dividing line of the hill. He hid behind a patch of snow-covered shrub, and used his X-ray vision to see through the shrub and observe his surroundings. His current position allowed him to keep an eye on what was happening on the left of the hill.
The hill on the left was quiet. There was snow, trees, and brown rocks. In the darkness filled with dancing snow, not even a squirrel could be seen, much less a man. However, Xia Lei was sure that there was someone hidden somewhere. He had this assumption because he was sure that the enemy did not have anyone who could run over snow 30 centimetres deep and great speed. Not everyone could learn Tang Qinggong from Tang Yuyan.
Bang bang bang...
Loud gunshots suddenly came from the vige of Oshino Hakkai.
Xia Lei¡¯s chest tightened in nervousness and he looked over. His left eye searched the dark, looking for the source of the sound. Two secondster, he was surprised to find that Long Bing had run out of the forest providing her cover and started firing at the gunman heading towards the hill.
She had appeared suddenly in an ambush from the back. Additionally, she had the excellent capabilities of the Gust assault rifle to count on. The unknown gunmen with their backs to Long Bing were gunned down by Long Bing.
¡°What are you doing?! Don¡¯t you want to live?¡± nagged Xia Lei over themunications device. Long Bing¡¯s sudden actions had spoiled him ns but he was more concerned about her safety!
¡°Don¡¯t care about me. GO!¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was filled with gratitude. He knew that Long Bing was only doing to to draw the enemy¡¯s attention, and to ruin their n of surrounding him. Her actions were undoubtedly a sacrifice on her part to buy some time for him to escape!
How could he not be touched by such a gesture?
However, she had forgotten one thing, and that was that Xia Lei was not going to be one to run from a fight on the battlefield!
Just then, another bit of light shed from the top of the hill opposite. It was the gleaming of the muzzle of a gun!
This bit of light was extremely weak, and was only seen for zero-point-something seconds, but Xia Lei¡¯s left eye could catch light weaker than this, and faster too!
The enemy fired at Long Bing, but he exposed his own location too.
Xia Lei did not raise his gun to shoot back at the sniper hidden in the snow right away. He looked instead at Long Bing and the situation she was in. mes almost burst from his eyes at what he saw!
Long Bing had fallen to the ground. There was a bit of blood on her face, and the Gust assault rifle had dropped to the ground too. Shey on the ground, motionless.
Was she dead?
Tears sprang from Xia Lei¡¯s eyes instantly. He could not ept that this was true. NO!
She had still been in the hot-springs pool with him an hour earlier, and had sex with him on the bed. Herughter, her ferociousness, her everything was so beautiful. He could not forget her. However, she was now lying on the snowy ground; she had gone to another world.
Tears dripped noiselessly down from the corners of his eyes. His heart had been shattered.
But at that moment, there came some new movements from the hill opposite. The hidden sniper emerged, and he was holding a high-powered night-vision scope in his hand. What he was observing was not Long Bing, however, but the hill where Xia Lei was hiding. He seemed very confident in his gunmanship, so he did not look at her after he decided that she was dead.
¡°All of you must die!¡± A voice as cold as ice came from Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He stretched the XL2500 out from behind the shrub and aimed at that sniper.
The sniper in the snow used his scope to look at the hill opposite him, and he stopped on the shrub Xia Lei was hiding behind about a secondter.
In that instant, a sh of fire bloomed in his vision. His pupils dted and his brain went into a state of terror.
Crack. The scope was shattered by a bullet, and that bullet went through the tube of the scope and into the sniper¡¯s right eye, exiting out the back of his head.
The sniper¡¯s brain was sted out of head head, and a fist-sized crater formed in the back of his skull.
Xia Lei gripped themunications device in his hand, crying and choking. ¡°Long Bing, I got revenge for you... Why were you so foolish? Why didn¡¯t you listen to me, why... I¡¯ve never told you that I loved you when you were with me. I¡¯ll tell you now... I love you... I¡¯ll never be able to return your feelings in this lifetime, but wait for our next lives. I¡¯ll definitely return your feelings in our next lives together.¡±
One of the saddest things of the human world was a forever goodbye. She had met him in Macau, and known him for over two years. She had given him a lot of help, taught him so much, and made a powerful agent out of an ordinary man. She had gone through life and death with him, braved the hail of gunfire with him. And tonight, she had finally be one with him, and given him the best of herself, but she had not had the luxury of having this love for a full day before she had gone on to another world. This was a tragedy!
Xia Lei was truly heartbroken. Who knew how long he¡¯d take to recover from this loss.
As Xia Lei cried his eyes out, a familiar voice suddenly came from over themunications device. ¡°Ahem. Uh... Those three words... Can you say them again?¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly. That was Long Bing¡¯s voice!
¡°Say it. You said it just now, so why aren¡¯t you saying it again?¡± Long Bing¡¯s tone of voice seemed happy yet discontent at the same time.
Xia Lei then looked over to see Long Bing getting to her feet, looking in his direction and smiling.
Her smile was like a light in the flurried snow. Her smile melted away the darkness in Xia Lei¡¯s heart, and chased away the cold.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Heh heh heh...¡±
¡°Not saying it, huh? You punk. You didn¡¯t say it when I was alive. I have to be dead for you to say it? What¡¯s this, huh?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei opened his mouth. ¡°I¡¯ll say it tomorrow.¡±
¡°I want you to say it a hundred times tomorrow,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 522 - Suicide Charge
Bang bang bang...
Rat-tat-tat-tat...
The snow swirled, and bullet after bullet went through the cold air, roaring past the snowkes to strike at where theynded. Trees, tiles, ss, the wind chime hanging under the eaves, and human flesh.
Most of the deaths were of the thugs Gu Kewen had hired. They charged at Long Bing like a flock of sheep trying to battle with a lion. The Gust assault rifle in Long Bing¡¯s hands was better than a sniper rifle. The recoil was almost zero, and the range was not anything her poor opponents would be able to win against with handguns. She was also much more versed when it came to battle experience. The thugs usually bullied normal folk, so they were no threat at all to an elite agent of China¡¯s Bureau 101. After the st of gunfire ceased and they awoke from their terror, they found the ground littered with over a dozen bodies.
Red blood stained the pure snow, chilling the heart upon sight.
¡°Shit! Fuck! Who are these people?!¡± The leader of the thugs was going crazy. He hid behind a wall, his eyes filled with terror.
¡°Boss... let¡¯s run away!¡± The thug¡¯s voice shook. ¡°We¡¯ve been duped! There¡¯s no way we can get that money. We¡¯ll die here!¡±
¡°You get the car!¡± roared the leader. ¡°We¡¯ll cover you!¡±
The thug talking to the leader nodded, and got ready to charge/
¡°Kill that bitch!¡± yelled the leader. He raised his arm and shot in Long Bing¡¯s direction.
Bang bang bang...
Bang bang bang...
The gunshots rang out, and bullets went flying towards Long Bing.
The thug going for the car took a deep breath, and dashed from his hiding ce, towards the parking space in front of Heart of Oshino.
Pew! He¡¯d only just emerged from his hiding ce when a bullet came zooming over, creating a cavity in his head. His corpse fell to the ground, and rolled for several metres. The blood sttered on the snow behind the corpse, like cherry blossoms on the snowy mountain.
The leader froze. He did not fire his gun.
At that moment, a bullet came zooming over to strike him in the right wrist he had extended from the wall. The instant the bullet went through his wrist, his flesh exploded and his bones shattered. A strong arm was suddenly reduced by half!
¡°Argh¨C¡± Intense pain rolled over him, and the leader lost his bnce. He fell over.
Pew! Another bullet came flying, going through the head which had just poked out from behind the wall. A part of his skull was instantly missing, and blood and brain matter sttered. Uncountable little lumps and little dots, all over.
Hundreds of metres away, a cold smile appeared on Long Bing¡¯s lips. ¡°This was for looking at my chest.¡±
This thug leader had been killed so ruthlessly because he had looked at her with perverted eyes, but the man who had kissed her breasts was still happily alive.
Nothing was fair in this world.
On the other side, up on the hill, was another situation.
The gunmen who had turned up were not many, but every one of them were trained elite, and had training which was not inferior to that of a US Marine. He had only killed two, but each shot he made had drawn fierce fire. He did not have enough distance, and it was just him and a gun, with no way to fight back. The gunmen also had very good armour, and were willing to die for their duty. Xia Lei had no other choice than to retreat to somewhere further up.
Gunfire sounded behind him, and bullets flew through the forest like locusts.
¡°How is it over there?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice over themunications device.
¡°It¡¯s okay. These guys are hot on my tail. They have superior firepower but I can pick them off one by one once I get some distance,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°You have to be careful about Gu Kewen and that woman. She¡¯s very skilled!¡±
¡°You saw her?¡±
¡°I did... Hello?¡±
The sound from themunications device was abruptly cut off.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. The enemy had blocked out wirelessmunications in the area. What they did cut off not just themunication between himself and Long Bing, but also cut off the residents from alerting the police.
Gunfights had happened in this area, so if anyone called the police, it wouldn¡¯t just be the police turning up but the Defence Forces too!
¡®Is she going after Long Bing?¡¯ Xia Lei halted in his tracks at that thought. He looked at the vige below him, but trees were blocking his view. He could not see Long Bing.
Bang bang bang!
A spray of bullets came in Xia Lei¡¯s direction all of a sudden and several trees were shaken violently, throwing snow to the ground.
Someone down below shouted in anguage Xia Lei did not know. He did not understand, but he knew that that person was telling his colleagues of their target¡¯s position. There was no way he was going to be able to cover all of his tracks in the snow, and there was no need to use sniffer-dogs to search for him to follow him. There was no way to shake them off!
Xia Lei looked at the XL2500 in his hands. He regretted it now. He should have brought two Gust assault rifles. The Gust assault rifle would have been much more effective in this short-distance shooting than a sniper rifle.
Below the forest, over a dozen gunmen in full military-grade gear formed pairs and fanned out to surround him.
Right ahead was a cliff, dozens of metres high and at an angle of nearly 90 degree. Even professional climbers would take half an hour to go up this cliff face, but Xia Lei could do it in an estimated ten minutes. Ten minutes ¨C he could be shot full of holes before he made it to the top!
It was a dead-end ahead, and he had pursuers behind him. Communications had been cut off too. Xia Lei was in despair.
¡°Surrender!¡± A voice suddenly came from below. The person was shouting in English. ¡°You can¡¯t escape!¡±
Xia Lei understood him now, and he pressed himself against a tree trunk. He stretched the muzzle of the XL2500 out from behind the tree and looked out. Two secondster, he spotted the man who had shouted out to him with his X-ray vision. It was a white gunman, with paint across his face. He looked as strong as an ox.
The gunman who had shouted was very sly. He had gone behind a tree trunk after shouting out, and hid himself. He seemed to sense Xia Lei aiming at him, and he hid before Xia Lei shot at him.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. This man must have had a lot ofbat training. Just one was difficult enough to deal with ¨C multiply by dozens and it was much worse. This team they had formed was entirely enough tounch a raid in a small country, or head an attack.
¡°Who are you guys?¡± Xia Lei shouted down at them after a bit of silence. ¡°Why do you want to kill me?¡±
¡°You will know, but it is not time yet,¡± replied the white man who had shouted. ¡°Surrender. I can guarantee that no one will harm you. Yourpanion too. We can let her go.¡±
¡°Are you CIA?¡±
¡°CIA? Hahaha! You¡¯reparing us to that garbage?¡± The white gunmanughed, then stuck half his head out from behind the tree trunk to look up at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei squeezed the trigger in that instant.
A bullet came charging angrily out from the muzzle of the XL2500, and in almost the same instant, the head of the white gunman who had poked his head out was sted apart. Blood and brain matter sttered in all directions.
Surrender?
This was Xia Lei¡¯s response!
Bang bang bang...
Rat-tat-tat-tat...
Gunfire rang out from below, and bullets came like rain. The trees by Xia Lei splintered, and the trunk he was hiding behind was rapidly diminished.
Peng!
A strange sound rang out.
Xia Lei tensed abruptly when he heard that sound, then dived to the side. He used the momentum of his lunge to roll further away.
BOOM! A grenade exploded where Xia Lei had been hiding earlier. The tree was sted by the explosion and it fell to the ground.
Xia Lei rolled to his feet and brought the XL2500 up to his shoulder. He took the handgun from his waist and started dashing into the lower parts of the forest.
If these gunmen wanted closebat, then he was going to give them closebat!
Bang bang bang...
Bullets fell like rain and the gunfire echoed out in the mountain forest. These gunmen could not see Xia Lei in the dark forest but they were equipped with night-vision equipment. What was a bigger threat was their battle experience and their battle reactions. They could discern Xia Lei¡¯s position from the sounds of his movement, and send bullets after him to im his life.
However, Xia Lei was just too quick ¨C quick as a beast in the forest!
Additionally, these gunmen had not expected that Xia Lei would bring the fight to them, and charge towards them. This looked entirely like a suicide charge to them!
But they quickly found that they had been wrong.
The inky ck forest was as clear as day in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. He could see everything clearly, be it the positions of the gunmen firing at him, the trees close to them and the trees close to himself. More importantly, his brain was whirring and analysing everything which his left eye saw. The distances of the gunmen, their locations and the distances between the trees were all being calcted and analysed, even including how many times each gunman had fired, and how many bullets they had left!
Of course, the most important was still his speed. His body was also working at its limit ¨C Tang Qinggong, Wing Chun techniques... He was like a cheetah, speeding down the mountain, shing from tree to tree like a ghost, and dodging the bullets which came at him.
Bang!
A gunshot.
A gunman who had been reloading his gun was falling to the ground. His eyes were wide as he saw Xia Lei go by like the wind. He did not see the hole in his forehead, and he did not believe that it was true even up till he died.
As his body hit the ground, spasming, his teammate met the same fate. He was shot through the head by Xia Lei at close distance!
Chapter 523 - Gun and Shield
Yet another gunman fell, and not alone either. The confidence of the men going after Xia Lei fell with him.
Xia Lei was just a single man, but he was charging about like a demon in the snowy forest, able to see well without night-vision equipment and spot his targets. His gunmanship was excellent, and every shot he made killed a person. Who could still maintain his confidence when his opponent was like this?
Bang! Another gunshot, another gunman down.
The instant the gunman went down, the charging figure changed directions, turning at an angle of almost 90 degrees to go behind a row of trees.
Bang bang bang!
Some bullets came flying, and they struck the row of trees.
Snow came rustling down from the crows of the trees.
¡°Fuck!¡± A gunman cursed in English. He was losing it, and he charged recklessly out from behind a tree, firing a M16A2 assault rifle in the direction Xia Lei had gone.
The M16A2 roared, and bullet after bullet shot from its muzzle, tearing into tree trunks. Some of the bullets went through the gaps between the trunks but they did not hit the target. What target? The gunman who had fired could not even get Xia Lei in his sights. He had only glimpsed Xia Lei with his night vision equipment when he had turned and then lost sight of him.
Click-click. The sounds of an empty gun magazine came from the M16A2. The gunman then realised that he had emptied the magazine, and he was quick to reload. Unlock, load, re-lock ¨C the whole process took less than two seconds.
However, Xia Lei shed into view in the second second. There was a spark in the darkness and a bullet stabbed viciously into the gunman¡¯s head.
The gunmen who fell was Xia Lei¡¯s sixth victim.
The few remaining gave up on the fight. They shot suppressing fire as they fled downhill.
The surviving gunmen had only just realised that trying to kill Xia Lei in this forest was like trying to kill a whale with a fish hook!
¡®Trying to run away? Why don¡¯t you ask if I¡¯d let you go first?¡¯ A sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips, and his eyes were terrifyingly cold.
Unlocking the full potential of his body was extremely draining. He would be exhausted and fit to copse at any moment once the battle was over. However, the uing battle did not require him to use all his energy anymore since the gunmen were retreating downhill. He could now use his most familiar method to end the fight ¨C using the XL2500 to snipe them!
Those remaining gunmen would meet the same fate whether they stayed to fight or chose to retreat, and that was DEATH!
Xia Lei took the XL2500 from his shoulder and stuck it on a tree branch. He spied a ck gunman running away raggedly with his left eye, shooting behind himself as he ran down the hill.
Bang!
A gunshot.
The ck gunman was knocked off his feet. He struck a tree, and slid to the ground...
The killing in the dark continued, but the roles were reversed now. The prey had be the hunter!
Meanwhile, the battle at the foot of the hill was almost at its end too.
Thest Japanese thug was gunned down by Long Bing, and the vige grew silent. There were no more shocking gunshots.
Some tourists and residents in the vige couldn¡¯t help themselves and they opened windows to check on the situation outside, every one of them wary. There were several with their phones in their hands, trying to call the police, but no phone call was going out. Some also tried to use thendline to call the police but it proved fruitless too. Allmunications in this ce had been cut off.
There was no way to call the police, and outside was a war zone. Only the final winner could leave this ce alive.
¡°Lei, how is it on your end?¡± Long Bing tried to contact Xia Lei again after she killed off thest thug gunman.
No response came from themunications device.
Bang! A gunshot suddenly came from the forest above.
Long Bing let out a breath after hearing that gunshot. This gunshot was familiar to her ¨C it was the sound of an XL2500 firing. In that moment, she felt like that sound was the best sound on earth to her. It meant that Xia Lei was alive, and fighting!
¡°You handle those guys. I¡¯ll help you settle the one you want.¡± Long Bing muttered to herself, then walked towards the Heart of Oshino hotel.
The gates to the Heart of Oshino were wide open, and no one could be seen in the lobby. In this situation, those who could escape had all escaped, and those who couldn¡¯t had hidden themselves. Who would still stand dumbly in an open area for all to see, waiting for a bullet to fly in from goodness-knows-where and kill you?
Long Bing stood on the doorway for five seconds. She confirmed that there was no movement inside, then charged in,
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Long Bing went through a corridor and soon found the room with the roof which Xia Lei had nearly ripped apart.
The door to this room was tightly shut, and the lights were off. She could not see if anything was happening inside.
Long Bing reached out a hand to push the door to enter, but abruptly stopped herself. She had changed her mind. She backed two steps into the corridor, lifted the muzzle of the Gust assault rifle, and let out a volley of gunfire.
Bang bang bang, bang bang bang...
Wood splinters flew, and the thin room door was shredded instantly. The bullets went through the wooden nks and hit the ss and furniture in the room. Sounds of chaos rang out.
A magazine was emptied. Long Bing reloaded in one second, then kicked the tattered door of the room open.
Bang! A gunshot rang out in the room, and a bullet grazed past Long Bing¡¯s shoulder.
Long Bing dove to the floor and hugged the floor as she rolled. She raised her gun and shot in the corner of the room.
Crack crack...
A table which had fallen over shook, and it looked like it was going to be broken soon.
¡°Don¡¯t shoot!¡± A woman¡¯s voice came from behind the table, and she raised her hands. There was a handgun in the right hand. She had fired at Long Bing but she was no match for her. This woman had given in and surrendered after one round.
This woman was Gu Kewen.
The most dangerous spot was also the safest spot. Gu Kewen was very clever, and she had not run out, or she would have met the same fate as the Japanese thugs. However, she had not counted on Long Bing not going to help Xia Lei, anding here to catch her instead.
¡°Throw the gun away,¡± said Long Bing coldly. She strode towards Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewen threw the gun aside. ¡°Don¡¯t kill me. I¡¯ll give you Xia Lei¡¯s important thing.¡±
Long Bing went around the table and pressed the muzzle of the Gust assault rifle to Gu Kewen¡¯s head. ¡°Where is it? I¡¯ll give you one minute to take it out and give it to me, or I¡¯ll send you on your way.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be hasty. I... I¡¯ll give it to you.¡± Gu Kewen took out a document folder from under the table and handed it to Long Bing.
¡°Open it!¡±manded Long Bing.
Gu Kewen opened the document folder nervously and took out its contents. There was a stack of photocopied contracts and a USB stick.
Long Bing nced quickly at the contract right on top. It had Shentu Tianyin¡¯s signature andpany logo on top.
¡°Copies?¡± said Long Bing coldly. ¡°Gu Kewen, do you take me for a fool? Where are the originals?¡±
Gu Kewen shuddered. ¡°Originals... I don¡¯t have the originals. Of course the originals are with Shentu Tianyin. These contracts were signed in private. Of course Shentu Tianyin won¡¯t let Xia Lei see them. I, however, know the people who did the acquisitions, so I had the opportunity to make copies.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m really not lying to you. These are the things Xia Lei wants. I¡¯ll give it to you. Let me go. I promise never to show my face again. I... I¡¯ll never cause trouble for you or for Xia Lei, ever again.¡± Gu Kewen was on the verge of tears.
¡°Pack the things up nicely,¡± said Long Bing.
Gu Kewen put the contracts and the USB into the document envelope and handed it to Long Bing.
Long Bing took the envelope, and a sneer sppeared in the corners of her mouth.
Gu Kewen seemed to sense something, and she said anxiously, ¡°You promised me! You have to keep your word!¡±
Long Bing spoke tly, ¡°When did I promise you anything? People like you should not be left alive on this Earth. I¡¯ll give you a chance. Pick one ¨C knife or gun?¡±
¡°Wh... Why don¡¯t you take me back to China? I¡¯ll ept whatever the judge decides! You can¡¯t kill me! You don¡¯t have the authorisation!¡± screamed Gu Kewen at Long Bing.
¡°Looks like you don¡¯t want to choose. I¡¯ll send you on your way.¡± Long Bing lifted the gun muzzle but turned it suddenly to the door, squeezing the trigger as she did so.
Bang bang bang!
Three bullets flew towards the door, but they did not hit anything.
A figure suddenly moved in the doorway and a grenade was abruptly dropped to the floor.
Boom! There was a deafening explosion, and a blinding sh filled the space in the room.
Long Bing could not see anything, and her ears had stopped working. In this critical time of danger, she moved to stand behind Gu Kewen. She put her elbow around Gu Kewen¡¯s throat, and shot in the direction of the doorway with the Gust assault rifle.
A regr soldier, or even a regr agent, would be immobile when attacked with a grenade like this. However, Long Bing was not an ordinary soldier, nor an ordinary agent. She was an elite agent of Bureau 101!
Bang bang bang...
Though she could not see and could not hear, Long Bing was still able to locate the right direction by drawing from her memory, and use the Gust assault rifle to release supressing fire at the possible entrances where enemies coulde rushing in.
¡°You are tough, but this is useless.¡± A woman¡¯s voice came from beyond the door. Her Chinese pronunciation was wless.
If one just listened to her voice, one would never suspect that she was not a native Chinese person.
However, she was the mixed-blood woman.
Click click.
The Gust assault rifle stopped firing. It had exhausted itsst magazine.
Long Bing drew out her handgun.
Bang! A gunshot rang out and a bullet struck the gun in Long Bing¡¯s hand. She could not hold it steady due to the impact, and the handgun dropped to the floor.
Under normal circumstances, Long Bing would have drawn her gun ten times faster, but the grenade had blinded and deafened her, slowing most of her reactions. She was now in a simr state as people who had drunk too much, and could not control their body very well.
The mixed-blood woman appeared in the doorway, and walked over elegantly.
She held a modified handgun, about twice the size of a regr one, in her right hand. She also had a shield in her left hand. The shield was silver-coloured and it looks to be titanium. It was very strong. There was a picture spray-painted on it, and the picture looked like a king cobra rearing its head.
Gun and shield. She look like a fighter from the Middle Ages, only that the sword had been reced by a gun.
This style ofbat was very strange.
Chapter 524 - Life and Death
Long Bing shook her head, hard, and her dizziness eased a little. She then saw the mixed-blood woman standing opposite her. She looked about 190 centimetres tall and the modified gun in her hand, and that tinum shield made for quite the visual.
¡°Cough, cough...¡± Gu Kewen struggled, but Long Bing¡¯s elbow held her like a vice. She was going to suffocate.
Long Bing did not loosen her grip ¨C she pressed harder. She knew that she was in a very bad situation now, and if she was going to die, then she was going to help Xia Lei kill Gu Kewen, so Gu Kewen would never be able to threaten him again!
¡°Let her go,¡± said the mixed-blood woman softly. ¡°She has some use to me. It¡¯ll inconvenience me if you kill her.¡±
¡°Oh, really?¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was cold, and she moved her left hand from Gu Kewen¡¯s back to her front as she spoke. A knife was above Gu Kewen¡¯s heart when she stopped moving.
¡°Hm.¡± The mixed-blood woman raised an eyebrow. She had disarmed Long Bing earlier, but she did not expect that Long Bing would still dare to use a knife on Gu Kewen in this situation.
Gu Kewen did hold some use for her. She was just a new member of the CIA, but she has deep connections in China. Getting promoted within the CIA and being of greater use was just a matter of time. Being able to control this person would mean having a double agent in the CIA, and getting some information which wouldn¡¯t normally be easy toe across. Unfortunately, this woman in front of her was pointing a knife at Gu Kewen¡¯s heart. This woman did not seem afraid of being shot either!
Long Bing let go of Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewen stared at the hunting knife in her chest in horror, not believing that Long Bing had stabbed her like this. She didn¡¯t get it. She wanted to turn around and look at Long Bing, to ask her why, but shecked the strength to even turn around. She felt like there was a dark vortex below her, sucking her into its depths. She managed to hold on for one second, then fell to the floor.
She looked up at the ceiling, her mouth open and gasping for air. No matter how she gasped, though, there didn¡¯t seem to be enough air, and her breathing got weaker and weaker. She wanted to look once more at this world, but her vision was getting blurry and clouded.
When she¡¯d been alive, she had a life of luxury. She had a luxury car, bodyguards, adoration, whatever she wanted. But now, she suddenly felt like she was rather pitiful, and not much different from the beggars who froze to death by the streets.
Darkness came roiling, consuming her. In that little bit of time before it devoured her, an image shed in Gu Kewen¡¯s head. She saw the light, and the young man who walked towards her in the light. It looked like he hade through dimensions to her, and he was in front of her instantly. The image stabilised, and she saw his face clearly ¨C Xia Lei...
Why was it Xia Lei?
Her consciousness was devoured by darkness before that question could be answered.
¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll kill you?¡± The mixed-blood woman looked icily at Long Bing, but there was a faint smile in the corners of her lips.
Long Bing shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m right in front of you. You could fire at any time but you didn¡¯t. I know what you¡¯re up to. You want to use me to pressure him, don¡¯t you?¡±
The mixed-blood woman moved, but not closer to Long Bing. She went to stand behind a pir. That position was such that the pir blocked off any potential shots which coulde from up the hill. However, she was still able to keep Long Bing in her line of fire. She could shoot Long Bing at any time, and if she sensed that Long Bing was going to flee.
No more gunshots came from the direction of the hill. That battle was already over.
Xia Lei¡¯s location was unknown, but what could be confirmed was that he would not stop on the hill. He could turn up here at any time.
The Heart of Oshino was where everything was going to end.
Long Bing¡¯s heart sank slowly. She could sense the power from this mixed-blood girl before her. It was not just her skill and her gunmanship, nor her experience and her foresight... It was because Long Bing had not even been aware that the battle on the hill was over when this mixed-blood woman moved to a position where Xia Lei couldn¡¯t snipe her!
¡°Who the hell are you?¡± said Long Bing. ¡°You¡¯re not CIA.¡±
¡°CIA? Heheh.¡± The mixed-blood woman snickered. She pointed her gun at Long Bing¡¯s thigh. ¡°Are youing to me, or should I break your leg and drag you over?¡±
Long Bing did not move. Her eyes were cold.
She was not just ruthless to her enemies, but to herself too.
The mixed-blood woman bent her finger over the trigger.
A small sound suddenly came from the corridor outside.
The mixed-blood woman shouted, ¡°Xia Lei! Hold it right there! Don¡¯te any closer!¡±
Long Bing was stunned. She had not sensed Xia Lei¡¯s arrival, but this woman had shouted a warning!
Xia Lei¡¯s voice came abruptly from the corridor. ¡°Leave now and I won¡¯t kill you. Touch my woman and you die.¡±
The mixed-blood woman was calm. ¡°You¡¯re that confident?¡±
¡°Your men are all dead,¡± said Xia Lei. This was why he was confident.
The mixed-blood woman sneered. ¡°I don¡¯t think you know the situation, Xia Lei. My target is you. Your woman is in my hands too. I can kill her at any time, and you want me to leave? Don¡¯t think you can threaten me because you killed my men. Those were just cannon fodder, and their role is to die. They have fulfilled their purpose. The battle between us is only just beginning.¡±
Long Bing suddenly ran for the window.
Bang bang! Two bullets flew from the muzzle of the mixed-blood woman¡¯s gun. One hit the windowsill, and the other hit the wooden floorboard in front of Long Bing. The splinters which flew up obscured her vision, and the splinters stabbed into her legs and her lower abdomen, bringing stinging pain.
Long Bing came to a halt.
The handgun she had had been specially modified to use high-impact bullets ¨C it was as powerful as a shotgun!
In the instant the mixed-blood woman shot at Long Bing, Xia Lei shed into the doorway and fired. A bullet flew from his handgun, towards the mixed-blood woman.
Ding! Sparks flew as the bullet hit the woman¡¯s shield.
The woman¡¯s ability to assess the situation, and her skill in reacting to it was astounding!
Xia Lei disappeared from the doorway.
The woman also moved to the other side of the pir. She was keeping Long Bing in her range and under control.
The atmosphere in the room was instantly tense, quiet, and full of killing intent.
That was the first exchange of blows between Xia Lei and the woman, but he had been obviously disadvantaged. That had been his only chance to fire and kill the mixed-blood woman, and it had also been the opportunity Long Bing created for him by risking her life, but he had failed.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank at this failure. He knew well that if he made another move, the one to die wouldn¡¯t be him or the mixed-blood woman, but Long Bing.
¡°Xia Lei, you should be thankful about my task,¡± said the mixed-blood woman. ¡°My task is to capture you alive, not kill you. You won¡¯t be alive otherwise. I cannot guarantee your woman¡¯s life, though.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit. ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give you one minute. Put down the weapon ande in.¡± The mixed-blood woman did not answer Xia Lei¡¯s question. ¡°I can let your woman go in exchange. You know, I¡¯ve never made this allowance before, but for you, I can break some norms.¡±
This was a very difficult decision.
¡°Never mind about me!¡± Long Bing shouted at the doorway. ¡°You don¡¯t have to bother about me. Leave! Leave now!¡±
The mixed-blood woman shouted. ¡°Shut the hell up!¡±
¡°Wait!¡± The shouting in the room stopped Xia Lei from thinking normally. He was afraid that Long Bing would anger the mixed-blood woman. He came out from the corner he was hiding in, holding the butt of his gun and throwing it to the floor.
Long Bing looked dumbly at Xia Lei as her eyes filled with tears.
She was willing to die for Xia Lei, and he was willing to surrender himself to save her, to ept a dangerous fate. This sincerity, this man ¨C what more could she want?
¡°And the sniper rifle over your shoulder. And your knife.¡± The mixed-blood woman¡¯s voice was cold.
Xia Lei removed the gun and his knife, and put them both on the floor. ¡°I¡¯ve done as you asked. Let her go. You¡¯ll be inconvenienced too, if I die.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh...¡± The womanughed. ¡°You¡¯re the strongest enemy I¡¯ve met, but you have a critical weakness. Your emotions.¡± She nced at Long Bing. ¡°Go, before I change my mind.¡±
Long Bing did not seem to have heard the woman. Her gaze had not left Xia Lei. At that moment, Xia Lei seemed like a part of her life, and she could not be without him. How could she bear to let him fall into the hands of this woman? She didn¡¯t want to leave ¨C she couldn¡¯t!
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear her?¡± Xia Lei was anxious and he shouted at Long Bing. ¡°GO! Go far, far away!¡±
Long Bing¡¯s lips twitched, but she moved in the end. She walked towards the doorway, but her steps were fairly slow.
¡°Hurry up and leave! I don¡¯t want to see you here a second longer!¡± Xia Lei seemed angry.
Tears fell unchecked from Long Bing¡¯s eyes. She knew that Xia Lei did not truly hate her, but was acting in this way to make her leave quickly.
Long Bing brushed past his shoulder as she went, but Xia Lei did not even give her a second nce.
His heart was hurting too.
Long Bing disappeared from the doorway.
The mixed-blood woman came out from behind the pir, gun in one hand and shield in the other. She walked elegantly over to Xia Lei. A mocking smile sat in the corners of her lips. ¡°It really does take quite a bit of effort to capture you. This was more difficult than killing you, but I did it.¡±
¡°Who are you?¡± Xia Lei pretended to be calm.
The woman spoke tly, ¡°Didn¡¯t your father mention me to you?¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly.
A name surfaced in his head in that instant.
The woman stopped in her tracks, several steps away from Xia Lei. Her voice was soft. ¡°FA Organisation. Dark Mona. I¡¯ll take you home, Xia Lei.¡±
The name Xia Lei had thought of was Dark Mona¡¯s. His father, Xia Changhe, had mentioned her in Moscow, and said that she was the most frightening killer in the FA Organisation. He had suspected that the gunmen and this woman hade from the FA Organisation, but he had stubbornly refused to believe what his brain told him.
The snake head on Dark Mona¡¯s shield suddenly opened up, revealing a hidden space.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
Chapter 525 - Flying in the Snow
Three minutes ago.
Xia Lei stood behind the wall and he said, ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give you one minute. Put down the weapon ande in. I can let your woman go in exchange. You know, I¡¯ve never made this allowance before, but for you, I can break some norms.¡± The woman¡¯s voice came from within the room.
¡°Don¡¯t bother about me! Just go, hurry and leave!¡± That was Long Bing¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei bit his lip. He put down his backpack, and ced a handgun on it before he said, ¡°Wait!¡±
Three minutester.
Long Bing brushed past Xia Lei...
Now!
Bang!
A bullet suddenly flew from the doorway, straight at Dark Mona¡¯s head.
However, at almost the same instant, even before the gunshot sounded, Dark Mona abruptly swept her shield to the side, blocking the trajectory of the bullet and stopping it!
And in that same instant, a hole opened up in the shield, and a tranquiliser dart shot out, straight into Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen.
It was the same distance, but Dark Monapleted two actions before Xia Lei had time to react. She had hit Xia Lei with a tranquiliser dart on top of blocking the sneak-attack from the doorway!
Dark Mona was miles ahead of Xia Lei in terms of experience.
Was Dark Mona also miles ahead in terms of speed?
This was difficult to determine, but Xia Lei had fallen to the floor ¨C this result was quite telling.
Bang bang bang!
Long Bing ran across the doorway, the gun jerking in her hand as she went. She fired three shots when going past the doorway, and these bullets flew towards Dark Mona¡¯s head, upper body and thighs. She did not believe that Dark Mona¡¯s ability to move her shield was faster than a bullet, and that she would be able to block all the bullets!
However, Dark Mona did not block this time. She mirrored Long Bing¡¯s movements. The instant Long Bing appeared in the doorway, her legs had folded right away, and she jumped like a frog, crossing the doorway at almost the same time that Long Bing did!
Dark Mona stretched out the modified gun in her hand while she was in the air. A bullet roared from the gun muzzle.
Boom! The wooden walls of the hotel had a huge chunk blown out of it. The splinters of wood shot in Long Bing¡¯s direction like high-speed bullets.
Long Bingnded on the floor with a thud. She had been struck by several pieces of wood, and she was bleeding.
Dark Mona thumped to the floor too, but only for a moment. Her legs and waist turned in a twist, and she seemed to coil to her feet like a spring. Right in that same instant, she changed the direction of where she was pointing the gun, and aimed it at the tear in the wall.
On the other side of the broken wall was Long Bing, who was unable to get to her feet. The wooden projectiles had caused bodily harm to her and it was not life-threatening, but it hampered her movements. In this sort of battle, dys of half a second could end up fatal.
Dark Mona¡¯s gun was trained on her now.
A sneer appeared in the corners of Mona¡¯s mouth. ¡°You had a chance to run away, but you chose toe back to die. The love between you and Xia Lei ¨C is it really that strong?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei. She wanted to see him for thest time before she died. However, she was stunned when she looked from the broken wall to Xia Lei.
¡°Hm?¡± Dark Mona seemed to realise something, and she twisted to one side, turning her arm around to point the gun in Xia Lei¡¯s direction.
Schick! A hunting knife came flying all of a sudden, burying itself in Mona¡¯s wrist.
The modified gun dropped from her hand, and fell towards the floor.
Dark Mona reacted lightning-quick. She flipped the shield over from her left hand, and quickly caught the fallen handgun with it. At the same time, she loosened her hold on the shield and grabbed the gun with her left hand. This series of movements seemed to take ce in one breath, with no dys whatsoever.
And at the same time, Xia Leipleted his set of movements too. He rolled and reached for the gun, then shot. He was as quick as lightning!
Bang!
Bang!
The two of them shot at virtually the same moment.
Boom! A grenade opened up a hole in the floorboards.
Ding! The handgun bullet ricocheted off the shield, and grazed past Mona¡¯s face. The searing hot bullet left a trail of blood on her face, and the smell of something which had been burnt!
Her shot failed, Mona flew abruptly towards the window.
Bang bang bang!
Three bullets came from the broken section of wall, and three bullet gouges appeared in the spot Mona had just vacated.
Long Bing had joined the fray.
Mona flicked her wrist, and squeezed the trigger. A powerful bullet roared from her gun muzzle.
Boom! The battered wooden wall was sted apart yet again. It was practically in tatters!
Long Bing rolled, close to the ground, just barely scraping away from the explosive attack.
Schick! A jagged piece of wood stabbed into her hip. Blood oozed, but she could not feel pain anymore.
Bang bang bang! Xia Lei fired too.
Dark Mona¡¯s body was already out the window, and the bullets seemed to just barely squeeze past her bountiful chest to fly off into the night.
Bam! There was a dull, muffled gunshot.
The wall on the other side was suddenly sted open, and stakes of wood came flying towards Xia Lei in an angry horde.
Xia Lei hugged the floor as he rolled out of the room. He did not forget his XL2500 in all this, and took it with him as he made his exit.
However, his thigh was struck by one of the wooden stakes, and blood spurted from his fresh wound, wetting his trousers.
Long Bing had crawled to her feet. She, and Xia Lei, did not stop to rest behind the wall. They moved to the corridor right away. This hotel was a traditional Japanese house, and more than 90% of it was made of wood. There was no way this building was able to withstand the terrifying power of Dark Mona¡¯s modified gun.
The two of them had just moved to the corridor when the wall was sted again. They would have been turned into hedgehogs if they had been one secondter!
Xia Lei put away his handgun and snatched up the XL2500 sniper rifle. His left eye twitched and the two tattered wooden walls disappeared from his sight. He soon found Mona¡¯s position ¨C she was next to the wall of the other window.
He lifted his gun and squeezed the trigger.
Bang! A bullet flew from the muzzle of the XL2500 sniper rifle, and a gap appeared almost instantaneously in the wooden walls. The bullet sted through both walls and hit Mona. Unfortunately, it did not strike her body, but her shield.
The XL2500 was powerful enough to st through two walls but travelling through two walls had changed its trajectory, and it did not kill his target as he¡¯d intended.
The sparks which flew from the shield surprised Mona too. She did not hesitate. She leaned forward, like the starting position of a sprinter, and shot about ten metres forward.
Smash! Another bullet came roaring. A huge hole appeared in the wall where she had been.
Xia Lei with and without a sniper rifle was a different person.
Mona did not stay still. She disappeared into the night in the blink of an eye.
She was injured, and it was two on one. She was not so confident aboutpleting this task now. If she kept fighting, she would not be the hunter but the hunted. This was why she had made her decision to give up on the task.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. The tension left his body, and his legs grew weak. He fell towards the floor.
¡°Lei!¡± Long Bing rushed over and caught Xia Lei in her arms.
However, she fell to the floor with Xia Lei in the next second. The drawn-out battle, plus her wounds had exhausted her. She had been still standing through sheer willpower. Now, she was in as bad a state as Xia Lei, so weak that a young child could push her over.
Xia Lei was on the floor, but he was lying on something soft, especially his head. His head was being squished between the softest, most luscious part of Long Bing. This fall of his was not painful, and was ratherfortable.
Long Bing didn¡¯t seem to mind at all. She dly served as Xia Lei¡¯s human pillow. She held Xia Lei¡¯s face and said, ¡°Another time, okay? That woman mighte back at any time. We¡¯ll be dead if we stay like this.¡±
¡°She ran away.¡± Xia Lei continued rxing and he said weakly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to do anything right now. I just want to have a good sleep in your arms.¡±
¡°Then sleep. I¡¯ll stay with you, no matter what you want to do,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°I¡¯d like to, but we have to leave this ce.¡± Xia Lei struggled and got up from Long Bing¡¯s embrace, then stretched out a hand to pull her up.
They helped each other, moving towards the doorway of the hotel. Many people looked out their windows at them, but nobody dared to make a sound.
¡°Wait.¡± Long Bing abruptly remembered something. She let go of Xia Lei, and turned towards the room.
¡°What else do you need to do?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°The thing you wanted. And your gun,¡± said Long Bing. She entered the room.
The room was in shambles and Gu Kewen was lying on the floor, motionless.
Long Bing picked up the document envelope she had dropped, and the Gust assault rifle. Just as she was about to leave, however, she nced at Gu Kewen. It was just a passing nce, and she left the room after that without looking back.
Gu Kewen had been a problem to Long Bing, and she had erased this problem.
The snow was still falling and Oshino Hakkai was quiet. If one ignored the corpses littering the ground, and the cherry blossoms made of blood in the snow, one would find the scenery here oh so mesmerising.
A Mitsubishi off-road vehicle zoomed out of the vige, galloping towards far-off Tokyo.
Adele¡¯s new song ¡°Hello¡± yed in the car, and the soulful song of heartbreak sank into the upants of the car.
Xia Lei moved one hand from the steering wheel to Long Bing¡¯s thigh.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Long Bing looked at him.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°What do you think?¡±
¡°Are you being serious? Then stop by the road,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei stared nkly, then stepped on the elerator.
The Mitsubishi off-road vehicle burst through the snow.
Meanwhile, in the Heart of Oshino, in the room of the shooting.
A coldness blew through the the torn-up window and into the room. A snowke danced in the air andnded on Gu Kewen¡¯s forehead.
The snowke melted.
Gu Kewen¡¯s fingers suddenly twitched.
A few secondster.
¡°Guuuh... Cough, cough...¡± A breath rattled from Gu Kewen¡¯s throat, and she started coughing violently.
Fate was really a very strange thing.
Chapter 526 - No Mercy
There were no sounds of gunfire, and no dangerous gunmen in sight. The guests of Heart of Oshino ventured from their rooms and went towards the room where the gunfight had urred. Some guests, however, did not go near that room, and just stood far off to see.
¡°A woman¡¯s lying there. Is she dead?¡± said someone in a hushed voice.
¡°She must be dead. There¡¯s a knife sticking out of her chest.¡±
¡°She¡¯s not dead! Her hand¡¯s moving!¡± said someone in surprise.
¡°Oh yeah, her hand is still moving!¡±
¡°Call for an ambnce! Hurry!¡± urged someone.
¡°How? There¡¯s no signal here. Thend lines aren¡¯t working either,¡± said someone.
¡°Where¡¯s the boss? This is his hotel. He should make a decision on this,¡± said someone.
¡°Quiet down, quiet down, I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± The boss of the hotel pushed his way out of the crowd and went towards the room, saying as he went, ¡°You people, stay back or you will tamper with the crime scene.¡±
The hotel boss walked cautiously up to the door of the room, watched by an audience.
Before he could step into the room, there was a sudden gunshot and the body of the hotel boss was thrown into the air. His torso was torn apart by a high-impact bullet, and his intestines sttered all around.
¡°Ah¨C¨C¡± There were screams, and the group made a mad dash away.
The corridor was emptied in under three seconds, and not a soul was to be seen. The floor however, was littered with additional shoes, slippers and leather footwear.
The hotel boss¡¯s corpsey on the floor, and his ssy eyes stared up at the swirling snow in the night sky. Before he died, he¡¯d seen a tall, mixed-blood woman. He had remembered her ¨C she was a guest at his hotel. And she was thest woman he saw in his life.
Mona entered the room from the sted hole of a window and went to Gu Kewen¡¯s side. She nudged Gu Kewen with her foot, and Gu Kewen suddenly opened her eyes to stare straight at her.
Gu Kewen¡¯s eyes were filled with the desire for life ¨C and hate.
A faint sneer appeared in the corners of Dark Mona¡¯s lips. ¡°You sure are tenacious. I thought you were surely dead, but here you are. Alive.¡±
¡°Save me...¡± Gu Kewen opened her mouth to speak and her voice was weak, barely audible.
Dark Mona squatted and felt around Gu Kewen¡¯s chest, then paused in surprise. ¡°Your heart isn¡¯t in the normal ce.¡±
¡°Save... Save me...¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice grew a little louder. She raised an arm and grabbed Mona¡¯s trouser-leg.
¡°Sure, I can. How will you repay me?¡±
¡°I... will do anything... you say,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll let you live,¡± said Mona. ¡°And not just that. I¡¯ll train you too, then return you to the CIA where you¡¯ll keep working for me.¡±
Gu Kewen nodded. She would agree to any condition to keep her life.
Mona¡¯s voice turned to ice. ¡°But remember ¨C I can save you, and I can also kill you. If you dare deceive or betray me, I¡¯ll kill you.¡±
Gu Kewen nodded again.
Dark Mona carried Gu Kewen in her arms. She had a wound on her wrist but it did not seem to hinder her much. Gu Kewen was as light as a pillow in her arms. She went through the torn window, and disappeared into the darkness in the dancing snow.
Gu Kewen looked at the snowing down and a voice only she could hear spoke in her head. ¡®I¡¯ll be back, Xia Lei. Your life will never be boring with me in it.¡¯
Dark Mona and Gu Kewen vanished in the darkness...
The light of dawn chased away the night, and the snow stopped falling too.
A Mitsubishi off-road vehicle stopped on a road. It was a remote area, and there were no homes close by, nor vehicles going past.
Xia Lei alighted and opened the boot.
Gu Kewu was long awake, but his arms and legs had been bound, and he had a tape over his mouth. He could not make a sound, and he could not make a move.
Xia Lei used a knife to cut the tape around his hands, then removed the tape from his mouth too. Long Bing stood at the boot too, looking at Gu Kewu with cold eyes.
¡°Come out,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Wh, What are you nning to do?¡± Gu Kewu seemed to sense something, and he was nervous as heck.
¡°Get out!¡± Long Bing barked. She pointed the gun in her hand at Gu Kewu.
Gu Kewu shivered in fear, and stumbled out of the car boot. He had been kept cooped up for an entire night, and his blood cirction was not the best. He nearly fell over when his feet touched the ground. He leaned on the car, and looked about when he regained his bnce. ¡°Wh, Where is this?¡± he asked in a shaky voice.
¡°Japan,¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Kewu saw the blood on Xia Lei and Long Bing. The two of them did not seem to have pulled out the wooden splinters in their bodies, and it looked like it really hurt. They seemed rather worse for wear. Gu Kewu abruptly remembered his sister, and said probingly, ¡°Isn¡¯t this supposed to be an exchange? What about the deal you have with my sister?¡±
Xia Lei spoke softly. ¡°We¡¯re going to make the exchange with your sister now. This is the location we had agreed on. Come on, you¡¯re going to get your freedom soon.¡±
¡°Is... Is this true?¡± Gu Kewu let out a breath of relief.
¡°Stop talking. Move!¡± Long Bing waved her gun.
Gu Kewu subconsciously held his head with his arms. He was afraid of Long Bing hitting him again.
The gun in Long Bing¡¯s hand did notnd on Gu Kewu¡¯s head. She grabbed one of Gu Kewu¡¯s arms and pulled him towards the front of the car.
¡°Where is my sister?¡± Gu Kewu did not see Gu Kewen after going around the car, and he did not see another car either. He did spot the cliff not far away, though. He got nervous again, and refused to walk further.
Long Bing shoved Gu Kewu. ¡°Move!¡±
Gu Kewu walked on, getting closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. He felt a cold draft from the cliff before he even got close to the edge. A chill ran over his heart. When he got to the edge of the cliff, he abruptly turned around and knelt before Xia Lei and Long Bing. He wept, ¡°I know. I know... I know that there is no more exchange. You¡¯re going to kill me, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Long Bing and Xia Lei said nothing; they just looked at him.
This sort of reaction was a confirmation.
¡°No, no, don¡¯t kill me, don¡¯t kill me...¡± Tears streamed from Gu Kewu¡¯s eyes and his words were barely decipherable. ¡°Xia Lei, I know I did wrong. I know I did many, many bad things, but... I¡¯ve been sent to prison. I received my punishment. Let me off... I swear, I won¡¯t do anything bad ever again. I¡¯m begging you...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart softened in that moment. He wanted to say something, but he could not.
Gu Kewu was not an active threat to him anymore, and letting him go wouldn¡¯t bear any consequences for him. However, this was Japan, and Xia Lei and Long Bing would be in a lot of trouble if their identities were to be revealed. It would bring them danger. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t really bring himself to kill someone who had lost all the fight in him.
Long Bing spoke in Xia Lei¡¯s ear, ¡°We need to go to Okinawa. It¡¯ll be a huge burden to take him along. Think of all the bad deeds he did. When had he ever gone easy on you? Being kind to your enemies means being cruel to yourself. His father, and his sister had died because of you. Can you guarantee that he won¡¯t try to seek revenge?¡±
Her words woke Xia Lei up.
That¡¯s right. He had been the weaker one in the past. Gu Kewu and Gu Kewen were always trying to bury him. Now if their roles were to be switched, would Gu Kewu let him live? Don¡¯t even dream of it!
Gu Kewu seemed to read something from Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, and he sank into despair. He wept as he pleaded with Xia Lei, kowtowing. ¡°Xia Lei, I¡¯ll kowtow to you. I was wrong. I was wrong, I¡¯ll correct myself in the future, I¡¯ll be a good person. Let me go, I beg you. Let me go!¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°You know what, Gu Kewu? I had no intention of getting you out of prison. It was your sister¡¯s condition that I bring you to Japan for the exchange. However, she had no intention of making an exchange with me from the beginning. She only wanted to kill me. And you. You¡¯ve been used. She doesn¡¯t care if you live or die, or she would havee to make the exchange with us when we were in Hokkaido.¡±
¡°You¡¯re lying to me!¡± Gu Kewu was losing it. He screamed in anger. ¡°My sister is not that sort of person! I am her elder brother! She wouldn¡¯t be so uncaring! Where is she? Give me a phone, I¡¯ll call her right away. She¡¯ll listen to me. She¡¯ll listen to me!¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Your sister is dead.¡±
Gu Kewu froze. Thest shred of colour drained from his face.
Xia Lei¡¯s words were like the final nail in the coffin, extinguishing hisst bit of hope for surviving. His father had died because of Xia Lei, and now Xia Lei had killed his younger sister, Gu Kewen. Would Xia Lei still let him have a way out, a chance to seek revenge?
¡®You have to get rid of it from the root¡¯ ¨C he knew this better than Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°ept your death. If you do get reincarnated, I hope you live a normal life, living simply. It¡¯s not a bad life, to live like a normal person.¡±
¡°NO¨C¡± Gu Kewu suddenly got to his feet and started running.
¡°Take it as payback for Ma Xiaoan. Your Gu n owes a life for his life.¡± Xia Lei raised a leg and kicked Gu Kewu in the back.
¡°Argh¨C¡± Gu Kewu¡¯s body flew over the edge of the cliff. He screamed as he fell. It was a long and drawn out scream.
Xia Lei stood by the edge and looked down.
Gu Kewu¡¯s body sprawled across rocks, and blood trickled from him like a small stream.
He had fallen about a hundred metres. Even a robot would be destroyed at that height.
Long Bing grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Be careful, don¡¯t fall down.¡±
Xia Lei looked away and stepped away from the edge. ¡°He¡¯s dead. You¡¯re right. I can¡¯t show mercy to people like him. My best friend, my Brother, Ma Xiaoan, died because of the Gu n.¡±
¡°Gu Dingshan is dead. Gu Kewen and Gu Kewu are dead. Your Brother can rest in peace now,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked up at the sky. Ma Xiaoan¡¯s face seemed to float among the clouds. A faint smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Xiaoan, I got revenge for you. Rest in peace.¡±
A wind started blowing, and the Ma Xiaoan in the clouds looked like he was smiling.
Chapter 527 - Skirt-chaser
¡°No, you can¡¯t. Not there.¡±
¡°Are you still shy about it?¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s just... Hnnh. Be more gentle. I¡¯m bleeding.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t move about. It¡¯s more difficult for me if you wiggle about.¡±
¡°Take it out! Take it out!¡±
Long Bing sat on a chair in a roadside motel. Xia Lei was crouching at her feet, using tweezers to pull the splinters out cautiously. Long Bing¡¯s voice filled him with certain thoughts, and he couldn¡¯t help smiling wryly.
The television in the room had been ying a variety show, but it abruptly switched to an urgent news report. Mount Fuji appeared on the screen, in the background of Oshino Hakkao, and the reporter. Behind the reporter were several corpses.
¡°In thete hours of the eveningst night, a fierce gunfight broke out in Oshino Hakkai. Several corpses were found in Oshino Hakkai, and in the mountain forest, and the body count has reached 38. This is the most bloody incident to have happened after World War Two. ording to the police¡¯s initial investigations, a fraction of the bodies are of the local Yakuza, and there are also some corpses which seem to belong to some unknown military group. The situation is still being under investigation by the police, and we shall continue observing, to bring you thestest updates...¡±
This news report caught Xia Lei and Long Bing¡¯s attention, and both their gazes went to the screen, to look at what the camera captured.
The reporter entered Heart of Oshino, and came to the room where the gunfight had taken ce. The camera panned the room ¨C it was full of gouges in the wood, and there were blood stains. However, there was no Gu Kewen.
The reporter stood in the doorway and said, ¡°ording to eyewitnesses, the fiercest battle happened in this room. A woman had died in this room, but her body is now missing...¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. ¡°Did Dark Mona take Gu Kewen¡¯s body?¡±
Long Bing thought about the situation back then. ¡°It should have been Dark Mona. We just don¡¯t know why she would take Gu Kewen¡¯s corpse.¡±
¡°Hm. Could Gu Kewen still be alive?¡± Xia Lei had a mild suspicion, because Dark Mona would not take Gu Kewen¡¯s body under normal circumstances. There was no advantage for her to do so.
¡°Impossible. I stabbed her heart with my knife. She can¡¯t still be alive. If it wasn¡¯t for Dark Mona pointing a gun at me, I would have stabbed her twice,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Is there a difference between you stabbing her once and stabbing her twice? I trust your capabilities. Gu Kewen must be dead. It looks like it could be for another reason. Never mind, she¡¯s already dead so we don¡¯t have to bother about this. Let¡¯s continue.¡±
Long Bing grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand and stared straight at him. ¡°What is the identity of the woman called Dark Mona? Why does she want to kill you?¡±
Xia Lei was silent. He was torn. He knew that Long Bing would ask him this sooner orter, and he needed to give her an exnation.
¡°Is it not convenient to tell me?¡± As an elite agent of Bureau 101, there was no way Long Bing would not have any suspicions, especially after what happened.
Xia Lei spoke. ¡°She is part of the FA Organisation.¡±
¡°FA Organisation?¡± Long Bing frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of them. It¡¯s an international group of free agents and very mysterious. That Dark Mona is one of them? What is her goal?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Me.¡± After a pause, he continued, ¡°I actually made some discoveries in my research as the person in charge of the Alloy X Project. I am the only person who can interact with the alloy. It is a very unique alloy, and it stores a type of mysterious, very strong power. I am still unable to unravel thest bit of its mysteries but I believe that it will shake the world when this mystery is solved.¡±
This was all Xia Lei could tell Long Bing, and the closest to the truth. There was no way he could tell Long Bing that he had taken AE capsules, and that his father, Xia Changhe, was an agent of the FA Organisation.
It was not all of the truth, but Long Bing understood something. Xia Lei was the only one who could interact with that ancient alloy, so he was the only one who could go to the treasure locations and study it. She did not find it strange that the CIA and the FA Organisation would want to capture Xia Lei alive.
¡°I remember you telling this before. You said that you could interact with the alloy, maybe because you had fixed thepass. It looks like what you said has some grounding now.¡± Long Bing sighed. ¡°And now that I think about it, I was the one who asked you to fix thepass. This is like fate, and it¡¯s like we were meant to experience all of these.¡±
Xia Lei felt a little guilty. He did not speak, but just made a soft grunt of agreement.
¡°Never mind. Let¡¯s talk about these thingster. It¡¯s my turn to clean your wounds now.¡± Long Bing stared hotly at Xia Lei. ¡°Take off your trousers.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A few minutester, the wounded and the wound-tender were intertwined. He was in her and she was in him, and there was no telling where he and she ended and where they begun. The wounds on their body did not affect their passions, and the pain and the pleasure melded together, making them drunk on its taste. There was no resisting it.
Meanwhile, in Oshino Hakkai, in a modified camper car.
Liang Siyao watched a video some tourist had recorded of the battle. Her eyes seemed a little vacant.
An Asian youth was in the video, his gun raised and his movements fluid, clean. She had never seen this young Asian man before but she had a feeling that this was the young man she had loved deeply in the past. She still could not forget Xia Lei.
This conclusion was not just through gut instinct. She had her evidence, and that was the XL2500 sniper rifle in the young man¡¯s hands, and the shape of his body. His gaze was exactly like Xia Lei¡¯s too. She knew everything about him, and all these characteristics were enough for her to determine that the young man in the video was Xia Lei.
¡°The woman by his side should be Long Bing, eh? Her body matches hers perfectly.¡± The corners of Liang Siyao¡¯s mouth quirked up in a smile and sourness tinged her words. ¡°What¡¯s so good about her? She¡¯s so cold and aloof, and is not feminine at all. You weren¡¯t willing to forgive me but you¡¯re with her? Do you want to be like James Bond? A beautiful femalepanion on every mission. You skirt-chaser. Humph!¡±
The video was very shaky and it did not capture Dark Mona or Gu Kewen.
Liang Siyao hesitated after she was done watching it, then deleted it.
A CIA agent got into the car and said in a low voice, ¡°Chief, did you find anything?¡±
¡°Nothing. The video was too shaky. No need to bother about this. I¡¯ll handle it,¡± said Liang Siyao.
Yes, Chief. We also got information that a Yakuza group in Hokkaido was destroyed. They were smugglers. Their people discovered their boat in the sea, and the men who had been killed. Could this be connected to what happened here?¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
¡°I¡¯m just specting, Chief.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°Do we need to handle that sort of case too? Smuggling and the Yakuza is the business of the Japanese police, not ours. Remember that our target is that person. Get out of the car. Go collect more information from China.¡±
¡°Yes, Chief. I¡¯ll get to work.¡± The agent who had spoken to Liang Siyao was not entirely happy, but he did not dare to argue with Liang Siyao. He exited the camper-turnedmand-centre.
Liang Siyao took out a satellite phone and called a number after that agent had left.
The call connected, and Liang Siyao spoke quietly. ¡°Uncle, your precious son hase. Haven¡¯t you seen the news? He¡¯s going overboard these days. Aren¡¯t you going to do something as a father? He would be in a lot of danger.
Xia Changhe¡¯s voice came from over the line. ¡°My son is all grown up and he doesn¡¯t listen to me anymore. I saw the news. You¡¯re sure that it¡¯s him?
¡°I¡¯m sure. I found some evidence, but don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already taken care of it.¡±
¡°Thanks.¡±
¡°Why thank me? He doesn¡¯t know anyway.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice held a trace of hurt and sadness.
Xia Changhe was silent for a bit. ¡°It¡¯s not convenient for me to interfere in the rtionship between him and you, but if there is a chance, I¡¯ll make sure to put in a good word.¡±
Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°Thank you, Uncle. You should find him as quickly as you can. I can¡¯t drag for more time. Once they find a trace of him, they will mobilise, and he will be in danger.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll find him as soon as I can.¡± Xia Changhe hung up.
Liang Siyao put the satellite phone away, and sat nkly. ¡°Would he forgive me if his father put in good words for me?¡± She smiled wryly. ¡°So what if he forgives me? He¡¯s already married to Shentu Tianyin. That skirt-chaser. We broke up, and I did not date anyone but he went and got married. I¡¯d like to punch him!¡±
Chapter 528 - Trouble At The Door
One dayter, Okinawa, Naha.
Xia Lei and Long Bing checked-in to a beach resort.
They did not have the same disguises as they had in Tokyo. Xia Lei had changed their masks. Long Bing and himself had been a older in Tokyo, but here in Okinawa, they were in their early twenties, much younger than their original ages. It looked like they were two university students deeply in love, and that they had sneaked out for a holiday.
The military base was close to the beach resort. The tall barbed fences, American fighter jets parked in the hangar, and the air defence missileunch towers gave one the overall impression of an imposing coldness.
An F22 stealth fighter took off from the runway, heading south. It was quick, and soon disappeared from their sight, leaving a trail of white.
Long Bing clung on to Xia Lei. ¡°This sort of ne was newly assigned to the Okinawa base. It¡¯s to boost their Asia-Pacific position.¡±
Xia Lei did not keep track of political affairs, and was not interested. However, this still made him ufortable. ¡°When I was a student, I was quite weak and was often bullied. It¡¯s probably the same between countries too. The weaker ones get bullied, and the stronger ones will be arrogant and not reason with the weaker ones, all for profit.¡±
Long Bing sighed. ¡°What else can be done? This ne is currently the most advanced fighter on Earth. None of our fighter nes can measure up to it. I think this is why the higher-ups are treating the Alloy X project so importantly. If that alloy¡¯s used on our nes, we¡¯ll be able to build excellent nes too. If we have nes like the F22 or the F35, no other country will be able to stand in the way of China.¡±
It was a veryplicated matter to build a fighter ne, and all the science that went into its construction was also quite deep, but the most fundamental of all was the materials. If they did not have good materials, then the scientists of China would not be able to make nes better than the F22 and the F35. Without good materials, they could only make things which were passable, but could not bepared to the European or American fighter nes.
¡°The Chinese Dream... Ah, if we are to realise the Chinese Dream, then the strengthening of the China military is not to be left out. I can¡¯t build nes, but I will put in my best effort, and make the Alloy X project a sess. I will let our new fighter nes fly,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You can¡¯t make nes but you can make guns. The XL2500 and Gust have made an international impact. The nation has also awarded you the title of ¡®Father of Rifles¡¯, the highest honour. You know what¡¯s most attractive about you to me?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked surreptitiously down at his little soldier.
Long Bing punched him lightly in his chest and said sheepishly, ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What is it then? I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°It¡¯s when you hold a gun and kill the enemy,¡± said Long Bing. She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s very sexy. Every time I see you kill an enemy, I get a little...¡±
¡°A little...?¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Excited. You HAD to make me say it.¡±
Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°There¡¯s still some time before our mission starts. How about we...¡±
Before he could finish, Long Bing pounced on him and stopped him from talking with her lips and tongue.
She wanted love, she got love. She wanted to do it, and she did it. This was Long Bing¡¯s style.
The curtains were drawn, and the room filled with the small sounds of lovemaking.
Xia Lei and Long Bing walked out of the hotel after dinner. Both of them were carrying backpacks, and SLR cameras, walking along a small road behind the beach.
The weather in Okinawa was quite special, reaching over 20 degree even though it was winter time. This warmth, and this beautiful scenery made one be unwilling to just sit in the room as watch the telly. The roads and beaches were filled with people at y. There were also several young people like Xia Lei and Long Bing, carrying backpacks and taking pictures with their cameras. This served as a sort of cover for Xia Lei and Long Bing too.
Xia Lei moved his backpack to his front after walking for a bit. He opened the zipper as he walked, watching thepass as went, and going where it pointed.
After ten minutes of walking, there were fewer and fewer tourists, and they were getting closer to the Naha military base. A few hundred metres away, Xia Lei could see the huge soldiers standing at the gate to the American base. They were armed and dangerous.
Long Bing could not see the soldiers clearly like Xia Lei did, but she knew where he was looking. She wrinkled her brows. ¡°It can¡¯t actually be in the base, could it? How are we going to dig for the treasure if it¡¯s there?¡±
Xia Lei had a headache too. ¡°I hope it¡¯s not in there. I wouldn¡¯t know what to do either if it were.¡±
The American military base in Okinawa was actually a sort of safeguard against the rise of China, and their rigour in maintaining this safeguard could not be underestimated. Trying to dig for treasure in the American base would be like going to dig a grave in front of the White House for your own corpse.
They walked on for a bit more, and thepass suddenly pointed in another direction ¨C to the sea.
This change made Xia Lei let out a breath of relief. He pulled Long Bing hand, leading her away from the road which went to the military base, and to the beach.
Long Bing saw the change in direction on thepass too, and she let out a silent breath of relief. ¡°Is it leading us into the sea?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°But even if it¡¯s in the sea, it¡¯s still better than being in the military base. It¡¯s much simpler if it¡¯s in the sea. We can just rent a boat and some diving equipment. There won¡¯t be anyone to disturb us either.¡±
They chatted as they went, and thepass continued pointing to the sea. It trembled only a very little bit, not enough to indicate that the treasure was close by. Xia Lei was experienced and he could tell.
¡°Looks like we¡¯ll really have to rent a boat.¡± Xia Lei zipped the backpack up. The sea was before him but there were no boats. They could not keep searching even though they knew the treasure was in the sea.
¡°Let¡¯s go back. We can search on the inte and see if there¡¯s any ce we can rent boats, as soon as possible. Oh, and diving equipment. That¡¯s a must,¡± said Long Bing.
Just then, some American soldiers approached all of a sudden. They were holding bottles of alcohol in their hands, and they were being loud and rowdy. Some of the group were saying obscene things, some singing, and noisy.
Xia Lei pulled Long Bing away.
A ck soldier spotted Xia Lei and Long Bing and yelled, ¡°Hey! Hold it!¡±
Xia Lei did not listen to him, and quickened his steps.
¡°Fuck you!¡± The ck soldier was enraged. He chased after them and cursed as he moved. ¡°You two yellow-skinned Chinks. Didn¡¯t you hear me telling you to stop? Bastards!¡±
The other soldiers caught up too, and quickly surrounded Xia Lei and Long Bing.
Xia Lei let of a silent cry of annoyance. He did NOT want this sort of situation to happen. He would have made a move if it were under normal circumstances, but he and Long Bing had something important to do, so they could not let any issues arise.
¡°Fuck you!¡± The ck soldier shoved Xia Lei.
He was strong, but he was nothing to Xia Lei. However, Xia Lei fell to the ground in an exaggerated fashion, and put a look of fright on his face. He said in Japanese, ¡°Wh, What do you guys want?¡±
¡°Ha! So it¡¯s a stupid little Jap.¡± A white soldier smiled and said in Japanese, ¡°y with us for a bit and we¡¯ll let you go.¡±
Xia Lei looked nervous. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything hasty. You¡¯ll be punished by thew!¡±
¡°Shit!¡± Another white soldier kicked Xia Lei and said fiercely, ¡°You¡¯ve entered the military zone. The ones who should be punished are you two. We are well within our rights to arrest you, and send you to stand in American court. But it¡¯s going to be okay if you service us. We¡¯ll pretend we didn¡¯t see you.¡±
¡°Haha, this Japanese chick is quite a looker,¡± said the ck soldier. He stared greedily at Long Bing¡¯s breasts.
Xia Lei kept the mes in his heart under control. ¡°How about this ¨C we give you money, and you guys let us go.¡±
¡°Money? Your money is also ours, haha!¡± The white soldier who could speak Japaneseughed merrily. He shot a look at his buddies.
Long Bing shot a look at Xia Lei at the same time too.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and nodded.
¡°Take them to that patch of forest over there. This boy is ripe and tender too. Give him to me.¡± The white soldier who could speak Japanese smiled nastily. So he had that sort of preference.
The soldiers dragged Xia Lei off the beach, and took Long Bing with them too. They shoved and dragged them towards the forest at the other side of the beach. The forest looked thick, quiet and deserted.
After entering the forest, the soldiers forced Xia Lei and Long Bing to walk a distance further in, then made them stop in a small clearing.
¡°Boy. Come over here and make mefortable.¡± The white soldier who could speak Japanese undid his belt, and spoke aggressively to Xia Lei.
The ck soldier walked eagerly towards Long Bing. ¡°Hey, bitch. I¡¯m a big guy. I wonder if you¡¯ll be able to take me. Haha, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure to give you lots of love.¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Xia Lei called for a stop. ¡°I¡¯ll give you guys one more chance. I¡¯ll give you USD 5,000 to let us go.¡±
¡°USD 5,000?¡± The white guy who could speak Japanese paused, thenughed suddenly. ¡°Looks like we got ourselves a piggy bank. You know what to do, eh, fes?¡±
The soldiers exchanged looks, and they seemed to all agree on something. They were going to get rid of Xia Lei and Long Bing when they had their fill of fun, and take all of their money too. There was not going to be any need to worry about being reported.
There were hundreds of cases of women being raped by the American soldiers in Okinawa every year, but these cases were rarely prosecuted. This non-action also helped to contribute to the continued misbehaviour. Xia Lei and Long Bing had the bad luck to run into this sort of situation, and they did not want trouble, but trouble hade looking for them.
The soldiers seemed to have formed a pact. Xia Lei and Long Bing¡¯s eyes met.
Long Bing shrugged. ¡°Why try talking sense to these pigs? Just do what needs to be done. This ce is not bad. It¡¯s just a bit more troublesome to dig graves.¡±
¡°Fuck. What did you just say?¡± The ck soldier walked towards Long Bing, reaching out to grab her throat.
Long Bing suddenly grabbed the soldier¡¯s wrist, and pushed it in the opposite direction of his joints as her other hand snaked towards his heart. Abat knife stuck out of the man¡¯s heart when she stopped moving.
Chapter 529 - Strange
The air seemed to freeze in that instant. Everyone was frozen in shock, except Xia Lei.
This pausested for less than one second.
¡°You...¡± The ck soldier opened his mouth to speak, but only spoke one word before he crashed to the ground.
Long Bing wrenched, and an arc of bloodnced through the air.
The white soldier who could speak Japanese snapped back to his senses. He said in angry surprise, ¡°Kill them!¡± He backed away quickly as he spoke, reaching for the handgun at his waist.
Unfortunately for him, Xia Lei gave him no chance to use it. He stepped forward, having anticipated the move, and reached to grab the hand that was going for the gun.
The white soldier hurriedly tried to block with his other hand, but it was useless. Xia Lei¡¯s right hand swished through the air and across the man¡¯s neck. An indentation of about three inches suddenly appeared on the man¡¯s neck. His carotid artery was cut, and blood spurted out like from a fountain, shooting several metres up into the air.
At almost the same instant, thebat knife in Long Bing¡¯s handpleted its movement through the air, ending up in another soldier¡¯s neck. The knife was ripped out, blood flowed, and the body thudded to the ground.
There were two soldiers left. One took out his gun, and one turned to run away.
The soldier who had taken his gun out aimed at Xia Lei, but the knife in Xia Lei¡¯s hand came swooshing over first, and stabbed into his heart with a schick! The man¡¯s life ended in that moment, holding a gun butcking the power to squeeze the trigger. He crashed to the ground.
Swoosh! The knife in Long Bing¡¯s hand flew again, and pierced the back of thest fleeing soldier.
The soldier fell, but he got to his feet again, and staggered towards the beach.
Xia Lei tore his knife from the corpse, and threw it. The knife flew like a bullet from his hand, and went in an almost-straight line, strangely fast, and almost imperceptible to the eye. When the knife stopped, it was in the back of the fleeing soldier¡¯s head.
Thest soldier fell to the ground.
The forest quieted, and the smell of blood filled the air.
Long Bing shrugged and broke the sinister silence. ¡°You learnt that knife-throwing technique from Tang Yuyan, didn¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Tang Yuyan did teach me. The Tang hidden weapons techniques are quite powerful. I¡¯ve read about it in those martial arts novels, but it¡¯s not as exaggerated in real life.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve asked her to teach me many times but she¡¯s never taught me,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei paused, and felt a headacheing on. ¡°What are you getting at?¡±
¡°You know what I¡¯m getting at.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I didn¡¯t learn it without paying a price. She taught me Tang techniques, and I taught her Wing Chun. It was an exchange. If you do want to learn, I can teach you. Wing Chun, Tang hidden weapons... oh, and Tang Qinggong and so on.¡±
Long Bing pursed her lips. ¡°I¡¯lle looking for you when I want to learn, but you can¡¯t let Tang Yuyan know about it, nor let her know about our rtionship.¡±
¡°No problem.¡±
¡°And you¡¯d better not get into any rtionship with her. I know she likes you but let me tell you that she wants way more from you than Shentu Tianyin, and you can¡¯t give it to her.¡±
Xia Lei gave a dryugh. ¡°There¡¯s nothing between us.¡±
¡°Do I need to care if you do have some sort of rtionship with her? You have nock of women. Do you need me to spell everything out for you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He was more or less aware now. The two women of Bureau 101, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, were very different indeed. Long Bing was patriotic and full of conviction that she should give her body to the nation. She was not one bit interested in having children to continue the family line. What she needed was a man who could stay with her and love her tenderly, to have a nondescript couples¡¯ life. Tang Yuyan, on the other hand, had a family legacy to carry on, and anyone who ended up with her would need to give her status, children, join the Tang n and continue contributing to the honour of the Tang n.
Compared to that, Long Bing seemed to want nothing of Xia Lei except a bit of time to spend with her. Tang Yuyan was different. She would need much more than Shentu Tianyin. One simple example was that Long Bing did not mind about Xia Lei¡¯s rtionships with Jiang Ruyi or whoever else, but if Tang Yuyan were his wife, she would not let him have any other women on the side.
¡°Okay.¡± Long Bing patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I know you¡¯re a big mess when ites to things like this so I won¡¯t give you more trouble. Get rid of the corpses. We have to leave this ce as soon as we can.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He didn¡¯t want to talk about his love life anymore because it was indeed a huge mess.
They had no metal tools, so it was not realistic to bury the bodies of five adults. Xia Lei and Long Bing conferred for a bit, then dragged the five bodies to the beach close to the forest under the cover of night. They dug a huge pit in the sand, and covered the bodies up in it.
The waves frothed at the edge of the beach, so it would cover up some of the smell from the bodies. This would also dy the discovery of the bodies. By the time the military people from the Naha military base discovered the bodies, Xia Lei and Long Bing would be long gone from Okinawa, and back in China.
Back at the beachfront hotel, Xia Lei borrowed the hotel¡¯sputer and searched for boats for rent. Okinawa was a popr tourist destination so there were several ces which did rent out boats. Xia Lei quickly picked a ce, a little rentalpany in a town not far from the hotel. They rented out speedboats and little boats, and even a small yacht if one could afford it.
After deciding on the rentalpany, Xia Lei used the hotel phone to call the contact number provided.
¡°Hello Sir, how may I help you?¡± It was a female voice.
¡°I¡¯d like to rent a boat. Could I ask when is the earliest I can rent one?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°The first boat will be avable for rent tomorrow morning. What type of boat would you like to rent?¡±
¡°A yacht,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°A yacht? Oh, in that case, Sir, you¡¯ll need to put down a deposit of 10,000,000 yen. Additionally, the rent per day for the yacht is 20,000 yen.¡±
¡°Money is no object. I can put down the deposit.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great! We will give you the best service. Thank you for choosing ourpany, Sir. Oh, yes, how long will you be renting the yacht?¡±
¡°Two weeks. My lover and I just got married. We want to have our honeymoon on the sea.¡±
¡°Congrattions, Sir. Please send my best wishes to your lovely half.¡±
¡°Oh, right, I also want to rent diving equipment. Could you prepare that for us?¡±
¡°No problem, Sir. We will have it all arranged for you when youe tomorrow morning.¡±
¡°Well, you see, my darling is quite anxious. How about Ie over to get the yacht now, you guys prepare everything for me, and I¡¯ll pay an extra rush fee. If you can¡¯t do it, then I¡¯ll go to anotherpany.¡±
¡°Oh. No, no, no, Sir, pleasee over. I will get someone to prepare all that you need right now.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Xia Lei would not be in such a rush if the incident earlier had not happened. Five soldiers missing from the Naha base would surely prompt an investigation. Once the Naha military base confirmed that the five soldiers had gone missing, the military would make their move too, and Xia Lei and Long Bing¡¯s mission would be affected too. There would be several unknown dangers, so it was better if they would get things done as quickly as possible.
Long Bing suddenly bent behind Xia Lei, and put her arms around his neck. Her soft, full breasts pressed warmly on his back.
Xia Lei grew a little nervous sitting at theputer table. ¡°We¡¯re going off soon. What is this for?¡±
¡°You said I was your lover earlier. So... what¡¯s Shentu Tianyin?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Things were already at this stage, and she was still in the mood to joke around with him like this.
¡°Never mind, it¡¯s been quite tiring for you these days. I¡¯ll let you off this time. Let¡¯s go get the boat.¡± Long Bing released Xia Lei.
Xia Lei let out a silent sigh of relief. Long Bing and himself had barely had a break on this trip to Japan, and they were going at it whenever there was an opportunity. The chambers of his gun were empty as it were, and he could not fire.
Half an hourter, the two of them came to the town and found that boat rentalpany. It was not a bigpany, just a family-run rental. They had some speedboats, dozens of little boats, and two small yachts, the ordinary kind. The yachts were very different from the luxury yachts one usually pictures.
The woman who had spoken on the phone with Xia Lei was thedy-boss of thepany, and she weed Xia Lei and Long Bing warmly.
After a short chat, Xia Lei paid the deposit and part of the rental fee via bank transfer. An employee led them to the yacht at the jetty and they boarded.
Thedy-boss was quite thoughtful. She had not only arranged diving equipment for two, but also two weeks¡¯ supply of food and drink. Additionally, she had very nicely given them cake in celebration of their marriage, and a bottle of red wine. These little thoughtful touches didn¡¯t cost very much, but the service was great. Of course, these extra touches were not without consideration of Xia Lei being willing to pay double the rental fee.
There was not much difference between driving a yacht and driving a speedboat. Xia Lei could do it easily. He did not dally about either, and he moved the boat out to sea after the employee had disembarked, out and in the direction thepass pointed.
In the cabin, Long Bing looked at the wedding cake and couldn¡¯t help smiling. ¡°Does the Japanese words on the cake mean ¡®Happy Marriage¡¯ or something?¡±
Xia Lei nced back and said, ¡°It says ¡®Have a baby soon¡¯.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Long Bing paused, then said, ¡°Right. We didn¡¯t use a condom at all these past few days. What if I do get pregnant?¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly too. His head had been full of pleasure and bliss when they were having sex, and he had not thought about what to do if she got pregnant at all. Now that this question had popped up all of a sudden, he was at a loss too. That¡¯s right. What was he going to do if Long Bing got pregnant?
Long Bing started to go through the things thedy-boss had given them.
¡°What are you looking for?¡±
¡°Condoms, or contraceptive pills. Damn it, she didn¡¯t prepare any of these! What a strange woman.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡®You¡¯re the one who¡¯s strange. Why would thedy-boss prepare these things for us?¡¯ he thought.
Chapter 530 - Tachikaze-class Destroyer
The shore moved further and further away, till it disappeared from sight. The yacht kept moving forward, and the trembling of thepass grew stronger and stronger.
¡°We¡¯re getting close,¡± said Xia Lei excitedly.
Long Bing lifted the binocrs. There was nothing on the waves in the distance. ¡°There¡¯s no sign ofnd. Is it really in the sea?¡±
¡°Whether it¡¯s on an ind or in the sea, we¡¯re already here. We might even find the treasure location tonight, and get what we need,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Let¡¯s hope so. We killed five American soldiers. It¡¯s best if we leave as soon as we can,¡± said Long Bing.
The yacht moved one nautical mile further and the pointer needle of thepass started shaking intensely all of a sudden.
Xia Lei killed the engine and stopped the yacht. He and Long Bing went on deck. There was nothing on the horizon, just waves, going up and down, all around, and the water going deeper than the eye can see.
Xia Lei took thepass to check again, and quickly made a decision. ¡°The treasure location is right below us. I¡¯ll go down and take a look. You stay here and wait for me.¡±
¡°No, I want to go with you,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Who¡¯s going to look after the yacht if we both go down? And our weapons too. What if another boates, sees that there¡¯s no one, and take our yacht? How will we get back?¡±
¡°But...¡± Long Bing didn¡¯t feelfortable about letting Xia Lei dive on his own.
¡°How about this ¨C I go down first to take a look around. Youe down to help me if there¡¯s any trouble.¡±
¡°All right, let¡¯s do that.¡± Long Bing felt that Xia Lei was being reasonable. They would be in trouble if they both went down and the yacht drifted off, or was taken.
Xia Lei took out a wetsuit. He removed his clothing and put it on. Just at that moment, a light shone from a distance, illuminating the yacht.
¡°That¡¯s...¡± Long Bing shaded her eyes with her hand, but she could not see what was behind that bright light.
Xia Lei saw it, and his expression grew sombre. He¡¯d spotted a destroyer with the Japanese g on its side.
¡°What ship is it, Lei?¡± Long Bing was getting nervous.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°A Japanese destroyer.¡±
¡°You can see it?¡± Long Bing was surprised.
Xia Lei was in no mood to exin how he could see the Japanese destroyer from such a distance. ¡°Are our guns hidden away?¡±
¡°They¡¯re not. They¡¯re all in the cockpit.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not good. We¡¯ve got to hide them, just in case.¡± Xia Lei went into the cockpit.
Destroyers did not usually pay attention to normal yachts, but exceptions urred. It would be bad if the navy officers boarded their yacht and found guns, especially when the guns were the XL2500 and the Gust. Japan didn¡¯t have these guns.
Another thing was that this yacht was definitely no match for a destroyer, even if it were stuffed full of guns. The danger which faced them was such that the guns were useless, and they could only rely on their wits, not their brawn.
Long Bing stood on deck, squinting at the snow-white light. She was going blind, and still wasn¡¯t able to see what sort of vessel it was. ¡®Strange. Even if he has good eyes, they can¡¯t be that good. I still can¡¯t see what sort of boat it is, and he said it was a destroyer. I wonder if his children will have his amazing eyesight? Hold on... What nonsense am I thinking about?¡¯
Xia Lei walked out of the cockpit. He had put the guns in a big bag, and he went to the side of the yacht, then used a rope to tie the bag to the yacht. He threw the bag into the sea.
The bag quickly sank beneath the waves, and the rope was gradually pulled straight.
¡°I made a bowline knot. If someone boards and investigates, and I can¡¯t get away, you have toe untie it. Let our guns sink to the bottom of the sea.¡±
Long Bing nodded to indicate that she understood.
Xia Lei stood next to Long Bing, shoulder to shoulder as they watched the destroyere closer. He then saw the ensign on the side of the vessel ¨C a Tachikaze-ss destroyer.
A few minutester, the Tachikaze-ss destroyer got close to Xia Lei and Long Bing¡¯s little yacht. The searchlights were trained on the yacht, and it was blinding. An amplified voice came from the destroyer, ¡°Who are you and what are you doing here?¡±
Xia Lei responded in Japanese, ¡°We are Japanese citizens! My wife and I are on our honeymoon!¡±
No further questions came from the destroyer, but it stopped.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°Your Japanese is bad, so I¡¯m going to tell them that you¡¯re mute. Don¡¯t speak.¡±
Long Bing nodded, and turned to the ship¡¯s side. Xia Lei was going to handle the people on the destroyer, while she went to sink their equipment. Xia Lei did not need to tell her to do it, because the destroyer would not have stopped if its captain had no intention of boarding the yacht.
Long Bing was quick. She sank the equipment, and even went to the cockpit to throw thepass in the rubbish bin. She then took out the cake and red wine thedy-boss had given them, prepared to put on a show with Xia Lei.
Sure enough, just as Long Bing brought the cake and wine out on deck, a rubber speed boat was lowered from the destroyer and eight naval officers of the Self Defence Force came zooming over. The eight naval officers were in full gear, and their expressions were cold.
¡°Steady, steady.¡± Xia Lei whispered to Long Bing, who was lighting candles.
Long Bing said nothing. She nodded lightly.
This situation before them was sure-death if it were a battle. There was no running, and the enemy could just fire a missile and st the yacht to pieces.
Xia Lei was started to regret having been so hasty now. If he¡¯de tomorrow, he wouldn¡¯t be in this situation now.
The rubber speed boat quickly got to the side of the yacht. A naval officer hooked the rope on the side of the yacht, secured the rubber speed boat, and all eight officers boarded the yacht.
Xia Lei was nervous as heck but he still put on a mask of calm. He smiled and walked to the eight officers in wee when they boarded. ¡°Good work, guys. You came at the right time ¨C have some cake.¡±
¡°Thank you for your kind offer, but we are on the job now. Do you have identification documents? Please show them to us,¡± said an officer.
Xia Lei took his driving licence out from the clothes he had taken off.
¡°Katou Takasuke?¡± The officer looked at the driving licence. ¡°From Hokkaido?¡±
¡°Yes, yes, from a small fishing vige. I¡¯m a fisherman too. When I was I child, my grandfather often told me that he went to Iturup Ind to fish as a youngd, but the Russians took over the ind now. I hate Russians. I had a dream too, when I was a child, that I¡¯ll be able to take up arms one day and take our ind back! But this dream never came true because I was sickly,¡± said Xia Lei.
The Kuril Inds dispute was something which pained the Japanese for a long time. Xia Lei talked about it because he wanted to seem close to the Japanese naval officers, to buildmanderie and make it so that they wouldn¡¯t cause trouble for him. In actual fact, he had nothing to do with the Kuril Inds dispute, not even if half the inds of Japan were taken by the Russians.
The officer smiled at Xia Lei¡¯s words. ¡°Ah, so you¡¯re a patriotic young man. It¡¯s all right if you can¡¯t join the military. You¡¯ll have a chance in the future.¡± As he spoke, he handed the driving licence back to Xia Lei.
One of the naval officers said to Long Bing, ¡°Miss, can I have your identification?¡±
Long Bing did not move. She looked pleadingly at Xia Lei with a nervous look on her face.
The leading officer said, ¡°Miss, where is your identification?¡±
Xia Lei bowed. ¡°I do apologise. My wife is deaf-mute. I¡¯ll tell her that you need her identification documents.¡±
¡°I see. Do excuse us.¡± The leading officer was reasonable too.
Xia Lei gestured to Long Bing and she pretended to react to the gesturing. She took out her health insurance certificate and handed it to the officer with both hands.
THe officer looked at the document, then at Long Bing.
The picture and the person were the same. They had ¡®refreshed¡¯ the pictures on the identification documents on their way to Tokyo. They would be in trouble if they¡¯d kept their old pictures on the documents.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Officer, my wife and I are from the same vige. We grew up together. She¡¯s a good woman ¨C she just can¡¯t talk. It is my great fortune to have married her, and I will take care of her my whole life.¡±
The officer handed Long Bing¡¯s health certificate to Xia Lei. ¡°I apologise for disturbing you. However, we have to inspect your yacht.¡±
¡°No problem, no problem,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°We rented this yacht. Heh heh, I wanted to experience what it¡¯s like to be a rich person. But I¡¯ll work hard, and give her the life of true luxury.¡±
Nobody paid attention to Xia Lei anymore. The leading officer gave the order, and the officers started to inspect the yacht.
A few minutester, an officer picked up thepass from the rubbish bin.
Xia Lei and Long Bing felt like there were hands around their hearts. They were so nervous their hearts could burst. Fortunately, the officer only took a look at it, and threw it back into the bin. He must have thought it was an ornament, or a busted nauticalpass or something. Others had thrown it away, so he was not interested in taking a second look at it.
¡°Officer, we are ordinary people. Why are you searching our yacht?¡± asked Xia Lei.
The leading officer said, ¡°We are conducting military exercises in these parts, and you¡¯ve stumbled into our zone, so we have to check. You might not know this, but the Chinese are good at collecting information now, and we have to try to avoid the worst.¡±
¡°Oh, so that¡¯s what this is.¡± Xia Lei gave augh.
¡°Sir, nothing suspicious.¡± An officer returned to the deck and spoke loudly.
The other officers reported the same. Nothing was out of ce. However, this was just as to be expected, and they were not surprised.
¡°You should leave,¡± said the leading officer. ¡°Leave this area quickly. This is a military exercise zone, so it¡¯s dangerous for you to stay here.¡±
¡°No problem. But can my wife and I finish our cake before we go?¡± Xia Lei said cautiously, ¡°My wife has lit the candles. We should make a wish, or it¡¯ll bring bad luck if we stop it part-way.¡±
The leading officer frowned. ¡°You should hurry, then.¡±
¡°Yes, of course. We won¡¯t give you any trouble.¡± Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°I wish you sess in your military exercise.¡±
The rubber speed boat departed.
Xia Lei and Long Bing sank to their buttocks on the deck, their backs covered in cold sweat.
Chapter 531 - Grim Reaper’s Night
The Japanese Tachikaze-ss destroyer started its engines and moved off. A group of Japanese naval officers stood on deck, including the ones who had boarded the yacht to inspect it.
¡°Move off!¡± A voice came from the destroyer, urging Xia Lei to hurry away.
Xia Lei was in a bind. Driving the yacht away would be the smart thing to do, but he knew that the radar on the Tachikaze-ss destroyer would easily detect if the yacht had left. If he drove off and came back again, they would get suspicious. If he went back to Okinawa, the threat of incident with the Naha military base soldiers awaited. From this angle, it seemed that staying and finding the treasure location, then getting the ancient alloy, was the smartest choice.
One side was urging him to leave, and on the other side was danger. Xia Lei was between a wall and a hard ce, and he didn¡¯t know what to choose.
Just then, Long Bing drew close. She put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s neck and kissed him on the lips. She was brazen, and her tongue swirled around Xia Lei¡¯s. Her hands also seemed to be searching his body for something, and quite anxiously too.
Xia Lei abruptly understood what she wanted to do, and he quickly let loose of his restraint. He put his arms around Long Bing, kissing her back as they rolled about the deck. It looked like the two of them could not hold back their lust.
¡°Whooooah! Hahaha...¡± p p p! The speakers of the destroyer sted sound back at them. Some were cheering, someughing, and some pping.
¡°Do her! Do her!¡± Someone shouted from the side of the vessel.
Xia Lei, however, stopped, and looked back at the destroyer with embarrassment.
¡°Haha! That fe got shy!¡±
¡°He ain¡¯t got guts. If it were me, I¡¯d fuck her in front of everyone. That chick¡¯s hot. She¡¯s got 65E boobs, aye?¡±
Raucous hollers came at them, and the Tachikaze-ss destroyer moved off, trailing jeers.
It was a Japanese-registered yacht, with two Japanese citizens on it. The naval officers did not suspect anything. The warning from the speakers had been a formality, and they did not urge Xia Lei and Long Bing to move away again. That¡¯s right, those two were on their honeymoon. They were going to make a wish on a cake, and who knows, maybe they¡¯ll fuck and give Japan a new little citizen. It was all good, so why ruin their fun?
¡°Touch me?¡± said Long Bing all of a sudden.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare to.
¡°Dumbass. There¡¯s sure to be someone watching with binocrs,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°Hurry up, don¡¯t be so slow.¡±
Xia Lei made himself reach his hand into her clothing. Long Bing pressed herself against him again, and her softness twisted around him, holding him like a snake, unwilling to let him go. Out of the corner of Xia Lei¡¯s eye, he saw that quite a few perverts were indeed watching them with binocrs. With great interest.
¡°Uh, are your chest measurements really 65E?¡± Xia Lei doubted what that guy had shouted, because what he was feeling was quite different from that measurement.
Long Bing red at Xia Lei. ¡°You think my breasts are fake?¡±
¡°Um, no, no, not at all. Really, I don¡¯t mean that at all.¡± Xia Lei measured her silently.
Long Bing¡¯s face turned red, and she bit her lip. She hesitated, then said, ¡°60E.¡±
Xia Lei took in a small breath. This was quite a startling measurement too.
Long Bing smacked Xia Lei¡¯s hand away. ¡°I told you my measurements already, so stop sizing them up. Carry me into the cabin. Make it look like we¡¯re going in to have sex, and we wait till those guys are a distance away before you go down into the water.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh, and carried Long Bing in his arms as he walked towards the cabin.
The sailors on the destroyer dispersed. The live show had retired to the cabin, so they had no more to watch.
A few minutester, the Tachikaze-ss destroyer disappeared into the horizon. Xia Lei and Long Bing returned to the deck. Xia Lei quickly changed into the wetsuit, and went into the water.
The searchlights on the diving suit chased away some of the darkness in the sea. Coupled with Xia Lei¡¯s left eye, he was able to see a radius of 50 metres underwater. This range was already much greater than an average human¡¯s because a normal person would only be able to see a few metres, even in the clearest water.
He continued diving down, down, and the pressure grew, grew. This pressure was ufortable for Xia Lei. He felt like sandbags had been attached to his body, and his internal organs and his bones were under tremendous strain. It felt like his bones would break apart, and like his organs would burst.
Xia Lei looked at the pressure gauge and was shocked. He had been in a rush to find the treasure, and descended rapidly. He did not discover that he had already descended to a depth of 350 metres.
The record for a human¡¯s diving was 330 metres, and no one could break that. However, that depth was achieved with the help of professional diving equipment. Without that equipment, a human could only get to a depth of about 100 metres. Whether it was the former or thetter, one would die if these limits were crossed.
Xia Lei looked down, down, down, but he could not see the bottom. In other words, there was more than 50 metres to go to the sea bed. It could be 80 metres, a hundred, or even 300.
¡®Shit. Why am I so unlucky?¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help cursing.
After some hesitation, he braced himself and continued descending.
The underwater pressure was quite unbearable, but he did not feel suffocated or crushed. He felt like he could still go on. There were certain risks associated with this, but he had no other choice. If he missed this chance, it would be difficult to get back to this ce again, because this was in the American-controlled zone. Even China¡¯s most advanced submarine could note to this spot without being discovered.
500 metres went by in the blink of an eye, and there was still no sea bed in sight. Hundreds of units of pressure was on Xia Lei¡¯s chest, and he was at his limits.
¡®Damn it, I¡¯m going for it!¡¯ Xia Lei gritted his teeth and continued his descent.
Every metres downwards now felt like he was rolling on the edges of sharp knives.
Another 30 metres went past.
Blub! A mouthful of blood trailed from the corner of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. The great pressure had made him dizzy, and his body lost its ability to move. He was motionless, but there seemed to be a vortex below him, sucking him down into the darkness of the sea bed.
No way to struggle, and a never-ending pressure. This was a terrible situation, and there could only be one ending ¨C death!
Xia Lei¡¯s consciousness faded, grew heavy, and what shed in his head were not thoughts of living, but memories of the past. He saw himself reading from the textbook in school, and his deskmate Jiang Ruyi with a ponytail, staring at him with her dark eyes. He saw his mother washing clothes for him, a blurry memory. He saw face after face. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face, Long Bing¡¯s face, Tang Yuyan¡¯s face, and Ma Xiaoan too. These faces shed past in his head like a film reel, getting blurrier and blurrier...
This was what it was like to die.
In thest instant before his consciousness blinked out, Xia Lei¡¯s brain suddenly trembled. It was unknown if this trembling started in his left eye, or in his brain, it all happened so quickly. A cooling energy abruptly burst from his brain, travelling through his blood vessels and nerves to reach the rest of his body, his organs, his bones, his muscles! And in that same instant, he seemed to have attained another form ¨C a super form!
The great pressure on his body seemed to have been blown away like a leaf on a breeze to disappearpletely. All feelings of difort rapidly disappeared too, leaving no trace. In these one, two seconds, Xia Lei had felt like he was going to die, but he now felt like he had only just entered the water, and felt no pressure at all.
¡®It¡¯s that strange power again. What the hell is it? Why is it in my body? And why don¡¯t I feel its existence?¡¯ Xia Lei was full of questions, surprise and gratitude. He¡¯d thought he was done for earlier, but he now felt even healthier and stronger than before!
This near-death experience let Xia Lei discover something. This mysterious power in his body, this energy, gave him mysterious potential. He had thought that he had used all of his potential in Oshino Hakkai, but he had barely scratched the surface. Now, at death¡¯s door, his body had attained a new level of being!
Then was this all of his potential?
There was no answer to that!
¡®I must solve this mystery!¡¯ said a voice in Xia Lei¡¯s head. He moved his legs, and propelled himself down, deeper down.
One hundred metres, two hundred metres, three hundred metres...
The sea bed appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision, and he looked at the pressure gauge on his wrist. The numbers shocked him. He had reached a depth of 1058 metres!
This depth exceeded all the limits of humans. Even the current submarines were not able to dive to this depth!
A human had done what a submarine could not. Science could not exin this anymore, not any science.
Good thing Xia Lei had not brought Long Bing down with him. He would not be able to hide the secret of his body from her then, and the secret of AE.
The sea bed was right before him. A mysterious world humans could not tread.
Several glowing species of fish swam elegantly before him, glowing in their grotesqueness. Some never-before seen sea-bottom vegetation grew from the sand, forming a dense ¡®forest¡¯. No human had disturbed this ce before. Xia Lei was the first in history.
A sunken ship came into sight. Arge part of it had copsed due to the pressure, leaving just a part of the bow intact, and the mast.
Xia Lei took out thepass. The needle pointed to the sunken ship, and it was trembling violently.
¡®Found it!¡¯ Xia Lei swam over excitedly.
Chapter 532 - Sunken Ship and Female Body
Seaweed and kelp covered the sunken ship, and the iplete ship¡¯s hold had been turned into a home for fish. Xia Lei¡¯s arrival startled these inhabitants, and they came swimming out in a panic. School after school zoomed past, and quite a few bumped into Xia Lei. The onught of fish, however, did not impede Xia Lei¡¯s movements. He climbed up the deck and found skeletal remains under the lonely mast.
There were some metal pieces next to these bones, and upon closer inspection, Xia Lei found that these pieces were part of armour. He then found a sword under the bones. He wiped off the mud and the seaweed from the de, and saw a Chinese inscription which read, ¡®Embroidered Uniform Guard¡¯.
This was proof that the sunken ship was a Ming dynasty warship. It could have even been the world¡¯s first treasure ship.
The Ryukyu Inds used to be a vassal state in the Ming dynasty, so a warship in this area was fairly normal. It was just that the cause for this ship to be sunk was unknown.
Xia Lei left the bow and moved seaweed aside to go deeper into the wreck.
Xia Lei found several skeletal remains in the body of the ship, and some pieces of armour which had been better preserved than the first piece he found. These bones and items sat silently at the bottom of the sea, and had slept here for hundreds of years. Looking at them made Xia Lei feel like he had travelled through time and returned to the Ming dynasty.
Images came into Xia Lei¡¯s head unbidden. Arge warship, cresting the waves, carrying the Ming emperor onwards to the Ryukyu Inds. Tall and mighty generals on the ship, as will as court officials, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard - female dancers too, showing off their skills. These peopleughed, and chattered, going about their business, unaware of the dangering towards them.
Suddenly, a great towering wave came rolling towards them...
These images were clear and vivid, and Xia Lei had a feeling that he had been on this great Ming dynasty ship at that time too, and seen these people himself. Every face was so lifelike, so close.
Xia Lei shook his head hard. ¡®What¡¯s wrong with me? Why is my brain showing me these images? It¡¯s weird. Why do I feel like this is so familiar?¡¯
For some reason, Xia Lei thought of the line which Princess Yongmei had kept repeating ¨C I¡¯ve waited for you for so long.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help smiling wryly at the thought of Princess Yongmei. ¡®What am I thinking about? I¡¯m from a different era from this people. How could I be linked to them? There¡¯s no time-skips in this worlds. That only happens in dumb novels.¡¯
It was quite difficult to move about in the ship, and Xia Lei needed to move several pieces of wood for every metre he moved. He sometimes had to crawl between the nks like a dog too.
Twenty minutester, he finally got to the spot he wanted to go to. A cabin which was almost perfectly preserved.
The door was locked, but it had soaked in seawater for hundreds of years, and the salt had eaten away at the lock. Xia Lei used barely any strength at all to open it up. He pushed the door aside, and entered.
This was not a cargo hold, but a cabin for a person to stay in. There was a wooden bed in the cabin which had not fallen apart. There were even covers and nkets on it, aplete set which looked brand new.
This was not what surprised Xia Lei the most. The most surprising thing was the woman lying on that bed.
She was dressed in luxury and extravagance. She was startlingly beautiful, and heart-poundingly sexy.
She was none other than...
Her! Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue!
Xia Lei felt hit he had been hit over the head by a metal bat when he saw Princess Yongmei¡¯s face. His mind was nk and his thoughts ground to a halt.
He knew better than anyone that Princess Yongmei had died in Afghanistan, in those ruins. He had personally opened up her tomb, opened up her jade coffin, and taken the ancient alloy from it. He had watched her body turn to dust with his very eyes, be a pile of ash. But now, it looked like she had crossed thousands of kilometres, and appeared in this sunken shipwreck!
What was going on?
Xia Lei felt like his mind was exploding.
Princess Yongmeiy quietly on the bed. Her face was as pale as jade, peaceful. There was no trace of death on her face, like the sinking of the ship had not affected her at all. The ship had sunk, but her sleep was not to be disturbed.
¡®You... Why have you appeared here? What are you?¡¯ Xia Lei came back to his senses, and spoke to himself.
This was a question even the gods themselves would find hard-pressed to answer.
After a few minutes¡¯ hesitation, Xia Lei moved. He reached to pinch Princess Yongmei¡¯s cheek. It was cold, but her skin still maintained its sticity. Then, he opened up Princess Yongmei¡¯s clothing. A chain of alloy pieces hung from her neck.
White skin, tender breasts, mysterious ancient alloy... Pale as snow, blue-green mysteriousness, pinky tenderness... these thingsbined shook one to the core somewhat, and was rather exciting.
¡®One, two, three, four... 21 pieces!¡¯ Xia Lei quickly counted the alloy pieces hanging from Princess Yongmei¡¯s neck. The number of pieces shook him, and filled him with mad joy.
He had concluded that the pieces would form a box, and that five pieces were needed for each side. He had already collected seven pieces, making oneplete side. Now, he had acquired 21 pieces. In other words, he was just missing two pieces to make aplete box!
¡®Where are the remaining two? I hope they¡¯re here!¡¯ Xia Lei was getting tired of having to find the next treasure location. He looked forward to more good luck, and that thest two pieces would also be in this ship.
He would be able to unlock thest secrets of AE if he collected all 30 pieces!
Just the thought of it excited him.
Xia Lei thought quietly for a bit, then suddenly reached out and pulled Princess Yongmei¡¯s chin down.
A bronze thing peeked out from between her teeth and her tongue. It was a piece of ancient alloy.
¡°Haha! Glub...¡± Xia Lei forget himself in his excitement, and swallowed some seawater when he opened his mouth to exim. He coughed painfully.
His luck had held up. There was one piece in Princess Yongmei¡¯s mouth. He was just one piece short ofpleting the box!
Xia Lei dug the alloy piece out from Princess Yongmei¡¯s mouth, and took the pieces from her neck. Before he could put the pieces in his bag, Princess Yongmei¡¯s body began to melt away, and a pile of white ash was left in the blink of an eye.
There were no more alloy pieces, but a newpass needle poked out from the white ash.
¡®Damn it...¡¯ Xia Lei was gloomy.
He¡¯d thought that Princess Yongmei had swallowed thatst alloy piece, and that he only needed to open her up to solve his alloy pieces problem. However, her corpse had started to melt when he had removed the pieces from her, so this meant that she did not have any alloy pieces in her stomach. What he had not expected was that she had swallowed something, just that it was thepass needle, and not the alloy piece.
¡®Are you ying with me, Zhu Xanyue? Huh? Why can¡¯t you just end it all by giving me thest piece? Why one more piece? So that you can y with me again? You damn bitch!¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help letting out curses in his head.
The needle pointer and the alloy pieces had been retrieved, and Princess Yongmei had melted away, leaving a pile of mysteries to tug at Xia Lei¡¯s brain.
Ten seconds after Princess Yongmei¡¯s body dissolved, the covers and nkets on the bed dissolved too.
Xia Lei was used to this by now. The alloy pieces had some power of preservation over bodies and the surrounding items were subject to this preservation too. This was a mysterious power, and it seemed to have a zone. Anything in that zone would not decay or be damaged by time, but once it left this zone, the passage of time would hit it, catch up with it again, and the hundreds of years would age it in a second. And what should have happened in these hundreds of years, happened.
However, there were things which had been perfectly preserved too, like some of the things Princess Yongmei had used. There was a bronze dressing mirror, the jewellery in her jewellery box, and two exquisite vases.
Xia Lei collected these items and out them in a bag he had brought with him. These things would be his payment foring down here.
Last of all, Xia Lei ced the twenty-second piece of ancient alloy in the bag he had prepared. Just as he was about to pull it closed and leave, a thought came into his head.
¡®I found Princess Yongmei¡¯s body in the tomb in Afghanistan, and her body appeared here again. The two bodies were exactly the same. Were they twins? Hold on, there aren¡¯t twins who are exactly alike... I have 22 pieces of alloy in my hands. If I let Princess Yongmei out here, she would be fully cognisant and moreplete than ever before. Would she be able to tell me something important?¡¯ At that thought, his left eye seemed to react to great stimtion, and it twitched, calling forth his power.
His X-ray vision hit an alloy piece, and the familiar yet terrifying feeling overcame him. When the feeling went away, a woman had appeared in the ship. She was clothes-less and naked as a babe. Her body looked wless, perfect, and her face was as bewitchingly majestic as ever.
Princess Yongmei had appeared again. However, she was not nice and warm this time. As soon as she appeared, she rushed at Xia Lei, shouting, ¡°Scoundrel! You promised! You promised not to shut me away, but you did!¡±
Xia Lei opened his mouth to speak, but seawater rushed into his mouth as soon as he opened it. He then realised that he had made a very basic mistake. This was not a ce where he could talk to Princess Yongmei.
¡°I hate you! I hate you!¡± Princess Yongmei raised a hand and swung it at Xia Lei¡¯s cheek.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went abruptly to an alloy piece, and he used his X-ray vision on it.
Princess Yongmei disappeared from the ship. Xia Lei smiled wryly and shook his head, then left the ship.
A conversation between them was a must, but he had to find a ce empty of others. This was also needed, because the Princess Yongmei who had appeared this time was ratherbative!
Chapter 533 - Unreachable Place
As Xia Lei swam back up to the surface, he looked around and brought up the bag of weapons which Long Bing had sunk too.
Long Bing called out anxiously when she saw Xia Lei emerge. ¡°You¡¯re finally back. I was going to go down there after you if you were anyter.¡±
The first thing she was concerned about when she saw Xia Lei, was him, and not the things he had brought up from the sea bed.
Xia Lei climbed onto the yacht but he did not get his bearings yet, and he flopped to the deck. The mysterious power in his body which had sustained him disappeared once he got to the deck of the yacht and the desperate need for survival had worn off. Once he rxed, it was like his body lost his bones and could not support itself any longer.
¡°Are you okay?¡± Long Bing went hurriedly to support him.
¡°Don¡¯te here!¡± said Xia Lei anxiously.
¡°You...¡± Long Bing did not understand why Xia Lei behaved this way.
¡°I found 22 pieces of alloy this time. It a muchrger number than before. Don¡¯te close to me ¨C it¡¯s dangerous,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing then understood why Xia Lei did not let here close, and she was stunned by what she heard.
¡°How long was I down there?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°An hour,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei nced subconsciously at the sea and remembered something. ¡°Start the yacht immediately. We need to leave this ce.¡±
¡°But you...¡± Long Bing looked worriedly at Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll recover after I rest for a bit.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll go drive the yacht.¡± Long Bing moved towards the cockpit.
Xia Lei suddenly called out to her. ¡°Wait, where do you n to go?¡±
¡°This spot isn¡¯t far from a fishing islet. Our fuel reserves will get us to that part of the sea, and once we get past that we¡¯ll be able to contact our Navy. They can escort us back,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Let¡¯s follow your n, then.¡± Xia Lei let out a breath of relief, theny motionless on the deck, waiting for his body to regain some energy.
One minuteter, Long Bing moved the yacht in the direction of the fishing islet and headed there with the help of the navigation device. They had a vessel, fuel, and equipment. There was no need to go back to Okinawa.
Xia Lei regained more of his energy with time. Half an hourter, he crawled to his feet on the deck. The night sky bobbed in his field of vision, and the stars in the distance winked unendingly, shining brilliantly. The warm sea breeze caressed his cheek, taking his thoughts with it.
¡®Princess Yongmei had designs on my AE capsule in the basement of theb at Thunder Horse Military Factory, and she tried to attack me this time. But... she said that she cannot hurt me, because I am The One. So the move to attack me was a feint. She was actually aiming for my AE capsule?¡¯ Everything which had happened on the sea bed reyed in Xia Lei¡¯s head, one by one, and he grew wary.
Letting Princess Yongmei out had been a rash decision. He should have considered it more carefully.
However, this did not affect Xia Lei¡¯s n to let her out and talk properly with her. He already had 29 pieces of ancient alloy in his possession, just one short of the whole box. This meant that he was just that little bit away frompletion ¨C so howplete was Princess Yongmei going to be if he let her out?
It was difficult to say, but one thing was for sure. She was like the box ¨C almostplete!
An almostplete Princess Yongmei must know about the secrets of AE!
This thought made Xia Lei quite excited. He felt an impulse to assemble the box and let Princess Yongmei out again. However, he did not give in to this temptation in the end, because of Long Bing. Princess Yongmei could not hurt him, but she could hurt Long Bing. It would be terrible if Princess Yongmei transferred her hate for him to Long Bing.
¡°Are you feeling better, Lei?¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei put his thoughts away and grunted in reply. ¡°I¡¯m better. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll go put these things away ande to you.¡±
Long Bing watched Xia Lei enter the cabin, then muttered to herself after a bit. ¡°What secrets are you hiding? Is it because you find it difficult to tell me? Or... You don¡¯t even know it yourself? Are you searching for answers too?¡±
Womens¡¯ thoughts and intuition were sometimes very urate.
Ten minutester, Xia Lei returned to the cockpit with a big bag in his hands.
¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Long Bing saw it and asked.
Xia Lei opened the bag to reveal its contents. It contained items from the ship like jewellery, porcin, Princess Yongmei¡¯s bronze mirror and so on.
¡°I got these from the treasure location. Take what you like,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing gave it a passing nce. ¡°You can have it. I don¡¯t want any.¡±
¡°Why not?¡± Xia Lei said with a smile, ¡°How can I take it when you don¡¯t? Do you want me to give it to the nation or something? I¡¯ll do it if you want me to.¡±
¡°You know that don¡¯t like these sort of things. I... I have my principles too. Really, you just take it. I don¡¯t want it.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll give it to the nation.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Long Bing said, ¡°You¡¯ve already spent tens of thousands of USD on this mission so far. It¡¯s so much money... Boss Shi won¡¯t pay you back. Based on how he usually operates, the budget for our mission would not go past 300,000 yuan. Chinese yuan. Your expenses so far would be considered to be on your on ount. Just hold on to these. If Ick money in the future I¡¯ll just go look for you, okay?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Then I¡¯ll take them. I¡¯ll buy you a good car when we get back. I¡¯ll also get some high-end home appliances for you. Oh, right, do you like the type of bathtubs with a jacuzzi function? I¡¯ll buy one, remodel the ce and you¡¯ll have a big bath.¡±
Long Bing stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°You want to buy a car for me? And renovate my home for me, buy high-end appliances, and a huge bathtub... Are you trying to make me your kept woman?¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly. That¡¯s right. Was he trying to make Chief Long into a kept woman? He definitely did not have this thought but how different was this from those wealthy folk who kept lovers on the side?
¡°Forget it. What¡¯s the difference between keeping me, or not? I¡¯m not looking to rece Shentu Tianyin. Go ahead and renovate my ce if you want, install the huge bathtub or whatever. You¡¯ll have to use it when youe over anyway. Bear in mind, though, that you have toe stay over once a week after the renovations areplete.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Did he just smash his own foot with a rock?
¡°Um...¡± Long Bing became embarrassed, and changed the topic. ¡°Right, did you get a newpass needle?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts returned to the business at hand. ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll put it on and see where the next treasure location is.¡±
Xia Lei removed the old pointer needle, and put the new one on.
The needle spun in a circle as soon as it was installed, and stopped in its original position.
¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± Xia Lei stared at thepass, bbergasted.
Long Bing looked over too, and stared closely at thepass.
Both of them had thought that thepass would do something new, point in some direction and shake or something, but an entire minute passed, and thepass did not move.
¡°Could it be broken?¡± Long Bing broke the silence. She could not help doubting its functionality.
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Xia Lei. He was confused, and a little depressed. He wouldn¡¯t be able to find the next treasure location in this situation. If he could not find the next location, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to find thest ancient alloy piece, and gather all the pieces to make aplete box.
How was he to solve the final mystery if he couldn¡¯tplete the box?
He¡¯d put in so much, gone through so much... He would not be able to be happy for the rest of his life if he did not manage to solve the final mystery.
Just as Xia Lei was filled with doubt and wondering if thepass had suffered some sort of damage due to the great pressure at the sea bed, the needle on thepass suddenly trembled. It lifted up, up to the sky.
What was stranger was that the needle removed itself from the surface of thepass, hanging itself in the air like it was free from the grip of gravity.
Xia Lei and Long Bing were shocked. Both of them looked from the needle and up, slowly, to stare dumbly at the ceiling above them.
The next treasure location was in the sky?
This had to be a joke.
Based on the current advancements in human technology, humans could go to the moon, but it was only possible with the resources of a country. Humans could onlynd in a pre-calcted spot, and have a very limited range of activity afternding too. A simple example was of the Americans making it to the moon, but just cing a g there. The Chinese made it to the moon too, and their range of activity spanned wider than tworge football fields. Human science was at this level now ¨Ce to think of it, what sort of requirements had to be met before they could get to the next treasure location?
Truthfully, even if China were willing to send Xia Lei to the moon, and up into the sky... was the target actually the moon? If it wasn¡¯t on the moon, then why go there to try to dig for treasure?
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing. Hisugh was weird.
Long Bing was silent for a bit before she said consolingly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Maybe thepass has some problems. If it really is somece up in the sky, you won¡¯t be able to get there. It¡¯s no big deal either. You¡¯ve already tried your best. The nation will not forget your contributions.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯tugh anymore. He knew that he was not researching this for the nation, but for himself, for the secret of AE. He was intimately involved with this secret, so how could he just let it go?
Right at that moment, the floating needle pointer dropped. Itnded exactly on its original position, so very precisely it seemed like it had all been measured.
Thepass quieted again, and there were no new movements.
What was going on now?
Xia Lei stared dumbly at the needle, his thoughts whirring. All his thoughts did not affect the matter at hand.
A minuteter, thepass needle stood again, and pointed up at the sky. It stayed that way for a period of time, then returned to its original position.
¡®It looks like it¡¯s gathering energy, and pointing only after it has umted enough to move. What sort of energy is it? Is it some innate energy in thepass itself, or something else?¡¯ Xia Lei thought in amazement.
The yacht cut through the waves, carrying its cargo of questions as it sailed through the night.
Dawn would surelye, but before it did, the darkness would persist and it would not be easy to chase it away.
Chapter 534 - Military Speed Boats
The treasure location in the sea was about 300 kilometres from the fishing isle if one drew a straight line between them. The little yacht went at a speed of 30 knots, and it would enter that part of the sea in 12 hours.
This was a greatly contested section of the sea. The Japanese had taken control forcefully and they had the backing of the Americans too, so this was a bit of a scuffle with China. However, this area had been China¡¯s, historically speaking, and the Japanese should not be able to control this area for long. Now, for them, this area which should have belonged to the Chinese had now be the most dangerous area, and Xia Lei and Long Bing had to cross it.
¡°We are probably in the radar zone of the Japanese Self Defence Force,¡± said Long Bing as she drove the yacht. She seemed a little nervous after entering this area of the sea.
¡°This is our turf. So what if the Japanese radar picks up our vessel? We¡¯re just an ordinary yacht. Are they going to fire missiles at us or something?¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing turned the corners of her lips downwards. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate right wing of the Japanese government, and don¡¯t underestimate the viciousness of the Self Defence Force either. They will not reason with you. If they did use that approach, then they wouldn¡¯t have taken this area of ours forcefully.¡±
Xia Lei was ufortable, but he could do nothing about their situation.
¡°Lei, youe drive the yacht. I¡¯ll contact Boss Shi and ask him to send someone to escort us,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei took control of the rudder. His gaze went to thepass on the table once in a while as he drove. The needle repeatedly went up, and back to its position.
Xia Lei would also asionally use his X-ray vision to see through the cockpit and up into the sky, trying to guess at what was up there, hidden in the sky. All this guessing made him gloomy, and a heaviness of helplessness seemed to settle in his chest.
Long Bing quickly ended her conversation with Boss Shi, and said to Xia Lei, ¡°I¡¯ve told Boss Shi of our situation. He¡¯s very pleased. He said he will contact the military side, and send a naval surveince ship to meet us, at least. All we have to do now is to keep to our course, and shorten the distance between us and the receiving ship.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. In this situation, the closer they were, the safer.
The yacht broke through the waves, and a little ind got closer and closer, getting clearer and clearer. It looked in and ordinary, but it yed a role of uncertainty in the safe region of Asia. It would not kill anyone, but there would surely be many dying for it in the future, bleeding for it.
The winds and waves were quiet on their way there, but half an hourter, a Japanese reconnaissance ne suddenly appeared in the sky. Xia Lei used his superior sight, and saw the Japanese g on belly of the ne.
¡°A Japanese reconnaissance ne.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s expression grew grave, ¡°It¡¯s probably here to confirm the situation.¡±
¡°Confirm what situation?¡±
¡°Confirm if we pose no threat,¡± said Xia Lei, ¡°or if we do.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s expression grew grave. She knew what Xia Lei was talking about. They wouldn¡¯t bother if a Japanese fishing vessel appeared in these parts, but this was a yacht heading straight for China. This was a problem.
¡°If the reconnaissance ne sees us a threat... what will it do?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei gave a dryugh. ¡°If it¡¯s out of the ordinary, the Self Defence Force will send speed boats to chase after us. Best to get ready to fight. Damn it. These Japanese people are difficult to shake off. Why can¡¯t they let us go home happily?¡±
The ne made two circles in the air, then flew towards Okinawa.
It¡¯d flown off, but Long Bing and Xia Lei did not rx. Long Bing took out their equipment and weapons ¨C the XL2500, Gust, handguns and grenades. She put all the ammunition into the guns, and released the safety, ready to do battle at any time.
Xia Lei took the needle off thepass, and put thepass away.
The yacht continued onward. Ten minutes passed quickly, but the receiving boat had not appeared yet. The Japanese military speed boats did appear on the horizon, however, and they were at least three times faster than the yacht Xia Lei and Long Bing were on.
A civilian yacht was surely not able topete with a military vessel. Military speed boats could reach a speed of 100 kilometres an hour! They were also equipped with heavy machine guns, and had a high defence. Even machine gun bullets could not prate the hulls!
The situation had be dire all of a sudden.
Each speed boat carried five Self Defence Forces soldiers, so four boats meant 20 soldiers in full gear. Add the heavy machine guns and weapons and equipment on the speed boats... Long Bing and Xia Lei¡¯s little yacht would get sunk in less than a minute if a battle broke out!
Plus, when fighting on the sea, Xia Lei and Long Bing had not much power to fight back. They could rack up kills in a jungle battle, but on the sea, they wouldn¡¯t even be able to lift their heads under the heavy machine gun fire!
There was no trace of the receiving ship.
The four speed boats quickly closed the distance between them.
¡°Remember me if I die,¡± said Long Bing all of a sudden.
¡°Don¡¯t say things like that. We¡¯ll be fine.¡± Xia Leiforted her, but he knew too that this situation before them was more dire than what he had faced in Afghanistan with the American Special Forces and the CIA agents. He could use all of his power to fight then, but here, if he shot just once, he could draw the fire of all the machine guns on the speed boats!
Long Bing suddenly hugged Xia Lei and kissed him on the lips.
This was a kiss full of sadness and goodbye.
¡°Lei, this mission in Japan has been the happiest time in my life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but...¡± Long Bing could not continue.
¡°Dummy. We won¡¯t die, trust me.¡± Xia Lei held her in his arms, not willing to part with her.
The rtionship between him and Shentu Tianyin was one of mutual cooperation, and it was peaceful, going on steadily. The rtionship between him and Long Bing was tumultuous, fraught with danger and booming death.
¡°Go put on the wetsuit. Take the things and hide. Take the satellite phone too, and contact Boss Shi when it¡¯s over,¡± said Long Bing in Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
Xia Lei pushed her away. ¡°What are you nning?¡±
Long Bing spoke determinedly, ¡°You can¡¯t die. You¡¯re too important to our country. I¡¯m different from you. I was born a soldier of this country. I am a soldier, and dying on the battlefield is my greatest honour. The battlefield is where I thrive. Don¡¯t try to persuade me against it, I¡¯ve made my decision. I¡¯ll draw them away. You must live on!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were instantly wet with tears.
¡°Hurry! Go!¡± Long Bing shouted at Xia Lei. ¡°Are you going to let my death be in vain?¡±
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. He¡¯d made a decision in that instant too. He abruptly pointed at a spot on the sea beyond the cockpit. ¡°Look, our surveince ship!¡±
Long Bing looked where he was pointing.
The vast sea roiled beyond the cockpit. There was no surveince ship in sight.
¡°You...¡± Long Bing realised what Xia Lei wanted at the same moment his knife-hand descended on her carotid artery. Her vision went dark, and she copsed on the nks.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You¡¯re willing to die for me, but I¡¯m willing to do anything for you too. I won¡¯t let you die. I¡¯ll bring you home.¡±
Long Bing could not hear his words.
Xia Lei put the yacht on autopilot, and took Long Bing up in his arms. He went into the cabin. He ced Long Bing on the bed, then took out the bag containing the alloy pieces from under it. He opened the bag, and put the chain of alloy pieces around his neck, then returned to the cockpit and and hid the guns. Finally, he turned off the autopilot, and continued steering the yacht in the direction of China.
The four speed boats got closer and closer, but Xia Lei¡¯s heart was calm.
Bang bang bang!
Gunshots suddenly broke the silence of the sea. Dozens of bullets dived into the sea, throwing up sprays of water.
A voice came over a loudspeaker. ¡°Stop your vessel and prepare to be boarded for inspection, or your vessel will be destroyed!¡±
The person shouted in Japanese first, then repeated the message in Chinese.
Xia Lei cut the engine, and stopped.
The four speed boats surrounded the yacht in the blink of an eye. One speed boat blocked the advance of the yacht, and another was behind it. The two others went to the sides, cutting off all escape routes.
Xia Lei walked out of the cockpit and went to the deck.
All upants of the speedboats boarded the yacht, except the drivers. These people were not all from the Japanese Self Defence Force. There were also two people in inclothes, a man and a woman. Xia Lei had never seen these two before. The man was in his early forties, with a tough body and a cold face. The woman was young, in her early thirties. She was quite pretty and had a nice figure. These two had something inmon, and that was that their gazes were piercing, giving one the sense of sharp intelligence and danger.
¡®Who are these two people?¡¯ Xia Lei could not help wondering.
¡°Who are you?¡± The tough-looking man asked right away in Chinese as soon as he boarded.
Xia Lei responded in Japanese. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t understand you. I am Japanese. Please speak to me in Japanese.¡±
The tough-looking man suddenly kicked Xia Lei in the lower abdomen.
Xia Lei swayed, and it looked like he was going to fall to the deck. Anger shed in his eyes, and his arms moved.
Swish! The dozens of Self Defence soldiers raised the assault rifles in their hands at the same time, and pointed them at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s handsnded on his lower abdomen, and he patted at the dust on his clothing. His face was calm as he said, ¡°Why did you hit me?¡±
¡°Hah! Stop with the act, you Chinese spy!¡± sneered the man.
¡°Am I a Chinese spy?¡± Xia Lei put on a surprised expression.
The attractive woman suddenly grabbed Xia Lei by the cor, and her gaze was menacing as she said, ¡°You and your wife appeared in the military exercise zonest night, driving this yacht. Now you¡¯re driving this same yacht, fleeing in the direction of China. What are you if you¡¯re not a Chinese spy?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and did not answer.
The man took out a mobile phone, and held it up to Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
There was a picture disyed on the screen, and in that picture was him and Long Bing sharing a hot kiss.
This picture was obviously taken by one of the nosy sailors on the destroyer, but it was unknown how this picture got to this man in front of Xia Lei.
Chapter 535 - Untraceable Kill
¡°Where is the woman who was with you?¡± The woman suddenly shoved Xia Lei and said fiercely, ¡°Talk!¡±
Xia Lei controlled himself. ¡°She¡¯s in Okinawa.¡±
¡°Bullshit!¡± The man spoke angrily, ¡°You two are not Japanese! ording to the route you were travelling on, there¡¯s no way you would be in these parts if you sent her back to Okinawa. Talk. What is your mission?¡±
Xia Lei bowed his head and did not speak.
¡°Hold on, what are you hiding around your neck?¡± The woman abruptly pulled Xia Lei¡¯s cor open, revealing the chain of ancient alloy pieces.
¡°What is this?¡± The man looked wary.
¡°Talk, you Chinese bastard!¡± The woman swung a hand at Xia Lei¡¯s cheek.
Xia Lei suddenly raised his hand and caught the woman¡¯s wrist.
Two Self Defence soldiers reacted. One pressed the muzzle of his assault rifle to Xia Lei¡¯s back, and the other put his gun muzzle to the bend of Xia Lei¡¯s leg. Xia Lei grunted, and fell to his knees.
The woman pulled Xia Lei¡¯s face up by the chin with a finger and sneered, ¡°You managed to pull the wool over our eyesst night, I¡¯ll give you that. But we¡¯re not that easy to feel. We are specialists. I am Winter¡¯s Fang. You¡¯ll remember my name, because you will be begging to die for the remainder of your life.¡±
So they were Japanese special agents.
The man grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hair and growled, ¡°You¡¯d better tell us everything right now, or you¡¯ll get tortured. Winter¡¯s Fang is a torture specialist. There has yet to be a person who can survive her beyond three days.¡±
¡°Tell me ¨C is the incident in Oshino Hakkai rted to you guys?¡± The woman pressed with her questions.
The man snarled, ¡°Don¡¯t deny it. We¡¯ve already investigated. You used the fake identity of Katou Takasuke to check-in to the hotel in Oshino Hakkai. The woman with you is using the name Ooka Mika. Last night, this Katou Takasuke appeared in the military exercise zone of us Japanese and American troops. You dare say that you are not a Chinese spy?¡±
Xia Lei raised his head then, and a faint smile appeared in the corners of his lips. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll admit it. Your efficiency is quite good. You managed to find me and catch me.¡±
¡°Stop bullshitting!¡± Winter¡¯s Fang snarled. ¡°What is your mission?¡±
¡°To kill you,¡± said Xia Lei.
His words made everyone on the yacht pause, but just for two seconds, and it was followed byughter.
¡°Okay, you punk. Looks like you won¡¯t crack unless I torture you.¡± Winter¡¯s Fang waved her hand, and a Self Defence soldier brought abination-lock case to her. He put it in her hand.
Winter¡¯s Fang opened the case. It was full of torture tools ¨C scalpels, can-opener type knives, tongs, pliers and syringes filled with unknown liquids.
Winter¡¯s Fang ran her fingers over these torture instruments like a pianist trailing fingers over piano keys, then stopped over a scalpel. She drew it out, and smiled as she asked Xia Lei, ¡°Where would you like me to cut? Ear? Finger? Nose? Or your little thing?¡±
Xia Lei did not speak. The manughed. ¡°Winter¡¯s Fang, you¡¯re cruel as always.¡± After a pause, he issued an order to the soldiers. ¡°What are you still standing around for? You, you, and you! Go search the yacht. Look for that woman, and anything suspicious on this yacht.¡±
The soldiers he hadmanded made to start searching the yacht.
¡°Hold on!¡± Xia Lei suddenly called out. ¡°My woman is in there sleeping. I don¡¯t wish to disturb her.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±
The soldiers preparing to search the yachtughed loudest this time.
Winter¡¯s Fang was the only one who did notugh. Her voice was cold. ¡°I¡¯ve got to admit that your Japanese is very good, but what you say is not funny at all. If you¡¯re trying to buy time for someone outside to save you, then you are making a big mistake. This is the time period when the Japanese and American military are having a joint exercise. Ships from outside won¡¯t dare to enter.¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°I¡¯m not waiting for our ship. I just don¡¯t want to disturb her, that¡¯s it. You want me to disclose my mission details, then fine, I¡¯ll disclose them. I just request that you don¡¯t disturb the rest of my woman. Additionally, give me a minute. I need to gather my thoughts. You guys will get the results you want.¡±
Don¡¯t disturb the rest of his woman?
This was quite a puzzling condition.
Winter¡¯s Fang and the man exchanged nces, and the man said, ¡°One minute. You¡¯ll regret any tricks.¡±
Winter¡¯s Fang held the scalpel under Xia Lei¡¯s eye and said coldly, ¡°One minute. If you don¡¯t disclose your mission details, I¡¯ll carve out your eyes, then your little thing. Don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t die. I¡¯ll still want you to have a taste of my surgical skills. You¡¯ll wish you were dead!¡±
The two agents hade to a shared agreement, and the soldiers who¡¯d been ordered to search the yacht were temporarily stopped. They looked mockingly down at Xia Lei, who was lying on the deck.
All the Japanese people on the yacht could see Xia Lei¡¯s end, and it was not a pretty end. Whether in history or in modern times, the result for Chinese spies who were caught were the same. Mercy? That did not exist in their dictionary.
Under the res of an audience, Xia Lei bowed his head once again, and looked at the chain of alloy pieces around his neck. His gaze was strange, full of an unexined terror, and he looked to be in pain.
¡°What is that? I¡¯m asking you a question. Answer!¡± Winter¡¯s Fang was confused.
Xia Lei did not respond.
¡°Bastard!¡± Winter¡¯s Fang swung her hand, and pped Xia Lei across the cheek.
Xia Lei still did not respond.
The man caught her hand and said, ¡°Give him a minute. It¡¯s just one minute. Would the Chinese troops appear in front of us in one minute? He¡¯s already in our hands, and his fate is for us to decide. There¡¯s no difference, be it one minute earlier orter.¡±
¡°Fine.¡± Winter¡¯s Fang looked at the watch on her wrist to wait for a minute to pass.
That one minute had actually already passed when Winter¡¯s Fang spoke.
¡°All right, no more wasting time. Spit it out!¡± Winter¡¯s Fang shoved Xia Lei.
Xia Lei raised his head and said, ¡°I know you hate me, but I have my reasons for doing so. I promise you, I¡¯ll give you a very satisfactory exnation. It¡¯s just... You can see it too, right? I¡¯m in a very bad situation right now.¡±
What were these strange words about?
The man and Winter¡¯s Fang couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces. The two special agents were filled with surprise and wariness. The soldiers keeping watch on Xia Lei looked at him oddly too. All of them seemed to have the same question in their heads ¨C had this punk gone mad?
Xia Lei was not mad, of course. He was talking to someone, only that someone was Princess Yongmei. He was the only one on Earth who could see her.
Princess Yongmei¡¯s eyes were glued to the chain of alloy pieces around Xia Lei¡¯s neck as soon as she was released. She was not thirsting after the AE capsule around his neck at all. She was full of anger towards Xia Lei, and he could see it right away from the way she looked at him. If she could harm Xia Lei, she would probably have rushed at him and punched him right then and there.
Xia Lei looked straight at Princess Yongmei too, ignoring everyone else. He spoke calmly, ¡°You said you¡¯ve waited for me for a long time. I¡¯ve counted from the era you were born. It¡¯s been hundreds of years, hasn¡¯t it? You were imprisoned in there for hundreds of years and it was I who released you. Do you still haveints about me?¡±
¡°You released me, but why did you imprison me again! I¡¯ve said that I don¡¯t want to go in! Never!¡± Princess Yongmei shouted at Xia Lei.
Her body was energy, and her voice was also energy, but Xia Lei was the only one who could decipher this energy. Her voice formed only in his head, and no one else could hear it.
This was all very strange to the Japanese people on the yacht. They could hear Xia Lei¡¯s voice, but not Princess Yongmei¡¯s.
¡°Bastard! Are you trying to y dumb?¡± The man was angered, and he kicked Xia Lei in the chest.
This was a vicious kick, and Xia Lei lost his bnce. He fell to the deck.
At almost the same instant, Princess Yongmei screamed, ¡°NO¨C¡±
¡®Why is she so concerned about me?¡¯ Xia Lei had been hit, but he did not mind it at all. His was only thinking about things rted to Princess Yongmei.
He had made a decision to have a good talk with Princess Yongmei, but he had not expected for the talk to take ce in this ce, and in this situation.
¡°Forget it, this punk is beyond saving,¡± said Winter¡¯s Fang. ¡°You guys go drag that woman out. I¡¯m going to skin her in front of him. I¡¯ll see how much longer he can keep his mouth shut!¡±
Xia Lei suddenly spoke. ¡°Zhu Xuanyue, kill these people immediately, or I¡¯ll close you up forever in that void. These people will kill me, and then there will be no one to release you.¡±
Princess Yongmei grew anxious. ¡°Y, You can¡¯t do this to me! You are my ¡®One¡¯!¡±
¡°Kill them!¡± Xia Lei roared at Princess Yongmei.
PAH! Winter¡¯s Fang pped Xia Lei across the cheek. ¡°What¡¯s with the crazy act? You think I don¡¯t understand Chinese? Who is Zhu Xuanyue?¡±
At that moment, Princess Yongmei made her move. Her elegant, jade-white hands plunged noiselessly into Winter¡¯s Fang¡¯s head. And in that instant, the fierce Winter¡¯s Fang was abruptly quieted. She had no expression. Her eyes were nk ¨C there was nothing. It looked like her soul had gone to another world in that second, leaving just an empty husk behind.
What was stranger was that though it looked like Winter¡¯s Fang¡¯s soul had left her body, she was still in her standing position, and she did not fall down.
No one had noticed anything weird happening to Winter¡¯s Fang. All their gazes were still on Xia Lei.
Chapter 536 - Taming the Princess
¡°What are you standing around for?¡± The man shouted at the Self Defence soldiers. ¡°Go drag that woman out! I want to kill her in front of this guy!¡±
The soldiers who had received orders still stood in their spots. It was like they didn¡¯t hear him.
In actual fact, they could not hear anything anymore. Princess Yongmei had done something terrible to them just before the man had barked his orders.
Only Xia Lei could see it happening. Princess Yongmei was like the wind, blowing past the deck. All the soldiers on the deck fell prey to her hands. One by one, they grew nk, sightless, expressionless, and motionless.
¡°Bastard!¡± The man grew mad. He walked over and kicked one of the soldiers who were not listening to hismands.
The soldier fell to the deck, motionless. He stared nkly up at the sky.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± The man paused. He suddenly realised something, and he looked about to see that everyone was in a simr state. It was like they had lost their souls, leaving an empty shell of themselves behind, not hearing, and not responding to any stimuli.
Terror abruptly took hold of his heart, and the man looked at Xia Lei in horror. He forgot what he wanted to say.
At the same time, in Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision, Princess Yongmei used the same method to wipe out the drivers of the speed boats. The specialised male agent was the only one left.
Princess Yongmei returned to the deck, but she did not make a move on thest target.
¡°Wh, What did you do to them?¡± The man came back to his senses. His voice shook from nervousness and terror.
Xia Lei got to his feet and said evenly, ¡°I¡¯ve been under your watch all this while. What could I have done?¡±
¡°Then what¡¯s wrong with them?¡± screamed the man at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°This must be retribution. The Heavens are punishing them. It¡¯s nothing to do with me.¡±
The man abruptly drew his gun
Xia Lei was faster. He kicked the man¡¯s wrist, and the gun he had just drawn was sent flying, dropping into the sea.
The man swung a fist at Xia Lei¡¯s head. Xia Lei raised his elbow to block, and did a jab after blocking the blow. His jab hit the man on his heart, and there was a thud. The man¡¯s heart was shaken, and he folded, copsing to the deck.
Xia Lei moved quickly, miraculously fast. When he stopped moving, one of his legs was stepping on the agent¡¯s chest.
The agent struggled for a bit, but Xia Lei¡¯s leg was like the tyre of a huge truck pressing down on him. He could not move. He realised then that this Chinese spy who had pretended to be a fool was actually an expert, and one more skilled than he!
Xia Lei looked at Princess Yongmei. ¡°Why did you leave him alone?¡±
¡°I left him to you. I want to see how good you are,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°So what is your conclusion?¡±
Princess Yongmei pursed her lips. ¡°Unimpressive. Any bodyguard of mine in my time would be able to defeat you easily.¡±
Xia Lei had no response to that, but he believed what Princess Yongmei said. Martial arts was one of China¡¯s cultural identities, but it had deteriorated over time because of various reasons. Princess Yongmei¡¯s era had been one where martial arts had flourished, and was in its prime. His most familiar Wing Chun would probably not be seen as one of the main schools of martial art in that time period. How would he be able to defeat a Ming dynasty princess¡¯s bodyguards?
¡°Now, kill him for me,¡± said Princess Yongmei.
¡°Kill him for you?¡±
¡°Yes, kill him for me!¡± Princess Yongmei¡¯s voice carried amand ¨C themand of a princess.
Xia Lei did not move. He heard themand in her tone, and he was ufortable.
He was a modern man, and Princess Yongmei was a Ming dynasty princess. Why would he follow the orders of a Ming dynasty princess? Besides, he was of the opinion that Princess Yongmei had had their roles reversed. He was the only person in this world who could release her from that void!
In other words, he was Princess Yongmei¡¯s master, not her ve!
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me?¡± Princess Yongmei was mad that her order had not been followed, and her tone ofmand grew stronger.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Are you giving me orders?¡±
¡°You¨C¡± Princess Yongmei red at Xia Lei.
The agent felt like he was falling apart. He roared, ¡°Who the fuck are you talking to, you bastard! Are you insane?¡±
Xia Lei raised a leg and released the agent, then said, ¡°Zhu Xuanyue, kill him!¡±
¡°Humph! You¡¯re giving me orders?¡± Princess Yongmei sneered, ¡°I¡¯ve already killed several. I left one for you to kill, but you¡¯re telling me to do it, and with thismanding tone too! Realise this ¨C I am a Ming princess!¡±
¡°The Ming dynasty¡¯s reign ended hundred of years ago,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What did you say?¡± Princess Yongmei¡¯s mouth fell open.
¡°I said that the Ming dynasty is dead. Dead for hundreds of years!¡± Xia Lei did not hold back. ¡°So your status of princess means nothing to me. What you need to understand is that YOU have to follow my orders, and not me who has to follow your orders!¡±
Princess Yongmei froze. She said nothing, and did nothing. She was best at extinguishing a person¡¯s soul, and performing traceless murders, but she herself seemed like she had lost her soul right now.
Xia Lei felt a little sorry for at when he saw her reaction, but he had to harden his heart and do this. The Zhu Xuanyue right now was very dangerous. She was emotional, and lost control easily. He had to keep her under control, subdue her, and make her listen to hismands, or Princess Yongmei would not be a help, but a nightmare!
¡°Who the fuck are you talking to? My men... my men... What happened to them? Tell me! Tell me what happened!¡± The agent was falling apart again. To him, it looked like Xia Lei was talking to empty air, and telling that empty air to kill him. How could he bear a situation such as this!
¡°Shut your mouth!¡± shouted Xia Lei.
The agent sudden;y rushed at a Self Defence soldier, reaching for a gun.
Xia Lei grabbed him by the throat, and stomped. The agent fell to the deck.
¡°You can¡¯t kill me!¡± shouted the agent. ¡°I am a military man of the Japanese Empire! If you kill me, it will mean war! Will you be able to bear the consequences?¡±
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°You think it¡¯s still World War Two right now? You think I will scramble to apologise to you because you said that? Let me tell you that you¡¯re going to die, but I just don¡¯t want to dirty my hands. My friend will do this for me.¡± He looked at Princess Yongmei. ¡°Zhu Xuanyue, you will kill him for me, won¡¯t you?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue hesitated, and floated slowly over.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
It was actually as easy as pie for Xia Lei to kill this agent, and he could do it without breaking a sweat. He wanted Princess Yongmei to kill the agent for two reasons. One, was that he needed Princess Yongmei to obey, and make her his helper instead of his problem. The other reason was that if he killed the agent, he would leave traces of the killing. These traces could end up causing international disputes, especially on the military front. This problem would not ur if Princess Yongmei were to do the deed.
Princess Yongmei reached her hands out to the agent, but stopped at his forehead. She stared at Xia Lei with eyes of ice. ¡°Just this one time.¡±
Xia Lei did not speak. He just watched Princess Yongmei.
¡°Kill me! Go on, kill me! You lost your nerve, didn¡¯t you? Chinese¨C¡± The voice vanished from the agent¡¯s throat before the cursing wasplete. His eyes instantly went nk, bing nothing. His breathing ceased, too.
This was the closest Xia Lei had been in witnessing Princess Yongmei kill someone. However, though it was happening right in front of him, he could not see the finer mechanisms of how it was done. He only saw Princess Yongmei reach her hands into the agent¡¯s head, and the agent was dead. The entire process, from beginning to end, took less than a second!
Princess Yongmei right now was, beyond doubt, almostplete, and terrifyingly powerful!
Princess Yongmei moved two steps back. ¡°All right, are you satisfied now?¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei thanked her, then took off his jacket and wiped at the footprint he had left on the agent¡¯s body.
He must not leave any traces.
These bodies would be discovered eventually, but no one would be able to trace him. What happened here would have to be one of the unsolved mysteries of the Japanese military.
Princess Yongmei¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei¡¯s ne. She still desired the AE capsule.
Xia Lei pretended not to see, and he said softly, ¡°I¡¯ll have to put their bodies back on their boats, then leave this ce. Let¡¯s have a good talk on the way back. I¡¯ve been wanting to talk with you for a while, but you were not in a very stable condition.¡±
¡°It¡¯s no problem. I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± Princess Yongmei was very calm this time.
Xia Lei got to work quickly. He moved all of the corpses of the Self Defence soldiers back to their military speed boats, then drove the yacht towards China.
The surveince ship Shi Boren had promised was still nowhere in sight, but Xia Lei did not need it anymore. Before he started his talk with Princess Yongmei, he gave Shi Boren a call to tell him to stop the ship froming over. Doing this was also a precaution, so that the Japanese side would not have any evidence to gather.
In his call, Shi Boren asked why the ship was no longer needed, but Xia Lei just that they managed to lose their pursuers. He said nothing else about what had happened.
He believed that the Japanese military would not report the dead bodies after finding them, and even if there was an investigation, it would be covert. He would be able to avoid a lot of trouble this way.
After he ended his call with Shi Boren, Xia Lei asked Princess Yongmei his first question. ¡°Tell me ¨C what are you?¡±
Chapter 537 - Princess’s Memories
Xia Lei had actually already asked Princess Yongmei all the questions he wanted to ask. However, this Princess Yongmei before him was vastly different from the Princess Yongmei from before. This one right now was the mostplete version of her thus far.
¡°What do you think I am?¡± Princess Yongmei raised her arms and twirled in a circle before Xia Lei. She was so beautiful she could charm the birds and the beasts. She had all the right curves, front and back, and she was oh so sexy. She had no clothing either, so all her secret ces were on disy, uncovered. Add her lifelike visual to the mix, and she could easily incite the desires of any man, and make him do her bidding.
¡°Stop ying around. Answer my question seriously,¡± said Xia Lei. He was aiming to get Princess Yongmei to obey him, and he knew that this would not be easy. He was trying to tame a spoiled princess of the Ming dynasty after all!
¡°All right, I¡¯ll answer your question seriously.¡± Princess Yongmei had a wicked smile on her pale face. ¡°I am a woman. A woman without clothes.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
This Princess Yongmei was not only arrogant but cheeky, too.
¡°Are you happy with this answer?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t even have a body. Do you count as a woman?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Must I have a body to be a woman? Human bodies will grow old and die sooner orter, but the soul can live on forever. You represent the former, and I represent thetter.¡±
Xia Lei felt like a whole new horizon had opened up to him, and he could not help thinking about the implications. In religious teachings, people¡¯s souls either went up to Heaven after they died, or down to Hell. People who were still alive could not see the dead. Several scientific studies had been conducted about what happens after death, but no one could prove that a soul remained after death. A soul was also considered to beplete nonsense by modern people, but there was a live example from the Ming dynasty right in front of Xia Lei right now!
Princess Yongmei had used this way to tell him the answer. She was a soul.
¡°You say you are a soul. Why is there only one of you?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know? How is this possible?¡±
¡°I¡¯m looking for the answer too.¡±
¡°If you are a soul, then there must be more souls than you on this Earth. I can see you, so I can see other souls. However, I have not seen any other soul other than you. What¡¯s going on here?¡±
Princess Yongmei shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Plus, I found your corpse in Afghanistan, and also in the sunken ship. What¡¯s going on with these two bodies?¡±
Princess Yongmei suddenly drew close to Xia Lei, and her face almost touched his. Her eyes were full of surprise. ¡°What did you say? I had two bodies? How is that possible?¡±
Xia Lei froze on the spot.
From Princess Yongmei¡¯s reaction, she did not know that she had had two bodies. Additionally, she did not like her body to be referred to as a ¡®corpse¡¯.
¡°Did you have a twin sister?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°No, definitely not,¡± said Princess Yongmei. She then stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Tell me, is this true? I have two bodies?¡±
¡°It¡¯s true. I saw them myself. They were exactly the same. And please don¡¯te so close to me. You don¡¯t know how cold you are.¡±
Xia Lei felt like he was going to be frozen solid in that short time that she had drawn close to him. It was a cold which seeped into the bones, and difficult to describe. This coldness was not obvious when he was opening up the void, but in the close quarters of the cockpit, the cold was obvious.
¡°I must find out what is going on.¡± Princess Yongmei took several steps back, and continued, ¡°I know you want to find out what these alloy pieces are, and the truth behind them. What I can tell you is that I don¡¯t know. In actual fact, I received an order from my father, the emperor, to take thepass and search for those alloy pieces.¡±
¡°Your father-emperor did not tell you why he was looking for the alloy pieces?¡±
¡°He mentioned it to me once. It¡¯s to live forever.¡±
¡°To live forever?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped.
¡°To live forever...¡± Princess Yongmeiughed abruptly. ¡°I went to Afghanistan. I made the Hun tribe there my subjects, but I only found one piece there. Thepass pointed me onwards, west. I went to Jerusalem, but I could not find anything there. That ce was the holy ground of the Christians, the church of Christ. There was no way for me to do much unless I took control of the city, but Icked the power. Our Ming troops could not cross the Himyas to Jerusalem either. I returned to Afghanistan, and built the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow, to prepare to make that city my base. I was going to gather my strength, recruit troops, grow my military strength. But I fell ill, and I did not know what the sickness was. The doctors I brought could not treat me. And then...¡±
Princess Yongmei did not continue.
¡°And then what?¡± asked Xia Lei anxiously.
Princess Yongmeiughed bitterly. ¡°And then I knew nothing, till I saw you.¡±
This was Princess Yongmei¡¯s treasure-seeking experience?
Xia Lei sank into his thoughts. Princess Yongmei¡¯s memories were missing a lot of important events, but he believed that what she told him was true. She had gone to Jerusalem, and this exined why the Sacred Heart ne was in her tomb. Another thing was that Princess Yongmei had no idea what illness she had contracted, but he knew. Those who came into contact with the ancient alloy had one of two possible oues ¨C madness, or death. Ning Jing was still being held under observation in the hospital right now. She was one live example.
Xia Lei¡¯s brain quickly pieced together the clues Princess Yongmei had provided.
Princess Yongmei¡¯s treasure seeking route had been to Afghanistan, then Jerusalem.
She had gone treasure-seeking on the orders of Emperor Yongle, in search of eternal life.
Princess Yongmei had gone mad because of her interaction with the ancient alloy, and she did not know what happened after she¡¯d gone mad.
These were what he had gleaned from his conversation with Princess Yongmei, and it was better than the nothing he had known before. However, Xia Lei had another big question looming in his head now. From Princess Yongmei¡¯s memories, he was sure that she had only gone to Afghanistan and Jerusalem, but not to the vassal states of the Ming dynasty. So what was with the Princess Yongmei in the sunken ship?
¡°I can tell you one thing. The illness you suffered was madness. Those whoe into contact with the alloy will either go mad or die. What you suffered was probably the former. What I don¡¯t get is that you don¡¯t remember what happened after you went mad, but why can you remember your experiences during your life after you met me?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Princess Yongmei was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°I can see, in that strange void, I can see. In there, the things I¡¯d done would mysteriously appear before my eyes. I can see myself walking, eating, writing a letter to my emperor... But I¡¯ve never seen... how I became like this.¡±
This was her tactful way of saying that she did not know how she died.
¡°Onest question for you. You are sure you did not go to the Ryuku Inds?¡±
¡°I am sure. The City of the White Horse of Tomorrow is a considerable distance from the Ryukyu Inds. I had received a royalmand. How could I turn my back on my emperor¡¯s orders, and go to the Ryukyu Inds?¡± said Princess Yongmei.
It seemed the female corpse in the sunken ship had be an unsolved mystery.
Xia Lei found it all very strange, but his body had gone through so many strange developments that he no longer found it so strange. The mystery of the female corpse in the sunken ship was quite mild when onepared it to the secret of AE.
¡°My final question. I know you want very much to get close to the ne around my neck. I¡¯ve talked to you before, and you also know that there is a capsule in this pendant. My question is ¨C Why do you want it?¡±
¡°It makes me feelfortable. I feel like I¡¯m alive when I get close to it, like I have a body of flesh and blood. And it also seems to make me more powerful.¡± Princess Yongmei looked pleadingly at Xia Lei. ¡°Can you let me get close to it? I swear to you that I will not destroy it. I have no body, and I have no way to eat it, so you don¡¯t have to worry about losing it.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated. ¡°Just this one time. But you muste out when I tell you toe out.¡±
Princess Yongmei spoke excitedly, ¡°Yes, of course, I promise.¡±
Xia Lei took off the ne around his neck and held it out to Princess Yongmei. He did not want her toe rushing at his neck, because it was a truly ufortable feeling.
Princess Yongmei¡¯s body suddenly copsed on itself, and she waspressed into a ball of light in the blink of an eye. She winked into the pendant.
Xia Lei felt the pendant in his hand be ice-cold all of a sudden. It felt like an ice cube. This cold feeling vanished quickly, however, and the pendant returned to its normal temperature.
What was Princess Yongmei doing in there?
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched at the thought and the outer shell of the pendant disappeared from his vision. He saw the AE capsule in the pendant, and the powder which the capsule contained.
There was just the powder, no Princess Yongmei, and no light.
A minute passed. ¡°All right,e out,¡± said Xia Lei.
But Princess Yongmei did note out. The AE capsule remained the same too, no more, no less. However, the Princess Yongmei who had gone into the pendant had disappeared.
¡°Hello? Did you not hear me? Come out, or I¡¯ll trap you back in that void,¡± threatened Xia Lei.
Princess Yongmei still did not appear.
Xia Lei then used his X-ray vision on the ancient alloy. The terror gripped him once again, holding his body captive before it disappeared. Every time he did this before, Princess Yongmei would be either released or imprisoned. However, this time seemed to be an exception. He endured the torture of the ¡®door-opening¡¯, and the door was open, but Princess Yongmei did not go in.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei stood in the cockpit, bbergasted. He did not know what to do anymore.
Princess Yongmei had disappeared in such a bizarre fashion.
The yacht continued on its way to China, its hull cutting through the waves.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts ran with the wind, off to ces he didn¡¯t even know. He had no idea what he should do next.
Chapter 538 - Happy Return
The glow of the setting sun coloured the surface of the sea, and every wave seemed to be crowned by ayer of gold dust, sparkling brilliantly. A shark pranced out of the sea for a bit, chasing after the yacht for a distance before it gave up and left.
Xia Lei did not worry about getting into any danger after they entered Chinese waters. He was in his country¡¯s waters now, and the Japanese vessels would definitely not dare to intrude. However, he could not rx. He had used his X-ray vision on the alloy pieces and the AE capsule more than once during this period of time, but Princess Yongmei did not appear.
What in the world happened?
This question haunted him, and he turned it over and over in his head to no avail.
A flurry of footsteps came from the direction of the cabin, and Long Bing rushed up to the deck. When she saw that the deck was empty, she seemed to awaken, and she turned and dashed to the cockpit. She stared nkly when she saw Xia Lei, and only snapped back to her senses after a pause, dashing into the cockpit and enveloping him in a hug.
Xia Lei patted Long Bing gently on the back. His voice was gentle as he said, ¡°It¡¯s all right now, it¡¯s all right. No need to be anxious.¡±
Long Bing abruptly let go of Xia Lei and stared right at him. ¡°What the hell happened? What about those Japanese soldiers?¡±
¡°For some unknown reason, they did not continue their chase. They turned around and went back,¡± said Xia Lei.
The truth was that those soldiers and the agents had all died, but Xia Lei could not tell Long Bing that. He also couldn¡¯t tell her that the soul of a Ming dynasty princess had killed them. He would not believe it if someone else had told him this either.
Long Bing seemed to remember something, and she gave him a light punch. ¡°You knocked me out!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I didn¡¯t want you to sacrifice yourself. I knocked you out and was prepared to fight to the death with them, but they withdrew unexpectedly, before I made any moves on our side.¡±
¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Long Bing looked doubtfully at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t like that, then it means I killed all those soldiers. Will you believe me if I said that?¡±
¡°I believe you. I¡¯ll believe you, no matter what you say.¡± Long Bing suddenly hugged Xia Lei and kissed him on the lips.
Xia Lei had knocked her out to protect her. He had been willing to face the group of merciless Japanese soldier all on his own, and the surrounding four speed boats too. She was willing to die for him, and he was willing to go through the hell of fires for her too. How could she, as a woman, not be content and happy about this level ofmitment? She did not care at all if Xia Lei¡¯s exnation made sense!
This kiss was like a me to kindling, and it started a bonfire in an instant.
After their passions abated, they stayed in each other¡¯s arms still, unwilling to part.
¡°Oh, right, I called Boss Shi to ask him to send a receiving ship. We are already in our own waters, so why has the ship not turned up yet?¡± Long Bing¡¯s chin was on Xia Lei¡¯s chest, and her voice was soft and drowsy too.
¡°After the Japanese military vessels moved away, I called Boss Shi and told him there was no need to send the ship. That stretch of sea is disputed after all, and I don¡¯t want there to be any trouble because of me.¡±
¡°Mm, you made the right decision. Oh, right, what are your ns after you return?¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to go to my old home first, then back to Jingdu. How about you?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be going with you, of course. For the time that you spend outside of Jingdu, and before you report on the mission, you and I are still on the job, so I go where you go,¡± said Long Bing. She kept watch on any changes in Xia Lei¡¯s expression out of the corner of her eye when she said that.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression did change. His went from rxed and happy to slightly troubled after hearing Long Bing¡¯s words, and he seemed to be hiding something in his heart.
¡°What, you don¡¯t like me going to your old home?¡± said Long Bing, testing.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses and said quickly, ¡°No, no, no, I don¡¯t mean that at all, definitely not. I¡¯ll wee you dly to my old home.¡±
¡°Like I believe you.¡± Long Bing red at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re afraid that I will get in the way of you and Jiang Ruyi if I went with you to your old home, right?¡±
A fine scattering of sweat appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s forehead.
Long Bing had seen his little secret in one look. Chief Long of Bureau 101 had never been an easy woman to fool.
¡°Be honest with me. Nothing happened between the two of you?¡± Long Bing crawled up on top of Xia Lei, pressing him down. She looked down at him.
Xia Lei wanted to p himself. Why had he talked about going back to his old home? Wouldn¡¯t it have been all fine if he just flew straight back to JIngdu? Now Long Bing was pressing on with these questions like a weapon. How was he to answer?
¡°Me and her, we¡¯re actually...¡±
¡°I want the truth.¡±
Xia Lei braced himself and nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t want it to happen either. I¡¯m not that sort of man who¡¯s lusting after women all the time. After Tianyin and I signed the papers, Jiang Ruyu came looking for me. She was going to jump off a building if I didn¡¯t agree to be with her. What else could I have done? She¡¯s liked me since we were children, and waited for me for over 20 years. I owe her, and I couldn¡¯t bear to hurt her, so I...¡±
¡°Which floor did she want to jump off of?¡±
¡°The floor where I lived.¡±
Long Bing suddenly sputtered withughter. ¡°I¡¯d always thought she was an honest woman. So, she¡¯s quite sneaky too. Your ce is on the second floor. She won¡¯t die if she jumps off from there.¡±
¡°It¡¯s still dangerous even if it¡¯s the second floor. How will I exin things to her parents if she breaks her leg or something? Her parents took care of me when I was younger too. Well, anyway, what¡¯s done is done. There¡¯s no righting it now.¡± Xia Lei told her his secret, and it felt like a rock had been lifted off his heart.
Long Bing looked silently at Xia Lei, and said nothing.
Her gaze made Xia Lei feel guilty, and he said tentatively, ¡°You¡¯re... not happy?¡±
Long Bing suddenly lowered her chin and pressed a kiss to Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief. Why would Long Bing kiss him if she was unhappy?
Long Bing smiled faintly. ¡°You are Shentu Tianyin¡¯s husband. What can I do about that? What can being unhappy about that change? I¡¯m happy that you can be honest with me about this, because you did not care to tell Shentu Tiantin this, but you told me.¡±
What sort of logic was this?
Xia Lei could not find the energy to puzzle out her logic anymore. He had to admit to the truth of what Long Bing had said, though. He dared to talk to Long Bing about this, but did not dare to tell Shentu Tianyin. She was Shentu Tianyin after all, and the queen of Vientaine Group was definitely not going to let other women enjoy her husband. Long Bing was different, however, and being together with her was freedom, and happiness.
¡°Jiang Ruyi has it good. I could already tell during that time in Haizhu. She likes you, and she wanted to draw your attention with whichever means necessary. I¡¯d always thought that you would end up with her too, but fate toys with people. You ended up with Shentu Tianyin.¡± Long Bing wriggled, twisting her hips gently. Her smooth, naked skin was like the most delicious butter cake on Earth.
¡°Fate really is a strange thing. I don¡¯t know what fate holds for me either. This mission let me think and feel a lot, and alsoe to understand a lot of things. Life is short, and difficult, so why do we have to keep holding back? There are people I cannot abandon, some people feelings I cannot let down... so I¡¯m going to let nature take its course. Ten years are going to pass in the blink of an eye anyway. One day, I¡¯m going to be old, and put in a coffin. Who¡¯s going to be heckling me about my past then, huh?¡± The mission this time really did make Xia Lei feel this way.
¡°So to summarise, you mean ¡®carpe diem¡¯, right?¡±
¡°Yep, yep, that¡¯s what I mean.¡±
¡°So what are you waiting for?¡±
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei reacted, but he was toote. He was going to im a backache, but Long Bing¡¯s warm softness sheathed him, swallowed him.
¡°Are you taking me back to your old ce, or not?¡±
¡°Yes! Uuh, I¡¯ll take you back, okay?¡±
¡°You¡¯re not to tell Jiang Ruyi about me and you. Got it?¡±
¡°Yes... Yeees...!¡±
Xia Lei and Long Bing appeared on the streets of Haizhu City early next morning. They had gone back to their original identities. Xia Lei specially bought a big pile of gifts, and he hailed a taxi to take Long Bing home.
On the way, Xia Lei gave Jiang Ruyi a call. ¡°I¡¯m back, Ruyi.¡±
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice came from over the phone, and she sounded quite excited. ¡°You¡¯re dummy for going away for so long. I miss you so, so much. I was going to Jingdu to look for you because you didn¡¯te back.¡±
Xia Lei nced at Long Bing out of the corner of his eye, and he said cautiously, ¡°I was busy with work. How about this... I¡¯lle over to visit you once I get some time.¡±
¡°So did you miss me?¡±
¡°Yes, yes.¡±
¡°Then give me a kiss.¡±
Xia Lei paused. A little kiss was nothing if Long Bing was not around, but she was right next to him. Would this upset her?
While Xia Lei hesitated, Long Bing suddenly drew close, and gave him a smacking kiss on his cheek.
This exaggerated kissing sound reached Jiang Ruyi¡¯s ear, and she giggled. ¡°Good boy. I¡¯ll take a day off right away and head home. Wait for me ¨C no going to thepany!¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Long Bing smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not criticising you or anything but... you need to get thicker skin.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Back in Xia Lei¡¯s little neighbourhood, Xia Lei settled Long Bing in his home, then took the bags of gifts to the door, all prepared to go to Jiang Ruyi¡¯s ce.
Long Bing walked him to the door, and she leaned against the door frame as she said, ¡°I¡¯d really like to know what you¡¯re feeling now.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°What I¡¯m feeling now? What are you trying to get at?¡±
Long BIng spoke slowly, ¡°Cheater. You¡¯re going to your lover now, cheating on your wife and your girlfriend. How do you feel about that?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s feelings were a ball of tangled yarn, and he could not say it.
¡°Lei!¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice suddenly came from downstairs.
Xia Lei jolted.
Long Bing waved her hand. ¡°Go on, go on. Have fun. It¡¯s not easy for you too. It¡¯s rare for you toe back to your old home, so I¡¯ll stay here with you in Haizhu for two more days. I¡¯ll help you hold Boss Shi off.¡±
What a good woman!
Xia Lei was so moved he could cry.
Chapter 539 - I’m Going To Be A
Xia Lei had just gone downstairs when Jiang Ruyi ran into his arms. She was in her policewoman uniform, and this police officer caught his heart in her softness, and her familiar smell.
¡°I missed you so much, my little Lei Lei.¡± Jiang Ruyi pressed her body against Xia Lei. This was not enough for her. After she spoke, she drew close and gave Xia Lei a sweet kiss.
¡°Ahem.¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s mother, Yang Lan, appeared in the doorway and coughed dryly.
Jiang Ruyi did not seem to have heard her mother¡¯s cough. She bit at Xia Lei¡¯s lip, not willing to let him go.
Xia Lei was very embarrassed. ¡°Hrrllo Aunndee.¡±
He wanted to do a polite greeting, but Jiang Ruyi stuck her tongue into his mouth as soon as he opened it to talk. He could not talk properly.
¡°Ahem!¡± Yang Lan increased her volume.
Jiang Ruyi responded then, and let go of Xia Lei reluctantly. She turned around and rolled her eyes at Yang Lan. ¡°Ma, did you say that you were going to the supermarket? Why haven¡¯t you gone yet?¡±
¡°You...¡± Yang Lan was barely keeping her anger under control, and she was just barely holding back from giving Jiang Ruyi a p. This girl had forgotten about her mother because she got a man ¨C this unfilial daughter! She had raised her for nothing!
Xia Lei quickly put his various bags of gifts in Yang Lan¡¯s hands, and filled his face with smiles. ¡°Aunty, there are gifts I bought for you and Uncle. Please ept them.¡±
¡°Oh my, Lei¡¯se to visit. Come in,e in. Look at you, ay, you can juste over ¨C why buy gifts?¡± A smile bloomed on Yang Lan¡¯s face and she weed Xia Lei warmly into her home.
Jiang Shuqing was home too, and he walked over to envelop Xia Lei in a bear hug, thenugh heartily, ¡°Good that you¡¯re back, good that you¡¯re back. Don¡¯t work too hard either, eh? What¡¯s the use of earning more money? Health is most important.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Nn, you¡¯re right, Uncle. I¡¯ll be careful.¡±
Jiang Shuqing released Xia Lei, and smiled. ¡°You know what, Lei? A certain someone was grumbling to us day after day, asking when you¡¯d be back. Looked to me like that certain someone was going mad.¡±
¡°Da! I¡¯m going to ignore you if you keep talking. Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t mean it. I¡¯ll ignore you for three days!¡± Jiang Ruyi rolled her eyes at Jiang Shuqing, and was as temperamental as can be.
Jiang Shuqing raised his hands in surrender. ¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t say anymore, all right?¡±
¡°How¡¯re you feeling, Uncle?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m all right. The doctor said that I¡¯m recovering well. This is all thanks to you,¡± said Jiang Shuqing.
¡°Why say that, Uncle? We¡¯re family. There¡¯s no need to thank me,¡± said Xia Lei.
They chatted for a bit, and Jiang Ruyi narrowed her eyes at Yang Lan.
Yang Lan knew what her daughter meant by that, and she said, ¡°Shuqing, dear, didn¡¯t we agree to go to the supermarket and have a look around? Let¡¯s go right now and get from groceries. I¡¯ll make a good meal tonight, and you can have a few drinks with Lei.¡±
¡°Yes, yes, yes, we¡¯ll go right now. Right away.¡± Jiang Shuqing went along with the whole thing too.
The husband and wife had watched Xia Lei grow up, and they like him very much too. If it hadn¡¯t been for Xia Lei¡¯s intervention, Jiang Shuqing might have been dead by now. This debt of gratitude, and their like of Xia Lei, made it such that they could only quietly approve of their own daughter being the mistress. They knew about it and acknowledged it, but the fact was not made public.
The couple were quite open-minded too. It was fine as long as Ruyi was happy, and they did not care about statuses at all.
As soon as Jiang Shuqing and Yang Lan left, Jiang Ruyi pounced atop Xia Lei and gave him a hot kiss. Xia Lei enjoyed it, of course, and he knew what she wanted too. He was a newlywed man, but he still had nock of women by his side. Jiang Ruyi, on the other hand, had just one man - him. How could she miss the opportunity to get hot kisses when he came by so rarely?
¡°Did our girl find anything suspicious?¡± asked Jiang Ruyi after their passionate kiss ended.
¡°Our girl?¡±
¡°Her. Shentu Tianyin, dummy.¡±
Xia Lei was tickled by her calling him a dummy and he held her in his arms. ¡°What, you want to get discovered by her?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not an idiot. Why would I get discovered by her? She¡¯s strong. I can¡¯t win against her.¡±
¡°Rx. She doesn¡¯t know,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What if she finds out? What do we do?¡±
¡°If she found out, I...¡± Xia Lei wanted to say something, but no words came out. He didn¡¯t know what he¡¯d do what that time came. With Shentu Tianyin¡¯s character, she was definitely not going to be willing to share her husband with Jiang Ruyi. She would either seek revenge on Jiang Ruyi, or ask for a divorce. However, the rtionship between himself and Shentu Tianyin would surelye to an end, no matter what the result was.
Jiang Ruyi stared intensely at Xia Lei. ¡°Say it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll just let it all y out on its own.¡±
¡°That¡¯s true. You won¡¯t know how this sort of thing will end for sure, so why not let it be.¡± Jiang Ruyi pursed her lips and smiled. ¡°I am happy as long as I¡¯m with you. Shentu Tianyin already got you, so she¡¯s a fool if she¡¯s still not satisfied. I¡¯ll take you if she doesn¡¯t want you.¡±
Even if Shentu Tianyin didn¡¯t want Xia Lei, there was a long queue of woman waiting for Xia Lei, not just Jiang Ruyi. This was the truth.
¡°Come with me. I¡¯ll show you something.¡± Jiang Ruyi didn¡¯t want to think about what would happen if she were discovered by Shentu Tianyin anymore. She pulled Xia Lei¡¯s hand, leading him to her room.
¡°What do you want to show me?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask. I want to give you a surprise,¡± replied Jiang Ruyi. Her eyes were filled with a gentle charm.
Xia Lei suddenly had a thought. ¡®Did she prepare some new kinky thing?¡¯
Xia Lei was struck dumb when he entered the room. He¡¯d gone into her room plenty of times and was very familiar with it, but the room had had aplete makeover today. All the furniture in the room had been changed, and the single bed had been swapped out for a double. The bed was covered in red bed sheets, and there was even a dragon-and-phoenix print on them. Pictures of plump babies hung on the walls, smiling innocently and looking so very cute. There were several toys for children in the room too, like Transformers toys, mini front-loaders, Barbie dolls and so on. It felt to Xia Lei like he had just entered the bedroom of a newlywed couple, and that the wife was pregnant.
All these references to children make Xia Leie to a conclusion, and he grabbed Jiang Ruyi by her shoulders, saying excitedly, ¡°Ruyi, are, are you pregnant?¡±
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s face turned red, and she nodded gently. ¡°Mm.¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Xia Lei danced for joy. ¡°I¡¯m going to be a father! I¡¯m going to be a father!¡±
He was more anxious than anyone else about having a child, and this was not without reason. He had consumed the AE capsules, and his body had evolved. First was his left eye, then his brain. This seemed to be just the beginning, and his body was continuously evolving subtly. He had no clue what his final form would be. He was worried about the changes in his body affecting his ability to reproduce, and stopping him from having children, so he wanted a son and a daughter at least, before he became unable to produce children. This was also his duty as a son of the Xia family, to pass on the responsibility to continue the family line to his own son.
Another reason was that he had put in a lot of hard work into making Thunder Horse Military Factory sessful, so he had to have a sessor, right? He was facing the double threat of the CIA and the FA, and had no idea when he would be killed. Wouldn¡¯t all his efforts have gone to waste if he didn¡¯t have a sessor when he was killed?
The values of carrying on the family line and family inheritance ran in the blood of every Chinese person, and these were deep-rooted. Xia Lei was a traditional Chinese man in that aspect, and he was no exception to these values.
Jiang Ruyi suddenly swung her hand and spanked Xia Lei on the backside. ¡°Lower your voice. Rumours will spread if the neighbours on either side hear you. I¡¯m not married but pregnant ¨C I don¡¯t want to be the subject of gossip.¡±
¡°Yep, I¡¯ll listen to you. Let me see my son.¡± Xia Lei removed the jacket of her uniform eagerly, then unbuttoned her shirt to reveal her tummy.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s tummy was as pale as jade, and her skin delicate and tender, like a cake thered in cream. Xia Lei wanted to kiss it. Her bellybutton was adorable too, like a little sprite who could talk. It seemed like it wouldugh if he reached out to touch it. However, Jiang Ruyi¡¯s tummy was still t, and showed no signs of pregnancy.
Xia Lei left eye twitched, and he looked into her womb. He saw several images. It was like the bottom of the sea in there, full of liquid and velvety tissue, like some underwater forest. He didn¡¯t see anything other than these.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He squatted and put his ear to Jiang Ruyi¡¯s tummy. Her tummy was smooth and warm, and quitefortable to his ear.
¡°I hear some rumbling. Is it our child moving?¡± Xia Lei knew it was the sound of Jiang Ruyi¡¯s insides, but he didn¡¯t want to be a wet nket. He said nice words to make her happy.
Jiang Ruyi pressed a finger on him and said coquettishly, ¡°Silly, my period was onlyte for a week. The little one must still be a bunch of cells. What can you hear at this stage?¡±
A bunch of cells. No wonder he didn¡¯t see anything with his X-ray vision.
Xia Lei kissed her tummy, his heart full of bliss and excitement. ¡°Don¡¯t go to work anymore, Ruyi. The work of a police officer is dangerous. You should quit, for the good of our child. Stay home and take care of our unborn child.¡±
¡°No way. I like my job. Besides, I¡¯m Chief. I don¡¯t need to go to the scene myself to solve the cases, so there¡¯s no danger,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
¡°But...¡±
Jiang Ruyi covered Xia Lei¡¯s mouth and gave him a smouldering look. ¡°I¡¯ve missed you.¡±
Her gaze made Xia Lei realise something, and he got nervous. ¡°No. You¡¯re pregnant. We can¡¯t do those sorts of things anymore. It¡¯ll hurt the baby.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you just be gentler?¡±
¡°Nope, no way.¡±
Jiang Ruyi red at Xia Lei. ¡°Are you going to have sex with me, or not? If you don¡¯t show me love, then I¡¯ll tell our son that his father is a bad guy. I¡¯ll tell him to ignore you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Jiang Ruyi had him by the short and curlies now, so how could he go against her?
Gently, gently, he went, slipping into softness and warmth.
The eyes of a plump baby watched smilingly as the room filled with bliss and happiness.
Chapter 540 - Two Spendthrifts
The exercise of love started in warmth, and finished in warmth.
Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi were already sitting in the living room watching television, their clothes all nice and orderly when Jiang Shuqing and Yang Lan got home. The two of them behaved normally, like nothing had happened earlier.
Yang Lan started preparing lunch, and Jiang Ruyi went to the kitchen to help her. Xia Lei and Jiang Shuqing chatted and drank tea.
Xia Lei abruptly remembered about Long Bing before they started the meal. He was here at Jiang Ruyi¡¯s ce eating, but Long Bing was alone at his ce. What about her?
¡®It¡¯s not good to leave her alone at home. Why not call her over to eat together? She and Jiang Ruyi are sort of familiar with each other too, so she wouldn¡¯t suspect anything, right?¡±
At that thought, Xia Lei pulled Jiang Ruyi to one side and told her about Long Bing staying at his ce.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier? I¡¯ll go call her over to have lunch.¡± Jiang Ruyi did not think more deeply about it and she went upstairs to call Long Bing toe down and join them.
Jiang Ruyi did not simply see Long Bing as a familiar face. Her being able to be police chief was all thanks to Long Bing, so Jiang Ruyi owed Long Bing a huge debt in this regard.
Jiang Ruyi knocked on the door of Xia Lei¡¯s t and Long Bing paused when she saw Jiang Ruyi in the doorway. ¡°Oh, Chief Jiang. Hello.¡± But in her head, she was grumbling, ¡®What is Jiang Ruyi doing here? Did she guess at the rtionship between myself and Xia Lei?¡¯
She had a guilty conscience, and she could not help being nervous and having wild thoughts even though she was facing Jiang Ruyi, who was of the same ¡®level¡¯ as her, and not the wife, Shentu Tianyin.
Jiang Ruyi was not thinking so deeply, and she smiled. ¡°Miss Long! Why didn¡¯t you drop by to say hello though you were here? My home is just downstairs. Come to my ce for a meal.¡±
¡°Uh... No need to go to the trouble. I can just eat anything.¡± Long Bing felt awkward just thinking of the setting. Xia Lei, Jiang Ruyi, and herself... The three of them eating. What the heck was that?
Jiang Ruyi pulled Long Bing by the hand. ¡°Come,e. You¡¯re a good friend of our Lei, so what is there to be awkward about?¡± Then she suddenly seemed to realise something and she corrected herself. ¡°Heh heh, oops. It¡¯s not our Lei, it¡¯s... Lei and I are good friends, and you¡¯re good friends with Lei too. We¡¯re all good friends.¡±
Long Bing looked wordlessly at Jiang Ruyi, and thought, ¡®This idiot had better not meet Shentu Tianyin. She dares to steal Shentu Tianyin¡¯s man with this standard of concealment? She¡¯ll get found out as soon as they meet.¡¯
Long Bing could not refuse Jiang Ruyi¡¯s great show of hospitality either, so she followed her to her home.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help exchanging looks with Long Bing as soon as the door opened. Both of them felt rather guilty. They didn¡¯t even dare to have their eyes meet for too long. He looked at her, and she looked at him, then they both looked in different directions.
Jiang Ruyi introduced Long Bing to Jiang Shuqing and Yang Lan.
They warmed up right away when they heard she was Long Bing. They had long heard of this mysterious, illustrious and powerful woman, and their Ruyi had been able to be Chief of Police all thanks to her too. This was a huge kindness which had been bestowed upon them, so how could they not treat Long Bing well, when she hade to their home?
The five of them sat around the table and ate. Jiang Ruyi picked food up with her chopsticks and put it in Xia Lei¡¯s bowl, and Yang Lan did the same for Long Bing. Xia Lei poured alcohol for Jiang Shuqing. The atmosphere at the table was quite harmonious.
¡°I want to eat sweet-sour ribs,¡± said Jiang Ruyi softly. She was sitting on Xia Lei¡¯s left.
Xia Lei picked up a piece of sweet-sour rib and put it in Jiang Ruyi¡¯s bowl. Jiang Ruyi smiled.
Long Bing gave Xia Lei a look.
Xia Lei paused, then picked up a piece of sweet-sour rib for Long Bing and said in an affected manner, ¡°Chief Long, Auntie¡¯s cooking is very good. Please try this too.¡±
Long Bing wanted tough but she showed no emotion on her face. She just nodded slightly.
Xia Lei, however, was groaning to himself. ¡®How am I to continue with this meal? This is just Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing. What if Shentu Tianyin, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi have a meal with me one day? Won¡¯t I die then?¡¯
Love was a double-edged sword, but the sword Xia Lei was holding had edges on the hilt too.
¡°Lei, let¡¯s go on a stroll around the markets when we¡¯re done eating,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
¡°Nn. What do you want to buy?¡± asked Xia Lei casually.
¡°Maternity wear.¡±
tter! The chopsticks in Xia Lei¡¯s hand fell to the table.
Long Bing was gnawing on the piece of sweet-sour rib Xia Lei had given her, but she froze in that second. The piece hung half-in, half-out of her mouth, and she looked ratherical.
Jiang Shuqing and Yang Lan stared nkly too. The two elders had their eyes fixed on Jiang Ruyi. If they had the magic of teleportation, they would have not hesitated to teleport Jiang Ruyi to the other end of the Earth. How could she have let slip something like this to Long Bing!
Jiang Ruyi then realised that she had let it slip, and she panicked. Her face turned red, and she stuttered, ¡°Haha, ahem... Why are you guys looking at me? You couldn¡¯t have heard me say maternity wear, right? What a joke. I was saying... saying sportswear. I want to go buy sportswear. I put on a bit of weight recently. I need to lose weight.¡±
No one in the t was hard of hearing, and all of them had clearly heard her say ¡®maternity wear¡¯. Her insistence that it was ¡®sportswear¡¯ was a good bit of quick thinking, but it was useless.
Long Bing gave Xia Lei another look.
Jiang Ruyi kicked Xia Lei under the table to tell him to back her up.
Xia Lei gave a cough. ¡°Ahem. Okay, I¡¯ll go with you to get sportswear.¡±
Jiang Ruyi then said, ¡°Let¡¯s eat, let¡¯s eat.¡±
Long Bing continued gnawing on that piece of sweet-sour rib, but she thought to herself, ¡®Jiang Ruyi is pregnant. Is the old saying that women with plump hips are more fertile actually true? Haha, this is going to be interesting. Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei haven¡¯t had their wedding ceremony yet, and she¡¯s not pregnant with Xia Lei¡¯s child, but Jiang Ruyi the mistress is already pregnant. If Shentu Tianyin found out about this, Xia Lei would have at least ayer of skin peeled off of him, even if he doesn¡¯t get killed. Hold on... My buttocks are quite plump too. I didn¡¯t use any protection with Xia Lei so far. Will I get pregnant? What do I do if I do get pregnant?¡¯
¡°Do you have anything scheduled in the afternoon, Chief Long?¡± Jiang Shuqing quickly changed the topic. ¡°If you¡¯re free, I would like to invite you to the scenic spots of Haizhu. It is beautiful there.¡±
¡°Thank you. I will go with Ruyi on her shopping trip,¡± said Long Bing. ¡°I¡¯d like to buy something too.¡±
The corners of Jiang Ruyi¡¯s mouth turned down, but she said, ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go together.¡± Inside, she was saying, ¡®What are you tagging along for, you third wheel!¡¯
Xia Lei was having a silent migraine too. Just the three of them having a meal together was difficult enough... going out shopping? He was surely going to be used as a wallet. How could he not buy clothing for Long Bing when he was buying for Jiang Ruyi? Just the thought of this situation made Xia Lei wince!
After their meal, the three of them went shopping. They went in and out of the shops.
The situation Xia Lei had imagined came true, and it was worse than he had imagined.
¡°Look, Lei. Does this look good on me?¡± came Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice from a shop.
¡°Yes, yes, it looks good. Please wrap it up, Miss Shop Assistant.¡±
¡°I think that one looks better. I¡¯ll go try it on.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Lei, do you think I look good in that red lingerie?¡± whispered Long Bing to Xia Lei in another shop. She had taken the opportunity to do so while JIang Ruyi was picking out maternity wear.
¡°Yes, yes, it looks good. Please wrap it up, Miss Shop Assistant.¡±
¡°I think that ck one is nicer.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei was sandwiched between the two women, and they kept going in and out of shops. The number of bags in Xia Lei¡¯s hands increased too, and it got to the point where Xia Lei wished he could grow more hands to hold it all.
They came to the end of the street, and the shopping spree came to an end. The two women had bought a huge pile of clothing, cosmetics, bags and so on. This included Jiang Ruyi¡¯s maternity wear, of course, and nutritional products for pregnancy. Jiang Ruyi¡¯s excuse to Long Bing was that she was buying it all for a colleague, and Long Bing could not be bothered to expose this lie.
Xia Lei took the opportunity to switch his China-based phone on while the two women rested, and he gave Shentu Tianyin a call.
¡°I¡¯m back, Wifey.¡±
¡°You¡¯re back! Where are you? I¡¯lle over right now.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was filled with joy and excitement.
Xia Lei nced involuntarily at Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi, who were chatting. He braced himself and said, ¡°I¡¯m at my old ce in Haizhu. Um, I¡¯ll be making my way back in two days. You should just go about your day. No need toe over. I¡¯ll go straight to you once I return.¡±
¡°Come back soon. I miss you.¡±
¡°I miss you too.¡± There was no lie in that sentence. Xia Lei really did miss her.
He would not forget about Shentu Tianyin though he had Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi to apany him, nor ignore her. He wouldn¡¯t forget about or ignore Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi because he had Shentu Tianyin either. This was his situation now, and it was a huge mess of a love-diagram.
¡°How much do you miss me?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was full of seduction.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I miss you with every fibre of my being. Oh, right, I want to tell you something.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°She¡¯s dead. I¡¯ve destroyed those items too. You don¡¯t have to worry about anything anymore.¡±
¡°Mm. I got it. Come home quick. We have to prepare for our wedding too.¡±
¡°The day after tomorrow. I¡¯ll be back then.¡±
¡°Give me a kiss. I¡¯ll hang up only if you give me a kiss.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei and she said to Long Bing, who was next to her, ¡°Big Sister Long... Who do you think Xia Lei is talking to now?¡±
¡°Hispany employee or something?¡±
¡°Look at him smiling so sweetly. It must be Shentu Tianyin.¡±
¡°Then it¡¯s Shentu Tianyin. That¡¯s normal.¡± Long Bing¡¯s gaze went to Jiang Ruyi¡¯s belly. ¡°Oh right, how far along is that colleague of yours in her pregnancy?¡±
¡°Not very long. Just over a month.¡±
¡°How many times did she have sex before she got pregnant?¡±
¡°Seven, or eight, I guess... Ah!¡± Jiang Ruyi covered her mouth. She coughed. ¡°How would I know?¡±
Long Bing put a smile on her face but said nothing. Inside, she was anxious. ¡®Damn it. My situation is about the same as hers. Will I get pregnant too?¡¯
Xia Lei ended his call with Shentu Tianyin, and walked over to them. He smiled as he said, ¡°Ladies, where shall we go to next?¡±
¡°I know another good shopping ce. I hear that there are sales every Wednesday, and all the products are 40% off. Let¡¯s go take a look.¡± Jiang Ruyi looked excited.
¡°Sure, let¡¯s go have a look.¡± Long Bing agreed right away.
Xia Lei lost his voice then, and the smile on his face vanished.
Buy, buy, buy... These two spendthrifts!
Chapter 541 - Mission Complete
Two dayster.
Bureau 101 Headquarters, Shi Boren¡¯s office.
Xia Lei ced an anti-radiation container on Shi Boren¡¯s desk. Shi Boren had been sitting at his desk, but he got up and moved away when he saw the container on his desk, and stood far, far away from it.
Ling Han, who was sitting on the sofa, started to get a little nervous too.
Only Long Bing behaved as usual, and she stood silently by Xia Lei¡¯s side.
¡°I found the items at the bottom of the sea in Okinawa. There were 21 pieces in all.¡± Xia Lei gave them a brief overview, and said, ¡°Besides these 21 pieces of ancient alloy, I also found a new pointer needle.¡±
¡°A pointer needle again?¡± Ling Han wrinkled his brows. ¡°Ah, what a pain in the neck. When will we ever get to the end of our search? It was Japan this time ¡ª what¡¯s the next location?¡±
¡°We have to continue the search, no matter how difficult it gets. Where did thepass point? We¡¯ll make preparations,¡± said Shi Boren.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°There¡¯s no need to make preparations.¡±
¡°What do you mean by that?¡± asked Ling Han in confusion. ¡°Have you already confirmed the next treasure location?¡±
¡°See for yourselves,¡± said Xia Lei. He then took out thepass, put it on the desk and installed the pointer needle on thepass.
The needle on thepass sat quietly, unmoving.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Is it broken? Hurry up and fix it. You¡¯ve repaired it before, so I believe you can do it again,¡± said Shi Boren in surprise.
¡°Indeed. The Mysterious Alloy X Project is very important to our country. You must find a way to repair it,¡± said Ling Han.
Xia Lei said nothing.
Just then, the needle on thepass suddenly stood, and floated above thepass. It pointed straight up at the sky.
This was why Xia Lei had not bothered to exin what he had meant. The pointer needle he had found this time would erect itself and point up at the sky only after it had gathered enough unexined energy to do so. It returned to its original position when that unexined energy ran out. It gathered energy, stood up, went back ¡ª it repeated this over and over.
Ling Han and Shi Boren stared at thepass, gobsmacked. They stared at the needle, standing straight and tall, and they did not speak for quite a while. The needle on thepass went through one cycle of its repetitive movements as they stared dumbly at it.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Now you know why I said there¡¯s no need to make preparations. The next treasure location is in the sky, and we can¡¯t search for the next location with our current capabilities. The search usingpass and needle has ended.¡±
Ling Han snapped back to his senses. ¡°This... How can this be possible?¡±
¡°Could this alloy be from another? Do aliens really exist?¡± said Shi Boren.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know if there are aliens, but I know that this alloy has more to it than meets the eye. I¡¯ve used all the pieces which I¡¯ve already found to assemble a box. I¡¯m just missing thest piece.¡±
¡°Box?¡± Long Bing, too, showed some reaction at that, because this was the first time she heard Xia Lei talk about his research.
¡°Yes, a box. It¡¯s in the container. I don¡¯t rmend that you examine it yourself, though. I¡¯ve taken some photographs, so take a look at them.¡±
Several photographs appeared on the desk.
Shi Boren, Ling Han and Long Bing gathered around the photographs. The photographs were indeed of a box. Xia Lei had taken an overall shot, and one of each side of the box too. It was as he had said ¡ª this box was missing a corner and was iplete.
Ling Han and Shi Boren exchanged nces after looking at the photographs. They were both in a state of bewilderment and could not quite ept it.
¡°Up in the air... An iplete box... What the hell is going on here?¡± Ling Han gave a sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to report to the higher-ups either.¡±
Shi Boren stared at the photograph of the box with the missing corner, then said, ¡°Lei, from the photograph you¡¯ve taken, it looks like this box is missing just one piece. You canplete the box once you find this one piece, and get to the bottom of the mystery of the Alloy X Project, right?¡±
¡°The problem is thisst piece. I have no way of finding it.¡± Xia Lei was helpless too.
¡°Lei, what result do you think you¡¯ll have if you assemble this boxpletely?¡± Ling Han stared straight at Xia Lei, waiting for his answer.
¡°I don¡¯t know, but whatever the result, I can guarantee that it will make waves around the world,¡± said Xia Lei.
In fact, if he told of the truths he already knew, just the secret about Princess Yongmei would be enough to make waves around the world.
A real soul which could kill people without leaving a trace!
It was too bad that she had gone missing.
Ling Han thought for a bit. ¡°How about this ¡ª you leave thepass behind. I¡¯ll arrange for someone to fly around the world with it. We¡¯ll have it taken up to the space station if we don¡¯t get any results. If we do this, we¡¯ll still have a bit of hope if the treasure location is on the moon.¡±
¡°What if it¡¯s on another, which is not the moon?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Ling Hanughed dryly. ¡°Then we have no solution. The American Mars Project will only begin in the year 2030. As for us, it¡¯s estimated that we¡¯ll need decades more to do that. You might still have the chance to go to search for thest piece of ancient alloy on others in your lifetime.¡±
Xia Lei did not feel like he would have this chance. Even if he did, and if China had the capability to send him to the moon, or to Mars, it was no guarantee that he would indeed find thest piece of ancient alloy.
Shi Boren patted Xia Lei on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t be discouraged, Lei. It¡¯s possible that other factors may be affecting thepass needle and making it behave in this way. Chin up. Take the alloy pieces you¡¯ve found back to yourboratory and study them first. It¡¯s best if you get some result from your research, but we won¡¯t find fault with you if you have no results. We know that you have tried your best.¡±
¡°Indeed,¡± said Ling Han. ¡°Hand the matter of finding the next treasure location to the government. I¡¯ll report any findings to you guys.¡±
¡°Hurry up and take these things away. Just looking at your box frightens me. Plus, you need to do research for the Alloy X Project, and make guns too. Our troops are still waiting for your Gust assault rifles. You¡¯d better not mess this up, Boy, or I won¡¯t let you off.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh, and carried the anti-radiation container out of Shi Boren¡¯s office.
The mission to find treasure in Japan wasplete at this point.
Long Bing followed Xia Lei out and said softly, ¡°Lei, are you going back to Thunder Horse Military Factory, or to Shentu Tianyin?¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to put these in theboratory at Thunder Horse Military Factory first, then go to Shentu Tianyin. I¡¯ve been away for some time, so I should return and see how things are going on,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Go back, then. I¡¯ll wait for you at my ce on Saturday,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°What bad things are you two muttering about over here?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came from the other end of the corridor all of a sudden. She was in a full set of ckbat gear, and there were several torn ces on her clothing. There were even some bloodstains on her neck. It looked like she had just returned from the frontlines, and she had a charming smile in the corners of her lips and she spoke teasingly.
¡°Were you in a war?¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°A terrorist cell sneaked in from the east. I led a team in pursuit of them, and managed to kill them all after seven days and seven nights,¡± said Tang Yuyan. She then looked at Long Bing, her gaze odd. ¡°Eh, I haven¡¯t seen you in a while, but yourplexion looks better than it had been, Chief Long. Are you in a rtionship now?¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Rtionship, my foot.¡±
Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei next, and said not-pointedly, ¡°I just heard a woman say that she was going to wait at home for someone on Saturday. I also heard that being in a rtionship will make a woman more beautiful. Xia Lei, you left me out of the mission to Japan. Could you have...¡±
She did not continue, but Xia Lei and Long Bing knew what she wanted to say.
The women of Bureau 101 were not simple-minded, and Tang Yuyan was a woman so wiley she could be the reincarnation of a fox.
Long Bing was annoyed at herself too. The words she had carelessly uttered had been heard by Tang Yuyan, and these words, plus the change in herplexion, had been enough for the foxy Tang Yuyan to smell a rat.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Yuyan, Chief Long and I agreed to meet at her ce on Saturday for a meal in celebration of thepletion of this mission. I¡¯ll be taking Tianyin with me. You cane too, if you¡¯re interested. Best to bring your boyfriend too, and let us meet him. Yourplexion looks quite good too. Your skin must be getting moistened by all that love.¡±
¡°Moistened, my foot. I¡¯m not interested.¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei, and strode past him. As she brushed past him, she abruptly stretched her foot out and stomped on the back of his leg.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry.
Tang Yuyan swayed her hips as she walked towards Shi Boren¡¯s office. She turned back to say something after taking a few steps, but Xia Lei and Long Bing had already walked along the corridor towards the exit. Her expression fell, and she stood nkly for a few seconds before she turned to her front again.
As she walked out of the underground headquarters, Long Bing smiled and said, ¡°Good thing you think fast, or Tang Yuyan would have made some wild spections. I¡¯m not afraid of gossip, but you¡¯ll be in big trouble if Shentu Tianyin finds out.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I had no choice. I¡¯ll get more experience when I run into more of these sort of situations.¡±
¡°Remember ¡ª Saturday. I¡¯ll wait for you at my ce.¡±
¡°Mm, I¡¯ll go to your ce on Saturday,¡± said Xia Lei.
A few minutester, Xia Lei and Long Bing left Bureau 101, each in their respective vehicles. Xia Lei drove his Chevrolet Suburban straight to Thunder Horse Military Factory.
He had to report andplete the mission once he returned to Jingdu, so he had had no time to study the box which had been assembled from the 29 pieces of alloy. He was able to take the box back to hisboratory now to study it. The most important thing to do was to return home, of course, and he nned to return to his and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s home, Leiyin Home, when he had studied the box.
The Chevrolet Suburban galloped on the road, and the cityscape shed past the windows of the car.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts flew ahead of him, and entered hisboratory. He thought about the first piece of ancient alloy, and the box which he had assembled out of the 29 pieces he had now. Those experiences, and the people and events rted to AE shed through his head, one by one. His brain analysed the people and the events on its own.
He was just one part short of aplete box, so did this mean that he was just one step away from solving the mystery of AE?
Chapter 542 - A Thousand Years
Back in the undergroundboratory, Xia Lei took out the box which had been assembled from the pieces of ancient alloy and put it on the worktable.
The assembled box was a square box, and each side was 12 centimetres long, just a little shorter than the palm of his hand. He could grab it with one hand. It was metallic, but very light ¡ª at this size, the box did not weigh over 500 grams. Xia Lei estimated that the box would probably weigh 500 grams if he found thest alloy piece and joined it together with the other pieces.
It was extremely strong, very light, and could absorb the electromaic waves emitted by radars without any additional coating. In other words, no radar on Earth could detect its existence. This material was the best and the most excellent for making a fighter ne due to these characteristics.
Any country would be very interested in this sort of material, and this was also why China saw the Alloy X Project as a very important one. However, mass-producing this alloy was going to be very difficult indeed, because itsposition still could not be ascertained. How could it be manufactured when itsposition was still unknown?
Xia Lei really wanted to use his X-ray vision and see its makeup if he could, and contribute this information to the nation to enable the country to manufacture this ancient alloy for use in the aerospace industry. If he could do that, he would be satisfied, even if the mystery of the AE remained unsolved.
¡®I thought the almostplete Princess Yongmei would be able to clear my doubts after I¡¯d found 29 pieces of the ancient alloy, but she did not know either. What¡¯s stranger is that she¡¯s gone missing now too. Thest piece of ancient alloy is impossible to find, so what can I do to solve the mystery of this box?¡¯ Xia Lei examined the box, troubled.
In the next second, his left eye twitched, awakening the power of X-ray vision. He looked at the box. Terror spiralled through his body and soul, and this persisted for longer than usual. The pain he felt was more intense too. Unfortunately, Princess Yongmei did not appear when he returned to normal. He had no result from this use of his X-ray vision.
Where had Princess Yongmei gone?
He had pondered the question at the fishing islet in the middle of the sea, but he had no answer still, not even now.
He sat quietly for a bit, then moved the box which was missing its final piece to his front. He stared at that hole, thinking deeply.
The hole was inky-ck, and quite odd. The light of the undergroundboratory did not light up its insides. This was not normal, because light shining from above into a gap would illuminate the space under normal circumstances. It should be lit up in at least a small part, but what was happening now was that the light was being absorbed when it got close to the hole, leaving nothing behind.
This hole was a ck hole.
A few minutester, Xia Lei stretched out a finger towards that hole. He wanted to know what would happen if he put his finger into the ck space of the box. However, he gave up when he got close to the hole. The space in the box could even eat light ¡ª it was going to be a big problem if it ate his finger.
Xia Lei found a gel pen to act as a substitute for his finger, and slowly pushed it in. There was no suction, and no shaking of it being crushed. Nothing unusual happened. Xia Lei felt like he was just very normally pushing a pen into a pen holder.
But then something strange happened.
The gel pen was 15 centimetres long, three centimetres longer than the box. However, Xia Lei had pushed the pen in to the 14-centimetre mark, and it had not touched the other side of the box. Under normal circumstances, it should have touched the inside of the box at the 12-centimetre mark.
Where had the two centimetres gone?
Amazement and confusion sprang in Xia Lei at this thought. He then pushed the whole pen into the box. He was very careful during this process, and quickly retracted his fingers after he flicked the pen forward. He did not touch the ck space in the hole.
The pen disappeared. Xia Lei put the box on an electronic scale and measured its weight. The weight of the box had not increased.
¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯ Xia Lei was stunned.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The ringing of his mobile phone interrupted his thoughts.
It was Shentu Tianyin, and her voice was as pleasing to the ear as ever. ¡°Hubby, why aren¡¯t you home yet? I¡¯ve been waiting at home for you for an hour.¡±
¡°I¡¯m in theboratory. I¡¯lle home right away,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nn. Kiss me.¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Xia Lei kissed his phone, then hung up.
And at that moment, the space in the box trembled. The gel pen appeared abruptly.
Xia Lei gaped at the gel pen. He was not gaping at the strange fashion in which it had appeared, but at its appearance. It looked like it had weathered over a thousand years in some dimension. The pen had lost its shine, and taken on the pale yellow colour of age. The sticker on the pen had also lost its colour, and the printed words on it were blurred. What was most shocking was that the ink in the pen had be solid, and only a little bit of it was left.
Crack! There was a snapping sound as the gel pen dropped to the work table and shattered into pieces.
Xia Lei stared nkly. He couldn¡¯t help himself, and pressed one of the pieces with his finger. He applied only a small bit of pressure on it, but the piece turned into a pile of ash.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei was shaken.
Just one minute had passed, but this brand-new gel pen had returned after this minute in a state which looked like it had weathered over a thousand years. If a person went in... What would the result be?
Xia Lei counted himself lucky at that thought. It was a good thing that he had been more wary, and not stuck his own finger into the box. If he had, then he might have had to have over a thousand years pass for him, and turn into a pile of ash immediately.
¡®Forget it. I¡¯ll do those types of experimentster.¡¯ Xia Lei put his thoughts aside, and ced the box in its container. He then put the container in the safe.
He would not get any results in just one or two days for a matter like this. What he wanted to do most wasn¡¯t the continuation of the research anymore. He wanted to see his wife, Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei bumped into Annina as soon as he exited the vi.
He groaned inwardly. He had epted Jiang Ruyi, then Long Bing, but had chosen to break off the rtionship between himself and Annina after getting married to Shentu Tianyin. As for her, she had gone after him quite doggedly all this while, and also worked hard for hispany. All these made him feel a measure of guilt whenever he met Annina.
¡°Come with me, Lukas. I have something I want to tell you.¡± Annina cut straight to the chase when she saw Xia Lei. She seemed nervous.
Xia Lei did not ask what it was about, and just nodded. He followed Annina into the study in the vi.
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei finally asked after closing the door.
Annina opened the desk drawer and took out a letter from it.
The letter had Annina¡¯s name in German written on it, and the letterhead on it was from the German Embassy.
Xia Lei had a bad feeling when he saw that letter.
Annina handed the letter to Xia Lei. ¡°This is a letter from the German Embassy. A courier delivered it to the guard room. I¡¯ve read the letter, and it says that my status as a wanted person has been cancelled. I can go back to my country now. And it¡¯s not just that. They are also willing to apologise for putting me on the wanted list, and they¡¯re going to give me one million euros inpensation.¡±
Xia Lei read the contents of the letter. It was as Annina had said. His feelings about it wereplicated, and he was silent, unspeaking.
¡°Lukas? What do you think?¡± Annina looked a little anxiously at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Do you want to go back, Annina?¡±
¡°I do want to go back, but...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°But I can¡¯t just leave you. I don¡¯t know what to do.¡± Annina was filled with indecision, and suffering.
She was a German citizen. Her family and friends were in Germany, and her habits were very different from the habits of the Chinese too. In this situation, it was understandable that she would miss her hometown and want to go home. To Xia Lei, however, it was not as simple as it looked on the surface.
Thunder Horse Military Factory had be the dark horse of the light weapons manufacturing sector, and it was a world-ss dark horse too. No weapons manufacturer could rival the top spots which the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle upied. Annina, the machinist from Germany, had made invaluable contributions towards the manufacture of these two guns, and she was also a person who knew core secrets about the guns. She was the only one other than Xia Lei who knew these secrets.
And now the German government was being kind. They cancelled Annina¡¯s wanted status, were willing to apologise, and were going to give a million euros inpensation. Who would believe it if one said that they were not after the core secrets of the production in Thunder Horse Military Factory?
Xia Lei was silent for a while before he said, ¡°Annina, there¡¯s something fishy about this. Give me some time to investigate. Let¡¯s discuss this properly when I¡¯m done investigating it. How about it?¡±
¡°Mm. No problem.¡± Annina agreed immediately. After a pause, she said, ¡°Lukas, I know you have some worries about this but I can swear to you that I won¡¯t betray your secrets after I return to Germany. I won¡¯t agree to it if they try to make me divulge the secrets of the XL2500 and Gust. You can trust me on that.¡±
Xia Lei sighed to himself, ¡®Looks like she is yearning to go back.¡¯ He stered a smile on his face, and said, ¡°Of course I trust you. But what if this is a scam? What if they dupe you into going back, then try to torture you, spank you? Would you tell them then?¡±
Annina turned around abruptly and exposed her electrifyingly full and plump buttocks. ¡°You can try it right now. Spank me. See if I¡¯ll cave.¡±
Xia Lei paused, then pped that ass.
Pah! A crisp smack rang out, and soft flesh rippled.
It felt good to smack her ass, but Xia Lei¡¯s heart was full of worry. A question crept into his mind too. Who had leaked the secret of Annina¡¯s presence at Thunder Horse Military Factory to the German government?
Chapter 543 - A Nouveau Riche Betrothal Gift
Xia Lei did his best to clear his mind of everything before meeting Shentu Tianyin, not just of the matters concerning Gu Kewen, but also of the matters concerning Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi. He felt he was already well-practiced in this aspect, and that he could face Shentu Tianyin calmly, but when he saw Tianyin at the Leiyin Home, a sense of guilt still sprang forth, making him uneasy.
¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re back. I was worried about you during this period of time and my calls to you couldn¡¯t get through. I asked some people in Japan to inquire about you but they came up with nothing. Did you know that I couldn¡¯t even sleep on those nights? I was afraid that you met with some kind of ident.¡± Shentu Tianyin gave Xia Lei a hug and said these words into his ear the moment they met.
Xia Lei hugged her slender waist lightly. ¡°It¡¯s all in the past. You don¡¯t need to worry anymore.¡± He moved closer and spoke softly in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ear, ¡°Gu Kewen is dead, and the evidence that could pose a threat to you has all been destroyed. No one will cause trouble for you anymore. However, in the future...¡±
Shentu Tianyin suddenly moved closer and kissed Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Xia Lei originally wanted to caution her against doing things like this in the future, but Shentu Tianyin¡¯s kiss made it such that he could not speak, even if he had more to say.
A business person must have ambition, and business intuition. Shentu Tianyin was well-versed in both of these aspects. As the saying goes, ¡®when things reach an extreme, they can only move in the opposite direction¡¯. Sometimes, being too ambitious or smart wasn¡¯t necessarily a good thing. However, Xia Lei also knew from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s personality, that he wouldn¡¯t be able to persuade her against it at all.
¡°Ahem...¡± Fu Mingmei suddenly appeared and said rather insincerely, ¡°Oh, you...I didn¡¯t see anything.¡±
Shentu Tianyin let go of Xia Lei then, and shot a re at Fu Mingmei.
Fu Mingmeiughed as she said, ¡°Son-inw, you went to Japan. Did you bring any gifts back?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly remembered something and said, ¡°I almost forgot. I really did bring some gifts back from this trip to Japan ¡ª they¡¯re in my car. Wait a moment, and I¡¯ll go get them.¡±
Shentu Tianyin held on to Xia Lei. ¡°Just let Mingmei go for them. Stay with me.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better if I go. Those things are very precious, and quite fragile.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± asked Fu Mingmei curiously.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t exin, and went out the door, towards the garage.
Shentu Ren came out of the study room a moment after Xia Lei left. He looked around the living room. ¡°Didn¡¯t Leie back? Where is he? The airne I ordered already came back. I want to show it to him.¡±
¡°Dad, isn¡¯t that the dowry you bought for me? Since it¡¯s my dowry, you should only take it out when I¡¯m getting married. Let¡¯s not go see it now,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
The old Shentu Ren remarked unhappily, ¡°Am I not even allowed to take up some of Lei¡¯s time now? Seriously! All right, all right, I¡¯ll take it out when you guys hold your marriage ceremony. That should be fine, right?¡±
Father and daughter chatted a little, and Xia Lei walked in, hugging a big cardboard box. When he saw Shentu Ren, he greeted Shentu Ren before putting the box down. ¡°Father, I brought you some gifts. You¡¯ll surely like them.¡±
¡°Why are you still being so polite with me? What gifts? Let me see them.¡± Shentu Ren had already moved closer to see although he responded with the same conventional courtesies.
Fu Mingmei also moved closer and tried to fawn over him. ¡°Son-inw, you bought me some gifts too, surely? Haha, I¡¯ll have to thank you in advance.¡±
Xia Lei opened the cardboard box to reveal more than ten pieces of porcin. There was a big flower vase for decorative purposes, a teapot and teacups for drinking tea, bowls and tes for eating, and so on.
After he saw the porcin items in the box, Shentu Ren drew a nk for a second before crying out in surprise, ¡°Ah? These things wouldn¡¯t happen to be authentic, would they?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Father, won¡¯t you know if its real or not if you look at it yourself? Take a look.¡±
Only then did Shentu Ren gingerly pick up a teacup. He turned it left and right, then flipped it over to look at the bottom of the cup, and paused. Only after a really long time did he say, ¡°Oh my goodness, isn¡¯t this a Chicken Cup from the Ming Dynasty? There was even someone showing it off on the inte recently. The quality of his cup hadn¡¯t even been determined but he bid almost 200 million just to own it. If the cup you have is real, it could get a 200 million bid easily!¡±
¡°Two hundred million? A cup? What has the worlde to?¡± Fu Mingmeiughed as she said, ¡°Son-inw, these must be fake, right?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t say a word.
Shentu Ren picked up a teapot and examined it, then sucked in air through his teeth. ¡°Isn¡¯t this the blue and white porcin from the Yongle period? Its value isn¡¯t much less than the Chicken Cup!¡± Afterwards, he looked at the other ten or so pieces of porcin and then looked at Xia Lei, at a loss for words. ¡°Lei, these are all authentic. How did you get so many antiques from the Ming Dynasty? You didn¡¯t rob the tombs of the monarchs of the Ming Dynasty, did you?¡±
Xia Lei still didn¡¯t speak but Fu Mingmei couldn¡¯t stop herself. She blurted, ¡°Master, these are all real? They aren¡¯t fakes?¡±
Shentu Ren said, ¡°Of course they¡¯re real. I¡¯d estimate that they are worth around seven or eight hundred million!¡±
For a moment, Fu Mingmei was speechless. She¡¯d wanted one flower vase, but after hearing Shentu Ren¡¯s words, she didn¡¯t dare ask for it now. All of these pieces of porcin from the Ming dynasty were easily worth several millions to hundreds of millions. How could she still be so bold as to ask for one as a present?
Xia Lei then added, ¡°Father, I found all of these things outside the country in a shipwreck. I did not find these things by digging in a tomb in China. Thus, ording to ourws, they belong to me. Right now, they are my betrothal gifts, and they¡¯re all for you.¡±
¡°Ah?¡± This time, even the extremely rich and imposing Shentu Ren was shocked. ¡°I only gave you a Boeing 747. It isn¡¯t even worth four hundred million yuan, but you went and gave me a betrothal gift worth seven to eight hundred thousand million. This... I cannot ept it. I definitely can¡¯t ept it.¡±
Shentu Tianyin listened and was secretly happy. Xia Lei had given so many valuable things as betrothal gifts, and they were worth seven to eight hundred million or more. As a woman, how could she not be happy?
Xia Lei said, ¡°Dad, just ept it. If you don¡¯t like it then I will call the auction house and let the auctioneers deal with it. I¡¯ll change my betrothal gift to something else.¡±
Shentu Ren still hesitated.
¡°Master, just ept it. Who¡¯s your son inw? He¡¯s the chairman of the Thunder Horse Group and the father of Chinese rifles. Someone who creates weapons and ammunition definitely isn¡¯tcking money. Plus, your son-inw gave you a betrothal gift worth eight hundred million. Our youngdy¡¯s face is filled with joy, so your face should also be joyful,¡± said Fu Mingmei.
Shentu Tianyin rolled her eyes at Fu Mingmei but she was secretly very happy.
Shentu Ren nced at Shentu Tianyin, as if asking for her opinion. It was clear that he did not agree with Fu Mingmei¡¯s opinions.
Shentu Tianyin nodded. ¡°Father, you¡¯ve always really liked antiques, and you know a lot of auctioneers. What about this? You can ept these betrothal gifts and contact those friends. Exchange these things for cash. Then, you can exchange the cash for real gold and on the day of my marriage with Lei, I¡¯ll pile all that gold in the marriage hall.¡±
If he were to exchange these antiques for money, and then exchange those antiques for gold, Xia Lei could buy three tons worth of gold. If these three tons of gold were exchanged for golden bricks, he would be able to pile them up into a golden wall in the marriage hall!
It was easy to imagine what sort of expressions the guests attending the wedding would have if they saw a wall of golden bricks.
¡°This...¡± Shentu Ren clearly did not understand why Shentu Tianyin would want to do this.
However, Xia Lei was knew well what Shentu Tianyin was thinking. The woman he was going to marry was the Vientiane Group¡¯s queen, with a worth of hundreds of billions. Right now, although he was almost worth ten billion. If he deducted the loans, he actually only had a few billion dors to his name. Furthermore, he did not have the same societal status as Shentu Tianyin. He was marrying Shentu Tianyin, so it would be inevitable that outsiders would say that he was taking advantage of her, relying on a woman to get rich, and other gossip like that. However, if she did this, who would be able to im that he was living off a woman when they saw the shiny and glittering golden wall? ¡®If you have the skills, go try making a golden wall first before living off a woman!¡¯ was what the wall would be telling them.
¡°Dad, just do as I¡¯ve said,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Only then did Shentu Ren nod. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s just have it handled as you¡¯ve said. These antiques are all valuable items. People will definitely rush to purchase them. We could even auction them off for a better price. No matter how much money we get, I¡¯ll exchange it all for real gold and build a golden wall for your wedding.¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll have to trouble you, Father.¡±
Shentu Renughed, ¡°Look at you, still being polite to me. Go, go. Let¡¯s go see the aerone I bought for you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was unhappy. ¡°Dad, didn¡¯t wee to an agreement? Why are you still going to see the aerone?¡±
Shentu Ren red at Shentu Tianyin. ¡°What, we can¡¯t see it on theputer? Someone made me a video and I¡¯m bringing Lei over to see it. Don¡¯t worry, if he dares leave today I¡¯ll grab a rope and tie him down.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei took the cardboard box and carried it very carefully in his arms as he followed Shentu Ren into his study room.
Fu Mingmei sighed. ¡°Oh, when can I marry a man like that? I really want a golden wall at my wedding too. Hehe, just thinking about it makes me feel blessed.¡±
Shentu Tianyinughed as she said, ¡°In the ancient times when the youngdy had to get married, she had to choose a servant girl to apany her. What about you? Would you like to be that servant girl? If you agree, a part of that golden wall could also go to you...¡±
¡°Half?¡± Fu Mingmei¡¯s eyes sparkled as she said, ¡°If it¡¯s half, I¡¯ll do it.¡±
¡°In your dreams!¡± Shentu Tianyin put a finger up. ¡°One golden brick.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go cook now.¡± Fu Mingmei pursed her little mouth. As she walked, she grumbled, ¡°I just have the life of a servant girl who lights fires for cooking. Hmph.¡±
Shentu Tianyin chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t forget the bag of ingredients in the kitchen. Make it into some soup for Xia Lei.¡±
Fu Mingmei nced back at Shentu Tianyin. ¡°There¡¯s a disgusting part of a Bengal tiger mixed in with those ingredients. Will son-inw eat it?¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t tell him, then how would he know what it is?¡±
¡°All right, all right, I¡¯ll go make it, but I don¡¯t know if you¡¯llst after he eats it!¡±
¡°You little rascal!¡± Shentu Tianyin swung her hand for a smack.
However, Fu Mingmei deftly avoided it, then she fled to the kitchen.
For some reason that night, Xia Lei¡¯s prowess was extraordinary, and he was extremely impressive in bed. Shentu Tianyin, on the other hand, was in trouble, but since she had personally created this situation, she endured it no matter how much it hurt her.
¡°Honey, what¡¯s wrong? I want to do you more.¡±
¡°You still want to go at it? I¡¯ve already fallen asleep.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve fallen asleep?¡±
¡°Zzz zzz...¡±
¡°Then you can sleep. I¡¯ll help myself.¡±
¡°Ah...¡±
Chapter 544 - Angels Don’t Need A Reason To Hit Someone
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei kissed each other goodbye the next morning. Fu Mingmei drove Shentu Tianyin to the Vientaine Group building in the Rolls Royce Phantom, and Xia Lei drove to Thunder Horse Military Factory himself.
The workday had begun by the time he got to Thunder Horse Military Factory, but Annina¡¯s office was empty. He then went to the vi and he pushed the door of Annina¡¯s room open to find that she was still snoozing in her bed.
Annina had always had a strong work ethic, and was neverte to work. She was always the first person in the office or in the workshops, but today, she was stillzing about in her bed even though the workday had begun. Having something like this happen showed that she was troubled by the German Embassy¡¯s conditions, and that it affected her so much that she was in no mood to go to work. She was already contemting when to leave China and return to Germany.
¡®I need to take care of her problem, or the German government is going to take advantage of this¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself. He was in anguish. He trusted that Annina would not willingly betray him, but she was just an ordinary woman after all. There was no way she was going to be able to go up against the German government and German special agents.
What he could confirm was that the Germans would be able to decipher the secrets of the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle soon after Annina returned to Germany. The Germans also had the reputation of being the world¡¯s top manufacturers. It would be no problem at all for the Germans to reproduce the XL2500 and Gust.
It now looked like the Germans not only knew about Annina being hidden in his military factory, but that she had been involved in the design ns for the highly-regarded XL2500 and the Gust rifles. This had to be the case, because the Germans would not give such conditions otherwise.
Annina seemed to sense that was another person in the room, and she opened her eyes to see Xia Lei. A faint smile appeared in the corners of her lips. ¡°When did youe, Lukas?¡±
Xia Lei gave her a smile and sat at her bedside, looking at her. ¡°I just came in. I saw that you were sleeping, and I didn¡¯t want to disturb you.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been awake for a while. I just didn¡¯t want to get up. Oh, right, I want to take the day off today. Can I?¡± said Annina.
¡°Of course. You¡¯ve worked hard, from the time we worked on the XL2500 to now. You¡¯ve worked hard for so long. You should have given yourself a holiday long ago. Have a good rest,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina sighed. ¡°So what if I have a holiday? I can¡¯t go out, and I have no one to hang out with. I¡¯m all alone. Lukas, I miss the times when we were in Germany. We worked together, then went to my ce and grilled food, and drank beer. We rode on my motorcycle on the roads, and bypassed all those cars driven by stupid people. Don¡¯t you miss those times?¡±
¡°I miss those times too. Those are precious memories,¡± said Xia Lei. Inside, however, he sighed, ¡®Ay, it looks like she¡¯s already decided to return to Germany. What can I do to make her stay?¡¯
¡°Lukas. I was thinking about it for a long timest night. I want to return to Germany.¡±
¡°You really want to leave?¡±
¡°Yes. I want to return to Germany. I am German. My home is there, and my family and friends are there.¡±
¡°Won¡¯t... Won¡¯t you think about it some more?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already thought it through. Lukas, I like you. I thought you were my angel, back in Germany. I am willing to do anything for you, and this is also the reason why I¡¯m staying in China. But another woman has taken you from my side. I cannot keep you by my side any longer. You¡¯ve be someone else¡¯s angel. What¡¯s the meaning in me staying here?¡±
This was a rather obvious hint.
This hint also gave Xia Lei a lead on how to solve his problem, but he hesitated. He had a headache. He already had three women, and he was with all of them for one reason or another. And amongst his women, Shentu Tianyin was unaware of the other two, Jiang Ruyi did not know about Long Bing, but Long Bing knew about Shentu Tianyin and Jiang Ruyi. This current situation wasplicated enough. If he added Annina to the mix, he would have four women, and he would still need four days if he had one woman a day. How was he going to do all that?
Right at that moment, Annina suddenly threw her nket off herself and climbed out of bed.
She had not a stitch of clothing on her, and her generous curves were bare for Xia Lei to see. Her snow-white skin, flowing golden hair, and golden carpet... her sexiness was totally different from the sexiness of Eastern women.
And in that instant, Xia Lei finally made a decision against his better judgement. He pulled Annina into his embrace...
Men had to put their careers first, and a lot of men rose early and went to bedte, working hard at their jobs. In Xia Lei¡¯s case, he worked hard too, but this was part of his character. All men were different, and their lives they led were different too.
Half an hourter, Annina and Xia Lei walked out of the vi.
Annina had been listless and troubled half an hour ago, but she was upbeat and happy now. She gave one the impression of a flower which had been in need of water, on the verge of withering, and this flower had suddenly received some moisture. It had gotten a new lease of life, and be even more beautiful and charming.
¡°Since your embassy has sent a letter to you, they must have investigated all they could. They might have gotten their hands on rted evidence too. Neither you nor I can avoid this. We need to face this head-on,¡± said Xia Lei to Annina as they walked.
¡°Head-on? How are we going to solve this?¡± said Annina. ¡°They want me to return to Germany, but I don¡¯t feel like going back now.¡±
Her change in attitude was quiteplete. Xia Lei¡¯s hard work had paid off, and his sweat had not been wasted.
¡°I¡¯ll make a phone call first, and get the opinion of the higher-ups,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll listen to whatever you say, Lukas. I won¡¯t be going back,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei smiled, then took out his phone to call Ling Han. He gave Ling Han a simple summary of the situation over the phone.
¡°This is a troublesome matter. Do you know who leaked this secret?¡± asked Ling Han.
¡°I¡¯ve only just found out about this too. I don¡¯t know who leaked this yet, but whoever it is, he must be targeting Thunder Horse Military Factory. You know what Annina means to Thunder Horse Military Factory. How should we handle this matter?¡±
The German Embassy had sent a letter, and stated their conditions, and they were representative of the German government. In this situation, Xia Lei had to get the higher-ups to weigh in on the matter if he wanted to negotiate with the German Embassy, and get all the relevant permissions.
Ling Han was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°The other party has only sent a letter so far. This is probably a sort of probe. I believe that they will also send a person over to talk face-to-face with Annina. Do not refuse that. Interact with the person they send, and try to find out their motives. It¡¯ll be even better if you can find out who leaked the information. You get what I mean?¡±
¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Xia Lei understood that he had basically been given permission to negotiate.
¡°Good. Give me a call at any time when there is progress. Remember ¡ª you are not doing this alone. Our government is behind you.¡±
¡°Okay, Brother Ling. I¡¯m hanging up.¡±
¡°Goodbye.¡±
After ending the call with Ling Han, Xia Lei walked towards the office building with Annina. He nagged her about what she should be careful about as they walked. Annina nodded a lot, and looked like she was taking in all his advice.
They had only just entered the office building when Lu Sheng walked towards them, and called out from a distance, ¡°Director Xia! There are two people at the gates. They say that they¡¯re from the German Embassy. I looked at their identification documents but I don¡¯t know whether they are real or fake. How should this be handled?¡±
Xia Lei nced over and saw a Mercedes-Benz sedan parked outside the gates. ¡°Get them toe to my office.¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll let them in right away.¡± Lu Sheng walked towards the gates.
The people from the German Embassy hade, just as Ling Han said.
¡°Come, Annina. Let¡¯s go to my office,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina drew close to Xia Lei, and she looked nervous. ¡°What do we do, Lukas? They¡¯vee here. I¡¯m so nervous.¡±
¡°No need to be nervous. I¡¯ll solve the problem,¡± consoled Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t want to leave your side. I don¡¯t want to go back with them.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You were saying you wanted to go back earlier, so why don¡¯t you want to go back now?¡±
Annina quirked her lips and said in discontent, ¡°It¡¯s all because of you. Don¡¯t you know how much I love you? I am in China because of you. What¡¯s the meaning in me staying if you don¡¯t want me anymore? We¡¯ve already solved the problem we had between us, so of course I want to stay. Don¡¯t forget that you still owe me a dream, so don¡¯t you dare think of shaking me off.¡±
Xia Lei swung his arm and pped her round, full buttocks.
There was a loud smack, and Annina eximed coyly, ¡°Why did you spank me?¡±
Xia Leiughed, and said, ¡°You said that I am your angel. Does an angel need a reason to hit you?¡±
Annina red at Xia Lei, but her eyes were seductively flirtatious, and gentle.
Chapter 545 - German Comrades
After they entered the office, Xia Lei said to Annina, ¡°Go to the rest lounge and stay there. Come out only if I call you.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Annina suddenly drew close, and kissed Xia Lei on the cheek before she went to hide in the rest lounge.
Xia Lei was afraid that she had left a lipstick mark, so he wiped his face with a tissue. The sat on the sofa after he straightened his clothing to wait for the Germans to arrive. He was organising what he wanted to say in his head too, and preparing himself to meet the negotiating party.
Lu Sheng led two Germans into the office a few minutester.
They were a man and a woman, and they were both in their forties. The man was big and tall, taller than Xia Lei by a head, and he was emotionless, very serious. The woman was like Annina, with beautiful golden hair and a pair of silver-framed spectacles. She looked like the very knowledgeable sort.
Lu Sheng was about to speak when Xia Lei cut him off. ¡°Lu Sheng, please go about your work. I shall receive these two guests.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Lu Sheng turned and left Xia Lei¡¯s office.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I am Xia Lei. And you are...?¡±
The German man spoke. ¡°Mr Xia, I am an ambassador from the German Embassy. My name is Philip. This is my colleague, Alida.¡±
The German woman named Alida nodded at Xia Lei in greeting. ¡°Hello, Mr Xia.¡±
Whether it was Philip or Alida, their Chinese was excellent. Xia Lei was not surprised by this, because being familiar with thenguage and culture of another country was a most important requirement for one who worked in an embassy. He shook hands with Philip and Alida, and said warmly, ¡°Ah, honoured guests from Germany. Please, have a seat.¡±
Philip and Alida sat, and Xia Lei poured tea personally for them.
¡°And what has brought you here as my guests today?¡± Xia Lei seated himself opposite them.
¡°Mr Xia, I shall go straight to the point. We are looking for Annina. Please ask her toe out and meet us,¡± said Philip.
¡°Annina?¡± Xia Lei put a surprised look on his face. ¡°Do I have someone like that over here? How do I not know about this?¡±
¡°Hah.¡± Philip scoffed. ¡°Stop the act, Mr Xia. We came in person, to you. This means we have already gathered enough relevant evidence.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, it is not wise to pretend to know nothing, or to stop us from meeting with Annina. We havee, with sincerity, and with the hope that we can settle this amicably. If you continue to act like you are unaware, then the problem will escte. You do know that China and Germany have extensive cultural exchanges and trading coborations. If this matter affects these connections, then it will only be detrimental to both sides,¡± said Alida.
¡°Are you two threatening me?¡± said Xia Lei mildly.
¡°Mr Xia, we cannot do anything about it if you want to take it that way,¡± said Philip.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. These two Germans were straightforward, and tough.
¡°Mr Xia, you are not a politician, but I must remind you that our countries currently enjoy a harmonious rtionship, and working with each other will benefit both our countries. Furthermore, what we want is also very reasonable. Annina is one of our citizens, and we have to right to meet with her, and have some understanding of her situation to offer her the help she needs,¡± said Alida.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I¡¯ll be frank too. Annina is indeed here, with me. It¡¯s fine if you want to meet with her. However, you German out her on the wanted list in the past, and the Americans wanted her arrested too. She is my woman, and I must protect her. This is why I need to be clear about something ¡ª are the Americans involved in this?¡±
Philip and Alida exchanged looks.
Philip said, ¡°Mr Xia, I can tell you with certainty that there are no Americans involved this time.¡±
¡°Then tell me ¡ª who leaked the information to you? This is very important to me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Heh.¡± Alida scoffed. ¡°Mr Xia, we¡¯ve been here for a while but you haven¡¯t let us see Annina. Yet you¡¯re asking for lots of things. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being very insincere?¡±
Philip stood. ¡°If this is how it¡¯s going to be, then we shall escte the problem to a higher level.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Hold on.¡± He looked over at the rest lounge and said, ¡°Come out, Annina. Come meet yourrades.¡±
The door to the rest lounge was opened, and Annina walked out. She was trying her best to control her emotions, but she still looked very nervous.
Xia Lei understood how she felt, because she was someone who had been put on a wanted list, andbelled as a betrayer of her country. A crime such as this was enough to get her thrown into prison for interrogation without a trial.
Annina sat next to Xia Lei, and she felt better next to him. She greeted Philip and Alida first. She smiled and gave one the impression of friendliness and peacefulness.
¡°How could someone like Miss Annina be a spy?¡± said Alida in German. ¡°I do not believe the usations. It is fortunate that we have corrected this mistake. Miss Annina, the crime you were charged with has been withdrawn. You are a legal German citizen, and you have all the rights of a German citizen, as well as the duties of a citizen.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. No one will harm you again.¡± Philip spoke in German too. ¡°Miss Annina, return to Germany with us. Your home is in Germany, and your family and friends are in Germany. The government has offered one million euros aspensation, and you can use this money to do what you want to do. You should embrace your new life, your great life, not hide over here.¡±
The two German were quite obviously trying to work on Annina¡¯s psyche, and they did not even bother about Xia Lei, who was next to her. Xia Lei was not worried, though. Annina waspletely in love with him, and saw him as her angel. He was not worried about her leaving him just because of the words of these two Germans. As for that one million euros, it was nothing to him. He could give Annina ten million euros if she wanted it.
Annina kept her silence in the face of all their lobbying. She nced at Xia Lei with her blue eyes once in a while.
The two Germans said many things, but the person they were talking to was not reacting much at all. She had not said a word after greeting them. This situation made the two Germans wrinkle their brows.
¡°You have to consider this carefully, Miss Annina. An opportunity like this won¡¯t be valid forever. If you do not return to Germany, the charges against you will not be dropped. Our government will also pressure the Chinese government to make you return. When that happens, all the nice treatment you enjoy now will not be avable again.¡± Philips¡¯ words held a threatening edge.
¡°I...¡± Annina started to say, then stopped. She looked troubled, and uncertain. She looked at Xia Lei again.
Xia Lei reached out to grab Annina¡¯s hand. He held her hand gently, and smiled as he said, ¡°I understand what you said, Philip and Alida. What you mean is simple ¡ª Annina has to return to Germany with you, whether she is willing to or not. Is that right?¡±
¡°Yes. We have already gathered significant evidence. We can make it simple for Miss Annina. In this situation, even if you and Miss Annina are unwilling, we will still have a way to make your government have Annina sent back to Germany. There is no need for you to doubt that, because your country needs our support in your interests in Europe, and you will be unable to bear the consequences of losing our support.¡± Philip¡¯s tone was hard.
¡°I don¡¯t really follow politics but I know well that your wanting Annina to return to Germany has nothing to do with the government. Aren¡¯t you after your own interests?¡± said Xia Lei.
Philip and Alida were expressionless.
Xia Lei went on. ¡°I¡¯ll be frank. What you want is actually the technology of the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°I am an ambassador of Germany. I am only doing my job. I do not know what you are talking about,¡± said Philip.
Alida shrugged. ¡°I am just Mr Philip¡¯s assistant. I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about either. I do think that it is not just that. Germany is the global leader in manufacturing. What I¡¯m trying to say is that... Would we, Germany, be concerned about the light weapons technology in China?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Your German HKpany was defeated by me in Moscow. Thispany with several clients of their own had be mypany¡¯s client too. German manufacturing is indeed the best in the world, but you cannot be the best forever. China used to be the leader in technology for thousands of years, but we had our downfall too. We Chinese are a hardworking and clever people, and if we could be a world leader once, we can be a world leader again. We are in a state of revival now, and no one can stop us, not America, not Europe. From what I see, Thunder Horse Military Factory is one such example. The XL2500 and Gust rifles have be the world¡¯s top guns, have they not?¡±
¡°What are you trying to say, Mr Xia?¡± A faint mocking smile appeared in the corners of Philip¡¯s lips. ¡°I understand that you are a clever and hardworking race, but what we are discussing today is the matter of Miss Annina returning to Germany. What is the meaning of you talking about this?¡±
¡°Mr Philip, I can say with certainty that you have miscalcted. Even if you bring Annina back to Germany, you will be unable to get the technology of the XL2500 and Gust rifles. Annina did work on the designs, but she was only in charge of the initial designs. I am the person who is responsible for the core technology. I am China¡¯s Father of Rifles, so the person you are looking for is me, and not Annina.¡±
Philip and Alida couldn¡¯t help exchanging looks, and the look in their eyes grewplicated.
Xia Lei had exposed their motive. It was true. They were indeed aiming for that. No country did not want the technology of the world¡¯s leading guns, the XL2500 and the Gust rifles. This technology did not just represent a boost of profits, but a boosting of national battle power too. From their perspective, they would be able to get their hands on the technology by taking Annina, who had been involved in the design of the guns, back to Germany. However, Xia Lei was now telling them that Annina was only in charge of the basics, and not the core technology. So what was the use to taking Annina back with them?
Annina couldn¡¯t help giving Xia Lei a look, because she knew that he had lied. She knew the core secrets of both the XL2500 and the Gust rifles.
¡°Heh heh...¡± Philipughed all of a sudden. ¡°You are a clever businessman, Mr Xia. My mother taught me that one has to be extra careful when dealing with businessmen. Why do you think I will believe what you say?¡±
Chapter 546 - Mutual Interests
Philip wasn¡¯t actuallypletely disbelieving of Xia Lei¡¯s words. The orders he had received were clear ¡ª get Annina back to Germany this time, by hook or by crook. The reason was simple ¡ª it was more beneficial to get Annina back to Germany than to leave her in China.
Annina seemed to be aware of this too, and she said, ¡°That¡¯s right, Mr Philip. I was only in charge of the most basic parts. I have no clue about the core technology. It is useless for you to take me back to Germany. Besides, I don¡¯t want to go back.¡±
Philip scoffed. ¡°Miss Annina, it seems you do not understand the situation. You have to go back to Germany, whether you are willing to, or not. Even if Germany drops the charges against you, you still have to talk and exin all that had happened to you.¡±
¡°I...¡± Annina could not speak.
Xia Lei spoke up then. ¡°Mr Philip, I believe that all business things can be negotiated. You have just Annina for a bargaining chip in your hand, but I have what you want. My chips are the production technologies of the XL2500 sniper rifle, and the Gust assault rifle. I think if our two sides sat down and talked about it, we would surely be able to reach a satisfactory oue for us both. What do you say?¡±
¡°We can talk about anything. How about this ¡ª you state your conditions,¡± said Philip.
¡°I¡¯d like to be clear about something before I talk,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to ask, Mr Philip, if you are fully responsible for this matter, or is it someone else?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I am in charge, of course.¡±
¡°Are you sure?¡±
¡°Hey!¡± Philip was getting annoyed. ¡°Mr Xia, do you think me unfit to be an ambassador?¡±
¡°No, no, no, I definitely did not mean that. I apologise if my words have made you ufortable.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for that!¡±
¡°What you want is the production technology of the XL2500 and the Gust rifles. This is very important to our country. However, we are not like you Westerners, who put a technology blockade on us. We are willing to share the production technology of the XL2500 and Gust rifles, but you must bring out something that is simrly beneficial for us,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you have in mind?¡± asked Philip tentatively.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Technology for the Leopard 2 tank, and the Eurofighter Typhoon engine, for example.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Philipughed all of a sudden.
Xia Lei did not speak. He watched Philipugh.
Philip said scornfully, ¡°You sure are bold to ask for such things, Mr Xia. You want to exchange light weapons¡¯ manufacturing technology for Germany¡¯s Leopard 2 tank technology, and even the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology? Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being naive, and ridiculously so?¡±
Xia Lei had a smile on his face. He was not perturbed by this mockery.
¡°Mr Xia, you asked if our ambassador is full in charge of this matter. I, too, would like to ask what role you have in thistter? Do you have full responsibility for what you said?¡± said Alida.
¡°I¡¯ve had the authorisation long ago,¡± said Xia Lei.
He had indeed been authorised by Ling Han. Ling Han¡¯s status was very special, and it was enough to have his authorisation. Furthermore, the demands he made gave China the bigger benefit out of the exchange, and he was bold enough to act first, and reportter.
¡°It is not possible, even if you have the authorisation,¡± said Philip. ¡°Mr Xia, your conditions for this exchange are too much. We just want to take Annina back with us; this is our aim. We shall not make this disadvantageous deal with you.¡±
¡°Disadvantageous? Heh heh heh.¡± Xia Leiughed too.
¡°What are youughing about? You want to have the technology for the Leopard 2 tank, and the Eurofighter Typhoon engine. How does this benefit us?¡± said Philip disdainfully.
¡°Mr Philip, I know that the most advancedthe you have in Germany is a machine which an electrical engineer named Josef made. He is also an excellent machinist. Do you truly think that his intelligentthe is the most advanced?¡±
Philip and Alida froze.
Xia Lei went on. ¡°I¡¯ll be frank. It is not just the mechanisms of the XL2500 and Gust rifles which is the key technology. The most important thing is the intelligentthe I made myself. Without mythe, you won¡¯t be able to make the same guns even if you get your hands on my design ns.¡±
¡°You dare to say that your intelligentthe is more advanced than our German intelligentthe?¡± Philip snapped back to his senses, but he did not believe Xia Lei¡¯s words.
Xia Lei spoke casually, ¡°My production workshops are just next door. You can go have a tour at any time.¡±
¡°This...¡± Philip was undecided. He did want to have a tour of the production workshop, but he was not an industry insider, so he had no clue about intelligentthes. It would be useless for him to look at it. He was in no doubt of Xia Lei¡¯s words, however. This was because the production of guns was not simply a matter of having the design ns, but the production line too. Lathes were an important, integral part of the production line too. How would Thunder Horse Military Factory be able to produce the world¡¯s best XL2500 and Gust rifles without the bestthes for the job?
Alida drew close to Philip, and said something in his ear.
Xia Lei used his lip-reading ability to decipher what she said. ¡°I think what he¡¯s saying is true. We should report this to our superiors. It will be more beneficial for us to be able to obtain Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯sthe.¡±
Thethe yed a very important role in the manufacturing process. China used to almostpletely depend on imports for all the precision processing that they needed in the past, before Xia Lei stole the technology. Why? It was because theycked advanced intelligentthes. This awkward situation ended only after Xia Lei built Josef¡¯s intelligentthe. China could now do the high-end precision processing on her own, and did not need to rely on precision processing imports anymore. This showed how important intelligentthes were!
Additionally, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s intelligentthe was an upgrade of Josef¡¯s intelligentthe. Its technology was more advanced than thethe Xia Lei had sold to China Industrial Group, and more perfect. It could be said that the intelligentthe in Thunder Horse was the most advancedthe in the world, and that none couldpare to it! This was indeed a great temptation for the Germans, who were known for their prowess in manufacturing.
Xia Lei knew what they were up to now after lip-reading what Alida said, but he showed no sign on his face. ¡°How about this, Mr Philip ¡ª you can report to your superiors. Let them send an expert to have a look at our intelligentthe, and at our production line. If you still think you can produce a true copy of the XL2500 and Gust rifles if you bring Annina back with you, then you can take her back. I will not stand in your way. However, if you wish to talk business, then I¡¯ll wee you anytime. You want something from this, and we want something from this too. This will be beneficial to both parties, don¡¯t you agree?¡±
¡°What you say is quite logical, Mr Xia. I do not understand intelligentthes, and I don¡¯t have knowledge on the production of guns either. How about this ¡ª I return to the embassy right now, and make a call to see what our side wants to do about this. I will contact you immediately when I get news about this,¡± said Philip.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s do that, then. It was nice meeting you. Goodbye, Mr Philip. Goodbye, Miss Alida.¡±
Philip and Alida stood, and shook hands with Xia Lei and Annina.
Xia Lei sent Philip and Alida to the door, and tried to y down his words as he said, ¡°Mr Philip, please give all the details of the situation to your superiors. The production technology for the XL2500 and Gust rifles, plus the technology for the world¡¯s most advancedposite intelligentthe, in exchange for your country¡¯s Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t want the Leopard 2 tank technology anymore?¡± Philip looked at Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s not good to be too greedy. My mother taught me that. We will be exchanging three bits of technology for your one. I think that¡¯s about right.¡±
Philip nced at Annina, who was next to Xia Lei. ¡°And her?¡±
¡°Mr Philip, Annina is not an item for trade. She is my woman. Do you feel it appropriate for her to participate in this negotiation?¡±
Philip pointed a finger at Xia Lei andughed tly. ¡°You¡¯re a shrewd businessman. No wonder China was able to rise up strong in the past 30 years. You Chinese really are the rare elite race of the world.¡±
(Excuse me while I vomit.)
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Then let us be friends before it¡¯s toote.¡±
Philip and Alida left.
The negotiations were not over, but both sides were sure of the other¡¯s motives now, and this was a good lead-in to further talks. This was also considered a good result.
Back in the office, Annina out her arms around Xia Lei. ¡°Lukas, I liked that you said I am your woman. I got quite excited when I heard you say that.¡± She then drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and whispered something.
Xia Lei nced involuntarily between her legs, and an odd expression appeared on his face.
¡°Lukas, are you really going to exchange all of our technology for the technology of the Eurofighter Typhoon engine? We have no way of manufacturing it even if we do get that sort of technology, but we will be losing a solid advantage. Tell me ¡ª why?¡±
¡°Our country¡¯s engine technology has always beencking. Most of the engines of our fighter nes are imported from Russia, and are severely limited too. If I can change this situation, then why not? I might lose the benefit of being the sole producer of the XL2500 and Gust rifles, butpared to the benefit of the nation, my personal gains are insignificant. Besides, I am making so much money now that I won¡¯t be able to spend it all, not even over several lifetimes. What do I need so much money for?¡±
¡°You are such a noble person.¡± Annina drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear again and whispered something.
Xia Lei hurriedly avoided her. ¡°I need to make a call, to report this situation to the higher-ups.¡±
Annina pursed her lips. ¡°I¡¯ll go to work, then.¡±
Xia Lei called Ling Han, and gave him a brief overview of the negotiations.
¡°Look at the size of the balls on you, Boy!¡± Ling Han cursed, paused, andughed. ¡°But you did brilliantly. If we really go get the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology in exchange, then you¡¯ll have really achieved something stupendous, Boy!¡±
¡°So why did you curse at me?¡±
¡°Eh... Was I cursing at you?¡±
¡°Heh heh, I am just kidding with you, Brother Ling. Also, you have toe in person for the negotiations. This matter is too important, and I don¡¯t have the authority to make major decisions. Could you also get Annina her freedom during the negotiations?¡±
¡°I would definitely need toe in person for the negotiations. I won¡¯t be just me either, but a team of negotiators. As for what you said about getting Annina¡¯s freedom, I¡¯d like to ask... What sort of freedom do you want to get for her?¡±
¡°Freedom in China, and freedom in Germany. The most important condition is that the Americans cannot arrest her, and cannot interrogate her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, this is no problem. She is German, and I will mention that during the negotiations. I think they will agree to it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s it, then.¡±
¡°Goodbye, Boy.¡± Ling Han ended the call.
Xia Lei put down the phone, and his thoughts went back to their very first problem ¡ª Who had leaked the secret?
Chapter 547 - Should I Eat the Last AE Capsule?
Someone had leaked the secret of Annina working at Thunder Horse Military Factory. This person¡¯s motives were definitely negative, as he was targeting Xia Lei and Thunder Horse Military Factory. But after Xia Lei¡¯s intervention, it turned into a good thing. If this were sessful, and if he could use the methods that he possessed to obtain Germany¡¯s Eurofighter Typhoon¡¯s engine technology, then he would have contributed even more to the country.
The official negotiations had not yet begun, but both parties were already preparing for it.
However, Xia Lei did not need to do these preparations. He would only act as an essential person to the negotiation. But before that, he had something that he needed to do himself, and that was to continue working on his Alloy X Project.
In the next few days, other than dealing with some importantpany affairs, Xia Lei kept himself locked in theboratory under the vi, researching the ancient alloy. In these two days, he¡¯d put steel bars, chopsticks, paper, stic, and so on in the box. But no matter what material the object was made of, the result was the same. They would disappear in the box and then reappear after one minute. The objects which reappeared all looked as if they¡¯d gone through a thousand years with extreme weathering. Some were reduced to powder, and some were heavily damaged.
As for Princess Yongmei, Xia Lei had tried to summon her at least 20 times, to no avail.
She had disappeared mysteriously just like that. He didn¡¯t know if she¡¯d disappearedpletely or if something had happened to her. She could be waiting somewhere for a chance toe back to this world. But no matter what it was, Xia Lei could do nothing about it now.
He could not find the next treasure site, could not assemble aplete box, nor analyze theposition of the ancient alloy. Even Princess Yongmei had disappeared, and this made Xia Lei¡¯s researche to a state of stagnation.
¡°Is it just gonna end like this?¡± Xia Lei looked at the two things on his work table ¡ª the iplete ancient alloy box, and the bronze book, and gloom settled over him. He felt it unsatisfactory to end the project as it was, not only because it could revitalise this country¡¯s aerospace industry, but for his own reasons as well.
The ancient alloy pieces were a mystery, but was his body not one as well?
¡®Wait...I think I forgot another clue.¡¯ A button in his head suddenly clicked when he was unable to make any progress, and his eyes moved to the alloy ne around his neck.
Ancient alloy, Ming dynastypass, the bronze book, the AE capsule... These things were not from the same era but they all shared one simrity. They all had something to do with AE.
Xia Lei took out the AE capsule inside the alloy ne, and ced it on his workbench. His workbench now held three things rted to AE ¡ª the ancient alloy box, the bronze book, and the AE capsule. If the Ming dynastypass were here as well, then all the four things rted to AE would be gathered in one ce.
Looking at the three things on the table, Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡®I guess I¡¯m one of them too. The ancient alloy box, bronze book, AE capsule, Ming dynastypass, plus me. That¡¯s five things rted to AE.¡¯
He didn¡¯t mind thinking of himself as an ¡°object¡± in this kind of situation.
He stood there silently for a while, then opened thest AE capsule and poured the powder out onto a sheet of paper.
The powder just looked like normal powder in the eyes if one looked at it normally. But in Xia Lei¡¯s left eye, the powder seemedprised of tiny crystals, each looking like moonlit gemstones which jewellers had cut and polished. Amongst the pure white were bits of blue light, very faint and difficult to see with the naked eye. What was stranger was that each ¡°gem¡± had the same volume, the same hexagonal prism, and even their luster was identical.
This wasn¡¯t Xia Lei¡¯s first time studying this AE capsule. He had used his X-ray vision on it before but this was his first time studying it with his zoom-in vision.
Looking at the powder on the piece of paper, Xia Lei suddenly got a wild thought, ¡®Could Princess Yongmei be hiding in one of these grains of powder? She¡¯s a form of energy, so she could shrink unimaginably small. If this hypothesis is true, wouldn¡¯t this mean that I would be eating her if I ate this powder?¡¯
As soon as this idea settled in his head, another one popped out.
¡®My research is at a standstill. If I eat thisst AE capsule, what kind of changes would happen to my body? Would those unknown changes give me new clues?¡¯ This idea gave Xia Lei an impulse to eat the capsule right away.
This impulse was very strong, and the magical, hexagonal gemstone-like powder were shining with a tempting light. Impulse and temptation took him, and Xia Lei¡¯s head moved slowly toward the piece of paper on his workbench. Slowly, slowly, closer and closer. He stuck out his tongue. He only needed to give a light lick for the powder to go in his body...
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring!
His phone suddenly rang.
Xia Lei came to his senses with a start, and took two steps back. He stared nkly at the pile of powder and thought to himself, ¡®What was wrong with me? It¡¯s thest capsule. How would I study it if I ate it? It made my body evolve, but if my evolution has already reached the max that my body could bear and I still hastily eat it, I could end up not getting any benefits, but be destroyed!¡¯
Once something reaches its maximum capacity, the effects would be reversed. This wasn¡¯t an old philosophy, but thew of nature.
Organisms get strong, then weaken. Life starts with birth and ends with death. No one can escape thisw of nature.
He had consumed the AE capsules, and obtained some incredible superpowers. His eye, his brain, and his body¡¯s auto detoxification and super immune ability, and maybe more he did not know about ¡ª these were not abilities he was born with. They had been given to him by the capsule. The him now could still live life like a normal person, but there¡¯s a possibility that if he took thest AE capsule and evolved to thest stage, he would turn into an unknown form. And when that happened, he would not be able to live life as he was living now.
This possibility of this urring was fairly high. The reason was simple ¡ª he had surpassed thew of nature, so he was no longer part of the natural world.
It was not just thew of nature ¡ª even if you were to exin this possibility using ¡°birds of a feather flock together,¡± the risks of consuming thest capsule so hastily was also very high. A simple example would be that a single goat definitely wouldn¡¯t survive in a wolf pack. A billionaire definitely won¡¯t live in dirty and smelly slum.
Princess Yongmei had always said he was ¡®The One¡¯. This actually was also an example, a warning!
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone kept ringing.
Xia Lei shook his head hard, and calmed himself. He took out his phone. It was Ling Han calling.
¡°What are you doing?¡± was Lin Han¡¯s first sentence.
¡°I¡¯m in theboratory,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Quicklye out, the negotiators from Germany have arrived. I brought to yourpany, so hurry up and get ready to receive them. If it goes well, we can get this done by today. Oh, right, we¡¯re in your office,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right out.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
A few minutester, Xia Lei walked out of the vi. The alloy ne was back around his neck, and thest AE capsule hidden in the pendant as always.
Maybe he would eat thest AE capsule, but definitely not now.
Arriving at the office, Xia Lei saw Ling Han and some negotiators from the Chinese side, as well as negotiators from Germany. The members from both parties added up were enough for a football match. Annina was among them, and Alida was discussing something with her in a low voice. She looked a little nervous.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze suddenly stopped on one of the Germans¡¯ faces, and he was stunned. This person was Josef, Germany¡¯s top electrical engineer, and a talented mechanic. Josef¡¯s presence surprised him, yet didn¡¯t at the same time. He was surprised, but looking at the current situation, it was not surprising that Germany had sent someone who had created Germany¡¯s most advanced intelligentthe to inspect Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s products, so Josef¡¯s arrival was quite normal indeed.
Josef did not see Xia Lei who appeared in the doorway. His eyes were fixed on Annina. He liked Annina and this was something which had not changed to this day.
It was Philip who saw Xia Lei first. He greeted him warmly. ¡°Mr Xia, we meet again.¡±
Everyone in the room looked at Xia Lei, including Josef.
Josef looked at Xia Lei with aplicated look in his eyes. Xia Lei had been killed in his house! Shot down! But now he was here in front of him, and as China¡¯s ¡°Father of Rifles¡± too!
Xia Lei avoided Josef¡¯s gaze. He smiled and greeted Philip. ¡°Mr Philip, you guys sure are quick. Why didn¡¯t you send notice beforeing? I could¡¯ve prepared for your arrival. Look, you came so suddenly that we didn¡¯t have anything prepared to greet you.¡±
Philip said, ¡°This was not up to me.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, get your workers to move out. The German party wants a tour of your workshop,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°No problem, I¡¯ll tell them to have a meeting in the hall.¡± Xia Lei walked to the front of his desk and called Qin Xiang with thendline.
He knew what Ling Han¡¯s intention was. The negotiations this time were very important, and very special, so it couldn¡¯t be done in public. They could only talk about covertly. The result of this negotiation would also not be reported anywhere.
Once the workers left, Xia Lei brought the members of the German party away from the office building and towards the workshop.
Josef walked up to Annina, lowered his voice and said in German, ¡°Annina, what¡¯s going on here? Didn¡¯t he die? How¡¯s he alive?¡±
¡°This... I don¡¯t know either. Oh yeah, how¡¯s your mother doing these days?¡± said Annina.
¡°My mother? She¡¯s good. Oh yeah, is he Lukas?¡±
¡°No way. Lukas is dead.¡±
¡°But they look exactly the same.¡±
¡°Chinese people all look pretty simr. Sometimes I can¡¯t distinguish them either. Oh yeah, how¡¯s your father?¡±
Josef was speechless.
Chapter 548 - Heart of Thunder Horse Military Factory
The members of the German negotiation party were in the workshop to have a tour of the production line, and surprise was written on every one of their faces. The impression of most Westerners was that China manufactured socks and shirts, and the cheap vuvuzs in football games. As for weapons, those were either modelled after Russian weapons, or European and American ones ¡ª not worth mentioning at all.
However, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s advanced production line, thought-outyout and clean production environment caught their attention. It was different from what they had expected, and their feelings about this situation became rather mixed.
China¡¯s development was not all well-received by everyone, because this development threatened the interests of the Western countries. This was why a technology blockade had been enacted, and there were trade barriers, and all sorts of discrimination and unfairness. However, even under a technology blockade, a small Chinese light weapons manufacturer had managed to break out of these restrictions, and be a global-ss dark horse in the industry!
Looking at the advanced production line of Thunder Horse Military Factory, and the finished XL2500 sniper rifles and Gust assault rifles in the workshops, the Germans were glum. How could they be happy?
Members of the German party included firearms experts, as well as top electrical engineers and machinists like Josef. They quickly entered work-mode, and walked about the workshop, inspecting every machine on the production line in earnest. Some even started up machines and tested them out.
Ling Han drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s side and said in a low voice, ¡°Lei, would they be able to steal yourpany¡¯s technology like this?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh and also lowered his voice. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Brother Ling. My technology can¡¯t be stolen just by looking and operating the machines for a bit. If they want my technology, they will have to give something of equal value in exchange for it.¡±
Ling Han pped Xia Lei on the shoulder and rxed. ¡°I feel assured by your words. We shall negotiate with them after their tour of the ce is done. Sit next to me, and do not dere your position on the matter yet. I will give you a signal when it¡¯s needed.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
Just then, Josef suddenly eximed, ¡°How is this possible?¡± He had just processed a small item with an intelligentthe.
Annina walked over. ¡°What seems to be the problem, Josef?¡±
¡°Many parts of thisthe¡¯s design feels familiar to me. Hm. What I¡¯m trying to say is that this is quite simr to the intelligentthe I designed. But its capabilities are a bit better than the one which I had designed,¡± said Josef.
Annina gave augh. ¡°Josef, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are both automobile manufacturers. The cars they manufacture have four wheels, an engine and a steering wheel. I think the simrities you¡¯re talking about is something like this. They¡¯re both intelligentthes, so there are sure to be simrities.¡±
But Josef shook his head. ¡°No. I know about some unique parts of the design, and these are unique. Your metaphor cannot be applied to this.¡±
Philip walked over. ¡°Have you discovered a problem, Mr Josef?¡±
¡°Thethes here are very simr in design to the intelligentthe I¡¯ve designed. This is quite odd, since a lot of these design parts are unique.¡±
¡°And the performance?¡± Philip nced surreptitiously at Xia Lei, and that nce was tinged with suspicion.
Josef was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°Thethes here are more advanced than the one I designed, and more perfect.¡±
Philip drew close to Josef¡¯s ear and he whispered, ¡°Let me ask you ¡ª will you be able to upgrade our intelligentthes to the same standards of thethes here after taking a look at their machines?¡±
Josef thought for a bit, and said, ¡°The intelligentthe I designed is already very advanced. To make it even more so is a very difficult matter. I¡¯ve been trying and trying but I haven¡¯t managed to increase its capabilities, but this intelligentthe has gone beyond the level of mine. This is quite unexpected. You ask me if ourthes can be upgraded, and this is my answer. I cannot see the internal design, and its electrical circuits, so I cannot do it unless you get the design ns, and an intelligentthe like this.¡±
Philip was fairly disappointed. After all these, they still needed to negotiate. It would have been best for him if the experts he had brought would have been able to discern the secrets of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s from a look, and let them be able to obtain the technology without giving anything in exchange, but it was wishful thinking. It would be a different matter, however, if the experts like Josef had X-ray vision like Xia Lei did.
¡°But Mr Philip,¡± whispered Josef in his ear, ¡°If they want to exchange this technology for the Eurofighter Typhoon technology, then it¡¯s not worth it for us. If you agree to this exchange, it¡¯ll be like exchanging a kilogram of diamonds for a kilogram of gold.¡±
Philip scoffed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. We have prepared plenty of options for them. There¡¯s 3D-printing technology, car engine technology and some avionics too. If what they¡¯re offering is just that, then they can only get something of equivalent value. We do not have more money than sense.¡±
Xia Lei watched their exchange and lip-read what they said, then whispered the contents of their conversation to Ling Han.
Ling Han wrinkled his brows. ¡°3D-printing technology? We¡¯re not inferior to the Europeans and Americans in that. As for the car engine technology, that¡¯s not what we want. Avionics technology may have some value, but not in this exchange. If we cannot get the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology, then these negotiations are done.¡±
Xia Lei nced at Annina and asked, ¡°What about Annina, Brother Ling?¡±
¡°If the negotiations fall through, she¡¯ll be brought back to Germany. You have to understand that we will not butt heads with the leader of the European Union over a woman. Lei, you have already done what you should have. She will understand if you cannot help her.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°And if I can make the deal happen?¡±
¡°That¡¯ll be no problem then. But what do you n to do?¡±
In truth, he was not optimistic of the oue of these negotiations even though he was personally leading the party in negotiations. They were trying to negotiate for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology after all. The Germans would be under pressure from the EU and the US, and would also have to deal with the rise of China. If they had nothing to interest the Germans, would they bear this pressure from their allies to exchange the technology of the two guns and a better intelligentthe for the Typhoon? Of course not.
¡°Yeah, watch me.¡± Xia Lei uttered that one line, then walked over to the whispering Philip and Josef.
¡°He¡¯s here. Let¡¯s stop talking.¡± Philip spotted Xia Lei walking over and immediately stopped whispering to Josef.
Josef looked at Xia Lei, and his eyes were full of confusion and suspicion. He had long suspected that ¡°Lukas¡± and Xia Lei were the same person, and he also suspected that Xia Lei had stolen the technology of his intelligentthe. However, he had no proof.
¡°Heh heh, Mr Josef, I know you are Germany¡¯s top electrical engineer, and an excellent machinist too. You are an expert in this. So how are ourthes?¡± Xia Lei went straight to the point.
¡°Quite good,¡± said Josef. ¡°They are indeed more advanced, but I have to be honest ¡ª if you want to use it in exchange for our Typhoon engine technology, then you¡¯re being way too naive.¡±
Philip watched Xia Lei¡¯s reaction.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Mr Josef, you are an expert indeed. What I want to tell you is that thethes you¡¯ve been looking at are the lowest-level intelligentthes we have in Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
Josef stared nkly. ¡°The lowest level?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Why else would it be on the production line for the processing of handgun parts? You think we¡¯ll use this sort of intelligentthe technology to exchange for the Typhoon technology? I don¡¯t make such low-ss jokes.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t believe that there can be a more advancedthe,¡± said Josef.
¡°Why not?¡±
¡°Because that¡¯s impossible!¡± Josef said rudely, ¡°I admit that the intelligentthe here is more advanced than the intelligentthe I had researched and built, but there are limits to how advanced it can be. I am sure that this is at the limit, and it is impossible for you to surpass this foundation!¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°You do not believe it because of your bias towards my country¡¯s manufacturing capabilities. We did indeedg behind for a period of time, but this does not mean that we would stay there.¡±
A look of displeasure traced Philip¡¯s face. He could not be bothered to spar verbally with Xia Lei, and he was sure of his judgement. There was no way China could produce an intelligentthe more advanced than this, not with the current manufacturing levels!
¡°Mr Xia, you said you would not make low-ss jokes, but from what I see, this is a low-ss joke. Our experts have flown in from the other end of the globe, but we have not seen your most advanced bit of technology yet,¡± said Philip.
¡°There¡¯s no need to get anxious. Pleasee with me.¡± Xia Lei put a smile on his face, and made a gesture of wee.
Philip and Josef exchanged nces, and did not move.
¡°What, you don¡¯t even have the courage to have a look?¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
¡°I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Josef.
Therge group of Germans and the group led by Ling Han left the first workshop, following Xia Lei, and came to another workshop.
This workshop was smaller than the other workshops, and the alloy doors were locked tight. One could not see inside it.
¡°Open the door, Annina,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina pursed her lips in a sweet smile at Xia Lei, walked up to the door and entered the passcode into the electrical code lock, and positioned her eye in front of a retinal scanner. The door opened slowly after all these steps were taken.
A behemoth entered the field of vision of everyone as soon as the doors were opened.
Josef¡¯s mouth opened wide in that instant, and he could not close it.
This hugethe was the heart of Thunder Horse Military Factory. Whether it was the stabilising system of the XL2500 sniper rifle or the load-bearing shock absorption of the Gust assault rifle, it all had to be processed here. The only ones who could enter this workshop were the core engineers and machinists of Thunder Horse Military Factory, with Annina at their helm!
Chapter 549 - Shrewd Germans
If one took the ordinary intelligentthes at Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s workshops to be average soldiers, then this enormous integrated intelligentthe would be equal to a general ¡ª a general and his troops, teaming up to form a powerful battalion. And the king of this battalion was Xia Lei.
The king made a weing gesture. He was serene, and exuded confidence aplenty.
Josef strode toward the enormous intelligentthe with pure surprise in his eyes.
The German party entered the room too, with Philip in the lead. They spoke to each other in low voices. Their astonishment at the sight of the enormousthe was fairly apparent.
Josef circled the machine once, and the surprise in his eyes grew. He was considered the global leader in this field, but the details he could see with his naked eye made him conclude that this giantpositethe was the most advanced he had everid eyes upon. One would not be able to find a simrthe in the entire world, not even in Germany or America. It could only be seen here!
¡°What do you think, Josef?¡± asked Philip quietly from behind him.
¡°This... It¡¯s a miracle,¡± said Josef excitedly.
This brief assessment shocked Philip and the other Germans.
¡°But I refuse to believe that China is able to manufacture such an advanced intelligentthe,¡± added Josef.
It wasmon for there to be prejudice against the Chinese in Western countries, and this bias could not be changed easily with just one intelligentthe. People sometimes chose to simply ignore and refuse to acknowledge the truth even if it wereid before their eyes.
Xia Lei gently touched Annina¡¯s arm and said to her, ¡°Annina, go ahead and demonstrate its capabilities to them.¡±
Annina nodded obediently in response with a soft ¡°nn¡± and moved towards the huge integrated intelligentthe.
The enormousthe was quickly activated by Annina. She entered a few instructions on the centralputer and over 10 precision-machined parts were created in the short span of two to three minutes. These precision parts were the core pieces which made up the shock-absorbing mechanism of the Gust assault rifles.
Josef checked and measured the parts eagerly. When he was done checking, he stared dumbly, unable to say a word.
¡°How is it?¡± Philip couldn¡¯t wait for Josef¡¯s evaluation.
Josef snapped back to his senses and said, ¡°These are the most precise precision parts I¡¯ve ever seen. I don¡¯t believe it ¡ª there is virtually no difference between the parts.¡± After a short pause, he went on to say, ¡°Mr Phillip, this is the most advanced intelligentthe I¡¯ve ever seen. We... we can¡¯t manufacture athe like this.¡±
The Josef right then was like a warrior who had been defeated in an arena. He had lost his honour, and his confidence. He had still been suspecting that Xia Lei had stolen his technology earlier, but he had to bow his head to Xia Lei now.
¡°What technology do you think we should use in exchange with them, Mr Josef?¡± Philip spoke in a soft whisper.
Josef replied just as quietly, ¡°We meet their demands. We must take the technology of thisposite intelligentthe back with us. If we have athe like this, our manufacturing sector will grow stronger than it currently is. Some of the ns we cannot realise right now could be reality.¡±
Josef quietly replied, ¡°Fulfill their every demand. We must definitely bring the technology behind thisthe back. If we had an integrated intelligentthe simr to this, our manufacturing abilities will be greatly strengthened. Certain designs that are currently impossible to manufacture could be realised.¡±
¡°Are you sure about this?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure, I swear¡±
¡°I know what to do, then.¡± Philip lowered his voice. ¡°I¡¯ll negotiate with themter. You can give your opinion, but say that theirthe is not that impressive. We want to pay the least we can to get the most we can.¡±
¡°I understand what you mean. I know what I should say,¡± said Josef.
Their exchange did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eye, and his lip-reading skill. A faint smile appeared in the corners of his lips as he watched Josef and Philip whisper to each other. He then said a few lines in the ear of Ling Han, who was next to him. Ling Han said nothing but just nodded.
After talking to Ling Han, Xia Lei smiled and said in German, ¡°You¡¯ve seen ourthe. What is the evaluation of your German expert?¡±
Philip shot Josef a look.
Josef spoke in German. ¡°It¡¯s good, but not as good as I¡¯d imagined. We can actually make this type of 500-tonposite intelligentthe too. I believe that we would not produce an inferior machine if we were to make a simr intelligentthe.¡±
Philip smiled. He did not say anything, but he was silently apuding Josef¡¯s ¡°evaluation¡±.
Annina couldn¡¯t help herself and interrupted, ¡°Josef, do you know what you¡¯re saying? I a mechanic too, and I know the intelligentthe you created. It is a far cry from thisthe!¡±
Philip red at her. ¡°Annina, do not forget that you are a German citizen!¡±
¡°I have never forgotten that I am one, but a true German is honest and just. I am disappointed in you, Josef. You¡¯re lying!¡± said Annina.
Embarrassment appeared on Josef¡¯s face but he bit the bullet and said, ¡°I¡¯m telling the truth, Annina.¡±
Annina made to say something more, but Xia Lei interrupted. ¡°Enough, Annina.¡±
Annina closed her mouth.
¡°Mr Philip, I do not care if Mr Josef¡¯s evaluation is true. I am sure of the value of my bargaining chip and I have shown my sincerity on the matter. It is now up to you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mr Xia, are you meaning for negotiations to be done here?¡± said Philip.
¡°Anything wrong with it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right, please give us some time. We need to discuss this,¡± said Philip.
¡°No problem,¡± said Xia Lei.
The German party followed Philip to a corner of the workshop and lowered their voices in discussion.
Ling Han wrinkled his brows. ¡°These Germans are difficult to deal with. Will they agree to it?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Rx, Brother Ling. Leave this to me.¡±
¡°I am fully confident in you, but those Germans are very shrewd. I don¡¯t think this negotiation will be sessful,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°The Germans are cautious and pragmatic, and this is known worldwide. However, few know that they are the most shrewd businessmen too. Their country was in shambles after World War Teom but it is now the leader of Europe. This is proof,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m worried about this. This German party is like a team of merchants ¡ª it¡¯s not easy to negotiate with them.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°But they¡¯re up against me now. I am a businessman too. Brother Ling, leave the negotiations to me. I will get the greatest benefit for us.¡±
Ling Han paused. ¡°Leave the negotiations to you?¡±
¡°Let me try, at least. Our expert negotiators can make their move if I am unsessful,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Han smiled wryly. ¡°Fine, you punk. I¡¯d like to see how you¡¯ll negotiate with them.¡±
Phillip led the Germans back to stand before the Chinese party after ten minutes.
¡°Mr Xia, we have deliberated.¡± Philip went straight to the point. ¡°Your integrated intelligentthe technology is good, but it is not the best. You¡¯re asking for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology in exchange for this and it¡¯s not realistic. We are only willing to exchange the Leopard 2 tank technology for it.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head and said ¡°We have our own tank technology, and it is not inferior to yours. I refuse this trade.¡±
Philip¡¯s expression turned ugly. ¡°Be content with what you get, Mr Xia. Our Leopard 2 tank is the most advanced tank in the world.¡±
¡°I refuse this trade,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Philip¡¯s expression turned uglier. He hesitated, then said, ¡°We¡¯ll add the 3D-printing technology.¡±
¡°We have that too. I refuse this trade.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll add the car engine technology. BMW, Mercedes, or Audi ¡ª take your pick.¡±
¡°We have too many cars in this country. Even little battery-powered cars are faster than cars in the city. What is the point of such a powerful car engine? I refuse this trade.¡±
Phillip was speechless.
Josef interrupted. ¡°What is this attitude of yours, Mr Xia? This is a negotiation. We¡¯re offering you all these advanced bits of technology. You should not miss this opportunity, and just ept. That would be the wisest choice to make.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°You may leave now.¡±
The members of the German party looked at each other in dismay. They had not expected Xia Lei to be so stubborn. Philip, in particr, was hoping to exchange the smallest output for the greatest gain. He did not expect that Xia Lei would tell them to leave, and at the beginning of the negotiations too! This attitude of his was simply an outright disregard for them, the party representing Germany!
¡°Humph, if that¡¯s the stance you have, then we¡¯ll leave. Don¡¯t you forget that Annina has to return to Germany with us!¡± Philip threw these words out, and turned to leave.
The German party gave Xia Lei a re, and followed Philip out.
Annina stared at Xia Lei, bbergasted. Her eyes were full of helplessness and hurt.
Ling Han was at a loss too. He touched Xia Lei on the elbow and said in a low voice, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you, punk? I left the negotiations to you and you chase them away not two minutes in? Do you know that we have fighter nescking engines, and that we have to import engines from Russia, under a whole lot of restrictions?¡±
Xia Lei spoke mildly, ¡°Rx. They¡¯ll be back.¡±
¡°Would theye back when you¡¯ve stomped so hard on their toes?¡± Ling Han was a little angry.
¡°They¡¯lle back and negotiate obediently with me by the time I count to ten,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll bet a hundred against that,¡± said Ling Han.
Just as Ling Han finished his sentence, Philip stopped in his tracks and turned back from the door.
Xia Lei held a hand out to Ling Han, palm up.
Ling Han red in annoyance at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ll pay upter!¡±
He did not understand how Xia Lei could be so confident, and have these shrewd Germans dancing to his tune. He would definitely not have bet against Xia Lei if he had known that Xia Lei could use his left eye and lip-reading to decipher the Germans¡¯ private discussions.
Xia Lei had never lost in business negotiations.
And he was not going to lose this time either.
Chapter 550 - Clever Man’s Methods
Philip walked up to Xia Lei, looking rather embarrassed. ¡°All right, Mr Xia. The XL2500 sniper rifle technology, plus the Gust assault rifle, and thisposite intelligentthe in exchange for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology. You win.¡±
Ling Han struggled to hold his excitement back. He was about to respond when Xia Lei stepped in front of him, blocking him off.
Xia Lei stopped Ling Han, but he was in no rush to confirm the deal either. He put a smile on his face and said, ¡°Mr Philip, let¡¯s talk in the meeting room. Look, there¡¯s not even a ce to sit here, and I can¡¯t treat my honoured guests so poorly. Please, this way, to the meeting room.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you say that we would negotiate here?¡± Philip was anxious to have this deal signed immediately.
¡°Come,e, Mr Philip. Even if we have agreed on something, we¡¯d still need a table to sign.¡± Xia Lei took Philip by the hand and seemed very friendly.
Ling Han and the negotiators with him exchanged looks. Wry smiles were on all their faces.
This negotiation had been conducted in secret, but it was very important to both parties. Xia Lei¡¯s approach to the matter made it not seem like and international negotiation. First, the buyer had pretended to have little interest in the product, then the seller spoke of the greatness of the product. One wanted to lower the price, and the other increase it... This was like some sort of roadside haggling at market stalls.
But whether it was an international negotiation, or roadside haggling, Xia Lei had gotten the upper hand over the German party, and the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology was almost in the bag.
Xia Lei brought the German party to a meeting room, and both parties seated themselves to get ready to start the final negotiations.
¡°Mr Xia, let¡¯s not waste time. Your side wants our Eurofighter Typhoon technology, and we want your XL2500 sniper rifle, Gust assault rifle, and of course, theposite intelligentthe technology. Since we both want something from each other, then our negotiations are much simpler, is it not?¡± Philip went straight to the heart of the matter.
¡°Mr Philip, you mentioned three technologies, but your side is only offering up one. The numbers don¡¯t add up ¡ª we¡¯re the ones making a loss,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mr Xia...¡± Philip was so mad his eyebrow twitched. ¡°We have already showed you our sincerity, so you should do likewise. Numbers-wise, you do lose out, but are these technologies the same? This is the Eurofighter Typhoon technology!¡±
Xia Lei spoke mildly, ¡°But with ourthes, you can make better engine, can¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Mr Xia!¡±
Xia Lei took no notice of the angry Philip, and he said leisurely, ¡°Plus, the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle are the best of their kind in the world. We have not target the European and American markets yet. Once you get them, you can supply your troops. Think about it ¡ª wouldn¡¯t it boost yourbat power in the war against terrorism if your soldiers are using XL2500 sniper rifles and Gust assault rifles? Your soldiers will be able to kill enemies at a distance of 2,500 metres with the XL2500. The Gust assault rifle has a greater range than regr assault rifles too, and its 1,000 metre shooting range is no joke. Are such excellent technologies inferior to your Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, the XL2500 and Gust rifles are indeed the best in the world, but they are just guns. What we are putting on the table is the most advanced fighter ne engine technology!¡±
Xia Lei was calm andposed. ¡°The most advanced? I don¡¯t think so. I know that the most advanced should be the F35 fighter ne engine. Russia¡¯s T50 is not bad either, and France¡¯s Dassault Rafale too. If I were so willing, I could just exchange my technologies for theirs. What I¡¯m trying to say here is that the Russians would like our XL2500 and Gust rifles very much, and ourthe technology even more.¡±
Philip was silent for a bit, then he said, ¡°If you do not want to make the exchange, then why have you invited me here?¡±
Xia Lei nced at Annina. ¡°I am doing it for Annina, and because our two countries have good rtions.¡±
¡°What other conditions do you have? State them.¡±
¡°I have two conditions,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°First, Annina has been a victim from the beginning. I hope your authorities will withdraw all charges against her, and give her her freedom. Additionally, you must guarantee that the Americans won¡¯t capture her, nor interrogate her.¡±
¡°This is no problem. Miss Annina is a citizen of our country, and the Americans won¡¯t be able to harm her if we don¡¯t let them,¡± said Philip.
¡°Good, then I¡¯ll state my second condition,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Our exchange will be based on fairness. I want an exchange of physical items, not technologies on paper.¡±
Philip paused. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°What I mean is simple. Your workerse to China and build the production workshop for the manufacturing of the Eurofighter Typhoon engine. We will send workers to Germany to build the production line for the XL2500 and Gust rifles. Of course, the most important is theposite intelligentthe,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Build a workshop? Are you kidding me, Mr Xia? If we do that, we will be under great pressure from the European nations and America, while you would have no pressure on your side! This is not fair!¡±
¡°This exchange will not be made public. The workshop you shall build will also be hidden deep in the mountains, and no one would know. If one day, it gets discovered by your allied countries and America, you can push responsibility to us, saying that our spies stole your technology. There will definitely be pressure, but it¡¯s not all that serious. So, Mr Philip, you don¡¯t have to take it so seriously. I don¡¯t understand politics, but I know what arguing and acting dumb is like.¡±
America and the European countries would use China¡¯s spies of stealing secrets annually, and even some totally legal businessmen were subjected to surveince and usations by the CIA. These were all because of the technology blockage Europe and America had on China. Their aim was to stop the rise of the China and keep their monopoly on the world. *
But now, Xia Lei was like a nail, hammering hard into this blockade and opening a gap in it.
Ling Han could not help a small smile. He had been afraid of Xia Lei messing things up earlier, but Xia Lei was unexpectedly level-headed and had things so well thought out. Ling Han had only been hoping for one Eurofighter Typhoon engine, and its relevant design ns before the negotiations started. After they got their hands on these, the Chinese scientists would still have to study this technology and model their work after the physical engine. However, Xia Lei had very surprisingly managed to get arger piece of the pie, and get the Germans toe over to build the workshop!
The German party lowered their voices in discussion. Most were not in favour.
Philip was silent for a bit. ¡°This won¡¯t work. I cannot make this decision.¡±
Xia Lei spoke evenly, ¡°Mr Philip, this is your second visit here. I believe your higher-ups have given you enough authority. If you cannot make the decision, then please return to your government and ask them to send someone who does have the authority. If you give up on this deal, we will contact the Russians and make an exchange with them for their T50 engine technology.¡±
¡°You are making things very difficult for me, Mr Xia!¡± Philip was fairly conflicted and he felt like punching Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you, Mr Philip. Even if we just exchange design ns for the technologies, you won¡¯t be able to manufacture XL2500 and Gust rifles which will be up to standard, and you won¡¯t be able to build my intelligentthe either. I believe that your German military has long since acquired XL2500 and Gust rifles from your own special channels. Were they able to reproduce them? If they could, then I don¡¯t think you¡¯d be here right now, would you?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make a call first. Please hold on.¡± Philip¡¯s tone had softened.
¡°Please, go ahead.¡± Xia Lei was in no hurry at all.
The German party were still talking in low voices as Philip left the meeting room to make his call.
Ling Han whispered to Xia Lei, ¡°Will they agree?¡±
¡°They will. The Eurofighter Typhoon was jointly researched by the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, with the German holding thergest stake. They are essentiallying to bargain with us with the money of a few people, but they own the rights. Would they refuse something so beneficial like this? They should actually be more worried about us going to the Spaniards or the Italians, not about facing pressure from them,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You know the situation very well, you punk. I thought you were just good at fighting and making guns, but your negotiation skills are impressive too. Huh. No wonder a woman like Shentu Tianyin was willing to marry you. You¡¯re a treasure,¡± said Ling Han with a smile.
¡°Brother Ling, it¡¯s not good to talk about my personal matters here. Also, when are you going to give me that 100?¡± Xia Lei stretched out a hand to Ling Han again.
Ling Han looked wordlessly at Xia Lei, but he still took his wallet out and pulled out a 100-yuan note. He pped it a little roughly onto Xia Lei¡¯s palm as he grumbled, ¡°You have a worth of billions, Boy, and you¡¯re being calctive over 100-yuan bet with me, a sried worker? Hah!¡±
¡°Haha!¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯ll save this 100 yuan. I won¡¯t use it up and treat it like a lucky charm.¡±
Ling Han was speechless.
This punk could actually say something like that!
Annina just watched Xia Lei quietly, and her gaze was tender. Xia Lei had got her her freedom, and she could go back to Germany to realise her dream. Just thinking about it made her excited, and wet. There was only one man on Earth who could make her pheromones go into overdrive without doing a thing. He just had to appear before her to make her all hot. This man was Xia Lei, her angel, her Lukas.
Philip returned to the meeting room after a few minutes. ¡°We agree to your request, Mr Xia. Let¡¯s talk about the details now.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t be talking about the details since I am not familiar with the process. I just want one line added to the agreement ¡ª you have to guarantee my safety when I am in Germany. I do not want any CIA agents appearing before me,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°No problem.¡± Philip agreed right away.
¡°All right, then go ahead and talk, gentlemen. I¡¯ll excuse myself.¡± Xia Lei stood to leave.
It was a smart move to withdraw in such a timely manner. Ling Han had brought so many people with him, and these people were all representatives who could negotiate with the Germans, so they were no ordinary people. They were all bigwigs! Would these bigwigs be happy if Xia Lei did everything, and took all the glory? It was not a smart thing to do to make these important people unhappy.
Sure enough, a majority of the people next to Ling Han smiled as Xia Lei stood to leave. They rolled their figurative sleeves up in preparation for the negotiation with the German party.
Annina stood to leave too, before Xia Lei stepped out of the meeting room. Her pale face was flushed, and her eyes teary. It looked like she wanted to relieve her body of a problem when she followed him out.
Chapter 551 - Voice of an Informant
Xia Lei had just finished relieving himself when a fragrant scent came from behind him. He didn¡¯t even need to look; he knew that Annina had followed him in just from the scent. She didn¡¯t wait for him to turn before she pressed her body into him from behind. Her body was very soft, so soft that it seemed like she was boneless, like she was made of butter.
¡°Annina, you...¡± Xia Lei was caught betweenughter and tears. This was the men¡¯s restroom! What would one think if he came in and saw them hugging each other, with Xia Lei¡¯s business not taken care of yet?
¡°Lucas, you helped me gain my freedom. I want to thank you properly.¡± Annina spoke breathily, and her voice was filled with lust.
How could Xia Lei possibly be unaware of what ¡®thank you properly¡¯ meant? He immediately became nervous and hurriedly pulled up his zipper. ¡°Annina, the negotiations are not yet over. I still want to ask Philip about something.¡±
¡°What do you want to ask him about?¡± Annina asked discontentedly, ¡°Didn¡¯t you take care of everything?¡±
Xia Lei turned around to face her. ¡°Someone leaked the information that you¡¯re at Thunder Horse Military Factory, and that was how Philip came to our door. I need to investigate that person¡¯s identity. It¡¯s not good to bring up something like this in front of so many people.¡±
¡°But I...¡± Annina¡¯s cheeks blushed with heat. She was too embarrassed to voice her thoughts.
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°You¡¯ve recovered your freedom now. I said that I would help you realise your dreams. I will bring you along when I go to Germany to establish a production line, and build a medieval castle for you in an area you like. Your beautiful life has only just begun. You have more than enough time to enjoy it.¡±
Annina smiled at this. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll listen to you. My angel.¡±
Xia Lei brought Annina out of the bathroom, and noticed Qin Xiang standing at the sink, washing his hands.
Qin Xiang swept Xia Lei and Annina with an odd look, and said in an effeminate voice, ¡°Oh my, the two of you have such a close rtionship that you even use the restroom together. Did you just do the nasty in there? Wow, you¡¯re open-minded. It¡¯s a good thing I¡¯m in the female restroom, otherwise I would have seen someone inside, doing that... Oh my, oh my, my eyes would definitely start swelling.¡±
Annina¡¯s face got redder. She red indignantly at Qin Xiang but she didn¡¯t know how to refute the effeminate guy. She had chased Xia Lei into the male restroom after all, with the intention of getting down and dirty. She wasn¡¯t able to get her way, however. There wasn¡¯t actually much difference between an offence of this nature, and an attempt tomit this offence.
Xia Lei was also very awkward. He was quiet for quite a while before asking, ¡°Why do you use the women¡¯s restroom?¡±
Qin Xiang ced his hands on his hips. ¡°If Annina can go to the men¡¯s restroom. Is there a problem with me going to the women¡¯s restroom?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Qin Xiang chuckled. ¡°Never mind, let¡¯s not joke around anymore. I still have to talk business with you. I¡¯ve gathered all the workers in the great assembly hall. It¡¯s a bit chaotic in there, and a lot of people are talking about what could have happened. I don¡¯t dare to casually state anything, so I came to ask you what to say to those workers.¡±
Xia Lei thought about it. ¡°Just tell them that this is a Force Majeure drill.¡±
¡°Force Majeure? What¡¯s that?¡± Qin Xiang blinked his eyeshadow-painted eyes at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei unhappily replied, ¡°Try reading more books when you don¡¯t have anything to do, and stop putting on so much makeup, all right? A Force Majeure often pertains to unpredictable, disastrous circumstances such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack, and so on. You can say whatever you want. Then, tell them that today will be counted as working overtime, and double their pay. Also notify the dining hall to add another meal.¡±
Qin Xiangughed. ¡°No wonder your workers like you, Boss! You just give out money and add meals as you please. All right, I¡¯ll go tell them.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and urged, ¡°Go, go.¡±
Qin Xiang took two steps and turned around. ¡°Right, since the workers are all assembled in the great hall, can I organise a get-together activity like some blind dates or something?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes. Haha, the workers will definitely be very happy. I¡¯m off.¡± Qin Xiang swayed his hips as he left.
Xia Lei and Annina were still frozen by the bathroom sink. They didn¡¯t move for a really long time.
The negotiations took til midnight to finish up. The group led by Ling Han and the group led by Philip finally ironed out the details of the agreement after a discussion of almost ten hours.
ording to their agreement, Germany would send an engineering team over to build the production line for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine. The Chinese side would take care of the funding, of course, including the sries and daily expenses of the engineers. As for the Chinese side, they would send an engineering team to Germany to build a production line for the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle. They would also create a giantposite intelligentthe. Germany would be responsible for all of the expenses of this engineering team.
Money was a trifling matter for both parties. The important thing was the technology of both parties. This coboration was a win-win for both sides.
Ling Han invited the Germans to a meal after the negotiations were concluded, but Philip tactfully and politely refused.
Ling Han didn¡¯t force him to stay ¡ª this deal could never be brought to light after all so it was quite normal for these Germans to avoid attention and not attend any banquets.
Xia Lei sent the Germans off. He pulled Philip aside when they got to the carpark, and spoke to him softly in German, ¡°Mr. Philip, there is something I need your help with, if you may¡±
¡°Mr. Xia, what do you need me to do for you?¡± Philip asked.
Xia Lei lowered his voice and said, ¡°I want to know who exposed the secret of Annina to you guys. Can you tell me?¡±
¡°This...¡± Philip had a conflicted expression on his face.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Mr. Philip, I know this request has made you feel very conflicted, but this is very important to me. We are coborating right now, so it¡¯s like we¡¯re allies. That person¡¯s intent is very obvious ¡ª he wants to harm me. I¡¯m the only one in this world who can build production lines for the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle, and the only one who can build theposite intelligentthes that you want. You wouldn¡¯t want anything to happen to me, would you? An enemy of a friend is an enemy. Are you going to a secret for my enemy?¡±
Philip hesitated for a moment. ¡°Come with me.¡±
Xia Lei got into a Mercedes-Benz sedan with him.
Philip took out his phone and pulled up an audio file on his screen. He put the phone in Xia Lei¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Mr. Xia, the informant is a woman. I don¡¯t know her identity. I felt a need to record the conversation so that I could have it as evidence after receiving her call. This is why I have a recording of our conversation.¡±
A woman?
Xia Lei had thought that it was Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, but Philip said it was a woman. This made him feel rather surprised, and he couldn¡¯t guess who that woman could be.
Xia Lei opened the audio file, and the woman¡¯s voice came out from the phone. She spoke in English. ¡°Mr Philip, I¡¯m d that you picked up. I guarantee that this call will allow you to gain huge benefits.¡±
¡°Excuse me, who are you?¡± Philip¡¯s voice.
¡°Who I am isn¡¯t important. What¡¯s important is what I¡¯m about to tell you.¡±
¡°What are you trying to get at?¡± Philip¡¯s voice.
¡°Please listen carefully. The German mechanic whom you¡¯ve been looking for, Annina, has been hiding at Thunder Horse Military Factory. She designed the Gust assault rifle and XL2500 sniper rifle with Xia Lei. Her is very intimate with Xia Lei and she holds the core secrets of these two weapons. You¡¯ll obtain the technology for both of these weapons if you take her back to Germany.¡±
¡°Wait... Who in the world are you?¡± Philip¡¯s emotions could be heard in his voice.
¡°I said that who I am is not important. You will receive a package in a little while. It will contain evidence that Annina is at Thunder Horse Military Factory. Xia Lei cannot deny it when you have the evidence I¡¯ve supplied, and you will definitely be able to take Annina back to Germany.¡±
¡°What you told me is indeed valuable information. Thank you. But I want to know why you told me, and why you¡¯re not willing to reveal your name.¡±
¡°Make sure you ept the package. That¡¯s all, then. Goodbye, Mr Philip.¡± The woman hung up.
Inside the Mercedes-Benz sedan, Philip said, ¡°Mr Xia, this is how I knew that Annina was in Thunder Horse Military Factory. I came because of an anonymous phone call and a package. That informant was a very strange woman, and I don¡¯t know what she does.¡±
However, it seemed Xia Lei hadn¡¯t heard Philip¡¯s voice. He was still ying that woman¡¯s voice over in his head. His brain was like aputer in that moment, using his formidable abilities to analyse andpare the distinctive features of this woman¡¯s voice to all of the women he had heard. It was not a simple recall, but a reying of the voices of various women. Annina, Guan Lingshan, Long Bing, Shentu Tianyin, Tang Yuyan, Smy, the auntie selling breakfast by the street, and even the music teacher he had in high school...
This seemed like a veryplicated and enormous operation for his brain to handle, but it only took two minutes from beginning to end. After two minutes, a woman¡¯s voice suddenly surfaced in his mind, and her name ¨CGu Kewen.
His brain had already analysed and verified a result, but Xia Lei couldn¡¯t believe that this result was true. Gu Kewen was dead, and a dead person could not make calls to leak information. However, the female voice in the audio file was indeed Gu Kewen¡¯s voice!
¡®This... How is that possible? She¡¯s dead. Long Bing personally killed her. With Long Bing¡¯s skills, it¡¯s impossible for her to have trouble taking care of Gu Kewen, right?¡¯ Xia Lei was utterly bewildered.
¡°Mr. Xia?¡± Philip looked at Xia Lei with a confused expression, ¡°Are you alright?¡±
Xia Lei then came to his senses. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I was just thinking about who she might be.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t even know who your enemies are?¡±
Xia Lei gave a bitterugh. ¡°I have too many enemies. All right, thank you Mr Philip.¡±
Philip said, ¡°Mr. Xia, don¡¯t worry. We will take responsibility for your safety when you are in Germany. No one will be able to harm you in Germany.¡±
Xia Lei extended his hand out to Philip. ¡°I believe in Germany¡¯s sincerity. I hope we will be able to work well with each other, Mr. Philip.¡±
Philip shook hands with Xia Lei. ¡°I feel the same way.¡±
Xia Lei alighted, and walked to the side of the car park. He gave Long Bing a call. ¡°Hey, where are you?¡±
¡°At home. Oh. Haha. I would have forgotten if you hadn¡¯t called. Today is Saturday.¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was filled with happiness as she said, ¡°Come over soon, I¡¯ll make food for you right now.¡±
¡°Today... is Saturday?¡± Xia Lei suddenly thought of Long Bing¡¯s only request ¡ª spend every Saturday with her.
¡°That¡¯s right, today is Saturday. Right, do you like noodles with beef and pickled peppers or noodles with soy bean paste? There was a sale at the supermarket, so I bought one extra.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 552 - Wing Chun, not Wing Chun
Xia Lei gaped when the door was opened.
In the doorway was Long Bing, who was dressed in a tight-fitting sports top and exercise shorts. The clothing was ck, and stretchy, hugging her body closely like a second skin.
She was a cold iceberg, but a very sexy one.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know where to look.
¡°What are you looking at?¡±
Xia Leiughed awkwardly. ¡°You¡¯re beautiful.¡±
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°I¡¯m not the sort of woman who likes sweet nothings. Come in.¡±
Xia Lei entered, and closed the door casually behind him. He put the things he had bought on the tea table, and looked about Long Bing¡¯s home. He¡¯d said that he would renovate her ce for her, and buy appliances and so on. This was a sort of promise he had made, and since he had made this promise, he was going to keep it.
Long Bing looked at the things Xia Lei had bought. Some ingredients, red wine, choctes and the like. ¡°What did you buy all these things for?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t let you eat instant noodles all the time, right? You should take better care of yourself. Don¡¯t under-nourish yourself for the sake of convenience. It¡¯s not good for your body to eat instant noodles so often,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s concern made a smile appear in the corners of Long Bing¡¯s mouth, but this smile disappeared instantly. She abruptly turned sideways, letting loose a kick at Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
Long Bing¡¯s foot struck Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. There was pain upon impact, and he staggered two steps back.
¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± Xia Lei rubbed at the shoulder which had been kicked, and was pissed.
Long Bing said nothing. She stepped forward, and when she was one step away from Xia Lei, she suddenly turned and swept her foot in a whirlwind kick at Xia Lei¡¯s neck. Her long leg moved in a ck-white swishing of movement, beautiful, but fierce.
Xia Lei did not retreat. He moved, and cut straight between Long Bing¡¯s legs to block her thigh with his shoulder, grabbing the waistband of her shorts at the same time. He took her down. Long Bing had been going all out on the offense earlier, but was now riding on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder a secondter.
But it was just one second.
Long Bing suddenly locked her legs around Xia Lei¡¯s neck, and threw her upper body backwards to drop Xia Lei down on the carpet with her.
This was a familiar sight in the UFC No Hold Barred fights, and was called the triangr lock.
¡°Mwet mwe goh. Wha aa uu duuin?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mouth was covered by Long Bing¡¯s part, and his voice was strange.
Long Bing was stranger. Her brows furrowed when Xia Lei talked, and a red blush flooded her pale jade skin.
¡°Ellooo? Staahp dooin deez.¡± Xia Lei kept talking.
¡°You... Hah... Don¡¯t speak.¡± Long Bing looked like she couldn¡¯t bear it, and there was a small shiver of pleasure in her voice.
¡°I¡¯m gooin to taalg moore becauz yuu doan waan me to taalg.¡± Xia Lei was doing it on purpose now.
¡°No, I want to learn Wing Chun from you!¡±
¡°Aar we gooin to learn Weeng Chuun in deez pozizion? Oooh, wha iz deez perfuum? Smeels weeird.¡±
¡°You punk! You¡¯re doing this on purpose! I... I¡¯ll punish you!¡± Long Bing¡¯s legs tightened, and she twisted her slender waist to flip herself up, up on Xia Lei, pressing him down.
It was still the triangr lock, but in an upright position. No matter if it was up or down, Xia Lei was not able to escape from the pressure of that part.
¡°Let me up. I¡¯ll teach you pussy Wing Chun,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Pussy Wing Chun?¡± Long Bing looked down at him, her eyes zing. She looked a little sinister.
¡°Pussy Wing Chun.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was getting more muffled. He¡¯d been trying to say ¡®proper Wing Chun¡¯.
¡°You¡¯re provoking me.¡±
¡°So?¡±
A ck sports top suddenly dropped from above, covering Xia Lei¡¯s face. What happened next was... Proper Wing Chun? Pussy Wing Chun? The man and woman were intertwined and could not be sure anymore...
One hourter, Xia Lei and Long Bing sat at the dining table and ate dinner. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t bear to let Long Bing eat instant noodles, so he had painstakingly prepared delicious dishes for her, and opened a bottle of red wine too. Long Bing ate happily. This dinner was full of romance and warmth.
After dinner, Xia Lei and Long Bingy on the sofa to watch TV.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you something.¡± Xia Lei broke the warm silence between them.
¡°What is it?¡±
Xia Lei recounted the happenings of the past few days.
Long Bing¡¯s expression grew serious. ¡°You reached an agreement with Germany, and got the Eurofighter Typhoon technology for our nation? This is a state secret! Why are you so casually telling me this?¡±
¡°You¡¯re not an outsider. You¡¯re my woman, so what does it matter if I tell you?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then will you tell Shentu Tianyin?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°No.¡±
It would be meaningless to tell Shentu Tianyin something like this. She was a businesswoman, not an agent. Matters like these were also safer with fewer aware of them. More people knowing meant more problems. Not telling her was also a form of protection.
Long Bing gave augh. ¡°Looks like there is a difference between me and her in your heart.¡±
¡°What I want to tell you is not just this. That person who leaked the information... Her motive is to hurt me. She should still be unaware that I have struck this deal with the Germans. She wanted to harm me, but I reaped some benefit from this instead.¡±
¡°Have you found out who she is?¡±
¡°I¡¯m telling you now, but you might not believe it when I tell you.¡±
¡°Eh? Then tell me.¡±
¡°I listened to the phone recordings of Philip¡¯s conversations. Her voice...¡± After a pause, Xia Lei said, ¡°It¡¯s Gu Kewen¡¯s voice.¡±
¡°Gu Kewen?¡± said Long Bing in surprise. ¡°How¡¯s that possible? I killed her myself in Japan. How can she be alive? I stabbed her in the heart.¡±
¡°Did you only stab her once?¡±
¡°Just once. That female killer was right in front of me at that time, pointing a gun at me. I had no chance to stab her again. But I stabbed her in the heart, so it makes no difference if I stabbed once or twice,¡± said Long Bing. Memories of the scene surfaced in her head, and she was sure that she had killed Gu Kewen.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°There are two possibilities. A woman who has a voice simr to Gu Kewen¡¯s. Or Gu Kewen is still alive, and she has recouped ande back even stronger.¡±
¡°How¡¯s this possible? She¡¯s dead.¡±
¡°Nothing is for sure in this world. Maybe her heart is different, and your one stab was not enough to kill her. Maybe you were nervous because of the threat of that female killer, and you made a mistake.¡±
¡°It does seem usible, now that you mention it.¡± Long Bing sighed. ¡°If this possibility is true, then she really is as hardy as a cockroach. Oh, right, you said you were going to Germany to build the workshop andthe for the Germans. I¡¯m a little worried now. Could this be a trap?¡±
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡°You mean... Whether the informant was Gu Kewen or not, her telling Germany was only part of her n? Her real motive is to lure me to Germany, and deal with me there?¡±
¡°There is this possibility.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, but shook his head. ¡°This possibility is too low. First of all, I was the one who suggested going to Germany to build the workshop and thethe.¡±
¡°Why did you have to do that? You know that going to Germany would pose a great danger.¡±
¡°I did it for the nation. Think about it ¡ª we bought so many Russian engines, but we are still unable to make a suitable engine. I believe that our scientists have taken those engines apart and studied them, but the technology on paper is not the same as actual technology. Our manufacturing industry is stillgging behind, and it¡¯s not something which one or twothes can improve. It concerns various industries, and several fields of science. I¡¯ve thought about it. Even if we get the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology from Germany, it will not be useful if it¡¯s only the paper-level technology. That was why I¡¯d suggested that the Germans send people to build the production workshop for the engine, and we go build the things they want. We can manufacture the Eurofighter Typhoon engine with the workshop, and we can learn more technologies at the same time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing stroked Xia Lei¡¯s cheek. ¡°You¡¯re right. This is a risk worth taking. When do you n to go to Germany?¡±
¡°After my wedding with Shentu Tianyin. Most of the preparations would beplete by then,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±
¡°Mm.¡±
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang all of a sudden.
Chapter 553 - Catch in the Act
Long Bing was nervous. ¡°Could it be Shentu Tianyin?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s her. I called her beforeing here and said that I had to stay at thepany to take care of some things¡± Xia Lei replied.
Long Bing let out a breath of relief. ¡°Then who could it be?¡±
Xia Lei took out his phone, looked at the number, and knitted his brows at once.
The caller was Tang Yuyan.
¡°Hey, Yuyan, what¡¯s up?¡± Xia Lei picked up the phone and spoke in a sleepy voice, like he was in bed.
¡°You¡¯re sleeping?¡± It was Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice.
¡°Yeah, look at the time ¡ª of course I¡¯d be resting.¡± Xia Lei made his voice sound even more drowsy.
¡°Who are you trying to fool? Where are you?¡±
¡°At home, of course.¡±
¡°My man¡¯s right in front of Leiyin Home, watching. He said you didn¡¯te home.¡±
¡°That sneaky fox!¡± Xia Lei cursed under his breath but said, ¡°Eh... I¡¯m at mypany home. You know that I have a house there.¡±
¡°Mm-hm, I¡¯m standing right in front of your vi door now. I asked the asked Special Forces there, and they said you haven¡¯te home.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You aren¡¯t at Long Bing¡¯s house, are you?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°What are you talking about? Why would I be at Long Bing¡¯s ce?¡± Xia Lei bit the bullet and said, ¡°Juste out and tell me ¡ª what are you looking for me for?¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be straightforward. I got some news from my stepfather that you¡¯re going to Germany. I need to go with you.¡±
¡°H, How can I let youe with me?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t? Then from now on, I will have people following you 24/7. There¡¯s no way I won¡¯t find any evidence for those affairs of yours. Oh, and on your wedding day with Shentu Tianyin, I will show those pieces of evidence to her.¡±
Someone else probably wouldn¡¯t do such things but this was Tang Yuyan, the eldest daughter of the Tang sect. She once wrote ¡°Tang Yuyan was here¡± on his back for Shentu Tianyin to see. Were there any things she wouldn¡¯t do?
¡°This bitch!¡± Long Bing cried angrily.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°I think I heard someone¡¯s voice, a woman. Hello, is it Long Bing? Tell her toe on the line. I bought a load of pecan nuts, macadamia nuts, and other stuff. I¡¯ll take some over to her.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Long Bing.
Long Bing blinked fiercely at Xia Lei and gestured with her hands.
¡°Ahem,¡± coughed Xia Lei. ¡°If you want to bring her stuff, you need to go to her house. She¡¯s not here with me, so there¡¯s no way I can get her on the line with you.¡±
¡°Where in the world are you, then?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was filled with suspicion.
¡°I¡¯m at... why should I tell you? I have some private matters to take care of. I can¡¯t disclose it to you.¡±
¡°Then take me with you when you go to Germany.¡±
¡°Uh, let me think about it... Hello? Huh? Why is there no sound? Ah, the phone¡¯s out of battery...¡±
¡°An act. Go on, show me how well you act.¡±
¡°Why¡¯s there no sound? Damn...¡± Xia Lei immediately hung up. Although he couldn¡¯t hear Tang Yuyan¡¯s enticing voice anymore, he still felt nervous and he felt a headacheing on.
The warm atmosphere in the living room hadpletely disappeared due to this call.
¡°She wants to go to Germany too? She¡¯s just trying to cause trouble!¡± said Long Bing angrily.
Annina would definitely want to go on this trip to Germany too. One Annina, and one Long Bing, were already enough of a headache for Xia Lei. If the Tang family¡¯s Tang Yuyan, who¡¯s always full of bizarre ideas, were toe too, his trip would be a mess. Don¡¯t even talk about workshop building andthe-making in Germany ¡ª just dealing with his rtionship with these three was enough to make his head hurt.
¡°Do you want to take her along?¡± asked Long Bing.
Xia Lei crawled out of her embrace. ¡°Of course I don¡¯t want to. She¡¯d only bring trouble.¡±
¡°Then how are you going to escape her pestering? She¡¯s been spoiled too much by Grandfather Tang, and she must have what she wants.¡±
¡°What does she want?¡±
¡°You still don¡¯t understand? The thing she wants is you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and said: ¡°Am I a thing?¡±
¡°Of course you¡¯re a not-thing.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Oh, no no no, I didn¡¯t mean it that way.¡± Long Bing felt a bit awkward and changed the subject. ¡°She must have one of two intentions for following you to Germany. One, political capital. You know that she¡¯s from the Tang Sect, as well as Boss Shi¡¯s god-daughter. There are rumors at Bureau 101 that she will be Bureau 101¡¯s future leader. In actual fact, Boss Shi has been training her as well. She certainly wouldn¡¯t miss a mission as important as this one.¡±
Xia Lei finally understood why it was that the first partner Shi Boren would arrange for him was not Long Bing, but Tang Yuyan every time there was an important mission. He could understand this situation. If one ignored the history of the Tang Sect, the present Tang Sect itself was a big n with ties in both military and politics. The n¡¯s rules were also primarily focused on revitalising the family. Each Tang child also carried with this responsibility, and Tang Yuyan was no exception. It was natural that she needed to work harder with this kind of background. Long Bing was different. Other than her intention to repay the country, she had no ambition in politics.
¡°Then what¡¯s the second reason?¡±
¡°That¡¯s you, of course, you dumbass.¡± Long Bing poked Xia Lei. ¡°She likes you. Even the military dogs at Bureau 101 know this, but you can¡¯t tell?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°She likes you, and the Tang Sect likes you too. You are currently China¡¯s Father of Rifles, and although you don¡¯t serve the government, the amount of political capital in your hands is enough to make many politicians envious. If the Tang sect is able to recruit a man like you, they would have doubled their power. Who knows ¡ª you might even be the greatest man in Tang Sect¡¯s history. There¡¯s no problem with money since the Tang Sect doesn¡¯tck that. If you guys were to get together, you¡¯d be well-matched in terms of social standing.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Bing, can you please teasing me? You know that I¡¯d be okay doing other things, but my life... It¡¯s a mess. Sometimes I feel like I¡¯d want to live on Mars for a bit.¡±
¡°Um, to Mars?¡± Long Bingughed. ¡°Will you take me with you?¡±
¡°I will, I will.. Of course I¡¯ll take you.¡± But in Xia Lei¡¯s heart, he thought secretly, ¡®I¡¯ll have to bring you, Tianyin, Ruyi, Annina... Then I will continue to have a headache. What kind of sin did Imit in my previous life?¡¯
¡°I like it when you call me Bing.¡± Long Bing suddenly wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s neck. ¡°My grandma used to call me that too.¡±
Xia Lei said sweetly, ¡°Then I will call you Bing from now on.¡±
Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. The sofa blocking his sight disappeared from his field of vision in a blink. Then the door, and then, he saw Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan stood outside the door in casual wear. She was in a white coat, light blue denim jeans, plus a new pair of New Bnce sneakers. She gave off a lively and youthful feel. She could pull of the vibe of whatever she wore. When she wore a cheongsam, she was noble and gorgeous and looked like the youngdy of a noble house when China was a republic. When she¡¯s casually dressed like this, she looked like a university undergraduate, young, beautiful and oh so cute.
Tang Yuyan was actually, and quite unexpectedly, carrying a paper box. On the box were the words ¡°Three Squirrels New Year Gift Pack¡±. Its stomach was quite noticeably filled with pecan nuts, macadamia nuts, peeled almonds and so on ¡ª snacks which were womens¡¯ favourites.
Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.
Tang Yuyan knocked again.
Xia Lei was about to say something but Long Bing covered his mouth.
¡°I know you¡¯re home, Long Bing. Open up! I brought you presents.¡±
Long Bing still kept her silence.
¡°Ha ha!¡± Tang Yuyanughed. ¡°Stop pretending. Your car is downstairs. If you won¡¯t open the door, I¡¯ll open it myself. I brought steel wire.¡±
Long Bing bit her cherry lips, and broke her silence. ¡°Coming,ing!¡±
They got up from the sofa.
¡°What do we do? She¡¯ll find out!¡± Xia Lei was panicky.
¡°Go, hide in the closet. Don¡¯t make a sound, and don¡¯t utter a word, no matter what she says. Leave the rest to me.¡± Long Bing quickly calmed down.
Xia Lei nodded, and ran towards Long Bing¡¯s room, holding the waistband of his trousers.
Long Bing smoothed her hair, then went to open the door for Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan entered the room without waiting for Long Bing¡¯s invitation. Her beautiful eyes swept the living room, then to the room inside.
¡°What¡¯d youe here for?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°I brought you yummy food. I¡¯m so nice to you. How are you going to repay me?¡± Tang Yuyan said as sheughed and continued looking around.
Long Bing took the gift from her hands and said, ¡°I¡¯ve epted your gift. You can leave now.¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing.¡± How can you be so rude? I brought goodies over for you. yet you drive me away without even inviting me to drink a sip of water? Well, I¡¯m not leaving today. I am going to stay here tonight.¡±
¡°You...¡± Long Bing was mad. ¡°You¡¯re so thick-skinned!¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to use your bathroom.¡± Tang Yuyan suddenly started walking quickly towards the bathroom.
¡°No!¡± Long Bing reached out to grab her, but Tang Yuyan was quicker. She also had the Tang Sect¡¯s Qinggong, so Long Bing was too slow and missed her grab.
The cunning Tang Yuyan wasn¡¯t going to the bathroom. She invaded the bedroom.
¡°Crap!¡± Long Bing rushed into the room.
Tang Yuyan was quick. She was already opening the closet door when Long Bing entered the room.
Long Bing closed her eyes, afraid to look. She couldn¡¯t even imagine how awkward it would be if Tang Yuyan saw Xia Lei inside the closet.
But, this imagined scenario did note true.
There was nothing in the closet other than clothes.
Tang Yuyan abruptly bent down and peered under the bed.
There was no one under the bed either.
Long Bing was confused but relieved at the same time. ¡°What exactly are you doing?¡±
¡°You know what I¡¯m doing.¡± Tang Yuyan stared straight at Long Bing. ¡°Tell me. There shouldn¡¯t be secrets between us sisters. Where did you hide Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Who¡¯s sisters with you? Also, mind what you¡¯re saying. I¡¯m still a single woman. Why would Xia Lei be hiding at my ce?¡± Long Bing looked fairly serious.
Tang Yuyan stormed into the restroom. There was no one in the restroom either. Following that, she went into the study, and the other rooms, but she still couldn¡¯t find Xia Lei.
Where had Xia Lei gone?
Long Bing took a quick nce outside the window while Tang Yuyan was busy looking for him. She spotted Xia Lei, who had just slid down the sewage pipe. She had never seen him such a bedraggled state, and she couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud in that instant.
Chapter 554 - Father’s Warning
The German engineers had not yet arrived, but the Spring Festival was approaching.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wedding ceremony had not taken ce yet, but the media channels were already cooking up a storm in news. The bride was China¡¯s wealthiest woman, the queen of Vientaine Group, and the groom was China¡¯s Father of Rifles, the director of Thunder Horse Military Factory, the arms industry¡¯s dark horse, and the hero of millions of Chinese. The media would not let up on the wedding of two figures of society such as these.
It was not just the uing wedding. Xia Lei¡¯s childhood had also been dug up ¡ª which primary school he went to, which secondary school he went to, and what jobs he did on construction sites. All these things of the past had been almost-forgotten by Xia Lei himself, but those reporters dug it all out, and added their versions to newspapers as well as on the inte.
After these stories were published, the people then found out that Xia Lei had been born a regr, poor boy who had to give up on studying in Jingdu University for the sake of raising his younger sister. However, in a short span of two, three years, he had risen fast in the world, and be a billionaire. He had also be a hero of the people, loved by many. He had both fame and fortune, and his life was like an inspirational drama, like an instructional textbook for parents to educate their children with.
The reporters did not forget about Shentu Tianyin, of course, but her story was much simpler. She had been born with a golden key in her hand, and studied abroad. She had then taken over the reins of Vientaine Group after her father fell ill, bing the queen of Vientaine Group. She had no scandals, and if one dug for them, one would only be able to unearth the ¡°possible fiance and fiancee¡± act she had put on with Xia Lei in the past. However, she actually was going to marry Xia Lei now, so how could that old news be considered a scandal?
Nearly all of the media channels used the same phrase for their pairing ¡ª a perfect pair.
The wedding was set for the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, and it was the date Shentu Ren had chosen.
Xia Lei turned up in Haizhu City on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. He wanted to burn an incense stick to histe mother before his wedding, to let her know. This was also a custom is his hometown.
Xia Xue went to the cemetery with Xia Lei too. She carried a bouquet of fresh flowers, and Xia Lei carried arge bag of hell money, and joss paper, as well as ritual items he had bought from the shop which sold traditional items for the dead, like paper clothing and shoes.
The siblings came to a grave. Xia Xue ced the flowers on the grave, and Xia Lei lit incense sticks, then burnt the joss-paper and hell money.
¡°Brother and I havee to visit you, Mum.¡± Xia Xue¡¯s voice was full of sadness.
Xia Lei burnt joss-paper as he said, ¡°Mum, Xue is all grown up now. She got into Jingdu University, and she has good grades. I¡¯m doing well too. You don¡¯t have to worry about us.¡±
¡°Mum, Brother has made much of himself. He¡¯s now the director of Thunder Horse Group, and a hero of the nation. You¡¯ll be happy in heaven too.¡± Xia Xue¡¯s eyes held tears, but the corners of her mouth held a smile.
Xia Lei finished burning the joss-paper and knelt on the ground to kowtow to his mother. ¡°Mum, I¡¯m getting married tomorrow. It is a shame that you can¡¯t drink the tea your daughter-inw would offer you at the tea ceremony, but it¡¯s all right. I¡¯ll bring her here for the Spring Festival, and kneel and serve tea to you. Would you like that?¡±
A wind blew past, and the pine tree next to the grave swayed, rustling. This sound was like a reply from his mother.
This wind stirred up the memories of his mother, and Xia Lei¡¯s eyes moistened.
The most painful thing in the human world was to experience the loss of someone, a forever goodbye, leaving kith and kin behind.
¡°If only Dad were still around. He would be happy for you, for sure,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°Dad, he...¡± Xia Lei was about to say something, but he swallowed the words he was about to say.
¡°What do you want to say, Brother?¡± Xia Xue looked at Xia Lei.
¡°I still have no news of him, but I believe that he is alive, somewhere.¡±
Xia Xue shook her head and said sadly, ¡°No need tofort me, Brother. I know that the chances of Dad still being alive is slim. I¡¯ve already gotten used to life without Dad, and I only miss him asionally. I feel sad then.¡±
Xia Lei patted her shoulder, but said nothing.
If his father, Xia Changhe, had been an ordinary man, and not a free agent of the FA Organisation, he would have told Xia Xue the truth. However, she was just a university student, and telling her the truth would only bring her untold danger, and no benefit at all.
¡°Brother, Sister-inw should havee with us today. She should kowtow to Mum,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°Your sister-inw is not like normal folk. There will be many honoured guests at our wedding tomorrow, so she has to call those people up, send wedding invitations and handle the wedding matters. You have to be understanding. Didn¡¯t I say that I would bring her here to kowtow and pour tea for Mum during the Spring Festival?¡±
Xia Xue quirked her lips. ¡°Yes, yes, you protect sister-inw. I¡¯ll have tough days ahead of me for sure.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What nonsense are you saying in front of Mum? Your sister-inw is educated and logical, and she won¡¯t bully you. I¡¯ll hit her if she bullies you.¡±
¡°Cheh, lies. Would you bear to hit Sister-inw? You would definitely hit me, though.¡±
¡°Of course I¡¯ll hit you when you¡¯re disobedient.¡±
¡°Look, look! You¡¯re letting your true colours show now.¡± Xia Xue pulled a face. ¡°Did you hear that, Mum? Brother is bullying me!¡±
The wind blew, and the pine tree rustled.
The siblings¡¯ bickering before the grave added to the joviality of the ce. If their mother¡¯s soul was in heaven, then she surely must be smiling when she saw them.
Just then, a middle-aged woman came walking down the path in the tomb area. She was dressed inly, but she was tall and sexy. She walked towards the siblings, chewing gum as she approached.
A middle-aged woman chewing gum?
Xia Lei was immediately alert. His left eye twitched, and he focused on the woman¡¯s face. He saw a white woman in the next second, and he stared dumbly when he saw who it was.
The woman slowed her steps.
¡°Xue, your Sister Ruyi invited us to her ce for a meal. Drive my car back first, and help her out,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I want to stay here with Mum for a little longer. Can¡¯t I go back with you?¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°Be good, and go back.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone grew stern.
¡°Humph! Fine. Give me the keys.¡± Xia Xue stretched her hand out huffily for the keys.
Xia Lei handed them to her, and watched her leave.
The woman brushed past Xia Lei. She walked straight past him, and crouched at another grave to slowly ce the flowers she had brought on it.
¡°What did youe here for, Yelena?¡± Xia Lei said softly. ¡°Where is my Dad?¡±
¡°Your father is here too. You¡¯ll meet him soon,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei looked up, and down the hill, but he saw only Xia Xue, leaving in a huff. He did not spot his father, Xia Changhe. He then looked up, and soon saw him standing in a patch of pine trees.
Xia Changhe just stood there, and did not walk towards him
Yelena put a satellite phone by Xia Lei. ¡°Your father said that he can only meet you like this, for your own safety. Chat with him.¡±
Xia Lei picked up the satellite phone, and Xia Changhe took out a satellite phone too.
¡°When did youe back, Dad?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been back for some time. I¡¯ve been waiting for you in Haizhu. I knew that you woulde burn joss-sticks for your mother, so I came early to wait for you.¡±
¡°Dad, I¡¯m getting married tomorrow.¡±
¡°I know. I wish you well.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Thanks, Dad. I can¡¯t take Tianyin with me to offer you tea, but I believe that she will be able to, one day.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? I¡¯m only wishing you well.¡±
¡°What do you mean, Dad? Don¡¯t you like Tianyin?¡±
¡°I have noints if she didn¡¯t have that ambition of hers. I came here today to give you a good scolding.¡±
¡°Dad, I¡¯m getting married tomorrow! Everything¡¯s going well, so what are you scolding me for?¡±
¡°You went to Japan knowing full well that it was Gu Kewen¡¯s trap, but you went and risked your life anyway to meet Gu Kewen, all because you wanted to get rid of dirty evidence against Shentu Tianyin! Do you know that you¡¯re up against Dark Mona, the top-tier killer of the FA? Did you think how you¡¯d be letting your Mum down if you die? Letting me down? And, if you died, Xia Xue would be left all alone in this world. Who¡¯s going to take care of her?¡±
Xia Lei wanted to retort, but he swallowed his words before they got out. It was only right that his father scolded him. Besides, him scolding him like this was because he cared about him, and loved him, was it not?
Xia Changhe sighed. ¡°Forget it. You¡¯re getting married to Shentu Tianyin tomorrow, so I can¡¯t stop you from being with her. But I have to warn you to keep a close eye on her. Don¡¯t let her ambitions get out of control, or you¡¯ll get dragged into it too. You won¡¯t be able to break free if you want to, when that timees.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I got it, Dad.¡±
¡°And, this is China so the FA and CIA dare not move openly. This doesn¡¯t mean that they would make no moves, though. The secret your body holds is too important, and they won¡¯t let go of it. You have to be mindful of your safety, and Xia Xue¡¯s too.¡±
¡°Nn, I know.¡±
¡°So tell me about your Alloy X Project. Any progress?¡±
¡°I found 22 pieces of ancient alloy at the bottom of the sea in Okinawa. I¡¯m just short one piece from making aplete box. But the new needle I found points straight up to the sky. I have no way of locating thest piece. Right now, someone has thepass and is flying around the world. I¡¯m waiting for the result of that too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What happened there?¡±
¡°I have no clue either.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t hurry this sort of thing, so let¡¯s just wait.¡±
¡°Right, Dad, I want to tell you some good news.¡±
¡°What good news?¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to be a grandfather.¡±
¡°You punk. Are you trying to tell me that Jiang Ruyi is pregnant with your kid?¡± said Xia Changhe with augh.
¡°Yes. How did you know?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been in Haizhu for a while ¡ª How could I not know?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯re going to be a grandfather. Are you happy about it?¡±
¡°If it¡¯s true, then yes, I¡¯m happy. I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯re being happy about nothing though.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°I got Yelena to check. Jiang Ruyi is not pregnant. Her period was only ten dayste, and she went to get herself checked too ¡ª she is not pregnant. Yelena took a picture of the records of the hospital check-up. It was a misunderstanding.¡±
Xia Lei was rooted to the spot. He had been ready to be a father, but the truth was such. This was a bit much for him to ept.
¡°All right, I¡¯ve got to go. Take care.¡± Xia Changhe hung up, and vanished from the pine trees.
Yelena stood too, and took the satellite phone from Xia Lei¡¯s hand. She didn¡¯t forget her parting barb. ¡°You want to be a father, huh? Then keep working hard.¡±
Xia Lei looked gloomily at her. Forget goodbyes.
A nagging doubt surfaced in his head as he watched Yelena leave. ¡®Tianyin and I have been together for months, and we didn¡¯t use any protection. She should¡¯ve gotten pregnant under normal circumstances, but why hasn¡¯t she? It wasn¡¯t easy for Ruyi to get pregnant, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding... Long Bing and Annina... I had sex with them, and I didn¡¯t use protection on many asions... Even if Tianyin and Ruyi have fertility problems, would Long Bing and Annina have problems too? If it¡¯s not the problem with the women, then the problem is...¡¯
Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare finish the thought.
Chapter 555 - The Gay Plane Party
The airport was as busy as ever at night. nes werending and taking off, people were hurrying to catch their flights, and people leaving the airport, all making a busy, bustling picture. It was like a dream which one could lose himself in.
Jiang Ruyi took Xia Lei to the hall. She wanted to say something to Xia Lei, but she saw Xia Xue, who was next to Xia Lei, and decided that it was inappropriate to speak of it.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Xue, you can go in first. I need to talk to your Sister Ruyi.¡±
Xia Xue looked at Xia Lei, then looked at Jiang Ruyi and asked curiously, ¡°What are you guys going to talk about? Can¡¯t I listen?¡±
Xia Lei was her brother, and Jiang Ruyi was her next-door Sister who watched her grow up. She was sort of like a biological older sister. Why couldn¡¯t she as a sister listen when brother and sister were talking? This was probably what she could not understand, and she thought it odd.
Xia Lei felt it troublesome and did not know how to exin it.
Jiang Ruyi cleverly exined, ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s, it¡¯s about returning the money. I borrowed money from your brother for my Da¡¯s treatment. I wanted to tell him that I couldn¡¯t pay it back right away.¡± She added, ¡°This kind of thing, it¡¯s... it¡¯s kind of awkward.¡±
¡°So it¡¯s about that. There¡¯s no need to return it ¡ª our family has nock of money. Sister Ruyi, you and aunt and uncle helped us a lot in the past. We should help you too when you guys are in need,¡± said Xia Xue.
Jiang Ruyiughed and said, ¡° How can I do that?¡±
Xia Xue winked at Jiang Ruyi. ¡°Sister Ruyi, you don¡¯t know what my brother gave my sister-inw as the bride price, do you? Golden bricks which are worth a billion yuan! My sister-inw used them to build a gold wall. So, see? The money that you owe isn¡¯t much. You don¡¯t have to return it, really. No need at all.¡±
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s expression suddenly darkened. She had been looking forward to her wedding with Xia Lei from her teenage years, and had never dreamed of something like receiving a billion in bride price, or a luxurious wedding. She only wanted a normal ceremony with friends toe to celebrate their banquet. That was enough. But now, the man she had waited so long for was going to hold a wedding with another woman. This feeling was not one that wasfortable, not at all.
Xia Lei red at Xia Xue.
Xia Xue realized her mistake. Jiang Ruyi had liked her brother since they were children, yet she had just said things about her brother and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wedding in front of her. Wasn¡¯t this just adding salt to her wound?
¡°Uh, I¡¯ll... I¡¯ll go first.¡± Xia Xue felt guilty and finally gave Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi space to talk.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s tears started falling as soon as Xia Xue was gone. ¡°Forgive me, I can¡¯t attend your wedding anymore.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine if you want to go, you want to go with me?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyi smiled wryly, ¡°What would I go for? To cry? A woman as smart as Shentu Tianyin will find out. I would only bring you trouble if I go, so I¡¯d rather not.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart softened and he reached out to embrace Jiang Ruyi, tofort her.
But Jiang Ruyi stepped back. ¡°Don¡¯t. There are many people here. We¡¯d both be in the news if someone took a picture.¡±
Xia Lei froze on the spot. Jiang Ruyi was right. He was a celebrity so there were lots of people following each and every action of his. There were so many people here that it would be difficult to guarantee that no one was taking a picture of him right now. If he were to hug a woman in the waiting lounge, it would definitely go on the news, and there would definitely be some hot gossip in the tabloids.
¡°Xia Lei, my...¡± Jiang Ruyi changed the subject and hesitated, ¡°My that-thing came.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei was confused.
¡°My period.¡± Jiang Ruyi bit her cherry lips. ¡°It was a misunderstanding. I wasn¡¯t pregnant. I¡¯m sorry, I...¡±
Xia Lei said gently, ¡°Why are you saying sorry to me? You did nothing wrong. There¡¯s nothing wrong with not being pregnant. We¡¯re still young, so you can definitely still get pregnant in the future.¡±
A smile appeared on Jiang Ruyi¡¯s face at that. ¡°You should get going now. Come find me after your honeymoon with Shentu Tianyin. I¡¯ll wait for you. We¡¯ll definitely have a child, as long as we work hard.¡±
Xia Lei smiled too.
¡°Do you want to leave first, or should I?¡± Jiang Ruyi looked at Xia Lei tenderly.
¡°Wait for me. I can¡¯t give you a proper status, but I can give you happiness,¡± said Xia Lei. He then turned and walked towards the VIP aisle.
Jiang Ruyi stood there quietly, watching Xia Lei walk further and further away before he finally disappeared from her sight. Xia Lei¡¯sst words keep echoing in her heart and in this moment, she was happy.
Xia Lei entered and boarded the private-use Boeing 747 which Shentu Ren had him.
The pilot was called Chen Xiao, and he was very young and handsome.
Each one of the crew on the ne was a man, and very handsome. These flight attendants, as well as engineers, were all handpicked by Shentu Ren. Even their sries were paid by the Vientiane Group.
The Boeing 747 took off from the airport, and flew towards Jingdu.
Haizhu City slowly disappeared from view. Xia Xue took her eyes off the window and said whileughing, ¡°Brother, your father-inw sure is worried about you. Look, there are only hot men all on this ne. You won¡¯t be able to sow your wild oats if you¡¯d wanted to.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°You¡¯re getting cheekier, huh. You¡¯re actually making such a joke at your brother¡¯s expense.¡±
¡°Brother, are you happy to be marrying Shentu Tianyin?¡± Xia Xue looked at Xia Lei, and her eyes were questioning.
¡°Of course I¡¯m happy,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then do you like this arrangement?¡± Xia Xue lowered her voice. ¡°There are so many hotties on this ne that it makes me feel as if I¡¯m on a gay ne party.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Xue would never have said something like this in the past. In Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, she was a good girl, quiet and elegant, kind and cute. But now, this good girl had grown up and had developed her own views on people and things.
What was happening now was an example.
Shentu Ren had bought her brother a ne, but arranged to have it staffed by men. This showed that he was afraid that Xia Lei would be seduced by some other woman. Shentu Ren had his basis for worry, of course, but if she looked at it from Xia Lei¡¯s perspective, it took on a different meaning. Her brother was the Father of Rifles of China, the hero of millions of Chinese. Although her brother wasn¡¯t as wealthy as Shentu Tianyin, he was still a billionaire. This sort of arrangement by Shentu Ren tarnished her brother¡¯s honour, and some ill-meaning reporter could write an article about this and use it to mock her brother.
¡°I¡¯ve actually always thought that sister Ruyi would be the daughter-inw of our family. She not only loves you, but she also loves me.¡± Xia Xue thought of Jiang Ruyi once again as she said that.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t understand an adult¡¯s world.¡±
Xia Xue curled the corner of her mouth. ¡°I¡¯m already 20. I¡¯m still a kid?¡±
¡°All right, you¡¯re an adult. But don¡¯t think too deeply about this stuff. Some things are actually very simple, and there¡¯s no need to be too sensitive. Your sister-inw is a really good person, and her father is also a really good person. We will be a family in the future. As family, we need to get along and try to understand each other.¡±
¡°All right, this is your choice. I¡¯m your younger sister, so I will support you, no matter what choice you make. In the future, when I choose my other half, you need to support me as well,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°Huh? You¡¯re in a rtionship?¡± Xia Lei stared at Xia Xue, and felt uneasy. ¡°Who is it?¡±
Xia Xueughed. ¡°What kind of expression is that? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve learned my lesson. I won¡¯t be deceived again.¡±
¡°Just who is it?¡± Xia Lei felt anxious and added, ¡°You know what your brother is capable of. Even if you don¡¯t tell me, I will still find out.¡±
¡°Okay okay, you win. He¡¯s my senior, and his major is in economics. His hometown is in Sichuan, in the mountains. He has an ordinary family background, but he¡¯s very optimistic and hardworking. He¡¯s got a full schrship and works two jobs. He pays for his own tuition and living expenses and even sends money home to his family. He¡¯s very capable, right? Hehe.¡± Xia Xue smiled sweetly.
¡°He does sound nice. What¡¯s his name?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t tell you right now, or you¡¯d scare him. He doesn¡¯t know my identity yet. I told him that my family is quite poor too,¡± said Xia Xue.
This was like a realistic version of a romance drama. A girl from a rich family falls in love with a poor boy, but considering his pride, purposefully tells him that she is also from a poor family.
Xia Lei was at a loss. ¡°Just what is his name? If you don¡¯t tell me I¡¯ll get Lu Sheng to go find out.¡±
¡°Okay, I give in. He¡¯s called Lu Zijing.¡±
¡°Lu Zijing... That¡¯s a nice name. What stage have you guys progressed to?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were burning.
¡°Brother, this is my private matter, can you not ask? Let¡¯s keep talking about your wedding with sister-inw. Tell her to toss the bouquet to me when it¡¯s time to toss the bouquet.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t talk, huh. I¡¯ll let Lu Sheng look into it.¡±
Xia Xue rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll tell you. We¡¯ve only got to the stage of reading books together and drinking tea. Uh, we¡¯ve seen a few movies as well, but they were all in the school hall.¡±
Xia Lei finally breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m just asking. Do you have his picture? Is he handsome? Let me see.¡±
Xia Xue took out her phone and showed Xia Lei a picture.
The young man in the photo was cheery and handsome, and he had an unwavering smile. His skin was a little dark, but it waspatible with his robust body. His size and skin tone made him look like a professional athlete. He also had the sincere, honest air of a young farmer-boy, natural and with no pretense at all.
This person was indeed pretty nice.
¡°Brother, he is about to graduate, and he majors in economics. He could be of help to you. Give him a chance. How about letting hime to yourpany?¡± Xia Xue looked expectantly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei suddenly felt as if he was being tricked. He had been asking his sister for information on Lu Zijing, but he didn¡¯t think that she would use such a request to end the conversation.
Xia Xue curled the corner of her mouth. ¡°If you don¡¯t agree, I¡¯ll follow him to the mountains to rear goats. He said that he¡¯ll start his own business if he can¡¯t find a good job. If he wants to rear goats, then I will rear goats with him.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Ay, a girl will marry away when she is of age. Fine, let hime to mypany. I can also test his ability and character. You are a woman of the Xia family, and only the best man is worthy of you.¡±
But Xia Xue said, ¡°No, I¡¯m not the same as my sister-inw. I don¡¯t need the world¡¯s best man. I only want a man I love, who loves me, and can give me happiness.¡±
Xia Lei fell silent.
A question suddenly popped up in his head.
If he had not eaten the AE capsule... If he weren¡¯t as outstanding as he were now, would his wife, Shentu Tianyin, love him without his current achievements? Whether in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer, would she spend her life with him?
Chapter 556 - Resounding Slap
Shentu Ren was going to make preparations at Vientaine Group¡¯s hotel in Haizhu, after Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei returned to Haizhu for their wedding ceremony and signed the papers, but Shentu Tianyin refused this n in the end.
Haizhu was a small ce after all, and Jingdu was the capital of China. The political and business friends she and Xia Lei had were all in Jingdu, so having a ceremony in Jingdu was a must, for the convenience of these people.
The venue of the wedding ceremony was Jingdu¡¯s International Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Shentu Tianyin booked the entire ce.
A celebrity couple had held a wedding ceremony in a convention centre in Shanghai years ago, and that wedding had cost 200,000,000. The wedding had caused a sensation nation-wide, and made countless people envious.
The cost of the wedding of the Father of Rifles and the wealthiest woman in China was 1,000,000,000, and it was far more luxurious and closely-followed by others than the wedding of the celebrity couple. These two were also among the guests at this amazing wedding of Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
There weren¡¯t just celebrities either. Well-known people from the business world were in attendance too. These people were usually the focus of the media, but they were now ying supporting roles to Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
A celebrity husband-and-wife were hand-in-hand as they walked down the red carpet towards the wedding venue.
Camera lights shed.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Huang Bo, the Maind king of movies? He¡¯se to attend this wedding too,¡± said a junior reporter in surprise. He was standing to the side of the red carpet.
¡°This is Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wedding, you know. Vientaine Group has its ownpany in the entertainment circles too, and investment. The celebrities are falling over themselves to attend Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wedding. It¡¯s easy to get actors, but only those fewpanies have the power to fund big movies. Know this, and you¡¯ll see that it¡¯s not strange why so many celebrities havee to attend her wedding,¡± said a reporter who looked like the junior¡¯s senior.
¡°But why is it that it¡¯s only Shentu Tianyin¡¯s guestsing, and there¡¯s no one from the groom¡¯s side?¡±
¡°This, I don¡¯t know. Maybe Xia Lei is a man who keeps a low profile, and his friends and family too.¡±
Simr conversations were taking ce, not just at that spot, but all over. It wasn¡¯t just the reporters either ¡ª several guests were also whispering about it. The bride¡¯s side had a star-studded attendance upying the limelight but the groom¡¯s side¡¯s guest attendance was so low it was pitiable. Those who hade were also Xia Lei¡¯s subordinates, like Qin Xiang, Guan Lingshan, and higher management like Zhou Xiaohong. As for celebrities, business friends... there were none in sight.
This awkward situation was not confined to the red carpet either ¡ª it extended to the wedding venue. The right side of the venue where the bride¡¯s guests sat were full of people, each a person of reknown, talking andughing. On the groom¡¯s side, on the left, there were only a few dozens of people, and most were Xia Lei¡¯s subordinates. One side was full of celebrities, and a gathering of people with status, while the other was empty inparison, and gathering of normal people. The groom¡¯s side was rathercking when onepared the two sides.
The only thing bolstering the groom¡¯s image was the shining wall of gold bricks on his side of the venue. The wall was worth 1,000,000,000, and was very eye-catching indeed.
However, this mighty wall of the groom¡¯s also drew gossip.
¡°Why is the groom¡¯s side so empty? Isn¡¯t that embarrassing? Is that wall of gold real?¡± said a celebrity.
¡°What distinguished friends can a guy who worked at construction sites have? The groom surely has good friends, but they are probably his construction worker buddies. Would those people be able toe to this sort of venue? So what I think, is that the groom would rather have fewer people than invite his buddies over.¡±
¡°Ay, a man from the construction sites was actually able to marry our goddess. This is a joke. I still don¡¯t get why Tianyin would marry Xia Lei,¡± said another celebrity.
¡°That Xia Lei does have some ability, but his foundations are only of that level, so he can¡¯t go very much higher. There must be some feeling of inferiority when he¡¯s with Shentu Tianyin. Plus, people who made it big from an environment have some weirdly strong self-esteem, and are very sensitive. I dare bet that this is one such example. The groom made a wall out of gold bricks worth 1,000,000,000 because he doesn¡¯t want others to look down on him, but he forgot about the low status of his guests, and that so few would attend. From what I see, that wall of gold is not protecting his pride, but proving his sense of inferiority,¡± said a real estate boss.
¡°Heh heh, that makes a lot of sense, Director Wang.¡±
These discussions were all taking ce on the bride¡¯s side of the venue, and covered various topics.
Xia Lei had been given the title of ¡°Father of Rifles¡± and be the hero of millions of Chinese, but these millions did not include these elite characters. In this realistic society, however, a vast majority of the people who would be willing to give everything in times of danger and care for the fate of the nation were themon folk. The great rise of China in the past 30 years was also due to the blood and sweat themon folk had put into the building of the nation. Xia Lei was a hero in the eyes of themon folk, but this did not mean that everyone acknowledged his aplishments.
Society had its hierarchy from ancient times.
Xia Lei had started off from the construction-site-worker level, and he was the idol of those workers, the hero of themon folk. However, to these celebrities, and to these wealthy folk, he was an outsider. In the world of these people, what he got was not praise but doubt, and even mockery.
There were two people on the bride¡¯s side who were neither celebrities nor big businessmen. These two guests were Ren Wenqiang, and Xu Lang. Ren Wenqiang was able to attend as someone apanying the real estate boss surnamed Wang, since he was currently his assistant. Xu Lang was able to attend because of Xu Zhengyi, who had some business with Shentu Ren, and had received an invitation from Shentu Ren as a result. Xu Lang hade with Xu Zhengyi.
And in this vicious gossiping about the groom, the two old enemies of Xia Lei met.
¡°Heh. Isn¡¯t this Xu Bro?¡± Ren Wenqiang greeted him first. He was dressed in a well-cut suit, and as handsome and at ease with himself as always.
¡°Heh heh, what a coincidence, Ren Bro. I hear you¡¯re doing well in Director Wang¡¯spany. You¡¯re like the personification of that old saying ¡ª Gold shines wherever it goes,¡± said Xu Lang with a smile.
¡°Gold? Hehe, have you seen the gold wall Xia Lei built here? That¡¯s the real gold.¡± Ren Wenqiang¡¯s gaze went to the wall of gold, and his smile turned into one of distaste though he was fairly green with envy.
¡°Humph. So what?¡± Xu Lang said in discontent, ¡°He¡¯s just an upstart social climber even if he can build a mountain of gold. He is no match for Shentu Tianyin at all. Have you seen the groom¡¯s guests? They are all people from Thunder Horse Group. Xia Lei doesn¡¯t even have one friend of high social standing. How embarrassing.¡±
¡°Hehe, yeah, some things can¡¯t be bought with money. I feel like this wedding is one between a queen and andowner of the samend. Xia Lei is rich now, true, but he had always been one of lowly status. He has no blue blood at all.¡±
¡°Ay, I really don¡¯t get why Shentu Tianyin would want to marry him. Isn¡¯t this like putting a flower on cow dung?¡±
¡°Hehe, there¡¯s another saying too, and it goes something like ¡®the pig took the cabbage¡¯.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xu Langughed jovially.
At that moment, a group of Arabs in white robes and headscarves came walking down the red carpet.
The Master of Ceremonies suddenly announced, ¡°The Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Prince Khalifa Muhammad Azte, and his wife, Al¡¯fari Imushali.¡±
Guests from the Middle East! The announcement made everyone in the bride¡¯s side of the venue freeze. Many had been trying to guess whose guests these prestigious guests were.
¡°When did Tianyin make friends like these?¡± came Xu Lang¡¯s voice.
¡°It must be some sort of investment Vientaine Group did in the Middle East. It can¡¯t be that punk¡¯s guests, right? That¡¯s a prince,¡± said Ren Wenqiang.
Then their host appeared.
Shentu Tianyin had been receiving the guests on the bride¡¯s side, and he had stood to one side like an essory. He now stepped out of his role as essory.
Under everyone¡¯s watchful gaze, Xia Lei very calmly and smilingly weed his guests, and said in Arabic, ¡°Your Majesty, Prince Khalifa, wee.¡±
¡°Ah, my friend, please, dispense with courtesy. Congrattions.¡± Prince Khalifa gave Xia Lei a hug, and patted him familiarly on the shoulder. He then introduced his wife.
Xia Lei nodded, and did not even look at Al¡¯fari Imushali. He only said warmly, ¡°Peace be upon you.¡±
¡°Peace be upon you, too, and may the Lord bless you and your wife,¡± said Al¡¯fari Imushali.
The Arabs were like this. People of the same gender could hug, and even kiss each other¡¯s cheeks, but there could be no interaction between those of the opposite gender. Even a nce was disrespectful.
Prince Khalifa and his wife, Al¡¯fari Imushali had just entered the groom¡¯s side of the venue to seat themselves when the Master of Ceremonies spoke again. ¡°Venezun Ambassador, Rocio Riggs, and his wife, Kanaiman.¡±
Xia Lei stepped forward with a smile.
There was not one peep from the bride¡¯s side of the venue.
But this was just the beginning.
¡°Argentinian Ambassador, Demian and his wife.¡±
¡°Brazilian Ambassador, Mr Alberto and Mr Neymar.¡±
¡°Colombian General...¡±
Esteemed guests arrived, one by one, and their blessings filled the venue. Everyone watching Xia Lei receive these guests were usually in the spotlight but they were now background characters. Even Shentu Tianyin was overshadowed.
The guests on the bride¡¯s side, the celebrities and the businessmen, had looked down on Xia Lei. They had felt like they had higher social status than Xia Lei, and had so-called ¡®blue blood¡¯, and also thought that they brought honour to Shentu Tianyin, making the venue more high-ss. However, the guests¡¯ arrival on the groom¡¯s side had given these people a resounding p on their faces!
And their so-called status, and so-called blue blood were like heaven and earth whenpared to these honoured guests.
Chapter 557 - The Great Occasion
Why would an Arab prince, an ambassador of a foreign country, and a world-ss football star turn up to attend the marriage of someone who had risen up in the world abruptly? A person with the background of a simple construction worker? This was a question that perplexed all of the guests of the bride.
This question wasn¡¯t really thatplicated. It was before their eyes ¡ª Xia Lei. Xia Lei was the answer.
Xia Lei had established Thunder Horse Military Factory and developed the world-famous XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle. There was a high demand for these two types of weapons in the Middle East and South America, and part of this stemmed from how Europe and America suppressed the Middle East and South America. Take Argentina, for example. After Argentina and Ennd battled on the Falnd Inds, it became impossible for them to gain advanced weapons from Europe and America. Thus, Argentina became China¡¯s friend, and the two countries coborated extensively in economic and military affairs. Argentina needed China¡¯s weapons and Xia Lei¡¯s Thunder Horse Military Factory was an eye-catching dark horse of China¡¯s arms industry. It wasn¡¯t surprising at all to have Argentina¡¯s ambassador attending the wedding with these circumstances.
In fact, Xia Lei didn¡¯t actually recognise all of the honored guests who hade to congratte him. He had only sent invitation cards based on the client connections Thunder Horse Military Factory had. He had sent out these invitations, the other parties responded, and they all actually came. Brazil, in particr, had not only sent their ambassador, but specially got Brazil¡¯s international football star, Neymar, toe to his wedding. Xia Lei didn¡¯t even know Neymar. The fact that the other party had done this expressed their sincerity and also spoke of their wish to coborate with him.
This was Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wedding, but it also doubled as a friendly get-together for Xia Lei to expand his social circle and build connections in actuality.
Xia Lei was in his moment, shining. No one dared to mention that he had his beginnings as a construction worker, and no one mocked or ridiculed him for being undeserving of Shentu Tianyin. As a matter of fact, Shentu Tianyin was only ying a supporting role to Xia Lei. She couldn¡¯t shadow the brilliant light that was Xia Lei. The wealthiest woman in China was already reduced to a supporting role, so how could the guests on the bride¡¯s side dare to belittle him?
In fact, a lot of people were already thinking about Shentu Tianyin¡¯s insight. How could the man she took a fancy to and the man she wanted to marry be a mediocre person?
Shentu Tianyin wanted the most excellent man in this world, and there was only one man who could satisfy her conditions ¡ª Xia Lei.
In the past, every one of the men who had pursued Shentu Tianyin had been extremely talented or the elite of the elite. There was Gu Kewu of the Gu n and Ahn Suhyeong from Korea ¡ª these two had all the money, good looks, high education, power and connections one could want. They had whatever a woman could ever desire, but they never caught Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eye. She had fallen for Xia Lei, and Xia Lei only. Gu Kewu and Ahn Suhyeong had already sunk into the deep river of time, but Xia Lei continued to increase his standing constantly. Who had the guts to question Shentu Tianyin¡¯s insight on men right now, in the face of Xia Lei¡¯s sess?
¡°That punk...¡± In bride¡¯s guests area, Ren Wenqiang wanted to say something that mocked Xia Lei, but he swallowed those words. The only thing left in his heart was admiration and jealousy, and an admiration he wouldn¡¯t admit to himself.
He had appeared between Xia Lei and Ning Jing in the past, when Xia Lei was still an entrepreneur, and used his favourable standing to gain Ning Jing¡¯s parents¡¯s favour. Right now, however, Xia Lei was already at a ce where Ren Wenqiang had to look up to see him. He was only a high official who worked for others, so what right did he have to mock Xia Lei?
Xu Lang felt the same way as Ren Wenqiang. He had looked down on Xia Lei and fought with Xia Lei. He could be considered a rival back then, but he didn¡¯t even have the qualifications to be Xia Lei¡¯s rival now.
Right when all the guests were thinking that this was the very pinnacle of the event, a huge group of people came down the red carpet. The MC hadn¡¯t dared to announce them because agents dressed in ck suits and in-ear headsets from Bureau 101 had already made him leave. It was because the peopleing down the red carpet was a group of military figures, as well as some people from the Equipment Department. Ling Han and Shi Boren were also in the group. These people hade to attend Xia Lei¡¯s wedding, and they didn¡¯t want their identities to be announced.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were also part of the group.
The two women hadpletely different styles.
Long Bing was wearing a ck women¡¯s suit which had been specially tailored so that it brought out her lithe and graceful curves. The areas which were supposed to be well-rounded were ample and well developed, and her slender areas were slim and soft. When coupled with her chilly temperament, she gave people a feeling of danger and distance, but her sexiness enticed people, making them want to approach and conquer her.
Tang Yuyan was wearing her favorite navy blue cheongsam. She had big breasts, long legs and a perky butt which was firm and well-rounded. With her delicate and beautiful face, she seemed like a rich youngdy who had transmigrated from the Republican era. She was a sexy and beautiful person if one just looked at her, and her aura was noble and impressive. The sexiness and nobleness of her were perfectly fused to form a mature and attractive charm. If one were to really pick at her noble roots, then the blood of the Tang flowing through her veins was the truest of true of the ancient noble bloodlines. This sort of ancient noble bloodline was not something people of modern times buy or affect with just money.
Xia Lei was very happy when Ling Han, Shi Boren and the big military figures entered his line of sight. He was actually happy to see Long Bing too, but he was afraid that the smart Shentu Tianyin would sense something fishy if she and Shentu Tianyin interacted. It was when he saw Tang Yuyan that his head suddenly began to ache dully.
But she was already here ¡ª he couldn¡¯t tell her that she wasn¡¯t wee here, could he?
Xia Lei braced himself and went up to them, smiling and greeting, ¡°Brother Ling, wee, wee. Hello, Boss Shi. Hello, senior officials...¡±
Shentu Tianyin stayed next to Xia Lei, smiling and greeting these esteemed guests. These people were true VIPs, and she would have had a hard time meeting them, or even befriending them if it wasn¡¯t for her husband, Xia Lei. She had to be careful and polite too, and not slight them in the slightest when interacting with them.
Shentu Tianyin asionally appraised Long Bing and Tang Yuyan out of the corners of her eyes as she greeted and interacted with the honored guests.
¡°Xia Bro, today is your special day. Come over to drink with uster,¡± said Ling Han with a smile.
¡°Of course, of course. I¡¯ll drink more for my Brother Ling, and all the senior officials,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
The people from the Equipment Department and the military figures shook hands with Xia Lei and exchanged some typical greetings, conversing happily. There was no reason to dislike a Chinese fellow who had made the entire world develop a whole new level of respect for Chinese manufacturing, and made the Chinese military proud. In fact, they were very willing to honour him. This was also why they had turned up uninvited. Xia Lei hadn¡¯t even given them invitations but they hade anyway.
¡°Boy.¡± Shi Boren¡¯s huge olympic-sized discus-hand,nded on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder as he chuckled. ¡°Now that you have your own family, you¡¯d better still have guts. There are some things waiting for you still.¡±
Xia Lei knew what he was talking about and he gave augh. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Boss Shi. I¡¯ll have a good drink with youter.¡±
Shi Boren suddenly moved next to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and whispered so that Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t hear what he was saying. ¡°Boy, don¡¯t arrange to go on a honeymoon or anything. Germany has sent news that their engineering team ising soon. You should also start preparing to go to Germany. Oh yes, bring Tang Yuyan along this time.¡±
¡°This...¡±
¡°Do me this honour.¡±
Xia Lei braced himself and nodded. Shi Boren¡¯s honour was made of iron ¡ª How could he not honour him?
He did him this favour, but Xia Lei didn¡¯t even want to imagine what would happen afterwards. What he could foresee, though, was that he would have to prepare some headache medicine for the trip to Germany...
Xia Lei subconsciously nced at Tang Yuyan after agreeing to Shi Boren¡¯s request.
And what a coincidence ¡ª Tang Yuyan was also looking straight at Xia Lei.
Their gazes met in the crowd, and there was a strange pause. It was also in that moment that Tang Yuyan suddenly pursed her lips in a smile, and even winked at Xia Lei.
Her expression was filled with mischievousness and provocation. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have thought much of it if they were somewhere else, but this was his marriage with Shentu Tianyin, so it became apletely different matter. He avoided Tang Yuyan¡¯s provocative gaze and looked at Shentu Tianyin¡¯s reaction from the corner of his eye. Fortunately, Shentu Tianyin was exchanging pleasantries with Ling Han right then, and had not noticed.
¡®How has no man defeated that witch?¡¯ Xia Lei smiled wryly to himself.
After greeting all the important people, Xia Lei pulled Shentu Tianyin away to prepare to leave. He was not prepared to greet Long Bing and Tang Yuyan. Those two women were ticking time bombs to him, and they could blow up without warning. He was trying to avoid them, so there was no way he would approach them on his own.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Miss Long and Miss Tang? We should go greet them,¡± whispered Shentu Tianyin in Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
¡°Oh...¡± Xia Lei drew a nk for a second, and he replied awkwardly, ¡°Look at me. I¡¯ve been so busy that I became confused and disoriented. I totally forgot about them. You¡¯re right. We should go say hello.¡±
Xia Lei said those words, but he let out a stream of curses in his head.
¡°Oh, um, congrattions on your marriage.¡± Long Bing became inexplicably nervous when she saw Shentu Tianyin and Xia Leiing over, hand-in-hand.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Tang Yuyan let out augh which tinkled like silver bells. ¡°Big Brother Lei, Big Sister Tianyin, you two are a match made in heaven. I give you my blessings!¡±
Even Long Bing couldn¡¯t help shooting Tang Yuyan a look at her words and reaction to the marriage. Tang Yuyan was actually not starting any trouble today. Had the sun risen from the west?
¡°Hello, Miss Long and Miss Tang. Thank you for your blessings. There are many people today, so we haven¡¯t been attentive enough to you. Please forgive us.¡± Shentu Tianyin appeared very polite.
Xia Lei spoke then. ¡°Uh, Miss Long, Miss Tang, why don¡¯t you take a seat? We¡¯lle over to have a drink with you.¡±
Long Bing gave a slight nod.
Tang Yuyan smiled as she said, ¡°Of course you have toe drink with us. You have to apologise too. You didn¡¯t even give us an invitation to your wedding, so you have to drink three cups as punishment.¡±
¡°I... I actually did send you the invitations. The delivery person must have gotten it wrong and sent the invitation to your old home.¡± Xia Lei pulled Shentu Tianyin away as he spoke. ¡°All right, all right. Make yourselvesfortable. See youter.¡±
There was a small glimmer of sadness in Long Bing¡¯s eyes.
Tang Yuyan pouted. ¡°I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s thinking. What¡¯s so good about Shentu Tianyin? She¡¯s just a dull woman. What does he see in her?¡± She pulled Long Bing¡¯s hand. ¡°Bing, I actually think that you and Xia Lei make the best well-matched pair.¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at her. ¡°You mean to say that you¡¯re the one who actually suits Xia Lei the most, right? Why drag me into it? We¡¯re just friends.¡±
¡°Hmph, you guys are just friends? Do you think I¡¯m a fool?¡±
¡°Are you very smart?¡±
¡°Do you still remember the time I went to your ce, and I found that hair on your vest? I got someone to conduct a DNA test on it, and I got the results today. It¡¯s Xia Lei¡¯s hair from that... area. You adulterous pair. You disgust me.¡±
Long Bing was speechless.
¡°You want me to keep it a secret? Don¡¯t try to leave me behind on the Germany trip, then.¡± Tang Yuyan smiled sweetly. As she looked at the backs of Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin walking hand-in-hand, and a voice said in her head, ¡®No one takes away anything that I, Tang Yuyan wants unless I don¡¯t want it. But I want it. What should I do? Hehehe...¡¯
Chapter 558 - Traditional Wedding Ceremony
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wedding was, without doubt, the most grand and luxurious wedding of this modern time, and the only one like it. Spending a billion at this wedding was a small matter, and the guests in attendance were not those who could be bought with money. A simple way to put it was that a wealthy man could arrange for a wedding of simr cost for his child, but he would not be able to have princes and ambassadorse to the wedding, much less the VIPs of China.
The bride¡¯s side of the venue had been throwing cold words about, mocking and speaking sarcastically, but these conversations were different now.
¡°Oh my goodness, how influential is this Xia Lei? He actually got an Arab prince toe, and the ambassadors of several countries too. We were already so proud when the mayor attended our son¡¯s wedding,¡± said a guest.
¡°Who cares about the Arab prince and the ambassadors. Did you see those military men? Those are the real bigwigs. The ground shakes beneath their feet when they move!¡± said a guest.
¡°Ah, howughable. We were just saying how he had no status to his name, and no decent close friends... but his close friends came, and they¡¯re such shocking friends too!¡±
¡°I¡¯d thought that the groom was basking in the bride spotlight, but it was actually the other way around.¡±
¡°Not exactly. Shentu Tianyin has money, but what does Xia Lei have? He has ability, and connections. He will far outstrip Shentu Tianyin one day in his worth with his ability and connections.¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. Who said that Xia Lei was not a match for Shentu Tianyin earlier?¡±
¡°What are you looking at me for? I didn¡¯t say that. Shentu Tianyin is a smart woman, so her assessment of men can¡¯t be bad. Let¡¯s you and me not make any more wild guesses.¡±
These guests and their conversations were like a wind blowing past a wall, and the grass on the wall bending in the other direction.
And so the wedding began in the midst of all these whispers.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin were going to have two ceremonies. One was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s request, a Western ceremony presided over by a priest. After this ceremony was a Chinese ceremony, where the bride and groom would kneel in a ritual ceremony. This was the ceremony Xia Lei requested. He was a deep-set traditional man, and wanted a traditional wedding even though the current modern trend was to have a Western ceremony.
¡°Ladies and gentlemen,¡± said the priest, ¡°please take your seats. The wedding ceremony is about to begin.¡±
The guests quieted down.
The wedding march yed. The gentle, romantic music weaved through the air, bringing joy to everyone present.
The priest raised his voice. ¡°Good day, everyone. We are gathered here today to celebrate the wedding of this man and this woman.¡± He looked at Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Do either of you oppose this union?¡± He then looked at the guests. ¡°Is there anyone here who opposes this union?¡±
As the priest went about the usual words, Ren Wenqiang, who was sitting further down from the stage, had a sudden urge to shout ¡®I oppose!¡¯. But what would he do afterwards, after he had done his mischief? Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei would not let him off. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s revenge would perhaps be not as bad as Xia Lei¡¯s, but he dared not imagine how terrible Xia Lei¡¯s revenge would be.
The priest turned to Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, do you take Shentu Tianyin as yourwfully wedded wife?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I do.¡±
The priest spoke again. ¡°Xia Lei, do you swear to be with your wife, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health?¡±
¡°I do,¡± said Xia Lei.
The priest turned to Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Shentu Tianyin, do you take Xia Lei as yourwfully wedded husband?¡±
¡°I do,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
The priest continued, ¡°Shentu Tianyin, do you swear to be with your husband, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health?¡±
Shentu Tianyin nodded, and her voice was full of warmth. ¡°I do.¡±
¡°Now, please ce your wedding rings on The Holy Bible,¡± said the priest.
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei ced their wedding rings on the Bible in the priest¡¯s hands.
The priest smiled. ¡°Please put your ring on your partner.¡±
Xia Lei slid the ring onto Shentu Tianyin¡¯s finger, and she put the ring on his finger. It was like their hearts had linked in that moment.
¡°I now pronounce youwfully-wedded husband and wife. May the groom please kiss the bride,¡± said the priest.
Xia Lei lifted Shentu Tianyin¡¯s veil, and took her into his arms before he kissed her cherry lips.
Shentu Tianyin shut her eyes. Her heart was bursting with shyness, sweetness, and warmth. All her happy emotions burst out in that moment, making her the happiest woman on Earth.
And in that instant, images of the past shed in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He saw himself hauling bricks on the construction site, sweat staining his back. Not one fingernail of his was kempt. He saw himself as an apprentice in the processing nt, learning the ropes of welding and getting scolded harshly by his mentor. He saw himself with tears in his eyes, ripping up the university eptance letter so that Xia Xue could keep schooling. He saw himself fighting against the American Special Forces and the CIA in Afghanistan, weathering a rain of bullets and shivering...
These were all of his past experiences, and they all felt like they had happened yesterday. All these experiences churned in his heart.
Life was like a y, and like a y, it had its ups and downs.
Who would have thought? People used to roll their eyes at him, the lowly construction worker who exchanged his blood and sweat for the sake of his sister¡¯s education. Who would have thought that he would be where he was now?
And how would Xia Lei know to cherish what he had achieved today, if he had not gone through that hardship?
The Heavens made one suffer as a test of your mettle. One cannot achieve glory and wealth without having been through trials and tribtions.
In the groom¡¯s guest area, Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei kissing Shentu Tianyin, and a sourness spread in her heart. She didn¡¯t like this sourness. She nudged Long Bing¡¯s arm. ¡°Bing, how would you feel if you were the one he¡¯s kissing?¡±
Long Bing gave Tang Yuyan a look. ¡°I¡¯d advise you to give up, Tang Yuyan. The man¡¯s married. Don¡¯t cause him trouble.¡±
¡°Wow, how moral of you.¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing, then drew close to her ear and whispered, ¡°You had an affair with Xia Lei, and cuckolded Shentu Tianyin. You¡¯re advising me to give up now? Aren¡¯t you ashamed of yourself?¡±
¡°Xia Lei and I are just friends.¡± Long Bing spoke in Tang Yuyan¡¯s ear too. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare try to threaten me with your ¡®evidence¡¯. Right as we speak, I¡¯m having my men seize the thing from theboratory and burn it. Theb results have been changed too. If you want to threaten me, or ruin Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wedding, you¡¯ll have to have substantial evidence, or find some way to get a strand from Xia Lei himself.¡±
Tang Yuyan was speechless.
¡°You ask for too much, Tang Yuyan. He can¡¯t give it all to you. Really.¡±
¡°So what are you asking from him?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s lips moved, and she was about to say something, but her gaze went to a corner in the groom¡¯s guest area, and stopped on an elderly face.
¡°Why¡¯s he here?¡±
¡°Why¡¯s who here?¡± asked Tang Yuyan curiously. She was about to look at where Long Bing was looking when Long Bing looked away.
The wedding went on to the next part at that moment.
An MC in traditional clothing spoke blessings loudly into the microphone, and Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin returned to the view of the guests. They had changed into traditional wedding attire. Four traditional imperial-style chairs were ced under the wall of gold bricks, and Shentu Ren was seated in the leftmost chair, waiting for the ceremony to proceed.
¡°Groom and Bride, your first bow to Heaven and Earth!¡± cried the MC.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin knelt and bowed to the Heaven and the Earth. They kowtowed once, twice, thrice.
¡°Groom and Bride, your first bow to your parents!¡± cried the MC.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin went before Shentu Ren and got ready to kneel and bow.
Everyone was looking at Xia Lei. People were already whispering and wondering why Xia Lei¡¯s parents had note to participate in this wedding.
If Xia Lei had any regrets about his wedding, it would be that his father was unable toe to his wedding, and that he had no parents to kowtow to.
But right at that moment, and elderly voice suddenly called out, ¡°Wait.¡±
¡°This voice...¡± Xia Lei turned around abruptly. He stared nkly when he saw who had spoken.
The person approaching was none other than his Master, Liang Zhengchun. Liang Siyao¡¯s father.
Liang Zhengchun had gone to America too, after Liang Siyao¡¯s identity was revealed. And now he was back, and in this situation too. Xia Lei did not know why Liang Zhengchun had turned up here, but he couldn¡¯t help thinking of his first woman when he saw him. Liang Siyao. His Siyao.
He had loved her wholeheartedly. There was no way he could put her out of his mind like she was an insignificant thing.
¡°He¡¯s...¡± Of course Shentu Tianyin knew who Xia Lei¡¯s first woman was. She also knew who Xia Lei¡¯s Master was. Suspicion red in her heart at the sight of Liang Zhengchun approaching, and she looked at Xia Lei. ¡°What is he doing here, my husband?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±
Liang Zhengchun soon got close, and he had a smile on his face.
Xia Lei weed him. ¡°Master, why...¡± He wanted to ask why he hade, but it was not very appropriate to say such a thing in front of so many people. A Master was like a father, and he, as disciple, had not sent him an invitation. There was sure to be a lot of negative things said about this fact, so Xia Lei could not ask this question even though he really wanted to know the answer.
Liang Zhengchun patted Xia Lei on the shoulder. ¡°Lei, today¡¯s your big day. Your parents are not around anymore, so I shall represent your parents in this ceremony. Your days ahead would not be smooth-sailing if this ceremony is notplete. I think this Master of yours can hold up to this role.¡±
¡°Of course,¡± said Xia Lei hurriedly. ¡°Please, take your position, Master.¡±
Liang Zhengchun took his seat. Whether it was sitting or standing, every move of his was that of a martial arts master.
Shentu Tianyin was not entirely happy with it, of course, since this was Liang Siyao¡¯s father, but Xia Lei had agreed to it, so she could not say more on the matter.
The MC cried, ¡°Bow to your parents. First kowtow... Second kowtow... Third kotow... Offer the tea!¡±
Xia Lei proffered the tea to Liang Zhengchun with both hands. Liang Zhengchun took a sip, and took out two red envelopes. He handed one to Xia Lei, and one to Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei paused for a millisecond when he took the red envelope. The red envelope was too light. He used his X-ray vision, and discovered that the red envelope contained not money, but a message.
Chapter 559 - Liang Siyao’s Message
Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare look closely at the contents of the note in front of so many people, especially when there were special agents from Bureau 101. He put the red envelope away after discovering that there was a slip of paper inside.
Shentu Ren gave Xia Lei a red envelope too, and it held the registration papers for a private ne.
Xia Lei¡¯s betrothal gift was a wall of gold while Shentu Ren¡¯s dowry for Shentu Tianyin was a Boeing 747. This was called give-and-take. However, Xia Lei¡¯s betrothal gift was grander because it was worth one billion.
¡°Groom and Bride, bow to each other and enter the bridal room¡ª¡± The MC announced ceremoniously. The ceremony wasplete.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin wouldn¡¯t do it in the Jingdu International Convention and Exhibition Centre, of course; this was only a formality. The two of them entered the changing room. Shentu Tianyin did not avoid Xia Lei, and took off her traditional Chinese clothing and essories, with him right next to her. She left just a purple bra and small underwear on. Her body was as fair as jade and well-rounded in all the right ces. She pulled the wedding dress to herself and made to put it on.
Xia Lei said, ¡°It¡¯s so cold so don¡¯t wear the wedding dress. Why don¡¯t you wear some cotton clothes? Don¡¯t freeze.¡±
¡°It¡¯s all right. Today is a happy day for both of us. Of course I have to wear a wedding dress. I¡¯m only going to wear this once in my life, so I¡¯d still be willing to wear it no matter how cold it is. There¡¯s air conditioning too, so don¡¯t worry,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°As you wish, then.¡± He took off his traditional clothing and essories too, and changed into a suit.
¡°That¡¯s right, Hubby. Your Master...¡± Shentu Tianyin asked probingly, ¡°Howe he¡¯s here?¡±
This was her second time asking this question.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I don¡¯t know either. He went to America and we haven¡¯t contacted each other for a long time. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen him since he went to America.¡±
¡°So you mean you didn¡¯t give him an invitation? Then how did he get in here?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°I think it¡¯s probably because of Lu Sheng. Lu Sheng is my sister¡¯s bodyguard and the Chief of my security department. He¡¯s also my Master¡¯s disciple. He sent out some of the invitations for the wedding.¡±
¡°Then...¡± Shentu Tianyin hesitated before saying, ¡°Is your Sister Disciple, Liang Siayo, here as well?¡±
This was actually what Shentu Tianyin was trying to get at. She wasn¡¯t worried about Liang Zhengchun, she was only worried about Liang Siyao, the woman who had snatched Xia Lei away from her in the past. He had been snatched away from her once, and she definitely wouldn¡¯t allow it to happen a second time.
Xia Lei embraced her and said gently, ¡°Tianyin, I know what you¡¯re worried about. There¡¯s no need to worry. I have nothing to do with her now. Even if she was here, it wouldn¡¯t affect us at all. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. No one can separate us.¡±
Shentu Tianyin smiled a small smile and kissed Xia Lei on the cheek. ¡°I love you too. Let¡¯s go out. You invited so many prominent figures. We have to drink with them and toast to them. We must not slight anyone.¡±
After they exited the changing room, Xia Lei said, ¡°Tianyin, wait for me. I have to go to the restroom.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Shentu Tianyin stayed in the corridor to wait.
Xia Lei entered the bathroom and opened the red envelope which Liang Zhengchun had given him. He pulled out the piece of paper.
On that piece of paper was Liang Siyao¡¯s note:
Lei, today is a happy day for you. I give you and Shentu Tianyin my blessings. I¡¯ve hurt you, but please believe me, and believe that I definitely wasn¡¯t willing to do that. I am not hoping that you would forgive me, but... Are you going to punish me for the rest of my life because of my identity?
I know something happened to your body and I also know you have a problem. Do you still remember the fluids I took from you, and your blood? The AE Research Center focused on those things and they have alreadye up with some preliminary findings. Would you like to know what they¡¯ve found? Let¡¯s meet. If you agree, just tell my dad ¡°I forgive you¡± and I will find a time to show up in front of you.
Forever loving you,
Siyao
That was the content of the message.
Xia Lei ripped the paper up and threw it into the toilet when he was done reading it. He flushed, then stared at the toilet in a daze. His heart was far from calm.
¡®She¡¯s already in China? ording to what I know of the intelligence system of Bureau 101, it¡¯s impossible for them to be unaware of her identity now that things havee this far. It¡¯s a great risk for her to sneak back into China. Did she take such a huge risk toe see me because she wants me to forgive her, or because the AE Research Center discovered something, and she wants to tell me about it?¡¯ Xia Lei kept thinking and rethinking this matter, but he could not decide.
Liang Siyao knew about the secret of AE. She did not know all of it, but she was quite clear on what it was. The fluids she wrote about had been obtained through the hot nights he had shared with her back when they were full of passion for each other, then hidden these fluids and stored them. She had brought up the fluids and also written that she was willing to help him. Even though she didn¡¯t state what the problem was, Xia Lei knew. The problem was that he could not impregnate women.
¡®She says she wants to help me solve my problem but how is she going to solve it? And what did the AE Research Center find?¡¯ These questions gued Xia Lei.
He wanted to know the answer to so many questions, but all of these answers could only be found through one way, and that was Liang Siyao.
¡°Hubby, are you okay?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice came from outside the bathroom.
Xia Lei then snapped back to his senses. He gave a noise in response and walked out of the bathroom.
¡°Why did you take so long?¡±
¡°Oh, my stomach didn¡¯t feel so good,¡± said Xia Lei as he took Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hand and walked out.
¡°Hubby, there¡¯s something...¡± Shentu Tianyin started to say something, and stopped.
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°My father has asked me this several times. He asked me if we¡¯re avoiding getting pregnant.¡±
Xia Lei was thrown off for a second, and he asked awkwardly, ¡°How...did you respond?¡±
Shentu Tianyin said, ¡°I said that we were not doing that. Think about it. If I said that we are, I¡¯d definitely get scolded by him. He loves me dearly, but he¡¯s very serious about this and he has almost gone mad with the wish of having a grandchild to hold. Hubby, we¡¯ve lived together for some time now but my womb has not had any reaction so far. It¡¯s probably some problem with me. I want to go to the hospital to do a checkup. How about youe with me and get examined too while you¡¯re at it? How about it?¡±
Xia Lei knew that this had been worded very tactfully. Shentu Tianyin had been with him for several months and done the deed more times than he count count. They had not used protection at all. Under normal circumstances, her belly should have long be big with child, but it had not. She was someone who had a private doctor too, so how could she not have had a checkup, especially when it had been so long?
It wasn¡¯t difficult to guess what the results of the doctor¡¯s check had been. Shentu Tianyin definitely wouldn¡¯t have any problems. The problemy with him. However, she was afraid that she would hurt Xia Lei¡¯s dignity if she just spoke inly about it since all men were more sensitive when it came to things like this. This was why she had used this tactful method to broach the subject and get Xia Lei checked.
First was Jiang Ruyi¡¯s mistake in thinking she was pregnant, and Shentu Tianyin had brought it up again now. The previously unnoticed problem of infertility had floated up to the surface. Xia Lei was not concerned about his manly dignity, but his had a very real and definite headache now.
¡°Um, if you don¡¯t want to... it¡¯s fine too.¡± Shentu Tianyin was afraid of triggering Xia Lei and making him unhappy.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°It¡¯s not a problem. We definitely can¡¯t do it today. Let¡¯s find another time to go do a checkup. It might not be a problem with you. It could be me who has a problem.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Shentu Tianyin rxed.
¡°By the way, if it is my problem...¡±
¡°Then we shall seek treatment.¡±
¡°What if it can¡¯t get better?¡±
Shentu Tianyin quirked her lips. ¡°Technology has be so advanced now. If we can¡¯t treat it in China, we can go abroad. It can definitely be cured.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t say things like ¡®What if it can¡¯t get better abroad¡¯ because he had already seen that Shentu Tianyin¡¯s spirits had be rather apparently low, and that she was a little unhappy. A woman¡¯s greatest dream was to marry someone who she loved, and have their own children. This was how a woman¡¯s life would beplete. She would surely be unhappy if he couldn¡¯t get her pregnant.
¡®Forget it. There are some risks, but I should still go see her. I hope she will be able to help me solve this problem. This pressure from my father-inw and wife is enough to make my head hurt.¡¯ Xia Lei had made his decision.
The banquet began. Shentu Tianyin had hired almost all of the famous chefs of Jingdu for this wedding. She was fine with spending however much money she needed to; she only wanted the best. Her man was the best man in the whole world, so her banquet had to be the best too.
There were too many guests so Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t go up to every single table to drink a toast with them. Xia Lei did what the MC suggested, and drank three cups in a row to toast everyone present. However, he couldn¡¯t slight Ling Han, the prominent military figures, and that ambassador and Arab prince, so he still had to personally go drink with them, and he took Shentu Tianyin with him to honour these esteemed guests.
Finally, Xia Lei brought Shentu Tianyin to Liang Zhengchun.
¡°Master, I¡¯ll pour you a cup of wine. Let¡¯s drink together,¡¯¡¯ said Xia Lei.
Liang Zhengchunughed. ¡°Then I¡¯ll drink all the wine in my cup. If you pour me some more, I¡¯ll drink with you some more.¡± After saying this, Liang Zhengchun picked up his wine cup and tilted his head back to drink it in one gulp.
Xia Lei picked up the wine bottle and poured some more wine for him. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he lowered his voice and said, ¡°I forgive you.¡±
Liang Zhengchun paused, but he quickly reacted andughed as he nodded. ¡°All right, all right. I¡¯m just overjoyed today.¡±
¡°Master, a toast.¡± Xia Lei touched cups with Liang Zhengchun, and finished the wine in his cup.
Liang Zhengchun finished the wine in his cup andughed as he said, ¡°I wanted to drink a lot with you today, but you have to drink more, so I won¡¯t ask for that. Go on, go on, go about your duties. You don¡¯t have to take care of me.¡±
¡°Master, where are you staying now?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Liang Zhengchun said, ¡°I just returned. I contacted Lu Sheng and he told me about you getting married. This Master here turned up uninvited.¡±
¡°Master, please don¡¯t say it that way. I feel so ashamed when you put it that way.¡±
¡°Haha, I¡¯m preparing to go back to Haizhu, and to live there for a period of time. I¡¯ll be at the same old ce. Come see me when you have the time,¡± said Liang Zhengchun.
¡°Yes, I will definitely be there,¡± said Xia Lei.
After they left Liang Zhengchun¡¯s table, Shentu Tianyin tugged at Xia Lei¡¯s sleeve and said softly, ¡°Take me too when you go to his house. I want to go too.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 560 - Hit A Person When He’s Down, But Get Humiliated Instead
They hadpleted the toasts in the groom¡¯s guest area, so Xia Lei now apanied Shentu Tianyin in the bride¡¯s guest area. Shentu Tianyin guided him, and he first drank a toast to the Shentu n. He recognised almost all of the Shentu n, but he had no friendly sentiments towards these people. He did not like them, but he was polite on ount of Shentu Ren and Shentu Tianyin. He greeted them one by one, and drank with them.
The Shentu n were quite conflicted about it too. They had tried to topple Shentu Tianyin from her position in the past, and chase her out of Vientaine Group. They¡¯d seen Xia Lei as an enemy and tried to bully and pressure him in various ways. Now, however, they had to live their lives pandering to Xia Lei. They dared not show any dissatisfaction on their faces.
The Shentu n started whispering as soon as Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin walked away.
¡°What are they so haughty about? It¡¯s useless even if he has godly abilities ¡ª he can¡¯t make his wife pregnant! What¡¯s all that money he¡¯s making for?¡± said one of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s uncles.
¡°Yeah! That punk Xia Lei and Tianyin signed the marriage papers months ago, but Tianyin¡¯s stomach hasn¡¯t changed one bit. Is that guy impotent?¡± said one of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s male cousins.
¡°Heh heh. This is retribution. That Xia fellow made Second Uncle¡¯s family go to prison, and didn¡¯t even let the Grandfather off. Of course the Heavens are going to punish him for his evil-doings,¡± said one of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s aunts.
¡°It¡¯s good that she¡¯s not pregnant. There won¡¯t be a heir to take over Vientaine Group then, and it would still belong to the Shentu n. This is a good thing. Let¡¯s toast to that,¡± said one of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s male cousins.
The Shentu n raised their sses in celebration.
This was the only bnce they could find now.
Xia Lei could not hear what the Shentu n was saying behind his back, but he wouldugh if he could hear them. Only weaklings would mock those stronger than them behind their backs, and people like these were usually ignorant of their own circumstances.
Xia Lei was led Shentu Tianyin in toasts with the celebrities and established businessmen in attendance of their wedding. These people had said words of mockery earlier, but each and every one of them put a smile of ttery on their faces now, and were giving Xia Lei toasts, trying to win his favour and get acquainted.
The celebrities were trying to curry favour with Xia Lei because they were after the clout Shentu Tianyin had in the entertainment industry, and the businessmen were tried to get acquainted with Xia Lei for political and business clout he possessed. Xia Lei was happy to make the acquaintance of these business people on his end too, and increase his connections. This was advantageous to him too.
They were done toasting the important people on the bride¡¯s side, and the wedding banquet was drawing to a close.
¡°I¡¯ll help you to a ce to rest. You¡¯ve had one too many.¡± Shentu Tianyin held on to Xia Lei¡¯s arm and spoke in concern.
Xia Lei had indeed consumed a lot of alcohol. He had not kept exact count, but he had definitely consumed over half a kilogram. He was not one bit drunk however, as the mysterious power in his body had awakened when he had been drinking in the groom¡¯s guest area, and cleared the alcohol from his system. He could drink one bottle of baijiu, or even ten, no problem.
Shentu Tianyin was unaware of this, however, and she was worried about Xia Lei. She had watched him drink cup after cup, after all.
¡®She would surely think that it¡¯s drunk-talk if I tell her that I¡¯m not drunk, huh?¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He acted drunk, and said slowly, ¡°Nn... I¡¯m not drunk.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not drunk? You drank so much! I¡¯ll help you to a ce to rest,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Yes, yes... let¡¯s go rest.¡± Xia Lei put a drunken stagger in his steps.
¡°Xia Bro!¡± came a voice all of a sudden. ¡°Long time no see. It¡¯s your big day today, soe here and have a drink with an old friend, eh?¡±
This voice was a little familiar, and Xia Lei looked over to see who was talking to him. Xu Lang. He also spotted Ren Wenqiang sitting next to him. He would have forgotten all about the existence of these two if he had not seen them.
¡°Come,e,e, Xia Bro. We¡¯re all friends here. You have to have a toast with us. It¡¯s your big day today after all.¡± Xu Lang picked up a bottle of Flying Maotai from the table, and a beverage ss. He poured as he walked over to Xia Lei. The cup was filled to the brim by the time he stood before Xia Lei.
Xia Lei understood why this Xu Lang had called out to him in greeting. He wanted to make himpletely drunk, and kick him when he was down by giving him a big cup of alcohol and see him make a drunken fool of himself.
¡®Is this all that this old rival can do?¡¯ Xia Lei sighed to himself.
Xu Lang walked up to Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin with a smile on his face. ¡°Xia Bro, bottoms-up, if you see me as a friend. I wish you and your wife a long life together, and to be soon blessed with children.¡±
Before Xia Lei could speak, Shentu Tianyin frowned and said, ¡°Mr Xu, my husband has had enough to drink. He cannot have more.¡±
¡°Would Xia Bro even wince at this amount of alcohol? Eh? Am I right, Xia Bro? Drink, drink.¡± Xu Lang shoved the beverage cup into Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Xia Lei held the cup but did not drink. He looked at Xu Lang blearily. ¡°You are...¡±
Hate shed in Xu Lang¡¯s eyes. He knew that Xia Lei knew who he was, and they had been love rivals too, over Jiang Ruyi. How could Xia Lei forget him?
¡°Oh, I remember now. You¡¯re Xu Lang, aren¡¯t you? What are you doing here?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Drink, drink.¡± Xu Lang kept mum about his reason for attending, and tried to make Xia Lei drink instead.
Ren Wenqiang walked over then. He, too, held a bottle of alcohol in his hand and a cup. There was a smile on his face as he said, ¡°Your achievements to date makes one envious, Xia Bro. You can¡¯t have forgotten me too, eh?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Ren Wenqiang. Of course I remember.¡±
¡°Good that you remember,¡±ughed Ren Wenqiang. ¡°Let¡¯s drink, us three.¡±
Shentu Tianyin had been about to lose her temper at Xu Lang and Ren Wenqiang, but she did not say anything about it when she saw how Xia Lei was smiling as he talked with them. If they really were Xia Lei¡¯s friends, and she lost her temper at them, then Xia Lei would be upset. She was still worried about Xia Lei¡¯s health, though, and she nudged Xia Lei with an elbow. ¡°If you really must drink, then let me drink on your behalf,¡± she said quietly.
¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xu Langughed and said, ¡°No need to worry, Ma¡¯am. Xia Bro¡¯s alcohol tolerance is really high. He won¡¯t get drunk from this one cup.¡±
Ren Wenqiang spoke up too. ¡°Yep, yep, he doesn¡¯t need you to drink on his behalf.¡±
Annoyance shed in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes, but she did not lose her temper.
Xia Lei was not drunk yet. He looked at Xu Lang and Ren Wenqiang. ¡°I asked you two what you¡¯re doing here. Is this so hard to answer?¡±
Ren Wenqiang and Xu Lang exchanged looks. Their eyes held hate and embarrassment.
¡°I¡¯m sure I didn¡¯t send you any invitations. I¡¯m sure my wife won¡¯t invite you either. How did you two get in?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you mean by this, huh, Xia?¡± Xu Lang could not hold back the mes of his anger. ¡°The two of you are just stinking rich. Don¡¯t forget that you were just a construction worker back then in Haizhu!¡±
Ren Wenqiang also sneered, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you how I came here. I came here with our Director Wang. I wouldn¡¯te if you¡¯d invited me! Let me tell you this, Xia Lei ¡ª don¡¯t forget your beginnings. Think about your joke of a beginning in Haizhu, and don¡¯t be so full of it. Have a good look at yourself.¡±
Some guests looked over, and they started whispering.
¡°Get out, the two of you!¡± said Shentu Tianyin angrily.
Xu Lang sneered. ¡°Who do you think you are? Must I leave because you tell me to? What can you do about it if I refuse to leave, huh? Call the police and have me arrested?¡±
He was the police, and he had held a position in Jingdu for some time, so he was secure in the knowledge that he had backing.
Shentu Tianyin was about to summon her bodyguards when Xia Lei stopped her. ¡°Let me handle this.¡±
¡°Humph!¡± scoffed Xu Lang. ¡°What are you going to do against me, Xia? Hit me if you dare. I¡¯ll let you hit me.¡±
¡°Hit you?¡± Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to dirty my hand.¡± He then waved a hand at the doorway.
Four Bureau 101 agents walked over.
¡°Please take these two people out,¡± said Xia Lei.
The four Bureau 101 agents said not a word. Each pair had Xu Lang and Ren Wenqiang osted in the blink of an eye.
¡°They like to drink, and they¡¯ve each brought a bottle, so let them drink,¡± said Xia Lei.
The four Bureau 101 agents dragged Ren Wenqiang and Xu Lang out. Xu Lang struggled, and was hit viciously in his lower abdomen by an agent. He fell quiet.
The agents were silent throughout the entire process, but they followed Xia Lei¡¯smand to the letter. Xia Lei was a consultant in Bureau 101, but the prestige he had built up in the organisation was not any lower than Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Tang Bochuan.
Xu Zhengyi watched everything happen with his own eyes since he was at the same table as Xu Lang and Ren Wenqiang. Xu Lang had given him a pleading look as he had been taken away by the Bureau 10 agents, but Xu Zhengyi had responded with a shake of his head, and pretended not to see. Even he dared not mess with Xia Lei now, much less a pitiful little Xu Lang!
¡°It¡¯s all right now, it¡¯s all right. Everyone, please eat well and drink well. Enjoy yourselves.¡± Xia Lei spouted some courtesies, and left with Shentu Tianyin.
Meanwhile, in a toilet.
¡°You fucktards dared to cause trouble. You must have blubber for skin.¡± Long Bing¡¯s subordinate put two bottles of baijiu on the toilet floor, and looked down at Xu Lang and Ren Wenqiang, who had been knocked to the ground. He sneered, ¡°I¡¯ll give you two choices. One, I pour it down your nostrils. Two, you drink it yourself.¡±
Xu Lang said angrily, ¡°Who are you? What do you want? I¡¯m a policema...¡±
Long Bing¡¯s subordinate kicked him before he finished his sentence. He grabbed Xu Lang¡¯s hair when he doubled over. ¡°I¡¯ll say it one more time. Drink it yourself, or I pour it down your nostrils for you.¡±
Before Xu Lang could make a move, Ren Wenqiang suddenly grabbed the bottle with less alcohol in it, and lifted it to his lips. Glub, glub, glub went the alcohol, down to his belly.
Xu Lang looked wordlessly at Ren Wenqiang, and he forced himself to pick up a bottle too. He suddenly thought of a person in that moment.
Mommy...
Chapter 561 - Wolves of Siberia
Russia, Siberia.
Bang bang bang! A series of gunshots broke through the silence of the forest. In the middle of the snowy field, an Eastern woman ran across the snow with an AK47 in her hands. The bullets zipped from behind her and hit the tree beside her. Tree bark flew and the umted snow came pattering down. Some snow hit her neck, bringing bitter cold, but she felt none of it.
¡°Faster! Faster! Faster!¡± A tall, mixed-raced woman hollered while shooting at the running woman with a handgun. She was also running, butpared to the woman in front of her, she was running with ease through the snow-covered forest.
The Eastern woman in front was like a weak little rabbit, and the mixed race woman was like a rampaging wolf. She could rip the Eastern woman apart anytime if she so wished.
The Eastern woman was Gu Kewen, and the woman on her tail was Dark Mona of the FA Organization.
¡°I can¡¯t... I can¡¯t run anymore...¡± Gu Kewen was on the verge of copse. After some distance, shecked the strength to move her legs, much less run.
¡°Would your enemies let you rest on the battlefield? Faster!¡± Dark Mona roared at Gu Kewen. She swung her arm and shot a tree next to Gu Kewen.
The bullet grazed past Gu Kewen¡¯s cheek and hit the tree trunk. Gu Kewen fell to the ground, terrified.
Bang bang bang!
Bullets hit the snowy ground next to Gu Kewen.
¡°Get up! Quick!¡± hollered Dark Mona.
Gu Kewen ground her teeth and stumbled forward...
Darkness fell and the stinging cold wind shook the forest. The temperature dropped to 40 degrees below zero and survival became extremely difficult. This was truly a wildnd that only the strong could survive in.
Gu Kewen used to be the youngdy of a wealthy family. She had been pampered and had someone to do things for her, no matter how big or small the matter. All she needed to do was to enjoy life. But now, she was undergoing the devil-training of Dark Mona in order toplete her life¡¯s transformation.
This was all because of one man ¡ª Xia Lei.
No matter how difficult it was, she only had to think of this name for her willpower to strengthen.
Gu Kewen crossed the forest an hourter. In front of her was ake with a name she could not pronounce. Theke had been frozen solid, and was covered in snow. Across theke was a small cabin, the end point of this training.
Maybe it was because the wooden cabin was in sight, but Gu Kewen finally rxed after being tense the whole time. Once she rxed, however, her body felt as if it had been hollowed out and she dropped to the ground. She struggled to climb to her feet, but she fell back hard on the ground before she could push herself up.
Dark Mona walked up from behind her and drew her modified handgun from her waist. She shot at Gu Kewen¡¯s left and right side without a word.
The ice covering theke was shattered and cracks appeared below Gu Kewen. Her body weight put pressure on the ice, and caused the cracks to widen quickly. The ice could break apart at any time. Once it did, she would fall into the freezingke. At a temperature of 40 degrees below zero, she would die in under a minute.
"You have one minute. Live or die ¡ª you decide. No one can help you," said Dark Mona. She walked past Gu Kewen and went towards the wooden cabin.
The threat of death loomed and Gu Kewen¡¯s breathing grew panicked.
Pieces of ice sank slowly. The water had reached Gu Kewen¡¯s shoes.
¡°Xia Lei¡ª¡± screamed Gu Kewen. A strength came from nowhere, and she crawled up from the ice. She kept running forward, and charged into the cabin.
The training was over. A smile appeared in the corners of Dark Mona¡¯s mouth.
A pile of firewood burned in the firece, and the zing heat dispelled the cold.
Gu Kewen curled next to the firece like a wounded little dog. Her hands and feet hurt like hell and they were covered with bloody blisters. Her tears flowed non-stop as she thought about her old life. She had had the best clothes, the best food, and the people around her circled her like the stars around the moon. Nobody dared to go against her wishes. And now? She was scrabbling to live, just like a dog!
Dark Mona brought a chair over and sat next to the firece. She asked coldly, ¡°You think this gruelling?¡±
Gu Kewen nodded.
¡°If you want to end it, I can make it fast for you. Don¡¯t worry, it will be painless.¡± Dark Mona¡¯s voice was very cold.
¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± Gu Kewn stared tearfully at Dark Mona. ¡°The Gu Kewen from past died in Japan. I¡¯m a different person now. I want my revenge. I¡¯m not afraid to suffer. I want to be someone strong like you!¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. No one is born strong in this world. I started from how you are right now. There was no one to help me back then, but I persevered.¡±
¡°I can persevere too.¡±
Dark Mona opened a special portableptop. Her fingers flew across the keyboard and images soon appeared on the screen.
It was Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wedding.
On the screen, Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin exchanged rings at the instruction of priest. Then Xia Lei kissed Shentu Tianyin...
Hate shed in Gu Kewen¡¯s eyes. She clenched her fists. The wounds on her palms stimted her nerves, but her excitement grew with the pain.
"Your n is going pretty well. This is also the reason why I agreed to train you. You¡¯re a very intelligent woman, and you will have a promising future if you work for me," said Dark Mona.
"Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t let the Germans take Annina away. He would definitely make a deal with the Germans. I know him well. I¡¯m not sure what kind of deal he would make with them, but I am sure that there¡¯s a 60 percent chance that he¡¯ll be going to Germany."
Dark Mona smiled coldly. ¡°And that will be the end of his life if he goes.¡±
¡°I want to kill him myself.¡± The look in Gu Kewen¡¯s eyes was frightening.
But Dark Mona shook her head. ¡°You won¡¯t be going to Germany even if Xia Lei is going."
¡°Why?¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to undergo training here, then go to the CIA. It is at the CIA where you will show your talent and value. I¡¯ll take care of Xia Lei. His fate can only be decided by the FA Organization. You can¡¯t, and I can¡¯t either.¡±
Gu Kewen parted her lips as if to say more, but she swallowed her words when she saw Dark Mona¡¯s cold expression.
¡°Tell me about Shentu Tianyin. How much do you know about that woman?¡±
¡°You want to kill Shentu Tianyin?¡±
¡°That was not my question.¡±
¡°All right. Shentu Tianyin is a very clever and greedy woman. Her marrying Xia Lei is the same as adding to her power...¡±
The snow silently outside the window. A Siberian wolf came out from the forest and looked at the light of the fire in the cabin before it turned and disappeared in the snowy night.
Meanwhile, in Jingdu.
The atmosphere at Leiyin Home was bright and joyful.
Fu Mingmei shot fireworks up into the sky in celebration of theing of a new year. Each firework bloomed in the night sky, bright and dazzling. She was happy and cheerful, jumping up and down on the grass like a child.
On the balcony, Shentu Tianyiny in Xia Lei¡¯s arms, looking quietly at each firework as it bloomed.
Xia Lei hugged her waist gently. He was looking at the fireworks too, but his heart was elsewhere. He could not help thinking of Liang Siyao, and the message she had written.
¡¯I¡¯ve done as she asked. She said she¡¯de see me, but how? Here? Or somewhere else?¡¯ For some reason, he felt worried for Jiang Siyao. Her circumstances were very special after all. It would be nearly impossible for her to escape from China if she were discovered by Bureau 101.
And Liang Zhengchun, he hade to America, but returned. Why?
"What are you thinking about?" Shentu Tianyin turned and looked at Xia Lei, her eyes full of tenderness.
Xia Lei wrapped up his thoughts and smiled. "I was thinking that I must be the most fortunate man in this world. I married you, and you¡¯re right here in my arms."
Shentu Tianyin giggled. "You sweet-talker, you. How many women have you charmed?"
"These fireworks are so pretty." Guilt sprang in Xia Lei¡¯s heart, and he quickly changed the topic.
Shentu Tianyin replied a little sadly, "They are pretty but they¡¯ll be gone in a moment. I remember this line from a song ¡ª Fireworks fizzle out quickly. It¡¯s probably means this, that fireworks bloom in an instant, and the lights go in all directions before they disappear in the blink of an eye."
"Aren¡¯t people like fireworks? Humans exist for a short few decades, from birth to death. These decades disappear more quickly than fireworks in the winding river of time. Let¡¯s not think too much about that. Today is our big day. We should think of happier things, and do some happy things," Xia Lei said as he nibbled on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s earlobe. That was her most sensitive part, and she could never hold out for long when he teased her there.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face slowly flushed red, and her body grew weak as she leaned into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, feeling for a reaction from his body. Her hips quickly found Xia Lei¡¯s reaction, and this reaction of his made her flustered, eager for action.
¡°Let¡¯s go back to the room. Who knows, we might seed tonight.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s breath came in little pants.
¡°Mm. Let¡¯s go make a baby, hehe.¡± Xia Lei smiled.
"Hey, Son-inw! Come down and light some fireworks!" called Fu Mingmei suddenly.
"He¡¯s busy! Light them yourself!" Shentu Tianyin replied.
Fu Mingmeiughed and said, "You guys have been up there watching for so long, how is he busy? Oh, are you guys going to..."
Shentu Tianyin suddenly lifted her leg to grab her slipper off it, and threw it at Fu Mingmei¡¯s head.
Fu Mingmei dodged. When she looked up again, Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei were no longer there. She pouted and mumbled, "And she called me her handmaiden, I only asked Son-inw to light up fireworks and you¡¯re already throwing slippers at me. Will you get a knife and chop me up if I kissed him? Violent, too violent."
In the room, the newlyweds were entangled together.
Their hearts were together, their bodies also together, so close that they left no gaps.
And even if there were gaps, those gaps were filled.
Bang bang bang...
Another firework went up into the sky. More and more fireworks went up and soon the entire night sky was lit up.
The New Year was here.
Chapter 562 - Meeting of Old Lovers
No one would be able to believe that Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei had no ns to go on a honeymoon after their wedding if told so. To ordinary folk, people like Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei were those who would spend their honeymoon in Hawaii, Las Vegas or Paris or something, somewhere foreign and exotic. The real situation was, however, a honeymoon in Leiyin Home.
Shentu Tianyin wanted to go somewhere overseas, of course, like Hawaii, Bali, or Las Vegas, but when she took Xia Lei¡¯s other identity into consideration, she had no choice but to give up on her honeymoon ns.
It wasn¡¯t too bad to have her honeymoon at home anyway. There was no time wasted in travelling, and no need to go to work. She could spend the whole day with Xia Lei, or read, or watch a movie, or have hot, unbridled sex.
Xia Lei put aside all of his other matters too ¡ª Thunder Horse Military Factory, Alloy X Project, the meeting with Liang Siayo. He put all of those aside, and did nothing and thought nothing of them. He did just one thing, and that was to stay by Shentu Tianyin¡¯s side, to be her husband.
Love wasplicated at times, and simple at other times. Eating, sleeping... those were part of love too, and a very real love.
Time passed quickly, and it was soon the fifth of the first month.
The sun was up but Xia Lei was still in bed snoozing. In his half-dream, he saw Shentu Tianyin pregnant, and with twins too. Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing were pregnant too, and he was about to be the father of several children.
Smack! A slender handnded on Xia Lei¡¯s back.
¡°Time to get up,zybones.¡± It was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei opened his eyes and saw his wife. Shentu Tianyin had a smile on her lips and her eyes were full of tenderness for her husband, who waszing in bed. She was gentle, refreshing and oh so charming.
Shentu Tianyin was the domineering chairwoman most of the time to Xia Lei, but the Shentu Tianyin before him now was a gentle wife.
¡°Hubby, I¡¯ve made an appointment at a private hospital. Let¡¯s go for a check-up today,¡± said Shentu Tianyin cautiously. ¡°Um, if you¡¯re not willing to go, then I¡¯ll call and cancel.¡±
¡°No need to cancel. I¡¯ll go with you for the check-up,¡± said Xia Lei.
He had to deal with this problem sooner orter anyway, and there was no hiding from it. It was better to let Shentu Tianyin know the result than to run away from it. She had the right to know too, since she was his wife.
An hourter, Fu Mingmei drove Shentu Tianyin¡¯s Rolls Royce Phantom to a private hospital. This hospital was small but it was well-equipped, and specially catered to the rich. Only a hospital like this would be able to aodate Shentu Tianyin, and not a public hospital, because the service Shentu Tianyin wanted was to have the entire hospital for her and Xia Lei for the day. Just two ¡°patients¡±.
Shentu Tianyin called the hospital after she alighted. Fu Mingmei turned to Xia Lei and hissed, ¡°Hey, Son-inw, you¡¯d better listen to the doctors when you go in there. Take medicine if you have some sort of problem, got it?¡±
Xia Lei gave her a look of annoyance. ¡°I¡¯m not a child. There¡¯s no need for you to nag me like this.¡±
¡°I¡¯m just sayin¡¯. I don¡¯t mean to nag, but Old Master wants me to nag. He specifically told me to nag you. Ah, he¡¯s almost crazy with the desire to hold a grandchild in his arms.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly and said nothing more. He did want Shentu Tianyin to grow round with his child, but things like these couldn¡¯t be rushed. This was also rted to AE, so it was useless even if it was found that he could not reproduce, because technology right now could not solve his body¡¯s problem.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Hubby. They¡¯re all prepared now. Let¡¯s go in.¡± Shentu Tianyin put her phone away and gestured at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked over and entered the hospital with Shentu Tianyin.
Shentu Tianyin had actually already done a check-up, but this check-up now was not for her. She had done this in consideration of Xia Lei¡¯s feelings. Men were especially sensitive and felt strongly when it came to matters like these, and their moods could make mysterious changes.
Shentu Tianyin went into an examination room after they entered the hospital, and Xia Lei went into another.
They took blood, did scans, and took samples. After all these processes, the professionals in charge of Xia Lei¡¯s ¡°treatment¡± asked him to lie down on a surgical gurney.
¡°Please take off your trousers, Mr Xia. I shall examine you,¡± said the professional politely.
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed but he pulled his trousers off in the end. There was no hiding sickness from a doctor, and this doctor was an elderly man too so there was nothing to be embarrassed or avoided.
¡°Please wait while I change my gloves.¡± The professional went elsewhere in the examination room.
Xia Leiy on the surgical gurney, his feelings churning. ¡®I wonder if this experienced doctor will be able to find the problem with my body. But even if he finds it, there¡¯s no way for them to fix it, right? Would Tianyin be very sad if the results of the examination say that I will never be able to make a woman pregnant? What should I do then?¡¯
A sound suddenly came from within the room.
Xia Lei heard it, but he did not react. He was in no mood to be wondering what that elderly doctor was doing.
Footsteps drew closer.
A few secondster, a female doctor in a white coat and a surgical mask on her face walked around the curtain and appeared by the surgical gurney.
Xia Lei was surprised to see a female doctor appear all of a sudden. It wasn¡¯t the male doctor! He hurriedly reached his hands out to cover the ce between his legs.
¡°It¡¯s not as if I haven¡¯t seen it before. What are you covering up for?¡± said the female doctor.
This voice, and her eyes, and her figure... Xia Lei realised right away after his initial embarrassment. She was no doctor ¡ª she was Liang Siyao.
True, which part of Xia Lei¡¯s body had Liang Siyao not seen?
She had taken Xia Lei¡¯s first time, and he had taken hers. There was nothing for Xia Lei to hide from her, given their history.
But Xia Lei still pulled his trousers on. He did not want to talk to Liang Siyao butt-naked.
¡°I said that I woulde meet you as long as you¡¯re willing to meet. I¡¯m here,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°It¡¯s very dangerous for you to do this. Is it worth it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°For you, I would do more dangerous things. This is nothing.¡±
¡°More dangerous things?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t Uncle Xia tell you? He¡¯d promised me that he would talk to you.¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly. ¡°Dad and you... have met?¡±
¡°We didn¡¯t just meet. I helped him out too,¡± said Liang Siyao. ¡°In Jerusalem. I worked with Uncle Xia for a bit. We could have finished Gu Kewen off then, but she escaped.¡±
¡°Why are you doing this?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve told you that I joined the CIA at a young age, and because of my uncle too. I had no real choice. I got to know you through a mission, and the time I spent with you was the happiest time of my life. I... I did something wrong, but I have received my punishment... Can you forgive me?¡± Liang Siyao looked at Xia Lei, her eyes filled with sorrow and longing, and a mix of otherplicated emotions.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he let out a sigh. ¡°Is my forgiveness very important to you?¡±
¡°Of course it is.¡±
¡°Actually...¡± Xia Lei gave a tugh. ¡°What¡¯s the need for me to say it personally? If I hated you, I would have had you arrested back then in Haizhu, when I discovered your identity. I let you go and I didn¡¯t tell Bureau 101 your secret. I cannot hate you. This is all I can do. If you must have me say it, then I will. I forgive you. But what about it? We cannot go back to the time when we were together anymore.¡±
Liang Siyao abruptly let out a sob, and dove into Xia Lei¡¯s arms. She held him tight.
Xia Lei did not push her away, and let her hug him. He could feel the heat of her body, and the temptation too. He was familiar with everything about her. However, he had no other reaction this time. His heart had only pain.
If Liang Siyao was not one of the CIA, and had not been the one to steal fluids from him, she would probably have been his wife now, and helping him manage hispany. But she was in the enemy¡¯s camp right now.
Liang Siyao¡¯s tears came rolling silently down, dripping on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. She had thought of so many things she wanted to say to Xia Lei before meeting him, and even practiced what to say, but she could say nothing now. She held Xia Lei. His body was in her arms, so real, so close physically, but she felt like there was a wall between them. This feeling was breaking her heart.
¡°Don¡¯t, Siyao.¡± Xia Lei broke the silence between them.
Liang Siyao then let go of Xia Lei. She turned away and used the sleeves of her clothing to wipe at her tears.
Chapter 563 - Battle Between Tadpoles
"Siyao, I would really like to talk with you for a whole day if I have the chance to, but you know that this isn¡¯t a safe ce. If you have anything to say, you can tell me now," Xia Lei was worried about Liang Siyao¡¯s appearance here, not only about her safety but also about Shentu Tianyin discovering her presence.
Liang Siyao was different from other women. She was his first known girlfriend, so Shentu Tianyin knew about her presence. If Shentu Tianyin were to find out that he and Liang Siyao had met here, there would be no way he could exin himself, even if he grew eight mouths to talk.
Liang Siyao took a deep breath. "Okay then, I¡¯ll make this quick. I know that you¡¯re experiencing problems, which is why you¡¯re here getting this checkup. Back then, I took some body fluid samples from you and sent a part of it to the AE Research Center for research."
"You got their research report?"
"Yes. I am the CIA¡¯s Chief of Asia now. You are the CIA¡¯s most important mission in Asia, and they have to provide me with all the information about you."
Xia Lei smiled wryly. "Congrattions on your promotion."
Liang Siyao¡¯s expression darkened. "Don¡¯t say that, my heart will hurt. My position as the Chief is not stable. They just couldn¡¯t find anyone more suitable right now. They had actually nned to dispose of me when the previous Chief was in charge. Thepetition in the CIA is very fierce. I can be disposed of at any time."
"Then why are you still working there?"
Liang Siyao started tearing up once again. "Do you think I want to stay there? I don¡¯t. I came to see you, and even helped your father. Do you still not understand my feelings?"
Xia Lei¡¯s heart softened immediately, and became a mess of emotions. He wasn¡¯t a cold-hearted person. In truth, this isn¡¯t the first time Liang Siyao had helped him. If it weren¡¯t for her help in Korea, he probably would¡¯ve been captured by the Korean police and the CIA special agents. And this time, she was risking her life here to help him. How could he not know of her feelings?
"Never mind...¡± A faint smile of pain appeared in the corners of her mouth. "ording to the report by the AE Research Center, I am convinced that it would be difficult for you to make a woman pregnant."
"Difficult?" Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped "So you¡¯re saying that it is difficult but still possible for me to make a woman pregnant?"
"Don¡¯t be too anxious.¡± Liang Siyao continued, "ording to the report details, your sperm is very powerful, very perfect, and very bnced. In their words, each of the sperm from your body is a powerful warrior, and with high IQ too."
Xia Lei was confused.
This description rendered him speechless, and also put a cloud of question marks in his head.
Liang Siyao continued her exnation. "You¡¯ve learned biology. You should know that in order for a man to make a woman pregnant, the man¡¯s sperm would be fighting each other in the woman¡¯s body after they have been injected inside. They follow thew of nature, the survival of the fittest. Only the strongest sperm will reach its destination, fuse with the woman¡¯s egg, and finally evolve into a child."
"I know that but my sperm... You said that it so powerful, and very good, so why can¡¯t I get a woman pregnant?" Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help feeling awkward about talking about such things with Liang Siyao.
Liang Siyao shrugged. "Do you still not understand? Each sperm from your body is powerful, smart, and practically perfect. They started their fighting the moment they left your body and they release chemicals to kill their opponents. But the problem is, each of them are so powerful that it¡¯s hard to kill each other. Therefore, they would release even more killing chemicals... And well, you can think of it as a chemical war. They enter the battlefield and all release the bombs at the same time, killing themselves in the end."
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chemical war. This was quite a vividparison.
There were the strong and the weak ¡°tadpoles¡±, normally. The strong beat up the weak, and elimination was easy. So, the strong tadpole would always be the one to reach its destination, fuse with the egg and evolve into a child. But in Xia Lei¡¯s case, the AE had not just evolved his body to an unbelievable degree, but his sperm too. Each individual tadpole had been that strong, that perfect, that their battle for the egg and been so exaggerated to the point that they all died on the ¡°battlefield¡±.
"You won¡¯t have a problem if you only shoot one sperm at a time." Liang Siyao grinned mischievously.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shoot only one at a time... Was there such a sharp-shooter in this world?
"What about artificial insemination?" Xia Lei suddenly thought of this idea.
Liang Siyao shook her head. "That won¡¯t work. They¡¯re activated as soon as they leave your body and their battle starts then. They will kill each other even when they¡¯re in the needle, and they will all die. The technology now isn¡¯t able to retrieve just a single sperm from your body either."
"So you¡¯re saying that I¡¯m perfectly fine, and it¡¯s just that I can¡¯t prevent them from fighting, which results in me not being able to make a woman pregnant, right?"
"That¡¯s right. You¡¯re strong and intelligent, and your little tadpoles are strong and intelligent too. I almostughed when I read that report. You look all fine on the outside but you can¡¯t make a woman pregnant. I couldn¡¯t help imagining what kind of child would be born if such a fine sperm were to make a woman pregnant too."
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at Liang Siyao. "I¡¯m so frustrated now, and you¡¯re joking with me."
Liang Siyao gave Xia Lei a light punch. "Don¡¯t worry too much. I¡¯ve thought about it, and you can change the way you shoot. Eject a bit first, and then a bit more. Maybe... you can have Shentu Tianyin change positions or something."
"Stop it right there." Xia Lei¡¯s face was red. "I get what¡¯s going on now, so let¡¯s not talk about that."
Liang Siyao¡¯s face was also flushed red. She looked at Xia Lei, her eyes full of emotion, and she hesitated before gathering her courage to say, "If Shentu Tianyin isn¡¯t willing, I am. I am willing to do anything for you."
Xia Lei¡¯s heart was a mess. Liang Siyao seemed to be working hard on reawakening his feelings for her, and she had actually seeded a little. This feeling he had now was like an apple ¡ª a seductive apple which hid poison.
Liang Siyao moved toward Xia Lei.
Xia Lei unconsciously took a step back. It was just one step, but that step put his back against the wall.
Liang Siyao continued moving towards him. Her breasts so close that they almost pressed to Xia Lei¡¯s chest. Her breath swept his face, hot, tickling.
But it was at this crucial moment that a voice suddenly came from the examination room. "Huh? How did I fall asleep?"
Liang Siyao stepped back abruptly.
Xia Lei got nervous too. "Leave, quick."
"Lei, promise me something. If the CIA were to target me one day, you need to help me,¡± said Liang Siyao.
"What do you want me to help you with?"
"Talk to Long Bing and Shi Boren. I am willing to work for them," said Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei smiled. He nodded gravely. "If something like that urs, I¡¯ll definitely help you and wee your return. It is China that is your home."
Liang Siyao smiled, then turned and left.
Herst line seem to be the real reason why she had risked returning to China.
The old doctor walked over from his part of room after Liang Siyao left. He was confused and he muttered to himself, "Strange, so strange... How did I just fall asleep like that?"
Xia Leiy back down on the operating table and pulled down his trousers to wait for his checkup.
He already knew the truth but he still needed to go through the checkup process for Shentu Tianyin.
Ten minutester, Xia Lei walked out of the examination room. He saw Shentu Tianyin talking about something with a female doctor in the corridor. Fu Mingmei listened at her side, and her expression was weird. He walked over and listened to their conversation.
"Miss Shentu, there¡¯s no problem with you. You¡¯re perfectly normal and healthy. Your husband is also fine and healthy. Under normal circumstances, you two could have a child, but..." The female doctor trailed off.
"But what?" Shentu Tianyin looked anxious.
"We¡¯re also unsure of the reason. Your husband¡¯s sperm is very strong and healthy. We¡¯ve never seen such perfect sperm..."
"My husband is healthy and I¡¯m also healthy, so why can¡¯t we have children?" Shentu Tianyin looked as if she¡¯s fallen prey to some abnormal phenomenon.
The female doctor spoke apologetically, "I¡¯m very sorry Miss Shentu. Our medical devices are already the most advanced in the country, but we could not find any cause for infertility. My personal advice would be to go slow, and not rush it. Don¡¯t put too much stress on yourselves in the meantime. I know you¡¯re both busy people, and this could also be a reason why you¡¯re not yet pregnant."
"Thank you," Shentu Tianyin let out a breath of relief.
Fu Mingmei spotted Xia Lei and went up to him. "Son-inw, what did that experienced professional say?"
"He said I¡¯m perfectly normal, and I have no problems," said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin walked over and hugged Xia Lei all of a sudden. "I¡¯m sorry, I..."
Xia Leiughed and said, "Silly, why say sorry to me? You didn¡¯t do anything wrong."
"No, I was too anxious. Things like this shouldn¡¯t be rushed. Let¡¯s go slow," said Shentu Tianyin.
"Nn, no hurry. We¡¯re still young and there are plenty of chances." Xia Lei could onlyfort her like this.
Fu Mingmei smiled and said, "I told you. A man as strong and healthy as Son-inw, there¡¯s no way there¡¯d be any problem. It must be the method that was the problem. Tell me, how did you guys do it? Tell me and I might be able to give you guys some good advice. I promise that it¡¯ll be effective."
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shentu Tianyin swung a weak punch at her. "Go away! You don¡¯t even have a boyfriend, so what made you an expert!"
Fu Mingmei dodge andughed as she said, "I was just influenced by Old Master. Just showing my concern. I¡¯ve read a lot of relevant information and I did some research too. Really, you will get different results from different positions. You can be on top of Son-inw sometimes, or in front, or sideways... Science! The science of love is very important."
Shentu Tianyin was speechless.
Xia Lei pped himself on his forehead. His heart felt like it was being trampled over by a thousand horses.
What the hell was this?
Even his sperm was giving him trouble!
Motherfuckers!
Chapter 564 - A Good Wife Is Not Clingy
Liang Siyao disappeared from the hospital like a fish slipping into the sea. She¡¯d vanished.
Liang Siyao¡¯s appearance gave Xia Lei something to think about, but he did not try to go look for her, nor meet with Liang Zhengchun. He had to be careful with how he was going to handle matters rted to his father, Xia Changhe, and matters rted to Liang Siyao. He had no choice in the matter, and it had to be this way.
The German engineers arrived in China on the eighth day of the first month.
And on that same day, Xia Lei went with Ling Han to a militarypound. The German engineers had been assigned to this militarypound; it was a sort of safety precaution to not let the Germans stay at a hotel. This exchange between the two countries was not something which could be disclosed, after all.
Xia Lei met with Philip and his assistant, Alida, in a meeting room in the militarypound. There was also the leader of the engineering team, a man named Frank. He was one of the key engineers involved in the design and production of the Eurofighter Typhoon engine.
Both sides shook hands formally.
Frank had an odd look in his eyes when he looked at Xia Lei. When he shook hands with Xia Lei, he said, ¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯d thought that you would be a man in his forties or older. Your youthfulness is unexpected. The XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifles which you designed surprised me. You truly are a genius.¡±
Xia Lei was used to praise like this. He responded politely, ¡°You are too kind, Mr Frank. I am just good at the mechanical aspects of this. I¡¯m no genius.¡±
Frankughed and said, ¡°You are too humble, Mr Xia. How will we work with each other?¡±
This modesty was also pride.
Xia Lei gave him a smile. He waited for Ling Han to talk with Philip, and confirm when he would be going to Germany. This was also the reason why he hade with Ling Han to meet the German engineers.
The pleasantries were over, and both parties went to business.
¡°Our people are here, so ording to our agreement, your side has to provide adequate security, and have appropriate confidentiality measures in ce, as well as cover all of the expenses which our team would incur. Our engineers will start work immediately, once you have settled on a location to build the workshop.¡± Philip looked at Ling Han. ¡°Are there any problems, Mr Ling?¡±
¡°No problems. We have chosen the location. There are also no problems with security and confidentiality measures. You can rest assured, Mr Philip,¡± said Ling Han.
Philip¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei. ¡°So when will you be able to go to Germany, Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°In about a week. I¡¯d like to go to Germany after the 15th. I would also need to make some arrangements.¡±
¡°That won¡¯t do. Mr Xia, our people are already here, but you¡¯re still in China. We don¡¯t mind if you¡¯re going to dy your departure for a few days, but please understand that this is a very important matter, and that my superiors are not that patient,¡± said Philip.
¡°When would you like me to depart, then?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Tomorrow. A ne going straight to Germany has been arranged,¡± said Philip.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei was hesitant. Leaving tomorrow was outside of his calctions.
¡°Do as arranged, Xia Lei. The German side has alreadye here, so we should be sincere and reciprocate too. I understand if you¡¯re worried about not having anyone to manage yourpany. How about this ¡ª you get your wife to manage your business for a bit. She is highly capable. Won¡¯t you rest assured, then?¡±
Xia Lei could not put it off. He nodded. ¡°All right. I¡¯ll go back right now and make the arrangements. I shall go to Germany tomorrow.¡±
When he had to leave in the past, Thunder Horse Group was left without a leader, and the management fell to Qin Xiang, Zhou Xiaohong and Guan Lingshan, the people who had been there when thepany had been founded. He was married to Shentu Tianyin now, he truly did not have to worry that Thunder Horse Group would be without a leader. Shentu Tianyin was very capable and fully able to manage Thunder Horse Group in his stead. She might even be better at it than him.
¡°That¡¯s settled, then.¡± Philip stretched out a hand to Xia Lei and said with a smile, ¡°The flight leaves at ten in the morning tomorrow. It will go straight to Germany, to Essen City. That is Annina¡¯s hometown, and you can take her with you. There will be people to receive you on that end, of course.¡±
Xia Lei shook hands with Philip. ¡°All right, then I¡¯ll set off tomorrow. I hope we have a sessful coboration.¡±
¡°I hope we have a sessful coboration too. Goodbye, Mr Xia,¡± said Philip.
Xia Lei turned and left, and Ling Han went after him. ¡°I¡¯ll send you off.¡±
Xia Lei knew he had something to say, so he did not refuse. He slowed his walk to the car park.
Ling Han spoke as they walked. ¡°I know you¡¯re a little worried about safety, and honestly, I¡¯m worried too, especially since Europe and America are so close they can share a pair of trousers. They wouldn¡¯t dare to make any bold moves this time, however. If you get detained by the Germans, or by the Americans, we will detain their German engineers, and make our exchange public. The Germans will not be able to take the bacsh from this, so you can rest assured.¡±
¡°Are you trying to reassure me?¡± Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Brother Ling, my major worries have been washed away by your words. Great. You can return to them. I¡¯ll do a beautiful job on this.¡±
Ling Han patted Xia Lei on the shoulder. ¡°You go about your own business, then. Remember to stop by Bureau 101 when you¡¯re done. As for who you¡¯re bringing on this mission... I won¡¯t ask. Boss Shi will make the arrangements.¡±
¡°Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei left.
Who was he going to take with him? This question had gued Xia Lei for the past few days. He wanted most to take Long Bing with him to Germany, and it was a must for him to take Annina. She had been away from her hometown for quite some time, so she should return to it. Plus, he wanted to help her realise her dream, and this was a chance for him to do so. It would be fairly difficult for him to go to Germany again and help her realise her dream if he missed this opportunity.
Long Bing and Annina were pretty much confirmed on the list of people going to Germany, and there was just one who was unconfirmed ¡ª Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan definitely wanted to go, whether it was because of politics or some other reason. But if he brought Tang Yuyan, he would have no idea how he¡¯d handle three women. Annina was his friend with benefits, and the type one couldn¡¯t shake off too. Long Bing was his lover, and he had deep feelings and a close rtionship with her. If it were just Annina and Long Bing who wereing along, then he would have little to no problems, because Long Bing wouldn¡¯t be jealous even if he slept with Annina. Annina wouldn¡¯tin either if he slept with Long Bing. However, the situation would getplicated if Tang Yuyan was added to the mix. She was grabbing at evidence of his indiscretions, so would she let go of any evidence on this trip to Germany?
Just thinking of it gave Xia Lei a headache.
Xia Lei drove straight to Vientaine Group¡¯s headquarters in Jingdu, to Angel Wings Building.
Shentu Tianyin was in her office, reading and old wire-bound book. She was so absorbed in it that she did not notice that Xia Lei had gone to her side.
Xia Lei went behind her, and reached out and covered her eyes. He deliberately changed his voice and said, ¡°Guess who.¡±
Shentu Tianyin giggled. ¡°The bodyguards at the door didn¡¯t stop you, and you daree in here and cover my eyes? This pervert here is surnamed Xia, isn¡¯t he?¡±
Xia Lei moved his hands away from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°When did I be a pervert?¡±
Shentu Tianyin rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you? You¡¯ve be a little too much for me, ever since we came back from the check-up.¡±
The topic, and her soft voice made Xia Lei have an urge. He put his arms around her slender shoulders. ¡°What are you reading?¡±
¡°A medical book. I got Uncle Fu to get it for me,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°There are some Chinese herb percentagebinations in here which can make you stronger.¡±
¡°To make which part of me stronger?¡±
¡°Oh, you! Over there.¡± Shentu Tianyin moved her elbow back to touch Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had a smirk on his face. ¡°Aren¡¯t I strong enough?¡±
¡°I¡¯d still like to be pregnant with our child as soon as possible. Father nags at me every day, and I am so annoyed,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Sometimes I suspect that he¡¯s the reincarnation of Tangseng.¡±
They flirted for a bit, and Xia Lei let go of Shentu Tianyin. He cut straight to the chase. ¡°Wifey, I have to go to Germany tomorrow.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Shentu Tianyin paused. ¡°What are you going to Germany for?¡±
¡°I was notified at thest minute. This is very important to our nation. I can¡¯t tell you what I¡¯m going to Germany for right now, but I will tell youter,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s all right, I understand.¡±
¡°Could you help me manage Thunder Horse Group while I¡¯m away?¡±
¡°Of course. You are my husband, and yourpany is mypany. Who else is going to manage it, if not me? Don¡¯t worry about it and go. I¡¯ll take care of things here,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. She was clingy when she should be, and not clingy when she shouldn¡¯t. She was amodating and generous, and open-minded. This was one of her charms too.
¡°Time¡¯s tight. I have to go to Bureau 101 now so I won¡¯t be hanging around. I¡¯m off,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin stood and gave Xia Lei a kiss. Her eyes were filled with reluctance and a yearning. ¡°Will you be back tonight?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course.¡±
¡°Go, then. I¡¯ll be waiting for you at home,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei gave Shentu Tianyin a reluctant look too, then turned and left her office.
Xia Lei arrived at Bureau 101 half an hourter. He walked into Shi Boren¡¯s office to find that Tang Yuyan, Long Bing, and Tang Bochuan were all inside.
As soon as Xia Lei stepped through the door, Xia Lei said, ¡°Xia Bro, I won¡¯t cause you any trouble. Treat me like air, okay? I withdraw. Just pick two to go with you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Big Brother Lei.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was as sweet as honey. ¡°You¡¯re so handsome today.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Come on, stop that. It¡¯s making me ufortable.¡±
Shi Boren suddenly spoke up. ¡°I agree with Bochuan¡¯s suggestion. Xia Lei, take Long Bing and Tang Yuyan with you on this trip to Germany.¡±
¡°Boss Shi, this...¡±
¡°What¡¯s this? This is an order.¡± Shi Boren¡¯s tone was stern. ¡°That¡¯s decided, then. I¡¯m sending two beauties with you on your mission, Boy. What problem do you have with that?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°Let me warn you, Boy, that I am sending Bureau 101¡¯s two most beautiful girls with you. You¡¯d better keep a tight hold on yourself, and not make any political mistakes. If you try to act like James Bond and mess around, I¡¯m going to make you pay when youe back!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Dismissed!¡± Shi Boren slipped out the door before Xia Lei could speak, and was gone so quickly not even his shadow remained.
Tang Bochuan had slipped away too.
There was just Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei left in the office.
The two women looked at Xia Lei, and Xia Lei looked back at them.
No one spoke.
This was a strange scene indeed.
Chapter 565 - She is So Mean
The flight arranged by the Germans departed at 10 in the morning and arrived in Germany after 10 hours. Due to the time difference, it was only three in the afternoon when they arrived.
The nended at Essen City Airport. Xia Lei and his group left the airport and arrived at Annina¡¯s home in the suburbs under the supervision of a group of German Special Forces soldiers. ording to the n of the Germans, Xia Lei and his group actually needed to go to a military base. However, Xia Lei had put forth a request to let Annina visit her home and the Germans allowed it, just for a night.
The snow-covered mountain forest, frozen river, and wooden German-style house nestled between forest and river sent Xia Lei down memoryne. He felt like he had entered an oil painting. The picturesque tranquility he experienced here was difficult to have in China.
¡°This is my home.¡± Annina introduced the house to Tang Yuyan and Long Bing and said warmly, ¡°Pleasee in. I¡¯ll get some food for you guys.¡±
"Is the food in your fridge still edible?" asked Tang Yuyan.
Annina had been in China for over a year. Even if there was food in her fridge, it was probably no longer edible now.
"No worries, I have my ways," said Annina with a smile.
¡°Then let me help you.¡± Tang Yuyan followed Annina to her house.
Long Bing and Xia Lei followed behind them. Long Bing said quietly, ¡°She¡¯s been so quiet this entire trip that it¡¯s weird.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Did you want her to cause trouble? It¡¯s good that she¡¯s been quiet. I don¡¯t want anything troublesome to happen.¡±
Long Bing curled her lips. She obviously wouldn¡¯t believe that Tang Yuyan would be a well-behaved girl.
¡°Director Xia,¡± A young man pulling a suitcase caught up to Xia Lei and Long Bing. ¡°Do you have some time to talk?¡±
This young man was tall with long legs, and he was nicely built and proportioned. He wore ck-framed sses and was handsome, schrly. Although he stood next to Xia Lei, he was still not one who was easily overlooked.
This young man¡¯s name was Liu Zhengnan, a very talented man who was just recruited from the talent market into the Thunder Horse Group. He had studied in Germany¡¯s Munich University, and obtained a doctorate degree in electrical engineering. He could speak German, was familiar with the German environment and had a doctorate in electrical engineering, making him a perfect choice for this mission. This was why Xia Lei had brought him along from China. Additionally, Xia Lei also had another aim, and that was to observe him to see if he could be trained to be his assistant.
There was actually a story behind Liu Zhengnan joining the Thunder Horse Group too. China Industrial Group had also had their eyes on him and offered him a high sry, but he chose the smaller Thunder Horse Group in the end. During his interview, he said that Xia Lei was the country¡¯s best mechanic and electrical engineer, and was his idol, and he, Liu Zhengnan, was willing to join the Thunder Horse Group and contribute his youth to China¡¯s first private military enterprise.
¡°You can enter first. I¡¯ll have a little chat with Zhengnan,¡± said Xia Lei to Long Bing.
Long Bing nodded and entered Annina¡¯s house.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Zhengnan, what did you want to talk to me about?¡±
¡°Director Xia.¡± Liu Zhengnan pushed up his spectacles and said politely, ¡°I know this ce. It¡¯s quite a vtile area. Essen City is an industrial city that started developing after the Second World War, but it isn¡¯t Germany¡¯s industrial centre. It would be very difficult to ship the parts we need from China if we build our workshop andthe here. It would also extend our stay in Germany, which also increases our risk.¡±
Liu Zhengnan did not know of Xia Lei¡¯s identity as a consultant at Bureau 101, nor about Tang Yuyan¡¯s and Long Bing¡¯s identities, but he was a very clever person. China sent people to Germany to build workshops for the XL2500 sniper rifle, the Gust assault rifle, and the superposite intelligentthe, which could be considered the core of Thunder Horse Military Factory. He could infer a little of their identities with this information, and this was why he was worried for Xia Lei.
"I know that you¡¯re worried, but rest assured ¡ª we¡¯re only stopping here for one night. We won¡¯t build the workshop here. I¡¯m sure Germany doesn¡¯t want such an important workshop to be built here either. Oh right, I was just thinking of asking you something."
"What do you want to ask me?"
"You¡¯ve been in Germany for years, so you have had many schoolmates, don¡¯t you? Do you have any ssmate or friend who¡¯s in the architectural field?"
"Do you want my ssmates to help us in the building of the workshop?"
"No no, the Germans will provide the civil work for the workshop. You know Annina. She contributed a lot to help me build my business. She has a dream and she wants a medieval-styled castle, and a farm or something." Xia Lei smiled. "You know how every girl dreams of being a princess. I want to help her realise her dream, and build her a medieval-styled castle. If any of your friends and ssmates can do this, please contact them."
Liu Zhengnan thought for a bit and said, "No problem, Director Xia. I have a ssmate at Munich University who majored in architectural design. He is very talented and is especially good at designing ssical style houses. But he is still starting his own business now. I don¡¯t know if his capabilities will meet your requirements."
Xia Lei replied, "It¡¯s fine as long as he has talent. I can pay for the materials and the workforce if he doesn¡¯t have money."
"Then there¡¯s no problem. I¡¯ll call him right now. He¡¯ll be overjoyed, for sure." Liu Zhengnan was very happy. He took out his phone to make the call.
Xia Lei walked toward Annina¡¯s house. Several of the German Special Forces soldiers around the house looked at him, and their gazes varied. Some were cold, some uncertain, and some full of respect. Xia Lei had no need to worry about what the CIA or the FA Organization would do to him under their protection. This was Germany, and he was on German territory. Anyone who disrupted the Germans¡¯ interests would not get away scott-free.
Xia Lei saw Tang Yuyan and Long Bing when he entered. Tang Yuyan was sitting on the sofa meditating. She said she would help Annina, but that¡¯s she had only said it to be polite. Long Bing alsoy on the sofa, snoring. Jetg was notfortable, and even a strong woman would need time to adjust to the time difference.
But this jetgged feeling was not very apparent for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei entered the kitchen and saw Annina using some pre-mixed bread flour to make bread. She was also preparing a huge ham, and it was being defrosted.
"Is this ham still edible?" Xia Lei asked. "You¡¯ve been gone for a year, I¡¯m afraid it has already expired."
Annina then noticed that Xia Lei had entered the kitchen, and she seemed happy. "It won¡¯t have expired. The climate here is different from China¡¯s. Hams here canst two to three years. A ham which is a little more than a year old is the most delicious."
"I see. I¡¯ll help you," said Xia Lei.
"Okay. Help me with that chunk of ham, then," said Annina.
Xia Lei ced the ham in the water to defrost it, then rubbed it with his hands in order to decrease the defrosting time. As he worked on the ham, he said, "Annina, I told Zhengnan to contact his friend. His friend is a very talented architect. I¡¯m thinking of asking him to help you build your castle. What do you think?"
Annina suddenly became quiet.
Xia Lei paused, and asked, "What¡¯s wrong? You don¡¯t like it?"
"No!" Annina suddenly embraced Xia Lei and wrapped her arms around his neck. She said excitedly, "I¡¯m touched, extremely touched! Lukas, my angel, I love you!"
Xia Lei smiled. "Then it¡¯s decided. Oh yeah, where do you want to build your castle?"
"Here. I like it here. This is my home."
"This will be simple, then. We¡¯ll talk to hen that architect when he gets here, and have everything settled. If you have any requests, just tell him. All right, let¡¯s prepare the food now."
But Annina stayed in Xia Lei¡¯s arms. She kissed Xia Lei¡¯s cheek, and her deep blue eyes were seductive. "Lukas,e to my room tonight. I¡¯ll arrange another room for your two friends. Oh, and Liu Zhengnan too. He needs a room. But you don¡¯t need one ¡ª you can sleep with me."
Trouble had already begun.
Xia Lei was just looking for an excuse to make Annina give up her thought when he suddenly heard footsteps from behind. He quickly went on the alert and pushed himself out of Annina¡¯s embrace, taking two steps back.
Right at this moment, Tang Yuyan appeared in the kitchen doorway and saidzily, "You guys done yet? I¡¯m starving."
Xia Lei spoke with a serious face. "Can¡¯t you see that we¡¯re working on it, Miss Tang?"
Tang Yuyan yawned, then turned and left.
Annina started moving toward Xia Lei again, but he blinked furiously.
Tang Yuyan suddenly appeared in the doorway again, and she stared straight at the two people in the kitchen.
Annina was at a bit of a loss, and she said, "Miss Tang, is there anything else we can help you with?"
"Nothing." Tang Yuyan disappeared once again.
"Lukas, are you afraid of her?" Annina seemed to have understood something.
"We can¡¯t be intimate with her here." Xia Lei was pained.
"Why?"
"She¡¯ll tell our secret to my wife. Now you see why I¡¯m wary of her?"
"She¡¯s so mean." Annina pouted, and unhappiness was written all over her face.
"Never mind, let¡¯s prepare the food." Xia Lei quickly changed the topic. He quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Tang Yuyan was trouble, but she was also a shield.
Dinner was very simple. Two men, three women. There was very little chatter.
The three women sat on the left side of the dining table, and Xia Lei and Liu Zhengnan sat on the right.
Liu Zhengnan was very handsome, but he didn¡¯t attract the eyes of any of the three women sitting at the dining table. The women would only peek at Xia Lei if they were not looking at the food. Some of the looks were direct, and some secret.
Liu Zhengnan sensed something unusual, and he quickly ate his food. He stood and said, "Director Xia, I¡¯m going out to pick up my friend, he¡¯s almost here."
Xia Lei nodded. "Go on, go on."
Liu Zhengnan turned and left, and looked back at the dining table as he went out the door. He sighed. ¡®Many people at Thunder Horse Military Factory said that Director Xia¡¯s private life is a mess. Looks like it¡¯s true. That Miss Long aside, Miss Tang and Annina both look like they¡¯re ready to devour Director Xia at any time... Ay, Director Xia, I¡¯m not being disloyal here, but I really can¡¯t help you."
At the table, Xia Lei suddenly froze up.
Someone had very definitely kicked him under the table when Liu Zhengnan went out the door.
He looked nervously at the three women across him, trying to guess which one of them was teasing him.
The three women sat quietly enjoying their dinner ¡ª bread, ham and red wine. He looked at them and they looked at him. Judging from each of their expressions, not one of them looked guilty.
Chapter 566 - Three Woman And A Sofa
And at that moment, the leg under the dining table stretched over again, and kicked him lightly. The previous kick had been with a shoe one, but this time, it was shoeless. He could feel the silkiness of stockings.
Xia Lei kept upright, and still. He made no outward moves, but his left eye was already at work, looking through the table to catch the owner of that misbehaving leg.
It was neither Annina nor Long Bing. It was actually Tang Yuyan.
Her high-heel-less jade-like foot was still raised, and the ckce wrapped her petite foot enticingly, attractively.
It wasn¡¯t just her foot. Thece hugged her beautiful legs, and because of the position of her questing leg, Xia Lei was able to see a more secret part of her with the help of his left eye.
He had seen Tang Yuyan¡¯s body more than once ¡ª in the changing room in Moscow, and in the small hotel in Jordan. Her body was no secret to him. However, the temptation was very strong every time he saw her like that.
This woman, Tang Yuyan, was different from Shentu Tianyin, who blew hot and cold. She was different from the ice-cold yet wildly passionate Long Bing. She was not the sort of adorable, submissive woman like Jiang Ruyi. She was like a mischievous little wild cat, difficult to predict and giving a person headaches aplenty. However, once she quieted down, the people who interacted with her would feel like there was something missing.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s foot came searching again while Xia Lei was absorbed in his thoughts, and rubbed lightly against his calf. She was doing something like this under the table, but acting all normal above, eating ham and drinking red wine. She didn¡¯t forget to praise Annina¡¯s cooking skills either.
What was she up to?
Xia Lei knew what she was up to. She was probing, testing for his reaction. Dong something like this under the table and pretending it wasn¡¯t her ¡ª she was testing to see if he had a rtionship with Long Bing, or with Annina, wasn¡¯t she? If he had no reaction, then she could draw the conclusion that he had an illicit rtionship with Long Bing or Annina. Why else wouldn¡¯t he have a reaction when being teased like this?
He had to admit that she was a smart woman, with a brain full of naughty ideas.
¡®If you¡¯re going to y, then I¡¯ll y with you,¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He cut some ham for Long Bing, put it on her te and said with a smile, ¡°This meat is quite delicious. Have some more.¡±
Long Bing paused, and looked awkwardly at Xia Lei. She found it weird how Xia Lei had specially maintained some distance between them all this while so that Tang Yuyan would not discover their rtionship, only to put food on her te in an intimate way, right in front of Tang Yuyan. Wasn¡¯t this smashing his own foot with a rock?
Sure enough, before Long Bing could speak, Tang Yuyanughed and said, ¡°Oh! You two are close, huh? Xia Lei, you put food on Long Bing¡¯s te but not on mine and Annina¡¯s. What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± She thought to herself, ¡®Ha! You must have thought it was Long Bing teasing you with her foot, huh? I¡¯ve caught you by the tail now, huh?¡¯
Tang Yuyan shuddered as soon as she finished her thought. Another foot had appeared on her thigh ¡ª a shoe-less foot. The foot rubbed against her stockings twice, then pinched the flesh of her thigh, and squeezed lightly. She knew full well whose foot it was, because there was only one person sitting opposite her ¡ª Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s toes released Tang Yuyan¡¯s thigh, but did not stop there. It slid along her inner thigh, deeper.
Tang Yuyan grew nervous, and her pretty face turned red. She red at Xia Lei, afraid that his stinky foot would go deeper into her skirt. She would have stopped him long ago if it were just the two of them, but she had Long Bing and Annina on either side of her, so she dared not make a peep, even with Xia Lei¡¯s perverted foot poking at her!
She had teased Xia Lei first, but he was teasing her now. Looking at the situation now, however, she was obviously at a disadvantage. She had smashed her own foot with a rock.
The perverted foot was getting closer and closer to that sensitive area.
Tang Yuyan bit lightly at her cherry lips, and she red right at Xia Lei. Her eyes were fierce, but there was something else in her gaze, a little watery, and quiteplicated.
That foot did not get close to that ce in the end. It moved away.
Long Bing stood and said, ¡°I¡¯m done eating. You guys enjoy.¡±
Annina took her te and moved away too. ¡°I¡¯ll make up the rooms for you all.¡±
Just Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan were left at the dining table.
Tang Yuyan tore into Xia Lei as soon as Long Bing and Annina were a distance away. ¡°You pervert! How shameless can you be?¡±
¡°I was just about to ask you that. What were you trying to do earlier?¡± said Xia Lei slowly.
¡°I...¡± Tang Yuyan faltered. Would Xia Lei have disturbed her back if she had not disturbed him first?
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this. I am an upright citizen. Long Bing and I are just friends, and it¡¯s up to you to believe it, or not. Okay, enjoy your meal. I¡¯m done.¡± He picked up his te and left the table too.
Tnag Yuyan stared nkly at Xia Lei¡¯s back. After a while, she said, ¡°Pervert. Like I believe you.¡±
Liu Zhengnan¡¯s friend arrived an hourter. He was a true-blue German by the name of Sergey. He had a head of blonde hair, and was about the same age as Liu Zhengnan. He wore a wrinkled suit and his shoes were well-shined, but old.
The first impression this Sergey gave was not that of an architect, but of a struggling university graduate who had no fixed ie and lived in a poor, dirty slum.
¡°Oh, my friend! I¡¯m d to see you.¡± Sergey walked up to Liu Zhengnan and they hugged.
Liu Zhengnan gave a dryugh. ¡°What¡¯s up with you, Sergey? You should have dressed more appropriately. My boss is not one who judges people based on appearances, but you should wear a proper suit, at least. You know, my boss is going to be discussing a big project worth millions of euros with you, but you...¡±
An embarrassed look appeared on Sergey¡¯s face. ¡°My friend, as you can see, this suit I have on me is one that I have borrowed from someone else.¡±
Liu Zhengnan had no words.
¡°Take me to meet your boss.¡± Sergey recovered quickly. ¡°I know that Chinese bosses take appearances more seriously, but... You have to let me try, at least. I could, maybe, move your boss.¡±
¡°Come with me,¡± said Liu Zhengnan. He paused, and said to Sergey, ¡°Oh, right, I have to warn you that my boss has three women with him now. They¡¯re all sexy and beautiful. Be careful, though. Don¡¯t be disrespectful, and don¡¯t stare. Well, it¡¯s no use even if you stare.¡±
He had experienced it himself. Those three women had not even spared him a second nce when he had sat next to Xia Lei. Sergey would have even lower chances.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, heh heh. My brain is full of thoughts about the castle now. I will design the most beautiful castle in Europe if your boss gives me the opportunity to do so,¡± said Sergey.
¡°Come on, follow me.¡± Liu Zhengnan led the way.
¡°Why are there so many Special Forces soldiers here?¡± Sergey had spotted the Special Forces soldiers with guns, guarding the house.
¡°Don¡¯t ask. Just do your job and you¡¯ll be fine,¡± warned Liu Zhengnan.
¡°Okay, okay.¡± Sergey smiled and said, ¡°Your boss sure has style.¡±
The Special Forces soldier at the door patted Sergey down, and only let him in when it was confirmed that he did not have any guns or weapons.
Xia Lei was in the living room, on the sofa, watching a football match. It was Bayern Munich versus Dortmund, and they were ying for the German nationals. Xia Lei was not actually interested in football, and he had only watched football matches because Annina was a Dortmund fan. The three women were watching the match with him, of course, and they were squeezed on one sofa with him. It was rather crowded on this sofa.
Long Bing was on Xia Lei¡¯s left, and Tang Yuyan was on his right. Their generous hips squeezed him, and this position made him feel rather wedged in. Annina sat next to Long Bing. She took no notice of the situation that Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei were in, because she was such a loyal fan of yellow and ck that she had long been absorbed in the game.
Liu Zhengnan led Sergey through the door, and Xia Lei¡¯s gaze moved from the television to Sergey. Liu Zhengnan had not made introductions yet, but Xia Lei had already guessed Sergey¡¯s identity. Sergey¡¯s poor appearance made him worry a little too, since it was quite different from what Liu Zhengnan had described to him.
¡°Director Xia, this is Sergey.¡± Liu Zhengnan made the introduction.
Xia Lei got up and walked over in wee. He reached out a hand first to shake with Sergey, and said in German, ¡°Hallo, Herr Sergey.¡±
Sergey was very surprised. ¡°Your German is very good, Mr Xia.¡± His peeked at the three women on the sofa out of the corner of his eye as he spoke. It was as Liu Zhengnan had said. The three women did not even spare him a nce.
¡°Let¡¯s go talk in the study, Mr Sergey,¡± said Xia Lei.
The three men went to the study.
¡°Annina, Xia Lei is having a house built for you. Aren¡¯t you going to see what¡¯s going on?¡± said Tang Yuyan to Annina.
¡°Good shot!¡± Annina yelled all of a sudden.
Tang Yuyan looked wordlessly at Long Bing.
¡°Go if you want to go. Why look at me?¡± said Long Bing indifferently.
¡°No I¡¯m not. It¡¯s not as if he¡¯s buying a ce for me.¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing.
The three women continued watching the match.
One hourter, Xia Lei, Liu Zhengnan and Sergey walked out of the study.
Xia Lei sent Sergey to the door. ¡°That¡¯s decided, then. I will let Zhengnan be in charge of this matter. Money is no object. It¡¯s fine as long as you build the castle I want.¡±
¡°No problem, no problem. Thank you, Mr Xia,¡± said Sergey politely. He peeked at the three women on the sofa out of the corner of his eye again and was disappointed to find that they had not even nced at him.
Having sent Sergey out the door, Xia Lei went back to the sofa, to that same position between Long Bing and Tang Yuyan. The roundness of the two women pressed at him, and it felt quite good.
¡°It¡¯s settled. We can go about our business tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
The eyes of all three women were focused on Xia Lei.
Sergey would have had his pride about his manly charm severely hurt if he had witnessed this.
Chapter 567 - Germanys Arrogance
Xia Lei and his group left the town of Werden the next day, and was escorted by the German Special Forces to Dusseldorf. This city was North Rhine-Westphalia¡¯s capital, Germany¡¯s advertisement, clothing andmunication centre, as well as Europe¡¯s trade center. However, the Germans had not brought Xia Lei here to see clothing exhibitions. They brought him here because one of Germany¡¯s defense industry enterprises was here.
This defense enterprise was Rheinmetall AG.
Rheinmetall AG made Germany¡¯s tanks,bat vehicles and shipborne artillery. It represented Europe¡¯s precision manufacturing and it¡¯s most advanced forging and artillery techniques. The artilleries produced by thispany were very popr in Europe and America. Even the two main tanks in America, the M1A1 and M1A2, used thispany¡¯s main armament.
Although China invested a lot in the military industry and produced many useable products, they still weren¡¯t able to make artilleryparable to Rheinmetall AG. An example would be China¡¯s newest 99th type tank. Because of the limits of their forging techniques, the tank¡¯s turret tilt angle was not good at all, as it was unable to reach the full 40 to 45 degree angle like the tanks from Rheinmetall AG. This in turn caused the tank¡¯s defense to be lowered and to becking in the gunnery system.
China¡¯s military industry very much wanted to obtain Rheinmetall¡¯s technology, but they had never seeded. One could say that they were one of the military industry¡¯s overlords. Their technology and experience were in line with their arrogance. Thispany had also never partnered with any of China¡¯s enterprises before, not to mention sharing technology.
The only exception was Thunder Horse Military Factory. Xia Lei was now representing China¡¯s military industry.
Xia Lei was a bit surprised when he found out that he was going to Rheinmetall AG. He had thought that he would be going to Germany¡¯s HK Company, since thatpany also produced small arms and had a ready-made small arms production line and the relevant experience. However, it was this heavy military enterprise in the end.
HK Company and Rheinmetall AG were actually just like Thunder Horse Military Factory and China Industrial Group ¡ª both the former were smaller, and thetter a giant. It was actually quite easy to tell how much importance they put on this deal, because the Germans had picked thepany Rheinmetall AG. They¡¯d already put this deal in the hands of the higher levels with some strategy in mind.
Xia Lei and his group entered one of Rheinmetall AG¡¯s office buildings after going through several security checkpoints, and was asked to wait in a meeting room. A Rheinmetall employee made them coffee, and told them not to walk around before leaving.
This cup of coffee was almost finished, and still nobody came.
"Thispany sure is arrogant. We¡¯ve waited here for so long and yet not a single chief person in charge hase to greet us. What is this?" Tang Yuyan was a little unhappy. "Lei, do you think they¡¯re treating us like this to prove something?"
Xia Lei thought for a moment. "Europeans have biases towards us and would not readily admit to our past sesses. Many Europeans feel superior to us Chinese, but to what degree this racism extends to... it could mean something like you said. There¡¯s no need to mind it. We do our thing, and let them be arrogant if they want."
Tang Yuyanughed. "That¡¯s some interesting talk."
"What are you trying to say?" Xia Lei asked.
"You¡¯re like my grandfather," Tang Yuyan replied.
Xia Lei only smiled and said nothing more. Tang Yuyan was always looking to start a conversation with him, but he did not feelfortable in saying more to her in front of Annina and Long Bing.
Right then, Liu Zhengnan¡¯s phone rang. He took it out and looked at the screen, then stood up and said, "Director Xia, it¡¯s Sergey calling. Would you like to take the call?"
"No need. Your friend is truly talented, and his suggestions were good. I believe in your choice so I¡¯ll let you take care of this. Give your friend whatever he needs. He just needs to give me what I want," said Xia Lei.
"Thank you, Director Xia. I¡¯ll go out to take his call, then." Liu Zhengnan walked out of the meeting room.
"You trust him that much? You aren¡¯t afraid that he¡¯ll partner up with that German architect to cheat you of your money?"
Xia Lei smiled. "I believe in my judgement. He¡¯s not that sort of person."
"Then what sort of person am I to you?" Tang Yuyan looked straight at Xia Lei.
Long Bing and Annina both looked at Tang Yuyan¡¯s face.
Xia Lei was stunned too. He didn¡¯t think that Tang Yuyan would ask such a question at such a time, and in front of Long Bing and Annina too. He was not very concerned about Annina, but it was different with Long Bing. He really cared about how she would feel.
The atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly turned awkward.
"Why aren¡¯t you saying anything?" Tang Yuyan took a quick nce at Long Bing out of the corner of her eye. Compared to when she showed off the jewel ne Xia Lei gave her in front of Shentu Tianyin, asking such a question in front of Long Bing was nothing.
"Um." After a short silence, Xia Lei finally said, "You¡¯re a pure person. Someone who doesn¡¯t have vulgar interests."
Tang Yuyan gave Xia Lei a look of speechlessness. She was itching to bite him.
"Pfft...¡± Long Bingughed.
A blue-eyed blonde German walked in just then. He was no stranger to Xia Lei because he was Josef.
"Josef!" Annina said with a bit of surprise, "Why are you here?"
"I epted the German government¡¯s request to be in charge of the inspection and eptance work. I will be apanying you for your time at Rheinmetall AG, until you leave," answered Josef.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows knotted together. Not one of Rheinmetall AG¡¯s persons in charge hade over to greet them, but they had sent a supervisor like Josef. He had not been bothered by the Germans¡¯ arrogance earlier, but he could not contain his anger any longer now. He said in German, "What is the meaning of this? We came from China, and we are representing China. This is how you receive us? Who¡¯s in charge? Shouldn¡¯t hee meet us?"
Josef replied tly, "Mr Xia, is there a problem with me receiving your party? Or are you of the opinion that I don¡¯t qualify to receive you? Why don¡¯t I give our prime minister a call to let here receive you?"
Annina said, "Josef, how can you talk in such a manner to Mr Xia?"
"Annina, I honestly don¡¯t know why you¡¯re following a Chinese man around. You¡¯re German, yet you¡¯re working for a Chinese person. Or maybe it¡¯s not just work," said Josef.
Annina got mad. "What do you mean by that, Josef? You weren¡¯t like this in China. What¡¯s with you?"
Josef¡¯s attitude had been different in China. Although it couldn¡¯t be said that he was respectful, he had his manners, at least. But right now, he wasn¡¯t even showing the most basic of manners.
¡®Back when I was in Germany, Josef was already hostile towards me, and even got a boxer to intimidate me. His attitude reverted to this now, so could it be that... he knows that I¡¯m the Lukas from back then? If that¡¯s true, he probably got this information from some channel,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
If Josef was sure that Xia Lei was that Lukas from back then, he would suspect that Xia Lei had stolen his intelligentthe technology. Xia Lei had also stolen Annina, the woman he had a crush on, away. Just based on these two things were enough to make him mad, and the fact that he hadn¡¯t used a big knife to cut Xia Lei was already a great amount of restraint he had put on himself. How could he still be respectful toward him?
This assumption about Josef gave Xia Lei a tingling of worry. Josef yed an important role in this deal and he would definitely create some sort of obstacle. But this deal was extremely important to China.
"What do I mean?" Josef looked at Xia Lei, and his expression very unfriendly. "He should know!"
If this were a different situation, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have been so courteous to Josef, but he held it in this time. He smiled. "Mr Josef, you¡¯re Germany¡¯s top electrical engineer. It is quite appropriate for you toe receive us. We have noints."
"Lu... Mr Xia...¡± Annina quickly corrected herself.
Xia Lei shot Annina a look and interrupted her. "It¡¯s fine, Annina. No need to make a fuss over it."
Annina shut her mouth. She was very unhappy with Josef, but she always listened to Xia Lei. She would lie down if Xia Lei told her to lie down, and lie on her stomach if he told her to. If he told her to kneel, she¡¯d kneel.
Josef lips curled into a sneer. "I don¡¯t know whether I should call you Lukas or Mr Xia. You Chinese are very sly. Sometimes even your identities are a puzzle."
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t angry at all. He put a smile on his face and said, "Myst name is Xia. You can call me Xia Lei or Mr Xia ¡ª It¡¯s up to you, Mr Josef. I¡¯ll be fine with either."
"Hmph." Josef snorted. "Come with me, just you. The others have to stay here."
¡°Where are you taking me?¡± asked Xia Lei.
"Didn¡¯t you say that you want someone in charge to receive you? I¡¯m taking you to see him right now."
Ling Han had personally received the German engineering team with sincerity when they hade to China. The situation was different for Xia Lei when he arrived in Germany, however. Just a small electrical engineer like Josef hade to receive them. Xia Lei even had to ask to see the person in charge, instead of the other partying to see him. This arrogance if theirs was fairly apparent.
Xia Lei would not have tolerated it if this exchange had been for himself, but this was for the country, for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine production line, so he chose to endure it. He shrugged and said with a smile, "All right, Mr Josef, please lead the way."
Josef wouldn¡¯t talk to Xia Lei anymore. Before they left, he said to Annina, "Annina, we have to have a good talk."
"Josef, there¡¯s nothing for us to talk about. Nothing right now, and nothing in the future," said Annina angrily.
¡°You...¡± Josef was so angry that he could not say anything.
Xia Lei said, "You guys wait for me here, I¡¯ll be right back."
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan nodded in unison.
"Come with me, Mr Xia. I must warn you that the person you¡¯re about to meet is Rheinmetall¡¯s CEO, Mr Mark Armin. He¡¯s someone who is fastidious about cleanliness. You need to wipe your leather shoes clean when you enter his office, including the soles,¡± said Josef.
Xia Lei smiled cheerily. "No problem."
Annina suddenly took out a tissue, and knelt down before Xia Lei without saying a word. She started wiping Xia Lei¡¯s shoes. Her movements were fluid and Xia Lei¡¯s shoes were soon sparkling clean. She blew a puff of air at the shoes, then smiled and said, "Mr Xia, there is no need for you to clean your shoes yourself, your shoes are already quite polished." She stood up and continued, "If they need you to clean off the dust on the soles, I will use my butt to rub it clean."
Xia Lei was speechless.
She was obviously trying to deal a blow to Josef.
Josef really was struck by this, and his face turned dark with anger. The woman whom he had liked and had yearned for had polished Xia Lei¡¯s shoes, and was even willing to use her butt to clean the dirt on the soles!
Tang Yuyan quietly gave Annina a thumbs up. It was the first time the great Miss Tang had approved of Annina.
There was no reaction from Long Bing, but her opinion of Annina improved. She was different from Annina in that she could die for Xia Lei, but she wouldn¡¯t clean his shoes for him.
Chapter 568 - You Should Show Me Basic Respect
Xia Lei was led to the top floor of the office building by Josef, and into an office. He saw the CEO of Rheinmetall AG, a German man with brown hair, in his fifties. He was big and tall, and slightly overweight.
¡°Mr Mark, this is Xia Lei, from China.¡± Josef made the introduction to Mark Armin but he left out the most basic honorific of ¡®Mr¡¯ from his speech. It seemed that the sight of Annina polishing Xia Lei¡¯s shoes for him, and her saying that she would even use her bum to wipe the soles of Xia Lei¡¯s shoes clean had really irritated Josef.
Mark Armin raised his head and nced at Xia Lei, but did not get up. ¡°Please have a seat,¡± he said disinterestedly. He then continued reading a document he had before him, and did not seem like he was going to talk to Xia Lei anytime soon.
¡°I shall take my leave now, Mr Mark,¡± said Josef.
Mark Armin only nodded in response.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, and walked towards the sofa. He nced at the document Mark Amin was reading as he passed by his desk.
The document was the one which the German government had given to Rheinmetall AG about this cooperation. Xia Lei had only nced at it, but he would not forget its content.
¡®It is obviously a mutually beneficial exchange and it has great advantages for both sides, but these Germans are still looking down on the Chinese arms industry. Mark Armin would not be so arrogant otherwise,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
Mark Armin continued reading the document and ignored Xia Leipletely. Xia Lei was in no hurry either as he sat quietly on the sofa, waiting. He was just in waiting ¡ª Mark Armin¡¯s secretary had note in to offer him a cup of coffee or some other refreshment. From the time that Josef had turned up, to this time with Mark Armin now, it was easy to see that the Germans were actually acting this way on purpose. They were acting like they were a level above Xia Lei, and telling him that Thunder Horse Military Factory, and Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s technologies were insignificant to them!
If one looked at Thunder Horse Military Factory and Rheinmetall AG from a market perspective, they were actually a rivals. The former was a dark horse of the Chinese arms industry, which had made a name in the world. Rheinmetall AG was the leader of the German arms industry, so it was not surprising that the CEO Mark Armin of Rheinmetall AG was so arrogant to Xia Lei. He was telling Xia Lei that Chinese military must bow to the German military!
A good ten minutes passed before Mark Armin put away the document. He got up and walked towards Xia Lei. He didn¡¯t shake hands with Xia Lei, but sat directly opposite him. "You are that Mr Xia Lei, the founder of Thunder Horse Military Factory, huh?"
"Yes I am, Mr Mark. Nice to meet you,¡± said Xia Lei. He got up and stretched out his hand to Mark Armin.
Only then did Mark Armin stand and shake hands with Xia Lei, but it was just a perfunctory handshake.
"Mr Mark, when will we be able to talk about cooperation?" Xia Lei went straight to the point.
"There is no rush." Mark Armin gave him a smile. "Let¡¯s make small talk first."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"I heard from Josef that you also have a German name, Lukas, and that you worked at Krupp Mak Maschinenbau for a while. You met Miss Annina during that period, didn¡¯t you?"
¡°Mr Mark, I have no idea about what you¡¯re saying here. This is my first time in Germany. I don¡¯t know who is this Lukas you¡¯re talking about. We may be simr, but I am not him,¡± said Xia Lei.
Josef and Mark Armin had got some information from some channels but Xia Lei was not worried that any real trouble woulde out of it. The matter had passed long ago, and Long Bing and the Bureau 101 agents had done a clean job. There was no evidence or leads which Germany could follow. This was why it was useless even though they guessed that he was indeed that Lukas now.
¡°All right, let me assume that you are that Lukas. You stole the intelligentthe technology from Josef, then modified and improved on it. And you¡¯re now using the technology which was originally ours in an exchange for the fighter ne engine technology which you need. You really are a very clever man, Mr Xia,¡± said Mark Armin.
Xia Lei gave augh. "Mr. Mark, your assumption is very interesting. You Germans upied Qingdao in the Qing Dynasty, and took the material andbor resources from Qingdao to Germany after World War I to help Germany rise rapidly. Should I say that you Germans are very smart as well?"
Mark Armin frowned. He was obviously displeased by how Xia Lei had phrased it.
"Mr. Mark, you Western countries have erected a technology blockade against China, and some of these technologies are not even for military use, but for civilian use. Those technologies could help human development, but you still blocked them. Did you think China will remain at the level of producing socks and shirts forever? Did you think that China would always act as an OEM for you, to produce the socks and shirts which you find disdainful to do? I¡¯m here today, representing the Chinese military industry, to work with you. It¡¯s a mutually beneficial rtionship. Instead, you choose to talk to me about this thing about Lukas, and you¡¯re saying that I stole your technology. If that¡¯s the case, why do you need to do this exchange with us when you already have this technology?" said Xia Lei.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s stance. The other party¡¯s arrogance had pushed him past his limits of tolerance. Since tolerating would not solve anything, Xia Lei was going to pull his mask off andy his cards on the table!
"Heh heh." Mark Arminughed hollowly. "Mr Xia, we are just talking casually. Why are you overreacting?"
"I think you should show me some basic respect. I am not here begging you for something. This is exchange is a win-win for both sides," said Xia Lei.
There was a gleam of annoyance in Mark Armin¡¯s eyes, and he shrugged. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then here is no further need to talk about this. How about this ¡ª I will get someone to arrange amodations for you. Let¡¯s talk about it again tomorrow."
Xia Lei got up. "It is your right to set any time for the talk, but let me tell you that it is not a must for me to discuss this with you. Your German government and our Chinese government settled on this exchange. The higher-upswould not be the least bit happy if they knew about your attitude, would they?¡±
"Heh heh. Mr. Xia, this is Germany. The business owners in your country may care about the wants of the political leaders, but I don¡¯t," said Mark Armin with a faint, disdainful smile.
"If this is how it¡¯s going to be, then I don¡¯t think there is any need to work together. I will write a report to the people on my side, and I will leave for China right now. The people from your German side will soon be returned to Germany too,¡± said Xia Lei tly.
Mark Armin was stunned. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is very simple. It is not a must for me to exchange my technologies for your German fighter ne engine technology. I can contact the Russians, Italians, French, or British, even the Israelis at any time. But the thing you want, you can only obtain from me," said Xia Lei.
This was what was bolstering Xia Lei¡¯s confidence. The XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle were the top their kind in the world. Troops around the world right now all wanted to be equipped with these two infantry weapons, and they could only be produced by Thunder Horse Military Factory. There was also the hugeposite intelligentthe which Xia Lei had built himself. Would Xia Lei even have to worry about not being to exchange this technology for fighter ne engine technology with other countries when he possessed such resources? However, Germany was in a different position. What they wanted to get could only be gotten from Xia Lei.
"Heh heh..." Mark Aminughed awkwardly and his attitude took a sudden change. "Mr. Xia, please pardon me if I have offended you. There¡¯s no need to let these trivial things destroy the deal we have reached together, is there? I admit that you can probably get what you want from somewhere else, but I assure you that German manufacturing is the best of the best. You should trust in our strength, and trust that cooperating with us is the most sensible choice."
"Am I not standing before you now? I havee to talk with you about cooperation, but you¡¯re telling me toe tomorrow," said Xia Lei.
"No, no, let¡¯s talk right now," said Mark Armin. "Please, sit, sit."
The truth was that Mark Armin could ignore the wishes of the relevant officials of the German government, and even could argue with them, but he could not afford the losses which would be incurred by the cancelled deal. If that happened, he would have no way of giving an exnation to the board of Rheinmetall AG, and might even have to step down!
Mark Armin and Xia Lei talked about the cooperation in the office.
The women in the reception room talked too, but they were talking about other things.
"Annina, you are willing to shine shoes for Xia Lei, so are you willing to do theundry and other things for him too? Including underwear?" Tang Yuyan snuggled up to Annina¡¯s shoulders intimately, like they were besties.
"Of course I am." German women were more serious about what they said, so Annina did not think of the motive of Tang Yuyan¡¯s question.
Long Bing gave a cough. "Annina, please think before you speak, not everyone is as naive as you."
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing and went on talking. "Annina, you are willing to wash Xia Lei¡¯s underwear for him, and Xia Lei is willing to build a house for you, hm?"
"A castle."
"Oh, yeah, it¡¯s a castle." Tang Yuyan smiled very sweetly. "So, are you in that sort of rtionship?"
"What sort of rtionship?" Annina was abruptly on the alert.
"Lovers."
"NO, you are!"
Tang Yuyan was speechless.
Liu Zhengnan was in the same reception room, and he was suffering in his awkwardness. The three women ignored him as always, rarely looking at him and treating him like air. Plus, the topics they were discussing were all so ¡°intimate¡± that he was ufortable whether he listened in or not.
A German woman came in and said very politely, "Ladies and gentlemen, follow me, please. I¡¯ll be taking you to have a look at your amodations. You can ask me if you need anything, and I will do my best to satisfy your requests.¡±
Liu Zhengnan was relieved.
Tang Yuyan looked at Long Bing. "Long Bing, can we share a room?"
¡°No,¡± said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan giggled. "Okay, then I am going to share a room with Xia Lei."
Long Bing and Annina both looked at Tang Yuyan. They had moved in unison.
Liu Zhengnan sighed. "Director Xia, you must have been ady-killer in youst life, huh?"
Chapter 569 - Different Treatments for the Section Chiefs
Xia Lei and his party were ced in Rheinmetall AG¡¯s internal guestrooms. Mark Armin got some people to clear a level out, and there were many rooms. Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t stay in the same room as Xia Lei, of course. She had just been joking around when she had said the she was going to stay in the same room as Xia Lei.
The guestrooms were not open to the public; the only people who could stay there were Rheinmetall AG¡¯s important clients, or important guests from other countries who hade to visit, so it was in a very cozy and peaceful environment.
Xia Lei chose a room at random, and Long Bing and Tang Yuyan took rooms to his left and right, respectively. This was the same arrangement as when the two women had sat on the sofa with him, squeezing him in the middle. Annina didn¡¯t even get the chance to stay next to him, so she took the room next to Long Bing, while Liu Zhengnan chose a room to the right of Tang Yuyan.
Actually, these arrangements were unwanted safety precautions. Xia Lei was crucial to the sess of this exchange. No mishaps could ur to him. In addition, he also had the responsibility to do the research on the Alloy X Project. He was practically a Chinese national treasure now. Shi Boren had put Long Bing and Tang Yuyan next to him so that they could protect Xia Lei.
After dinner, Xia Lei received a call from Ling Han.
¡°Xia Lei, how are you doing on your end?¡± Ling Han got straight to the point.
Xia Lei said, ¡°There were some problems in the beginning, but they have all been resolved.¡±
¡°Problems? What problems?¡±
¡°We were assigned to work with Rheinmetall AG. The other CEO wanted to stall for time and he was very arrogant, but it has all been resolved.¡±
¡°Rheinmetall AG is a world-ss military factory. It¡¯s quite normal for them to be arrogant. You don¡¯t need to take it to heart.¡±
¡°I know how important this is. Don¡¯t worry, Brother Ling,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You are someone who can see the big picture, so of course I¡¯m not worried. On the other hand, you said the other CEO was trying to stall for time? I don¡¯t understand what his motive is, but I must remind you to keep the engineering on your end simple. You need to stall for time, or their people won¡¯t necessarily keep their word on this end and give us thepleted technology if you finish early. Do you understand me?¡± This was why Ling Han had called him.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I understand. I know what to do.¡±
¡°On another note, I have also called you to let you know that you don¡¯t have to worry about your personal affairs. Your wife is taking care of yourpany, and we will offer some definite preferential treatment policies. In short, yourpany will not suffer any losses,¡± said Ling Han.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Brother Ling, you called me just to set my mind at ease, huh?¡±
¡°I set your mind at ease when you were in China too. Right now, I¡¯m reassuring you so that you will do your job properly, and do it well.¡±
¡°I will. I guarantee that I willplete my assignment.¡± Xia Lei thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Bro Ling, I want to ask a favour of you.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°You know I have a lot of people after me, including my biggest enemy, the CIA. I¡¯m in Germany right now so I¡¯m a little worried that some people will hurt the people close to me. I want you to put some people near them to protect them in secret. Can you do that?¡±
¡°Of course, just give me a list of names.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°My wife, Shentu Tianyin; my little sister, Xia Xue, and...my good friend Jiang Ruyi.¡±
¡°Your good friend, Jiang Ruyi?¡±
¡°Yes, my good friend, Jiang Ruyi.¡±
¡°Heh heh.¡± Ling Haoughed. ¡°All right, then. I already have people protecting your wife and your little sister. This Jiang Ruyi, you mentioned now, though... I will get people to protect her as well.¡±
¡°Thanks, Brother Ling.¡±
¡°Contact me if anything happens on your end. All right, that¡¯s all for now. Goodbye.¡± Ling Han hung up.
Xia Xue put the satellite phone away and muttered to himself, ¡°Why did heugh when I told him about ¡®my good friend Jiang Ruyi¡¯?¡±
Ling Han¡¯s randomughing had made Xia Lei a little speechless. However, Ling Han had reassured him this time, andpletely resolved the worries in his heart. The bodyguards Ling Hatn assigned were definitely the most elite Chinese bodyguards as per Ling Han¡¯s status. The professionalism and capabilities of the bodyguards he assigned would more than likely surpass those of the special agents of Bureau 101. Now that Shentu Tianyin, Xia Xue, and Jiang Ruyi had this type of protection, he could let go of his worries and do what he needed to do.
Xia Lei walked to the window and opened the curtains to look at the factory production area in the distance. Even though it was at least 1,000 metres away, and it was dark, his left eye could see the factory production area clearly. He saw workshop after workshop, some for the assembly of the Leopard 2 tanks, some for assault vehicles, and some automatic cannons. Even though those workshops were lit up, there wasn¡¯t anyone else working overtime besides a few security guards.
Thebor cost in Europe was very high. Even in a military factory like Rheinmetall AG was not willing to pay their employees expensive overtime wages. This contrasted sharply with China, where few workers didn¡¯t work overtime. Some factories had three shifts, and there were workers always working around the clock, and it was tough.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye swept over those workshops, and a thought suddenly came to him. ¡®Rheinmetall AG¡¯s cannon technology is unrivalled in the entire world, as well as their metal forging and precision processing technology. Since I¡¯vee all the way here, I can¡¯t return empty-handed, can I? I have to walk away with something at least, and take some advanced technologies with me, right?¡¯
Metal forging and precision processing were China¡¯s weak points. If he could make off with someone, it would definitely be a huge gain. Who knew, maybe these technologies could be used in the future when expanding Thunder Horse Military Factory, and turn Thunder Horse into a true military factory that didn¡¯t just produce light weapons. It would manufacture rockets, tanks, and automatic cannons, and more!
This thought filled Xia Lei with excitement, so much so that he even wanted to go into Rheinmetall AG¡¯s workshops right now to use his X-ray vision on their machinery, and learn their technologies secretly. However, he reigned in his urge in the end and did not do so.
However, right when Xia Lei was about to stop using his night vision and go wash up, a ck man suddenly entered his field of vision from one of the workshop¡¯s corners. The ck clothing he wore made him blend in ingeniously with his surroundings. If it wasn¡¯t for Xia Lei¡¯s super left eye, he probably wouldn¡¯t have discovered that ck person¡¯s presence.
The ck person was holding a pair of military-grade binocrs and observing the guesthouse.
¡®Is he watching me?¡¯ Xia Lei was instantly on the alert, and his left eye focused on that man.
That ck guy evidently didn¡¯t think that Xia Lei could see him hidden in the darkness from such a distance, so he didn¡¯t hide himself. Instead, he continued to hold his binocrs up to look at Xia Lei. What he didn¡¯t know was that Xia Lei didn¡¯t just see him ¡ª he could even see his eyes hidden behind the binocrs.
After ten seconds, Xia Lei looked away and drew the curtains closed. However, his left eye was still looking through the curtains, at the ck person about 1,000 metres away.
After ten more seconds, that ck person put his binocrs away and left along the wall.
Xia Lei was in deep thought. ¡®Who is he? Could he be someone from Rhinemetall AG, working for Mark Armin? Did Mark Armin send him to observe me? But that¡¯s not very possible. I am in Rhinemetall right now. If Mark Armin wanted to have me watched, he could just let the staff in the guesthouse do it, and save a lot of effort. If he¡¯s not from the Rhinemetall, then who is he? A special agent from the CIA? Or someone from the FA Organization?¡¯
These two guesses made his heart grow heavy.
Knock, knock, knocking came from the door.
Xia Lei nced back and saw that it was Tang Yuyan. He said, ¡°Come in, the door isn¡¯t locked.¡±
Tang Yuyan closed the door after walking in. ¡°Boss Shi contacted me just now. He said we have to protect you more closely. We can¡¯t let anything happen to you. From now on, Long Bing and I will be dividing our work into shifts. I will protect you for the first part of the night and she will protect you for thetter half of the night. Whether it¡¯s Long Bing or me protecting you, you cannot leave our sight while you are under our protection.¡±
Tang Yuyan came in to tell him of the increase in their security measures right after he discovered an intruder. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help having some suspicions. ¡°Did you receive any information?¡±
¡°We suspect that the CIA already knows your whereabouts. As of now, we are not sure how they received that news, but we must adopt safety measures,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°We came to Germany in secret. Even when we went to Werden, we had the Special Forces from the German military protecting us, and blocking off roads for us. How would the Americans know of our movements?¡±
Tang Yuyan shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know that. Boss Shi will let us know when there¡¯s more information. In any case, Long Bing and I will split up the work and protect you 24/7 from now on.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°I spotted a very suspicious ck person outside the guesthouse earlier. He seemed to be observing me. Could he really be from the CIA?¡±
¡°Where is he?¡± Tang Yuyan walked towards the window.
¡°Don¡¯t look. He¡¯s already gone,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan paused. ¡°Then it seems that the information that we received is probably true. The CIA has already begun to move. For your safety, no matter what you do, you can¡¯t leave my sight.¡±
¡°Wait... did you say that I can¡¯t leave your sight, no matter what I do?¡±
¡°Of course. This is the highest level of protection measures.¡±
¡°Then what if I want to bathe?¡±
¡°You can¡¯t leave my line of sight, but you can wear pants while you bathe,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Then what if I want to relieve myself?¡±
Tang Yuyan bit her lip. ¡°Then you can relieve yourself with your back towards me!¡±
¡°What if it¡¯s a number two?¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s puffed her cheeks. ¡°Are you doing this on purpose?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You should still return to your room to sleep. I don¡¯t need a bodyguard to stick to me. It¡¯s fine as long as you and Long Bing are more careful at night, and listen for any movement. It¡¯s not as if we haven¡¯t fought together before. You know how my strength.¡±
¡°Hmph! I don¡¯t even want to protect you! Fine, I¡¯ll leave then!¡± Tang Yuyan fumed as she left Xia Lei¡¯s room.
Xia Lei then breathed a sigh of relief. Hey on his bed, thinking about that ck person.
Long Bing really dide in thetter part of the night. She locked the door behind herself once she entered and went under Xia Lei¡¯s nkets.
¡°I¡¯vee to protect you.¡±
¡°How do you want to protect me?¡±
Long Bing got close to Xia Lei and breathed warm air into his ear. ¡°I¡¯ll swallow you. You¡¯ll go straight down to my stomach, safe and warm. What do you think of that?¡±
Xia Lei pushed her down fiercely, pressing her down under himself...
Even though they were both section chiefs of Bureau 101 with the same mission, Section Chief Long and Section Chief Tang received different treatment.
Chapter 570 - European Version of Szlamy
Xia Lei was brought into a workshop in the early morn of the next day. This workshop was newly built, and there weren¡¯t any machine installed in the workshop. It was spacious, and big enough for Xia Lei to build the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle production lines. It was also had space to amodate the superposite intelligentthe which weighed up to five hundred tonnes.
There were already a group of workers from Rheinmetall AG waiting in the new workshop. They were all highly-skilled senior machinists and electrical engineers, and Josef was amongst them, ying the role of supervisor.
¡°Mr. Xia, these are the helpers ourpany have assigned to you. They do any machine processing, electrical engineering, anything, as long as it falls within their scope of work,¡± said the CEO of Rheinmetall, Mark Armin, to Xia Lei in the workshop. ¡°We have prepared all the staff and supplies. You may start your work now.¡±
¡°Well, we still need some other equipment sent from our side. The freighter carrying them departed while I was making my way here, so it will arrive here in about two weeks,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Do you mean to say that there is nothing we need to do on our end?¡± Discontentment shed in Mark Armin¡¯s eyes.
One could only get a true grasp of the technology if one had first-hand experience in building it. It was not beneficial for them if Xia Lei was having a production line shipped over.
¡°No, no,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Of course there are things which you need to do. Zhengnan, hand him the list of materials which need to be prepared and processed.¡±
Liu Zhengnan, who was standing behind Xia Lei, opened his briefcase and took out arge, bound list. He went up to Mark Armin and handed it to him with both hands.
Mark Armin did not reach out to take the list. He did not even spare Liu Zhengnan a nce. To him, the only one from the Chinese side who was qualified to talk to him was Xia Lei, and no one else.
Xia Lei had beaten down some of Mark Armin¡¯s arrogance yesterday, but it was not something he would change immediately.
Liu Zhengnan was a little embarrassed, and he nced at Xia Lei.
Mark Armin spoke before Xia Lei did. ¡°Josef, take a look at it.¡±
Josef walked over and took that thick, bound stack of paper from Liu Zhengnan¡¯s hands. The list had been written in German, a product of Liu Zhengnan¡¯s hard work.
Josef flipped through the list, and quickly gave a frown. ¡°Why aren¡¯t there any parts for thatthe?¡±
¡°Your German side is unable to process those parts. A portion of the parts for Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe will be shipped over, and the rest shall be processed by me here,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had named hisposite intelligentthe beforeing to Germany. It was the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe.
The ¡®dragon¡¯ part of the name represented the Chinese people. He was a descendant of the Dragon, and Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe would conquer Europe! *
¡°Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe? What a strange name.¡± Josef did not get the reference to Chinese culture in the name, and a faint smile of disdain appeared in the corners of his lips. ¡°Mr Xia, do you mean to say that we Germans cannot process the parts you need?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t want to say it that way, but yes, that is the case,¡± said Xia Lei casually.
¡°Haha!¡± A highly-skilled machinist from the Rheinmetall AG teamughed. ¡°Is he joking? When did a country which has always imported precision-processed parts from Germany surpass us?¡±
¡°It¡¯s probably because they cannot afford our precision-processed parts,¡± drawled an electrical engineer. He found it rather humorous.
Xia Lei was calm in the face of all this ridicule, and he was unconcerned.
Annina, on the other hand, could not take it anymore and said, ¡°What are youughing about? I am a highly-skilled machinist too, but my abilities are not even a tenth of our Director Xia¡¯s capabilities. Our Director Xia is the best machinist and electrical engineer in the world. You cannot be ced on par with him, much less surpass him. If he says you can¡¯t process the parts, you can¡¯t.¡±
¡°Annina!¡± thundered Josef. ¡°Are you sucking up to your boss?¡±
Annina harrumphed. ¡°What I said was the truth.¡±
She wanted to say more, but Xia Lei nudged her elbow. ¡°All right, enough. Don¡¯t argue with them. This sort of argument is meaningless.¡±
Annina closed her mouth, but she looked like she was still seething. Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were silent, just standing to one side and watching, not saying anything. Their orders were to protect Xia Lei, and create a safe environment for him to carry out his work. As for the building of the machine production lines, and the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe, they were strangers to these fairly technical things, and were not able toment. Furthermore, their Germannguage ability was only at the level of simple conversation, and they could not even pronounce some of the technical terms. There really wasn¡¯t anything they couldment on.
¡°I know you are capable, Mr Xia. You would not have been able to design and build excellent weapons such as the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle otherwise. However, I dare not believe what you say about us Germans not being able to process the precision parts you need for your machine.¡± Mark Armin continued, ¡°In fact, you Chinese had always been importing precision parts from Germany before this, and we ended the exchange on our end because of some politics. You¡¯re now saying in front of so many German machinists and electrical engineers that we Germans are unable to process the parts you need? Are you kidding me?¡±
¡°I have no intention of disrespecting you. I am just stating the facts. If your machinists and electrical engineers want to prove themselves, you can have them process simr parts, and assemble your own Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe. You¡¯ll know if I have spoken the truth then,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why wait till then?¡± A woman suddenly stood forward. ¡°I am Rheinmetall¡¯s Chief Machinist. My name is Sylvia. Mr Xia, I don¡¯t believe a word of what you¡¯ve said. I do believe, however, that what people say of the Chinese is true ¡ª they like to boast.¡±
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows.
Sylvia walked over to Xia Lei.
She was small, petite, and looked to be in her twenties, young. She had a head of wine-red hair, and it was tied up in a simple ponytail. Perhaps it was her small size, but her facial features seemed to have the delicate beauty of an Eastern woman, and the defined lines of a Western woman.
The sight of Sylvia made Xia Lei think abruptly of Smy. This Sylvia seemed to be an European version of Smy.
Xia Lei had not gone back to meet Smy after leaving Afghanistan. One reason was because it was too chaotic, too dangerous. He did not want to have to fight with the CIA and American Special Forces for a rendezvous with Smy. The other reason was that he was a married man, and his love life wasplicated enough. He did not need more mess in his life.
Smy had be a beautiful memory to him. This Sylvia, however, had reignited his beautiful memories for some reason. Xia Lei¡¯s first impression was that Sylvia was version of Smy with her golden hair dyed red.
However, this Sylvia was not Smy. She was forceful from the get-go. ¡°Mr Xia, Miss Annina over here says you¡¯re the world¡¯s best machinist, and that no one can surpass you. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe in your capabilities, but I don¡¯t believe that China would have someone like this.¡±
The way she phrased this hurt him more.
¡°I am Rheinmetall¡¯s best machinist. The government acknowledges my ability, and my colleagues do too. My ability is quite real. How about this ¡ª you give me one of the parts you need precision-processed for your Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe, and we process this part at the same time, using the same type ofthe. If the part you¡¯ve processed is better than mine, I¡¯ll admit that you are the world¡¯s best machinist. Also, I, and my people will follow your orders in the future.¡± Sylvia¡¯s eyes were full of challenge, doubt and disdain.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°All right. I need a pure titanium rotor for thethe. It¡¯s cylindrical and needs 128 gear-teeth to be processed on its circumference. It is ten centimetres long, and every tooth¡¯s thickness and height must be within one millimetre of each other, at an uracy of 0.001 microns. Keep this in mind ¡ª an absolute of one millimetre, and every tooth must be the same. The precision required for this is 0.001 microns. If you have the confidence to process this, I will hand you the drawings and relevant datater.¡±
¡°Hold on...¡± Sylvia stared straight at Xia Lei, and her gaze was odd. ¡°What was the precision for this again?¡±
¡°This part has a precision requirement of 0.001 microns.¡±
¡°Haha... 0.001 microns? Are you kidding me?¡± Sylvia guffawed, and her breasts shook in quite an exaggerated fashion, like jiggling pudding.
¡°I¡¯m not kidding.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not kidding me, Mr Xia? Do you know that the most precisethe in the world now has a precision uracy of only 0.005 microns? Even the measuring instrument for that sort of precision you want has not been manufactured yet!¡±
¡°That¡¯s why I said I can build the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe, but you can¡¯t. Do you still want to try now?¡± said Xia Lei tly.
¡°Of course! If I can¡¯t process a part like this, you can¡¯t either!¡± Sylvia was not daunted by Xia Lei¡¯s precision requirements at all, and the way he had spoken fanned the mes of herpetitiveness even more.
¡°All right, then. You people provide the ce and thethe. I¡¯ll provide the drawings and the data.¡±
¡°That¡¯s decided, then.¡± Sylvia stretched out a hand to Xia Lei, and curled it into a fist.
Xia Lei stared nkly at that fist for a bit, then he stretched out his own fist and knocked hers gently. Her first was so soft it didn¡¯t seem like it had bones. The skin on her hand was tender too, not like a machinist¡¯s skin at all.
A fist bump. Something Western youths liked to do. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. This fist bump also meant that thepetition between the best machinist in Germany and China¡¯s Father of Rifles had begun.
Chapter 571 - An Unbelievable Man From China
Half an hourter, Rheinmetall¡¯s precision processing workshop.
Xia Lei found out that the young Sylvia was the chief of this core workshop after he got to it. Just this fact made it in that this European version of Smy who had challenged him was a real, talented top-notch mechanic. Her abilities were probably above Annina¡¯s, or Rheinmetall¡¯s top mechanics wouldn¡¯t have been willing to let a young woman lead them.
In this precision processing workshop, Xia Lei saw many intelligentthes like those developed by Josef. It looked like the Germans had quickly pushed thesethes out into the market right after Josef created it. Germany¡¯s manufacturing level would definitely have been upgraded to some degree with the intelligentthes created by Josef.
However, the intelligentthe which the Germans were so proud of was already an outdated product to Xia Lei. Lathes like these had already been phased out at Thunder Horse Military Factory. The intelligentthes which Thunder Horse Military Factory used now had this intelligentthe as a foundation, and had been tweaked to have a boost in performance.
Thunder Dragon intelligentthe was the world¡¯s biggestposite intelligentthe, the best, and unsurpassable, at least in the current world.
Now, the European version of Smy was challenging the might of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, and Xia Lei, who had invented it.
Sylvia quickly finished looking through the drawings and data which Xia Lei had given her. It was only a drawing and numbers, but a top mechanic like her, she had only needed to take a quick look at them to have theplete product take shape in her head,plete with the relevant numbers. If not for Xia Lei¡¯s crazy precision requirement, she would be able to create the part in the drawing at any time.
Two intelligentthes, a machinist from China, a machinist from Germany, and a group of onlookers. Thepetition had yet to begin but the precision processing workshop was already all lively.
"A Chinese machinist actually dared to challenge the Boss Barbie. He will regret it because he made the wrong choice," said one of the mechanics of the precision processing workshop.
"From what I know, China has always been importing processed parts from Europe, especially the precision-processed parts. Now they¡¯ve actually sent this guy to challenge our Boss Barbie. He must¡¯vee to make usugh. If that¡¯s the case, he really is quite funny," said someone jeeringly.
"I bet that this Chinese guy will definitely lose. Anyone want to put down a bet?"
"I bet you 50 euros that Boss Barbie will win."
"I also bet 50 euros that Boss Barbie will win."
"Oh, if you¡¯re all betting Boss Barbie will win then I¡¯ll have to cut the odds. 50 euros ¡ª I can only do a 60-euro payout or I¡¯d be broke."
"Hahaha..."
Xia Lei heard their mocking, of course, and also found out that Sylvia had the nickname "Barbie". This could be because of her appearance and body ¡ª she really did look like a sexy version of a Barbie doll.
The challenge was about to start when Annina walked to Xia Lei. "I think I should do this. That woman isn¡¯t qualified to challenge you. If she wins against me, it¡¯s not loss if you make you move after I do."
Xia Lei replied in a low voice, "It¡¯s best if I do it. This person is questioning my abilities. I need to make them shut up and go to work. I have to do it myself for that to happen."
"Okay." Annina scrunched up her nose. "Show her what you¡¯re made of."
Xia Lei only nodded, then walked toward an intelligentthe. A cylindrical piece of titanium had been put in the machine, and it had been prepared by Sylvia for this challenge.
Sylvia walked towards another intelligentthe.
"Sylvia, wait." Josef called out to Syliva, then walked up to her and whispered something in her ear.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t bother with reading their lips. He was knew why Josef was targeting him ¡ª because of Annina, and because of the intelligentthe¡¯s technology. These were problems which couldn¡¯t be resolved but he did not care, no matter how Josef messed with him. Someone like Josef couldn¡¯t even count as a rival to him.
Josef was done whispering in Sylvia¡¯s ear. She turned and said to Xia Lei, "Mr Xia, shouldn¡¯t our challenge have some sort of prize? If not, we won¡¯t have anything tomemorate it with, whether it¡¯ll be your win or my win."
Xia Lei smiled faintly. "Miss Sylvia, what kind of prize would you like?"
Sylvia smiled as she said, "How about this, if I win, you give me a pair of China-made socks and a China-made shirt. What do you think?"
She heavily emphasised the words "China-made". Saying that the prize she wanted was Chinese manufactured socks and shirts made her intentions clear. She was making fun of China¡¯s manufacturing level, and also mocking Xia Lei, a machinist from China, at the same time.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t angry. "And what if I win? Miss Sylvia, what memento will you give me?" he asked instead.
Sylvia thought for a moment and said, "Mr Xia, I don¡¯t believe there¡¯s anyone in this world who can reach the precision level of 0.001 microns you were talking about. You can¡¯t either. How about this ¡ª let¡¯spete on the base of an uracy of 0.005 microns. Whoever¡¯s more precise wins. If you win, you can do whatever you want with me."
What kind of prize was this?
The precision processing workshop¡¯s machinists got excited and burst into conversation before Xia Lei got the meaning behind her words.
"Is Boss Barbie wagering herself?"
"My god, can I enter thispetition?"
"Do you guys know? I heard that an international football star from Bayern Munich is after our Boss Barbie but our Boss Barbie rejected him. How could such an outstanding woman put herself as the bet, and as a prize for a Chinese guy on top of that? I can¡¯t understand it!"
"You can¡¯t understand? Heh, that means that our Boss Barbie will win for sure. Why would she be willing to make herself a prize for a Chinese guy otherwise?"
"Our Boss Barbie is the sexiest beauty I¡¯ve seen. Really, I am willing to give up a year of my sry if I can have a night with her."
This kind of chatter was heard by Xia Lei yet he felt no sense of privilege. Instead, he became aware of her haughtiness and scorn. Anger surged in his heart.
"What¡¯s wrong? Are you afraid?" Sylvia looked at Xia Lei with provocation in her eyes.
Xia Lei snorted. "All right, I ept. I can do whatever I want to you, right?"
Sylvia¡¯s lips curled slightly in a sexy smile. "That¡¯s right."
Thepetition between the two machinistsmenced immediately. The two intelligentthes started up and the two machinists started the precision processing on the cylindrical pieces of titanium.
Sylvia skillfully entered the instructions in the control terminal and arranged the sequences of the program. All the calctions and adjustments were smoothly done, and she worked skillfully with the machine, like one of its cogs.
Xia Lei did the same but he was visibly faster.
"That Chinese dude seems really good. Look, his is visibly faster than Boss Barbie."
"Yeah, look, he¡¯s done. Histhe has already started processing automatically."
"Oh my God. Is our sexy goddess going to have to sleep with a Chinese guy?"
"What are you saying? Boss Barbie¡¯sthe is going to work too."
"That¡¯s right, it¡¯s normal that that Chinese dude is faster because he is familiar with what he is processing, but it¡¯s the first time our Boss Barbie¡¯s had contact with the parts she needs to process. So if we look at it this way, our Boss Barbie is obviously better. Just you wait and see. That Chinese dude will bring our Boss Barbie the China-made socks and shirt!"
"Haha! That¡¯s right! Boss Barbie is humiliating that guy on purpose. I can¡¯t wait to see his face when he loses."
The machinists of the precision processing workshop always had these weird discussions.
Their chatter had no effect on Xia Lei¡¯s work. Ten minutester, his intelligentthepleted the initial processing of the cylindrical pure titanium material. Under normal circumstances, machinists would measure the initial processing of the part at this stage, then adjust the intelligentthe to proceed to the second round of precision processing.
And that was what Sylvia did. Her intelligentthe soon finished the initial processing of the cylindrical pure titanium material too. She skillfully used the measuring tool to measure the processed part. She spent quite a few minutes doing this. During this process, Xia Lei just looked at her with a faint smile of disdain on his lips while he did nothing for those few minutes.
"What is that Chinese dude doing?"
"Does he think that he¡¯s already won like this?"
"If this is all it takes, fuck, even I could win against Boss Barbie."
"This Chinese dude is just aedian. China must have sent him here to make usugh."
Sylvia soon finished measuring the part, and she started doing calctions on the intelligentthe¡¯s control terminal. She entered the instructions and set the precision processing program. During this entire process, Xia Lei still did nothing. He just looked at her.
Sylvia finally turned her head to look at Xia Lei after shepleted her work on the control terminal. Her eyes locked with his. She then saw Xia Lei holding the pre-processed part in his hands, and that he had not done anything; he was watching her instead. The faint disdainful smile on his lips made her feel a bit ufortable. She sneered, "Mr Xia, are you imagining me giving you that kind of service right now? I think that you should go to the supermarket to buy the socks and shirts I wanted instead."
Xia Lei shrugged. He turned the intelligentthe straight to manual mode and started processing.
"Oh my god, he changed to doing it manually. Is he going to process a high precision part manually?"
"This Chinese dude is too arrogant!"
"That¡¯s right, nobody can achieve this level. That¡¯s not possible!"
Sylvia stood stunned in the midst of all that talk. She couldn¡¯t believe her eyes.
Chapter 572 - Chemical Reaction
No one could do precision processing manually. That didn¡¯t make any sense, and was beyond the limits of being ¡°human¡±. A machinist, no matter how skilled, could only use his experience and the rightthe to finish the job. There wasn¡¯t actually a big difference between ordinary machinists and elite machinists, just that thetter was better in designing and high-precision processing.
However, a machinist from China had upset this status quo. Xia Lei was like a troublemaker now, and he was not following the rules. What he was doing now was like driving a bulldozer into the wall of what these people had defined in their heads as ¡®machinist¡¯ and smashing that wall down!
But this was just a superficial feeling. Deep down, these people were still unwilling to believe it.
And this included Sylvia too.
Sylvia only nked out for a moment, though, and a faint, mocking smile soon appeared in the corners of her mouth. She thought, ¡®What¡¯s with him acting like he¡¯s an expert? China¡¯s manufacturing standards are only of that level. You¡¯re fortunate enough that we¡¯d give you such an advanced intelligentthe to use, but you actually are so arrogant as to switch to manual processing! Fine. You chose this yourself. I can beat you easily!¡¯
Sylvia started up the intelligentthe again, and started precision processing work on the pur titanium part.
The whispers did not stop. The person who had made the bet was already asking for his colleagues for his bet and payout back.
There were whispers on Xia Lei¡¯s side too, but it was another type of whispering.
¡°What are those Germans mumbling about?¡± Tang Yuyan could understand some simple German words, but she did not understand theplicated conversations between the machinists.
Liu Zhengnan tranted for her. His trantion was urate and concise, and he exined what was happening in a few sentences. He also did a general summary of the engineers¡¯ments.
Tang Yuyan wrinkled her brow. ¡°Those guys are looking down on our Chinese manufacturing like that? Can Xia Lei win against that red-haired bitch?¡±
¡°Need you ask?¡± said Long Bing. ¡°Back then, Xia Lei used his own two hands and the simplest equipment to build the first intelligentthe. He is now hailed as China¡¯s Father of Rifles, and the XL2500 and Gust rifles are first in the world. Can that German woman surpass him in capability? She is just bringing humiliation upon herself.¡±
Tang Yuyan smiled. ¡°That¡¯s reassuring.¡± Her eyes went to Xia Lei, and her gaze seemed to smoulder. ¡°Mmm, a man who is devoted to work is hot, but not as hot as when he¡¯s on the battlefield. Bing, what version of Xia Lei is most attractive to you?¡±
Long Bing didn¡¯t even think about it. ¡°When he¡¯s not looking at you.¡±
¡°Up yours. Am I a witch?¡± Tang Yuyan red at Long Bing, then abruptly spoke to Liu Zhengnan. ¡°Mr Liu, those Germans look like they¡¯re betting on something. What are the stakes in that bet Xia Lei has against that German bitch?¡±
¡°Uh...¡±
¡°Talk!¡± urged Tang Yuyan.
¡°Well, if Rheinmetall¡¯s Sylvia wins, Director Xia has to give her socks and shirts made in China. This is a bet designed to humiliate him. If Director Xia wins, however, she said she would give herself to him, and let him do what he wants with her,¡± said Liu Zhengnan.
¡°Huh? Isn¡¯t she betting her own body like this? This woman sure is a cheap woman.¡± Tang Yuyan frowned and said, ¡°A pervert¡¯s a pervert. He epted a bet like this?¡±
She did not mention Xia Lei¡¯s name, but who else could she mean when she said ¡®pervert¡¯?
¡°Right, Bing?¡± Tang Yuyan looked at Long Bing and asked.
Long Bing¡¯s reaction was very cool. ¡°What¡¯s ¡®right¡¯?¡±
¡°Is Xia Lei a pervert?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s lips moved as if to say something, but no words came out. She obviously had a gauge of whether Xia Lei was a pervert or not, and she had had dozens of intimate rounds of sex with Xia Lei to measure it, but this was her secret. Would she tell Tang Yuyan?
¡°Bing, were you in Xia Lei¡¯s room in theter half ofst night?¡± Tang Yuyan asked another question.
¡°Of course.¡±
¡°What were the two of you doing?¡±
¡°Sleeping.¡±
¡°Huh? You two...¡±
¡°He was sleeping, and I was watching him sleep. Is there a problem?¡±
¡°You take the first night shift tonight, and I¡¯ll take the second.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Just a regr shift change. I can¡¯t keep taking the first shift and you take theter shift, right? He¡¯s already asleep in the second half of the night anyway, so you¡¯re just going in to watch him sleep. It¡¯s so rxing, isn¡¯t it? You can¡¯t keep having such a cushy job, y¡¯know.¡±
Long Bing was speechless.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei again. Standing before thethe, Xia Lei was focused, confident, calm. He was beautiful. His firm ass, his strong back, and those strong hands and his sunny, handsome profile... things which were oh so sexy to most women, and so very seductive. She would definitely not admit it with her own mouth, but inside, she had to admit to herself that she was attracted to him, and she was only getting more attracted.
Tang Yuyan had always hadplicated feelings about Xia Lei. She had felt like he would be her man one day when they were in Moscow, and that that day was not far off. She had not expected that the queen of Vientaine Group would sweep in and cut her off halfway, soon after they had returned to China. At that time, she had been hurt, and hated Xia Lei, and didn¡¯t want to see him for a period of time, not even contacting him. She¡¯d thought that time would lessen the feelings she had for him, but as time went on, she found that she could not forget him, and that her feelings for him had grown stronger.
But she knew that she wanted too much, and that Xia Lei could not give it all to her.
Long Bing had told her this before, and it had been like rubbing salt into her wound.
What should she do about it?
She did not know herself.
There were times when she could not help herself, and tried to seduce Xia Lei, but she stopped when she felt like Xia Lei was going to take the bait. This was because she was a woman of the Tang sect, and her pride was as great as Shentu Tianyin¡¯s. The noble blood of the Tang sect ran in her veins, and she would not deign to be a mistress. If she were to be with Xia Lei, then she would rece Shentu Tianyin, or not be with him at all!
Xia Lei finished processing the part in the midst of Tang Yuyan¡¯s messy thoughts.
¡°I¡¯m done.¡± Xia Lei casually switched the intelligentthe off.
Sylvia, on the other side, was still processing her part. It was not that she didn¡¯t hear him, but that she dared not lose focus. She had a feeling that she would break her previous record this time, and have her processing reach an uracy of 0.004 microns. This would be 0.001 microns more urate than the publicly acknowledge world record.
This was the most crucial time too, so how could she lose focus.
¡°That Chinese fellow is already done. How¡¯s he so quick?¡± said someone.
¡°He just manually processed it, so it¡¯s no surprise that he¡¯s fast. If I were to do it, I¡¯d be even faster. This is precision processing, not a timed race. Just wait, he¡¯ll make a fool of himself. Humph, that arrogant Chinese man!¡± said Josef in disdain.
Xia Lei then said, ¡°Do you guys have a better precision measuring device? Your precision measuring tools are not able to measure the precision of the parts I process.¡±
These words stunned the watching CEO of Rheinmetall AG and the high-level management. This was a precision processing workshop and the tools being used here were the best in Rheinmetall AG, and maybe even in the whole of Europe! But Xia Lei was saying that these precision measuring devices here could not measure the precision of his processed parts urately?!
¡°Is there any?¡± asked Xia Lei again.
Josef could not hold it in anymore, and he jeered, ¡°Are you kidding me, Mr Xia? Do you know where you are now? You¡¯re in Rheinmetall AG, Germany¡¯s most powerful military enterprise. If there are no tools here which can measure the uracy of the parts you¡¯ve processed, then I can dare guarantee that there is no precision measuring device on Earth which can measure the parts you¡¯ve processed. Even so, you processed this manually. You think you¡¯re a human-shaped precision processingthe or something? You can boast, but don¡¯t overdo it.¡±
The surrounding machinists in the precision processing workshopughed. Mockingughter. Xia Lei¡¯s words offended their pride.
¡°So that means you don¡¯t have any. What a shame,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°You guys could have seen what a super-precision processed part is really like.¡±
¡°No!¡± Mark Armon finally spoke. ¡°Ourpany has an experimentalboratory. Our Strategy Lab. There is a testing instrument there. It is not usually used at all, and when it is used, it is only for tests on parts which have been processed with precision technology. It can measure parts up to an uracy of 0.001 microns. Since Mr Xia here is so confident, I can start up this testing instrument and measure the precision of your precision-processed part.¡±
¡°Sure, this is best,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Sylvia was done processing her part right then, and she took the processed part from thethe with a smile. ¡°All right, I¡¯m done too. I believe that I¡¯ve broken my previous record.¡±
Voices of surprise came from all around.
¡°My goodness, Boss Barbie has broken her old record! That record from two years ago?¡±
¡°Looks like that Chinese fellow really stepped on her tail!¡±
¡°Heh. We all know how capable Boss Barbie is. Time for that China boy to shame himself.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll ask Boss Barbie to hang the China-made shirt and socks on the main doors of our workshop, and that will remind me of what China manufactures every time I see them, haha!¡±
Sylvia looked over at Xia Lei, and their gazes met.
There seemed to be a chemical reaction in the air between them, and one could almost smell gunpowder.
A faint smile of disdain appeared in the corners of Sylvia¡¯s mouth.
Xia Lei did not react. He looked away from Sylvia¡¯s gaze.
¡°Come with me. The Strategy Lab is close,¡± said Mark Armin. He turned to leave.
The group walked out of the precision processing workshop, and came to a standalone, single-storey building. This was Rheinmetall AG¡¯s Strategy Lab, and the ce where designs and experiments of their products would be done for the next few years, or even ten years. If one looked at it from this perspective, it was the centre of Rheinmetall AG¡¯s future, and of utmost importance. Now, this was going to y the part of judge, and determine who the winner was going to be between Chinese and German manufacturing!
Chapter 573 - Boss Barbie and the Middle Finger
Xia Lei and Sylvia handed over their respective precision-processed parts which they had processed to a research worker upon entering the Strategy Lab. That research worker first put Sylvia¡¯s processed part into the testing instrument and conducted a scan test.
Based on the results of the scan, the testing instrument¡¯sputer terminal quickly calcted the precision of the part which Sylvia had processed. It was 0.0039 microns!
The machinists watching from outside the window at a precision processing workshop immediately burst into cheers.
¡°She really broke the record!¡±
¡°Her old record was 0.004 microns. Goodness, this is a miracle!¡±
0.005 microns was an extreme, so 0.0039 microns was definitely a miracle because few mechanics in this world could process parts so precisely.
Sylvia looked at Xia Lei andughed. ¡°Mr Xia, do you think the part that you processed manually can surpass mine? I¡¯ll give you a chance. Admit defeat now and buy me socks and a shirt made in China from the supermarket. If you do this, I¡¯ll guarantee that my people won¡¯t jeer at you.¡±
Xia Lei replied indifferently, ¡°Miss Sylvia, you should be thinking about how you¡¯ll honour your promise instead.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll just have to wait and see.¡± Sylvia was very confident.
The test apparatus scanned the part which Xia Lei had processed, over and over. It took almost double the time to scan his,pared to Sylvia¡¯s.
There were new voices from outside the window.
¡°What is going on? Shouldn¡¯t it be calcted really quickly?¡±
¡°Yeah, could something be wrong with that measurement tool?¡±
¡°I bet that the Chinese guy is going to use the malfunction as an excuse to back out on the bet.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t all Chinese people like that? They are full of pride and won¡¯t admit it even if they are wrong.¡±
¡°If he dares go back on his bet, I¡¯ll give it to him!¡±
Sylvia watched the testing instrument closely in theboratory. She was beginning to feel a little nervous for some reason.
Right at that moment, the testing instrument stopped. Theputer terminal had finished calcting the results.
Sylvia¡¯s gaze fell upon theputer terminal¡¯s disy screen, and her jaw fell immediately, almost smashing into small pieces all over the floor.
The researcher worker in charge of the testing was also rooted to the spot in shock. After a period of time, he adjusted his spectacles and said, ¡°The part that Mr Xia processed has a precision of... of... 0.001 microns.¡±
Everyone was silent. It was absolutely silent around theboratory, outside and in.
¡°No! That¡¯s impossible!¡± Sylvia rushed up to Xia Lei and shrieked emotionally, ¡°This is impossible! You processed it manually!¡±
Xia Lei spoke casually, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have to switch to manual processing if I had used my Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. I¡¯ve said it before, but yourthes arecking so I had no better choice other than the manual method.¡±
This sentence made all faces of the people of Rheinmetall AG go dark. What humiliation!
In the past, China had been willing to pay ten times, or even a hundred times the price to buy the most advancedthes from Germany, but Germany had not been willing to sell them. This was why China had to even import simple precision-processed parts from Germany. Chinese manufacturing had been a joke back then, and only meant socks and shirts to the Germans.
Now, a young Chinese man was standing here, in the most advancedboratory, at the most formidable military enterprise, Rheinmetall AG and telling the Germans that ¡°yourthes arecking¡±! He could manually process a part with a precision of 0.001 microns, but if he wouldn¡¯t have had to do this if he had his Chinesethe.
These words, and this result, was a resounding p to the face of the Germans who looked down on Chinese manufacturing.
All of the Germans¡¯ eyes fell upon Xia Lei¡¯s body. Their expressions had already quietly be filled with astonishment and reverence. Perhaps there were some among them who weren¡¯t convinced, but these people made no fuss when they recalled that Xia Lei had manually processed a part with the precision of 0.001 microns.
Xia Lei spoke casually with all those German eyes on him, ¡°Please give me the part that I processed. I need it to build thethe and I don¡¯t want to have to process another one.¡±
The research worker then came to his senses and took out the pure titanium part from the testing instrument. He handed it respectfully to Xia Lei with both hands.
Xia Lei took the part, then turned, and left theboratory.
¡°Wait!¡± Sylvia chased after him, out of theboratory.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Sylvia. ¡°What else do you want?¡±
Sylvia bit her lip. ¡°You won. I said that I¡¯ll do whatever you want if you win.¡±
The people around them were in uproar immediately. Nobody said a word of criticism of Xia Lei now, nor look down on China¡¯s manufacturing. Instead, they were discussing Sylvia¡¯s figure and whether or not the Chinese guy would climb into bed with her.
¡°I¡¯ll open up another wager. We¡¯ll be cing our bets on whether Boss Barbie will get in bed with the Chinese guy. Odds for them getting it on is 1.5, and the odds that they don¡¯t is 2. Lay down your bets,y down your bets...¡± The guy who had earned a huge profit from the previous round of betting started the bets again. He was probably the person who liked Xia Lei the most in the German group.
On the other side, Tang Yuyan jabbed Liu Zhengnan¡¯s elbow and asked suspiciously, ¡°What are those Germans jabbering about? And what did that little German slut say to Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Liu Zhengnan braced himself and said, ¡°That German girl went after him and said she would fulfil her end of the bet. As for those Germans, they¡¯re discussing... if Director Xia woud bed her.¡±
¡°What?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s furrowed her brows right away, and walked towards Xia Lei.
Long Bing suddenly reached out to grab her. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to teach that little German slut a lesson, of course! Let go of me,¡± said Tang Yuyan in annoyance.
Long Bing did not let go of Tang Yuyan¡¯s hand. She said, ¡°Calm down. That girl is Rheinmetall¡¯s chief machinist. She is going to work together with Xia Lei and help himplete his task. She is a very important person, so you¡¯d better not direct your anger at her. Plus, even if Xia Lei does bed her, the person who should be teaching her a lesson is Shentu Tianyin, and not you.¡±
Tang Yuyan had no words of retort.
Long Bing seemed to have something else that she hadn¡¯t said yet ¡ª I didn¡¯t even step in to interfere, so why are you trying to liven things up?
After all the mor, Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Sylvia looked at Xia Lei, and her gaze held a little bit of anger. ¡°Us Germans are true to our word. I made a promise and you epted it; this could be considered a verbal agreement. I am trying to uphold the agreement between us, but you want to go against it. Excuse me, but may I ask if all Chinese people exhibit the sameck of trust, and if you are allowed to just casually back out of an agreement which both parties have signed?¡±
This European version of Smy didn¡¯t just have exquisite skills, but a smart little mouth too. Her words didn¡¯t allow Xia Lei to agree or disagree. Plus, she even connected this matter to how Chinese people weren¡¯t very trustworthy. If he went ahead and backed out, wouldn¡¯t he just be confirming her words?
¡°Take her to a room!¡± yelled the machinist who had started the bet.
¡°Haha...¡± There was a rumbling ofughter.
¡°Ignore them, Mr Xia.¡± Sylvia¡¯s gaze was hot, and she wore a smile on her face. ¡°Say it. What do you want to do?¡±
Xia Lei came up with something right then. He said, ¡°How about this? You do a dance for them.¡±
Sylvia stared nkly.
Someone yelled, ¡°Undress! Boss Barbie, dance!¡±
¡°That¡¯s all. Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei turned and left.
¡°Are you going to watch?¡± asked Sylvia.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t turn around.
Sylvia loudly called, ¡°You really want me to take off my clothes?¡±
¡°Whatever you want.¡± Xia Lei still didn¡¯t turn around.
¡°I¡¯ll take off my clothes if you stay and watch.¡± Sylvia¡¯s voice was very loud.
Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps paused for a moment, but only a moment. Then, he put his hand up and gave Sylvia the middle finger.
That was his response.
Sylvia had just been a little over the top, especially her insulting remarks about Chinese manufacturing. He didn¡¯t have any affection for her. To him, he¡¯d put a full-stop to this farce now that he¡¯d won, but this Sylvia was nagging him about fulfilling some promise, and even asking him to stay to watch her strip and dance. This was too much, and that was why he gave her the middle finger.
Xia Lei continued to walk away.
The scene in which he had given Sylvia the middle finger seemed to freeze, and stay in the minds of the Germans.
¡°Hahaha! I like this Chinese guy!¡±
¡°This Chinese guy has some personality. He even rejected a woman like Boss Barbie. Has hee out of the closet? Oh Lordy, how do I get his phone number?¡±
Sylvia¡¯s gaze lingered still on Xia Lei¡¯s back. The middle finger that Xia Lei had just given her didn¡¯t make her angry ¡ª it seemed to have prodded her in her soft and slick spot, and it excited her for some reason.
¡°What an interesting man.¡± The corners of Sylvia¡¯s mouth tugged upward in a smile.
¡°Strip, Boss Barbie!¡± said someone provocatively.
¡°That¡¯s right, you promised. That Chinese guy told you to dance here so hurry up and dance.¡±
¡°Strip, strip! I won¡¯t grind against you, I promise!¡±
Sylvia looked away from Xia Lei¡¯s back andughed. ¡°I¡¯ve said that I am a German who keeps my word. When I make a promise, I will keep it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Boss Barbie has always followed through with what she says.¡±
¡°Dance, dance.¡±
They made a din.
Sylvia swayed her sexy body slowly, She twisted her hips and shook her butt, dancing like a snake swaying to music.
Apuse rang out, as well as voices encouraging her to take off her clothes.
Sylvia suddenly stuck out her middle finger in the midst of all the noise and she kept it pointing up as she turned in a 360-degree circle, basically telling everyone around her to fuck off.
The pping stopped.
¡°How could you, Boss Barbie?¡±
¡°Where¡¯s the striptease you promised?¡±
Sylvia straightened up and looked in the direction in which Xia Lei had walked off. ¡°My striptease is for just one person. You guys don¡¯t have the right to see it.¡±
Chapter 574 - The Pretty Boy Plan
Winning in a contest of skill against Sylvia meant that Xia Lei had won the respect of the Germans in Rheinmetall too. No one doubted Xia Lei¡¯s ability from then on, and no one insulted Chinese manufacturing. The building of the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle production lines progressed smoothly with their help.
Liu Zhengnan show off his skill too. He became the hub ofmunication between Xia Lei and the German party. He had given the Germans tasks to do on behalf of Xia Lei several times, and directed them in their work. Xia Lei¡¯s job was much more rxed with him and Annina helping him to manage things.
Xia Lei dove into work too. He had obtained the permission to freely enter the precision processing workshop to use the intelligentthe there to process all the precision parts he needed to prepare for the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe.
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
Night time, in the precision processing workshop.
¡°Goodbye, Mr Xia.¡±
¡°You¡¯re working overtime again, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Come for a drink with us, Mr Xia. How can you not drink German beer when you are in Germany?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, it¡¯s my daughter¡¯s birthday. Would you be able toe to her birthday party?¡±
Xia Lei smiled as he exchanged greetings with the machinists, but he declined all of their invitations tactfully, no exceptions. He had be familiar with the people of the precision processing workshop in a week, and he had a good friendship with them too.
The machinists of the precision processing workshop seemed to be used to Xia Lei¡¯s refusals too, and theyughed and chatted as they exited the workshop. The workshop was quiet after they left.
Xia Lei processed another part, then shut down the intelligentthe. His gaze went to a wall, and through it. Behind the wall was Rheinmetall¡¯s artillery workshop. There were several pieces of machinery and equipment in there, as well as finished and half-finished pieces of various artillery.
He had been spying on the artillery workshop behind the wall like this for the past week.
Sneaking into the workshop next door was the simplest way to get Rheinmetall¡¯s world-famous artillery technology, but it was too risky to do so. He was looking through the wall, observing the artillery workshop a section a day, umting it all. This was also a way to get what he wanted, only that it was tiring and used up a lot of time.
This was the reason why Xia Lei wanted to work overtime every day.
He was always trying to expand Thunder Horse Military Factory, and he dreamed of making it a world-ss military enterprise. However, it was not possible with Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s current power and product lines. It had to have aprehensive stable of products, artillery, armoured vehicles, tanks, and even missiles and fighter nes to be a world-ss military factory!
Rheinmetall AG was representative of Germany¡¯s military industry, the king of Germany¡¯s arms dealers, so Xia Lei wanted to make full use of any time he had here.
His left eye was like a camera equipped with learning technology, and his brain was like a hard disk, storing the information. There was no technology he could not learn or grasp with these two units of himself working together!
The artillery workshop behind the wall entered his field of vision silently. The model number of every piece of equipment, how each piece of equipment was positioned next to the other, details of finished products and half-finished products, as well as the precision of the electrical engineering and parts and so on... these things flowed through his left eye and to his brain like a stream. His brain was like a bottomless ck hole, swallowing everything.
These things were all nourishment, nourishment for Thunder Horse Military Factory. Get these, and Thunder Horse Military Factory would grow rapidly!
Step, step...
A series of footsteps rang out.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision, turned towards the sound, and stared nkly.
The person walking through the workshop door was Sylvia.
She was in a ck trench coat, and her long, wine-red hair trailed over her shoulders. The delicate features of her face, and that hot, sexy body, plus those ck high heels she wore made her not seem like an elite machinist, but an international model doing a walk on the runway.
¡®Didn¡¯t she end work already? Why¡¯s she back? What does she want?¡¯ Several questions popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head at once.
These questions seemed simple but getting the answers would be difficult.
Sylvia stepped over to him with her sexy legs. She was a temptation.
¡°Uh. Miss Sylvia, didn¡¯t you end work?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t stay quiet any longer, and he spoke.
Sylvia stopped before Xia Lei. She said nothing, but undid her trench coat all of a sudden. The ck trench coat slipped open soundlessly, opening up like a door, a door to a garden, revealing the dazzling scenery behind it.
Sylvia abruptly did a twirl, then started dancing slowly. The ck trench coat flew from her tond on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
The trench coat she had worn had a fragrance on it, and Xia Lei did not know if it was from her body, or from some expensive perfume. It smelt good anyway, and was rather seductive.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±
Sylvia did not stop dancing; she was sexy, enchanting. ¡°You told me to dance. I¡¯m keeping my promise. It doesn¡¯t count if you don¡¯t watch, however. So... I¡¯m dancing for you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
It had been a week. He did not expect that she would pick tonight to keep her promise.
Sylvia put both hands on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulders, and went down... then up... then down... slowly, swaying, breathing her hot breath on Xia Lei. ¡°So... Want me to keep stripping?¡±
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses then. ¡°NO. No. This is enough, this is enough.¡±
Sylvia ended her dance. She stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Did youe out of the closet or something?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Sylvia immediately looked down between Xia Lei¡¯s legs, and she smirked. ¡°You didn¡¯t, I see.¡±
¡°Miss Sylvia, I¡¯m married,¡± said Xia Lei awkwardly.
Sylviaughed. ¡°I know. I looked up quite a few things about you on the inte over the past few days. Owner of Thunder Horse Military Factory, creator of the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle, China¡¯s Father of Rifles. Your wife is the wealthiest woman in China, Shentu Tianyin. Huh. Her name¡¯s difficult to pronounce. Excuse my rudeness. But... did you think I wanted to rece her? I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t have that sort of appeal.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He didn¡¯t know what to add to that.
¡°Mr Xia, you¡¯ve been in Germany for a while now but you haven¡¯t stepped out of Rheinmetall¡¯s doors. Men like you are very popr among women. Don¡¯t you want to have some fun?¡± The look in Sylvia¡¯s eyes grew seductive.
¡®She is the chief machinist of Rheinmetall AG, in charge of thepany¡¯s precision processing workshop. All the things which need to be precision-processed in Rheinmetall go through her workshop, so she must know a lot of thepany¡¯s key technologies...¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
The woman was trying to seduce him, but his head was full of other thoughts.
¡°Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I wonder, what is this fun that you¡¯re talking about?¡±
Sylvia smiled. ¡°Come to my ce. I have a lot of good German beer at home. Oh, I can get some marijuana for you too.¡±
¡°Drinking is fine, but forget the marijuana. I¡¯ve never smoked it.¡±
¡°Sure. Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll get the car.¡± Sylvia was delighted.
¡®She¡¯s obviously interested in me. Cheating seems normal in the west. I¡¯ll sacrifice myself for a bit, and get on good terms with her. I will surely gain something out of this,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
What was a little sacrifice of his chastitypared to the rise of Thunder Horse Military Factory?
He followed Sylvia to the carpark, and Long Bing appeared out of a dark corner. She said nothing, just looked at Xia Lei and Sylvia.
¡°Miss Sylvia, please hold on. I¡¯ll go talk to my friend,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Is she a girlfriend?¡± said Sylvia with augh.
Xia Lei did not answer. He walked up to Long Bing and said quietly in her ear, ¡°I¡¯m going to her ce with her.¡±
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°That¡¯s dangerous. There are German Special Forces soldiers here protecting you. They might not be able to protect you if you go to her ce. Oh, right, what are you going to her ce for?¡±
This was actually what Long Bing wanted to know most.
¡°She is the chief machinist at Rheinmetall, and holds the reins of Rheinmetall¡¯s precision processing workshop. Practically all of the precision-processed parts go through her hands, so she must have some key technologies of thepany. She¡¯s interested in me, so I... Um. I want to get those technologies. Coming to Rheinmetall is like entering a treasure trove. Are you really going to leave empty-handed? I want to build Thunder Horse Military Factory up, and I need Rheinmetall¡¯s technologies for that,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°So... You¡¯ve decided to use the ¡®Pretty Boy¡¯ n?¡± Long Bing had a peculiar look in her eyes.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You can say so. She¡¯s interested in me. This sort of opportunity doesn¡¯te easily.¡±
Long Bing thought for a bit. She took out a small electronic device and put it in Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Take this. Tang Yuyan and I will follow.¡±
¡°No. Rheinmetall will sense something if you mobilise. This has to be treated like we are a normal dating couple.¡± Xia Lei still put that electronic device in his clothing. ¡°I¡¯ll take it so that you and Tang Yuyan would know where I am. You can hear me speak too. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be careful. Nothing will happen.¡±
¡°Be careful.¡± Long Bing hesitated, but still said it. ¡°Um... If you must do... that... Remember to use a condom. Avoid winning the lottery.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 575 - Who the Hell Is She?
A ck car came to a slow stop by the kerb under a block of ts.
The driver was a middle-aged man. After stopping the car, he got out and walked into a fast food shop by the side of the road.
In the car, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan stared at a specialputer monitor. They were following a signal, and that signal represented Xia Lei.
¡°Bing, what do you think that guy is doing with that little German slut right now?¡± Tang Yuyan broke the silence in the car.
Long Bing said, ¡°You can just speak your mind. You don¡¯t need to test me for a reaction.¡±
Tang Yuyanughed. ¡°I bet that rascal is being intimate with that little German slut right now.¡±
Long Bing said, ¡°Xia Lei isn¡¯t who you think he is. He isn¡¯t doing this for himself, he¡¯s doing this for Rheinmetall¡¯s technologies. Rheinmetall¡¯s artillery technology is ranked first in the world, and five of the internationally famous tanks, including America¡¯s M1, Germany¡¯s Leopard 2, Merkava IV, Type 90 Ky¨±-maru, Italy¡¯s C1 Ariete all use Rheinmetall¡¯s smoothbore tank artillery. If he can get Rheinmetall¡¯s artillery technology, Thunder Horse Military Factory will have its own artillery, and that could increase the fighting strength of our country¡¯s main battle tanks and self propelled artillery.¡±
¡°He really doesn¡¯t want to stop. He just made the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle and now he wants to start making tanks?¡± Tang Yuyan sighed as she continued feelingly, ¡°Sometimes I really want to open up his head and see how it works.¡±
¡°He is a genius.¡±
¡°I have met many geniuses, but all of these geniuses seem like bratty kids who¡¯d just started primary schoolpared to him.¡± After a pause, Tang Yuyan added, ¡°Oh, he¡¯s also a pervert on top of being a genius.¡±
Long Bing didn¡¯t want to continue the conversation. She picked up the headphones used for monitoring and made to put it on to hear Xia Lei and Sylvia¡¯s voices.
Before Long Bing could put them on, Tang Yuyan went ahead and turned on the speaker system.
Xia Lei and Sylvia¡¯s voices came out of the monitoring equipment immediately, and theputer even tranted their conversation to Chinese.
¡°You have so much hair there.¡± Sylvia¡¯s voice was sweet.
¡°You have so much hair there too.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice carried a hint ofughter.
The two lines of dialogue which had suddenlye through the speakers made the two women in the car nk out. Long Bing had an awkward expression on her face and a pang in her heart. Tang Yuyan¡¯s reaction was more intense. Her cheeks turned red and her expression became strange.
¡°You don¡¯t need to use that much force. You broke skin.¡± Sylvia¡¯s voice.
¡°Hehe... okay okay. I¡¯ll do it more gently.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice.
In the car, Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t help but spit out, ¡°Pervert! Slut! They suit each other!¡±
Long Bing¡¯s lips moved for a moment, as if she wanted to defend Xia Lei, but her heart was thrown into chaos and she didn¡¯t know what to say.
Bang, bang, bang. A pounding sound came from outside the car and these pounds ended the scene at hand.
¡°Come in.¡± Long Bing opened the car door.
The driver appeared at the door, holding two cups of hot coffee and two hamburgers in a paper bag. ¡°Section Chiefs, your dinner.¡±
¡°Go guard the downstairs area of the t. Report back to me immediately if you find any suspicious people,¡± said Long Bing.
The driver who had opened the door nodded, closed the door, and quickly stepped towards the apartment building.
Xia Lei and Sylvia were plucking a goose in a room on the third floor of the building. They had bought the goose from the supermarket, and it should have been plucked, but the workers at the supermarket had not done a clean job of it. Sylvia, who had nned to make some roasted goose for Xia Lei, proposed that they pluck it again. This was what had led to this misunderstanding. It was inevitable for Long Bing and Tang Yuyan to think of it the wrong way based on their dialogue from just a moment ago.
When they had plucked the goose clean, Sylvia said, ¡°Mr Xia, please wait for a moment. I will put the goose into the oven and thene over to you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Go on, I¡¯ll wait for you. Oh, can I use your bathroom?¡±
¡°Of course you can.¡± Sylvia went to the kitchen after she spoke.
Xia Lei went into the bathroom to take a look. As he walked, his left eye twitched, awakening his X-ray vision. Sylvia¡¯s home immediately became a ce without defences as each and every room, and each and every drawer entered his left eye¡¯s view, one after another. Theyout of every room, and every sock, underwear, and piece of underwear in the drawers were all clearly visible, and they appeared in his head, unable to hide from his sight.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes suddenly stopped on the innermost room of the hallway when he got to the bathroom door. It was Sylvia¡¯s study. He saw a desk, a very big bookshelf and over a hundred books. His X-ray vision went through the bookshelf, and he immediately spotted a safe.
¡®What¡¯s inside that safe?¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help guessing at its contents in quiet excitement.
¡°Mr. Xia, didn¡¯t you want to go to the restroom?¡± Sylvia¡¯s voice came from behind him.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He calmly turned around andughed. ¡°You don¡¯t have any cameras installed, do you?¡±
Sylvia paused for a moment before bursting intoughter. ¡°Mr Xia, you¡¯re so funny. Why would I install cameras in my own bathroom? Who would I peep at? Myself?¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll take it that there aren¡¯t any.¡± Xia Lei pushed the door open and walked in.
After several seconds, Sylvia¡¯s voice came from outside the door. ¡°Mr Xia, have you found cameras yet?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s head secretly started hurting, and he intentionally made some noises louder.
Footsteps came from outside the door again. Sylvia had entered her room.
Xia Lei left the bathroom. He nced at the study room that was at the end of the hallway and couldn¡¯t help wanting to go inside to take a look. Safes were special things, and he had to get closer before he could see what was inside. He was far away from it, and to see its contents, he had to look through a wall and a bookshelf, and finally the alloy steel te on the safe. He could not aplish that with his current level of ability.
What could be inside Sylvia¡¯s safe, as the chief machinist of Rheinmetall, in charge of the precision processing workshops? As far as he knew, it definitely wouldn¡¯t be a massive sum of Euros, gold bars, or drugs, and so on.
Even though he really wanted to go take a look in the study, Xia Lei still suppressed the urge. He returned to the living room and sat on the sofa to watch television.
After several minutes, Sylvia came to the living room as well. Her outfit had changed, and she was in soft, tight-fitting pyjamas.
Sylvia stood in front of the liquor cab to get some alcohol. Her back was to Xia Lei but she made a motion to get something from her bra. Although it had been a covert motion, it was impossible for her to hide it from Xia Lei.
What had she taken out from her bra?
What was she nning to do?
Xia Lei¡¯s left twitched, awakening his X-ray ability. Before he could see through Sylvia¡¯s body, she turned around and brought two cups of German Schwarzbier over. He looked at the two cups in her hands and found the anomaly very quickly. There was a pill that was still in the process of dissolving in one of the cups.
Xia Lei went on the alert immediately. He said to himself, ¡®She¡¯s drugging me. What the hell is her identity?¡¯
Sylvia walked over, and sat on the sofa. Her electrifying hips pressed tightly into Xia Lei¡¯s hips, resulting in some very intimate contact. She gave Xia Lei a cup of beer andughed as she said, ¡°Try this beer, Mr Xia. It¡¯s the best Schwarzbier in Germany. It¡¯ll definitely be better than the beer that you Chinese people drink.¡±
However, Xia Lei put the beer on the table.
¡°You¡¯re not drinking it?¡± Doubt and wariness appeared in Sylvia¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei abruptly reached into her pyjamas and pulled down. He moved one hand up, along her thighs, heading straight to the goal.
¡°You...¡± Contrary to expectations, Sylvia got nervous.
Xia Lei kissed her lips, pressing her down on the sofa. Sylvia was forced to put her beer on the table during the process. She couldn¡¯t see it, but Xia Lei¡¯s other hand switched the two cups at lightning speed the moment she put her cup of beer on the table.
Sylvia finally started taking the initiative, and they were really about to do the nasty when Xia Lei suddenly pretended to be nervous. ¡°Oh no, your goose!¡±
¡°Why are you still worrying about a goose at a time like this?¡± Sylvia was gloomy.
¡°We just plucked so many feathers. Wouldn¡¯t all our efforts be in vain if it overcooks? There¡¯s still some time. We can eat dinner first, then do it,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll listen to you, but you have to listen to me too. We have to finish this cup of beer first.¡± Sylvia picked up the cup of beer from the table.
Xia Lei picked up his cup too and touched his cup to Sylvia¡¯s. ¡°Cheers.¡±
The two of them finished their beers.
¡°I¡¯ll go get the roasted goose. Hey, Sweetie? I want to eat a banana after we have the roasted goose.¡± Sylvia winked at Xia Lei. Whether it was through her words or that enticing expression of hers, she could make men excited, and give them an urge to push her down, and fulfil all their desires.
However, Xia Lei was still trying to guess at her identity and motive.
If she was only the chief machinist of Rheinmetall, there wasn¡¯t any point in drugging him. But if she was from the CIA or the FA Organization, then she had a motive to drug him.
Was she Rheinmetall¡¯s chief machinist, or a secret agent nted in the Rheinmetall by the CIA or FA Organization?
Before Xia Lei coulde to a conclusion, Sylvia, who had just stood up, suddenly swayed and fell back onto the sofa.
Chapter 576 - Go for Wool and Come Home Shorn
Less than 30 seconds had passed since Sylvia had copsed after drinking the beer. This was no ordinary sleeping drug, but a powerful one which could knock people out.
From this, Xia Lei could more or less confirm that this Sylvia definitely had some other identity, other than her identity as the chief machinist of Rheinmetall AG.
Sylvia sprawled on the sofa, her legs wide open in an inelegant pose. Her ck g-string was exposed to Xia Lei¡¯s view, and it was pulled tight, but pulled askew such that parts which should be kept hidden threatened to peek out, oh so lewdly.
Her sexiness was a deadly temptation to any man, and this was one such situation right now. She was unconscious and doing nothing, but Xia Lei still found it hard to wrench himself out of his state of excitement and his impulse to do something to her.
Xia Lei moved close, to Sylvia¡¯s ear and said softly, ¡°Miss Sylvia, what¡¯s wrong?¡±
There was no response from Sylvia.
Xia Lei checked her carotid artery for her pulse, then her breathing. After he¡¯d confirmed that her life was in no danger, he reached down and adjusted that ck g-string for her. He then went straight to her study.
Whatever additional identity this Sylvia had, Xia Lei was still going to open that safe and have a look. Why? Simple. Whether Sylvia was CIA or a free agent of the FA, she was still a chief machinist of Rheinmetall AG, and she had real skill. Thepetition of skills a week ago was proof of that.
A ¡®zzz zz zz¡¯ sound came from her room as he walked past it. It was the vibration of a phone.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought, and he entered Sylvia¡¯s room. He quickly found the ckberry phone in the pocket of the ck trench coat, and he saw a message when he touched the disy screen.
The message read: Babe, you did it yet?
The sender of the message was saved as ¡®My True Love¡¯ by Silvia, and the country code showed that the message was from an American number.
Xia Lei opened up the phone¡¯s message inbox and saw more messages between Sylvia and ¡®My True Love¡¯.
My True Love: Babe, I¡¯m in a tough spot now. You have to help me.
Sylvia: What trouble are you in, my Darling?
My True Love: Babe, really, if I don¡¯t do well this time they¡¯ll kill me.
Sylvia: OMG, WHAT?! What did you get yourself into?
My True Love: I can¡¯t tell you now, Babe. A Chinese guy ising to yourpany. His name¡¯s Xia Lei. Find some way to get close to him. Take him to your ce.
Sylvia: Darling, what are you talking about? You want me to sleep with him? How could you say this to me!
My True Love: No, no, Babe. I love you. Why would I want you to sleep with another man? I¡¯ll be giving you a pill. You seduce him a little, then put the pill in his drink. You just have to make him drink the drugged drink.
Sylvia: I can¡¯t do that. He¡¯s very clever, and he¡¯s got bodyguards too.
My True Love: My precious, you¡¯re so beautiful, and so sexy. Which man would dislike you? You just need to tempt him a little and you¡¯ll seed. He has a weakness, and that¡¯s his promiscuity.
Sylvia: Tell me why, or I won¡¯t do it.
My True Love: All right, I¡¯ll tell you. He¡¯s got some stuff from ourb on him, and those things had been stolen by him. I am responsible for this, and if I don¡¯t get those things back I¡¯ll be killed. Please, I¡¯m begging you. Help me, my precious. Are you going to watch me die?
Sylvia: What did he steal?
My True Love: Babe, please believe me. I can¡¯t tell you right now, but I will tell you when I have those things. We can go to Greece after it¡¯s all over and have a nice rxing time.
Sylvia: Okay, I¡¯ll help you.
My True Love: He¡¯ll fall unconscious soon after he drinks the drug. Send me a message right away, and someone wille in to take him away. You don¡¯t have to do anything afterwards. Go out for a drink, and if someone asks where he went, you say that you don¡¯t know. You were drinking in a bar.
Sylvia: Got it. That¡¯s all, then. Wait for my good news, my Darling.
Their messages ended there.
Xia Lei then understood the situation. This Sylvia was not an agent from the CIA or from the FA Organisation. She was a woman who was being used, and the man who was using her, ¡®My True Love¡¯, was not from the CIA or the FA either ¡ª he was from the AE Research Center!
¡®My True Love¡¯ had not stated explicitly that he was from the AE Research Center, but he had mentioned a b¡¯, and that he was ¡®responsible¡¯. The thing he had asked Sylvia to do also added to Xia Lei¡¯s suspicions, and proved that he was one of the people of the AE Research Center.
So the research centre had made its move now, and with such an unexpected method too.
Getting a normal woman to do the job, and a sexy siren on top of that... If Xia Lei had not spotted Sylvia taking something from her bra, he would probably be drugged and unconscious right now. Truthfully, he had only be suspicious and wary after discovering that she had put something in his drink. He had not linked her to the CIA or the FA before that, much less the AE Research Center.
This made Xia Lei have new insight into the AE Research Center ¡ª it could be even more cunning than the CIA and the FA, and more treacherous too!
Zzz zz zzt...
Another message.
My True Love: What¡¯s going on, Babe?
Xia Lei thought for a bit, then typed out a message and sent it.
No need to be anxious, Darling. He¡¯s still taking a shower. I have the alcohol prepared. I¡¯ll get him to drink it after hees out.
My True Love: Okay, Babe. Don¡¯t let him take advantage of you, or I¡¯ll be jealous.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t type another response. He took Sylvia¡¯s phone with him and left the room to go quickly to the shower. He turned on the shower, and then went into Sylvia¡¯s study.
He had managed to get some extra time for himself, but he needed to get what he wanted in this amount of time.
The passcode of the safe was no obstacle to Xia Lei. He quickly solved it with the power of his left eye and his hands, and opened the safe.
There were many drawings in the safe, and a document folder as well as almost 10,000 euros in cash. Sylvia¡¯s passport was also in the safe.
Xia Lei took out the drawings and put them on the desk. It was a thick stack.
These drawings made Xia Lei¡¯s eyes light up. These were all drawings of several of Rheinmetall¡¯s artillery and armoured vehicles, as well as their specifications and parameters.
It wasn¡¯t strange for Sylvia to have these important documents at her ce. She was the Chief Machinist of Rheinmetall AG after all, and was in charge of the precision-processing workshop. Artillery, armoured vehicles, and all the parts which needed precision processing had to go through her hands first. Because she had to process these parts, she needed a deep understanding of the product, from where it would be used to what its final form would be like. This was why she had these drawings in her safe.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye swept quickly over the drawings, one by one. His eye was like a camera, and every detail was absorbed. He was fast too, and quicker than a well-trained agent taking pictures with a camera.
Xia Lei took a full ten minutes to finish looking at all the drawings.
Next, he opened the document folder. There was a stack of drawings in it too, but it was not of artillery or armoured vehicles ¡ª it was thetest anti-ship missile defence system.
Rheinmetall AG¡¯s defence systems were known worldwide too, and this part of their operations ounted for 40% of their overall profit margins. The drawings¡¯ excellence and importance was apparent.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye swiftly ¡®captured¡¯ each and every piece of drawing paper, and he could not help the smile which appeared in the corners of his mouth. Sylvia¡¯s safe was like a guarantee to him. If Thunder Horse Military Factory produced automatic missiles, armoured cars and tanks in the future, as well as anti-ship missile defence systems or something, then it would be thanks to Sylvia.
The ¡®My True Love¡¯ from the AE Research Center had used Sylvia to seduce him and try to capture him, but he had managed to get an advantage out of this, and what he wanted. These drawings would give wings to Thunder Horse Military Factory, and allow it to soar!
The way Xia Lei did things, he was not going to just use the technologies he had stolen as they were. He would do his own research too, and design his own, then make a better, improved version to release to the market!
Xia Lei put back the items he had taken out to their original positions after he finished looking at them. Finally, he shut the door of the safe, and left the study.
Sylvia was still lying on the sofa, unconscious. Her body was still as tempting as ever.
¡°Thanks, Miss Sylvia,¡± said Xia Lei softly. He walked to the door.
Footsteps suddenly came from beyond the door, soft, but quick.
Xia Lei awakened the power of his left eye, and instantly saw the situation in the corridor outside. Four gunmen, two on each side, and approaching Sylvia¡¯s t. Their backs were to the wall, and they moved cautiously. A door to the left behind them was open, and a door to the right was open too. It was obvious that these four had been hiding in the two ts on the sides of Sylvia¡¯s t on the same floor all along, just waiting for her to send the signal. They would be able to enter her t swiftly then, and take Xia Lei away.
Zzz zz zzt...
The ckberry phone buzzed again.
Xia Lei peeked at the screen.
My True Love: Babe, you done?
Xia Lei quickly typed: He¡¯s drinking that beer now.
He hit ¡®send¡¯, and rushed to the balcony of the living room. He leapt when he got to the balcony, and jumped straight down from the third floor.
Xia Leinded on both feet, and rolled to disperse the force of the impact.
The tail-lights of a car parked by the side of the road lit up all of a sudden.
¡°What happened?¡± Tang Yuyan stuck her head out of the car.
Xia Lei said nothing. He flipped to his feet, and made a dash to the car. He closed the door lightning-quick as soon as he entered the car, and said, ¡°Go!¡±
The driver got into the car at almost the same time, and started the engine. They left.
Xia Lei looked through the one-way ss of the car¡¯s window, at the balcony of Sylvia¡¯s third-floor t.
A gunman appeared on the balcony. Unfortunately for him, all he saw were carsing and going on the street.
¡°What happened?¡± said Long Bing anxiously.
Xia Lei let out a long sigh. ¡°There¡¯s CIA in that building. They want to capture me.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Long Bing stared nkly. There was nothing they could do about it. This was not China, and she and Tang Yuyan were not able to get the information they needed easily. Their movements were limited too.
Tang Yuyan quirked one corner of her mouth in a smile. ¡°Learnt your lesson now, Pervert? It¡¯s your own fault for nearly losing your life for a bit of tail.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I don¡¯t regret it. I gained a lot from this.¡±
Tang Yuyan frowned and put on an exaggerated expression. ¡°Of course you gained a lot. I heard that German slut say you removed her hair. Yeah, and you broke her skin too. Argh, just the thought of it disgusts me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Is that Sylvia one of the CIA?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°No. This is rted to her boyfriend.¡±
The conversation went back and forth between the three while the estate car headed towards Rheinmetall AG. This was a return from a rewarding journey.
For ¡®My True Love¡¯, however, he had gone for wool bute home shorn.
Chapter 577 - The Identity of My True Love
Rheinmetall AG¡¯s guesthouse, Xia Lei¡¯s room.
¡°My colleagues in America found something from the number I gave them to investigate,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°What did you find?¡±
¡°The number is registered to someone named Johann. He is an American from Texas and he works in a ughterhouse. He has a wife and five children,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°That¡¯s obviously fake. That person wouldn¡¯t be a butcher or have five kids.¡±
¡°That person mentioned aboratory in his messages. What kind of aboratory do you think he¡¯s talking about?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°How would I know if even you don¡¯t know? I think it definitely has something to do with the Alloy X Project I¡¯m in charge of. The CIA has already established me as a target so perhaps thatboratory is behind it.¡±
He actually knew that theboratory was the AE Research Center, but if he knew something that Long Bing didn¡¯t even know, Long Bing would inevitably start suspecting something due to her experience in dealing with things like these. This was why he had chosen give an exnation like this. He wouldn¡¯t tell her the truth for the time being. After all, this had to do with the AE capsule and himself so it was very important.
Long Bing was silent for a moment as she watched Xia Lei. ¡°Then you and that Sylvia...¡±
Xia Lei took her into his embrace and whispered into her ear, ¡°Nothing happened with me and Sylvia. You heard us plucking goose feathers. Later, she wanted to seduce me, but that was so that she could drug me. I pretended to y along and secretly switched our cups, then I entered her study and got what I wanted. That¡¯s everything that happened with her and I haven¡¯t hidden anything from you.¡±
Long Bing finally smiled then, but she still pretended as if she didn¡¯t care. ¡°I don¡¯t care who you get in bed with. I, um, was just asking.¡±
Xia Lei kissed her lips. He curbed his arousal at Sylvia¡¯s ce, and a ball of fire smouldered in his loins. This ball of fire scorched him painfully and Long Bing was the person who could put out the fire for him. Being close to Long Bing made him veryfortable, and he began to get restless.
¡°Tang Yuyan is still awake,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Who cares about her? Isn¡¯t she only on duty during thetter part of the night? She wouldn¡¯te into my room at this time.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t wait.
Long Bing yielded after a show of resistance. Lust was painted on her face.
However, the door was suddenly pushed open right when Xia Lei was about to unbutton the Long Bing¡¯s shirt to touch her breasts. Tang Yuyan appeared in the doorway.
Xia Lei hurriedly took a step back, then slowly put his fists up to Long Bing as he said, ¡°You must understand your own body to learn the secret to Wing Chun. Look at my elbow right now. It is in line with my fist. This way, you can maximise the strength of your attacks.¡±
This was a legendary reaction, no doubt about it.
Long Bing hadn¡¯t seen Tang Yuyan behind them, but she had guessed who hade since the door had suddenly opened and Xia Lei had reacted so quickly. She also responded quickly as she raised her arms to block Xia Lei¡¯s punch.
The two began exchanging blows in the room, and they acted in concert with each other,plete with skills and patterns.
Tang Yuyan blinked, and stared suspiciously at Xia Lei and Long Bing exchanging blows. What she had witnessed earlier had been different. She had seen Xia Lei reach out to undo Long Bing¡¯s buttons above her breasts, while Long Bing had grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s belt as if to undo it. All these had be teaching and learning martial arts moves in the blink of an eye, however. Who were they trying to fool?
¡°Ahem.¡± Tang Yuyan coughed and walked into the room. ¡°Stop the act.¡±
Xia Lei and Long Bing stopped at the same time and faced Tang Yuyan together.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Yuyan, weren¡¯t you supposed toe for the second half of the night? Why are you so early?¡±
Tang Yuyan lifted one corner of her mouth in a smile. ¡°You two would be in bed right now if I hadn¡¯t walked in, huh?¡±
¡°What are you saying? I am learning martial arts from Xia Lei,¡± said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan stared at Long Bing¡¯s snow white chest. ¡°Do you need to expose your chest to do martial arts?¡±
¡°The button popped open,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Then Xia Lei¡¯s zipper also popped open, right?¡± Tang Yuyan said as she stared at Xia Lei¡¯s trousers.
Xia Lei nced down and immediately turned to stone. He wasn¡¯t even aware that Long Bing had pulled his zipper down.
Tang Yuyan harrumphed. ¡°Do you guys think I¡¯m dumb? I guess I am dumb, but I will catch you guys one day.¡±
Xia Lei and Long Bing shrugged at the same time,pletely in sync.
¡°All right, Xia Lei. I came to report Boss Shi¡¯s words to you. Boss Shi was very unhappy when he received my report. He said you¡¯re not allowed to step out of Rheinmetall AG in the future. No matter what happens, you aren¡¯t allowed to go out. I¡¯m finished. You guys may continue.¡± Tang Yuyan turned and walked out. She even locked the door when she exited.
Long Bing and Xia Lei still stared at that door. The two of them knew that Tang Yuyan hadn¡¯t left ¡ª she was just outside the door.
Xia Lei pulled his zipper up but his heart wasn¡¯t very willing to do so. The fire within him was still burning silently.
And right then, Long Bing made some sounds at the door. ¡°Ohhhh, ohhhh, ohhhh...¡±
The door of the room was suddenly pushed open yet again, as Tang Yuyan poked her head in.
The gazes of the three shed, and it was full of awkwardness.
¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Tang Yuyan said darkly. ¡°What¡¯s with those sounds?¡±
Long Bing remarked indifferently, ¡°I was clearing my throat. Does that have anything to do with you?¡±
BANG! Tang Yuyan mmed the door hard.
The next day, Xia Lei gave some work to the German workers, then went to the precision processing workshop.
The machinists in the precision processing workshop greeted Xia Lei one by one. Xia Lei responded to all of them politely. He had used his abilities to cow these German mechanics, so the interactions with them were harmonious.
Xia Lei got in front of an intelligentthe, and prepared to process a new precision processing part.
Just then, Sylvia walked out of her office and waved at Xia Lei. ¡°Mr Xia, pleasee over here for a moment.¡±
¡®She actually still has the guts to talk to me,¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He walked over to Sylvia¡¯s office.
Sylvia closed the door when Xia Lei entered the office. She then got a cup of water from the water dispenser and put it in front of Xia Lei.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Thank you, but I¡¯m not thirsty.¡±
After a short silence, Sylvia said, ¡°This cup of water isn¡¯t drugged.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Even so, I¡¯m not thirsty. Juste out with it. What do you want?¡±
¡°I want to talk with you.¡± Sylvia¡¯s face was full of guilt.
¡°What do we have to talk about?¡±
¡°That... sorry.¡± Sylvia hesitated as she continued, ¡°Yesterday, I was in the wrong. I¡¯ve been used by someone. I shouldn¡¯t have done that to you. No matter what you did in the past, what I did was a mistake. Just thinking of it now makes me feel ashamed. Please... please keep it a secret for me, or I will get into trouble.¡±
Xia Lei then understood why Sylvia had approached him of her own ord, and even apologised to him. She was the chief machinist of Rheinmetall AG and she was a German. Right now, he was representing China in coboration with Germany. This coboration between both countries was something that the German government saw as extremely important. If the German government knew that she was colluding with an Americanboratory, and intended to have him captured and brought to America, ruining the coboration, then she would be faced with some extremely grave prosecution!
After understanding Sylvia¡¯s worry and fear, a new thought suddenly came to Xia Lei.
¡°Miss Sylvia, you drugged me. If I hadn¡¯t identally picked up the wrong cup, I would be in the Americans¡¯ hands right now, won¡¯t I? You almost thrust me into a dangerous situation. Do you think a ¡®sorry¡¯ makes up for that? If that¡¯s how things work, then no one would be left in Germany¡¯s prisons, huh?¡± Xia Lei put a heavy emphasis on the word ¡°prison¡±.
Sylvia became anxious. ¡°Mr Xia, what should I do for you to forgive me? Just say it. No matter what your conditions are, I will agree to it.¡±
¡°You should probably still remember that mobile phone of yours, right? The ckberry phone. It contains the messages you sent to your lover. Those can all serve as evidence. What do you think would happen if I were to give it to your German Intelligence Agency?¡± Xia Lei continued to press the point.
¡°No, Mr Xia...¡± Sylvia¡¯s eyes were already filled with tears.
Xia Lei then said, ¡°If you want me to keep it a secret, that¡¯s fine too. Tell me who ¡®My True Love¡¯ is.¡±
¡°He...¡± Sylvia started to speak, then stopped. She was very hesitant.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯re still protecting a man who used you, and who doesn¡¯t even care about your situation. All right, it seems there¡¯s nothing else that¡¯s worth talking about. I will give your phone to your German agents right now and let them handle this.¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Sylvia suddenly grabbed onto Xia Lei¡¯s sleeve. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you.¡±
Xia Lei looked her in the eyes.
Sylvia avoided Xia Lei¡¯s gaze. ¡°He is called Adolf Hillman. He is a German American. He grew up with me, andter went to America to study. He got into Harvard University and got a doctoral degree in biology there. He is my lover. I love him, or at least... I used to love him.¡±
Love could make a woman dumb, and Sylvia had proven the truth of these words once again.
¡°Who is he working for?¡± Xia Lei asked.
Sylvia thought for a moment before saying, ¡°He works for the American government but I¡¯m not sure about the specific position or structure. He has never told me.¡±
¡°Last night, did he appear after I got away?¡±
Sylvia shook her head. ¡°No, there wasn¡¯t anyone in sight when I woke up. I received a call afterwards, telling me how to handle the aftermath.¡±
¡°What did that person tell you?¡±
¡°He told me not to say anything, or my corpse would appear in the Rhine River.¡±
¡°Do you have Hillman¡¯s photo? Let me see it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sylvia took out a wallet and opened it. She held it up to Xia Lei.
There was a picture of a handsome young man with golden hair and an attractive gaze in the wallet.
¡°Mr Xia, I... I told you everything I know. I¡¯m begging you, please forgive me.¡± Sylvia looked at Xia Lei hesitantly, and quite pitifully too.
Xia Lei walked towards the door.
¡°Mr Xia...¡± Sylvia was almost in tears.
Xia Lei turned around and smiled. ¡°I need you to help me process a few parts. Do you have the time?¡±
Sylvia paused, and her tears turned toughter. ¡°Of course!¡±
Chapter 578 - Super Brain
One weekter, the parts and equipment which had been shipped from China arrived at Rheinmetall AG. Xia Lei had prepared the parts to build the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe in the past fortnight, and, with the help of Sylvia and her team, more or lesspleted the foundation work for the building of the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle production lines. If they continued with their current speed, Xia Lei would be able to hand in the two production lines and the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe to the Germans in a month more,plete his task and return to China.
However, Xia Lei¡¯s building speed slowed after the parts and equipment were shipped from China. This was because Ling Han had warned him not to finish the job before the Germans did. He was going to leave everything as it was for the time being.
Xia Lei had more free time now that he was not working on progress. He went to work on time, got off work on time every day, and did not work a minute of overtime. He wandered about during work hours too, going over to talk a walk around the artillery workshops, or to have a look at the armoured vehicle workshops.
Xia Lei did not go to these workshops alone, of course. He could ask Sylvia to go with him every time, and she would always go with him. She also sometimes showed him the performance of a particr weapon, its production cost and the sale for it and so on.
During this period of time, Xia Lei¡¯s use of his X-ray vision and his brain broke through his previous limits. His left eye saw, and his brain recorded. He had all of Rheinmetall AG¡¯s workshops in his brain.
Now, he only had to close his eyes for every machine, every cable and every optic fibre to appear in his head. These thingsbined to form production line after production line. Some were artillery production lines, some were armoured vehicle production lines, some tanks and armoured tank production lines, and some defence system production lines. Furthermore, these production lines in his head wereplete, and all the parts, be it the most important machines or the small things like cooling water pipes, or to the smallest detail like the internal structure of the machines, the electrical engineering... all of these were ready in his head, and he missed not one optic fibre nor one screw!
Right now, if he were so willing, his brain would be able to pick a production line and build a mock product, be it artillery, tanks, or armoured vehicles!
It was also this breaking of limits of his brain that made him discover that there was a lot he still didn¡¯t know about his own brain. If hepared his brain to an iceberg, what he knew of it now was just the tip!
How much of the potential of a human¡¯s brain was used? And how much more could be unlocked?
Some people said 5% of the brain was utilised, and some geniuses used only up to 9% or 10%. Even if he was a genius, 90% of his brain¡¯s capabilities would still be dormant and not awakened. If one took history¡¯s most highly acknowledged genius, Edison, as an example, it was discovered that he had only used a third of his brain when scientists opened up his brain after his death. Two thirds of his brain had remained dormant.
Some experts believe that the limit of human intelligence was 2,000, but the reality was that a person was ssed as a genius with an IQ of 150. In other words, even geniuses utilised less than 10% of their brains, and most of the human brainy dormant.
However, the trend now was that the modern human was smarter than the ancient humans. Humans were constantly evolving, and their brains were constantly developing their potentials. ording to this trend, the humans in 2,000 years would definitely be smarter than humans now, and those a further 2,000 years in the future would be even smarter. If these evolution trend continued, humans could one day utilise all of the potential of their brains.
What would a human be like when that happened?
Every person would have a superpower, and every person¡¯s brain would be a super smartputer. Inteary travel, creating new life... it would be unimaginable!
Of course, that would thousands of yearster. Xia Lei, however, had broken the limits of this time period, and enjoyed the benefits of evolution in advance!
He had never had his IQ measured, and he had no idea how many areas of his brain he had unlocked. Based on the abilities he had shown thus far, he was definitely even smarter than Edison!
There was no need to prove this assumption, because even if Edison were still alive, he would not be able to hold all of Rheinmetall¡¯s workshops in his mind if he came here, much less build a prototype production line in his head!
Though Xia Lei was a ¡®superhuman¡¯, he looked normal, and was even handsome and loved by women.
And Sylvia was one of these women.
¡°I¡¯ve broken up with Adolf, Mr Xia,¡± said Sylvia to Xia Lei as he ended work and was putting away the parts he¡¯d been working on.
Xia Lei gave her a smile. ¡°You made the right choice. He used you, so this proves that you were not a very important person to him. You¡¯ll be less hurt the sooner you break up with him.¡±
¡°Yep, that¡¯s what I think too.¡±
¡°Did you give him a call?¡±
¡°No, that number of his is not in use now. I sent him an email,¡± said Sylvia. ¡°I asked for a break up in the email, but he hasn¡¯t responded. I don¡¯t care what he writes in response, I¡¯ve already decided. I won¡¯t contact him ever again, and I¡¯ll never be with him again.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, and said, ¡°Miss Sylvia, could you give me his email address?¡±
Sylvia gave him a look. ¡°What are you nning to do?¡±
¡°I want to write a letter to him too, asking why you two had to do this,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sylviaughed, quite evidently disbelieving of what Xia Lei had said, but she still took out a pen and note paper, and she wrote Adolf Hillman¡¯s email address on it.
Xia Lei picked up the note and nced at it, then put it in his pocket. ¡°Thank you, Miss Sylvia. You have apanied me to the various workshops and expanded my horizons.¡±
¡°Forget it. I know you¡¯re using me. I have the authority to enter those workshops, and that¡¯s why you asked me to go with you, right?¡± said Sylvia.
Xia Lei paused, and shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s definitely not what you think.¡±
But it was the truth.
Sylvia shrugged. ¡°If you say so. I don¡¯t mind. I don¡¯t think you can learn something from walking around and looking around in those workshops anyway. The higher-ups wouldn¡¯t have let me take you to wander about those workshops either, even if I had the authority to do so.¡±
Sylvia and the higher-ups in Rheinmetall AG were of that opinion, but they would change that opinion quickly if they knew that Xia Lei had recorded all of Rheinmetall¡¯s workshops in his brain.
Humans were like that. One would assume that others would not be capable of something which one could not aplish himself or herself. This feat was also quite unbelievable.
¡°No matter what it is, I am still thankful to you. Goodbye, Miss Sylvia.¡± Xia Lei was done putting away the parts he had processed that day. He left the precision processing workshop.
Sylvia chased after him. ¡°Mr Xia, could I invite you to a drink?¡±
Xia Lei looked back at her. ¡°Thanks, but no thanks. I can¡¯t go out now.¡±
¡°Because of what happened thest time?¡±
¡°Yes. The higher-ups on our side are not allowing me to go out for my own safety,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sylvia sighed in disappointment. She wanted to go with Xia Lei to the guest area but the sight of Long Bing and Tang Yuyan waiting by the side of the road quashed her thoughts. Those two women¡¯s eyes were so cold that they terrified her whenever she saw them. She would rather avoid them than spend time with them.
¡°If that little German slut dares to follow, I¡¯ll drag her to the bathroom and beat her up,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°I can be your backup too,¡± said Long Bing tly.
Xia Lei walked towards Long Bing and Tang Yuyam. His gaze suddenly went to the artillery workshop before he got to the two women. His eyes and his brain clicked instantly, and they sorted out what he saw immediately. A ck man entered his field of vision.
That ck man had been looking over at him, but he lowered his head when Xia Lei looked at him, and increased his pace. He mingled with a group of workers getting off from work, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
This disappearance was only rtive, however, and the man thought he had done well, but Xia Lei had his gaze locked on him, and had not lost sight of him for one second.
¡®Wasn¡¯t this the guy who was spying on me with binocrs when I¡¯d just arrived in Rheinmetall AG? He¡¯s turned up again,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Long Bing sensed something, and asked in a low voice, ¡°What did you discover?¡±
¡°I mentioned a ck man to you before, right? The one observing me with binocrs? He¡¯s turned up again,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Where?¡± sad Tang Yuyan. ¡°I¡¯ll take him down!¡±
Xia Lei grabbed Tang Yuyan¡¯s wrist. ¡°Don¡¯t go. You¡¯ll scare him away. Besides, he¡¯s just observing and he hasn¡¯t done anything else. This is Germany, and we can¡¯t arrest whoever we want, or we¡¯ll draw trouble to ourselves.¡± He took Tang Yuyan with him before she could speak. ¡°Come, let¡¯s go back.¡±
Tang Yuyan struggled half-heartedly, then stopped resistingpletely. She became quiet when Xia Lei pulled her by the hand.
Long Bing followed behind them, and she let out a soft sigh. She muttered, ¡°What¡¯s with the noble youngdy act? Isn¡¯t she tired of it? Just be together if you like him, why try to rece Shentu Tianyin? Even if you rece her, are you going to expel me too? Idiot.¡±
One would wonder what Tang Yuyan would feel if she had heard Long Bing say that.
Tang Yuyan then pretended to be annoyed after they entered the guest amodation area, and said, ¡°Let go of me, you pervert.¡±
Xia Lei then let go of Tang Yuyan. ¡°You impulsive woman. I was really afraid that you would run up to her and arrest her. You think I want to touch your hand? I¡¯ve got better things to do.¡±
Tang Yuyan was rooted to the spot.
Long Bing walked past her and shot her a line too. ¡°What a great act you put on.¡±
Tang Yuyan was speechless.
Xia Lei received a call from Ling Han over his satellite phone when he got to the stairwell.
¡°Xia Lei, you can start building your Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe tomorrow, but control your speed. It¡¯s best if you take two months toplete it,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Two months more?¡± Xia Lei groaned. ¡°I¡¯m getting bored to death in Rheinmetall AG.¡±
¡°Hang on for a while longer. The Germans are progressing quickly, and our people have done some calctions. They¡¯ll be able to finish the production line in two months, and you cane back when they¡¯re done. I¡¯ll hold a celebratory feast for you.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll tolerate two months more,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chapter 579 - Emotional Love Confession
Two months were almost up, and quite quickly too.
Production lines for the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle were on the verge ofpletion in Rheinmetall AG. The core for the giant, almost five hundred ton Thunder Dragon intelligentthe had also been assembled, and built in Rheinmetall AG.
Xia Lei had been following Ling Han¡¯s instructions, controlling the rate of the work being done so that they weren¡¯t faster or slower than the German end throughout this period of time. He always progressed at just the right pace, and the German side could not say anything truly negative about it.
He also organised everything he saw in Rheinmetall AG throughout this period. His head already contained a virtual version of Rheinmetall AG that was exactly the same as the real Rheinmetall AG. There wasn¡¯t a nail, cable, or optic fibre that his version of Rheinmetall AG left out.
Now as long as Xia Lei reviewed it in his head, he could create a Chinese version of Rheinmetall AG that produced all of the weapons and defensive systems that Rheinmetall produced, if he were given funding and equipment!
Actually, he hadn¡¯t only used his brain to copy Rheinmetall AG. While organising, he had discovered some malpractices on some of the assembly lines, and a few products which weren¡¯t up to par. If he were the one building this factory and producing these products, he would reform the assembly lines¡¯ malpractices and promote the weapons¡¯ performance to achieve even better results!
This was a miracle. He had the only brain in the whole world that could aplish this so thoroughly.
On the other hand, after almost three months of construction, Annina¡¯s castle had began to take shape. It cost twenty million euros and was erected at Annina¡¯s home town, the vige of Werden. Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be a true castle from the Medieval Ages. Castles like those could not be built in several or even ten years, and twenty million euros would be far from enough. The castle which Sergey designed and constructed for Anninabined modern fads with a Medieval Ages Gothic style. The castle had the gorgeousness and retro style typical of Gothic buildings with a modern feel, so it was very beautiful.
From the pictures which Liu Zhennan had brought, the castle that Sergey constructed seemed like it came out of a fairytale world. An ancient castle, with a modern exercise room, and art room, along with a charming garden. Xia Lei fell in love with it just by looking at the pictures, so Annina, who would live there someday, would love it even more.
"Lukas, I don¡¯t know what to say, I..." Annina was very emotional. They were in Xia Lei¡¯s room. If it wasn¡¯t for Tang Yuyan, Long Bing and Liu Zhengnan present, she definitely would have jumped into Xia Lei¡¯s arms and thanked Xia Lei in her most practised way.
Tang Yuyan said, "Miss Annina, do you know what kind of a home Director Xia has for himself? Yep, I know. It¡¯s a small t in Haizhu that isn¡¯t even 100 square meters. But he built a castle for you which cost twenty million euros. You should thank him well indeed. There aren¡¯t a lot of good men like him."
Annina was full of gratefulness. Her eyes filled with happy tears. "I know. I went there before. I don¡¯t know what to say... really... I think I¡¯m the happiest woman in the world.¡±
Although they had both heard the same thing, Xia Lei took it differently. He knew that Tang Yuyan was saying that he was picking up girls with money since he lived in a run-down house but bought a castle for another girl. He felt a little awkward but he put on a small smile and intentionally yed it calm. "Hehe, Yuyan, you don¡¯t know what happened between me and Annina. She started Thunder Horse Military Factory with me. Thunder Horse Military Factory couldn¡¯t have gotten here today without her. She brought in more than twenty million euros in profits for me so she deserves this."
The atmosphere in the room immediately became a little awkward.
"Director Xia." Liu Zhennan was very smart and he helped Xia Lei change the subject. "Sergey said he still needs two months before he can finish his work and we will already be back in China by that time. I don¡¯t know how we are going to inspect his engineering project. You¡¯ll have to make a decision on this, Director Xia."
Xia Lei gave a small frown. "We¡¯re only going to stay here for another week at most. After two months, we won¡¯t be here anymore..."
Annina cut Xia Lei off. "Director Xia, I can stay here. It¡¯s mine so I can stay to inspect it myself. It¡¯s been my dream and I finally have what I¡¯ve always dreamed of. I want to..."
She didn¡¯t continue. She looked at Xia Lei nervously.
She wanted to stay in Germany; Xia Lei understood that.
She was German and this was her home. Her rtives and friends were all here. In the beginning, she had been forced to stay in China, but that wasn¡¯t what she wanted. She did love him but she also loved her home, family, and friends. Now, she had made a decision, even though it was difficult for her.
Xia Lei was silent for a moment but in the end he still nodded. "I understand. I respect your decision."
Annina couldn¡¯t hold herself back anymore and she did not care about Tang Yuyan or Long Bing¡¯s presence as she jumped into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, hugging him tightly. She couldn¡¯t help the tears which flowed from her eyes.
Tang Yuyan nced at Long Bing for some reason and their gazes met. Whether it was Long Bing or Tang Yuyan, both were clearly surprised. They hadn¡¯t imagined this oue.
Annina whispered into Xia Lei¡¯s ear, "You are my angel. I will love you forever. Even if you have a hundred women, please don¡¯t forget me. Perhaps I will marry another man and have children, but my heart will belong to you forever. In the future, if youe to Germany, I wille to you as long as you give me a call."
Perhaps only a Germandy like Annina could voice a love confession like this.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know why, but he felt a little disappointed, sad, but relieved. He made a small smile and nodded lightly. He whispered into her ear, "I will."
Annina kissed Xia Lei¡¯s cheek, then let him go.
Liu Zhengnanughed and said, "Director Xia, I¡¯ll give Sergey a call. He knows what to do."
Xia Lei nodded. "Let¡¯s do it that way, then."
There was a knock knock knocking at the door.
Long Bing went over to open the door. Sylvia stood outside.
"Who are you looking for?" Long Bing broke the silence, her voice cold.
Sylvia smiled sweetly. "Um, I¡¯m looking for Mr Xia."
Tang Yuyan interjected before Xia Lei could respond. "Why are you looking for Mr Xia? It¡¯s the weekend, so pleasee back on Monday to discuss work."
Sylvia didn¡¯t mind Tang Yuyan¡¯s attitude at all. She shrugged and smiled as she said, "Does it seem like I¡¯vee to talk about work?"
If she wasn¡¯t here for work, then she was here for some personal matters.
What did the European version of Smy want,ing to the door dressed like this?
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes went to Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Xia Lei¡¯s head started hurting. He braced himself and went up to her. "Miss Sylvia, do you need anything from me?"
Sylviaughed and said, "So Mr Xia, your project is on the verge ofpletion. The CEO of Rheinmetall AG, Mr. Mark Armin, is inviting you to his house to attend his birthday party. Many of the higher-ups of Rheinmetall AG are going to be present, and he really hopes you cane."
"I see..." Xia Lei didn¡¯t want to go but it was difficult to refuse straightaway. After all, they still needed Rheinmetall AG to do the inspection when the project wasplete. It would be bad if Mark Armin deliberately found fault with it.
Sylvia added, "Mr Xia, don¡¯t worry. There will be a Special Forces squadron to protect you. No one will pose a safety problem. On another note, Mr. Mark Armin also said that he wants to discuss a future coboration between the twopanies with you at his birthday party."
Everything had already been nned out, and a Special Forces squadron had been especially invited, just for him. He would seem unreasonable if he still refused. Xia Lei nodded and said, "All right, I¡¯ll go."
Long Bing said, "I will go make preparations."
However, Sylvia replied, "I¡¯m sorry, Mr Mark Armin only invited Mr Xia."
Tang Yuyan¡¯s face immediately darkened as she coldly asked, "What is the meaning of this?"
Sylvia said, "I¡¯m so sorry. This wasn¡¯t my idea, but Mr Mark Armin¡¯s. This is a private party and it¡¯s also at Mr Mark Armin¡¯s house, so he doesn¡¯t want too many strangers going there."
Tang Yuyan was about to throw a tantrum but Xia Lei spoke first, "No worries, I¡¯ll just go there ande back. There shouldn¡¯t be any problems with a German Special Forces squadron protecting me."
Long Bing walked to the window and pulled open the blinds to nce out. Below the guests¡¯ living quarters stood several German Special Forces soldiers and a few Mercedes-Benz G-ss heavy duty military vehicles which were also equipped with two heavy machine guns, one in front and one in the back ¡ª overwhelming firepower.
Xia Lei really wasn¡¯t in much danger with these security arrangements.
Long Bing looked back from the window and said, "You can go. We will wait here for you."
Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t raise a good objection with Long Bing saying that.
Sylvia smiled and said, "This way, Mr Xia."
Xia Lei nced at Long Bing, Tang Yuyan, and at Anninast before he followed Sylvia out of the room.
"She¡¯s clearly dressed like that to seduce people. How slutty." Tang Yuyan mumbled to herself.
Next to her, Long Bing said, "You¡¯d definitely be better looking than her if you dressed like that."
"Piss off. I won¡¯t wear that." After a pause, she suddenly said, "Would I really look better than that little German slut if I dressed like that?"
Long Bing said, "You just have to wear a skirt that¡¯s one size smaller."
Tang Yuyan was speechless.
Chapter 580 - Valhalla Box Town
A Mercedes-Benz galloped on the road, escorted by several Mercedes-Benz G-ss military-use off-road vehicles. A police car opened up the path for this convoy. People who did not know the truth of the situation would think that some foreign dignitary hade on a visit to Germany.
In the Mercedes-Benz, Sylvia and Xia Lei sat shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip on the sofa backseat. The driver could not see into the passengerpartment behind him, and the car was also equipped with a state-of-the-art audio-visual system, and a wine cab; it was quite luxurious. However, Xia Lei didn¡¯t think much of this car because he had be used to riding in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s Rolls Royce Phantom. He himself had a Ferrari FF, and a Chevrolet Suburban, so he felt that there was nothing special about this car.
The car did have an effect on the person next to him, though.
Sylvia pulled the dress about her more tightly, letting the fabric hug her skin. Her beautiful legs changed positions often too, sometimes her left was over her right, and sometimes the right was over the left. Whichever position is was, though, the triangr shape of her intimate area was visible, and tempting Xia Lei.
Xia Leiughed bitterly to himself. ¡®She¡¯s being so obvious but I am not reacting to her at all. I¡¯m probably one of the rare men who wouldn¡¯t do something in this modern society, huh? I¡¯d like Tianyin to be here to witness my restraint.¡¯
Men like him were also no exception to forgetting himself.
Just when Xia Lei was thinking that he was doing a good job of controlling himself, Sylvia suddenly put a hand on his thigh. He froze up, and his gaze went to her hand.
Sylvia¡¯s hand was soft, and warm. It made Xia Lei fantasise about being gripped by that hand.
¡°Mr Xia, you¡¯re returning soon, aren¡¯t you?¡± Sylvia broke the silence between them.
Xia Lei was still looking at her hand. ¡°Yeah, in about a week¡¯s time. I¡¯ll go back to China once the project here is done.¡±
¡°Mr Mark Armin has already tasked me with inspecting your work,¡± said Sylvia.
Xia Lei paused. He¡¯d wanted to take Sylvia¡¯s hand off his thigh from earlier, but her words made her hand now seem like it was a huge, heavy rock, and this rock had taken root in his leg, making it difficult for him to remove it.
She talked about inspection or his work right now, but it seemed she wanted to inspect more than work.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Well, then I¡¯m in your care. There is no problem with my work though.¡±
¡°Is there really no problem?¡± Sylvia furtively slid her hand higher, just a bit, but it made Xia Lei very nervous.
¡°Of course not,¡± said Xia Lei. He reached out and removed Sylvia¡¯s hand.
The corners of Sylvia¡¯s mouth turned downwards, and disappointment filled her eyes. ¡°Oh, right, did you write to Hillman?¡± she said.
Adolf Hillman, the man from the AE Research Center who had plotted to capture him. This enemy had not showed his face yet. Xia Lei had obtained Adolf Hillman¡¯s e-mail address from Sylvia, but he had not written to him. Xia Lei had asked for the e-mail address just to hack into his mailbox to take a look around and see if he had any of the secrets of the AE Research Center. However, he had tried several times to hack into the inbox but he had been unsessful.
¡°No. Did he contact you?¡± Xia Lei responded with a question.
Sylvia shook her head. ¡°No. I wrote to him about breaking up. He should understand what I mean. Even if he does contact me, I won¡¯t take notice of him anymore.¡±
Xia Lei feel into deep thought. The AE Research Center, the CIA, the FA... These were all his enemies, and they were sessivelyrger and more powerful. He was in Europe now, on soil of a country which saw China as an opponent. He had stayed in thisnd and made weapon production lines, and built the most advanced intelligentthe over a period of almost three months¡¯ time. Nothing major had happened during this time too, other than Adolf Hillman making use of Sylvia. It was overall quite calm and peaceful, but this sort of calm was not normal. It was simple ¡ª the AE Research Center knew that he was in Germany, so how could the CIA not know? The two American organisations were connected. If the CIA knew that he was in Rheinmetall AG, then how would the FA not know, especially considering that the FA had remarkable talents?
Xia Lei recalled the ck man. He had been like a spirit, appearing without a sound, and fading away without a sound. What he¡¯d brought was a small pressure which heralded greater trouble.
Right now, Xia Lei was about to finish up his task in Germany, and return to China. The three factions maintaining their silence was quite abnormal.
For some reason, Xia Lei felt this shapeless pressure after Sylvia mentioned Adolf Hillman, and his spirits grew heavy. He had a bad feeling, like something bad would happen. However, he could find no trace of anything which could ount for it when he sorted out what had happened during this period of time, and the people he had interacted with.
¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Sylvia looked at Xia Lei, trying to guess at his thoughts.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. He gave augh. ¡°Nothing.¡±
¡°I heard you¡¯re building Annina a castle, and that it¡¯s beautiful. Is it true?¡±
¡°Yeah, it is. She worked for me, and contributed a lot. I should repay her,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What did that castle cost?¡±
¡°About 20,000,000 euros. I might have to spend more too, but it won¡¯t go over 30,000,000 euros.¡±
¡°Wow, she¡¯s so lucky. The money I¡¯m making at Rheinmetall AG won¡¯t be enough, not even if I work my whole life. Hmm, do you still need people at yourpany?¡± asked Sylvia probingly.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°You... want to join mypany?¡±
¡°Why not? I am free to do what I want, and I can go wherever I wish to work. I¡¯ll consider it if you give me the same remuneration as you had for Annina,¡± said Sylvia.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll wee you any time you¡¯d like toe. I¡¯ll treat you the same remuneration as Annina too.¡±
Sylvia was an even better machinist than Annina, and her skills were apparent from how she had controlled the precision processing in the workshop. If she decided to move over to Thunder Horse Military Factory, what she would bring over would not just be her own skills, but some of Rheinmetall¡¯s technology too. What was even more important was her experience!
¡°Is this a sincere invitation?¡± A strange look came into Sylvia¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course it¡¯s sincere.¡±
Sylvia pulled the corners of her mouth down in a frown. ¡°I don¡¯t see your sincerity.¡±
Xia Lei paused as he abruptly understood. Sylvia was not after the remuneration he had given Annina, she was after him ¡ª handsome him. This top-notch female German machinist wanted both money and man.
Xia Lei was hesitant. Annina had just left him, making the decision to stay in Germany. What was this, him turning around and getting someone to rece her? Pulling Sylvia over to Thunder Horse Military Factory? Besides, his love life was already in chaos. He could not bear more chaos.
Xia Lei just smiled, and said nothing.
Sylvia sighed softly, and fell silent too.
The convoy moved out of the city, along the Rhine river, and came to a small town by the sea.
The small town was beautiful, clean and most of the buildings were in a unique Viking style.
¡°Mr Xia, this town is called Valha Box Town,¡± said Sylvia.
¡°Valha Box Town?¡± Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°That¡¯s a really strange name.¡±
¡°Yes, I thought it was very strange when I first came here too, but Mr Mark Armin told me the story of the town. I think it¡¯s very interesting.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the story?¡±
¡°It¡¯s said that this town was where Viking pirates fought to their deaths. They came ashore here, and fought to their deaths here, leaving just one female pirate named ire. This female piratepleted her revengeter, and put down roots here, building this little town. She named the town ¡®Valha Box Town¡¯,¡± said Sylvia. ¡°Oh, right, Mr Mark Armin said he has some Viking blood. He has a collection of quite a few items from the Viking period in his home. Armour, swords, shields and so on.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, ¡°ording to Viking beliefs, their souls will go to an enormous hall called Valha to feast, drink and narrate their legends after death on the battlefield. It makes sense to call this town Valha Town since the Viking pirates fought to death here, but what does this have to do with a box?¡±
Xia Lei was particrly sensitive to the word ¡®box¡¯ for some reason.
Sylviaughed. ¡°This, I don¡¯t know. Why don¡¯t you ask Mr Mark Armin when you have the chance to? He would surely know more legends.¡±
The convoy entered somerge gates as they talked.
Mark Armin¡¯s home had a spacious garden and grassy area. His home was an impressive wooden Viking-style building. Xia Lei even spotted a Viking warship on the grass as he stepped out of the car. It was not full-sized, of course, but it was enough to make him feel like it had been a little overdone. If it were not for Sylvia¡¯s story, and what he had seen so far, he would have thought that the man in charge of Rheinmetall AG was an obsessed Viking fan.
Sylvia drew close to him, and put her hand in the crook of Xia Lei¡¯s elbow.
Xia Lei paused for a moment, but did not object to it. Escorting a femalepanion to a party and entering with a female on his arm was amon thing in the Western world.
Mark Armin came over in wee, and he had a smile on his face. ¡°Aha, Mr Xia, wee. Looks like I did something right in getting Miss Sylvia to do the invitation. You definitely wouldn¡¯t show your face if another person asked.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You¡¯re too kind, Mr Mark Armin. Happy birthday.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Mark Armin hugged Xia Lei, then said, ¡°Please,e in.¡±
Sylvia hugged Mark Armin too, then hung onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm again, and entered the house with him.
Meanwhile, some Chevrolet Suburban off-road vehicles travelled slowly on the road along the sea, heading towards Valha Box Town.
Chapter 581 - The River of Time and Sand
Several guests were already present at Mark Armin¡¯s house. Some were executives of Rheinmetall AG, while some were his rtives and friends. Two really famous stars were also present ¡ª Rihanna, a goddess of the entertainment industry, and Thomas Mueller, a top football star from Bayern Munich.
Some people felt it was unexpected that Rihanna and Mueller would be here, but it wasn¡¯t strange that Mark Armin would have friends like Rihanna or Mueller since his status was CEO of Rheinmetall AG. Rihanna and Mueller were more famous than Mark Armin, but their statuses couldn¡¯tpare to Mark Armin in the slightest.
Xia Lei had heard many of Rihanna¡¯s songs and also watched Mueller y in some friendly matches between the Bayern Munich football team and Chinese football team, but he only nced at them. He did not go up and greet them or ask for an autograph.
Sylvia, on the other hand, got excited when she saw Mueller and Rihanna chatting by the living room window. ¡°Hold on. I¡¯m going to ask for an autograph. I¡¯m a fan of Rihanna and Mueller, you know. Ahh, I¡¯m so lucky,¡± she said to Xia Lei.
¡°Go on, I¡¯ll look around,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sylvia walked towards Rihanna and Mueller.
Xia Lei took a ss of beer from an attendant¡¯s tray and walked towards an oil painting.
The oil painting looked ancient and depicted a battle. The battle was by the beach, between Viking pirates and Gauls. The Vikings were on one side, with several Viking warships behind them, while the Gauls were on the other side, with a smoking vige and church in their background.
The Viking pirates were very fierce, but the Gauls were also famous for being a warlike people. They were heroic, defiant in the face of death, and were tall and stalwart. They seemed to be fighting for their vige, women, and children behind them. Their homnd and family seemed to strengthen their courage and it looked like the Gauls had a clear advantage in the painting.
¡®Could this be the Viking battle Sylvia was talking about? Where only a single Viking woman was left? The Viking woman finally took her revenge and upied this little town, naming it ¡°Valha Box Town¡±.¡¯ Xia Lei was head was full of imagined scenes.
He had been interested in this story because of the word ¡®box¡¯. Ever since the Alloy X Project hade to a stop, he couldn¡¯t help but notice everything that had to do with a box. Anything rted to boxes had be his obsession now.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze slowly swept over the oil painting, and suddenly stopped on a Viking pirate¡¯s face. His heart seemed to stop, and his thoughts froze in that instant.
A unique ne hung from that female Viking¡¯s neck. The ne¡¯s pendant wasn¡¯t made of gold or silver, but a bronze colored metal.
Xia Lei was fairly sure that the bronze colored metal painted around the female Viking¡¯s neck was the same ancient alloy that he had fished out of Princess Yongmei¡¯s mouth in her tomb.
In that instant, Xia Lei¡¯s mind was suddenly opened up to new levels of thought.
He thought of many, many different things, and also considered many, many possibilities.
Valha Box Town. This wasn¡¯t a name which had been given casually. It was very likely that this name had something to do with the ancient alloy box. As for ¡®Valha¡¯, this didn¡¯t simply refer to the Vikings¡¯s beliefs. It could be hinting at a soul which had to do with the box, like Princess Yongmei¡¯s very real soul, not a spirit which went to the Great Viking Hall to boast and drink.
The Vikings invaded Europe from the 8th to 11th century CE. The Ming dynasty and Jerusalem did not exist in that period of history. Later, the Crusades happened and the European kings led troops to conquer the Middle East, and established a Christian kingdom in Jerusalem. The ancient alloy around this female Viking¡¯s neck had probably ended up in Jerusalem during that time, andter ended up in the hands of the Ming dynasty princess, Zhu Xuanyue. A few centuriester, it had fallen into Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
Mysteriously, inevitably, a mysterious power seemed to be moving these unknown events along, and the people involved were just a grain of sand in the river of time. Some drifted along, or sank to the river¡¯s depths, or disappear within the waves. Princess Yongmei of the Ming dynasty was a grain of sand, and the mysterious man who hadid in the tomb underneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was another grain of sand. Now, this Viking woman was yet another grain of sand.
¡®Will I be a grain of sand like that?¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help thinking this.
This thought made him feel sad. His greatest wish was to collect all of the ancient alloy pieces and put that box together to reveal all of its secrets. But it now looked like an unknown number of people had dreamed of doing the same thing, and worked hard to that end since ancient times. But what had happened in the end? No one had been able to do it!
Xia Lei looked at the Viking woman¡¯s face in the painting again. Perhaps too many years had passed, but the lines of the Viking woman¡¯s face were not distinct, and the colours were blurred, making it unclear.
Maybe it was because he couldn¡¯t see it clearly, but Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and his zoom-in vision was quietly awakened. Piece after piece of colour, and line after line between the colors entered his left eye. His mind began reorganising information based on what he saw. This process was like a 3D projection technique, where a fallen building was being rebuilt from its debris. Every single brick, every single piece of steel, and even every grain of sand was restored to its original position.
Three minutester, Xia Lei saw a different face.
This face startled him.
The Viking woman in the painting... her face... was Princess Yongmei¡¯s face!
It wasn¡¯t known if the original painter had painted Princess Yongmei¡¯s face, or if he had been highly skilled and hidden Princess Yongmei¡¯s face underneath a female Viking¡¯s face. It wasn¡¯t as if no one hadn¡¯t done that before. In the world-famous Mona Lisa, the painter had used that technique and some scientific researchers had discovered a painting of Mona Lisa¡¯s unsmiling face underneath Mona Lisa¡¯s smile.
¡®This... how could this be possible!¡¯ A shiver ran over Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
Ever since he hade across Princess Yongmei, he had discovered two corpses of Princess Yongmei, and he was now seeing Princess Yongmei¡¯s face in a painting which depicted a battle between Viking pirates and Gauls. The Ming dynasty didn¡¯t even exist at that time!
If the Ming dynasty didn¡¯t exist then where did Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue,e from?
If he had only discovered Princess Yongmei corpses and hadn¡¯t seen that old man¡¯s corpse in the tomb underneath Jerusalem¡¯s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it would have been easier for him to understand. However, there had been a corpse which didn¡¯t belong to Princess Yongmei. Xia Lei felt he would still not be clever enough to figure this out, even if he had the smartest brain in the world.
¡®What the hell is going on here? Did she trick me? She wasn¡¯t a Ming dynasty princess at all? But I talked with her, and she seemed to know the Ming dynasty¡¯s matters like the back of her hand. The great Emperor Yongle, the Ming dynasty Embroidered Guards, the troops of the Ming dynasty, and the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow, which she had built... Were these all fabricated? If she wasn¡¯t Zhu Xuanyue, then who was she?¡¯ Question after question filled Xia Lei¡¯s brain like a tide, creating a whirlpool which sucked in all of his thoughts. He had a very strange feeling. He abruptly felt like he was the only person left in this world, all alone, without anyone or anything else.
¡°Hey, Mr Xia. Do you like this painting?¡± Mark Armin walked up to Xia Lei, and looked at the oil painting on the wall with him.
Xia Leie to his senses then. He paused for a moment before saying, ¡°Yes, the style is very mysterious. I like things with mystery.¡±
Mark Arminughed. ¡°That¡¯s a very unique opinion. You know, this painting is a family treasure which has been passed down through the generations. This heirloom has been passed down for almost 600 years.¡±
¡°Almost 600 years?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. Then that meant that the Ming dynasty did exist when this oil painting was made.
¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± Mark Armin suddenly lowered his voice. ¡°Let me tell you a secret. This painting was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. Very few people know of this secret in the collector¡¯s world. I only took it out to show it off today because it is my birthday. I usually keep it in a thermostatic chamber.¡±
Xia Lei was dumbstruck when he heard this. This painting was actually drawn by Da Vinci, who was known as the first all-rounded individual. He would never have even dreamed of it.
¡°Mr Xia, keep this to yourself. Don¡¯t tell anyone else.¡± Mark Arminughingly said, ¡°I don¡¯t want the auctioneers badgering me, and I would much rather not have art thieves visiting my house.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t. I will protect your secret. Thank you for sharing this secret with me.¡±
As he spoke, Xia Lei¡¯s mind was already automatically drawing a rtionship chart. Princess Yongmei, Princess Yongmei 2, the mysterious old man, Princess Yongmei 3 in the painting, and himself, Xia Lei. Then, he even made an events diagram. A female Viking pirate with Yongmei Princess¡¯s facended on the German coast and fought with the Gauls. Several hundred yearster, a European king led troops to conquer Jerusalem, and afterwards a princess of the Ming dynasty brought Ming soldiers into Afghanistan and built the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow. Several hundreds of yearster, he and Tang Yuyan had arrived at the White Hun tribe and discovered the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow...
Although his brain had drafted out a rtionship map, each person and each event was still
tangled together, and was very confusing.
Mark Armin looked at Xia Lei. The look in his eyes was odd and his tone was a little strange. ¡°Mr Xia, you¡¯re also someone with secrets. Is there anything you¡¯d like to share?¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±
Mark Armin was about to speak when Sylvia walked over, looking very excited. ¡°Mr Xia, Miss Rihanna wants to get to know you.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the window, and his gaze collided with that of Rihanna¡¯s. Rihanna smiled at Xia Lei, and her full lips were very sexy.
¡°Pardon me, Mr Mark Armin.¡± Rihanna had sent an invitation over right when Xia Lei was thinking abouting up with an excuse to walk away from Mark Armin.
¡°Please, go ahead.¡± Mark Armin had a smile on his face.
Xia Lei walked off with Sylvia, thinking ¡®Why would this Mark Armin ask something like that? The look in his eyes was very odd.¡¯
The smile on Mark Armin¡¯s face disappeared, reced by a faint pondering frown in the corners of his mouth.
Chapter 582 - Dire Straits!
Rihanna was tall and full-figured. She had a pointed chin, thick lips, and big eyes, with eyeshadow on her eyelids. Her image was always associated with sexiness, and she looked like those bad girls on the streets who liked tattoos, cigarettes, and alcohol. She was representative of Western pop culture, and her songs held a type of energy which could cross global cultural barriers, resonating easily with youths.
Xia Lei liked the song she and Eminem had sung together, ¡°The Monster¡±. This was also why he had been willing to step away from the painting to meet her. Another reason was that Shentu Tianyin knew many celebrities within the country, but he knew none. If he and Rihanna became friends, he would have more entertainment circle topics to talk about with Shentu Tianyin.
It was pure romance before they got married, but it wasn¡¯t the same anymore after they were married. They still needed to live their lives, and these lives required them to run their businesses.
¡°Hello, Miss Rihanna.¡± Xia Lei smiled and stretched his hand out first. ¡°Pleasure to meet you.¡±
Rihanna shook hands with Xia Lei and she smiled too. ¡°Mr Xia, China¡¯s Father of Rifles. I didn¡¯t expect you to be this young. I saw some news about you on the inte but I didn¡¯t think that I would meet you here.¡±
¡°Hm, what did America¡¯s media say about me?¡± Xia Lei casually found a topic of conversation.
¡°They say that you¡¯re a genius and the smartest person in the world.¡±
¡°They said that about me? Heh, I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯m just a normal person. Oh, I¡¯m also your fan. I really enjoy listening to your songs.¡±
¡°Oh? Which of my songs have you heard?¡±
¡°The Monster, the song you sang with Eminem. There¡¯s also ¡°Princess of China¡±, which you and Coldy coborated on. I like your songs a lot.¡±
Rihanna smiled a faint, enchanting smile. ¡°It looks like you really do listen to my songs. I am honoured that you like it. I really like guns because they give people power and a feeling of security. I have had an eye on your Gust assault rifle for a while now, and I¡¯ve always wanted one but couldn¡¯t buy one in America. Could you give me one, Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Of course. But I can¡¯t go to America and personally give this to you. I can¡¯t mail the gun to America either. How about this? If you have time, you can go to the United Arab Emirates. Prince Khalifa is my friend. I can give him a call, and he will fulfil your request on my behalf.¡±
¡°Prince Khalifa is your friend?¡± Rihanna looked a little shocked.
¡°Yes. You can go to Argentina too. I have some friendly rtions with one of Argentina¡¯s military generals. I can also get him to fulfil your request.¡±
Rihanna was speechless.
Xia Lei¡¯s friends were just a group of struggling workmates on the construction site about three years ago. His junior and senior high schools friends had all got better connected friends, and he was even afraid of attending ss reunions, because what awaited him at those events were eye-rolls and scorn. Now, however, he was standing in the house of the CEO of Rheinmetall AG, chatting with the international celebrity, Rihanna. The friends he mentioned were either the Prince of the Middle East or the South American general ¡ª he was very popr. Life is like a drama for Xia Lei.
Mueller was a world-ss football star too. He was fairly famous, but his stardom was overshadowed when he stood next to Xia Lei.
Sylvia, who had introduced Rihanna and Xia Lei, was left out in the cold too, but she was not diforted by it at all. This is because the two people chatting in front of her were her idol and the man she had a favourable opinion of. The Xia Lei who chatted cheerfully and wittily had an aura which was powerful, perfect, and natural. She looked at Xia Lei, and there was a faint excitement in her eyes.
He had a worth of ten billion and was a handsome and cheery man who had be China¡¯s Father of Rifles in his twenties. The Thunder House Group, which he founded, was the arms dealing world¡¯s super dark horse. He was destined to be the one who attracted the opposite gender the most, no matter what events he appeared in.
While he conversed with Rihanna, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze shifted out the window.
Outside the garden¡¯s fences, a Chevrolet Suburban came slowly to a stop by the road. The car doors were opened and some people in ck suits alighted. One of them said something into a walkie-talkie.
Almost an instinct, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye immediately focused on the person¡¯s lips. He used lip-reading to decipher his words.
¡°...already in position at the main entrance. We can go inside to capture him anytime.¡±
Based on their attire, body types, and characteristically cold looks, and the sentence he decoded from lip-reading, Xia Lei knew who they were almost immediately.
They were American CIA agents! He was surrounded!
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze suddenly moved to Mark Armin.
Mark Armin shot Xia Lei a faint smile, and his smile seemed to have a de hidden in it.
Xia Lei understood the situation immediately. The so-called birthday gathering was just a pretense in order to lure him out of Rheinmetall AG. Mark Armin was working with the CIA. Rheinmetall AG was one of thergest military factories in Europe, and the American military was one of their very important clients. If one looked at their rtions at this level, it made sense for Rheinmetall AG to work with the CIA.
The CIA had been quiet before, but that was because Rheinmetall AG needed his XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifles¡¯ production lines, and they needed the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. Now that these two projects wereing to an end, it wouldn¡¯t have a big effect on the projects if they chose to make a move and capture him. All the parts that they needed him to process personally were all done, and they just needed to assemble and install them.
Mark Armin walked over. He first greeted Rihanna with a smile, then moved close to Xia Lei¡¯s ears and said with augh, ¡°Sorry, Mr Xia. I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to enjoy my birthday cake with you.¡±
Xia Lei icily replied, ¡°We have an agreement. You guys need to ensure my safety.¡±
Mark Armin answered tly, ¡°There is no agreement in the world that won¡¯t change. Not only did Russia and Ukraine had an agreement, but they also had a brother-like friendship, but what happened in the end? They are now on the edge of war. Mr Xia, you are a very intelligent person, but you are still too young andck experience. There is no absolute integrity in this world. As long as the price is high enough, any agreements can be destroyed.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget that your people from the German side are still in China.¡± Xiao Lei took out his satellite phone.
Mark Armin smiled faintly. ¡°You¡¯re still so obviously immature. Even an army can be cannon fodder for the country¡¯s profits, much less some engineers. Compared to what you¡¯re worth, their worth can be neglected and disregarded.¡±
¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± Sylvia watched as Mark Armin and Xia Lei talked in low voices. She could not hear them clearly.
Next to them, Rihanna looked a little lost too. Her level of German fluency was clearly not as high as Xia Lei¡¯s.
Xia Lei was in no frame of mind to think about Sylvia. He dialled Ling Han¡¯s phone number on his satellite phone with practiced ease.
Mark Armin said, ¡°It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t do that. You need to consider your threepanions.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank to the depths of an ice valley. He understood that Mark Armin had meant Long Bing, Tang Yuyan, and Liu Zhengnan. He had been lured here, while Long Bing, Tang Yuyan, and Liu Zhengnan had remained at Rheinmetall AG. Although Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were both Bureau 101¡¯s elite agents, they didn¡¯t have permission to carry weapons, and they would have to face Germany¡¯s Special Forces soldiers and America¡¯s CIA agents too!
An image of Germany¡¯s Special Forces soldiers and CIA agents surrounding the factory living quarters and capturing Long Bing, Tang Yuyan, and Liu Zhengna appeared in his mind. He was full of anger but couldn¡¯t do anything.
Mark Armin stretched his hand out towards Xia Lei. ¡°Give it to me.¡±
Xia Lei abruptly pressed the dial button, and held the satellite phone to his ear. He spoke in a heavy voice, ¡°Brother Ling, we have been captured. Arrest those German people.¡±
¡°You¡ª¡± Mark Armin stared angrily at Xia Lei. He had not imagined that Xia Lei would be so unconcerned about the threat, and that he would dare to call to China to arrest the German engineers!
Ling Han¡¯s voice echoed from the satellite phone, ¡°I got it. No matter what you do, you must return. Don¡¯t mind Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, just escape by yourself!¡±
If Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were sacrificed, there would be a new Long Bing and Tang Yuyan to take over their jobs in Bureau 101. However, if Xia Lei were taken, this world would not have a recement for him, and he was extremely important to China!
This was Ling Han¡¯s decision, his choice.
But Xia Lei hung up, and ced the satellite phone in Mark Armin¡¯s hand.
Mark Armin was still pissed. ¡°Do you know what stupid thing you have done? You will regret this!¡±
Xia Lei coldly replied, ¡°Let me tell you this ¡ª if mypanions are injured in any way, I will kill everyone here. Including you.¡±
Mark Armin was stunned and he couldn¡¯t help taking a step back.
Sylvia heard this clearly. She looked at Xia Lei in shock. ¡°What... What is wrong with you guys?¡±
At that moment, the CIA agents walked into the living room. The leader was a blonde young man who wore ck framed sses and looked like a schrly type. He and the other CIA agents looked straight at Xia Lei the moment he stepped through the door, locking-on to his position.
Sylvia stared at the blonde young man. She paused, then blurted out a name. ¡°Adolf Hillman...¡±
It wasn¡¯t just the people from the CIA ¡ª even the people from the AE Research Center hade.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze swept those CIA agents, across Adolf Hillman, and through the wall. He saw the big group of CIA agents standing outside the door. The German Special Forces soldiers who had escorted him here, didn¡¯t stop CIA agents from surrounding him, and cooperated with the CIA instead. Some of Germany¡¯s Special Forces machine-gunner soldiers aimed the heavy machine guns of the Mercedes-Benz G-ss military-use off-road vehicle at the house, sealing all the exits.
Xia Lei looked around himself. Arge number of CIA agents, as well as German Special Forces soldiers had appeared on both sides and the back of the house.
This was an inescapable, and it was time to close the.
Adolf Hillman walked towards Xia Lei. He looked at him like he was special, like he was looking at an exceptionally rare treasure.
Xiao Lei stared at Adolf Hillman coldly.
¡°Hillman, what is going on?¡± Sylvia hadn¡¯t understood the situation. ¡°Why are you here? Who are these people?¡±
Adolf Hillman did not seem to have heard Sylvia¡¯s voice. He looked at Xia Lei and said with a smile, ¡°We finally meet, Xia Lei.¡±
Chapter 583 - I’ll Give You Thirty Seconds!
The CIA agents followed closely behind Adolf Hillman, and surrounded Xia Lei instantly when they got to him ¡ª two on the left, two on the right, and two behind. Their hands were at their waists too, prepared to draw their guns at any time.
Xia Lei could still take them on if it were just these six agents, and have a high chance of getting out of this ce unscathed. However, there were even more CIA agents around the house, plus the German Special Forces soldiers, all armed to the teeth and equipped with heavy weaponry. All of these factors made his chances of escaping alive practically zero.
The CIA had failed to capture him several times, and they had made sure to makeplete preparations. It was not possible for there to have any more holes in their n. Besides, they still had Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Liu Zhengnan in their hands.
¡°Do not rm the guests,¡± said Adolf Hillman. ¡°Come with us.¡±
Xia Lei spoke then. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you, sure, but let mypanions go. I¡¯ll leave with you only after I confirm that they¡¯re safe.¡±
Adolf Hillman scoffed. ¡°It seems you¡¯re still not aware of your situation, Xia Lei. You have no right to negotiate with us. Come quietly with us, and yourpanions won¡¯t suffer as much.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°Well, then I¡¯m sorry, but you guys can only take my corpse if my conditions are not fulfilled. I can also guarantee that at least half the people here will die, including you.¡±
Adolf Hillman shot a look at a CIA agent behind Xia Lei.
The agent behind Xia Lei then drew his gun, raised it, and brought the butt smashing down on the back of Xia Lei¡¯s head. The other five agents stuck out their arms in bear hugs at the same time, aiming to take Xia Lei down, and take him away by force.
Xia Lei seemed to have a pair of eyes in the back of his head. He twisted his head to the side sharply, and the descending gun grazed past his cheek to hit air.
Xia Lei raised his left elbow abruptly, mming it viciously into the Quchi acupressure point on the outside of the elbow of the agent behind him. It was a numbing acupressure point, and could make the arm numb for several minutes with just a light touch. In those minutes though, the owner of the arm would find it very difficult to even hold chopsticks, much less hold a gun and shoot. Furthermore, Xia Lei had used the hardest bone on the outside of his elbow to make that attack!
The agent who had tried to quietly bash Xia Lei¡¯s head in gave a grunt, and the gun dropped from his hand to fall to the ground.
Xia Lei grabbed it before it fell below waist-level. He raised his arm, and the deep ck of the gun muzzle was pressed to Adolf Hillman¡¯s forehead.
The other five agents had only managed to get close to Xia Lei, and had not managed to make any moves to capture him.
However, those five CIA agents reacted quickly too. They drew their guns at almost the same time, and pointed their guns at Xia Lei¡¯s head.
The living room burst into panic, and screaming.
The people in the living room wanted to flee from the house, but the CIA agents outside the door wanted to charge in. It was a scene of chaos.
Xia Lei suddenly grabbed Adolf Hillman by the cor before any of the five agents surround him could make his next move, and yanked him into his clutches. He then took the opportunity to turn around, position himself behind Adolf Hillman, and start moving towards a wall.
Adolf Hillman snapped back to his senses then. He was scared, and his forehead was dotted with cold sweat. ¡°Mr Xia, d,don¡¯t do anything hasty. You won¡¯t be able to get away. Surrender, and we won¡¯t hurt you,¡± bbered Adolf Hillman.
Xia Lei¡¯s arm tightened around Adolf Hillman¡¯s neck, and his voice vanished. His face turned red too, from theck of air.
The guests ran out the door, fleeing in a panic.
Xia Lei had cruelly said that he would kill half of the people in the living room, but he had not fired at the guests in the end, nor stopped them from fleeing. He was not a deranged criminal, and he could not do evil deeds like killing innocents.
The guests soon escaped, some even jumping out of windows.
Sylvia was thest to escape. For some reason, she seemed hesitant, and even looked back at Xia Lei as she went out the door.
To her, Xia Lei looked like an unrivalled hero inics. He was surrounded by massive military forces, but he showed not a trace of fear in this desperate situation. He was calm, rxed, and had a look of firm determination in his eyes.
The CIA agents poured into the living room once the guests had fled. The German Special Forces soldiers posted themselves at the windows of the living room too, and pointed their guns at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had a hostage, but this hostage didn¡¯t bring him much of a guarantee of safety. The reason was simple ¡ª the important people of the AE Research Center would definitely note here to spring the trap. Adolf Hillman was just a person they had sent to do the dirty work. He might have some standing in the AE Research Center, but it was not one that was high up.
¡°Let him go.¡± A burly golden-haired man walked over. He looked to be in his fifties, and the look in his eyes was quite unusual, like the gaze of an eagle.
Xia Lei held the muzzle of the gun firmly to Adolf Hillman¡¯s Taiyang acupressure point in response.
The burly, golden-haired man spread his hands, and a faint sneer appeared on his face. ¡°Mr Xia, do you really think that the hostage you have can guarantee your safe escape from this ce? Could you be more sensible about this? I can sacrifice an aircraft carrier for you, much less a person.¡±
Xia Lei was calm as he said, ¡°I was not thinking of escaping. I have just one condition. Let mypanions go. I will go with you when I confirm that they are safe.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll only give up if you see them suffer, is it?¡± The burly golden-haired man raised the walkie-talkie in his hand and said, ¡°Bring in those two female Chinese agents, and that electrical engineer.¡±
So Long Bing and Tang Yuyan had been captured by the CIA after all.
Xia Lei was in despair before he even saw them. He used to be able to use his abilities to get himself out of a sticky situation before, and avert disaster. He had been secure in the knowledge that he had backing too, back on the yacht when he had been surrounded by the armed Japanese speedboats, because he knew that Princess Yongmei would help him solve his problem.
This time was different, however. He had been entrapped, but Princess Yongmei had disappeared, and could not get him out of danger like thest time.
¡°Surrender. Don¡¯t do anything stupid. What¡¯s important is to stay alive.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s arm had rxed a little, and Adolf Hillman started urging him to surrender again.
¡°Shut your mouth, or I¡¯ll bust your balls with the gun. You should be very aware that they won¡¯t shoot at me even if I kill you,¡± said Xia Lei coldly.
Adolf Hillman wanted to urge Xia Lei to surrender again, but he swallowed his words. Xia Lei could wrest control of a gun, and hold him hostage while being surrounded by six elite CIA agents, so how difficult would it be for Xia Lei to shoot his balls off?
The golden-haired man in the doorway spoke then. ¡°I¡¯ll introduce myself first. I am the director of the CIA¡¯s European branch, Sean. Remember my name, because this operation to capture you was orchestrated by me. You have quite a legendary life, but I¡¯ll be ending it.¡±
¡°I came here because of an agreement with the German government. You are ignoring the agreement between China and Germany. You will have some trouble too,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We have some trouble? Heh heh.¡± Seanughed. ¡°Are you referring to those Germans? Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯lle home in the end. We understand your Chinese culture very well, and we also know about the situation on your side. ¡®Weak countries are underprivileged in diplomacy¡¯, as one of your politicians said. China won¡¯t be able to hold out for long under thebined pressure of Europe and America. China is now in a strategic encirclement, and we just have to pick some excuse to have those Germans returned.¡±
Weak countries are underprivileged in diplomacy. These words hurt Xia Lei, and the dire situation he was faced with made him sorrowful.
¡°Did you really think that we would not know about you trying to exchange the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology for other technologies? We knew about this from the beginning. China is in great need for advanced fighter ne engines, so we fulfilled your need. Through all our past interactions, someone mentioned that your weakness is women, but I think your greatest weakness is your love for your country. This was why you came here for the sake of obtaining advanced fighter ne engine technology, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Sean.
¡°Why did you pick now to make your move? I am here in Germany, and you could have captured me at any time, even if I hid in Rheinmetall AG.¡± Xia Lei held back the mes of anger in his heart.
¡°me the excellence of the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle you designed. You probably don¡¯t know this, but the Germans will make a copy of the production lines, and the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe you¡¯ve built in Rheinmetall AG, and build them for us. Youring to Germany is like stepping into a prison. We were patient, waiting for you while you toiled away in prison, for the time you finished your work, so we could make our move and capture you. You¡¯ve been under our surveince anyway, and there¡¯s no escape for you,¡± said Sean.
At that moment, three agents escorted Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Liu Zhengnan over.
¡°Don¡¯t bother about me! Find some way to escape on your own!¡± These were the first words Long Bing said to Xia Lei when she saw him.
Tang Yuyan smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t be in a rush to get married in your next life. I¡¯ll look for you.¡±
*
¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Sean suddenly punched Long Bing in the underbelly.
Long Bing folded.
A CIA agent smashed the butt of his gun into Tang Yuyan¡¯s back, and she staggered, almost falling to the floor.
Liu Zhengnan was hit too, but it seemed he had not been hit as hard as Long Bing and Tang Yuyan. He fell to the floor, his face pale with fright. He did not beg for mercy, however, and did not make any pleas for innocence.
Sean drew a gun, and pointed it abruptly to Long Bing¡¯s head. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a minute to put down your weapon and surrender, or I kill her immediately. Do not test my determination, nor my patience. One minute. I will shoot immediately after this one minute.¡±
Xia Lei released Adolf Hillman immediately, then pointed the gun at himself. Heughed as he said, ¡°Fine, then I¡¯ll give you 30 seconds to consider this ¡ª let mypanions go, and I will go with you, or you take my corpse with you.¡±
Tears burst from Long Bing and Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes in that instant.
They were deeply moved, and their love for him overflowed, spilling out for him like their tears.
Chapter 584 - Captured
The expression of the Head of CIA¡¯s European Branch turned ugly. He had given Xia Lei a minute to consider dropping the weapon and to surrender but Xia Lei had only given him 30 seconds to think about it, or he wouldmit suicide. His orders were to capture Xia Lei alive, not bring his corpse back.
This operation was akin to going back in time to capture da Vinci or Einstein, only to bring their dead bodies to the present time ¡ª What would be the point of that?
If Xia Lei were to die here, it would be a disastrous blow to the AE Research Centre. This would also be a tremendous loss for the United States.
These were all factors which Sean needed to consider.
¡°No¡ª¡± yelled Long Bing at Xia Lei. ¡°Go! I don¡¯t want you to save me!¡±
Tang Yuyan suddenly turned andnded a kick on a CIA agent. Her hands were bound by cable ties, but her skill with her legs was not affected. Her kicknded heavily, and the CIA agent fell to the ground. He would probably have been sent flying if he had the build of an Asian. A man of at least 120 kilograms had been kicked to the ground by a petite woman! Tang Yuyan¡¯s formidability shocked the big group of CIA agents.
Tang Yuyan had the same thought as Long Bing ¡ª to sacrifice her life so that Xia Lei could live.
The CIA agent who had been kicked to the floor was outraged at this humiliation, and he raised his gun, aiming it at Tang Yuyan.
¡°Bastard!¡± Sean kicked the gun out of the hands of the agent. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing!¡±
The CIA agent looked at his superior in surprise but did not move to pick his gun up. Judging by the ferocity in Sean¡¯s gaze, he might just get shot by Sean first if he grabbed his gun and shot Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was fairly nervous too because he¡¯d thought that the CIA agent would shoot and kill Tang Yuyan. Fortunately, Sean had moved to stop the agent. Xie Lei did not wish to experience such misfortune for a second time. ¡°Time¡¯s up!¡± he said, his voice heavy.
Sean looked at Xia Lei and asked coldly, ¡°Would you shoot?¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m dead if I wind up in your hands anyway. It¡¯s more straightforward to kill myself. Since I¡¯m dead either way, I have nothing to be afraid of. You, on the other hand... You won¡¯t live for much longer if I die here, huh?¡± Xia Lei suddenly yelled at Sean, ¡°I¡¯ll say just this ¡ª Let them go right now, and I will go with you!¡±
Sean finally made a decision. ¡°Release them. Let them go.¡±
Two agents promptly pulled out their military knives, and cut the cable ties off Long Bing¡¯s and Tang Yuyan¡¯s wrists, then another agent cut the cable ties around Liu Zhengnan¡¯s body.
¡°Give them a mobile phone,¡± Xia Lei said.
Sean gave them a look.
A CIA agent returned Long Bing¡¯s phone to her.
Long Bing took the phone but did not move. She looked at Xia Lei, and her tears flowed silently.
Xia Lei made a pretense of being fierce and bellowed at Long Bing, ¡°Why are you still standing here? Scram! I don¡¯t wish to see you again!¡±
It would have been better if Xia Lei had not been fierce. Long Bing¡¯s tears flowed faster at his fierceness.
¡°You dummy...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was choked with emotion.
¡°Don¡¯t let this all be meaningless. Go. All of you.¡± Xia Lei finally softened his tone. ¡°Get out of here, get somewhere safe, and give me a call.¡±
¡°Director Xia...¡± Liu Zhengnan cried too. He could only be described as Xia Lei¡¯s employee in the past, but he was Xia Lei¡¯s Brother now, after all that he had experienced.
Long Bing could no longer control her emotions. She took quick steps towards Xia Lei, ignoring the ck sea of guns, ignoring the cold stares around her. She spread her arms and closed Xia Lei in a hug. There were thousands of words in her heart but she could say none in that moment.
Xia Lei cupped her cheeks and kissed her on the lips.
¡°Hmmph...¡± A muffled sound came from Long Bing¡¯s throat. She quickly got into the kiss, and locked lips with Xia Lei in sorrowful abandon.
¡°How romantic.¡± Sean sneered, ¡°I can give you a few minutes for yourst bit of romance. You two can have one round, haha.¡±
Xia Lei ignored Sean¡¯s taunts. There was no way that Sean would give them time to have onest fling. Long Bing pressed against him, and wrapped herself around him, disregarding everything else. Xia Lei quietly grabbed the alloy ne around his neck and yanked it off, then reached his hand into Long Bing¡¯s cor, into her bra.
Long Bing froze instantly. She didn¡¯t dare believe that Xia Lei would have that sort of need at this time, especially in front of so many people. However, she swiftly discovered that he had put something in her bra, something cold.
Xia Lei kissed her ear and whispered in her ear, ¡°Bring this back. This is very important to me. Don¡¯t tell anyone, and wait for me toe back.¡±
Long Bing paused, then nodded.
Xia Lei pushed her away, and said fiercely, ¡°Scram, don¡¯t let me see you again!¡±
Long Bing bit her lip and turned to walk away.
Tang Yuyan suddenly walked towards Xia Lei. She seemed to want to do the same as Long Bing had done.
¡°Go!¡± Long Bing pulled Tang Yuyan by the arm.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan started to say something, then stopped.
Long Bing gave no exnations. She went out the door, pulling Tang Yuyan with her.
¡°Be safe, Director Xia,¡± said Liu Zhengnan. He then followed Long Bing and Tang Yuyan out.
The trio quickly disappeared from Xia Lei¡¯s line of sight.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Give me my phone, I will leave with you after I confirm that they are safe.¡±
¡°Give it to him,¡± said Mark.
The phone which Mark Amin had taken was quickly returned to Xia Lei¡¯s hand, and Xia Lei gripped it tightly. A mobile phone had never been so important to him as it was right now. His phone concerned the lives of Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, making it especially important. It also involved thest AE capsule.
He actually had the thought of taking thest AE capsule earlier, but he had immediately had the other thought that he would definitely have to go through another state of evolution even he could not predict if he did so. He could die, or he could be an existence like Princess Yongmei. Whichever the result was, it was not something he wanted to see.
Additionally, eating thest AE capsule would covertly give the AE Research Center an excellent opportunity to study him. This was because his body¡¯s evolution would not be immediately visible even if he took thest AE capsule ¡ª it needed a process. And this process, if discovered by the AE Research Center, would maybe earn the AE Research Center some great biotechnology due to America¡¯s strength in science and technology. Xia Lei did not want to see a result like this either. And so, he gave up on the thought of consuming thest AE capsule after weighing the pros and cons over and over, and got Long Bing to take it back to China.
This was the best way to take care of it. First of all, it did not change his prior intention to decide to take thest AE capsule only after solving its mysteries. Secondly, was that thest AE capsule would be in Long Bing¡¯s hands if he were not able to return to China. Long Bing would hand it in to the nation if he died.
¡°You are the first person to use your own life as a threat against me, Xia Lei.¡± Sean¡¯s voice held a trace of ridicule. ¡°This is very interesting, isn¡¯t it?¡±
This was the behaviour of a victor.
Xia Lei took no notice of Sean, and looked out the window. He saw the German Special Forces seizing the mobile phones of the guests to check if any of them had taken photographs or videos. What happened here must not be made known to the public.
Xia Lei saw Sylvia and Rihanna. The two women were standing in the circle of confinement, looking over at him. Sylvia¡¯s gaze was full of worry.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help the faint, wry smile in the corners of his lips. He knew that Sylvia had certain thoughts about him but he was in no mood to pick up girls now. Sylvia was fated to be just a passer-by in his life, and perhaps he would remember what she looked like after brushing past her, but their paths would not intersect.
Xia Lei suddenly turned and walked towards the oil painting.
¡°What are you doing?¡± yelled Sean.
The sounds of guns being raised could be heard from all around him.
¡°I like this painting and I¡¯m just taking a look at it. There¡¯s no need to get nervous, guys,¡± said Xia Lei nonchntly.
The oil painting depicted a female pirate with two faces. She held a shield in one hand, and brandished a hand-axe, a weapon favoured by Viking pirates, in her other hand at a burly Gaul. She seemed to possess a miraculous power which could not only cleave her enemies into pieces, but rent through space-time ¡ª an eternal existence!
¡®Was this really painted by da Vinci?¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help imagining it. ¡®Sylvia said that this female pirate had her revenge for herrade in the end, and built a martyr¡¯s town here, for it to be a gathering ce for Viking pirates. How did she get her revenge? Could it be... that Princess Yongmei helped her? Was this why da Vinci painted Princess Yongmei¡¯s face below hers?¡¯
He was in dire straits, but he was thinking thoughts such as these instead of how to escape. Xia Lei found himself ratherughable.
Sean did not stop Xie Lei from admiring Mark Armin¡¯s heirloom painting. He was waiting for Long Bing¡¯s phone call too, and he would take Xia Lei away once he confirmed that the three people had left and were safe.
A few minutester, Xie Lei suddenly put his fist through the oil painting. The hundreds-year-old painting was instantly destroyed, and the female pirate¡¯s face was gone. Only a hole was left.
Only he had discovered this hidden secret of Princess Yongmei¡¯s face in the painting, and he too, would be thest to know. He was not going to leave an opportunity for Mark or his descendants to discover this secret. Of course, there was also no reason to not make Mark pay for setting him up like this.
¡°What did you do?¡± said Sean angrily.
Xie Lei turned and shrugged. ¡°I was unhappy, so I vented. I can¡¯t? You can get Mr Mark Armin to contact mywyer. I am willing to stand in the dock, andpensate him fully for his loss.¡±
Ring ring ring...
The satellite phone rang.
Xie Lei answered.
¡°We¡¯re safe.¡± It was Long Bing¡¯s voice.
¡°Nn. Go,¡± said Xie Lei.
¡°Promise me that you¡¯lle back alive, or I¡¯ll go to America to look for you. I will go down to Hell with you too, if you die.¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was cold, determined.
Xie Lei hung up and walked to Sean.
A group of CIA agents escorted Xia Lei to a Chevrolet Suburban, and he got in.
Sylvia stood in the group of people, gaping at Xia Lei.
Mark Armin walked into his living room. His gaze went to the hole in the heirloom painting and he let out an abrupt scream before his vision went dark, and he copsed to the floor in a faint.
Chapter 585 - Rain of Bullets
A few Mercedes-Benz G-ss military-use off-road vehicles cleared the way for a long convoy of the CIA¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban off-road cars. They went along the road by the coast, in the direction of the airport.
The Valha Box Town shrank gradually in the distance. Oil-green forest lined both sides of the road, and Lucerne flowers bloomed on the nearby meadows. The multi-colored Lucerne flowers seemed to weave themselves into a carpet of flowers, so beautiful that it would be a waste to blink.
Would he ever see such beautiful scenery again?
Xia Lei was heavy-hearted. He¡¯d thought that Sean would stab an anaesthetic into him with a needle, and wouldn¡¯t bind his hands and legs, but Sean didn¡¯t do that. Instead, he had had his hands and legs bound together with iron chains which were usually used on the worst of criminals. Xia Lei¡¯s n to pretend to be knocked out by the anaesthetic, then ambush them and escape became useless.
This Sean was one of the most difficult opponents from the CIA which Xia Lei had met.
¡°Tell me, Mr Xia, you went to Afghanistan, then to Jerusalem, and then Japan. We believe you were on some sort of mission. What is this mission?¡± probed Sean. He stared at Xia Lei. They were in a Chevrolet Suburban in the middle of the convoy.
¡°Holiday. Pick up girls,¡± said Xia Lei tly.
Sean frowned. ¡°Mr Xia, I am being polite. You¡¯d better be polite too. You know my methods well; there is no need for you to anger me and let yourself suffer.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You saw, didn¡¯t you? My two girlfriends are very beautiful. I took one of them when I went to Afghanistan and I took the two of them when I went to Jerusalem. When I went to Japan, I took the other one. My mission is to make them happy.¡±
Sean suddenly punched Xia Lei¡¯s cheek.
Xia Lei¡¯s head was knocked violently to one side, almost smashing into the car window. A small line of blood spilled from the corner of his lips, but heughed. ¡°Is that all you got? You¡¯d better not end up in my hands.¡±
Sean sneered. ¡°Heh, you think you can escape? Let me tell you this ¡ª you will be sent to Nevada¡¯s Area 51 military base. An entire army wouldn¡¯t be able to save you, even if they attacked the ce, much less you escaping on your own.¡±
America¡¯s Area 51, the legendary base which studied aliens. It was also the base where America conducted her secret weapons research and experiments. That ce was very mysterious. None of the countries¡¯ spy organisations were able to obtain information on Area 51, even to this day. If Xia Lei were truly to be sent to that ce, he would have no way of escaping.
¡°The AE Research Center is in Area 51?¡± Xia Lei probed.
¡°Do you like that ce?¡± Sean¡¯s response was like a confirmation.
¡°I do. I have been wanting to see what it¡¯s like and I finally have a chance to do so now,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Hehehe...¡± Seanughed. ¡°You took what should have belonged to America. The AE capsules. We are quite certain that you have superhuman capabilities. You will be a subject of research. AE¡¯s secret, and the technology rted to AE all belong to America. I really admire your character, but I wonder if you can stillugh once you¡¯re lying on the ice-cold operating table, dissected for research like a frog or little white mouse.¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Xia Leiughed, but hisughter was filled with bitterness and helplessness.
Right then, in one of the seconds of Xia Lei¡¯sugh, came the sound of a violent explosion from up ahead. The shock wave of the explosion shook the ground, making the roads tremble.
The mes shot towards the sky, and bullet-proof ss shattered. The car shook and went off course. The car had been travelling normally just one second earlier, but everything was in chaos in the next second.
Xia Lei¡¯s head smashed into the car door. In that instant, he saw a Mercedes-Benz G-ss military-use off-road vehicle flying through the air. It was on fire. The people in the car were on fire too. The fire danced splendidly in the sky, like some sort of top-notch special effect.
BOOM! A Mercedes-Benz G-ss military-use off-road vehicle which was sted into the air by a roadside bomb, and it fell back to the ground, mming into another military-use Mercedes-Benz driven by the German Special Forces.
¡°Enemy attack!¡± Someone yelled angrily in German.
Bang, bang, bang...
The German Special Forces gunners fired at the hill on the right. The unique heavy metallic thunder of a heavy-duty machine guns thumped in their hearts. mes, bouncing shells, bullets falling like rain ¡ª the forest on that side of the hill were torn to shreds. A person hiding in there would be done for, and even a tree would be thoroughly ripped to pieces!
However, the German Special Forces soldiers¡¯ suppressive fire had onlysted for less than ten seconds when a bullet lodged into the forehead of a German Special Forces machine gunner. The bullet hade from nowhere. His head was torn open, and his skull, brain matter, and blood were all mixed together as they sttered through the air.
Some militant appeared on the hill. They wore ckbat gear, and had ck headgear. The weapons in their hands were very advanced, on par with what the German Special Forces soldiers had. They made use of the trees and rocks on the hill, to rush down. They were quick, and moved well together; they were the picture of elitebat skills.
¡°Who are they, damn it? Who are they!¡± roared Sean in the car.
Sean had no idea who these militants who suddenly appeared were, but Xia Lei knew. He had already spotted the sniper in the forest who had shot the German Special Forces machine gunner in the forehead. It was none other than Dark Mona, who he had fought against in Oshino Hakkai!
The FA Organisation was making their move.
Sean had not expected something like this to happen, and even Xia Lei had not expected it either.
However, it was quite logical for the FA Organization to make a move now, because once the CIA brought Xia Lei to Area 51, even a national army wouldn¡¯t be able to breach it, much less the FA Organisation. Whether it was for the interests of the AE Research Center, representing the Americans, or Dark Mona, who represented the FA Organization, their target was him. The CIA was taking him to Area 51 now, so the FA Organization obviously wasn¡¯t going to just sit and do nothing. Doing so would not benefit them at all!
Now was thest chance for the FA Organisation to steal him away!
Xia Lei watched with his left eye. Dark Mona stood, gun in hand, and shot. Every shot she fired meant the death of a German Special Forces soldier or a CIA agent. There was not a single trace of emotion on her face. She was indifferent, ice. However, what shocked Xia Lei was not her gun or her marksmanship, but the cigar she held in one corner of her mouth.
Killing people while smoking a cigar ¡ª what sort of woman was she?
Sean screamed into the walkie-talkie, ¡°Call for reinforcements! Call...¡± He suddenly paused mid-scream, then dashed the walkie-talkie violently onto the car door.
There was no signal. This was the FA Organization¡¯s usual method. It was the blitzkrieg strategy, and there was no calling for reinforcements in a battle with them.
Another German Special Forces soldier who just climbed onto the Mercedes-Benz G-ss military-use off-road vehicle was shot by Dark Mona. No one dared to take over the machine gunner¡¯s position again. Go, and you die.
¡°Retreat! Turn around, retreat!¡± Sean roared at the driver.
A heavy truck suddenly appeared from behind, and its driver twisted the steering wheel, causing the body of the truck to block the road horizontally.
The road behind them had also been cut off.
Sean suddenly pointed a gun at Xia Lei¡¯s head. ¡°Get out of the car! Quickly!¡±
He¡¯d just finished talking, when...
BOOM! Another violent explosion.
The Chevrolet Suburban off-road vehicle in front of them was struck by a rocket. The vehicle turned to scrap immediately, and the CIA agents who had been using the car as a shield were sted away.
The shockwave of the explosion went straight to the Chevrolet Suburban which Xia Lei was in. His body was lifted by the impact, and thrown on top of Sean. And in that very moment, Xia Lei reached into Sean¡¯s clothing and grabbed the key which could unlock his chains.
The thieving techniques he had learnt from Qin Xiang now became a skill for self-preservation.
¡°Ok, ok. I will get off.¡± Xia Lei reached over and grabbed the car door, pushing it open.
Sean¡¯s hand came out of the car door. He kept the gun pointed at Xia Lei¡¯s head as he moved, and got ready to get out of the car.
Xia Lei¡¯s legsnded on the ground. He abruptly moved his head to the side, and mmed his back against the car door.
Sean¡¯s hand was crushed in the car door.
Xia Lei did a snatch, and immediately got hold of Sean¡¯s gun.
The CIA agent in the driver¡¯s seat burst out of the car and fired at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei rolled, dodging the bullets flying at him. He stuck out his arm at the same time, and fired. The bullet hit the driver between his eyebrows.
Sean wanted to chase after Xia Lei but he dared not, not after seeing Xia Lei kill his subordinate right after he got free. He threw himself t against the backseat of the car, and didn¡¯t even dare to show his head.
Xia Lei¡¯s continued rolling, heading towards the meadow by the road. He held the gun he had grabbed from Sean¡¯s hand tight, and the key he had stolen from him. These two items concerned his freedom, life, and whether he would be able to escape in the next half an hour!
The battle raged on.
A free agent of the FA Organisation with a mini multi-barrel machine gun on his back appeared suddenly, shooting at the defensive line formed by the CIA agents and the German Special Forces soldiers. The appearance of the mini multi-barrel machine gun immediately upset the bnce between the two sides. The dense concentration of 7.62mm bullets dropping like rain was invincible. Wherever the muzzle of the gun pointed, ruin happened, and even the Mercedes-Benz G-ss military-use off-road vehicles were torn apart, much less a human body. A human body would be shredded right away!
Who had the time to care about Xia Lei at this time?
Xia Lei stopped rolling, and he sat with his legs crossed. He used the key and unlocked the iron chains.
Ding! A string of sparks suddenly spluttered from the iron chains. A sniper rifle bullet had zoomed between the narrow gap of the iron chains and went into Xia Lei¡¯s thigh.
He didn¡¯t need to look to know that Dark Mona had fired that shot.
Dark Mona had not brought the FA Organisation¡¯s free agents here due to any good intentions. Her and Sean¡¯s aim were the same. She would not give him a chance to escape.
The sniper rifle bullet buried itself in the flesh of Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. The scorching hot bullet brought him an indescribable pain. Xia Lei clenched his teeth and tugged the unlocked iron chains off, then rolled towards the dense underbrush.
Fortunately, the iron chain had absorbed some of the bullet¡¯s impact, or the sniper bullet would have crippled his left leg!
Chapter 586 - A Way Out
Dark Mona frowned as she stood on the hill. She had shot Xia Lei¡¯s left leg, and by her estimations, his leg had a 90% chance of being crippled, and he had a 70% chance of fainting. But Xia Lei gone into the grass right under her nose. His quick reaction didn¡¯t give her the time to shoot a second time.
Xia Lei had disappeared from the sniper¡¯s lens in the blink of an eye.
¡°I¡¯ve wounded your leg. You can¡¯t run away this time, Xia Lei.¡± Dark Mona put the sniper away and whistled. She yelled, "Kill them all!"
This loud whistle was the signal for an all-in attack.
The FA Organisation free agent operating the multi-barrel mini machine gun had just put on the crawler clip when he heard Dark Mona¡¯s yell. In that second, it was as if he were injected with a stimnt ¡ª He came out from behind cover and ran down the hill slope in big strides with the machine gun in his arms.
Ptoo ptoo ptoo...
shes of fire. As the smoke dispersed, 7.62mm bullets rained down on the German special forces and CIA agents on the road.
The off-road vehicles were spotted with bullet holes one by one. Parts flew. One by one, the German Special Forces and the CIA agents were ripped apart, arms, feet and organs were strewn all over the ce. The strong stench of blood filled the air, and no amount of wind blowing cleared the smell.
Dark Mona was thest to rush out as a sniper, but the first to get on the road. She was like a sharp knife, giving the desperately struggling CIA agents and German Special Forces soldiers thest stab.
A German Special Forces soldier leaned against a sted tyre, breathing heavily. There was a bullet hole in his belly and blood was oozing from it, nonstop.
"Don¡¯t... kill me... I surrender..." The German special forces looked pleadingly at Dark Mona, who had appeared before him.
Dark Mona nced at him. She raised her arm slightly and a ball of fire shot from the modified gun.
Bang! A gunshot rang out and the German Special Forces soldier¡¯s head suddenly disappeared.
Dark Mona raised her arm and pointed at the forest opposite the road.
The FA Organisation¡¯s free agents followed her instructions and crossed the road to start searching for Xia Lei¡¯s tracks.
Dark Mona walked to a Chevrolet Suburban SUV. She reached out and opened the car door.
Two dead bodiesy in the car.
The two bodies in the Chevrolet Suburban SUV were wedged in the gap between the front and back seat, one above another. The body on top had been shot to a pulp by machine gun bullets. The body underneath was more intact, and only the face was covered in blood.
"Acting dead?" Dark Mona sneered. She took the cigar from the corner of her mouth and blew a puff of smoke at the intact body.
The body showed no signs of movement.
¡°Did the CIA¡¯s acting-dead courses only teach you to wipe blood on your face? If you want to fool me you would need the courage to shoot your own neck, at least.¡± Dark Mona suddenly grabbed the cor of the body and yanked, pulling it up.
This body was Sean.
Sean opened his eyes. He couldn¡¯t act anymore.
His heart had sunk the moment the car door was pulled open. He had sessfully hidden from the machine gun and the FA Organisation agents¡¯ search when he hid in the Chevrolet Suburban and covered himself with a dead body, but he wasn¡¯t able to hide from Dark Mona.
"Who are you guys?" Sean mped down on the fear in his heart, and asked.
"We are warriors from ISIS," said Dark Mona. "Kneel down, I¡¯ll make it quick for you."
Sean knelt on the ground. "You guys aren¡¯t the warriors of ISIS. There is no way they¡¯de to Germany for battle. The people of ISIS also don¡¯t have such good armor. The fighting skills that you have demonstrated isn¡¯t something the ISIS warriors can achieve either. You guys are..."
He seemed to have guessed something but he didn¡¯t say it out loud.
There was no use in saying it either because the organization that he¡¯d thought of had never left anyone alive to talk.
"Ah Akbar." Dark Mona raised the modified gun and put it to the back of Sean¡¯s head.
Sean closed his eyes. He was trembling.
And at this moment, where life and death hung by a thread, a motorcycle suddenly came zooming in from the side of the off-road vehicle. The motorcycle rider raised an MP5, and the muzzle seemed to lock on to Dark Mona instantly.
Pew pew pew...
Dark Mona was shot in her shoulder and lower abdomen. Blood spurted from her body, sttering onto Sean¡¯s face.
Dark Mona dove to one side, and rolled twice. She went into the grass.
The rider came screeching to a stop by the road. A woman¡¯s voice came from inside the helmet. "Mr Sean, get on, quick!"
Sean snapped back to his senses. He hurriedly stood up and climbed up the backseat of the motorcycle.
The female rider elerated, and the motorcycle roared and it sped forward.
Bang!
Dark Mona suddenly stood up from the grass and shot at them. The modified gun¡¯s high-impact bullet scraped past the motorcycle and hit the Chevrolet Suburban SUV. The Chevrolet Suburban SUV shook violently, and a huge piece of metal fell off.
The female rider returned fire, and a string of fire shot from the MP5.
Dark Monay t on the ground, dodging the bullets which flew toward her.
The female rider wasn¡¯t looking for a fight, and the motorcycle quickly moved out of the battle zone.
"Who are you?" asked Sean. His voice was shaky.
"Gu Kewen," replied the female rider.
"Gu Kewen?"
"I¡¯m a member of the CIA¡¯s Asian branch."
"You¡¯ll be one of mine in the future," said Sean.
"Thank you, Chief." Gu Kewen smiled a cold smile under the helmet.
Meanwhile, Dark Mona stood up from the grass. She took off her leather jacket and threw it on the grass. Blood still came from the jacket. It wasn¡¯t actually blood, but an oozing blood bag hidden in the jacket.
The director of the CIA¡¯s European branch acting dead, and the FA Organisation¡¯s top assassin acting like she got shot... This was like some actingpetition between the two big agent organisations.
"I¡¯ming, Xia Lei." Dark Mona looked at the dense forest in front of her, and gave chase.
A gust of wind blew and the forest swayed. It was as if it were whispering of mercy, persuading the humans who were killing each other to put down their weapons.
"Fuu-- " Xia Lei leapt and jumped over a big fallen tree covered with moss.
A few drops of blood from his left leg spattered onto the tree trunk, bright, red.
Although he had ripped some cloth from his clothing to bandage his wounds, but this sort of treatment could not stop the blood from flowing. If he had more time, he could have found several ways to get the bullet out of his wound and stop the bleeding, but the FA Organisation¡¯s free agents wouldn¡¯t give him this sort of time.
Time was life. Even a second was precious.
Both his feetnded on the ground, and Xia Lei¡¯s body swayed. He almost fell to the ground. The wound on his left leg sent acute pain through his body, causing him to inhale sharply.
Shouting came from behind him, the weirdnguage that he had heard in Japan. He could not understand it, but he could still guess that the one shouting was reporting information of his whereabouts to hisrades. He had fled all the way here, with his blood dripping the entire time. Under these circumstances, they could still find him even if none of them had received special tracking training.
"This can¡¯t go on. I can¡¯t hang on for much longer. Dark Mona and her people will catch up to me." Xia Lei clenched his jaw and forced himself to endure the terrible pain from his left leg. He kept running.
Although his left leg was injured, it was not easy for the FA Organisation agents to catch up to him. He had only one good leg, but he was still someone who had learnt the Tang Sect¡¯s Qinggong. He shifted the centre of gravity of his body to his right leg, and his left leg only touched the ground for a second to maintain his bnce. By adding the inertia of movement, he could decrease the pain and damage to a minimum while maintaining a decent running speed.
Two minutester, Dark Mona appeared in front of the dead tree which Xia Lei had rolled over. She touched her hand to the blood on the wood, then put it in her mouth. She then pointed to the other side of the tree. "The blood¡¯s still warm! He¡¯s right ahead. Go after him, quick!"
A group of FA Organisation free agents dashed over.
50 metres ahead was Xia Lei, limping as he ran. He really couldn¡¯tst very long. The more blood he lost from his left leg, the worse his stamina. Losing blood affected both the heart and the brain, and this directly affected the function of the bodily organs and the nervous system. These tens of metres felt like a marathon, and he could copse at any moment.
"He¡¯s over there!" Someone suddenly yelled in English behind him.
Bang bang bang...
Rat-tat-tat...
Gunshots rang out and the silence of the forest was suddenly broken.
Bullets flew through the forest one by one. Tree trunks were hit, and bark and wood were sent flying.
However, it was obvious that the FA Organisation¡¯s free agents didn¡¯t want to kill Xia Lei. Most of the bullets hit the trees beside Xia Lei. Some went for Xia Lei¡¯s leg, but actuallynding a shot on a pair of running legs needed great luck.
"Shit!" Xia Lei cursed. He returned fire, squeezing the trigger. The FA agent who had reported his whereabouts suddenly found a bleeding hole between his brows.
The free agents of the FA Organization wanted him alive, but Xia Lei wanted them dead.
If he had an XL2500 sniper rifle in his hands, and 2000 metres between him and the free agents of the FA Organisation, he was confident that he could kill all of Dark Mona¡¯s subordinates. However, this was impossible.
Xia Lei had killed one of them in one shot. The people chasing finally slowed down.
Xia Lei gritted his teeth and continued running forward. 30 metrester, he suddenly heard the rushing sound of water. His heart thumped. Using thest of his strength, he sped up and dashed over.
A row of trees were behind him, and a cliff was in front of him. A big river ran from the forest, down wards, forming a waterfall on the broken cliff. Xia Lei stood on the edge of the cliff and looked down. It looked to be 30 metres high. Jumping from this height into the water was very dangerous, but he only hesitated for half a second before jumping own.
Jumping from the cliff was dangerous, butpared to getting captured by the FA Organisation, he would choose jumping from the cliff a thousand times over.
Ssh! Xia Lei¡¯s body hit the pool under the waterfall like a missile. The great force of the impact almost made him faint. His head felt heavy and he was about to faint, when that miraculous energy reappeared in his brain. His brain suddenly felt very awake and his body seemed to have gained some power.
The feeling was like a machine that had its power suddenly cut off, then suddenly turned on again. It was unbelievable.
The water was cold. Xia Lei¡¯s body stopped before he hit the rocky bottom of the pool. Just then, bullets suddenly came down from above his head. The bullets were met with resistance when they came into the water, and they trailed bubbles.
Xia Lei hugged the rock at the bottom of the pool and hid under them.
Bullets rained down, uncountable.
On the cliff, Dark Mona suddenly raised one of her hands. "Stop!"
All of the FA Organisation¡¯s agents stopped shooting. They all stared at the waterfall pool, where waves rolled about on the surface, but Xia Lei did not appear from the water. The water flowed rapidly, and no water dyed red from blood could be seen.
It was like Xia Lei had melted in the water; he was nowhere to be found.
The ear-piercing sound of a police siren suddenly came from afar. Some military helicopters also appeared in the sky.
Dark Mona sighed. "Retreat!"
The big group of FA Organisation agents disappeared into the dense forest.
Chapter 587 - Self-saving
Xia Lei poked his head out from the deep pool beneath the waterfall and floated downstream.
Intense gunshots came asionally, in the distance. This was not going to start or stop in the way Dark Mona wanted. The Germans and the CIA weren¡¯t easy to deal with either. Dark Mona had led the FA Organisation¡¯s agents to ambush the convoy escorting Xia Lei earlier, with the advantage of the right time, ce, and heavy duty weaponry. Now, the Special Forces from the CIA and Germany had gotten involved, searching for FA Organisation agents by air and bynd, killing them off.
Xia Lei was no longer concerned about who would be the final victor at the end of this battle, or how many free agents from FA Organisation would live to see the next day. This current situation was fairly advantageous for Xia Lei because the CIA and the Germans would think that the FA Organisation had seized him. They would then pursue the free agents of the FA Organisation relentlessly while the only thing the FA Organization agents could do was escape. This meant that they wouldn¡¯t be pursuing him, whether it was the CIA, the Germans, or the FA Organisation¡¯s free agents.
The river water was ice-cold and posed a huge risk, but Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare crawl out from the river, because he would only be able to escape without a trace via the river. The moment he climbed ashore, all of his footprints and blood stains would be clues for the Germans and CIA to pursue him. In addition, the downstream current was much faster than the speed at which he could run with his weakened legs.
An hourter.
Xia Lei let go of the piece of wood he had been holding onto and reached for a branch by the riverbank, pulling himself ashore with it.
This ce was about ten kilometers away from the waterfall where he had escaped. He wasn¡¯tpletely out of danger at this distance, but there definitely wouldn¡¯t be anyone after him here.
Xia Lei looked up at the sky before he entered the woods next to the riverbank. He now had to be on guard against the CIA agents and the Germans, on top of unmanned drones and satellites.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t go too deep into the forest. He stopped after he entered, and sat on the ground. He ripped the leg of his trousers open, revealing the wound on his thigh.
The wound was still bleeding, and traces of inmmation had appeared around it.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he quickly spotted a piece of shrapnel buried in his flesh. It was probably four centimeters deep, and he couldn¡¯t dig it out with his hands at all. It would have been much easier for him to take it out if he had a pair of tweezers, but right now, he didn¡¯t have anything else on him besides a gun.
He did not have any surgical instruments, anaesthesia, or a pretty, sexy nurse. There wasn¡¯t much else around him besides trees and rocks. However, he had to take out the shrapnel in his wound, and stop the bleeding or he would die from blood loss, even if he were a superhero made of iron.
Xia Lei scanned everything around him and very quickly locked on a rock fragment. It was very thin and seemed very sharp.
"That¡¯s it. My scalpel." Xia Lei shifted over and picked up that rock fragment.
A minuteter, Xia Lei held a piece of wood between his teeth and he grasped that rock fragment in his hand, cutting at his wound little by little, enduring the sharp pain.
After cutting his wound open, Xia Lei bit down on the piece of wood and reached his right index finger into bullet hole, pushing deeper, little by little. This was an extremely painful process and for every little bit his finger burrowed, his pain doubled. The unceasing increases in pain tormented his nerves.The pain surpassed anything a normal person would be able to bear. An average person would have fainted a long time ago, much less a prolonged probing of the wound.
However, Xia Lei could still continue, because every time he was on the verge of fainting, his brain would let out that miraculous energy. His brain then resumed a normal train of thought, keeping him awake.
Xia Lei¡¯s finger finally touched the shrapnel. His finger followed the piece of metal until he could hook onto the bottom, and he yanked it up.
Blood spurted, and the bullet poked out of the wound.
"Hoooh¡ª Haaaah¡ª" Xia Lei took deep breaths, in and out.
He was experiencing a rending pain, but his brain was very awake. He didn¡¯t even feel dizzy at all. This was an extremely strange condition to be in.
"Dark Mona, this is what you¡¯ve given me. I¡¯ll let you experience how this feels if I get the chance,¡± muttered Xia Lei to himself. His face all sweaty. He grimaced in pain, yet a cruel smile stayed in the corners of his mouth.
Without taking any time in between to ease the pain, Xia Lei took out the gun he had taken from Sean and removed the ammunition clip, taking out two bullets. Then, he looked for a rock and broke off the tip of both. He dumped the gunpowder of a bullet onto rock and tipped the other bullet¡¯s gunpowder into the wound on his left leg.
After two minutes, Xia Lei picked up a small rock and smashed it onto the gunpowder on the big rock. The pile of gunpowder was immediately ignited, setting fire to the pile of dry grass he had prepared. He moved the tinder close to the wound on his left leg.
Poof! A weird sound rang out and the wound on his thigh suddenly burst into mes. Xia Lei clutched his left leg tightly and gritted his teeth to stop himself from screaming.
That was it for the treatment for his wound.
Xia Lei used a strip of cloth as a simple bandage, then walked towards the riverbank.
Night fell. Duesseldorf¡¯s lights shone bright, looking like a jewel next to the Rhein River from above.
However, tonight was different from the average night. Many armed German soldiers had appeared on the streets of Duesseldorf. They paid particr attention to Asians, and went up to them to all the Asian men they saw, to interrogate them, inspect their ID, and verify their identity. While this was all happening on the surface, some agents from the CIA were doing the same thing in train stations, airports, hotels and other ces like that. They didn¡¯t go up and interrogate people but the moment they discovered some suspicious targets, they would approach the target without batting an eye and surround him.
Whether it was the Germans or the CIA, they only had one target, and that was Xia Lei.
The fight between the Germans, the CIA, and the FA Organisation had been over a long time ago. They couldn¡¯t capture the main culprit of the ambush, Dark Mona, but they had confirmed something ¡ª Xia Lei had not been taken away by the FA Organisation; he had escaped. This was why this spread-out had been cast for this manhunt.
Now, the whole city of Duesseldorf was like a huge cage. It wasn¡¯t just the CIA agents or the German police and soldiers. There was also the CIA satellites and a number of unmanned surveince aircraft on the move.
But Xia Lei had disappeared like a fish which had been released into the ocean.
Where was Xia Lei?
The CIA, Germans, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan all wanted to know the answer to this question.
The news red on the television in the basement of a Chinese restaurant in Duesseldorf.
The screen showed a female anchor standing in front of Rheinmetall AG, and she was interviewing a sexy German woman.
"Isn¡¯t that the little German slut?" Tang Yuyan immediately recognised Sylvia, who was being interviewed.
Long Bing looked at Sylvia on the screen and the signboard of Rheinmetall AG behind her with a cold look in her eyes.
"Miss Sylvia, I received information that stated that a very serious incident has urred in Rheinmetall AG. Are the military and the police currently out and about because of this incident? Please tell us more about it," said the anchor.
Sylvia said, "A group of terrorists raided Mr Mark Armin¡¯s house and they attempted to kidnap him but were unsessful. However, Mr Xia Lei from Thunder Horse Military Factory, who is currently doing an exchange of technologies with ourpany, was kidnapped by these terrorists. The soldiers and police are currently trying to save Mr Xia. He is a very good person. I am praying for him and I hope he is safe and sound."
"Is Mr Mark Armin all right?"
"He is receiving treatment in the hospital, and that is also the reason why I¡¯m standing here. His current condition does not allow him to ept any interviews."
"Does this terrorist attack have anything to do with our refugee policy?"
"Perhaps. I¡¯m just a regr person and I don¡¯t really understand those things. Right now, I only hope that our troops and police can save Mr Xia Lei from the clutches of those terrorists."
The interview went on but Tang Yuyan had already lost control of her emotions. She kicked a beer crate and said angrily, "That whore is lying! They¡¯re clearly the ones who took Xia Lei and now she¡¯s saying some terrorists took Xia Lei! Shameless!"
Long Bing¡¯s voice was ice. "She is German, so someone had prepared what she should say about today in advance."
Tang Yuyan¡¯s foot descended on the beer crate again, kicking that unlucky beer crate to pieces.
"ording to our information, neither the Germans or the Americans were victorious in that conflict on the road. Right now there are two possibilities. One, Xia Lei was taken away by that group of people. Two, Xia Lei escaped while the two parties were fighting," said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan calmed down atst. "Which do you think it is?¡±
¡°The streets are crawling with German soldiers, police officers, and CIA agents right now, all looking for him. Our intelligence personnel gave us information that German soldiers and police officers are interrogating young Asian men on the streets, and some even have Xia Lei¡¯s portrait. The CIA are looking for people at the airport, train stations, and hotels. There are a lot of unmanned surveince nes being utilised as well.¡± Long Bing looked at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Which possibility do you think it is?¡±
Xia Lei looked back at Long Bing fixedly. ¡°You mean... Xia Lei escaped when both sides were fighting?¡±
Long Bing nodded. ¡°There¡¯s a 90% chance that that happened.¡±
This seemed to be the reason why she was so calm.
¡°Then where is he now?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Then we should go look for him right now! He definitely needs our help!¡± Tang Yuyan grew excited.
¡°Calm down!¡± Long Bing replied coldly. ¡°Don¡¯t let your hormones influence your IQ. Right now, the streets are filled with people trying to catch Xia Lei. Do you think we wouldn¡¯t be on the Germans and CIA¡¯s list of people to capture? If we were to go out right now, we¡¯d not only be of no help to Xia Lei but be a burden to him, and trouble for him.¡±
¡°You mean we should wait here, then?¡±
¡°Yes, we have to wait here. He knows of this safe house and wille find us.¡±
¡°Are you sure he¡¯lle find us?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure.¡±
¡°You know him that well?¡±
¡°I understand him more than you, at least.¡±
Tang Yuyan red at Long Bing and stopped talking. This Long Bing was showing off, wasn¡¯t she?
Chapter 588 - A Deep Camaraderie Between Battle Comrades
The streets early in the morning were quiet, empty of people and the lights glowed with loneliness.
A shadow suddenly emerged from the greenery by the kerb. It limped across the road, past a grass patch, and then came to a house.
The Germans and the CIA were all looking for Xia Lei but he was right under their noses.
Xia Lei went around to the back of the house. He used a metal wire to open a window, and he mbered through the window, into the house.
The house was big. The fittings, furniture, appliances and so on were all top quality. It wasn¡¯t difficult to see that this was a middle ss German home.
Xia Lei went past the living room, and into the kitchen. He found a bottle of juice and a cooked sausage in the refrigerator. He didn¡¯t bother washing his hands or use any dining etiquette. He grabbed the sausage and shoved it in his mouth, then washed it down with a mouthful of juice. He was starving.
Several minutester, Xia Lei finished stuffing his belly. He went cautiously up to the second floor. His left eye twitched when he came to a room door, and what was going on in the room immediately entered his left eye¡¯s vision.
Behind the door was a bedroom, and two women were lying on the bed. The two women were sleeping while hugging each other, and they seemed very affectionate and sweet. There were a lot of rubber toys ced messily on the bedside table. On the wall at the head of the bed was a wedding picture, but there weren¡¯t any men in the picture. There were just two women.
¡®Well, damn... This is a lesbian¡¯s house.¡¯ Xia Lei frowned.
He urgently needed some clean men¡¯s clothing but he clearly wouldn¡¯t be able to get what he wanted in a house for two women.
After some hesitation, he opened the door softly and tiptoed towards the bedside table with many silicone toys on it.
From the average person¡¯s point of view, those things were only toys to please a woman, but Xia Lei saw them as the main material for making a disguise mask.
He left the room several minutester. He hadn¡¯t just taken those toys, but also a few makeup products, a set of women¡¯s clothing, and a golden wig....
The light of dawn dispersed the darkness, and the sleepy city of Duesseldorf awakened. The blue Rhein River was like a sparkling and shining ribbon in the morning sun.
A taxi stopped at a street corner and a tall young woman with golden hair got out. She took out 20 euros from her handbag, gave it to the driver, and followed the pavement.
Two German police officers approached, and one of them was speaking into a walkie talkie as he walked.
The woman with golden hair brushed past the two officers.
¡°Stop!¡± yelled a German police officer all of a sudden.
The woman with golden hair immediately went rigid. She looked back to see the German police officers walking briskly over to a young Asian man on the pavement. He was sandwiched by the policemen in the blink of an eye.
¡°Please show us your Personusweis,¡± said a German police officer.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, what did you say? I don¡¯t understand...¡± The Asian man replied in Chinese.
¡°Personusweis!¡±
¡°I really can¡¯t understand you. Can you speak English? Korean would be fine too.¡±
The golden-haired woman turned back and continued walking.
There was a Chinese restaurant opened by some Chinese people at the end of the street. It only opened for lunch and dinner. There weren¡¯t any customers in the restaurant since it was morning. A waitress was mopping the floor, and an Asian man was standing at the counter, doing some ounting with a calctor when the golden-haired woman passed by the restaurant entrance.
The golden-haired woman walked in.
¡°I¡¯m sorry madam, we are not open for business yet.¡± The waitress mopping the floor spoke stiffly in German.
The golden-haired woman didn¡¯t talk to her. She went directly to the middle-aged man doing calctions.
¡°Hello? Madam, we¡¯re not open for business. Pleasee back in the afternoon.¡± The female waitress came after her, but didn¡¯t dare to stick out her hand to stop the woman.
The man behind the counter looked up at Xia Lei, his eyes full of rm and wariness. He said tentatively, ¡°Madam, do you need anything? You can see that it isn¡¯t our operating hours right now.¡±
The golden-haired woman lowered her voice. ¡°May I ask where I can buy a ticket to Duesseldorf¡¯s home game?¡±
The golden-haired woman¡¯s voice was very strange. It sounded like a man but also like that of a woman, giving one the feeling that she was a transsexual.
The man behind the counter stared nkly, then said, ¡°What a coincidence, I¡¯m also a fan of Duesseldorf¡¯s team. I just happen to have an extra home game ticket. I can sell it to you. How much money are you willing to spend?¡±
¡°21 euros,¡± said the golden-haired woman.
¡°Pleasee with me.¡± The middle-aged man left the counter and walked towards the inside of the restaurant.
The golden-haired woman followed the middle-aged man into a storeroom. Once they entered the storeroom, the Asian man immediately turned around and put a gun to the golden-haired woman¡¯s head. He coldly asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±
The golden-haired woman spoke in Chinese. ¡°You don¡¯t have the authority to know. Tell Section Chief Long toe out and see me.¡±
The golden-haired woman had a transsexual voice earlier, but she now had a full-on male voice, and she spoke in authentic, maind-ented Chinese.
¡°You are...¡± The middle aged man seemed to have guessed who was in front of him but he couldn¡¯t believe it, because the person he was thinking of was a man, the man that the Germans and American CIA were currently searching the entire city for. However, the person standing in front of him was a very real-looking woman. She had a woman¡¯s face, a proud, perky chest, and round butt.
The golden-haired woman took off her shawl, exposing the Adam¡¯s apple that only a man would have.
The middle-aged man understood immediately. He nodded, then turned and walked to a corner. He lifted a dirty carpet, revealing a square-shaped wooden board. He opened the wooden board, and underneath was a passageway which nted downwards.
¡°Consultant Xia, please enter. The two section chiefs are down there.¡± The middle aged man¡¯s voice carried respect.
The golden-haired woman in front of him was indeed Consultant Xia Lei of Bureau 101.
Xia Lei could achieve a 90% resemnce to another person with makeup by using the face mask making techniques he had learnt from his father, Xia Changhe, and the ability of his left eye. Right now, the Germans and American CIA were scouring the entire city of Duesseldorf for him, but he had managed toe here still.
Xia Lei bent over to enter the underground passageway. The middle-aged man closed the wooden board and covered it with the carpet.
No one was in the basement. A television set was currently broadcasting thetest news. Two bottles of German beer sat between two sofas still, next to a te of stewed meat and a pile of peanuts. Some peanut shells were scattered all over the table. He could see that someone had just been drinking and watching the news.
Xia Lei was about to walk out of the passageway when he stopped and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, it¡¯s me. I¡¯ming in now. Don¡¯t ambush me ¡ª I¡¯m injured.¡±
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, who were hiding at both sides of the passageway, appeared immediately after he spoke.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing had been certain Xia Lei hade when they heard his voice, but they paused when they saw a golden-haired woman in front of them. They stood there, unmoving.
Xia Lei reached up to take off his mask, revealing his own face.
¡°Whew...¡± Long Bing let out a long sigh of relief. Her heart was filled with emotion as tears of happiness formed in her eyes.
It had been just yesterday when she thought that she would never see Xia Lei again, but Xia Lei had appeared in front of her again now. All of this seemed like a dream, and this dream of separation through life and death had made her realise that she actually loved him deeply, so deeply that there was no point of return.
Xia Lei¡¯s lips formed a smile. A sunny, easy smile filled with confidence.
Long Bing couldn¡¯t control her emotions anymore. She walked up to Xia Lei. She was going to throw herself at him even if Tang Yuyan was here. She had to kiss him!
However, Tang Yuyan lost control first, before Long Bing could walk over to Xia Lei. She threw herself into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace with abandon and a girlish squeal, hugging him firmly as though afraid he would leave again.
Long Bing froze on the spot immediately, with a very odd look on her face.
It was quite normal for her to do stuff with Xia Lei because she was Xia Lei¡¯s woman. The number of times they had slept with each other was in the double digits. However, on what basis was Tang Yuyan being so intimate with him? Who was she to him?
Xia Lei was feeling awkward too. The one he wanted to hug was Long Bing, but the person who had squeezed into his embrace was the youngdy of the Tang Sect. Tang Yuyan was in his embrace, snuggling into his arms like a cat ¡ª he couldn¡¯t just push her away, could he?
¡°You know what? I thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to see you again in this lifetime... Yesterday, when you pointed the gun at your own head to save me, so I could leave, I,I, I... I...¡± Tang Yuyan said a lot of ¡®I¡¯s but she couldn¡¯t finish her sentence.
She probably would have finished it if Long Bing were not present.
¡°Ah-ahem.¡± Long Bing cleared her throat.
Tang Yuyan seemed to only just realise what she was doing and her face reddened immediately. She let go of Xia Lei, then rolled her eyes at Long Bing. ¡°What are you ahem-ing at? This is called a deep camaraderie between fellowrade-in-arms.¡±
Long Bing didn¡¯t speak. She walked to Xia Lei and suddenly hooked her arm around Xia Lei¡¯s neck, to nt a kiss on Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
What Tang Yuyan? What Shentu Tianyin? To heck with them!
A lover? A third party? To hell with all of those judging gazes!
I am Long Bing, and I am a woman who isn¡¯t afraid to love or hate!
Tang Yuyan gaped at Xia Lei, who was entangled with Long Bing. Their hot, steamy kissing made her face turn red. She was so sour about it that she felt like she had been soaked in a vinegar jar. Even the air was sour!
¡°A-HEM!¡± Tang Yuyan cleared her throat too.
Long Bing pretended not to hear Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice. Long Bing had been tame while Tang Yuyan was silent, but the ¡®AHEM¡¯ prompted her to stretch her tongue into Xia Lei¡¯s mouth, past his teeth, to y with his tongue.
Xia Lei was at a bit of a loss...
¡°Mmh... nnnh... uuhn!¡±
Schlurp... Schlick, schlurp...
¡°Hello?! What are you guys doing? Do I not exist?¡± Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t take it anymore.
Long Bing let go of Xia Lei then, and she was calm as she said, ¡°What are you groaning about? This is just the camaraderie between fellowrade-in-arms."
¡°Bah! Are you sure it isn¡¯t that of a fuck-buddy?¡±
Long Bing was speechless.
Xia Lei coughed awkwardly. ¡°Stop arguing. I¡¯ll tell you my n.¡±
¡°A n to escape?¡± said Long Bing. ¡°Boss Shi already made the arrangements so all we have to do is wait here.¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing¡¯s eyes went to Xia Lei¡¯s face at the same time.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
What n did he have at this critical juncture?
Chapter 589 - Viktor und Viktoria
Three dayster.
Rheinmetall AG.
¡°Boss Barbie seems to have lost her soul. I¡¯m really worried about her,¡± whispered a machinist in the precision processing workshop.
His colleague looked at Sylvia, who was processing a part at an intelligentthe, and said, ¡°It might be because of that Chinese guy. To be honest, after working with that Chinese guy for such a long time, I think he is a pretty good guy. He¡¯s the most skilled machinist in China, and an electrical engineer too. I admire him a lot. What a pity that such a great person like him was actually kidnapped by terrorists.¡±
¡°You think we would still need to stay and work overtime if those terrorists hadn¡¯t kidnapped Mr Xia? The project would¡¯ve been finished already if Mr Xia were here, but we need to stay overtime in order toplete what was originally Mr Xia¡¯s work. How would we have abilities like him? Let¡¯s hope we don¡¯t make any mistakes.¡±
¡°Even if we do make mistakes, it is not our fault. I¡¯m just worried about our Boss Barbie. She seems to like that guy a lot. Ay, that Chinese guy probably doesn¡¯t have much hope of surviving since he fell into the hands of terrorists. She probably won¡¯t be able to see that Chinese guy for the rest of her life.¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if she can¡¯t see him. There¡¯s still me. I can take care of her her whole life.¡±
¡°Hey! I¡¯m still here. I should be first in line if any sleeping is to be done with her, aye?¡±
The two machinists went further and further off topic.
Sylvia finished what she was working on then, and said loudly, ¡°Everyone, put the parts you¡¯ve processed in order. You guys can get off work after you deliver them to the Thunder Dragon Workshop.¡±
The machinists in the precision processing workshop nimbly sorted the processed parts, ssifying and packing them into boxes, then delivering them to the Thunder Dragon Workshop.
The Thunder Dragon Workshop was the new workshop where Xia Lei had built the production lines for the XL2500 sniper rifle, the Gust assault rifle, and the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. However, the name ¡®Thunder Dragon¡¯ was only picked by Rheinmetall AG after Xia Lei had been ¡°kidnapped¡±.
Sylvia also packed the precision-processed parts she hadpleted and brought the box to the Thunder Dragon Workshop.
Mark Armin was talking with a few of Rheinmetall AG¡¯s elite electrical engineers in the Thunder Dragon Workshop when he saw Sylvia walk in. Mark Armin waved at her and said, ¡°Sylvia,e over here for a bit.¡±
Sylvia ced the box with the parts on the ground, then walked over. ¡°What is it, Mr Mark Armin?¡±
Mark Amin did not talk about it immediately. Instead, he let the elite engineers leave before he began talking. ¡°Xia Lei has been kidnapped. This matter...¡±
Sylvia scoffed. ¡°Mr Mark Armin, I was present that day too. I know full well whether Mr Xia was kidnapped or not. Stop talking like this. I¡¯ve already done the media interview and spoke of it ording to what you guys prepared for me. What more do you want me to do? I am lying and my conscience condemns me. Is this not enough?¡±
Mark Arminughed. ¡°Miss Sylvia, what you¡¯re doing is not for me, but for the interests of Germany. Politics has always been repulsive and full of lies and cheating.¡±
¡°You called me over to talk about this?¡±
¡°Of course not,¡± said Mark Armin. ¡°Xia Lei isn¡¯t here anymore so you will be in charge of the work he has left. It is your responsibility toplete the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle production lines, as well as the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. It is very important too. We have paid a high price for this and we need it to generate value.¡±
¡°Mr Xiapleted most of the work. The rest isn¡¯t thatplicated. Those engineers from earlier canplete this,¡± said Sylvia.
¡°You have worked with Xia Lei the most. You are also ourpany¡¯s best machinist. We have evaluated this and it¡¯s best to have youplete thest bit of work. Do not decline this. This is thepany¡¯s decision so just carry out the job.¡± Mark Armin reached over to pat Sylvia¡¯s shoulder, and smiled as he said, ¡°Do a proper job and thepany will promote you, and give you an increase in sry.¡±
Sylvia hesitated, but nodded in the end.
¡°From now on, you will have the authority to go in and out of this workshop freely, till youplete the work Xia Lei has left. That¡¯s all, then. Goodbye.¡± Mark Armin left the Thunder Dragon Workshop.
Sylvia stood there still, looking like her mind had wandered off.
¡°Boss Barbie.¡± A machinist smiled as he said, ¡°Congrattions. You have to buy us drinks after the promotion and the sry increase, eh?¡±
Sylvia gave augh but said nothing.
The machinists of the precision processing workshop left the Thunder Dragon Workshop, one after the other. Sylvia took the finished processed parts to the side of the iplete Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, then stood there and stared nkly. The Thunder Dragon Workshop was empty but she thought she saw Xia Lei¡¯s silhouette. He was concentrating on his work, asionally wiping the sweat off his forehead, and smiling at her.
¡®Is this because of my conscience? Remorse? Or do I like him?¡¯ A thought popped into Sylvia¡¯s head. Then, she shook her head andughed bitterly before leaving the Thunder Dragon Workshop too.
There wasn¡¯t an unforgettable romance between her and Xia Lei. But... Maybe it was because it was her who had lured Xia Lei to Mark Armin¡¯s house, then lied to the media when they were interviewing her. These weighed on her conscience, condemning herself. Maybe she did like him, a little bit. Which woman wouldn¡¯t like an outstanding man like him? She herself did not know specifically what the reason was for her to have Xia Lei in her heart.
After leaving Rheinmetall AG, Sylvia drove her car back to her home in D¨¹sseldorf city.
Sylvia opened the door to her home, and reached over to switch the lights on. However, the door was suddenly closed behind her before her hand touched the switch.
¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± Sylvia was instantly anxious, and she turned back to look.
A hand struck her on her carotid artery in that moment. She groaned, and fell limp in the person¡¯s arms.
Pop. The lights in the room turned on with a small noise.
If Sylvia could open her eyes now, she would¡¯ve seen that the person she couldn¡¯t stop thinking of for the past few days was in front of her.
¡°Sorry about this. You can lie to the whole world for Germany¡¯s interests, so I can also do some things against my conscience for the sake of my mothend¡¯s interests,¡± said Xia Lei. He carried Sylvia in his arms, and headed to her bedroom.
Sylvia couldn¡¯t hear his words. She wouldn¡¯t know what had happened clearly even after things were over and she woke up.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan had been waiting in Sylvia¡¯s room for Xia Lei to bring her over.
Long Bing was carrying a ck box, and she opened it when Xia Lei put Sylvia on the bed.
The box contained some things which Xia Lei had personally prepared over the past three days. There was the silica gel mixture he used to make human-skin masks. There was also dye and a high-quality wig in the same wavy hairstyle as Sylvia¡¯s, and so on.
Tang Yuyan took out a tape measure, and took Sylvia¡¯s height. ¡°1.82 metres. She is only three centimetres shorter than you. It¡¯s likely that no one would notice if you wore ts.¡±
Three centimetres. Adding one more curl to the hair would be enough to make it up.
¡°Leave this to me,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°We need to leave Germany after tonight¡¯s operation. So Bing, go prepare what you need to.¡±
Long Bing nodded. ¡°I will go start on the retreat n right now.¡±
¡°Then what should I do?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°I need you to take off her clothes, including her underwear. Hm, I also need to know her chest and hip measurements. You must measure it precisely,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth fell open slightly. ¡°You are even going to include her chest and butt in your disguise?¡±
¡°You can make the butt simple, but a woman¡¯s chest is a very attention-grabbing area. Sylvia has a very good figure so many men would look at her chest. The disguise will be seen through if her chest shrank all of a sudden, no matter how well I do her face,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan shrugged. ¡°Okay.¡± She suddenly reached over and pulled at the zipper of Sylvia¡¯s work outfit...
Long Bing, who had just walked to the door, nced back and smiled at Xia Lei. She then disappeared from the doorway without a word.
Tang Yuyan stripped Sylvia rather efficiently and shot Xia Lei a dirty look. ¡°It¡¯s your lucky day, huh?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Get to work.¡±
An hourter, Sylvia¡¯s car went back to Rheinmetall AG¡¯s main gates.
The security guard by the gate smiled and greeted Sylvia, who sat in the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°Miss Sylvia, didn¡¯t you go home? Howe you¡¯re back?¡±
¡°Working overtime,¡± said Sylviazily.
The security guard verified the pass, and opened the electronic gate to let Sylvia in.
The security guard had no idea that the real Sylvia was lying naked on her bed. The woman smiling and talking to him right now was actually a man, and Germany¡¯s agents and America¡¯s CIA were looking for this man all over the world.
Xia Lei parked the car in the car park and walked towards the Thunder Dragon Workshop.
Two security guards carrying loaded rifles stood in front of the Thunder Dragon Workshop doors. The two security guards stared at Xia Lei¡¯s chest, which had been padded with silica gel, and smirks hovered in the corners of their lips.
¡°Miss Sylvia, what are you doing at the workshops at this hour?¡± asked a security guard.
¡°I suddenly remembered that I have a very important bit of work to do. I don¡¯t want toe either, but I have no choice. Mr Mark Armin put me in charge of that Chinese man¡¯s work. I need to be responsible for it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I see.¡± The other security guard smiled as he said, ¡°We are changing shifts at twelve. Would you be interested in having a drink with us?¡±
¡°Sure, no problem. I will probably leave earlier. I¡¯ll wait outside for you guys.¡± Xia Lei winked at the security guard, then handed him the security clearance document.
That security just nced at it, business as usual, before passing it back to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei put the document away and entered the Thunder Dragon Workshop.
He spat out a piece of miniature electronic equipment he had in his mouth. The device helped him change the tone of his voice. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t havee here if not for the technology exchange agreement. But you guys want not just my technology ¡ª my life too. I must get a bit of justice for myself, right. You guys want the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle production lines, as well as the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe? Dream on!¡± muttered Xia Lei to himself.
He strode towards the iplete Thunder Dragon intelligentthe.
He had designed and built everything in this workshop. He knew what he had to destroy in order to ruin everything. This was easy as pie to him.
Chapter 590 - Everyone Must Continue With Their Life
The Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s core precision parts were the pure titanium parts he had processed in thepetition with Sylvia. Its precision required 0.001 microns. So far, it was still impossible to achieve such precision. Only Xia Lei was capable of such a feat in the entire world. This super precise part was currently on a small intelligentthe which was located on the Gust assault rifle production line. Xia Lei had made it smaller.
Without this super-precision core part, the 500 ton Thunder Dragonthe would be a pile of useless metal. However, Xia Lei did not just give up. He did some "minor" changes in all of the control programs which he had designed...
Xia Lei came out of the Thunder Dragon workshop half an hourter.
"Sylvia, you¡¯re done already?" asked a guard with a smile.
"It¡¯s actually nothing. It was just a simple job," Xia Lei replied. His voice had turned into a soft and enchanting woman¡¯s voice once again. The electronic device hidden in his mouth was a Chinese-made spy warfare product which could help him change his voice. It was very advance, and quite useful.
"Do we still have a deal?" Another guard smirked. His eyes moved to Xia Lei¡¯s chest. The silica gel-filled area was extraordinarily seductive.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at the guard. He said nothing, and walked away while swaying his hips.
"What does she mean? Sheing with us to drink?"
"Are you dumb? Her eyes just said what she meant. Haha, she¡¯s a whore. Don¡¯t worry, the three of us will have a great night tonight." The other guard had a very wicked smile on his face.
Xia Lei drove Sylvia¡¯s car out of Rheinmetall AG while the two guards were imagining weird things.
The street lights were dim and yellow, and Xia Lei nced back at Rheinmetall AG through the rearview mirror. It slowly shrank in the mirror.
Rheinmetall AG was Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯spetitor, but thispetitor will be left behind in the near future because the entire Rheinmetall AG had been fitted into his brain!
Xia Lei withdrew his gaze and a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth...
Half an hourter, Xia Lei reappeared in Sylvia¡¯s room. Sylvia was still unconscious, and she was unaware that Xia Lei was right in front of her. She had no clue about what had happened. She also didn¡¯t know what sort of change would happen to her life because of this.
Xia Lei looked quietly at Sylvia lying on the bed. His was conflicted. He had used Sylvia¡¯s identity to enter Rheinmetall AG, and destroyed the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. It was the core existence for the production of the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle. Destroying the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe would be equivalent to cutting off Rheinmetall AG¡¯s ability to produce the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle. This would be uneptable to the German government, and she could face serious charges.
"Sorry, I don¡¯t have any other choice. I definitely wouldn¡¯t do this if I had a choice. You said that you wanted to work at mypany before, so I promise you right now, that Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s doors will always be open to you. You are wee at anytime. What you¡¯ve lost in Germany, I will make it all up to you," Xia Lei said softly.
There was no reaction from Sylvia. She could not hear Xia Lei¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei lifted the nket and Sylvia¡¯s body was exposed to his eyes.
Xia Lei stared nkly Sylvia¡¯s slender body for a bit, then took off all of his clothing to swap with Sylvia. Lastly, he put on his own clothing and put a nket over Sylvia before walking into her study.
Xia Lei looked around the study, then took "The Song of Ice and Fire" from the bookshelf. Sylvia had put a bookmark in it. He took out the bookmark and wrote on it: Sylvia, if you run into trouble,e find me. I will take care of you. You should know how to contact me.
Xia Lei put the bookmark back in the pages of "The Song of Ice and Fire" after writing that note.
He left the study and nced at Sylvia as he went past her room, then turned to leave.
The door of an old station wagon opened downstairs, under the t.
Xia Lei climbed into the car. The old station wagon started up immediately and sped away.
"All done?" asked Long Bing, who was driving.
Xia Lei nodded. "All done. This thing..."
"Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t report it to the higher ups," said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan, who was sitting with Xia Lei in the backseat, said, "I won¡¯t report you but you owe me this favor. How do you n on repaying me?"
Xia Lei was speechless.
Destroying Rheinmetall AG¡¯s Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, and making it so that Rheinmetall AG¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle¡¯s production lines were unable to produce anything protected Thunder Horse Group¡¯s interests, it wasn¡¯tpletely in the nature of retaliation. But this situation was just too serious, and there would inevitably be voices of disagreement if the higher ups were to know, even if Xia Lei did everything perfectly.
"What about Annina?" Long Bing suddenly thought of her.
Xia Lei was silent for a moment. "She¡¯s already made her decision. She wants to stay in Germany. What happened thesest few days have nothing to do with her. She has worked at the Thunder Horse Military Factory for a long time, so the Germans will ask for her help. I don¡¯t think she will have any troubles."
Long Bing said, "It¡¯s great if there are no problems. We are heading to the sea now to leave by boat. Boss Shi has arranged everything.¡±
In the backseat, Tang Yuyan bumped Xia Lei¡¯s thigh with her knee. She whispered, "Xia Lei, I have a question for you."
"What question?"
"You pointed a gun at your own head in Mark Armin¡¯s house, to threaten that director of the CIA. You gave him 30 seconds. Would you have shot yourself andmitted suicide if he didn¡¯t release me and Long Bing?" Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei, her eyes full of anticipation and some feelings which even she was unsure of.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. "Why do you ask? Did you think I wanted to point a gun at my own head? I didn¡¯t have a choice."
Tang Yuyan bumped Xia Lei¡¯s waist with her elbow. "Just say if you would have done it or not."
Xia Lei thought for a bit and said, "Probably not. We¡¯re not that close with each other, so why would I use blow off my own head with a gun for you?"
"You!" Tang Yuyan suddenly smacked Xia Lei¡¯s knee with a fist and said angrily, "Then if I wasn¡¯t there and only Long Bing was there, would you shoot?"
"Don¡¯t get me involved!" said Long Bing in discontent, before Xia Lei could answer.
"I was only asking. What are you so nervous about?" Tang Yuyan retorted. She nudged Xia Lei in the waist again. "Come on, say it."
Xia Lei stammered, "I... this..."
Would he have fired? Even he hadn¡¯t thought of this question before, so how could he give an answer?
"Then let me ask in a different way. If a head of the CIA told you to choose between me and Long Bing, and he would release whoever you choose, would you choose me or Long Bing?"
Xia Lei was speechless.
This question was even more difficult to answer.
It would be wrong no matter who he chose, and payback for this mistake would take effect immediately. Tang Yuyan was sitting right beside him, and she would definitely punch him if he were to truthfully say that he¡¯d choose Long Bing.
Long Bing said, "Yuyan, we are allrades. Do you think it¡¯s fitting for you to ask Xia Lei such a question? If that director of the CIA really did tell Xia Lei to choose, I would let Xia Lei choose you. Are you happy now?"
Long Bing was good at understanding others.
Tang Yuyan pouted. "I knew he would choose you, yep, because you guys have a deep friendship betweenrades. Don¡¯t think I do not know about it! Hmph!"
Both Long Bing and Xia Lei said nothing.
"Okay, when I go back, I¡¯ll find a time to ask Shentu Tianyin out for tea. We can have a good talk," Tang Yuyan said.
Xia Lei asked nervously, "What... are you going to talk about?"
"None of your business."
Xia Lei was speechless.
The old station wagon gradually drove further and further away in the midst of this idle chatter...
Dawn came and darkness faded.
Mornings in Europe were not as romantic as one would have imagined. The people who should go to work still needed to climb out of bed to go to work, and the morning sun was still the same size, no bigger, no brighter.
Syliva climbed out of the bed and rubbed her eyes. She stared nkly for a while before she spoke hazily, "How did I fall asleep? I remember... Was I taken advantage of?"
She checked her body in a hurry once this thought popped up in her head. There was nothing wrong with the clothes on her body, and nothing was out of ce.
"What in the world happened?" Sylvia tried very hard to remember but she couldn¡¯t remember anything. She felt like she had suddenly lost her memories of a certain time period.
Sylvia arrived at Rheinmetall AG an hourter.
The familiar workshop, the familiar people, but in her heart, she felt that something was missing somehow.
¡¯Mr Xia, I will finish the work you left behind. Believe in me, I won¡¯t disappoint you,¡¯ Sylvia thought to herself. She walked towards the Thunder Dragon workshop...
A new day had begun once again. Everyone¡¯s life must go on, no matter what.
Chapter 591 - The Highest Grossing Couple In China
One weekter, China.
A military-use off-road vehicle came to the gates of Thunder Horse Military Factory.
The guards stopped the car, but gave their greetings immediately after seeing Xia Lei seated inside, and opened the gates. The gate guard then called Lu Sheng immediately, and arge group of people came running over from the office building.
Lu Sheng, Qin Xiang... Familiar face after familiar face. Xia Lei¡¯s heart was warmed at seeing them again.
And at the head of the group was a person he was most familiar with ¡ª Shentu Tianyin. He was a little surprised to see Shentu Tianyin. She had been managing Thunder Horse Group in his stead while he was in Germany, but she also had Vientaine Group to manage. Thetter obviously was much bigger than Thunder Horse Group, and much moreplicated. This was why she would normally be overseeing Vientaine Group, instead of being here right now.
Xia Lei was touched by this little surprise.
¡°Hurry up and get out of the car,¡± said Long Bing. She had driven him back. ¡°I still have to rush back to write my report.¡±
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei did not say more. He opened the car door and got ready to alight.
Tang Yuyan opened the other door at the same time to get out of the car too.
Long Bing wrinkled her brows. ¡°What are you doing, Tang Yuyan? Aren¡¯t you going back?¡±
Tang Yuyan gave augh. ¡°We came here from far far away, and haven¡¯t even had a ss of water to drink yet. What¡¯s so bad about staying for a while longer? You need to write a report, and I need to write one too, but I¡¯m in no rush so why are you rushing?¡±
Long Bing nced at Xia Lei, her eyes dark with annoyance and worry.
Xia Lei felt the same too, but he couldn¡¯t say that Tang Yuyan was not wee when she said she wanted to stay, right?
Shentu Tianyin had walked over.
Xia Lei quickly alighted and said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m home, Wifey.¡±
¡°Hubby,¡± called Shentu Tianyin. She did not care about the others around them, and burrowed into his embrace, putting her slender arms around his waist.
Long Bing looked away. She was the most amodating, and most open-minded of Xia Lei¡¯s women, but her heart still felt a pang when she saw him embrace another woman, and she did not want to see it.
Shentu Tianyin looked up from Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, at the two women in the car. ¡°Miss Tang, Miss Long, why aren¡¯t you getting out?¡±
¡°That¡¯s...¡± said Long Bing. ¡°I am hurrying back to write a report, so not today.¡±
Tang Yuyan hesitated, and reached out a hand to close the car door. ¡°I won¡¯t be staying either. I have to hurry back and write a report too.¡± After a pause, she said, ¡°What are you waiting for, Bing? Start driving.¡±
Long Bing nced back at her with an odd look in her eye.
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing. ¡°What are you looking at me for? Let¡¯s go. Or do you want me to say something?¡±
Long BIng heard the message in those words, and she dared not stay. She pressed her foot to the clutch, then the elerator, driving the military off-road vehicle away like she was fleeing the scene.
Shentu Tianyin watched the rapidly disappearing vehicle, and said softly, ¡°They were strange.¡±
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on. ¡°They are not ordinary people, so it¡¯s normal for them to be a little strange.¡±
¡°Is that so?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what else to say. He had a guilty conscience, and was in the wrong. Fortunately, Qin Xiang and Lu Sheng came over to greet him and chat, which helped him get out of it.
¡°How did it go in Germany?¡± asked Qin Xiang.
¡°It was all right,¡± said Xia Lei. Memories of his life hanging by a thread surfaced in his head.
¡°Where are Annina and Liu Zhengnan?¡± asked Lu Sheng.
¡°Liu Zhengnan was not feeling well, so I gave him a few days off to let him have a good rest. He¡¯ll be back in a few days. Annina stayed in Germany, and she won¡¯t being back. I will have Liu Zhengnan take over her old position, and he shall be Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s chief engineer when he returns to work,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Zhengnan was not sick at all, but in shock. He did need rest, so Xia Lei had given him some days off.
Shentu Tianyin took Xia Lei by the arm, and said, ¡°Come with me to the office. I¡¯ll tell you about some of the situation during this period of time, and I¡¯ll have to return to Vientaine Group. Yourpany should be under your management again since you¡¯re back.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei nodded in agreement.
No one mentioned what happened in Germany, not Qin Xiang, not Lu Sheng, and not Shentu Tianyin. No one talked about Xia Lei being kidnapped by ¡°terrorists¡±. This incident had not been reported extensively abroad either, and it was just the German government deliberately releasing some fake news in order to shirk the responsibility of breaking the agreement. This incident was also sealed away from China¡¯s media, and none of the media outlets reported on it.
Qin Xiang sighed meaningfully as he watched Shentu Tianyin walk hand-on-arm with Xia Lei, towards the office building. ¡°It¡¯s still best to not be married. You¡¯ll have to listen to everything your wife says if you get married. Ah, what a pain.¡±
Lu Sheng gave augh. ¡°This is what it means when they say ¡®the punishment is appropriately given by one and willingly epted by the other¡¯. What¡¯s so disadvantageous about that?¡±
¡°So when are you getting married, Lu Sheng?¡± Qin Xiang looked at Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng paused. ¡°Me? Heh heh... I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d get the chance to in this lifetime.¡±
He thought of Liang Siyao, the only woman he had liked in his life. He¡¯d thought that his chance hade after Liang Siyao had broken up with Xia Lei, but he had not even seen her face in a long, long time. His heart was growing cold.
Qin Xiang suddenly pped Lu Sheng on the shoulder and said with a smile, ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯m going to say which you definitely won¡¯t like to hear, but I¡¯ll say it anymore. I know you like Liang Siyao. But even if you wait for her toe back, you won¡¯t have a chance. Just forget about her, the sooner the better. Find yourself a woman who loves you, who will warm the bed for you, bear your children. That is the life you want.¡±
Lu Sheng gave a dryugh, and let out a soft sigh.
He knew that this was the reality. Even if Liang Siyao came back, she would only have Xia Lei in her heart. It would be impossible for her to be with him. Vying with Xia Lei for a woman? Lu Sheng didn¡¯t even want to think of it.
In the office, Xia Lei closed the door with his foot, enveloped Shentu Tianyin in his embrace, and bent his head to kiss her cherry lips.
¡°Mmnn...¡± Shentu Tianyin had not expected him to do that, and she was a little panicked. This bit of panicsted for just two or three seconds, and her body grew soft afterwards, her breathing in short gasps. She dived into the joy which Xia Lei brought her, and answered him passionately, giving and taking at the same time.
Xia Lei let go of her only after several minutes. "I¡¯ve missed you," he said tenderly.
Shentu Tianyin pouted. "You had Long Bing and Tang Yuyan apanying you on that mission. They are both very beautiful women. How could you have missed me?"
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shentu Tianying gave a puffingugh. ¡°I was just joking with you. You¡¯re my man. I trust that you are mine, and that no one can snatch you away from me.¡±
"You are mine too, and no one can snatch you away from my side," said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, okay, we can stop being so lovey dovey here. We¡¯ll talk when we get home tonight.¡± Shentu Tianyin pulled Xia Lei by the hand to the desk, and pressed him into the office chair. She smiled and said, ¡°Sit down, Director Xia, and listen to my work report.¡±
¡°You smell good.¡± Xia Lei tilted his head and gave her firm, perky breasts a sniff.
Shentu Tianyin smacked him. "Don¡¯t be naughty. Sit properly."
Xia Lei sat properly, but he sat like a kindergartener, waiting for the nice auntie to give him, the bestest little boy, a sweet.
¡°During your absence of almost three months, the Thunder Horse Group made an overall profit of 132,000,000. This is not the gross profit but the profit, after deductingbour costs, material costs and other expenses. This also includes the loan repayment during this period of time.¡± Shentu Tianyin had a smile on her face. Of course she would be happy that her husband¡¯spany was making such profits.
But Xia Lei said, "Ay, just that little bit? It¡¯s not easy to make money these days. I¡¯m sure I didn¡¯t make as much as you did.¡±
¡°You can¡¯tpare the businesses like this. Vientaine Group¡¯s total assets are almost 100,000,000,000. That¡¯s a huge amount of capital for organisational activities, and there are thousands of employees too. I¡¯ll smash my own head into a wall if you have higher profits than me. Your current level of profitability is already quite astounding.¡±
Xia Leiughed. He had just been kidding, and was actually very, very satisfied about being able to have a profit of 130,000,000 in three months.
Shentu Tianyin put her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s shoulders, pressing her full breasts on them. ¡°We are probably the highest-grossing husband and wife in the whole of China. No one canpare to us,¡± she said in his ear.
¡°You¡¯re like the sessful husband, and I¡¯m the prosperous wife. Of course we¡¯re the highest-grossing couple in China,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re interrupting me again. Listen to what I have to say next.¡± Shentu Tianyin leaned in to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and blew warm breath into it. "I got to know yourpany very well in the past three months of your absence, so I started on a n for expansion ording to Thunder Horse Group¡¯s situation. The n includes expanding several production lines for the Gust assault rifle and the XL2500 sniper rifle. The new workshop is being built now. It¡¯s great that you¡¯re back. I think the production capacity of Thunder Horse military factory will quadruple in two months at most, with you personally involved.¡±
Xia Lei turned to look at Shentu Tianyin with an odd look in his eyes.
Shentu Tianyin paused. "You... you don¡¯t like me doing this?"
Xia Lei stood abruptly from the office chair, pushing it away, and took Shentu Tianyin up in his arms. He walked towards the rest lounge, saying, ¡°How can I not like it? I am overjoyed. I¡¯d nned on starting the expansion aftering back, but you pre-started it for me. You¡¯re so good, Wifey. What can I do to show my gratitude?¡±
Shentu Tianyin blushed. ¡°I know what bad thoughts are in your head, but... it¡¯s daytime now, and working hours. If someonees in and sees us..."
She didn¡¯t dare finish her thought. Just thinking about it made her shy and embarrassed.
Xia Lei kicked the door open and walked in with Shentu Tianyin in his arms, then closed the door with his heel.
Shentu Tianyin grew nervous. "You really want it now, Hubby?"
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°I have a feeling that I¡¯ll be able to make your belly round this time.¡±
"Really?" Shentu Tianyin hesitated for a second, then bit her lip gently. "Then... I¡¯ll give it to you. You haven¡¯t been handing in your homework to me for the past three months. Your pipes must be all clogged up.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Clothing flew up, piece by piece. Some dropped to the floor, and some dropped to the sofa. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s little underwear was fairly cheeky, and it clung on the hangingmp in the lounge. The mattress rocked with the rhythm of love, swaying and creaking gently. Every echo, every note of their lovemaking was filled with happiness and beauty.
It was great to be home.
Chapter 592 - Angry Germans
The couple came out from the lounge and saw Lu Sheng, who was waiting in the office doorway.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s beautiful face was a little red, but she was quick to react. She pretended to organise the documents on the office table, and acted as if nothing had happened earlier.
Xia Lei was also a little awkward. He asked, ¡°Lu Sheng, is anything the matter?¡±
¡°Director Xia, the German ambassador came again. He¡¯s waiting outside now and he says he has to see you. Do you want to see him? He has a special status so that¡¯s why I¡¯vee to ask you what to do,¡± said Lu Sheng.
The fact that he hadn¡¯t let the guards at the gate handle the matter showed the thought he had put into it.
Xia Lei thought for a moment and said, ¡°I¡¯ll see him. Let hime over.¡±
¡°All right, I will notify him right away.¡± Lu Sheng turned and left.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°The Germans sure are quick. They came knocking so soon.¡±
He had just returned to China and the Germans already knew he had returned. It seemed the German agents stationed in China were really not meek littlembs. Perhaps they had already been watching Thunder Horse Military Factory and the area around his old home before he had returned to China. The Germans would receive news immediately as soon as he turned up. It was impossible for him to avoid being in public since he still needed to supervise and engage in Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s business. He also needed to contact clients from South America and the Middle East. It was absolutely impossible for him to hide away under these circumstances.
Seeing Xia Lei frown, Shentu Tianyin walked over and said worriedly, "Hubby, is something wrong?"
"The real trouble has passed a long time ago. You don¡¯t need to worry about it. I will deal with the German ambassador. Go home first; I¡¯ll be back tonight."
"All right, then I¡¯ll go back first. Remember toe home for dinner tonight." Shentu Tianyin fixed Xia Lei¡¯s necktie and left.
Xia Lei¡¯s work involved Bureau 101 and some national secrets. She understood why he wouldn¡¯t let her stay. There were some things Xia Lei couldn¡¯t tell her about, even though she was Xia Lei¡¯s wife.
Xia Lei called Ling Han after Shentu Tianyin left.
"I really wanted to call you up and talk with you, and here you are, calling me.¡± It was Ling Han¡¯s voice.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan had returned to Bureau 101 to report on their mission in Germany, but Xia Lei hadn¡¯t reported on his mission to anyone yet. His first stop when he got back to China was Thunder Horse Military Factory. He had his own thoughts, and besides wanting to see Shentu Tianyin and understand Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s current situation, it was more important for him to have some time to organise everything that had happened. He could give a better report this way.
Xia Lei said, "Ling Bro, I was nning on talking to you tomorrow. So many things happened so I wanted to rx for a bit.¡±
"I understand, which is why I didn¡¯te looking for you even though I knew you¡¯re back,¡± said Ling Han.
"But someone else hase looking for me." Xia Lei cut straight to the chase. "The German ambassador Philip is in Thunder Horse Military Factory."
"The Germans know you¡¯ve returned as well? They sure are fast."
"I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯re here to talk about the German engineering team. I wouldn¡¯t dare take a stand without your instruction," said Xia Lei. "Brother Ling, what should I say if he wants to talk about the German engineering team?"
Ling Han was silent for a moment before saying, "You¡¯vee back so we won¡¯t have a reason to detain these Germans anymore. The production line for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine is already finished, so we don¡¯t need them anymore. If Philip discusses this with you, you can say that we can help them with our connections, then we will release their people on our end. This will also benefit you."
"Okay, I know what I should do now,¡± said Xia Lei.
They had just finished their call when Philip and his assistant, Alida, appeared in the doorway of his office.
"Mr Xia, it sure is difficult to meet with you." Philip started the conversation in German.
Xia Leiughed and replied in German, "I¡¯m just lucky, otherwise you wouldn¡¯t be able to see me ever again."
Philipughed dryly. "Mr Xia, some things are misunderstandings, so I hope you don¡¯t mind it."
Xia Lei scoffed. "That¡¯s right. Some terrorists pretended to be German Special Forces soldiers and the American CIA to take me away from Mark Armin¡¯s birthday party when I was in Germany. Then the real German Special Forces and CIA agents ambushed those terrorists to save me. Is this what you want to say, Mr Philip?"
These words made Philip¡¯s old face redden with heat and even made Alida embarrassed.
In terms of what had happened in Germany, the Germans had broken their agreement and betrayed Xia Lei. Before then, Xia Lei had been helping the Germans build an assembly line for the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle as well as a Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. These were all invaluable technologies that the Germans wanted. However, some part of the German government had wanted to get rid of him once he was no longer useful. Under these circumstances, what exnations could these two Germans offer when faced with Xia Lei¡¯s mockery?
Xia Lei said, "I was lucky. I escaped and came back. We can just forget about it. I¡¯m not nning to announce it publicly either. I hope that we won¡¯t see each other again in the future. There¡¯s nothing more for us to discuss."
"Don¡¯t be like this," said Philip. "Mr. Xia, I know you aren¡¯t very happy but... There¡¯s no need to make this such a big deal. You¡¯ve returned now but our people are still here, in Chinese hands. I would like you to step in personally so that they can go home and be reunited with their families."
Xia Leiughed. "You treated me like that. I would have been dead by now if I wasn¡¯t so lucky. You¡¯re stilling to me for help? Mr Philip, do you think I¡¯m someone who is such a good guy?"
"I deeply believe that you are a good person. Please speak on their behalf. Those engineers are all innocent, and they have wives and children." Philip looked at Xia Lei with a pleading expression.
Xia Lei pretended to think it over for a moment before saying, "What about this? I step in and exert my personal influence for you, and let those Germans go home, but I have one condition."
"What condition? Please speak."
"My friend Annina has already returned to Germany. She¡¯s not nning toe back so I want you to write a guarantee that no one will create any trouble for her. Will you be willing to write this guarantee?"
"I¡¯m willing. I can write it for you now." One written guarantee in exchange for all those German engineers, and to end things with this thorny person. Of course Philip was willing.
Philip wrote the guarantee with Alida¡¯s help.
Of course, there wasn¡¯t much of a guarantee with a written promise from a German ambassador but Xia Lei¡¯s focus was not on the guarantee. He wanted to send a message to the German side through Philip. ¡¯Even though I won¡¯t announce this matter publicly, as long as you target me, I will make what happened in Germany public. And this guarantee that the German ambassador signs will be another piece of evidence which can be released to the media.¡¯
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone on the office table suddenly rang.
Xia Lei picked up the phone and a man¡¯s voice suddenly came through in German. "Xia Lei, you tricked us!"
This was Mark Armin¡¯s voice.
"So it¡¯s you." Xia Leiughed coldly. "What are you talking about? I can¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying."
"Don¡¯t pretend anymore!" Mark Armin¡¯s voice was filled with fury. "We assembled your Thunder Dragon intelligentthe but it burnt the electrical circuit board the first time it ran. It can¡¯t even be used! And your assembly lines for the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle... The rifles we produce are practically garbage!"
"Those are your problems. They have nothing to do with me," said Xia Lei indifferently.
"You tricked us and now you¡¯re telling me that it doesn¡¯t have anything to do with you?!"
Xia Lei said, "If you had given me a little more time and waited until I hadpletely finished both assembly lines and the intelligent Thunder Dragonthe before making a move on me, wouldn¡¯t everything be perfect? But you guys were too anxious. You couldn¡¯t wait to get rid of me before Ipleted my work. You thought you could do it without me, but you absolutely can¡¯t."
"I don¡¯t want to waste my words on you! Just say it. How are we going to resolve this?"
Xia Lei said, "Hmm... How about this ¡ª sue me."
"You..." Mark Armin was choked with anger and couldn¡¯t speak.
"Is there anything else? If not, I¡¯ll hang up now. Also, don¡¯t call me in the future. I don¡¯t want to hear your voice,¡± said Xia Lei.
"Wait!" Mark Armin said, "You guys already got the technology for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine but we didn¡¯t get anything. This isn¡¯t fair! You guys have to give us a satisfactory resolution proposal, otherwise¡ª"
"Otherwise, what?" Xia Leiughed. "Otherwise you¡¯ll give me to the Americans, right? Let theme. I¡¯ll be at Thunder Horse Military Factory. They cane for me at any time."
"Fine! Just you wait. This won¡¯t end here." Mark Armin hung up angrily.
Xia Lei put the phone down, and a disdainful smile appeared on his lips. Mark Armin¡¯s threats were nothing to him now!
"Who called?" probed Philip. He had just finished writing the guarantee. "I heard you talking in German with someone."
"Mark Armin." Xia Lei didn¡¯t hide it. "He said that some of the engineering that I did for Rheinmetall AG ran into some problems and asked me to think of ways to resolve them. I don¡¯t know how to resolve it. Can you suggest something, Mr Philip?"
Philip shrugged. "I don¡¯t have any advice I can give you. Those idiots did a very stupid thing and they should be fully responsible for their actions. As for me, I¡¯m only in charge of what I should do. All right, Mr Xia, I¡¯ve already written and signed it. When can we see our people?"
Xia Lei said, ¡°You can return to the conste first. I¡¯ll help you with this matter. I think you¡¯ll be able to see your people tomorrow. I think.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Philip breathed a sigh of relief and left with Alida.
The office immediately quieted down.
Xia Lei sat on the sofa with one leg over the other as he thought to himself, ¡®The Germans definitely won¡¯t take this lying down. What actions will they take? They definitely won¡¯t make a big fuss, since they were the ones who betrayed us first. Rheinmetall AG will probably send some people over to discuss the matter with me, right? If they do send people over...¡¯
For some reason, Sylvia¡¯s face surfaced in his head. It would probably take at least a hundred German words to describe the sexiness of the European version of Smy.
Chapter 593 - What’s This?
It was evening, and the spring sunset looked extremely beautiful.
A family was sitting at the dining table eating dinner in Leiyin Home.
"Xue, don¡¯t you have a boyfriend?" Shentu Tianyin smiled as she said, "When are you going to bring him home so that your brother and I can have a look at him? Let us help you check him out."
"That¡¯s right." Xia Lei suddenly remembered. "I heard you say something about someone named Lu Zijing back when we were in Haizhu, before the Chinese New Year. You guys are schoolmates too."
Xia Xue said, "He¡¯s an older schoolmate."
Xia Leiughed as he said, "That¡¯s right, why don¡¯t you bring him home? I also heard you say that you were going to introduce him to mypany for employment. I want to meet him and find out what kind of a guy won my little sister¡¯s heart. Also, since he¡¯s going to work at mypany, I should observe his capabilities."
Xia Xue however, closed her mouth and stopped speaking.
"What¡¯s wrong? Did you guys fight?" Shentu Tianyin was more sensitive than Xia Lei and she had felt that something was out of ce.
Xia Xue then said, "Our rtionship failed."
"Why?" asked Xia Lei in surprise.
He had heard Xia Xue talk about him before the New Year, and felt that this someone from the mountains was a worthy man for Xia Xue, to entrust her whole life to him as the Xia family¡¯s son-inw. However he hadn¡¯t even met thed named Lu Zijian, and everything was over.
Xia Xue pouted. "Brother, our personalities are too different. I really liked him at first but I didn¡¯t feel anything anymore after we¡¯d dated for a while."
Xia Lei still wanted to ask her about it but Shentu Tianyin gave him a light kick under the table and then said in his ear, "Stop asking. All the youngsters nowadays are all like this. Plus, what kind of a person is Xia Xue? She¡¯s the little sister of the Father of Rifles, so wouldn¡¯t her expectations be high? If she¡¯s going to marry, she should marry a good man. There¡¯s no rush. Let her choose slowly."
Xia Leiughed at this. "All right, then I¡¯ll stop asking." After a pause, he said to Xia Xue, "Being in love is just being in love, but keep in mind that you have to have a sense of propriety, all right?"
Xia Xue¡¯s face reddened as she said in cute indignance, "What are you talking about, Brother? I don¡¯t understand.¡±
Xia Lei was also feeling very awkward. "If you don¡¯t understand, then forget about it. Your sister-inw can teach youter."
Shentu Tianyin kicked Xia Lei lightly in the leg again under the table, but she understood Xia Lei¡¯s suggestion too. Some things were inconvenient for a big brother to talk about, but it would be perfectly fine for her to discuss them as a sister-inw.
"Brother, Sister-inw, I¡¯m done eating so I¡¯ll go back to my ce now." Xia Xue put her bowl and chopsticks down, her face red. She got ready to leave. She was a girl who had not experienced the real world yet after all, and some things would be awkward for her even if it was Shentu Tianyin talking to her about it. Just thinking about it made her face turn red.
"Go on, go on. I¡¯lle chat with you another time,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
"Nn" Xia Xue gave a sound of assent. She left the dining room without looking Shentu Tianyin in the eye, leaving like she was fleeing.
Fu Mingmei walked in before Xia Xue left. "Son-inw, a man named Liu Zhengnan is here to see you. Do you want to see him?"
"Yes, I¡¯ll go to the study to wait for him. You can bring him to the study,¡± said Xia Lei.
"All right, then. I will go immediately." Fu Mingmei left.
"Hubby, didn¡¯t you give him days off from work? Why would hee to our house to see you?" Shentu Tianyin asked casually. Thunder Horse Military Factory had managed to get Liu Zhengnan, a highly talented person, so she definitely knew about him.
"I don¡¯t know either. I¡¯ll go to the study to see him." Xia Lei got up and left.
Xia Lei thought to himself as he walked out of the dining room, ¡¯I hope Liu Zhengnan didn¡¯te because of Annina¡¯s house. Tianyin definitely wouldn¡¯t be happy if she found out.¡¯
He didn¡¯t have to wait long in the study before Liu Zhengnan came in.
"Director Xia." Liu Zhengnan greeted him politely and a little awkwardly. "I came over in a bit of a hurry so I didn¡¯t have time to prepare any presents. I came empty-handed, as you can see."
Xia Lei patted Liu Zhengnan on the shoulder andughed. "What are you being so polite with me for? In the future, no matter what happens you can always find me here. We can drink tea and talk or do whatever."
They had gone through life and death experiences together, so Xia Lei already considered Liu Zhengnan his Brother.
"All right, then thank you so much." Liu Zhennan suddenlyughed. "Look at me, I got polite with you again. I always forget that. I¡¯ll just talk business with you now. I came to discuss the stock market with you."
"Stock market?" Xia Lei drew a nk because Thunder Horse Military Factory wasn¡¯t listed on the market.
Liu Zhengnan said, "Director Xia, I¡¯m not talking about our Thunder Horse Group but... your wife¡¯s Vientiane Group."
"What¡¯s going on?" Xia Lei was curious and bewildered.
Just then, Shentu Tianyin appeared in the study doorway, holding two cups of tea. She entered the study with a smile on her face. "Why are you guys standing and talking? You didn¡¯t even offer Zhengnan a seat. Zhengnan, have a seat. I¡¯ve made oolong tea for you two."
"Thank you, Sister-inw." Liu Zhennan hurriedly received the tea with two hands. Being able to drink tea brewed by the queen of the Vientiane Group was an honour.
Shentu Tianyin put the tea down and turned to leave.
Liu Zhengnan said, "Sister-inw, please hold on for a moment."
Shentu Tianyin said, "I won¡¯t get involved when you two men are discussing something. You guys can talk."
Liu Zhennan said, "What I am about to say concerns yourpany."
Shentu Tianyin stopped in her tracks. "What¡¯s the matter?"
Liu Zhengnan said, "The Vientiane Group has some unusual indicators."
"Quick, tell me, what¡¯s going on?" Shentu Tianyin no longer nned on leaving. She sat next to Xia Lei and nced at him, as if curious about why Xia Lei hadn¡¯t told her about this while Liu Zhengnan was the one to break it to her.
Liu Zhengnan was a very smart person. He saw something in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes and followed with, "Sister-inw, Director Xia did not know of this either. I was about to talk about it when you came in. Actually, I would have asked Director Xia to get you even if you hadn¡¯te in."
Shentu Tianyin only smiled.
Liu Zhengnan continued, "Sister-inw, I like specting in stocks a lot and I¡¯ve researched this aspect a bit. I have some Vientiane stocks, hmm, I think I¡¯ll put it this way. I looked at the daily candlestick charts, the weekly candlestick charts, and the monthly candlestick charts and I discovered that some people were buying Vientiane¡¯s stocks inrge quantities. Sister-inw, haven¡¯t you felt that Vientiane Group stocks have been rising too well recently? The overall stock situation is falling in contrast.¡±
"Our profits are very stable and we¡¯veunched several projects over this period of time. We¡¯ve received a lot of favorable news one after another so having the stock price rise should be quite normal," said Shentu Tianyin.
Liu Zhengnan said, "If the entire market was doing well, then individual stocks rising would be normal. A crazy rise in stock price like this, opposite to the market is abnormal. In stock market terms, if stocks are increasing like crazy against the market, there are definitely some evil-doers at y here.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Zhengnan, you mean to say that someone is secretly purchasing Vientiane Group stocks?¡±
Liu Zhengnan nodded. ¡°I think so. This investor is very shrewd and his techniques seem quite practiced. You wouldn¡¯t be able to tell unless you look closely. Over thest few days, the stock market has continued to fall. It has already fallen below 3000 points. It¡¯d be very easy for stock investors to abandon their stocks. This means it will be easier for other investors to acquire more of Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks.¡±
Shentu Tianyin frowned. ¡°Have you managed to investigate and find out which bank ount has been mass purchasing Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks?¡±
Liu Zhengnan said, ¡°There are a lot of ounts. It¡¯s not just one or two, but more than a hundred. These big spenders opened ounts under different stock exchanges but they focused on buying Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks the most. One ount doesn¡¯t seem like much but adding all those big spender ounts together means that the Vientiane Group stocks that they bought has almost reached a level where it raises an alert.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression immediately became grave. She knew that the alert level Liu Zhengnan was referring to was the alert level that Vientiane Group¡¯s board members had set. If it went over that, a stranger would have to be added to the board of directors. If that person wasn¡¯t specting in stocks to earn money, but was after her and her Vientiane Group, then things would be very bad indeed.
Xia Lei held Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hand and said gently, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take care of everything.¡±
Shentu Tianyin nodded. ¡°Zhengnan, are you sure that this is the situation? Someone is secretly purchasing Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks and preparing to deal with me?¡±
Liu Zhengnan replied, ¡°Sister-inw, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s someone who wants to harm you, but I¡¯m certain that some people are secretly purchasing Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks. Before I came here I even talked to one of my friends, Cai Yongjian. He is an amazing trader for a fundspany. He is of the same opinion as me. I thought this was quite serious, so I hurried over here.¡±
If a trader of a fundspany thought the same way too, then this was basically true. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mood became more serious as well.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Zhengnan, I¡¯m not very familiar with stocks. Do you have any good suggestions for what to do in these circumstances?¡±
Liu Zhennan said, ¡°The simplest method would be topete with the buyers in buying up the stock. If our opponent buys it, we¡¯ll buy it too. This way, the stock price will soar. Both sides will suffer from the economic bubbles of the insane stock price increases. Another method would be to locate the other party, negotiate with him, understand his motives and funding reserves and so on. After understanding the circumstances, we¡¯ll have more options.¡±
¡°This hasn¡¯t happened before. Who could it be?¡± Shentu Tianyin suddenly asked. Her eyebrows were deeply furrowed, and she looked like she had a lot on her mind. She seemed to be trying to guess at who it was, but could not confirm anything.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Leave this matter to me. I¡¯ll investigate who this person is. Zhengnan, since you¡¯re taking a break these next few days, you can help me keep an eye on the stock market situation.¡±
Liu Zhengnan said, ¡°No problem. I will keep an eye on it. If anything happens, I¡¯ll contact you and Sister-inw immediately.¡±
¡°Thank you, Zhengnan,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Liu Zhennanughed. ¡°Sister-inw, you don¡¯t have to be polite with me. I work for Director Xia, so I work for you too. You can just tell me if there¡¯s anything you¡¯d like me to do in the future.¡±
Shentu Tianyin said, ¡°Hubby, can you let me borrow Zhengnan for a few days?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°No problem, you can have him for as long as needed.¡±
Shentu Tianyin smiled then. ¡°That¡¯s a promise, then.¡±
Xia Xue walked in at this moment. She looked at Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin first, but her gaze quickly moved to Liu Zhengnan.
Shentu Tianyin said, ¡°Xue, I¡¯ll introduce you. This is your brother¡¯s assistant, Mr. Liu Zhengnan.¡±
Xia Xue pursed her lips and smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t need to introduce us. We know each other.¡±
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces, and they were both astonished.
Xia Xueughed and said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m still sort of my brother¡¯s secretary, and I spend a lot of time at Thunder Horse Military Factory. What¡¯s so strange about me knowing Zhengnan?¡±
She called him Zhengnan instead of Liu Zhengnan or Mr Liu. It was easy to see that she was familiar with Liu Zhengnan.
Liu Zhengnan¡¯s expression became a little unusually nervous and hint of a blush appeared on his face as he stood. ¡°Xue... Why are you here?¡±
Xia Xueughed as she said, ¡°This is my brother and my sister-inw¡¯s house. This is my house. Of course I¡¯d be here.¡±
Liu Zhengnanughed awkwardly. Everything he said in front of Xia Xue was dumb.
Xia Xue said, ¡°I want to go out for a walk. Are you free?¡±
¡°Yes, yes, of course. I¡¯ll go out on a walk with you.¡± Liu Zhengnan agreed immediately.
Liu Zhengnan was taken away just like that, leaving the stunned couple in the office.
What was going on?
Chapter 594 - Power Struggle in the CIA
Washington DC, Langley, CIA Headquarters.
Liang Siyao walked into the lift and was just about to press the ¡®close door¡¯ button when a woman suddenly came in.
Liang Siyao¡¯s gaze went to the woman and she stared nkly when she saw who it was. From what she remembered, this woman had already died in Japan. She didn¡¯t expect that she¡¯d actually appear in front of her, alive, and even riding on the same lift.
Gu Kewen grinned at Liang Siyao. ¡°We meet again, Miss Liang.¡±
¡°You...¡± Liang Siyao still hadn¡¯t recovered from the shock. She didn¡¯t dare believe her eyes.
¡°I¡¯m still alive. Are you shocked, Miss Liang?¡± A meaningful smile hovered on Gu Kewen¡¯s lips.
¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re alive.¡± Liang Siyao quickly recovered her calm, and she probed, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±
¡°This is where I work. Am I not allowed to be here?¡± Gu Kewen replied.
¡°How do you even have the authority toe here now? Who gave it to you?¡±
¡°Mr Sean,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°I¡¯m working for him now. Our coboration ended long ago in Jerusalem, didn¡¯t it? I was lucky that time, and wasn¡¯t killed by you.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes turned cold. ¡°You¡¯d best think before you talk. Don¡¯t speak like that so happily now or you¡¯ll soon regret it.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Gu Kewen giggled. ¡°Liang Siyao, I was afraid of you before because I was weak and had no choice but to take everything lying down. But now, I don¡¯t have to worry about anything when I speak with you.¡±
Her meaning was clear. ¡®I am no longer the same Gu Kewen from before. I am not afraid of you now!¡¯
Liang Siyao sneered too. ¡°Strange, why you look just like the previous Gu Kewen to me? Arrogant and bossy. You at least had the basis to act like that before, but what do you have now? You¡¯d better smarten up a bit, or thest of the Gu n bloodline will be broken.¡±
¡°Are you threatening me?¡±
¡°Think what you like.¡±
¡°Hehe, then I¡¯ll take as a threat. But I don¡¯t care.¡± Gu Kewen added, ¡°I, Gu Kewen, have returned. You can tell that to Xia Lei. I¡¯m guessing you still have feelings for him, right?¡±
¡°What nonsense are you saying?¡± Liang Siyao suddenly raised her hand, and swung it down at Gu Kewen¡¯s cheek.
Gu Kewen drew back immediately, her body nimble as a lynx, and easily avoided Liang Siyao¡¯s p.
Liang Siyao was filled with astonishment. The current Gu Kewen really was different from before. Not only was she much nimbler, she also seemed far more confident. It made her feel like the previous Gu Kewen had been just a fledgeling, and that the current Gu Kewen was a full-fledged professional fighter!
Gu Kewen¡¯s voice was cold as she said, ¡°I told you I¡¯m different from the old Gu Kewen. No matter who wants my life, they¡¯d better stake their life in return if they want mine. You are no exception, Liang Siyao.¡±
¡°Your skills aren¡¯t bad. Let¡¯s test it out some more since you dare to speak to me like this.¡± Liang Siyao walked menacingly towards Gu Kewen.
There wasn¡¯t the slightest bit of fear on Gu Kewen¡¯s face. Her hand moved to her waist, a movement which indicated that she would draw her gun at any time.
Liang Siyao came to a stop, slightly worried about the consequences.
The atmosphere suddenly turned tense in the lift.
At this exact moment, the elevator doors opened.
Liang Siyao took a step back and smiled as she shrugged. ¡°You do have some skill now, but if this is all your confidence is based on, then let me give you a piece of advice. Gu Kewen, you won¡¯t live long.¡±
¡°I also believe in an old adage: those who escape cmity will get good fortune. You and Xia Lei both want my life, but I¡¯m still alive. I¡¯ll settle the score I have with you two, everyst bit of it.¡± Gu Kewen walked out of the lift when she was done speaking.
Liang Siyao thought, ¡®This girl not only lived, but even went to Sean¡¯s team. She definitely has some secret, but what is it? Looks like I really need to tell Xia Lei about this...¡¯
Liang Siyao went through the security checks with a heavy heart, and entered a meeting room.
There were already quite a few people sitting in the meeting room, including the new director of the Americas, Rampadu, director of the European branch, Sean, director of the African branch, and Oceania¡¯s director, Robert. Add her, the director of Asia, and all the executive officers in the CIA¡¯s intelligence sector were gathered here.
Apart from the intelligence sector, the CIA also had a supervisory sector as well as an operations sector and technology sector. Amongst all of these, the intelligence sector was the most important. Everyone in the intelligence sector had to have a very strong educational background, concrete military aplishments and espionage skills.
Apart from the intelligence sector executives, Liang Siyao also saw Gu Kewen. She was sitting next to Sean.
This was unusual. This was an executive-only intelligence sector meeting, and Gu Kewen had not right to be here.
¡°Miss Liang, we haven¡¯t met for a long time. I haven¡¯t even had the time to give you my congrattions since you were promoted to director of the Asian branch. Do excuse my rudeness.¡± Sean broke the silence in the meeting room.
¡°There¡¯s no need for that,¡± said Liang Siyao indifferently.
¡°Miss Liang, you probably also know about what happened in Germany. Could you tell me what intelligence you¡¯ve gathered on it?¡± Sean¡¯s tone was questioning.
¡°I have not gotten any information on that. If there was something, I would¡¯ve told you,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Huh.¡± Sean snorted softly, ¡°You were in charge of Asia and you didn¡¯t even know Xia Lei had slunk off back to his home country. Can you be any more neglectful in your work?¡±
Liang Siyao knew that Xia Lei had already returned to China, but she wanted to dy reporting it to the higher ups.
Sean spoke up again, ¡°The Germans actually knew that Xia Lei has returned to China more quickly than we did. Aren¡¯t you going to give us an exnation?¡±
¡°What exnation?¡± Liang Siyao spoke indifferently, ¡°You¡¯re in charge of Europe and I¡¯m in charge of Asia. Since when did you start caring about Asia¡¯s intelligence? Furthermore, the people who you captured actually managed to escape, so shouldn¡¯t you be the one giving exnations? Could you be anymore neglectful in your work?¡±
¡°You¡ª¡± Sean was furious.
They had been ambushed by the FA Organisation. The FA Organisation¡¯s free agents had had the advantage of timing and location, plus heavy weapon superiority. He simply had no way to stop them from ruining his operation, and Xia Lei had then been able to take advantage of the chaos to escape. Liang Siyao bringing up this old topic right now brought him shame and anger.
The meeting room door was pushed open and a bald man walked in. The intelligence sector¡¯s executives all stood up in respect.
This old man was the CIA¡¯s Chief of Intelligence, William Mussi.
Apart from being the CIA¡¯s Chief of Intelligence, he was also a Major General of the United States Navy.
William Mussi wasn¡¯t very tall but the impression of strength and vigour. His stare was also like that of the Bald Eagle in the United States Emblem, which hung on the wall in the meeting room, sharp and ruthless.
¡°Take your seats.¡± William Mussi sat in his chair and went straight to the point. ¡°I¡¯ve gathered you all here today to announce two important things. The first is Liang Siyao. You are discharged from your position as the director of the Asian branch.¡±
Liang Siyao was stunned.
¡°Your work capability has been called into question. Furthermore, we suspect that you have personal feelings involved in your work, so you are no longer suitable to be in charge of Asia¡¯s intelligence. Administration has already decided that Gu Kewen will take over your position,¡± said William Mussi.
Liang Siyao¡¯s gaze went to Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewen was also looking at Liang Siyao.
The women¡¯s gazes collided. There was no sound, no sparks, but it was like two sharp des had shed.
A faint, self-satisfied smile appeared in the corners of Gu Kewen¡¯s mouth.
William Mussi spoke again, ¡°Liang Siyao, would you like to appeal against this decision?¡±
Liang Siyao shook her head. ¡°No. Since it¡¯s already been decided, it should be executed.¡±
¡°Stay in the United States for now and wait for your new work arrangements,¡± said William Mussi.
¡°Yes, Sir¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Now for the second announcement.¡± William Mussi continued, ¡°Xia Lei¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle assembly lines, and the Thunder Dragon Intelligence Lathe in Germany ran into problems and can¡¯t function normally. The Germans are furious and areining to us about capturing Xia Lei earlier than scheduled. Germany is our ally and we have arge range of coborations with each other. We have to find a way to get our hands on the Thunder Horse Military Factory technologies. Gu Kewen, as the new director of CIA Asia, what suggestions do you have for us?¡±
Gu Kewen nced at Liang Siyao, and her voice held a hint of ridicule as she said, ¡°Mr William Mussi, there¡¯s somebody here who is no longer qualified to be here, so why hasn¡¯t she left? I have a n, but she¡¯s not qualified to listen and could pose a big threat to my operation if she hears it.¡±
At that moment, Liang Siyao wanted nothing more than to rush up to Gu Kewen and tear her mouth to pieces!
¡°Liang Siyao, you can leave now. Do not leave the country during this period of time,¡± said William Mussi.
¡°Yes, I understand.¡± Liang Siyao got up to leave. She gave Gu Kewen a backward nce as she went out the door.
Gu Kewen gave Liang Siyao a cold smile.
This time, she was the victor and Liang Siyao was the loser.
Liang Siyao stepped out of the meeting room, and the door closed automatically behind her. She could no longer hear any of the voices inside. Every room in this area had top grade soundproofing so good that nothing could be heard even if a doctor came with a stethoscope and ced on at the door.
¡®Gu Kewen said that she had a n... that¡¯s probably the reason why William Mussi decided to pick her to rece me, huh? William Mussi¡¯s also going as far as to restrict me from going out of the country. He¡¯s hinting that he¡¯s going to act against me. I can¡¯t wait any longer, I have to see Xia Lei...¡¯ Liang Siyao thought as she walked.
Gu Kewen stood in the meeting room. ¡°Mr William Mussi, my n has actually already been put in motion.¡±
¡°Oh?¡± William Mussi was astonished. ¡°What¡¯s your n? You say that you¡¯ve already put it in motion but I am not aware of it. What¡¯s this?¡±
Gu Kewen said, ¡°Mr William Mussi, my father was one of the top businessmen in China. My family is also one of the most influential and powerful families of China, so I have many friends and connections there. My n relies on these things as a foundation, and is...¡±
A smile appeared on William Mussi¡¯s face.
Recing Liang Siyao with Gu Kewen had truly been a wise decision.
Chapter 595 - Shi Boren’s Smile
Bureau 101 Headquarters, the underground shooting range.
Bang bang bang...
Deafening gunshots rang out as the bullets flew from the muzzle and hit the target¡¯s centre 50 metres away. Long Bing¡¯s hands were steady the entire time she was firing, without the slightest tremble. She fired consecutively, and the handgun in her hand shook slightly ¡ª the gun¡¯s recoil was almost negligible.
After emptying the clip, Long Bing reached up, took off the protection earmuffs and said in praise, ¡°Lei, the handguns from Thunder Horse Military Factory are far better than before. Give this one to me. It¡¯s really good.¡±
Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°No problem. If you like it, keep it.¡±
Tang Yuyan spoke up. ¡°Xia Lei, your invitation for us to try the firearms is only profiting Long Bing. This doesn¡¯t seem right. What about me?¡±
Xia Lei threw the gun in his hand to Tang Yuyan. ¡°I¡¯ve only brought two over here this time, so I¡¯ll give you this one.¡±
Tang Yuyan smiled a small smile upon receiving one of the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s improved guns. ¡°What do you think abouting over to my house to eat tonight?¡±
Xia Lei paused. It wouldn¡¯t be good to refuse right away, but it also wasn¡¯t good to agree.
Long Bing turned to look at Tang Yuyan with a strange look in her eyes.
¡®He¡¯s a married man, and you¡¯re inviting him to your home for a meal? Isn¡¯t this method of seducing him away from his wife too obvious?¡¯
¡°You can also take your wife along,¡± added Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei shook his head and said politely, ¡°It¡¯s better not. Next time, I¡¯ll invite you next time.¡±
Tang Yuyan smiled. ¡°I knew you wouldn¡¯t dare toe. You already have thete-stage symptoms of a henpecked man.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei definitely would¡¯ve agreed if it was Long Bing inviting Shentu Tianyin and himself to a meal. He would also bring Shentu Tianyin along since he wasn¡¯t at all worried about Long Bing. However, Tang Yuyan was different. She was like a ticking time bomb which could explode at any moment. He had always operated very cautiously in his love life. There was some helplessness and some irritation, but for the most part, it was in peaceful harmony. He didn¡¯t want to wreck this delicate bnce because of Tang Yuyan.
Just then, a few people walked into the firing range. Shi Boren and Ling Han led them in, then Tang Bochuan and another person they had never seen before.
It was an old man with a frail and withered body. He had a head of long white hair that reached his shoulders and the first impression he gave was that of an artist. For some reason, his eyes appeared a bit dull, giving others the feeling he wasn¡¯t really paying attention to them. In short, he gave others a strange feeling.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing straightened up and saluted on reflex when Shi Boren, Ling Han and the old man appeared.
Xia Lei was a little slower, but he also straightened up and lifted his hand. His salute was quite sloppy, but the intent was there although it was not quite perfect.
If Long Bing and Tang Yuyan had saluted like his, they would definitely be punished by Shi Boren. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t get any punishment even if he didn¡¯t salute at all, one of his privileges in Bureau 101.
¡°That¡¯s him.¡± Shi Boren pointed casually at Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s this youngster who single-handedly established Thunder Horse Military Factory, and brought back the Eurofighter Typhoon assembly line from Germany, all by himself.¡±
¡°So young!¡±
¡°The young really is surpassing us with time!¡±
¡°What a genius, a rare talent found only once in a century!¡±
¡°You¡¯re just what the nation needs to revive our country!¡±
¡°Haha!¡±
All of this were said by the old man, and not in one breath either. He had spoken with pauses in-between, giving one the impression that several people had spoken.
Xia Lei thought, ¡®Who¡¯s this? He looks like he¡¯s mad.¡¯
Ling Han seemed to have guessed Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts and he moved to whisper in Xia Lei¡¯s ear, ¡°He¡¯s the department head of the Academy of Science, Mr Fan Yiming. He¡¯s a national treasure. He is very proficient in guided missile and fighter engine technology. He was also the one in charge of the Eurofighter Typhoon engine project, where the Germans came and built the production line. You must learn from him when you get the chance.¡±
Xia Lei was filled with respect for him, and took the initiative to go up to shake his hand, smiling as he said, ¡°Hello, Elder Fan, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡±
Fan Yiming and Xia Lei shook hands and his aged face filled with a smile. ¡°Little Xia, I¡¯ve heard your story long ago, and always wished to meet you but I was always just too busy to meet. I had Ling Han help me fulfill this wish of mine today by bringing me here. Haha, you¡¯re not bad. I like you, young man.¡±
The way he had spoken earlier was as if several people were talking but now, his way of talking waspletely normal. A scientist¡¯s world really wasn¡¯t one that could be understood by ordinary people.
Xia Lei spoke politely, ¡°You tter me, Elder Fan.¡±
¡°I came here today to thank you for fixing a problem we¡¯ve really been struggling with, the fighter ne¡¯s engine. Another reason I came is to invite you to join our Academy of Science,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was stunned.
What sort of ce was the Academy of Science? If you took a country and likened it to a ne, the Academy of Sciences would be the engine of the ne. Its power directly influenced the overall power of the ne. Every person who could enter the Academy of Sciences had to be at least a leading scientist in their field, and have contributed something significant to their field of study.
Since the founding of the Academy of Science, they¡¯ve never had a single member younger than fifty and right now, Xia Lei was only in his twenties. If he became a member of the Academy of Science, he would be the youngest Fellow of the Academy of Science in the whole world, and not just in China!
An invitation such as this stunned Xia Lei.
¡°What is it? You don¡¯t want to go?¡± Fan Yiming appeared somewhat anxious.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. ¡°Elder Fan, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to go, but... How could I have be qualified to enter the Academy of Sciences?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve long been qualified to enter,¡± said Fan Yiming. ¡°You created the world¡¯s very first Thunder Dragon intelligentthe and you are also the producer of the world¡¯s leading XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifles. Just these three aplishments are enough to enter our Academy of Science. If such a genius like you can¡¯t enter the Academy of Science, us old antiques wouldn¡¯t have the gall to continue holding onto our titles as Academy of Science Fellows.¡±
Xia Lei was a little hesitant.
Enter the Academy of Science? The offer was definitely very alluring. Just having the title of an Academy of Science Fellow was something which was hard to refuse. It was a lifetime honour, and it would be written down in history. Plus, if he entered the Academy of Science, he would gain ess to a lot more resources, making it a lot easier to conduct research on the ancient alloy.
Shi Boren felt a bit worried when he saw that Xia Lei was tempted. ¡°Old Fan, Xia Lei is one of ours at Bureau 101. What would we do if he went over to your ce?¡±
¡°Little Shi, your father and I have a pretty good rtionship, yet you¡¯re trying topete with me for manpower? Your department can easily find as many soldiers as you want, but for me, just finding a single person is even more difficult than scaling the Heavens. If Xia Leies to the Academy of Science, he would be able to make ten times, even a hundred times the contribution he would make here!¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°Yuyan, Long Bing, Xia Lei, don¡¯t you guys still have missions? Go, go, don¡¯t hide here to goof off.¡± Shi Boren kept blinking at Tang Yuyan and Long Bing, shooting them looks.
How could Long Bing and Tang Yuyan not understand what he meant? The women grabbed Xia Lei, one arm each, and dragged him off.
¡°Hey! Where are you taking him?¡± Fan Yiming¡¯s beard bristled in anger. ¡°Get him back here!¡±
Shi Boren put an arm around Fan Yiming¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Elder Fan, please stop with your ns of taking Xia Lei away. Let¡¯s go have a chat in my office. I¡¯ll make you some tea, all right?¡±
The sight of Shi Boren acting all gentle gave everybody goosebumps.
¡°Hmph!¡± Fan Yiming¡¯s beard puffed up.
Ling Han couldn¡¯t help his wry smile. On one side was a powerful member of the country¡¯s Bureau 101 and on the other side was the driving force behind the Academy of Science. It was difficult to say which was more important than the other. Both of them were indispensable. Unfortunately, there was only one genius like Xia Lei. Fan Yiming wanted him, but Shi Boren didn¡¯t want to hand him over. This waspletely understandable. It wouldn¡¯t be good for him to interfere.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan did not let Xia Lei go after they exiting the underground firing range. The many agents who hade down to train stared strangely at the two Section Chiefs, with their consultant squeezed between them. Nobody said anything, but their imaginations ran wild.
¡°Let me go. There¡¯s a lot of people watching.¡± Xia Lei was very embarrassed.
Long Bing let go of him but Tang Yuyan did not. She clung still to Xia Lei arm. She didn¡¯t care about her soft chest touching Xia Lei¡¯s arm intimately. ¡°What¡¯s a big man like you being shy for? I don¡¯t even care so why do you mind it? I¡¯m telling you, you¡¯re not allowed to go to the Academy of Science. It¡¯s all old men there, and very boring. If you stay in Bureau 101, you¡¯ll have two beautiful women apanying you. Don¡¯t you know how well off you are?¡± she said.
Xia Lei was speechless.
However, he was still rather tempted by Fan Yiming¡¯s proposal. It wasn¡¯t just for the glory of bing the Academy of Science¡¯s youngest Fellow, it was also because of the resources he would get there. Thunder Horse Military Factory needed to expand quickly, so it was very important for him to get those resources.
A very simple example was that he had the entirety of Rheinmetall AG in his head, but he alone was not enough if he wanted Thunder Horse Military Factory to be arge scale, international militarypany like Rheinmetall AG. It was impossible. He needed resources ¡ª resources on a national scale.
¡°You still really want to go?¡± Tang Yuyan seemed to have sensed Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts.
¡°I¡¯m considering it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan let go of Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Long Bing, you go persuade him. I¡¯ll give you two some space.¡± She really did leave after saying that.
Long Bing smiled wryly. ¡°She¡¯s even more anxious than me. Do you know why?¡±
Xia Lei also had a pained smile. He had known from the beginning that Tang Yuyan liked him, but the problem was that he was already married.
¡°I won¡¯t try to persuade you, but regardless of what you decide to do, I¡¯ll always support you,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was touched. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about going to the Academy of Science for now, I have something that I need your help with.¡±
¡°What are you being so polite with me for?¡± Long Bing rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Just speak, what is it?¡±
¡°Someone is secretly purchasing Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks, targeting Tianyin. Can you help me find out who did it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What¡¯s so difficult about that? Bureau 101 has enough power to investigate that so just leave it to me. I¡¯ll get somebody to help you find out which bank ount bought the Vientiane Group stocks,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled at her. ¡°Then I¡¯ll wait for your news.¡±
Chapter 596 - The Mysterious Person Behind the Scenes
A day¡¯s time went by just like that, waiting and pondering. Xia Lei drove back to Leiyin Home alone when it turned dark. Shentu Tianyin still wasn¡¯t home but Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan were chatting under in shady spot. Xia Xue happily greeted Xia Lei when she saw him arrive, while Liu Zhengnan stood and went straight to him.
¡°Director Xia...¡± Liu Zhengnan appeared somewhat nervous, as if afraid Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t be happy to see him talking with Xia Xue.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°If you have anything you need to say, you can say it.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s smile seemed to dispel Liu Zhengnan¡¯s worries a little. He arranged his thoughts before saying, ¡°Director Xia, you should already know the situation. Somebody is secretly buying the Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks. Right now, the stock market¡¯s in chaos and arge number of stockholders are dumping their Vientiane Group shares since the other party¡¯s average buying price is a lot lower than the current market¡¯s buying price. It¡¯s a very troubling situation.¡±
¡°Is this what that friend of yours told you?¡± Xia Lei recalled the name. ¡°That stock trading expert called Cai Yongjian, of that fundpany.¡±
Liu Zhengnan nodded. ¡°Yes. They have their own channels to get information. However, he doesn¡¯t know much either, and he doesn¡¯t know who the one secretly buying the stocks is or how much funds he has.¡±
¡°Does Tianyin know?¡±
¡°Sister-inw knows and is currently still at the Vientiane Group¡¯s Headquarters in a conference with its board of directors. I came back earlier because I¡¯m not a part of the Vientiane Group. I hurried here to tell you about this and coincidentally met Xia Xue who had juste back as well so we chatted for a bit.¡± Liu Zhengnan seemed a bit nervous.
Xia Lei smiled as he patted Liu Zhengnan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I only have one little sister. If she likes you, you have to treat her well or I won¡¯t forgive you.¡±
This could be considered approval, also it also showed Xia Lei¡¯s stance.
Liu Zhengnan smiled happily. ¡°Director Xia, don¡¯t worry. I... I don¡¯t know what to say, but I swear that I¡¯ll treat Xia Xue well. From the first time I saw her, I already...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted him. ¡°You can go, you can go.¡±
Liu Zhengnan gave him an awkward smile before walking over to Xia Xue.
Xia Lei sighed softly. There was a strange feeling in his heart, both happy and sad. After their father, Xia Changhe, had left, he had taken up the role of Xia Xue¡¯s father and supported her in her studies. Now, Xia Xue was all grown up, and there were some things that were out of his control as her brother. She was grown up, and he should let go. However, his heart was still filled with worry. He was afraid that Xia Xue would run into somebody bad and get hurt. In fact, was there any father who had to bring up a daughter who could ever say that he didn¡¯t feel the same as Xia Lei did right now? This was something they all felt, but was unavoidable.
Shentu Tianyin returned veryte, and her face was weary.
Xia Lei walked to the back of the sofa and massaged her shoulders as he saidfortingly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I already asked Long Bing to help me investigate it. I believe we will get some results soon. I can help you settle if we find out who¡¯s behind all of this.¡±
¡°Hubby, I suddenly feel very tired. It is truly wonderful to have you by my side.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was soft. It was like it had no strength, and was filled with exhaustion.
This weariness that came from the heart, and not something which could be recovered from with just a little rest. Even though she was a powerful businesswoman, she needed protection andfort, and a sense of security. Only Xia Lei could give her all of this.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who it is. So long as I discover his identity, I won¡¯t let him go. I won¡¯t put up with anybody who dares to touch my wife, no matter who it is.¡±
Shentu Tianyin closed her eyes, and the corners of her mouth curled into a small smile.
Xia Lei massaged Shentu Tianyin¡¯s snow white neck gently as he said softly, ¡°Let me tell you something. Today, Elder Fan Yiming from the Academy of Science came to look for me and asked me to join the Academy of Science. What do you think?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯ eyes popped open. ¡°They want you to go and be a Fellow?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Probably. I am considering it, but I¡¯m not sure whether it¡¯s better to ept or decline his invitation.¡±
¡°ept it. Why wouldn¡¯t you ept?¡± Shentu Tianyin said with a little excitement, ¡°Bing a member of the Academy of Science is a lifelong honour. Having such a title will definitely help you in the future, no matter what you do. With the title of ¡®Schr from the Academy of Science¡¯, people like Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun won¡¯t be able to cause you any trouble anymore. And this is just part of the benefits ¡ª the biggest benefit is the additional connections you can make.¡±
It was no wonder she was called the Queen of the Vientiane Group, with her amazing nose for business. Xia Lei had only mentioned that he was asked to join the Academy of Science and she already saw all the possible opportunities and advantages of him joining.
Xia Lei also understood the benefits but he couldn¡¯t really bear to leave Bureau 101. ¡°I would also lose a lot of things if I left Bureau 101, so it¡¯s really difficult to choose.¡±
If he left Bureau 101, he would lose benefits like the unrestricted use of firearms and the permission to kill others, which was absolutely terrible if he were to be ambushed. A very simple example was that if the CIA¡¯s agents or maybe an opposing business partner hired assassins to deal with him, he could not easily use firearms to get rid of them like before. At Bureau 101, he basically had the permission to kill people, and could act first, then report itter.
¡°Dummy.¡± Shentu Tianyinughed as she said, ¡°Did that guy tell you to leave Bureau 101? You can keep working for both sides. Just treat it like an extra job. Isn¡¯t your job at Bureau 101 also very like holding two jobs at the same time? Since you can hold concurrent jobs at Bureau 101, why can¡¯t you also do that at the Academy of Science?¡±
What she said lit a lightbulb in Xia Lei¡¯s head, and it was like the dark clouds had been suddenly swept away to reveal the light. He couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°Haha, I actually over-thought such a simple problem. You¡¯re smarter than me. The problem I¡¯ve been struggling with for so long was solved by you in an instant.¡±
Shentu Tianyin poked Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m smarter than you, it¡¯s just that you tend to care too much about other aspects.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yeah, so I¡¯ll listen to you and go work at the Academy of Science like it¡¯s another job.¡±
¡°Hubby, let¡¯s go back into the bedroom to sleep. It¡¯s gettingte and tomorrow... Ay, tomorrow we¡¯ll still have to face the problem.¡± Shentu Tianyin sighed.
¡°I¡¯ll carry you.¡± Xia Lei walked around to the front of the sofa and picked Shentu Tianyin up in his arms.
They went back to the bedroom.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s mobile phone suddenly rang.
The phone kept ringing. Xia Lei finally picked the phone up 50 secondster to look at it. He immediately answered it when he saw that it was Long Bing.
¡°Lei, I found something,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Who is it?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was a little breathless.
¡°Are you with Shentu Tianyin right now?¡± Long Bing asked.
¡°She... yeah, she¡¯s asleep.¡± Xia Lei reached out to cover Shentu Tianyin¡¯s little mouth.
¡°Hehe.¡± Long Bingughed strangely before changing the topic. ¡°We got the results from the investigation, but the result probably won¡¯t be one that you¡¯d be pleased with.¡±
Xia Lei asked, ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°There are 122 groups in all buying up Vientiane Group stocks. ording to the stock market standards, if a group buys more than 5% of shares, they would have to offer tender.However, none of these groups bought more than 5%. Most of them bought 1-3% of shares. A few of them were over 3%, but it was still below 5%. They made it appear to be just like normal stock trading behaviour,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Any information on these buyers?¡±
¡°Yes. I found that out too. I will email it to you soon. However, they¡¯re all ordinary investment ounts and there¡¯s nothing suspicious with the ounts. It¡¯s just...¡±
¡°Just what?¡±
¡°You might find it strange too. The few groups that went over 4% were all tied one way or another to the Gu n.¡±
Xia Lei frowned immediately.
¡°I asked somebody from the Economic Crime Investigation Branch and he said if somebody¡¯s secretly manipting this, then that person must be very clever and practised. He said on the surface, it looked like ordinary stock activity, but if one person owned all the cumtive shares of all the groups, then it would be very troublesome. There would be a change in Vientiane Group¡¯s board members,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei was silent for a moment before asking, ¡°What percentage of shares do those groups have altogether?¡±
¡°About 15%. If that person merges all the groups¡¯ shares right now, they would already be qualified to be a board member.¡±
ording to corporationsw, those with a three percent share would be eligible to be nominated for a board seat. If they held 15%, then they would have the qualifications to be a board member right away.
¡°Who do you think this person is?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I know you who you¡¯re guessing. To tell you the truth, I¡¯m also skeptical, but... Didn¡¯t she die?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°I¡¯ll think of a way to look into it myself, you can just stop here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then I won¡¯t hold the two of you up. Good night.¡± Long Bing hung up.
Xia Lei stared dumbly. He didn¡¯t get to work.
¡°Long Bing?¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Yeah.¡±
¡°What did she find from the investigation?¡±
Xia Lei told Shentu Tianyin the results of Long Bing¡¯s investigation.
¡°Their methods are quite unique indeed. It¡¯s troublesome. A 15% share is not enough to threaten me, though. Never mind that, let¡¯s leave official business for tomorrow and sleep,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Chapter 597 - She’s Still Alive
There was the expansion of Thunder Horse Military Factory on one end, and the business war aimed at Vientiane Group on the other, plus the Alloy X Project and deciding whether to join the Academy of Science ¡ª these matters weighed on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulders, making him so busy that he could not even have time to breathe. He originally thought that he would be able to take a rxing holiday after his trip from Germany, that he would be able to unwind, but this tiny wish had clearly be impossible.
Out of all these issues, Xia Lei put Shentu Tianyin¡¯s matters at first priority. The day after receiving the results of Long Bing¡¯s investigation, he told Liu Zhengnan to make an appointment with Cai Yongjian at a teahouse for tea.
He was a youngster with little work experience, having graduated from university less than two years ago. He was refined and polite, his skin fair and clear, a typical white-cor figure from the city. This Cai Yongjian was rather courteous too. He had taken the initiative to extend both his hands towards Xia Lei for a handshake. ¡°Director Xia, I never thought that I would be able to meet you. You¡¯re my idol.¡±
The Xia Lei today was the idol of many young individuals. His reputation had grown to be even greater than some of the most famous celebrities.
¡°Sit, sit, let¡¯s talk,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Our Director Xia is a very easy-going person. Yongjian, there¡¯s no need to hold back. If there¡¯s anything you would like to say, please do so freely,¡± said Liu Zhengnan.
¡°I... haha.¡± Cai Jongjian was still reserved.
Xia Lei would have still been a struggling young worker on construction sites three years ago, and as a white-cor worker, Cai Yongjian probably wouldn¡¯t have even taken another nce at Xia Lei. But now, in front of Xia Lei, he felt like he was eminent and unapproachable. He felt under pressure, and he could not loosen up.
In the end, humans were still a type of animal, and admiring the strong were the instincts of animals from birth. A simple example was that a deer could not stand equally with a lion. And Xia Lei was the lion, whereas Cai Yongjian was no more than that deer.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t nning on developing friendly rtions with the trader from the fundpany sitting before him. Once he took a seat, he pulled out a stuffed envelope from his business bag and set it on the table, pushing it in front of Cai Yongjian.
¡°My friend, there¡¯s fifty thousand in here. Think of it as a small token of appreciation from me. Please ept it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This, this... How can I ept this money?¡± Cai Yongjian did not extend his hand to take the envelope, but his gaze did shift to it.
Liu Zhengnan picked up the envelope, and ced it in Cai Yongjian¡¯s palm. ¡°Yongjian, our Director Xia is a very generous person. If you help him do things, he won¡¯t forget about you.¡±
¡°Th,then I¡¯ll take it.¡± Cai Yongjian smiled. Fifty thousand. For a trader like him, it was equivalent to a month¡¯s sry. He had earned an extra month¡¯s worth of his sry out of nowhere, plus he was helping his idol. There was no reason for him to be upset.
Seeing that Cai Yongjian had epted the money, Xia Lei said, ¡°My friend, tell me everything you know.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Cai Yongjian continued, ¡°Under the current market conditions with the massive fall of the stock market index, it would be very easy for the opposing party to purchase Vientiane Group stocks. This is extremely dangerous, because once they have enough shares in their hands, regardless of whether they choose to sell thepany abroad or propose other requests, it would be a major hassle for Vientiane Group.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not very familiar with the stock market. Tell me, are there any ways to resolve the issue?¡± Xia Lei questioned.
¡°The number of Vientiane Group shareholders are rising. If this continues, stock prices will soar. The costs for the opposing party are very low. They aren¡¯t worried at all if Vientiane Group chooses to do this. But if Vientiane Group does go down this route, they will lose a lot of money, plus spur the individual shareholders in it for profit to dump their shares.¡±
¡°Money won¡¯t be a problem,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This isn¡¯t a problem that can be solved through money. There are rules in the stock market. Which stock on the market doesn¡¯t have economic bubbles these days? Vientiane Group is no exception. Quite arge portion of its stock prices are in an economic bubble. Quickly raising share prices would only speed up the bursting of the bubble. If the opposing party ys any dirty tricks during this time, then the situation will only worsen,¡± said Cai Yongjian.
¡°What sort of dirty tricks?¡±
¡°Using the media to spread news about bearish trends. If one of Vientiane Group¡¯smercial properties has been reported of a critical ident with regards to its quality, for instance, or one of its projects has vited operations, and the government isunching an investigation, and so on. The information goes through media hype, and individual shareholders are easily swayed to wherever the wind blows. As long as they believe that Vientiane Group stocks are about to plummet, who will still hang on? Who won¡¯t sell? So even if Vientiane Group¡¯s shareholders increase their stocks, it still won¡¯t solve the problem.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. He¡¯d never wanted Thunder Horse Group to be listed on the market, because he would be under control of a board of directors. Although entering the market allowed apany to expand rapidly, there were still corrupt practices. Vientiane Group was an example. As a well-known listedpany, its circting stocks upied 100% of thepany¡¯s stocks. Once somebody purchases 51% of its shares, that person would be able to supersede Shentu Tianyin, and be the new owner of Vientiane Group. As for Shentu Tianyin, she could only step down and be a major shareholder.
Looking at the results of Long Bing¡¯s investigation, the opposing party had already nned out this smokeless battle from the start, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have been discovered by the attentive Liu Zhengnan at 15%. But the opposing party had alreadyunched their undercover ambush, while Vientiane Group had yet to know about the disaster until the enemy had already advanced to the frontline!
¡°Yongjian, we¡¯re old friends. I understand everything you¡¯re saying. Why don¡¯t you tell me something that¡¯s actually valuable,¡± said Liu Zhengnan.
Cai Yongjian looked left and right, then lowered his voice to say, ¡°I stole a nce at the profile of one major shareholder, he has 2% of Vientiane Group shares.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°What¡¯s his name? Do you have more details about him?¡±
Cai Yongjian spoke in a whisper, ¡°He¡¯s a client called Wang Song. He¡¯s got 2% of Vientiane Group¡¯s shares in his hands.¡±
¡°Wang Song?¡± The email from Long Bing suddenly emerged in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. There was indeed someone named Wang Song listed there, but ording to the description in the email, this Wang Song was merely an average businessman with a ten-year history of ying the stock market.
Cai Yongjian continued, ¡°But this Wang Song is just a puppet. He works for someone else and the stocks in his ount also belong to that other person. If that person needs to perform any functions with his stocks, he will generally use his subordinate¡¯s ount to do so. He will never do it under his own name. He¡¯s close with my boss, so I know about this.¡±
¡°What did you say this guy¡¯s name was?¡±
¡°Gu Dinghai.¡± He pulled out a folded A4 paper from his pocket and pushed it across the table to Xia Lei. ¡°His address and phone number are here. He loves to go to a private clubhouse called Bright Moon Pce for fun. That¡¯s the most popr hangout for the rich people of Jingdu. The women there are pretty good.¡±
Xia Lei paused, unmoving.
There wasn¡¯t a person named ¡°Gu Dinghai¡± listed in the email from Long Bing. If he hadn¡¯t bribed Cai Yongjian, and if Cai Yongjian didn¡¯t know about the secrets of the fundpany¡¯s major customer, this man called ¡°Gu Dinghai¡± wouldn¡¯t have surfaced. When he first heard this name, his first reaction was that he must be Gu Dingshan¡¯s brother. Then he remembered Gu Kewen.
¡®Could she still be alive? But, how is this possible...¡¯ Xia Lei and Long Bing had discussed it and made their ¡®what-ifs¡¯ before, but they were never able to verify those assumptions. Whether Gu Kewen was dead or alive, it had always been an unsolved mystery in his heart. Now, this issue had emerged once again, and he had already seen through the maniption behind the scenes.
¡°Director Xia?¡± Cai Yongjian called out cautiously.
Xia Lei snapped back to reality and picked up the slip of paper from Cai Yongjian. He unfolded it, nced at its contents, and finally said, ¡°Thank you my friend. Keep an eye on this for me. If you have any good proposals, please contact Zhengnan. Don¡¯t worry, if you help me, I won¡¯t mistreat you.¡±
¡°Thank you, Director Xia.¡± Cai Yongjian thanked him with a smile across his face.
Cai Yongjian was sent off, and Xia Lei said to Liu Zhengnan, ¡°Zhengnan, go to Angel Wings Building, and tell my wife exactly what Cai Yongjian had just said. Tell her to make preparations. I¡¯ll go meet that Gu Dinghai.¡±
The two of them then parted at the front of the teahouse. Liu Zhengnan drove to Angel Wings Building, while Xia Lei drove to Bright Moon Pce.
Xia Lei called Long Bing while he drove to the club.
¡°Bing, help me look up a person called Gu Dinghai. I need detailed information about him.¡± The call went through and Xia Lei went straight to the point.
¡°Give me five minutes. I¡¯ll call you back.¡± Long Bing said that one sentence, and hung up.
If it wasn¡¯t for his understanding of her personality, Xia Lei could have thought that she was sulking because of something. But Long Bing was always like this. She was difficult to get close to and hard to interact with when she acted cold, but once she loosened up, her gentle affections flowed like water, and her passion zed like the sun. Her wildness was like a galloping wild horse running free, and he was no match for it.
After five minutes, Long Bing called Xia Lei back as she had stated.
¡°Lei, I found him. This person is Gu Dingshan¡¯s paternal cousin. He used to be a legitimate businessman in Haizhu City, but he wasn¡¯t very well-known. Gu Dingshan took good care of him after making his fortune, and he had made a good sum of money as well. This Gu Dinghai¡¯s assets mainly reside in overseas locations, while a very small amount is within the country. His domestic assets are valued at about two billion.¡±
Just his domestic assets were worth two billion, so Gu Dinghai¡¯s ability to purchase 3% of Vientiane Group¡¯s shares was not surprising at all.
Xia Lei thought for a moment before saying, ¡°After Gu Dingshan¡¯s downfall, did nobody investigate this Gu Dinghai? I don¡¯t believe that his money is clean.¡±
¡°He should have been investigated before. However, Gu Dingshan had gone missing at the time and his corpse was never found. Once Gu Dingshan died, those involved with the Gu n¡¯s profits were practically unaffected. If anyone suffered, it was only Gu Kewu and Gu Kewen, as well as some assets under Gu Dingshan¡¯s name. But I believe that this isn¡¯t all, for sure,¡± said Long Bing.
If Gu Dingshan had not died back then, those involved with the Gu n¡¯s profits would have likely faced some sort of downfall. But the problem was that Gu Dingshan died and his corpse was never recovered. With this going on, the leads had broken off, and the crucial witness was gone. Looking at it now, the Gu n¡¯s influence seemed to have fallen and copsed, but in reality, it had not. As long as Gu Kewen was still alive, as long has she still had the ability to gather all of the Gu n¡¯s connections, then she would be able to control those connections to work for her!
¡°Bing, I believe that Gu Kewen didn¡¯t die now. She must still be alive.¡± Xia Lei sighed.
¡°I think so too,¡± said Long Bing. Her voice suddenly turned cold. ¡°She was lucky thest time. Next time I see her, I¡¯ll ughter her for you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to meet that Gu Dinghai right now. Bing, help me look up the people who had rtions andmon interests with Gu Dinghai.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± There was a short pause before Long Bing¡¯s voice suddenly softened, ¡°I sort of miss you. Come over to my house tonight for dinner. I¡¯ll make stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs for you.¡±
¡°You learnt how to make stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs?¡± Xia Lei spoke with a chuckle.
¡°Are you mocking me? Say it again and I¡¯ll feed you instant noodles instead!¡±
¡°Okay, I like everything you cook, no matter what it is. I¡¯lle over after I meet Gu Dinghai.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll go shower first.¡± There were tender feelings, warmth, and a hint of seduction in her voice.
These words were like a mystical curse, instantly awakening his demon-ying staff. Xia Lei looked down at his lower region. Indeed, it had reacted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, this rascally little soldier of his.
Chapter 598 - The Iron Cage Fight in the Underground Pub
Bright Moon Pce was located in a rather remote part of the district, like a majority of private clubhouses. From the exterior, it looked like a residence belonging to a powerful official during the Qing Dynasty, in which was sealed off by the historic preservation unit. The ce was quiet, secluded, and elegant, with an air of ancient dignity. However, this was just a facade. Stepping inside would reveal that it was dazzling with life and luxury, with passions radiating around the space.
Although the Chevrolet Suburban Xia Lei was driving looked grand and beautiful, it wasn¡¯t considered a luxury car in the eyes of Bright Moon Pce¡¯s security guard. He blocked off Xia Lei¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban.
¡°Sir, we only let VIPs through here. Do you have a VIP card?¡± The guard was burly, with facial features as tough as nails. He moved towards the driver¡¯s seat as he asked his question.
¡°Can¡¯t I just spend money?¡± Xia Lei asked.
The security guard shook his head. ¡°No. Please leave now.¡±
Thatst sentence was expressed politely, but there was already a hint of intimidation in his tone of voice.
Xia Lei furrowed his brow as he reached his hand into the inner pocket of his suit, and fished out a document. He handed it over to the security guard.
The security guard flipped open the booklet for a look, and was dumbstruck.
The document Xia Lei handed him were credentials from the National Security Bureau, showing his identity as an investigator of the security bureau. Although these documents were fake, they were only fake for Bureau 101, but real for the rest of the world. Whoever dared to ignore its existence would face the consequences.
Xia Lei extended his hand and spoke offhandedly, ¡°This is my VIP card. Can I go in now?¡±
¡°Sir, this...¡± The security guard hesitated.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression, and his eyes instantly turned dark. ¡°I¡¯m here on a case. Whoever stands in the way will be out of luck. Also, if you leak any of this, you¡¯ll be in prison for three years, no matter who your boss is. That¡¯s all I¡¯ve got to say. Open the gate!¡±
The security guard shuddered. He handed Xia Lei¡¯s documents back to him, and opened the gate. The rules of the clubhouse were clearly important, but it was not worth it to go to jail for three years in order to defend these rules. Besides, his boss wouldn¡¯t even dare to offend him even if he came over to sort out the situation!
Xia Lei parked his car in the car park. There were quite a lot of luxury cars there ¡ª Lamborghinis, Bugatti Veyrons, and others, each one of them morevish than the next. His Chevrolet Suburban looked very much like a bodyguard in the sea of billionaires, as if it was on duty to protect the others.
Xia Lei walked into the entrance lounge of the clubhouse. A sexy young woman in a womens¡¯ suit stepped forward to wee him. A sweet smile was stered on her charming face. ¡°Sir, the match is starting soon. Would you like a drink before that? You could also take a look at the contestant profiles, to make it more convenient to make your decision.¡±
¡°Match?¡± Xia Lei did not know what she was talking about.
The sexy hostess looked at Xia Lei with a strange expression. ¡°Sir, is this your first time here?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯ve been here before. I¡¯ve been abroad for a very long time and I just came back, so I¡¯m not quite aware of the situation here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I see.¡± The sexy hostess smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s a boxing match. The contestantse from all over the world, and they¡¯re all sexy, beautiful women. You can put down a bet, or spend money to have them serve you. They¡¯re willing to do anything for money.¡±
¡°Oh, how fascinating.¡± Xia Lei pulled out his wallet, and casually took out two 100USD dor bills. He gave them to the woman. ¡°This is your tip.¡±
¡°Thank you, Sir.¡± The woman smiled cheerfully. ¡°Sir, I¡¯ll take you to the arena.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, and followed the sexy hostess. He asked as he walked, ¡°Right, is my old friend Gu Dinghai here yet?¡±
¡°Mr Gu is your old friend?¡±
¡°Of course, our friendship goes back for years. I have overseas business partnerships with him,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What a coincidence. He arrived half an hour ago. He¡¯s also at the arena, so you¡¯ll be able to find him very easily.¡± The woman had a rather favourable impression of this rich young man. She answered whatever questions he had, smiling the entire time.
The woman guided Xia Lei as they through the main lobby, into a corridor, and finally stepping into one of the lifts down the corridor. They rode it to an underground space.
It was an underground pub. There were bar counters, chairs and tables, and a catwalk stage simr to the one at Victoria Secret shows. At the end of the catwalk was a massive iron cage. I looked rather out of ce in the bar as it was in disharmony with the amorous theme. However, its presence gave the pub an extra dose of violence and uniqueness, easily distinguishing itself from the other bars.
An Eastern European woman was dancing on the catwalk. It was a simple yet alluring hip twisting dance when the sexy hostess led Xia Lei into the underground pub. She had barely any clothes on her. Her triangr bra and thong just barely covered up the important parts of her body, but because of her swaying dance movements, shes of her secret, intimate areas could be seen, making for a very sexy viewing.
¡°Mr Gu is over there.¡± The woman raised her arm and pointed over to a corner for Xia Lei.
Following her finger, Xia Lei spotted a plump, middle-aged man. His facial features somewhat resembled Gu Dinghai. There were also two burly ck bodyguards standing behind him, looking like two bears.
So that was Gu Dinghai. He was looking over at the Eastern European woman on the catwalk with faint interest, clearly unaware that Xia Lei had his sights on him.
¡°Sir, would you like me to take you there?¡± The sexy woman was very courteous. She seemed to have many thoughts about this young man who had casually tipped her 200 USD.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°No need for that, thank you. I¡¯lle look you in the lobby if I have the time.¡±
The sexy woman pouted and smiled, then winked at Xia Lei with herrge eyes outlined with eye shadow. She turned and left.
Of course Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t go to look for her. He had only said it that so that she wouldn¡¯t keep bothering him.
Xia Lei walked towards Gu Dinghai. Before he got close to Gu Dinghai, however, those two ck bear-like bodyguards noticed him and stared warily at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei got closer to Gu Dinghai, and one of the ck bodyguards raised his arm, blocking Xia Lei off.
The other ck bodyguard spoke in broken Chinese. ¡°Go sit somewhere else.¡±
Gu Dinghai noticed Xia Lei then. He paused for a moment, but quickly calmed down as he said indifferently, ¡°It¡¯s fine, let him sit.¡±
The ck security guard blocking his way finally dropped his arm.
Xia Lei took a seat opposite Gu Dinghai.
¡°Mr Xia. Would you like anything to drink?¡± There was a smile on Gu Dinghai¡¯s face. ¡°Red wine or whiskey? Or how about vodka?¡±
¡°You know I¡¯m not here to drink,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh, if you didn¡¯te to this bar to drink, then you must be looking for me, right?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I presume that you know why I came looking for you?¡±
¡°I know, of course I know. But this isn¡¯t the ce to discuss such matters. The match is about to start. Let¡¯s watch the match first,¡± said Gu Dinghai.
Xia Lei shut his mouth. This Gu Dinghai seemed to have known from the start that he woulde to find him. He wasn¡¯t shocked, he wasn¡¯t nervous; he was calm and collected from start to finish. This showed that some nning in advance had been done, but he couldn¡¯t imagine who his backer was.
There was the nging of a gong, and an Asian woman in a bikini came out from the catwalk entrance.
¡°Wolf of the jungle¡ª¡ªMa¡ª¡ªLi¡ª¡ªWan! She¡¯s a contestant from Thand, and she started learning Muay Thai in elementary school. She¡¯s the undisputed champion of Thand. She measures 165cm, and she weighs in at 100 pounds. Her chest, waist, hip measurements are 76cm, 60cm, 80cm!¡± The host grew out his words as he announced thepetitor.
The female boxer from Thand named Maliwani jumped a few times on the catwalk. Her breasts bounced in the air, and jiggled heavily when her feet hit the floor. Her breasts still jiggled after her two feet were nted firmly on the catwalk. She then waved her fist in the air, sending her regards to the audience.
Some apuded for her, and some put a bet on her.
Manliwan stepped inside the iron cage, swaying her waist and her butt, and stretching out her legs. She only had a bikini on her, and her warm up movements pulled her fabric tight over the area between her legs and her chest, faintly outlining her groin and her nipples. It was extremely seductive.
The host began the next announcement soon after, once again lengthening his words. ¡°The Red Rose¡ª¡ªBroni¡ª¡ªva! This contestantes from Russia. She started boxing from elementary school, and she won a glorious bronze medal in the Olympic Games. She measures in at 180cm and weighs in at 130 pounds. Her chest, waist, hip measurements are 81cm, 65cm, 84cm!¡±
Broniva got onto the catwalk stage, and she suddenly swung her leg up high in a straight-up kick as she approached the center. Her jade-like leg was straight in the air, and the muscles of her buttocks were tightened up. The muscles on her legs were clearly outlined too. However, these weren¡¯t the parts which attracted the audience. What attracted their attention was the ck bikini she was wearing. It had tightened abruptly around her body because of her movements, and thatyer of material hugged her body like a second skin. The form and shape of that area had been outlined to perfection, and was very tempting.
Some apuded for her, and someid their bet on her.
This was the world of the rich. These were things that normal people could never think of, but never get the chance to y.
¡°Mr Xia, aren¡¯t you betting?¡± Gu Dinghai¡¯s gaze moved from the iron cage to Xia Lei.
¡°Is there any point in ying like this?¡± said Xia Lei.
Gu Dinghai scoffed. ¡°Mr Xia, you make so much money, but what¡¯s the point of making money if you don¡¯t use it to y around, hmm?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk privately.¡± Xia Lei had already lost his patience.
¡°The match is about to start,¡± said Gu Dinghai.
The sound of the gong echoed again, and the two women in the iron cage entered fight mode. Their flirtatious and charming attitudes from before was swept from their faces, and both became fierce and tough boxers. They battled in the iron cage. Fists met flesh, takedowns were executed, arm-locks were done, attacks from behind took ce, and move after move was executed, one after the other. The metal cage filled with views of their surging nakedness as the sexiness and bloodiness of the fight blended together, incessantly stimting the senses of the watching men.
¡°Mr Xia, Iid down a million-yuan bet on the Russian woman. Do you think I will win?¡± Gu Dinghai nced at Xia Lei again.
¡°You will lose,¡± said Xia Lei.
Right after he spoke, the Russian boxer in the iron cage, Broniva, mmed her fist heavily into the Thai boxer, Maliwan. She copsed in the cage.
The referee blocked Broniva off, as he started the count on Maliwan.
¡°She won quite quickly. Looks like you don¡¯t really have a good eye for this.¡± The corners of Gu Dinghai¡¯s mouth curled with a hint of disdain.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I already said that I¡¯m not interested in this match. I¡¯m talking about you. You will lose.¡±
Gu Dinghai¡¯s gaze turned cold. ¡°Mr Xia, I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡±
¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about.¡±
Gu Dinghai sneered and said, ¡°I am not my brother. I¡¯m much more cautious than him. Besides, I do legitimate business. What could you possibly do to me?¡±
Chapter 599 - Trouble
"All right, since you have already said so," said Xia Lei, "Then I¡¯ll be straightforward with you. Gu Kewen told you to buy Vientiane Group stocks. There are many morerge ount holders like you. What is her aim?"
Gu Dinghai sneered, ¡°How do I know? I don¡¯t own a single share of the Vientiane Group. I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
"Stop acting. I have already found out that it was your subordinate. Someone called Wang Song. He bought about 2% of the Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks."
"Eh? When did this guy be so rich? I wouldn¡¯t have known if you didn¡¯t tell me. I¡¯ll ask him about it next time."
"There are many morerge ount holders like you. I am sure that it was Gu Kewen who told you to do this. Tell me, what does she want? Where is she?"
Gu Dinghai drew out his words. "How would I know where she¡¯s at? You should go to the television station to broadcast an advertisement to search for her, not ask me."
Xia Lei forced down his boiling anger and said, "Mr Gu, you are a smart person. Let me put it this way. Don¡¯t think that I cannot do anything to you just because what you were doing was normal business behavior. Gu Kewen has the American CIA as her backer. Her crime is betraying her country. You are working for her, and whether you are running a legitimate business or not, there is no difference in my eyes. If I want to persecute you, I can do it any time."
"Are you threatening me?" Gu Dinghai was stubborn, still. "I don¡¯t believe that you can hide the truth from the people, and ignore thew."
"You can think of it that way. I can cause your brother¡¯s death, so I can kill you just the same." Xia Lei¡¯s voice was ice.
These words triggered Gu Dinghai. He mmed his hand on the bar table and pointed his finger at Xia Lei. "Get out of here!"
"Looks like you have made your decision." Xia Lei suddenly reached out and grabbed Gu Dinghai¡¯s tie. He pulled hard and Gu Dinghai mmed t on the bar table.
Gu Dinghai¡¯s head hit the bar table hard.
The two bodyguards behind Gu Dinghai both moved at the same time. The one on the left took arge step forward, raised his fists, and went for Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Xia Lei released Gu Dinghai¡¯s tie and counter-punched.
The two fists shed in midair.
Bam! The ck bodyguard who was as strong as a ck bear staggered two steps back. He was astonished and couldn¡¯t believe that Xia Lei, who looked much weaker than him, could knock him back. Moreover, it was not only the repelling, but the severe pain in the fist made him suspect that his phnx had been injured!
Wing Chun¡¯s one-inch punch was not something outsiders understood.
Bruce Lee could punch through a wooden board at a distance of seven inches because he used Wing Chun¡¯s one-inch punch.
The other ck bodyguard¡¯s fist also flew to Xia Lei¡¯s face, right after his partner had been knocked back.
Xia Lei moved his head sideways, and therge fist scraped past his ear. He released Gu Dinghai¡¯s tie. He moved from the bottom up, and used the second knuckle of his thumb to knock at the numbing acupressure point on the elbow of the other ck bodyguard. It was a simple attack, but the second ck bodyguard suddenly held his elbow and backed away. He looked at Xia Lei with fear in his eyes.
However, epting someone¡¯s money meant that he had to do the work. The two ck bodyguards knew that Xia Lei was a strong opponent with serious skills and that they were no match for him, but in front of the humiliated Gu Dinghai, they only paused for a short second before they forced themselves forward.
Xia Lei said coldly, "If you guys only want to use one hand for the rest of your lives thene on over."
The two ck bodyguards approached, still.
Gu Dinghai raised his hand. "Back down."
The two ck bodyguards were relieved. They stood behind Gu Dinghai. One was massaging his wounded phnges, and the other was massaging his elbow. His elbow felt as if it had been numbed with anaesthetics.
"You¡¯re very strong." Gu Dinghai fixed the tie which Xia Lei had messed up. His face had a look of ridicule on it. "But are you going to use violence to take care of your wife¡¯s problem? If so, I have nothing to say. You can hit me again right now."
Would beating Gu Dinghai up solve the problem?
Obviously not.
As one of the country¡¯srgest listedpanies, Vientiane Group¡¯s circting shares made up 100% of thepany. That meant that as long as a person had money, anyone could invest and buy Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks. As an investor, no matter if Gu Dinghai used his own ount to buy Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks or if he borrowed someone else¡¯s ount to buy the stocks, he still made an investment that was protected by thew. Nobody could interfere. If he forced Gu Dinghai to sell his shares in Vientiane Group, that would be trade using coercion, which was against thew.
In truth, this big pool of trouble which Shengtu Tianyin was in set Xia Lei in a very tremulous position. Whether he took the initiative to go on the offense or retreat in defense, he could not take the lead, and was subjected to outside controlling factors at every turn!
He hade here to look for Gu Dinghai with the intention of scaring him. If Gu Dinghai got scared and quit, then his decision would be a reference point for the other ount holders. Then, he could help Shengtu Tianyin solve her problem at the lowest cost possible. However, it now seemed that this method would not work.
But, what was worse was that he had no better solution than this.
A few people dressed in ck with unknown identities, started walking over.
Gu Dinghai raised his hand again. Those people stopped in their tracks and just stood there withouting over. One of them was holding a walkie-talkie and saying something into it.
Xia Lei gaze moved to the person holding the walkie-talkie and he almost instantaneously interpreted what he was saying through lip-reading.
"Boss, someone is using violence against Mr Gu. His face doesn¡¯t look familiar. He might not be a member of ours... Yes, yes... I know what to do now."
So they were people from the private club. Xia Lei was not very interested and stopped using his powers.
Gu Dinghai became arrogant again. "Mr Xia, you should thank your lucky stars that your Thunder Horse Group is not a listedpany, or we could also get you ousted from your Thunder Horse Group."
"So Gu Kewen¡¯s motive was to take down the Vientiane Group." Xia Lei¡¯s anger made himugh. "Her naivety will take you guys down with her to her grave."
"Those things originally belong to the Gu n. If the Gu n can¡¯t obtain it, then no one should even think of obtaining it."
"Try me," said Xia Lei
"I advise you Mr. Xia, things rted to the market needs to be solved with the market¡¯s methods. I will see you on the stock market, oh..." Gu Dinghai suddenly pped his forehead andughed. "I almost forgot. You don¡¯t know how to specte on stocks. You can only process parts. In this war, your wife is the target of the hunt, and you as an outsider can only watch from the side. You cannot help with anything."
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone suddenly rang.
It was Shentu Tianyin calling.
"Hubby, where are you? Something went wrong!" Shengtu Tianyin sounded very anxious.
"Don¡¯t panic. What happened?" Xia Lei stood up and walked towards an empty corner.
"A group of reporters came to my ce. They¡¯re all from financial media outlets, and they¡¯re here to interview me. They¡¯re asking me... asking me...¡±
"Ask you what?"
"They seem to know something about Gu Kewen and my purchases in the past. I...cannot answer them. But if these negative articles get published, Vientaine Group stock values will plummet for sure, right at this time when we are buying up our own shares to keep it out of the hands of thoserge ount holders! We have to make the stock prices rise again. The negative news will spur us towards bankruptcy!¡±
Xia Lei silent for a bit before asking, "If... if those things were revealed, how serious would be consequence be?"
"Didn¡¯t you say that you destroyed those things?"
"Tianyin, some unexpected things happened. Those things might not have been destroyed. Also... Gu Kewen might still be alive. This thing could be rted to her too." Xia Lei had not wanted to tell her this, but he couldn¡¯t hide it anymore since things hade to this.
"This... How could this be?" Shengtu Tianyin¡¯s voice was full of disappointment and worry.
Xia Lei never witnessed this sort of reaction from her. This made his heart ache, but he needed to stay calm during times like this. He took in a breath of air and said, "Tianyin, tell me, if all of what I said came true, how serious would the consequences be?"
"If what you said came true, those things would destroy me. What would first be destroyed would be the Vientiane Group¡¯s stock value. If those negative news reports are released, we won¡¯t be able to uphold our stock price no matter how much cash reserve we have. If we sell our shares of thepany, the opposite party could quickly consume our stocks at a low cost. And then, me. I will be cast into doubt by the Board of Directors, then investigated... How did ite to this!" Shengtu Tianyin was showing signs of an emotional breakdown.
"Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care of the problem for you." That was all Xia Lei could say tofort her.
"Why is there music in the background? Where are you at?"
"A bar."
"You..."
"It¡¯s not what you think. I came to look for someone. He¡¯s..."
Beep beep, beep beep...
Shengtu Tianyin had already hung up before Xia Lei could finish what he had to say.
It did not feel good to be misunderstood by his wife. At this moment, Xia Lei felt heartbroken but he could understand Shengtu Tianyin. The Vientiane Group was more important to her than anything, and she must be feeling worse than anyone with something like this urring.
Just then, a few men in ck suits walked over, and blocked Xia Lei¡¯s path.
"Move!" Xia Lei was in a very bad mood. These people had not done anything yet, but they had already infuriated him.
The person with the walkie-talkie suddenly said loudly, "Isn¡¯t that Xia Lei? Shengtu Tianyin¡¯s husband, our country¡¯s Father of Rifles!"
Once those words were out, it immediately attracted the attention of many.
It was not known when the fighting in the metal cage had ended. The two female boxers with wounds all over their bodies also looked over at Xia Lei.
"Please wee our new member, our most precious guest, Mr ¡ª Xia ¡ª Lei!" The host deliberately elongated the sybles and used an exaggerated tone when calling out Xia Lei¡¯s name.
A few dancers suddenly came out of the group of people and surrounded Xia Lei. Some reached out to pull at Xia Lei¡¯s elbow, some just pressed against him, and some put their hands on his shoulder.
Some people with cameras started snapping shots of the chaotic scene before Xia Lei could push the dancers aside.
Click click click...
Cameras were shing nonstop.
Chapter 600 - None of his Goddamn Business
Sexy, alluring dancers, noisy spectators, people taking pictures, people eyeing each other with lust, and the stage lights... All these elements put together was like a multicolored whirlpool of hormones, sweeping Xia Lei into the heart of the abyss.
But in the middle of that whirlpool, Xia Lei had be unusually calm. He was full of anger earlier, but now he waspletely serene. Not only was he calm, but his thinking had be clear all of a sudden.
This ce was called Bright Moon Pce Club, and it was connected to Gu Kewen.
This was an old hideout of Gu Kewen¡¯s.
Some of the members here could also have connections to Gu Kewen. There could also be people like Gu Dinghai, who had bought arge number of shares from the Vientiane Group in the crowd of spectators.
¡°Really, what loose man! He married a wife like Shentu Tianyin and he¡¯s stilling out here to fool around,¡± said a woman in the crowd.
That sentence seemed to set off everybody else into letting out their ownints.
¡°Exactly! He has such a good woman like Shentu Tianyin but instead of cherishing her, he¡¯s actually running around womanising. I really don¡¯t know what¡¯s going through his mind,¡± said someone.
¡°The newspapers dress him up as some national hero, like he¡¯s as great as a god. So is this actually how he is? Was he living behind a mask?¡±
¡°How could Shentu Tianyin like such a man?¡±
A mix ofments flew about.
All of thements described Xia Lei negatively, painting him as rotten from head to toe.
Xia Lei¡¯s mood didn¡¯t change in the slightest despite all the mocking and ridicule. His gaze swept across their faces, remembering all who criticised him. His intuition told him that the more viciously they ndered him as worthless, the higher chance there was of them being in Gu Kewen¡¯s camp!
¡°He sure can hold it in. He hasn¡¯t even said a single word.¡±
¡°Is he keeping quiet?¡±
¡°What meaning is there for Shentu Tianyin to live together with that kind of man?¡±
¡°Right, is he taking some sweet things on the side?¡±
¡°Sweet things? Haha, great analogy. Shentu Tianyin might just cheat on him too if she saw these pictures, then he¡¯ll have sour things,¡± said a middle-aged man,ughing.
Xia Lei suddenly pushed a dancer away from him and snatched up a bottle of unopened beer from a table. His swung his arm, flinging it towards the middle-aged who had mocked him.
The beer bottle streaked straight through the air,ing to a stop when it smashed against the middle-aged man¡¯s forehead.
Bang! The beer bottle exploded against the middle aged man¡¯s forehead, and blood spurted. Blood mixed with beer trickled down his face. He copsed to the floor a secondter.
Xia Lei had been just a silent sheep a second ago but he had now be a vicious wolf.
The female dancers sticking to him didn¡¯t dare to get close anymore, and they scrambled away hurriedly.
All discussion stopped.
Violence wasn¡¯t a way to solve problems, but violence could sometimes be used as a final solution to destroy the problem itself.
Some of the club bodyguards came running over quickly. Xia Lei¡¯s attack on someone in their territory was considered an issuance of a challenge to them.
Xia Lei¡¯s lips curved into a faint sneer as he strode forward. He leapt forward, one foot out, and kicked the closest bodyguard ruthlessly, right in the chest. That bodyguard screamed as he was thrown back, knocking down several wine tables before his fall wasplete. However, he didn¡¯t crawl back up.
After both his feetnded on the ground, Xia Lei reached out to seize the fist of a another bodyguard which wasing his way. He pushed down with his left hand as he leaned to the side, and used his other elbow to strike the bodyguard¡¯s face. Blood spurted as the bodyguard¡¯s nose and teeth were broken. Xia Lei let go of his hand, then kicked him in the underbelly. The man slid several meters.
The remaining bodyguards then realised that the target they were supposed to beat up was out of their league. Fear struck their hearts at once, and they froze in their attack, standing still around him.
¡°What are you guys doing? Go!¡± The leader of the bodyguards, the one with the walkie-talkie, shouted angrily.
A young bodyguard of the club suddenly pulled out a knife. He gave a shout, and charged at Xia Lei.
¡°A knife now?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s lips curved into a small sneer.
The hot-headed young bodyguard let adrenaline ovee him as he dashed before Xia Lei to stab at his chest.
Xia Lei did not retreat. He stepped forward, dodging the de as he grabbed the young bodyguard¡¯s knife wielding wrist. He abruptly pushed down, and stabbed. The knife meant for him was now stuck in the young bodyguard¡¯s abdomen.
Xia Lei let go. The young club bodyguard curled up on the floor. Both his hands were wrapped around his abdomen as he howled. Blood gushed out of his abdomen, quickly forming a pool on the floor.
It was like a -70 degree gust of air had swept through the underground bar, freezing everything.
After a shortpse of silence, someone suddenly screamed, ¡°Ah!! Murder!¡±
¡°Call the police! The police! Hurry up and call the police!¡± somebody shouted.
Some people took out their phones to call the police.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t stop them from calling the police. He stared at the club bodyguard leader and said coldly, ¡°You still want to continue?¡±
Cold sweat ran down the club bodyguard leader¡¯s forehead, ¡°You, you... You dare to kill somebody here!¡±
¡°Just killing one person made you this scared? The number of people I¡¯ve already killed are in the three digits. Adding a few more to that number would be nothing,¡± said Xia Lei.
The club¡¯s lead bodyguard opened his mouth, speechless. All of his little subordinates next to him were pale. They were in this line of business and also had experience stabbing others, but in front of Xia Lei, they were just small fry.
¡°So you don¡¯t dare toe forward anymore, huh? If you¡¯re scared, then call your boss out. I want to meet him,¡± said Xia Lei.
At this moment, Gu Dinghai quietly pushed through the crowd, heading for the underground bar¡¯s exit.
¡°Mr Gu, we are not done talking and you want to leave?¡± Xia Lei said loudly.
Gu Dinghai shivered. His legs seemed like they were filled with lead, and he could not move anymore.
He could still talk with Xia Lei calmly about the stock market andws without any worries earlier because he believed that Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to him. But it was different now. Xia Lei was now like a bloodthirsty beast. Talking aboutws to a beast would be like telling it about business world rules ¡ª wouldn¡¯t it just be talking nonsense?
A group of people suddenly charged in through the underground bar¡¯s entrance. All of them held weapons. Some held baseball bats while others had steel rods and knives. Every one of them looked fierce and menacing.
A bald youth was their leader, and he shouted fiercely, ¡°Who¡¯s causing trouble here!¡±
The leader of the club¡¯s bodyguards sighed in relief when he saw the bald youth. He pointed at Xia Lei and said, ¡°Young Master Zheng, it¡¯s him!¡±
The bald youth strode angrily towards Xia Lei with an entourage of bodyguards behind him. They surrounded Xia Lei.
¡°You dare cause trouble at my ce, and even injure one of my men?¡± The man known as Young Master Zheng glowered at Xia Lei, and his eyes said that he wanted to rip Xia Lei apart.
But Xia Lei was very calm. ¡°So you¡¯re the owner of this ce? You don¡¯t look like it. It¡¯s probably your father, right? What¡¯s your name?¡±
This tone of his ¡ª even a docile rabbit would turn rabid if it heard that!
¡°Fuck!¡± The bald youth roared, ¡°Beat him to death!¡±
A bodyguard swung a baseball bats at Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Bang! A gunshot.
¡°Ah¡ª¡± A scream of pain echoed through the air as the bodyguard holding the baseball bat fell to the floor. He held his knee with both hands, and howled in pain while trembling uncontrobly.
Xia Lei took two steps forward and pressed the still-smoking gun against the bald youth¡¯s forehead.
Nobody spoke. The underground bar sunk into another strange silence.
It was a whole other level of seriousness now, with the appearance and firing of a gun.
¡°You... You...¡± The bald youth was no longer arrogant. He was trembling as he spoke. ¡°D, Don¡¯t do anything hasty.¡±
¡°I asked you your name earlier.¡±
¡°Zheng, Zheng Xu.¡±
¡°This club is your father¡¯s? What¡¯s your father¡¯s name?¡±
¡°Y, yes, his name is Zheng Xiangdong.¡±
Does your father know a woman called Gu Kewen?¡± Xia Lei pressed the gun lightly to Zheng Xu¡¯s head, pressuring him.
¡°My... father...¡± Zheng Xu mumbled.
Gu Dinghai kept blinking at Zheng Xu.
This didn¡¯t escape Xia Lei¡¯s notice. He did not need Zheng Xu to say any more, because he already knew the answer.
¡°Move aside!¡± Xia Lei shouted.
Zheng Xu trembled uncontrobly as he staggered back.
The group of club bodyguards around Zheng Xu also backed away in panic.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze swept over each and every one of their faces before he said loudly, ¡°I know that there are people here who are connected to Gu Kewen and are doing things for her. I don¡¯t know what benefits she has promised you all or what ckmail she has against you, but what I want to tell you all is that she hasmitted the crime of treason. If she turns up here, I will shoot her, no questions asked. Some of you guys must have lived too many good days and are tired of living. No problem, just continue mingling with her, and sooner orter, you all can be taken to the grave with her!¡±
No one spoke, and no one dared to provoke Xia Lei again.
The crowd¡¯s silence and fear was precisely the effect Xia Lei wanted from his show of violence. He had stabbed someone and brought out his gun precisely to show his power, to let all of these people helping Gu Kewen see his way of doing things!
Amongst the people present, Gu Dinghai¡¯s mood was evidently the mostplex. He stared at Xia Lei, his eyes filled with hatred but also a trace of powerlessness.
Gu Dingshan was his brother. He had reason enough to hate Xia Lei because of this. However, what could he do against Xia Lei?
Right then, a group of police officers suddenly charged into the underground bar.
¡°Put your gun down!¡± The leading officer had sharp eyes and saw the gun in Xia Lei¡¯s hands immediately when he came in.
Xia Lei ced the gun on the floor as he said, ¡°Calm down. I¡¯m carrying out official business.¡±
¡°Carrying out official business? What official business?¡± The police officer asked as he gestured to his subordinates to surround Xia Lei, preparing to arrest him.
Zheng Xu¡¯s lips curved into a faint sneer. ¡°You stabbed someone and brought out a gun. What kind of result did you think you could get?¡±
Xia Lei said nothing.
One of the police officers suddenly said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Right! The Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Xia Lei!¡± His colleague also recognised him and spoke excitedly.
¡°Shit...¡± The leading police officer then realised it, and a smile immediately filled his face. ¡°Aha, so it was actually Mr Xia! Do you need any help?¡±
Zheng Xu¡¯s smile froze.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine, everything¡¯s already over. Officer, take these people back for interrogation and see if they¡¯re one of the criminals on the wanted list. Also, I¡¯ll have to trouble you to call an ambnce and send these two criminals to be treated.¡±
¡°Absolutely, no problem at all. What are you guys still standing there for? Do what he said!¡± barked the leading police officer.
¡°All right, well, I¡¯ll be leaving now, Officer,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem, no problem. Take care, Mr Xia! Oh, right, your gun, please keep it.¡± The leading police officer picked up Xia Lei¡¯s gun from the ground and handed it to Xia Lei with both hands.
¡°Thanks, bye.¡± Xia Lei turned and left.
The crowd stared as he left, like it was none of his goddamn business.
The psychological blow given to the people of the underground bar had already be too great to estimate.
Chapter 601 - Chives
Xia Lei walked out of Bright Moon Pce Club and took out his phone to give Long Bing a call. ¡°Bing, something came up. I might not be able to go over.¡±
¡°What happened?¡± Long Bing asked, deep concern in her voice.
¡°I¡¯m certain that Gu Kewen is still alive, and she¡¯s most likely the mastermind behind the attack on Vientiane Group¡¯s shares. She¡¯s just released a few pieces of information to the media, and it¡¯s going to cause Tianyi a great deal of trouble. I need to be by her side for this period of time,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing was quiet for a bit before saying, ¡°That¡¯s fine. You¡¯re right, she needs you by her side right now. Though, I don¡¯t think it would be a bad idea to let your wife struggle a little on her own. She was born with a golden spoon in her mouth and has never faced any setbacks. If this incident could deal a blow to her pride and ambition, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing for you.¡±
¡°Mhm, then I¡¯m going.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
He didn¡¯t tell Long Bing what had happened inside the club because he knew that Long Bing would regard it as something trivial. In truth, that was what Xia Lei thought too. Since it was the other party who attacked first, he could say he retaliated in self-defense. Moreover, as a consultant of Bureau 101, who would investigate him if he raised a knife or a gun at his attackers? He could get away scot-free even if he had killed, much less injured, the two of them.
After a long drive, Xia Lei arrived at the Angel Wings Building, the headquarters of the Vientiane Group in Jingdu.
When he found Shentu Tianyin, she had just finished presiding over a board meeting. He saw several other members of the Shentu n with her, as well as a handful of unfamiliar ones. They all had grave expressions on their faces.
Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei¡¯s eyes met, and she began to walk towards him. ¡°Come with me to my office.¡± Xia Lei nodded and followed her. Once they were inside, she closed the door and wordlessly handed him her phone.
A picture was disyed on the screen. In the picture, several bikini-d dancer girls were clinging to his body. Some had their arms draped over his shoulders while others were hugging his arms and pressing their plump breasts against him. A few were even grabbing his buttocks with their hands, and some had their legs wrapped around his waist. It was a terribly obscene picture.
Xia Lei forced a wry smile. ¡°I can exin, I was there to...¡±
Shentu Tianyin cut him off. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear your exnations. I want the conclusion.¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to exin it whether you want to hear it or not.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°That ce is called the Bright Moon Pce Club. It¡¯s Gu Kewen¡¯s territory. I received information that a man named Gu Dinghai owns two percent of yourpany¡¯s shares. This Gu Dinghai is Gu Dingshan¡¯s elder cousin; in other words, he¡¯s Gu Kewen¡¯s uncle. I had a suspicion that I¡¯ll find otherrge shareholders of yourpany there. I was there to help you, not y around with other women.¡±
Shentu Tianyin hesitated. She didn¡¯t dare to meet his eyes, but she did soften. ¡°Hubby, I¡¯m sorry...¡±
Xia Lei took her into his arms andforted her. ¡°It¡¯s all right, I understand. It¡¯s impossible for anyone to live apletely smooth-sailing life. What we¡¯re going through right now is nothing. I will stay by your side and help you solve the problem.¡±
¡°Gu Kewen, that bitch. I wish I could kill her!¡± Xia Lei was very surprised to hear these wordse out of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mouth.
¡°I¡¯m searching for her. When I find her whereabouts, I¡¯ll definitely kill her for you,¡± he saidfortingly, patting her shoulder.
¡°Some media outlets have already begun to report on the coboration deals I made with Gu Kewen in the past. The stock price of the Vientiane Group is falling fast, and this is just the beginning. Even if you kill her, it wouldn¡¯t do anything to help the situation.¡± Shentu Tianyin appeared both physically and mentally tired.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something. ¡°Tianyin, how much of the Vientiane Group¡¯s shares do you still hold?¡±
¡°Twenty-five percent.¡±
¡°Only twenty-five percent?¡± he asked in shock.
She smiled bitterly. ¡°The stock market keeps falling, so I have to avoid risks. That¡¯s what all of the other publicpanies are doing now. When the state of the stock market is like this, everyone reduces their amount of shares to avoid risks, then they buy the shares back at the floor price. Entry and exit, it¡¯s all hard cash.¡±
¡°Companies get listed so they can enter the cirction of money. It seems that this statement is true,¡± Xia Lei said somewhat helplessly.
When the stock market was in good shape and stock prices were soaring, the owners and shareholders of said publicpanies would not sell their shares. They would wait until the price and profits were at a certain level before selling. Following their decision, they would spread favorable news to entice individual investors to take the offer. After the individual investors bought the shares, the shareholders would proceed to spread unfavorable news about the stocks, causing panic and a drop in the stock prices. The individual investors would then panic, and sell their shares one after another. When that happened, the owners of the listedpanies and the shareholders, as well as the insiders could wait for the stock to hit a low before they bought it up again.
Arge sum of hard cash would go straight into the shareholders¡¯ pockets with this in and out of money. The poor individual investors were like chives, being cut up into pieces and served.
Shentu Tianyi sighed. ¡°This is the way of capital survival. Everyone does it. In a sense, I¡¯m still doing okay. Some board chairmen of other publicpanies hold less than ten percent of their ownpany¡¯s shares. If it weren¡¯t for this cirction of money, who would list theirpanies publicly?¡±
¡°Tianyin, tell me, how much of the shares did you own before you sold them?¡±
¡°Fifty-one percent. I control the most. My father once gave a total of ten percent to some other members of the family, so the Vientiane Group is truly a family-heldpany. However, they don¡¯t have many shares left now. Like me, they all want to avoid risks, and buy back their shares when the prices are low.¡±
¡°Then is it possible to buy them back now?¡± he asked. ¡°You just said so yourself. Because of the dip in the stock market right now, the Vientiane Group¡¯s stock prices have been dropping.¡±
¡°I¡¯m buying them now, but so is the opposing side. Right now, we¡¯repeting with our speed and capital reserves,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°If you don¡¯t have enough money on your side, you can ask me.¡±
¡°I helped you manage the Thunder Horse Group for some time, so I¡¯m well aware of how much money is in your ount. A billion-something yuan won¡¯t be enough,¡± she said.
The Vientiane Group had a market value of 100 billion yuan; adding in another one billion yuan would not cause even a ripple.
¡°Then what can I do for you?¡±
¡°You can just help me deal with Gu Kewen. I¡¯ll deal with the situation with the stock market myself.¡±
¡°All right then, I¡¯ll try to find out where she¡¯s hiding as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Sorry, Hubby. Just now, I...¡± Shentu Tianyin trailed off.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°There¡¯s bound to be some misunderstandings between couples. I understand how you feel, so don¡¯t dwell on it anymore.¡±
¡°Hubby, if Gu Kewen submits the evidence she found to the Prosecutor General¡¯s Office, what... what should I do then?¡± There was a stone weighing down her heart, crushing her, making her feel nervous, and suffocating her.
Xia Lei thought for a moment before saying, ¡°If that happens, then I¡¯ll beg the higher-ups for mercy. I¡¯ve done a lot for them, so they should agree to help out a bit.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to be put in prison, not even for a day.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t. I¡¯ll make sure of that.¡±
¡°But, the evidence... They can send me to prison!¡± Shentu Tianyin was on the verge of a breakdown.
Xia Lei held her as heforted her in silence.
The human heart was a very strange thing. When Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ambition was high, the Vientiane Group had expanded rapidly under her rule. The fall of the Gu n had given her a once-in-a-lifetime chance and she obtained more than 300 billion yuan in assets during that period of time, adding them to the Vientiane Company, which practically gave them a pair of wings. It allowed the Vientiane Company to rhetorically take cities and seize territory in the market, but now, the same assets from the Gu n had be burning coals, and Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t throw them away!
If she had done business honestly and earned money legitimately, it would¡¯ve taken her at least 30 years to bring it to this apex. By then, she would already be in her fifties. If she wanted to take the Vientiane Group to the same heights of Apple or Microsoft, it would take hundreds of years while being only theoretically possible. She simply couldn¡¯t wait that long, so she had taken shortcuts.
In reality, how many capitalists today weren¡¯t taking these ¡°shortcuts¡± to get rich? How many were truly clean? The majority took from the people and the country, and made that money their own. These people all seemed good on the surface, but how many of them could truly sleep peacefully at night?
Ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang suddenly. It was Shi Boren calling.
¡°You rascal!¡± Shi Boren immediately roared, ¡°Get over here immediately!¡±
¡°What happened, Boss Shi?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t want to go. ¡°Right now, I¡¯m...¡±
¡°You, what? Your wife¡¯s in trouble, isn¡¯t she? I¡¯m telling you to get over here so I can tell you something about your wife, soe here, or you¡¯ll regret it!¡± Shi Boren hung up right after.
Xia Lei put away his phone. ¡°I have to go back to Bureau 101. Boss Shi is looking for me.¡±
¡°What does he need you for?¡±
¡°He said it¡¯s something about you, but he didn¡¯t give any specifics. I¡¯ll know when I get there.¡±
Xia Lei said it casually, but Shentu Tianyin suddenly paled. ¡°Oh no. The higher-ups must be investigating me now... What should I do? What should I do?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure that Boss Shi is on our side. He must have heard something and wanted to share the details with me. I¡¯ll let you know as soon as I find out.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll wait for your call.¡± She reached out and fixed his belt. ¡°Go, and be careful on the road.¡±
¡°Mhm, I¡¯m leaving now.¡± He left her office.
Out in the corridor, arge group of people from the Shentu n was engaged in discussion. They shut their mouths when they saw Xia Lei walk out of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s office. They looked like him like he was a stranger; they had never been family. In fact, they had never wanted to let him into the Shentu n from the start, back when he and Shentu Tianyin had started dating.
Xia Lei could not be bothered with them, and he continued on without greeting anyone in the group.
¡°Tsk, what¡¯s he throwing that arrogance around for? Acting as if he¡¯s the savior of the world or something.¡±
¡°Right? I¡¯ve never liked him. If Tianyin had listened to me, would we be in this predicament today?¡±
¡°I agree. If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t caused Gu Dingshan¡¯s death, then Tianyin¡¯s husband right now would probably be Gu Kewu. Would family members harm each other?¡±
It seemed like they had also heard a few things about Gu Kewen.
A wry smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face as he quickened his pace.
Chapter 602 - Mess
Bureau 101, Shi Boren¡¯s office.
"You brat, did you really get into an all-out fight at Bright Moon Pce Club?" Shi Boren started to scold Xia Lei as soon as he walked in. "Is it really worth it for a woman?"
"It¡¯s worth it, because she¡¯s my wife," said Xia Lei.
Shi Boren pointed at Xia Lei, frustrated at him for not living up to expectations. "You! I wanted to match you up with Yuyan in the past. If you were together with Yuyan, you might have a bunch of kids all calling you Daddy now."
Xia Lei was speechless.
"Look at what kind of woman you¡¯ve married now. She¡¯s way too audacious!"
Xia Lei tried to probe for more information. "Boss Shi, did you hear some sort of news?"
Shi Boren red at Xia Lei. "Shut the door."
Xia Lei closed the office door before walking back to Shi Boren¡¯s side.
Shi Boren sighed. "I heard some news from the prosecutor¡¯s office. Somebody reported Shentu Tianyin for embezzling national assets, and bribery."
"Then... Do they have evidence?"
"Of course. Who would dare to talk make usations if there wasn¡¯t? The one who gave me the news used to work for me. The info is legitimate. He said that once preparations wereplete, they will arrest Shentu Tianyin."
"Huh?" Xia Lei grew panicked. "They¡¯re really going to arrest her?"
"What, you think our country¡¯sws are just for show? If she had just stolen several millions, or even tens of millions, it could still be swept under the carpet. However, she embezzled almost 30,000,000,000 in national assets. Such a huge sum has rarely been seen, even from the founding of our country till now. Who can cover up such a big thing?" said Shi Boren.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was aplete mess.
"I¡¯m warning you, don¡¯t interfere. I know you and Shentu Tianyin are married but your individual assets are separate and you two both run your own businesses independently. What she did has nothing to do with you."
Xia Leiughed dryly. "She¡¯s my wife, how can I stay indifferent when something¡¯s happened to her?"
Shi Boren spoke gravely, "You can¡¯t do anything even if you wanted to. Right now the country is under high pressure and is especially strict towards cases of corruption. Can you really bear the burden of such a huge case? It¡¯ll crush you to death!"
"Boss Shi, please look at the contributions I¡¯ve made to our country. It should be enough to help Tianyin, right? After all, she¡¯s my wife. If she¡¯s imprisoned, then there won¡¯t be any meaning to whatever I do," said Xia Lei.
Shi Boren red at Xia Lei. "You brat. Are you trying to say that you won¡¯t work here anymore if the higher-ups arrest your wife and put her in prison?"
"When did I say that?" Xia Lei¡¯s voice was small. "I was referring to the Alloy X Project. Oh, and the artillery and defense system technologies I brought back from Rheinmetall AG."
"Wait! What did you say?" Shi Boren¡¯s eyes suddenly widened.
"Ahem." Xia Lei cleared his throat before continuing, "I¡¯m talking about Rheinmetall AG¡¯s artillery and defense system technology, their armored cars, their tanks and so on. I stayed there for three months and those three months weren¡¯t for nothing."
Shi Boren heard him clearly this time, but was still stunned for quite some time before he said, "So you mean that as long as you want to, you can produce Rheinmetall AG¡¯s artillery and defense systems?"
"And their armored cars and tanks,¡± added Xia Lei.
"What about the performance?"
"Better than Rheinmetall AG, of course. I studied the intelligentthe in Germany back then and produced an even more advanced one after I returned to China, didn¡¯t I? Oh, right, and I also used it in exchange for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine production line. Shouldn¡¯t such big contributions be enough to guarantee my wife¡¯s safety?" said Xia Lei rather shamelessly.
He was even willing to be a scoundrel if it could help Shentu Tianyin.
"This is this, that is that. Don¡¯t mix the two of them up."
"Then can you help me, and speak on my behalf?"
"Boy..." Shi Boren seemed to have reached his wits end with Xia Lei. "All right, I¡¯ll talk with the higher-ups. I¡¯ll tell them what you said just now, but I can¡¯t intervene with their final decision. Go home first, and wait for my news."
"All right then, I¡¯ll be going now." Xia Lei turned to leave.
"Wait a moment." Shi Boren suddenly called Xia Lei to a stop. "Can you really make a more advanced model of Rheinmetall AG¡¯s artillery and defense systems?"
Xia Lei shrugged. "Of course. Would I joke around about such with you, Boss Shi?"
"I¡¯m just worried that you won¡¯t be able to do as you im after I go talk to the higher-ups. We won¡¯t have any way to ount for it, then," said Shi Boren.
Xia Leiughed. "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Shi. I can¡¯t give you a guarantee for other things, but when ites to producing and improving firearms, I can even bet my head on it. There¡¯s nothing I can¡¯t make."
"Good! I was waiting for you to say that, Boy." Shi Boren waved his hand. "Now scram, go."
Xia Lei left Shi Boren¡¯s office.The results were not out yet, but he could already rx a little in advance. He was quite certain about this. Could 30,000,000,000 buy Rheinmetall AG¡¯s artillery and defense technology? There was the German armoured vehicle and tank technology too. He believed that as long as Shi Boren told the higher-ups this, they would definitely be tempted and make a decision.
For the country¡¯s benefit, there was nothing that could be pardoned. However, there was also nothing that could not be pardoned. The key word here was ¡¯benefit¡¯, and the benefit he gave them could tempt anybody.
Tang Yuyan appeared at the end of the corridor. She leaned against the wall as she stared at Xia Lei. It seemed she wasn¡¯t passing through, but waiting for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei braced himself and walked over with a greeting, "Yuyan, what are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you," said Tang Yuyan evenly.
"Did you need me for something?" said Xia Lei.
"Let¡¯s talk," said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei hesitated, but still nodded. "Where do you want to go?"
"Let¡¯s go to my office." Tang Yuyan led the way.
After entering Tang Yuyan¡¯s office, Xia Lei didn¡¯t take a seat but asked, "What did you want to discuss?"
"What? You don¡¯t even want to sit down in my office? You can fall asleep on Ling Bing¡¯s sofa in her office like it¡¯s your own home." Tang Yuyan seemed discontent.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. "You know what I¡¯m involved in right now. I¡¯m not in the mood to chat meaninglessly with you, so I¡¯m leaving if you don¡¯t have anything important to say."
"It¡¯s about Shentu Tianyin," said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was about to leave but he stopped in his tracks. "Do you know something?"
"I¡¯ve got some inside news," said Tang Yuyan. "Our Tang Sect has many people in the government and some in the prosecutor¡¯s office. I can tell you with certainty that what I know is definitely more than my godfather."
"Then hurry up and tell me, what¡¯s your inside news?" Xia Lei was a little anxious.
Tang Yuyan plopped herself down on the sofa and adjusted the ck skirt, folding it around her knees before crossing her legs. "I¡¯m thirsty."
¡®Then die of thirst!¡¯ thought Xia Lei, but he wore a ttering smile on the outside. "I¡¯ll get you a cup of water."
Xia Lei went to fetch Tang Yuyan a ss of water and he served it to her with both hands. "Miss Tang, please have some water."
Tang Yuyan giggled. "All right, all right, take a seat. You poured me this cup of water, so I¡¯ll tell you the inside scoop." Before Xia Lei could sit, she suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him down to sit beside her.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s lovely hips were right next to his hip, and they were practically touching with less than a tenth of a centimetre between them. Her ck-stockinged legs were right in front of him, smooth and delicate, a sight too wonderful for words. However, he was currently in no mood to be admiring Tang Yuyan¡¯s sexiness. There was only Shentu Tianyin and her troubles in his mind.
"Are Shentu Tianyin¡¯s legs as beautiful as mine?" Tang Yuyan cocked her head at Xia Lei, and a corner of her lips was curled into an alluring, fox-like smile.
Whose legs were more beautiful, Tang Yuyan¡¯s or Shentu Tianyin¡¯s? He had seen both their legs but Xia Lei had no answer for that question. Moreover, what was Tang Yuyan trying to do by suddenly changing the topic to legs?
Tang Yuyan¡¯s left hand slid gently up her left leg. Her delicate, snow-white hand made a rustling sound as it brushed up against her stockings. She straightened out her leg as she did this, showing off its perfection. It was slender and straight, both full and flexible. The length of her legs took up two thirds of her entire bodylength and could truly be described as perfect.
What the inte described vulgarly as ¡¯legs that could be yed with for a year¡¯ were precisely these legs.
As a woman who also practised martial arts, Tang Yuyan¡¯s legs were actuallyparable to Liang Siyao¡¯s.
However, Xia Lei was in no mood to appreciate her beautiful legs. He gave her an awkwardugh as he forced himself to pander to Tang Yuyan. "Ahem, Miss Tang, what about the inside scoop you promised me?"
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. "So you would even be nice to me like this in order to help clean up after Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mess. Where did that domineering aura from when you pointed a gun at yourself to help me escape go?"
What she was concerned about was all mixed up. Xia Lei¡¯s lips moved but he did not know what to say.
"I can remember that scene every time I close my eyes, but what can you think of now, other than Shentu Tianyin¡¯s stupid thing?" said Tang Yuyan.
This made Xia Lei angry, and he had already been anxious to start with. He didn¡¯t know what overcame him as he suddenly pped Tang Yuyan¡¯s ck-stockinged thigh. His voice was savage as he said, "Enough. Stop talking nonsense and say it!"
Tang Yuyan paused for a bit, thenughed. "Now this is the Xia Lei I know. Shentu Tianyin tamed you. Broke you. I¡¯ve straightened you out again."
Xia Lei was speechless.
"Okay, okay, I¡¯ll stop teasing you. The one who gave me the news was my uncle. He has a pretty high position in the prosecutor¡¯s office. He said that they had a closed door meeting specially about Shentu Tianyin. Because of how much money was involved, they¡¯ve already reported it to the higher-ups and signed an arrest warrant for Shentu Tianyin. All they¡¯re waiting for is the word from the higher-ups."
"They¡¯ve signed an arrest warrant for Shentu Tianyin just based on one phone call report? Isn¡¯t this too negligent?"
"They definitely had ample evidence, otherwise an arrest warrant wouldn¡¯t have been signed. Shentu Tianyin isn¡¯t some ordinary woman either and has arge influence in the country. She also has you, the Father of Rifles, for a husband. Think about it. How could they arrest her without conclusive evidence?"
Chapter 603 - Confused Feelings
Xia Lei became silent.
On one side was the stock market battle, and on the other side was the dogged pursuit of the prosecutor¡¯s office; they had even signed the arrest warrant. Who would lead Vientiane Group if Shentu Tianyin was really arrested? Who would buy back shares of the Vientiane Group for her, and return it to the 51% absolute majority like before?
If Shentu Tianyin was arrested, Xia Lei would like to manage Vientiane Group for her in her stead, but that was not feasible. The Vientiane Group and the Thunder Horse Group were different. The Thunder Horse Group didn¡¯t have any stocks, and Xia Lei could decide everything. This was why Shentu Tianyin was able to manage his business for him while he was away in Germany. But in the same situation, he couldn¡¯t enter and help manage the Vientiane Group for Shentu Tianyin, because even if he ignored the profit-seeking stock holders, the Shentu n would not agree to it!
"My uncle said that they would wait 48 hours. After 48 hours, they will start the process of arresting Shentu Tianyin even if the higher-ups didn¡¯t give them definitive orders. I know that you came to see Boss Shi about pleading leniency for Shentu Tianyin, but what I want to tell you is this ¡ª You¡¯d best not get involved in this and be careful or you might be dragged in." Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes were filled with worry.
"She¡¯s my wife, so how can I abandon her now that she¡¯s in trouble?" Xia Lei stood and said, "Thank you for telling me this. Isn¡¯t there still 48 hours left? There¡¯s still leeway for change and I¡¯ll try my best. If there is no other way, then I¡¯ll.."
Tang Yuyan stared at Xia Lei. "If there¡¯s no other way, then you¡¯ll what?"
"Nothing. I¡¯m going." Xia Lei didn¡¯t say it and got ready to leave.
"Wait." Tang Yuyan suddenly reached out and grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand. "Shentu Tianyin is a very intelligent woman. There are many intelligent women who like you but she was the only one who became your wife. This exins something"
Xia Lei smiled wryly. "What are you trying to say?"
Tang Yuyan pouted. "What I¡¯m trying to say is that she knows what she wants. She knew what she wanted from the beginning. But you. You don¡¯t know what you want. You¡¯re such a fool sometimes."
Xia Lei actually had a feeling like this before. He really was a fool sometimes when it came to feelings.
"I dare bet that Shentu Tianyin actually had a way to settle this problem long ago, and that her n is in motion now. You just don¡¯t know about it."
"I don¡¯t believe it," said Xia Lei.
"All right, you won¡¯t listen no matter what I say. I¡¯ll just say this: be careful, and don¡¯t get thrown into a trap. You can leave now. I don¡¯t have anything else to say." Tang Yuyan let go of Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Xia Lei looked at Tang Yuyan. He said nothing, but turned and left.
He didn¡¯t know why but his mood was terrible. He couldn¡¯t get Tang Yuyan¡¯s words out of his head.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know where to go when he drove out of Bureau 101¡¯s headquarters. The Chevrolet Suburban sped through the streets, and the tall buildings on either side of the vehicle were like a forest. He was slowly getting lost in the middle of this forest of steel and concrete.
Xia Lei only drove back to Leiyin Home when it was the end of the workday.
Fu Mingmei was at the door. "Son inw, Tianyin¡¯s hiding in her room, crying. I can¡¯t calm her down, you go."
"I¡¯ll be right there," said Xia Lei.
"Son-inw, Tianyin has never been hit by such a big blow. You have to support her. Apart from you, nobody can help her," said Fu Mingmei.
Xia Lei opened the door and saw Shentu Ren reading a newspaper on the sofa. He greeted him, "Father."
"Lei,e here." Shentu Ren beckoned Xia Lei over.
Xia Lei walked over.
Shentu Ren spoke again, "Mingmei, please leave the room. I need to talk with our Son-inw."
"Nn." Fu Mingmei made a sound of acknowledgement and went out the door.
After Fu Mingmei left, Shentu Ren said, "Lei, this time... Tianyin is in big trouble this time. If Tianyin can¡¯t make it through this, then she¡¯s done for. The entire Shentu n will be done for. It¡¯s all my fault for spoiling her and allowing her to be too arrogant.¡±
"She also did it for Vientiane Group. In fact, I can understand her. She¡¯s very intelligent and ambitious, but shecks patience," said Xia Lei.
Shentu Ren sighed. "I spent several decades building Vientiane Group up, and she only needed a few years to expand the Vientiane Group to almost twice of what it was. She was too impatient for results. This is a business after all. Many of those Western family-ownedpanies took centuries to reach where they are today, but she wanted to use, what, a decade to do what it took several decades or even centuries for otherpanies to do? It¡¯s like the case when a car will flip itself over if it drives too fast, much less an entire family business. It¡¯s not that I haven¡¯t told her these things before, but she just won¡¯t listen. How could this have happened otherwise?"
"Father, it¡¯s already happened. There¡¯s no use in reprimanding her. It¡¯s better for us to think of a way to fix this."
"I can¡¯t think of any way to fix it." Tears misted in Shentu Ren¡¯s aged eyes. "That¡¯s billions in national assets. A case like this would definitely result in a deferred death sentence at the very least, and could have a punishment as heavy as having her head.¡±
Xia Lei held Shentu Ren¡¯s hand in his. "Father, don¡¯t fret anymore. You still have me, don¡¯t you? I know some people, and I also contributed a lot to this country. I already sent them a plea for leniency, and I¡¯m just waiting to hear back from them now. I believe the higher-ups will definitely take my contributions into consideration and treat this case leniently."
"Treat leniently? Then wouldn¡¯t that still be a prison sentence?"
"I... I¡¯ll fight my hardest to not let Tianyin be put in prison."
"Ay!" Shentu Ren gave a long sigh. "Back then, when I knew that Tianyin had taken the Gu n¡¯s remaining assets, I should¡¯ve had her resell them. But I didn¡¯t, because I knew that many people were doing the same. It was rare for something to happen and the probability was low. If somebody must be med, I should be med for gambling on luck. This disaster was brought on by greed."
Xia Lei had also tried to persuade Shentu Tianyin against it but she just didn¡¯t listen. In fact, she also said that she wasn¡¯t the only one embezzling national assets and that many people were doing it. The few that were caught were just very unlucky. Truthfully, if it wasn¡¯t for Gu Kewen, she wouldn¡¯t have any trouble. Although there was some risk, the return was huge. This was why she still did it even though she was fully aware of the risk.
"Why don¡¯t you go talk to her." Shentu Ren¡¯s voice was choked up. "If Tianyin... if something happens to Tianyin, I, I won¡¯t be able to live."
"Father, don¡¯t think like that. Just leave everything to me. Take a good rest. I¡¯ll go see Tianyin." Xia Leiforted Shentu Ren before getting up to leave.
Inside the room, Shentu Tianyin was sitting nkly on the bed. Tears fell silently from the corners of her eyes. She didn¡¯t seem to have noticed Xia Lei entering as she sat there,pletely motionless.
Xia Lei walked over and sat beside her. "Tianyin, I¡¯m back."
Shentu Tianyin came back to her senses. She moved her eyes to look at Xia Lei and suddenly let out a cry as she jumped into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, wailing.
Xia Lei held her gently and said in a gentle voice, "Don¡¯t cry. The Shentu Tianyin I know isn¡¯t a woman who cries."
Shentu Tianyin lifted her head from Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. "Do you want to take a bath? Let me run the water."
Xia Lei paused. "I don¡¯t want to bathe. Let¡¯s chat for a bit."
Shentu Tianyin nodded. "Nn. Did you get any news from your side?"
"I talked with Boss Shi and he said that he¡¯ll help speak for me. Don¡¯t worry, even in the worst case scenario, you won¡¯t die. There are ups and downs in life. Get through this hurdle and you¡¯ll be all right,¡± said Xia Leifortingly.
"Is that what Boss Shi said?"
"Yes. I told him that if you aren¡¯t treated leniently, I won¡¯t produce anymore firearms, artillery, or do anything to help them. I¡¯m very useful to them and there are many things which only I can do for them, so they will take me into consideration and treat your case with leniency no matter what," said Xia Lei.
He mentioned his worth in the military field and his value in Bureau 101, but didn¡¯t say anything about the Alloy X Project. This was, in fact, his greatest value to them. If the ancient alloy and AE¡¯s secret could be unravelled, it would be of enormous strategic worth to the country!
"Treated leniently would still mean that I am being punished, wouldn¡¯t it? Hubby, I¡¯d rather die than go to prison," said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei sighed to himself. She definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to endure being imprisoned with her pride. But this crime was so big. If it had been somebody else, that somebody would probably have been arrested long ago, and it would either be the death penalty or the deferred death penalty, with no third choice in court. In fact, it was already rather difficult for him to have gotten Shi Boren to speak on his behalf. He wouldn¡¯t have known what to do if Shi Boren wanted more.
But a person¡¯s dignity could not be sold once, then twice, then over and over again or it wouldn¡¯t be dignity anymore, but shamelessness. So for Xia Lei, this was a very thorny problem because he didn¡¯t hold the initiative in this situation. Moreover, he had worked desperately hard to establish a good reputation in preparation for his father, to smoothen things outter. He just didn¡¯t expect that all of his merits and his value would be used like this now.
However, Xia Lei had noints. To him, Shentu Tianyin, Xia Changhe and Xia Xue were the same; they were all his family.
After a bit of silence, Xia Lei said, "Tianyin, I don¡¯t want you to go to prison either. I¡¯m willing to go to prison for you, but... we¡¯re both just ordinary people, and there are things you just can¡¯t make happen with money. If, and I¡¯m saying IF the higher-ups sentence you to two or three years in prison, would you be willing to ept it?"
"No! I would rather die than go to prison. Never mind two or three years, even two or three months would be impossible. Hubby, the country values you very much with the contributions you¡¯ve brought to them. They need you. I don¡¯t believe that they would arrest me and sentence me." Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes were teary, but the look in them was determined, and confident.
For some reason, Xia Lei suddenly felt that the woman before him had be a bit of a stranger. It was a very strange feeling.
"Hubby, let¡¯s go to bed. I still have to grapple with the stock market tomorrow, so let¡¯s sleep earlier." Shentu Tianyin seemed very tired.
Xia Lei nodded subconsciously, but he knew that neither he nor Shentu Tianyin would be able to sleep tonight.
Chapter 604 - Unstable Situation
Xia Lei went with Shentu Tianyin to Angel Wings Building early the next morning.
Shentu Tianyin had called for a board meeting toy out the battle n for the stock market after 0930 hrs. Xia Lei entered the meeting room too, just to listen in.
¡°At yesterday¡¯s close, the market has fallen by 2880 points. The various media outlets are also stirring up negative news about me, and spreading it. This, of course, will lead to individual shareholders andrge ount holders to dump the Vientaine Group stock that they have on hand. This is our chance to buy in. We will be buying stock, and the other party will be buying stock too. We will not lose to our opponent in terms of speed and capital, so we are sure to win this battle!¡± Shentu Tianyin was quite a force as the person presiding over the meeting.
¡°That¡¯s right. The other party spread bad news in order to eat up our shares when the price dropped. This reduction in cost to the other party is also beneficial to us. If the market situation is good, the ount holders would all just wait for the price to rise, and won¡¯t sell their stock,¡± said a shareholder.
¡°But if the other party changes the bad news to good news, even the individual ount holders would join in the buying. What should we do then?¡± Another shareholder raised an objection.
¡°That won¡¯t happen. No one would want to lose money. That person¡¯s aim is to take control of Vientaine Group. He wants to eat up at least 50% of the shares, so he won¡¯t be so stupid as to increase the price of the shares. If that happens, he will have to spend several times what he is spending now to meet that goal. Remember, I said that there is a chance, not that it is definite,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Yep, yep, you¡¯re right, Tianyin. Who would want to lose money in this world? Besides, the shareholders won¡¯t sell anymore if the prices go up. How would he be able to eat up our Vientaine Group shares then?¡± said one of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s uncles.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mouth. ¡°From what I see of that person¡¯s methods, she does not hold as much capital as we believe. ording to my investigations, she currently has about 15% of the stocks, and this amount is scattered across several ounts. Gathering these ounts would take some time, and I won¡¯t give her this time.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right! How dare they move dirt on our heads! We will short our stocks once our stock reserves crosses the safety line. That person will bleed money!¡± A shareholder was stirred up by Shentu Tianyin¡¯s words.
The meeting room buzzed with discussion, and there was not much pressure.
The atmosphere in the room, plus Shentu Tianyin¡¯s calm confidence puzzled Xia Lei. ¡®The procuratorate has issued a warrant for arrest, and could turn up in front of her at any time. How can she still be so calmly and confidentlyying out her n right now? Where is her confidenceing from?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°Chairman, if someonees to investigate...¡± The shareholder left his sentence hanging.
¡°I understand what you¡¯re worried about, and I can confidently tell you that I will be your Chairperson today, tomorrow, next year, and in ten years,¡± said Shentu Tianyin softly. She scoffed. ¡°Investigation? I¡¯m waiting for it. If the investigation takes ce, our stock prices will keep falling, and we will buy up as much as our funds allow. Once the danger has passed, I wille forward to rify the situation and release good news. I estimate that the market will be up by ten upper limit points. When that happens, we will have control of at least half the stocks of Vientaine Group!¡±
Apuse rang out in the meeting room. No one raised any doubts about Shentu Tianyin¡¯s position anymore, and no one doubted her capability to lead.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang all of a sudden.
¡°Excuse me. I¡¯ll go out to take this call.¡± Xia Lei nced at the screen, and headed to the door.
Shentu Tianyin nced at him, and went on to give her instructions. ¡°Let¡¯s get to work now. Send instructions down to the Vientaine Group securitiespany. All the traders will be moving just one stock today, and that will be our Vientaine Group stock.¡±
Vientaine Group was going at full throttle, not just eating up their own stocks on the stock market, but also off the market, acquiring the shares of those big ount holders through other channels. It was a two-pronged approach, attacking and defending at the same time!
Out in the corridor outside the meeting room, Xia Lei unlocked his screen and answered the call. ¡°Any result, Boss Shi?¡±
Sho Boren¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°Yeah, we found something, but you might not like it.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. ¡°Please tell me, Boss Shi. What is the result?¡±
¡°I passed your pleas up to the higher-ups, and they do feel that you have indeed worked hard for the country. You can even say that you have matchless achievements, but... the country has itsws. Your wife was too ambitious, and embezzled close to three billion in state-owned assets. If a big case like this isn¡¯t settled, then won¡¯t it send the wrong signal to corrupt officials? This must be punished, no matter what. You have to understand the difficulties of the higher-ups too.¡±
¡°I know, but...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart was crushed, and he didn¡¯t know what to say anymore.
¡°Let me finish. Thew is not above human emotions. You have contributed so much to the nation. Won¡¯t you feel betrayed if we have your wife killed? What the higher-ups mean to say, is that, well, to put it clearly, I¡¯m just guessing here. Uh, it¡¯s like this... I think she has to hand over the state-owned assets she has, and pay a fine of twice the value, then go to prison for five years.¡±
Embezzling close to three billion in state-owned assets was a capital offense. However, Xia Lei¡¯s connections made it possible for Shentu Tianyin¡¯s sentence to be reduced to the surrender of her illegally-obtained assets, a fine and a prison term of five years. This was already quite a light punishment.
It was a light punishment, but Xia Lei could not find it in himself to be happy about it. From his perspective, this was eptable. Since the media had blown things up, there had to be a punishment for Shentu Tianyin, or it would send the wrong signal to the corrupt officials, and throw doubt on the dignity of thew. However, Shentu Tianyin would not ept this. She had said to him more than once that she would rather die than spend a day in prison.
¡°Why aren¡¯t you talking?¡± came Shi Boren¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Tianyin doesn¡¯t want to go to prison.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to die either. I want to live for 500 years. Who¡¯s going to grant me that?¡± said Shi Boren angrily. ¡°Your head is full of thoughts about pampering your wife ¡ª have you given a thought to thew? What position does it hold in your heart? What position does your country hold in your heart? If she were my wife, I¡¯d be the first to shoot her dead!¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei bit the bullet, and said, ¡°Can¡¯t the punishment be lightened even more?¡±
¡°I sold my old face to the devil over this damn matter of yours. You want a lighter punishment, still? Go talk to them yourself.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll... I¡¯ll discuss this with Tianyin.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no use discussing it.¡± Shi Boren¡¯s tone softened. ¡°Lei, let me be honest with you. I see you as a son. I don¡¯t want to see you destroy your future like this. Don¡¯t you know that the higher-ups are already being very forgiving of you by reducing the punishment by so much? If you¡¯re still not satisfied by this, then how are you going to go about in the future?¡±
Xia Lei fell silent. He had no idea. He had tried all that he could, but what he¡¯d managed to do was still not enough to satisfy Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Lei, Ling Han asked me to tell you something too.¡±
¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±
¡°He said: Do not throw all your cards on the table so easily. Sometimes the gamble you participate in was all a scam from the beginning.¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly, and spoke after a while, ¡°What does he mean by that?¡±
¡°How do I know? The way these cultured people speak annoy the hell out of me.¡±
Xia Lei was still turning over Ling Han¡¯s words in his head.
¡°All right, you find your own solution if you¡¯re not happy with this. I have no other solution for you. That¡¯s it. I can¡¯t be bothered with you anymore. Oh, right, I nearly forgot. A task force wille by Angel Wings Building tomorrow morning to take her away. Don¡¯t even think of getting her to escape. She¡¯s been restricted from going out of the country.¡± Shi Boren hung up as soon as he was done speaking.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart grew cold instantly.
The task force woulde arrest Shentu Tianyin in 24 hours. They coulde right now, but this was probably a bit of kindness from the higher-ups, to let him and Shentu Tianyin have a goodst night together, and give them time to settle what they needed to settle.
Just then, the group of people walked out of the meeting room, all with smiles on their faces as they talked about their imminent victory.
¡®Tianyin knows that her opponent is Gu Kewen, and that Gu Kewen doesn¡¯t have as much capital to fight with her. She does not seem worried about the stock market battle, but why is it that she seems unworried about the charges against her too?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°Hubby, who called you?¡± Shentu Tianyin walked over. The confidence on her face from earlier had vanished, and the smile was gone too. Her mood had plummeted instantly.
Xia Lei felt like his heart had been stabbed by a needle when he saw the change in her, and he felt tortured.
Shentu Tianyin came to his side, and stuck close to him. She rested her chin on his shoulder. ¡°Was it Boss Shi? What did he say?¡±
¡°He said...¡± Xia Lei started to speak, then stopped. It was a simple matter to just tell her, and let her know in one sentence, but he could not speak.
¡°Tell me, what did he say? I know that he must know the result already.¡± Tears fell from herrge eyes and onto Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
¡°We¡¯ll talk about it at home tonight.¡±
¡°No, I want to hear it now.¡±
¡°Tianyin...¡± Xia Lei sighed. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll tell you. He said that the higher-ups want you to surrender the state-owned assets you embezzled, and pay a fine of double the value, and... and also...¡±
¡°Also what?¡±
Xia Lei braced himself and said it. ¡°Also go to prison for five years.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tears fell faster. ¡°You worked so hard for the nation, and sometimes even leave for months at a time. You risk your life for the country, but they¡¯re sending your wife to the killing ground. Are their hearts made of steel?¡±
Xia Lei bit his lip. He didn¡¯t know what to say to her.
¡°What are your thoughts on this?¡±
¡°I¡¯m still trying to fight your case, but Boss Shi was quite firm. I am likely to not get any better deal than this, because this is the lightest the punishment can get.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to go to prison! I¡¯d rather die!¡± Shentu Tianyin was losing it.
Xia Lei put his arms around her shoulders and said gently, ¡°Tianyin, justpromise and the world will open up to you. From my point of view, the state-owned assets belong to the government anyway, so they have to be returned. As for the fine, money can be earned again. The five-year prison term... I can plead on your behalf. I can get a veryfortable ce for your prison term, and I¡¯ll visit you every week. Wait for this period of danger to pass, and we will work hard to build up your business again. It¡¯s possible that you will be out in two or three years. Won¡¯t that be great? Two or three years will pass in the blink of an eye.¡±
Shentu Tianyin removed herself from Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. She choked as she said, ¡°If I surrender those assets, a third of Vientaine Group will be chopped off. I would still have to pay double the value in fines, so another third of Vientaine Group will be gone. I will lose my control of Vientaine Group. I will have nothing. Does this seem like something that¡¯s ¡®very good¡¯ for me?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll still have me, and Thunder Horse Group. Even if you lose Vientaine Group, you will have us, won¡¯t you? We can expand Thunder Horse Group together, and be the Rheinmetall AG of China. Isn¡¯t that a very good thing too?¡± Xia Lei tried to talk Shentu Tianyin round.
Shentu Tianyin was silent for a bit. ¡°Hubby, tell me the truth. When are theying for me?¡±
¡°This time tomorrow.¡±
Shentu Tianyin let out a long, drawn out sigh. ¡°Let¡¯s not go home tonight, Hubby. Let¡¯s spend the night here.¡±
¡°So you agree to it?¡±
Shentu Tianyin said nothing. She turned and left.
Chapter 605 - Gu Kewen’s Voice
The afterglow of sunset illuminated the reinforced ss of the Angel Wings Building. Rays of light shot in, lining the floor inside. A migrant worker stood on a lift, cleaning the windows. Sweat wet his clothes. The sunlight shone on his face, a face which was honest, and sincere. Xia Lei saw a thirst for life in his eyes, and the strength to fight for it.
There were many people like that worker in thisnd.
He did not have hundreds of billions of worries, but he did have worries of an outstanding man.
¡°My worry. My worry is...¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t say it out loud but he knew his worry was women.
Knock knock knocking came from the door of the VIP guest lounge.
¡°Come in.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t even want to see who had knocked.
Liu Zhengnan pushed the door and walked in. ¡°Director Xia, I¡¯m here to report the situation.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Sit. Sit and tell me.¡±
Liu Zhengnan sat on the sofa, opposite Xia Lei. ¡°Sister-inw¡¯s n is going smoothly as of today¡¯s market closing. She is contra-trading. Her share ratio is increasing rapidly, and due to a series of misinformation, the individual shareholders are scrambling to dump Vientaine Group shares. The more she buys up, the lower the costs. I am in awe of Sister-inw. She really is an impressive business genius.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°She has always been outstanding. She is the best businesswoman of all the women I¡¯ve met. She is much better than me on this front.¡±
¡°Director Xia.¡± Liu Zhengnan gave augh. ¡°You and Sister-inw are not in the same line of business so you can¡¯t drawparisons. If I were to choose between Vientiane Group or Thunder Horse Group to be a possible future-Apple Inc, I will definitely choose Thunder Horse Group.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Because Thunder Horse Group has its own core technology and can reach the global market. Thunder Horse Group is not great as Vientiane Group in terms of scale, but we need to set our sights in the future. Who can say that Thunder Horse Group won¡¯t surpass Vientiane Group in decades? Besides capital operations, Vientiane Group doesn¡¯t have any global leading core technology. It has little technology in its makeup. Technology determines the future. This is the trend of human development, as well as the trend of the market,¡± said Liu Zhengnan. He looked at Xia Lei, his gaze respectful.
He was quite right.
Indeed, Thunder Horse Group could not bepared to Vientiane Group now, but given time, Xia Lei definitely had the ability to develop it into a leading global superpany. This was because Thunder Horse Group had core technology and core products which not even the European and American countries had. These technologies were like the IOS system of Apple Inc, and the Apple phones, like Quam¡¯s CPU. Thunder Horse Group would definitely conquer the world with these core technologies and products!
Could Shentu Tianyin not see this?
No, with her intelligence, she could definitely see this. Unfortunately, she was a headstrong woman, and also the world¡¯s proudest woman. Abandon Vientiane Group, sit in prison for a few years, and help Xia Lei manage Thunder Horse Group after she got out? Shentu Tianyin could not do it.
She was the more powerful party in her and Xia Lei¡¯s life as a married couple. This type of power didn¡¯t refer to criticising Xia Lei, giving orders, or intervening in his work and lifestyle, but rather not epting any of Xia Lei¡¯s suggestions, even if the suggestion was beneficial. She wouldn¡¯t take it. Her pride, and Vientiane Group, acted as the basis for this attitude, like a part of the genes in her body. How can a person lose the genes that their life depended on?
¡°Director Xia.¡± Liu Zhengnan continued, ¡°I know you haven¡¯t been in a good mood recently. Sister-inw is a powerful woman. She won¡¯t be knocked down easily.¡±
Xia Lei smiled faintly. ¡°Thank you.¡±
Liu Zhengnan stood up. ¡°Then I¡¯ll go now.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and watched Liu Zhengnan leave.
Fu Mingmei walked into the VIP guest lounge right after moment Liu Zhengnan left. She held a delivery box in her hands.
Xia Lei looked at Fu Mingmei. ¡°What do you want?¡±
Fu Mingmei ced the delivery box on the coffee table in front of Xia Lei. ¡°The guard at the gate received a package. It¡¯s yours. I specially brought it over for you.¡±
¡°My package?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. His left eye twitched, and he quickly saw what was inside the package. A satellite phone. ¡°What sort of person brought this over?¡± he asked.
Fu Mingmei said, ¡°How would I know? I only know about this package because the guard at the gate told me about it. They are probably a courier. Oh right, what did you buy?¡±
¡°Chocte,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You even bought chocte? Quick, open it. Let me eat some.¡± Fu Mingmei moved closer.
Xia Lei red at her. ¡°I¡¯m lying. I bought underwear. Do you want to wear one out?¡±
¡°You... I¡¯m going to tell Tianyin. Humph!¡± Fu Mingmei was embarrassed, and she turned around to run off.
Xia Lei opened up the delivery box and picked up the satellite phone. A phone number was had been saved in it. He hesitated, then dialed the phone number.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
¡°Xia Lei.¡± A woman¡¯s voice came from over the line.
A faint cold smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Gu Kewen.¡±
¡°It feels so good to be able to hear your voice,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°Every night, I would dream of you. I can¡¯t rid your voice and your face from my mind.¡±
¡°Stop talking nonsense. Your target is me. What are you causing so much trouble for?¡±
¡°My father died because of you, and so did my brother. Don¡¯t tell me that my brother is still alive. The Japanese police officers found my brother¡¯s body in that canyon. You didn¡¯t shoot him but kicked him off the cliff to create the false impression that he lost his footing and fell, huh?¡±
¡°Yes. Come to me for your revenge, then.¡±
¡°Am I not having my revenge right now? Yourpany is not on the market so I can¡¯t do anything about it. However, your wife¡¯spany is a listedpany. I have something that I can use against her. It¡¯s very easy for me to do something to your wife. I want you to experience the feeling of losing someone close to you. I want Shentu Tianyin to regret marrying you, because she wouldn¡¯t be so unlucky if it weren¡¯t for you.¡±
¡°So you secretly bought up Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks and spread negative news about Tianyin in the media?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t help wanting to smile whenever I see those reports. I¡¯m so happy.¡±
¡°Enough.¡± Xia Lei said in a heavy voice, ¡°You know that with my connections right now, I can save her life, and lose some money at the very most. If you want to avenge them,e after me. I believe your target this time is still me. Tell me, what do you want?¡±
¡°I want your life. Will you give it to me?¡±
¡°I will. Come over and kill me.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Gu Kewenughed loudly.
¡°You¡¯re sick.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, our business deal won¡¯t be tooplicated. You tampered with the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe at Rheinmetall AG and it can¡¯t be used anymore. You know how to fix it. Give me the parts that Rheinmetall AG needs and the microchip with theputer control program. Someone wille to retrieve the things I want tomorrow morning before 0930 hrs. I will release the Vientiane Group stocks I have once my guy gets the items.¡±
Xia Lei sneered, ¡°But you already gave the evidence that can indict Tianyin to the prosecutor¡¯s office. Do you actually believe that I will still make deal with you under these circumstances?¡±
¡°That is only a portion of it. It¡¯s not everything.¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice slowly turned cold. ¡°You don¡¯t have a choice. If you don¡¯t agree to this deal, I will keep releasing pieces of evidence, one by one. Each piece of evidence will be hyped up by the media. The pressure of public opinion is way bigger than what you imagine to be. Do you think the higher-ups will ignore the huge pressure of public opinion? If I continue to stir this up, I believe even you can¡¯t save Shentu Tianyin. Do you want to try me?¡±
Xia Lei was silent.
Gu Kewen gave augh. ¡°Whether you agree or not, that is your choice. Either way, I won¡¯t lose anything.¡±
¡°Give me some time. I will think about it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay. Tomorrow, before nine-thirty. I¡¯ll be waiting for your call.¡± Gu Kewen hung up.
Xia Lei sat there for gloomily for quite a while before he stood up and left the VIP guest lounge and went to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s office.
Shentu Tianyin stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the cityscape. She was silent. Her solitary back seemed so lonely, so helpless.
Xia Lei felt a pang in his heart. He walked over to stand behind her, then reached out to hold her small waist in his arms.
Shentu Tianyin stiffened slightly but knew who was behind her when she felt the familiar touch, and smelled the familiar smell. ¡°I am so useless,¡± she said softly.
¡°Why do you say this?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was very gentle.
¡°I couldn¡¯t even give birth to a child for you since I married you.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was faint.
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s eyes moistened. ¡°Don¡¯t say this. I¡¯m the one who didn¡¯t take good care of you. Gu Kewen¡¯s target is me, not you. I dragged you down.¡±
¡°No...¡± Shentu Tianyin turned around and nuzzled up to Xia Lei¡¯s neck. ¡°Marrying you was the happiest event in my life. I won¡¯t ever regret it, no matter what difficultiese my way. If I go to prison tomorrow, can you still bear for me to stay home alone, on myst night with you?¡±
Two clear, sparkling tears slowly formed in herrge eyes, gathering more moisture till two drops of tears were formed. These two tears rolled from the corner of her eyes, down, down.
One of the dropsnded on the back of Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
This teardrop was like a catalyst for his emotions. Xia Lei¡¯s emotions flooded from him like a breached dam, bursting out, losing control. He scooped Shentu Tianyin up in his arms and walked towards the lounge room withrge strides.
All his worries had flown away.
At least, for now.
Chapter 606 - The Queen’s War
Flickering candlelight, wine as red as cherries, and Adele¡¯s new song ¡°Hello¡± ¡ª all romantic things. However, these romantic things did not tinge the atmosphere here with romance or warmth. Adele¡¯s husky voice affected the man and woman sitting face to face with each other, and a faint sadness spread between the two.
¡°Gu Kewen called me.¡± Xia Lei broke the silence between them.
¡°What did she say?¡± Shentu Tianyin reacted calmly, as if she had already expected Gu Kewen to contact Xia Lei.
¡°She said she will spit out the Vientiane Group shares she ate as long as I satisfy her conditions. She probably has some pieces of evidence in her hands too. She won¡¯t hand them over.¡±
¡°What was your answer?¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I told her I need some time to consider this. The deadline she gave was tomorrow morning, before 0930 hrs.¡±
¡°The same time when she captured me.¡± A strange smile appeared in the corners of Shentu Tian Yin¡¯s lips. ¡°She really knows how to pick the time. She must be thinking about what it would look like when I get taken away by the police. She must be happy.¡±
¡°Tianyin, don¡¯t be like this.¡±
Shentu Tianyin shook his head. ¡°No, I know her very well. She can threaten you with me once, so she can threaten you twice... Unless you kill her.¡±
¡°She will die. I won¡¯t give her another chance to hurt you.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s have a drink.¡± Shentu Tian Yin raised her wine ss and looked meaningfully at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei raised his wine ss and touched it to hers. He drank the red wine in the ss.
¡°Tianyin, why don¡¯t you ask me what deal Gu Kewen wanted to make with me?¡± asked Xia.
¡°I¡¯ve never asked you about your matters. I don¡¯t want to know what deal she made with you, but I am certain that she won¡¯t be getting anything this time. I don¡¯t know what benefits she promised to therge buyers of Vientiane Group stocks, but none of them can escape this time. Do they think that these were all there was of the Vientiane Group stocks? They¡¯re far from the truth. They will be left high and dry, and beg me to take the stocks from their hands.¡±
¡°Tianyin, you...¡± Xia Lei suddenly felt like the woman he was most familiar with had transformed into another woman. The confidence she exuded, and her icy-cold gaze made him shiver.
A faint sneer appeared on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips. ¡°Are you baffled by my confidence? Yourpany is not listed on the market so it¡¯s normal for you to not pay attention to the stock market. The stock market has been falling since the end ofst year, falling from 5,000 points to around 2,000 points. How manypanies do you think were spared? This is a stock market crash, I tell you. No one can be spared. Do you know how much Vientiane Group¡¯s market value had shrunk by while you were in Germany? A quarter. By a whole quarter! Problems with Vientiane Group¡¯s liquidity had cropped up during that time.¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±
Shentu Tianyinughed bitterly. ¡°What¡¯s the use in telling you? You have only over one billion in cash in your ount. It won¡¯t even make a ssh if I threw that money in. It¡¯ll be a waste to throw it in too.¡±
This was a huge thing, but she didn¡¯t even tell him about it. Xia Lei felt like his heart had been pricked by a needle, and it stung.
¡°But a month ago, I discovered a lot of people had been going against the stock market and buying up Vientiane Group stocks. It was done secretively, but I still found out. I found that they had huge appetites. They frequently invested tens of millions to over a hundred million in capital during that period of time. However, no warning gs were triggered because therge ounts were all scattered. I knew then that someone was targeting me.¡±
¡°So you knew already?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s shock couldn¡¯t be described with words anymore.
Shentu Tianyin nodded lightly. ¡°Yes. I already knew about it when you were still in Germany.¡±
¡°Then why... Why did you sell the stocks you had?¡±
¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I sell it? With a stock market crash looming, no stock will be spared. Of course I¡¯ll sell when someone is scrambling to buy, and at a pretty penny too. If I didn¡¯t sell it then, how would I have so much capital to build warehouses now?¡±
Xia Lei stared at Shentu Tianyin, dumbstruck.
¡°I consistently released good news on top of selling the stock during that period of time. The news included things like Thunder Horse Group and Vientiane Group merging into onepany in the future, and Thunder Horse Group and Vientiane Group looking to cooperate on a national-level project, and so on. During that period, our stock prices were going against the stock market and rising. I released favourable news while letting go of the stock I held. I had others verify that the news was fake afterwards, and the market prices returned to normal. Vientiane Group stocks dropped with the stock index.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of Gu Kewen or her agents getting control of Vientiane Group?¡±
Disdain crept into Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice, ¡°Her? She is only worthy of being my assistant. She wants to fight me? Do you think she would be my opponent? The flourishing Gu Family couldn¡¯t do anything about me when Gu Dingshan and Gu Kewu were still around, much less a stray dog like Gu Kewen.¡±
A horror grew in Xia Lei. He felt like he didn¡¯t recognise Shentu Tianyin anymore ¡ª maybe he¡¯d never truly known her at all.
¡°I will be arrested tomorrow. The value of Vientiane Group stocks will fall more sharply then. It will be like the gue; no one would want to touch it. My guess is the limit down for the stock prices will drop by at least five points. When that happens I will announce a suspension in listing, and release news of the capital increase and share expansion. Would the dogs following Gu Kewen¡¯s heels still be able to sit still then? They have the money to buy my stocks, but I have the power to turn the stocks in their hands into garbage. The final result would be them begging me to buy the stocks back. All I need to do is to offer them the sweet scent of victory. I¡¯m estimating that I¡¯ll be able to take control of 70% of Vientaine Group¡¯s stocks when this fight is over. When all this is over, I will regroup and strike. I will strike hard, and I will revive the stock price of Vientaine Group. There shall be a victor in this battle, and that victor shall be me.¡± Tears shone in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes as she spoke, and Xia Lei did not know if it was from happiness, or sadness. There was a little tremble in her voice too.
¡°You nned everything out already, yet here I am, still worrying for you, and trying to plead on your behalf. You fooled not just your opponents, but me too. I am your husband, Tianyin.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart was breaking.
¡°Hubby, I¡¯m sorry...¡± Tears rushed from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes.
¡°Why?¡± Xia Lei wanted to cry too, but he fought to hold it in, and won.
Shentu Tianyin choked with sobs. ¡°Vientiane Group is my life. I can¡¯t lose it. I can¡¯t just watch as all of the effort my father and I put into it copse due to this market crash. I am willing to do anything for it.¡±
This was the real Shentu Tianyin. She was Vientiane Group¡¯s queen and Vientiane Group was her kingdom. She ruled every part of this kingdom, and fought for it. She would sacrifice everything for Vientaine Group, including her marriage!
Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°Please forgive my stupidity. You nned everything out, and it has been going smoothly so far but how are you going to face the special investigation team? You said all that, but I didn¡¯t hear you mention anything about thewsuit the prosecutor¡¯s office has against you.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t go to prison.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve made it clear to you. I tried my best, but the higher-ups want you to hand over the state-owned assets you took, plus double the fine and a five-year prison term. Are you still not going to admit defeat?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t go to prison.¡± She was firm.
Xia Lei abruptly nked out. He instantly realised something, and understood. ¡°You...¡±
¡°Yes, I transferred those assets to Thunder Horse Group¡¯s name while you were in Germany. That¡¯s why I won¡¯t be going to jail,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei stared at her in silence, unmoving.
A minuteter.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei seemed to have been struck in aughing acupressure point, and he guffawed.
Shentu Tianyin watched Xia Lei as heughed, tears falling unchecked from her eyes. She had won the war, but lost her love.
Xia Leiughed so hard that tears spilled from his eyes. ¡°You. Heh, heh... Heh heh heh... Tell me, how did you... heh, heh, heh... How did you do it?¡±
Shentu Tianyin could not stop her tears. ¡°You¡¯re a genius, but a genius with machinery only. You might be an outstanding warrior but you are definitely not an outstanding businessman. A girl named Guan Lingshan is in charge of your base of operations in Haizhu. A person named Zhou Xiaohong is in charge of your base of operations in Sichuan. The former is a bit better ¡ª she¡¯s a university graduate, at least. Thetter is just a middle school graduate. What does she know? And you have another person named Qin Xiang, in charge of your base of operations in Jingdu. He was a hairstylist. Tell me ¡ª with these three supervisors you appointed... What was off the table for me?¡±
¡°How can the three of them be your match when even Gu Kewen was dancing in the palm of your hand? Plus, you¡¯re my wife. The three of them wouldn¡¯t even think of being on guard around you.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. You wouldn¡¯t have known either if I didn¡¯t tell you.¡±
¡°Then why did you choose to tell me this, at this time? You can just use me to reach a more advantageous agreement between yourself and Gu Kewen.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart hurt with every word he spoke.
¡°No! I won¡¯t let anyone hurt you! I love you. Don¡¯t you understand? I don¡¯t want to leave you!¡±
¡°You think you didn¡¯t hurt me with all the things you¡¯ve done?¡±
¡°What can those higher-ups do to you when I¡¯ve transferred the assets to be under your name? Will they sentence you to death by shooting? Will they arrest and imprison you? They won¡¯t. Your value, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s value to them ¡ª the only punishment you will face is criticism, probably. Me? I would have to give hundreds of millions in fines, go to prison, and lose Vientiane Group. They¡¯re killing me. Can you bear to see me die?¡± Shentu Tianyin was losing it.
Xia Lei was silent for a while before he said, ¡°Don¡¯t say that you love me anymore. I now know that what you love is not me, but my capabilities and my ability to protect you. Am I right?¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tears flowed faster. ¡°How can you say that about me? What do you want me to do? Dig my heart out for you?¡±
Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°Enough. You must have some long-prepared document for me to sign, huh? Bring it out. We are a married couple, so I won¡¯t just watch as you lose everything, much less see you die. I will help you for thest time. Bring it all out. I will sign, and we will go our separate ways.¡±
The ss slipped from Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hand, and smashed into pieces on the floor. She looked at Xia Lei in shock. She stared nkly for a while before she said in a trembling voice, ¡°You... You... You want to divorce me?¡±
Chapter 607 - Divorce
Divorce. Xia Lei¡¯s heart had been in pain when he made that decision, a heartrending pain.
Looking at Shentu Tianyin¡¯s crying face, he remembered the beautiful times he had with her. He had an impulse to take those words back, to hold her in his arms and apologise, but he swallowed the words back when they came to his mouth.
For men, if they had the ability to attain something, they had to be able to let go of it.
He couldn¡¯t control Shentu Tianyin. Her ambitions would only increase and Vientiane Group would expand faster and faster with him as her protective umbre. This was just like driving. A speeding car would need to go around curves and skirt corners, and people would crash and burn if they did not slow down. They would both be better off if he left her.
Besides, her love was too special, and he couldn¡¯t ept it.
He could be loved by her now, but if he became a normal person one day, would she still love him? He didn¡¯t dare think of that day.
"Why? Why?!" Shentu Tianyin shrieked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was quiet for a moment before he said, "Tianyin, I can bet that you knew this day woulde the day you moved those assets to mypany. You even prepared the divorce agreement beforehand. Can¡¯t you admit it?"
"You... you saw it?" Shentu Tianyin was bewildered.
"No, I guessed." Xia Leiughed bitterly. "Tianyin, you are a very bright woman. You moved those assets so you¡¯d ultimately need a document I signed. Even if you moved those assets under mypany¡¯s name, an investigation into you would still be inevitable without a document I signed. To make me sign my name, you would have to prepare two measures. The first would be the documents for those assets, and the second would be my power of attorney. You needed to prove that I asked you to buy those assets. The third would be a divorce agreement, yourst resort. If the higher-ups didn¡¯t retract their investigation into you, this divorce agreement woulde into y. You would then prove that we have no connection to each other. Am I right?"
Shentu Tianyin bit her lip and lowered her head, not daring to look Xia Lei in the eyes.
"Since you¡¯ve already prepared everything and nned out every step, why didn¡¯t you just finish everything in one go? Did you want me to taste this pain slowly? We¡¯re still getting a divorce in the end."
"What if it didn¡¯t get to that point?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked up at Xia Lei, her eyes filled with tears.
"If we didn¡¯t divorce, our assets would be shared despite the separate assets agreement. ording to thew, we share assets as husband and wife. Do you think you would be able to stay out of it because you transferred those assets under my name?"
Shentu Tianyin was silent.
"Tianyin, you have brought too big of a cmity upon us. Being the scapegoat for you is difficult for me. I will have to face Bureau 101, the higher-ups and the investigations of the special task force. As for you, you must stay out of it, otherwise I¡¯ll be your scapegoat for nothing. Go get it out. Give me what you¡¯ve prepared. We¡¯ll finish this in one go,¡± said Xia Lei.
"Hahaha..." Shentu Tianyinughed all of a sudden, but her tears kept flowing.
She was an exceptionally smart woman but when had Xia Lei not been highly intelligent as well?
She could orchestrate everything, but Xia Lei could see through everything.
She knew what she wanted, and Xia Lei had learned how to let go.
All good things muste to an end. Now that things hade to this, what else was there that they couldn¡¯t let go of?
"Tianyin." Xia Lei¡¯s voice had lost strength. "Go, go and get it so that I can sign it. We can have a drink when we¡¯re done."
Shentu Tianyin wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, stood, and walked towards the safe in the corner of the room. She opened the safe and took out three document envelopes. She brought them over, and put them in front of Xia Lei.
Xia Lei opened the three document envelopes. It was just as he had guessed. One was a document to transfer assets, one was his power of attorney, and thest was a divorce agreement.
Shentu Tianyin had signed all of these three documents, but the date wasn¡¯t today but a day from a month earlier. Only the divorce agreement had today¡¯s date on it. The signatures on the three documents, showed that she really had arranged everything, and prepared everything in advance.
Xia Lei looked through the three documents, then took up a pen to sign on the lines, one by one.
But right when he was about to sign the divorce agreement, Shentu Tianyin suddenly grabbed his wrist, stopping him from signing it.
Their eyes met, and they looked at each other with emotion-charged gazes for a long, long time.
The candlelight flickered, emitting soft sounds. It was the only sound in the room.
Xia Lei broke the unbearable silence in the end. "Let go, Tianyin. I wouldn¡¯t do this if I had a choice. But we must do this. You¡¯ll be safe only if I leave you. You won¡¯t lose Vientiane Group if I leave you."
Xia Lei, or Vientiane Group? Shentu Tianyin let go. She seemed to have made her decision in that instant. She had chosen thetter.
Xia Lei picked up the pen and signed his name on the divorce agreement.
The shing of pen on paper represented the end of their marriage.
It also represented a new beginning.
"All right, just leave the rest to me. I will make sure nothing happens to you. However, you have to listen to this bit of advice from me. A person¡¯s sess isn¡¯t based on how big you make yourpany or how much money you make. Look at us now. Do you think we have the marital happiness of those couples who buy breakfast from stalls by the road? I don¡¯t think so. Sometimes you have to set your sights lower, and grow your business gradually, step by step. Don¡¯t ever do something like this again..."
Shentu Tianyin suddenly burst into tears and threw herself into his embrace before he was done talking. "I¡¯ve let you down... Whuuuh..."
"Don¡¯t say that. I¡¯m your husband. I have a duty to protect you. Actually, I¡¯ve also wronged you." Xia Lei wanted to talk about the affairs he had with Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing, but he quickly stamped the thought down when it came to him. They were divorced, so these secrets should stay secrets. He didn¡¯t want to give her any bad memories.
Shentu Tianyin didn¡¯t ask how Xia Lei had wronged her. Perhaps she knew, perhaps she didn¡¯t, but she did not say it. She would always remember Xia Lei¡¯s good points. She did not forget how Xia Lei had helped her deal with Shentu Yi and his family, or how he had helped heal her father. She would never forget Xia Lei for helping her take the me for this huge crime of embezzlement.
She would never be able to repay the kindness, and love that Xia Lei had given her so how could she mind how Xia Lei had wronged her in the past?
"Lei, will you marry me again?" Shentu Tianyin suddenly said.
Xia Lei froze. His heart was full of sorrow. He was in no frame of mind to think about this question.
"Tell me. Will you?" Shentu Tianyin clutched at Xia Lei¡¯s clothes, as if afraid that he would suddenly run off.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, "I don¡¯t know. I really don¡¯t know. I only know that I probably won¡¯t marry another woman easily. Or maybe I won¡¯t marry at all for the rest of my life."
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips moved, as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out. She was the one who had ended her marriage with Xia Lei, and she had also chosen Vientiane Group over Xia Lei. How could she hope that he would promise to marry her again?
"All right, go to bed early. You¡¯ll have to deal with the special task force tomorrow. I¡¯ll go back as well. I¡¯ll give Boss Shi a call, and I¡¯ll be your champion fall guy from tonight on," said Xia Lei self-deprecatingly.
Xia Lei wanted to get up but Shentu Tianyin pressed her entire body onto him, pressing him back onto the sofa.
"Tell me, do you still love me?"
Xia Lei nodded.
"Will you call me?"
Xia Lei nodded again.
"Will youe home with me to see Father?"
Xia Lei hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"You say that you won¡¯t marry again as long as you live. Then, let me tell you that I won¡¯t marry anyone else for as long as I live too. I love you, and you¡¯re the only one in my heart."
"Tianyin, don¡¯t be like this..."
"Let me call you Hubby onest time, my Hubby."
Tears appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes again. He nodded and gave a soft grunt of assent.
¡°Have all of me for onest time. If I¡¯m lucky, I will get pregnant with your child. In the future, even if you don¡¯t want me, I¡¯ll have your child with me. I will make hisst name Xia and I will tell him stories of his father. I will tell him that his father is a hero..."
Shentu Tianyin was all tangled up with him right away. Her hands pulled impatiently at his belt and his zipper. The clothes on her body fell away one by one, some removed by Xia Lei, and some shed by her. She exposed all of her goodies to him, baring all, letting him admire them, possess them. She was his, and she belonged to him, just him. There was only one man in the world who could conquer her, and enjoy her and that man was Xia Lei.
It was a passionate fusion. In that moment, her worries, his worries, and all their worries seemed to fly away. Only happiness was left in the world, a happiness they could lose themselves in...
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t hold himself back anymore. He kissed Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips fiercely.
After a long, long time, Xia Lei crawled up from the carpet. He picked his clothes up in silence and began dressing himself.
Shentu Tianyin watched him silently. Her tears fell again but she didn¡¯t say anything this time; she just watched him.
Xia Lei put on his clothes and walked quietly to the door. He stopped. He turned around to look at Shentu Tianyin. ¡°We¡¯re still friends. If you need any help, you can call me any time. And, Father... I mean, Uncle. Please pass my apologies on to him."
Shentu Tianyin nodded.
Xia Lei opened the door and walked out.
The door to the room closed softly, bing a barrier between the two of them.
Shentu Tianyin could not hold in her sorrowful cries anymore after Xia Lei left.
She had won the battle but lost her love, lost her marriage.
But she did not regret it.
Chapter 608 - Snatched Away
The light of dawn tore through the darkness, signalling the beginning of a new day.
Bureau 101 headquarters.
Shi Boren¡¯s Hongqi sedan sped into the car park at 0800 hrs. He alighted and was about to walk to the building when his eyes were drawn to a Chevrolet Suburban parked at the side. He immediately recognised it as Xia Lei¡¯s car. Only Xia Lei had a Chevrolet Suburban at Bureau 101.
¡¯When did this rascal be so proactive?¡¯ Shi Boren was a little bewildered. He went up to the window of the car to peer in, and was stunned.
Xia Lei was curled up in the backseat of his Chevrolet Suburban, clutching an empty bottle of baijiu.
The baijiu was Beijing Erguotou, a strong drink with a very high alcohol content.
"You little..." Shi Boren smacked the car door.
Xia Lei did not respond.
Shi Boren could only curl his hands into fists and bang on the car door.
Boom boom boom...
Xia Lei finally opened his eyes. He looked outside the window, then rubbed his eyes.
"Open up!" Shi Boren red at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei climbed up from the seat and opened the door.
Shi Boren grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand and dragged him out of the car.
Xia Lei swayed, and stabilised himself by leaning against the car. It seemed he was still hungover.
"What are drinking to forget, Boy?" Shi Boren said angrily, "Are you making yourself despondent to gain the enemy¡¯s confidence? Just look at you. You¡¯re wasted, all because of a woman. Is it worth it?"
"Boss Shi..."
"Shut up! You listen to me first!" Shi Boren interrupted Xia Lei, and pointed straight at his nose. "I made everything clear to you yesterday. It¡¯s useless to pretend to be pitiful or painful. Shentu Tianyinmitted too big a crime. She¡¯s lucky that she¡¯s even keeping her head on her shoulders."
"No." Xia Lei seemed to sober up instantly. "I havee to turn myself in.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Shi Boren stared nkly.
¡°Boss Shi, I¡¯vee to turn myself in.¡± Xia Lei repeated himself.
¡°What did you do?¡± Shi Boren clearly hadn¡¯t figured out what was going on yet.
Xia Lei was about to exin when Tang Yuyan and Long Bing¡¯s car zoomed through the gates and stopped in the car park.
¡°Hey! Godfather, Lei, what are you guys talking about over there?¡± Tang Yuyan asked.
Shi Boren and Xia Lei¡¯s every move seemed to get on her nerves in this time of unusual happenings. She was ready for some gossip at any time.
Long Bing didn¡¯t speak. She got out of the car and walked towards Xia Lei and Shi Boren.
Tang Yuyan exited the car after Long Bing and hurried over to get to Xia Lei and Shi Boren before Long Bing did.
¡°Morning, Godfather.¡± Tang Yuyan smiled sweetly. ¡°Lei, good morning to you too.¡±
Shi Boren red at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Step aside. We¡¯re talking business right now.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll wait nearby. You guys can talk.¡± Tang Yuyan took a step back, just one step.
Long Bing stopped behind Tang Yuyan. She saw the empty bottle on the seat of the Chevrolet Suburban, and worry came into her eyes.
¡°Say it, hurry up and tell me what¡¯s the matter,¡± urged Shi Boren.
Xia Lei paused before saying, ¡°Actually, I was the one who told Shentu Tianyin to purchase those assets.¡±
Shi Boren¡¯s mouth opened, and his chin almost hit the ground.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were rooted to the spot in shock. Their expressions made it look like they had eaten a boiling hot dumpling.
Xia Lei took a deep breath. ¡°Those assets were transferred under the name of my Thunder Horse Group. I came to turn myself in over this.¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Shi Boren said in a heavy voice, ¡°Was this Shentu Tianyin¡¯s idea, or your¡¯s?¡±
Xia Lei avoided Shi Boren¡¯s intense gaze. ¡°Boss Shi, this wasn¡¯t anyone¡¯s idea. It¡¯s the truth. There has to be someone to take responsibility for this and that¡¯s me. I¡¯vee to turn myself in, so arrest me. I¡¯m willing to take any punishment.¡±
¡°You little¡ª ARRRGH!¡± Shi Boren was so angry that he swung a fist at Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing acted at the same time before his fist could hit Xia Lei. One person held onto his hand while the other dragged him away forcibly.
¡°Xia Lei! What do you mean by this?¡± Tang Yuyan spoke quickly. ¡°Hurry and take back what you said. Do you really want to be the scapegoat for this crime? Are you stupid?!¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I¡¯m not taking the me for anyone. I did it. Shentu Tianyin has the transaction documents between our twopanies and my power of attorney that I entrusted to Vientiane Group. Shentu Tianyin didn¡¯t do anything wrong here. I am the one who did wrong.¡±
Shi Boren swung his arms, and he shook off Tang Yuyan and Long Bing immediately. He was like an angry bear as he roared at Xia Lei, ¡°Boy, do you think that by taking on this matter, no one will kill you? Do you think nothing will happen to Shentu Tianyin? Those assets were transferred from the Vientiane Group to the Thunder Horse Group and those are your shared marital assets. How could you be so stupid!¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ve already divorced her.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s and Long Bing¡¯s chins dropped to the ground.
Shi Boren¡¯s angry expression froze on his face, as if a cold wind from Siberia had hit him. He didn¡¯t move for quite a few seconds.
Xia Lei held his hands out. ¡°Arrest me. I¡¯ve already confessed everything, loud and clear. I know what I¡¯m doing and I¡¯m willing to take all the punishments.¡±
Shi Boren didn¡¯t move. and Long Bing didn¡¯t move either.
Arrest Xia Lei. Who would do something like that?
¡°Ahem.¡± Tang Yuyan came to her senses first. A baffling smile appeared on her face. ¡°Hey, Godfather, I think... Our Bureau 101 can be the scapegoat. Xia Lei is still young, and since when have young people not made mistakes? We can plead for him and at least reduce it to detention. How does that sound?¡±
¡°The embezzlement of state-owned assets came up to a several billion. You think the courts are run by your family? Put him in detention? You brainless girl, get out of the way! I don¡¯t want to see you!¡± Shi Boren was so hopping mad he was done with everything.
Tang Yuyan shrugged. ¡°Then I guess you¡¯ll have to execute him via firing squad. I won¡¯t stop you.¡±
Shi Boren was speechless.
Even though he was very angry and itched to beat Xia Lei up, he knew very clearly that Xia Lei had now be Shentu Tianyin¡¯s scapegoat, and his superiors wouldn¡¯t really do anything to Xia Lei. The fellow in front of him was a genius ¡ª an outstanding genius in the past hundred-over years of Chinese history. He wasn¡¯t just a genius who was good at researching, but a genius who could manufacture things. His Thunder Horse Military Factory had already be a dark horse on the international level, and it was only a matter of time before it could be the world leader in the global arms market. More importantly, he was the only one who could do the Alloy X Project. No one else could do it!
Who could actually punish someone like this, someone who had steeled his heart to be Shentu Tianyin¡¯s scapegoat?
The four people didn¡¯t speak anymore.
Just then, some cars came through the gates and drove into the car park.
¡°What¡¯s he doing here?¡± Shi Boren saw a familiar license te.
Xia Lei looked over too, and saw the head of the Academy of Science, Fan Yiming, in the first car. He spotted Ling Han too, in the other car. This was unexpected, even for Xia Lei. Fan Yiming and Ling Han definitely hadn¡¯te here for the matter of him bing a scapegoat for Shentu Tianyin. They were probably here to get him to join the Academy of Science.
Xia Leiughed bitterly to himself. ¡®They sure know how to pick the time, looking for me now.¡¯
Fan Yiming got out of the car and said from a distance, ¡°Hey, Little Shi... Mr Xia is here too, huh. What a coincidence, what a coincidence.¡±
Only someone like Fan Yiming would call Shi Boren ¡®Little Shi¡¯.
Shi Boren ignored Fan Yiming, but lowered his voice in warning to Xia Lei, ¡°You rascal, you¡¯re not allowed to go to the Academy of Science!¡± Then, before Xia Lei could speak, he said to Tang Yuyan and Long Bing, ¡°Take him away and put him in detention.¡±
¡°All righty then~¡± Tang Yuyan moved close and seized one of Xia Lei¡¯s arms.
¡°We should greet him, at least, right?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°Greet, my ass. Take him away!¡± urged Shi Boren.
Long Bing also reached her hand out to seize Xia Lei¡¯s other arm. She brought Xia Lei away with Tang Yuyan.
¡°Hey! Where are you guys taking Mr Xia? Hold up!¡± Fan Yiming yelled in anxiousness. His steps quickened too, as he jogged over.
A woman chased hastily after Fan Yiming. She held on to his hand, as if afraid that he would trip and fall.
She was a young, sexy and beautiful woman. She was wearing ck-rimmed spectacles, and her skin was fair and clear. She looked like a very highly educated youngdy.
The woman with Fan Yiming had to at least have a Ph.D. How could a woman with this type of an education becking the charm of a highly intelligentdy?
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan continued to escort Xia Lei forward, to the lobby. They wouldn¡¯t listen to Fan Yiming without Shi Boren¡¯s orders.
Shi Boren smiled as he went up to them in wee. ¡°Elder Fan, what brought you here? Haha, what a rare visitor!¡±
¡°Where are you taking my guy?¡± Fan Yiming didn¡¯t exchange greetings with Shi Boren and seemed rather angry.
¡°Your guy? When did your guy end up over here with me?¡± Shi Boren pretended to be confused.
The woman next to Fan Yiming rolled her eyes at Shi Boren. She looked like acted like an angry kitty.
Just then, Ling Han walked over. He coughed first and said, ¡°Boss Shi, this is hard to put out there, but... The superiors have already given theirments. Xia Lei has to go to the Academy of Science. He does indeed belong to Elder Fan now.¡±
Fan Yiming then said, ¡°Fan Fan, show the transfer papers to Little Shi.¡±
¡°Yes, Grandfather.¡± Fan Fan took out the transfer papers and opened it up to show Shi Boren its contents.
Xia Lei had indeed been transferred to the Academy of Science. It was written in ck and white.
Ling Han called out, ¡°Xia Lei,e over here for a second.¡±
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing nced back at Shi Boren.
Shi Boren nodded helplessly.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing escorted Xia Lei over.
¡°What¡¯s this all about?¡± Ling Han looked at the two female section chiefs escorting Xia Lei with an odd look on his face. ¡°Why are you guys escorting him?¡±
Shi Boren coughed. ¡°This boy here volunteered to be the scapegoat for Shentu Tianyin. I¡¯m deciding how to deal with him. Since it¡¯s like this, you guys can take him away. But my orderse first. Even if the higher-ups order an investigation, he is still someone from Bureau 101.¡±
¡°Scapegoat? What scapegoat? Why don¡¯t I see a goat?¡± Fan Yiming was an old scientist who practically lived like a hermit. He clearly didn¡¯t know what ¡°scapegoat¡± meant.
His granddaughter Fan Fan whispered, ¡°Grandpa, the scapegoat they¡¯re talking about isn¡¯t the type which bleats. It¡¯s... Forget it, you can go look it up yourself.¡±
Ling Han said nothing. He seemed to have already guessed what had happened. He looked at Xia Lei, his eyes filled with disappointment, questioning the truth.
Xia Lei did not avoid Ling Han¡¯s eyes. He had made his choice, and he would not regret it.
If he couldn¡¯t even protect the woman he loved, then what was the point of him having done so much?
If he had to make his choice again, he would be Shentu Tianyin¡¯s scapegoat without a second thought. He was duty-bound not to turn back.
The stubbornness and unswerving determination in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes seemed to exin something to Ling Han. He smiled wryly. ¡°Let¡¯s discuss this in the office. This is not a suitable ce to talk.¡±
Xia Lei silently breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter 609 - A Symbolic Punishment
Many news interview vehicles were parked on both sides of the Angel Wings Building even before the workday started. Some were from traditional news outlets while others were Inte news reporters. Each reporter had their cameras ready for a long time by now, and were just waiting for something big to happen.
¡°Shentu Tianyin is done for this time.¡± A reporter chatted a colleague. ¡°After embezzling so many national assets, she¡¯ll be lucky if she can still live. She¡¯ll have to get a deferred death sentence or an indefinite sentence at least. What a pity. She¡¯s so young and pretty, but the next half of her life is going to be spent in prison.¡±
¡°Yeah. What do you think she was thinking? She already had so much money but still wanted more. She makes so much... is she going to be able to spend it all?¡± said someone.
¡°Yeah, right? Ordinary people like you and me can¡¯t understand the world of the rich.¡±
¡°You should be a little more concerned about yourself. After the stock market opens at 9:30, abandon the Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks at all costs or you¡¯ll lose everything. Ay, I¡¯ll cut my hand off if I touch stocks again.¡±
¡°Haha, you said the same thing thest time.¡±
¡°Why hasn¡¯t Shentu Tianyine out yet?¡±
¡°Why would shee out? To be exposed? This is a scandal.¡±
¡°Whether she¡¯s willing or not, I¡¯ve received information that a special investigation team will being to arrest her soon. After that, we can take as many pictures as we want, and avenge our losses on the stock market.¡±
The reporters had a spirited discussion about everything that had to do with Shentu Tianyin.
On the top floor of Angel Wings Building, Shentu Tianyin stood in front of the French window, overlooking all the news reporter vehicles in front of the building. Those reporters were insignificant to her. She didn¡¯t care about them at all.
¡°Tianyin, you really... Divorced Xia Lei?¡± Fu Mingmei looked at the divorce agreement on the office table. Her voice was uneven.
The divorce agreement was still stained with Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tears. It was notpletely dry yet.
Shentu Tianyin looked away from the window and turned to look at Fu Mingmei. A smile came to her face. ¡°Yes, I divorced him.¡±
She had recovered in the span of a night.
She was still that noble, cool and elegant queen of the Vientiane Group.
¡°How could you guys...¡± Fu Mingmei started to say something, then stopped.
¡°Do not speak of this again. Come down with me. It¡¯s about time. The people who should be here have probably arrived already.¡± Shentu Tianyin walked towards thepany¡¯s entrance.
Fu Mingmei walked with Shentu Tianyin as she said angrily, ¡°I just know that men aren¡¯t good creatures. The moment something happens to you, he divorces you. You were so good to him in the past too! How could he divorce you at this time? He¡¯s a traitor to his love!¡±
¡°Silence!¡± Shentu Tianyin was suddenly angry. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to speak of him this way again!¡±
¡°I...¡± Fu Mingmei wanted to defend herself but once she saw Shentu Tianyin¡¯s cold and scary expression, she closed her mouth again.
Shentu Tianyin didn¡¯t talk to Fu Mingmei again. She took big strides to the elevator.
Shentu Tianyin appeared at the entrance of Angel Wings Building several minutester.
A huge group of reporters flocked over, and a lot of camera shes went off. One microphone after another was ced in front of Shentu Tianyin. All of Angel Wing Building¡¯s security guards were dispatched, pushing the reporters back and forming a human wall.
¡°Chairman Shentu, it¡¯s been widely rumored over the past two days that you embezzled several billion in national assets. May I ask if this is true?¡±
¡°Chairman Shentu, are Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks going to be suspended?¡±
¡°Chairman Shentu, you¡¯re faced with very severe usations. Do have anything you want to say about it?¡±
A great barrage of reporters, a great barrage of questions.
Shentu Tianyin put her hand up and waited until it calmed somewhat before saying, ¡°You have all asked me so many questions. I want to say something for a moment. I am an honest businessperson. I did not do anything illegal ormit any crimes. Those usations will not affect Vientiane Group¡¯s business and our stocks will not be suspended.¡±
¡°What about Xia Lei? Your husband should be by your side in times like these but we haven¡¯t seen him,¡± remarked a reporter.
¡°He and I are divorced,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
This set the reporters ame with questions, and they released another flood of questions at Shentu Tianyin. However, Shentu Tianyin didn¡¯t respond in any way. She looked in the direction of the kerb. Right at this moment, some police cars stopped by the road.
A group of police officers got out of their cars and walked over.
The group of reporters was parted, and the officers came up to Shentu Tianyin.
A police officer showed an arrest warrant to Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Shentu Tianyin, you are suspected of illegal and criminal conduct. This is a legal arrest warrant. Pleasee with us and aid us in the investigation.¡±
Shentu Tianyin calmly put her hands out.
A police officer put handcuffs on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s wrists and then brought Shentu Tianyin to a police car by the road.
The lights shed. The reporters definitely wouldn¡¯t be missing out on a scene like this.
Fu Mingmei wanted to go with Shentu Tianyin, but a police officer stopped her.
The police car with Shentu Tianyin in it drove forward, but stopped after a short distance.
In the car, a police officer was on the phone. ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ll release the person immediately.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s face was expressionless but her eyes misted over. She thought quietly to herself, ¡®Thank you, Hubby.¡¯
¡°Chairman Shentu, I am so sorry. I just received my superior¡¯s orders. We have the wrong person. I apologise again. You may go back now.¡± With apology written all over his face, he said, ¡°Do you want us to drive you back?¡±
¡°No, please let me off at the street in front. Is that fine?¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Of course, no problem,¡¯¡¯ said the police officer.
The police car started again, and gradually left Angel Wings Building further and further behind in the distance, till it could no longer be seen.
Meanwhile, in Shi Boren¡¯s office at Bureau 101, Ling Han put away his phone, and there was a slight helplessness in his voice. ¡°They¡¯ve let her go.¡±
The eyes of everyone in the officended on one target ¡ª Xia Lei.
Xia Lei lowered his head, avoiding everyone¡¯s eyes. He looked like a child who had done something wrong and was waiting for his punishment in the teacher¡¯s office.
Out of all the male and female teachers, Teacher Tang was the only one smiling.
Long Bing took in the scene and sighed to herself, ¡®I smell trouble.¡¯
Ling Han walked up to Xia Lei and said, ¡°You¡¯ve gotten Boss Shi and I in a checkmate, but I can also see that you are someone who values feelings and personal loyalty. We¡¯ll just forget about this, and you set your thoughts on official business. It¡¯s good that you¡¯ve divorced Shentu Tianyin. Meeting you was the greatest fortune of her life, but this will be the only time. Go tell her that this is her only chance. If she does anything simr again, her punishment will include this one. Let her fend for herself.¡±
Xia Lei was about to speak when Tang Yuyan interrupted him. ¡°Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin are already divorced. If they see each other again, things will be hopelessly muddled. Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts have to be on business. It won¡¯t be good if Shentu Tianyin entangles herself with him again. You can leave this to me. I¡¯ll go tell Shentu Tianyin.¡±
Ling Han looked wordlessly at Tang Yuyan.
However, Shi Boren said, ¡°Then we¡¯ll do it like that. Yuyan, this task will be left to you.¡±
Tang Yuyan stuck her chest out. ¡°I guarantee that I¡¯ll finish this!¡±
Xia Lei had wanted to stop her but he didn¡¯t speak. It was better if he spoke less.
Ling Han added, ¡°The same goes for you. This will only be allowed once, and it¡¯d better not happen again.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly thought of his father, Xia Changhe, and pain stabbed at his heart. On the outside, however, he smiled. ¡°Thank you Brother Ling. There definitely won¡¯t be a next time.¡±
Ling Hanughed dryly. ¡°Only you. You rascal, let me tell you, you¡¯re still going to be punished though I¡¯m not arresting you. Your punishment is going to be that you have to make the Rheinmetall AG artillery technology and defense system technology that you talked about a reality. You also have toplete the Alloy X Project, or I won¡¯t let you off!¡±
Xia Lei braced himself and said, ¡°Brother Ling, I guarantee that I won¡¯t just reproduce Rheinmetall AG¡¯s artillery technology and defense system technology, I¡¯ll even make it even better than they did. However, for the Alloy X Project... You know as well as I do that it¡¯s not something I can just finish by saying I can.¡±
Ling Han said, ¡°That¡¯s why Elder Fan came. He is going to be involved.¡±
¡°And me.¡± Fan Fan smiled at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m called Fan Fan and I will be your assistant.¡±
Xia Lei smiled back at Fan Fan in response. He understood the importance of the Alloy X Project to this nation. Right now, the Alloy X Project hade to a standstill and the nation would definitely try to think of ways to resolve it. Fan Yiming got involved as a representative of the Academy of Science for one aim ¡ª for him to quickly solve the Alloy X Project.
The corners of Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips turned downwards. ¡°Aren¡¯t all the people at the Academy of Science old men?¡±
Fan Fanughed shyly. ¡°Not everyone at our Academy of Science is an old man. There are a lot of young people like me. However, we¡¯re not the same as Mr Xia. He is the youngest Fellow to join our Academy of Science since it was founded. A lot of my colleagues want to meet Mr Xia.¡±
Tang Yuyan still wanted to add something but Shi Boren red at her, stopping her.
Tang Yuyan wasn¡¯t the only one who had this reaction. Even Long Bing had a simr reaction. However, she only looked this Fan Fan up and down one more time. No matter how she looked at Fan Fan though, the girl was pleasing to the eye.
Fan Fan had an oval face, and her chin was pointed very nicely. Her eyes were big, dark and beautiful. Her skin was fair and clear, and she seemed very refined. Her figure was very sexy too. She was big in the ces where she should be big, well developed in the areas she should be, slender where she should be and long where she should be. Add her air of an educated person, and she probably could have been a female official like Li Qingzhao or Shangguan Wan¡¯er if she was put in the ancient era.
A woman like this for Xia Lei¡¯s assistant was really quite worrying!
¡°Yep, yep.¡± Fan Yiming said, ¡°Mr Xia,e with me and I¡¯ll show you around the Academy of Science.¡±
¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯ll have to wait. Xia Lei still has to be detained for half a month, Elder Fan,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°What? Half a month?¡± Fan Yiming red at Ling Han. ¡°Did you know a person¡¯s life only consists of thirty thousand days and that he can only work for a third of that time? Detaining him for half a month is an utter waste!¡±
¡°Elder Fan... I wasn¡¯t the one who decided this, the higher-ups did. This is their punishment for him.¡± Ling Han seemed to understand the workings of Fan Yiming¡¯s temper quite a bit. He didn¡¯t get angry at all. ¡°Elder Fan, I will tell Xia Lei to prepare the relevant materials for you during this time. You can read through it first, so this won¡¯t dy your official business.¡±
Fan Yiming still appeared quite reluctant.
¡°Xia Lei, you won¡¯t have any objections against this kind of punishment, right?¡± Ling Han looked at Xia Lei as he asked.
How would Xia Lei still have anyints? He answered, ¡°I don¡¯t have anyints. I¡¯ll take it.¡±
¡°Yuyan, what are you still waiting for? Take Xia Lei down to be detained!¡± Shi Boren¡¯s tone was very strict.
He had ordered Tang Yuyan and Long Bing to do it together earlier but it was only Tang Yuyan now. Her godfather¡¯s intention was understood by everyone.
Tang Yuyan escorted Xia Lei out of Shi Boren¡¯s office and got close to his ear. Sheughed as she said, ¡°What do you want to eat for lunch? Should I make it for you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He seriously wanted to eat headache medicine.
Chapter 610 - Fight
The detention room had just a bed made of a metal frame and wooden nks. A white nket sat on the bed, and army-green bedding folded to the size of tofu cubes. There was aldo a toilet bowl, and a sink for washing up. It was quite spartan, and so empty that there didn¡¯t seem to be anything else to do there besides sleep.
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on at the thought that he would have to spend the next two weeks in this environment. In all honesty, he really was blessed by the Heavens for only having to go through this very very light punishment when the higher-ups knew about him being the scapegoat for Shentu Tianyin. They had not pursued the matter with her either.
Tang Yuyan went into the room with Xia Lei with a smile on her face. ¡°I¡¯lle over to spend time with you when I am free, and help to lessen the boredom. Oh, right, what type of books do you like? I¡¯ll get them for you.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, and said, ¡°Get me some technical books on science, those about physics, chemistry and uh, optics.¡±
¡°Are you really nning on bing a scientist?¡± Tang Yuyan had an odd look on her face. ¡°You can¡¯t just amass all that knowledge in ten days or two weeks.¡±
¡°Just get me some books. I¡¯m a member of the Academy of Science now, after all. I need tomunicate with those scientists. I don¡¯t want to be a scientist myself but I will still need to be able to carry on the conversation when they talk about proposing a form or discuss a principle. Won¡¯t I be aughingstock if I be a member of the Academy of Science, and know nothing?¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan gave augh. ¡°True. You need to be able to know something to fake it. Sure, I¡¯ll bring you books. I¡¯ll bring you some feminine reading material too.¡±
¡°Feminine reading material?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s face filled with confusion.
¡°You keep getting duped by women. Your EQ is just too low. I¡¯m going to give you some reading material so you can study up and avoid getting duped by women again,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Okay, I¡¯m off. I have to make a trip to Angel Wings Building too.¡± Tang Yuyan turned to leave.
Xia Lei called out to her. ¡°Wait. You¡¯re really going over?¡±
¡°Of course. You were there too. This is a task my Godfather gave me. I have to finish it.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated, but still took out the satellite phone which GU Kewen had given him. ¡°This was all done by Gu Kewen. Her aim was to make use of Shentu Tianyin to pressure me, and make me fix the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe in Rheinmetall AG. You know about it ¡ª I tinkered with thatthe before I left Germany. Gu Kewen¡¯s guy will go to Angel Wings Building to retrieve the core parts. Be on the alert, and capture that person. We might be able to get Gu Kewen¡¯s whereabouts out of the guy.¡±
¡°Why didn¡¯t you say this just now, in my Godfather¡¯s office?¡±
¡°Boss Shi and Ling Han were both mad as hell at that time, and it just so happened to be the time when Tianyin was being released. I didn¡¯t dare reveal any more side issues. Isn¡¯t me telling you now the same? I¡¯ll get scolded one time less if you¡¯re the one who tells Boss Shi this.¡±
¡°So Gu Kewenmunicates with you with this satellite phone?¡±
¡°Yes. There¡¯s a number on it.¡±
¡°Give it to me. I¡¯ll contact her when I get to Angel Wings Building and get her guy to retrieve the things from me,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei handed the satellite phone to Tang Yuyan.
¡°Ay.¡± Tang Yuyan sighed. ¡°I suddenly envy Shentu Tianyin very much. She made you a scapegoat for such a big crime, and you¡¯re still doing so much for her.¡±
¡°Hurry and go,¡± urged Xia Lei.
¡°Anything you want me to say to her?¡±
¡°You can tell her... Um. Never mind. It¡¯s nothing. You go.¡± Xia Lei took his words back before he said it. How could he ask Tang Yuyan to deliver words he wanted to say to Shentu Tianyin himself?
Tang Yuyan went to the door and suddenly looked back at Xia Lei. Her loaded gaze, that shy smile... it gave one the impression of a young girl in love.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t contest her stare, and raised his chin to look at the ceiling.
Oh, an old-fashioned incandescent light bulb. It should be about 100 watts, huh?
¡°I¡¯m going now. Is there something you want to say to me?¡± said Tang Yuyan probingly.
¡°Nn. Have a good trip,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei and went out the door.
Xia Leiy on the bed after the door was closed, and his emotions went up and down like a roller coaster.
He was divorced. By that logic, he should be relieved, but his heart was still heavy.
Liang Siyao had hurt him once, and that wound had healed only recently when Shentu Tianyin had hurt him again, and even more deeply, more painfully.
¡®My old man¡¯s prediction was spot on. Looks like men like me are not cut out for marriage...¡¯ Tang Yuyan, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi¡¯s faces shed past in Xia Lei¡¯s head, and he made a decision.
Half an hourter, Tang Yuyan arrived at Angel Wings Building. It seemed like she was alone, but her subordinates were already in ce in the building.
The reporters were still there, and they had not left even though Shentu Tianyin had left.
Tang Yuyan alighted, took out the satellite phone, and dialled the number saved on it.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
¡°Have you made your decision?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice came from over the line.
¡°I brought the items. Where are you?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°You¡¯re not Xia Lei. Who are you?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice was filled with rm and anger.
¡°I am Xia Lei¡¯s woman. He went to take the punishment for Shentu Tianyin. I¡¯m here on his behalf, toplete the deal.¡±
¡°You¡¯re Xia Lei¡¯s woman? Xia Lei sure has a lot of women. You¡¯re probably the one surnamed Tang, aren¡¯t you? Tang Yuyan.¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice was filled with ridicule. ¡°When did you be Xia Lei¡¯s woman? Do all of you Bureau 101 women like to fuck Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Enough bullshit! Do you want to do the deal, or not? I brought the parts. Show yourself.¡±
¡°Heh heh. You think I¡¯d be so stupid as toe here personally toplete the deal?¡±
¡°Then get your guy over. I¡¯m in the entrance of Angel Wings Building,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Stay there, and don¡¯t move. Someone wille in five minutes. I¡¯m warning you, no tricks or¡ª¡±
¡°You¡¯re more naggy than my mother! Hurry up!¡± Tang Yuyan hung up.
Five minutester, a young man on a skateboard wearing a baseball cap approached Tang Yuyan¡¯s position. He then stopped the skateboard in front of Tang Yuyan, looked her up and down and said, ¡°Sis, someone told me to get something from you. Are you the person I¡¯m supposed to be looking for?¡±
¡°Who told you toe get the items? What does he look like? Where was he?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°A baldie old uncle.¡± The young man pointed at the road. ¡°Over there. He gave me 100 yuan. Say, Sis, give me the items. I want to go to the park to skate after I hand the items over to that guy.¡±
Tang Yuyan suddenly started sprinting in the direction that the young man had pointed.
¡°Hey, Sis? What are you doing?¡± The young man called out from behind her.
A Bureau 101 agent suddenly came charging from the side, and grabbed the skateboard youth, throwing him to the ground.
Tang Yuyan returned a few minutester. She had not seen any bald uncle.
¡°Let him go,¡± she said to her subordinate.
The Bureau 101 agent released the young man.
The young man ran off in a panic.
The satellite phone rang again.
Tang Yuyan picked up, and started cursing as soon as she opened her mouth. ¡°Bitch! You wanna y, huh? I¡¯m game! Bring it on!¡±
¡°Tang Yuyan, don¡¯t you pull this with me. Come to America if you want to arrest me. You¡¯d better not go on any overseas missions in your life, or I¡¯ll make sure you end up dead!¡±
¡°Sure. Since you say that, I¡¯m going to investigate those people connected to your Gu n. I don¡¯t believe that those little remnants of the Gu n are clean. I will first finish them, thene for you!¡±
Gu Kewen was silent.
¡°You have some evidence or something, don¡¯t you? Take it all out. Let me tell you that the evidence you have can¡¯t threaten anyone now. Don¡¯t think that you can fight with Xia Lei because you joined the CIA. You will never be a match for him for your whole life. You don¡¯t even qualify to be his opponent!¡±
Gu Kewen hung up.
Fight? With Tang Yuyan? She was not Long Bing, nor Xia Lei, because she had a huge backer ¡ª the Tang Sect, hundreds of years old and still going strong. The disciples of the Tang Sect were not pushovers either. Every one of them was versed in hidden weapons, and deadly poisons.
¡°Bitch! Damn you!¡± Tang Yuyan smashed the satellite phone to the ground in anger.
¡°What do we do now, Section Chief Tang?¡± asked the Bureau 101 agent cautiously.
¡°What else can we do? Go back. All of you.¡±
¡°Then, you...¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to meet another bitch.¡±
The Bureau 101 agent was speechless.
Fu Mingmei walked into Angel Wings Building and went straight to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s office.
¡°Our chairwoman is not in.¡± Fu Mingmei knew Tang Yuyan¡¯s identity, and she did not dare to stop her.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze swept over Shentu Tianyin¡¯s office, and she frowned. ¡°She isn¡¯t hiding from me, is she?¡±
¡°Why would our chairwoman hide from you? No, she really does have something to tend to. She is not in thepany.¡± Fu Mingmei spoke carefully.
Tang Yuyan pointed at the office phone on the desk. ¡°You give her a call. I¡¯ll talk to her when the call connects.¡±
¡°This...¡± Fu Mingmei hesitated.
Tang Yuyan spoke indifferently, ¡°Don¡¯t think it¡¯s all fine and dandy because our little dumbass went and became her scapegoat. If I think there¡¯s something wrong with her, then there¡¯s something wrong with her. Make the call, or I¡¯ll drag her in for an interrogation.¡±
Fu Mingmei walked to the desk and picked up the phone. She dialled, but grumbled in her head, ¡®Your little dumbass is divorced but he was still our Tianyin¡¯s ex-husband, okay? How can you even say that sort of thing. How shameless...¡¯
The call connected and Fu Mingmei said, ¡°Tianyin, Miss Tang wants to speak with you.¡±
The line was silent for a bit before Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice could be heard. ¡°Give the phone to her. I¡¯ll speak with her.¡±
Fu Mingmei handed the phone to Tang Yuyan.
¡°Shentu Tianyin. Where are you?¡± Tang Yuyan went straight to the point, and she was not polite at all.
¡°I¡¯m outside, but I don¡¯t know where this is. I went for a stroll, to have some quiet. Why are you looking for me?¡±
¡°You know why.¡± Tang Yuyan spoke coldly, ¡°Don¡¯t think you can just use our little fool because he is kind and treats your rtionship like a treasure. I¡¯ll let you off this time on his ount. Now that you two are divorced, you are not linked to him anymore. Don¡¯t go looking for him again, and don¡¯t meet him, or else...¡±
¡°Or else, what?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voicecked strength and she sounded like she was exhausted.
¡°You¡¯re a smart woman. You know what I mean. If you harass him again, I¡¯ll take it up with you.¡±
¡°Are you... trying to rece me?¡±
¡°He was mine from the start. You were the one who snatched him from me!¡±
Shentu Tianyin was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°All right, I promise you. I won¡¯t go looking for him, but there¡¯s nothing I can do if hees looking for me.¡±
¡°Ha! You think you are so charming?¡± A faint mocking smile appeared in the corners of Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth.
¡°That will be all, Miss Tang. Goodbye.¡±
Tang Yuyan flung the phone back on the desk with a BAM. ¡°Arrogant woman!¡± she said angrily.
In the park, Shentu Tianyin put her mobile phone down. Herrge eyes misted over with tears.
She had just divorced Xia Lei, but a woman was confronting her and already preparing to rece her. However, she knew that this pain was just the beginning, not the end.
Chapter 611 - Life-threatening Dinner
Book after book was piled up at the head of the bed, at least fifty of them. These were all science-rted books in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, optics, and so on. Every book was very technical and difficult to understand. An ordinary person would need a few months, or longer to even finishprehending one of the books, but Xia Lei only spent a fortnight to finish ¡®gnawing¡¯ through them.
In these two weeks, Xia Lei¡¯s head was like a ball-shaped sponge, soaking in the knowledge in the books. The quantity of knowledge stored in his brain had increased by several times in this period of time. Knowledge which others took a lifetime to acquire was obtained by Xia Lei in a fortnight.
Rather than saying this was a miracle, it was better to say that his brain was a miracle.
No matter what book it was, howplicated or profound the information was, his left eye just ¡®scanned¡¯ it and his brain would start operating like a hugeputer, absorbing the information and understanding it from various angles. At the same time, this knowledge was constantly being arranged inbinations, and even evolve. It then transformed into his memory, bing a part of his brain.
However, this miracle was only known to Xia Lei. Other people would never believe this.
If he had gone to the Academy of Science two weeks ago, he would definitely have been nervous. Now, he could enter the Academy easily, and chat casually with the scientists and old Fellows about scientific knowledge or questions regarding scientific experiments. The reason was simple. He had knowledge, and a belly full of it too!
In these two weeks, he had thrown all his energy into learning. This had let him forget the pain Shentu Tianyin had brought him, and could be considered a type of psychological therapy.
On the morning of the sixteenth day, Tang Yuyan came to the detention room again.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing hade to see him several times over his imprisonment, but because of Bureau 101¡¯s rules, visitation time was never over fifteen minutes every time they visited.
¡°Ok, Lei, youpleted your prison sentence so you¡¯re released now.¡± Tang Yuyan spoke teasingly to Xia Lei as she walked into the detention room.
Xia Lei put the book on advanced physics in his hand down and smiled. ¡°Just in time. I¡¯m done reading this book too. Let¡¯s go.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze swept over the wall of books at the head of the bed. She was shocked. ¡°You¡¯re saying... You finished reading all these books? How is this possible? I borrowed these books from the library for you. I can¡¯t even understand any of the books if I read it for half a year. You are actually telling me that you finished reading them all?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m boasting. Can¡¯t I boast?¡±
Tang Yuyan punched Xia Lei lightly on the shoulder and said in annoyance, ¡°I knew you were lying.¡±
This punch of hers hardly held any power, and it tickled Xia Lei.
How was this beating someone up? She was simply teasing him.
He knew that she was teasing him but Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare to respond in any way.
¡°Lei,e to my house. I prepared a fire pan for you. Once you jump over it, all the bad luck will disappear.¡±
¡°This, I....¡±
¡°Why are you hemming and hawing? My grandfather said he hasn¡¯t seen you in a long time and he wants to have a few bouts with you. Are you not going to give the old man some of your time?¡± Tang Yuyan pouted.
Xia Lei recalled how she had been taking good care of him over this period of time, even borrowing so many books for him, so he felt like he could not refuse this. He nodded. ¡°Okay. I will go to your house but no need for jumping over fire pans and whatnot.¡±
Jumping over the fire pan was a type of custom, but people usually jumped in front of their own houses. Wouldn¡¯t he be part of the Tang family if he went to the Tang family to jump over the fire pan?
A smile appeared on Tang Yuyan¡¯s face. ¡°Sure. If you don¡¯t want to jump, then don¡¯t. I didn¡¯t prepare it anyway.¡±
Just then, Long Bing suddenly appeared in the doorway. She frowned when she saw Tang Yuyan in the detention room.
¡°Bing, you came too.¡± Xia Lei was a little awkward. He smiled and greeted Long Bing.
Long Bing gave a soft grunt in response and said, ¡°I came to pick you up. Come to my house today. I bought a lot of groceries. I¡¯ll cook lunch for you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s headache increased twofold.
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing. ¡°I¡¯ve already invited Xia Lei to eat at my house. How can he go to your house? I¡¯m treating him to a meal. Must there be a first and ast when treating someone to a meal?¡±
Long Bing didn¡¯t even look at Tang Yuyan. She stared at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei understood her. He knew that she was waiting for him to make a decision. If he chose to go to Tang Yuyan¡¯s house, she wouldn¡¯t force him to her house, and she wouldn¡¯t evenin about it. However, her fairness and reasonable attitude troubled him ever more. Tang Yuyan and him were friends, while Long Bing was his lover. He didn¡¯t want to offend anyone but he would be wrong no matter who he chose.
Click, ck...
The sound of the high heels came to their ears. The footsteps stopped in front of the detention room.
The three people in the detention room all looked over at the same time.
An honoured guest hade to the door ¡ª Fan Fan.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®If she also came to invite me to a meal, I will go on a hunger strike for three days.¡¯
¡°Why are you here?¡± Tang Yuyan asked.
Fanfan smiled sweetly. ¡°Hello, Section Chief Tang and Section Chief Long. Nn, hello, Fellow Xia.¡± She paused before she said, ¡°I came to invite Fellow Xia to a meeting.¡±
Xia Lei rxed once he heard that it was an invitation to a meeting. ¡°What type of meeting?¡±
Fanfan said, ¡°Fellow Xia, you haven¡¯t been to the Academy of Science even once since you joined. You are a very important member of our Academy of Science. My grandfather has prepared a weing ceremony for you, followed by a tea party. Last of all is lunch. We shall have our lunch together. My grandfather also said that he has a lot of questions for you after reading that information from you. I think, whether it¡¯s for public or personal reasons, you should show up briefly either way.¡±
Xia Lei pretended to be in a difficult situation. ¡°Oh dear, I have two invitations to dinner too...¡±
Long Bing said, ¡°Go to the Academy of Science. That is formal work.¡±
Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t really force Xia Lei to go to her house for a meal now that Long Bing had said this. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you,¡± she said.
Xia Lei had a secret headache but before he could respond, Fanfan said, ¡°Sorry, but this is the internal gathering for the Academy of Science and there will be academic discussions. Outsiders should not go since it will be inconvenient.¡±
Tang Yuyan almost choked at these words.
¡°How about this? Yuyan, we¡¯ll do it another day. After all, I¡¯m a member of the Academy of Science and Elder Fan is honouring me with this party, so I obviously have to go,¡± said Xia Lei.
No matter how unwilling Tang Yuyan was, she couldn¡¯t stop Xia Lei from going, could she? Plus, even if she didn¡¯t want to let him go, who was she to stop him from going?
¡°Please, Fellow Xia.¡± Fan Fan smiled sweetly, and her voice was sweet too. ¡°I am your future assistant. Please look after me.¡±
¡°You¡¯re being too polite. Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei squeezed past Tang Yuyan and Long Bing through the middle of them.
Fan Fan followed Xia Lei out, and only Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were left in the detention room.
¡°Are you going to keep arguing with me?¡± Tang Yuyan said angrily, ¡°That little minx from the Academy of Science is stealing him away.¡±
Long Bing said tly, ¡°She came on official business. Why are you setting yourself against her?¡±
Tang Yuyan stared at Long Bing. ¡°I¡¯m not talking about that Fan Fan. Let¡¯s talk.¡±
¡°Talk about what?¡±
¡°You know what I want to talk about.¡±
¡°Hey, I know. Xia Lei is divorced and you don¡¯t like seeing other women by his side right?¡±
¡°No, how am I a woman like that? What I want to say is... My brother has been secretly in love with you for a long time. How about I act as the middleman for the two of you?¡±
Long Bing paused, then gave Tang Yuyan the middle finger.
Tang Yuyan suddenly moved to bite Long Bing¡¯s middle finger.
Long Bing moved her finger back and turned around to leave. She had just walked a few steps when her phone rang. She took her phone out, nced at the screen, and opened her message mailbox.
Xia Lei had sent her a new message: I¡¯ming to your house tonight.
The corners of Long Bing¡¯s lips bent in a faint smile.
Tang Yuyan came chasing from behind. ¡°Who sent you a message?¡±
Long Bing put the phone away.
¡°Hey? Are we still sisters?¡±
¡°Save your energy, Yuyan. Xia Lei just divorced.¡± Long Bing said, ¡°If you¡¯re a smart woman, don¡¯t force him. Give him some time to recover.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know that there¡¯s something fishy between the two of you guys. I didn¡¯t tell Shentu Tianyin because we are sisters. No, it¡¯s because we are best friends. Tell me, was it Xia Lei who sent you a message?¡±
Long Bing was speechless.
Bureau 101¡¯s underground car park.
Xia Lei sat in the front passenger seat of a Volkswagen Beetle. Fan Fan started the car, and drove it towards the gate.
The car was pink and the air inside was sweet-smelling too. It was a mellow jasmine smell, quite soothing.
Xia Lei had not had the chance to touch women when he was shut in the detention room for half a month. The attractive scenery of spring colours before him battered at his psyche, but this was just an instinctive reaction. He wasn¡¯t the type of man who would want to have sex with any pretty woman he saw. He took the initiative and found a topic to talk about to move his attention elsewhere. ¡°Miss Fan, what major are you studying now?¡±
¡°Me? Heh heh.¡± Fan Fanughed lightly. ¡°I¡¯m studying bioengineering. How about you?¡±
¡°Me?¡± For a moment, Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond to this question.
He was a high schooler who had somehow became a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences. He was an expert in machinery and electrical engineering, but these were obviously not enough for him to have a right to join the Academy of Sciences as a Fellow. Any one of the Fellows from the Academy of Science represented a top figure from a certain field.
¡°You don¡¯t feelfortable telling me?¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s just that... I¡¯m actually just a high-school graduate. I have never been to university.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t want to hide his educational background.
¡°Wow! You¡¯re just a high school graduate, yet you created the world¡¯s most advanced Thunder Dragon intelligentthe and developed the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle? They are the world¡¯s most advanced firearms. You¡¯re amazing. No wonder my grandfather sings your praises so highly whenever he mentions you. If it was up to me to say, I think you¡¯re better than us who¡¯ve been to college.¡± Fanfan shot Xia Lei a smile.
Xia Lei smiled too. She really knew how to talk well.
Chapter 612 - High School Discrimination
Xia Lei had imagined that the Academy of Science was a solemn and sacred ce and that the building would probably be a very old design. However, when he got there, he discovered that what he had imagined was wrong. The real Academy of Science was a buildingplex with a modern atmosphere and modernized elements. It looked just like an Intepany in Silicon Valley.
¡°Miss Fan, how many people are there in the Academy of Science?¡± asked Xia Lei when he got out of the car and appraised the building in front of him.
Fan Fan pursed her lips and smiled. ¡°Fellow Xia, how many people do you think there should be in the Academy of Science?¡±
Xia Lei thought about it. ¡°Several tens? Or more than a hundred?¡±
Pfft! Fan Fanughed. ¡°The Academy of Science is the organisation with the highest authority in our country engaging in natural sciences research. Do you think several dozen people would be enough for this job?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. He didn¡¯t understand the Academy of Science all that well.
¡°Our Academy of Science is divided into twelve institutions with more than seven hundred Fellows and several thousand staff members,¡¯¡¯ said Fan Fan with a bit of pride on her face.
¡°There¡¯s more than seven hundred Fellows?¡± Xia Lei was astonished.
¡°Of course. This academy serves all industries, from physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, math, environmental, ecology, and so on. It¡¯s like the brain of our country. It has contributed a great deal to the sess of our nation.¡±
¡°Then what institution or department would I be put into?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°You aren¡¯t considered a part of any institution or department. You report to my grandfather, and him alone.¡± Fan Fan stuck her chest out slightly and said with a smile, ¡°And me. I¡¯m your assistant.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help resting on her perky and well-developed chest. He found that even though she was wearing a bra, he could see her cute protruding parts even though he was not using his X-ray vision. The hazier the beauty of enticement was, the more destructive it was to men. He couldn¡¯t help thinking to himself, ¡®If all the female assistants in the Academy of Science were this sexy and pretty, wouldn¡¯t the schrs¡¯ work efficiency decrease dramatically?¡¯
¡°Let¡¯s go, Fellow Xia. I¡¯ll bring you to my grandfather,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei walked with her, saying as he went, ¡°Miss Fan, don¡¯t call me Fellow Xia. You can just call me by my name, or call me Lei. I feel ufortable when you call me Fellow Xia.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll call you Big Brother Lei, and you don¡¯t need to call me Miss Fan anymore either. You can just call me Fan Fan or Little Fan.¡±
¡°Okay, Fan Fan, Little Fan. Haha, your name is very unique. I¡¯ll just call you... Fan Fan then.¡± Xia Lei decided on that because he felt it easier to call her this. He was actually only slightly older than Fan Fan, so it was a little inappropriate to call her Little Fan.
¡°Yes, Big Brother Lei,¡± called Fan Fan. She was bing more familiar with Xia Lei now.
¡°That¡¯s right, Fan Fan. The higher-ups told me to join the Academy of Science and gave me the honor of being a Fellow but I don¡¯t know what I can do here. Can you tell me?¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be the Alloy X Project, of course. My grandfather is the best materials scientist in the country. He is going to work together with you to make a breakthrough in the Alloy X Project. As for me, even though I work more with bioengineering, I¡¯ve received my grandfather¡¯s influence from a young age and I have a certain level of understanding of materials science. That¡¯s why my grandfather let me be your assistant,¡± said Fan Fan.
The Alloy X Project could be considered the most mysterious and most confidential project in the country. He could see that it had been the higher-ups¡¯ idea to get Fan Yiming involved. However, getting Fan Fan to be Xia Lei¡¯s assistant was also a move to help his granddaughter advance. The Alloy X Project was too important, after all. The moment a breakthrough happened, everyone participating would receive generous rewards, and any future career path would be paved in gold.
From Xia Lei¡¯s point of view, Fan Fan was much better as an assistant than an old and experienced research worker. Her visuals and her attractiveness made her fairly eptable indeed.
The two chatted until they got to an office door. Fan Fan knocked twice, then pushed the door open and walked in.
This was Fan Yiming¡¯s office. There were many cabs with quite a bit of materials in them ¡ª things like natural ore, a meteorite and metal materials that had been processed and manufactured of various sorts. The big office felt narrow and cramped with all these items.
Fan Yiming wasn¡¯t in his office, but there were several researchers discussing something in the room. One of the research workers was young, less than thirty years old. He was calcting something on a ckboard. There were mathematical forms and chemical equations and molecr forms on the ckboard. It seemed chaotic and veryplicated.
¡°Where¡¯s my grandfather?¡± asked Fan Fan.
The old researchers were still discussing something so no one responded.
The young man in front of the ckboard replied, ¡°The dean went to prepare a tea party or something to wee that high school graduate.¡±
The young researcher doing calctions in front of the ckboard didn¡¯t look at Fan Fan when he¡¯d spoken, so he didn¡¯t see Xia Lei standing behind her.
His words were obviously discriminatory, and they made Xia Lei feel ufortable. So what if he was a high school graduate? Were high school graduates not allowed toe to ces like these?
¡°Lin Yi, how can you speak like that?¡± Fan Fan was unhappy.
The man named Lin Yi turned around at that. He gaze went first to Fan Fan¡¯s face, then shifted to Xia Lei¡¯s face. A disdainful smile appeared on his lips. ¡°Did I say something wrong? Is that person not a high school graduate?¡±
Fan Fan red at Lin Yi. ¡°So what if he¡¯s a high school graduate? Does a diploma prove anything?¡±
Lin Yi¡¯s tone was indifferent. ¡°At least a diploma can prove someone¡¯s education. To be frank, it can even show someone¡¯s standing. The higher education someone has received, the higher standing that person has. If a high school graduate and a doctor applied for the same position, thetter would clearly have a greater chance to get the job. This is amon thing in our modern society.¡±
Xia Lei was already frowning. This was clearly aimed at him.
¡°Lin Yi, what¡¯s with you today? You aren¡¯t usually like this.¡± Fan Fan got mad too. ¡°You¡¯d better hurry up and apologise to Fellow Xia!¡±
¡°Apologise? Why should I apologise? I only said the truth.¡± Lin Yi looked at Xia Lei. ¡°You must be Fellow Xia. If you don¡¯t like it then pretend you didn¡¯t hear anything.¡±
Xia Lei did not react.
The old men finally stopped their discussion and they all looked over at the three young people in the office.
¡°What¡¯s with Little Lin today?¡± asked an old man quietly. His question was directed at his colleague next to him.
¡°You still don¡¯t know?¡± An old man replied softly, ¡°The title of Fellow was originally going to be for Little Lin but now it was given to Xia Lei. I heard he¡¯s only a high school graduate too.¡±
¡°I heard Little Lin has always really liked Elder Fan¡¯s granddaughter, but Elder Fan gave Fan Fan to that new schr as his assistant. Can he ept it?¡±
¡°I heard this new Fellow is a billionaire. There¡¯s always someone better, eh? If someone like this wants to be a Fellow, then he really must be just ying around.¡±
Even though the old men were discussing very quietly, Xia Lei could still hear them very clearly, and he understood why this Lin Yi would target him. His title of Fellow was supposed to be Lin Yi¡¯s, and the woman Lin Yi had a crush on had be his assistant. These were all because of him. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t be happy either if he were Lin Yi.
¡°Lin Yi, are you going to apologise, or not?¡± Fan Fan¡¯s cheeks had turned red from anger.
¡°If my words weren¡¯t the truth then I¡¯ll apologise.¡± Lin Yi looked at Xia Lei with challenge in his eyes. ¡°Fellow Xia, were any of my words untrue?¡±
Xia Lei had maintained his silence but he grinned now. ¡°What you said is indeed true, so you don¡¯t have to apologise to me.¡±
Fan Fan stared nkly. ¡°Big Brother Lei, you...¡±
Lin Yi¡¯s expression grew ugly when Fan Fan called Xia Lei ¡®Big Brother¡¯.
¡°That¡¯s okay, I¡¯m not that petty.¡± Xia Leiughed and continued, ¡°Mr Lin, it¡¯s true that I¡¯m a high school graduate, but I don¡¯t believe in your notion of a person¡¯s standing. Society doesn¡¯t only need scientists like you, it also needs construction workers, farmers who work thend, and public cleaners who clean the roads. upations don¡¯t have a social hierarchy. Can you say that you¡¯re nobler than the public cleaner who sweeps the streets early in the morning while braving the bitter cold?¡±
¡°Hmph.¡± Lin Yi turned his nose up at Xia Lei¡¯s words.
¡°All right, I didn¡¯t hope to convince you of these intrinsic notions either, and I have less of a chance to get rid of your superiority. How about this?This high school graduate here can see that you haven¡¯t figured out this problem, so why don¡¯t I help you.¡± Xia Lei walked towards the little ckboard.
Lin Yi lifted his hand but only for a moment. He didn¡¯t stop Xia Lei, but sneered, ¡°If you can figure it out, I will apologise to you immediately.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t speak. He held the chalk and stood in front of the ckboard.
¡°A high school graduate can figure it out? I wouldn¡¯t believe it even if you flogged me.¡±
¡°What¡¯s all over the ckboard is Lin Yi¡¯s specialty. It¡¯s veryplicated. Lin Yi hasn¡¯t had a breakthrough in half a month, but a high school graduate can? What a joke.¡±
¡°I heard this new Fellow is someone who does mechanical manufacturing, and he¡¯s also good at electrical engineering. He has a certain level ofpetence.¡±
¡°Mechanical manufacturing plus electrical engineering and chemistry are two different things. They are not linked at all.¡±
¡°Looks like this new Fellow is going to make a fool of himself.¡±
The old men discussed it spiritedly.
Fan Fan nervously looked at Xia Lei, worried that he would humiliate himself. Lin Yi was an expert in the field of chemistry after all. Could Xia Lei figure out a question that Lin Yi hadn¡¯t even figured out for half a month?
Lin Yi¡¯s gaze went quietly to Fan Fan¡¯s face, and his eyes filled with some resentfulness and warmth. It was extremelyplicated. He didn¡¯t want to see Xia Lei calcting his problem because he believed that even if Xia Lei ruptured his brain thinking for two months, he wouldn¡¯t be able to calcte it. However, what he couldn¡¯t understand was how this high school graduate had be a Fellow of the Academy of Science.
Xia Lei held a piece of chalk in the midst of the questioning expressions and discussions, and looked at the content on the ckboard in silence.
¡°Ha, he really can¡¯t do it.¡±
¡°Look, he doesn¡¯t even know where to start.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. How could a high school graduate calcte this type of problem?¡±
¡°Lin Yi has a doctorate, and he¡¯s even an expert in the chemistry field. If he can¡¯t figure it out, then how could a high school graduate do it?¡±
All of these voices came to Xia Lei¡¯s ears but they didn¡¯t influence him at all. He seemed still at this very moment, but his head was operating like a superputer. Everything his mind had absorbed about chemistry and math in the detention room rushed forth in his mind like a tide. Each form and each molecr form appeared unceasingly in his mind, assembling themselves to quickly produce a result.
Chapter 613 - The Hidden Workshop
His brain didn¡¯t just perform calctions, it could even simte chemical molecr structures and chemical reactions, and he conducted a ¡°simtion experiment¡± in his head. In other words, his brain wasn¡¯t just solving the question, it was also deducing the experimental results!
After several minutes, Xia Lei raised the chalk and started writing on the ckboard.
Xia Lei threw the chalk onto the ground after three minutes.
The ckboard was filled with writing, and it was all correct.
¡°This...¡± Lin Yi¡¯s jaw fell to the ground in astonishment.
The old men looked at Xia Lei, dumbstruck. They didn¡¯t dare believe that a high school graduate could actually solve a problem so difficult that even a doctorate-holder couldn¡¯t solve.The youth in front of them had already overturned their perception of high school graduates and turned their faces red in shame from their previous prejudiced and discriminatory remarks.
Fan Fan¡¯s reaction was different from everyone else. Her eyes lit up as she watched Xia Lei. She was proud of him and she felt proud to be his assistant.
Some women liked men who fought well and thought that they were cool. Some women liked men who were handsome, because going out with a hot boyfriend would attract a lot of admiring gazes on the streets. Some women liked smart men, men who had the capability to earn money, because these men would always provide a superior quality of life. No matter which characteristic it was, Xia Lei could embody all of these.
This was why he was always so attractive to women. He was divorced too, so he was now a top-notch highly eligible bachelor.
¡°All right, that¡¯s about it. It¡¯s not that hard,¡± said Xia Lei indifferently.
These words made Lin Yi want to bash his head into a wall. He hadn¡¯t solved that question for an entire half month as a doctorate-holder but the high school graduate he had discriminated against had solved it in just a few minutes. This was like a p to his face, and a very vicious p at that!
¡°Lin Yi, Fellow Xia has already solved your question. I think you should keep your promise now.¡± Fan Fan urged, ¡°Quickly apologise to Fellow Xia.¡±
¡°I...¡± Lin Yi flushed, stammering. A simple sorry was easy to say, but it was very difficult for him.
¡°Is it so hard?¡± Fan Fan looked at Lin Yi questioningly.
Lin Yi¡¯s face became redder but he still couldn¡¯t force out an apology. Now, he only had his little bit of so-called intellectual dignity left.
Fan Fan was about to say something else but Xia Lei said, ¡°There¡¯s no need. I don¡¯t need anyone to apologise to me.¡±
Fan Fan put a sweet smile on her face. ¡°All right, let¡¯s leave and find my grandfather,¡± she said.
Xia Lei was about to leave the office with Fan Fan when Lin Yi suddenly called out, ¡°Wait up. I... I¡¯m sorry.¡±
He still said it in the end.
Xia Lei turned and looked at him with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I only hope that in the future, when Mr Lin meets another high school graduate like me, that you won¡¯t look at him with bias.¡±
His face reddened again, and he felt so ashamed that he wanted to die.
At that moment, Fan Yiming appeared in the office doorway. He saw Xia Lei and was immediately happy. ¡°Haha, Mr Xia! I told someone to fetch you from the entrance. I didn¡¯t expect that you would already be here.¡±
Xia Lei was a little speechless. This Fan Yiming had a strange way of doing things.
¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re here. Come to my workshop with me. I looked through the materials that you sent me but there are still a lot of things that I don¡¯t understand. We¡¯ll have to discuss this thoroughly,¡± said Fan Yiming.
Xia Lei paused. He did not say anything, but he was thinking, ¡®Wasn¡¯t there going to be a tea party, a wee ceremony, or something of the like?¡¯
¡°Grandfather...¡± Fan Fan wanted to remind Fan Yiming of it, but Fan Yiming had already dragged Xia Lei out of the office.
The few old men in the office looked at each other, all with very strange expressions on their faces. Fan Yiming had actually gathered them all there so that they could meet Xia Lei and get to know him. They had already waited for quite a long time but Fan Yiming had taken Xia Lei away the moment he arrived. This made them feel quite depressed.
The old men had all been given the cold shoulder. Of course, Fan Yiming hadpletely forgotten about the wee ceremony and tea party. However, Xia Lei didn¡¯t care. He actually didn¡¯t like things like that.
Fan Yiming¡¯s workshop was very big but the space was filled with different types of materials and experiment equipment. It was simr to his office, and it seemed very messy and cramped.
Fan Fan came in too. She closed the workshop door.
Fan Yiming walked over to a wall and pressed on a switch on the wall. The wall opened up, revealing an alloy door. Fan Yiming walked to the entrance, entered the password, and did a cornea scan. The alloy door opened, revealing a hidden room. It seemed like another workshop but it was way more advanced than the workshop outside, and much neater.
Xia Lei saw the Ming dynastypass resting on a workstation at once. His heart thumped, and he thought to himself, ¡®Wasn¡¯t thepass taken all over the world in order to find the next concealed treasure location? Why would it appear here? Could it they have already found something?¡¯
¡°Please enter, Mr Xia.¡± Fan Yiming entered the hidden workshop first.
Xia Lei walked in after Fan Yiming. Fan Fan enteredst and the alloy door automatically shut behind her when she entered.
¡°Elder Fan, are you studying thatpass?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I know you¡¯ve fixed it so you can touch those ancient alloys.¡± Fan Yiming seemed to have entered a different mode. His thoughts were very sharp. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the superiors restricting me from touching the ancient alloy, I would really want to take a good look at it myself and analyse its make-up.¡±
¡°Elder Fan, it¡¯s best that you don¡¯t touch those ancient alloys before we¡¯ve uncovered the answer to the riddle. There was a research team in the past who tried to uncover its secrets but some of those people died, and the others went mad. Only one managed a narrow and lucky escape.¡± Xia Lei thought of Ning Jing. He did not know how she was now. He wanted to go see her when he got the time.
¡°But if I can¡¯t touch those ancient alloy pieces, then how I am supposed to study them? Sometimes science and technology requires one to devote himself. If it really doesn¡¯t work, I can just sacrifice my old life. I don¡¯t believe that I can¡¯t solve its mysteries,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°Those research workers who died and went mad have already paid the price, Elder Fan. Don¡¯t make a meaningless sacrifice,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fan Fan said, ¡°Yes, Grandfather. As far as we understand, only Big Brother Lei can touch those ancient alloy pieces. The people who touched the ancient alloy other than him have died or gone crazy. Your body has always been very weak, and your immunity is even worse. Do you still want to repeat the disasters that those research workers experienced?¡±
Fan Yiming sighed. ¡°Then what should we do? If we can¡¯t touch it, how are we supposed to research it with just some documents?¡±
Fan Fan nced at Xia Lei and said with augh, ¡°Don¡¯t we have Big Brother Lei as well? The higher-ups made him join the Academy of Science. Wasn¡¯t that so we could integrate the strength of the Academy of Science, in order to assist him in getting a breakthrough for the Alloy X Project? I believe that Big Brother Lei will definitely seed.¡±
Fan Yiming was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°All right, I will just take a supporting role for once.¡±
¡°I want to first understand the extent of your research. Can you tell me?¡± said Xia Lei.
Fan Yiming said, ¡°Fan Fan, show him.¡±
Fan Fan made a sound of assent, then walked to aputer. She enteredmands into theputer, and a video was disyed on the wall.
It was a video of an archaeological worker excavating an old tomb.
It was an old tomb from the Ming dynasty. The gravestone had already thoroughly eroded, and the words on it were virtually unreadable. The old tomb was opened up, and arge room appeared. It seemed just like an underground pce and was very imposing.
¡°This... Where is this?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help voicing the curiosity in his heart.
¡°This is the first concealed treasure location.¡± Fan Yiming said, ¡°The entire excavation process was filmed. Itsted for about ten hours. The video file I have was cut.¡±
¡°Big Brother Lei, you don¡¯t know the circumstances behind the first concealed treasure location?¡± asked Fan Fan.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t. I¡¯ve never been there before, and no one told me.¡±
He was telling the truth. Even though he was in charge of the Alloy X Project, he had never known where the first concealed treasure location was. He had taken over only after Ning Jing¡¯s research team met with a mishap. The only thing he had taken was the ancient alloy, the bronze book, and thepass.
¡°How could it be like this?¡± Fan Fan couldn¡¯t believe Xia Lei¡¯s words.
Xia Lei smiled wryly, and did not exin things. However, heughed bitterly to himself, ¡®The higher-ups probably didn¡¯t trust me at that time. It was only because I fixed thepass and was the only person who could touch thepass that they even let me try. They kept the first concealed treasure location secret and didn¡¯t tell me. They¡¯ve probably never really trusted me until now. That¡¯s why I can join the Academy of Sciences and see the video of the first concealed treasure location.¡¯
There wasn¡¯t any way to confirm this, but he¡¯d probably guessed most of it.
The video kept ying. The scene switched to the inside of a tomb. A few archaeologists very carefully opened a jade coffin. The scene was cut again, and a woman appeared on the disy wall.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes widened abruptly when he saw the woman lying in the jade coffin.
The woman lying in the jade coffin was none other than Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue.
Nothing could describe Xia Lei¡¯s feelings at this moment in time.
From Afghanistan, to Okinawa, to now... he had already seen three Princess Yongmei corpses!
These three corpses were exactly the same. Their skin, appearance, body type, and even their face was exactly the same. One person could never have three corpses, but Princess Yongmei had three corpses. This mystery perplexed Xia Lei.
¡°She¡¯s so pretty and serene. It¡¯s like she just fell asleep.¡± Fan Fan was imagining scenarios. ¡°I think she was probably a multi-talented princess when she was alive, right? She must have had a lot of suitors.¡±
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®Multi-talented? If you saw her going crazy and murdering people, you probably wouldn¡¯t think like that.¡¯
The video on the wall cut to another scene again. An archaeologist took out the ancient alloy piece from Princess Yongmei¡¯s mouth. Princess Yongmei¡¯s corpse immediately eroded and a thousand years seemed to go by in a few seconds. Her body turned into ashes, and nothing was left behind.
¡°I watched this scene many times. I also do bioengineering but I can¡¯t understand why a perfectly intact corpse would disappear in a few short seconds,¡± said Fan Fan faintly.
¡°Where¡¯s the archaeologist?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°As far as I know, dead,¡¯¡¯ said Fan Yiming.
Chapter 614 - The Old Man and the Fox
This question seemed a little unnecessary because all the people who had touched the ancient alloy had either died or gone crazy, except for Xia Lei.
The scene on the wall changed again. An archeologist opened a stone room behind the jade coffin. There were many things in the stone room which ranged from ceramics, weapons, armour, and so on, and that bronze book. There were also imperial edicts, books, gold and silver jewelry, and so on. They were all preserved in good condition.
¡°Where is this ancient tomb?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s not that far. Just several kilometers away at the Tongzhou Yongle Store,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°Yongle Store?¡± Even though he had lived in Jingdu for a period of time, this was Xia Lei¡¯s first time hearing about this ce, let alone visited it.
¡°It has an origin.¡± Fan Yiming said, ¡°Have you heard of the Yongle treasure?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head.
¡°ording to legend, it was a treasure that the Great Emperor Yongle left behind in the Yuan dynasty. All the treasures that Zheng He brought back from his expeditions to the Western Pacific are all kept in the Yongle Store. Whoever gains this treasure would have wealth equivalent to an entire nation. The archaeologists were all quite excited back then, when thepass pointed them to the first treasure location. They all thought they had found the Yongle treasure from the legends, but unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t. There were a lot of treasures in Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb, but they¡¯re not worth muchpared to the legendary Yongle treasure,¡± said Fan Fan.
Did the Yongle treasure and the ancient alloy have anything to do with each other?
Anticipation grew like a wave in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. ¡°Did those archeologists discover any clues rted to the Yongle treasure? If the Yongle treasure was also in the Yongle Store, there should be some clues.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not too sure about that. I don¡¯t really care about the Yongle treasure. I¡¯m only concerned about the ancient alloy and the Alloy X Project,¡± said Fan Yiming.
Xia Lei understood why an old scientist like Fan Yiming didn¡¯t care about a treasure from the Ming dynasty, but he didn¡¯t feel the same way since two very important people were involved with the Yongle treasure ¡ª Emperor Yongle and Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue.
¡®Emperor Yongle was powerful, a great strategist, and very ambitious. He wanted to expand the Ming dynasty¡¯s territory and he wanted even more to gain eternal life. Is it possible that there wouldn¡¯t be any ancient alloy secrets in treasure he personally buried? That doesn¡¯t make sense. If I were him, I would put the most important secret in my treasure,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Big Brother Lei, what are you thinking about?¡± asked Fan Fan, as she switched the video off.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. ¡°Nothing much. I was just thinking if we could go take a look at Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb.¡±
¡°Everything¡¯s already been moved out of there and nothing was left. It¡¯s no use if you go there,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°No, I think it¡¯s still necessary to take a look. Perhaps I¡¯ll be able to find some other clues. That¡¯s right, Elder Fan, who should I talk to about this?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°You don¡¯t need to ask for permission for that. Our Academy of Science has sufficient authority. If you really want to go, just let Fan Fan take you there. I went there with Fan Fan before and it¡¯s quite easy to get there,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°Do you want to go now?¡± Fan Fan looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei said, ¡°No, I still have something I want to ask about. Elder Fan, when I turned in thepass thest time, the higher-ups said that they had sent several people to search for the treasure location. I saw thatpass here, so I was wondering... Do you already have a general idea of the next treasure location?¡±
Fan Yiming shook his head. ¡°I know about that too. After you turned in thepass, the higher-ups ordered many people to look for it around the world. They sat in nes and practically orbited around the Earth multiple times but thispass was still pointing towards the sky. I think it¡¯s just like a man¡¯s physiological reaction. It gets hard and then softens...¡±
Fan Yiming hadn¡¯t finished talking but Fan Fan interrupted him with a blush across her face. ¡°Grandfather! I¡¯m still here! What are you talking about?¡±
Fan Yiming wasn¡¯t embarrassed at all. ¡°Did I say something wrong? You¡¯re even someone who deals with bioengineering. Are you not even clear with a man¡¯s most basic physiological reaction? You should really find a volunteer and study it properly.¡±
Fan Fan was speechless.
Xia Lei also felt very awkward. However, he felt that if Fan Fan were to really find a volunteer to research a man¡¯s physiological reaction, there would definitely be a lot of people fighting to volunteer as tribute.
¡°Forget about it. I won¡¯t talk about you anymore, you silly girl.¡± Fan Yiming looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Mr Xia, let¡¯s discuss your research. I have the previous research team¡¯s research materials. I¡¯ve looked over the materials and they basically didn¡¯t finish anything. I also looked through your research materials and you did better than thest research team and you had some breakthroughs. However, I think it¡¯s still far from enough. I would like to hear your views on this.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Elder Fan, you saw thest research team¡¯s and my research materials. I think you probably have a certain level of understanding already so I¡¯ll just be frank. Itsposition and structure are currently still unknown. It cannot be cut or dissolved, not to mention duplicated. On the other hand, it has a very mysterious energy, and this energy can affect someone¡¯s mental state. Those who havee into regr contact with it have be mad, and those who have interacted more closely have died. As for me, I am the only person who¡¯s immune to this energy.¡±
Fan Yiming suddenly smiled. ¡°Actually, I have already understood what you¡¯ve said. Why don¡¯t you talk about your thoughts on making a breakthrough in the Alloy X Project? I know you definitely have some of your own opinions. The three of us are currently a team. This team doesn¡¯t have a leader but only consists of members. We should all share everything with each other.¡±
¡°I do indeed have some thoughts, but...¡± Xia Lei hesitated. He actually knew too much. It was a pity that he couldn¡¯t share these things with Fan Yiming and Fan Fan. Princess Yongmei¡¯s secrets were confidential and the secret of him taking the AE capsules was also confidential.
¡°No problem, you can just say it,¡± said Fan Yiming encouragingly. Right then, Fan Yiming didn¡¯t seem to be addled by age at all. Instead, he seemed like an old fox with sharp eyes which seemed to be able to prate one¡¯s heart.
This sharp look made Xia Lei¡¯s heart thump as he thought to himself, ¡®Could it be that he¡¯s been pretending to be muddled, and he still has some secrets or motives that he¡¯s keeping from me?¡¯
One refrains from hurting others yet guards against those trying to hurt you. Ever since Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray abilities had awoken in his left eye, he had begun to live very carefully. This was also why he had been able to stay alive until now.
¡°Say it, say it. I want to hear it,¡± urged Fan Yiming.
Xia Lei then said, ¡°I am not just looking at it from the ancient alloy itself. We also have to start from the ancient alloy¡¯s history and other clues. We already know that it existed in the Ming dynasty, and that Princess Yongmei had it in her possession. I want to look for answers from some historical clues, and this is also why I would like to insist on going to Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb.¡±
Fan Fan gave Xia Lei a big thumbs up and said with augh, ¡°Big Brother Lei, your train of thought stands out from everyone else, as expected. Grandfather and I have been researching those materials all day long and trying to guess the ancient alloy¡¯sposition makeup, but we never thought about beginning from historical clues. I think your ideas are brilliant. Perhaps we¡¯ll really be able to find clues to decipher the ancient alloy¡¯s secrets.¡±
Xia Lei smiled politely. ¡°I was just saying it casually. It¡¯s still unclear if it¡¯ll work.¡± After a pause, he looked at Fan Yiming and probed, ¡°Elder Fan, the higher-ups told you to work on it personally, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s simply to aid me. You are a leading schr of our time. There¡¯s no need to doubt your strength. You must have the same reasoning and ns as I do right? I would also like to hear your opinions.¡±
¡°I do have my own reasoning and thoughts but my reasoning and thoughts are different from yours.¡± Fan Yiming didn¡¯t continue.
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s interest was piqued.
Fan Yimingughed. ¡°It¡¯s you.¡±
¡°It¡¯s me?¡± Xia Lei stared nkly.
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ll be frank. You are the only person who has interacted with the ancient alloy and haven¡¯t been affected, so your body has the antibody that targets that type of energy. Don¡¯t you think you are an excellent way to unravel the clues of the ancient alloy¡¯s secrets?¡± said Fan Yiming.
Xia Lei could already sense Fan Yiming¡¯s motives.
Fan Yiming continued, ¡°The higher-ups got you to join the Academy of Science and got Fan Fan and I to assist you in the research of the Alloy X Project. In our three-person team, I¡¯m an expert in material sciences and Fan Fan is an expert in bioengineering. As for you, you¡¯re the most special one in our team. Your work is to find clues about the ancient alloy, and to be studied at the same time.¡±
This was why the higher-ups had given Xia Lei the honour of being a Fellow at the Academy of Science, and the reason why Fan Yiming had recruited Fan Fan into this team. This was why the higher-ups had forgiven Shentu Tianyin, and only detained him for fifteen days!
Xia Lei immediately felt a pain in his heart. He hadn¡¯t be a little white mouse for the Americans, but he had be a little white mouse in his homnd.
It made sense for the higher-ups to have Fan Yiming join the Alloy X Project. The Academy of Science¡¯s dean would be personally in charge, and the honor would go to the schrs, and well as rted favours. Was he going to obediently submit to being a white mouse?
¡°Mr Xia, I know you feel repulsed, but you have to understand the inevitability of this and the rationale. Just think about it. Howe others were done for when they touched it while you were fine? Don¡¯t you think your body¡¯s immune system or genomes are very valuable? I believe that your body is holds the clues, or even the answer.¡± Fan Yiming stared at Xia Lei with a burning gaze.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°I understand, but... How are you going to study me?¡±
¡°It won¡¯t be me, but Fan Fan,¡± said Fan Yiming. ¡°She is an expert in this field and she knows what to do.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes went to Fan Fan.
Fan Fan¡¯s cheeks reddened for some reason and her voice grew small. ¡°Oh, um... Body, blood, cells, organs... and other stuff... In any case, every part of you is a target of research for me.¡±
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank.
What he was worried about as white mouse for Fan Fan, was not the awkwardness in stripping naked in front of her so that she could touch and sample him, but Fan Fan¡¯s specialty and expert capabilities. She was the best bioengineering expert in the nation. She could do even more than the doctors in the hospitals. Those doctors hadn¡¯t discovered any differences in his body, but what if Fan Fan discovered something?
Fan Yiming¡¯s expression became more serious. ¡°Mr Xia, we¡¯re doing this for our country. You won¡¯t object, will you?¡±
Xia Lei would havepletely rejected it if it hadn¡¯t been for Shentu Tianyin¡¯s matter, because the higher-ups would not have a bargaining chip to control him then. They would have been requesting him to do things for them. However, things had changed after Shentu Tianyin¡¯s matter. If he rejected them, they would likely continue to investigate Shentu Tianyin¡¯s case, and she might end up having to die!
¡°Haha, of course I wouldn¡¯t refuse but you should still wait for me to be ready. I want to see Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb first.¡± Xia Lei forced a smile on his face.
¡°All right, you guys can go to the Yongle Store first. That way I can do some preparations and we can begin when you return,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°I¡¯ll take you to Yongle Store, Big Brother Lei.¡± Fan Fan seemed very happy as she took the lead.
Xia Lei exchanged nces with Fan Yiming, then turned to leave.
After Fan Fan and Xia Lei exited the hidden workshop, Fan Yiming said, ¡°What secret is he hiding? I have to find out.¡±
Chapter 615 - Special Constitution
The Yongle Store of hundreds of years past had been a deste ce. There had not been any viges or towns. The Emperor Yongle, Zhu Di, used to station troops here, whichter led to the legend of the Yongle treasure. After several hundred years, this ce had developed into a small town, and the legend of the Yongle treasure had stemmed from this little town, handed down from generation to generation.
A pink Volkswagen Beetle came to the front of a supermarket in Yongle Store Town. Xia Lei entered the supermarket and bought two shlights, and two bottles of water. Then, Fan Fan drove the Beetle out of the small town, speeding towards the eastern side of town.
There was a reservoir in the east side of the town and there were hills on both sides of the reservoir. Those hills weren¡¯t very high, and looked like a hillyndform.
¡°That reservoir was made after the country was founded. It¡¯s called the United Reservoir. The first treasure location is in the hills next to the reservoir. Back when the reservoir was founded, Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb actually wasn¡¯t discovered,¡± exined Fan Fan as she described the situation to Xia Lei.
¡°You went in with your grandfather before, so have you seen everything?¡± asked Xia Lei casually.
¡°No, it¡¯s very big. Some ces have not been excavated yet. Plus, because it¡¯s very close to the reservoir, some ces had water seepage so the archeologists didn¡¯t dare excavate those areas,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°How big is it, specifically?¡±
¡°You saw the video. It looks just like an underground pce. It¡¯s very big. You¡¯ll see when we get there.¡±
¡°Oh, true. We¡¯ll see what state it is in when we go in.¡± Xia Leiughed and then changed the topic. ¡°Oh right, Fan Fan, how are you going to study me? Can you tell me your ns?¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s cheeks reddened again for some reason, and she avoided Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°Um... Do you really want to know?¡±
¡°Of course. I¡¯m your research target but I¡¯m not your little white mouse. I have the right to know what you¡¯re nning,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right, then I¡¯ll tell you.¡± Fan Fan said, ¡°First would be the basics which includes your weight, height, doing a blood test, cell slicing, and so on. Hospitals will actually also have these examinations done, but I will do them more thoroughly and more precisely. After the basics would be the experiment part. I will do some system testing, focusing on your brain and your organs abilities and record the rted data. Finally, I will do some research based on the data and then decide on the next step after that.¡±
Xia Lei maintained a smile on the outside but he was already screaming internally about the trouble he¡¯d run into. He wasn¡¯t that worried about the first part that Fan Fan had mentioned because he had done those tests at the hospital in the past, and there hadn¡¯t been any problems. However, the systems testing focusing on the brain and organ abilities would be troublesome. He knew well how strong his brain and organs were. Fan Fan was also the best bioengineering expert in the country. If she did these tests, she might find out that his body had already evolved to the degree that far exceeded the normal person... What should he do?
¡°I know no one is willing to be a white mouse, but this... This is for the Alloy X Project, and for the country. I know you can understand. I will do my best, and also do my best to amodate you too.¡± Fan Fan peeked at Xia Lei from the corner of her eye.
¡°Haha, thanks.¡± Xia Lei continued maintaining a faint smile.
But internally, Xia Lei was full ofplicated feelings.
The reason why he hadn¡¯t rejected the whole thing up until now was because personal reasons, on top of the fact that he wanted to protect Shentu Tianyin. There were two reasons. The first was that he also wanted to know the stage to which his body had already evolved, and what the mysterious energy hidden inside his body was. The second reason why he couldn¡¯t refuse was because the moment he refused, the high-upss might take back the ancient alloy and bronze book, and he could be barred from participating in the researchter. However, he couldn¡¯t lose these things if he wanted to solve the secret of the ancient alloy and AE!
Life always held these moments of helplessness, where you had to force yourself to do something even if you clearly don¡¯t want to do.
The pink Beetle climbed up the mountain and stopped on a dike on the reservoir. Fan Fan got out of the car and brought Xia Lei to a muddy path along the dike that led deeper into the mountain forest.
The mountain roads were very muddy, probably due to some rainst night. A whole lot of yellow mud stuck to the soles of their shoes the moment they stepped in it. It was better for Xia Lei since he was wearing t-bottomed leather shoes, but Fan Fan was wearing a pair of high heels. The heels of her shoes were instantly embedded into the mud of the soil, and she had to exert a lot of strength before she could pull it out. She didn¡¯t manage to walk very far before it got too difficult for her to manage. Noticeable sweat stains appeared under her arms and around her cor.
¡°Why don¡¯t I help you over?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°There¡¯s no need, no need. I¡¯m fine.¡± Fan Fan refused politely but her feet slid and her entire body fell towards the mud just as she finished speaking.
Xia Lei took a step forward and reached a hand out to catch Fan Fan¡¯s small, slender waist. He helped her up in the nick of time. Fan Fan¡¯s waist was fine and soft, and he could feel her exquisitely smooth skin through the shirt material. It felt like he was touching the best quality satin.
His strong arm and handsome, yet sunny face up close, along with his masculine smell affected Fan Fan somewhat. Her cheeks suddenly blushed red. She shut her eyes behind her ck rimmed spectacles, and didn¡¯t open them. She didn¡¯t dare look at Xia Lei¡¯s expression. Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were just like those of a hunter, while she was just the little bunny in the hunter¡¯s sights.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t care if Fan Fan agreed, or not. He took her waist with one hand and held her legs with the other, holding her in his arms in an instant.
¡°Big Brother Lei, you...¡± Fan Fan was very nervous. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°You can¡¯t walk like this. I¡¯ll carry you for a bit and put you down when the road gets better.¡±
¡°This is not good, not good...¡± Fan Fan subconsciously struggled for a moment, but Xia Lei didn¡¯t let go of her. She gradually quieted and stopped struggling as Xia Lei walked on. However, her face was alreadypletely red and her eyes were tightly closed. She did not dare to look at Xia Lei. She begun trembling slightly too.
This reaction did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s notice. He felt her reaction was a little weird and even a little abnormal. Under normal circumstances, even if it was a shy woman, she wouldn¡¯t be this nervous, right?
¡°Fan Fan, are you nervous?¡± Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°I¡¯m not a bad guy. You don¡¯t need to be so nervous.¡±
¡°No, no...¡± Even though she said she wasn¡¯t, Fan Fan¡¯s voice was trembling. ¡°I¡¯m not. I¡¯m not nervous, it¡¯s just, just...¡±
¡°Just what?¡±
¡°My, my constitution is a little special. I, I¡¯m a v,very sensitive woman.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s snowy neck had also reddened and her tender skin seemed to have ayer of rouge.
Special constitution and a very very sensitive woman?
Xia Lei had nevere across this, nor had he even heard of this before. However, he believed Fan Fan¡¯s exnation because he saw her body¡¯s fluctuations when she spoke. Traces of redness from excitement appeared on her cheeks, neck, and her thighs. As for him, he was already an experienced man. He knew what those red marks on a woman implied.
This really was quite awkward. He had only carried her for a bit because the road was hard to walk on, but she had basically reached a higher realm of pleasure.
¡°That¡¯s.. uh, any treatment for it?¡± asked Xia Lei casually.
¡°Th,there¡¯s no way to treat it. This is natural.¡± Even Fan Fan¡¯s eyshes were trembling, and her breathing came in hurried pants.
¡°When did you discover this?¡±
¡°D,don¡¯t talk to me anymore. I... Hnngh!¡± Fan Fan suddenly gave a shudder.
Xia Lei felt rather in danger himself.
He was carrying her for a short amount of time with the intention of helping her out, but her reaction was as if she just had sex with him and had climaxed. This really made him at a loss for words.
The muddy section of road was finally done with. After going through a patch of forest, the muddy road under his feet changed into a pathid with gstones, and was very dry and clean. The stone path wasn¡¯t that long, and there was a crude tent set up in the distance, with guards standing duty. That ce was probably the first treasure location.
The excavation of the first treasure location should have happened two years ago but there were still police officers standing guard and protecting the area today. It wasn¡¯t difficult to guess that Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb still had unexplored areas due to the importance the superiors attributed to it.
Xia Lei put Fan Fan down. ¡°Is it this ce?¡±
¡°Yes, it¡¯s here.¡± Fan Fan let out a deep breath. Her face and neck were red. Up till now, she hadn¡¯t dared to look into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
¡°Let¡¯s go over.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t need Fan Fan to lead him anymore. He walked in front.
¡°Wait, I... I...¡± Fan Fan called out to Xia Lei to stop, but hesitated.
Xia Lei looked at her curiously. ¡°What do you want to do?¡±
Fan Fan bit her lip. ¡°I, I need to relieve myself. Help, help me watch for other people, all right?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Fan Fan half ran off the path and into the forest before Xia Lei could respond.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and stood there waiting for her. A strange thought popped into his head. Since she was in that much of a hurry, she probably didn¡¯t just have to pee, right?
While he was waiting, another thought suddenly popped into Xia Lei¡¯s head. A n which could help him through this crisis was slowly formed.
¡®Her constitution is very special. During the process of her study of me, if I exploit that, I can probably cause her to make a mistake and maybe even have her follow my wishes...¡¯ A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth.
Fan Fan walked out from the forest. As she walked, she straightened out her short skirt. She seemed a little better. Her face and neck were already clear of those obvious red marks.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡° Fan Fan hung her head as she walked.
¡°Yep, let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei walked shoulder to shoulder with her. ¡°Oh right, Fan Fan, howe I haven¡¯t heard you talk about your boyfriend?¡±
¡°Huh? You... Why are you asking about this?¡±
¡°Nothing, just asking.¡±
¡°He, he should be working in America now, I think.¡±
¡°Working in America? Wouldn¡¯t it be very hard to see each other?¡±
¡°We haven¡¯t seen each other for almost ten years.¡±
¡°You haven¡¯t seen your boyfriend in ten years?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t believe it.
¡°I dated once in my first year of highschool. He went to Americater and we didn¡¯t contact each other after that,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
This Fan Fan didn¡¯t just have a special constitution but a special line of thought, like she had inherited it from Fan Yiming.
Chapter 616 - An Overlooked Clue
A guard blocked Xia Lei and Fan Fan off before they could get close to their destination. Fan Fan showed her ID and was allowed to go through, together with Xia Lei. Xia Lei and Fan Fan walked forwards for a bit more before they saw an entrance. It was a passageway that that a worker had cut, nting and extending underground, with crushed stone spread out around it. An arching stone door was at the end of the passageway. The stone door had already been opened, and another rock-covered passageway extended downwards. Somemps had been lit in the passageway, but there were several curves and corners, so they couldn¡¯t see the end in a nce.
¡°I came with my grandfather three times but we didn¡¯t discover anything at all,¡± said Fan Fan when they entered the passageway behind the stone door. Her voice echoed in the passageway along with the clicking sounds of her high heels, going into the depths of the passageway.
¡°Did you guys go to the unopened areas too?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°No,¡± said Fan Fan. ¡°Some of the unopened areas are buried in soil, and water has seeped through in some areas so you can¡¯t even go there.¡±
¡°This ce was discovered two years ago. Do you know why it hasn¡¯t beenpletely opened up yet?¡±
Fan Fan thought for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s probably because of the reservoir. This ancient tomb is next to the reservoir and also stretches underneath the reservoir. If some parts were rashly excavated, the water in the reservoir would flood this ce, then you wouldn¡¯t be able to save the ce even if you wanted to.¡±
The two chatted and they walked and unknowingly entered the ancient tomb.
This was a very big ancient tomb. The space at the end of the passage seemed like a hall of a pce. It was very wide, and there were dozens of st, eachrge enough for a person to hug, supporting the dome. There were dozens of statues in the hall, some officers riding on horses and some others soldiers on foot. These statues were fine work, and their facial expressions were all rather life-like.
There was a stone arched door in the hall in front of them, as well as on the left and right. Behind each stone door was a passageway which extended onwards.
¡°Princess Yongmei¡¯s burial chamber is in this direction.¡± Fan Fan pointed at the stone door straight ahead.
Xia Lei nced at it and then looked over at a stone door at the side. ¡°What¡¯s behind there?¡±
¡°That¡¯s also a burial chamber, but the people buried there are just a few servants and some cultural relics and antiques.¡± She then pointed in the other direction. ¡°It¡¯s the same for that area. This ce is very wide and the terrain isplicated. When I first came here, I was shocked by it. How is this a princess¡¯s tomb? It¡¯s practically an underground pce,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped and he thought to himself, ¡®It¡¯s normal for an emperor like Zhu Di to have such a huge tomb, but for a princess¡¯s tomb this is abnormal. Could this ce really have something to do with the legendary Yongle treasure?¡¯
He didn¡¯t know if the archeologists had thought of this before, but it was possible.
When they entered the stone door in front of them, Xia Lei and Fan Fan walked for about five minutes in a very twisty passageway before they reached Princess Yongmei¡¯s burial chamber. The burial chamber was very imposing and regal. Flowers were carved onto every single floor tile. A white, marbled jade coffin was in the center of the room. The coffin was open but nothing was inside. The archeologists had long since taken the things inside away, including the ashes from after Princess Yongmei had be dust.
"Every single inch of this ce has been carefully examined. Those archeologists even tapped every single floor tile but they didn¡¯t find anything," said Fan Fan.
The examination process had been clearly very meticulous since the archeologists had tapped on every tile.
Xia Lei said, "I¡¯ll just look around casually."
"Okay, I¡¯ll wait for you. I¡¯ll bring you to another ce when you¡¯re done looking around here," said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei slowly walked around the oval-shaped burial chamber. As he walked, he silently activated his left eye¡¯s ability. He first saw through the four walls of the chamber, trying to see through as much as he could. Then he looked through the chamber¡¯s dome and floor, trying to see as far and as deep as he could.
The results were disappointing. The four walls of the chamber and the dome were dirt which had been treated, and this protectiveyer was made up of a lime, glutinous rice, and soil paste. This protectiveyer wasmon in old tombs. It could protect against white ants and soaking. It could even seal the air to prevent the corpse from rotting.
Because of his overuse of his ability, Xia Lei¡¯s body reacted with fatigue. He used his hand to support himself on the jade coffin, and shut his eyes as he waited to recover.
"What¡¯s wrong, Big Brother Lei?" asked Fan Fan in concern as she moved in close.
Xia Lei opened his eyes and was startled by what he saw. He saw Fan Fan, but she was no longer wearing a shirt and a short skirt but a translucent thong and bra. The white, gauzy cloth couldn¡¯t even cover up her important parts and he saw about 80% of the beautiful parts of her body. Full, firm, fair and clear like jade, fragrant, with crevices which were mysteriously seductive.
However, that wasn¡¯t why he had been startled. He was startled because Fan Fan was holding a rubber toy in one hand with a mischievous smile on her face. That toy in her hand, and her mischievous smile... was she hinting at ying that kind of game with him, where their roles were reversed?
"Big Brother Lei, you..."
"Don¡¯te any closer!"
"Huh? What¡¯s wrong?" Fan Fan didn¡¯t leave but she grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s arm. Xia Lei¡¯s reaction made her even more nervous.
Xia Lei shook his head hard and sobered up somewhat. The Fan Fan in translucent undergarments disappeared, and her short-sleeved shirt and short skirt were back on her body.
"You..." Fan Fan stared straight at Xia Lei and asked investigatively, "Big Brother Lei, did you just have a hallucination?"
This sentence made Xia Lei snap back to his senses immediately. He realised then that the woman standing in front of him was not a regr person, but a bioengineering expert. She could make conjectures based on some of his reactions, and those conjectures were supported by professional expertise!
If he thought about it from this angle, Fan Fan would definitely guess that his vision was far above the average person if she saw him use a sniper rifle to kill a target 3,000 meters away!
Fan Fan seemed smart and cute, and had a special constitution, but she was actually a ticking time bomb inside him which could go off at any time!
¡¯Looks like I¡¯ll have to guard carefully against her. I can¡¯t expose my superhuman abilities in front of her or she¡¯ll suspect something. She is going to study my body so exposing any superhuman abilities in front of her is equivalent to giving her a lead in her research. I can¡¯t do that, and I also need to find a way to wreck her research,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
"Big Brother Lei, say something. Are you feeling ill?" asked Fan Fan in concern.
Xia Leiughed then. "I¡¯m fine. I was just joking with you. Oh no, there¡¯s mud on your leg! I¡¯ll pat it off for you."
Before Fan Fan could react, Xia Lei reached out a hand and patted at her thigh. His palm moved quickly, but stopped when itnded on Fan Fan¡¯s thigh, turning the pat into a touch.
"Oh. You." Fan Fan¡¯s face turned red immediately and her body started trembling faintly.
Xia Leu pretended to pat her thigh but the pressure he put on her thigh, and the pauses between his touches didn¡¯t have anything to do with patting dust ¡ª they were fairly regr movements for taking advantage of her.
Fan Fan¡¯s reaction was quite intense. She bit her cherry lip, and her eyes seemed to tear up. She red at Xia Lei in shameful anger but her expression was as if she were ring at a delicious cake instead.
Having sessfully diverted Fan Fan¡¯s attention, Xia Leu stopped and retracted his hand. "All right, it¡¯s all clean," he said pretentiously.
Fan Fan looked down at her thigh. There was now an additional dirty handprint on it. She then looked wordlessly at Xia Lei.
"Oh! Sorry, I must have gotten my hand dirty somewhere. I¡¯ll pat it away again." Xia Lei reached over.
¡°Don¡¯t, don¡¯t touch me!¡± Fan Fan dodged nervously.
Xia Lei shrugged. "I¡¯ll look around some more. Let¡¯s go somewhere else afterwards."
Fan Fan ignored him. Hints of shame and anger remained in her dark and tearing eyes. He had held her until she came on their way over, and now he had touched her again. She wasn¡¯t an idiot. She could tell that Xia Lei¡¯s earlier actions were done on purpose.
Xia Lei pretended to not see anything, and quickly focused his attention on the floor tiles.
Every tile in the burial chamber had a picture. Some had words, some animals, some irregr lines and some had people¡¯s faces. These pictures didn¡¯t follow any order and seemed as if the artisans at the time had carelessly embedded them into the ground.
¡¯That¡¯s not right. This is Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb after all, and she is Emperor Yongle¡¯s daughter. How could anything in her burial chamber be less than perfect?¡¯ Xia Lei thought silently, ¡¯However, it does seem like not enough care and attention went into it. Why? Could it be... that it was deliberate?¡¯
A ce where everything should have been carefully and meticulously designed wasn¡¯t that way. If it wasn¡¯t because of the artisans beingzy and not doing their job properly, then it was another reason.
It was clear thatziness was not a possibility, because spheming the Princess¡¯s departing spirit during the feudal dynasties era would result in the killing of all of the offender¡¯s rtives. Who would dare do so? It could only be the second reason now.
After eliminating the first possibility, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye swept over every brick while his brain simultaneously entered a super mode. Every time his left eye ¡®scanned¡¯ a floor tile, it appeared in his mind, one after another, until he got to thest tile.
There were 999 floor tiles on the tomb floor. Every single picture, or depiction on each floor tile was different. The floor tiles¡¯ words, lines, and designs rearranged themselves constantly in Xia Lei¡¯s mind, and assembled themselves, joining together to form the most probableplete image.
Results of multiplebinations appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s brain, but they were thrown out one by one by Xia Lei.
Fan Fan looked at Xia Lei with an odd expression on her face. From her perspective, Xia Lei was walking back and forth in the tomb,ughing asionally, then quickly quieting down as if he had a lot on his mind. She felt Xia Lei was being a little weird but she couldn¡¯t guess what he was doing.
A full ten minutes passed.
¡°Big Brother Lei, can you stop pacing back and forth? I¡¯m getting cross-eyed from watching you go back and forth.¡± Fan Fan couldn¡¯t help herself atst, and broke the silence in the tomb.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks. A smile sprang on his face.
Chapter 617 - Each Other’s Targets
Xia Lei had found a clue everyone else had missed in thest ten minutes. This clue was hidden in the floor tiles of the tomb. Those diagrams, writings and lines had gone through the analysis and organisation of his brain, and he found a very valuable clue.
Excavation had started on the first treasure location two years ago, but no one had discovered the secret hidden in the floor tiles of Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb. The archaeologists could not be med for negligence, however. Who would be so meticulous as to take a picture of every tile, upload the images to aputer, then spend a huge amount of time to piece them together one by one to draw a conclusion?
But Xia Lei was an exception. He had no need to take photographs, and no need to upload to aputer. He only needed his eyes and his brain toplete work which other people needed cameras andputers to do. He was faster, too. Even if an archaeologist were to do the task of taking pictures and uploading them to aputer to piece them together, thebinations were endless for tiles numbering close to 999. Which ordinary person could do something like this?
It was impossible!
In other words, Xia Lei was the only one in this world who could do it!
The clue hidden in the tiles seemed to have been prepared for him.
Xia Lei did his best to hide his smile after figuring it out, but a smile still escaped.
¡°What were you doing just now, Big Brother Lei?¡± asked Fan Fan inquisitively. ¡°Did you discover something?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No. I thought of something, but my hunch went away after I thought more about it.¡±
Fan Fan wrinkled her brow. ¡°Really?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°This ce has been studied over and over by the archaeologists. The didn¡¯t find anything in over two years. I¡¯ve only been here for a while, so what can I discover?¡±
¡°True. Those archaeologists would have discovered any clue long ago.¡± Fan Fan didn¡¯t seem to suspect anything, but she did feel that Xia Lei¡¯s reaction earlier was just too strange.
¡°Let¡¯s go take a look at other ces.¡± Xia Lei walked towards the entrance of the tomb.
¡°Wait for me.¡± Fan Fan followed in Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps, and left Princess Yongmei¡¯s tomb too.
Xia Lei could actually leave this ce since he had already discovered the clue hidden in the floor tiles, but he did not do so. He had to go about other ces too, in order to give Fan Fan the false impression that he had gained nothing from this.
Why did he hide the clue hidden in the floor tiles?
Because it was rted to AE.
Xia Lei then spent the rest of the time following Fan Fan around the other areas of the tomb, the burial areas on the left and right. He¡¯d known that the tomb was very big before he came here, but he was still surprised by its size after walking around for a bit. It was just so big. It was practically an underground pce.
It was as Fan Fan had said. This tomb was connected to the United Reservoir, and located below it, so there were several areas which the archaeologists had not dared to excavate. Some ces already had signs of water seepage. This ce would have been flooded long ago if it weren¡¯t for the drainage system in the tomb.
It took them over two hours to tour the tomb. Xia Lei and Fan Fan then left the tomb and went back up to the surface.
The sunlight was blinding.
It felt strange to return to the surface, like he had returned from theherworld to thend of the living.
In front of a tent next to the tomb were some archaeologists. They were using tools to clean off some items they had excavated. They stopped what they were doing when Xia Lei and Fan Fan walked out of the tomb, and gave them odd looks. Some whispered in low voices.
¡°Isn¡¯t that the granddaughter of Fan Yiming, dean of the Academy of Science? Why¡¯s she here again?¡±
¡°I heard she¡¯s an expert in bioengineering. I find it weird. What¡¯s a bioengineering export doing over here?¡±
¡°Yeah, Fan Yiming too. He came here at least 20 times, right? What¡¯s a materials scientist running over here for?¡±
The archaeologists talked in hushed voices, but it was a very quiet ce, and Xia Lei had sharp hearing, so he¡¯d heard all of it.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡®Fan Fan told me that she hade here with her grandfather three times, but the archaeologists here say that she and Fan Yiming hade at least 20 times. Why did she tell me a lower number? What is she hiding?¡¯
The whispers of the archaeologists brought forth Xia Lei¡¯s suspicions and suppositions.
He had been apologetic at first about not telling Fan Fan about the clue in the floor tiles, but his guilt went away when he heard about her havinge over 20 times when she had told him she hade only three times.
¡°Let¡¯s move on, Big Brother Lei.¡± Fan Fan seemed to be worried about the archaeologists revealing something, and she urged Xia Lei to leave.
Xia Lei was in no hurry to leave. He pretended to look back at the mound of the tomb while keeping an ear out for the archaeologists¡¯ whispers.
¡°Who¡¯s that young man? He can¡¯t be Fan Yiming¡¯s granddaughter¡¯s lover, can he?¡±
¡°Maybe he is. Young people these days like excitement. Doing intimate things in a tomb must be very exciting.¡±
¡°Stop with that useless gossip. Why don¡¯t we discuss how we¡¯re going to drain the United Reservoir? It¡¯s been over two years. We¡¯ve investigated all the areas we could, and what¡¯s left are the areas we haven¡¯t. We need to drain the water away, then open up the areas which have been inessible. We might find some Yongle treasure. I daresay if there really is Yongle treasure here, we will surely find it, and it will be another miracle in the archaeology world!¡±
¡°Yeah, the orders from the higher-ups havee down. They say that we have toplete the development by the end of the year. We should discuss how we¡¯re going to do that.¡±
¡°The Yongle Store is right below the United Reservoir. It¡¯s a town. Just the drainage problem is difficult enough. Are we going to blow up the dam and wash away the Yongle Store?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not for us to worry about, is it? We can just have it all moved as a whole.¡±
¡°Moved as a whole? Ha. If we have that option, then let¡¯s hurry up and buy some houses in the vige so that we wait to be relocated.¡±
Fan Fan simply pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Big Brother Lei, let¡¯s go. It¡¯s already past noon and we haven¡¯t had lunch yet. Let¡¯s go to the Yongle Store to have something to eat. I¡¯m starving.¡±
She didn¡¯t want Xia Lei to hear what those archaeologists were talking about. So was indeed worried about something.
Xia Lei knew this, but he did not expose it. He stopped listening to the archaeologists¡¯ conversation. He modded, and said with a smile,¡± All right, my treat. What do you want to eat?¡±
¡°Chinese food. We can eat whatever,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei went with Fan Fan along the path they hade from, and he pondered as he walked. ¡®So the higher-ups are already preparing to fully excavate this ce, but I had no idea about it. The higher-ups want to excavate this tomb, and they got me to join the Academy of Science too, as well as have Fan Yiming and Fan Fan study me... Looks like the higher-ups are growing impatient. Maybe they¡¯ve guessed something.¡¯
Whether it was the excavation of the tomb or having him join the Academy of Science to let Fan Yiming and Fan Fan study him, it was all rted to the Alloy X Project. If this tomb was not the next treasure location, then the higher-ups wouldn¡¯t increase efforts to have it excavated, and have a weapons-maker like him join the Academy of Science as a Fellow.
All of these indicators pointed to aing danger.
Xia Lei realised too, that this was a turning point in his life. If he handled it well, and passed it, he would have a new life. If he handled it badly and failed, he would lose everything he had now.
They hade to that muddy little road without him noticing, and Fan Fan, who was walking ahead of him, came to a stop. She looked gloomily down at the muddy surface. ¡°I would have changed into a pair of sports shoes if I¡¯d known.¡±
Xia Lei put his thoughts aside and said with a smile, ¡°Fan Fan, why don¡¯t we do what we did earlier. I¡¯ll carry you over in my arms. Or I can carry you on my back.¡±
Fan Fan instinctively moved away before Xia Lei could touch her. Her face turned red too, and she said nervously, ¡°Wh, Why not... Forget it. I, I will take my shoes off and walk across.¡±
And she really did so. She took off her high heels, and her stockings, then stepped onto the muddy ground barefooted.
¡°See, this works now, right? It¡¯s actually quitefortable to walk like this.¡± Fan Fan looked back with a smile, and looked quite pleased with herself.
Xia Lei shot her a smile too, and walked slowly behind her. His eyes went to Fan Fan¡¯s full and sexy buttocks, and he thought, ¡®She is a highly intelligent woman after all. This Fan Fan is more difficult to handle than I¡¯d thought. But if I want to pass, I¡¯ll have to make a move on her. I¡¯ll have a chance to get through this if I win her over, and have a chance that Fan Yiming would not harm me to avoid harming innocents... All right, I am your target, and you¡¯re my target too. I¡¯m going to eat you up!¡¯
Xia Lei needed to get through this danger, and the on;y n he coulde up with against a highly intelligent woman like Fan Fan was the ¡®pretty boy n¡¯.
This was not to get Fan Fan¡¯s body, and not to get Fan Fan¡¯s heart, but to counter the crushing danger which wasing for him. In truth, he was never going to easily love a woman anymore, not after his divorce with Shentu Tianyin. He had loved Liang Siyao with all his heart, but she had betrayed him. He had loved Shentu Tianyin deeply, but she had also betrayed him. He had given his all to help her, but she had chosen Vientaine Group in the end, not him. He had loved two women deeply but all that had brought him was heartrending pain. After all that suffering, he had matured, and changed ¡ª why was it the women who always lied to him? Why couldn¡¯t he lie back to them, then?
¡°Oh no...¡± Fan Fan let out a cry or surprise, staggered, and almost fell into the mud.
Xia Lei quickly reached out to help her regain her bnce. He spoke gently, ¡°Be careful. Your buttocks are very sexy, but they won¡¯t be pretty anymore if you split them open.¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s face turned red. ¡°You... shouldn¡¯t say things like that.¡±
Xia Lei released her and said with a chuckle, ¡°You are a beautiful woman. Was I wrong in saying that?¡±
Fan Fan bit her lower lip, and didn¡¯t dare look Xia Lei in the eye. She walked with her head down. A small smile appeared on her lips when her back was to Xia Lei.
Chapter 618 - The Mysterious ZN Bureau
They were in a small restaurant. Xia Lei and Fan Fan ordered a few simplemon dishes, a simple lunch.
¡°Big Brother Lei, let¡¯s begin after we go back,¡± said Fanfan at the dining table, after ncing at him.
¡°Begin on what?¡±
Fanfan covered her mouth andughed. ¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about. I want to start on my work as soon as possible.¡±
She was talking about the study of his body. Xia Lei knew what she was talking about, of course. He said, ¡°There¡¯s no rush. How about tomorrow, or the day after? You know how it is for me. There are a lot of things I need to handle since I¡¯m managing apany on my own.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going back to thepany?¡± There was a glimmer of disappointment in Fanfan¡¯s eyes.
¡°Right, I need to return to thepany,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then I¡¯lle with you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going back with me?¡± Xia Lei looked at Fanfan, trying to guess at her motives.
Fanfan pursed her lips and smiled. ¡°Nn, I want to see yourboratory.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t find a reason to reject her, so he nodded. ¡°Ok. We¡¯ll go to mypany after we¡¯re done eating. You can look around myboratory but you can¡¯t touch the ancient alloy.¡±
¡°Hm. Ok, no problem.¡± Fanfan was very happy.
Just then, a motorcycle slowly made its way over on the road outside. The motorcycle was a very ordinary China-made motorcycle but the driver was a sexy female with a slim waist and a full, rounded butt. She wore a helmet so her face couldn¡¯t be seen.
When the female driver came into Xia Lei¡¯s line of sight, he thought of someone all of a sudden ¡ª his father, Xia Changhe¡¯s subordinate, Yelena. His left eye twitched at this thought. The ss window of the restaurant and the female driver¡¯s helmet disappeared from his vision instantly.
It was an unfamiliar face under the female driver¡¯s helmet but Xia Lei could tell it was an exquisitely-made mask at first nce. Who would appear with a silicone mask? He didn¡¯t need to think about the answer or use his X-ray vision to see the true face under the mask to confirm the female driver¡¯s identity anymore. She was Yelena.
Xia Lei did not find it strange that Yelena had appeared at this time. His father, Xia Changhe, would always appear when he needed help the most. Now was such a time.
Yelena parked the motorcycle by the road and got off. She walked towards a small supermarket across the street. She looked back and nced at Xia Lei after she crossed the road, and tilted her head towards the small supermarket.
She was hinting something to him with bodynguage.
Xia Lei then stood up and said, ¡°Fan Fan, wait here for me for a bit. I¡¯m going to the supermarket across the street to buy some things.¡±
Fanfan looked curiously at Xia Lei. ¡°Why are you going to the supermarket to buy things while we are eating?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve eaten my fill, and I¡¯m going to buy a box of xylitol. Wasn¡¯t there an advertising message that said ¡®the more you chew, the healthier you are¡¯ ? I have a habit of chewing on two xylitol after I¡¯m done eating,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Go on, then. Please bring me a pack of tissues, thanks,¡± said Fan Fan. She was just a research worker after all, and even though she was a woman with high IQ, she wasn¡¯t a professional agent like Long Bing and Tang Yuyan. She wouldn¡¯t be suspicious of Xia Lei because of some strange actions.
¡°Yep, no problem.¡± Xia Lei stood up and left the restaurant.
Xia Lei quickly crossed the road and entered the small supermarket. He saw Yelena, who was at the shelves picking things out. He walked over and asked in a low voice, ¡°Why are you here?¡±
¡°All because of you.¡± Yelena spoke in Russian, ¡°Your father is in this supermarket¡¯s restroom. Go, quick. You have a few minutes to talk.¡±
Xia Lei turned around and walked off but Yelena pulled him to a stop and put the shopping basket she was carrying in Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Xia Lei paused, but he quickly understood Yelena¡¯s intentions. This was a small supermarket, so the owner would definitely be unhappy if he went to use the bathroom without buying anything.
As expected of an agent with abundant experience. She had noticed this small detail. What surprised Xia Lei was that Yelena had even ced xylitol in his shopping basket. Xia Lei ced a pack of tissues in the basket on his way to the cashier.
Xia Lei brought the shopping basket to the cashier counter and ced it on top. ¡°Hi, Boss. RIng this up.¡±
¡°Okay, no problem.¡± The boss started to scan the items in the shopping basket and calcte the total.
¡°Where¡¯s the bathroom, Boss? I need to use it,¡± said Xia Lei.
The owner pointed to the corridor behind him. ¡°Go in from here. Walk to the end and you¡¯ll see the bathroom. Someone is fixing it but you can still use it.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei entered the corridor and followed it to the end before entering the bathroom.
There was an old man dressed like a farmer in the bathroom fixing the sink. A tool kit sat by his side, with pipe wrenches, water pipe connectors, and other such things in it; the kit was a mess.
The old man¡¯s working hands stopped when Xia Lei entered the bathroom, and he looked at him.
Their eyes met. ¡°Dad.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s lips trembled, but he still called out to him.
This old man was his father, Xia Changhe. Xia Lei recognised him at first nce though he wore a mask. It was a meeting between father and son, but the ce of meeting was a bathroom like this. A myriad of feelings swelled up in his heart.
¡°Lei.¡± Xia Changhe enveloped Xia Lei in a hug.
¡°Dad, why are you here?¡± Their time was limited, so Xia Lei cut straight to the chase.
Xia Changhe let go of Xia Lei. ¡°I came to scold you.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned.
Xia Chenghe¡¯s face grew sombre and there was a tinge of anger in his eyes. ¡°Why are you being the fall guy for Shentu Tianyin? Don¡¯t you know that your helping her gave the higher-ups an excuse to make a move on you?¡±
¡°You... Know all about this?¡± Xia Lei was very shocked.
¡°Don¡¯t forget what your old man does.¡± Xia Changhe spoke coldly, ¡°The Americans want to capture you, and the FA Organization too. Both of their motives are to conduct research on you. Do you think that China¡¯s intelligence agencies and the brainiacs are grass-eaters? I can tell you for certain that China¡¯s one of the very best in spyfare and information gathering, no inferior to the Soviet Union in its heyday. Think about it. The CIA wants to send you to Area 51¡¯s AE Research Center to conduct research on you, and the FA Organization also wants to capture you in order to conduct research on you. You think no one on this side wants to do the same?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s body contained the secret of AE and he possessed superhuman powers. His evolution was simply a miracle. Any one of these factors could make one crazy with greed. Who wouldn¡¯t want to obtain these? Who wouldn¡¯t want to duplicate the miracle of his body?
¡°If you hadn¡¯t be the fall guy for Shentu Tianyin, others would be afraid of doing something to you because of your aplishments. But now, you¡¯ve given away all the merit you¡¯d painstakingly built up, allowing some people to take advantage of this situation and begin on a n which targets you. I thought they would dy their ns, and that you would be prepared when that time came, but you actually...¡± Xia Changhe sighed, looking disappointed in Xia Lei, and impatient for improvement.
Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°Dad, she¡¯s my wife. I know how she is. She didn¡¯t want me to be the fall guy for her. She could have died if I didn¡¯t help her. I couldn¡¯t bear to see such an end for her. I loved her after all.¡±
¡°I already predicted that your marriage wouldn¡¯tst before you two got married. Son, do you still not understand? People like you and me are destined to never be able to live like normal people. You can¡¯t get married, or have a child, because you can never guarantee their safety.¡±
¡°You were right, Dad. I¡¯m divorced now, and I won¡¯t ever marry another woman,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Forget it. What¡¯s happened, happened, and I can¡¯t be bothered to scold you,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°I obtained some information. From what I know, Fan Yiming and Fan Fan received a request from ZN Bureau and they started the n targeting you as a research subject.¡±
¡°ZN Bureau?¡± Xia Lei was stunned by what he heard. This was clearly the first time he¡¯d heard such a strange organisation.
¡°Right, ZN Bureau. It takes its name from the ¡®zhi¡¯ of ¡®knowledge¡¯ and the ¡®nao¡¯ of ¡®brain¡¯,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°ZN Bureau is no less mysterious than America¡¯s Skull and Bones secret society. Did you hear of the legends of the Skull and Bones secret society?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of some. The members of the Skull and Bones secret society could even dictate America¡¯s fate.¡±
¡°This statement is a little exaggerated, but true. This world is controlled by a small number of elites. All the rules are set by them. Although ZN Bureau is different from the Skull and Bones secret society in nature, but I can confirm that it is one of the most mysterious organisations here. I used all the connections I could and only found out that it was ZN Bureau which began the n to target you. All the relevant people were selected by ZN Bureau too. The moment Fan Yiming and Fan Fan grasp the situation with your body¡¯s evolution, you will face more extreme ns, no doubt. When that happens, you¡¯ll probably lose everything you have now, and even your freedom,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help a bitterugh. He was just an amateur white mouse now, but he would probably be a professional white mouse if they found out about his evolution. Things would be out of his control once the situation developed to that point. It was not something he could avoid, no matter how big his aplishments and contributions to the country were because this secret of his, hidden in his body, could change the entire human race!
¡°Son, maybe Fan Yiming knows a bit about the situation in ZN Bureau. I don¡¯t dare to interact with him. Dig out some information from him if you get the chance,¡± urged Xia Changhe.
¡°I know what to do. I¡¯ll start from his granddaughter.¡±
Xia Changhe red at Xia Lei. ¡°You won¡¯t get serious with her, will you? Haven¡¯t you had enough of being lied to by women? You¡¯re shaming your old man here!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face turned red for some inexplicable reason.
Xia Changhe¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei¡¯s neck. ¡°I know you kept thest AE capsule. You are nning to unravel its secret, then decide whether or not you¡¯d eat it. I understand your decision but this situation now is fairly unique. If Fan Fan and Fan Yiming get a grasp of your secret, you can consider taking thest AE capsule before they find out.¡±
¡°I understand what you mean and I will consider this. I also discovered a clue at the first treasure location. A clue linked to AE,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What clues?¡± Xia Changhe looked at Xia Lei in surprise.
Xia Lei moved closer to Xia Changle¡¯s ear and said some things in a low voice...
Xia Chenghe¡¯s mouth was opened slightly, and he could not close it.
A few minutester, Xia Lei left the supermarket and returned to the restaurant.
Fanfan had already finished her lunch and she sat at the dining table, waiting for him. ¡°Why were you gone for so long? I didn¡¯t bring my wallet and the owner thought you left me here while you ran off.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I would really be the world¡¯s biggest fool for leaving a beautiful woman like you here so that I can avoid buying the bill.¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s face turned pink.
Which woman didn¡¯t like a man saying that she¡¯s beautiful?
And it wasing from a man like Xia Lei too.
Chapter 619 - Xia Lei and Discobolus
Xia Lei brought Fan Fan straight to the vi after arriving at Thunder Horse Military Factory. Two Special Forces soldiers stood at the gates, guarding the vi. Xia Lei walked right in without saying a word.
¡°Halt!¡± A soldier stopped Fan Fan.
¡°She¡¯s from the Academy of Science. There¡¯s no problem,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s words were not enough for Fan Fan to be allowed in ©` he done this on purpose. It wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t want Fan Fan in hisboratory, but because he wanted to see what privileges she had, or in other words, what privileges ZN Bureau had given her.
The soldier who had stopped Fan Fan said, ¡°Mr Xia, only you are allowed in. She is not.¡±
Xia Lei pretended to be troubled. ¡°But... Can¡¯t you make an exception?¡±
The soldier was expressionless. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mr Xia. It¡¯s the rules.¡±
At that moment, Fan Fan took out a red pass from her handbag, and handed it to the soldier stopping her.
The soldier¡¯s expression changed after seeing the red pass.
This change did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s notice, and his gaze went to the red pass as well. His left eye twitched, as he saw the contents on the pass before the soldier did. He saw a bright, golden national emblem pattern, a handwritten ¡°Special Pass¡± and ¡°Fan Fan¡± written on it. There was nothing else on the pass other than those words.
The guard opened the pass and nced at it before respectfully handing it back to Fan Fan with both hands. ¡°You can go in now, Miss,¡± he said politely.
Fan Fan put the red pass away, then shot a smile at Xia Lei. ¡°All right, all good. Let¡¯s go in.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and led Fan Fan into the vi.
Xia Lei was expressionless on the surface, but he was bewildered. ¡®Even the pass Bureau 101 issues isn¡¯t that formidable. Just those few handwritten words let Fan Fan gain entry to a ce with high authorisation. Were these Special Forces guards instructed by their superiors to let people with these sort of passes through? If that¡¯s the case, Fan Fan and Fan Yiming won¡¯t even need my consent to enter myboratory. Plus, did the mysterious ZN Bureau give Fan Fan this special red pass?¡¯
¡°I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯d have a vi here.¡± Fan Fan interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Who lives here?¡±
¡°Annina was the only one who lived here. She was Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Chief Engineer, but she¡¯s already returned to Germany. No one lives here. I onlye to stay for a night asionally,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Can you give me a room?¡±
¡°You want a room?¡± Xia Lei was fairly surprised.
¡°I¡¯m your assistant. I need to follow you about for as long as the Alloy X Project remains unsolved. Besides aiding you in your research, I have my own work to do. I¡¯m also certain that I¡¯d have to work tillte, so I want a room,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Sure. You can pick any of the rooms here.¡± Xia Lei quickly agreed. He couldn¡¯t avoid this assistant Fan Fan, but he had a n to take her down, so he was eager for her to stay.
Xia Lei brought Fan Fan to theboratory under the vi as they chatted. The ancient alloy pieces and the bronze book were in the safe, and there was also a specialised anti-radiation vessel. Fan Fan would not be in danger so long as the safe was not opened and the alloy pieces were not taken out.
¡°This is myboratory. Feel free to look around,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fan Fan looked about theboratory, and she wrinkled her brow. ¡°It¡¯s so simple. Can you really research the ancient alloy here?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯sboratory was indeed very simple, and there wasn¡¯t any advanced,plicated equipment.The equipment he had was actually very simple, and only put there for disy. He had not even used the equipment once. Xia Lei had gone about unravelling the ancient alloy¡¯s secrets in his own way, and not by any conventional scientific means.
He had not used the equipment at all, but he smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate this simple equipment. It¡¯s been a great help. The research I¡¯ve done was built on the foundation of this equipment.¡±
Fan Fan was clearly uninterested in the equipment. Her gaze moved to the safe, and she probed, ¡°Big Brother Lei, are the ancient alloy pieces and the bronze book in there?¡±
¡°Yes, they¡¯re in there,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯d really like to have a look.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t. Have you forgotten about the researchers who lost their minds, and those who died? You¡¯re so young and beautiful. Your grandfather, and your parents would be distraught if you suffered the same fate. I would be, too,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fan Fan¡¯s face turned pink again. ¡°You really know how to sweet-talk a girl. There must be many women who like you, huh?¡±
¡°You¡¯re so wrong. I¡¯m no expert with women. If I were an expert, my wife and I wouldn¡¯t have been divorced,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s all in the past.¡± He paused, then said, ¡°I¡¯ll take you to see the rooms.¡±
¡°No, I want to stay here for a while.¡± Fan Fan walked towards the safe.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t stop her. She wouldn¡¯t be able to open the safe without his password. He didn¡¯t think she was brave enough to do so either.
Xia Lei was actually able to keep calm no matter how much pressure he faced, because he could rely on the ancient alloy. He was the only one in this world who could touch the ancient alloy, and anyone else who touched it would die. Whoever wanted to harm him would have to keep this in mind!
Fan Fan walked to the safe and stared at it quietly. ¡°It really is a marvel. Even though I can¡¯t see it, I can feel its existence. You know what? I¡¯d imagined the alloy to be a treasure, and you the key to opening it,¡± she muttered.
Fan Fan¡¯s casual words made Xia Lei¡¯s heart sink.
She had likened him to a key that would open up the treasure that was this ancient alloy.
Princess Yongmei called him ¡®The One¡¯.
Was this a coincidence, or fate¡¯s ns?
¡°Big Brother Lei, have you ever thought about why you¡¯re the only one who can touch the ancient alloy?¡± Fan Fan looked back at Xia Lei. Her eyes held a fairly perceptive intelligence, with the power to see him clearly.
Xia Lei pretended to be rxed and he smiled. ¡°Of course I¡¯ve thought about it. I think it¡¯s because I repaired thepass in the past. Maybe it has some spiritual nature and recognized me as its friend or something.¡±
¡°Cheh, are you writing a novel?¡± Fan Fan snorted disdainfully at Xia Lei¡¯s words. ¡°You¡¯re a Fellow of the Academy of Science now. You can¡¯t say things like that. I don¡¯t believe that this is the reason either.¡±
Intelligent women sure were difficult to deal with.
Xia Lei had glossed over the question with that exnation with other people, but he could not gloss it over with Fan Fan.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°Maybe there are other reasons, but I don¡¯t know them. Could you tell me if you do?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know either, which is why I¡¯ll be studying you,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°There¡¯s no rush. Let¡¯s go look at the rooms first.¡±
They left the undergroundboratory. Xia Lei brought Fan Fan to the second floor and into the room next to the one he usually stayed in. Every room in the vi was furnished to a five-star hotel¡¯s standards. The rooms were stylish,vish and the facilities fully-equipped.
¡°How is it? Do you like it?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°I do. It looks veryfortable. Let¡¯s begin now,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Let¡¯s begin what?¡± Xia Lei looked at Fan Fan in astonishment.
¡°Um...¡± Fan Fan was suddenly all shy, and she hummed and hawed when she spoke. ¡°Big Brother Lei, could you please, um, please take off your clothes.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was stunned. He suspected that he had heard wrong.
¡°I¡¯d like to start on my work right now.¡±
¡°Now? But... There¡¯s no equipment here at all. What can you research?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Your body.¡± Fan Fan mustered her courage. ¡°I want to take a look at your body and take pictures to keep on file. This is the first step for my work, and it doesn¡¯t require any equipment. I have my phone, and I can use it to take pictures. I¡¯ll still need to touch your body and do a body checkup whether you¡¯re willing to, or not.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°T, T, Take it off,¡± Fan Fan urged.
No matter the asion, no matter the time, Fan Fan put her work first.
Just thinking about taking off his clothes to let a woman observe, take pictures, and even touch his body made Xia Lei feel very awkward, but he had no choice but to cooperate. This was only the initial checkup. If he tried to give excuses and reject her, it would easily arouse ZN Bureau¡¯s suspicions. If he wanted to cheat, he needed to cheat at the most crucial point.
¡°Y, You can imagine me as a doctor. N, no need to feel awkward.¡± Fan Fan told him not to be embarrassed, but her face was bright red.
Xia Lei said nothing, butplied by nimbly stripping himself of his shirt, his trousers, and then his shoes and socks, finally standing in front of Fan Fan in just his briefs.
¡°T,take that off too,¡± said Fan Fan as she pointed at the only bit of cloth left on Xia Lei¡¯s body.
¡®I¡¯ll strip you naked one day too!¡¯ Xia Lei thought. He grabbed the stic band of the scrap of cloth, and pulled it down with a rustle.
Fan Fan looked as if he had struck some sort of nerve. She instinctively closed her eyes, and was so nervous that even her eyshes trembled. She recovered quickly, however, and opened her eyes to observe Xia Lei¡¯s body.
Fan Fan circled around Xia Lei three whole times before stopping in front of him. ¡°I¡¯ve seen many people¡¯s bodies, but I¡¯ve never seen one like yours. Your body is well-proportioned. Unbelievably well-proportioned. The lines of your muscles are very elegant, but full of power too. Have you seen the Discobolus statue of Rome? His body was believed to be the most perfect body, but it falls short inparison to yours,¡± she said in praise.
¡°Nn, have you seen many men¡¯s bodies?¡± Xia Lei asked casually. He only felt less awkward when he was speaking.
¡°Yes, I saw many people in school who volunteered to be models. I also saw the bodies of some models in my work, but those models were paid models,¡± Fan Fan replied.
¡°So does your face always turn red when you look at their bodies?¡±
¡°My face isn¡¯t red. Why would my face be red?¡±
¡°Then why is it red now?¡±
Fan Fan was speechless.
Chapter 620 - The Awful Checkup
Fan Fan¡¯s aim was to study Xia Lei, but his aim was to disrupt her study. Fan Fan was eager to start on her work, so he had to get into the state to hinder her in time. This was just an experimental hindrance, but it had its own significance too.
This was going to be an interesting war. Xia Lei was going to break through her defenses, little by little, and finally upy her territory.
sh, sh, sh, went the light of the phone. Xia Lei¡¯s body appeared on Fan Fan¡¯s phone screen. The front, back, and all his different body parts were documented, leaving nothing hidden.
Fan Fan¡¯s face turned redder and redder. There wasn¡¯t a spot on her face that wasn¡¯t red after taking a picture of Xia Lei¡¯s most embarrassing ce.
¡°What¡¯s the purpose of taking these pictures?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll run them through a software to create a three dimensional image. Of course, I¡¯ll add in pictures of your organster on, but the equipment here can¡¯t do that so I¡¯ll have to wait until next time,¡± said Fan Fan. She put her phone away.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°You have to keep these pictures safe and don¡¯t leak them. You can look at them yourself, but please don¡¯t show them to other people.¡±
¡°I, I¡¯m doing this for my work! I¡¯m not going to look at pictures of you for no reason.¡± Fan Fan was a little nervous. ¡°I¡¯m going to touch your body now. Y, you don¡¯t have to be nervous.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not nervous at all. But you, on the other hand, seem very nervous. Why are you nervous?¡±
¡°What makes you think I¡¯m nervous? I¡¯m not nervous.¡± Not only was Fan Fan nervous, she was panicking too.
Xia Lei stretched his arms out confidently. ¡°I¡¯m ready. You can touch anywhere you want.¡±
¡°D, don¡¯t say it like that. I, I¡¯m not talking to you anymore.¡± Fan Fan shut her mouth as she¡¯d said, then went behind Xia Lei and started touching him from the back of his head. Her hands felt at him, slowly moving down. Her fingers slipped over his neck, shoulders, back, waist...
¡°Fan Fan, um, is there anything wrong with me?¡±
¡°Huh? No! No problem!¡± Xia Lei had startled Fan Fan.
¡°Then what¡¯s your hand looking for?¡±
¡°I... I¡¯m not talking to you,¡± said Fan Fan. She shut her mouth with a huff.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. Fan Fan was a highly intelligent woman, but she had a critical weakness ¡ª her special physique.
Now that he thought about it, this should be Fan Fan¡¯s secret. He wouldn¡¯t have known if she hadn¡¯t reacted with climaxing when he carried her in Yongle Store.
¡°Fan Fan, your body is very special. Does your grandfather know?¡± Xia Lei asked tentatively.
¡°Why are you asking me?¡± Fan Fan¡¯s hand paused on Xia Lei¡¯s ankle.
¡°I¡¯m just asking since I¡¯m concerned about you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why would I tell my grandfather about something so embarrassing? You¡¯re the first one who¡¯s found out about my secret.¡± Fan Fan recalled what had happened at Yongle Store, and how she had had a high because of him. She felt humiliated and angry every time she thought about it.
¡°It turned out that Fan Yiming didn¡¯t know. That¡¯s good, then.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s smile grew even more obvious. If Fan Yiming didn¡¯t know, the people from Bureau ZN definitely wouldn¡¯t either. They wouldn¡¯t assign Fan Fan to be in charge of such an important job if they did.
Fan Fan¡¯s hand moved to Xia Lei¡¯s lower abdomen, noting how peculiar it was. He had a hard eight-pack, but he also had delicate, white skin. Many men had an eight-pack, but none possessed Xia Lei¡¯s degree of abdominal muscle.
Fan Fan¡¯s hands slid down his abdomen, and her fingers shook slightly. Her sensitivity became even more intense when she was in front of Xia Lei.
¡°You won¡¯t check there, right?¡± Xia Lei was actually getting quite nervous too.
¡°D, Don¡¯t have any strange thoughts.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s voice trembled. ¡°This is work. It¡¯s, it¡¯s not what you think. I, I have to finish the checkup, so I can¡¯t leave out any part.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re really going to©`¡± Xia Lei voice was gone before he could finish his sentence.
¡°D, don¡¯t get any weird thoughts!¡± warned Fan Fan as she continued her work.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice came from outside the vi.
Xia Lei and Fan Fan were both nervous, and they touched in a manner which was equal parts awkward and intimate in their panic.
¡°Y, you!¡± Fan Fan covered her face. She was extremely humiliated and angry, but was unable to criticise Xia Lei. She was the one who had moved closer, so how could she me him?
¡°Hurry up!¡± urged Xia Lei.
Long Bing also had the authority to enter. Who knew what she¡¯d think if she came in and saw this scene?
¡°I, I¡¯m done.¡± Fan Fan seemed to be afraid of being seen by others. They were in a room after all, and not in aboratory. It would be easy for people to misunderstand.
Xia Lei sighed in relief when he heard that she was done. He quickly dressed himself and strode out the door without bothering about her anymore.
Once Xia Lei was out of the vi, Long Bing said, ¡°Let¡¯s take a stroll in the mountains.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°A stroll in the mountains?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask. Let¡¯s go.¡± Long Bing didn¡¯t care if he¡¯d agreed. She walked towards the vi¡¯s back gate.
Xia Lei thought it strange that she woulde all the way over just to take a stroll with him. It wasn¡¯t like her, so she must have something she wanted to talk to him about. He followed her to the back gate too. Perhaps it was because the feeling of desire that welled up within him hadn¡¯t dissipated yet, but he couldn¡¯t control his gaze. His eyes rested on Long Bing¡¯s alluring behind and were filled with excitement and desire.
¡°Is Fan Fan from the Academy of Science here too?¡± asked Long Bing casually.
¡°Yes, she wants to stay here,¡± replied Xia Lei.
Long Bing looked back at Xia Lei. ¡°She¡¯ll be living here?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I don¡¯t really have a choice. I was just about to tell you that I¡¯ve run into some trouble.¡±
¡°What trouble?¡±
¡°Having me join the Academy of Science isn¡¯t a good thing. Fan Yiming and Fan Fan are actually targeting me.¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit, and said, ¡°I¡¯m the only one who can touch the ancient alloy, and the two of them have considered me to be the key to unraveling the ancient alloy¡¯s secret. They¡¯re here to conduct research on me.¡±
Long Bing wrinkled her brow. ¡°How can they do this to you? It¡¯s too much! Who ordered this?¡±
¡°Have you heard about Bureau ZN?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s expression suddenly changed, and she looked as if she wanted to say something.
¡°You haven¡¯t?¡±
¡°I have, but I¡¯ve never seen or interacted with anyone from that organisation.¡±
Xia Lei was a little disappointed at her response. If someone like Long Bing hadn¡¯t even interacted with anyone from Bureau ZN, then it really was shrouded in an unimaginable level of mystery.
¡°You don¡¯t need to worry. I¡¯ll talk to Boss Shi when I go back. They can¡¯t do this to you, and if they won¡¯t listen to just me, I¡¯ll let Tang Yuyan talk to him too. She has the Tang Sect backing her up, so her words hold more weight than mine. She¡¯d definitely be willing to help you too,¡± assured Long Bing.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No need. There¡¯s no point in talking to Boss Shi. It¡¯s honestly nothing I can¡¯t handle, so you don¡¯t need to bother so much about it. Anyways, you didn¡¯te looking for me just to go on a stroll, right? Tell me what¡¯s going on.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk when we¡¯re on the mountain,¡± said Long Bing.
Chapter 621 - Liang Siyao’s Conditions
The mountain forest in the early summer wasn¡¯t quiet. Some birds were chirping on the treetop like they were holding an election. They needed a bird with both integrity and talent to guide their flock. A gust of wind blew by, shaking the tree branches, and the birds flew away in fright.
Xia Lei and Long Bing were the only human beings in the forest. They wouldn¡¯t be heard if they talked here. This was why Long Bing had insisted on going to the mountain to talk.
Long Bing stopped on a patch of soft grass in the mountain forest. ¡°Liang Siyao contacted me,¡± she said.
This simple sentence frightened Xia Lei. He paused, then said, ¡°When did this happen?¡±
¡°She contacted me an hour ago. You are the first person to know about this.¡± She looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Is there anything you would like to tell me?¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve met her once before this. She told me that she was preparing to defect from the CIA. She wants me to pull some strings and act as a bridge for her. I have been waiting for an appropriate opportunity to tell you, but that thing with Shentu Tianyin happened before I could talk to you.¡±
¡°I am your woman. What is there that you can¡¯t tell me? If you have any difficulties, you should let me share the burden with you.¡± There was a hint of anger in Long Bing¡¯s eyes.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, Bing, I...¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to exin this to her. He had his own difficulties. Liang Siyao was highly-ranked in the CIA after all, and he had been romantically involved with her. He had to wait for an appropriate time to tell her, and he couldn¡¯t just blurt it out to her. If he had just blurted it out, he would end up in an unfavourable position on top of not being of help to Liang Siyao.
¡°Actually, I had already suspected that Liang Siyao was nning something when I saw your master, Liang Zhengchun appear during your wedding with Shentu Tianyin. She wouldn¡¯t have her father return to China otherwise. I have been keeping an eye on Liang Zhengchun but Liang Siyao didn¡¯t appear.¡±
¡°What did she say to you?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°She told me that she is longer the director of the CIA in Asia. Gu Kewen has reced her. This move against Shentu Tianyin was orchestrated by Gu Kwen. She did this because she is trying to demonstrate her strength to the high-ups of the CIA. Gu Kwen utilised the resources left behind by the Gu n for this. You have seen it yourself. She is still able to stir up trouble even though she isn¡¯t here,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°I can¡¯t be bothered with Gu Kwen right now. What else did Liang Siyao say?¡±
¡°She asked me to talk to Boss Shi. She wants to join Bureau 101, but she has some conditions she wants me ry to Boss Shi before she joins. The first condition is that she wants immunity from prosecution. There shouldn¡¯t be any persecution or conviction directed at her. Secondly, she wants to have the same position as Tang Yuyan and I. She will return to China and join Bureau 101 if the two conditions are met.¡±
¡°I understand the first condition, but the second condition... Will Boss Shi agree to it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°He probably will. She used to be a highly-ranked CIA officer. She holds information which is very valuable to us. Boss Shi will be fairly tempted by just this fact.¡±
¡°What are you nning to do?¡±
¡°This is the reason I came here. I will listen to you. You decide.¡±
Xia Lei felt a dull headache and his scalp was numb. He will definitely support LIang Siyao if she wanted to return so she could serve the country. However, he would be linked to the three female Section Chiefs of Bureau 101 once she returned and Shi Boren satisfied her conditions. The four of them would be hopelessly entangled with each other. Long Bing had asked him to decide this matter and he would feel guilty if he didn¡¯t help Liang Siyao. But if he helped her out, would Long Bing think that there¡¯s still some unfinished business between them?
This really was a headache!
¡°What¡¯s your opinion on this?¡± Long Bing¡¯s eyes seemed to look right into Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
Xia Lei braced himself and said, ¡°For both public and personal reasons, I support her. In my opinion... You should help her.¡±
The corners of Long Bing¡¯s mouth curved into a smile. ¡°No wonder so many women like you. You¡¯re an affectionate and loyal man. Even though Shentu Tianyin betrayed you, you can still understand her and even took the me for her. Liang Siyao has also betrayed you, but you are still willing to help her. Meeting you has been a great blessing in their lives.¡±
Xia Lei rxed when he saw her smile. ¡°You say they¡¯re blessed to have met me, so what about you?¡± asked Xia Lei softly.
Long Bing suddenly squeezed herself into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. ¡°I¡¯m not as stupid as them. If I must face the same choices they¡¯ve faced, I would choose you. You are mine both now and in the future,¡± said Long Bing passionately.
Xia Lei could not restrain his love ¡ª he was already passionately entangled with Long Bing.
Their passions ebbed away, and they gradually quieted down.
¡°I will talk to Boss Shi about Liang Siyao¡¯s matter. Are you don¡¯t want me to tell him about Fan Yiming and Fan Fan?¡± Long Bingy in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. She seemed veryfortable, and peaceful. Her voice was also very soft andced withzy seduction.
¡°You can just mention Liang Siyao¡¯s matter to Boss Shi. Don¡¯t say anything about Fan Yiming and Fan Fan. I will try my best to solve it myself,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I will listen to you. Don¡¯t dwell on this matter too much. Even if Bureau ZN has given instructions to Fan Yiming and Fan Fan to observe you, it would be for Alloy X Project. It is also for the benefit of this country, and not something that¡¯s targeting you,¡± said Long Bing.
Her love for her own country really was above everything else.
Xia Lei kissed her forehead and said softly, ¡°Bing, if there is a conflict of interest between the country and I, which side will you stand on?¡±
This wasn¡¯t a ¡®what if¡¯ situation, but it was a situation that was bound to ur. The ancient alloy and the secret of AE represented the country¡¯s interests, and it was an extraordinary interest. Their interest in this could change Xia Lei¡¯s life and even destroy him. When that time came, when their conflict reached a critical point, which side would she choose to stand on, when he needed her to make a choice? Would she choose to defend the interests of the country, or would she choose him?
Long Bing raised her head and looked at Xia Lei, confusion and suspicion in her gaze. ¡°Why are you asking me this?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯m just randomly asking you this. Suppose that really happens. Tell me, which side you will stand on?¡±
Long Bing thought seriously about it, then she shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I will not allow that to happen.¡±
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t surprised at all with her response. She was the most patriotic person he had ever met. She had dedicated her youth and everything she had and offered it to this country. Long Bing believed in, and would, defend this country¡¯s interests. If he had made her abandon and betray her own country, it will be very unfair to her.
¡°I will not let that happen.¡± There was a smile on Xia Lei¡¯s face, but his heart was bitter.
¡°Let¡¯s not talk about these unpleasant things anymore. Oh right, did Shentu Tianyin contact you?¡±
¡°No, why are you mentioning her?¡±
¡°It¡¯s because a colleague of mine who likes to specte in the stock market said that the Vientiane Group¡¯s stock value has increased. Too bad he¡¯d thrown away all the shares he had the day Shentu Tianyin was reported to be in trouble.¡±
¡°Shentu Tianyin is very good at manipting the stock prices. She made the stock prices drop herself. By my estimates, she has close to 70% of the Vientiane Group¡¯s stocks now. Once the market value of the Vientiane Group restores itself, her worth will increase again. She won,¡± said Xia Lei with a sigh.
¡°But she lost you.¡±
Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°Me? I¡¯m not that important to her. The Vientiane Group is the most important thing to her.¡±
¡°What will you do if she contacts you?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll see what it¡¯s about first.¡±
¡°Then will you stille to my house tonight?¡±
¡°I will go to your house right now.¡±
¡°Right now?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly turned over and pressed her below him. Long Bing squeaked and abruptly realised what house Xia Lei was talking about.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t go to the vi to look for Fan Fan after sending Long Bing off. He went alone to his office.
Shentu Tianyin hadunched the expansion n for the Thunder Horse Military Factory while he¡¯d been in Germany. These ns were still in progress, but there were still some things he had to personally handle. Besides, he¡¯d promised Shi Boren that he would turn the technologies of Rheinmetall AG into genuine goods, so he would need to operate this himself.
Qin Xiang appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s office soon after Xia Lei had done some work.
¡°I saw you bring back a girl.¡± Qin Xiang jumped right to the main point. ¡°You¡¯ve arranged for her to live in the vi. Even I can¡¯t enter that ce. Annina has just returned to Germany... Did you find someone to rece her? If you did, then you¡¯re really a bad guy.¡±
Xia Lei looked wordlessly at him. ¡°What are you saying? She is someone from the Academy of Science. She is the granddaughter of the dean of the Academy of Science and her name is Fan Fan.¡±
¡°Oh my, you¡¯ve switched to courting high-end girls now?¡± Qin Xiang stuck an elegant finger up. ¡°Does she scream out forms and theorems when you do it with her?¡±
¡°Go to hell. If you¡¯re this idle, I do have something that I want you to help me with,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s true that I¡¯ve been quite bored. Tell me, what do you want me to steal?¡±
¡°A heart.¡±
¡°What?¡± Qin Xiang gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°Are you sick or something? A person like me? Do you want me to steal a woman¡¯s or a man¡¯s heart? I think you might as well just steal my heart then.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at Qin Xiang. ¡°I¡¯m not joking with you. Fan Fan will live here for the time being and I want you to pay close attention to her. I want you to see who she is contacting, what she is doing, and so on. I also want you to pay attention to her likes and dislikes. These are very important to me.¡±
¡°Are you really going to court her? Why are you going to all that trouble to court a woman, huh? Just have sex with her and you¡¯re golden.¡±
¡°She isn¡¯t an ordinary woman. Money and glory aren¡¯t tempting enough for a woman like her. I need to conquer her heart, and that¡¯s not an easy task.¡±
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll help you.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t tell anyone about this.¡±
¡°Okay, you can rest assured.¡± Qin Xiang put his hand on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I can help you, but I have a condition.¡±
¡°Can you secretly record a video for me when you two are doing it?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°How about it? I just want to see how you guys do it.¡±
¡°Get lost!¡±
Chapter 622 - Full Upgrade of Thunder Horse
Thunder Horse Military Factory went into full upgrade mode under Xia Lei¡¯s machinations. The newnd, new factory area, new workshops, and supporting facilities went straight to the construction phase. On the other end, all the needed pieces of equipment were in the stage of being purchased. The purchasing agents of the Thunder Horse Military Factory flew to Russia and Ukraine to inspect and ce orders in order to add to the tank and artillery production line.
The pieces of equipment purchased from Russia and Ukraine obviously could not rival Rheinmetall AG¡¯s, but the purchased equipment would be upgraded by Xia Leiter. Rheinmetall AG could notpare to the equipment upgraded by him. This was his n. To build the artillery, tank, and defense system¡¯s production line at the fastest speed possible.
In Xia Lei¡¯s n, the most importantponent was obviously a more powerfulposite intelligentthe. He would do another upgrade on the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s foundation to improve the newthe¡¯s performance. The newthe was two times bigger and heavier than the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. Its overall performance was also twofold better than the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe.
Xia Lei named it "Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe Second Generation." It yed a role simr to a heart in the new production system.
Xia Lei began building the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe Second Generation the moment the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s upgrade n started.
Fan Fan did not force him to cooperate with her to do any research either. She did not even ask him to go to the Academy of Science. Her response was no surprise to Xia Lei. The Thunder Dragon intelligentthe was already the most advanced intelligentthe in the world. What he was doing now was creating the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation, which was more powerful and more advanced than the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. This was a treasure that could not be bought with money. The military would most likely interfere, even if the people of the ZN Bureau wanted to quickly finish their business.
And so, in front of the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s full upgrade and the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe Second Generation, other things would have to be pushed aside.
But Xia Lei knew that that was only dying the problem; he hadn¡¯t truly escaped trouble. Once the Thunder Horse Military Factory finished its upgrade and the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation wasplete, all of his troubles woulde back.
During this period of time, Xia Lei was rooted inside the new workshop every day, working on the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation. Qin Xiang would also appear in the workshop daily to bring him information.
"It seems that she is afraid of eating spicy food. Even if there is only one piece of pepper she would pick it out." At midnight, Qin Xiang came to the new workshop that was "nurturing" the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation to bring him information that he had collected before Xia Lei finished work.
Xia Lei wiped the sweat on his face with a towel. He turned to Qin Xiang and said in a gloomy voice, "Yesterday you said that she has a weak stomach and went to the bathroom six times. Today, you tell me that she can¡¯t eat spicy food. I say, buddy, is this the full extent of your information collecting abilities?"
Qin Xiang rolled his eyes at Xia Lei. "You¡¯re in the factory, and she¡¯s in the factory. The ce is only so big. What kind of information can I find? How about you go collect information and I¡¯ll help you create thethe."
Xia Lei was speechless.
Qin Xiang giggled. "Never mind, I won¡¯t leave you hanging. I followed her for a week. It wasn¡¯t until today that I finally got the chance to put a listening device on her. Before I came here, she called her grandfather Fan Yiming and described some things about your situation and her job to him."
¡°What did she say?"
¡°The part about you, hehe... She said that your body is the most perfect body she has ever seen. Could it be that you showed her your body?¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s eyes surveyed Xia Lei¡¯s body.
Xia Lei felt a bit awkward. "Stop messing around. Get to the point."
¡°All right. Other than your body, there was also your daily habits such as the foods you like to eat, and the things you are sensitive to. You can tell that she is always observing you very carefully.¡±
¡°How did she describe her job to Fan Yiming?¡±
Qin Xiang replied, ¡°This part was very easy. She said she created a file and something like a 3D image, I don¡¯t quite understand. Other than that, she also mentioned today that she needed equipment and urged Fan Yiming to deliver it to her.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. Fan Fan asking for equipment from Fan Yiming meant that she wanted to set up herboratory here. If that was the case, that means that she could still continue her research even during the time he was upgrading the Thunder Horse Military Factory.
What woulde would alwayse ¡ª there was no hiding from it.
"Is there more?"
"Yes." Qin Xiang smiled. "You said you wanted to take her down but from what I¡¯ve observed during this period of time, I found that it will be very difficult."
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. "What did you find?"
"I realized that whether men or women, she will feel disgusted no matter who touches her. She reacts very strongly too. This evening, Liu Zhengnan identally touched her in the elevator. She red at him and almost bit off his head. Later, I represented women and purposefully touched her real quick, she almost bit at me too."
"You can not represent women, okay?" Xia Leiughed.
"Hmph! I¡¯m not talking to you anymore!¡± Qin Xiang seemed angry as he turned and left.
Xia Lei stood alone in the new workshop in a daze. He kept going over what Qin Xiang had said about Fan Fan in his head. ¡®Liu Zhengnan is also a handsome man. You can say that he is the type that most women would like. No matter what kind of woman he identally touches, they wouldn¡¯t dislike it, would they? But, not only did I touched her, I even hugged her. She did not dislike it but had that exaggerated reaction. Could it be that I¡¯m an exception? She doesn¡¯t dislike it when I touch her? Or could it be some other reason?¡¯
Even the Heavens wouldn¡¯t know the answer to this. Xia Lei¡¯s superior brain could calcte difficult andplex problems but he could not solve this simple question.
Xia Lei stayed for a while in the new workshop, then left. He passed the old factory area and was ready to head to the vi when Lu Sheng ran over from the main gate.
"Director Xia!" Lu Sheng called from afar, "Please wait."
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks. When he turned to look at Lu Sheng, he found that there was a container truck parked outside the main gate.
"Director Xia, there is a car outside, he said it came to deliver something to Miss Fan. I asked him what it is, and he said it is research equipment." Lu Sheng continued, "I don¡¯t understand the situation so I came over to ask you."
Qin Xiang had just said that Fan Fan asked Fan Yiming for equipment and the equipment was here. The equipment had probably been in that container truck long ago. It might even have been parked near the town, ready to be delivered at any time.
"Let that vehicle in," said Xia Lei.
"There¡¯s one more thing." Lu Sheng looked around and then lowered his voice, "Do you not know?"
"What?"
"Siyao is back," said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei stood stunned for a moment. He¡¯d never expected Lu Sheng to say this. He knew about Liang Siyaoing back a week ago, and Long Bing had told him herself but he didn¡¯t know the exact date. Now, Lu Sheng was telling him that Liang Siyao hade back and he didn¡¯t know. This situation was really a surprise to him.
¡°She just gave me a call telling me to go to Haizhu to visit Master.¡± Lu Sheng continued, ¡°So I want to take a week off and make a visit to Haizhu. The old master came back but I have yet to visit him. I feel that I must go, or I won¡¯t feelfortable about it."
"Okay, you can go. Spend some time with him. If a week is not enough you can extend it yourself," said Xia Lei.
"How can that do?"
"If I said it is fine, then it is fine," said Xia Lei. "Also, help me bring a gift to Master on this trip of yours and ask after his health on my behalf."
Lu Shengughed and said, "No problem. Then I¡¯ll pack tonight then head back to Haizhu the next morning."
"Go on, go on."
But Lu Sheng didn¡¯t leave. He asked, "Don¡¯t you have anything to say to Siyao? She asked me about your situation over the phone and I told her you were fine. I also told her that you and Shengtu Tianyin divorced."
"I... Never mind. I¡¯ll tell her when I see her," said Xia Lei. Liang Siyao came back, so that must mean that Shi Boren epted her conditions. She would be a member of Bureau 101 in the future, and they would have many chances to meet.
"Then I¡¯m leaving." Lu Sheng left.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang right after Lu Sheng left.
Xia Lei took out his phone and took a look. The number was the one used by Liang Siyao back when she had been in China thest time, and he was very familiar with it. He couldn¡¯t help but smile. He was just wondering why Liang Siyao hadn¡¯t contacted him even though she had came back and now she was calling now.
Xia Lei answered. His lips moved, but he didn¡¯t say anything.
"I came back." Liang Siyao¡¯s voice came from the phone.
Her voice... so familiar, so intimate. Her voice immediately took Xia Lei¡¯s mind back to the time when they were love.
"Came back, huh..." Xia Lei quirked his lips, "It¡¯s good that you came back. Appreciate this chance. Don¡¯t make any more mistakes."
"I made a mistake once and lost my dearest person. I won¡¯t make the same mistake again,¡± said Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei knew what she was talking about. "Then you... When are you going to report to Bureau 101?"
"Tomorrow." Liang Siyao continued, "I just talked with Shi Boren today. I will go to Bureau 101 tomorrow. Will youe too?"
Xia Lei thought for a moment. "I¡¯lle. Let¡¯s see each other at Bureau 101 tomorrow."
"Um, don¡¯t you have anything to say to me?"
Xia Lei¡¯s lips moved. "Nn..."
"Big Brother Lei!" Fan Fan came running over all of a sudden. "Can you get the workers to help me take out the merchandise?"
Fan Fan¡¯s voice was very loud, and it passed through the phone and into Liang Siyao¡¯s ear.
"Who is that?" Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was full of suspicion.
"Fan Fan," said Xia Lei. "From the Academy of Science. Well, let¡¯s end it here, see you tomorrow."
"All right. I want to have a good talk with you tomorrow."
"Yeah." Xia Lei hung up. Fan Fan was running toward him. Two big rabbits ran under the white pure cotton t-shirt, bouncing, up and down, right and left, each cuter and more energetic than the other. A pair of denim shorts hugged her full curves and her exposed long white legs. She was like a live painting, spreading an air of youth and sexiness.
Fan Fan stopped in front of Xia Lei. The two big rabbits on her chest jiggled, then stilled. She wore a bright smile on her face. "Big Brother Lei, call the workers, quick. I have already received permission, the workers can move my equipment to the vi."
She could even get this kind of clearance.
Xia Lei smiled. "All right, I¡¯ll go call the workers right away." As he spoke, he suddenly moved his hand and patted Fan Fan on the waist.
"What are you doing?" Fan Fan immediately became nervous and her face turned red. There was a hint of embarrassment and anger in her eyes.
Xia Lei pretended to blow on his hand. "Nothing. A mosquito. I only helped you kill a mosquito."
Fan Fan was speechless.
She has a fear of contact with people. This was a kind of mental disorder, but it was exactly this disorder that Xia Lei wanted to destroy, little by little.
Chapter 623 - The Story in the Bronze Book
The workers moved Fan Fan¡¯s equipment into a room, turning it into aboratory.
Just the sight of the equipment filling the room made Xia Lei feel a headacheing on.
¡°My grandfather wille by in the next few days to see how everything is going on. He will decide if he will also move over here to work then,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brows. One Fan Fan was enough of a headache. If Fan Yiming came too, he was going to have a migraine.
¡°What, Big Brother Lei? You don¡¯t like my grandfathering here?¡± Fan Fan had seen the change in Xia Lei¡¯s expression.
Xia Lei put on a smile. ¡°Why would I dislike it? We are all doing it for the Alloy X Project. It¡¯s a good thing for our work if Elder Fanes over.¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that you think of it that way.¡± A pretty smile appeared on Fan Fan¡¯s face too. ¡°Big Brother Lei, the equipment is here. We can proceed with our work now. Could I trouble you to take your clothes off?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± said Xia Lei in surprise. ¡°Didn¡¯t I already take my clothes off thest time? Why do you want me to strip again?¡±
¡°We had no equipment thest time. I only did some simple checks and took pictures. The equipment is here now, so I have to do it all again. Hurry up and strip.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Strip. No dirty thoughts.¡± Fan Fan mentioned that quite specifically.
¡°What dirty thoughts?¡± asked Xia Lei in fake obliviousness.
¡°Thoughts which are naughty.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s face reddened.
¡°Oh, so you think those things are naughty things. Words like theseing from the mouth of a scientist like yourself is wrong.¡± Xia Lei spoke in all seriousness, ¡°Doesn¡¯t mankind depend on those things to breed? If those sort of things didn¡¯t exist, then the human race would have been extinguished long ago.¡±
¡°C,Can we not talk about these? I just want you to take your clothes off.¡± Fan Fan couldn¡¯t out-talk Xia Lei.
Xia Lei took that opportunity to leave. ¡°I am not free today. Let¡¯s do this another day.¡±
¡°You...¡± Fan Fan was rooted to the spot. She had not expected Xia Lei to reject her like this.
¡®You do what you want, and your grandfather alsoes when he feels like it. Who has ever asked for my opinion? You treat me as the key to the treasure. Fuck that! I¡¯m a person, not a key!¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Hold on!¡± Fan Fan suddenly mustered up her courage and called Xia Lei to a stop.
Xia Lei looked back at her. ¡°What else do you want?¡±
¡°What do you want in exchange for cooperation in my work?¡± Fan Fan bit her lip.
¡°I have to strip when you tell me to strip. What sort of person do you take me for? You want me to strip for you? Fine. But you have to strip naked too. We¡¯ll both be naked,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Fan Fan was so angry she could not speak. She had not expected Xia Lei to demand such a thing.
¡°You¡¯re not willing?¡± Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Then what gave you the basis to assume that I would be willing to strip in front of you? Is my body not of value, or is it my dignity that is not of value?¡±
¡°I...¡± Fan Fan could find no words of retort.
¡°That¡¯s it for today. Let¡¯s talk again when I¡¯m in the mood.¡± Xia Lei walked out the door, and threw one more line out. ¡°I¡¯m going to the undergroundboratory. I¡¯m going to connect the ancient alloy pieces, so don¡¯t follow me. It¡¯s very dangerous.¡±
Fan Fan bit her lip. She could not utter a word.
Xia Lei¡¯s conditions were indeed a little too much, but it was intentional. He wanted to use this method to send a message to the people of the ZN Bureau: I am not an item for you to manipte as you wish!
This message was also for Fan Fan and Fan Yiming. He wanted them to know that no one could force him to do what he did not want to do!
This was necessary. If he yielded blindly and was patient and amodating all the time, the other party would take it all for granted. Even if he did not directly reject Fan Fan¡¯s request, or the addition of Fan Yiming to the project, he could dy things. Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s upgrading and the Alloy X Project provided him excuses. However, once the other party lost patience, he woulde out of hiding, and Xia Lei would be able to see just what sort of person was having designs on him!
Of course, the most important goal was to conquer Fan Fan, and rely on her to get through this.
During their time of interactions with each other, Xia Lei had gained some understanding of Fan Fan. This woman was not one who would be swayed by money or egotism. It was difficult to sway her with good looks too, because her head was full of her work. Add her special constitution to the mix, and he had a woman who with an instinctive fear and rejection of men. He had to think hard to conquer a woman like her, and use some methods.
With some understanding of Fan Fan¡¯s character, Xia Lei started on his ns to win her over.
He was in no hurry in that regard.
In the undergroundboratory, Xia Lei took out the ancient alloy pieces and the bronze book, and ced them on the work table. He also had a notebookputer.
Strange writing met his eyes when he opened the bronze book. Some letters looked like a mess of weeds, some looked like a tadpole, and some looked like human heads, with noses and eyes, and even lines for mouths. Xia Lei had used his X-ray vision on this book in the past, and he knew that every letter in this book had a tone. The entire bronze book was like a ¡®bronze tape¡¯ or a ¡®bronze CD¡¯. Unfortunately, he had had no new discoveries other than the melodious sybles he heard in his head when he used his X-ray vision on it.
But today was different.
Xia Lei opened up the notebookputer and clicked about. A PDF document was quickly brought up on the screen. Piece after piece of floor tile was in the document, and every floor tile had a picture. These pictures were all different. Some were Chinese characters, some were people, some were lines. These pictures allbined to form a circr pattern which looked like aplicated mess.
The clue Xia Lei had found at the first treasure location was in this mess of a circr pattern.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze swept over the pattern in the PDF document, and the pictures on the tiles were sucked into his brain, like a vacuum sucking at dust. His gaze went to the bronze book again, and the letters on the bronze book went into his brain, one by one.
There were 10,000 mysterious letters in the bronze book in all, and 999 floor tiles in the first treasure location. Those numbers added together gave 10,999. This number was meaningless, but together, it was different.
The mysterious letters from the bronze book and the drawings on the tiles wereing together constantly inbinations in Xia Lei¡¯s head. The human-head-shaped letters were moved to the tiles with human shapes, men to men, women to women. The letters of line-forms were moved to the pictures with lines,bining to form aplete image. The dragonflies went to dragonflies, and the tadpoles were matched with tadpoles to form entirely new pictures. This was not based on his imagination or splicing, but tracing. This was the clue which Xia Lei had discovered at the first treasure location site ¡ª the drawings on the tiles and the mysterious letters in the bronze book strangely fit together!
A fairly simple example was that the heads of the people drawn on the tiles were blurry and were missing some lines, but when put together with a head-shaped letter from the bronze book, it formed aplete picture of a person, and was very clear too. The seemingly broken lines on the floor tiles, when oveid with the letter line-forms of the mysterious letters, gave aplete lined image. The Chinese characters on the floor tiles were all practically iplete and difficult to recognise, but when lines from the bronze book were added,plete Chinese characters were formed.
Picture after picture wasbined, and a sort of animated clip appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s head. Arger, circr pattern emerged, and it looked like apass engraved with runes.
The ¡®core¡¯ of thispass was Chinese characters, those he recognised. These Chinese characters were linked with the pictures to form aplete sentence: You are the only one who can turn it around.
That was it.
But that was already a very obvious clue.
Xia Lei¡¯s consciousness jolted. The mysterious power within him awakened and thepass in his head started spinning swiftly. It was amazingly strange. Then a voice suddenly appeared in his consciousness.
This was not an unfamiliar voice, because it was the same voice sounding out the sybles of the mysterious letters in the bronze book.
He had no clue what the voice had been saying the past, but he understood now. The power in his brain was like the needle of a gramophone, and his brain was like the machine spinning the record.
¡°You can decipher my voice, because you are The One. I left my voice in this bronze book to tell you my story. I had a box once, and that was how I gained immense power. My life is long, long beyond your imagination. I built my own kingdom, but even I do not know howrge it is. I have conquered many, many women, so many that I do not remember their names anymore. My grandchildren have died before me, and even the grandchildren of grandchildren of my grandchildren have passed before me. A long life has be my torture, yet my subjects hail me as The One. I think they see me as a god ¡ª but I am not a god. Wine, women, and vastnds are no longer enough to satisfy my desires. I began to want to unravel the mysteries of the box. And so, I departed from my kingdom. I scaled the highest peak in this world, and crossed the deepest ocean. I don¡¯t know how many ces I¡¯ve visited, or if there was any ce in this world I had not yet visited. My kingdom was extinguished, but I was not concerned. Then, a continuous snow fell upon thend. I witnessed the extinction of tens of thousands of creatures, and I truly became The One. I despaired. I wanted to end my life in the ce where the sun rose. I came to the East, to the ce closest to where the sun rose. This was the end I wanted. I leave this bronze book to you, but when the timees when I am prepared to end my life...¡±
The voice came to an end.
Xia Lei stood in ce for half an hour after that, motionless.
Chapter 624 - Kabedon and Kabedon
The light of dawn dispelled the darkness, but it could not dispel the fog in Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
He had spent the whole night thinking of the identity of the ¡°me¡± and the era that ¡°me¡± lived in. He could not guess who that person was, but based off what he said, that person should have been from the time period before the Ice Age, and that his story had ended in the Ice Age.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare believe this.
There had been several Ice Ages in the history of the Earth, the earliest 2.4 to 2.1 billion years ago, followed by the Ice Age 800 million to 600 million years ago, and the Ordovician Period of 400 million years ago. Next was the Carboniferous period. The fourth and most recent Ice Age had was 2.58 million years ago!
If that ¡°me¡± had been from the age before the fourth Ice Age, then he would have existed 2.58 million years ago. That had been a time of species poption growth, and dinosaurs, representative of therge animals, ruled the Earth. However, there were no humans in that era, and no evidence today suggested that humans existed in that era. ording to the words ¡°me¡± said, though, he had built an empire in that time. This meant that humans not just existed, but had started feudal societies!
The first feudal society of human history was the Qin dynasty, and it was only 2,000 years old!
ording to what ¡°me¡± said, he had established a feudal dynasty over two million years ago, and could make a book out of bronze to leave a message like this in the book. How could this technology bepared to the technology of the Qin dynasty over two million yearster? There was no such technology then, much less now!
What in the world was going on here?
These questions were blowing Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
¡®His voice did not end naturally. He said he was preparing to end his life, and then there was nothing else in the message. What interrupted him? Or did his life end at that point?¡¯ THe cut-off message in the bronze book filled Xia Lei¡¯s head with thoughts.
¡°Where are you going, Big Brother Lei?¡± Fan Fan¡¯s voice came from behind him.
Fan Fan had chased after him as soon as he¡¯d stepped out of the vi.
¡°I¡¯m going to Bureau 101 for a bit.¡± Xia Lei did not even turn back.
¡°What are you going to Bureau 101 for?¡± Fan Fan looked anxious. ¡°When can we start work?¡±
Xia Lei quickened his pace, and said as he walked, ¡°That¡¯s your work, not mine. I¡¯ve said that I¡¯ll cooperate with you when I have time.¡±
¡°You...¡± Fan Fan did not know why Xia Lei had changed his attitude. It had been all good just yesterday. His coldness was a little unbearable for her.
Xia Lei walked towards his Chevrolet Suburban.
¡°Wait for me.¡± Fan Fan caught up, and blocked Xia Lei¡¯s way.
Xia Lei walked around her and made to open the car door.
Fan Fan stood in his way again, and she opened her arms wide this time, and puffed up her chest like an angry little girl.
Xia Lei wanted tough, but he put on an icy expression. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Why are you being like this to me?¡± said Fan Fan huffily.
¡°Like what? Molest you? Or hit you and scold you?¡± A faint, arrogant sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth.
¡°Like this!¡± Fan Fan was losing it.
¡°You¡¯re being silly,¡± said Xia Lei coldly. ¡°Get out of the way. I¡¯m in a rush.¡±
¡°No I won¡¯t, unless you tell me the reason.¡± Fan Fan maintained her ¡®blocking¡¯ position.
Xia Lei took a step closer to Fan Fan. His chest went dangerously close to her chest. Fan Fan took a subconscious step back, but the car door was behind her. She had no ce to retreat to.
Xia Lei took another step forward.
Fan Fan hugged her breasts, afraid that Xia Lei would bump into them. She was a woman afraid of touch after all, and had some psychological issues. She had the courage to stand in his way but she was helpless in the face of Xia Lei¡¯s advance; so weak, and no way to resist.
Xia Lei suddenly reached out and put his hands on the car door, trapping Fan Fan between his arms. His hands went through her hair, and his chest was almost touching hers. His face was above hers, almost on hers.
¡°You...¡± Fan Fan became panicky at once, but she had nowhere to hide.
Xia Lei was not the warm and sunny young man to her anymore, but a domineering CEO. He was forceful, and unreasonable, like a wild beast intruding on her secret garden, ruining all that was beautiful.
¡°Are you sure you want to stand in my way?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice carried ridicule.
Fan Fan stared straight at Xia Lei. She was afraid that he would touch her suddenly, and she was nervous, and a little scared, but when she thought about the work she had toplete, she seemed to gather her courage. She did her lip, and said, ¡°Yes!¡±
¡°Hah!¡± Xia Lei scoffed, and suddenly pressed himself forward. Fan Fan was pressed to the car door.
This contact, and this sort of bullying made Fan Fan¡¯s courage crumble immediately. Her face flushed and her body started to tremble because of her sensitivity.
¡°Are you sure you still want to get in my way?¡± Xia Lei pressed himself harder on her.
¡°Please, I beg you, don¡¯t... Nngh!¡± Fan Fan¡¯s face was red, and her voice was shaky. She didn¡¯t even dare to say ¡®yes¡¯ at this time, nor look Xia Lei in the eye.
Xia Lei released her abruptly, and pulled her to one side, then opened the car door and sat in the driver¡¯s seat.
Fan Fan watched Xia Lei with wide eyes. She pressed her legs together, and did not dare to approach him.
Xia Lei started the car, stepped on the elerator, and was gone with a zoom.
Tears welled up in Fan Fan¡¯s eyes, and the corners of her mouth twitched. After a long while, she said, ¡°Baddie! Pervert! Bullying me... You bullied me...¡±
The Chevrolet Suburban moved forward, and Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the mirror, watching as distance grew between himself and Fan Fan. ¡®I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t want to hurt you, but I have no other choice.¡¯
Bureau 101.
Xia Lei had just brought his Chevrolet Suburban to a stop when Tang Yuyan walked towards him. She had been waiting in the car park.
Xia Lei alighted and greeted her. ¡°Morning, Yuyan.¡±
Tang Yuyan said nothing, and didn¡¯t smile either. She strode towards Xia Lei. The breeze lifted her hair, fanning it elegantly.
¡®What does she want?¡¯ thought Xia Lei curiously.
Tang Yuyan hade up to him before he could think of why, and she suddenly stretched out her arms and got even closer when their eyes met.
Xia Lei subconsciously took a step back, but it was just one step. His back hit the Chevrolet Suburban door. Tang Yuyan¡¯s arms went past his shoulders at the same time, brushing past his neck as she trapped him in her arms.
This was a very intimate position. Her face was almost touching his face, and her chest almost pressed against his. Her breath curled on his face, bringing the faint scent of a woman with it.
Their eyes were still locked. Xia Lei was paralysed.
He had trapped Fan Fan in a kabedon an hour earlier, and yed the part of a domineering CEO. Now, Tang Yuyan was doing a female CEO kabedon to him. Karma came too quick for him on this one, didn¡¯t it?
But Xia Lei was not Fan Fan, and did not have her constitution. He was not afraid of this sort of contact.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°I asked you out three times this week and you didn¡¯t evene out once. What are YOU doing?¡± Tang Yuyan shot back at him.
¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory is being upgraded. I have to build a new intelligentthe too, the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe, Generation Two. I have no time toe out and y with you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then don¡¯t you need to be in the military factory? Why are you here today?¡±
¡°That¡¯s... It¡¯s because...¡± Xia Lei stopped himself. He abruptly understood why Tang Yuyan had trapped him in a kabedon. She had asked him out thrice and he had not agreed, but he hade to Bureau 101 on the day that Liang Siyao was going to start work. This was what had angered her!
¡°Speak.¡± Tang Yuyan put pressure on Xia Lei, but she maintained some distance. She had not let Xia Lei actually touch her. It seemed what she¡¯d wanted was to provoke him, but not actually follow through.
¡°This is not the same.¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly, and bit the bullet. ¡°Liang Siyaoing to Bureau 101 is a bigger matter.¡±
¡°Or do you still miss her?¡± There was a tinge of sourness in Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes.
¡°Move aside. It won¡¯t be good if others see.¡± Xia Lei avoided her question.
¡°I¡¯m not afraid of letting others see, so why are you? Push me, then. Push me. I bet you won¡¯t dare to push me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Just then, an off-road vehicle came into the car park. Xia Lei saw at once that it was Long Bing in the driver¡¯s seat and Liang Siyao in the passenger¡¯s seat. Xia Lei suddenly moved forward, at Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s face reddened, and she took a step back.
This scene did not escape Long Bing and Liang Siyao¡¯s notice.
Long Bing had no reaction, and she was as calm as ever.
Liang Siyao, on the other hand, wrinkled her brow and had aplicated look in her eyes.
Tang Yuyan smiled faintly. This was what she¡¯d wanted.
Chapter 625 - Three Women, One Play
Long Bing and Liang Siyao alighted, and the two women walked towards Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan. They were both curvaceous and sexydies, and a man would have a great headache indeed if he had to choose between them.
At least, for Xia Lei. He wouldn¡¯t know who to pick.
Liang Siyao looked at Xia Lei, and he looked at her too.
Their gazes met in the air, soundless, sparkless, their hearts twanging with pain. They were meeting again, but the wonderful times of yesteryear were past, and they could not go back anymore.
¡°Hm.¡± Tang Yuyan broke the silence between the four of them. ¡°It really is interesting. The enemy of the past is bing an ally. What a small world.¡±
Was this a wee or a reminder for Liang Siyao?
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Liang Siyao¡¯s mouth, and she exuded a rare confidence and easy spirit. This seemed to be her response to Tang Yuyan.
Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan were both women of a martial art line, but they were different.
¡°You¡¯¡¯ve...pleted negotiations?¡± Xia Lei spoke, finally.
Liang Siyaoughed softly. ¡°All done, or I wouldn¡¯t be here.¡±
¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re back.¡± A thousand words were condensed into one sentence, and Xia Lei was happy for her.
¡°Liang Siyao, you have been granted immunity, but this does not mean you haven¡¯t done anything. You hurt Xia Lei in the past. I hope it won¡¯t happen again,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Having old matters dragged out, and in front of Xia Lei too, made Liang Siyao unhappy. She wrinkled her brow. ¡°Section Chief Tang, what are you trying to get at? Are you hinting something to me?¡±
¡°We¡¯re all women. There are some things we don¡¯t need to say out loud. Bureau 101 is not the CIA. You should cherish this opportunity you¡¯ve been given, and work hard for the country to make up for your past transgressions. You don¡¯t have to think about anything else,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°What is this ¡®anything else¡¯ you speak of, Section Chief Tang?¡±
¡°You know what I mean.¡±
The conversation between the two women was tinged with the scent of gunpowder.
Xia Lei felt a headacheing on. He coughed. ¡°Ahem. Let¡¯s go meet with Boss Shi. This isn¡¯t a ce to be chatting.¡±
Tang Yuyans and Liang Siyao shut their mouths.
At that moment, Long Bing moved close, and grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s cor, right in front of Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao.
¡°Bing...¡± Xia Lei did not know what she wanted to do, and was inexplicably nervous.
Long Bing straightened out the cor of his shirt, and said evenly, ¡°Do you not have a woman to keep you tidy after your divorce? Look at you, your cor¡¯s crooked.¡±
Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao seemed to turn to stone.
The two women had been sparring verbally while Section Chief Long left them in the dust.
It was sort of expected. Just based on rtionships, Liang Siyao was just an ex-girlfriend. Tang Yuyan did not even have an acknowledged rtionship and was a sort of vague connection. Long Bing, on the other hand, was Xia Lei¡¯s woman and could get him in her bed. With this sort of rtionship chart of theirs, Long Bing had not found it impermissible to very openly straighten out Xia Lei¡¯s clothing in a show of ownership, ignoring Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao¡¯s fight.
Section Chief Long seemed to also be using this method to tell them: No matter what happens between you and Xia Lei, he¡¯s still mine and no one can push me away.
¡°All right, let¡¯s go.¡± Long Bing straightened Xia Lei¡¯s cor and patted him on the shoulder.
¡°Thanks.¡± Xia Lei was happy inside. He felt that Long Bing did brilliantly.
He did not like that he had be something for Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao to snatch from each other, like a toy. If one looked at it this way, Long Bing did what she did to get him out of that situation.
But at that moment, Tang Yuyan suddenly swung her hand and smacked Xia Lei¡¯s buttocks.
Pah! The smack rang out.
Xia Lei stared at Tang Yuyan, bbergasted.
Long Bing and Liang Siyao were bbergasted too.
¡°Oh dear, Lei! You have dust on your trousers. Look at you, a divorcee with no woman to p the dust off your trousers!¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
The same method to counter Section Chief Long ¡ª well yed, Tang Yuyan!
But at that moment, Liang Siyao drew close too.
Xia Lei was immediately nervous, and he quickly checked himself for messy attire or dust. Too bad, there was none.
Liang Siyao did not straighten his clothing, and did not reach out to p his ass. She just said, ¡°Lei, my father has moved to Jingdu too. He wants to see you. Come home with me tonight.¡±
Her e home with me tonight¡± was said gently, softly, like a wife talking to her husband.
She was Xia Lei¡¯s first girlfriend and would have been his wife if not for her identity as a CIA intelligence agent at that time. Her father, Liang Zhengchun, was Xia Lei¡¯s Master too, and had passed on the true Wing Chun to him. He had long seen Xia Lei as his own son. This was her advantage over Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, and her e home with me tonight¡± line was difficult for them to pick on.
Liang Siyao did brilliantly too!
Xia Lei bit the bullet and nodded. ¡°Where is Master living now?¡±
Liang Siyao quirked her lips in a smile. ¡°He¡¯s living with me. We¡¯re renting a ce in the Sunshine Neighbourhood.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Why rent a ce? Why not just...¡±
Tang Yuyan cut him off abruptly. ¡°Go, go. My godfather will scold us if we¡¯rete.¡±
The silent tussle between the three women ended.
Xia Lei breathed a sigh of relief too. This was just the first day and he was already running into a situation like this. If this was going to happen often, then how was he to live? He was starting to regreting to Bureau 101 today.
The four of them came to Shi Boren¡¯s office. He had been waiting for them.
Shi Boren¡¯s expression was stern. ¡°Liang Siyao, you have just this one chance. I hope you cherish it. Do you understand what I mean?¡±
¡°Understood!¡± Liang Siyao stood at attention.
¡°The decision was made to form a small team to counter Europe and America. The team would have to be responsible for information, andbat missions. Your team members will report to you. You¡¯ll have to get familiar with them, and train them.¡±
¡°Yes!¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s answer was simple, crisp.
¡°And finally, a reminder. This is Bureau 101, not the CIA. There is no fighting and scheming against each other here, and no dating between team members. I know that you¡¯ve had a rtionship with Xia Lei in the past, and it was fake, but I do not want any sex scandals between the two of you now. Can you do that?¡±
Liang Siyao did not answer simply and crisply this time.
¡°Can you do that?¡± Shi Boren¡¯s voice was stern.
Liang Siyao forced herself to nod. ¡°Understood.¡±
Rules were set by people, but what ruled the heart?
¡°Good that you understand. You three, out,¡± said Shi Boren.
Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei turned to leave.
¡°Who told you to leave, Xia Lei? Stay, Boy. I was talking about them,¡± said Shi Boren.
Liang Siyao paused, then followed Tang Yuyan and Long Bing out.
¡°What is it, Boss Shi?¡± asked Xia Lei tentatively.
¡°Sit, sit, sit.¡± Shi Boren got up with a smile on his face. ¡°What tea would you like? I have Jin Jun Mei tea and oolong tea here.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to be so polite with me, Boss Shi. Please be frank,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Then I won¡¯t be making tea for you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Shi Boren put Xia Lei on the sofa and stood in front of him like a bear. ¡°Say, you must know the feelings of that child, Yuyan, right? She¡¯s not getting any younger either. You¡¯re divorced with Shentu Tianyin now, and single. If you two are in a team together, and get together... What do you think?¡±
¡°That¡¯s... No, wait, aren¡¯t we not allowed to date?¡± Xia Lei felt the throbbing in head increase.
Shi Boren red at Xia Lei and said with a straight face, ¡°It¡¯s definitely out of the question if it¡¯s just you, but this is a coboration of different organisations, so it¡¯s different, of course.¡±
The so-called ¡°organisations¡± were probably him.
¡°Boss Shi, I¡¯ve only just gotten divorced. I dread women. You want me to marry?¡±
¡°Yuyan¡¯s not a tigress, so what are you dreading? Boy, others can¡¯t marry even if they wanted too. This gift came right to your door and you¡¯re pushing it out your gate? Just you try to push it again ¡ª I¡¯ll beat you to death!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°All right, all right, I know you¡¯re not feeling too good now either. I¡¯ll give you some time, but you have to hurry up and make a decision. That Grandfather Tang calls me every day. I am getting sick of him.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Thank you, Boss Shi.¡±
¡°Oh right, is your work at the Academy of Science going well?¡±
Xia Lei wanted to tell him the truth, but he did not say it in the end. Instead, he said, ¡°It¡¯s all right. Those people there are just not straightforward.¡±
¡°They¡¯re a group of pencil pushers; don¡¯t take them seriously. You can just go through the motions of getting the work done there. Hurry up and finish the work you have, then return here to go on missions. Oh, I¡¯ll arrange for a rxing job for you when youe back, just you and Yuyan. Take it as a rxing trip. How about it?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Say something, Boy!¡±
¡°Sure, hehe, sure.¡± Xia Leiughed tly.
¡°Shoo.¡±
Xia Lei got up and left, and he felt like a stone had been lifted off his heart too.
¡°Wait.¡± Shi Boren suddenly called Xia Lei to a stop.
¡°Is there something else, Boss Shi?¡± Xia Lei turned back and looked at him.
Shi Boren pointed straight at him. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to have a rtionship with Liang Siyao, absolutely not, or I¡¯ll beat you to death!
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 626 - Paying Respects to Master
No matter what happened, his master was his master. As the proverb said: Even if someone is your teacher for only a day, you should regard him like your father for the rest of your life.
Liang Zhengchun had returned to China, but Xia Lei hadn¡¯t visited him yet. Now that Liang Siyao suggested it, he would have to visit Liang Zhengchun, no matter what.
Xia Lei prepared some gifts, and drove to the ce that Liang Zhengchun rented in the Sunshine district in the evening.
It was a very average neighborhood and the houses were all rtively old. There weren¡¯t many greening designs in the public areas of the neighborhood. One look and one could see that it was just a normal neighborhood where average people lived.
Xia Lei was ufortable when he saw his master and the woman he once loved deeply living in a ce like this.
Xia Lei had just parked his car when Liang Siyao walked over. She had been waiting for him.
¡°I was starting to think that you weren¡¯t going toe,¡± said Liang Siyao with a smile.
Xia Lei carried a big bag of presents out of his car. ¡°I stopped by some ces to buy some presents on the way here, so I was dyed.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t need to be so courteous.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s gaze held a faint ¡®tut-tut¡¯ when she said that.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°How can Ie empty-handed?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll hold the bag for you. Follow me.¡± Liang Siyao took the bag from Xia Lei.
Xia Lei followed her and asked, ¡°Siyao, why are you and Master living in such a ce?¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with living in such a ce. The ce I lived with my father in the past was like this too. There¡¯s not much of a difference,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°You can tell me if you have any difficulties. You don¡¯t have to be courteous with me. I was not as able in the past, but I can help the two of you now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Are you talking about money? It¡¯s true that I don¡¯t have much money. The CIA sry isn¡¯t high and I ran away. I¡¯m afraid to touch the money in my bank ount because of that. My father was the one who paid for the rental of this ce,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Master didn¡¯t earn much money from running his martial arts school. How about this, I will buy a house for you and Master. I will give Master some money for retirement too. Is that okay? This is a show of filial piety I have for him,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°You want to buy a house for my dad and me? If Tang Yuyan finds out, won¡¯t shee and tear the house apart?¡±
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed. ¡°The two of us are just ordinary friends.¡±
¡°You treat her as an ordinary friend, but she doesn¡¯t treat you as an ordinary friend. Have you not noticed? Today, at Bureau 101, she tried to show off her dominance by hinting that I should stay away from you. It looks like she considers you her boyfriend, hmm?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond to her question. He coughed dryly. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about something else. Are you used to living here now that you¡¯re back?¡±
¡°Is there something going on between you and Long Bing?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei saw Liang Zhengchun sitting on the sofa watching TV when he walked in. He greeted him, ¡°Master.¡±
Liang Zhengchun hurriedly stood up from the sofa.
Liang Siyao said with a smile, ¡°Dad, Lei is here. He also bought you a lot of gifts.¡±
¡°Lei, you really are too much. My home is your home. Why would you buy gifts when you return to your own home?¡± Liang Zhengchun had said it that way, but his face was still full of smiles.
He had always regarded Xia Lei as his own son, but his daughter had done something unforgivable to Xia Lei. Because of that, he was ashamed to face Xia Lei. He would¡¯ve still been happy even if Xia Lei hadn¡¯t bought any gifts.
Xia Lei walked forward and knelt to greet his master. This was an ancient style of greeting one¡¯s Master and martial arts people pay particr attention to this. Xia Lei was willing to give Liang Zhengchun this kind of respect since he was able to escape from danger many times and survive until today, all because of Liang Zhengchun. His survival was linked to the true Wing Chun techniques Liang Zhengchun had passed on to him.
Liang Zhengchun helped Xia Lei up. He was deeply moved by his actions. ¡°Look at you, it would¡¯ve been fine if you had juste. But you have also bought gifts and you even kneel before me. I... ah, Master doesn¡¯t have any aplishments. I can¡¯t ept your great respect for me.¡±
¡°Master, don¡¯t say that. You are my Master for this lifetime. Besides, how can Ie empty-handed when Ie visit my Master? I should buy some gifts for you, at least. I didn¡¯t buy much besides your favorite oolong tea and some tonics,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Zhengchunughed. ¡°Kid, do you think that I¡¯ve reached the age where I need to eat tonics? Even though I¡¯m old, I¡¯m still strong and vigorous.¡±
¡°Dad, Lei is here. Let¡¯s start eating.¡±
Liang Zhengchun¡¯s expression suddenly turned cold as he looked at Liang Siyao. He sternly said, ¡°Start eating? You still have something you haven¡¯t done yet.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t bear for Liang Siyao to be med, so he hurriedly asked, ¡°Master, what else needs to be done? I will do it.¡±
¡°You just need to stand.¡± Liang Zhengchun said, ¡°Siyao,e here.¡±
Liang Siyao mumbled something under her breath and slowly walked to Liang Zhengchun and Xia Lei.
¡°Kneel down!¡± Liang Zhengchun yelled.
Liang Siyao trembled and nced anxiously at Xia Lei.
¡°Why are you looking at him? I want you to kneel down and admit your mistakes to Lei!¡± Liang Zhengchun glowered at Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei finally understood what Liang Zhengchun had meant when he said that there was still something that Liang Siyao hadn¡¯t done. He hurriedly said, ¡°Master, don¡¯t be like this. I... Siyao and I are all good now. I don¡¯t want her to admit to her mistakes. She actually didn¡¯t do anything wrong; it was all because of her work.¡±
¡°You¡¯re still protecting her!¡± Liang Zhengchun became even angrier.
Liang Siyao knelt in front of Xia Lei with a plop. Tears continued to flow from her eyes as she said, ¡°Xia Lei, I... I was wrong. Please forgive me.¡±
Xia Lei reached his hands out to help her up, but Liang Siyao refused to get up.
¡°If you don¡¯t forgive me, then I won¡¯t get up,¡± Liang Siyao said.
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were also getting a little moist. His voice trembled a little as he said, ¡°I forgive you. It¡¯s fine now, so get up. Get up.¡±
Liang Siyao finally allowed Xia Lei to help her up. She stood up and saw the tears forming in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. In that instant, her heart was touched. Happiness and grief engulfed her heart. Her tears began to flow uncontrobly from her eyes once again.
¡°Why are you crying? Do you feel regretful now? It was a blessing from the Heavens when you were together with Lei. You didn¡¯t cherish it but you did such a thing behind his back instead! All the pride of this old man has been thrown away by you!¡± Liang Zhengchun didn¡¯t spare any of her feelings when he lectured her.
Liang Siyao silently epted his lecture. She dared to look at Xia Lei, but she didn¡¯t dare to look at Liang Zhengchun.
¡°Okay, okay. Let¡¯s eat.¡± Xia Lei hurriedly tried to shift Liang Zhengchun¡¯s attention away from her.
Liang Siyao obediently poured a ss of wine for both Liang Zhengchun and Xia Lei at the dining table.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Siyao, you should drink a ss too. It¡¯s rare for the three of us to finally be together again.¡±
Liang Siyao nodded, but she nced at Liang Zhengchun like she was asking for his permission.
Liang Zhengchun said unhappily, ¡°Since Lei is asking you to drink, then drink, or do you expect me to pour you a ss?¡±
Xia Lei had already picked up the wine bottle and poured Liang Siyao a ss of wine.
¡°Thank you.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was small.
¡°Let¡¯s have a toast for our reunion.¡± Xia Lei raised his wine ss.
The three wine sses clinked together. This ss of wine tasted particrly sweet.
After drinking a few more sses of wine, the atmosphere became much more rxed. Xia Lei said, ¡°Master, I want to discuss something with you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Liang Zhengchun nced at Liang Siyao and then she added a piece of pork ribs to Xia Lei¡¯s bowl.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t pay attention to that. He said, ¡°Master, I didn¡¯t have the ability to show you filial piety in the past. Now, I have to ability to be filial to you. I don¡¯t feel good about letting you live in such a ce. You are like a father to me. If other people see you living in such a ce, they will say that I¡¯m a poor disciple to you.¡±
¡°What are you getting at, punk?¡±
Liang Siyao interjected and said, ¡°Father, Lei wants to buy a house for us. Mm, he also said he will give you...¡±
Liang Zhengchun interrupted Liang Siayo. ¡°When did I say you could speak? Shut up.¡±
¡°Oh.¡± Liang Siyao closed her mouth obediently.
Liang Zhengchun looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Is it true?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Yes. I want to buy a house for you and Siyao. I also want to give you some money for retirement.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t this inappropriate?¡±
¡°Master, why isn¡¯t this appropriate? You are my Master; I¡¯m considered your son. Why can¡¯t a son buy his father a house? You should ept it and give me this opportunity to show you filial piety,¡± Xia Lei said sincerely.
¡°You want to buy me a house and give me money for retirement.¡± Liang Zhengchun smiled as he said, ¡°Could it be that you still want my stupid daughter?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Dad!¡± Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at Liang Zhengchun. ¡°Lei is trying to show you some filial piety, why are you changing the subject to me? Leizi is sincere about this, so you should ept it. At worst, I will just pay him back in the future.¡±
¡°How will you pay it back? Do you think I don¡¯t know how expensive houses are in the capital? It won¡¯t even be enough if I sell you to him,¡± Liang Zhengchun said.
Liang Siyao peeked at Xia Lei from the corner of her eye.
Xia Lei quickly used his chopsticks to pick up the pork rib that Liang Siyao had put in his bowl, and gnawed on it.
¡°Okay, I will ept it. But you will have toe to visit me every few days, since you¡¯re the one who bought the house or I will move back here,¡± said Liang Zhengchun.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Of course, of course.¡±
After dinner, Liang Zhengchun said that he was going to y chess with someone and slipped away before Liang Siyao even finished putting the dishes away. Only Xia Lei and Liang Siyao were left in the house. It was only the two of them, and the atmosphere became awkward between the old lovers.
¡°I¡¯ll help you clean up.¡± Xia Lei helped Liang Siyao tidy up the bowls and chopsticks.
Liang Siyao grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°How can I let a man do these things? You can rest.¡± She told Xia Lei to rest, but she didn¡¯t let go of his hands.
¡°Um... I¡¯ll help you clean up.¡± Xia Lei pulled his hands away from her, picked up a te, and walked towards the kitchen.
Liang Siyao also began walking towards the kitchen. The kitchen door was narrow, so they were suddenly pressed up against each other when the two of them walked through the door at the same time. The leftover te of scrambled eggs with tomatoes in Liang Siyao¡¯s hands sttered on Xia Lei and herself.
The two hurriedly separated from one another but the scrambled eggs with tomatoes had already spilled on her chest, her lower abdomen, and her short skirt. Xia Lei didn¡¯t escape from the spill either. His chest, lower abdomen, and his trousers were stained with sauce from the scrambled eggs with tomatoes.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m so sorry. Don¡¯t move, I will clean it up for you.¡± Liang Siyao immediately reached out her hands to pat off the tomatoes and scrambled eggs stuck on Xia Lei¡¯s clothes.
Xia Lei was embarrassed. He was about to tell her that she did not need to do that when Liang Siyao crouched down to help him clean away the stains. It was impossible for there to not be a lot of touching in that process.
The atmosphere between them became ambiguous.
Xia Lei can¡¯t endure this kind of atmosphere anymore. He said nervously, ¡°I suddenly remembered that I still have something to do. I have to return to thepany.¡±
¡°You... How can you leave like this?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes were full of disappointment.
Xia Lei freed himself from her and began walking away. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Only my trousers are dirty. No one will be able to see it when I¡¯m sitting in the car. Oh, right, I¡¯ll get my assistant to go and look at houses tomorrow and I¡¯ll give you a call when it¡¯s done.¡±
Liang Siyao sighed softly. Couldn¡¯t he tell that what she wanted wasn¡¯t the house?
Chapter 627 - Seed of Love
It was morning. A young couple walked slowly about on the grass. The man was tall and handsome, and the woman was sweet and gentle. The two of them held hands, making a pretty picture in the golden morning light.
Xia Lei watched the couple and a faint smile came unbidden to his lips. The man was Liu Zhengnan, and the woman was his sister. He was d to see that his sister was able to find happiness for herself. Liu Zhengnan was outstanding in his work, conducted himself well, and most importantly, he had a good character and was a man who knew how to be responsible. Xia Lei could rest assured, and entrust Xia Xue to him.
Xia Lei walked over.
¡°Brother. You¡¯re out for a stroll too?¡± Xia Xue spotted Xia Lei, and greeted him warmly.
¡°Good morning, Director Xia.¡± Liu Zhengnan greeted him too.
Xia Xue nudged Liu Zhengnan with her arm, hinting something to him.
Liu Zhengnan then changed his greeting. ¡°Brother.¡±
The greeting seemed to be an attempt at confirming something.
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed, but he still nodded. ¡°Nn. Zhengnan, you go buy a house today.¡±
¡°What do I need to buy a house for? I have my own house,¡± said Liu Zhengnan.
¡°Brother, do you mean to say that Zhengnan has to buy a house and a car before he can marry me?¡± said Xia Xue with augh.
Xia Lei red at Xia Xue. ¡°What are you talking about? If the two of you get married, I¡¯ll give you a building. There won¡¯t be a need for Zhengnan to buy a house. I¡¯m getting Zhengnan to buy a house for my Master, and have the property deed registered under Liang Zhengchun¡¯s name.¡±
¡°Yes, no problem.¡± Liu Zhengnan agreed right away.
¡°Brother, Liang Siyao hase back, hasn¡¯t she?¡± asked Xia Xue tentatively.
¡°Yes, she¡¯s back,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Brother, you can¡¯t have gotten back together with her, have you?¡±
¡°Why are you asking so much about it? Don¡¯t you bother about my affairs.¡± Xia Lei added, ¡°Zhengnan, get 5,000,000 from the finance department when you go buy the house. This money shall be given to my Master, along with the property deed.¡±
¡°Yes, no problem Directo... Brother.¡± Liu Zhengnan didn¡¯t seemed used to this new form of address.
¡°I¡¯ll be going to the workshop now.¡± Xia Lei turned to leave.
¡°Brother, I¡¯ll go on the trip to buy a house too,¡± said Xia Xue.
Xia Lei waved. ¡°Go on, go on. Buy a vi. No need to save money for me. It¡¯s going to be under Master¡¯s name so it has to be grand.¡±
¡°Yep, don¡¯t worry. Just leave this to Zhengnan and me,¡± said Xia Xue with a smile. She waited for Xia Lei to walk far away, and said, ¡°Zhengnan, let¡¯s go look for houses under the Vientaine Group banner.¡±
¡°Buying a building from Sister-inw?¡± Liu Zhengnan had a bad expression on his face. ¡°Director Xia didn¡¯t say to buy it from her. He wouldn¡¯t want it, would he?¡±
¡°Still calling him Director Xia? Then give me back what you took from me.¡±
Liu Zhengnan was speechless.
¡°Listen to me on this,¡± said Xia Xue coyly.
¡°But...¡± Liu Zhengnan started to say something, then stopped.
Xia Xue took Liu Zhengnan¡¯s arm and shook it gently. ¡°So are you going to listen to my brother or listen to me?¡±
¡°Y... You.¡± Liu Zhengnan had no defences against the adorable Xia Xue, but he had his opinion too. ¡°But why do you want to buy a building from Sister-inw? She definitely wouldn¡¯t take money if we went to her.¡±
¡°Dummy,¡± said Xia Xue with augh. ¡°Liang Siyao is back. Sister-inw knows about this for sure. Liang Siyao was my brother¡¯s first girlfriend, and they almost got married. Now that she¡¯s back, Sister-inw won¡¯t have a chance to reunite with my brother anymore if she doesn¡¯t take the initiative. I¡¯m doing this to send her a signal. Besides, it¡¯s just a vi. My brother thinks nothing of spending money for it, so it will be even less of a bother to Sister-inw.¡±
¡°But what if Brother find out and scolds me?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll block him off.¡±
¡°Then give me a kiss.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you get enoughst night? You greedy little piggy.¡±
¡°Hehe... Just one.¡±
Mua! Xia Xue¡¯s sweet cherry lips were pressed to Liu Zhengnan¡¯s cheek.
Love was an intoxicating wine, but also an ensnaring vine.
Xia Lei walked towards the workshop where he was building the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. Before he got close to the workshop, he spotted a person in the doorway. Fan Fan. She was wearing Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s summer uniform. It had short sleeves and long trousers, and the shoes on her feet were a pair of work boots. She did not look like a scientist in those clothes, but a blue-cor worker who had just got to the factory.
Fan Fan was in work clothes but she was as curvaceous as ever.
Xia Lei found it odd, but he still put on a mask of cold. ¡°What are you doing here/.¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to be your assistant,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Hah?¡± Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°You want to be my assistant?¡±
Fan Fan seemed earnest. ¡°Yes. I want to be your assistant. I¡¯ll help you finish your work, and you help me finish my work.¡±
¡°Your field is bioengineering. My work is machining and electrical engineering. What can you help me with?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I... I... I can help you fetch tools. I can get you water when you¡¯re thirsty. I can even wipe your sweat for you!¡± Fan Fan¡¯s face was red. She knew well that she was no use at all to Xia Lei in his work, but she could not think of any way to get Xia Lei to help her in her work other than this ¡°exchange¡±.
¡°Just go back. I¡¯ve said that I¡¯ll cooperate with your work when I have time.¡± Xia Lei walked around Fan Fan, went to the door, and entered the passcode.
The door opened, and Xia Lei walked into the workshop. Fan Fan followed him in.
Xia Lei looked wordlessly at her. ¡°What the heck so you want?¡±
¡°To be your assistant!¡± said Fan Fan in a huff. She¡¯d never been ignored like this before, and Xia Lei was not just ignoring her but belittling her.
¡°Fine. Go over there and bring me a roll of electrical lead.¡± Xia Lei pointed to a corner of the workshop. There was a roll of electrical lead weighing 25 kilograms there.
Fan Fan walked over and bent to lift the roll in her hands. It was quite a strain for her, and she was unsteady in her walk. However, she gritted her teeth and went over to Xia Lei, step by step.
¡°Don¡¯t force yourself if you can¡¯t do it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll be your assistant, so you have to help meplete my work,¡± said Fan Fan.
Looking at her strain herself made Xia Lei¡¯s heart soften and he almost agreed, but he swallowed his words when they got to the tip of his tongue. He had to go by his n, or all the hard work he did so far would be wasted.
¡®I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t want to do this too, but you are working for Bureau ZN. You are an opponent I must beat,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Fan Fan wobbled over to Xia Lei, and slipped on a patch of grease right when she got to him. She let out a shriek of surprise, and the two of them fell to the floor in a tangle of wire.
Xia Lei lunged at her, putting his arms around her waist and turned her about to rest on him, letting his body cushion her fall.
Crash! The two of them fell to the floor, but Xia Lei was under Fan Fan. He had acted as a shock absorber for her and she was not injured.
The two of them became strangely quiet.
She liked Xia Lei, and this seed of ¡®like¡¯ had been nted when they had been in the Academy of Science.
¡°Director Xia!¡± A male voice suddenly came from the speaker system in the workshop.
The two people on the floor froze in quite a beautiful scene.
Chapter 628 - Person from ZN Bureau
¡°Director Xia, are you in there?¡± asked the person outside.
Only then was there movement in the frozen scene.
¡°It¡¯s all because of you!¡± said Fan Fan as she bit her cherry lips and climbed carefully off of Xia Lei.
Xia Lei got up from the floor as well. A circle of ck oil was on his butt, but that wasn¡¯t the most embarrassing ce on his body. The most awkward area was between his legs, where a very stiff member saluted the sky.
Fan Fan¡¯s eyes peeked at his member from the corner of her eyes. Her wide eyes made her seem like a person who had found a sweet juicy sugar cane after wandering around the desert.
Xia Lei stood, and sighed to himself. Having a woman of a special constitution was really interesting. She was like the grass in the wintertime. Nothing would happen when she was on her own, but she would burst into mes the moment you gave her a little fire.
¡°Still looking? You¡¯re such a bully,¡± said Fan Fan with a red face.
Xia Leiughed awkwardly and didn¡¯t know what to say.
Xia Lei opened the door after Fan Fan tidied herself up.
A Thunder Horse Military Factory security guard captain stood in the workshop entrance.
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei had just been disturbed in his happy moment, but he wasn¡¯t angry.
The security guard captain said, ¡°Director Xia, there¡¯s someone at the door who says he¡¯s here to see you but he won¡¯t tell us his identity or his name. Chief Lu isn¡¯t here either so I came over to ask you, Director Xia.¡±
¡°All right, I got it. You can go over first and take him to my office. I¡¯ll be right there,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, Director Xia.¡± The security guard captain left.
¡°Could it be my grandfather?¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Is your grandfathering?¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°I told you before that my grandfather ising too. He said that this would be advantageous for the Alloy X Project research," said Fan Fan
Of course Xia Lei knew about this. He secretly rejoiced that he had settled Fan Fan. If he hadn¡¯t just settled Fan Fan and Fan Yiming hade, he wouldn¡¯t have a chance to deal with her. However, he still felt a little uneasy because what he did wasn¡¯t actually enough. He still needed to work harder and settle Fan Fanpletely before Fan Yiming found out.
¡°I¡¯ll go take a look. You can wait here,¡± said Xia Lei.
However, Fan Fan wanted to go as well. ¡°I want to take a look too.¡±
¡°All right, let¡¯s go together.¡±
¡°Wait up.¡± Fan Fan suddenly reached for Xia Lei¡¯s trousers.
Xia Lei subconsciously took a step back and somewhat anxiously said, ¡°What are you doing? We¡¯re outside.¡±
Fan Fan blushed. ¡°Your fly is open. I¡¯ll help you pull it up.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He didn¡¯t know when his zipper had opened but he knew that Fan Fan had definitely pulled it down. He really wouldn¡¯t have expected that a female scientist, who seemed pure and innocent, was instead cold on the outside but passionate on the inside.
When they arrived at the office, Xia Lei saw Fan Yiming and another stranger. He was about 30 to 40 years old with an average build, and also looked very ordinary. However, his eyes gave one a very deep impression. They were like those of an eagle, sharp and unfathomable.
¡®Who is this?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself. ¡®Why did this persone here with Fan Yiming?¡¯
At this moment, Fan Yimingughingly said, ¡°Mr Xia, let me introduce you to someone. This is my student. His name is Song Baicheng. Oh, he can be considered to be in the same trade, and he has a high level of mastery in the materials science field.¡±
When Fan Yiming introduced Song Baicheng, Xia Lei nced at Fan Fan from the corner of his eye and discovered that Fan Fan was staring at Song Baicheng.
Fan Fan¡¯s reaction roused Xia Lei¡¯s suspicions. ¡®If this Song Baicheng was actually Fan Yiming¡¯s student, Fan Fan would definitely recognise him, and she wouldn¡¯t stare at him like this, right? She didn¡¯t even greet him. If he isn¡¯t Fan Yiming¡¯s student, then why would Fan Yiming say he was? Could this Song Baicheng be... from the ZN Bureau?¡¯
¡°Hehe.¡± Song Baicheng walked up and took the initiative to shake Xia Lei¡¯s hand. He wore a fawning smile on his face as he said, ¡°Mr Xia, it is wonderful to meet you after hearing so much about you. Nice meeting you, nice meeting you.¡±
Even though Xia Lei had already begun to be suspicious of this Song Baicheng¡¯s identity, he remained calm on the outside. He shook Song Baicheng¡¯s hand and said with augh, ¡°Mr Song is too polite. I respect scientists like you the most. Nice to meet you!¡±
Fan Yiming said, ¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯m nning to stay for several days. I¡¯vee to assist Fan Fan in her work and to move the Alloy X Project forward. What do you think?¡±
¡°Elder Fan, of course this won¡¯t be a problem. You can stay here as long as you¡¯d like,¡± said Xia Lei. He spoke pleasantries.
Fan Yiming added, ¡°Baicheng would also like to stay. He is my assistant. This should be fine, right?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Of course that¡¯s not a problem. I will get some people to arrange for a ce for you to stay.¡±
Song Baicheng said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to make any special arrangements. Elder Fan and I can just live in the vi and you can just give us any two rooms.¡±
This Song Baicheng knew about the vi even though it was the first time he¡¯de. He¡¯d clearlye prepared. The probability that he was someone from the ZN Bureau had already exceeded 50%.
Fan Yiming followed with, ¡°Yes yes. We can just live in the vi. I heard Fan Fan mention that yourboratory is also there so that¡¯d be good for work if we stayed there.¡±
¡°No problem, you guys can stay there. Come with me, I¡¯ll take you there,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei led Fan Yiming, Song Baicheng and Fan Fan to the vi. He arranged rooms for Fan Yiming and Song Baicheng, and Fan Yiming suggested they go to Xia Lei¡¯sboratory to take a look, so Xia Lei led everyone to hisboratory to look around.
¡°I really want to see that metal,¡± said Song Baicheng as he stared at the safe.
¡°If you would really like to take a look, Mr Song, I can take it out and show it to you,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Song Baicheng clearly seemed quite tempted, he made an opposite decision in the next moment. ¡°Never mind. I heard this type of metal is very dangerous and only Mr Xia can touch it to date. I¡¯ll wait for a better opportunity to take a look.¡±
They left the undergroundboratory, and Song Baicheng suggested they go look around Fan Fan¡¯sboratory.
Fan Fan brought Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming to herboratory, but before they entered, Xia Lei said, ¡°You guys can go. I won¡¯t be going. I have to go to the workshop. Thunder Horse Military Factory is being upgraded. I really don¡¯t have enough time. If you need anything, you can just call me.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, you can go do what you need to do. We¡¯ll call you if we need anything,¡± said Fan Yiming.
Fan Fan nced at Xia Lei, and her expression was ratherplicated. She clearly hadn¡¯t shaken off her earlier experience yet. If it hadn¡¯t been for her grandfather and this Song Baichenging to Thunder Horse Military Factory, and the security guard knocking on the door, she didn¡¯t know what would¡¯ve happened between them next. She didn¡¯t know why, but instead of being afraid of herself and Xia Lei getting to that point, she was looking forward to it.
¡°Fan Fan, go and bring your grandfather and Mr Song around,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, see youter,¡± said Fan Fan with a faint smile.
See youter? Was this a hint?
Xia Lei smiled and left.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t go straight towards the new workshop when he exited the vi. Instead, he took out his phone and pretended to call someone while standing downstairs. His left eye locked on to Fan Fan¡¯sboratory and then he awakened his X-ray ability.
Fan Fan¡¯sboratory was on the first floor. Xia Lei, at the vi¡¯s entrance, only needed to look through one wall to what was going on in theboratory.
In theboratory, Song Baicheng was looking at the file that Fan Fan had created on herptop while she talked to Fan Yiming next to him.
Xia Lei used his lip-reading skill to decipher Fan Yiming and Fan Fan¡¯s conversation.
¡°Grandfather, Mr Song isn¡¯t your student. Why did you say that? ¡± asked Fan Fan.
¡°Mr Song is... Don¡¯t ask about something you shouldn¡¯t ask about, and just do your job well,¡± replied Fan Yiming.
Fan Fan pouted. ¡°Big Brother Lei doesn¡¯t like it when I treat him like ab mouse, and I don¡¯t know who wants us to do this. I can¡¯t exin it to him either. This isn¡¯t fair to him. He¡¯s a hero of our country. He isn¡¯t an experimentalb mouse.¡±
¡°This is something big for all of humanity. No one can stop it,¡± said Fan Yiming. ¡°I believe Xia Lei will understand.¡±
At this moment, Song Baicheng finished reading Fan Fan¡¯s document. He turned to face Fan Fan with a mildly annoyed expression. ¡°There¡¯s only this much? There isn¡¯t anything about the key parts.¡±
¡°I, I already began doing that.¡± Fan Fan seemed a little nervous.
¡°Was Xia Lei unwilling?¡± asked Song Baicheng.
¡°No, he¡¯s always been very cooperative with me. But...he¡¯s too busy,¡± said Fan Fan.
Song Baicheng looked at Fan Yiming. ¡°Elder Fan, this is very important. We can¡¯t have anymore dys. I want to have aplete understanding of Xia Lei¡¯s body in a week. Can you do that? If you guys can¡¯t do that, I will rece you with new people.¡±
¡°We can do it,¡± said Fan Yiming.
Fan Fan looked as if she was about to say something, but Fan Yiming touched her elbow to tell her not to.
Song Baicheng said, ¡°In this week, I will help youplete your job. If Xia Lei rejects it, I will pressure him. If he cooperates, I won¡¯t do anything and I¡¯ll wait for you to produce results. Do you have any questions?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°I don¡¯t have questions either.¡± Fan Fan replied quickly, but she was frowning slightly.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. This Song Baicheng was from the ZN Bureau, 100%!
He understoodpletely why Fan Fan would frown because she knew he objected to her research. It wasn¡¯t actually difficult to see that Fan Fan¡¯s heart sided with him though she worked for ZN Bureau. If she didn¡¯t, she wouldn¡¯t have lied to Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming and tell them he was very cooperative.
¡®I bully her so much and she is still willing to help me. She¡¯s so nice to me, yet I¡¯m thinking of ways to get her in bed and aplish my goals... I really am a thug!¡¯ Xia Lei shook his head andughed bitterly, feeling guilty.
But he still needed to do what he had to do!
Chapter 629 - Special Girlfriend
Fan Fan arrived at the new workshop soon after Xia Lei returned to it.
She had already changed out of her work clothes and was wearing the clothes she had worn in theboratory: a white long-sleeved antibacterialb coat with a ck short skirt underneath, and a white t-shirt. She looked like a stuffed milk candy.
She had even brought a notebook and a camera.
Song Baicheng had given her and Fan Yiming a week¡¯s time so she had to appear proactive.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Your grandfather and Mr Song didn¡¯te?¡±
He asked this though he clearly knew the answer.
¡°They are talking about the Alloy X Project and I don¡¯t have anything to add so I came over. That Mr Song is really troublesome,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°That Mr Song isn¡¯t your grandfather¡¯s student, is he?¡± asked Xia Lei casually.
¡°My grandfather has many students and I recognise pretty much all of them, but this is the first time I¡¯ve seen Mr Song,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°So you¡¯re not sure, huh?¡±
Fan Fan nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
Xia Lei would have thought she was lying if he hadn¡¯t seen her conversation with Fan Yiming, but he didn¡¯t think so now. He had begun to understand her, and she was only ying an awkward role in this matter.
Fan Fan was silent for a moment before she said, ¡°Never mind, I¡¯ll just tell you. He isn¡¯t even my grandfather¡¯s student. He¡¯s just the person in charge of this job. He gave my grandfather a week¡¯s time, and he said...¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What did he say?¡±
Fan Fan mustered her courage. ¡°He said he wants to know if there¡¯s anything going on in your body within a week. He¡¯ll find someone else to do the job if Grandfather and I can¡¯t finish it.¡±
Xia Lei already knew all of this but having Fan Fan say it herself felt different.
Xia Lei was happy inside but he pretended to be angry. ¡°I¡¯m willing to cooperate because of you and Elder Fan. Who does he think he is? What right does he have to turn me into some kind ofb rat?¡±
Xia Lei seemed to have influenced Fan Fan. She became a little emotional and said, ¡°That¡¯s right, I also think it¡¯s unfair. You braved many life-threatening dangers to find those ancient alloy pieces and you¡¯re risking your life to research it too. You manufactured the world¡¯s leading XL2500 sniper rifle, the Gust assault rifle, and the world¡¯s leading Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. Even the West wants that. You¡¯re our hero and the idol of all of us research workers but they treat you like this! This is unfair to you! I...¡±
It was uncertain how much time passed before the chaotic yet extremely passionate scene quieted down.
Fan Fan curled quietly in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. All the cells in her body were full of happiness. Her special constitution had brought her many worries, but it had also brought happiness other women wouldn¡¯t be able to experience. Right now, in her eyes, Xia Lei became the finest man in the world, and even the filthy lounge in front of her was beautiful. It no longer disgusted her.
¡°You asked so many questions earlier. Do you still want to know the answers?¡± asked Xia Lei by her ear.
Fan Fan looked at Xia Lei with a loving expression as a sweet smile bloomed on her face. ¡°I don¡¯t want to know anymore. If you¡¯re going to lie to me, then you can lie to me forever.¡±
What intimate words of love.
Guilt poked at Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He had approached her in order to subdue her. From the start, he had an agenda, and it wasn¡¯t love. Fan Fan was so kindhearted and pure, but he had to harden his heart and trick such a frail girl. This made him feel uneasy, but what made him more ufortable was that this scam had to continue.
¡°Dummy, wouldn¡¯t you be very pitiful if I lie to you your whole life?¡±
¡°No, I think I¡¯m very happy right now. I¡¯ve never been so happy. Do you know how many times I had it?¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°That.¡±
¡°What that?¡±
Fan Fan bit her lip, then moved close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and whispered something to him.
Xia Lei¡¯s jaw dropped, and he could not close it.
This tiny secret made Xia Lei suddenly feel as though she was the most interesting woman he¡¯d met. She had quietly entered his heart, using her methods to treat the scars that Shentu Tianyin had given him.
Actually, the best way to treat pain from love wasn¡¯t time, but a new love.
¡°You can¡¯tugh at me. I, I also don¡¯t want it to be like that but my body is just like that. The moment you touch me, I can¡¯t stop it.¡± Fan Fan buried her chin in Xia Lei¡¯s chest in embarrassment, not daring to look at his expression.
¡°Fan Fan, I love you.¡±
Fan Fan let out a moan and suddenly shuddered.
Xia Lei stared nkly. ¡°You didn¡¯t just... Did you?¡± asked Xia Lei in astonishment.
Fan Fan bit her lip and didn¡¯t speak, but she nodded slightly.
Xia Lei was speechless.
He was speechless, but he knew that another high-quality girlfriend had appeared by his side.
After lying in warm tenderness for a while, Xia Lei said, ¡°Fan Fan, from now on I will do my best to cooperate with you and your grandfather¡¯s work. In a week, in a week you and your grandfather can give Song Baicheng a satisfactory answer sheet,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then what?¡± Fan Fan had long stopped thinking about work.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Then what? I don¡¯t know either. If your research report interests Song Baicheng, I think I¡¯ll probably be a realb rat. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to see you again. I¡¯m worried and a little scared...¡±
Fan Fan suddenly covered Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°I won¡¯t let you keep on talking about this. That¡¯s just unfair to you. You¡¯re a hero and the smartest person I¡¯ve met. How could someone like you be theirb rat? I object!¡±
Xia Lei took her soft hand off andughed bitterly. "It¡¯s no use even if you object. This is only the beginning. That Song Baicheng is too powerful. I don¡¯t know what his true identity is, but even your grandfather has to listen to hismands. Could he ever be a simple man? On the other hand, you think I¡¯m a hero, and the smartest person in the world but, to Song Baicheng and those other people, I¡¯m just a rare research subject. I represent big benefits and these benefits are so big that they¡¯re willing to destroy me. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡±
Fan Fan hugged Xia Lei tightly. ¡°I won¡¯t let anyone harm you. You aren¡¯t ab rat, you¡¯re my hero and the person I love. I can do anything for you. Tell me what I can do to help you?¡±
¡°You want to help me?¡±
¡°What stage are we at now? You want me to look on without doing anything about it after telling me about this? Do you want me to present a research report that will render you someb rat?¡± Fan Fan got angry, and her eyes were ame.
She was serious.
Chapter 630 - The First Direct Confrontation
The mysterious ZN Bureau had brought a crisis to Xia Lei. He had actually foreseen this crisis but it hade earlier than expected. Xia Lei had been fighting alone before Song Baicheng hade, but now he had a battlepanion ¡ª Fan Fan.
The next day, in theboratory on the first floor of the vi.
¡°Mr Xia, thank you for your cooperation. We¡¯ll end here today. I wille find you when I need your assistance,¡± said Fan Fan expressionlessly.
Xia Lei pulled off the electrical lines of the instrument stuck to his skin and nimbly put on his clothes, then left theboratory. He didn¡¯t say a word to Fan Fan throughout the entire process.
Of course, this was all a show for Song Baicheng. After Song Baicheng arrived at theboratory, he installed a surveince camera so he could observe Fan Fan¡¯s work.
Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming came over after Xia Lei left Fan Fan¡¯sboratory.
Fan Fan was organizing Xia Lei¡¯s body information that she had just collected. She only nced up when Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming came in, before continuing her work.
¡°Mr Song, Xia Lei is a very intelligent person. See, the moment you came, he became very cooperative,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°Indeed, he is a very smart person, but don¡¯t you think he¡¯s too smart?¡± Song Baicheng walked over to Fan Fan¡¯s workstation as he spoke and moved his head closer to watch her work.
Fan Fan stopped working. ¡°Mr Song, you¡¯re disturbing my work. If you don¡¯t need anything, then please leave.¡±
Song Baicheng wrinkled his brow. Fan Fan¡¯s attitude made him feel a little ufortable but he wasn¡¯t angry. Heughed. ¡°All right. You¡¯re the most outstanding talent within the field of biotechnology in the country, so I will believe in your working ability. I¡¯ve onlye to check on your working conditions. Oh, let me ask you a question in the meantime. Can you settle this within a week?¡±
¡°If I can¡¯t do this, then there¡¯s probably no one in the country who can. One week isn¡¯t an issue. I will give you a research report that pleases you in a week.¡±
¡°All right, you can get back to work.¡± Song Baicheng turned to leave.
Fan Yiming then said, ¡°Fan Fan, how could you talk to Mr Song with that attitude?¡±
Fan Fan nced at Fan Yiming. ¡°Is my attitude wrong in any way? I¡¯m a research worker so I¡¯m only responsible for my work. I don¡¯t need to curry favor with someone from an unknown origin.¡±
¡°You...¡± Fan Yiming was a little angry but he didn¡¯t know what to say. He, too, left.
In the hallway, Song Baicheng said, ¡°Elder Fan, you don¡¯t need to bother about attitude. I¡¯m not one of the officials who thinks their pride is more important than anything else. What I want is results. Fan Fan is the most excellent bioengineering scientist in the country, and I believe in her capabilities. This is enough.¡±
Fan Yiming sighed softly. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s all because of me and her parents spoiling her. This child doesn¡¯t know how to speak and her ability to handle affairs for other people is rather weak.¡±
¡°Forget about it, we won¡¯t talk about this. I want to go take a look in Xia Lei¡¯s workshop. Do you want toe along, Elder Fan?¡±
¡°All right. Let¡¯s go take a look around Xia Lei¡¯s workce. I really want to see how he works,¡± said Fan Yiming.
At the moment Fan Yiming and Song Baicheng were leaving the vi, in theboratory, Fan Fan looked at the numbers on the apparatus in shock. Her expression was as though she was watching a cat who had grown wings and could fly.
However, this expression onlysted for a few moments, in no more than a few blinks she recovered her original state, quiet and focused, in standard working mode.
Yet her heart was full of raging waves that rolled around. ¡®Under the induced stimtion, the frequency of the Y waves in his brain exceeded 300 HZ. This was practically tenfold the normal person! And this was in response to weak induced stimtion. If he was extremely focused on something, or fighting, how strong would his brain waves be... Incredible. What kind of a brain does he actually have?!¡¯
She suddenly thought of Xia Lei calcting the difficult chemistry question in the Academy of Science. At that time, Xia Lei had calmly and unhurriedly stood in front of the ckboard, his pen flying. He wrote out the answer without pause, even for the parts that required the assistance of a calctor. His calcting speed was astonishing. Now that she thought back to it, this wasn¡¯t a coincidence. If Xia Lei didn¡¯t have such an extraordinary brain, how could he have this degree or capability!
She even thought of all the sess Xia Lei had had. He had manufactured the XL2500 sniper rifle, the Gust assault rifle, and even the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. He could even process an ultra-precise part that no one else in the world could currently process...
Fan Fan spaced out for a long while. ¡®Could it be that the person I¡¯ve fallen in love with is someone with a super brain? No, no that name doesn¡¯t fit. I should be describing him as a strong and capable Superman. Wait, strong and capable Superman? Bah, what am I even thinking about? He¡¯s my boyfriend... Even though we can¡¯t make our rtionship public right now... I should do something for him,¡¯ thought Fan Fan.
Her thoughts were just as special as her constitution, but her actions weren¡¯t ambiguous at all. She worked the apparatus proficiently and changed the abnormal data on it.
She did not know, however, that Xia Lei was spying on her every action.
As soon as she altered the data, Xia Lei retracted his X-ray vision from behind the vi and ran nimbly to the new workshop from a greenery he was hiding in.
Xia Lei returned to the new workshop, but Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming had not arrived yet.
Xia Lei smiled as the scene of Fan Fan altering the data appeared in his mind.
When he went through the test where he focused on his brain and faced Fan Fan and the apparatus¡¯s conducting stimtion, he could have controlled his thoughts and made his brain¡¯s reaction not as intense but he didn¡¯t do that. He wanted to let her see something real and then observe her reaction.
If Fan Fan didn¡¯t alter the data from the test, then his Pretty Boy scheme would have been a failure and he¡¯d have to be careful in the future. But based on Fan Fan¡¯s reactions, his scheme had been a sess, and a considerable one at that. This also increased his confidence that he would pass the present crisis as originally nned, because his options had increased once he gained Fan Fan¡¯s help.
On the other hand, he had another goal and that was to let Fan Fan interact with his extraordinary brain appropriately. She liked men with high IQ and thus he would benefit and take another step in conquering her affections. As long as he made her heartpletely dedicated to him, she would wholly dedicate herself to helping him with whatever he needed.
Love would make a woman be blind, and this was what he wanted.
Just then, Fan Yiming¡¯s voice came from the speaker system. ¡°Mr Xia, are you in there? If it¡¯s possible, we would like toe in and take a look.¡±
Xia Lei casually picked up a cleaning rag soaked with oil and wiped it over his body and hands before opening the door.
¡°I¡¯m so sorry to disturb your work, Mr Xia,¡± greeted Song Baicheng politely.
¡°It¡¯s fine, pleasee in,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fan Yiming and Song Baicheng entered the new workshop and the door closed automatically.
¡°Mr Xia, your measures to keep this area secure is pretty good,¡± said Song Baicheng.
¡°Mr Song, if you weren¡¯t Elder Fan¡¯s student, I would¡¯ve never let you enter. Do you know what you¡¯re doing here? Let me tell you, I¡¯m creating the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. It will surpass the past generation¡¯s Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. If ites out, it will be an internationally unrivalled, superprehensive intelligentthe. It won¡¯t just upgrade our Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s production capabilities and manufacturing standards, it will even be a great trump card for our country,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mr Xia, you¡¯re extraordinary indeed.¡± Fan Yiming sighed as he said, ¡°Even though I am a researcher of materials science, I know the gap between our country¡¯s manufacturing industry and that of the West. You¡¯ve erased this gap and even got ahead of the West¡¯s manufacturing. Your XL2500 sniper rifle, the Gust assault rifle and the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe have been enough to convince me of my inferiority.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Elder Fan, you¡¯re being too polite.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not being too polite. All the sess you have achieved far exceeds what I have ever aplished in my lifetime, not to mention the scientist scum who only knows how to do research while cheating funds. You¡¯re part of the group that gets things done. Everything you have has brought true benefits to this country,¡± said Fan Yiming.
Xia Lei nced at Song Baicheng¡¯s expression out of the corner of his eye.
Song Baicheng¡¯s face didn¡¯t change distinctly in the least. He heard Fan Yiming¡¯s praise for him, but waspletely indifferent.
Xia Lei felt a little ufortable but he didn¡¯t show it on the outside. Heughingly said, ¡°Hehe, Elder Fan, not everyone approves of my work and achievements. Some people drink milk while thinking of how beef tastes. Perhaps they¡¯re already thinking about ughtering cows to eat the meat inside.¡±
Song Baicheng¡¯s expression finally changed as he watched Xia Lei. ¡°Mr Xia, what do you mean by this?¡± he said softly.
¡°Nothing much, I¡¯m just a little regretful,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Some regrets should not be voiced, because regret has no power on its own. It can¡¯t change anything,¡± said Song Baicheng.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Mr Song¡¯s opinion is truly unique with a reason of its own. However, I¡¯m not some indecisive or mncholic weakling. I¡¯ll only do what I¡¯m willing to do. No one can force me to do something I¡¯m not willing to do.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, you¡¯re certainly a very powerful person. Your capabilities have already surpassed everyone I know, but you¡¯re still human. Your strength has its limits. Let me ask you something rather presumptuously. In front of an unconditionally powerful external force, can you still not be forced to do what you¡¯re not willing to do?¡± A hint of provocation arose in Song Baicheng¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei shrugged lightly. ¡°Mr Song, then do you think someone like me has to act by watching other people¡¯s expressions? I think everythinges to a certain point. I¡¯m very tolerant of some people and matters but my endurance has its limits.¡±
¡°If some person or matter overstepped your limitations, what would you do?¡±
¡°Hehe. I¡¯d probably have a lot of choices. Immigrating could be one of them. I believe that it isn¡¯t that hard to find somece that suits me in the world from the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Russia, Sweden, Canada, or somece. As long as I reveal my reputation, they¡¯ll probably get people to contact me. After all, I have too many things that they can only dream of.¡±
Song Baicheng had been smiling but the smile on his face disappeared once he heard Xia Lei mention immigrating.
Indeed, for an extreme talent like Xia Lei, as long as he wanted to immigrate there wouldn¡¯t be a country unwilling to take him in. Not all countries were allies with America. Some had been willing to offer political asylum to Edward Snowden, so of course there would be countries willing to ept Xia Lei. Plus, the technologies which Xia Lei created made his worth ten thousand times that of Edward Snowden.
¡°Hehe, you guys have gotten a little bit too off topic.¡± Fan Yiming seemed to smell gunpowder between the two people and hurriedly came to the rescue. ¡°Mr Xia, you can get busy with what you need to do. We came here only to look around, so you don¡¯t need to take time out to apany us.¡±
¡°Okay, that¡¯s fine. You guys can look around as you please. I have to start working.¡± Xia Lei walked towards the site where they were assembling and installing the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe.
This could be considered his first direct confrontation with Song Baicheng from the ZN Bureau and he had gained a small victory!
Crossing the limits of my tolerance?
That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll make you guys lose everything you have!
This was what Xia Lei had hinted to Song Baicheng!
Chapter 631 - Mr Z
There were many people eating at the dining hall. Xia Lei sat alone at a table and no one dared to disturb him. He was practically a king to the Thunder Horse Military Factory workers. In addition, this king appeared very angry.
XIa Lei¡¯s angry appearance was all a show for Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming who were also eating in the dining hall. Fan Fan was also in the dining hall, eating at the same table as Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming. Actually, Fan Fan really wanted to eat at the same table as Xia Lei but she couldn¡¯t let Song Baicheng and her grandfather discover their rtionship. Moreover, her rtionship with Xia Lei would have to remain secret for a long time in the future and they couldn¡¯t make it public. Even still, she had no regrets.
¡°He seems very angry,¡± Fan Yiming whispered. ¡°Mr Song, have we pressed him too much?¡±
¡°I¡¯m also handling this under orders. Whether he¡¯s happy or unhappy, you guys have to give me a satisfactory response within the week.¡±
Xia Lei continued to monitor their conversation out of the corner of his eye with his lip-reading.
¡°All right then.¡± Fan Yiming looked at Fan Fan and said, ¡°Did you hear that? You need to make more of your time.¡±
¡°All right, then I will conduct another project today to gather his bodily fluids. One week. I can hand in a practical and realistic research report in a week.¡±
¡°Very good. You are the best bioengineering expert in the country. I believe in you,¡± said Song Baicheng.
¡°However, you¡¯ll need to turn the surveince camera in myboratory off. Mr Xia dislikes the surveince camera a lot and he¡¯s said before that this is a vition of his rights,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Did he request this?¡± Song Baicheng frowned.
¡°No, I brought it up, but only for tonight. You can¡¯t make him give that kind of a sample under the surveince camera, can you? If you want to insist, then you convince him,¡± said Fan Fan.
Song Baicheng thought for a moment and said, ¡°All right, but only for tonight.¡±
None of these words escaped Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. He was liking Fan Fan more and more.
Ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s mobile phone suddenly rang.
Xia Lei took out his phone and nced at it, but the contact disy made him stare nkly.
The screen disyed the word ¡°Wifey¡±.
Shentu Tianyin was calling. Even though he had divorced Shentu Tianyin, his phone contact remained ¡°Wifey¡±, and he hadn¡¯t changed it.
¡®What is she calling for?¡¯ Xia Lei was curious. After some hesitation, he epted the call.
¡°Hubby...¡± It was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice.
¡°You,¡± responded Xia Lei. Shentu Tianyin still called him ¡°Hubby¡± but he didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°Oh, I¡¯m wrong,¡± came Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice. ¡°We¡¯ve divorced already so I can¡¯t call you Hubby anymore. However, I got used to it so you won¡¯t mind, right?¡±
Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°No. How have you been doing?¡±
¡°Not good,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say again.
¡°Has Liang Siyaoe back?¡± came Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice.
¡°She¡¯s back. How did you know?¡± Xia Lei was shocked because Liang Siyao¡¯s current identity was an agent at Bureau 101, with the same rank as Tang Yuyan and Long Bing. As a businessperson, Shentu Tianyin shouldn¡¯t have any information channels to know this.
¡°Liu Zhengnan and Xue bought a house for Liang Siyao. That building just happened to belong to Vientiane Group. Xue specially indicated that Liang Siyao and Liang Zhenchun signed the property rights portion of the Purchasing House Contract, so I guessed that Liang Siyao returned,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡®Why would Xia Xue and Zhengnan buy a house from Vientiane Group¡¯s real estate section? Seriously, aren¡¯t they just causing trouble?¡¯ Xia Lei felt depressed but said, ¡°Liang Zhengchun is my Master. You know this. When he came back, he was renting a ce... and since he¡¯s my Master, I have to do my filial duty.¡±
¡°I know, so...I told my real estate person in charge to choose the best vi among themercial properties for your Master and Liang Siyao. I only epted one yuan and I already had Xia Xue pay me with WeChat red envelopes,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°How is that okay? Tell me how much the vi costs and I¡¯ll give you the bnce.¡±
¡°Are you going to talk money with me? Then all right,e over and we¡¯ll calcte how much I owe you. I¡¯ll give you the bnce and if that isn¡¯t enough, I¡¯ll give you coteral.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°When will youe see my father? He really wants to see you and talk to you.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a moment before he said, ¡°Maybeter. Thunder Horse Military Factory is currently in a state of upgrading so I can¡¯t leave.¡±
Shentu Tianyin sighed. ¡°Then all right, we¡¯ll just leave it like this. You can hang up first.¡±
¡°Oh, then... Bye.¡± Xia Lei hung up. He felt depressed yet rxed, like a rock had been lifted off his heart.
At this time, Song Baicheng, Fan Yiming and Fan Fan finished their meal and passed by Xia Lei¡¯s table.
¡°Mr Xia, please take your time,¡± greeted Fan Yiming.
¡°Take care,¡± said Xia Lei indifferently.
¡°Mr Xia, pleasee to myboratoryter,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°I¡¯ve been working the whole day, so can¡¯t I just get a good night¡¯s rest?¡± Xia Lei immediately frowned.
¡°Mr Xia, it won¡¯t take up too much of your time. It will only take a moment,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t speak. He acted like he was very unhappy.
¡°Mr Xia, just cooperate for a bit. I think you want to finish this up as soon as possible too,¡± said Song Baicheng.
Only then did Xia Lei say, ¡°All right, I¡¯lle overter.¡±
Fan Fan only nced at Xia Lei with a cold expression, but her eyes contained tenderness and warmth. She left with Fan Yiming and Song Baicheng.
Xia Lei was a little happy as he secretly thought, ¡®Her acting is not bad. She has the potential to work in as an agent.¡¯
After all, she was a woman with a high IQ. Xia Lei didn¡¯t need to teach her much, as she already knew what to do.
After Song Baicheng, Fan Yiming, and Fan Fan left the dining hall, Xia Lei got up to leave as well. He chose a different path to return to the vi located behind the workshop area. He hadn¡¯t walked far when he spotted Song Baicheng, Fan Yiming, and Fan Fan on another path. They weren¡¯t walking that fast. Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming were talking about something while Fan Fan walked at the very back, asionally looking back at the dining hall.
Xia Lei¡¯s vision locked on to Song Baicheng. Right when he was about to use his lip-reading ability to decipher Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming¡¯s conversation, Song Baicheng suddenly took out his phone, said something to Fan Yiming, and then walked towards the kerb to pick up his call.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped, and his left eye locked in on Song Baicheng¡¯s lips as he used lip-reading to decipher Song Baicheng¡¯s words.
¡°Yes, yes... Xia Lei is pretty cooperative, he just has some conflicting moods... I won¡¯t mind his moods since this isn¡¯t up to him... Yes, he still doesn¡¯t know my identity but he¡¯s a very smart person. I think he will probably have some guesses...Yes yes, I will pay attention to that. He won¡¯t know that Bureau ZN exists... Right, today he argued with me, as if giving me a hint. He said if his tolerance limit is crossed, he may immigrate... Closely monitor his every move? No problem. Also, freeze his passport. If he leaves the country before the results came out, that would be bad...¡±
Even though he couldn¡¯t hear the voice in the cell phone, Xia Lei had guessed that the person who was calling Song Baicheng didn¡¯t have a small influence because Song Baicheng¡¯s current expression seemed like he was a lower level to the other person.
Could it be the leader of Bureau ZN?
¡°Fan Fan and Fan Yiming? No problem, they¡¯re both fine. Fan Yiming is the number one materials scientist and Fan Fan is the best bioengineering schr. Fan Fan is in charge of the part with Xia Lei while Fan Yiming will be in charge of theter stage in the Alloy X Project. This is my n. It¡¯s been pretty smooth so far...Results? The results will onlye out in a week. From the parts we¡¯ve alreadypleted, Xia Lei¡¯s body is stronger than the normal person but even that¡¯s pretty normal and there hasn¡¯t been any special areas... Of course, the most important gene chain data hasn¡¯te out yet. These two projects will require some time, but I will urge Fan Fan to hurry up and deliver the results...¡±
Gene chain was amon term for DNA. Its primary function was long-term information storage and it constituted the blueprints of life. One of themands it had was to construct other chemicalpounds within cells such as the necessary proteins and RNA. DNA portions that had inheritable information were called genes. Of the rest of the DNA sequence, some directly acted on one¡¯sposition and some helped control the expression of inherited traits. Obviously, it ys a big role. In Fan Fan¡¯s research, this project was certainly the most important one and it was also the most difficult hurdle for Xia Lei to get over.
Due to the many roles gene chains yed, Xia Lei¡¯s gene chains would leave some information pertaining to his evolution. The moment this information was read, the secret of his body¡¯s evolutionary condition wouldn¡¯t be a secret any longer. Ordinary doctors didn¡¯t have a way to extract the information stored in gene chains but the person in charge of this was the best bioengineering schr in all of China, Fan Fan. This wouldn¡¯t be that hard for her to handle.
¡°I¡¯m not that surprised that a few people in the military are pressuring us. Xia Lei is supplying the best equipment for them so that they can blow off some steam on the international stage, but they are military men afterall, so they have a lot of limitations. They don¡¯t realize how important our work is. Our goal is the future... Mr Z, no matter what, I will aplish this mission. Goodbye.¡±
Mr Z?
Xia Lei was shocked. This was the first time he had received information on an upper level staff member of Bureau ZN! Even though this was most likely only a code name, this was significant to him!
Song Baicheng put his phone away and walked off towards the vi.
Xia Lei stopped using his ability and walked towards the vi as well.
This wasn¡¯t a fair and honorable confrontation. Bureau ZN was in secret while he was out in the open. He needed to gain more information on Bureau ZN and Song Baicheng was his only way to this information.
Xia Lei spoke on his phone as he walked. ¡°Hello, Yuyan, could you help me look into a person named Song Baicheng? I want all his information.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°How strange. You actually didn¡¯t ask Long Bing for help, but asked me instead?¡±
¡°Are you going to help out? Yes or no.¡±
¡°You only know how to get fierce with me. Did I say I wouldn¡¯t help you?¡±
¡°Then thank you.¡±
¡°A simple thank you isn¡¯t enough. Treat me to a meal and watch a movie with me.¡±
¡°No problem, after you settle it, call me and I¡¯ll treat you to a meal and watch a movie with you.¡±
¡°All right, wait for my news.¡±
Xia Lei smiled faintly as he put away his phone.
The only reason why he hadn¡¯t gotten Long Bing to do this but rather Tang Yuyan was because Long Bing didn¡¯t have anyone behind her while Tang Yuyan had the huge Tang family behind her. Whoever wanted to touch Tang Yuyan would have to weigh the odds first.
Chapter 632 - Top Secret
Theboratory¡¯s door and windows were closed, and even the curtains were pulled shut,pletely imprable. The surveince camera installed in the corner of the room had been taken down and Song Baicheng couldn¡¯t monitor this area any longer. Fan Fan had made these many preparations, all to gather Xia Lei¡¯s sample.
¡°I¡¯m ready. Are you ready?¡± Fan Fan looked at Xia Lei lovingly under the light.
¡°What samples are you going to collect?¡± Xia Lei had actually already guessed it, and he smiled naughtily.
Fan Fan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°What do you think?¡±
¡°How are you going to collect it?¡±
Fan Fan came up to him and gently pulled Xia Lei¡¯s zipper down.
¡°Won¡¯t this sample be contaminated?¡±
¡°Well in any case, you don¡¯t really want me to give Song Baicheng a real research report do you, my Strong Stick Superman?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Fan Fan pressed close to Xia Lei¡¯s body and bent down. She was going to use her little mouth to persuade Xia Lei to hand his sample over.
Footsteps came from outside the door. Xia Lei somewhat nervously looked over. He used his left eye, and the wall and door disappeared at the same time to reveal Song Baicheng.
There wasn¡¯t a surveince camera, but that didn¡¯t seem to deter Song Baicheng¡¯s interest. He approached the door quietly, a little nervously, and was extremely careful.
Song Baicheng came up to the door and stuck his ear to the door.
It was obvious that he wanted to hear what was going on inside theboratory.
Fan Fan was still engrossed in her work but the eavesdropper outside had already made Xia Lei nervous. Luckily, Fan Fan¡¯s process of persuasion was very tender. It wasn¡¯t as exaggerated as certain types of videos made it out to be, or the eavesdropper would have knocked on the door already.
But they couldn¡¯t keep silent. Song Baicheng wasn¡¯t a fool. The fact that he hade here meant that he had good reason, and tricking him would not be so easy.
Xia Lei braced himself and pinched Fan Fan¡¯s cheek. After he got her attention, he pointed to the door and then mouthed, ¡°Someone is outside.¡±
Fan Fan was an exceptionally intelligent girl. She quickly understood what was going on and went silent for a moment. She suddenly said, ¡°Mr Xia, you don¡¯t need to feel awkward. This isn¡¯t a big deal. You can pretend I¡¯m a doctor from a hospital. Patients don¡¯t need to be awkward in front of their doctors.¡±
Her reaction was pretty quick.
Xia Lei sighed slightly and said, ¡°All right, I can consider you a doctor in a hospital, but please turn around. I really can¡¯t make a sample in front of you.¡±
¡°All right, no problem.¡± Fan Fan bent her head again.
Not all girls were willing to do it for their men. However, Fan Fan was willing to do this for Xia Lei because Xia Lei was her hero, her superman.
¡°That Song guy makes me very unhappy. I don¡¯t like him,¡± continued Xia Lei.
These words were clearly said for Song Baicheng.
¡°Who does he think he is that I¡¯ll just cooperate with whatever he wants to do. Do I have to give him whatever he wants? How annoying. I might as well change Thunder Horse Military Factory into a factory that produces toothpaste.¡±
Outside, a cold smile surfaced on Song Baicheng¡¯s face. He clearly didn¡¯t take Xia Lei¡¯s threat seriously.
Fan Fan looked up and added, ¡°Mr Xia, Mr Song is also doing this for his work. He doesn¡¯t have any evil intentions. Please be a bit more understanding.¡±
Xia Lei gave Fan Fan a big thumbs up.
Fan Fan stuck her tongue out and continued working him.
¡°Miss Fan, do you know where this Mr Song is from?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Then forget about it, just pretend I didn¡¯t ask.¡±
Outside, Song Baicheng nodded faintly. He was very satisfied with Fan Fan¡¯s performance.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice came from behind the door again. ¡°A week, you guys all have to leave this ce in a week... Nn!¡±
A heavy grunt came at the end of his sentence.
Song Baicheng smiled disdainfully and moved away from the door.
Inside the room, Fan Fan gave Xia Lei a big thumbs up and then ran to her work station.
Xia Lei walked over and lifted her short skirt from the back. Fan Fan had pleasured him so he should pleasure her too ¡ª it was very easy to pleasure her too. She was practically the easiest girl to please and satisfy in the whole world...
The sameboratory, one hourter.
Fan Fan looked at the analysis data, dumbstruck. After a very long time, she said, ¡°Oh my gosh, his sperm actually kills each other. That¡¯s insane. This means he basically can¡¯t get a girl pregnant. If a girl did get his child, what kind of a monster would this child be?!¡±
This was a question, but a question with no answer.
¡°These numbers will have to be changed otherwise someone will probably arrange for a variety of women to try to be pregnant with Xia Lei¡¯s child,¡± Fan Fan said to herself. When she said this, her cheeks reddened for some reason, in response to whatever she was thinking about.
At the same time, in the undergrowth behind the vi, Xia Lei quietly stopped using his X-ray vision and left.
Fan Fan changed even these numbers, cheating for him. Xia Lei really didn¡¯t have much to worry about anymore.
The next day, Tang Yuyan came to Thunder Horse Military Factory and found the new workshop that Xia Lei was working in.
Tang Yuyan shoved a thick document envelope into Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°This is the person you let me investigate. You can take a look yourself.¡±
¡°You settled it this quickly? You¡¯re pretty awesome,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
Tang Yuyan didn¡¯t speak. She just looked at Xia Lei with her dark, liquidy eyes.
Xia Lei opened the document envelope. He took a look, and stared nkly.
The materials inside the envelope had been downloaded and printed off the inte. There made up a very thick pile of paper, but all of the words had all been covered by a thick red line. Two big ck words ¡°Top Secret¡± were written on every single document!
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei doubtfully said, ¡°What¡¯s up with this?¡±
¡°I want to ask you what¡¯s going on!¡± Tang Yuyan red at Xia Lei and angrily said, ¡°Yesterday, I was wondering why you didn¡¯t get Long Bing to help you but got me instead. It turns out you wanted me to poke through a hos¡¯ nest!¡±
¡°Your words are a little... I just didn¡¯t know this person so I asked you for help. You¡¯re much more capable than Long Bing so who would I ask to do the job if not you?¡± Xia Leiughed.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth quirked upwards. ¡°You¡¯re stigmatising me. I won¡¯t be fooled.¡±
¡°How could I be stigmatising you? You¡¯re the eldest daughter of the Tang Sect. Who would make things difficult for you?¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°Do you still not understand? I got you and not Long Bing because no one would touch you.¡±
Although he said he wasn¡¯t, Xia Lei had given Tang Yuyan a bigger stigmatizer.
Tang Yuyan finally smiled. ¡°So now you know how good I am? You should have realised long ago.¡±
¡°I always knew of your strong points,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Tell me, since I¡¯m helping you with such a big favour, how will youpensate me?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s hands were full of documents with coarse lines. He forced augh as he said, ¡°Your help turned out to be like this and you still have the nerve to ask forpensation?¡±
¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I have the nerve to? I don¡¯t care, you have to treat me to a meal and then a movie.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Tell me, what trouble did you get into now?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t speak.
¡°The person who you told me to investigate has such a high confidential level that it¡¯s beyond reasonable limits. In China, there are few people that we at Bureau 101 can¡¯t investigate, but this person is one of them. I can¡¯t look up any of his information and I bet I¡¯ll be questioned,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Who would question you? Boss Shi?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not afraid of my godfather scolding me, I¡¯m afraid...¡±
Her phone rang at that exact moment. She took her phone out, nced at it, then showed it to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei saw the name on the screen: Godfather.
He had just asked if Shi Boren would question Tang Yuyan when he had called. It wasn¡¯t hard to guess that Bureau ZN had already found out about the records of Tang Yuyan investigating Song Baicheng. This made him feel very surprised because they were actually so quick to respond!
¡°Can you put it on speaker?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
¡°Of course, but you need to treat me to a meal and treat me to a movie,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°No problem.¡±
Tang Yuyan put it on speakerphone and then answered her phone.
¡°You wench!¡± Shi Boren¡¯s voice came from the speakers. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°Godfather, what are you doing? I¡¯m on the streets. Is there an urgent assignment?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°You¡¯re still trying to lie to me!¡± Shi Boren¡¯s voice was filled with anger, ¡°Would there be no sounds on the streets? You¡¯re at Xia Lei¡¯s ce, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Tang Yuyan nced at Xia Lei and didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°Is he next to you?¡±
Tang Yuyan signalled for Xia Lei to speak but Xia Lei shook his head.
¡°Godfather, he¡¯s in the bathroom. If Xia Lei were right next to me then what would our rtionship be?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t pull that shit with me! Stop investigating that person right now. You don¡¯t have the authority, and less so for Xia Lei!¡±
¡°All right, all right, I get it. I was just curious so I wanted to take a look but I didn¡¯t find anything. That person¡¯s files are encrypted and has been modified. It was heavily redacted,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Don¡¯t you know curiosity will kill the cat? This matter will end here. I know Xia Lei is right next to you. Tell him stop messing around. No one can help him with this!¡± Shi Boren¡¯s voice was very stern.
¡°I will tell him. Is there anything else, Godfather?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°Come back here immediately!¡± Shi Boren hung up.
Tang Yuyan pouted, and looked unhappy. ¡°He definitely got scolded, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t get angry at me. I have to go back. You still have to honour what you promised me.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll call you after I work through the next several days,¡± said Xia Leiughingly.
¡°That¡¯s a promise.¡± Tang Yuyan left.
Xia Lei followed Tang Yuyan out with his eyes but he kept reying every single detail of Tang Yuyan and Shi Boren¡¯s conversation in his head, from the voice over the phone to the minute background noises. He quickly realised that another person had been standing next to Shi Boren when he was talking to Tang Yuyan.
¡®Who is that person? Could it be Mr Z?¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but guess.
Chapter 633 - Fan Fan’s Research Report
A week passed in the blink of an eye. Xia Lei dealt with Song Baicheng for this entire week, and Fan Fan helped him secretly. She not only covered for him but also helped him fix his research report.
A week passed. The deadline that Song Baicheng gave was here.
Song Baicheng came to Fan Fan¡¯sboratory early in the morning. Fan Fan was preparing her research report. When Song Baicheng came in she said, ¡°Mr Song, you came just in time. I was just going to look for you.¡±
¡°Is the research report done?¡± asked Song Baicheng.
Fan Fan replied, ¡°Yes. Mr Xia¡¯s gene chain data finally came outst night so I stayed up to write this report.¡±
¡°Very good. Let me take a look.¡± Song Baicheng walked over eagerly.
Fan Fan delivered the organised research report to Song Baicheng.
Song Baicheng began flipping through it. At first, he seemed very excited and wore a smile on his face but that smile dimmed very quickly, and disappeared.
¡°This is your research report?¡± Song Baicheng stared straight at Fan Fan.
Fan Fan replied, ¡°Yes, this is my research report. Mr Song, is there a problem with it?¡±
¡°There is nothing wrong with your report. It looks very normal.¡± He paused before continuing, ¡°Miss Fan, are you sure the subject of this research report is Mr Xia?¡±
Fan Fan replied firmly, ¡°Of course my research subject is Mr Xia. This report is a summary of my work over the past week.¡±
¡°But...¡± Song Baicheng furrowed his brows and didn¡¯t finish his sentence.
Fan Fan asked, ¡°Mr Song, is there something wrong with my work and research report? Or are you questioning my work abilities?¡¯
¡°Miss Fan, you are our country¡¯s best bioengineer. Of course I believe in your abilities. But our research subject is Xia Lei. Do you not think he is very special?¡±
¡°Is Mr Xia very special?¡± said Fan Fan stated. ¡°He is very smart and strong too. He is the smartest person I have ever seen. There is a test in my report about his IQ. His IQ has reached as high as 298, this is the highest IQ seen in a human thus far. If that is what you are talking about then he is indeed very special.¡±
In reality, Xia Lei¡¯s IQ was even higher than that. The IQ stated in the research report was weakened data, but even if that was the case, Song Baicheng was still taken aback. He obviously had not seen the part about Xia Lei¡¯s IQ test.
¡°Mr Song, we should feel fortunate that the world¡¯s smartest man is in China, not America or Japan,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Is he just smart?¡± Song Baicheng looked unwilling to ept this fact. In his eyes, Xia Lei was not only abnormal, but also full of mysteries. But the result given to him by Fan Fan was a big contrast to what he had imagined.
Fan Fan said, ¡°Mr Song, I think you don¡¯t really understand what having an IQ of 298 means. 50% of the world¡¯s poption has an IQ between 90 and 100, which is considered a normal IQ. 2.5% of the world¡¯s poption has an IQ that reaches 130, they belong on the higher end of the scale. Only 0.4% of the people have an IQ that reaches 140, these people are considered geniuses. My IQ is 139 and I am only a part of that 2.5%. My grandfather has an even higher IQ than me, his IQ is at 148 so he is part of that 0.4%. But even if it were my grandfather, his IQ is still only half of Xia Lei¡¯s. Do you know history¡¯s smartest genius, Da Vinci? He is the publicly recognised as smartest human being ever, but his IQ is only 230 ¡ª 60 less than Xia Lei. Now that I¡¯ve told you this, do you still believe that he is just smart?¡±
Song Baicheng¡¯s eyes shed. Who knew what thoughts were going through his mind.
Fan Fan kept driving the point that Xia Lei was the world¡¯s smartest man to Song Baicheng. This was actually a n Xia Lei hade up with in advance. This was the only way the cunning Song Baicheng would believe in it. Other than this, there was no other way to go get past Song Baicheng.
After a short silence, Song Baicheng finally asked, ¡°Is that true?¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s eyebrows knotted, showing her displeasure. ¡°Mr Song, what do you mean? Would I lie to you? You are probably the first to ever question me! Since you don¡¯t believe in my abilities, why did you ask me toe? You can look for someone else!¡±
¡°That is not what I mean. Miss Fan, it¡¯s just that this is way too important...¡±
Fan Fan cut him off mid-sentence. ¡°Mr Song, I have been working with you for so long, so I can kind of guess your motive though you didn¡¯t tell me.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± The look in Song Baicheng¡¯s eyes changed.
Fan Fan continued, ¡°You probably thought that Mr Xia was not a normal human being, maybe even a superhuman being, like those Spiderman, Superman or sh Hollywood types. But those are movies. It is unrealistic. If you look at 5,000 years of human history, has there been a superhuman?¡±
These words were actually taught to Fan Fan by Xia Lei. If not, how would she know Song Baicheng¡¯s motive?
¡°I don¡¯t believe that there are superhumans in this world. I asked you to research Xia Lei for the Alloy X Project. He is the only one who cane in contact with the ancient alloy pieces. We need to find out the reason.¡±
¡°My work, and my report are not able to give you the answer you want.¡±
¡°Miss Fan, I will ask you onest time. Are you sure that your research report is perfect, without errors?¡±
¡°I am sure.¡±
¡°You are also sure that no errors urred during your research process? Did you leave anything out?¡±
¡°I am sure.¡±
¡°All right, your work is finished. I will take your research report. Before new orderse out, you can arrange your work and your time as you please.¡± Song Baicheng closed the research report. Fan Fan was the country¡¯s best bioengineer. Her work and her report were inherently authoritative. She had also been aided by the Academy of Science¡¯s dean, Fan Yiming. It did not make sense to continue to question her.
Fan Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief at that point.
Song Baicheng took the research report Fan Fan had given him, and left theboratory.
¡°Mr Song, what was the result?¡± asked Fan Yiming, who was waiting outside the door.
¡°Go ask your granddaughter. She knows more than I do,¡± said Song Baicheng.
Song Baicheng entered his room, closed the door, then took out his phone.
¡°Mr Z, Fan Fan¡¯s research report is out.¡± Song Baicheng¡¯s tone was serious.
A man¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°What was the result?¡±
Song Baicheng was silent for a while before he replied, ¡°It was different from what I imagined. Xia Lei is very normal.¡±
¡°Very normal?¡±
¡°His body is very normal, but his IQ is insanely high. Fan Fan¡¯s test data estimated it to be 298. She said that he is the world¡¯s smartest person. It is also history¡¯s highest IQ tested.¡±
¡°So you are saying that his sess today was all because of his IQ?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t think of anything else other than this possibility,¡± said Song Baicheng.
¡°Bring me the research report.¡±
¡°Yes, Mr Z.¡±
¡°Be careful. Xia Lei had Tang Yuyan look you up. He has already started to suspect you.¡±
¡°I know, I will be careful.¡± Song Baicheng hung up.
After he finished his call with Mr Z, Song Baicheng looked at the file in his hands. He stood, unmoving, for many minutes. He kept thinking to himself, ¡®The smartest person in the world? His IQ is higher than Da Vinci and Einstein, these great scientists? An IQ that reaches 298, how can he prove that? Hmph...¡±
Half an hourter, Song Baicheng arrived in the new workshop where Xia Lei worked.
Xia Lei opened the door for Song Baicheng. He looked like a blue-cor worker with his body covered with oil stains, and not the world¡¯s smartest human.
¡°Mr Song, is that Fan Fan¡¯s research report?¡± Xia Lei looked at the file in Song Baicheng¡¯s hands and looked very interested. ¡°Can I take a look?¡±
¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t give this to you.¡± Song Baicheng rejected Xia Lei, then said, ¡°But I can tell you, you are very normal, only...¡±
¡°Only what?¡±
¡°Your brain is very special. Fan Fan said your IQ is as high as 298. She said you are the world¡¯s smartest person.¡±
¡°Hehe.¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°Howe I don¡¯t feel that way?¡±
Song Baicheng stated calmly, ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t believe it either. After all, the president of the Academy of Science, Fan Yiming¡¯s IQ is only 148, but yours is 298, twice that of Fan Yiming¡¯s.¡±
¡°Out with it ¡ª what did youe here for? There is no need to go in circles. As you can see, I am working right now. I am busy,¡± said Xia Lei.
Song Baicheng opened the document envelope and took out a piece of A4 paper and a pencil. He put them in front of Xia Lei.
The piece of A4 paper was not a piece of nk white paper. Written on top was a superplex math problem. All kinds of numbers, symbols, and functions took up half the page.
¡°I would like to ask you to solve this problem,¡± said Song Baicheng.
This was his motive.
Xia Lei nced at Song Baicheng and epted the pen and paper. He could reject him and even let make Song Baicheng leave, but that would not be a wise decision. Since Song Baicheng brought over this problem, that meant that he doubted his IQ and the uracy of Fan Fan¡¯s report. If he rejected him, the cunning Song Baicheng would get more suspicious.
It would definitely be terrible for him if the ZN Bureau did not believe Fan Fan¡¯s report. All the acting and things he had done before would be wasted.
¡°Let¡¯s go to a quiet ce,¡± said Song Baicheng. ¡°This problem was given to me by a mathematician. I heard that it is very difficult. I can give you some time to solve the problem.¡±
¡°No need, here is fine. I am running short on time, so give me ten minutes.¡± Xia Lei squatted, ced the paper on the floor and started to solve the problem just like that.
The numbers, symbols, and forms on the paper entered his brain, and his brain began gearing up. All of the mathematical knowledge he had seen emerged like tidewater. Each had an infinite extension, and they intersected, expanding to a higher level. In his brain, a mathematical world was quietly taking shape. This world started with the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to more advanced math. They were like a big, scattered over the boundless starry sky, the sky was constantly expanding, and the big was also expanding with it...
Chapter 634 - The Riemann Hypothesis
Nonguage could describe or depict this process because the process was a miracle in itself.
However, Song Baicheng couldn¡¯t see this miracle. He looked at Xia Lei, who didn¡¯t move at all. The corners of his lips formed a sarcastic smile. ¡°Mr Xia, you aren¡¯t able to calcte it? It¡¯s okay, you don¡¯t have to force yourself. After all, this is a difficult math problem.¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei raised his head and nced at Song Baicheng. ¡°Don¡¯t use your IQ to measure me. Thank you.¡±
¡°You...¡± Song Baicheng was annoyed.
Xia Lei suddenly picked up the pen to solve the problem. He was very quick.
Song Baicheng¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief. He then unconsciously opened his mouth and was unable to close it.
This was not because of the speed Xia Lei was solving the problem, but rather the question itself.
This question was one of the seven hardest mathematical problems in the world, the Riemann hypothesis!
This mathematical problem was considered the peak of mathematics in the 20th century. It was also awarded by the y Institution of Mathematics as one of the seven hardest mathematical problems in the world. The mathematical problem was founded in 1869, but no one was able to solve it even after over a century had passed. The significance and difficulty of the problem were very obvious. But now, Xia Lei was solving an extremely difficult problem like he was solving what ¡°1+1¡± was!
Before he came here, Song Baicheng stilled questioned the fact that Xia Lei¡¯s IQ was 298. But now that he was standing in front of Xia Lei, he felt like he was just a kid who had just learned how to count. If Xia Lei was a tall tree, then he would just be a weed under the tall tree.
After ten minutes, Xia Lei handed the A4 paper to Song Baicheng with both sides filled with content.
Song Baicheng was still in shock.
¡°Okay, this problem is indeed a bit difficult, but it wasn¡¯t as difficult as I expected it to be. I solved it, but I don¡¯t think you can understand. You should take it and go ask a mathematician and let him tell you if I have calcted it correctly or not,¡± said Xia Lei.
Song Baicheng finally returned to his senses. He looked at Xia Lei strangely. ¡°That... Mr Xia, could it be that you don¡¯t know the origin of this problem?¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at Song Baicheng. ¡°I¡¯m not a mathematician who studies mathematics. I work in the military. I¡¯m good at machine processing and electrical engineering. Do you think that I¡¯m ball-breakingly idle enough that I would go solve mathematical problems for fun?¡±
Song Baicheng moved his lips. He wanted to say something but didn¡¯t say it.
¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to work. You can leave.¡± Xia Lei turned around and entered the workshop.
The gate of the workshop automatically closed.
Song Baicheng stared nkly for quite a while before he turned to leave. He did not doubt that Xia Lei was the smartest person in the world now. The solution to the Riemann hypothesis in his hand was a piece of heavyweight evidence. With the evidence in his hand, he could now paint a perfect ending for his assignment.
After a short period of time, a Hongqi car drove out of the Thunder Horse Military Factory. It was headed in the direction of Jingdu district.
¡°Mr Z, he...¡±
¡°What happened?¡±
¡°He solved the Riemann hypothesis.¡±
¡°What is the Riemann hypothesis?¡± Mr Z¡¯s voice came from the phone.
¡°It¡¯s like this... Because of the information from Fan Fan¡¯s report about Xia Lei¡¯s IQ, I asked a mathematician to find a difficult math problem for me. The mathematician found the Riemann hypothesis. For almost two centuries, no one was able to solve it. But he... He only used ten minutes to solve it.¡± Song Baicheng¡¯s voice sounded like he was sleepwalking.
The phone was silent for a while before Mr Z started speaking again. ¡°Are you sure he had solved it correctly?¡±
¡°I¡¯m 80% certain. When the mathematician handed me the problem, he had also given me some materials from other people who had attempted to solve the problem. I observed the process that Xia Lei had solved the problem, some of the content appeared to look identical. Of course, the final oue will be judged by the mathematician.¡±
¡°Let me have a look at the report that Fan Fan wrote, and the Riemann hypothesis that Xia Lei solved.¡±
¡°I¡¯m on my way there. Mr Z, I will see youter.¡± Song Baicheng put down his phone and mmed his foot on the gas pedal. The Hongqi car galloped on the road.
Several hundred meters behind it, a motorcycle followed at a distance.
The rider on the motorcycle was the person who had solved the Riemann hypothesis, Xia Lei.
Where would Song Baicheng go after he left the Thunder Horse Military Factory? This was what Xia Lei wanted to know.
Although he had survived this crisis, he knew that this won¡¯t be the end of it. As long as Bureau ZN exists, it will pose a threat to him. He must gather more information about Bureau ZN. He needed to know the location of Bureau Zn and what kind of people are in Bureau ZN. He can only beat his opponent if he knew more about them.
The motorcycle flew across the road.
Several hundred meters of distance was an absolute safe distance to follow. Even if Song Baicheng was even more cunning than a fox or if his anti-tracking ability was better than a special agent from Bureau 101, he would not be able to discover that someone was following him.
Not only did Xia Lei deliberately keep a few hundred meters of distance from Song Baicheng, but he also had a silicone mask on. His opponent wasn¡¯t just Song Baicheng, but the entire Bureau ZN, so he had to be even more careful.
Ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone suddenly rang while the motorcycle was speeding down the road.
Who would call him at this time?
Xia Lei took out his phone and looked at it, then answered the phone.
¡°Brother Lei, where did you go?¡± It was Fan Fan¡¯s voice.
¡°I went out for a while because I have something to do. What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei slowed down the speed of the motorcycle. He took control of the motorcycle with one hand and used his other hand to talk on the phone.
¡°I want to chat with you. I went to the workshop to find you, but you weren¡¯t there.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s chat when I return. I¡¯m driving right now,¡± Xia Lei said.
¡°Okay, I will wait for you.¡± Fan Fan hung up the phone.
Xia Lei put away his phone. He thought, ¡®What does she want to talk to me about at this time?¡¯
Song Baicheng was indeed more cunning than a fox. Even though he didn¡¯t discover anyone following him, he still maintained a high degree of vignce and carried out a few anti-tracking methods. He drove around the area and circled the Jingdu district. He finally drove his car into apound.
Xia Lei stopped his motorcycle three hundred meters away.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about the organisation¡¯spound. There were soldiers with firearms standing guard at the front gate. Behind the gate was a three-storey tall office building. The building looked like it was built in the ¡®50s or the ¡®60s and was very old. It looked like it had a green coat on, with Boston ivy covering the walls. The courtyard of thepound wasn¡¯t very big, but it was full of nts. The nts were also very old. A lot of the trees were taller than the office building, just like a very big umbre, shading the office building from above.
With the vines and the big trees, even a spy satellite would not be able to find this ce.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the sign above the big gate. ¡°Jingdu City¡¯s Meteorological Monitoring Center¡±.
With this kind ofpound and the neglected-looking sign, even if residents passed through here every day, they wouldn¡¯t give it a second look. They wouldn¡¯t go in and ask what the weather would be like in the next few days.
If there was a warning g about this ce, then it would be the armed soldiers standing in front of the gate.
Was this the location of the mysterious Bureau ZN?
Xia Lei got out of his car and began slowly pushing the motorcycle as he walked forward. His line of sight was locked on the old office building. He was getting closer and closer to it and his left eye twitched when he got to the front gate. The walls of the office building were like snowkes in the sun as it quickly ¡®melted¡¯. The space behind the walls became visible to his eyes.
It was an office scene with staff members and office equipment. The scene appeared to look very quiet and efficient. The equipment looked very advanced and wasn¡¯t something an ordinarypany or office would possess.
Xia Lei started from the third floor, then the second floor, and then finally the first floor. It look him only three minutes topletely examine the entire building with his X-ray vision. When he looked at the first floor, his line of sight had suddenly stopped at an office. It was like his head was ruthlessly hit by a mallet in that moment.
Song Baicheng was in that office. He stood perfectly straight in front of a person.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t unfamiliar with that person. He had a very deep friendship with that person.
That person was ¡ª Ling Han!
When Ling Han¡¯s face entered his line of sight, every bit of information regarding that person popped into Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
Ling Han had first appeared with the identity as a special assistant from the First Office. During his fight against Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, Ling Han had been a great help to him. During that period, he had regarded Ling Han as both his friend and elder brother. But now, everything had copsed.
¡®When I started toe in contact the ancient alloy, my father warned me that some group already had their eyes on me. Now it seems like the person that my father was talking about was probably Ling Han.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s heart was full ofplicated feelings.
Who could he trust in this world?
Men didn¡¯t care about loyalty because the weight of loyalty was too low. Women weren¡¯t loyal and dependable because loyalty wasn¡¯t attractive enough for them.
Majority of the people will be disgusted and disagree with this sentence, but this was the true portrayal of society.
However,pared to the pain that Liang Siyao and Shentu Tianyin had brought him, the pain he felt now was nothing.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were locked on Ling Han and Song Baicheng¡¯s lips. He read their lips to decipher what they were discussing while he slowly pushed his motorcycle forward.
¡°Mr Z, this is the research report, and the Riemann hypothesis Xia Lei solved.¡± Song Baicheng handed the document envelope to Ling Han
Ling Han opened it up and took out everything inside. He first looked at the Riemann hypothesis that Xia Lei had solved.
¡°Mr Z, on the way here, I took a picture of the Riemann hypothesis that Xia Lei solved and sent it to the mathematician who had helped me. He saw it and said...¡±
¡°What did he say?¡±
¡°He said this is a miracle in the world of mathematics. Xia Lei used the simplest method to solve the mathematical problem that no one was able to solve for nearly two hundred years. He also said that we should announce this matter to the world. This would allow our country¡¯s mathematicsmunity to hold its head high and obtain the highest degree of honour.¡±
¡°He is too short-sighted. Make him shut up.¡±
¡°I have already warned him. He won¡¯t tell anyone else without our permission,¡± Song Baicheng said.
¡°No wonder he was able to achieve those aplishments. His IQ is 298. But why do I feel like the answer isn¡¯t this simple? Where is the problem?¡± Ling Han moved his gaze outside the window when he thought that aloud. He sighed.
At the same time, the soldier armed with rifles that are stationed outside the gate suddenly shouted at Xia Lei, who was slowly pushing his motorcycle forward. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei withdrew his gaze and put a smile on his face. ¡°Brothers, I¡¯m sorry. My motorcycle suddenly died. It¡¯s probably because of the ignition plug.¡±
¡°Stop looking around and leave!¡± said the soldier coldly.
¡°Okay, okay, I will leave right away.¡± Xia Lei sped up his footsteps.
He had been scolded by the soldiers, but he had gained a lot of information this time around.
He had found the headquarters of Bureau ZN
And he found out Mr Z¡¯s identity.
Chapter 635 - The Lei Lei Plan
Xia Lei decided not to stay in the capital after leaving the ZN Bureau. Instead, he returned to Thunder Horse Military Factory. He¡¯d left but he was still unable to get rid of Ling Han¡¯s appearance from his mind.
Ring, ring, ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone suddenly rang on his way to his vi.
Xia Lei thought Fan Fan was calling, but discovered otherwise when he checked his phone.
It was Ling Han.
Ring, ring, ring...
The phone continued to ring.
Xia Lei was still mulling over why Ling Han would call him at such a time.
After the phone rang for about 30 seconds, Xia Lei picked up. ¡°Hello, Brother Ling. May I ask why you¡¯re calling?¡±
¡°Heh.¡± Ling Han gave augh. ¡°Why do you still feel the need to be so formal with me? Do I need to book an appointment with you before I call? I wanted to call you so I did. I¡¯m not afraid of taking up your time.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t say. But I¡¯ve been quite busytely,¡± said Xia Lei.
After the two spent a moment exchanging pleasantries, Ling Han asked, ¡°Xia Lei, have the Thunder Horse Military Factory upgrades been going smoothly?¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. You know I¡¯m an old hand at this. I¡¯m preparing to upgrade all of Rheinmetall AG¡¯s technology. You¡¯ll soon see the upgraded version of Rheinmetall AG, and it¡¯s called Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
¡°I look forward to it. I am eager to go to your factory to take a look.¡±
¡°Come over, then. I¡¯ll cook tonight, and us brothers can have a drink.¡±
¡°Heh... Let¡¯s talk about thatter, maybe in two days or so. I¡¯ve got something to do, so I called you to ask about something. But I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯d be willing to tell me.¡±
Ling Han was hiding words within his words.
Xia Leiughed twice too. ¡°Look, Brother Ling. Do you still consider me an outsider? What can¡¯t the two of us talk about? What is it? Just tell me. If I know, then I¡¯ll answer.¡±
Ling Han went silent for a moment before saying, ¡°So I heard that you¡¯ve run into trouble. Who¡¯s been making these problems for you? If you tell me, maybe I can settle it for you.¡±
Xia Lei would¡¯ve normally thought that what Ling Han had said was touching, if he hadn¡¯t tracked Song Baicheng down before hearing it. He had seen Ling Han and Song Baicheng together, and knew that Ling Han was Mr Z. Xia Lei felt disgust rather than relief when he heard Ling Han¡¯s offer.
Xia Lei still pretended to be grateful. ¡°Thank you, Brother Ling. I am very grateful that you¡¯re always looking out for me.¡±
¡°Look at you, being formal with me again. There¡¯s no need to be so polite with me. Now tell me, who¡¯s causing you problems?¡±
Xia Lei fell silent before speaking. ¡°It¡¯s a person called Song Baicheng. I¡¯m not sure of his background, but I¡¯m guessing he¡¯s quite high up in the ranks.¡±
¡°But Song Baicheng is a stranger to you. How do you know he is more than he seems?¡±
¡°Even Fan Yiming, Elder Fan, from the Academy of Science, must listen to him. Do you really think he is a normal person?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you know about him?¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brow. ¡°Earlier, I had Tang Yuyan investigate for me, but she couldn¡¯t find anything. Song Baicheng¡¯s files were all encrypted. Heh, I owe Tang Yuyan a favour for that. Not only is my work iplete, but I have a favour to return too. I¡¯ve been pretty down for thest couple days.¡±
¡°He must be powerful if even Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t dig up anything. Don¡¯t worry about it. Leave it to me. I¡¯ll look into it for you.¡±
¡°Thank you, Brother Ling. If you can check, then I won¡¯t refuse. If not, then it¡¯s fine. The need for it has already passed, and the information isn¡¯t as important to me anymore,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hmm. Still, let me try. How about it? Let¡¯s talkter.¡± Ling Han hung up.
Xia Lei stood still, and stared nkly at his phone.
It was obvious why Ling Han had called. He was testing to see how much Xia Lei knew about Song Baicheng and the ZN Bureau.
¡®If I told him that I know who Song Baicheng is, where the ZN Bureau is, and even that he¡¯s Mr. Z, what would he do?¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He couldn¡¯t help but feel a deep doubt. Even with his superior intellect, he couldn¡¯t be sure of the result.
But it wasn¡¯t like he was stupid enough to tell the truth to Ling Han and the ZN Bureau.
¡®Ling Han? Mr Z? Maybe they¡¯re not even his real names. Who is he?¡¯ His mind was spinning out of control, and his thoughts were all about Ling Han.
In the distance, Fan Fan emerged from the vi, calling from afar. ¡°Mr Xia!¡±
Xia Lei snapped out of his trance and a smile appeared, just by the corners of his lips. He walked towards Fan Fan.
Xia Lei¡¯s rtionship with Fan Fan was kept a secret, hidden underground. The reason was simple. He and Fan Fan could not make their rtionship public just because Song Baicheng had left. If they did that, the first thing Ling Han and Song Baicheng would probably do was to throw out Fan Fan¡¯s research report, then find a new bioengineering schr to study his body.
The two Special Forces guards outside the vi kept a close eye on Fan Fan and Xia Lei. It wasn¡¯t guaranteed that they hadn¡¯t received secret orders to report on everything that went on in theplex, including the two of them.
Xia Lei was very cautious with how he should handle the situation before him, and asked, ¡°Why are you looking for me, Miss Fan?¡±
¡°Well, I just had a great idea for our research. Let¡¯s go to yourboratory to discuss it.¡± There was nothing out of ce with Fan Fan¡¯s reply. She was very calm.
The two Special Forces guards looked expressionlessly on as Xia Lei and Fan Fan walked into the vi.
¡°What could go wrong with someone like Mr Xia? Is the Colonel serious? Did he want us to keep an eye on Mr Xia because he¡¯s scared Mr Xia might steal his things?¡± said a soldier.
¡°Stopining. An order is an order. We just need to do what we¡¯re told.¡±
¡°Hey, let me tell you something. Yesterday, a girl from the Thunder Horse Military Factory asked me for my WeChat number. She looked pretty nice...¡±
¡°Do you have a picture? Let me see.¡±
No one could escape from the seven emotional states and the six desires. No one could be a robot, and the Special Forces weren¡¯t an exception.
Inside the undergroundboratory, Xia Lei closed the alloy door that shielded them from radiation. The entire undergroundboratory was silent. No person, thing, or outside voice could disturb them.
After he closed the door, Fan Fan suddenly pressed herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. She trembled constantly from her excitement. She was like a moth throwing herself at fire because of her condition, but there was no turning back for her.
Xia Lei took her up in his arms and walked towards the workstation.
¡°I, I just want to hug you. W, what do you want to do?¡± It was obvious from Fan Fan¡¯s constant trembling that she was very nervous. Her excitement caused a faint, red blush to rapidly spread all over her skin.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I just want to hug you too. What else do you think I want to do?¡±
Fan Fan bit her lip. ¡°I, I changed my mind.¡±
¡°Then I also change my mind.¡± Xia Lei ced Fan Fan on the stainless steel surface, and gently spread her legs. He stared deep into her eyes. HIs eyes were filled with a warm, gentle sweetness, with a hint of gratitude.
Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have been able to ovee his crisis without Fan Fan¡¯s help. At the time, he had nned to use her. To conquer her. But now, he was grateful. He was never the type to burn bridges in the first ce, so he was willing to give Fan Fan what she wanted.
Half an hourter, the undergroundboratory fell silent again. But the smell of love pervaded the air, clinging desperately to the room.
Fan Fan jumped off the workstation, and handed her phone to Xia Lei.
¡°Why are you giving me your phone?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Fan Fan turned on her phone.
Xia Lei¡¯s attention shifted to the screen, which disyed a picture of the research report. It clearly wasn¡¯t the one Song Baicheng took, but rather, the unfixed original.
Fan Fan¡¯s tender fingers swiped to the next picture, and Xia Lei saw the picture of the research report.
The results for each index he was tested in exceeded the average person, and some were practically in defiance of the natural order.
Fan Fan¡¯s fingers stopped on a picture.
It was Xia Lei¡¯s IQ test data. It wasn¡¯t 298, but rather 998.
His IQ was almost 3.5 times what Song Baicheng and Ling Han were told!
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t guess what Fan Fan wanted from this.
¡°What... What ARE you?¡± asked Fan Fan.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°I¡¯m a person. A man. What else could I be?¡±
¡°No, you¡¯re...¡± She paused briefly, before spitting it out. ¡°God.¡±
¡°What are you kidding me?¡± Xia Leiughed.
¡°All this research on your gics, all the information we¡¯ve recorded proves that you¡¯re evolving perfectly, in every way possible. I¡¯ve never seen such a perfect body. And your brain is more powerful than modernputers. So tell me ©` If you¡¯re not a god, then what ARE you?¡±
Xia Lei was silent. He had failed to hide his secret from this bright schr before him. Though he had tried his best to weaken his bodily reactions while cooperating with her research, the results didn¡¯t change.
¡°Even your sp... sperm contains the power to defy natural order. They hold your gic blueprint. But because they¡¯re all so powerful, the moment they leave your body, they begin to fight one another. There¡¯s next to no chance for impregnation. It¡¯s just... something I cannot describe.¡±
¡°Fan Fan, can you keep this a secret for me?¡± Xia Lei had to face reality.
¡°Yes, but I have a condition.¡± Fan Fan blinked her big eyes as a mischievous smile formed on her lips.
¡°What¡¯s this condition?¡±
¡°Give me a child. I want to have your child. I can¡¯t even fathom how intelligent... how powerful your child would be. But I do know that it would be a genius beyondpare.¡±
¡°Fine.¡± Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°But you¡¯re already aware that I don¡¯t know if I can even make you... pregnant.¡±
¡°Have you forgotten who I am? I¡¯m a bioengineering schr, and I will find a way to make it happen. I¡¯ve decided to begin my new research project ©` Lei Lei¡¯s n!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Fan Fan stared hotly at Xia Lei and her soft tongue slid out from a corner of her mouth. She pursed her lips lightly and said, ¡°Are you done resting? I¡¯m going to collect samples.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 636 - Bioelectrical Wave Speculation
Song Baicheng left, and the trouble also disappeared. Everything had been moved aside for the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s full upgrade. In the time after, Xia Lei focused all of his energy in his work.
Tanks, artillery, the defense system, and the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation, these programs all cost a lot of money. All of the funds umted by the Thunder Horse Group had been invested but the gap was stillrge. Guan Lingshan had calcted that the gap in funds reached 20 billion with the equipment imported from Russia and Ukraine, as well as the recruitment of rted technical staff. This money was almost enough to buy two Thunder Horse Groups.
¡°The bank agreed to give us a 3 billion dor loan,¡± said Guan Lingshan to Xia Lei in his office.
¡°3 billion?¡± Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°How can that be enough?¡±
¡°Of course it is not enough. I have talked with some of the bank¡¯s managers. I also told them about ourpany¡¯s potential and future ie, but they said that a 20 billion dor loan is way too much, they couldn¡¯t approve it,¡± said Guan Lingshan.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyebrows knotted. Investing tens of billions of dors was indeed a big investment with big risks. But that was for others, to the Thunder Horse Group, the risks for this investment was almost zero. It was not that the managers of the bank did not know this, so why wouldn¡¯t they approve the loan?
¡°Director Xia, how about we look for a bank overseas?¡± Guan Lingshan continued, ¡°If not, we can also look into venture capital.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a while. ¡°This is probably not a problem that could be fixed by looking for a bank overseas or sorting out sweets by color. I will make a visit myself. If it does not work out then, we will look for another solution.¡±
¡°All right, but Director Xia, we do not have a lot of time. The Ukrainian and Russianpanies are urging us to make the final payment. They said that if we do not pay it to them on time, they will detain the equipment at the port and their staff in China will stop work.¡±
Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°These guys are sure realistic. Okay, I got it. Tell them the Thunder Horse Group will not owe them a single penny. The project can not stop. What needs to be done will be done.¡±
¡°Director Xia.¡± Guan Lingshan hesitated before finally saying, ¡°Director Xia, how about we ask Sister-inw?¡±
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks.
¡°Ah, um... Pretend that I didn¡¯t say anything. Sorry, Director Xia,¡± said Guan Lingshan timidly.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Why are you apologising? You did nothing wrong. I know that you are just trying to help me solve the problem but as you know, she and I had already divorced. No matter how great our rtionship may be, I cannot ask her for 20 billion, can I? Besides, they might not be able to throw out 20 billion, even if it is the Vientiane Group.¡±
But even if they did have it, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t ask.
Guan Lingshan said awkwardly, ¡°I understand, I... I won¡¯t call her Sister-inw anymore.¡±
¡°Go on, go about your work,¡± said Xia Lei.
She was not her Sister-inw anymore after the divorce, naturally. There are things in life which could not be helped, and people who would nevere back. He had already given up, so he would not look back.
Xia Lei received a call the moment Guan Lingshan left.
The caller was Tang Yuyan¡¯s father, Tang Tianlong.
¡°Xia Lei, I am Tang Tianlong, your Uncle Tang, hehe.¡± Tang Tianlongughed the moment he opened his mouth, sounding close and dear. ¡°Are you surprised to suddenly receive a call from me?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°So it is Uncle Tang. I am very happy to receive your call, and I¡¯m not so surprised.¡±
The loans on his side had just had a problem and he called. Could this be a coincidence?
¡°What are you busy with?¡±
¡°There were some problems with the loans. I am working on it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Is it difficult to get it done?¡±
¡°The amount of money that I need to borrow is a bit much. It will be hard, but I think that I will be able to take care of it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Tianlong said, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid to ask me if you need help. You do not need to courteous with your Uncle Tang.¡±
¡°I will. Then I will thank you in advance. But I do not need it for now, I will ask you when I do, Uncle Tang.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the spirit.¡±
¡°Uncle Tang, that¡¯s not what you are calling me for right?¡± Xia Lei spoke tentatively, ¡°You do not have to be courteous with me.¡±
Tang Tianlong said, ¡°It¡¯s like this, I want to invite you toe to Grandfather¡¯s 70th birthday.¡±
¡°This is a great event. When is it?¡±
¡°Tomorrow, at the Sheraton Hotel.¡±
¡°Got it. I will definitelye tomorrow,¡± assured Xia Lei.
¡°Come early. Let¡¯s drink and have a good talk tomorrow. Okay, that¡¯s all, you work on your stuff. I need to keep calling to invite people.¡± Tang Tianlong hung up.
Xia Lei sat at his desk, staring out into space. Why was Grandfather Tang Yunhai¡¯s 70th birthday at this time? Under normal circumstances, weren¡¯t they supposed to start doing invitations days in advance? Why did they just start inviting today, when the party was tomorrow?
Fan Yiming appeared at the office door. In his arms was a box.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. He saw what was in the box ¡ª thepass from the Ming Dynasty. Although he knew what was inside the box, he still pretended to not know. ¡°Elder Fan, what is inside the box?¡±
¡°Thepass.¡± Fan Yiming was straightforward. He carefully ced the box on Xia Lei¡¯s desk.
Xia Lei opened the box to reveal thepass inside. Fan Yiming had not inserted thest needle, but ced it on the side.
¡°Elder Fan, what do you mean by this?¡±
¡°I have been here for a month studying this every day, but my efforts have been fruitless. I have given it a lot of thought over the past few days and I have finally thought it through. I have decided to give it to you.¡± Fan Yiming said, ¡°You can study it to find thest treasure location. You are more likely to seed than I am when ites to this.¡±
¡°Elder Fan, is this your idea or...¡± Xia Lei did not finish.
¡°Mr Xia, were you going to say Song Baicheng? Did you think this was Song Baicheng¡¯s idea?¡±
Xia Lei did not say yes, nor did he say no.
Fan Yiming felt somewhat angry. ¡°Mr Xia, I know that what had happened before made you very ufortable. But that was not my fault. What happened before had nothing to do with me. I am someone who does scientific research. I hate politics even more than you. But sometimes, we just cannot avoid it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Elder Fan, don¡¯t get mad. That was not what I meant.¡±
¡°No one gave me any order. This was my own idea. If you do not want it, then I will take it back.¡± Fan Yiming was still a little angry.
Xia Lei hurriedly said, ¡°Then I will ept this. Elder Fan, please do not be angry anymore. You, me, and Fan Fan are members of the Alloy X Project. Everything we do is for the purpose of solving the problem of this project.¡±
Fan Yiming¡¯s anger finally subsided. ¡°Then do you have a n?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a moment, then said, ¡°No, but after everything is finished with the Thunder Horse Military Factory, I will have time to think about it. It will not take long; two months at most.¡±
¡°Great, then I will return to the Academy of Science. Notify me once you are done here and I wille back. Fan Fan will also go back with me. There is nothing for her to do here anymore,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°I will not go back.¡± Fan Fan came through the door right after Fan Yiming finished his sentence.
She wore a white, round-cored t-shirt with light blue denim shorts which just barely covered her buttocks. It gave off an indescribably youthful and cute vibe, but was also enchantingly sexy at the same time.
¡°You will not go back? What are you staying here for?¡± Fan Yiming stared at Fan Fan with a slightly confused look.
Fan Fan said, ¡°Mr Xia is the only one who cane in contact with the ancient alloy pieces. I have been studying his brain waves. I suspect that there is a sort of correspondence between his brain waves and the ancient alloy, so I need to gather more data on Mr Xia¡¯s brain waves. I think that I just might be able to solve this mystery.¡±
Fan Yiming stared nkly for a second before he finally said, ¡°There actually could be this possibility. Howe I have never thought of it before?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze also went to Fan Fan. The hypothesis she described had also roused his interest.
It was true that he was the only one in this world who coulde in contact with the ancient alloy pieces, and there must be a reason for that. It was definitely not because he fixed the Ming dynastypass. As for the treasure choosing an owner, that was all drama that could only ur in martial arts or fantasy novels ¡ª the possibility of that happening was literally zero. So after eliminating the former and thetter, the hypothesis that Fan Fan described seemed quite likely to be true.
¡°Fan Fan, if your hypothesis is right, what would happen?¡±
¡°We can artificially produce bio-wave maic fields for each specific frequency, meaning we can all touch the ancient alloy inside this bio-wave maic field. We can even use the bioelectric wave to study ancient alloy pieces and crack its secret,¡± exined Fan Fan.
Before Fan Fan had exined her idea, Xia Lei had thought that she was just looking for an excuse to stay by his side to continue her ¡°Little Leilei¡± n. He had not thought that she would be serious.
Actually, what Fan Fan said was all still a hypothesis but he believed that this kind of hypothesis had a high chance of being real. This was because Princess Yongmei was made of pure energy, so she was using brain waves when shemunicated with him! He was the only one in this world who could see Princess Yongmei, and only he could ¡°hear¡± her voice!
¡°Haha! As expected of my Fan Fan!¡± Fan Yiming became very excited. ¡°I¡¯ve always researched the ancient alloy from a scientific view and never thought of researching from the bioelectric wave angle. That was a very good hypothesis. I agree, you should stay. However, you should send me an e-mail everyday. I want to understand your research process.¡±
¡°Yes, Grandfather.¡± Fan Fan smiled.
¡°You guys talk. I need to go back now. Tomorrow is that old guy, Tang Tianlong¡¯s 70th birthday. I need to prepare a present for him,¡± said Fan Yiming.
¡°Will Elder Fan also be going tomorrow?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t want to but that old Tang Tianlong called me himself so I could not decline. Well then, I¡¯m off.¡± Fan Yiming turned and left. When he got to the door, he turned his head and said to Fan Fan, ¡°Remember to send an e-mail to me every day.¡±
Fan Fan pouted. ¡°I know, I am not a child. You don¡¯t have to remind me.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Fan Yimingughed while leaving.
Xia Lei waited till Fan Yiming disappeared from his vision before he finally asked, ¡°Fan Fan, how did you think of such a hypothesis?¡±
¡°It was idental. You know, I¡¯ve been researching your thing during this period of time...¡±
¡°What thing?¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s face was bright red. ¡°Your sperm. I found that they carry something very special inside them. Every time I tried to extract them they would disappear. I am still unable to capture them with modern scientific methods. So this made me think if it could be that the brain waves released from your brain resonated with the ancient alloy, and that¡¯s why you coulde in contact with the ancient alloy without danger.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit. ¡°How do you n to study it?¡±
Fan Fan nced at the rest lounge. Her face was red as she said, ¡°Go to the lounge, I am going to take samples from you.¡±
¡°Taking samples from the brain?¡±
¡°Dummy, I want to catch little tadpoles.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 637 - Tang Sect’s Hint
Fan Fan¡¯s hypothesis shone a sliver of hope onto the Alloy X Project. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t against Fan Fan researching how his brain functioned, because he wanted to unravel the secret of AE and the alloy more than anyone.
The person who was studying him was also his woman, Fan Fan. She would change the numbers if there were any problems in this process, and change the results to avoid bringing him any trouble.
However, it was only a hypothesis to begin with. It was impossible to get results within a day or two even if research was done.
On the next day, Xia Lei left all his work behind and drove to the capital. He visited an antiques shop first, and bought authentic Buddhist prayer beads for 50,000 for Tang Yunhai. He then departed for the Sheraton Hotel.
Those who practiced martial arts liked things such as prayer beads, so 50,000 yuan for prayer beads was a gift he found reasonable.
He received a call from Tang Yuyan on the way there and chatted with her for a bit. She was already waiting for him in the lobby when he arrived at the Sheraton Hotel.
She wore a navy blue cheongsam dress which outlined her nearly perfect S-shaped curves. The ck, embroidered cloth high heels and ckce lent her beautiful legs an exquisite sexiness. Tang Yuyan¡¯s sex appeal oozed with a dignified, ssic aesthetic which stood out from the crowd. However, under her ssic beauty, ss and sexiness hid the heart of a vixen.
Tang Yuyan walked up to him wee, bringing the enchanting smell of her perfume with her. She wore a sweet smile on her beautiful face. ¡°Why did you need to buy a gift for the birthday celebration? You could have juste empty-handed.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°If I came empty-handed for Grandfather Tang¡¯s 70th birthday, then I¡¯d be anything but sensible.¡±
Tang Yuyan took the embroidered box containing the Buddhist prayer beads, and opened it. Her smile grew even sweeter. ¡°My, my. How beautiful. Grandfather will certainly have the wildest of thoughts when he discovers that you bought him prayer beads worth 50,000.¡±
¡°Wild thoughts?¡± Xia Lei was confused. ¡°Why?¡±
Tang Yuyan held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°He¡¯d definitely think that you¡¯re trying to steal his precious granddaughter.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
People needed to steal THIS thing? He was fine as long she didn¡¯te to steal him.
He and Shentu Tianyin were divorced. Given their social standing, and benefits to his career, it would be best if he and Tang Yuyan were married. Tang Yuyan seemed to think so, as well as the Tang Family. But his heart had already been walled off, and hidden deep inside. A woman would need to break through the manyyers around his heart to be married to him, and that would be a fairly difficult thing to do.
And these walls were not something Xia Lei could sense himself.
Tang Yuyan bought Xia Lei to the hotel¡¯s teahouse before the banquet began. The entire facility was reserved, and customers in the teahouse were the people who hade to celebrate Tang Yunhai¡¯s birthday. They were prominent in government and business; none of them were ordinary people.
Xia Lei exchanged greetings with familiar faces from the Equipment Department, and exchanged a few pleasantries. Tang Tianlong was naturally amongst them and he couldn¡¯t help but smile when he saw his daughter holding intimately onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm like they were a couple.
It was a normal reaction to have. No matter his career or his qualities, Xia Lei could conquer nearly any girl¡¯s parents in the world with his current profile.
¡°Yuyan, bring Lei to see the old man. He shouted about seeing Leist night. It¡¯s getting annoying,¡± said Tang Tianlong with a smile.
He had obviously wanted Xia Lei to know how much the Tang Sect¡¯s patriarch liked him.
Xia Lei simply smiled and followed Tang Yuyan to a private room.
Just then, the buzz of pleasantries being exchanged came from the doorway. Xia Lei looked back to see Ling Han, who had just entered the teahouse, and some people from the military. Those people from the military were familiar too. They had given him some measure of help back when he had had a fight with Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun.
Xia Lei then saw Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡°What are these two doing here?¡±
What he was actually more concerned about was that Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun hade together with Ling Han to Tang Yunhai¡¯s celebration. Ling Han had stood by his side and given him great help back when he had fought with Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, but the three were together now. What kind of situation was this?
Ling Han looked over as well, and shed a smile at Xia Lei when their eyes met.
Xia Lei smiled too, and greeted him from afar. ¡°Brother Ling, I¡¯m going to see Old Master Tang now. I¡¯ll chat with you when Ie back.¡±
Ling Han smiled. ¡°Of course, of course.¡±
The smile had disappeared from Xia Lei¡¯s face when he turned around.
Tang Yuyan nudged Xia Lei in the waist with her elbow. ¡°I heard that something went wrong with your loan. Is that true?¡± she whispered.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°How did you know?¡±
¡°When I passed by my father¡¯s studyst night, he was taking a call and I overheard a little,¡± exined Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei furrowed his brow, not because she found out, but because of the time she did. Tang Yuyan had actually learned that there was a problem with Thunder Horse Group¡¯s loans before he did.
¡°What did your father say?¡±
Tang Yuyan was a little nervous. ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand. This has nothing to do with my father. He¡¯s part of the Equipment Department, but his position isn¡¯t as high as you think it is.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What did I misunderstand? I was just asking, but it¡¯s fine if you¡¯d rather not say.¡±
Tang Yuyan suddenly reached out and pinched the flesh on Xia Lei¡¯s waist. She also yfully rolled her eyes. ¡°Why would I mention it if I didn¡¯t want to tell you? I only heard him speaking, so I don¡¯t know who called. But based on the content of their conversation, I suppose someone is deliberately trying to give you a tough time by getting the loan refused.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. My father was pleading on your behalf, but it was no use,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was in a terrible mood.
Tang Yunhai¡¯s voice came from the private room. ¡°What are the two of you muttering about out there? Come inside.¡±
Tang Yuyan then led Xia Lei into the private room.
Inside, Tang Yunhai sat drinking tea at the table by the window. Tang Yuyan¡¯s mother, Zhang Yumei, was making Gongfu tea for Tang Yunhai. She smiled when she saw Xia Leie in and said, ¡°Lei, have a seat. Come sample my tea-brewing skills.¡±
Xia Lei politely replied, ¡°Thank you, Auntie.¡±
¡°Kid, you haven¡¯te to see me in quite some time. Are the doorsteps to my household that high?¡± Tang Yunhai red at Xia Lei. He had an angry look on his face but his eyes betrayed a fondness for him.
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°I wanted to see you a long time ago but I have been very busy with work, Old Master Tang. Ah, right. I brought these Buddhist prayer beads for you, but I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯d like them.¡±
Tang Yuyan delivered the embroidered box containing the beads to her grandfather, as she said, ¡°Grandfather, I took a peek and these prayer beads are simply beautiful. The tiger stripe patterns on the beads match, and their sheen is good. You can tell that this is a high-quality antique at first nce.¡±
¡°What would you know? Step aside.¡± Tang Yunhai red at Tang Yuyan. ¡°A woman is born to leave her family. You¡¯re helping to speak up for this youngster now?¡±
¡°Grandfather!¡± Tang Yuyan acted petnt.
Tang Yunhai picked up the prayer beads, and put them on his wrist after counting them. In that instant, he suddenly stood up andunched a punch at Xia Lei¡¯s chest.
Xia Lei¡¯s reaction was almost instantaneous, and there was no hesitation at all. The moment Tang Yunhai made his punch, Xia Lei moved too, and stepped into the inside of Tang Yunhai¡¯s arm, then knocked the outer side of his wrist against Tang Yunhai¡¯s wrist. It was the Wing Chun Broken Bridge, a simple move. Used well, however, and even the head of the Tang Sect would not be able to think of defeating him.
Bang, bang, bang...
The two exchanged punches and kicks. The dull thuds echoed throughout the tea room.
Both fighters were swift, but had only a few steps¡¯ worth of space to move. Their battle was a sight to behold.
After only a minute of fighting, Tang Yunhai retreated and ended the fight. Heughed. ¡°You¡¯re good! Stronger than before. Wing Chun is powerful, as expected.¡±
¡°I¡¯d lose to you if we¡¯d kept fighting, Old Master Tang,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yunhai red at Xia Lei. ¡°Stop trying to butter me up, Kid. How can the fist of the old vie with the fist of the young? I¡¯m old. I can¡¯t win against you. I¡¯d believe you if you said so when I was 30 years younger, but I¡¯m already 70. I get flustered and gasp for breath just by moving. How am I a worthy opponent for you? If we kept going, I¡¯d be hooked up to an oxygen mask at the hospital afterwards.¡±
Zhang Yumei had a worried look on her face. ¡°Whenever the two of meet, you fight. If you lived together in the future, wouldn¡¯t you tear the house apart? Honestly...¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Tang Yunhai justughed.
Tang Yuyan nced at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eye.
Zhang Yumei¡¯s words were obviously hinting at something. There was no way Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have picked it up by now. The three people from the Tang Sect were all nning the same thing. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder ¡ª Was he at a banquet or a blind date?
The Tang Sect was renowned for hundreds of years, with an extensive history and apanying prestige. A hint like this was the most they would do, no matter how much the Tang Family liked Xia Lei. They wouldn¡¯t forcibly shove Tang Yuyan onto Xia Lei¡¯s bed.
Just then, Tang Tianlong walked in and said, ¡°Lei, someone wants to see you. Follow me.¡±
Xia Lei casually asked, ¡°Who wants to see me?¡±
Tang Tianlong¡¯s expression was a little odd. ¡°My boss, Yu Shanhe.¡±
It was the first time Xia Lei heard the name, but he could easily guess Yu Shanhe¡¯s identity. Tang Tianlong called him ¡®boss¡¯, and this was a very obvious introduction. He figured that this Yu Shanhe was most likely the one whom Tang Yuyan had heard Tang Tianlong talking on the phone with.
Tang Tianlong sighed softly for some reason.
¡®Could Old Master Tang have known about this already? Is this why he¡¯s sighing? Funny how I¡¯m thest one to find out,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Do you want me to go with you?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei put away his thoughts and smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need. I¡¯ll go with you, Uncle Tang.¡±
Shortly after Tang Tianlong left with Xia Lei, Tang Yuyan decided to ask, ¡°Grandfather, why don¡¯t you speak on Lei¡¯s behalf? If you made an appearance, those people would at least have to act respectfully.¡°
¡°You really want to marry that youngster?¡± asked Tang Yunhai.
¡°Grandfather! I¡¯m talking to you about a serious matter!¡± Tang Yuyan was embarrassed and angry.
¡°I know it¡¯s a serious matter.¡± Tang Yunhai sighed. ¡°But I¡¯ve already retired. Who would take a retired old man seriously? What Xia Lei has is too tempting to begin with. Everyone wants a bite. He built it all up from nothing, all by himself and with much hardship. He¡¯s just one man, after all. If he¡¯s smart, he¡¯d be part of the Tang Sect so it wouldn¡¯t be just him against everyone else.¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at her grandfather. ¡°You¡¯re wasting your breath. He needs time after his divorce with Shentu Tianyin.¡±
¡°I know what you want to say, but you need to know that the Tang Sect is the Tang Sect. We can¡¯t break the rules that we¡¯ve had for hundreds of years. We have our own reputation to protect. For all these hundreds of years, when had a woman of the Tang Sect had to take the initiative with a man?¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s head drooped.
Chapter 638 - So It Was A Feast at Hongmen
Tang Tianlong brought Xia Lei to the tea house¡¯s innermost private room. Xia Lei saw Ling Han, Ye Kun, Mu Jian-Feng, a few military personnel, and a stranger. This person looked to be in his 50s and had clear white skin. He had taken care of his skin well. He gave off an air of haughty arrogance, which made people think that he was not an ordinary person.
That must be what they call the aura of a leader.
Although no one had introduced him yet, Xia Lei could already guess this person¡¯s identity. He must be Yu Shanhe.
¡°Xia Lei,e, let me make introductions.¡± Ling Han stood up.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I know all the leaders here except for him.¡± He looked at Yu Shanhe and asked courteously, ¡°This is...?¡±
Yu Shanhe stood up without waiting for Ling Han to introduce them. ¡°My surname is Yu, and my name is Shanhe,¡± he said with a smile. He stretched out a hand. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Xia.¡±
Xia Lei stretched out both hands to grab Yu Shanhe¡¯s hand. ¡°Nice to meet you too, Mr Yu.¡±
Normally, Xia Lei was supposed to call him ¡°Senior Official Yu¡± or something, but there was no need for the courtesy since he knew that he had ulterior motives.
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯d like to bestow four words unto you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Dragon of the people!¡± eximed Yu Shanhe.
¡°Mr Yu sure knows how to joke.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he said, ¡°I shall also bestow four words unto you, Mr Yu.¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s brows raised slightly. ¡°Eh, what is it?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Concealed deep, and hidden.¡±
All eyes in the room were on Xia Lei once he said those words. He obviously seemed to know Yu Shanhe¡¯s identity. It was a great disrespect for him to talk to Yu Shanhe in this manner. Based on status, it was an honor for Xia Lei to get the four words from Yu Shanhe. But in terms of status, Xia Lei did not have the qualifications to return four words back to him. Doing so was overestimating himself. More importantly, the words Xia Lei gave him were ¡°Concealed deep, and hidden.¡±
Whether these words were praising or mocking, the result would be different depending on which angle you looked at it from.
¡°Mr Xia, what do you mean by these words?¡± Yu Shanhe felt somewhat unhappy.
Xia Lei gave him a smile. ¡°Mr Yu, I do not mean harm. What I mean by ¡®concealed deep, and hidden¡¯ is that Mr Yu is a very powerful person.¡±
Xia Lei was no fool. He was someone with an IQ of 998. Yu Shanhe appeared
right at the time when the Thunder Horse Military Factory could not get loans. It was not just Yu Shanhe ¡ª Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun had alsoe. Was this a coincidence? He had known right away that this Yu Shanhe came for Thunder Horse Military Factory. This was not the first time something like this had happened. Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun had done the same before. Back then, he only had the XL2500 sniper rifle. And now, he had more than one card in his hand. He now had the Gust assault rifle, Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second-generation, and even tanks, artillery, and the defense system from the Rheinmetall AG. The upgrading of Thunder Horse Military Factory now was like moving the entirety of Rheinmetall AG over to China. This cake of Xia Lei¡¯s was too tempting and anyone would want a slice of it.
If Thunder Horse Military Factorypleted this upgrade, its scope of production capabilities would increase and epass all of its future products of manufacture. Its presence was a threat to Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group. Would these tworge military groups and the stakeholders standing behind them just stand and watch such things happen? Would they not take action?
Now, these people hade.
However, Xia Lei did not understand why Ling Han would meddle in this since he represented the ZN Bureau.
The atmosphere became awkward and weird.
¡°Hehe.¡± Ling Hanughed. ¡°Sit, sit, let us all sit. Do you all want to stand and talk until Grandfather Tang¡¯s opening banquet?¡±
Yu Shanhe seemed to respect Ling Han quite a bit and he stopped arguing about the four words Xia Lei said to him.
Xia Lei also sat.
Ling Han brought Xia Lei a cup of tea. This cup of tea had been prepared in advance, specifically for Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you, Brother Ling.¡± Xia Lei was very courteous.
Ling Han patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°What are you doing being so courteous with me?¡¯
Xia Lei only smiled but did not say anything. He had begun to feel a bit of ill-will and wariness of him since he found out that Ling Han was Mr Z.
Xia Lei sat down. Before he even had two sips of tea, Yu Shanhe nced a Mu Jianfeng, and Mu Jianfeng nced at Ye Kun.
¡°Ahem.¡± Ye Kun cleared his throat and looked at Xia Lei, ¡°Mr Xia, recently the Thunder Horse Military Factory has been making a lot of moves. You butted heads with us in the light weapons market in the past, and you¡¯re now reaching into the heavy weapons and heavy equipment industries. Your appetite sure is big.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Just say what you want to say. There is no need to beat around the bush.¡±
¡°Then I will be frank with you.¡± When Ye Kun said that, he looked at Yu Shanhe from the corner of his eye. ¡°We, Hanwu Weapons, have been providing parts to Thunder Horse Military Factory for the Gust assault rifle. But recently, we have not received our payment from Thunder Horse Military Factory. How do you think we should solve this matter?¡±
Mu Jianfeng also butted in. ¡°Mr Xia, there is also our China Industrial Group¡¯s ounts receivable.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°So you came to ask for money. Do you all think that Thunder Horse Military Factory has reached a point where it can¡¯t even pay its suppliers?¡±
Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle sold well globally, and there were many countries which wanted to buy but could not. How would it get to a point where it could not even pay its suppliers?
This was just Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s excuse to get to the main topic.
Xia Lei could tell. This Yu Shanhe was the one who had organised all this, or he was the maniptor behind the scenes. But he would not negotiate with him himself. The ones who would negotiate with him were the representatives of Hanwu Weapons and the China Industrial Group, Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng. They were the speakers of this group of profiteers, and maybe sometimes the scapegoat.
¡°Mr Xia, now that is wrong of you to say that.¡± Mu Jianfeng carried on. ¡°Everyone is working to build up the country¡¯s national defense. We could say that the China Industrial, Hanwu Weapons, and Thunder Horse Military Factory are brother entities. Now that Thunder Horse Military Factory has encountered a problem with capital, how can we still ask you for money at a time like this?¡±
¡°Did Mr Ye not just ask me how I¡¯d solve it?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Ye Kun replied, ¡°Mr Xia, I was not asking you for money, I was only mentioning it. Our threepanies are an entity. Now that Thunder Horse Military Factory has run into trouble, I will talk about it since you find it embarrassing to mention it, so we can all discuss it and think of a solution together.¡±
What pretty words.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Right, you are right. My Thunder Horse Military Factory is currently undergoing a major phase in the upgrading but the bank would not give me the loans. Is this the trouble that you were talking about?¡±
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng both looked at Yu Shanhe.
Yu Shanhe coughed. ¡°Mr Xia, since you three are affiliatedpanies, I would like to speak of my personal standpoint and say a couple of words.¡±
¡°Please speak, Mr Yu.¡± Xia Lei was courteous.
Yu Shanhe said, ¡°So far, our country¡¯s military industry is far inferior to the West¡¯s. Although we have a number of exports, they were still mostly light weapons that the West look down on. This situation must change. Mr Xia, what do you say?¡±
¡°How do we change it?¡± asked Xia Lei as he stared at Yu Shanhe.
¡°I am just stating my own viewpoint.¡± Yu Shanhe reiterated this point. ¡°I suggest that you threepanies merge, and have you assume the position of the group¡¯s chairman. What do you think of my proposal, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Threepanies integrated into one?¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s proposal surprised Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s right, threepanies into one. That would not only increase the threepanies¡¯petitiveness on a global scale, but it could also save costs and increase profit.¡± Yu Shanhe nced at Ling Han and said with a smile, ¡°Mr Ling, what do you think of my proposal?¡±
Ling Han nodded. ¡°If the threepaniese together, I believe that Xia Lei is the candidate most suitable to be the chairman. We have all seen his abilities. Moreover, even if the threepanies are integrated, they must defer to Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
This was Ling Han¡¯s stance. He agreed to the merging of the threepanies. From his words, it was obvious that he was protecting Xia Lei¡¯s interests. He did not try to hide the fact from the people in the room that he was on Xia Lei¡¯s side.
¡°I knew you¡¯d agree with my proposal, Mr Ling. This is something great that could revitalize our military industry.¡± Yu Shanhe looked at Xia Lei and said with a smile on his face, ¡°Mr Xia, what do you think?¡±
Xia Lei stayed silent, like he was thinking about the problem.
Ye Kun spoke up before Xia Lei said anything. ¡°How can that do? If we talk in terms of qualifications, Elder Mu should be that one most suitable to take up the position of chairman. I agree that Mr Xia¡¯s ability is strong but I do not think that that is enough to make him the chairman.¡±
¡°Kun.¡± Mu Jianfeng said, ¡°Do not say anymore. This is the new generation. Background and qualifications do not mean anything. What is important is one¡¯s ability. After the threepanies are merged, our goal is to be a military giant in the world. We need to let the whole world see how impressive the Chinese military industry is.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right, as expected of Elder Mu.¡± Ye Kun agreed. ¡°I had personally hoped that Elder Mu would take up the position of chairman. However, since Elder Mu has said so, I also think that the position of the chairman should be held by someone with the ability. Mr Xia is our country¡¯s best machinist and electrical engineer. He also built the Thunder Horse Group from scratch. One can see that his talent in corporate management is very impressive! Therefore, I also raise both hands in favor of him to be the chairman!¡±
¡°Although Xia Lei will take up the position of chairman, I, Mu Jian-Feng, would still like to say that I will do my utmost to assist Xia Lei to fix the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s current financial problems.¡±
¡°Elder Mu is sure noble,¡± said Yu Shanhe in praise.
Everyone in the room smiled.
All except Xia Lei, of course.
Chapter 639 - Respect for You? Nope!
Some of the faces of the people in the room had turned red while some others had dark expressions. They had performed a good show in front of him. Their aim was very obvious ¡ª they wanted his Thunder Horse Military Factory.
They wanted to merge the threepanies and make him the chairman. On the surface, it seemed like he had gained a higher position and that his Thunder Horse Military Factory had grown bigger. The offer even made it seem like he achieved his dream of bing the head of a world-ss militarypany. But in reality, what he received was an empty title and he would lose Thunder Horse Military Factory if he agreed to their offer. Thunder Horse Military Factory would change from a private enterprise to a state-owned enterprise.
These people, to put it bluntly, didn¡¯t want to see a private enterprise stealing the market from state-owned enterprises. In fact, at the rate the Thunder Horse Military Factory was currently growing, it would be able to eat up Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group¡¯s market sooner orter. It was only a matter of time before hispany became one of the top militarypanies in the world. What these people were doing was the same thing that had happened to Steve Jobs. When Steve Jobs founded the Apple Company, he had taken over arge portion of the cell phone market. When that happened, people wanted to acquire Steve Jobs¡¯ Apple Company. Did Steve Jobs agree to that?
Steve Jobs wasn¡¯t a fool and Xia Jobs wasn¡¯t a fool either. Even if they divided his IQ of 998 by 10, he still wouldn¡¯t agree.
¡°Mr Xia, Elder Mu has already abdicated his position so that someone more worthy than him can contribute to, and expand China¡¯s military industry. Why don¡¯t you assume the role of the chairman of the newpany? You will be able to receive more support and gain a greater room for development to achieve your ambitions,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
Everyone in the room was staring at Xia Lei as they waited for him to dere his decision.
A faint smile emerged from the corner of Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s mouths. The two military tycoons appeared to believe that Xia Lei would ept their offer because this time, the person who appeared was Yu Shanhe and Ling Han. From these two people, Yu Shanhe brought Xia Lei immense pressure while Ling Han gave Xia Lei confidence. This was because he was Xia Lei¡¯s friend. The previous time, when Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group had joined hands to suppressed Thunder Horse Military Factory, Ling Han had stood by Xia Lei¡¯s side. He had helped Xia Lei a great deal.
However, Xia Lei gave a reply which stunned everyone.
¡°No,¡± said Xia Lei.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s answer. It was a simple ¡®no¡¯, but it was like a p in the face to everyone else in the room.
The person who must¡¯ve received the most painful blow from Xia Lei¡¯s p was undoubtedly Yu Shanhe. Or maybe Ling Han.
Yu Shanhe¡¯s face darkened immediately. He stared coldly at Xia Lei without saying a word.
A trace of dissatisfaction also shed in Ling Han¡¯s eyes, but it quickly disappeared. ¡°Xia Lei, what¡¯s going on? The threepanies will be integrated into onergepany, this will undoubtedly increase thepetitive strength of the newpany. Furthermore, you will be the chairman of the newpany, Isn¡¯t this a good thing? Why did you reject the offer?¡± Ling Han said.
¡°I¡¯m ustomed to being unconstrained. I don¡¯t like to be restrained by other people. If the threepanies are integrated into onepany, I won¡¯t be able to manage the people who receive a high sry but are incapable of doing anything practical,¡± Xia Lei said tly.
Ye Kun immediately became unhappy. ¡°Xia Lei, what do you mean by that? I didn¡¯t offend you today. If you want to say something, then I will ask you to rify yourself.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have the guts to criticise you, Director Ye. Please don¡¯t assume that the criticism is directed at you,¡± Xia Lei said.
¡°Am I assuming that the criticism is directed at me?¡± Ye Kyn spread out both of his hands. ¡°Everyone, please tell me, am I assuming that the criticism is directed at me? Or is it really directed at me?¡±
No one spoke out, but it was clear to everyone that the people who received a high sry but have no practical value that Xia Lei was talking about was Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun.
There were plenty of people in China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons who were paid a high sry but were unwilling to do any practical work. But those people were only considered to be ground beetles and not great lords.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Mu Jianfeng immediately became furious. He mmed the tea table violently and pointed a finger at Xia Lei. ¡°Don¡¯t think that just because you have achieved some aplishments, that you can do whatever you please and be so condescending towards everyone else!¡±
Xia Lei sneered. ¡°Just because I refused to merge with otherpanies, it means that I¡¯m doing whatever I please and that I believe that everyone is beneath me?¡±
Everyone in the room was left speechless.
Thunder Horse Military Factory belonged to Xia Lei. It was too overbearing for Mu Jianfeng to say that Xia Lei thought that everyone was below him and that he was doing whatever he pleased just because he refused to merge with otherpanies.
The atmosphere in the room became awkward. Ling Han was silent for quite a while before he said, ¡°Xia Lei, you have to fully understand that they¡¯re not trying to make things difficult for you or snatch Thunder Horse Military Factory away from you. They genuinely want to contribute to the military industry of our country. I know that you¡¯re a very patriotic person, so don¡¯t you want to do this?¡±
¡°Brother Ling, I have already said very clearly that Thunder Horse Military Factory will not merge with Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group. I am a patriotic person and I am proud of it. However, being patriotic has nothing to do with this matter. You can¡¯t use this matter to measure how much I love my country,¡± Xia Lei said.
Ling Han frowned slightly. ¡°Xia Lei, your words...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted Ling Han. ¡°Also, not allpanies can be merged. Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group are both state-owned enterprises. They are bothrge military weaponspanies, so everyone working there has an official position and a military rank. I¡¯m just an ordinary person, so how can I control those people? Since I can¡¯t even manage those people, how can I manage Director Mu and Director Ye?¡±
Mu Jianfeng coldly said, ¡°Xia Lei, are you saying that I¡¯m jealous of talented people? In your eyes, am I this unbearable? Humph!¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You see, I haven¡¯t even said anything, yet you¡¯re already this emotional. If I be the chairman of the newpany, aren¡¯t you going to create more trouble for me? Your subordinates follow your orders. Will they be willing to listen to me?¡±
¡°Xia Lei, I promise that no one is going to go against you if you ept our offer.¡± Yu Shanhe finally said something.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun both stopped talking when Yu Shanhe spoke.
¡°He¡¯s right. Xia Lei, you don¡¯t have to worry about this. You have me and Yu backing you up. Who has the guts to refuse to obey you? Anyone who doesn¡¯tply will be down on his luck indeed!¡± Ling Han said.
¡°My decision is the same as before. The Thunder Horse Military Factory will not merge with Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group. I don¡¯t care about bing the chairman of a newpany. I have established the Thunder Horse Military Factory with my own two hands, so other than the Thunder Horse Military Factory, I won¡¯t join any other factories. The factory is at a crucial period right now. Once it has ovee this barrier, it will be one of the top international factories. At that time, it will be one of the well-known military factories of the Republic of China and bring in many benefits for our country. How is this not bringing pride to the country? Is it not a good thing to let it develop? Do you consider it to be a good thing only by turning a young spiritedpany into a ce where people fight and scheme against each other? Where they scramble for power and profit?¡± Xia Lei said.
Everyone in the room became silent. Everything that Xia Lei had said was the truth. These people wanted to convince him to merge the threepanies, not for the interest or honor for the country. Instead, they wanted to slowly break into the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s management department and get to know about the factory¡¯s skills by making this factory part Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group. Once that happened, the Thunder Horse Military Factory would turn from a potential ¡°dark horse¡± into a dead horse. They knew all about this n, yet they didn¡¯t feel guilty at all.
¡°Xia Lei, you are overthinking things.¡± Ling Han sighed. ¡°Please agree to it for my sake.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, please agree to the offer for my sake too.¡± Yu Shanhe also said the same thing.
Ling Han¡¯s tone was gentle. He was lowering his status to persuade Xia Lei. Yu Shanhe sounded like he was forcing Xia Lei to submit to him.
If their soft approach didn¡¯t work, then they could just use force!
A sneer emerged from the corner of Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun¡¯s mouths at the same time. In their eyes, Xia Lei and his Thunder Horse Military Factory couldn¡¯t ovee the barrier in front of them, and it was all due to the fact that Xia Lei was on his own with no backing, and didn¡¯t dare to offend Ling Han and Yu Shanhe!
It wasn¡¯t only Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun who had this kind of thought. Everyone else in the room was thinking the same way. They were a team and Xia Lei was a team by himself. When theypared the two teams, Xia Lei seemed more powerless, and weaker.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei suddenlyughed.
¡°Why are youughing?¡± There were already traces of anger on Yu Shanhe¡¯s face.
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Nothing. I¡¯m justughing at myself. I¡¯ve always thought that I¡¯m smart, but I appeared to look so stupid in front of you guys. If it were me, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do such a thing.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Yu Shanhe looked at Xia Lei coldly.
Xia Lei frankly spoke boldly and without fear. ¡°Since we¡¯ve already discussed up to this point, I¡¯m not afraid of offending you guys anymore. I¡¯m just going to be straightforward with my words. You guys want to use this method to swallow my Thunder Horse Military Factory, and drive me out of the military industry. I understand you guys because you guys must be considering this from your perspective. Thunder Horse Military Factory is now threatening Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group¡¯s existence. But I want to tell you that the rule of the market is ¡°survival of the fittest¡±. If yourpany cannot uphold the standards, then it will be eliminated sooner orter. If you guys use this method to destroy the Thunder Horse Military Factory, one day you will be eliminated by the international market.¡±
¡°The Thunder Horse Military Factory is threatening the existence of China Industrial Group and Hawu Weapons? Xia Lei, you¡¯re speaking too highly of yourself!¡± Mu Jianfeng said.
Xia Lei ignored him. He continued, ¡°You guys can prevent me from obtaining loans, and you guys can create all the trouble you want for Thunder Horse Military Factory. But I must tell you guys, I will not give up. The only way you can close Thunder Horse Military Factory is if you can convince a high-ranking official to close down my factory. Otherwise, I will use my own ways to solve this problem. If domestic banks won¡¯t lend me money, I will just give a call to foreign banks and ask foreign banks to loan me money.¡±
¡°Humph. Tell me, which country¡¯s bank will loan you 20 billion? Do you think it¡¯s only two million?¡± Yu Kun said.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Since you asked, then I will tell you. The United Arab Emirates bank isn¡¯t afraid of giving me a 20 billion loan. The loan will also be in the form of Chinese currency. I can get this amount of money as long as I give a call to Prince Khalifa.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, do you have to make such a big deal out of this? I promise you that you won¡¯t lose anything from this transaction. Even if you suffer losses, you can earn it back from another ce.¡± Ling Han said. This was a hint.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s enough. I already made it very clear. I will go out and ask banks to give me a loan tomorrow. If I¡¯m not able to obtain the loan here, I will ask foreign banks. If you guys continue to create more trouble for Thunder Horse Military Factory, I¡¯ll destroy my machine tools. At worst, I¡¯ll just stop making weapons. This way, no one will be able to gain those advanced technologies. But I advise you guys not to do this, because you guys can do anything to me, but if the Thunder Horse Military Factory shuts down for no specific reason and the high-ranking officials ask about it, a few scapegoats will not be enough to bear the responsibility for this. Okay, you guys can continue the conversation. I¡¯m going to leave.¡±
Xia Lei turned and walked out of the door without any regard for anyone¡¯s dignity, with all of them watching.
Chapter 640 - Mr Z’s Motive
Xia Lei left, but the room was still in absolute silence.
Who would have thought that Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t even be respectful to Ling Han and Yu Shanhe?
If it were someone else, this matter would have definitely been settled, but Xia Lei wasn¡¯t someone else. He was The One.
¡°Damn it! That rascal actually didn¡¯t show us any respect at all!¡± Ye Kun broke the silence in the tea room, and was extremely furious. ¡°Does he think he¡¯s the formidable Sun Wukong? Even if he was Sun Wukong, he wouldn¡¯t be able to flip out of the Buddha¡¯s Wu Zhi mountain!¡±
Yu Shanhe frowned. ¡°Ye Kun, what are you talking about?¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s face immediately went rigid. He was fawning over Yu Shanhe, and had not expected that Yu Shanhe wouldn¡¯t stand for it.
Mu Jianfeng, on the other hand, stayed calm. He didn¡¯t speak after Xia Lei left. He remained quiet and his face was calm. What had just happened seemed to be unrted to him, and he lookedpletely indifferent.
¡°Mr Ling, this matter...¡± Yu Shanhe probingly said, ¡°How will you deal with it?¡±
Ling Han was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°You already have an idea in your head, so why ask me?¡±
¡®You wily fox!¡¯ Yu Shanhe silently cursed, but wore a smile on his face. ¡°Mr Ling, you were the one who helped Xia Lei get established in the beginning. Without your help, could his Thunder Horse Military Factory develop to the size it is today?¡±
¡°I did help him before, you¡¯re right, but that was because of thepetition. Besides, I didn¡¯t think that he would be able to make hispany so established back then. Can you me me?¡± said Ling Han.
¡°A privatepany is on the verge of discing Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group, as well as other military industry enterprises. This is a very serious matter to us, and now isn¡¯t the time to y the me game. We have to think of a feasible and effective way to make Xia Lei lose his control over Thunder Horse Military Factory,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
¡°He said earlier that if he can¡¯t get any funds in China, he¡¯ll get a loan from abroad. He¡¯s good friends with the Prince Khalifa of the United Arab Emirates. The prince¡¯s army is also a loyal fan of Thunder Horse Military Factory. It¡¯ll be very easy if he wants to get a loan from the United Arab Emirates¡¯s bank, so this methods that you people are using simply won¡¯t work,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Mr Ling, you have to think of a way. Xia Lei really trusts you and respects you. Besides you, he won¡¯t listen to anyone else,¡± said Mu Jianfeng.
But Ling Hanughed dryly. ¡°Do you guys think he would still trust me after I stood on your side to persuade him to hand Thunder Horse Military Factory over?¡±
Meanwhile, in the hallway outside the tea room, a cold smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. He hadn¡¯t actually left. After he hade out from the tea room, he used his lip-reading ability to interpret everyone¡¯s words inside the tea room. He was very curious about why Mr Z of Bureau ZN, Ling Han, would be meddling in this matter. People had motives in doing things, but what benefit could Ling Han gain from doing this?
Yu Shanhe came closer to Ling Han and covered his mouth with his hand as he whispered, ¡°The person above you is about to retire and I¡¯m the one supporting you by recing his people. You wouldn¡¯t want me to support yourpetitor, would you? And you really hate that woman, don¡¯t you?¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun clearly couldn¡¯t hear this whisper, and everyone else in the room couldn¡¯t hear it, but this sentence couldn¡¯t escape Xia Lei¡¯s lip-reading. Yu Shanhe covering up his mouth with his hand couldn¡¯t hold off Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision at all.
So this was why Ling Han had gotten involved in this matter.
Xia Lei had also incidentally heard very important information from Yu Shanhe¡¯s whispering and that was that Ling Han wasn¡¯t the person in charge of Bureau ZN. Besides him, there was another bureau chief for Bureau ZN, a woman. Yu SHanhe¡¯s words had also spoke of Bureau ZN¡¯s current situation. The old bureau chief was going to retire and a woman had be Ling Han¡¯spetitor.
Ling Han nodded. ¡°Old Yu, if I didn¡¯t support you, where would I be now? We can¡¯t hurry this matter. Let me think of something.¡±
Yu Shanhe smiled. ¡°Then I¡¯ll wait for your good news.¡±
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. Right now, he had made something clear. Ling Han wasn¡¯t actually the director of some special office. In the beginning, when Ling Han approached him with that identity, Ling Han¡¯s objective was him and the Alloy X Project rted to him.
¡°Lei, what are you doing here?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came from behind him.
Xia Lei turned around and walked towards her. ¡°Nothing much, let¡¯s go.¡±
¡°How did the discussion go?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°It was all right.¡± Xia Lei smiled.
¡°What did you guys discuss?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°Don¡¯t ask anymore. Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Keeping it a secret from me? How boring.¡± Tang Yuyan held on to Xia Lei¡¯s arm though she said it was boring.
His arm touched something soft, and that softness melted all the depressing things in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He was a little embarrassed but it was a little difficult for him to push her aside, since that wasn¡¯t really something that a man could do.
Tang Yuyan brought Xia Lei back to the tea room that Tang Yunhai and Zhang Yumei were in.
¡°Boy, did anyone make things difficult for you?¡± said Tang Yunhai, getting straight to the point.
¡°No.¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°No one can force me to do what I¡¯m not willing to do.¡±
Tang Yunhai and Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t help but look at each other. Grandfather and granddaughter seemed to take another meaning from Xia Lei¡¯s words.
¡°Hehe.¡± Tang Yunhaiughed dryly. ¡°Come, let¡¯s drink a few cups. It isn¡¯t gettingte and it¡¯s almost time to start our feast.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, secretly thinking, ¡®You probably knew what those people were going to do, right? That¡¯s the only reason why you invited me to this celebration. I really can¡¯t trust that many people in China.¡¯
Tang Yunhai and Zhang Yumei left the tearoom, walking towards the dining hall where the birthday feast was taking ce. Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei walked behind them. They had only taken a few steps when she reached her hand out to grab Xia Lei¡¯s arm again, intimate and natural, as if she were Xia Lei¡¯s girlfriend, the type who had lived together for many years. On their way to the banquet hall, many people looked over with odd gazes but she didn¡¯t care at all and instead seemed to enjoy it a lot. On the other hand, she made Xia Lei feel very awkward.
¡°If you can¡¯t get the funds, our Tang family has some. Why not ask my grandfather, rather than some bank?¡± whispered Tang Yuyan.
¡°Thank you, but I¡¯ll take care of that by myself.¡± Xia Lei rejected her without a second thought.
Borrowing money from the Tang family? And he¡¯d need 20 billion at that. The price he¡¯d need to pay was clear, and that was to be a member of the Tang family and marry Tang Yuyan.
Nothing was free in the world. After marrying Tang Yuyan, he would be a part of the Tang Sect and in the future, his life would be hopelessly entangled with the Tang Sect.
¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Tang Yuyan pouted. ¡°Is the doorstep of our Tang Sect that high? Are you just that afraid of bing part of our Tang Sect?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°This and that are two different matters. Back when I divorced Shentu Tianyin, our assets were separate. She earned her money and I did my business. We were separate in terms of economics.¡±
¡°So you mean that in the future, after you marry me, we¡¯re also going to be separate economically?¡± Tang Yuyan suddenlyughed. ¡°All right, I¡¯m fine with that! I¡¯ll ask for a 500 million dowry from my grandfather so that in the future I won¡¯t have to ask you for money to buy makeup products.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
There was no way he couldmunicate anymore.
Just then, Ling Han, Yu Shanhe, and a group of people walked out of the other tea room.
¡°Xia Lei, wait up,¡± called Ling Han.
Xia Lei turned with a smile on his face. ¡°Brother Ling, is anything the matter?¡±
Ling Han walked over quickly, pretending to be unhappy. ¡°I can¡¯t chat with you if nothing¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°Of course not,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Han sighed. ¡°Official matters are official matters while private matters are private matters. Our rtionship as Brothers can¡¯t be harmed because of some work matters.¡±
¡°Of course not. Brother Ling, I used to see you as a brother,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Then what about now?¡± Ling Han frowned slightly.
¡°Of course we¡¯re brothers now.¡± Xia Lei continued to smile but the answer in his heart was different.
¡°Hehe...¡± Ling Hanughed. ¡°Yuyan, can I be a third wheeler in a bit, and sit at the same table as you guys?¡±
Tang Yuyan was just worrying about how there wasn¡¯t a third wheeler when Ling Han automatically volunteered himself as a third wheeler. How could she be unhappy? Sheughed. ¡°Of course, but you might need to give our Lei a bit less wine since his alcoholic tolerance is pretty low.¡±
¡°Hehe, so you know how to care for others now.¡± Ling Hanughed. ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re so lucky.¡±
Xia Lei only felt a headacheing on.
The birthday feast began. There weren¡¯t a lot of people, and there were only about a dozen tables. Every single guest had some status. Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan sat together, and Ling Han sat next to Xia Lei. Yu Shanhe, Mu Jianfeng, Ye Kun and their group sat at another table. No one mentioned the matter about Thunder Horse Military Factory, China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons merging again. They didn¡¯t even give Xia Lei a second look. Everyone acted like everything was fine. However, Xia Lei knew that these people were just waiting for the results of what Ling Han was nning to do.
Xia Lei secretly thought, ¡®Why would Ling Han persuade me? He¡¯s a very intelligent person and is very good at hiding himself. He should have known that even if he persuaded me more, I wouldn¡¯t agree. Then, what will he do? Will he use some dirty tricks to force me to submit?¡¯
Former friends and brothers transformed into today¡¯spetitors. It was hard for him to ept these changes. However, when he thought that Ling Han had always been targeting him with this ¡°Mr Z¡± he became more indifferent about his rtionship with Ling Han ¡ª That¡¯s right, if it hadn¡¯t all been to target him, would Ling Han have interacted with him in the beginning? Would he have helped him?
Ultimately, all of this was still thanks to the supreme value of the Alloy X Project and AE!
While Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were roiling, a woman suddenly and quietly walked over and sat at his table.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help looking her up and down.
This woman seemed very young, and not yet thirty. She had short hair and her facial features were very delicate and elegant. She was very tall and her body lines were well proportioned. The only regretful part was her somewhat tter chest which seemed quite small. But from an aesthetic perspective, her attractiveness index was 9.5 while her body was a 9. If she wore a rubber bra that made her chest seem more well developed, her body could be rated a 10.
Women with short hair could always make other people feel confident and refreshed. This woman was clearly even more outstanding. A special aura was on her body, like Hua Mn or Mu Guiying, if one had topare her to a character.
Perhaps it was the special aura she had, but that stirred a specific part of Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He couldn¡¯t help but think, ¡®Who¡¯s this woman? People who can offer birthday congrattions to Tang Yunhai aren¡¯t ordinary people, but howe I¡¯ve never met her?¡¯
It was also at this moment that Ling Han¡¯s gaze moved towards the short-haired woman. His gaze turned cold.
The short-haired woman¡¯s gaze shifted onto Ling Han, and she had an unfathomable look in her eyes.
Ling Han and the short-haired woman didn¡¯t speak to each other but their eyes meeting each other in that manner caught Xia Lei¡¯s attention. His heart thumped. Was it her?
Chapter 641 - Impossible to Unravel
The person Xia Lei thought of was like Ling Han, a person from ZN Bureau.
If he had not used his X-ray vision on that tea room earlier and used his lip-reading ability to ¡°eavesdrop¡± on their private conversation, he would not have known what Ling Han¡¯s motives to get involved in this matter were, and about this woman being his rival.
However, whether this short-haired woman in front of him was from ZN Bureau and Ling Han¡¯s rival were just guesses, and he had no evidence.
The short-haired woman¡¯s eyes met Ling Han¡¯s, then moved to Xia Lei.
It was their first time meeting, and they didn¡¯t know each other, so Xia Lei avoided her gaze and pretended to look at Tang Yuyan¡¯s breasts. He wanted to appear like a bit of a cad, and it would be even better if she underestimated him.
However, when Xia Lei put on a perverted face to peek at Tang Yuyan¡¯s breasts, the woman smiled faintly and greeted him. ¡°Is this Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Lei then nced at the short-haired woman and smiled. He said politely, ¡°Yes. I¡¯m Xia Lei. And who might you be, Miss...?¡±
The short-haired woman stretched out a hand to Xia Lei. ¡°Su Xiao. Nice to meet you, Mr Xia.¡±
Su Xiao. This was Xia Lei¡¯s first time hearing this name.
¡°Ah, Miss Su. Hello, nice to meet you.¡± Xia Lei shook hands with Su Xiao.
A smile hung in the corners of Su Xiao¡¯s lips. ¡°China¡¯s Father of Rifles, a global-level top machinist and electrical engineer. You are so young and your life is already so illustrious. I¡¯d wanted to meet for quite a while now, and I finally have the opportunity to do so today.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too kind, Miss Su.¡± Xia Lei held on to Su Xiao¡¯s hand, and seemed very warm.
Tang Yuyan kicked Xia Lei under the table, and he let go of her hand only then.
¡°May I ask what line of work you¡¯re in, Miss Su?¡±
Su Xiao gave augh. ¡°Do you ask women what work they do whenever you meet them, Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Please don¡¯t misunderstand. I just want to get to know you better, Miss Su. We might be friends more quickly.¡±
¡°I work for the government. I¡¯m sorry, but I can only tell you this much,¡± said Su Xiao.
Xia Lei had not hoped that Su Xiao would tell him her true identity, of course, but he was already about 60% certain that this Su Xiao was from ZN Bureau.
When Xia Lei seated himself again, Tang Yuyan nudged his thigh with her knee and whispered, ¡°Just shake hands if you¡¯re shaking hands. What do you mean by holding on to her hand for so long?¡±
Xia Lei took it in his stride and lowered his voice too. ¡°Do you know this Su Xiao?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°Who invited her?¡±
Tang Yuyan paused, then said, ¡°Well, it wasn¡¯t me. What are you asking me this for?¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to know her background. Can you help me ask your family who invited this Su Xiao?¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan was no ordinary woman. She could tell that there was something wrong with this woman when Xia Lei said something like that. She nodded, then stood and left.
She returned when the banquet started, and drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear to say softly, ¡°No one invited her, and we can¡¯t find any information on her either.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped, and he thought, ¡®Could this be that woman from the ZN Bureau? But she came to meet me right in front of Ling Han. What is her motive in doing that?¡¯
¡°Just what trouble have you got yourself into?¡± said Tang Yuyan softly. ¡°That Song Baicheng you asked me to investigate thest time was the same situation too. And now there¡¯s this Su Xiao. Tell me, what can I help you do?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t bother about this matter anymore. You can¡¯t help even if you want to,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan gave a small pout, but didn¡¯t say anything more.
Xia Lei looked at Su Xiao out of the corner of his eye and discovered her meeting gazes with Ling Han. The two of them had not exchanged a word so far and were like strangers. However, from how they looked at each other, Ling Han and Su Xiao were definitely not strangers meeting for the first time.
The banquet started and Xia Lei drank a few sses of wine with Ling Han, and chatted for a bit. Su Xiao did not seek him out to chat again. She only ate a little and left.
¡°Brother Ling, do you know this Su Xiao person?¡± Xia Lei asked Ling Han after she left.
Ling Han shook his head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t. It¡¯s our first time meeting.¡± He thenughed. ¡°What are you nning on doing? This Su Xiao can¡¯t bepared to Yuyan. Listen to me ¡ª you should just be with Yuyan in a steady rtionship.¡±
Xia Lei just smiled.
Tang Yuyan seemed very happy, and poured Ling Han more alcohol.
The banquet was still ongoing when Xia Lei received a call. It was from an unknown number. He hesitated, but still picked up.
¡°Hello, who¡¯s this?¡±
¡°Mr Xia. I¡¯m waiting for you outside.¡± It was Su Xiao¡¯s voice. She only said that one line, then hung up.
Xia Lei put his phone away. ¡°Excuse me, I have something on so I¡¯ll be leaving now.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°Company matters,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s fine, go on and tend to yourpany matters. Men should always prioritise their career,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°I¡¯ll spend more time with you another day, Brother Ling.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t say more, and left.
Tang Yuyan looked unhappy, but couldn¡¯t find a good reason to make him stay.
Xia Lei looked about when he walked out of the building, and soon saw Su Xiao in the car park. She was standing next to a ck Hongqi car, watching him with a smile that did not look like a smile. He walked towards her.
¡°What did you call me out here for, Miss Su?¡± Xia Lei went straight to the point.
¡°Get in the car. We¡¯ll talk inside,¡± said Su Xiao.
¡°Then let¡¯s get in my car,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem,¡± said Su Xiao.
Xia Lei got into his Chevrolet Suburban, and Su Xiao got into the passenger seat. Xia Lei drove his car out of the car park and onto the streets, then drove in the direction of Thunder Horse Military Factory. He waited till the Sheraton Hotel disappeared from view, then said, ¡°May we speak now? Miss Su.¡±
¡°Sure. I¡¯ll be frank,¡± said Su Xiao. ¡°You are in trouble now, and I can help you solve your problem.¡±
¡°Are you talking about the loans?¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°You sure are kind-hearted, but no thanks. I can solve my own money problems.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, do I look like someone who can get you a loan of 20 billion?¡± said Su Xiao with a smile.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°If it¡¯s not about the loans, then... You say I¡¯m in trouble. What trouble is it?¡±
¡°Fan Fan.¡±
¡°Fan Fan?¡±
¡°And Long Bing.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Just what are you trying to get at? And how do you know Fan Fan and Long Bing?¡±
¡°I have my ways,¡± said Su Xiao.
¡°Who the hell are you?¡±
¡°I told you. I work for the government. I can only tell you this much.¡± Su Xiao changed the topic. ¡°You might not know what trouble you¡¯re in, so I¡¯ll tell you. Fan Fan has handed in the report on you. And Long Bing. Long Bing is currently under investigation.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. Fan Fan knew about his body. She did not know 100% of it, but she knew at least 50% of it , and that was enough to get him into a huge amount of trouble. What he could not figure out was that he had already sessfully seduced Fan Fan, so how is it that she had betrayed him?
¡°You say Long Bing is under investigation. Why?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Because of you,¡± said Su Xiao. ¡°Don¡¯t you get it? She is your woman, so she cannot be uninvolved in some things. The next step might involve Liang Siyao. If anything happens to her, it¡¯ll be because of you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze instantly turned to ice. ¡°Are you threatening me?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand, Mr Xia. I¡¯m here to help you, not threaten you.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Help me? Hah. Speak. What do you want from me?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you only after you believe me,¡± said Su Xiao. ¡°Stop over here. Let me out of the car.¡±
Xia Lei stepped on the brakes, and stopped the car by the side of the road.
Su Xiao opened the door and alighted, then put a USB drive on the dashboard. ¡°Take this back and have a look at it yourself. Confirm the situation, then give me a call. It¡¯s the number from earlier. I¡¯ll wait for your call.¡±
Xia Lei moved his car forward, but his eyes were fixed on the back mirror. In the mirror, Su Xiao smiled and gestured for him to call her. He then looked at the USB drive, worried.
Su Xiao disappeared from view. Xia Lei took out his phone and dialled Long Bing¡¯s number.
¡°The number you have just dialled has been turned off. Please try againter...¡±
Xia Lei smashed the phone into the sofa of the passenger seat. It was at this moment that he experienced the expression ¡°he whoes is surely ill-intentioned, and no one well-meaning wille¡±. This Su Xiao was, in all likelihood, that woman from ZN Bureau. She did not say what she wanted but it was sure to be the same as what Ling Han wanted ¡ª to take down Thunder Horse Military Factory, and add to the advancement of her career!
He couldn¡¯t helpparing her and Ling Han. Compared to Ling Han, this woman was more vicious, and her methods were harsher too!
Back in Thunder Horse Military Factory, Xia Lei went straight to his office, and stuck the USB drive Su Xiao had given him into aputer.
There was a document on the drive, and a video.
Xia Lei opened the document, and was thunderstruck. This was the undoctored version of Fan Fan¡¯s report on his body. The numbers in the document were startling, especially his IQ of 998.
¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯ Xia Lei was stunned. ¡®I saw with my own eyes that Fan Fan has changed every single number in the data fields. This original copy should have been destroyed long ago too. Why has it appeared in Su Xiao¡¯s hands? Did Fan Fan really betray me and hand in the original report to ZN Bureau?¡¯
That thought made mes roar in Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
He¡¯d sworn that he would never be fooled by a woman again after his divorce, but he had been lied to again.
Xia Lei opened the video.
Long Bing was sitting in a closed room in the video. There was no one interrogating her. She was facing the camera, and her eyes were dull from exhaustion.
The video was very short, and there was nothing else in it.
Xia Lei put the USB drive away and left the office. He headed to the vi.
Chapter 642 - A Thoughtful Smile
The two Special Forces soldiers guarding the vi gates greeted Xia Lei, who nodded in return before entering the vi. However, he had only walked two steps before he turned back to ask the two soldiers guarding the door, "Did anybody elsee here after I left?"
The special force soldier replied, "There was a woman."
"A woman?" Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. "What¡¯s her name?"
The Special Forces soldier answered, "I don¡¯t know who she was, but she had the authority to enter."
"What did she look like?" Xia Lei asked again.
The soldier frowned. "Mr Xia, I¡¯m sorry but I am not your subordinate and I do not have any obligation to answer your questions."
Xia Lei shrugged and smiled. "Never mind then, thanks."
After entering the vi, Xia Lei went straight to Fan Fan¡¯sboratory and stopped in front of the door. His left eye twitched and the inside of theboratory suddenly appeared in his sight. However, what he saw inside made him freeze in shock.
Theboratory was a mess. Documents and official papers were scattered all over the floor. Fan Fan was copsed on theboratory floor, both eyes closed tightly and an eye-catching red bloodstain on her forehead.
There was no time to think ¡ª Xia Lei pushed the door open and charged in. He picked Fan Fan up in his arms and used a hand to strike her Renzhong acupressure point.
"Ynng......" Fan Fan moaned and slowly woke up. Her vision was still blurry so she couldn¡¯t clearly see who it was holding her. She suddenly grew nervous, and reached out a hand to push Xia Lei away as she shouted, "No! Let go of me!"
"It¡¯s me, it¡¯s me, shh." Xia Lei covered her lips with his hand.
Fan Fan recognised him and rxed. "Big Brother Lei, it¡¯s you. How wonderful, how wonderful, I thought that I would never see you again."
Xia Lei held her slender waist. "Tell me, what happened?"
"A woman came here and said she wanted to view the research reports about you. I told her that all the research reports about you have already been handed over to Song Baicheng, but she didn¡¯t listen to me and went through everything in myboratory. You can also see how everything here¡¯s been turned into a mess by her."
"Those Special Forces soldiers didn¡¯t stop her?" Xia Lei asked.
Fan Fan shook her head. "One of them heard us quarreling and walked over to take a look, but left after she reprimanded him for a bit."
"What did she find here?"
Fan Fan¡¯s face suddenly turned dark as she stammered, "Big Brother Lei, I, I¡¯m sorry... She snatched my phone and that copy of the original report I saved in my phone."
Xia Lei felt his heart sink as his mood became absolutely terrible. At this point, he could already guess who the woman was ¡ª it was Su Xiao.
"Big Brother Lei, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry..."
Xia Lei cut Fan Fan off. "Why hasn¡¯t it been deleted?"
Fan Fan avoided Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. "I¡¯ve always been studying you, trying to find a way so you can get a woman pregnant. That data was very important for me and I had originally nned to delete it after I found a cure for you. But I didn¡¯t think that... that woman woulde. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to." She stared at Xia Lei with wide eyes. "Can you forgive me?"
"This incident wasn¡¯t your fault. I don¡¯t me you," said Xia Lei.
Fan Fan buried her head in Xia Lei¡¯s chest and her voice choked with sobs. "But I still me myself... I¡¯m really too useless... Sob..."
Xia Lei gently stroked her back as heforted her. "Don¡¯t cry, I don¡¯t me you. This isn¡¯t your fault."
Fan Fan¡¯s delicate body trembled slightly, and her voice too. "Your body is a marvel. If it were to be known to them... I don¡¯t dare to think about what they¡¯ll do."
"They?" Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. "Who are the ¡¯they¡¯ you¡¯re talking about?"
"They..." Fan Fan flushed as her voice trembled even more. "The ¡®they¡¯ I was referring to are Song Baicheng and the people behind him. Those are the people I mean."
"Don¡¯t be anxious. I¡¯ll deal with it. Let me help you take care of your wound." Xia Lei started to draw her attention elsewhere.
Fan Fan stared at Xia Lei lustfully. "Then how about I tell you about some good news?"
"What good news?" Xia Lei couldn¡¯t think of any good news that Fan Fan could tell him right now. The amount of bad news he had gotten recently was far too much.
Fan Fan moved to whisper in his ear, "I now have a way to let me carry your child."
"Ah?" Xia Lei was stunned for a moment, then he said anxiously, "Hurry up and tell me how! What method is it?"
¡°I discovered that your sperm release a type of toxin which killspetitor sperm. I¡¯ve already started on an antidote to limit the toxins your sperm releases. You will have a chance of getting a woman pregnant this way.¡±
"Is it to be taken orally?"
"Nope, nope, it-it¡¯s useless even if you eat it. It¡¯s for m-myself... But it¡¯s not for eating, it¡¯s to be p-ced inside."
"ced where?"
"Aren¡¯t you in there right now?"
Xia Lei then realised where she meant, and felt a bit embarrassed. ¡°What¡¯s your progress on that research?"
"I, I¡¯ve just started. Just give me a bit of time and I¡¯ll definitely be able to look into it more¡ª Aanh..."
"You must tell me once you¡¯re done researching it."
"Of course, the first thing I¡¯ll, hnngh, do, is tell you."
Xia Lei didn¡¯t feel like wasting any more words and immersed himself in the task at hand. He was very clear about his own situation but he also believed in Fan Fan¡¯s abilities. After all, she was the best bioengineer in China. She had collected a lot of samples of him, so it wouldn¡¯t be impossible for her to develop an antidote for him.
Perhaps AE Research Centre would also be able to do this, but in the past, whenever Liang Siyao collected samples from him, they would always die very quickly. By the time it reached the AE Research Centre, the bioengineers could only study the dead sperm cells. Thus, in this aspect, Fan Fan actually held a very big advantage over them.
The chaotic scene fell calm.
"Do you want a child?" Fragrant sweat dripped from Fan Fan as she whispered softly into Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
"Of course I want one. If we have a child..."
Fan Fan suddenly climbed up from Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. "Why don¡¯t we leave future things for the future? Weren¡¯t you going to help me treat my wound? Let¡¯s go to my room. I have a first aid kit there."
Xia Lei watched Fan Fan pull up her white,cy, lingerie, and her beautiful area disappeared from his sight. However, his thoughts were on something else. ¡®Why did she avoid this question?¡¯
If a woman wanted to give birth to a man¡¯s child, then the thing that woman would want is a family and the status of a wife. But from Fan Fan¡¯s reaction just now, it seemed like she didn¡¯t have the slightest interest in these.
"This ce is a terrible mess. It¡¯ll take a long time to clean everything up." Fan Fan frowned. "That woman¡¯s really horrible."
An idea suddenly shed through Xia Lei¡¯s mind. His left eye twitched, activating his zoom-in vision. Small traces emerged piece by piece into his field of vision. His mind entered a calm, logical state,bing through all the traces and rebuilding them...
"What are you looking at?" Fan Fan asked.
Xia Lei crawled up from the floor, with a faint smile on his lips. "Nothing. Let¡¯s go to your room."
"Can you touch me lesster?" Fan Fan¡¯s face turned red. "I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to hold myself back again."
Xia Lei reached out and pinched her cheek. "You¡¯re a gluttonous little kitten, eh? No matter how much you eat, it¡¯ll never be enough."
"Look, you¡¯re bullying me again. I¡¯m already pitiful enough with this special constitution of mine, but you¡¯re still bullying me."
"Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll help you treat your wound."
"Do you think I¡¯m a bad woman with how lustful I am?"
"How could that be? If you¡¯re a bad woman, then there wouldn¡¯t be any bad women in the world." Xia Lei said as his eyes fell on thest, tiny traces in the room. At the same time, his mind was also reconstructing the scene through the traces of footprints and fingerprints he saw with his left eye¡¯s zoom-in vision.
Almost in the blink of an eye, a 175 cm tall woman weighing about 55 kg appeared in his mind...
There was also Fan Fan. All of her movements in theboratory left behind traces that could be seen with his vision, forming a vivid image of her in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
Xia Lei¡¯s lips curved, and a thoughtful smile appeared on his face.
Chapter 643 - An Antidote
In the dead of the night.
A Suburban Chevrolet was parked at the side of a road. At the end of the road was a vige, which was bright with light. The asional barking of dogs could be heard.
Xia Lei got out of the car and saw a stretch of forest.
Su Xiao walked out of the forest. She was dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt and skin tight denim shorts. She exuded youth and liveliness.
"I didn¡¯t think that you¡¯d call me so quickly," said Su Xiao. "I thought that it¡¯d be tomorrow, or maybe the day after tomorrow."
Xia Lei walked towards her. "Don¡¯t talk nonsense. I¡¯ve seen everything you sent me. Just say it. What do you want?"
"You¡¯re being so direct?" Su Xiao seemed a bit startled.
"My patience is limited. You¡¯d best say it before I change my mind," said Xia Lei.
Su Xiao smiled faintly. "All right, I¡¯ll say it then. I want your Thunder Horse Military Factory, China Industrial Group, and Hanwu Weapons Company to merge together. You¡¯ll be the chairman, but your total shares cannot exceed 20%.¡±
"And if I don¡¯t agree?"
"If you don¡¯t agree, then your research reports will be sent to the offices of a few certain organisations and you know what that means. There¡¯s also Long Bing. She¡¯s helped you with many things and also won¡¯t be able to escape responsibility."
"Where is she now?" Xia Lei controlled the rage burning in his heart.
"Agree to my conditions and I¡¯ll let you see her,¡± Su Xiao said before adding, "It¡¯s useless to try and ask Shi Boren for help. He can¡¯t do anything about this."
Bureau ZN was even more mysterious than Bureau 101 and also had more authority. It was not strange that Shi Boren wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything.
"I agree to your conditions. Let me see her," said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s straightforward answer actually made Su Xiao feel like something was wrong. She stared at Xia Lei. "You... you¡¯re really agreeing?"
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was cold. "You guys will use whatever methods you have just to get what you want. You have information that can be used against me. Could I refuse?"
"Don¡¯t misunderstand. This is good for everybody."
"Don¡¯t make me sick. Take me to see Long Bing," said Xia Lei.
Su Xiao shook her head. "Absolutely not. You have to fulfil my conditions before you get what you want."
"Fine. Bring Long Bing to Thunder Horse Military Factory tomorrow and we¡¯ll make an exchange there."
Su Xiao smiled faintly. "No problem. I¡¯ll bring Long Bing over tomorrow morning."
"So you¡¯re the onepeting with Ling Han for the position of Bureau Chief of Bureau ZN, huh?" said Xia Lei. "Regardless of whether it¡¯s you or Ling Hao, one of you guys will get promoted if you seize my Thunder Horse Military Factory, right?"
The smile on Su Xiao¡¯s lips immediately disappeared, and the expression in her eyes changed. "You even know about this?"
"If you don¡¯t want anybody to know about this, just don¡¯t do it," said Xia Lei. "If I use this to my advantage and give this huge political-economical capital to Ling Hao, then I would also get what I want. You¡¯d best not anger me, or you would have done all this work for nothing."
"You wouldn¡¯t do that."
"Can you give a reason why I wouldn¡¯t do that? At the very least, Ling Hao¡¯s helped me before and we have friendly rtions."
Su Xiao said, "Only three people know about your research report right now. If you want a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth person to know, then you can choose to side with Ling Han."
The only ones who knew about the report was Fan Fan, Xia Lei himself, and now Su Xiao, making it a total of three people. She was using it to ckmail him, so he truly had no other choice.
"All right. Tomorrow morning. I¡¯ll wait for you at Thunder Horse MIlitary Factory. Bring Long Bing and the report, as well as any relevant files for our trade." Xia Lei said his piece and turned to leave.
Su Xiao watched him leave. She took out her phone and dialled a number when he was out of her sight. "He agreed. I¡¯ll bring the contract to Thunder Horse Military Factory tomorrow morning. You... yeah, I got it."
A hundred meters outside, Xia Lei sat in the Chevrolet Suburban and stared at Su Xiao, reading her lips to see what she was saying.
Su Xiao put away her phone. The call was very short, only around a dozen seconds long.
Xia Lei started the car and made a U-turn, towards the Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Xia Lei gave Liang Siyao a call on his way there.
"Siyao, it¡¯s me, Xia Lei."
"I know it¡¯s you." It was Liang Siyao¡¯s voice. "So you¡¯re willing to give me a call now?"
"Let me ask you, when was thest time you saw Long Bing?"
"You called me to ask where Long Bing is?" Faint jealousy could be heard in Liang Siyao¡¯s voice.
"This is very important. Tell me, when was thest time you saw her?" Xia Lei said.
Liang Siyao was silent for a few moments before she finally said, "Probably around yesterday. I didn¡¯t see her in the office today. Did something happen to her?"
"She was taken away to be investigated."
"What? What¡¯s going on?" Liang Siyao asked in astonishment.
Xia Lei sighed softly. "Because of me."
"I understand now. Do you need me to do anything?" Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was filled with concern.
"Not for now. Pretend like you don¡¯t know about this. Don¡¯t ask about Long Bing¡¯s whereabouts in Bureau 101 either. Just do what you¡¯re supposed to," said Xia Lei.
"If... if I was also taken away, would you rescue me too?"
"I will." Xia Lei hung up.
Xia Lei went straight to the arms warehouse once he returned to Thunder Horse Military Factory. When he came out, he carried a stic engineering box on his shoulder, with a heavy look on his face.
Xia Lei carried it back to the vi. The Special Forces soldier guard greeted him. "Mr Xia, what¡¯s in the case?"
"An XL2500 sniper rifle. I want to modify it," said Xia Lei.
The Special Forces soldier guard said, "Mr Xia, can you..."
Xia Lei suddenly burst out angrily, "Bastard! Do I need to get your consent to do something on my own property? Who do you guys think you are? Whoever it is whomands you, tell him toe personally to speak with me!"
The faces of the two Special Forces guards turned red. They were angry and resentful, but didn¡¯t dare to get angry at Xia Lei, much less forcefully inspect what Xia Lei was carrying. They also knew full well that they didn¡¯t have the right to forcefully inspect Xia Lei¡¯s belongings.
Xia Lei snorted and carried the box into the vi.
The lights in Fan Fan¡¯sboratory were still on.
Fan Fan was blending a medicinal concoction together, looking very focused.
Xia Lei ced the box on the table before calling out, "I¡¯m back."
Fan Fan only realised Xia Lei hade then, and turned to look at him before looking away again. "Wait a moment, I¡¯ll be done with this soon," she said.
Xia Lei walked over and nced at Fan Fan doing the blending, before turning to look at the monitor. The names of a few pharmaceuticals and their chemical forms were disyed on the screen. It all looked veryplex. But such a thing was onlyplex for others ¡ª in his eyes, these points of data weren¡¯t anything profound at all. His brain just had to work for a bit, and he would understand.
But it was precisely thesepounds which gave Xia Lei a shock. "Fan Fan, are you researching the antidote?"
"Yes. You can tell? Hehe." Fan Fan nced back with a smile. "My hypothesis is correct and work also went very smoothly today. I reckon that I¡¯ll be able to seed if I have a bit more time."
"I thought you¡¯ve already seeded," said Xia Lei.
"How could it be that easy. This is a veryplex bio-engineering process. I have to do everything step by step to figure out a proper prescription through a series of trial and error." At this point, she handed the mixture to Xia Lei and said with a smile, "You think this is a sess? Let me tell you, if this is ced in my body, it would make my body inmed."
Xia Lei looked at the monitor again, and his brain suddenly went deep into the field of biochemistry. Countless pharmaceuticals and biological materials with their forms appeared in his mind. He used his mind tob through each pharmaceutical and biological material¡¯s form, disassembling them and calcting how likely they were to fuse together.
It was failure after failure, but each failure gave another clue so that the next calction and assembly could go in the correct direction. Fan Fan¡¯s was right. All of these experiments really were to just find the proper prescription through a series of mistakes. Fan Fan needed to test them all bit by bit, but Xia Lei didn¡¯t. As long as he did all the calctions inside his head, he could simte the effects of the form. Therefore, Fan Fan needed ten days to half a month, or perhaps even longer to finish creating the antidote, while he only needed about a few to ten minutes.
Fan Fan immersed herself in her work, while Xia Lei used his brain to do the same.
After ten minutes, Xia Lei let out a small sigh as he smiled. Ten minutes ago, he was infertile, but now, he had found a way for him to impregnate a woman. He only needed the required pharmaceuticals and bio-materials to create the antidote to stop his sperm cells from killing one another!
"What a pity. It was still a failure." Fan Fan set down the test tube with a gloomy look on her face.
She would never know that the experiment she had just done was actually just one of the thousand possible simtions which Xia Lei had run in his head!
"It doesn¡¯t matter, we have time." Xia Lei reached out to stroke her head gently.
Fan Fan leaned her head on Xia Lei¡¯s stomach. "How did the talk with you and that woman go?"
Xia Lei¡¯s hand reached down into her cor, fondling her as he said, "We talked, and I¡¯ve thought things through. I decided to merge Thunder Horse Military Factory, China Industrial Group, and Hanwu Weapons Company together to create Asia¡¯s biggest military group."
"R, Really?" Fan Fan started to tremble, and the shaking carried through into her voice. "B, But you said th, that you w-weren¡¯t ready¡ª Nngh... It¡¯s all my fault..."
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was soft. "I already said that I don¡¯t me you. Creating Asia¡¯s biggest military group is also my wish and the chance to achieve that wish is right in front of my eyes, so why wouldn¡¯t I do so?"
"It¡¯s good that you can think of it that way. I... Don¡¯t torture me anymore. I want you." Fan Fan¡¯s eyes were already zed over. Apart from lust, there was only more lust and the sense of emptiness in her body only grew stronger.
Xia Lei grabbed her around the waist, lifted her up, and walked towards the door. He nced at the stic engineering box out of the corner of his eye as he walked out the door, and his lips curved in a small smile.
Chapter 644 - Play With Outstanding Heroes
The first glimmer of dawn pierced the pitch-ck canopy of the sky, casting golden rays of light upon the Earth.
Fan Fan sat up in bed. She looked in the direction of the window, and happened to see Xia Lei calling someone, but she couldn¡¯t hear what Xia Lei was saying. She climbed out of the nkets and then got out of bed toe to Xia Lei side.
Xia Lei watched her quietly like he was appreciating a work of art.
¡°Seen enough?¡± Fan Fan coquettishly feigned her anger as she rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re so beautiful. I can¡¯t see enough of you for as long as I live,¡± said Xia Lei.
A sweet smile blossomed on Fan Fan¡¯s cheeks. No woman didn¡¯t like these sweet words. Moreover, these warm and romantic sweet words came from a man like Xia Lei. The same words would definitely feel different if they came from Beckham and Tyson.
Fan Fan put her shirt and short skirt on and said, ¡°Who were you talking to?¡±
¡°That woman. She¡¯s already here and I have to go see her. Do you want toe with me?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Me?¡± Fan Fan paused. ¡°Is it appropriate if I go?¡±
¡°What¡¯s inappropriate about it?¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°I like you being by my side.¡±
¡°What¡¯s with you today? You¡¯re saying so many sweet words to me.¡± Fan Fanughed.
¡°People change. Don¡¯t you like it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I like it.¡± Fan Fan grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you to see that woman then.¡±
Xia Lei and Fan Fan hadn¡¯t been in his office for long when Su Xiao came in with Long Bing. Long Bing¡¯splexion seemed very bad.
Xia Lei and Long Bing¡¯s eyes met. Even though they didn¡¯tmunicate verbally, their gazes seemed to pass on what needed to bemunicated: concern, worry, and love.
Su Xiao put a document envelope on Xia Lei¡¯s office table and cut straight to the chase. ¡°Mr Xia, let¡¯s just do what we¡¯d agreed on yesterday.¡±
Xia Lei opened the document envelope and took out the contract inside. There were a total of six contracts inside, two which required a legal representative¡¯s signature from Thunder Horse Military Factory, two which required a legal representative¡¯s signature from China Industrial group, and two requiring a signature from a legal representative of Hanwu Weapons.
Xia Lei skimmed the contracts that needed his signature and then said, ¡°Why aren¡¯t the Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group¡¯s legal representatives here?¡±
¡°You only need to sign where you¡¯re supposed to. As for the signatures from China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons, I will handle that separately. But don¡¯t worry, there aren¡¯t any problems with this,¡± said Su Xiao.
¡°Don¡¯t sign it!¡± Long Bing cried, ¡°Don¡¯t make me be your stumbling block, or this will gue me forever.¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± Su Xiao red angrily at Long Bing.
The corners of Long Bing¡¯s lips went up, but her expression was cold. ¡°The person who should shut up is you, bitch! I despise people like you who sacrifice the nation¡¯s benefits for their own personal gain the most! Even if people like you did more than generals, you¡¯d only be vermin!¡±
¡°You¡ª¡± Su Xiao was about to re up when she saw Xia Lei ring at her fiercely. She suppressed her anger and only said, ¡°Forget about it, I won¡¯t bicker with you anymore. Mr Xia, sign it.¡±
¡°What does my one signature count as in such a big matter? My Thunder Horse Military Factory is worth a billion, and you¡¯re just making me sign and give in. That¡¯s rather negligent of you, isn¡¯t it?¡± said Xia Lei softly.
Su Xiao frowned. ¡°What else do you want to do?¡±
¡°Wait for everyone to get here before signing it,¡± said XIa Lei.
¡°Wait for everyone to get here?¡± Su Xiao suddenly realised something. ¡°Who else did you invite?¡±
¡°I invited everyone who should have been invited. I bet the uninvited ones will hurry here as well so don¡¯t worry, there will definitely be an oue that satisfies everyone. We just have to wait a moment,¡± said Xia Lei indifferently.
Su Xiao¡¯s gaze fell upon Fan Fan.
Fan Fan¡¯s face was nk and seemed calm but the expression in her eyes became moreplicated.
Xia Lei walked over to Long Bing and whispered, ¡°Believe in me. You¡¯ll be all right.¡±
Long Bing nodded lightly.
Just then, Lu Sheng walked in. ¡°Director Xia, they¡¯re here.¡±
¡°Let them in,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yes.¡± Lu Sheng got closer to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and whispered, ¡°I¡¯ve prepared everything you told me to prepare and Qin Xiang is ready.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Go, go.¡±
Lu Sheng left and Su Xiao seemed to sense that something was wrong. ¡°Mr Xia, what¡¯s going on? We came to an agreement yesterday, so what tricks are you ying now?¡±
¡°Am I ying tricks?¡± Xia Lei shrugged.
Su Xiao¡¯s expression was cold and her speech had filled with a threatening tone. ¡°You better think about what the consequences will be if you don¡¯t sign this document.¡±
Xia Lei onlyughed tly. ¡°No rush.¡±
¡°You...¡± Su Xiao was furious.
Xia Lei walked over to Su Xiao and looked at her, face to face. Then, he got up to her ear and whispered, ¡°Miss Su, I know who you¡¯re working for.¡±
¡°You?¡± Su Xiao stared nkly.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t say more, but backed away instead.
Footsteps came from outside the door. It wasn¡¯t one person¡¯s footsteps but a whole group of people. Ling Han and Yu Shanhe appeared at the entrance of the office, followed by Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun and a few people from the Equipment Department, including Tang Tianlong.
When she saw these faces, Su Xiao¡¯s face suddenly turned dark.
Fan Fan had remained quiet but she couldn¡¯t keep quiet any longer when she saw these faces.
Ling Han¡¯s gaze fixed onto Fan Fan when he appeared in the entrance. He was smiling at first but the smile on his face disappeared when he saw Fan Fan.
¡°Haha.¡± On the contrary, Mu Jianfeng was happy. Heughingly said, ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯ve finally thought it through. This is a great thing that benefits our country. See, I got your call and I prepared the contract.¡±
Yu Shanheughed as well. ¡°Xia Lei, sign it in front of everyone today and from now on, the threepanies will be a family, and this newpany will be the biggest military factorypany in Asia! You have done a great meritorious service!¡±
¡°Yes, this is indeed a good thing, but you guys came a step toote.¡±
Mu Jianfeng¡¯s smile froze on his face. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s gaze fell upon Fan Fan as well, and it looked like he realised something.
Xia Lei pointed at the six contracts on the office table and pointed again at Su Xiao. He said, ¡°Miss Su came up to me first and she prepared the same contracts for me. Whose should I sign? Yours or hers?¡±
The office immediately went silent, and the atmosphere became strange. No one spoke but their eyes didn¡¯t stop moving. Everyone¡¯s eyes met each other¡¯s in the air like a. This trapped everyone, some were prey and some were hunters. Some people thought they were hunters but they were actually prey. Some people seemed like prey but were actually hunters. Everything in the world worked like this. It was possible that what one saw with one¡¯s eyes and heard with one¡¯s ears was fake.
¡°Xia Lei.¡± Ling Han spoke. ¡°What do you mean by this? Did you call me here to y tricks on me?¡±
¡°Brother Ling, how would I dare trick you? I¡¯m just someone with a low status, and I only hope to survive among people of high status like you. I wouldn¡¯t dare offend anyone. You guys want to take my Thunder Horse Military Factory and I¡¯m willing to hand it over. I¡¯m being so cooperative ¡ª did I do something wrong?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You called us here but you called her here too. What do you mean by this?¡± said Ling Han as he looked at Su Xiao.
¡°Brother Ling, are you sure it¡¯s Miss Su?¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°And not anyone else?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Ling Han frowned.
¡°Hehe, I was just saying that casually. I don¡¯t mean anything else.¡± Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Returning to the topic, let¡¯s talk business. Whose contract should I sign?¡±
¡°You called me here, so you should sign my contract, of course,¡± said Ling Han.
Su Xiao nced at Fan Fan and said, ¡°I was the one who discussed this with Mr Xia and I came first. You should sign my contract, of course.¡±
¡°You? You¡¯re not worthy!¡± Ling Han was furious.
¡°You...¡± Su Xiao hesitated. She seemed very afraid of Ling Han.
At this, Yu Shanhe said, ¡°All right, all right. This is a big matter that benefits our country. It doesn¡¯t matter who you sign with. We should care about the result and not the process. Let me help decide. Mr Xia, you should just sign with Elder Mu and Ye Kun.¡±
¡°I agree!¡± Ye Kun impatiently said, ¡°Mr Xia, we can start right now.¡±
¡°Yes, first sign the contract and then let¡¯s discuss everything else.¡± Mu Jianfeng was impatient as well.
Ye Kun and Mu Jianfeng all handed their contracts over, preparing to have Xia Lei sign it.
Ling Han and Fan Fan looked at each other withplicated expressions.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun were all ready but Xia Lei calmly said, ¡°What are you guys so anxious about? With such a big matter, even if it¡¯s signing, we should probably make some things clear first.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, what else do you have to add? Please speak, please speak.¡± Yu Shanhe was very polite.
¡°It¡¯s not like I won¡¯t allow you guys to have my Thunder Horse Military Factory but I have to say something ugly beforehand...¡± said Xia Lei slowly.
He stopped talking at the most crucial point, whetting everyone¡¯s appetites.
¡°You can speak whatever¡¯s on your mind,¡± urged Yu Shanhe.
Boom! A violent explosion sound came suddenly. In the instant the explosion rang out, the office shook lightly and the ss of the window shattered into pieces. The timid Ye Kun was practically lying on the ground, grabbing his fat butt like a fat hamster hiding from danger.
Fan Fan suddenly rushed to the window and looked in the direction of the vi. Her expression darkened immediately.
The explosion had been herboratory, and thick, heavy smoke came from inside the broken windows and the hole in the wall. The mes and chemical reagents¡¯ disorderly reactions then entered her view, and in that moment, her heart sank into an icy valley.
Chapter 645 - Falling Out
An ear piercing siren sounded. Shouts came from outside the office building. People were running and everything was in a chaotic mess.
Ling Han and Yu Shanhe also dashed towards the window to see what happened. Thick smoke was surging out of the vi, and the Special Forces soldiers guarding the area were in a panic. It was clear that there was an explosion, but nobody knew what exactly had happened.
¡°Mr Xia, what¡¯s going on?¡± Yu Shanhe quickly recovered.
Xia Lei drew close to the window to take a look too. His voice was filled with astonishment when he said, ¡°What? How did my vi explode?¡±
He deliberately emphasised the words, ¡®my vi¡¯, perhaps to remind the people in the office that it was his vi. It wasn¡¯t some other person¡¯s, and it especially wasn¡¯t the government¡¯s.
¡°You....¡± Fan Fan stared at Xia Lei nkly for a long time before she said, ¡°You actually made myboratory explode!¡±
¡°Was it me who made yourboratory explode?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was neither warm or cold: ¡°Would I make my own vi explode? It¡¯s worth several million.¡±
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ling Han was finally lost his temper. He roared at Xia Lei ¡°How dare you!¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You guys are finally dropping the act, one by one. You¡¯re falling out with me, aren¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Xia Lei, do you think I won¡¯t dare to teach you a lesson?¡± Ling Han scowled.
Xia Lei was still very calm. ¡°Of course you¡¯d dare to. However, I¡¯m also not a rabbit that can be easily stepped on. A rabbit will bite when it¡¯s forced into a corner too. So, if you want to teach me a lesson, just try it.¡±
If Ling Han was going to turn hostile, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t let him win. He would alsoy his cards out on the table.
¡°Xia Lei, did you call us out here just for this?¡± Yu Shanhe could still restrain himself, but the expression on his face could not be any colder.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Yep, I called you out here just for this. I want to let you know what kind of person I, Xia Lei, am, and where my bottom line is.¡±
Everyone in the room stared at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on Ling Han and he said, ¡°Mr Z. Bureau ZN¡¯s Mr Z. I didn¡¯t name the wrong person, did I?¡±
Ling Han was frozen with shock. He had been hiding his identity from the beginning and was sure that he didn¡¯t make any mistakes. Yet, Xia Lei had just revealed his true identity!
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze then went to Fan Fan. ¡°Fan Fan, I don¡¯t know your codename in Bureau ZN, but I know your¡¯s and Mr Z¡¯s positions are the same, no?¡±
Fan Fan moved her lips as if to say something, but she said nothing in the end.
Xia Lei went on talking. ¡°You and Mr Z really performed a good act together. I was also deceived by you guys. But because of the position of Bureau Chief, you guys messed up. If it wasn¡¯t for you and Mr Z contesting each other for your own benefits and meddling with this, I also wouldn¡¯t have discovered your identities. You could have continued to stay with me and to deceive me... Wouldn¡¯t that be nice?¡±
The expression on Ling Han¡¯s face was ugly.
ording to Bureau ZN¡¯s original n, Fan Fan would be hidden by Xia Lei¡¯s side with Song Bai¡¯s shielding. That n was carried out beautifully; the execution could even be called perfect. Following the n, they would be able to dig up Xia Lei¡¯s secrets. However, at this critical juncture, Bureau ZN¡¯s Chief announced his retirement. He and Fan Fan fought for political capital to be promoted, and thus interfered with the merging of Thunder Horse Military Factory, China Industrial Group, and Hanwu weapons, which led to the current result.
¡°You... When did you discover my identity?¡± asked Fan Fan. Her voice was weak.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°At first, I thought that it was Ms. Su who waspeting with Mr Z, but your act of injuring yourself to gain the enemy¡¯s confidence was too fake. It would be hard to not see through it.¡±
In fact, he had be suspicious of her when he read the original report that Su Xiao gave him. Later, when he saw that Fan Fan had been attacked in theboratory, he used his zoom-in vision to see the traces left there and used that to confirm her identity. From start to finish, Su Xiao was just a doormat, a scapegoat. Su Xiao¡¯s status in Bureau ZN was at most, Song Bai¡¯s level, and the only difference was that she was under Fan Fan, while Song Bai worked for Ling Han.
Fan Fan was silent. She had nothing to say. Her feelings were in aplicated mess.
¡°Mr Xia, you think that you¡¯re safe now? You¡¯re wrong. You¡¯ll regret this!¡± Su Xiao reached into her pockets and fished around, but didn¡¯t pull out anything. She abruptly pointed at Xia Lei, and shouted angrily, ¡°You stole my phone!¡±
Xia Lei spread out his hands. ¡°You said I stole your phone?¡± He paused for a moment beforeughing. ¡°I have a worth of billions. Why would I steal your phone? What¡¯s your annual sry? I¡¯ll give you ten times the amount toe and clean the toilets at mypany.¡±
¡°You¡ª!¡± Su Xiao¡¯s face turned blue from anger and humiliation.
¡°Or how about I send you a hundred Apple phones. All you have to do is apologise,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fan Fan then took out her phone and checked it. Her expression changed right away. ¡°Xia Lei, you stole my phone¡¯s memory card!¡±
¡°Is there something wrong with your brains? One is saying that I stole her phone and the other is saying I stole her memory card. Do you have evidence? If you don¡¯t have evidence-¡± Xia Lei suddenly roared, ¡°Then SHUT THE FUCK UP!¡±
The room suddenly fell silent, so silent you could hear a pin drop.
It wasn¡¯t because of Xia Lei¡¯s words, or because they were scared of Xia Lei, but the opposite. They couldn¡¯t believe that Xia Lei had actually dared to swear at them!
The one they had viewed as prey, and moreover, prey that was hunted by the whole pack, had actually dared to snarl at them, the hunters!
The reason why the prey had dared to snarl at the hunters was because he had already secretly destroyed the hunters¡¯ weapons. He had yed with Fan Fan¡¯s body for most ofst night and had secretly gotten rid of her cell phone¡¯s memory card which contained the original report when she was too exhausted to notice. Just ten minutes ago, when he approached Su Xiao, he used the chance to steal her phone as it also contained a picture of the original report. As for where the USB drive came from, and who had copied the data, he had an answer for that too. It was Fan Fan. The USB drive had Fan Fan¡¯s fingerprints.
With Su Xiao¡¯s identity, there was no way Fan Fan would really let her have something as important as the original report. Even if she gave it to Su Xiao, she would¡¯ve most likely prohibited her from downloading a copy. Therefore, all he needed to do was bomb theboratory, steal Fan Fan¡¯s memory card and Su Xiao¡¯s phone, and destroy the USB drive to make the report disappear.
Now what did Fan Fan and Su Xiao have to threaten him?
And even if Fan Fan still had a copy of the original report, he still wouldn¡¯t be scared. This wasn¡¯t his only way to counterattack!
¡°Xia Lei! I don¡¯t care what happened between you and Bureau ZN, I just have one thing to say. Are you signing the contract or not!¡± Yu Shanhe finally couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer. He got angry.
Xia Lei walked to the desk and turned on the desktop screen before turning it over to let Yu Shanhe, Mu Jianfeng, and the others see what was on it.
Theputer monitor showed the two core workshops of the Thunder Horse Military Factory. The first was the first generation Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe¡¯s core workshop and the other was the second generation Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe¡¯s. Neither of the workshops had any people inside but regardless of which machine it was, thepletethe or the iplete one, both of them were strapped with explosives.
The image on the screen suddenly changed to a womanly-looking man holding a remote control in his hand. He faced the camera with a smile.
¡°You, you actually want to bomb your ownthe!¡± Mu Jianfeng stuttered. Even the finger he was pointing at Xia Lei was trembling.
Xia Lei said softly, ¡°Even you said it¡¯s mythe, so why can¡¯t I bomb it?¡±
Yu Shanhe shouted angrily, ¡°How dare you!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s calm voice turned cold. ¡°Do I dare to bomb it? Good question. Why don¡¯t we make a bet? If you say the word ¡®dare¡¯ one more time, I¡¯ll have my guy detonate it immediately.¡±
¡°You...¡± Yu Shanhe pointed at Xia Lei, but he did not utter the word ¡®dare¡¯.
If Xia Lei really did explode the world¡¯s sole two most advanced intelligentthes, who would dare to assume responsibility for it? Furthermore, only Xia Lei could make the two intelligentthes! If Xia Lei blew the two up and didn¡¯t make any more, China¡¯s military would once again fall behind Europe and America¡¯s by arge margin. If this happened, then wouldn¡¯t they be the ones med by the higher-ups?
Actually, when all was said and done, Xia Lei¡¯s trump card, and all of his power were all his own capabilities. He was the only person who could build the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe and raise the military to a new standard. To a certain degree, it could be said that his worth was directly tied with benefits for the country. Who would dare to mess with him!
Mr Z, Fan Fan, Yu Shanhe... Who cared? When he was patient, he would seem polite and modest. After all, that¡¯s what society was like. Citizens did not fight with the government. He also abided by such regtions. But if they crossed his bottom line and all pretenses of cordiality were shed, he would spare no one¡¯s dignity!
¡°You don¡¯t dare to bet with me?¡± Xia Lei smiled coldly. ¡°I can destroy my intelligentthe any time I want, and go abroad to build my factories. As long as I have my hands, I can build a third and a fourth Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe to make aeback at any time. But if you guys fail, then it would be hard to crawl back up in your lifetime.¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s face was ashen. He couldn¡¯t say anything.
¡°I¡¯ll give you one minute to get the hell out. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll explode mythe. The XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle, as well as all the advanced tech I have will disappear here.¡± Xia Lei looked at his watch. ¡°I¡¯ll start counting now. It¡¯s already been ten seconds.¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun both looked at Yu Shanhe.
Yu Shanhe gritted his teeth, and his voice was brimming with hatred. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun followed Yu Shanhe and left.
Ling Han pointed at Xia Lei. ¡°You really have guts. Very well.¡± After saying this, he also left.
Fan Fan and Su Xiao didn¡¯t say anything as they walked towards the office door.
Xia Lei suddenly called out, ¡°Fan Fan, hold on.¡±
Fan Fan turned to look at Xia Lei. ¡°What do you want to say now?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°The Alloy X Project still needs your help. If you¡¯re still willing, you cane look for me at any time.¡±
Fan Fan was stunned. ¡°You... still want to coborate?¡±
¡°Only for the Alloy X Project. I don¡¯t want to be treated like a guinea pig again by anybody.¡± Xia Lei paused for a second before continuing, ¡°You should understand what I mean.¡±
Fan Fan nodded and left.
Xia Lei let out a long sigh.
The reason why he still wanted Fan Fan to do the Alloy X Project wasn¡¯t because of her abilities, but because he wanted to bnce it out. He had already torn apart Ling Han¡¯s friendship. If he made Fan Fan an enemy on top of that, then it would be equal to bing enemies with the entire Bureau ZN. That wasn¡¯t an oue he wanted. By exposing Fan Fan¡¯s identity and then extending out an olive branch, helping her against Ling Han, he would be able to get another ally in Bureau ZN.
No matter the situation, an extra friend is always better than an extra enemy.
Furthermore, although the original report was already destroyed, Fan Fan still knew some of his secrets. He was roping her in to keep those secrets a secret.
Fan Fan¡¯s nod of the head had actually been her expressing her agreement.
Chapter 646 - You’re A Liar, I’m A Liar
The summer night sky shimmered with stars. A cool and refreshing night wind blew in from the window, carrying away the heat in the room.
¡°You did great today.¡± Long Bing snuggledzily in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, her voice tender.
¡°You mean the bombing of Fan Fan¡¯sboratory? I¡¯ve long wanted to do that,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nope, that¡¯s not what I meant,¡± said Long Bingzily.
Xia Lei looked a little surprised. ¡°Then what were you talking about?¡±
¡°Nn, I¡¯m talking about what we just did.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Section Chief Long made jokes once in a while, but her jokes were cold jokes.
¡°Where did that Su Xiao take you?¡± Xia Lei changed the topic.
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Long Bing tried to recall the situation. ¡°She covered my head when I was being taken away so I couldn¡¯t see the roads. However, I know that she deliberately drove in a big loop before bringing me to the destination. Afterwards, she took me to a closed interrogation room.¡±
¡°What did she ask you?¡±
¡°Nothing at all.¡±
¡°Nothing at all?¡±
¡°She really didn¡¯t ask me anything. I was just confined there for around 30 hours before she brought me to yourpany,¡± said Long Bing.
The reason why they didn¡¯t ask anything was evidently because they didn¡¯t want Long Bing to know too much. Fan Fan had just regarded her as a bargaining chip she could take advantage of from the beginning. However, she had used the chip outside of the gambling den, and never in the core of the game.
¡®That girl Fan Fan really wasn¡¯t a simple woman. But then again, she is the country¡¯s greatest bioengineer as well as a core member of Bureau ZN. It¡¯d be strange if she was a simple woman,¡¯ Xia Lei thought.
He had been deceived by a total of three women ¡ª Liang Siyao, Shentu Tianyin, and Fan Fan. None of the three were simple, but if you were to rank them, Fan Fan would undoubtedly be the champion. When it came to scamming somebody, she was even better at it than Shentu Tianyin.
¡°What are you thinking about?¡±
¡°I dragged you into this.¡± Xia Lei released a sigh before he said apologetically, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for me, you wouldn¡¯t have had to go through this.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say that, I don¡¯t want to hear it.¡± Long Bing red at Xia Lei. She knew he had a lot of secrets but she never pried. She also knew that being with him would be very unstable, but she had never been bothered by it.
Xia Lei was moved. His hand, too, started making small movements. ¡°Then what would you like to hear?¡±
Long Bing flipped around abruptly and pressed Xia Lei to the floor below her. ¡°Enter me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The dead of the night was filled with amourous sounds.
Long Bing left Thunder Horse Military Factory the next morning. She had been, for some reason, taken away by Bureau ZN for interrogation, but was never asked a question from beginning to end.
Xia Lei saw Long Bing off before going to the vi alone.
The vi wasn¡¯tpletely destroyed. Only Fan Fan¡¯sboratory room had been bombed. Two of the room¡¯s walls had broken down, but the damage wasn¡¯t serious and it wouldn¡¯t affect the structural integrity of the vi.
Xia Lei had just arrived when Wu Xiaoguo strode up to him, his face filled with anger. ¡°Mr Xia, you brought in a stic engineering box yesterday. Was that where you stored the explosives? You¡¯re too brazen, too reckless!¡±
¡°Explosives?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was calm. ¡°Don¡¯t make random guesses. The box was just full of cosmetics.¡±
¡°You...¡± Wu Xiaoguo stood there angrily. As the colonel of the Special Forces in charge of defending the ancient alloy, he had never ever been ridiculed like this. Xia Lei had always treated him politely before, but he didn¡¯t have the least bit of respect for him now!
Xia Lei continued talking. ¡°Colonel Wu, let me tell you this. I don¡¯t care who ordered you, nor do I care who you¡¯re working for, I just want to remind you of one thing. If you don¡¯t treat me with respect, Thunder Horse Military Factory will not give you food or housing from today on. You guys will have to settle that yourselves. Oh right, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s bathrooms also won¡¯t be essible by you, so you¡¯ll also have to settle that yourselves.¡±
Wu Xiaoguo was frozen in shock.
¡°Your responsibility is to defend the ancient alloy and that¡¯s all your scope of authority is limited to. Do you understand what I mean? You¡¯d best not interfere with anything else apart from that. If you go against what I said, I¡¯ll immediately make a report to the higher-ups for you guys to be reced.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was stern.
¡°No, no, no, I understand.¡± Wu Xiaoguo immediatelyplied. ¡°I don¡¯t know what my men did to make Mr Xia misunderstand, but I guarantee that this won¡¯t happen again.¡±
Xia Lei smiled faintly. ¡°Then that¡¯s settled, Colonel Wu.¡±
¡°Settled indeed.¡± Wu Xiaoguo said, ¡°Oh right, Mr Xia, when will the vi be restored?¡±
Xia Lei nced at the ruinedboratory and said, ¡°I¡¯m not nning on fixing it. Just let it stay like this.¡±
¡°Just let it stay like this?¡± Wu Xiaoguo seemed very surprised.
Xia Lei looked at Wu Xiaoguo. ¡°Can¡¯t I do that?¡±
Wu Xiaoguo shrugged. ¡°Your house, your rules. All right, let¡¯s start doing our own work.¡±
Xia Lei entered Fan Fan¡¯sboratory, straight through the ruined wall.
His aim in not repairing theboratory was simple. He wanted anyone who entered to be able to see its existence at a nce and his determination ¡ª if I want to explode my things, I will!
Theboratory was in a mess. All kinds of research equipment were sted to pieces and all of the leftover data and samples had been destroyed.
Xia Lei¡¯s mood felt lighter as he looked at the mess.
Blowing up theboratory, falling out with Bureau ZN, bing hostile with Yu Shanhe, all of this sent a powerful and unyielding message ¡ª I, Xia Lei, am not someone who you can tamper with as you like! If you guys want the advanced tech, then don¡¯t touch me. If you want to use me for your goal, then you won¡¯t get anything!
He had to remind them that they couldn¡¯t always get everything they wanted and that they had to pay the price for moving against him.
This was a turning point. Now that he had stepped into this pit, the resistance inside China will temporarily fade away and he could shift his energy to the international marketce. There was also the Alloy X project.
Footsteps sounded behind him, a sound fairly specific to the rapping of high heeled shoes.
Xia Lei turned his head to see Fan Fan.
Their eyes met. Xia Lei was calm, but Fan Fan seemed a little embarrassed.
¡°Um... Mr Xia.¡± Fan Fan started to say something, but hesitated.
Xia Lei just nodded.
Fan Fan adjusted her spectacles. ¡°All right, I¡¯m sorry.¡±
Xia Lei just nodded again.
Fan Fan shrugged. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you want to curse at me? You can even p me. I won¡¯t mind. I¡¯m serious.¡±
Xia Lei then said, ¡°Is that necessary? What¡¯s the point in cursing you and pping you?¡±
¡°Then can we still...¡± Fan Fan peeked at Xia Lei. She had not finished speaking but she was already watching for Xia Lei¡¯s reaction.
Although she didn¡¯t finish, Xia Lei knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to ask if they could return to what they were like before. He smiled. ¡°Do you want to continue studying me?¡±
¡°You know I¡¯m not talking about that,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei changed the topic. ¡°I know you and Ling Han have apetitive rtionship. I can help you get more capital than him and seize the position of Bureau Chief. But my prerequisite is that you must not leak my secret. Furthermore, you can¡¯t use me in your schemes.¡±
Fan Fan smiled bitterly. ¡°I already nodded and agreed to all of this yesterday. I¡¯m talking about...¡±
They¡¯de back to this topic again.
Xia Lei stared straight at Fan Fan, but he couldn¡¯t see if she was being serious or faking it. He didn¡¯t know if she still had some sort of goal, such as continuing to study him, or if she still wanted his ¡®Super Little Lei Lei¡± or something like that. Right now, she seemed like a cultured beauty, just like a university teacher. However, she was in fact a deeply undercover, mysterious, and powerful figure.
¡°All right, maybe I was too anxious.¡± Fan Fan smiled awkwardly. ¡°I¡¯ll give you some time, and also give myself some time.¡±
Xia Lei nodded again.
Fan Fan continued, ¡°Furthermore, I want to make something clear. I deceived you, but you also deceived me. Admit it, you also had a goal when you approached me. I knew you were deceiving me, but I still let you do so. The time I spent with you was the happiest period in my life, and I don¡¯t regret it in the slightest. So please don¡¯t build a wall in your heart against me because I deceived you. Honestly, only three people know your secret. Me, you, and my assistant Su Xiao. There are absolutely no problems with her loyalty so you don¡¯t have to worry.¡±
¡°Are you saying we¡¯re even then?¡± Xia Lei smiled tly. ¡°Fine then, we¡¯re even.¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s shake hands.¡± Fan Fan extended a hand towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei grasped her hand and in that moment, he could clearly feel how sensitive her palm was. The reaction was impossible to fake.
¡°Stop observing me. My special constitution is very real indeed. I didn¡¯t lie to you about that.¡± Fan Fan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s not like you haven¡¯t done it with me before and don¡¯t know what my body is like.¡±
Xia Lei smiled a little awkwardly.
¡°All right.¡± Fan Fan withdrew her hand. ¡°I brought you a present today.¡±
¡°What present did you bring?¡±
¡°I brought you China Construction Bank¡¯s boss. He¡¯s in your office right now and you can chat with him whenever you have time. He can lend you 20,100,000,000,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 647 - Beast
Having the banke to him was a good thing.
After leaving the vi, Xia Lei suddenly said, ¡°Fan Fan, wait a moment, I need to relieve myself.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll wait for you,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei went to the vi¡¯s bathroom and fished out his phone to call Qin Xiang. ¡°Wait ten minutes and then call my office pretending to be someone from the bank, understand?¡±
Qin Xiang¡¯s voice came from the phone, ¡°What am I pretending to be somebody from the bank for?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to bother about that, just keep calling pretending to be whatever executive from ICBC, or the Agriculture Bank or whatever.¡±
¡°Then what should I say?¡±
¡°You can say whatever, just speak quietly.¡±
¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll call in ten minutes.¡± Qin Xiang hung up.
Xia Lei put away the phone and left the bathroom after waiting two minutes. He left the vi and went to the office with Fan Fan.
The guy Fan Fan had brought wasn¡¯t thepany boss, of course, but just a boss of one of the branches. His name was Chen Zhang and he was around fifty years old. He was plump and white, and his luxurious living style apparent.
Chen Zhang was very polite to Xia Lei, standing up to greet him as soon as he arrived and taking the initiative to shake hands with him. A smile filled his face. ¡°Director Xia, I hope my unsolicited visit isn¡¯t a great disturbance to you.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°Chief Chen is being polite. A few days ago, my people went to your bank but got the door mmed in their face. For you toe unsolicited now makes me very happy, how could you possibly be disturbing me?¡±
Chen Zhang nced awkwardly at Fan Fan.
But Fan Fan spoke up for Xia Lei. ¡°That¡¯s right, your bank was in the wrong for not giving Thunder Horse Military Factory the loan. How could you be afraid of not getting back your money with such an excellentpany like the Thunder Horse Military Factory? You guys are just sometimes far too careful to avoid offending a certain somebody. Is it useful if they pay you a visit? Is it more useful than the market economy? Seriously.¡±
What she said not only made Chen Zhang frozen with shock, but Xia Lei as well. Wasn¡¯t she also involved in the visiting of the banks which led to the non-issuance of loans?
Switching from a bandit to a hero without a single change in expression was really something only Fan Fan could do.
¡°Ahem.¡± Xia Lei coughed dryly and didn¡¯t expose Fan Fan. ¡°Chief Chen, may I ask what you came to see me for?¡±
Chief Chenughed. ¡°Director Xia, what else could it be? I know Thunder Horse Military Factory urgently needs a 20,000,000,000 yuan loan. I¡¯ll prepare it right away. Look, I even brought a loan contract with me. Just sign your name and the money will be in your bank ount by the afternoon.¡±
He really did bring the contract in his work bag. He took it out and two copies of the contract were ced neatly on Xia Lei¡¯s desk.
Xia Lei nced at the loan contract. He didn¡¯t say if he would sign or not. He peeked at the time on his watch out of the corner of his eye.
Chief Chen smiled and spoke again, ¡°Director Xia, take a look. If there¡¯s no problem, we can sign.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°There¡¯s no problems, but...¡±
Ring ring ring!
The private phone in the office rang suddenly.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, let me take this call first.¡± Xia Lei picked up the phone and said, ¡°Xia Lei speaking, who is this?¡±
Qin Xiang¡¯s voice sounded from the telephone, his voice as quiet as a mosquito. ¡°How many times did you and Long Bing do itst night in the office rest lounge?¡±
Xia Lei was bbergasted on the inside but on the surface, he still looked deadly serious. ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re from ICBC... You want to give me a loan? Right, I do need a loan, but... Okay, I won¡¯t mention what happened before. I know you guys have your own problems too. Then let¡¯s be straightforward. I want a loan of 20,000,000,000, how much interest do you want to charge?¡±
Qin Xiang replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but those moans of Section Chief Long almost turned me straight.¡±
Chief Chen had no idea of who was actually talking to Xia Lei, and what he was saying. He looked at Fan Fan for help, but thetter acted like it had nothing to do with her.
¡°An annual rate of 4.2%?¡± Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit high? I know it¡¯s already a good rate, but... 4.2%... Can¡¯t you make it a bit lower? I¡¯ll think about it then.¡±
The annual interest rate for a loan was usually 4.6%. ICBC gave him a rate of 4.2%, which really was quite very favourable.
Xia Lei had just hung up when the phone rang again.
¡°Agricultural Bank? I say, what¡¯s wrong with you guys? A few days ago, my people asked you for a loan and you didn¡¯t even want to meet with us... All right, all right, let bygones be bygones. I know you guys have your own difficulties. Why did you call? ... An annual rate of 4.1? How much for five years? Five years... 4.8%? Let me think about it. Wait for my call.¡±
Chen Zhang wiped furtively at the sweat on his forehead.
Xia Lei had just put the phone down when it rang yet again.
Xia Lei was just about to reach for the phone with Chen Zhang reached his own hand out to press his hand down. ¡°Direction Xia, don¡¯t answer the phone. How about this ¡ª we¡¯ll do five years with an annual interest rate of 4.5%.¡±
The usual loan interest rate for five years was 5.15%, so Chen Zhang¡¯s 4.5% annual interest deal was already a huge discount. They would make at least 1,300,000,000 from the 20,000,000,000 over five years.
Xia Lei was tempted, but he still pretended he was hesitant.
At this moment, Fan Fan spoke, ¡°How about this, Chief Chen, why don¡¯t you give Xia Lei another 0.2% discount on my behalf?¡±
This offer made Chen Zhang waver. 5 years for 4.5% was already a huge discount. If he added on another 0.2%, it would be 4.3%, almost an entire 1 percent from the original price. This one percentage of this 20,000,000,000 yuan deal meant a loss of 200,000,000 in profit!
Ring, ring, ring...
This time, Xia Lei didn¡¯t let Chen Zhang block him and picked up the phone.
¡°What are you doing? Why didn¡¯t you answer my call just now? Weren¡¯t you the one that asked me to call? I was just talking about you and Long Bing. Are you mad already? You¡¯re a big man already, how could you be so petty with a woman...¡± came Qin Xiang¡¯s voice.
¡°Sino Bank? Really, you guys... Fine, fine, I won¡¯t hold what happened against you... You¡¯re good friends with my wife? Ay, it¡¯s my ex-wife, okay? ... If you need something just say it. I need a loan of 20,000,000,000. You¡¯ll give me a five-year deal with an interest rate of... 4.15%? That¡¯s a great deal!¡±
Chen Zhang suddenly pressed the end key on the phone¡¯s keypad.
¡°Chief Zong, what¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± Xia Lei looked at Chen Zhang.
¡°F, F, Four point one percent!¡± Chen Zhang spoke through clenched jaw. ¡°I¡¯ll lend you 20,000,000,000 for five years at an interest rate of 4.1%. However, we must sign a long term contract. The next time you need a loan, you should consider us first.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°All right, then let¡¯s sign now.¡±
Half an hourter, Chen Zhang left Xia Lei¡¯s office.
Fan Fan gave Xia lei a thumbs up. ¡°You¡¯re really ruthless. I sold my pride to get you a rate of 4.3%, but you actually managed to sh it down to 4.1%.¡±
Xia Lei said. ¡°He had no choice, that¡¯s the market. If he didn¡¯t lend me the money, other people will.¡±
Fan Fan smiled. ¡°Were those calls earlier really from the ICBC, Agriculture Bank and so on?¡±
It was easy to trick people like Chen Zhang with those calls earlier, but tricking a woman like Fan Fan would be very difficult.
¡°What do you think?¡± Xia Lei looked at her.
¡°I trust you.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll also thank you,¡± said Xia Lei. Fan Fan had been a big help earlier. If she had not used her own reputation to bring Chen Zhang over and give him a chance to act, then sold her pride to Chen Zhang, then he wouldn¡¯t have been able to get such a good deal.
¡°So how are you going to thank me?¡± Fan Fan crossed her legs.
Her long, snow white legs kicked up in the air, revealing a glimpse of the white,cyndscape underneath the skirt. That mysteriousndscape was fertile and very ripe. Even though it was just a sh, it was very alluring, seducing people into a captivating fantasy.
A faint smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Myboratory was destroyed, so I want...¡± Fan Fan yed with her hair, and intentionally or unknowingly pulled down slightly on her cor.
Xia Lei stared at her, but his words weren¡¯t at all ambiguous. ¡°You won¡¯t get a newboratory, or at least not at my vi.¡±
Fan Fan smirked. ¡°Is there no negotiation for this?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was indifferent. ¡°You deceived me. You think I¡¯ll jump into your trap again?¡±
¡°All right then, I don¡¯t want myboratory rebuilt. However, the Alloy X Project is still in progress. My grandfather and I have always been members of the Alloy X Project, and now I want to know your n. You said that you wanted to help me get the seat of Bureau ZN¡¯s chief, but right now I only have the Alloy X Project,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Give me another two month¡¯s time and Thunder Horse Military Factory should be done upgrading by then. My second generation Thunder Dragon Intelligence Lathe should also be created by then and I can give you an answer after that.¡±
¡°Two months?¡± Fan Fan frowned.
¡°That¡¯s the shortest possible time, no negotiation.¡±
¡°All right then, I¡¯lle backter,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was calm. ¡°What are youing back for?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget that apart from the Alloy X Project, I also need to research your sperm. I¡¯ll be able to create an antidote very quickly. Don¡¯t you want to test it?¡±
Test it? Xia Lei felt a me of passion ignite in his lower half.
¡°Furthermore, although you blew up myboratory and destroyed all my data and samples, I know your body¡¯s secrets. There¡¯s a huge risk for me to keep your secrets. Did you think that just because you said you¡¯d help me be the Bureau Chief of Bureau ZN, that I¡¯d feeble-mindedly help you? You should also have to pay an equal price.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°I¡¯m an expert in gic engineering and I¡¯m very curious about your descendants would be like. I think that he would also be a marvel.¡±
¡°You want a child?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t my request actually a very delightful one for you? Don¡¯t you have a lot of women you sleep with? I¡¯m just going to be one more.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 648 - Earthworm Plan
With the loan issue settled, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s troubles were gone, and everything was back on track. The equipment from Russia and Ukraine, as well as the relevant technical staff had steadily trickled over to Thunder Horse Military Factory. The relevant upgraded engineering and technology reformation advanced intensely and urgently. The production workshops for cannons, tanks, and defense systems were quickly being built. At this rate, a formidable military factory would quickly rise steeply from level ground, towering over Asian soil as it looked down upon the entire world!
Without the disturbances of the outside world, Xia Lei put most of his energy into making the second generation intelligent Thunder Dragonthe. His remaining energy was put into developing an antidote. His brain had alreadye up with a solution. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to manufacture an antidote to the poison that suppressed sperm, but it would be hard to find the various bio-materials and drugs, and he couldn¡¯t let Fan Fan find out...
There were actually two reasons why he couldn¡¯t let Fan Fan know. One, naturally, was the correct antidote itself, while the other was the reverse antidote, to control the antidote.
Fan Fan wanted to have his child, and she would have called it a miracle. But would he give it to her just because she wanted one? Of course not. As long as Fan Fan researched the correct antidote, this would prove useful for his reverse antidote. The woman who would have his child, or what the bioengineers call a ¡®wonder child¡¯ would have to be a woman whom he chose and loved dearly.
In this period of time, Jiang Ruyi hade to Jingdu for study and she stayed in Thunder Horse Military Factory for a week. Xia Lei didn¡¯t have time to go to Haizhu to apany her, and she came to Jingdu so that she could apany him every night. Jiang Ruyi clearly knew what role she yed by Xia Lei¡¯s side so she didn¡¯t insist on having anything. As long as Xia Lei could apany her sometimes, she was satisfied. This week had been very happy one for her.
A weekter, Jiang Ruyi left Jingdu and Xia Lei became busy again.
Without any disturbance from the outer world, the second generation intelligent Thunder Dragonthe progressed quickly.
Two monthster.
Many cars had parked at Thunder Horse Military Factory early in the morning. There were vehicles from the government, from the military, and from the media, including the China CATV news interview van. They had alle to Thunder Horse Military Factory for one purpose ¡ª the birth of the second generation intelligent Thunder Dragonthe and thepletion of the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s artillery assembly line.
These two things could bebined as one, to mark the promotion of the quality of the Chinese arms manufacturing!
Inside the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe workshop, the female anchor for CATV faced the camera as she smiled and reported impassionately, ¡°To everyone watching, right now, I am broadcasting live from Thunder Horse Military Factory. This factory is under the banner of the Thunder Horse Group. Behind me is Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s newest generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe as everyone can see. It¡¯s a biggie, and it almost weighs 1000 tons. It is the most advancedprehensivethe in the world and represents a leaping promotion in our country¡¯s manufacturing and military factory industry. It is the pride of our country and the pride of us citizens...¡±
In the past, when CATV broadcast this type of news, they often wouldn¡¯t say thepany name, typically using ¡°somepany¡±, or ¡°some production base¡± instead. But today, the female anchor for CATV spoke directly about Thunder Horse Military Factory without concealing anything, only because she was proud and confident. She didn¡¯t need to say ¡¯some product¡¯ or how itpared to the same product in the West or the weapon¡¯s function. Instead, she was using the term "most advanced"!
Thunder Horse Military Factory never needed to be mysterious because it was formidable, the most advanced, and very confident. CATV chose to report on the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe and the birth of the artillery assembly line with a clear purpose ¡ª to give the world a signal that Chinese manufacturing and military factory industry was not as reliant on imports as it had been in the past. It had already risen to prominence!
"Ha! The Americans probably can¡¯t sit still now." Shi Boren¡¯s voice was very loud in the crowd of people watching. "With the changing of the times, we no longer need to look at the Americans¡¯ faces. Blockading
us? Dream on!"
The military figures in the same field chatted andughed, and all of them seemed proud and ted.
There were also some unhappy people, namely Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, who were leaders in the same military factory field. From ancient times, people selling flour would dislike people selling lime. Now, Thunder Horse Military Factory had risen to prominence, with a menacing eye on the international ammunition market. Could they be happy?
"That fellow really doesn¡¯t appreciate other people¡¯s kindness." Ye Kun was watching Xia Lei who was getting interviewed by the CATV female anchor, his expression like that of a poisonous snake. "He isn¡¯t even a part of the system, so what¡¯s the point of making such a big contribution? Glory? How much money will glory get you? For glory, he became our enemy. I think he¡¯s just aplete idiot! Can he defeat all of us? Humph!"
"Kun." Mu Jianfeng sighed. "Don¡¯t make yourself seem like a resentful woman. Things have already gotten to this point and we can¡¯t do anything about it already so ept reality."
"Teacher, can you ept reality?"
"Even if I couldn¡¯t, what then?" Mu Jianfeng¡¯s gaze fell on Yu Shanhe, who was further away, and a cold smile crept onto his face. "Even Mr Yu couldn¡¯t suppress Xia Lei so what could you and I do?"
"Couldn¡¯t we think of another way?"
"I¡¯d advise you to give up on those thoughts. Don¡¯t forget, that rascal has a hold on our weakness."
On another side, Ling Han and Fan Fan had run into each other. The two of them looked each other in the eye for a full minute before speaking.
"I didn¡¯t think that this would be the oue." Ling Han forced augh. "We¡¯ve worked all for nothing, revealing our identities only to get nothing in return."
Contrarily, Fan Fan was very rxed. She indifferently said, "Xia Lei isn¡¯t a simple man. He isn¡¯t that easy to suppress, but this is fine too. In any case, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s technologies all belong to our country."
"You don¡¯t have any losses. Xia Lei doesn¡¯t even pick up my calls anymore but you can still go to hispany every now and then." Ling Han¡¯s eyes tried to feel her out. "You and him... You two aren¡¯t serious, are you?"
Fan Fan arched an eyebrow. "Don¡¯t speak out of turn. I only came to Thunder Horse Military Factory for the Alloy X Project. Xia Lei and I only have a coborative rtionship. We can¡¯t even be considered friends. In the beginning, I hid next to Xia Lei under the orders of the old director. Xia Lei already knows my identity and purpose so he¡¯s very guarded against me and basically doesn¡¯t even talk to me."
"How¡¯s the Alloy X Project going?" Ling Han changed the subject.
"It hasn¡¯t made headway yet."
"Has it not made headway or do you not want to tell me?"
"What do you mean? I¡¯m telling you..."
At this moment, an old person appeared in front of her and she abruptly closed her mouth.
Ling Han sensed something and looked over. Upon seeing that old person, his expression immediately became reverent and serious.
The old person passed between Fan Fan and Ling Han without speaking.
Fan Fan and Ling Han exchanged nces, and walked away without chatting further.
The old person hadn¡¯t walked far before he stopped, and quietly watched Xia Lei getting interviewed from within the crowd. He was expressionless but his eyes were very special, like the stars in the deep night, glistening with a chilly dim light...
Meanwhile.
Tokyo, Japan.
In a hotel room, Gu Kewen sat on the sofa watching television. The television program she was watching was broadcasting the Chinese CATV news. The dignified, pretty female anchor and the handsome, cheerful Xia Lei made one feel this was an entertainment channel¡¯s anchor interviewing a celebrity who had just gotten popr and not an anchor interviewing a boss of a military industrialpany.
"Mr Xia, congrattions on receiving international attention and support. Before the program ends, can you talk about how you¡¯re feeling?"
"My feelings? Hehe." Xia Leiughed sincerely. "I am very happy."
"You¡¯re already an idol to many young people. Can you tell them about your experiences in the struggle for sess?"
"My experiences? Hehe, that would take a whole day. But let me just say a few simple words. Young people like us need to first establish a proper goal and then fight hard for that goal. Don¡¯t worry about how much sweat or hard work it¡¯ll be. As long as you do it, you will get results."
"Well said, Mr Xia. Do you have a goal right now?"
"Yes, of course. My goal is to make Thunder Horse Military Factory into the best military factory group internationally. I would like to issue a challenge to all the established military factories out there ¡ª I want to seize the whole market!"
"Thank you, Mr. Xia, I hope you seed!"
The interview ended.
"Hypocrite!" Gu Kewen took off her slippers and threw them at the television.
The room door suddenly opened, and a tall cleaningdy pushed a cleaning trolley into the hotel room. After the cleaningdy closed the door, Gu Kewen suddenly got up from the sofa and respectfully said, "Miss Mona, you... Why have youe?"
Mona took a document envelope from the cleaning trolley box and casually tossed it at Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewen caught it with both hands.
"Open it and take a look," said Mona tly.
Gu Kewen opened the document envelope.
There was a document inside. "Earthworm n" was written in English on the cover page.
"Earthworm n?" Gu Kewen couldn¡¯t help reading it out loud. She was full of uncertainty.
"Xia Lei fled to China thest time, after the Germany operation failed. Whether it¡¯s the CIA or our FA Organisation, it¡¯s a forbidden area to both and an inappropriate ce to take action. However, the superiors have be impatient. Even if it¡¯s China, we have to take action now."
¡°Are you asking me to return to China in secret?¡±
¡°Don¡¯te to that conclusion so soon. This isn¡¯t an action n for you alone. Take a look first.¡± Mona¡¯s voice was very cold,pletely emotionless.
Gu Kewen opened the ¡°Earthworm n¡± and a cold smile soon formed on her lips...
Chapter 649 - Xia Leis Cannon
Thunder Horse Military Factory was as lively as ever inside. The interview and visit was only one part of this celebration. The first cannon firing test was the real important part of this celebration.
Arge group of people left Thunder Horse Military Factory with Xia Lei in the lead. They arrived at a vacant plot ofnd, outside of the new workshop area.
A small bare hilltop sat at the end of the vacantnd. On the top was a bullseye that had been made with a mix of y and a steel te. It wasn¡¯t that big; the same size as an average war tank.
A stone tform was temporarily set up on the emptynd. It was covered with a very big military canvas. Just from the outline when the canvas, something big seemed to be hidden underneath. However, the canvas was opaque, and the people present couldn¡¯t see what was underneath the canvas at all.
"It looks like self-propelled artillery," said a cannon expert next to Mu Jianfeng.
Mu Jianfeng had purposely brought a cannon expert from Shenzhou Industrial Group to judge the standard of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s current artillery technology this time, on his visit to the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s newly constructed cannon workshop. This was very important to the heavy weaponry China Industrial Group.
Mu Jianfeng carefully observed the silhouette covered by the canvas and said, "It does seem like a big self-propelled artillery but that¡¯s not possible because Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s artillery assembly line waspleted not too long ago. Would it be possible for it to produce heavy weaponry like this self-propelled artillery?"
"That¡¯s right. Producing artillery is easy but producing a self-propelled artillery is not that easy. That would require armored vehicles technology and the relevant fire control system technology, and so on. How could Thunder Horse Military Factory create a self-propelled gun in such a short time?" said the cannon expert from China Industrial Group.
Ye Kun got closer. "Don¡¯t forget that that rascal is best at defeating his opponents with a surprise move. The more we feel it¡¯s impossible, the more likely it¡¯ll be."
Mu Jianfeng frowned. "Kun, do you think Xia Lei has already produced a self-propelled gun as well?"
Ye Kun nodded with a grave expression on his face.
On a certain level, the self-propelled gun was basically a tank. Other than the difference in shooting angles, its te armor was weaker than a tank but its power was much greater. Thus, constructing a heavy duty weapon like the self-propelled gun required cannon technology but also a good grasp of armored vehicles technology. This was precisely what Thunder Horse Military Factory did not have. If a self-propelled gun really was underneath there, that would mean Thunder Horse Military Factory had already grasped this type of technology and applied it to real manufacturing. This would be bad for China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons.
The same discussion appeared elsewhere. Many people thought a self-propelled gun equivalent to a tank was hidden underneath the military canvas but based on Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s current abilities, no one could believe that it could already produce heavy duty weaponry like that.
Turn back the clock to that night two months ago.
Long Bing suddenly flipped atop Xia Lei, pressing him down and saying to him in amanding voice, ¡°Get inside me!¡±
However, Xia Lei suddenly thought of something. "Bing, Thunder Horse Military Factory is doing an all-round upgrade now. The artillery workshop was the first to be established and it¡¯s also the easiest to produce and put into the marketce. What do you think the first cannon I make should be?"
Long Bing suddenly fell onto Xia Lei¡¯s chest like a deted balloon. "You¡¯re discussing artillery with me right now?"
However, Xia Lei was very serious. "I just had some inspiration."
"All right, I¡¯ll give in. What inspiration?"
"I don¡¯t know what happened. It was too fast. I don¡¯t know what inspiration it was but I¡¯m sure that you definitely triggered it."
"Me?" Long Bing looked extremely confused. She couldn¡¯t think of anything she had done to inspire Xia Lei.
"Yes, you. I have a feeling that it¡¯s awesome. If I manage to grasp it, it will definitely be something that will shock everyone in the artillery field." Xia Lei was very excited.
"Are you sure you want to talk about artillery with me right now?"
"How about you do everything you just did again? Maybe I¡¯ll be able to grasp the inspiration I just felt." Xia Lei was impatient. "Hurry up, hurry up."
Long Bing gloomily nodded. Then, she got off Xia Lei¡¯s body and got back into his embrace, sliding one hand down his lower abdomen.
"What are you doing?" Xia Lei suddenly got nervous.
"Didn¡¯t you tell me to repeat what I just did?" Long Bing was not bothered by Xia Lei.
Xia Lei frowned. "Then, then continue."
"What are you thinking about?"
"What else could I be thinking about?"
"This is really funny."
"Yeah, this is so funny."
"Can we not be funny like this anymore?"
"Then what should we do?"
"Get inside me!"
"Wait... Say that again!" shouted Xia Lei suddenly.
"Say what?"
"What you just said!"
"Get..."
"Say it." Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were filled with desire.
"Get inside me!" said Long Bing fiercely.
Xia Lei paused and suddenly burst into heartyughter. "That¡¯s it, that¡¯s it... I got it! This is great!"
"Great, yeah right!" Long Bing threw the pillow next to her at Xia Lei¡¯s head...
Time returned to the present.
In the crowd, Long Bing watched the military canvas, with a faint smile on her face. She had never thought that she could have helped Xia Lei with his work but she had actually contributed to the first cannon that Thunder Horse Military Factory created. Every time she thought of this, she would have a little sense of achievement and couldn¡¯t help feeling happy.
"What are you smiling about?" Tang Yuyan came over.
"Do I have to tell you what I¡¯m smiling about?" Long Bing¡¯s head was filled with the romantic story of that night. Her happy feeling disappeared immediately after Tang Yuyan interrupted her.
"It¡¯s rare to see you smiling. You only smile a few times in a year. Something must be up if you¡¯re smiling," said Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing just ignored Tang Yuyan.
"Forget it, if you¡¯re not going to talk about it, I don¡¯t want to know." Tang Yuyan pointed at the military canvas on the stone tform. "A lot of people are guessing a self-propelled cannon is underneath, what do you think?"
"Xia Lei¡¯s gun is definitely the best gun." Long Bing seemed to have imagined something, and her expression was a little strange.
"What gun are you talking about?" Tang Yuyan¡¯s sixth sense was tingling.
"Ahem." Long Bing coughed dryly. "Of course I¡¯m talking about artillery, what did you think it was?"
"I¡¯m asking about what the cannon underneath the military canvas is. What are you talking about?"
"Of course I¡¯m talking about the cannon underneath the canvas."
"What is that?"
"Cannon, your ass. If you talk more nonsense, I¡¯ll give you a cannon." Long Bing was feeling a little irritable.
"Have you eaten the wrong medicine? Do you even have a cannon?" After a pause, she probingly asked, "Have you seen Xia Lei¡¯s cannon?"
Long Bing was speechless.
While the two women were having a questionable verbal quarrel, Xia Lei stood on the temporarily set up stone tform, apanied by Liu Zhengnan. All eyes were on Xia Lei.
"Director Xia, you uncover it," said Liu Zhengnan.
Xia Lei nodded and reached his hand out to grasp a corner of the military canvas. Then, he pulled at it.
The military canvas left the ground and was swept by the wind. A rectangr wooden tform was revealed on the stone tform with a velvet carpet on top. A strangely shaped 1.5 meter long cannon was revealed. It had around 60 mm in calibre, equivalent to a light mortar.
But it wasn¡¯t a mortar.
The main part of the cannon was longer than a mortar. What¡¯s stranger was that its gun mount wasn¡¯t triangr. Instead, it was made up of two parts. One part was a single long and thin straight alloy stand. The other part was a tail-like partbination type stand, in the shape of a mshell but with a veryplicated machinery structure.
"Shit, what¡¯s this?" The expert in the crowd, from China Industrial Group, opened his eyes wide, but he was still flummoxed. He couldn¡¯t even tell what it was.
"So it¡¯s not a self-propelled cannon. What cannon is it?"
"Can this thing open fire?"
"Of course it¡¯ll probably be able to fire but I bet it¡¯ll only be able to shoot a hundred meters haha. Thunder Horse Military Factory is going to turn into a joke this time."
"He doesn¡¯t even produce the good XL2500 sniper and Gust assault rifle, but he¡¯s producing cannons like other people instead. Isn¡¯t he just bringing shame upon himself?¡±
¡°I really don¡¯t understand what Director Xia is thinking.¡±
¡°Right now, young people just love being in the limelight. They¡¯re just taking all sorts of weird things out.¡±
These discussions were everywhere. Practically no one had a good opinion of this type of a miniature cannon.
Only Long Bing smiled even more upon seeing the strange miniature cannon.
In the midst of doubts, Xia Lei carried the strangely shaped miniature cannon and opened the tail part of the mshell structure¡¯s stand. Something happened that shocked everyone; the extremely strange rear part automatically opened, wrapping his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, the rear support hadbined with his body, as both man and cannon became one!
¡°It¡¯s actually this design?¡± Someone was very surprised.
¡°This design is just full of tricks,¡± said a cannon expert.
¡°Yes, the power of the cannon is very strong and its recoil is very astonishing. Hebined the cannon with the body. The recoil from the cannon firing could break his shoulder!¡±
¡°How is this a cannon? It¡¯s practically a suicidal device. Designing it like this... What other use can it have other than hurting people?¡± asked another cannon expert.
Indeed, the recoil of the cannon was unlike that of a gun. The moment it fired, its gunpowder energy was a hundredfold and even a thousandfold than that of a gun¡¯s. An average person¡¯s body would be unable to tolerate the firing recoil, much less that of the cannon. From this angle, the cannon Xia Lei designed was really a suicidal design.
But was it really the case?
Chapter 650 - Hellhound One-soldier Cannon
Two workers lifted a wooden box onto the stage. One of the workers opened the wooden box to reveal eight artillery shells inside. The eight artillery shells seemed like firearm bullets that had been erged tenfold, and not the artillery shells of a mortar. Just from the cannonballs, the possibility that Xia Lei¡¯s cannon was a mortar could be eliminated. Those eight artillery shells already gave an impression to the audience ¡ª Even though I¡¯m small, I¡¯m a real cannon and not a mortar!
Liu Zhengnan held a microphone and stood next to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice transmitted from the microphone to the amplification equipment so that everyone within range heard. ¡°I believe everyone has seen it. This is Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s first cannon. Its name is Hellhound!¡±
Hellhound was the name of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s first cannon. Even though its design waspletely different, its strangeness and the cold aura it emitted gave one the impression of an invisible pressure!
¡°Hellhound? What kind of a name is this?¡± Under the stage, Ye Kun scoffed. ¡°Are people who built themselves up from a construction background only this cultured?¡±
¡°I bet if Xia Lei dared to personally operate it, he¡¯d be handicapped,¡± said a cannon expert disdainfully. ¡°And he even named it Hellhound. The name sure is fierce but it definitely only looks good, and is without substance or usefulness.¡±
¡°Hellhound? Why would it be named something like that? Godly Dragon Cannon or something of the sort would sound better than this name.¡±
Even though it was only a name, it had already led to a bunch of discussion. Many of the people who hade were Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯spetitors, plus, since the first impression was the strongest, they were naturally generous with their words of ridicule.
¡°Everyone, please quiet down. Even if you were to mock me, shouldn¡¯t you wait for me to humiliate myself before mocking me?¡± came Xia Lei¡¯s voice.
The crowd immediately quieted down at these words.
¡°Some of you are probably very curious as to why I named Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s first cannon this, so I¡¯ll tell you. The hellhound came from Romanian myths, birthed from the hundred-handed giant Typhon and Echidna, and was Hecate¡¯s pet. It guarded the gates to hell, preventing dead souls from escaping hell. Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s first cannon ys a role simr to the hellhound, but it doesn¡¯t prevent dead souls from escaping hell. Instead, it prevents enemies from entering, and sends enemies to hell,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What¡¯s the point of saying all this? Even if you made the name more fierce and boast about its performance, it has to actually work.¡± Someone tried to stir up trouble.
Xia Lei ignored him. He continued, "I trust everyone has already seen it. It¡¯s a one-soldier cannon and weighs a total of 35 kilograms. With the artillery loaded, it weighs 40 kilograms. Given its weight, any soldier can operate it and carry it throughplicated jungles and mountainous regions. More importantly, it utilizes special artillery that Thunder Horse Military Factory developed. Its range is 2,500 meters, with just a 5 meter error and its power isparable to a 120mm calibre smoothbore cannon. This is a rifle-bore cannon. On the battlefield, a soldier can be a tank killer with one Hellhound cannon and a round of the special armor piercing projectiles we make."
Stupefied expressions were on all the faces under the stage.
Such a small cannon that was to be fired from one¡¯s shoulder had powerparable to that of the 120mm calibre smoothbore cannon?! The 120mm calibre smoothbore cannon was currently the cannon that war tanks used; one could only imagine its might! But the most shocking thing was that it was actually a rifle-bore cannon. In the cannon universe, the smoothbore cannon¡¯s might was the greatest but it had a very low precision. The rifled bore cannon had a very high precision but its might was on the low end. However, Thunder Horse Military Factory had managed to provide the might of the smoothbore cannon and the precision of the rifle-bore cannon at the same time!
Was this even possible?
No one in the world had yet to aplish this!
"What are you bragging about?!" A cannon expert from China Industrial Group finally couldn¡¯t hold it in. With a loud voice, he said, "You say that the Hellhound¡¯s power isparable to the 120mm rifle-bore cannon, so that¡¯s equivalent to carrying a tank on your shoulder! Do you know how big the recoil is after a tank fires a cannonball? Fire it once and let me see it!"
When a tank shot a cannon ball, the entire tank would shake and one tank weighed several tons. How could one person stand such a big recoil?
This was impossible!
Xia Lei took it in his stride andughed. "You¡¯ll see. Otherwise, do you think I gathered you all here to watch me get sted up into the sky?"
Laughter sounded from below the stage.
Xia Lei took out an artillery shell. A small mortar artillery shell actually weighed five kilograms ¡ª it was very different indeed.
After grabbing the cannon, Xia Lei pressed something on the stand behind the cannon and a small hatch in the stand unit immediately opened. He put the artillery shell inside and the hatch automatically closed. Some mechanical whirring sounds came from the support frame system, clearly from loading the artillery shells.
Xia Lei opened the infrared ray aiming mechanism in front of the cannon and a line of infrared light shot at a little hill at the opposite end. The target made of soil and a steel te stood upright and tall on that small hill, about 2,500 meters away.
Everyone waspletely silent as they waited and watched for the result.
Some people were waiting to witness a miracle while others were waiting to witness a tragedy.
Before Xia Lei could fire it, Shi Boren briskly walked onto the stage and pressed a big hand onto Xia Lei¡¯s other shoulder. "Xia Lei, let someone else fire instead."
"There won¡¯t be a problem, Boss Shi. Would I not know the capabilities of something I built?" said Xia Leiughingly.
"Boy, you aren¡¯t even thinking about the consequences. If something unfortunate happens, what¡¯ll happen to Thunder Horse Military Factory? What about that matter?" whispered Shi Boren.
Xia Lei knew that Shi Boren was talking about the Alloy X Project. "Really, everything will be fine. Boss Shi, back up a bit. I¡¯m going to fire it," said Xia Lei.
"You rascal..." Shi Boren red at Xia Lei but he couldn¡¯t do anything about him.
At this moment, Tang Yuyan quickly walked over.
"Zhengnan, put on my earmuffs for me," said Xia Lei hurriedly.
Liu Zhengnan put the special earmuffs that had been prepared beforehand onto Xia Lei¡¯s head, covering his ears.
"Xia Lei, wait!" Tang Yuyan walked even faster, looking anxious and worried.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t wait for her to get onstage. He aimed the infrared ray at the target and pressed the button.
Boom¡ª
An artillery shell shot furiously out of the muzzle of the Hellhound with a boom. In the blink of an eye, the hill on the opposite side suddenly burst into mes and smoke. The sound and vibrations really seemed like a tank had fired there!
The target was blown up.
Even though the target was 2,500 meters away, a camera captured the scene of it getting hit and blown into pieces, and these images were transmitted to the many disys at the shooting range. These images reyed nonstop but no one spoke. The entire shooting range was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone wasn¡¯t just shocked at the Hellhound Cannon¡¯s terrifying power but also its recoil. With its range and power, Xia Lei should have flown back at least ten meters but he was still standing on the stage; he had only backed up a little. His shoulder hadn¡¯t gotten smashed, and not an inch of skin got scraped!
Chins fell everywhere.
"This... This is out of this world!" blurted a cannon expert from China Industrial Group after nking out for a long time. He seemed to have been in a sleepwalking state up until this moment.
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun had already snapped out of it, and were nowpletely nk.
The debut of just this one Hellhound One-soldier Cannon enough to let Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s cannon technology be the best in the world!
A few disys suddenly changed to Xia Lei firing the cannon. This was yed in slow motion and clearly showed that a metal tube had shot out of Hellhound¡¯s support frame mechanism when Xia Lei fired. It fell to the ground along with the shell case. The metal tube was squeezed until it changed shape, like an iron wire that had been twisted many times.
No one knew what it was.
"Did you see it, everyone? This is Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Hellhound One-soldier Cannon, adapted from the Gust assault rifle¡¯s shock absorption system, but more powerful and advanced. Every time it fires, it must consume a shock absorption stick. This shock absorption stick absorbs most of the recoil and is also why I¡¯mpletely fine. It doesn¡¯t cost much; one stick is only 500. With an artillery shell and a shock absorption stick, our soldiers can snipe a tank from two kilometres away. And it should be clear to you how expensive anti-tank missiles on the market currently are, right?" Xia Lei¡¯s voice rang through the entire venue again.
Still no one spoke.
"All right, today¡¯s demonstration will end here. I invite all honored guests to Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s dining hall where I have prepared a banquet. Today, everyone can celebrate the birth of the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon."
Who cared about business meals?
To Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun, they wouldn¡¯t find it good even if they ate dragon meat! Not to mention that this was a feast meant to celebrate the birth of the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon!
The audience dispersed, discussing what they¡¯d witnessed with each other as they left.
Without a doubt, the news of the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon would spread from this ce, and take the world by storm!
Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s tanks and defensive systems¡¯ workshops hadn¡¯t started operating yet, but their cannon technology already sent a strong message to the entire world ¡ª the wolf was here!
Xia Lei walked towards Long Bing.
Long Bing smiled at him.
When he arrived at Long Bing¡¯s side, Xia Lei whispered, "Get inside me. Thanks for inspiring me."
Long Bing blushed immediately. She rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. "I won¡¯t let you enter me again if you keep talking about it."
Her shy expression, and those words sent a ripple through Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
"Boss Shi ising," whispered Long Bing suddenly.
Xia Lei turned around and saw Shi Boren walking towards him.
Long Bing got out of the way before he got to Xia Lei.
"You¡¯re pretty good, Boy!" Shi Boren reached out and patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. "You lived up to your words and aplished another great service. What would you like as a reward?"
"How about giving me a reward of 10,000,000?"
Shi Boren immediately frowned. "You still have the gall to ask me for money? Are you short of money? You¡¯re worth billions. You could easily spend that on a woman, but I will never make that much throughout my lifetime, and you can still find it in yourself to ask ME for money?"
"All right, all right, Boss Shi, pretend I didn¡¯t say anything." Xia Lei felt he had just smashed his own foot with a rock.
"That¡¯s all?"¡¯ Shi Boren red at Xia Lei like a tiger staring at his prey.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. "Then what about this? I still have a rare Chateau Lafite-Rothschild red wine in my office. It¡¯s now yours."
"Now we¡¯re talking." Shi Boren smiled.
Xia Lei was a little speechless. He had just lost a Chateau Lafite-Rothschild bottle worth a hundred thousand for no reason. However, for someone like Shi Boren to ask for a bottle of wine was actually an honor. If it was someone else, he wouldn¡¯t even ask for money from them, not to mention a bottle of red wine.
¡°Boy, what¡¯re you nning to do next?¡±
¡°I n to mass produce the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon and finish building the tank and defensive systems workshops. I want to make Thunder Horse Military Factory into the strongest military factory in the world, step by step,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll hold you to what you said, Boy. I¡¯ll give you whatever support you need in the future!¡±
Only then did Xia Lei realize why Shi Boren had inexplicably asked for a bottle of red wine. This was a sign of goodwill, and the first time Shi Boren had been friendly to him. And yes, why would someone as upright and inspoken as Shi Boren covet his red wine?
But he understood too, that if he hadn¡¯t sidestepped the trap thest time, or had today¡¯s sess with the Hellhound, Shi Boren wouldn¡¯t be this friendly. Everyone had their own schemes.
This was good too. If he established a better rtionship with Shi Boren, he could better care for and protect Long Bing, as well as Liang Siyao.
¡°Let¡¯s go, Boss Shi. We¡¯ll have to have a few drinks togetherter,¡± said Xia Leiughingly.
¡°Haha, good!¡± Shi Boren¡¯sugh was ugly.
Chapter 651 - Weird Talk
Once the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon was released onto the market, the orders came nonstop. Thunder Horse Military Factory handled domestic orders with ease and even foreign customers, who had heard of the news and hurriedly flocked over to ce their orders. The Hellhound Cannon hadn¡¯t had too much publicity yet or undergone a battlefield testing but it had already won instant sess and had its reputation known.
This was only the beginning. After more cannon products came out in the future, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s cannon products would undoubtedly became the highest-demanded products internationally. Of course, Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s cannons couldn¡¯t all be as stunning as the Hellhound. Later cannon products would be mostly conventional cannon products with improved performance levels. The Hellhound One-soldier Cannon was certainly one of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s gship products. If foreign customers wanted to buy this type of product, they had to first buy Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s conventional product.
Of course, these matters were all handled by Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s marketing team; Xia Lei didn¡¯t need to worry about these matters anymore.
On the third day of the Hellhound¡¯s instant sess, Xia Lei suddenly received a call.
This call was very unexpected because it was from Ning Jing¡¯s mother, Zhang Hun.
¡°Mr Xia, um...¡± Over the phone, Zhang Hun¡¯s voice seemed a bit awkward. ¡°I called you a bit presumptuously. I, I...¡±
¡°Auntie Zhang, if anything¡¯s the matter, you can just say it,¡± said Xia Lei softly.
Even now, he didn¡¯t have any good feelings for Ning Jing¡¯s mother, a woman who was obsessed with money and had treated her daughter like a product.
In the beginning, Zhang Hun had despised Xia Lei in every possible way, and stubbornly matched Ning Jing and Ren Wenqiang together. At the time, Ren Wenqiang hade back to China after gaining overseas experience, with a respectable job and a pretty good ie while Xia Lei was only a poor boy who had opened a small workshop by the road. But now, Xia Lei had the status of a billionaire and was hailed as the nation¡¯s Father of Rifles. Zhang Hun was actually so regretful she wanted to die.
Zhang Hun was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°It¡¯s like this, Mr Xia. Today, I went to the hospital to see Ning Jing. She was awake for a little bit and said a few words to me.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°She woke for a little bit? What did she say?¡±
¡°She said something about how the sky wasn¡¯t the sky and time wasn¡¯t the time... Oh, and something about some traveller...¡±
¡°Auntie Zhang, can you please say it more clearly?¡± Xia Lei was very anxious.
¡°I can¡¯t remember it that well anymore. You should go see her and maybe she¡¯ll tell you. The doctor said that her condition has improved and she should see people she¡¯s familiar with and have them chat with her. This will be good for her recovery. And especially, the person she likes... I know, that that girl has always liked you.¡±
¡°All right, I will go see her immediately.¡± Xia Lei agreed immediately.
He wasn¡¯t anxious purely because Ning Jing was his friend but also because of something else.
Ning Jing was among the first group of people to have interacted with the ancient alloy. Of the group, some died or went mad, but she was the only person to wake up. Why was this?
After Ning Jing awoke, she said some words. Even though Zhang Hun hadn¡¯t really said it clearly, it had stirred his sensitive senses. Sky isn¡¯t sky, time isn¡¯t time, and a traveller. Would someone who had just awoken from a mad state say these words? This was abnormal.
He had to go see Ning Jing and fully understand what had happened.
An hourter, Xia Lei drove into a guarded rehabilitation hospital. The people recuperating at this hospital weren¡¯t normal. The guards at the gate were carrying real loaded firearms and normal people couldn¡¯t even gain entry. However, he had the authority, so after he showed them the credentials that Bureau 101 had given him, he got into the rehabilitation hospital effortlessly.
A doctor named Wei Guanyi led him to a ward.
¡°Mr Xia, Dr. Ning¡¯s condition isn¡¯t stable yet. Do not upset her when you chat with herter. If her emotions get too stirred up, you will have to stop the conversation,¡± nagged Wei Guanyi.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, I got it. Thank you, doctor. I¡¯ll let you continue with your work.¡±
Wei Guanyi turned to leave but after taking a step, he turned around. ¡°Oh right, Mr Xia, I almost forgot something.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°Dr. Ning drew some strange drawings this morning. You cane to my officeter and I¡¯ll give them to you,¡± said Wei Guanyi.
¡°All right, I will go to your officeter to take a look at the drawings.¡± Xia Lei pushed the ward door open and walked in.
The ward was very spacious, with a sofa and television and aputer that was connected to the Inte. The environment was neat and cozy.
When Xia Lei entered, Ning Jing was standing in front of the window looking at the distant sky. She was very quiet, so quiet that she seemed like a statue. The sound from Xia Lei opening the door hadn¡¯t caught her attention at all, and she didn¡¯t look back at him even when he walked over to her.
Xia Lei wanted to call her name, but when the words came to his mouth, he stopped. He couldn¡¯t bear to disturb her, even if she was only standing there nkly. In his memories, Ning Jing, was a well developed and seductive woman with an excellent figure. However, she had now be skinnier, and seeing her in this state made him sad.
The two of them stood there like that, one watching the distant sky nkly as the other quietly looked at the other¡¯s back, remembering the past.
Some minutes passed before Ning Jing retracted her gaze from the faraway sky. She turned and saw Xia Lei, then brushed past him without a word. Her face didn¡¯t show a surprised or excited expression, as if Xia Lei was just a flower vase or something.
Was this normal?
Ning Jing walked straight to theputer table and shook the mouse.
But Xia Lei found that theputer disy screen was still pitch ck, and hadn¡¯t awoken at all.
Ning Jing sat in theputer chair, and her hands flew over the keyboard.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t keep it in anymore. He walked over and probingly asked, ¡°Ning Jing, do you still remember me?¡±
Ning Jing looked up and nced at Xia Lei. ¡°I remember.¡±
Xia Lei let out a small sigh. ¡°Then do you still remember...¡±
¡°Take your pants off and get on the bed.¡± Ning Jing interrupted him.
¡°Ah?¡± Xia Lei stared nkly.
¡°Last time, I examined your uterus and the fetus¡¯s situation had improved. This time, why don¡¯t I take another look? The baby¡¯s health is the most important thing. Listen to me, take off your pants and get on the bed. I¡¯ll examine you.¡± Ning Jing walked up to Xia Lei, her expression as serious as an old doctor.
Xia Lei stood there unmoving. He had just breathed a small sigh of relief but now he felt as if he had been severely overinted from the air of a front loader¡¯s tire.
¡°Listen, take off your bottom, and get examined,¡± urged Ning Jing.
Xia Lei grasped her hand. ¡°Ning Jing, it¡¯s me. I¡¯m Xia Lei. Do you still remember me? I¡¯vee to see you.¡±
Ning Jing suddenly paused, her expression lifeless.
It seemed to have helped. Xia Lei followed with, ¡°Try to remember. I¡¯m Xia Lei. Xia Lei. We met at Haizhu and you helped me make my first paycheck. We even went to Afghanistan to the White Hun tribe. Do you still remember the baby-faced tribal chief, Smy?¡±
Ning Jing took her hand out of Xia Lei¡¯s hands and then cupped Xia Lei¡¯s face, saying earnestly, ¡°Don¡¯t get emotional. You¡¯re just having prenatal anxiety. You must calm down and remember to eat.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Listen to me, and take off your trousers.¡± Ning Jing simply extended her hands to remove Xia Lei¡¯s belt.
Xia Lei grabbed her hand again. He suddenly thought of something and said, ¡°The sky isn¡¯t the sky, time isn¡¯t time, traveller.¡±
Ning Jing stared dumbly and then shook her head hard.
It was effective? Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped and he repeated, ¡°The sky isn¡¯t the sky, time isn¡¯t time, traveller.¡±
Ning Jing slowly lifted her head and looked at Xia Lei.
The moment he saw her expression, Xia Lei was entirely dumbfounded. Her expression seemed like the deep night sky which one couldn¡¯t see into the depths of, or a ck hole that could swallow one¡¯s soul!
And right then, Ning Jing replied in a strange ent, ¡°The sky isn¡¯t the sky, with no distance. Time isn¡¯t time, a thousand years shing by. The travelleres from a faraway time and ce. The sky isn¡¯t a barrier to him, and time cannot erase his body. He looks for the starting point but is lost in a dark world. He is about to forget himself, the only thing that can...¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s mouth closed when she got to that point.
¡°The only thing that can what?¡± Xia Lei was quite anxious.
¡°The only thing that can...¡± It was still the same words, and they seemed like a concluding remark.
¡°Hurry up and tell me. The only thing that can what?¡± Xia Lei became more anxious. He had a feeling that what Ning Jing was about to say had to do with the mysterious ancient alloy and the secret of AE!
¡°The only thing that can...¡± Ning Jing still didn¡¯t finish.
Xia Lei¡¯s emotions were a little out of control. He grabbed Ning Jing¡¯s shoulders and shook her two times. ¡°Say it, say it. Tell me! The only thing that can what?¡±
Ning Jing suddenly closed her eyes and fell limply into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace.
¡°Ning Jing? Ning Jing? Hello? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Lei panicked. He hugged Ning Jing and called her name but Ning Jing didn¡¯t have any reaction.
Her condition right now couldn¡¯t even be considered an improvement, but going from an insane state to another state without rhyme or reason. Xia Lei didn¡¯t believe in unscientific theories like ghost possession but Ning Jing¡¯s behavior a moment ago really seemed like she had been possessed!
Before waiting for Ning Jing¡¯s main doctor, Wei Guanyi to rush in, Xia Lei gave Ning Jing a check up himself. He quickly came to the conclusion that Ning Jing had only fainted and it wasn¡¯t anything serious. He then breathed a sigh of relief.
After a few minutes, Xia Lei left the ward and went to Wei Guanyi¡¯s office. Wei Guanyi gave him the few drawings that Ning Jing drew. When he saw these drawings, Xia Lei nked yet again. The first drawing was thepass from the Ming dynasty. The second was of the bronze treasured book. The third was of the ancient alloy box that was missing a corner. The fourth was theplete ancient alloy box. Thest... Thest was of a naked man but strangely, he was faceless.
But the weirdest thing was on thest picture in the right hand bottom corner, Ning Jing had written a name ¡ª Xia Lei.
¡°I saw your name and I thought she wanted to give you this drawing. Mr Xia, you can take these drawings,¡± said Wei Guanyi.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. He nodded, almost subconsciously.
¡°Mr Xia, based on Dr. Ning¡¯s condition, she clearly cannot take visitations any more. You can go home. Leave me your phone number. When her condition gets better, I will call you,¡± said Wei Guanyi.
Xia Lei thought for a moment and said, ¡°Dr. Wei, what about this? I¡¯ll leave my phone number with you and you will record whatever she says or does. At given times, call me or make it into a file and send it to my email.¡±
Wei Guanyi didn¡¯t agree and even frowned.
¡°Of course, I wouldn¡¯t let you do all that for nothing. I¡¯ll hire you as Ning Jing¡¯s personal doctor with a monthly ie of 20,000. What do you think of that?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mr Xia, hehe...¡± Wei Guanyi smiled. ¡°Deal.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on thest drawing with his name on it. There wasn¡¯t a face, but judging from the body build, it wasn¡¯t even him.
Just what was going on?
Chapter 652 - The Flower Boy Who Was Forced Out
When Xia Lei left the sanitarium, Ning Jing was still unconscious. She looked very peaceful as she slept. He really wanted to say goodbye to her but he could not bear to wake her up in the end.
He returned to the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s director¡¯s office and took out the five drawings again. He looked at it while thinking of the words which Ning Jing had said.
¡°Emptiness is not the sky; there is no distance. Time is not time; thousands of years pass in an instant. The traveller came from a distant time. The sky is not his obstacle and time cannot destroy his body. He is searching for the starting point but he is lost in the dark world. He is about to lose himself. The only thing that can...¡±
Those words were like a curse.
Why did Ning Jing say those words? She had touched the ancient alloy and the bronze book, but she definitely had not touched the box that was pieced together with ancient alloy pieces because she had gone crazy before he had even put the box together. In reality, the number of times that he had touched the ancient alloy was also very limited. Even he had only assembled the box when he was in Japan. Then... she had not seen the ancient alloy box, so how was she able to draw it?
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes moved to the fourth drawing that pictured theplete ancient alloy box. His eyes locked onto the piece of ancient alloy that he had not seen before.
Every piece of ancient alloy had a special design and pattern. Each pattern on each piece of ancient alloy was different from its design. You could say that each ancient alloy part was different and unique. But the piece that Ning Jing drew did not resemble any of the pieces of ancient alloys. It had its own special pattern and design. It was unique.
¡®What happened? Could she have seen the full ancient alloy box? Or did someone describe it to her?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s brain was filled with a load of questions but he had no answers.
The sound of footsteps came from outside the door. Xia Lei raised his head and took a look, then packed up the five drawings.
Fan Fan soon appeared at the office door. She reached out her hand and knocked.
¡°Pleasee in!¡± said Xia Lei casually.
Fan Fan pushed the door open.
¡°What did youe here for?¡± asked Xia Lei casually.
¡°I cannote here if I do not have anything important?¡± Fan Fan rolled her eyes. ¡°Can you not be kinder to me?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Okay, I will stop joking with you. I came to talk about some business with you.¡±
¡°What business?¡±
¡°The Hellbound One-soldier Cannon was sessful. Your work is also almost done. When do we start on the Alloy X Project?¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°Was I not clear enough? This kind of thing cannot be hurried. You need to give me some more time.¡±
¡°Okay, if you want it, I will give it to you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless again.
¡°I did note here today for this. I came for something else.¡±
¡°Can you just say everything in one go?¡±
¡°I havepleted the antidote.¡± Fan Fan took out a ss container from the depths of her handbag. The container was filled with a seemingly sticky clear liquid.
For some reason, no matter how Xia Lei looked at it, the liquid still looked like lubricating oil to him. And because of this trait, Xia Lei immediately knew that the antidote that Fan Fan made was wrong because he had already made the correct antidote. Not only did he make the correct antidote but he also made something to inhibit the antidote, the anti-antidote.
Fan Fan moved the ss container in front Xia Lei¡¯s eyes and waved it about. Her voice was teasing as she asked, ¡°How about it? Try it out.¡±
¡°Um, I am busy with something. Can you...¡±
Fan Fan frowned. ¡°You promised me. Are you going to break your promise?¡±
Xia Lei looked at the watch on his wrist and sighed. ¡°All right, I will give you fifteen minutes.¡±
¡°Half an hour.¡± Fan Fan said, ¡°I need to retrieve some samples for an antidote test.¡±
¡°All right, half an hour it is. Follow me into the lounge.¡± Xia Lei turned and walked towards the lounge.
Fan Fan smiled and followed Xia Lei into the room.
Half an hourter, Fan Fan walked out of the lounge.She held a new ss container carefully as sheined, ¡°Geez, it would be so much better if you had not bombed myb. I could have done my research here. Now I will have to go back to the Academy of Science. It¡¯s so troublesome. Can¡¯t you just...¡±
¡°No.¡± Xia Lei was very firm on that. ¡°I will not have your researchb here. We have agreed on that before. I will allow you to retrieve my samples and that should be enough. You should feel content.¡±
Fan Fan red at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°You came looking for me on your own, not the other way around. If you feel sorry for yourself, we can end this rtionship anytime.¡±
¡°You...¡± Fan Fan looked as if she had suffered great injustice. Tears welled in her eyes.
Xia Lei did not feel a trace of guilt towards Fan Fan, who was about to cry, because whenever he thought of how she nned to beguile him into giving away the Thunder Horse Military Factory, and how she was someone whom the ZN Bureau had ced by his side, undercover, all the feelings of guilt would immediately disappear.
¡°Never mind, I will not fight with you.¡± Fan Fan calmed down instantly. ¡°I need to go back to theb. I will notify you once I have the results.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Bye, take care.¡±
Results? There would never be a result to this. After Fan Fan made the correct antidote, there would probably be many more tests and experiments. These all needed time. Even if she did make the correct antidote, Xia Lei had already prepared an anti-antidote to deal with her. In short, he would not let her carry his child. He needed to let her spend the majority of her energy on making the antidote so that she would not have time to intervene with what he was doing.
Fan Fan looked hard at Xia Lei, then turned and left his office.
After Fan Fan left, Xia Lei took out those five drawings and then headed to the vi.
Ever since thest time he had taken out his anger on the colonel of the Special Forces, Wu Xiaoguo, the Special Forces soldiers guarding the vi had became more courteous to Xia Lei. Before he entered the vi, the two Special Forces guards at the door not only did not ask to check what was in his hand, but also straightened up and gave him a military salute.
Xia Lei only gave them a nod, and went straight into the vi to arrive at the undergroundboratory.
He cleared the workbench and ced everything on top; thepass, the bronze book, the ancient alloy box with the missing corner, and the five drawings that Ning Jing drew.
In the first drawing, thepass¡¯s needle was pointed straight toward the sky. This was thepass¡¯sst state. The direction it pointed toward was thest treasure location.
In the second drawing, the bronze book was closed. Nothing special as far as one could see. Xia Lei had already deciphered the bronze treasure book, so he did not pay much attention to this drawing.
In the third drawing was the ancient alloy box that was missing a corner. Hepared it to the real box and found to his surprise that the three sides of the box that Ning Jing drew was exactly identical to the real one. Even the patterns were exactly the same. A drawing like this could have even been used as a picture. But Ning Jing had never seen this box before!
The fourth drawing pictured the remaining three sides of the ancient alloy box. They were also exactly identical to the real ancient alloy box¡¯s other three sides. There was not a single mistake in the pattern and design, including that piece he had not seen yet. Obviously, this was not a coincidence. She had done this deliberately.
The male in the fifth drawing was naked. His body was very fit, strong, and proportional, but he did not have a face. On the bottom right corner was the name ¡°Xia Lei¡±, but Xia Lei was sure that the person in the drawing was not him.
Xia Lei looked through everything again and again. At the same time, he also tried all sorts of ways to look for clues in these mute objects. Unfortunately, he still did not find anything in the end. His thoughts drifted back to the words which Ning Jing had said.
¡°Emptiness is not the sky; there is no distance. Time is not time; thousands of years pass in an instant. The traveller came from a distant time. The sky is not his obstacle and time cannot destroy his body. He is searching for the starting point but he is lost in the dark world. He is about to lose himself. The only thing that can...¡±
A bulb suddenly lit up in Xia Lei¡¯s head. Before, his thoughts had been all murky like swamp water. After that, his thoughts had clear direction, and the swamp water turned into clear water.
Xia Lei¡¯s line of sight slowly moved to the top of the ancient alloy box and his eyes stopped on that gap.
Chapter 653 - The Fate of a Chicken
The gap on top of the ancient alloy box looked ordinary. The gap was only because the box was missing an alloy piece. Once, Xia Lei had put a pen inside the hole and the result had been very frightening. The box was right in front of Xia Lei right now, and there was no movement from it but it still looked full of mysteries. It made people feel in awe just by looking at it.
¡°Emptiness is not the sky; there is no distance. Time is not time; thousands of years pass in an instant. The traveller came from a distant time. The sky is not his obstacle and time cannot destroy his body. He is searching for the starting point but he is lost in the dark world. He is about to lose himself. The only thing that can...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was still thinking about the words that he had heard. The glimmer of light that had appeared in his head was bing clearer and clearer.
A few minutester, Xia Lei found a screwdriver. He carefully ced the screwdriver in the hole in the ancient alloy box.
He had ced a pen inside the ancient alloy boxst time. This time, he wanted to use a sturdier object for the experiment.
The screwdriver was much longer than the ancient alloy box but the hole in the ancient alloy box was like a bottomless pit. The screwdriver did not reach the bottom of the ancient alloy box when he put it inside.
When only a tiny portion of the handle of the screwdriver remained, Xia Lei swiftly and violently pushed the screwdriver into the ancient alloy box, and quickly drew back his hand. The screwdriver disappearedpletely, and he felt a trace of fluctuation in the energy from the hole this time. This energy fluctuation passed very quickly, and it had disappeared so quickly that he wasn¡¯t even sure if he had actually witnessed it or not.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t worry too much about the issue. His line of sight moved to his watch. The time right now was only one second after he had put the screwdriver in. He memorised the time.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...
After the second hand of the watch ticked fifty-nine times, there was a sudden fluctuation in the energy in the void. The screwdriver which had disappeared before reappeared. It was quietly floating above the void, making it seem like there was an invisible pallet propping it up. The screwdriver was covered in rust, and even the stic on the handle had disappeared. It looked like it had spent a thousand years in the wind and sun.
Bang! The screwdriver fell on the workbench. Although it didn¡¯t turn into a pile of dust, all the rust had fallen off. Now, the screwdriver was only a tenth of its original size. The surfaces of the screwdriver were also twisted and not smooth at all.
Although he had attempted this multiple times, Xia Lei¡¯s heart was still full of fear. A screwdriver had gone into the ancient alloy box, yet when it came out, nine-tenths of it had turned into rust. Even the stic handle hadpletely dposed. This meant that the time-space within the ancient alloy box should be over a thousand years! If a living person entered the box and came back, won¡¯t that person return as a pile of bones?
The glimmer of insight he had had before was to enter the ancient alloy box himself.
¡°Emptiness is not the sky; there is no distance. Time is not time; thousands of years pass in an instant.¡± Wasn¡¯t this describing what had just happened in the experiment? The screwdriver had disappeared into the ancient alloy box, but it had reappeared from the void. The emptiness was not the sky. There was no distance. At that time, the screwdriver had only entered the box for one minute, yet when it reappeared, it looked as if it had experienced over a thousand years of erosion. This phenomenon was precisely what the saying had described; how in the blink of an eye, a thousand years had passed.
¡°The traveller came from a distant time. The sky is not his obstacle and time cannot destroy his body.¡± It seemed like someone had entered the world inside the ancient alloy box, and his body wasn¡¯t destroyed by time.
¡°He is searching for the starting point but he is lost in the dark world.¡± This sentence seemed to be saying that the traveler was looking for something but had gotten lost. The dark world it was referring to was probably the world inside the ancient alloy box. Princess Yongmei had once described the world inside the box. She said that the world inside the box was dark, empty, and very cold. Her description was evidence in disguise.
He had interpreted all this by analyzing Ning Jing¡¯s words. He felt like his interpretation and analysis of his speech should be around 80% to 90% urate. However, Ning Jing didn¡¯t finish speaking. What he couldn¡¯t understand was Ning Jing¡¯sst words. ¡°He is about to lose himself. The only thing that can...¡± No matter what he did, Xia Lei just couldn¡¯t understand the meaning behind it.
¡®It was quite difficult for me to get some clues. I should try and solve it no matter what.¡¯ Xia Lei turned and left the undergroundboratory.
Xia Lei returned to theboratory ten minutester. He had a stic bag in his hand with a cicada in it. He had caught the cicada in the greenery outside the vi. In addition to the cicada, he had asked for a live chicken from the dining hall. He didn¡¯t put the chicken inside the bag but carried it in his other hand instead.
¡°Cluck, cluck-cluck...¡± The live chicken kept making noises.
A chicken¡¯s brain was very simple, and Xia Lei didn¡¯t even know if it was feeling fear or not.
When the live chicken entered the undergroundboratory, it didn¡¯t immediately die or go crazy. But not many people have seen a chicken really go crazy in this world, right?
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t in the mood to study how the chicken would react when it was exposed to the ancient alloy¡¯s energy field. After he returned to theb, he used tweezers to carefully insert the cicada into the hole in the ancient alloy box.
A minuteter, the energy around the void in the ancient alloy box began to fluctuate. What appeared from the void wasn¡¯t a cicada, but grayish-ck ash.
Xia Lei put the cicada inside again and the result was the same. After a minute, the cicada didn¡¯t return from the void. What appeared was an even smaller amount of fine ash.
From the experience, it seemed like a mere cicada can¡¯t withstand a thousand years of erosion. When it came out, its body hadpletely turned into ash. It was impossible for Xia Lei to know how long it had spent inside the box. However, it only took one minute in this world for it to die and for him to observe the result.
After a short pause, Xia Lei caught the live chicken and cautiously pushed it into the hole in the ancient alloy box.
The chicken was many timesrger than the ancient alloy box. What was strange was how the hole on the ancient alloy box was simr to a ck hole. Any object that entered its energy field would bepressed. The chicken didn¡¯t even touch the ancient alloy box when he put it in. It gave off the feeling that it could even fit in a car, much less a chicken. This was because every time that an object got close to the hole, it would trigger a mysterious energy field. Once the energy field was triggered, like the opening of a funnel, it was able to fit an object that was even bigger than the box itself.
Just how big of an object could the ancient alloy box fit? Xia Lei had never attempted that kind of experiment but he guessed that he would be able to fit if he wanted to go in himself.
The void trembled for a moment before a pile of chicken bones and some ash fell out from it. The chicken bones fell onto the workbench and turned into dust. There wasn¡¯t even a single chicken bone remaining.
Before the three attempts, Xia Lei wanted to venture into the space inside the box himself, but he backed out from that thought now. He had just one life. He might see the truth after he entered the box, but if it was at the expense of his life, then he would rather not.
The experiment was over, and Xia Lei was deep in thought. ¡®Ning Jing¡¯s words were a hint that people can actually enter the ancient alloy box. But with the situation right now, who would dare to enter it? But if no one goes, then the clues will be meaningless...¡¯
Xia Lei sighed. He had finally found some clues, but he didn¡¯t expect that his progress woulde to a standstill again now.
Ring ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone suddenly rang. He took out his phone and looked at the caller ID, then immediately swiped his finger over the screen to answer the call. ¡°Zhengnan, what¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°Lu Sheng went to the office to look for you, but you weren¡¯t there. I asked him why he was looking for you and he told me that a few Germans hade here to meet you. I told him that I would contact you. He is still waiting for your reply. Should I let the Germans into the building?¡± said Liu Zhengnan.
¡°How many Germans are there?¡± Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Did Lu Sheng ask the other party for their identification and their reason foring here?
The sound of Liu Zhengnan talking to another person in the background came through the phone. After that, his voice became clear again. ¡°Brother, I have just asked. Lu Sheng said that it was the German ambassador fromst time. His name is Philip. There are two assistants with him. One of the assistant is called Alida, but he doesn¡¯t know the name of the other assistant. Mm... The other assistant is very young.¡±
¡°I got it. I wille right away.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°Zhengnan, I want you to tell Lu Sheng to let those people in then take them to my office.¡±
¡°I understand, Brother.¡± Liu Zhengnan hung up.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help a smile. This was the first time that Liu Zhengnan had called him ¡®Brother¡¯ when Xia Xue wasn¡¯t by his side. This showed that Liu Zhengnan and Xia Xue¡¯s rtionship had progressed to the point of a ¡°half family¡±. Liu Zhengnan¡¯s personality was very good and he was also capable. On thest trip to Germany, Xia Lei had realized that Liu Zhengnan was someone who was very loyal. He would be relieved if Xia Xue was together with Liu Zhengnan.
However, the smile at the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth quickly disappeared. The Thunder Horse Military Factory had justpleted a full upgrade. The Hellfire One-soldier Cannon had recently been released and the Germans had alreadye knocking at his door. There is a saying which went ¡®those who had ill intentions wille but those who don¡¯t, won¡¯te¡¯. Could Philip havee because of another order from the German government?
After a short while, Xia Lei put all the things away, inside a safe.
¡®A young German woman? If Lu Sheng doesn¡¯t recognise her, then it is obviously not Annina. Maybe she is a German secret service agent or a government worker.¡¯ Xia Lei left the vi and headed towards his office, pondering as he walked.
Xia Xue came running over to him before he got to his office building. ¡°Brother, I have something I want to tell you,¡± called Xia Xue from a distance.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°Could you already want me to prepare the dowry for you?¡±
Xia Xue¡¯s cheeks reddened immediately. She delicately hit Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Brother, we... We haven¡¯t reached that stage yet!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t lie to me. Zhengnan has already begun addressing me as his brother. Doesn¡¯t this show that you guys have already been discussing marriage? You can tell me, it doesn¡¯t matter. Since you¡¯re my little sister, your dowry will not be less than eight hundred million, to a billion yuan.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mood became better again.
¡°I won¡¯t talk to you anymore.¡± Xia Xue couldn¡¯t beat Xia Lei¡¯s teasing. She turned around and ran away.
¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you have something to tell me? Why did you run away?¡± Xia Lei said.
Xia Xue stopped running. ¡°Oh, I forgot. It¡¯s all your fault!¡±
¡°Tell me, what¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°I received a package today. It was sent to school, so I made a special trip back to school to bring it here.¡±
¡°That¡¯s all?¡± Xia Lei felt it a little strange.
Xia Xue said, ¡°It¡¯s not an ordinary package. Inside the package was...¡±
Xia Xue had not finished speaking when they heard someone speaking in German above them. ¡°Mr Xia, I havee again. How long are you nning to make me wait?¡±
Xia Xue looked up and saw the German ambassador, Philip.
¡°Brother, you can go tend to your business first. When you¡¯re done, I wille and talk to you again,¡± said Xia Xue.
Xia Lei thought about it for a moment. He urged, ¡°Don¡¯t touch the things inside the package, just bring the package to my officeter.¡±
¡°Okay, got it.¡± Xia Xue bounced away.
Chapter 654 - A New Business Deal
There were three people in the office. Xia Lei knew Philip and his assistant, Alida, but he never would have guessed who the third person would be. It was Sylvia ©` the European equivalent of Smy, and Germany¡¯s best engineer.
Practically nothing had changed about her. Her wine-red hair was pulled into a simple ponytail, which paired beautifully with her refined, Eastern features. She was so beautiful she could¡¯ve been mistaken for a doll.
This extraordinary red-haired woman before Xia Lei made him think of what had happened during his second visit to Germany.
¡°We meet again, Mr Xia.¡± Sylvia smiled as she took the initiative to extend her arm for a handshake. ¡°How have you been?¡±
Xia Lei snapped out of his daydream, and took Sylvia¡¯s hand while returning the smile with his own. He replied in German, ¡°Hello, Miss Sylvia. I¡¯m doing well. Wee to China.¡± He paused, then continued, ¡°Rest assured. You¡¯re no longer in Germany so there won¡¯t be any government-directed kidnappings, terrorist attacks, or persecution either.¡±
Everything he had said was, in fact, what the German government was guilty of.
Philip¡¯s expression grew awkward. He was standing here as a representative of the German government. Xia Lei saying all that in front of Philip was making it difficult for him to broach the subject he wanted to discuss.
¡°Mr Xia, I am very pleased to meet you again.¡± Whatever he felt, Philip still put on a polite face, greeted Xia Lei, and also shook hands with him.
Xia Lei invited the three Germans to take a seat after exchanging pleasantries.
Liu Zhengnan made coffee for the three Germans, and tea for Xia Lei. Xia Lei hadn¡¯t recruited any secretaries, so his assistant had assumed these responsibilities as well.
¡°Have the human resources department recruit a secretary,¡± said Xia Lei. In the past, he never thought there was anything wrong with letting Liu Zhengnan do these things, but he was Xia Xue¡¯s boyfriend now, and a potential brother-inw. He felt it was no longer appropriate to make him fulfil such duties.
Liu Zhengnan was very attentive to Xia Lei¡¯s worries, and he said softly, ¡°It¡¯s fine, Brother, but you should definitely recruit a secretary. I¡¯ll talk to the human resources department and let them pick a suitable one for you. Do you have any particr requirements?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t really have any requirements, as long as they as they have a good work ethic and can speak a foreignnguage,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Zhengnan left with Xia Lei¡¯s description in mind.
¡°Talk.¡± Xia Lei went straight to business after his assistant left. ¡°What brings you three here?¡±
¡°Hehe, so it¡¯s like this...¡± Philip smiled and said, ¡°We¡¯ve specifically brought Sylvia over for an inspection and technology exchange.¡±
¡°An inspection and technology exchange?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Sylvia. ¡°Just you?¡±
Sylvia nodded. ¡°Mm, just me.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You represent Rheinmetall AG, right? I never received any sort of official invitation from them, but now you¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re just going to waltz in and do an inspection and technology exchange. Did I ever agree to this? It wouldn¡¯t pan out even if I agreed, anyway. The higher-ups need to approve it too.¡±
Thunder Horse Military Factory was home to a plethora of technologies, and a substantial amount of the equipment found on-site were ssified military secrets. Rheinmetall AG would certainly need high-level authorisation in order to send a representative over to inspect the ce. Even if Xia Lei was the director of Thunder Horse Military Factory, he did not have the authority to allow their n.
¡°Well...¡± Sylvia looked at Philip.
Philip quickly nced at Alida, who took out a file from her briefcase, and delivered it to Xia Lei with both hands.
Xia Lei looked over the file and furrowed his brow. The person who had signed the document allowing Sylvia to enter Thunder Horse Military Factory was actually Yu Shanhe. He had the power to authorise this. However, the actual contents of the document were very simple. There was nothing else written in it other than the permission for Sylvia toe for the described inspection and technology exchanges.
¡®This is... strange. Even if Yu Shanhe wanted to mess with me, he wouldn¡¯t be so stupid as to allow Germany¡¯s leading ammunitions supplier to send people over so that they could learn from me. This isn¡¯t much different from selling out our country. Could the higher-ups have reached a business deal with the German government?¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°You see, Mr Xia, we¡¯ve already obtained their approval. So now, we¡¯d like you to cooperate with us in this very fortunate urrence,¡± said Philip.
¡°Fortunate? Heh, I don¡¯t believe this is ¡®fortunate¡¯ at all. And even if Yu Shanhe agreed, I haven¡¯t. Thunder Horse Military Factory is my personalpany. Do you think Yu Shanhe is going to make my decisions?¡±
¡°You...¡± An ugliness crept onto Philip¡¯s face.
Sylvia was also anxious. ¡°Mr Xia, I know you took what happened in Germany to heart, but that had nothing to do with me. I¡¯m just here for what we talked about. I©`¡±
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Sylvia was interrupted by Xia Lei¡¯s ringtone.
Xia Lei checked his phone and walked towards the door. He answered the phone when he got to the doorway.
¡°Xia Lei, the Germans have arrived on your end, right?¡± Tang Tianlong¡¯s voice came from the phone.
¡°What¡¯s going on here, Uncle Tang?¡± Xia Lei cut straight to the chase. ¡°I saw the document Yu Shanhe signed, but it didn¡¯t outline the reason why they were allowed. Sylvia is Germany¡¯s most renowned engineer, and she represents Rheinmetall AG, which is more powerful than any other German militarypany. Do you understand the importance of this matter?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course I understand. I called to tell you why this is happening. You saw that Yu Shanhe was the one who signed the document, all right, but he wasn¡¯t necessarily the one who finalised the deal,¡± said Tang Tianlong.
¡°Then who was it?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask. Let me just tell you the reason. This is still a business deal, and the Germans will send technical staff to assist us in manufacturing the Eurofighter Typhoon Engine,¡± said Tang Tianlong.
¡°Wasn¡¯t that production linepleted?¡±
¡°It¡¯splete, but our people can¡¯t mass produce it. The staff just aren¡¯t mature enough to tackle it. We could get things going after they fumble about for a while, but if Germany¡¯s helping us, then the results would be undisputedly better. You know they wouldn¡¯t write something like that on the document.¡±
¡°So that was the reason. Fine, then there¡¯s no problem on my side.¡± Xia Lei never turned away something that would benefit the country.
¡°Wait, I...¡±
Why did he stop talking? Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Uncle Tang, if you have something to say, just say it.¡±
¡°I¡¯m telling you this in private, so you need to keep your mouth shut.¡±
¡°Yeah, I won¡¯t tell anyone.¡±
¡°That German person, Sylvia¡¯sing to your factory is only the first part of the deal. The Germans are going to send another group,prised solely of tech specialists, and inspect every nook and cranny of your factory.¡±
Xia Lei knitted his eyebrows. He actually wasn¡¯t afraid of Sylvia. Despite how capable she was, she was only an engineer; she was only good at processing the parts. It was apletely different story if a whole group of specialists entered the Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Rheinmetall AG¡¯s technology was the foundation for Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s improved artillery, tank, and defense technologies. If a group of highly sophisticated technicians came, there was no guarantee that highly-ssified technological secrets wouldn¡¯t be stolen. If Rheinmetall AG also upgraded their production line, Thunder Horse Military Factory would no longer have an easy path to dominating the world market.
¡°There¡¯s more.¡± Tang Tianlong paused before he continued, ¡°When the Germans leave, they want to take a Thunder Dragon intelligentthe with them. Of course, it¡¯ll only be the first generation model, not the second.¡±
¡°They¡¯re taking a Thunder Dragon intelligentthe? Then Rheinmetall AG can begin the production line for the XL2500 and the Gust assault rifle that I built in Germany. Do you know what that means?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was bursting with rage.
¡°I know you¡¯re mad, but... You need to understand what your sacrifice this time will bring us.¡±
¡°What will the Germans sacrifice?¡±
¡°Submarine technology.¡±
Xia Lei paused.
The Germans were the first to use submarines in battle. During World War II, the German U-boat had proved to be an outstanding military asset, and after the war, many countries based their submarine technology on the Germans¡¯. Even now, Germany was still a leader in conventional submarine technology. Their submarines were so discreet that they were nearly impossible to detect. German submarines were silent, deadly killers, and the bane ofrge warships. If China could obtain such advanced technology, the country and people would benefit greatly.
¡°You know that our waters are chaotic, and our submarine technology falls behind Europe and America. Even Japan is far ahead of us in the field. This is our big chance, and we need your help. I won¡¯t talk about honour or merit, since I know you don¡¯t care about these things. But I know what you are. You¡¯re a patriot. You want power and peace for our country, don¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei was quiet for a bit before he finally spoke. ¡°You guys have told me to sacrifice for the greater good time and time again, and I always have. I¡¯ve never asked anything of you, but I will this time. You guys need to fulfil my request before I agree to this.¡±
¡°What is it? Speak your mind.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you in three days. That¡¯s all I can say right now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right, we¡¯ll discuss it in person.¡± Tang Tianlong hung up.
Xia Lei turned around and returned to his office with a smile on his face. ¡°Miss Sylvia, I will have someone arrange for your aodations in a bit. We have a VIP guest room specially prepared for honoured guests.¡±
Sylvia was stunned at the sudden disy of hospitality. She then smiled too. ¡°I knew you¡¯d agree, Mr Xia. I don¡¯t want to stay in a guest room, though. I heard from Annina that you have a vi nearby that she used to live in. Can I stay in her room?¡±
So she had actually talked with Annina first, and went so far as to request to use her room... Just what was going on?
¡°Is there a problem?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°No problem.¡±
Chapter 655 - The Mysterious Package
¡°You guys have told me to sacrifice for the greater good time and time again, and I always have. I¡¯ve never asked anything of you, but I will this time. You guys need to do what I ask before I agree.¡±
That was what Xia Lei had told Tang Tianlong. He wanted Tang Tianlong to convey this message to his superiors ¡ª He wouldn¡¯t be sacrificing for nothing this time!
The request was actually very simple. All Xia Lei wanted was the return of his father, Xia Changhe!
Xia Lei had been fighting to make a name for himself in China¡¯s powerful military industry, and build up merts with his efforts. He had never asked for anything. Now, Thunder Horse Military Factory had finally received thorough upgrades, and the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon wasunched. Other advanced weapons and defense systems were ted to be released on the market too. The time was ripe for Xia Changhe to return.
Sylvia¡¯s appearance was, coincidentally, the key to pushing his request forward. If he missed this chance, it would be much more difficult to ask in the future.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t really care about how much money he earned, or how much fame he obtained. Having his father return and letting him live a normal life held much greater significance to him.
However, Xia Lei first needed to find his father before he spoke of his request, and talk to him, but that was no simple feat. His father¡¯s whereabouts had always been unknown to him. When his father wanted to see him, he would appear ©` Xia Lei had not ever initiated a meeting with Xia Changhe.
After helping Sylvia move into Annina¡¯s room, Xia Lei deliberated over how to find his father.
¡®I need to talk to him. It would be terrible if he didn¡¯t agree to, especially if the higher-ups already authorised my request. But there won¡¯t be a next time if we miss this chance. I need to think of a way to persuade him if he isn¡¯t willing to,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Sylvia opened up her suitcase to and took out arge envelope. She held it out to Xia Lei. ¡°Annina wanted me to pass this to you, Mr Xia.¡±
Xia Lei opened the envelope to discover a pile of pictures. All of them were of Annina, and each one had to do with her and the castle. There were pictures of her standing in front of the grandiose castle, pictures of her swimming with a bikini on in the castle¡¯s pool ¡ª the water was so clear that you could easily see its bottom. Pictures of her only wearing her undergarments, standing by the barbeque on the balcony with a mouthwatering medium-rare steak. Pictures of her lounging on her luxurious bed, with absolutely nothing on...
Annina had finally obtained her wish and she looked happy. It was enough that she was happy.
A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips before he put the pictures away.
¡°She really is blessed,¡± said Sylvia. Her azure eyes were envious.
¡°You two became friends?¡± asked Xia Lei casually.
¡°We did. I lived at her ce for a while beforeing to Germany. She talked a lot about you,¡± said Sylvia.
¡°What did she say?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Sylvia smiled. ¡°She didn¡¯t say a word about Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s secrets. We just had a nice talk between women, about our rtionships, and lifestyles. Well, she did share the love story that she had with you. As a woman, I have to admit that I¡¯m pretty envious of her.¡±
¡°Rest soon. I still have something to do.¡± Xia Lei turned around and began to leave.
¡°Mr Xia, will I have the pleasure of dining with you tonight?¡± said Sylvia all of a sudden.
Xia Lei paused, but didn¡¯t look back. ¡°Not today. Next time. I¡¯d also like to remind you that our Special Forces soldiers are guarding this area, and you will be under surveince the entire time you are here. Don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡±
Sylvia quirked one corner of her lips in a smile. ¡°I¡¯m not a child.¡±
Xia Lei said nothing more; he left.
How was he to find his father? The question took priority over everything else. He was in no mood to have a trivial chat with Sylvia.
Xia Lei left the vi and headed for the car park.
¡°Brother!¡± Xia Xue came chasing after him with a package in hand. ¡°Are you going out?¡±
Xia Lei recalled what Xia Xue had mentioned to him when he noticed the package. His left eye twitched, and he saw what was inside before his sister even handed it to him.
Inside was a heap of Russian documents, and some pictures. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t able to make out the specifics before Xia Xue arrived at his side. ¡°You told me to bring this package, so I did. Take a look at its contents; they¡¯re weird. I don¡¯t understand Russian, or I¡¯d know what all of this is.¡±
Xia Lei took the package. ¡°Don¡¯t leave the factory for the next few days. Tell Zhengnan and make sure he doesn¡¯t casually stroll out either,¡± he said.
¡°Did something happen?¡± Xia Xue became a little nervous.
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. You just need to listen to me. And remember, I¡¯m serious. This isn¡¯t a joke. Don¡¯t leave the factory,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll call the school and ask them to let me take a few days off from sses,¡± said Xia Xue.
¡°You can head back now. I¡¯ll handle the package,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be going then.¡± Xia Xue left.
Xia Lei got into the driver¡¯s seat of his Chevrolet Suburban and opened the package. He took out its contents.
The pictures were old, and were all rted to a young man, who was ethnically Chinese. One picture showed the young man using an AK47 rifle to kill two Russian fighters. Another showed him training and wrestling. Several fit young men of simr age to himy on the ground next to him, non-Chinese young men. Yet another showed the young man standing tall, saluting to a ck g. The g had nothing on it. It was just pitch ck. The rest of the pictures were different, and spoke of blood and ruthlessness.
The pictures were all of Xia Chenghe in his youth!
Xia Lei proceeded to look through the documents.
The documents in the package were all ssified files from the FA Organisation. The contents of each of the files were different, but each one had to do with missions that Xia Changhe hadpleted in China. Just these documents alone were enough to have his father, Xia Changhe, sentenced to death by shooting ten times!
Xia Xue didn¡¯t know any German, and couldn¡¯t even tell that it was her father in the pictures. This was not so strange. She was only an ordinary person, after all, and had no clue what the FA Organisation was. What Xia Lei could not understand was why this package full of FA Organisation ssified files and pictures had been sent to Xia Xue.
¡®This is obviously FA Organization¡¯s style. But if they wanted to intimidate me, wouldn¡¯t it be more efficient to just target me? Are they trying to say that Xia Xue is also one of their targets by sending the package to her?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
That seemed to be the only exnation.
Xia Lei ced all of the contents back into the package and started his car. He left Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Ring, ring, ring...
An unfamiliar number was calling.
Xia Lei switched on his phone¡¯s Bluetooth, and a woman¡¯s voice came over the car¡¯s audio system.
¡°Long time no see, Xia Lei. You¡¯ve been living a good life recently, haven¡¯t you?¡±
It was Gu Kewen¡¯s voice. Xia Lei would never forget it, even if she¡¯d died and turned to ashes.
Xia Lei gave a dryugh. ¡°I was wondering who it was. So it was you. You were the one who sent that package, right? If you want to threaten me with what¡¯s inside, I¡¯d advise you to not even think about it.¡±
¡°I did send it, but not to threaten you. I just thought you should see them. Those things should stay in your care too. They¡¯re about your father after all.¡±
¡°How were you able to obtain ssified files from the FA Organization?¡± Xia Lei was doubtful.
¡°You want the answer? Thene look for me in Japan. I¡¯ll tell you everything. The question is, do you dare to look for me?¡± There was challenge in Gu Kewen¡¯s tone.
Another woman appeared abruptly in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. It was Dark Mona, the FA Organisation¡¯s best assassin. She had used Gu Kewen as bait to attack him in Japan. Gu Kewen had died by Long Bing¡¯s hand that night, but somehow came back from the dead. Dark Mona certainly had a hand in what was happening.
¡°Heh. Now I get it. You¡¯re probably taking the CIA¡¯s sry, but sold your life to the FA.¡±
¡°You really know how to string together a story. You should be a screenwriter.¡±
¡°Is Dark Mona with you right now? Let me speak to her.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know who you¡¯re talking about. But I do wonder what would happen if the information in that package mysteriously appeared in Shi Boren¡¯s office...¡±
She said she wasn¡¯t going to threaten him, but every word she spoke dripped with her intent to.
¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t tell you over the phone. Let¡¯s meet.¡±
¡°Fine. Time and ce?¡±
¡°Wait for my call.¡± Gu Kewen hung up.
¡°Meet?¡± An icy smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Whether it was the CIA or the FA Organisation, Xia Lei was always the target, so it was the same for Gu Kewen, no matter which side she took. His aim had not changed either ¡ª he was going to make Gu Kewen disappear from the face of this Earth!
A rendezvous with Gu Kewen was inevitable, since he had this goal.
Beep, beep...
An electric moped suddenly rushed out from the sidene, and almost crashed into Xia Lei. A clumsy young girl was seated on it.
Xia Lei pulled over and popped his head out from his window. He asked in concern, ¡°Are you okay?¡±
The girl also stopped and turned to look at him.
Then, Xia Lei discovered that he wasn¡¯t talking to a little girl at all. She had a sizeable rear, and her chest was firm, round, and developed. She was well matured. Then, his gaze settled on her face, where he discovered that she was wearing a silicone mask. The woman was his father¡¯s assistant, Yelena.
No wonder Xia Lei hadn¡¯t recognised her. In the past, Yelena used to show up on a motorcycle, and was quite showy in a ck, skin-tight leather jacket. This time she appeared in a moped, of all things, and was dressed like a young girl. It was nothing like her usual style.
Yelena only gave at Xia Lei a nce before she drove off.
She did not speak, and was not chewing gum either. It was obvious that she wanted him to follow her. Xia Lei started his car and followed her from afar.
Yelena didn¡¯t travel on the main road for long, and veered off into a ruralne about five minutester. Thene was justrge enough for Xia Lei to squeeze into, but oing traffic wouldn¡¯t have any space to get past him. Farnd stretched beyond either side of the road,plete with farmers and their crops.
Yelena didn¡¯t stop, so Xia Lei was forced to continue down the dirt path.
Chapter 656 - The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team
At the end of the road was a vige and he saw it half an hourter. This ce was no longer in the territory of Bailu Town. It was very remote and Xia Lei had never been here before.
A lean dog was barking fiercely at Xia Lei¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban car. However, the dog quickly ran away when Xia Lei pressed the horn. In front of him, Yelena rode the electric moped on an even smaller road on a hillside. Xia Lei could no longer drive the car up the road at this point. He got out of his car and started to climb up the hill.
Yelena still didn¡¯t stop, and she soon disappeared on a small, shady road. Xia Lei had climbed about a few hundred meters upwards when he saw a farmhouse dwelling. There were several green-tiled buildings, a courtyard wall, and a bamboo forest in the back of the house. There was also a denser forest further back from the house.
The door of the farmhouse was locked tightly and the paint on the nks of the door had almost peeled offpletely. Some of the nks had been painted ck, some parts were white, and other parts were red. The colors didn¡¯t look bright at all, which gave off the feeling that it had been eroded away by the wind and rain for several decades. Xia Lei walked over and pushed the door open without knocking because he already saw what was behind the door.
In the courtyard was Yelena, standing behind a middle-aged man. That man had a tanned face andrge, calloused hands. This made him look like he was a genuine farmer, but Xia Lei knew that he wasn¡¯t a farmer because he was his father, Xia Changhe. Just like Yelena, he was also wearing a silicone mask on his face.
Xia Lei can¡¯t help smiling. He was worried that he couldn¡¯t find his father, Xia Changhe, but his father would always appear every time he wanted to see him.
¡°Dad, have you been living here?¡± Xia Lei closed the courtyard door and walked towards his father.
Xia Changhe opened his arms and hugged Xia Lei. He patted Xia Lei¡¯s back twice, hard. He said, ¡°The FA Organisation and the CIA are chasing me down everywhere. Where would be the safest ce for me? The answer is China. Since you came back from Germanyst time, I already took a fancy to this ce. The owner of the house moved to the city and he was going to abandon this ce, but I rented it. This ce is close to where you live, so if you ever get into any trouble, I can rush over and help you as soon as possible.¡±
¡°I would¡¯ve never thought that you would be right by my side.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help smiling.
Yelena said, ¡°When there was nothing to do, I would go to Bailu Town to collect information on you. Both your father and I knew pretty much everything that happened at your ce. Why did you think that I would appear today otherwise?¡±
¡°You guys already knew what happened?¡± Xia Lei was a little shocked.
Yelena suddenly put her finger in her mouth and whistled loudly.
Xia Lei suddenly realized something and turned to look at the direction of the courtyard door. The door disappeared in his left eye¡¯s view and he saw a young man wearing a security uniform walking towards them with a package in his hand. What shocked him was that the package that he was holding was the one Xia Xue had given him. Xia Lei had not taken it with him when he climbed up the hill. Then, his gaze froze on the man¡¯s face. He was stunned.
The young man was one of the Thunder Horse military Factory¡¯s security guards, and Lu Shen¡¯s subordinate. Xia Lei remembered his name was E¡¯er Demutu. He was a Mongolian. When the Thunder Horse Military Factory was hiring a group of security guards, he was recruited because he was a military verteran. He never expected that such a typical worker would appear in front of him in this fashion!
E¡¯er Demutu pushed the door open and walked in. Upon seeing Xia Lei, he lowered his head and said shamefully, ¡°Director Xia, I¡¯m sorry... I work for your father.¡±
Xia Lei smiled tly. He wanted to say something but he couldn¡¯t say it.
It was such a relief that he was helping his father. If he was helping the FA Organisation or the CIA, then it would be terrible.
E¡¯er Demutu handed the package to Xia Changhe.
Xia Changhe opened the package and looked inside. Heughed grimly. ¡°They finally used me to threaten you. It looks like both the FA Organisation and the CIA have exhausted their patience with you.¡±
¡°This package was delivered by Gu Kewen. I suspect that she is a double agent. On the surface, she¡¯s the Asia manager of the CIA, but she¡¯s actually assisting Dark Mona from the FA Organisation. Back then, Long Bing killed Gu Kewen in Japan and Dark Mona took her corpse. But since Gu Kewen¡¯s alive, then the only person who could¡¯ve saved her was Dark Mona,¡± Xia Lei said.
Xia Changhe nced at E¡¯er Demutu and said, ¡°You can leave. Go keep watch outside.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu nodded and left the farmhouse courtyard.
¡°Dad, can he be trusted?¡±
¡°If he¡¯s not to be trusted, he would¡¯ve been dead a long time ago. I¡¯ve known him from ten years ago. He was only nine at that time. His mother suffered from an illness and his father broke his leg on the worksite. I gave him the money to seek treatment for his mother and also funded his education. I used to go to Mongolia every winter to personally train him,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help ncing at Yelena. Yelena was like the Russian version of E¡¯er Demutu. It seemed like his father was skilled at using this method to grow his power.
¡°Dad, how many more of these kinds of people do you still have?¡± asked Xia Lei. He was curious about this.
¡°Twelve. I don¡¯t need dozens or hundreds of people in my team. I only need an elite team that canplete any mission. They are located all over the world and are ready toe and go under mymand at any time. These people have been personally trained and selected by me, but each of them has their own speciality. The one that just left, his code name is Tiger,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei suddenly felt like his father was an old shark, with many hiddenyers to him.
Xia Changhe moved aside and pointed to Yelena. ¡°Her code name is Rooster.¡±
¡°Rooster?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t expect Yelena¡¯s code name to be a rooster under his father¡¯smands.
¡°Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.¡± Xia Changhe said, ¡°They are code-named after the twelve Chinese zodiac animals. The one who was killed by Liang Siyao was Pig.¡±
Xia Lei had not forgotten about that woman. Her name was Yevgeniya. In Haizhu, Liang Siyao had killed her using a sniper rifle. At that time, she was just about to reveal Liang Siyao¡¯s real identity to him.
¡°Yevgeniya is dead.¡± After a pause, Xia Lei asked, ¡°Is there anyone recing her?¡±
¡°Of course.¡±
¡°Who?¡±
Xia Changheughed. ¡°I will keep her identity a secret for now, but I will let you know when it¡¯s time for you to know. Remember, the zodiac battle team is the only decent gift that I can give you. Now, I will give you this team. From now on, they will only listen to your orders.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned.
He knew very well that the reason why his father was able to survive under the intense pursuit of the CIA and the FA Organisation was due to this team. Xia Changhe was able to control the news from all over the world thanks to his team. This team was like his talisman against danger, yet now he was giving it to him.
His father¡¯s love was as great as a mountain. Xia Lei¡¯s eyes became moist. ¡°Father, what are you going to do after you give me the team that you had spent so much effort to build?¡±
Xia Changhe sighed. ¡°You came to look for me in such a rush, so how could I not know what you¡¯re thinking? You have done so much to build up merits with the Chinese government, isn¡¯t all so that I can live peacefully to an old age? Isn¡¯t it all so that I can take a nice stroll in the park with my grandson? I¡¯m getting old and it¡¯s time for me to retire. But for you, your life is just starting. I hope this zodiac team can be a great help to you.¡±
He couldn¡¯t hide anything from his father. After all, an old shark was an old shark.
¡°Dad, does that mean that you agreed?¡±
¡°If I refuse, won¡¯t all your efforts be in vain? Xia Xue probably almost forgot about me. If I don¡¯t go home soon, she will probably no longer recognise me. Isn¡¯t she getting married soon with that guy named Liu Zhengnan? I don¡¯t want to miss her wedding.¡± Xia Changhe¡¯s eyes were filled with tranquility, and expectation.
No father would want to miss his daughter¡¯s wedding, even if it was a shark-like father like Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help his excited smile. ¡°That¡¯s great. I can ask the higher-ups. Since I have contributed so much, there¡¯s no way that they won¡¯t agree to my request.¡±
¡°Then how are you going to tell those people about your father¡¯s identity?¡± said Yelena worriedly.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°That is not important. What¡¯s important is the fact that he is my father. If they don¡¯t ept my request, I will make them regret it.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not worried about that. I¡¯m worried about the FA Organisation. Based on the FA Organisation¡¯s way of doing things, I believe that it¡¯s not as simple as sending you a package and threatening you,¡± said Xia Changhe.
¡°If they attack, I will fight back. I will make them regret what they did. This time, I must kill Gu Kewen no matter what,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You don¡¯t have any decent guards by your side. You should bring Yelena with you. Her gun skills are very good. She is very good at eliminating potentially dangerous targets. Do you know why her code name is Rooster? Roosters can eat all the insects hiding in the grass,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei looked at Yelena. ¡°Are you willing to follow me?¡±
Yelena¡¯s lips curved in a smile. ¡°Only because of your father. I can do anything for you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Well, I need a secretary by my side. So, I guess you¡¯re it then.¡±
He was going to make the human resources department help him hire a secretary, but now that he had Yelena, he didn¡¯t need to hire an outsider secretary.
¡°You¡¯ve already met two members of the Zodiac team. There are still ten more members left. After my problem¡¯s solved, I will gather them together to meet you. I will announce this news with all of them present,¡± said Xia Changhe.
¡°Will the person with the code name Pige?¡± Xia Lei asked.
Xia Changhe patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. He smiled and said, ¡°You can rest assured, you will know who she is when that dayes.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help trying to guess the identity of Pig, but he still couldn¡¯t guess who it was.
¡°Yelena, follow Xia Lei back. From now on, you will be one of his people. Now that you¡¯re his secretary, you don¡¯t have to hide anymore. You can take the mask off,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Yelena said nothing; she only nodded. She took off the mask, revealing her original appearance underneath. She had blond hair and a pair of beautiful blue eyes, and was tall with long legs. Yelena looked very sexy, but she also gave off a dangerous aura.
Xia Lei also understood that the only reason such a dangerous figure like Yelena was willing to follow him was because of his father. Although his father had already ¡°retired¡±, these people still listened to his orders. Therefore, as long as his father was still alive, then the Zodiac team would be united around him and follow his orders.
Now that he was facing threats from both the CIA and the FA Organisation, Xia Lei felt like his fist had finally toughened.
Chapter 657 - Seductive Secretary VS Icy Secretary
The Chevrolet Suburban drove slowly towards Thunder Horse Military Factory.
¡°Yelena, you can speak Chinese, but it¡¯s just conversational. Can you read and write?¡± asked Xia Lei as he drove.
¡°I¡¯ve been by your father¡¯s side for years. Do you really think that I am only at the conversational level of Chinese?¡± said Yelena.
She spoke in Chinese, but it was ented with a foreign ent thought it was fluent. Xia Lei felt like he had asked a useless question.
¡°Do you have a Chinese name?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll just sound out my Russian name in Chinese. Won¡¯t that be my Chinese name, then? My surname will be Ye, and my name will be Lena.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I have no more questions. About that, I can say that you¡¯re a foreign talent I recruited from the talent pool. You¡¯re Russian...
Yelena interrupted him. ¡°All the fake files have been done. Full paperwork.¡±
Xia Lei shut up and drove. He was worrying about there being holes in her cover, and arousing suspicion, but everything had been taken care of. What was there for him to worry about?
Back in Thunder Horse Military Factory, the head of human resources department, Du Bai, brought a girl to Xia Lei.
The girl Du Bai brought was very young, in her early twenties. She had an oval face,rge eyes, and a nice figure.
¡°Director Xia, her name is Qing Caiyue. I¡¯ve just scouted her from the talent market. She is a graduate of Qingda University, and she majored in materials science and engineering. She also has minors in economics and finance, and had a schrship. She is fluent in English, Japanese and German too; a rare talent indeed.¡± Du Bai made the introduction with a pleased look on his face.
¡°Hello, Director Xia.¡± Qing Caiyue greeted Xia Lei politely with a smile on her face. She put her hands in front of her, and did a small bow. Her movements were graceful and natural, and she was quite a pleasing presence.
¡°Hello, hello.¡± Xia Lei responded with a polite greeting too, then pulled Du Bai to one side.
Truthfully, this Qing Caiyue was quite a talent he was tempted to hire. This wasn¡¯t just because she was beautiful and sexy, but because of her academic achievements and capability. Her material science and engineering majors were a good match for Thunder Horse Military Factory, and her economics and finance minors meant she could also help him out with the business side of things. She was a very good fit to be his secretary. However, he had already given this position to Yelena. What could Yelena do? Destroy, assassinate, track, gather intelligence...
¡°Are you satisfied, Director Xia?¡± Du Bai had a wicked smile on his face. He had been through ups and downs with Thunder Horse Group, since it was established, and was a great support to thepany. He was also on close terms with Xia Lei, so he did not stand on ceremony with him.
¡°Well, I am quite satisfied but I¡¯ve also recruited a secretary from the talent market,¡± said Xia Lei quietly.
Du Bai nced at Yelena and said in surprise, ¡°What do we do then, Director Xia? Assistant Liu told me what you wanted and I went to look for someone. Do you know how manypany bosses were fighting to hire Miss Qing? But I said that we are Thunder Horse Military Factory, and that this position is for a secretary, and she immediately rejected the other offers.¡±
Oh dear. If that was the case, then this really was tricky.
Yelena walked over and pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s sleeve. Xia Lei picked up on the cue and walked a little further off with her.
¡°Let her be your secretary then.¡± Yelena went straight to the point.
¡°What about you?¡±
¡°She will be your secretary number one, and I will be secretary number two,¡± said Yelena. ¡°You should know very well that I have no way of beating her when ites to doing the work. My task is to clear away all the threats around you, and protect you. You can¡¯t hope for me to go through documents while I¡¯m doing all that, right?¡±
¡°That works. It¡¯s decided, then.¡± Since Yelena had no objections, and even suggested it herself, it made it easy for Xia Lei toe to a decision.
And just like that, Xia Lei got two secretaries. One was the blonde, blue-eyed Yelena, and one was a seductive-looking woman with great talent, Qing Caiyue.
There were many people at the table for dinner. Xia Lei had specially invited Sylvia and Qing Caiyue to the table. Liu Zhengnan and Xia Xue were also at the table, and it was quite lively with Yelena too.
Qing Caiyue was quite attentive. She filled Xia Lei¡¯s ss with red wine just as it ran dry, saying, ¡°Director Xia, you should drink less. It is bad for the body to drink too much.¡±
Her voice was gentle and pleasant to the ear. Add her seductive look, and her pretty face, and she was very attractive to men indeed. It wasn¡¯t just Xia Lei ¡ª Liu Zhengnan couldn¡¯t help giving her a second look too. Unfortunately for him, Xia Xue caught sight of him doing that, and her punishment was swift. She reached her hand under the table and gave him a hard pinch. Liu Zhengnan dared not get angry with her, or talk back; he took the punishment quietly and behaved himself.
Xia Lei had a smile on his face. ¡°No need to tend to me, Caiyue. Just have your dinner.¡±
¡°Nn, okay.¡± Qing Caiyue seated herself quietly by Xia Lei¡¯s side again.
Compared to Qing Caiyue, Xia Lei¡¯s other secretary, Yelena, gave off a totally opposite vibe. She had said not one word since the start of dinner. She sat by Xia Lei¡¯s side eating her dinner, and giving off a cold aura.
¡°Zhengnan, go to the mayor of Bailu Town tomorrow.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic. ¡°Ask him about purchasingnd.¡±
¡°What you you neednd for, Brother?¡± Liu Zhengnan was puzzled. ¡°We still have unusednd from the time we purchased some for the expansion.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want thisnd for expansion. I want it to build a house. I haven¡¯t bought property in Jingdu, and it¡¯s about time for me to buy a house too. I¡¯ll just getnd that is next to our factory and build my house there. After you get thend, hire some construction crew and build... Hm. Build an ancient-styled manor. No need for a four-walled courtyard like the northern style. I want the southern style.¡±
¡°Brother, are you settling down here?¡± asked Xia Xue excitedly.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°We spend most of our time in Jingdu, so how can we not have a house here?¡±
Xia Lei used to live in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s houses before they were divorced, so he had not needed to build his own house. After their divorce, the Leiyin Home was not his home anymore. His old man Xia Changhe would return soon, so he had to give him a ce to enjoy his silver age. Having the house close to Thunder Horse Military Factory meant that it was safest, with ordinary soldiers and Special Forces Soldiers guarding the ce, as well as Bureau 101 agents active nearby and being in charge of security detail. Having his old man Xia Changhe live here would be safe for him, and also be easy for the whole family to be together.
¡°That¡¯s great! I approve.¡± Xia Xue looked quite happy. ¡°But Brother, with your status now, you can¡¯t just have a few hectares ofnd. The new house you lived in with Sister Tianyin took up dozens of hectares, so you can¡¯t have less when you¡¯re building one now. I think you¡¯ll need a huge plot ofnd have a manor built; beautiful, and pretty like a pce. This is what¡¯s suitable for your status.¡±
¡°What do you know? There¡¯s a saying which goes ¡®selfishness draws disaster¡¯. Building a gorgeous house could bring me a lot of trouble. A house is just a ce for people to live in, and regr people only need dozens or a hundred square metres. What would I need such a big house for? A few hectares ofnd would be nice for a house. Some part of thend will be for some greenery, and some other part can be used for nting fruits and vegetables and so on. I¡¯d be satisfied with that.¡±
A simple thatched house with framing fields in the back appeared in Xia Xue¡¯s head,plete with Xia Lei working the fields in farmer-trousers. It was not going to be like that in reality, of course, but she was still rather disappointed. However, this was something Xia Lei had decided upon and he wouldn¡¯t change his mind so easily. There was no use in trying to persuade him otherwise.
¡°I¡¯ll go talk to the major of Baili Town tomorrow,¡± said Liu Zhengnan.
Xia Lei nodded, then raised his ss in a toast. ¡°Let¡¯s have a toast to building a new house.¡±
After the dinner, Qing Caiyue returned to thepany, to the dormitory room which had been arranged for her. Sylvia and Yelena followed Xia Lei to the vi. His authority had increased since the time he had blown Fan Fan¡¯sboratory up. He gave Wu Xiaoguo just a greeting, and brought Yelena right into the vi without bothering about Wu Xiaoguo¡¯s opinion on the matter, then arranged for a room for her to stay in.
¡°You can live here. Just ask if you need anything.¡± Xia Lei made to leave after arranging amodations for Yelena.
¡°I don¡¯t need anything for now. I¡¯ll tell you if I do need anything. Plus, I¡¯ll be taking action if some special circumstances ur, so don¡¯t be surprised if I burst into your room in the middle of the night while you¡¯re being intimate with some woman,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Leiughed awkwardly. ¡°No, I understand.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯m good. You go ahead and take your rest,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Good night.¡± Xia Lei left Yelena¡¯s room.
Back in his own room, Xia Lei flipped through the top secret files of the FA Organisation, and the pictures of his father in his youth. He needed to consider if these should be handed in, and to whom.
¡®I want to ensure my father¡¯s safety. If I don¡¯t exin his identity and what he had done in the past... What should I do if he gets investigated? I¡¯ve sacrificed and done so much, and this is a good chance too so I have to do it right and get it all done in one go. I¡¯ll ask to meet with Tang Tianlong and Shi Boren and show them these files. Right, that¡¯s decided, then.¡¯ Xia Lei made his decision.
That¡¯s right. He was using the merits he had built up with the Chinese government in exchange for his father¡¯s safety. There would be some hidden danger involved if he did not reveal his father¡¯s identity and the things he had done in the past. He had to reveal his father¡¯s identity and his past deeds in one go, then ensure his safety. Based on the secret deal he was going to have to make with the Germans and the higher-ups, there was no reason that they would not grant his request!
There was another advantage of doing this too, and that was that he would not have to worry about the FA Organisation threatening him with his father¡¯s secrets anymore.
Xia Lei put the documents and the pictures away, and his gazended on the wall to his left. Behind that wall was Sylvia¡¯s room. What was the German machinist doing at this hour?
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched at that thought, and the wall disappeared from his vision.
Chapter 658 - Sylvia’s Trouble
Xia Lei had always been vignt towards Sylvia.
Inside the room, Sylvia was typing out something which looked like a document on herptop.
Xia Lei looked closer and saw the content Sylvia was typing. It was not a document ¡ª it was an email.
¡°Mr Mark Armin, I have settled down in Thunder Horse Military Factory. Mr Xia did not try to make things difficult for me and Mr Philip. The atmosphere was quite pleasant when we talked. I will start my work tomorrow, and I hope to gain from it. I have not yet seen the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Hellhound One-soldier Cannon but I hope to see it tomorrow. You told me to send you an email everyday to report to you about my work situation. This is the first email. But I hope you can reconsider this decision because I do not know what to write about when I don¡¯t have work. All right, that will be it for today. Good morning, Mr Mark Armin.¡±
It was morning in Germany when it was night in China. There was nothing wrong with Sylvia writing ¡®good morning¡¯ to Mark Armin.
Xia Lei suddenly thought, ¡®Mark Armin might be sitting in front of his desk right now reading Sylvia¡¯s message. He might even reply and order Sylvia to do something.¡¯
Sylvia yawned and stretched, then scratched her butt.
Ding. The crisp sound of a notification came from Sylvia¡¯sptop.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes moved to the top right corner of the screen. As expected, Sylvia¡¯s mailbox had a new email notification.
¡°This fast? Geez, is he even more impatient than someone who is going to be a groom?¡± Sylvia grumbled. She stopped scratching her butt, moved the mouse and clicked to open the new mail.
Sure enough, the email was from Mark Armin.
¡°Miss Sylvia, I have read your email. I stand firm with my decision. Send me an email every day to report your circumstances. On the other hand, the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Hellbound One-soldier Cannon has yet seen actual sales on the market, but ording to our information, it is very outstanding. It could pose a threat to the sales of our artillery products. You must see it and collect information first-hand. You are not an agent or a spy, and I know that making you do this is a bit of a stretch, but our agents and spies were unable to get near Xia Lei and the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. You must seed at all costs. My personal suggestion to you is that Xia Lei likes beautiful women ¡ª that is his weakness. Do you understand what I mean? Think about your current situation. You are the person who destroyed our Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. If you do not want anything to happen to you, you need to do something. That¡¯s all. I wish for your sess.¡±
Sylvia deleted the email. She stared off into space for a while, then shouted at the monitor, ¡°You dirty pig! I am not a prostitute! Especially not one that you can order around!¡±
After venting out her anger, she suddenly turned and flopped onto the bed. She covered her head with a pillow.
Xia Lei stopped looking. A burning smoldered in his lower abdomen, but his mood was heavy.
Back then in Germany, he made a mask of Sylvia and sneaked into the Rheinmetall AG¡¯s closed workshop to destroy the almostplete Thunder Dragon intelligentthe and the production line of the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle. Sylvia had been used as his scapegoat. He had gotten away with it but Sylvia had undoubtably faced Germany¡¯s intelligence department¡¯s investigation and the Rheinmetall AG¡¯s internal investigation.
Now, Sylvia hade with a mission, as Rheinmetall AG¡¯s spy and perhaps also with orders from Germany¡¯s intelligence department. Although he knew that she was no longer just a machinist, Xia Lei was still unable to hate her. Rather, he felt a little guilty.
¡®I am sorry, Sylvia. I was not trying to hurt you. I did not have a choice then. You¡¯vee here this time, but I... still cannot let youplete your mission,¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He thought about many things for the rest of the night before he finally slept.
The next morning, Xia Lei called Tang Tianlong and Shi Boren to ask to meet at Bureau 101. He had told Tang Tianlong that he would tell him his conditions in three days because he needed to find his father, Xia Changhe. Now that Xia Changhe hade, he no longer needed to wait another two days to state his conditions.
Xia Lei walked out the door once he was done with the calls. The moment he came out, he saw Sylvia standing in front of the door of her room. She had changed into the Rheinmetall
AG¡¯s summer uniform ¡ª a blue short sleeve shirt and blue trousers, paired with a pair of leather shoes. Although she was dressed like this, it was still hard to hide her busty and elegant curves. She had a sexiness that belonged to blue-cor women.
She seemed to be waiting for him. When she saw him, she immediately came up to him.
¡°Mr Xia, do you have time today?¡± Sylvia had a smile on her face.
¡°Is there something you need?¡± said Xia Lei casually.
Sylvia spoke in a pleasing manner, ¡°I want to look around yourpany but I am not too familiar with the environment. Could you show me around?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Sorry, I have something really important to take care of today...¡±
Sylvia suddenly reached out and grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s elbow before he was done talking. ¡°Mr Xia, just help me, please. You just need to bring me around. It will not take up much of your time.¡±
Xia Lei felt awkward. ¡°Next time, Miss Sylvia. I need to go soon.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, can you just...¡± Sylvia hugged Xia Lei¡¯s elbow, unwilling to let go.
Mark Armin had given her ordersst night and implied that she use her beauty to her advantage; she began her act this morning.
But Xia Lei was no longer the type of man who would go weak in the knees just from seeing beauties.
¡°Ahem.¡± A woman¡¯s cough came from behind them.
Sylvia let go of Xia Lei¡¯s elbow. She turned, and saw Yelena standing in the doorway.
Yelena said, ¡°Director Xia, you can go about your work. Leave her to me.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. He took his briefcase and slipped away.
¡°Excuse me, what did you say?¡± Sylvia stared at Yelena and asked in English. She could not understand Yelena¡¯s voured Chinese.
Yelena came walking towards Sylvia and stopped two steps before her.
Sylvia shrugged. ¡°You can¡¯t speak English?¡±
Yelena suddenly spread her legs and pulled her short skirt up to expose the military belt on her inner thigh to Sylvia. On the belt was a very sharpbat knife.
A woman¡¯s leg and a sharpbat knife made for a very weird scene.
¡°You...¡± Sylvia suddenly tensed. The Yelena in front of her made her feel scared for some reason.
Yelena suddenly reached out and put a finger under Sylvia¡¯s chin, tilting it up. She said coldly in English, ¡°I really hate Germans. You better stay quiet and stay away from him. Don¡¯t even think about stealing technologies, or else...¡±
Yelena released Sylvia¡¯s chin but her palm softly swept over Sylvia¡¯s neck.
Sylvia stood frozen in ce. What kind of secretary was this?
Yelena walked past without a second nce at Sylvia.
Sylvia stood there for a long time without moving. Ayer of moisture slowly rose in herrge azure eyes.
Chapter 659 - Which Girl Caught Your Eye?
There were three people in Shi Boren¡¯s office. Other than Shi Boren and Tang Tianlong, there was another old man ¡ª A very weird old man. He was skinny, and gave people the impression that he was weak, but his eyes were like those of a hawk, keen, and powerful. It made people fear offending him.
Upon his first nce at this old man, Xia Lei felt as if he had seen him somewhere. It was a weird feeling, but he had forgotten where and when he had seen him. Before he could search his memories, Tang Tianlong came up to him. He had a smile on his face as he said, ¡°Hehe, Xia Lei, I came as soon as I received your call. I have not even eaten breakfast. You do not know how anxious I am.¡±
Xia Leiughed as he said, ¡°Uncle Tang has not even eaten breakfast? It¡¯s my bad. I should have calledter.¡±
¡°Stop talking about breakfast. Have a seat, have a seat.¡± Shi Boren was impatient too.
Xia Lei sat down. His eyes moved to the old man and he asked inquiringly, ¡°This person is...?¡±
Tang Tianlong and Shi Boren looked at each other but no one made introductions.
The old man answered calmly, ¡°Myst name is Zhongzhen. My first name is Wukui.¡±
Xia Lei was not interested in his weird name. What caught his interest was Shi Boren and Tang Tianlong¡¯s reaction. It was obvious that the two knew who this old man was, yet neither stepped forward to introduce him. Why was that?
¡°Mr Xia, heroes rise from the youth indeed. I feel fortunate that our country can have a genius like you.¡± Zhongzhen Wukuiplimented Xia Lei. However, there was not a hint of a smile on his face though he wasplimenting him.
Just then, a short sequence of images appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s brain. It was the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s core workshop, which was also the core workshop that the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation was located. Everyone who had been in the workshop surfaced in his brain. One by one, the faces appeared, some familiar, some unfamiliar. There were people conversing, some looking around, and some peeking at women...
A few secondster, a face suddenly appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s brain. It was the face of the old man in front of him, Zhongzhen Wukui.
¡®He had actuallye to see my second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe! Just who is he?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s brain started running once again. All of the scenes began to y backwards.
This was a very strange process. It was like rewinding a HD video on aputer. Everyone¡¯s actions, voices, and the movement of their feet were rewound, no exceptions, no omissions.
The rewinding soon slowed and the scene yed normally.
In Xia Lei¡¯s brain, Fan Fan and Ling Han were talking about something. Zhongzhen Wukui appeared in front of them. He only looked at them and they immediately shut their mouths. Xia Lei realised that Fan Fan and Ling Han both had an expression of reverence, and their eyes dared not look upon Zhongzhen Wukui¡¯s face either.
¡®Could this Zhongzhen Wukui be... Fan Fan and Ling Han¡¯s boss? The director of the ZN Bureau?¡¯ This thought passed through his head and he started to feel anxious.
He had not expected that this Zhongzhen Wukui would join in on this negotiation too. In his n, he only needed to talk with Shi Boren and Tang Tianlong, then set everything straight to propose his conditions. As for the higher-ups, he did not need to do anything because naturally Shi Boren and Tang Tianlong would take care of it. But now, if this Zhongzhen Wukui really was the boss of the ZN Bureau, his participation in this negotiation would add some uncertainty to the oue.
Whether it was the rey of his memories or his analysis of the man¡¯s identity, it had all been done in an extremely short amount of time. Xia Lei felt nervous, but he still smiled and said courteously, ¡°Mr Zhongzhen, you tter me. It is an honour for me to be able to serve my country. I was taught by my father since my youth that passion for our mothend must exceed passion for life. He trained my patriotic sentiments from an early age. All that I am doing now is following my father¡¯s teachings.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, didn¡¯t your father go missing?¡± said Shi Boren suddenly.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°He is missing but not dead. He could stille back even if he is missing. I have always held the hope that one day I could see my father. If someone is willing to grant me this wish, I am willing to do anything for him.¡±
Tang Tianlong coughed. ¡°Why don¡¯t we get to business. Let us have these conversations at the wine table, all right?¡±
Shi Boren chuckled. ¡°Right, right. Let us get to business.¡±
Zhongzhen Wukui kept his gaze on Xia Lei, his gaze never leaving him for even a second. When Xia Lei had previously mentioned his father, the corner of his mouth had twitched as if he had wanted to say something, but he did not in the end.
¡°Then I will stop with the small talk. Xia Lei, if you have any requests, say it now.¡± Tang Tianlong did not waste any words and immediately dived into the main topic.
Xia Lei was silent for a moment and then smiled. ¡°I want to first hear about the details of this negotiation. Uncle Tang, you were not clear enough on the phone thest time. I want to fully understand something as important as this.¡±
Tang Tianlong smiled wryly. ¡°Xia Lei, was I not clear enoughst time?¡±
Xia Lei put on a show of patience. ¡°Let me understand the details first.¡±
¡°All right, then let me tell you about it in detail.¡± Tang Tianlong exined, ¡°After you left, the German government was quiet for a while. As for the specific cause, you should know without my saying, it was the bitter wine they brewed themselves.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°But they will not give up. We have also expected that they would contact us on their own and sure enough, they sent a special envoy toe to talk with us a week ago. The negotiation result was that they will exchange their submarine technology for your technology, including a Thunder Dragon intelligentthe.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°I remember that you said that technical staff woulde to tour and inspect my factory and the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. How did it be them wanting my technology?¡±
¡°You must have remembered incorrectly. What I said was a technology exchange. What this exchange includes is some transfer of technology.¡± Tang Tianlong¡¯s expression took on an awkward tinge.
They sure were doing as they pleased. If they said something was one way, then that became truth.
¡°What specific technology do they want?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Well, mainly the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s technology. What they care most about is your intelligentthe technology. This time, they clearly asked for the whole blueprint, electrical engineering behind it, and the control program. Of course, the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle is also a part of it. They want all the technologies ¡ª you cannot leave any out.¡±
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth curved into a cold smile. ¡°They sure want a lot. They probably even asked for the technology for my second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, right?¡±
Tang Tianlong paused, then said, ¡°That¡¯s right, they mentioned it but we rejected it. We told them clearly that we will not sell the technology for the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. It is now a gpole of our manufacturing industry. How would anyone sell their gpole?¡±
It did not matter if it was a gpole or some other pole ¡ª all had been created by Xia Lei. Now, these things were being taken out and sold, yet he could not even make the decision.
¡°Then did they ask for the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon¡¯s technology?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Tang Tianlong smiled wryly. ¡°You really are like the roundworm in the Germans¡¯ stomachs. All right, their appetites are huge and they did mention that they want the technology for the Hellbound, but we did not agree. It was they who came to request things of us, not us requesting something of them.¡±
Zhongzhen Wukui then spoke up. ¡°Mr Xia, I know that these technologies are important to you and those military factories. But you need to know that their submarine technology is even more important and valuable to us. To us, this deal is very cost-effective. I hope that you can put the interests of the general public first and agree to this good deal.¡±
The overseer had finally spoken. He could have lost his patience, or be dissatisfied with Xia Lei¡¯s attitude.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Mr Zhongzhen, of course I approve of this deal. Remember thest time? Did I not help our country get a Eurofighter Typhoon¡¯s engine technology?¡±
¡°If that is the case, then everything is easier.¡± Zhongzhen Wukui stared straight at Xia Lei. ¡°I heard that you have a request, or rather a condition. Go ahead. I want to hear it.¡±
Things still came back to the starting line after going in a big circle. Xia Lei could have said it all in one go before Tang Tianlong asked about his request, but he did not. He deliberately went in this circle because he needed to wear away these people¡¯s patience. He wanted to let them know that he was not the ¡°good boy¡± they thought he was. He also had his own opinions!
¡°Say it. You are usually pretty quick with what you want to say. Why are you being hesitant now?¡± Shi Boren¡¯s voice was very loud. ¡°It is some girl that caught your eye isn¡¯t it? No problem, don¡¯t be embarrassed and just say it. How about I be your matchmaker? Is it my goddaughter?¡±
Tang Tianlong stared at Shi Boren awkwardly. He, the biological father, was still in the room. How did ite to Shi Boren the stepfather deciding on Tang Yuyan¡¯s marriage?
But Xia Lei only smiled. Would he even need Shi Boren to be the matchmaker if he wanted to marry Tang Yuyan? He only needed a phone call to call Tang Yuyan out. Eat some food, watch a movie, then order a room at a hotel. He could even save money on condoms.
Zhongzhen Wukui had urged him, and Tang Tianlong, and Shi Boren too. However, Xia Lei still looked like he was in no hurry. He slowly opened his briefcase and took out a few files from the inside, and arge envelope. After he took these things out, he did not give them to anyone but held them tightly in his hand.
¡°What is this?¡± asked Shi Boren.
Xia Lei did not respond to that question but replied, ¡°I do not ask for fame or profit. I only ask for one person.¡±
¡°Did some girl... Really catch your eye?¡± Shi Boren¡¯s expression was quiteical.
Tang Tianlong suddenlyughed.
Xia Lei finally said, ¡°I want my father.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Shi Boren and Tang Tianlong immediately stood still, stunned.
Only Zhongzhen Wukui stayed calm, but a coldness shed in his eyes.
Chapter 660 - I Am Not Scared Even If It Was The Heavenly King!
Xia Lei ced the FA Organisation¡¯s confidential files, and therge envelope with the pictures on the coffee table.
Shi Boren picked up the envelope. Tang Tianlong and Zhongzhen Wukui both picked up a file.
Xia Lei observed their expressions. He was more nervous than anyone there. Whether or not his father Xia Changhe could live a normal life, and enjoy the rest of his life in peace,y in this decision. He could not make a single mistake.
Shi Boren, Tang Tianlong, and Zhongzhen Wukui exchanged files and looked through everything that Xia Lei brought. Nobody said a word during the entire process. Their expressions were stern and the atmosphere in the office became heavy and oppressive.
¡°You knew a long time ago, didn¡¯t you?¡± Shi Boren asked Xia Lei the question with his eyes full of worry after looking through thest file.
Tang Tianlong only looked at Xia Lei. He had no expression and he did not say anything. He looked troubled.
Zhongzhen Wukui also looked at Xia Lei, his expression was cold and his eyes were stern. You could see a hint of anger in his eyes.
Xia Lei already had a clear idea of the situation just from the reaction of the three when they finished looking at the files and pictures. If there was anyone who would help him of the three, it would be Shi Boren. But, Shi Boren obviously could not make the decision.
¡°Yes, I knew.¡± After a bit of silence, Xia Lei finally admitted to it.
¡°Then why did you not tell me earlier?¡± asked Shi Boren.
Xia Lei gave a bitterugh. ¡°How could I tell you? He is my father. My father who had raised me. I am Bureau 101¡¯s consultant. As a consultant, it means that I am supposed to arrest him but I am his son. As his son it means that I am supposed to protect him. I chose thetter because if I can even betray my own father, then am I, Xia Lei, still human anymore?¡±
Shi Boren sighed and stopped talking. He seemed to understand the way Xia Lei had chosen to deal with this matter.
At this moment, Zhongzhen Wukui suddenly pped the file in his hand on the coffee table. He shouted angrily, ¡°Xia Lei, how dare you!¡±
Xia Lei was surprised by him but he quickly calmed down. He said calmly, ¡°I do have a lot of courage. Mr Zhongzhen, I just have this one condition. I want amnesty to keep my father safe.¡±
¡°You even dare to ask for that!¡± Zhongzhen Wukui became angrier. ¡°Every nation has itsws. Everyone is equal under thew. It is true that you have contributed greatly to the country, and you are a genius that is hard toe by even in a hundred years. But, how can you use your achievements and your talent to request the country to show mercy to your father? Do you not know that your fathermitted a crime of treason? Not to mention how many people he had killed!¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°I know what he had done and I will not make excuses for him. I only want him to be all right.¡±
¡°Stubborn! You are very stubborn!¡± Zhongzhen Wukui mmed his hand on the coffee table. ¡°If you do that, then importance does thew hold to you? There was never ack of people who sacrificed their rtives for the greater good since ancient times. Why don¡¯t you take those people as role models?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes became cold. A raging fire had been lit in his heart. However, he did not let his rage get the better of him. His logical side was still there. This Zhongzhen Wukui was not someone who did not understand the bnce of interests, nor was he someone who would disregard therger picture. From the perspective of the country¡¯s interests, it was clear that it would be better to fulfill his small request. If he arrested his father Xia Changhe, they would have punished his father and protect the dignity of thew but they would lose the submarine technology and even cause the Thunder Horse Group to change to manufacturing slippers and socks, and make the Thunder Horse Military Factory manufacture bicycles or something! But, even though Zhongzhen Wukui clearly knew the stakes of this matter, why was he still so unyielding? Why would he not just let go of his father Xia Changhe?
Shi Boren cleared his throat. ¡°Mr Zhongzhen, about this... I think...¡±
Zhongzhen Wukui gave Shi Boren an icy look.
Shi Boren immediately shut his mouth.
¡°Xia Lei, you can have fame, you can have money,¡± Zhongzhen Wukui¡¯s tone was cold and hard, ¡°But about your father¡¯s matter ¡ª No. However, I can make sure that he will not die. Where is he right now?¡±
¡°Are you going to arrest him?¡± Xia Lei held the anger in his heart in check.
Zhongzhen Wukui said, ¡°There are some things I need to confirm with him.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly thought to himself, ¡®There is a big possibility that this Zhongzhen Wukui is the boss of the ZN Bureau. Then his target is me, the ancient alloy and AE¡¯s secret. Compared to the ancient alloy and AE¡¯s secret, Germany¡¯s submarine technology is nothing. What he wants is a greater advantage! He wants my father because he wanted to use him as a point of breakthrough in my defence!¡¯
¡°You can also have a title.¡± Zhongzhen Wukui added, ¡°I can promise that you will get votes. Any position all across the country from city to province, you can pick one you like. With your talent and the political capital you currently have, your potential, your future, is limitless.¡±
Xia Lei stayed silent.
Zhongzhen Wukui continued, ¡°What your father did was not your fault. Are there not also parents reporting on the sons in ordinary families? And are there not sons and daughters reporting on their parents who defied thew? Thew is thew. If everyone can ignore it would the world not be chaotic?¡±
Tang Tianlong¡¯s lips moved. ¡°Xia Lei, think carefully about it.¡±
Xia Lei suddenlyughed. ¡°So I guess this negotiation has fallen through?¡±
Zhongzhen Wukui¡¯s face turned cold. ¡°I have said so much. Do you still not understand?¡±
¡°Fuck,¡± cursed Xia Lei.
¡°What did you say!¡± Zhongzhen Wukui stood up abruptly. How dare a civilian look down on him!
Xia Lei suddenly pped his palm on the table and abruptly stood up. He red at Zhongzhen Wukui and said furiously, ¡°I said ¡ª FUCK!¡±
¡°You¡ª¡± Zhongzhen Wukui raised a finger at Xia Lei, too angry to say anything.
Tang Tianlong and Shi Boren were shocked senseless by what Xia Lei did.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°I fought for the country. I risked life imprisonment and put my life on the line to go to Germany to learn their technology. I put my life on the line to go to Afghanistan and Japan for a mission, and there is also South Korea and Jerusalem. When I was licking my wounds in the middle of guns and bullets, what were you guys doing? Drinking tea or reading newspapers? You guys want to exchange my technology to get the Germans¡¯ technology and you are hoping for me to betray my father? Fuck, are you guys still human? Are there humans who conduct themselves like you guys?¡±
Zhongzhen Wukui¡¯s old face turned red, then purple.
¡°Oh, right, and who are you?¡± Xia Lei locked eyes with Zhongzhen Wukui. ¡°What is your identity? How are you involved?¡±
¡°I am¡ª ¡° Zhongzhen Wukui was so angry that he was shaking, but he still did not answer.
¡°You won¡¯t tell me? Fine, then tell me, are you the overseer of this negotiation?¡±
¡°What if I am? And what if I am not?¡± Zhongzhen Wukui¡¯s eyes were terrifyingly cold.
Xia Leiughed tly. ¡°It is all very simple. If you are not the overseer, then why should I waste my time talking to you? If you are, then it is even easier. This negotiation is over.¡±
¡°Over? What do you intend to do?¡±
¡°I will not sell my technology to anyone. The Thunder Horse Military Factory will no longer manufacture any weapons. I will change to manufacturing socks and clothes,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei! Do not forget that you still owe the bank more than 20 billion! Changing to manufacture socks and clothes? How are you going to pay back the loan?¡± said Zhongzhen Wukui coldly.
Xia Lei shrugged. Heughed and said, ¡°20 billion? That is only in Chinese currency. I only need to build a sock manufacturing factory in Arabia or some other country and they will help me pay the loan. Or, I only need to make one Thunder Dragon intelligentthe and there will be people willing to pay off the loan for me. To me, money is not a problem. As long as I want money there will be people in the world who will happily bring it to my door.¡±
This was the truth.
With his abilities, he only needed to move his ¡°sock manufacturing¡±pany overseas and there will be plenty of countries who would be willing to provide him the funds. But that was not even the easiest way. If he agreed to sell his Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, there would be financial groups willing to help him pay off his loan in exchange for this world¡¯s most advanced intelligentthe!
To put it simply, he was a treasure in human form. His brain, and his two hands were worth an immeasurable wealth. He could destroy what he had built himself at anytime and then build it up again somewhere else.
For someone like him, what could you threaten him with?
¡°Ahem.¡± Shi Boren gave a dry cough. ¡°Xia Lei, let¡¯s talk amicably. Don¡¯t be rash.¡±
Tang Tianlong then added, ¡°Yes, Xia Lei. Mr Zhongzhen is elderly. You have to watch your tone. Let¡¯s sit down and talk. We have to discuss this, don¡¯t we?¡±
Zhongzhen Wukui sat down but Xia Lei remained standing.
¡°Continue the negotiation?¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Fine, but I want to know who is the overseer of the three of you.¡±
Shi Boren and Tang Tianlong¡¯s eyes both moved to Zhongzhen Wukui.
Zhongzhen Wukui did not say a word.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°No overseer? What is there to talk when there is no overseer? I am busy. You guys can keep talking. Do not look for me in the future either. We won¡¯t have anything we would need to meet for. I do not believe that I cannot find a ce in this big world that will aodate us, father and son.¡±
¡°Little brat, you...¡± Shi Boren became anxious.
Xia Lei could not be bothered to talk any further. He gathered up the files and envelope on the table, and ced them in the briefcase. He turned to leave.
¡°It is me.¡± Zhongzhen Wukui finally admitted it. ¡°Can you really not change your request?¡±
¡°I just have this one request, I will not change it. I want an amnesty, signed by the highest official. My father will not be prosecuted, nor will he be investigated by anyone, and you guys also cannot have people follow him. You guys give me what I want and I will give you guys what you want,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Will one signed by me not work?¡±
¡°No. I do not believe you.¡±
¡°All right, deal. Tomorrow, someone will deliver the amnesty to your hands. You¡¯d better shape up.¡± Although Zhongzhen Wukui agreed, his tone was still cold.
Xia Lei said calmly, ¡°I have a clear conscience of what I do. I can live up to my own conscience and I can live up to the country and its people. The Heavens will protect someone like me, so I do not need you to warn me of anything.¡±
¡°Well said. Goodbye, Mr Xia.¡± Zhongzhen Wukui stood up and walked out of Shi Boren¡¯s office.
It was not until Zhongzhen Wukui had left than Shi Boren asked, ¡°You brat, you must have been born in the year of the ox in your previous life. How can you yell at him like that?¡±
Xia Lei asked, ¡°Who is this old man? Why hasn¡¯t he retired at such an old age?¡±
Shi Boren was speechless.
Tang Tianlong sighed. ¡°Xia Lei, although the negotiation was sessful, you have also offended him. You¡¯ll have to look for an opportunity to go apologise next time.¡±
¡°Fine.¡± Xia Lei agreed, but he would never apologise to Zhongzhen Wukui.
¡°Then I will make a move first. I still need to report back.¡± Tang Tianlong also left.
There was only Shi Boren and Xia Lei left in the office.
After hesitating for a moment, Shi Boren came to Xia Lei¡¯s side. ¡°Zhongzhen Wukui is ZN Bureau¡¯s boss. Everything targeting you came from there. Now that you have offended Zhongzhen Wukui, you need to be careful.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Thanks, Boss Shi.¡±
Even though he had guessed Zhongzhen Wukui¡¯s identity earlier, it held a different significance when it came from Shi Boren¡¯s mouth.
Chapter 661 - Build a Good Relationship
The negotiation was sessful and he got what he wanted, so Xia Lei should have been happy, but his heart was heavy. He had used all of his merits, everything he had built up, to force that Zhongzhen Wukui to bow his lofty head. If this negotiation was to bepared to a victory, it was a tragic one.
The look Zhongzhen Wukui had given him as he left made a chill run down his spine. That look was a look which painted him an enemy.
If the actions ZN Bureau had taken against him in the past were just defensive structures, and that Zhongzhen Wukui was carrying out the administrative tasks, then the next step ZN Bureau was going to take was to mix in personal grievances and causes.
Xia Lei walked out of the Bureau 101 office building. Sunlight fell on his face, warming him.
¡®Whatever. I am sitting in a stable position as long as I have not done anything illegal. He might have a lot of authority, but what can he do to me? With my value, and the value of Thunder Horse Military Factory, there is no way he can deal with me openly. I just have to help Fan Fan get the position of ZN Bureau Chief, and I can solve my problem with ZN Bureau. If he steps down from his position now, he will be nothing!¡¯ Xia Lei smiled coldly at that thought. He got into his car and dialled a number.
The call connected in a few seconds.
¡°This is unusual. You¡¯re actually taking the initiative to call me. So, what is it?¡± It was Fan Fan¡¯s voice.
¡°Where are you now?¡±
¡°At my grandfather¡¯s. What do you want?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk. I¡¯lle over right now. Is it convenient?¡±
¡°I still have a few days more to go on my period. Wait a few days more, and it will be convenient.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A red BMW M6 suddenly entered the car park, and stopped next to Xia Lei¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban.
Xia Lei recognised this car. It was the first car he had bought for Liang Siyao.
The two of them wound down their windows at almost the same time.
¡°WHen did you get it back?¡± asked Xia Lei casually. This car dredged up memories for him.
Liang Siyao smiled toothily. ¡°It was at my old ce. I got someone to drive it to the 4S shop for maintenance and drive it back to me. It¡¯s very important to me. My boyfriend gave it to me. Is it pretty?¡±
Xia Lei smiled too. His heart twanged with pain.
Liang Siyao abruptly drew close to the window and lowered her voice. ¡°A report from Europe. Gu Kewen flew from Japan to South Korea at eightst night. The CIA¡¯s elite field agents too.¡±
The CIA¡¯s field agents did not deal in intelligence, but were agents who captured and assassinated. Gu Kewen flying from Japan to South Korea with field agents meant that she was making some sort of move.
Xia Lei raised his head and looked up at the sky. It was clear, but he felt like dark clouds wereing.
¡°You have to be on your guard. Her target is you.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes were filled with worry.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I got it.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go report this to Boss Shi. We¡¯ll talkter.¡± Liang Siyao withdrew and made to leave.
¡°Wait.¡±
¡°Is there something else?¡± Liang Siyao looked back at Xia Lei with a faint smile on her lips. She was quiet, beautiful.
¡°Um. Thank you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Siyao quirked her lips in a wry smile. ¡°You know that this is not what I want. There¡¯s no need for you to thank me, no matter what I do for you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Go. I¡¯m going off too.¡±
Xia Lei drove away, and Liang Siyao watched him go. Xia Lei watched her in his mirror. The distance grew between them, but some things, some ties, just couldn¡¯t be cut.
An hourter, the Chevrolet Suburban appeared in the car park of the Academy of Science. Xia Lei alighted with a big bag of gifts. He could have arrived earlier if he had not gone to buy those gifts. Part of the gifts were for Fan Fan, and the other part was for Fan Yiming. He hardly tried to curry favour with others, but he had to make some changes now.
Fan Fan was leaning against the pir in front of the lobby, watching Xia Lei approach with a smile on her face. She said teasingly, ¡°What are the gifts for? You can¡¯t still be asleep, can you? Is your brain still muddled?¡±
¡°Buying some gifts for you mean that I¡¯m still asleep and that my brain¡¯s muddled? Well, I won¡¯t give you any gifts since you¡¯re saying that, then. Hold on. I¡¯ll put these in the car.¡± Xia Lei turned to leave.
Fan Fan then stepped forward and grabbed the bags from Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°How can there be a person like you who buys gifts, then takes them back? You¡¯re a billionaire! How can you be so petty? You must be the pettiest billionaire on Earth.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°You¡¯ve said everything. I won¡¯t add anything to that.¡±
Fan Fan looked at the gifts and said with augh, ¡°There¡¯s tea leaves and porcin too. These are for my grandfather, huh?¡±
¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t know what tea the old man likes, so I bought a bit of each,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fan Fan squinted at Xia Lei. ¡°What¡¯s your motive for trying to butter him up?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? I want to get his granddaughter.¡± He then moved close to Fan Fan¡¯s pale jade ear and blew warm breath as he said, ¡°Will you receive my advances?¡±
His words held a challenge, and that devilish smile... plus the hot breath in her ear... All thesebined made Fan Fan¡¯s body react, and a moan escaped her lips.
Xia Lei said in surprise, ¡°You can¡¯t have...¡±
Fan Fan bit her lip and looked at Xia Lei, red-faced. She said nothing more. It wasn¡¯t that she did not want to say it, but that this shameful thing just could not be said.
¡°Uh, let¡¯s go see Elder Fan first, then we¡¯ll look for a ce to have a good chat,¡± said Xia Lei. The devilish smile on his face widened.
¡°What do you want to talk about?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll talk about whatever you want to talk about.¡± Xia Lei shot Fan Fan a loaded gaze.
¡°You... You¡¯ve be really naughty.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t women like a bad boy? If I y by the rules all the time and be an honest farmer, would you like me? Would you still want to have my child?¡±
¡°No, I don¡¯t,¡± said Fan Fan. She was sure that she wouldn¡¯t give Xia Lei a second nce if he were a farmer, no matter how handsome he was. The likelihood of her sleeping with him was even lower, and giving birth to his child even less.
Xia Lei would not have been able to attract a woman like Fan Fan if it weren¡¯t for his achievements, his position in society now, and his IQ of 998.
In the dean¡¯s office, Fan Fan shoved a big bag of gifts into Fan Yiming¡¯s hands before Xia Lei could say anything, and said, ¡°Grandfather, Mr Xia came specially to see you, and brought you all these gifts.¡±
Fan Yiming was delighted. ¡°Oh my, Mr Xia. You really shouldn¡¯t have. Youing here is likeing to work ¡ª why the gifts?¡±
¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just some tea leaves and some tea drinking tools. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯d like them either, Elder Fan,¡± said Xia Lei politely.
¡°What¡¯s this about liking them, eh? I¡¯ll be happy even if you give me a few bags of tea, hehe.¡± Fan Yiming took Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°You came at just the right time. Let¡¯s talk about the Alloy X Project. I have an idea...¡±
Fan Fan cut between the two men before Fan Yiming could finish his sentence, and pulled Xia Lei away.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Fan Yiming looked at his granddaughter in confusion.
Fan Fan looked back at him andughed. ¡°Grandfather, I know what you¡¯re thinking. I¡¯ll talk with Mr Xia about it. I have an idea too. I¡¯ll tell him first.¡±
There was an odd look on Fan Yiming¡¯s face. ¡°Didn¡¯t youe to see me, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Of course, Elder Fan...¡± But Fan Fan had pulled him off before he could finish.
The office door closed with a m.
Fan Yiming stared at the closed door for a bit, and did not move.
Things settled down half an hourter.
XIa Lei did not know if Fan Fan had received seduction training as a core member of ZN Bureau, and he did not know if she truly had feelings for him, but he did not care. Genuine feelings were good, and fake feelings were good. It was good so long as they were happy.
¡°I saw your chief.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic.
¡°You...¡± Fan Fan started to say something, then stopped.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I¡¯m not here to deceive you. What I¡¯m saying is the truth. I¡¯ve juste from Bureau 101. That old man¡¯s boney and his eyes are quite unique, like a hawk¡¯s. His name¡¯s Zhongzhen Wukui. Am I right?¡±
Fan Fan was quiet for a bit before she said, ¡°It¡¯s him. I only know that he wants to meet you, but not why.¡±
¡°I had some negotiations with him.¡± Xia Lei watched her. ¡°Do you know what the negotiation was about?¡±
¡°No clue.¡±
¡°Ling Han has no clue either?¡±
¡°What are you trying to get at?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You don¡¯t need me to exin that the rtionship is between you and Ling Han, do I? I came with a fully sincere heart today. If you¡¯re questioning my motives, then there¡¯s no need for us to speak further.¡±
Fan Fan suddenly moved her mouth to Xia Lei¡¯s arm and bit him.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Are you a dog?¡±
Fan Fan raised her head, her eyes full of challenge and discontent. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you ask me about my motives when you were making me go crazy earlier? Why wait till you¡¯ve had your fill of my body? You men are all jerks.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Xia Leiughed.
¡°Come on, tell me. What did you negotiate with him?¡±
Xia Lei then started telling her...
Chapter 662 - I Shall Do As You Bid
Xia Lei told Fan Fan all the details of the negotiation. She was silent for quite a while after he was done telling her.
¡°Your father is actually a free agent of the FA Organisation? He...¡± Fan Fan started to say something, and stopped.
Xia Lei just looked quietly at Fan Fan and said nothing. He knew what to say and what not to say.
¡°You already knew about this?¡± asked Fan Fan. She wanted to ask more than this, of course, but she buried the rest of the questions she had in her heart.
¡°I know some of it, but I only knew about these recently. He¡¯s my father, whatever the case is. How can I, as a son, stand by and do nothing when my father is in difficulty?¡± Xia Lei then asked, ¡°Do you support me?¡±
Fan Fan gave augh. ¡°When I am pregnant with your child in the future, he will be my child¡¯s grandfather. Do you think I will support you, or not?¡±
Xia Lei slid his hand over Fan Fan¡¯s abdomen and gently fondled her soft breasts. If it¡¯s a son, I¡¯ll name him Xia Fan. If it¡¯s a daughter, I¡¯ll name her... Hm, also Xia Fan.¡±
¡°Ugh, what kind of father are you? How can you have the same name for a boy and a girl? Can you be anyzier?¡± Fan Fan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m not going to pin any hopes on you for this. I¡¯ve thought of names for children already. If we have a boy, he will be named Xia Bufan, and Xia Sifan if it¡¯s a girl. Don¡¯t these names sound good?¡±
The names still had ¡°Xia¡± and ¡°Fan¡± in them, but they had a different feeling to them with the addition of one more word in the names.
¡°Xia Bufan? The boy¡¯s name sounds good,¡± said Xia Lei with augh. ¡°But the girl¡¯s name... Xia Sifan... Sifan... Are you calling her a celestial? Only celestials have that sort of name.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Our daughter will be as beautiful as a celestial.¡± Fan Fan said rather haughtily, ¡°Whether it¡¯s a boy or a girl, I hope that the child can carry my genes of beauty, and your genes for superior intellect. Our child will be the most outstanding child on Earth.¡±
But Xia Lei was thinking about the anti-antidote. Fan Fan had not used the antidote during their rigorous activity earlier, so it was in to see that she had not yet managed to create the correct antidote. This was not strange, because she might be the nation¡¯s best bioengineer, but her speed at conducting experiments was much slower than his super brain¡¯s simtions. However, for the sake of safety, he would have to carry some anti-antidote on him the next time he was alone with her.
¡°What do you think, Lei?¡±
¡°It¡¯s great, of course. But it¡¯ll be nicer if we had a pigeon pair. You picked such nice names. Won¡¯t it be a waste if you didn¡¯t get to use both names?¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Fan Fan giggled merrily, and her body seemed to grow soft in Xia Lei¡¯s arms. She was putty in his hands.
¡°Let¡¯s talk about you.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic to official business.
¡°Me?¡±
¡°Right,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I offended Zhongzhen Wukui over my father¡¯s matter. People like him hold their pride above all else, and I can¡¯t guarantee that he won¡¯t get revenge on me. I don¡¯t want to have to only fight back when he hits me with something one day. I don¡¯t want to be vulnerable, so I have to do something.¡±
Fan Fan grew nervous. ¡°What are you nning on doing? He¡¯s not a person you can just provoke.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t lose my sense of reason. By ¡®fight back¡¯, I mean I¡¯ll fight back through you.¡±
¡°Me? What can I do for you?¡±
¡°Go be the Chief of ZN Bureau. I¡¯ll have less trouble when you¡¯re Chief. Tell me, what can be done to remove him from office? What can be done to put you in office?¡±
¡°You came for this purpose?¡±
¡°You mean you don¡¯t want to be the ZN Bureau Chief?¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯t have done that if I didn¡¯t want to. I¡¯m still regretting it now. But there is no use even thinking about it. The selection of talent for ZN Bureau, and the promotion in ranks have its own rules. It¡¯s not what you imagine it to be.¡±
¡°What sort of rules?¡± This was Xia Lei¡¯s first time hearing Fan Fan speak of ZN Bureau¡¯s inner workings, and he was full of curiosity.
¡°In ZN Bureau, a person who wants to get promoted must have results. Other than results, smarts are a must.¡±
¡°Smarts?¡±
¡°Yep, smarts,¡± said Fan Fan. ¡°ZN Bureau is a brainy department, you know that. It exists to make suggestions to the top brass, the elite, and solve troublesome problems.¡±
¡°Troublesome problems? Problems in which sector?¡±
¡°In all sectors. International rtions, trade confrontations, science advancements and so on. Why else do you think a person like me is in ZN Bureau?¡± said Fan Fan. ¡°Don¡¯t think that Ling Han is just a guy who¡¯s good at scheming things. He is also good at handling international disputes. Several proposals of his have been adopted. Compared to his list of achievements, my standing is much weaker. That was why I got quite anxious thest time when he made some ns which involved you. If he had managed to take over your Thunder Horse Military Factory, he would have sealed his position as the next Chief of ZN Bureau. I would have stood no chance at all.¡±
¡°So if you have better results than him, what will happen?¡±
¡°It will depend on how much better my results arepared to his. If it¡¯s just a little bit, then I pose no threat to him. If I do exceptionally well, my chances of bing the next Chief are very high. Besides, I have my advantages too, and that¡¯s my grandfather. He is the deal of the Academy of Science.¡±
¡°Speak inly. What can I do to help you win the seat of Chief of ZN Bureau?¡±
Fan Fan smiled wryly. ¡°My speciality is bioengineering, and your specialty is machining and manufacturing. What can we do when we work together? My biggest hope lies in the Alloy X Project. If I make contributions which are significant, it would be enough for me to be Chief. However, the Alloy X Project hase to a standstill, and I¡¯m fast losing confidence. Can¡¯t you help me ovee the obstacle that is the Alloy X Project?¡±
¡°Is there anything else other than the Alloy X Project?¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Let¡¯s not think about whether I can do it or not. Just tell me what needs to be done.¡±
Fan Fan thought for a bit. ¡°South Korea has been making some moves recently, and the free trade zone agreements we¡¯ve had are now in question. The Americans are creating trouble, and we cannot do anything about it. If I cane up with a solution for this, then my results sheet will look much better.¡±
Xia Lei abruptly remembered Ahn Suhyeong¡¯s father, Ahn Geungan. He had a hold on Ahn Geungan¡¯s weakness.
¡°There¡¯s no use even thinking of it. Ling Han has already submitted three proposals, but not one of them was feasible. The two of us are not experts in politics either, so what method can we use to solve this troublesome problem? Stop thinking about it. Go talk with my grandfather. He wants to approach the Alloy X Project from the materials science angle. Go advise him against it. His desire toe into direct contact with the ancient alloy is growing stronger and stronger, and I can¡¯t seem to warn him against it.¡± Fan Fan removed herself from Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. She walked over to the water dispenser and picked up her white underwear, then turned her back to him and put it on.
The little white underwear disappeared under her ck skirt, but the image of her full, round buttocks remained in Xia Lei¡¯s mind, pale, soft as cream, and beyond description.
Fan Fan adjusted her short skirt after putting her underwear on again. She looked back to see that Xia Lei was still spacing out on the carpet, like he was pondering the troublesome problem.
¡°You¡¯re not really thinking of getting me to solve this problem, are you?¡± Fan Fanughed. ¡°Stop thinking about it. It¡¯s useless. We¡¯d best think about the Alloy X Project. This one¡¯s more realistic.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly said, ¡°The elections for South Korea will be held in October, right?¡±
¡°Yeah. It¡¯s going to start in two weeks.¡±
¡°And Ahn Geungan is one of the candidates?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, but he doesn¡¯t have much support. If no idents ur, his rival Park Sukjin will be South Korea¡¯s next president. This is troublesome for us, because some of the policies she¡¯s proposing is not good for us.¡±
¡°How about this...¡± A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Can you go around Zhongzhen Wukui and take on this mission?¡±
¡°You really want me to take this mission? Are you kidding? I don¡¯t even understand Korean! What am I supposed to do?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. You just have to bypass Zhongzhen Wukui and sign on for this mission. I¡¯ll do the rest for you.¡±
¡°You?¡± Fan Fan looked disbelievingly at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei got off the floor. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you honestly that I have Ahn Geungan¡¯s weakness. I can reach an agreement with him.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Fan Fan was shocked.
¡°Oh, and not just this mission. You¡¯ve got to get the one involving the trade with Germany too. I want you to be in charge.¡±
¡°Me? In charge? Isn¡¯t the deal with Germany done? Plus, ording to what I¡¯ve heard, Zhongzhen Wukui has already made preparations for Ling Han to be in charge of it. When the timees, Ling Han will be stationed at Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°This proves that Zhongzhen Wukui is on Ling Han¡¯s side and is trying to give him a boost. This matter isn¡¯t for Ling Han to be in charge just because he wants it, right?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve already reached an agreement with Zhongzhen Wukui. Are you going to destroy the personnel arrangements he¡¯s made too? You¡¯ll really anger him then, and it won¡¯t matter if you agree to it or not. Ling Han has Zhongzhen Wukui¡¯s support, and he his no pushover either. Would he be willing to let such an opportunity slip through his fingers?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I have indeed reached an agreement with Zhongzhen Wukui, and it¡¯s true that it won¡¯t be easy to stop him from getting Ling Han to be in charge. However, this matter doesn¡¯t need me to do the asking. The Germans can do it. Don¡¯t forget that the Germans want our technology. How can they not fulfil this request of mine if I make it?¡±
Fan Fan then understood, and she smiled too.
It was true. Xia Lei did not have to personally get involved and go up against Zhongzhen Wukui and Ling Han. He just had to have a word with the Germans, and make some little suggestions, and they would do as he asked. If the Germans were dissatisfied with Ling Han, and requested a change of supervisor, could the higher-ups not agree to it?
¡°Settle the problem with the Korean government, and get the submarine technology of the Germans. Are these two things enough for you to get the position of Chief of ZN Bureau?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Fan Fan drew close to Xia Lei. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±
Xia Lei looked at her quizzically.
Fan Fan reached out and put her hand on his zipper, then pulled upwards gently. ¡°You¡¯re going to meet with my grandfather soon. You don¡¯t want him to know that you fucked his granddaughter, right?¡±
Xia Lei was a little embarrassed. ¡°I was talking about official business with you.¡±
Fan Fan giggled. ¡°I shall do as you bid. I will give you a report you¡¯ll be satisfied with tomorrow morning, My Lord.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 663 - Most Complicated Male Female Relationship
Fan Fan had not arrived the next day, but Ling Han did, along with his assistant Song Baicheng.
In Xia Lei¡¯s office.
¡°Xia Lei. I¡¯m here on orders.¡± Ling Han went straight to the point. ¡°I¡¯m going to be facilitating the technology exchange between Thunder Horse Military Factory and Germany. I hope you will support me in my work.¡±
Xia Lei took a sip of the tea Qing Caiyue made for him, and said with a smile, ¡°No problem. You¡¯re my Brother. Who else am I going to support?¡±
¡°Mm, that¡¯s good, then.¡± Ling Han looked awkward. ¡°Uh, please don¡¯t take what happened before to heart. I admit that I did you wrong and I was at fault, but I promise you that I won¡¯t ever make the same mistake again.¡±
¡°What are you talking about, Brother Ling? I¡¯ve forgotten,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Han paused, then chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯ve forgotten it. I¡¯ll have to stay here for a while. Could you arrange amodations for me?¡±
¡°The office building has rooms which are meant for honoured guests. You can stay there. You can also choose to stay in the vi. Sylvia from Rheinmetall AG is staying there, and so am I.¡±
¡°Would it be all right for me to stay in the vi?¡±
¡°Sure. I¡¯ll make the arrangements now.¡± A small, almost hidden smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Ling Han did not want to stay in the guest rooms in the office building because the Thunder Horse Military Factory surveince cameras were everywhere. If he stayed in the vi, he would be able to interact more with Sylvia too, and keep an eye on Xia Lei. He had these underlying motives, but Xia Lei was no different. With Ling Han close to him, there won¡¯t be any secrets he could hide from him!
¡°Then I¡¯ll stay in the vi too,¡± said Song Baicheng.
¡°Forget it. The vi doesn¡¯t have so many rooms,¡± said Xia Lei tly.
¡°You...¡± Song Baicheng¡¯s face turned red.
¡°I have no other meaning behind my words, I assure you. Please understand. Stay in the guest room here, Mr Song,¡± said Xia Lei.
Song Baicheng wanted to say more, but Ling Han gave him a re and he shut up. He knew that the vi definitely had enough rooms for him, and that Xia Lei had said that just to p at his pride.
Ling Han grew slightly ufortable too, because Song Baicheng was his subordinate. Xia Lei being disrespectful to his subordinate was also, in a way, being disrespectful to him.
Ling Han¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei¡¯s face, and Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Ling Han¡¯s face too. They both smiled when their eyes met. They seemed all harmonious, but below this harmony blew a cold wind.
Ling Han and Song Baicheng settled into Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Xia Lei did not bother to take care of Ling Han either. He made arrangements to have him housed in the vi, then went to the defence systems workshop.
¡°Wait for me, Mr Xia.¡± Sylvia¡¯s voice came from behind him.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks and looked back at the German machinist. A smile appeared on his face as he said in German, ¡°Miss Sylvia. Good morning.¡±
¡°Morning? I¡¯ve been awake for three hours already,¡± said Sylvia. ¡°It¡¯s such a hassle that I don¡¯t understand Chinese. My interpreter will only arrive from Germany in a few days. I¡¯ll have you rely on you for the next few days.¡±
¡°My secretary Qing Caiyue knows German too. You can ask her for help when I¡¯m not around,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°All right, thank you,¡± said Sylvia. ¡°Mr Xia, are you going to the workshop? May I go with you?¡±
Her eyes were filled with a hunger.
Xia Lei knew her motives, and he did not reject her. He very promptly agreed. ¡°Come with me.¡±
The defence systems workshop was a hive of activity.
Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s defence systems workshop was already manufacturing a reactive vehicle armour. This type of reactive vehicle armour was an important part of military vehicles and tanks. If attacked by anti-tank shells or missiles, this reactive vehicle armour would explode, pushing the force outwards, and help the tank or military vehicle avoid destruction. It could boost the survival rate of the tanks and the military vehicles on the battlefield, and the safety of the troops. As Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s first defence product, it was going to be used in the tanks and military vehicles which the factory would manufacture.
In truth, both the artillery workshop and the defence system workshop were meant to support the tanks and military vehicles which Thunder Horse Military Factory would manufacture.
Aftering back from Germany, Xia Lei had taken all of Rheinmetall AG in his brain, and all of its products, its technologies. He used all that he had brought from Rheinmetall AG in Thunder Horse Military Factory, but he did not make an exact copy. He had improved upon several areas, and added a lot of his own design. It could be said that the current Thunder Horse Military Factory was a strengthened form of Rheinmetall AG, and it was just the size and scale that was different.
There were quite a few Russian and Ukrainian technicians in the defence systems workshop, and senior engineers. They were all talents which Thunder Horse Military Factory had recruited. Xia Lei could not do everything on his own after all, and he was only in charge of the most high-end parts and the solving ofplicated problems. His employees did the rest.
There was a smallmotion when Xia Lei turned up in the defence systems workshop. Quite a few technicians and senior engineers came over to greet him. Xia Lei motioned for them to keep working, and brought Sylvia to tour his workshop.
Sylvia remained calm in the beginning but she soon lost her calm. She had spotted the shadow of Rheinmetall AG in Thunder Horse Military Factory, but it was not really the case when she took a closer look. The design of these machines were more advanced than those of Rheinmetall AG!
¡°Th, This is impossible...¡± Sylvia couldn¡¯t help being shaken and shocked. ¡°Mr Xia, the designs you have here... Your production lines seem more advanced than ours at Rheinmetall AG. There are several areas which have been modified and improved upon, including some problems we have not yet discovered. Um, may I ask... Who is the chief engineer in charge of designing this workshop?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°It may seem far away, but it is close at hand.¡±
¡°What did you say?¡± Sylvia didn¡¯t understand Chinese, much less obscure idioms.
Xia Lei tranted it to German for her.
¡°My goodness, you¡¯re just...¡± Sylvia¡¯s eyes shed with excitement. ¡°You¡¯re like an all-capable godly being. You can process the highest precision parts, and design the world¡¯s best sniper rifle and assault rifle, the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon, and you also...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. He smiled as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t praise me too soon. I¡¯m not some all-capable godly being. I am just good at doing things like these. I¡¯m quite a failure outside of these. My wife and I are divorced. If I really am an all-capable guy, would she have left me?¡±
¡°She is an idiot.¡± As soon as the words left her lips, Sylvia immediately said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t mean that. I just meant to say that she did something foolish. You are the closest to perfection on this Earth. I cannot think of anyone who is more aplished than you.¡±
Excitement shone in her eyes. Xia Lei knew what she was thinking about. Closest to perfection on this Earth, huh? This was his first time hearing this, and it made him think of something else. ¡®My body has been evolving. My brain, my body, and my organs are evolving towards perfection. What lies at the end of this evolution? I¡¯ve put off eating thest AE capsule. Would my evolution still be perfect if I don¡¯t eat it? If I do eat it, would I reach perfection more quickly?¡¯
To eat, or not to eat thatst capsule was a choice. This choice seemed simple but to Xia Lei, this was the most difficult decision on Earth. He wasn¡¯t unhappy with how things were right now, even if he didn¡¯t eat the capsule. But if he didn¡¯t eat it... Would he be able to resist the temptation to eat thest AE capsule to find out what would happen to him in the end?
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯d like to...¡± Sylvia¡¯s voice interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts.
¡°What would you like to do?¡± said Xia Lei.
Sylvia spoke hesitantly, ¡°I¡¯d like to take a look at the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon which you designed. Can I?¡±
¡°Of course you can. You¡¯ll be able to do more than see it too. I¡¯ll give you one and let you take it apart. I can also allow you to take pictures of it, and get the permission to send them back to Rheinmetall AG.¡±
¡°This...: Sylvia stared at Xia Lei in surprise. She could not believe that Xia Lei had just agreed to this request like that.
She had been prepared to ¡°sacrifice her all¡± to have her request granted but it now looked like she could get what she wanted without having to take a piece of clothing off.
Xia Lei suddenly drew close and said softly in Sylvia¡¯s ear, ¡°I¡¯m helping you, so you¡¯ll have to help me too. I¡¯ve run into some trouble, and you can help me solve it.¡±
Warm breath puffed on her ear, and Sylvia¡¯s pale face turned red. ¡°Wh, What do you want me to do? I, I¡¯m not that sort of loose woman...¡±
She had obviously misunderstood. Xia Lei¡¯s way of saying things had been ambiguous, plus the position he had spoken in was rather intimate, and was obviously provocative too.
Xia Lei did not let her misunderstanding worsen. He cut her off and said, ¡°What I want you to do is very simple. You only need to...¡±
The redness disappeared from Sylvia¡¯s face, and she was so embarrassed she could die.
¡°Just this one thing. Can you do it?¡± Xia Lei looked at Sylvia when he was done talking.
Sylvia shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a little embarrassing, but no problem. I¡¯ll help you settle it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Then, thank you.¡±
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
A mobile phone rang. Xia Lei took out his phone, looked at the screen, and walked off to one side to answer the call.
¡°I¡¯ve settled it on my end. If I can solve the problem with the Korean government, and sessfully obtain the submarine technology from Germany, Zhongzhen Wukui will have an early retirement and I will be the next Chief of ZN Bureau.¡± It was Fan Fan¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei could not maintain the calm he had been faking any longer, and he let out augh. ¡°Hehe, that¡¯s great! I have a piece of good news to tell you too. I¡¯m set on my end. Wait for the good news.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you some good news as well. I am close to getting the correct antidote. Just you wait ¡ª You¡¯ll be a daddy.¡± Fan Fan¡¯sughter came from over the line.
Xia Lei suddenly felt like he had the mostplicated male-female rtionship on this Earth with Fan Fan.
Chapter 664
In the dead of the night.
Xia Lei sat quietly on the sofa in his room. His vision was locked on the floor beneath his feet. The floor and concrete bs were nonexistent in Xia Lei¡¯s left vision ¡ª Ling Han was in the room right under his feet.
Ling Han was packing his belongings. His luggage was quite simple. It consisted of a suitcase, aptop, a spare suit set, a few pairs of underwear, and multiple pairs of socks.
After he finished organising his things, Ling Han sat on the sofa and made a call.
¡°Boss, I¡¯ve settled into Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡± Ling Han spoke in a low voice, but Xia Lei still ¡°listened in¡± by reading his lips.
This call was to Zongzheng Wukui.
Although Xia Lei couldn¡¯t hear Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s voice, he was able to guess that it was him from Ling Han¡¯s expression and the way he spoke.
Since Ling Han had chosen to call Zongzheng Wukui at this time, it was easy to see that Ling Han had a better rtionship with Zongzheng Wukui than Fan Fan.
¡°Yes, Boss. Please rest assured. I willplete the mission.¡± Ling Han said, ¡°Xia Lei seemed to be still a little dissatisfied with me, but he won¡¯t have the guts to act impudently in front of me. He did give Song Baicheng a bad attitude though... Of course I won¡¯t care about such trivial things. I¡¯ll let him be arrogant for now... Yes, I will contact you whenever something newes up. Goodbye.¡±
Ling Han didn¡¯t put down his phone after the call. Instead, he continued to make calls. He made two domestic calls and two international calls. All the calls were to Korea.
The four calls to Korea were rted to the current situation. The people who picked up the phone calls were no simple folk. From the way Ling Han had addressed them, Xia Lei guessed that they were probably congressmen and important members from the Opposition Party of Korea.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡®It looks like Ling Han still hasn¡¯t given up on the matters in Korea. He is such a hardworking person. If I don¡¯t help Fan Fan, I will still be the winner in the power struggle of Bureau ZN, but...¡¯
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips curved in a smirk.
The rtionship between him, Ling Han, and Fan Fan could be perfectly described using an idiom: the sandpiper fights with the m, and the fisherman benefits by catching both. Ling Han was the sandpiper, Fan Fan was the m, and he was the fisherman. The fisherman in the idiom was merely a fisherman, but in this situation, he was a fisherman who had a rtionship with the m. So, he was a fisherman who got all the profits.
Ling Han went to the bathroom after he finished making thest call. Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision.
Xia Lei also took out his phone and dialled a phone number that he had not called in a long time.
¡°Who is this?¡± The voice on the other end of the phone belonged Ahn Geungan and it was filled with suspicion and wariness.
¡°Did you forget about me, old friend?¡± Xia Lei replied with augh.
There was silence on the other end of the line for a while before Ahn Geungan spoke. ¡°Mr Xia. Why are you calling me sote in the night?¡±
¡°To chat about the good old days. Is that okay?¡±
¡°Stop joking around. We are not friends.¡±
¡°How can you say that? I¡¯m calling you out of sincerity.¡±
¡°Sincerity from you? Hah!¡± Ahn Geungan snorted. ¡°When I hear your voice, I¡¯m reminded of my son, Suhyeong. You probably forgot about him, right? Did you think that I would forget about his death?¡±
¡°Mr Ahn, of course I didn¡¯t forget, and I won¡¯t forget. But what I remembered was that he had brought a lot of hitmen with him, intending to kill me. From your perspective, you lost your son. But from my perspective, am I just going to forfeit my life and wait for him to kill me? If there¡¯s a cause, then there¡¯s an effect. That¡¯s karma. ept reality.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to talk nonsense with you. If there¡¯s anything you have to say, then just say it.¡±
¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll be frank. I guess you¡¯ve already forgotten about what I have in my hands?¡±
¡°What do you want?¡± Ahn Geungan¡¯s voice was filled with anger.
¡°Don¡¯t take me the wrong way. I know your election situation is not optimistic, but I¡¯m not here to hit you when you¡¯re down. Instead, I¡¯m here to help you.¡±
¡°You kept those things because you want to threaten me to reach your goal. How can I believe that you want to help me?¡±
¡°I have my own goal, of course. I can¡¯t just help you and not get anything in return, right?¡±
¡°Tell me, then. What¡¯s your goal?¡±
¡°I want to make some changes in the free trade zone agreement and some targeted policies. That¡¯s my only request. It¡¯s as simple as that.¡±
¡°Who do you think I am? Do you think I¡¯m the president of Korea? Even if I am, your request is over the top. Do you think I¡¯m going to agree to it?¡±
¡°Do you think you can refuse?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was calm, but his words carried menace.
If you refuse, I¡¯ll just destroy you!
¡°You should know well that it¡¯ll be useless even if I agreed to it. Your request is beyond my capability to grant it, so it¡¯s no use even if you threaten me.¡±
¡°What if I can help you win the election?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Are you kidding me?¡±
¡°Why would I joke with you? Tell me, what do you need help with?¡±
Ahn Geungan hesitated. ¡°I know you have a skilled thief. I want to borrow him. Also, my finances are being monitored, so I can¡¯t use it in the election. I will need some clean money.¡±
¡°I can lend you the person, but you have to guarantee his safety.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just stealing some things. There won¡¯t be any problem. I can guarantee his safety.¡±
¡°How much money do you need?¡±
¡°100 million USD,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
¡°I have no problem giving you the money and the person.¡± Xia Lei said coldly, ¡°But remember, if you don¡¯t do what you promised me, you know what the consequences are.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t promise a 100% of it, but I will try my best to satisfy you.¡±
¡°Deal. I will personally bring the money and the person to Korea, but you have to keep my whereabouts a secret. Will that be a problem?¡±
¡°Okay, no problem. I look forward to our sessful cooperation.¡± Ahn Geungan hung up.
Xia Lei put his phone down and a figure appeared in his mind. It was Gu Kewen. She was also in Korea, and the CIA and the FA Organisation wereing up with ns to target him. Instead of waiting for Gu Kewen, the CIA, and the FA Organisation to chase him down, he might as well chase them down while they were off guard in Korea, while they were all gathered together!
Park Sukjin was Ahn Geungan¡¯s mainpetitor. Between the two of them, one of them would be the next president of South Korea. People around the world were optimistic about Park Sukjin winning the election. Park Sukjin had a higher poprity rating than Ahn Geungan, and she was also supported by the United States. Ahn Geungan, on the other hand, was someone who had been abandoned. He was isted and helpless. Providing him with assistance right now was like giving him charcoal amidst the cold snowy winter. This meant that the Ahn Geungan now would definitely not betray him!
Once he got Ahn Geungan as an ally, it would be so much easier for him to move about in Korea!
Kill Gu Kewen!
This thought thrummed in Xia Lei¡¯s head. His desire to kill her was very strong!
Knock knock knocking came from the door.
Xia Lei put away his thoughts and looked over to see Sylvia standing outside the door.
Sylvia wore a set of white pyjamas. The light from the hallway illuminated her vivid beauty.
What did she want to do dressed like that, and knocking at his door at this hour?
Knock knock knock...
Sylvia knocked on the door again.
Xia Lei wanted to pretend that he was asleep, but when he saw how persistent Sylvia was, he braced himself and opened the door.
¡°Miss Sylvia, uh... Do you need something?¡± said Xia Lei. He couldn¡¯t help himself; his eyes went to her chest.
¡°Mr Xia, can I use your bathroom?¡± Sylvia looked at Xia Lei with wide eyes and she blushed shyly.
¡°Is there a problem with your bathroom?¡± Xia Lei looked curious.
Sylvia nodded earnestly. ¡°Yes, there isn¡¯t any hot water.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go check it out for you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°There¡¯s no need. Inside my bathroom... There¡¯s no hot water, and there are also cockroaches. I don¡¯t want to shower in there, so can I use your bathroom? May I?¡± Sylvia put up a finger. ¡°Only ten minutes.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He eventually moved aside and allowed Sylvia toe in. Whether or not Sylvia¡¯s room had hot water or cockroaches, it was hard for him to refuse her request since he was the owner of the vi. Besides, he needed Sylvia to do him a favor. So, even though he knew her purpose wasn¡¯t just to shower, he still had to pretend that he didn¡¯t know anything.
Sylvia entered Xia Lei¡¯s room and went into the bathroom.
An idea popped into Xia Lei¡¯s mind. ¡°Did she reallye here to take a shower?¡± For some reason, he felt a little disappointed.
After a few minutes, Sylvia¡¯s voice suddenly came from the bathroom. ¡°Mr Xia, I forgot to bring a bath towel. Can I borrow yours?¡±
She was not here to shower, as expected.
¡°No problem.¡± The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips curved in a smirk. He found his towel and brought it to the bathroom door, then knocked.
Sylvia suddenly opened the door. She didn¡¯t open the door just a little bit, but pushed itpletely open.
Xia Lei pretended to be shocked. ¡°Miss Sylvia, you...¡±
¡°I¡¯ve wanted to have sex with you since we were in Germany. Annina told me that there¡¯s an 80% chance that you won¡¯t reject me if I try to seduce you. Is that true?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Annina, you terrible woman!
Knock knock knocking suddenly came from the door, followed by Yelena¡¯s voice. ¡°Director Xia, there¡¯s an important matter that you need to tend to.¡±
The two entangled beings were petrified on the spot.
Knock knock knock. Yelena knocked on the door three more times.
¡°Coming!¡± said Xia Lei anxiously.
Chapter 665 - New Chief
Xia Lei opened the door for Yelena after Sylvia finished putting on her pyjamas. Yelena only nced at Sylvia and looked away right after, but Sylvia was still very nervous. She couldn¡¯t even look at Yelena. Yelena had given her a warning, and she still remembered the sharpbat knife on Yelena¡¯s inner thigh. However, if she were to choose again, she would still knock on Xia Lei¡¯s door...
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°Come out and talk,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei walked out of the room and closed the door.
¡°Your father told you to go to his ce,¡± whispered Yelena in Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡±
Yelena nced at the door. ¡°There won¡¯t be any problem if we leave her in your room, will there?¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°It¡¯s just a room. There¡¯s no secret in there.¡±
Yelena said nothing more. She walked towards the staircase.
Xia Lei hesitated, but he still opened the door to say to Sylvia, ¡°I have an emergency to take care of. Please excuse me.¡±
¡°When are youing back?¡± It was obvious that Sylvia didn¡¯t want the happy asion to end like this.
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Then... I will go back to my room,¡± said Sylvia in disappointment.
Xia Lei smiled at her. ¡°Remember what you promised me. You must do it well.¡±
Sylvia nodded. A thought-provoking smile formed at the corners of her lips.
Xia Lei looked back at Ling Han¡¯s room as he walked out of the vi. At that moment, he saw Ling Han¡¯s curtain move slightly. Xia Lei sneered. So Ling Han was peeping, huh.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. The ss and the curtains suddenly disappeared in his left eye¡¯s vision. He saw Ling Han take out his phone to make a call and he focused on his mouth, lip-reading what Ling Han said.
¡°Xia Lei is preparing to leave with his secretary. Follow him and find out where he¡¯s going and who he¡¯s meeting.¡± Ling Han hung up when he was done talking.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision. He didn¡¯t even need to guess ¡ª he knew that Ling Han had just called Song Baicheng.
Sure enough, right after Xia Lei and Yelena got into the car, Song Baicheng walked furtively out of the office building and went straight for his car.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°That guy is really troublesome. We can¡¯t let him know where my dad lives.¡±
He still hadn¡¯t received the pardon order for his father yet, so he didn¡¯t want any idents to ur.
¡°Just drive. I have already dealt with the other problems,¡± said Yelena tly.
¡°You have already dealt with it?¡±
¡°I punctured all four wheels on Song Baicheng¡¯s car before I knocked on your door,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei was speechless.
The Chevrolet Suburban drove out of the entrance of Thunder Horse Military Factory and soon disappeared into the night.
Song Baicheng quickly walked to his Hongqi car. Just as he got ready to open the car¡¯s door to go after Xia Lei, he caught sight of the back wheels of his car. Song Baicheng¡¯s face suddenly stiffened.
Two secondster, Song Baicheng kicked the deted front wheels. He yelled crazily, ¡°Who the fuck did this? Who¡ª¡ª¡±
Ten minutester, the Chevrolet Suburban stopped on the road next to a field. Xia Lei and Yelena got out of the car and walked into the small mountain vige. They climbed up a hill and finally arrived at the entrance of a farmhouse courtyard.
There was no light in the courtyard; darkness filled the ce. But Xia Lei could already see seven people standing in the courtyard. Out of the seven people, one of them was his father Xia Changhe, and another was E¡¯er Demutu, the ¡°tiger¡± of the zodiac team. The other five people consists of two ck people, two white people, and an Asian.
Out of the five strangers, the only female was ck. She was about twenty years old. She was tall with a pair of long legs. She had the typical features of a ck person; plump lips and a round butt. When he first saw her, Xia Lei thought that she was Rihanna, whom he happened to meet by chance once. But of course, she just looked simr to Rihanna.
Seeing them there, Xia Lei suddenly had a thought. ¡®Are these people the members of the zodiac team?¡¯
If these were the members of the zodiac team, then including the ¡°rooster¡±, Yelena by his side, there were currently seven of the zodiac team present. Only five people were missing from theplete team.
¡°Go in.¡± It was Yelena¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei tried to hold back his excitement. He stretched his arm out, pushed the door open and walked in.
In the courtyard, everyone¡¯s attention was drawn to Xia Lei. Some looked at him with shock, some looked at him with respect, and some looked at him with hope. From their eyes, it was obvious that they knew who Xia Lei was. They were also aware of what this young man represented.
¡°You guys saw his profile, but I will still introduce him.¡± Xia Changhe said, ¡°He¡¯s my son, Xia Lei.¡±
Xia Lei nodded in greeting. ¡°Hi, everyone.¡±
Xia Changhe said to Xia Lei, ¡°They are all part of the zodiac team and they all know how to speak Mandarin.¡± He continued and said, ¡°Introduce yourselves.¡±
A young white man walked up to Xia Lei and hugged him. He said in Mandarin, ¡°Dragon, Alessio. I¡¯m from Italy.¡±
Xia Lei patted Alessio on the back.
Another young white man also came up and hugged Xia Lei. ¡°Ox, Marcus. I¡¯m from the United States.¡±
Xia Lei patted Marcus on the back.
A young ck man walked up and hugged Xia Lei. ¡°Goat, Bagu. I¡¯m from Congo.¡±
Xia Lei patted Bagu on the back.
A young ck woman also came up to Xia Lei and hugged him. ¡°Rabbit, Amanda. I¡¯m from Ennd.¡±
Xia Lei also patted Amanda on the back.
Thest, a young Asian man, also walked over and hugged Xia Lei. ¡°Horse, Park Taeyong. I¡¯m from South Korea.¡±
Xia Lei also patted Park Taeyong on the back.
E¡¯er Demutu smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need for me and Yelena to introduce ourselves.¡±
Xia Lei also smiled. ¡°It¡¯s my honour to meet you all.¡±
¡°From now on, they are all your people,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°They can do anything for you. You don¡¯t have to be modest with them. You only need tomand them.¡±
¡°Lei, we are all your father¡¯s children. We are a family,¡± said Amanda.
These people in front of him were all orphans who had been adopted or rescued by his father, except for E¡¯er Demutu. It could be said that they wouldn¡¯t exist without Xia Changhe. They saw Xia Changhe as a father figure, so Xia Lei was, naturally, considered to be their brother. There was indeed no reason to have to hold back with this sort of rtionship.
But Xia Lei had his own thoughts. His father was the one who had given them new lives, not him. He had no friendly rtions with these people, and the only reason they were willing to listen to hismand was because of his father. These people might be obedient and willing to do anything for him in the short run, but it might not be the case in the long run. So, he had to use his own way to manage these people. He had to build his authority and make these people obey his orders as they would for his father!
He had an argument in his head but Xia Lei smiled. He said, ¡°Yes, we are family. Since this is simr to taking over the head of the household position from my father, I will speak briefly. From today onward, I will give you guys five hundred thousand in family allowance every month. In addition to that, I will also give you guys the best equipment. Each of you will get an XL 2500 sniper rifle and a Gust assault rifle. Our zodiac team¡¯s car and electronic equipment have to be the best in the world.¡±
The whole courtyard became silent. The seven members gave Xia Lei a strange look.
Xia Lei paused and spread his hands. ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡±
¡°Wow¡ª¡ª¡± The ck girl Amanda suddenly dashed forward and hugged Xia Lei. Her face was filled with excitement and gratitude. ¡°You¡¯ve just helped me solve my mortgage problem. You¡¯re an awesome head of the household!¡±
¡°You really are my angel,¡± said Alessio with a smile.
Park Taeyongughed and said, ¡°This means I can eat barbeque whenever I want!¡±
No one was unhappy. Xia Changhe, the predecessor of the zodiac team didn¡¯t have Xia Lei¡¯s financial status and resources. These people had worked for Xia Changhe without pay. Now that Xia Lei became the new leader, he had conquered their heart easily with his straightforwardness. No one disliked money. Even killers needed money to buy rice and bread, didn¡¯t they?
Xia Changhe sighed. ¡°Brat, don¡¯t spoil them.¡±
¡°Rest assured, Dad. I won¡¯t.¡± Xia Lei smiled.
Xia Changhe didn¡¯t say anything further. Nobody understands one¡¯s son better than one¡¯s father. He knew exactly what Xia Lei was thinking and he supported him. Xia Lei was not the same as him. If Xia Lei drove a fancy car and lived a luxurious life while his subordinates suffered at the bottom of the social hierarchy, these people would eventually be dissatisfied. When that happened, who would be willing to work for Xia Lei?
Xia Lei chatted with a few of the zodiac team members. After he got to know a little about them, he moved the conversation to the main subject. ¡°Dad, I¡¯m going to Korea.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to kill Gu Kewen?¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°She has to die.¡±
¡°I knew you would do that, so I gathered them here beforehand.¡± Xia Changhe sighed. ¡°I won¡¯t stop you, but you have to be very careful, because what awaits you is a fierce battle.¡±
¡°I will be careful. Where are the other five people?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°They can¡¯t be here this time, but you will see them,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei thought of the ¡°pig¡± again, but he didn¡¯t ask.
¡°Lei, when are we being mobilised?¡± Park Taeyong said, ¡°Korea is my territory. Whatever n you have, I can get to Korea first and have things arranged for you.¡±
¡°We will be going tomorrow night. We will have to go there illegally with our equipment. Do you have any smuggling channel?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Easy, no problem,¡± Park Taeyong¡¯s answer was swift.
Xia Lei turned to E¡¯er Demutu and said, ¡°E¡¯er Demutu, I will go back to pack all the equipmentter. I want you to bring them out in my car when I¡¯m done packing.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
¡°Dad, the pardon order ising tomorrow. You can finally walk in the open without hiding.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°You should go visit Xiao Xue, she¡¯s going to forget how you look soon.¡±
Xia Changhe nodded; there were tears in his eyes.
He could finally go home!
Chapter 666 - Family Reunion
Zhongzhen Wukui sent someone over with the pardon order the next afternoon. This was a turning point in Xia Changhe¡¯s life, allowing him to step out of darkness and into the bright, outside world.
An old van stopped in front of the office building. The driver was someone from Bailu Town. Xia Changhe sat on the tattered sofa backseat, and next to him were two dirty bags filled with clothing and bedding. He had all these prepared to build a ¡°returning vagabond¡± image.
Not many knew of Xia Changhe¡¯s true identity, but many knew that Xia Lei¡¯s father had been missing for many years. Some pretences still had to be made though it looked very fake.
Xia Xur dashed forward before the door to the van opened. However, she stopped in her tracks after running a few steps, not daring to go closer. She was afraid that this was all a dream, and that she would wake up if she drew close.
Xia Lei walked up to her. ¡°Go on. He wants to see you the most.¡±
Xia Xue then walked to the van.
The door of the van opened just then, and Xia Changhe stepped out with the two bags in his hands. He was tall and sturdy, his hair was greying, and he looked like he had been through a lot. He looked a lot like a migrant worker who had been rescued from working for years in the darkness of mines.
¡°How could he be Director Xia¡¯s father?¡±
¡°Yeah, he looks like some migrant workering back from work.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. His hands are full of calluses. How would anyone who lives like a prince have such rough hands?¡±
¡°Keep your voice down. Don¡¯t let Director Xia hear you, or he¡¯ll be upset.¡±
¡°Yeah, Director Xia¡¯s father has been missing for years and he¡¯s only just been found. Don¡¯t you make Director Xia angry.¡±
A group of the upper management of Thunder Horse Military Factory hade to wee Xia Changhe with Xia Lei, and they stood whispering in front of the office building.
Xia Lei felt likeughing when he heard all that. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder ¡ª if these people knew what his father did, and how he hade back, would they still talk about him like this? They would probably be frightened if his father so much as nced at them, won¡¯t they?
¡°Dad¡ª¡± Xia Xue could not hold back her emotions anymore. She cried out loud and threw herself into Xia Changhe¡¯s arms.
¡°What are you crying for? Stop crying, silly girl.¡± Xia Changhe patted Xia Xue gently on the back. He told her not to cry, but his own eyes were welling up with tears.
He was finally home. He had waited for this day for too many years.
Up in the office building, Ling Han watched Xia Changhe and Xia Xue below. His eyes were cold.
Beside him was Song Baicheng, who scoffed. ¡°One of the leaders of the FA Organisation. Murder, arson, treason. Someone like him who has done all evil can actually enjoy his old age. What a joke.¡±
¡°All thanks to that sessful son of his. That pardon he managed to negotiate is enough to wash the father of his sins,¡± said Ling Han tly.
¡°Do we just leave it be?¡± said Song Baicheng. ¡°He has some secrets about him. I also suspect that he and Xia Lei have some secret that can¡¯t be made known. Chief Zhenzhong also said that this Xia Changehe is a big point of pration in Xia Lei¡¯s defences. Are we going to give up just like this?¡±
A faint sneer appeared on Ling Han¡¯s lips. ¡°Give up? This does not exist in my dictionary.¡±
¡°Do you have some sort of n?¡±
¡°Hold your horses. Settle the matter with the German first. Xia Changhe has just received the pardon, so we can¡¯t make a move against him right away. You be sharp too. Don¡¯t cause any mess.¡±
Song Baicheng nodded. ¡°I understand.¡±
Under the office building, Xia Lei nudged Liu Zhengnan with his elbow. ¡°What are you standing dumbly here for? Go on, introduce yourself.¡±
¡°I...¡± Liu Zhengnan looked nervous.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What are you afraid of? He¡¯s not a tiger. He won¡¯t eat you up.¡±
Liu Zhengnan gave an awkwardugh. He still didn¡¯t move; he felt like his legs were weighed down by sandbags. He also found it odd, because Xia Changhe looked like a frumpy farmer type, but he had an aura of power, and his eyes were like that of a hawk, sending chills into one¡¯s heart. He was afraid of this old man he was meeting for the first time for some reason.
¡°Come over here, Zhengnan.¡± Xia Xue was calling him now.
¡°Nn.¡± Liu Zhengnan responded, lightning-quick. He lifted his feet and walked over.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. The might of him, the Director, was less than a third of his sister¡¯s. He¡¯d told Liu Zhengnan to go over, but he had hemmed and hawed. Xia Xue said just one line, and Liu Zhengnan had walked over without hesitation.
Liu Zhengnan came up to Xia Changhe with a smile on his face. ¡°H, Hello, Uncle.¡±
¡°You are...?¡± Xia Change looked Liu Zhengnan up and down.
Xia Xueughed and said, ¡°Dad, this is my boyfriend. His name¡¯s Liu Zhengnan. He is a very capable assistant to Brother.¡±
¡°Good, good, good. Hehehe.¡± Xia Changhe chucked happily. He actually lived close by and knew about Xia Xue¡¯s boyfriend, but he had to put on appearances and appear normal, or he¡¯d scare others.
¡°What are you standing there for? Quick, help my Dad carry his bags.¡± Xia Xue nudged Liu Zhengnan.
¡°I¡¯ll take those for you, Uncle.¡± Liu Zhengnan sprang into action, and grabbed the bags from Xia Changhe¡¯s hands before he could say anything.
Xia Changhe walked over, and he stretched out a hand to rest it on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
¡°You¡¯re back, Dad.¡±
¡°Mm. I¡¯m back.¡±
Father and son said nothing more. There was no need.
Xia Lei brought Xia Changhe in the direction of the vi. Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan followed, and Yelena brought up the rear.
¡°He¡¯s actually putting Xia Changhe in the vi.¡± Song Baicheng¡¯s eyes were icy. He¡¯d wanted to stay in the vi, but Xia Lei had told him that there were no more rooms. He¡¯d forgotten about that incident, but his face heated up again when he saw Xia Lei take Xia Changhe to the vi.
¡°This is his territory,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°But that is the site of the Alloy X Project! What about Xia Changhe¡¯s identity? How can he be allowed to be close to the Alloy X Project? Xia Lei is just too hical! He does have some measure of capability, but he cannot be allowed to do as he pleases, right?¡±
¡°If the Heavens want a death, that person must first be driven mad. Some things cannot be collected upon now, but it doesn¡¯t mean that we can¡¯t collectter. We¡¯ll see who has thestugh,¡± said Ling Han.
Just then, Sylvia walked out of the stairwell with a phone in her hand, looking about.
¡°Isn¡¯t she the machinist from Rheinmetall AG? What is she doing here?¡± Ling Han¡¯s gaze went to Sylvia.
¡°I¡¯ll go ask.¡± Song Baicheng went over.
¡°Meesta, herro.¡± Sylvia greeted Song Baicheng with heavily ented Chinese.
¡°Is there something you needed, Miss Sylvia?¡± asked Song Baicheng.
Sylvia shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± She then typed German into her phone, and drew close to Song Baicheng to hold up the screen of her phone to let him see the tranted text.
The text read: Mr Xia is an unreasonable person. He promised me that we would have a technology exchange but nothing has been done so far. I want to talk with someone in charge. Can you tell me who is in charge?
Song Baicheng read the text, then said to Ling Han, ¡°This German woman says Xia Lei is unreasonable and has not done any technology exchange with her. She wants to talk to you.¡±
Ling Han frowned. ¡°The official German delegation has not arrived yet. What does a little machinist like her want to talk with me about? You handle her.¡± He walked off after saying that.
Sylvia typed on her phone in German again, and drew close to Song Baicheng. She moved very close, and was shoulder to shoulder with him. Her cheek almost touched Song Baicheng¡¯s face. She was also wearing a V-neck cotton tee, and a generous amount of flesh was exposed through her cor. That deep crevasse of her cleavage was put on disy for Song Baicheng¡¯s eyes.
Song Baicheng would not have been moved if it were a regr woman, but Sylvia was a bombshell ¡ª blonde, blue-eyed, hot figure, and an exquisite doll-like face. She was very attractive indeed. Close up, she smelt real good, and that youthful energy of hers... Song Baicheng didn¡¯t know where to direct his eyes.
But he still saw what was on the screen of the phone: Mister, can you take me to the person in charge? I want to talk with him.
Song Baicheng took the phone from Sylvia¡¯s hands and typed in Chinese: I am he. What do you want to talk about?
Sylvia read his response, and a sweet smile bloomed on her face. She typed in German: I didn¡¯t think that the person in charge of the technology exchange was you. You¡¯re so young and so handsome. You¡¯re awesome.
¡°Heh heh...¡± Song Baicheng chuckled.
Sylvia typed in German: I¡¯d like to treat you to a cup of coffee. May I?
Song Baicheng typed in Chinese: There are no cafes here.
Sylvia typed: Xia Lei gave me an office. I have coffee in my office. We can drink coffee as we talk.
Song Baicheng couldn¡¯t be bothered with typing anymore. He smiled and said, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go to your office.¡±
Sylvia smiled, and gave Song Baicheng a hug.
Oh, to be enveloped in the arms of a blonde beauty... Her fragrance, and that firm bounciness pressing against his chest... Song Baicheng felt like he had returned to youth in an instant.
But unbeknownst to him, in the security room of Thunder Horse Military Factory, E¡¯er Demutu stared at a video feed with a small smirk in the corners of his lips.
Half an hourter, after Xia Lei had settled his father in to the vi, he went to find Ling Han.
¡°Brother Ling, my branchpany in Sichuan has some problems now. I have to go to Sichuan for a bit.¡± Xia Lei went straight to the point.
¡°The official German delegation will arrive soon. You¡¯re going to Sichuan at this point of time?¡± said Ling Han. ¡°Put the problems at the Sichuan branchpany aside for now. The matter here is most important.¡±
¡°I heard from Philip that the official German delegation would still need about two more days to get here. I also need just two days to go to Sichuan and back. I¡¯d have returned by the time the official German delegation arrives,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°But...¡± Ling Han started to say something, then stopped. He obviously didn¡¯t want anything to go wrong when this matter was so important.
Xia Lei patted Ling Han on the shoulder and said with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Brother Ling. That¡¯s decided, then. I¡¯m in a rush so I¡¯ll have to make a move now.¡±
Xia Lei turned and left without waiting for Ling Han¡¯s response.
The trip to his branchpany was just a cover for his trip to South Korea.
Gu Kewen must die!
Chapter 667 - Insane Zodiac Team
It was afternoon, and a Chevrolet Suburban had just arrived at the capital¡¯s international airport.
In the car, Xia Lei firmly patted Liu Zhengnan on the shoulder. ¡°Try not to go out for the next two days. Just stay in the factory. I¡¯ve already talked to Zhou Xiaohong too, so she¡¯ll help you.¡±
Liu Zhengnan stared at the makeup mirror on the passenger seat. He still looked visibly shocked as he stared at Xia Lei¡¯s face being reflected back at him, instead of his own. He couldn¡¯t find even a single inconsistency despite observing himself multiple times. Whenever he saw his reflection, he couldn¡¯t help but feel that his soul had somehow identally entered Xia Lei¡¯s body.
Xia Lei, who was in the driver¡¯s seat, also wore an unfamiliar face. He looked to be in his early thirties, with a darkerplexion. No one would ever suspect that he was Thunder Horse Company¡¯s Director in the least. Most people would only see him as nothing more than a migrant worker, one who did demanding physicalbor on construction sites. He would not warrant more than one look at him on the streets, much less attract attention.
¡°Hurry in, your flight is about to take off.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll be going now, Brother. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re going to do, but... be careful.¡± Liu Zhengnan began to leave as he finished his sentence. He opened the car door and got out.
¡°Remember what I told you. I¡¯ll be leaving too. Take care.¡± Xia Lei said his goodbyes and drove off.
He didn¡¯t tell Liu Zhengnan that he was going to Korea, nor did he say what he was going to do there. Xia Lei¡¯s withheld the truth not because of ack of trust, but rather because he wanted to protect Liu Zhengnan. After all, Liu Zhengnan was an ordinary person. There was no benefit in letting him know the truth, and only danger awaited him if he found out.
Even Xia Xue wasn¡¯t aware that their father was a leader of the FA Organisation¡¯s agents. Her version of the ¡®truth¡¯ was that he had been stuck in Cuba for a few years, and was able to return to the country recently after being saved by the local police.
Xia Lei drove into the airport¡¯s car park, where he quickly parked his Chevrolet and got out. He then entered a Buick business car, which had been waiting by the side.
Two people were in the car, and Park Taeyong was the driver.
¡°Is everything ready?¡±Xia Lei cut to the chase and asked.
¡°Everything¡¯s ready. The weapons have been shipped to the dock, and the ship and her crew are all ready. They¡¯re on standby, waiting for us,¡± said Park Taeyong.
¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Lei.
The Buick drove out of the airport¡¯s parking lot, heading for Jilin province.
Park Taeyong was a very focused driver. Xia Lei, on the other hand, had nothing to do at all, and was deep in thought, pondering every member of the Zodiac Team. His father had given him more power by giving himmand of the team, but he still didn¡¯t know much about any of its members. He needed to know how to manipte each member¡¯s individual strengths so that he could use this team most effectively.
¡°Park Taeyong, what¡¯s your specialty?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence after a while.
Park Taeyong paused for a bit. ¡°Uh, driving. My specialty is driving.¡±
¡°You mean driving cars?¡± Xia Lei was a little disheartened at the mundane reply. Anyone could drive a car. Did it even count as a specialty?
¡°Well, yes. But besides driving cars, I also drive passenger nes and fighter aircraft. I can also drive tanks.¡± Park Taeyongughed. ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve always been in charge of transportation for our team¡¯s missions. There was one time when your old man sent Yelena and I to bomb one of the FA Organisation¡¯s training bases in Siberia. I remodelled an aircraft meant for distributing pesticides, and used it to drop the payload.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Could I ask you for a favour, Boss?¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Our vehicles aregging behind. If you give me the money, I can remodel our vehicles. It would be of great benefit to future operations. Oh, and I promise that every cent you give me will be spent on the upgrades.¡± Park Taeyong was earnest, and probably worried that Xia Lei would mistake his request as him trying to cheat some money out of him.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°No problem. How much?¡±
¡°Two million would suffice.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give it to you after the mission isplete.¡± Xia Lei agreed candidly.
¡°Thank you, boss. You¡¯re straightforward, just like your old man, except you have money and he doesn¡¯t.¡±
Xia Leiughed and changed the topic. ¡°Oh, right, tell me about the others too. I don¡¯t know any of you too well, but I still need to have some sort of understanding of you guys.¡±
¡°No biggie, I can fill you in,¡± said Park Taeyong. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you about Amanda first.¡±
A picture of the ck girl from Ennd, with her unforgettable figure and striking resemnce to Rihanna, appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He was very curious as to what Amanda specialised in.
¡°She¡¯s British and lives in London. Her single mother was lying in an alley with a gunshot wound to the carotid artery when your old man found her. Amanda was only eight at the time ©` young and pitiful. But she isn¡¯t the same weak girl she used to be. Now she¡¯s a very skilled hacker, adept enough to easily hack into the CIA¡¯s backend. Besides that, she¡¯s also been our tactician for many of our past operations.¡±
Xia Lei clearly understood. ¡®A crafty rabbit has three burrows¡¯ was a very famous saying, and one that applied to Amanda. The rabbit looked cute and gentle, but was actually very careful and sneaky. It was obvious from her skillset and characteristics that she was the Zodiac Team¡¯s Rabbit. She fit the ¡®crafty rabbit¡¯ role perfectly. Likewise, Park Taeyong was the Horse, since it resembled speed and was used for transportation. He was also a perfect fit.
¡°Where is Alessio?¡± Xia Lei then thought of the handsome Italian, who was the team¡¯s Dragon.
¡°Alessio is from Sicily, Italy, which is basically gangster heaven. His parents were the victims of someone¡¯s revenge, and murdered in cold blood. Street violence and gun fights ended up being his new parents, and he started shooting and killing by the age of eight. He¡¯s one of the fiercest in our squad, and is anything but afraid of death. He¡¯s always on the frontlines, and dispatching the most opponents.¡±
He was the fiercest, he was not afraid of death, and he always charged ahead to kill the most enemies. Alessio¡¯s description made him seem like a fierce dragon crossing a river. It was most likely the reason why Xia Changhe gave him the code name ¡®Dragon¡¯.
¡°Bagues from Congo. He was orphaned at a young age when he lost his parents to the chaos of war. As a forest and mountainous regions expert, he¡¯s familiar with everything there is to know about forestry. He¡¯s able to easily navigate the wilderness and locate sources of water in any sort ofplex, hilly area, which makes him a necessity for battles in those environments. Your old man always said that he¡¯s basically a goat in a human¡¯s body,¡± said Park Taeyong.
Considering goats were able toe and go as they pleased on precipitous cliffs, it was fitting that Xia Chenghe used ¡®Goat¡¯ to as Bagu¡¯s code name.
¡°How about Marcus?¡± Xia Lei recalled the American, who was the Ox of the Zodiac Team.
¡°Heh, you mean the heavy guy?¡±
¡°He¡¯s heavy?¡± Xia Lei recalled therge man, but didn¡¯t feel like he was particrly burly. He just seemed slightly sturdier than the rest of the team.
¡°It¡¯s his clothes that cover it, but as soon as he takes them off, he¡¯s King Kong. He¡¯s practically all muscle, and he¡¯s also our wrestling expert. He was on a rampage in America¡¯s underground boxing scene for years,¡± said Park Taeyong with augh.
¡°If your old man hadn¡¯t stop him, he probably would¡¯ve changed professions topete as a professional boxer by now. He¡¯s always called him a bull, especially since he¡¯s the most impulsive member. He¡¯s always getting into trouble.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help butugh. If he was an expert wrestler, he¡¯d surely be as sturdy as an ox. Xia Chenghe didn¡¯t give Marcus the moniker ¡®Ox¡¯ for nothing.
¡°How about E¡¯er Demutu?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°He¡¯s a Mongol, and the only non-orphan among us. His ancestors were all hunters, and he follows suit. He¡¯s an expert in everything that has to do with hunting... But when I say hunting, I mean people, not animals. No trace of his victim is ever left at the assassination scene. If your old man wanted someone to magically disappear, E¡¯er Demutu would normally be asked toplete the task. And to top it all off, he¡¯s never failed.¡±
The tiger was the king of all creatures, and a famously adept hunter. Xia Chenghe most likely named E¡¯er Demutu ¡®Tiger¡¯ without a second thought. Xia Lei was a little surprised, however. The man lookedpletely ordinary, with absolutely no notable features in any way. He was the type of person who could never be found in a crowd. To think that he was actually an assassin...
¡°I suppose I don¡¯t need to introduce Yelena, right?¡± said Park Taeyong with a smile. ¡°She¡¯s been with your old man for the past two years, and you¡¯ve seen her often enough. She specialises in the disposal of potential threats. I don¡¯t know how she does it, but even the CIA¡¯s best spies can¡¯t escape from her. When we¡¯re with her, we don¡¯t need to worry about being spied on or tracked.¡±
¡°Yeah, I know her. She likes to hide the information in her chewing gum. So how about the other five?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°You haven¡¯t met them yet. I¡¯ll tell you about them when they arrive.¡±
¡°Okay. I agree that there¡¯s no point in telling me now, since I don¡¯t even know what they look like.¡± Then, Xia Lei suddenly had a thought. ¡°Hmm... I know that Yvevgenia was the Pig, but she died. My dad said that someone reced her. Do you know who assumed her role?¡±
Park Taeyong only shrugged in response. ¡°If I¡¯m going to be honest with you, Boss, I don¡¯t know either. Your old man just told us that there would be a new member joining, but he didn¡¯t say who. We¡¯ll see each other again one day, and I¡¯ll know who the new Pig is when the timees.¡±
Xia Lei had always thought that his father kept the new Pig¡¯s identity a secret only to him, not to the rest of the Zodiac Team as well. The new Pig was turning out to be very mysterious.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The satellite phone suddenly rang.
After sending Liu Zhengnan off, Xia Lei had turned off his regr phone. The Zodiac Team used satellite phones tomunicate with each other in order to prevent wiretapping and tracking.
Xia Lei answered, and was greeted by a woman¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯ve infiltrated the Korean National Police Agency¡¯s surveince system, Boss.¡±
Xia Lei could tell that it was Amanda, but he was surprised by her. ¡°But why are you doing that?¡±
¡°To locate Gu Kewen. I can find her using facial recognition, we¡¯ll know her whereabouts so as long as she appears in Korea,¡± exined Amanda.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Go ahead.¡±
Just who were these people?!
Chapter 668 - Tiger and Child Soldiers
The light of dawn dispersed the darkness of the night as the Eastern Hemisphere began to wake. Some were already preparing to wee the new day, while others found themselves still sunk in darkness. Ahn Geungan was one of them. He couldn¡¯t walk out of the darkness that enveloped him.
His opponent¡¯s poprity ranking surpassed his greatly in his run for office. If the situation continued, he would be more likely to copse on the election stage than to see his campaign to the end. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t have the means to, but both his bank ount and the Shinyeok Group were under surveince. He couldn¡¯t use the group¡¯s money to him help run for office, and with the funds that he had, there was no chance for aeback. It was an era where money was omnipotent, and progress without it was impossible.
Ahn Geungan felt that not being able to use his own money was the most ironic thing to ever happen in his life.
The light of dawn shone through his open window, and Ahn Geungan sat motionless in front of it. The cigarette in his hand had burnt out. A morning breeze whisked away thetter half of his cigarette from its butt, and it fell to the floor, crumbling to ash.
Ahn Geungan could hear footstepsing from behind him, but he didn¡¯t look back.
He felt a nket being ced gently on his shoulders, and a woman¡¯s voice rang in his ears. ¡°You¡¯ll get sick if you continue to be like this. Let go. You¡¯ll feel better after letting go.¡±
¡°Let go? Hmph!¡± Ahn Geungan scoffed. ¡°If I let go, will Suhyeonge back? If I let go, will my life be magicallyplete? I, Ahn Geungan, am not a man who is easily defeated!¡±
Seo Soojin sighed softly. ¡°I went to Bongeunsa yesterday, where I had the fortune of talking with an enlightened Great Master. He said that holding on leads to hardship, while letting go brings happiness. What he said makes sense to me. We¡¯ve done so much evil during our youth, so our son Suhyeong suffered our retribution. It¡¯s time to let go and stop making more mistakes, or neither we nor our son will have better next lives due to our sinsing back to us.¡±
¡°So you¡¯ve already forgiven the person who killed Suhyeong?¡± Ahn Geungan suddenly turned around to look at Seo Soojin.
Seo Soojin was silent for a bit before saying, ¡°It was very difficult, but I no longer have hatred in my heart.¡±
¡°What would you do if he appeared in front of you?¡± asked Ahn Geungan.
¡°I¡¯d ask him if he had any shame about it. I¡¯d ask if he had any regrets. If his heart is still filled with hatred and evil, I would also advise him to let go,¡± said Seo Soojin.
¡°Hahaha...¡±
¡°Why are youughing?¡±
¡°My wife is taking refuge in religion. Tell me when you decide to be a nun, and I¡¯ll personally put the robes on you.¡±
¡°This isn¡¯t funny.¡±
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
A satellite phone rang, and its vibrating made the tea table shake. The phone kept ringing.
Ahn Geungan picked up the satellite phone. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±
A man¡¯s voice came over the line. ¡°I¡¯m here. Where are we meeting?¡±
¡°I¡¯m waiting for you at home. Did you bring the things I asked for?¡±
¡°I did, but I¡¯m warning you not to y any tricks. It¡¯s still easy to kill you, even if you¡¯re in Korea. You¡¯d better think of what I have in my hands before you think of trying to pull anything against me. I can ruin you.¡±
¡°Hmph! I do want to kill you, but not right now!¡±
¡°True. The timing to make a kill is very important. You¡¯d better not think of killing me, ever, in your lifetime. The moment you act on this thought, I¡¯ll kill you first.¡±
The caller hung up after delivering this warning.
Ahn Geungan raised the phone high into the air, but did not to dash it to the ground.
¡°Geungan! W, was it that Xia Lei?¡± asked Seo Soojin.
Ahn Geungan neither confirmed nor denied it. He stayed silent.
¡°It was him, wasn¡¯t it? It must be!¡±
Ahn Geungan suddenly stood up and threw away the nket Seo Soojin had ced on him while shouting angrily, ¡°So what if it was him? Keep your nose out of my matters, and keep your mouth shut!¡±
¡°So in order to be Korea¡¯s President, you decided to cooperate with the devil?! Suhyeong will never forgive you!¡± Seo Soojin turned around and walked off.
¡°Where are you going?¡± bellowed Ahn Geungan. ¡°Stop right there!¡±
Seo Soojin looked back at Ahn Geungan, her eyes filled with tears. ¡°You think I¡¯m going to expose you? I wouldn¡¯t betray my husband, but I can never stay under the same roof as the person who killed my son! I¡¯ll be living at the Bongeunsa in the meantime. I hope your dream of bing presidentes true!¡±
Seo Soojin left, and Ahn Geungan was left alone in the room.
Just a minuteter, he picked up another phone and dialled a number. ¡°Minghu, send two people to stop the ma¡¯am, and send her to live at the Jeju Ind vi. No one is to let her leave without my approval,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
Cui Minghu, the butler, replied. ¡°Understood. I will do that now.¡±
¡°Also, have everyonee to where I am. A guest is arriving soon.¡±
¡°Bring weapons?¡±
¡°Bring them. Even if we aren¡¯t going to use them, he needs to see my power.¡±
¡°Understood, I will do it right away.¡± Cui Minghu hung up.
The room sunk into silence again. Ahn Geungan stared out the window at the rising sun, totally expressionless. He stood quietly for a while before he left his room. He came to the living room to wait for his guest.
Two white bodyguards stood by the living room¡¯s door, both with an ice-cold demeanor. They respectfully lowered their heads in a disy of respect to Ahn Geungan as he walked by. They were retired Special Forces soldiers from America¡¯s SEALmando unit. They were already experienced, but also received professional bodyguard training. Each of them could take on ten opponents at once, and possessed all the qualities a professional bodyguard should have.
But it wasn¡¯t just those two. Ever since Ahn Suhyeong died, Ahn Geungan had spent a small fortune in rebuilding his bodyguard troops. Arge proportion of them were native Koreans, but he also recruited ten elite operatives from around the world. Some were retired American Special Forces soldiers like the two he just passed by, while others were experienced soldiers from other nationalities who had already retired. He had even acquired former agents from Russia. His initial motive for building his troops was for revenge, but even if he couldn¡¯t have it at the moment, he could use them to demonstrate his strength. His guest would think twice before threatening him.
That guest was Xia Lei.
He hadn¡¯t arrived yet, but the atmosphere had already turned tense.
Ahn Geungan came to the living room door, and watched the main door, waiting for the moment Xia Lei arrived.
Five minutester, a flustered Cui Minghu appeared before Ahn Geungan¡¯s eyes. He was jogging, and when he was almost within speaking distance of his boss, he fell on the ground like a dog pouncing at food. The floor might¡¯ve been slippery, or perhaps he was simply too nervous.
Ahn Geungan furrowed his brow. ¡°What are you so nervous about?¡±
¡°M, Master...¡± Cui Minghu was unable to his feet. ¡°There¡¯s a... a pr, problem.¡±
¡°What kind of problem?¡± Ahn Geungan¡¯s expression became grim.
¡°Our, our people...¡± Cui Minghu eximed as he climbed to his feet, ¡°They¡¯ve all been put down!¡±
Ahn Geungan was shocked, and his anxiety built. His eyes swept across every ce he could possibly see, but he saw nothing other than trees and buildings. He couldn¡¯t even see any of his own people, much less Xia Lei or his men!
The Ahn Residence, which upied hundreds of acres, suddenly sunk into a strange silence, like sundown in a cemetery.
¡°Master, let¡¯s c, call the police!¡± said Cui Minghu.
Ahn Geungan abruptly walked up to Cui Minghu and struck him across the face. ¡°Bastard! Have I raised a group of useless scum? Calling the police as soon as you run into any sort of small trouble?! If the police are so useful, why would I ever need you?!¡±
Cui Minghu held his face and dared not say another word.
Ahn Geungan suddenly turned around and faced the two American bodyguards by his side. ¡°Why are you guys still standing here? Find out who¡¯s responsible for this! Now!¡±
The two American bodyguards looked at each other but did not spring into action right away. Their main responsibility was to protect Ahn Geungan, and not to capture whoever was making the attack. A bodyguard¡¯s duty was to protect their employer, but that same employer had now given them an order that was in conflict with their role.
¡°Master, you must have someone by your side to protect you. I, I¡¯ll go...¡± Cui Minghu suddenly fell limply to the ground before he finished his sentence.
A tranquilizer dart stuck out of Cui Minghu¡¯s back. The darts were custom made, from traditional blowgun instead of a normal gun.
The person attacking them was nearby, but no one had discovered him!
The two guards on either side of Ahn Geungan abruptly pulled out their guns. They were clearly experienced, and they raised their guns shortly after getting in position. The Americans searched for ces where one could hide, and be ideal for an ambush.
The search hadn¡¯tsted for five seconds when two more darts suddenly flew out from a tree to the side. Each guard was struck cleanly in the neck by a dart with just 0.5 seconds between each shot. It was obvious that the darts were being shot out of a blowgun, but they had been shot at blinding speed!
One secondter, the two Americans of great stature and sturdiness fell to the ground like pr bears.
The entire Ahn Residence was silent after this one second.
Ahn Geungan was the only one still conscious, and he could feel cold sweat on his brow and wetting his back. He had been nning to unt his military power off to Xia Lei only moments ago. But now, he suddenly discovered that troops he had amassed so proudly were no better than child soldiers in Xia Lei¡¯s camp.
As Ahn Geungan panicked, kneeling on the ground, an Asian man jumped down from one of the building¡¯s banyan trees. He held an emerald-green metal tube, and a dart he had not yet ced in the tube. He was expressionless but his eyes were terrifyingly cold.
The man was Xia Lei¡¯s head soldier, and the Zodiac Squad¡¯s Tiger. He was E¡¯er Demutu.
A golden-haired young woman also appeared from the bamboo forest, and walked towards Ahn Geungan. As she strolled over, Anh Geungan could hear her reporting into a walkie-talkie. ¡°I¡¯ve already tidied up, so you cane and chat with him now. Silence is guaranteed.¡±
Ahn Geungan was dumbstruck. The punk had made such a scene, all for a quiet environment to talk in?
How excessive!
Chapter 669
The main guy hadn¡¯t even arrived yet but his subordinates had knocked all of Ahn Geungan¡¯s people out. Indeed, this was very excessive but Ahn Geungan also felt a deep fear other than his anger.
Ahn Geungan couldn¡¯t believe that Xia Lei was already this strong. Whether he believed it or not, though, his men were all lying on the floor, motionless. He could imagine that he probably would have already turned into a corpse if Xia Lei had wanted his life.
The main door opened and a young person slowly walked in.
Ahn Geungan¡¯s gaze immediately locked onto the young man, his eyes shing with hate. Even if this youth turned to ash, he would recognise him because this was Xia Lei, the person who had killed his son.
Before he hade to Korea, Xia Lei had worn a mask because he didn¡¯t want anyone in Korea seeing his face. This wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t want to show off all of the military force he had, but to smoothly finish his negotiations with Ahn Geungan.
¡°Mr Ahn. We meet again.¡± Xia Lei walked to Ahn Geungan with a faint smile on his face, as if they were old friends who were meeting up.
¡°What¡¯s all this?¡± Ahn Geungan climbed up from the floor, anger filling his face. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Mr Ahn, rest assured, I was only ensuring my own safety. I wouldn¡¯t want to give you money only to have you cing murderers lying in wait for my life,¡± said Xia Lei softly.
¡°You don¡¯t trust me? Then why do you still want to work with me?¡± said Ahn Geungan angrily.
¡°For my personal interests. People can do anything for their own interests, right?¡±
¡°Hmph, you went overboard this time!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t bother about these little matters anymore. I brought you everything you need. 100 million USD isn¡¯t a small sum, but you¡¯re not even going to thank me or wee me?¡± said Xia Lei calmly.
Ahn Geungan actually wanted to say, ¡°Go to hell¡±, but he couldn¡¯t say something like that. After his short venting, his mood had also stabilised. A smile also appeared on his face. ¡°All right, please sit in the living room.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu and Yelena stayed in the living room entrance. Xia Lei was the only one who followed Ahn Geungan in.
Ahn Geungan was about to ask why the thief hadn¡¯te in when he discovered that another woman had appeared in the living room.
This woman was very young, tall, with a slender build, jet-ck hair and a delicate and pretty face. She was wearing a skintight miniskirt that wrapped around her butt sexily. The only w was her somewhat t chest that made one feel that she hadn¡¯t fully matured yet.
The woman was hugging a flower vase. When Ahn Geungan and Xia Lei walked in, she put it down and turned around to look at Ahn Geungan and Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Ahn Geungan¡¯s face was full of suspicion and wariness.
¡°She¡¯s the thief you were looking for, Qin Wu,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Qin Wu?¡± said Ahn Geungan. ¡°This is a man¡¯s name. I know the thief you have is a man, but you brought me a woman.¡±
¡°Mr Ahn, do you want to touch me?¡± asked the woman suddenly.
The moment she asked this, Ahn Geungan paled immediately. He heard a man¡¯s voice.
This ¡°woman¡± was Qin Xiang. ¡°Qin Wu¡± was the fake name Xia Lei had given him to protect him.
¡°I¡¯ve brought the person and the money. We can begin now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Give me the money, leave your person here, and you can leave,¡± said Ahn Geungan.
Xia Lei paused and suddenlyughed. ¡°Mr Ahn, are you joking with me right now or treating me like a fool?¡±
¡°Then how do you want to make the deal?¡± Ahn Geungan coldlyughed and said, ¡°Could it be that you want me to sign and seal an agreement?¡±
¡°100 million USD isn¡¯t a small sum. Since I¡¯m giving you this much money, won¡¯t you give me any coteral? Qin Wu is my good brother and he¡¯s now helping you. Shouldn¡¯t you give me a guarantee?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you want? What kind of guarantee?¡±
¡°I prepared this in advance for you.¡± Xia Lei opened the briefcase in his hand and took out a thick stack of documents.
Ahn Geungan gave a tugh. ¡°You really did prepare everything. What document do you want me to sign?¡±
¡°Shinyeok Group has some assets in China. My ountant evaluated it before, and they¡¯re worth about 600 million yuan. If converted, that¡¯d be around 100 million USD. You can give them to me as coteral so that I don¡¯t have to worry that you¡¯ll just take my money. This would be very fair, right?¡±
¡°I see you¡¯re still joking. Shinyeok Group¡¯s assets in China are worth two billion yuan, and if converted that¡¯de to 300 million USD. You¡¯re only giving me 100 million USD and you actually still want me to put Shinyeok Group¡¯s assets up for coteral?¡±
¡°Mr Ahn, if you gave a pawn shop a watch that was worth a thousand, would the pawn shop give you a thousand? I want coteral. I don¡¯t really want your assets. Once the election ends and you¡¯re the president of Korea, who would be monitoring your bank ount? You can give me my money back at any time, and I can return the coteral to you. I won¡¯t even take interest, so what else do you want?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You should learn to be content and tactful at the same time. We didn¡¯te all the way here for your money. If you keep setting up obstacles, then I won¡¯t help you,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Ahn Geungan hesitated for a moment before finally nodding. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll sign it. I¡¯ll put Shinyeok Group¡¯s assets in China up for coteral and afterwards, I¡¯ll return the 100 million USD to you and you¡¯ll return my assets to me. Let me take a look at what you have.¡±
Xia Lei gave Ahn Geungan the stack of documents.
Ahn Geungan sat on the sofa and flipped through it. After ten minutes, he held up a paper about something unrted to assets coteral and asked sternly, ¡°What is this?¡±
That was themitment letter that Xia Lei had written especially for Ahn Geungan. The document had a few things that Xia Lei wanted Ahn Geungan to do and those things were also things that Fan Fan needed to resolve.
Ahn Geungan suddenly and resolutely mmed themitment letter onto the small table. ¡°You help me a little and I actually have to do so much for you?! You¡¯re too much!¡±
¡°Some of those things don¡¯t even need to bepleted after you be president. You¡¯re the national head of the South Korean Grand national party. You can use your strength in the South Korean Grand national party to settle these things now. You don¡¯t need to wait until after you¡¯re a president. If you¡¯re smart, you¡¯d sign amitment letter with me now and notter. I can also promise you that as long as you resolve these problems, I won¡¯t coerce you in the future. I¡¯ll return everything I have as well,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Do you think I¡¯d trust you?¡± Ahn Geungan red icily at him.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I see you still haven¡¯t understood how things work. Am I begging you for a deal right now? You haveplete freedom to refuse, but think about it. The moment you reject me, everything I have will appear on your opponent¡¯s table. I believe your opponent wouldn¡¯t hesitate to make it all public, right? When that happens, you won¡¯t just lose your qualifications to run for president, you¡¯d also lose your control over the South Korean Grand national party and you¡¯d even have to be under lock and key, and live in prison for the rest of your life. I have everything on you, and you actually still want to negotiate terms with me?¡±
Ahn Geungan was hesitant. He knew that he didn¡¯t have another choice but he was truly afraid of trusting Xia Lei.
¡°Forget about it. Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei waved and turned to leave while saying, ¡°Go send all of those things to Park Sukjinter. I think some people would be better off in prison for a while.¡±
¡°No problem,¡± said Qin Xiang.
¡°Wait!¡± Ahn Geungan gritted his teeth and said, ¡°I¡¯ll sign it!¡±
Xia Lei turned around and said with augh, See, that wasn¡¯t difficult, was it? Just hurry up and sign it, no need to make it an unhappy asion.¡±
Ahn Geungan took out a Parker pen and quickly finished signing the assets coteral documents. When he was about to sign themitment letter, Xia Lei called out to him to stay his hand.
¡°Wait,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Read themitment letter to me in Korean.¡±
Ahn Geungan looked at Xia Lei and saw that Xia Lei was holding a mobile phone. The camera was on. He suddenly realised something and immediately became angry. ¡°You¡¯re actually recording this too?!¡±
¡°It¡¯s only for an extra guarantee. Don¡¯t worry, after you do the things on themitment letter, I¡¯ll give this phone to you and I promise I won¡¯t copy it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Would he make a copy of it? He didn¡¯t even know the answer to that question.
The moment Ahn Geungan became the Korean president, the Korean army and secret service would all listen to his orders. If Ahn Geungan were to get revenge from Xia Lei then, that¡¯d be an extremely easy feat, because he could just mobilise Korea¡¯s most elite special forces unit and the most elite secret service agents to aplish that. But if he still had something that could send Ahn Geungan to prison, would Ahn Geungan still act blindly without thinking?
He was lying when he said he wouldn¡¯t copy it.
Ahn Geungan knew this too but he didn¡¯t have a choice. He braced himself and read the content on themitment letter in Korean, then signed it.
Xia Lei put the assets coteral document and themitment letter away and then extended a hand to Ahn Geungan. He smiled and said, ¡°Mr President. Let¡¯s work well together.¡±
Ahn Geungan didn¡¯t even extend his hand. He only looked coldly at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ll honour mymitment so you better honour yours as well, or I¡¯ll take you down with me.¡±
¡°Actually, there¡¯s a very simple way to resolve the problems between us and that¡¯s to be friends and not enemies. I never betray my friends, whether that¡¯s been in the past or future. If we¡¯re friends and we coborate together, we both get benefits. But if you want to take revenge on me, then you can juste at me. You saw what just happened as well. It¡¯d actually be very easy for me to kill you.¡±
¡°You killed my son but you still want to be friends with me?¡±
¡°Won¡¯t you have another one? Even if your wife is unable to give birth, aren¡¯t other women fine? Current technology is so advanced. If you want a son, there shouldn¡¯t be a problem right? If it isn¡¯t convenient in Korea, you cane to China and I¡¯ll help you settle this.¡± Xia Lei put on an earnest and caring look. ¡°What type of woman do you like?¡±
Ahn Geungan couldn¡¯t speak. He suddenly realised that if he had a destined nemesis, then this Chinese fellow had to be it!
Chapter 670
Xia Lei walked out of the Ahn estate and the seven members of the Zodiac team withdrew as well. E¡¯er Demutu hadn¡¯t been the only one to make his move just now. All of the seven members that Xia Lei had brought had yed a part as well, otherwise it would have been impossible to knock out of all Ahn Geungan¡¯s men. This operation hadn¡¯t just allowed Xia Lei to experience the Zodiac team¡¯s terrifying power, but it had also made him realise how his father, Xia Changhe was still alive with the FA Organisation and the CIA trying to kill him. It hadn¡¯t happened by chance and it wasn¡¯t luck either, but strength.
After exiting the Ahn estate, everyone including Xia Lei was wearing a mask, and had turned into someone else, with a different identity. His father, Xia Changhe, had taught Xia Lei mask techniques and it had came from the Zodiac team, so it had long since be something the Zodiac team always carried.
Qin Xiang stayed at the Ahn estate, and would help Ahn Geungan ording to Ahn Geungan and Xia Lei¡¯s agreement, to obtain Park Sukjin¡¯s scandalous information. As soon as he got that information, Ahn Geungan could give Park Sukjin a deadly blow. This was the so-called free politics. The people the citizens elected weren¡¯tpletely clean or even upstanding.
An hourter, Xia Lei arrived at Park Taeyong¡¯s old nest in Korea, a shabby old building in the slums of Seoul with only two floors. The first floor was the garage while the second floor was where people lived. There was also a basement, and it was now hismand center while in Korea.
¡°We still have thirty hours.¡± In the basement, Xia Lei said, ¡°In this period of time, we must find Gu Kewen and kill her. If we can¡¯tplete this mission within thirty hours, we have to withdraw from Korea.¡±
If Xia Lei still didn¡¯t appear in China in thirty hours, the German delegation would be at Thunder Horse Military Factory and Liu Zhennan wouldn¡¯t be able to pretend any longer. For this operation, Xia Lei had even put Bureau 101 aside, not to mention Bureau ZN. They couldn¡¯t know about this either. And if Ling Han knew that the ¡°Xia Lei¡± in the subsidiarypany was Liu Zhengnan, then he would be unable to exin where he had gone thest two days and what he had done.
He really wanted to get rid of Gu Kewen but if he still hadn¡¯t aplished this within thirty hours, he would have to withdraw. He had two goalsing to Korea: one, seal the deal with Ahn Geungan and two, get rid of Gu Kewen. Thus, if he was unable to wipe Gu Kewen out and had to withdraw from Korea, he would just have to ept it.
¡°Give me two more hours and I¡¯ll find Gu Kewen,¡± said Amanda.
Herputer had been up and running, but it wasn¡¯t so easy to find someone in such a big country like Korea.
¡°Let¡¯s do something too,¡± said E¡¯er Demutu.
Marcus used a crowbar to open a box.
There were wood chips and guns in the box ¡ª the XL2500 sniper and the Gust assault rifle. The dark gun bodies shed with an icy cold light under the light.
Marcus whistled and grabbed a Gust assault rifle. ¡°Boss, is this the most advanced Gust assault rifle? I¡¯ve always wanted one. I told the old man but he just wouldn¡¯t let me have one.¡±
¡°One Gust assault rifle and XL2500 sniper per person. In the future we will be the first to equip the most advanced weapons and equipment from Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
¡°Boss, can I have an armored tank too?¡± said Alessioughingly.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°You want the Italian traffic police to make trouble for you?¡±
Everyone in the basementughed.
While the Zodiac team members chatted andughed, they prepared for battle, checking their guns, preparing ammunition and other equipment. Xia Lei had also gotten to know these people through their chatting and was beginning to grow attached to them. He wanted to lead this group, but he would have to be one of them first.
After two hours, Amanda suddenly said, ¡°I found her.¡±
Xia Lei walked over and the Zodiac team members grew close as well.
Amanda had indeed found Gu Kewen. This should have been something happy, but no oneughed and no one spoke because Gu Kewen wasn¡¯t in some hotel, but in the South Korean-US station, the United States Army Garrison Yongsan.
¡°There are about two thousand soldiers from the Eighth United States Army and seven hundred airforce soldiers. There are also two hundred marine corps special forces soldiers, about three thousand people in total,¡± came Amanda¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei frowned. If Gu Kewen was in a hotel, then the operation to kill her wouldn¡¯t be too difficult, but he never would have thought that Gu Kewen would hide in a South Korean-US station. Killing a highly ranked official in the CIA at a United States military base was easier said than done.
The members of the Zodiac team all looked at Xia Lei. Entering the United States Army Garrison Yongsan to kill Gu Kewen was undoubtedly a suicide mission but once Xia Lei made a decision, they would still go. Even though they hade from many different countries in the world, they valued the Zodiac team¡¯s honor more than their own lives.
¡°Boss, if you want to kill Gu Kewen at the United States Army Garrison Yongsan, I can start formting an action n,¡± said Amanda.
¡°What n do you have?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We can disguise ourselves as American soldiers since there¡¯s a wide variety of ethnicities in America. We would need some fake credentials and then we can use those fake identities to get past Yongsan military base¡¯s security system. We could get into the military base then,¡± said Amanda.
Xia Lei thought about it but shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not hard to get in, but it¡¯ll be difficult to not get seen through by other CIA special agents. Also we¡¯re going to have to retreat somehow after killing Gu Kewen. Plus, Gu Kewen has the CIA and the FA Organisation on her side this time whening to Korea.¡±
¡°Dark Mona is definitely in Korea,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Dark Mona is also in Korea? That¡¯s great, we can kill both of them! The first person Father wanted dead was Dark Mona, so this is the best gift we can give to dad when he¡¯s leaving the life of an ouw,¡± said Alessio.
¡°I agree with Alessio,¡± said Bagu.
¡°Kill them, Boss,¡± said Park Taeyong.
All of these people were unafraid of death. Even if it was an American military base, it couldn¡¯t stop their determination to execute the mission, but Xia Lei couldn¡¯t let them die in vain. He was silent for a moment before he said, ¡°Let me think.¡±
Xia Lei began thinking. His brain created numerous conjectures based on the information he had, even simting the mission¡¯s progress, until he reached the conjecture¡¯s conclusion. However, to everyone else, he was only quietly considering the problem, nothing special.
¡°Can Boss do it?¡± Bagu asked softly. ¡°Amanda has always been the one creating our action ns and she¡¯s undoubtedly the smartest one of us all. Plus, she¡¯s good at this.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t understand Boss that well,¡± said Alessio.
¡°Yelena, you should understand Boss a lot. Won¡¯t you say something?¡± Bagu asked Yelena.
¡°Be quiet.¡± Yelena lowered her voice. ¡°Boss is a very smart person. Look at the weapons in your hands. He designed that. If he could design the most advanced weapon in the world, wouldn¡¯t he be able toe up with a n of action?¡±
The Zodiac team members all immediately shut up. They didn¡¯t have an idea of how smart Xia Lei was but they knew how excellent the weapons they were holding were.
Just then, Xia Lei suddenly said, ¡°Park Taeyong, give me a local cell phone. I want to make a call.¡±
Park Taeyong paused. ¡°Boss, who do you want to call?¡±
¡°Just give it to me,¡± said Xia Lei. Then, he said to Amanda, ¡°Get ready to do something for me.¡±
Amanda didn¡¯t know what Xia Lei wanted her to do but she nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
Meanwhile, at the Seoul Yongsan military base.
Cold water trickled through the showerhead onto Gu Kewen¡¯s head, going down her cheeks and gradually down her skin.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
Her ringtone sounded from outside the door.
Gu Kewen immediately stopped what she was doing, but she didn¡¯t answer the phone right away. She nced angrily in the direction of outside the bathroom, trying to guess who was calling her now. There weren¡¯t a lot of people who knew her phone number.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
¡°Argh!¡± Gu Kewen turned the water off and wrapped herself in a towel, then walked out.
Her mobile phone was still ringing on the table.
Gu Kewen grabbed her phone and looked at the screen. It disyed a number that was from China but there were differences from those numbers of the big operator suppliers.
Gu Kewen answered her phone. ¡°Hello? Who is it?¡±
A man¡¯s voice came through the phone. ¡°Gu Kewen, didn¡¯t you say you wanted to meet me? Where are you?¡±
¡°It¡¯s you!¡± Gu Kewen was shocked, and she suddenly walked out the door. As she walked, she said, ¡°What? You wanted to meet me so badly?¡±
¡°We should make a break in the grudge between us. Say a time and ce and I¡¯lle from China to meet with you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re in China?¡± Gu Kewen opened the door.
There was another room behind the door, full of CIA special agents. There were fully armed battle personnel and technical staff keeping watch byputers.
¡°Of course I¡¯m in China, where are you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m in Japan,¡± said Gu kewen, while making gesturing to the CIA technical staff, signalling that they should track the phone number that she was on the line with now.
The CIA technical staff quickly entered work mode.
Chapter 671
¡°You said you wanted to see me. What do you want?¡± Gu Kewenughed coldly. ¡°Do you really want to kill me that badly?¡±
¡°Why should I kill you? I only want my father¡¯s things back.¡± The man¡¯s voice on the phone said, ¡°Give me a price.¡±
¡°You will not be able to afford the price.¡±
¡°Who knows.¡±
¡°Then tell me ¡ª What can you give me?¡±
¡°You will not want money since you have no need for money. How about this, I think the Americans are also interested in my Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. I am willing to exchange a Thunder Dragon intelligentthe for it.¡±
Gu Kewen was tempted. The Thunder Dragon intelligentthe was the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s core. The Germans were racking their brains to get it, so how could the Americans not be interested? If she could get a Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, then her position in the CIA would be better than it was now, for sure.
¡°How is it? Willing to do this deal with me?¡±
¡°Your Thunder Dragon intelligentthe weighs several tens of tons right? Xia Lei, how do you n on giving it to me?¡± Gu Kewen was not bedazzled by the tempting conditions.
Right then, a member of the CIA technical staff starting gesturing to Gu Kewen. One of them even mouthed to her, ¡°The target is in Seoul, South Korea!¡±
This target was, of course, Xia Lei.
Gu Kewen had thought it was strange. The number that called was not a number of the three major operators of China, but the caller ID identified the location as China. Now it seemed that not only was Xia Lei in South Korea, he even deliberately changed the number disy!
Xia Lei¡¯s voice came from the phone again, ¡°Do you think I am lying to you? Then you are wrong. I¡¯m showing a lot of sincerity this time. Since I had mentioned it, then I will have a solution.¡±
¡°All right, give me a half a day to consider it.¡± Gu Kewen said that and hung up.
The CIA agents stared at Gu Kewen, waiting for her orders.
Gu Kewen¡¯s eyes moved to a monitor. On the monitor was a satellite map with a shing red dot. The red dot represented Xia Lei.
Just then, the red spot disappeared.
¡°What is going on?¡¯ Gu Kewen felt anxious.
A CIA technical staff said, ¡°Maybe the target took out the phone battery. But it is okay, we¡¯ve already got his location. We are ready to take action at anytime.¡±
¡°Then what are you waiting for? Get going right now!¡± Gu Kewen gave her order and turned to walk toward into the room.
A CIA technical staff immediately picked up a CIA internal departmentmunicator and ryed Gu Kewen¡¯s order.
The rest of the people quickly walked toward the doorway. But before the person in front could open the door, Gu Kewen¡¯s voice rang out from behind them.
¡°Hold it!¡±
¡°Boss, is there anything else you need?¡± asked a field agent.
¡°Something¡¯s not right,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°Not right?¡± The agent who had asked her a question thought about it. ¡°Boss, what is not right?¡±
Gu Kewen moved her lips as if to say something, but changed her mind. ¡°Never mind, take our people to search that area. Notify the Korean police to help seal off the area. I will be right there. If anything happens, report it to me.¡±
The agents left the room.
Gu Kewen closed the door. She took a satellite phone from her briefcase and dialled a number.
¡°He came.¡± When the call connected, Gu Kewen said, ¡°He is in Korea. He just called me. My men tracked his number and located the area he is in.¡±
A woman¡¯s voice came from the satellite phone. ¡°Where is he?¡±
¡°He is in the slums.¡±
¡°How did you handle it?¡±
¡°My men are on the move. They will search that area. They will ask for the Korean police¡¯s cooperation to help them arrest him.¡±
¡°Are you leading the group yourself?¡±
Gu Kewen was silent for a bit before she said, ¡°No. I originally nned to lead the group myself but I felt that something is not right.¡±
¡°What did you feel was not right?¡±
¡°I cannot pinpoint exactly what it is,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°But, Xia Lei is an extremely intelligent person. So many from the CIA died and they still were not able to capture him, so would hee up to our doors for us to catch him? He messed with the caller ID but left an obvious w. The number was a South Korean phone number. I could tell from a nce. Would he make such a basic mistake?¡±
¡°So you are saying that he deliberately exposed his location to lure you in to capture him?¡±
¡°Yes. I caused him to divorce with Shentu Tianyin and I sent him the FA Organisation secret files. He must really want my life right now.¡±
¡°That means he must be at that ce,¡± said the woman.
¡°What do you n to do?¡±
¡°Prepare to leave the military base. I wille pick you up.¡± The woman said that, then hung up without giving Gu Kewen any time to consider it. It was an order.
Gu Kewen threw the satellite telephone on the bed and spat, ¡°Bitch! Don¡¯t think that I do not know what you are thinking. Since Xia Lei wants to kill me, he will not appear so long as I do not appear either. You are picking me up so that I could be the bait to lure Xia Lei to show up! I, Gu Kewen, am not someone who you can just order around!¡±
The person she called bitch was none other than the FA Organisation¡¯s ace killer, Dark Mona. She could curse at her all she wanted right here, but in front of Dark Mona, she would be a model example of obedience.
One had to be humble when trapped in an inferior position. Dark Mona controlled her everything, including her life. She had no choice but to obey hermand. However, she believed that she would not stay like this forever. Once she had the ability, she would have Dark Mona¡¯s life!
Gu Kewen yanked the towel off her body and walked to a telephone. She picked up the phone, dialled a short set of numbers and said, ¡°Colonel Ryan, I am the CIA¡¯s supervisor of Asia, Gu Kewen. My security number is gkw95989. I want to activate the Fish Fork n. Please carry it out immediately.¡±
A man¡¯s voice came over the phone. ¡°The passcode to activate the mission is?¡±
¡°FG00932135.¡±
¡°Miss Gu Kewen, the passcode is correct. My men will await your orders.¡±
Gu Kewen ordered, ¡°Immediately assemble all of the Marine Corps fighters in the military base. Bring weapons, ammunition, andmunicators, listen to my orders. I will give you four minutes.¡±
Gu Kewen finished the call, got changed and left the room. She made a call on the satellite telephone as she walked. ¡°Damn it! Someone informed the headquarters. The headquarters have activated the Fish Fork n. That is a n targeting Xia Lei. The entire military base¡¯s Navy Marine Corps will all be dispatched. I¡¯ve been appointed as the operationalmander. I will have to take those fucking Navy Marine Corps with me to capture Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Give me his precise location and keep me updated on the progress,¡± said Dark Mona.
¡°I understand. Don¡¯t worry. Even if I catch Xia Lei, he is yours. I promise.¡± Gu Kewen said that and hung up.
In the vige beside the military base, a tall woman put down the phone in her hand. She was Dark Mona, the person who had been talking on the phone with Gu Kewen.
Dark Mona raised the telescope in her hands and looked at the gate to the military base. Although there were no movements there yet, there was already the sound of sirens ringing from the inside. The Navy Marine Corps were assembling.
A man with golden hair appeared behind Dark Mona. ¡°Boss, we have recieved the screenshot of the satellite location that Gu Kewen sent. Xia Lei is in one of Seoul¡¯s poor neighborhoods. The terrain there is veryplicated. The people of the CIA are on the way there. The Korean police had started to seal the area off in advance. If Xia Lei is over there, it would be hard for him to escape. What should we do?¡±
Dark Mona did not answer. She continued to gaze in the direction of the military base. Just then, a HMMWV drove out of the gate. Behind it was a long line of HMMWVs. Each HMMWV was paired with a heavy machine gun, and five fully armed Navy Marine Corps soldiers.
There was a deafening roaring sound and a few military helicopters and transport helicopters lifted off, heading towards the west of Seoul.
Dark Mona raised her head. She soon saw Gu Kewen in one of those military helicopters. It was only a glimpse, because that military helicopter had flown far away in another blink of an eye.
A cold smile appeared at the corners of Dark Mona¡¯s mouth. She said to herself, ¡°You do not want to be the bait? But you were always the bait. You want to break away from me? You will not, unless you¡¯re dead.¡±
The man with the golden hair said, ¡°Boss, the CIA and the Navy Marine Corps have started moving. We...¡±
Dark Mona cut him off. ¡°Tell our men to get ready. The Earthworm n¡¯s begun.¡±
¡°Yes ma¡¯am,¡± replied the golden-haired man. He turned to enter a farmyard.
It was very quiet inside the yard. There was only a cat lying there, enjoying the sun. But after the golden-haired man whistled, the doors of a few rooms suddenly all opened at once. One by one, the agents of the FA Organisation came out. Almost all of them was carrying a military canvas bag. In the bags were nothing other than weapon ammunition. Although there were not many of them assembled here, only 20, they were all elites who could each take on 10 men on his own! Theirbat powerbined was entirely enough to have a formidable battle with all of the Navy Marine Corps stationed at the military base!
Dark Mona appeared in the doorway of the yard. She waved her hand, and everyone followed her out.
Chapter 672
This poor district was separated from the flourishing Gangnam district by a sixne highway. On one side there were the high-rise buildings and the colourful world of the rich. On the other side were low and short huts and pitted ground, electrical wires criss-crossing over them like spider webs. The six-line highway became the dividing line between heaven and hell. Now, this dividing line had been sealed off by the Korean police. There were no cars driving through except for police cars and the cars of the CIA field agents.
It was not only this sixne highway ¡ª all the roads around the poor district were sealed. Anyone who wanted to enter the district would have to undergo the Korean police¡¯s interrogation and inspection. Those who wish to exit the poor district would have to undergo even stricter interrogation and identity inspection.
Military helicopters flew through the sky from time to time. Their mission was to shoot any suspicious cars and provide firepower support for thebatants on the ground.
Arge had formed both on the ground and in the sky. It would be difficult for their target to escape.
A transport helicopternded on the sixne highway. Gu Kewen came out. She was under the protection of several Navy Marine Corps and special agents, and she entered the CIA fieldwork car. This car was contained equipment for receiving satellite monitoring signals andmunication. Through these equipment, Gu Kewen could control the overall situation from inside the car. However, she was more concerned about keeping this fieldmand vehicle far from the battlefield, and keeping herself safe.
A CIA technical staff turned on the monitor as soon as Gu Kewen entered the car. The video feed disyed on the monitor was being transmitted through a camera mounted on a tactical helmet, so it was somewhat shaky. In the shaking scene, 20 CIA field agents covered each other as they quickly trudged through a battered street and surrounded a small, old building.
This small building was where the CIA had tracked Xia Lei to earlier.
The voice of the CIA field agent captain leading the team came out of themunicator, ¡°We are close to the target¡¯s location. Awaiting orders.¡±
Gu Kewen picked up themunicator. She said coldly, ¡°Capture everyone in the building! If anyone resists, kill him right there!¡±
¡°Roger.¡± The CIA field agent captain did a set of hand gestures.
¡°Xia Lei, if you are inside, you are dead.¡± A cold smile appeared at the corners of Gu Kewen¡¯s mouth.
Would Xia Lei be inside that small building?
Gu Kewen really wanted to think that Xia Lei had not escaped, that he was still in that building. If that was the case, then she could easily fix the problem of Xia Lei. However, that was only what she hoped; she was still unsure about it. A smart and intelligent person like Xia Lei was even more sly than a fox, so would he stay in that building to wait for people toe capture him?
Bang bang bang!
Gu Kewen was still doubting if Xia Lei really was inside the building when the sound of gunfire came from inside the building. The CIA field agents surrounding the building immediately returned fire. There was a loud firing of guns. A hailstorm of bullets flew through the doors and windows and into the building. ss, wood, and brick fragments flew all over the ce.
¡°He really is inside!¡± Gu Kewen became very excited.
The CIA field agents surrounding the building stopped firing. The field agent who was guarding the front gate threw a grenade into the building. After the intense sh, he rushed in, followed closely by several CIA field agents.
The scene on the monitor was obscured by the smoke from the grenade, making it hard to see what was going on. Gu Kewen¡¯s heart was in her throat, and she looked forward to seeing Xia Lei appear suddenly on the screen looking panicked and lost.
Unfortunately, this imagined scene did not happen.
More CIA field agents rushed into the building. They kicked open every door and searched every room.
Bang! The CIA field agent captain kicked open a door upstairs. A cat suddenly leaped up from the ground in a panic, leaping towards the window.
Pew pew pew...
The CIA field agent captain raised his gun instinctively and released a spray of bullets. The cat¡¯s body was shot in midair, and the impact pushed its body out the window. Its blood sttered onto the walls, and on the shattered ss of the window, like cherry blossoms in the smoke, so beautiful that it was heartbreaking.
The CIA field agent captain¡¯s eyes stopped on a corner of the room. The camera mounted on his tactical helmet also transmitted what he saw to the fieldmand vehicle.
A huge speaker appeared on the disy screen. The speaker was on, and a piece of A4 paper was stuck to it. It was a message written in Chinese: The CIA is stupid! Gu Kewen is stupid!
Bang bang bang...
The sound of gunfire came from the speaker.
So the gunshots that got the CIA field agents to attack were actually just soundsing from this speaker.
Gu Kewen was not angry when she saw the line ¡°Gu Kewen is stupid¡±. Instead, sheughed. ¡°This guy. You have to test me to know if I am stupid, or not. Do you dare toe test me? Coward!¡±
A CIA technical staff suddenly said in excitement, ¡°Boss! The signal that disappeared has reappeared!¡±
Gu Kewen drew close to the screen.
A shing red dot appeared on the technical staff¡¯sputer. It was moving fast but its location was not in the poor district but its periphery. It was fleeing towards the flourishing Gangnam district.
¡°Boss, we should tell our military helicopters to pursue. He will not be able to escape,¡± said the CIA technical staff to Gu Kewen.
¡°Wait, let us be sure first.¡± As she talked, Gu Kewen adjusted a button to face the monitor.
Meanwhile, outside the poor district, inside a ck Toyota MPV.
¡°Boss, Gu Kewen sent us the satellite location picture. The target has appeared again. He¡¯s escaping to the Gangnam district!¡±
Dark Mona¡¯s eyes moved to a specialptopputer screen. Sure enough, a shing red dot was moving towards the Gangnam district at a speed. The small red dot represented Xia Lei, but through the video that Gu Kewen had sent through the pinhole camera of the CIA field agents¡¯ movements, she now had doubts. This could be another one of Xia Lei¡¯s tricks.
¡°Boss, Gu Kewen did not order the military helicopter to pursue him. She is buying time for us. What should we do?¡± asked a FA Organisation technical staff.
Dark Mona thought for a moment, then randomly picked two people. ¡°You guys will follow, and observe. Do not act recklessly, even if you have confirmed that the target is Xia Lei. Report to me immediately.¡±
The two FA Organisation¡¯s free agents stepped out of the car. They got on motorcycles and gave chase. The technical staff of the FA Organisation provided them with location support from inside the Toyota.
Two minutester, two military helicopters flew towards the same ce. On the ground, HMMWVs were heading to the Gangnam district. The Navy Marine Corps of the military base were carrying out the operation too.
Buying two minutes for the FA Organisation was the limit on what Gu Kewen could do for them.
Whether it was in the CIA field agent car or the FA organization¡¯s Toyota MPV, in the scene provided by the US spy satellite, the red dot had stopped after running for a distance.
When the red dot stopped, so did the two military helicopters in the sky.
Images from the FA organization¡¯s agents equipment were transmitted to the specialptopputer controlled by the FA organization¡¯s technical staff. A young Korean man with blonde hair was peeing by the roadside. Behind him was an old motorcycle. The military helicopters in the sky had obviously startled him, and caused most of the urine in his dder to go onto his trousers.
¡°Put down your weapons!¡± yelled someone on the military helicopter with a megaphone.
¡°I... I don¡¯t have a weapon!¡± yelled the blonde young man.
¡°Put your hands behind your head! Knees to the ground!¡±
¡°Assholes! Someone gave me money to drive this motorcycle... I don¡¯t know anything!¡± The young blonde man suddenly broke into a run.
Bang!
There was the sound of a shot. The young man had been shot down by a sniper, but the sniper did not kill him ¡ª he just shot his leg.
A long line of HMMWVs also appeared at the scene.
The two FA Organisation free agents turned around.
Dark Mona mmed her fist on the car door in the Toyota MPV. There was a muffled ¡°bang¡±. ¡°Damn it! He yed with us and the CIA! What exactly does he n to do?¡±
This punch made her suddenly realise something, and she calmed down instantly.
She grabbed amunicator and said, ¡°Leave immediately! He purposely lured you guys away!¡±
Her words passed to the micro-receiver hidden in Gu Kewen¡¯s ear in a split second. Her reaction was very quick too, and she gave her order almost as soon as she heard Dark Mona. ¡°Quick! Leave this ce!¡±
But the body of the car shook before the driver could start the car.
Gu Kewen dove instinctively.
At that exact moment, a sniper bullet pierced through the car and into her buttocks. If she had been even a tenth of a second slower, the bullet would not have hit her ass, but the back of her head!
The intense pain hit, and Gu Kewen almost fainted. However, the hellish training in Siberia kicked in. She was still conscious, and her body still maintained the most basic, instinctive reaction. She rolled violently to the side as the pain came.
Ding! A series of sparks flew up from the car.
If she had reacted even a tiny bit slower, the sniper¡¯s bullet would have ended her life!
This was a bulletproof car, yet it was still unable to stop the opponent¡¯s attack. It was as if the opponent could see through the bulletproof steel te and lock on to her exact location! What was scarier was that the sniper¡¯s precision was uncanny, like he was firing a bullet first to prate the car¡¯s bulletproof steel te, and the next bullet to hit the target!
Who else in this world would be able to use the sniper so well?
It was none other than Xia Lei!
Chapter 673
The driver of the fieldmand vehicle finally started the car and fled swiftly, heading towards the Gangman district.
As they fled, a sniper rifle bullet hit the car¡¯s windshield, but it did not shatter the windshield. It only made cracks; the fieldmand vehicle¡¯s driver had narrowly escaped death.
The sniper stopped his attacks but no one knew where he was, even now.
Gu Kewen was struggling, crawling. She snatched up themunicator and bellowed, ¡°It is him! He is in the Gangnam district!¡±
¡°He must be in the tall building near the poor district. Seal off all of the tall buildings within three kilometers of here immediately!¡± Gu Kewen quickly issued a more detailedmand.
It was obvious that her having her buttock shot did not affect her brain.
Meanwhile.
The engine of the Toyota MPV parked outside the poor district started up and headed to the Gangnam district. However, before the driver could even drive 100 meters, a bullet went through the front window pane and lodged itself into the driver¡¯s forehead. Control of the Toyota MPV was lost, and it veered off the road, mming into a tree by the road.
Bam! The Toyota MPV came to a stop. The people in the car were thrown forward; it was chaos.
Amongst the chaos, Dark Mona suddenly hugged one of her subordinates and crashed to the floor of the car, between the seats. Almost at the same instant, a bullet flew in from outside the car. The car shook. ss cracked. Blood spurted. The narrow interior of the car limited movement, so the people inside had nowhere to dodge. They were not even able to see who attacked them as bullets were nted into their bodies, one by one.
But this was just the start. More bullets rained down on the car. The defenseless Toyota MPV was punctured and hundreds of bullet holes appeared in it, turning the people in the car into sieves. Blood gushed out from the various wounds on their bodies and flowed out of the gap in the car door, and through the bullet holes in the car. It was a dreadful sight.
It was not just the Toyota MPV up front ¡ª the two Toyota SUVs and the few motorcycles behind them were not spared either. The bullets hade from both sides of the road and torn up the FA Organisation¡¯s men and vehicles.
The ambush had onlysted for half a minute from start to end, and the people of the FA Organisation had yet to return a single bullet.
200 meters away, on a rooftop, six gunmen put away their guns.
These six people were members of the Zodiac team. The ones who shot and killed the driver of the Toyota MPV were Amanda, Alessio, Baqu, E¡¯er Demutu, Marcus and Yelena. They had used the Gust assault rifle to shoot the cars and killed off all the people of the FA Organisation in the cars in their rampage. Five Gust assault rifles with a range of two kilometers, almost zero recoil, and powerful firepower made the ambush extremely easy.
¡°Wow.¡± Marcus stroked the Gust assault rifle in his hand, smiling. He liked it very much. ¡°I have used almost all the different kinds of rifles in this world but I have never seen any that are as powerful and easy to use as this.¡±
Amanda said, ¡°You should try the XL2500 sniper rifle that Boss made. I promise, there is no better sniper rifle than it in this world.¡±
¡°Stop talking about guns. We should retreat,¡± said Yelena. ¡°Boss should be done with his work over there too.¡±
¡°I wonder if that bitch Dark Mona was killed,¡± said Amanda.
¡°She should not be able to live,¡± said E¡¯er Demutu said. ¡°We had six guns. Those cars were all beat up ¡ª Dark Mona would not be able to escape.¡±
¡°It would be nice if we could go see it,¡± said Amanda.
¡°We can¡¯t. The Korean police are almost here. Let¡¯s go,¡± said Yelena.
She just finished her sentence when the sound of police sirens wailed in the distance.
At the same time, Park Taeyong¡¯s voice came from themunicator, ¡°I and boss are already on the way to the retreat point. You guys should get going too. We have to leave.¡±
The six members of the Zodiac team smiled at each other and quickly left the building top.
A police car stopped by the road. The two policemen inside the car stepped out, carrying guns as they moved carefully toward the FA Organisation¡¯s car.
A policeman spoke into his walkie-talkie, ¡°There was a gun battle here. Unknown people were killed! Oh my god... So many people!¡±
A policeman opened the door of the Toyota MPV and a dead body tumbled out. It was a white man, sturdily built, with a weight of approximately 100 KG. His body was covered with at least 20 bullet holes. He could be nothing but dead.
¡°There is one alive!¡± said the policeman in surprise.
Right then, a ck man lying in the aisle of the car suddenly was flipped over, and he fell next to the car door.
The policeman who had opened the car door pointed his gun at the ck man, but realised that he was not alive. On his head was a wine-ss sized bloody hole. A big, peculiarly-shaped gun appeared in front of him. Then, he saw a woman still lying in the aisle. She was covered with blood, as if she had just crawled out from the blood pools of Hell.
¡°You¡ª¡±
Boom!
Before the policeman could finish his sentence, his head disappeared. The rest of his body flew backwards and mmed onto the ground.
The policeman who was reporting to headquarters hurriedly raised his gun, prepared to shoot, but he was no match for the woman. He had just started to make the movement to raise his arm when his opponent¡¯s hand swung. Abat knife flew towards his heart in an instant and pierced his chest viciously.
¡°Urgh...¡± The policeman spat blood, then copsed to the ground, face-first.
The woman put down her big, peculiarly-shaped gun. From her mouth came the words, ¡°Xia Lei, Xia Lei... Fuck you!¡±
She was Dark Mona.
She had developed the Earthworm n with Xia Changhe as the target, using the FA Organisation¡¯s secret files to lure Xia Lei out, then carry out the operation. Xia Lei hade but her men had all died on top of her not capturing him. If not for her quick reaction, grabbing a subordinate in time and using his body to shield against the Gust assault rifles¡¯ attack, she would be in hell right now!
Was there any n which was a greater failure than the Earthworm n?
When she thought of the danger she¡¯d been in, Dark Mona felt the rage build. She was going to fuck Xia Changhe up, and torture him in front of Xia Lei!
Dark Mona got into the police car and swiftly drove off, leaving the scene.
Meanwhile, a CIA fieldmand car stopped at the roadside. A transport helicopter descended. Some military base medics hopped down. They carried a stretcher, and they ran to the fieldmand car with first aid tools.
The driver opened the car door and Gu Kewen staggered as she fell out. Luckily, the driver was right in front of her and caught her. Her face was pale and her sexy buttocks were covered with blood.
¡°There will not be a next time, there will not be a next time...¡± Gu Kewen repeated this over and over. She was very weak but her eyes were scarily cold.
This was the CIA Fish Fork n. It had the same result as the Earthworm n ¡ª a bitter defeat!
But what infuriated Dark Mona and Gu Kewen the most and what they could not ept, was that Xia Lei had led them by the nose from start to finish, and even until the end they had not seen him appear!
Xia Lei finally showed up, but he was on a country road far from Seoul.
As Park Taeyong drive, he asked, ¡°Boss, did you kill Gu Kewen?¡±
Xia Lei did not answer. His mind wandered back to the scene when he was sniping at Gu Kewen. Back then, his position was 3,000 meters away from Gu Kewen, and he used the XL2500 sniper rifle he had personally modified, with a range of 3,400 meters. He had seen Gu Kewen¡¯s butt shot, but only that bullet had got her. She had dodged all the rest of the shots.
If he did not have to stay at such a far distance, the probability that he could kill Gu Kewen would be increased by more than 50%. However, if he was too close, there would be no time for him to retreat after he shot. Once he got surrounded, there would not only the CIA field agents, but also the military base¡¯s Navy Marine Corps¡¯ and Special Forces soldiers. That would put him in an extremely dangerous situation!
¡°Boss?¡±
Xia Lei recovered from his thoughts. ¡°Half and half, I think. I am not sure I got rid of her but I did hit her. If I got a major blood vessel and caudal vertebra, she might even die.¡±
¡°Caudal vertebra? You hit her buttocks?¡±
¡°Yeah, I had nned to st her head but she dodged it.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s eyebrows knotted. ¡°The CIA¡¯s fieldmand car is not like a normal car. I used the armor-piercing shell, but even with that, I had to use two to pierce the car¡¯s body. When my first bullet hit the car, Gu Kewen was already on alert.¡±
Park Taeyong¡¯s jaw dropped, and his face filled with shock. He was stunned for a long while before he finally said, ¡°Boss, You... That was a bulletproof car in motion! How can you hit the same ce twice? And you even shot Gu Kewen in her butt?!¡±
A distance of 3,000 meters ¡ª it would be very difficult even if it was a stationary target because this was no longer just simple shooting, not to mention hitting a moving vehicle. There would be many factors that would need to be considered, such as wind direction and wind speed, air resistance, and the bullet¡¯s flying speed and energy consumption and so on. How did he do it with so many things to consider and calcte? He had even performed it so extremely well!
This was, of course, because of Xia Lei¡¯s brain. This little bit of calction was the same as elementary mathematics to him; there was no difficulty at all.
But Xia Lei would not exin it to Park Taeyong. He only smiled. ¡°Get driving. Don¡¯t let Amanda and the others wait too long.¡±
Park Taeyong shrugged and muttered to himself, ¡°I heard that you are the world¡¯s best sniper but I did not believe it then. Now, though... I think you are the king of the sniper world. There is no one who can surpass you.¡±
Xia Lei only listened; he did not interrupt.
The Hyundai MPV drove towards the seaside.
From that time, there were still 10 hours of the two-day deadline which Xia Lei had asked for. There was enough time to make his retreat.
Chapter 674
The incident that happened in Korea caused an international uproar, but the final scapegoat was a ¡°virtual terrorist¡±. The Korean government announced to the public that it was an anti-terrorism drill, attended by American soldiers, Korean soldiers, Korean police, and Korean special forces.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t surprised by this result. The CIA couldn¡¯t reveal his identity and secret to the public. Doing so would not match America¡¯s interests.
One dayter, Xia Lei appeared inside Thunder Horse Military Factory. Liu Zhengnan was still on his way back to Jingdu.
Under the office building, Ling Han looked at Xia Lei, who had just returned, and asked casually, ¡°How¡¯s the thing regarding the branch officeing along?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°There are more or less handled, but it was very busy. I only managed to take care of a few of the most important things. They know how to manage the rest. Our cooperation with the Germans is the most important thing right now, that¡¯s why I flew back. The Germans haven¡¯t arrived yet, right?¡±
¡°They¡¯ve already arrived in Jingdu. They are currently staying at the embassy. I think they will be here shortly. Rest assured, they are more anxious than us regarding this cooperation,¡± said Ling Han.
A Volkswagen Beetle car appeared at the gate while they were talking. The soldiers by the gate let the car in, and the security guards of Thunder Horse Military Factory didn¡¯t stop the car. It was only because the person who drove the Volkswagen Beetle car was Fan Fan. Not only did she have permission to enter and leave the Thunder Horse Military Factory freely, but she was also a frequent visitor.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®I just finished dealing with Ahn Geungan in Korea, and she¡¯s alreadye here. Does she know something? But if she knew something, then she would¡¯vee earlier. Sylvia probably hadn¡¯t finished doing the matter I¡¯ve asked her to do.¡¯
Fan Fan parked the car and walked towards the office building.
Ling Han looked at Fan Fan and frowned. ¡°What is she doing here?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I think it might be because of the Germans. Maybe she came to help.¡±
It was obvious that Ling Han didn¡¯t like to hear that. He knew what Fan Fan¡¯s intention was ining to Thunder Horse Military Factory at this time. Ling Han knew that she wasn¡¯t here to help.
¡°Oh, Mr Ling is also here.¡± Fan Fan walked over slowly. Her long legs, slender waist, her light and graceful posture made her look like she was a fashion model walking on a runaway.
A smile formed on Ling Han¡¯s face. ¡°Fan Fan, why are you here?¡±
Fan Fan said, ¡°I¡¯m not here to take your credit. I¡¯m here for Mr Xia.¡±
Xia Lei said in surprise, ¡°Miss Fan Fan, why are you looking for me?¡±
¡°Because I have a matter to discuss with you, of course,¡± said Fan Fan. ¡°It¡¯s about the Alloy X Project. Do you have time? Let¡¯s find a ce to talk about it.¡±
Xia Lei was about to agree when Ling Han interrupted him. ¡°Fan Fan, what do you mean by this? The Germans areing soon, and you want to talk to Xia Lei right now? Are you trying to mess it up? What kind of project is so important that you guys can¡¯t talk about it tomorrow?¡±
Fan Fan frowned. ¡°Mr Ling, how can I not know the importance of cooperating with the Germans? However, the Alloy X Project is much more important than cooperating with the Germans. I have an important discovery, so I must talk to Xia Lei. Is there a problem with that?¡±
She was one of the research members of the Alloy X Project. She could talk to Xia Lei about the project whenever she wanted, and Ling Han couldn¡¯t stop her from doing so even if he tried.
Xia Lei coughed dryly. ¡°Then... Let¡¯s go to my office to talk. Miss Fan Fan, please.¡±
Fan Fan followed Xia Lei into the office building.
Ling Han stared coldly at Fan Fan and Xia Lei¡¯s backs. Whether it was Xia Lei or Fan Fan, neither of them were his friends.
¡®Just wait and see. When I be the bureau chief, I¡¯ll see if any of you can stillugh like that,¡¯ thought Ling Han.
Just then, Song Baicheng walked over. He lowered his voice and said, ¡°Mr Z, the Korean soldiers and American soldiers stationed in Korea had an anti-terrorist drill yesterday, but...¡±
Ling Han interrupted him. ¡°Do you think I care about whatever anti-terrorist drill happening in Korea right now?¡±
¡°No, I heard some news that said that it wasn¡¯t a real drill. It turned out to be an actual gunfight,¡± said Song Baicheng.
Ling Han frowned. ¡°So? Even if it¡¯s a real terrorist attack, it happened in Korea, not here. Even if it happened here, it¡¯s Bureau 101¡¯s problem, not ours. Go call the Germans and tell them to hurry up. Aren¡¯t Germans concerned with efficiency? So why are they still not here?¡±
Song Baicheng stopped talking about the terrorist attack in Korea. He said, ¡°I¡¯ll contact the German Embassy and tell them to hurry up.¡±
Song Baicheng left, and Ling Han raised his head to look at the highest floor of the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s office building. He wanted to go to Xia Lei¡¯s office to hear what the two of them were talking about, but after seeing the camera outside his door, he dismissed that thought. Whether it was Xia Lei or Fan Fan, neither of them was a normal person. If he wanted to eavesdrop on their secret talk, he would be found out before he even got close to them. He didn¡¯t want to create additional trouble right now.
Xia Lei and Fan Fan appeared on the highest floor. Xia Lei popped his head out of the railing to look down at Ling Han. He smiled and said, ¡°Brother Ling, wait for a little while. I will go down soon. I won¡¯t take long.¡±
Ling Han just nodded and said nothing. He walked briskly towards the gate. Instead of waiting here, he might as well stand outside the gate and wee the German delegates. He needed to let the Germans know that he was the person in charge of this case, not Fan Fan or Xia Lei.
Upon entering the room, Fan Fan suddenly hugged Xia Lei¡¯s waist.
Xia Lei was shocked by her actions. ¡°What are you doing? Now is not the time for such things.¡±
Fan Fan pouted. ¡°I can¡¯t even hug you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°After today, you can hug me however you want, okay? My highness, if Ling Han and Song Baicheng finds out about us, all our hard work will be wasted.¡±
Fan Fan didn¡¯t let go of Xia Lei¡¯s waist. ¡°I¡¯ve realised that I¡¯ve be intoxicated by you. It¡¯s only been a few days, but whether I¡¯m eating, showering, or even in the bathroom, I can¡¯t stop thinking about you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I dreamed of youst night. I dreamed that you were pressing me down on the floor of theboratory, and doing bad things to me.¡± Fan Fan had a pitiful expression on her face.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°Is it my fault that you dreamed about that?¡±
¡°Of course it¡¯s your fault.¡±
Xia Lei was having a figurative headache. ¡°What did youe here for? If you want to ask about the matters in Korea, then I can tell you that it was sessful. I¡¯m only waiting for thest part to bepleted now. Once that¡¯s done, you can be the bureau chief of Bureau ZN without a problem.¡±
Fan Fan suddenly smiled sweetly but she didn¡¯t let go of Xia Lei¡¯s hands. While Xia Lei was talking, she had already pushed open the lounge door and dragged Xia Lei in.
¡°Don¡¯t destroy your own good fortune.¡± Xia Lei reminded her not to be a naughty girl again, but his rationality was weakening rapidly.
Fan Fan finally let go of his hands. ¡°I¡¯m here to tell you some good news. I finished making the antidote. I think I seeded this time, so I couldn¡¯t wait for you to try it.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went abruptly to her handbag. His left eye could clearly see through the leather handbag and he saw a tightly sealed ss tube inside. The liquid inside the ss tube was already very close to the correct antidote.
He immediately understood Fan Fan¡¯s intention foring at this time. Not only did she want to meet the German delegates, but she also wanted to use her antidote before they arrived. Once the German delegates arrived, he would be busy for a long time. She didn¡¯t want to wait any longer.
Fan Fan opened the handbag and took out the sealed ss tube. She handed it to Xia Lei. In azy cat-like voice, she said, ¡°Help me apply it.¡±
She wasn¡¯t talking about ointment for scrapes ¡ª she was talking about her antidote.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to do. He held the antidote in his hand.
Fan Fan turned around and bent over. A lot of pale skin was exposed in front of Xia Lei once again. But this time, it was not only was her buttocks which were exposed ¡ª the part that was usually concealed was also exposed.
¡®She really is anxious to get it.¡¯ Xia Leiughed bitterly to himself. His eyes went to the safe in the lounge. Inside it was a counter antidote. He was going to carry it with him, but there was no need to make use of it in Korea, so he had not taken it with him. He was beingzy before, but now, he was in deep trouble. How was he to get the counter antidote in the safe without drawing Fan Fan¡¯s attention?
¡°Hurry up.¡± Fan Fan urged him. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry. I told Su Xiao to wait at the halfway point, so once the German delegates get here, she will contact me. You don¡¯t have to worry about being dyed. Think about our Xia Bufan and our Xia Sifan. Don¡¯t you want to take me?¡±
Xia Lei braced himself and said, ¡°Are you this anxious to have our baby?¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s eyes shone with excitement. ¡°I¡¯ve longed to have your child. Our child will be the smartest person in the whole world. It will be a miracle. You don¡¯t have to doubt my determination. Let me put it this way, if I have to choose between the Alloy X Project and having your child, I will choose thetter option.¡±
A woman is onlyplete when she bes a mother, especially when this child was from Xia Lei, who had an IQ of 998. No woman could resist the lure of a ¡°miracle baby¡±, especially for a bioengineer like her.*
¡°Um...¡± Xia Lei was thinking about an excuse to open the safe.
¡°I¡¯ll do it myself if you¡¯re too shy.¡± Fan Fan couldn¡¯t wait any longer. She turned around and took the antidote from Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
At that moment, a female voice suddenly came from outside the lounge. ¡°Director Xia, your father is looking for you.¡±
It was the secretary, Qing Caiyue.
Xia Lei let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right there.¡±
Chapter 675
Xia Lei and Fan Fan came out of the rest lounge all dressed appropriately and serious, but they still felt rather guilty. Xia Lei felt very awkward.
¡°Go ahead, Mr Xia. I will be leaving now.¡± Their interesting interaction had been disturbed, and Fan Fan did not want to stay in the office any longer.
¡°Yeah, okay,¡± replied Xia Lei.
As Fan Fan left the office, she turned back to look at Xia Lei. Her eyes were flirtatious, with a hint of resentment. There was an indescribable charm in it.
After Fan Fan was gone, Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°My father was not asking for me, was he?¡±
Qing Caiyue looked nervous. ¡°I don¡¯t know either. It was actually Yelena who told me to say this.¡±
Xia Lei understood right away. It was not his father who was looking for him. It was Yelena who had deliberately told Qing Caiyue toe to save him from the trouble.
Fan Fan¡¯s identity was very special so Yelena did not want to get involved with her as it would increase the risk of being exposed. But it was different with Qing Caiyue.
¡°Director Xia, I am so sorry... Interrupting you and...¡± Qing Caiyue became more and more nervous as she spoke and her face was covered with a deep blush.
Xia Lei felt very embarrassed, but on the surface, he said with a straight face, ¡°You did nothing wrong. Why apologise? Yelena has a lot of experience and she handles things well. You can go about your other duties now.¡±
But Qing Caiyue did not leave. Her face became more and more flushed.
Xia Lei asked curiously, ¡°Is there anything else?¡±
¡°Um...¡± Qing Caiyue faltered. ¡°Director Xia, your zipper is open.¡±
Xia Lei looked down and his face immediately reddened. His zipper really was down, and his red underwear underneath peeked out. What made him speechless was that he did not even know when Fan Fan had unzipped him. When he thought of how he had pretended seriousness as he talked with Qing Caiyue, he felt so embarrassed that he could die.
Xia Lei stood, frozen to the spot, and Qing Caiyue and a sudden misinterpretation of his actions. The most important thing about being a secretary for the director was understanding what the director meant. Since Xia Lei was standing there unmoving, did that not mean that he wanted her to zip up the zipper for him? This line of reasoning caused Qing Caiyue to hesitate, but she braced herself and reached her hand over.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses and hurriedly took a step back. He zipped himself up and said awkwardly, ¡°Eh, sorry. I forgot to zip it up when I just went to the restroom earlier. It¡¯s okay now. You can go about your work.¡±
Qing Caiyue withdrew her pale hand immediately. She said with a flushed face, ¡°Then I will take my leave.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly, turned around, and entered the rest lounge. He opened the safe and retrieved the small stic medicine bottle which held the anti-antidote and hid it on his person. Fan Fan¡¯s antidote was not perfect, but it was close. If some ident urred after she used the antidote and she had his baby, then the joke would have gone too far. So for safety¡¯s sake, he would need to carry his anti-antidote with him everywhere.
The members of the German delegate soon arrived. This was a huge team. There were not just the senior technicians from the Rheinmetall AG, but also scientists from Germany¡¯s science world. The leader was a German official named Koen. He was a cab member of the current German president¡¯s party. Judging from his identity, and the abilities of these members, it was in to see how much the German side valued this deal. To the Germans, they had made a mistake thest time, and this time, they would not allow any mistakes to happen.
The ambassador of Germany, Philip, introduced Koen to Xia Lei, and Koen introduced the members of the German team to him. There were actually some familiar faces among the group because there were many senior technicians from Rheinmetall AG. He had interacted with them during his time in Germany.
Ling Han was rather proactive during the whole process. He took care of the German members, arranged amodation for them, asked them if they need anything else, and so on. His liveliness gave people the impression of him overshadowing the host. Many things which should have been handled by Xia Lei was instead handled by him.
Fan Fan, on the other hand, kept a low profile. She had only shown her face briefly to the German team before leaving.
Xia Lei sent her off.
¡°The German team has arrived. When can Ie over?¡± Fan Fan asked Xia Lei in the car park.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Go prepare your luggage when you get back. You will probably be able to rece Ling Han tomorrow.¡±
¡°You¡¯re so sure?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I even fixed the matter with South Korea for you. Will this kind of trivial matter be a problem?¡±
¡°Can you tell me what you n to do?¡± Fan Fan looked curious.
Xia Lei just smiled. ¡°You should go back and wait for my good news.¡±
Fan Fan pouted. Her eyes threatened to bite Xia Lei.
Xia Lei did not want to challenge the look in her eyes, so he turned and left.
Ling Han had arranged everything so Xia Lei could not ck off either. However, the German party would not take Ling Han seriously no matter how proactive he was. Their aim was Xia Lei and his technology. When things were more settled, Koen came to Xia Lei¡¯s office with his senior technicians.
¡°Mr Koen, do you not need rest? Your group came from Germany, so you must be exhausted from the long journey. You should rest,¡± said Xia Lei in fluent German and a smile.
¡°Mr Xia, we did note to rest,¡± said Koen. ¡°We came to do a technology exchange.¡±
¡°Yes,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Have a seat. Let us sit while we talk. Caiyue, go make us cups of tea.¡±
¡°Yes,¡± answered Qing Caiyue. She quickly went and made a few cups of tea. She then stood behind Xia Lei, holding a notebook and a pen, ready to take minutes.
She had already entered her working mode yet Xia Lei¡¯s other secretary, Yelena, was nowhere to be seen. However, she had noints toward Yelena because it was thanks to Yelena that she got this job. She had said good words about her, and persuaded Xia Lei to keep her. So whenever Yelena told her to do anything, she would always be happy to do it.
¡°Mr Xia, I will be straightforward,¡± said Koen. ¡°I am sure that Mr Xia knows our aim, so I want to hear your n.¡±
¡°What you guys want is the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. There is no problem with that,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°When I was in Germany, I made you guys a Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, but I think that because you did not operate it properly that the core was damaged. I can provide you guys with the coreponent and then send an engineer over to fix that Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. Wouldn¡¯t the problem be solved this way?¡±
Two senior technicians from Rheinmetall AG exchanged words in low voices.
The corners of Koen¡¯s mouth curved into a faint smile. ¡°That is good too, but we have already agreed that you will provide us with a Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. You know, we paid a hefty price for this. The ones who will receive the greatest benefit from this cooperation will not be us, but you guys.¡±
Germany had originally already obtained the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, the XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle¡¯s production line, but because of the Americans¡¯ interference, the deal was ruined. Now, the Germans hade out with their submarine technology as an exchange. In the end, of course, it would be China which profited.
Xia Lei agreed readily. ¡°That will not be a problem. My side will provide parts of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe for assembly and ship them to Germany. My engineers will assemble and debug it to make sure it works properly for you guys. There will be no problem that way, yes?¡±
¡°Of course there is no problem, but will Mr Xiae to Germany? We would like it more if you are the one to handle this,¡± said Koen.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I almost died in Germany thest time. Do you think I will still go there?¡±
¡°Ahem.¡± Koen gave a dry cough and seemed ufortable. He changed the subject. ¡°We have obtained permission to enter all of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s workshops. Our men want to take a look inside the workshops. There is no problem, is there?¡±
¡°Of course, no problem.¡±
¡°I am talking about the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s workshop and your newly constructed artillery, tanks, and defense system workshops.¡± Koen kept his eyes on Xia Lei, observing his expression and reaction.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°You have already said it. You guys have obtained permission so there is no problem on my end. You guys can go anywhere. You can even take pictures, and use a pinhole camera to take videos or whatever. Those are all not a problem.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, we are not spies.¡± Koen had a smile on his face. ¡°However, I do appreciate your support.¡±
The things in Thunder Horse Military Factory were not things which could be stolen from just some photos and a video, so Xia Lei did not care if these Germans took pictures of anything. He knew that the other party would try to take pictures, and they were trying to sneak shots, so he might as well be more generous and give them permission to take pictures openly. However, he had his own agenda behind giving Koen this convenience. This intention had to do with whether Fan Fan could rece Ling Han in Thunder Horse Military Factory, and whether Fan Fan could rece Zhongzhen Wukui as the ZN Bureau¡¯s chief. Why else would he give these Germans this convenience?
¡°Hehe, you are very wee, Mr Koen. I will try my best to satisfy your requests. As for me, I also hope to get support from you all,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course, of course we will support you,¡± said Koen with a smile.
The first formal talk between the two parties went very pleasantly.
At that moment, Sylvia entered. She wore a blue worker¡¯s uniform and held a pure titanium part in her hand. It was the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s coreponent. Everyone in the room looked at her when she entered.
Sylvia first greeted the members of the German delegation and then said to Xia Lei, ¡°Mr Xia, I have made the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s coreponent. Please take a look to see if there is a problem with precision.¡±
¡°Bring it over and let me see,¡± said Xia Lei.
Koen was excited but his demeanor was calm and collected. ¡°Miss Sylvia, is what you processed really the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s coreponent?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right,¡± replied Sylvia. ¡°During this period of time, Mr Xia has been teaching how to process these parts. If I grasp this technique, we will not have to bother Mr Xia anymore when our Thunder Dragon intelligentthe needs to change this core part in the future.¡±
Koen and the German senior technicians couldn¡¯t help smiling. They had thought that Xia Lei would hinder them and they¡¯d never thought he would be so cooperative.
Xia Lei saw reactions of Koen and the German senior technicians. He held the pure titanium coreponent which Sylvia had processed and took a look. He whispered, ¡°How is the task I gave you going?¡±
¡°It is almost done,¡± replied Sylvia in a low voice. ¡°When do we take action?¡±
¡°Tonight.¡± He paused and raised his voice, ¡°Yep, very nice, there is an improvement. As expected of Germany¡¯s best machinist Miss Sylvia. If you can keep this up, you will soon be able to process the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe first generation¡¯s coreponent.¡±
Sylvia lowered her voice. ¡°Can Ie to you after I finish the task tonight?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 676
Thunder Horse Military Factory held a grand banquet., and thepany¡¯s arts team were very energetic, dancing and singing. The atmosphere was very lively. Qing Caiyue also gave a dance performance on stage. She danced a fairly unique peacock dance of an ethnic minority dance. As she danced, her body seemed so soft that it was as if she were boneless. Her body bent and folded in a lithe and graceful manner.
Xia Lei toasted the German delegation again and again with the fine wine and fine spirit of the evening. The only ones he did not toast were Ling Han and Song Baicheng. However, this did not affect Ling Han and Song Baicheng. The two of them were still rather lively at the table, and they drank quite a bit of wine with the members of the German delegation. Xia Lei saw their actions and was quietly d about it.
The banquet came to an end, and Ling Han and Song Baicheng returned to their respective rooms in drunk states.
¡°Harlow, Mr Song.¡±
Song Baicheng heard a female voice just as he was about to open the door. He turned his head and saw Sylvia.
Song Baicheng paused, then smiled. ¡°Ah, Miss Sylvia. Do you need something?¡±
Sylvia shook her head to indicate that she did not understand him. She moved closer and handed her mobile phone to Song Baicheng.
Song Baicheng read the tranted German text on the phone screen: My bathroom is not working. There is no hot water. Can I use your bathroom?
This sort of strange situation actually existed?
Song Baicheng smiled. ¡°Not a problem. Please,e in.¡± He did not care if Sylvia understood him or not, and opened the door for her right away.
Sylvia went through the door and suddenly stumbled. She fell towards the floor, but Song Baicheng quickly reached out and put his arms around her slender waist.
Sylvia struggled in a fake way and said in German, ¡°Can you please let go of me? Don¡¯t do this, don¡¯t do this.¡±
Song Baicheng did not understand German. Under the influence of alcohol, he took the opportunity to hug Sylvia tighter. Sylvia had beening into contact with him recently, whether intentionally or by coincidence. He was not stupid; he could already tell that she was interested in him. Now that Sylvia had taken the initiative toe to his room, how could he not eat meat that jumped into his mouth?
He had a fragrant, soft female in his arms, a blonde someone who desired contact but was coyly saying no. Lust sprang in Song Baicheng. He held Sylvia tight and moved her towards the bed.
¡°Don¡¯t! You can¡¯t do this. I am a German technician. You cannot treat me like this,¡± said Sylvia in German.
Song Baicheng chuckled. ¡°What are you saying, babe?¡±
Rip! There was a tearing sound and the skin-tight tank top Sylvia was wearing was torn open, revealing arge area of snow-white breasts.
¡°Ah, so you like it like this.¡± Song Baicheng became eager for action.
¡°Help! Help!¡± shouted Sylvia, but her voice was not very loud.
Song Baicheng covered Sylvia¡¯s mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t be so loud, baby. You don¡¯t want to be discovered either, right?¡±
Sylvia nodded and stopped shouting.
Song Baicheng rxed his hand over Sylvia¡¯s mouth. His eyes were glinting as he looked at her.
Rip! Sylvia¡¯s short skirt was also torn open.
¡°No more tearing ¨C I¡¯ll do the rest!¡± Song Baicheng couldn¡¯t control himself any longer. He threw himself on Sylvia, and they fell on the bed.
But right at this moment, a BANG came from the doorway. Someone had kicked the door open. A person appeared in the doorway ¨C it was the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s chief of the security department, Lu Sheng.
Song Baicheng was surprised but he quickly calmed himself down. He turned and looked at Lu Sheng and hollered, ¡°Asshole! What do you want? Get out!¡±
¡°Help! He wants to rape me!¡± said Sylvia in German.
Lu Sheng strode into the room without a word. He grabbed Song Baicheng by the cor and pried him off of Sylvia.
Song Baicheng was so ashamed that he grew angry, and pped Lu Sheng in the face.
The sound of a p rang out. Song Baicheng had moved quickly and Lu Sheng was unable to dodge. Lu Sheng paused, and abruptly let a punch fly at Song Baicheng. Song Baicheng retreated half a step and raised his arms to block it. He was a ZN Bureau field agent after all, and was no less skilled than the Bureau 101 special agents, so he was not the least bit afraid of going up against a brawny guy like Lu Sheng.
While the two men fought, Sylvia got up from the bed where Song Baicheng had pushed her down, and ran out. The moment she exited the door, she started screaming at the top of her lungs on the balcony, ¡°Help, help! I¡¯m being sexually assaulted ¡ª Rape!¡±
Sylvia¡¯s voice tore through the darkness and rang out in the night.
There were several German members of the delegation in the building who had juste back from the banquet and had yet to go to bed. Sylvia¡¯s cries for help in German drew the Germans out of their rooms.
¡°Help! Help! Sexual Assault! He tried to rape me!¡± Sylvia shouted again.
Koen, who was on the same floor, came over to Sylvia. ¡°What happened, Miss Sylvia?¡± asked Koen anxiously.
¡°Someone... Someone... Whuuh...¡± Sylvia cried as she spoke. ¡°Someone wanted to rape me! Whuuh...¡±
¡°Who?¡± Koen was infuriated.
More Germans came over, and there were many with their fists clenched.
Just then, Song Baicheng finally came out from his room, having manged to shake Lu Sheng off. He did not understand German and he was not sure of what was going on, but he saw Sylvia wailing and abruptly understood. He tensed.
¡°It¡¯s him! That¡¯s the guy!¡± Sylvia suddenly pointed at Song Baicheng and said, ¡°He was the one who brought me to his room, and, and... He tore my clothes open and pressed me on the bed to rape me... Whuuuh...¡±
Song Baicheng was flustered and he said, ¡°Miss Sylvia, what are you saying? I didn¡¯t do anything to you! You were a willing party.¡±
Koen understood Chinese. When he heard Song Baicheng¡¯s denial and his im that Sylvia was willing, he became angry right away. He pointed straight at Song Baicheng and cursed. ¡°You asshole! She is the Rheinmetall AG¡¯s machinist. Have you even looked at yourself? How could she like you? You shameless thug! Where is your supervisor? This matter is not over! You¡¯ll take responsibility for this!¡±
Song Baicheng understood what Koen said and realised that he had fallen into a trap. He charged at Sylvia and said fiercely, ¡°You stupid bitch! You dare to frame me!¡±
Lu Sheng abruptly cut between them and blocked Song Baicheng off.
¡°Fuck! How dare you humiliate Miss Sylvia in public!¡± A young German engineer kicked Song Baicheng¡¯s buttocks while he was being held up by Lu Sheng.
Song Baicheng punched the German engineer¡¯s face on reflex. Thetter was no match for Song Baicheng and he staggered, then sank to the floor.
Everything became a great mess in an instant.
Downtairs, people gathered and started whispered discussions.
¡°You¡¯re not calling your supervisor over? Ok, then we will call the police.¡± Koen¡¯s tone was determined. ¡°If the police cannot solve this either, then we will make a diplomatic protest!¡±
Song Baicheng was not scared of the police. A normal policeman would not be able to interfere with his matters. He begun to feel ufortable, however, once he heard Koen say ¡°diplomatic protest¡±. Putting the matter of him and Sylvia aside, affecting the trade between Germany and China would be enough to get him into some serious trouble!
¡°Mr Koen, this is a misunderstanding.¡± Song Baicheng braced himself and tried to exin. ¡°I swear, I did not vite Miss Sylvia. I am not stupid ¨C why would I rape her?¡±
¡°I have proof!¡± said Sylvia.
¡°What proof do you have?¡± Ling Han¡¯s voice suddenly came from the other side of the corridor. His voice was filled with rage.
The chaos quieted at Ling Han¡¯s appearance.
Song Baicheng breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Mr Ling, you came just in time. They...¡±
Ling Han red at Song Baicheng and Song Baicheng shut his mouth immediately.
¡°Mr Ling, you came just in time. Your subordinate tried to assault Miss Sylvia. How do you n to take care of this matter?¡± Koen was not familiar with Ling Han so he did not show him any courtesy.
Ling Han replied, ¡°I will not be partial. If he really did it, we will go by the book in taking care of this matter.¡± He then looked at Sylvia, and said coldly, ¡°Miss Sylvia, you said that Song Baicheng tried to rape you. Do you have proof?¡±
The German interpreter who hade with Ling Han tranted his words.
Sylvia pointed at herself and said with a wronged expression, ¡°Is this not proof? Is this not enough to prove what he had done?¡±
The German interpreter tranted Sylvia¡¯s words.
¡°You ripped it yourself!¡± said Song Baicheng angrily.
¡°Shut up!¡± barked Ling Han.
Song Baicheng shut his mouth again. He understood that Ling Han¡¯s anger towards him was actually him defending him.
¡°Miss Sylvia, this must be a misunderstanding,¡± said Ling Han. ¡°You said Song Baicheng tore your clothing, but he said you tore it yourself. I will look into this, but I promise you that you will receivepensation.¡±
¡°Oh my god, rape is a serious crime all around the world! You want to solve this with money?!¡± Koen was fairly unhappy.
¡°I did not say that. I said that I will investigate and handle it from there after I have clear findings,¡± said Ling Han. He decided to handle the matter calmly, and try to reduce the severity of the problem. This matter would be settled as it was when they paid Sylvia a sum of money inpensation.
But at that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°What happened? What are you guys doing here?¡±
All gazes moved to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was wearing a pair of dark red embroidered shorts, and a white tank top. On his feet were a pair of foam slippers. He looked nothing like a director of the Thunder Horse Military Factory, but like some sort of street vendor.
However, even though he was dressed like a street vendor, he had a very unique presence which easily held them all still!
Chapter 677
(Chapter posted unedited due toint about speed. Fully edited version will be updatedter.)
¡°Mr. Xia, you came at the right time. Please give us your opinions on this matter!¡± Connell Bridge pointed at Song Baicheng, ¡°He attempted to rape Miss Sylvia and yet he does not admit. This Mr. Ling tried to solve this problem with money. I think that this is an insult to us!¡±
¡°ÏÄÏÈÉú£¬ÄãÀ´µÄÕýºÃ£¬ÄãÀ´ÆÀÆÀÀí£¡¡±¿µÄÉÇÅÖ¸ÁËÒ»ÏÂËΰٳɣ¬¡°ËûÆóͼǿ¼éÎ÷¶ûάæ«Ð¡½ã£¬È´²»³ÐÈÏ£¬ÕâλÁèÏÈÉúÉõÖÁÏëÓÃÇ®À´½â¾öÎÊÌ⣬ÎÒ¾õµÃÕâÊǶÔÎÒÃǵÄÎêÈ裡¡±
¡°Something like this was going on?¡± Xia Lei looked angry, ¡°Doing such a thing under the broad daylight, where is thew of thend?¡±
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He seemed to have forgotten that it was not day but night. But his words expressed his stand and attitude. He was standing on the German¡¯s side.
ËûËƺõûÓÐÍüÁ˲»ÊÇʲô¹âÌ컯ÈÕ£¬¶øÊÇÔÚÒ¹Àï¡£²»¹ýËûµÄÕâ¾ä»°ÊÇ·ñ±íÃ÷ÁËÒ»ÖÖ̬¶È£¬Ò²±íÃ÷ÁËËûµÄÁ¢³¡£¬ËûÊÇÕ¾Ôڵ¹úÈËÕâ±ßµÄ¡£
Ling Han¡¯s expression darkened. He had a feeling that this was not simply a scandal. Song Baicheng is his right hand man, he knew his conduct. Although Song Baicheng was somewhat of a pervert, he would never be reckless not to mention rape the German delegation¡¯s important person Sylvia in the Thunder Horse Military Factory!
ÁèºÆµÄÁ³É«Ô½·¢µÄÒõ³ÁÁËÏÂÀ´£¬ËûÓÐÒ»ÖÖÔ¤¸Ð£¬Õâʲ¢²»¼òµ¥¡£ËΰٳÉÊÇËûµÄÐĸ¹ÊÖÏ£¬ËûºÜÁ˽âËΰٳɵÄΪÈË¡£ËΰٳÉËäÈ»ÓеãºÃÉ«£¬µ«¾ø¶Ô²»»áÂÒÀ´¡£¸üºÎ¿öÊÇÔÚÀ×Âí¾ü¹¤³§ÀïÇ¿.¼éµÂ·½´ú±íÍŵÄÖØÒªÈËÎïÎ÷¶ûά櫣¡
"Are you okay Miss Sylvia?" Xia Lei came to Sylvia¡¯s side. He asked gently, "Do not be scared and do not be nervous. Ling Han is the supervisor. He will stand up for you."
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On the other side, Ling Han¡¯s trantor tranted Xia Lei¡¯s each and every word.
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Ling Han¡¯s expression darkened further. His eyes stopped on Xia Lei, his eyes bing cold. At this time he had smelled a hint of a scheme.
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Xia Lei did not care about Ling Han¡¯s feeling and reaction. After he hadforted Sylvia, he took off his tank top and tied it around Sylvia¡¯s waist. Although Sylvia was still wearing an underwear, it was still, not appropriate to be so exposed in front of so many men.
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¡°Thank Mr. Xia, thank you.¡± Sylvia wiped the tears on the corner of her eye looking very thankful.
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¡°Mr. Xia, please tell me, how do you n on taking care of this matter?¡± Connell Bridge pressed.
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Before Xia Lei could say anything, Ling Han pulled Connell Bridge to the side and whispered, "Mr. Connell Bridge, you guys came to do a technology exchange, we were also very cooperative. As for me, I think that this situation is a misunderstanding. Give me a little time and I will investigate clear and then give a satisfying answer. So in consideration of both of our interests, let us not make this into a huge deal. If this situation bes big, it will not be good for you, and it will not be good for us."
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This was a cue.
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This cue immediately yed its role. Germany really valued this exchange. The Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s technology was the main point and not this stupid situation that was happening in front of them right now. Connell Bridge felt hesitant.
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Xia Lei lightly touched Sylvia.
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Sylvia suddenly started bawling again, her emotions looked uncontroble, ¡°I have never received such an insult. I...I...¡± She began to climb up the balcony¡¯s guardrail.
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Xia Lei hugged her waist and said, ¡°Mr. Connell Bridge, quicklye andfort her.¡±
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Connell Bridge came over and tugged Sylvia¡¯s arm. Heforted, "Sylvia, do not be too impetuous. You need to calm down. Their will definitely be an exnation to this. Do not forget what we came to do."
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As they talked, Xia Lei let go of Sylvia and Sylvia and Connell Bridge came together. She whispered, "If you want Xia Lei¡¯s technology, you must make these two leave."
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Connell Bridge took a second to process what she had said.
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Sylvia¡¯s voice became even smaller, "Making Mr. Xia happy should be better than making these two officials happy right? You need to understand, what we want is Mr. Xia¡¯s technology, not someone else¡¯s."
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Although Connell Bridge did not know why Sylvia would enter into this battle over power, he understood which side he needed to stand on. There was nothing to gain from getting on the good side of two Chinese officials like what Ling Han had suggested. But if he were to get on Xia Lei¡¯s good side, he couldplete his mission more beautifully and maybe even get some unexpected surprise. How would someone like him who had worked in the political world for so many years not know how to choose in this situation?
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¡°No problem, do you have proof?¡± Connell Bridge whispered in Sylvia¡¯s ear, ¡°If you can give certain evidence, this case will be easier.¡±
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Sylvia said, ¡°I took a video with my phone.¡±
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Connell Bridge said, ¡°That would be great, give it to me.¡±
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Sylvia stopped crying and stopped throwing fists. She calmed down. When Connell Bridge let go of her she gave him her phone.
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Ling Han was suspicious when Sylvia and Connell Bridge whispered to each other. When he saw Sylvia gave her phone to him, his heart suddenly dropped. Before Connell Bridge could look at the phone¡¯s content, he walked up to him and tugged his hand, "Mr. Connell Bridge, I had been very clear. I really hope that you would consider it."
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Connell Bridge knotted his brows, ¡°Mr. Ling, can you please wait a moment? Sylvia said she took a video of what happened with her phone, I want to see it.¡±
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Ling Han¡¯s face stiffened.
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Connell Bridge clicked open the video on the phone. The video was very shaky but you could still clearly see Sylvia and Song Baicheng¡¯s face. Sylvia¡¯s voice was also very clear. She was clearly rejecting and calling for help yet Song Baicheng still pushed her onto the bed, roughly holding her underneath him and moving his hand to pull her underwear.
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"Hateful! He is a barbarian!" Yelled a German technician.
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"This matter cannot just be put aside. This is an insult to Germany!" Someone called out.
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¡°Call the police! Take this guy up to court!¡±
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¡°A barbarian! He is such a barbarian! I believe he must be punished!¡±
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A group of German were filled with righteous indignation.
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Ling Han¡¯s eyes turned to Song Baicheng. His eyes were filled with hatred and scarily cold.
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Song Baicheng was scared to look Ling Han in the eye. He avoided his gaze, his forehead full of sweat. He never thought that Sylvia had turned on the video recording on the phone and recorded the whole process. He actually did not do anything too beyond measure but there was definitely something wrong with the German that Sylvia said that he could not understand.
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Connell Bridge finished the video. He looked very angry, ¡°Mr. Ling, didn¡¯t you say you want evidence? Now we have the proof, how do you n to take care of this?¡±
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Ling Han said coldly, ¡°We will take care of it the way it should be taken cared of. We have ourws. Whichever one Song Baichengmitted, we will punish him ordingly.¡±
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¡°I...¡± Song Baicheng wanted to exin but when the words came to him mouth he swallowed them again. Nevermind exining, he would not be able to prove his innocence even if he were to jump into the river.
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Connell Bridge took out his phone.
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Ling Han knotted his brows, ¡°Mr. Connell Bridge, who are you calling?¡±
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Connell Bridge replied, ¡°Of course I am calling our ambassador. This case is very serious, we cannot just let it go.¡±
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Ling Han said, ¡°Making a big deal out of this will do you guys no good.¡±
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This time Xia Lei said, ¡°Mr. Connell Bridge, I think it must be because Mr. Song drank too much so he is also unsure of what he was doing. How about we give him a chance. What do you think?¡±
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Connell Bridge cursed in his head but he kept an angry face, "Fine, since Mr. Ling will plead for us, as long as Miss Sylvia does not want to continue looking into it, I also do not want to make this into a big deal. This is after all a scandal that will negatively affect both of us." He faced Sylvia, "You will make the decision Sylvia."
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Everyone¡¯s eyes focused on Sylvia.
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Sylvia¡¯s eyes were blurred by tears, ¡°I do not want to see these two anymore. If they continue to stay at the Thunder Horse Military Factory, I will go to the embassy myself to get justice.¡±
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¡°This...¡± Xia Lei paused.
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Sylvia continued, ¡°Mr. Xia, I respect you but I have decided on this. It will be either they leave, or I go to the embassy.¡±
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The trantor tranted Sylvia¡¯s words to Ling Han.
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Ling Han was immediately enraged, ¡°You want me gone? Miss Sylvia, are you somehow mistaken? What did I do wrong? I am helping you solve the problem! Even if I did do something wrong, you do not qualify to tell me to leave! Unless if you guys do not want to stay here anymore!¡±
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This was already a warning.
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Xia Lei said, ¡°Brother Ling, calm down. Why make such a big deal out of something small? Moreover, no matter how big of a situation it is, we cannot let the German members leave.¡±
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Ling Han threatened that if the German party continued to make trouble, it would end this exchange but Xia Lei stepped out and said that no matter what happened the Germans cannot leave. This was obviously helping the Germans and relieving their pressure.
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Ling Han stared at Xia Lei. He was not stupid. Things have progressed so far, he had already understood a good 70 to 80% of it.
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Xia Lei did not care how Ling Han felt at all. He also did not care if Ling Han knew that he yed the role of the maniptor behind the scene of all this. Actually, he would not be able to hide it even if he wanted to because tomorrow Fan Fan woulde to the Thunder Horse Military Factory to ept the responsibility for this technology exchange. By then how would Ling Han not understand that it was he who caused his misfortune.
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So what if you understand? I do not care!
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Back then, when Ling Han and Yu Shanhe cooperated to deceive him, he had already not regarded Ling Han as his friend anymore!
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Now that Xia Lei had expressed his standpoint, Connell Bridge no longer hesitated, "Mr. Ling, I think that it is going to far that you are aiding with your man. Since Miss Sylvia has made her decision, then I will respect it. I will now give our ambassador a call. The ambassador Phillip will negotiate with your side to let them assign someone else over.
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There was nothing more to be talked about.
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Ling Han faced Xia Lei. He smiled, "Xia Lei, my good brother, thank you for pleading for me."
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Xia Lei sighed, "We¡¯re brothers, do not mention it. It is regretful that I was not able to help."
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"Xia Lei!" Song Baicheng pointed at Xia Lei¡¯s nose and spoke in fury, "Stop acting, are you going to act like you were not in behind this!"
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Xia Lei shrugged his shoulders, "It seems that you show no repentance for your behavior. Why not just let the Germans take you to court?"
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"You..." Song Baicheng was unable to answer.
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"Have you not embarrassed yourself enough? Leave!" hollered Ling Han.
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Song Baicheng red at Xia Lei and turned and left.
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Ling Han looked at Xia Lei again, ¡°Brother, must you do this?¡±
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Xia Lei looked as if he had been wronged, "Brother Ling, do you also believe that I am behind this? If that is what you really think, then I also have nothing to say. Do as you guys please. Now I will take me leave."
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Ling Han¡¯s lips moved but he did not say anything. His eyes were extremely cold.
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Chapter 678
(Chapter posted unedited due toint about speed. Fully edited version will be updatedter.)
Xia Lei had left, the Germans also dispersed. There was only Ling Han and Song Baicheng left in the hall, their faces one darker than the other.
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¡°I...,¡± Song Baicheng wanted to exin but the words came to his mouth and never came out. He honestly did not know what to say.
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¡°You do not need to exin, I understand what is going on.¡± Ling Han¡¯s voice was cold ¡°If you want to me someone, me yourself for being too stupid! You cannot even see through such a simple trap, did you think you were a love saint? You cannot see through such a simple trap? How would that German woman like you?¡±
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Song Baicheng was ashamed. He was afraid to talk.
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Ling Han sighed, ¡°That German woman framed you, yet Xia Lei even pulled me into the conflict. Do you know why he did that?¡±
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Song Baicheng thought about it and answered carefully, ¡°Did he want to take revenge on us for what we didst time?¡±
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Ling Han naturally understood what it was Song Baicheng was talking about, but he said, ¡°If that is what you think, then you are thinking too lightly of Xia Lei.¡±
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¡°If he is not taking revenge forst time, then what is it?¡± Song Baicheng could not understand.
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Ling Han said, ¡°You forgot who came this morning?¡±
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Song Baicheng paused and then suddenly understood, ¡°Mr. Z, are you talking about Fan Fan? Could she be behind this?¡±
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¡°I guess you are not truely stupid.¡±
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¡°Xia Lei wants to help Fan Fan get the position of the Director of the ZN Bureau, is he crazy?¡±
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¡°He is not crazy. He is very sure of what he wants to do.¡±
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Song Baicheng said enraged, ¡°He will regret it! Boss Zhongzhen fancied you, the one he supported was also you, Fan Fan cannot do anything about it. Now that Xia Lei has intervened and helped Fan Fan to work against you, is he not scared of us making trouble for him in the future?¡±
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¡°Do you still not get it? It is because he is scared of us causing trouble for him in the future that he did this.¡±
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Song Baicheng took some time toprehend what he had heard.
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Ling Han said, "Old Song, you have followed me for so many years, this is a critical time, are you willing to do a little sacrifice for me?"
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¡°Mr. Z, do you suspect my loyalty to you? Just say it, what do you want me to do?¡± Song Baicheng¡¯s eyes were filled with perseverance. He looked like apletely different person from before.
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¡°Very good! I will gave Boss Zhongzhen a call to exin the situation and then you will go turn yourself in. Remember, you are turning yourself in to the police, not to Boss Zhongzhen.¡±
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¡°I...¡± It was clear that Song Baicheng did not expect Ling Han suggest something like this.
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¡°Do not worry. Once this exchange ends and the German leave, you will be able toe out at anytime. By then I should have inherited Boss Zhongzhen¡¯s position. I will make youe back to take Fan Fan¡¯s position,¡± said Ling Han.
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Song Baicheng did not hesitate. He nodded his head, ¡°I understand. You can call Boss Zhongzhen and then I will turn myself in. I was the one who caused this mess, I cannot drag you with me, I will shoulder all of this!¡±
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Ling Han patted Song Baicheng¡¯s shoulder and then took out his phone.
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At the same time in Connell Bridge¡¯s room.
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"Miss Sylvia, there is only the two of us in here, can you tell me the truth now?" Asked Connell Bridge.
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"Mr. Connell Bridge, to be honest with you, Mark Armin gave me a very clear order and that is to get on Mr. Xia¡¯s good side and then receive information on the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. I came here first and came to an agreement with Mr. Xia. He said that if I help him chase away that guy named Ling, then he will give me what I want."
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Connell Bridge became excited, "That is great! I will immediately contact ambassador Phillip to go pressure the Chinese right now."
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The Hellbound One-soldier Cannon, but it was not a part of this exchange, and to be able to receive its information, then it would be a great aplishment!
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Sylvia stood up and said in a polite manner, "Mr. Connell Bridge, I need to go back now. Good night."
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Connell Bridge asked curiously, "Do you not want to wait until I finish my call with Mr. Phillip, get the results and then go back?"
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Sylvia pointed at the tank top on her waist and smiled, "I need to return it to Mr. Xia. You have your work to do, I also have things I need to do."
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Connell Bridge paused for a slight second but very soon he understood. He smiled as he said, "All right then, I wish for your sess Miss Sylvia."
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It was as if Xia Lei did not see Sylvia. He headed straight toward the new factory area after he came out of the vi. At the end of the road was the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation¡¯s core workshop.
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"Mr. Xia." Sylvia quickly caught up to him.
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Xia Lei turned his head and then stopped in his steps. He wore an attractive smile, "Miss Sylvia, is there something wrong?"
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"I came to return your clothes." Sylvia walked next to Xia Lei. She gave a slight tug and the tank top around her waist slipped off her body. There was only a purpleced underwear left on her lower body. It tightly hugged her glutes and the mysterious area. It was like her secondyer of skin making it easy to see the shape of that ce and the curve.
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Xia Lei hurriedly turned away his eyes and looked around. Luckily it was already veryte so there was no one around or else there would be a gossip about him and the German machinist.
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¡°Quickly tie it on,¡± urged Xia Lei.
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But Sylvia did not listen, "Mr. Xia, you promised me that if I help you chase away that Ling guy, you will fulfill my wish."
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Xia Lei said a bit speechless, "I said that I will give you a #
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"That is work, not my wish." The corner of Sylvia¡¯s turned into a sly smile, "Let us talk. Are we going to your room or my room?"
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Xia Lei shrugged his shoulders, "I¡¯m nning on going to the workshop to do some work. You want toe?"
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"Of course." Sylvia tied the tank top Xia Lei gave her on her waist again.
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Two security guards from the Thunder Horse Military Factory stood in front of the new factory¡¯s core workshop. When they saw Xia Leiing over, they stood as straight as a pencil and gave Xia Lei a salute in sync.
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Xia Lei nodded in acknowledgement. He entered the password and scanned his fingerprint to open the door. Then he took Sylvia inside.
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The second generation core workshop was very quiet. With a weight close to a thousand tons, the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation was like a transformer who had yet transformed. It sat on the ground as if it could turn into an invincible transformer at any time.
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Although it was not the first time she had seen it, Sylvia was still mesmerized by the sight of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe second generation. In her eyes, it was not only a miracle, but it had a sexiness just like its owner.
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The first thing Xia Lei did when entered the control room was to turn off the surveince cameras in the workshop.
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Sylvia who followed Xia Lei into the workshop, smiled, "You actually brought me here on purpose, didn¡¯t you? You did not want to stay in the vi because the guy named Ling had not left yet and you did not want him to find out the secret between us."
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Xia Lei smiled, "You are very smart. Without my permission no one can enter this ce. Tell me, what do you want to talk to me about?"
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Sylvia pulled down the tank top tied on her waist and threw it at Xia Lei¡¯s face.
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Xia Lei grabbed the tank top and gave a whiff. Heughed as he said, "It¡¯s caught your smell, how do I wear it now?"
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Sylvia also threw her tank top at him. This was Sylvia¡¯s answer.
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"If you keep being like this I will get mad," said Xia Lei.
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"So what if I made you mad? What will you do?" Sylvia¡¯s tone was provoking, "What can you do to me?"
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Xia Lei walked toward her...
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Half an hourter.
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"Sylvia, do it with me."
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"Ah? You want more?" Sylvia somehow became nervous as she looked at Xia Lei.
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Xia Lei patted her soft body, "I am not talking about that, I am talking about work. I am inviting you toe to mypany. You can give your condition as you please."
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¡°I...¡± Sylvia hesitated.
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Xia Lei said, ¡°It is okay, you do not need to give me a reply right now.¡±
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¡°If Ie to yourpany, what position will you give me?¡±
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"Of course it will be the engineer and technical director. At the Rheinmetall AG, you were only the boss of a precision workshop but here, you will receive a bigger stage," said Xia Lei. "I am nning on creating an engine project to provide engine for the soon toe tank and war chariots. The engine for the tanks and war chariots that we currently buy from the China Industrial Group are subjected to the people and cannot reach my requirements. I want to make tanks, I want to make the world¡¯s best tank and the engine is very crucial. I want to make them myself."
¡°µ±È»ÊÇÊ×ϯ¹¤³ÌʦºÍ¼¼Êõ×ܼࡣÄãÔÚÀ³Òð½ðÊô¹«Ë¾Ö»ÊÇÒ»¸ö¾«Ãܳµ¼äµÄÍ·£¬µ«ÔÚÕâÀïÄãÄÜ»ñµÃ¸ü´óµÄÎę̀¡£¡±ÏÄÀ×˵µÀ£º¡°ÎÒ´òË㽨ÔìÒ»¸öÒýÇæÏîÄ¿£¬Îª¼´½«Éú²úµÄ̹¿ËºÍÕ½³µÌṩÒýÇæ¡£ÎÒÃÇÏÖÔÚ´ÓÉñÖݹ¤Òµ¼¯ÍŹºÂò̹¿ËºÍÕ½³µµÄÒýÇ棬ÊÜÖÆÓÚÈ˲»Ëµ»¹´ï²»µ½ÎÒµÄÒªÇó¡£ÎÒÒªÔì̹¿Ë£¬ÎÒ¾ÍÒªÔìÕâ¸öÊÀ½çÉÏ×îºÃµÄ̹¿Ë£¬ÒýÇæÊǷdz£¹Ø¼üµÄ¡£ÎÒÏë×Ô¼ºÔì¡£¡±
"I am not good with engines."
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"Annina is. You are good with mechanical processing, she has done some research on engines. You would make a strong team you work together. On the other hand, isn¡¯t there still me? If the three of usbine, we will definitely be able to create the world¡¯s most advanced engine." Said Xia Lei.
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"I..." Sylvia¡¯s heart was moved, but she felt ipetent as she thought of her current plight. She still shouldered the serious allegations of treason. She was still trying to break away from this charge. With this problem still not gone, how could shee to China to work for Xia Lei?
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Xia Lei smiled, "I know that you have trouble but I can solve them for you."
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"You can solve them for me?"
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"After I solve your trouble for you, will youe to mypany?"
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"If you can solve my trouble then I will work for you. However, if Anninaes, you will be together with her, will you forget about me?"
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"In my heart, you two are the same. How would I forget you?" Xia Lei¡¯s opened his arms wide and drew a shape, "I will buy a big big bed. Do you like it?"
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Sylvia was stunned for a second. Then, she said with her face flushed red, "Pervert!"
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Xia Lei was speechless.
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Chapter 679
(Chapter posted unedited due toint about speed. Fully edited version will be updatedter, when I get more time during my holiday to do work.)
¡°Bro, have you heard? That German girl was raped.¡±
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¡°Everyone¡¯s talking about this now, so how could I not have heard? It¡¯s a pity that an awesome German girl like her was defiled by a pig.¡±
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¡°Yeah right. I daresay she¡¯s the prettiest girl I¡¯ve met just from the looks of her body and face. A girl like her should be given to our Director Xia to enjoy. How could she have gotten defiled by that pig surnamed Song?¡±
¡°¿É²»ÊÇ£¬¾ÍÄǸöµÂ¹ú椵ÄÉí²ÄºÍÁ³µ°£¬ÎÒ¸Ò˵ËûÊÇÎÒ¼û¹ýµÄ×îƯÁÁµÄÅ®ÈË¡£ÕâÖÖ¼«Æ·Å®ÈË£¬Ëý¾ÍÓ¦¸Ã¸øÎÒÃÇÏĶÏíÓã¬ÔõôÄܱ»ÄǸöÐÕËεÄÖíÍ·¸øÔãÌ£ÁËÄØ£¿¡±
¡°That pig named Song sure had guts. He was so outrageously lustful but did he not think of the consequences?¡±
¡°ÄǸöÐÕËεÄÖíͷҲ̫µ¨´óÁË£¬¼òÖ±ÊÇÉ«µ¨°üÌ죬Ëû¾ÍûÓÐÏë¹ýÕâô×öµÄºó¹ûÂ𣿡±
¡°Who told him to be a government official? Since he dared do it, he isn¡¯t afraid of that German girl causing trouble. Let¡¯s see, I bet this matter won¡¯te to anything and at the most, he¡¯ll just have to pay up with some money.¡±
¡°ËÈÃÈ˼ÒÊǹÙÄØ£¿È˼ҸÒÕâô×ö¾Í²»ÅÂÄǸöµÂ¹úæ¤ÄÖÊ¡£¿´×Å°É£¬ÎÒ¸Ò´ò¶ÄÕâ¼þÊ»᲻ÁËÁËÖ®£¬×î¶àÒ²Ö»ÊÇÅâÇ®ÁËÊ¡£¡±
¡°If it¡¯s like that, then it¡¯s not fair.¡±
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¡°Since when has this world been fair? Fairness has always been fought for with fists. Brother, learn a little more, you¡¯re still young.¡±
¡°Õâ¸öÊÀ½çÉÏʲôʱºòÓйý¹«Æ½£¬¹«Æ½´ÓÀ´¶¼ÊÇÓÃÈÍ·ÕùÈ¡µÄ¡£Ðֵܣ¬Ñ§×ŵã°É£¬Ä㻹ÄêÇá¡£¡±
¡°Come on, aren¡¯t you just a few years older than me? What¡¯re you bragging about?¡±
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¡°Look, whose car is that?¡±
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¡°It¡¯s a Hongqi car with a red license te. Do you still need to ask? A big leader must havee.¡±
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A Hongqi car drove into Thunder Horse Military Factory amidst the workers¡¯ discussion. It didn¡¯t go to the office, instead heading straight for the office building.
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The car door opened and Zongzheng Wukui got off. His skinny face was expressionless.
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When Zongzheng Wukui got off the car, Ling Han and Song Baicheng walked out from the office building.
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Song Baicheng¡¯s face was full of shame. ¡°Boss, sorry, I...¡±
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Before Song Baicheng could finish his worlds, Zongzheng Wukui suddenly pped him. A smack sounded and Song Baicheng staggered back, blood forming at the corners of his mouth. He covered his pped face, not daring to utter another sound.
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¡°Boss, he got into a trap so this isn¡¯t all his fault. I¡¯ve already talked to him and he will hand himself over to the authoritiester,¡± said Ling Han.
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¡°Yes yes, I will bear all the responsibility,¡± said Song Baicheng hurriedly.
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¡°Hmph!¡± Zongzheng Wukui coldly hmphed. Already, he didn¡¯t want to talk to Song Baicheng anymore.
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¡°Boss, this was done by Xia Lei and Fan Fan. This matter ___. You have to get an idea for us.¡±
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¡°Fan Fan? Hmph! Does she think her wings got longer? Even if she does have longer wings now, I¡¯ll bring her to the ground.¡± Zongzheng Wukui coldly said, ¡°And that Xia Lei. Now that he¡¯s gotten himself into this, he won¡¯t have a chance at getting away. I want to show him what he can¡¯t and can do!¡±
¡°·²·²£¿ºß£¡ËýÒÔΪËýµÄ³á°ò³¤Ó²ÁËÂ𣿾ÍËãËý³¤Á˳á°ò£¬ÎÒÒ²ÒªÈÃËý·É²»ÆðÀ´¡£¡±×ÚÕýÎä¿ýÀäÀäµØµÀ:¡°»¹ÓÐÄǸöÏÄÀ×£¬Ëû²óºÏ½øÀ´¾Í±ðÏëÍÑÉíÁË£¬ÎÒÒªÈÃËûÃ÷°×ʲôÊÂ×öµÃʲôÊÂ×ö²»µÃ£¡¡±
A cold smile formed on Ling Han¡¯s lips. ¡°He¡¯s in his office and the Germans are also there.¡±
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Zongzheng Wukui didn¡¯t say anything more and left the office building directly.
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The office was filled with a happy atmosphere.
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¡°Today¡¯s arrangements went ording to n. You guys can join any workshop.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s face was all smiles.
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¡°Mr. Xia, when are you nning to start developing the intelligent Thunder Dragonthe for us?¡± asked Connell.
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¡°I can¡¯t be the judge of that. This is a business transaction so whenever you provide the submarine technology, I will give you everything you want on my end. Before then, the only thing I can do is wait for any notice,¡± said Xia Lei.
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His meaning was very clear- this was to be a simple and direct transaction. As long as he didn¡¯t have the German submarine technology, he wouldn¡¯t give the Germans what they wanted.
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Connellughed. ¡°Haha, Mr. Xia, don¡¯t worry. Everything has already been prepared. As long as your end is ready, you can start the transaction at any time.¡±
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¡°Then first let¡¯s go look around the workshop and we can discuss when the transaction will be carried out. What do you think of that, Mr. Connell?¡± said Xia Lei.
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¡°Of course that¡¯s fine,¡± said Connell.
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¡°I think there¡¯s a problem.¡± Zongzheng Wukui suddenly appeared at the entrance of the office, with an angry face and a frightening cold expression.
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Connell immediately frowned as he had just been interrupted. ¡°And you are?¡±
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¡°We don¡¯t have to know each other.¡± Zongzheng Wukui was extremely rude.
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Connell got the cold shoulder, and he was annoyed, but he was someone who could stand anger. He also knew that the old fellow in front of him knew his status, yet he didn¡¯t give any face at all, so he probably wasn¡¯t a normal person.
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At this, Xia Lei said, ¡°Mr. Connell, you can leave this to me and take a look at the workshop with your men. We can have a good chatter.¡±
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¡°Then that¡¯ll be all for now, Mr. Xia. Please go ahead.¡± Connell left along with several German technology workers. Since Zongzheng Wukui didn¡¯t give him face, he didn¡¯t care about giving Zongzheng Wukui any face either. When he left, he didn¡¯t even nce at Zongzheng Wukui.
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The moment the Germans left, Ling Han and Song Baicheng walked into the office.
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¡°Please sit,¡± greeted Xia Lei with a smile. Then, he called, ¡°Caiyue, bring three cups of tea over.¡±
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Caiyue¡¯s voice came from outside. ¡°Yes, Director Xia. Coming right away.¡±
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Zongzheng Wukui sat his butt down on the sofa. ¡°Xia Lei, don¡¯t try to be coy. You should know why we¡¯vee. Just spill it, I¡¯m waiting for your exnation.¡±
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Ling Han and Song Baicheng stood on the two sides of Zongzheng Wukui, both staring coldly at Xia Lei.
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The people who came were ill-intentioned, so the office¡¯s atmosphere immediately became tense.
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Xia Lei stopped smiling, and indifferently said, ¡°Executive Zongzheng, did you juste for an exnation? Could you give me a reminder of what this is about? What exnation are you looking for?¡±
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Zongzheng Wukui suddenly pped his hand on the small table and furiously said, ¡°Xia Lei! Don¡¯t y the fool in front of me! Do you really not know what I came here for?¡±
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¡°Since you¡¯re not saying, I really don¡¯t know.¡± Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Otherwise what would I need a reminder for?¡±
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¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ling Han coldly said, ¡°Watch your tone!¡±
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Xia Lei didn¡¯t speak anymore.
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Qing Caiyue walked in, holding a tea tray with three cups of tea for Zongzheng Wukui, Ling Han and Song Baicheng, but when she saw the three of them getting angry at her Director Xia, she was immediately unhappy. Taking the tea tray, she turned to leave.
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¡°What are you doing? Serve the tea before leaving,¡± called Song Baicheng.
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Qing Caiyue turned around and looked at Song Baicheng. ¡°If you want to drink tea, you can make it yourself!¡±
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¡°You...shameless!¡± Song Baicheng got angry from feeling humiliated. It was fine if Xia Lei didn¡¯t take him seriously but now even his secretary didn¡¯t take him seriously!
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¡°Caiyue, what¡¯s going on?¡± asked Xia Lei.
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¡°Director Xia, there¡¯s no more tea leaves,¡± said Cai Yue.
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¡°All right, all right. You can go ahead with your work then. We don¡¯t need you here anymore.¡± Xia Lei waved his hand.
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Qing Caiyue assented. She left, twisting her slender little waist and her perky butt. When she left, she couldn¡¯t help butugh. She thought Xia Lei would scold her but Xia Lei hadn¡¯t.
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Everyone had seen the three cups of tea that she had brought in, all giving off steam and emitting a fragrant scent, but she had actually taken the cups of tea back. With such a small matter, Zongzheng Wukui and the people next to him had seen through Xia Lei¡¯s attitude- that he wasn¡¯t afraid at all!
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Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s face became uglier. He thought he could resolve the problem with his status and force Xia Lei to give in, but he had never thought that Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t attach any importance to him!
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If Xia Lei didn¡¯t even care about the bureau chief of Bureau ZN, how were they supposed to chat?
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Zongzheng Wukui was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°Xia Lei, what do you really want to do?¡±
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Xia Lei only quietly sat on his office chair, without saying a word.
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¡°You¡¯re a business person without any official appointment, but you dared take over Bureau ZN¡¯s personnel. I can¡¯t help but admire your courage, but I still have to ask, ¡®Do you not want your life anymore?¡¯¡± Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s tone was indifferent, but his words all hinted at threatening him.
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¡°Are you threatening me now?¡± Xia Lei coldlyughed.
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¡°Threaten you?¡± Zongzheng Wukui suddenly pped the table and stood up. ¡°You¡¯re actually talking to me like that?!¡±
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Xia Lei didn¡¯t get angry, saying, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to talk to me then what did youe here for?¡±
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¡°Impudent!¡± Song Baicheng suddenly walked towards Xia Lei.
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Xia Lei got up from his office chair and suddenly hit his office table. With a smack, the entire office table violently shook, a crack appearing in the wooden table.
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Originally, Song Baicheng was going to lecture Xia Lei but after Xia Lei¡¯s p, he immediately stopped in his steps. He had received wrestling training before so he wasn¡¯t afraid of Lu Sheng but Lu Sheng and Xia Lei were clearly not on the same level. If he went up against Xia Lei, the person lying down would definitely be him and not Xia Lei.
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¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ling Han couldn¡¯t control his anger anymore either. ¡°Stupid! Based on just your power, you thought you could rece me with Fan Fan? You¡¯re daydreaming and digging your own grave!¡±
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¡°Oh no, why isn¡¯t this table durable? How horrible, the purchasing agents must have gotten bribed. I¡¯ll have to deduct their payter.¡±
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Ling Han was already so furious he couldn¡¯t speak.
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¡°You guys can leave. There¡¯s no point in talking anymore.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°Even though I¡¯m a businessman without an official appointment, I¡¯m not someone who can be threatened. It¡¯s fine if you want my life or mypany. You can go do whatever you¡¯re doing, so let¡¯s just stop wasting time.¡±
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Now he was asking them to leave.
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Ling Han and Song Baicheng looked at Zongzheng Wukui, waiting for his orders.
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After a moment, Zongzheng Wukui said, ¡°Xia Lei, since you¡¯ve already said this, before I leave I want to make something clear.¡±
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¡°I¡¯m listening,¡± said Xia Lei.
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¡°Stop your dirty tricks immediately and stop the Germans from pursuing what happenedst night. Also, Ling Han will continue to be in charge of the transaction between Thunder Horse Military Factory and the Germans. Finally, stop getting involved in Bureau ZN¡¯s matters, otherwise things will get messy. I¡¯ll only say this much, and whatever happens will be up to you,¡± said Zongzheng Wukui.
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¡°Are you done?¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°If you¡¯re done then please leave. I won¡¯t be seeing you off.¡±
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But at this moment, Qing Caiyue¡¯s voice came. ¡°Director Xia, Miss Fan Fan came to find you. Do you want to see her?¡±
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Xia Lei immediately felt a headacheing along.
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Before Xia Lei could speak, Zongzheng Wukui sternly said, ¡°Let her in!¡±
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However, Qing Caiyue stood there unmoving. Even though Zongzheng Wukui was someone big who she couldn¡¯t offend, Xia Lei was her boss. Here, she would only listen to Xia Lei¡¯smands and no one else¡¯s.
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Fan Fan came in herself without an invitation.
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Chapter 680
Xia Lei was hoping Fan Fan woulde inter, but she had toe in now. Zongzheng Wukui hated her the most right now, and Ling Han and Song Baicheng were here as well. Meeting enemies would open old wounds so now he didn¡¯t know how things would go.
While Xia Lei was inwardly having a headache, Fan Fan seemed to look great. She walked in naturally, a nice smile on her face. ¡°The boss is here too and Mr. Ling. What a coincidence.¡±
Zongzheng Wukui coldly looked at Fan Fan without a word.
Ling Han coldlyughed. ¡°That¡¯s right, what a coincidence. It¡¯s so coincidental that I feel you¡¯vee here especially to mock us, right?¡±
¡°Mr. Ling, how could you say something like that? We were colleagues once, so how could Ie especially to make fun of you? I came for work because I received a notice from superiors that I was in charge of the German matter. I feel a little sorry about this since you¡¯re the one in charge of that.¡±
¡°You actually received a notice?¡± Ling Han¡¯s face immediately changed. ¡°Who gave you this notice?¡±
¡°Now that wouldn¡¯t be convenient for me to share, but someone will contact you,¡± said Fan Fan.
Only then did Xia Lei realize why Fan Fan had appeared her. She hade for a special purpose and she hade prepared.
But at this moment, Zongzheng Wukui suddenly walked over and pped Fan Fan.
Smack! With a crisp sound, a handprint suddenly formed on Fan Fan¡¯s face. Since she was caught off guard, her body lost bnce and fell towards the ground.
Xia Lei suddenly rushed up and grabbed her waist in the nick of time, saving her from falling onto the ground.
¡°Let go of me!¡± Fan Fan pushed Xia Lei away.
Xia Lei helped her but she wasn¡¯t grateful, instead getting mad at him. However, while this seemed unreasonable, Xia Lei understood Fan Fan¡¯s intent. She was a woman with a special constitution and this was her secret and weakness that could even be fatal. Of course, she didn¡¯t want Ling Han and Zongzheng Wukui to discover her weakness, but if he continued to hug her, her weakness would be revealed.
Xia Lei stood at one end, not getting involved.
¡°You actually did this behind my back! So you think you¡¯ve grown up, Fan Fan?¡± said Zongzheng Wukui, all of his words filled with anger and a menacing tone.
Fan Fan didn¡¯t get angry at getting pped. Instead sheughed. ¡°Boss Zongzheng, you pped me and I don¡¯t me you. You should have hit me, but that¡¯ll be the only time. In the future, you won¡¯t have the courage to hit me.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s face immediately changed.
¡°You¡¯re about to retire. The superiors have already clearly expressed that I am to take your position. I¡¯m currently like your deputy. A bureau chief like you can¡¯t just hit your deputy bureau chief casually, right? After awhile, you¡¯ll retire and as a predecessor, you can¡¯t just hit your sessor, right?¡±
¡°Impossible!¡± Ling Han couldn¡¯t stay calm.
Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s cell phone suddenly rang. Zongzheng Wukui hesitated but still took his phone out to take the call. Throughout the entire phone call, he didn¡¯t say a word, only saying a few okays.
Zongzheng Wukui put his cell phone away in under a minute, but he still didn¡¯t say anything. He only watched Fan Fan and Xia Lei.
¡°Boss, was...¡± said Ling Han anxiously.
Zongzheng Wukui waved his hands and began speaking after Ling Han shut his mouth. ¡°Congrattions Fan Fan. I see that not after too long, you¡¯ll be able to take on my position. I was going to retire after some time but you sped up my retirement period. You have the ability and I guess I made an error in judgement.¡±
¡°Boss, you¡¯re too ttering. It¡¯d be good if you retired early since you¡¯ve already worked hard your entire life. It¡¯s time to take a break.¡±
Zongzheng Wukui suddenly whipped his hand out, about to smack Fan Fan again.
But this time, Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s palm didn¡¯tnd onFan Fan¡¯s face. Instead, Xia Lei had grabbed onto his hand in midair.
Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s agility was impressive, only second to Shi Boren, but he was getting on in years. He was now weaker than Xia Lei whether that was in strength or speed. Xia Lei grabbed his hand and he tried to pull away, but he actually couldn¡¯t move!
Ling Han suddenly pulled out a gun and pointed the gun at Xia Lei¡¯s head. ¡°You¡¯re courting death! Believe it or not, I¡¯ll shoot you right now!¡±
Xia Lei looked at Ling Han, his face changing. ¡°You¡¯d die here first before you even pulled the trigger.¡±
A verbal dispute suddenly turned into a weapons face-off, but it was really just a fight of power.
Xia Lei¡¯s head was almost in reach but Ling Han didn¡¯t dare shoot. He didn¡¯t even dare reveal any indications that he was going to shoot. Who was Xia Lei? No other than Bureau 101¡¯s trump card! How many secret service agents and special forces soldiers had Xia Lei killed? The people who had joined the Grim Reaper were afraid of Xia Lei, not to mention him!
Fan Fan¡¯s hand moved, and a delicate feminine pistol appeared in her hand. Her muzzle directly pointed at Ling Han¡¯s head. ¡°Ling Han! I order you to put your gun down now. If you don¡¯t put it down, I will kill you!¡±
It would have been fine if Fan Fan hadn¡¯t said that but now that she did, Ling Han decided he wouldn¡¯t let go. He coldlyughed. ¡°Do you really think you¡¯re the deputy bureau chief? Ordering me around? You aren¡¯t qualified!¡±
¡°Is that so? I¡¯ll give you ten seconds. If you don¡¯t put the gun down in ten seconds, I will kill you.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s voice was also very cold.
She usually gave other people the impression of being a female scientist, educated and well-bnced, gentle and quiet, but now she had totally be a different person, almost as if Long Bing had possessed her.
Song Baicheng suddenly pointed his gun at Fan Fan¡¯s head. ¡°If you shoot me, you¡¯ll die first!¡±
The office immediately filled with mutual hostility. Zongzheng Wukui wanted to thrash Fan Fan, but Xia Lei had captured Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s hand. Ling Han was pointing his gun at Xia Lei¡¯s head and Fan Fan was pointing her gun at Ling Han¡¯s head. Song Baicheng was pointing his gun at Fan Fan¡¯s head. The scene was still, and no matter who moved first, blood would be shed on the scene!
¡°Don¡¯t get nervous,¡± finally said Xia Lei. He slowly let go of Zongzheng Wukui¡¯s hand.
¡°I thought you weren¡¯t afraid of dying.¡± Ling Han coldlyughed.
But right when Ling Han spoke, Xia Lei suddenly raised his hand and smashed his knuckles into Ling Han¡¯s wrist. Ling Han¡¯s wrist immediately rose and his muzzle rose as well. In that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s hands formed fists and he stuck his middle finger up as he ruthlessly knocked into Ling Han¡¯s ribs.
The ribs were the one of the weakest parts of the human body. Upon being hit, Ling Han immediately let out a sound of pain as his body lost bnce and fell.
Xia Lei reached out and Ling Han¡¯s gun fell into his hands. In milliseconds, a jet-ck muzzle was facing Song Baicheng and in this moment, Song Baicheng hadn¡¯t moved his gun from Fan Fan¡¯s head to him yet.
¡°Put the gun down,¡± said Xia Lei.
Song Baicheng was still hesitating.
¡°Bastard!¡± Zongzheng Wukui suddenly got angry. ¡°Who told you to take out your guns? Put them all back!¡±
Only then did Song Baicheng put his pistol away.
Ling Han got up from the floor, angrily ring at Xia Lei but not daring to rush into action. His attacked rib throbbed with pain, but he endured it, not even frowning about it.
Xia Lei turned off the safety and then threw the gun back at Ling Han. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to kill me, next time you better not take your gun out. I¡¯ve killed many people so it¡¯s a conditioned reflex. Next time if your reaction is too excessive, I¡¯ll get rid of you.¡±
Ling Han was already so angry that he couldn¡¯t even speak. If someone else said this to him, he wouldn¡¯t mind it, but the person saying this to him was Xia Lei. He had no choice but to take these words to heart. Because of this, his self-esteem decreased more and more, making him feel ufortable!
Fan Fan was thest one to put her gun away. She didn¡¯t look at Zongzheng Wukui or Ling Han, but instead secretly looked at Xia Lei out of the corners of her eyes. Her expression seemed to sh slightly. She thought that Xia Lei bringing Ling Han and Song Baicheng under check just now was extremely handsome of him, and it made her secretly excited.
¡°This matter will end here, and no one will bring it up again,¡± said Zongzheng Wukui. His tone had softened for some reason, making other people feel he was exhausted.
¡°Boss, is this really it?¡± Ling Han was unwilling to lose his control over the transaction this time, and he was even more unwilling to have Fan Fan rece him in being the next bureau chief of Bureau ZN.
¡°I have already received the superiors¡¯ notice. This matter will end here.¡± Zongzheng Wukui didn¡¯t exin further and walked towards the doorway immediately.
Ling Han nked, and followed him out.
¡°You, you...just wait and see. This matter won¡¯t just end here,¡± said Song Baicheng before running off.
Xia Lei disdained him. Fan Fan was about to be the bureau chief of Bureau ZN, so did he still need to care about Ling Han and Song Baicheng? Actually Fan Fan wasn¡¯t been the biggest winner in Bureau ZN¡¯s power struggle, but him.
When they got to the doorway, Zongzheng Wukui paused in his steps and nced back at Fan Fan. ¡°As a predecessor, I¡¯ll give you a word of advice. You must separate your public and private interests. The Alloy X Project is more important than anything else, and you better keep that in mind.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± said Fan Fan indifferently.
Zongzheng Wukui disappeared at the doorway along with Ling Han and Song Baicheng.
Fan Fan breathed a long sigh and patted her big chest. ¡°Ah, that was too scary. When Song Baicheng pointed his gun at my head, I was about to pee my paints.¡±
¡°It wasn¡¯t that exaggerated, right?¡± Xia Lei was a bit speechless.
Fan Fan suddenly reached for his hand and brought it to the bottom of her skirt. ¡°Won¡¯t you know if you just touch it?¡±
That area was all wet, but Xia Lei was sure it wasn¡¯t pee. His hand seemed to have touched electricity, and it stopped for a second before moving back.
¡°I didn¡¯t trick you right?¡± Fan Fan lookedpletely serious.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Do you know why the superiors made the decision this quickly?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t keep me waiting, just say it.¡±
¡°Some dramatic changes appeared in the Korean general election. Ahn Geungan¡¯spetitor, Park Sojin had a lot of scandals break out in the news and his support kept declining. Ahn Geungan suddenly went for it at thetter half of the election and increased his promotions and his campaigning efforts, so his support didn¡¯t stop increasing. If nothing else happens, he¡¯ll be the next Korean president.¡±
Xia Lei onlyughed. He had already anticipated these results so he didn¡¯t find it strange at all.
¡°I received a letter from Ahn Geungan. He was willing to change some of the policies and even though this matter wasn¡¯t settled, his position in his letter was already very valuable.¡± This was why she had be the deputy bureau chief of Bureau ZN this quickly.
¡°Congrattions, you seeded.¡±
¡°Without you I wouldn¡¯t have be sessful.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s expression was heated. ¡°You helped me with the Korean side and you helped me with Song Baicheng¡¯s scandal. You basically helped me into the position of bureau chief. I owe you so much. Tell me how I should repay you.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Just don¡¯t get me into any trouble.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll definitely get you into trouble. You¡¯ll definitely be the one to resolve all my troubles.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 681
Boom! The sound of gunfire cut through the air, and two kilometers away, a mud target was blown into pieces.
On the testing grounds, the group of Germans led by Kang Naqiao was dumbstruck. Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Hellbound One-soldier Cannon nearly had the power of a full tank, except it was much more practical. On the battlefield, tanks were obvious targets that were easily decimated by the likes of anti-tank missiles and armed helicopter attacks, not to mention the price of one normally reached up to millions of USD. When one was destroyed, it was a huge loss. If those cannons were used instead, armies could benefit from greater flexibility and stealth in their maneuvers without sacrificing much firepower. If a group of human-sized units capable of as much destruction as a tank appeared on the battlefield, crossing streets and alleys, climbing buildings and digging pits, how could a defensive line stop their advance?
¡°Ourpany¡¯s Hellbound One-soldier Cannons are sold for hundreds of thousands of USD. The cost is only one percent of a tank¡¯s, which includes the cost of keeping the tank operational as well. Tank maintenance is extremely costly. Let¡¯s take America¡¯s M1A2SEP tank as an example. Its sale price is about six million USD, but there is an additional sum that must be set aside for maintenance that amounts to approximately ten million. This means that the price of readying a single one of those tanks is enough to equip 100 artillerymen. Would you prefer the former or thetter?¡± Qin Caiyue spoke with assurance, confidence, andposure as she addressed the group at the testing grounds.
Xia Lei never gave her a script. She wrote one herself, and it wasn¡¯t hard to see that she equipped herself with the necessary military knowledge aftering to Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Her words sparked discussion among the Germans.
¡°A Hellbound One-soldier Cannon is a hundred-thousand USD, which is indeed only one-hundredth of the price of a tank. If I had an army, I would buy them instead of tanks,¡± confirmed an advanced engineer from Rheinmetall AG.
¡°Right. The power of one of these cannons can¡¯tpare to that of a battle tank, but thebined strength of dozens would be a much greater threat. Virtually no defensive line in existence would be able to sessfully resist against an army equipped with Hellbound One-soldier Cannons,¡± said another German scientist.
¡°I can¡¯t help but be reminded of Syria. If their army had them inrge amounts, ISIS wouldn¡¯t be able to defend the cities they upy. If a tank battalion were to besiege such territories, the logistics would be horrendous. All the fuel consumed each day, all the equipment andponents in need of repair and maintenance, and so much more would have to be brought along. Once the supply line is cut off, the battalion no longer has the ability to fight no matter how powerful it is. These problems would vanish with the introduction of these cannons. We need to obtain the technology behind the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon, no matter what.¡± said yet another advanced engineer from Rheinmetall AG.
Xia Lei sted his way into the Germans¡¯ hearts and stoked their desire for his Hellbound One-soldier Cannons.
Kang Naqiao pulled Sylvia away from the crowd and walked to the side as he asked her in a hushed tone, ¡°Miss Sylvia, you said that Xia Lei will you give a Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. Have you received it yet?¡±
¡°I did, and he even allowed me to take it apart to study.¡± Likewise, Sylvia¡¯s voice was also very low. ¡°The moment I did, I swore it was the most brilliantly designed weapon a soldier could wield.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t wantpliments, Miss Sylvia. You should know what we¡¯re after. You¡¯re the expert, so tell me. Can Germanpanies create this cannon?¡±
Sylvia shook her head. ¡°No.¡±
¡°How is that possible?¡±
¡°Mr Kang Naqiao, are you familiar with the XL2500 sniper rifle and the gust assault rifle?¡± asked Sylvia.
¡°Of course I know them, but what do they have to do with anything? Guns and artillery aren¡¯t the same,¡± said Kang Naqiao.
¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is that without Xia Lei¡¯s Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s coreponents, the XL2500 sniper rifle and the gust assault rifle simply cannot be manufactured. This is why Rheinmetall AG¡¯s production lines for both guns still aren¡¯t operational to this day. Hellbound One-soldier Cannons are built using the second-generation intelligentthe as a foundation. Without it, there¡¯s no hope of manufacturing them.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying that in order to manufacture these cannons, we first must attain a second-generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± replied Sylvia.
Kang Naqiao furrowed his brow at her simple reply. In his mind, seizing the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon¡¯s technology wouldn¡¯t have been soplicated. He brought the most elite technology team with him from Germany, popted with a variety of talents. As long as he gave them the chance to see the cannon¡¯s production line and interiorpositions, they would be able to reverse-engineer the technology. He also had Sylvia, a beautiful German engineer who also doubled as a honey trap. She obtained important information through pillow talk. To think they would disregard every trick he threw at them since they knew the Germans would be stuck without a second-generation intelligentthe!
Then, Xia Lei strolled over with a smile on his face. ¡°Mr Kang Naqiao and Miss Sylvia, are you two satisfied with the presentation?¡±
Kang Naqiao walked over and gave Xia Lei a hearty hug. ¡°Mr. Xia! We are very pleased. I¡¯ve just learned that the current international opinion on China couldn¡¯t be any more brainless, especially the South¡¯s. I am very fortunate foring to Thunder Horse Military Factory. I believe without a doubt that it is currently the world¡¯s most outstanding militarypany.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei patted Kang Naqiao on the back and smiled. ¡°When shall we start our business deal?¡±
¡°Anytime.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve also prepared everything here. A set of coreponents for the Thunder Dragon has already been processed, and the moment we start the business deal, my engineer can fly to Germany to repair the one you broke in Rheinmetall AG. It won¡¯t be long before you have fully operational production lines for the XL2500 sniper rifles and gust assault rifles,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°And the new one?¡±
¡°Also not a problem. Once the deal begins, I¡¯ll do the same for the newthe¡¯s coreponents. My engineer will still be stationed at Rheinmetall AG, where he will assemble, install, and adjust everything for you. I¡¯m telling you this only because I¡¯ve already prepared everything. The only thing I¡¯m waiting on is you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then let¡¯s begin the deal today,¡± said Kang Naqiao. ¡°But I have one additional condition.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°As it turns out, I have one too.¡±
Kang Naqiao was stunned. ¡°What is yours?¡±
¡±
¡°You tell me first,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Okay. Can you upgrade the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe we¡¯re receiving... to the second-generation model?¡± Kang Naqiao acted as if he was guilty, but he was calmly observing Xia Lei¡¯s expression the whole time.
¡°That wasn¡¯t what we agreed to,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°But I can give you another first-generation one instead.¡±
¡°That would be great. You¡¯re a very generous man, Mr Xia Lei.¡± Although Kang Naqiao wasn¡¯t truly satisfied, it was still to his advantage that Xia Lei would give him another intelligentthe.
¡°I¡¯m not done speaking yet, Mr Kang Naqiao. I¡¯m willing to give you another intelligentthe, but only if you uphold my side of the agreement,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What would you ask of us?¡±
¡°Sylvia.¡± Xia Lei looked right at her.¡± You need to give me Sylvia.¡±
¡°That¡¯s...¡± Kang Naqiao was shocked. Part of him didn¡¯t think Xia Lei was being serious.
Sylvia was actually overjoyed, but she forced herself to pretend that she was deeply conflicted. ¡°Mr. Xia, how could you ask such a thing? I am German, and I hold a deep love for my mothend. I would never n on leaving it, and I would also be leaving Rheinmetall AG despite being their best mechanic. How could I possibly stay by your side?¡±
Xia Lei pulled Kang Naqiao to the side. ¡°I like her Mr. Kang Naqiao. If you do what I ask, I¡¯ve already told you that I¡¯d give you an extra intelligentthe. I¡¯m also willing to be a good partner with Rheinmetall AG. The two of ourpanies can have even more technological exchanges in the future this way. On top of that, you may have my Thunder Dragon intelligentthe but only I can process the coreponents. If they¡¯re broken again, wouldn¡¯t you want me to help you again? If you don¡¯t agree, then don¡¯t bother asking for my help in the future.¡±
The warning was as clear as day. There would inevitably be another day when Rheinmetall AG would have to beg Xia Lei for help. If they didn¡¯t give him his woman, there would no longer be anything to discuss with him!
¡°But Sylvia is...¡± Kang Naqiao started to refute, but he suddenly stopped himself. He couldn¡¯t help but think of the man as no more than a pervert, but who could he me for such a development of events? Sylvia was a beautiful spy personally sent by Mark Armin. She offered her body in exchange for business secrets, and now that Xia Lei was interested in her, he had to have her. He would cease all cooperation if he didn¡¯t get her. Wasn¡¯t there no turning back?
¡°If that¡¯s the case then fine. Let¡¯s act ording to the initial business deal. You won¡¯t receive an extra intelligentthe, and you¡¯ll have to find someone else if you want repairs done in the future.¡± Xia Lei was unhappy, and he even went out of his way to show the two Germans how he shifted his gaze to Sylvia¡¯s rear with a lecherous gaze.
¡°Don¡¯t... Don¡¯t be like this, Mr Xia. I will give Mr Mark Armin a call, and I believe I can convince him. You, on the other hand, need to personally convince Miss Sylvia.¡± Kang Naqiao lowered his voice. ¡°Women just need a bit of coaxing. Gift her a race car, or a mansion, or whatever else she may desire. Would she still disagree after that?¡±
Xia Lei revealed a smile and gave Kang Naqiao a thumbs up.
Sylvia watched the two men whispering and wanted tough, but she didn¡¯t dare to. It was a lot of work trying to hold it in.
Kang Naqiao walked to a remote corner and called Mark Armin.
Though he was out of earshot, Xia Lei was still able to read Kang Naqiao¡¯s lips.
¡°Mr. Mark Armin, it¡¯s me, Kang Naqiao. Something happened over here... Xia Lei is actually interested in the woman you sent, Sylvia... Right. Xia Lei said he must have her©`he¡¯s willing to give us another Thunder Dragon intelligentthe and maintain a good partnership with Rheinmetall AG. In the future, the twopanies will have more technological exchanges... He¡¯s shameless? Right, I think so too. But you¡¯re the one who sent a woman to his bed... Just let her go. Otherwise, Xia Lei won¡¯t agree to any future repairs...¡±
Once it had gotten to that point of the conversation, Xia Lei lost all interest in it since the result was out. Kang Naqiao was a German cab member. Mark Armin didn¡¯t dare offend him, and Rheinmetall AG clearly benefited the most from the additional dealings. They could find someone to take Sylvia¡¯s ce in theirpany, but Xia Lei¡¯s support was irreceable.¡±
¡°No problem. It¡¯s settled,¡± said Xia Lei to Sylvia.
Sylvia was a bit embarrassed. ¡°You big pervert. Are you happy now that you¡¯ve had your way?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Are you really going to build a bed out of alloy?¡±
But Sylvia was already in the midst of changing the topic. ¡°I¡¯m going to call Anninater and tell her to book the ne tickets.¡±
¡°When did you guys be such good friends? Howe I didn¡¯t know?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t tell you! You big pervert.¡± Sylvia was suddenly fierce. ¡°Just wait for it. Wait for Annina toe over. We¡¯ll teach you a lesson.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Kang Naqiao walked over with his phone still in his hand and smiled. ¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ve convinced Mr. Mark Armin. Now the decision is left to Miss Sylvia.¡±
¡°I am willing,¡± said Sylvia before Xia Lei could even respond.
The sudden response confused Kang Naqiao.
Chapter 682
The business deal with the Germans proceeded very sessfully, but Xia Lei was only a contributor. He provided the Germans with what they needed, but he wasn¡¯t the one that received their submarine technology in return. Instead, Xia Lei received a shipyardpany, which just so happened to be China¡¯s biggest military warship manufacturer. Nearly every Chinese warship was made there.
Half a monthter, Kang Naqiao left with Germany¡¯s tech staff, leaving behind Sylvia. And on the same day that the Germans left, Annina arrived at Thunder Horse Military Factory, and the construction of Xia Lei¡¯s new building had also just finished. The building was erected quickly because it was made from pure wood. The carpenters simply built with the materials they were provided. Tiling and decoration also didn¡¯t take much time either.
Xia Chenghe moved out of the vi, while Sylvia moved into the new house with Annina in tow. The two German women now foundpanionship with one another and even lived in adjacent rooms. Xia Lei no longer needed to worry about the two of them facing a foreign culture alone since they had each other, which would hopefully deter them from wanting to return to Germany. Sylvia ultimately didn¡¯t build some sort of alloy bed, and she acted reserved and awkward at the very thought of it. Everyone did their best not to mention it anymore.
So much had fallen on the same day that it was the call for a celebration was inevitable. Xia Lei held a feast to celebrate the construction of the new house, Annina¡¯s return, and a perfect end to his part of the business deal.
After the feast ended, Xia Lei apanied Fan Fan to her car.
The night was hazy, and the back of the residence contained an antique beauty.
Fan Fan walked to her car and opened the door, but she didn¡¯t get in. Instead, she leaned against it and looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Those two German women, Sylvia and Annina... Are you close to them?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡±Mhmm, I am.¡±
Fan Fan was stunned. She didn¡¯t think that Xia Lei would admit it so readily.
¡°I designed both the XL2500 sniper rifle and the gust assault rifle with Annina. Her contributions are arge part of what makes Thunder Horse Military Factory was it is today. And Sylvia was formerly Rheinmetall AG¡¯s chief engineer, but she joined forces with Annina to produce our tanks and war chariots. They¡¯re very important to me.¡± continued Xia Lei.
It wasn¡¯t the answer Fan Fan wanted, but it was an honest one. She could tell that Xia Lei didn¡¯t particrly care if she knew about the intimate rtionship he had with the two German women. She felt ufortable, but she also knew that she had no way of interfering in Xia Lei¡¯s life. She was neither his wife nor his girlfriend, even. How could she control Xia Lei¡¯s personal matters?
¡°I know what you want to say, but I need to make sure you know something first...¡± Xia Lei paused for a moment before continuing. ¡°In the past, I was loyal, faithful, and in love. But I was also naive. I¡¯ve been lied to by many women, and I don¡¯t want to live like that anymore. I, Xia Lei, am not a man who will faithfully love one woman anymore. Not a single woman can keep a hold of me. Do you understand?¡±
That was the new attitude with which Xia Lei approached his life.
¡°So you¡¯re telling me that I don¡¯t have any control over you?¡±
¡°If you want to enjoy life with me, then I¡¯ll enjoy life with you. But, no, you don¡¯t have any control of me. And if you want to leave, I won¡¯t make you stay,¡± said Xia Lei.
If it was any other man, they would¡¯ve been pped or spit in their face by the woman in front of them for saying what Xia Lei had just said. But it was different when it came from Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He was the only one. He was the only one in the whole world.
Fan Fan smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve changed. You¡¯re like a monkey now. A monkey that doesn¡¯t stay in the same tree for too long since there¡¯s a whole forest waiting for you to conquer. Is that what you¡¯re trying to tell me?¡±
Xia Lei gave her a faint smile in response.
Fan Fan shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s fine, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯re just a random monkey. You¡¯re the Monkey King, and even Tathagata Buddha can¡¯t keep you in one spot. So how would someone like me be able to keep you within my grasp? Just remember that no matter how many trees there are in this forest of yours, my tree bears the fruit you love the most. And every time youe back for more, I want you to give me another child. Are you able to satisfy me?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Lastly, let me tell you about some news I received,¡± said Fan Fan. ¡°Ahn Geungan has be Korea¡¯s president. If my superiors want me to handle affairs between them and Korea, would you be willing to help me?¡±
Xia Lei was suddenly realized what she was implying. ¡°Have you be chief of the ZN Bureau?¡±
¡°Yes. I just received the notification. Starting tomorrow, I will be the ZN Bureau¡¯s chief,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°What about Ling Han and Song Baicheng?¡±
¡°Ling Han took it upon himself to request a transfer, though I¡¯m not sure what unit he¡¯ll be transferring to. And wherever Ling Han goes, Song Baicheng will follow, since he¡¯s Ling Han¡¯s man.¡±
¡°And Zhongzhen Wukui?¡±
¡°He¡¯s already stepped down. Don¡¯t worry, he doesn¡¯t pose a threat to you anymore.¡±
In his mind, Xia Lei let out a sigh of relief. Zhongzhen Wukui had stepped down, while Ling Han and Song Baicheng had left the ZN Bureau. Fan Fan was now chief of the bureau as well, which meant he waspletely free from the problems they had caused him. He no longer had any big threats within the country now that his problems with the ZN Bureau had reached their conclusion. He could put his skills to work without having to worry about a thing. He could achieve his dream, which was to develop Thunder Horse Military Factory into the world¡¯s most powerful militarypany!
There were also implications for his work with the ancient alloy and AE¡¯s secret. Without the ZN Bureau impeding him, he could calm down and focus on finding clues.
Fan Fan moved closer to Xia Lei and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her voluptuous bosom stuck close to Xia Lei¡¯s chest. ¡°When I finish dealing with the work ced in my hands, I¡¯ll look for you. Don¡¯t forget©`we¡¯re still not done the Alloy X Project.¡±
¡°No problem. Do what you need to do first, and I¡¯ll contact you if I discover anything in the meantime,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll leave Su Xiao with you. Have her do whatever you need.¡± Fan Fan ced her lips right by Xia Lei¡¯s ears. ¡°She also has bananas on her tree, so you can eat those too.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°What do you take me for? Even if I was a monkey, I wouldn¡¯t climb every tree.¡± He followed with a bitter smile.
¡°Have you already forgotten? You¡¯re the Monkey King, not just some ordinary monkey.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Now you need to return, and I need to go.¡± Fan Fan let go of Xia Lei as she spoke.
After watching Fan Fan drive off, Xia Lei returned to his new home.
There was only a board on the wall, and on it was his father¡¯s personal writing, ¡®Peaceful Residence¡¯. Only someone who had experienced what he did could truly appreciate the meaning of peace.
On the way to his room, Xia Lei met his father. Xia Changhe wore a Tang suit, which made him reminiscent of a retired officer.
¡°You drank too much, father. Why don¡¯t you go back and rest?¡± Xia Lei walked towards Xia Changhe.
¡°The barely drank any wine. I couldn¡¯t sleep so I came out for a stroll. You came just in time. Let¡¯s take a seat and talk for a while,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei nodded and walked into a pavilion by the alley with him.
Xia Changhe¡¯s gazended on Xia Lei¡¯s throat. ¡°You still have it. When do you n on eating it?¡±
¡°I actually thought of eating it, but... if I ate it before I could figure out its secret, how would I be able to conduct research? I still don¡¯t know the dangers of eating it either. You don¡¯t need to stick your nose in my business. Let me make my own decision.¡±
¡°Okay, make your own decisions.¡± Xia Changhe sighed. ¡°In the past, I dreamed of living a normal life. I dreamed of going to the supermarket for groceries anding home to make a meal for you and Xiao Xue, or going for a stroll in the park and seeing a movie. I dreamed all sorts of things like that, but ever since that life has finallye to me, I¡¯ve found myself not ustomed to it. I start to reminisce on days haunted by a raging storm of shots and shells. Tell me©`am I falling ill?¡±
¡°Father,¡±©`Xia Lei ced his hands onto Xia Changhe¡¯s shoulders©`¡°How could you be falling ill? You¡¯re not used to it, so give yourself some more time. No matter who it is, if you¡¯re settling into an unfamiliar lifestyle, you¡¯ll need some time to take it all in. If you think it¡¯s boring, you can stop by thepany to do something.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he assured his father.
¡°Me? Am I capable? I only know how to kill people, not make business deals with them. I don¡¯t know how to manage apany either.¡±
¡°You can learn. It¡¯s actually not asplicated as you¡¯re led to believe. I n to restart the Alloy X Project and search for new clues once I¡¯m not as busy, so I definitely won¡¯t be in thepany as much. When I¡¯m not there, you can help me look over the ce. You¡¯ll be able to help me have peace of mind, right?¡± continued Xia Lei.
Xia Changhe looked at Xia Lei with genuine shock. ¡°You really want me to manage yourpany?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were bored? You can try it out, and I¡¯ll have Cai Yue help you as well. She¡¯s extremely versatile, so don¡¯t hesitate to have her do whatever you need. You¡¯re the boss, so you only have to take charge of your workers. You don¡¯t need to be skilled in every field they¡¯re skilled in,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Changhe hesitated, but he eventually relented and nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll try. Don¡¯t me me if I mess up, though.¡±
¡°You¡¯re my father. I¡¯d me anyone but you.¡± Xia Lei responded with a smile.
¡°Enough of this nonsense. When are you going to give me a grandson? That¡¯s what is truly important. I wouldn¡¯t be bored If you gave me a grandson to raise,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei struggled to find an excuse in order to dodge the question, but Annina saved him. Her voice rang through the alley as she called out, ¡°Lukas, can I borrow a bit of your time?¡±
Xia Lei stood up. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Annina?¡±
¡°Well, the lightbulb in my room is basically broken. I want you to see what happened to it.¡± Annina seemed very anxious for one reason or another. ¡°I don¡¯t know anyone here, so I couldn¡¯t find someone to change it.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯lle right over,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mhmm, okay. I¡¯ll be waiting for you in my room.¡± And with that, Annina turned around and walked off.
¡°Father, go rest. I¡¯ll take a look,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Listen here, young man. I¡¯m reminding you that I do not want a mixed-blood grandson. I want a pure one,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Annina¡¯s room was pitch ck, but the lights in Sylvia¡¯s room were working just fine. Xia Lei didn¡¯t think much of it and opened the door to Annina¡¯s room. He flipped the switch on the wall, and to his surprise, the light suddenly turned on. He stared at Annina, who sat by the bedside. Though she previously donned pyjamas, she was wearing only a bikini at the moment.
Annina stared silently at Xia Lei, while her eyes scorched with desire. She didn¡¯t say a word.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Isn¡¯t the light okay?¡±
¡°Turn it off,¡± said Annina.
Xia Lei did just that before walking over.
In the pitch-ck darkness, Annina crawled into his arms. ¡°Lukas, Sylvia said you¡¯re a big pervert. You wanted her to build an alloy bed for the three of us to use. Is that true?¡±
¡°Nonsense. Do you think I¡¯m the kind of person who would ask something like that?¡± asked Xia Lei, with a serious tone in his voice.
Creak. It was the sound of the bathroom door opening. Then, Xia Lei could hear someone approaching. The sound of their steps made it obvious that they were on their toes.
Xia Lei was about to look back, but Annina wrapped her arms around him even tighter, preventing him from turning around.
A few secondster, another steamy, feminine body stuck itself to his back. The woman spoke in German. ¡°If you didn¡¯t say it, are you saying I was the one who did? Pervert.¡±
Xia Lei could use his toes to guess who the woman behind him was. It was Sylvia.
¡°You two...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart was beating very quickly.
¡°Were you guys just nning on chatting, or...?¡± That time, it was Annina¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei fell down, or rather, he was pulled down...
Chapter 683
After the troubles disappeared, everything was back to normal. The Hellbound One-soldier Cannon entered mass production and they don¡¯t even have to worry about its sales. Excluding the international orders, just the domestic orders can already make the Thunder Horse Military Factory busy till dark. But, having wealthy doesn¡¯t mean one can buy the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. For countries that had implemented the technological blockade against China, they can¡¯t buy any of it no matter how much money they have. America was one of the countries; no weaponry from the Thunder Horse Military Factory will appear in the U.S. markets. Another country banned from buying the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s weaponry was Japan. Japan can¡¯t even buy a screw from the Thunder Horse Military Factory, muchless the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon.
After the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon entered mass production, a new product was also produced by the defense systems of the Thunder Horse Military Factory. The new product was targeted at the machine cannon defense system on warships. Its performance was also better than other simr products in the international market. However, Xia Lei didn¡¯t rush to advertise or start mass-producing it. Instead, he was still trying to enhance and perfect its functions.
He has his own thoughts and ns. He had to take one step at a time, just like how one would eat one bite of rice at a time. With the current production capacity of the Thunder Horse Military Factory, it was already difficult toplete the current orders they had for the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. If they ept orders for the defense system right now, the workers wouldn¡¯t be able to finish all the orders even if they exhausted themselves to death. If he wanted to continue to expand the production capacity of the factory he would need new funding and staff. However, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t too anxious to expand the production capacity of the factory yet.
His n was simple. He wanted to use the sales from the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon, XL2500 sniper rifle, and the Gust assault rifle to earn enough profits to umte capital while paying back the debts. He can then carry out the new expansion n. At that time, Sylvia and Annina would also be done with the Thunder Horse Military Factory tank and war chariot engine. He can then expand the factory into a giant business in one shot!
It was quite a big challenge for Xia Lei to develop an engine for the tank and war chariot. After all, this was the first time he had entered the engineering field, so he was learning everything for the first time. However, this wasn¡¯t a particrly difficult challenge for his super brain. With SYlvia and Annina¡¯s help, the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s engine project was progressing smoothly, making him quite happy.
Besides researching the engine for the tanks and war chariot, Xia Lei had also spent some effort into the Alloy X Project. He tried to discover clues from different points of view, but he still couldn¡¯t find anything.
A month had passed in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei received a phone call early this morning.
¡°Mr. Xia, do you still remember me?¡± A man¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°I¡¯m Doctor Ning Jing¡¯s physician, Wei Guanyi.¡±
¡°Oh, it¡¯s Doctor Wei Guanyi. Hello.¡± Xia Lei suddenly remembered this person. He also remembered all the things that were associated with him. Xia Lei had conversed with him privately while visiting Ning Jing. He had given him an additional paycheck to observe Ning Jing¡¯s situation and report it to him. Xia Lei had almost forgotten about the person because he was too busy recently, but who would¡¯ve thought that Wei Guanyi would call him today.
¡°It¡¯s like this, Doctor Ning had a special situationst night, so I emailed you. But you didn¡¯t reply,¡± Wei Guanyi said.
Last night? Xia Lei was researching the origins of life with Sylvia and Annina. How would he have the time to check his email?
¡°Sorry, I haven¡¯t opened my email recently. What special situation happened to her?¡± Xia Lei suddenly became anxious.
¡°I can¡¯t exin it clearly over the phone. Mr. Xia, are you free? If you¡¯re free, you cane over and take a look. We can talk about it more in detail,¡± Wei Guanyi said.
¡°Okay, I wille right away.¡± Xia Lei got out of the house after he hung up the phone.
The cross-country Chevrolet Suburban car was speeding on the road. Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were like a wild horse that had lost its reins. It was free without any restraints.
¡°Emptiness is not the sky; there is no distance. Time is not time; thousands of years pass in an instant. The traveler came from a distant time. The sky is not his obstacle and time cannot destroy his body. He is searching for the starting point, but he is lost in the dark world. He is about to lose himself. The only that can...¡±
That was what Ning Jing had told himst time. He had conducted in-depth research on those words. He even tested out various experiments on the ancient alloy box. But unfortunately, he still didn¡¯t find any answers in the end. The trail was just like her unfinished words, broken off. Now that a new situation rted to Ning Jing had arisen, will there be new clues?
This thought made Xia Lei secretly excited.
Xia Lei had just driven his car to the sanatorium building when he saw Wei Guanyi. He had been waiting for him.
¡°Dr. Wei, what happened to Ning Jing?¡± Xia Lei had immediately began questioning him the moment he got out of the car.
¡°Mr. Xia, please follow me.¡± Wei Guanyi led the way for Xia Lei as he exined the situation to him. ¡°Mr. Xia, everything began when Doctor Ning Jing had suddenly awaken for some timest night. Not only did she painted a few paintings, but she also conversed with me for a few minutes.¡±
¡°What did she draw?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll know when you see itter. I can¡¯t exin it using words.¡±
Xia Lei asked, ¡°Then what did she talk to you about?¡±
¡°In consideration of you, I recorded my conversation with Doctor Ning Jing. The drawings and the recording are all in my office. I¡¯ll get them for yow.¡± Wei Guanyi elerated his pace.
Xia Lei followed Wei Guanyi to his office.
Wei Guanyi put the pen voice recorder and the drawings on the table. ¡°Mr. Xia, you can look at it here. I know you want to visit Doctor Ning Jing, so I¡¯ll go arrange it for you now. You can go visit her after you finished listening to the audio and looking over the paintings.¡±
Xia Lei faintly nodded. ¡°You can go.¡±
After Wei Guanyi left, Xia LEi sat in front of Wei Guangyi¡¯s office table. He looked at the paintings Ning Jing had painted.
Last time, Nin Jing painted five paintings in total. The first one showed thepass that originated from the Ming dynasty; the second one was the bronze treasure book; the third painting was the ancient alloy box with a corner missing; the fourth one was aplete ancient alloy box, and thest painting was a nude man without a face.
This time, Ning Jing only painted three paintings in total. Xia Lei was stunned when he saw the first painting.
Her first painting was Da Vinci¡¯s masterpiece,¡¶Mona Lisa¡·. This time, she even used advanced paintbrush and paint. The Mona Lisa on the paper looked lifelike and vivid. It looked like it was an advanced miniature counterfeit painting.
Why did she draw¡¶Mona Lisa¡·?
Xia Lei didn¡¯t understand why she drew this. But this painting of ¡¶Mona Lisa¡· reminded him of the painting of the Vikking pirates that was in Mark Amin¡¯s mansion. That painting was also painted by Da Vinci. He still remembered the painting because the legendary female pirate in the painting looked simr to Princess Zhu Xuanyue. Later, he destroyed the painting with his fist.
¡°Is she trying to remind me that the ancient alloy box and the AE¡¯s secret is rted to Da Vinci? Os is Da Vinci a clue?¡± This thought suddenly appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t any word on the painting. He didn¡¯t see anything special about the painting besides the smiling Mona Lisa.
Xia Lei put the¡¶Mona Lisa¡· painting aside and revealed the second painting. He was dumbfounded again.
The seconding painting was a lump of color that she had painted using white paint. It didn¡¯t have a definite shape and it looked like she had randomly smeared the paint onto it using a paintbrush. If it had to look like something, then it looked a little like a piece of white cloud that was blown away by the wind.
¡°What did she painted?¡± Xia Lei was puzzled.
Unfortunately, there still weren¡¯t any words on the second painting. He didn¡¯t see any hint of clue.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyesight shifted to the third painting as he put the second painting aside¡¶Mona Lisa¡·. He couldn¡¯t move his gaze away from the third painting the moment he looked at it.
There were six people painted on the third painting; 3 males and 3 females. Everyone was naked regardless of gender and none of the people had a face. The strangest part of the painting was that the body parts of the 6 people made the shape of a cube; each person made a side of the cube.
Xia Lei immediately understood the picture. An image of the ancient alloy box appeared in his mind. What he didn¡¯t understand was the connection between the ancient alloy box and the 3 males and 3 females. He had caught some inspiration the moment he saw the third painting, but when he tried to recall it, his mind turned up nk.
After he froze for a minute, Xia Lei opened the recording pen and started to listen to the audio files recorded by Wei Guangyi.
¡°Doctor Ning Jing, I heard from the nurse that you¡¯re doing well. I heard you asked her for a paintbrush, paint, and paper. What did you draw? Can I have a look?¡± It was Wei Guangyi¡¯s voice.
¡°They areing soon. You should escape as fast as you can.¡± Ning Jing¡¯s voice was hoarse, low, and ice-cold. It didn¡¯t sound like her anymore.
¡°Who¡¯s about toe?¡± Wei Guangyi¡¯s voice.
¡°It¡¯s toote.¡±
¡°What¡¯s toote?¡± Wei Guangyi¡¯s voice.
¡°When did he came?¡±
¡°Who are you talking about?¡±
¡°Weiyi.¡±
¡°Weiyi? Hehe, it¡¯s only one character away from my name. Is he your friend or coworker?¡± Wei Guangyi¡¯s voice.
¡°Take off your pants and get on the bed. I¡¯ll check your uterus for you.¡±
¡°Why are you bing confused again? I¡¯m your doctor.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll prescribe you some misscarriage prevention medicine that will help with your sleepingter.¡±
The conversation between Wei Guangyi and Ning Jing continued, but Xia Lei¡¯s thinking couldn¡¯t move on from that word.
It was¡ª¡ªWeiyi.
There was only one person who called him by that name, it was Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue. This was a secret between him and PRincess Yongmei, how could Ning Jing know that name?
Also, Ning Jing said quite a lot of stuff, but it wasn¡¯t hard to tell that she was conscious at the beginning of the conversation. Then, her mental disorder acted up again, making her deranged. Her few clear-minded words were enough to make Xia Lei stunned and puzzled. He fell into deep contemtion. ¡°Did she mistake Wei Guangyi as me, reminding me that someone will bring me danger and that I should escape? Butter, when she asked Wei Guangyi when the person wille, she mentioned the name, Weiyi. It was clear that she was talking about me. What¡¯s going on?¡±
Questions arose one by one, but he couldn¡¯t fully understand it.
Xia Lei put the paintings and the pen voice recorder into his briefcase and left Wei Guangyi¡¯s office. He had visit Ning Jing. No matter which state of consciousness she was in, he had to talk to her and figure out everything!
Chapter 684
Wei Guanyi stood in the doorway of the ward with furrowed brow. ¡°Mr Xia, she is not in a stable condition; she¡¯s just fallen asleep. You can go in to see her, though.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, and entered the ward.
It was quiet in the ward. Ning Jingy on the bed in deep sleep, and did not wake up at Xia Lei¡¯s arrival.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the window area. There was an easel there, and an iplete painting on it. He walked over.
The painting was of an European vige with a church at its centre. It had a tall, majestic domed roof, and around it were Romanesque and Gothic-style buildings, ancient, elegant, and sombre, deeply etched with the influence of the Church. There was not one modern building in the vige, and no electric poles, norrge advertisement posters or the like. There were some people in the painting but they were not in modern garb either, but in the garb of the Middle Ages.
The iplete portion of the painting featured a house to the side of the vige. Behind the house was a stretch of hills, and a river meandered past the foot of these hills. There was a tombstone on the banks of the river, but no writing on it.
¡®What is this ce she¡¯s painted?¡¯ Xia Lei was confused. ¡®If it was a ce she visited as a tourist, it¡¯s not possible that there would be no modern conveniences, right? Even if it was an ancient vige which has been perfectly preserved, there should be some electric cables or wiring... But the painting has none of that. Plus, she¡¯s an archaeologist, not an artist. I¡¯ve never heard her saying that she enjoyed paintings, and haven¡¯t ever seen her paint anything well, but she¡¯s disyed an astonishing ability to paint after she went mad. What¡¯s going on here?¡¯
This painting seemed to be part of the three paintings he¡¯d just seen.
¡®She drew the Mona Lisa, a white, cloud-like being, six people with no faces, and a vige from the Middle Ages. Just what is she trying to express?¡¯ Xia Lei pondered.
On the bed, Ning Jing¡¯s eyes suddenly flew open.
¡°It¡¯s me, Ning Jing.¡± Xia Lei went to her bedside and asked in concern, ¡°Are you all right?¡±
Ning Jing didn¡¯t seem to have heard him. She did not even look at him ¨C she just stared nkly at the light on the ceiling.
¡°Ning Jing?¡± Xia Lei called her name once more.
Ning Jing made no response. She climbed out of bed, put her slippers on, and walked slowly to the easel. She sat on the chair, took up the brush, and added colour to the painting. She said nothing throughout this entire process, and didn¡¯t even nce at Xia Lei. He was right here in the room and standing before her eyes, but he was like air to her.
What was going on?
Xia Lei stood next to Ning Jing and watched her every move. He quickly discovered that Ning Jing¡¯s gaze remained vacant as she painted; she was without life. It looked like her body was moving, but her soul had departed. However, the shell of a human that was she had an uncanny litheness in her painting. She painted quickly, and made no mistakes.
¡°You...¡± A question popped up in Xia Lei¡¯s head, and he blurted, ¡°Are you Ning Jing?¡±
Ning Jing did not turn around. She continued painting.
A few minutester, she was done. The iplete house wasplete, and a ck-haired man now stood in front of the house.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the ck-haired man in the painting and he was gobsmacked. Every person in the painting had been in ancient European clothing, but thisst ck-haired man was an Asian, and he was wearing jeans and sports shoes. He was a modern man!
Xia Lei looked at the ck-haired man¡¯s face. It was quite small, and the lines of his face were not clear. In that instant, his left eye twitched and activated his zoom-in ability. The blurry face was instantly brought into focus, and Xia Lei¡¯s jaw dropped.
The man in the painting was none other than himself ¨C Xia Lei!
¡°Just who in the world are you?¡± Xia Lei could not control his emotions anymore. He grabbed Ning Jing by the shoulders and said anxiously, ¡°Tell me! Tell me what you¡¯re trying to say!¡±
¡°Nn...¡± A sound suddenly came from Ning Jing¡¯s throat, like she was just awakening. Her eyes, too, moved to Xia Lei¡¯s face but her gaze was dull, absent.
¡°Ning Jing? You...¡± Xia Lei was filled with anxiety and worry.
Just then, Ning Jing suddenly said, ¡°Italy. Bobbio. You must go there, and awaken me...¡±
Xia Lei was rooted to the spot in shock. His mind was reeling. She was here, in the sanatorium, more or less conscious, but she was telling him to go to Italy to wake her up!
Ning Jing abruptly fell to the floor with a whimper after the words left her lips. It was as if all the strength had been sapped from her body in an instant, and she couldn¡¯t hold herself upright any longer.
Xia Lei hurriedly stretched his hands out to hold her. ¡°Ning Jing! Ning Jing, wake up! Wake up!¡±
Ning Jing did not react.
Xia Lei felt her pulse. It was normal; she was in no danger. He then carried her to the bed and tucked her in.
¡°Do you need me to help, Mr Xia?¡± Wei Guanyi¡¯s voice came from beyond the doorway of the ward.
¡°It¡¯s fine. Give me a little more time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure. Call me if you need me. I¡¯ll be outside.¡±
Money made the world go round. This Wei Guanyi had taken Xia Lei¡¯s money, so he provided a service in return. Ning Jing would not have been allowed visitors in the current state otherwise, much less be allowed to have a room to herself.
Xia Lei took the painting off the easel and put it into his briefcase. He returned to her bedside and sat on it while holding Ning Jing¡¯s hand. Her hand was cold, without warmth.
¡°You say to go to Italy, Bobbio. Is this the ce in the painting? I will go there,¡± mumbled Xia Lei to himself. ¡°But you said to awaken you. What do you mean? Tell me, are you being controlled by something? Open your eyes if you are.¡±
Ning Jing suddenly opened her eyes.
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°You...¡±
¡°Heehee.¡± Ning Jing giggled abruptly. ¡°Why did youe, Daddy?¡±
Xia Lei was confused.
Ning Jing shook Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Daddy, I want a bedtime story.¡±
Xia Lei then discovered that she had not responded to what he¡¯d said, but had entered another state ¨C the state of madness. Her gaze was bright and full of naivety, like that of a little girl. In contrast, she had been a moving corpse earlier. She was twopletely different people in these two states!
¡®Has she really been possessed, like in legends? What has possessed her?¡¯ thought Xia Lei. He didn¡¯t quite dare to believe this thought.
There were no ghosts on this Earth. Princess Yongmei was an existence like that of a ¡®soul¡¯ but he knew that she was not one at all, but a form of energy. Her existence was inextricably entwined with that of the ancient alloy, and AE.
¡°Daddy, I want a bedtime story. Tell me one.¡± Ning Jing pleaded with Xia Lei again. She pouted and put on a displeased expression.
Xia Lei had never had bedtime stories told to him in his life, and never told any to anyone. Ning Jing¡¯s request put him in a spot. He wanted to leave, but her disappointed expression pulled at his heartstrings and he could not bear to just leave her.
¡°You¡¯re a baddie, Daddy! You don¡¯t love me.¡± Ning Jing shook Xia Lei¡¯s hand away and hid under the covers. Sobs soon came from under the covers.
Xia Lei sighed, and forced himself to say, ¡°Come out. Daddy will tell you a bedtime story if youe out.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Ning Jing crawled out. There were tears in her eyes still, but a smile filled her face with joy.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. He started on his story. ¡°Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a princess named Zhu Xuanyue. She was Princess Yongmei of the Ming dynasty.¡±
Ning Jing stared at Xia Lei, wide-eyed, waiting for him to continue the story.
Xia Lei had been observing Ning Jing¡¯s reaction all the while. He continued, ¡°She was very beautiful, and brave. One day, the emperor gave her a task. She was to lead troops to a ce she had never been to before. A Hun tribe lived in the ce she went to, and she built a city there. The city was named the City of the White Horse of Tomorrow.¡± He stopped, and stared at Ning Jing.
¡°Go on, Daddy. What happened next?¡±
This sort of reaction was not one of a person who had been ¡®possessed¡¯. He had used Princess Yongmei¡¯s story to test her for a reaction, but this had obviously been ineffective.
¡°Then this princess went to Jerusalem. It was a sacrednd. She obtained exquisite jewels there, and many, many tasty things. Oh, and an alloy piece.¡±
Ning Jing¡¯s eyes were full of anticipation. She seemed very interested in this story.
¡°And then, the princess...¡± Xia Lei had been nning to end the story quickly, but he suddenly changed his mind. He said, ¡°Then this princess went to Italy, to a town called Bobbio. She built a house there. There was a river behind that house, and the river had many fish in it. There was also a tomb by the river. In the tomb...¡±
The expression in Ning Jing¡¯s eyes changed abruptly, and the naivety disappeared. It was reced by the earlier dull, vacant stare.
Excitement sprung in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He kept going. ¡°In the tomb was a woman. She was very beautiful. She was da Vinci¡¯s friend. She was very, very pretty... Ning Jing?¡±
Ning Jing suddenly said, ¡°They¡¯reing, they¡¯reing...¡±
¡°Who¡¯sing? Tell me, quick!¡±
¡°Awaken me, awaken me... We must escape, we must escape...¡± Ning Jing¡¯s voice was low, and cold, like she was another person.
She had said such words to Wei Guanyi before too. Xia Lei had heard the recording, and the voice in the recording was the same as how she was speaking now!
¡°Where are you? How do I awaken you?¡± Xia Lei pushed.
¡°Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa...¡±
¡°Are you talking about that da Vinci painting?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no time... Ugh!¡± A sound suddenly came from Ning Jing¡¯s throat, like she had been cut off mid-sentence. She lost consciousness after making that sound, and fell bonelessly to the bed.
¡°Ning Jing? Ning Jing? Hello?¡± Xia Lei shook her by the shoulder, but she did not respond.
What happened? The events reyed themselves in Xia Lei¡¯s head, showing him every single one of Ning Jing¡¯s reactions. He then knew what had triggered her and made her enter a ¡®possessed¡¯ state. It was not the story of Princess Yongmei, but the description of what she had painted.
¡®What is it that terrifies her so?¡¯ pondered Xia Lei.
He left a ward minutester.
¡°Is Doctor Ning all right, Mr Xia?¡± asked Wei Guanyi.
¡°She¡¯s fallen asleep. You did well. I will reward you for your work,¡± said Xia Lei.
Wei Guanyi smiled. ¡°Thank you, Mr Xia.¡±
¡°Our previous arrangement still stands. Take good care of Ning Jing. Contact me if anything unusual happens,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course, Mr Xia.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now. Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei left.
Bobbio, Italy. What sort of ce was it?
No matter what ce it was, he had to go take a look!
Chapter 685
In the Chevrolet Suburban, Xia Lei handed Ning Jing¡¯sst painting to Alessio. ¡°Take a look. What is this ce?¡±
Alessio looked closely at it, and was silent for a while before saying, ¡°Boss, is this ce real?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know either. That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Alessio looked at the painting again. ¡°I can¡¯t tell what ce this is, but it looks like a small town in Italy. There are many small towns like this, where the architecture of the Middle Ages have been preserved. This painting looks like it¡¯s of the Middle Ages period though. The people in the painting are all wearing clothing from that time period.¡±
He had obviously not spotted the fairly special existence in the painting ¡ª the young Asian man in jeans and sports shoes.
¡°You¡¯re a Sicilian. Is it also like this in Sicily?¡± Xia Lei did not draw Alessio¡¯s attention to that part of the painting.
Alessio smiled wryly. ¡°There are lots of nice ces in Italy, but Sicily is an outlier. It¡¯s quite a bad area since it¡¯s the origin of the mafia. Drugs, violent crimes, all the bad things you can think of will happen there on any given day. You won¡¯t like it. It¡¯s my hometown but I hate it.¡±
¡°What do you know about da Vinci?¡± Xia Lei asked another question.
¡°Da Vinci? Heh heh, Boss, all Italians know about da Vinci. To us Italians, da Vinci is like how Li Bai is to you Chinese. The pride of us Italians.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You know about Li Bai too? There¡¯s more to you than meets the eye. Can you talk to me about da Vinci?¡±
Alessio¡¯s expression turned awkward. ¡°I only know that he painted the Mona Lisa, and that his hometown is in Vinci. It¡¯s about 100 kilometres north of Arezzo. I haven¡¯t ever been there, but I know about it. That ce is pretty famous and a lot of people go there because of da Vinci.¡± After a pause, he gave Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°What¡¯s this about, Boss? When did you be interested in da Vinci? Are you going to Italy?¡±
¡°Yes. I want to go to Italy and have a look around,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Can you help me arrange things if I want to go to Italy in the near future?¡±
¡°Are you talking about sneaking in?¡± asked Alessio.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t want the CIA to know that I¡¯ve gone to Italy. The FA Organisation too. Could you help me handle this?¡±
Alessio shrugged. ¡°This small thing? You can count on me.¡±
¡°Any issues with safety?¡±
¡°Heh heh, Boss, it¡¯s Italy. She has her own rules. Even the CIA has to go by her rules, or their agent bodies will slouch on the pavement. I¡¯m not some big fish in Italy, but I have friends. I can guarantee that anyone who touches you will regret it.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°That¡¯s settled, then. Please arrange it for me.¡±
¡°No problem. Just wait for my call.¡± Alessio stepped out of Xia Lei¡¯s car.
Alessio, did not act in any exaggerated way. He was the Dragon of the Zodiac team, brave, undefeatable, unafraid of death. Other than his identity as a member of the Zodiac team, he had another identity ¡ª a member of the Italian mafia. He had grown up in that darknd, and was familiar with everything to do with it. He had his ways, his methods. Picking Alessio to apany him to Italy was the smartest choice.
Xia Lei returned to Thunder Horse Military Factory after Alessio left, and went to his office.
¡°Have some tea, Director Xia.¡± Qing Caiyue made a cup of tea for Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei switched hisputer on, and entered the words ¡°Mona Lisa¡± into the Baidu search bar. The rted search results popped out on the screen, and he opened up the Baidu Encyclopaedia and read the entry.
Qing Caiyue drew close to Xia Lei and nced at the contents of his screen. She asked curiously, ¡°Do you like this painting, Director Xia?¡±
¡°Are you talking about the Mona Lisa?¡± said Xia Lei casually.
¡°Yes, I¡¯m talking about the Mona Lisa. I¡¯ve visited the Louvre in Paris and I¡¯ve seen the painting.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve seen the original work?¡±
Qing Caiyue¡¯s lips quirked in a smile. ¡°It¡¯s in the Louvre, and you can see it there. Director Xia, if you like this painting, you should see it in the Louvre. It really is a treasure of the art world, and there are many, many legends connected to it. It has many mysteries and they remain unsolved till this day.¡±
The memory of Ning Jing being ¡°possessed¡± suddenly surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. She was panicky, scared, and had kept saying ¡°Mona Lisa¡±. Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡®She painted the Mona Lisa, and spoke about it continuously. Was she telling me to go to the Louvre to see the painting? Is there really a secret hidden in that painting? Or a clue?¡¯
¡°Director Xia?¡±
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. He gave augh. ¡°Nothing, I¡¯m just thinking if I should go see it.¡±
¡°I rmend that you do. But it will be impossible to buy it. It¡¯s a treasure of the Louvre and not up for sale.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a painting. I don¡¯t want to buy it. You go on with your work, I¡¯m just looking at this,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qing Caiyue¡¯s slender handnded on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
Xia Lei paused, and was embarrassed.
Qing Caiyue moved her hand away from Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and a strand of ck hair appeared between her fingers. It was obviously not a strand of male hair because it was long, and fairly soft.
This hair should havee from Ning Jing.
Qing Caiyue said nothing after pulling the hair from Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. She walked off with it. The expression on her face was strange too, like she wanted tough but was holding it in.
Xia Lei grew even more embarrassed. ¡°Uh, it¡¯s not what you¡¯re thinking.¡±
Qing Caiyue looked back at Xia Lei and smiled. ¡°What am I thinking about, Director Xia? I¡¯m not thinking anything, but you have to be more careful. It¡¯s not good if anyone sees.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
And she said she wasn¡¯t thinking of anything?
Xia Lei was rendered speechless by that cheeky smile of Qing Caiyue¡¯s.
He held his naughty thoughts under control, and a wry smile appeared on his lips.
Qing Caiyue looked back at him when she got to the doorway, with a pretty smile on her lips. Xia Lei, however, felt guilty and avoided her gaze. He looked at the Baidu page and quickly refocused his attention somewhere else. A piece of information caught his notice.
The paragraph was about the ¡°hidden secret in Mona Lisa¡¯s eyes¡±. It seemed that there was a letter ¡°A¡± or ¡°B¡± in her left eye, and a letter ¡°E¡± in her right eye.
Xia Lei immediately discounted the theory that it was the letter ¡°B¡±. An indescribable excitement rose in his heart. ¡®AE! Is this the secret that the Mona Lisa is hiding? The painting is rted to the secret of AE and it¡¯s a clue? Ning Jing kept telling me ¡°Mona Lisa¡±, so this is not a coincidence. Looks like I¡¯ll have to go to France before I go to Italy!¡¯
¡°Director Xia.¡± Qing Caiyue appeared in the doorway again.
Xia Lei looked at and nced at her. ¡°Yeah? What is it?¡±
¡°A gentleman surnamed Yu is here to see you.¡± She then added, ¡°And a youngdy surnamed Tang.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came from outside just as Qing Caiyue was done talking. ¡°Do you want a secretary, Directory Xia? I¡¯d like to change professions. I¡¯ll be your secretary.¡±
Tang Yuyan walked in with a sly smile on her face. ¡°Look, am I pretty, Director Xia? My figure¡¯s not bad either, right? C¡¯mon, take me.¡±
A headache abruptly descended on Xia Lei. She didn¡¯t make it seem like he was looking for a secretary at all, but like a jibe at him hiring based off looks and that he was a perverted boss.
Qing Caiyue frowned. She was unhappy, but she was no fool. Tang Yuyan dared to act this way in front of Xia Lei, so this meant that she did not have a normal rtionship with Xia Lei, right? Qing Caiyue did not want to offend such a person.
Yu Shanhe walked in too. He was the ¡°Mr Yu¡± whom Qing Caiyue had spoke of, and Xia Lei had guessed that already. However, he could not guess what Yu Shanhe was here for. Tang Yuyan too ¡ª he did not understand why she hade here with Yu Shanhe.
¡°We meet again, Mr Xia.¡± Yu Shanhe greeted him with a smile.
Xia Lei stood and also put a smile on his face. ¡°Ah, Mr Yu. Wee, wee. Please have a seat.¡± He then said, ¡°Caiyue, bring two cups of tea over.¡±
¡°Yes, Director Xia,¡± said Qing Caiyue obediently.
Tang Yuyan peeked at Qing Caiyue¡¯s buttocks and tsked. ¡°What a plump rump. Beautiful, sexy. Yep, that¡¯s the sort of secretary you should hire.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Ahem.¡± Yu Shanhe cleared his throat. This sort of talk from Tang Yuyan was at best a joke, but seemed more like flirtatious banter.
Tang Yuyan then straighten up, but there was still some anger in her eyes when she looked at Xia Lei. She liked Xia Lei, and wanted him. This was an open secret in Bureau 101, but Xia Lei had not acted on this at all, and it brought her a lot of frustration. How could she not be mad at him?
Xia Lei avoided Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze. ¡°Um. Mr Yu, I trust you bear good tidings?¡±
¡°You are right, Mr Xia. I have indeede with good news,¡± said Yu Shanhe with augh.
¡°What news?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s side and nudged his heel lightly with her toe.
This seemed to be a signal for something. Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped, but he made no outward reaction.
Yu Shanhe had not noticed Tang Yuyan¡¯s small movement. He said, ¡°Are you still unaware? Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Hellhound One-soldier Cannon has performed very well in the Middle East wars. It¡¯s now highly sought after in the whole world.¡±
Xia Lei paused. He had not been aware that the Hellhound One-soldier had been used on the battlefield in the Middle East. If this was true, then it was a good thing for Thunder Horse Military Factory. But Yu Shanhe had note here just to congratte him, had he?
Chapter 686
Yu Shanhe didn¡¯t exin any further. He took out an Apple iPad mini out of hi business briefcase and handed it to Xia Lei. ¡°Look at it, there¡¯s a video in it. It¡¯s a video of the battle between the Syrian government and the terrorists. You will know how popr your Hellbound One-soldier Cannon is after watching it.¡±
Xia Lei logged into the iPad mini and a broadcasting interface appeared on the screen. He clicked the y button to start the video.
The video showed an array of Syrian soldiers attacking a vige that was upied by the terrorists. A Russian T90 tank appeared on the scene and impressively opened fire at an abandoned residential building. The sound of the bombs was deafening with mes bursting and debris flying everywhere amidst the smoke. But the terrorists hiding inside the residential building still haven¡¯t been killed, and they took revenge by firing back immediately.
The adjusted the direction of the gun turret of the T90 tank immediately as they got ready to fire the second round. However, a glimmer of me shed suddenly next to the residential building without waiting for the tank to fire for the second round. In the blink of an eye, the fire hit the gun turret of the T90 tank. After a loud bang, the turret of the T90 tank shattered into flying pieces. The violent fire prated the cockpit of the tank. The driver screamed as he jumped out of the tank, but he quickly fell on the ground and stopped moving. Soon after, the ammunition inside the tank exploded; the scene was terrifying.
¡°That is the Tao anti-tank missile made by the Americans. It¡¯s the world¡¯s most advanced anti-tank missile,¡± Tan Yuyan said.
¡°It¡¯s indeed difficult to deal with it. After all, it was able to eliminate Russia¡¯s most advanced tank,¡± Xia Lei said. He was a little moved.
The video was still ying.
The Syrian government army¡¯s tank was eliminated. The infantry lost its protection and they suddenly fell into a passive situation with its firepower assistants. The terrorists who were hiding in the ruins took this opportunity to attack. Under the protection of their heavy-duty machine guns and rocket artillery, they began counterattacking. They had twice the number of soldierspared to the Syrian soldiers. All the weapons they had equipped on them were made by the Americans, so their equipment was far superior than the weapons the Syrian government army had.
Under this circumstance, the Syrian government army would either be killed off or captured. If they were captured, what awaited them would be a cruel beheading execution.
At this time, the camera¡¯s focus shifted over to a corner; two Syrian soldiers quickly took out two Hellbound One-soldier Cannon from their engineering stic box. In less than a minute, they were able to finish the operation ofbining the artillery with themselves and loading the cannon. Soon after, they brought the two Hellbound One-soldier Cannon and positioned themselves at the rear side of the battlefield.
No matter which angle you looked at it, it was wrong to ce the base of the cannon on top of a person¡¯s shoulder. This was because the recoil of the cannon after it was shot will destroy one¡¯s shoulder in a second. Although it looked both unscientific and weird to put the cannon on top of the shoulder, this format will acquire a new advantage once the problem of the recoil was fixed. The movement speed, aiming speed, and the firing speed would then be much faster because humans will be the weapon¡¯s shelf.
Once the two soldiers operating the Hellbound One-soldier Cannons entered the battlefield, they immediately began firing.
Boom! The sudden burst of mes sent the terrorists flying. In a sh, corpse, and fragments of dead bodies littered the ground.
¡°They are using the shrapnel made by the Thunder Horse Military Factory, which was made for killing people,¡± Tan Yuyan said. Her eyes were full of admiration.
Even without her exnation, Xia Lei already knew what artillery shell the SYrian government army had used. Although he knew, he was still astonished by the weapons he designed and built.
The terrorist¡¯s military offense copsed, but their nightmare still wasn¡¯t over. The two Hellbound One-soldier Cannons fired a few more shots. They easily destroyed the opponent¡¯s firing point like they were a sniper. Even the terrorist snipers that were thousands of miles away were no exception; they were eliminated in one shot. The snipers were unlucky¡ª¡ªthe effective firing range of their sniper gun was shorter than that of the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon!
The two Hellbound One-soldier Cannons reversed the tide of the battle. The terrorists who upied the vige either died or escaped. The Syrian government army seized this opportunity to attack the terrorist and swept everything before them.
In the final scene of the video, the person filming the video said some words in Arabic. He praised Ah and the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. Hisst words were, China¡¯s weaponry was the best in the world!
Xia Lei was happy on the inside, but he remained calm and collected on the surface. He returned the iPad mini to Yu Shanhe and said politely, ¡°Mr. Yu, did youe here just for this? Just to show me this video?¡±
¡°Of course not, this video was acquired from out intelligence personnel and it wasn¡¯t the only video either. The Western countries¡¯ intelligence personnel also acquired some simr videos. This was the reason why I had said that your Hellbound One-soldier Cannon is very popr,¡± Yu Shanhe said.
¡°Thank you. This is indeed good news.¡± Xia Lei knew that Yu Shanhe had some other purpose foring here, but he just didn¡¯t want to ask.
At this time, Qing Caiyue walked in with two cups of tea. She gave a cup of tea to Yu Shanhe and the other cup to Tang Yuyan. During the entire process, Tang Yuyan had been staring at her ass like a female pervert. Qing Caiyue couldn¡¯t do anything, so she escaped Xia Lei¡¯s office like she was escaping from a predator.
After Qing Caiyue left, Yu Shanhe said, ¡°It¡¯s like this, we epted an invitation from the French government. They are preparing to hold an international weaponry exhibition in Paris, and they would like to invite you and your weapons to participate.¡±
Although Xia Lei had tried to guess what Yu Shanhe¡¯s intentions were, he didn¡¯t think it would be anything of this sort.
Tang Yuyang kicked Xia Lei again using the tip of her feet.
Even though she didn¡¯t say anything, Xia Lei understood her hint; she was hinting him not to agree to it. She probably knew of this news from her dad, Tang Tianlong. That was probably also why she followed Yu Shanhe here.
¡°What are your thoughts regarding this, Mr. Xia?¡± Yu Shanhe asked tentatively.
¡°What did the higher-ups say?¡± Xia Lei said after thinking about it for a while.
Tang Yuyan attempted to kick Xia Lei¡¯s heel again. But this time, it seemed like the back of Xia Lei¡¯s head had grown a pair of eyes as he took a small step forward, avoiding her kick.
¡°It¡¯s like this.¡± Yu Shanhe said, ¡°Look, the Thunder Horse Military Factory had only attended Russia¡¯s weapons exhibition and a domestic weapons exhibition, but neither of those were impactful. The weapons exhibition of the Western countries are the ones with the most influence. The Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s goal is to be the best weapons factory in the world and bring pride to the country. The only way to achieve this is to step out of the bubble and challenge the authority of the Western countries¡¯ weaponry. You asked me what the higher-ups thought of this, and this is what they think.¡±
Xia Lei thought about it for a moment. ¡°When will this event take ce?¡±
¡°Half a monthter,¡± Yu Shanhe said.
¡°Where in France?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°Paris.¡± Yu Shanhe continued talking. ¡°If you decide to go, you can leave in two days. After all, you still need time to prepare when you get there.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, you...¡± Tang Yuyan stopped speaking her eyes were filled with worry.
Yu Shanhe¡¯s gaze shifted to Tang Yuyan. ¡°Yuyan, you said you were here coincidentally, but you came to drag me down, right?¡±
It turned out that Tang Yuyan and Yu Shanhe weren¡¯t on the same team.
¡°How am I here to drag you down?¡± Tang Yuyan said. Her one was full of grievance. ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±
¡°You better not say anything,¡± Yu Shanhe said coldly.
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips and stopped talking. However, she was still unwilling to give up; she impatiently looked at Xia Lei. Her big watery eyes blinked at Xia Lei, trying to distract him from making the decision.
How can Xia Lei not understand Tang Yuyan¡¯s intention? He knew very well that Yu Shanhe invited him to attend the France weaponry exhibition with bad intions. By going to France, he would have to face the CIA and the FA Organization. It can be said that he¡¯s entering deep into the tiger¡¯s ten. If he let his guard down even for a second, he will be crushed into pieces. Since he knew about it, even without Tang Yuyan¡¯s concern, he didn¡¯t want to go either. However, his heart couldn¡¯t resist it when he thought about the¡¶Mona Lisa¡·in the Louvre Museum.
Ning Jing constantly warned him about ¡¶Mona Lisa¡·under a strange state of mind. She also reminded him that he was running out of time and ¡°they¡± wereing soon. Under this circumstance, how can he remain calm and do nothing? Hw would be safe if he stayed in China, but how can one obtain the tiger¡¯s cub without entering the tiger¡¯sir?
Since he had already nned to go to Italy, why not openly go to France as well? Besides for the Alloy X project, the Thunder Horse Military Factory also needed to enter the Western market and suppress the arrogance of the Western military weapons industry!
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Lei made the decision quickly. ¡°I¡¯ll go, but who will guarantee my safety?¡±
Yu Shanhe smiled. ¡°Of course, it will be Bureau 101 that will guarantee your safety. I think there¡¯s a candidate in front of us who wants to go to France with you?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s sight shifted to Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan red at Xia Lei as if she wasn¡¯t happy with his decision.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I don¡¯t want protection from bureau 101. I want protection from the country.¡±
¡°Protection from the country? What kind of protection do you mean?¡± Yu Shanhe asked.
¡°I need the identity of an official delegate and I also need my safety guaranteed by the French government.¡±
Yu Shanhe suddenly frowned. ¡°Mr. Xia, your request is over the top. France is the sponsor; how would they guarantee your safety? Also, you are the owner of the Thunder Horse Military Factory, how can you im the identity of an official delegate? This is only such a trifling matter!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged his shoulder. ¡°If that¡¯s the case then I won¡¯t go.¡±
¡°You...¡± Yu Shanhe was angry.
¡°I have my own concerns. I almost diedst time in Germany; if there¡¯s not enough protection this time, I won¡¯t go to France. Otherwise, you can ask Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun to attend the event. Their status is much higher than mine,¡± Xia Lei said.
¡°If I satisfy all your requests, will you go?¡±
¡°Of course, I ¡®ll go if you satisfy all my requests,¡± Xia Lei said.
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll inform the higher-upster. Wait for my call.¡± Yu Shanhe didn¡¯t want to stay here any longer, so he left right after he finished speaking.
Tang Yuyan finally spoke after Yu Shanhe left. ¡°Are you stupid? Can¡¯t you tell that he doesn¡¯t harbor any good intentions for inviting you? He¡¯s trying to find an opportunity for the CIA to murder you. After you die, do you think your father and sister will have the capability to help you guard the Thunder Horse Military Factory?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I won¡¯t die that easily.¡±
Tang Yuyan kicked Xia Lei¡¯s heel. ¡°How could you not understand my heart? I was drenched in a cold sweat when I thought of you risking your life to go to France. Yet you¡¯re still trying to make me angry. You¡¯re a heartless person!"
¡°You should stay for lunch,¡± Xia Lei said.
¡°I don¡¯t care. You have to bring me along with you to France. After a pause, she continued speaking. ¡°You can¡¯t bring Long Bing.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 687
The Mona Lisa, Da Vinci, Bobbio¨Ca small Italian town, the ancient alloy, AE...All of it muddled Xia Lei¡¯s mind. While it his storm of thoughts confused him, it also motivated him. It was clear to see how eager he was to visit both Bobbio and the Louvre in Paris.
He had to go. He had to. To catch a tiger cub, entering a tiger¡¯sir was inevitable. Xia Lei had made his decision already, but he couldn¡¯t decide whether or not to take Bureau 101¡¯s staff along as well.
In the past, Bureau 101¡¯s protection was a necessity for trips to France, but now, Xia Lei had the Zodiac Team. Each member of the team was extraordinarily skilled, and they werepletely capable of protecting him. He would bring them during his journey to France without a doubt, but the decision would turn Bureau 101 into another problem for him. Xia Lei didn¡¯t want Shi Boren or any of the other higher-ups to know that he possessed such a terrifying team.
Before Xia Lei could make a decision regarding the matter, two more new guests entered his office¨CLong Bing and Liang Siyao.
Suddenly, Xia Lei found himself faced with three of Bureau 101¡¯s section chiefs at the same time. No matter what the asion, it wouldn¡¯t be anything good.
¡°Why are the two of you here?¡± asked Tang Yuyan. Xia Lei hadn¡¯t even managed to greet his new guests before the shocked woman interjected.
¡°So I can¡¯te?¡± asked Long Bing in a hushed voice.
Tang Yuyan shrugged and shifted her attention to Liang Siyao, who had begun to speak.
¡°Paris¡¯ weapons and anti-aircraft international military defense system was established in 1992. The exhibition is held once every two years, and is currently the biggest military exhibition in the world. It was initially sponsored by France¡¯s defense and military defense equipment departments, which formed amittee with the goal of hosting the only exhibition to exist at the time that showcased military weaponry and space defense equipment. The exhibition attracted the attention of Europe, Asia, America, Africa, and several hundred ammunitions manufacturers and government organizations. They alle to attend the event, as it is representative of the future of global military weaponry. There will be manufacturers from all five continents and sellers from thousands ofpanies present. Given the magnitude of such an event, how is it that we weren¡¯t informed of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s participation?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
She was the CIA¡¯s intelligence officer, and she was worthy of the title. She knew Europe like the back of her hand.
The corners of Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips curled into a smile. ¡°So it turns out you came for France¡¯s military exhibition as well. You¡¯re well-informed.¡±
Liang Siyao faintly smiled. ¡°Then you¡¯re even more well-informed, Section Chief Tang. You arrived before we did, after all.¡±
¡°You know that I came here first, so don¡¯t stand in my way. I will be apanying Xia Lei to Paris for this mission,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± said Long Bing.
In contrast to Long Bing¡¯s interjection, Liang Siyao chose to stay tactful. ¡°However, I am much more familiar with Europe¡¯s current affairs. Let Xia Lei choose for himself.¡±
The three women all had their eyes on Xia Lei, and he could feel his head aching. Out of the three of them, one was his ex-girlfriend, one was his mistress, and thest woman wanted to marry him. No matter who he chose, he would upset the other two. He could just imagine how difficult they¡¯d be with him.
¡°Uhhh...¡±¨CXia Lei braced himself¨C¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll go alone.¡±
¡°What?¡± The three women were evidently surprised, and couldn¡¯t believe Xia Lei¡¯s decision.
¡°You¡¯re from Bureau 101, which makes you vulnerable because of your status. You¡¯d be in danger the moment you arrived in France,¡± exined Xia Lei.
¡°And wouldn¡¯t you be in danger too?¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes.
¡°I¡¯m aware of what I¡¯m about to face, but I¡¯ve already mentioned my conditions to Yu Shanhe. I¡¯ll be granted official status by the French government, who will also ensure my safety. I¡¯ll be arriving there honourably. Properly. It¡¯s likely that even the CIA wouldn¡¯t darey a finger on me either, right?¡±
¡°You think that the Americans will act ¡®just¡¯ and ¡®honourable¡¯ like you?¡± asked Liang Siyao. ¡°They won¡¯t do anything to you in public, but do you really think that they won¡¯t do anything in secret? To them, the French government¡¯s promises and whatever official status you¡¯re talking about means nothing. It¡¯s not the first time they¡¯ve run amuck, and it won¡¯t be any different. They won¡¯t let you go.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t we all go?¡± asked Long Bing. ¡°You don¡¯t need to choose anyone. The three of us will go to Paris with you.¡±
She was always so kind and caring.
Tang Yuyan opened her mouth as if she wanted to speak, but she only silently agreed instead.
Xia Lei¡¯s head was beginning to hurt again. Now that he couldn¡¯t choose since they were all going, what other excuse could he find to reject them?
At that very moment, Xia Changhe also walked into the office. ¡°He¡¯s right. Let him go by himself. You all have prominent titles, you¡¯d only cause problems for him if you came along. Especially you, Ms Liang. As the CIA¡¯s former intelligence officer and your current role managing information on Europe, you basically have a big target taped to your forehead. The CIA wants to get rid of you. If you went to Paris, would they really let you walk out untouched?¡±
¡°But¨C¡± said Liang Siyao.
Xia Changhe interrupted her again. ¡°Xia Lei is already a target as is, but with you along for the ride, the CIA would have two targets bundled together and presented to them. Same goes for Ms Tang. Think of how many CIA operatives you dispatched in the Middle East. They would definitely want to get rid of you too. As for Ms Long... I won¡¯t talk about your situation. You know it better than I do. If the three of you went, the CIA would be looking at four marks to hit. If just one of you ran into trouble, the rest of you would rush to save them. Isn¡¯t that just what the CIA wants?¡±
The three women became silent. They looked at each other, and found that they couldn¡¯t find anything to use as a rebuttal.
It was true. Xia Lei was a lone mark if he went by himself. If the three of them went together, the CIA could capture any one of them, and their other targets would be forced toe to the rescue. The CIA would act much more provocative, and Xia Lei would be in a highly dangerous situation.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but give his old man a thumbs up. Well-aged ginger is much more potent than a young seedling.
Xia Changhe winked back at his son.
Xia Lei understood what he had to do. ¡°It¡¯s decided. I¡¯ll go by myself. I can handle this anyways, so you don¡¯t need to worry. It¡¯s not the first time that I¡¯vee into contact with the CIA. They can¡¯t do anything to me.¡±
¡°So you got this and you¡¯re strong enough for it too. Is that it?¡± asked Tang Yuyan angrily.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Yeah, yeah. I know you all care about me, but rest assured that nothing will happen...¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think I have the energy to care about you any more,¡± replied Tang Yuyan.
¡°Heh. You should all stay for a meal.¡± Xia Lei was anxious to shift the topic.
¡°Okay.¡± said Liang Siyao. She was smiling. ¡°You¡¯ve built a whole new house but I never had the chance to take a look inside. I can go after we eat.¡±
Long Bing didn¡¯t say anything, but she nodded her head. She was still very worried about Xia Lei.
¡°Director Xia.¡± Qin Caiyue had just joined the group in the office. ¡°A certain Ms Shentu would like to see you.¡±
Qin Caiyue¡¯s words quieted the raucous office. One would be able to hear the sound of a pin drop. There weren¡¯t many people with the surname Shentu, and only one woulde asking for Xia Lei. Whether it was Liang Siyao, Long Bing, or Tang Yuyan, everyone knew that Shentu Tiangyin had arrived. She was Xia Lei¡¯s ex-wife. All three women were wondering the same thing. Why was Shentu Tianyin suddenly looking for Xia Lei?
Even Xia Lei had the same question. ¡°Could she be looking for me because of the exhibition in Paris? I¡¯ll seriously eat the office desk if she is!¡±
¡°Director Xia?¡± Qin Caiyue tried to get his attention again. ¡°If you don¡¯t have the time to see her, I can have her wait in the living room.¡±
Xia Lei snapped out of his trance and said ¡°No, let her¨C¡±
¡°Secretary Qin, can I assume you don¡¯t know who this Miss Shentu is?¡± Tang Yuyan had once again interrupted Xia Lei. He didn¡¯t even get the chance to properly address his assistant.
Qin Caiyue was stunned for a moment before shaking her head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡±
¡°She... she¡¯s your boss¡¯ wife.¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Qin Caiyue¡¯s mouth was wide open in shock. ¡°Sorry?¡±
Tang Yuyan corrected herself. ¡°Well, your boss¡¯ former wife.¡±
Qin Caiyue was speechless.
¡°I see you still have your way with words, Ms Tang..¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s pleasant voice resonated as she walked in.
She wore a long, ck skirt with a matching pair of ck high heels. The outfit was simple and didn¡¯t incorporate any unnecessary essories at all, but it gave off an intensely alluring feeling. She was iparably beautiful, and she was still as imposing as ever. The moment she walked in, she demanded everyone¡¯s attention and everyone gave it.
The only jewelry she wore was the ¡°Divine Heart¡±. It was a pendant ne that Xia Lei had given to her as a gift, but it was originally the same ne that King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, had presented to his sister, Sibyl. It was delicate, yet brilliant and dazzling, and only served to heighten her profoundly regal aura.
Although Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei divorced, she never returned it. In Xia Lei¡¯s defense, was there ever a proper time for him to ask her for the ne back?
¡°Tianyin, you¡¯re here.¡± Xia Lei greeted her with a smile, but he was crying on the inside. Tang Yuyan, Long Bing, and Liang Siyao were already enough to make his head ache, but Shentu Tianyin just had to arrive as well. Xia Lei had absolutely no n to deal with her, and was instead concerned with whether or not his head would explode.
¡°Hmm... I must talk to you. It pertains to a certain matter,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. Then, she came to a sudden realization as she turned to look at Xia Changhe. She decided to continue. ¡°This is fath... uncle?¡±
Normally, a woman would simply address her husband¡¯s father as ¡°father¡±. Naturally, Shentu Tianyin wouldn¡¯t call him that anymore, as she had already divorced with Xia Lei, so she decided to call him ¡°uncle¡± instead.
The corners of Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips curled up into another smile. She suspected that Shentu Tianyin hade wearing the ne Xia Lei gave her on purpose. In fact, she thought everything was on purpose, including the moment where she nearly called Xia Changhe her father.
¡°Hmm... You must be Tianyin.¡± Xia Changhe barely reacted to her.
¡°Father... Uncle.¡± Shentu Tianyin acted as if she felt awkward. ¡°Xia Lei and I...¡±
¡°You two can talk. I have other matters to attend to, so I must take my leave now.¡± Xia Chenghe never liked Shentu Tianyin. He no longer wanted to stay after the simplest of exchanges with her.
Shentu Tianyin sighed softly. She was upset
Meanwhile, Tang Yuyanughed. ¡°If you auction that ne, you¡¯d probably be able to sell it for a few hundred million, right? It¡¯s very beautiful.¡±
She seemed to be saying so for Xia Lei to hear. Since he had already divorced her, wasn¡¯t it stupid not to take back a ne worth a few hundred million?
¡°This was a gift from my husband. Even if it was worth ten billion, I wouldn¡¯t sell it. I know you have one too, but you should know that it doesn¡¯t evene close toparing to mine. If you want to sell yours so badly, I¡¯d be more than happy to give you two hundred million for it. Is that okay?¡± said Shentu Tianyin while still keeping her voice soft.
Tang Yuyan was quick to show her discontent. ¡°Hmph! You make it sound like the Tang Family even needs two hundred million. I¡¯d give you one billion if you wanted to sell yours.¡±
A mysterious smell of gunpowder permeated the office air.
Xia Lei¡¯s felt as if his head really was going to burst. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Tianyin?¡±
¡°One of Vientiane Group¡¯s subsidiarypanies needs machinery goods. I came to discuss the request with you,¡± exined Shentu Tianyin. ¡°I noticed that you built a new house while I was on the way here. How about we continue there?¡±
¡°Alright. Do you want to stay for food too?¡± Xia Lei smiled.
¡°Hmm, then I will cook,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 688
When Shentu Tianyin said that she was going to cook, she really meant it. Without even the slightest hesitation, she tied on an apron and began to rinse the rice and wash the vegetables. Her footsteps covered the kitchen. Only two men in the world had ever eaten her cooking before. The first was her father, Shentu Ren, and the other was Xia Lei. It was a true honour to experience Shentu Tianyin¡¯s cooking, yet Xia Lei could only feel his head throbbing. It was all he felt.
¡°Who does she think she is? Does she think she¡¯s still your wife?¡± In the living room of the Peaceful Residence, Tang Yuyan red at Xia Lei as she questioned him with clear dissatisfaction. ¡°Why is she cooking? Do you not have chefs for that?¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was the next to chime in. ¡°You¡¯re already divorced. What kind of message is she trying to send to us bying over and cooking for everyone?¡±
Xia Leiughed bitterly. ¡°We¡¯re still friends despite the divorce. There isn¡¯t anything wrong with having a friend cook for you, right?¡±
¡°There isn¡¯t anything wrong? Well if there¡¯s nothing wrong with her cooking for you now, I guess there¡¯d also be nothing wrong with her wanting to remarryter on, right?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Who was the one who told them to stay for lunch?
Tang Yuyan wanted nothing more than to thrash on the person who suggested so, even if their surname was Xia, and theirst name was Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze shifted to Long Bing, who was always quiet. She never contributed to the trouble that Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao caused him. As they constantly nagged him, he couldn¡¯t help but think, ¡®A-Bing is the better woman of the three. She¡¯s the most clever by far.¡¯
Then, Long Bing spoke up. ¡°Lei, Shentu Tianyin was never such a simple woman. But if she really did want to remarry, would you agree to it?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He had justplimented her a second ago, but he was quickly having a change of heart.
Long Bing never fought for anything, and she never cared about which women he had previously been with. The only thing she did care about was Shentu Tianyin remarrying him, and it was for no other reason than the fact that Shentu Tianyin was a very powerful woman. She definitely wouldn¡¯t allow her to stay with Xia Lei anymore. How could Long Bing remain calm when Shentu Tainyin¡¯s very presence threatened her ce beside Xia Lei?
¡°You said that you¡¯d go to France by yourself, which isn¡¯t a problem. But I won¡¯t allow it if you want to remarry Shentu Tianyin,¡± said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao¡¯s gazesnded on Long Bing simultaneously.
¡°What does Xia Lei remarrying have anything to do with you? So what if you don¡¯t agree to it?¡± Tang Yuyan was clearly provoked by Long Bing¡¯s sudden warning.
Meanwhile, Liang Siyao¡¯s expression was also strange as she perplexedly asked, ¡°Could it be...? You two?¡±
Long Bing didn¡¯t admit to anything, but she also did nothing to exin otherwise. She instead allowed the other two women to guess what was going on between her and Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s head was aching more by the moment. ¡°Aren¡¯t we just eating lunch? Why are you guys making things soplicated?¡±
¡°Is itplicated?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°Is itplicated?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
¡°Is itplicated?¡± asked Long Bing.
Xia Lei was speechless.
Then, Liang Siyao suddenly asked, ¡°Even if you wanted to get back together with someone, it shouldn¡¯t be with Shen Tianyin, right?¡±
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan both turned to Liang Siyao in unison. It was easy to tell what she was really trying to say. If he was going to get back together with someone, then it only made sense that he¡¯d do so with her, his ex-girlfriend, and not Shentu Tianyin.
Was there even a saying for something like that?
Tang Yuyan cleared her throat. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t try to relive the past. Lei, haven¡¯t you been deceived by enough women? If you¡¯re going to remarry, find a woman of the same standing as you. Find one that won¡¯t lie to you.¡±
¡°What do you mean, Tang Yuyan?¡± Liang Siyao was quick to show her displeasure.
¡°What else could I possibly mean? Don¡¯t misunderstand. I wasn¡¯t talking about you.¡± Tang Yuyan followed up with a smile.
¡°You...¡± Liang Siyao was at a loss for words.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes swept over the three women who viewed each other as enemies at the moment, and thought to himself, ¡®We haven¡¯t even started eating, but they¡¯re already like this. When we finally do start eatingter on, will they end up threatening my life? You¡¯re so stupid, Xia Lei! Why did you invite them to stay for lunch?¡±
Then, Sylvia and Annina also walked in.
¡°Hi, Lukas. I heard from Ms Qin that you were inviting people to have lunch in your house, so Sylvia and I decided not to eat in the dining hall. We returned home to eat instead,¡± said Annina. She smiled, unaware of how tense the atmosphere was. There may as well have been the pungent smell of gunpowder and vinegar hanging in the room.
But not just anybination of gunpowder and vinegar could urately depict the vtility that currently permeated the space. The gunpowder would have had to be the kind that could ignite with even the slightest spark, and a serving of the vinegar would have had to be strong enough to cook 100 sour fish fillets.
¡°Lukas,e to my room after lunch. I have a question I must ask of you, which will require great discussion.¡± Sylvia was even more straightforward.
Though they were blunt, theymunicated with Xia Lei in a way that didn¡¯t make his situation any worse.
Fortunately, Annina and Sylvia spoke in German. The three other women only had a very basic working German vocabry, and thus couldn¡¯tpletely understand what was being said.
But even though they couldn¡¯t understand, Xia Lei felt like there was still fire under his feet. There was no time for him to sit still. He immediately stood up, walked towards the two German women, and addressed them professionally. ¡°So there¡¯s a problem with the tank¡¯s engine? We can talk about this out there.¡±
Before the two were able to snap out of their trances, Xia Lei was already out the door. He turned around and asked, ¡°Why are you still standing there?¡±
Annina and Sylvia briefly looked at each other before deciding to follow Xia Lei out the door.
Xia Lei led them to a corner far from the living room. ¡°Why are you here?¡±
¡°To eat,¡± dered the two German women simultaneously.
¡°Then go to the dining hall for now. I¡¯ll personally cook for you tonight if you do.¡± Xia Lei tried to keep hisposure as well as he could.
They responded with perfect unison once again. ¡°Why?¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Can¡¯t you see? The three women you saw in there are female agents. We¡¯re currently nning a highly confidential mission, and you obviously aren¡¯t allowed to listen in.¡±
¡°Wow, that sounds exhrating.¡± Sylvia was could barely contain her excitement. ¡°I love watching movies about spies and secret agents. When I was young, my dream was to be a spy. Just thinking about it makes me excited! Lukas, if there¡¯s anything you need me to do, just say the word. I¡¯m not afraid of danger. I¡¯ll do whatever you ask.¡±
¡°Fine. I won¡¯t hesitate to ask if there¡¯s something I need from you.¡± Xia Lei yed along.
¡°Same goes for me. You taught me how to shoot, so I¡¯ll be able to fight on your behalf,¡± said Annina.
¡°Hmm... I won¡¯t hesitate to ask you either, Annina,¡± assured Xia Lei. ¡°For now, follow my orders and eat in the dining hall. You can look forward to my delicious cooking tonight.¡±
¡°Can I make a request?¡± asked Sylvia.
¡°You can. What would you like to eat?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Sweet and sour banana.¡± said Sylvia.
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Heh. I¡¯m only joking with you. We¡¯ll be going now.¡± Sylvia hugged Xia Lei and kissed him on the cheek before setting her sights on his lips.
Annina also hugged him and gave him a kiss. As she bid him farewell, she whispered in his ear, ¡°I don¡¯t want a sweet and sour banana, but I do want yours. I¡¯m not kidding either. I¡¯mpletely serious.¡±
Wrinkles appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s forehead by the time Annina had finished.
He finally sent the two German women off, and savoured the feeling of relief that came with it. Facing six women at once¡ªhis ex-girlfriend, his ex-wife, his three mistresses, and Ms Tang, who had tried to force him into marriage... he didn¡¯t even dare to imagine what could¡¯ve happened.
¡°Those two engineers of mine are truly troublesome. They came all the way just to ask me about something so minor.¡± Xia Lei returned to the living room and did his best toin about them.
¡°So even your engineers are beautiful golden-haired young women. Must be tough,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei was about to say that he was nning on lowering Annina and Sylvia¡¯s wages, but he couldn¡¯t anymore since Tang Yuyan decided to butt in.
¡°Hubby...Oh! I mean, Xia Lei, can youe help?¡± Shentu Tianyin walked out from the kitchen and affectionately called out with her gentle voice..
Xia Lei braced himself before continuing. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Then, he stood up and said, ¡°Uhh, you can chat in the meantime. I¡¯ll see what she needs.¡±
After Xia Lei left, Tang Yuyan suddenly said, ¡°She¡¯s honestly just shameless. Look at how she nags him like that even after they¡¯ve already divorced.¡±
¡°Did she do it on purpose so she can spend some time alone with Xia Lei?¡± asked Long Bing.
¡°I¡¯ll help too.¡± Liang Siyao also got up and headed for the kitchen.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing couldn¡¯t help but turn to face one another in concern.
¡°The ex-girlfriend and ex-wife... Won¡¯t Xia Lei be tricked into something as long as those two are together?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°If you¡¯re so worried, you can keep an eye on them. There¡¯s no point in trying to convince me to,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Then you can just sit here and wait for the food. Fitting for someone aszy as you.¡° Then, Tang Yuyan stood up from her seat and walked to the kitchen as well.
Before Tang Yuyan could make it very far, Long Bing suddenly got up and walked over. ¡°Never mind. I¡¯ll help too.¡±
A few minutester, in the kitchen...
¡°Hey, who washed the vegetables? They¡¯re not even clean.¡±
¡°I washed them. Can¡¯t you just wash them again if you don¡¯t think they¡¯re clean enough?¡±
¡°Are you trying to make sweet and sour pork chops? Someone here actually enjoys a disgusting dish like that?¡±
¡°Xia Lei, my apron is loose. Help me tie it.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, help me wipe the sweat off my forehead. My hands are full.¡±
¡°Xia Lei...¡±
Xia Lei stared at the four women in the kitchen without saying a word. He didn¡¯t want to help anyone tie their apron, wipe the sweat off their forehead, or whatever else they asked of him. All he wanted was to smash his head into a nearby wall, perhaps in front of the four of them.
The dishes were an amalgamation of the four women¡¯s individual cooking skills, which were all finallypleted. Xia Changhe never appeared, and neither did Xia Xue nor Liu Zhengnan. Only Xia Lei dined with the four women.
¡°Lei, have a pork chop. I cooked it.¡±
¡°Lei, eat some eggnt. I cooked it.¡±
¡°Lei, taste this fish I prepared.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, have some meat.¡±
Lunch had just begun, but Xia Lei¡¯s bowl was nearly overflowing. If he ate everything in it, his stomach was guaranteed to burst. If he decided not to eat everything, would the four women at the table even let him? He looked at his bowl and lowered his head. He was bitter to say the least, but couldn¡¯t say anything. He actually felt very fortunate that Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi weren¡¯t there. If they were, it would basically be like holding double kings plus four twos. He¡¯d be bombed to the point where he wouldn¡¯t be able to find north!
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
As Xia Lei silently wallowed in pain, his phone suddenly rang.
Xia Lei checked his phone and answered the moment he saw who was calling.
¡°Mr. Xia, I¡¯ve passed along your condition to my superiors.¡± It was Yu Shanhe¡¯s voice. ¡°They¡¯ve agreed to allow you to go as the Vice President of the Academy of Science after our research has concluded. No one would dare to do anything to someone with such a title.¡±
¡°The Vice President of the Academy of Science? Alright.¡± Xia Lei finally revealed a hint of a smile after the longest time. ¡°What about France?¡±
¡°They¡¯ve also informed France about your situation in detail. The French government has promised that it won¡¯t capture you or anything of the sort. If France has agreed to such terms, other countries will do the same. You won¡¯t need to worry about anything, since you won¡¯t be regarded as a criminal,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
¡°Finally, some peace of mind.¡±
¡°When are you leaving?¡±
¡°Right away. I¡¯ll being now.¡±
¡°Right away?¡± Yu Shanhe was confused. ¡°That quickly?¡±
¡°Yeah, wait for me. I¡¯ll be there as soon as possible.¡± Before Yu Shanhe could ask any further, Xia Lei hung up. He then stood up and said, ¡°Enjoy the food, everyone. I have an urgent matter to attend to, so I¡¯ll be taking my leave.¡±
The four women stared straight at him.
Xia Lei turned around and left. He never looked back and didn¡¯t stop for anything.
If he continued eating lunch with them, he would¡¯ve been putting his life in danger. If he didn¡¯t leave when he was given the chance, when else could he?
Chapter 689
CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, US.
Gu Kewen ced down the report in her hand, her lips formed a smile, "France? Hehehe, perfume beauty, you will definitely acquire results, but it might not be the results that you were expecting."
The report she had just looked at was thetest information. The content of this information was that the Xia Lei was about to attend Paris¡¯s international weapon gallery.
When she thought of Xia Lei, Gu Kewen did something weird. She reached her hand into her pants and touched the scar above the fullness. This scar was given to her by Xia Lei. It itched and she gnashed her teeth.
Knock, knock, knock came the sound of door knocks.
Gu Kewen¡¯s hand came out of her pants, she looked at the office door and said, "Come in."
An agent of Korean descent came in, "Boss, the director wants to see you."
"I got it, I¡¯ll be right there." Gu Kewen put away the report on the table.
There was the exact same report on Williams table. There were also two other customers seated in his office. One of them was Sylvia¡¯s boyfriend, Adolf Hillman. The other was the CIA¡¯s supervisor of Europe, Sean.
The moment Gu Kewen came in the door, she saw the report on William¡¯s desk, she said, "Mr. Williams, you guys already knew?"
Williams nodded his head, "Sit."
Gu Kewen caught Sean¡¯s eye and then moved her eyes to Adolf Hillman. He nodded slightly at Gu Kewen as a greeting.
"Xia Lei will be going to France to attend the international weapon gallery. This was the information that just came from France." William¡¯s went straight to the point.
Gu Kewen replied, "I also just got the report. The information came from China."
Williams said, "I do not care where the information came from, what I want are the results. Last time with the fish fork n failed, the higher ups are starting to doubt our abilities. We must catch Xia Lei this time no matter what. We must not fail."
"I will do my best," said Gu Kewen. For some reason, the scar on her butt started to itch but it was not not to scratch it in front of three men.
"What I want is not is do your best but the result." Williams eyes were heartless, "This time you will work with Sean. Mr. Adolf Hillman will also participate in this action. This time you must catch Xia Lei in France without fail."
Gu Kewen exined, "The information says that Xia Lei is attending as the Chinese Academy of Sciences¡¯ vice principal and the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Director. We..."
"Vice principal of the Academy of Sciences?" Williamsughed coldly, "This fake identity cannot protect him. Even if we catch him in France, the only thing that the Chinese government will be able to do is object. Have we not heard enough objections? One more makes no difference."
The corner of Gu Kewen¡¯s mouth showed a hint of a smile, "I got it. Paris will be Xia Lei¡¯s final life destination."
"Get prepared. One hourter, you and your me will board the ne to Paris." Said Williams.
Gu Kewen left William¡¯s office.
"Sean, how much of Xia Lei¡¯s secrets do you think Gu Kewen knows?" Asked Williams suddenly.
"I am not sure." Sean thought for a second, "But from but experience, I think she knows a little bit but not a lot. She does not have the information channel about this afterall."
Adolf Hillman joined in, "The fewer people who know the better. This was also the reason why we have continued to protect this secret. Xia Lei¡¯s secrets are too important to us, it could even start a human revolution. If I were to measure Xia Lei¡¯s value, then he is immeasurable. For him, it is even necessary to start a war."
This was the American government¡¯s perspective. To get Xia Lei, they were even willing to go to war!
Since they were even willing to pay such a price, why would the people of the CIA care about the identity of the vice principal of the Academy of Sciences that Xia Lei used this time?
Williams looked at Sean, "Sean, do you know what to do?"
Sean nodded, "This time I will bring Xia Lei back to Langley at all costs."
The corner of Williams¡¯ mouth turned into a slight smile, "And there is Gu Kewen, keep an eye on her. Do not let here in contact with any more of Xia Lei¡¯s secrets. If there is the need to, it is not like she cannot be sacrificed."
"I know what to do." There was no expression on Sean¡¯s face.
A few minutester, Adolf Hillman knocked at Gu Kewen¡¯s office door.
"Mr. Adolf Hillman, is there something you need?" Gu Kewen was not interested in the handsome blond man in front of her.
"It¡¯s like this." Adolf Hillman was very courteous, "You are the CIA¡¯s supervisor of Asia, you have control over Asia¡¯s information system so I want to ask you about someone."
"Who?"
"Sylvia," Said Adolf Hillman. "She is my girlfriend but she stayed in China to work for Xia Lei."
Gu Kewen replied, "There is not much value behind the information about Sylvia. I¡¯m sorry that I cannot help you. However, ording to my knowledge of Xia Lei, I would advise you to find a new girlfriend."
"What do you mean?" An unhappy expression appeared on Adolf Hillman¡¯s face.
Gu Kewen shrugged, "Doesn¡¯t the fact that your girlfriend is willing to stay in China to work for Xia Lei exin the problem? There are very few women that can resist Xia Lei¡¯s charms. His strength to seduce a woman is all over his body. Do you understand now that I have said it this way?"
Adolf Hillman¡¯s face darkened.
To a man, there was nothing more humiliating than having their woman stolen by another man.
"Mr. Adolf Hillman, is there anything else you need?"
"No more, thank you." Adolf Hillman left Gu Kewen¡¯s office.
Gu Kewen smiled coldly, "Quietly wear your cuckold. Who knows how many times Sylvia has been done by Xia Lei. One hat each time, you can even start a hat store, cuckold king."
At the same time at China¡¯s international airport.
"Kiddo, do you really not want my people to protect you?" Shi Boren asked Xia Lei next to a Boeing 747. This was the fifth time he had asked.
Xia Lei smiled, "Boss Shi, I know that you are worried about me, I thank you. I have already thought it through, I will not make any more changes."
"You are sure one stubborn kiddo. Have you thought about the consequence of doing it this way?"
"I have but this is the correct way to do it. Do not worry, I have a strong g life, I will not die."
Shi Boren rolled his eyes at him, "You think you are a cat with nine lives? How about you take my stepdaughter with you? Yuyan is careful and knows how to take care of people."
Xia Lei was speechless.
"*Sigh*I do not know what the higher ups are thinking. You are literally our national treasure, if something happens to you that would be a great loss. It cannot even made up for."
Xia Leiughed as he said, "I am not a panda. I can actually understand the higher ups¡¯ decision. No matter how good our country¡¯s military products are and no matter how cheap we sell it, it still does not open a market. Why is that? Because there are international bias and even discrimination towards us. This is very bad for the development of our military industry. France¡¯s weapon gallery is a chance, a chance for our military industry to make a name for ourselves, a chance to give back to the Western world¡¯s arrogance and prejudice. If our country¡¯s military industry wants to go out there to open the door to the international market, this step is a must. If I want to change our current situation, this risk is nothing."
This was one of the reasons, the other reason was naturally "Mona Lisa", and Italy¡¯s Bobbio town. Privately or publicly, this trip to France was an inevitable.
Shi Boren hugged Xia Lei, "Nevermind, I will stop persuading you. I just have one sentence, be careful. I will not forgive you if you came back from France with even a single less strand of hair."
"Go now, there are still people waiting to say goodbye. I do not want their resentment." Shi Boren pushed Xia Lei away.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly and then walked toward the air stairs. At the air stair entrance stood three women. The three section chiefs of Bureau 101, Long Bing, Tang Yuyan, and Liang Siyao. For some reason, since the lunch they had together 2 days ago, he started feeling ufortable by the three female section chiefs appearing together. He kept feeling like there would be in some trouble.
"Come back alive." Tang Yuyan was the first to open her mouth, "Remember, there are still people here waiting for your return."
This sentence was the same as a confession.
Xia Lei nodded his head and answered with a light "Yeah."
"Do not be stubborn and do not leave the team," Liang Siyao warned.
Xia Lei nodded again and answer with a light "Yeah."
Long Bing said nothing. She walked in front of Xia Lei and reached out to help him fix the cor of his shirt.
She was still the same as always, if she could do it, then she would not say it. But it was just this simple move that warmed Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
But Long Bing¡¯s caring act provoked Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao. Both women¡¯s lips curled.
Xia Lei said, "You should all go back. When I return, I will bring you all France¡¯s native products."
"What native products does France have?" It was not easy to coax Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei thought for a moment, "Uh, arent perfume and cosmetics France¡¯s native products? I buy you guys authentic French perfumes and authentic French cosmetics."
"Then I want two sets." The corner of Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth finally showed a smile.
"I want three sets," said Liang Siyao.
Long Bing only stared at Xia Lei without a word.
Xia Lei asked, "You do not want it? I will still buy it for you even if you do not want it."
A smile appeared on Long Bing¡¯s face.
They talked a little longer before Xia Lei finally boarded the ne. When he boarded he saw that Mu Jian-Feng and Ye Kun were also on the ne. The two only looked at him without even bothering to greet him.
It was not a surprise to Xia Lei that the two were on the ne since Mu Jian-Feng and Ye Kun were the old Directors of the country¡¯s military industry. France¡¯s weapon gallery was kind of like a grand event for all the military industries in the world, they would not miss it. However these two people were alwaysing up with some trouble, so what would they hatch out this time?
Somehow Xia Lei felt worried.
The ne quickly took flight. Xia Lei¡¯s eyes looked through the ne body and onto the track behind it. He saw the three section chiefs of Bureau 101 still standing there watching the ne fly away.
Women...
Xia Lei tested his chin on his hand because his brain somehow felt heavier.
Chapter 690
Not far from Charles de Gaulle Airport was the destination, Paris Villepinte Exhibition Centre. It was Europe¡¯srgest exhibition center.The biennial International Army Weapons Exhibition would be held here. The relevant personnels from China were arranged at a five-star hotel called "Paris Star" next to the Villepinte Exhibition Center.
Xia Lei did not bring many men, only Qing Caiyue and a few employees with exhibiting experience. There was also Yelena but she would not be involved with the exhibition work. She would act the role of the bodyguard. Of course, these are only the employees that showed up. Way before Xia Lei had left for Paris, the Zodiac team and others had already arrived in Paris. They were undercover in the areas around Xia Lei, working to protect him and at the same time waiting for his orders.
Xia Lei¡¯s room was on the top floor of the Star of Paris, a presidential suite that overlooked the Villepinte Convention Center.
¡°Director Xia, if you need anything just tell me, my room is next to yours.¡± said Qing Caiyue after she had helped Xia Lei with his luggage.
"Okay, thank you," said Xia Lei.
Qing Caiyue smiled, ¡°Director Xia, what are you being courteous for? I am your secretary, these are all a part of my job.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°The exhibition has yet to start. You will take our men to arrange the exhibition area during these few days. You can also represent me to negotiate with merchants if theye.¡±
¡°This...Director Xia, I am fine with arranging the exhibition area, but the negotiation...how can I do that?¡± Qing Caiyue could not believe the Xia Lei gave her this kind of job. How was this a secretary¡¯s job? This was a proprietress¡¯ job.
She did not know why she would think of the key word ¡°proprietress,¡± but once she thought of it, her face flushed red and the way she looked at Xia Lei was also different.
How would Xia Lei know what kinds of things his secretary was thinking, he said, ¡°Of course it is fine. If I say you can do it, then you can. Tomorrow you will bring some men to the the exhibition hall. You can give me a call if you need help solving something.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t go to see our exhibition?¡±
Xia Lei exined, ¡°There are still some things I have to take care of tomorrow. All right then, there is nothing else, you should go back to rest.¡±
¡°Then...I will take my leave.¡± Qing Caiyue turned to leave, her feet suddenly took a turn and her body went backward to fall on the ground. Perhaps she was trying to maintain her bnce as her right leg went into the air, the OL skirt scrunched toward her waist, and her snow white thigh was exposed.
But in the end she did not fall on the floor.
Xia Lei grabbed onto her waist and hugged her. Her waist was very slim. It gave him the feeling that if he were to use a little more force her waist would snap.
Luckily, Qing Caiyue was unable to keep doing the action in the air for a long time. She lowered her leg and Xia Lei quickly helped her up. After he had lost the bodily contact, he felt much more rxed.
¡°Director Xia, thank you. If not for you I would have definitely fallen.¡± said Qing Caiyue with her face red. As she talked, the corner of her eyes lingered on Xia Lei¡¯s pants. The obvious change in that ce was discovered by her and the corner of mouth turned into a smile that was hard to notice.
¡°No problem, no problem. Go back and rest.¡± Xia Lei felt extremely awkward.
The mysterious smile on the corner of Qing Caiyue¡¯s mouth immediately vanished. This was not supposed to be the way things were supposed to go. The way it was supposed to be was that the overbearing president would urgently jump at her but Xia Lei had told her to go back to her room to rest. The ¡°idental trip¡± was performed so well yet it was wasted.
Actually, from the way things were going, Xia Lei had realized Qing Caiyue¡¯s thoughts. In this world there are too many examples of female secretaries who seduced their boss and then became the boss themselves. Men conquer women by conquering the world and women conquer men to conquer the world. There are too many things on him that Qing Caiyue wanted, money, status, and appearance. But other than a job, he cannot give her anything lse.
"Then, then I will go back?" Qing Caiyue said this like a question. Her meaning was very obvious, if you do not eat now then you will not be able toter.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Go rest. You must be tired from such a long ne ride. Sleep well, tomorrow we will bring people with us to arrange the exhibition hall.¡±
Qing Caiyue nodded her head in disappointment and left Xia Lei¡¯s bedroom.
¡®Why am I getting more and more sensitive? My ability to focus was really good in the past but now whenever I get provoked, I would think of those kind of things. Could it be that the evolution of the AE has already spread to my hormonal system? Hopefully this is the peak. If it continues to evolve, I would probably be a man like King Zhou or Yang Guang.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were a mess.
The evolution that the AE capsule gave him came step by step. First it was his left eye and then it was his brain. Now it manifested with his ability as a man. His left eye¡¯s ability and his super brain gave him extraordinary sess but his ability as a man made him felt speechless. He understood his own changes. In the past he was a dedicated man extraordinary focus and would never easily get into a rtionship with a woman. But what about now? He had already turned into a yboy who lived life like a game. The focus that he had before had also already flown to who knows where. How could he let this continue?
¡°Wait.¡± As his mind was wandering, Xia Lei¡¯s brain suddenly thought of something, ¡®The AE capsule causes my body to evolve. My left eye is close to perfect, my brain is also close to perfect. It is causing my brain to be perfect step by step. Causing my body to evolve close to perfection, this is almost like a pattern. That means that the evolution of his ability as a man that urred during this period would also be...close to perfection?¡¯
It was naturally the stronger the better that his eye and brain were evolving close to perfection. But if his ability as a man were to also to evolve to that extreme extent, wouldn¡¯t that be too over the top?
Other men would always wish for themselves to be stronger in that aspect but he was scared that he himself would get even stronger in that aspect. If he were to make this secret public, he would undoubtedly be the enemy of every man in the world.
Lastly, he thought of thest AE capsule.
¡°Close to perfection and not absolute perfection. That means that there is still room for my left eye and my brain to be even stronger. If I eat thest AE capsule, will my left eye and my brain will evolve to its utmost perfected state? How would that feel? Absolute perfection, absolute perfection...¡± He could figure out veryplicated calctions but he could not imagine the state of ¡°absolute perfection.¡±
To eat or not to eat thest AE capsule, this question was ced in front of him once again.
Doing dong, ding dong...
The sound of the doorbell suddenly came from outside.
Xia Lei stood up from his bed. His left eye jumped slightly and the bedroom door vanished in his left eye¡¯s view.
There were three people outside the door, two men, one woman. A man in his fifties, with a plump figure, his skin was white and clear, and was well dressed. You could tell that he had a good background. The other man was in his early thirties. He was well built, with sharp eyes. There were calluses on his phnx, from this it was to tell that he was someone who was engaged in long-termbat training. Thest woman was in her twenties. She had long blond hair, a pair of blue eyes, and a height of about 190 cm yet her figure was very curvy.
Xia Lei had not seen any of these three people before.
Before Xia Lei could go open the door, Yelena came out from the room across. She did not say anything but rather just stared at the three people in front of the door.
The young man of the three turned his head and looked at her almost the moment she had opened the door. His eyes looked on alert.
Yelena only showed her face and then retreated back into her room. She was the chicken of the Zodiac team who specialized in clearingtent targets. She had her own way of judging things. She appeared, she left, this actually already proved that these three people are not of threat.
This scene naturally did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eye. Right after Yelena had returned to her room, he went to open the door.
"You guys are..." asked Xia Lei. His French was a bit stiff.
"Hehe, Mr. Xia, this is our first time meeting each other." The older man smiled as he said, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Chretien, I came from France¡¯s weaponry department. This is my assistant, Jacqueline Eva."
The girl with the blond hair greeted Xia Lei with a smile.
Chretien introduced the man beside him, "This is Captain Eriksson. He came from the Gendarmerie Commando. He will be in charge of your safety in France."
Eriksson also greeted Xia Lei with a nod.
So they were people from the French government.
Xia Lei moved aside from the door. He wore a smile, "Come in, pleasee in and talk."
Jacqueline Evaplimented him with a smile, "Mr. Xia, your French is very good. I was originally supposed to be the trantor but you made my existence very awkward."
"I can speak a little French but I¡¯m not too good," said Xia Lei. But the truth was, his brains contained all the French words and knowledge in this world. The reason his French was a little stiff when he talked was because after he French he had almost never used it. But if you gave him some time, he would be able to get rid of this barrier.
The three French people entered Xia Lei¡¯s room. Chretien got straight to the topic, "Mr. Xia, you are the most important honored guest that we had invited. This time, I am here to talk with you as a representative of our French government. Before I start, I would like you to make a pledge if that is okay."
"What might that pledge be?" Asked Xia Lei. In his heart he had already guessed the motive of the three French people.
"It is very simple. Do not reveal the contents of our conversation."
Xia Lei smiled, "That is not a problem but what will we talk about?"
Chapter 691
Eriksson stood at the door, his back to the door. He stood there with hisrge built like a statue, giving people an imposing aura.
France¡¯s national Gendarmerie, that was one of the world¡¯s top ten special forces, their reputation was notorious.
It ttered Xia Lei that the French government actually sent the captain of the Gendarmerie to protect his safety.
¡°Mr. Xia, I will be straight with you.¡± Chretien began to say, ¡°I came representing the French government. We received a report that you built a XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle production line in Germany and even gave them two Thunder Dragon intelligentthes. Is that true?¡±
¡°Yes that is true.¡± Xia Lei did not try to hide it. The EU had a shared information system. Although they are an alliance, there existed rivalries between member countries. The eavesdropping and surveilling are endless. Looking at it from this situation, it was not a surprise that France acquired relevant information. Since the French had already known, then there was no meaning in denial.
¡°What did you guys get from Germany?¡± Chretien stared straight at Xia Lei observing for any changes in his expression.
Xia Lei replied calmly, ¡°This, I do not know. I am only an entrepreneur. I design and produce my own products. There are things that I do not know and cannot make the decision for.¡±
¡°You Chinese are the best group of businessmen that I had ever seen. Do not tell me that you guys did not get anything from the Germans.¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Since you already have your answer why did you stille ask me? I had made it very clear that I am only an entrepreneur. Can I represent the Chinese government to do a business deal with the German government? I do not have this qualification. The higher ups also will not tell me what they had received from the Germans. That was how it was. Mr. Chretien, if you came to check on the authenticity of your information, then I am afraid that you will be disappointed and you also came to the wrong ce.¡±
¡°No no no, there is no way that I came to the wrong ce,¡± Chretien showed a smile, ¡°Mr. Xia, do you know how many cases we have broken to bring you to France? Other military enterprises have to sign up in order to attend. Not only do they have to pay the fees for participating in the exhibition, they also have to take up the corresponding responsibilities. But you did not have to pay any fees, even they this hotel was arranged by us. The other exhibitors do not enjoy this kind of treatment. In addition, we also have Captain Eriksson here to assure your safety. He is not someone you can easily ask for. Most, most importantly, we thought that you are still under the pressure of America, we have already strictly rejected some of America¡¯s harsh requests. We have paid so much, how could I havee to the wrong ce?¡±
He said so much, but what he meant was, what the Germans got from you, we also want it.
Something else he did not say was, what the Germans gave you, we can also give you.
The conversation had carried so far and Xia Lei was aware of the purpose of the three French people. But he kept quiet and instead said calmly, ¡°Mr. Chretien, I thank you for the special treatment but I still do not understand, what are youing for?¡±
¡°Mr. Xia, you are an extremely smart person, I think you should know our motive right?¡± said Chretien.
Xia Lei shook his head looking extremely confused, ¡°Mr. Chretien, I really do not know. I specialize in designing weapons but I am not good at guessing other people¡¯s thoughts so if there is anything that you want to say, please say it.¡±
Chretien and his assistant Jacqueline Eva looked at each other.
After they had looked at each other, Jacqueline Eva became the spokesperson, ¡°Mr. Xia, we also want your XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle¡¯s production line and your Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. The price that the Germans were willing to pay, we are also willing to pay. The reason we have brought you to France was to make this deal with you.¡±
It was just as he had thought.
A new conjecture formed in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. Those words should be said by Chretien yet they were said by Jacqueline Eva. And there was also thatmunication through their eyes. Could it be that the overseer was not Chretien but this young French woman? If that was so, she could not be Chretien¡¯s assistant so what was her identity?
This meticulous observation created a veil over Jacqueline Eva¡¯s identity and this situation became more interesting.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei hesitated and he looked like he was in a difficult position, ¡°You guys should have talked with my government, why did you guyse find me? I am only an entrepreneur, I really cannot do anything about politics and diplomacy.¡±
Jacqueline Eva exined, ¡°If we can talk directly with your government, then we will not have to spend so effort to bring you here. The situation in France is different from Germany. Germany is the strongest country of the EU alliance. I am sure that I do not have to tell how powerful their manufacturing industry is. That is why they do not care about the American¡¯s attitude, but we are different. We cannot coborate with your government like the Germans did since we cannot go without America¡¯s support on many international affairs.¡±
The closest ally to America was first Ennd and then France. In the second world war, Britain, America, France were the main forces of the anti-fascism alliance and Germany yed the exact role of the enemy. Although that was long in the past, the problems left behind would not disappear within a few decades. There were still many people who viewed America as enemies in Germany. And when these people enter into the politics, they certainly would not care about the feelings of Americans on some matters.
Xia Lei was silent before he finally said, ¡°What you mean is that you guys want to have a deal with me in private without letting the American or the Chinese government know?¡±
Jacqueline Eva showed a sweet smile, ¡°That is exactly what we mean, so we came here.¡±
¡°How about this, this is a big matter, can you please allow me some time to think about it?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That is definitely not a problem. We were not expecting Mr. Xia to make a decision within a few minutes either.¡± Chretien said, ¡°You can think about it carefully and then we can schedule another time to talk in detail. Eriksson will stay, he and his men will be responsible for your safety. Although we had rejected America¡¯s harsh requests, we still hope that you can avoid appearing in public or go out alone.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Would that not be very boring? I was really looking forward to France. Paris¡¯s fashion and romance is widely known. If I cannot even go onto the streets and keep hiding in the hotel, then didn¡¯t Ie for nothing? I really want to go see the Louvre Museum, can I?¡±
¡°This...¡± Chretien and Jacqueline Eva looked at each other.
Xia Lei knotted his browns, ¡°The way you guys said it was very nice, but I do not see your sincerity. If you guys came to China, I would definitely take you guys to the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, wherever you guys want to go, I would take you, I would arrange everything for you guys. But now that I am here at your ce, I cannot even go to the Louvre Museum, boring.¡±
Chretien said in a hurry, ¡°Mr. Xia, it is not that we are insincere, it is a small matter that you want to go to the Louvre Museum, but, but...we need to think of your safety. You do not want to have anything happen to you just because you went to the Louvre Museum do you?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged his shoulders, ¡°You guys can leave, I will go to the Louvre Museum by myself. I am not a criminal, I can go where I want to go, they cannot do anything about it even if it is America. You guys should also stop trying to make a deal with me. You guys are so afraid of America, if America found that you guys were doing a deal with me in private, how would you justify it?¡±
¡°Mr. Xia, must you go to the Louvre Museum?¡± Jacqueline Eva stared at Xia Lei.
¡°It is not like I must go, it is just that I feel a little angry.¡± Xia Lei looked unhappy.
¡°No problem. What do you think of an exhibition just for you tonight?¡± suggested Jacqueline Eva.
¡°Just for me?¡± Xia Lei was taken aback.
¡°That¡¯s right, just for you. I will take you there tonight. The Louvre Museum will be opened just for you.¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
¡°How can that do?¡± In his heart, Xia Lei could not help but snicker. If the entire Louvre Museum was opened just for him, then he would not have any disturbances.
¡°Is that not what you want?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°All right, I will go. Thank you.¡±
Jacqueline smiled at Xia Lei, ¡°Mr. Xia, please rest for now. Tonight I wille pick you up.¡±
¡°Okay, goodbye,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva and Chretien left. Eriksson stayed. Not just him, there was also his underlings. There was a total of 8 people, all of French Gendarmerie¡¯s special forces. They controlled the hotel¡¯s top floor.
After Jacqueline Eva and Chretien had left, Yelena came into Xia Lei¡¯s room.
¡°Boss, our men are nearby. There is no need for the French Gendarmerie to guard here. Their existence will only affect our movements,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei said, ¡°It is true that the French Gendarmerie will bring us some difficulty but they also give us some benefits of them being here. With them here, the people of the CIA will not act easily. Most importantly, they can help us resist against the threats from the FA Organization. If the people from the FA Organization came, they will definitely not show mercy.¡±
¡°I see, they will not fight against the CIA for us but they will not let the people of the FA Organization off easily. Looking at it from this angle, they will shoulder 50% of the pressure for us.¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. Since free cannon fodders came to our door, why not use it?¡± Xia Lei paused and then said, ¡°Prepare, tonight we will go to the Louvre Museum.¡±
¡°What are we going to the Louvre Museum for?¡± Yelena was confused.
But Xia Lei did not exin, he only said, ¡°I have my intentions, you do not need to worry about this. Contact our people, tell them to act carefully, do not let the French Gendarmerie find out.¡±
Yelena nodded her head and then left.
Jacqueline Eva appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind, he could not help but guess, ¡®From my observations, both her identity and status is higher than Chretien. She was the real overseer but why did she pass herself off as Chretien¡¯s assistant? This woman is not simple, just who exactly is she?¡¯
It was very quiet in the room, there was not a single sound.
Xia Lei¡¯s brain entered another state in this quiet environment.
The Jacqueline Eva that emerged in his brain was being ¡°dissected.¡± But this was not taking a knife and slicing off pieces of flesh from her body, but rather it was doing analysis based on her many characteristics. The skin on her face was erged and then peeled off. Based on her characteristics, his brain judged whether or not she wore a skin mask. The details on her clothes were also erged and then pried away from her body. Based on these characteristics, his brain could find out her quality of life, health habits, as well as bust measurements, waist measurements, and hip measurements. What surprised him was that the measurements that his brain gave him was urate to the millimeter...
But that information was useless.
Other than using his brain to simte her naked body, he still could not find out her real identity.
¡®Height of 192 cm, weight of 141 jin, her three measurements are 88, 52, 99...is she a monster?¡¯ Sometimes his super brain would do some extremely boring things.
But what he could not deny was that Jacqueline Eva¡¯s body really stood at the peak out of Western women, real hot.
Chapter 692
At ten o¡¯clock p.m., Erikson knocked on Xia Lei¡¯s door.
"Mr. Xia, Miss Eva is already here. Are you ready? If so, we can set out anytime," said Erikson.
Xia Lei nced around at the fully armed French military police corps¡¯ special forces and then said, "I don¡¯t have anything I need to prepare. I can leave whenever."
Erikson made an inviting gesture. "Mr. Xia, pleasee with me."
Yeliena who was also in the room got up to follow Xia Lei out, but the moment she got to the doorway Erikson¡¯s arm blocked her way.
Yeliena expressionlessly looked at Erikson.
"Sorry miss, but we only invited Mr. Xia. You cannote with us to the Louvre," said Erikson.
"She¡¯s my secretary so why can¡¯t shee?" said Xia Lei.
"My apologies Mr. Xia, I was only ordered to take you there and no one else," said Erikson.
"Even my secretary can¡¯te?" Xia Lei frowned.
"Mr. Xia, please don¡¯t make things difficult for me," said Erikson.
Yeliena¡¯s face was cold but right when she was about to erupt, Xia Lei stopped her. "All right, then I¡¯ll go by myself."
Yeliena¡¯s lips moved but she didn¡¯t say anything.
"You¡¯re free to do as you please," said Xia Lei. Then, he left with Erikson.
Yeliena returned to her room and took out a satphone. "Boss is already following the French people downstairs. If the MP soldiers show any abnormal signs then get rid of them."
"Copy that. We will keep our eyes on them," Alessio¡¯s voice responded through the satphone.
After the call, Yeliena went out again with arge backpack, filled with a Gust assault rifle and several mags of ammunition.
Actually, it didn¡¯t matter if she and the members of the Zodiac Squadron went with Xia Lei to the Louvre, because Xia Lei had never left the Zodiac Squad¡¯s line of sight. If something happened, they would immediately respond!
When he got to the hotel, Xia Lei saw three cars parked by the road. A ck Benz entertainment car and two off-road vehicles, and all three were bulletproof.
The Benz¡¯s windows rolled down, and Jacqueline Eva stuck her head out from the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°Mr. Xia, please get in. Tonight, I will be your driver and tour guide. If you need anything, feel free to let me know.¡±
¡°Okay, thank you so much.¡± Xia Lei got into the front car seat.
Jacqueline Eva started the car and entered traffic. Erikson and seven other French special forces soldiers from the military police got into the off-road vehicles. One vehicle sped up until it passed Jacqueline Eva¡¯s Benz, and drove at the very front, clearing the way for them.
A faint perfume smell was in the Benz, and smelled like a mix of tulip and cape jasmine. It was very unique and smelled very good.
Xia Lei took a little sniff. ¡°Miss Eva, what perfume is this?¡±
¡°Hm? I didn¡¯t think Mr. Xia liked perfume too.¡± Jacqueline Evaughed. ¡°This is a secret perfume. It¡¯s called Mary¡¯s Desire and it¡¯s not on the market.¡±
¡°Mary¡¯s Desire? That¡¯s a really unique name. If it isn¡¯t on the market, how did you get it?¡±
¡°My mother gave this to me. She¡¯s an expert at this. If you like it, I can give you some. Oh, if you were to give this to a girl, she¡¯d definitely be very happy.¡± Jacqueline Eva maintained a nice smile on her face, as she observed Xia Lei¡¯s face with her peripheral vision.
¡°How would I? What about this, I¡¯ll pay you...¡± Before he could finish, Xia Lei suddenly shook his head.
Right when he was about to say ¡°I¡¯ll pay you cash¡±, his head suddenly went foggy and a faint heat started in his underbelly. He actually had that type of desire.
This perfume was abnormal!
¡°Mr. Xia, were you about to say that you¡¯d pay me money? I don¡¯t want your money, since you¡¯re an esteemed guest for France. I should be giving you some gifts.¡± Jacqueline Eva¡¯s voice had already started changing in Xia Lei¡¯s ears, bing illusory.
Xia Lei shook his head again, but the foggy feeling became stronger and stronger.
¡°Mr. Xia, can you tell me why you¡¯re so interested in the Louvre?¡± Jacqueline Eva turned towards Xia Lei and switched the topic.
¡°I¡¯m going to the Louvre...¡± Xia Lei said, his voice clearly exhausted. His gaze shifted to her thigh. Her skirt was very short and could only cover a fourth of her thigh. Because she was driving, her legs were a little parted, so her skirt revealed her secrets.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts had already be very slow, whether it was due to this mysterious perfume or rose-colored mesh. He found it so exhausting to just answer a simple question and some hallucinations began to ur in his head. He began feeling like he wasn¡¯t sitting next to a young blonde woman but a goddess emitting holy light, almost like Athena from the Greek myths and Guanyin, in the Buddhist myths. Regardless of who she seemed like she had supreme dignity that made him unable to stop himself from worshiping her andplying with her every word.
¡°Mr. Xia?¡± A mysterious smile surfaced on Jacqueline Eva¡¯s face. Xia Lei¡¯s reaction seemed to be within her expectations.
Xia Lei heard her voice but his brain reacted very slowly.
¡°Mr. Xia, you can tell me. Why do you want to go to the Louvre?¡± Jacqueline Eva¡¯s voice became fainter, and she felt more godlike than ever.
Clearly, this ¡°Mary¡¯s Desire¡± was a drug that would make one have hallucinations, and it could even result in hypnosis. Even though Xia Lei thought this, he still couldn¡¯t control his urge to confess to this ¡°goddess¡±.
¡°Tell me, what did the Germans give you before you got their technology?¡± Jaqueline Eva didn¡¯t even bother with saying ¡®Mr. Xia¡¯.
Right when he was about to open his mouth and tell her the truth, his brain suddenly released a mysterious energy with the same resonance as the ancient alloy. A refreshing feeling seemed to take root in his brain as it quickly filled his entire body. In the blink of an eye, his brain was no longer murky and the heat in his underbelly from desire had also disappeared.
¡°You can say it. Don¡¯t resist and just tell me everything,¡± urged Jacqueline Eva.
The fox had finally revealed its tail. She actually hypnotized him with a drug, trying to gain the intelligence she wanted from him! Xia Lei had already be clear-headed but he continued to feign his stupor. His voice was exasperatingly slow. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Ling Han¡¯s in charge. He knows the truth.¡±
¡°Ling Han? Who¡¯s that?¡±
¡°An official with a really high rank.¡±
¡°Why do you want to go to the Louvre?¡±
¡°I wanted to buy the Mona Lisa and the bronze mouse that France stole from the Summer Pce as well as some other historical relics.¡±
Jacqueline Eva was speechless.
Xia Lei coldlyughed in his heart. ¡®If you¡¯re using drugs and your femining charms to gain intelligence, you aren¡¯t in the weapons and equipment division of France. You¡¯re probably one of France¡¯s intelligence people. You aren¡¯t qualified to y around with me!¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Who¡¯s your wife?¡±
¡°Shentu Tianyin. We already divorced.¡±
¡°Your girlfriend?¡±
¡°Liang Siyao, but we already divorced.¡±
¡°Are you willing to coborate with France and sell your technology to France?¡±
¡°Of course, I like France.¡±
¡°What do you want to get from France?¡±
Charles De Gualle¡¯s aircraft carrier¡¯s electric navigation system,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva immediately nked. ¡°You¡¯re pretty ambitious.¡±
This clearly wasn¡¯t something that a ¡°goddess¡± would say. They were only words that a surprised woman would say to herself.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart tried to guess at Jacqueline Eva¡¯s next question, but Jacqueline Eva didn¡¯t have anymore questions. She looked at her wristwatch and frowned. Then, she said, ¡°Mr. Xia, you¡¯re tired. You can rest and I¡¯ll call you when we get there.¡±
¡°I¡¯m so tired, yaawn...¡± Xia Lei obediently closed his eyes. He did close his eyes, but even though his eyes were closed, he could still see Jacqueline Eva¡¯s every movement.
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s questioning methods had been really skilled. She mixed some important questions with some boring questions, trying to use this method to see if he was telling the truth. His responses had also been skilled, with lies and truths mixed together. Part of it was true and part of it was false, which meant she would reach a contrary judgement.
Now he was basically certain of Jacqueline Eva¡¯s identity. She was probably someone from the French intelligence department. Even though he didn¡¯t know what her actual job was, he was certain that she didn¡¯t have a low rank in the French intelligence department.
After several minutes, Jacqueline Eva nced at Xia Lei and waved her hand in front of Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. After ensuring that Xia Lei didn¡¯t have a reaction, she lowered her head and whispered into a button on her cor. ¡°He¡¯s willing to coborate, but he¡¯s a little ambitious...after I get back we can talk more, it¡¯s not convenient right now...Yes, I know. He isn¡¯t as awesome as they say. I can deal with him.¡±
The button on her cor was clearly a smallmunication device.
¡®Deal with me? Thene at me. I want to see if French special service agents are any good,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva nced at Xia Lei and then she opened the air conditioning. Cold air blew through the entire car and the perfume scent in the car became fainter and fainter until it finally disappeared.
The Benz elerated. After ten more minutes, the outline of the Louvre¡¯s old windshield appeared. This ancient pce even had a charming ss pyramid in front of it. It glinted with bright light in the night, iparably elegant.
¡®Mona Lisa, I¡¯ming for you,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Mr. Xia?¡± Jacqueline Eva called out softly.
Xia Lei had no reaction.
Jacqueline Eva reached her hand out to lightly shake Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. She called again, ¡°Mr. Xia we¡¯re almost there.¡±
Only then did Xia Lei slowly open his eyes. He nked for a moment and said with shock, ¡°How did I fall asleep?¡±
¡°Mr. Xia, you¡¯re probably jegged. I was just chatting with you and as we chatted, you fell asleep. You¡¯re really too tired,¡± said Jacqueline Evaughingly.
¡°What did we talk about?¡± said Xia Lei with rm.
¡°Perfume, Mary¡¯s Desire, and you really liked the perfume scent on my body. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll give you a bottle of Mary¡¯s Desire. It will help you get the girls you like,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei was silent for a moment. Then, he said, ¡°Can you give me three bottles?¡±
Jacqueline Eva was speechless.
Chapter 693
It was a real honor for the Louvre to be open for one person. Upon entering the Louvre, Xia Lei felt as if his life was but a dream in the vast yet silent big hall. He couldn¡¯t help but think, ¡®If he didn¡¯t have his current sess, but was just a poor boy doing hardbor, would the world-famous Louvre open up just for him? Would the French young woman Jacqueline Eva try to fawn over him?
Of course not.
The world was always realistic. Having things just fall into yourp would never happen.
¡°Le Louvre was built in 1204. It was originally the French imperial pce, and 50 French kings and queens have lived here. It was the most precious building in the French art revival and its rich ssical drawings and carvings are world-famous. Le Louvre hosts three treasures of the world: the Venus sculpture, the Mona Lisa oil painting, and the Victory Goddess stone carving, with more than forty thousand art items, including statues, drawings, arts and crafts, ancient Oriental, ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek and Roman and six other categories.¡± Jacqueline Eva really did serve as Xia Lei¡¯s tour guide, and she spoke very quickly.
Xia Lei had already read about what she was saying on Baidu, but he still feigned interest. ¡°I¡¯ve already admired the Mona Lisa for so long. Where is it?¡±
¡°Mr. Xia, before I let you take a look at the Mona Lisa, can you tell me why you¡¯re so interested in it?¡± Jacqueline Eva looked at Xia Lei with a special expression.
She had already asked this question twice, with one time being in the car. She was still probing.
¡°If I say it, don¡¯tugh.¡± Xia Lei chuckled.
¡°How could that be?¡±
¡°Then all right. I¡¯ll tell you. I¡¯m nning on buying the Mona Lisa. Are you guys selling it?¡±
¡°You really are...¡± Jacqueline Eva couldn¡¯t continue.
The Mona Lisa was practically a rare and valuable treasure within the gems at the Louvre. It had a supreme worth, and to the French, it was also a symbolic artistic treasure. The insurance market had ced a value of fifteen hundred million pound sterlings on it, but if someone really did give them fifteen hundred million pound sterlings, would the French government really sell it? Of course not. Actually its value couldn¡¯t be approximated with money anymore.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Forget it. Pretend I never said that. Just let me take a look. I can¡¯t wait to see it.¡±
¡°All right, pleasee with me. It¡¯s in the exhibition hall on the second floor.¡± Jacqueline Eva led Xia Lei over to the staircase.
The ancient staircase was somewhat precipitous. Jacqueline Eva first went up two steps, and when Xia Lei followed, he happened to be just under her butt. With one on top and one on the bottom, he didn¡¯t even need to stoop before he could peep at the perky butt underneath the short skirt and into her rose-colored mesh. As the faint sexy scenery appeared before him, a strange question suddenly appeared in his head. Was good venttion actually that important?
Jacqueline Eva turned and nced at Xia Lei with a faint smile on her lips. She clearly knew where Xia Lei was looking but her expression didn¡¯t show any disgust. She only looked at Xia Lei and then turned back. As they walked, she asked, ¡°Mr. Xia, are you really the vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Science?¡±
¡°Yes, I used to be just a schr but they promoted me recently.¡± Xia Lei casually added, ¡°But that¡¯s just an inted position, I don¡¯t really care about it.¡±
¡°That isn¡¯t an inted position. With your sess, you¡¯repletely fit for that position. If you were toe to France, we would give you more honor.¡±
¡°Are you telling me to immigrate to France?¡± Xia Leiughed.
¡°France would match up to your talent. The women in France are the most romantic women in the world. I¡¯ll bet that if you were to be French, you¡¯d definitely be the love target that they¡¯d fight over. You¡¯d also make Paris more romantic, don¡¯t you think?¡±
¡°I¡¯m Chinese. I can only be Chinese in my lifetime. While France is good, it¡¯s not my home.¡±
¡°What a pity.¡±
As they chatted, Jacqueline Eva brought Xia Lei to an exhibition hall on the second floor.
Xia Lei saw the Mona Lisa at one nce, and in that moment, he seemed to have experienced a magical attraction as he walked over, unable to help himself.
The woman in the painting was smiling, and she was dignified and pretty. The University of Amsterdam had previously analyzed her smile with an emotional software. Her smile was 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% frightened and 2% angry. Some people had even discovered that a lion, a monkey, a water buffalo and a crocodile were hiding on her shoulder. Some people had even said that she had just experienced an orgasm so that¡¯s why she was smiling so sweetly...
All of these things that could be seen online appeared in front of him. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but think of ¡°Dream of the Red Chamber¡± in which some ¡°Redologists¡± studied ¡°Dream of the Red Chamber¡± extremely thoroughly. They knew how many restrooms were in the Grand View Garden and where those bathrooms were located. They even knew when Wang Baochuan got her period, but what was the point in all that?
¡°Mr. Xia, this is the Mona Lisa, Da Vinci¡¯s family heirloom and France¡¯s national treasure,¡± introduced Jacqueline to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei knew that Da Vinci was Italian so this painting was Italy¡¯s. The majority of the several hundred thousand treasures in the Louvre had all been plundered from other countries. Among them, there were many Chinese treasures. In reality, this equated to the ¡°selfie¡± system of values in the West. In short, this meant ¡®I can do whatever I want, but other people can¡¯t do the same thing.¡¯
However, Xia Lei didn¡¯t want to refute Jacqueline Eva¡¯s words. The Mona Lisa belonged to Italy and not France, but this wasn¡¯t important to him. What he really cared about were the secrets within the Mona Lisa.
His gaze fell onto the woman¡¯s eyes. He roused his left eye¡¯s x-ray abilities. The woman¡¯s eyes in the painting were immediately magnified and every detail appeared extremely clearly. At the same time, his brain went into an extraordinary state in which everything his left eye saw emerged in his brain and was then remade in another manner.
The woman¡¯s eyes were really hiding letters, but they weren¡¯t L or D, as the outside world imed, with L and D being the abbreviated form of Leonardo Da Vinci¡¯s name. Instead, it was an A and E. He was very certain about this even though the two letters still seemed like a C or B to him.
His conclusion hadn¡¯t been based on guesses or unclear judgements, but established on solid evidence. This oil painting had several hundred years of history. Air, light, and human actions had created damage. Even the paint that Da Vinci used had a limited life span, and his paint was clearly past its prime. Many changes had been addedter.
It was just like the wrinkles on an old person¡¯s face; when old people were young, they never had wrinkles. Current scientific instruments didn¡¯t have a way to see which changes had already existed back then, or which changes had urredter, but his eyes and brain could tell these changes apart. After his brain peeled back the acquired changes, he saw the original work from several hundred years ago. In other words, his brain projected what Da Vinci had originally drawn. In his brain, there were hidden letters in the woman¡¯s eyes that were clearly A and E!
Why would Da Vinci paint these two letters into this woman¡¯s eyes?
If the Mona Lisa was the only painting that had clues regarding AE, then this could have been a coincidence, but Xia Lei knew that Da Vinci had drawn another painting that had to do with AE and the ancient alloy, or the painting from Mark Armin¡¯s house of the female pirate. Even though the letters AE hadn¡¯t shown up in that painting, the ancient alloy and Princess Yongmei¡¯s face had appeared.
Now, looking at the Mona Lisa, Xia Lei¡¯s heart was sure that Da Vinci had something to do with the ancient alloy and AE. The woman in the painting had the letters, AE, drawn into her eyes. This was clearly a hint!
¡®Da Vinci was praised as the smartest person in the world. He led in the fields of art and architecture, and he was extraordinarily skilled at scientific research. He was practically an all-rounder. Could it be that he also took AE capsules? Could it be that he walked the same path I¡¯m walking now?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s head was filled with these types of questions, and these thoughts shocked even himself.
Da Vinci¡¯s life was filled with legendary colors. He had gained so much sess that the entire world focused on. If he was just someone with a normal IQ and was a normal person, then no matter how hard he worked, he never would have been able to reach that level.
Xia Lei thought of himself again. If it wasn¡¯t for the AE capsules, he would have never been able to get the amount of sess he had received today. If not for the AE capsules, he probably would have still been doing physicalbor and doing arc welding, living like a dog at the lowest rung of society.
¡®If Da Vinci also took AE capsules, then let¡¯s suppose that he tried to decipher AE and the ancient alloy¡¯s secrets. Where would he leave his clues?¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s became very active.
Jacqueline got closer to Xia Lei. ¡°Mr. Xia, frankly it¡¯s just an oil painting. A lot of people have praised it unceasingly but I think it¡¯s just an oil painting.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You¡¯re actually afraid I¡¯ll buy it? Don¡¯t worry, it costs fifteen hundred million pound sterlings, almost as much as my entire household. I wouldn¡¯t use all my money to buy an oil painting. Even if I wanted it, I would put it into our business deal. This would be the smartest way, don¡¯t you think?¡±
¡°You...¡± Jacqueline Eva looked at Xia Lei, dumbstruck. If Xia Lei actually added Mona Lisa to the business deal, then this would really be a difficult problem for the French government.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went back to the oil painting.
Jacqueline Eva didn¡¯t speak anymore. She stood next to Xia Lei, quietly looking at the Mona Lisa that was shrouded in light. She didn¡¯t know why but she had begun worrying that this would be herst time to see it.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye slightly twitched and entered x-ray mode. Theyers of paint on the oil painting disappeared one by one. Xia Lei¡¯s brain had also filled with a colorful world of purple, ck, red, white, orange...
Chapter 694
The exhibition hall was silent.
But Xia Lei¡¯s brain had not been silenced for even a second ¨C it was like an engine running at top speed. The calctions and analysis going on in an instant was not something that an ordinary person could imagine. It was incredible! However, he himself felt that it was very normal, and natural. While his mind raced for the answer, he was able to appreciate the artistry of the Mona Lisa in a calm manner.
Da Vinci¡¯s technique was breathtaking. He had applied the paint to canvas,yer byyer, and eachyer was different. The different colouryers had been mixed together, and it yed on light to give shape to this renowned piece of artwork. No matter which angle one looked at the woman in the frame, her smile was still so sweet, so enchanting.
Thestyer of paint disappeared from his sight, and he finally saw the canvas itself. In that moment, Xia Lei stopped, and his eyes shone with excitement.
There were lines drawn in pencil on the canvas. These lines made up a mountain peak, a river and a bridge. It was a map!
There were also words written in Italian between the lines. They were very blurry and difficult to decipher. Xia Lei forced down his excitement and memorised everything which was drawn in pencil.
This was where the Mona Lisa¡¯s real valuey!
Other people would only see the foundation for da Vinci¡¯s Mona Lisa¡¯s smile, but this was actually the true purpose of da Vinci leaving this painting behind!
No one had realised this secret for hundreds of years, because there was no one who could or would remove the paint on the canvas and see the written content left in pencil underneath. However, da Vinci would not have used this method to leave this clue behind for no reason, because his clue had been left for the person who could see it ¨C The One!
¡°Mr Xia?¡± It was Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were interrupted and his eye returned to normal. He seemed calm on the surface but his heart was in turmoil, not peaceful at all. He did not know where the hidden map on the canvas pointed to in the real world since the words were blurred, but given time, he could reconstruct it and find the ce indicated on the map!
A new clue had appeared and he was now one step closer to discovering the secret of AE and the ancient alloy!
Jacuqeline Eva spoke again, ¡°Mr Xia, you were quite focused on it. Did you obtain some unique viewpoint from it?¡±
¡°My viewpoint? Is it important?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I am very interested in your viewpoint. In my opinion, you and da Vinci are quite simr. Your opinion must be very unique,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
She had said it unintentionally, as aparison, but Xia Lei was struck by her words. ¡°Miss Eva, you say we are simr? What makes you say that?¡±
¡°Da Vinci is hailed as the world¡¯s greatest all-rounded man. Other than being a painter, he was also a sculptor, an architect, a musician, a mathematician, an engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, biologist and author. He specialized in astronomy and geography, literature and art, mathematics, science, chemistry, biology and more. His IQ was publicly recognised as the world¡¯s highest...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted her. ¡°I agree that he was the world¡¯s best all rounder, I also agree that he had the world¡¯s highest IQ, but what he could do, I can not. How are we alike?¡±
¡°You created the world¡¯s most advanced intelligentthe. Every weapon that you designed possesses incredible performance and is undoubtedly the best of its kind. You give me the feeling that you are decades ahead of our time, be it your way of thought or your capabilities. We would need decades more to create the things that you are making now. Back in his era, da Vinci also gave people the same impression. His ideas, and the things he discovered, were decades ahead of the time. This is why I said that the two of you are simr,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei was silent. His feelings were a mess.
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s exnation made him even more sure of his conjecture that Leonardo da Vinci was also someone who had taken the AE capsule. He understood his own situation very well. Although he did not specialise in as many things as da Vinci did, as long as he was willing to learn, to research, it would not be hard for him to achieve as many things as Da Vinci did in his era! He had already proved this. He was not a mathematician, but he could solve the Riemann hypothesis, the hypothesis that had gued the entire mathematics world for a century, in his head!
A new question popped up in his head. If da Vinci had also eaten the AE capsule, then where had he gotten his AE capsule from?
¡°What are you thinking about, Mr Xia?¡± asked Jacqueline Eva tentatively. ¡°Did I upset you? If that is the case, then I apologise.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°I am not that petty. I just think you are exaggerating yourpliments about me.¡± He paused and changed the subject. ¡°You asked me my view on this painting, so I¡¯ll tell you now. This painting is very beautiful. It does deserve to be called a treasure of art. However, like you said, it is only an oil painting. To someone who is starving, its value is less than that of a loaf of bread.¡±
¡°Hehe, is that how you view it?¡± Jacqueline Eva also smiled. ¡°It sure is unique. Then do you still want to buy it now?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t. It is only an oil painting. It has less value than a beautiful woman to me.¡±
He had already seen the thing which da Vinci had left for him. To him, this painting was just a painting. Whether this painting hung in his living room or in the exhibition hall of the Louvre Museum made no difference to him.
¡°Oh, Mr Xia, you sure are straightforward.¡± Jacqueline Evaughed. ¡°But this is France, the most romantic ce in the world. Many French girls would love a man like you.¡± However, her thoughts were saying another thing. ¡®Pervert! It seems like the analysis from the information was correct. You are a pervert, and women are your weakness. I will exploit your weakness.¡¯
¡°Let¡¯s leave this ce. I will look around in other areas,¡± said Xia Lei. He did not want to stay in front of the Mona Lisa, but he also could not look at only one painting before leaving. It would make the French agent suspicious if he did that.
¡°Mr Xia, is there any other area you want to see?¡±
¡°Yes, please take me to see the Eastern artifacts,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, please follow me.¡± Jacqueline Eva brought Xia Lei away from the Mona Lisa exhibition hall.
Xia Lei looked back when he got to the doorway. His eyes went to the background in the painting. It was a small town in Italy ¨C Bobbio. It was where da Vinci lived, and his next destination.
Xia Lei toured a few more exhibition halls with Jacqueline Eva as his guide. He left the Louvre an hourter.
The ss pyramid glowed quietly under the darkness. There were not many people in the za, so the military off-road vehicle parked on the side of the road, and the eight heavily armed Special Forces of the National Gendarmerie were very eye-catching.
¡°Mr Xia, it is still quite early,¡± said Jacqueline Eva with a smile. ¡°Why don¡¯t I take you around before we go somewhere for a drink?¡±
Xia Lei was looking for an excuse to reject her when his gaze was suddenly drawn to the intersection. A few Chevrolet Suburban off-road cars were speeding over from that direction. He then looked in the opposite direction. There were also a few Chevrolet Suburban off-road cars speeding over.
The Chevrolet Suburban off-road car was the CIA field agents¡¯ car of choice. So many appearing at once told Xia Lei what the situation was. His gaze turned away from the road to a tall building in the distance. On the rooftop of that tall buildingy two people, and he could see their faces clearly. Those two people were Alessio and Bagu, and both had a XL2500 sniper rifle in their hands. In another direction, also on top of a tall building, he saw Yelena and Amanda, as well as Marcus and E¡¯er Demutu. The Zodiac team¡¯s six members formed a triangr sniping range. They had full cover of the entire za in their sniping range.
Xia Lei did not see Park Taeyong, but as the person in charge of transport, he was most definitely in a car right now, ready to charge into the battlefield at any time and take him away.
A tiny sneer appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. It would be very lively indeed if the CIA wanted to arrest him here. Not only would the CIA have to face him and his Zodiac team, they would also need to face the French national Gendarmerie¡¯s Special Forces soldiers!
Jacqueline Eva also saw the carsing from both sides and she panicked immediately. She grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand and said anxiously, ¡°Quick! Get into the car!¡±
Eriksson and the Special Forces reacted quickly too. Using their cars as cover, they split into two groups. One group aimed their guns at the carsing from the left, and the other group aimed their guns at the carsing from the right.
The enemies took no notice of the French Gendarmerie. They charged close in the blink of an eye and surrounded the French cars. Xia Lei had not had time to get into the car.
Car doors opened and over twenty people in ck suits came out, holding the SCAR assault rifle made by the Belgian FNpany. They pointed their guns at Xia Lei and the French personnel. This type of gun was an assault rifle made by the Belgian FNpany for the American Special Forces. Its performance was excellent and it had great firepower; it used to be the most advanced assault rifle. However, that was all before theunch of Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s Gust assault rifle. Now the most advanced assault rifle in the world was the Gust assault rifle, and if there was a war, these two guns would battle it out!
A pair of ck high heels emerged from behind an opened car door, andnded lightly on the ground. They were followed by a pair of long legs in nude stockings, a slender waist, soft breasts and a beautiful Eastern face. This was Gu Kewen¡¯s face, and her face had a cunning beauty.
Xia Lei watched expressionlessly as Gu Kewen stepped out of the car. This woman was like a cockroach to him. He would kill her over and over again but she just would not die.
Gu Kewen¡¯s eyes moved to Xia Lei¡¯s face too, and their eyes met. A pretty smile appeared on her face. ¡°Hehe, I¡¯d never thought that it would be this easy. It¡¯s unbelievable, really. You are always so hard to read, Xia Lei. What¡¯s so bad about hiding in China like a turtle? But no, you had toe to France to show off. America has clout in Europe, you know.¡±
Xia Lei said nothing. He just watched her silently.
The expression on Jacqueline Eva¡¯s face was ugly, and her eyes were cold. ¡°You¡¯re CIA. What did you guyse here for?¡±
¡°This person is on our wanted list. We want to take him away. Please cooperate with us in our work, and don¡¯t cause trouble for yourselves.¡±
Gu Kewen shot her men a look after she spoke.
A CIA field agent walked towards Xia Lei with his gun trained on him. He held his gun in one hand, and reached for handcuffs at his waist with the other.
So she really was nning on taking him away from here.
Chapter 695
Before the field agent got close to Xia Lei, Jacqueline Eva suddenly yelled, ¡°Stop right there! If you take another step, I will shoot to kill!¡±
The muzzle of Eriksson¡¯s gun locked on to the field agent who was moving to arrest Xia Lei. He had already loaded the gun and was ready to shoot the target at any time.
¡°What do you want?¡± Gu Kewen knotted her brows.
¡°Leave this ce immediately!¡± Jacqueline Eva¡¯s voice was firm. ¡°Mr Xia is an honoured guest, invited here by France. We¡¯ve promised him that no other country or person would be able to arrest him in France. I do not care what you guys do to him after he leaves France, but this is France, not somece where you CIA can do as you please!¡±
¡°Who is your chief?¡± Gu Kewen said in a cold voice, ¡°Give me a number. I will contact him right now.¡±
Jacqueline Eva suddenly pointed her gun at Gu Kewen. This was her answer.
¡°You want to stop us with this amount of manpower?¡± Gu Kewen continued to pressure Jacqueline Eva. ¡°If we were to fight, you guys will die an unpleasant death. Give him to me, go home, take a shower and sleep well. You will find that there will be no problem the next day. We will exin everything to the French government.¡±
Jacqueline Eva nced at Eriksson. Thetter said nothing, but nodded. Jacqueline Eva rxed.
This was obviously a sort of secret signal, and the message was rted to reinforcements. This was Paris, France after all. It was the territory of the French, and the CIA would never get the upper hand when it came to numbers. It would only be temporary even if they did.
Gu Kewen shot her men another look. This time, four CIA field agents stepped out. She would not give the French people any more time.
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Lei finally opened his mouth to speak. ¡°Gu Kewen, do you really think that you can take me away from here?¡±
¡°Stop talking. I will have a nice chat with you after we go back.¡± Gu Kewen subconsciously touched her butt. For some reason, the scar on her butt began to itch again when she was face-to-face with Xia Lei.
Four CIA field agents surrounded Xia Lei. Before they could draw close, four special agents of the French Gendarmerie also came up. Four special agents versus four field agents, four assault rifles against four assault rifles. The muzzles of their guns were pointed at each other, and neither side would back down.The atmosphere became tense. If anyone were to lose his cool, or even show a hint of an intention to attack at this moment, the ground would probably be covered with dead bodies!
¡°You should give up, Gu Kewen. Did you think I woulde here if you can take me away from France?¡± Xia Lei was not nervous at all. In reality, if he were just to gesture with his hands right now, Gu Kewen¡¯s head would be pierced with a bullet right away.
But he did not do that. If Gu Kewen died here, the CIA would have further reason to press the French government to hand him over. If that happened, he would be in a very tough and dangerous situation. Of course, if the situation became uncontroble, Jacqueline Eva and the French Gendarmerie¡¯s special forces could not protect him anymore, and if Gu Kewen and the people of the CIA insisted on taking him away, he would get his men to fire.
¡°Xia Lei, I will take you away today no matter what. It¡¯s useless to resist, whether you¡¯re willing, or not.¡± Gu Kewen then gave an order right away. ¡°Take him away. If anyone dares to interfere, kill him!¡±
The CIA field agents followed her orders, taking further radical action. Two or three guns were pointed at each of the French Gendarmerie special agents, including Jacqueline Eva.
A CIA field agent pushed aside the Gendarmerie special agent who was in his way, and tookrge steps toward Xia Lei.
But right at that moment, the piercing sound of sirens came from the road to the right. A military off-road car lead the way, followed by several armored military vehicles. A machine gunner stood on top of each armoured military vehicles.
The reinforcements hade just in time.
The CIA field agents who were trying to arrest Xia Lei stopped in their tracks.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You see? Even America has things it cannot do. You can keep your head for now. I wille for it after I leave France.¡±
Gu Kewen¡¯s expression was so dark it could scare a person.
The French Special Forces speedily got down from their cars and surround the people of the CIA immediately. Their numbers were three times that of the CIA¡¯s. The CIA, who had previously possessed the advantage in numbers, became the weaker one in the blink of an eye. None of the people of the CIA dared to move, much less capture Xia Lei.
¡°Put down your weapons!¡± Eriksson¡¯s voice was as sharp as a knife. ¡°Or we will shoot!¡±
The CIA field agents did not move but they were nervous. They looked at Gu Kewen, waiting for her orders.
Gu Kewen did not want to ept the current situation.
Bang bang bang! Eriksson shot into the sky three times.
Gu Kewen¡¯s lips trembled but finally she gave her order. ¡°Put away your guns!¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Gu Kewen, do you still not understand? I do not know who sent you to capture me, but I know what he is nning. If you die in my hands, then he would have enough reason to press the French government to hand me over. You are being used as cannon fodder and yet you feel a sense of superiority. I am impressed.¡±
¡°Are you done talking?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice was cold.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°If I were you, I would take care of my own problems first and not be used as someone¡¯s cannon fodder. You are lucky that you are still alive, but luck will not always stay by your side.¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± Gu Kewen screamed at Xia Lei. She had had enough of his ridicule.
¡°Mark my words. I will have your head the next time we see each other.¡± Xia Lei walked towards the Mercedes which was waiting for him.
Jacqueline Eva gave Gu Kewen a cold look. ¡°Do not cause trouble. This is France ¡ª even the CIA cannot protect you.¡±
Gu Kewen snorted and said nothing. She watched as Jacqueline Eva left with Xia Lei and the French Gendarmerie special forces.
¡°Boss, what should we do?¡± asked a CIA field agent.
¡°Withdraw.¡± Gu Kewen turned to leave but when her back was to her subordinates, her mouth curved into a cold smile. ¡°Sean, is it you who wants me dead, or William Mussi who wants me dead? Whichever one of you wants my life, I will take yours!¡±
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the building across the Louvre Museum.
¡°What is wrong with Boss?¡±ined Alessio. ¡°We went took such big risks to kill Gu Kewen thest time in South Korea, and we could have killed her this time, but why did Boss stop us? It is such a shame that we missed this chance.¡±
¡°Yeah, now that we have missed this chance, who knows when we will be able to kill that woman,¡± said Bagu.
Amanda¡¯s voice came from themunicator, ¡°You two stupid assholes, can¡¯t you see? Gu Kewen was sent here by the CIA to die. If we kill Gu Kewen, then America would have an excuse to pressure the French government. If that happens, Boss would carry the crime of killing a high-ranking CIA official. How would be be able to leave France then?¡±
As expected of the Zodiac team¡¯s tactical nner. Amanda saw their true intentions.
¡°You guys should stop talking. We need to catch up.¡± Park Taeyong¡¯s voice came from themunicator.
The Zodiac team quickly retreated. They came and went without a trace.
This crisis hade quickly, and gone quickly.
Actually, Gu Kewen¡¯s appearance had not been a surprise to Xia Lei at all. There was no way the Americans would not do anything after he came to France. The people of the CIA would show up in front of him sooner orter, he just hadn¡¯t expected that they would be this impatient. He had just came to France when Gu Kewen showed up with her CIA men.
The Mercedes car headed towards the Paris Star.
¡°Mr Xia, do you know that CIA woman?¡± Jacqueline Eva broke the silence in the car.
¡°Yeah, I do.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°Her name is Gu Kewen. She is the CIA¡¯s supervisor of Asia. I have some personal grievances with her. She thirsts to kill me.¡±
¡°The CIA¡¯s supervisor of Asia? That is not a lowly position.¡± Jacqueline Eva gave Xia Lei a look. ¡°But you said that she was sent by someone to die. If the CIA are willing to sacrifice such an important person... How valuable must you be to them?¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit, then heughed. ¡°I slept with the American president¡¯s daughter. She was not willing then.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Jacqueline Eva was bbergasted.
¡°Please keep this secret for me. I¡¯m only telling you because you helped me earlier.¡± Xia Lei had a serious look on his face.
¡°You¡¯re kidding me, right?¡±
Xia Lei replied calmly, ¡°Why would I joke about something like this?¡±
¡°Enough. I won¡¯t believe it was this kind of a reason,¡± said Jacqueline Eva. ¡°I can understand that you do not want to tell me. That¡¯s okay. I do not want to pry into your secrets ¡ª I only want toplete my job.¡±
Xia Lei only smiled and did not say anything more. Nothing that Jacqueline Eva said was true, so why would he tell her the truth? However, even if Jacqueline Eva did investigate, she would not know why the Americans were going so persistently after him.
The car stopped in front of the Paris Star.
¡°Mr Xia, in consideration of the current situation, it is advisable for you to not leave the hotel without permission. I will leave a few more people to protect you. That¡¯s not a problem, is it?¡± said Jacqueline Eva as she poked her head out from the car window when Xia Lei stepped out of the car.
¡°No problem.¡± Xia Lei agreed without a second thought.
¡°I will pick you up tomorrow to talk about our coboration. Good night, Mr Xia.¡± Jacqueline Eva started the car and drove away without waiting for Xia Lei¡¯s answer.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. The French were so protective of him only for his technology. The faster they could reach their goal, the better it would be for them, since he had now be a hot potato ¡ª the faster you throw it away, the better.
¡°Like I would do as you want. Dream on.¡± Xia Lei turned and entered the hotel.
Eriksson escorted Xia Lei to the top with several soldiers of the National Gendarmerie. This time, the Special Forces stationed in the hotel had doubled to 24 people. They not only controlled the top floor of the hotel, but also the elevators and stairways. The hotel lobby, too, was closely monitored by them.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t be bothered with acknowledging the Gendarmerie¡¯s Special Forces. He knocked on Qing Caiyue¡¯s door.
Qing Caiyue looked quite dazed when she opened the door. She wore a cartoon-patterned pyjamas and looked very cute. When she saw that it was Xia Lei at the door, she immediately perked up. She could not help but smile. ¡°Director Xia, you...¡±
¡°Do you have a pencil?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Pencil? You came to me for... a pencil?¡±
¡°Do you have one? If you don¡¯t I will just ask the people at the front desk to get me one.¡±
¡°I do, I will get it for you right now.¡± Qing Caiyue turned and went into the room. She soon came back with a pencil and a notebook.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei took the pencil and notebook from her hands.
Qing Caiyue hesitated, then pushed her hair behind her ears. She looked at Xia Lei with wide eyes. ¡°Director Xia, did you reallye to borrow a pencil?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nothing else?¡± Qing Caiyue¡¯s slipped her little tongue out to lick at a corner of her tender lips.
¡°Good night.¡± Xia Lei turned and left.
Qing Caiyue stood nkly in the doorway. She stood there for quite a while, motionless.
Which CEO woulde to his female secretary¡¯s room in the middle of the night just to borrow a pencil?
Weirdo!
Chapter 696
Half an hourter, Xia Lei replicated what had been drawn in pencil on the Mona Lisa¡¯s canvas on paper. He could have gone faster, but he used more time toplete it because he was striving for perfection.
What he drew on the notebook was in a 1:20 ratio of the original. Other than this, what he drew was exactly the same as what da Vinci had drawn.
He also replicated the blurry and unclear Italian words and then tried to interpret it. He was not very familiar with the Italian but this did not stop him. He made a n for himself to spend five hours on theputer to learn Italian. During this process, he would use his brain¡¯s ability to make the blurred Italian words ¡°clear¡±, and then use the Italian words that he had learned to interpret the message that da Vinci on left on the canvas.
Time went by slowly. The hotel¡¯s desktopputer whirred and Xia Lei¡¯s brain whirred too. Under normal circumstances, the human brain could notpare with aputer but he was an exception. His brain worked even faster and better than aputer. Theputer provided him with the knowledge about the Italiannguage and his brain soaked up all the information quickly like a sponge.
During this studying process, his brain repaired and perfected the words based on the distinct traits of the Italian words, until it obtained a clear and correct answer.
Five hours passed.
Xia Lei¡¯s brain was filled with knowledge on Italy. There was a short trantion written on a nk piece of paper in front of him.
The trantion read: I am Leonardo da Vinci. In my life, many unbelievable things happened. I benefited from these things, but I was also very confused. I tried to uncover this secret throughout my life, and there was one point where I thought I was close, but in the end I found that I was still far from the truth. Since you were able to see the contents on the canvas, that means that you also have this ability. Are you also trying to uncover these secrets? I¡¯ve left some things for you. If you can understand my map, then you can find the things that I¡¯ve left behind.¡±
That was the message that da Vinci had left on the canvas. After he had deciphered it, Xia Lei could not calm down for a very long time.
¡®He left the map using this method. Clearly it was left for people who have X-ray vision. He understood this ability, so did he really have a AE capsule? But father had said that the AE capsules which he stole from the research center were the only ones in the world, so where did da Vinci get his AE capsule from?¡¯ He could not understand this.
If da Vinci were still alive today and could give him a chance to talk face to face, then the question would be easily solved. The problem was, da Vinci had already been dead for centuries. Whether da Vinci had or had not taken the AE capsule, or where he had got the AE capsule from... These questions could not be answered.
He sat silently for a while, and returned his attention back to the map.
The map had no words, and was drawn in pencil. It would be extremely difficult to find the corresponding ce in the world now. It was as if da Vinci was using this method to test his intelligence.
Xia Lei closed his eyes and the picture of the map on the canvas appeared in his head...
Dawn broke out of the darkness; the night had passed unknowingly. Xia Lei opened his eyes and a beam of light came in from the window, falling onto his face. At the break of dawn, a smile bloomed on his face.
Knock knock knock...
A knocking sound came from the door but Xia Lei did not seem to have heard it. The smile on his face became more and more apparent. This process was like a flower budding, little by little, until it bloomed.
The person who was knocking stopped, but the door was opened.
Qing Caiyue entered. She spotted Xia Lei and was taken aback. She said in surprise, ¡°Director Xia, did you not sleepst night?¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Xia Leiughed out loud.
¡°Director Xia, are... are you all right?¡± asked Qing Caiyue, worried. Xia Lei had knocked on her door in the middle of the night to borrow a pencil, and he was nowughing by the window. She was truly worried about her Director Xia¡¯s mental state.
¡°So it was like that,¡± mumbled Xia Lei to himself.
¡°So it was like what?¡± Qing Caiyue moved closer.
¡°You are so clever.¡±
¡°Um... Director Xia, are you talking about me?¡±
Xia Lei suddenly closed his eyes again.
¡°Director Xia? What happened to you?¡± Qing Caiyue went to Xia Lei¡¯s side. She hesitated, then ced her hand on Xia Lei¡¯s forehead.
Xia Lei¡¯s forehead was not hot, and he had no symptoms of a fever. Qing Caiyue¡¯s hand on his forehead did not affect his brain¡¯s work. In his head, the map that Da Vinci had left on the canvas was taken apart into lines of different lengths and shapes. Some looked like earthworms, some were twisted like a wire, and some looked like iron drills. They constantlybined to form new patterns.
This process was veryplicated, and quick. Each wrong pattern was eliminated, and a correct pattern was formed in the midst of a bunch of mistakes, finally taking shape.
A new map appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s head. At the very top of the map was a grave. There was no name on the gravestone, only a cross. Underneath the grave was a veryplex underground tunnel that twisted about like a maze. The exit was at the center of the maze, and the entrance was beneath the gravestone.
The secret that da Vinci left on the canvas was solved in one night.
In this one night, Xia Lei had even became proficient in Italian. His brain was sure a miraculous existence.
¡°Director Xia?¡± Qing Caiyue moved her hand from Xia Lei¡¯s forehead to his cheek. She did not know where she got this courage from, but when she saw Xia Lei¡¯s handsome face bathing in the morning light, she seemed to have been attracted like magic, and wanted to touch him.
His skin was very smooth and delicate like a baby¡¯s skin. It was veryfortable to the touch.
¡®Such soft skin, what skincare does he use?¡¯ This weird question suddenly popped into Qing Caiyue¡¯s head.
Just then, Xia Lei suddenly opened his eyes.
Qing Caiyue hurriedly retracted her hand. Her turned red and she stuttered, ¡°I am sorry Di-director Xia, I, I thought you had a fever.¡±
But Xia Lei said, ¡°You did not say what ce that was, but you had already shown the answer. That ce is Bobbio, Italy. The background in the Mona Lisa. Ning Jing also drew that ce. A medieval town, houses, tombs... I found it, I found it!¡±
¡°Di, Director Xia?¡± Qing Caiyue became inexplicably nervous. She felt that Xia Lei did not have a fever ¡ª rather, he had gone crazy.
Xia Lei suddenly stood up, picked Qing Caiyue off the ground and started spinning. Qing Caiyue¡¯s body leaned back, her long legs underneath the skirt ¡°floated¡± in the air and drew white arcs in the air like apass. Her ck G-string showed between her legs, which were spread at an angle of forty-five degrees, bing a beautifulndscape. It yed the difficult role of guardian, fighting the air, fighting with inertia, while guarding the mysterious and mature ce.
The skirt was flying, the female secretary¡¯s heart was also flying. Everything was messed up in the wind.
¡°Director Xia! Director Xia? What, what are you doing? I am dizzy, put, put me down...¡± Qing Caiyue braced herself and gathered her courage. ¡°If you want it that bad, then let¡¯s go to the bed.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly stopped.
Qing Caiyue¡¯s feet finally touched the ground but she was still in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. She could feel Xia Lei¡¯s hand on her waist and his strong chest because her chest was pressed against his. They were stuck together like a double sided tape, and the curves of their bodies fitted together like jigsaw puzzle pieces.
The two were like a still painting.
They looked into each other¡¯s eyes, their gazes attracted to each other like the north and south poles of a ma. This attraction pulled their faces slowly closer to each other and the distance between their lips was slowly bing shorter.
¡®He, he is going to kiss me...¡¯ Qing Caiyue could not suppress her heart¡¯s excitement. She closed her eyes nervously. To be able to have an affair with a man like Xia Lei... she would not regret it even if she did not get anything.
However, before their lips could meet, Xia Lei ¡°woke up¡± and let go of Qing Caiyue in a panic.
The maism they were experiencing had suddenly turned to stone.
Xia Lei coughed dryly. ¡°Sorry, I... I was too hyped up earlier.¡±
Qing Caiyue heart was filled with disappointment but she forced a smile. ¡°It, it¡¯s okay.¡±
¡°Did you need something?¡±
¡°I, I came to get my pencil.¡± Qing Caiyue did not even know what to say herself. Her thoughts were a mess.
Xia Lei smiled, and gave the pencil to Qing Caiyue. ¡°Thank you.¡±
Qing Caiyue held on to the pencil.She felt as if ten thousand horses were galloping wildly in her heart. This pencil had be her magical barrier.
¡°Let¡¯s go eat breakfast, then go to the Villepinte Exhibition Centre,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were not going?¡±
¡°I changed my mind. Let¡¯s go.¡±
Qing Caiyue¡¯s eyes drifted to the notebook on theputer desk. She saw a sentence in Italian and a Chinese trantion and some weird lines that she did not understand. She asked curiously, ¡°Director Xia, what is it you are researching this time?¡±
Xia Lei ripped the page with the words from the notebook and put it in his trouser pocket. He said, ¡°This is a secret, do not tell anyone.¡±
Qing Caiyue smiled wryly. ¡°Yeah, I know, I will not tell anyone... I cannot even if I want to. I do not even understand it.¡±
Xia Lei did not exin further. He left the room with Qing Caiyue.
Yelena also came out of her room.
¡°Good morning, Big Sister Yelena.¡± Qing Caiyue greeted her obediently.
Yelena only nodded her head slightly.
Xia Lei said, ¡°We will go to the Villepinte Exhibition Center after breakfast .¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Yelena only said one word.
Xia Lei came next to Yelena and whispered, ¡°Tell Alessio to get ready. I want to go to Italy.¡±
¡°So soon? What about here?¡±
¡°Do as I say,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yelena nodded again.
There were ten more days to go before the start of the International Weaponry Exhibition in the Villepinte Exhibition Center. So far, all they could do now were things like setting up in the exhibition hall. Qing Caiyue could handle these things, but the Italy trip was urgent. He did not want to wait any longer. There was also an advantage of going to Italy now, and that was that everyone would still believe that he was in France. What he wanted was to take action before the other party became aware of it!
Now, the only trouble would be Jacqueline Eva and these people of the French National Gendarmerie. He needed a way to shake the French people off his tail.
Chapter 697
The Paris International Weapons Exhibition hadn¡¯t even begun yet, but the Villepinte Exhibition Center was already heating up. Thousands of weapon manufacturers from all over the world had began decorating and arranging their respective exhibition areas. Several weapons were also transported to their respective exhibition area as they waited for the exhibition to begin.
There were many ¡°acquaintances¡± among the weapon manufacturers, such as the FN Company from Belgium, Barrett from the USA, Rheinmetall AG from Germany, HK Company and so on. Thesepanies were the bestpanies within the international weapons market; eachpany wasrger and stronger than the next. Compared to thosepanies, Thunder Horse Military Factory was like a ¡°weak teenager¡±.
This was reflected in the size of their exhibition areas. The size of the exhibition areas of thergerpanies were many dozens of timesrger than that of Thunder Horse Military Factory. There also exhibited many different types of weapons; tanks, armored vehicles, mine-clearing vehicles, self-propelled artillery, rocketunchers, handguns, submachine guns, assault rifles, sniper files, grenadeunchers and so on. They had more than hundreds and thousands of variations, more than enough to dazzle people. Thunder Horse Military Factory only had four types of weapons for disy ¡ª the XL2500 sniper rifle, Gust assault rifle, the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon, and their new gun, the ¡°Viper¡±. They only had four types of weapons while their opponents had hundreds of weapons. It was impossible for them to not feel inferior when it came to wares.
Xia Lei led the Thunder Horse Military Factory staff in a stroll around a few exhibition areas. The expressions on the Thunder Horse Military Factory staff were grave. It wasn¡¯t surprising that they would feel so much pressure, since each exhibition area they saw wasrger than the next.
¡°It would¡¯ve been better if the Weapons Exhibition started a few monthster. We would be able to participate in the exhibition with our tanks, armoured vehicles, and our new defense system then. But now...¡± Qing Caiyue stopped talking. She was afraid that Xia Lei would be unhappy with what she said.
Xia Lei was in a good mood. ¡°Isn¡¯t this pretty good too?¡± he said with a smile.
Qing Caiyue said in a low voice, ¡°How is this good? Other people¡¯s exhibition areas are rich in variety and have many weapons and highlights. But we only have four weapons and all four of our weapons are light weapons. If a customer who¡¯s never heard of us saw this, they would think that we are only a small workshop.¡±
Business was all about appearances; the business would appear more impressive and beautiful with more high-end products. If the selection was small, buyers would doubt the quality of the product and think that the products are low-end goods. They wouldn¡¯t even spare a second nce at the product. If they don¡¯t look at the product, would they even purchase it? Although selling weapons was different from selling clothes and cosmetics, their marketing strategy was the same. Qing Caiyue was an expert at this, so it was reasonable that she had such concerns.
However, Xia Lei still seemed rxed. ¡°Let me say it this way, they¡¯re selling ss beads and we¡¯re selling diamonds. Even if they dyed the ss beads in many colours and make them bright and beautiful, do we also need to dress our diamonds?¡±
¡°Director Xia, your metaphor is pretty interesting.¡± Qing Caiyueughed.
¡°We already passed the stage where marketing is needed to increase our sales. Our weapons already passed the battlefield test, so there¡¯s no need for me to mention the excellence of our products. Long story short, even if our weapons are sold in the vegetable market, there will still be people breaking through the doorway to ce orders for our products,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qing Caiyue pped her hands. ¡°Director Xia, you put it so well. Let¡¯s apud him.¡±
The few staff members from Thunder Horse Military Factory actually did begin to p.
Xia Lei was embarrassed by the ttery. Even though it was uncalled for, Xia Lei still felt all right with it because of her foxy beauty and plump hips.
The group joked and chatted along the way to the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s exhibition area, but they were stupefied when they saw the space that had been assigned to them. The host had not been stingy to Thunder Horse Military Factory by giving them a deserted and small exhibition area, instead, they had been given a spacious exhibition area that was big enough to fit a few Boeing 747 passenger nes. The location of the exhibition area was also good, they were next to some of the top weaponspanies.
It was such arge exhibition area, yet they only had four light weapons. Just thinking about it made them feel embarrassed.
¡°Did they make a mistake?¡± Qing Caiyue was shocked. ¡°Did they want us to host a weapons and ammunition party by giving us such arge area?¡±
Xia Lei also felt that it was weird. If it had been a small area, it wouldn¡¯t be too bad after they decorated it. How were they to decorate this huge ce?
¡°Director Xia, should we ask them to give us a smaller exhibition area? This ce is too big, we don¡¯t know how we¡¯re going to set it up,¡± said one of the Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s staff members.
¡°Let me think about it.¡± Xia Lei walked into the exhibition area.
The group of people followed Xia Lei into the exhibition area.
¡°What solution can Director Xia think of?¡± One of the workers said in a low voice.
¡°Who knows? No one can guess what¡¯s on Director Xia¡¯s mind.¡±
¡°Director Xia is such a smart person. He will definitely find a solution to this.¡±
¡°Even with his intelligence, how can there be a solution to this?¡±
They buzzed with discussion.
Qing Caiyue didn¡¯t say anything, but she was also curious about how Xia Lei was going to solve this awkward situation. She was behind Xia Lei, but her eyes were staring at Xia Lei¡¯s ass. Xia Lei¡¯s bottom looked quite strong and was full of a man¡¯s sexiness. She couldn¡¯t help but recall the event from that morning, when he had been hugging her as they spun about. While then spun, a part of Xia Lei¡¯s had been pressed against her sensitive part which acted as a pivot point. It was like they were the wooden horses on a carousel, turning and turning...
She wanted to add lubricating oil on the bearings of the carousel. This would make it turn more smoothly,fortably, and lightly.
Xia Lei had no idea that he had already became a part of the carousel; he was walking into the empty exhibition hall, looking about and contemting things. His brain was outlining and designing ording to theyout of the exhibition area. One material after another emerged in his mind as he turned the materials into the optimal design...
After walking around the empty exhibition area, Xia Lei stopped walking and waved to Qing Caiyue. ¡°Caiyue,e here for a second.¡±
Qing Caiyue walked over quickly with a smile on her face. ¡°Director Xia, did you already think of a solution?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Go find a decorationpany and tell them to use ss to make a disy counter for us. Make a ss passageway using the excess space, then hang some anti-war, peace, and life themed paintings to make it an artsy styled wall.¡±
Upon hearing the idea and thinking over it, Qing Caiyue¡¯s eye shone with delight. Sheughed. ¡°Director Xia, you¡¯re amazing! How did I not think of it? This way, we will be able to use all the space in the exhibition area. With lighting effects, the ss disy counter will give off a sci-fi effect. The art wall made of ss that promotes anti-war, peace, and life can set a positive image for ourpany.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said, ¡°You are good with words, I see. I just hope that the result will be as good as you said.¡±
Qing Caiyue smiled even more sweetly. ¡°Am I? I will definitely make it so that you, Director Xia, will be satisfied.¡±
What was that supposed to mean?
She seemed to have really cultivated into a vixen. Her method of seducing people was too clever. It didn¡¯t leave a trace behind, but she was still able to make a person¡¯s heart flutter.
Xia Lei smiled awkwardly.
Qing Caiyue giggled.
Another group of people arrived at the exhibition hall, among which were several familiar faces ¡ª Mark Armin, the chairman of Rheinmetall AG, Mueller, the senior manager of the FN Company, Ileva, the senior executive of the Belgium HK Company, and Joe Barton from the Barrett Company. He had met those people at the Russian Weapons Exhibition. They had evenpeted there, so he recognised them at a nce. There were also some people who he didn¡¯t recognise, but people who could walk together with Mark Armin meant that they were not small fry. Most of them were senior executives or persons in charge of the military factories in America and the Western countries.
¡®Why did these guyse here?¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help guessing their motives.
¡°Mr Xia. We meet again.¡± Mark Armin greeted him warmly.
Xia Lei greeted him and spoke in fluent German. ¡°Mr Mark Armin, we haven¡¯t seen each other for a long time. It¡¯s such a pleasure to meet you guys here. But, why did you guyse over here?¡±
¡°We know that the Thunder Horse Military Factory was also invited to this Weapons Exhibition, so we came here to check it out,¡± said Mark Armin.
Xia Lei spread out his hands. ¡°You guys came a bit too early. You see, we haven¡¯t even finished decorating the area yet.¡±
Although a group of people came, Mark Armin was the only one who greeted Xia Lei. The rest of them just stood by and watched. It was quite strange.
After they chatted a little, Mark Armin said, ¡°Mr Xia, when are you free? I would like to talk with you.¡±
¡°What do you want to talk about?¡±
¡°I suppose you forgot?¡± Mark Armin said, ¡°Last time you came to my house to visit, you broke the oil painting that was passed down from my ancestors with your fist.¡±
¡°Mr Mark Armin, do you want me to pay for it?¡± Xia Lei suddenly frowned. How can Mark Armin still have the guts to mention that incident again? If it wasn¡¯t for his luck in Germany where he escaped Dark Mona¡¯s ambush, he would have fallen into the CIA¡¯s hands already!
Mark Armin suddenlyughed. ¡°Mr Xia, I was just joking. Now that Thunder Horse Military Factory and Rheinmetall AG have be brotherpanies, how could I ruin our rtionship over an oil painting?¡±
Rheinmetall AG needed them to be processing coreponents for their Thunder Dragon intelligencethe, and Germany was spying on Xia Lei¡¯s Thunder Dragon intelligencethe second-generation too. Under this circumstances, how could Mark Armin, the chairman of Rheinmetall AG, dare to offend Xia Lei? More importantly, even if he asked Xia Lei forpensation, would Xia Lei even give it to him?
Xia Lei said softly, ¡°Mr Mark Armin, you¡¯re a really humorous guy. Since you mentioned the existence of the painting, you should know what happened yesterday. I am a forgetful person and I think some things should best be forgotten. What do you think?¡±
¡°Right, right, right. What Mr Xia said is right. It¡¯s only a painting, so consider it as my gift to Mr Xia.¡± It seemed like Mark Armin¡¯s intention was only to remind Xia Lei that he owed him a painting.
¡°Mr Xia, your exhibition area is sorge. I¡¯m assuming that you have a lot of weapons to put on disy?¡± The senior executive Joe Barton from the Barrett Company finally spoke up.
¡°Is there a problem?¡± Xia Lei looked at Joe Barton.
Joe Barton said, ¡°As far as I know, Thunder horse Military Factory only has three products; the XL2500 sniper rifle, the Gust assault rifle, and the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon. Are you going to disy only these three light weapons in such a huge exhibition area?¡±
¡°There aren¡¯t only three light weapons, there are actually four. Thunder Horse Military Factory also has a handgun. It¡¯s just that it wasn¡¯t popr at all.¡± The senior executive of the HK Company, Ileva, said with a hint of ridicule in her tone.
Some people in the group couldn¡¯t help chuckling. The weapons industry of the Republic of China had always been underestimated by the outside world. Even though Thunder Horse Military Factory was a potential dark house in the industry, it wasn¡¯t realistic for the factory to overturn the Western countries¡¯ prejudice and discimination towards China¡¯s weapons industry with only a few light weapons.
Xia Lei saw then that these people¡¯s real purpose ining here was to mock them.
Chapter 698
Although Thunder Horse Military Factory was still small and new, its presence at the exhibition was a threat to the Western military industries¡¯ big dogs. America¡¯s Barrett Company, Belgium¡¯s HK Company, and even Germany¡¯s Rheinmetall AG, which imed to be friends with Thunder Horse Group, as well as Germany¡¯s FN Company. They all viewed the Thunder Horse Group as their most threatening rival. Be it the past, present or future, they would never be Xia Lei¡¯s friends ¡ª only rivals and enemies!
How could they miss the opportunity to attack their enemy was it was right before them?
¡°When did our Thunder Horse Group allow people like you guys to criticise us?¡± Before Xia Lei could speak, Qing Caiyue retorted, ¡°Our Thunder Horse Group has its own tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery, and defense system. They just haven¡¯t been shipped over.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Joe Barton sneered. ¡°Haven¡¯t been shipped over, or haven¡¯t been made? China isn¡¯t the best in its manufacturing industry but rather in the art of talking, huh?¡±
¡°It¡¯s you guys who are better at talking, right?¡± Qing Caiyue was sharp-tongued. ¡°I know that Barret¡¯s sniper rifles werepletely defeated by Thunder Horse Group¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifles at the weapons exhibition in Russia. Both were sniper rifles but why are you guys socking? The rifles you guys created are far behind us, yet you guys dared to speak loftily about yourselves. I don¡¯t understand this. Sir, where is confidence to mock Thunder Horse Grouping from?¡±
Joe Barton was tongue-tied and could not speak.
What a clever mouth she had! Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help admiring her. If it were him, he wouldn¡¯t be able to talk smack like her.
One shouldn¡¯t ever argue with women because they were naturally gifted in this.
¡°Hehe.¡± Mark Arminughed dryly. ¡°Why do we need to sow unhappiness amongst us? We¡¯re all from the same field so we should progress together, hand in hand, not go against one another.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, who is this woman? We came to talk to you, yet you let a woman run her mouth like this. Is this what a gentleman should do?¡± said Ileva.
Qing Caiyue was about to retort when Xia Lei spoke. ¡°Is it because you think she isn¡¯t of a rank high enough to speak? Let me tell you that she is Thunder Horse Group¡¯s marketing director and my head secretary. She probably ranks higher than you. I don¡¯t know what you want to talk about, and I have no interest in it. If you must talk, then the Chairman of your HK Company should be the oneing over to talk to me, not you.¡±
¡°You...¡± Ileva was at a loss for words too.
¡°And you.¡± Xia Lei looked at Joe Barton. ¡°Are you the Chairman of the Barrett Company? You¡¯re not. You¡¯re not, so leave and do your job. If I want to talk, I will only talk with the Chairman of your Barrett Company.¡±
Joe Barton¡¯s face couldn¡¯t get any uglier at this affront.
It was true. Whether it was Joe Barton or Ileva, they were just senior executives of HK Company and Barrett Company. Although Thunder Horse Group was small in size, Xia Lei was the chairman. If onepared the ranks, they were way below him. What right did they have to criticise them openly?
Qing Caiyue smiled to herself, because she knew that Xia Lei was backing her up and bolstering her standing.
Just then, a few more people walked into the exhibition hall. However, it wasn¡¯t people from an armspany but Jacqueline Eva. There were several heavily armed Gendarmerie Special Forces soldiers behind her.
¡°Mr Xia, are you satisfied with your booth space?¡± Jacqueline Eva greeted Xia Lei from afar.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t bother with Joe Barton anymore and he walked over to her. ¡°I¡¯m very satisfied.¡±
The main star had left so there was no need for Joe Barton and the others to stay. They walked off angrily. Mueller from FN Company was secretly d that he hadn¡¯t provoked Xia Lei and the woman with a sharp tongue, or he would be full of anger right now. Mark Armin wanted to talk a bit more with Xia Lei when leaving, but he gave up on the thought because the people around him were so mad.
Qing Caiyue remembered the scene where Xia Lei backed her up and bolstered her position as she watched Joe Barton and the others leave. The smile on her face grew more apparent.
¡°Ms. Qing, you have a way with words indeed.¡± An employee of the Thunder Horse Group standing behind Qing Caiyue ttered her.
Qing Caiyue red at him.
The employee who had attempted to tter her shut his mouth.
He wasplimenting her sharp tongue too, but her reaction waspletely different.
Not far from them, Jacqueline Eva and Xia Lei continued their conversation. The atmosphere around them seemed pleasant.
¡°Mr Xia, if you guys need any help, just let me know. We will resolve any problems for you,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
¡°Thank you, but I don¡¯t need any help. We can settle it ourselves,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You don¡¯t need to be polite with me.¡± Jacqueline Eva smiled. ¡°Do you have time?¡±
¡°Is there a problem?¡± Xia Lei had guessed Jacqueline Eva¡¯s motive a long time ago. The French government had always wanted to work with him and were anxious about getting rid of a hot potato like him. This was why it was better for the French government to start the negotiation as soon as possible.
As expected, Jacqueline Eva said, ¡°We want to discuss a coboration with you. If possible, I¡¯d like to bring you to the weapons equipment department. They are all prepared.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°How about tomorrow? Even if we are going to talk, I need to prepare for it. Plus, you¡¯ve seen that I need to decorate that huge exhibition booth. I need to assign work to my people.¡±
¡°Okay, tomorrow it is.¡± Jacqueline Eva was not expecting Xia Lei to go to the French weapons equipment department with her right now. The French government found it eptable to reach a negotiation stage before the main weapons exhibition began. Not counting today, they still had eight days left. There was still plenty of time left.
¡°Okay. If there isn¡¯t anything else, I¡¯m going to manage the setup now,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh, right.¡± Jacqueline Eva moved close to speak softly in Xia Lei ear. ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask me for that perfumest night?¡±
¡°Marie¡¯s Desire?¡±
¡°I knew you would still remember its name. I have it. Come to my ce tonight.¡±
¡°To your ce?¡±
¡°If you agree, I can drive over and pick you up from the hotel at five in the afternoon. We can have dinner together.¡±
¡°Uh...¡±
Jacqueline Eva curled the corners of her lips up. ¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯m a woman. Don¡¯t put me in a difficult position.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Okay. I will be waiting for you at five in the afternoon at the hotel.¡±
¡°Then it¡¯s settled. Goodbye.¡± Jacqueline Eva bid him farewell, but suddenly kissed Xia Lei on the cheek.
Xia Lei¡¯s body stiffened slightly and his expression turned awkward. Cheek-kissing was not reallymon etiquette in the Western society. The ordinary etiquette was to rub one¡¯s cheeks with another then peck their cheeks. The nature of the action was clearly different.
Jacqueline Eva left.
Qing Caiyue came over. ¡°Director Xia, who was that woman?¡±
¡°She¡¯s probably a staff member in the French government. I¡¯m not sure,¡± said Xia Lei. His gaze was still on Jacqueline Eva¡¯s plump butt but he wasn¡¯t thinking of his date with her tonight. He was thinking about how to go to Italy.
Qing Caiyue clearly wasn¡¯t satisfied with the response, but she didn¡¯t ask more.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Let me tell you something, Caiyue.¡±
Qing Caiyue turned her attention to him. ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Remember this.¡± Xia Lei said softly in her ear, ¡°No matter what happens or what you hear, don¡¯t bother about it. You just need toplete the work I give you. Decorate the exhibition hall, attend the weapons exhibition, and chat with the clients.¡±
¡°Director Xia, you...¡± Qing Caiyue was nervous and confused. What made her nervous was how Xia Lei was talking to her. She could feel his warm breath blowing on her ear. That was a sensitive ce and the tickling feeling made her heart flutter. What made her confused was what Xia Lei had said to her. She couldn¡¯t understand why he had said that.
¡°You don¡¯t understand?¡±
Qing Caiyue nodded.
¡°Let me give you an example.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was low. ¡°If you hear that I got captured or kidnapped, just pretend that you didn¡¯t hear anything, and keep on doing what you¡¯re supposed to.¡±
¡°Um... How can I do that?¡± Qing Caiyue said in surprise. ¡°How can I not care if something happens to you? How can I do nothing about it?¡±
¡°Then what would you do?¡±
¡°I will stop my activities at the exhibition and go to the embassy to find our ambassador. I will go to the French government and cause a ruckus. I don¡¯t believe that they will be unreasonable and ignore thews.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I really will do that!¡± Qing Caiyue had clearly misunderstood, and thought that Xia Lei didn¡¯t believe that she would have the resolve to do what she imed.
Xia Lei suddenly ced his lips on Qing Caiyue¡¯s ear. ¡°Listen to me. No matter what you hear, or no matter what happens, don¡¯t do anything about it.¡±
Qing Caiyue¡¯s face flushed right away and she quivered for no apparent reason.
¡°This is very important to me. Do not act on your own. Do you understand?¡±
Qing Caiyue nodded, almost subconsciously.
¡°And you cannot tell anyone. Got it?¡±
Qing Caiyue nodded again. Xia Lei had made it so clear that she should have understood, even if she had the brain of a pig.
Xia Lei left Qing Caiyue but his gaze was on her ears, which were translucent, delicate as ice and snow. He had verified this with his lips already. A red mark had appeared on her ear, and the redness quickly travelled to her face and neck. The redness made her skin even more delicate and beautiful.
¡°Director Xia, you...¡± Qing Caiyue bit her cherry lip but said it in the end. ¡°You¡¯re such a bad man.¡±
Xia Lei pretended to be stunned. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re talking about earlier? Sorry, it was idental.¡±
He had done it on purpose, and not identally. Qing Caiyue the vixen had been trying to seduce him. He hadn¡¯t ¡®eaten¡¯ her yet but he ¡®tasted¡¯ her a bit. He was giving her a sweet taste so that she would listen to him. The structure of personnel in Thunder Horse Group had grown moreplicated with the increase in its employees, so as the Chairman of the Thunder Horse Group, his main job was to be in charge of his employees. This was also a skill in managing people.
¡°idental? But you...¡± Qing Caiyue couldn¡¯t continue. She wanted to say ¡®you imed it to be idental yet you ced your lips on my ears for more than a minute. If you had done it on purpose, wouldn¡¯t you be eating me?!¡¯
¡°Remember what I told you. This is very important to me.¡± Xia Lei reminded her again.
¡°Mm, I will remember it.¡± Qing Caiyue was obedient again.
¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Xia Lei walked towards Yelena.
Yelena stood in a corner like an observer. As Xia Lei¡¯s other secretary, she always seemed a little unconventional.
Xia Lei walked to Yelena¡¯s side and said softly in Russian, ¡°Tell our people that we have a mission tonight.¡±
¡°What do you want to do?¡± Yelena¡¯s eyes filled with misgiving.
Xia Lei moved his head close to Yelena¡¯s ear...
Chapter 699
The city lights illuminated the night sky, which was speckled with stars. The Paris nightscape as pretty as a dream.
The candles burning quietly, the French foie gras, steak, red wine, and the beautiful blonde woman in the candle light were, as a man, an embodiment of the romance of Paris.
Jacqueline Eva wore a white, low-cut evening dress which exposed her cleavage and shoulders. Her neckline exposed her fair neck and shoulders to Xia Lei¡¯s gaze, disying her alluring body. However, Xia Lei looked at the most were her breasts, wrapped in fabric, but still outlining those two little nubs most obviously. This exposed covering was most attractive.
After drinking several cups of red wine, Jacqueline Eva¡¯s cheeks flushed red. ¡°Mr Xia, you must hold your liquor very well, huh?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°It isn¡¯t that great, but I don¡¯t get drunk on red wine. The alcoholic content in our baijiu is often 50-60% and I can drink a half a litre of that, maybe more.¡±
¡°My God...¡± Jacqueline Eva¡¯s mouth opened wide. ¡°You can actually drink half a litre of something with such a high alcohol content? If I were to drink so much, I¡¯d die. How disappointing. I originally wanted to get you drunk but I think that¡¯ll be impossible now. I¡¯m almost drunk now, yet you¡¯re totally fine.¡±
¡°You want to get me drunk? Then what?¡±
Jacqueline Eva smiled enticingly. ¡°What do you want to do?¡±
Xia Lei coughed dryly. ¡°I meant, after you get me drunk, what do you want to do?¡±
¡°What do you think I want to do?¡±
¡°Is this a French tongue twister?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Jacqueline Eva giggled sweetly. Desire shed in her blue eyes.
Xia Lei looked away and over at the doorway. In that moment, the doorframe disappeared in his left eye¡¯s field of view and the two French soldiers standing outside immediately entered his sight. Then, his left eye looked over at a wall and in a second, he saw the space behind the wall with his left eye as well.
There were two people in that room, aptop and some monitoring equipment. The two people were dressed casually, wearing headphones, with their eyes glued to theptop monitor which currently disyed a video feed of his dinner with Jacqueline Eva in real time.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and looked at Jacqueline Eva with a smile, as if he had been tempted by her.
He knew that this wasn¡¯t Jacqueline Eva¡¯s house, but a ce that the French intelligence department had specially prepared.The two soldiers outside were in charge of protecting his date with Jacqueline Eva while the two French intelligence special agents were in charge of eavesdropping on him and Jacqueline Eva.
The French government were quite willing to spend their assets to get his technology. They¡¯d even sent him their pretty agent, Jacqueline Eva. In the intelligence world, beautiful women gained their intelligence the easiest because their bodies were the best tools to use to conquer a man.
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯ve prepared the perfume you wanted.¡± Jacqueline Eva clearly didn¡¯t want to y ¡®French tongue twisters¡¯ with Xia Lei anymore.
¡°Marie¡¯s Desire?¡± Xia Lei pretended to be touched. ¡°That¡¯s great! Could you let me see it?¡±
¡°Come get it yourself.¡± Jacqueline Eva said, ¡°It¡¯s sitting under my chair.¡±
¡°Under your chair?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s gaze prated through the table and the chair Jacqueline Eva was sitting on instantly. Sure enough, there were three bottles of perfume under the chair. Jacqueline Eva had used glue to attach them to the wood under her butt.
Was this also an embodiment of romantic Paris?
Jacqueline Eva smiled sweetly, and her voice filled with seduction. ¡°Do you want it, Mr Xia? If you want it,e get it.¡±
Xia Leiughed and put his serviette down as he stood up to walk to Jacqueline Eva.
Jacqueline Eva moved her chair to face Xia Lei. However, she didn¡¯t intend on getting up to let Xia Lei get the perfume more easily; she still sat on the dining chair as she looked at Xia Lei with a smile.
While Eastern women had more delicate faces and exquisite skin, Western women had sharper lines in their faces and busty bodies. Jacqueline Eva¡¯s face had the Eastern aesthetic, with a high nose bridge and blue eyes. If these didn¡¯t attract men, then her body was her ultimate weapon in conquering men. With her height of 1.92 metres and her slender legs, how many men could resist her sexiness?
¡°Could you get it out for me?¡± said Xia Lei as he stared at her legs.
¡°They¡¯re extremely precious. If you want them, then you¡¯ll have to pay a price,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°All right.¡±
He crouched down, and his gaze went inevitably to the middle of the ivory tusks of her legs. A thin stretch of cloth entered his field of vision quietly, thin like cicada¡¯s wings, unclear yet revealing. It was like a spark that started prairie fires as it hit him in the face at full force. The defensive line he built immediately shook and could crumble at any moment.
Xia Lei¡¯s right hand slowly reached over, under the chair, little by little and extremely carefully.
Jacqueline Eva maintained her elegant sitting pose, but when Xia Lei¡¯s hand reached under the chair, and when he was about to grab the three perfume bottles, her ivory tusks suddenly closed, sandwiching his hand in between.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei knew what she wanted but still acted shocked.
Jacqueline Eva suddenly leaned forward, pressing her entire body onto Xia Lei¡¯s body. Xia Lei instinctively supported himself with his left hand, trying to avoid falling onto the floor, but Jacqueline Eva¡¯s legs made a strong movement. She pinned Xia Lei to the carpet with a show of supreme dominance. Through it all, her foot knocked against the chair, and it fell to the floor.
The three bottles of ¡°Marie¡¯s Desire¡± spilled and the entire room was immediately filled with the mysterious yet enticing perfume.
Xia Lei had already experienced what ¡°Marie¡¯s Desire¡± was like for himself. He had seen that the three perfume bottles stoppers hadn¡¯t been stopped up properly but he didn¡¯t feel like exposing the French special agent¡¯s cheap tricks. The French special agent had her mission and orders while he had his own ns as well.
¡°The perfume spilled,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I still have a lot. I can give you as much as you want.¡± Jacqueline Eva pressed him down. She didn¡¯t want Xia Lei to speak anymore so she stopped him from talking with her mouth and tongue.
Xia Lei gave up on resisting with this warm body in his embrace, but the thing that he focused most on was controlling his breathing. He only absorbed the maintained normal air from his brain and body. As for the rest, he didn¡¯t mind the obsceneness that Jacqueline Eva¡¯s hand or mouth were up to.
The perfume smell became stronger and stronger. The scene in the room became increasingly non-PG rated.
In the other room.
¡°We got lucky this time.¡± A French intelligence worker smiled wretchedly, his eyes glued to the monitoring screen. ¡°She usually gives us attitude but she¡¯s doing this with a Chinese guy right in front of us now. Haha, I¡¯ll have to copy it and watch it every night.¡±
¡°You wanna die? Boss is the trump card of our Swimming Pool. Do I need to tell you how powerful she is? If you copy this video, she¡¯ll have hundreds of ways to find out and then you can just wait for death,¡± said the other guy.
¡°Swimming Pool¡± was the nickname for the safety head office of France because its general headquarters were in the 20th district in Paris, in an old military camp near the Well Hotel swimming pool. The foreign affairs safety central office was a very important intelligence organisation for France. It didn¡¯t just manage and coordinate all the French intelligence spy departments, but was also the biggest intelligence spy group in France. The troops it assembled were the top French spies and special agents who collected intelligence internationally, fought against terrorism, carried out assassinations, overturned enemy regimes, and so on. It was basically a copy of the American CIA.
Jacqueline Eva was a trump card of the ¡°Swimming Pool¡± and thus, it wasn¡¯t hard to see how badly the French government thirsted after Xia Lei¡¯s technology and how determined they were to get it.
¡°I was just saying all that. I wouldn¡¯t want to die.¡±
¡°As long as you understand that... Damn, this Chinese fellow is sure getting all this cheap. Boss is known as the prettiestdy in the Swimming Pool.¡±
¡°Woah, the show¡¯s begun.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t take it anymore. I¡¯ll have to find a whore for myself after work tonight.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go together, or I¡¯ll bust too.¡±
¡°Chinese guy is too good now, isn¡¯t he?¡±
Why do you think the boss would work this hard?¡±
¡°Wow, look at them go at it. If I could do it with her just like that Chinese guy, I¡¯d be willing to not get paid for a whole year.¡±
¡°Dream on. How much is your annual sry? Do you know how much money that Chinese guy has? Almost two billion euros! He can crush you with his money!¡±
Just then, on the screen, Jacqueline Eva suddenly said, ¡°Mr Xia, what do you want the French government to give you for your Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle assembly lines?¡±
¡°The Charles De... De Gaulle¡¯s aircraft carrier electric navigation sys... system.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice made him seem a little dazed.
¡°Anything else?¡±
¡°I, I just want this and, and you... hahahe...¡±
¡°If the French government agrees then you¡¯ll have to change your Thunder Dragonthe to the second generation intelligent Thunder Dragonthe. Would you agree to that?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t not do it.¡±
¡°Just agree. Isn¡¯t the agreement we have now pretty good?¡± Jacqueline Eva¡¯s voice was dreamy.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes changed and be vacant. He mechanically said, ¡°I¡¯m willing.¡±
The two workers exchanged smiles in front of the monitoring screen, and then high fived.
¡°It¡¯s settled. Boss is Boss after all. Now that this mission ispleted, she¡¯ll get promoted again.¡±
¡°Once we get the Chinese guy¡¯s signed documents, we won¡¯t have to worry about him not giving in. If he doesn¡¯t give us what he promised, we can detain him for an unlimited time and pressure China. Even if we were to bring this to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, he¡¯d lose for sure.¡±
¡°Haha, let¡¯s make a bet on whether Boss will make the Chinese guy sign the documents after fucking or in the middle of fucking.¡±
¡°I bet afterwards. You¡¯re definitely losing. Look at how much she¡¯s enjoying this. She definitely wouldn¡¯t care about wasting a few minutes.¡±
¡°A few minutes? I think she¡¯ll settle this guy within thirty minutes. I¡¯m definitely losing? I think you¡¯ve lost! I¡¯ll bet 50 Euros.¡±
¡°Deal.¡± The two agents high-fived again.
But at this moment, the wind suddenly blew the curtains apart.
The two agents reacted quickly. They looked over right when the wind blew the curtains apart, but in that instant, a human silhouette appeared in the window...
Chapter 700
The two French special agents¡¯ reactions were already as quick as could be but they were still a step toote. When they saw the human silhouettes, their necks were all pricked with an anesthesia needle. In the next moment, they fell onto the ground.
Before they went unconscious, they had still seen the person in the window, who appeared Asian. He hung upside down from the window like a spider. He wasn¡¯t holding a gun that shot anesthetic needles but a blowing tube. They couldn¡¯t believe that he had actually used such a simple toy to knock them out.
The Asian jumped in from the window soundlessly. He was no other than the Tiger of the Zodiac team, E¡¯er Demutu. Of course, he wasn¡¯t exposing his real face, but a delicate mask.
At the same time, the elevator of the apartment opened and a ck couple walked out. The man was tall and sounded drunk. He drew the woman¡¯s waist towards him, muttering things. He was not quiet at all.
¡°Dear, I already can¡¯t wait. You¡¯re so hot.¡±
¡°What¡¯s even in your brain? I hate drunk men,¡± said the woman in displeasure.
¡°What are you saying? You¡¯re wrong. Men who drink are stronger. In a moment, you¡¯ll understand. I¡¯ll be as powerful as a tiger.¡±
¡°Yeah right. I won¡¯t believe your lies,¡± said the woman as she hit him.
The two military police special agents looked at this man and woman vigntly with their hands ced on their guns, preparing to pull them out.
¡°Why are there two soldiers there?¡± asked the ck man
¡°Don¡¯t cause trouble for yourself, man,¡± said the woman.
¡°I¡¯m not afraid.¡± The man didn¡¯t really care.
The two soldiers frowned. One of them called, ¡°What are you making all this noise for? Hurry up and leave!¡±
At this moment, the room door that the two special agents were in was suddenly opened. An asian face peeked through the door crack, like he was checking the situation outside.
The two soldiers reacted the instant the door opened. Without speaking, or hesitation, they prepared to fire.
The asian face suddenly disappeared behind the door. The soldiers broke into a run in pursuit. However, after just two steps, they fell onto the ground. Their necks had been clearly pricked with two anesthesia needles.
E¡¯er Demutu had only created a diversion, while the ck man and woman had attacked.
After the two military police special agents fell to the ground, E¡¯er Demutu walked out of the room. The two people in ck also walked towards the doorway. The three of them exchanged nces and then put on a ck mask that they took out from their pockets.
These two youths in ck were none other than Bagu and Amanda.
After the three people readied themselves, Bagu suddenly forced the door open with a kick. The three of them rushed in.
The scene inside the room could make one blush. The couple inside were in the throes of passion, with the woman in a passionate and unrestrained state. If this man were a horse, then this woman would be a medieval knight, urging this horse to gallop madly, as she tussled with the root of his shaft.
But this great tussle came to a halt the moment the three masked people rushed into the room.
Jacqueline Eva slid off of Xia Lei¡¯s body and then threw herself at the head of the bed. She had hidden a gun under the pillow.
E¡¯er Demutu immediately lifted the tube in his hand. With a puff of his cheeks, and a soft pop, an anesthetic needle punctured Jacqueline Eva¡¯s butt.
Even though there was a needle in her butt, the drugs on the needle wasn¡¯t enough for Jacqueline Eva to go unconscious immediately. However, she still couldn¡¯t grab the gun hidden under her pillow. She suddenly fell by the bedside. Amanda grabbed onto her waist and tackled her to the ground with the help of inertia.
¡°Who are you guys?¡± Jacqueline Eva said in rm. ¡°What do you wa¡ª¡±
Amanda punched Jacqueline Eva in the back of her head.
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s head bumped onto the floor. She groaned softly and felt herself get dizzy. In the fog, she heard some people speaking.
¡°Let¡¯s just kill her. My goal is Xia Lei,¡± said a man¡¯s voice.
¡°No, Boss Dark Mona made it clear. We shouldn¡¯t create any unnecessary troubles,¡± said another man.
¡°We¡¯ve already got Xia Lei and aplished our goal. There¡¯s no point in killing this French woman. She¡¯s someone from the French intelligence agency,¡± said a woman¡¯s voice. ¡°Killing her would bring us too much trouble.¡±
¡°Then let¡¯s just go. Bring Xia Lei,¡± said a man¡¯s voice.
Jacqueline Eva tried her best to keep her eyes open. She saw two men wrap Xia Lei up in a carpet, while the woman took Xia Lei¡¯s clothes. The three of them were very quick, and they disappeared from her field of vision in the blink of an eye.
The drug on the needle began working. Her consciousness felt murkier and murkier until she didn¡¯t know anything anymore.
After entering the elevator, Bagu put Xia Lei down. Amanda gave him his clothes and the mask that had been prepared in advance.
Xia Lei awkwardly covered his private part. ¡°Turn around, you¡¯re not allowed to look.¡±
¡°Tiger and I are fine, but I¡¯m not so sure about Amanda,¡± said Baguughingly.
Amanda kicked Bagu. ¡°You rascal, don¡¯t provoke me!¡±
Xia Lei quickly put on his clothes and wore his mask. Only now did he finally rx. He hadn¡¯t been afraid of Jacqueline Eva¡¯s ¡°Marie¡¯s Desire¡± just now, because his body¡¯s immunity was extremely strong, but his immunity would only appear when his mind was on the brink of losing consciousness. He didn¡¯t even want things to progress to that point. In addition, Jacqueline Eva had actually done it with him just now and this required some time before it would calm down...
¡°Boss, Alessio is ready. Park Taeyong will bring us to the meeting ce,¡± said E¡¯er Demutu.
¡°Very good. We set off for Italy tonight,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°And, I found out Jacqueline Eva¡¯s real identity. She is from the French Safety Head Office, and has a high rank. She¡¯s their trump card special agent,¡± said E¡¯er Demutu.
Even though Xia Lei had known that Jacqueline Eva was a French special agent, he hadn¡¯t thought she had such influence. Then, he couldn¡¯t help but remember what had just happened. He had just went through what he felt was such a beautiful experience...
¡°Boss, was Jacqueline Eva tight?¡± asked Bagu suddenly.
Xia Lei was speechless.
After leaving the apartment, the four of them squeezed into a Mitsubishi off-road car. The Mitsubishi quickly entered traffic and disappeared in the street shrouded by night.
After some time had passed, Jacqueline Eva slowly gained consciousness. Her consciousness came back to her first, then her ability to move. She slowly climbed off the bed.
There was still a thick perfume smell in the room, but it was very quiet.
¡°Damn it!¡± Jacqueline Eva recalled what had just happened, and kicked the bedpost in anger.
Xia Lei had been taken.
A meticulously designed trap was destroyed just like that. For the nation, she had even sacrificed her sex appeal to please Xia Lei. Right when she was about to seed, three masked men had appeared! This was so annoying!
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s gaze fell onto the carpet that still had some marks of her and Xia Lei¡¯s activities. Those marks made her furious.
After a minute, Jacqueline Eva put on her evening gown. She rushed out the door without even putting her shoes on. The two soldiers outside the door had disappeared and the hallway was quiet. She stared nkly for a moment before rushing into the room next door.
Four peopley in the room. Two were her subordinates and the other two were special agents from the national military police.
Theptop that the two workers had used was still there but it was in broken pieces on the floor. The hard disk on theputer had been taken. The video she had filmed with Xia Lei had been very valuable because if the need had risen, it would have be an additional bargaining chip to make Xia Lei agree to the transaction with France, but the three rascals had actually taken even theputer¡¯s hard disk!
She had basically worked for nothing, now that the person they wanted had been taken and theputer hard disk had been removed. She had even let Xia Lei fill her up inside.
After several minutes, Jacqueline Eva returned to her room. She found her phone and dialed a number. ¡°Safety number 0913YL, please connect to Chief Benjamin.¡±
After a few seconds, a man¡¯s voice answered, ¡°You settled it this quickly?¡±
¡°No, Bureau Chief...¡±
The phone immediately went silent.
Jacqueline Eva took a deep breath. ¡°Bureau Chief, the mission failed.¡±
¡°How is this possible? Could it be that he saw through us?¡±
¡°No, but... we were going to seed. I hypnotised Xia Lei and he agreed to sign the documents but right when I was about to let him sign the documents, three masked people suddenly burst into the room. They were very skilled and they knocked me out. They were going to kill me, but then they gave up on that and took Xia Lei away.¡±
¡°They only had three people?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure. I only saw three, but the two soldiers were also knocked out, and my two subordinates too.¡±
¡°A group of useless people! After nning for such a long time, you actually ruined everything!¡±
¡°Sorry, Bureau Chief.¡±
¡°Is sorry any use? Who was it? Who did it?!¡±
Jacqueline Eva thought for a moment. ¡°They used a special anesthetic on me but before I lost consciousness, I seemed to have heard them mention someone. Dark Mona.¡±
¡°Could it be someone from the CIA?¡±
¡°Probably not. The CIA wouldn¡¯t dare do something like this because this is practically dering war.¡± Jacqueline Eva said, ¡°I think it¡¯s probably a different organisation. Please give me some time and I will investigate.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give you three days. You have to find out and you have to save Xia Lei!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, Bureau Chief, I will investigate this and I will save Xia Lei.¡± A bitter smile appeared on Jacqueline Eva¡¯s lips. Just with those three people¡¯s skills, saving Xia Lei was easier said than done.
¡°Also, you¡¯re not allowed to leak this out to anyone else. Tell your people and those two useless special soldiers to shut their mouths!¡±
¡°Yes, I understand.¡±
¡°If the Thunder Horse Group people ask about Xia Lei, how will you respond?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll say...¡± Jacqueline Eva thought for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
There wasn¡¯t any sound from the phone anymore.
Jacqueline Eva stared nkly for a moment, and then sat on the bed. She looked at the marks on the carpet, and recalled the earlier events...
Chapter 701
One dayter, in the north of Italy, Bobbio.
Xia Lei felt a sense of deja vu when he arrived in Bobbio. This was not because he had been here before, but because it matched the painting which Ning Jing had painted. What she¡¯d painted was a town in the Middle Ages, and it was a modern town before his eyes now, with the medieval buildings practically gone, but some ces matched with the distinctive features of the painting of ancient times.
¡°This is Bobbio, Boss. Da Vinci lived here, and the background of the Mona Lisa is this ce too. I haven¡¯t been here before, but I know the situation in this ce.¡± Alessio made some introductions to Xia Lei in an old pickup truck. He seemed to want to y the role of tour guide.
¡°I¡¯d like to walk about on my own. You guys just maintain radio contact,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, no problem.¡± Alessio smiled and said, ¡°Oh, and Boss? The girls in Italy are quite open-minded. Be careful, or they¡¯ll tie you to a bed.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh and alighted. He walked along a street, moving forward.
The streets of the town were not busy, and there were few people around. The Mona Lisa had been created here, but this was just the birthce of a painting, and that was not enough to draw the touristy crowds.
Xia Lei walked on, through the street, moving aimlessly. He had a silicone mask on, and no trace of ¡°Xia Lei¡± could be seen from any angle. He had only a travel backpack on him, and he looked like an asian backpacker.
The Zodiac team did not follow. They spread themselves out throughout the town such that the entire area was under their control.
Xia Lei had his reasons for telling the Zodiac team not to follow him. They would easily draw the attention of others if they moved as a group of eight, especially when the members of the group were so varied in ethnicity.
There was actually another reason, and that was that he was the leader of the Zodiac team, and they were his subordinates. He did not have to tell them everything. He just had tomand them, and have them do what he told them to do as he intended them to do.
A river appeared before him when he walked out of the town. This river was not very big, nor very small. Dense forest lined the banks of the river, with a small path going through both sides. Xia Lei walked along the path on the left, and saw a stone bridge after a while.
It was an ancient stone bridge, and the stones of the bridge were covered with moss. Some of the stone was also so mottled it didn¡¯t look like stone any longer. The bridge looked to be several hundred years old at first nce.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped when he saw it. ¡®Isn¡¯t this that stone bridge in the Mona Lisa? Seems like I¡¯m nearing my destination.¡¯
A vision popped into Xia Lei¡¯s head when he stepped onto the bridge. A woman wearing a ck dress sat with her back to the bridge, facing a painter with a mesmerising smile on her face. The painter was focused on painting, his eyes deep and full of wisdom. His name was Leonardo da Vinci, and the woman before him was the subject of the Mona Lisa, Lisa del Giocondo.
Thinking of da Vinci made Xia Lei think of a new question. When had da Vinci drawn the map and the message in pencil? And why did he hide such an important message in a painting? He could not have known that this painting would be a world-renowned work of art after all.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went downriver as he thought, and he spotted an old man fishing. The old man was silver-haired but tall and sturdy. He looked and was built like a typical white person.
The old man also looked over just as Xia Lei spotted him, and he saw him too.
¡°Hey there, young friend! Are you a tourist?¡± The old man took the initiative to greet Xia Lei, and he seemed very friendly. He spoke with a very pure Italian ent.
Xia Lei nodded, and said, ¡°Yes. I like this ce.¡±
¡°You won¡¯t be disappointed. This is the most beautiful ce in the whole of Italy. Walk around, my boy. You will surely find something delightful. Good luck!¡± The old man waved at Xia Lei.
¡°Good luck to you,¡± said Xia Lei. He left the stone bridge.
Xia Lei¡¯s words seemed to have worked, for the fishing float suddenly submerged when he stepped off the stone bridge. The old men pulled at the fishing rod in his hand immediately, and a big fish was dragged out of the surface of the water.
¡®This old man reacts pretty quickly, huh,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself. He looked away, and stepped on the small path between the trees, moving forward.
It was quiet in the forest, with a breeze blowing once in a while, swaying the trees and making them rustle. Small birds flew up asionally too, chirping and tweeting. There was no shadow of city life here, and it brought one a soothing silence to the soul.
Had Leonardo da Vinci walked this path, all those years ago?
About 500 metrester, Xia Lei walked out of the forest. A pile of rocks entered his field of vision, and he was absorbed by them right away. These were not natural rocks, but stones which had been cut by a stonemason, perhaps for construction work or something simr.
Ning Jing¡¯s painting appeared in his head again. A house, and a mountain behind that house, plus the tomb at the foot of that mountain. His eyes left the stone ruins and he looked further behind them. A mountainscape met his eyes ¡ª the terrain was exactly the same as what Ning Jing had painted!
¡°I found it!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped with excitement. He strode over.
He came to the ruins in minutes. Pieces of stone were scattered among the grass. Cracks, moss and missing parts proved the passage of time. They were at least a few hundred years old. Some of the stone looked like pieces of sculptures, with most depicting religious content like the cross and the Virgin Mary.
In Ning Jing¡¯s painting, a jeans-wearing and backpack-toting young man had been looking in the direction of the mountain. Now, Xia Lei was also standing in the same position. He was also wearing jeans, and he carried a backpack, plus he was looking in the direction of the mountain. In that instant, time and space seemed to ovep. It was not clear if he was in the painting, or if he was outside the painting.
¡®This house was quite pretty in Ning Jing¡¯s painting. The town she drew was a town from the Middle Ages, and had no trace of the modern world at all. However, she had also drawn a modern person, and he was standing where I am now... She¡¯s definitely never been here but she painted it. If she was painting it from memory, then won¡¯t her memory be...¡¯ At that point, chills ran down Xia Lei¡¯s back.
If Ning Jing had painted from memory, then her memory had been hundreds of years old. But Ning Jing was in her twenties. How could it be possible!
¡°Oh no, it looks like we¡¯re lost.¡± A woman¡¯s voice was suddenly heard.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were interrupted, and he looked to the voice. An old man and woman were walking towards him, following the path. They seemed to be a married couple, and wereining as they walked.
¡°No, I can¡¯t be wrong. I came here 15 years ago. I remember it clearly,¡± said the old man.
¡°But I don¡¯t see any church. Are you sure you remembered right?¡± The old woman looked like she couldn¡¯t walk any further, and her face was strained.
¡°Let¡¯s go a little further. I think we¡¯ll be able to see that church soon.¡± The old man supported the old woman, and they continued forward.
¡°There¡¯s a young man there. I wonder if he knows about that church.¡± The old man had seen Xia Lei.
¡°Hey there, young fe! Where did youe from?¡± The old man greeted him
Xia Lei hesitated. ¡°Korea. I am korean.¡±
¡°Oh, your Italian is quite good.¡± The old man smiled.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I live in Italy.¡±
¡°Ah, that really is nice,¡± said the old man. ¡°Oh, right, do you know if there is a church near here?¡±
¡°Church?¡± Xia Lei looked around, but he did not see any church in his visual field.
¡°There isn¡¯t?¡± The old woman looked disappointed. ¡°My husband said he was baptised in that church as a child. He wants to see it before he leaves this world, but it seems we¡¯re lost.¡±
The painting Ning Jing painted appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s head again. There was a church in her painting. However, that town in the painting was from hundreds of years ago. Those things were now things of the past, and he did not know if that church still existed, or not.
¡°What does the church you¡¯re looking for look like?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Hm, it¡¯s an ancient church. It has a very tall dome, and coloured ss like in the Mn Cathedral. Have you been to the Mn Cathedral?¡± said the old man.
¡°Yes, I¡¯ve been there. It¡¯s very pretty.¡± Xia Lei had never been to the Mn Cathedral. He casually pointed behind the mountain. ¡°The church you¡¯re talking about is over there. Go around the mountain and you¡¯ll see it.¡±
However, he was not just pointing in a random direction. He had pointed in the direction of the church in Ning Jing¡¯s painting.
¡°Thank you, young man.¡± The old woman thanked Xia Lei.
Xia Lei replied politely, ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. I wish you smooth travels.¡±
The old man smiled at Xia Lei, then said, ¡°See, I was right. How could I remember it wrong when I¡¯ve been there before? Let¡¯s go. We will be there soon.¡±
The old couple left.
Xia Lei watched them go. He left the ruins only after he couldn¡¯t see them anymore, and went towards the mountain.
There were no paths, and the wild vegetation was thick. He saw no tombstone, but weeds upon weeds.
The grass in front of him suddenly shook.
Xia Lei grew tense right away, and a hand went to his waist. He had a gun hidden at his waist. If anything sudden happened, he would not hesitate to use it.
Rustle, rustle...
Sounds came from the grass.
Chapter 702
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye went to the sound as soon as he heard it. His eye saw through the grass, and saw the thing in the grass. He couldn¡¯t helpughing to himself ¡ª what had been hidden in the grass was not a person but a snake.
It was a false rm.
Xia Lei moved forward, going around the area with the snake. He came to the foot of the mountain about ten minutester and finally saw that tombstone. It was hidden in the grass, and only half of it was left. The thick grass had covered it up, and the broken surface was covered with bird droppings. The part which had broken off had fallen in the grass to one side of it, and faint markings of a cross could be seen on it. The stone had moss crawling all over it, and people had carved graffiti in Italian on the surface of the stone ¡ª Alice was here, I love Leonardo, Peter is an idiot.
It seemed Italians liked to do these sort of things too.
These bit of vandalism also proved one thing, and that was that this ce was remote, but people still came here. The tombstone might even have been broken because of these visitors.
A mound of dirty behind the tombstone. It wasn¡¯t very high, perhaps up to a person¡¯s knee. The mound was covered in wild grass, and bird nests of birds which nested on the ground. There was nothing special about this ce other than these things. The initial impression was that this was just a normal grave. No noble was buried here, and it was most likely someone who had been a carpenter, a butcher, a farmer, or someonepletely ordinary.
But Xia Lei grew excited when he first saw this ordinary-looking grave. It looked almost 90% simr to what had been painted.
Hundreds of years had passed, and this grave had had a big change, but the mountain and the river opposite matched the painting exactly. If he took the cross on the tombstone into consideration, the matching percentage increased further.
¡®The map which da Vinci had left on the canvas was fairlyplicated. It was like a maze. The entrance to that was below this tombstone. It looks like I really have to dig up a grave. I¡¯ll have to take a look underground before I start on that,¡¯ thought Xia Lei. His left eye twitched after he thought that, and activated his X-ray vision.
The dirt slowly disappeared from his vision, and when he was about 1.5 metres in, arge marble b blocked his X-ray vision. He tried to see through it, but s, he could go no further than halfway through it. 1.5 metres of dirt and partway through a marble b was the limit of his X-ray vision.
Everything had its limits, and his X-ray vision was no exception. If he had no limits, he would have been able to see what was happening on the other end of the world, or even see the surfaces ofs far away. This was an impossible thing.
He did not manage to see further, but that marble b was a clue in itself. There had not been a coffin but arge marble b. This was obviously a fake grave, and its secrety below that marble b.
Xia Lei looked around himself. It was quiet. He did not see anyone else around either. This situation suited him perfectly. He removed his backpack from his shoulders and took out a shovel to start digging.
The grave dirt was very soft, and loose. It was not difficult for him to dig at all. He dug and he dug, and the pit before him grew deeper and deeper. The pile of dirt behind him grew taller and taller.
One hourter, the buried marble b was exposed to the air. It was muchrger than the pit he had dug. He used his X-ray vision on the area around it, and quickly discovered that this marble b was like a door which had been ced in the dirt. What made his heart sink a little, was that this marble b was startlingly thick. He would not be able to see through this b even if he stood on it and tried his best to see through it with his X-ray vision.
He estimated that this marble b was at least a metre thick, and was over a hundred tons in weight!
This conclusion surprised himself. There had been no tools for the people of hundreds of years ago to move a marble b over a hundred tons to this ce, but here it was. Unbelievable.
¡®Damn it. How am I to go down with such a big marble b in my way?¡± Xia Lei was perplexed.
The simplest way was to st it with explosives but the quake from the explosion was a bad thing. It would attract the attention of the town¡¯s residents, and also bring the police. However, if he did not use explosives, there was no way for him to move it aside even if he was the strongest man on Earth.
Was this a dead end?
Xia Lei frowned. His gaze went to the marble b again. The white corner of something sticking out of the dirt caught his eye, and he squatted to wipe away dirt with his hand.
Hidden in the dirt was a round ball carved out of white jade, about the size of a basketball. Half the ball was embedded in the marble b, and he saw a pit below it when he lifted it. There was a gear in the pit. The gear was made out of bronze, but the strange thing was that the gear teeth were not a normal ones, but in the shape of letters.
¡®What sort of mechanism is this?¡¯ Xia Lei was filled with curiosity. He pushed at the gear with his hand. There was heavy resistance, but the gear still moved a little. The letter B on the gear tooth slid into a part of the marble, and became two-thirds of a B.
Xia Lei then pushed the gear again, towards the marble b. New letters appeared, one by one, and the resistance lessened with each letter. A few minutester, he had cycled through all the teeth of the gear, from B to B. The marble b did not open up, however, and there was no secret door to open either. This gear was like some intelligent joke, used to prank adventurers.
¡®That¡¯s can¡¯t be it. I must have missed something.¡¯ Xia Lei pondered for a bit, then pushed the gear through one cycle again, from B to B. There was no further movement this time either.
Then Xia Lei was struck by a thought. He immediately looked at the opposite side of the gear and his left eye twitched. The dirt covering up the marble disappeared from his vision. He spotted another white jade ball which looked exactly the same as what he had picked up earlier.
Xia Lei walked over eagerly. He cleared the dirt away then picked up the ball. As expected, the bottom of the ball had a small pit too, and a bronze gear. What was different was that the first letter on the first gear was B, and the first letter on this one was W.
Xia Lei pushed the gear, and it moved from W to W. The marble b did not move at all.
These two bronze gears were obviously the opening mechanism, and the letters were the key to using this mechanism. However, he had tried all of the letters... Why was there still no movement?
He thought and he thought, and he suddenly thought of Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s Mona Lisa. In that instant, he seemed to understand something, and a faint smile appeared in the corners of his lips. He then walked to the first bronze gear, and pushed the letter A to the top. He then went to the second bronze gear and moved the letter E to the top.
nk nk nk...
A strange sound was heard, and the marble b beneath his feet started to shake.
The letters A and E had been the code to unlock the marble b! This answer had been left by da Vinci in the smiling eyes of the Mona Lisa!
The shaking grew more intense, like hundreds of thousands of gears were moving to shift the heavy marble stone b.
Xia Lei did not dare to stay on the marble b. He jumped up the pile of dirt. The marble b opened up with a boom just as his feet touched the dirt. An opening two feet wide appeared. Xia Lei then discovered that it had not just been a marble b, but two bs put together. The craftsmanship was so exquisite that he had not been able to see any gaps between the two bs.
The two marble bs and pushed into the dirt on either sides of the pit, and a bit of dirt fell into the opening with a rustle. Xia Lei backed a short distance away, and peered down into the opening between the marble bs.
The space under the marble bs was an inky darkness, and the light he shone into it seemed to have been swallowed by the darkness. He could not see whaty at the bottom at all.
Xia Lei activated his power again, and his left eye saw through the darkness, searching through the dark, down, down. He saw the bottom now, and it shocked him. The space under the marble bs was not really very deep, but the bottom of it was piled high with bones. Bones of humans, bones of animals, whichever bones they were, they had been painted ck. The light he had shone down earlier had actually reached the bottom, but therge number of ck bones had made some sort of ck ¡°whirlpool¡± which made it seem like that light had been swallowed.
It wasn¡¯t just the bones which were ck ¡ª the stone walls under them were cked too. ck bones, ck walls... The space under the marble bs was a ck world, and looked like it could swallow everything, not even letting ray of light escape.
Xia Lei abruptly remembered Princess Yongmei¡¯s description. She had been closed up in a world of darkness. No sound, no light, no warmth, nothing. She did not want to stay in there, not one second.
¡®This design... Did Leonardo da Vinci also study the space in the box? He knew more than me?¡¯
No matter what it was, he was here now. It was a terrifying ce, but he had to go down and investigate.
A few minutester, Xia Lei used the rock-climbing gear in his backpack to slide down to the bottom. He stood on the pile of bones, and could see the gap between the marble b above, as well as the faint light which came from that gap. It was just 20 metres from the bottom to the surface, so it was not a bottomless pit. He also quickly discovered that the paint on the bones and the stone walls was not ordinary paint, but a paint which could absorb light.
Crack! Xia Lei lit up a light stick. Using the light from it, he quickly found an entrance hidden behind a stone wall.
The passageway stretched on. The stone which made up the passage had also been painted ck. He could not see the end of the passageway just by looking at it. This passageway was well and truly terrifying.
While Xia Lei was observing the passageway, the marble bs above his head shut with a boom.
Chapter 703
The light above his head vanished and it was all silent around him. There seemed to be just him left in the world the moment the marble bs shut above him. A terror sprouted in him then, and grew greater and greater. His thoughts now were not of exploring this underground world, but of how to get out!
Xia Lei¡¯s first thought was to call the Zodiac team and get them to st the marble bs open. However, he took out his phone and discovered that there was no phone signal, not even for the satellite phone. He started to regret telling the Zodiac team not to follow him, because if they hade with him, they would definitely have some way of opening up the marble bs above his head and get him out. The situation now, though, made it clear that this method would not work.
Xia Lei looked around the square ¡°hall¡± under the marble bs. He was disappointed to find that there was no opening mechanism inside, and that there was nothing else other than the ck bones and ck stone walls.
However, he gradually calmed down in the process of searching for a way out.
¡®I did not hesitate to be an enemy of the CIA and the FA in order to solve the mystery of the ancient alloy and AE. I¡¯ve even almost lost my life on several asions. What is this maze before me,pared to those dangers I face? Since I¡¯m here, I have to get something out of this. I don¡¯t believe that Leonardo da Vinci would put in so much effort to have me die here.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s heart calmed at this thought. He raised the light stick and walked into the passageway, determined.
Step... step... step...
His footsteps echoed in the passageway, bouncing off the ck stone walls and giving one the impression that there were many people walking. Add the gloominess, cold, and the darkness, and this underground maze was very terrifying indeed.
Xia Lei did not walk fast. He moved carefully. He had to be aware of his surroundings ¡ª the air, the terrain, especially the stone beneath his feet. He had to look at all of them carefully to avoid any idents from happening.
Fortunately, it seemed like this underground maze was a sealed space but the air in it was not stale at all. There seemed to be airflow. This discovery confirmed something for him, and that was that he would not have to worry about dying fromck of oxygen here.
The passageway quickly came to an end, and three pathways opened up before him ¡ª one left, one ahead and one to the right.
A dried-out corpsey in the entrances of the left and right pathways. The corpses had been preserved well, and the facial features of the dead could still be seen clearly. Both corpses wore long white robes, and leather armour-jackets. The emblem of the Crusaders was on their chests. Weaponsy by the corpses too. One was a heavy mace, and the other was a two-handed axe. Both weapons were rusty with age and it was obvious that these were artifacts hundreds of years old.
There was no way to find out why the corpses of two Crusaders would appear here, but Xia Lei knew how they died. Their bodies were riddled with crossbow bolts. Some bolts had gone through their bodies, while some stuck out of their chests and their heads. It was a horrifying sight. From the positions in which the corpsesy, and the direction in which the bolts stuck out of their bodies, it was in to see that the bolts hade from the passageways on the left and right. It looked like the left and right sides were dead ends, and full of traps.
The path ahead looked very clean inparison ¡ª no corpses, no crossbow bolts. The middle path looked to be the path of survival. It was safe.
But Xia Lei knew that this was just an illusion. He picked up the mace from the side of the corpse in the left pathway, then came to the middle one and flung the rusted mace in.
He quickly dodged as soon as the mace left his hand, and hid behind a stone wall.
The mace flew into the pathway, and down,nding on a stone tile in the ground before sliding forward. The stone tile it had struck sunk visibly, and in a split second, there was a swishing sound as a host of crossbow bolts burst forth like a flock of startled sparrows.
Clink! Dink! Dink!
Sparks flew, and bolt after bolt struck the stone walls and the stone tiles. It was very loud, and a terrifying number of bolts too!
Behind the stone wall, Xia Lei broke out in cold sweat. If he¡¯d chosen to walk down the middle pathway, he would have been a human-shaped pincushion now.
However, this was not due to his observational skills, but the map da Vinci had left on the canvas of the Mona Lisa. This underground space was a maze full of traps, and da Vinci had drawn a safe path through all the traps.
Though Xia Lei had the whole map in his head, and knew the right way to go, he could not trust da Vinci fully. This was why he had done that test. He did not want to die for nothing because he¡¯d trusted a man who had passed away. It was a map which had been drawn hundreds of years ago after all, so what would he do if there were discrepancies?
After the crossbow bolts had been released, Xia Lei went to the pathway on the right. He picked up the two-handed axe from the side of the Crusader, then threw it into the pathway on the right.
Swish, swish, swish...
A flurry of crossbow bolts came flying again. Over a hundred bolts formed a of death in that narrow passageway. Anything in there, even a sparrow, would have to give up on living.
With that test done, Xia Lei came to the entrance of the pathway on the left. This was the correct pathway which da Vinci had indicated on the map. However, he still didn¡¯t step into it. He took the helmet off the head of the Crusader and threw it into the passageway. The helmet nged when it hit the floor, but there was silence in the left passageway. No crossbow bolts came out, and nothing was triggered.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched, activating his X-ray ability. He raised his light stick and walked in. He observed the situation before him with his eye, and three minutester, he stopped using his X-ray vision. He had not discovered any traps in the stone walls and the floor under him. This passageway was indeed a safe one.
The left passageway came to an end after some walking, and six passageway entrances appeared.
A pile of Crusader corpsesy in the empty space before these six passageways.
These Crusaders had not been killed by crossbow bolts. They had been felled in battle. Swords stuck out of some of the corpses, and some had had their heads chopped off, with the heads having rolled to one side. Some had had their chests split open by axes. It was a gruesome sight.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to a shield; a coat of arms. He saw what looked like a cross pattern made of arrows, and motto in Italian: Defend belief, aid in suffering. In that instant, some rted information popped up in his brain.
It was the insignia of the Knights Hospitaller. The motto in Italian was the motto of the Knights Hospitaller.
The Knights Hospitaller had been a very important military force in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Together with the Teutonic Order and the Knights Temr, the Knights Hospitaller were the top three orders of knights of their period. In the prime of the time of the Knights Hospitaller, they established the Crusader States. Jerusalem waster destroyed but the Knights Hospitaller remained on the ind of Malta, and became thest Crusader force of their time. They still existed today, but they had been renamed the Knights of Malta.*
These corpses made Xia Lei think. ¡®I thought da Vinci had ced those corpses there on purpose earlier to lure people into taking the wrong path, but it now looks like that was not it. These Crusaders had forced their way in, and battled in here...¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts came to a halt at the word ¡®battle¡¯ and a new question popped in his head.
Only the corpses of the Crusaders were in here, and there were no corpses of their enemy. This was the problem. If there were no enemies, then did these Knights Hospitallers kill themselves? If they had indeed killed themselves... Why?
Xia Lei quickly swept his gaze over the bodies and it soon stopped on one of the bodies. He walked over, and reached out to take a leather bag from the robes of the body.
The leather bag had been treated with oil, and was not damaged by the passage of time. There was no dirt in here, so the bag looked very clean, even a little tough. The insignia of the Knights Hospitaller was on the leather bag too.
Xia Lei opened up the leather bag and took out its contents.
There were some Maltese coins in the bag, and a silver cross as well as an unopened letter. The letter was still sealed with wax, and the stamp of the Knights Hospitaller was on it.
Xia Lei opened the letter and read its contents: Leader, we were ambushed in Bobbio. We are severely injured but we defeated the enemy. We have found the maze in the north of Bobbio. I have to admit that this Leonardo fellow is the smartest man in the world. We took two weeks to open the passageway. I should send this letter before going in, but my messenger is dead. I have decided to enter the maze first in order to avoid idental or incidental battle. I shall send this to you when wee out. The metal of the gods must belong to the Knights Hospitaller, and victory shall go to us for the Kingdom to be rebuilt.
The letter was signed: Silver Baron of God, Your Loyal Knight, Valleta.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes stayed on four Italian words after he read thetter. Metal of the gods.
The words were not the same as ¡®ancient alloy¡¯ but he had a feeling that this ¡°metal of the gods¡± in the knight¡¯s letter was the ancient alloy.
The Knights Hospitaller hade to this ce for the ancient alloy!
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped with excitement at this thought. Could thest alloy piece be at the bottom of this underground maze? The thing that da Vinci left behind was thest alloy piece?
If that really was so, then the risk he was taking on this trip was entirely worth it!
¡®Hold on...¡¯ Xia Lei suddenly thought of thepass, and his excitement halved. ¡®Thatpass could point to where the ancient alloy pieces were hidden without fail, and was even more urate than satellite tracking. Thestpass needle had pointed up to the sky when it was put on thepass, and never pointed in the direction of Italy. How can this maze hold thest alloy piece? Could the information that these Knights Hospitaller received be false? Or could it be some other reason?¡¯
Whoosh...
A chill wind suddenly blew.
Chapter 704
A cold draft blew past his cheeks, ruffling his hair.
Why was there a draft in here?
Xia Lei observed the entrances of the six passageways closely and soon discovered that drafts of air wereing from the first, third and sixth passageways. The second, fourth and fifth ones had no drafts of air and no sound came from them. He focused his gaze on the second passageway. ording to da Vinci¡¯s map, the second passageway was the correct one to take.
Xia Lei did not step onto the ¡°correct¡± pathway right away either. He used his previous method to test the uracy of the map. He threw heavy weapons into the other five passageways, then activated his X-ray vision to look at the end of the passageways. He got the results of his observations fairly quickly, and he was puzzled. There were no problems at all with the six passageways in front of him, and not one of them had any hidden traps.
What was going on here?
Just as Xia Lei moved to enter the second passageway, his head suddenly felt heavy. He shook his head to clear it, but it did not help. What was worse was that his vision was getting blurry too.
¡®It¡¯s...¡¯ Xia Lei abruptly identified the problem. ¡®It¡¯s the wind!¡¯
The draft of air blew silently.
Step... Step... Step...
The sound of high heels on stone suddenly came from the first passageway.
Xia Lei took out his gun and levelled it. He watched the entrance of the first passageway, alert.
The footsteps got closer. A woman soon appeared in the entrance of the first passageway. Her face was illuminated by the light stick as she got close, and Xia Lei¡¯s jaw almost dropped to the ground in shock when he saw her face.
She was none other than Gu Kewen.
¡°You¡¯re dead, Xia Lei.¡± A mocking smile came to her lips.
¡°How are you here?¡± Xia Lei aimed his gun at Gu Kewen¡¯s head. He would shoot her at any time and end her.
Gu Kewen replied casually, ¡°Do you think you¡¯re the only smart man on Earth? If you can find this maze, then so can I.¡±
Step... Step... Step...
Footsteps came from the six passageways again.
Xia Lei looked for the source of the sound and saw another familiar face. Dark Mona. He moved his hand at almost the same instant he spotted her, and pulled the trigger.
Bang! The gun recoiled. A bullet flew from its muzzle.
Dark Mona zipped aside, and raised her own gun to fire at Xia Lei as she dodged.
BOOM! Her modified gun was powerful, and the sound of it firing was as terrifying as a shotgun.
Xia Lei dove to the side and rolled. Sparks flew in the spot he had just vacated, and shards of stone shot in all directions.
Bang bang bang!
Gunshots sounded, and painnced. Xia Lei came to a stop on the ground. He was shocked ¡ª he had been shot in his chest, lower abdomen and thigh. Blood flowed from these three gunshot wounds, wetting his clothes and the ground.
Gu Kewen and Dark Mona walked towards him. The two women had sneers on their faces.
¡°You¡¯re formidable, aren¡¯t you, Xia Lei? No matter how formidable you are though, you are just one person. Did you think that you were some all-capable god?¡± sneered Gu Kewen. She raised the muzzle of her gun and pressed it to Xia Lei¡¯s head.
¡°Let me.¡± Dark Mona pressed Gu Kewen¡¯s hand down, and slowly ced the muzzle of her modified gun on Xia Lei¡¯s head.
She just had to move her finger very slightly to st Xia Lei¡¯s brains out.
¡®Am I going to die?¡¯ Xia Lei was filled with anger and resentment. He wanted to fight, but his strength was ebbing out of his body with his blood. He didn¡¯t even have the strength to spit at the two women, much less crawl to his feet and fight.
¡°Let us reach an end, Xia Lei.¡± Dark Mona¡¯s finger moved to the trigger.
However, the mysterious force which dwelled in his brain showed itself once again. A cool, refreshing feeling instantly infused his body, and all of his pain, terror, anger and anxiety disappeared. What remained was a quiet ce. He was the only live person in this maze. There was no Gu Kewen, no Dark Mona, and no wounds. What he had experienced earlier was all a hallucination!
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went immediately to the bodies of the Knights Hospitaller. He understood how they died now. There had been a fierce battle here with no opposing force because these knights had killed each other while hallucinating!
¡®If I had just entered the second passageway like indicated in da Vinci¡¯s map, I would not have been exposed to that draft and had hallucinations. But who would just enter the passageway immediately without testing it when faced with six options, and the experience of having passageways with traps earlier? Da Vinci had incorporated psychological warfare into the design of this maze. He truly is an elite genius,¡¯ thought Xia Lei in admiration.
He suspected that Leonardo da Vinci had consumed AE capsules too, and this suspicion only grew stronger.
The sinister draft quieted.
This was obviously no natural wind, but a poisonous wind which made people hallucinate. If his brain had not released that energy earlier, the result would have been too terrible for him to imagine. He could have died of shock, of madness. Whichever end he met, he would still die here.
Xia Lei entered the second passageway.
There were yet more passageways at the end of the second passageway, up to 12. The area in front of these passageways had no bodies of knights there. It was easy for Xia Lei to conclude that the Knights Hospitaller had entered this ce hundreds of years ago, and two of them had died at the passageways with the hidden crossbows, and the rest had died at the second intersection.
The knights¡¯ leader had not managed to obtain the ¡°metal of the gods¡± in the end, nor managed to send his letter to hismander. With his and his subordinates¡¯ deaths, the maze had fallen silent again, lurking underground. It had been silent until today, when it received a new visitor.
Xia Lei did not linger this time. He observed and used his X-ray vision on the correct passageway and entered it. He passed through it safely. The maze grew moreplicated the deeper he went. If one could see the cross-section of this maze in its entirety, it was indeed the mostplicated and most dangerous maze in the world. If one came in here without the map da Vinci had left on the canvas of the Mona Lisa, this would spell certain death!
He went through passageway after passageway safely. One hourter, Xia Lei came to a spacious hall.
ck was still the only shade of colour in this ce. The floor tiles in this hall were ck, and the stone of the walls were ck too. There were also ck stone statues in the hall, and a ck stone sarcophagus.
Xia Lei walked up to a stone statue and raised the light stick in his hand. The perfect beauty of the statue met his eyes, and his heart thumped, hard.
The stone statue had no clothing on. It was a statue of a man, with a strong body, muscles firm and full of power. It also sported a ratherrge man package. The only thing missing was... a face!
Xia Lei moved to another statue.
This statue was a woman, with beautiful body lines. The sculptor had carved the breasts and the groin area in great detail, and the sight of them filled one¡¯s head with imagination. The sculpture had carved every single detail of the body, everything, but her face.
The remaining four statues were the same, with no faces. However, though they had no faces, the six statues were different. They had different body characteristics. Statues two and five were women, but statue two had obviouslyrger breasts than statue five. Statue five¡¯s buttocks were more well-rounded than statue two¡¯s, and had longer legs too. Statue one and three were men, and statue one¡¯s little soldier was longer than statue three¡¯s, and statue three had bigger muscles. *
The strange painting Ning Jing had painted came to Xia Lei¡¯s mind. There had been six people in that painting, three men and three women. They had used their bodies to make the shape of a box, and they all had no faces.
This was not a coincidence, but a message.
Xia Lei walked towards the stone sarcophagus.
A name had been carved into the lid: Leonardo Di Serpiero Da Vinci
This was Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s name.
This name stunned Xia Lei. He had researched and collected information on da Vinci beforeing to Italy. Based on his memory, da Vinci had died in France in 1519, and his body had beenid to rest in a French church. This church had been destroyed in the French Revolution of 1789. Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s remains were then moved to a grave by the side of Saint Hubert chapel in Amboise, France. Another theory was that the French Revolutionary Armycked materials back then and sacked graves for materials. They had thrown Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s bones into a mass grave, and nobody had been able to find his bones till now. The tomb for him now was just a cover.
If Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s bones had been buried in the Saint Hubert chapel... or thrown into a mass grave... What was this stone sarcophagus in front of him now?
Mystery after mystery. Xia Lei felt like his super brain could barely cope with this anymore.
He called forth the power of his X-ray vision to see what it was like in the stone sarcophagus. His X-ray ability had indeed prated it, but the inside of it was an absolute dark space, with no light. Xia Lei only saw darkness.
He gave up a minuteter, and tried to push the lid of the sarcophagus open.
Ayer of resin had been applied between the lid and the sarcophagus, and the resin had dried up after hundreds of years to be as hard as stone. This was a sealing treatment, and it had be a problem for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei moved a few steps away, and took out his gun. He fired two shots into the corners of the sarcophagus.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets sted away a corner of stone, and the resin below was also destroyed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out as bullet after bullet flew from the muzzle of the gun, hitting the same ce over and over. The stone around the area the bullets hit was not damaged much, but the resin was broken. The cracks grewrger andrger, and the hot bullets also seemed to make the resin melt a little.
A magazine emptied, Xia Lei took hisbat knife out and put it into the gap. He tried to lever the lid loose.
The resin had dried up and be as hard as stone but it was not a whole entity after all. After about ten minutes of effort, Xia Lei finally opened the lid of the sarcophagus.
There was a rumble as the lid moved.
The lid scraped against the stone sarcophagus as it was slowly pushed off, and its contents met Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
Chapter 705
There was no body in the stone sarcophagus. A piece of paper sat on red cloth.
There was a line of Italian written on the paper: How did barbarians go down to hell?
Xia Lei was bbergasted.
Is this a joke that da Vinci was ying on him?
He had gone through all that danger and made his way here with much difficulty, looking for what he had left for him... but he had left this?
*
After a long pause, Xia Lei snatched up that paper and was about to tear it into pieces when he suddenly thought, ¡®Wait... Was da Vinci the type of person to do something like this? He left the password and map under the Mona Lisa, and directed me here. This was not all for a joke, right? Impossible. He must be hinting something to me. How did barbarians go to hell? Barbarians... Hell...¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the red cloth at the bottom of the stone sarcophagus.
Everything in this maze had been ck, but just this piece of cloth in the sarcophagus was red.
¡®Red represents mes. Another name of hell is Purgatory, where souls burn and suffer. Barbarians gives one the impression of violence and destruction. So how do barbarians go down to hell...¡¯ A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. He grabbed the red cloth from the bottom of the stone sarcophagus.
The bottom of the stone sarcophagus was a ck stone b.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched, and his X-ray vision bore into the stone.
Darkness. All he saw was darkness. It was a stone tform under the stone sarcophagus, and dirt underneath that. His X-ray vision was soon as its limits, and he could see no deeper. However, he quickly found where the mechanism was ¡ª in the corner of the stone sarcophagus. It was a square-shaped bit of stone material. The resin and ck paint had made it seem like the bottom of the sarcophagus was a whole piece, but it was split, and individual pieces.
Xia Lei climbed into the stone sarcophagus and kicked at it. Nothing moved. He kicked a second time, hard. The resin filling the gaps loosened, and cracked. He then jumped up to stomp heavily down.
Crack! There was a light crack as the resin sent was broken, and the square-shaped bit of stone material moved down.
The stone sarcophagus shook, and the entire bottom fell out immediately afterwards. Xia Lei hurriedly stuck his legs out and stood on the stone bs. He felt like he was riding a lift.
The stone b fell to a depth of about ten metres, and stopped. A narrow doorway appeared in the stone wall on the left. Xia Lei threw the light stick in his hand into the doorway, and the space inside was illuminated.
It was an oval-shaped space with many things in it. There were several pieces of apparatus for experiments which looked simple but were very varied. There were things made of wood and metal, but their uses were unknown. There were also some works of art ¡ª some of the makeup of the human body, some sketches of architecture, and some oil paintings. There were severalrge ss bottles too, and these contained liquid with human body parts suspended in it. Eyes, hearts, brain tissue...
¡®Was this da Vinci¡¯s secretboratory?¡¯ Xia Lei quickly came to a conclusion. He took out a new light stick from his backpack, and lit it, then walked in.
This was indeed da Vinci¡¯s secretboratory.
Xia Lei walked about da Vinci¡¯sboratory, observing the things he had left behind as he pondered, ¡®It¡¯s not that difficult to build thisboratory but it was definitely a greatbour to build the maze above this. Even if he made use of a natural cave, this was not something he can just build casually. Da Vinci was not very wealthy in his time period either. Where did he get the funds to build this maze?¡¯
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell upon a table as he mulled over these questions.
There was a cowhide notebook on the table. A thick notebook. There was also a piece of silver-coloured metal about the size of a cigarette box. He tried to judge where it hade off of by its shape, but could not tell what it was. Next to the metal was an oil painting of a starry sky.
Xia Lei was instantly drawn to the painting. His feet moved, almost on their own.
The light from the light stick fell on the painting and the stars sparkled. The stars seemed toe alive to Xia Lei after looking at them for some time. They seemed to have their own trajectories and were moving on their own. The stars were moving, and the neb was moving slowly too. The painting gave one the impression of a slowly whirling mass of stars and nebe. They rotated slowly, as if they were trying to suck something in.
¡®A moving painting?¡¯ Xia Lei was stunned, then surprised to discover that this painting had not been painted with paints, but with some sort of minerals.
However, as Xia Lei observed this painting, he failed to notice that the alloy ne around his neck was being attracted like a ma, going against the pull of gravity and floating silently in the air, moving closer to the painting.
Xia Lei noticed it, finally, when the alloy pendant floated up from under his chin and into his vertical line of sight.
¡®This... What¡¯s going on here?¡¯ Xia Lei was shocked, and he hurriedly backed away.
A bright white light suddenly shot from the pendant and into the oil painting.
It all happened so quickly that it was all over when Xia Lei saw the white light appear.
The stars in the painting shone brightly when the white light went into the painting. It was like when light bulbs brighten from an electrical surge. Soon, he was unable to see stars and nebe ¡ª a white light seared his vision.
The light got brighter and brighter and Xia Lei had to cover his eyes with his hands.
And right then, he heard a familiar voice.
¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you for a long, long time...¡±
¡°Princess Yongmei!¡± Excitement burst in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He put down his hands and focused his gaze to look into the white light.
The outline of a woman appeared in the white light, but the shape was not fixed. She flickered from the outline of a Ming dynasty princess, to a female knight in the gear of the Knights Hospitaller, to a bloodthirsty swashbuckling female pirate, to a nobledy of Rome, to a priestess of ancient Egypt...
These figures shed before Xia Lei¡¯s eyes and he abruptly understood that the Princess Yongmei of the Ming dynasty whom he was familiar with was not the only one. She had appeared several times in history. These changes he saw now were a disy of her identities in reverse. Her most recent identity had been that of Princess Yongmei, then the female knight, the pirate, the roman noble, the Egyptian priestess...
The changes went on, and even Xia Lei could not identify the time periods and identities any longer.
The historical records of humans went back 5,000 years but she had gone beyond this limit.
¡°Wait for me. We will meet soon.¡± Princess Yongmei¡¯s voice came from within the white light.
¡°Just who in the world are you?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice shook.
¡°You will know.¡±
¡°Where did you go since thest I saw you?¡±
¡°I was too weak back then. I had no choice but to rest. You have awakened me now.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something, and hurriedly asked, ¡°Ning Jing! What¡¯s going on with Ning Jing? Did you make use of her to paint those paintings? To lure me here? And what¡¯s with this painting?¡±
He wanted answers to all of his questions.
¡°You will know.¡± It was the same answer.
¡°Tell me!¡± Xia Lei was not satisfied with an answer like this.
¡°I will find you.¡± This was herst sentence. The white light vanished as soon as she stopped talking.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the painting and he was stunned.
The stars in the painting, and the nebe had all vanished, leaving a nk canvas. It was so clean that there were no traces of it having been painted on at all.
¡®She...¡¯ Xia Lei was perturbed. ¡®Was the painting really painted with some sort of mineral, and those minerals are what she needed? It looks like it! She is a pure form of energy, and those minerals have the energy she needs! She appears every few hundred years, and the identities through the different time periods are an example of that. The Ming dynasty princess is thetest identity she used, and now that she has ¡®awakened¡¯ again... What sort of identity will she take on this time?¡¯
This question was unbelievable, even to him, and he felt it strange.
Xia Lei stood quietly for a while, then opened up his alloy pendant.
The AE capsule in it was in good shape, and the powder in it had no change. He let out a soft breath of relief. There was no loss to him so long as she had not damaged the AE capsule. As for what her identity was, and how she would appear before him... He would handle itter!
He put thest AE capsule back in the pendant and picked up the cowhide notebook. He opened it up to read its contents.
The first page read: If you¡¯re reading this, it means you¡¯vee. I havepleted the task she¡¯s handed to me. I cannot help but imagine this very scene, and it excites me. I hope you will be able to solve the mystery of the box. I will be in Heaven awaiting your good news. She has also given me a piece of alloy. I have tried but failed at understanding its structure. Maybe you will be able to do it. The path out is before you. How did the Viking pirates enter?
Xia Lei flipped the page. The second page was nk. He stared nkly for a bit, then flipped through the whole notebook to the end. All the other pages were nk.
This was it?
Xia Lei¡¯s spirits sank. He¡¯d thought that this maze would be an end to the mysteries and that he would find answers here. Even if he did not find a final answer, he¡¯d expected from important clues, at least. However, he had gained nothing great this time. What he had got was a sort of confirmation of the entity that was ¡°Princess Yongmei¡± and that he had ¡°awakened¡± her.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes went to the alloy. He reached out to pick it up.
The alloy felt weightless in his hand. A piece of metal the size of a cigarette box should have some obvious weight, but this was even lighter than aluminium!
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. He scratched the table with a corner of the alloy in his hand.
Scritch! A deep groove formed in the hard wooden tabletop, like a plow going through a field.
¡°It¡¯s so hard! What alloy is this?¡± Xia Lei was surprised. He then walked to a metal tool and scratched at it with a corner of the alloy.
Scree...
A big, obvious scratch appeared in the surface of the metal tool amid an ear-piercing screech. The alloy piece corner had had no damage at all!
Xia Leiughed all of a sudden. This piece of alloy was his greatest gain from this trip. If he could use this alloy in the production line of Thunder Horse Military Factory, then he would be able to produce the most powerful weapons in this world!**
He put the alloy away, and strolled about da Vinci¡¯sboratory. All of da Vinci¡¯s sketches and paintings went into his backpack. These things were loot for him too. Anything drawn by the great Leonardo da Vinci would be highly sought after by collectors, even if it¡¯s of chicks eating grains!
Once he was all ready, Xia Lei stood at a stone wall with a hammer.
How did the Vikings enter?
Xia Lei swung the hammer...
Chapter 706
Boom!
The stone wall copsed with a boom, and a beam of light entered Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision. Then, a breeze blew past his cheeks. There was a small cavern behind the stone wall, about 50 metres long. The light and wind wereing from the cavern¡¯s entrance.
This cavern looked like a reinforced doghole.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and braced himself as he climbed in. Climbing into this doghole was bound to be better than turning back. He didn¡¯t want to return to that maze ever again.
Xia Lei crawled for a full thirty minutes before he got to the mouth of the cavern.
An ancient church sat underneath the precipice at the mouth of the cavern. It was very simr to the church that Ning Jing had drawn. The only differences were that it seemed shabbier and more decayed from the vicissitudes of time. Other than that, it was exactly the same as the church that the old man had described.
Xia Lei realised that he had actually passed through the mountain through the maze, and gotten to the other side of the mountain. The church was right in the valley of the mountain, and there was a vige further away, with seemingly no people in it.
Xia Lei looked away and nced at the watch on his wrist, and realised he had actually been in the maze for three hours.
Ring, ring, ring...
His phone suddenly started ringing.
There hadn¡¯t been any phone signal in the maze, but there was a signal now.
Xia Lei took his satellite phone out and answered it. ¡°It¡¯s me. Speak.¡±
Yelena¡¯s voice came from over the line. ¡°Boss, where are you? I called you 20 times, but you only pick up now.¡±
He had randomly disappeared for three hours, so of course the Zodiac team members were anxious, and did something about it.
¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± said Xia Lei a little apologetically.
¡°As long as you¡¯re fine, that¡¯s good. We would have gotten ready to burn that ce up if I didn¡¯t get hold of you,¡± said Yelena.
¡®That ce¡¯ clearly referred to the fake grave that Xia Lei had dug up.
¡°I¡¯ve already left. Put the dirt back, and I¡¯ll meet up with you guys immediately,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mm.¡± Yelena made a sound of agreement and hung up.
Xia Lei put his satellite phone away and climbed out of the small hole. He carefully grasped the gaps in the rock and moved down the precipice, little by little.
The precipice was about a hundred meters high, almost perpendicr to the ground. It waspletely made out of pieces upon pieces of rock andpletely bare, without a single tree or weed. A monkey wouldn¡¯t even visit this ce, not to mention a human.
Climbing on such a high and vertically positioned precipice was extremely dangerous, especially without taking any safety measures. However, although it was dangerous, Xia Lei quickly adapted to it. His left eye helped him to get over his fear of heights. His body was more coordinated and sturdy than the average person¡¯s body, and he easily executed movements which ordinary people wouldn¡¯t have been able to do. In addition, his experiences learning martial arts made him very strong, and even if he didn¡¯t move, he could support his body weight just using his inner force and his muscles¡¯ strength, and thus move around sheer cliffs and precipitous rock faces easily.
With these advantages, Xia Lei only needed fifteen minutes to finish what a rock climbing professional athlete would finish in an hour. After fifteen minutes, he stood on the ground underneath the precipice. He looked up to see that the small cave mouth had already been covered byyers of rock, and even his X-ray vision couldn¡¯t tell it existed.
This was probably also one of the reasons why no one had discovered the maze even though it had existed for a hundred years.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and walked around the outside walls of the church, heading towards the entrance of the valley.
The church walls had copsed in many areas. Even without X-ray vision, he could see into the inside of the church. He saw a patch of wastnd when he passed the first gap. That wastnd had probably been a ce for growing nts in the past, but now it was full of weeds. The main part of the church also seemed very shabby, and most of the doors and windows were broken. Through the broken doors and windows, one could see the inside of the church. It didn¡¯t feel divine at all ¡ª just ruined.
¡®No onees to this church anymore, clearly. I wonder why it was abandoned,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Ding!
A muffled sound of a bell suddenly came from the direction of the church belltower.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of the elderly couple asking for directions. This church had been abandoned a long time ago, so the elderly couple were the only ones who could have been sounding the bell now. Sure enough, after walking a little further, he saw the clocktower and he immediately spotted the white-haired old man and old woman on top of the belltower.
The afternoon sunlight fell onto the ancient belltower and the two old people with graying hair. This scene made one have thoughts about life, and a certain feeling of heaviness.
But even faith wouldn¡¯t stop people from dying of sickness or old age.
If a God really existed in this world, why was he just watching this world get uglier and uglier? Would he forgive those who started wars in his name and harm believers or other faiths?
Ding!
Another bell sound echoed.
A small smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡®Who would apany me to temples to ring bells when I¡¯m old? Long Bing? Ruyi? Or...?¡¯
A light suddenly shot into Xia Lei¡¯s left eye and his thoughts were halted.
His body suddenly fell forward, almost exactly at the same time as when his left eye saw the light. Right when his body hit the ground, a piece of rock behind him exploded with a shower of sparks!
A sniper!
He was a hundred metres away!
The shot hade from the east.
The sniper was hidden on the steeple of the church hall.
As he avoided the sniper¡¯s sniping, Xia Lei¡¯s head filled with information on the sniper.
He also came to his senses. There was something wrong with that elderly couple!
The elderly couple had asked for directions three hours ago. With their walking speed, it was impossible for them to have gotten to the other side of the mountain in three hours. The elderly couple wasn¡¯t ringing the bell without reason either. Instead, they were using the bell to distract him while covering up the sniper¡¯s shooting sounds!
Even the average person could hear the sounds of sniping from a hundred meters away.
The sniper practically had a hundred percent chance of sess as he was shooting from a hundred meters away, with the bell to cover up his sniping. However, he had overlooked Xia Lei¡¯s left eye. Xia Lei¡¯s left eye was extremely sensitive to changes in light and his brain had priority sequences in response to the images that his left eye took in. If there was anything wrong, his brain would basicallymand his body to act without even having to think about it!
If Xia Lei called himself second ce in the sniping world, who would dare im to be first?
Ding!
The bell rang for a third time.
Another bullet came for him.
Xia Lei rolled and squeezed under the church wall. The ce where he had just stopped was in mes, and his left eye could even see that the bullet had smashed a rock and buried itself into the dirt!
The enemy was actually using armour piercing bullets!
This discovery made Xia Lei realise something instantly. He leaped up with all his might, like a frog with a lot of stored energy, as he catapulted out. The moment he left his hiding spot, an armour-piercing bullet smashed the wall to pieces and buried itself into the dirt again.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare stop for a moment. He sprinted forwards, bent at the waist, while he took out his gun and started loading it.
The elderly couple at the top of the bell tower had disappeared, but the sniper¡¯s shots had not ceased. One bullet after another pierced the ancient wall and got buried into the dirt underneath. Xia Lei felt as if he had narrowly escaped getting hit every single time. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that the other person wasn¡¯t just any sniper. This sniper had abilities that surpassed the king of the killer world whom Xia Lei had killed.
Xia Lei was also pondering a question as he fled. ¡®There¡¯s an old man, old woman and a sniper, but which side are they from? The CIA? Or the FA Organisation?¡¯
He could only think of people from these two sides, but he had fought with the CIA and the FA Organisation so many times already, and he had never met opponents like the old man or the old woman! If they weren¡¯t from the CIA or FA Organisation, then where were they from?
He couldn¡¯t think of any other powerful opponents besides those two organisations.
Bang! Another gunshot sounded, and an armour-piercing bullet brushed past Xia Lei¡¯s thigh and hit the ground.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t stop. His right foot stepped off the ground and he squeezed through a copsed wall. While in the air, he opened fire at the steeple on top of the church hall.
The other person was using an extremely powerful sniper rifle while he was only using a gun, but as long as they were 100 meters within range, he could make good use of his gun and use it like a sniper rifle!
Bang!
Gunshot.
A bullet shot out from the Xia Lei¡¯s gun.
In Xia Lei¡¯s left eye¡¯s line of sight, the sniper hiding on the steeple appeared but had already buried his head again when Xia Lei moved his hand.
The sniper hiding on the church steeple was actually also a white haired old person!
Chink! The bullet brushed past the sniper¡¯s head and hit multicolored ss. Crash! The ss smashed and fell to the ground from a great height.
A cruel smile formed on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. With this distance, its shooting speed definitely couldn¡¯tpare to a pistol even though the sniper rifle was very powerful. Now it was time for him to return fire!
The sniper seemed to know how good Xia Lei was. Before Xia Lei fired his second shot, he stuck to the ground and rolled to a corner within the steeple¡¯s interior. His body waspletely hidden the whole time, and he did not give Xia Lei any opportunity to fire.
Xia Lei locked his line of sight in the direction of the steeple as he quickly rushed into the church hall¡¯s entrance.
A human silhouette suddenly shed from within church hall.
It was the old man who had asked for directions.
Tat tat tat!
It was the sound of a submachine gun!
Xia Lei¡¯s body suddenly veered to the right, avoiding the trajectory of the submachine gun.
Pew pew pew!
What seemed like a magazine of bullets zoomed close, and past his body.
Bang bang!
Xia Lei returned fire.
However, the old man had dodged behind a church hall door before Xia Lei fired. His actions were quick and nimble,parable to the young special agents from the CIA and FA Organisation!
Da da da!
The old man suddenly hid and the old woman appeared in the window again, shooting Xia Lei with a TAR-21 assault rifle, the newest assault rifle that Israel¡¯s IMI Company and Barrett Company had coborated on and released. It was also the Gust assault rifle¡¯s rival.
Bullet after bullet whistled past his body. Xia Lei hid in the cover of the church hall wall, and didn¡¯t dare expose his head.
¡°Who are you guys?¡± As he spoke, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched, activating his X-ray vision.
Chapter 707
There was no response in the church.
Xia Lei clearly saw the old man by the entrance making a hand gesture at the old woman by the window with his left eye. At the same time, the sniper came down from the steeple. He moved carefully to the pulpit and set his sniper rifle there. His sniper rifle was the M82A1, produced by the Barrett Company. It was nicknamed ¡°Light 50¡±, with a range of 1,850 metres. This gun could destroy car engines, not to mention prate brick walls and cement.
After he made preparations to shoot, the sniper made a hand signal to the old man and the old woman.
This hand signal clearly meant that the old man and the old woman were to talk to Xia Lei. After the sniper had gotten a grasp on where Xia Lei was, they could then kill him through the wall.
Sure enough, after the sniper made his hand gesture, the old man guarding the entrance said, ¡°Leave your things here and we¡¯ll let you go.¡±
¡®Could these three people know of the maze¡¯s existence? Why else would they tell me to leave my things here?¡¯ thought Xia Lei. While thinking this, he kept his silence and slowly reached down to pick up a rock from the ground.
Just then, the old woman guarding the window said, ¡°Youngster, there is no need to die here. Leave the things you took out of the maze here and we will not make things difficult for you.¡±
These old people really did know of the maze¡¯s existence.
Xia Lei suddenly threw the rock at the window.
Crash! The rock ttered to the ground, as if someone had suddenly jumped to that side.
Bang! The first person to react was the sniper.
At the gunshot, a fist-sized hole immediately appeared in the wall next to the window. The bullet split the wall and the shell bounced off the ground. The stone of the wall had actually been broken open, and split to pieces!
In practically the same instant as when the sniper fired, Xia Lei moved out from the corner of the wall and fired the Viper. The bullet prated the window and embedded itself into the sniper¡¯s forehead.
Blood spurted, and the sniper¡¯s body fell onto the pulpit, crashing to the floor along with his M82A1 sniper rifle.
The sniper and his M82A1 sniper rifle had been a big threat to Xia Lei because the M82A1 sniper rifle could prate walls and kill a target. Xia Lei immediately felt a lot less pressured after eliminating the sniper.
Xia Lei abruptly threw himself to the ground after that one shot.
Rat-tat-tat!
The old woman by the window raked at him with machine-gun fire and a flurry of rifle bullets swooshed past Xia Lei¡¯s back.
Bang bang bang!
Xia Lei returned fire and rolled towards the corner of the wall as he shot back. His Viper¡¯s three bullets hit the wooden frame of the window and the wall. Fighting at this distance didn¡¯t allow the other party to have any advantages even though he only had a handgun. His immediate return fire pushed the old woman back.
¡°Renault? Renault!¡± The old man¡¯s voice was filled with anger. ¡°You actually killed Renault? I¡¯ll send you to hell!¡±
Xia Lei had already stood up along the wall. He slowly moved forward and turned around the corner while saying, ¡°We¡¯re all going to go to hell sooner orter. Tell me who you guys are and who sent you here, and I might hold back from sending you guys to hell today.¡±
He could speak now that the sniper was dead.
¡°You don¡¯t deserve to know!¡± He heard the old man¡¯s voice and moving footsteps.
A cold smile surfaced on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. He suddenly kicked a fist-sized rock at the window, then rounded the corner and went towards the doorway.
Thunk! The rock ttered on the ground under the window again.
¡°Die!¡± The old woman suddenly appeared with the muzzle of her gun pointed at the area underneath the window and she fired.
Sawdust flew, and smoke filled the air. Bullets tore into the ground and sparks flew in all directions.
He¡¯d used the same trick but it still worked. This wasn¡¯t because the old woman was dumb, but rather because of human instinct. When one was unable to see the enemy, sound would be the only way to determine where the enemy was. Since the sound hade so close to her, how could she not respond to that?
However, she didn¡¯t think that the sound of her TAR-21 assault rifle would just happen to cover up the sounds of Xia Lei¡¯s movements.
Xia Lei had gotten close to the entrance in two seconds.
The old man was still moving towards the M82A1 sniper which had fallen onto the ground. He clearly meant to pick the M82A1 sniper up and shoot at Xia Lei through the wall while Xia Lei was exchanging fire with the old woman.
However, he didn¡¯t expect that his and the old woman¡¯s every movement would not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eye.
This actually wasn¡¯t a fair contest because Xia Lei was cheating.
Xia Lei leaped out from the church hall door with a step. While his body was horizontally in the air, the old woman and old man both entered his firing range.
Bang! A gunshot sounded.
The old man had gotten hold of the M82A1 rifle when he was shot in the back by the Viper. His movements immediately stopped, like a machine with an electric power failure. He then crashed to the ground.
¡°No¡ª¡± The old woman bellowed, turned and moved her hand. The TAR-21 assault rifle muzzle pointed straight at the hall entrance.
But she was still a step toote.
Xia Lei¡¯s body was still falling in midair, his hands still in the position that he had when he had killed the old man. He only adjusted the muzzle direction slightly and pulled the trigger. The old woman at the window had only just moved her muzzle in the direction of the hall entrance.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. A bullet pierced the old woman¡¯s forehead.
The old woman¡¯s movements also stopped, and the TAR-21 assault rifle fell from her hands to the ground. Her body fell backwards.
If given a tenth of a second more, she could have shot Xia Lei when he waspletely defenseless in the air. However, Xia Lei just hadn¡¯t given her even a tenth of a second more.
The old woman fell to the ground, her eyes filled with anger in death.
Xia Lei got up from the floor and strode into the church hall, facing Jesus on the cross who looked at him with an eternally unchanging expression. He couldn¡¯t tell if he was angry or merciful, but the reek of blood pervaded the hall and made this ancient, divine ce seem somewhat scarier.
The old man was not dead. His arms trembled, and it looked as if he was aiming to grab the submachine gun on the ground.
Xia Lei kicked the submachine gun away and then stuck his foot under the old man¡¯s lower abdomen to flip his body over.
He had left one alive on purpose.
Xia Lei had actually had a choice earlier. The old man had been going for the M82A1 sniper rifle while the old woman still had the TAR-21 assault rifle. She could have killed him at any time, so of course, he didn¡¯t want to give her that opportunity, and he had to kill her. He had chosen to leave this old man behind because he had been the least threat at that time.
¡°Haah, haah...¡± The old man gulped for air and blood kepting out of his mouth.
With how Xia Lei had shot him, though he did not die at once, he still wouldn¡¯t have much time left now.
Xia Lei crouched down. ¡°Tell me, who are you? Who sent you here to kill me? Tell me and I¡¯ll give you a quick end.¡±
¡°Pah!¡± The old man spat blood at Xia Lei but hecked strength, so his dirty saliva fell only three centimeters away, and sttered onto his own chin.
¡°You really are old and stubborn.¡± Xia Lei frowned and then put the Viper¡¯s muzzle to the old man¡¯s neck.
The muzzle was very hot from all the shooting. The old man screamed the moment the muzzle was pressed to his neck. Still, he red stubbornly at Xia Lei. There was no indication of surrendering.
Xia Lei lifted the muzzle and frowned as he said, ¡°Is this useless? All right, then. I¡¯ll give you something more. I advise you to think this over since you¡¯re going to die. If death is this painful then what¡¯s the point of life? Tell me, and I swear I will bury you three here. Otherwise, your corpses will be food for flies and rats. You don¡¯t want to end up that way, right?¡±
¡°You are a heathen! You will go to hell!¡± said the old man angrily.
Tormenting and coercing him were all useless.
Was he to use more vicious methods to torture an old person close to death? Xia Lei couldn¡¯t really bring himself to do something like that even though he was an enemy.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze suddenly fell on the old man. He paused, then reached his hand into the old man¡¯s pocket.
He took everything off the old man¡¯s body, including a wallet that contained euros; some fifties and some twenties and some smaller notes. He didn¡¯t have a credit card or a driver¡¯s license. He also had a lighter and MS brand cigarettes.
There wasn¡¯t anything to prove his identity.
¡°Cough cough...¡± The old man sneered. ¡°You won¡¯t know who we are but I know you¡¯ll definitely die.¡±
¡°Is that so?¡± Xia Lei suddenly opened the old man¡¯s shirt, exposing the old man¡¯s chest.
There was a ck tattoo of four arrowheads that formed a cross shape on the old man¡¯s chest.
Xia Lei had seen this picture in the maze, and it was the crest of the Knights Hospitaller.
¡°I know now, don¡¯t I?¡± Xia Lei said tly, ¡°You guys are probably from the Knights Hospitaller. You know of the maze but you don¡¯t have any way to get through the maze, right?¡±
The old man¡¯s eyes shed. He closed his mouth but his eyes had already given away his answer.
¡°I saw your people in the maze. Real knights from the Knights Hospitaller. I also received a letter that the group leader wrote to the Commander. Oh, that knight¡¯s title was very long. He seemed to be called the Silver Baron of God. His name was Valleta. He shouldn¡¯t be a nameless person in your Knights Hospitaller¡¯s history, so do you know this person?¡±
¡°Let me... Let me see his letter.¡± The old man¡¯s eyes filled with longing.
¡°Why do you want to see his letter?¡±
¡°He... the Silver Baron of God, Valleta is my deceased ancestor,¡± said the old man.
Xia Lei took the letter out from his bag but he didn¡¯t give it to the old man. ¡°Tell me who sent you here and I¡¯ll let you see this letter.¡±
The old man was hesitant.
Xia Lei picked the lighter up. ¡°Okay, well, I¡¯ve already read this letter. It¡¯s meaningless to me now, so I¡¯ll burn it up now.¡±
¡°Wait,¡± said the old man, ¡°I swear I don¡¯t know. We only received orders from our superiors.¡±
¡°Are your superiors the top brass of the Knights Hospitaller?¡±
¡°We received an order regarding a secret letter and we are not sure of the identities of the people who passed the orders down to us.¡±
This was simr to a mercenary killer¡¯s operations where a killer didn¡¯t know who the employer was, and he only needed to know who to target. However, it was possible that the old man wasn¡¯t even telling the truth, but Xia Lei didn¡¯t have a way to prove if the old man was telling the truth or not. Seeing through one¡¯s heart could have offered a basis for judging that but these methods could only be used on normal people. This old man¡¯s heart was almost about to stop beating, so it wouldn¡¯t provide an effective method.
¡°You guys met me on the other side of the mountain. Why didn¡¯t you make a move on me then? Why did you n on ambushing me here? Did you guys know I woulde out here?¡± Xia Lei changed his questions. This was what he wanted to know.
Chapter 708
¡°It¡¯s also a battlefield there.¡± The old man scoffed. ¡°None of your people can survive.¡±
¡°How many people do you have on the other side of the mountain?¡±
¡°Six.¡± The old man didn¡¯t keep it from him.
Xia Lei let out a breath of relief. ¡®So there are only six. I don¡¯t need to worry then,¡¯ he thought to himself.
Although he wasn¡¯t sure of the power of the Knights Hospitaller, they were no match for the Zodiac Team if there were only six killers.
The old man raised a trembling hand. ¡°Give... the letter to me.¡±
¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question yet,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Why did you set an ambush here? What do you guys want from me?¡±
¡°The Alloy of God.¡± The old man moved his gaze to Xia Lei¡¯s backpack. There was an excited glint in his eyes. ¡°You got it, right?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t obtain any Alloy of God. I am an atheist. I don¡¯t believe that there are any gods or ghosts in the world.¡±
¡°People without beliefs are the most pitiful ones. You won¡¯t be saved.¡± The old man didn¡¯t seem to believe Xia Lei¡¯s words. He stared at Xia Lei¡¯s backpack, but he didn¡¯t have X-Ray vision eyes like him, or he would¡¯ve seen the piece of alloy lying in his backpack.
¡°Why do you guys want it? Is it very important? Does it have any significance?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
Xia Lei stared coldly at the old man.
¡°I don¡¯t know. Even if you kill me, I don¡¯t know.¡± The old man wasn¡¯t afraid.
¡°Okay. Tell me why you guys were setting up an ambush here then,¡± said Xia Lei.
The old man sighed. ¡°We¡¯re just responsible for cutting off your way out.¡±
Xia Lei understood. There were six people on the other side of the mountain but only three here. The Knights Hospitaller didn¡¯t know the way out of the maze, or they would¡¯ve entered already. Although they didn¡¯t know the exact exit, they had some understanding of the maze. That was why they had set an ambush here.
¡°Besides you nine, who else is there?¡± Xia Lei continued asking.
¡°No one else. Cough, cough, cough...¡± The old man coughed violently and his breathing became short, but he tried his best to lift his hand. ¡°G, give me the letter.¡±
¡°I am a man of my word.¡± Xia Lei ced the letter in the old man¡¯s hands.
The old man smiled a faint smile and he tried to open the letter. However, his hand fell just after he opened it. Then, he opened his mouth wide, trying to breathe but there was only airing out and none going in.
¡°Uh, sorry. I held you up for too long,¡± said Xia Lei apologetically.
There was a gurgle from the throat of the old man, and he breathed no more.
Reading the letter left by his ancestor was the old man¡¯s final wish, but Xia Lei was not responsible for satisfying his wish.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
His phone rang when he walked out of the church doors.
Xia Lei answered his phone. ¡°It¡¯s me. Are you guys okay?¡±
¡°You know what happened already?¡± There was surprise in Yelena¡¯s voice.
¡°I just finished my battle here,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yelena was quiet for a moment. ¡°We also had a battle. Alessio was injured but it¡¯s not fatal,¡± said Yelena.
¡°It¡¯s good that he¡¯s ok.¡± Xia Lei sighed in relief. He then suddenly thought of something. ¡°How many people did you guys get rid of?¡±
¡°Five,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei wrinkled his eyebrows. ¡°I got rid of three and left one alive. He said that there are six people over on your side.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not possible! If there was, he must¡¯ve not participated in the battle then. He wouldn¡¯t have managed to escape otherwise,¡± said Yelena.
The possibility was there. All the members of the Zodiac Team had been provided with XL2500 sniper rifle and gust assault rifles. They had ample firepower and great firing range. How was it possible that the Zodiac Team had let an enemy escape with their strength? That was almost impossible. If a situation like this urred, it might be what Yelena had suggested ¡ª that person had not participated in the battle from the beginning and kept himself hidden.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. ¡®Could the person who¡¯d escaped been an important figure in the Knights Hospitaller?¡¯
¡°Boss? Where are you?¡± It was Yelena.
¡°I¡¯m on the other side of the mountain. You guys don¡¯t need to worry about me. Leave immediately and head for the safe ce. I will meet up with you guys soon,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Roger. Be careful.¡± Yelena hung up.
Xia Lei returned to the church and picked up the sniper rifle once he ended the call with Yelena.
One of the enemy had escaped and there was no guarantee that he would not go through the valley. He won¡¯t have to worry with a sniper rifle gun in his hands.
Xia Lei walked out of the church again, and looked back. The three elderly people¡¯s corpsesy quietly on the ground. The blood flowed silently out from their bodies, dyeing the dusty ground red. The Jesus on the cross looked at him with pity in his eyes.
Xia Lei hesitated before he drew a cross in front of his chest just like what a Christian would do. ¡°Sorry. Please forgive me. My hand was forced,¡± he said.
If Jesus could move, he might¡¯ve flown down from the cross and kicked this young man in the face.
He left the church and followed a muddy road which led to the entrance of the valley. The road was filled with grooves left by what looked like carriage wheels, and several other tracks. The fields on both sides of the road were originally arablend, but it becamend for weeds after it was abandoned. All sorts of wild grasses grew in the mud and it looked like a wheat field in the spring.
¡®Why was such a good ce like this abandoned?¡¯ Xia Lei thought it was strange.
He followed the muddy road towards the entrance of the valley. He went slowly, and while walking, he used his left eye to observe things in the distance, about 4,000 metres or so. His left eye was like a spy satellite ¡ª nothing could escape his observation.
The way there was peaceful and there wasn¡¯t anything out of the ordinary.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei approached the entrance of the valley.
The entrance of the valley was like the opening of a bottle. Dense forest gew on both sides of the hillside. Even with his left eye, Xia Lei was unable to see through all the trees.
Chirp chirp...
A flock of birds suddenly flew out from the left side of the forest.
He didn¡¯t see any targets but Xia Lei grew tense. He dropped down into the underbrush in the next second.
The wild grasses concealed his body but blocked his line of sight at the same time. He was vulnerable, but he didn¡¯t have a choice. He was in a low position where the opponent could easily see him, yet it was difficult for him to see the other party. If the enemy had a sniper rifle, it was very dangerous to be exposed to the enemy¡¯s field of vision.
The flock of frightened birds flew far away in the blink of an eye. The forest was back to its normal state. There were no movements for the next few minutes.
¡®Could it just be a flock of birds flying? Am I just too nervous?¡¯ Xia Lei thought.
Although those were his thoughts, Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare to get to his feet. Everyone could make mistakes like this but just one mistake could cost him his life right then.
Xia Lei slowly crawled forward a few minutester.
There was still no movement from the forest.
But just then, a flock of birds flew from the left side of the forest. The chirping of the birds echoed in the valley.
Xia Lei adjusted his position to face the left side of the forest. He carefully tilted his head up from the underbrush but didn¡¯t look up high. Instead, he used his X-ray vision to ¡®filter¡¯ the underbrush that concealed his field of vision.
A few minutester, a tall, golden-haired old man ran out from the forest. He looked haggard and was running towards the wastnds, looking back as he ran, afraid that someone would catch him. He had a sniper rifle in his hands.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye focused on the sniper rifle, and the information of this rifle appeared in his head. It was a L11583 sniper rifle, and was also called the ¡®super sniper rifle¡¯. Ennd¡¯s uracy International had produced this new sniper rifle. Its firing range reached about 1600 metres and was an effective weapon for hitting targets in cities and in forests. It could easily prate tree trunks and walls, and can kill targets hidden behind objects. Due to its great attributes, it had be Ennd¡¯s Special Forces soldiers¡¯ first choice of sniper rifles.
Yet, it didn¡¯t amount to anything much in front of the XL2500 sniper rifle.
Xia Lei confirmed the old man¡¯s identity the moment he came into his field of vision. This old man was the one who had not participated in the battle and had run away by himself.
¡®He¡¯s carrying the sniper rifle but not participating in the battle. Why?¡¯ Xia Lei was full of guesses. ¡®Could he be a coward? This isn¡¯t so probable, since he is part of the Knights Hospitaller. Don¡¯t they value the honour of a knight? But if he isn¡¯t a coward, why would he leave hispanions and escape by himself?¡¯
No matter the reason, Xia Lei quietly grabbed his M82A1 sniper rifle and slowly came out of hiding. He ignored the M82A1 sniper rifle¡¯s scope and used his left eye to lock on to the target.
The tall, golden-haired old man was getting closer and closer.
¡®1200 metres.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s brain gave him a number. If he had the XL2500 sniper rifle, he would¡¯ve already shot at this distance. Yet, the M82A1 sniper rifle¡¯s effective firing range was only about 1000 meters or so. Once he took his shot, he would need to depend on luck for it to hit the target. That was why, although the rifle was locked on to the target, he chose to hide, waiting for his target toe closer.
The old man ran another 100 metres before stopping. He leaned the butt of the sniper rifle on the ground and panted heavily. He looked behind himself again, anxiously.
The corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips curled up. ¡®Damn, would it kill you to run another 100 metres?¡¯ His finger was on the trigger, silently waiting for the old man to approach him.
The old man rested for a bit and picked up the sniper rifle. He walked on. As he walked, he took out his phone and called someone.
Xia Lei was struck by a thought. His finger left the trigger and his left eye focused on the old man¡¯s lips.
¡°I¡¯m in the valley. Come and pick me up immediately!¡± The old man talked quickly. ¡°The holy item is probably in their hands. We can¡¯t let them escape from here. We need to find them even if we raze Bobbio to the ground!¡±
This tone!
Could he be an important figure in the Knights Hospitaller?
Or maybe a team leader?
Xia Lei¡¯s finger moved to the trigger again...
Chapter 709
They were enemies since they¡¯d exchanged fire.
Xia Lei had never showed any mercy to his opponents.
The thought that he was going to get rid of one of the important figures of the Knights Hospitaller, possibly even themander, fuelled Xia Lei¡¯s determination to shoot to kill.
The elderly man put away his phone, looked up at the sky, and continued walking forward.
Xia Lei pulled his finger back slowly...
Whumpa whumpa whumpa...
The sound of a huge propeller cutting through the air, and the deafening sound of an engine rumbled from behind. Xia Lei quickly turned his body sideways and hid in the grass. This position would decrease the chances of him being discovered.
A helicopter appeared from the right side of the mountain peak and flew over Xia Lei¡¯s head in the blink of an eye. Itnded next to the old man.
Xia Lei saw the situation in the helicopter when it had flown over his head. Aside from the pilot, there were also four men. They weren¡¯t old; all four men were very young. There were three white men and one ck man ¡ª one of the white men carried a sniper rifle while the other two carried assault rifles. The ck man was carrying a mini M134 machine gun.
This was Schwarzenegger and Dwayne Johnson¡¯s favourite type of gun on screen.
Any sniper rifle would be powerless before this heavy-duty machine gun.
The old man held his waist as he got on the helicopter, bent under the strong wind created by the propeller.
Xia Lei could¡¯ve gotten rid of him earlier, but he didn¡¯t regret not shooting him. In fact, he was grateful that he didn¡¯t shoot him, or else he would¡¯ve been a dead man amidst this desertednd full of weeds when the helicopter came. The ck man¡¯s machine gun could probably turn him into minced meat in two minutes!
Using the sniper rifle to destroy the helicopter¡¯s engine?
This kind of thing can probably only be seen in movies. The speed of the helicopter was so fast that it would be impossible to aim correctly. Even if he did, it would take two seconds for the bullet to fly across the distance of two kilometers. Would the helicopter stop moving to wait for the bullet to hit it? Even if the pilot was foolish enough to stop the helicopter in the sky, the mini M134 machine gunner would not be so courteous as to not shoot at him!
While Xia Lei was rejoicing at his decision in cold sweat, the helicopter rose up to the sky once again and flew over the left side of the mountain peak.
Xia Lei hurriedly took out his satellite phone and dialled Yelena¡¯s number. ¡°Where are you guys at right now?¡±
¡°We¡¯re almost at the safe ce,¡± said Yelena¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei sighed in relief. ¡°Our opponent¡¯s reinforcement is on the way. They have a helicopter and a mini M134 machine gun. There may also be their allies onnd, so don¡¯t enter Bobbio. Abandon the safe ce in town and tell Alessio to find a new safe ce. He¡¯s Italian, so he has his connections.¡±
¡°I got it. When will you join us again?¡±
¡°In the night. Keepmunication lines open; after you guys settle down, tell me the location and I¡¯lle.¡±
¡°Who the hell are they?¡±
¡°They¡¯re the Knights Hospitaller.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
He wouldn¡¯t tell the Zodiac team the secrets of the ancient alloy box and of AE, but he had to tell them who their enemies were.
After finishing the call, Xia Lei got up quickly and sprinted towards the forest on the right side of the mountain as quickly as he could. He didn¡¯t know if the helicopter would return, but he didn¡¯t want to take the risk of passing through the valley from the wastnd.
Xia Lei ran on the desertednd with his body leaning forward. He was very fast, just like a cheetah running across the prairie.
Just as he ran into the mountain forest, the helicopter suddenly appeared from the left side of the peak. It then flew into the valley, going in the direction of the church.
Xia Lei hid behind a tree and let out a long sigh of relief. He discovered that his back was already drenched in cold sweat. Based on the situation just now, his opponent¡¯s helicopter might¡¯ve discovered him if he had been just a few seconds too slow.
The helicopter soon flew over to the church andnded.
Xia Lei did not hesitate. He moved deeper into the mountain forest, walking in the opposite direction of Bobbio.
Meanwhile, a small container truck was on the road out of Bobbio. The advertisement, ¡°KFC¡¯s new luxuriousbo meal is on sale¡± was printed on the container truck. However, inside the truck were not KFC chicken parts but the six members of the Zodiac team.
¡°Fuck!¡± Alessio bared his teeth in a snarl. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I was shot by an old man! This is such a disgrace!¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Bagu¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°Those old men were not regr people. I was almost killed.¡±
¡°Who are they?¡± Amanda had asked this question earlier too.
All of them looked at Yelena.
Yelena shrugged. ¡°I was ready to tell you guys before, but Alessio kept chattering on.¡±
¡°Was I chattering?¡± Alessio pointed at his still-bleeding thigh. ¡°I was fucking shot! If you were shot, I¡¯ll let you chatter all day.¡±
¡°Boss said they are from the Knights Hospitaller.¡± Yelena didn¡¯t want to argue with Alessio.
¡°The Knights Hospitaller?¡± Amanda was bewildered.
It wasn¡¯t just Amanda. Everyone else, including Yelena, looked confused.
¡°Could they be one of the gangs in Italy?¡± Bagu offered his opinion on the matter.
Marcus looked at Alessio. ¡°Dragon, you¡¯re Italian, so you should be familiar with the Italian gangs. Is this Knights Hospitaller Group a new, emerging Italian gang?¡±
¡°An emerging Italian gang?¡± Alessioughed. ¡°A gang consisting of only old men and women? I can bet my dick on it ¡ª if they are a gang, then I¡¯ll cut it off!¡± He then screamed in pain because hisughter had made the wound on his thigh hurt very badly.
Yelena red coldly at Alessio. ¡°Animal.¡±
¡°I think we shouldn¡¯t bother about the old men and women from the Knights Hospitaller.¡± Marcus continued, ¡°We should think about how we should provide support to the boss. I wonder where he is right now.¡±
Amanda opened up herptop to look at the screen.
A satellite GPS tracking dot appeared on the screen of theptop, and the red dot was moving quickly in the mountain forest.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, we just need to get in front of him and pick him up. With how things are right now, we should follow hismand. Avoid fighting with the enemy¡¯s reinforcement,¡± said Amanda.
The satellite phone that Xia Lei carried was the signal source of the GPS tracking.
The members of the Zodiac team sighed in relief when they saw Xia Lei¡¯s signal source moving about. It showed that he was alive and kicking.
¡°The boss is the real Monkey of our team. He can run so fast in the forest,¡± eximed Bagu.
¡°The Monkey is carrying out his father¡¯smand. We don¡¯t know when he will be done,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Who do you guys think it is?¡± said Alessio.
¡°I don¡¯t know. Only his father knows. No one will know if he doesn¡¯t say it.¡± Marcus continued speaking, ¡°I¡¯m toozy to worry about this kind of stuff.¡±
Amanda handed her phone to Alessio as they talked.
The screen showed a Wikipedia page, and at the top of the page were the words: ¡°The Knights Hospitaller.¡±
Alessio nced at it and then yelled, ¡°Fuck! Is this true? We were fighting a group of medieval knights?!¡±
¡°Is the world about to end? Are we facing a group of vampire zombies?¡± Marcus¡¯s expression was very dramatic.
¡°How did the boss provoke this kind of organisation?¡± Bagu¡¯s expression was also very strange.
¡°Who knows? Boss is the same as his father. They have nock of enemies,¡± said Marcus with a smile. ¡°But I like this kind of life! It¡¯s so freaking thrilling!¡±
Just then, Park Taeyong¡¯s voice came from the cab of the container truck. ¡°All of you guys shut up! Something¡¯s happening! Get ready to fight!¡±
Just as Park Taeyong finished talking, the rumbling sound of a helicopter could be heard overhead. Park Taeyong slowed the vehicle. Everyone else in the container truck held their breaths as they aimed their six assault rifles at the rear door.
However, the rumbling sound of the helicopter soon faded.
Park Taeyong elerated and continued on the road.
This kind of life was thrilling, but not anyone can bear it.
Meanwhile, in the helicopter.
The old man who had been fortunate enough to not be killed by Xia Lei threw the half-finished cigarette in his hand out of the hatch. His anger red at the same moment that the cigarette flew out of the helicopter. ¡°Damn it! Do those guys know magic? How can they all just disappear into thin air?¡±
The four gunmen who were also in the helicopter remained silent. They didn¡¯t even dare to look at the old man¡¯s eyes.
¡°We lost eight people, but that kid and his people all escaped. This is the most shameful thing that has ever happened to us in centuries!¡± The old man was very angry.
¡°Earl Fernando, our people have already gained control of all of Bobbio. Our followers are also searching for traces of those people. I believe we will find them,¡± said one of the white gunmen cautiously.
¡°If we can¡¯t find that kid, we won¡¯t be able to face themander.¡± The old man named Fernando was no longer angry, but he seemed a little tired. ¡°We lost eight people, including the head of the Knights. We suffered such a big loss and we even let them get away with the sacred object. I thought this would be an easy battle, but... I don¡¯t know how I¡¯ll face themander now.¡±
¡°Earl Fernando, does the kid really have the sacred object?¡± asked one of the white gunmen.
¡°His people were at the front of the mountain, but our people stationed at the back area of the mountain died. There¡¯s only one possibility. He came out from the maze,¡± said Fernando. ¡°Even though I didn¡¯t see the sacred object, I¡¯m more than 80% certain that the kid has it.¡±
¡°What if...¡± The white gunman paused for a moment but still said it. ¡°What if our search fails, and the kid¡¯s escaped? Where should we go look for him?¡±
¡°Soren.¡± Fernando looked at the white gunman. ¡°The Louvre Museum in Paris opened a special night viewing for a Chinese man two days ago. This is the first time that the French government had made an exception. That kid went to see the Mona Lisa. Then, some strangers appeared in Bobbio. What¡¯s more important is that the kid is the owner of the Thunder Horse Military Factory in China. He¡¯s also the designer of the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle. The gunmen we encountered used those two types of guns. Soren, who do you think he is?¡±
¡°Could the guy be the one who designed the guns?¡± The white gunman named Soren came to this thought very quickly.
¡°The face was different, but his build was the same, so...¡± Fernando revealed his name. ¡°The kid who escaped is Xia Lei. The French Weaponry Exhibition is about to start, and the Thunder Horse Military Factory is one of the exhibitors that was specially invited by the French government. You where to find him now, don¡¯t you, Soren?¡±
A faint smirk appeared on Soren¡¯s lips. ¡°France.¡±
Chapter 710
One dayter, Paris, DGSE Headquarters.
Jacqueline Eva watched the sky outside the window gloomily. The sky was clear but she felt terrible. On her desk was a report. Over the past three days, she had found out about this person named ¡°Dark Mona.¡± She was the FA Organisation¡¯s ace agent and their best assassin. However, that was all that was in the report. There was no information about the FA Organisation headquarters or Dark Mona¡¯s whereabouts, or anything about Xia Lei. There was no way she could save Xia Lei like this.
DGSE¡¯s top brass, Benjamin, had only gave her three days, and today was thest day. She did not know how she was to face Benjamin. A person had been lost under her watch, and she could not help but feel depressed every time she thought of this.
Bzz, bzz, bzz...
The phone on the desk suddenly began to vibrate.
Jacqueline Eva walked to the desk and picked up the phone. The number on the phone screen was a very normal local number. She hesitated, then swiped to ept the call. She asked, ¡°Who is this?¡±
¡°Is this Miss Jacqueline Eva?¡± asked a man¡¯s voice.
¡°This is she.¡± Jacqueline Eva became alert. ¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°Oh, I am a driver,¡± said the man. ¡°I work for the Rapid Logistics Company...¡±
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s brows were already knotted. ¡°I do not have time to chat with you.¡±
¡°Wait,¡± said the man. ¡°A certain Mister told me to call you.¡±
¡°A Mister?¡±
¡°He is Chinese,¡± said the man. ¡°I met him on the street, and he was in a terrible condition...¡±
Jacqueline Eva hurriedly interrupted, ¡°Did he tell you his name?¡±
¡°Xia Lei,¡± said the man. ¡°This name is sure hard to say.¡±
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s heart almost jumped out of her chest when she heard Xia Lei¡¯s name. She said in excitement, ¡°Quick! Give the phone to him, let him talk to me!¡±
¡°That cannot do,¡± said the man. ¡°His condition is terrible, he is sleeping in my car now. He said that if I call you and send him to your ce, you will give me ten thousand euros, is that true?¡±
This seemed to be the real reason this driver called Jacqueline Eva.
¡°No problem,¡± said Jacqueline Eva. ¡°But I need to understand the situation first. Tell me, how did you meet him? What is his situation right now?¡±
¡°I was driving out of Paris this morning when I saw a man lying on the grass on the roadside with his body covered in blood. I thought he was dead but right when I was about to call the police, he woke up and asked for my help. I bought him food and then he told me to call you. He said you would give me ten thousand euros.¡±
¡°I will give you ten thousand euros, so stop mentioning it. Tell me, are his wounds serious?¡±
¡°It looks serious but he is very strong. He should be fine. I suggested that he go to the hospital but he rejected the idea. Okay, where are you? I will take him to you.¡±
Jacqueline Eva thought for a moment and then said, ¡°Where are you?¡±
¡°I am at the petrol station by Road 13, in the east of Paris.¡±
¡°Stay there and do not move. I will be right there.¡±
¡°Ten thousand...¡±
Jacqueline Eva had already hung up. She did not want to hear the words ¡°ten thousand euros¡± mentioned anymore. She picked up the phone on the desk and dialled a number with practiced ease. ¡°Prepare two helicopters!¡±
Meanwhile, at the petrol station in the east of Paris, Xia Leiy in the car and stopped using his X-ray vision. He had seen the entire process of the French driver¡¯s call to Jacqueline Eva. He had not needed to read his lips to understand his words, because that man¡¯s voice was very loud.
In one night, he hade back to France from Italy. It was not difficult to shake off the Knights Hospitaller. What was difficult was to exin his ¡°escape¡± to Jacqueline Eva, since he did do a self-directed act of kidnapping.
The French driver got in the car and looked at Xia Lei, who was lying on the car seat.
Xia Lei closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
The French driver reached out his hand and prodded at Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Hey, my friend, the woman named Jacqueline Eva told me to wait here. I want to send you back but she did not even tell me the address.¡±
Xia Lei opened his eyes. He seemed very weak. ¡°It¡¯s okay, we can just wait here.¡±
¡°Then... Will she give me ten thousand euros?¡±
¡°She will. If she does not give it to you, I will,¡± said Xia Lei. This guy uttered ¡°ten thousand euros¡± every two minutes; Xia Lei was already annoyed.
¡°Hehe, this money is very important to me. Me, my wife, and my daughter thank you. My friend, you are such a nice person... How did you get hurt?¡±
¡°Let me sleep for a while.¡±
¡°Oh, sorry, I am too noisy. I will go to the petrol station mart and see if there is anything you need. Oh right, you need clothes. I will go buy you underwear.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The chatty driver went to the petrol station mart, and Xia Lei could finally have some quiet. The image of da Vinci¡¯s secretboratory appeared in his head ¡ª the silver metal, da Vinci¡¯s notebook, and that painting of the starry sky made with mysterious minerals...
¡®The Princess Yongmei that I met before could only say two to three sentences like a tape on repeat. Later, as the number of ancient alloys pieces I collected increased, she also became more and moreplete. From initially only being able to say a few words to being able to have autonomous thinking, and even having a temper. I had always thought that her ipleteness andpleteness had to do with the ancient alloy box. If I collected all of the ancient alloy parts, she would beplete. But when she was in the maze, she seemed to already beplete. Could it be that her beingplete or iplete had nothing to do with the ancient alloy box...?¡¯
¡®That¡¯s not it. She was originally trapped in the ancient alloy. I had to use X-ray vision to free her. Every time I found a new ancient alloy part, she would be moreplete. She is a type of energy. If Ipare her to electrical energy, she would be able to fit into different batteries, and the ancient alloy parts are those batteries. She¡¯s existed for some time. She used up too much energy to fight the Japanese navy that previous time, and then she went into slumber...¡¯
¡®She sent me messages through Ning Jing to get me to awaken her. That painting is the key to her existence. Were those sparkling things really mineral? Or were those sparkling things her body? They disappeared in the end... If they were minerals, how would they disappear? And, she gave da Vinci a silver metal. Da Vinci also said he studied it, but why was there no research record linked to it? This was not like da Vinci. When he studied the human body, he would leave behind a manuscript, so how would he not leave behind his records when he studied that piece of metal? Theter pages of that notebook were all nk. Could there have been an essay in it, or...¡¯
Questions flooded Xia Lei¡¯s mind, one by one. He thought through these questions, but his thoughts just became messier in the end.
¡°My friend, haha, look what I got you!¡± The car door was opened by the French driver and he climbed in. In his hands was a pair of red underwear. ¡°Chinese people like red. Look, I got you a red pair. Do you like it?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze turned to the underwear in the driver¡¯s hand and he became speechless.
There was even the ¡°Made in China¡± tag on the underwear, so obviously in was manufactured in China. But that was not what made Xia Lei speechless. What made him speechless was that the underwear that this guy bought him was actually for a female. There was even a peony print on it. If he were to act intimate with Long Bing wearing this kind of underwear, Long Bing would likely strangle him.
¡°Do you like it?¡± The French driver gave him a fawning smile.
Xia Lei forced a smile onto his face. ¡°I like it, thank you.¡±
¡°Then put it on.¡± The driver tossed the peony-print underwear to Xia Lei, and smiled as he said, ¡°I will not peek at you. I am not gay.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
A few minutester, two helicopters appeared in the sky. One was a Eurocopter Tiger of the National Gendarmerie and one was a NH-90 transport aircraft. The Eurocopter Tiger carried an array of weapons like ground-to-ground missiles and autocannons. The NH-90 transport aircraft was filled with the French National Security Administration¡¯s agents and the National Gendarmerie¡¯s elites. All this just to pick Xia Lei up.
The Eurocopter Tiger stayed in the air surveilling the ground, ready to shoot any suspicious individuals. The NH-90 transport aircraftnded on vacant area next to the petrol station. Agents and elites armed to their teeth hopped down from the transport aircraft, one by one. They quickly encircled the gas station and the surrounding area in a blockade. Everything was under their control.
Jacqueline Eva walked towards the truck parked next to the petrol station.
The driver who had called Jacqueline Eva looked at the scene before him in awe. He stood with his mouth hanging open.
¡°Are you that driver?¡± asked Jacqueline Eva.
The driver finally snapped back to his senses. He seemed unable to get words out and only nodded.
Jacqueline Eva threw a bulging envelope into the driver¡¯s hands. She did not want to waste anymore time on him. She walked straight to the truck.
¡°He is in the car.¡± The driver finally came back to his senses. ¡°Who is he? A prince of China?¡±
Jacqueline Eva opened the car door and saw Xia Lei. In her eyes, Xia Lei was no longer that handsome Chairman of the Thunder Horse Group. He was dirty and covered with cuts and bloodstains. He looked like a refugee who had just been smuggled past the border, the kind of refugee who had been robbed.
But she felt relieved after she confirmed that it was Xia Lei. The tension in her body eased.
Xia Lei opened his eyes and looked at Jacqueline Eva. He looked very weak.
¡°What happened?¡± Jacqueline Eva looked at the bloodstains and at the bruises small andrge on Xia Lei¡¯s body.
¡°They ripped off my clothes and pushed me into the trunk of a car,¡± said Xia Lei weakly. ¡°I undid the ropes on my body and jumped out of the car... You can see for yourself that I am in a terrible state.¡±
¡°That¡¯s all that happened?¡± Jacqueline Eva could not believe that Xia Lei had escaped from those FA Organisation agents this easily.
Xia Lei spread his hands. ¡°Do you want me to have been shot or something? Take me away from here, I... want to take a shower, and have a meal.¡±
¡°Can you walk?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a little difficult.¡± Xia Lei struggled to stand up.
¡°Never mind, I will hold you.¡± Jacqueline Eva reached out her hand.
A minuteter, a giantess of 192 cm carried a dirty Chinese man in her arms and walked towards the NH-90 transport helicopter. The Chinese man¡¯s peony patterned underwear became the most eye catching existence for that walk. No one dared to look directly at them.
Chapter 711
The NH-90 transport aircraft took Xia Lei to a private hospital in Paris.
The doctor did a checkup on Xia Lei¡¯s body. There wasn¡¯t anything too serious but he told Xia Lei to stay in the hospital to be monitored for one day. Xia Lei epted readily. He treated the hospital like a hotel, and the first thing he did in the hospital was to take a shower.
A nurse stood in the hospital ward, waiting for Xia Lei to finish his shower so that she could treat his wounds. Jacqueline Eva walked in. She did not say anything but pointed to the door. The nurse nced at Jacqueline Eva with dissatisfaction but still left the ward. She wanted to clean Xia Lei¡¯s wounds but she understood that Jacqueline Eva was a woman whom she could not afford to upset.
Jacqueline Eva took a bath towel and walked into the bathroom.
The bathroom was filled with the sound of pouring water. She could not see Xia Lei but she knew that he was inside. Her brain could not help but remember everything that happened in the room that night, till the point of time where three masked people had barged into the room...
¡®Those three masked people won against my two subordinates and two Gendarmerie special agents. Their strength is incredible. They carefully nned their operation but Xia Lei escaped just by jumping the car. Isn¡¯t this a little too simple?¡¯ Suspicion rose in her heart.
In the bathroom, warm water trickled down Xia Lei¡¯s body. The dozens of cuts on his body burned. Xia Lei grinned as he grumbled, ¡°That Amanda, I did not offend her, did I? I told to make some wounds on my body but she actually threw a rock at me and whipped me with a tree branch...¡±
Of course you would need to be stoned and whipped with a tree branch to achieve the kind of wounds you would get if you were to roll down from a car. Amanda had to be ruthless if they wanted to hide the truth from Jacqueline Eva¡¯s eyes.
The sound of footsteps came from outside the bathroom door, soft and slow, giving one the feeling that it was creeping closer.
Xia Lei turned to look. His left eye twitched and he saw Jacqueline Eva. In her hands was a towel. The towel in her hands was clearly unnecessary because he had brought a towel into the bathroom.
¡®Did shee... to continue asking me asking my escape process, or something else?¡¯ A wry smile formed on Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
When he left Italy, he could have actually returned straight to China. Going straight back would have been the safest option, but it would not be the most logical option. There were two reasons he had chosen toe back to France.
The first reason was that he had been kidnapped in France. The French intelligence officers were looking for him all over the world, and if he somehow showed up in China, France would definitely send people to China to ask about the situation. By then, not only would he have to face the French but also some people in China. He did not want those who should not know about it to know what happened in France and Italy.
The second reason was the French International Weapons Exhibition. This was a step that must be taken for Thunder Horse Military Factory to step outside of China and be the world¡¯s strongest military enterprise. The French International Weapons Exhibition was the world¡¯s biggest arms exhibition, and it was the best stage. He wanted to conquer this stage, he wanted to send a message to the world of arms dealing ¡ª The Thunder Horse Military Group ising!
Whether for personal reasons or in consideration of Thunder Horse Group;s future, he needed toe to France.
Outside the door, Jacqueline Eva lightly shook her head, and then walked to the bathroom door. She knocked. ¡°Mr Xia, I brought a bath towel for you.¡±
¡°Um.¡± Xia Lei said awkwardly, ¡°I brought a towel in myself.¡±
Jacqueline Eva replied, ¡°I know. But the hospital¡¯s towels are used by everyone. It is not sanitary. I brought you a new towel.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Jacqueline Eva reached out and pushed the door open.
Xia Lei let out a yell.
Jacqueline Eva calmly walked into the bathroom. She took down the towel that Xia Lei had hung on the wall and then hung up the towel that she brought in.
¡°I¡¯ve seen it before.¡± Jacqueline Eva stared at Xia Lei. ¡°So you do not need to cover it up.¡±
Xia Lei did not know what to say.
¡°Be quick. I will help you treat the wounds on your body when you¡¯re done showering.¡±
¡°You will help me treat my wounds?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. The nurses and doctors have left,¡± said Jacqueline Eva. She showed no hint of leaving the bathroom.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°I cannot shower with you staring at me like this.¡±
Jacqueline Evan finally turned and left.
A few minutester, Xia Lei came out of the bathroom wrapped with a towel. He saw Jacqueline Eva standing next to his bed in a white short sleeved shirt, ck mini skirt, and a medical tool trolley beside her. This sight made him a little nervous because he was sure that she was not some nurse, and that that bed would be a battlefield for them, agent versus agent.
The Chinese Bureau 101¡¯s ace agent versus the French National Security Administration¡¯s ace agent... but this was a battle without guns.
Jacqueline Eva picked up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and waved to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked over and forced himself to say, ¡°Are you really going to treat my wounds? I think it would be better if someone professional were to do it. You can help me call for a doctor or a nurse.¡±
¡°The doctors and nurses are off work now.¡± Jacqueline Eva wore a smile on her face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have received professional training. I will make you veryfortable.¡±
Could one describe treating wounds asfortable?
No matter what, what must be faced will be faced. Xia Lei climbed onto the bed andy down on the nket, exposing his entire back to Jacqueline Eva.
¡°I will leave it to you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva suddenly took off her heels and climbed onto the bed.
Xia Lei became nervous. ¡°What... do you want to do?¡±
Pssh!
Jacqueline Eva began spraying hydrogen peroxide on the wounds on Xia Lei¡¯s back without waiting for Xia Lei to finish his sentence. A burning pain came, and it hurt so much that Xia Lei sucked in a sharp breath.
Pssh, pssh...
Jacqueline Eva took out a pair of tweezers with a ball of cotton in from the medical tool trolley after spraying the hydrogen peroxide, and wiped Xia Lei¡¯s wounds.
¡°Mr Xia, did you really escape by jumping out of the car?¡± Jacqueline Eva asked, ¡°No one helped you?¡±
This question was like a signal; the battle had begun.
Xia Lei endured the stimtion from Jacqueline Eva. He said slowly, ¡°The only person who helped me was that driver. I think he was called Rivaldo something. You can investigate him. Oh right, I will return ten thousand euros to you.¡±
¡°Do not misunderstand. I am not asking you for money. But I am not against it if you want to repay it.¡±
¡°Mm, I know that you are curious about what happened. Other than describing it as fortunate, I cannot find any other suitable words.¡±
¡°Tell me about it.¡±
¡°That night in your room, for some reason, I was dizzy so I cannot remember what happened. When I woke up, I realised that I was locked in an underground basement. Those three people bound me and took away my clothes. I heard some of their conversation, and they said that Paris had been sealed so they could not leave right away. They then locked me up for two days, and then on the third night they stuffed me into the boot of a car. They did not give me anything to eat or water to drink for two days, so I acted like I was dehydrated, and very weak. I looked terrible so they rxed their guard...¡±
¡°One of them drove the car, and the other two slept. I slowly untied the ropes on myself and then waited for a chance to escape. Later, I heard the loud sound of water. The sound of water reminded of the River Seine. In fact, it was the River Seine. I was sure of what I needed to do, and I only had one chance. I opened the boot and escaped. I fell really badly but I didn¡¯t care so much about my wounds. The moment I jumped from the car, the guy who was driving found me out. He stepped on the brakes and hisrades also woke up. I did not dare to wait, so I got up from the road and jumped into the Seine. They chased me to the river and shot at the river. The bullets scraped past me, and I thought I would be shot, and then drown in the river, but the Lady Luck smiled on me. Those bullets did not hit me. I held my breath and dived down... Later, I climbed ashore. I was too tired and passed out until a driver found me. You already know what happenedter, so I don¡¯t have to exin any further.¡±
He had already known that Jacqueline Eva would not be satisfied with just a simple exnation so he had prepared this story for her. This story was very interesting ¡ª it could even be made into a movie.
¡°It was my fault. I did not protect you properly, and I caused you to experience something like this,¡± said Jacqueline Eva apologetically.
¡°It is not your problem. You do not need to apologise to me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Do you know why they abducted you?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°They did not say why, but I think it is probably for money or my skills. What else could it be other than these two?¡±
¡°Good,¡± said Jacqueline Eva. ¡°All done.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chapter 712
Xia Lei left the hospital one dayter.
Jacqueline Eva drove Xia Lei back to the Star of Paris Hotel. Xia Lei saw even more French special agents, and people of the French Intelligence Department. These security measures seemed to be on par with that of the security detail of the leader of a country.
Xia Lei understood how determined the French were to get his technology from the exaggerated security measures they had put in ce. In that one day in the hospital, Xia Lei had thought carefully about partnering with the French government. If he could work with the Germans, why couldn¡¯t he work with the French? He had already exchanged his technologies for the engine technology and Germany¡¯s submarine technology. These exchanges had purely been contributions to the country, and he had not gotten any benefits from them. So... why couldn¡¯t he consider his own interests now?
The Thunder Horse Group still had a debt of more than two billion. This debt pressed down on the Thunder Horse Group like a mountain. It restrained the group¡¯s development, and him from showing his abilities. And right at this time, the French were offering a chance for this debt to disappear. As long as he could grasp this chance, he could turn this chance into reality!
A middle-aged woman passed by while he was waiting for the lift, pulling a huge suitcase. But right when Xia Lei thought that she was also a customer who lived in this hotel, the middle-aged woman gave the suitcase to Jacqueline Eva and then left without a word.
Xia Lei looked at the suitcase Jacqueline Eva had in her hands and looked at her. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°Is it not obvious?¡± said Jacqueline Eva with a smile. ¡°I will not let the same thing happen again. I have decided that I will stay with you, protecting you 24/7.¡±
¡°Wait, are you saying that you are going to stay with me?¡± asked Xia Lei seriously.
Jacqueline Eva also looked serious. ¡°The room that you¡¯re staying in was provided by the French government. It is a presidential suite. Don¡¯t you think that it is a waste to stay in it by yourself?¡±
¡°No, what I meant was...¡±
Ding. The lift doors opened.
¡°The lift is here. Let¡¯s go up.¡± Jacqueline Eva seemed like she did not want to discuss this matter any longer.
Xia Lei shrugged, nonplussed, and walked into the lift.
It was both a surprise and not to him that Jacqueline Eva would move in to stay with him. The French government had always used her as a special soldier, to trap targets with her beauty, and achieve their goals with the least cost to them. It was not the first time that they had done that. Jacqueline Eva had already had the contract prepared for him that night. He would not sign it, of course, but this would not stop the French government from continuing to act on their intentions.
A light perfume filled the lift as it went up. It was Marie¡¯s Desire. He was very familiar with this scent. It seemed that there were no drugs added to it this time, so he was not affected by it.
¡°Oh, I almost forgot. I promised that I¡¯d give you Marie¡¯s Desire. I should have given it to you thest time but that incident happened quite unexpectedly that night,¡± said Jacqueline Eva apologetically. ¡°But it¡¯s fine, I will have someone bring it over tonight.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said ¡®thank you¡¯, but he thought to himself, ¡®Bringing it over in the night, huh? It must be drugged or something. They¡¯re trying to use a woman to get my technology... Do they think that I¡¯m some guy fresh out of prison? I am not at that point where I¡¯d be blinded by lust. If they want my technology, they must give me something of equal value.¡¯
¡°What are you thinking about, Mr Xia?¡± asked Jacqueline Eva.
¡°Oh, I¡¯m thinking about the weapons exhibition.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will seed.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said nothing more.
Jacqueline Eva really was staying in Xia Lei¡¯s room. This presidential suite had three bedrooms and she picked the one next to Xia Lei¡¯s.
Jacqueline Eva unpacked in her room.
Xia Lei spied through the wall on her next door. He saw Jacqueline Eva take things out, one by one, from her suitcase. She pulled out lingerie which was practically string, a translucent bra, and some French-made birth control pills.
The birth control pills shocked Xia Lei. ¡®What did she bring this for? And so many too? Does she want to finish them all up with me?¡¯
It was not the trend to use condoms anymore ¡ª birth control pills were in. But wasn¡¯t that number of pills a little too much?
The ace of the French National Security Administration sure was working hard for her nation¡¯s interests.
Jacqueline Eva popped one birth control pill out and swallowed it as Xia Lei watched. The type of birth control pills she took were only effective if taken in advance. She did not even swallow it with water ¡ª she ate them like she was eating sweets.
Jacqueline Eva then took out a gun from the suitcase. She ced it under the bed after checking the clip and releasing the safety.
Xia Lei was not surprised by this gun at all.
Jacqueline Eva took out a makeup case from the suitcase.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡®Guess she really is nning on staying here.¡¯
Jacqueline Eva opened the makeup case, took out the foam inside, and gently pressed the hidden switch in the bottom of the case. Then, she stuffed the foam back in, ced the makeup box on the bedside table and adjusted its position.
Xia Lei understood immediately. ¡®So it¡¯s a monitoring device. The video was destroyed by me thest time, so is she going to retake one this time?¡¯
The sound of footsteps came from outside the door.
Xia Lei looked over and saw Qing Caiyue standing outside the door.
Qing Caiyue knocked on the door. ¡°Director Xia, are you there?¡±
Xia Lei saw Jacqueline Eva walk quietly to her bedroom door to listen carefully to the movement outside. Xia Lei found her cautiousness funny. Watching an agent¡¯s spying activity sure was interesting.
Xia Lei stopped using his X-ray vision and got up to open the door for Qing Caiyue.
¡°Director Xia.¡± Qing Caiyue stepped through the door. She asked worriedly, ¡°Where did you go? I was so worried.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°The French president invited me to his vacation ce for a holiday. I could not reject it, so I went to socialise.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Qing Caiyue¡¯s jaw dropped and she could not close her mouth.
If it were some other man telling her this to her face, she would not believe him and perhaps even kick him. But it was different when those words came out of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. Not to mention saying that the French president invited Xia Lei for a holiday, she would believe him even if Xia Lei said that the French president¡¯s daughter invited him to the resort for a holiday.
One had to be capable enough to boast too.
¡°What is there to be surprised about?¡± Xia Lei said, smiling, ¡°I tripped at the resort. The First Lady helped treat my wound. Now it is finally a little better.¡±
Qing Caiyue was speechless.
¡°Okay, let¡¯s not talk about the resort anymore.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic. ¡°How is the setup for our exhibition booth going?¡±
¡°It is almost done. I was there just now. The decorationpany is working over there. I heard that you came back so I rushed over to see you.¡± Qing Caiyue patted her busty chest. ¡°I was so worried about you these past few days.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t I back now? Go check in at the exhibition hall. The French are veryzy people, so you need to prod at them.¡±
¡°There is no need to rush, Director Xia. Let me see your wounds. It might be time to change the dressing.¡± Qing Caiyue looked very enthusiastic.
Knock knock knock.
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s voice could be heard after the knocking. ¡°Mr Xia, do you have a guest?¡± She pushed the door open and walked straight in right after she spoke, without even waiting for Xia Lei to open it for her.
Qing Caiyue stared at Jacqueline Eva with some dissatisfaction.
¡°My secretary, Qing Caiyue,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I know, but I will still send people to guard the door. Miss Qing, please get permission first before youe into the room in the future,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
¡°Why?¡± Qing Caiyue did not hide her Frenchnguage skills. She did not hide her anger either.
Jacqueline Eva shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I am also just performing my duty.¡±
¡°Director, she...¡± Qing Caiyue looked at Xia Lei with hurt in her eyes.
Xia Lei spoke in her ear, ¡°This hotel is filled with intelligence officers and agents sent by the French government, so do not cause trouble. What we should be worrying about is the weapons exhibition. Go on. If you do well, I will reward you.¡±
The anger in Qing Caiyue¡¯s heart was finally extinguished at Xia Lei¡¯s words. She nodded. ¡°Okay, then I will go to the exhibition hall.¡±
¡°Go on, give me a call if anythinges up,¡± said Xia Lei.
After Qing Caiyue left, Jacqueline Eva said, ¡°Mr Xia, you have a really good secretary.¡±
¡°Yeah, she does her job well,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Evaughed. ¡°I am talking about her face and body.¡±
Xia Lei did not know what to add to that.
¡°I am going back to my room to take a shower.¡± Jacqueline Eva blinked her sapphire-like eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Want to go together?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, hard.
¡°Hehe...¡± Jacqueline Eva giggled, swaying her hips as she left.
She was already preparing for the battle tonight.
For some reason, Xia Lei felt a bit of anticipation.
Xia Lei sat on the sofa alone, thinking, after Jacqueline Eva left.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone suddenly rang.
Xia Lei picked up the phone. He did not say anything but grunted.
Yelena¡¯s voice came over the line. ¡°Boss, I have returned to China. I¡¯ve safely brought the thing you gave me to China. Should I keep it at my ce or your ce?¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°Give it to my dad.¡±
¡°Should Ie back?¡±
¡°No need.¡± Xia Lei did not chat any further and hung up.
What Yelena brought back to China were the things he had brought out of thebyrinth ¡ª da Vinci¡¯s oil paintings and sketches, that silver metal, and da Vinci¡¯s notebook. He did not believe that the notebook that da Vinci left was nk. But if he wanted to research it, he could only do it after he returned to China.
After he finished his conversation with Yelena, Xia Lei got up and went into the bathroom. He took out another satellite phone from the bathroom and dialled a number.
¡°How heartless. You are finally willing to call me?¡± A charming voice came through the satellite phone line.
¡°Fan Fan, I want to talk with you.¡±
¡°You want to talk to me about French women? Or French perfumes?¡±
¡°Stop the nonsense. I am talking about serious matters with you.¡±
¡°I¡¯d guessed. Go ahead.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he finally said, ¡°The French government wants my technology. This is what I think... since we had already done a deal with the Germans, then why can¡¯t we do one with the French? It is not worth it if we only sell something once.¡±
¡°A deal with the French? France is America¡¯s little brother, simr to Ennd. Does France dare to bypass America to make a deal with us?¡±
¡°I have been observing themtely, and I am sure of their sincerity. Although France is America¡¯s little brother, as long as there is enough of an advantage to be had, they will not be thinking of what America¡¯s opinion is first. What they will think of is what benefit they will get.¡±
¡°I cannot make the decision for such a big matter.¡±
¡°I am not telling you to take be decision-maker. You only need to report to the higher-ups. Tell them that this deal will be the same as the deal with the Germans. It must be done in secret. I need enough authority to handle this, but I also promise to bring back as much profit as we got from the Germans.¡±
¡°All right, I will report to the higher-ups.¡±
¡°You can take this as my congrattory gift to you for bing the chief of the ZN Bureau.¡±
¡°This gift of yours is sure arge one. But I want you more than a gift. I have not been with you for such a long time... I really miss you.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s voice was soft and coy, ¡°When are youing back? I will make delicious food for you...¡±
Xia Lei cut the line firmly.
Chapter 713
The night came unexpectedly.
The candle flickered. The red wine, cuisine, the woman being bathed in candlelight, and the familiar scene of the perfume. The romance of Paris was back again, and Xia Lei felt like he was drunk on atmosphere.
It was obvious that Jacqueline Eva had specially dressed up for the asion. She wore a long red Louis Vuitton dress, simple yet beautiful. The soft fabric clung to her skin, outlining her perfect, curvaceous body and her seductive long legs. The dress not only showed off her curves, but also bared her shoulders in a deep V neckline, showing off her cleavage. The dress seemed to be just a little bit translucent under the candlelight, and two little bumps, like two pink chocte beans, were faintly revealed, mysterious and seductive.
Xia Lei quietly savoured the French red wine, French cuisine, and French beauty. How many times can a person experience a night like this in a lifetime?
¡°Mr Xia.¡± Jacqueline Eva broke the silence of the dining atmosphere. ¡°Tell me, what do you want?¡±
A faint smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about.¡±
¡°I¡¯m very satisfied right now. There¡¯s nothing that I want in particr,¡± said Xia Lei. The more she wanted to get to the point, the more he wanted to y around with her.
¡°Fine.¡± Jacqueline Eva pursed her lips. ¡°Then I¡¯ll be straightforward. I want to know what you want in this transaction.¡±
Xia Lei just looked at Jacqueline Eva. He did not voice his thoughts.
¡°I¡¯m in charge of this, you know that. The people in the Weapons and Equipment Department want to know what you want. Can you please help me with this task?¡± Jacqueline Eva reached across the table and took Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Her hands were soft, warm and delicate.
Her intimate actions, and her eyes full of desire... A woman¡¯s body was the most powerful weapon to use against men. How many men had fallen into the traps which women had dug for them? It was impossible to calcte this number, because such things happened all the time.
¡°Do we have to talk about it now?¡±
¡°When do you want to talk, then?¡± Jacqueline Eva removed her left foot from her high heel under the table. She was wearing ck stockings underneath the dress. She quietly stretched out her left foot and put it on Xia Lei¡¯s calf, then slowly moved it up.
Xia Lei¡¯s nerves suddenly tensed like a taut bowstring.
The ck stockinged foot climbed to his knee and continued its way up. It was brave and fearless explorer, and it finally made its way to the peak of an unerupted volcano.
Xia Lei¡¯s bowstring was stretched to the tautest extent in the blink of an eye. His arrow was notched, and ready to shoot at the target at any moment.
¡°Nn.¡± Xia Lei spoke in the end. ¡°I¡¯ve said it before. I want the Charles de Gaulle R91¡¯s aircraft carrier system.¡±
¡°How much do you know about Charles de Gaulle R91¡¯s aircraft carrier system?¡± Jacqueline Eva stared straight at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Charles de Gaulle R91¡¯s aircraft carrier system uses the new Thomson CSF¡¯s Senit8bat system from France. It has eightputers as its core, 25 disy consoles with various functions, and it can track up to 2,000 targets at once. It can even automatically connect all detection equipment to the armed forces to start a battle. The system can transmit data to more than 50 different air, water-based, andnd-based units of their allies. It can effectively act as a battle management center for the entirebat operation. For its detection and electronic systems, it uses the Thomson CSF long-range air surveince radar, a Thomson-CSF DRBV 15C Sea Tiger E/F frequency ne search radar, and two Thunder Card and Vampire Infrared Detection systems. The warship¡¯s electronic warfare equipment includes two sets of Thomson electronic resistance systems, enough to triumph in modern electronic warfare systems.¡±
Jacqueline Eva looked at Xia Lei, dumbstruck.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Of course, I only exined part of it because the electronic system of an aircraft carrier is veryplicated. However, we don¡¯t want the mechanical system of the Charles de Gaulle R91¡¯s aircraft carrier. The mechanical system is wed, and we can create a better one ourselves.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯m not looking down on the capabilities of China, but based on your current level, I don¡¯t think you guys cane up with a more advanced mechanical system for the Charles de Gaulle R91 aircraft carrier,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei was not angered by Jacqueline Eva¡¯s doubt. Instead, he had a faint smile on his face. ¡°So you think that our current level is still at the era of making socks and shirts? If so, then why are you guys trying to make a business deal with me?¡±
Jacqueline Eva then realised that what she said was inappropriate and she said hurriedly, ¡°Mr Xia, that¡¯s not what I meant. Please don¡¯t misunderstand.¡±
Xia Lei only smiled. The Western world had always had prejudice and sometimes discrimination against China. This idea was rooted in their society and it was difficult to eliminate that idea. Even Jacqueline Eva, who was asking him for his help, had this mindset, let alone those who had no rtions with China. However, it was not worth it for him to change their opinion, and it was even less beneficial for him to please them and gain their goodwill. What he really needed to do was to p those people in the face with real actions!
¡°Mr Xia, let me tell you the truth. When you requested the Charles de Gaulle R91¡¯s aircraft carrier system thest time, I already reported it to the higher ups. They gave me a definite answer, which was no. That won¡¯t happen, so...¡± Jacqueline Eva sent a message with her feet. ¡°Give me another option.¡±
¡°Why did they refuse?¡±
¡°Aircraft carriers are the most powerful existence in the weapons industry. Do you think it makes a lot of sense for you to ask for the aircraft carrier¡¯s technology in exchange for your machine tool technology and light weapons?¡±
¡°Then what technology do you n to exchange with me?¡±
¡°Well, the higher ups want to use the Tiger Type Helicopter¡¯s electronic technology for the exchange. What do you think?¡±
¡°Hehe.¡± Xia Lei spread his hands. ¡°Then there¡¯s nothing to discuss. Our WZ-10 is not inferior to your Tiger type in any way. You guys want to use the technology we don¡¯t need in exchange for the technology you need. How can you want such a great deal?¡±
¡°Mr Xia.¡± Jacqueline Eva continued massaging him with her feet. ¡°Actually, we can add some civilian technology along with it. Money is fine too.¡±
¡°Can you please move your feet away?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva paused.
She thought that by controlling a certain part of Xia Lei¡¯s body, she could influence Xia Lei¡¯s mind and in turn, influence his decision. But now, it seemed like it had not worked at all. She didn¡¯t know whether she should withdraw her leg or leave it there to execute her duties. This made her feel very awkward.
Ring ring ring...
The phone rang.
¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll take this call.¡± Xia Lei got up and left the dinner table. He walked towards the balcony.
The call was from Fan Fan.
¡°I already reported to the higher ups and they agreed to give you the authority you want,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t surprised by this result. Since they could make a business deal with the Germans, then they could also do it with the French. As long as it could make the country stronger and rise quickly, it didn¡¯t matter who they made business deals with.
¡°Is there a specific technology that the higher ups want to exchange?¡±
¡°Which technology will you be able to exchange with them?¡±
¡°I wanted to make an exchange for the Charles de Gaulle R91¡¯s electronic technology, but it¡¯s difficult. The French are very smart. They only want to trade with their Tiger Type Helicopter¡¯s electronic technology.¡± Xia Lei turned around to look at Jacqueline Eva. She was making a phone call at the dining table.
Their gazes met and they both smiled.
¡°Your appetite is pretty big. The higher ups don¡¯t expect you to sessfully exchange for that. They want the Gust Fighter¡¯s stealth technology from France. The Gust Fighter¡¯s stealth technology is only second to the United States¡¯ F22 and it¡¯s better than the Typhoon Fighter aircraft from Germany. If you can get the Gust Fighter¡¯s electronic technology and the stealth technology, with the Typhoon Fighter engine we already have, we can put together an advanced aircraft fighter that canpete against the Western world,¡± said Fan Fan.
It was indeed unrealistic to exchange for the aircraft carrier technology, but Xia Lei was sure he would be able to exchange with them for their Gust Fighter aircraft and stealth technology. Xia Lei had a better chance of getting it. A smile appeared on his face. ¡°It¡¯s easier now that I have instructions from the higher ups.¡±
¡°But you have to remember that there¡¯s a special rtionship between France and America. You have to be careful not to be tricked by them.¡±
¡°I will be careful.¡±
¡°If youplete this task, there will be an extra mark on my book of contributions, and in yours too. The higher ups said that you will receive a lot of meritorious credit if you¡¯re able to get the Gust Fighter aircraft and stealth technology.¡± Fan Fan¡¯sughter came from the satellite phone.
¡°I don¡¯t want any credit.¡±
¡°Then what do you want?¡±
¡°This time I have a request.¡±
¡°What kind of request?¡±
¡°My request is very easy.¡± Xia Lei paused for a moment. ¡°I want to be exempted from all my debts.¡±
¡°You... want money?¡± Fan Fan sounded like she was surprised. ¡°I always thought you were a pure person and are separate from those vulgar interests.¡±
¡°Fuck you. I only have this request, so go inform the higher ups. I contributed so much and exchanged so many technologies for them, but I haven¡¯t received anything in return. This time, I won¡¯t do it for free. I want to be exempted from all my debts.¡±
¡°That¡¯s more than two billion.¡± Fan Fan knew well the debt Thunder Horse Military Factory owed.
Xia Lei said faintly, ¡°A real estate in Jingdu is worth a few billion already. If it was located on the Golden Coast, it would¡¯ve exceeded this amount. Could it be that all the technologies that I¡¯ve helped them exchange for cannot bepared to the value of a real estate? Also, I¡¯m not greedy for money. If I am, I would¡¯ve asked for it a long time ago. I made a big move on this trip to France. Although Thunder Horse Military Factory has made some achievements, it cannot bepared to the international weapons and ammunition tycoons. I want to surpass them; I need to throw away my burdens. After my debt is exempted, I can invest all my funds into Thunder Horse Military Factory. I want mypany to run and catch up to them.¡±
Fan Fan was silent for a moment and then said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll deliver your message, as is, to the higher-ups. I don¡¯t think there will be any problems based on the way you said it. Our country has always supported science and technology projects by providing them with money and preferential policies. Although your debt amount may berge, you¡¯re worth it.¡±
¡°Then that¡¯s all. Wait for my good news,¡± said Xia Lei. He hung up.
Jacqueline Eva also put away her phone and smiled at Xia Lei as he returned from the balcony. ¡°Who called you?¡±
¡°It was my chief engineer. We discussed some issues about ourpany matters.¡± Xia Lei sat down again. ¡°Who were you calling?¡±
¡°Oh, it was one of my subordinates. I asked him to deliver the perfume that you wanted,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Ding dong, ding dong.
The doorbell rang as soon as Jacqueline Eva finished talking.
¡°I¡¯ll open the door.¡± Jacqueline Eva didn¡¯t wait for Xia Lei to get up. Instead, she got up herself and walked towards the door.
Xia Lei saw a blonde man standing outside the door even before Jacqueline Eva opened the door. He had a box in his hands and a gun was hidden on him. It was obvious that the person outside the door was a secret agent from the France Security Bureau.
Jacqueline Eva opened the door and took the box. She thanked him, and shut the door.
Marie¡¯s Desire was here. The confrontation between the Bureau 101¡¯s trump card and the French National Security Administration¡¯s trump card was about to take ce.
And this time there won¡¯t be three masked people.
Chapter 714
¡°Why the formalities?¡± said Xia Lei with a smile. ¡°I was just saying it casually back then. There really isn¡¯t a need to be so formal.¡±
¡°Come with me.¡± Jacqueline Eva seemed not to want to waste any more words and she went straight towards her room.
¡°What for?¡± Xia Lei knew, but he asked anyway.
Jacqueline Eva looked back at him and smiled. She stretched out a slender hand to him and beckoned.
This gesture was more convincing than words.
Xia Lei got up and followed her to the door of her room.
Jacqueline Eva entered her room and opened the box containing the perfume. There were six bottles of perfume in it, and the cover of one of the bottles was open. Thick perfume wafted from it.
¡°Ipetent. He can¡¯t even do a simple thing right.¡± Jacqueline Eva frowned and grumbled about the man who had delivered the perfume.
Xia Lei stood in the doorway, just looking but not going in. He breathed as shallowly as possible.
¡°It¡¯s fine, though. The perfume makes one feelfortable, wouldn¡¯t you say so, Mr Xia?¡± Jacqueline Eva stared straight at Xia Lei. Her smile was mesmerising. Under the light, she looked even sharper, more in-focus ¡ª full breasts, slender waist, and peachy buttocks. The curves of her body could make one¡¯s nose bleed. Add the dim, mysterious atmosphere of the ce magnified the clout of her beauty.
If it had been any other man, he would have thrown himself at her long ago, but Xia Lei still stood in the doorway, not moving.
He knew it was a trap, so he would be a fool if he still jumped in.
Jacqueline Eva lifted a shoulder. ¡°Do you n to keep standing in the doorway?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop myself if I go in.¡±
¡°Stop yourself?¡±
¡°From what I¡¯d want to do to you.¡±
Jacqueline Eva giggled. ¡°You can do whatever you want. Why hold back?¡±
Xia Lei still didn¡¯t move. He resisted the temptress.
Jacqueline Eva felt like taking her high heel off and bashing Xia Lei on the head with it. Her lips moved as if to say something but she chose to do something else in the end. She reached out a hand to touch her forehead and said weakly, ¡°Oh, my head. I¡¯m so dizzy. I must¡¯ve had too much to drink.¡± Her legs seemed to lose strength and she grew unsteady on her feet. She fell gently onto the bed.
She had one leg on the bed and one on the floor. Her legs were spread, exposing that area between her legs to the eye. The air of seduction was as thick as could be.
Xia Lei still did not move.
Jacqueline Eva peeked at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eye. His reaction depressed her but she still maintained that position for two minutes. She couldn¡¯t stand it anymore after two minutes, and rolled to sit up on the bed in one movement. ¡°Must you make mee to you and pull you over?¡±
¡°Your perfume has a drug in it that induces hypnosis, and I don¡¯t mean the type that sends people to sleep. And you also have a camera and a listening device in that makeup case by your bedside. I am not an actor who performs for those sort of films, so I¡¯ll have to pass,¡± said Xia Lei tly.
¡°You... know about all of it?¡± The charming look on Jacqueline Eva¡¯s face disappeared immediately, and the desire in her eyes dimmed. Her gaze grew sharp.
¡°It¡¯s the same trap. I¡¯ve skipped past it twice, so you can¡¯t expect me to fall for it on the third try, right?¡±
Jacqueline Eva stared nkly. She had indeed used Marie¡¯s Desire on Xia Lei twice. The first time she¡¯d used it was when she had sent him to the Louvre, and the second time was the night when Xia Lei had been kidnapped. This was the third time now, but Xia Lei was not falling for it on the third try. How was she going to continue with the n?
¡°You can keep acting, but I¡¯ll just stand here and watch,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva was speechless.
¡°Or you could put those things away. We can have a proper talk,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva shrugged awkwardly, then climbed off the bed and put away her spy equipment. She couldn¡¯t figure out how Xia Lei knew about all of her preparations, but she knew that he wouldn¡¯t tell her even if she asked.
A few minutester, Xia Lei walked into Jacqueline Eva¡¯s room and the first thing he did was to open the windows to let fresh air in. He then sat on the sofa.
Jacqueline Eva sat opposite him. ¡°All right, let¡¯s have a proper talk. I¡¯ll be frank. You are asking for too much, and we are unable to fulfil your request. The aircraft carrier is an ultimate weapon so we will definitely not hand its technology over to you. You have to understand too that we will face serious consequences should America find out.¡±
¡°I understand,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°So I am willing to take a step back. I will exchange the technology of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, XL2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle for your avionics and stealth technology for the Eurofighter Typhoon.¡±
¡°We can¡¯t do that. One¡¯s light weapons¡¯ technology and the other is technology of a fighter jet. The stealth technology for the Eurofighter Typhoon, in particr. Only the Americans are better than us when ites to stealth technology, and no other country can beat up. In other words, you¡¯re using light weapons¡¯ technology to try to exchange for the technology of the second-best stealth technology in the world. How is this reasonable?¡±
¡°I think it is. The XL2500 is the world¡¯s best sniper rifle, and the Gust assault rifle too. It isn¡¯t just nes which are used in battles, right? People are still the main focus. I know that France is entangled in the war in Africa and cannot leave. You guys want to win the war, but are unwilling to die. Use my light weapons. The soldiers of France are all great snipers. You can win the battle without even having to interact with the enemy. I am exchanging the world¡¯s best light weapons¡¯ technology for your aircraft carrier technology and stealth technology. Do you still think that this is a loss for you?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, it¡¯s not like what you say. It¡¯s...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°Miss Eva. Please get someone with authority to speak with me. I know what role you¡¯re ying in this. There will be no result even if I talk with you from dusk to dawn.¡±
¡°Are you underestimating me, Mr Xia?¡± A look of discontent crossed Jacqueline Eva¡¯s face.
Xia Lei did not care about her feelings. In truth, the shrewdness and craftiness of the French repulsed him. He had used these same technologies of his to get the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology in exchange, as well as submarine technology. The Germans were obviously more generous in this regard and knew the value of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe as well as the production lines of the XL2500 and Gust. The French, on the other hand, obviously wanted his technology but were afraid of offending the Americans, and were also trying to lower the price at the same time. They even tried to use a woman to get to their stupid goal. He¡¯d had enough of this.
Jacqueline Eva was unaware of Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts, and she said, ¡°Mr Xia, don¡¯t you understand? The rtionship Germany has with America is not like the rtionship France has with America. When have you ever seen Germany fighting on behalf of America?¡±
Xia Lei spoke tly. ¡°I am not interested in politics. I am only interested in business. It¡¯s best if you get someone with authority to make decisions here.¡±
¡°I AM the person with authority,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
¡°You?¡± Xia Lei was surprised but he didn¡¯t show it. ¡®Did I get her identity wrong? Isn¡¯t she the ace of the French National Security Agency? Does she have another identity in the ranks of the government? How¡¯s that possible?¡¯
¡°You still don¡¯t understand what I meant.¡±
¡°What did you mean, then?¡±
¡°Considering the rtionship France has with America, it is impossible for us to have official governmental contact with you. We wouldn¡¯t have invited you to France like this otherwise. I have already been granted the authority to handle all interactions with you, and I am the only point of contact with you, not any other government official.¡±
Aha. So this was the situation.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Great, then. I¡¯ve already made my requirements clear. Let¡¯s do the exchange if you want, but there is no need to talk more if you don¡¯t want to make the exchange.¡±
¡°They have set a bottom line for me, and I cannot cross that line.¡±
¡°They¡¯re willing to bring out the technology for the Eurocopter Tiger. What else will they add to the deal?¡±
¡°Civil tech, like environmental tech and batteries.¡±
¡°Hehe, my, how generous. Good night.¡± Xia Lei got up to leave.
¡°Wait.¡± Jacqueline Eva grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Please don¡¯t go, Mr Xia.¡±
¡°I sense no sincerity from your side at all. What is there to talk about?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s not that we are not sincere, it¡¯s that what you ask for does not bnce out.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°You were the ones who invited me here first. It isn¡¯t as if I HAVE to talk with you guys about this. There will be others who will make the exchange even if you don¡¯t do it. Your Eurofighter technology and stealth technology are not the leading technologies in the world, but my technologies are. There is a saying in China ¡ª ¡®Now or never.¡¯ If France is not making the exchange, then I will make the exchange with other countries. I won¡¯t even bother to talk to you if you try to contact me again.¡±
Rare items cost more ¡ª this was one of the truths in the business world. This was also a truth in the arms world. France¡¯s Eurofighter Typhoon was not the world¡¯s best, but Thunder Horse Group¡¯s technologies were the best in the world. The levels of technologies were not the same for both parties, but the world-leading technologies made up for what theycked. What was more important was that there were other countries willing to make an exchange even if France was not!
Jacqueline Eva nibbled at her cherry-red lip. ¡°We¡¯ll make the exchange, but we want the second generation Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. We also want the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon technology.¡±
This was equivalent to them taking all of Thunder Horse Group¡¯s best technologies.
The French sure were greedy.
Xia Lei was so angry heughed. ¡°You sure know how to bargain. Even the Jews cannotpare to the French on this.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, the issue of ethnicity is not part of this exchange. I feel an exchange like this is fair.¡±
¡°I would be willing to negotiate with the Germans again, and not with you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Negotiate with the Germans again? You¡¯ve already built the production lines andthe for them ¡ª what card do you hold in your hand now? Don¡¯t be too greedy, Mr Xia.¡± Jacqueline Eva put on an expression as if she¡¯d one-upped Xia Lei.
It was true. Thunder Horse Group¡¯s existing technologies were practically all in the hands of the Germans, and he had very few cards to y now. It was obviously going to be tough to get any high-level technology again from the Germans. From this reminder, however, it was apparent that the French had done their research for this exchange. Jacqueline Eva would not have been so confident otherwise.
¡°How about this.¡± Xia Lei spoke after some silence. ¡°We won¡¯t talk about the second generationthe, but I am willing to exchange the Hellhound technology with you.¡±
¡°And if we insist on thethe technology?¡±
¡°Then add the nautical electronic system of the Charles de Gaulle carrier.¡±
¡°You actually want to exchangethe technology for ship technology? You really are...¡± Jacqueline Eva was at a loss for words. She could not understand this Chinese man before her. He was asking for so much, and so tantly too.
¡°I don¡¯t HAVE to make the exchange with you guys either. This is myst offer. ept, and we shall discuss how we will do the exchange. Refuse the offer, and our discussion ends here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I have to talk with the higher-ups.¡±
¡°Give them a call, then. You have the whole night to discuss. I¡¯ll see you in the morning.¡± Xia Lei pulled his hand out of Jacqueline Eva¡¯s grasp and left her room.
Jacqueline Eva thought that he would look back, but all she saw was Xia Lei¡¯s back, and the door as it shut behind him.
Chapter 715
Jacqueline Eva did not disturb Xia Lei for the rest of the night, and he managed to sleep well. He was not one bit worried about anything going wrong with the deal with the French, because he knew what they were thinking.
On the surface, the avionics and stealth technology of the Eurofighter Typhoon was indeed of a higher level than the technology of Thunder Horse Group¡¯s intelligentthe and light weapons, and France would be on the losing end if they did an exchange like this. However, this was just the surface value, and the truth of it was not so.
Whichever war it was, the ones fighting it would be human. The quality of the light weapons could be the deciding factor. No matter how advanced a fighter jet was, there would be no winning the war without the advancement of ground troops. A real life example was the war of terrorism in Iraq and Syria. *
The light weapons of the Thunder Horse Group was different, especially the Gust assault rifle. It had a range of over 1,000 metres, and would not lose to some sniper rifles. Add its special characteristic of having virtually no recoil to its high uracy... Every soldier would be highly equipped for battle. There was also the XL2500 and the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon.**
So if one looked at it from a practical point of view, the cost, the consumption and the needs of winning a war meant that the Thunder Horse Group technology was of a lot of use, and even more valuable than the Eurofighter Typhoon technology. Under pressure from America, the French would not have invited Xia Lei here if they were not able to see these benefits.
It was in. He was the top in the world, and they could buy if they wanted, and get lost if they didn¡¯t want to buy!
What was there to worry about when he had this backing him up?
Xia Lei had a dream that night too. He was the male lead in this dream, and Jacqueline Eva was the female lead.
Early the next morning, Xia Lei and Jacqueline Eva met in the living room.
¡°Good morning, Miss Eva.¡± Xia Lei greeted her, but it was just that. He did not mention negotiations and didn¡¯t seem concerned at all.
Jacqueline Eva smiled faintly. ¡°Good morning, Mr Xia. I have to make a short trip to the Equipment Department, so I won¡¯t be joining you for breakfast.¡±
¡°What a shame.¡±
Jacqueline Eva did a small roll of her eyes. ¡°Do you truly find it a shame? Don¡¯t lie to me. You¡¯d rather I not turn up at all, don¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I made several callsst night and I ryed your requirements to them but they have not yet made a decision. They will hold a meeting and I wille to you as soon as we have the results of that meeting,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
¡°Yep, no problem.¡± Xia Lei was in no rush.
Jacqueline Eva suddenly walked up to Xia Lei and curled her arm around his neck. ¡°You. No man has ever treated me this way.¡±
Xia Lei put an innocent look on his face. ¡°Did I do something to upset you?¡±
¡°The perfume is in my room. You get it yourself. Don¡¯t worry, I didn¡¯t add any drug to it.¡± Jacqueline Eva left the room after saying that.
Xia Lei stared nkly for a bit, then went to her room. He had promised Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao that he would get them a bottle of French perfume each, so it would be a waste to not take the perfume Jacqueline Eva offered him.
After breakfast, Xia Lei went to the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte. The matter in Italy had been settled, so he would have to shift his attention to the international weapons exhibition.
He had left Paris four days ago, and he found that the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s exhibition booth had changed a lot upon his return. There was a ss tform in the middle of the huge booth, and it sparkled like crystal under the lights. It looked pretty sci-fi. Around the tform were artistic walls made of ss surrounding the booth, like fans around a favourite performer.
The workers of thepany in charge of decorating the booth were adding details to the walls; paintings with anti-war and peace messages. There were also photographs which encouraged environmental protection and the protection of endangered species. The overall feel of these details made the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s booth seem not like an arms manufacturer, but an organisation for international peace.
The employees of Thunder Horse Group were also setting up the products for disy. They had put the XL2500, Gust and Hellhound One-soldier Cannon in their respective ces on the tform and were adjusting the positions to get the best angle for disy. There was also someone testing the AV system. There would be information on the Thunder Horse Group disyed from different angles once the exhibition began, as well as the weapons they had on offer. It was not just the three light weapons thepany had ¡ª the not-yet-manufactured defence system, tank and armoured vehicle and so on were on offer too.
The exhibition hall was a hive of activity, and this activity was going as nned. This made Xia Lei happy. He had note to check on them, but his people had done the tasks he had assigned them very well.
Qing Caiyue walked up to wee Xia Lei as soon as she saw him. She had a sweet smile on her face. ¡°Good morning, Chairman Xia. Have a look ¡ª is theyout fine?¡±
Xia Lei gave augh and said, ¡°Yes, it is. Well done. I¡¯ll give you three days off after the exhibition is over. You guys have fun sightseeing in France, all expenses paid by thepany.¡±
The exhibition hall was immediately filled with cheers.
Qing Caiyue looked at Xia Lei and her voice grew small. ¡°Chairman Xia, you should give yourself three days off too. I¡¯ll apany you on your holiday in France.¡±
Xia Lei was a little tempted but that silver-coloured metal appeared in his mind¡¯s eye, as well as the notebook which da Vinci had left behind. The mysteries left by da Vinci were waiting for him to solve them, so he wouldn¡¯t have time to go sightseeing around France. Plus, he wouldn¡¯t dare even if he did have the time because he could fall into the hands of the CIA and the FA.
¡°Chairman Xia?¡±
Xia Lei then said, ¡°I won¡¯t be going. I have to hurry back, so you can just lead the group to have fun. Buy whatever you want to buy within the budget of 200,000 euros.¡±
¡°Huh? Thank you, Chairman Xia.¡± Disappointment crossed Qing Caiyue¡¯s face when she heard that Xia Lei was going to hurry back, but a bright smile lit her face up when she heard the budget. Two hundred thousand euros was about 1.5 million Chinese yuan! This was a huge amount of money! How could she still be unhappy?
A big group of employees looked enviously at Qing Caiyue. Some of them whispered, saying that she and Xia Lei had an intimate rtionship, of course. Why else would she have so much money as a reward? Some even said that that was not a reward, but a ¡°mistress fee¡±.
Their whispers could barely be heard, but they did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s lip-reading ability. He coughed awkwardly. ¡°Do your work well, everyone. Once this exhibition is over, I will give each and every one of you a reward of 20,000 euros and three days off.¡±
The employees cheered again when they heard that. There were no more wagging tongues. Qing Caiyue had ten times their reward, but what was her rankpared to theirs? They were very satisfied with the 20,000 euros.
What they did not know was that this reward that Chairman Xia was giving them was but a hair on the hide of nine oxen. Once the deal with the French was made, the higher-ups would free Xia Lei from his debt of over two billion. Xia Lei¡¯s worth would double overnight, and if nothing went wrong, his wealth would grow to a third of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s.
Surpassing Shentu Tianyin in wealth was just a matter of time, and not a very long time either.
Qing Caiyue directed the workers of thepany decorating the booth, and the employees of Thunder Horse Group, and Xia Lei was left with nothing much to do. He made one round of the exhibition hall, then went to the other exhibition zones. He wanted to see how things were for hispetitors.
He had not walked far when some young men entered his field of vision.
Three white men, one ck man.
Xia Lei tensed when he saw their faces. These four were not tourists, nor staff of the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte ¡ª they were members of the Knights Hospitaller!
He had hidden in the grass in Bobbio, Italy, and the helicopter had been about 500 metres above him, but those 500 metres were like looking through a window to look at someone standing outside it to Xia Lei. He had seen the upants of the helicopter clearly, and he remembered these four people. The ck man was the gunner on the helicopter, one of the white men was the sniper and the other two were the bearers of the assault rifles. He¡¯d thought that these people would never appear before him again, but they hade after him, all the way to Paris in just two days!
¡®What¡¯s going on here? I wore a mask when I went to Italy. Even if they did see my mask-face, they shouldn¡¯t be able to find me. For them toe to me here... have they already figured out my identity? I¡¯m in big trouble now...¡¯ Xia Lei was surprised, and anxious.
The four people seemed to have not yet discovered Xia Lei. They walked past him and had no strange reactions to him. They were heading in the direction of the FN booth.
Xia Lei came to a halt at the entrance to apany¡¯s booth and nced at the four people out of the corner of his eye. The four did not look back, and they walked on at a normal pace.
Xia Lei found it strange. ¡®They¡¯re obviously the men from the helicopter and members of the Knights Hospitaller. They came all the way here, after me... so are they not here to kill me, but are after me for something else?¡¯
This was also not really a possibility because he could see them clearly at 500 metres, but they could not see his face clearly. Those four had not even discovered him at that time. If they had, they would have turned that minigun at him and turned him into mincemeat!
Just as Xia Lei reached this conclusion, however, one of the young white men paused in his steps and made a small, sideways head movement.
He was telling the others to observe from the corners of their eyes.
Xia Lei pretended to not have seen that, and walked off with quick steps.
Chapter 716
Xia Lei strode off. The four people from the Knights Hospitaller also changed their path and moved towards the exit, tailing Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked towards the bathrooms. He made a call as he walked. ¡°It¡¯s me, Xia Lei.¡±
¡°I know it¡¯s you. You want to know the result of the meeting? You¡¯re being a little too anxious. They are still having the meeting and discussing it now. I will tell you the result in the evening.¡± Jacqueline Eva¡¯s voice came from the phone.
¡°I¡¯m not calling to ask about the result.¡± Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°The people who kidnapped me are here again. They¡¯re in the exhibition hall, tailing me. I¡¯m in danger now ¡ªe save me!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t be scared. I¡¯ll send someone over right away!¡± Jacqueline Eva grew anxious too.
¡°Hurry!¡± Xia Lei hung up.
The bathroom was right before him, but Xia Lei suddenly changed direction and walked another way.
¡°Did he discover us?¡± said the young ck man in Italian.
¡°Not possible.¡± Soren¡¯s voice was firm. ¡°He¡¯s never seen us, but we have detailed information on him. Rx, Alfonso. Don¡¯t make yourself nervous.¡±
The young ck man named Alfonso wanted to say something more, but he shut his mouth. This wasn¡¯t because he felt that Soren¡¯s words made total sense, but because Soren was their team leader. Soren¡¯s words were sometimes an order.
¡°Obayang, Jack.¡± Soren did not raise his voice. ¡°You two approach from his right, and circle around to his front.¡±
The two young white men nodded, and increased their pace to move to Xia Lei¡¯s right.
¡°Boss, are you going to make a move here?¡± asked Alfonso cautiously.
¡°We aren¡¯t like those old farts who need to be careful even when walking down stairs. If it were us who¡¯d carried out the mission thest time instead of them, would we have to go through this trouble today?¡± A cold glint appeared in Soren¡¯s eyes. ¡°His bodyguards are not with him and he¡¯s alone. This is a chance to snatch him. Once we get him, we¡¯ll be able to get the sacred item and give him what he deserves.¡±
¡°But there are a lot of French policemen and soldiers here. If ites to exchanging fire...¡± Alfonso started to say more, but stopped. He was worried about the possibility of this scenario.
¡°Alfonso, youck the spirit of a Knight. The sacred item is very important to us. We must have it, at any cost. It is our honour to receive the acknowledgement of our great leader. That group of old farts have always been holding us back and doubting us. It is time for us to prove to them that we have the strength and spirit of Knights.¡± These words seemed to lend Soren a halo around his head. (Increased defence, agility, strength and magic attributes.) *
Alfonso didn¡¯t speak. He looked at Xia Lei¡¯s back, his gaze calcting.
**
Xia Lei increased his pace.
Ahead of him were two empty exhibition booths, and two pathways which went between these booths.
Xia Lei walked between these two empty booths and made to turn right. Just then, two white men came walking over on the same path, from the other direction. Xia Lei turned around, but one ck and one white man came up from behind him. There was no going forward and no ce to retreat; he was trapped.
The four members of the Knights Hospitaller quickly surrounded him.
¡°Come with us!¡± Soren¡¯s voice was cold. He spoke in Italian.
¡°Who are you guys?¡± Xia Lei replied in Italian, and he looked nervous.
Soren spoke fiercely. ¡°Shut up. Come with us or you will die here.¡±
¡°Are you the French police? I didn¡¯t break anyws. Why do I have to go with you guys?¡± Xia Lei put his hand out. ¡°Let me see your ID.¡±
Soren shot a look at the people behind Xia Lei.
Obayang suddenly put his hand to his waist.
It was a movement like he was going for a gun.
Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t let him. In the instant that Obayang reached for his waist, Xia Lei suddenly retaliated, and chopped at Obayang¡¯s neck with a knife-hand.
¡°Guh!¡± Obayang gurgled and held his throat with both his hands as he backed away. The muscles of his respiratory tract contracted automatically and his brain was deprived of oxygen. He¡¯d virtually lost hisbat ability in an instant.
Xia Lei made to move forward.
Jack hurriedly backed away, and his hand went to his waist too, reaching for his gun as he dodged Xia Lei. However, Xia Lei did not attack him but reached for Soren¡¯s neck instead.
Soren moved his head to one side to avoid him.
This was a feint too. Xia Lei¡¯s hand dropped abruptly, searched, grabbed, and took Soren¡¯s gun, easy as pie.
Wing Chun focused on closebat. The skills he had learnt from Qin Xiang also helped to increase the effectiveness of his moves!
This series of movements lookedplicated but it was over in a second. Alfonso and Jack had only managed to pull their guns out after Xia Lei had Soren¡¯s gun in his hand. However, the muzzle of the gun was already pressed to Soren¡¯s head.
¡°Don¡¯t make a move!¡± Xia Lei pivoted to his right like apass, and around Soren¡¯s body to stand behind him. His right hand stayed steady, keeping the muzzle pressed to Soren¡¯s head.
He¡¯d taken advantage of that millisecond.
Jack and Alfonso had guns, but they did not dare shoot. Even if it were not a member of the Knights Hospitaller in Xia Lei¡¯s hands but an ordinary civilian, they had no guarantee of shooting Xia Lei, because Xia Lei waspletely hidden behind Soren¡¯s body, leaving no angles of attack.
¡°Don¡¯t bother about me!¡± roared Soren. ¡°Finish him!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t move or I¡¯ll kill him!¡± said Xia Lei coldly.
Soren¡¯s subordinates hesitated and exchanged nces.
¡°Follow orders!¡± Soren was alight with a passion, and his eyes full of excitement. ¡°It is my honour to die for the cause!¡±
The three subordinates did not hesitate anymore.
Obayang and Alfonso moved, each of theming from either side of Xia Lei. Jack stayed on the path in the middle. The three of them worked well together. Xia Lei had Soren under his control, but he was unable to watch his sides and back at the same time. It would get dangerous for him if Obayang and Alfonso got behind him.
¡°Put down your weapon!¡± Soren sneered. ¡°Or you¡¯ll die here!¡±
Xia Lei looked nervous. He used his left hand to put pressure on Soren¡¯s neck to force him to move backwards.
¡°It¡¯s no use. Put the gun down ande with us. We just want the thing that you took out of the maze. We won¡¯t hurt you.¡± Soren continued with his psychological attack on Xia Lei.
¡°Tell them to stay still!¡± said Xia Lei loudly.
Soren sneered. ¡°Stop being foolish. Our perception of death is different from yours. Shoot and kill me if you have the guts. But you know what the result is if you shoot me. You will die too. So that¡¯s why, put down the g...¡±
Bang!
A bullet shot from the muzzle of the gun and through Soren¡¯s cheek. Blood and pieces of meat exploded from Soren¡¯s face. White teeth were suddenly exposed from under the shredded face.
¡°Argh¡ª¡± screamed Soren. The power of faith could not protect one from the power of bullets. This shot had also taken away his glory.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s response.
You think I won¡¯t dare to shoot?
I¡¯ll just try shooting you once, then!
Obayang and Alfonso froze in their tracks. All three subordinates had not expected that Xia Lei would be so ruthless as to dare to shoot Soren under the pressure of having three guns pointed at him!
¡°Kill him!¡± Blood gushed from Soren¡¯s mouth. His words were garbled.
¡°Freeze!¡± A heavily armed Special Forces soldier had appeared all of a sudden and shouted out a warning in French.
A group of National Security agents and French National Gendarmerie were behind this soldier, drawing close. Guns forward, and men following right behind ¡ª they were imposing!
This was actually why Xia Lei had had the confidence to shoot Soren. He had seen the French forces arriving from the reflection in the column. If the backup had not arrived, he would not have chosen to shoot but to think of a way to drag for time instead. He had Soren as a hostage, so doing so would have been easy.
Soren¡¯s face right then was drained of colour. It wasn¡¯t entirely because Xia Lei had destroyed his face, but mainly because he hade to carry out his mission, full of confidence. He had nned on taking Xia Lei away and getting his hands on the sacred object, but he had not expected that he would be in dire straits in an instant.
¡°Put the gun down!¡± shouted a French National Security agent in French.
¡°Don¡¯t shoot!¡± Obayang put both hands up.
Jack and Alfonso put their hands up but they did not put their guns down.
The three of them seemed to be still waiting for Soren to give them an order.
Arge group of Special Forces soldiers who were armed to the teeth surrounded them.
¡°You will regret this, Xia Lei.¡± Soren¡¯s voice carried a burning hatred.
Xia Lei suddenly let go of Soren but his movements were just half a beat too slow.
Soren grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s wrist immediately, pressing it down and taking the gun from Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
Xia Lei mmed heavily into Soren¡¯s back and dove to the ground.
Soren took a step forward and turned abruptly to shoot at Xia Lei.
Click¡ª
There was no sound of a gunshot.
Soren stared nkly, then pulled the trigger again. There still wasn¡¯t any gunshot. He then realised that the gun had no bullets. He realised something, and his mind nked.
Bang bang bang...
Gunshots rang out and bullets flew over like raindrops. Soren¡¯s chest and head were torn apart. Obayang, Jack and Alfonso were not safe either. They became Swiss cheese in a second.
The gunshots ceased.
Xia Lei crawled to his feet. He looked at the bodies on the floor and a faint sneer appeared on his lips. ¡®Sorry, I forgot to tell you that there was no clip in the gun.¡±
He had released the clip a few seconds earlier, when releasing Soren. He had been nimble with his fingers, and Soren did not even see him making this sly move.
This was his motive in releasing Soren. He¡¯d used the French to make the kill. These Knights Hospitaller members were dead. The French Intelligence Department wouldn¡¯t be able to get any information out of them either.
The French National Security agents and the French National Gendarmerie came forward. Some Special Forces soldiers prodded at the bodies on the floor with the muzzles of their guns. The barrels of their guns were still hot from firing, and burnt smells came from the bodies; terrible smells.
None of the bodies reacted.
Using the hot gun barrels to check if the targets were still alive was a cruel method, but very effective.
¡°Are you hurt, Mr Xia?¡± asked a middle-aged Frenchman in casual clothing.
¡°I was hit a few times by them, but I should be fine. Thank you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Miss Eva is on her way here. She will arrive soon.¡±
¡°Mm, I got it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Whether she came or not was not important to him anymore, because he had used their hand to kill.
Chapter 717
The four bodies were carried out of the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte, and Jacqueline Eva arrived just as the vehicle the bodies were loaded on drove off. A French National Security agent walked to her and spoke to her in a low whisper, putting an evidence bag in her hand as he spoke.
The evidence bag contained the guns, wallets and so on of the members of the Knights Hospitaller, including the clip which Xia Lei had quietly gotten rid of. Xia Lei had removed the clip but pushed it into the pool of blood around Soren¡¯s body after he had been killed. He had done that for a purpose ¡ª how had his bullet clip fallen out? What did it have to do with him?
Xia Lei watched Jacqueline Eva talk quietly with that agent and deciphered their conversation with lip-reading. However, they were just talking about the processes of the matter. The agent spoke, Jacqueline Eva listened, interrupting asionally to ask something. A conversation like this was not very meaningful to Xia Lei.
His gaze went to the four body bags. His left eye twitched, and the contents of the bags entered his vision. He quickly saw that all four bodies had a tattoo of the Knights Hospitaller crest on their chests. Their identities were beyond doubt. The French may have been the ones to kill these four, but Xia Lei¡¯s mood sank. The Knights Hospitaller would soon know of this, and send more Knights to him. This was not the end of it ¡ª only the beginning.
¡®The Knights Hospitaller call that piece of silver-coloured metal the ¡°Metal of the Gods¡± and see it as a sacred item. But from what da Vinci wrote in his notebook, Zhu Xuanyue was the one who had given it to him. He¡¯d studied it but gotten no results, unfortunately. Would Zhu Xianyue have stolen the sacred item of the Knights Hospitaller in the Middle Ages? Or could the metal have belonged to Zhu Xuanyue, then fallen into the hands of the Knights Hospitaller? It looks like it¡¯s just a part of a sword, but even the skill of modern swordsmiths have not reached that level of workmanship. Where did ite from?¡¯ Xia Lei was awash with questions.
Jacqueline Eva ended her conversation with the agent and walked up to Xia Lei. She gave him a hug without speaking.
A gentle, boneless pressure brought Xia Lei a bout of softness, and he rxed quite a bit. The annoying questions left his mind.
¡°Are you all right?¡± asked Jacqueline Eva in concern.
¡°I¡¯m fine, thanks.¡± Xia Lei said gratefully, ¡°Good thing your people made it in time, or I would have been a goner.¡±
¡°You are sure that these are the people who kidnapped you?¡± Jacqueline Eva looked straight into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°They wore masks thest time and I didn¡¯t see their faces, but I think they are from the same group. Looks like I have to hide in the hotel and note out. It is just too dangerous outside.¡±
Jacqueline Eva gave augh. ¡°Poor you. Looking at you now, I¡¯ve just realised that wealth like yours is not a happy thing.¡±
¡°Yeah. Having money does not guarantee happiness.¡± Xia Lei changed the topic. ¡°Oh, right. Have you found out the background of these people?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. We¡¯re still investigating. There were no identification documents in the evidence we collected.¡±
¡°What about the people thest time?¡±
¡°We have no leads on them either, but we are investigating. I believe we will have some results soon,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei stopped with his questions. He was convinced that Jacqueline Eva knew of the existence of the FA, and he had heard Dark Mona¡¯s name, but she had kept this from him. This, coincidentally, was the result he wanted. He was ying a ¡°victim¡± in this matter, and he had yed his role well.
The four corpses were taken away. Xia Lei answered from investigative questions next, then returned to the hotel.
He received a call from Amanda in the lift.
¡°Boss, we just found out about what happened. You should leave France.¡± Amanda¡¯s voice was filled with worry.
¡°This exhibition is very important to me. I won¡¯t leave.¡±
¡°Then let me stay by your side. If something like what happened before happens again, those guys won¡¯t get a chance to harm you if we are by your side.¡±
¡°No need. You guys can take care of the perimeter. The French are protecting me, and they are watching my surroundings. Your identities will be exposed if you stay close to me.¡±
¡°But we are all worried about you.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Thank you, but do you think that I wouldn¡¯t be able to handle four of those so-called Knights? If I¡¯d wanted to kill them in the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte, they would be meeting their God as soon as I¡¯d discovered them. I did not want to make a move myself ¡ª I just borrowed the hands of the French to kill them.¡±
¡°All right. Let¡¯s keep in contact.¡± Amanda hung up.
The most impressive person in the Zodiac Team was not one of the members, but Xia Lei. The members of the Zodiac Team knew this very well.
Xia Lei walked out of the lift. The two Special Forces soldiers standing at the doors looked at Xia Lei expressionlessly. Xia Lei walked past them and headed to his room. There were two more Special Forces soldiers by his room door, armed to their teeth. Agents and Special Forces soldiers were also stationed at the stairwells and balconies. Protection like this wasparable to that given to heads of state. What need was there for Xia Lei to mobilise the power of the Zodiac Team with protection of this level?
The French could hold off the pressure of the CIA for him, so the Knights Hospitaller were not even worth mentioning.
Back in his room, Xia Lei received a call from Fan Fan.
¡°The higher-ups have agreed. If you really can get the avionics and stealth technologies, your debts to the bank will be written off,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help the smile that spread across his face.
¡°What are the views of the French on this?¡±
¡°They are still in discussion, but I think it will be no problem. Once they¡¯ve decided, I will start on the exchange. I¡¯ll need you to send people over to receive the technologies they¡¯re putting up on offer when that happens.¡±
¡°That would be no problem. I¡¯ve done you a huge favour, and you¡¯ve also made over two billion. How are you going to thank me?¡± Fan Fan¡¯s voice carried a teasing tone, and it was rather seductive.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What would you like?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not interested in money. You know what I want. I¡¯ve finished my research on the antidote and I¡¯m looking forward to your return every day. I want a miracle baby.¡±
¡°Mm... no problem.¡± Xia Lei agreed without hesitation, but not without a headache.
This day had toe sooner orter. Fan Fan had already concocted the correct antidote, and made preparations to be pregnant. It was time for him to decide if he wanted this child or not. He had the counter-antidote prepared long ago, but his desire to have a child was also very strong.
After his call with Fan Fan, the faces of women appeared in his head, one by one.
Long Bing was the sort of woman who was prepared to give her everything to the country. Her love for the country was above all else, so she definitely was not going to be very willing to bear him a child.
Tang Yuyan was no problem, for sure. But if he wanted her to give birth to his child, he would need to marry her and join the Tang Sect.
Liang Siyao was also no problem, but a broken mirror was difficult to mend. He was still unable to forget the hurt from her betrayal.
Shentu Tianyin was also no problem but the hurt she had dealt to him was greater than Liang Siyao. He had given everything of his to her back then, but she had chosen to let him take the me, and had chosen Vientaine Group over him. This was a very difficult hurdle for him to cross. How was he to have a child with her with this hurdle in ce?
That left Jiang Ruyi. She would definitely be willing. She had even made a fuss about being pregnant in the past. It had turned out to be false, but she had been overjoyed at the time. If she really did get pregnant with his child, then she would definitely be over the moon. But did he really want to have a child with her? He hesitated at this question. He had only given in to her and been together with her when there was no other option. The affection in their rtionship was beyond the bounds of love. Was having a child with her really the best choice?
Last were Sylvia and Annina. They were his lovers, but if he requested that they bore his child, the probability of Annina being willing to do it would be 90%, and 70% for Sylvia. His rtionship with them was, however, simpler, like that ofrades-in-arms. He dismissed the thought without considering it much.
In the end, he burst out in augh as his heart grew bitter. He had many women, but there was not a single one with which he would want a child with. *
Night descended, but Paris did not go silent. It stretched on into the night, dazzling with its luxuriousness.
Jacqueline Eva returned to the hotel. She wore a white T-shirt and the ck bra underneath could be seen. The short jeans shorts she had on just barely covered her buttocks when she was still. When she moved, white, tender skin shed from under the shorts. New Bnce sports shoes were on her feet, matched with ankle socks. Her slender ankles were exposed, beautiful and delicate, giving one the feeling she had been carved from white jade.
She had been ssy and sexy like a nobledyst night. Today, she was lively and adorable, giving off a youthful vibe. She looked like a university student. She was the same woman, but she had a different style now, and her presence seemed to light up the room.
She was obviously such an attractive and sexy woman, but Xia Lei only greeted her and returned his gaze to the television. There was a news broadcast right then, and a reporter was talking about the weapons exhibition at the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte. The broadcast had been going on for dozens of minutes already but the reporter had not said a single word about the Thunder Horse Group. They had not even showed one shot of Thunder Horse Group.
Xia Lei¡¯s cold attitude made the corners of Jacqueline Eva¡¯s lips curl. She sat on the sofa too. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to ask about the result of their discussions?¡±
Xia Lei then looked away from the television. ¡°What¡¯s the result?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you anymore.¡± Jacqueline Eva looked annoyed.
Xia Lei returned his gaze to the television.
¡°Fine.¡± Jacqueline Eva smiled wryly. ¡°They agreed. But they want to test out the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon in person.¡±
¡°How are they going to test it?¡±
¡°Tomorrow,¡± said Jacqueline Eva. ¡°I will take you to a military area. They will test the capabilities of the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon. A VVIP will be present for the testing.¡±
¡°A VVIP?¡± Xia Lei was curious. ¡°Who?¡±
¡°Bai Li¡¯er.¡± Jacqueline spoke a name.
This name sounded like a Chinese person¡¯s name, but in the world of English, it was ¡°Beryl¡±. It referred to an emerald-coloured stone which represented luck, so this name meant that she was a lucky and beautiful girl.
¡°Who is she?¡±
¡°She is the chief assistant of Ms. Fosen, CEO of Lockheed Martin. She will be representing Lockheed Martin and watching the test,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei paused.
Chapter 718
Rheinmetall AG from Germany was already arge entity to Xia Lei, but if onepared Rheinmetall AG and Lockheed Martin, the former was more of a military trainee while thetter was a professional Special Forces soldier. Lockheed Martin was several times more capable than Rheinmetall AG. About a third of America¡¯s arms purchase orders werepleted by Lockheed Martin, and this alone was evident enough of its overwhelming capability.
The German Rheinmetall AG was already an insurmountable mountain to the Thunder Horse Group, and Lockheed Martin was beyond reach, up in the Heavens. Xia Lei¡¯s ambition only let him dare to want to surpass Rheinmetall AG at this stage, and he dared not even think of trying to surpass Lockheed Martin.
¡°Are you surprised?¡± Jacqueline Eva asked, trying to feel Xia Lei out.
Xia Lei smiled faintly. ¡°I am a little surprised. What I find strange is... Why would you invite people from Lockheed Martin to observe the test? Didn¡¯t you say that this matter cannot be known to America? They¡¯ve even avoided sending any official from the French government to negotiate with me for fear of angering the Americans, and sent you instead.¡±
The French government¡¯s behaviour was somewhat contradictory.
¡°Lockheed Martin does not represent the U.S. government. As thergest arms dealer in the world, it is its own monarchy. The queen of Lockheed Martin and the ¡®king¡¯ of the White House are, from some perspectives, simr in many ways. In my opinion, the only difference is in the number of rights they have,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
¡°What you say is great, but I think you¡¯re just changing the topic. I¡¯m not asking about that.¡±
Jacqueline Eva shrugged. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll be frank. I don¡¯t know either. I¡¯m just a small fry. I don¡¯t understand the world of politics, and I don¡¯t want to. I don¡¯t think this is such a big issue either. A high-level staff member of Lockheed Martining to observe the test doesn¡¯t affect our agreement. If nothing goes wrong, you will get what you want, and we will get what we want. This is enough.¡±
¡°Mm, well said.¡± Xia Lei had a smile on his face as he said probingly, ¡°But... it can¡¯t be that the French government is deliberately putting on an act of having some sort of secret negotiations, while sharing my technology with the Americans through the back door, right?¡±
¡°You are a man full of suspicion.¡± Jacqueline Eva rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°You think that America will agree to us using the avionics and stealth technology of the Eurofighter Typhoon to exchange for China¡¯s artillery, rifle andthe technology?¡±
Xia Lei just smiled, and didn¡¯t add on to the conversation.
The U.S. and China were the two biggest economies in the world, and also rivals. America would not want China¡¯s military airfleet to get more powerful, of course. If that happened, America would lose their aviation advantage, and that was something America would definitely not allow.
Since the situation was like this, why was a member of the higher levels of Lockheed Martin going to observe tomorrow¡¯s test?
Xia Lei could not puzzle this out, but he did not mind this. If Lockheed Martin had some sort of secret deal with the French government, then it was between them. As Jacqueline Eva said, the French government would have what they wanted, and he would get what he wanted. This was enough.
¡°Mr Xia, would you like to discuss the incident involving those gunmen?¡± Jacqueline Eva changed the topic.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s nothing much to talk about. Just thinking of those guys make me feel afraid.¡±
¡°You can feel fear?¡± Jacqueline Eva leaned in to Xia Lei.
¡°Miss Eva, can¡¯t you talk in a nicer way?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mood was getting all twisted up.
¡°Can¡¯t we have a good talk like this?¡± Jacqueline Eva continued pressing on Xia Lei. Her upper body weight was practically all on Xia Lei.
Xia Lei was at a loss for words. If they really could have a good talk like this, then... well, I¡¯ll be damned.
All of his holding back and restraint had gained him no peace, but the blonde woman was taking advantage of him instead...
Theing night was sure to be... not peaceful.
The light of dawn dispelled the darkness and romance slowly awakened from the darkness. One could not calcte how many men and women fornicated in the cityst night, but Xia Lei and Jacqueline Eva were very obviously one of those pairs.
¡°Heh, Xia, time for you to get up for breakfast, youzy bum.¡± Jacqueline Eva drew close to Xia Lei and gently called for him to wake up. Afterst night, she changed the way she addressed him. He was ¡°Mr Xia¡± before, and now he was ¡°Xia¡±. This was a more intimate way of addressing him.
Xia Lei was actually already awake, but he¡¯d pretended not to hear.
¡°Oh, it¡¯s all my fault. You must be tired out. You should rest well, but you still have to get up. We need to go for the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon testing. Those guys would lecture me if we ¡®rete,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei climbed out of bed.
Jacqueline Eva stared at him. ¡°Nice. You¡¯re the most exquisite man I¡¯ve seen. Your body is like a statue of Venus. I¡¯ve never seen a body so perfect.¡±
¡°How many perfect bodies have you seen?¡± asked Xia Lei as he put on his clothes.
Jacqueline Eva then realised that she had let thatment slip from her tongue, and a look of embarrassment crossed her face. She turned around and headed to the door. ¡°Hurry up. I¡¯ll wait for you so we can have breakfast together.¡±
*
The mood at breakfast was quite jovial. A French-style breakfast, a French woman... everything about it was romantic.
¡°I received the notification while you were still sleeping,¡± said Jacqueline Eva as they ate. ¡°The location for the testing of the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon is at Military Base AZ14. It¡¯s a military base for the French Foreign Legion.¡±
The French Foreign Legion was a world-famous legion, and their name was widespread during World War II.
Xia Lei put down his knife and fork. ¡°I have to make a call and let my people get the Hellhound and the artillery ready for the testing.¡±
¡°Tell your people to prepare the XL2500 and Gust rifles too. They want to see the capabilities of these two guns with their own eyes,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
The French sure were cautious, but he was confident that he could win them over. He estimated that the agreement-signing woulde after the end of the test.
Xia Lei gave Qing Caiyue a call, and she went on to prepare the weapons and ammunition for him.
Half an hourter, Jacqueline Eva and Xia Lei left the hotel. They headed towards the AZ14 Military Base under the protection of a long line of military off-road vehicles.
Chapter 719
There was a group of soldiers stationed at the French Foreign Legion AZ14 Military Base. Soldiers of various skin colours could be seen at this base, and they came from all over the world. There were people from Eastern European countries, people from Africa, and people from Asia, as well as from the Americas. So many non-French soldiers, giving their lives for France. This was undoubtedly a miracle in the military world.
There were also a lot of tanks, armoured vehicles, cannons and military helicopters. Their weapons and equipment were also very advanced.
Not long after Xia Lei¡¯s arrival, a French officer gathered the soldiers and led them to the shooting range. The entire process took just three to five minutes; it was very quick.
Xia Lei followed Jacqueline Eva to the shooting range. It was a veryrge shooting range, for various firearms as well as for the firing of cannons.
Other than the soldiers and officers of this military base, Xia Lei also spotted people in civilian clothing. There were men and women, and he knew none of them. However, he could guess that there were people from the French Equipment Department in that group, and maybe even important people in the French government. Since the French would be acquiring the production lines for Thunder Horse Group¡¯s XL2500, Gust and Hellhound One-soldier Cannon, they were sure toe in person to see the capabilities of these weapons.
Xia Lei swept his gaze over them, and rested it on a woman¡¯s face. It was a very special face. She had the blue sapphire-like eyes of a woman of the West, but the delicate features of a woman of the East. She was a mix of East and West, 50% Asian, 50% European. Her mix also resulted in her subus-like body, and she was almost 180cm tall.
The half-half woman also looked over, and she paused when she saw Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart did a tiny skip. ¡®Is she that Beryl whom Jacqueline Eva spoke of?¡¯
The woman only nced at him and looked away. She seemed disinterested in Xia Lei¡¯s handsome looks, and his merman-like body. This really was a rare urrence. After his body had started evolving, his body, facial features, and even his aura had be more and more perfect. Practically all women were unable to escape his attractiveness, but this woman was apparently not one of those attracted to him.
¡°How about a bet with me, Xia?¡± Jacqueline Eva nudged Xia Lei with her elbow.
Xia Lei looked curiously at her. ¡°What do you want to bet on?¡±
Jacqueline Eva quirked her lips at the woman. ¡°Go ask her for her phone number. I bet she won¡¯t give it to you. Let¡¯s bet big. How about 100 euros?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not thatme. I¡¯m here ¡ª why has no onee to greet us? When does it start?¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t I taking care of you right now?¡± Jacqueline Eva smiled. ¡°I told you that I¡¯m fully in charge of this. The higher-ups won¡¯t interact with you.¡±
For some strange reason, Xia Lei abruptly thought of a Chinese idiom ¡ª Cover one¡¯s ears while stealing a bell.
The French attitude right now, and what they had done, was a perfect example of covering ears while stealing a bell. They wanted Thunder Horse Group¡¯s weapons technologies but were afraid of offending America. In actual fact, with America¡¯s intelligencework, them knowing about it was just a matter of time.
Nobody came to greet Xia Lei. The group of people in civilian clothing did note over to exchange pleasantries either. Xia Lei chatted idly with Jacqueline Eva while watching their every move. He used his X-ray vision on them, and got information on them from looking at their identification documents. The woman was indeed Beryl. He had seen it on her ess pass, hidden in her neckline.
¡®She became the main assistant of Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, Ms. Fosen, at such a young age. With her job status, she must be highly capable, and also the confidence to be haughty,¡¯ thought Xia Lei. However, he was not in awe of this beauty at all. *
Just then, a military transport vehicle arrived at the shooting range. It carried several weapons. There were also several people dressed in the workclothes of Lockheed Martin, with the logo on disy. Their work clothing was a dirt yellow, and the people were also quite burly. They did not look like ordinary workers, but like soldiers with rich battle experience.
The vehicle came straight to the cannon testing grounds. The employees of Lockheed Martin began to set up the equipment after the vehicle stopped, and they worked at a steady pace.
Another military-use transport vehicle arrived at the shooting range, and it also carried weapons. The boxes had ¡°Thunder Horse Military Factory¡± printed on the sides in Chinese. The boxes contained the XL2500, Gust, and Hellhound.
The second vehicle did not carry any Thunder Horse Group employees. An officer sent some soldiers over to unload the vehicle after it came to a stop. The soldiers quickly unloaded the weapons, and Beryl started walking towards Xia Lei and Jacqueline Eva as the soldier went to report back to the officer.
¡°You are Mr Xia Lei, correct?¡± asked Beryl in English. Her tone was expressionless.
¡°Yes, I am.¡± Xia Lei kept his manners and courtesy as a man. ¡°And may I ask who you are, Miss...?¡±
¡°Beryl,¡± said Beryl. ¡°I am from Lockheed Martin. I am Ms. Fosen¡¯s assistant.¡±
Xia Lei stretched out a hand and put a smile on his face. ¡°Hello, Miss Bai. Nice to meet you.¡±
Beryl did not stretch her hand out. ¡°I am not surnamed Bai, and I am not Chinese. My father is Japanese, and my mother is American. Please do not use your Chinese habits to call me by a surnamed you assumed was mine.¡±
Xia Lei retracted his hand and the smile disappeared from his face. Nobody liked being given the cold shoulder like this, and he was no exception.
¡°I have a Japanese name ¡ª Hattori Mei. My father is Hattori Masao.¡± Beryl stretched out a hand to Xia Lei after introducing herself.
She first gave Xia Lei the cold shoulder, then was warm to him. This woman¡¯s personality sure was weird.
Xia Lei did not extend his hand this time.
The atmosphere turned awkward right away. Under normal circumstances, a man would not reject the handshake of a woman, much less a beauty of mixed heritage like Beryl. However, this awkward atmosphere had not been the fault of Xia Lei, but Beryl. **
A look of annoyance shed in Beryl¡¯s eyes when she saw that Xia Lei was making no sign of reaching out his hand. She put her hand down, then turned her head to look at a middle-aged man in the group. The middle-aged man gave her a slight nod.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to that man, and he abruptly discovered that that man was fairly simr in appearance to Beryl. His heart thumped. ¡®Could that man be Beryl¡¯s father, Hattori Masao? What is a Japanese person doing here?¡¯
This discovery made suspicions spring in Xia Lei¡¯s heart, and he grew wary.
¡°Let¡¯s begin, Mr Xia.¡± Beryl walked off towards the firing range after saying that line. She was in ck officedy attire, matched with a short ck skirt and ck stockings and high-heeled shoes. Her long legs and perky buttocks added to the imagery, and her back view was very sexy.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched, and a pervy smile appeared in the corners of his lips.
¡°What a haughty woman,¡± said Jacqueline Eva in a soft voice. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We can leave as soon as we settle things with these people.¡±
Xia Lei walked with Jacqueline Eva as he said softly, ¡°Eva, how much do you know about this Beryl?¡±
Jacqueline Eva gave him a look. ¡°What do you want to know?¡±
Xia Lei nced at the middle-aged man out of the corner of his eye. ¡°Beryl¡¯s father, Hattori Masao. That Asian man to our left.¡±
Jacqueline Eva nced at the middle-aged Asian man too, and her voice grew even softer. ¡°How do you know that he¡¯s Hattori Masao?¡±
¡°I have my ways,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I know you must have information on him. Tell me ¡ª what does he do? Why is he here?¡±
¡°This...¡± Jacqueline Eva looked troubled.
Xia Lei put on a look of nonchnce. ¡°Oh, never mind. I can find out on my own. Take it as I didn¡¯t ask if it troubles you.¡±
I¡¯ll owe you a favour if you tell me, but we won¡¯t even be friends if I go find it out myself ¡ª this was the hidden meaning in Xia Lei¡¯s words.
¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone that I told you.¡± Jacqueline Eva drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°This Hattori Masao is a high-ranking officer in the ground troops of the Japanese Self-defence Force... a Captain.¡±
A Captain! That was equivalent to a Lieutenant General!
A Captain of thend troops of the Japanese Self-defence Force had actually turned up here to observe the weapons testing of Thunder Horse Military Factory! What sort of situation was this?
¡°He really is a high-ranking one. But what is he doing here? Who invited him?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
Jacqueline Eva smiled wryly. ¡°I don¡¯t know much, and I can tell you even less. My advice to you is to not bother so much about it. Let these guys observe the testing, and leave this ce.¡±
¡°Thanks.¡± Xia Lei did not ask more.
Jacqueline Eva was a member of the French National Security after all, and she had her difficulties. She was already bending the rules for him by telling him Hattori Masao¡¯s identity. If she leaked other secrets, then she would be in serious trouble. He couldn¡¯t count on her giving up everything for him just because they had slept together.
He did not ask, but he had his own guesses. ¡®The father is the Captain of Japan¡¯snd-based Self-defence Force, and the daughter is a high-level employee of Lockheed Martin. There can¡¯t be nothing going on with this father-daughter pair turning up here. What are the Japanese trying to do?¡±
In front of them, Hattori Masao nced back at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pretended not to have noticed, and deliberately turned his gaze to Beryl¡¯s buttocks.
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Chapter 720
An employee of Lockheed Martin opened their boxes and Xia Lei saw an FGM-148 Javelin, a mortar, sniper rifles, assault rifles, and grenadeuncher. The grenadeuncher was Lockheed Martin¡¯s newest air-explosive grenadeuncher, the XM25. It had a range of 50 to 2,000 metres and was very powerful. The American troops nicknamed it ¡°The Punisher¡± because it was deadly to targets even when they were hidden behind cover ¡ª the king of street fights.
Xia Lei¡¯s attention was drawn to the XM25 as soon as he saw it. His left eye looked it over, then looked through it, and looked closely at it. All the images of the XM25¡¯s structure, parts, system, measurements and so on were sent to his brain.
This entire process ended quickly, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. His Thunder Horse Group would have a grenadeuncher better than the XM25 soon enough.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye and said with augh, ¡°What¡¯s this? Is this a test or apetition?¡±
¡°Mr Xia,¡± said Beryl. ¡°Are you worried about something, perhaps?¡±
¡°What should I be worried about? No, I just want to know what¡¯s going on here,¡± said Xia Lei calmly.
¡°Do you Chinese all like it like this?¡± Beryl looked at Xia Lei and challenge and scorn shed in her eyes.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brow. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
¡°To borrow a saying of yours ¡ª acting like you¡¯re at a loss when you know perfectly well what¡¯s going on,¡± said Beryl. ¡°The French government has cancelled arge order of the FGM-148 Javelin, and the UAE and Saudi Arabia have also made simr cancetions, all in favour of purchasing Thunder Horse Group¡¯s Hellhound One-soldier cannon. I am here to see just how powerful Thunder Horse Group¡¯s Hellhound is. Is it so great that the Javelin cannot match up to it?¡±
So this was what was going on.
No wonder Lockheed Martin had brought these weapons here. They wanted topare products with Thunder Horse Group, and see which one of them would wind up the victor. THey wanted to understand the capabilities of the weapons of Thunder Horse Group, and also pressure their opponent while they were at it. Thunder Horse Group had entered the market as a dark horse, and some international big-names could not hold back from taking action any longer.
¡°Our weapons are excellent, and they have high price-to-performance too. It¡¯s normal for clients to choose our products. ANy normal person would be willing to buy high quality low-priced goodpared to brand-name goods,¡± said Xia Lei.
A small sneer appeared on Beryl¡¯s lips. ¡°I¡¯ve interacted with lots of Chinese people. The impression they¡¯ve given me is that they always like to exaggerate. I hope you are not one of these people, Mr Xia.¡±
These words of hers made Xia Lei feel ufortable.
*
If it was a fight with words she wanted, a fight with words she would get.
¡°I¡¯ve interacted with lots of Japanese people. Some were friendly and kind, but some think they¡¯re really great and above everyone else. It¡¯s actually just a manifestation of their narrow-mindedness and inferiorityplex. They don¡¯t like others having things which are better than theirs, and don¡¯t like seeing others having better lives than them. Am I right, Miss Bai? I hope you are not this type of Japanese person. Oh, right, are you Japanese or American?¡±
¡°My surname is not Bai!¡±
¡°I got it.¡± A smile of ridicule came to Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°So are you American or Japanese? Is this question so hard to answer?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, is this how you treat women?¡± Beryl shot him a cold re.
¡°Good manners and respect are reserved for certain people. If you think I¡¯m not being polite to you, go ahead and think what you want. I don¡¯t care what you feel about it. But, I¡¯d like to remind you that you have to first learn to respect others to get respect from others,¡± said Xia Lei evenly.
¡°You...¡± Steam seemed ready to burst from the top of Beryl¡¯s head.
Jacqueline Eva drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said softly, ¡°She¡¯s an American-born citizen and goes by Americanws. But she is also Japanese because of her father.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and thought to himself, ¡®This woman sure has a unique background. She could be the main assistant to the CEO of Lockheed Martin, most likely due to her father¡¯s status. And Hattori Masao appearing here is probably to observe the capabilities of my weapons, then try to make something good after that, huh?¡¯
A French person in casual clothing shot Jacqueline Eva a look.
She turned to Xia Lei and said, ¡°We may begin, Mr Xia.¡±
Xia Lei walked to the boxes with ¡°Thunder Horse Group¡± printed on them and opened all of them up. One box held the Hellhound, one contained the XL2500, one contained the Gust, and the remaining two held the ammunition needed for the testing. The box containing the bullets for the XL2500 and the Gust was fairly small.
A Lookheed Martin employee walked over with a Javelin. He cut straight to the chase. ¡°Mr Xia, the targets are the tank andnd fortifications 2,000 metres away. Would you like to go first, or should I?¡±
Xia Lei nced at the target area and saw a scrap-tank 2,000 metres away. There were alsond fortifications made with reinforced concrete, looking like some sort of bunker from the World War II era. Around the bunker were human-shaped targets, meant for the testing of the damage dealt by the cannon. Xia Lei¡¯s confidence was boosted by what he saw.
¡°How about you go first, Mr Xia?¡± said the Lockheed Martin employee.
Xia Lei then said, ¡°You are using anti-tank missiles topete with my Hellhound One-soldier Cannon. You guys sure are being professional.¡± He raised his voice. ¡°A guided anti-tank missile¡¯s market price is about 100,000 USD, and our Hellhound is just 50,000 USD. Ites equipped with ten shells on top of that. Us bing the preferred choice in the market is not a coincidence, but inevitable.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, an item being cheap does not mean that it is good. You¡¯d better show us what your Hellhound is capable of. Don¡¯t say big words and end up making a fool of yourself,¡± said Beryl rudely.
Xia Lei could not be bothered to argue with her. He put on earmuffs and took out an armour-piercing missile and loaded it. He then aimed at that scrap-tank and pressed the button. There was a boom and a hole opened up in the scrap-tank almost 1.5 secondster with a great explosion of smoke and mes!
The group of Frenchmen, and the soldiers of the French Foreign Legion were gobsmacked. A missile like this would be the exterminator of tanks andnd fortifications if brought onto the battlefield!
Hattori Mei was also thunderstruck, and she stared dumbly at Xia Lei and the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon on his shoulder. This weapon was simple to operate, had a range of 2,000 metres, was powerful and priced low ¡ª who was going to buy anti-tank missiles with this around!
The Javelin and Dow were American¡¯s two main anti-tank missile products. They were popr across the globe, and in great demand in several countries ¡ª real earners for America. But now, the great monopoly enjoyed by the Javelin and Dow was being challenged with the appearance of the Hellhound on the market!
Beryl was shell-shocked but she shows no surprise on her face. She nced at her father, Hattori Masao, and father and daughter spoke with their eyes.
Boom! Xia Lei fired a second shot while the onlookers were still in shock.
Booom! A huge pit appeared in thend fortifications 2,000 metres away. The surrounding human-shaped targets were also destroyed, turned to tatters. If that had been a troop of soldiers, not one of them would have been able to stand up and fight again.
It was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
The impression the Hellhound gave was not that of a one-soldier cannon... It was practically a shoulder-carry tank! On top of that, this tank didn¡¯t need fuel, can cross streets and climb stairs, and crawl through grass. Enemies could not defend against this!
Xia Lei unequipped the Hellhound after firing it twice and casually threw it into the box. He picked up the XL2500 sniper rifle next, loaded, raised it and aimed at the furthest target.
¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± said an officer of the French Foreign Legion. ¡°That target is 2,500 metres away. No one has ever hit it!¡±
He had just finished his sentence when the XL500 sniper rifle let out a small roar.
No one could see if Xia Lei had hit the target or not because it was too far away.
But just three secondster, an officer holding a pair of binocrs suddenly cried out in surprise, ¡°My God! He¡¯s hit that target ¡ª and in the bullseye too!¡±
The quiet spell was immediately broken.
The Lockheed Martin employees who were handling the Javelin all stared dumbly at Xia Lei. They didn¡¯t know what to do next.
¡°The XL2500 has been field tested long ago. It is the world¡¯s best sniper rifle. Not happy about it? Well then, just hit that target over there before you get back to me on that.¡± Xia Lei casually tossed the XL2500 back in the box, then picked up the Gust assault rifle.
These Frenchmen wanted to see the capabilities of Thunder Horse Group¡¯s weapons, huh?
He was going to expand their horizons!
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Chapter 721
Rat-tat-tat-tat...
The Gust assault rifle roared, and bullets flew from its muzzle, flying towards the target 1,000 metres away. The poor target was shredded in the blink of an eye. What shocked people the most was not the power and range of the Gust assault rifle, but the fact that the body of the gun was very apparently stable because the recoil was practically zero!
*
Xia Lei emptied a magazine and tossed the Gust assault rifle casually into the box. He dusted his hands and turned to leave. As he walked off, he said, ¡°I¡¯ve finished my demonstration. I¡¯m guessing you guys should now the capabilities of the products of Thunder Horse Group now, huh? That¡¯s all, then. Goodbye, everyone.¡±
He was leaving just like that?
He was not even taking the weapons and personnel of Lockheed Martin seriously!
The big group of spectators and French Foreign Legion watched Xia Lei leaving in silence.
The person who found this the hardest pill to swallow was Beryl. She hade here representing Lockheed Martin, and her aim was to have the capabilities of the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s weapons tested to let the French see how bad the Chinese products were. She had not expected that Xia Lei would wow everyone present in one move, and win over everyone present to his side!
What made her angrier was that Xia Lei had dusted his hands off and left even before Lockheed Martin had started on firing their own weapons. This attitude of his... it was scorn. An offense to her!
Xia Lei did not even look back.
¡°Please hold on, Mr Xia,¡± said Hattori Masao in English. He walked towards Xia Lei as he spoke.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks. ¡°What do you want?¡±
Hattori Masai put a smile on his face. ¡°May I ask for a bit of your time, Mr Xia? Let¡¯s have a talk in private.¡±
¡°I still have to return to take care of official matters. Please be quick if you have anything to say.¡± Xia Lei had no amiable feelings about Hattori Masao either because of Beryl.
There was a saying ¡ª like father like daughter. Beryl was an arrogant, self-important woman, so how much better could Hattori Masao be? Besides, he was also the captain of the Japanesend-based Self Defence Force. This status of his made Xia Lei ufortable too.
¡°Mr Xia, I will not take up too much of your time. I¡¯d like to talk with you about a matter which will also be of benefit to you.¡± Hattori Masao was not giving up.
Xia Lei hesitated. ¡°All right, then.¡±
¡°Pleasee with me.¡± Hattori Masao walked towards an area which had no one else around.
Xia Lei followed him, trying to guess at what this man wanted to talk to him about. He was actually willing to talk to this man not because of some ¡®benefit¡¯, but because he wanted to know what Hattori Masao was here for. As for the benefits, he was not going to exchange anything with the Japanese, no matter what benefits they offered him.
Hattori Masao came to a stop when he felt like he had walked enough of a distance. He turned to face Xia Lei and gave him a friendly smile. ¡°Mr Xia, you are the greatest genius I¡¯ve ever seen. I respect you a lot. Let¡¯s be friends.¡±
Virtually no one would refuse the initiation of friendship from a captain of the Japanesend forces Self Defence Force... but Xia Lei was not particrly interested, and his attitude showed it. ¡°You called me over here just to say this? No thanks to being friends. Let¡¯s just talk if you want to talk.¡±
Embarrassment shed across Hattori Masao¡¯s face and he was unsettled, but he did not show his anger. He kept the friendly smile on his face. ¡°Mr Xia, is this because of my daughter? She is a clueless girl. I apologise on her behalf.¡±
¡°She did not do anything wrong; there¡¯s no need to apologise to me.¡± Xia Lei lost his patience. ¡°Hey, Mr Hattori, if you really don¡¯t have anything to say to me, then I¡¯ll be going now.¡±
Hattori Masao was silent for a bit before he said seriously, ¡°I¡¯d like to buy your weapons. All your weapons ¡ª the XL2500, Gust assault rifle and Hellhound One-soldier Cannon. If you¡¯re willing to transfer your technology, we will be sure topensate you handsomely.¡±
Xia Lei paused, then couldn¡¯t help augh. ¡°Mr Hattori, you¡¯d like to buy my Thunder Horse Group¡¯s weapons? Are you for real?¡±
Hattori Masao looked very serious. ¡°Mr Xia, do I look like I¡¯m joking? You just have to give the nod, and we will pay above market price for your weapons. It¡¯s all arms dealing. You sell to France, to the UAE and Saudi Arabia ¡ª why not to us? We¡¯re willing to pay 20% higher than the market prices. You¡¯re a businessman. You should want to pursue this avenue of profit maximisation.¡±
¡°I do want to make money, and profit maximisation IS what a businessman should go for...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice wavered. ¡°But...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to buy Japan¡¯s electronics technology. Name a price,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This is...¡± Hattori Masao wrinkled his brow.
American was the leading country in the sciences, but she was still behind Japan in electronics technology. Japan was the world leader in this, and her SLR was the top in the world. This was a clear example of her strength. In truth, China also imported a lot of electricponents from Japan, in industries ranging from industrial production to National Defence.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What, you¡¯re not happy? I guarantee a good price so long as you¡¯re willing to sell.¡±
Hattori Masao¡¯s expression turned ugly immediately. He¡¯d thought that Xia Lei was considering his proposal earlier, but he was just throwing his previous words back in his face again. How could he treat him like this when he was of this status!
¡°You¡¯re not willing to sell? You got unhappy from me wanting to buy your Japanese electronics technology? So, youe to me wanting to buy my stuff and I have to agree because of that bti of money you¡¯re offering to me? What is this logic? The logic of the Japanese?¡±
¡°Mr Xia!¡± Anger glinted in Hattori Masao¡¯s eyes. ¡°Even if you¡¯re not selling to us, we can still procure your weapons from somewhere else. Yourpany is a privately-owned one. Don¡¯t you think it foolish to not make money where you can?¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°If you buy my weapons just anywhere, then good for you. I don¡¯t care. But. If you want to buy it from me, then there is no discussion. I have no need to want any of your stinking money.¡±
¡°Hah!¡± Their talk ended just like that. Hattori Masao let out a snort and turned to leave.
¡°Mr Hattori, let me give you a warning. There is no empire in this world that will keep standing forever,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hattori Masao looked back at Xia Lei. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
Xia Lei kept his tone neutral. ¡°I¡¯m not talking about Japan because it has never been an empire. I¡¯m talking about America. The ancient empires, Persian, Roman, Tang, Yuan, Ming, have all disappeared... so there¡¯s no need to build new bonfires of hatred or those mes will consume you all one day.¡±
Hattori Masao spoke coldly, ¡°If we were in Japan right now, I¡¯d have sent you to prison for saying that.¡±
¡°If we were in China right now, I won¡¯t have you sent to prison. I¡¯ll beat you up,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Hattori Masao¡¯s face turned purple with anger. How dare a Chinese punk talk to him, a Captain, in this way!
However, this was France. **
Xia Lei turned and walked away.
Whoosh!
The employees of Lockheed Martin fired their anti-tank missile. The missile shot out of theuncher and whoosed towards the scrap-tank, trailing fire.
The biggest drawback of the Javelin was that theunching of the missile revealed the location of theuncher. The personunching it would also need to keep the infrared ray locked-on and could not move. A line-guided missile usually took close to 10 seconds, and if one were discovered and a tank shot at the location, it was bye-bye.
The anti-tank missile hit the tank secondster. A violent explosion boomed, and the tank was destroyed. mes shot skywards. Based on power alone, the anti-tank missile was more powerful than the Hellhound, but the time taken by the Hellhound tounch the missile and hit the target was much quicker than the anti-tank missile.
Both objectives were to destroy the tank. If a soldier were to choose, he would surely choose the Hellhound and not the Javelin.
Sure enough, the French did not p or cheer after the Javelin destroyed the target tank. They did not even look surprised. Most of them only nced at it, and turned their gazes to the Hellhound which Xia Lei had left behind, then to him.
Based on the reaction of these Frenchmen, they seemed lukewarm towards Lockheed Martin¡¯s Javelin, but very interested in the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon.
Xia Lei took note of all of this, and he could not help the smile on his face. ¡®Those Frenchmen are probably going to draft up an agreement and sign it with me very soon.¡¯
Jacqueline Eva walked over to his just as this thought popped into his head.
¡°Are you really leaving, Xia?¡± she asked.
¡°Yeah. I know what their weapons can do, and I don¡¯t care. There¡¯s no meaning in me staying either, so I¡¯d like to go back,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Let¡¯s go together.¡± Jacqueline Eva lowered her voice. ¡°They¡¯ve finished their discussion. Deal. They will hand me the agreement in an hour, and I will sign it with you then.¡±
¡°No problem, but... I¡¯d like to know how I¡¯ll be receiving the things I wanted.¡±
¡°This is not the ce to discuss something like this. Let¡¯s talk back in the hotel.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. His gaze went to Beryl as he left, and she was looking at him too. Her eyes were as cold as ice, and they glinted with hatred.
¡°Enough. Stop looking. You already made her so mad that there¡¯s no game for you to y there,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
Xia Lei suddenly remembered something. ¡°Oh, right, I have a condition.¡±
¡°Another condition?¡± Jacqueline Eva grew nervous. ¡°I¡¯ve already had things settled with those guys. You can¡¯t just add in another condition like this.¡±
¡°I am definitely adding this condition,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°My technology cannot be given to Japan, and the weapons France produces cannot be sold to Japan either. If you do this in secret, I will not provide you with the coreponent of the intelligentthe when I find out about it.¡±
Jacqueline Eva shrugged, then smiled. ¡°So that¡¯s it? Do you think France is a charitable organisation or something? Why would we share this with the Japanese when we paid so much for it? Don¡¯t worry, this won¡¯t ever happen.¡±
¡°I want this condition written into the agreement,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva was speechless.
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Chapter 722
Xia Lei spotted the agreement soon after getting back to the hotel. There was no mention of the French government in the agreement ¡ª just a ¡°Gallia Science S.A.¡± in there. This was obviously a newly-made shellpany. The legal representative of thispany was Jacqueline Eva, the person who was to sign the agreement with him.
The contract stipted the time frame that Party B, the Thunder Horse Group, would supply the Thunder Dragon Intelligent Lathe to Gallia Science S.A. on top of building the XL2500 sniper rifle, Gust assault rifle, and Hellhound One-soldier Cannon assembly lines. In exchange, Gallia Science S.A. would make payment to Thunder Horse Group in four batches, 25% each time.
The so-called ¡°payments¡± were the Eurofighter Typhoon avionics and stealth technologies. The agreement did not mention them explicitly.
¡°You guys sure are careful.¡± Xia Lei frowned after seeing the agreement and said, ¡°The contract states what Thunder Horse Group has to bring out, but you guys used the word ¡®payments¡¯ to represent what you guys want. And 25% for each payment? Are you guys pulling my leg here?¡±
¡°Please understand our difficulties, Xia. We cannot have anything which will prove to be a weakness that the Americans can take advantage of. If we state the technologies on the contract, we will have a lot of trouble with the Americans when they find out. It is just names, isn¡¯t it? You guys want technology, not a contract. Whatever is written in the contract will not change what we are going to exchange. If we go by what we¡¯ve agreed upon in the contract, we will both get what we want. Doesn¡¯t that work for you?¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
This contract could help the French government get out of trouble if the Americans discovered it in the future, because it could prove that the French government did not make the exchange, but it was ¡°Gallia Science S.A.¡± that did, and they had bought Thunder Horse Group¡¯s technologies with money.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°You French people sure are clever. All right, I have no issues with this contract. I¡¯ll decide on how the exchange shall proceed.¡±
¡°How do you n to have it carried out?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°I will produce all that is needed in China, then have it all assembled in France. The first will be the XL2500 sniper rifle assembly line. Make preparations for when my engineers are to leave China, and you guys should pay me in the 25% of technologies promised. I will supply you with the Thunder Dragon intelligentthest, and you guys will have to make thest payment.¡±
¡°This...¡± Jacqueline Eva looked troubled. ¡°The higher-ups mean to start giving you the technologies after you finish building the production lines, but you want payment when the parts and engineers leave China. I¡¯m afraid that they won¡¯t agree.¡±
¡°Then there is no negotiation. I¡¯ve already made concessions. You guys are using the word ¡®payments¡¯ to represent that technologies you want to exchange, so there will be no proof when the Western media inevitably ims that we stole your technology. You can¡¯t be the ones reaping all the benefit, right?¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva shrugged. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll call them right away. I think I will be able to convince them. Your weapons really impressed them.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°We can sign once you¡¯ve settled it with them.¡±
Jacqueline Eva took out her phone to make the call. She did not avoid Xia Lei at all.
As Jacqueline Eva made the call, the faces of Hattori Masao and Beryl appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s head, and he couldn¡¯t help wanting to cause trouble for them. He got up and went to the bathroom. In the bathroom, he gave Amanda a call. ¡°Amanda, help me find out the addresses of two people.¡±
¡°Who?¡± asked Amanda.
¡°Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO¡¯s head assistant, Beryl. She also has a Japanese name ¡ª Hattori Mei. The other person is Hattori Masao. He is the captain of thend-based Self Defence Force of Japan. Be careful when looking into this person, and don¡¯t let yourself be discovered,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Roger that. I¡¯ll call you when I¡¯ve got it.¡± Amanda hung up.
Footsteps came from behind him.
Xia Lei hurriedly put away the satellite phone, pulled his zipper down, and watered the toilet bowl.
The footsteps stopped at the door. One secondter, Jacqueline Eva pushed the door open and stuck her head in. She smiled very sweetly. ¡°Xia, I¡¯ve talked with the higher-ups. They say it¡¯s no problem. We can sign the contract now.¡±
Xia Lei nced back at her and seemed a little taken aback. ¡°I¡¯m relieving myself, can¡¯t you see?¡±
¡°I do see.¡± Jacqueline Eva kept a straight face. ¡°You are relieving, indeed.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Let¡¯s both sign after you¡¯re done here, then we can celebrate.¡± Jacqueline Eva giggled, then pulled her head out of the doorway.
The bathroom door was finally shut.
Xia Lei then let out a breath of relief. He started to let his water flow again and he muttered to himself while it sshed. ¡°Hey, little soldier, sorry but I have to make you work hard again today. Do you like the taste of a big, romantic French meal?¡±
Xia Lei walked out of the bathroom a whileter.
Jacqueline Eva had everything prepared, contract and pen, and herself too. She had already opened up a bottle of Chateau Lafite.
Xia Lei walked over and picked up the pen. The pen scratched against the paper as he signed. Jacqueline Eva signed too, and he abruptly picked her up, his hands around her waist, and walked towards the bed.
¡°I have a boyfriend,¡± blurted Jacqueline Eva. Her gaze was searching.
¡°Then he¡¯ll have to bear with his woman being taken by someone else,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva was speechless.
Xia Lei carried her to the bed and threw her on it. The Frenchwoman suddenly reached out her arms to circle Xia Lei¡¯s neck as her body left his embrace, and pulled him down on the bed with her...
It was not enough to have a French feast just once.
Who was her boyfriend? Xia Lei cared not, and bothered not. He was going to have this woman.
Early the next morning, Jacqueline Eva left with the contract in hand.
Xia Lei received Amanda¡¯s call after he had the hotel¡¯s breakfast.
¡°Boss, I found it,¡± said Amanda.
¡°Speak. Where are they?¡±
¡°Strasfuh Street, Building 123. It¡¯s one of Lockheed Martin¡¯s integrated offices in Paris, and also a research centre of theirs in Europe,¡± said Amanda.
¡°What are they researching?¡±
¡°Biotechnology.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Biotechnology? What is it about?¡±
¡°Probably biological weapons. I¡¯m not too sure either. That building¡¯s firewall is impressive. I only managed to hack in after several hours, but I only saw the two people you wanted, and not what they are researching in there. They do have aboratory there, but it¡¯s isted. I can¡¯t get into their researchb system.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Can you get in?¡±
¡°Boss, I¡¯d advise you to not take such a risk. That ce is under guard and their defence system is very advanced. If you want to get in there, your chances of being discovered will be practically one hundred percent.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help the sharp intake of air. Amanda was quite knowledgeable about his capabilities, and her prediction for him was practically 100%. He couldn¡¯t help wondering just what they were hiding there that their security was so tight!
¡°How¡¯s Alessio¡¯s injuries?¡± Xia Lei stopped thinking about it.
¡°He¡¯s recovering quickly, but I¡¯m afraid that it would be a month before he isbat-ready.¡±
¡°Take good care of him, and keep the status quo.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei came to the exhibition centre. The decoratingpany had finished installing the ss walls and the artwork were all mounted on the walls. On the other side, Qing Caiyue was leading the Thunder Horse Group employees in finishing up the setting up of the exhibition booth.
Thunder Horse Group had few products, but this booth of theirs was the most unique in all the booths of the exhibition. Art and weapons. These two themes which normally had little inmon with each other were put in a way which was very unique, very eye-catching, and gave people a strong impression.
Xia Lei was just about to chat with Qing Caiyue when some people entered the Thunder Horse Group exhibition booth. The two leading the group were people Xia Lei had seen yesterday in the militarypound. Hattori Masao and Beryl.
Several subordinates followed both Hattori Masao and Beryl. There were Asians standing very properly, and strapping Europeans. It was easy to tell that those Asians were Japanese, and they were from the Self Defence Force, subordinates of Hattori Masao. The Europeans were Beryl¡¯s subordinates, and most likely her bodyguards. Another possibility was that the Europeans were Lockheed Martin employees.
Qing Caiyue was about to go greet them when Xia Lei nudged her with his elbow. ¡°You go about your duties. These people are not clients, so no need to greet them. I¡¯ll handle them.¡±
Qing Caiyue paused, then nodded and turned around to walk away.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Hattori Masao had a smile on his face, and a friendly attitude to match. ¡°We meet again, Mr Xia.¡±
Xia Lei went forward to greet them and also spoke in English. ¡°Yes, Mr Hattori. We meet again. However, the Paris International Weapons Exhibition has yet to begin. You are a little early.¡±
¡°No, we¡¯re not early,¡± said Hattori Masao. ¡°I havee specially to meet you, Mr Xia. I am not concerned about when the Weapons Exhibition will begin.¡±
¡°What do you want from me?¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°If it¡¯s about yesterday, then dispense with the formalities. I don¡¯t want to talk.¡±
An awkward expression appeared on Hattori Masao¡¯s face, and he nced at Beryl beside him.
This seemed to be a signal.
Beryl took a small step forward and bowed deeply to Xia Lei. ¡°I was rude yesterday, Mr Xia. Please forgive me.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t have to apologise to me. I didn¡¯t think you were rude either.¡± As he spoke, he reached out to give Beryl a helping hand up... and right at that moment, he deftly slipped something into the pocket of her suit.
Beryl was face to face with Xia Lei and the people behind her could not see his movements. Even if Beryl had not blocked it from view, those people would not have been able to see it. Xia Lei was very quick, and his skill had already far exceeded that of Qin Xiang by several times. How would an ¡®outsider¡¯ ever discover his tiny movement?
¡°You are a forgiving man, Mr Xia.¡± A smile appeared on Beryl¡¯s face.
Xia Lei smiled too. ¡°Let¡¯s not beat around the bush any more. What do you guys want? Just say it.¡±
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Chapter 723
¡°This is not the ce to talk, Mr Xia. Could we move somewhere else? We, Lockheed Martin, are also participating in this exhibition. The exhibition centre management has given us the use of an office, and it is quiet there. We can go there to talk,¡± said Beryl.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m very busy now. I¡¯m sorry but I won¡¯t be going with you.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, I can guarantee that you won¡¯t be disappointed,¡± said Beryl.
¡®This woman and her father are Japanese, and he has the special identity of captain of the Self Defencend troops. I might bring trouble to myself if I interact with him... But it sounds like there is some other meaning in her words. Is she hinting something at me?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Curiosity was a curious thing.
¡°Pleasee with me, Mr Xia.¡± Beryl was especially polite today.
Xia Lei hesitated. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll go with you guys, but my time is limited so I won¡¯t stay for long.¡±
¡°No problem. This won¡¯t take much of your time.¡± Beryl smiled, and turned to lead the way.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the pocket of Beryl¡¯s suit. The listening device he had put in there was activated. It was part of the Zodiac Team¡¯s equipment and Amanda would be receiving transmission once it was activated. He would be able to listen in on Beryl¡¯s conversations with others after Amanda set up the receiver for him.
But now was not the time to use the receiver.
Xia Lei followed Beryl to another zone of the exhibition hall where the American arms giants were. Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. These five leadingpanies were giants in this exhibition hall, and even the likes of Barret had to stand respectfully aside.
The top American arms dealer took up almost a third of the exhibition hall. Various light weapons could be found in their booth, as well as heavy equipment. There were Apache helicopters,rge helicopter transport aircraft, armoured vehicles, mine clearing vehicles, heavy machinery vehicles and anti-missile systems and so on; the number was dizzying. And all these were just Lockheed Martin¡¯s army weapons, not including their naval or air weapons. Lockheed Martin was the manufacturer of both the F22 and the F35, and these fighter nes were the most advanced!
Xia Lei was struck by this sight. He had an ambition to turn Thunder Horse Group into the best weapons manufacturer in the world, but when he saw the weapons and technological prowess on disy in the Lockheed Martin booth, he discovered that he had a long, long way to go to realise his dream.
*
Xia Lei could not help remembering yesterday. He had looked down on Lockheed Martin in the French Foreign Legion military base yesterday, and the memory made him flush.
They walked past the Lockheed Martin exhibition booth and to the office area. Beryl led Xia Lei to an office door and stopped. ¡°This is the ce. We¡¯re here. Pleasee in, Mr Xia.¡± She reached out a hand and opened the door.
Xia Lei had already used his X-ray vision to see inside before she opened the door. It was just a very ordinary office.
Xia Lei walked into the office.
Hattori Masai also walked into the office, and he closed the door behind himself. All their subordinates were closed behind the door.
Xia Lei did not stay polite with the two Japanese people. He sat casually on the sofa. ¡°Speak. What do you want to talk with me about?¡±
Hattori Masai sat opposite Xia Lei but did not speak. He looked quietly at Xia Lei, as if thinking about how he should start the conversation.
Beryl said nothing either. She went to the wine cab and brought out a bottle of French wine and three sses. She put the three wine sses on the coffee table between the sofas, then poured wine into them. She did not even nce at Xia Lei during the whole process.
¡°Don¡¯t pour wine,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s working hours for me now. I won¡¯t drink.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, are you afraid that I would drug your wine?¡± Beryl looked at Xia Lei then. Her tone was polite but her eyes held a trace of contempt.
¡°Yes, you got it right. I don¡¯t trust you guys,¡± said Xia Lei tly.
Beryl suddenly lifted a winess and downed the wine in it in one go. She then drank the second ss and the third ss. She licked her lips after downing the third ss. ¡°There¡¯s no problem now, is there, Mr Xia?¡±
Xia Lei still shook his head. ¡°You could have taken the antidote beforehand.¡±
¡°You...¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want wine.¡± Hattori Masao smiled tly. ¡°Mr Xia, I know you are prejudiced towards us Japanese and I know it¡¯s because of history, but I hope we can look past that and into the future!¡±
¡°Well said.¡± Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°But I don¡¯t agree with what you say. I am not prejudiced towards most Japanese. The farmer who toils in the fields, the metalworking smiths, manga artists, or those women who sell their bodies to make films. I have no prejudice towards these Japanese people.¡± **
Hattori Masao and Beryl exchanged nces. They were not slow on the uptake, and they could sense the hidden meaning in Xia Lei¡¯s words. He was not willing to talk business with them.
¡°All right, Mr Xia. I cannot hope to have you change your impression of me through just one or two interactions. I do not want to keep you either, so I will be straightforward.¡± Hattori Masao said, ¡°You said yesterday that you will exchange your technology for Japanese electronics technology. I called the relevant departments in Japan to ask for opinions, and they said they would consider it. Now let me ask you, Mr Xia, what kind of electronics technology do you want?¡±
Xia Lei was stunned.
He had said yesterday that he wanted to exchange his technology for their electronics technology but he had only said that as an excuse to make them go away. He¡¯d never really intended to get any technology, much less expect that this Hattori Masao would get the approval of his government to make this offer to him now.
¡°Don¡¯t hold back, Mr Xia. Tell me what you want,¡± said Beryl. ¡°Our Japanese electronics technology is excellent, especially our microelectronics. We are more advanced than America in this field.¡±
¡°More advanced than America? You mean in the 80s?¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Your Japanese electronics technology did use to be the world¡¯s best, but this is the 21st century. You guys were left in America¡¯s dust long ago. What do you have now other than some home appliances? Whatputer uses a Japanese-made CPU these days? Whatputer uses a Japanese operating system? Also, electronics are an open market. We can buy what we need in the international market, and we also have our own investments and research. We will catch up soon. Why would I need to exchange anything with you in this situation?¡±
¡°Hmph. Must you say all that about Japan¡¯s electronics? America is indeed ahead of us in several fields but we are also ahead of them in others,¡± said Beryl. ¡°The precision of our electronicponents are the best in the world. One good example is our robots. Which other country can rival us when ites to robotics? ***¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Heh. There are lots of electronicponents out there. You¡¯re not thinking of exchanging semiconductors for my technology, are you?¡±
¡°Of course not. We will trade with you most sincerely. Mr Xia, you don¡¯t need to make a decision right away. You can consider it for a while before you tell us what you need. We will do our best to fulfil your requirements,¡± said Hattori Masao.
¡°Sure. I¡¯ll head back and think about it. Goodbye, Mr and Miss Hattori.¡± Xia Lei stood and walked off.
Beryl stood to send him off. She escorted him to the door and watched him walk away before shutting the door.
¡°Father, this man is an ass. I was ready to p him,¡± said Beryl angrily. ****
¡°*****He is indeed frustrating, but he has something which can be a threat to us. We must have his technology. We also have to find a way to interfere in the growth of Thunder Horse Group or the military and technological advantages we hold now will disappear. I¡¯m afraid that we would have to live in fear of stepping on China¡¯s toes.¡± Hattori Masao¡¯s brow was locked in a deep frown, and he looked very troubled.
¡°Do you think he will be fooled, Father?¡±
¡°Only if we are patient. Let¡¯s take it step by step. He won¡¯t be able to escape our trap.¡± Hattori Masao scoffed. ¡°Electronics technology? Ha. Not one bit of technology from The Land of the Rising Sun willnd in the hands of the Chinese.¡±
¡°Father, Ms. Fosen gave me a call...¡±
Hattori Masao cut Beryl off. ¡°I know what she wants. We will ce orders with Lockheed Martin.¡±
Beryl smiled. ¡°Then let¡¯s discuss how we¡¯ll deal with that man.¡±
¡°We need the help of someone to realise our n.¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°The chief of CIA Asia, Gu Kewen,¡± said Hattori Masao. ¡°I have contacted her, and she is willing to work with us. Her target is Xia Lei, and our target is Xia Lei¡¯s technology and Thunder Horse Military Factory. We each have our own targets, and it will be most advantageous for us if Xia Lei dies by her hand.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh...¡± Beryl couldn¡¯t helpughing. ¡°Even the CIA wants him dead. He really is a hated man.¡±
¡°He is indeed. But what I want you to do is...¡± Hattori Masao leaned in to Beryl¡¯s ear and spoke in a low voice.
Beryl¡¯s mouth opened slightly, and a look of embarrassment appeared on her beautiful face. She hesitated for a bit but still nodded. ¡°I am willing to make the sacrifice for the Empire of Japan.¡±
Meanwhile, Xia Lei was cursing silently in his head. ¡®Damn it, it¡¯s just the two of them in that office so why the hell are they whispering? I should have hung about in the doorway if I¡¯d known.¡¯
He¡¯d activated the receiver to listen in on them when he left the office, but he was frustrated to discover that Hattori Masao had whispered to Beryl at that crucial moment!
But that didn¡¯t matter.
He had already decided that he was definitely going to give these two Japanese people a surprise.
And Gu Kewen.
She must die!
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Chapter 724
The sunset in the evening was particrly beautiful.
¡°Let¡¯s go back to the hotel together, Director Xia.¡± Qing Caiyue looked expectantly at Xia Lei.
¡°I have something on. You go back first,¡± said Xia Lei.
The corners of Qing Caiyue¡¯s mouth turned down, and she left in disappointment.
Xia Lei went into the bathroom. He put an earpiece in his ear, then turned on the listening device. Sounds came to his ear as soon as he turned it on.
*
¡°She¡¯ll be here soon.¡± It was Hattori Masao¡¯s voice.
¡°Why did she choose this ce for the meeting?¡± It was Beryl¡¯s voice. ¡°Xia Lei is in the exhibition hall too. He will get suspicious if he discovers us. This is disadvantageous to our n.¡±
¡°She is a very clever woman. She knows what she¡¯s doing,¡± said Hattori Masao. ¡°There is an old saying in China that goes ¡®The most dangerous ce is the safest¡¯. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t ever dream that Gu Kewen would meet us here.¡±
¡°You seem rather knowledgeable about Chinese culture, Father.¡±
¡°Know yourself, know your enemy. This is from Sun Tzu¡¯s Art of War. I really like this idiom. We and China will never be friends. Our ancestors have fought each other for hundreds of years, and we nearly seeded in World War II. It¡¯s too bad that it ended in failure... but I believe that we will be sessful one day.¡± Hattori Masao¡¯s voice held a trace of regret.
Knock knock knocking came from the door.
¡°Sir, there¡¯s someone here to see you, Sir.¡± It was a male voice speaking Japanese.
¡°Is it a woman?¡± asked Hattori Masao.
¡°Yes it is, Sir.¡±
¡°Let her in. Guard the entryways and the door. Do not let anyone in.¡±
¡°Yes, Sir.¡± The person speaking was obviously one of Hattori Masao¡¯s officers. He left.
There was the cking of high heels, and a familiar voice was heard speaking in English. ¡°Hello, General, Miss Beryl.¡±
It was Gu Kewen¡¯s voice. Xia Lei would know that voice anywhere.
¡°No need to stand on ceremony, Miss Gu.¡± Hattori Masao was polite. ¡°Please, have a seat. Let¡¯s talk.¡±
¡°What would you like to drink, Miss Gu?¡± It was Beryl¡¯s voice.
¡°Just a ss of water would do, thank you.¡± It was Gu Kewen¡¯s voice.
¡°Miss Gu, I believe you already know what we want to talk about,¡± said Hattori Masao.
¡°Of course I do. I am here for it,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°I have crossed swords with Xia Lei several times and I¡¯ve been on the losing end. I know how he is and how he works. He¡¯s hard to deal with, and we can capture him only if we work together.¡±
There was the sound of a ss being put on the table, followed by Beryl¡¯s voice. ¡°Miss Gu, is he that capable? Even the CIA cannot deal with him?¡±
¡°What?¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me?¡±
¡°No, I don¡¯t mean that,¡± said Beryl. ¡°Miss Gu, I just think it¡¯s strange. The CIA is the biggest intelligence agency in the world, and the terrorist groups in the Middle East are all bothered by the CIA and try to find ways to avoid it. This is just one man ¡ª how can the CIA do nothing to him?¡±
¡°Have you had dealings with him?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°You will know how capable he is after you¡¯ve dealt with him,¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°But I want to remind you that we have been outmaneuvered several times by him already. It¡¯s not just the CIA, but the Marines¡¯ Special Forces, and professional hitmen. The number of people he¡¯s killed is probably in the three digit range.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Beryl was surprised. ¡°That¡¯s a demon you¡¯re describing, not a man.¡±
¡°Sometimes I¡¯d rather deal with demons than with him,¡± said Gu Kewen.
Beryl fell silent, seemingly frightened by Gu Kewen¡¯s words.
¡°Miss Gu, I have a n we can use against Xia Lei, but I¡¯d like to hear your thoughts before I speak of it,¡± said Hattori Masao.
¡°My thoughts? Simple. No matter how powerful he is, he is still just one man and not a god. It¡¯s not difficult to capture him or finish him off. Our problem now is the French who are protecting him. He has several agents protecting him and it is too much hassle to get to him. I would have made a move otherwise.¡±
¡°What if I have a way to lure him out?¡± said Hattori Masao.
¡°You have a way? That¡¯ll make things easier, then. If you can lure him out, I am 90% confident that I¡¯ll be able to capture him, and 10% sure that I can kill him. Either result is fine,¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°That¡¯s good,¡± said Hattori Masao. ¡°I know his weakness. I have a way to lure him out.¡±
¡°Do you mean women, General?¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°Not just women,¡± said Hattori Masao. ¡°He is a greedy man, and his greed is for his ambitions. He wants to revive the Chinese arms manufacturing market on his own, so he needs advanced technologies. I just so happen to have what he wants. I¡¯ll use what he wants as bait, and he will be a hungry fish, eager to leap forward.¡±
¡°If that¡¯s the case, then our n is halfplete.¡± Gu Kewenughed.
¡°Father, that guy is not interested in our electronics technology at all. I¡¯m afraid he won¡¯t take the bait,¡± said Beryl.
¡°If you want the fish to bite, you have to put attractive bait. He is not interested in our technology, so I will use what he is interested in.¡±
¡°What technology will you offer?¡± asked Beryl.
¡°I cannot confirm it for now, but I will think of it,¡± said Hattori Masao.
¡°General, if that¡¯s the case, the CIA will be in charge of carrying out the operation. Here¡¯s to a sessful coboration!¡± said Gu Kewen.
¡°Miss Gu, it is too early to celebrate now,¡± said Hattori Masao. ¡°We should talk about what will happen after we capture Xia Lei. I know that you want his person, and I want his technologies ¡ª the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, XL2500, Gust and Hellhound. The best case scenario is if Thunder Horse Military Factory stops designing and producing weapons.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Gu Kewenughed. ¡°General, what you want is no problem at all. I can guarantee that you will have all of his technologies.¡±
¡°What makes you so sure?¡±
¡°We CIA have the technology to get things out of his brain.¡±
¡°This is not realistic. From what I know, the newest version of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe weighs tons and is the most advanced, mostplicated intelligentthe in the world. How can a brain contain all the information of how he¡¯s designed and built it?¡±
¡°We have our way to get its technology, so long as we capture him. Even if the CIA technology cannot make it happen, we will have a way to make it happen.¡±
¡°What way?¡±
¡°His sister and his father. We just have to capture Xia Lei, and his sister and father will lose their protection. We just have to capture one of these two. Would we have to worry about Xia Lei¡¯s cooperation when we have them?¡± said Gu Kewen.
Hattori Masaoughed too. ¡°It is Xia Lei¡¯s misfortune to have you as his enemy.¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°Last question. What method do you have to make Thunder Horse Military Factory cease the design and production of weapons?¡±
¡°It¡¯s simple. I know the situation there. China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons have been wishing for the demise of Thunder Horse Group. If Xia Lei is in our hands, he will lose his control over Thunder Horse Group. With how China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons operate, the Thunder Horse Group will end up as one of their subsidiaries in no time. We don¡¯t have to do anything for someone else to make it into a puny sundries manufacturer.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Hattori Masaoughed. ¡°Looks like we do have to celebrate early.¡±
What followed next was some unimportant conversation.
Gu Kewen said goodbye and left a few minutester. She discussed the method of keeping in contact with Hattori Masao and Beryl before she left, and also confirmed their next meeting time and location.
Hattori Masao and Beryl¡¯s voices came over the earpiece, but they were only talking about some boring stuff of no real value.
There was no need to listen further. Xia Lei exited the bathroom.
He strode towards the doorway of the exhibition hall, but did not walk out. He stood behind the wall and activated his X-ray vision to look in the direction of the Lockheed Martin booth. He quickly spotted Gu Kewen and arge group of agents protecting her. They were leaving swiftly.
This was not the right time to kill her.
¡°I¡¯ll let you live for a few days more,¡± muttered Xia Lei. A faint, cold smile appeared on his lips.
Gu Kewen walked towards the helipad, and a helicopter rose into the air soon after, disappearing quickly from Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision.
A few minutes after Gu Kewen left, Hattori Masao and Beryl walked out of the Lockheed Martin booth too. Father and daughter went in the direction of the carpark, and they were under heavy guard of officers and bodyguards too.
Xia Lei walked quickly out of the exhibition hall, and caught up with Hattori Masao and Beryl as they entered the carpark.
¡°Hey! Please gold on, Mr Hattori and Miss Beryl.¡± Xia Lei walked swiftly towards them.
Hattori Masao¡¯s security detail made to stop Xia Lei, but Hattori Masao signalled them back.
¡°Why are you still here, Mr Xia?¡± asked Hattori Masao probingly.
¡°The exhibition will start soon, so there is a lot of things to take care of. I¡¯ve just finished with them. Phew, I¡¯m tired.¡± Xia Lei walked up to Beryl.
¡°You¡¯ve worked hard.¡± Beryl¡¯s tone was neutral. Perhaps it was because of Gu Kewen¡¯s words, but her eyes held a hint of fear when she looked at Xia Lei now.
¡°I¡¯ve thought it over, Mr Hattori. I¡¯m willing to make this trade with you, but you have to match what I¡¯m offering,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh? That¡¯s good news.¡± Hattori Masao was delighted. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Mr Xia, I won¡¯t disappoint. Please speak of what you want.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly drew close to Beryl, his lips almost touching her ear. ¡°I want artificial intelligence.¡±
¡°You¡¯re really...¡± Beryl was about to spit out an insult, but she swallowed her words.
And in that moment, Xia Lei used his right hand to remove the listening device from her clothing.
¡°That¡¯s all. I¡¯ve told you what I want. Come look for me when you have it prepared. I won¡¯t be disturbing you two any longer. Bye.¡± Xia Lei walked off.
Beryl red at Xia Lei¡¯s retreating back and muttered, ¡°He really is a greedy guy. Japan¡¯s artificial intelligence technology integrates almost all of the electronics technologies we have, including the world¡¯s leading neuralwork technology. He actually dared to ask for it!¡±
Hattori Masao was quite for a bit before he said, ¡°He¡¯s interested in you.¡±
Beryl shuddered.
A distance away from them, Xia Lei opened his clenched right fist. A tiny listening device sat on his palm. He looked down at this listening device, and he couldn¡¯t help but smile.
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Chapter 725
Cheers and calls rang out. The Paris International Weapons Exhibition was finally open. Dealers from all over the world, clients, and media personnel all poured into the exhibition centre. The various booths at the exhibition were crowded and it was lively.
The employees of Thunder Horse Group held their breaths in anticipation and expectation of the clientsing in to look around and ce orders. However, those who came were not clients but a group of European reporters.
¡°You go handle them, Caiyue. I¡¯ll hide for a bit.¡± Xia Lei slipped away.
Qing Caiyue looked speechlessly at Xia Lei¡¯s retreating back, and muttered after a while, ¡°Using me as a shield again. You want to make the buffalo work but you don¡¯t want to give the buffalo grass...¡±
Who knew what buffalo and what grass she was talking about. *
A big group of European reporters flooded the Thunder Horse Military Factory exhibition booth.
Qing Caiyue walked up to them in wee. ¡°Our Director Xia is not around. I am his secretary, Qing Caiyue. Can I help you with anything?¡±
¡°Where did Mr Xia go?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I do not know,¡± said Qing Caiyue. ¡°You can ask me the questions you have.¡±
¡°Miss Qing, they say that yourpany¡¯s weapons were modelled after German designs. Can you tell us more about that?¡±
Qing Caiyue paused.
¡°Miss Qing, does the Thunder Horse Group have just these three light weapons? Some media outlets say that Thunder Horse Group is the dark horse of the arms dealing world. Is this hype that thepany built up?¡±
Qing Caiyue was livid.
¡°Miss Qing, we hear that your light weapons have fallen into the hands of terrorists, and they wreaked great havoc on the civilians in the Middle East. Can youment on what is going on there?¡±
Qing Caiyue was speechless.
¡°Miss Qing, why is the director of Thunder Horse Group, Mr Xia Lei, not epting interviews? What is he afraid of? Is there something that the Thunder Horse Group wants to keep hidden? Can youment on it?¡±
It was a big group of reporters slinging difficult questions. Even one as talented with words as Qing Caiyue had no words to say in response. However, she understood why Xia Lei had told her to handle these reporters. The European media had always liked to smear the good name of China and Chinesepanies, so why would they let Thunder Horse Group off?
It was not an easy thing to change how Europe viewed China and Chinesepanies. This opinion was still widespread, and this was also evident of how difficult it would be to open up the European market. This was why Xia Lei had avoided these reporters. He knew that this would be the result, so there was no need to ept to be interviewed by these European reporters.
¡°Miss Qing, why aren¡¯t you talking? Please answer our questions.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Qing Caiyue was upset.
While the group of reporters swarmed about Qing Caiyue, a group of men in Arabian robes walked into the Thunder Horse Group exhibition booth. The one in the lead was Prince Khalifa.
Qing Caiyue had no excuse to lose these annoying European reporters, so she simply walked away from them. She walked up to the group of Arab men and said in English, ¡°May I help you with anything, Sir?¡±
Prince Khalifa looked about. ¡°Where is Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Our Director Xia...¡± Qing Caiyue nced subconsciously at the rest lounge behind the exhibition booth.
Xia Lei was hiding in that rest lounge now, but she did not know if she should tell this Arab man that.
The door of the rest lounge opened suddenly and Xia Lei walked out.
¡°My friend.¡± Prince Khalifa smiled and walked over.
¡°Long time no see, Your Highness. How have you been?¡± Xia Lei went forward in wee too. He had a warm smile on his face.
Your Highness? Qing Caiyue was stunned. She had not imagined that Xia Lei would have friends of this caliber.
Before Xia Lei and Prince Khalifa could exchange more words, however, the group of European reporters came gathering.
¡°Why did you hide away, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, are you afraid of being interviewed by us? Can you tell us why?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, your products are said to be copies of German designs. Is this true?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, do you have private dealings to sell weapons to terrorist groups? Have you thought about the civilians and children¡¯s suffering?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, I only see three light weapons in your exhibition booth. This amount of weapons do not qualify you at all for participation in the Paris International Weapons Exhibition. May I ask if you were able to participate in this exhibition because you bought a spot for yourself?¡±
The questions of the reporters grew more aggressive at Xia Lei¡¯s appearance.
¡°My friend, what is with these people?¡± Prince Khalifa frowned. ¡°Would you like my men to help you chase them out?¡±
¡°Thank you, but there is no need for that. Let¡¯s just go somewhere else to talk,¡± said Xia Lei. The European reporters asked him a ton of questions but he did not feel like answering a single one. The questions were all just air to him.
¡°Sure. Let¡¯s talk somewhere else.¡± Prince Khalifa said as he walked, ¡°You actually know what I came here for, don¡¯t you? I want your Hellhound One-soldier Cannon.¡±
¡°No problem. When have I ever rejected any of your purchase orders?¡±
¡°Heh heh, well then don¡¯t tell me that I have to wait two years to get the Hellhound too.¡±
¡°How can that be? I will prioritise your purchase orders, Your Highness.¡±
The two of them chatted as they walked, and the European reporters followed closely behind them, asking their frustrating questions. They did not give up even when Xia Lei ignored them.
¡°The group of people behind us is quite annoying. Please, Your Highness, speak to my secretary about the purchase order. I will handle them.¡± They had not walked far when Xia Lei changed his mind.
¡°Of course. I shall talk to your secretary.¡± Prince Khalifa turned back to the Thunder Horse Group exhibition booth.
Xia Lei faced the group of reporters. ¡°All right, I will ept to be interviewed. Please ask your questions one by one. I have just one mouth, so I can¡¯t answer all of you at once.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, did you copy the designs of German weapons?¡± asked a reporter.
¡°Please raise your hand. I will answer only if you raise it,¡± said Xia Lei.
The reporter paused, but a colleague next to him raised his hand before he could, and asked a question. ¡°Mr Xia, did you bribe the French officials in order to be able to participate in the Paris International Weapons Exhibition?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You dare to ask that? Aren¡¯t you afraid of being charged by the relevant authorities?¡±
¡°France is a country of free speech. The people have the right to know the inside story.¡± The reporter looked righteous.
¡°I can very definitely tell you that the Thunder Horse Group is here today not through any sort of bribery.¡±
¡°How can that be? Given your scale, yourpany does not qualify to participate in this exhibition.¡±
¡°Then I have nothing more to say to you. If you got your hands on proof, you can report it.¡±
¡°Mr Xia.¡± The reporter who had not raised his hand earlier raised unwillingly now. ¡°The same question again. Did the Thunder Horse Group copy German designs?¡±
¡°Your question is a hard one to take, but I am still willing to answer.¡± Xia Lei pointed in the direction of the Rheinmetall AG exhibition booth. ¡°That there is the Rheinmetall AG exhibition booth. They represent the highest standards of German arms manufacturing. You say I copy German designs, but I have not received any allegations from Germany itself, and no protests from the Germans. You say I copied the Germans¡¯ designs. The Germans themselves are not anxious about that, so why are you?¡±
The reporter who had asked the question had no words to say.
¡°Mr Xia.¡± Another reporter raised his hand. ¡°The weapons of the Thunder Horse Group are ying a disgraceful role in the Middle East. Arge number of civilians and children have met with harm. Can you tell me why the Thunder Horse Group is selling weapons to those terrorists?¡±
¡°Your question itself is a serious allegation,¡± said Xia Lei evenly. ¡°We, the Thunder Horse Group, only sell tow-abiding governments andpanies. We have never sold weapons to terrorist groups. If you have proof, you can sue me in the Hague Court. I will dly take responsibility for what I should take responsibility for.¡±
¡°But your weapons have indeed ended up in the hands of the terrorist groups. Do you have any exnation for this?¡± The reporter who had asked the question was not giving up.
¡°From what I know, thergest terrorist organisations active in Iraq and Syria use mostly American-made weapons, American tanks, American armoured vehicles, American rifles, American grenades, and even American anti-tank missiles. Can I say that America is supporting them in secret, then?¡±
¡°This...¡± The reporter who had asked the question could not say anything more.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°All right, I have no time to quibble with you guys now. I know that you won¡¯t write nice things about me, and I don¡¯t care if you paint me the villian. Write whatever you want. You guys are best at that, right?¡±
Xia Lei walked off. The group of reporters stayed, unwilling to leave.
Write whatever you want, I don¡¯t care.
What was the use of interviewing when he said something like that!
Qing Caiyue shot Xia Lei an upturned thumb when he returned to the Thunder Horse Group exhibition booth. The smile on her face was especially cute and sweet. She then drew close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear and said in a low voice, ¡°Director Xia, your prince friend wants 20,000 Hellhounds. This purchase order is toorge; I don¡¯t dare sign it. You¡¯d better talk with him.¡±
Xia Lei was surprised by Prince Khalifa¡¯s appetite. 20,000 Hellhounds was not a small order. Each Hellhound cost 50,000 USD too, so Prince Khalifa¡¯s order had already hit the amount of 1,000,000,000 USD. This was the biggest purchase order value that the Thunder Horse Group had ever received.
¡°My friend, you won¡¯t disappoint me, will you?¡± said Prince Khalifa with a smile.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Sure, I will sign with you, but I need funds first. You will have to put down a deposit of 50% first.¡±
¡°No problem. I can make the transfer right now.¡± Prince Khalifa bent a finger, and an aide brought a notebookputer over.
Problems which could be solved by money were not problems to a prince of the UAE.
Prince Khalifa had barely just left when customers from South America came to the Thunder Horse Group exhibition booth.
Argentina wanted 10,000 Hellhounds, 50,000 Gust assault rifles, and 5,000 XL2500 sniper rifles.
Venezu wanted 5,000 Hellhound, 20,000 Gust, and 1,000 XL2500 sniper rifles.
After bidding goodbye to the South American clients, more clients from the Middle East came.
Xia Lei was a little overwhelmed.
So what if the Thunder Horse Group had only three light weapons? Each weapon was the most advanced weapon of its type in the world. The heavy weapons of Europe and America were indeed very advanced, but the price of those was not something that anyone could afford. Furthermore, Europe and America may not necessarily sell the weapon even if the buyer could afford it. However, the Thunder Horse Group light weapons were different. They were not only cheaper but peerless in their categories. Third world countries could not afford the heavy weapons of Europe and America, so why not buy more of the light weapons from Thunder Horse Group?
This was actually also a development opportunity for the Thunder Horse Group!
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Chapter 726
Thunder Horse Group¡¯s exhibition booth, which looked like a ¡°child¡¯s yhouse¡±, was a joke to a lot of those in the industry, but this joke had sold weapons like hotcakes on the first day of the exhibition. Xia Lei¡¯s hand hurt from signing purchase order forms. He would have been afraid to sign so many in the past because Thunder Horse Group had limited production capacity and it would be impossible toplete them all. He also had a huge debt on his shoulders, and thepany was not able to expand production capability at that current stage. It was different now, though. The debt had been taken off his shoulders and he was all rxed. Now, he dared to take on all orders, no matter how big!
And those in the industry who thought Thunder Horse Group was a joke looked at the number of purchase orders they had at the end of the day, and felt like they had been pped across the face.
When the first exhibition day was over, Xia Lei held a celebratory dinner at the Star of Paris Hotel to toast the employees of Thunder Horse Group.
¡°A toast to you, Director Xia.¡± The Qing Caiyue of the night was very lively, and she kept filling Xia Lei¡¯s ss.
¡°Caiyue, are you trying to get me drunk?¡± said Xia Lei with augh.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare, Director Xia. You have great alcohol tolerance, so it¡¯s fine if you drink.¡± Qing Caiyue pushed a winess into Xia Lei¡¯s hands, then raised his arm to tilt the wine in the ss to his lips. ¡°Drink, Director Xia. It¡¯s a rare happy asion.¡±
¡°Sure, sure, I¡¯ll drink.¡± Xia Lei could not refuse and he downed the wine.
Qing Caiyue picked up the bottle again and poured wine into his ss. She nced at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eye and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
The men and women of Thunder Horse Group all saw that, and they were secretly amused. Who didn¡¯t understand what Qing Caiyue was thinking? The employees allughed quietly to themselves, and all thought ¡®You¡¯re going to have a good time tonight, Director Xia!¡¯
ss after ss. Xia Lei lost count of how many he had. However, he was wide awake and not one bit drunk. The one who had been plying him with drinks, however, was t on the table, dead drunk.
¡°Your alcohol tolerance is too freaking good, Director Xia.¡± A female employee looked at Xia Lei with amazement. She could not understand how Xia Lei could be so good with alcohol, and she understood less why Xia Lei had made Qing Caiyue drunk.
Was Director Xia nning on riding a drunk horse?
This was the question that the male employees were thinking. *
The atmosphere of the banquet turned a little strange and awkward.
Just as Xia Lei was about to end the banquet, a woman in a ck evening gown arrived. Beautiful blue gem-like eyes, and an exquisite face with features no one could find fault with, plus a sexy body with all the right curves in all the right ces. She also had legs of the perfect 2-3 proportion. Her appearance was like that of beautiful scenery.
This beauty of mixed heritage was Hattori Masao¡¯s daughter, Beryl. She also had a Japanese name ¡ª Hottori Mei. She only used that name in Japan, however.
Xia Lei was not surprised that Beryl woulde.
¡°You guys go back. Oh yeah, please send Secretary Qing back to her room,¡± said Xia Lei.
The Thunder Horse Group employees left the hotel restaurant, and two female employees supported Qing Caiyue between them as they walked off.
¡°Why didn¡¯t youe earlier, Miss Hattori?¡± Xia Lei stood and said with a smile, ¡°We could have had dinner together if you came earlier.¡±
Beryl sat on a chair next to Xia Lei. A faint, nice smile appeared on her lips. ¡°Congrattions, Mr Xia. I heard that you received quite a few orders today. You made quite a fortune.¡±
¡°Purchase orders are not cheques, though. I will only get the money when Iplete them. I am worrying over how I canplete so many of these orders.¡± Xia Lei gave a fake sigh. ¡°Ay. Now I know that having a lot of orders is not necessarily a good thing.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, if I were a colleague of yours, I would want to punch you.¡± Beryl waved a fist in front of Xia Lei, looking like she really did want to hit him.
Her fist was white and delicate, like it had been crafted from snow. It seemed like an indescribable translucent gem. The skin on her fist was already so delicate, so how delicate was the skin on the rest of her body? A high-grade woman like this... how many men in this world could resist one such as she?
For some reason, Xia Lei, who had been staring dumbly at her fist, suddenly grabbed it.
¡°Mr Xia, you...¡± Beryl grew nervous immediately. She instinctively tried to retract her hand, but Xia Lei held her hand tight and she could not move it.
Not getting ady¡¯s consent before grabbing her hand was simply sexual harassment, or acting like a thug. However, this was just the beginning. While Beryl was all embarrassed and flustered, Xia Lei kissed her fist.
Thug Xia even extended his tongue and left a wet mark on Beryl¡¯s hand.
An embarrassed flush appeared on Beryl¡¯s face, and a sh of anger appeared in her blue eyes. What shamed her though, was that she had felt electricity go through her when Xia Lei licked her hand. That stinging, itching feeling made her body start some sort of chemical reaction in her.
¡°Oh, sorry, sorry.¡± Xia Lei released Beryl¡¯s hand, and his face filled with apology. ¡°I¡¯ve had too much to drink. It¡¯s the alcohol talking. Please forgive me, Miss Hattori. I did not do that on purpose.¡±
me it on alcohol.
Alcohol: You¡¯re ming me?
¡°It, It¡¯s okay.¡± Beryl went quiet very quickly, and a charming smile appeared on her face. ¡°Mr Xia, why don¡¯t we go back to your room to talk? You¡¯re a little drunk, so you will feel better after you¡¯ve had a shower. I will wait for you.¡±
¡°Ah, that¡¯s not very nice of me though.¡±
¡°It¡¯s okay, really.¡±
¡°Okay then. We¡¯ll go to my room and talk.¡± Xia Lei stood, but was unsteady. He swayed on his feet, and leaned in the direction of Beryl.
¡°Be careful, Mr Xia.¡± Beryl quickly reached out to support Xia Lei, but she did not ount for Xia Lei¡¯s weight and his determination to fall.
A secondter, Xia Lei¡¯s upper body was pressed to Beryl¡¯s embrace. His face was stuck to her face, and one hand of his was on hers while the other was on a certain ball-shaped thing. What met his grip was a softness with amazing bounce, and a fragrance with filled his nostrils. A man would never tire of groping these babies.
¡°Mr Xia...¡± Beryl was not in a good situation. She tried her best to push Xia Lei off of her, but her small bit of strength was not enough.
¡°Sorry, sorry. I didn¡¯t do that on purpose. I really shouldn¡¯t have drunk so much. I won¡¯t ever drink again...¡± Xia Lei mumbled, but that hand of his kept touching her.
No words could describe what Beryl felt at that moment. What she wanted to do most then, wasn¡¯t to reprimand Xia Lei but to get a knife and cut off that damn hand of his!
Xia Lei only crawled off of Beryl when he had enough of rubbing her the wrong way, and his hand was full up on happiness.
Xia Lei swayed on his feet again right after he stood up.
¡°No!¡± Beryl was even more nervous than Xia Lei. She got to her feet and grabbed Xia Lei around the waist, using her shoulder to support him and help him regain his bnce.
Xia Lei left with Beryl. He walked very slowly, but held Beryl very tight to him.
¡®Hattori Masao, you¡¯re even using your own daughter as bait to reel me in. Fine. Since you¡¯re so sincere, it will be impolite of me if I don¡¯t eat your bait.¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s pervy hand rubbed gently against Beryl¡¯s waist as he thought quiet thoughts to himself.
A hotel employee behind them looked suspiciously at Xia Lei¡¯s hand, which was quietly moving towards Beryl¡¯s round buttocks. The employee muttered, ¡°Pervert man! He¡¯s obviously not drunk but he¡¯s faking it. Despicable...¡±
They came to the door of his room, and the two French Special Forces soldiers stopped Beryl.
One soldier said, ¡°Who is she, Mr Xia?¡±
¡°My friend,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°She¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll take responsibility if something happens.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do a check.¡± The Special Forces soldier used a scanning device to sweep Beryl¡¯s body.
The scanner beeped with warning when it went over Beryl¡¯s LV bag.
¡°What is in the bag, Miss?¡± said the soldier warily.
¡°I... don¡¯t know.¡± Beryl looked a little nervous.
¡°Open the bag.¡± The soldier¡¯s tone turned stern.
Beryl opened her LV bag. There were no weapons in her bag, just lipstick, mascara, tissues, and feminine stuff.
The soldier looked them over. ¡°Apologies. You may go in.¡±
The other soldier said, ¡°Mr Xia, would we need to inform Miss Jacqueline Eva?¡±
¡°No need. I will tell her,¡± said Xia Lei.
Beryl followed Xia Lei into the room.
The soldiers at the door exchanged nces and smiled. What else could it be when a man leads a woman into a hotel room?
¡°Mr Xia, the French government is really taking good care of you,¡± said Beryl after she entered the room. ¡°I almost thought that you were the leader of some country when I stepped out of the lift.¡±
¡°Heh heh...¡± Xia Leiughed as he looked at Beryl, acting like he was slow.
¡°Go take a shower. You¡¯ll feel better after one,¡± said Beryl.
¡°I¡¯ll go take a shower then.¡± Xia Lei turned to the bathroom.
¡°Wait, aren¡¯t you going to take your clothes off?¡± Beryl moved close to him before he could speak, and reached out to help him remove his clothes.
¡°This is... um, embarrassing.¡± Xia Lei looked very awkward, but he did not object to the mixed-blood woman undressing him.
Beryl helped Xia Lei out of his suit and shirt.
Xia Lei took off his socks and went into the bathroom.
The sound of sshing water came from the bathroom.
Beryl waited for a bit, then quietly picked up Xia Lei¡¯s clothing and started going through his clothing.
In the shower, Xia Lei let out a sigh. ¡®You¡¯re too anxious. Going straight to it without any forey? I really want to tell you that what you¡¯re looking for is in my trousers pocket. Didn¡¯t you discover it when you were helping me take my trousers off?¡¯
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Chapter 727
Beryl took out a thing from his trouser pocket, and she clenched her jaw and red as she looked at it. She looked like she wanted to tear that thing to pieces.
Xia Lei had actually put a condom in his trouser pocket.
What sort of man would put a condom in his pocket?
¡°Despicable! Shameless! Pervert! Pig!¡± Beryl spewed a chain of insults.
Xia Lei looked through the bathroom door and watched the mixed-blood woman curse him angrily. He felt like shoving something into her mouth.
Beryl¡¯s gaze went to Xia Lei¡¯s trousers. She picked his trousers up and searched.
Xia Lei had a wallet in his trousers, and a mobile phone.
Beryl tried to unlock the phone screen and didn¡¯t dare to keep going after failing to unlock it twice. She opened up Xia Lei¡¯s wallet.
There were a few gold cards in the wallet, and a round metal tube. The tube was about the size of a pen, small and finely-made. One end of the metal tube was sealed and it was covered on the other. It looked like a container.
Beryl nced warily at the bathroom door, then quickly opened the cover of the tube. There was a curled up paper message in the metal tube. She opened up the message and read what was on it.
¡°Mr A, I¡¯vee to an agreement with the Japanese. I¡¯m giving them the Thunder Dragon Intelligentthe, Gust assault rifle, XL2500 sniper rifle and Hellhound technologies and they are giving me their AI technology in exchange. This includes the technology for neuralworks. This technology can make radar even more advanced, and it can even be used offensively in cyber warfare. With this technology, our air defensework will be better and our cyber strength much increased. The Japanese think they have struck it rich, but they do not know that they are stupid pigs. They think that the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe is my best technology but they do not know that it has long been abandoned by me. I have started n X, and soon it will be released into the world and shock everyone. So Mr A, I have used the technology I¡¯ve given up on to exchange it for the technology we need. This is a worthwhile exchange. Please await my good news.¡±
The note was written entirely in Chinese but Beryl finished reading it quickly. She was apparently fluent in Chinese.
¡°Who is Mr A? This looks like information that he wants to send out somewhere. The world¡¯s most advanced intelligentthe is actually a technology which he has abandoned... Just what is his n X? This is too terrifying...¡± Beryl¡¯s was shellshocked.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing in the bathroom.
Mr A? n X? They were fake, of course. The metal tube and the message in it had been specially prepared for Beryl.
¡°Miss Hattori, could you help fetch a towel for me? I forgot to take one in. It¡¯s in the wardrobe,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice gave Beryl a fright, and she hurriedly rolled the paper back up again and shoved it in the metal tube before she put it back in Xia Lei¡¯s trousers.
¡°Miss Hattori?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice came from the bathroom again.
¡°Yes, okay, I¡¯ll get it for you right now.¡± Beryl came to her senses and quickly put Xia Lei¡¯s trousers back in their original spot, then took a towel from the wardrobe and brought it to Xia Lei.
Knock knock. Beryl knocked gently on the fogged-up ss door.
Xia Lei pulled the door open a little and reached his hand out.
Beryl put the towel in Xia Lei¡¯s hand, and just as she was about to retract her hand, Xia Lei grabbed it.
¡°You...¡± Beryl was immediately nervous.
Xia Lei tugged, and he pulled Beryl into the bathroom.
It was misty with heat in the bathroom, and the man hidden in the fog was like a merman from the depths of the ocean world. His body was as perfect as can be, and even the pickiest woman would not be able to find fault with it. Beryl disliked this Chinese man very much but she was still unable to avoid being attracted to his body.
While Beryl was spaced out, Xia Lei suddenly put his arms around her and kissed her cherry lips.
¡°Mmph!¡± Beryl twisted her head aside to avoid the kiss and said angrily, ¡°Bastard! What do you think you¡¯re doing!¡±
Displeasure shed in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, and he kissed her again.
Beryl pushed Xia Lei aside violently and cursed at him. ¡°You thug! Who do you think you are? A king? You think you get to bed whoever you want? You think you¡¯re so great?¡±
Xia Leiughed all of a sudden and shrugged. ¡°Well said. Are you done cursing me?¡±
Beryl stopped, but she was quietly scolding herself. She hade on her father¡¯s orders but she had lost control of her emotions. She started to worry that she had angered Xia Lei. If she had, then how was she toplete her taskter? She started to regret it when she thought of that and stood staring nkly in front of Xia Lei. Her thoughts were a mess.
She could not actually be med for this. Xia Lei had pulled her into the bathroom all of a sudden and he was in a state of having just showered too. She had already been very in control of herself to have not screamed for help.
¡°Leave if you¡¯re done cursing,¡± said Xia Lei softly.
¡°Mr Xia, I...¡± Beryl was panicky.
¡°No need to exin yourself,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°It was my bad. I was mistaken. You came to the hotel looking for me, and told me to take a shower. I thought you liked me. I actually quite like you too, so I couldn¡¯t help myself earlier and wanted to be intimate with you. I didn¡¯t expect that you don¡¯t like me at all. What are you doing in my room if you don¡¯t like me, then? And why tell me to shower?¡±
Sometimes when a woman told a man to get a shower, it was a hint that she wanted to be bedded.
¡°Mr Xia, I¡¯m sorry.¡±
¡°No need to apologise to me. Please leave.¡± Xia Lei reached for the towel, which had dropped to the floor, and put it around his waist.
Beryl hesitated. ¡°I actually came to ask about when we would make the exchange. Since we are making the exchange, we should set a ce and time for it to happen. I didn¡¯t think that you would be mistaken about it. I am really sorry.¡±
¡°Exchange? There is no more exchange.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s expression soured. ¡°I¡¯ve found that my view of you Japanese was wrong. You Japanese only respect those who have subdued you in the past, like the Americans. You Japanese look down on us Chinese with every fibre of your being, and nothing we do will ever change this. Since this is the case, why should I make the exchange with you? You guys go ahead with your own advancements and we move on with ours. We have nothing to do with each other. I do not believe that we cannot surpass you.¡±
Beryl became anxious. ¡°It¡¯s not like that, Mr Xia. You¡¯re mistaken, really. I have no intention of looking down on the Chinese. I... I apologise.¡± She bowed deeply to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked past her.
¡°Mr Xia?¡± Beryl¡¯s insides felt all twisted up. Would she have this much trouble now if she had not been so haughty?
¡°Have you apologised for World War II yet? What about an apology for the Nanking Massacre? Japan has not apologised for such big events yet, and have been dragging it out. Would I even care about an apology from you? Leave. We have nothing to talk about.¡±
¡°The exchange...¡±
¡°There is no exchange.¡± Xia Lei was firm.
¡°It¡¯s an exchange which is mutually beneficial. Are you going to call it off just because I rejected you?¡± Beryl was getting angry too.
¡°Only I have my technologies, and I shall exchange it with whomever I want. Would I die if I don¡¯t make an exchange with you Japanese? Don¡¯t think that I really am interested in your AI technology ¡ª I am actually interested in you. What I don¡¯t understand is, you¡¯re a high-level employee at Lockheed Martin, but you are working for the Japanese government too. Just who are you? Do you have some sort of unspeakable motive in approaching me?¡± Xia Lei looked straight at Beryl. His eyes seemed to bore into her core.
¡°No, no, I have no other motive. I am Japanese. I just want my country to get stronger. I am not an industrial spy. I am just an employee of Lockheed Martin, and it¡¯s just a job to me. In fact, Lockheed Martin only gave me the position because of my father. Lockheed Martin has a high sales volume in Japan. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying now?¡± Beryl braced herself and met Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
¡°I don¡¯t want to hear exnations from you. Leave. If you¡¯re not going to go, then I¡¯ll call men in to remove you.¡± Xia Lei was unreasonable.
Beryl thought that things would be soothed over with her exnation, but she did not expect that Xia Lei did not even want to listen to her and was asking her to leave instead. If she left, then her father¡¯s ns, and Gu Kewen¡¯s ns would all fall through! In that moment, she wanted very much to p herself for her earlier arrogance.
¡°Forget it. I¡¯ll call the French in. They will escort you out of the hotel.¡± Xia Lei walked towards the door.
¡°Mr Xia, wait...¡±
Xia Lei looked back, just a nce, and he paused.
Beryl¡¯s ck evening dress had slipped from her shoulders, and a beautifulndscape was exposed to the air. Her skin was like the purest snow of spring in March, a delicate white so fine that it seemed sunlight would melt it all away. Her body was generous where it should be and perky where it should be. Her shrubbery had been carefully trimmed too, and it looked particrly high-end in that light.
What was most eye-catching was the tattoo of a female ninja and a white tiger all over her lower abdomen and one side of her hips. This tattoo made the seemingly quiet her look more soldierly.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei put on an act. ¡°Do you take me for a man with loose morals?¡±
Beryl felt like lunging at him and scratching furrows into his face at those words. This impulse, however, was only thought of but not acted upon. She bit her lip in the face of his ridicule, then walked towards Xia Lei. ¡°I actually like you a lot too. I just think that it¡¯s going too quickly. But if you want me, I won¡¯t refuse you.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone had softened, and taken on an edge of desire.
¡®Pervert! I¡¯ll kill you after the exchange is done!¡¯ thought Beryl. She put a mesmerising smile on her face. ¡°Of course. You are the most exceptional man I¡¯ve seen.¡±
¡°You are so beautiful. You¡¯re the most beautiful woman I¡¯ve seen.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s face was that of a big pervert.
Beryl suddenly reached out a hand and removed Xia Lei¡¯s bath towel...
Xia Lei shut his eyes.
It was not time to think about exchanges now, but time to enjoy the happiness of being a man.
Everything was in his control.
Was what was happening right now superfluous?
No, not one bit.
This mixed-blood woman before him was bait set by Hattori Masao to reel him in. It would be a waste not to eat this bait when he was going to get on the hook anyway. His opponent this time was not just Hattori Masao but Gu Kewen too, and Gu Kewen had two big organisations behind her ¡ª the CIA and the FA. He could not afford to make a single mistake!
¡°Mr Xia, about the exchange...?¡±
¡°It¡¯s no problem at all. The exchange will happen at whatever time you call for it, and be at whichever ce you want it to be.¡± Xia Lei was already in a state where he was thinking with his lower body.
A sneer appeared in the corners of Beryl¡¯s mouth...
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Chapter 728
The light of dawn chased the darkness away, and the golden rays brought warmth.
Xia Lei had awakened before dawn but he stilly in bed feigning sleep. He was very sure that Beryl, who was next to him in bed, was also awake and pretending to be asleep.
One bed, two people pretending to be asleep. This was quite amusing.
¡®The next step is for her to tell her father, Hattori Masao, that I have fallen for her, huh? She will tell him what she read in the message. Hattori Masao and Gu Kewen won¡¯t find any Mr A at all because he doesn¡¯t exist. But, they will be sure to wrack their brains over n X. This fictional n will spur them into action. Hattori Masao is aiming for my technology and Gu Kewen is aiming for me... So, where are they nning to capture me at?¡¯ Xia Lei pondered this question, wondering about Hattori Masao and Gu Kewen¡¯s ns, and thinking up countermeasures.
¡°Are you awake, babe?¡± said Xia Lei gently into her ear.
Beryl froze reflexively. She clenched her jaw, afraid to make a sound.
¡°Are you awake, babe?¡± Xia Lei breathed a warm breath into her ear.
She could not pretend to sleep any longer. Beryl did not open her mouth to speak, but she made a small little ¡°mm¡± in response.
¡°I¡¯m in pain,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Beryl paused. She thought it strange. ¡°Why?¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°It was love at first sight for me. I actually used the deal between your father and myselfst night to force you into... I¡¯m a beast. I am full of shame now. I wish nothing more than to...¡±
¡°Than to... do what?¡± Beryl turned around to face Xia Lei. She was curious about why Xia Lei reacted this way, and she quite liked him saying all of these things.
There was only one type of woman who did not like to hear sweet words, and that¡¯s a woman who has lost hearing in both ears.
¡°I want to p myself.¡± Xia Lei really did reach out a hand to hit himself on his face. He did not use real strength to do it, but the smacking sound was real.
Beryl caught Xia Lei¡¯s hand and said in fake concern, ¡°Don¡¯t be like this. I was a little angry yesterday, but afterst night I¡¯m not angry anymore. You are the sort of man I want.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
¡°Really.¡± Beryl looked at Xia Lei with earnest eyes, and it was like the word ¡®truth¡¯ was etched on her forehead.
¡°I love you,¡± said Xia Lei with feeling.
¡°Me too, I...¡± Beryl wanted to say that she loved him too, but the words wouldn¡¯te out. She was disgusted.
She could not say it. Xia Lei did not give her a chance to say it either. While she was hesitating and wondering if she should force herself to say ¡°I love you¡±, Xia Lei¡¯s lips closed on her lips and he reached his tongue into her mouth. She struggled for a bit, wanting to push this man away, but it was as if this man was the master of her body. She was not familiar with the pathway to pleasure herself, but in that move, she was...
The woman¡¯s head was cleared of thoughts very soon.
It was like her body had fallen into a swamp, and she fell deeper the more she struggled.
Xia Lei walked Beryl to the underground carpark after they had breakfast. Beryl¡¯s car was a supercar ¡ª a Bugatti Veyron Supersport. This car went for 2.6 million US dors and was truly a top-line luxury car.
This supercar also made Xia Lei think. ¡®With what Beryl is earning at Lockheed Martin, she definitely can¡¯t afford this supercar. Her family must be abnormally wealthy for her to be driving a car like this. Hattori Masao is a captain of the Japanesend defence forces, and it is not a very highly-paid job either. Could her family in Japan be super wealthy?¡¯
¡°Okay, I¡¯ve got to get going.¡± Beryl opened the car door.
Xia Lei put his thoughts away and put gentle arms around her waist as he kissed her. ¡°Drive safe. Send my greetings to your father.¡±
¡°Mm, I will.¡± Beryl put a sweet smile on her face. ¡°Let¡¯s have dinner together tonight. I¡¯d like to make our rtionship known to my father. He will be happy.¡±
¡°So soon?¡± Xia Lei looked surprised.
The corners of Beryl¡¯s mouth turned down. ¡°What, are you tired of me already? We Japanese are efficient and we don¡¯t like to drag things out.¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s not that. I just don¡¯t know what gifts I should buy,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°My father likes red wine. You can just buy two bottles of red wine,¡± said Beryl.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Okay then. Where shall we meet tonight?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t go back to the hotel after the end of the exhibition in the afternoon. Come to the Lockheed Martin booth to look for me and we¡¯ll go over together.¡±
¡°Do you have property in Paris?¡±
¡°Mm-hmm, it¡¯s on the banks of the Seine. It¡¯s very beautiful. You¡¯ll like the ce. Okay, I¡¯ve got to go. See youter.¡± Beryl got in the car, started the engine, and drove off.
Xia Lei watched her leave and he took out his satellite phone to dial a number when she¡¯d gotten some distance away.
The call connected. ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Help me look up Hattori Masao¡¯s assets in Japan. Oh, and the property owned by either Beryl or Hattori Masao in Paris.¡±
¡°Got it.¡± It was Amanda¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei hung up, then left the underground carpark. He¡¯d just walked out of the carpark when he spotted Jacqueline Eva. She looked calm, but there was dissatisfaction in her eyes.
Xia Lei knew why she was unhappy. He walked towards her and said with a smile, ¡°Morning, Eva. How goes your preparations?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not in charge of that. Someone will prepare it. How about your preparations?¡± asked Jacqueline Eva.
¡°I¡¯ve made a call back to China. My employees and engineers have already started work on it. The first shipment will arrive in France in a month,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s quicker than I¡¯d expected.¡±
¡°Of course. I estimate that it won¡¯t take more than three months toplete the entire process,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°So, you have to remind your people to prepare the things they should be giving to me. Also, don¡¯t think of trying to fool us. I will not be the one to assess what you are giving to us. We have a professional team who will be receiving the goods, and they will verify if the technology you¡¯re giving us is authentic.¡±
¡°Something like that won¡¯t happen,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
¡°Good.¡±
¡°Last night...¡± Jacqueline Eva changed the topic. ¡°My men said that you brought a woman back. I checked the surveince footage and saw that it was Beryl.¡±
¡°Mm, yes.¡± Xia Lei felt a little awkward. There was no need for him to exin anything to Jacqueline Eva, and he knew that their rtionship was one of mutual benefit, where they were just using each other, but they were still people who had had sex with each other. There was no helping that bit of awkwardness when it came to feelings.
¡°She¡¯s no simple woman. And her father is a captain of the self defence force too. You are a Chinese citizen too, so aren¡¯t you afraid of attracting trouble by associating yourself with her?¡±
Xia Lei could hear that she was a little worried about him and Beryl dating. Whether it was her personal concern, or if it was because of his agreement with France, he was still a little touched by her show of concern.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei gave her a smile. ¡°I know what I¡¯m doing. No need to worry, I¡¯m just ying around. I won¡¯t get in any trouble.¡±
Jacqueline Eva smiled faintly. ¡°That¡¯s good. Just y around, and don¡¯t take it seriously. Men fall for the wiles of women most easily. Also, if you want to fuck her, it¡¯s best if you do it in this hotel. I can¡¯t protect you if you¡¯re not in this hotel.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I got it. Thanks.¡±
However, he could tell that Jacqueline Eva¡¯s concern for him was out of concern for the deal he had with France, not out of that of a lover. Jacqueline Eva had approached him on orders in the beginning, and seduced him for the sake of his technologies, not for his person. Him bedding her was just to let the agreement progress more quickly and have some fun while he was at it. There was nothing more outside of that.
¡°I¡¯ll give you a lift to the exhibition centre.¡± Jacqueline Eva seemed not to want to talk about Beryl anymore.
¡°Mm, then let¡¯s get going.¡± Xia Lei agreed readily.
Jacqueline Eva dropped him off, and drove away.
¡®Her job is done, so our rtionship should be over,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
A clean break when things should end was best. Loose ends would just end in trouble.
Amanda called while he was walking towards the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s exhibition booth.
¡°I got the info, Boss.¡±
Xia Lei was a little surprised. ¡°So quickly? Tell me.¡±
¡°Hattori Masao¡¯s family is no ordinary family. The Hattori family was very active during the Meiji Restoration, and they were the first family to adapt foreign science and technology too. The family grew rapidly in power during that time and amassed a huge sum of money. The family disappeared for a while during World War II, but they showed up again when the war was over and became an important force during the Japanese Revival period. The Hattori family went into the military, political and business sectors, and their influence is great. What I¡¯ve found so far is that the Hattori family has apany in Japan called V Science Corp. It¡¯s chaired by Hattori Masao¡¯s wife, Ameris.¡±
¡°V Science Corp? What is their main business?¡±
¡°Thispany has no obvious activity in the market. Maybe I just didn¡¯t manage to find anything, but my findings have turned up that thispany has lent assistance to a lot of scientists and privateboratories. Thispany also has its own privateboratory, and they research artificial intelligence.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped for some reason.
¡°And I found info on the Paris property belonging to the Hattori family. It¡¯s a vi on the south bank of the Seine River, in District Seven. It¡¯s not far from the Japanese embassy. Beryl is the owner of this property.¡±
¡°Keep looking into the Hattori family. Get our people to scout out that vi too, and get familiar with they of thend,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Roger.¡± Amanda hung up.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. That vi was probably where he was going tonight to meet his darling Mei tonight, wasn¡¯t it?
Chapter 729
Twilight covered the world, and the clouds in the sky looked like they were afire; it was spectacr.
A Bugatti Veyron Supersport supercar zoomed on the roads, catching the eyes of many. Beryl was driving. She wore sunsses, and she had a charismatic coolness. She was not just attractive because she was good-looking, but also because of her many charms. Xia Lei knew these charms, and he had experienced them all himself.
Xia Lei sat in the passenger seat, holding a high-end gift hamper in his hands. The hamper held two bottles of Roman¨¦e-Conti. This wine, aged five years, was worth 100,000 euros on the market. However, Xia Lei had got his people to buy these from Chinatown. These were fake, and only cost 50 euro each. This price was only because it was packaged nicely too. These fakes would probably go for 30 each if they were packaged normally.
Wine worth 100,000 euros for Hattori Masao? Ha! Xia Lei couldn¡¯t bear to drink such expensive alcohol himself, so why would he bear to buy such fine wine for Hattori Masao?
However, he was going to meet the father of his ¡°girlfriend¡±, so he needed to act the part. It was better to give him fake Roman¨¦e-Conti than to give him a Chinese Greatwall dry red wine or a Zhangyu Cabe Sauvignon worth some tens of yuan, right?
The Bugatti Veyron Supersport supercar quickly came to District Seven, and they followed the south bank of the River Seine. Beryl slowed down and nced at the high-end hamper in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°It looks nice. What wine did you buy?¡±
Xia Lei patted the hamper. ¡°Oh, nothing much. Just two bottles of Roman¨¦e-Conti.¡±
Beryl¡¯s face twitched. ¡°What year?¡±
¡°Aged ten years,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Beryl looked surprised. ¡°Roman¨¦e-Conti aged ten years cost hundreds of thousands per bottle. You... Why did you buy such an expensive gift?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s left hand left the hamper and went to Beryl¡¯s thigh. He put on an affectionate face as he enjoyed the feeling of her delicate skin under his hand. ¡°I am serious. I hope to leave a good impression on your father. I have to move your father first if I want to marry you.¡±
Beryl had bliss on her face, but she thought, ¡®You actually want to marry me? Dream on.¡¯
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something. ¡°Oh, right, who else will be there?¡±
¡°Just my father and his guards, then you and me. No others,¡± said Beryl.
¡°I don¡¯t know why but I¡¯m feeling a little nervous.¡±
¡°No need to be nervous. It¡¯s just a meeting, right? You¡¯ve already met.¡±
¡°That was not the same. I made your father unhappy thest time we met, and I regret it now that I remember it. Oh no, I¡¯m getting more nervous.¡±
¡°Would you like me to do a little something for you?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s hand slid soundlessly into her short skirt. ¡°I feel much better now.¡±
Beryl was speechless.
Deviant! Pervert! Beast! Pig! Thug...
Beryl shouted all of these insults in her head immediately. In reality, though, she epted the touch of Xia Lei¡¯s pervy hands docilely, and used the gentleness and obedience of a woman to satisfy this man. She was also unable to control the secretion of hormones, and that ce being vited was like a freshly-cooked abalone with sauce poured over it.
Xia Lei was like ascivious man-whore pervert with disgusting preferences in Beryl¡¯s eyes. This was actually the image that Xia Lei had done his best to create in her mind. Iit wouldn¡¯t be very natural if he acted all upright and unruffled, then get easily seduced into falling into their trap, right?
Ten minutester, a vi came into Xia Lei¡¯s sight. It was an ancient building in Gothic style and it looked like a castle from fairytales. A property like this on the riverfront would be impossible to get if one did not spend tens of millions of euros. This house added ayer of mystery to the Hattori family.
Beryl drove the car into the vi. Xia Lei got out of the car and followed her into the old building.
He stepped through the door and into arge hall with a very tall dome ceiling. There was also a very religious-looking mural and arge number of ck ornaments.
Hattori Masao was standing in the middle of the hall, and there was a veryplicated six-pointed star pattern beneath his feet. kc suit, imposing figure, expressionless face ¡ª the coldness of a soldier.
¡°We¡¯re here, Father,¡± said Beryl.
Hattori Masao did not speak. He looked icily at Xia Lei.
¡®This is such an act of hypocrisy,¡¯ thought Xia Lei scornfully, but he put a smile on his face. ¡°Good evening, Mr Hattori.¡±
Hattori Masao still did not speak.
Xia Lei did not know how to proceed with Hattori Masao acting like that. He stood still and did not move.
Beryl nudged Xia Lei in the arm and said a little shamefacedly, ¡°My father already knows about us. He¡¯s not happy.¡±
Even a blind man could tell that Hattori Masao was unhappy right then.
Xia Lei coughed awkwardly and walked over to Hattori Masao with the hamper in his hands. ¡°Mr Hattori... No, Uncle. I¡¯ve brought you two bottles of red wine. I hope you like them.¡±
¡°Father, Xia Lei bought you two bottles of Roman¨¦e-Conti, aged ten years. He¡¯s very sincere,¡± said Beryl.
Hattori Masao red at Beryl.
Beryl shut up.
A fierce military father and an adorable and weak-willed daughter. There was no question that this father-and-daughter pair was acting their roles out very well.
¡°Please ept my gift, Uncle.¡± Xia Lei acted all respectful.
Hattori Masao epted the hamper which Xia Lei had brought to him and a small smile finally appeared on his face. His words, however, were still harsh. ¡°Xia Lei, are you serious about my daughter?¡±
¡°Of course I am. I swear to the Heavens.¡± Xia Lei raised a hand, ready to swear.
Hattori Masao pressed Xia Lei¡¯s hand back down. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to swear anything. I don¡¯t believe in those. I did not think that you would be with my daughter. The affairs of you young people are not my concern, but remember this ¡ª I won¡¯t let you off if you are just ying around with my daughter!¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m not ying around. I am very serious about your daughter.¡± Xia Lei looked feelingly at Beryl. ¡°I fell deeply in love with Miss Beryl when I firstid eyes on her. I am very sure of what I want, and I can assure you that I will marry her. I must marry her. No one will be able to tear us apart, unless I¡¯m dead.¡±
¡°Enough. You can fool my daughter with those words. I am a man. I don¡¯t like to listen to sweet words like these,¡± said Hattori Masao.
Beryl seemed to rx. ¡°Dummy. Quick, thank my father. He¡¯s agreed.¡±
Xia Lei pretended to only just realise it and said, ¡°Thank you, Uncle. I won¡¯t disappoint you.¡±
¡°Would I have any other choice?¡± Hattori Masao red at Xia Lei. ¡°The two of you are already together, so it is no use if I object to it. Don¡¯t call her by her English name anymore. Call her by her Japanese name, Hattori Mei. This can be considered a sort of acknowledgement from our family.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°You twoe with me. Let¡¯s have dinner together.¡± Hattori Masao turned and walked to a corridor.
Beryl led Xia Lei into the corridor, behind Hattori Masao. Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he looked through the building before him. What he found strange was that the room ahead of them had nobody hidden in it. There was no Gu Kewen, no CIA, and no FA Organisation. This ce was miraculously quiet.
¡®This father-and-daughter duo lured me all the way out here to capture me in a trap, right? Have they changed their n?¡¯ Xia Lei was puzzled.
The three of them came to a dining room. There was a very long table in the dining room. The dining table had over a dozen exquisite dishes on it, and two decanters of red wine.
Xia Lei let out a silent breath of relief when he saw the decanters and the red wine in them. He wouldn¡¯t have any exnation for the problem with the vour of the red wine he¡¯d given him if he opened up the gift of red wine now.
Hattori Masao sat at the head of the table, and Xia Lei and Beryl sat on either side of him. The three of them then ate dinner in an awkward atmosphere.
Hattori Masai broke the silence. ¡°Xia Lei, I have a question for you. I¡¯m not sure if you will give me an answer.¡±
¡°What is your question? Please do ask, Uncle,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You are in the arms dealing industry in China, and you¡¯re also called the Father of Rifles and have had great honours bestowed on you. However, my daughter is Japanese, and the daughter of a Japanese military official, at that. With all the historic animosity between our two nations, aren¡¯t you worried about someone causing trouble for you when you return to China?¡±
¡°I¡¯m worried. Of course I¡¯m worried. But love should have no boundaries. I don¡¯t mind that Mei is Japanese, and I also don¡¯t mind that she is your daughter. I am not afraid of any trouble, and I will be able to ovee these troubles.¡±
¡°You¡¯re really not afraid?¡±
¡°Why should I be? I¡¯ll be frank with you, Uncle. My wealth does not lie in mypany but myself. I have the most advanced technologies, and I can close my military factory in China at any time and start anew in any ce in the world. The UAE, France, Germany, Italy, Argentina ¡ª anywhere I want to go.¡±
Hattori Masao and Hattori Mei could not help exchanging nces.
They seemed to exchange a silent message with their eyes.
Hattori Masao asked, ¡°Then have you considered Japan?¡±
¡°Japan? Well, I haven¡¯t considered it before, but I have Mei now. Why wouldn¡¯t I consider Japan?¡± Xia Lei spoke easily.
¡°Hehehe...¡± Hattori Masao could not help hisugh.
Hattori Mei stood and picked up the decanter to pour more wine into Xia Lei¡¯s ss. She seemed to have taken on the role of ¡°Xia Lei¡¯s woman¡±.
¡°Well said, Xia Lei. But can I believe you?¡± Hattori Masao looked straight at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei raised his hand. ¡°I swear to the Heavens...¡±
Hattori Masao interrupted Xia Lei. ¡°No, don¡¯t swear. I told you earlier that I don¡¯t believe in that. It¡¯s simple if you want to prove your sincerity towards my daughter.¡±
¡°How can I prove it?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Give me your technologies,¡± said Hattori Masao.
¡°You want the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, XL2500, Gust, and Hellhound technologies?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Hattori Masao nodded. ¡°Yes. I want them all. This is the only way for you to prove that you are being true to Mei.¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he opened his mouth and said, ¡°Then when are you giving me the AI technologies?¡±
¡°You...¡± Hattori Masao was rooted to the spot.
I let you bed my daughter, and we put on this act for so long, and now that we talk business you still want the AI technologies?!
Hattori Mei¡¯s expression darkened too.
Xia Lei was matter of fact. ¡°Love is love, and business is business. I am a man of principles. We have already reached a verbal agreement on this matter before, so we should follow through with the details of that agreement. You give me your AI technologies, and I give you my technologies.¡±
Hattori Mei and Hattori Masao couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces again.
If their nce could be put into words, it would probably say this ¡ª Why won¡¯t this shameless guy just drop dead!
Chapter 730
The best result for Hattori Masao was to have his daughter conquer Xia Lei, body and mind, and for them to get Thunder Horse Group¡¯s technologies without needing to hand over their AI technology. However, it now looked like this Chinese punk had been yed dumb to take advantage of them. He had bedded his daughter, and he wanted their AI technology too!
Hattori Masao wanted to fling all of the filthiest curses at Xia Lei, but what Xia Lei said had been right. Business was business, and love was love. Wouldn¡¯t he be alerting Xia Lei to this honeyed trap he¡¯d set if he used the rtionship between Xia Lei and Hattori Mei to get his hands on the technologies he wanted?
¡°It pains me, but what you say is right.¡± Hattori Masao held tight to the reins of his anger and deliberately kept his tone calm. ¡°All right, Xia Lei. I can trade our AI technology with you at any time. When can you give me what I want?¡±
¡°I¡¯m already prepared.¡± Xia Lei reached into his clothing and pulled out a USB stick. He put it on the table. ¡°This USB stick contains the relevant blueprints and control procedures. Follow this blueprint and you can build the XL2500 sniper rifle, Gust assault rifle, Hellhound production lines, and the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe too.¡±
Hattori Mei abruptly reached out to grab the USB stick on the table.
Xia Lei flicked his hand and had the USB stick in his grasp once again.
¡°You say that you love me and tell me sweet words.¡± Hattori Mei was angry atst. ¡°But I don¡¯t see an ounce of sincerity from you. You¡¯re lying to me. You¡¯re a liar!¡±
Xia Lei put on an innocent face. ¡°You wound my heart, Mei. I love you. I can swear to the Heavens that...¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Hattori Mei stabbed her dining knife into the table. ¡°What are you capable of other than swearing? I won¡¯t believe you again! You¡¯re breaking my heart!¡±
Xia Lei was not one bit angry. ¡°Mei, how do I know if you¡¯re not lying to me, then? How can I be sure that you and I are not together because of my technologies?¡±
Hattori Mei¡¯s mes of anger were doused, like a pail of water had been poured on it. It was only at this moment that she say her opponent clearly. This man had built his empire from scratch. He¡¯d used his own two hands to build Thunder Horse Group up. He was not just the Father of Rifles but also a fellow of the Academy of Science of China. Even Europe and America were jealous of the technologies he owned. Would a man like this be a fool who could have the wool pulled over his eyes after sleeping with him once?
¡°I¡¯ve told you that I am a man of principles. Business is business and love is love. Mei, I did not use our love to cheat you of the AI technology, did I?¡± Xia Lei looked at Hattori Masao next. ¡°Uncle, I did not ask this of you either, right? Why are you people linking love with business? Isn¡¯t this an affront to love?¡±
If there was a machine in the world which could stop time, then Hattori Masao wanted to use it then, and freeze that stupid face of Xia Lei¡¯s so he could stab his dining knife into his forehead. Maybe he would carve a turtle onto his forehead, or maybe a pile of shit.
¡°Ahem.¡± He wanted nothing more than to grind him under his shoe, but Hattori Masao put an amiable smile on his face. ¡°You are right, Xia Lei. Mei and I were too anxious. Since you¡¯re brought the blueprints over, then let¡¯s make exchange.¡± He stood. ¡°I will make a call to our engineers to get them toe here. We canplete the exchange once we confirm that what you have is genuine.¡±
¡°Where are your engineers, Uncle?¡± asked Xia Lei probingly.
¡°They are in the nearby hotel. They can be here in a few minutes.¡±
¡°Okay. Please tell them toe over,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hattori Masao left the dining room.
¡°How are you going to verify it?¡± asked Hattori Mei.
¡°I can assess it on my own,¡± said Xia Lei.
This was not a lie. AI technology was much moreplicated than intelligentthe technology, but some of the basics were the same. He was the world¡¯s best electrical engineer, and his brain could solve equations at the drop of a hat. How could he not be able to tell if the thing Hattori Masao was going to give him was real or fake?
Hattori Mei stared at Xia Lei, her gaze odd.
¡°Mei, why are you looking at me like that?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I suddenly remembered something you said.¡±
¡°What did I say?¡±
¡°You said that your wealthes not from yourpany but from yourself. I believe what you said. You are probably the smartest person I¡¯ve met in this world.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Everything I told you is true. You are just not willing to believe it.¡±
A sneer appeared in the corners of Hattori Mei¡¯s mouth. Xia Lei had not even let her touch the USB stick. Believe his pillow talk? When hell freezes over!
As she looked at the man before her, she couldn¡¯t help recalling the shameful things she¡¯d donest night to please him, and his perverted demands. Her heart filled with hate.
¡®Just you wait, you pervert! Sex maniac! Shameless pig! You¡¯ll go down to hell once this deal is done. I will make you kneel before me then, and you will lick the soles of my shoes clean!¡¯ thought Beryl heatedly.
Xia Lei pretended to be guilty and he avoided Hattori Mei¡¯s gaze. He turned his eyes to Hattori Masao¡¯s direction. His left eye twitched and the wall in the way disappeared soundlessly.
Hattori Masao was on the phone with someone in the room behind the wall.
He was speaking in Japanese, but that was not a setback for Xia Lei. He focused his left eye on Hattori Masao¡¯s lips and used lip-reading to decipher his conversation.
¡°That Chinese punk has put the blueprints and control procedures for the XL2500, Gust, Hellhound production lines, and Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, in a USB stick. You guys hurry over. I need you to verify if the contents of the USB stick is genuine.¡±
The lip-reading ability was a very useful ability, but it also had one obvious w ¡ª he could not lip-read the other end of the conversation over the phone.
¡°There is no need to inform the embassy! You guys remember that you belong to the Hattori family. You only need to do as I say, and not bother about other things. I will handle those myself. All right,e here immediately!¡± Hattori Masao hung up.
He had not been able to ¡°listen in¡± on the other end of the conversation but Xia Lei could guess at what had been said based on what Hattori Masao¡¯s end. The person on the other end of the line was possible a person working for the Hattori familypany, and had a high-ranking position. The person had asked if Hattori Masao wanted to notify the Japanese embassy and he had rejected the proposal. Hattori Masao¡¯s thoughts were as clear as day ¡ª he wanted to embezzle the technologies of Thunder Horse Group!
Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.
If the Hattori family got their hands on the technologies of Thunder Horse Group, with their wealth, resources and manpower, it would be a very probable thing for them to build a behemoth which could challenge Lockheed Martin!
¡®He¡¯s really nned it all out,¡¯ thought Xia Lei, and he scoffed to himself. ¡®But it¡¯s no use.¡¯
Hattori Masao would not be able to produce a single Gust assault rifle which would pass a quality check without Xia Lei¡¯s personally processed high-precision parts, even if he¡¯d given him all the blueprints and control procedures.
What had happened to the Germans was one such example. He had built the XL 2500 sniper rifle and Gust assault rifle production lines, and alsopleted the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, and he had made all of that scrap metal by just damaging a few core parts. The Germans had been unable to fix it with their expertise, so would the Japanese fare any better?
The Germans would never talk about something like this, though, so the Japanese would never know. If one thought about this exchange like a normal person, it looked like a one-time exchange because Xia Lei had brought the blueprints and the control procedures. The Japanese had confidence in building the machines from the blueprints, and then use those machines to create even more powerful weapons.
However, whether it was the Germans, the French or the Japanese now, they had all overlooked a very big problem, and that was that Xia Lei¡¯s greatest technology was not athe or any weapon, but his brain, his left eye and his two hands.
Hattori Masao stayed in the room for some dozens of seconds more, then picked up his phone again to dial a number.
Who was he calling?
Xia Lei abruptly thought of a person and his gaze focused on Hattori Masao¡¯s lips once again.
¡°It¡¯s me. He¡¯s in my home. The n is going smoothly, but your subordinates have to time your capture of him well... Why? My daughter got her hands on very important information. He has something called n X. I am guessing that it has something to do with Thunder Horse Group¡¯srge-scale expansion. I need some time to find out more about this n X... He¡¯s very cunning? I know he¡¯s cunning, but it is no use even if he is the most cunning fox on Earth. He is here, and I can take him down at any time.¡±
Xia Lei had been guessing that it was Gu Kewen, and Hattori Masao¡¯s end of the conversation confirmed it.
¡°How much time?¡± Hattori Masao looked at the watch on his wrist. ¡°I estimate six hours from now. You cane take him away in six hours, regardless of whether I¡¯ve found out more about n X... I am not negotiating with you. I will definitely not change any... You and your men had better not spoil my n. That¡¯s it, then. Six hours. Not one minute earlier.¡±
Hattori Masao hung up.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye.
Gu Kewen was close by, waiting to dash in and capture him at any time. The non-existent n X, however, made Hattori Masao push this n of hers back by six hours. He was firm about it too, and not one minute earlier.
¡®Six hours. The exchange would have been longplete by then. What method will he use to pry the secret of n X from my lips, then?¡¯ Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help thinking.
Hattori Masao returned to the dining room. ¡°Come with me to the study, Xia Lei. Our experts are almost here.¡±
Xia Lei stood up with a smile on his face. ¡°No problem, Uncle. I¡¯ll do as you¡¯ve arranged.¡±
¡°Hold on,¡± said Hattori Mei.
¡°What is it?¡± asked Xia Lei, puzzled.
Hattori Mei went around the table and to Xia Lei¡¯s side. She said sweetly, ¡°The corner of your mouth is a little dirty. I don¡¯t want outsiders to say that I don¡¯t know how to take care of my man.¡± She dabbed delicately at Xia Lei¡¯s mouth with the napkin as she spoke with a voice so tender it could melt a man into a puddle.
Japanese women really were gentle.
Chapter 731
¡°Can you two not be all lovey-dovey in front of me?¡± Hattori Masao had a smile on his face. ¡°You will have all the time to be together when the deal is done.¡±
Hattori Mei said poutily, ¡°Xia Lei is bullying me and you are making fun of me too, Father. Oh, poor me.¡±
The father and daughter¡¯s conversation was fairly familial, and warm.
Xia Lei went up to the second floor with the father-and-daughter pair, and came to a study. This was a veryrge study with several bookshelves full of books. There was also a quiet ce to sit alone and think in the study, and there was a futon in that spot. The wall behind the futon held an ancient painting of a samurai, looking brave. There was a Japanese name in the bottom right corner of the painting ¡ª Hattori Hanzo.
Under the painting was a ritual table with an incense burner and a sword stand on it. The sword stand held a sheathed samurai sword.
What caught Xia Lei¡¯s attention, however, was that painting.
Hattori Hanzo was a legendary warrior of Japan, and was honoured as a thief who robbed the rich to give to the poor. He was held in high regard by the Japanese people.
¡®Could the Hattori family be descendants of Hattori Hanzo? If that¡¯s the case, then they really are an ancient noble n,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei, I only told you because I see you as family.¡± Hattori Masao pointed at the painting on the wall and said, ¡°Hattori Hanzo is an ancestor of our family. We, the Hattoris, still have the spirit of the samurai.¡±
So they really were the descendants of Hattori Hanzo.
¡°I¡¯m not very knowledgeable about Japanese history, but I know that Hattori Hanzo was an incredible ninja warrior. Does Japan still have ninjas?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°China is also well known for its kung-fu. Does modern China still have real kung-fu?¡± said Hattori Masao.
Xia Lei smiled. China¡¯s martial arts had always existed, and he was an expert in Wingchun. There was also the techniques of the Tang Sect which were very real indeed, and each member of the Tang n was an embodiment of these techniques. However, it was fairly uncertain if ninjas truly existed in Japan. Looking at Hattori Masao¡¯s tone and his attitude, however, it seemed that Japanese ninjas did still exist.
¡®Does this mean that there are ninjas in the Hattori family? I¡¯d have to be more careful and not underestimate them.¡¯ Xia Lei grew more wary.
They chatted a little more and three Japanese people came to the study a few minutester.
One was a man of about 60, and the other two were younger, but looked at least 40 or 50. These three all wore spectacles, were thin, and, at first nce, looked like scientific researchers who neglected to exercise their bodies.
Hattori Masao did the introductions for the three Japanese men. The eldest one was Kakuko Noke, and the others were Okayama Kazuo and Asaginu Zaburou. Hattori Masao said they were engineers from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries but Xia Lei already knew that these three were the Hattori family¡¯s men. Since Hattori Masao imed that they were from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, then they were ¡ª Xia Lei could not be bothered to uncover Hattori Masao¡¯s lies.
¡°Please hand me the item, Mr Xia.¡± The eldest, Kakuko Noke, did not want to waste any time.
Xia Lei did not move. He nced at Hattori Masao.
¡°Ah, I almost forgot. I¡¯ll give it to you right away.¡± Hattori Masao walked to the desk and opened a drawer. There was a German-made safe in the drawer. He opened the safe, and took out arge bundle of drawings and information.
This was Hattori Masao¡¯s AI technology?
Xia Lei eyeballed the bundle of drawings and information ¡ª it looked like there were at least 500 pages, and weighed about five kilograms.
¡°I thought your AI technology would be saved on theputer. Why is it all in drawings and papers?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Time was tight. I had no time to get these drawings and information sorted into electronic copies to give to you. But believe me, these things are the best of the world¡¯s AI technology. There are automated robot technology production lines in here, and even more advanced AI robotics. This also includes the neuralwork technology you want.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. It was not going to be easy for him to sort through so many drawings and information.
Asaginu Zaburou said, ¡°Xia Lei, robots are already able to have rtionships with humans in Japan. This is thanks to the sess of our neuralwork technology, where it mimics the human brain to arge degree. These drawings and information are our greatest treasure. Bring them back with you, and you can get the AI technology.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the safe in the drawer under the desk. He immediately spotted a Toshiba SSD. He could not see the data on the SSD with his X-ray vision, but he could guess what was on that SSD.
¡°You are right, Asaginu.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°But how can there be no programs for AI technology? There must be a hard drive in that safe that contains the rted programs, right? Hand it to me, please. How else can we make the exchange?¡±
Hattori Mei nced at Hattori Masao.
¡°Heh heh. I almost forgot. There is indeed an SSD. I can give it to you.¡± Hattori Masao agreed readily, and took out the SSD from the safe. He put it on the thick bundle of drawings and paper.
Xia Lei gave his USB sh drive to Hattori Masao only then, and he walked to theputer on the desk to check what was on the sh drive.
Hattori Masao handed the drive to Kakuko Noke, and he used his own notebookputer which he had brought and went to work.
¡°Father, why did you give him that SSD?¡± Hattori Mei had pulled Hattori Masao to the back of a bookshelf. She spoke quietly, ¡°That SSD contains the fruit of the hardbour that V Science Corp had put in for the past few years. The things on that drive represent the most advanced of AI technology in the world now.¡±
Hattori Masao was calm. ¡°It¡¯s AI technology which cannot be realised. Most of it is hypotheses and theories. Not much of it is practically applicable. Besides, so what if I give it to him? He can¡¯t walk out of here. This ce is the end for him. It doesn¡¯t matter what he sees.¡±
¡°Are the CIA reallying?¡±
¡°In six hours. Wait for our people to confirm the contents of that sh drive, and you take him to your room. You need to get information about n X out of him.¡±
Hattori Mei nodded.
Hattori Masao patted her on the shoulder. ¡°Good work.¡±
¡°I am willing to do anything for the Hattori family,¡± said Hattori Mei softly.
Hattori Masao sighed. ¡°If only your younger brother were aspliant as you. That rascal hurts my heart.¡±
¡°Tsukijin will be the one to inherit the family business. Give him more time and he will be more mature.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t talk about it. Go see what that Chinese fellow is up to,¡± said Hattori Masao.
Hattori Mei gave a small grunt of agreement, then walked out from behind the bookshelf to go to Xia Lei¡¯s back.
Xia Lei did not seem to have sensed Hattori Mei¡¯s approach. He was staring, focused on the information on theputer screen. The information being disyed was a very foreign thing to him ¡ª it was his first timeing into contact with advanced AI after all.
Under normal circumstances, a personing into contact with foreign knowledge, and knowledge which was veryplicated at that, would feel like he was reading aliennguage and not be able to understand anything at all.
But Xia Lei was special.
His left eye worked like a camera, grabbing all the information he saw on the screen and reeling it in to his brain. His brain worked at the same time to handle this information, analysing, calcting, answering and so on. It was working so quickly it was just like a supeputer!
He had indeed not had exposure to highly-advanced technologies like AI before, but his brain held a great store of knowledge of the basics such as programming, mathematics, physics, chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering, and so on. No matter how advanced the technology was, it was still built upon these basics. With a practically perfect foundation to build his pyramid of knowledge, it was not very difficult at all for him to understand and interpret a highly-advanced technology.
He looked very quiet on the surface but his brain was moving like a ship in space, at the speed of light. It was working extremely fast, so fast that words could not describe it. All the basic knowledge he had amassed so far kept shing through his head, continuouslybining and transforming, then being applied to the contents of the SSD, analysing and interpreting it. One result after another formed in his brain, bing a part of the ¡®warehouse¡¯ in his brain.
¡°It¡¯s a mistake and there is still no solution to the problem... Hm, did a simple problem like this stump the Japanese? But it is already very impressive that they could research it to this degree. The advancement of the Japanese after the war was no coincidence... Another mistake again... Solved...¡± Xia Lei waspletely absorbed in the contents of the SSD, and he¡¯d forgotten about everything around him.
Hattori Mei¡¯s lips moved but she did not speak in the end. The was not because she could not bear to interrupt Xia Lei, but because she was trying to guess at what Xia Lei was doing.
¡®This guy is so serious. He¡¯s not even blinking. Can he understand it? Impossible. These are things that are the result of thebined research of dozens of V Science Corp senior software engineers, microelectronic engineers and precision mechanical engineers, over the span of a few years. How can a gun-maker like him understand these? He must be pretending, and trying to test Father to see if the information he¡¯s given him is genuine. But never mind, these are thest few hours of your life. It is meaningless even if you know that this is all real...¡¯ These were the thoughts of Hattori Mei. She did not believe, not one bit, that Xia Lei understood what was on the SSD.
Kakuko Noke and the other two elite engineers were busy on their end too.
The contents of the sh drive Xia Lei had given them were being disyed on the screen of the notebookputer and they were discussing and analysing it as they read.
¡°H, How is this possible?¡± Kakuko Noke¡¯s voice was filled with surprise.
¡°What is it?¡± Hattori Masao¡¯s face sank. ¡°Is it fake?¡±
¡°No!¡± said Kakuko Noke. ¡°It¡¯s real. I just can¡¯t believe that China¡¯sthes have already reached this degree of advancement. The current most advanced intelligentthes in the world are from America and Germany, but from what we see here, China¡¯s Thunder Dragon intelligentthe is at least 20 years ahead of America and Germany! If this intelligentthe can be used widely and put in use in China¡¯s manufacturing industry, China¡¯s manufacturing industry would catch up, or even surpass Europe, America and us in under ten years!¡±
Lathes were not the whole of manufacturing, but they were like the engine of manufacturing. If there were no precision parts made bythes, there would be no way to make good production equipment. Without good production equipment, then how would they be able to produce high-quality products?
Kakuko Noke¡¯s words made Hattori Masao¡¯s spirits sink. He couldn¡¯t help looking at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei stayed focused on the screen of theputer.
Hattori Masao looked away. ¡°Tell me, will we be able to build the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe if we follow the blueprints?¡±
¡°We should,¡± said Kakuko Noke.
Hattori Masao gave a small nod. ¡°Keep reading.¡±
Just then, Xia Lei looked away from theputer screen and began flipping through therge stack of drawings and information.
He had to store all of the drawings and information into the ¡®warehouse¡¯ of his brain before the three engineers were done looking at the information he had given them.
Time was tight, but this was just a small matter to him.
Tick, tick, tick, went the clock...
Chapter 732
Three hours passed.
Kakuko Noke shut his notebookputer and removed the USB sh drive. He handed it to Hattori Masao.
¡°No problems?¡± asked Hattori Masao.
Kakuko Noke nodded. ¡°No problems.¡±
¡°You¡¯re certain?¡±
¡°I am.¡± Kakuko Noke nodded again.
Hattori Masao smiled, and he rxed. He was delighted. He walked towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had flipped through all of the drawings and information by then too.
He had actually stored all the information on the SSD and on the papers in his brain¡¯s ¡°warehouse¡± half an hour ago. He had used this half an hour to look through all of the information again to make sure that he had left nothing out.
However, no one knew that he had already looked through everything twice, and that he had memorised everything, even the punctuation!
In the eyes of the Japanese, Xia Lei was like a child, flipping through all that information and drawings and not reading them properly through all the fluttering of pages. Would they have believed that he had read everything through twice when they were seeing him like this?
Hattori Mei had spoken to Xia Lei once in a while in the beginning, but he had not said a word back in response. Later, Hattori Mei did not bother with him anymore and sat on the sofa, drinking tea. She seemed restless, and kept ncing over asionally at Xia Lei like she had something on her mind.
When Hattori Masao walked towards Xia Lei, holding the USB, she stood from the sofa and followed him over.
Xia Lei was still buried in the drawings. Rustle. One page. Rustle. Another page. He didn¡¯t look like he was looking at the drawings at all, but like he was looking for something small in the drawings.
Hattori Masao and Hattori Mei couldn¡¯t help exchanging nces, and their faces filled with suspicion.
What was this guy doing?
¡°How¡¯s it going, Xia Lei?¡± Hattori Masao spoke.
Xia Lei looked up at him with a sad face. ¡°It¡¯s tooplicated. It¡¯s tough for me to read and I don¡¯t remember anything at all. I should have brought my experts over if I¡¯d known. Now, I can¡¯t even confirm that what you¡¯ve given me is the real deal. I¡¯m so worried.¡±
Hattori Masao wrinkled his brow and said, upset, ¡°You¡¯re saying hurtful things. Are you doubting my integrity? I can guarantee you on my family¡¯s honour that what I¡¯ve given you is authentic. It is very important and very valuable.¡±
¡°Since it¡¯s so important and valuable, why is it in France? It should be in Japan,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We, the Hattori Family, have aboratory in France. These resources are shared,¡± said Hattori Masao.
Xia Lei then remembered the results of the investigation Amanda had given him. She¡¯s said that the Hattori family funded severalboratories, and supported many researchers. Based on that, it came as no surprise that the Hattori family would have aboratory in France that shared resources. However, he was just asking the questions casually. He already knew that this data was authentic, and that it was highly valuable. He was just asking questions to put up a smokescreen and give them the false impression that he had understood nothing of it.
¡°I see. Uncle, I wouldn¡¯t have known if you didn¡¯t tell me.¡± After a pause, Xia Lei changed the topic. ¡°Are your people done with their testing?¡±
¡°Yes, they¡¯ve finished.¡±
¡°No problems?¡±
¡°No problems. You are an honest man. I am happy about that.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I have no good traits except for my honesty. Ah, and one more. I am good at loving women.¡±
What he said made Hattori Mei roll her eyes. She had a right toment on whether Xia Lei was good at loving women, and this roll of her eyes was her answer.
¡°All right, it¡¯ste. Why don¡¯t you sleep here tonight?¡± said Hattori Masao. ¡°It¡¯s not very convenient to go back sote either.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t be staying. I have to bring these things back to have my experts have a look at them,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hattori Masao¡¯s face darkened. ¡°What¡¯s with you? I was kind enough to offer to let you stay the night. Is my kindness so troubling to you?¡±
¡°That¡¯s...¡± Xia Lei started to say something, then stopped.
Hattori Mei then held on to Xia Lei¡¯s arm and admonished, ¡°Geeze, you made my father unhappy. You can still bring these back to let your experts have a look at them tomorrow. Why the rush? Besides, it will be difficult to get a taxi back at this hour.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you have a car?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m not sending you back.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll listen to you. Which room will I stay in?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll share a room with me, of course,¡± said Hattori Mei.
¡°Ahem.¡± Hattori Masao coughed dryly. ¡°I¡¯ll go back to my room first to rest. Good night.¡±
¡°Good night, father.¡± Hattori Mei bowed slightly to her father.
¡°Good night, Uncle.¡± Xia Lei also stood and bowed. This was also a show of courtesy.
Hattori Masao took two steps and suddenly turned around. ¡°You two, make sure to take safety precautions. I don¡¯t want a grandchild before the two of you are married.¡±
¡°Father!¡± Hattori Mei looked ashamed and angry.
¡°Isn¡¯t it a good thing to have a grandchild?¡± muttered Xia Lei to himself.
A sneer of disgust appeared in the corners of Hattori Mei¡¯s mouth for an instant, and she pulled intimately at Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We should go to our room and rest too.¡±
¡°Wait, I have to take these things too.¡± Xia Lei extracted his hand to grab the huge bundle of drawings and papers.
¡°Geeze, you. Are you always so untrusting of others?¡± Hattori Mei said angrily, ¡°Is there a difference between you bringing these to our room and leaving them here? Don¡¯t worry about it. Leave them here and you can get them first thing tomorrow morning. Not one sheet will be missing.¡±
¡°Okay. I¡¯m just too much of a loving man. I¡¯ll listen to you.¡± Xia Lei put down the huge stack of drawings and papers, but he took the SSD and put it in the pocket of his suit.
¡°You...¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a problem for me to take this, right? It¡¯s in my pocket and it won¡¯t be all over your room,¡± said Xia Lei.
Hattori Mei could not be bothered to talk to Xia Lei any more. She turned and walked towards the door.
¡°Wait for me, babe. Don¡¯t be mad.¡± Xia Lei chased after her.
The three Japanese men looked at each other; they could not figure out the situation. They obviously knew who Hattori Mei was, but why was she suddenly on such intimate terms with a Chinese fellow?
A few minutes after Xia Le left the study, Hattori Masao came back and put all the drawings and papers in the safe.
¡°Sir, he took the SSD,¡± said Kakuko Noke.
¡°He will return it to me soon. He won¡¯t be able to take it away. Don¡¯t concern yourselves with this. Just do your part,¡± said Hattori Masao.
¡°Sir, I¡¯ll only dare say it after that Chinese fellow is gone.¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
¡°The technologies in this USB drive has already far surpassed what I¡¯d imagined. The technologies are at least 30 years ahead of the current world. The person who designed all of these... I cannot imagine how his brain is wired.¡±
Hattori Masao immediately thought of Xia Lei¡¯s n X. Excitement and greed shed in his eyes.
Kakuko Noke went on. ¡°The contents of the USB drive should be sent back to our home country as soon as possible. It can help make our Japanese military industry reach the peak of the world. Sir, I think we should return immediately, and build...¡±
Hattori Masao¡¯s face darkened as he cut Kakuko Noke off. ¡°Bastard! Do I need you to teach me what to do? I¡¯ve said that you should just do your part and that¡¯s it. Scram! Go back to the hotel, now!¡±
The three engineers bowed to Hattori Masao and left the study quickly with lowered heads.
Hattori Masao muttered darkly, ¡°If the Japanese military industry reaches the peak of the world, the one nting the g there shall be me, Hattori Masao!¡±
He nced at his watch, then sat on the sofa. He pushed a wireless earbud into his ear and waited quietly for something.
About two minutester, a woman¡¯s voice suddenly came from the earbud. It was a strange sound, and it seemed like that woman was in great pain, as if she was at the point where she would kill herself to get rid of the pain. But there was also the feeling that she was extremely happy, so happy that her wits were scattered and that she babbled.
Hattori Masao frowned. He knew well what this sound was, and he knew the woman making these sounds. That woman was his daughter.
Creak, creak...
The sound of a mattress creaking came again. It was rather rhythmic. Thumpa, thumpa, thumpa. CreeAK, creeAK creeaaaak. It was like a wild stallion had been set loose on the bed of his daughter¡¯s room. The stud was treating the bed like a grassy in, beating hard on it with all its might. Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump... It was as if the stud was going to stamp out all the grass on that in, stirring that in up and turning it all into mush...
All these sounds provoked Hattori Masao as a father. Anger burned slowly in him. He clenched his fist and his knuckled cracked. Veins popped on his forehead in a green criss-cross which resembled the straw hat of the pirate Luffy, only it was blueish green.
¡°How much longer are you going to keep going?¡± It was the begging voice of a woman.
¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe it¡¯s because of the beef I had for dinner.¡±
¡°You¡ª hnngh...¡±
Hattori Masao got to his feet all of a sudden at that point, and stomped his way over to the painting of Hattori Hanzo. He drew the samurai sword, and charged towards the study room door.
But he still stopped in the doorway. What was happening right then was quite unbearable for him, but he knew the importance of ¡°tolerance¡±.
The technologies he gained from Xia Lei would be able to bring the Hattori family great opportunities in advancements, and if he managed to get the even more valuable n X, then the Hattori family¡¯s future progress would be immeasurable!
Hattori Masao calmed entirely when he thought about n X. The various noisesing over the earbud became a clear breeze, bringing him not anger, but tranquility.
He returned to the sofa and continued waiting.
This wait ended up being half an hour.
His daughter¡¯s room was finally quiet again.
He looked at his watch, then stood.
At that moment, however, his daughter¡¯s voice came from over the earbud again.
¡°Damn you, aren¡¯t you going to let me rest?!¡±
¡°You¡¯ve been resting all this while. Were you trying hard at all?¡±
¡°Go away, I want to go to the bathroom.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±
¡°Aahn...¡±
Hattori Masao stabbed the samurai sword into the carpet.
The sharp de prated the carpet and went into the pine floorboards.
Poor daughter. Was she like the carpet, or was she like the pine floorboards?
This question made him want to go crazy.
Chapter 733
All grew quiet.
Xia Leiy tiredly on the bed with a smile on his face. He was cosy,fortable, and looked like he¡¯d enjoyed it. He seemed to be either recalling something good, or admiring the crystal light fixture on the ceiling.
Hattori Mei looked at Xia Lei out of the corner of her eye, then struggled to climb out of bed. She was exhausted, and had no strength.
Xia Lei looked over at her. ¡°Where are you going?¡±
Hattori Mei red at him and said in annoyance, ¡°What, I can¡¯t go to the bathroom? Do I need to report that to you too?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What are you saying? Go on, go on, ande back quickly. I prepared a present for you. I¡¯ll give it to you when you get back.¡±
¡°What present do you have for me?¡± Hattori Mei got out of bed, naked. She did not care about Xia Lei¡¯s greedy gaze.
¡°Perfume. The best perfume in France. The type that money can¡¯t buy.¡±
¡°What sort of perfume can¡¯t be bought with money? You¡¯re exaggerating. I know Paris perfumes, and I¡¯ve used all of the expensive ones, no matter what they cost. Tell me, what brand is this perfume you¡¯re talking about?¡± Hattori Mei stepped into slippers as she talked and headed towards the bathroom.
¡°Never mind, I was nning on giving you a surprise but you won¡¯t believe me at all. I¡¯m going to take it out and show you right now.¡± Xia Lei got his suit jacket from the bedside table and took out two bottles of perfume from the inside pocket.
Hattori Mei did not even turn around.
¡°Don¡¯t you want to see, darling?¡± Xia Lei touched the ss bottle. ¡°Marie¡¯s Desire. The most mysterious perfume in the world.¡±
Hattori Mei turned her head around at that to nce at Xia Lei. ¡°Even if it¡¯s the best perfume, you still have to wait for me to relieve myself before I take a look at it.¡±
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll just open it first. You¡¯ll be able to smell it when youe out of the bathroomter.¡± Xia Lei unplugged the cork of the bottle and a thick fragrance filled the room.
¡°Dumbass.¡± Hattori Mei went into the bathroom. She was not one bit interested in Xia Lei¡¯s perfume.
Hattori Mei did not sit on the toilet bowl after she went into the bathroom, but she went to the sink and turned on the tap.
*
Xia Lei¡¯s voice c
ame from outside the door. ¡°Darling, did you drink too much water?¡±
In the bathroom, Hattori Mei looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes terrifyingly cold. Then she sniffed. That strange perfume had made its way into the bathroom.
¡°Mei, how long more are you going to take?¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°How about Ie in too. Let¡¯s be together.¡±
¡°Go die!¡± Hattori Mei suddenly grabbed the tap, which was still running, and yanked upwards.
A soft click came from the wall under the sink.
THUNK! A loud sound suddenly came from outside the bathroom. It sounded like a lot of steel hitting the floor.
Hattori Mei pulled the bathroom door open and rushed out.
The thing which had made the loud noise was a big metal cage which had fallen from the ceiling andnded, just nice, on the bed. The bars of the metal cage were as thick as the arm of a small child. It looked like it would be strong enough to hold a buffalo, not to mention a single man.
But...
There was no one on the bed.
Hattori Mei had an excited smile on her face when she¡¯d charged out of the bathroom but this smile disappeared in the next second.
¡°Mei, is this some sort of prop? There¡¯s no need for you to get such a big cage, though. You scared me.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice came softly from behind her.
Hattori Mei turned her head around quickly and saw Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had not a stitch of clothing on him when she¡¯d left the bed, but he was wearing a pair of red briefs now. He looked like a swimmer. There was a smile on his face, sunny and charming. He held two bottles of perfume in his hands but the bottles were empty. He had sshed the perfume in the corners of this room.
Hattori Mei¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°You...¡±
Xia Lei suddenly reached out and covered her mouth, then roared, ¡°Bastard! What are you doing? Don¡¯t hurt her! Let her go, or I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
Hattori Mei understood right away. She struggled with all her might, trying to get Xia Lei¡¯s hand off her mouth. However, her strength could notpare to Xia Lei¡¯s. What was worse was that her head was getting foggy due to ack of oxygen.
Xia Lei released his hold two secondster.
Hattori Mei flopped limply onto the soft carpet. The carpet was ck, and she was white. The stark contrast made for a strong aesthetic look.
Xia Lei strode over to the metal cage and threw himself to the floor next to it.
The door was kicked open right after he ¡°copsed¡±.
Hattori Masao charged in. He had a Japanese-made M57A handgun in one hand, and the ancient samurai sword in the other.
Arge group of guards armed with live rounds cam right in after Hattori Masao.
The scene in the room made all of them stare.
Three minutes earlier, in the study.
¡°What, I can¡¯t go to the bathroom? Do I need to report that to you too?¡± His daughter¡¯s voice came from over the earphones. Hattori Masao let out a long sigh, then he reached under the tea table and tapped the red button hidden there.
His daughter going to the bathroom was the pre-arranged signal to make their move.
Hattori Masai was pressing the button to send the signal to gather his men.
Ten guards gathered before Hattori Masao in under ten seconds.
¡°Remember, you are not to fire without mymand. I want him alive! Move!¡± Hattoru Masao walked towards his daughter¡¯s room.
He was still being cautious about a man who would be trapped in a metal cafe, because Gu Kewen had described that Chinese punk as someone who was very good at countering. He had killed people in the higher three-digits and the people he¡¯d killed here CIA special agents, marines, and assassins. Hattori Masao dared not be careless when up against an opponent like this.
His initial n had been very simple ¡ª have his daughter bring Xia Lei here,plete the technology exchange, and immediately have Xia Lei surrounded by guards and captured. He had given up on this n in the end after much deliberation. With Xia Lei¡¯s skills, his daughter¡¯s life would be in danger if Xia Lei chose to fight back. Even if the guards shot Xia Lei in time, Hattori Masao would not be able to find out what n X was if Xia Lei died. Another thing which made him give up the n was that CIA. The CIA was insisting on capturing him alive. Based on the rtionship he had with his American allies, he had no choice but to consider the interests of the CIA in this operation.
And so, the second n for his daughter to sleep with Xia Lei, then trap him in a cage was hatched...
THUNK! A loud noise came to their ears and the floors shook.
A smile appeared on Hattori Masao¡¯s face at this sound. The n was a sess!
The ten guards formed two teams. One team went to the left of the door and the other went to the right.
Hattori Masao reached out his hand and grabbed at the door handle.
¡°Bastard! What are you doing? Don¡¯t hurt her! Let her go, or I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice came suddenly from the room, full of terror.
Hattori Masao paused, then kicked the door open and charged in.
There was no third person in the room.
His daughtery naked on the carpet. Her tender flesh drew the eyes of the guards.
Xia Lei was lying on the floor too, unconscious. He should have been in the cage, but he was lying on the floor next to it. It looked like he had jumped away from the cage when it hade falling down, then fainted on the floor.
Why hadn¡¯t Xia Lei been caught in the cage , and why was Xia Lei and his daughter unconscious on the floor? Who was the target of the angry shouts of Xia Lei¡¯s from earlier? These questions popped up in Hattori Masao¡¯s brain but he could not find answers. However, his military training was not just for show and he quickly calmed down. He shouted, ¡°What are you looking at? Two of you, go check the doors and windows. Two more, get that punk down to the basement! Now!¡±
The guards carried out Hattori Masao¡¯smands immediately.
Hattori Masao went to his daughter. He took off his jacket and covered her with it.
Thump! A guard copsed to the floor, for no apparent reason.
Hattori Masao was about to sound the rm, but he opened his mouth and discovered that he could not control his tongue anymore. Darkness covered his vision and he copsed to the floor.
Thump, thump...
Hattori Masao¡¯s guards fell to the floor like domino tiles.
Xia Lei opened his eyes suddenly, just as thest guard fell. He got to his feet and walked over to Hattori Masao. He patted his face, andughed. ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t you want to find out what n X was? This is n X. I want not just your AI technology but I¡¯m going to use you as bait too, to reel in that big fish Gu Kewen.¡±
Too bad Hattori Masao couldn¡¯t hear him anymore.
Xia Lei reached his hand into Hattori Masao¡¯s suit and took the USB sh drive. ¡°You had no intention of giving me your AI technology from the beginning. Sorry, but I was thinking the same too.¡±
Same thoughts, but different results. He had already got the AI technology of the Hattori family, but Hattori Masao had only had a look at what he had. He did not manage to get a thing.
The smell of the perfume was still strong in the room, but Xia Lei was the only one unaffected by it. He had stolen Jacqueline Eva¡¯s Marie¡¯s Desire, and stolen her antidote too. Right at that moment, Jacqueline Eva was probably searching the streets of Paris for him but he couldn¡¯t be bothered about her feelings now.
Xia Lei was dressed a few minutester. He left Hattori Mei¡¯s room with Hattori Masao in his arms, and went back to the study.
There was still an hour and a half to go before the time Hattori Masao had arranged with Gu Kewen.
An hour and a half was enough for him to make all his preparations.
He also knew that Gu Kewen would not be too far off. She was definitely somewhere close by. Perhaps she was looking at her watch, waiting anxiously to go over at thest minute.
Would the grudge between Gu Kewen and himself end in an hour and a half?
He was not sure, but he was sure of what he wanted to do.
He wanted to...
KILL HER!
Chapter 734
It was very quiet in the study.
Xia Lei put Hattori Masao on the sofa and took his phone away. He quickly scrolled to the screen showing the phone call Hattori Masao had made at dinner, after he had left the dining room.
The phone call had been made after Hattori Masao had notified the scientists, and the recipient of the call was Gu Kewen. The phone call had also revealed that Hattori Masao had insisted on keeping him here for six hours, and that the CIA were only permitted to take him away after six hours.
Xia Lei made an automatic response message after he found Gu Kewen¡¯s number. Heposed the following message in Japanese: I¡¯ve captured him. You cane over and take him away.
Gu Kewen was sure to give Hattori Masao a call before she came over, but he would not be able to answer. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t be able to answer either, because he could not imitate Hattori Masao¡¯s voice. Gu Kewen¡¯s cunning and cautiousness meant that even the slightest abnormality in situation would make her be on guard.
This automatic response was a really good tool to fool her.
Gu Kewen might get suspicious but she would definitelye here. And he only needed to see her turn up.
After setting the message, Xia Lei took off the leather shoe on his right foot and opened up the insole. Underneath was a cavity half the size of a matchbox, and a tiny spying device set was in it. There was a mini receiver he could conceal in his ear, and a transmitter disguised as apel pin.
He put the mini receiver in his ear and attached the pin to his suit, then activated the spying equipment.
¡°All done here,¡± said Xia Lei into the pin.
¡°We¡¯re in position.¡± Amanda¡¯s voice came from the receiver in his ear.
¡°Kill Gu Kewen as soon as she shows herself, then withdraw,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Even with Gu Kewen dead, the CIA will still target you. You will be alone in fighting them after we withdraw. Are you sure that you want us to withdraw right after?¡±
¡°There will be someone to deal with the aftermath. You guys just need to give Gu Kewen a bullet,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Roger.¡±
Xia Lei looked at his watch. ¡°Align our time now. 2301hrs.¡±
¡°2301hrs.¡±
¡°We have enough time. Gu Kewen will turn up at 0020hrs. You guys need to be out of this district by 0023hrs. Do not leave any traces behind.¡±
¡°Roger.¡±
¡°That¡¯s all.¡± Xia Lei ended themunications.
The study was quiet again.
Hattori Masao made no sign of regaining consciousness; he was sleeping deeply. Jacqueline Eva¡¯s Marie¡¯s Desire was not this potent ¡ª Xia Lei had added some drug which aided sleep to it. What Hattori Masao had been hit with was not regr-strength Marie¡¯s Desire but super-strength Marie¡¯s Desire.
Xia Lei put his shoes on and wipes his fingerprints from the phone. He left the study a minuteter and returned to Hattori Mei¡¯s room.
Hattori Masao¡¯s ten guards were scattered around on the floor, sleeping like logs.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to Hattori Mei. Hattori Masao¡¯s jacket was covering her, but a jacket was obviously not enough. The barely-exposed half-globes of snowy white were smooshed out of shape against the carpet. Her full and perky buttocks were half-covered and that soft skin of hers, pale as snow, was soft as frosting. Her beautiful legs, in a ratio of 3:2, were exposed to the air and the gaps in the jacket covering her let her shameful bits peek through too.
A wry smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. She was an enemy, and he had no feelings for her, but he had to admit that Hattori Mei had given him a very pleasurable time, and that she really was pretty awesome in some aspects.
Xia Lei looked away and got back to work. He picked up the perfume bottles he had dropped on the floor and went into the bathroom to wash the remaining perfume out of the bottles. He then broke the bottles by stomping on them and threw the ss shards in the toilet bowl to flush them away.
He left the bathroom after he was done cleaning up the perfume bottles and carefully approached the window. He opened the windows, just a crack, without moving the curtains, to let fresh aire in. The natural breeze which came blowing through the window and the venttion system in the room hastened the dissipation of the smell of the perfume. Hattori Mei and the guards would wake up earlier when the air got back to normal. His operation would be done by then.
He looked through the curtains, out into the distance, sweeping arge area. He quickly spotted a white man looking over with a night vision telescope in a building directly opposite his window.
A sneer appeared on his lips. ¡°Wanna catch me? Come get me.¡±
He left the window and returned to Hattori Mei¡¯s side. He took her up in his arms and entered the bathroom.
He needed to take care of some traces which he should not leave behind, and Hattori Mei had too much of his trace on her. Some traces were more difficult to get rid of, and even made him feel disgusted but he still forced himself to clean it up...
Ten minutester, Xia Lei carried Hattori Mei out of the bathroom and put clothes on her, then put her on the carpet.
She made no indication of waking up. Whatever Xia Lei did to her, she justy there like a wooden puppet.
Xia Lei nced at her, then left her room and went back to the study.
He had already finished all that he wanted to do. Only the waiting for Gu Kewen to call was left.
Time ticked by, slow-moving.
0010hrs. Xia Lei picked up the phone on the desk and dialled a number.
The call connected. A female voice came from over the line. ¡°Who are you?¡±
This was Jacqueline Eva¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei used his hand and pulled at his own throat. ¡°It¡¯s me... I... am Xia Lei... Hurry... Save me, save me! The Japanese want to kill... kill me...¡±
His voice was full of terror and it sounded like he had difficulty breathing.
¡°Where are you?¡± Jacqueline Eva was anxious at once. Her pitch got much higher.
¡°I, I¡¯m at...¡± Xia Lei did not continue. He used Hattori Masao¡¯s gun to shoot twice into the wall.
Bang! Bang!
¡°Hello? Hey! What happened?¡± Jacqueline Eva¡¯s voice was panicked.
Xia Lei ended the call with a m.
He knew what ce this was but he was not going to tell Jacqueline Eva. With France¡¯s intelligence department¡¯s capabilities, it wouldn¡¯t take them a minute to find his location by tracing this call. There was no need for him to borate.
He nced at his watch after ending the call. A minute had just passed. It was now 0011hrs. There were still nine minutes to go to Hattori Masao and Gu Kewen¡¯s agreed time, and 12 minutes to go for the Zodiac Team to withdraw after they were done. It would take Jacqueline Eva and her men about 12 to 13 minutes to get here.
A sneer appeared in the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth, and several possible scenarios surfaced in his brain.
0021hrs. Several Chevrolet Suburban off-road cars stopped by the road, outside the door of the vi. Gu Kewen alighted from one of the cars, and arge group of CIA agents were ready to charge into the vi. Right then, a bullet came flying and it went through GU Kewen¡¯s brains. She fell in a pool of blood.
After a minute of chaos, the CIA agents charged into the vi.
0022hrs, or 0023hrs. Jacqueline Eva arrived with agents of the French National Security Agency and agents of the French National Gendarmerie. She shouted loudly at the CIA agents to put down their weapons.
0023hrs. Amanda, Bagu and the others leave in a car driven by Park Taeyong. Rap music yed over the car¡¯s sound system.
0024hrs. Jacqueline Eva rushed into this study, and saw...
Xia Lei wiped his fingerprints from the gun and put it back in Hattori Masao¡¯s hand. At 0020hrs, when Gu Kewen falls from a shot, he would hold Hattori Masao by his hand and shoot his thigh. The gunshot in the house would spur the CIA into action. And because observation and analysing the situation needed time, and because Gu Kewen had just died from getting shot, they would bepletely believing, and it was reasonable, that there was a sniper hidden in this vi. The dy in time made was just right for Jacqueline Eva to hurry over with her men.
0024hrs. Jacqueline Eva saw Xia Lei unconscious in the study. He had been shot.
This was a perfect murder n.
Hattori Masao fired at him. He was the victim.
A victim who¡¯d been shot. How could it be him who had killed Gu Kewen?
The French people would be his alibi. The Japanese had be his alibi too.
Just who had killed Gu Kewen? Who the hell knows?
The scene in his head dissipated, but Gu Kewen¡¯s face appeared in his head. He had schemed to kill her, and the time when she would die from a bullet drew closer and closer. For some strange reason, however, he had an empty feeling in his heart.
He had a hundred reasons to kill Gu Kewen, and she also had a hundred reasons to kill him.
Grudges between people were like this. You had your grievances and she had her hate. Death was not the end, but a sort of beginning.
One minuteter, he shook his head lightly and chased the image of Gu Kewen out of his head.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone on the desk rang all of a sudden.
Xia Lei paused. He reached a hand over, but retracted it.
He did not know who was calling at this hour. This call had interrupted his ¡°process¡± and brought him an unsettling feeling.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The phone kept ringing, and it looked like it would keep ringing if no one picked it up.
After some hesitation, Xia Lei picked the phone up but he did not speak; he just listened.
¡°Huu... Hsss...¡± A strange sound came from the phone, and it made one fell like it was a breath from the grave.
The person who had called did not speak other than to make these noises, but the sound of someone breathing like death continued.
Xia Lei could not hold it back anymore after a few seconds. He covered his mouth and said cautiously, ¡°Who are you?¡±
The ¡®breathing¡¯ sound disappeared immediately at Xia Lei¡¯s voice. An unknown woman¡¯s voice came over the line. ¡°Danger. Leave that ce, now.¡±
¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°You have 60 seconds.¡±
¡°Who the hell are you!¡±
¡°You have 57 seconds left.¡±
Click! A strange sound suddenly came to his ear.
Xia Lei grew tense right away. He cut the call.
Chapter 735
Xia Lei looked over as soon as he heard the sound. His left eye twitched and everything that was blocking his line of sight disappeared soundlessly.
The sound wasing from the stairway. The stairway was empty, devoid of people.
Suddenly, a ck cat came out from behind a flower vase. There was a broken branch of a leafy green nt next to the flower vase.
False rm.
The ck cat quickly disappeared from view but Xia Lei¡¯s nerves were still tense, and he could not rx.
There were also broken twigs and dropped flowers on the floor next to the flower vase.
That sound earlier was of the ck cat breaking things, and had not been made by a person.
But no matter what the cause was, he was all tensed up and unable to rx. He looked at his watch. The woman who had called him had told him to leave in 60 seconds. Another ten seconds had passed.
Who was that woman?
What was the danger that she spoke of? And what level of danger?
How did she know that he was here?
How did she know that sort of danger he would be in?
Should he leave, or follow his original n and stay here to kill Gu Kewen?
This questions in his head bothered him, and he had only 30 seconds to make the right decision.
He wasn¡¯t very willing to just give up like this. He had nned everything, and this was a rare chance too. It would be difficult to find another opportunity to kill Gu Kewen without drawing any trouble to himself if he missed this, but if he didn¡¯t leave, and if that danger really came to be... wouldn¡¯t it be toote to regret it?
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the gun in Hattori Masao¡¯s hand.
At that moment, the lights in the study were suddenly extinguished. It wasn¡¯t just the lights in the study, but all of the lights in the vi.
Rustle...
A soft sound came to Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
Xia Lei looked over at the doorway of the study.
Rustle...
The sound was getting closer. It was faint but clear in this very quiet setting.
And, what was most odd was that Xia Lei had obviously heard a voice, and that darkness did not affect his X-ray vision, but he could not see who was in the corridor outside the door!
The strange sound stopped at the study door.
Xia Lei burst into action a secondter, heading for the window as quick as he could.
Bang! The study door behind him was knocked open.
Crash! Xia Lei smashed through the window, and dropped to the ground in a shower of broken wood and ss.
The instant his feet touched the ground, he bent his legs, and shifted the centre of gravity of his body forward to go into a roll, lessening the force of the fall. He rolled close to the ground, and he looked up at the second-floor window as he rolled.
A thin figure suddenly appeared in the window.
He could not see his face ¡ª an inky ckness, a robe, shrouded his body. The robe was very simr to a priest¡¯s robe, with a hood. That hood covered the person¡¯s head, and his face. What was even stranger was that the robe he wore seemed to absorb light, and Xia Lei could not see his face, even with his abnormal vision.
The thin figure stood in the window, looking like a spirit from a dark world. He could be seen, but he was not real.
Xia Lei stopped rolling.
The person in the ck robe swayed for a bit, then disappeared.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye looked through the wall but he¡¯d lost sight of him.
Who was he?
A shiver went down Xia Lei¡¯s spine and cold sweat popped out on his forehead. He had quite a few wounds from the broken ss but he did not feel much pain. He did not want to admit it, but terror had very definitely had a hold on his body.
¡°Boss! What happened?¡± Amanda¡¯s voice came over the receiver, full of anxiousness.
Xia Lei moved quickly as he said, ¡°Did you see the person in a ck robe? If you do, shoot him!¡±
¡°What guy in a ck robe?¡± Amanda¡¯s voice was full of surprise and nervousness.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. He was sure that that ck-robed man had appeared in the window. Amanda was the sniper who was going to kill Gu Kewen, so she should be watching his area all this while. How could she not have seen that ck-robed man?
He abruptly remembered what he had seen outside the door with his X-ray vision when he was in the study. That ck-robed man had obviously been behind the door but he had not seen anything, had he?
So did that ck-robed man really not exist? It was just a hallucination? How was this possible?
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help looking back as he moved quickly. At that moment, the ck-robed man appeared soundlessly in the doorway of the living room on the first floor.
He still couldn¡¯t see his face. The hood seemed to be hiding not a face, but a part of darkness.
¡°Do you see him now?¡± Xia Lei shouted, ¡°Shoot him!¡±
¡°Boss, you...¡± Amanda sounded confused and doubtful.
Xia Lei halted in his tracks and looked back at that ck-robed man.
¡°What happened, Boss? What are you doing? Gu Kewen is going to arrive soon!¡± Amanda was sounding panicked now.
Xia Lei did not seem to hear her. His gaze was fixed on the ck-robed man. He was very sure that the man was in the doorway of the living room on the first floor. He could see him clearly, but Amanda did not see him!
The ck-robed man moved suddenly, dashing out of the doorway. But he retreated again.
What was going on?
Xia Lei looked instinctively up at the sky, then nced at the streetlight above his head. The night sky was clear tonight, and the moon and the stars could be seen clearly. The streetlight above his head was bright too and quite a few moths were dancing around it, throwing flutterings shadows on the ground.
¡®Could he be afraid of light?¡¯ thought Xia Lei all of a sudden.
The ck-robed man stood in the doorway, motionless. He could not see his face but he was sure that he had eyes. Also, the man had been looking straight in Xia Lei¡¯s direction. That gaze of his must be very sinister indeed.
¡°Boss!¡± Amanda¡¯s voice again. ¡°The CIA¡¯s cars are here. What are you still standing there for? Are we still going to proceed as nned?¡±
Xia Lei came back to his senses. He moved in retreat, and said as he walked, ¡°Give up on the n. Withdraw.¡±
¡°Give up?¡±
¡°Give up and withdraw!¡± Xia Lei repeated. His gaze was still fixed on that ck-robed man.
¡°Roger.¡± Amanda ended themunication.
While he was talking to Amanda, the ck-robed man tried to dash out of the doorway again but he retreated yet again. What Xia Lei saw further convinced him of his fear of light.
¡®Why is he afraid of light? What sort of person in this world is afraid of light?¡¯ Xia Lei thought of skin diseases which were rted to inmmation due to exposure to light, then thought of vampires. The likelihood of the first thought was practically zero because it was night now, and the man was wearing a robe which covered him from head to foot. Even if it was some light-sensitive skin disease, it wouldn¡¯t be so serious that even moonlight and streetlights would affect him, right? The second thought was even more improbable. How can there be vampires in this world?
A seven-seater Ford Explorer came zooming over suddenly and it stopped next to Xia Lei.
The door opened and Park Taeyong poked his head out. ¡°Get in, Boss! Hurry!¡±
Xia Lei stopped moving backwards and turned to get into the car.
Park Taeyong burnt rubber out of there; he stayed not one second more.
Xia Lei watched the ancient vi through the window. That ck-robed man was still in the doorway. He could not see his face but he could feel that man staring at him.
The ck-robed man raised his hand and drew it slowly across his own neck.
Kill.
The ck-robed man disappeared from the doorway after he made this gesture.
Xia Lei¡¯s brain quickly reyed his meeting with the ck-robed man. He still did not understand how that man had entered the vi, and could not figure out why he had not been able to use his X-ray vision to see him.
His strongest ability was his X-ray vision, so if that ck-robed man could get to his side without him seeing him with his X-ray vision... He would be in real danger!
This enemy was, undoubtedly, the most powerful and most difficult to counter of all the enemies he¡¯d met, and he did not even know his identity!
Park Taeyong drove the car off the main roads and onto a smaller, remote road. The Ford Explorer had only just entered the small road when three Chevrolet Suburban off-road vehicles zoomed past on the main road.
The CIA agents were finally here.
Xia Lei nced at his watch. 0020hrs, 30 seconds. The CIA convoy still needed 30 seconds to get to the vi. In other words, it was the same as what he had calcted earlier. 0021hrs, on the dot.
At 0021hrs, Gu Kewen would enter the range of Amanda¡¯s sniping in 30 seconds. He had nned everything, but he had not nned for this ghost-like ck-robed man. He had ruined his ns!
¡°Boss, what happened?¡± Park Taeyong broke the silence in the car. ¡°I heard what you guys said. Is that guy from the FA Organisation?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not clear.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s response was simple. He was sure, though, that the ck-robed man was not from the FA Organisation.
¡°Amanda actually didn¡¯t spot that person. The enemy must be very skilled,¡± said Park Taeyong.
¡°Be careful for the next two days. Sleep with your lights on,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Park Taeyong couldn¡¯t help giving Xia Lei a look. ¡°Boss, why would the light need to be on when I¡¯m sleeping at night? Is it very important?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Very important.¡±
Park Taeyong shrugged. ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll sleep with the lights on. But I¡¯m not going to bother nagging those guys.¡±
Ear-piercing police sirens came from the main road. Xia Lei looked out the window and saw a long line of French police cars, and military-use French Special Forces vehicles. The vehicles were heading to the vi in a mad rush. He did not look at his watch this time. What was the use in having things happen exactly as timed? This n to assassinate Gu Kewen had failed.
Park Taeyong turned the steering wheel and drove the car into a small alley. There were no streetlights in the alley and it was pitch ck. The light of the car chased away the shadows of the alley and Amanda, Bagu, Marcus and E¡¯er Demutu appeared from the darkest corner of the alley.
The four people quickly came over and got into the car.
Park Taeyong started the car again, and went through the alley, in the direction of the Heart of Paris hotel.
¡°What happened earlier, Boss?¡± asked Amanda, who was sitting right in the back.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I said I saw a person in a ck robe. Did you see him?¡±
Amanda shook her head. She looked at Xia Lei with worry in her eyes.
¡°Did you see him?¡± Xia Lei asked the others.
Bagu shook his head.
E¡¯er Demutu shook his head.
Marcus shook his head too.
Xia Lei spread his hands. ¡°Then take it as I¡¯ve said nothing. Also, from today on, you guys must have the lights on when you sleep.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Amanda paused, then asked in concern, ¡°Are you okay, Boss? Do you need to go to the hospital?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 736
Gu Kewen jumped eagerly from the car before it came to a stop. Her footsteps were quick, and she did not want to dy a second more. Arge group of elite CIA agents followed her, charging to the doorway of the living room on the first floor.
A pile of broken ss beside the flowers caught Gu Kewen¡¯s attention before she got to the door. She nced at it and suddenly shouted, ¡°Seal all exits, right now!¡±
Gu Kewen turned around and went back before her subordinates finished executing her order, back to the bulletproof car. She threw herself t on the back seat of the car and didn¡¯t dare to show her head in the car windows.
Theirmanding officer was so cowardly. The CIA agents felt wronged.
The CIA agents had just finished sealing the exits when the sound of police sirens came from far off.
¡°Boss, the French people areing soon.¡± A CIA agent opened the car door and reported to Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewen kept her eyes on the window that Xia Lei had destroyed.
¡°Boss, this is not normal. There is not one guard here.¡±
¡°Do you think I¡¯m blind?¡± Gu Kewen was starting to lose it. The ss on the ground, the non-appearance of any of Hattori Masao¡¯s guards... all these pointed to a situation she was most unwilling to face ¡ª Hattori Masao had failed and Xia Lei had escaped.
¡°Boss, do we still go in?¡±
¡°Go in! Take men in immediately. Take Xia Lei if he¡¯s still in there.¡± Gu Kewen still had a glimmer of hope.
The CIA agents covered each other, and stormed into the first floor living room with their guns.
The French arrived at that moment. A military-use off-road vehicle came charging over, almost hitting the Chevrolet Suburban which Gu Kewen was hiding in.
Jacqueline Eva hopped out of the car. Behind her, several gun muzzles were raised, pointing at various different targets. This group did not include the French Police. If the slower police were counted too, then they had at least a hundred guns.
This firepower was big enough that they could win in a battle against terrorists.
¡°Freeze!¡± Jacqueline Eva shouted in English. ¡°Put down your weapons!¡±
The CIA agents did not react to Jacqueline Eva¡¯smands. They thought nothing of her. However, they did not want to cause a conflict either, and they lowered their guns to their leg-level.
¡°Stay calm. We are CIA. We¡¯re trying to capture a terrorist.¡± The CIA field agent reported his identity, and showed his identification.
¡°Who is your leader?¡± Jacqueline Eva did not need to see his identification to know this identity.
Gu Kewen rolled the window down at that and stuck her head out. ¡°It¡¯s me. We won¡¯t exin anything to you, but your superior will receive a relevant exnation.¡±
Jacqueline Eva scoffed. ¡°What are you doing in the CIA when you¡¯re so scared of dying? You should go work in a bakery.¡±
Gu Kewen snorted. ¡°I know who I¡¯m going up against. You¡¯d be afraid toe here, much less show your face if you were me.¡±
She was speaking the truth. She was up against Xia Lei, a practically invincible existence. If she had not been lucky in Korea thest time, she would be dead now and the grass on her grave two inches deep. SHe hade here to capture Xia Lei, so how could she not defend herself against Xia Lei¡¯s way of killing people, when even a ghost would be scared of him?
Just then, a CIA officer poked his head out of a window on the second floor. ¡°Boss, the people inside are all unconscious. The target is missing.¡±
Jacqueline Eva rushed in.
Gu Kewen hesitated for a bit, then got out of the car and swiftly crossed the open space to enter the vi.
The two women walked into Hattori Mei¡¯s room, one after the other.
Ten guards were lying on the floor, scattered throughout the room. Weapons had been dropped next to their bodies; rifles, submachine guns and handguns. Hattori Meiy on the carpet close to the bed with her legs tightly closed and her clothes all neat and tidy. It looked like she had suffered no assault. Her expression was normal too, like she was just sleeping.
Gu Kewen¡¯s expression was terrifyingly cold. She would have charged up to Hattori Mei and stomped on her chest a few times with her high-heeled shoes if there were no French people and none of her subordinates around. Xia Lei would not have had a chance to escape if Hattori Mei and her father had not insisted on dying the n for six hours!
Be not afraid of an overwhelming opponent, but of an ipetent teammate.
Gu Kewen was finally experiencing the truth of this saying today.
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s nose twitched and a barely perceptible smile appeared in the corners of her mouth. She thought to herself, ¡®You little thief. You fooled others but you want to fool me too? You called me over to get me to save you and the CIA are also very coincidentally here at this time... Just what are you ying at?¡¯
Xia Lei could fool others about his use of Marie¡¯s Desire but he could not fool her. She was the owner of this mysterious perfume. Xia Lei had taken steps to get rid of the traces of the perfume but she could still recognise it from just a hint of it in the air. However, she could confirm this, but not guess Xia Lei¡¯s motives.
Of course she wouldn¡¯t be able to guess it, because she was supposed toe collect Gu Kewen¡¯s corpse in Xia Lei¡¯s ns.
A CIA agent walked up to Gu Kewen and said something in her ear. Gu Kewen then left Hattori Mei¡¯s room and went to the study.
¡°Everyone out,¡± said Jacqueline Eva.
The room was soon emptied.
Jacqueline Eva closed the room door and walked to Hattori Mei. She took out a very small ss bottle from her clothing, removed the cap, and held the ss bottle under Hattori Mei¡¯s nose.
There was a red liquid in the bottle, half full, and it gave off a scent like yoghurt.
This strange scent went to work, and in a few seconds, Hattori Mei¡¯s eyelids moved, and her opened her eyes.
Light, and Jacqueline Eva¡¯s face came into her view and she was surprised. Her memory had stopped at herself walking out of the bathroom. She had just triggered the metal cage at the time, and had gone naked to see the ape she had caught...
¡°What happened?¡± asked Jacqueline Eva in English.
Hattori Mei shook her head, confused. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Where is he?¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°You know who I¡¯m talking about.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. What are you doing here?¡±
¡°Do you need me to remind you?¡± Jacqueline Eva suddenly grabbed Hattori Mei by the cor and pulled her up from the floor. ¡°Xia Lei! Where is he?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Hattori Mei spoke icily, ¡°You¡¯d best unhand me, or you¡¯ll be in trouble.¡±
Jacqueline Eva released Hattori Mei¡¯s cor. ¡°If anything has happened to Mr Xia, YOU will be in trouble. And your father too.¡±
¡°Get out.¡± Hattori Mei¡¯s tone was stern.
Jacqueline Eva pulled the door of the room open, and she strode swiftly. ¡°Withdraw!¡±
Hattori Mei abruptly lifted her skirt after the French people left. She saw a pair of ckce side-tie panties, put on the wrong way. It wasn¡¯t just the wrong way but out of ce too, and her privates were not properly covered up. Then, she smelled a faint smell of hand-wash soap.
This smell made her realise something, and she despaired in that instant. She screamed in her head, ¡®Xia Lei, you bastard! You actually used hand-wash soap to wash my... I¡¯m going to kill you!¡¯
Hand-wash soap was meant for the hands but Xia Lei had used it for other ces. This really was too much.
Gu Kewen walked in. ¡°Miss Beryl, your father is in the study. He¡¯s not conscious yet.¡± After a pause, she asked, ¡°Are you all right?¡±
Hattori Mei let go of the hem of her skirt and did not say anything.
¡°Miss Beryl, what happened here? Where is Xia Lei? Did he escape?¡±
Hattori Mei got slowly to her feet. Her legs were weak, and she knew that it was not a side effect of whatever that had knocked her out, but because of that damned man.
¡°Miss Beryl, tell me, what did he do? Where is he?¡±
Hattori Mei looked at Gu Kewen at that, and said, ¡°Get out.¡±
Gu Kewen was speechless.
Meanwhile, in a military-use off-road vehicle, Jacqueline Eva received a call from the Star of Pars hotel.
¡°Boss, Mr Xia is back.¡±
Jacqueline Eva paused. ¡°What condition is he in?¡±
¡°He¡¯s had a bit to drink.¡±
¡°Any injuries?¡±
¡°Some scratches, but not serious.¡±
¡°I got it. I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Jacqueline Eva hung up.
Ten minutester, Jacqueline Eva came to the Star of Paris hotel and knocked on Xia Lei¡¯s door. Xia Lei opened it for her, and he was in pyjamas and wore a cloud of alcohol.
¡°Stop the act.¡± Jacqueline Eva walked in, then closed the door with her heel.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°What am I acting about?¡±
Jacqueline Eva moved in close to Xia Lei. ¡°You stole my Marie¡¯s Desire, and you used it on those Japanese people.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Xia Lei backed away.
¡°Are you making me say it?¡± Jacqueline Eva looked annoyed. ¡°You called me, asking to be rescued. I brought my men and rushed over to Hattori Masao¡¯s home but you¡¯ve escaped. You were able to handle those Japanese people, so why make that call?¡±
¡°I really don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s face was innocent.
Jacqueline Eva suddenly reached out and grabbed the cor of Xia Lei¡¯s pyjamas, then yanked. Xia Lei¡¯s pyjamas were ripped open. He had a few small wounds on his body, and some scratches.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei covered his lower body with his hand. He had briefs on, but it was still embarrassing.
¡°I saw broken ss in the Hattori home. You jumped out of Beryl¡¯s room, didn¡¯t you? What happened?¡± Jacqueline Eva asked pressed him for answers.
He could not solve his problem by continuing his act, so Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Okay. Those Japanese people used Beryl to get close to me. They wanted to get my technologies from me, then hand me over to the CIA. Lucky I had the Marie¡¯s Desire perfume you gave me, or I would have fallen into the hands of the Japanese. I¡¯d thought that it wouldn¡¯t work so well at first, so I called you to get help after using the perfume. Butter, I discovered that the people were knocked out by it and so I ran away.¡±
¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Jacqueline Eva looked at Xia Lei, half-believing, half not.
¡°That¡¯s it.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t believe you. You must be hiding something.¡±
¡°Then I really have no way of satisfying your curiosity.¡± Xia Lei closed up his sleepwear. ¡°I¡¯ll go call my secretary over to help me apply medication.¡±
Jacqueline Eva pulled at Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°No need to call your secretary. I¡¯ll help you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±
A little whileter, Xia Leiy on his bed. Jacqueline Eva sat by the bed, holding a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and cotton swabs.
¡°You really don¡¯t have anything you want to tell me?¡± Jacqueline Eva pulled out a cotton swab.
¡°I think I¡¯d better call my secretary,¡± said Xia Lei.
Jacqueline Eva suddenly jabbed the non-cotton end of the cotton swab at a wound on Xia Lei¡¯s buttock.
¡°Ah¡ª¡±
Chapter 737
Did Gu Kewen have a stranglehold on living?
It was better to say that the ck-robed man hade at a very coincidental time.
Xia Lei could not sleep all night. His brain worked on the problem all night too but it did note up with any result he was satisfied with.
¡°Make the arrangements. I want to return to China,¡± said Xia Lei to Jacqueline Eva when he got up in the morning.
Jacqueline Eva paused. ¡°You¡¯re going back now?¡±
¡°Yes. I have to go back. It¡¯s not safe for me to stay here. Last night, I would have ended up in the hands of the CIA if I had not managed to escape in time.¡±
¡°Well, you wouldn¡¯t even have been there if you hadn¡¯t been bedazzled by Beryl. You stay in the hotel, and no one can harm you.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t think so, however. He thought of the ck-robed man. The French would not be able to guard against him if he appeared here. He thought about this, but he still had no intention of telling Jacqueline Eva about it. He said, ¡°I¡¯ve decided. Please make the arrangements. This is not just out of concern for my safety, but out of consideration of our deal. I have to go back to China to process the core high-precision parts for you. Those parts cannot bepleted without me.¡±
¡°All right, I¡¯ll make the arrangements for you.¡± Jacqueline Eva climbed out of bed too. She looked left and right, then suddenly held on to Xia Lei¡¯s shoulders and leaned sideways, stretching out her leg to the clothes rack. She was looking for that little white G-string on the highest rung of the rack.
She had long legs as white as snow and a round, perky ass. Her waist curved like a slender bow, and her leg shot out like an arrow, revealing an even more fascinating bit of scenery. There was no question that this was the most beautiful posture for taking something off a clothing rack that Xia Lei had seen in his life.
Jacqueline Eva flicked her pale toe and the white G-string slid down the back of her calf, following the curve of her leg to slide up to her thigh.
¡°Hmm.¡± Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Do you usually put your underwear on like this?¡±
Jacqueline Eva¡¯s hand left Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and, not minding his gaze at all, pulled the white G-string up her other leg.
¡°Will youe back again?¡± Jacqueline Eva looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei gave augh. ¡°Is it important to you whether Ie back or not?¡±
Jacqueline Evaughed too, then said, ¡°Nope.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°But I think it will be difficult for me to find another partner in bed as good as you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
One hourter, at the Villepinte Exhibition Centre.
Xia Lei let Qing Caiyue and his other employees know of his ns to return to China, then made the work arrangements for them.
This news was rather sudden to Qing Caiyur and the employees of Thunder Horse Group, but it did not affect them much. The orders which should have been signed were signed, and the rest of the exhibition time was just going through the process. Many of the Thunder Horse Group employees were already nning their romantic travel times in France, discussing popr tourist spots and ns for shopping. All these things were enough for them to worry over, so they were in no mind to analyse why their Director Xia was suddenly returning to China.
The most disappointed one was probably Qing Caiyue, but she could do nothing but hide that disappointment in her heart.
Once he settled all of his matters, Xia Lei left the Thunder Horse Group exhibition booth and made to return to the hotel. He received a call from Jacqueline Eva, and found that she had not arranged for the quickest flight back to China, but had got him a chartered direct flight back to Jingdu.
Before Xia Lei could walk out of the Villepinte Exhibition Centre, however, he was stopped but a person in the main lobby.
The person stopping him was dressed in a ck officedy suit. She had a small waist and ample curves, and legs in the 3:2 proportion. She had the exquisite facial features of a woman of the East, and also the beautiful blue eyes of a woman from the West, and a smoking hot body. She was none other than the person who had tried to cage himst night but was knocked out instead ¡ª Hattori Mei.
Hattori Mei stood in Xia Lei¡¯s way, staring colding at him.
Xia Lei took a step to the side, moving to walk around her.
Hattori Mei took a step to the side too, and blocked his way again.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s you. Morning, Mei.¡±
¡°You forgot me so quickly?¡± Hattori Mei finally spoke. ¡°You¡¯re too self-centred.¡±
¡°This is a self-centred world.¡±
¡°We have to talk.¡±
¡°Yeah, no problem. I¡¯ll be happy to talk with you about whatever you want, but I have some urgent matters to tend to right now. How about...¡± Xia Lei pretended to think for a bit. ¡°How about dinner tonight? We can talk as we eat.¡±
¡°I want to talk to you now.¡±
¡°Now is not possible. Okay, I¡¯lle pick you up tonight. I have to go now.¡± Xia Lei moved away again, making to slip away from Hattori Mei.
Hattori Mei grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Trying to slip away? Not so easy.¡±
The smile on Xia Lei¡¯s face disappeared. ¡°I don¡¯t owe you anything, Hattori Mei. I won¡¯t be so polite anymore if you keep acting like this.¡±
Hattori Mei sneered. ¡°You want to hit me? Then go ahead, I¡¯ll let you hit me. I¡¯d like to see what the media will report when a man hits a woman here, in this sort of ce.¡±
Xia Lei was saying mean things, but actually hitting her, and in a ce like this, was not something he could do.
¡°All right, I¡¯ll give you five minutes.¡± This was not because he was afraid of harassment from her. She could not stop him if he really wanted to walk off. He had promised to give her five minutes because he wanted to put an end to his rtionship with Hattori Mei, and also because he wanted to know how the Japanese had reacted to the development.
¡°Come with me!¡± Hattori Mei released Xia Lei¡¯s hand and walked out of the main lobby.
Xia Lei followed her to the open-air carpark.
The door to a Toyota 7-seater car opened, and Hattori Masao stepped out.
Hattori Masao¡¯s guards also came out of a car next to his, but they did not draw close. They stood two metres away and watched Xia Lei like a hawk.
Xia Lei was not bothered about those men at all. He followed Hattori Mei and stood before Hattori Masao, and greeted him first. ¡°You¡¯re looking well, Mr Hattori. You must have had some good news.¡±
HIs daughter had been fucked, the technologies he had had in his hands had flown away, and the man he¡¯d wanted to get rid off was still standing in front of him, hale and hearty, and smiling while saying careless words. If all these were counted as ¡°good news¡±, then Hattori Masao would be the happiest man on Earth. However, this ¡°most happy¡± man now wanted most to pull out his gun and st ten bullets into the head of this Chinese punk standing before him. Ten shots, not one less.
He was itching to do it, but Hattori Masao had good control over himself. A smile slowly spread on his face. ¡°You were still calling me Uncle yesterday, and it¡¯s ¡®Mr Hattori¡¯ today. Are you going to call me Hattori the Fool in a few days then?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare. It is just a form of greeting. I¡¯ll call you Uncle from now on if you want, okay?¡±
¡°Enough, let¡¯s stop beating about the bush.¡± Hattori Masao put his smile away. ¡°You know why I¡¯m here.¡± He stretched out a hand to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused, then held his hand.
Hattori Masao shook his hand off. ¡°I am not shaking hands with you. I am here to take my item.¡±
¡°What item?¡± Xia Lei put on a confused face.
Hattori Masao scoffed. ¡°You sure are forgetful. That USB sh drive with the technologies of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, XL2500, Gust and Hellhound technologies on it. I exchanged the AI technology for your technologies, but you stole itst night!¡±
Hattori Mei chimed in. ¡°Hand that USB sh drive over to us, and we are even.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t helpughing.
¡°What are youughing about?¡± Hattori Mei red at Xia Lei.
Hattori Masao held back the mes of anger in his heart, and the impulse to p Xia Lei across the face.
Xia Lei stoppedughing, and his voice grew cold. ¡°You have the audacity to talk to me about the dealst night. If I hadn¡¯t been lucky enough or reacted fast enough, I would probably be lying in some basement right now, and the CIA would also be using torture instruments on me, right? You made a deal with the CIA, and you wanted to send me to hell. I escaped, and you actually dare toe looking for me to ask for my technologies? Wow. Do you take me for a fool? Or do you think that I am a weak and cowardly person who won¡¯t dare to do anything to you?¡±
¡°You took our AI technology. That is a fact.¡± Hattori Masao gave him the pre-prepared excuse. ¡°What happenedst night was a mistake. I had no deal with the CIA. It is definitely a coincidence that the CIA turned up at my house. Let¡¯s talk about the matter at hand now ¡ª you took our tech, so you have to go by our agreement and give me that USB sh drive.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what USB sh drive you¡¯re talking about, and I did not take anything from you. I was only wearing a pair of underwear when I escaped from your housest night. I still want my clothes back,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡ª¡± Hattori Masao¡¯s eyes were terrifyingly cold.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Stop making that face at me. I don¡¯t care. Hattori Masao, you had no intention of making a deal with me in the first ce. You only let me have one look at the drawings you took out. Does taking one look at them count as taking your technology? My technologies were seen by your engineers too, weren¡¯t they? So since everyone has had a look, what right do you have to demand that I give you another copy?¡±
¡°Xia Lei! You took that USB sh drive away!¡± Hattori Mei was losing it.
¡°I¡¯ve said it very clearly. I was only wearing a pair of underwear when I escaped from your house. I did not take any SSD. I was running for my life, so why would I be bothering about an SSD?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei, are you nning on going back on the deal?¡± said Hattori Masao icily.
Xia Lei nced at his watch. ¡°All right, five minutes are up. I¡¯ll just say one thing. Don¡¯t think that you¡¯re all that. Don¡¯t say that I took your technology. Even if I did, what can you do to me? Sue me in French court? Or are you going to send your agents to arrest me? Do whatever you want, but let me give you a word of warning. If you make a move against me, I will make sure to pay you back and settle our ounts!¡±
Xia Lei turned around and left after saying that.
¡°Bastard!¡± Hattori Masao smashed a fist into the window of the Toyota. The ss shook, and cracked.
Hattori Mei kept her eyes on Xia Lei, and they were cold. Of all the people there, she was the one who had the most hatred for Xia Lei. She had given so much to their cause to get a result, but her sleeping with him, letting him y with her and take everything of hers was all for nothing. How could there be such a thing in this world!
She could not stand it!
¡°Mei, call your younger brother. It¡¯s time he did something,¡± said Hattori Masao.
Hattori Mei nodded.
Chapter 738
His trip to France was over.
And for the French, they had thrown away this hot potato before it burnt their hands.
To Xia Lei, however, returning to China early meant that he could shake harassment from the Japanese off, and distance himself from danger. More importantly, he had taken the Hattori family¡¯s AI technology, and he was eager to make all the information in his brain a reality. These things could not be done in France.
This trip to France had been full of ups and downs and had been dangerous too, but he had gained much from it. The deal with the French had eased him of 20 billion in loans, which was equivalent to negating all of the loans he had. He could rx and start on expanding his business now to challenge those world-yers in the arms industry.
The deal with the Hattori family had also gotten him their AI technology. The Thunder Horse Group would soar if he could use this technology on his products!
A Dassault Falcon 900nded at the Jingdu International Airport at dawn. Xia Lei shook the French flight attendants¡¯ hands in goodbye, and walked into the arrival hall with just one suitcase.
He had not called anyone to say that he was back but he saw three familiar faces as soon as he stepped into the arrival hall. The three female chiefs of Bureau 101 had sent him off and these three were here to wee his return ¡ª Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao.
Three women, pretty as flowers and pale as jade. Three women with threepletely different styles. Xia Lei should have felt honoured, but he only felt a headacheing on. This was because he knew that nothing good could happen when these three women appeared in front of him at the same time.
The four of them looked at each other.
All four of them were very good-looking, and their quietness drew the attention of a lot of people, and gossip too.
¡°Are these four people some group from Korea?¡±
¡°Look at the way they¡¯re looking at each other. It¡¯s the legendary love quadrangle.¡±
¡°Pfft. How did youe to that conclusion?¡±
¡°I watched way more Korean dramas than you watched TV.¡±
¡°...¡±
These bits of gossip affected the four of them too.
Long Bing said nothing. She just smiled at Xia Leo.
Liang Siyao didn¡¯t say anything either. She took the suitcase from Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan was the only one who spoke. ¡°You¡¯re under arrest. Pleasee with us.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°On what charges?¡±
¡°Seducing the daughter of a good family.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Before Xia Lei could say anything, however, Tang Yuyan came forward and grabbed his arm, ¡°arresting¡± him and moving to take him away.
Liang Siyao frowned in discontent, but she still followed, dragging Xia Lei¡¯s suitcase behind her. She was helping him with his suitcase but Tan Yuyan had taken Xia Lei¡¯s hand to drag him away ¡ª what was this? Was she some sort ofckey? Of course she was unhappy.
Only Long Bing maintained her calm. Everything seemed inferior to her, and she was above the drama.
One hourter, Bureau 101 Headquarters, in Shi Boren¡¯s office.
Aside from Shi Boren, Yu Shanhe was in the office too. Xia Lei then knew that though Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao had not said it, the three of them had not agreed on going to the airport together but had been ordered by Shi Boren to do it. His return from France had definitelymunicated to the rted departments, and it was very easy for Shi Boren to get hold of this information.
It was just... What was Yu Shanhe doing here?
Xia Lei could not help trying to guess at the reason. He was very sure that Yu Shanhe was not here to congratte him on his efforts.
¡°Well done, brat. You have my respect, haha!¡± Shi Boren boomed with cheer as soon as Xia Lei walked through the door, and he gave him a solid bear hug.
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°It is all at your direction, Boss Shi. I am but a mere footsoldier. I wouldn¡¯t know what to do without you to instruct me.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh, that mouth of yours... I can¡¯t outtalk you.¡± Shi Boren was ugly when he smiled. He did not like people outshining him, but Xia Lei was an exception.
Xia Lei went up to Yu Shanhe on his own and stretched out a hand to shake his. ¡°Hello, Chief Yu.¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s tone was neutral. ¡°Yes, hello.¡±
¡°Chief Yu must be here to talk with Boss Shi about something. I won¡¯t disturb you further then. I¡¯ll be leaving after our greetings,¡± said Xia Lei.
He knew that Shi Boren had sent Long Bing, Tang Yuyan and Liang Siyao to fetch him for something he¡¯d like to discuss, but he had no interest in talking with Yu Shanhe here.
¡°Where are you going?¡± said Shi Boren. ¡°We were all waiting here for you. Who¡¯s going to talk to us if you leave?¡±
¡°Oh, so you wanted to talk to me?¡± Xia Lei put on a surprised look.
¡°What else would I be doing here?¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s tone of voice was still neutral. ¡°I am here to settle the issue with Thunder Horse Group¡¯s loans, and also...¡± He paused for a bit, and said, ¡°And the issue regarding the export of the Thunder Horse Group.¡±
Xia Lei had had a great profit from his trip to France and he had been in a good mood till he got to the carpark of Bureau 101. His mood now, however, was starting to fall in the other direction. The Thunder Horse Group¡¯s loans were definitely something which should be settled and this was an agreement that Fanfan had reached with the higher-ups. He did not think that it would be Yu Shanhe in charge of this issue. In his imagined scenario, and what he wished, it was Fan Fan who was the best person to handle this. Plus, Yu Shanhe had mentioned the issue of the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s exports but he had not spoken of details. His tone, and his attitude told Xia Lei that trouble wasing.
Shi Boren nced at the three women. ¡°What are you still standing here for? Are you all bored? Is there no work for you to do?¡±
¡°Lei,e look for me when you¡¯re done here.¡± Tang Yuyan was the first to leave after she said that.
Liang Siyao and Long Bing left too.
¡°What would you have, Xia Lei? ck tea, or Iron Goddess of Mercy tea? I¡¯ll make it for you.¡± Shi Boren was as polite to Xia Lei as ever.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei was polite, as he should be. ¡°Why don¡¯t I do it, Boss Shi. How could I let you make the tea for me?¡±
¡°Hahaha what¡¯s with all these formalities! Sit down, boy. I¡¯ll make the tea.¡± Shi Boren had always been a very straightforward man. He liked Xia Lei, and his respect for the young man was not unfounded. The glory Xia Lei had achieved for his nation was worthy of him making tea for him.
¡°Heh heh.¡± Yu Shangeughed and said, ¡°Boss Shi is the nicest leader I¡¯ve seen. He is so understanding of his subordinates. You must treasure it, Xia Lei.¡±
Xia Lei sat on the sofa. ¡°Chief Yu, I know that your time is precious. Let¡¯s talk business.¡±
¡°All right, let¡¯s talk business.¡± Yu Shanhe opened up his briefcase and took out a red-headed document from it. He also took out a pen, and handed both to Xia Lei.
¡°What is this?¡±
¡°This is a document which waives the loans that the Thunder Horse Group has taken out. Have a read and sign if there are no problems,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
Xia Lei flipped through the document and finished reading it quickly. He frowned. ¡°What is this? Send an administrative supervisor? And why is it only mentioned in a document like this?¡±
¡°If you were manufacturing something else, following the principles of the market and abiding by thew would mean that no one would interfere in your business. However, you are in the arms dealing business. This is not foodstuffs, so appropriate supervision is a must. This is what we mean by sending an administrative supervisor. You are still young, and it is unavoidable for you to handle some things inappropriately. It is a good thing for you, to have someone to help you handle matters,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
¡°Are you not going to waive my loan if I don¡¯t sign this?¡± Xia Lei looked at Yu Shanhe. He was raging inside but calm on the outside.
Yu Shanhe gave a softugh. ¡°Isn¡¯t this obvious? This is a sum of over 20 billion. Do you think it is just two million? You want so much money from the country, and you¡¯re not happy when you¡¯re sent a helper?¡±
Twenty billion really wasn¡¯t a small sum to be written off just like that. Based off this amount, the country sending a supervisor on top of waiving the loan was a deal which looked entirely agreeable, and there was no losing out on this. It was like giving him a great advantage.
But was this really the case?
Xia Lei put the document on the table and said evenly, ¡°Chief Yu. Where is this administrative supervisor from?¡±
¡°There is no need for you to worry about that. It will be arranged, of course, and there will be someone toe to yourpany and do the work that should be done,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
Shi Boren gave Xia Lei a cup of tea but he did not interrupt their talk. He walked to his desk to read the newspaper. He obviously knew some of it, and he had chosen to be a spectator in this.
¡°Chief Yu, you said earlier that the Thunder Horse Group has some export issues. What issues are these?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°You signed several purchase orders in France. There are some new clients we have never interacted with before. This is not permitted. You should provide the relevant reports and receive the relevant approvals and permissions before you export weapons. You did well in the past, but you have obviously forgotten this when your business expanded. This cannot be allowed.¡±
Xia Lei knew what Yu Shanhe was after. It could actually also be put this way ¡ª Yu SHanhe represented the arms industry of China, and Thunder Horse Group¡¯s rapid expansion had affected not just one or two of theirpanies. The troubles of thesepanies would not go away unless the Thunder Horse Group fell, or was turned into one of their own.
¡°You can count these two issues as one. Waiving your loans and supervising the market behaviour of the Thunder Horse Group requires an official to provide administrative guidance,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
¡°May I ask what this supervisor¡¯s duties will be?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I already make it clear? Directing your work, supervising and guiding the trading behaviour of the Thunder Horse Group. I cannot be entirely clear about it now, but you will surely have it cleared up.¡± Yu Shanhe pointed at the document on the tea table. ¡°Sign it. I have to hurry to a meeting.¡±
Xia Lei did not move. He chuckled. ¡°Chief Yu, let me say something. I did not request the nation to waive my loan for no reason. The benefits I¡¯ve obtained for the nation on this trip alone is way more than 20 billion. I did not take the money for nothing, and I took advantage of no one. Plus, all the purchase orders I signed in Paris are legal buyers. Countries conventionally encourage exports, and do not put such strict restrictions in ce. Was I supposed toe back to China to ask for the approval from some leader when I was in Paris? What business can I do if I have to do it like that?¡±
This was what Xia Lei wanted to say, and he said it. The loan of over 20 billion had been made back on his trip to France. This was a transaction of equal value, so what right had they to assign him a supervisor? If he signed this, he would have more heaped upon him. How could he not see how they wanted to trap him? At the end of this, he would not be the master of his own Thunder Horse Group anymore!
¡°So do you mean that you will not sign?¡± Yu Shahe¡¯s expression turned ugly.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I will not sign. I will sign only if you take that use out.¡±
¡°Hmph! You were the one who wanted a waiver, not me. Are you expecting me to beg you? Fine, don¡¯t sign it!¡± Yu Shanhe snatched up the document from the table and left.
Chapter 739
Yu Shanhe really did just leave like that. He did not even say goodbye to Shi Boren.
Xia Lei watched Yu Shanhe leave and did not show him even the most basic of courtesies in saying goodbye. Yu Shanhe was flippant about his signing the document, so his was just going to let him leave since he wanted to leave.
¡°Boy, how are you going to handle the matter of the loans if you let him go just like that?¡± sadi Shi Boren a little worriedly.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯ll ask him to stay if he has over 20 billion to help me repay the loan. But does he have the money? Besides, I wasn¡¯t asking him who wanted this money. It¡¯s the remuneration from the deal I made with the French. Is this deal still valid when I can¡¯t receive the amount we¡¯d agreed on? He wants to leave? Sure, I don¡¯t care.¡±
Shi Boren smiled. ¡°I knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to bully you, Boy. Negotiating with you about money, huh? It¡¯s just a pile of paper to you, aye?¡±
It was a little exaggerated, but this was true for Xia Lei and what made him so confident.
The deal with the French was, quite simply, a deal between the French and himself. There was no way the deal could have gone through without him. And even if it had, the French would also give only 25% of their technologies. He had to give something of value to them to get their technologies, so could a deal like this be done without him?
If the deal was already done, and Yu Shanhe came to him to ask him to sign a document like this, then he could have signed it due to the 20-plus billion. But the deal was not done yet, so how could Yu Shanhe threaten him?
¡°So what do you n to do?¡± Shi Boren seemed curious.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I won¡¯t do anything. I¡¯ll just rest for a few days first.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to get someone to look into this?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for that. Yu Shanhe is representing the interests of some people. They are trying to hinder me to protect their own interests so I¡¯ll just let them do it. Isn¡¯t Yu Shanhe trying to get me to submit by waving about his authority in front of me? But he¡¯s mistaken about one thing ¡ª I am the only one who can make the deal with the French. He is also not the only chief around.¡±
¡°Heh heh heh.¡± Shi Borenughed even louder. ¡°What you say makes sense. I, Shi Boren, have never admired anyone in my life, but I admire you.¡±
¡°You tter me, Boss Shi.¡±
Shi Boren abruptly changed the topic. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this anymore. I¡¯ll talk business with you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°No matter what achievements you have, you are still a member of my Bureau 101. And Bureau 101 matters are your matters. You¡¯ve just got back so I shouldn¡¯t send you out on a mission, but this matter needs you to handle it. I have to send you, our ace.¡±
¡®I¡¯ll wait for him to say it then find an excuse to shrug it off,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°This is the thing. There has been a bit of a situation in the western provinces recently. ording to our intel, some foreign terrorists have moved in. We are currently still uncertain of their motives, but we have never been tolerant of people like them. I¡¯d like to keep them, and their ns under control. I¡¯ll let you and Yuyanplete this mission.¡±
Xia Lei would have guessed that Shi Boren would send him and Yuyan on the mission even if he had not put it that way, because he had always had this inclination to push him and Yuyan together. This was also another reason for his headaches.
So should he go on this mission? Or should he do something else? This really wasn¡¯t something he could easily find excuses for. Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Boss Shi, I¡¯ve only just returned...¡±
Shi Boren cut him off. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯re free for the next few days? Why aren¡¯t you going on missions since you have free time? Okay, this is decided then. It won¡¯t take you more than a few days either. Three, five, or five, six days... Just go out on a trip with Yuyan. You cane back at any time, whether you¡¯vepleted the mission or not.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°What are you still standing here for? Hurry up and get prepared.¡± After a pause, Shi Boren added, ¡°Take a good camera along with you. The scenery there is great.¡±
Was this a mission or a holiday trip?
Xia Lei was in serious doubt. However, he did not reject Shi Boren. He¡¯d wanted to rx for the next few days anyway, so it wasn¡¯t going to hurt much if he went to the western provinces on a mission and had a holiday while he was at it. His disappearance for a few days would give Yu Shanhe some pressure too.
You wanted to just leave like that, huh? Well, I don¡¯t care either then! Let¡¯s see who can hold out for longer!
¡°I¡¯ll set out tomorrow then, Boss Shi,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem.¡± Shi Boren had been prepared to cut off Xia Lei¡¯s protests, and he was relieved when Xia Lei agreed.
Xia Lei left Shi Boren¡¯s office and saw Tang Yuyan hiding by the wall and eavesdropping right away.
Tang Yuyan straightened in embarrassment, then red at Xia Lei. ¡°You scared me. Are you going to be responsible for me if my wits are scattered?¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Let¡¯s have dinner together tonight.¡±
¡°Sure. At my ce, or outside?¡± Tang Yuyan was immediately cheered.
¡°At my ce. I¡¯d like to invite Siyao and Bing too,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ve been gone for quite a while, so it will be fun to have everyone together.¡±
The smile on Tang Yuyan¡¯s face disappeared right away.
Xia Lei took out a gift box from his suitcase and put it in Tang Yuyan¡¯s hands.
¡°A present for me?¡± A smile appeared on Tang Yuyan¡¯s face again. The expressions on her face changed like in a face-changing performance in a Sichuan opera.
¡°Yeah. Perfume.¡±
¡°What? Just one bottle?¡±
¡°It was really difficult for me to get this from someone. It¡¯s called Marie¡¯s Desire. It¡¯s a customised perfume and can¡¯t be bought with money,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s so amazing? Is there more? I want another bottle.¡±
¡°No more, no more,¡± said Xia Lei hurriedly.
¡°I don¡¯t believe you. There must be more.¡± Tang Yuyan reached for Xia Lei¡¯s suitcase.
¡°What are the two of you doing? Can you be more conscious of your image?¡± Liang Siyao walked out from the other corner with a smile on her face but a sourness in her eyes.
Long Bing appeared a second after Liang Siyao did, from another corner. She said nothing. Based on her personality and how she viewed love, however, she would probably not have said anything even if Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan were kissing in this corridor. Even if it was ufortable for her, it would pass quickly.
¡°You came at the right time. I got you some presents from France.¡± Xia Lei quickly opened up his suitcase and took out thest two bottles of perfume. He gave one to Liang Siayo, and one to Long Bing.
¡°Thank you.¡± Liang Siyao smiled happily.
¡°I don¡¯t ever use perfume,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Give it to me if you¡¯re not going to use it,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°But Xia Lei gave this to me. I will use it,¡± said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan was speechless.
¡°All right, all of you are invited to my ce for dinner tonight.¡± Xia Lei dragged his suitcase after him as he escaped. ¡°I¡¯m going home now to wash up and prepare dinner.¡±
The three women watched him go. They looked back at each other when he disappeared from their site.
¡°Yuyan, I heard that you and Xia Lei are going on a mission to the western provinces.¡± Liang Siyao fiddled with the perfume bottle in her hands as she probed.
The corner of Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth curled dryly. ¡°You sure are well-informed. That¡¯s right. It¡¯s an anti-terrorist mission.¡±
¡°Do you need help?¡± said Liang Siayo. ¡°I have nothing much to do now, so I can go with you two.¡±
¡°No need for that. Us two are enough.¡± Tang Yuyan was not going to let Liang Siyao tag along, unless something went wrong with her brain or something.
Long Bing walked off with the bottle of perfume.
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to say something?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing looked back at Tang Yuyan and said disinterestedly, ¡°Fine. Have a happy honeymoon. I hope you give birth to a healthy child soon. Is that enough?¡±
¡°You... Dang you. What the heck are you saying? Hehe, you have some problem, don¡¯t you? Hehe...¡± She spoke one line butughed eight times. Tang Yuyan¡¯s thoughts were in to see.
¡°You¡¯re the one with a problem.¡± Long Bing turned her head back, and started walking again in the direction Xia Lei had left.
¡°Where are you going? Your office is the other way,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°I¡¯m going to drive Xia Lei home,¡± said Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan stared nkly.
This woman had wished her a happy honeymoon and healthy children one moment, but she was going to drive Xia Lei home the next. What was her link to him?
The rtionship the three female chiefs had with Xia Lei was a very murky one indeed.
The SUV left the urban Jingdu area and headed towards the Thunder Horse Military Factory.
¡°That person surnamed Yu didn¡¯t make things difficult for you, did he?¡± Long Bing broke the silence in the car.
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°He is representing the interests of the domestic arms dealers. Could he not trouble me?¡±
¡°I really want to share your burden, but I am just a small fry. I can¡¯t help out with matters like these even if I want to.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about these things. I can handle him.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s not talk about him anymore.¡± Long Bing put the bottle of perfume which Xia Lei had given her in his hand.
Xia Lei paused. ¡°What are you doing? Don¡¯t you like it? What do you like, then? I¡¯ll give you something else.¡±
¡°Who said I didn¡¯t like it? I mean for you to open it up and put some on me.¡± Long Bing smiled at Xia Lei.
She rarely smiled, so Xia Lei felt she was extra beautiful every time she did. His heart fluttered as he remembered her various good points.
¡°Hurry up. I¡¯ve never used perfume before. I want to try it,¡± urged Long Bing.
Xia Lei took out the perfume bottle and removed the cork. He moved close to her, carefully, and sprayed the perfume on her.
The car filled with the mesmerising smell of Marie¡¯s Desire. It was not just a perfume, but a ¡°mood-setter¡±. It silently teased the man and woman in the car.
Long Bing looked away from Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. She actually looked a little shy.
Xia Lei found this delightful. He suddenly sprayed her with some perfume.
¡°You...¡± Long Bing didn¡¯t expect that Xia Lei would do that.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Does it smell good?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Long Bing¡¯s response was curt, and emotionless. ¡°But I¡¯m not used to fragrances.¡±
Xia Leiughed and said, ¡°Women are quite cute sometimes, when they are all fragrant.¡±
¡°You like women who use fragrances?¡± asked Long Bing.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡±
¡°Then I am a woman who uses fragrances from today on.¡± Long Bing suddenly turned the steering wheel, and the car went zooming off the main road and into a small, tree-lined trail...
Chapter 740
The three female chiefs left, and Silvia and Annina were asleep too. The world without women was a quiet one. Xia Lei arrived at the vi on factory grounds, carrying a backpack. The vi had been under constant guard, by his own guards and the Chinese National Guard. No one else had moved in after Silvia and Annina had moved out. Under the cover of night, the lightless vi looked like a haunted house.
The two Special Forces soldiers guarding the door saluted Xia Lei. Xia Lei nodded in acknowledgement and went into the vi unhindered.
Xia Lei opened up the backpack when he got to the undergroundboratory and took out what was inside. There was just a notebook, that silver-coloured alloy, and the ancient canvas which had what was on it vanished. These things were what he had taken from Bobbio, Italy, from da Vinci¡¯sbyrinth. There were a few other things, like da Vinci¡¯s manuscripts and oil paintings, but he had not brought those things here.
Theboratory was silent.
Xia Lei spaced out while he looked at those three things.
The ancient alloy, AE, Princess Yongmei, da Vinci, the silver-coloured alloy, the bronze book, thepass... these people and items appeared in his head, one by one. All of these were rted, of course, but he could not find the thread which tied them all together.
After a long while of silent nk staring, Xia Lei picked up the notebook.
He opened it up. The first page was still the same, written in Italian.
¡®If you¡¯re reading this, it means you¡¯vee. I havepleted the task she¡¯s handed to me. I cannot help but imagine this very scene, and it excites me. I hope you will be able to solve the mystery of the box. I will be in Heaven awaiting your good news. She has also given me a piece of alloy. I have tried but failed at understanding its structure. Maybe you will be able to do it. The path out is before you. How did the Viking pirates enter?¡¯
He had gone to Italy only because of Ning Jing¡¯s painting, and what she had said while she was ¡°possessed¡±. ording to this message that da Vinci had left, his main motive in going into the undergroundbyrinth was to ¡°awaken someone¡±, and the silver-coloured alloy was secondary.
¡®The Knights Hospitaller called this silver metal the ¡°metal of the gods¡±, and treated it like a sacred object. It must have some story behind it and be very valuable, right? I tested its strength when I was in thebyrinth too, and it is no ordinary metal. Da Vinci studied it but did not leave any research results...¡¯ Xia Lei turned the page, and lifted the nk page after it above his head to see if the light would reveal anything on it.
The paper was very clean, and had no traces of ink at all. Under the light, he saw some faint traces ¡ª marks left by da Vinci from writing the first page.
Xia Lei remembered something just as he was about to flip the page. He put the second page under the light again and activated his zoom-in vision.
He saw something different this time. The marks left on the second page were shaped differently from the first page.
This difference meant that da Vinci had written something else after the first page. The second page would not have different markings if he hadn¡¯t.
Xia Lei used the same method to look at the nk paper behind it and discovered more traces. These traces were barely perceptible and he would not have been able to detect them under normal circumstances without his zoom-in vision.
This discovery excited Xia Lei. He was sure that da Vinci had left something behind in this notebook.
He quickly prepared acidic and alkaline solutions of different concentrations, and carefully dabbed some on the nk paper. He did not have to use all of his prepared solutions; the first drop worked. Italian words appeared in the areas which hade into contact with the solution.
¡°Haha!¡± Xia Lei could not helpughing and dancing about in theboratory like a child. ¡°Da Vinci, da Vinci, you really are the smartest man on Earth. You were actually already able to make invisible ink in your era.¡±
Invisible ink was not a rarity in modern times and it could be bought in stationery shops. In da Vinci¡¯s time, however, it was definitely a miraculous thing.
More of the solution was put on the paper, and the full Italian text appeared.
¡®Am I the smartest person in the world? No. If I am the smartest person in this world, then I would be able to solve the mystery of the metal of the gods. To me, it is as mysterious as she is, and both are not of this world. She appeared before me 30 years ago, and she made me different from other people. Thirty years have passed, and I have gained nothing. I¡¯m old, and not long for this world, but she is still so young and shows no hint of aging. I suspect she is an angel, and it, a part of an angel¡¯s sword. She is an angel who hase to the human realm, and her angel sword was destroyed. She is looking for a remnant of god and must fight devils, but this is doomed to be a dangerous path full of thorns...¡¯
Xia Lei put more of the solution on the page.
More words appeared.
¡®She always brings wounds back with her, and a bit of mineral powder every time too. She would smear it on canvas every time. I asked her what the mineral powder was, and she¡¯s never told me. I also asked her why she was painting such a strange painting and she said that if she died, a person woulde here one day to awaken her. I cannot understand something like this, like I cannot understand the world of gods...¡¯
That was the end of the second page.
Xia Lei paused, and stared nkly into space before the notebook. He was still holding the dropper with the solution, and he looked like a statue.
What da Vinci had written in invisible ink answered some of his questions but they had also shocked him.
¡®She appeared before me 30 years ago, and she made me different from other people.¡¯
This was what da Vinci had written. There wasn¡¯t anything special about it, but it took on more meaning for Xia Lei. His abilities came from the AE capsules. If it hadn¡¯t been for the AE capsules his father had given him, then his life would not be the way it was now. He would probably still be working at construction sites, wielding, moving bricks and living at the lowest level of society like a dog. So, the turning point of his life was due to the AE capsules.
Da Vinci was hailed as the smartest man in this world and was an all-rounder genius. His life¡¯s turning point had been ¡°her¡±. So had his life¡¯s change been because ¡°she¡± had given him AE capsules?
Hundreds of years had passed and da Vinci was long dead. There was obviously no way he could answer him now. What he did mention was a ¡°she¡±, but where was ¡°she¡± now?
Xia Lei turned the second page and looked at the third page.
The solution from the second page had touched the third page too, and its contents were clear.
¡®She likes to sit under the scorching sun and do nothing, just look at the sun. I tried it too but I could not stand it for even a minute. She can sit like that the whole day, till the sun goes down. She said that doing this makes her stronger. I don¡¯t understand the principle behind it. I also noticed that she never tans. Her skin is always alive with youth, white and tender. This gave me an idea and I studied the alloy from the light and heat angle. However, my efforts were still in vain...¡¯
The third page made Xia Lei think of Princess Yongmei all of a sudden. She was afraid of the cold. She had pestered him during the treasure-seeking trip to Jerusalem and wanted a hot shower with him.
A hypothesis appeared in his head. ¡®Could this ¡°she¡± that da Vinci wrote about be the same person as the Princess Yongmei I met? Could the one da Vinci met be aplete one, but the one I met iplete?¡¯
He put more of the solution on the fourth page and new words appeared.
¡®She never told me what she fights for, nor who her enemy is. She leaves thebyrinth time and time again, andes back with injuries every single time. She never gives up, and I am unable to help her. Thest time she came back was on a moonless and starless night. She was heavily injured that time and she lost her body. I cannotprehend how she is still existing, but this is how gods are. She told me that she is dying and instructed me to do some things for her. After she left, I sealed thebyrinth and did as she instructed me, one by one. I cannot anticipate what will happen in the future. I am leaving these writings behind but with no hope that you would read them. This is just the rambling of an old man. But if you do read this, and you have awakened her, please tell her I love her.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci¡¯
The fifth page had nothing.
Da Vinci had not been able to help ¡°her¡± fix her ¡°angel sword¡± in his lifetime. He obviously would not have recorded his failed attempts in a notebook like this.
The hidden writing in the notebook had been found but Xia Lei could not calm down.
Now, Xia Lei could practically confirm that the ¡°she¡± whom da Vinci had met was aplete Princess Yongmei. But da Vinci had not described what ¡°she¡± had instructed him to do before her death. What Xia Lei really wanted to know was if any of those things she told da Vinci to do were rted to AE capsules.
The alloy pieces, the box made of alloy pieces, the bronze book, thepass... These unsolved mysteries spun about in his head again, and he felt heavy with helplessness.
Da Vinci and ¡°her¡± had obviously failed. He had not been able to solve these mysteries though he had spent his life working on it, and the mighty ¡°she¡±, as powerful as an angel, had died in the end. Was everything he had experienced, and everything he had done, just history repeating itself? Was he sure to fail?
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
The silence in the basementboratory was broken by the ringing of his mobile phone.
The ringing made Xia Lei jump, and he took out his phone automatically. He took one look at the screen and paused ¡ª there was no number calling.
Xia Lei epted the call. ¡°Who is it?¡±
¡°Huu... Hhh...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. It was her! The woman who had called him in Paris, to tell him to escape!
¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°This oxygen mask is getting in the way.¡± The voice of a girl speaking in Italian came from over the line. Her voice was clearly young, and gave him the impression that she was not yet 18.
¡°Who are you?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t care about oxygen masks. He needed an answer. A concrete answer.
¡°All right, I¡¯m ready. Are you ready?¡± said the girl.
¡°I... Ready for what?¡±
¡°Forget it. I¡¯lle to you.¡±
¡°Hello? Who are you?¡±
¡°Beep... Beep...¡± The busy line tone sounded.
Xia Lei kept his hold on the phone. He stood there woodenly, motionless for a long time.
Chapter 741
The dawn light pierced the darkness, and thend woke. A magpiended on the branch of a flowering magnolia tree by the window. It soothed its feathers, then faced the window and chirped, chirped, chirped.
¡°That damned magpie again! Does it have some sort of grudge against people who are sleeping in?¡± Silvia was on arge bed in the room. She grabbed whatever came to hand and flung it at the window.
Smack! A pnded on Silvia¡¯s buttocks.
Silvia opened her eyes and saw Annina ring at her. She paused, then said in surprise, ¡°What did you hit me for? Does that damned magpie concern you?¡±
Annina pointed at the bra under the window with a look of innocence on her face. ¡°Well, you hit it if you want but use your own bra. Why did you tear mine off to throw at it?¡±
Silvia looked at the bra under the window, and at Annina¡¯s exposed snowy peaks, and abruptly understood that the thing she had grabbed and thrown was Annina¡¯s bra.
Only one person on this Earth could pull Annina¡¯s bra off and not be pped on the buttocks for it ¡ª Xia Lei.
Chirp, chirp chirp! Tweet... tweet...
The magpie cried more vigorously; it seemed that this bird hade to cause trouble.
Annina jumped out of bed in frustration and pushed the window open. Golden sunlight flooded over her, and her full, snowy peaks were like Mount Everest One and Mount Everest Two.
¡°Shoo! You damn bird! Dumb bird!¡± Annina shouted at the magpie in the magnolia tree.
The magpie pped its wings and flew off. It seemed like its true motive had been to use its cries to lure the golden-haired beauty out, see her breasts, then fly away.
Annina shut the window, picked up the bra on the floor and angrily covered her snowy mountains with it.
Silvia got out of bed too. ¡°Damn it. I drank too muchst night and my head still hurts. Geeze, Xia Lei, why did he give us so much to drink?¡±
¡°You idiot. Couldn¡¯t you tell? Those three women all like Xia Lei, especially that one surnamed Tang. She wants to be Mrs. Xia Lei. Xia Lei was with those three women, and us two too. Won¡¯t he seduce those three too since he didn¡¯t seduce us?¡±
¡°You¡¯re the idiot. What is that logic? Those three women like him, so he came to seduce us? What does he gain from that? You think those three will sleep with him?¡± Silvia¡¯s logic wasn¡¯t all there either.
¡°Eastern women are too shy, and a majority of them regard themselves as saints so those three probably wouldn¡¯t bed Xia Lei together. But they will, one by one.¡±
¡°Enough. What nonsense are we discussing? Are we going to waste our time on these silly things? We have to get to work. The essory parts have arrived and the parts which should have been processed have been processed. We¡¯ve got to assemble one of them and test the overall performance.¡± Silvia scrambled to find her trousers and clothing.
¡°Hey! That¡¯s my underwear!¡±
¡°So whose are you wearing now? Oh my gawd, when did you put my underwear on?¡±
Only their god knew what was going on, and only their god knew how chaotic the lives of these two German women were.
Half an hourter, the two German women came to the armoured vehicles workshop. The workers had not got to work yet, but the two women heard some clinking from inside.
¡°Who¡¯s in there?¡± asked Silvia in surprise.
¡°How would I know?¡± Annina shrugged.
A male voice came from the doorway of the workshop. ¡°What are the two of you still standing there for? Come in and help.¡±
The two German women exchanged nces and smiled. This was Xia Lei¡¯s voice.
They walked into the workshop and saw a big pile of high-precision parts, and a tank called Rising Thunder, one-third assembled.
Rising Thunder was the tank sh armoured vehicle they had designed with Xia Lei. One part of the parts were imported from Russia and Ukraine, and some parts were provided by domestic manufacturers. The core parts, though, were made by the Thunder Horse Group themselves, and processed by them too.
Once Rising Thunder wasplete, the Thunder Horse Group would have its core for tanks and armoured vehicles. But that would still take them some time.
¡°Didn¡¯t you sleepst night, Lei?¡± asked Annina in concern.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you call us if you were going to work overnight? You¡¯ll tire yourself out this way,¡± said Silvia.
¡°I¡¯ll tire myself out if I did call you two,¡± said Xia Lei.
Annina was puzzled.
Silvia was puzzled.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Okay, you two. Come help. I¡¯ve processed all the parts which should be processed. You can test it out once it¡¯s been assembled.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to test it too?¡± asked Silvia.
¡°You aren¡¯t going out to do something again, are you?¡± asked Annina.
¡°Yeah. I need to make a trip to the western province,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Where is the western province?¡±
¡°In the west of China, of course! That is a teau area with lots of cattle.¡±
¡°Do they have steak?¡±
¡°They have bullwhips.¡±
¡°Haha, Xia Lei, you naughty man. Are you not satisfied with your size?¡±
¡°Is this some hint to us that you want intimacy?¡±
Xia Lei had made a joke which earned him a rebuttal from the two German women. He, on the other hand, was getting overwhelmed.
The two German women were taking off their clothes chatting with him. They treated him like air, and changed into their work clothes right in front of him,pletelyfortable with him seeing their shameful parts.
But even as they joked around, the two German women seemed to change into different people as they entered their work mode. Their professional attitude and work ethics bore the brand of German efficiency.
Xia Lei was absorbed in his work too. He rarely did things personally these days and work like this brought back memories for him. His past experiences seemed distant to his current self, and these were precious memories.
It was now time to work. The workers of the workshops came in. A person who was not one of the workshop staff also came in ¡ª Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s face was full of concern. ¡°I went to look for you at your ce but your father said you went to thepany. You really are a busy man. We¡¯re going to the western province soon and you still came to the workshop to work overtime. What if you tire yourself out? You think those women will care for you? No, there is only one woman who will care for you and show you concern...¡±
Before Tang Yuyan could finish, Annina, who had got to a certain level of listeningprehension, interrupted her. ¡°Miss Tang, can¡¯t you just say that you care about our Director Xia? You need to express that you love him more boldly.¡±
Tang Yuyan froze.
SIlvia continued and said in broken Chinese, ¡°You need to be loud. Say that you want to fuck him.¡±
Tang Yuyan was at a loss for words.
Xia Lei chuckled awkwardly. ¡°Uh, let¡¯s go.¡± He pulled her away before she could speak.
Tang Yuyan looked back at the two women. ¡°Work hard, then. Work overtime and I¡¯ll get Xia Lei to give you a bonuster.¡±
The youngdy of the Tang Sect was no pushover. She got hit twice by theirments, so she was sure to hit back, and harder.
¡°Who does she think she is? Xia Lei¡¯s wife?¡±
¡°She¡¯s a little biatch! She pissed me off. I¡¯m going to give birth to Xia Lei¡¯s golden-haired baby.¡±
¡°If the baby¡¯s going to be mixed blood, then it¡¯s not for certain that it would be blonde. It could also be ck-haired,¡± said Silvia.
Annina looked at her close friend, and didn¡¯t say anything for at least 30 seconds.
Tang Yuyan could not hear the two German women¡¯s conversation, and it was a good thing too, otherwise a big fight would probably have broken out.
¡°Wait for me. I¡¯ll go back and pack something,¡± said Xia Lei to Tang Yuyan when they got to the carpark.
¡°You don¡¯t have to. I brought everything,¡± said Tang Yuyan with a smile.
¡°You brought mine too?¡±
Tang Yuyan pointed at a car parked in the car park.
Xia Lei looked where she pointed and had a bad feeling right away.
It was an imported Ford RV, and the top-of-the-line E450. One could save the money that would have gone to hotels when driving this to the western province, because this vehicle could solve this problem for them. There was no need to worry about its off-road capabilities, whether over grasnd or the Gobi desert, it would be able to do the job.
But these concerns about the vehicle were not the real concern. The real concern was why they were using this. Were they going on a honeymoon in this vehicle, or on a mission?
¡°Come have a look with me.¡± Tang Yuyan pulled Xia Lei¡¯s hand, and walked towards the Ford RV.
Xia Lei followed her into the RV and got a bad feeling again. This was a custom-made vehicle and it was extremely luxurious inside. It had a bedroom, living room, toilet, kitchen, and even a bathroom.
An RV like this would cost more than millions, but this was just crumbs to the Tang family.
¡°I¡¯ll drive. You can go take a shower, then rest.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s smile was warm, and caring.
Xia Lei was not moved by her smile. ¡°I still have to take some sets of clothing with me, right?¡±
Tang Yuyan opened a closet disguised as a wall with a flourish. Inside hung several sets of men¡¯s clothing ¡ª ck suit, tan outdoor jacket and hiking pants, casual clothes for lounging around. He could wear anything he liked. Other than men¡¯s clothing, there were women¡¯s clothing in the closet too. Formal clothing, outdoor clothing, casual clothing and several other styles. There were also bras and underwear and so on. He spotted an unopened lingerie box in the corner of the closetst, and the picture on the box was of a ck G-string.
Tang Yuyan seemed to have sensed that Xia Lei had spotted something, and she closed the door of the closet. She said in embarrassment, ¡°Do what you like. I¡¯m going to drive. I¡¯ll call for you to take over if I get tired.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Sure.¡± After a pause, he suddenly thought of something and asked, ¡°Oh right, who is in charge of this mission? Are you going to be following mymands, or am I going to follow yours?¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei and spoke quickly, ¡°You follow mymands, of course. I¡¯m chief and you¡¯re just a consultant. Is this chief going to follow yourmands?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
The most important question for this mission was ¡®what type of terrorist were they going to go up against¡¯, but he couldn¡¯t be bothered to ask anymore.
Just let them go on and do their terrorist things.
This was probably just a trip that was decided on impulse.
Chapter 742
The scenery outside the window had changed when he woke up. Under the cover of night were green ins, purple flowers and wild yellow chrysanthemums dotting it like a pattern on a flower carpet. Further off were rolling mountains, green at the foot and snowy at the peak. The sky was porcin-blue even at night, so clean that there was not a speck of dust to mar it. It looked like the sky was close, and like one could just reach out and pick the stars from the sky.
Landscapes like these cannot be found in Jingdu or Haizhu.
Xia Lei climbed out of bed.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
His mobile phone rang.
Xia Lei kept two phones on him at all times after returning to China. One was for regrmunication and anyone could call him. The other was a secret satellite phone, and only the members of the Zodiac Team knew about it. The ringing wasing from the secret satellite phone.
Xia Lei picked up. ¡°It¡¯s me. Speak.¡±
¡°Boss, we¡¯re behind you, about half an hour away.¡± It was Amanda. ¡°If there are things that are inconvenient for you to do, we can do them for you.¡±
¡°Who came?¡± Xia Lei had not asked the Zodiac Team to follow him, so he did not know how many of them hade.
¡°Me, Bagu, Park Taeyong and Marcus. Alessio¡¯s still recovering from his wound and E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s mother is really sick. He went back home to see her,¡± said Amanda.
¡°Got it. Keep your distance, and don¡¯t let the Bureau 101 people discover you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Roger.¡± Amanda hung up.
Xia Lei had not given the order to the Zodiac Team to follow him on his mission because this was Bureau 101¡¯s operation. Getting them involved would only result in bad, not good. However, the Zodiac Team members had followed him anyway. He was not going to reject their good intentions in wanting to protect him.
Xia Lei came to the driver¡¯s cab two minutester.
Tang Yuyan looked tired. She was blinking herrge eyes, and looked like she would fall asleep at any moment. But once Xia Lei stepped into the driver¡¯s cab, she grew spirited right away. She smiled and said, ¡°You sure are azy pig. You slept from morning to night! I wanted to wake you up to take over the driving but I couldn¡¯t bear to disturb your sleep.¡±
Xia Lei was a little touched. If he didn¡¯t consider her motives, she really was a good catch. She had the looks, and the body, had long legs and also practised martial arts. She was full of strange and mysterious thoughts too, so it was never boring with her. Add her family¡¯s wealth and status, and he definitely was a great match with her. However, the Tang n itself was what was making him falter. The family had been following their family traditions for hundreds of years. The Tang n¡¯s interests, and the factions leading them made Xia Lei give up on the idea of being with Tang Yuyan though she really was alluring.
¡°Let me drive then. Go to bed and rest,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t want to sleep. I¡¯ll chat with you.¡± Tang Yuyan stopped the vehicle and climbed into the passenger seat.
Xia Lei continued the drive. He saw that the destination marked on the navigation system was a little town called Dawang, in the southern tip of the western province. The area was close to the territory controlled by India, and it had belonged to China in the Han dynasty, but India upied it now. The car was still 300 kilometres from their destination, and based on their current speed, they would probably need to drive for five more hours to get there.
Their destination was a ce which was rather special, and Xia Lei had a suspicion. He asked probingly, ¡°Yuyan, do we really have a mission?¡±
¡°Of course we do. What do you think we¡¯re doing? Eloping?¡±
Xia Lei was at a little of a loss for words. ¡®Is this a holiday trip, or not? If we are on holiday then we should go to Pot. We¡¯re going to a small town in the western province now, so it must be for a mission. Argh, a mission should be a mission, but Boos Shi told me to bring a camera. Was he joking with me? Man, I¡¯d hit him upside the head!¡¯
Tang Yuyan patted Xia Lei on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there won¡¯t be any problems. You¡¯re a national treasure now. Godfather dared to send you, so this means the mission is definitely not a dangerous one. He¡¯s arranged everything and you just have to put the finishing touches to it.¡±
Xia Lei gave augh. Did he still need to put the finishing touches on it, with his stats? The contributions he had made to the nations were all so great that any one of them would cow others if used as aparison. If this was a mission which only needed some finishing touches, then this really was a holiday. He would have plenty of time to go to Pot, Shigatse and anything else another time. Hm, then he really had misunderstood Boss Shi...
But at that moment, the hand Tang Yuyan had used to pat his shoulder slid down, andnded lightly on his thigh.
Xia Lei tensed his thigh for some reason too, and he couldn¡¯t help trying to guess at what she wanted to do.
¡°Hey?¡± Tang Yuyan shook his thigh. ¡°Say, if I really want to elope with you... Would you dare?¡±
Was this for real? Xia Lei¡¯s head went numb. ¡°Yuyan, please don¡¯t make jokes like these.¡±
Tang Yuyan red at Xia Lei. ¡°Look at me. Do I look like I¡¯m joking with you?¡±
Xia Lei did not look at her. He watched the road as he drove. ¡°Heh heh, if you elope with me, then Grandfather Tang would probably give the order to hunt us down as the head of a martial arts order. Him and your father, and your brother too would want to kill me. And your mother. Your mother is a martial arts expert too, isn¡¯t she? Would she let me off if I took her precious daughter away?¡±
¡°Head of a martial arts order, my ass!¡± Tang Yuyan pinched Xia Lei¡¯s thigh and put on a fierce look. ¡°I just want to hear one line from you. Would you dare elope with me?¡±
¡°What¡¯s the name of that mountain ahead? It looks really majestic... ARGH!¡± Xia Lei looked down to see a jade-like w grabbing the muscle of his inner thigh, close to his the base. He was this close to being grabbed by his manhood. Plus, he wasn¡¯t sure if she was using some Tang technique of strengthening her muscles or not, but the force being used here could be summed it in one word ¡ª OUCH!
¡°You know how many days I had to wheedle my godfather to convince him to let you go on this mission with me?¡± Tang Yuyan got more agitated as she spoke. ¡°I didn¡¯t lower myself to go chasing after you in the past because you married Shentu Tianyin. But you¡¯re divorced now, and single, so what are you waiting for? Never mind if you didn¡¯t take the initiative. Are you still going to avoid me when I¡¯m being so proactive? Just when will you stop running away?¡±
¡°Let go.¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°How am I going to drive if you don¡¯t let go?¡±
¡°Stop changing the subject. I¡¯m not pulling at your dick here.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Talk! I¡¯ll confiscate your tools if you don¡¯t make things clear today.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether tough or to cry. ¡°Okay, I do owe you an exnation. Let¡¯s have a proper talk... Can you please let go?¡±
Tang Yuyan let go at that. She pretended to be calm and like she did not care, but her ears were red. After all, she had not grabbed his dick, but his dick had been right by her hand. Just that proximity had made her panicky, and a little afraid.
¡°Yuyan, after Shentu Tianyin and I divorced, I decided not to marry another woman again. I know that you¡¯re good to me, but after that experience... I¡¯m tired. My heart has been hurt enough and I don¡¯t want to experience that for a second time.¡±
¡°Shentu Tianyin lied to you. This doesn¡¯t mean that all women will lie to you.¡±
¡°There was one more. You forgot.¡±
¡°Liang Siyao? Liang Siyao and Shentu Tianyin are cut from the same cloth. How can youpare me to them?¡± Tang Yuyan red at Xia Lei. ¡°We Tang women are stubborn, and we take our love seriously. If I lie to you, there will be no need to teach me a lesson. The Tang family code will destroy me for you.¡±
¡°Yuyan, this is not a matter about lying. It¡¯s about...¡±
Tang Yuyan cut him off. ¡°This is an excuse you gave yourself. I¡¯m not listening to it!¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Yuyan, why don¡¯t you understand? I don¡¯t want to marry.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t want to marry? So you want to hang around with those women all day? Those two German women, Long Bing, and that woman from your hometown called Jiang Ruyi or something. Don¡¯t you deny it. I, Tang Yuyan, am not a woman you can easily fool.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°You are abandoning yourself. Don¡¯t you want a family? A beautiful, generous wife, and lively and adorable son, a smart, pretty daughter? You make so much money, you built a house but you don¡¯t want children. Who did you make this money for then?¡±
¡°What you say makes sense, but...¡±
¡°There is no ¡®but¡¯. I can forgive your past. I don¡¯t care how many rtionships you¡¯ve had with women in the past. You just have to stay true to me after we are married.¡±
It wasn¡¯t easy for the youngdy of the Tang Sect to be so understanding of him. Xia Lei knew her well and he was touched and grateful. However, marrying her would mean cutting off his rtionship to Long BIng, and to Jiang Ruyi. Silvia and Annina need not be mentioned. It wouldn¡¯t matter much even if he broke off his ambiguous rtionship with them now, because Western women were more open about things like these. Breaking up and changing partners were not big things. But Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi were different. He could not and dared not wound their hearts.
¡°I¡¯ve already made myself clear enough. Are you still going to keep silent?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s tone changed to one of hurt, and tears appeared in her eyes.
Xia Lei was silent for a while longer before he said, ¡°You know very well that I have rtionships with so many women and you still want to marry me? Aren¡¯t you like a moth flying at a me? I¡¯m not a pure man anymore. I am not worthy of you.¡±
¡°What I want is not a virgin. I want a man who can stand tall and indomitable. I want a husband!¡± The tears in her eyes welled.
Xia Lei was most bothered by women crying, and his hardened heart softened. ¡°Yuyan, um... Give me some time. This is something that¡¯s for life. Must you force me to make a decision in a few minutes?¡±
¡°How long do you need?¡±
¡°Three years.¡±
¡°Fuck you! You can go gvanting about for three years while I keep my body chaste for you? You think I¡¯m an idiot? How many ¡®three years¡¯ would a woman have?¡±
¡°One year then.¡±
¡°That won¡¯t work either. End of the year. You have to give me a concrete answer at the end of this year. Marry me, or not. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯m going to marry someone else and I¡¯m not going to wait for you,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Sure. You will definitely have many suitors. Just let me know who they are, and I¡¯ll help you screen them. I¡¯ll pick someone ten times better than me.¡±
Tang Yuyan suddenly reached her hand straight out.
¡°ARGH¡ª¡±
A terrible scream came from inside the Ford E450.
It¡¯s said that damage to the scrotum was more painful than childbirth. Xia Lei didn¡¯t know about it before, but he knew it now.
This was not a fairparison because he could not find a simr ce on Tang Yuyan¡¯s body to attack.
Their journey was filled with lots of noise as the Ford E50 jolted forward. Five hourster, a small town on a teau came into view. It was a typical town of the western province, with tiled buildings and round tents. There was a stone temple at the entrance of the town, and the main hall had a pointed spire which went towering up into the sky. Countless prayer gs hung from the ropes, dancing lightly in the night wind.
This was Dawang Town. They were at their destination.
For some reason, however, Xia Lei had a bad feeling when he saw this ordinary-looking teau town.
Chapter 743
The Ford E450 stopped next to the stone temple. The sound of the engine and the headlights woke up some Tibetan mastiffs in the homes of the residents close by, and the dogs barked angrily, like they were posturing for the intruder. Xia Lei turned off the engine and the lights and the Tibetan mastiffs slowly quieted down.
There were nomplights in the small town, and it was very quiet. It gave one the impression that it was an empty town. There was some light in the stone temple but it was not an electrical light but the eternal me dedicated to the gods, and the wishnterns lit by followers.
¡°Where is the target?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Come with me.¡± Tang Yuyan got up and walked towards the body of the car.
Xia Lei left the driving cab too and followed her in. He thought that she would stop in the living room but she went straight to that small bedroom.
Xia Lei hesitated, and he stood close to the door, not sure if he should go in or not.
Tang Yuyan poked her head out. ¡°What are you doing? Afraid that I¡¯ll eat you? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not the sort that would pull your trousers off because I want to be with you.¡±
Xia Leiughed dryly but still didn¡¯t move. Experience told him that Tang Yuyan¡¯s words were only believable two times out of ten.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth curled into a contemptuous smile. ¡°Are you afraid that you won¡¯t be able to hold back? You¡¯re dating several women at once, so don¡¯t you y around? You must have great restraint. So, what are you worried about?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not the yboy you think I am. I¡¯m also not the sort of man who¡¯ll want to fuck any pretty girl he sees.¡± Xia Lei walked in.
Long Bing and him had gone through life and death situations together.
He had grown up with Jiang Ruyi, and she¡¯d waited for him for over 20 years. This was their feelings as childhood friends.
Tang Yuyan said that he was ying, and this made him feel ufortable. Wasn¡¯t he just staying in the room? Why did she have to put it in such an ugly way? Fine, go in then. She wouldn¡¯t eat him up anyway.
A faint smile appeared in the corners of Tang Yuan¡¯s mouth. She took off her shoes, climbed onto the bed, and turned on the LCD TV on the wall.
It wasn¡¯t actually an LCD TV, but arge disy screen. A video surveince feed appeared when it was activated.
Xia Lei did not get on the bed but sat next to it instead and looked at the screen.
The feed was of a small building on the west side of the town. It had stone walls, flower windows, and prayer gs hanging from the top of the roof; a typical Tibetan style house. The doors and windows of the building were tightly shut and there was no light, and no activity inside.
¡°You¡¯re only showing me this?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t see what was wrong. It was just a normal building.
Tang Yuyan crawled to under the screen and reached out to take a remote control. She pressed a green button on the remote control and said, ¡°You guys show yourselves for a bit.¡±
Soon, there was movement on the screen in a few ces. Xia Lei saw a sniper in camouge on the hill behind the building. The camouge he had on helped his body blend with his surroundings and made him difficult to spot. He had an XL2500 sniper rifle in his hands. The Thunder Horse Group¡¯s weapons had be Bureau 101¡¯s weapons of choice.
Opposite the sniper, on either sides of the walls of the small building, were two pairs of agents with Gust assault rifles. They were quite obviously ying the role of attackers.
Across the main door, in an alley, were two more agents with Gust assault rifles.
Seven agents surrounded the small building, sealing off the escape routes of the terrorists. With the firepower of the XL2500 and six Gust assault rifles, they were equipped to take on an American marines operations team, much less a few terrorists.
The seven agents went back into concealment after showing themselves for a bit.
They were following Tang Yuyan¡¯smands, so they were all her subordinates.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°This ce, and the terrorists hiding inside have been locked down. What am I here for?¡±
It was true. They only needed a simplemand from Tang Yuyan, and the seven agents would finish the job. Xia Lei had hurried from Jingdu to this ce, and the only thing he could probably do was to look at the screen while those agents finished the mission.
Tang Yuyan crawled over to Xia Lei, a bit at a time; she moved very slowly.
¡°What do you want?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help asking when Tang Yuyan got to his side. He edged his butt to the side.
Tang Yuyan held the remote control out to him. ¡°Take it. Issue themand at any time that you want to end the mission.¡±
¡°What are we waiting for, then?¡± Xia Lei reached for the remote control.
Tang Yuyan released her hold all of a sudden and the remote control dropped from the hand. It fell onto the part between Xia Lei¡¯s legs rather innocuously.
¡°Oh my, I¡¯m sorry. That wasn¡¯t on purpose.¡± Tang Yuyan hurriedly reached for the remote control.
Xia Lei did not fall for that. He made the first move and grabbed, raising his elbow at the same time, and sealed off Tang Yuyan¡¯s advance.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s other hand suddenly came from Xia Lei¡¯s unguarded side, aiming to grab his cor.
Xia Lei¡¯s other hand cut across and he grabbed Tang Yuyan¡¯s wrist.
Tang Yuyan abruptly moved her upper body to get out of Xia Lei¡¯s grappling move, and the long leg she had folded on the bed was raised, sweeping towards Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. Xia Lei leaned back, and fell onto the bed. That long leg of hers had swept very closely past his face.
¡°Hmph!¡± Tang Yuyan pushed off the bed with both hands, and her body lifted off the bed so she ¡°flew¡± across the bed like an eagle after prey at Xia Lei, and pressed him below her.
Xia Lei could have kicked up, and it was a simple way to counter this move, but could he do something like this, as a man? And this hesitation of milliseconds let Tang Yuyannd bodily on him. Soft and heavy, wonderful yet painful. He felt conflicted,plicated, in that instant.
Tang Yuyan did not miss this chance. Her legs circled Xia Lei¡¯s waist, and her hands went around his arms to lock behind his neck. A move like this was called a cross lock in UFC cage fighting, andbatants locked down by this move could p the ring to surrender.
The Wingchun versus Tang Sect martial arts fight had concluded. The atmosphere in the bedroom became heavy and ambiguous. They looked at each other, and didn¡¯t speak for at least 30 seconds.
¡°Uh... what are you doing?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t keep quiet anymore at the thirty-first second and he broke the silence.
Tang Yuyan had a faint smile on her lips. ¡°We¡¯ve never really had a real fight, right? How about a round?¡±
¡°Sure. We can get out of the car and fight outside. Let go of me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°In your dreams.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Tell me, how did that girl Long Bing seduce you? How did you end up sleeping with her?¡±
¡°Pfft. We are just friends and colleagues.¡±
¡°Hah! You admitted to it earlier!¡±
¡°When did I admit to it? Do you have a recording? y it for me so I can hear it.¡±
¡°Shameless man.¡± Tang Yuyan bit her lip. ¡°Then how did Shentu Tianyin seduce you? How did you two end up sleeping together?¡±
¡°Are you sick in the head? Why are you asking these sort of questions?¡±
¡°Was it like this?¡± Tang Yuyan pressed her body against Xia Lei.
She had him locked under her, so this pressing became a full-body squeeze. This move of hers made it difficult for Xia Lei to breathe.
¡°Release me or you¡¯ll regret it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No I won¡¯t. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do to me?¡± said Tang Yuyan in challenge.
Xia Lei suddenly lifted his leg and smacked Tang Yuyan¡¯s buttock with his thigh. Tang Yuyan made a small gasp, and she fell forward. Xia Lei regained mobility in his upper body as soon as he was released from the cross lock. He pushed with both hands and Tang Yuyan was pushed back to fall on the bed. In that instant, he pressed her beneath him.
¡°Marry me. Let¡¯s get married.¡±
Xia Lei stared nkly. Tang Yuyan had made things very very clear. She was willing to forgive all of his past flings, but he wouldn¡¯t be allowed to be entangled with other women after marrying her. What she wanted was a man who could stay steadfast. She wanted a husband, not a lover.
Actually, she also had an intention she did not voice ¨C she wanted a pir for the Tang n.
Was he going to get strapped to the yoke for a lifetime because of a moment of folly?
Xia Lei felt like he was being tortured here.
Tang Yuyan stared at Xia Lei. She was nervous, so nervous that she almost forgot to breathe.
Right at that moment, a man in ck robes appeared on the screen.
The man was very tall and his body was strong too. However, there was a ck gauze material under the hood of his robe, and his face could not be seen at all.
An agent¡¯s voice suddenly came from over themunications channel. ¡°Boss, an unknown target has appeared. How should we handle it? What do we do?¡±
Chapter 744
Tang Yuyan didn¡¯t seem to have heard what her subordinate said. At this critical time, a memory which waspletely unrted to the surprising turn of events surfaced in her head...
One day ago.
In the family shrine of the Tang Sect residence.
Tang Yuyan lit prayer incense for her ancestors with a sombre expression on her face, and she bowed in prayer.
Tang Yunhai looked at his granddaughter with affectionate eyes, and there was a bit of hope too, as well as gratification and joy.
Tang Yuyan got to her feet when she was done kowtowing, and she said with a smile, ¡°Grandfather, I¡¯m going to Jingdu now. Give me a call if you miss me.¡±
Tang Yunhai nodded. ¡°Your godfather already called me.¡±
¡°Did he nag for me to return? Geeze, he doesn¡¯t feel bad for me at all. He always wants to get me to do work.¡±
¡°If you¡¯re going to take over from him, then of course you should put in the effort, and even more than others. But, his call wasn¡¯t about this. He said that Xia Lei ising back very soon.¡±
A small smile appeared on Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips, but she said, ¡°What does that have to do with me? He¡¯sing back, so what?¡±
Tang Yunhai grunted, and rolled his eyes at her. ¡°You smiled right away when you heard that that punk ising back. You think I¡¯m blind and can¡¯t see it?¡±
¡°Grandfather!¡± Tang Yuyan stamped her foot and acted all pouty.
¡°Yeah, yeah, stop the act.¡± Tang Yunhai¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°He made an exchange and got the avionics technology for the Dassault Rafale for our country, as well as its stealth technology. His great work did not end there. He also got the higher-ups to exempt the Thunder Horse Group from their loan of over 20 billion. He¡¯s impressive! Our Tang n has been around for hundreds of years, but why haven¡¯t we had a talent like him ever, eh?¡±
¡°Grandfather, there is no use envying him. Genius like his is something our Tang n probably would not have even if hundreds more years pass,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°If our Tang n can¡¯t produce one, why don¡¯t you make him one of us?¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s face fell immediately. She did want to, but Xia Lei didn¡¯t.
¡°After Xia Lei is back from France, and when he shrugs off his debt, he is going to expand his business even more. I got our family ountant to make the calctions and you know that the result of his analysis was?¡±
¡°What¡¯s the result?¡±
¡°He told me that the Thunder Horse Group will be thergest arms dealing group in China in the next three years, and also be the biggest arms dealer in Asia. For years. For years max for the Thunder Horse Group to catch up to the giant of the weapons industry, Lockheed Martin. And Xia Lei¡¯s assets are set to reach hundreds of billions. Not Chinese yuan, but US dors.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s little mouth opened in an O. She couldn¡¯t close it.
¡°I was doubtful of what he said but he told me that based on the data that I¡¯d given him, and the numbers, he had already made the most conservative calctions. If Xia Lei still has some secret technology he can use, then this estimate of the ountant¡¯s would be realised even more quickly.¡± Tang Yunhai sighed and said feelingly, ¡°We, the Tang n, have not been able to grow as he had in a few years though we¡¯ve been around for hundreds of years. Oh, how this hurts my heart.¡±
¡°There is no use for you toment it, Grandfather. He really is very special. Our Tang n won¡¯t ever have a genius like him,¡± said Tang Yuyan consolingly.
¡°Do you still not understand what I¡¯m saying? He has increased the military strength of the nation all by himself, and his contributions to the nation are the greatest, and unprecedented. The merits he has achieved are far greater than what we the Tang n, and all the government officials have achieved. A man versed in both letters and military means, no, a universal all-rounder! How can our Tang n let a man like him slip out of our fingers?¡±
¡°Grandfather, I know what you¡¯re trying to say but he... he¡¯s avoiding me. I have no way of...¡±
¡°Shut your mouth!¡± Tang Yunhai cut her off and raised his voice. ¡°I am not just saying this casually. This is an order from your Elder! Kneel!¡±
Tang Yuyan went to her knees with a thump. An order from an Elder. Her expression grew heavy.
¡°Marry Xia Lei and make him one of the Tang n. There is no need for me to say how much capital we shall invest into this. I¡¯m only going to say that if he bes one of the Tang, we will get immeasurable political clout. This is the best chance in the hundreds of years of the Tang n¡¯s history of us to be the top n in China. This matter now concerns the Tang n¡¯s prosperity and our fate. It is not a game. I am now ordering you to use whatever means to be sure that you marry Xia Lei!¡±
Tang Yuyan nodded in silence.
Tang Yunhai¡¯s palm rested on Tang Yuyan¡¯s head. ¡°Remember this. He is now in the end-stage of entrepreneurship and he¡¯s already amassed enough to start soaring higher. This is yourst chance. Later, when he is powerful and an elite businessman in Asia, master of the lifeblood of our country¡¯s military industry, and has uncountable achievements stacked up... How many excellent women would throw themselves into his embrace then, huh? How many can you win against?¡±
¡°Grandfather, I...¡± Tang Yuyan started to say something, and stopped.
¡°I don¡¯t want excuses. I only want results. He¡¯s avoiding you, so why don¡¯t you take the initiative and seek him out? Shentu Tianyin could do it, so why can¡¯t you? I do not believe that you¡¯d lose to Shentu Tianyin. I¡¯ve already talked with your godfather. Once Xia Leies back, he will arrange for the two of you to go on a mission. Just you two. You know what to do now, don¡¯t you?¡±
Tang Yuyan bit her lip and made a small nod.
Her face quietly grew red, quietly grew hot...
Right now.
It looked like it was going to be a sess, but a man in monk¡¯s robes had turned up. This situation was like a bat to the head to her, plus a pail of cold water being thrown on her head!
In the situation earlier, she just needed to work a little bit more and Xia Lei would have been caught. She understood how Xia Lei worked, and she was sure that he would not be able to escape her clutches. Now that things had be like this, how could she not be gloomy and upset?
¡°Boss? Boss? Boss? What do we do?¡±
Xia Lei quickly got off of her. ¡°Le, Let¡¯s go take a look.¡±
Tang Yuyan screamed inside, and felt like she wanted to die and to kill someone.
¡°There¡¯s no need. It¡¯s just a small matter and my men can handle it.¡± Tang Yuyan snatched up themunicator and pressed the button. ¡°Block that person off and control the situation. Interrogate himter. The rest of you, break down the door and capture the terrorists. Kill them if they resist!¡±
¡°Roger.¡±
On the screen, an agent who was hidden in the shadows suddenly charged out with his gun pointed at the man in monk robes. As he drew closer, he shouted, ¡°Freeze, don¡¯t move!¡±
The man in monk robes stopped too and faced the approaching agent. They could not see his face, so they could not see the expression on his face either.
The agent soon stood before the man in monk robes. ¡°Remove your hood!¡±
The man in monk robes slowly reached his hand up, moving to his hood.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze shifted away from the screen. She held Xia Lei in her arms from behind him and whispered in his ear, ¡°Are you trying to slip away like this? No chance. You cannot y with a Tang woman and just sneak away.¡±
¡°I, I didn¡¯t. It¡¯s a misunderstanding.¡± Xia Lei bit the bullet and exined himself.
¡°I said that I want a reply at the end of the year, but just now, you... Am I your girlfriend now?¡± Tang Yuyan held Xia Lei tightly about his waist, not giving him a chance to leave.
At that moment, though, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the screen and he said anxiously, ¡°Call your men to shoot him! Now! Kill him!¡±
Tang Yuyan paused. She wasn¡¯t sure if this was a lie from Xia Lei to make her let him go.
And in that instant, the man in monk robes abruptly swung his arm, cutting across the agent¡¯s neck. He was extraordinarily quick and that agent had no way of dodging. His neck was cut open before he realised it, and blood spurted from his carotid artery.
The agent fell to the ground, holding his throat.
Tang Yuyan pressed the button and shouted, ¡°Shoot to kill!¡±
No one fired.
The six agents seemed to be asleep, and unable to hear Tang Yuyan¡¯smand.
Xia Lei would have been able to see the true situation if he were at the scene, but his left eye could not work through the screen. Though he could not see, his experience gave him an idea. ¡°Your men have been killed by the attackers. It¡¯s not just a sniper. There should be at least six of them.¡±
Six people would be able to take out six targets at the same time. Plus, these were Bureau 101 agents. These terrorists were no ordinary terrorists... they were not terrorists at all!
The situation had turned veryplex and critical at once!
Tang Yuyan took a deep breath. She pushed all the mess in her head out, andy back on the bed to put her jeans hot shorts on in one move. She got herself tidied up as she said, ¡°The gun is under the bed. You get it, and I¡¯ll call for backup right away.¡±
Xia Lei found a weapons box under the bed and pulled it out.
The box contained two XL2500 sniper rifles, two Gust assault rifles and several rounds of ammunition. He picked up an XL2500 and a sense of familiarity engulfed him. His nervousness decreased.
On the screen, the main door of the building opened suddenly and six gunmen came walking out. They were all in mountainbat gear and holding TAR-21 assault rifles. It was the assault rifle which the Israeli IMI and Barrettpany developed, and was also the few actual rivals for the Gust assault rifle.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°These guys are not terrorists. They... they are not just six snipers either. Add in the guy who took out your man with a knife, and they should have at least 13 people!¡±
Tang Yuyan was all ready now. ¡°No need to worry. We have a military zone here, about 30 kilometres away. I will contact the person in charge immediately and our soldiers wille over via helicopter. It will take a few minutes at most. Not one of these guys will be able to run away.¡±
¡°Hurry and contact them,¡± urged Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan picked up her satellite phone, but she stared nkly when she saw what was on the screen.
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei moved close.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s expression was heavy. ¡°There¡¯s an electronic jammer. The signal can¡¯t be transmitted.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank immediately.
Shi Boren would definitely not arrange for him to jump into a trap. This mission was, to be frank, a way to get him and Tang Yuyan together. There was only one possibility for this development right now ¡ª this was a trap!
Who had set it up?
The CIA?
The FA Organisation?
The Knights Hospitaller?
Or was it the strange and mysterious killer in ck robes?
Xia Lei¡¯s brain worked at speed to analyse what was in front of him.
BANG!
A loud sound came suddenly.
Chapter 745
Xia Lei flung himself at Tang Yuyan and threw themselves to the floor as the loud sound boomed.
The Ford E450 shook violently. If there was no explosion attack, then there was no mes of explosion ¡ª the enemy had only attacked the wheels so that they would not be able to escape.
Bang!
The car shook. Another tyre was bust.
The shot earlier had hit the right back tyre, and this shot took out the left front tyre. They could have still managed to drive if only one back tyre had been taken out, but there was no way they could drive when both front and back tyres were busted.
¡°We¡¯ve been surrounded.¡± Xia Lei crawled off Tang Yuyan.
The enemy had fired twice, and he had discovered the location of the two snipers. There was a sniper on their left, and on their right. He, and Tang Yuyan, would be attacked from either side if they went out.
¡°Will we die here?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s tone carried a hint of bitterness, and regret.
¡°We won¡¯t. Don¡¯t worry, you have me.¡± Xia Leiforted her.
¡°I really regret bringing you here. You¡¯re too important to the nation. I shouldn¡¯t have let you get into danger, I...¡± She wanted to tell Xia Lei the truth, but she swallowed her words when they got to her tongue. She could not speak a truth like this.
Xia Lei reached out and patted her face. ¡°Calm down. You¡¯re Bureau 101¡¯s Tang Yuyan, you know? Since when were you scared by people like these? Focus! We¡¯ll fight our way out!¡±
But Tang Yuyan didn¡¯t seem to be in good condition. She stared dumbly at Xia Lei. ¡°Tell me, will you marry me?¡±
Just what situation was this? She was still in the mood to ask a thing like this?!
Xia Lei really wanted to p her to wake her up, but he couldn¡¯t do it.
¡°I¡¯ve never been touched by a man the way you¡¯ve touched me. We, We¡¯ve already done that... You, You have to take responsibility for me.¡± She was quite obviously nervous.
Xia Lei was having a headache. ¡°I, I, I... But... I, I didn¡¯t put it in, right?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the same!¡± She seemed to turn into a tigress then, all fierce. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare shirk responsibility!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Bang bang bang!
Gunshots.
Dozens of assault rifle bullets pierced through the body of the car, and came flying in. The ss items in the car shattered and crashed all over the floor. The sofa was torn up too, and the feathers it was stuffed with flew everywhere.
They were sure to die if they stayed here any longer.
Xia Lei slung the Gust assault rifle over his back, and took the XL2500 in his hands. His left eye twitched and the wall of the car disappeared immediately. He swiftly swept his gaze left and right, and found his targets. Four men armed with assault rifles and in fullbat gear were approaching from left and right. They were moving fast, covering each other; professionals. Their military training was better than that of Special Forces soldiers!
Who were these gunmen?
Xia Lei crawled towards the door.
Tang Yuyan reached out and grabbed his belt. ¡°Let¡¯s make things clear before we go out and fight.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly pped Tang Yuyan¡¯s buttocks. A crisp smacking sound came from the plump, fleshy ce, apanied by a wonderful jiggling.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t believe her eyes. ¡°You hit me?¡±
Smack! Xia Lei would have let it be if she had not spoken, but he pped that ass again when she spoke, and even harder.
Tang Yuyan gritted her teeth. ¡°You actually dared...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°Don¡¯t think that I¡¯m joking. We will die here if you dy any more! Shut up if you want to leave this ce alive! You¡¯re being a pest!¡±
The two ps on her buttocks were not enough to shut the youngdy of the Tang n, but him calling her ¡®pest¡¯ was effective. Tang Yuyan shut up right away.
Xia Lei continued crawling towards the door. He went through it, and came close to the car carriage. He stretched the XL2500 sniper rifle out, and soon locked on a target with an assault rifle on the left.
¡°You can¡¯t even see the target. Will you be able to hit him?¡± Tang Yuyan had crawled over too.
¡°I can deduce his location from the trajectory. We have two on the left and two on the right. All four of them have assault rifles. Listen to mymandter. Stick the muzzle of your Gust out the window and do a sweep of the right side to stop their advance. I¡¯ll handle the two on the left. Remember ¡ª keep your head down. We have snipers on both sides. Showing your head means death.¡±
Tang Yuyan was stunned.
She was a descendant of the Tang Sect and a martial artist. She was also a trained elite agent, and had far more military aplishments than her peers. However, in this situation where she did not know what the situation was like outside the car, Xia Lei had already analysed it so very clearly. He had not even raised his head to look, and was already preparing to use the XL2500 to shoot the enemy! This ability of his was terrifying!
He gave Tang Yuyan no more time to make guesses. His voice cut through her thoughts. ¡°Get ready!¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled, and moved to the window on the right. She held the Gust assault rifle tightly in her hands, ready to shoot at any time.
¡°Fire!¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan stuck the muzzle of the Gust assault rifle out the window and fired blindly with her head down.
Bang bang bang, bang bang bang...
The Gust assault rifle bullets flew out, one after another. The virtually-zero recoil helped her hold the body of the gun steady, and Tang Yuyan¡¯s hand did not shake due to recoil, reducing the error in shooting. The two gunmen were stopped by the suppressing fire and did not dare expose themselves to her shooting though she was shooting blindly.
The fight on the right also affected the gunmen on the left. They dodged instinctively when the sounds of gunfire and rung out, but they soon discovered that the person firing from inside the car was only shooting at the right side. They quickly got to their feet and increased the pace of their advance on the Ford E450, shooting as they ran.
A bullet went through the hetal hull and scraped past Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder before burying itself in the floorboards.
Xia Lei did not flinch. He stared at the metal before him, and looked like he was just spacing out, but his brain had already calcted all the numbers involved for him to make the shot. The resistance of the metal, the resistance of air, the target¡¯s movement speed, the target¡¯s probably movement...
Bang bang bang! The two gunmen on the right were still returning fire.
A burst of gunfire hit the body of the car, and sparks flew everywhere. Shards of ss and stic flew through the air.
¡°This won¡¯t work! We have to charge out!¡± Tang Yuyan was pressured into retreat. She hid under the sofa to avoid being hit by the bullets.
Bang!
A gunshot.
Xia Lei finally fired the XL2500 in his hands.
The bullet passed through metal, and, after a tiny change in trajectory, plunged into the forehead of the gunman in the lead on the left side. Blood spurted, and the man was flung off his feet tond heavily on the ground. Half of his skull was missing; he had died in a horrible way.
His colleague next to him had obviously not expected that such a thing would happen, and he only realised what had transpired only after his colleague¡¯s brain matter and blood sttered on his face. However, in this small pause, another gunshot came from inside the Ford E450. He looked in horror at one of his ears on the ground. Attached to that ear was half his cheek and some brain matter.
This was thest thing he saw.
The second gunman on the right fell to the ground too.
Xia Lei had needed to calcte hard for the first shot, but he didn¡¯t need it so much for the second one. The second XL2500 bullet had gone through the hole the first bullet had made, and it did not have its trajectory changed or blocked by metal. This second kill was as easy as stepping on an ant!
Xia Lei rolled across the floor after getting rid of his second target.
Crash! An armour-piercing bullet prated the metal of the car and smashed violently into the aluminium floor, leaving a crater behind.
The enemy sniper had made another move.
¡°You... killed them?¡± Tang Yuyan looked disbelievingly at Xia Lei.
¡°I got rid of two.¡± Xia Lei moved to her side and quickly swept his XL2500 over the back of the sofa. He said as he adjusted the muzzle, ¡°Shoot blindly out the left side. I¡¯ll take care of the gunmen on the right side.¡±
¡°Yeah!¡± Tang Yuyan turned around and raised her gun to shoot blindly out the window.
Bullets roared out the window to an area 1,000 meters away.
The effective shooting range of the Gust assault rifle was 1,000 meters and it could reach a range of at least 2,000 at most. Its performance was actuallyparable to some excellent sniper rifles on the market, and one could say that it was a sniper rifle in the skin of an assault rifle, and was even quicker to fire too. Tang Yuyan was shooting suppressing fire blindly out the window at enemies far away, and the enemies could not dare to take it lightly!
As expected, the sniper who was hidden on the left side was suppressed when Tang Yuyan shot blindly, and he did not fire again. He had actually shot blindly earlier, but the blind shooting of a sniper rifle could not bepared to that of an assault rifle.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out and a gunman on the left suddenly fell to the ground. It was a headshot. This was going to be very troublesome for the mortuary¡¯s makeup artist.
The other gunman turned around and ran.
He had not even seen who had made the shot, but his colleague¡¯s head had exploded. This gunfight was like him wearing a blindfold while his opponent had a scope. How was he to fight like this?
However, escape was just wishful thinking on his part. The gunman had only taken two steps of the Z pattern he intended to run in when a bullet went through the back of his head and out of his face.
A headshot, no negotiation.
¡°All done?¡± Tang Yuyan was excited.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°All done.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s charge out!¡± Tang Yuyan got up and got ready to dash to the door.
Xia Lei pressed her down. ¡°Are you looking to die? The enemy¡¯s sniper is still alive!¡±
¡°We die if we stay anyway. We won¡¯t be able to escape once their backup arrives!¡± Tang Yuyan had her own analysis of the situation too.
Xia Lei knew where the backup she talked about was ¡ª the seven gunmen who had taken out the seven Bureau 101 agents!
There were 13 of the enemy, and he had killed four, so they still had nine people. If one of those nine had heavy weaponry like a grenadeuncher or rocket or something, he and Tang Yuyan would be in serious danger. Even if the enemy did not have these things, they had enough snipers to put him and Tang Yuyan in danger if they all shot blindly at this car!
It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t know the danger, but rushing out now was the same as exposing themselves to the enemy¡¯s sight and no different from suicide. Furthermore, the enemy sniper was camouged, and he still hadn¡¯t managed to locate him.
And at this very critical time, an idea popped into Xia Lei¡¯s head. He did not hesitate, and immediately started crawling towards the kitchen.
Chapter 746
Xia Lei came out of the kitchen with a bottle of kerosene. He sshed the kerosene on the sofa, the carpet and on some stic items, then used a lighter to set the sofa alight. The sofa and carpet quickly burned up with the help of the kerosene, and the leather and stic, as well as the stuffing of the sofa, produced thick smoke. The smoke soon filled up the space in the car, and spread rapidly outwards.
Xia Lei¡¯s n was to obstruct the sniper¡¯s sights with the thick smoke and escape from the car.
The enemy, however, guessed what Xia Lei wanted to do, and a bullet came flying into the car before the thick smoke couldpletely block his vision. It wasn¡¯t just a sniper rifle bullet but assault rifle bullets too. Compared to earlier, the suppressing fire to stop them from getting out was thicker.
¡°I know a way out. Come with me!¡± Tang Yuyan ran towards the toilet.
Xia Lei followed closely behind her.
Tang Yuyan used the butt of the Gust assault rifle to break the toilet bowl and the stic sewage storage tank. A hole which could barely let them through appeared in front of them. It was a little dirty, but there was no time to be fussy.
Tang Yuyan squatted at the hole and looked at it, then said, ¡°You go out first.¡±
Xia Lei pushed her buttocks instead. ¡°Hurry up. Why are you still assigning turns at a time like this?¡±
Tang Yuyan looked back and red at him. She¡¯d told him to go first because she wanted him to get out of danger earlier, but Xia Lei had obviously not understood her intentions. Now, however, was not the time to settle scores. She threw the XL2500 out first, then crawled through the hole.
Xia Lei also crawled through the hole.
The ground beneath the car was grassy, and the thick wild grass provided a natural cover. Both their bodies were hidden in the grass and people far away could not spot them.
The two of them quickly crawled out from under the car. Xia Lei quickly scanned the surrounding area, then crawled towards the right. In that direction, about 500 metres away, was a thick forest. He and Tang Yuyan would be safe if they managed to get there.
Tang Yuyan followed Xia Lei, to the forest on the right. She crawled on her hands and feet, and was fast. With all those things out of her head, she was the old Tang Yuyan again, calm and cool-headed.
Behind them, the Ford E450 burned. The fire lit up arge area. Thick smoke reached up into the sky, moving with the wind towards the town. Gunshots sounded still, but there was much less of it now. The people firing were only shooting to keep the door of the Ford E450 closed, and not give Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan a chance to escape.
Xia Lei nced back, but he could not see how close the enemy¡¯s backup support hade when he dared not poke his head out.
¡°Is it the CIA?¡± Tang Yuyan asked in a small voice as they crawled. She had dismissed the possibility of their enemy being terrorists in the exchange of fire earlier, when she had seen their military training.
¡°They shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Xia Lei recalled what he had observed when he¡¯d shot the four gunmen. ¡°Those four men were all Asian, and there are few Asians in the CIA.¡±
¡°Asian? West Asia?¡±
¡°They had paint on their faces so I can¡¯t tell for sure,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I didn¡¯t even see what they looked like, but you could actually see that they had paint on their faces?¡± Tang Yuyan thought of something, and she was shocked.
¡°The XL2500 has a scope, okay? Don¡¯t make such a fuss. Enough chatter. We have to hurry,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan thought about it and epted it. The XL2500 did have a scope. If Xia Lei had not seen the target through the scope, then how could he have shot those four gunmen? She didn¡¯t ask any more questions, and increased her pace as she followed right behind Xia Lei.
The grass grew thicker the closer they got to the hill. Some of the grass was so tall it reached knee-height. This gave Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan even better cover. The two of them stopped crawling and walked, crouched over in the grass.
Boom!
The fuel tank of the Ford E450 exploded. The boom of the explosion sounded through the air, and the shock wave of the explosion rippled far and wide. Even Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan felt it.
Xia Lei, who was crouched over, stopped and looked back. In the firelight, eight gunmen in fullbat gear appeared around the Ford E450. All of them were carrying not just the TAR-21 assault rifles, but the Barrett M8A21 sniper rifles over their shoulders too. The effective range of this sniper rifle was 1850 metres, and one shot from this rifle could destroy a car engine. The range and power of this rifle was amazing, and it was second only to the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifle.
Them being able to equip weapons like these meant that they were definitely not some random terrorists.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went to the man in the monk robes. He was the one who had killed the Bureau 101 agent with a razor de. His face was covered by a ck cloth, but this time, Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision let him see through that cloth and see the man¡¯s face.
It was an Asian face, young and quite handsome.
For some reason, though, Xia Lei had a sense of familiarity when he saw this face. This feeling confused him. ¡®This face... I feel like I¡¯ve seen it before somewhere. Just who is he?¡¯
At that moment, when Xia Lei saw the face of the man in the monk robes, the man seemed to have sensed something and he pointed at the right side of the forest.
¡°Oh crap! He discovered us! Run!¡± Xia Lei stopped looking and ran towards the forest, bent over.
Tang Yuyan sped up too.
Bang bang bang...
The sound of gunshots came from behind them. Bullet after bullet whizzed past the top of their heads. The sound of the bullets whistling through the air was nerve-wracking.
The eight gunman fanned out as instructed by the man in the robes, firing blindly as they ran quickly. A camouged sniper was among these eight gunmen, and he was obviously the sniper from earlier, who had sealed off their movements on the left.
The enemy had a total of 13 men, and Xia Lei had killed four. They still had nine people left. There were eight men behind him, so there must, of course, be one sniper hiding in the right side of the forest. Xia Lei knew this well, and he and Tang Yuyan were advancing upon the location of that sniper.
Sniper ahead, and pursuers behind ¡ª danger all around. But he and Tang Yuyan had no choice. Their enemies were closing in from both sides, so he had to give up on the very tempting idea of killing those eight pursuers.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was fixed on the forest before him as he ran. He used the full power of his eye, and arge swath of forest was all visible to him ¡ª he could see everything so clearly that even the movement of a leaf did not escape his notice.
Bullets flew everywhere.
The forest was right in front of him.
Movement suddenly came from a bunch of grass on the hill in front of him.
That part of the hill was in Xia Lei¡¯s field of observation too, and Xia Lei reacted to the movement the instant he saw it. He dove, and dragged Tang Yuyan down with him. One second after that, grass broke and was sent flying, and dirt sprayed up. A sniper rifle bullet had plowed into the grass.
Xia Lei had no time to roll off of Tang Yuyan. He pressed her down and quickly raised his gun. His elbow pressed firmly into her breast, turning that soft, innocent ce of hers into a part of a gun stand.
Tang Yuyan looked at Xia Lei in astonishment. She knew that Xia Lei and herself had just dodged the sniper¡¯s attack, but she did not dare believe that Xia Lei had chosen to counterattack in this way.
The world¡¯s best sniper rifle, and the Tang Sect¡¯s best breasts ¡ª wasn¡¯t this the most powerfulbination?
Bang!
When Xia Lei¡¯s elbow steadied again on Tang Yuyan¡¯s soft breast, the XL2500 had let out a roar. A bullet shot from the muzzle of the rifle, heading straight to the patch of ¡°grass¡± on the hill opposite.
It was not a patch of grass, of course, but camouge of the sniper hidden there.
One secondter, the bullet which had shot from the XL2500 plunged into the ¡°grass¡±, and blood, flesh, and brain matter sttered. Just one second before that, the sniper had not even sensed that Xia Lei had discovered his position. And he had been preparing to aim at Xia Lei to shoot at him again too.
He had made the right call. A person would not be able to see movement a thousand metres away, much less see through a sniper¡¯s camouge in the darkness of night. However, he had been wrong, because his opponent was Xia Lei.
¡°Over there!¡± shouted someone from behind.
The man was speaking in Japanese!
Tang Yuyan did not wait for Xia Lei to get off of her. She raised the Gust assault rifle in her hand, tilted the muzzle 25 degrees, and fired in the direction of where the sounds hade from.
Bang bang bang!
A burst of bullets sent grass and leaves flying.
Tang Yuyan moved the muzzle. Her softness moved too, with the movement of her arm. To Xia Lei, it felt like he was lying on jelly and feeling it jiggle; it was weird but strangely arousing.
After the burst of bullets, Xia Lei hurriedly rolled off Tang Yuyan. ¡°Move!¡±
Tang Yuyan crawled to her feet too. She nagged as she fired blindly, ¡°I¡¯ll settle the score with you after we kill those guys!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly and dashed into the forest.
Crack crack...
The bulletsing from behind him smashed into trees. Some branches were broken, and some shattered. Sharp wooden splinters flew about the forest. These wooden bits pierced Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s bodies, bringing a fiery pain.
The two of them did not dare linger. They quickly moved from the edge of the forest, running deeper in.
¡°I heard one of them shout in Japanese.¡± Tang Yuyan looked surprised. ¡°Why is it the Japanese?¡±
Xia Lei had actually heard it too. He¡¯d even guessed the identity of the leader in the monk robes. That man should be rted to the Hattori family. His facial features were quite simr to that of Hattori Masao. This was probably why he had the feeling that he found the young man¡¯s face familiar when he had first seen him.
¡°How could the Japanese dare to make a move against us in a ce like this? What is their aim?¡± Tang Yuyan needed an answer.
¡°Their aim is probably me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You? How¡¯s that possible? When did you anger the Japanese?¡± Tang Yuyan abruptly remembered something. ¡°Is it rted to the missionst time? The one you and Long Bing went on?¡±
Xia Lei had been worrying about how he¡¯d exin the grudge between himself and the Hattori family, but what Tang Yuyan said helped solve the trouble for him. He said, ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m guessing that that¡¯s the reason too.¡±
¡°They¡¯re asking to die!¡± said Tang Yuyan fiercely. Her eyes were full of violent murder.
The most dangerous period had passed. This forest was to be their new battleground.
Xia Lei ran towards higher ground, to the hill. He needed a vantage sniping point. Once he found it, not one of those eight gunmen would be able to escape him!
As he ran, he pondered, ¡®Is Hattori Masao so bold? He dares to send so many gunmen to deal with me? And he also attracted the attention of Bureau 101 first. Isn¡¯t he afraid that he would incite military conflict when this is revealed? Looks like I¡¯ll need to leave one alive...¡¯
Chapter 747
The forest was not quiet at all. The wind blew past, and the grass swayed and rustled. Insects chirped in the grass, as if warning of the intruding humans.
Up on the hill were two people, and two XL2500 sniper rifles, one with the stones and vegetation.
Two gunshots sounded at the same time.
Down the hill, on the grass. two gunmen fell to the ground. One was a camouged sniper, and one was the leading pursuer. Xia Lei had killed the first, and Tang Yuyan had killed thetter. The two of them worked very well together.
However, his power was disyed in the next second. After the first shot, Xia Lei seemed to not even stop, and the XL2500 sniper rifle gun muzzle shifted a millimetre before the second bullet came roaring out.
Another gunman fell to the ground. Headshot.
Tang Yuyan was still trying to locate her target with the scope. She could not be like Xia Lei, and kill her targets without a scope. She had to use the sniper rifle scope to find her target. And the targets she was searching for were all well-trained in military tactics, so they would not give her a chance to lock on to them.
After leaving three bodies behind, the men below the hill charged into the forest. Someone fired blindly, and bullets came flying in Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s direction. Arge number of bullets flew past their heads, but some still hit the stone next to them, sending up sparks.
¡°Go!¡± Xia Lei crawled out of his hiding ce, turning to go somewhere higher.
Tang Yuyan crawled from her hiding ce too, following Xia Lei to higher ground. She knew Xia Lei¡¯s n ¡ª to use the XL2500¡¯s shooting range and the terrain to his advantage, and kill off the enemy at zero cost to himself.
¡°How did you kill the second man just now?¡± Tang Yuyan voiced her doubt in the middle of their running. She had not seen the details of how Xia Lei had shot, but she had seen Xia Lei kill the third target through the scope, and she had not locked on to her next target at that time.
¡°I fired. How else would I kill that guy?¡± Xia Lei did not exin.
Tang Yuyan pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. She was unconvinced, but she knew that if all the snipers in the world had apetition, Xia Lei woulde out on top. He was the world¡¯s best sniper.
Xia Lei climbed 50 metres up, and stooped. He turned to survey the terrain downhill. Thick forest blocked his vision and he could not see the activity of people in it.
Tang Yuyan was already in attack mode. She had crawled to a rock and was using it to support her XL2500 sniper rifle.
¡°Let¡¯s have a one-on-onepetition now. Let¡¯s see who kills the enemy first,¡± said Tang Yuyan. She did not turn back. Her left eye was to the scope, and she was focused on looking for her next target.
¡°What¡¯s there topete about? Whoever kills an enemy first, it is still a good thing that the enemy¡¯s dead,¡± said Xia Lei. He looked left and right, and his gaze stopped on a willow tree. The willow tree was very big, and a species unique to the western province. The trunk of the tree needed the arms of two men to encircle it, and its branches twisted to the left, loop after loop. Its canopy was very dense too, and the branches which made up the canopy wererge too, strong enough for a person to stand on it and do something.
¡°If I win, how abouting with me to the family residence in Sichuan?¡± said Tang Yuyan. ¡°You¡¯ve known me for a long time but you haven¡¯t been to my old ce. How about it? Hey... Why aren¡¯t you talking?¡± She looked back, and saw Xia Lei climbing the tree. His nimbleness made him look like a monkey.
Going to the Tang family residence in Sichuan? This idea made Xia Lei¡¯s head ache just thinking about it, much less agree to it.
¡°Hmph! Avoiding me again...¡± Tang Yuyan looked back, and she pouted fiercely.
Up on the willow tree, Xia Lei had climbed to the lowest of the branches of the canopy. He was about 15 metres up, and the tree was also on higher ground, on the hill, so he gained at least 30 metres in visual field in one go. The height of 30 metres was almost the same as ten storeys of a building. Looking down from a height like this allowed him to have arge part of the forest in his field of vision.
He soon found targets. They were the leader, in monk robes, and a gunman who was in front of him. What made him surprised was that the leader in monk robes was walking in a practically perfect path. He never walked more than three steps in the same direction, and the paths he chose all had him under cover. Even if he appeared in the scope of a sniper, the sniper aiming at him would have no time to pull the trigger before he changed directions and his position.
However, the monk-robes-leader¡¯s perfect path was only effective against snipers of Tang Yuyan¡¯s level. It was useless against Xia Lei.
Xia Lei put the XL2500 on the tree branch in front of him, then tilted the body of the gun down. He quickly locked on to the man in the monk robes, but changed his mind an instant before he pulled the trigger. He changed his target to the gunman in front of him.
Bang!
A gunshot.
The one who had fired was not Xia Lei, but Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan had killed one man in the time that Xia Lei had changed his target to another.
Xia Lei pulled the trigger after that. A gunshot sounded, and the gunman walking in front of the monk-robed leader also fell to the ground.
The leader dressed in monk robes hid behind a veryrge tree. Not one millimetre of his body showed outside of his cover.
¡®I¡¯ll let you live for a little while more,¡¯ thought Xia Lei to himself. He was leaving that leader alive not because he didn¡¯t want to kill him, but because he wanted the most valuable one alive.
Bang bang bang...
Tight bursts of gunfire sounded in the forest. The enemy had figured out which direction Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan were in after the attack, and they were firing blindly. Bullets came down like rain in an instant, and stone chips and wood chips flew everywhere.
Xia Lei jumped down the tree. Tang Yuyan also crouched behind the rock, waiting for the enemy to settle down.
Boom!
A grenade exploded a few metres under the rock, when Xia Lei had just crawled to Tang Yuyan¡¯s side. Dirt and pieces of stone from the explosion pattered against their bodies, making them look like two zombies which had just climbed out from their graves.
The two of them crawled out at practically the same time after the st, and headed quickly to higher ground.
Boom!
Another grenadended, and the rock the two of them had been hiding behind was sted apart.
¡°They still have four people.¡± Xia Lei spoke as he ran. ¡°The next time is the time to end it. You just need to kill one. Leave the other two to me.
¡°I take one out, you take two out, the remaining one...¡± Tang Yuyan understood. ¡°You want to leave one alive?¡±
¡°Leave the guy in the monk robes,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°The official Japanese military cannot be so bold. The possibility of them being Japanese special agents or Special Forces is also quite low. I want to know who they are.¡±
¡°Okay, we¡¯ll do as you say.¡± Tang Yuyan agreed with Xia Lei¡¯s view.
The two of them came to a stop again after a certain distance. Xia Lei did not climb up on a tree this time. Tang Yuyany t on a rock. There were only four of the enemy left, so he and Tang Yuyan were sure to take out two of them when they got into their field of vision. Without the advantage of numbers and firepower, they had already reduced the enemy¡¯s threat to themselves to a very low level.
¡°I won.¡± Tang Yuyan dug her elbow in Xia Lei¡¯s side. ¡°After this is over, you have toe with me to my family home.¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t agree to bet with you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t care. I want you to go to my family home with me,¡± said Tang Yuyan willfully.
This was a headache to Xia Lei. He was just about to find an excuse to reject her when the sound of dogs barking came from their right. He looked in the direction of the sound, and immediately saw several moving lights. It was the light of tactical shlights, and the light was strong.
Tang Yuyan had heard the sudden barking too. She looked over and saw the moving lights too. Those lights were dancing about in the forest, shing and disappearing, and their numbers were terrifying!
¡°Who are they?¡± Tang Yuyan grew anxious.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and he quickly locked on to the first person of the group. He saw the person¡¯s facial features and clothing clearly, and his expression turned to one of horror. ¡°It¡¯s... the Indian troops!¡±
Tang Yuyan frowned. ¡°How¡¯s that possible? This is our territory. Why would they turn up here?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°This is our territory, but those Indian soldiers might not think so. You forget that this is the southern frontier of the western province, and India has upied over 90,000 square kilometres of ournd. They probably have military camps close by. Maybe the sound of our gunshots attracted their attention.¡±
¡°Damn it! How many of them are there?¡± Tang Yuyan could see them too, but she could not count them.
¡°At least fifty. We have to get out of here.¡± Xia Lei did not dare to linger. He got up from the rock and crawled towards the peak.
Going downhill was their best bet to get rid of the Indian soldiers, but there were still four gunmen around them. If they got entangled with them and a gunfight started, they would be surrounded by the Indian soldiers who were behind them, and fall into a situation where they would be vulnerable to their enemies.
Moving horizontally was not the best choice either, because there were too many enemies and they had a lot more firepower. He and Tang Yuyan would not be able to deal with them, even if both of them had godly skills with the gun.
The only choice left to them was to continue moving towards the peak. They could only make use of the advantage of the terrain to continue their previous gueri method to have a chance of getting themselves out of this.
The hill was getting steeper and steeper, and the cover of vegetation more and more sparse. The wind was getting stronger too. White snow sat at the top. While running, Xia Lei was already seeing a problem. Tang Yuyan was wearing just a pair of hot shorts and a T-shirt, and he was also dressed in light summer clothing. How were they going to bear the cold of the peak?
Bark bark bark...
The barking of military dogs came from behind them.
Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan could keep out of the sight of the humans, but they could not shake off the noses of the military dogs.
It wouldn¡¯t take very long for them to be caught up with, because even if they had the Tang Sect¡¯s Qinggong, there was no way that they would be able to outrun dogs on a dangerously steep mountain path.
Chapter 748
Four military dogs came chasing before Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan could get to the peak, and all four started attacking them.
Roar! A military dog jumped up from the ground with its jaws open to rip Tang Yuyan¡¯s throat out. Another dog darted at the leg. The two dogs worked very well together, and this showed how well trained they were.
Xia Lei was in a simr situation with two military dogs attacking him. One circled around to his back. The two dogs looked like they were going to attack him from front and back.
Xia Lei lunged forward and swung the butt of his gun at the dogs. Before he could take care of them, however, Tang Yuyan¡¯s right hand swung twice, and the two dogs attacking her fell to the ground. Each dog had a throwing knife in its head.
Tang Yuyan turned around, and she swung her right hand again.
¡°Whuuh!¡± The dog behind Xia Lei cried out and fell to the ground.
Bang! The butt of Xia Lei¡¯s gun smashed into the head of the dog backing away, and it fell to the ground.
Tang Yuyan pped. ¡°Well, it seems I¡¯m better than you in something.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. How many could be rivals of the descendants of the Tang Sect when it came to knife throwing skills? He¡¯d always wanted to learn the true Tang Sect Qinggong techniques and their hidden weapon techniques, but he had not had the chance. The two times he¡¯d sneakily learnt some of their techniques were just the tip of the iceberg.
¡°I can get Grandfather to teach you if youe with me to the family home.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Tang Yuyan swiftly plucked the throwing knives from the dog¡¯s head and put it in her belt. Xia Lei then saw her throwing knives clearly ¡ª they were shaped like willow leaves. They were very sharp and there was a blueish ck on their edges, poison, apparently. Her belt was interesting too. It looked like a normal leather belt, but the centre of it was empty and it could hide small throwing knives.
He had taken off her jeans shorts earlier tonight too, but he had not discovered the secret hidden in the belt. This made him rather ashamed of himself. Just where had his thoughts been at that time?
Bark bark bark...
Barking came from downhill again.
Xia Lei put his thoughts away and frowned. ¡°Fuck it, are the Indian troops professional dog handlers or something? Why did they bring so many dogs?¡±
Tang Yuyan sputtered withughter. ¡°Looks like you use curse words too. I couldn¡¯t tell.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°I used to work on construction sites, so I¡¯m not some refined gentleman. You only know about this now?¡±
Tang Yuyan still rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You dilrod. That bit ¡®o smack is what this lil¡¯dy likes about ya, speng.¡±
Xia Lei was confused.
¡°Haha! You think you¡¯re the only one who knows how to use curse words? I can, too.¡± Tang Yuyan bumped Xia Lei. ¡°Come on, the Indian troops will catch up with us if we don¡¯t move.¡±
Xia Lei followed Tang Yuyan up the hill. He could not help puzzling over what Tang Yuyan had said, but the ng from the Sichuan region was something he could not understand.
Torchlights shed downhill. Dozens of Indian troops had already charged out of the forest and were following the tracks of the dogs in pursuit.
However, these Indian troops were not Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s only enemy.
In the forest, a young man in monk robes raised his head to look up at the peak. He saw the flickering torchlight, and the baying of the dogs. A faint sneer appeared in the corners of his mouth. ¡°Father, you¡¯ve always thought I was useless, didn¡¯t you? This time, I¡¯m going to prove myself to you. I might have been born from a maid, but I am the strongest in the Hattori family! Only I can be the sessor of the family, not that mixed-blood woman!¡±
His name was Hattori Tsukijin.
He was Hattori Masao¡¯s bastard child, and Hattori Mei¡¯s younger brother from another mother.
Xia Lei had spected that he was rted to the Hattori family, but he had not expected that he was Hattori Masao¡¯s son. There was no avoiding this mistake, because Hattori Mei¡¯s mother was an American, and Hattori Tsukijin¡¯s face was a very Asian one.
Hattori Tsukijin walked out of the forest.
He waved his hand forward, and three gunmen followed him, advancing towards the peak.
They did not seem bothered at all about the dozens of Indian troops armed to their teeth...
Half an hourter.
The temperature had dropped drastically though they were not yet at the peak. Cold wind cut at them, and brought Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan from autumn¡¯s beginning to wintry cold in an instant. The E450 had windbreakers in it, but they had not had the time to take the clothing with them.
¡°So cold, brr...¡± Tang Yuyan shivered. ¡°Lei, are you sure that you chose the right path? Brrr. We haven¡¯t g, got to the peak and we¡¯re already s, so cold. Won¡¯t we freeze to death when we get to the peak? Wait, no, we might have turned into popsicles by the time the Indian troops capture us.¡±
¡°This is our only way out of danger,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Those Japanese people are guarding the way down, and we¡¯ll be sure to exchange fire with them when we go down. We would have enemies on our back then. If we move sideways, those Indian troops would be with us, on level ground. Will you be able to run away from dozens of guns shooting blindly? I don¡¯t want to test my luck.¡±
¡°Okay. D, Dying with you is not such a bad thing... Aren¡¯t you cold?¡± Tang Yuyan hugged herself and looked curiously at Xia Lei. She realised that Xia Lei did not seem affected by the temperature though he was dressed much the same as her. He was not shivering, nor stumbling over his words, and most odd was that his face still had its usual pinkness.
Xia Lei actually found it strange too. This was his first time going from a warm ce to a cold one very suddenly, but his body seemed to have automatically adjusted to this big change in temperature. He did not feel cold at all. He knew his body¡¯s condition well and his limbs had no signs of freezing up. His heartbeat and his breathing had no adverse reactions to the big change in temperature either. The most obvious proof of this was that his face and the palms of his hands were still warm.
He assessed his body more closely and soon found the reason. He was not affected by the cold because of the mysterious power in his brain. It was directing the flow of blood in his veins, and maintaining regr function in his organs
Xia Lei grew calm after finding the reason, but he put on an act of being very cold. ¡°What do you mean, I¡¯m not cold? Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s climb around the p, peak, and w, we... go around it from the side.¡±
¡°O, Okay.¡± Tang Yuyan clenched her jaw and continued climbing.
Xia Lei wanted very much to take off his shirt and give it to Tang Yuyan when he saw how cold she was, and even give her his trousers too. But, he thought again that if he actually did that, then... wouldn¡¯t Tang Yuyan look at him like he was a monster?
They finally climbed to the peak.
White peak after another went on as far as the eye could see. This was a snowy world, and there was no end to it in sight.
¡°Oh my goodness...¡± Tang Yuyan fell butt-first on the snowy ground in despair. She was not going to hang on for very long with the amount of clothes they had on them. If a person did not have winter clothing to ward off the cold in this cold environment, he would freeze in under half an hour and die.
Xia Lei could not be bothered to keep up pretenses anymore. He took off his shirt and his trousers.
¡°Wh, What are you doing?¡± Tang Yuyan looked at the underwear-d Xia Lei in shock.
Xia Lei threw his shirt and trousers at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Put them on.¡±
¡°No! Do you w, want to die?¡± Tang Yuyan refused right away.
¡°Put it on!¡± Xia Lei shouted at her. ¡°I¡¯m the one making decisions now! Do as I say, and no talking back!¡±
Tears sprang from Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes. From her point of view, it looked like Xia Lei had given her all of his clothing for her to be warm. How could she not be touched by such a caring gesture?
Tang Yuyan still stood there dumbly, and Xia Lei rushed forward to force the shirt on her.
¡°I, I don¡¯t w, want the trousers.¡± Tang Yuyan reacted then.
Xia Lei suddenly pped her across the face. ¡°Wear it!¡±
This p was not hard at all, but it shook Tang Yuyan. She had never been hit by anyone in all her life, but Xia Lei had given her a p now. However, there was no anger in her heart at this p. Instead, she was so moved that her eyes leaked tears and mucus built in her nose came flowing out.
A man was giving what little clothing he had on him to you in the snowy cold, and you refused, so he pped you to make you put the clothes on. Could you me this man for pping you?
Tang Yuyan bit her cherry lips as she put on Xia Lei¡¯s trousers, and cried as she said, ¡°I, I don¡¯t want to live either if you die.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t die. Believe me. Come with me.¡± Xia Lei headed towards a rock cliff. He had discovered a recess under the cliff while Tang Yuyan was getting into his trousers. There was a gap before two pieces of rock which allowed him and Tang Yuyan to hide in there.
At the cliff, Xia Lei first let Tang Yuyan go in, then went in himself.
The cliff and the rock kept the wind out. Tang Yuyan was in better shape, but she was still chattering with cold.
Xia Lei held her in his arms to try to give her some of his body heat.
¡°How are you still so warm?¡± asked Tang Yuyan in surprise.
¡°This is a Wingchun secret technique...¡± Xia Lei thought of a name. ¡°The Virgin Warming Sun.¡±
¡°Virgin?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s expression grew more surprised. ¡°You... are a virgin?¡±
Xia Lei really wanted to p his own mouth. Why hadn¡¯t he chosen something else for the fake name? What had he chosen the word ¡®virgin¡¯? If he was a virgin, then what would Long Bing think? What would Jiang Ruyi think? Shentu Tianyin, Liang Siyao... what would they think?
Bark bark bark...
The sound of barking came suddenly.
¡°Damn it! If I¡¯m going to die, I¡¯ll take down some Indian soldiers too!¡± The barking drew Tang Yuyan¡¯s attention away and she snatched up the Gust assault rifle, preparing to crawl out.
Xia Lei pressed her shoulder down. ¡°You stay here. I¡¯ll get you a dog-pelt jacket.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to kill the dogs?¡±
¡°Lend me a throwing knife.¡± Xia Lei reached out to Tang Yuyan¡¯s waist.
Tang Yuyan instinctively avoided him, but it was just a symbolic gesture. She calmed down right away when Xia Lei¡¯s warm hand touched her waist, gentle as a kitty.
Xia Lei took a throwing knife from her waist, then crawled out. Just before he went out, he looked back at her. ¡°Will you be able to kill the Indian soldiers if they catch up to us?¡±
¡°Yeah! Fuck it, if there¡¯s going to be any trouble because of it, I¡¯ll shoulder it!¡± said Tang Yuyan fiercely.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°I know what to do then.¡±
Chapter 749
Four military dogs fell to the ground. Three of them had had their throats cut, and one had had its neck broken. Xia Lei had taken just two minutes to do all these. The dog which had its neck broken by Xia Lei was food for his escape. Tang Yuyan¡¯s throwing knife had poison along its edge, so there would be no dog meat to use as food if he had killed them all with the knife.
Xia Lei was on no rush to drag the carcasses of the dogs back to the recess in the cliff after killing them. He stood at the edge and looked down, observing the activity below. The military dogs had caught up, so the Indian soldiers should be not far behind.
The flickering light of torchlights came from downhill. The Indian soldiers had caught up.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze went past those Indian soldiers, and further away. However, he did not see the people he wanted to see.
Amanda, Park Taeyong, Bagu and Marcus had not turned up.
Amanda had called him before he¡¯d arrived in the western province, and said that she and three other members of the Zodiac Team were half an hour away from him and Tang Yuyan by car. Half an hour meant about sixty kilometres, so if Amanda and the others were on their way, they should have arrived long ago.
¡®Could Amanda, Park Taeyong and the others stopped and camped sixty kilometres away? If that¡¯s the case, then they really wouldn¡¯t know anything about the battle here. But the Japanese have jammed the signal in this area, so Amanda can¡¯t track my location using the satellite phone. Won¡¯t she have found it strange with her experience? If Amanda and the others hurried over right away once my signal disappeared, then they should have arrived by now, right?¡¯ Xia Lei was anxious. He had very confidently told Tang Yuyan that they would not die here earlier, and his confidence hade from Amanda and the three other Zodiac Team members¡¯ presence. They were all skilledbats worth ten of their number. If this support team of his arrived, they would be able to sandwich the Japanese people and Indian soldiers nking them now, and let himself and Tang Yuyan escape, and even finished his revenge.
But there was no use being anxious. The Zodiac Team had not turned up, and he and Tang Yuyan were still in grave danger.
At that moment, four military men entered his field of sight, and he was stunned.
Those four military men were not Amanda, Park Taeyong and the others, but the Japanese people who were after him and Tang Yuyan!
The four Japanese people had the young man in monk robes in the lead, and they followed closely behind the Indian troops. The two factions climbed towards the peak together. Under normal circumstances, those four Japanese people should be avoiding the Indian troops, but what Xia Lei was witnessing was obvious ¡ª the Japanese people knew of the existence of the Indian troops and vice versa. However, both factions were peaceful and did not exchange fire. They were also climbing up to the peak together on top of that.
There was only one possibility for this situation, and that was the Japanese group and this group of Indian troops were working together. This was a carefully made trap!
In that instant, Xia Lei¡¯s brain sorted through all of the events which had happened, and the previous parts he had not understood, and the gaps, were all filled and made clear.
Someone had leaked information on this mission.
There might¡¯ve been some terrorists who had infiltrated the country, but they had been taken out by the Japanese long ago and reced by them. The possibility of this was over 80%. And the possibility of leaked information was 100%!
This situation before him looked like it wasn¡¯t just him and Tang Yuyan in danger, but Amanda and the others too!
So who had leaked the information?
Now was not the time to find the traitor and catch the person. Xia Lei went around the cliff and quickly moved to the other side of the peak.
In the ice and snow, a group of white figures moved, heading in his direction. They were about 500 metres away, and there was snow blocking his field of vision, but Xia Lei saw those white figures clearly. They were military men in snow camouge gear ¡ª white men and ck men. They were carrying the best of American weaponry.
¡®The CIA?¡¯ A chill ran across Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
Americans, the Japanese, Indians... There was a UN army surrounding this hill.
The truth was revealed in an instant. The cooperation between the Japanese and the Americans was all due to Gu Kewen¡¯s working together with Hattori Masao. They had just moved the location from Paris to this hill. As for the Indians, they definitely did not dare to attack China¡¯s agents openly, since this was a sensitive territory. They did not dare, but the corruption of the Indian troops was widely known. You just had to pay the right price and it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to buy an Indian garrison in the area.
Since he and Tang Yuyan had been attacked, the enemy had been trying to drive them to this hill, and push him up the peak, bit by bit. Now, the Indians, Americans and Japanese had this hill surrounded. He and Tang Yuyan were in a desperate situation and there was no way out.
Xia Lei lifted his gun and his left eye focused on a man in snow camouge gear. He pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The dull gunshot broke the silence of the peak. In his field of vision, a man in camouge gear fell to the ground. He had not killed this man, however. The man could still roll about after being hit, and he hid behind a rock.
The wind behind the hill was just too great, and there was snow falling too. He had calcted the wind speed and the effect a low temperature would have on the bullet trajectory, but the wind was unpredictable. It whooshed left, then right, so there was no way for him to calcte a certain result.
However, he had managed to wound one of them, and the rest of the snow-camouged did not dare to risk it. They quickly hid behind rocks. One of them returned fire, but the bullets couldn¡¯t reach Xia Lei at all.
Xia Lei gave up after firing once. He turned and left.
There was a limit to the amount of ammunition which he and Tang Yuyan had brought. They did not have a lot left after their battles, so Xia Lei would rather not shoot if he could not do one-hit-one-kill.
Xia Lei dragged the four military dogs to the cliff. Tang Yuyan wanted to crawl out of the gap in the rock but Xia Lei stopped her.
¡°I heard you fire just now. Are the Indian t, t, troops close?¡± asked Tang Yuyan. She was wearing the shirt and trousers which Xia Lei had given her, but it was not enough for her at all. She was still chattering with cold, and her tongue was stiff as she spoke. She hugged her sides, and her skin looked like it was turning ck and blue. This was caused by a slowed blood flow. In this condition, her brain and organs would not receive enough oxygen and nutrients ¡ª she was not going tost for very long, much less battle alongside Xia Lei.
Her condition made Xia Lei¡¯s heart ache for her, and he also felt a bit like he owed her. She had brought him on this mission but the target of the Americans and Japanese was him, not her. She was meant to just face down a few poorly-equipped terrorists on this mission, and her seven subordinates would not have had to die either.
¡°I, I, I¡¯m t, talking to y, you...¡± Tang Yuyan shivered before she could finish her sentence.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure if he should tell her the actual situation, that they were surrounded and that they were in dire straits.
After some hesitation, Xia Lei said, ¡°Yuyan, don¡¯te out no matter what happens, okay?¡±
Tang Yuyan paused. ¡°Wh, What do you mean b, by that? W, We can¡¯t escape a, anymore?¡±
¡°No, you will be fine,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°S, Stop lying to me! I w, want to fight with you!¡± Tang Yuyan climbed stubbornly.
Xia Lei suddenly chopped at her carotid artery. Tang Yuyan let out a grunt, and fainted.
Xia Lei took the bullets from her gun, and the magazine at her waist, then dragged the carcasses of the four military dogs into the recess. He used the throwing knife to cut open the belly of the dogs and covered her with their internal organs. Last, he moved some rocks over to block off the entrance to the recess.
¡°Their target is me. This is my battle and it¡¯s nothing to do with you. You should not die here,¡± said Xia Lei. But Tang Yuyan could not hear him anymore.
Tang Yuyan was in no condition to fight alongside him. Letting her get into the line of fire was a waste of bullets and also sending her to die. Why not just hide her away and give her a chance to survive?
After hiding Tang Yuyan away, Xia Lei left the cliff. He wanted to look for a sniping spot now, and kill as many enemies as he could while he still had the advantage of the terrain. The pressure on him would lessen the more enemies he killed.
Attack the Americans in the back. This idea was quashed by Xia Lei as soon as it popped up in his head. He had already fired once, and found that it was difficult to kill his target. Those Americans could be the elite of the Special Forces soldiers, and could also be agents of the CIA. They were more powerful than the Indian troops no matter how you looked at it. It was going to be much more difficult to fight them,pared to fighting the Indian troops. Also, the wind in front of the hill was much weaker, and the effect the wind had on the bullets would not be as great as it had been behind the hill. Xia Lei quickly reached a decision with that analysis. He was going to cut the Indian troops down first!
Xia Leiy t on a rock overlooking arge area, then stretched the XL2500 out. He quickly locked on to an Indian soldier, and pulled the trigger.
The Indian soldier was pierced by the sniper rifle bullet in the instant after the gunshot rang out, and he fell to the ground with a fist-sized hole in his chest.
The Indian soldiers heading to the peak were immediately in a great disarray. They had obviously not expected that the person at the peak actually still dared to shoot them. Some let out curses, and some fired at the peak. However, they were using the Indian-made INSAS assault rifle, and it was a type of gun modelled off an AK47 but the performance was very poor. The bullets which shot from the INSAS assault rifle were blown about again due to the strong winds, and it was like they had not deviated from their trajectory. And so, the shots came at Xia Lei, but only a pitiful few could reach Xia Lei, much less hurt him.
¡°This is the territory of India. Imand you to surrender!¡± shouted an official-looking person in English.
Bang!
The Indian official had just finished speaking when a bullet went through his brain, sending fragments of skull and sttering brain matter.
The Indian official fell to the ground, eyes open and full of anger in death.
¡°I¡¯ll kill you even if you¡¯re in New Delhi!¡± Xia Lei spat.
Bang bang bang...
Ratatatatat...
Gunshots sounded from under the peak again. Bullets shot like rain towards the peak.
A dark figure sneakily came to the frontlines and hid behind a rock. After he stopped sneaking about, he poked the grenadeuncher out from the top of the rock and stood carefully, adjusting the angle and preparing to shoot at Xia Lei.
¡°The Japanese are most adept at sneak attacks, huh?¡± Xia Lei squeezed the trigger.
Pew!
The Japanese military man operating the grenadeuncher fell to the ground with a thud. He had only let half his head show, and that was the half of his brain which he lost.
Chapter 750
There was only one man and one gun on the peak, but this seemed like a great obstacle to the Indian troops. Any person who revealed his head, or tried to advance was met with a life-ending bullet. The man on the peak had godly gunskills, and it was already way beyond what they could handle.
They had done one charge but no one dared to reveal himself after a dozen bodies had dropped in the charge.
¡°Charge up there!¡± Hattori Tsukijin crawled to the side of the Indian officermanding the soldiers and shouted at him in English. ¡°What are you still waiting for? He doesn¡¯t have so many bullets! Are you Indian military men so afraid of death?¡±
¡°Bastard!¡± The Indian officer was so ashamed he got mad. ¡°Why don¡¯t you and your men charge up there? We¡¯ve already lost over ten men, and you dare to tell my people to go to their deaths?!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget that I paid you! That money is enough for you to live in luxury for the rest of your life!¡±
The Indian officer was subdued at the mention of money. He had epted money in exchange for cmity. If he and his deputy had not epted this Japanese person¡¯s money, he wouldn¡¯t be here. He¡¯d thought that it was just a simple military exercise at first and that no one needed to die, but he had not expected this to happen. Over ten of his men had been killed. This sort of thing couldn¡¯t be covered up, and once the higher-ups investigated, he was screwed, no matter how much money he had!
¡°If you want to go up, then take your men and go up yourselves. I took your money but you didn¡¯t tell me that the target is so powerful!¡±
Hattori Tsukijin made a gun-raising movement.
¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± warned an officer next to the Indian officer.
Hattori Tsukijin pressed the muzzle of his gun down. ¡°If you and your men attack and help me capture that man, I will give you one million US dors more. Take this money and you can leave India to go live somewhere else.¡±
Themanding officer hesitated. ¡°Two million.¡±
A small sneer appeared on Hattori Tsukijin¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re very greedy. But deal.¡±
The Indianmanding officer gave themand. ¡°Charge up! He has no more bullets! I will give a hundred thousand American dors to the man who kills him! And five hundred thousand to be shared among the survivors!¡±
A hundred thousand American dors was a heavenly amount to an officer of the lowest rank. Plus, he would get a share of five hundred thousand American dors even if he didn¡¯t kill the man on the peak and survived ¡ª this was a quick path to riches. Riches and honour in danger, and themanding officer had said that the man on the peak had run out of bullets. The Indian troops in hiding started their charge again.
Bang!
A gunshot came from the peak.
An Indian soldier who had just burst out of cover had his head blown away; he died horribly.
The soldiers who had just gathered their courage were disheartened again. Riches were very attractive, but you¡¯ll need your life to enjoy them! You only had one life, so anyone would be terrified when faced with death.
Bam!
A Japanese military man shot a grenade at the peak when Xia Lei shot at the Indian officer.
Boom!
The grenade exploded close to Xia Lei¡¯s sniping point, and it sent up mes and broken rock and dirt.
¡°Charge!¡± screamed the Indianmanding officer.
Ratatatatat...
Bang bang bang...
The Indian troops charged madly at the peak. They fired their guns as they ran, using their firepower to suppress Xia Lei.
This seemed to be effective. The sniper at the peak did not fire again to kill his targets below. The Indian troops soon neared the peak. The eyes of these soldiers held not just the cliff, but the riches which awaited them.
¡°Sess!¡± said a Japanese military man to Hattori Tsukijin. They were downhill. He was the one who had fired the grenadeuncher at Xia Lei to injure him.
¡°You two go up. Don¡¯t let the Indian guys kill him. I want him alive,¡± said Hattori Tsukijin.
The Japanese military man who had spoken made a hand gesture at his colleague, and they walked out from under their rock cover.
A bullet came flying the instant he came out from his cover. It went through his left eyeball, and out the back of his head. He did not feel what death was like, because he was already dead.
The other military man turned pale immediately, and he instinctively dove for the rock cover he hade out from earlier.
But he was a step toote.
If he had done this move the instant his colleague had died, he would have been in time to save himself. But, he had been shocked when his colleague had been shot, and only done the movement after a pause. His reaction had already been very quick but it was not quicker than a bullet.
Pew!
A sound like a hot water bottle bursting came from his body, and blood spurted from his neck, staining Hattori Tsukijin¡¯s face with it before he copsed to the ground.
Hattori Tsukijin was pale. He crouched behind the rock, and did not dare move.
His ns had been going smoothly so far but he had not nned that the men he brought would die so horribly. Twelve of his family¡¯s soldiers, all wiped out! He had brought these twelve men to the Middle East to fight for an entire year and they had not been injured or killed. Not many people know of the existence of ¡®Tsukijin¡¯s Team¡¯ but those who knew would turn pale. He had also relied on his military strength to make big war money in the Middle East. However, all of his glory was eradicated tonight. He dared not believe that the might of he, and his twelve soldiers, plus this Indian border troop actually couldn¡¯t take down one Xia Lei!
He took the Barrett M8A21 sniper rifle from his back. His anger and his pride made him want to have a sniping battle with Xia Lei. However, when he had his M8A21 sniper rifle in his hands, and was going to do it, his gaze went to the body of the family soldier next to him. His courage disappeared all of a sudden when he saw the dead man with half his neck missing.
He nced at the watch on his wrist. ¡°Fuck. Are the CIA going to wait for all of the Indian troops to die? Are they waiting for Xia Lei to run out of bullets to go capture him? Damn it! No one canpensate me for my loss!¡±
The safest way to capture a man like Xia Lei really was to have him run out of ammunition. As long as he had a gun in his hand, and the gun had bullets, he was an existence close to that of a grim reaper!
Two gunshotster, no more shots came from the peak.
Xia Lei seemed like he really was out of bullets this time.
¡°He¡¯s out of bullets! Charge! Capture him!¡± This time, even the Indian soldiers hiding behind the rock dashed forward, ecstatic.
The Indian troops shouted madly as they charged up the hill with their guns zing.
To the surviving Indian soldiers, they had very definitely gotten past the worst of it, and the only thing left to do was to count money.
Over thirty Indian soldiers finally made it to the peak, and they came to the ce where Xia Lei had gathered them. A sniper rifle was on the rock, and empty bullet shells. Xia Lei had indeed run out of bullets, but he was nowhere to be seen on the peak.
¡°Fuck. What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°Impossible! He must have hid somewhere! Find him!¡±
¡°There¡¯s blood over there!¡±
¡°He¡¯s gone that way! He¡¯s hurt!¡±
¡°Capture him!¡±
The group of Indian soldiers had discovered the spot where Xia Lei had ughtered the dogs. They saw the dog blood on the snow, and rushed towards the cliff in glee.
There was no one at the cliff. The dog blood trail went on to the recess where Xia Lei had used rocks to seal it off.
¡°He¡¯s hurt! He¡¯s hiding in the cliff! Surround him!¡± The Indianmanding officer shouted orders excitedly.
The big group of Indian soldiers approached the cliff.
At that moment, a person suddenly popped out of the snow behind them. One man, one gun, one underwear.
Bang bang bang...
The Gust assault rifle spat out bullet shells. Bullet after bullet shot from the muzzle, and the Indian soldiers fell like wheat being cut. Their deaths were different, but they all shared a simrity ¡ª the person shooting at them was doing a sweep with an assault rifle, but every one of them had died due to a headshot, and one shot, one head too!
To achieve this level of shooting with a sweep... Just how terrifyingly coordinated were his hands, eyes, and brain? No one knew, because it had never been done before. But Xia Lei had done it. His brain, his left eye, and his hands were like a superputer directing a high-precision machine to do high precision processing in that instant of firing. Efficient, urate and no margin of error!
Of course, a very good reason why he could do this was that the Gust assault rifle was excellent. If he¡¯d been given a gun with great recoil like the AK47, or other assault rifles, he would not be able to shoot like this, even if his brain, hands and eyes were godly powerful.
But there was one who had escaped the sweep ¡ª the Indianmanding officer.
No bullet came from the muzzle when Xia Lei fired at him.
That Indianmanding officer had been so scared he¡¯d pissed himself, but he paused andughed loudly after Xia Lei¡¯s gun clicked on empty. ¡°You¡¯ve run out of bullets? Haha, you¡¯ve saved me a lot of money by killing them all. I really have to thank you. Kn¡ª¡±
Xia Lei suddenly swung his arm.
The Indianmanding officer fell to the ground in the middle of the word ¡®kneel¡¯. A throwing knife stuck out of his forehead.
¡°I have to thank you too. You¡¯ve given me more ammunition,¡± said Xia Lei. He threw aside the empty Gust assault rifle in his hands, and strode to therge pile of corpses.
He had timed it well. The Americans would arrive at about the time that he took the Indian troops¡¯ weapons and ammunition. This was also why he had given up on engaging the Americans earlier and focused on eliminating the Indians. This Indian troop had the advantage in numbers, but they were not well trained in military tactics so it was easy to kill them off. If he¡¯d chosen to exchange fire with the Americans first and run out of bullets, he would have been trapped in a desperate situation where he¡¯d be surrounded on both sides. Without ammunition, he had just two choices ¡ª suicide, or be captured.
The low grade weapons of the Indian troops made Xia Lei frown, but he had no better choice. He picked out a few of the assault rifles at random, and dozens of ammunition cases, then left the cliff in preparation of moving to a new battlefield.
There was one Japanese man he had not killed yet. He was not a pressing worry, but Xia Lei could not take care of him right now. Compared to his earlier dire straits, however, Xia Lei was in a much better position now.
Xia Lei took a step over the edge of the cliff, and lunged at the side¡ª
Chapter 751
Boom!
A violent explosion boomed next to Xia Lei. Deafening echoes and the shock wave from the st whooshed towards Xia Lei in a flood.
A bomb had gone off.
But it wasn¡¯t just the explosion which could be seen. Four gunmen in white camouge were visible too. He had timed it very urately, and there was no mistake in his movements either, only those Indian troops had been too useless. He had already stopped shooting at those Indian soldiers but there was still a lot of dilly-dallying and fear of the slightest thing, and a lot of time had been wasted before the charge. It was also at that time that the gunmen behind the hill increased their pace, and took the opportunity to close in when he was exchanging fire with the Indian soldiers.
Bang!
A flew at Xia Lei.
The unfurled in the air, and stretched out to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei rolled to avoid it, then stayed close to the ground as he rolled back under the cliff.
Pew pew pew! A line of bullets hit the snow where he¡¯d rolled. If he had been just a little slower, his lower limbs would have been hit.
The gunmen who had climbed to the peak continued their assault. They were not shooting blindly, but firing quite rhythmically, pressuring Xia Lei and not giving him the chance to fire back.
These gunmen were obviously much better trained than the Indian troops.
Xia Lei hid anxiously under the cliff. Just a few seconds prior, he had had some hope that he could be able to make use of the terrain advantage to keep the Americans downhill. He had enough ammunition to do it, and if he managed to hold on till the day broke, he and Tang Yuyan would be able to get out of danger. However, hope was just a beautiful thing that reality could not support. He only needed one or two minutes to arm himself, but the enemy was not even giving him this time to do so.
Bullet after bullet hit the rock and the ground, sending up sparks and snow.
Four gunmen drew close.
It was a desperate situation, but he still had to fight!
Xia Lei went close to the edge of the cliff, and his left eye saw through the corner of the rock. He saw those four gunmen in snow camouge gear ¡ª three white men and one ck man. They were all wearing night vision equipment. Xia Lei pushed one of the Indian troops¡¯ low quality rifles out from the edge of the rock in front of him.
Ptink!
A bullet hit the muzzle of the gun, and it was bent out of shape. Xia Lei hurriedly pulled it back.
The enemy was keeping up the suppressing fire. There was no chance to fight back, even though he had such godly gun skills!
And during that time, even more American gunmen climbed to the peak.
Xia Lei lost all hope. He looked at the recess in the rock behind him. He had hidden Tang Yuyan in there but that was not going to escape the Americans¡¯ notice and they would discover her easily. The Americans¡¯ aim was to capture him live, but how would they treat Tang Yuyan? There was no need to ponder the question to know the answer ¡ª they would kill her. The Americans wouldn¡¯t let Tang Yuyan have the opportunity to speak of this incident. Dead people spoke no secrets.
¡®I promised you that you would leave this ce alive, but...¡¯ Xia Lei was filled with sadness.
He could still stay alive, and being alive meant that there was hope. To Tang Yuyan, however, the time she had on this Earth was decreasing, and she had no hope.
He looked despairingly up at the sky. He was an atheist but at this moment, he started to call for a god toe save him and Tang Yuyan.
And when he looked up, his eyes widened; he did not blink.
A parachute had appeared in the darkness of the sky.
¡°That¡¯s...¡± Xia Lei used his left eye, and soon saw the face of the parachuter.
It was a female face. Golden-haired, blue-eyed, and with a face as delicate as fine china. It looked like she was just 16 or 17, or even younger. A minor.
Snow covered the ground and it was the middle of the night, so what was a blonde parachuter doing here? It was strange no matter how you looked at it. But what stunned Xia Lei was that this girl was holding a wooden staff in her hand, wearing a witch hat on her head, and a witchy-style ck robe on her body.
The spring breeze ruffled her hair. Her long, waist-length golden hair danced in the wind under her hat, like a golden wave. She was expressionless, cold and solemn. Her eyes were cold, sharp, and without emotion. This expression was aplete mismatch with her age. If the parachute on her body was swapped out for a broom, she would give one the illusion of having entered a fairy tale world.
Xia Lei had been praying for a god to save him and Tang Yuyan, and a witch had appeared in the blink of an eye. It was a young witch too. Was this some sort of joke?
The parachute brought the blonde girl to the peak. Xia Lei looked at her height and the speed of her descent, and quickly calcted the time she wouldnd on the peak. She was going tond in two minutes.
A big question mark appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s head. ¡®Who is she?¡¯
The parachuting blonde girl was obviously not a passing extreme sports enthusiast. There was no extreme sports enthusiast who¡¯d dress up as a witch in this world. But why was shending on this hill of all hills?
This extreme sports enthusiast, dressed in this matter, hade to this location for the matter that was unfolding right now.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of a person, but he was not sure.
A woman¡¯s voice suddenly came from somewhere. ¡°Xia Lei!¡±
This was Gu Kewen¡¯s voice.
This voice was just too familiar, and he would recognise it even if he turned to ash. He was not surprised at all at Gu Kewen turning up.
Gu Kewen¡¯s voice was full of ridicule. ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you very powerful, Xia Lei? What¡¯s this state that you¡¯re in now, huh? Let me see how you¡¯ll run from this. Go on, run. Run! Hahaha...¡±
¡°Okay, you got me. I¡¯ll go with you guys, but I have one condition. I¡¯ll go with you guys if you let Tang Yuyan go.¡± Xia Lei looked up at the sky. His heart thumped. The parachuting blonde girl was gone.
Was what he¡¯d seen all just a hallucination?
¡°You¡¯re negotiating with me?¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°You think you still have the right to negotiate with me now?¡±
This was not a question, but mockery.
Xia Lei threw the gun with the ruined muzzle out, then said, ¡°I have just this one condition. Take my corpse back if you don¡¯t want to agree to it.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, do you think, after how things hade to this point, that the CIA would still value your life? You¡¯ve threatened their interests, and their national interests too. The weapons you¡¯ve developed, and your Thunder Horse Military Factory are targets for elimination. They gave me two choices. One, you keep your life. Two, you die. Seeing as we are old friends, I¡¯ll give you a chance to let you choose for yourself. Get out here right now if you want to surrender! And if you choose to die, then hurry up and die!¡±
As soon as she was done speaking, dozens of CIA agents and elite Special Forces soldiers surrounded the cliff. They pointed their guns at every possible inch where Xia Lei¡¯s body could appear from his hiding ce. No matter how quick Xia Lei was, they were going to take him down as soon as he showed himself.
Xia Lei had not much time left.
Would the CIA or the American authorities have really given her these two choices? There was no way for Xia Lei to tell, and he did not want to take a gamble either, because what he had on the line was his life.
Loneliness, desperation and anger overcame him, and Xia Lei looked despairingly up at the sky. He longed to see that blonde girl, because she at least brought him some hope. However, the sky was empty and dark, and he did not see the girl. He then doubted if what he had seen earlier was real, and if it was just a hallucination.
But how could a hallucination be so real?
¡°You have nowhere to run, Xia Lei. Face reality. I¡¯ll let it be quick for Tang Yuyan if you cooperate. If you resist, I have a big group of guys here who are starving. I think you know what I mean,¡± said Gu Kewen.
His thoughts were interrupted, and Gu Kewen¡¯s words lit the mes of anger in his heart. That sort of thing was disgusting just thinking about it. He was not going to let Tang Yuyan suffer that humiliation.
¡°Gu Kewen, your grudge is with me. Soe at me, I don¡¯t me you, I admit. But if you dare to do such a thing to Tang Yuyan, the Tang family will not let you off even if I don¡¯t kill you!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Gu Kewenughed, and quite merrily too. ¡°I¡¯m so scared. Please don¡¯t threaten me, okay? Xia Lei, do you like her? Too bad. I want to destroy the things you like. I¡¯m giving you three seconds to get out here. Every second of dy would mean one more person added to the roster to vite Tang Yuyan. I want you to be right next to her to watch too. I¡¯ll make you watch as my men y with the woman you love!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were terrifyingly cold. He had never had such desire to kill a person before. The hate he had for Gu Kewen was at maximum. If someone were to give him an opportunity to kill Gu Kewen with his own hands right now, he was willing to exchange all of his assets for that opportunity!
¡°One!¡± Gu Kewen started counting.
At that moment, the alloy ne around Xia Lei¡¯s neck was suddenly suspended in the air. It trembled in the air.
Xia Lei was stunned.
This had happened to his alloy ne in thebyrinth in Italy too, and it had happened when he was looking at that painting. After that, Princess Yongmei had appeared and the painting had disappeared.
This same thing was happening now. Could it be...
Xia Lei abruptly recalled the woman who had called him, and he looked up at the sky in reaction.
¡°Two!¡±
She was in no hurry. She seemed to want to savour this process of torturing Xia Lei.
The alloy ne dropped.
Through its process of suspension and dropping, Xia Lei thought he sensed a sort of resonance. A very mysterious resonance. It was like the first time he had felt a resonance with himself and the alloy. He held the ne in his hand, looking like he had confirmed something.
¡°Three!¡± said Gu Kewen. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve made your choice. Tang Yuyan will enjoy it. Hahaha!¡±
Xia Lei walked out of his hiding ce. There was no fear on his face, only calm.
Over thirty guns were pointed at Xia Lei as soon as he showed himself.
Gu Kewen revealed herself in the group of people, but she did not dare to get close to Xia Lei. She stopped in her tracks a safe distance away, and looked at Xia Lei challengingly. ¡°Xia Lei. I¡¯ve waited for this day for a long time.¡±
¡°You won. Let Tang Yuyan go. I¡¯ll go with you,¡± said Xia Lei. As he spoke, he swiftly searched the area out of the corner of his eyes. He did not see anything of note.
¡°You werete by one second. You¡¯ll have to pay the price.¡± Gu Kewen waved her hand and said in English, ¡°Two of you, go drag that bitch out here. You can do whatever you like to her.¡±
¡°How dare you!¡± Xia Lei charged at Gu Kewen.
Bam! Bam!
A CIA agent fired at the ground in front of Xia Lei.
An agent next to him swung the butt of his gun, and smashed it into the bend of his knee. Xia Lei¡¯s leg bent, but he did not kneel.
¡°Spunky.¡± Gu Kewenughed. ¡°I¡¯ve always appreciated your spunk. But will you still have such spunk when you see a group of men ying with your dear womanter?¡±
Two CIA agents walked around Xia Lei and to the cliff. One of them was wearing a thermal imaging device, and he scanned the cliff for just a short while before he walked towards the ce where Tang Yuyan was hidden.
The alloy ne around Xia Lei¡¯s neck suddenly vibrated, but it did not suspend itself this time. However, that feeling of resonance was stronger than it had been earlier.
Chapter 752
Tang Yuyan was pulled out, and she was covered in blood. The cold and the pulling did not wake her ¡ª she was just too weak.
The two CIA agents threw her on the snow. Her face came in contact with the icy snow and her eyelid moved, but she did not open her eyes.
Gu Kewen spoke again. ¡°Don¡¯t be put off by the fact that she¡¯s dirty, fes. She¡¯s a known beauty. I wouldn¡¯t give you guys this chance if I were a man.¡±
Two Special Forces ck men from the Marines smiled vulgar smiles. They looked eager.
¡°Enough!¡± Xia Lei said angrily, ¡°Gu Kewen, you¡¯ve captured me. I¡¯ll go with you, so let Tang Yuyan go!
¡°Heheheh...¡± Gu Kewen giggled like a schoolgirl. ¡°Are you begging me, Xia Lei?¡±
Xia Lei gritted his teeth. ¡°Yes, I am.¡±
Gu Kewen¡¯s voice grew cold. ¡°You call that begging?¡±
¡°What do you want?¡±
Gu Kewen shouted at Xia Lei, ¡°Kneel!¡±
Anger burned in Xia Lei¡¯s heart and he wanted nothing more than to wring Gu Kewen¡¯s neck, but he thought of Tang Yuyan, and he bent his knees.
Pride and dignity were important, but they were nothing whenpared to life.
Plop. Xia Lei knelt.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyelids moved again, and she finally opened her eyes a little this time. She saw Xia Lei, kneeling on the snowy ground, saw Gu Kewen, and saw the vulture-like CIA agents and Special Forces soldiers next to her. She immediately understood what had happened.
¡°Xia... No...¡± She wanted to say something, but her voice was just too weak, so weak that even she could not hear herself.
¡°Okay, I¡¯m kneeling now.¡± Xia Lei had his head lowered, and was appearing as humble as he could. ¡°I beg you, let Tang Yuyan go. I will go with you. You can do whatever you want to me.¡±
Two tears dropped from the corners of Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes to the ground and melted tiny spots of snow. What Xia Lei had said was the most moving thing she had heard in her life. Her heart melted.
¡°You caused my father¡¯s death. You killed my brother. You made me lose everything I had, and now you are in this state.¡± Gu Kewen looked coldly at Xia Lei. ¡°Do you think that this grudge between us will be resolved by your kneeling? That I would let you go?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t ask you to let me off. I said that you can do whatever you want to me, but please let Tang Yuyan go. This is a grudge between you and me, and nothing to do with her.¡± Xia Lei moved his knees to shift towards Tang Yuyan.
No one stopped the man walking on his knees. The way the CIA agents saw Xia Lei now, was that he had turned into a pitiful worm.
¡°Ha. You think I¡¯ll let her go because you ask for it? I said that I would be d to do anything that would cause you pain.¡± Gu Kewen shot a look at the two ck Special Forces soldiers next to her.
The two ck Special Forces soldiers understood, and walked towards Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei threw himself over Tang Yuyan, protecting her. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to touch her! Or I¡¯ll kill you all!¡±
¡°What¡¯s this guy shouting?¡± One of the ck Special Forces soldiers kicked Xia Lei on the back.
Xia Lei did not let go of Tang Yuyan. He moved his hand to Tang Yuyan¡¯s waist with the impact of the kick.
¡°Take him away!¡± Gu Kewen gave the order. ¡°You guys have ten minutes. Kill this bitch after you¡¯re done ying with her.¡±
The two ck Special Forces soldiers smiled.
Two CIA agents came forwards and grabbed Xia Lei by the arms, lifting him off of Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei did not resist. He looked in the direction of the hill, at the back of it, his gaze full of expectation and anxiousness.
¡°What are you looking at?¡± Gu Kewen looked where Xia Lei was looking, but she did not see anything.
Xia Lei kept his mouth shut and said nothing. His hands were clenched into fists, and his right hand trembled slightly.
Gu Kewen walked up to Xia Lei and drew close to his ear. She spoke softly in Chinese, ¡°Xia Lei, are you waiting for your backup? Let me tell you that they are being taken care of now. Do you still remember that woman in Japan? She will take real good care of your underlings. No one wille save you. Today is the day you die.¡±
Ptoo! Xia Lei spat on Gu Kewen¡¯s face.
¡°Bastard!¡± Gu Kewen swung her arm and pped Xia Lei across the face.
The two ck Special Forces soldiers lifted Tang Yuyan and headed to a spot sheltered from the wind. It seemed that they did not want to do what they were nning to do in the cutting wind.
¡°Why aren¡¯t you making a move? What are you waiting for?¡± Xia Lei suddenly shouted in Italian.
¡°What did you say?¡± Gu Kewen paused and stared at Xia Lei in rm.
Xia Lei shouted again in Italian, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you making a move? What are you waiting for?¡±
¡°Bastard!¡± Gu Kewen pped him again. ¡°What the fuck are you screaming?¡±
Xia Lei stopped shouting. He looked coldly at Gu Kewen, and a faint sneer appeared on his lips.
¡°Boss, I think he was shouting in Italian,¡± said a CIA agent. ¡°I think he¡¯s asking someone why he hasn¡¯t made a move yet.¡±
Gu Kewen scoffed. ¡°Have you gone mad? You¡ª¡±
Her voice was cut off.
The two soldiers carrying Tang Yuyan stopped in their tracks too.
Practically all eyes had gone to the hill.
Under the gaze of everyone, a blonde girl wearing a pointy witch hat and holding a wooden staff came climbing up from the empty mountain path. The staff in her hand looked like a magic staff, but it obviously wasn¡¯t, because the top of staffs in movies and novels were topped with precious gems, and hers was topped with a pink stic ball. Plus, her staff also had a ¡°Made in China¡±bel on it.
A dark, sinful and heavy scene was instantly transformed by this girl¡¯s arrival into a sense of joy which should not have been there.
tter! Dozens of guns were raised and pointed at the blonde girl.
Gu Kewen just had to give the order to st this odd blonde girl to bits.
But Gu Kewen gave no such order, because this blonde girl did not have any weapons and looked like she had nobat ability. But this definitely was not why she had not had this girl killed immediately. It was because this blonde girl was just too strange.
Who was she?
How did she turn up here?
There were questions which Gu Kewen wanted answers to.
¡°Sorry I¡¯mte, but I definitely didn¡¯t do it on purpose. My parachute got snagged on a stone and it took me a long while to untangle the ropes. My butt is swollen from the fall,¡± said the blonde girl in very standard Italian.
¡°What did she say?¡± asked Gu Kewen anxiously, ¡°Trante what she said!¡±
The blonde girl spoke in Chinese before the CIA agent who understood Italian could reply. ¡°No need to trante. I can use all thenguages of this world. Look, I¡¯m speaking to you in Chinese now. Can you understand me?¡± She swept her gaze over the CIA agents and spoke again in English, ¡°Are there any Inuits amongst you? I can speak to him in his native tongue too. Mayans too. I can speak Mayan.¡±
She was Xia Lei¡¯s miracle soldier from the skies.
But her appearance made Xia Lei feel like a hundred alpacas had trampled over him.
Was she here to put on a show?
¡°Who are you?¡± Gu Kewen drew her gun and pointed it at the blonde girl¡¯s head.
¡°Maritina.¡± The blonde girl had a smile on her face as she introduced herself grandly. ¡°I have a Chinese name too. Zhu Xuanyue.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei felt like a hand had grabbed hold of his heart as soon as he heard that name.
She was back.
And in this unbelievable way too!
¡°What are you doing here?¡± Gu Kewen¡¯s voice was cold.
Zhu Xuanyue pointed at Xia Lei with her ¡°Made in China¡± magic staff. ¡°I came to help him. Oh. I¡¯ll kill you guys. I don¡¯t want you to know my secret.¡± After a pause, she added, ¡°Are you done asking questions? Can I start now?¡±
¡°Fuck you, bitch!¡± Gu Kewen pulled the trigger.
Bang bang bang!
Gu Kewen shot three times in an instant. Three bullets went flying towards Zhu Xuanyue, almost at the same time. One bullet to the head, one to the chest, one to the right lung. Each one of these shots were fatal!
Zhu Xuanyue fell to the ground and blood stained the snow.
Was it over, just like that?
Xia Lei stared, dumbstruck, at the blonde girl in the bloody snow. He contemted death.
He was quite sure that this Zhu Xuanyue was a fake, because even the iplete Zhu Xuanyue was 10,000 times more adept at killing people than this blonde girl. In his mission in Japan, Zhu Xuanyue had killed off over twenty Japanese soldiers. Back then, she had plunged into those soldiers¡¯ heads like a storm and the men had died without losing a drop of blood. Zhu Xuanyue had been so powerful then, that he had been terrified of her and did not dare to release her. But the Zhu Xuanyue now came down from the sky carrying a ¡°Made in China¡± magic staff, didn¡¯t kill a single soldier, but was killed by Gu Kewen instead?!
What sort of fucking joke was this?
¡°Hahaha...¡± Gu Kewenughed. ¡°Xia Lei, is this your savior? Did you get her from the circus?¡±
Xia Lei was about to speak, but the words froze on his tongue. Under his gaze, the blonde girl who had fallen in the snow was melting quickly, like ice-cream in the sun. Her blood flowed, more and more, pooling in the snow as her body grew smaller and smaller.
¡°Sh, She...¡± A CIA agent let out a cry of horror.
The body of the blonde girl had meltedpletely into the snow.
The scarlet blood flowed quickly, and turned the entire surface of the peak red as everyone watched in stunned horror.
A sinister wind blew.
The dark wind, the blood, the ck sky. It was like they had been plunged into hell.
¡°What¡¯s going on here? What¡¯s going on?¡± Gu Kewen shouted in terror.
The CIA agents and the Special Forces soldiers assisting the operation grew anxious too. They searched their surroundings for suspicious targets in rm, and every one of their faces was writ with terror. Some religious ones made the cross, hoping tobat their fear in this way.
At that moment, the mysterious power lying dormant in Xia Lei¡¯s brain shook, and was released. In that instant, Xia Lei¡¯s vision seemed to have a violent wind sweeping past, and all the illusions guing him were chased away.
There was no blonde girl on the snow, and no blood. There was just a group of panicked CIA agents and Special Forces soldiers.
Everything just now had been an illusion!
Chapter 753
No one could exin it. There were too many things in this world which could not be exined by science.
Xia Lei was the only one who had snapped out of the illusion. To the others, however, this was just the beginning of their terror.
A hand suddenly sprang from the blood-coloured ground and it grabbed a CIA agent by the ankle. It was a rotting hand, with skin and flesh hanging off it like noodles, exposing bone in some areas. But this dead hand seemed to have terrifying strength, and it pulled the CIA agent to the ground in one go.
¡°Ah¡ª Die!¡± The CIA agent who had fallen screamed like he¡¯d gone mad. He pulled the trigger.
The hand was sted to pieces by bullets. The bullets had hit not just the hand, but the ankles and calves of the others.
A Crusader in Crusader armour burst out of the bloody ground, waving his hand axe at a Special Forces soldier. There was no skin on his face, only white bone.
Bang bang bang...
The Special Forces soldier who was being attacked fired wildly. However, that Crusader was very nimble, and he moved to the side to avoid the shots right away. The soldier moved his gun muzzle, following the Crusader. But what he shot was not the Crusader. He was firing at hisrades.
Chaos. ughter.
What the CIA agents and Special Forces soldiers saw, was that they had a lot of enemies and they were all in a life or death situation. What Xia Lei saw, however, was that they were firing at empty air and killing each other.
The CIA agents holding Xia Lei released their hold on him.
Before they could fire at anyone, Xia Lei¡¯s right hand cut across the neck of the CIA agent on his left. The poisoned edge of the throwing knife cut the man¡¯s neck open, first the carotid artery, then the trachea. Blood spurted, like a red fountain.
Xia Lew drew his right hand back, and down, using the force of the impact to stab the bloodstained knife into the heart of another CIA agent. He grabbed the falling body, and took the agent¡¯s TAR-21 assault rifle from his hands.
Ptu ptu ptu!
Bullets hit the back of the corpse right after Xia Lei covered himself with it.
Bang! Xia Lei squeezed the trigger. A bullet took away a CIA agent¡¯s head.
Threats eliminated, Xia Lei turned back, raised his gun and pulled the trigger again. The two soldiers who¡¯d been dragging Tang Yuyan off fell to the ground, one after another.
The chaotic battlefield quieted down quickly.
Xia Lei pushed the corpse of a CIA agent off himself and rose from a pool of blood.
¡°Sa... Save me...¡± A CIA agent called for help in a weak voice. He reached out a hand to grab Xia Lei¡¯s ankle.
Xia Lei lifted his foot and trod lightly on his wrist, then moved the muzzle of his gun to fire a shot at his head.
The man¡¯s skull sted open, and blood and brains sttered.
Xia Lei stepped over the corpse and walked towards Gu Kewen. He shot the ones still breathing as he made his way towards her. He didn¡¯t shoot anywhere else but the head.
Blood stained his body. He looked like an evil spirit which had crawled out of a pool of blood. He had no pity for the people injured and still breathing. His pity had long been trampled by Gu Kewen, the CIA agents and the Special Forces soldiers.
A white agent covered Gu Kewen, and only one leg and one hand of hers could be seen. Her trouser leg was red with blood, and she still held that gun she¡¯d used to ¡°kill¡± Zhu Xuanyue in her hand.
Xia Lei came to a halt next to Gu Kewen.
Gu Kewen suddenly lifted her hand, and the muzzle of her gun was pointed at Xia Lei¡¯s chest.
A small sneer appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. He just had to move his foot to kick the gun in Gu Kewen¡¯s hand away.
Gu Kewen pushed off the corpse pressing down on her and rolled. She reached for a TAR-21 assault rifle which had fallen on the ground. She had just grabbed hold of that TAR-21 assault rifle when a foot came down on her wrist.
Gu Kewen used all her strength to pull her hand away.
Xia Lei¡¯s foot sank further, stomping Gu Kewen¡¯s hand violently into the blood-soaked soil. As he did that, he put the hot gun muzzle to her ass, and put pressure on that crack.
¡°Argh¡ª¡± Gu Kewen screamed. She let go of the TAR-21.
The smell of burning flesh came from Gu Kewen. Mixed in with the smell of blood, it was a very particr smell.
Xia Lei released the hand he was stepping on.
Gu Kewen abruptly reached for a gun again.
Xia Lei kicked Gu Kewen in the torso, and her body lifted with the impact. The body spun one in the air before shended on the ground.
¡°Guh¡ª Hurgh¡ª¡± Gu Kewen took great gulps of air. She was stubborn, and did not scream. She saw Xia Lei walking to her ¡ª he was bathed in blood and his eyes were terrifyingly cold. She wanted to get to her feet, but the pain in her abdomen made her lose all strength.
Knowing that death approached but having no strength to struggle and escape was thest sorrow of man.
Xia Lei came to a stop next to Gu Kewen. He was silent for a bit before he said, ¡°Bullet, or knife?¡±
¡°Xia Lei... Kuh...¡± Gu Kewen took a deep breath and steadied herself. ¡°Calm down.¡±
¡°I¡¯m calm.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to die.¡±
¡°Nobody wants to, but they have to,¡± said Xia Lei. He crouched and took abat knife from a corpse. He put the knife to Gu Kewen¡¯s throat. ¡°Choose one. Knife, or bullet?¡±
Tears dropped from the corners of Gu Kewen¡¯s eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t kill me. I can tell you the secrets of the FA, and of the CIA. I can work for Bureau 101. I can do everything that Liang Siyao can. I swear, I will be even better than her. I can help you earn money too...¡±
Xia Lei pulled his hand back, and the sharpbat knife cut Gu Kewen¡¯s neck. A line of red appeared immediately on her neck.
¡°Why!¡± Gu Kewen broke down. She shouted at Xia Lei, ¡°Is it wrong of me to want revenge on you? You killed my father and my brother. You destroyed everything I had!¡±
Xia Lei had pulled the knife across Gu Kewen¡¯s neck, but he had not cut her arteries and throat.
¡°Tell me, back then, at Distinguished Gathering, why didn¡¯t you want me? Why?!¡± Gu Kewen was losing it. ¡°That day, if you¡¯d taken me and made that deal with me, I wouldn¡¯t have ended up this way. Do you know how I¡¯ve survived everything?¡±
Xia Lei looked at her coldly. There was no pity at all in his eyes, just cold.
His silence was his answer.
Gu Kewen lifted her hand to wipe her tears away. She¡¯d calmed a little after releasing some of her emotions, and her voice had grown much smaller. ¡°Must you kill me?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Heh...¡± Gu Kewenughed once, and her tears flowed again. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be shot, and I don¡¯t want the knife either. I don¡¯t want marks on my body when I leave. It¡¯s ugly.¡±
¡°Do you think that you still have the right to talk terms with me now?¡±
Gu Kewen had said that earlier to Xia Lei, and it was now Xia Lei saying it to her.
¡°Dark Mona and her men have also joined in on this operation. She¡¯s in charge of wiping out your subordinates. ording to our n, she will attack me and my men on Indian territory, then snatch you from my grasp. Sean woulde meet me in India, and Dark Mona will kill him for me,¡± said Gu Kewen.
Xia Lei paused. He didn¡¯t know why Gu Kewen was telling him all these at a time like this.
¡°Your men are probably dead. But Dark Mona might leave one or two alive to trap you and your father.¡±
¡°Why are you telling me all these?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Gu Kewen did not answer his question. She said, ¡°You¡¯ve threatened the national interests of America. The American higher-ups view you as a serious threat. The orders to deal with you are no longer like previously where you have to be captured alive. We can kill you and take your body back. The AE Research Centre and the CIA are making up a n to deal with you, but I don¡¯t know that the code name of that n is, and I don¡¯t know the details.¡±
¡°You...¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°You think I will let you go if you tell me all these?¡±
Gu Kewenughed bitterly. ¡°Dark Mona trained me, and treats me as a pawn piece in the CIA. Sean and Williams are already doubting me. Didn¡¯t you remind me too, in France, that Sean and Willians had sent me there to die in the line of fire? I am cannon fodder. If I don¡¯t die now, I¡¯ll die next time. I have no hope. It¡¯s actually not bad that I can die here in your hands.¡±
Xia Lei was silent. He knew that if he blocked her path back to China, she would have no way to live if he did not take her in.
¡°I¡¯m giving you all this information just in exchange for dying in the way I want.¡± Gu Kewen looked quietly at Xia Lei with tears in her eyes.
This Gu Kewen now was apletely different person from the Gu Kewen earlier.
Which one was the real her?
Both were.
No one was born a devil, but everyone had a devil in their heart.
¡°Tell me, then. How would you like to die?¡± For some reason, there was no hate in Xia Lei anymore.
¡°Let me lie in your arms. Strangle me,¡± said Gu Kewen.
Xia Lei stared nkly.
Strangtion. It was a painful way to die. A dying person would usually avoid pain and choose a more painless way to die. A knife or a bullet could give a quick death, but she had chosen a most painful way to die.
¡°Do it.¡± Gu Kewen shut her eyes.
Xia Lei nodded woodenly. He went to Gu Kewen¡¯s head, and pulled her into his embrace. He took her neck in his arms, and applied pressure.
Gu Kewen was calm for only ten seconds before she started struggling.
Xia Lei could not hold himself back anymore. He suddenly exerted a great force in his arms and chest, and twisted. Crunch. Gu Kewen¡¯s head stopped moving, and fell limp.
She was dead. She was not going to live because her heart was in the wrong ce now.
Xia Lei had killed the woman he¡¯d most wanted to kill, but there was no thrill of the kill in his heart. There was just a heaviness, and sorrow.
Hatred was the mostplex of human emotions, and more intense than love. There were few unforgettable loves in this world, but uncountable unforgettable grudges. It was like a me, and the me left only destruction, or nothing.
Xia Lei put her down. He tidied her hair, and wiped away the blood on her face with his palms.
She could leave this world beautifully now.
Xia Lei nced back at her onest time when he stood to leave. For some reason, he felt like he¡¯d seen a faint smile on her lips.
Xia Lei walked towards Tang Yuyan, his steps heavy.
Where was Zhu Xuanyue?
He didn¡¯t want to think of this question.
Chapter 754
Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes were closed, and her breathing weak. She had not been vited but the cold temperature had sent her into unconsciousness. She had lost consciousness before the illusion hit everyone. She did not react at all when Xia Lei went to her.
Xia Lei removed the snowbat clothing from the body of one of the ck soldiers and put it on Tang Yuyan. He then wrapped her up in the snow camouge and held her in his arms. Tang Yuyan was like a baby in his arms, sleeping soundly.
It was a good thing that she was unconscious, or she would need to have a lot of therapy for all the grotesque scenes she¡¯d have witnessed.
Xia Lei went to the spot where Zhu Xuanyue had ¡°melted¡± with Tang Yuyan in his arms. It was also the ce where the blonde girl had climbed to, from the ledge on the peak.
There was a ridge about two metres high under the ledge, and a blonde girly t on the snowy ground of the ridge. Her butt was in the air, and her head was in the snow. She was still holding that ¡°Made in China¡± magic staff in her hand. The staff looked like it wouldn¡¯t have cost more than twenty Chinese yuan.
Xia Lei looked around and quickly spotted a parachute hanging off a cliff. There were traces of some messy tracks under the cliff which led to where he was. Those were not footprints, however, but tracks of someone who had crawled on hands and knees. She seemed to have struggled a great deal to get here.
Xia Lei suddenly realised something. He hurriedly jumped down from the ledge, and drew close to the blonde girl¡¯s ear. ¡°Hello? Hello? Zhu... Xuanyue? Maritina?¡±
The blonde girly on the snowy ground, unmoving.
Xia Lei reached out and grabbed her arm to turn her over, but he discovered that her arm was broken when he grabbed it. He touched her knees and calves next, and was stunned. The bones of her arms, knees and calves were all broken.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei did not dare believe that this was real.
The blonde girl¡¯s eyelids moved for a bit, and her lips moved, but no voice came out. She was very weak, and in a condition ten times worse than Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei stretched out a hand abruptly to her ribs. His heart sank. Her ribs were broken in several ces too, and had pierced her insides.
The blonde girl finally opened her eyes. Her lips trembled and she spat out some words with great effort. ¡°Hell... o... The One...¡±
The One.
Only one person in this world had referred to him this way. Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°Y, You¡¯re really... Zhu Xuanyue?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice shook.
The blonde girl nodded, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.
¡°You...¡± There were thousands of things Xia Lei wanted to say, but only ¡°you¡± came out.
¡°Sorry. Koff koff...¡± Zhu Xuanyue spat out clots of blood. ¡°It¡¯s my first time parachuting... I didn¡¯t get thending right and I h, hit the cliff. I c, crawled over to help you.¡±
Xia Lei felt like his mouth was filled with cotton, and he felt even more at a loss for words.
He had been anticipating their reunion, and imagined that it would be in a rather spectacr fashion, like her appearing in flowing white robes with a princess crown on her head and riding on a white horse.
But right now?
She had put on a parachute,e down from the sky with a ¡°Made in China¡± magic staff, and ended up in her current condition.
If a film critic were toment on this, then this encounter would be a ridiculous fairytale, followed by ck humour, western fantasy, and a trope-filled Korean drama tragedy scene.
¡°If... If this body had not been damaged, I would have... koff koff... done it myself and not needed to ma, manipte their brain waves... I, I am dying... koff koff...¡± Zhu Xuanyue spat out more blood.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was gobsmacked.
They¡¯d just met, and she was dying?!
Even a trop-filled Korean drama wouldn¡¯t have this sort of scene in it.
¡°The b, body is already... A, Anyway, I didn¡¯t like this girl¡¯s body... She, she was an Italian girl called Maritina. After you s, summoned me, I needed a body urgently. She;d just died, and I couldn¡¯t find one that¡¯s more suitable, so... Koff koff... Agh!¡± Zhu Xuanyue sttered blood in Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t even think of wiping his face. He said anxiously, ¡°What can I do to help you?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to do anything. I, I wille look for you again. You... guh...¡± Zhu Xuanyue stopped breathing.
¡°Hello? Hey!¡± Xia Lei shook Zhu Xuanyue, but she was not responsive anymore.
She¡¯d died, just like that.
But Xia Lei had no sadness in his heart at all, just a feeling of how absurd and weird this was. This was because he knew what sort of existence she was. To her, this was no true death. Bodies were like clothes to her!
Xia Lei stayed by Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s corpse for a bit, then searched her clothing.
She had a jumble of things in her pockets ¡ª chocte, magic poker cards, and cards only girls would y with. The cards all had something to do with magic, and there were cards with a witch on it.
Xia Lei frowned and a strange thought entered his head. ¡®Zhu Xuanyue went into the body of this blonde girl, so the soul and memories of the original wouldn¡¯t be left behind, right? Interests and hobbies wouldn¡¯t be carried over, would they? But why is she carrying these things on her? Does it mean that some of the original¡¯s memories, interests and hobbies would remain after she enters a body? And these will be expressed?¡¯
These questions could only be answered by Zhu Xuanyue the next time she returned.
Xia Lei took Tang Yuyan up in his arms. He looked back at the body of the blonde girl, and left.
Snowkes floated down from the sky, and the cold wind whistled.
Xia Lei stopped in his tracks when he came to Gu Kewen¡¯s body. He looked at her silently. She looked peaceful, and there was even a faint smile on her lips. Her skin had not lost its colour yet, and it looked soft, and warm. She looked beautiful.
¡°Don¡¯t do any more evil in your next life.¡± Xia Lei sighed softly, and strode away.
Snowkes fell. A snowkended on the corner of Gu Kewen¡¯s mouth and slowly melted away...
When Xia Lei got to the ledge, he saw some flickering lights. It was the light from tactical torchlights. HOwever, the people who came were not the enemy, but soldiers of China.
¡®That guy must have run away. The Hattori family. I¡¯ll settle the score with you,¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
Hattori Tsukijin had disappeared long ago.
The troops met up with Xia Lei before he got midway down.
Tang Yuyan was carried down on a stretcher by two soldiers and medics who¡¯d rushed over and began administering treatment. Xia Lei refused treatment. He took his satellite phone back from Tang Yuyan and walked off so a quiet corner to make a call.
He was calling Amanda.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring...
After almost a minute, someone picked up but did not speak.
Xia Lei bit his lip. ¡°Who are you?¡±
A woman¡¯s voice came over the line after three seconds. She spoke in Chinese, but her pronunciation was stilted. ¡°It¡¯s you. You¡¯re actually not...¡±
The voice was not an unfamiliar one to Xia Lei. It was Dark Mona¡¯s voice.
Hearing Dark Mona¡¯s voice over Amanda¡¯s satellite phone confirmed what Gu Kewen had told him. Dark Mona and the FA were in charge of getting rid of Amanda, Bagu and the others, all four. Dark Mona was way more capable than his members of the Zodiac Team, and with the way she worked, she was not going to take action alone. She was sure to have a big group of FA agents. There was the bypass and the ambush too ¡ª his team was already in dire straits.
Xia Lei was not very willing to ept this truth but the truth was the truth and he had to face it.
¡°Dark Mona.¡± Xia Lei spoke only after some silence. ¡°What happened to my men?¡±
¡°I killed two. Captured two.¡± Dark Mona¡¯s voice was emotionless. ¡°You surprise me. I thought we would meet in India.¡±
¡°We will meet, you don¡¯t have to worry about that.¡± Xia Lei held back the grief and anger in his heart. ¡°Name a price. I want my men back.¡±
¡°You want to settle this with money?¡±
¡°Money can solve a lot of things.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want money. I want you. Your life for two of theirs,¡± said Dark Mona.
¡°You can get a sum of money if you make this deal with me. If you kill them, I swear, I will do everything I can to seek revenge on you. I will destroy you, and the FA,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Are you threatening me?¡±
¡°You can take it that way.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Dark Monaughed. ¡°You are the first to have dared to threaten a member of the FA since the FA was established. Me too. You¡¯re the first to threaten me since I started working in this industry.¡±
¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯ve never met an opponent like me.¡±
¡°What conceit.¡±
¡°Speak. Money, or revenge?¡±
Dark Mona was silent for a bit. ¡°Fifty million US dors.¡±
¡°Deal.¡± Xia Lei did not even haggle, and agreed right away.
Dark Mona was unsettled by his quick agreement. ¡°You¡¯re willing to spend fifty million on ransom money for two of your underlings?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not like you.¡± Xia Lei spoke coldly, ¡°Tell me the time and location of the deal.¡±
¡°Wait for my call.¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to know who you have.¡±
¡°Amanda. Park Taeyong.¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to hear them speak.¡±
Amanda¡¯s voice soon came over the line, sounding angry and anxious. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about us! She won¡¯t keep her word!¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± Dark Mona cursed, and the sound of a fist hitting flesh came from over the line.
¡°Hello? If you dare hit her again...¡±
¡°Duu duu duu...¡±
Dark Mona had cut the line.
Xia Lei sent a stone flying with a kick. His foot stung, but he did not seem to feel it.
Bagu and Marcus were dead. The Zodiac Team had lost its Sheep and Ox, never to return.
Amanda and Park Taeyong were still alive, in Dark Mona¡¯s hands. There was hope.
Every member of the Zodiac Team had been hand-picked by his father, and groomed for their roles. They were like sons and daughters to his father, and like siblings to Xia Lei; they were family. The deaths of two of the Zodiac Team, and the capture of two more cut at Xia Lei like the FA and Dark Mona had stabbed at him with knives!
Xia Lei looked up at the night sky. The sky was dark.
¡°I avoided you guys in the past because I was weak. I¡¯ming for you now!¡± The ice in his voice cut like a knife.
Chapter 755 A Kiss in the Ward
When life ends, would our souls disappear into nothingness? And if that wasn¡¯t the case, where would it go then?
This question had never crossed Xia Lei¡¯s mind until today. The query bothered him, taunting him in silence.
¡°Mmph...!¡± moaned Tang Yuyan as she tossed around the hospital bed. The moment her eyes opened, she screeched, as if she had gone crazy. ¡°No!¡± She iled her arms. ¡°Leave me be! Go!¡±
It was clear that in her mind, she was still on that mountain.
Xia Lei quickly held her arms down and consoled her. ¡°Shhh, it¡¯s alright, it¡¯s alright. We¡¯re safe now.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze fell on Xia Lei. Once she saw his face, she was immediately stunned into silence.
¡°You¡¯re safe now. Look around, we¡¯re at the military hospital,¡± said Xia Lei in a soft voice.
¡°Lei Zi!¡± cried Tang Yuyan as she embraced Xia Lei. Her hands enveloped his waist tightly fearing that he would disappear if she did not.
¡°There¡¯s nothing to worry about. It¡¯s all in the past now.¡± Xia Leiforted her as he stroked her back.
Tang Yuyan raised her head from within the tight embrace and her eyes locked onto Xia Lei¡¯s face.
¡°Lie down and rest, Yuyan. The doctor said you¡¯re fine. All you need is some rest along with some saline and glucose drip. You¡¯ll be well in no time,¡± said Xia Lei.
As soon as he uttered hisst word, Tang Yuyan¡¯s arms were around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss.
Xia Lei froze. He wasn¡¯t expecting her to kiss him now! Taking advantage of his shock, Tang Yuyan¡¯s clumsy tongue wormed its way into the opening of his mouth and found his tongue.
Her moist, plush cherry lips along with her wet, soft tongue. At this very moment, it felt as if the world was wet and it needed to be set aze.
Xia Lei wanted to stop her in favor of her frail body needing to recover. However, his tongue was too upied to do so. The man couldn¡¯t utter a single word. Pushing her away would be the fastest solution but the palm on his waist found no strength to stop this.
The male brain had no control over its body on an asion like this.
Tang Yuyan slipped a hand under his shirt, allowing her fingers to explore his hard abs. It then traveled south until it touched...
Xia Lei jolted, quickly catching her hand.
Amid such a heated moment, Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei entered the room.
Everyone froze at the sight. The atmosphere immediately became tense. Tang Yuyan¡¯s tongue was still in Xia Lei¡¯s mouth, one hand under his shirt while the other was in Xia Lei¡¯s grip. The man still had his hand on her waist too!
The real answer behind this shocking scene was that Tang Yuyan had kissed Xia Lei out of nowhere and helped herself into his shirt before he stopped her. Unfortunately, her parents had interpreted the situation differently. Xia Lei had taken advantage of her and was in the midst of dragging her hand down to his crotch!
One secondter...
Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei turned away at the same time.
Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan quickly separated themselves, red with embarrassment. Tang Yuyan¡¯s face was especially blushed, her cheeks were as red as a sweet cherry.
Cough cough.
Tang Tianlong cleared his throat before turning around.
Zhang Yumei followed suit with an awkward cough before approaching their daughter behind her husband.
Xia Lei quickly stood up. ¡°Please have a seat, Uncle Tang and Aunty Zhang. I¡¯ll go get you some water.¡±
Tang Tianlong shed him a smile. ¡°No need, no need.¡±
Zhang Yumei nced over to Xia Lei. ¡°Thank you for your hard work, Lei Zi.¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright, it was nothing. I¡¯ll excuse myself now.¡± Xia Lei wanted nothing more than to leave.
Without wasting a second, Tang Tianlong grabbed his arm. ¡°Lei Zi, what do you mean? We just arrived and you¡¯re leaving already? I guess we old folks should leave instead.¡±
Zhang Yumei added, ¡°We¡¯re sorry for interrupting you both. We¡¯ll head out for a walk.¡± The woman went forward to grab her husband¡¯s arm and was about to leave!
¡°T...Then I¡¯ll stay, you can keep chatting with Yuyan,¡± Xia Lei replied awkwardly.
Tang Yuyan sat at the bedside, her head lowered, face red as she yed with her fingers. She looked like a child who had been caught by her parents. However, the corners of her mouth were curling into a smile, her joy poorly hidden.
And so, the awkward silence enveloped the room for another minute.
¡°Lei Zi, let¡¯s talk outside,¡± Tang Tianlong said, unable to stand the awkward tension.
Xia Lei returned a swift nod. ¡°Okay.¡±
After the men left the room, Zhang Yumei moved over to sit on the edge of the bed. She whispered, ¡°You two have progressed pretty quick! This is all because of your father. I heard the doctor said that Xia Lei was taking care of you in the ward so I told him to check on youter, but he got impatient and insisted to see you. But look at what he did, he interrupted your happy moment.¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes. ¡°Mom, what are you talking about? Be it happy or not, this is a hospital. We can¡¯t do anything like that here!¡±
¡°Even if you¡¯ve done it, it¡¯s okay. He¡¯s not married, you¡¯re not married. You¡¯re not a child anymore, you shouldn¡¯t waste your youth away. Plus, isn¡¯t this the norm?¡±
Tang Yuyan looked at her mother with a weird gaze. ¡°What¡¯s the norm?¡±
¡°You know... that.¡±
The corner of Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips curled up. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying. Your logic is so weird.¡±
Zhang Yumei smacked Tang Yuyan on the head. ¡°You silly girl, you and I are both women! Why are you acting so innocent in front of your mother? Isn¡¯t it obvious that I meant ¡®that¡¯? How is that weird in society nowadays? There are people doing it in cars or fields, so how is a hospital any different?¡±
Tang Yuyan looked at the woman in panic. ¡°Mom...where have you seen it?¡±
Her mother red at her. ¡°I got bored, so I searched it up... I saw it online, of course.¡±
¡°You downloaded clips? Or did dad download them for you?¡±
Smack! Once again, Zhang Yumei¡¯s palm collided with Tang Yuyan¡¯s head, but the impact was harsh unlike the previous one.
¡°I was never smart to begin with and you hitting me on the head isn¡¯t helping. What if I be too dumb for marriage? I¡¯ll me you forever if that happens.¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes again at Zhang Yumei.
Zhang Yumei sighed. ¡°Silly girl, I¡¯m telling you this because I want you to be smarter. Xia Lei is a guy who takes rtionships and righteousness seriously. If you really did it, There¡¯s no way he wouldn¡¯t take responsibility. As themon saying goes, for a man to pursue a woman, there¡¯s a mountain in between them; but for a woman to pursue a man, there¡¯s just a piece of paper between them. That paper can be pierced easily.¡±
¡°How do you pierce through it?¡± asked Tang Yuyanpletely dumbfounded.
Zhang Yumei raised her hand again.
Seeing that, Tang Yuyan quickly hugged her head. She understood that her mother just wanted to marry her daughter off as soon as she can.
Zhang Yumei let out a sigh. ¡°As parents, we understand your grandfather¡¯s intentions. I was upset at your father for underestimating Xia Lei at first but in no time, he regretted it. How could women resist a man like Xia Lei? If your father had supported you back then and not pressured you, there wouldn¡¯t have been a chance for Shentu Tianyin to slip up. Now that Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei are divorced, you should grab the opportunity present as there might not be a second chance.¡±
Her words made sense. When Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei returned from Russia, they were faced with the suppression from the China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons. Back then, Tang Tianlong was hostile towards Xia Lei and was adamant about keeping the Tang family out of the dispute of interest within the military industry. He chose to be a neutral party, cing pressure on Tang Yuyan. If only if he had extended support to Xia Lei when thetter was in need of allies, maybe Tang Yuyan would have been his wife instead of Shentu Tianyin.
Zhang Yumei was right about Xia Lei¡¯s personality, he was a man who treats rtionships seriously. Based on this trait alone, there was no way Xia Lei could¡¯ve not felt indebted to the Tang family if they had helped him when he needed it the most.
But the past remains in the past.
Tang Yuyan spoke up softly after a beat. ¡°Mom, it seems to be harder and harder to leave him.¡±
¡°Then stay with him. You kissed, and I even saw your hand moving towards his...mhm.¡± Zhang Yumei cast her daughter an awkward nce.
¡°He said he won¡¯t get married anymore.¡±
¡°Ah?¡± Zhang Yumei¡¯s expression changed immediately. ¡°What does he mean? Could it be that the Tang family¡¯sdy does not meet his minimum requirement? What was he thinking? This is too much! Let me tell you, if he¡¯s persistent on not getting married, don¡¯t give it to him.¡±
¡°How can I convince him to get married then?¡± murmured Tang Yuyan to herself.
Zhang Yumei pondered for a while before smiling all of a sudden. Then, she whispered lowly into Tang Yuyan¡¯s ear...
Outside the ward, somewhere in the corridor, the two men were speaking of something entirely different.
¡°Indian patrol squad? Americans? Even the Japanese? That¡¯s basically United Nations Command, nice kill! Let¡¯s see who dares to breach our borders after this!¡± huffed Tang Tianlong, afire with noble indignation after hearing Xia Lei¡¯s summary.
¡°However, I¡¯m the one they¡¯re after. They want to stop the Thunder Horse Corporation¡¯s development and eventually halt my research and weapon production here. My work is a threat to America and Japan¡¯s state benefits. I¡¯m certain this is merely the beginning, the end is still far from reach,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What are you afraid of, son? The country will be your pir and we, the Tang family will also support you. As long as there is anything we could help you with, feel free to reach out to the Tang family.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡±
¡°No need to be so courteous, we¡¯re a family now.¡±
¡°...¡±
Xia Lei tried to hint that he was in grave danger, the Americans and the Japanese were after his life and could potentially bring harm to the people around him. He had expected with such words that Tang Yuyan would stop forcing him into marriage. Despite his underlying message, Tang Tianlong didn¡¯t back down and was ready to support him.
¡°Lei Zi, let¡¯s go back in. You should stay with Yuyan. She needs you now more than ever.¡± Tang Tianlong patted his shoulder, as a father-inw would.
Ring... ring...
His phone rang suddenly.
Xia Lei picked up the phone.
¡°I¡¯m outside right now. Boss Shi wants to see you. Come out, I¡¯ll send you back to the headquarters.¡± It was Long Bing¡¯s voice.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be there.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
There was no way Bureau 101 would ignore a case like this. Surely, the station was ready to take action if Shi Boren had contacted him thiste at night.
¡°Lei Zi, are you heading to Bureau 101?¡± asked Tang Tianlong.
Xia Lei gave a small nod. ¡°Yeah, Boss Shi wishes to see me. Goodbye, Uncle. Tell Yuyan to rest well and that I¡¯ll be back to visit her soon.¡±
Tang Tianlong wanted to say something but before he could, Xia Lei had left.
Chapter 756 God of War
As soon as the passengers of the direct flight to Jingdu had disembarked, a few military SUVs sped out of the airport heading towards Bureau 101¡¯s headquarters. Xia Lei was three hours away from the military base in the Dawang area.
The skies were starting to brighten as the sun¡¯s golden rays shone over the Eastern Horizon. The sun was about to im its rightful ce in the sky but not even the strongest sunlight could chase away the worry in Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
¡°Our men found two corpses. One caucasian and one ck man. They were roughly thirty kilometers north of Dawang. There were signs of an intense gunfight at the site. Our analysts think that this might have something to do with the person who is after Tang Yuyan and yourself.¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice broke the silence in the moving vehicle.
She never was a talkative one and Xia Lei was exceptionally quiet today, hence a dull silent atmosphere filled the car for the remainder of the journey.
Xia Lei continued staring out the window as if he had not heard Long Bing.
Long Bing shot him a worried look. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It will not happen again.¡±
That brought Xia Lei back. He reached over to lightly pat Long Bing¡¯s thigh. ¡°I¡¯m alright, no need to worry about me. Oh right, where are the two bodies you mentioned about headed to?¡±
¡°Their bodies will be sent to Jingdu for autopsy and identification before everything else,¡± Long Bing answered.
Xia Lei yearned to see Bagu and Marcus but had quickly dropped the thought as soon as he remembered the danger before him. Nothing could bring back the dead but they would always be remembered. Xia Lei¡¯s involvement in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team would have to stay hidden as long as the existence of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was confidential.
¡°I think it¡¯ll be better to have Dad manage this for me. He treated Bagu and Marcus as his own, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll manage their funeral arrangements well,¡± Xia Lei thought to himself.
¡°Is Tang Yuyan alright?¡± Long Bing asked out of the blue.
¡°She¡¯s fine, though she did sustain some light injuries. Why didn¡¯t you visit her thest time you were there?¡± Xia Lei threw back a question.
¡°I don¡¯t wish to see her if she does not want to see me.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was surprised at her answer. ¡°Why? Weren¡¯t you guys close? Even though you might bicker a lot, I can tell that you still care.¡±
Long Bing scoffed. ¡°But I know her better than you. That was a time where she could be alone with you and her parents were there. To her and her parents, it was a family asion and my presence would have made it inappropriate.¡±
Xia Lei felt very awkward so he tried to switch the topic. ¡°Did you know that Gu Kewen is dead?¡±
¡°You already told me during the flight.¡±
¡°Uh... Is that so?¡±
¡°I know you¡¯re kind to me but I...¡± Long Bing sighed lightly. ¡°I can¡¯t give you something a man like you would want.¡±
¡°What would that be?¡±
¡°Family, kids. If you want to get married, Tang Yuyan might be your best choice.¡±
As the silence ensued, the car ride grew increasingly awkward. It was deafening.
She was most definitely a woman but why was she not interested in the very same things other women desired? Xia Lei knew her well too but this was something he had yet to understand.
As soon as they arrived at Bureau 101¡¯s headquarters, Xia Lei trailed behind Long Bing into Shi Boren¡¯s office. Present in the room alongside Shi Boren were Liang Siyao and Tang Bochuan.
¡°Are you alright?¡± Liang Siyao approached Xia Lei as soon as she saw him.
Xia Lei nodded and smiled. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m alright. Don¡¯t worry.¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to talk to youter.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice fell below a whisper. ¡°Is that alright?¡±
Xia Lei gave her another nod.
¡°Alright you two, leave the talking forter,¡± Shi Boren interrupted them. ¡°Xia Lei, there are a few reasons as to why I summoned you so urgently. One, to protect you and two, I need your cooperation to be investigated.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei stared at Shi Boren, he was certain the man had something else to say.
Shi Boren hesitated his next words. ¡°Had you discussed the current mission with anyone else?¡±
Xia Lei was a little taken aback. ¡°Boss Shi, are you suspecting that there is a leak and that they are going to betray me?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not entirely impossible. You shouldn¡¯t underestimate the enemy¡¯s strategy. Think about this carefully, who had you mentioned it to? Who knew that you were off to the west province?¡±
Multiple faces shed through Xia Lei¡¯s mind. There were a handful of people who knew he was going to the western province. They were his father, Xia Changhe, Sylvia, Annina, Xiao Xue¡¯s boyfriend, Liu Zhengnan and, Qin Xiang. But these were his closest rtives and friends. He could not fathom why any one of them would betray him.
¡°Just give me a few names. I will take it from there,¡± said Shi Boren.
As Xia Lei was about to speak, he saw Liang Siyao blink in his direction.
That was a signal.
Xia Lei had never wanted anyone to investigate his family and friends. The signals Liang Siyao threw him were a sign to stay tight-lipped. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell anyone about it.¡±
¡°Are you sure no one knew you were going to the west province?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
Shi Boren¡¯s brows were scrunched up. ¡°Why you little... Tang Yuyan¡¯s family was more than happy to be cooperative while you refused to even give me a single name.¡±
¡°Boss Shi, you can count on Xia Lei¡¯s honesty. I¡¯m certain no one knew if he said so. It wasn¡¯t caused by him. How about you probe further into our Tang family instead?¡± interjected Tang Bochuan.
As soon as he said that, Tang Bochuan shed Xia Lei a smile.
Xia Lei needed a quick save in this situation so he smiled back at Tang Bochuan.
The friendly disy between the two men had garnered different reactions from the twodies in the same room. Long Bing was unamused while the corners of Liang Siyao¡¯s lips curled slightly. ¡®
Shi Boren was adorned with a bitter smile as he shook his head. ¡°You kids formed a pact to lie to me, huh? Fine, I will y along. I too believe that Xia Lei¡¯s rtions wouldn¡¯t be the ones at fault but these are orders from above. I¡¯m just doing my part.¡±
¡°Summoning my presence to the headquarters while I was in the western province just to ask about the names who knew about my schedule couldn¡¯t be for my own good. Who¡¯s behind this?¡± thought Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei, I received the report while you were on your ride here.¡± Shi Boren began to summarize the report. ¡°After the gunfight that happenedst night, our team had recovered ny-eight bodies nearby Dawang and the mountain. The Japanese, Indians and Americans were alling for you and they were all well-equipped soldiers, mercenaries or special forces. In normal circumstances, not even a hundred men could defeat them. How did you do it?¡±
¡°Why should I report this?¡±
Shi Boren red at Xia Lei. ¡°How could you not? You singlehandedly wiped out the Indian soldiers, the American mercenaries and special forces! Don¡¯t you think you should at least report what happened?¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Xia Lei decided to exin himself. ¡°Well... While we were carrying out our mission, a robe-d monk appeared...¡±
He simplified the entire incident but chose to keep Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s involvement a secret.
¡°So you¡¯re telling me that you defeated fifty Indian soldiers all by yourself and the Americans who ambushed you from behind the mountain?¡± Shi Boren failed to hide his shock after listening to Xia Lei.
The older man wasn¡¯t the only one who was surprised. Tang Bochuan, Liang Siyao and Long Bing were equally baffled by it too.
The enemies he faced weren¡¯t regr soldiers. Despite the Indian soldiers being rtively weaker, the others were exceptionally skilled mercenaries and special forces! How could anyone believe that a single person would win against so many opponents? Odd as it was, this was undeniably the reality! The pile of bodies along with Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s survival was proof that it happened.
¡°That was what happened that day.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°But I didn¡¯t do it alone, Tang Yuyan had handled a few of them too.¡±
Shi Boren interjected quickly, ¡°I called her earlier on the phone and she said that she only killed four of them while you handled the rest. She even added that if it weren¡¯t for you, she¡¯d be long dead.¡±
Xia Lei intended to ce some of the kill counts on Tang Yuyan but he hadn¡¯t expected a phone call between Shi Boren and Tang Yuyan to have happened already. ¡°Boss Shi, was there a rule set on the limit of kills one could have?¡± Xia Lei shrugged as he responded.
¡°Kid, I¡¯m not criticizing you. In fact, you should be proud that you¡¯ve defended our borders. With this battle, you¡¯ve protected our nation¡¯s pride. You were excellent! As expected of Bureau 101¡¯s unbeatable God of War!¡±
Xia Lei could only return a bitter smile. If that was what it took to be a God of War, he¡¯d rather not be one.
Shi Boren¡¯s palm came in contact with Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder with a p. ¡°This incident is not a small one. You shouldy low within thepounds of your Thunder Horse Military Factory for a while. Avoid any gatherings and meetings with strangers. Most importantly, do not show your face to the media.¡±
¡°That I know.¡± Xia Lei paused for a second. ¡°Oh right, what were you nning to do with the bodies?¡±
¡°We have yet to collect them all but we¡¯ve already contacted relevant American and Indian authorities for an exnation.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no way they¡¯d im the bodies,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shi Boren replied, ¡°We¡¯re not expecting them to either. If they don¡¯t im their bodies and disclose their identities, we¡¯ll still dispose of them appropriately. For now, let¡¯s just hope that their bodies remain safe from the wildlife surrounding them.¡±
For some reason, Gu Kewen¡¯s face appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. Surrounded by snow, sheid on the ground with a smile.
He hated her, but he had his own reasons.
She hated him, but she had her own reasons.
But no matter what the reasons were, it was not important anymore. Their grudge and resentment came to an end with herst breath.
When he thought of Gu Kewen now, there was no longer hatred in his heart.
As soon as they left Shi Boren¡¯s office, Liang Siyao quickly pulled Xia Lei into her office.
¡°Boss Shi means well, do follow his words and not appear in public for now,¡± urged Liang Siyao softly.
¡°I know, don¡¯t worry.¡± Xia Lei spoke in an assuring voice.
¡°I swear I¡¯ll find out who betrayed you. Just give me some time, okay?¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Don¡¯t be hasty, I can handle this myself. They wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to me, but there¡¯s no guarantee that they won¡¯t do anything to you.¡±
¡°If I find myself in trouble, would you rescue me?¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°You know the answer.¡±
Liang Siyao embraced him
Xia Lei stared nkly, not knowing if he should push her away.
¡°Go back, I¡¯lle and find you when I have more information,¡± Liang Siyao whispered into his ear.
¡°You¡¯re really going to investigate this?¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the least I can do.¡±
Knock knock knock.
The rapping of knuckles resounded from outside the door
¡°Lei Zi, it¡¯s time to leave.¡± It was Long Bing. ¡°I¡¯ll send you back.¡±
Liang Siyao quickly let go of Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now,¡± muttered Xia Lei as he averted his gaze to the floor. He was weak against Liang Siyao¡¯s passionate gaze.
Chapter 757 - Theres Dust On Your Pants
Who was the one behind the information leak?
The question lingered in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. If the culprit was still on the loose, there¡¯s no telling if it would happen again. He survived only because he was lucky enough to receive Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s help. There was no guarantee if he would be there the next time.
If Zhu Xuanyue had not arrived in the nick of time, Tang Yuyan would have died a humiliating death while he would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. Although he and Tang Yuyan had survived the ordeal, Bagu and Marcus weren¡¯t so fortunate. Amanda and Park Taeyong both were captured by Dark Mona. There was no way Xia Lei would have their sufferings be in vain! It was up to him to avenge them
The passing of Marcus and Bagu had the Peace Mansion veiled in sadness.
After returning to the Peace Mansion, Xia Changhe brought Xia Lei and Yelena to the shrine in the backyard. There, they lit an incense each and mourn over Bagu and Marcus. After that, they retreated to a secret room within the mansion.
¡°Has Dark Mona contacted you yet?¡± asked Xia Changhe as soon as they stepped into the room.
¡°No, not yet, I can¡¯t reach Amanda¡¯s number. The only thing we can do now is wait for their call to work out a deal,¡± Xia Lei sighed as he answered.
¡°Are you really going to give Dark Mona fifty million USD?¡± questioned Yelena.
¡°I won¡¯t give up on Amanda and Park Taeyong. Everyone in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team is equal and we¡¯re a family.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s answer was resolute.
Touched by his words, a small smile appeared on Yelena¡¯s lips. If Xia Lei treated Amanda and Park Taeyong as such, that would mean he¡¯d definitely treat her the same. Fifty million USD was no small amount. There probably wasn¡¯t another boss in this world who would do the same for two subordinates. Xia Lei meant his words and there was not the least bit of hesitation, showing how he truly cared by every member of the battle team like family. With a boss like this, there would certainly be no regrets.
¡°Lei Zi, don¡¯t worry about the arrangement for Bagu and Marcus, I¡¯ll handle it.¡± Xia Changhe continued, ¡°Stay on the down-low for the time being. The person responsible for the leak must be tracked. If they betrayed you once, they¡¯ll most likely do it again.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, dad. I¡¯ll find out the truth,¡± assured Xia Lei.
¡°Focus on your tasks, I¡¯ll definitely fish out the culprit.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned by his father¡¯s stubbornness. ¡°Dad, you¡¯ve already left the scene clean, please do not involve yourself in this mess.¡±
¡°Do you really think you can manage everything alone? You need to run yourpany and you need to face threats from the FA organization. Things are even worse now that the Japanese are involved. Also, you need to find the traitor. Son, you have too much on your te!¡± argued the father.
¡°How are you going to approach it?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t need to think about that. After this turbulent period, I¡¯ll have you meet five people I doubt you would havee across before.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
The five Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members who he never met were the snake, monkey, dog and pig. These five were also away in separate locations for their mission and Xia Changhe had never once disclosed what their respective tasks were.
¡°Dad seems to be hiding something from me, what are the five members up to? Are they elites of the team? Why are they only used at such a crucial time?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but wonder as he left the secret room.
Xia Lei decided to return to his room instead of the factory. He drew himself a hot bath then a nice, long slumber. A night packed with action had drained him out, it was only now that he could rx.
That night while he slept, he was immersed in his dreams.
He dreamt of Zhu Xuanyue, not in the form of Martina who died in Italy but the beautiful Ming Dynasty Princess Yongmei. She descended from the sky in silver armor, wiping out all enemies with her silver sword. Then, she vanished and Tang Yuyan had appeared. The snowy mountains soon warped into a bridal chamber with everything decorated in red. He could make out rednterns, red candles, red characters, red beddings and even a red mattress.
It was most definitely a joyous asion.
Tang Yuyan sat at the top edge of the bed with a red cloth over her head. A delicate mandarin duck embroidered red silk handkerchief was held tightly between her fingers. Silently, she waited for him to remove her covering.
As soon the obstructing piece was peeled off, she beamed and blushed. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold. He impatiently pressed her against the bed, closing the distance in a flurry with kiss her on the lips. His hands began to roam around her body.
¡°Please... please be gentle, this is my first time,¡± mumbled Tang Yuyan shyly.
He was at his limit. There was nothing holding him back anymore. As soon as he dove down to resume their activities, the door was violently kicked open. Shocked by the noise, he turned around only to meet with a fuming Tang Yunhai. The old man was holding a Green Dragon crescent moon de while screaming at the top of his lungs. ¡°How dare you sleep with my granddaughter without officially registering! Go to hell!¡±
He wanted to flee for his life but Tang Yuyan held him tightly as she whined, ¡°Darling, I want your children.¡±
He was stuck! As she continued to whine, the old mannded his blow.
¡°Ah!¡± Xia Lei jolted awake.
The skies outside the window were dark, adorned with stars. Xia Lei had unknowingly slept till nighttime.
Recalling the dream, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help butugh at how ridiculous it was. ¡°That was so weird, why would I dream of something like that? Am I so afraid of marriage?¡±
Knock, knock. Someone knocked on his door.
¡°Director Xia, someone is here for you.¡± It was Yelena on the other side.
Yelena would only refer to him as Director Xia in the asion of official visits from officers or customers. Xia Lei felt his left eye twitch and soon enough, he took in the sight of the middle-aged man standing behind Yelena. It was Song Baicheng.
Xia Lei got out of bed and out of the room but he didn¡¯t greet Song Baicheng in the process.
Instead, he told Yelena, ¡°Alright, you may go rest now.¡±
¡°Okay, understood.¡± Yelena then made her way out of the room.
It was only until then that Xia Lei greeted Song Baicheng. ¡°I¡¯m surprised to see you, Mister Song. What¡¯s the matter? Why have youe thiste at night?¡±
Song Baicheng replied, ¡°I came all the way here to discuss the document. Are you not going to offer me a seat? Are we really going to discuss this while standing?¡±
Was he referring to the agreement? Xia Lei¡¯s mind wandered to when he met Yu Shanhe before his trip to the western province. Yu Shanhe had shown him the agreement. ording to it, there was a condition that had to be met for Xia Lei¡¯s loan to be eased. He would need to appoint an administrative supervisor for the Thunder Horse Organization. Xia Lei had swiftly rejected it and embarked on his mission to avoid and pressure Yu Shanhe. Unfortunately, he had not anticipated Song Baicheng¡¯s presence as soon as he made it back.
¡°Since when were you working for Yu Shanhe?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t work for anyone. I¡¯m just an employee who works for several different people. It¡¯s quite normal.¡± answered the man.
¡°Was Ling Han relocated to your department?¡± Xia Lei tried to pry.
¡°Uh, Mister Xia, I¡¯m here to talk about the document.¡± Song Baicheng was slightly irritated at Xia Lei¡¯s line of questioning.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s talk.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, really? Are we really going to discuss this here?¡± There was a hint of anger in his eyes. Not only did Xia Lei not offer him a seat or a cup of tea, but the man was also clearly belittling him!
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Oops, forgive my rude behavior. Here, please take a seat.¡±
Song Baicheng was speechless. Outside of Xia Lei¡¯s bedroom was a corridor and there weren¡¯t any tables or chairs to be seen. Could Xia Lei really be asking him to sit on the floor?
Amidst his confusion, Xia Lei plopped down to sit on a marble step. He smiled at Song Baicheng. ¡°Here, Mister Song. Come take a seat, we can talk.¡±
Wow, he really did that.
Song Baicheng scoffed. ¡°Nevermind, I¡¯ll pass, you can sit all you want. I¡¯ll leave as soon as I¡¯m done.¡±
¡°Alright then.¡±
Song Baicheng muttered coldly, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already read the document.¡±
¡°Yeah, I did.¡±
¡°Do you understand everything inside?¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m clear about it.¡±
¡°Okay, that makes things easier for me. Let¡¯s jump into it.¡± Song Baicheng continued, ¡°I have a message from Officer Yu. He said that there will be no changes to the document and that he will not be patient anymore. This also means that we will not extend its validity infinitely. You must give him a clear answer tomorrow before office hours end.¡±
¡°What is he in a rush for?¡±
¡°Officer Yu just wants to close the deal as soon as possible. If you¡¯ve made your decision, you may tell me now. If you wish to sign the agreement now, I have a signed copy by Officer Yu and I¡¯ll be your witness.¡±
¡°Why are you in a rush too?¡±
¡°Mister Xia!¡± Song Baicheng was at his limits. ¡°How could you say that I¡¯m in a rush? You¡¯ve got to be kidding me. This has nothing to do with me! This document concerns Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s debt that totals up to more than twenty billion! You¡¯ve already enjoyed the advantage and yet you¡¯re saying that I and Officer Yu are rushing? This is too much!¡±
¡°Hey, calm down.¡± Xia Lei was unfazed by his mini-rant.
¡°I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s entirely your own decision. I¡¯ve already done my part and you need to give Officer Yu an answer tomorrow. Agreeing to it means you¡¯re free of the twenty billion debt, not signing it would mean that you¡¯ll continue to be bothered by it,¡± spat Song Baicheng as he left.
Xia Lei watched his back as he left and began to ponder. ¡°I can¡¯t believe Song Baicheng went to work with Yu Shanhe. If Song Baicheng had left, would Ling Han still remain in the ZN department after Fan Fan won the dispute of interest? He would definitely leave the ce. There was no way he¡¯d ept defeat and be oppressed by her. If Ling Hao had gone to Yu Shanhe too, the man would be a formidable one. But why is Yu Heshan so desperate for an oue?¡±
Suddenly, he heard approaching footsteps.
The approaching sound interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts to which he had turned to face the source. It was Fan Fan, d in her ck office attire. Her tailored ck zer entuated the curves of her waist while the blouse inside exposed a span of white, pale skin along with a peek of her cleavage. Her short ck skirt was only long enough to cover her bottom as it hugged her hips tightly, showing off her round, thick peach-like buttocks. There was even a slight hint of makeup on her face, faint lipstick, light eyeshadow, long wispyshes and her beautiful big eyes. Not only did she radiate the sex appeal of a mature woman, but her aura also shone with one of a leader and schr. Those elements were mixed together to create the ultimate stunner.
Fan Fan had the highest rank among the people Xia Lei had slept with and she was the only woman with a special constitution he had ever met.
She slowly made her way over, her long legs on full disy. Her faint perfume and soft voice hit him even before she reached him. ¡°Why are you sitting on the floor?¡±
¡°I was waiting for you. I knew you wereing,¡± answered Xia Lei as he stood up.
She stopped beside him, reaching a hand over to give his butt a few pats. ¡°Look at you, there¡¯s dust on your pants.¡±
Xia Lei was at a loss of words. ¡°What can I help you with?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m not here to talk about you. Let¡¯s go in.¡±
¡°...¡±
Chapter 758 - The Antidote And Its Counteract
As soon as she entered the room, she plopped down onto the mattress. ¡°Come, take a seat. We need to talk,¡± Fan Fan said as she motioned for Xia Lei to sit next to her.
Xia Lei averted his gaze to the sofa in the corner of the room. ¡°I have a sofa.¡±
Fan Fan rolled her eyes. ¡°Are you afraid that I¡¯ll do something you don¡¯t want me to? My rtive is here and I have no time, you happy?¡±
Xia Lei immediately knew what she was implying but it helped him rx regardless of the insinuation. Fan Fan had always wanted a child of his but he wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to have a child with her. But since she cleared his doubts, Xia Lei made his way over and sat next to her.
She smelt especially nice today.
Fan Fan opened her bag to retrieve a document before cing it on Xia Lei¡¯sp. ¡°I read the agreement, what are your thoughts on it?¡±
Xia Lei recognized it. It was the agreement Yu Shanhe wanted him to sign. ¡°No, I won¡¯t sign it. Agreeing to it would mean more opportunities for officials to be involved in my Thunder Horse Organization. Soon, I would have less and less authority of my own organization.¡±
¡°Why would you think so?¡±
Xia Lei answered bluntly. ¡°If they are able to control all trade, employee politics and their work environment, along with the organization¡¯s future development, wouldn¡¯t that make me the Vice Director of my own organization? To make matters worse, I cannot fire the administrative supervisor he arranged. Agreeing to it would mean being the architect of my own downfall!¡±
Hearing that, Fan Fan went silent. It was only after a while that she decided to say, ¡°If you don¡¯t sign it, they will not waive your debt. Twenty billion dors is on the line. It¡¯ll probably take a very long time for you to be free of its burden and that would most definitely hinder Thunder Horse¡¯s progress. Have you really thought this through?¡±
¡°Of course I did.¡± Xia Lei furrowed his brows. He then turned to face Fan Fan. ¡°Are you here to persuade me and try to get me to sign it?¡±
If that was the case, even if Fan Fan and he shared an intimate rtionship, Xia Lei would ask her to leave.
Fan Fan sat in silence while her palm found its way to Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. Slowly, it snaked under the sheet of paper on hisp and soon enough, its edge slowly lifted up.
Xia Lei raised his brows. ¡°Hey, I asked you a question. What the hell are you doing?¡±
Fan Fan smirked in return. ¡°Aren¡¯t I answering you now?¡±
¡°What?¡±
Her hands stopped moving. ¡°I¡¯m an expert and a woman that holds the key to your core technology. Our rtionship is akin to that of a married pair. All weck is a certificate. I will also be the mother of your future offspring. Do you really think I would willingly watch your efforts go to waste and have the Thunder Horse Organization surrender?¡±
It was true that she held his core but that had nothing to do with technology. Her intention was clear. Theyplement each other well and she was adamant about protecting Xia Lei¡¯s benefit.
Xia Lei endured the attractive warmth of her palm. Things were starting to get a little fuzzy. ¡°If that¡¯s so, do you have any idea what to do with this?¡±
¡°I¡¯d like to hear your thoughts on this first.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m at a loss. That debt was from my trade with the French for the Rafale¡¯s avionics technology and stealth technology. Normally, that would¡¯ve cost more than twenty billion. Heck, they wouldn¡¯t even have epted had we offer fifty billion. I can¡¯t believe how a simple request to waive my debt would have themy down such a request. If this goes on, I¡¯ll end my trade with the French out of spite. Why can¡¯t they get it from the French themselves if they really wanted the technology?! I¡¯m just going to ignore all of this and slowly pay my way through.¡±
¡°Alright, I can see your determination. Now you can sit back and leave the rest to me,¡± Fan Fan spoke immediately after his mini-rant.
¡°You? What are you nning to do?¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s expression turned sultry. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m full of ideas. If you wanna know,e get it.¡±
Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°What do you mean? How?¡±
She reached into her bag again to pull out a ss container.
Xia Lei recognized it right away. In her hand was the antidote to his sperm cells. It then brought around a fit of panic. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were on your period?¡±
¡°I lied.¡±
¡°...¡±
Fan Fan straddled him abruptly, discarding Yu Shanhe¡¯s document onto the floor in the process. What she wanted was evident in the way she looked at him. Her gaze was heavilyced with lust. She was born with an unawakened special constitution and she was just a pure, intelligent biotechnologist before all of this started. Xia Lei was the trigger and since its awakening, she was headed down the path of bing a subus with no return.
Xia Lei felt responsible for her state. Thankfully, this responsibility was rather enjoyable but he really wasn¡¯t enthusiastic about it tonight. From between Fan Fan¡¯s tight hold, he gazed at his bedside drawer, thinking about the counteract to the antidote hidden inside. He was in a dilemma.
A light touch had Fan Fan oddly excited. She pushed Xia Lei onto the bed, framing her arms beside his neck to confine him. She stared at the handsome face beneath her. ¡°I know you¡¯ve been through some shit but I really am at my limit now. I want a child, please...give me one.¡±
¡°You haven¡¯t even told me about your solution to my problem.¡± Xia Lei tried to y it off and change the topic.
¡°You hold the highest IQ score in the world, do you really need to ask me that?¡± Slowly but surely, Fan Fan closed the distance between their faces to rest her forehead against his. ¡°You¡¯re forgetting that I¡¯m the head of the ZN station. Getting rid of the obstacles Yu Shanhe gave you is no big deal.¡±
A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. Her position was all thanks to his contribution and it was on par with Yu Shanhe¡¯s. If Yu Shanhe could use his powers to make his life difficult, Fan Fan would be able to counteract it. Xia Lei was no longer the vulnerable, desperate kid who was starting a business from scratch. He had the power now!
Fan Fan kissed him and shivered, savoring the sensation.
He allowed her to steal a few more kisses before he whispered in her ear, ¡°Go take a shower.¡±
Her grip remained firm. ¡°I already did.¡±
¡°Come on, if our child were to arrive in our realm via the uh...clean and fragrant path, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re not up to your own standard yet?¡±
¡°Oh, fuck you! You¡¯re doing this on purpose,¡± hissed Fan Fan as she bit Xia Lei. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go take a shower.¡± She untangled herself from him then picked up the ss container lying on the floor. She looked at it and turned to face him. With a smirk, she said, ¡°Today¡¯s the day.¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah. Go on,¡± Xia Lei replied while smiling.
Fan Fan ran to the bathroom barefoot, but as soon as she took the first stride, she tripped on the ckced panties which were caught between her legs.
Her soft, ttened mounts, her quivering bottom, and her most intimate parts imprinted themselves into Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He had to shut his eyes for the scene was too much to handle. She tossed the panties over to him and it hit him on the face. Her smell was intoxicating.
¡°Hmph, this is what you get for teasing me,¡± Fan Fan said meekly.
¡°You tripped yourself. What does it have to do with me?¡± Xia Lei felt wronged.
¡°If you didn¡¯t ask me to shower, would I have tripped?¡± She rolled her eyes as she carefully brought the container into the bathroom.
Xia Lei watched her leave as her hopeful and happy expression floated about in his mind. As the scene yed out in front of him, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder. Did he really want to have a child with her?
Faint stter and sshes soon began and Fan Fan could be heard muttering to herself. ¡°Baby, Mommy¡¯sing! Oh wait, it should be youing instead! Hehe...¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei made his decision and opened the drawer.
Having a child together someday was possible but now was most definitely not the time for it!
The next morning, Fan Fan left the Peace Mansion while Xia Lei was off to the Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Since Fan Fan had agreed to help him, there wasn¡¯t much left to worry on his side. There was no need for him to use his threat of ending the trade with the French. That was hisst resort and he was better off not using his trump card.
It was only then when he stepped foot into the garage that he realized Sylvia and Annina were working overtime. The two Germans were hard at work for the past two days and nights without sleep. Their meals were all delivered to the garage and they hadn¡¯t gone home either. They were so busy to the point where they werepletely unaware of what happened to their boss. Their blood, sweat, and tears were not in vain as it was in exchange for the birth of Thunder Horse¡¯s first military vehicle engine. The two were installing the engine with some help from a few employees when he arrived.
This would be the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s first self-produced military vehicle!
The bustling work environment was like a refreshing breeze to Xia Lei. It washed away the negative thoughts floating through his mind. Quietly, he went into the changing room to dorn his overalls before joining them at their work station.
¡°Give me a spanner.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s presence went unnoticed by Sylvia, who had mistaken him for her colleague.
He passed her a spanner. She received it swiftly without sparing him a nce, her focus was unwavering.
¡°Hey, you. Go get me the grease gun for the lubricant,¡± ordered Annina.
Finally, one of the employees recognized Xia Lei. Needless to say, they were extremely shocked to see their boss standing among them. ¡°D...Director Xia, Director Xia is here,¡±
Annina and Sylvia turned around to look at Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s alright, what do you need me to do?¡± Xia Lei gave a reassuring smile.
Annina quickly leapt off the hood and onto Xia Lei. Her strong legs went around his waist and her arms wrapped his neck firmly. Her delighted squealed filled the garage. ¡°Lei! Before you came, we did a test run for the engine and oh my god! It works perfectly! We¡¯re going to have our own military vehicle very soon!¡±
Everyone gawked at the odd sight of Annina all over their director.
Xia Lei blushed. He deepened his voice and opted to speak in german. ¡°What are you doing? Everyone¡¯s staring at us.¡±
¡°Oh, I¡¯m so sorry. I was too excited!¡± exined Annina before giving him a kiss on the forehead. Though surrounded by a mass of confused Chinese, there was no forgoing the German etiquette.
Xia Lei stood awkwardly at the same spot even after Annina had released him. His embarrassment grew as more and more employees started to watch their odd exchange.
Chapter 759 - Infantry Fighting Vehicle
By noon, Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s first BZ15-20 Infantry Fighting Vehicle was ready for production.
The six-wheel-drive transport vehicle could fit fifteen soldiers and was equipped with 30mm machine guns, a stationary Hellbound One-soldier Cannon and a heavy machine gun. It weighed a hefty twenty tonnes, using Thunder Horse¡¯s proudly self-produced reactive armor and defense system. All of this meant that it looked like something straight out of a movie.
Aside from the numerical model, it was also given a name, the Sweeper.
The current ZSL-92 infantry fighting vehicles weighed around eighteen tonnes and were also a six-wheel-drive. It could fit three operators and nine soldiers. It held a 12.7mm machine gun. These widely-used vehicles were produced ording to Russia¡¯s BPM1 model. China Industrial Group¡¯s newer TYPEX models were also improvised versions of the said Russian model. After all, there was arge difference between Russian technology in this aspect and that of the Western world and Japan.
The birth of the Sweeper filled in the gaps of the country¡¯s current military vehicle. Although the technology was from Rheinmetall AG, Xia Lei was able to refine it via his own methods after acquiring some technology. The improved technology was much stronger, much more practical and much more sophisticated than the ones before! Even though Sweeper was birthed using their technology as its foundation, it was evidently better than all Rheinmetall AG models in every single aspect!
Regarding the vehicle capacity, regr military vehicles would only be able to fit thirteen passengers while Sweeper, on the other hand, would be able to contain fifteen. The number was also not inclusive of its three operators. The slight increase in weight was in exchange for better value.
Next, its firepower. Although China Industrial Group¡¯s TYPEX models were equipped with 30mm machine guns too, the Sweeper had the addition of a stationary Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. The cannon was a formidable one with enough power under its hood to demolish a tank. Under normal circumstances, a military vehicle would be an easy target for tanks but the Sweeper would be able to rectify the situation. In war, there was no way a tank would dare to underestimate the destruction a Hellbound One-soldier Cannon could bring. Not to mention, the cannon was also fortified through special research specifically for the Sweeper!
Lastly, its defense system. Aside from its reactive armor that responds to cartridges and missiles, it was alsopleted with jamming bombs, a detonation system and protection from tank missiles. The Sweeper¡¯s ridiculously strong firepower and its defense was the equivalent of a golden shield-donning Wushu master. As soon as it sets foot into the battlefield, it would be able to turn the tide of war!
Rumble Rumble...
With the roar of its engine, Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s first Infantry Fighting Vehicle exited the garage to the shooting range. Xia Lei was the vehicle¡¯s first driver, while Sylvia and Annina naturally became his co-operators. Thedies sat on each side of the vehicle, the left operator was in charge of the defense system while the right controlled the firepower system.
There was certainly no need for control over the firepower and defense system as this was merely a test drive. As soon as the Sweeper was about to leave the garage, the twodies had invited themselves to watch Xia Lei operate it.
Evidently, Xia Lei was very excited. He began to push the vehicle to its limits He elerated abruptly to let Sweeper dash through the tracks, testing the limits of its engine. As its speed came to its peak, he floored the brakes into an emergency stop. The unannounced halt had thedies pressed against his back, allowing four soft but ttened German breasts to poke through the fabric of his shirt. This... was more euphoric than driving a military vehicle.
¡°Was this on purpose?¡± Anninanded a light fist on Xia Lei. ¡°Lukas, you¡¯re always so naughty.¡±
In private, she and Sylvia loved to refer Xia Lei as Lukas.
¡°And who said you could leave your work stations?¡±ughed Xia Lei.
Daringly, Sylvia wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s neck from behind. ¡°Lukas, did you see it? Sweeper¡¯s peak velocity was at a hundred kilometers per hour! This is the fastest a wheeled military vehicle could go and we¡¯re driving a track-mounted vehicle! I believe that Sweeper might be one of the world¡¯s most advanced vehicles!¡±
Xia Lei was unaware of the possibility but one thing¡¯s for sure, he was beyond delighted by the Sweeper¡¯s amazing propulsion! China Industrial Group¡¯s TYPEX, which was also track-mounted, could only reach seventy kilometers per hour. Inparison, it was ten kilometers per hour behind that of the regr peak of American and European models, which ranged about eighty kilometers per hour at its fastest. With that being said, Thunder Horse¡¯s Sweeper had gone beyond the limits of the American and European models by an astonishing twenty kilometers per hour!
This was a gigantic sess! An unprecedented achievement that was aplished under his leadership with help from Annina and Sylvia!
In the past, the Western hemisphere was steps ahead of China in every field, especially in the realm of military technology. Now, there was at least something that the Thunder Horse Organization was able to overtake them. This was most definitely just the beginning, but if they had pushed on with the momentum, Thunder Horse Organization would surely be exceedingly advanced in more fields than the West. Judging from this perspective, the development of Xia Lei and his organization was a threat to the West, particrly to the Americans. Thetter¡¯s urge to get rid of him was no surprise to anyone.
¡°Say, what would you like as a reward?¡± Xia Lei was on cloud nine. He was feeling bold and generous.
¡°Oh, Lukas, I don¡¯t need a reward, you¡¯ve given me enough. But if you insist, I think you should give it to Sylvia instead,¡± rejected Annina.
¡°No, no, no.¡± Sylvia waved her hands vehemently. ¡°I¡¯m good, I don¡¯t need any reward.¡±
¡°You both deserve it. How could I not reward you for your hard work?¡±
Sylvia came forward to kiss him on the cheek. She whispered in his ear, ¡°If you really want to do something for me, how about staying the night with me?¡±
Ah, a hint for intimacy.
Perplexed, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure how this was a reward for them as it seemed more of a service for him. Thunder Horse and himself had benefited from their efforts, so to offer an incentive was only natural. How could he be so rude as to ept their ¡®service¡¯? Though Sylvia had put it that way, was there really anyone who wouldn¡¯t want money? It wasn¡¯t easy to obtain such a talent, Xia Lei didn¡¯t want to disappoint and lose her.
¡°How about this? I¡¯ll give each of you five million euros as a reward. Sylvia, since I built Annina a house, why don¡¯t you pick a location and I¡¯ll build one for you too?¡±
¡°Really?¡± Sylvia was touched. ¡°Then I shall buy a plot ofnd beside Annina¡¯s property, I¡¯d like to be her neighbor.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great!¡± said Xia Lei with a smile. ¡°That way I¡¯ll get to visit you both in one shot when I visit Germany.¡±
Annina pecked his cheek. A sweet smile appeared on her face. ¡°Our home is your home.¡±
Giggles andughter filled the air as the Sweeper moved around the shooting range.
Under Xia Lei¡¯s control, it was able to demonstrate its perplexing maneuvering. Though the Sweeper was twenty tonnes, it was incredibly agile!
Next, they put the vehicle¡¯s firepower to the test. The rapid-fire of the machine gun and deafening bombings of the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon along with the jamming bomb¡¯s piercing high-pitched noise filled the air. It was one hell of a terrifying sight to behold as fire washed over the field like a roaring wave.
In the shooting range, all relevant employees of Thunder Horse Organization gathered to witness the results of their efforts. Smiles were stered on their face, they worked as they spoke excitedly about the Sweeper.
¡°Ah man, I can¡¯t believe we produced the Sweeper! I¡¯m sure it is the world¡¯s most advanced fighting vehicle!¡±
¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is that Director Xia might be the only one in this world who could create a vehicle like this. The technology behind Sweeper is about fifteen years ahead of the newer Western models!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget to praise Annina and Sylvia. Without them, this wouldn¡¯t have happened!¡±
¡°I guess only a man like Director Xia can subdue two Germandies. I can¡¯t think of anyone who could do the same.¡±
¡°Hahaha, you¡¯re so funny. You can¡¯t even handle two Chinese girls and here you are thinking of two European damsels. No regr men can handle the stamina of thesedies in the sheets.¡±
¡°What the hell are you guys talking about? It¡¯s still working hours! But... I really do have to agree with that, hahaha!¡±
¡°Tonight, I bet that the two will appear again on Director Xia¡¯s bed.¡±
¡°So what? I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll show them what Chinese men are really capable of.¡±
Theyughed and hollered.
By four in the afternoon, there came an end to Sweeper¡¯s test-drive.
¡°Director Xia.¡± Yelena¡¯s voice rang through themunicator. ¡°Mister Yu and Mister Song are waiting for you in your office. Do you wish to see them?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be there right away,¡± replied Xia Lei. Ending the exchange. He then turned his head to face the two other women in the vehicle. ¡°We¡¯ll continue the test tomorrow, let¡¯s call it a day now. You both should go get some well-deserved rest.¡±
¡°Alright, we¡¯ll wait for you at home.¡± Thedies gave him a peck on each side of his cheek.
Standing by the windows in the Thunder Horse Military Factory office, Yu Shanhe stared long and hard in the direction of the shooting range. His face was expressionless, cold and hard as stone.
Song Baicheng came to his side. ¡°Officer Yu, the deadline is approaching fast but I¡¯m concerned about the kid¡¯s attitude towards this. Based on our discussionst night, I think...¡±
Yu Shanhe interrupted him. ¡°That he wouldn¡¯t agree? If he doesn¡¯t, I¡¯ll make him. Who does he think he is? This dumb kid really thinks no one could handle him, but he¡¯s really just a mere fish in what is a very very big ocean.¡±
Song Baicheng slowly replied, ¡°Officer Yu, Mister Ling said...¡±
Yu Shanhe red at Song Baicheng sharply.
Thetter immediately went silent. He knew what it meant. Xia Lei¡¯s blonde secretary was still in the office and they¡¯d be in trouble if she heard it.
At this very moment, two vehicles entered the factorypound through its main gate. It looked very much like a vehicle from the future. The warm golden rays of the setting sun shone on the battle machines, turning the sight akin to that of an oil painting.
¡°I knew that Thunder Horse was preparing for a vehicle production but I didn¡¯t know its product would manifest so soon,¡±mented a stunned Yu Shanhe.
¡°Yeah, their pace is extremely fast. It wasn¡¯t too long ago that I heard they hadn¡¯t even made the engine but now we¡¯re already looking at the vehicle? Damn, they would be unbeatable with progress like this.¡±
Yu Shanhe furrowed his brows. He was doing this for the sake of the domestic military industry interest and the goal was to suppress Xia Lei and his organization. There was no progress on his side but Xia Lei, on the other hand, was thriving at a terrifying speed. With an infantry vehicle already in the testing phase, a tank would surely not be far off.
Chapter 760 - Ignore The Trump Card And Press On!
The Sweeper dashed in, leaving a faint but detectable track mark on the dark tar road. It stopped abruptly in the empty area directly opposite the office block to execute a seamless full-circle turn. The deafening sound of the engine had its burning diesel travel to the top floor with the help of the wind. It was so strong that Yu Shanhe and Song Baicheng were able to get a whiff of it despite their distance.
The two men were no strangers to the smell of burning fuel, but the foul diesel stench emitting off the Sweeper was worse than anything they have encountered.
Was he trying to show off?
How childish!
As soon as the roaring engine ceased, Xia Lei popped his head out from the controlpartment through the top. He tilted his head to meet the eyes of the two waiting men standing by the window. ¡°Hello, Officer Yu!¡± yelled Xia Lei with a smile.
Yu Shanhe could only manage to squeeze out a reluctant smile. ¡°You sure do know how to have fun. Shall I reply to you with ¡®well-done honey¡¯?¡±
Xia Lei dropped his arms and entered the office block.
He dialed Fan Fan¡¯s number as he went up the stairs.
¡°Doo doo doo... doo doo doo. Sorry, the number you have dialed is unavable. Please try againter.¡±
The automated reply had Xia Lei¡¯s brows scrunched. Fan Fan had reassured himst night that she would take care of this. Her promise was resolute but it was already four twenty in the afternoon and there was still no word regarding the matter! Was yesterday¡¯s promise faux? Was she just trying to get impregnated?
The thought of it had Xia Lei shaking his head. He refused to believe that it hade to that. There was no way Fan Fan would betray him now. Together, they were strong and separation would just make them vulnerable. Also, there was no way that she would get pregnant in just a night? Even if there was such a coincidence, there was no point in harming the father...right?
Even if he tossed aside the possibility of betrayal or lies, there was still yet a reasonable exnation as to why she was unreachable.
Withplex emotions, he entered his office to be weed by the sight of Yu Shanhe and Song Baicheng seated on his couch. Meanwhile, Yelena was busy making tea for the two visitors. She only felt the need to make tea when graced by visitors of Yu Shanhe¡¯s level, Song Baicheng would¡¯ve beenpletely ignored if thetter was the sole visitor.
¡°Hehe, what brings you here unannounced, Office Yu? You could¡¯ve had your underlings inform me of your visit. I would¡¯ve thrown a weing ceremony for you,¡± said Xia Lei, announcing his presence.
¡°Okay, enough.¡± Yu Shanhe scoffed. ¡°You know what I¡¯m here for and I¡¯m aware that my presence is unwee. A weing ceremony? How insincere.¡±
Xia Lei sat opposite the two, crossing his leg swiftly as he settled down. There was still a smile on his face. ¡°Officer Yu, please don¡¯t say that. I really do wish to see you more in the future, your attention is most beneficial to the development and trade of Thunder Horse. I¡¯m beyond honored to have you grace your presence in my office. Your presence is rare toe by, seeing you here makes me happy.¡±
¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough. I know ttery is your forte. Let¡¯s talk about something I¡¯m good at. Serious business.¡± Yu Shanhe hinted Xia Lei with a hard stare.
Following that, Song Baicheng took out two sets of documents from his bag and dove right into the topic. ¡°Mister Xia, I shall not repeat myself again,¡± He nced at the time on his wristwatch. ¡°There¡¯s not much time left until five o¡¯clock. Please take your stand in front of Officer Yu now. Do you agree or disagree?¡±
That made Xia Lei check his watch. He was getting increasingly anxious. ¡°Where the hell is Fan Fan? What on earth is she up to now?¡± Xia Lei thought.
¡°Mister Xia?¡± Ah, ignored again. This was getting too much for Song Baicheng. He despised this man so much but he had to put up a front for the time being.
Xia Lei feigned innocence. ¡°Oh sorry, my mind wandered off to the vehicle. I was thinking if I should install a Hi-Fi sound system in it.¡±
This sentence alone was enough to trigger the urge in Yu Shanhe and Song Baicheng to ssh their tea onto him.
Installing a Hi-Fi system in an Infantry Fighting Vehicle?!
Xia Lei let out augh. ¡°Come on, think about it. Wouldn¡¯t some heavy metal be cool in war? We shouldn¡¯t underestimate the effects of music. Heavy metal would most definitely spike up our men¡¯s adrenaline, giving them some motivation to fight...¡±
Out of nowhere, Yu Shanhe smashed his teacup onto its coaster. ¡°That¡¯s enough, Xia Lei!¡± yelled the angry man.
Xia Lei shivered a little, seemingly terrified by the disy.
Yelena, who had been watching this unfold, was squinting at Xia Lei. He was a man who fought off close to a hundred special agents, mercenaries and professional fighters. How could he be startled by a mere cup smash? It seemed a little too improbable.
¡°I¡¯m personally here to get an answer from you. Are you going to sign it or not?¡± hissed Yu Shanhe.
¡°Let me look through the pages again,¡± said Xia Lei without sparing the seething male a nce.
¡°Give it to him,¡± scoffed Yu Shanhe.
And so Song Baicheng did.
Xia Lei stared at its front page for a while before turning to Yelena. ¡°Please get Officer Yu another cup of tea.¡±
Yelena nodded but couldn¡¯t help to ponder about what other cards her boss had up his sleeve.
In this instance, there were three confused people trying to get into Xia Lei¡¯s headspace. Song Baicheng and Yu Shanhe were getting more and more annoyed as minutes passed. He didn¡¯t seem like he was going to reject it but his attitude said otherwise.
Unbeknownst to the others, Xia Lei¡¯s n wasn¡¯t the least bitplex at all. He was just trying to buy time until Fan Fan¡¯s arrival. He faked his attention, flipping through the pages slowly while demanding exnations from Song Baicheng about certain terms. It felt as if he was trying to understand the entire agreement fully.
Seconds ticked by as the deadline crept closer.
By four-fifty in the evening, Yu Shanhe¡¯s patience wore thin. ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re taking too long! Can you please speed up? I don¡¯t have time for this, I have a meeting scheduled soon!¡±
¡°Take it easy, Officer Yu. I¡¯m about done,¡± uttered Xia Lei carefreely.
¡°That¡¯s it!¡± Yu Shanhe stood abruptly. ¡°Give me an answer now! Are you going to sign the agreement or not?!¡±
¡°Officer Yu, this is no small matter. Do I not have the right to understand every minute detail about the terms and conditions?¡± replied Xia Lei calmly.
¡°Drop the act. I know you¡¯re most definitely clear about its content. I¡¯m going to remind you again, you¡¯re the one getting all of its benefits. All I need is one sentence for an answer. Are you going to signing it or not?¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s tone was harsh.
If it wasn¡¯t for Fan Fan¡¯s promise, Xia Lei would¡¯ve already ced his trump card on the deck, which was to threaten them with ending his trade with the French. But since Fan Fan was going to help him, there was no point in revealing such a troublesome hand. Yu Shanhe was probably aware of what he would put to the table and if he was still pressuring him with full knowledge, it meant that Yu Shanhe wasn¡¯t even remotely bothered by it!
Why was Yu Shanhe so unfazed with the looming possibility?
Well, his thoughts weren¡¯t difficult to guess. If Xia Lei called an end to business with the French, the interest of Yu Shanhe and the many organizations behind him wouldn¡¯t even suffer a single scratch. Pulling such a crazy move would also affect the impression he had on the higher authorities. Surely a good man would not put his interests above the county¡¯s, right? That alone was a kettle full of problems.
That was also the reason behind Xia Lei¡¯s reluctance.
But given the situation now, Yu Shanhe¡¯s urgency was really pushing him into drawing out his trump card.
¡°Do you really think I¡¯m stupid enough to take your bait? Song Baicheng probably has a recording pen hidden somewhere in his pocket,¡± thought Xia Lei while trying to maintain his facade. ¡°I¡¯ll sign it, why wouldn¡¯t I want to sign it? For the sake of the country, I¡¯m willing to give up my own interest,¡± he answered.
Yu Shanhe and Song Baicheng couldn¡¯t help but turn to nce at each other.
Thetter failed to conceal his delight. ¡°Then what are you waiting for, Mister Xia? Sign it before time runs out.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll sign it as soon as I¡¯m done reading it,¡± replied Xia Lei.
Song Baicheng was at a loss for words.
With that, Xia Lei went back to reading every single printed word in the document, brows furrowed with concentration. He really was taking this one word at a time.
Silently, another five minutes went by.
¡°Alright, I had enough for today.¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s voice rang coldly. ¡°I can tell that you¡¯re trying desperately to buy time but I¡¯m going to say this. Your efforts will be in vain. The concept is simple. Your rejection would mean no waiver on your crippling debt. Other than that, I found out that your low-interest loans were given based on a special policy. I checked with the bank officials and sadly, your case is most definitely illegal. So from tomorrow onwards, your interest rate shall recover to the regr market rate.¡±
That was Yu Shanhe¡¯s trump card.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows were tightly clenched above his sockets. A twenty billion debt. If the interest rate were to be that of the regr market rate, it would be terrifyingly high. Returning the interest alone would be enough to jeopardize Thunder Horse¡¯s development!
Song Baicheng¡¯s smile had no warmth. ¡°Mister Xia, there are four minutes left to its deadline. You are taking absurdly long to make a simple decision.¡±
Xia Lei could feel a migraine forming. ¡°Can¡¯t we just sign this tomorrow? I need to consult mywyers, I¡¯m not too familiar with legal terms.¡±
¡°Well, I guess we¡¯ll take it as a rejection. Let¡¯s go¡± Yu Shanhe stood up to leave.
Xia Lei was too upied with his frustration towards Fan Fan. ¡°How dare you ignore me! If there isn¡¯t a good exnation to this, I¡¯m going to spank you till your ass swells!¡± he yelled in his heart.
Song Baicheng picked up his bag and snatched away the document from Xia Lei¡¯s hand, ¡°Hmph! Who do you think you are, wasting our time and efforts?! We will see to it that you suffer the consequences!¡±
Suddenly, Yu Shanhe, who had made it to the door, halted his footsteps- prompting Song Baicheng to pause as well.
All Xia Lei could see was a slim figure with curves that he adored.
She was finally here. The ck office attire, ck stockings, and red stilettos went hand in hand with her vibrant red lips. It was a marvel how such simple colors coulde into perfect harmony on her body.
¡°Oh! Hello, Officer Yu, what a coincidence,¡± greeted Fan Fan. Her smile was sickeningly sweet.
Chapter 761 - Her Ass
Yu Shanhe¡¯s expression was stoic as stone. ¡°Why are you here, Fan Fan?¡±
¡°I¡¯m here to see Xia Lei for business.¡± She paused for a second before replying, ¡°Are you here on business too?¡±
The man only returned a slight nod. He really wasn¡¯t nning to leave. It was just an act to pressure Xia Lei. Yu Shanhe was very clear about their rtionship. If it wasn¡¯t for Xia Lei, there was no way Fan Fan could¡¯ve be ZN station¡¯s head as the position was supposed to be Ling Han¡¯s all along. Yu Shanhe¡¯s urge to stay was intensified by her untimely appearance.
Yu Shanhe sent his underling a look, to which Song Baicheng quickly understood and passed the freshly-snatched document back beside Xia Lei¡¯s coaster. ¡°Fine, Mister Xia. Officer Yu is gracious enough to provide you extra time given your contributions to the country. Didn¡¯t you mention that you¡¯ll sign after you¡¯re done flipping through it? Here, go ahead, we¡¯ll wait.¡±
With that, Yu Shanhe plopped himself back onto the couch. He was silent without a hint of emotion.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t spare the document a look. As soon as Yu Shanhe was seated, he stood to approach Fan Fan with a bright smile. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s nice to see you here, Officer Fan. What can I help you with?¡±
Officer Fan? She rolled her eyes at him. It made her feel like an old hag. Despite that, she was also aware that Xia Lei was belittling Yu Shanhe by doing so.
¡°Officer Fan, please take a seat, I¡¯ll go get you some tea in the meantime,¡± offered Xia Lei graciously before running off to make tea.
This was a blow to Yu Shanhe. His tea was made by a secretary but her tea was made personally by Xia Lei. The detail was subtle but the older man felt offended by the gesture.
¡°Miss Fan, why are you here?¡± Yu Shanhe tried to probe.
¡°I was about to ask the same too. Why are you here, Officer Yu?¡± questioned Fan Fan.
Yu Shanhe responded with scrunched brows.
Taking in his expression, Fan Fanmented, ¡°Ah I see, some confidential matters? It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t wish to talk about it, I¡¯m not that curious.¡±
She really wasn¡¯t nning to save Yu Shanhe any face. In other words, there was no need for her to do so. Since when did the head of ZN station needed to please Yu Shanhe?
It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to return with a cup of red tea. ¡°Were you two trying to solve a riddle?¡± he asked with a smile. ¡°There¡¯s no need to now, I¡¯ll just answer you. Officer Yu came here to have me sign an agreement that would waiver my debt in exchange for an administrative supervisor to govern the Thunder Horse Organization. I was thinking about this the whole afternoon and damn, I¡¯m getting a migraine from it.¡±
¡°Oh, that¡¯s quite the trouble.¡± Fan Fan feigned her shock. ¡°Have you made your decision?¡±
Xia Lei threw his hands in the air. ¡°I said I was in pain, how could I possibly think this through with a headache?¡±
Yu Shanhe scorned. ¡°You both should probably consider acting careers. Look, I know you¡¯re here for the agreement, Fan Fan. Since you¡¯re here, let¡¯s just get this over with today.¡±
Fan Fan took a sip out of her cup. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s hot,¡± she frowned whilementing the heat from the cup.
Xia Lei quickly exined, ¡°Of course it¡¯s hot, I made it just now. Why don¡¯t you leave it to cool for a bit?¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s anger was at its maximum. He was here for official matters but the other two were talking about the most trivial things. They weren¡¯t taking him seriously at all!
¡°Fan Fan!¡± Yu Shanhe snapped. ¡°Are you clear about what¡¯s going on? Don¡¯tmit a political mistake!¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Fan Fan returned her cup to its coaster with a surprised expression. ¡°Officer Yu, I wasn¡¯t aware that tea temperaturements were a political mistake! I¡¯m so sorry, please forgive me. I¡¯m not as well-versed in political etiquettes as you.¡±
¡°You...¡± Yu Shanhe was at a loss for words.
Xia Lei snorted in his mind. ¡°This woman really has a way with words. She didn¡¯t even need to cuss. I guess it was true after all, women are mysterious creatures not to be messed with.¡±
Song Baicheng couldn¡¯t help but interrupt her. ¡°Fan Fan, that¡¯s not how you should talk to Officer Yu.¡±
Fan Fan diverted her view toward Song Baicheng. Her eyes became murderously cold instantly. ¡°You don¡¯t get to call me Fan Fan. Don¡¯t you dare think that you¡¯re safe just because you¡¯ve switched over to the equipment department. I¡¯m warning you, I canunch an investigation on that incident that took ce in the Thunder Horse Military Factory anytime. When the truth is known, not even your beloved Officer Yu can save you.¡±
Song Baicheng¡¯s face turned pale. His lips twitched, itching to say something but he ultimately failed to utter a single word.
The current Fan Fan was not someone he could mess with.
¡°Hahaha.¡± Yu Shanhe started tough all of a sudden.
Xia Lei came closer to Fan Fan and whispered, ¡°Is this it?¡±
¡°Mm-hmm,¡± she answered.
Xia Lei let out a breath he didn¡¯t know he held.
Yu Shanhe¡¯sugh finally came to an end. ¡°Fan Fan, you¡¯re young and full of potential so I won¡¯t mess with you. I also refuse toment on how long you¡¯d be able to stay in that position. I know you¡¯re here to help Xia Lei but I feel the need to remind you that this concerns the country¡¯s interest. With orders from above, Thunder Horse Organization would surely perform better in the near future. You joining him would indicate that you¡¯re standing in the way of our country¡¯s benefit. It would be akin to political betrayal.¡±
It was Fan Fan¡¯s turn to scoff. ¡°In the way of our country¡¯s benefit? Those are big words, Officer Yu. Let me get this straight, I admit I¡¯m here to help Xia Lei and this is an assistance that I¡¯m determined to deliver.¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing you can do!¡±
¡°Just watch me.¡±
¡°Gosh! Do you know how ridiculous this is? A private enterprise is dictating the country¡¯s military sector.¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s tone was stern. ¡°You¡¯re not powerful enough to help him! There are heaps of military enterprises and many of those involved in it. They¡¯re the trueying stones of the sector. Bold of you to assume that you both could go against them all!¡±
Calmly, Xia Lei said, ¡°I don¡¯t agree with you, Officer Yu. Do you know why the western military sector is so strong? Germany¡¯s Rheinmetall AG is private and America¡¯s Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is private as well. There are more of them but I shall not delve into them today. If their private enterprises could support their national defenses, why can¡¯t we aplish the same?¡±
¡°Our country works differently from theirs. If you¡¯re so fond of them, why don¡¯t you head over to expand your business? Oh wait, I think your organization probably won¡¯t be able to survive over there. You enjoy all the resources our country has to offer but you enjoy it selfishly. Such selfish thoughts are wrong, you need to realign your mindset.¡±
¡°Enough.¡± Xia Lei snorted. ¡°Officer Yu, I can see through you. The only reason there was an agreement to sign is that my very existence is a threat, isn¡¯t it? They fear that Thunder Horse¡¯s development would squeeze them out of the market. It seems like they are the ones putting themselves before the country¡¯s benefit instead of me.¡±
¡°You presumptuous fool!¡± Yu Shanhe mmed the table.
The strong impact had the fragile teacups ttering.
Without waiting for it to calm, Xia Lei sent another hard m onto the top. The cups levitated off the surface for a bit before toppling down to the floor.
Yu Shanhe was stunned but he wasn¡¯t afraid of Xia Lei¡¯s sudden outburst. This was the first time a private enterprise owner had shown his temper like this!
Song Baicheng pointed his finger at Xia Lei. ¡°You... you! How dare you...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted him with a re. ¡°So what? These are mine. Your employer mmed his fist onto my property without my permission and yet I¡¯m getting fingers for doing the same?¡±
Song Baicheng was at a loss for words. Xia Lei¡¯s sudden change in temperament had him pay no mind to his boss, there was no way Xia Lei would go easy on him.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Mister Yu, I know you¡¯re here for the sake of their interest. But I have to tell you this, our country is developing and your mindsets are old-fashioned. It¡¯s a dog-eat-dog world out there. Not all military enterprises are utilizing funds from the government well, producing subpar and old-fashioned weapons despite having enough support for better research. I made the world¡¯s most advanced weapon and yet, you¡¯re here to bother me. The ipetent ones, you keep. Thepetent ones, you suppress. I just don¡¯t get it, what the hell are you thinking? Don¡¯t just yap about the country¡¯s benefit to me when you¡¯re guilty of doing that, it¡¯s disgusting. Fortifying Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s development is in line with the country¡¯s wellbeing. With this point alone, there¡¯s no way you could suppress me. You should just stop already.¡±
¡°Good, very nice. You have balls, kid.¡± Yu Shanhe rose from his seat to point at Xia Lei¡¯s nose. ¡°Let me tell you something too. The bank will raise your interest rate above the markets soon. Also, don¡¯t even think about taking a breather after returning your loan. As long as I hold this position, you and Thunder Horse Organization will not enjoy peace.¡±
Xia Lei taunted him further. ¡°It¡¯s alright if you don¡¯t purchase any of my weapons, I can assure you that it¡¯ll sell out.¡±
¡°Alright then, time will tell,¡± said Yu Shanhe as he proceeded to leave in fury.
¡°Wait.¡± Fan Fan stopped Yu Shanhe, ¡°Officer Yu, weren¡¯t you curious about what I was here for?¡±
She reached into her bag to retrieve a red-header official document, passing it to Xia Lei. ¡°I talked to the higher-ups about this. They all found that supporting Thunder Horse¡¯s progress will benefit the country. Thunder Horse is one of the rarepetent and internationally renowned military enterprises we have that could match Rheinmetall AG and Lockheed Martin. They bring pride and honor while serving China, we should be proud of them.¡±
Xia Lei finally smiled. ¡°Rest assured, Officer Fan. We¡¯ll definitely do our best!¡±
Fan Fan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei again. ¡°Enough with the Officer Fan. I managed to get some mary incentives from above. The total should be enough to repay your loan. Go visit the bank soon to end this or your interests will be wasted.¡± Then, she turned to look at Yu Shanhe. ¡°I bet you understand why I¡¯m here, Officer Yu.¡±
¡°Ha! Well done, very well done indeed.¡± Yu Shanhe was outraged, pointing fingers at Fan Fan before leaving the premise. He was thoroughly humiliated, rendering him with no urge to stay any longer.
Song Baicheng picked up the agreement again, then left silently.
Yelena exited the premises too.
Bewildered, Xia Lei stared long and hard at the new document. ¡°How did you even manage to get the mary incentive?¡±
Fan Fan giggled. ¡°I got it because I¡¯m cute. Don¡¯t you find me cute?¡±
¡°...¡±
Of course, he knew that wasn¡¯t the truth. If Yu Shanhe was maybe to suppress him with his powers and even managed to have the bank raise his interest rate, Fan Fan would be able to exercise the same privilege to get him funds. The higher-ups were a broad concept. Some would support while some wouldn¡¯t. This was the same for every level of society, the world works the same after all. Everyone worked for their own best interest.
¡°Last question, why did you turn off your phone?¡±
¡°Oh dear, is it still off? I turned it off when I went to meet the leader. I must¡¯ve totally forgotten to turn it back on when I came over.¡±
Smack!
Xia Lei sent a hard p to her ass, causing her thick bum to ripple with the impact.
Nothing pleased him more than the fact that he was able to spank the sacred behind of the ZN station¡¯s head. This feeling was on a whole new level and irreplicable, a feeling spanking asses of other women would certainly not be able to deliver.
Chapter 762 - Sweepers Debut
With the loan settled, Xia Lei could finally rest easy. The Thunder Horse Organization was also freed from the shackles of mary burden and were ready to take things one step further.
Following that, the Sweeper underwent multiple thorough testings with returning results that proved its superiority over simr international products. In conclusion, the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s Sweeper was at least fifteen years ahead of the current serving state of the art infantry fighting vehicles in Europe and America!
That came as a shock to many who were skeptical, but the truth was before them.
Xia Lei went ahead to register multiple patents for Sweeper¡¯s technology, obtaining more than a hundred different patents for it. The most impressive among them was the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s coreponents and the various optimized design of Thunder Engine.
Proudly, Xia Lei was ready to send Sweeper over to France for the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte International Army Weapons Exhibition as soon as it cleared its remaining tests.
Although he was fully aware that the current exhibition was approaching its end, he was reluctant to wait for another two years for the next one. Sweeper¡¯s advancement was worthy of a reveal during the world¡¯srgest military weapon exhibition and it shall receive the praise and respect it deserved.
Needing toy low, Xia Lei was unable to go to France so Liu Zhengnan was assigned for the task instead. With him and Qing Caiyue in charge of the Sweeper¡¯s debut, Xia Lei was assured that it would go smoothly.
At Jingdu International Airport, the Sweeper was carefully loaded into a military transport aircraft.
Right beside the busy Y-20 military aircraft, Xia Xue held Liu Zhengnan¡¯s hands tightly, reluctant to let go.
Her unwavering grip had rendered Liu Zhengnan in an awkward position. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t be like this, your brother is still nearby. He¡¯ll surely tease us if he sees this.¡±
The scene didn¡¯t go unnoticed by Xia Lei¡¯s watchful eye. Liu Zhengnan and Xia Xue made a great pair. Xia Lei was d that his sister had found her other half, someone she could lean on for support and sce.
¡°Make sure to wear moreyers and keep warm in France. Try not to catch a cold, okay?¡± gushed Xia Xue.
Xia Lei failed to hold hisughter at that. ¡°Xia Xue quit being so mushy! Zhengnan might be unfazed but I¡¯m suffering from intense goosebumps now!¡±
His sister turned to re at him. ¡°Shut up! Keep talking and I¡¯ll ignore you forever!¡±
Xia Lei snorted in response.
¡°Alright, I need to leave now,¡± announced Liu Zhengnan, face red from embarrassment.
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Xue lifted her chin, her dainty features illuminated by the sun. ¡°Kiss me.¡±
¡°I...¡± Liu Zhengnan wanted to die. The embarrassment was too much! Xia Lei was still right beside them!
Xia Lei may be thick-skinned but this was getting too much, urging him to turn around to give the love birds some privacy.
¡°Are you going to kiss me or not?¡± whined Xia Xue. ¡°No more kisses for you if you don¡¯t kiss me now.¡±
That was a severe punishment.
Liu Zhengnan dared not hesitate another second, he pulled her closer by the neck to capture her cherry red lips.
Xia Xue hummed, melting into her lover¡¯s embrace.
One minute passed.
The sight of them kissing was so passionate that everyone around them averted their gazes elsewhere.
¡°Uh... cough cough.¡± Xia Lei decided that he had enough. ¡°That¡¯s enough, are you two not done yet?¡±
That finally prompted the lovers to draw their lips apart, Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan were blushing furiously.
¡°Brother, I¡¯ll be taking my leave now,¡± announced Liu Zhengnan to Xia Lei.
Thetter nodded. ¡°Go, do your best and I¡¯ll pick a good date for you two.¡±
¡°Brother, I¡¯m not getting married so soon!¡± whined Xia Xue.
Xia Leiughed at the disy. ¡°Hey, a good date doesn¡¯t necessarily mean a wedding. Why are you so desperate to be wedded? I meant to arrange a day for Zhengnan¡¯s parents toe and visit Father. Only then will we pick a date for the wedding¡±
¡°Hmph! I¡¯m talking to you anymore!¡± pouted Xia Xue.
¡°Hahaha!¡± Xia Leiughed so hard that he doubled over.
Irritated, Xia Xue came running over with her small clenched fist. Xia Lei quickly avoided her and soon, the siblings were chasing after each other. The track was filled with his boisterousughter.
A dayter, at the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte in Paris, things were starting to go underway.
Hoards of reporters, higher executives of European and American military enterprises, engineers and international customers came swarming into the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s showroom. No one had expected something so formidable toe from them. People were mocking Thunder Horse as they had only showcased three light weapons since the exhibition began. But things were different now. The organization had shipped over its own military vehicle right before the event came to an end. It was obviously a challenge to the other manufacturers saying ¡°Watch out!¡±
The Sweeper was proudly disyed in the center of the showroom. Its almost fictional appearance and majestic aura gave it a very cool image. However, its appearance wasn¡¯t the main attraction. Everyone marveled at its features and equipment instead! With its maximum speed at a hundred kilometers per hour plus its impressive features like the in-house designed thirty-millimeter machine gun, hellbound one-soldier cannon, heavy machine gun, reactive armor, and defense system. This vehicle was superior to anything that had ever been produced.
But a new issue had appeared for the western hemisphere. How did China, a country that was behind in many fields, manage to produce such warfare technology? Producing a vehicle was very different from producing a gun. It was infinitely moreplex. Till now, China had failed to produce a single car engine, so how was the existence of Sweeper even possible?!
No one understood it and many were reluctant to ept reality.
¡°This is impossible,¡±mented a baffled Mark Amin amongst the crowd. ¡°With my estimations, Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s infantry fighting vehicle would¡¯ve required a year before it was ready for its production line. Even if they made one, the overall functionality should be behind our technology by twenty years. The Sweeper is undeniably advanced! I¡¯d even say its fifteen years ahead of our current capabilities. I won¡¯tment on the others but there is absolutely no way they could¡¯ve designed the engine.¡±
¡°Could they have imported the engine from Russia?¡±mented a senior engineer working for Rheinmetall AG. ¡°Perhaps from Ukraine?¡±
¡°From what I gathered, Thunder Horse Organization did, in fact, outsource some minor spare parts from Russia and Ukraine for its engine. They also bought some parts from their domestic market but the core was produced in-house.¡± A woman voiced from the back.
Mark Amin turned to face its source. He was greeted by the sight of a pretty face adorned with the dainty features and smooth skin of the far east but also blue eyes and chiseled structures akin to that of a caucasian.
She went by the name of Hattori Mei. Who was the current chief assistant directly under Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, Madam Folsom. Lockheed Martin was the ace of America¡¯s military industry. It had its own informationwork and could even ess shared information from the CIA database. It only made sense for her to know more than Mark Armin.
¡°Miss Beryl, you¡¯re saying that its engine was a genuine product of Thunder Horse?¡± Mark Armin still found the idea odd. He believed that Thunder Horse Organization was capable of producing the best gun in the world but definitely not the world¡¯s most advanced infantry fighting vehicle.
¡°Mister Mark Armin. I understand that the truth is difficult to ept. But this is reality, it¡¯s already a fact.¡± Hattori Mei continued, ¡°Now that Thunder Horse Organization had entered unchartered territory, I think it¡¯s best for a coboration to happen between Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re clear on what needs to be done moving forward, right? ¡°
At this very moment, Qing Caiyue made her appearance and it didn¡¯t take long for her to be surrounded by reporters.
¡°Miss Qing, did Thunder Horse Organization really designed and produced this vehicle?¡±
¡°Yes, of course. I remember you. You were the one whomented that ourpany is only capable of producing light weapons and is unworthy of a spot here. Right now, I¡¯m proud to say that the Sweeper is the most advanced of its kind and most definitely far superior to the European and American models.¡±
Women were the best at holding grudges and Qing Caiyue was not an exception. Who would have expected her to remember said reporter and even ridicule him in front of a crowd. If Xia Lei was here, he¡¯d probably be stuck betweenplimenting her impressive memory or tough at her pettiness.
¡°You im that this is the most advanced military vehicle in the world. Do you have any evidence to back that up?¡± questioned another reporter.
¡°Well, our Director Xia has made it clear. He wees any simr product to challenge its status,¡± stated Liu Zhengnan. He continued, ¡°If you could contact any relevantpanies and prompt them to challenge us, be it Rheinmetall or Lockheed Martin, we will dly ept it.¡±
Heated discussions erupted across the floor.
Challenging the two biggest internationally renowned military aces straight on was Xia Lei¡¯s wish. It was also part of his business strategy.
It didn¡¯t matter if any of them would actually act on the challenge. Thunder Horse Organization would be bound to receive mass attention over such a daring stunt. If they decided to ignore it, the mass media would surelybel them as cowards. It would be most ideal if they could agree to it, though Sweeper¡¯s advanced technology would surely wipe them out with ease. With that, Thunder Horse¡¯s advertisement funds could be cut down as the victory would surely be great publicized!
¡°Isn¡¯t that Rheinmetall¡¯s Chairman, Mister Mark Armin?¡± mentioned a reporter. The reporter quickly went forward with his mic aimed towards Mark Armin¡¯s face. ¡°Mister Mark Armin, what do you...¡±
Before he could even utter the next word, Mark Armin had turned away and left. The stubborn reporter who wanted to pursue him further was quickly halted by his bodyguards.
Meanwhile, Hattori Mei was facing the same situation.
¡°Miss Beryl, would Lockheed Martin respond to Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s challenge? What are yourments on behalf of yourpany?¡± asked the reporter.
¡°Challenge us? That¡¯s absolutely ridiculousing from an unheard-ofpany. Thunder Horse is unworthy of our time. We¡¯re not going to do anything about it.¡± That was all Hattori Meimented before she left. Her bodyguards quickly blocked off the other reporters.
She made a phone call as soon as she exited the hall. ¡°Father, I think you should bring your men from Mitsubishi to study Thunder Horse¡¯s Sweeper...¡±
Chapter 763 - Lacey Panties
The Sweeper caused a massive uproar in the Villepinte International Military Weapon Exhibition, attracting mass media attention. It filled the headlines and was the talk of the town. Xia Lei, Thunder Horse Organization, Sweeper, Hellbound One-soldier Cannon along with the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Hurricane assault rifle became top searches on the overnight. The number of ¡°Xia Lei¡± searches were beating many mainstream celebrities in the process. He was now insanely popr!
That was good news but Xia Lei found it hard to feel glee. There was no call from Dark Mona. Amanda¡¯s satellite phone was out of service and there was no progress on the ransom for Amanda and Park Taeyong¡¯s safety. Their lives were at stake with every passing second! How could he be happy with the problems flooding his life?
¡°Still no news about it?¡± Xia Lei asked Yelena. They were the only ones in his office.
Yelena replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much, father is devising a way around this.¡±
¡°But what can he do?¡±
¡°You must have forgotten that father has five fighters in his hand. I believe that they are already mobilized,¡± she reminded him.
Five fighters...
¡°Do you know who those five are?¡±
Yelena wagged her finger. ¡°Trust me, I¡¯m not trying to keep you in the dark. I really don¡¯t know much about them.¡±
¡°Impossible.¡±
¡°Nah, it¡¯s not thatplex of a situation. I only know a tad bit about the former pig, Yevgeniya. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware that Liang Siyao killed her. Her position was reced but I wasn¡¯t told by whom.¡±
¡°What about the other four? The snake, rat, monkey and rabbit?¡±
She exined, ¡°Well, they hardly move with us but I do know that father assigns them the harder missions.¡±
¡°Can you tell me everything you know?¡± Xia Lei was hopeful.
¡°Alright.¡± Yelena sighed before she went on. ¡°The rat is Japanese and an expert in stealth, assassination, and poison. An extremely dangerous assassin.¡±
¡°Is he a ninja?¡±
¡°I guess you could say so. Her name is Tsukino Kyoko.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a she?¡±
¡°Are you surprised? Perhaps she might be a beauty,¡± said Yelena.
¡°...¡±
¡°The monkey is an Indian man named Anjum Khan. He¡¯s a sharpshooter. The rabbit is Iraqi and his name is Sa¡¯im al-Majid al-Tikriti but you could just refer to him as Sa¡¯im. He¡¯s an intelligence expert, essentially father¡¯s eyes and ears. A lot of the information I provided you before was from him. The snake...¡± Yelena paused. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t know anything about him. He¡¯s the most mysterious member of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. I¡¯ve never heard of his name nor seen him before.¡±
Those were all Xia Lei needed to piece an impression of the remaining four members.
Each of them had attributes that aligned with the characteristics of their respective animal.
India¡¯s Anjum Khan, the monkey, was agile and a remarkable sharpshooter.
The rabbit, Sa¡¯im, could be considered the backbone of the team due to his duty as the intelligence expert. Rabbit senses were especially sensitive, which made sense for him to be coined the position.
Tsukino Kyoko, the rat, was stealthy and excellent in things that could be considered ¡°shady business¡±.
The identity of the pig remains unknown.
The snake remained the most mysterious member of the team as not even Yelena had encountered him before.
¡°Don¡¯t tell father I told you these. He mentioned that he wasn¡¯t nning on revealing much to you yet,¡± warned Yelena.
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Alright. Honestly, I don¡¯t see how it¡¯ll affect anything but since you told me so, I won¡¯t utter a single word about this.¡±
¡°If Amanda and Taeyong knew you were paying fifty million USD for their ransom, they would be beyond moved.¡± Yelena looked at Xia Lei with a straight face. ¡°If I happen to fall into their hands someday, would youe to my rescue with that amount too?¡±
¡°Of course, but I don¡¯t wish for anyone to get captured by the FA Organization again,¡± replied Xia Lei.
Yelena sighed and mumbled, ¡°The death of Marcus and Bagu had us short of two members. While there is a recement for the pig, who woulde fill in their absence?¡±
Inexplicably, the images of Qin Xiang and Lu Sheng appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. Qin Xiang was a very skilled thief with great agility. Perhaps she would be a great fit for the goat¡¯s position. On the other hand, Lu Sheng was a martial artist, seemingly the most suitable person to take over Marcus¡¯s spot. The man also had attributes that aligned with the ox. Sadly, this thought shall remain a thought, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t bear to see them lead such dangerous lives.
Footsteps were heard approaching the door and soon enough, Liang Siyao had appeared at the entrance.
Yelena announced, ¡°Director Xia, I¡¯ll excuse myself now.¡±
¡°Alright,¡± Xia Lei replied.
The two women walked in opposite directions, one was heading to the exit while the other was venturing deeper into the office. As their shoulders brushed against each other, they gave the other a look through the corner of their eyes but not a single word was uttered. Yelena¡¯s nce was filled with malice.
¡°I don¡¯t think she likes me very much,¡±mented Liang Siyao as soon as the other female was out of sight.
It was only natural for Yelena to despise Liang Siyao. She was the one who killed Yevgeniya after all. The knowledge was something Xia Lei had to keep hush from her. ¡°Don¡¯t mind her, she doesn¡¯t have the best temper. Come, take a seat, what would you like to drink?¡±
Liang Siyao gave a small smile and replied, ¡°Tomato spare ribs soup.¡±
Xia Leiughed, ¡°Sorry, I only have tea, wine, and coffee here. If you really wanted to have soup, why didn¡¯t you make it at home? There¡¯s no soup in my office.¡±
Her gaze had a hint of resentment. ¡°Do you remember how you would cook for me back then? I loved the tomato spare ribs soup you made. You were so nice to me. What happened?¡±
Of course, he remembered those days but the thought of it had his heart clenched. If it wasn¡¯t for her betrayal, their child would probably be crawling about now. What was she trying to achieve by bringing that up? It was a lost cause with no chance for redemption.
¡°I... I was joking, I¡¯m not thirsty.¡± Liang Siyao switched the topic. ¡°I¡¯m here to talk about it.¡±
Xia Lei immediately knew what she was referring to. ¡°What did you find out?¡±
The female turned around to check for any unwanted presence and then her gaze settled on his rxation room. ¡°Let¡¯s go in there to talk about this.¡±
¡°Well, my office...¡± Xia Lei wanted to keep the conversation in his office but Liang Siyao had already left her seat and started walking to his rxation room. Seeing this, he could only muster up a wobbly smile before following suit.
A faint fragrance floated about the rxation room. It wasn¡¯t perfume yet it wasn¡¯t the air freshener. It was akin to olive oil. The interior was a total mess too, the sheets on the bed were crumpled. A stray slipper here and there, scattered magazines on a messy table, the whole ce was really untidy.
¡°It looks like a pigsty.¡± Liang Siyao sniffed the air, confused by the smell. ¡°What is this smell?¡±
It was Fan Fan¡¯s antidote.
There¡¯s no way Xia Lei would reveal it. ¡°I had some cold noodles herest night, that must be what you¡¯re smelling.¡±
¡°Ugh, I can¡¯t stand it. I¡¯m just going to clean this for you.¡± She started to pick up stray objects.
¡°No need, I¡¯ll just have the cleaner take care of itter,¡± mumbled Xia Lei awkwardly.
That, however, didn¡¯t stop Liang Siyao at all. She arranged the magazines on the table into a neat stack before reuniting the slippers and cing it underneath the bed. Lastly, she grabbed the edges of the nket and fluffed it out before a pair ofcey panties flew into the air.
The unassuming garment wasunched into the air before it lightly touches the ground. The two had their eyes glued to it, one was nervous while the other was less so.
¡°Whose panties are those?¡± Liang Siyao averted her gaze from the underwear to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei shook his head with an unreadable expression. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°This is your bed. How could you not know who left their underwear here? ¡°
Xia Lei was most aware of its owner. Fan Fan was thest woman who slept here... but he didn¡¯t expect her to leave her underwear in his sheets! He screamed internally, cursing the damn woman. How could she not know what she wascking when she left?
¡°Nevermind.¡± Liang Siyao said gloomily while giving him a wobbly smile. ¡°Who am I to you? I have no right to judge your private life.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t know whose it was. I¡¯ll just toss it away for you,¡± said Liang Siyao as she bent down.
A thought intruded Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He quickly strode forward to snatch the underwear then he proceeded to aim it out of the window.
If Liang Siyao had her hands on it, there was a good seventy percent chance that she would run a DNA test on it. All chaos would ensue if she ever found out that it belonged to Fan Fan.
¡°You...¡± she red directly into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°See, everything¡¯s settled. Didn¡¯t you want to tell me something? Let¡¯s dive right into it!¡±
Suddenly, a loud, piercing scream could be heard from beneath. ¡°Hey! Who the fuck threw this filthy piece of shit on my head?! You better own up or I¡¯ll beat the shit out of you!¡±
It was Qin Xiang¡¯s voice.
¡°...¡±
Liang Siyao wanted tough but she could only feel bitterness. There was a silent pause before she uttered, ¡°I found some crucial clues.¡±
¡°Tell me about it.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think it was the Tang Family who betrayed you and Tang Yuyan. Friends or family are also very unlikely. Your deaths will not be beneficial to them. The Tang Family is eager for you to marry Tang Yuyan, so your death would only counter that. Other than that, I don¡¯t even need to suspect the people around you, harming you would do no good for them. Therefore, the more someone could benefit from your death, the more likely they are to be the culprit.¡±
Who would benefit the most from his death?
Xia Lei didn¡¯t even need to think much for an answer.
¡°You got it?¡±
Xia Lei returned a nod. ¡°Is there any evidence to support this?¡±
¡°Sadly, no.¡± Liang Siyao continued, ¡°But I watched the CCTV footage on the day of your return. I saw Yu Shanhe standing still at the door for two whole minutes before he left.¡±
¡°Two whole minutes?¡±
¡°Yeah, he was reading the agreement and that was the clue. He would definitely know its contents and there were no physical amendments to it, you didn¡¯t sign it. So there¡¯s only one possibility. He was eavesdropping your conversation with Boss Shi. Try to recall, did Boss Shi talk to you about your mission in the West province?¡±
Memories of that day shed through his mind, he then nodded.
¡°Even if he had gotten something out of your conversation, Yu Shanhe is not the type of person who would leak such valuable intel out carelessly. That¡¯s why I ran a deeper search on his underlings and I found someone suspicious.¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°Song Baicheng,¡± she answered.
¡°On the day you left with Tang Yuyan, he visited a Japanese restaurant. Weirdly, I couldn¡¯t get my hands on the premise¡¯s CCTV footage.¡±
Xia Lei pondered. ¡°I think it¡¯s best to not involve yourself further in this matter. Song Baicheng would be easy to handle but Ling Han and Yu Shanhe¡¯s possible involvement would make the whole situation messier. I¡¯ll manage from this point onwards.¡±
¡°Could it be that you¡¯re... worried about me?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s gaze was hopeful.
Did the ckce panties affect her? She was not a tad bit bothered.
Xia Lei was speechless.
He could design the world¡¯s most advanced infantry fighting vehicle but he couldn¡¯t create an ideal love life for himself.
Chapter 764 - Finding Evidence
The handsome man was awake while his beauties were fast asleep.
A fully-clothed Xia Lei turned around to watch Annina and Sylvia snore away while snuggled in their nkets. They deserved the rest, as they must have been exhausted ving away for Thunder Horse¡¯s engine. Recallingst night¡¯s rendezvous, Xia Lei¡¯s heart hummed in contentment. It used to be tough for him to handle the two Germans. He¡¯d be drop-dead exhausted by the end of each session back then. But now things were different. He was a much stronger man.
His powers had evolved, proving his past guess correct but Xia Lei remained speechless at his discovery.
Exiting Sylvia and Annina¡¯s room, he caught sight of his father feeding the koi in the pond. He approached the older man. ¡°Father.¡±
Xia Change nodded. ¡°Are you heading to the office?¡±
¡°Yeah, I managed to get my hands on some AI technology from Japan. Now that I have to remain incognito, I¡¯ll have time to sort things out to see if it could be used on our products,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°Has it ever crossed your mind that the Americans and Japanese want you dead because of your capabilities? The West and Japan had kept their technologies away from us for years, but you¡¯ve messed up their pacing with all your advancements. If you¡¯re going to continue on this path, you¡¯lle to face increasingly difficult obstacles with no signs of ceasing. Is this really what you want?¡±
Xia Lei let out a raspyugh. ¡°Father, what are you trying to say?¡±
¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Xia Changhe continued, ¡°I admit that you had a rough childhood in poverty thanks to me. But look, you¡¯re a billionaire now with money that couldst us for generations. Have you really not thought of stopping?¡±
¡°Stopping? If my retirement could guarantee peace, I¡¯ll consider it. However, you know that things will not stop there. Even if I washed my hands clean and leave the military industry behind, the Americans will not let me go, the same goes for the FA organization. Stopping now will not bring any benefit nor harmony to me, it¡¯ll only send my efforts down the drain.¡±
Xia Changhe fell silent.
The younger male continued, ¡°Father, life is short. I don¡¯t care about how much I earn and how long I can live a peaceful life. Our kind has been bullied by the West for centuries. The soil of this nation is soaked with lots of blood, sweat, tears, and humiliation. Nothing has changed. We will face this form of discrimination for years toe. I¡¯m not an extreme patriot but I¡¯d like to contribute something to my country and its people within my capabilities. If I don¡¯t do anything, I¡¯d be wasting my talents, in which I¡¯ll regret when I¡¯m old and feeble.¡±
Xia Changhe sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve never taught you anything about patriotism, but you grew to be so passionate about our country. Now that you¡¯ve mentioned it, I certainly do feel less daringpared to you when I was young. Perhaps a life of peace has rendered me soft. But your point is taken. I¡¯ll support you no matter what you choose to do.¡±
¡°Father, what made you bring this topic up to me? Did something happen?¡± The younger male was perplexed.
Xia Changhe gave a wobbly smile. ¡°I really can¡¯t hide anything from you, huh? Well, I found out who betrayed you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Who was it?¡±
¡°It turned out to be Yu Shanhe¡¯s underling, Song Baicheng. Even though Song Baicheng was majorly involved, his actions had definitely received support and approval from his boss or Ling Han.¡±
¡°That was what Liang Siyao told me too. But I dared not mention it to him due to theck of evidence. How did he find out?¡± wondered Xia Lei in his mind.
¡°Yu Shanhe is no small fry. Your superiority and sess in the military industry would indicaterge losses for the others. Naturally, they would not be happy about this. Enemies are everywhere and there are problems guing our home. Our family was never influential, to begin with, and you¡¯re the sole pir of it. You bear an unbelievably heavy burden! That¡¯s why I thought of asking you to leave the industry.¡±
Xia Lei paused for a while. ¡°Father, how did you learn of it?¡±
¡°I have my own ways, son. The tiger had returnedst night, so I sent him to that Japanese restaurant and he managed to steal their CCTV footage. He¡¯ll be passing you something when you return to your office. I think you¡¯ll understand after seeing it.¡±
¡°Father, what...¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough, you should head back to work,¡± murmured Xia Changhe before he continued to feed the fishes. As soon as the pellets hit the water surface, eager koi fishes came swarming up to swallow it, creating sshes in the process.
Xia Lei¡¯s lip twitched. He was debating saying something but ultimately decided against it. Soon, he left.
¡°Oh, wait. I almost forgot something.¡± Xia Changhe spoke from behind, ¡°Tang Yunhai had invited me over to Shu Di for tea. I¡¯m quite excited to travel to Shu Di. It¡¯s the ancient Land of Abundance and it¡¯ll be my first visit there.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps became stiff. He turned around to face his father. ¡°Father, what... will you be doing in Shu Di?¡±
¡°Hmm? Didn¡¯t I just mention that I will be there for tea?¡±
Would Tang Yunhai really invite Xia Changhe over purely for tea?
This meant big trouble. Xia Lei¡¯s smile was bitter. ¡°Father, please promise me something. Just go there for tea and don¡¯t agree to anything else, okay?¡±
Xia Changhe¡¯s smiled wryly. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Uh, like... marriage for an example.¡±
¡°Ah, you mean Tang Yuyan? I actually find her quite decent. She¡¯s intelligent, witty and from a reputable family. Son, you¡¯re not young anymore. It¡¯s about time you settle down and get married. Mind I remind you that I¡¯d like to have grandchildren before I die. Plus, who are you nning to leave your billion-dor legacy to? It better not go all into charity!¡± Xia Changhe¡¯s anger intensified with each word, making him aim a handful of fish feed towards his son.
The younger male quickly dodged it with a leap, running away from the scene while he screamed, ¡°Father, I¡¯ve already reminded you. If you do happen to agree to it, the problem will be yours and you¡¯d have to figure it out yourself!¡±
tter! Another handful of fish feed was sent flying towards Xia Lei. ¡°Bastard, are you trying to anger me to death?! You¡¯re my only son! Who else could I find a bride for if not you?¡±
By then, there was no answer.
The old man sighed. How could a parent not worry about their child¡¯s future? Being an ex-special force didn¡¯t provide him immunity to such parental concerns.
Ring... Ring...
Xia Changhe¡¯s phone rang.
He quickly slid his phone out to answer it. A smile bloomed on his face as soon as he recognized its caller. ¡°Oh, Mister Tang, hello. Yeah, my flight is this afternoon... Yuyan will pick me up? No need for that, I can get myself over. Ah, I see... Alright, alright. I¡¯ll see you soon, bye.¡±
Xia Lei would remain blissfully unaware of this call.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei had made it to the entrance of Thunder Horse Military Factory. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of E¡¯er Demutu, who was waiting in the security guard booth.
He walked over steadily. ¡°How¡¯s everything at home?¡±
¡°Everything¡¯s alright,¡± answered E¡¯er Demutu as he passed a USB stick to Xia Lei discreetly. He whispered, ¡°This contains the footage I stole from the Japanese restaurant. They had removed the hard memory disk and stored it in a safe. It took me some effort to get these.¡±
Xia Lei gave the man a slight nod, proceeding to leave him behind.
In his office, Xia Lei opened the video file on the USB.
Song Baicheng was seen seated in a private booth, enjoying the far eastern delicacy he ordered. He was the only person seated.
After a mere minute, Song Baicheng stood up to leave. Oddly, his now-empty te had an addition of a folded thousand yen Japanese bill.
It wasn¡¯t long after Song Baicheng¡¯s departure that a kimono-d girl had entered his booth to collect the dirtied dishes. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw the folded thousand yen bill. She carefully picked it up, unfolding it to reveal its neatly-written message. ¡°Tomorrow, West province, Dawang.¡±
While the message was written in kanji, the word for ¡°Da¡± was simr to that of its Chinese counterpart.
This unassuming kanji message could pass off as a nonsensical Chinese message, which in turn, possessed perfect meaning if one deciphered it in Japanese.
The girl quickly hid the bill away in her sleeves, abandoning the dirty dishes.
The video ended there.
Xia Lei made sure to create a copy before dialing Liang Siyao¡¯s number on his fixed-line phone. However, the man quickly hung up before the call got through. His first thought was to tell Liang Siyao of the new evidence obtained but as soon as he remembered the influential people involved, he ultimately dropped the thought. Dragging Liang Siyao into this mess would be a bad idea.
Instead, he dialed for Shi Boren¡¯s office. ¡°Boss Shi, it¡¯s me.¡±
¡°Ah, kid, I was just about to give you a call,¡± mentioned Shi Boren. He continued, ¡°Yuyan just came back from the West province and I granted her a week-long holiday. Will you be visiting her?¡±
¡°Yeah, I will.¡± Xia Lei quickly switched the topic. ¡°Boss Shi, I have something very important to tell you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m listening.¡± Shi Boren¡¯s tone was stern.
¡°I found out who betrayed me and Tang Yuyan.¡±
¡°Really? Who is it?¡±
¡°Song Baicheng.¡± Xia Lei revealed his name in a heartbeat.
m! Xia Lei could hear Shi Boren mming his desk furiously. ¡°Bastard! Fucking traitor! I wasn¡¯t expecting it from him! Is there any evidence?¡±
¡°Yes, there¡¯s a video that could rectify his crimes,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll have Long Bing retrieve it from you,¡± Shi Boren yelled. ¡°Damn this fe!¡±
¡°Boss Shi, this...¡± Xia Lei hesitated but decided to say it nheless, ¡°I fear that this might involve Ling Han and Yu Shanhe.¡±
The line went silent, save for Shi Boren¡¯s heavy breathing.
¡°Boss Shi?¡±
¡°That is bad news. This will be a big issue. But I guarantee you that no traitor of the country could escape their penalty. You may leave this alone until we capture Song Baicheng,¡± said Shi Boren.
¡°Alright.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
The severity of the matter had doubled with the involvement of Yu Shanhe and Ling Han. The way Boss Shi had handled it was appropriate, attacking their horse before its master to extract the truth, then n their next step with solid evidence.
While Xia Lei waited for Long Bing¡¯s arrival, he unlocked his safe to retrieve a hard disk he got from Hattori Masao. He connected it to his desktop to create a copy of its contents, saving it to his own hard drive. Then, he started to look through the freshly-copied contents, sinking into his little own world.
A lot of countries had their funds channeled to AI technology research, but only America and Japan have had any breakthroughs. This meant that he could assume that what he had before him was industry standard. Unfortunately, China was severely slow in this field, most of its production line AI was imported. They even had to rely on their suppliers for maintenance.
¡°If I could integrate Artificial Intelligence onto Thunder Horse¡¯s production line, there will be a promise of increased productivity and we could save some cost. Talent and manpower are difficult to recruit, the AI would definitely solve our human resource issues and we won¡¯t need to worry about theck of employees thates with rapid progress.¡± A thought began to form in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
He continued to study its contents, while his mind wandered back to that time when he saw those designs in Hattori Masao¡¯s vi. The man had allowed him to breeze through five hundred design ns, each asplex as the ones before. No one would be able to memorize a single piece but Xia Lei did, in fact, remembered all five hundred designs in detail!
After a considerable amount of time, a familiar voice demanded his attention. ¡°Hey, you seem busy.¡±
Xia Lei lifted his head to see a pretty face. It wasn¡¯t Long Bing, it was Liang Siyao instead. He stared nkly in confusion. Wasn¡¯t Long Bing supposed toe? Why was Liang Siyao here?
¡°You look handsome when you¡¯re hard at work,¡± sheplimented with a smile.
¡°Why are you here?¡± asked Xia Lei. ¡°I thought Boss Shi instructed Long Bing toe in his stead.¡±
Liang Siyao smiled wryly. ¡°Well, here I am. Don¡¯t you like seeing me here? Then I guess I better leave to have Boss Shi¡¯s favorite Long Bing grace her presence.¡±
¡°Hey, quit it.¡± Xia Lei mustered a polite smile. ¡°I don¡¯t mean it that way, but...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°What are you going to do after getting the evidence?¡±
¡°Boss Shi ordered me to capture Song Baicheng,¡± answered Liang Siyao.
Without missing a beat, Xia Lei grabbed the USB and stood up. ¡°I¡¯lle with you."
Chapter 765 - Sister Disciple Wants to Get Back Together
A red BMW M6 streaked down the main road to downtown Jingdu.
After Liang Siyao was done viewing the video from herptop, she sent it back to the Bureau 101¡¯s headquarters. She closed her device and faced Xia Lei who was busy driving. ¡°Okay, be frank with me. Why are youing along to arrest them?¡±
¡°It¡¯s better if Ie with you. Song Baicheng almost had me killed. I would like to do this in person,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re a terrible liar.¡± Liang Siyao lips twisted into a wry smile. ¡°We¡¯ve been together for quite some time. I even know the number of moles on your body. Do you really think I¡¯m that oblivious to your thoughts?¡±
¡°Come on, you¡¯re overthinking this. Let¡¯s just go get him and bring him back to Bureau 101.¡±
¡°Boss Shi may have handed this task to Long Bing initially but when he found out that Ling Han and Yu Shanhe may be involved, he allocated the task to me. I¡¯m aware of the reason behind the switch. To them, I¡¯ve always been the girl from the CIA. They probably think my entire being is part of the CIA right down to my underwear. Coats can be removed but how about my underwear?¡± uttered Liang Siyao.
What kind of metaphor was that?
¡°Arresting Song Baicheng means dering war with Ling Han and Yu Shanhe¡¯s party. The first initiator¡¯s job is the most dangerous and it¡¯s obvious that Boss Shi is unwilling to put Long Bing through it. Therefore, I was chosen. I will always be an outsider to them. Someone with a history not worth repeating. If I sessfully arrested Song Baicheng, I would be the first to face immense pressure from both sides. However, if I failed or died on duty, they have nothing to lose. ¡± ranted Liang Siyao, her heart dropped in loneliness and sadness.
That silenced Xia Lei for a while, there was a long pause before he said, ¡°If you¡¯re not happy with your job, you could just resign and join mypany. I¡¯m sure I could find something for you.¡±
¡°Let me get this straight. You¡¯re worried about me and didn¡¯t want me to die. That¡¯s why you¡¯re adamant about following me to arrest Song Baicheng, right?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. She was right, but he didn¡¯t want to confirm it.
¡°Hey, answer my question,¡± Liang Siyao was eager for an answer.
¡°How could I watch you endure this alone? Even though we are...but you are still my sister disciple, there¡¯s no way I can ignore this,¡± said Xia Lei.
A faint smile appeared on Liang Siyao¡¯s face. ¡°What matters to me is your concern. I¡¯m happy to know that you value me enough to not let me die. It¡¯s not that I have never thought of working for Thunder Horse, it¡¯s just that I have to stay in Bureau 101.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Xia Lei was puzzled. ¡°You joined Bureau 101 in exchange for a return permit and pardon. Now that you¡¯ve got it, why stay?¡±
¡°Well, I am doing this for you. Not everyone in Bureau 101 is Long Bing and Tang Yuyan, silly.¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°If I remained in Bureau 101, I could be of help to you someday. Perhaps, I might be able to offer help during critical times.¡±
Xia Lei was surprised, ¡°You mean you¡¯re willing to provide me intel?¡±
¡°It wouldn¡¯t be the first time.¡±
Memories soon flooded his mind, filling Xia Lei with sadness and mncholy. The better she treated him, the worse he felt.
¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Liang Siyuan ced a palm on Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. ¡°I¡¯d definitely put up a good fight, I¡¯ll be fine. I just want you to know that I returned and stayed in Bureau 101 for your sake. As long as you understand my intentions, I am satisfied.¡±
¡°Why are you still so nice to me?¡±
¡°I love you and I always will. That alone is enough for me.¡± The palm on his thigh trembled before she tightened its grip. It was as if she was using her nails and fingers as the measure of her desperateness to re-enter his life.
The action pained him a little, but he remained calm. That was all he could do. Should he consider a reconciliation? He couldn¡¯t help but think of his messy love life, his mind mercilessly bringing up his father who was going to meet TangYunhai over tea in Shu Di. He could feel a migraine forming between his brows.
The mood in the car became awkward, apanied by a whiff of sadness that floated in the air.
Just when he was pondering about how to face Liang Siyao, a car in front changed itsne abruptly. He mmed the brakes bringing the car to an emergency stop. His body was thrown forward along with Liang Siyao¡¯s. It wasn¡¯t clear if it was out of instinct or some other reason, she reached out to grab on something, which just so happened to be Xia Lei¡¯s private part.
Xia Lei was stunned, suddenly forgetting how to drive.
Liang Siyao was also stunned and forgot to release her grip.
Their eyes met, eyes channellingplex emotions.
Honk Honk Honk!
Urgent honking could be heard from behind, someone yelled, ¡°Hey! Do you know how to drive?! So what if your car¡¯s a BMW?! Just go to hell already!¡±
That snapped them back to their senses.
Liang Siyao quickly removed her hand, cheeks turning red in the process but she was not too embarrassed by it. After all, she was no stranger to it. It has just been a while.
Xia Lei stepped on the oil pedal, starting the car again to run normally. His face was flushed, not because he was bashful but due to the awkwardness. The physiological changes of his part were really obvious, making it impossible to hide.
The car behind caught up and drove in parallel with Xia Lei.
The young blond driver leaned out of the window and growled, ¡°Damn it! Don¡¯t drive if you can¡¯t! I¡¯ll teach you how to, haha!¡±
His passenger, a young man with earrings, stared at Liang Siyao with a smirk. ¡°Hey, babe! Don¡¯t waste your time with that idiot. Come with me and I¡¯ll bring you around!¡±
¡°Wow! Gorgeous!¡± whistled the blond driver. ¡°Come on sweet babe, I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯ll have fun!¡±
Xia Lei had nned to ignore the two thugs until they started to tease Liang Siyao. He erupted with anger, prompting him to lean out of the car window to yell, ¡°Get lost! Or I¡¯ll beat the shit out of you!¡±
¡°Ha! How dare he yell at us!¡±
¡°Kill him! Fucking hell! His expensive car is worth smashing!¡±
The driver turned the steering wildly, bringing his Cruze closer to the BMW M6.
Xia Lei quickly stepped on the brake to avoid the Cruze.
Looking at the raging Xia Lei, Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but giggle. Sheughed happily as she began to brighten up.
Xia Lei relented, ¡°How could youugh in a situation like this?! I¡¯m about to explode from the two bastards!¡±
¡°You still care about me. You reacted strongly when they insulted me. Your subconscious still thinks of me as its lover,¡± said Liang Siyao with her smile barely concealed.
A woman¡¯s sixth sense was always sensitive and urate.
Xia Lei gave a wry smile. ¡°Can we stop talking about this...?¡±
Before he even got to finish his sentence, Liang Siyao wrapped his lips in a kiss.
A familiar woman with a familiar taste. The sudden kiss brought Xia Lei back to Haizhu, back to the difficult times he experienced when he started his business. Liang Siyao entered his life at such a time and brought him love beyond imagination. They satiated their lust, enveloped themselves in youth and passion again and again everywhere; on the sofa, in his study, on her bed.
¡°Hey! What the fuck?!¡± The blond young driver appeared outside the window, walking in on their kiss. Suddenly, a punch flew towards Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Xia Lei raised his hand, mming his Cobra pistol to the blond¡¯s fist.
His fist was flesh while the gun was made of iron. The blond¡¯s punch came in hard contact with the muzzle of the gun. He screamed painfully while his fist bled from a sudden impact. The thugs weren¡¯t expecting a gun. The blond had thought that it was a mere safety hammer or anything else along the line. Hispanion was even about to draw his knife. However, as soon as they saw the gun in Xia Lei¡¯s hand, their hearts sunk and their face turned pale in a split second.
¡°Big...big brother, we¡¯re terribly sorry. We shouldn¡¯t have messed with you. A greater man does not make note of a lesser man¡¯s faults. Please forgive us.¡± The blond had his tongue twisted, failing to utter a coherent sentence.
¡°Kneel!¡± Xia Lei red at them coldly. He wasn¡¯t the type to get angry, but when he did, he was murderously intimidating.
The thugs knelt on the floor immediately.
Many of the passing cars slowed down to watch the scene unfold.
Fortunately, this was the suburbs, not downtown, or else their action would have caused great panic.
¡°Let me p your faces aspensation. Only then will I release you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Reluctantly, the two thugs ced their faces to the door.
As Xia Lei raised his arm for the impact, Liang Siyao stopped him. ¡°Forget it, just let them go.¡°
¡°They insulted you and I¡¯m just getting revenge for you, why are you stopping me?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
Oddly, Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°I should thank them instead. If it wasn¡¯t because of them, how would I have known your true feelings?¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°What are you waiting for? Scram!¡± she roared at the thugs.
Upon hearing this, they both stood up to flee in panic.
A woman¡¯s mind sure was different. She wasn¡¯t angered by their teasing, in fact, she was delighted. Was this the true power of love?
Xia Lei continued to drive his car downtown.
Liang Siyao giggled for a while before she stopped to probe. ¡°Lei Zi, does this mean we¡¯re back together?¡±
Xia Lei nced at her. ¡°Do you think it¡¯ll be this easy? Of course not, the scars you left on my heart haven¡¯t healedpletely. How about we sort this out next time?¡±
¡°Will a free massage from me help you heal better?¡± Liang Siyao reached out to rub his chest.
¡°Stop it, I¡¯m driving. Hey I¡¯m warning you, don¡¯t mess around...¡±
After an hour, the BMW M6 was parked in an upscale neighbourhood.
Xia Lei left the car, staring awkwardly at his bulging tent. Regarding the reconciliation, he was certain that he didn¡¯t want it, for now. However, her advances were obvious, which was why they were awkward with one another. But he understood why she was so eager. She hadn¡¯t engaged in any form of physical passion ever since they broke up. She was extremely pent up.
Following suit, Liang Siyao left the car too, face red with lust. She acted like a bashful lovesick damsel. This was her happiest moment since her return. Although she had not achieved her goal, some progress was better than nothing. More importantly, she knew that Xia Lei still had her in his heart.
¡°Uh... let¡¯s head to Song Baicheng¡¯s house,¡± stammered Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go.¡± Liang Siyaobed the stray hairs on her forehead.
They approached a building.
Ring... Ring.... Ring...
A phone rang.
Xia Lei slid out his phone to peek at its screen. It was Shi Boren. He hesitated, then he hung up.
¡°Who¡¯s calling?¡± Liang Siyan couldn¡¯t see who it was.
¡°It was a phone call from Boss Shi,¡± Xia Lei told her honestly.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you answer his call?¡±
¡°He¡¯s probably trying to persuade me to go back. How could I, now that I am so close? Well, forget about it, let¡¯s go get the guy.¡± Xia Lei kept his phone.
Upon hearing this, Liang Siyao smiled sweetly. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just admit that you¡¯re nervous and worried about me? You¡¯re not over me, isn¡¯t it?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself, let¡¯s go,¡± Xia Lei quickened his pace.
Liang Siyao caught up with him, ¡°How about we go out for a drink tonight after we¡¯re done?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t go out, I need toy low,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°Then...how about I go to your house?¡±
Chapter 766 - The Mysterious Murder Scene
The door to Song Baicheng¡¯s house was closed.
When he arrived at the door, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched a little. He used his X-ray vision to survey the room.
There was no one in the living room. The television was turned on and ying a reality show. There was no one in the kitchen to the left of the living room either. There was only a pressure cooker on the gas stove. Steam rose from the pressure cooker meaning that there was something being prepared. To the left of the living room was a hallway.
There were three bedrooms located on one side of the hallway, all three doors were shut. At the end of the hallway was a balcony. The ss door was open but no one was on the balcony either.
Just as Xia Lei prepared to refine his vision, to dwell deeper into the contents of the three rooms, Liang Siyao was already using her lock picking tools to force the door open.
¡°Be careful, he has a gun. Follow behind me,¡± instructed Liang Siyao as she pulled out her gun.
Normally in a situation like that, the man should have taken the lead but she was adamant in making sure she was the first line of fire.
Xia Lei was not a man who would hide behind a woman. With a swift movement, he pulled her behind then walked down the hallway himself. He pulled out his gun, both arms stretched in front to prepare for anything.
Liang Siyao did not cut in front of him. She understood where he wasing from.
When they arrived at the first door, he stopped and put down his gun.
Without opening the door, he could already see the situation inside the room. Song Baicheng was lying motionless on the bed, d in underwear. He was definitely not sleeping because he was not moving. Even a person in deep sleep would have movements from breathing. Plus, his face was colored a greenish-purple. Living people were not that color.
At that moment, a surge of anger rose in his heart. He found Song Baicheng but someone else had got to him first. With Song Baicheng¡¯s death, how could he continue with investigations?
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Liang Siyao asked gently. She couldn¡¯t see what was in the room.
Xia Lei snapped back to reality. He stopped for a moment then mmed into the door suddenly.
The door was thrown open.
She rushed inside with her gun.
He followed suit.
¡°What is going on here?¡± Liang Siyao was shocked, quickly noticing that Song Baicheng was already dead.
Suppressing his anger, he said, ¡°Someone got to him before us to get rid of any traces.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s search the room to see if the killer left any clues.¡± She started to search the room.
Xia Lei stood quietly at the edge of the bed, staring at Song Baicheng.
He had no wounds or signs of strangtion. The possibility of a gunshot, knife and strangle as the cause of death could be eliminated. His expression was peaceful as if he died in his sleep with no signs of suffering.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows furrowed slightly. Song Baicheng was a man who had undergone training. He possessed skills above the average person. How was it possible that someone killed him without leaving a trace?
His gaze fell on Song Baicheng¡¯s stomach, using his X-ray vision to check its contents.
His stomach was clean, with no food inside. There was food cooking in the kitchen, so this meant that he hadn¡¯t eaten yet. There were no injuries, eliminating the possibility of a weapon assault. His stomach was empty with no medicine or food residue, so he definitely did not die from poison. But he couldn¡¯t have died with no cause.
¡°Damn it, the culprit was careful enough to not leave anything behind.¡± Liang Siyao returned to his side. With her experience and training, she didn¡¯t need to search for a long time like regr police.
He smiled bitterly. ¡°We have met a master.¡±
¡°Who do you think it is?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Anyone desperate enough to kill him could be prime suspects. But it¡¯s difficult to tell who his murderer was.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give Boss Shi a call.¡± She slid out her phone.
His gaze fell unto Song Baicheng¡¯s head. Like a de, it was as if his left eye shaved the hair off so his vision could prate through the scalp.
The scalp was smooth and shiny with no obvious marks. However, he had a purple birthmark on his head.
He continued to stare at the purple birthmark and quickly found something odd. On the birthmark, there was a damaged hair pore. There was a slight hint of blood oozing out from it. It was very inconspicuous due to the purple birthmark. It was impossible for a regr person to notice it.
This discovery was a breakthrough.
His eyes locked on the pore, zooming in a hundred times. He saw that the skin had been damaged by something sharp. Perhaps something like a needle forcefully jammed into it. Following that, his left eye switched into X-ray and microscopic vision mode. He zoomed in and slowly prated throughyers to reach Song Baicheng¡¯s brain.
The truth was slowly emerging.
A very important blood vessel in his brain was damaged. It was a major artery, causing internal bleeding in his head.
Xia Lei thought to himself. ¡°For someone to kill like this, two things must be achieved. One, this person must be very close to Song Baicheng so he¡¯ll let his guard down around the culprit. Then, this person must be very experienced in murder, a professional killer. Which of his contacts fulfilled these criteria?¡±
Naturally, he thought of Ling Han but quickly brushed the thought away. Ling Han had never shown his abilities and certainly nothing close to this. Even if he had undergone militarybat training like Song Baicheng, this could not prove that he was the killer. It was impossible for him to meet the second criteria too, to be a very experienced killer.
Other than Ling Han, he did not know anyone else who could be the mysterious killer.
Liang Siyao selected Shi Boren¡¯s number, turning on her speak so Xia Lei could hear.
¡°Boss Shi.¡± When the call went through, Liang Siyao chose not to beat around the bush. ¡°I¡¯m already at Song Baicheng¡¯s house but...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°He¡¯s dead.¡± She continued, ¡°The murderer is very experienced, no evidence was left behind. There are no wounds on the body either. Please send a doctor here to deal with his body.¡±
¡°Stay on-site, don¡¯t move. Protect the scene, I¡¯ll send people over immediately,¡± came Shi Boren¡¯s voice.
¡°Yes, Boss.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, is he with you?¡±
¡°He...¡± she hesitated.
¡°Don¡¯t you dare lie to me. Pass the phone to him.¡± There was anger in his tone.
She shrugged then passed the phone to Xia Lei.
He took the phone then forced himself to say, ¡°Boss Shi, it¡¯s me. What¡¯s the matter?¡±
Shi Boren¡¯s voice rang from the other side of the phone. ¡°You punk, I made you stay at the Thunder Horse Military Factory for your protection. What are you doing at Song Baicheng¡¯s house? You think you haven¡¯t caused enough trouble?¡±
¡°I couldn¡¯t let her operate alone, so I came. Also, Song Baicheng almost killed me and Tang Yuyan. I wanted to personally capture him,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I knew you would have your excuses. Go back, immediately, now!¡±
¡°Song Baicheng is already dead, I want to help Siyao...¡±
Shi Boren interrupted Xia Lei. ¡°This is an order!¡±
¡°Alright, alright. I¡¯ll return immediately.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°You should go back. Leave this to me.¡±
¡°No, I will stay until the doctores. I want to know the autopsy results.¡±
¡°But Boss Shi had already given you the order, are you going to disobey him?¡± She looked at him with concern.
He grinned. ¡°His orders are only effective on you all, I don¡¯t care much for it. If I disobey him, would he discharge me?¡±
Liang Siyao shrugged. ¡°He won¡¯t discharge you but he will punish me. I¡¯m just a tiny pawn in this game.¡±
Xia Lei was puzzled.
And because of this sudden remark, the atmosphere of the room turned awkward and silent.
Footsteps rang outside the door and chatters could be heard.
¡°Mom, Dad said he¡¯s cooking chicken for us. He even said he¡¯ll bring me to buy some toys after dinner. Are youing with us?¡± A boy¡¯s voice resounded through the hallway.
¡°You only care about food and your toys. What will you do when you grow up? Don¡¯t forget, you have your piano lessons in the afternoon, you need to practice,¡± replied a woman.
¡°Mom! I don¡¯t want to learn piano, I want to buy toys!¡±
¡°Behave!¡± warned thedy. ¡°Eh, why is the door open?¡±
In the bedroom, Xia Lei and Liang Siyao looked at each other then rushed out of the room. They met a middle-aged woman with a little boy aged around seven or eight.
Thedy¡¯s skin was fair and she was elegantly built. The boy was chubby, resembling Song Baicheng. It was obvious that this woman was Song Baicheng¡¯s wife and his son.
¡°You...¡± Thedy was stunned for a moment, then suddenly screamed. ¡°Help! Thieves!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t shout!¡± Liang Siyao quickly stepped forward.¡°We¡¯re not thieves, we¡¯re the police.¡±
Thedy saw Liang Siyao¡¯s gun in her hand then shrieked again. ¡°Help! They¡¯re trying to kill me!¡±
The boy ran out of the door, screaming and sobbing as he ran. ¡°Help! There are bad people here!¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Siyao, keep that gun away, let them be.¡±
She kept her gun.
Thedy suddenly thought of something then rushed back into the bedroom. After a few seconds, there was a shriek that resembled a dying cat. ¡°Baicheng! Baicheng...Ahhh! Wake up!¡±
Chapter 767 Letting Go When Necessary
Song Baicheng¡¯s wife cried so loud that it shook the skies. The police were not here yet but the neighbourhood¡¯s guards and several neighbours arrived. The chubby kid was back again but ady stopped him from entering the bedroom. He was still young, witnessing such a scene would only traumatize him.
Song Baicheng was not a pitiful man but his wife and kid were innocent. The woman had lost her husband and the child had lost his father, both of their lives were about to be changed forever.
When she was done crying, Song Baicheng¡¯s wife wanted to cover him with a nket but Liang Siyao quickly stopped her. ¡°Please don¡¯t touch anything on the crime scene.¡±
¡°The man¡¯s already dead. I want his body to be half decent and not naked on disy. He¡¯s dead, can¡¯t I cover him with a nket?¡± The woman was very emotional.
¡°Once the doctor gives the all-clear, you may do whatever you wish. But not now. You should leave.¡±
¡°This is my home!¡± The woman roared as she rushed at Liang Siyao. ¡°If someone has to go, it should be you all!¡±
Liang Siyao furrowed her brows. ¡°Get out or we will not show restraint!¡±
¡°Who are you anyway? You say you are the police, show me proof!¡± cried the woman, reaching out to grab Liang Siyao¡¯s clothes.
The woman was no match for her. Liang Siyao grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the bedroom.
The woman screamed and cried hysterically in the living room while the neighbours yelled at Liang Siyao for being too rough. It was very noisy and chaotic outside.
Such a scene made Xia Lei¡¯s head hurt but he was also grateful to have Liang Siyao with him. She was a woman, after all. If he were to act in Liang Siyao¡¯s shoes, things would have gone a lot differently.
They both ignored her request that demanded them to present their documents. Bureau 101 and the regr police operated differently. If it was necessary, they could chase everyone out of the house without reservations for their feelings. However, the two did not do so because the mother and son were already in grief. There was no need to salt an already painful wound.
A tensed fifteen minutes passed when something surprising happened. While the special forces from Bureau 101 did not arrive, a group of police did.
When the police arrived, Song Baicheng¡¯s wife started to exin to the team leader as she sobbed while the nosey neighbours also described what happened.
The police who thought they had already understood the situation came before Xia Lei and Liang Siyao. ¡°You both say you¡¯re policemen, which district are you from? Show us your IDs?¡±
Liang Siyao and Xia Lei did not move.
¡°They are not the police, they are the murderers!¡± roared Song Baicheng¡¯s wife.
The leader of the police warned sternly, ¡°If you both do not produce your documents now, we shall take action!¡±
Liang Siyao finally fished out her documents from the National Security Agency and showed the policeman. When he saw her documents, he immediately had a change of attitude.
¡°Bring your men away. This doesn¡¯t concern you,¡± said Liang Siyao.
The leader of the policemen was hesitant.
At this point, another few people appeared at the door, leading them was Ling Han.
When Xia Lei saw Ling Han, he wondered. ¡®Song Baicheng just died, how did Ling Han receive news so quickly? And he brought his men with him too.¡¯
Ling Hanforted Song Baicheng¡¯s wife then walked over to Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, long time no see. Why are you here?¡±
¡°Why are you here?¡± Xia Lei asked him the same question.
Ling Han replied, ¡°I rushed over when I received the call.¡±
¡°Who called you?¡± Xia Lei asked.
Ling Han frowned. ¡°Xia Lei, what do you mean by this? Are you investigating me now?¡±
¡°No, I am just curious, just asking,¡± Xia Lei said tly.
¡°If you are just curious, then I have questions too. Why are you here?¡± Ling Han¡¯s re turned cold.
¡°I¡¯m here to arrest him,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Arrest him?
¡°What happened at the West province was rted to him. He leaked intel to the Japenese. This is treason, he betrayed the country,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Bullshit!¡± Song Baicheng¡¯s wife roared hysterically. ¡°That¡¯s bullshit! You¡¯re lying! My husband is a good man, not a criminal!¡±
Xia Lei did not reply. Arguing with this woman was not worth it
Ling Han just held up a hand and the woman stopped talking.
¡°Do you have evidence?¡± he asked Xia Lei.
¡°Would I havee otherwise?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Show me.¡±
¡°Who are you? Why would I show you the evidence?¡± said Xia Lei.
A cold smile crept up the corner of Ling Han¡¯s lips. ¡°Your wings have hardened. Fine, I am not interested in your so-called evidence anyway. Song Baicheng is my subordinate, a member of my department. We have professionals to deal with matters like this, we do not need your help. Please leave.¡±
¡°You want us to leave? What right do you have?¡± Xia Lei said coldly. ¡°Also, why are you in such a hurry for us to leave? Is there something you¡¯re not telling me?¡±
¡°Watch what you say.¡± There was a hint of anger in Ling Han¡¯s voice.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°On what grounds are you asking us to leave? I want you all to leave now, get out!¡±
¡°Liang Siyao, you don¡¯t have the authority to speak to me like that.¡± Ling Han looked at her. ¡°Do you want me to dig out the things you did at the CIA?¡±
¡°You...¡± Liang Siyao was so angry she could not speak.
Ignoring Xia Lei and Liang Siyao, Ling Han and his men entered Song Baicheng¡¯s bedroom.
¡°What do they want?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
¡°They are our department¡¯s specialists. They will conduct investigations to find out the reason for Song Baicheng¡¯s death. He deserves this,¡± said Ling Han.
¡°Pathologist?¡±
¡°Something like that.¡±
¡°No!¡± Liang Siyao wanted to stop them.
Xia Lei grabbed her by the arm. She turned to look at him and he shook his head.
¡°They...¡± she wanted to say something but stopped.
Xia Lei pulled her to a corner of the living room then whispered in her ear. ¡°Song Baicheng and Ling Han were transferred to Yu Shanhe¡¯s department. That is an independent body, they have their own investigative team and even their own court. They do have the right to investigate.¡±
¡°It¡¯s like thieves guarding their own loot!¡± Liang Siyao was very angry but had to whisper.
¡°I know. It¡¯s as clear as day.¡±
¡°So that¡¯s it?¡± Liang Siyao was not satisfied.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Song Baicheng is dead. Any evidence we have is useless. If you force a confrontation with that, you¡¯ll just lose.¡±
Liang Siyao looked at Xia Lei, her gaze softening. ¡°You let go because you wanted to protect me?¡±
He nodded. Based on his past experience, with Song Baicheng¡¯s death, the incident of West province hade to a close. The culprit would escape thew, Ling Han and Yu Shanhe would not be involved. On the other hand, Liang Siyao was a woman who ¡®leapt¡¯ from CIA to Bureau 101. If she stubbornly pursued the case, she would only get herself into more trouble.
¡°Let Boss Shi deal with this, do not interfere,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Siyao grunted lightly, then said, ¡°The murderer will escape thew and nothing will happen to the person who betrayed you. It¡¯s so unfair.¡±
¡°The world has never been fair. I don¡¯t want to confront people like Ling Han and Yu Shanhe over Song Baicheng¡¯s death like this either. However, I will not stop here. For now, all we can do is wait.¡±
Revenge could wait.
The agents from Bureau 101 and the doctors arrived but upon their arrival, Ling Han¡¯s ¡®specialists¡¯ had determined the cause of his death. It was a blood clot in the brain.
Xia Lei saw the body once again, his hair had been shaved. The person¡¯s shaving skills were horrible, leaving cuts on the man¡¯s head. There were two cuts on the coin-shaped birthmark. Song Baicheng¡¯s body now matched the conclusion that his death was from a blood clot in the brain.
Xia Lei, however, was not surprised by this.
The doctor from Bureau 101 wanted to check the body but Song Baicheng¡¯s wife rushed forward and cried hysterically. She did not let them perform a second autopsy on the body.
¡°The man is dead. Why must you check twice? What do you all want? Baicheng ah! You were good at your job, you served well...Sob...Now that you¡¯re dead, they are just ruining your body...¡± his wife cried.
Xia Lei looked at the wife and suddenly understood something. A cold smirk crept up his lips. He initially pitied the woman and her child but realized he was being too kind. A detail surfaced in his mind. She cried relentlessly in front of Liang Siyao and himself but stopped when Ling Han raised his hand. He spected that this woman must be very familiar with Ling Han.
¡°She¡¯s very good at acting so I couldn¡¯t tell. Who is she?¡± Xia Lei mulled over the incident privately though he did not ask aloud. If he wanted to perform investigations on the woman, it would not be smart to speak now. The better option would be to turn to Fan Fan.
It was difficult for Bureau 101¡¯s doctors to do their job due to the woman¡¯s antics. They looked at Xia Lei and Liang Siyao for help.
¡°What about this, since we already have autopsy results, we¡¯ll take their results. Of course, this is just my opinion. If you need formal instructions, you know who to ask.¡± When Xia Lei finished, he turned to Liang Siyao ¡°Siyao, let¡¯s go.¡±
She nodded obediently then left with Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei.¡± Ling Han halted him. ¡°We¡¯re brothers, I have something to say to you.¡±
Xia Lei turned to look at him. ¡°Tell me.¡±
¡°Sometimes, retreating when the current is too strong is a good choice.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Thank you, I have something to tell you too.¡±
¡°Go ahead.¡±
¡°A criminal¡¯s path is doomed. Sometimes, giving up evil for good is a good choice.¡±
Ling Han smiled. ¡°Good one.¡±
¡°Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei waved then left with Liang Siyao.
The two men could not wait for the other to die but were ever so polite to each other on the surface.
Liang Siyao found this very odd.
Chapter 768 - Clumsy Language
It was a dark night. The seasons have shifted and autumn had arrived bringing with it a cold breeze.
An orangemp lit a bottle of red wine and two people sitting across each other. It was not important what they were eating but the warm romantic atmosphere was all that mattered.
Liang Siyao could barely hide her smile. Under the dim light, Xia Lei felt like he had traveled through time back to when he was at Haizhu. At that time, Xia Lei¡¯s career had just begun and he did not have much money. However, he was still willing to take her out for expensive Western meals and even bought her a BMW M6 worth over two million. At the time, he was deeply in love with her. He was not just gentle, he was also caring and always thought of ways to make her happy. But now...
When she thought about her rtionship with Xia Lei now, her smile disappeared and her heart was filled with sadness and anxiety. She wanted to be as close to him as before but it was easier said than done. She was very clear about all the rtionships he had with the other women. The first problem she had to face was, would Xia Lei cut off all ties with them for her? Long Bing, Tang Yuyan, Shentu Tianyin, Jiang Ruti, and the two German women. Every one of them had a history with Xia Lei. They were equally as important if not more. What right did she have to ask Xia Lei to give up on his rtionship with them?
After downing half a bottle of red wine, her face grew a few shades redder. She gazed intently at Xia Lei, her watery eyes about to swallow Xia Lei whole.
Xia Lei grew slightly ufortable. ¡°You¡¯ve drunk enough, let¡¯s just call it a day. You shouldn¡¯t drive either, just stay a night here.¡±
Sheughed, covering her mouth. ¡°Are you hinting at something?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m not. I¡¯ll get someone to arrange a room for you,¡± he said as he stood up.
Under the table, Liang Siyao suddenly stepped on the back of his foot. She had no shoe on, their skin separated just by a thinyer of ck pantyhose. It was a deadlybo that budded his lust.
Her legs were the most beautiful ones Xia Lei had ever seen. Her bold advances had his mind filled with images of her beautiful legs, slender and fit. d in ck stockings, they were the ultimate eye candy.
If alcohol could have the male adrenaline pumping, then it surely would have the female hormones on a rampage. Liang Siyao was definitely thetter while Xia Lei was the former. Though the two had remained silent and appeared calm, the air was filled with their raging pheromones. It was the unbeknownst spark to a fire, a fire strong enough to trigger an explosion of emotions that may happen by surprise.
How hard would it be to reignite an old me?
Perhaps all it required was a subtle seduction.
Just like that, she traced her toes along the length of Xia Lei¡¯s calf, snaking to the insides of his thigh. Her delicate foot was like a serpent in search of its nest, circling the barks of the trees and sliding in between gaps before disappearing into the bushes.
Xia Lei frowned but not because he was ufortable, but because his body was losing control. He was very clear what the little guy wanted to do. However, it was something his rationale did not allow. This made him feel very awkward and it felt horrible.
Liang Siyao initially thought Xia Lei would stop her but he did not. He sat there frozen like a log. She liked this response, she took it as silent eptance. The beautiful serpentine grew bolder by the second.
¡°Siyao, don¡¯t do this, we...¡± Xia Lei still had some reason within him but it was growing thinner and thinner by the second.
¡°Lei, I have been feeling awful after the breakup. If you give me one more chance, I will never betray you. Just give me a chance, take me in.¡± Her eyes were aze with passion.
¡°Siyao, give me a little more time.¡±
¡°No, I won¡¯t. I want you now.¡±
Xia Lei was silent.
¡°I am not asking to marry you, nor do I want you to marry me. I just don¡¯t want such a lonely life.¡± Her eyes were tearing up now from the overflowing emotions.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure what softened his heart, be it her begging or beautiful legs, but the walls surrounding his heart immediately came crumbling down. He stood up immediately then swept the tes and wine bottle off the table unto the ground.
tes, bottles and wine sses shattered as they fell.
Liang Siyao also stood up, mbering unto the table. The distance between them vanished as two pairs of soft lips fell on each other. There were no words. Just clumsy bodynguage expressing their feelings.
The ck silk pantyhose was ripped.
The ck cotton was pulled aside.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Amidst the heated moment, the phone suddenly rang. Xia Lei stopped. He knew very well which phone rang. It was the satellite phone he used tomunicate with the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
¡°S..sorry, I have to take this call.¡± Xia Lei turned to leave but within two steps, his pants fell to his ankles. Frantically, he pulled them up then walked awkwardly out of the restaurant.
The woman lying on the table stared at his back as he left. She wanted to die.
As he left the restaurant, Xia Lei answered the call. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±
¡°Xia Lei.¡± Dark Mona¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°Have you prepared the fifty million US dors?¡±
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s ready. When will the exchange be?¡±
¡°Tomorrow.¡±
¡°Where?¡±
¡°Russia, Siberia.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°Why Siberia?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t need to give you an exnation. Come alone before six in the afternoon. If you bring anyone, I¡¯ll kill Amanda and Park Taeyong.¡±
Xia Lei fell silent. Dark Mona wanted him toe along for the trade in the vast, quiet wastnds of Siberia. This was obviously a trap for him to walk into. If he went, it would be a trap more dangerous than the one in the West province!
He was silent for a moment before he said, ¡°Change the time, change the ce. My men will trade with your men. I will give you exactly fifty million US dors and I guarantee that you¡¯ll receive it with noplications.¡±
¡°That works too.¡± Dark Mona continued, ¡°You set the time and ce, but it must not be in China.¡±
¡°Alright, then let¡¯s trade at Palestine. Peshawar, tomorrow six in the afternoon.¡±
¡°Sure, but I want thirty million dors as deposit now.¡±
¡°How could you?¡± Xia Lei declined immediately. ¡°I have already shown my sincerity, you better stop taking advantage of this!¡±
¡°Are you threatening me?¡± Dark Monaughed a very coldugh. ¡°Xia Lei, I will give you ten minutes now to transfer thirty million dors into my bank ount. Miss the deadline and our deal is void. But rest assured, I¡¯ll mail their ears to you as souvenirs.¡±
¡°How dare you!¡± Xia Lei clenched his jaw.
¡°You have nine minutes left,¡± came Dark Mona¡¯s voice. ¡°Perhaps you don¡¯t need the ten minutes after all. Do you want me to kill Amanda and Park Taeyong now?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s threats were futile. No matter how vicious his threats were, Xia Lei could not touch Dark Mona. All she only needed to do was to press a button to kill Amanda and Park Taeyong!
¡°Alright. I¡¯m not going to waste more time negotiating with you, I¡¯ll kill them off now.¡± He heard sounds of Dark Mona giving instructions from the satellite phone. ¡°Bring them out and chop off their heads!¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Xia Lei suppressed the fury he had. ¡°Send me your bank ount details. I¡¯ll transfer thirty million to you. Let me talk to them.¡±
¡°No problem.¡±
Liang Siyao walked out of the restaurant. She watched Xia Lei from afar but didn¡¯t approach.
The cold moonlight shone on her.
It seemed that she was unaware of how wide her cors were apart, exposing most of her chest to the breeze. Her pantyhose had arge gash along her inner thigh, her pale smooth skin vulnerable to the air. She looked beautiful but ravished, as if she was assaulted.
Xia Lei did not notice Liang Siyao behind him, for he was frantically waiting for Amanda or Park¡¯s voice from the phone. Thirty million dors as the deposit was no small sum but that was the least of his concerns now. He was genuinely worried for their safety.
One minuteter, he heard Amanda¡¯s voice. ¡°Boss, it¡¯s me.¡±
Her voice was very weak. She must have been tortured which rendered her voice to a slur.
Xia Lei heaved a small sigh of relief. ¡°Are you alright?¡±
¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m very happy to have worked under you, it¡¯s true! That was the happiest time of my life,¡± said Amanda.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will save you both.¡±
¡°No, don¡¯t trust her!¡±
He heard someone being kicked over the phone, then the sound of someone mmed against a wall and copsing.
Although he couldn¡¯t see it, he knew they were beating her up. He was furious but there was nothing he could do.
Park Taeyong¡¯s voice soon followed. ¡°Boss, leave us be. We are ready.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t say that. I will save you both, trust me!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you understand? She will not...¡±
p! It was the sound of a harsh p.
¡°Boss, if I die, burn a Lamborghini for me, alright?¡±
¡°Youe back and I¡¯ll give you a real one!¡±
¡°Hahaha... You¡¯re so kind, you¡¯re really so so so kind. I am very happy to have known you.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t give up!¡± Xia Lei roared over the phone.
He heard Dark Mona¡¯s voice over the satellite phone. ¡°I have already fulfilled your request, you will receive my bank ount number immediately. I want to see the money in my ount in ten minutes.¡±
He clenched his jaw. ¡°You will receive the money, but if you dare hurt them, I will personally send you to hell!¡±
But Dark Mona had already hung up.
A few secondster, he received Dark Mona¡¯s ount number on his satellite phone.
Chapter 769 - Sister Disciples Self-Serving Plan
Xia Lei gave the ount number Dark Mona sent to Guan Lingshan, instructing her to transfer the money. Five minutester, Guan Lingshan called him back notifying him that the transaction wasplete.
Although he had fulfilled his part of the deal, Xia Lei was still very worried. He was not out of the fire just yet.
Amanda and Park Taeyong had told him that Dark Mona was not to be trusted. He too knew that she was not to be trusted but what other choice did he have? Even if it was tossing thirty million dors into the trash, he was willing to do it if it gave Amanda and Park Taeyong a chance to survive.
Would theye back alive?
He wasn¡¯t sure.
Liang Siyao walked over and asked gently, ¡°What happened?¡±
Xia Lei snapped back to reality, he sighed. ¡°Siyao, don¡¯t ask.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t trust me?¡±
¡°What are you talking about?¡± He was not in his best mood.
¡°I may have betrayed you but I swear it will not happen again.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Siyao, this isn¡¯t about that. If I didn¡¯t trust you, would I have helped you return? Would I have drunk with you?¡± He didn¡¯t even reveal to Long Bing and Tang Yuyan about the secrets of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. He didn¡¯t wish for Liang Siyao to know either.
¡°Alright then, let me tell you a secret.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Siyao, you don¡¯t have to...¡±
¡°I am the pig,¡± she said suddenly.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was stunned for a moment. ¡°What did you say?¡±
¡°I am the pig,¡± she repeated.
Xia Lei looked at Liang Siyao with a different gaze. When Liang Siyao said she was a pig, he took it literally. However, the second time around, he felt like he understood something. Suddenly he thought of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and how curious he was about the current pig¡¯s identity.
¡°What do you mean?¡± he probed.
¡°I am the pig.¡± It was the same thing.
¡°Quit joking around.¡± Xia Lei was very stern.
Liang Siyao suddenly hugged him. ¡°You think I returned to China to serve the country? Or I returned because I was at a dead-end?¡±
Her body was soft but he was stiff.
Liang Siyao whispered into his ear, ¡°You¡¯re wrong, I returned to China because of you. When I was still in the CIA, I met your father. He told me that you were not safe. Not everyone in Bureau 101 was your friend and you needed a confidante in the bureau who could truly help you during times of need. I know this waspletely a self-serving n and I promised your father. I returned to China, joined the bureau and I was your confidante. I got rid of the previous Russiandy and reced her, taking her position. I¡¯m aware of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team¡¯s existence and I know how important it is to you.¡±
This was the reason why she betrayed the CIA to return to China and joined the Bureau.
He knew this was not as simple as working for a differentpany. If anyone caught wind of this, she would be killed! On the other hand, the CIA would release a kill order for their assassins and special forces team to get rid of her whenever they could!
She wanted to prove herself but while doing so, put her life at risk!
He knew the symbolism behind the pig of the team. People reared pigs to raise them and then ughter them for their meat. In the past, Yevgeniya was in the same predicament. Now, it was Liang Siyao¡¯s turn. The team required a character that could be sacrificed, the pig fulfilled this role.
His heart melted. The knots he had, the mental obstacles he had all vanished.
¡°You understand now?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice cracked. ¡°For you, I willy my life down. I am willing to die for you. I can give you anything, including my life and yet you refuse to give me a chance to be by your side?¡±
¡°Why tell me now?¡±
¡°If I told you I entered the Bureau 101 to be a spy for you, would you have agreed to it?¡±
If she had told him everything, he definitely would have objected it.
¡°I can¡¯t believe my father. How could he do something like this to you? Do you know if you were found out, you will be shot dead!¡±
¡°I am willing to do whatever it takes for you. Don¡¯t me your father. He was also someone the Bureau 101 wanted to catch so he needed contact who could send him information from the inside.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t work for Bureau 101 anymore. Resign and join me at mypany tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, you have too many enemies. Shi Boren is hitting the retirement age soon, once he retires, can you guarantee that the new director will be on your side? I know you want to say that Tang Yuyan will be the new director but there is no absolute guarantee in a power y like this. ZN¡¯s Ling Han and Fan Fan are an example of this. Everyone expected Ling Han but in the end, it was Fan Fan who took over. On the other hand, the Tangs¡¯ have always been ambitious so if they had a better choice, Tang Yuyan might not be the director. You cannot control all these things. Once Bureau 101 no longer protects you, your true value will be exposed.¡±
¡°Siyao, how can you not understand...¡±
¡°No, I understand everything. What I don¡¯t understand is you. Do you know the saying that the one who holds the treasure is in danger? The secret you hide within you is your biggest threat. You need me in Bureau 101. I have made my decision. Don¡¯t tell your father either, he didn¡¯t want you to learn of my identity.¡±
Xia Lei nodded soundlessly.
¡°Will you forgive me?¡± Liang Siyao gazed at him in anticipation. She looked anxious.
Xia Lei suddenly kissed her.
The kiss was his answer. It was more convincing than any words.
During the passionate kiss, everything she had ever done shed across her mind. In Seoul, South Korea, she risked herself to save him. In Jerusalem, she neutralized the soldiers after him.
She had always been trying to correct what she had done. Now, she was using her life as a gambling chip to prove herself. If Xia Lei could still push her away so heartlessly in the face of such love, without so much as a chance, then he did not deserve her.
¡°Give it to me.¡± Liang Siyao clutched his belt, her hands shaking. ¡°I have almost forgotten how it felt to be touched by you.¡±
It was as if her words cut directly into his heart. He had no way to control the burning passion in him anymore. With a swift motion, he carried her and strode towards a restaurant...
Because it was the closest to them.
Because the table was empty.
Because the silk pantyhose was ripped.
Because the all-cotton fabric had already been tugged aside...
The quiet night was no longer quiet, nor could the tightly closed windows and doors cut out the sounds from what was happening on the meal table and sister disciple¡¯s moans. These peculiar sounds soon triggered a cacophony of crickets outside and the frogs in the pond who sang with joy.
After a few rounds of passionate lovemaking, the restaurant finally settled in a peaceful atmosphere.
Liang Siyao was quietly lying in his embrace, toozy to do anything or say anything. Her heart was filled with joy. It felt great to reconcile with the man she loved.
¡°Siyao, I still don¡¯t want you to stay in Bureau 101. You should resign and I¡¯m serious about it.¡± Xia Lei caressed her dark hair, his eyes filled with worry.
¡°Can we not talk? I just want to lie here in your arms quietly forever.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was soft and unenergetic.
Xia Lei was not the Xia Lei from years ago. If Xia Lei from years ago was the national football yer of China, then he would be the Barcelona of the universe now.
Xia Lei thought to himself. ¡°I¡¯ll find another opportunity to talk to her again. This is too dangerous. If anything happens to her, how would I face Master?¡±
¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± Liang Siyao looked at him with her watery eyes.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ll go check if there¡¯s anything in the fridge and bring them over for you.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want anything from the fridge. I want something hot, I¡¯ll get it myself alright?¡±
Xia Lei did not say anything.
Beep beep beep, beep beep beep...
The satellite phone in his clothes rang again.
Xia Lei quickly leaped off the table and fished out the phone from his pocket.
With a lick of her lips, she looked at him quietly.
Dark Mona¡¯s voice came from the satellite phone. ¡°Xia Lei, I have received your money. You¡¯re a punctual man.¡±
¡°Stop with the bullshit. You have the money now. Send your men to Peshawar tomorrow, you will receive the remaining money tomorrow. I guarantee there will be no problems from the trade. I just want my people back.¡± Xia Lei could not wait to chop Dark Mona into pieces but his voice was filled with sincerity.
He paid the money, let go of his pride, all to save Amanda and Park Taeyong.
¡°Hehehe...¡± Dark Mona chuckled maliciously.
Sensing something, Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank.
¡°Xia Lei, oh, Xia Lei, what can I say? You¡¯re the most powerful opponent I have ever had, but also the most naive. With thirty million in hand, why would I bother releasing them?¡±
¡°Do not pull anything with me. Killing them will not bring any benefit to you.¡±
¡°Why not? Killing them would mean two less strong opponents to defeat when Ie for you.¡±
¡°How dare you!¡± roared Xia Lei.
¡°It feels good to infuriate you. I have already made preparations, I will send you a pictureter. If you want revenge, I wee you to the training camps of Siberia. I am here.¡±
Xia Lei bit his lip so hard till he bled.
Abruptly, the sound of her angry shouts could be heard over the phone. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have killed Gu Kewen! Do you know how valuable she was to me? You bastard! You killed Gu Kewen and thought I would let your people go! I¡¯ll send them to hell...¡± Bang! Bang!
He heard two gunshots.
The line went silent.
Tears started to flow from Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
He soon received a picture on his satellite phone. Amanda and Park Taeyong were now dead. The cruelest thing was that not only did Dark Mona use a gun, but she also beheaded them. The blood flowing from their bodies took up a third of the photo.
¡°My photography skills aren¡¯t too bad, don¡¯t you think?¡± he heard Dark Mona¡¯s voice once again.
Xia Lei took a deep breath. His voice sliced through the phone lie a knife, ¡°I will personally cut you to pieces and feed the dogs. I will find the FA group¡¯s headquarters and urinate on it.¡±
Dark Mona hung up.
Xia Lei stood still as if his soul had left his body.
¡°Lei Zi, I...¡± Liang Siyao wanted tofort him but she didn¡¯t know what to say.
Words seemed so feeble in the face of such a moment.
He suddenly said, ¡°Siyao, search up the contact of the Knights Hospitaller.¡±
Liang Siyao was stunned for a moment. ¡°Do you mean the Malta Knights?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the same thing.¡±
¡°Why... Why do you need the Knights Hospitaller?¡±
He forced a word through his teeth. ¡°Revenge.¡±
Chapter 770 - X-Ray Vision and Silver Metal
It was very quiet underground.
Xia Lei spaced out as he stared at the silver piece of metal he had brought out of the underground chamber.
Da Vinci said it was a portion of an angel¡¯s sword. The Knights Hospitallers then coined it God¡¯s Metal and were willing to get their hands on it no matter the cost. Da Vinci didn¡¯t have any conclusive results from his studies while the Knights had paid a terrible price for it\. This was the piece of silver metal¡¯s story. It was a mysterious piece of ancient alloy indeed.
¡®If it is merely a piece chipped off the sword, where is the rest of it? Could it be with the Knights Hospitallers? Perhaps they wanted this piece toplete the entire sword?¡¯ This was what Xia Lei thought to himself.
In a moment, his left eye twitched again as he summoned his X-ray vision.
When he looked at the piece of ancient alloy, his vision turned dark. It felt as if he was close to death. It gave off an aura of dread and despair. This time, he did not ¡®fall into the darkness¡¯ nor was he afraid. His vision slowly prated the metal like how a piece of cotton fabric is slowly dipped into a tub of water. Slowly but surely, he reached its core. He was now one with the piece of metal.
There was nothing special about it. He felt the same as using his vision on a regr piece of metal, like silver or aluminum. It didn¡¯t have a very dense atomic structure, perhaps it was not even as dense as titanium alloy.
¡°That¡¯s odd. It could easily scratch metal while remaining scratch-free itself. It¡¯s very light, yet hard. I have run tests on its durability and it was found to be harder than titanium alloy, then why does it feel so normal? Did I overestimate its abilities?¡± Xia Lei was very puzzled. After that, maintaining his X-ray vision, he summoned his magnifying abilities.
When he magnified his vision, what he saw through his left eye instantly changed. It was as if he had stepped under a night sky. There were countless stars shining in the sky, twinkling.
He suddenly thought of the drawing of the starry skies in the chamber. That drawing was made of minerals. After Zhu Xuanyue awoke, the minerals disappeared, leaving the canvas behind. At the time, when he looked at the drawing it was as if the bits of minerals were rotating like nebulous stars in the sky. In this piece of metal, the shiny mineral bits were motionless.
¡°What are these bits of minerals?¡± Xia Lei was very surprised.
Ring... Ring...
The abrupt ringtone interrupted his train of thought and the X-ray vision he had on the metal.
It was Liang Siyao. ¡°I have the information you wanted.¡±
¡°Go on.¡±
¡°I am outside your mansion,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ming.¡± Xia Lei hung up. He thought for a moment then took the piece of silver metal, cing it in his pocket before leaving the undergroundboratory.
Exiting his mansion, he immediately saw Liang Siyao standing under a marlberry tree. She was d in a grey linen shirt and skinny jeans. Under the loose-fitting shirt were two tall mountains on disy. The tight jeans showed off her curves perfectly, entuating her full behind. It was a simple, yet flirtatious outfit.
Her face had some color today, satisfied byst night¡¯s rendezvous. Catching sight of Xia Lei, she immediately shed him a smile and could barely hide her joy and emotion in her eyes.
Liang Siyao was happy enough just to see him. Imagine if he gave her a hug and a kiss. She would have been over the moon.
Xia Lei walked over and in a low voice said, ¡°You didn¡¯t have toe. YOu could have texted or emailed me.¡±
Liang Siyao replied, ¡°Regr phone calls are not safe. Coming in person was the only way I could ensureplete privacy.¡± The truth was that she wanted to see Xia Lei. She felt like a teenage girl who had tasted passion for the first time. Her heart itched for more after having been apart for a day. However, she would never tell Xia Lei this.
¡°Mmm, it¡¯s better to be cautious anyway.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t dwell on the topic, leading Liang Siyao ahead.
When they were further from the mansion, Liang Siyao finally said, ¡°I found the Roman official telephone line for the Malta underground chamber but I know you obviously don¡¯t want that. So I dug deeper and found the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s leader, Walton¡¯s private number.¡±
¡°Alright.¡±
Liang Siyao gave him a number then said, ¡°I really don¡¯t understand why you want to contact them. This is a mercenary group from the Middle Ages. They¡¯re as good as dead.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°You¡¯re wrong there. The Knights Hospitallers have their own military power, More than they let on¡±
¡°You...¡± Liang Siyao suddenly understood. ¡°You¡¯re contacting them to hire their mercenaries? You need mercenaries to help you with your revenge?¡±
It wasn¡¯t hard for her to piece the puzzle together.
However, the image of the dead Amanda and Park Taeyong shed before Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
Liang Siyao held Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°I know you¡¯re in grief but you have to remain calm. From a certain aspect, the Knights Hospitaller is practically a country. They have very firm beliefs and you cannot buy them over with money.¡±
¡°I have my ways, just leave it to me.¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes. ¡°We have reconciled, yet you still treat me as an outsider?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to involve you in this. Getting involved will not benefit you.¡±
¡°I know you care for me, you don¡¯t want to see me in danger but I am still your woman. We can share the burden together.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°Must a woman always interfere with a man¡¯s work?¡±
¡°Alright, alright, I¡¯ll leave you alone, alright? You think you¡¯re so macho...¡±
Xia Lei pped her ass.
And just with one p, the resentment in Liang Siyao dissipated. Her heart melted and her knees buckled. She didn¡¯t know where her sudden well of courage came from but without checking if there were any people around them, she hooked herself unto his neck and gave him a passionate kiss.
There were indeed people around him, a few construction workers were passing by.
¡°Fuck, Mr Xia has another one? Her legs are gorgeous!¡±
¡°Shut up, do you know who she is?¡±
¡°Who is she?¡±
¡°You¡¯re new, so you don¡¯t know. Let me tell you, kid, she was Mr Xia¡¯s first girlfriend Liang Siyao. She¡¯s a Wing Chun expert. I am willing to bet she could take down fifty of you without a sweat!¡±
¡°Fifty? You must be exaggerating. But she has gorgeous legs!¡±
¡°Why did she break up with Mr Xia?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know but who could ever leave him? Look at this, they broke up but she came back anyway.¡±
¡°Speaking of which, when is Queen Shentuing back?¡±
¡°How would I know, why don¡¯t you ask Mr Xia?¡±
¡°Do your work, stop fantasizing.¡±
The few workersughed and left. Liang Siyao was satisfied, finally willing to let Xia Lei go. She grinned. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid they¡¯ll see you?¡±
He shrugged. ¡°So what if they do? I don¡¯t care what they think, do you?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care either. Alright, the man has his work while thedy...has her own work too¡± Liang Siyao smiled then turned to leave.
Xia Lei stared as she left. He was not in a hurry to call Walton but instead when to the materialsboratory in the Thunder Horse factory.
The materialsboratory was a very important facility. The materials used to make weapons had to pass a quality check performed by this facility and enter the manufacturing area. Plus, they were also performing some research on new materials to help with the advancement of technology within the business. Thisboratory didn¡¯t just consist of regr staff. There were highly-paid material scientists too.
Xia Lei turned to the person in charge of theboratory when he arrived. It was a material scientist named Li Youdun. ¡°Could you look into this piece of metal for me? Is there a way to slice a little off for analysis?¡±
He took out the piece of silver-colored metal and ced it in Li Youdun¡¯s palm.
Li Youdun took a look, then asked with surprise, ¡°Director Xia, what metal is this? I have never seen such a thing before.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t ask questions. Just answer mine,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°We have just brought back a high-precisionser cutter. But Director Xia, how much do you want to slice off?¡± Li Youdun was obviously not sure what ¡®a little¡¯ meant.
¡°As small as possible. Small to the point where one could not tell that it has been tampered with. You understand?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Li Youdun nodded. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll get to it immediately.¡±
¡°How much time do you need?¡±
¡°It will be done very quickly but I am not sure how long analysis will take.¡±
¡°Go, I¡¯ll wait here.¡±
Once Li Youdun left, Xia Lei sat at his office desk and pulled out his phone to call the number Liang Siyao gave him.
The phone rang for about fifty seconds before it was answered. A man asked in Italian, ¡°Who are you? Who gave you this number?¡±
It was obvious Liang Siyao had given him a number that was not avable to the public. They had every right to be cautious.
In Italian, he answered, ¡°I am Xia Lei.¡±
The man on the other side of the phone was silent for at least thirty seconds before saying, ¡°It¡¯s you, the Chinese thief.¡±
¡°Thief? If you speak to me like that, we will not speak again. And you will never see the thing you all want so much,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t you do what thieves do? That is something very sacred to us! You should not have stolen it. What about this, I will give you one million US dors and you give it back to us? Also, I can also bend the rules and grant you a knighthood so you will be an aristocrat.¡±
¡°One million dors? Heh.¡± Xia Lei snickered coldly. ¡°What about this, I pay you one million dors and you apologize to me. What do you think?¡±
¡°Do you know who I am?¡± There was angerced in his voice.
¡°Bishop Walton, leader of the Knights Hospitallers. Perhaps you might have secret military mercenaries withmanders or something but let me tell you this. I don¡¯t care. If you don¡¯t respect me, I will not respect you. I called you not to confess my sins, I called to propose a business with you.¡±
Walton went silent for a moment. ¡°What is this business about?¡±
¡°God¡¯s metal. I can give it to you.¡±
¡°You... What do you want from us?¡± Walton was so emotional his voice shook.
¡°Send someone who has the power to make decisions to talk to me. I would also ept a personal visit from you.¡±
¡°What are you trying to achieve?!¡± Walton asked again.
¡°Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Chapter 771 - Solving the Mystery of the Silver Metal
Xia Lei was painfully aware that he was no match for the FA organization. Although the FA organization¡¯s capabilities andpetency were far behind that of CIA¡¯s, it was still equivalent to a small or medium-scale National Intelligence Service agency. He wasn¡¯t sure about the number of special forces the FA had. He did not even know where they were located. Hence, it was only natural for him to require assistance to go against such an invisible yet strong enemy.
The Knights Hospitaller were the only ones who could help him.
The Knights Hospitaller had nearly a thousand-year history. Since the medieval kingdom of Jerusalem, they had their own army and they even managed to build their own country. Although their glorious feats had phased out over time, their ability to stay as an organization for almost a thousand years was something note-worthy. There was no way they could¡¯ve achieved this without ability and power.
Though the era of the knights had passed, the existence of religious fanatics would never die down. They were the reason why the Knight Hospitaller was still relevant today. The power of faith was terrifying and the knights had possessed it. That had contributed to Xia Lei¡¯s opinion that the Knight Hospitaller was as strong as the FA organization, stronger even!
There was some bad blood between Xia Lei and the Knight Hospitaller as he had killed some of their members back in France and Italy. But enemies could be friends through mutual benefit. The sacred relic of the Knight Hospitaller was in his hands and they would do anything to retrieve it. Therefore, as long as he was able to seize this opportunity, he could reach his goal with the smallest price to pay. Wiping out Dark Mona and the FA organization!
That was his n.
But before anything else, he had to figure out what the silver metal was.
As he filtered through his thoughts, Li Youdon had returned. Other than the metal in hand, the scientist had a small box for rock specimens in the other.
¡°Director Xia, this metal is really peculiar. It¡¯s light and not very dense, but its strength was almost ten times stronger than that of high-strength titanium alloys!¡± eximed Li Youdon.
Xia Lei was taken aback. He replied with shock in his voice, ¡°Are you sure about that?¡±
The scientist nodded. ¡°Yes, Director Xia. Before cutting it, I had run some experiments on it and found that it was stronger than high-strength titanium alloy. It was difficult to even scratch it with ourser. I suspect that this metal could even withstand the speed of light.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked beyond belief. High-strength titanium alloy was an indispensable material forponents of aircraft enginepressors, rockets, missiles, and high-speed aircraft. China¡¯s titanium alloygged far behind the developed Western countries, which had contributed to theirck of good self-produced fighter jets and engines. If this metal could be replicated and applied in the aviation field, China would essentially surpass them overnight!
¡°Director Xia, this wasn¡¯t taken from a UFO, right?¡± questioned Li Youdon as he eyed Xia Lei suspiciously.
Immediately, Xia Lei frowned. ¡°UFO? Where would you even find one?¡±
There was no way he would tell Li Youdon of its origin.
¡°Sorry, Director Xia. I didn¡¯t mean to offend you. I was just curious,¡± exined Li Youdon as he passed the silver metal and box to Xia Lei. ¡°I did as you told and cut off a small piece of it. Please take a look.¡±
Xia Lei opened the box to find a piece of metal smaller than a grain of rice. He then looked at therger block. Surprisingly, the metal seemed unscarred with no signs of being cut.
¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± asked Xia Lei. ¡°Did you smoothen the cut marks?¡±
¡°Nope. To be honest, I¡¯m just as confused,¡± answered Li Youdon.
Any material would¡¯ve had cut marks after a piece was removed, but this silver metal had no traces of maniption. It felt as if the metal had repaired itself.
¡°Run a chemical test on the smaller piece,¡± instructed Xia Lei as he returned the box to Li Youdon.
¡°Alright, Director Xia. Right away.¡± Li Youdon was eager to continue his experiments.
¡°Wait, I¡¯lle with you,¡± said Xia Lei abruptly.
With that, Xia Lei spent thirty hours in the materialboratory. When they left the next day, it was already evening.
In this long thirty hours, Xia Lei and Li Youdon had attempted every test possible.
The oue had surprised him.
The main constituent of this mysterious silver metal turned out to be carbon.
Carbon was everywhere in this world, appearing in various forms like diamonds, graphites, coal and many more. It was also the key ingredient to perfumes, rubber, stic, petroleum and even explosives. Carbon existed in our bodies. The only way humans differed from diamonds is the way the carbon atoms were arranged.
Now, carbon was also found in this mysterious piece of metal, and it was a non-metallic element. Its existence was impossible but also a fact.
Aside from carbon, the metal was made up of two other elements which remained unknown. However, a conclusion was drawn, the metal was a carbon alloy of sorts.
In the modern industry, carbon alloys were widely used and verymon. But it was certain that even the European and American countries with the most developed smelting technology could not produce anything of this sort. The atomic structure of the metal was bizarre even to a well-aplished material scientist like Li Youdon.
Despite that, this was a remarkable discovery.
If they managed to recreate its atomic structure. It wouldpletely revamp the organization¡¯s materials business. Though they were unable to reproduce such material at the moment, it was almost certain that the metal would have inseparable rtions to their uing material findings!
The dusk skies started to turn dark.
Xia Lei stared at the clouds, mumbling to himself. ¡°Da Vinci, I did it. I almost broke the code. You were smart enough, ahead of your time. If you had ess to what I have now, there¡¯s no doubt that you¡¯ll do much better than me.¡±
Far at the west of the horizon was a golden cloud, it looked like a smiling face.
Perhaps Da Vinci heard him and was smiling.
¡°Da Vinci, I swear I¡¯ll solve this riddle,¡± said Xia Lei as he returned to his mansion.
He went to his undergroundboratory to run an experiment that only he could conduct.
In theb, he opened the safe to retrieve the ancient alloy box that was missing an edge.
He had a hunch that the silver metal shared some connection to the ancient alloy.
The hunch wasn¡¯t baseless. He had proof from Zhu Xuanyue. Zhu Xuanyue was no earthly being, able to enter the world inside the small alloy box with ease. Perhaps she had removed the metal from within the ancient alloy realm!
Could that really be the case?
Xia Lei opened the box that had contained the silver material and transferred it into the chipped edge of the ancient alloy box carefully.
That was his experiment.
He had conducted this experiment with many other things, such as gel pens, metal tubes and so on. This was the first time he had done this with the mysterious silver metal.
When the ripples appeared in the box¡¯s energy field, he let go of the tweezers. The small silver metal piece was immediately sucked in and disappeared into its dark space. Then, everything turned calm.
¡°The history of this silver metal cannot be verified. But it must have existed for a long time. Anything that had entered the world of the ancient alloy box seemed to have experienced thousands of years of wear and tear. I wonder what will happen to it,¡± pondered Xia Lei as he waited patiently for its result.
Before long, the alloy box started to shake.
The tiny silver metal piece hopped out of the box, looking the same as it was before entering it.
After the energy field had dissipated, the silver metal hit the ground without a sound due to its size and weight.
¡°Impossible! Everything would be worn after experiencing thousands of years of wear and tear!¡± Xia Lei was bewildered and surprised by the result.
He tried cing the metal into the box multiple times, but all oues were the same.
Finally, he decided to put therger piece inside the box.
But the results were the same as well. The only difference was that he had recorded all the subtle features of the metal with his left eye beforehand. Weirdly, there were no changes to the features after entering the box.
After a brief moment of silence, Xia Lei thought of an idea. He went to retrieve a box cutter and made a small cut on his finger. Then, he dripped blood onto therge piece of silver metal before throwing the blood-stained block into the alloy box.
After a while, ripples appeared around the dark space and the silver metal emerged from the box.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t believe what he saw.
Blood was no longer visible on the block, but there were what seemed like remnants of it in the metal¡¯s corner. Moreover, it was still wet and even looked fresh!
Thud! The metal fell onto the table.
Xia Lei trembled, holding the silver metal in his palms. Fresh blood began to bleed from its corners onto his fingers.
¡°It¡¯s...not an angel¡¯s sword nor is it from an alien spacecraft. It¡¯s...from a protective suit!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind immediately connected the dots.
And he just sat there for half an hour, staring into space.
Chapter 772 - Freckled Fatty And His 2x2 Twins
The cause of Song Baicheng¡¯s death still remained a mystery.
Official police reports had deduced that he died of a cerebral haemorrhage. This caused the officers to rule out murder as a possibility. Xia Lei had already expected this and had gotten some information about Song Baicheng¡¯s wife from Fan Fan. Her name was Liu Hui, an ex-special force agent before serving under Ling Han as his bodyguard. Song Baicheng had courted her and they got married.
Xia Lei was certain Liu Hui had something to do with Song Baicheng¡¯s death.
A person of Ling Han¡¯s status wouldn¡¯t do the deed themselves. Ordering someone beneath them was much more likely. In this case, it happened to be Liu Hui in this case. Song Baicheng would not have expected an attack from his partner, which exined theck of evidence and peaceful death. How unfortunate.
Based on Fan Fan¡¯s information, Xia Lei was sure about the identities of the culprits. Sadly, there was nothing much he could do with it. The investigation was paused while the research on the silver piece of metal was halted as well.
The blood on the metal provided him with information on how he might be able to visit the ancient realm. But that was only a small piece of it and not the whole chainmail. Plus, he wasn¡¯t entirely sure he was bold enough to take that step. If there was such chainmail, where could the rest of it be? Xia Lei was hungry for an answer.
Although said research was temporarily paused, ns for new material research projects were soon made within the Thunder Horse Organization. Xia Lei had invested one hundred million dors into this project, with the person-in-charge as Li Youdon.
Two dayster, he had a guest.
¡°Boss, you have a guest from South America,¡± announced Yelena as she entered Xia Lei¡¯s office. She¡¯d call him Director Xia in the presence of outsiders.
Xia Lei, who was busy studying AI technology, lifted his head to look at her. ¡°A guest from South America? Did he mention who he was?¡±
¡°I asked but he didn¡¯t answer.¡±
¡°I see. Where is he now?¡±
¡°I had him and his people wait in the parlour. Would you like to meet him now¡±
¡°Yeah, sure.¡± Xia Lei left his seat to exit his office.
What he saw as he entered the parlour shocked him.
On the couch sat a fat brte man. He looked young, presumably not more than thirty years old. His baby face was adorned with freckles, making him seem approachable.
Behind him stood four women.
They blue-eyed blondes who shared the same tall, slender physique. They were all sexy Caucasians. Their heights were the same too, standing at about 185cm tall as if it was on purpose. Their amazing body proportions were entuated with the ck leather outfits they wore! But that was not the most shocking thing. The women on the man¡¯s left were twins as were the women on his right! Together, the four gave off an illusion that they were cloned from two identical females, just like the cloning technique Sun Wukong, the Monkey God was known for.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but stare at the fat brte and his pair of twins.
¡°Mister Xia, are you looking at me or thedies behind me?¡± questioned the fatty calmly. He had a faint smile on his lips and spoke in English
His hair colour was of the standard Scandinavian range, and he was speaking in anguage not typical of the South American region. This confused Xia Lei as to his origins.
Xia Lei entered the room to sit opposite the fatty. ¡°Do you know me?¡±
The fatty replied, ¡°The Western media portrayed you as a mad scientist from China. I¡¯ve read my fair share of those, so how could I not know you? Are you not aware of such articles?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m not that interested in media.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Since you know who I am, I¡¯ll spare you from my self-introduction. Who are you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m just a mere businessman who wishes to purchase your weapons.¡±
¡°Well, that¡¯s the only thing you can get here.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched subtly mid-sentence, his gaze pierced through the fatty¡¯s clothing tond on his right chest. There was a cross-shaped tattoo that consisted of four arrows on it.
That was the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s si, which all its members had on their body.
He averted his gaze to stare at the four women behind him, scanning across their chests slowly. Aside from their round bosom, he found the same tattoo on their chests.
The Knight Hospitallers had finally arrived.
Yelena entered the room bringing tea for Xia Lei.
When Yelena decided to stay behind, Xia Lei quickly instructed her to leave.
She nodded and left.
¡°Speak, who exactly are you?¡± Xia Lei repeated his question.
The brte paused before he answered, ¡°Your sight sure is powerful. Alright, my name¡¯s Arthur and I¡¯m a member of the Knight Hospitallers.¡±
¡°Why isn¡¯t Mister Walton here?¡±
¡°My presence is sufficient.¡± Arthur stared directly into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time, bring me to our sacred relic.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll get it. But not now,¡± said Xia Lei. Are shifted his gaze to the four blondes behind Arthur. ¡°Are the women behind you trustworthy?¡±
¡°Yeah, you could trust them.¡±
Xia Lei insisted, ¡°I think it¡¯s better for them to leave. I don¡¯t want them to eavesdrop on our discussion.¡±
Oddly, Arthur smirked. ¡°Mister Xia, are you sure you want them to leave?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a known fact that you love prettydies. Our Archbishop himself had me bring them to you. They¡¯re holy virgins, their body and soul are of the highest purity. You can have them as long as you...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted him. ¡°Enough, I¡¯m not interested.¡±
The four beauties would have been a good strategy against seventy per cent of the world¡¯s male poption. But Xia Lei wasn¡¯t going to take the bait. He needed their mercenaries, not their women! The thought of a holy organization offering women in exchange for an artefact was nonsensical.
Arthur waved his hand slightly.
The four blondes moved from behind the sofa to approach Xia Lei slowly. The slender legs wrapped in ck leather moved dynamically, their round behind slightly bouncing with each step. The motion entuated their curves shamelessly, even teasing unspeakable things. It was seduction at its finest. Their waist joints twisted ever so lightly with each step, looking so flexible as if they had no bones. Their full breasts bounced gently in tandem, its rhythm enchanting.
They stopped directly in front of Xia Lei then turned around slowly. Steadily, they bent their delicate waists to present him with their attractive asses. They then unted their behinds for him to admire. The sacred genitals started to show its outline as the PU leather stretched across it. The whole scene was unbearably erotic.
Though it was seduction, their actions didn¡¯t feel cheap. Instead, they gave off a sophisticated impression, an aura that was acquired from their holy upbringing.
¡°I could even get them to strip if you¡¯d like. I can guarantee that you¡¯ll be enjoying the finest females on Earth. You could experience what it is like to be a king.¡± Arthur continued to convince him.
¡°Enough!¡± roared Xia Lei.
The fourdies nced at Arthur, to which he gave another wave to cue their return. They werepletely expressionless from start to finish.
Arthur uttered, ¡°Why don¡¯t you state your price? But let me make it clear that we¡¯re not wealthy like you are. Our moneyes from the support of our worshippers. I hope that you¡¯ll bear that in mind to initiate something reasonable.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want women, I don¡¯t need your money either.¡±
¡°Then what do you want from us?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll just be frank.¡±
Xia Lei continued, ¡°I need your help to capture someone and to locate a certain organization¡¯s headquarters.¡±
Arthur furrowed his brows. ¡°Who? What organization is it?¡±
Xia Lei proceeded to answer. ¡°The FA organization, the person I¡¯m after is a member as well. Her name is Dark Mona and I¡¯ve already prepared all the necessary information and details.¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Arthur quickly halted Xia Lei. ¡°I think you¡¯ve got it all wrong! We¡¯re not mercenaries, we¡¯re a religious organization!¡±
¡°Religious organization?¡± Xia Lei cackled. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case. Your people plotted to murder me in Italy. They even managed to track me when I escaped to France. Your capabilities are what I need.¡±
¡°No!¡± Arthur rejected vehemently. ¡°Absolutely not!¡±
¡°No? Then there¡¯s no point talking this out with you anymore,¡± said Xia Lei as he gestured to the door. ¡°You may leave now.¡±
¡°You...¡±
Xia Lei stood up from his seat. ¡°You¡¯re left with no choice. The only way to get your sacred relic is to fulfil my request. I¡¯ll give you time to consider it, you maye to visit me again with an answer.¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Arthur followed suit.
Xia Lei turned to face him.
¡°I¡¯m aware of FA organization¡¯s existence.¡± Arthur¡¯s gaze was piercing. ¡°Tell me, why should we do something so risky for you? Your request mightnd us in grave danger.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you why once we achieve an agreement.¡±
Arthur exined, ¡°I can¡¯t be the sole decision-maker of something so big. I¡¯d need to talk to Sir Walton himself. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll call for a meeting before I could ry to you of our final standing.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not in a rush anyways. You maye after your people made up their mind,¡± assured Xia Lei.
¡°By the way, we didn¡¯t manage to book a hotel room. May we stay a night at your ce?¡±
¡°Sure, no problem. I have plenty of rooms at home. I¡¯ll have them ready for you.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± responded Arthur.
Xia Lei slid out his phone to dial a number, walking away from the room while he said, ¡°Qin Xiang, please bring my guests to the Peace Mansion. Please take good care of them, they¡¯re valued guests.¡±
Qin Xiang¡¯s voice came through faintly. ¡°Good care? You¡¯re asking me to install tapping devices, right?¡±
Xia Lei smirked. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯ll do.¡±
Chapter 773 - Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum
Arthur and the twins would stay the night at the Peace Mansion.
As per Arthur¡¯s request, Qin Xiang had readied three rooms for their lot, one for Arthur and one for each set of twins.
Following that, Qin Xiang returned to Xia Lei¡¯s office and ced aptop on his desk.
¡°Is everything in ce?¡± he asked.
Qin Xiang proceeded to unfold theptop. She then hit the enter key twice which brought up three different disys.
She had installed the camera in the vent discreetly where it provided them with the nest view of the room.
Arthur and the twins were managing their luggage in their rooms. There was no conversation and there was no phone in sight.
¡°Lei Zi, I heard that you and Liang Siyao kissed in the factory, is that true?¡± Qin Xiang grinned.
¡°Where did you hear it from?¡± Xia Lei was shocked.
¡°Well, the employees of course! You two did it in in sight. Surely something like that would make for hot gossip.¡±
Xia Lei could only muster an awkward smile. ¡°Why are you still asking me this if you believe the gossip?¡±
¡°How does it feel like to reignite an old me? Have you guys had sex yet?¡±
Xia Lei was at loss for words. Qin Xiang was very feminine, but her personality sure was ssically nosey.
Qin Xiang furrowed her brows. ¡°Oh,e on! You¡¯re not going to tell me?¡±
¡°You seem like you have too much time on your hands. Should I delegate more tasks for you?¡± threatened Xia Lei.
She was unfazed. ¡°Your father might¡¯ve already agreed to have you marry Tang Yuyan when he went to Shu Di. But now you¡¯re tangled in an affair with Liang Siyao, don¡¯t you think Shentu Tianyin would plot a little something if she caught wind of this?¡±
Ah, Xia Lei could feel a migraineing.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll stop reminding you about your messy life. If I were you, I¡¯d definitelye out of the closet to scare them away.¡±
¡°Fuck off,¡± hissed Xia Lei.
Qin Xiangughed as she exited his office.
With that, Xia Lei returned his focus to theptop¡¯s screen.
As soon as thedies were done with their luggage, they left for Arthur¡¯s room. When thest to enter closed his door, the five then kneeled on the carpet to begin their prayer.
Their voices came through theptop¡¯s speaker in unison. ¡°Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdome, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. I unite all my work with the Sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass that it may be pleasing to You and give You glory. I beg Your Blessing upon all my efforts. With Saint Joseph as my example and guide, help me to do the work You have asked ande to the reward You have prepared. Amen.¡±
It was a routine prayer before they start working.
They fell into silence upon itspletion. ¡°Rosa, Theresa, have you checked your rooms yet?¡± Arthur interrupted the pregnant pause.
¡°Giovanna, Ste, what about you two?¡± he turned to face them.
The twins all shook their head.
Arthur¡¯s brows were furrowed. ¡°Russo sisters, Grey sisters, I¡¯ve reminded you before we came. How could you still be so careless? Our opponent is very strong and extremely sly. We have to be on guard Go, search every corner of your room.¡±
The twins soon left to their respective rooms. They searched high and low, around the bed frame, the closet, the gaps between the sofa and even the washroom. In another room, Arthur did the same.
It didn¡¯t take long for Arthur to notice the sneaky camera hidden in the vent. He red at its lens to make his fury noticeable. ¡°What are you trying to do? Spying and lying are sins punishable by God!¡±
This was obviously directed to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly as he shook his head, he had severely underestimated the freckled brte. From that, he could tell that the four females wereparatively naive and less calctive. Arthur, on the other hand, was an experienced spy.
Soon, the Russo sisters, Rosa and Theresa located the hidden camera. The identical twins frowned at its lens. The Grey sisters, Giovanna and Ste had opted to leave him a message. ¡°Oh misguided one, may God save your soul.¡±
Xia Lei shut theptop, then left his office. He exited the office block in a flurry, running to thepound¡¯s fence instead of the main entrance.
¡°Hello, Director Xia,¡± greeted a gardener that was busy tending to a bush.
¡°Focus on your work,¡± said Xia Lei as he started to sprint towards the wall. His foot came in contact with the wall, propelling his body upwards to reach the top of the three-metre wall in just two steps. He then raised his arms to lift himself over the fence before disappearing from the gardener¡¯s sight.
The gardener stared at the footprints on the wall in shock.
In the Peace Mansion, Arthur had gathered the camera they found on the floor. He then stomped on it, destroying it effectively.
¡°How could he do something like this?!¡± Giovanna was furious.
¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting his soul to be so corrupted,¡±mented Ste.
¡°Thank goodness he rejected us. I¡¯d rather die than to sleep with a man like this,¡± said Rosa.
¡°I was prepared to offer everything in exchange for our sacred relic. But God has spoken, He didn¡¯t want us to service such a lowly man. That¡¯s why He made the man reject our advances,¡± reasoned Ste.
The four females were in a heated discussion while Arthur slid his phone out to make a call.
Thirty secondster, Arthur uttered, ¡°Our respected Sir Angelo, I¡¯ve finally met Xia Lei. He had proposed a difficult request. He wants us to capture a woman named Dark Mona. She¡¯s a member of the FA organization. Aside from that, he wants us to help locate its headquarters...¡±
The Russo and Grey sisters kept quiet, keeping their attention on Arthur. At the mention of Sir Angelo, their eyes had glimmered with reverence.
This didn¡¯t go unnoticed by Xia Lei. While the twins had their eyes glued to Arthur, Xia Lei was watching them from another room.
Having Qin Xiang install the hidden cameras was just the first part of his strategy. The five members of the Knight Hospitaller were bound to check their surroundings if they lived in hispound. If Arthur and the girls had not found anything, they would surely stay vignt throughout their stay. However, they would be fooled into dropping their guard if they had found something during their search. That was why he had ordered Qin Xiang to do so. It was all part of his n. After all, the only things he could really trust were his eyes.
Arthur¡¯s words piqued Xia Lei¡¯s interest. He thought to himself. ¡°That¡¯s weird. Why did he call this Sir Angelo instead of Walton? Was Walton only a figurative leader while Angelo is their true leader?¡±
He continued to read Arthur¡¯s lips. ¡°No, I have yet to see our sacred relic. He rejected our initial offer. The Russo and Grey sisters are our most gorgeous girls, yet he didn¡¯t take interest in them at all. No, he doesn¡¯t want money. He¡¯s a billionaire in China and his organization is very profitable. He¡¯s not interested in women and money, do we agree to his request? Yeah, we don¡¯t have any conflict with the FA organization. But once we capture their member and provide Xia Lei with the intel, it would mean that we¡¯re waging war against them. I¡¯m afraid this might bring us more harm than good. Alright, I¡¯ll wait for the meeting oue and protect the sisters in the meantime. May God bless us. Amen.¡±
The call ended.
Arthur stashed his phone away, averting his gaze onto the twins. He spoke after a brief moment of silence. ¡°What I¡¯m about to tell you will bring you some hardships in the near future. As long as you hold on to our faith, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll achieve sess.¡±
¡°Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum¡± The sisters chanted this in unison.
That was the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s motto since medieval times.
Arthur continued, ¡°Xia Lei¡¯s request is too much for us. We cannot risk a war with the FA organization. Though we¡¯re not afraid of battle, it would be best if no blood was spilt over the relic. Drawing blood in war is a man¡¯s forte while seduction and deception is a female¡¯s forte. That man is despicable. His soul is corrupted and I know that you¡¯ll feel ufortable in his proximity. But remember, we are God¡¯s warriors and we need to sacrifice our all to Him. Your bodies may be deflowered but your soul shall be purified under His watchful nce. May God guide you through this, May God bless us all. Amen.¡±
The sisters drew a cross in front of their chests. ¡°God bless. Amen.¡±
¡°I¡¯m expecting Xia Lei to invite us for a feast tonight. By then, I¡¯ll light a special Requiem Candle that will temper with one¡¯s emotions. That will be your cue to drag him into your room. YOu know what to do from there, right?¡±
The twins nodded.
Arthur couldn¡¯t help but remind them. ¡°Don¡¯t let your sacrifices be in vain. You must gauge where our artefact is hidden then work separately to distract him while the other sneaks it away.¡±
¡°What if he hid it somewhere far away?¡± asked Giovanna.
He answered, ¡°Then you shall inform me right away. I¡¯ll then head over myself.¡±
Once again, the sisters chanted in unison. ¡°Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum¡±
¡°May God bless us. Amen.¡±
Xia Lei decided to stop spying on them. He was conflicted, not knowing whether tough or cry at their firm belief while plotting to take him down. It was rather bizarre.
He averted his gaze to look at the sky through the window. There was still some time before night but it was time for him to begin his preparations for tonight¡¯s ¡®war¡¯.
Chapter 774 - Desire is a Demon
Soon, it was nighttime.
A feast of Eastern and Western food had begun in the Orchid Hall of the Peace Mansion.
Pizza and beef steaks from Italy, red wine and foie gras from France with roasted duck and mutton from China. These were a few of the delicacies served at the feast.
Arthur lit up two sticks of white candles and ced them on the dining table with the Knights Hospitaller¡¯s si embedded on the bottom. The candlelight flickered gently, faint smoke rose as it lit up the surroundings and gave off the pleasant smell of agave.
Xia Lei sat at one side of the table while Arthur was seated on the opposite side. The Grey sisters were seated to his left and the Russo sisters to his right. All in all, they were a sight for sore eyes.
Giovanna and Ste Grey had changed from their leather suits to a dress from the middle ages, their waists were cinched tightly with a corset that squeezed their full bosoms. Though they were old-fashioned, it brought out a different sense of appeal. The dress gave them a sexy but ssical look. It felt as if they had travelled through time to meet you for a risky rendezvous in the bushes.
Rosa and Theresa Russo¡¯s outfits werepletely different. They both wore a white low-cut and off-shoulder gown that exposed their bareback. There wasn¡¯t much fabric concealing their body, leaving very little to the imagination.
Though Xia Lei was fully aware of what his five guests were about to do, he kept his smile and remained hisposure, just like a jaded English nobleman.
¡°I hope you¡¯ll enjoy tonight¡¯s dinner. Let us raise a ss to our first meeting.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he held up his cup. ¡°I have a good feeling that no matter what the oue of our deal will be, we¡¯ll be great friends.¡±
The five Knight Hospitaller members only gave a slight nod in response. They then sped their hands together and began to say grace. ¡°Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord... Amen.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but feel awkward, opting to take a small sip from his cup. It was expensive wine from Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, it would be a waste to not drink it.
Finished with their prayer, Arthur said, ¡°Mister Xia, thank you so much for being such a great host. If you could kindly take a step back on the deal, our stay here would be more ideal. I¡¯m sure our mighty God will reward you graciously.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°We all have our own set of goals. We eat to fill our stomachs. We work to earn ie and support our family and we pray for the redemption of our souls. I¡¯m doing this to... Hehe, maybe we should talk about something else.¡±
After all, they weren¡¯t here to discuss business.
¡°Mister Xia, what do you believe in?¡± Giovanna directed a question to Xia Lei.
The other threedies soon had their attention on Xia Lei, seemingly interested to know more about his life and faith.
¡°Everyone has their own set of beliefs. Some pray for money, some pray for power and some pray to all sorts of different gods. But for me, yeah, I¡¯m animistic,¡± he answered.
¡°Animistic?¡± Giovanna thought for a moment. She continued, ¡°You¡¯re not native American yet you share the same faith, how weird.¡±
The other three scorned. In this world, people discriminated against each other based on ethnic backgrounds, the rich discriminated against the poor and the religious ones discriminated against those with no faith. To them, Xia Lei had no faith and his soul was long corrupted. He had hell to turn to in death.
Xia Lei paid no mind to their responses and opinions, he calmly said, ¡°Nature birthed us and supported us. I think it deserves my utmost respect. I know that you think that I¡¯m not a man of faith, but this is truly my belief. My belief is nature. I really don¡¯t find it necessary for a religion to discriminate against another religion. The Catholics had fought the Imic world for centuries in the name of your God, but there is still yet an oue.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Arthur raised his ss with a grin. ¡°It seems like you know much about our history, Mister Xia. How about we leave this aside and enjoy the night? Cheers.¡±
¡°Cheers,¡± Xia Lei touched his ss to Arthur¡¯s.
¡°Mister Xia, why are you so adamant on having us fight the FA organization? I¡¯m really curious about it,¡± asked Arthur. He stared intently into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes as if he intended to prate his soul.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Mister Arthur since you asked me a question, let me first ask one. I will answer one question, and so will you.¡±
¡°What would you like to know?¡±
¡°I brought a piece of metal out from the maze. It¡¯s silver in colour and its the most ideal aviation material that I¡¯ve seen so far. In my opinion, its value should be emphasized in the aviation industry but you said that it was your sacred relic instead. Why is that so? Is there a story behind it?¡±
¡°Mister Xia, that¡¯s a tough question.¡±
¡°Mister Arthur, your question was not a simple one either.¡±
Giovanna left her seat to refill Xia Lei¡¯s ss with the decanter. Taking advantage of the proximity, she came closer to his ear and whispered gently, ¡°Mister Xia, I can tell you the answer if you wish but we¡¯ll save that for another ce and another time.¡±
Xia Lei nced at her nonchntly.
Xia Lei¡¯s ss was now half full. Giovanna then returned to her seat, not forgetting to brush her bosom against his shoulder in the process. The abrupt softness had Xia Lei in a slight daze.
¡°Mister Xia, are you sure you don¡¯t want them to stay with you?¡± said Arthur, he continued, ¡°From a man¡¯s perspective, your decision isn¡¯t rational at all.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I thought I¡¯ve made it very clear that I won¡¯t be exchanging the metal for your women. You may get your sacred relic once you¡¯ve fulfiled my request.¡±
¡®You¡¯re really determined, huh? Alright, I¡¯ll let you know after our meeting. Right now, let¡¯s focus our effort onto enjoying the feast. It would be a shame to let something like this go to waste,¡± said Arthur as he took a sip from his ss.
The feast continued in silence, Xia Lei didn¡¯t bring anything else to the table. The Russo sisters and Grey sisters were giving each other looks discreetly, sometimes watching him from the corner of their eye. He knew their ns but feigned ignorance.
The candle me shone brighter as time passed. The guest hall was filled with the sweet and earthy scent of agave, but the fragrance was abnormal.
Slowly, Xia Lei felt weird. He started to feel hot and had found it difficult to concentrate. He was slipping in and out of consciousness. He started to unbutton his shirt, but to no avail. Droplets of sweats began to form on his forehead, then his eyes were in and out of focus.
¡°Mister Xia, why do you need your help to take down the FA organization?¡± Arthur has been keeping a watchful eye on his response, choosing to ask the question as soon as Xia Lei was lightly swaying in his seat.
¡°I¡¯m... so sleepy...¡± said Xia Lei, he had no strength to keep his head up.
Arthur gave a look to Giovanna.
Giovanna quickly came over to Xia Lei¡¯s side, seating herself onto hisp with her arms around his neck. ¡°Darling, why are you so desperate to defeat the FA organization?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei was in a daze.
Arthur gave another look.
Soon, the other threedies left their seats to Xia Lei¡¯s side, he was now encircled by fourdies.
This felt as if it was a blossom-filled war field. Arthur was the general while the sisters were his frontline soldiers. Unbeknownst to them, Xia Lei¡¯s strong immune system had already been activated. He had long sobered up from the effects of the candles but he had to feign his vulnerability to y along with their tactics.
¡°I... I... got a very... very...¡±
¡°What did you get?¡± Rosa¡¯s sweet and appealing voice rang in his ear.
¡°A very valuable intel.¡±
¡°What intel?¡± Giovanna started to move her hips, stimting Xia Lei further while she pressed her behind against his groin. He was starting to feel a little conflicted.
But the show must go on. ¡°There¡¯s a... a type of metal... that God left on this world. But it¡¯s not the only one. The FA organization¡¯s head... headquarters has a sword made out of it. They have the Angel¡¯s... Sword...¡±
The jaws of the Knight Hospitaller members dropped.
¡°That¡¯s... why the FA organization... had my people... killed. They¡¯re after me. I... I want to destroy them... I want to retrieve the sword...¡± Xia Lei revealed his ¡®secret¡¯.
The Russo and Grey sisters looked to Arthur, awaiting further instructions. What Xia Lei had said was a shocking development to the matter.
Arthur¡¯s eye gleamed with excitement. ¡°Take him to his room, you know what to do next. This is important news! I need to call Sir Angelo immediately!¡±
The fourdies helped Xia Lei up, supporting him out of the Orchid Hall.
¡°I¡¯m not... drunk, I... can still d-drink...¡± drawled Xia Lei on their way out.
¡°We can drink more back in the room,¡± giggled Giovanna.
Theresa grabbed a handful of Xia Lei¡¯s ass cheek. ¡°You¡¯re really setting up yourself for hell.¡±
Still at the table, Arthur¡¯s call had reached Angelo. ¡°Sir Angelo, I just received very important information, the FA organization...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s lips curled up into a faint smirk.
Desire had always been a demon. The Knight Hospitaller had been after this piece of metal for centuries. Just a small block of it was enough to drive them mental. If there really was this ¡®Angel¡¯s Sword¡¯ made out of their God¡¯s metal, how could they find it in themselves to say no?
Chapter 775 - Confidential War
They soon found themselves in the Grey sisters¡¯ room. Xia Lei was carried in by the four females. They then threw him onto the bed unceremoniously. The Russo sisters quickly set to work, stripping him but graciously leaving his underwear untouched, to which Xia Lei was thankful for.
Meanwhile, the Grey sisters had lit up another two sticks of the same Requiem candles Arthur had lit during dinner.
¡°Wow, they¡¯re really generous on the candles. One of these candles would¡¯ve been enough. Are they so desperate to get this over with?¡± thought Xia Lei to himself.
¡°Hey.¡± Rosa extended a hand to p Xia Lei¡¯s cheek in an attempt to gauge his response.
¡°Darling, wake up.¡±
Xia Lei blinked his eyes open and started to mumble, ¡°Tianyin, is that you? Oh, you¡¯re so pretty. I¡¯ve missed you...¡±
¡°Tianyin?¡± Rosa was confused, but she soon remembered something. ¡°Oh, right. ording to the information the leader gave us, he does have a wife whose name was Shentu Tianyin, but they¡¯re divorced now.¡±
¡°What a name,¡±mented Ste. ¡°But if he had mistaken you for his ex-wife, it really means that he¡¯spletely out of his mind now.¡±
Xia Lei had said that on purpose.
Theresa waved her arm in front of Xia Lei, then held up two of her digits. ¡°Darling, how many fingers am I holding up?¡±
Xia Lei blinked slowly. ¡°Five. Hehehe...¡±
Theresa started tough. ¡°With his current condition, do we still need to do it with him?¡±
¡°The leader¡¯s instructions were clear, we must follow his orders,¡± rebuked Giovanna.
¡°Yes, tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum.¡± Ste continued. ¡°We must stick to his orders to avoid any mistakes.¡±
Xia Lei was screaming internally. ¡°Are they out of their minds?! Do they only have one brain cell between them? They could¡¯ve just left that part out now that I¡¯m like this, but they still want to...¡±
¡°Fine, we¡¯re leaving two of us here anyway. Giovanna, stay here with Ste to do the deed. I¡¯ll go with my sister to retrieve our relic,¡± uttered Rosa.
¡°Then we should hurry up and get its location out from him! We can¡¯t just stand here and wait,¡± urged Giovanna.
Ste climbed onto the bed steadily to lie close to his left torso while Giovanna had followed suit to upy his right. The Russo sisters soon joined them, choosing to kneel beside his leg and his head. Now, Xia Lei was surrounded by a beautiful scenery, the Greys¡¯ breasts and the Russo¡¯s legs were a sensual sight to behold.
¡°These four had only learnt it by theory, huh?¡± pondered Xia Lei as his right arm started to sneak towards his discarded shirt.
His sneaky hand was only an inch away from his shirt when Giovanna abruptly hugged his moving arm and pressed it against her soft chest. ¡°Darling, where did you keep the silver metal?¡± she asked in a low, seductive tone.
¡°I... I ced it... in my... room...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s words were slurred, but it was still understandable.
¡°Where in your room did you ce it?¡± asked Ste. Unlike her sister, she didn¡¯t embrace Xia Lei¡¯s other arm, opting to use other ways to further distract him. She started to draw circles on his abs.
Xia Lei could feel his jaw clench. He could control his mind but his brain had failed to control his body. His physiological senses decided to take over, forming an obvious tent in his boxers. Though so, Xia Lei was determined to y his part until the end. ¡°There¡¯s a safe in my room... ¡°
¡°What is the password to the safe?¡± asked Rosa impatiently.
¡°383874,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Rosa leapt off the bed.
Theresa quickly followed suit, smoothing out the wrinkles on her skirt as soon as her feet touched the ground. ¡°Giovanna, Ste, we¡¯ll leave this to you. Please buy more time for us,¡± said Theresa.
¡°Do try to extract more useful information from him!¡± added Rosa.
¡°Please be careful, may God bless you.¡±
While the four had their attention elsewhere, Xia Lei¡¯s arm had sessfully reached into the pocket of his shirt. Using his thumb, he removed the wooden cork of a small perfume bottle before retracting his arm back stealthily.
The Russo sisters left the room in a flurry.
¡°Wait, what is that smell?¡± Giovanna sniffed the air.
¡°I smell it too, it smells really nice,¡± replied Ste. Her gaze quicklynded on Xia Lei¡¯s shirt. She grabbed it and soon found the small opened perfume bottle in its pocket.
There were still some remnants of its substance at the bottom of the bottle. As soon as Ste removed it from its pocket, the fragrance intensified and engulfed the scent of the Requiem candle.
¡°I¡¯m surprised he brings perfume around with him.¡± Giovanna frowned.
¡°The leader said he was a perverted man. Looks like he was right. He probably uses it to appeal to females.¡±
¡°He even mentioned that Xia Lei was probably the world¡¯s most powerful fighter and had single handedly taken the lives of more than a hundred people. But he¡¯s so clean and sophisticated, how could he possibly be a killer?¡± Giovanna squinted at Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah, I agree. I don¡¯t think he has the looks of a killer. More like a nightclub owner.¡±
¡°Ah? Since when have you visited a nightclub?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve never visited one but I¡¯ve heard a lot about that ce. This world is filthy and corrupted, it needs to be purified.¡±
¡°I think we should save this for some other day. What should we do now? How do we start?¡±
¡°Like this.¡± Giovannaid herself between his arms.
Ste was stunned but followed suit. She nced at Giovanna through Xia Lei¡¯s broad chest, ¡°Like this?¡±
¡°Yeah. What were you expecting?¡± Giovanna stared at Ste.
Ste gave the question a thought, then ced both her hands on Xia Lei¡¯s chest, forming a loose fist with her left palm then inserting a finger from her right into it.
¡°Huh?¡±
Ste then repeated the motion, driving her right finger into the hole of her left fist again and again. ¡°I was expecting this? Aren¡¯t we supposed to do this with him?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Giovanna finally understood the innuendo.
Their conversations and Ste¡¯s adult humour didn¡¯t go unnoticed by Xia Lei. He had a lot to say about this but all he could think of was ¡®Fucking idiots!¡¯.
The only thing that the Grey sisters did, in the end, was chatter away in his embrace. The Russo sisters must¡¯ve thought they got the easiest job which was in fact, the most difficult one.
¡°Giovanna, do you wanna take a peek at his stuff?¡± Ste¡¯s voice rang.
¡°Disgusting, may God forgive your sins,¡± replied the older sister.
¡°It¡¯s going to just be a peek. God will surely forgive us if we pray hardter.¡±
¡°Well... I guess we can?¡±
Xia Lei wanted to shout. If all it took was a prayer to have their sins forgiven, then why did thew exist? As his mind was a mess, he felt a tug at the rubber of his boxers, then it was lifted by what felt like two feminine fingers. His groin was now free from its shackles.
¡°So... that¡¯s a penis?¡±
¡°It looks disgusting.¡±
¡°It¡¯s ugly.¡±
At this very moment, Xia Lei wanted to die.
Thank goodness the ¡®Mary¡¯s Desire¡¯ finally took effect. The Grey sisters were starting to feel sluggish, they started to mumble incoherently. They were in a daze. Atst, they went quiet, unfocused eyes fixed on the ceiling.
It was finally his turn to strike.
Xia Lei pushed the twodies away before sitting up. He pinched Giovanna¡¯s cheek, then he pinched Ste¡¯s. The action had earned the same response from the sisters, it was slow, clumsy and muddled.
¡°Where do you live?¡± Xia Lei asked his first question.
¡°Malta Pce, Rome,¡± answered Giovanna.
¡°Rome... Malta Pce.¡± Ste¡¯s voice followed.
The Grey sisters had the same answers, the only difference was their answering speed.
¡°Giovanna?¡±
¡°Mm?¡±
¡°Ste?¡±
¡°Mm?¡±
Xia Lei continued with a few trivial questions like how many siblings they had, what was their family like, their favourite food and so on. Though seemingly irrelevant things, the questions yed an important part in his strategy. He was trying to get them used to inertial thinking which would urge them to answer his questions withoutplications.
Xia Lei finally asked the important questions after a few trivial ones. ¡°Why does the Knight Hospitaller treat the silver metal like a sacred relic?¡±
Giovanna answered, ¡°That is the most well-kept secrets of the Knight Hospitaller. I don¡¯t know anything about it. But my grandfather did tell me a story. He said on the day the kingdom of Jerusalem was invaded, a miracle happened. The four horsemen of the apocalypse appeared in the war-torn city. War rode his red horse through the sacred city of Jerusalem. His opponent was a mystery to us mortals as we can¡¯t see them. War lost his silver armour and since then, Jerusalem was constantly gued by the war. If one could return War his armour, he would rebuild a sacred kingdom in Jerusalem.¡±
Ste¡¯s answer was simr.
Xia Lei¡¯s knowledge of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse came to mind.
In the bible, the first horsemen, gue, rode a white horse and had a bow and arrow with him, symbolizing conquer. The second horsemen rode a red horse and represented war. He was always depicted with a sword. The third rides a ck horse and was typically depicted with a bnce, he symbolizes famine. The fourth horsemen rode a pale horse, representing death as he brought hell with him.
Both Giovanna and Ste had mentioned the same story about War and his red horse. The information sent Xia Lei¡¯s mind into a flurry of thoughts.
¡°Red horsemen? Though it was a story from the bible, that era was an incredibly religious time. It might not have been entirely urate but it¡¯s worth taking note that every story had its origins. Could there really be an armoured horseman on the back of a red horse that rode through Jerusalem on the day it was invaded? And that he failed to defeat his enemy and even lost his armour?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts went into overdrive. Abruptly, images of him running that particr experiment in the undergroundboratory shed across his eyes.
The metal was from the horsemen¡¯s armour!
The Knight Hospitaller should¡¯ve known something about it!
Chapter 776 - The Bird Watches As The Mantis Stalks The Cicada
Losing their territory was the biggest blow for the Knight Hospitaller. Back in the Middle Ages, where religion controlled everything, it was only natural for them to believe that there would be some horseman who would help rebuild their sacred kingdom. But things were different now that technology and science hase a long way. Perhaps the Knight Hospitaller had stopped believing in the existence of a red horse riding horseman, right?
Tossing aside the possibility of their desire to return the red rider his armour to rebuild the sacred kingdom, or in other words, this daydream of theirs, why was the Knight Hospitaller so desperate to retrieve this tiny piece of metal?
There must be a reason for it.
After thinking about it, Xia Lei leaned in to whisper into Ste¡¯s ear. He asked, ¡°Is the silver armour with the Knight Hospitaller?¡±
¡°I... don¡¯t know,¡± she answered.
Xia Lei then switched over to whisper into Giovanna¡¯s ear. ¡°Do you know where the silver armour is?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± replied Giovanna.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t surprised by their answers. After all, Giovanna and Ste were intended as gifts to him. To the organization, they were more like assets and were deemed unworthy of the knowledge of such confidential information.
¡°Who is the true leader of the Knight Hospitaller?¡± asked Xia Lei to Giovanna.
¡°Angelo,¡± she answered.
¡°Why is that so?¡±
¡°All the knights heed his orders, he is God¡¯s fist,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei came closer to Ste¡¯s ear to repeat the question. ¡°Who is the true leader of the Knight Hospitaller?¡±
¡°Angelo,¡± she had answered the same.
¡°Why?¡±
¡°He reigns control over our military power.¡±
Though the sister¡¯s answer had differed from the other, it had the same underlying meaning.
¡°How many knights are there in the organisation?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Aside from knights, there are also soldiers who have not been granted their knighthood.¡±
¡°Are you a knight or an ungranted soldier?¡±
¡°I¡¯m a knight,¡± answered Ste.
Xia Lei decided to not repeat the question to Giovanna. He had intended to extract some information from the dazed sisters but he hadn¡¯t gotten much out of them due to their hierarchical position in the organization. He needed to extract information from someone higher up in the hierarchy.
He finally gave up. He opened the windows and turned on the venttor to clean the air. Then, he reced the wooden cork back into the mouth of the perfume bottle. The wet spot on his shirt that was formed by ¡®Mary¡¯s Desire¡¯ was also washed under running tap water.
As he was about to return to the bed, he heard footsteps. He frantically scrambled to lie on the bed in between Giovanna and Ste. His eyes turned to nce at the door, to which had disappeared in his left vision to reveal an approaching Arthur.
Arthur¡¯s gaze was locked on to the door/ He then approached the door with his ear ced parallel to it.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of an idea. He abruptly tossed Giovanna around to have her behind face the ceiling. Then he raised his hand to spank her ass, emitting a loud p in the process while faint ripples appeared on her soft flesh.
¡°Oh,¡± a muffled moan came rolling out of Giovanna¡¯s throat.
Xia Lei then continued to spank her. The sound of flesh-pping-flesh echoed in the room. He didn¡¯t forget to observe Arthur while his palm was busy.
The pping sounds that came from the room had Arthur furrowed his brows, but his face had a smirk stered on it. He may not like the indication of such odd sounds but it had meant that his n was working smoothly.
¡°I knew it. The best weapon to use against a male is not a gun but women,¡± mumbled Arthur to no one. His gaze was filled with disgust and disdain for the supposed actions within the room.
On the other side of the wooden door, Xia Lei had also turned Ste over and spanked her behind.
The p was loud, forming ripples from the impact.
The Russo sisters appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s vision too. Their eyes were gleaming with excitement.
¡°You got it done?¡± Arthur lowered his voice.
¡°Yeah,¡± answered Rosa.
¡°Give it to me!¡± Arthur said impatiently.
Theresa passed the fabric in her palm to Arthur.
The man peeled theyers open and sure enough, the silver metal was visible inside. He held up the metal to observe it. He then ran his fingers over it and eximed, ¡°This is it! It really is it!¡±
¡°What do we do now?¡± It was Theresa¡¯s turn to ask.
¡°We leave immediately¡± Arthur quickly wrapped the silver metal, then sped his fingers around it tightly.
¡°But what about the Grey sisters?¡± questioned Rosa.
¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about them. This was God¡¯s n for them. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll understand. To sacrifice their purities in the name of God should be an honour,¡± said Arthur before turning around to leave.
The Russo sisters looked at each other. They paused ever so slightly before turning around to leave with Arthur.
Xia Lei leapt off the bed and got dressed quickly. He then left the room.
The three Knight Hospitaller members were in such a hurry that they decided to abandon their luggage. The main entrance to the Peace Mansion had no security guards stationed, the coast was clear. The three exited smoothly and headed towards Bailu Town.
¡°We need to search for transport as soon as we reach the town ahead. Rosa, you¡¯re in charge of it,¡± instructed Arthur.
¡°Leave that to me,¡± acknowledged Rosa.
Theresa spared onest nce at the Peace Mansion. She seemed to have something to say but decided against it. The fate of the Grey sisters was unimaginable. Xia Lei would be enraged to find out that they had stolen the metal away from him. She and Rosa were safe but at the expense of Giovanna and Ste¡¯s safety. Was this really God¡¯s n?
Arthur slid his phone out to make a call. ¡°Sir Angelo, we¡¯ve got it. The sacred relic is now in my hands. Please arrange transport back for us. We need to leave China via a special channel.¡±
¡°What? How did you manage it?¡± A man¡¯s voice came through the phone, his voice was gruff and stern.
¡°It¡¯s all thanks to the Requiem candles and women. We lost the Grey sisters but they had sacrificed themselves for the sake of our ns,¡± exined Arthur.
¡°Very well, I¡¯ll have someone over for you three as soon as possible. We¡¯ll keep in touch.¡± He ended the call.
At this moment, in one of the rooms in the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei was on a phone call while flipping through Arthur¡¯s luggage. ¡°Did you manage to get his location?¡±
Yelena¡¯s voice rang out, ¡°Yeah, I got it. Angelo is at Malta ind.¡±
Xia Lei exhaled in relief. ¡°Well done, now we leave the rest to E¡¯er Demutu.¡±
The Malta Pce located in Rome was merely a rented facility for the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s operations. There was no way their headquarters would be located there. Pinpointing where their headquarters was was key to solving the mysteries behind the silver metal.
If Amanda was still alive, her hacking ability would¡¯ve allowed them to secure Angelo¡¯s location with Arthur¡¯s first call. Despite using the same equipment, Yelena was evidently less efficient.
Arthur¡¯s goal was to get the sacred relic with the least amount of damage while Xia Lei¡¯s current goal was to locate the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s real headquarters. This would naturallye with his desire to grasp more secrets on the organisation, which was why he was here searching through Arthur¡¯s luggage.
Arthur¡¯s belongings were allid out on the bed.
He had brought a bible, a silver cross, a change of clothes, a card to a random hotel in Rome, the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s knight medal, and a golden card that bore the words ¡®Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum¡¯. Surprisingly, Xia Lei turned the card around to find an embedded chip that was as big as an SD card.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Could this be the ess card to their headquarters?¡±
Though uncertain, it might prove useful in the future.
Following that, he came to the Russo sisters¡¯ room. It didn¡¯t take too long for him to rummage through their belongings. There was nothing else worth noting aside from their change of clothes, underwear, cosmetics and some feminine products.
He stowed their items back into their bags before leaving the room.
At the entrance to Bailu Town, the three of them had arrived to find transport out of there.
Amidst their quick steps, Arthur, Rosa and Theresa caught sight of a van that was parked on the roadside. A Chinese man was leaning against the vehicle, scrolling through his phone.
¡°Hello!¡± Rosa quickly approached him. ¡°Do you speak English?¡±
¡°Yeah,¡± the man answered with a smile. ¡°Do you need to rent a car?¡±
¡°Yeah! That¡¯s right!¡± eximed Rosa. She continued, ¡°Please take us away from here.¡±
Theresa interrupted her. ¡°We¡¯ll pay you double your usual rate.¡±
¡°Alright, hop on,¡± The man stowed away his phone and hopped into the driver¡¯s seat.
¡°Nailed it.¡± Rosa and Theresa smirked.
But Arthur couldn¡¯t help but find it suspicious. Why was there a van here at the dead of night? Their escape was going a little too smooth.
¡°Are youing or not?¡± urged the man.
Rosa and Theresa turned around to look at Arthur.
Arthur whispered in Italian. ¡°Be careful. Kill him if he does anything funny!¡±
The Russo sisters nodded in unison.
The three Knight Hospitaller members then entered the car. The man ignited its engine and started their journey. Oddly, the van was headed towards the Thunder Horse Military Factory instead of away from it.
¡°Who exactly are you?¡± Arthur finally noticed something.
Rosa abruptly left her seat to grasp the man¡¯s neck.
The man turned around suddenly, opened his mouth and out came a needle. It was tiny, but there was still a metal tube there nheless!
With the limited space in the van and an unexpected turn of events, Rosa couldn¡¯t react fast enough to avoid the flying needle that stabbed her neck.
Poof! Poof!
Another two needles were sent flying from the man¡¯s mouth in light¡¯s speed. One of it stabbed Theresa¡¯s neck while the other on Arthur¡¯s forehead.
¡°You... Xia...¡± Before he could even utter a full sentence, Arthur was gone, slumping onto his seat.
The Russo sisters were long unconscious before him.
The van came to a halt at the Peace Mansion¡¯s entrance. Therge door was wide open and Xia Lei was standing there smiling smugly.
The bird watched as the mantis stalks the cicada. He was the master of said bird.
Chapter 777 - Reaching A Deal
The gentle morning light chased the dark away, as a bird found its way to a branch and began to chirp.
Giovanna and Ste blinked their eyes open at the same time. The first sight that weed them was not Xia Lei but Arthur, Rosa and Theresa. The three were sprawled about on the couch, still unconscious.
¡°What happened?¡± Ste palmed her forehead, trying her best to recall yesterday¡¯s events. But to no avail, all she could remember was a muddled mess
¡°Didn¡¯t we sleep with Xia Leist night?¡± Giovanna was equally confused.
Where was Xia Lei? Why was he not here?
The Grey sisters were desperate for an answer.
Ste hopped off the bed and tried to wake Rosa up. ¡°Rosa, Rosa! Wake up! Wake up now!¡±
Not sure if it was the vigorous shaking or the urgency of her screams, Rosa finally woke up. The proximity of Ste¡¯s face had her stunned. Abruptly, she grabbed Ste¡¯s arm. ¡°Shit! We fell into his trap!¡±
At this moment, Arthur and Theresa finally stirred awake.
Arthur¡¯s first instinct was to rummage through his shirt pocket frantically. The fabric was still there. He quickly took it out to peel it open and saw that the metal was still in there unharmed.
The five Knight Hospitaller members were dumb-founded.
He managed to recover them but why has he not taken the relic back?
Suddenly, the door opened and Xia Lei made his entry. Held in his hand was a metal tray that was covered with a piece of red silken fabric. Something was hidden under it but no one had a clue of what it could be.
The five glued their eyes to Xia Lei cautiously.
¡°Good morning,¡± greeted Xia Lei with a smile. ¡°Was there a party herest night?¡±
They all kept silent.
Giovanna quickly scanned the bed frame and coffee table with her gaze, probably searching for a knife or a pair of scissors. Unfortunately, there was none of that sort.
Xia Lei ced the tray on the coffee table, then seated himself opposite Arthur.
Ste went to stand behind Xia Lei¡¯s back sneakily.
To which Xia Lei warned, ¡°Miss Ste, it would be in your best interest to sit down quietly. I¡¯m being all nice and friendly to you all because we¡¯re not enemies. But one wrong move from you will change all that.¡±
That made Ste halt her footsteps.
Arthur stashed the fabric mass into his pocket. He couldn¡¯t understand why Xia Lei would leave the sacred relic with him, so it was only natural for him to want to hide it away.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Mister Arthur, there¡¯s no need to hide it, I saw everything.¡±
Arthur decided to ignore him and dropped it further into his pocket. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°I just wanted to continue our discussion. I¡¯m still waiting for the results from the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s meeting before proceeding with further discussions,¡± answered Xia Lei.
Arthur¡¯s expression darkened, he went silent.
Xia Lei smirked. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re refusing to talk to me because you think you¡¯ve already got your paws on your sacred relic?¡± He then pulled on the edge of the red fabric to reveal its content underneath.
The Knight Hospitaller members were stunned.
Hidden by the red silk fabric were four blocks of silver metal. Each one of them bore an uncanny resemnce to the one Arthur had in his pocket.
¡°Weren¡¯t you all here for this? What¡¯s the point of going through such extremes to drug me and steal it away? Here, take it, there¡¯s one for everyone.¡± Xia Lei tossed a block to Giovanna.
Giovanna extended her arms to catch it.
The remaining three were then tossed to Ste, Rosa and Theresa.
Was this arge sacred relic giveaway?
The fourdies were perplexed by the sudden change of events, holding on to the freshly-received metal blocks. They didn¡¯t know what this was about.
¡°You tricked us!¡± Arthur couldn¡¯t hold his irritation any longer, abruptly standing up from his seat with seething anger.
Xia Lei calmly retorted, ¡°I tricked you? What are you going to do about it? You should consider yourselves lucky that I didn¡¯t bury you alive in the mountains.¡±
Arthur dug out the silver metal from his pocket. ¡°How dare you ce a fake block in the safe?! You knew I was going to have someone steal it!¡±
Xia Lei cackled. ¡°What kind of logic is that? Why would I leave the genuine one in there knowing that it would be taken away? I may be shameless at times but damn, you¡¯re really something.¡±
The fuming man smashed the silver metal onto the floor. He had informed Angelo earlier that he managed to retrieve the sacred relic sessfully but all his efforts now sounded like a childish prank. He was already certain that he¡¯d be the ultimate joke of the Knight Hospitaller.
¡°Mister Arthur, I hope you haven¡¯t forgotten that I run a military factory and own very technologically advanced equipment here. I can give you as many sacred relics as you wish. But let me remind you again, the only way you¡¯ll get the real silver metal is through heeding my request,¡± said Xia Lei.
Arthur decided to speak. ¡°I¡¯d like to take a look at the real thing before calling Sir Angelo to update him.¡±
Xia Lei then reached down into his pocket to retrieve another block He ced it down on the metal tray.
Arthur quickly extended a hand to grab it, but he failed to lift the block off the tray. Xia Lei¡¯s grasp had found itself around Arthur¡¯s wrist in the nick of time before he could attempt anything.
The Grey and Russo sisters quickly charged towards Xia Lei.
¡°Stop!¡± growled Arthur while breaking out in cold sweat. Xia Lei¡¯s grip was like a metal mp around his wrist! Its sheer force felt like it was going to break his bone anytime.
The sisters quickly halted their action.
ng! The metal block was returned to the metal tray.
With that, Xia Lei finally freed Arthur¡¯s wrist from his strong grip. He then held the silver metal block tightly in his palm. ¡°This is my territory. The CIA and the FA organization didn¡¯t even dare to attack me in this vicinity. I have no idea what gave you all this confidence and courage to assault me here. Even if we choose to ignore that, you would¡¯ve at least needed around a hundred to two hundred experts to try snatching your relic away. My people could easily handle a measly bunch of five.¡±
Despite the subtle threat, Arthur couldn¡¯t help but keep his eyes glued to the silver metal block in Xia Lei¡¯s hand. His excitement was poorly concealed.
¡°I can replicate your sacred relic¡¯s shape but yet to sessfully imitate its properties. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re clear about that, right?¡± mentioned Xia Lei as he proceeded to store the metal block back into his pocket.
Arthur finally snapped back to reality. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s genuine.¡±
¡°On what basis have you determined that conclusion?¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Have you seen something like this metal before?¡±
Arthur replied, ¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯m grateful for your mercy but please don¡¯t twist my words. I¡¯ll go give Sir Angelo a call now.¡±
¡°Sure, go ahead,¡± said Xia Lei as he gestured to the door.
Arthur proceeded to exit the room for some privacy.
Xia Lei turned his head around and was about to activate his left eye when Giovanna came to stand in between him and the door. The only thing he could see was her slim waist and her immensely perky boobs. The erotic sight made his left eye jump slightly, the scenery of a span of white skin and a small patch of gold entered his vision.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows, ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°What happenedst night?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Xia Lei stood up from his seat to move aside.
Ste abruptly took a step closer to him to block his vision.
¡°Last night... did we...¡± Ste paused to muster enough courage. ¡°...Sleep together?¡±
She just so happened to step into the field of his left eye. The fabric d over her body was quickly peeled away by his x-ray vision as if it was ice under intense sunlight. She had the same slim waist and the same crazy perky boobs. It was surprising to know that not only the Grey sisters share the same pretty face, but their proportions were also the same too.
If he had slept with both of them, he might not have been able to distinguish them.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind couldn¡¯t help but wander towards the territories of nonsense.
¡°It¡¯s... very important to me, please do answer us,¡± pleaded Giovanna subtly.
That made Xia Lei¡¯s head throb a little. ¡°No, nothing happened between us. You can go check yourselves if you don¡¯t believe me.¡±
Ste and Giovanna¡¯s eyes met, releasing a breath they held in unison.
Xia Lei averted his gaze to the door, but Arthur had already hung up the call with Angelo. Thetter entered the room to announce his discussion. ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, Mister Xia. We can¡¯t meet your request.¡±
¡°Ah, that¡¯s a pity,¡± Xia Lei shrugged his shoulders in response. ¡°You may leave now, there¡¯s no need to discuss this further.¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Arthur continued, ¡°What Sir Angelo had meant was that we can¡¯t do this alone. We are going to need resources.¡±
¡°You mean money?¡±
Arthur nodded. ¡°Yes, we need some funds to hire mercenaries and some armed organizations to get the job done. I¡¯m sure we can fulfil your request that way.¡±
¡°Why would I need to return you the sacred relic if that¡¯s so? I have the money and I could¡¯ve easily hired assassins and that sort to work for me anytime I wish,¡± retorted Xia Lei.
¡°Hehe, Mister Xia, your wish is to remain as a decent businessman with a clean record. If you hired mercenaries and assassins to take them down, you would be attracting some unwanted attention. You don¡¯t want the trouble and you don¡¯t want to involve yourself with people like that. Aside from that, there¡¯s no guarantee if they would execute the favour even after payment. They don¡¯t hold the same honest values we do. They¡¯re not as stupid as to do suicide missions like such without an extremely handsome pay. Here¡¯s where we¡¯re different. We¡¯ve existed since a thousand years ago and would naturally have our own set of protocols for things like this. I¡¯m sure you contacted us for that particr reason, right?¡±
That was in fact what Xia Lei had acted upon. If there was another organization that could wipe out FA organization with a fee, he would¡¯ve contacted them instead of the Knight Hospitaller.
¡°How much do you want?¡±
¡°One hundred million USD.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Fifty million USD, nothing more.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a deal.¡± Arthur continued. ¡°But we¡¯d also need a batch of Thunder Horse¡¯s weapons like the XL2500 sniper rifle, Gust assault rifle and the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon.¡±
Xia Lei frowned.
To which Arthur quickly exined. ¡°To avoid a misunderstanding, I¡¯d like to rify that we¡¯re not trying to loot your resources. But as soon as the mission starts, we¡¯d have no choice but to kill off the entire FA organization. Your weapons are the most advanced in the world. If you could kindly provide us with those, I¡¯m sure my people will seed.¡±
¡°Alright, I can do that.¡± Xia Lei was finally reminded of something. ¡°But how am I going to be sure that you won¡¯t scam me off my money?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about that, I can guarantee that with the honour of the Knight Hospitaller. Other than that, I¡¯ll be leaving four hostages to you.¡± Arthur pointed at the Grey and Russo sisters. ¡°They will be staying here until we¡¯re done with our part of the deal.¡±
¡°...¡±
Xia Lei was at aplete loss for words.
Chapter 778 - Indisposable Hostages
Arthur was ready to take action as soon as Xia Lei¡¯s money had made it into the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s ount.
There was no record of the transaction but Xia Lei wasn¡¯t too worried about them running off with the money. One of the factors behind his confidence was that the Knight Hospitaller was obsessed with maintaining their reputation. Another was that their prized relic was still in Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
Fifty million USD was a huge sum, but it was still just a number. If he was willing to pay the same price for Amanda and Park Taeyong, it would go without saying for his willingness to buy FA organization¡¯s death!
Fifty million USD and a bunch of Knight Hospitaller fanatics along with the Thunder Horse¡¯s weapons was a weirdbination. It was as unpredictable as it was deadly. The only thing imaginable was that the FA organization was about to face its biggest threat since its establishment!
The mes of revenge had started to burn.
¡°Mister Xia, these four will be in your care. Please treat them well,¡± said Arthur to Xia Lei, about to depart from the Peace Mansion¡¯s entrance.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°If you¡¯re so worried, you can take them with you.¡±
¡°No, no, no,¡± Arthur waved his hand. ¡°I promised that they¡¯ll be hostages so I¡¯d need to stick with it. You can¡¯t be asking me to be a man who¡¯s not trustworthy now, Mister Xia.¡±
The other man shrugged. There was nothing else for him to say. Though so, Xia Lei was fully aware that there was a different motive behind Arthur¡¯s adamance to leave behind the twins as hostages. They were probably posed as spies. Aside from their ethereal appearances, their abilities posed no threat to Xia Lei so he wasn¡¯t too concerned about it.
¡°May I speak to them before I go?¡± Arthur¡¯s tone was gentle.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sure. They¡¯re yourrades. There¡¯s no need to ask for my permission. If you¡¯d like, you can even talk to them for the whole day. I wouldn¡¯t mind it at all.¡±
¡°No need for that, a few minutes would suffice,¡± said Arthur as he started to move towards one corner beside the door.
The Grey and Russo sisters followed suit.
Initially, Xia Lei thought they were just going to settle in the corner for their discussion, but Arthur had suddenly moved to hide behind a wall. So naturally, the fourdies would follow his footsteps to get away from Xia Lei¡¯s prying eyes.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help butugh. His left eye twitched to show him their hidden discussion. His lip-reading abilities had activated as well.
¡°Mister Arthur, why are you leaving us here? We have nothing to do here,¡± said Rosa.
¡°Yeah, she¡¯s right. Please let us follow you back. We want to fight alongside everyone¡± Giovanna followed in suit.
Ste and Theresa also mentioned simr things. It was evident that the twins weren¡¯t too pleased with Arthur¡¯s decision to leave them with Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s enough. There will be no changes to my decision.¡± Arthur¡¯s expression was stern. ¡°Now listen up, what I¡¯m able to tell you is very important!¡±
They quickly fell silent.
¡°I¡¯m not asking you to stay behind for fun and games. I have a task for all of you.¡± Arthur proceeded to lower his voice further. ¡°You must collect as much information as you can on Xia Lei. Report all situations to me. Also, try to get more information on the sacred relic. You must try to gauge how much he knows about it.¡±
¡°But Mister Arthur, the man is unbelievably sly! Can we even do it?¡± Ste was worried, her mind thinking of the eventsst night. Each of them was fooled badly by Xia Lei and now Arthur was trying to get them to y a spying game with him? Just the thought of it sent chills down her spine.
¡°This is an order! You must heed it and get it done!¡± reprimanded Arthur. ¡°Have you forgotten all about your training? You¡¯ve studied the art of seduction! You were all given an advantage from birth while he suffers from a biological weakness. You¡¯ll seed as long as you use your brain.¡±
The fourdies looked at each other. They didn¡¯t dare to utter a single word. They understood what Arthur was trying to say. Arthur had intended for them to attack Xia Lei by taking advantage of his lust, forcing him to sumb.
¡°That¡¯s all I have to say, we¡¯ll keep in touch. Be careful and make sure Xia Lei doesn¡¯t find out,¡± reminded Arthur.
The twins nodded then chanted in unison, ¡°Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum!¡±
With that, Xia Lei ended his observation. It wasn¡¯t odd for Arthur to hand such a task to them, but it sure will be a headache in the near future. Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°Why does he need to know how much I knew about their sacred relic? Is the Knight Hospitaller going to kill me after getting it?¡±
Perhaps there was such a possibility as the dead were mute.
Arthur and the twins finally emerged from behind the wall. The man had a bright smile on his face as if nothing had happened. He said, ¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯ll be leaving now. I¡¯ll be updating you as we go. Oh, right... When will we be getting the weapons?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll get my South American partner to have it ready for you. I¡¯ll send him more stock after that.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great. I guess I¡¯ll see you again soon.¡± Arthur started to walk towards a waiting rental vehicle. Xia Lei had called the transport for him as he didn¡¯t want his people to be seen with a member of the Knight Hospitaller to avoid possible danger.
¡°Mister Xia.¡± Giovanna¡¯s voice was gentle. ¡°Will you kindly show us around? We¡¯d like to get used to our surroundings.¡±
¡°Sorry, I¡¯m busy today. You can get the cleanerdy to bring you around. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be more than happy to do so,¡± uttered Xia Lei as he turned to walk towards the Thunder Horse Military Factory.
The Grey and Russo sisters looked at each other, then glued their eyes to Xia Lei¡¯s back.
The day after Arthur¡¯s departure was the return of Liu Zhengnan and Qing Caiyue. Even the Sweeper was back home after its disy in Paris. Xia Lei had gone to the airport personally to wee them back but was already surrounded by a throng of reporters before he could reach them.
¡°Mister Xia, is it true that the Sweeper was a sole effort by the Thunder Horse Organization?¡±
¡°Mister Xia, though the Western media hadplimented Sweeper¡¯s advanced features, there were some who imed that you¡¯ve stolen technology from Rheinmetall. Is that true?¡±
¡°Sir, could this vehicle go into mass production?¡±
¡°Mister Xia, will the Sweeper be used for our own army?¡±
¡°Sir, why was Sweeper¡¯s debut held overseas and not domestically? Was it meant to target the international market instead?¡±
A hoard of questions from a hoard of reporters.
Xia Lei held his palm up and waited for them to quiet down. ¡°I have noments at the moment. Pleasee to Thunder Horse¡¯s press release tomorrow to know more about the Sweeper. You may ask whatever you want and you¡¯ll even get to see the vehicle in action during then.¡±
¡°Mister Xia...¡±
¡°Mister Xia...¡±
All the queries fell on deaf ears. Xia Lei squeezed past the reporters to let Liu Zhengnan leave with Xia Xue who tagged along.
¡°Brother, are you really going to do a press release?¡± asked Xia Xue as soon as they made it into Yelena¡¯s car.
¡°Of course, why not? It¡¯ll be stupid to hide something this good under the sheets. The media can do whatever they want. It¡¯s free advertising for us anyway,¡± answered Xia Lei.
Xia Xue giggled. ¡°Alright, you can leave the nning to me.¡±
¡°Sure, no problem.¡±
His sister was getting better at her job day by day. It was about time to let her handle a project by herself.
¡°I can help you with it,¡± offered Liu Zhengnan.
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Xue smiled sweetly in response., ¡°I know you love me the most.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°What? I rank lower than Zhengnan now?¡±
¡°No! You both are tied in first ce!¡± replied Xia Xue quickly.
Laughter filled the car.
As soon as they returned to the Thunder Horse Military Factory, Xia Lei had sent invitations to a handful of people. Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan quickly set to work to n for the press release tomorrow.
Next morning, reporters had started to swarm into the factory hours before the event. News outlet vans along with their best news anchors were ready to bombard Xia Lei with interviews. Some VIPs had also arrived around then. Xia Lei had invited Shi Boren and Tang Tianlong to the press releases as well.
Surprisingly, there were a few uninvited guests among the crowd. Xia Lei didn¡¯t invite Ye Kun, Mu Jian-Feng, Yu Shanhe and Linghan to the event but they were present nheless.
The press release was held in the shooting range within the Thunder Horse Military Factory. Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan had arranged seats for the audience with different positions for different ranked officials.
The press release had finally begun, Xia Lei stepped onto the red carpet and headed towards the lectern calmly. There weren¡¯t any VIP speeches arranged for this asion so he started to talk about the Sweeper and its future production ns off the bat. He had calmly responded to everything asked by the reporters without any hint of fear. His confidence on stage made him seem less like an entrepreneur and more like a dignitary instead.
¡°Why won¡¯t he just die already?¡± mumbled Mu Jian-Feng all while staring at Xia Lei, his expression dark and terrifying.
¡°Yeah, I¡¯d like to know why too. A lot of people want him dead but he just won¡¯t die. In fact, his life seems to be getting better and better.¡± Ye Kun was equally gloomy.
¡°We must stop our spare part supply for his light weapon production! We really have to!¡± Mu Jian-Feng was determined.
Ye Kun furrowed his brows. ¡°But that bastard holds the key to our business. If we stop our supply to Thunder Horse...¡±
¡°We¡¯d be better off dying straight away than to have him chew us alive,¡± interrupted Mu Jian-Feng.
¡°Teacher, why would you say that?¡± questioned Ye Kun. He had never seen Mu Jian-Feng as a person who¡¯d give up and die.
At this moment, Ling Han approached them. ¡°Does that really matter? In my opinion, both of yourpanies will go bankrupt in a few more years after Thunder Horse ceases their dependency on your supply.¡±
Ye Kun seemed to have understood something. He nodded but had opted to stay silent instead.
Ling Han said, ¡°I agree with what Old Mu said. It¡¯ll be better to go all out and suffer the consequences rather than have Xia Lei swallow your business alive. Giving it a go is definitely better than waiting for your inevitable downfall, right?¡±
¡°I¡¯d appreciate it if you could help us out, Mister Ling.¡± Mu Jian-Feng smiled eerily.
Ling Han gave a polite smile in return. He then averted his gaze to Yu Shanhe.
But the man was stationary. Yu Shanhe had his attention glued to Xia Lei, brows furrowed with an unreadable expression stered on his face.
Chapter 779 - Im a Thorn
Ka-boom!
A loud explosion echoed through the air. One-shot out of the Hell-bound Cannon had sted the target three thousand metres away into dust. Though the target was made out of cement and stones, it was reduced to nothing with the cannon. It was also worth noting that the current in-service Type 99 Main Battle Tank had its shooting range limited to three thousand five hundred metres!
After destroying the target, the Sweeper started to zoom across the field. Its speed was so jaw-droppingly fast, so speedy that people almost forgot that it was an infantry fighting vehicle instead of a regr four-wheel drive.
Whoosh! A target bomb flew by, aimed towards the Sweeper. Its speed wasparable to the American Javelin Anti-tank Missile. As soon as it entered Sweeper¡¯s fifty-meter radius, the vehicle¡¯s defence system immediately kicked in, sending out a jamming bomb in response.
Boom! Another explosion destroyed the targeted bomb.
It was a considerable achievement for such a reaction from a military vehicle¡¯s defence system. Truth to be told, the most advanced of the European tanks weren¡¯t even able to execute that.
The performance had everyone awe-struck, hearts palpitating violently with their adrenaline at an all-time high. There was no end to the cheers resonating from the shooting range.
The eyes of a few military representatives gleamed with excitement. They could not get enough of it. After the demonstration performance was over, they followed Shi Boren to meet Xia Lei. They showered him with praises, to which Xia Lei had responded courteously.
¡°Damn kid, was that a tank or an infantry fighting vehicle?¡± Shi Boren¡¯s tone was bright. He gave Xia Lei a few friendly pats on his shoulder.
Xia Lei was used to his way of greeting. The younger male replied with a smile. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? It¡¯s an infantry fighting vehicle. But even if we encountered a tank on the battlefield, the Sweeper¡¯s operator will have nothing to worry about.¡±
¡°What¡¯s even there to fear about? One-shot from it will be enough to st the poor thing into debris,¡± one of the military representatives said with a smile.
Everyone elseughed.
Standing not far from the chattering bunch were Yu Shanhe and Ling Han, who have both been oddly quiet throughout the whole affair. Their expressions were gloomy, observing Xia Lei and the few military representatives intently.
¡°Mister Yu, why are you standing so far away? Come join us,¡± one of the representatives offered.
Yu Shanhe went over. Ling Han hesitated but decided to not approach them in the end.
¡°Mister Yu, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already seen how great the Sweeper is. I¡¯ll just be frank with you then. When will our military troops be able to use something like that?¡± asked the representative that invited Yu Shanhe over as soon as thetter came close.
A false smile found its way to Yu Shanhe¡¯s face. ¡°Our orders which were made to the China Industrial Group are notplete as ofte. We¡¯ll see how it goes after they¡¯re done. A change ofrger resources like military vehicles will require multiple hearings and meetings.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re trying to say that this won¡¯t happen in the near future?¡±
¡°That I¡¯m not sure,¡± answered Yu Shanhe.
¡°I don¡¯t care. I only want Sweeper as the sole vehicle of the military. Nothing else matters,¡± said another representative. The man had his brows furrowed, anger evident from his res. He was obviously displeased with Yu Shanhe¡¯s pretext.
The other representative had the same reaction. Most of the people in the military were very straightforward. They¡¯d celebrate when they were happy and they¡¯d curse your entire family when they were angry. Basically, they were blunt to a fault.
Yu Shanhe calmly reasoned with him. ¡°This really is no small matter. Even if I were to order a quantity of it from Thunder Horse Organization now, it wouldn¡¯t count as it¡¯s not a decision made by the majority. Aside from that, there¡¯s no guarantee to the quality of mass-produced Sweepers. I cannot confirm that the mass-produced model would have the same specifications as the prototype. So, If we want to use the Sweeper, it¡¯d need to go through a series of strict tests before we can evaluate its feasibility before submitting relevant results to themittee then followed by hearings.¡±
At that point, Shi Boren frowned. He was getting irritated.
Yu Shanhe turned to look at Xia Lei. ¡°Mister Xia, are you confident that your product can survive strict evaluations?¡±
Xia Lei calmly responded, ¡°Officer Yu, ourpany practises extremely strict quality control protocols to guarantee that our customers will enjoy high-quality products. If the Sweeper had cleared our evaluation, it would also indicate that it passed all relevant protocols.¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s smiled eerily. ¡°Easier said than done. I wonder if the results will reflect your confidence.¡±
Xia Lei forced a smile. ¡°Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. You get to choose if you want to order them or not. However, I am not worried if you¡¯d order them or not. You see, when I debuted the Sweeper at the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte in Paris, a lot of countries were desperate enough to make orders I couldn¡¯t refuse. Without your orders, I¡¯d be able to satisfy the international market. Who wouldn¡¯t say no to a higher profit margin?¡±
The odd smile fell from Yu Shanhe¡¯s face.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Sweeper is at least fifteen years more advanced than the current models. Getting orders is thest thing from my mind right now¡±
¡°Hmph,¡± snorted Yu Shanhe. ¡°You really think you¡¯re selling groceries, huh? Let¡¯s see how well your sales performance will be like.¡±
¡°Haha,¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°Officer Yu, let me advise you on something. Think before you act or you¡¯ll definitely regret it. I¡¯d like to see you try and stop us from selling them. If all things fail, I¡¯ll close down my factory. That¡¯d certainly be your best case scenario, right? You¡¯ve always wanted me out of the business. So yeah, let¡¯s ce a bet. If you could hinder my business, I¡¯ll shut down my factory. If I seed, you resign. How¡¯s that?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s bold words surprised Shi Boren and the military representatives. They were shocked by his guts. Him, a private enterprise owner had challenged someone of Yu Shanhe¡¯s position to resign!
¡°Disrespectful brat!¡± fumed Yu Shanhe.
But Xia Lei¡¯s calm smile remained on his lips,pletely unfazed by Yu Shanhe¡¯s outburst.
¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough.¡± Shi Boren quickly stepped in to diffuse the tension. ¡°No matter who we are and what we work as, we¡¯re all contributing to the country. All Thunder Horse Organization weapons quality ones and their newlyunched Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle are fifteen years more advanced than models used in the west. This is something we should celebrate.¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s expression was scarily dark. He didn¡¯t dare to agree to the bet because he was fully aware that there was no way to stop Thunder Horse Organization from pushing Sweeper into the international market. Weapon tax was very high so the Thunder Horse Organization would surely earn immense profit from foreign currency exchange. Also, Sweeper would help China conquer the international military firearm market. This would be a good deed to the country, who would dare to hinder that? Anyone who dared to stop them will be done for!
The older male was more concerned about the rtionship between Fan Fan and Xia Lei. Xia Lei was the one who helped Fan Fan be ZN Station¡¯s leader. In other words, they were on the same boat. With Fan Fan¡¯s current position and ability, if she wanted to snitch on Yu Shanhe, it¡¯d be as easy as calling for delivery! If Yu Shanhe wasn¡¯t truly guilty, the situation would still be under control. But he wasn¡¯t. If Fan Fan uses that against him, his life would be ruined.
Though Shi Boren hade to diffuse the situation, Xia Lei opened his mouth to speak once again. ¡°Officer Yu, will you ept this bet?¡±
Shi Boren who had initially fallen silent couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He was this close to kicking Xia Lei into the next week! He had done his best to have Yu Shanhe calm down but this dumb kid had gone to p the tiger¡¯s butt again!
But Xia Lei was fully aware of what he was doing. He wanted to show Yu Shanhe that he was no longer afraid of him!
Yu Shanhe was so mad that he started to cackle. ¡°Xia Lei, you really think that someone like me would go along with your silly bet? You¡¯re too full of yourself. You¡¯re a young man with great ambition. But be warned, great joy begets great sorrow¡±
With that, Yu Shanhe turned to leave.
Xia Lei yelled after him, ¡°Officer Yu, there¡¯s a banquetter. Why don¡¯t you leave after a meal?¡±
Yu Shanhe ignored him.
Shi Borennded his palm on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder with a hard smack. ¡°Why are you so desperate to mess with him?¡± reprimanded Shi Boren.
Xia Lei only smiled at that. ¡°This country and its people are advancing. But there are people who hinder its progress with petty reasons. I want the Thunder Horse Organization to be bigger and better. I want it to bepetent enough to challenge the powerhouses in the west so I must get through this obstacle. I¡¯m not trying to humiliate or go against anyone by doing so. I just want to remind them to not be a nuisance to the development of our country and the Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
¡°Well said. Some people should just take the cue and stop being so arrogant,¡± said one of the representatives.
¡°People should really stand up in situations like this. Well done, Mister Xia! You have my full support,¡± another representative said.
Someone had to step up and say ¡®No¡¯ and Xia Lei was that someone.
Meanwhile, Ling Han said, ¡°Old Mu, Director Ye, did you see that? I¡¯m sure you can imagine what will happen to us when Xia Lei makes it big. He¡¯s already treating Officer Yu with such an outrageous attitude. What must be done, must be done. A private enterprise can¡¯t cause any damage to you both, right?¡±
He didn¡¯t need to say anything else as his hint was obvious enough.
Mu Jian-Feng and Ye Kun had been in the workforce for a while. They had fully understood his intentions. The two stared at each other, not giving an immediate response.
¡°I¡¯m going to leave now. If you need anything, just call me.¡± Ling Han walked away from the two.
Ling Han trailed behind Yu Shanhe. Ye Kun waited until Ling Han was out of sight to ask, ¡°Teacher, are we really going to do that?¡±
¡°Do we even have a choice?¡±
Ye Kun smiled bitterly. ¡°Since it¡¯s decided, there¡¯s no turning back now. Let¡¯s find the best opportunity to approach him.¡±
Mu Jian-Feng replied, ¡°Isn¡¯t there a banquetter? I believe then would be best.¡±
¡°Alright. So... who¡¯s going to...¡±
Mu Jian-Feng frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re trying to have me initiate it.¡±
¡°Ah, you sly fox.¡± Ye Kun secretly scolded in his heart with a smile still stered on his face. ¡°How could I make my most respected teacher initiate it? Please rest assured, I¡¯ll approach himter.¡±
Chapter 780 - Yuyan and Tianyin
The banquet was held in Jingdu¡¯s Xiri Hotel. There were more than ten tables, where the invited VIPs and Thunder Horse employees sat.
The Sweeper¡¯s sess and glory were not only his, but it was also Annina and Sylvia¡¯s along with everyone that helped along the way. Everyone had yed a part in it. It only made sense that a portion of his employees could attend the banquet. He had over a thousand workers in the Jingdu base and there was no way the hall could amodate every single one of them. Other than that, it had seemed unreasonable to get the employees from the Haizhu base and Shu Di base to attend the asion. They were just too far away. Despite that, Xia Lei had already phoned Guan Lingshan and Zhou Xiaohong to have them arrange a celebratory feast for the workers along with some prize money.
Today was a celebration for all Thunder Horse staff!
Xia Lei had arrived at Hotel Xiri alongside Shi Boren and a few military representatives. Xia Xue, who was already waiting at the entrance quickly approached them. ¡°Hello, Uncle Shi. Hello, uncles,¡± she greeted sweetly.
Shi Boren smiled. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s so sweet of you. Xia Lei, it¡¯d be nice if you were as kind as Xia Xue.¡±
The representativesughed at his words.
When pigs fly.
¡°Is there something you want to tell me?¡± Xia Lei noticed something was amiss.
Xia Xue nodded, but she seemed ufortable at theck of privacy.
¡°Elder Shi, let¡¯s head in first,¡± one of the representatives said.
¡°Sure, we¡¯ll go ahead. Xia Lei, do remember to drop by our table for a few drinkster,¡± said Shi Boren.
¡°Of course,¡± answered Xia Lei.
With that, Shi Boren and the military representatives entered the hotel. Xia Xue took this as her cue to say, ¡°Brother, I... I¡¯m so sorry.¡±
Xia Lei was a little taken aback at the sudden apology. ¡°Why are you apologising?¡±
His sister was worried about something. ¡°I was too busy nning the press release with Zhengnan, so I had Qing Caiyue handle the banquet venue booking.¡±
¡°What¡¯s wrong with it¡± Xia Lei lifted his chin to take in the luxurious mour of the building, he continued, ¡°This hotel looks amazing. It¡¯s very fancy.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±
¡°Know what?¡±
Xia Xue ced a palm on his shoulder. ¡°Brother, your wife, no, your ex-wife owns this hotel.¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°Brother, I wouldn¡¯t do this to you. Your secretary was the one who booked this hotel.¡±
Of course, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t mad at Xia Xue. He wasn¡¯t mad at Qing Caiyue either. No one would¡¯ve paid attention to who owned the hotel. Vientiane Group owned businesses of various fields, it was only mere coincidence that his banquet was held in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hotel. He could only me his shitty luck for this.
¡°Also, one more thing.¡± Xia Xue continued, ¡°Father has returned from Shu Di, he¡¯ll be arriving here soon.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Alright, got it.¡±
¡°Please don¡¯t worry too much about it. Tianyin probably isn¡¯t aware that we¡¯re holding a banquet here tonight. There¡¯s no way she would¡¯ve gone into detail with a single hotel under Vientiane Group¡¯s vastwork.¡± Xia Xue tried to reassure her brother.
But as soon as she had spoken those words, a silver Rolls-Royce Phantom came to a halt in front of the hotel¡¯s entrance.
Xia Xue pped her palm on her forehead.
The doors of the Rolls-Royce Phantom opened to reveal Fu Mingmei, who was getting out of the driver¡¯s seat. She stopped to re at Xia Lei before going to the back seat to open its door.
A pair of ck heels emerged from the door frame followed by a pair of slender legs. Shentu Tianyin carefully pressed on her skirt while exiting the car. Long white maxi skirt, a ck elegant hat and a ck LV handbag soon came to sight. Her outfit elements were mourous but subtle. Shentu Tianyin was still very much her old self, pretty yet sexy at the same time. She still gave off the same cold aura, but it was the aura of a queen.
Their eyes met. Memories of her felt like snowkes falling amongst a frozen horizon, scattering across Xia Lei¡¯s mind. It was sweet, yet bitter.
Xia Lei mustered the courage to smile and approached her. ¡°Hello, Tianyin. How have you been?¡±
A simple greeting that could bring warmth and hinted concern.
Shentu Tianyin took in the sight of Xia Lei with wide eyes. She stared at his face for a good ten whole seconds before replying, ¡°I¡¯m fine. How about you?¡±
¡°Well, I¡¯d say life has been pretty okay for me but I¡¯ve been really busytely,¡± answered Xia Lei sheepishly.
Xia Xue came over. ¡°Sister... Hello, Big Sister Tianyin.¡±
¡°Xiao Xue.¡± Tianyu extended an arm to hold Xia Xue¡¯s hand, she continued, ¡°You¡¯ve gotten so beautiful. When will your wedding be?¡±
Xia Xue¡¯s cheek turned red. She responded bashfully, ¡°It... It¡¯s a little too early to talk about that. I still have a lot to do, I¡¯m not nning to settle down just yet.¡±
¡°Zhengnan¡¯s a nice guy. Treasure him well. Don¡¯t be like me. I was foolish enough to not appreciate a great lover,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei heard it all. It was as if she had intended to direct it to him instead of Xia Xue.
He felt awkward. He switched the topic, ¡°Tianyin, you arrived just in time for my banquet. How about you join us for a feast tonight?¡±
Shentu Tianyin smiled, ¡°Ah that¡¯s such a coincidence. I¡¯m here to check on the hotel business but I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here. If that¡¯s so, I ept your offer.¡±
Suddenly, another car stopped in front of the entrance.
The door opened and out came Xia Changhe and Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan wore an emerald Qipao decorated with golden embroidery. The garment was form-fitting, hugging her curves to show off her assets. Her hair hadplimented the ssic dress well. Her hair was made into a crown of thick vintage curls that highlighted the ssical aesthetic of ancient China. Normally, Tang Yuyan preferred to dress casually, giving off a yful and youthful vibe. Tonight, it felt as if she was a different person. This aura was whatsted the prestigiousdies for so long but Tang Yuyan was the epitome of prestigious herself. She fitted her role as the prized daughter of the Tang family.
As Tang Yuyan exited the car, she spared Xia Lei a nce before averting her gaze onto Shentu Tianyin.
Shentu Tianyin had returned the gaze to Tang Yuyan before settling her eyes on Xia Changhe. Her lips twitched, itching to call out ¡®Father¡¯ but ultimately decided against it. Xia Changhe had only returned after she and Xia Lei were divorced. She had no chance to greet her father-inw before the eventual split. Though the two had met each other in the Peace Mansion, there was not a single exchange between them. Xia Changhe was a stranger to her. Now that he had appeared alongside Tang Yuyan, Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t help but frown subtly at the odd feeling bubbling in her heart.
¡°Miss Tianyin, what a coincidence! It¡¯s been so long since we met, it¡¯s really nice to see you here,¡± greeted Tang Yuyan generously.
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s such a coincidence.¡± Shentu Tianyu diverted her gaze to Xia Changhe. ¡°Hello, Uncle Xia.¡±
¡°Hello.¡± Xia Changhe had nothing else to say.
There was a pregnant pause and the air was getting increasingly awkward.
Xia Lei was lost.
¡°Lei Zi,¡± called Shentu Tianyin. ¡°I¡¯m going to head in first to handle some matters, I¡¯ll see youter.¡±
¡°Alright, see you soon,¡± he replied.
Fu Mingmei brushed her shoulder against his but stopped for a bit to whisper, ¡°She isn¡¯t here for work. She heard you were throwing a banquet and rushed over. She even ignored an important meeting toe here. You guys should have a good talk. She¡¯s been rather unhappytely.¡±
Talk?
What was there left to talk about?
Xia Lei¡¯s heart spiralled into sadness. Did she want to talk about their past or a possible future? The past had already formed a scar but the future? Could a future with Shentu Tianyin even be possible?
Fu Mingmei trailed behind Shentu Tianyin to enter the hotel.
¡°Father, Miss Tang,¡± greeted Xia Xue. Without waiting for their responses, she blurted, ¡°Brother, I¡¯ll leave this to you. I¡¯m going to go talk to big sister Tianyin. This is her hotel so I¡¯m guessing that she¡¯d be willing to spare me a fifty per cent discount?¡±
As Xia Lei was about to stop her but she had already run off into the depths of the hotel¡¯s luxurious interior.
¡°This child,¡± sighed Xia Changhe. ¡°There¡¯s still arge gap between us it seems. I don¡¯t me her. I did this to myself.¡±
When Xia Xue had needed him the most, he left without a sound and was gone for years. Xia Xue and Xia Lei had not heard a single word from him back then. To her, Xia Lei, who had torn up his university eptance letter and went straight into the workforce to support her education was her true ¡®father¡¯.
¡°Uncle Xia, just give her some time. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll understand someday,¡±forted Tang Yuyan.
¡°Yeah, baby steps. There¡¯s no rush.¡± Xia Changhe¡¯s tone wasced with sorrow.
¡°Father, don¡¯t dwell too much on it. Let¡¯s go in, the banquet is about to start,¡± said Xia Lei.
The old man nodded.
Tang Yuyan sent Xia Lei a dramatic eye roll. ¡°Why the rush? There¡¯s no harm talking to me. I¡¯m no stranger. Isn¡¯t that right, Uncle Xia?¡±
¡°Haha, yeah, yeah.¡± A sudden smile appeared on Xia Changhe¡¯s face.
Xia Lei was surprised and confused. What the hell was going on?
Tang Yuyan winked at Xia Changhe.
¡°Lei Zi, I need to talk about something when we¡¯re home,¡± mentioned Xia Changhe.
¡°About what?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll leave it for when we get back. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s great news,¡± replied Xia Changhe without revealing too much.
¡°Uncle Xia, what will you be talking about with Lei Zi? Please do tell,¡± whined Tang Yuyan.
¡°Well, what else other than...¡± Xia Changhe fell silent.
Tang Yuyan said nothing in return.
A wry smile soon found its way onto Xia Lei¡¯s lips. The whole situation was odd. He felt as if Xia Changhe and Tang Yuyan were treating him like an outsider rather than thetter instead.
The three then entered the hotel. It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to notice that Fu Mingmei was waving to him at the beginning of a corridor.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t head straight towards her but had made sure that Xia Changhe and Tang Yuyan made it to their seats before doing so.
¡°Tianyin says she¡¯s not joining the banquet,¡± said Fu Mingmei.
¡°Huh? Why? I thought she seemed pretty enthusiastic.¡± Xia Lei was confused.
¡°She said that it¡¯ll be awkward for her to dine with Tang Yuyan around.¡±
The revtion wasn¡¯t a surprise to Xia Lei. ¡°I see, that¡¯spletely understandable. I¡¯ll just meet her some other day.¡±
¡°No, she¡¯ll be waiting for you here. Please do visit her after you¡¯re done with your event.¡± Fu Mingmei passed a room card into Xia Lei¡¯s palm.
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say.
Fu Mingmei frowned. ¡°Men are such ruthless animals. You all forget about what you had as soon as you found someone new. Seeing that you were husband and wife, can¡¯t you spare some time for a mere talk?¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll visit her as soon as I¡¯m done.¡± Xia Lei pocketed the card. ¡°Also, I was never a ruthless man. But I think women can be more cold-hearted than most of us.¡±
The corner of Fu Mingmei¡¯s lips twitched. She was fully aware of why Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei divorced. Xia Lei had wanted Shentu Tianyin to give up on Vientiane Group toe to build Thunder Horse Organization with him. Sadly, she had chosen her career over love and family. She even went ahead to use Xia Lei of something she did. From that, it was obvious that Shentu Tianyin was more merciless than Xia Lei was. She had no right to call Xia Lei ruthless. If he really was heartless, a nce would even be out of the question let alone small talk.
¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to head back to the banquet.¡± Xia Lei turned to leave.
¡°Please do remember toe,¡± reminded Fu Mingmei.
He nodded, back still facing her.
What was there left to talk about now?
He really had no clue.
Chapter 781 - Infernal Affairs
Xia Lei was having wine with Shi Boren and a few representatives from the military during a banquet when a waiter approached him. He whispered to Xia Lei, ¡°Mister Xia, a gentleman wishes to speak with you.¡±
¡°Did he mention his name?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°His surname is Ye.¡± The waiter pointed towards said man. ¡°He¡¯s sitting there.¡±
Xia Lei looked towards where the waiter was pointing at. He recognised Ye Kun in a nce. He was curious about Ye Kun¡¯s intention, but he didn¡¯t bat an eyelid. ¡°I got it.¡±
However, the waiter did not leave. He whispered once again, ¡°Mister Ye wants to discuss an important matter with you. You¡¯ll regret not going over.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. The waiter must have gotten a tip from Ye Kun. When he was about to ask the waiter to leave, he saw Ye Kun heading towards the exit of the restaurant. Looking at Ye Kun, he thought, ¡°He left the restaurant as soon as he called me out for a conversation. What¡¯s he up to?¡±
¡°Please excuse me for a moment.¡± Xia Lei left the table and headed towards another exit of the restaurant.
As he left the restaurant, he spotted Ye Kun, who was just entering the stairwell.
¡°What the hell is he up to?¡± Xia Lei followed after him. He entered the stairwell and found Ye Kun waiting for him on the first floor.
¡°Director Xia.¡± Ye Kun greeted him. ¡°I thought you wouldn¡¯te, but fortunately you did.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°How could I ignore an invitation from Director Ye?¡±
¡°Director Xia, don¡¯t have to be so polite to me. You are currently a public figure and are well-known among people with high social status. My existence is hardly important to you.¡±
¡°Stop beating around the bush. I¡¯m not used to discussing matters in this kind of ce. If someone else sees us, they¡¯d think that we are nning evil deeds,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Haha, Director Xia, do you think I¡¯m the kind of person who only does bad things?¡±
¡°Director Ye, if you called me out to discuss morals and ethics, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m going to have to leave now.¡± Xia Lei was about to leave.
¡°Wait!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly,
¡°There are people who stopped China Industrial Group and Hanwu Weapons from providing weapon spare parts to Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
Xia Lei stopped and turned around to face him. ¡°When was this happening?¡±
¡°Today.¡±
There was a long pause before Xia Lei spoke up again, ¡°I believe this is not the only matter you¡¯d like to discuss?¡±
¡°It seems like I can¡¯t hide anything from you.¡± Ye Kun checked around to make sure no one was near to them before he continued, ¡°Director Xia, do you know who¡¯s behind this?¡±
¡°I have my guesses. It doesn¡¯t matter even if you don¡¯t tell me.¡± Xia Lei stared at Ye Kun. ¡°But the only thing that I¡¯m still unclear about is your intention of calling me out.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve had enough.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
Ye Kun lowered his voice. ¡°You could easily have me and Mu Jian-Feng on hold. You could¡¯ve easily destroyed me. They knew this all along but they insisted I be the one to initiate this conversation. Isn¡¯t it obvious that they want me to be the sacrifice? I¡¯m not doing it.¡±
This was the reason Xia Lei was being called out. He was not expecting this.
¡°Director Xia, I¡¯m not a caged dog. I¡¯m also not an idiot who¡¯d sacrifice himself for others. As long as you help me, I will be your friend. I can even...¡±
¡°Even...?¡±
¡°Work under you and be yours.¡± Ye Kun finished his sentence.
The unexpected turn of events stunned Xia Lei. ¡°Director Ye, I¡¯m not sure what you are up to, but aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll blow your cover to Mu Jian-Feng and Ling Han?¡±
¡°If I was afraid, I wouldn¡¯t have told you this,¡± Ye Kun said. ¡°I know what kind of person you are, you wouldn¡¯t blow my cover.¡±
¡°How can you be certain about this? We are not even friends.¡±
¡°It¡¯s because you need me.¡±
¡°Do you think I¡¯ll trust you?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t need your trust. My only intention is to let you know that I¡¯m needed and I could bring you benefits.¡±
Xia Lei kept quiet. Ye Kun was right. He needed Ye Kun.
The demand for Thunder Horse¡¯s products had doubled recently. Their production line was considered fast but it wasn¡¯t fast enough. If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t got hold of the evidence that could destroy Ye Kun and Mu Jian-Feng, the factory couldn¡¯t have achieved such a result.
If these two groups refused to provide Thunder Horse Military Factory with weapon parts, it would affect the production of the factory. Xia Lei had received arge number of orders. If he couldn¡¯t produce the weapons within the promised time, it would hurt his reputation. If it wasn¡¯t for this, why would Ye Kun risk discussing this matter with him?
There was a short silence before Xia Lei continued, ¡°Let¡¯s get straight to the point, what do you want from me?¡±
¡°Hand me every single thing that you could use against me.¡±
¡°What can I gain from you for doing this?¡±
¡°Hanwu Weapons and all its subsidiaries will produce weapon parts for your factory. Thus, the drop out of China Industrial Group wouldn¡¯t affect your production.¡±
¡°It sounds like a threat rather than a coboration.¡±
Ye Kun forced a smile. ¡°Director Xia, please stop joking with me. You know that I have no other choices. If you hand it over to me, I could work with peace of mind after destroying it.¡±
¡°Director Ye, I think you are the one who¡¯s joking around. You are the CEO of an enterprise, why would you work under me? Moreover, I can¡¯t afford to have a big shot work under me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You are obviously into my offer and you need me as an ally. Why are you still probing me?¡± A trace of anger grew on Ye Kun¡¯s face. ¡°Xia Lei, you are annoying!¡±
Xia Lei replied lightly, ¡°I¡¯m just trying to figure out what¡¯s going on.¡±
Ye Kun approached Xia Lei as he lowered his voice, ¡°I know your ambition. You want to develop Thunder Horse Organization into apany like Lockheed Martin Corp. in China. I do think that you can make it happen, but not if you¡¯re alone. If you want it to happen, you need someone like me. I can provide you with the best technical experts and support from the government. I could even suggest making Hanwu Weapons to merge with Thunder Horse Organization while maintaining its status as a private enterprise.¡±
Upon hearing his offer, Xia Lei was increasingly interested. Hispany was short of talent and policy support. Assuming that they could train all their workers from scratch, it would slow down the production significantly during the training period. However, if Hanwu Weapons was to merge with Thunder Horse Organization, the situation would be different. It meant that he would own every talent and skilled employee from Hanwu Weapons. If that was the case, Thunder Horse Organization would grow faster than the wind could take them!
More importantly, such mergers would not change the nature of the group as a private enterprise.
Yu Shanhe, Mu Jian-Feng, and the others have tried their ways to get him out of the military industry. But they wouldn¡¯t have thought that one of them would betray them by providing Hanwu Weapons for him.
¡°Think about it, if you¡¯ve decided to join me,e to the table where I and Mu Jian-Feng are sitting. I¡¯ll publicly reject your request for producing weapon parts. Then you ssh a ss of wine at me, and we¡¯ve got a deal.¡± Ye Kun patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and left.
Xia Lei watched Ye Kun as he left. A faint smile appeared on his face.
It was unexpected, but it was how people like Ye Kun survived. He could betray anyone, even Mu Jian-Feng, the person behind his sess.
It was in Xia Lei¡¯s best moral interest to take him in. However, it was undeniable that he would be a good dog. If put him into good use, he could even guard the home.
After waiting for a minute, Xia Lei returned to the restaurant. Once he entered the restaurant, he headed straight to the table with Ye Kun and Mu Jian-Feng.
Ye Kun stared at him with an imperceptible smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
¡°Director Mu, Director Ye, I never thought I¡¯d see you here today.¡± Xia Lei smiled as he continued, ¡°You are my guests, I¡¯ll give you a toast.¡±
Xia Lei poured the wine into an empty ss.
Everyone around the table raised their ss, except for Mu Jian-Feng and Ye Kun, who had no intention to have a drink with Xia Lei.
¡°Director Ye, what does this mean?¡± Xia Lei asked unhappily.
¡°To be honest, I¡¯m here to tell you one thing,¡± said Ye Kun. ¡°I¡¯ve decided that Hanwu Weapons will not provide Thunder Horse Organization with weapon parts from now on.¡±
Xia Lei replied coldly, ¡°Ye Kun, have you considered the consequences?¡±
¡°I have thought about it. Look for someone else. I quit! What can you do about this?¡± Ye Kun stood up.
Suddenly, Xia Lei raised his hand and sshed the wine on Ye Kun¡¯s face.
Ye Kun wanted to hit Xia Lei, but Mu Jian-Feng quickly grabbed his hand.
¡°Ah Kun, calm down!¡± said Mu Jian-Feng.
¡°Xia Lei, you...you bastard!¡± Ye Kun shook off Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s hand and left the scene furiously.
Xia Lei replied calmly, ¡°Ye Kun, you better think it over!¡±
Ye Kun left without turning around.
Mu Jian-Feng sighed when he looked at Xia Lei. As he shook his head, he said, ¡°Young men are often rash. Do you think you¡¯ve done the right thing? Well, I can¡¯t finish this wine anymore, let¡¯s not meet again.¡±
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°Ye Kun is your student. You may be a sly fox, but I don¡¯t think you could guess that your student would be the first person who betrays you.¡±
Having a smile on his face, Mu Jian-Feng left the restaurant.
People that were surrounding the table stared at each other, not knowing what to do.
A sudden smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face after the whole ordeal. ¡°It¡¯s fine, let¡¯s continue drinking.¡±
A table of people followed the lead of Xia Lei and raised their ss, treating Xia Lei with respect.
After the chaos, Xia Lei returned to his seat.
¡°What happened?¡± asked Shi Boren.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it, it was a minor conflict.¡±
¡°Well, I couldn¡¯t care what happens between you two. I don¡¯t want to care either.¡± Suddenly, ShI Boren changed the topic, ¡°Apany me to have a drink with your dad.¡±
As Xia Lei looked towards a table, he saw Tang Yuyan and Xia Changhe was chit-chatting happily.
Tang Yuyan also looked over, exchanging an amorous and charming look with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei avoided her sight.
¡°Come with me,¡± urged Shi Boren.
Xia Lei forced a smile. ¡°Alright.¡±
It was impossible to run away from someone or something. What should be faced must always be faced
Chapter 782 - I Have Turned Into A Bad Person
Xia Lei left the banquet before it ended. He headed to the room marked on the key he was given and entered it.
It wasn¡¯t the presidential suite like Xia Lei had expected. Instead, it was a standard room equipped with a bed, a desk, a television, and a bathroom. In the room, there was a slender figure standing near to the windows exuding a sense of loneliness. It was Shentu Tianyin.
Upon hearing the sound of the door closing, Shentu Tianyin turned around to face Xia Lei. A pendant was glittering brightly around her fine neck. It was her wedding gift from Xia Lei. It was the ¡®sacred heart¡¯ owned by thest princess from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Siby.
She was not wearing the pendant when she came to the banquet, but she was wearing it now.
The pendant brought back memories of Xia Lei.
They were standing there and watching each other, quietly.
The silence was deafening.
Xia Lei shrugged his shoulder and broke off the awkward silence. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saying anything after asking me to meet?¡±
¡°Congrattions on your recent achievement,¡± said Shentu Tianyin gently and softly.
Upon hearing this, Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m only skilled in producing weapons. Unlike you, who knows a little bit of everything.¡±
Shentu Tianyinughed. ¡°That¡¯s not entirely true. You¡¯re still superior to me in business. Before our divorce, your assets were a ratio of one to ten of mine. But now you are sitting at six hundred billion. I inherited my money but you earned it from scratch.¡±
¡°Six hundred billion? Do I have that much money?¡± Xia Lei was surprised. He has not counted his current assets, but he knew where this figure hade from. It was because the country has exempted him from paying two hundred billion in loans. Besides, the deal with French had doubled his assets.
¡°Don¡¯t you pay attention to your assets?¡± Shentu Tianyin was also surprised. ¡°Then why do you make so much money?¡±
¡°I want to develop Thunder Horse Organization into apany like Lockheed Martin Corp in our country.¡± Xia Lei paused for a while before he added, ¡°This is the only dream I have right now, I¡¯ve to make it work.¡±
¡°You have changed.¡± Shentu Tianyin walked toward Xia Lei. ¡°You are not the Xia Lei I used to know.¡±
¡°People change,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin fell into Xia Lei¡¯s arms. Her bosom hit his body, followed by her hands and her lower abdomen. She pressed her cheek against his and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I owe you an apology. Could you forgive me?¡±
Her body, her fragrance, everything about her was so beautiful.
However, he did not feel anything for her. The only feeling he had was a touch of sadness. He was silent for a while before he said, ¡°I forgave you a long time ago.¡±
Her eyes glimmering with love and hopes upon hearing Xia Lei. ¡°You...are willing to give me a chance?¡±
Xia Wei was stunned for a while before he replied, ¡°That depends on what it is.¡±
Shentu Tianyin hesitated before she finally mustered up the courage to say, ¡°Let¡¯s remarry.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei was shocked.
¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about it for a long time. After we got a divorce, I suffered every single day. I was not happy. Whenever I got home, I hoped that you were waiting for me. I couldn¡¯t sleep well without you. Xia Lei, let¡¯s go back to how things were. I¡¯m serious.¡±
¡°I...¡±
¡°I can see it in your eyes. You still love me. I have thought about it thoroughly. I don¡¯t need my career, the only thing I need is you. Let¡¯s remarry!¡± Her eyes were filled with glimmers of hope.
Xia Lei shook his head.
¡°You...Why?¡± Shentu Tianyin teared up. ¡°Is it because of Tang Yuyan?¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°No, it¡¯s because of me. I don¡¯t want to marry anyone.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was stunned.
¡°I went through two failed rtionships, with Liang Siyao and with you. I don¡¯t want to go through it the third time.¡±
¡°Do you think I¡¯ll hurt you again?¡± Shentu Tianyin was about to burst into tears. Her face was overwhelmed with remorse.
¡°No, I trust you. I know you won¡¯t hurt me again.¡±
¡°Then why?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you say I had changed? Well, I¡¯ll tell you what. I did change. I got worse. I had that kind of rtionship with both of my chief engineers, Sylvia and Annina from Germany. We sleep together most of the time.¡±
Upon hearing this, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s hand fell silently from Xia Lei¡¯s waist and shortly after.
¡°Besides Sylvia and Annina, I also had sex with Liang Siyao recently. During my stay in France, I even slept with Colonel Jacqueline Eva from France¡¯s Directorate-General Security, chief assistant of CEO from Lockheed Martin, Hattori Mei. Besides, I also slept with...¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t control her tears which were streaming down her face.
¡°I¡¯m not the same man I used to be,¡± Xia Lei said with a wry smile. ¡°I don¡¯t deserve you anymore. Please don¡¯t bear any psychological burden as everything I did for was out of my discretion and I¡¯ve never med you. Although we¡¯ve divorced, we can still be good friends.¡±
¡°Good friends? You want to stay friends with me?¡± Shentu Tianyin sobbed as she said, ¡°You told me all this just to tell me you wanted to be my friend?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to lie to you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Lie to me!¡± shouted Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Why don¡¯t you lie to me? I¡¯d rather you lie to me!¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Xia Lei sighed and turned around to leave.
Shentu Tianyin grabbed the pendant around her neck. She wanted to rip it off and throw it at Xia Lei. However, she stopped when she recalled something.
The pendant was the wedding present from Xia Lei. It was herst connection to him and the memories they shared. How could she return it?
Xia Lei left the room. As he heard the door closed behind him, it was as if a huge burden was lifted off his chest.
This was the first time he told a woman of his messy exploits. By taking this step, he felt he was one step closer to the life he wanted. The world was so big, and he had so many confidantes, so why should he get married?
He wanted to live a free and easy life, a life without restrictions!
The banquet had just ended when he got back to the hotel restaurant.
¡°Where did you go?¡± Tang Yuyan walked towards him.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I went to meet Shentu Tianyin.¡±
The corner of Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth turned up to form a wry smile. ¡°Why can¡¯t she just give up on you?¡±
¡°She wants to restore our marital status.¡±
Tang Yuyan got nervous. ¡°Then what did you say?¡±
¡°I told her I don¡¯t want to get married. I also told her that I¡¯m dating a few women at the same time,¡± said Xia Lei. He also took this opportunity to break it to Tang Yuyan.
The look of nervousness turned into a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t you scare me off using this tactic, I¡¯m not Shentu Tianyin, I don¡¯t care! I¡¯d even support you if you want to pursue an adult career in Japan!¡±
¡°...¡±
Tang Yuyan knew of Xia Lei¡¯s rtionship with Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi. Despite all this, she still came and did not care.
The view of the life of a woman that survived amid halls of bullets was indeed different from a woman who always ns her strategy in the office.
After they left the hotel, Tang Yuyan talked to Xia Lei for a few minutes before she left with a car.
Xia Changhe got on to Xia Lei¡¯s car. Xia Lei started the car and headed towards Bailu Town.
¡°Dad, how¡¯s your trip?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence.
¡°Son, just ask me. Why must you beat around the bush?¡± Xia Changhe smiled as he said.
¡°Alright, did you promise the Tang family anything?¡±
¡°You mean the matter between you and Tang Yuyan?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°I promised them,¡± said Xia Changhe.
¡°What?¡± This answer got Xia Lei anxious. ¡°What era are we in? I should be the one who decides. How could you promise them on my behalf?¡±
Xia Changhe replied calmly, ¡°I have promised them but the decision is still yours.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°Dad, what do you mean?¡±
¡°I know what Tang family wants,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°I knew when Tang Yunhai invited me over to Shu Di. I couldn¡¯t reject the offer, so I went. During my stay in Shu Di, they treated me well. How could I reject their offer?¡±
¡°So, you promised them? You¡¯re too easy.¡± Xia Lei was unsatisfied with the exnation.
Xia Changheughed. ¡°Didn¡¯t I mention this earlier? I promised them, but you have not. I promised whatever they said, but the final decision rests in your hands. I went for the ssic good guy bad guy y so we wouldn¡¯t offend them. Let¡¯s assume that I rejected them face-to-face, then we¡¯ll get on Tang Yunhai¡¯s bad side. You can¡¯t afford more enemies.¡±
Xia Lei gave a thumbs up to Xia Changhe.
¡°This is a small matter, let¡¯s talk about something else,¡± said Xia Changhe. ¡°I heard from Yelena that you met with people from Knights Hospitaller. Let¡¯s talk about it.¡±
Xia Lei summarised the deal of him with the Knights Hospitaller to Xia Changhe. ¡°That¡¯s about it. Dark Mona has hunted you for so many years and now they have killed four of us, we should get revenge. It¡¯s inconvenient for me to hire people from the World of Darkness, but it¡¯s easy for me to deal with the Knights Hospitaller. I pay, I provide them with weapons, then they fight for me.¡±
¡°In the fight between the snipe and the m, the fisherman has the best of it.¡± Xia Changhe smiled. ¡°Good job.¡±
¡°Dad, you were from the FA organisation. Do you think the Knights Hospitaller can destroy them?¡±
¡°Although I was a member of the FA organisation, I don¡¯t know much about them. When I was still in that organisation, I was training in Siberia and executing all kinds of tasks all around the world. After returning to China, I no longer know the person-in-charge and the whereabouts of the headquarters of the FA organisation. The FA organisation is a mysterious one. Although you could utilise Knights Hospitaller to help you in battling them, the result is unforeseeable.¡±
¡°I can ept any possible oue from this battle, my target is actually the Knight Hospitaller.¡±
Xia Changhe looked surprised. ¡°What¡¯s this all about?¡±
Xia Lei took out a gold card from his pocket. ¡°When they are about to end, I¡¯ll head to Malta.¡±
This gold card is a traffic permit. It was a copy of Arthur¡¯s card.
¡°What do you want to do in Malta?¡±
¡°I suspect that the Knights Hospitaller has a protective suit. This suit will be the key to the secret of AE and Ancient Alloy,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Changhe was silent in thought before speaking up again. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll assign you with new helpers as soon as possible.¡±
Chapter 783 - Grace and Threat
The night was dark but the lights of the bustling Jingdu city illuminated its skyline. Cars drove about and people were everywhere in this gigantic concrete jungle. The busy pace of this city rarely had anyone stop to think about the meaning of life. Ye Kun could never figure out why everyone was always in such a rush.
After exiting Xiri Hotel, he and Mu Jian-Feng went ahead and had tea before dinner. With a filled stomach, Ye Kun was sent to the entrance of a small quiet district by his driver. His home wasn¡¯t here but his lover lived here.
¡°You may leave now. Remember to pick me up tomorrow morning,¡± reminded Ye Kun after he left the car.
¡°Alright, Director Ye. I¡¯ll be here at the district¡¯s entrance by seven in the morning,¡± replied the driver.
Ye Kun waved his hand and made his way into the district.
Ring... Ring...
His phone rang as soon as he exited the elevator.
Ye Kun slid his phone out to nce at his caller before picking up the phone. ¡°Mister Ling, why are you calling me...¡±
Ling Han¡¯s voice rang through the phone. ¡°I heard from old Mu that you sshed Xia Lei with a drink, is that true?¡±
¡°Yeah, that bastard was too much!¡± yelled Ye Kun. ¡°I¡¯m not done with him!¡±
¡°I agree, what the damned bastard did was crossing the line. He humiliated you in front of such a crowd.¡±
¡°He won¡¯t be getting any spare parts ever again!¡±
¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Ling Han continued. ¡°You need not worry too. If Xia Lei has anything against you, I can guarantee your safety. I¡¯m calling to reassure you that there¡¯d be protection for possible problems.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡±
¡°We¡¯re all on the same team, there¡¯s no need to be so courteous. So now that you¡¯re aware, if Xia Lei gives you trouble, all you need to do is to phone me and I¡¯ll handle it for you.¡±
¡°Alright. Goodbye.¡± Ye Kun hung up. He spat onto the ground. ¡°I¡¯d like to see how you¡¯ll help me when Ind myself in trouble. You really think that I¡¯m new to this, huh? Since you¡¯re just using me as cannon fodder. I¡¯ll make sure to st your cursed ship before I die!¡±
He stopped in front of a door then turned the door open with his keys.
The light was on inside the room, but it was oddly quiet.
His gaze settled on the coffee table and was immediately stunned. On its surface, a few stacks of USDs wereid out in in sight along with his branded watches and so on. His ount books and property lease were scattered around too. These items were stored in his safe! What were they doing out in the open?!
¡°Xiao Tao!¡± roared Ye Kun. ¡°Come out here right now! What is wrong with you?! Why are you moving everything out of my safe?¡±
Nothing was missing from his valuables so the possibility of a break-in was ruled out. If that¡¯s the case, it could only be his lover¡¯s doing.
Xiao Tao was the nickname of his mistress. She was younger than him by two decades, young enough to be his daughter even.
The door to a room was opened and out came someone but it wasn¡¯t someone he had expected. It was a man who was more gorgeous than most females. Ye Kun immediately recognized him, he held one of Thunder Horse¡¯s higher positions and was Xia Lei¡¯s trusted assistant. He was Qin Xiang.
Qin Xiang walked towards Ye Kun.
¡°You...¡± Ye Kun¡¯s heart dropped. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±
Qin Xiang ced a heavy envelope on the coffee table. ¡°Everything you want is inside.¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s mind went nk for a minute before he abruptly snatched over the envelope, afraid that Qin Xiang would whisk it away.
Qin Xiang gave him a small smile. ¡°My boss wanted me to deliver this to you. My boss is a man of his word. Nothing will go wrong as long as you remain loyal.¡±
¡°Right... right... ¡° Ye Kun returned a sheepish smile.
¡°But...¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s tone changed suddenly. ¡°If you n on doing anything funny, I can and will remove everything you¡¯ve hidden here and everywhere else.¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s smile tightened. Cold beads of sweat started to fall from his head.
It was grace that Xia Lei sent him what he needed. But Xia Lei had also instructed his subordinate toyout everything in his safe on the coffee table as a threat. Grace and threat, huh? Xia Lei was getting better at this.
Qin Xiang patted Ye Kun¡¯s shoulder, bringing his attention back to him. ¡°My boss wanted me to tell you something.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°He wants you to know that he¡¯ll protect you from Ling Han and Yu Shanhe. There¡¯s nothing for you to fear of.¡±
¡°Does he mean thatdy who even Yu Shanhe fears?¡±
Qin Xiang only smiled in response. ¡°You¡¯re smart enough to figure it out.¡±
With that, Qin Xiang left. Ye Kun felt relieved, the reassurance delivered by Qin Xiangforted his nerves.
He opened the envelope to check its contents. He found out that not only did it include dirt on him, but it also included dirt on Mu Jian-Feng. He thought for a while before breaking into a smile, ¡°So he¡¯s trying to have me be a whistle-blower, huh? Alright, I¡¯ll get someone to submit these for me. Teacher, forgive me but you have forced my hand.¡±
One minuteter, he called his lover.
¡°Hey, can I call you backter? I¡¯m very busy!¡± she whined over the phone.
¡°What are you up to?¡± asked Ye Kun curiously.
¡°Jeez, alright, uh... I was walking on the streets today and I met this very effeminate dude. He said he was a market surveyor from somepany. He asked me a few questions and he gave me a shopping mall voucher! It was worth ten thousand dors! It expires today and I need to use it up!¡±
¡°You mother-¡±
¡°Are you cussing at me?!¡±
¡°Oh, no, how¡¯s your mother?¡±
Doo... Doo... Doo... Doo...
At the same moment, at the district entrance, Qin Xiang dialled for Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m done,¡± he reported.
¡°Mmph, well done. Come back soon, mmph.¡±
¡°What¡¯s with your voice?¡±
¡°Nothing. Mmph-¡±
¡°You¡¯re grunting.¡±
¡°Really? Did I? Mmph.¡±
¡°Oh, hell no! Fuck you!¡± Something finally clicked in Qin Xiang¡¯s mind. He immediately scrambled to cut the call.
Back at the Thunder Horse Military Factory office block, in the rxation room within Director Xia¡¯s office...
Xia Lei returned his phone to the bed stand, then gazed down at Fan Fan who was kneeling on the floor. His nostrils let out another tensed grunt.
¡°The thing we¡¯ve been talking about... There shouldn¡¯t be any problem with it, right?¡± Xia Lei spoke after a while.
¡°No problem.¡±
¡°But what about Yu Shanhe?¡±
That prompted Fan Fan to lift her head. ¡°Are you really going to talk about this now?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Ye Kun is desperate now and I¡¯m helping him out. I¡¯m not expecting anything but if he did me a favour, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll benefit Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s development. It¡¯s a big deal and if I¡¯m eager to know how feasible it¡¯ll be.¡±
Fan Fan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You can ignore Yu Shanhe and Ling Han. You must remember that the huge sess of the Sweeper had alreadyunched you into the view of the higher-ups. Thunder Horse Organization is no longer a small fry. The higher-ups seemed to be very supportive of you too. The fact that Ye Kun was willing to support you with Hanwu Weapons is a good thing in their eyes too. Yu Shanhe and Ling Han are smart people. They wouldn¡¯t engage you head on but use Ye Kun as fodder instead. But Ye Kun isn¡¯t stupid, that¡¯s why he chose to side with you. In a situation like this, Yu Shanhe¡¯s tactics will be limited and the most he could do now is to devise a way to have Ye Kun leave Hanwu Weapons. Honestly, you just need to solve this problem and everything will be fine. I¡¯ll help you take care of the rest.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll send out an official announcement about Thunder Horse Organization and Hanwu Weapons bing brother units for a joint effort in new equipment research. I¡¯ll appoint me and Ye Kun as the people in charge. That way, even if Yu Shanhe wants to remove Ye Kun, he¡¯d be faced with trouble too.¡±
¡°Yeah. See, it¡¯s not that difficult right?¡± Fan Fan continued with a grin, ¡°I can see that with Thunder Horse¡¯s uing development, there¡¯ll be more people siding with you down the road. Ye Kun will be the first but not thest. Believe me, your future will be increasingly smooth-sailing.¡±
Yu Shanhe was his ultimate opponent and hisst obstacle in the domestic market. Once this was over, there¡¯d be no enemies left back home. That will be the time for Thunder Horse Organization to soar to the top!
Xia Lei sincerely hoped for its arrival, because by then he could focus all of his efforts on solving the mysteries of AE and the ancient alloy.
¡°Any more questions?¡±
¡°None.¡± Xia Lei hoisted her up by her waist, transporting them both to the bed.
The woman in his arms shuddered. Her body was much more sensitive than a normal person¡¯s.
It was odd that she could formte an antidote against his sperm but not medications to heal her sensitive body.
Perhaps, the thought had never crossed her mind.
To her, Xia Lei was the best medicine for it.
And it was time for treatment.
¡°Aiyah!¡±
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±
¡±I forgot to use the antidote!¡±
Xia Lei froze, he had also forgotten to use its counteract.
Thank goodness.
¡°Nevermind, I¡¯ll use itter.¡±
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°Yeah, me too.¡±
¡°Oh right, have you been working on the Alloy X Project?¡±
¡°Yeah, I found out some things about it.¡±
¡°Really?! What is it? Tell me! Please...¡±
¡°Are you really going to talk about this now?¡±
¡°Why not both at the same time?¡±
¡°Alright, alright. I found a whole new carbon atom arrangement. With that, I might be able to develop a new type of material. My findings would rocket our country¡¯s material science into its next generation.¡±
¡°Oh my god! That¡¯s amazing news! I¡¯ll submit a report about this as soon as I get back to work tomorrow! Mmph-¡± With a loud moan, she suddenly went silent. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure if it was the effect of his good news or was it that she had her lust satiated.
His heart was content.
What he could imagine now was that once Fan Fan had handed in the report, she¡¯ll be awarded with high recognition for her outstanding work. She was still one of the only three members of the Alloy X Project after all. This was also part of his n. The more stable her position is, the more it would benefit his organization.
But there was something else he was worried about. The line to their mutualism blurred by the day. The fact that he had forgotten to use the counter antidote had indicated that his subconscious didn¡¯t mind having a child with Fan Fan.
Was there something his subconscious was trying to tell him?
Thinking of it made his head hurt.
Dirty Bastard
Two dayster.
¡°Damn, Ye Kun is such a sly fox,¡± said Qin Xiang with a smirk. ¡°He passed the document to a leader of one of his subpanies who then arranged for his distant rtive to submit it instead. There was no way anyone could trace it back to him now. Also, he arranged for his workers to work on our spare parts at night. Leaving all the time in the day to work on their part in very limited quantities.¡±
Upon hearing that, Xia Lei smiled. ¡°If he wasn¡¯t as cunning, he wouldn¡¯t have secured his current position. He has his own way of handling things. There¡¯s no need to keep tabs on his progress and if he is acting suspiciously. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t give him a chance to. I¡¯ll betray him before he does.¡±
¡°Hehe, you remind me of an idiom.¡±
Xia Lei stared at him. ¡°Huh?¡±
Qin Xiang grinned behind his palm, ¡°Virtue is one foot tall but the devil is ten foot tall. To me, you¡¯ll always be the worst viin out there.¡±
[Note: Virtue is one foot tall but the devil is ten foot tall = the bad guys are always one step ahead / more powerful than the good guys]
¡°...¡±
¡°Tell me, did you fall in love with Fan Fan? Your grunting from ourst phone call must¡¯ve been her sucking you off right?¡±
¡°Fuck off, that¡¯s none of your concern.¡± Xia Lei wanted to die.
¡°You¡¯re catching feelings but not enough for marriage huh? You¡¯re such a bad boy, youdy killer.¡±
¡°Scram! I don¡¯t want to see you anymore.¡±
¡°Aww, I¡¯m a beauty too you know? How can you not appreciate-¡± Qin Xiang twisted his waist around ¡°-my lovely slim waist?¡±
Xia Lei could feel a migraineing. Qin Xiang had triggered him badly but there was no way he could just get rid of him.
Thankfully, Qing Caiyu entered his office at this moment.
¡°Director Xia, you have a few guests.¡±
¡°Guests? How many of them?¡± Xia Lei was perplexed.
Qing Caiyue moved aside to reveal four faces at his door.
It was the female knights from the Knight Hospitaller, the Grey sisters and the Russo sisters.
The blonde twins were dressed uniformly in a ck zer and matching skirts. The monochrome outfit had shown off their tall stature and body curves well.
Giovanna was carrying aptop bag with her, the whole ensemble made her look like a workforce elite. However, her overall appearance felt like a facade.
¡°You both may leave now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang and Qing Caiyue left his office without a sound.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± After Arthur¡¯s departure, Xia Lei had kept the fourdies in the Peace Mansion. Normally, he avoided them. He really wasn¡¯t expecting the twins to find him in his office.
¡°Is it safe here?¡± Giovanna conversed in Italian.
¡°Yep,¡± confirmed Xia Lei.
Rosa then carefully closed the door.
Giovanna came closer to Xia Lei¡¯s desk and opened up her bag. She then ced aptop in front of him. Following that, she started up theptop and a pop-up to amunication software appeared. Arthur¡¯s face was disyed on the screen.
Xia Lei could see himself in a small window along with Giovanna who stood behind him.
¡°Mister Xia,¡± said Arthur. ¡°We¡¯ve received your gifts.¡±
Arthur was referring to the Thunder Horse Organization weapons Xia Lei had sent over. It included the XL2500 sniper rifle, gust assault rifle and the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. Xia Lei had been pretty generous about it. They had enough to arm an entire army. It had enough weapons for five to six hundred men. Xia Lei was willing to spend such a hefty sum all to destroy the FA Organization.
¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯ve received it. When will you be starting?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°We¡¯ve already started.¡± Arthur continued, ¡°This time, I¡¯m not only calling you to express my gratitude but also to ry some intel to you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°What intel?¡±
¡°The woman you¡¯re targeting is still in Siberia at the moment. Our men and some paid mercenaries are already on their way there. There will be a fight and you can expect us to wipe out everyone in the camp. If you need anyone captured alive, we will try to do so but there¡¯s no guarantee to it. I hope you¡¯ll understand.¡±
¡°Alright, no one knows what will happen so I fully understand it. But if you do manage to kill her, please send me a video. I¡¯d like to watch her demise with my own eyes,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°No problem, that I can do.¡±
¡°Have you found out where their headquarters are?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I haven¡¯t found anything about it yet. But do not fret, our worshippers are stationed at every corner of this. As long as the FA Organization has its facility on Earth, we¡¯ll surely find out where it is.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great, I¡¯ll be looking forward to your good news,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I hope Giovanna and the girls haven¡¯t caused any trouble so far.¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°No, they¡¯re really well-behaved.¡± Abruptly, he reached towards Theresa to pull her towards him while another arm gave her a good smack in the ass.
The sound was crisp and a soft mass rippled with its impact.
Theresa was blushing furiously. The other threedies stared at him with wide eyes, they couldn¡¯tprehend his actions at all.
Xia Lei was unfazed by their reaction. Heughed, ¡°Mister Arthur, thank you so much for giving them to me. I really do feel like a king.¡±
Arthur quickly drew a cross in front of his torso. ¡°May God forgive your sins, amen.¡±
Things would¡¯ve been better if he hadn¡¯t said that. As he murmured those words, Xia Lei decided to slide his hand under Theresa¡¯s skirt.
Theresa bit her cherry lips desperately. Her eyes glowed with fire, anger and something else...
The other threedies blushed furiously at the disy.
Arthur couldn¡¯t take the sight any longer. He disconnected the call
It was only then that Xia Lei removed his hand from under her skirt and released her waist from the lock of his arm.
Theresa quickly leapt out from hisp. She then sent a p across Xia Lei¡¯s face.
He caught her wrist in the nick of time. ¡°Don¡¯t take me for a pervert. I¡¯m just trying to help you.¡±
Theresa attempted to free her arm furiously but to no avail.
¡°Let her go!¡± yelled Rosa.
Xia Lei released his grip. With a calm expression, he said, ¡°I know why Arthur has left you here. Leaving you here meant that he chose to sacrifice you like a piece of chess. I¡¯m just doing what he thought was going to already happen. Now, you¡¯d have something to report to him, isn¡¯t that great?¡±
His words had the Russo and Grey sisters shocked. They were fuming over his lowly acts but after giving his words some calm thought, he made sense. It was very much the reality and his actions had reasonable justification.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ve helped youplete your job. Now, please, don¡¯t bother me anymore.¡± Xia Lei waved his hand. ¡°You may leave now.¡±
Theresa huffed. ¡°Hmph! Your soul is so filthy you¡¯ll-¡±
¡°Theresa!¡± interrupted Giovanna. She knew Rosa would follow it with ¡°You¡¯ll go to hell,¡± but she couldn¡¯t afford to have Theresa anger Xia Lei just yet.
¡°Let¡¯s go. I don¡¯t want to stay here anymore.¡± Rosa held Theresa¡¯s hand.
Xia Lei gave a wry smile. He ced his finger near his nose and gave it a whiff. ¡°Miss Theresa, did the bath at my mansion run out of water?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Theresa turned around to re at him.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°It smells like salted fish.¡±
¡°Go to hell, bastard!¡± Theresa was about to hit Xia Lei but was quickly halted by the other threedies.
Xia Lei shrugged nonchntly. ¡°So you all can yell at me but I can¡¯t speak the truth? Women are so barbaric.¡±
The four quickly left his office.
¡°Theresa, how can you be so rash? Our mission was to get closer to him and he did give you an opportunity just now. Why did you have to yell at him?¡± reprimanded Giovanna.
¡°He was so rough and he even said mean things. I really can¡¯t tolerate it.¡± Theresa had her own reasons.
¡°What he did was indeed low, but...¡± Rosa sighed. ¡°We must admit that he really did us a favour just now. Arthur is expecting such things from us.¡±
¡°So what? He¡¯s nothing but a dirty bastard,¡± sneered Theresa.
The four continued to converse as they started to inch further from his door.
In his office, Xia Lei deactivated his X-ray vision. The act was done on purpose to have Arthur believe that Xia Lei had fallen into his trap. At the same time, it was also to deter the sisters away from him, so he had to handle her rough and brashly. To be really honest, he was thankful that the four knights were genuine sacred virgins. If it were four Fan Fans, he would¡¯ve surrendered long ago.
Ring... Ring...
His smartphone rang all of a sudden.
Xia Lei quickly spared a nce at his phone before answering it. ¡°Hello, Director Ye. Yeah, it¡¯s me, what¡¯s the matter?¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s voice rang through the speaker. ¡°Director Xia, Mu Jian-Feng found out that I¡¯m still working on your spare parts and he¡¯s bringing a few men over to terrorize my office. Ling Han is about to arrive, please help me.¡±
¡°Calm down.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Didn¡¯t you assign someone else to submit the evidence?¡±
¡°Things like that can be easily suppressed! If whistle-blower¡¯s evidence could damage Mu Jian-Feng, he would¡¯ve been fired more than ten years ago!¡±
¡°Stay still, I¡¯ming over now.¡± Xia Lei ended the call.
Qing Caiyue entered his office. ¡°Director Xia, you¡¯re going out now?¡±
¡°There¡¯s an emergency that I must attend to. Oh right, please call all the reporters that we have rtions to and have them go to Hanwu Weapons headquarters. Tell them it¡¯s a big scoop,¡± instructed Xia Lei as he walked.
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll call them right away!¡± said Qing Caiyue.
As soon as he exited the office, Xia Lei phoned someone as he strode. ¡°Tiger, is there anything you can use to render someone unconscious but not hurt them?¡±
¡°Yeah, I do. What do you need it for?¡± questioned E¡¯er Demutu.
¡°Please bring it and follow me to Hanwu Weapon headquarters,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll meet you at the gatehouse.¡± E¡¯er Demutu ended the call.
A faint malicious smirk formed on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Mu Jian-Feng, you¡¯ve crossed the line!¡±
Chapter 785 - Unhappy? Come Fight Me
Smack!
The loud m of a fist brought a teacup and its contents off the table and onto the floor.
Mu Jian-Feng, who broke the fragile cup, approached Ye Kun while waving an arm tond a hard p onto thetter¡¯s cheeks.
p!
Another crisp sound rang out.
The fat on Ye Kun¡¯s cheek wobbled with the impact. The man red intently at his assaulter. He was angry but didn¡¯t return the favour nor did he speak a single word in retaliation.
¡°You damned traitor!¡± Mu Jian-Feng pointed his fingers at Ye Kun. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t promoted you back then, would you be where you are today? If it wasn¡¯t for me, you¡¯ll probably remain as a pesky general employee, living paycheck to paycheck until you die!¡±
Ye Kun¡¯s lip twitched but he remained silent. It was true that he was personally trained by Mu Jian-Feng. Without thetter, he would¡¯ve been a nobody. But that didn¡¯t change the fact that the betrayal was still within reason!
¡°I believe that we¡¯ve talked about this. We¡¯re not going to supply Xia Lei with spare parts anymore. Why are you still running the production line for him in secret? How much did he pay you? Tell me!¡± Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s saliva sttered on Ye Kun¡¯s face.
Ye Kun raised his hand to wipe his face. He finally spoke up, ¡°He didn¡¯t pay me anything. I¡¯m just doing the right thing.¡±
¡°The right thing?¡±
¡°Yes, the right thing.¡± Ye Kun was resolute. ¡°Thunder Horse Organization has boundless potential. They might be the ace representative of our country¡¯s military industry. Surely, they¡¯ll trigger the improvement of our military production standards and expand our international market. Why hinder something that will eventually benefit us all?¡±
Mu Jian-Feng spat.
Another thick blob of saliva ended up on Ye Kun¡¯s face.
Though the fluid had bloomed across Ye Kun¡¯s cheek, the silver-haired old man still had his head extended from his torso. His eyes were like that of a working-ss manmonly depicted in propagandas in the sixties, it was filled with hatred towards the decadent middle-ss sons. The paused scene was almost like an aestheticization of violence.
A few men who had followed Mu Jian-Feng were giving cold looks to Ye Kun. There was no pity in their eyes, only disdain.
This was the treatment a filthy traitor deserved.
Ye Kun wiped his face silently and added, ¡°Teacher, did you have dumplings with chives for breakfast? Your taste in food has never changed over these years. Please listen to my advice now that you are older. Retire and enjoy your remaining years to the fullest.¡±
¡°Bullshit!¡± Mu Jian-Feng raised his arm to smack Ye Kun once again.
Ye Kun caught his arm in the nick of time.
Suddenly, the other men started to close in on them. One restrained Ye Kun¡¯s arm, another stomped him while another gave him an unexpected punch. It didn¡¯t take long for the situation in the office to escte.
Ye Kun wasn¡¯t a fighter. It would only be a matter of seconds for him to sumb. Now, his face was pressed against his office desk by two men. His waist was squeezed against the edge painfully, showing his pale protruding belly. Unknowingly, his zipper had busted open amidst the scuffle and his red boxers were peeking through the fabric window.
Amotion could be heard from outside Hanwu Weapons, someone was trying to barge into the office. ¡°Get lost! Anyone who dares to interfere with our investigation team will be arrested!¡±
But the noise was short-lived.
Has Ye Kun broken thew? Were they here to arrest him? Those were the first things that came across their minds. If that really was the case, what were they waiting for? This was the perfect time for them to barge in!
Mu Jian-Feng came closer to Ye Kun¡¯s face. ¡°If I could bring you up with one hand, then I can take you out with one p! If you¡¯re smart enough, cease all production for Thunder Horse Organization right now.¡±
¡°I¡¯m doing this for the greater good. It¡¯s for the sake of our country and its people! Why are you doing this to me?¡± questioned Ye Kun.
¡°That¡¯s enough! Hearing those words from your mouth disgusts me!¡± spat Mu Jian-Feng as he pped Ye Kun¡¯s cheek lightly. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that I¡¯m unaware that you did it, motherfucker. You fucking got someone to submit it in your stead! What could an ungrateful traitor like you do for the country?!¡±
Mu Jian-Feng had always been known for his calm disposition. But right now, not a shred of it remained.
¡°Release him,¡± a man¡¯s voice rang from the entrance.
Mu Jian-Feng turned around to meet its source. Oddly, a smile appeared on his face.
Ling Han had arrived with two smartly-dressed subordinates.
Mu Jian-Feng heeded his request and loosened his grip on Ye Kun.
Ye Kun removed himself off the table¡¯s surface. He wasn¡¯t that scared when faced with Mu Jian-Feng but Ling Han was a different story.
¡°That¡¯s very bold of you, Ye Kun,¡± said Ling Han, his re was cold.
¡°I...I didn¡¯t break thew. I didn¡¯t do anything bold.¡± Ye Kun spared a jittery nce to his office entrance.
¡°Are you waiting for someone?¡± Ling Han was more observant than the average person. He could read Ye Kun in just a nce. He probed, ¡°You¡¯re waiting for Xia Lei, right?¡±
¡°Why would I be waiting for him?¡± Ye Kun denied. ¡°I¡¯m not waiting for anyone. What¡¯s with everyone today? What are you all trying to do?¡±
¡°You really have to ask that?¡± Ling Han let out a throatyugh. ¡°You¡¯re involved in some illegal business and we¡¯re here to investigate. Pleasee with me and hand me your passport.¡±
¡°You... framed me!¡± Ye Kun panicked.
Ling Han sent a nce towards his subordinates. Receiving their orders, the two men came to stand beside Ye Kun and restrained his arms in an arm lock. One of them even warned, ¡°You better behave or we¡¯ll have no choice but to cuff you up.¡±
¡°I want to see mywyer!¡± roared Ye Kun.
¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll see him soon, but would that even change anything?¡± jeered Ling Han. ¡°You¡¯ve only got yourself to me now.¡±
As soon as he said that, loud noises could be heard from outside.
¡°Move away! What the hell are you all doing? Who gave you the right to do this?!¡± A man¡¯s voice rang out.
Hearing that voice brought relief to Ye Kun¡¯s heart. A faint smile soon made its way to the corner of his lips.
Xia Lei was finally here!
To Ye Kun, if he was the purple fairy from A Chinese Odyssey, then Xia Lei was no doubt the golden-armoured, rainbow cloud-riding Monkey God who was here to save him.
¡°Who the hell are you? Scram!¡±
The same sentence had worked against the Hanwu Weapon employees earlier but it had done the opposite this time.
The person hadn¡¯t even gotten a chance to announce that their team was still ¡®working¡¯ inside before a hard stomp was sent his way. His body flew across the corridor beforending hard on the ground.
His assaulter wasn¡¯t Xia Lei but Lu Sheng instead.
¡°How dare you attack my men!¡± Mu Jian-Feng was enraged.
To which Lu Sheng yelled, ¡°So what?! I¡¯ll pay their medical billster!¡±
That sort of took Mu Jian-Feng by surprise before he broke out of it to approach the door.
Xia Lei, who was standing at the door, had kept his hands clean. He had only brought two men with him, E¡¯er Demutu and Lu Sheng. Though it was only the three of them, Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s subordinates were beaten into submission by the two men nking Xia Lei. E¡¯er Demutu and Lu Sheng were going easy on them. If not, the men would have either been dead or paralyzed
¡°How dare you attack the investigation team!¡± yelled a man with a swollen face while pointing at Lu Sheng.
Lu Sheng ignored him. He and E¡¯er Demutu soon returned to stand at each side of the entrance.
It was only then when Xia Lei made his entrance into the office.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Ling Han hissed coldly. ¡°Bold of you toe in and attack...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted him. ¡°Quit your act, this isn¡¯t the theatre. Do you really think I am that clueless? I know there is no investigation team! These men are just people from the China Industrial Group and some you¡¯ve hired. Investigation? What a joke, you¡¯re not here to do that. I¡¯m not the bold one, you are. You¡¯re just here to threaten Director Ye under the guise of some fake investigation team.¡±
¡°Bullshit!¡± Mu Jian-Feng was so angry that his face had turned green. He pointed a trembling finger at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei calmly retorted, ¡°One of you called me bold while the other calls my words bullshit. I¡¯m here today because Director Ye is my coborator and I need to protect him. There¡¯s no way that he¡¯sing with you. I mean my words and I will put them into action.¡±
Ling Han and Mu Jian-Feng were equally irritated to the point that their faces had darkened. Xia Lei had managed to challenge them in just a mere reply. To them, it wasn¡¯t just pure offensive, it was extreme humiliation!
The atmosphere in the office became increasingly tense.
It was only after a few quiet seconds that Ling Han spoke up. He was so angry that he began to cackle instead. ¡°Very well, Xia Lei. Your wings have hardened. So you say that you¡¯re here to protect Ye Kun and I can¡¯t do anything about it, right? Excellent, now let¡¯s see what right do you have to say such nonsense!¡±
¡°Yeah, I said it, so what? You wanna fight me? Then you better square up,¡± challenged Xia Lei.
Ling Han was so pissed that he was at the verge of spitting blood. Despite being outnumbered, Xia Lei¡¯s men had managed to beat up his subordinates. But Xia Lei was the strongest out of them. Fight Xia Lei? That was only something one could dream of doing. In reality, just the thought of him wiping out close to a hundred mercenaries and experts from Japan, America and India back in Dawang was enough to have someone shudder.
Ling Han pointed his finger at Xia Lei, then proceeded to retrieve his phone to dial a number.
Xia Lei too retrieved his phone and dialled a number.
As soon as the call was connected, Ling Han spoke, ¡°There¡¯s an emergency on my side, bring some men over immediately.¡±
Xia Lei had said the same thing too.
¡°Please bring some men over, right now.¡±
And the two ended their call around the same time.
Ling Han kept his phone away and smiled. ¡°You¡¯re actually asking more people toe over. Haha... You¡¯re such a nutcase!¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m nuts. Come take me to the mental hospital and have a doctor forcefully treat me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Xia Lei, if more men areing over to create a scene, you¡¯re done for!¡± threatened Mu Jian-Feng loudly.
¡°Really? Wouldn¡¯t that be ideal?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You...¡± Mu Jian-Feng was at a loss for words.
Just as Xia Lei was busy arguing with Ling Han and Mu Jian-Feng, Ye Kun had actually gone over to the water cooler to get a cup of water. He then slowly approached Xia Lei to pass him the cup. ¡°Director Xia, please have some water,¡± offered Ye Kun courteously.
Xia Lei chortled. Ye Kun really had a knack for pleasing people.
Chapter 786 - Drama
It only took a few minutes for Linghan¡¯s men to arrive at the scene. Despite being dressed in normal clothing, they were not ordinary civilians. Their actions, behaviour and expressions clearly show that they were specially trained. Moreover, they were armed with weapons which normal civilians had no ess to.
Ling Han¡¯s men were already waiting nearby. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have gotten here in such a short amount of time.
Xia Lei¡¯s men weren¡¯t here yet.
¡°Didn¡¯t you ask for your men, where are they?¡± Ling Han sneered at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei shrugged his shoulder. ¡°How would I know? They could be stuck in traffic.¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Mu Jian-Fengughed. ¡°Xia Lei, stop bragging when you clearly don¡¯t have the men. Just scram, it¡¯s none of your business!¡±
¡°What if I insist on staying?¡± Xia Lei said.
Mu Jian-Feng averted his gaze to Ling Han.
Ling Han was quick to respond. ¡°If you insist on being involved in this, I¡¯ll have to take you with me.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve tried numerous kinds of rice in my life. But I have yet to try prison rice. I would love to try it, so take me with you.¡± Xia Lei stretched out his hand as if he wanted to be handcuffed.
However, no one approached and handcuffed him. Instead, two armed men who were wearing in clothes caught Ye Kun after getting the signal from Ling Han.
¡°What are you doing? What do you want?¡± Ye Kun was anxious, struggling as they grabbed him.
One of them hit Ye Kun¡¯s spine with the back of his gun. Ye Kun screamed and fell on the ground.
¡°Take him away,¡± said Ling Han coldly.
The two armed men pulled up Ye Kun who was on the floor to take him away.
Ye Kun gave Xia Lei an imploring look.
Xia Lei responded calmly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be fine. No one can take you from here.¡±
Ling Han sneered. ¡°Xia Lei, you really think you¡¯re some big shot? If I take him away now, what can you do about it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s true that I can¡¯t do anything to you, but you won¡¯t be able to hide everything. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s someone out there who could control you,¡± said Xia Lei.
As soon as he finished his sentence, a gaggle of reporters suddenly appeared outside the office. These reporters started filming the scene.
Ling Han and Mu Jian-Feng were stunned. Both of them thought that Xia Lei would ask for some armed men toe over, such as the agents from Bureau 101 or the men under Fan Fan.
¡°What are you doing? Get out!¡±
¡°Give me your camera! Give it to me!¡±
¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°How could you take my camera?¡±
¡°My camera is very expensive. If you break it, you¡¯ll have to pay me! ¡°
¡°Are you police or something? You can¡¯t just go around taking people¡¯s things!¡±
The office was in chaos.
Amidst the chaos, a middle-aged woman suddenly rushed in and pounced on Ye Kun.
Ye Kun was a little dumbfounded because this woman was not just anyone. It was his wife. He had never asked his wife toe here, but she did. What timing.
¡°What are you doing?! You can¡¯t take him away!¡± Ye Kun¡¯s wife cried and shouted. ¡°Why are you guys arresting him? Let him go, let him go!¡±
Ling Han gave a look and then two of the men in inclothes grabbed Ye Kun¡¯s wife.
Ye Kun¡¯s wife kicked and screamed. ¡°They¡¯re beating people up! They¡¯re trying to kill people!¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± One of them held up his gun but did not hit Ye Kun¡¯s wife with it.
¡°Go on, shoot me, kill me!¡± Ye Kun¡¯s wife yelled. ¡°Reporters, I want to tell you the truth! My husband is a good man but someone is out to get him. It¡¯s because he reported Mu Jian-Feng on his wrongdoings.¡±
Therge group of reporters gathered around and pointed their recording pen, camera and video camera at Ye Kun¡¯s wife.
¡°Cut that crap!¡± Mu Jian-Feng could not stand it anymore. He rushed to Ye Kun¡¯s wife and roared. ¡°Shut up!¡±
Upon hearing that, Ye Kun¡¯s wife carried on. She spat on Mu Jian-Feng and said, ¡°Are you afraid that I¡¯ll spill out the truth? This guy is guilty of corruption! He appointed people by favouritism! During 2008, he...¡±
Before Ye Kun¡¯s wife finished her usation, Mu Jian-Feng swung at her face.
p!
It was loud and clear.
Ye Kun¡¯s wife closed her eyes and fell to the floor like a loach.
The p from the old man had made the woman lose her consciousness. Truthfully, a p like that should not have done anything. Only an expert had the ability to p someone out of consciousness.
The whole office immediately fell silent. After a short silence, Ye Kun suddenly howled. ¡°Darling! Darling! Don¡¯t die! Please don¡¯t leave me alone!¡±
Just when everyone was staring at Ye Kun¡¯s wife, Xia Lei turned around to take a nce at E¡¯er Demutu.
E¡¯er Demutu nodded back at him.
Xia Lei then looked at Ye Kun¡¯s wife¡¯s neck. Soon after, he found a specially-made needle hidden in her hair under the ear.
¡°Sister-inw!¡± Xia Lei rushed near to Ye Kun¡¯s wife. He held up her head and asked with concern. ¡±Sister-inw, are you okay? Please wake up, don¡¯t scare me like that!¡±
There was no sign of movement from Ye Kun¡¯s wife.
At this moment, Xia Lei pulled out the hidden needle from her neck secretly.
¡°Bitch! Stop acting! It¡¯s useless!¡± shouted Mu Jian-Feng. His words were harsh but he was starting to panic inside.
¡°That¡¯s too cruel! Is that what will happen to the whistleblowers?¡±
¡°Dows still apply to them?¡±
¡°Will we be caught and prosecuted?¡±
¡°Committing physical assault under broad daylight is punishable no matter who they are, right?¡±
¡°Yes! We need to call the police and the ambnce!¡±
The office was in chaos again.
¡°It¡¯s enough!¡± Ling Han yelled. ¡°Keep quiet, everyone!¡±
The office was suddenly silenced, everyone had their eyes glued on Ling Han.
Ling Han walked towards Ye Kun¡¯s wife and reached out his hand to touch her neck. Then, he grabbed a cup of tea from the coffee table and sshed it onto her face.
Despite that, Ye Kun¡¯s wife remained unconscious. There wasn¡¯t a slight bit of movement from her.
Ling Han was stunned. He had initially thought that the woman was pretending to be unconscious. However, she remainedpletely still.
Click Click Click...
The electronic sh of the DSLR shed incessantly. The reporters were taking pictures of the scene. They didn¡¯t want to miss the scene of Ling Han pouring a cup of tea on a woman¡¯s face.
¡°That¡¯s too much!¡±
¡°Is there humanity left in them?¡±
¡°Who the hell are they?¡±
The office was in chaos again.
Ling Han stared at Ye Kun¡¯s wife, who was still on the floor. At this moment, he suddenly had a strong desire to step on her face.
Xia Lei let down Ye Kun¡¯s wife gently and sighed. ¡°I¡¯m afraid she won¡¯t make it.¡±
¡°Darling!¡± Ye Kun howled as he pounced on his wife but there were no tears.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Mu Jian-Feng suddenly rushed towards Xia Lei, grabbed on his cor and yelled. ¡°Bastard! How dare you...how dare you collude with her to frame me!¡±
¡°Me? Frame you? Why would I have to?¡± Xia Lei turned around to face Lu Sheng. ¡°Lu Sheng, give it to the reporters. Let them have a look at it.¡±
Lu Sheng then retrieved a thick stack of documents from a briefcase and handed it out to the reporters.
The contents were Mu Jian-Feng¡¯s illegal records. It contained even more records than the one Ye Kun had submitted.
¡°Don¡¯t look at it! Don¡¯t take pictures! Give it back to me!¡± Mu Jian-Feng was out of control.
The evidence, the informant that was beaten unconscious by him, everything that he did was to his detriment. He even did this in front of a group of reporters. He was afraid just by thinking of the consequences.
¡°Ridiculous!¡± Ling Han grabbed Ye Kun¡¯s cor and lifted him up. His men followed up and grabbed Ye Kun and headed towards the exit.
Ling Han wasn¡¯t bothered by these reporters.
Xia Lei suddenly got in the way of the two men. He reached out his hand and blew a punch on the chest of one of them.
His victim was stunned by the blow, he quickly held up his gun and pointed it towards Xia Lei¡¯s head.
Click Click Click...
Again, the reporters were taking pictures incessantly.
There was no sign of fear on Xia Lei¡¯s face with a gun pointed at him. Instead, he gave them a big smile. ¡°Today, I would like to make an announcement. Thunder Horse Organization will merge with Hanwu Weapons to form a friendly unit. It would be a good start for both the state-owned enterprise and private enterprise. As long as we contribute to the country, the nature of our enterprise is not important. Besides, I would also love to announce that I and Director Ye from Hanwu Weapons will lead our technical team to develop a new weapon.¡±
The reporters looked at each other.
How could someone announce this when a gun was pointed at his head?
None of the reporters asked him any questions.
¡°Take them away!¡± Ling Han was furious.
Several men who were also wearing in clothes approached Xia Lei, two of them grabbed him by his arm, while others pointed their guns at him.
¡°I¡¯ll shoot anyone who hurts him!¡± Suddenly, Long Bing appeared by the door. She walked into the office. She was holding a pistol.
Finally, Xia Lei had somebody on his side with a gun.
¡°Long Bing! It¡¯s none of your business!¡± Ling Han threatened her.
Following the threat from Ling Han, a few men with inclothes pointed their gun at Long Bing.
Long Bing also held up her pistol. She fired a shot without any hesitation.
A decorative sheet fell from the ceiling, falling apart on the floor.
No one expected Long Bing to fire a shot when so many guns were pointed at her. Everyone was stunned by her actions. A few reporters crouched on the ground while cradling their heads.
Long Bing put down her arm and pointed her pistol at Ling Han¡¯s head. ¡°Xia Lei is under our protection priority, he is an important asset to the country. It¡¯s not up to you to decide if he is free or not. I¡¯m giving you five seconds to let go of him and get out from here. I¡¯ll kill you otherwise.¡±
Ling Han was livid. The corner of his mouth twitched but he didn¡¯t say anything.
Long Bing¡¯s eyes were cold and unforgiving. ¡°Five, four, three...¡±
¡°Let him go!¡± Ling Han gave up. He knew that Long Bing was not joking. However, he couldn¡¯t guarantee that his men would return fire.
Long Bing exchanged a nce with Xia Lei. Although they didn¡¯t say anything, they could understand each other¡¯s thoughts. It was a tacit understanding between them.
This nce also represented the turning point of the event, it was developing towards another direction.
However, it wasn¡¯t going favourably for Ling Han and Mu Jian-Feng.
Chapter 787 Tenderness
That very afternoon, videos of Mu Jian-Feng raising his hand to p Ye Kun¡¯s wife apanied by evidence of his deeds were all over a handful of online media outlets and social media tforms. It didn¡¯t take long for the incident to be the hottest topic in town.
The heated debate over the incident was unstoppable.
No one dared to cover it up due to the widespread publicity of it!
That very night, Xia Lei received a call from Fan Fan.
¡°Wow, I¡¯m impressed. You should consider switching over to the movie industry.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s words had hints of ridicule but also an unconceble delight. ¡°Your n had resurfaced that particr whistleblowing document. I heard that the higher-ups had formed an investigation team for this. Mu Jian-Feng has been stripped of his freedom.¡±
¡°That soon?¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I thought it would take a while for things to explode. I¡¯m surprised that it only took half a day to gain full control of him.¡±
¡°You¡¯re upset that it happened too fast?¡±
¡°Of course not. To me, another pesky bug has been taken care of. It¡¯s a good thing.¡±
¡°Actually, the fast development of things was all thanks to your new material project. I submitted the report the other day and the higher-ups are very pleased with it. It was very stupid of them to try to mess with you now.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s voice was stillced with glee.
¡°You contributed to this too. Oh, my phone is running out of battery, I¡¯ll talk to you soon,¡± said Xia Lei.
The call was going on for too long.
¡°Why are you in such a rush? Are you on a date with some other beauty?¡±
¡°Is that jealousy I hear?¡± Xia Lei lowered his voice.
¡°I¡¯ve swallowed your salty stuff, what¡¯s new about feeling sour over you?¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°You¡¯re with Long Bing, right?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m with no one. Oh crap, there¡¯s no battery left...¡± With that, Xia Lei hung up. He then looked to the side of the table to watch Long Bing open a bottle of red wine. There was a slight pause before he sheepishly muttered, ¡°She can be quite annoying at times.¡±
¡°It¡¯s great that she helped us. I find her pretty feminine,¡±mented Long Bing.
¡°Uh, let¡¯s not talk about her anymore. Come, let¡¯s dig in.¡± Xia Lei made his way over.
Long Bing poured Xia Lei a ss of wine before doing the same for herself. After Xia Lei was seated on the opposite side of the table, Long Bing brought her ss over to sit beside him.
Xia Lei raised his ss and smiled. ¡°Cheers, it¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve eaten at your ce.¡± He had promised to stay a night at Long Bing¡¯s ce every weekend back then but he hadn¡¯t stuck to his promise well. Whenever he was reminded of it, he couldn¡¯t help but feel guilty.
But Long Bing paid no mind to the broken promise. She held her ss over to touch the rim of Xia Lei¡¯s ss before downing the lukewarm fluid. Her alcohol tolerance was as good as her shooting skills.
¡°Here, let me refill that for you.¡± Xia Lei grabbed the wine bottle and filled her ss.
Long Bing stared at Xia Lei for a bit. Abruptly, she voiced, ¡°Am I not feminine?¡±
Xia Lei was a little surprised. He came nearer to her pale neck to take in a light whiff. ¡°Why would you say that? You smell nice, I love your scent.¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Stop teasing me. I meant feminine, not my scent.¡±
¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± Xia Lei was perplexed.
¡°I mean...¡± Long Bing paused for a bit to structure her thoughts. ¡°Well, something you¡¯d get from Fan Fan. She radiatesdy-like charm and intelligence. Or probably something like Shentu Tianyin¡¯s aura. She has this very luxurious and bright femininity.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°What¡¯s with you today? All we had was just a ss and you¡¯re already drunk? You are who you are. If you change yourself to be like one of them, you won¡¯t be the same Long Bing I know.¡±
¡°But I want to try it out. Change my appearance a little or something.¡±
¡°This is not the same as changing an outfit, okay?¡±
¡°Well, I can always learn.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to torment yourself over thoughts like this. Let¡¯s just continue drinking and then ...¡± A filthy smirk appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face.
That smirk had triggered something within her. Immediately, Long Bing stood from her seat and walked over with a seductive twist of her waist to sit her full bottom on Xia Lei¡¯sp.
¡°You¡¯re done with dinner already?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
¡°Don¡¯t interrupt me.¡± Long Bing put her arms around his neck. She stared longingly into his eyes. ¡°Is this feminine enough?¡±
¡°Pfft-¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t hold hisughter in.
Long Bing sent a re his way. ¡°Hey! I¡¯m serious!¡±
Xia Lei fell silent.
Long Bing then ground her soft ass against his crotch. ¡°How about this? Is this feminine enough?¡±
Xia Lei bit his lip to hold in a burst of untimelyughter.
¡°You¡¯re so mean!¡± Long Bing pped his arm.
But before she could do so, he grabbed her arm and had his wicked ways with her.
The next morning, Long Bing had already left when Xia Lei woke up from his slumber. She even made him breakfast, which happened to be a very sad looking cup of Kang Shifu instant noodles.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Women should treat themselves kindly. How is she able to survive with such unhealthy meals?¡±
Still, he wolfed down the instant noodle she left for him. After that, Xia Lei slid out his phone to call Zhou Xiaohong.
¡°Brother Lei Zi!¡± Her greeting was followed by giggles. It was as if receiving a call from Xia Lei was the best thing that happened in her life.
The vigedy was very grateful. If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t taken her in and gave her a part-time job at the workshop, she would probably still be scrubbing dishes in some random restaurant. Everything she had was all thanks to him.
¡°Can you do me a favour? Please help me find a good maid from your hometown. She needs to cook well and be able to care for people. Yeah, you can take it as getting hired by ourpany. The maid can receive her sry from our office and she just needs to take care of one person. It¡¯s a rtively simple task, it¡¯d just be simple cleaning and cooking,¡± exined Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, that¡¯s not a problem. We have a lot of maids back home that are especially skilled in cooking and caring. May I know who she¡¯ll be caring for?¡±
¡°Long Bing, you¡¯ve met her before.¡±
¡°Oh, I got it.¡±
¡°Also, let us know when you find someone. We¡¯ll buy her insurance. Oh right, when shees to Jingdu, she won¡¯t be staying at Long Bing¡¯s ce. We¡¯ll provide her with other amodation,¡± borated Xia Lei.
¡°Alright! Brother Lei Zi, when are youing to Shu Di again? I...¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t seen in ages, I miss you a lot... Uh, I don¡¯t mean anything else, I just want to see you again.¡± Zhou Xiaohong sounded a little nervous.
Xia Leiughed a little. ¡°I¡¯m a little busy at the moment but I ¡®lle to visit Shu Di after this period is over. Please take good care of yourself, goodbye.¡±
¡°Goodbye, Brother Lei Zi.¡± Zhou Xiaohong¡¯s tone was full of reluctance.
Ending his call with Zhou Xiaohong, Xia Lei then left a note for Long Bing. It wrote, ¡®Please cut down on your instant noodle consumption. I hired a maid for you to help you with house chores and meals. I can¡¯t always care for you all the time so please ept the maid I hired.¡¯
The passion Long Bing had for him was like fire while the tenderness he had for her was like water.
Although she was a tough woman who had survived battle after battle, she was and always will be someone he needed to protect.
Returning to the Thunder Horse Military Factory, Xia Lei had just finished his discussion with Annina and Sylvia about ns for Sweeper¡¯s mass production. Just when he was about to start about his bold idea to start designing a tank for the Thunder Horse Organization, the four Knight Hospitallerdies made their presence known.
Sylvia and Annina left. It was only then when Xia Lei finally questioned, ¡°What are you here for?¡±
¡°You really think we want to be here?¡± huffed Theresa. ¡°We¡¯re just here to give you the newest updates.¡±
Rosa closed the door to his office.
Xia Lei calmly asked, ¡°Anything new so far?¡±
¡°Our people have already been mobilized in Siberia. They managed to wipe out FA Organization¡¯s camp there,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s great news.¡±
Ste then ced a smartphone in front of Xia Lei. A picture of a pile of corpses was disyed on its screen. He started to swipe to see the next, each picture showing a few bodies in the same frame.
It didn¡¯t take long for him to reach thest picture. His eyes were glued to it.
Thest picture had also shown a corpse. Unlike the rest, he wasn¡¯t sted to death. He was decapitated instead! Someone had even used his bleeding head to write on the snowy ground in Chinese- ¡°Xia Lei, if you want to kill me,e kill me yourself! Coward!¡±
Despite the message being anonymous, it wasn¡¯t hard for him to guess who wrote it. It was Dark Mona.
¡°This body isn¡¯t a member of the FA organization, he¡¯s our man. Dark Mona killed him before she escaped into the woods. They¡¯re still searching that area. We¡¯ll inform you when more updates are received,¡± said Theresa all while ring at Xia Lei. She was still bothered by Xia Lei¡¯sint that she smelt like fish. Personally, she thought the smell resembled yeast.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei returned the phone to Giovanna.
Ste then spoke up, ¡°Mister Xia, Dark Mona is a highly trained killer. If we¡¯re unable to kill or capture her, we hope that you¡¯ll understand us.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Are you telling me this personally or is this what Arthur wants you to say?¡±
¡°It¡¯s...¡± As Ste had begun to speak, Rosa quickly touched her waist. Ste immediately fell silent.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Ah, so it¡¯s Arthur. Tell him that to kill or capture Dark Mona was an important part of our agreement. I¡¯m sure you know what will happen if you fail to do so, right?¡±
¡°Please help us then.¡± Giovanna continued, ¡°Dark Mona is very strong. If she wants to escape, we¡¯ll have a tough time capturing her. However, if you involve yourself in the process, she¡¯ll make you her target and she¡¯de to us instead. It¡¯ll be easier for us to do our job.¡±
¡°Did Arthur tell you to say that too?¡±
Giovanna gave an affirmative nod. ¡°Yes and this is the reality of it. We¡¯re trying to fulfil your request, it¡¯s only reasonable that you help us out.¡±
Xia Lei gave it some thought before voicing out. ¡°You may return. I¡¯ll have to give this some thought.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Theresa rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
Giovanna took two steps forward before she turned her head and said, ¡°Mister Xia, please be quick. If Dark Mona runs away now, it¡¯ll be difficult to get our hands on her.¡±
Xia Lei had only returned a nod.
Chapter 788 - Iga-ryu
Should he leave for Siberia?
This wasn¡¯t a trip he could take without consequences.
If he didn¡¯t, his chance to capture Dark Mona would be lost.
If he did, there were just too many uncertainties.
The night was getting dark, but Xia Lei was still in his bed pondering back and forth about this.
He just couldn¡¯t make up his mind.
¡°Had I been making lots of money to the point of living toofortably that I¡¯m starting to be a coward?¡± The thought surfaced in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. A bitter smile soon apanied it.
When faced with difficult times, one would try their best to remain tough and fight for themselves. But once life became fruitful and peaceful, that person would lose all their will to fight. Often, one would be more cowardly after tasting the sweetness of a stable life. Xia Lei may be no normal civilian, but he was still human. This was one of the most inevitable ws of mankind.
Suddenly, the lights on the ceiling went out.
¡°A power failure? Impossible. The Peace Mansion gets its electric supply from Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s special circuit directly.¡± Abruptly, a thought shed through Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He tensed up, quickly leaping off his bed.
Perhaps it was that odd presence that he saw in Paris via his X-ray vision. He was in such a tight spot back then. He was actually afraid of engaging said person in closebat!
He stood on the carpet, the first thing he had thought of was to retrieve his pistol. But again, he was reminded that he had never hidden his weapons in the house.
A gust of wind blew in through the window, it lifted the curtains.
The fabric danced with the breeze, the moonlight was deceivingly beautiful.
As the curtains flew to obstruct the moon, a ck shadow suddenly entered through the opening.
The ck ghastly mass felt like a supernatural phenomenon!
Xia Lei tensed up abruptly, quickly moving backwards in loud steps.
The ck mass raised its arm to reveal three shimmering objects.
Xia Lei quickly switched his retreating stance to dodge the iing attacks.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three shurikensnded on the door.
The ck mass appeared again, this time brandishing a three-de boomerang. The weapon flew with such an astonishing speed towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei quickly moved horizontally and sessfully dodged the iing attack.
The boomerang flew past Xia Lei¡¯s body before it made a sharp turn to return to the ck mass.
Two seconds ago, he panicked and was desperate to run away. He had really thought that the odd presence in Paris had tracked him back to China. But as the ck mass directed two continuous attacks to him, it didn¡¯t take long for him to make out its face and body size. The ck mass was female. Her body may be petite and firm but her chest size was impressively huge. Just with that two features alone, he had only needed one second to piece things together.
He activated his X-ray vision to reveal her face. She was Asian.
Certainly, she wasn¡¯t the odd presence that he feared. Why should he continue to run?
Gathering his energy, he charged towards her at an explosive speed. He aimed a heavy punch towards the front of her head. It was terrifyingly fast like a missile!
She quickly crossed her arms to defend her head.
m! Xia Lei¡¯s fistnded loudly on her arms.
The strong impact threw her off bnce. She quickly arched her waist backwards, then kicked the floor to lift her legs up to Xia Lei¡¯s chest. Taking advantage of Xia Lei¡¯s surprise, she stomped his chest twice.
Her attack strategy was to utilize its leverage. She was agile and light as if gravity had no control over her mass.
But Xia Lei was just as fast. Just as she was about toplete her mid-air tumble, his right hand got ahold of the tube of her pants. He then pulled it back with force!
Rrrrrriiiiippppp...
The sound of fabric ripping filled the air.
The ck mass finally nted both feet on the floor. Her pants were ripped apart to expose arge span of her pale leg.
She was taken aback by his response. She wasn¡¯t expecting Xia Lei to be so fast!
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t about to give her more time to breathe. In her dazed state, he inclined his body abruptly to send a hard kick over.
The ck mass quickly retreated. ¡°Wait!¡±
She spoke in Japanese.
Xia Lei halted his movement. His foot was mere inches from caving in her head.
¡°I¡¯m the rat, Tsukino Kyoko.¡± This time she conversed in Chinese albeit rather rough.
Xia Lei put his leg down. It wasn¡¯t difficult to guess her identity as soon as she spoke her first sentence. She was Japanese and Xia Lei was certain that the members of the Hattori n had no courage to break into his quarters like that. Aside from that, the quietness of the Peace Mansion was deceiving. This was almost like a secret base camp for the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. His father, Yelena, E¡¯er Demutu and Alessio were all here. It was essentially impossible for a highly-skilled assassin to make it past them to reach Xia Lei¡¯s room. Her bold entrance had indicated that none of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had deemed her actions a threat.
¡°What are you trying to say?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko replied, ¡°They said you were strong but I thought they were just exaggerating so I challenged Sa¡¯im to a bet. He said that if I defeat you, he¡¯ll pay me a hundred USD.¡±
¡°We¡¯re even,¡± uttered Xia Lei.
¡°No, I lost.¡± The female nced down to look at therge rip Xia Lei made. Then, she took off her ck mask.
The lights in the room returned.
Under the light¡¯s illumination, a delicate face with rosy cheeks and big, puppy eyes were presented to Xia Lei. She resembled Fukuhara Ai, though admittedly much cuter.
.
Though so, her cute little doll-like features were a mere facade. Her eyes were filled with darkness and Xia Lei knew what it was. Despite looking like a doll, if she had received orders to kill, she would kill with no hesitation.
¡°Are you a ninja?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded lightly. ¡°Yeah, Iga-ryu.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Wow, ninjas really do exist in Japan.¡±
She replied, ¡°We shouldn¡¯t abandon our traditions. You too are an expert of Wing Chun, right?¡±
¡°You mentioned Sa¡¯im just now. Who else do you know? Where are they?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard outside his door.
Xia Lei looked in its direction. Abruptly, the door disappeared to reveal two approaching figures. One of them was a young man with dark skin and the other was a man with a full beard. The dark young male had a tall and thin physique. His head was adorned with a crown of tight raven curls and his eyes were unusually light too. His overall appearance gave off an unearthly feeling. On the other hand, the man with the impressive beard had green eyes, his body was strong and buff.
The dark young male had Indian features while the full-bearded man had Arabian features.
Their facial structure alone had told Xia Lei much of their identity. The young male with dark skin was the monkey of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team, Anjum Khan. The one with the green eyes was the dog of the team, Sa¡¯im from Iraq.
¡°They¡¯re here,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko. She passed Xia Lei to reach the door to remove the shurikens stuck on it. In the ninja world, shurikens were one of the most typical weapons one could own.
Looking at Tsukino Kyoko, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but draw aparison between her and Tang Yuyan. The conclusion he got was that Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s dart skills might be on par with Tang Yuyan.
Tsukino Kyoko proceeded to open the door.
Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im were waiting outside.
They neatly lowered their heads as a sign of respect to Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m the monkey, Anjum Khan,¡± introduced Anjum Khan.
¡°I¡¯m the dog, Sa¡¯im,¡± Sa¡¯im followed.
They both spoke in Chinese but with the ents of their respective countries.
¡°Hello, I¡¯m Xia Lei.¡± It was Xia Lei¡¯s turn to introduce himself. Though the three new faces were already aware of his identity, the introduction was an act of courtesy and shouldn¡¯t be forgone.
Anjum Khan stared at Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s pants, he grinned. ¡°Looks like I won myself a hundred USD.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko gave a wry smile in return. But she had willingly epted her defeat, Xia Lei¡¯s capabilities were truly superior to hers.
¡°Boss.¡± Sa¡¯im continued, ¡°The death of Amanda, Park Taeyong, Bagu and Marcus shouldn¡¯t be in vain. We¡¯d like to go to Siberia to take Dark Mona¡¯s life personally.¡±
¡°How did you find out that Dark Mona was in Siberia?¡± Xia Lei was a little surprised.
Sa¡¯im smirked. ¡°Boss, the fourdies living in the Peace Mansion were easy opponents. It wasn¡¯t difficult to extract information from them.¡±
Xia Lei smiled faintly. Sa¡¯im was the team¡¯s dog. He was Xia Changhe¡¯s eyes and ears. Plus, he was also the core of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team¡¯s intel system. It shouldn¡¯t ur as a surprise for him to find out this much.
Xia Lei was hesitant to go to Siberia at first but Sa¡¯im¡¯s proposition had helped him make his decision. ¡°Let¡¯s all go to Siberia. Let¡¯s go kill Dark Mona!¡±
¡°We¡¯reing with you.¡± It was Alessio¡¯s voice.
Behind Alessio was Yelena and E¡¯er Demutu.
Everyone in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was here, save for Liang Siyao and the mysterious snake.
¡°Where is the snake?¡± Xia Lei could no longer suppress his curiosity.
There was no answer because no one knew.
His father must¡¯ve known something about the snake¡¯s identity, but the old man refused to reveal anything no matter how hard they probed. It was only natural for Xia Lei to be suspicious. Why was his father so secretive about it? To make it weirder, none of the members had any knowledge about it too. What good would keeping a secret as this do?
¡°Boss, we¡¯re running out of time. We need to move,¡± urged Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go inform the fourdies to have them ry a message to Arthur. Then, we¡¯ll start our journey to Siberia.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already contacted a Russian cargo ne. We just need to pay him ten thousand USD to change his route from a direct flight to Moscow to pass by our destination. We¡¯ll leap off the ne near the spot,¡± informed Sa¡¯im.
¡°No problem,¡± confirmed Xia Lei.
A few minutester, Xia Lei found himself at the door of Giovanna and Ste¡¯s room. He knocked on the door.
Giovanna answered the door after a minute.
¡°You... It¡¯ste, what¡¯s the matter?¡± The pyjama-d Giovanna consciously shielded herrge bosom.
¡°I¡¯m getting ready to leave for Siberia. Please inform Arthur immediately,¡± uttered Xia Lei.
¡°We thought you wouldn¡¯t go,¡± said Giovanna.
Ste¡¯s head peeked from behind the door. ¡°When are you leaving?¡±
¡°Tonight.¡±
¡°We want toe with you,¡± said Ste.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°This is not a trip, okay?¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± huffed Giovanna coldly. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate us. We¡¯re all legitimate knights!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Point made, female knights. Well then, I¡¯d like to witness the noble spirit of a knight.¡±
Chapter 789 - First Time
The night sky was bedazzled by the countless stars from the faraway gxy.
An Il-76 appeared above Siberia.
The cargo ne had its hatch opened, allowing the bone-chilling wind to waft through the insides.
Everyone on board had their parachutes along with their gear strapped on. They were ready.
¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, we¡¯re approaching your requested jump-off point. You may start jumping now. I wish you all a safe trip,¡± announced the Russian pilot through the speakers.
The man was oddly courteous because Xia Lei and Sa¡¯im had bribed him with more money than he requested. He wanted ten thousand USD but Xia Lei had paid him a generous twenty thousand USD.
Now that it was time to jump, Xia Lei felt like he was about to burst. This was his first-time sky-diving for fuck¡¯s sake. Despite having the reassurance of a parachute, a thousand-meter freefall was noughing matter.
Sa¡¯im was first to stride towards the tform and leap off. He closed his legs and contracted his shoulders for the fall, looking like a javelin falling from the sky.
Anjum Khan was next, then followed was Yelena, Alessio and the rest of them.
As more of them departed, Xia Lei got increasingly anxious.
Without hesitation, the Russo and Grey sisters followed suit. Before they had even made it to the tform, Xia Lei had thought that they were also first-timers. Sadly, he was the only one. The four just dove straight out of the hatch one by one. Their form looked like dumplings from above.
Now, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko were the only ones left. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure why thetter was still here, but he had made up his mind to finally take the leap after her.
¡°Is this your first time?¡± The woman approached him.
Xia Lei nodded his head sheepishly. ¡°Yeah, it is.¡±
¡°Are you scared?¡±
¡°A little.¡± Xia Lei screamed in his heart. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?! I don¡¯t believe that your first sky-diving experience was as rxed as now.¡±
¡°Oh, shit. Look at that. Is that a ne?¡± Tsukino Kyoko abruptly pointed in a direction.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes followed her fingers.
At that very moment, she took a step back then ran forward to kick him in the ass.
¡°AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!¡± Xia Lei screamed as he flew out of the hatch.
Tsukino Kyoko strode forward and followed suit. Her body was as light as a swallow, flying downwards with grace.
Xia Lei was tossed around in the air unceremoniously. He was panicking as he did not know what to do! As he hesitated whether to unleash his parachute, Tsukino Kyoko suddenly steadied him from behind. Her thighs enveloped his waist and her arms were tucked firmly under his armpits to hug his chest.
¡°Wait a bit before pulling the cord. If you open it now, you¡¯ll be blown far away from thending point,¡± eximed Tsukino Kyoko into his ear.
¡°Do you always do this?¡± Xia Lei was still a little angry.
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Pranks like this.¡±
¡°That was my first.¡±
¡°...¡±
They descended very quickly. With someone on his back, Xia Lei was no longer shaken with fear. Soon enough, snowkes were flying around them and he could vaguely make out the snowy trees and forest down below. There were a few of his people that had already released their parachutes too.
¡°Alright, pull it.¡± Tsukino Kyoko loosened her grip on Xia Lei. With a push of her palms against his back, she flew several meters away from him. She then opened her parachute.
Xia Lei opened his parachute as well. His first sky-diving experience was certainly something he¡¯d never be able to forget. If there was still next time, he was certain he wouldn¡¯t end up as ungraceful as his first.
Falling onto the designated point, Xia Lei stripped off his parachute gear.
Theresa approached him. ¡°I thought you¡¯d wait till the ne reaches Moscow before jumping off,¡± she mocked in Italian.
She was still very much upset about the molestation, finding every possible chance to irritate Xia Lei.
Xia Lei raised his right arm and gave her the middle finger. He replied in Italian, ¡°Don¡¯t make me do that again to you. I quite fancy the smell of salted fish.¡±
¡°You¡¯re definitely going to hell!¡± screamed Theresa angrily.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°If someone like me goes to hell, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll end up as hell¡¯s most important guest.¡±
Theresa refused to back down but Giovanna quickly halted her to announce something. ¡°Our people will be here to pick us up soon. Please inform your team to stand down.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll make sure of that.¡±
Giovanna pulled Theresa aside. ¡°Why are you still trying to provoke him? You¡¯re acting like a child now! Have you forgotten all about our mission?¡±
¡°But...¡± Theresa wanted to say more but decided against it. Her displeasure was evident.
Xia Lei motioned for the six Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members toe over. ¡°The Knight Hospitaller members will be here to pick us up. Please be careful to not shoot them but I urge you all to stay vignt.¡±
Anjum Khan scowled. ¡°They better not have other motives or else my guns will not spare them mercy.¡±
In about ten minutes, a few snowmobiles emerged from the forest. Giovanna went forward to greet them before she motioned everyone over to hitch the ride.
Each snowmobile had its own driver and a sleigh that tailed behind it. There was enough space for a seat or to hold their weapons. Xia Lei and the others took a seat on the vehicle and off they went. The snowmobiles zoomed through the forest to arrive at a frozenke. From afar, they could see a wooden house that was surrounded by about ten military tents.
The snow rained heavily, but Xia Lei could see the camouged snipers hidden in the woods behind the house and the gunners that were on watch around it.
¡°This is the FA Organization¡¯s Siberia Camp,¡± Yelena told Xia Lei. She continued, ¡°But this is just one part of it. Your father went through his training here.¡±
Have you been here?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah, I came with your father. I almost died here back then.¡± Yelena seemed to have spiralled down into her dark memories as her expression hardened.
It didn¡¯t take long for the snowmobiles to make it to the front of the wooden house. The cautious gunners immediately had their eyes glued to their guests. The mouth of their guns was raised slightly, ready for immediate action. On the other hand, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members also got into position. They were equipped with a gust assault rifle, an XL2500 sniper rifle and a Viper Pistol on them. Their gust assault rifles were on stand-by with their mouths raised slightly and safety pins open in anticipation of an ambush.
Xia Lei jumped off the sleigh, his gazending on the tents around the wooden house to see a different world. There was a variety of weapons and people inside. It was as if their manpower was an uncannybination of drug dealers, killers and gangsters. From that, he deduced that these were the people the Knight Hospitaller hired for this operation while the gunners around the house and the snipers were their own members.
As Xia Lei deactivated his vision, the door to the wooden house was opened as Arthur exited it. He wore a thick winter coat and had on a traditional Russian ushanka. He looked like a local.
¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯m pleased to see you here.¡± Arthur was courteous. ¡°Thank you for being so understanding of our situation. I¡¯m just so d that you¡¯re here. We¡¯ll be able to leave this god-damned ce for good soon.¡±
Xia Lei asked, ¡°Where is Dark Mona now?¡±
¡°Come on inside. I don¡¯t know how to describe it but myputer can,¡± replied Arthur.
Xia Lei followed him in.
As Yelena and the others were about to enter through its door, they were quickly stopped by the Knight Hospitaller members guarding the entrance.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, there¡¯s just not enough space to fit everyone.¡± Arthur continued, ¡°Please wait for us outside.¡±
Arthur¡¯s words did not deter them. Yelena immediately pushed the guards in an attempt to provoke them. Russians had always been known for their temper and this woman was no different.
Xia Lei calmly instructed, ¡°It¡¯s alright. Just wait for me outside.¡±
With that, Yelena stopped her actions.
The firece in the wooden house was burning, generating warmth to shield against the cold outside. On a simple wooden task was a militaryptop with two burning candles on each side. The candles had the Knight Hospitaller sign on its base. Its seemingly insignificant existence triggered Xia Lei¡¯s cautiousness, but he didn¡¯t smell any agave-like fragrance from it this time.
Arthur walked over to the desk to unfold theptop. He entered a few keys and soon, a satellite map was disyed on its screen.
The area showcased was aplicated terrain. There were mountains, vast forests, rivers and even ake. There wasn¡¯t a vige or town in sight. There were four glowing red signals on the map, located at all four sides of the map.
¡°Our people had managed to trap her in this area. What you¡¯re seeing here are the location-marking signals they sent. Dark Mona is somewhere within its boundaries.¡± Arthur continued, ¡°Our people would only be able to stay there temporarily. As soon as she gathers enough resources, she¡¯d be able to exit the area. When that happens, there¡¯s nothing much we can do anymore.¡±
¡°What resources would she need?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Arthur exined, ¡°Siberia has weed its winter early. Cold protective coats, high caloric value food and skiing equipment would be essential for survival here. Without those, even the strongest of us all wouldn¡¯t survive a night here. Dark Mona will certainly need those things. Our ambush had rendered her with close to nothing essential. If my estimations are correct, her resources will be depleted by now so she¡¯d need food and skiing gear. Her desperate needs will dy her escape, which will buy time for us to attack her.¡±
Arthur¡¯s description was oddly detailed but Xia Lei had his brows furrowed. ording to the size aspect ratio of the satellite map, the area within the four signals was huge. Plus, it was barren and had a veryplicated terrain! How would it even be possible for them to track down one hidden person?
¡°Mister Xia, I know what you¡¯re worried about.¡± Arthur continued, ¡°But it¡¯s nothing to be concerned about. I believe that you¡¯ve already seen the pictures I sent you. The message Dark Mona left was to lure you over. Now that you¡¯re here, she¡¯s bound to appear!¡±
Xia Lei averted his nce elsewhere, immediatelynding on the wall beside the firece. On that particr wall, there were a few lines of Chinese characters carved into it. As soon as he made out those words, his blood froze.
Chapter 790 - Men Are Disgusting
Xia Lei, I hate you!
Xia Lei, I want to slit off your throat!
Xia Lei, I want to kill you!
Xia Lei, don¡¯t you know that you¡¯re the sole reason that I¡¯m alive?
Xia Lei, today is my birthday. I want to tear your heart out as my birthday present!
Xia Lei, I swear I¡¯ll make you remember me for life!
Xia Lei...
Every word carved on the wall wasced with hatred. Although the name of its carver was nowhere to be found, Xia Lei had already figured out who it was without giving it much thought. These words on the wall were left behind by Gu Kewen.
A vision popped out in his mind. Amid the bone-chilling wind and heavy flying snow, Gu Kewen wasid peacefully on the snow, as if it was a wonderful dream which she could not bring herself to leave.
Gu Kewen was dead. Though she was not done with her revenge, she had managed to achieve a little bit of it by imprinting herself into his memory for life. Xia Lei wanted to deny the fact but that was the harsh reality.
¡°Mister Xia?¡± It was Arthur¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei snapped out of his thoughts and asked, ¡°What?¡±
¡°You were spacing out.¡± Arthur shifted his gaze to the words carved on the wall. ¡°I have seen those Chinese characters before. I even sought help from others to trante the words. The person who carved those words must have hated you so much. You probably already figured out who left these, right?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no point assuming things. Who she was is no longer important. I have already killed her with my own hands.¡± Xia Lei sighed and ced a piece of gum into his mouth.
Arthur shrugged. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s n our operation.¡±
¡°How many people do you approximately have?¡±
¡°Over a hundred.¡±
¡°I need an exact figure.¡± Xia Lei insisted.
¡°No problem,¡± Arthur replied nonchntly. ¡°In this operation, we had one hundred and forty people. We lost thirty-eight of them so we¡¯re now left with another one hundred and two people.¡±
¡°The figure you mentioned covers the overall figure or merely the figure of Knights Hospitaller?¡±
¡°Of course the overall figure.¡± Arthur seemed displeased.
Xia Lei wanted to ask further, but he decided against it when he read Arthur¡¯s expression. However, he was certain that the manpower sent by the Knights Hospitaller was significantly high based on his observation. There was at least more than half of the whole organization there.
¡°Have you searched that area?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Of course we have.¡±
¡°How did you confirm that Dark Mona has been hiding in that area?¡±
¡°Corpses. We had conducted a search in that area thrice, three people were sacrificed in the first, two people in the second and another two in thest. Which was why we believe that she is still in that area.¡±
¡°When was thest search conducted?¡±
¡°The operation was done yesterday from two in the afternoon till six in the evening. We decided to stop for the night. Dark Mona did the same because she was only left with the choice to hide at night or else she¡¯ll freeze to death,¡± answered Arthur.
¡°We will start the operation tomorrow morning. You lead your team and I will lead mine.¡± Xia Lei pointed to a GPS map disyed on his military tablet and continued, ¡°My team and I will enter the area from the three o¡¯clock direction. Since you have more manpower, try to divide your people into three teams and instruct them to enter the area from the six o¡¯clock, nine o¡¯clock and twelve o¡¯clock direction respectively. With this arrangement, we can expand our search area.¡±
¡°No problem.¡±
¡°As soon as you found their tracks, start shooting to alert everyone immediately. The rest of the teams shall rush to back the team up and surround the target, okay?¡±
¡°Sure, no problem.¡± Arthur continued, ¡°There¡¯s still a little time left before dawn. How about you and your team take a rest in the tent we prepared for you by thekeside?¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine, we have our own equipment. Thank you, Mister Arthur.¡± Xia Lei leaned towards Arthur with his arms stretched.
Without hesitation, Arthur responded with a hug.
While enveloped in each other¡¯s arms, Arthur snuck something into Xia Lei¡¯s shirt pocket stealthily. At the same time, Xia Lei stuck his tongue out, and the piece of gum fell onto his palm. A micro-sized electronic device was alreadyid quietly on his palm and the gum he spat out fell just right on the device within a split second. It wrapped the device without covering its receiver. His finger then sprung it upwards. The gum flew and stuck itself firmly on the wall surface above the firece.
Swiftly, Xia Lei left the wooden house after the hug.
¡°What¡¯s going on, Boss?¡± Yelena approached.
Xia Lei said, ¡°The operation will begin at dawn. Let¡¯s find a ce to set up our tent and take a rest.¡±
Sa¡¯im called out, ¡°Boss...¡±
Before Sa¡¯im finished his words, Xia Lei gave him a look. Xia Lei uttered, ¡°What do you want to say?¡±
Sa¡¯im, who was the core intel source for the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team, quickly understood Xia Lei¡¯s intention. He quickly changed his mind and replied, ¡°I was wondering where we should set up our tent. This ce is freezing!¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Let¡¯s set it up in the forest over there, perhaps the trees could shield us from the wind.¡±
While he led the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team to the forest, he dug out the spy bug which Arthur had hid in his pocket and examined it before pocketing it again.
The members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team saw the bug and realized that they were being spied on.
Xia Lei initiated a conversation. ¡°The Knight Hospitallers are really useless. They couldn¡¯t even hunt down a single person with the strength of one hundred over people. I can¡¯t believe that they¡¯re actually relying on me to help them.¡±
¡°We must show them what we¡¯re capable of!¡± Alessio bragged loudly.
¡°Where would that bitch Dark Mona be? I can¡¯t wait to hunt her down, and feed her to the dogs after slicing her into pieces,¡± said Yelena.
They travelled further as they conversed.
Back in the wooden house, Arthur was checking his pockets and cor warily and found nothing. The speakers of his military tablet on the table were ying the conversation between Xia Lei and his team very clearly.
With a curl of his lips, a cold grin appeared on Arthur¡¯s face. ¡°The intel was urate. Women truly are your greatest weaknesses.¡±
The Grey and Russo sisters walked in.
Giovanna voiced out, ¡°Lieutenant, we saw Xia Lei and his subordinates heading to somewhere else. Are they not staying in the tent we prepared?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already seen thising. He¡¯s a very cautious man.¡± Arthur continued, ¡°Well, as long as they¡¯re here, our goal is met. Let them fight ferociously with the FA Organization and we¡¯ll wait till when they¡¯re beaten down before we swoop in!¡±
¡°Is he aware that Dark Mona is not the only FA member hiding in that area?¡± asked Ste.
¡°What do you think? Even if Dark Mona was the God of War, she wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand a hundred of our guns, right?¡± replied Arthur.
¡°Hopefully we can make it this time.¡± Theresa scowled. ¡°Things will be difficult if he does make it back to China,¡± Arthur responded with a cold smile. ¡°Both of you have done well by coaxing Xia Lei to Siberia. God will remember your deeds.¡±
¡°Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum.¡± The Grey and Russo sisters replied simultaneously as they drew the cross.
¡°Go and stay by Xia Lei¡¯s side,¡± Arthur said. ¡°It isn¡¯t enough to eavesdrop Xia Lei and his folks, I need you to keep an eye on them.¡±
¡°He is...¡± Theresa bit her lips but finally spat it out. ¡°He is lustful and despicable, he disgusts me.¡±
Arthur red at her. ¡°Women are his sole weakness. I hope you do know that you¡¯re an esteemed knight of the Knight Hospitaller. Have you forgotten the oath that you swore to?¡±
¡°Right away, sir.¡± Giovanna left.
The other threedies followed suit to leave the wooden house. The four of them headed towards the direction where Xia Lei left.
Xia Lei held his earplugs in ce while eavesdropping them from fifty meters ahead with a faint smirk.
The Grey and Russo sisters were not the reasons behind his journey to Siberia. It was ridiculous that Arthur had assumed that he was tempted by them. It seemed that his deliberate
lewd act of sliding his hand into Theresa¡¯s skirt in front of Arthur was sessful. Xia Lei had sessfully led Arthur into believing that women were his sole weakness.
Arthur¡¯s n was not the least bitplicated. He was using Dark Mona to lure Xia Lei to Siberia. The man had nned to weaken his force by taking advantage of the FA Organization. After that, they would capture him and trade him in exchange for their sacred relic. Their desire to possess the sacred relic had prevailed the honour and credibility of the knights.
As the wind struck his face, Xia Lei thought to himself. ¡°You are not the only one who¡¯s counting on dismantling the opponent with the FA group¡¯s force. Wait till I kill Dark Mona and you will get what you deserved. Like they always say, an eye for an eye. Since you wanted to use me in exchange for your sacred relic, I will force the answers I want from your mouth!¡±
Though it was very risky to be in Siberia, it was strategically wise to be here. Four of the members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team were killed by Dark Mona. Tsukino Kyoko, Sa¡¯im and Anjum Khan had appeared to him with the intention of bringing them along to Siberia to avenge theirrades. This would further polish his integrity which wouldter enable him to have a powerful grip over the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. Another motive of this Siberia operation was to weaken the strength of the Knights Hospitaller and of course, to make Arthur spill the beans.
That was why he was here despite knowing that this operation would be extremely dangerous.
The risk was oftentimes proportional to its oue. The greater the risk, the better the oue would.
¡°Wait for us, Mister Xia!¡± Giovanna¡¯s voice echoed from behind them.
Xia Lei sent a look to his folks then faked a smirk. ¡°Sigh, women are so troublesome. There are four of them, but I only have one cock. Do you know that I have to sleep with them one by one every night? It¡¯s physically taxing.¡±
¡°Haha! Boss, I hope you brought some Viagra,¡± Alessio joked.
¡°You men are really disgusting,¡±ined Tsukino Kyoko though her amusement was obvious.
Yelena spat on the floor. ¡°I need to stay away from you guys tonight. Their moans are so irritating! Thest time you had fun with them all night, I didn¡¯t get a single wink of sleep!¡±
¡°Oh, my bad. I guess I¡¯m just better than I thought, haha!¡± Xia Lei grin was incredibly lewd.
He suddenly came to a realization that every member of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team were naturally gifted actors.
Chapter 791 - Ambush in the Snow
After entering the forest, Xia Lei quickly selected their camp location. The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members soon began assembling their military tents. The Grey and Russo twins chose to build their tents beside Xia Lei¡¯s to be his ¡®neighbours¡¯. They were Arthur¡¯s eyes while Xia Lei took them as his transmitter.
The sharp cold wind blew on the crown of the trees, travelling in between the tall trunks. The whole ce was filled with its loud howling like a thousand spirits were crying in despair. Only when in the mercy of nature that mankind would be humbled. Other than Anjum Khan who was on watch-out duty, everyone else was nestled away in their tents. No one was willing to stand in the snow in fear of contacting severe frostbite.
Anjum Khan was stationed right outside Xia Lei¡¯s tent to intimidate the twins.
Inside it, Xia Lei was wrapped inside his sleeping bag as he toyed with a box-shaped device. It was only about six-inch small, around the size of a mobile phone. Its screen showed live feedback from inside the wooden house.
Arthur was seen to be talking to another person via video call.
¡°My lord.¡± Arthur¡¯s respect was evident in his tone. ¡°Xia Lei has already made it to Siberia. Our n is progressing smoothly.¡±
¡°How many did he bring with him?¡±
¡°Six.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s fingers erged the disy to pry on theptop¡¯s screen but to no avail. It was too pixted for him to make out anything legible. Its initial size had also rendered his microscopic vision to no use.
But this wasn¡¯t something to worry about. The gum-wrapped device would¡¯ve recorded everything. All he needed to do was to retrieve it and process the footage. By then, he would find out what their leader looked like.
The leader¡¯s voice rang through theptop speakers. ¡°Six? He¡¯s very brave. Six is easy to handle so this will be our best chance. Tell me about your n.¡±
Arthur exined, ¡°We managed to trap Dark Mona, but she isn¡¯t alone. We think there are about twenty FA members in that area. I¡¯ll have Xia Lei lead his team against the FA before we wipe them all out. When he¡¯s thest remaining person, I¡¯ll capture him and threaten his father to exchange him for the sacred relic.¡±
¡°But what if his father doesn¡¯t know where it¡¯s at?¡±
¡°That¡¯s no problem, I¡¯ll visit Jingdu personally. The Grey and Russo sisters have stayed at his ce for a while and had stepped foot into Thunder Horse Military Factory. As long as we get our hands on Xia Lei, there is a way to get our sacred relic back.¡±
The receiving end went silent for a brief moment. He then spoke, ¡°But you must remember, there is no room for failure in this operation. If you let Xia Lei loose, it¡¯d be very difficult for us to get it back.¡±
¡°We¡¯re in Siberia, a snowy barrennd with no transport. He won¡¯t be able to escape this terrain. There will be a battle tomorrow. The FA must die along with Xia Lei¡¯s men and he¡¯ll be taken hostageter. I assure you good news tomorrow, my lord.¡±
¡°Very well. If you do catch Xia Lei, you¡¯ll receive a very deserving reward.¡±
¡°Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum.¡± Arthur kneeled in front of the desk, drawing a cross across his body with a devoted expression.
The call ended there.
¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting around twenty FA members left. So the Knight Hospitallers had surrounded them on purpose to wait for our action and capture me, huh?¡± A cold smile appeared on his face. He took out the transmitter that was used internally among the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. He whispered slowly, ¡°Tsukino Kyoko, pleasee to my tent.¡±
¡°Got it.¡± Her voice rang through the transmitter.
Two minutester, Tsukino Kyoko entered his tent. She looked at him oddly, ¡°What do you need me for?¡±
Xia Lei then took out the device Arthur ced on him.
Without hesitation, Tsukino Kyoko immediately opened her mouth to scream. ¡°Oh, oh, oh! Yamete! Don¡¯t do that, I¡¯m about toe...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were wide open.
But she had only pointed to the device in his hand.
Xia Lei wanted to stop her from making weird noises but she had understood it from a very different perspective. It was as if she had recited a script and was acting in ordance. Undeniably, her lewd noises sounded very authentic as she was indeed Japanese.
Tsukino Kyoko only threw her hands open to give Xia Lei an odd look.
Only then, he came closer to her to whisper, ¡°Tomorrow...¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded, then continued to scream lewdly in Japanese. ¡°Ah! Let me go! Let me go! No, not there, please! Ah, ittai! Ittai! Please, I¡¯m begging you, stop! Yamete, Yamete, this feels too good! Ah, please! I¡¯m really about toe!¡±
Xia Lei could only feel question marks forming above his head. Where did she learn this from?
On the other side, in the Russo sisters¡¯ tent.
¡°Ew, disgusting! He¡¯s actually fornicating with his female subordinate in such an environment?¡± yelped Rosa.
¡°I hope the Siberian wind freezes his dick.¡± Theresa even imitated a freezing motion. ¡°And then snap! It falls to the ground to break into pieces.¡±
In the Grey sisters¡¯ tent...
¡°What is she screaming about?¡± Ste pressed her ear against the thin walls of the tent.
¡°Japanese, I guess. She¡¯s really exaggerating it,¡±ined Giovana. She drew a cross and prayed for forgiveness.
¡°Hmph! I¡¯ll let this slide. This will probably be hisst anyway, he¡¯ll be dead tomorrow.¡±
¡°Shh...¡±
The dawn rays chased away the night, putting a halt to the strong wind and snow. Despite that, the skies were covered with gloomy clouds that only allowed a portion of the sunlight to reach the ground.
Xia Lei and his team ate before they dismantled their tents to begin their n. The Russo and Grey sisters followed their trail closely. To Xia Lei, these fourdies were sticking him like flies to a glue trap.
The Knight Hospitallers had also begun to move. They were travelling towards the designated position.
Arthur led a team of thirty to the six o¡¯clock entrance. His position was close to the direction Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team were headed to. Only a small path separated them. They were bound to meet sooner orter.
The snow in the forest was thick, perfect for skiing. After Xia Lei¡¯s first sky-diving experience, this was yet another first experience. He had never skied before. Thebination of about thirty kilograms worth of gear on his back and being aplete stranger to the sport proved to be challenging for him, causing Xia Lei to fall a few times along the path. He even fell against Giovanna once and knocked her over.
Weirdly, Giovanna wasn¡¯t mad, she even found herself gleeful over the situation. How could Xia Lei escape them if he couldn¡¯t ski? Xia Lei¡¯s weak skiing abilities were also informed to Arthur.
After one hour of torment, Sa¡¯im suddenly pointed to a direction. ¡°There¡¯s blood over there!¡±
The team quickly spread themselves out as they cautiously approached the area.
The blood remnants on the snow had already dried up. There was also some bear fur and some discarded animal intestines scattered around the mess. All in all, it was an extremely gory sight.
Xia Lei extended his hand to touch the blood and a piece of its intestine. There was no warmth to it but his left eye had already peered into its structure. Getting a hold of its internal structure helped him reach a conclusion. ¡°They just left this ce half an hour ago! They¡¯re lugging bear meat with them so they¡¯re probably travelling slow. Quick, after them!¡±
Without waiting for anyone to point out a probable direction, Xia Lei was already on his ski zooming towards the side.
¡°How did hee to that conclusion?¡± Giovanna was shocked. ¡°Aside from blood and intestines, I see nothing else.¡±
¡°Right? The FA members also hid their footsteps well. How did he even know what direction they left in?¡± Theresa was equally confused.
But the fourdies didn¡¯t have time to ponder his actions. Giovanna, who was thest, spoke into the cor of her cold protective clothing as she skied. ¡°Xia Lei found the trails the FA members left, we¡¯re now heading towards the two o¡¯clock direction. Over.¡±
Soon, footprints could be seen on the snow-covered ground. It was messy, but it was obvious that the person wasn¡¯t alone.
¡°There¡¯s six of them.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°We shouldn¡¯t be too far from them, be careful.¡±
While the others scanned the footprints, Xia Lei had already figured out their party size.
The Chinese Zodiac Team members responded quickly, bracing themselves behind an appropriate barricade and went into battle mode.
Xia Lei took off his skis and approached Giovanna angrily. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that it was only Dark Mona? Why are there six sets of footprints?!¡±
¡°How... How would I know?¡± Giovanna got nervous.
Bang! A gun fired.
A bullet flew out of the forest to hit a pine tree trunk. Pieces of the bark were sent flying and the umted snow started to fall from its crown.
¡°They¡¯re in front of us, about fifty metres away!¡± eximed Anjum Khan.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team returned fire.
The bullets flew everywhere in the forest, chipping off pieces of tree trunks apanied it. It didn¡¯t take long for the battle to be heated.
Xia Lei stopped questioning Giovanna, quickly returning his focus onto the ongoing battle.
¡°What should we do now?¡± whispered Theresa urgently.
¡°Just let them do their job.¡± Ste continued, ¡°We¡¯ll just fire two customary shots around the end.¡±
Giovannaid herself t on the ground. She spoke into her cor again, ¡°The battle between Xia Lei and the FA organisation has begun.¡±
Out of nowhere, Tsukino Kyoko shrieked and fell to the ground. Blood began to pour out of her petite frame, dyeing the pale snow red.
Giovanna got increasingly emotional. ¡°The FA had killed one of his men!¡±
¡°No!¡± roared Xia Lei, he scrambled over to Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s side to shake her lifeless body. ¡°You can¡¯t die! Stand up!¡±
Her eyes twitched a little, but there was no responseing from her.
Chapter 792 - A Man like God
¡°I¡¯m gonna kill them!¡± Yelena lunged forward wildly, using the trunk as her cover while she fired her rifle.
¡°Come back!¡± Xia Lei roared. ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous!¡±
As soon as he finished his sentence, Yelena fell onto the ground.
¡°No¡ª!¡± Xia Lei was going crazy.
Anjum Khan pulled out a Hellbound One-soldier Cannon, loaded it with gunpowder and fired it towards the enemy territory.
Two of the agents from the FA organization were blown to the sky. One of them was blown into pieces, his intestines, internal organs, broken fingers and bone fragments scattered onto the ground.
Upon seeing this, the remaining four agents from the FA organization had a mental breakdown. A Hellbound One-soldier Cannon is equivalent to a small-sized tank. Defending it with their weapons was not a feasible task.
The four agents gave up the bear meat, retreating into the deep forest as they blindly fired their firearm.
¡°Retreating? I don¡¯t believe you have permission for that.¡± Xia Lei sneered as he slipped his fingers into the triggers of his XL2500 sniper rifle.
Bang!
In an instant, an armour-piercing bullet passed through a trunk and drove into the chest of an agent from the FA organization. Although the force of the bullets was dampened by the trunk, the body of the agent was still lifted upon the force. His head was split into two before he fell on the ground again.
It was suicide going against the most powerful Sniper on the battlefield.
Bang! Bang!
At the same time, Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im also fired their guns.
Another two agents from the FA organization fell on the ground after the shots were fired.
Anjum Khan was using a gust assault rifle, but had positioned himself like a sniper. He was the sharpshooter of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. This shot was enough to prove his strength.
And so, the six initial agents were reduced to one.
Alessio was prepared to shoot thest remaining agent. However, Xia Lei stopped him. ¡°Leave him alive, he¡¯ll bring us to Dark Mona¡¯s hideout. We need him to notify Dark Mona of our presence.¡±
Alessio shrugged. ¡°What a drag, I didn¡¯te here to travel.¡±
At this time, the Grey and Russo sisters, who were hiding, approached them.
¡°Boss, what should we do about them?¡± Anjum Khan pointed at Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s corpse that was lying on the ground. Shortly after, his gaze fell on Yelena¡¯s corpse. Sadness was written all over his face.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°This is a battleground. We don¡¯t have time to deal with the corpses. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll understand. Let¡¯s go, we need to catch up with that guy to find Dark Mona.¡±
The Grey and Russo sisters drew a cross in front of their torso and recited reverently. ¡°Merciful father, you chose them...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted them. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we don¡¯t have time to waste. They were not Catholic anyway.¡±
Giovanna red at Xia Lei. ¡°Everyone is equal in the eyes of the lord. All men are his people and he haspassion for all mankind.¡±
Ste added, ¡°They died for you. Don¡¯t you have any gratitude for them?¡±
Xia Lei replied. ¡°Then you all can stay for the ceremony, we¡¯re leaving.¡±
The members from the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team followed Xia Lei.
The Grey and Russo sisters exchanged a nce, then decided to give up. They followed after Xia Lei and his force towards the deep forest.
Giovanna turned around to take a nce at Yelena¡¯s corpse. Then she whispered into the cor of her cold protective clothing. ¡°He lost another ally...¡±
As the terrain of the forest started getting steeper, the skis were bing a burden. Xia Lei and his force threw the skis but kept their heavy backpacks and continued to march towards the deep forest. Up ahead, about a kilometre away, was a very high mountain, with a glimmer of snow on top and forest covering the mountainside. The agent that they were following had left his trace on the snow, which extended towards the peak of the mountain.
¡°Is he taking the opposite direction?¡± Anjum Khan said. ¡°Or maybe he¡¯s leading us to a trap.¡±
¡°He has amunicator with him. He¡¯ll inform Dark Mona on our whereabouts through themunicator. So, no matter where he takes us, we¡¯ll meet Dark Mona. As long as we encounter Dark Mona, does it really matter if it is a trap?¡±
Anjum Khan was stunned for a while before he smiled. ¡°Yes, right. We¡¯re here to kill her, as long as she shows her face, that¡¯s all that matters.¡±
Sa¡¯im was worried before he heard Xia Lei¡¯s words. But after hearing them, he rxed. He remembered Xia Lei¡¯s battle in West province Dawang. Xia Lei had sessfully killed more than ny agents, special forces, professional warriors and killers alone! What was there for him to worry about?
There was a reason why Xia Lei didn¡¯t mind whether he¡¯d been led to a trap or the hideout. He was able to see distances up to four kilometres with perfect vision. This was not achievable by any sniper even if they were with their binocrs. Besides, he had the X-ray vision, which allowed him to see everything clearly amid the forest. With these abilities, he didn¡¯t have anything to worry about.
After travelling five hundred metres, Xia Lei suddenly raised one of his hands.
The four Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members immediately scattered around and looked for a hiding spot.
Xia Lei crouched under the trunk of a tree and waved to Giovanna, who was hiding behind.
Giovanna moved towards Xia Lei and whispered, ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t we agree that your people should assist us as soon as they heard the gunshot? We¡¯ve battled the people from the FA organization for so long now, why aren¡¯t theying?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°How...How should I know?¡± Giovanna was stuttering. ¡°Perhaps, there were other emergencies.¡±
Xia Lei looked straight into Giovanna¡¯s eyes. ¡°Are you guys lying? I had lost two men, but your men are hiding somewhere and refuse toe out to help! If this continues, why should I pay you the fifty million or hand over the relic at all?¡±
Giovanna avoided Xia Lei¡¯s aggressive gaze. ¡°I...I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening, but I believe my people will not let you all face the battle alone. I promise you in the name of Knights Hospitaller.¡±
Xia Lei replied coldly, ¡°Then I¡¯m promising you in the name of a partner of Knights Hospitaller. If you¡¯re ying tricks with me, you won¡¯t get anything.¡±
¡°Boss! There¡¯s a person in front!¡± Sa¡¯im spoke with nervousness and anxiety.
Xia Lei had noticed the people in front some time ago. That was the reason he stopped his team from going forward.
Anjum Khan pulled out the XL2500 sniper rifle from his back. He aimed through the rifle, but shortly after he frowned and said. ¡°It¡¯s too far, trees are blocking the way, I cannot make the shot.¡±
When the target was too far, the bullets needed a considerable amount of time to reach the target. It was even more difficult in a setting with many obstacles. If the bullets were obstructed during the way, the target would hide before the bullets reach him. The rifle was not the ideal gun to use for battling in the forest. Thus, some snipers would bring a pistol with them as a secondary weapon.
Xia Lei suddenly stood up and aimed his gun towards that direction. In an instant, he pulled the trigger and fired a bullet without hesitation.
The sound of a gunshot rang throughout the air. A specially made armour-piercing bullet was shot, heading towards a trunk that was five hundred metres away and drove into it. Then, the agent that just moved behind the tree fell on the ground with a big hole on his chest.
Anjum Khan was shocked as he watched the scene unfold through his XL2500 sniper rifle, he suddenly forgot how to breathe.
Theresa, who was hiding behind Xia Lei, watched the scene through her binocrs. She was speechless with shock.
If Xia Lei ever ims to be second best, no one would dare im that they were first.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ta! Ta! Ta!
Restlessness grew among the FA organizations members. Some people blindly shot the tree line but it was useless.
Xia Lei whispered to his team. ¡°Their organizations are left with nine people, three people are on the left, three people are on the right, while the remaining three are shooting us from the middle. Be prepared!¡±
Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im moved to the left.
Alessio and E¡¯er Demutu moved to the right.
Giovanna had just got back to her senses. ¡°The person you kept alive brought us to this trap. How did you find them before they even made the first move?¡±
Xia Lei pointed towards the sky. ¡°The Lord guided me and helped me discover them earlier.¡±
Giovanna was speechless upon hearing his answer.
Xia Lei suddenly hugged Giovanna and they fell to the ground together.
Ka-boom!
A rocket hit the trunk they were near and exploded. The hot air it emitted was propelled to a far distance.
Xia Lei got up from the floor, raised his gun and pulled the trigger. Hepleted all these movements in a second. In this one second, the person who fired the rocket fell on the ground. A bullet from the XL2500 sniper rifle pierced half of his neck.
Theresa, who was observing the enemy situation with a pair of binocrs suddenly looked at Xia Lei. Her gaze was as if she had seen a monster.
Xia Lei patted on Giovanna¡¯s booty with a smirk on his face. ¡°You owe me your life. How about you give me a blow job tonight?¡±
It was a frivolous gesture, and hisnguage was vulgar. However, Giovanna ignored him. Her mind was upied with what happened earlier. She just couldn¡¯t wrap her head around how Xia Lei found out about the person with the rocket. Xia Lei in the middle of a battle gave off a strange feeling to her. She felt that he wasn¡¯t human. He was a god, a god with omnipresent and omnipotence!
At the same time, another question appeared in the mind of the Grey and Russo sisters. Was the Knights Hospitaller aware of what it meant to go against this person?
¡°Left side enemy clear!¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s voice rang.
¡°Roger that, assist the right!¡± Xia Lei instructed.
Ka-boom! An explosion came from the left side, the smoke rose with the snow.
¡°Hello? Hello!¡± Xia Lei grabbed on themunicator and roared. ¡°Are you guys okay? Answer me!¡±
No one answered.
¡°Damn it!¡± Xia Lei threw a punch on the tree in front of him. A piece of bark was torn off from the impact. His fist was wounded and bleeding.
¡°Boss! They¡¯re retreating!¡± It was Alessio¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei carried his XL2500 sniper rifle and rushed towards the enemy. ¡°Kill them!¡±
The Grey and Russo sisters exchanged a nce and rushed out together with Xia Lei.
¡°He¡¯s left with two people. The skills of his people are mediocre at best...¡± Giovanna lowered her voice.
¡°But...he is scarily powerful.¡±
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Amid the gunshot, a retreating agent from the FA organization fell onto the ground.
After eliminating a target, Alessio, who rushed forward let out a terrifying scream before he fell onto the ground.
Chapter 793 - Female Corpse in the Snow
A shot rang out in the freezing snow. Thest man from the FA organization fell onto the ground. E¡¯er Demutu, who fired the shot, clutched his chest as he fell onto the ground. No one saw how he was shot, but the Grey and Russo sisters had only noticed it when he fell.
Xia Lei ran towards E¡¯er Demutu and threw away his gun. He held up E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s head, tears welling up in his eyes. He croaked, ¡°Don¡¯t die... Please... Please don¡¯t die!¡±
¡°Boss...don¡¯t stay here. I don¡¯t think I can make it...Ugh!¡± E¡¯er Demutu spat out a mouthful of warm blood. And with that, he closed his eyes.
Xia Lei¡¯s fist clenched on E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s chest nervously. Fresh blood was dripping out from between Xia Lei¡¯s clutch.
No matter how hard Xia Lei called out to him, there was not a single response.
¡°We have to leave this ce now!¡± Giovanna lifted Xia Lei from the ground.
Xia Lei shoved Giovanna to the ground. ¡°All my men are dead, I must avenge them!¡±
Giovanna shouted at Xia Lei, ¡°Xia Lei, calm down! We are in danger now, the FA organizations members will reach us in no time.¡±
¡°Danger?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s emotions were on overdrive. ¡°All my men are dead but you guys are unharmed. What danger do you have?! Is this the chivalry of Knights Hospitaller? You¡¯re nothing but a bunch of cowards!¡±
Giovanna was speechless. Guilt crept up her spine as she took in Xia Lei¡¯s usation. She wanted to get up from the ground but she was once again pped onto the ground. He was like a child with no control over his temper.
Theresa quickly shielded Giovanna. She scowled, ¡°What do you want? We¡¯re not your enemy. We¡¯re fighting against the FA organization too! Would you like us dead to satisfy your insane idea of fairness?¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough! Stop this nonsense right away! Dark Mona must be somewhere near, she¡¯s probably happy to see us like this!¡± shouted Rosa.
¡°We need to leave! Now!¡± Rosa¡¯s voice trembled with a sense of urgency.
Xia Lei picked up the XL2500 sniper rifle from the ground and wiped away his tears that were gathering at the corner of his eyes. Then, he stretched out one of his hands to Giovanna. ¡°Sorry. I was too rash. Their deaths have nothing to do with you all.¡±
Giovanna got up from the floor with the help of Xia Lei. ¡°I swear, we¡¯re going to take out Dark Mona.¡±
Ste added on. ¡°Although all your men are dead, you have us and the Knights Hospitaller, you¡¯re not alone!¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡±
Five of them continued to march towards the peak of the mountain.
Giovanna slowed down her pace and stayed at the end of the line. She whispered into the transmitter hidden in her cold protective suit. ¡°He¡¯s alone now and we¡¯re heading towards Dark Mona¡¯s stronghold. It¡¯s about seven hundred metres away. It¡¯s time to proceed to the next step.¡±
¡°Try to stall him. Don¡¯t let him go near Dark Mona¡¯s stronghold. We¡¯ll be there soon.¡± Arthur¡¯s voice rang from the mini receiver in Giovanna¡¯s ears.
¡°Roger that!¡± Giovanna ended the conversation. She suddenly clutched her stomach. ¡°W...Wait! Hold up!¡±
Xia Lei turned around to face her. ¡°What do you want?¡±
¡°My stomach hurts... I couldn¡¯t bear with it anymore, please give me a moment!¡± Giovanna ran behind the trees anxiously.
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±
The other three women looked at him in bewilderment and said nothing.
Giovanna loosened her belt, took off her pants and crouched on the ground.
She didn¡¯t intend to do so. However, she recalled that Xia Lei had a superb observation skill during his previous battles. She had no choice but to do this in order to make her story seem believable. Thus, her fair buttock was exposed to the Siberian forest.
White snow, fair buttocks, frigid wind and corpses that scattered in the forests. The scene was truly bizarre.
The sound of pee echoed from behind the trees. The hot fluid released by Giovanna melted the snow producing steam, which floated out from behind the trees.
Xia Lei stared at the trees.
¡°What¡¯re you looking at?¡± Ste blocked Xia Lei¡¯s line of sight.
Xia Lei snorted. ¡°Do you guys still think I¡¯m interested in that? Follow up, I¡¯m heading forward first.¡± He turned around and left.
¡°Wait! How could you leave us?¡± Ste took a nce at where Giovanna was taking a piss.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t turn around. He continued to march in the snow with a calm, intense look. His eyes were scarily cold.
Rosa, Ste and Theresa were frozen in their stance. They weren¡¯t sure whether to follow Xia Lei or to wait for Giovanna.
Giovanna ran out from behind the trees while tightening her belt. She was secretly worried. The act of pretending to have a stomach ache was not working. What else could she have done?
After ten minutes, a team with thirty-five people came from the three o¡¯clock direction.
The leader of the team, Arthur conversed through the satellite phone while he was walking. ¡°He lost all his allies during the battle with the FA organization. I¡¯ve instructed Giovanna and her team to stall him. There¡¯s no way he could escape this time. He¡¯ll need to face a hundred of us and the people from the FA organization. Hmph! He would never have known that the rest of the members from the FA organizations were elite, or else he wouldn¡¯t have lost all his allies in such a short amount of time. If we were to face the FA organization, we¡¯d have to pay a heavy price to eliminate all of them. These two battles had also exhausted Dark Mona¡¯s men. Thus, I¡¯ve instructed another two teams tounch an attack on Dark Mona¡¯s stronghold. Yes, I¡¯ll contact you as soon as I catch Xia Lei.¡±
Arthur ended the conversation and broke into a smile.
His n was progressing well, Xia Lei was almost in his hands.
The Knights Hospitaller team travelled to the battlefield. Soon, they reached the scene where the first battle happened.
¡°Commander, there are corpses there.¡± Someone pointed at Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s corpse.
¡°That¡¯s the body of Xia Lei¡¯s women. Ignore it, we don¡¯t have time to waste. Let¡¯s run!¡± Arthur urged.
The Knights Hospitaller team followed Xia Lei¡¯s trail and began to run towards the direction.
Arthur stared at Yelena¡¯s face for a while before he stepped over her body. There was no sign of blood on her face and there was a stain of red blood at the corner of her mouth. He averted his gaze after a while and drew a cross in front of his torso habitually.
Several people were running in the snow, making a thumping noise wherever they went.
The sound of the whistling wind was heard amid the thumping sound.
Just when thest man from the Knights Hospitaller passed by the two corpses, Yelena and Tsukino Kyoko who were on the ground got up silently. Then they held up their guns and pulled the trigger.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
The gust assault rifle showed no signs of its signature tremble as it was equipped with a silencer. However, hot bullets were still shot from the muzzle. The man who ran at the end of the line fell onto the ground.
The runners in the middle and front of the line turned around when they realised that something was amiss.
Before they could even fire their shot, bullets wereing through silently from the side and in front of them. The bullets were driven into their bodies cruelly, blood spilt everywhere and melted the snow on the ground.
The whole battle began and ended in less than five seconds.
Five seconds ago, there was a team with strong battle effectiveness. They were all the elites from the Knights Hospitaller, the ones chosen to catch Xia Lei. However, their lives were reduced to nothing as they rested on the snow to be forgotten deep within Siberia.
In these five seconds, only three men from the Knights Hospitaller had managed to fire their shots, none which made contact with their target. Their marksmanship wasn¡¯t too bad, but there were bullets from every direction. Taken by surprise, they didn¡¯t know where to aim. It was the moment of hesitation that ended their life by the gust assault rifle.
Arthur was thest man standing.
He was alive, but his mind was as nk as a corpse without a soul.
Alessio and Anjum Khan appeared from the left of the forests. They were holding their gun while approaching Arthur slowly.
Sa¡¯im appeared from the right, also approaching Arthur slowly.
E¡¯er Demutu appeared atst and approached the same man from the direction where Xia Lei left.
Arthur turned around and saw the two ¡®corpses¡¯ from before. As soon as he saw Yelena and Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s face, he finally understood everything. He had been racking his brain to lure Xia Lei to Siberia. Xia Lei was his prey but now the tables had turned. He was now in the palm of his prey.
Could this be more ironic?
¡°What are you doing?¡± Arthur shouted. ¡°I¡¯m here to help you! Why¡¯re you doing this?¡±
¡°Put down your gun!¡± Alessio spoke in Italian.
¡°Bastard! Who are you to order me around?¡± Arthur held up the gust assault rifle.
Poof! A bullet was fired from the gust assault rifle held by Anjum Khan, hitting Arthur¡¯s wrist in an instant.
The gust assault rifle fell from Arthur¡¯s hand. The fear that had been repressed in his heart suddenly erupted and his face lost its colour in an instant.
¡°I¡¯ll keep you alive if you follow our orders. If you refuse to do so, I¡¯ll kill you by slitting your throat,¡± said Alessio.
Arthur stared at Alessio.
Out of nowhere, a needle flew out from the mouth of E¡¯er Demutu into Arthur¡¯s neck.
Arthur wobbled for a while before he closed his eyes and fell onto the ground.
A golden pipe slipped out from E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s mouth. He puffed out his cheek and took a blow at the pipe. A sharp, birdlike sound came from the pipe.
This was a sign that the battle was over.
It travelled far away.
¡°It¡¯s done.¡± Yelena kicked Arthur who was lying on the floor. ¡°You¡¯ve kept me lying in the snow for so long. Serves you right.¡±
Alessio lifted Arthur from the floor and carried therger man on his shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s go, now we just have to wait for the boss to finish his task.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not worried about him at all. There were only a few people that could kill him. They are Long Bing, the two German women, Fan Fan and... I couldn¡¯t remember their name, but it was definitely not Dark Mona,¡± said Yelena.
The other five of them looked at her in bewilderment.
Yelena shrugged her shoulder. ¡°Oh well, forget it.
Chapter 794 - Toilet Break
When he heard a bird-like sound soar through the air, a smile crept up the corners of Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
The weight on his shoulders had disappeared.
Giovanna turned around nervously. ¡°I thought I heard a gun, what happened?¡±
Xia Lei also turned to look. ¡°I can¡¯t see, it should be your people. There must¡¯ve been a shootout with the FA organisation.¡±
Ste said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you and your people kill the enemies in that area already?¡±
¡°Then I¡¯m not so sure. Did they meet a bear or something?¡±
Giovanna touched her belly. ¡°Wait for me.¡± She then scurried into the shadows of the trees.
Siberia was beautiful. Her fair skin blended well with the white snow, hot fluids interacted with the cold air. A female rider was peeing on the ground as she spoke into the device on her outerwear. ¡°Commander, we are approaching Dark Mona¡¯s coordinates...¡±
There was no reply.
¡°Commander?¡±
There was still no reply.
Giovanna¡¯s heart was sinking fast.
Xia Lei took two steps horizontally to a spot where he could see Giovanna and said loudly, ¡°Miss Giovanna, what did you eatst night? Did you have food poisoning or something?¡±
Ste blocked in front of Xia Lei, her blue eyes widened. ¡°What are you looking at?¡±
¡°Your sister¡¯s ass,¡± said Xia Lei with a smirk. ¡°It¡¯s very fair.¡±
Ste was speechless. ¡°You...¡±
Since you think I¡¯m a pervert, I¡¯ll be a pervert!
¡°Asshole,¡± Theresa cussed, ring fiercely.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°I hope you¡¯re all not dying this on purpose? Are you nning something I¡¯m not aware of?¡±
¡°What bullshit is that?¡± roared Rosa. ¡°We are allies! We are helping you!¡±
Xia Leiughed coldly. ¡°Helping me? I paid fifty million dors for this, plus I¡¯ll be giving you your sacred stuff. It¡¯s not like you¡¯re helping me out of kindness.¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Giovanna walked out from behind a few trees, lifting her pants up. ¡°Mister Xia, please do not doubt our sincerity. We have very strong faith, we are not the scum you think we are.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged and walked towards the foot of the mountain. He did not want to continue this discussion. He believed that they had faith but they were not trustable. Trustworthiness and faith in religion were two different things.
¡°What happened?¡± Rosa asked in a low voice. ¡°Why aren¡¯t our people here yet?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll be entering FA territory if we trek straight ahead. Once a shootout happens between us and FA, the consequences could be disastrous,¡± said Theresa.
If there was gunfire, Xia Lei could be captured or killed by Dark Mona. No matter what the end result was, it was not good for the Knight Hospitallers.
Rosa, Theresa and Ste all looked at Giovanna.
She shook her head, her voice filled with worry. ¡°I couldn¡¯t contact them.¡±
¡°How is that possible?¡± asked Theresa.
Giovanna replied, ¡°All we can hope for is that the FA cut off ourmunications using an interference device. If not...¡±
Xia Lei turned around. ¡°Hey, are we going or not?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s not talk. He¡¯s already suspicious.¡± Giovanna walked towards Xia Lei.
As they continued walking, the fourdies would asionally give each other looks. Yet the person they wanted to see never appeared.
Half an hour passed.
The foot of the mountain was right before them. There was dense vegetation and the ground was covered in a thick nket of snow. When they looked up, they could not see if there was anyone hiding in the mountains or among the trees.
¡°Let¡¯s not go forward anymore,¡± said Giovanna. ¡°We¡¯re sure this is where the FA is, Dark Mona and her people are on this mountain.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll wait for our people to surround this ce, then attack,¡± said Ste.
Xia Lei suddenly shouted as loud as he could. ¡°I, Xia Lei, have arrived!¡±
The fourdies jumped in surprise.
Before they could stop him, Xia Lei lifted his gust assault rifle in the air and fired a shot.
¡°Dark Mona! Didn¡¯t you want me toe? Well, I¡¯m here! Get the hell out of there!¡±
Was he mad?
Both the Grey and Russo sisters thought he hadpletely lost his mind.
The gunshot and Xia Lei¡¯s angry roars echoed across the mountains. If Dark Mona was really on this mountain, then she must have heard his voice and the gunshot fired to provoke her.
Giovanna rushed forward to grab his gun. ¡°What are you doing? Are you crazy?!¡±
Xia Lei stared at the mountain, a grin creeping up his face. ¡°You¡¯re toote, she¡¯s already here with her people.¡±
Ste looked up with her binocrs. With its help, she could see movement on the mountain. There were a few armed men in camouge moving down the slope.
Xia Lei quickly scanned across the entire mountain. There was movement on both sides of the mountain, about thirty armed guards wereing!
The report from the Knight Hospitallers was wrong. Last night, when he eavesdropped on Arthur and Angelo¡¯s video call, he heard Arthur say that there were twenty people. So far, he had already killed more than ten of them- yet there were thirty here! Just based on the FA¡¯s highly trained soldiers plus the advantage of the terrain, Dark Mona was not afraid of the Knight Hospitallers and the mercenaries at all if they attacked. It looked like Dark Mona was feigning weakness to lure him in!
He couldn¡¯t see Dark Mona, but he was sure she was one of the armed guards running down the mountain.
Xia Lei smirked. Dark Mona¡¯s battle strategy at this moment wasn¡¯t the best. She was just capitalising on his anger and her confidence in her own capabilities!
¡°They¡¯re here! Oh my goodness, they have.... More than thirty people!¡± Ste panicked. ¡°The reports we received were wrong!¡±
¡°How is it possible? How could they have so many people?¡± Rosa was anxious too.
¡°Prepare to fight!¡± Giovanna said.
¡°It¡¯s useless, there are only five of us. We¡¯re no match for them!¡± came Theresa¡¯s voice filled not just with anxiety but also fear.
There was only one calm person among the five. He said in a t tone, ¡°They¡¯re here. They only want me. You can still run if you wish.¡±
Rosa was furious. ¡°We are the Knight Hospitallers, we never run away from battle!¡±
¡°It¡¯s all your fault! Why didn¡¯t you follow our n? Why did you want to make Dark Mona and her peoplee?¡± Theresa was equally angry.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°If I don¡¯t lure her down, what would we do? Fight just like that? Dark Mona and her people have a high ground advantage. It will be difficult for us to fight our way out. I couldn¡¯t bear for you all to die. You¡¯re gifts sent to me by the Knight Hospitallers. You¡¯re all basically my girls!¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± snapped Ste. ¡°You¡¯re still in the mood to spout such bullshit?¡±
¡°We are Knights from the Knights Hospitaller! We are not goods, especially not your ¡®girls¡¯!¡± warned Theresa angrily.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Goods, knights, whatever. You were still given to me by the Knights Hospitallers.¡± When he finished, he lifted his gun once again and fired into the air.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
The gunshots were deafening, breaking the tranquillity of Siberia. He¡¯d once again announced his exact location of the FA.
¡°You¡¯re mad, you¡¯re mad!¡± cried Giovanna.
¡°If you want to live, get Arthur to bring his men here immediately.¡±
¡°He...¡± Giovanna wanted to say something but stopped. She¡¯d attempted to contact him many times but couldn¡¯t.
¡°Alright, let¡¯s say he¡¯s dead.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Then who in the Knights Hospitaller is in charge now?¡±
Giovanna hesitated before saying, ¡°The four of us.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°That¡¯s good, I think you¡¯re the most decisive one. Let¡¯s pretend Arthur is dead. Your people can¡¯t be leaderless. Send out your orders immediately, get them to rush over here now for the battle.¡±
Giovanna did not move. She wasn¡¯t sure.
Xia Lei spoke sternly once again, ¡°If you do not do that now, your people will die here! We will all die here! Get your people and we will battle the FA once and for all! We haverger numbers and your people are better equipped!¡±
Giovanna gave the other three a look and there was a silent discussion.
¡°You can discuss it yourself, I¡¯m leaving.¡± Xia Lei turned and left.
They all rolled their eyes as he left.
Giovanna took themunication device out of her jacket and changed the channel. In a low voice, she said, ¡°I am Giovanna. I will take over from Arthur to lead this battle. Come to the FA¡¯s meeting point immediately and prepare to engage in battle.¡±
Xia Lei turned around to add, ¡°Tell them I¡¯ll pay five hundred thousand dors per FA guard killed and one million dors per leader killed. If they catch or kill Dark Mona, I will pay ten million dors as a reward.¡±
Giovanna ryed his message.
To Xia Lei, the brightest elites of the Knight Hospitallers were no longer present. The rest was just about twenty regr armed-members. This army mostly consisted of mercenaries, assassins and armed groups. Their sole motivation? Money.
A reply came through the device very soon.
Xia Lei walked to a spot of snow, unzipped his pants and urinated. A water arc of two meters formed andnded on the ground, melting the snow quickly. Steam rose.
¡°Can¡¯t you do this somewhere else?¡± Ste frowned.
The flow of urine annoyed her greatly, along with the other threedies.
¡°You¡¯re useless! I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re still in the mood to do something so disgusting in a moment like that!¡± said Rosa.
Xia Lei looked at the fourdies. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get behind a tree. Oh, right, do you have toilet paper?¡±
¡°I have bullets, would that work?¡± Theresa was going insane!
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll just use a leaf.¡± Xia Lei zipped up and walked behind a row of trees.
¡°Hurry up, Dark Mona and her people areing!¡± cried Giovanna anxiously.
¡°I know, I¡¯ll be quick,¡± came his voice from behind a tree.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
They heard gunshots.
A few bullets whistled past their heads and torso.
The fourdies dropped to the ground and separated, using trees and boulders as shields then returned fire.
¡°Damn it!¡± After a few shots, Giovanna roared in the direction where Xia Lei was. ¡°They¡¯re here!¡±
There was no reply.
¡°Mister Xia?¡±
There was still no reply.
Chapter 795 - Target Acquired
There was a shower of bullets flying at them. The Russo and Grey sisters could barely lift their heads without a bullet whizzing past them every few seconds. The fourdies returned fire, asionally looking in Xia Lei¡¯s direction.
Xia Lei still hadn¡¯t appeared. Maybe he was... constipated.
¡°Damn it!¡± roared Rosa. ¡°Mister Xia, why are you still hiding?¡±
¡°They¡¯re approaching fast! Do you want us to die here?!¡± shouted Theresa.
However, no matter how anxious they were, it was as if Xia Lei had disappeared from the face of the earth.
¡°Damn it, that asshole must¡¯ve left us here and ran off on his own!¡± Ste¡¯s fist struck the ground in front of her, a dent forming in the snow.
He¡¯d lied to them.
Xia Lei had indeed left. This was the first time he had ever abandoned a partner on the battlefield. However, the Grey and Russo sisters lied to him first. They were working with Arthur to harm him. Was there really a need for him to stay and fight alongside them in battle?
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Snow and soil flew around Giovanna. A sudden bullet almost killed her. It stung when the soil hit her face. As she lowered her head, the anger building in her heart finally exploded. ¡°Xia Lei! Fuck you!¡±
It was life or death here, yet Xia Lei had abandoned them. At this point, even a saint would cuss!
Rosa suddenly popped her head out, lifting her gun to shoot. An FA shooter that had suddenly appeared from behind a tree copsed. In the next second, a few bullets whistled past her scalp.
Boom!
There was an explosion, two shooters firing at Rosa were blown up into the sky.
Reinforcements finally arrived but Xia Lei was nowhere to be seen. These were mercenaries and assassins excited by the prospect of mary reward.
¡°Kill!¡± Giovanna raised an arm and screamed. ¡°Kill them all! Mister Xia offered thirty million dors as a reward!¡±
¡°Fifty million dors!¡± Theresa screamed.
It wasn¡¯t their money, they did not care.
Money made brave men, arge group of greedy shooters were now hurling themselves at the FA quarters.
Bullets, grenades, bombs, missiles and pieces of wood flew in the air like a swarm of drunken locusts, flying in every direction. Some people copsed, some people flew in the air, some lost their limbs, some cracked their heads.
A few hundred meters away on a thirty-meter-tall needle pine tree, Xia Lei used his left hand to block the sunlight, watching the battle from afar. When he saw an FA shooter copse after his legs were blown off, he couldn¡¯t help but snicker. ¡°This is impressive! With this terrain, this bunch of hellish rogue soldiers are like tanks! The FA¡¯s too weak, they can¡¯t hold up at all.¡±
If the mercenaries, assassins and fighters heard him, how would they feel?
Ady suddenly appeared in his field of vision. In almost a second, the XL2500 in his hand was locked on thedy. However, he did not fire. Thedy was a shooter from FA but she was not Dark Mona. His goal was Dark Mona, not her subordinate. He did not want to expose his location just to kill a subordinate.
The transmitter vibrated with a soft beep.
Holding it in his hand, he said, ¡°I¡¯m 001, speak.¡±
¡°005 has already brought the prey away. We are in position.¡± It was Sa¡¯im.
¡°Very good! We will now wait for her to appear. Over.¡± Xia Lei kept his device.
All preparations were in ce, now he only had to wait for Dark Mona to appear.
His gaze fell on the battlefield.
Although there were a few hundred meters between them, he could see everything clearly.
While the FA shooters were all highly-trained, the Knights Hospitallers¡¯ random mix of fighters had the advantage ofrger numbers and more equipment. In just a short time, the FA soldiers were down to theirst legs and were retreating.
Dark Mona still did not appear.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°Is that bitch hiding somewhere, watching the battle like me? Is she looking for me, waiting to snipe me down in a headshot? Or she has some other n I don¡¯t know about?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was racing as he observed the development of the battle, analysing Dark Mona¡¯s intentions, strategies and possible hiding spots.
At this moment, one of the fighters from Knights Hospitallers had his head exploded by a shot. One bullet was enough to blow his entire head apart. On his neck, what was left of his head was just his lips!
It was not a rifle bullet, that was an anti-materiel rifle (AMR) bullet!
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze moved to the slope of the mountain.
A dense nket of vegetation covered the slope. His vision could not prate the thick snow covering the trees. The higher parts of the mountain, near the peak, had no vegetation but it was only steep cliffs. Some parts were covered in snow, most of it was impossible to climb.
Xia Lei stuck out a thumb at the peak. He was about four to five thousand meters to the peak. It was out of range, even for the XL2500 sniper rifle he assembled personally.
The XL2500 sniper rifle was the world¡¯s best sniper rifle. There was no other rifle that could rival its quality. This did not mean it was the rifle with the longest range in the world. There were AMRs that could shoot something three to four thousand meters away. At the moment, there was a 14.9-millimetre long-range sniper rifle that could reach an astonishing five thousand meters. Its barrel was also a shocking 14.9 millimetres, plus its bullet could maintain supersonic speed at five thousand meters!
Xia Lei¡¯s heart skipped a beat. ¡°Does Dark Mona have the American 14.9-millimetre rifle? She¡¯s hiding somewhere out of my range to shoot at the Knight Hospitallers from afar?¡±
It was a huge possibility!
They had crossed paths many times, how could she not know how impressive his shooting skills were? The safest way to fight against him was to stay outside the range of his XL2500 sniper rifle. To do that, she would need an extra-long range sniper rifle that could shoot up to four, even five thousand meters away.
Just as he was mulling over the possibility of this, there was a muffled explosion from the peak of the mountain. Two secondster, a grenade exploded in the middle of the crowd of charging Knight Hospitallers. Several mercenaries and shooters were blown into pieces, their intestines were strewn across the ground!
Not only did she have an extra-long range rifle, but she also had a custom-made grenadeuncher. She shot from the peak of the mountain too, her grenades sessfully neutralising her target in a projectile motion!
Xia Lei looked up and soon locked on one spot. It was the highest point of the mountain, about four to five thousand meters from where he currently hid. This was also the limit of his left eye¡¯s vision. He could see, but not very well.
His eye swept across the peak, then backed up to lock on a target. It was some snow on a boulder but it was not snow, it was camouge attire. This boulder was at the highest point of the peak. Snow would never be able to settle there with the wind raging at an all-time high. Also, it was huge and had arge surface area. It was brown everywhere else, why was there just one patch of snow? This was not normal.
Then, he saw the sniper rifle peeking out of under the camouge. It was almost two meters long It was definitely the 14.9-millimetre rifle he guessed!
While he did not see her face, he could confirm that the patch of snow on the boulder was Dark Mona!
Dark Mona had finally appeared but Xia Lei had a problem. She was hiding out of the range of his XL2500. He could not kill her from here, yet she could shoot him with her rifle from there.
He was so relieved he did not shoot thedy just now. It would merely expose his location and with Dark Mona¡¯s weapons, Xia Lei and the tree he was on would¡¯ve been blown up by now!
¡°You¡¯re shooting at Knight Hospitallers. Are you trying to lure me out or do you just want to weaken the Knight Hospitallers? I don¡¯t care what your intentions are. You¡¯re dead now that I know where you are!¡± Xia Lei wasted no time, sliding down the tree.
Boom!
Another grenade exploded among the crowd. A mercenary¡¯s leg had been blown off, another person was sliced open by shrapnel and his guts spilt out.
¡°Damn it!¡± roared Rosa. ¡°I can¡¯t see the sniper at all! He¡¯s using an AMR!¡±
¡°It must be Dark Mona!¡± came Giovanna¡¯s voice. ¡°She¡¯s out of our range. We can¡¯t do much about it.¡±
¡°Should we still let our people rush up the peak?¡± Theresa asked, panicking. ¡°We¡¯ve lost too many people already. If this continues, we will all die!¡±
¡°Where did that bastard Xia Lei go? He¡¯s the best sniper we have here, but he escaped!¡± Theresa was furious. ¡°If I live today, I¡¯ll snap his neck myself!¡±
Boom!
Another grenade exploded. A shooter flew in the air, a leg flew in an arc andnded on the screaming Theresa¡¯s head. Fresh blood sttered across her face and the man who was just blown apartnded right in front of her.
¡°Ahh!¡± Theresa was going mad.
¡°Everyone hide!¡± Giovanna finally gave the order, ¡°Wait for my order!¡±
The Knight Hospitallers stopped charging and the FA organization took this opportunity to retreat back up the slope. Their numbers had halved but so were their enemies. In terms of losses, this was a failed mission for the Knight Hospitallers.
At the same time, a silhouette sprinted up the slope of the mountain. He only had one XL2500 sniper rifle, one viper pistol and one army knife on him. He¡¯d tossed most of his weapons in exchange for speed.
¡°I have located Dark Mona. She¡¯s at the peak of this mountain. She has a 14.9-millimetre extra-long range sniper rifle and a grenadeuncher. I¡¯ll be going up first!¡± Just as he finished, he sped up. He looked like a cheetah hunting down a prey.
Target acquired! The hunt begins!
Chapter 796 - Feign Attack
The gunshots subsided and the woods returned to silence.
The Knights Hospitaller did not dare charge without a n while the FA did not dare attack given theirck of numbers. The rain of bullets had stopped, only a stalemate remained.
The temporary calm charged the air with an unusual tension. The smell of blood created a mixture of fear and anxiety amongst the battle participants.
On the peak, Dark Mona wasying on her stomach, motionless. The cold wind roared in her ears. Although there was the snow camouge disguise to help block the wind, it was still noughing matter. She felt awful. Even if her fingers and toes were frozen stiff, she had to carry on. Both eyes were locked on the 180-degree field of vision in front of her. However, she could only see the region nearby. Anything too far away required her sniper rifle¡¯s eyepiece.
While she did not have Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, she had a trove of experience behind her.
However, the experience did not cover for theck of superhuman vision. She still could not spot Xia Lei.
¡°Come out so I can shoot your leg and drag you back in here. Don¡¯t you want to kill me? Come out,e kill me,¡± she muttered to herself in an attempt to relieve her nerves.
Anyone would be stressed in the face of an enemy like Xia Lei. Dark Mona included.
Suddenly, there was a gunshot from the forest on her left.
In the FA¡¯s base, one shooter copsed. The unfortunate guy had peeked to observe the situation below, only to have his head blown up by a bullet.
Bang bang bang...
There were consecutive shots from the FA¡¯s base now. Around ten shooters were left, all they could do was to take cover behind objects and shoot blindly towards the foot of the mountain. They were sure that shot was from one of the Knight Hospitallers.
Dark Mona¡¯s eyes looked left the moment she heard the gunshot. Using her sniper rifle¡¯s scope, she soon saw a silhouette moving quickly. This person was very fast, wearing a white ski mask so she could not see their face.
Just as she saw the silhouette, she had already aimed her barrel and fired ten meters in front of the silhouette.
However, she had just fired and before the bullet arrived at its expected spot, the silhouette made a sharp turn and ran in another direction. They ran ten meters before the bulletnded where she¡¯d intended it to, hitting a thick needle pine tree.
Crack! The tree snapped in half just like that!
¡°Is that him?¡± Dark Mona had a guess but she could not confirm.
While the shadow was fast, it was not as fast as her memory of Xia Lei.
Also, with his cunningness, why would he take this risk? Killing a low-value shooter just to expose himself?
Just as she had doubts, another gunshot came from the forest on the left.
Dark Mona aimed her sniper in that direction. She saw another fast-moving shadow once again. This shadow was as fast as the previous one. This person did not run in a straight line for more than three seconds. With this path, a sniper-like her a few thousand miles away would never be able to shoot him!
Yet she still fired.
An enemy had appeared in her field of vision, killing her men while running so quickly. This was uneptable mockery!
Bang!
The 14.9-millimetre extra-long range sniper rifle gave out a deafening bang, firing a custom-made bullet. Two secondster, it hit a huge tree next to the second shadow. While the bullet did not hit her target, the splinters flying from the tree trunk stabbed the person. He copsed, writhing.
¡°Go to hell!¡± Dark Mona picked up the grenadeuncher next to her and shot it without hesitation.
Bang! A grenade flew in an arc in the sky, falling towards the second target.
The second target suddenly rolled on the ground, quickly moving away from where he was previously at.
Rumble!
The grenade exploded. There was a sh, then smoke and dust flew. Bits of rock, sand and shrapnel flew in all directions.
Bang bang bang!
There were gunshots from the left patch, again!
The third, fourth and fifth targets appeared suddenly. There were onedy and two men. Each of them had an identical mask on, obscuring their faces. These three were extremely quick too, running as they fired. These three were using the gust assault rifle. In between the gunshots, two more FA members copsed.
Comparing the skillsets between the FA shooters and these five would be likeparing a beginner and a professional assassin!
¡°Xia Changhe¡¯s people! Xia Lei must be among them! Do you think that this would work? You must be dreaming!¡± Dark Mona was so angry her eyes could have shot fireballs.
She put down her grenadeuncher and picked up a remote. There was a sneer on her face as she pressed down on a red switch.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble....
There were violent explosions, bright shes of light and the thick smoke of explosives that rose. Trees fell one by one. It looked like more than ten bombs had exploded in the same spot.
At the foot of the mountain, within the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s base, were shocked faces. The ones who were still well were d that they had not run through that part of the forest. The patch of forest on the left was the ttest and the easiest path up.
¡°Who¡¯s firing at the FA from that patch of forest?¡± Giovanna watched the patch of forest incredulously. However, she could not see anyone other than shes of light and thick smoke.
¡°Is it the bastard?¡± asked Rosa.
¡°You mean Xia Lei?¡± asked Ste.
¡°Who else?¡± huffed Theresa. ¡°That bastard abandoned us here and yet he snuck up the left. He must¡¯ve wanted to ambush Dark Mona and the FA. He deserves it!¡±
¡°Will he die?¡± asked Giovanna.
This made the fourdies fall silent.
There was no question that Xia Lei had angered all four of them. They were going to beat him up but they did not want him to die. Even Theresa, who was humiliated by him, did not want this. Standing from the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s point of view, they definitely did not want Xia Lei to be killed by the FA.
¡°Should we help him?¡± asked Rosa.
Giovanna hesitated. If they helped Xia Lei, they would have to face the FA at their base, plus Dark Mona who was currently high up. Once they entered the forest, there was no guarantee they¡¯d get out alive.
However, just as she struggled to make a decision, there was another gunshot from the patch of forest on the left.
¡°He¡¯s alive!¡± Giovanna yelled emotionally. ¡°We can help him diffuse some of the stress. We¡¯ll attack the FA base!¡±
The Knight Hospitallers attacked once again.
The atmosphere exploded into action once again. The FA shooters were already upied with gunshots from the forest, now they had to deal with the attacking from the front at the foot of the mountain. There were too few of them and it looked like a dead end. One by one they fell in a pool of blood. They seemed distracted and looked like they had given up.
At the peak, Dark Mona¡¯s eyes widened, her face filled with shock.
She had nted many mines at the slope in preparation for the people from the Knight Hospitallers. She¡¯d triggered all the mines just now, yet the five people were still alive. Once the explosions died, they started to move once again, charging towards the peak. Her own numbers dwindled.
¡°Damn it! He must be one of them! Without his directions, how could they live?¡± Dark Mona¡¯s voice was as icy as the winter winds. She was the best shooter of the FA group. She had always been able to keep her emotions in check during battle. However, she could not keep calm in the face of Xia Lei.
Bang!
The sniper rifle shook in recoil as an angry bullet charged ahead.
The battle ensued, and it looked like it was not going to end until one party was wiped out.
The five targets on the left were like five annoying flies to Dark Mona, flying around in her field of vision. She regretted picking such a faraway spot. If she were closer and her bullets didn¡¯t take so long to travel, they would¡¯ve been long dead.
Ten minutes passed.
In a moment, Dark Mona stopped shooting.
While the five people were moving very quickly, they were not making a lot of progress with their erratic paths. They had exchanged fire with her but made no attempt to attack the FA base.
Their sudden appearance made them her target. However, there could¡¯ve been another possibility. They were doing this to divert her attention!
The cold wind roared in her ears. It was the only sound at the peak of the mountain.
Her ears twitched. It was as if she could filter out the roar of the winds, her world quietened down.
Crack!
There was a crisp sound.
It was the sound of a footstep in the snow.
It was very subtle but it might as well have been a crash in the dead of night!
In a second, Dark Mona rolled away on the boulder and when she faced up to the sky, her custom-made pistol was already aimed at the source of the sound.
Bang!
There was a gunshot.
A boulder shattered, pieces flying in all directions.
There was no one, yet for some reason, a rock as big as her fist flew near her.
However, Dark Mona¡¯s heart sank when she saw the rock. At that moment, fear and hopelessness crashed into her reality.
Chapter 797 - An Eye For An Eye
Blood sttered across the ground.
The gun which fired the shot was not Dark Mona¡¯s gun.
Yet it was Dark Mona¡¯s blood which had been shed.
A bullet had hit her right hand. It had ripped up her right index and middle finger. Only a third of her palm remained!
Her custom pistol ttered onto the ground.
Dark Mona leapt up furiously, reaching for her gun with her left hand. She moved as quickly as if she wasn¡¯t injured
Bang bang!
Two more gunshots rang out.
One bullet hit the pistol on the boulder, another bullet hit her right calf.
She backed up against the rock and turned to face her attacker. A familiar face appeared before her. Her heart grew cold with all hopes of leaving alive gone.
Xia Lei walked out from behind a boulder with an XL2500 sniper rifle in one hand, a Viper pistol in another. There was no emotion on his face.
He approached Dark Mona with heavy but firm steps.
Dark Mona moved towards her rifle, dragging her injured right leg but it was not what she wanted to grab. She was hoping to grab her grenadeuncher. As long as she could get a shot off, it didn¡¯t matter if it hit him. All it took was a shot to the ground and they would both die in a fiery explosion!
Xia Lei smiled. He lifted his left arm slightly and a bullet flew from his Viper pistol, at theuncher. It fell off the boulder.
¡°Just do it!¡± Dark Mona strapped on a calm facade.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°You¡¯ve forgotten what I once told you.¡±
Dark Mona red at him coldly.
¡°I said I wanted to cut you up into pieces and feed you to the animals. There are no dogs here but I have a knife.¡± He tossed his XL2500 rifle aside and slowly took out an army knife.
¡°Come if you¡¯re a man!¡± Dark Mona took out her own army knife and shrieked, ¡°Come kill me, kill me with your knife then!¡±
Xia Lei did not move. He merely spoke in a monotonous voice, ¡°Are you trying to start a knife fight?¡±
Dark Mona was stunned for a moment.
Bang! There was a gunshot, a bullet hit her left arm.
Her knife fell onto the ground.
¡°I only want to kill you. I¡¯m not here for a knife fight. I have a gun with me. I¡¯m not stupid enough to put us on the same ying field,¡± said Xia Lei. Just as he finished, he fired again, hitting her left knee.
Dark Mona copsed unto the ground but made no sound. She red at him coldly, her eyes filled with hatred and fury.
¡°You can re all you want, what¡¯s the use?¡± He put the pistol back in the pouch and then walked towards her with the knife in his hand.
She propped herself up with an elbow and struggled to crawl towards the edge of the boulder. It was a hundred-meter drop. This would save her the pain and surely kill her
Three meters. Two meters. Just as she was one meter away, he grabbed one of her legs. She was prevented from even moving an inch.
Xia Lei grabbed both of her legs and dragged her back.
There was a trail of blood on the boulder and in the snow.
Xia Lei stopped and kicked her body to flip her over.
¡°Just kill me!¡± scoffed Dark Mona coldly. Until now, there was no fear on her face.
Xia Lei squatted and touched his knife on her neck. ¡°I could do that. I could cut your jugr in a second and you would bleed out in ny seconds. But you wouldn¡¯t suffer. Well, if you tell me where the FA headquarters are, I¡¯ll give you a quick death.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Dark Monaughed hysterically. It sounded as if she had gone insane.
Xia Lei stabbed his knife into her thigh, inch by inch. Fresh blood flowed out of the wound, staining the snow red.
Huff, huff...
The sharp pain triggered a response in her heart. Her heartbeat sped up and her breathing quickened. And yet she did not make a sound. Perhaps she was afraid but there was no fear in her eyes.
Xia Lei¡¯s knife was already a third lodged in her thigh when he said coldly, ¡°You¡¯re suffering. What else can the FA organization do for you? You¡¯re not a loyal person. YOu don¡¯t have to keep your loyalties with the FA. Tell me where they are and I will grant you a quick death.¡±
¡°Are you really going to cut me up with your knife?¡± There was mockery in her tone.
Xia Lei stabbed his entire de into her thigh.
Her body started to shake. She was breathing heavily through her mouth.
¡°Tell me!¡± roared Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s in hell. You should go look for it in hell!¡± Sheughed hysterically. ¡°You said you wanted to cut me up, well I¡¯m here, so get going.¡±
Xia Lei took the knife out and lunged at her belly. However, just as the tip was about to touch her, he stopped.
¡°You¡¯re not cruel enough! You can kill me with your knife, but you¡¯ll never forget what you did. I will be your nightmare. I¡¯ll haunt you every night in your dreams. Do you really want to live the rest of your life like that?¡±
Xia Lei was silent. He had threatened to cut her up to feed the dogs but he still couldn¡¯t bring himself to actually do it. It wasn¡¯t his kindness stopping him. It was a line he did not want to cross. It was something only a psychopath would do. If he really did that, he would be haunted by it for the rest of his life. She would really be the demon in his nightmares.
¡°Haha...¡± Dark Monaughed coldly. ¡°You can¡¯t do it! You¡¯ve shot me three times and stabbed me once. I¡¯m losing a lot of blood and I won¡¯t live long like this. If you want to do it, you¡¯ve got to hurry. Do you know? When I cut off Amanda and Park Taeyong¡¯s heads, their eyes were still ring at me. Didn¡¯t you want to avenge them? Come then,e cut me up!¡±
Instead, Xia Lei felt calmer as she shrieked. He stood up and smiled. ¡°You¡¯re about to die and yet you¡¯re still ying your mind games. Impressive. You¡¯re right, I¡¯m not someone who could do that, yet I don¡¯t want you to grant you a quick death. What do you think I should do?¡±
Dark Mona red at him.
Xia Lei kept his knife.
¡°You¡¯re going to leave me to die here?¡±
¡°In your dreams.¡± Xia Lei suddenly unzipped his pants and a stream of hot liquid fell on her face.
Hot liquid hit her face flowing into her nose and her mouth. She wanted to move away but no matter where she turned, the liquid followed her like a missile with a locked target.
It took a minute for Xia Lei to be finished. With a sigh, he zipped his pants.
Dark Mona¡¯s head was drenched. Her pride, her glory was extinguished with his urine. She could do nothing when the man urinated on her. Anger, hatred, frustration welled up within her, torturing her as she suffered.
Xia Lei put a foot on her chest, ttening them. ¡°You think I can¡¯t find it just because you refuse to tell me where the FA headquarters are? The Knight Hospitallers¡¯ followers are all around the globe. They have their own intelligencework and they¡¯ll quickly find your headquarters. Guess what I¡¯m going to do?¡±
Ptui! Dark Mona lifted her neck to spit a mouthful of saliva and blood at him.
Xia Lei did not dodge it. ¡°When I find it, I will send more mercenaries, assassins and shooters there. I will not need to attack myself, and I will be able to wipe the FA from the face of this earth.¡±
¡°You¡¯re dreaming. You think you can do something even the CIA couldn¡¯t?¡±
¡°If the Americans really wanted to wipe you out, you wouldn¡¯t be here. They need people like you as scapegoats and cause a bit of trouble. If the world was at peace, then the police would be out of jobs. Just look at all the conspiracies! It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t, they don¡¯t want to. But I am willing to do what they¡¯re not. Too bad you won¡¯t be there to witness it,¡± said Xia Lei.
A smirk crept up the corners of her lips. ¡°You¡¯ll die!¡±
He scoffed. ¡°Hehe! You have been after my father for many years, yet he¡¯s still alive. With such performance, can you still hope for the FA to avenge you?¡±
Dark Mona looked away from Xia Lei at the sky. Patches of red danced in her vision. She was waiting for herst moment. The moment that belonged to her.
Xia Lei squatted and ripped her clothes apart.
Dark Mona suddenly panicked. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei did not speak. He ripped off her bra, revealing a pair of huge, fair breasts.
¡°Haha...¡± Dark Monaughed hysterically once again. ¡°You want to rape me? Come,e!¡±
Xia Lei ripped off her clothes and tied a strip of cloth around her wound. Then he began to tie up all her wounds.
¡°What are you doing?¡±
Xia Lei finally spoke up. ¡°You¡¯re vile. Only someone worse than you would be willing to fuck you. I¡¯m bandaging your wound to get you more time. The mercenaries and shooters down there will definitely like you. I¡¯ll hand you to them. I¡¯ll pay anyone who fucks you five hundred dors. We¡¯ll see how much they earn.¡±
Dark Mona¡¯s face pale, the fear she had been suppressing finally surfaced in her eyes.
Dragging her by her feet, he walked down the mountain. With a chuckle, he said, ¡°I wonder if there are any inhumane bastards among them that would not even leave your corpse alone? Well, five hundred US dors is not a small number.¡±
¡°Aargh!¡± She roared in anger.
¡°Your screams are useless here. I will pay you back ten times what you did to Amanda and Park Taeyong. What about you tell me where the FA headquarters are? Then I¡¯ll give you a quick death.¡± Xia Lei dragged her past the boulder.
However, she suddenly smashed her head against the corner of the boulder.
Thud!
A dull thud, then blood gushed out of her forehead. Her head dropped.
Xia Lei turned to look at Dark Mona. There was a dent in her forehead and blood gushed out of her forehead, nose and mouth. She was dead.
¡°Fuck.¡± Xia Lei let out a sigh of frustration, letting go of her legs.
On the slope, the Grey and Russo sisters were climbing up the mountain with arge group of shooters.
Behind them was a patch ofnd scattered with corpses.
Chapter 798 - Traps and Holes
The Grey and Russo sisters made their way to the peak of the mountain.
It was silent at the peak. Dark Mona¡¯s bodyy quietly on the snowy ground. Her fair chest was still exposed but it was pale from theck of blood.
However, this did not keep the mercenaries away. Some stepped on her, some shot her, another threw a cigarette butt at her and urinated on her corpse. Dark Mona and the FA organization were the root cause of many of these people¡¯s problems. They needed someone to vent on, dead or alive.
The Grey and Russo sisters could not stand to watch so they walked to the side. They saw footprints in the snow, some going up the peak and some going down.
¡°Is it him?¡± asked Rosa.
¡°Who else?¡± said Ste.
Theresa asked, ¡°He killed Dark Mona, the battle is over. Then why did he still leave?¡±
¡°There was obviously more than one person in the forest fighting against the FA. He must have other allies,¡± said Giovanna. ¡°He lied to us. There weren¡¯t just six people with him.¡±
¡°No wonder he did not care if the six lived or died. He had an invisible team!¡± Ste was furious.
¡°Do you think Arthur and our people are...¡± Rosa was thinking of something but the line of thought scared her.
¡°It¡¯s impossible,¡± said Giovanna. ¡°The people led by Arthur are the elites of the Knights Hospitaller. Unless Xia Lei¡¯s invisible team isrger than theirs, they would never seed. Think about it, from the time we told Xia Lei about the situation in Siberia, he was only alone for a few hours. Also, we rode in the same Russian vehicle as him. There were no other people on the ne.¡±
The truth was sometimes like that. Despite guessing right, they refused to believe it.
¡°He killed Dark Mona, why did he run?¡± Ste looked down the mountain but did not see Xia Lei.
¡°Perhaps he knows of our ns?¡± said Rosa.
¡°How is that possible? If he knew we wanted to capture him, would he stille to Siberia with us?¡± asked Giovanna.
¡°Then why did he run?¡± asked Ste.
No one knew. Maybe God knew but He never spoke.
¡°What now?¡± Rosa turned to Giovanna.
¡°Go search for him with some people. I¡¯ll call the leader,¡± said Giovanna. ¡°We require new instructions.¡±
¡°You bunch, follow me!¡± Ste instructed a few armed guards.
The few of them walked over and one asked, ¡°Where¡¯s our reward?¡±
¡°I killed two people, where¡¯s my ten million dors?¡± asked another.
The fourdies had nothing to say.
More mercenaries and shooters came.
¡°Where¡¯s our reward?¡±
¡°I killed one!¡±
¡°I killed three!¡±
¡°Where¡¯s the reward? Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t have the money!¡±
¡°Money, where¡¯s the money?¡±
A huge crowd of mercenaries, armed forces and assassins surrounded the fourdies. The four of them had initially wanted to search for Xia Lei but now, it did not seem like they were going to go anywhere. They were not dealing with a group of children here. They were money-motivated individuals. They promised money and let the people risk their lives for it. Now they¡¯re asking for the money, what were they going to give these people? After all, Xia Lei was nowhere to be found.
There were still some Knight Hospitaller members left but they weren¡¯t enough. They stood behind the fourdies, each with a terrified expression. Without the money, who knew what these rough rogues would do!
¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Ste asked, terrified.
A mercenary had suddenly rested his rifle¡¯s barrel on her chest. ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake, I want my money! I¡¯ll kill you if you¡¯re not paying up!¡±
The Knight Hospitallers lifted their guns instinctively but in the next second, tens of guns were neatly pointed at these few people.
¡°So many of our brothers have died today just for your money! If I do not see the money now, you all will die!¡± a mercenary said coldly.
¡°Wait. Everyone calm down.¡± Giovanna forced a smile. ¡°You will all receive your money, I guarantee it in the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s name.¡±
¡°Who gives a shit about your promise? The Knight Hospitaller¡¯s name means nothing to me!¡±
¡°Give me the money!¡±
¡°Fuck, these bitches are ying us! Kill them!¡±
It was chaos.
The fourdies were at their wit¡¯s end.
Giovanna was silently cursing Xia Lei.
¡°You all want money, right? The money¡¯s with Mr Xia, I¡¯ll bring you to him,¡± said Ste.
¡°Yeah, Mr Xia will pay you,¡± said Rosa.
¡°Where is Mr Xia?¡± asked the mercenary.
¡°He¡¯s...¡± Ste didn¡¯t know what to say. Who knew where Xia Lei was?!
¡°He¡¯s at the little wooden hut at the foot of the mountain. We¡¯ll bring you to him. He¡¯ll pay you,¡± Giovanna said shamelessly.
¡°Hmph! You¡¯d better not lie to us or we¡¯ll make you cry!¡± the man shoved Giovanna roughly.
¡°Bring us to him!¡±
The four sisters looked at each other, each of them about to cry.
They¡¯d dug a hole for Xia Lei but they were now trapped in his hole instead. The person who was supposed to be in the hole had disappeared!
Just as therge crowd were shoving the fourdies downhill, within the forest at the foot of the hill, Xia Lei looked away from the peak. ¡°They deserved it! If you all didn¡¯t cheat me, I wouldn¡¯t have cheated you back! You all can pay them the money on your own.¡±
He heard some footsteps. Turning around, he saw five faces, Anjum Khan, E¡¯er Demutu, Yelena, Sa¡¯im and Alessio. They were all wounded and dishevelled.
During the battle, if it wasn¡¯t for them attracting Dark Mona and most of the FA shooter¡¯s attention, it would¡¯ve been difficult for him to reach Dark Mona. They contributed to half of the sess.
¡°Is she dead?¡± asked Yelena.
The other four looked at Xia Lei, waiting for his answer.
¡°She¡¯s dead,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s a pity she did not tell me where the FA headquarters are.¡±
Yelena answered, ¡°I¡¯m not surprised. With a character like that, no amount of coaxing and torture will bring it out of her.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s not talk about her. Are you guys alright?¡± Xia Lei asked, concerned.
¡°We¡¯re alright. Just some scratches,¡± said Alessio.
¡°That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s leave,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What about the four women? And the mercenaries and shooters? Should we kill them all?¡± said E¡¯er.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Let the dogs fight among themselves. Our mission in Siberia has ended.
¡°The fourdies promised them a lot of money, I wonder how they¡¯ll pay them,¡± Sa¡¯im said with a grin. ¡°I guess they can only pay with their bodies at this point? I hope the men will be gentle.¡±
If the Grey and Russo sisters could not produce the money they promised, the consequences would definitely be disastrous. For some reason, when Xia Lei thought about it, he felt ufortable.
¡°Where is Tsukino Kyoko?¡± Xia Lei did not want to think about the Grey and Russo sisters. He felt guilty.
¡°They¡¯re at our safe point, with Arthur,¡± said Yelena.
Sa¡¯im took out an electronic device and took a look. ¡°We¡¯re about three kilometres away right now, at this speed we¡¯ll arrive in half an hour.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go there now then,¡± said Xia Lei.
The six of them trekked towards the safe point. Yelena walkedst, clearing up their footprints using a pine branch.
It was snowing lightly, these footprints were going to disappear quickly. At that point, even if the Russo and Grey sisters managed to convince the men to hunt them down, there would be no tracks to follow.
Half an hourter, the six of them arrived at a valley. At the entrance of the valley was a little wooden house built by a hunter. When they arrived, Sa¡¯im then coined it as the Zodiac Team¡¯s safe point.
As the six of them walked to the house, Tsukino leapt from a tree. She was wearing snow camouge attire. It was impressive that no one noticed her.
She was an Iga-ryu ninja after all.
¡°All done?¡± she asked.
Xia Lei nodded gently. ¡°She¡¯s dead.¡±
¡°Arthur is inside,¡± said Tsukino. ¡°There was a satellite phone call from Italy but I did not pick up.¡±
She tossed Arthur¡¯s satellite phone to Xia Lei.
He did not need to return the call to know that it was a call from the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s leader, Angelo. Dark Mona was dead and the Siberian training base of the FA group was destroyed but this was still not a fatal blow to the FA. What worried him was that the Knight Hospitallers were evidently going to betray him in some way. Should he continue working with them? If he did, how?
Tsukino opened the door to the little hut.
Xia Lei walked in and saw Arthur lying on the ground. He was still unconscious.
¡°Boss, do you want me to give him something so he¡¯ll wake immediately?¡± asked E¡¯er.
Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°No, don¡¯t wake him up yet.¡± There was a pause. ¡°Anyone of you have amunication device for contacting the Knight Hospitallers?¡±
Yelena tossed one over. ¡°I knew you would never bear to leave the fourdies with the mercenaries. I¡¯ve prepared one for you.¡±
He gave a bitter smile.
He could never leave the fourdies there to be harmed by the mercenaries. One reason was because of his conscience, the other reason was that the FA group was still not wiped out yet. He still needed to leverage on the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s strength. It was not the time to dere himself an enemy of the Knight Hospitallers.
However, he did not exin to Yelena. Some matters would just be moreplicated if he tried.
Chapter 799 - To Be His Knight
They walked closer to the wooden hut.
The Grey and Russo sisters were starting to feel extremely anxious.
¡°What do we do?¡± Ste¡¯s voice was trembling. ¡°I can confirm that he is not in the hut. What are we going to tell them?¡±
¡°All they want is money. There¡¯s nothing left we could say.¡± Rosa bit her lip. ¡°That man is too cruel! How could he leave us behind to face a bunch of vile criminals?! He¡¯s going to go to hell, I¡¯m sure of it.¡±
¡°Enough.¡± Giovanna continued, ¡°Aren¡¯t we also deserving of punishment? We tricked him intoing to Siberia and we¡¯ve been trying to harm him since the very beginning. It¡¯s only natural that he treats us like this. This is our punishment given by God, we must notin.¡±
¡°How could you still say that in a time like this?¡± Theresa sounded like she was about to cry. ¡°If we can¡¯t give them money, what are they going to do to us? I¡¯d rather die than let them touch me!¡±
¡°Yes, we¡¯re knights of the Knight Hospitaller, not prostitutes. If they¡¯re really nning to humiliated us, let¡¯smit mass suicide,¡± said Rosa.
Ste drew a cross. She uttered sadly, ¡°Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum.¡±
The other three followed suit. ¡°Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum!¡±
One of the mercenaries pushed the door open.
The hut was empty, there was no sight of Xia Lei.
The man was instantly thrown into a fit of rage. He turned around to roar at the fourdies, ¡°What the fuck! How dare you lie to us!¡±
¡°Kill these damned bitches!¡± shouted someone in the back.
¡°Our people shouldn¡¯t die in vain! Their wives and children should get their deservedpensation!¡± shouted another man. He then positioned his gun, ready to shoot.
¡°Letting them die a quick death is a waste. How about we have some fun with them before we kill them off!¡±
¡°Yeah! I¡¯d like them to have a taste of my big ck cock!¡±
¡°Fucking hell! I almost died just to get their money! I¡¯m going to abuse every hole on their bodies!¡±
The situation quickly spiralled out of control. People started toe forward to tug at their clothes.
Though the fourdies were ready for death in the name of their dignity, in the face of death. Were their resolutions that strong? Even if they really did take their own lives, they were aware that it wouldn¡¯t save their bodies from humiliation by these vile bastards. Dark Mona was the prime example. What these men did to her was truly disgusting.
¡°Get your hands off me!¡± Amid the scuffle, Giovanna abruptly pushed away a mercenary that was molesting her chest.
¡°Fuck you! How dare you push me away!¡±. He brandished an army knife and lunged towards Giovanna.
Giovanna put up a hand, there was a grenade in her palm.
The safety pin on the grenade was removed.
The army knife holding man quickly backed off.
tter! All the men in the room raised their guns, aiming towards Giovanna and the other three.
¡°Come closer.¡± Giovanna¡¯s smile was bitter, her eyes filled to the brim with despair and hatred.
Rosa, Ste and Theresa came to her, the four of them gathered into a circle. Giovanna¡¯s grip on the grenade remained firm. Once she dropped it, the four of them would explode into bits. It was the only way to ensure that the disgusting men wouldn¡¯t do anything to their lifeless bodies.
But loosening her grip was easier said than done.
A mercenary yelled out, ¡°You crazy bitch, put that grenade down!¡±
¡°Get lost!¡± Giovanna screamed her lungs out as if she had gone mad. ¡°Or I¡¯ll st us all to death!¡±
¡°Who the fuck do you think you¡¯re deceiving?¡± The mercenary tossed them a mocking re. ¡°In Catholicism, suicide is a sin. Anyone who takes their own lives will not be saved and will not get a ce in Heaven. Are you really that desperate to go to hell?¡±
The Russo and Grey sisters froze. They worked hard to get where they were today. All they wanted was to have their souls saved in the afterlife and enter the gates of Heaven to meet their creator. But if they end themselves, their faith and efforts would go into waste.
¡°Haha!¡± The mercenary barked out augh. ¡°You¡¯re all just a bunch of jokers? Is your God really that fussy? You have no control over your own fate.¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± shrieked Giovanna. She would never allow anyone to doubt her belief, and not to mention, humiliate her God.
¡°You¡¯re the ones that should shut up! Fucking bitches!¡± barked another mercenary.
¡°Since you can¡¯t kill yourselves, how about you throw away that grenade and have some fun with us? When we¡¯re done with you, we¡¯ll kill you off. That way, you can get to heaven. Hahahaha!¡±ughed another man.
The most painful thing on Earth was not death itself, it was to wish for death but render yourselves unable to bring upon your own fate.
That was what the sisters were feeling. If they gave up on ending their lives, it¡¯d be no better than hell on earth. If they proceeded with their n, they would betray their own faith and get sent to hell. Both oues were exceptionally excruciating to them. It was a very tough decision to make.
¡°Xia Lei! Ahh!¡± Giovanna shrieked. ¡°Fuck you! I¡¯ll see you in hell!¡±
She made her decision.
The other threedies closed their eyes shut. Tears began to flow from the corner of their eyes.
As Giovanna was about to loosen her grip, the transmitter on her outerwear abruptly rang.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Some vibrations apanied it.
Giovanna was stunned. Thest remaining Knight Hospitaller members were controlled by this bunch of mercenaries and fighters There was no one left to contact her. So who could this be?
The other threedies were equally surprised, turning to look at Giovanna.
¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± asked Ste.
¡°Could it be...¡± Rosa didn¡¯t mention his name because it was impossible, right?
¡°Quick! Pick it up!¡± urged Theresa. No matter who it was, they brought a new ray of hope to thedies.
¡°Do it!¡± The mercenary continued, ¡°Turn the volume up!¡±
Giovanna retrieved the transmitter and epted the call.
¡°Who is this?¡±
¡°Ahem.¡± A man cleared his throat through the call. ¡°How can you not recognize my attractive voice?¡±
¡°It¡¯s you!¡± Giovanna¡¯s expression changed abruptly. She started to get emotional. ¡°You fucking coward! Liar! Bastard! You...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice interrupted her. ¡°Haha, I guess you don¡¯t want to hear my voice. I think I better end the call now. Bye-bye!¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Giovanna quickly calmed down, ¡°We... We¡¯re in a very difficult situation right now.¡±
¡°What does that have to do with me?¡±
¡°You...¡± Giovanna was close to screaming into the device again. However, what came of her mouth was, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m terribly sorry.¡±
¡°Pardon? I can¡¯t hear you,¡± uttered Xia Lei.
¡°I said I¡¯m sorry!¡± screamed Giovanna. If Xia Lei was with them, she wouldn¡¯t hesitate to share the gory aftermath of the explosive in her hand with him.
¡°You¡¯re the only one apologizing? That¡¯s not enough.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Theresa quickly ran forward to scream into the device, her words came out between her gritted teeth.
¡°I¡¯m sorry too!¡± Rosa¡¯s apology wasced with unhidden anger. She wanted to drive a knife into his chest.
¡°I¡¯m... sorry.¡± Ste¡¯s displeasure was clear in her voice.
¡°Mm, I¡¯m a big softie. Alright, since you¡¯ve all apologized to me, I¡¯ll forgive you. Tell me, what can I do for you?¡±
His words triggered inexplicable anger in their hearts. They wanted to knock him over onto the ground and step on his penis with their high heels.
They were in a grave situation and this bastard still had the heart to tease them. It was unforgivable!
¡°Bastard, do you understand the situation we¡¯re in?¡± Ste was mad. ¡°Money! Give those men money!¡±
¡°Is this Miss Ste I hear? Did I just hear you call me a bastard? Mind repeating it one more time so that I can confirm?¡±
Ste opened her mouth. Before she could even get the word out, Theresa had quickly pinched one of her ass cheeks.
Theresa hissed into her ear. ¡°Are you trying to kill us all?! Apologize to him now! He¡¯s the only one who can help us out, I don¡¯t want to go to hell!¡±
Giovanna lowered her voice. ¡°Just think about what will happen without his help!¡±
If Xia Lei refused to help them, they would be left with no choice but to take their own lives and descend down to hell. Alternatively, they would be toyed to death by these disgusting bastards, which was a process none of them could bear to imagine.
¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± muttered Ste.
¡°I only heard annoyance from your apology, it¡¯s not genuine.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I want you to swear to me that you will be my ve and to never deceive me for eternity. After you¡¯re done with that, I¡¯ll help you solve the problem.¡±
¡°You...¡± Ste was about to burst into tears.
¡°Do as he says!¡± Without waiting for the other threedies to respond, a mercenary ordered.
The sound of raised guns echoed about in the hut.
Ste nced at the other three, they were pleading with their eyes. Ste¡¯s legs finally gave away as she fell to the floor. Her voice trembled as she repeated after Xia Lei, ¡°I... I¡¯m your ve. I swear to God with the chivalry of the Knight Hospitallers that I¡¯ll never lie to you again. I will continue to serve for eternity.¡±
¡°Well done!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice rang through. ¡°Giovanna, Theresa, Rosa, what are you three still waiting for? She was not the only one who made a mistake.¡±
The three looked at each other before they heed his sick instructions. They kneeled, apologized and swore their loyalty.
¡°Alright. ording to your tradition, you¡¯ll serve under me as my knight. Your problem is now my problem. Please pass the transmitter to their leader, I¡¯ll solve this for you.¡±
Giovanna passed the device as instructed.
¡°Hehe. Hello, Mister Xia.¡± The leader broke into a malicious grin. ¡°I¡¯d like to discuss something important with you.¡±
¡°Three million USD. Send me your ount if you agree to it. If you¡¯re unhappy with it, just shoot them all!¡±
¡°That¡¯s too little!¡±
¡°Then shoot them!¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°My friend. You should learn to look a few steps forward. Come work with me/ You¡¯ll have an endless source of ie. This will not be thest mission. Plus, the sum I¡¯m offering is reasonable. If you¡¯re really after the sum my knights had offered, then we¡¯re better off ending this conversation. I believe no one will ever pay you that much unless that person¡¯s an idiot.¡±
¡°Ok, that¡¯s a deal.¡± The mercenary epted Xia Lei¡¯s proposition.
Killing the four of them would burn three million USD. Only idiots would do that. Humiliate them? Even if they had diamonds in their privates, it was still too expensive of a price to pay. Plus, would the female knights even know how to enjoy such sins?
The twins let out a relieved sigh.
Bam! The grenade fell onto the ground.
¡°Fuck!¡± The leader quickly kicked the grenade out of the window.
Everyone hurriedly threw themselves onto the ground.
Ka-boom!
The grenade exploded on the surface of theke. A fish was sent flying out of arge hole on the frozen water body.
Giovanna stared out the window in shock. All she could do was mutter, ¡°Sorry.¡±
Everyone ignored her.
Chapter 800 - The God On The Red Horse
Night arrived early. The cold wind tore through the forest, sending chunks of snow flying about the air. The white mass covered the abandoned corpses in the forest.
Arthur finally woke up. He saw a ck roof and then a burning firece. The little hut was filled with a weird fragrance akin to a woman¡¯s perfume. But there was no bottle in sight, let alone a woman.
He pushed himself up with his hands, wanting to remove himself from the simple wooden bed. But before he could even aplish that, he crashed back onto the bed. Arthur¡¯s head felt heavy as if he just was woken up to a bad hangover. His response was dyed and his vision was blurry.
He shook his head hard in an attempt to wake himself up. Despite that, he felt even more sluggish. Although his situation was crappy, it didn¡¯t hinder him from recalling the events that led to this. He could clearly remember that Giovanna had contacted him to begin his n to capture Xia Lei. But before he could even reach him, Xia Lei¡¯s men were already waiting for him in the forest. They ambushed him and everyone else except him was dead.
¡°That bastard had tricked us since the very beginning!¡± Arthur thought to himself. Intense hatred surfaced in his heart, prompting him to shake his head vehemently. It didn¡¯t take him long to notice that his brain was now out of control. His recalled memories were beginning to fade away and a weird inexplicable incident appeared in his mind. In that, he saw Jesus on a stake and then he saw the Red Rider.
Pant! Pant! Horse pants could be heard from outside the hut.
The door to the little hut was abruptly thrown open, allowing a strong light to enter the modest lodge. Apanying it was the sound of metal shing and war cries. It gave off the feeling of a war zone behind the intense ray.
¡°Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum!¡± Someone spoke.
Arthur subconsciously repeated after him. ¡°Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum!¡± He had wanted to raise a hand and draw a habitual cross but found no strength to do so. He no longer had control over his body, let alone something as simple as supporting his arm up.
Voices rang from within the strong light.
¡°Look at that! Isn¡¯t that the Red Rider?!¡±
¡°He¡¯s just like a ze in the wind!¡±
¡°He is going into the sacred city of Jerusalem!¡±
¡°Who is he after? I can¡¯t see anything!¡±
¡°His armour is gone!¡±
Italian chatters echoed through the hut. Their voices wereced with anxiety and thrown into chaos.
Arthur wanted to prop himself up to see what it was but he couldn¡¯t do it. At this very moment, a ridiculously tall figure emerged from the light. He looked about two and a half meters tall and he had brandished a sword. The sword was about as tall as a man. The man donned an odd-looking robe that seemed like it was made out of bed sheets. The garment was ill-fitting and huge.
The man was so huge that he could be considered as a titan from the legends.
The huge sword-wielding giant wanted to enter the hut but gave up as the door frame was too small. He would have no choice but to destroy the door frame to get in.
Arthur¡¯s jaw dropped at the sight of the giant standing there, he could vaguely make out a mass of red behind the said figure. He deduced that it may be a horse, but it looked more like a ball of mes. Though so, that didn¡¯t stop him from realizing that he was the Horsemen that symbolized war and destruction. It was the snippets of Italian conversations, the huge sword and the red horse behind it that brought him to his conclusion.
To see one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was certainly a miracle for a faithful Catholic.
Arthur wanted to scramble off the bed to kneel before the Red Rider. But even if he was before the figure, he had no strength to move from where he was.
¡°You sinner!¡± The Red Rider abruptly eximed in Italian, his voice was surprisingly loud. ¡°The demons have destroyed your kingdom and I have been sent to fight for you. I lost my armour and am not able to return to heaven. I¡¯ve been stuck in the mortal realm for a thousand years, when will you return my armour?! I¡¯m losing my patience!¡±
¡°Oh God!¡± praised Arthur. ¡°I am your faithful worshipper and I am your most loyal ve. We¡¯ve been searching for your armour everywhere. We¡¯re just left with thest piece.¡±
¡°Where did you hide it?¡± The Red Rider¡¯s voice was stern.
¡°Malta Ind, in the Holy Pce.¡±
¡°How can I retrieve my armour?¡±
¡°With Angelo¡¯s eyes and a key.¡±
¡°Why is my armour missing a piece?¡±
Arthur eximed emotionally. ¡°We¡¯ve been searching tirelessly for the pieces. Through time, we pieced it back together. The armour is nearpletion save for itsst missing piece. It¡¯s in the hands of a Chinese, a sinful non-believer! He killed our knights and broke our promise! Dear God, if only you could help me capture him. I¡¯ll be able to retrieve the missing piece and return you theplete armour!¡±
¡°Do you wish to kill him?¡±
¡°Yes, I want to kill him.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll capture him and I¡¯ll ughter him personally then destroy his country. Now, you must tell me, where is the Holy Pce located on Malta Ind?¡±
¡°My God! It¡¯s located in the Hill of Crosses near the sea. Our ancestors built it to safeguard your armour and store resources for the resurrection of our nation.¡±
The Knight Hospitallers had built a nation on Malta Ind but was defeated by the Turkster on. Before their fall, the territory was truly theirs. If the organization wanted to build any secret buildings on Malta Ind, it would be easy for them. That area was essentially Malta Ind¡¯s most popr tourist attraction.
¡°How many people have you assigned to guard my armour?¡±
¡°Ten smaller knight teams, one hundred knights and another ten holy knights. They¡¯re all elites of our organization. My God, they will surely kneel for you when you grace your holy presence to them. If enemiese, they¡¯ll reduce their bodies to ashes.¡±
The Red Rider fell silent. He then spoke up again, ¡°You¡¯re truly loyal, my ve. As a reward, I shall open up your path to Heaven.¡±
¡°My God, I have yet to retrieve you thest missing piece of your armour. I can¡¯t go to Heaven yet. Please allow me to finish my mission before I go to Heaven.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to. I¡¯ll handle this myself. Here, I¡¯ve opened up your path to the above. Go.¡±
¡°My God, where is this path? How should I get up there?¡±
The Red Rider suddenly brandished a pistol, aiming it straight at Arthur¡¯s head.
¡°My God, you use a pistol too?¡± Arthur was surprised.
Bang!
As soon he uttered hisst words, a bullet was fired out from the weapon, connecting to his brain.
This was the path to heaven. It was simple.
The eye-straining light suddenly ceased.
The giant at the door shrunk. If Arthur was still alive, he would¡¯ve seen the Red Rider he kneeled to was just Xia Lei standing on a stool. The red horse behind him was nothing of that sort, it was merely a wooden frame made in the shape of a horse that was covered with ayer of red fabric.
An act like that wouldn¡¯t be able to trick a child, but it was proven to be effective against a delirious fanatic.
¡°He¡¯s dead,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko as she emerged from behind a wall in the hut. Following her were Yelena, Anjum Khan, Sa¡¯im, E¡¯er Demutu and Alessio. They were the ones behind the Italian dialogues just now.
¡°I didn¡¯t want to kill him but he must die,¡± said Xia Lei.
Arthur was the only one who knew that the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had wiped out all thirty of Knight Hospitaller¡¯s elites. His presence would be a big hindrance to Xia Lei¡¯s n.
¡°What do we do next?¡± questioned Yelena.
Xia Lei instructed, ¡°Get rid of his body. I¡¯m going over to the wooden house by theke.¡±
¡°Boss.¡± E¡¯er Demutu was concerned. ¡°Although you did help the fourdies solve the problem, they¡¯re still members of the Knight Hospitaller. There¡¯s no guarantee if they¡¯d betray you again in the name of religion. Danger might be awaiting you over there.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve already thought through this. I¡¯m not that naive to the point of believing that they¡¯ll pledge their loyalty to me as my knights.¡±
¡°Then why are you going back there?¡± questioned Tsukino.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°I must go back. There needs to be a solid exnation for Arthur¡¯s death. I can¡¯t have them making assumptions that this was all my doing. To some extent, you¡¯re all dead. You can¡¯t appear together with me for now.¡±
¡°But if you head there alone, what would you do when the mercenaries and armed forces attack you?¡± blurted Sa¡¯im.
¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about this. Arthur¡¯s dead and there isn¡¯t much left of the Knight Hospitallers. The remaining people are not a threat to me. I¡¯m now the one paying, the hired mercenaries and armed forces will be more likely toply with me and not the four of them.¡±
¡°What next?¡± Tsukino Kyoko asked again.
¡°I¡¯ll retreat with the fourdies, you all remain hidden for the time being.¡± Xia Lei turned to look at Yelena. ¡°From now on, you¡¯re no longer my secretary. You must now work for me in the dark until I aplish what I need to do.¡±
Yelena nodded.
¡°We¡¯ll meet again in China.¡± As soon as Xia Lei was done uttering that, he turned to leave the hut.
The six Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had their eyes glued to his retreating back, which soon disappeared into the snowy horizon.
¡°Say, what do you think the boss is up to this time?¡± Alessio broke the silence.
¡°I know you want to say that he¡¯s trying to woo the four of them.¡± Yelena grinned, ¡°People always assume he¡¯s a pervert, but I know that¡¯s not true. The boss had neverid a finger on those four. He was just putting on an act to maintain the coboration with the Knight Hospitallers. He needed their power to defeat the FA organization.¡±
¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough. Let¡¯s stop specting his thoughts. He¡¯s one of the smartest men I¡¯ve met so far. If we could guess his thoughts, he wouldn¡¯t be a good fit as our leader. What we need to do now is simple, we just need to dispose of the body then go back to China.¡± E¡¯er Demutu pped his palms together. ¡°Alright, chop-chop. It¡¯s time to work. Who¡¯s going to move the body?¡±
The other five turned to look at him.
E¡¯er was stunned. ¡°No way. Have you all discussed this before?¡±
Everyone ignored him.
Chapter 801 - Aftermath
There was a bonfire in front of the wooden house by theke. That poor bear killed by the FA organization became their dinner. The surviving mercenaries and armed forces sat by the fire along with the remaining assassins. They were merrily eating the bear and drinking vodka. There were men singing and dancing. No one was grieving over their sacrificedrades.
When they had not yet received their money, the deadrades were still in their thoughts along with their widows and children. But now that they had the money, who cares? With more loss to the battle, the less they had to split.
The Grey and Russo sisters were huddled up in the wooden house. They did not dare to exit.. Under intoxication, the men would not be above sinning despite already being paid. Who could¡¯ve guaranteed that those vile men weren¡¯t plotting anything involving them? No one could guarantee anything under the influence of alcohol.
¡°Do you think he¡¯lle back for us?¡± Rosa broke the silence.
Ste answered, ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? He¡¯ll nevere back here.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Theresa continued, ¡°He was willing to save us with three million USD. It¡¯s more than what most can earn in their lives. If he doesn¡¯te back, why bother paying the money at all?¡±
¡°Yeah. I really thought he wouldn¡¯t but he actually did,¡± said Giovanna.
¡°He sells military weapons for a living. That sum is nothing to him. I think he¡¯s just guilty that he abandoned us.¡± Ste continued, ¡°But I do suspect that themander¡¯s disappearance has a lot to do with him. Don¡¯t you all find it weird?¡±
¡°I too have my suspicions but hadn¡¯t I mentioned before? To be able to take out so many of them, he must have men hidden within the forest. But that really doesn¡¯t seem so,¡± replied Giovanna.
¡°Enough, let¡¯s stop discussing this.¡± Theresa said, ¡°Let¡¯s deal with the situation at hand.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Ste looked at Theresa.
¡°You¡¯re the smartest out of us four. You must know what I¡¯m referring to.¡± Theresa went on. ¡°We swore to him. ording to ancient knight traditions, we now serve under him. Loyalty, courage and sacrifice are a knight¡¯s virtue. Are we really going to offer him our loyalty, courage and sacrifice from now on?¡±
¡°Theresa, he threatened us!¡± Ste yelled. ¡°We are the knights of the Knight Hospitaller, not his! He¡¯s not even Catholic! How are we supposed to serve him?¡±
¡°But we knelt and swore in the name of our God. ording to our traditions, we are his knights. Going against the pledge makes us no different from the non-believers,¡± eximed Theresa.
Ste frowned at her words. ¡°Theresa, are you saying this because he did that filthy act on your body? He humiliated your body yet you took a liking to him, is that it?¡±
Theresa was set off like a loose cannon. ¡°What on earth are you saying? Come on, say it to my face! I¡¯ll shove those words right back down your throat!¡±
¡°Enough! Shut up!¡± Giovanna was incredibly irritated. ¡°How about this, we raise our hands to vote. Those who agree to be his knight, put your hands up. Those who don¡¯t, keep your hands down.¡±
¡°I say yes to this! If we betray the virtues of a knight, how can we be considered as one?¡± Theresa raised her hand.
Ste didn¡¯t.
Giovanna wanted to raise her hand. But as soon as she noticed Ste, she followed suit. She was Ste¡¯s older sister and she would have to stand on the same side. She and Ste represented the glory of the Grey family.
Rosa wasn¡¯t nning to raise her hand. But as soon as she noticed Theresa raising hers, she quickly followed suit. She and Theresa were proud representatives of the Russo family.
The scene was ridiculous. Two pairs of twins, one side agreed while the other didn¡¯t.
¡°Hmph!¡± Ste scoffed. ¡°Theresa, let¡¯s ce a bet. Xia Lei will nevere back here. I bet he¡¯s already on a ne back to China. And you, the Russo daughters are still stuck on arguing the virtues and traditions of a knight. How can you not find any wrong in your choice? This is such a joke.¡±
¡°What if he doese back?¡± Theresa mocked. ¡°Are you going to stick to your pledge and serve him as his knight?¡±
¡°If he doese, I¡¯ll do that. I¡¯ll be his knight.¡± Ste continued, ¡°But he doesn¡¯t, you will need to steal the sacred relic from him. Are you sure you want to proceed with this bet?¡±
¡°Yeah!¡± Theresa agreed without hesitation.
Seeing that, Rosa couldn¡¯t help but worry. ¡°Idiot, have you considered the consequences? How are you going to steal it from him? That¡¯s close to impossible!¡±
Theresa bit her lip. ¡°I¡¯ll figure out some way. Plus, I¡¯m not losing yet!¡±
¡°Right, you¡¯ll find ¡®a way¡¯.¡± Ste continued to mock her. ¡°Being his knight, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have lots of opportunities to be in close contact with him, you might even go to bed with him.¡±
¡°You...¡± Theresa immediately jumped on her.
The twodies started to pull at each other while the other two tried to calm them down. Chaos erupted in the wooden house.
At this very moment, they could hear someone speaking outside the door. Someughter apanied it.
¡°Whoa!¡± A man eximed exaggeratedly. ¡°My friends! How can you not invite me to a bonfire? That¡¯s not fair!¡±
The fourdies in the wooden house fell silent. They were all too ustomed to this voice. Xia Lei was here.
¡°Haha!¡± The mercenary¡¯s leaderughed. ¡°Mister Xia, where were you at? What happened? Did you know how worried we were? We searched the entire fifty-kilometre radius for you! We¡¯re close to getting on the train to search for you at the Kremlin¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice rang once again. ¡°The FA organization had a secret troupe. They killed off Mister Arthur and his team. I went to track them down but they managed to escape.¡±
¡°Is that true?¡± The leader gasped, shock evident in his tone.
¡°Of course it¡¯s real. Must I swear by my words?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Mister Xia, we were abandoned by the Gods. We don¡¯t care if Arthur is dead or alive. We just care about you. As long as you¡¯re alive, we¡¯re happy! Hahaha!¡±
¡°Mister Xia, you¡¯re a generous man. Being able to work with you is a pleasure,¡± said the leader of the armed force.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Money is just a small matter. I¡¯m just terribly sad over the loss of so many brothers. Mister Arthur was a good friend, I¡¯m sad now that he¡¯s gone.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, there¡¯s no need to be sad. Come, let¡¯s toast. Alcohol will drown your sorrows away.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, let me fill your cup!¡±
¡°Mister Xia, please have a b of bear meat!¡±
¡°Oh my friends, how could you give me the bear¡¯s penis?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±
In the wooden house, the fourdies frowned.
¡°That bastard actually came back.¡± Giovanna continued, ¡°I mentioned this earlier. There¡¯s no way he was the one who wiped out all thirty elites and Arthur!¡±
Displeasure was stered all over Ste¡¯s face.
¡°Ha! Ste, don¡¯t forget our promise!¡± eximed Theresa.
Ste only rolled her eyes at Theresa.
¡°Mister Xia, please have more! This is premium vodka!¡± Someone urged.
¡°Thank you, but I already had too much. I must go check on my people,¡± declined Xia Lei.
¡°Mister Xia, there¡¯s no need to worry. We didn¡¯ty a single finger on those four girls,¡± said someone else.
Approaching footsteps were heard.
The fourdies looked to the door in unison. Inexplicably, though they knew it was Xia Lei outside the door, they were very nervous.
Before all of this happened, they were enemies. Now, the line between them was blurry, it gave way to the start of something more ambiguous.
The door opened to reveal Xia Lei. He only paused for a brief moment before he entered the building, shutting the door in the process.
The fourdies had their eyes on him, but no one greeted him.
Xia Lei stripped off his coat. ¡°My knights, are you not going toe over and get my coat?¡±
¡°We¡¯re knights, not maids,¡± hissed Ste.
Theresa hesitated but decided to approach him anyway. She took his coat and hung it over a metal nail that was hammered to the back of the door.
Xia Lei gave her a smile. ¡°Thank you.¡±
Theresa only nodded in response, she remained silent.
A long, difficult journey awaits to tame these four monsters, but Xia Lei was in no rush. He plopped his rear onto a chair. ¡°Mister Arthur is dead, I¡¯m terribly heartbroken by it.¡±
Ste interrupted him. ¡°I don¡¯t feel a single hint of grief from you. You were even having fun and drinks with those vile men just now.¡±
Xia Lei was unfazed. ¡°I was just being courteous. My sadness is not something I show easily.¡±
Ste was rendered speechless.
¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk about some business.¡± Xia Lei proceeded to say, ¡°Now that Mister Arthur is dead, I have no idea what your ns are. When are you all going to take action?¡±
Giovanna answered, ¡°Arthur used thatputer to contact the headquarters but it got confiscated by the mercenaries. We can¡¯t contact the headquarters like this.¡±
¡°No one else from the Knight Hospitaller headquarters reached out to you?¡±
The four shook their heads in unison.
¡°How about you get theputer back to us? We can contact the headquarters like that and they¡¯ll send someone over to get us,¡± suggested Ste.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t hold hisughter. ¡°I¡¯m not about to leave this ce on the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s transport. I¡¯m the only one left and I don¡¯t trust you all. Let¡¯s just use my way to get home.¡±
¡°Are you nning to ski your way home?¡± sneered Ste.
Xia Lei dug out his satellite phone. He dialled a number and the receiver immediately picked up. He then conversed in Russian. ¡°Hello, Mister Ivankov. One million USD, can you fly your ne to us again? Mm-hmm... Alright, call me again after you¡¯ve decided on anding point.¡±
The call ended.
The fourdies nced at Xia Lei weirdly.
¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Is no one going to serve me some water? I want hot water.¡±
Chapter 802 - The Road to Domestication
The mission in Siberia came to an end.
The training camp in Siberia was thoroughly demolished. Dark Mona had met her fate as well. To Xia Lei, his goal was met. Not only did he avenge Amanda, Park Taeyong, Bagu and Marcus, he also weakened the FA¡¯s forces along with the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s. All in all, it was a win for him.
An IL-76 flew across the skies of Siberia towards the direction of Jingdu, China.
The mercenaries and armed forces who had survived the ordeal were not on this ne. They weren¡¯t willing to return to China. To them, China was a forbidden piece ofnd. They didn¡¯t want to offer their lives in exchange for money. After all, how would one spend their money if they were dead? They found their own ways to leave Siberia and Xia Lei was counting on that. He didn¡¯t want to have more contact with those people. This time, if Dark Mona wasn¡¯t in Siberia and he wanted to extract more intel from Arthur, he wouldn¡¯t have chosen toe to this forsaken ce.
¡°There¡¯s no way Arthur would¡¯ve lied to me in a situation like that. It seems like the armour really exists and is hidden away in the Sacred Pce on the Hill of Crosses on Malta Ind. Not all of the Knight Hospitaller members are aware of its secret. They had always taken it merely as the Red Rider¡¯s armour. Now that I found out where it was, how am I going to steal it away from the Sacred Pce?¡± The question tormented Xia Lei silently. He averted his gaze to look at the Russo and Grey sisters who were sitting opposite him from the corner of his eye.
Just possessing Arthur¡¯s copy of the ess card wasn¡¯t enough to get him to Malta Ind. He needed assistance. He needed someone who could help him sneak into the Sacred Pce. But other than the two sets of identical twins, who else would be a better fit for the job?
The fourdies stared intently at Xia Lei. Each of them was silent with their own thoughts.
¡°How should I get these four to serve me loyally? I need to have them work for me and not for the Knight Hospitallers.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind was bombarded with thoughts. He decided to just stare at them face on.
Ste frowned at the action, instinctively closing her legs. She was worried that she had exposed the scenery beneath her skirt. The four of them had changed from their Siberian battle attire into air stewardess uniforms offered by the Russians. This was what they were worried about. Xia Lei was like an eagle. Eagles could detect hares hidden in the bushes from about a few hundred metres above the ground. If that was the case, how could Xia Lei miss her concealed bush under her skirt?
Prevention was a must!
Her protection was working well but she couldn¡¯t understand his random mumbling. ¡°1, 2, 58... Wait, that doesn¡¯t count. 58... Why is this so difficult? This is as difficult as Gu Kewen!¡±
¡°What are you mumbling about?¡± Ste was a little suspicious.
¡°I was thinking about something.¡± Xia Lei shed her a smile but didn¡¯t exin himself.
¡°What were you thinking about?¡± asked Giovanna.
¡°How much does the Knight Hospitaller pay you per month?¡± pried Xia Lei.
¡°We don¡¯t get paid. We fight for our belief,¡± said Ste with a straight face.
¡°Really? You don¡¯t get paid?¡± Xia Lei was very surprised.
The other three shook their heads.
¡°Then how do you afford clothes and cosmetics?¡±
¡°That¡¯s none of your concern!¡± Ste was irritated.
Suddenly, a wry smile yed on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Alright, I assume that you receive them as donations. But what about menstrual products? The followers can¡¯t be donating those to you, right? If there¡¯s no donation and you have no pay, how do you solve your monthly woes?¡±
The fourdies blushed.
A grown man discussing menstrual products with them?! What the hell was wrong with him?
¡°Die!¡± Ste had enough, standing up from her seat to attack Xia Lei.
The other three quickly stopped her.
¡°How about this? I¡¯ll pay you all one hundred thousand USD per month. That way, you can use the money to get the most in-fashion clothes and the best cosmetics. You should treat yourself well while you¡¯re young and alive,¡± said Xia Lei.
Giovanna declined. ¡°We have our own faith. You can¡¯t be serious about trying to buy us over with money.¡±
Xia Lei calmly retorted, ¡°But you¡¯re now my knights. Technically, I¡¯m your new boss. Giving you all sries is a must, is there anything wrong with it?¡±
The fourdies fell silent. Truthfully, getting paid one hundred thousand USD per month sounded too good to be true. Who wasn¡¯t a fan of money in this world? It would be a total lie to say that you weren¡¯t. In this ce, there were monks who would scam people for money. Everything had a price, including faith and loyalty.
Knowing that his offer was working, Xia Lei went on to convince them. ¡°You¡¯re all so young. Don¡¯t you want to drive the best luxury sports car, sip on the best alcohol and afford a staycation at a beachfront vi? You can even...¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Giovanna interrupted Xia Lei. ¡°We don¡¯t want your money, don¡¯t you try to get us over to your side with money. We are different from those mercenaries, you can hire them for a fee but not us.¡±
¡°Yes, please stop humiliating us with your money,¡± said Theresa.
Xia Lei could only scold them in his heart. ¡°Fucking idiots.¡±
To him, money wasn¡¯t an issue. But if it was the opposite, then that would mean huge trouble.
¡°You pledged your loyalty to me and became my knights. If you¡¯re not going to work for me, how can you still be considered knights?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
¡°I can hang yourundry,¡± said Theresa
¡°I can pour you a ss of water,¡± answered Rosa.
¡°I can make you breakfast,¡± chimed Giovanna.
Only Ste had her lips shut, not willing to provide an answer. She was reluctant to help Xia Lei out even in the slightest bit.
Of course, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t going to let her pass just like that. He smiled at her, ¡°Ste, the three of them have found jobs. What about you? How about you warm my bed for me every night?¡±
¡°You...¡± Ste¡¯s anger had her speechless.
Xia Lei was secretly angry. He thought to himself, ¡°You¡¯ve already sworn to be my knights. But all you¡¯re willing to do was to hang myundry, pour some water and make me breakfast? God damn it, are you trying to piss me off? Fine, if that¡¯s what you want, I¡¯ll y along with your silly games!¡±
Suddenly, pilot Ivankov¡¯s voice rang through the ne¡¯s announcement system. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, we have now entered the Chinese airspace.¡±
The fourdies exchanged looks. It was obvious from their expressions that they weren¡¯t willing to return to China.
Xia Lei picked up themunicator hanging on the wall of the ne to reply in Russian. ¡°Mister Ivankov, thank you. Pleasend us at Jingdu International Airport as nned.¡±
¡°No problem, Mister Xia. If you ever need flight service again, please do reach out to me. My crew and I are only one call away,¡± said Ivankov.
¡°Hehe, of course,¡± replied Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Oh, right. Mister Xia, you may now turn on your electronic devices. This is a military ne. Your telmunication signals will not affect our flight system.¡±
¡°Alright, got it.¡± Xia Lei then returned the device to its original spot. He then took out both his phone devices to turn them on.
The number he used for daily life had a few missed calls. A majority of it was Wei Guanyi¡¯s number.
Wei Guanyi was Ning Jing¡¯s attending physician.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but call Wei Guanyi¡¯s number back.
¡°Hello? Is this Doctor Wei? I¡¯m Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Oh, hello. Mister Xia, I¡¯ve been trying to reach you but your phone was turned off.¡± Wei Guanyi¡¯s voice rang through the speaker.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°I have some good news for you.¡±
Xia Lei was nervous. ¡°Is Ning Jing...¡±
¡°Yes, yes, it¡¯s about Doctor Ning.¡± Wei Guanyi smiled. ¡°This morning, she suddenly woke up like a regr human being.¡±
Without waiting for Wei Guanyi to utter another word, Xia Lei interrupted him. ¡°Did she draw something new?¡±
¡°No, no, no. She hasn¡¯t drawn anything. What I¡¯m trying to say is that she has recovered!¡± Wei Guanyi let out augh.
¡°She recovered?¡± It was great news but Xia Lei¡¯s surprise had overshadowed his glee.
If Ning Jing was truly well, she would be the first to recover aftering in contact with the ancient alloy.
What indication would this bring?
¡°Yes, she¡¯s recovered.¡± Wei Guanyi continued. ¡°The nurse was the first to find out. She woke up and told them that she was hungry before asking to borrow the nurse¡¯s phone. Sadly, ording to our protocol here, she and that team of experts were not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. So the nurse didn¡¯t pass it to her. After that, the nurse did inform me of this and I went to talk to her. I ran a couple of tests and it came back normal.¡±
¡°What about the other experts? How are they doing?¡±
¡°The others are still in critical condition. One of them even...¡±
¡°What about him?¡±
¡°Based on his condition, I suspect that he would have a week at most.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was clouded with confusion.
¡°Oh, that reminds me. Doctor Ning said she wants to meet you.¡±
Xia Lei took a nce at his wristwatch. ¡°I¡¯ll be there in another three hours.¡±
¡°Alright. See you soon, Mister Xia.¡±
¡°See you soon.¡± Xia Lei hung up. His mind spiralling down into a sea of thoughts.
He was fully aware of Ning Jing¡¯s condition. Wei Guanyi had told him before that there was literally no chance of recovery for her case. It was the same for the other experts that went insane too. While the others were deteriorating fast, why was she the only one getting better?
There was something nagging the back of his mind. It couldn¡¯t be this simple, could it?
¡°Ning Jing is such a pitifuldy. I must see what I can help with when I see herter,¡± thought Xia Lei to himself.
The Russo and Grey sisters had their eyes glued to Xia Lei, their stares filled with curiosity. Sadly, they couldn¡¯t understand a single thing from Xia Lei¡¯s phone call.
¡°Mister Xia, who was that on the phone?¡± Giovanna asked in Italian.
Xia Lei stared at the four of them. ¡°That¡¯s none of your business.¡±
The fourdies fell silent.
It sure did feel shitty when Xia Lei ignored them.
Chapter 803 - Sudden Death
The sunset dipping down the horizon was a deep shade of red.
A Chevrolet Suburban drove into the car park of the sanatorium. Wei Guanyi, who was already waiting, greeted Xia Lei as soon as he got out of the car.
¡°Mister Xia, please follow me.¡± Wei Guanyi led Xia Lei to the building.
¡°Doctor Wei, are you sure that Doctor Ning has recovered?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Mister Xia, to be honest, I couldn¡¯t believe it either. It¡¯s a miracle. You¡¯ll understand more when you meet her,¡± said Wei Guanyi.
Xia Lei was puzzled but chose to wait and see. He would be meeting Ning Jing soon and he would find out about her situation when he met her.
It was way past office hours so most of the doctors and nurses were off duty. The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the corridor. Coupled with the light emitted by the energy-savingmps, it was a very unsettling atmosphere.
They stopped by the door of Ning Jing¡¯s ward. Wei Guanyi said. ¡°Mister Xia, you should go in by yourself. I¡¯ll stand by in my office. You can call me by the pager if you face any problems, I¡¯lle in a minute.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, then pushed open the door to enter the ward.
Ning Jing was standing at the balcony, watching the sun in the west. She was quiet and did not notice his arrival. Her hair fluttered with the evening wind.
Xia Lei was going to call her before he realised that she was so absorbed with something. He couldn¡¯t bear to disturb the peace. Thus, he chose to watch her quietly, waiting for the moment she turned around.
It didn¡¯t take long. Ning Jing turned around after one minute, her nce fell on Xia Lei immediately.
Their eyes met.
There was no emotional embrace. Not even a friendly greeting between them. It was as quiet as before.
Xia Lei was getting an eerie vibe from her calm expression. A thought helplessly crossed his mind. Had she really recovered?
They looked at each other silently. After about ten more seconds, a smile appeared on Ning Jing¡¯s face. ¡°Xia Lei, you¡¯re here.¡±
Her smile was unnatural.
But he still returned a smile of his own ¡°Hi, Ning Jing.¡±
¡°Why are you being so polite with me?¡± Ning Jing said while curling the corner of her lips.
¡°You...Are you alright now?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Ning Jing spun around. ¡°What do you think?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what was wrong with her. At this moment, she was in disguise.
¡°Get me out of here,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei came back to his senses. ¡°You could be discharged if you¡¯ve recovered.¡±
¡°Of course, I have,¡± said Ning Jing while she approached Xia Lei. Her pyjama-styled patient dress was dancing in the breeze. She seemed a lot thinner.
Inexplicably, Xia Lei took a step back.
Ning Jing stopped approaching Xia Lei. Her eyes were as deep as the ocean, piercing into Xia Lei¡¯s soul.
¡°If you need your family to sign on the discharge consent, I¡¯ll notify them. I don¡¯t have the right to do so,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s pointless. They won¡¯t let me leave but I must leave,¡± said Ning Jing.
Xia Lei slowly pieced together the situation. ¡°What do you want to do after leaving?¡±
Ning Jing was suddenly silent. She frowned as if she was forgetting something and trying her best to recall it.
¡°Ning Jing?¡± Xia Lei tried to call her. ¡°What do you want to do?¡±
¡°I have no idea.¡± Ning Jing suddenly took a step forward and grabbed on Xia Lei¡¯s hand. Then she said nervously. ¡°But I know you have to help me to leave here and give me ten million dors.¡±
Xia Lei was startled.
¡°They won¡¯t let me out and mentioned that I need to be under observation for quite a while. I don¡¯t have the time for that.¡± Ning Jing grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand r. ¡°You have to help me and give me ten million dors.¡±
Ten million dors was equivalent to sixty million RMB. This was a big amount. He couldn¡¯t just give her the money. Besides, it was obvious that she hadn¡¯t recovered. How could he give her that much money? Although he was rich, he wasn¡¯t stupid. He shook his head. ¡°Calm down. Tell me, why do you need so much money?¡±
Ning Jing was silent. Again, she was frowning and trying to recall something.
¡°Tell me, what are you going to do with that much money?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ning Jing shook her head. ¡°What I do know is that I need to get out of here. I want to go to India. I need ten million dors.¡±
¡°India?¡± Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°What do you want to do in India?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve no idea!¡± Ning Jing was suddenly out of control. She shouted at Xia Lei. ¡°I don¡¯t know! Don¡¯t ask anymore! Help me to get out from here! Give me ten million dors!¡±
¡°If I refuse to do so?¡± Xia Lei said.
Ning Jing loosened her grip and took a few steps back. Tears welled up in her eyes, then the tears began to stream down her face.
¡°I¡¯m sorry. Don¡¯t cry, I¡¯m just trying to figure things out,¡± Xia Lei exined. ¡°I think you know that your identity is special as you are part of the expert group. You are undergoing treatment here and there are many restrictions to adhere to. If you want to be discharged, you¡¯ll need to go through a veryplicated procedure. It¡¯s pointless for me to sign your discharge consent. Besides, I need to know what I¡¯m giving you the money for. So, tell me, why do you need so much money?¡±
Ning Jing held her head and crouched on the floor. She tugged her head in agony. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t know! My head hurts. There is a voice who keeps telling me what to do. If I don¡¯t leave soon, I¡¯ll die. I don¡¯t want to die...I don¡¯t want to die!¡±
She was terrified.
Xia Lei could not remain hisposure anymore. He approached Ning Jing, pulled her up and clutched her shoulder with both of his hands. He asked nervously. ¡°You mentioned that you heard a voice, what¡¯s going on? What did the voice say to you?¡±
¡°Leave here, ten million dors, New Delhi in India.¡± Ning Jing spat out all terms in confusion.
¡°Is the voice threatening you?¡±
Ning Jing nodded. She seemed scared.
¡°How did it threaten you? What did it say?¡±
¡°If it wants me to die, I will die.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°What did you say? What do you mean?¡±
Ning Jing suddenly pushed Xia Lei off and took two steps back. ¡°If it says I will die, my heart will stop beating. It was like that yesterday. When I heard it call for me to die, I fell onto the ground and my heart stopped beating. I felt like I¡¯d died, but my heart started beating after a minute.¡± As soon as she finished her sentence, she suddenly closed her eyes and fell onto the ground.
¡°Ning Jing!¡± Xia Lei pounced upon her and held her by her waist, which prevented her from falling on the ground.
Ning Jing opened her eyes. ¡°I want to show you how it happened.¡±
Upon hearing that, sadness hit Xia Lei hard and he was about to cry. She was a poor woman.
Ning Jing rested in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. Once again the tears were streaming down her face. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die. Please get me out here and give me ten million dors, okay?¡±
A tear rolled down from Xia Lei¡¯s face and fell on Ning Jing¡¯s cheek.
It was clear that she hadn¡¯t recovered. She had deceived the nurses and Wei Guanyi. This was the real her.
Should he get her out of this half-military administered sanatorium and give her ten million dors?
Xia Lei was unable to make a decision. Who would trust a patient in this state? It was difficult to let her out of here. It was even riskier to let her go to New Delhi of India with the ten million dors. How could he help here in such a situation?
However, another thing was troubling him. It was the voice that had been mentioned by Ning Jing.
He couldn¡¯t forget Ning Jing¡¯s prophet role during the operation in Italy. If it wasn¡¯t for her painting, he wouldn¡¯t have found out the password and clues of entering the underground maze from Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s art, Mona Lisa.
Just when he was still contemting in agony, Ning Jing suddenly let out a loud belch before she lost all her strength.
¡°Ning Jing? Ning Jing?¡± Xia Lei called out her name loudly and anxiously.
She didn¡¯t respond to him.
Xia Lei put his hand in front of her nostrils. It was at that moment he was shocked as if he was struck by lightning. She wasn¡¯t breathing!
¡°Ning Jing! Ning Jing!¡± Xia Lei immediately panicked. Heid Ning Jing on the ground then ced his ovepping hand on the centre of her sternum and delivered chestpressions.
¡°Wake up! Don¡¯t scare me like that!¡±
His mind was a mess, forgetting that he was in a hospital. The only thing he had in mind was to resuscitate her.
Chestpressions, artificial breathing, everything that he did didn¡¯t make here back alive.
Xia Lei finally snapped back to his senses after thirty seconds. He got up from the ground and reached out to the pager beside the bed. He grabbed the pagers and shouted. ¡°Ning Jing is dying, please save her! Quick!¡±
There was no response from the pager.
¡°Speak damn it!¡± Xia Lei shouted at the pager. It was at that time he found out that the wire to the pagers had been cut. He was stunned, who would cut off the wire of the pagers?
¡°Cough!¡± The sound of cough came from behind.
Xia Lei turned his head around. He was stunned by what he saw.
Ning Jing propped herself up from the ground slowly with her arms. She couldn¡¯t stop coughing, tears were running down from her cheek.
The door to the ward was suddenly thrown open, Wei Guanyi and a nurse came barging in.
¡°Mister Xia, what happened?¡± Wei Guanyi looked at Xia Lei and Ning Jing with shock.
Xia Lei put down the pager. ¡°Uh, nothing. You guys may leave, I need to talk to Ning Jing.¡±
¡°Really? Nothing happened?¡± Wei Guanyi was curious.
¡°Nothing, please leave,¡± said Xia Lei.
Wei Guanyi left with the nurse.
Ning Jing finally got her breath back. ¡°Do you believe me now? I don¡¯t want to go through it again, please help me.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, he then pulled out his phone to dial a number.
¡°I have been expecting your call. Alright, tell me, what¡¯s the bad news?¡± Qin Xiang was the recipient.
¡°Help me with something.¡±
¡°You want me to steal something?¡±
¡°No, I need you to kidnap someone,¡± said Xia Lei.
Chapter 804 - Kidnapping
¡°Mister Xia, a toast to you.¡± Wei Guanyi held the wine ss with both hands and gave a toast to Xia Lei in an upscale Chinese restaurant.
Xia Lei had a drink and started the conversation. ¡°Doctor Wei, I don¡¯t think Doctor Ning has fully recovered. She seems mentally unstable. What do you think?¡±
¡°I think so too. Her examination results were normal. However, there was something off about her, I just can¡¯t describe it. Anyways, I¡¯ll observe her for the time being,¡± said Wei Guanyi.
¡°I suggest that she undergo continuous observation and treatment. We shouldn¡¯t let her be discharged just yet. She must have asked to be discharged, right?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, she did, but I told her it wasn¡¯t my decision to make.¡±
¡°It¡¯s best to not discharge her. I¡¯m worried about her condition after I met her yesterday. She¡¯d be better off doing the treatment.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡± A smile appeared on Wei Guanyi¡¯s face. Xia Lei paid him arge amount of money to continue treating Ning Jing. It was obvious that he didn¡¯t want Ning Jing to leave the hospital.
At this moment, Wei Guanyi¡¯s phone rang.
¡°Excuse me, Mister Xia.¡± Wei Guanyi headed towards the exit of the room but he didn¡¯t leave. Instead, he stayed beside the door and answered his phone.
Xia Lei watched Wei Guanyi as he picked up the phone.
Wei Guanyi let out a shout three seconds after he picked up the call. ¡°What? Doctor Ning...disappeared?¡±
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be right back!¡± We Guanyi hung up the phone and faced Xia Lei. ¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯m sorry. I just received a call from the nurse. She mentioned that Doctor Ning is missing. I¡¯ll need to head back to the hospital now.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°Disappeared? What¡¯s going on? Wasn¡¯t she there when we left?¡±
¡°Yes, it¡¯s weird. How could a person disappear just like this?¡±
¡°Do you need me toe with you?¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll need to head back there immediately.¡± He didn¡¯t inform the hospital that he had received the extra sry from Xia Lei. If he headed back to the hospital with Xia Lei in such a condition, he was worried that it would raise the suspicion of the heads.
¡°Alright, just give me a call if you need anything,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course.¡± Wei Guanyi left the room.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang.
Xia Lei looked at his phone and picked up. ¡°Did you leave anything there?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t trust me?¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s voice rang.
¡°Where are you? Let me know your location through Baidu. I¡¯lle right away,¡± said Xia Lei.
After one minute, Xia Lei got hold of their location through his mobile phone. He paid for the meal, left the restaurant and headed towards the suburb. He stopped by a small-scale hotel in the suburb.
Qin Xiang, who was waiting by the door greeted him. ¡°I booked a room. Follow me.¡±
¡°How did you get her out of there?¡± Xia Lei was curious about the process.
Qin Xiang exined it to Xia Lei as he walked. ¡°I got myself a nursing attire, pretended to be the nurse and slipped into her room. After that, I brought her out of the room and hid her inside a stic bucket for medical waste. Then, I left the hospital from the back door with the stic bucket.¡±
¡°No one stopped you?¡±
¡°Who would doubt a beauty like me?¡± Qin Xiang replied with a poker face.
Xia Lei was about tough but when he thought of Ning Jing, he stopped.
Qin Xiang brought him to the room. ¡°I brought her some clothes. She was dirty, so I asked her to take a bath before changing her clothes. She¡¯s almost finished now. You may go in and I¡¯ll be on the lookout for you.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes. ¡°Lookout? I¡¯m not doing anything bad, why should you look out?¡±
Qin Xiang didn¡¯t bother to argue with Xia Lei. Instead, he opened the door for him.
Xia Lei walked into the room.
Qin Xiang closed the door.
Ning Jing just got out of the bathroom as the door closed. She was wiping her wet hair with a towel. The towel was supposed to be covering her body. However, she was using it to wipe her hair which meant that her body was on disy.
She got thinner. However, fat remained in the right ce. For example, on her breasts and her buttocks.
Their eyes met, Ning Jing let out a scream and anxiously covered her important body parts with the towel.
Xia Lei turned around awkwardly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know you were still in the shower.¡±
¡°It...It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Ning Jing¡¯s voice was shaky.
¡°I¡¯ll wait for you outside,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No need, you can just stand right there. I¡¯ll get it done in no time,¡± said Ning Jing.
The sound of clothes rustling came from behind.
Ning Jing¡¯s body appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. She was thin and skinny, but her breasts and buttock were plump. However, the only thoughts he harboured for her were ones of pity. She was probably the most ill-fated woman he had ever met. Her parents treated her as merchandise. They didn¡¯t even care about her feelings and happiness. It wasn¡¯t long after she freed herself from the control of her parents and lived independently, she went crazy due to the Alloy X Project. And now, she was stuck in such a weird situation. How could anyone not pity her?
¡°I¡¯m done.¡± After a few minutes, Ning Jing¡¯s voice rang.
Xia Lei turned around to face her.
Ning Jing was wearing the clothes bought by Qin Xiang. It was a pair of light blue skinny jeans and a white sweater. Apart from that, she was wearing a pair of New Bnce¡¯s sneakers. Her outfit gave off a youthful aura.
Ning Jing let out a shy smile. ¡°Do I look okay?¡±
Xia Lei smiled in response. ¡°You look beautiful.¡±
Ning Jing was silent. She looked at Xia Lei affectionately.
Xia Lei felt like he was face to face with the real Ning Jing. He wasn¡¯t sure about the reason but he felt that the Ning Jing he was facing now was the real her. A question appeared in the mind of Xia Lei. Did she recover?
They were staring at each other without saying anything.
Finally, Xia Lei was the one who broke the silence. He smiled and said, ¡°Why¡¯re you looking at me like that?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Ning Jing shook her head. ¡°I feel like I haven¡¯t seen you for a long time. I was just too happy to see you.¡±
Xia Lei was about to reply to her with ¡®Didn¡¯t we just met in the evening?¡¯, but when he saw the smile on her face, he decided to keep it in. He was just standing there, allowing her to look at him.
¡°Thank you.¡± Ning Jing¡¯s voice was tender and soft.
¡°Thank me for?¡±
¡°You helped me to get out from there. I hated that ce. I felt like I was going to go insane.¡±
As he heard the word ¡®insane¡¯ from her, sadness hit him hard.
¡°Give me money, ten million dors. I want to go to India.¡± Ning Jing¡¯s voice was suddenly sturdy, her expression also changed.
¡°What?¡±
¡°Give me, give me. I don¡¯t want to listen to that voice anymore!¡± Ning Jing seemed anxious.
¡°Did you hear that voice again?¡± Xia Lei grabbed on her hand. ¡°What did it say?¡±
Ning Jing shook off Xia Lei¡¯s hand. Then, she suddenly lifted her sweater and exposed her breasts.
¡°Give me the money. You can do anything to me. Do you want me? I¡¯ll give you everything you want.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart hurts as if it was pricked by a needle.
Ning Jing reached for the belt on her jeans. She seemed more anxious and worried than anything.
Xia Lei stopped her immediately. ¡°I¡¯ll give you ten million dors. Stop being like that.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Ning Jing stopped taking off her jeans and smiled. ¡°Thank you, you are a good person.¡±
Xia Lei took out his wallet and drew a ck credit card from it. Then, he handed it to Ning Jing. ¡°Although this card was issued by the domestic bank, the withdrawal limit is ten million dors. The consumption limit is twenty million dors. You can withdraw the money at their branch in New Delhi. I¡¯ll call ahead to ensure they are ready.¡±
Ning Jing clutched the card firmly in her hand as if she was worried that Xia Lei would take it back.
Xia Lei took out a pile of American dors from his wallet. ¡°This should be enough for your trip to New Delhi. If you need anything else, let me know.¡±
¡° I just need the money. I have to leave now and I¡¯ll be back.¡± Ning Jing was leaving.
Xia Lei kept silenced and watched her as she left.
Ning Jing turned around to take a nce at Xia Lei and left the room.
¡°Miss Ning, where are you going?¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s voice rang.
Ning Jing didn¡¯t reply to her. She left in a hurry while keeping her head down.
Qin Xiang shrugged and peeped in at the door. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t reply to her either. He pulled out his satellite phone and dialled a number. Then, he spoke into the phone. ¡°She just left, please carry out the n.¡±
¡°Roger that, boss.¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s voice rang.
¡°Protect her. Don¡¯t let anything happen to her.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. India is my hometown. I¡¯ll take care of her.¡±
¡°Let me know immediately if anything happens.¡±
¡°Roger that. I saw her. I¡¯ll hang up now.¡± Anjum Khan ended the call.
Xia Lei kept the satellite phone and walked towards the windows. As he drew the curtains, he saw Ning Jing, who had just got out of the hotel and was waiting beside the road. She looked at the junction of the road anxiously. Her hair fluttered amid the night breeze, it was a peaceful and refreshing scenery. Upon seeing her like this, it was impossible to rte to her with all the weird stuff.
¡°Why is she going to India? Why would she want the money?¡± These two questions lingered in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
A cab stopped in front of Ning Jing. She opened the door and got on it. Then, the cab headed towards the city.
Shortly after, an engine roared from the junction. The driver was wearing a helmet, waving his hand at Xia Lei, then he hit the throttle and followed after the cab.
Xia Lei averted his gaze from the windows and turned around to look at Qin Xiang. ¡°Sometimes, I choose to hide the truth from you to protect you, I hope you¡¯ll understand me.¡±
Qin Xiangughed. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. You don¡¯t need to tell me everything, I would do anything you want for you.¡±
Xia Lei patted on his shoulder as a reply. ¡°Let¡¯s head back.¡±
¡°What about this room?¡±
¡°You can stay if you want. I¡¯m heading back,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang rolled his eyes. ¡°What a waste.¡±
Chapter 805 - Where is She Going?
The sun rose in the east with a breathtaking disy of radiant colours.
Xia Lei stood at the window of his office watching the sunrise. His mind was upied by the development of the Thunder Horse Military Factory, the research of the new materials, the FA organizations potential revenge, unusual actions from the Hattori family and the Alloy X Project. These things washed over him like a tsunami. It was only a matter of time before he drowned.
The workers were trickling out from their dormitory to head towards the workshop.
The Sweeper had begun its mass production. All staff under the Thunder Horse Organization were very busy preparing the first batch of stock before they received their first order.
Sylvia and Annina came in through the gate of the factory. Instead of heading towards the administrative building, they went straight to the chariot workshop. Since the Sweeper was already well on its way to mass production, they did not need to focus their attention there any longer. Thus, Sylvia and Annina decided to focus on other technologies. They had shifted their attention towards the first production of the tank by the organization. At the same time, they needed to n for the spaceunch system. It was essential to have a perfect product structure to develop the organization into something like Rheinmetall AG and Lockheed Martin Corp.
As Sylvia and Annina passed by the building, they looked up into Xia Lei¡¯s office. However, they didn¡¯t find Xia Lei who stood at the window due to their viewing angles. So they did not stop and decided to head straight toward the workshop.
Xia Lei watched the two German workaholics as they left while thinking, ¡°They¡¯re putting so much effort into the organization. I must work harder to find a way to integrate AI technology into the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s production system.¡±
As he thought about it, four women came into sight. It was the Grey and Russo sisters. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but frown when he caught sight of them. ¡°What are they doing here? Have they gotten in touch with the Knights Hospitaller headquarters?¡±
The Grey sisters were both d in ck office uniforms, showing their curvy bodies and long legs. Both of them had blond hair and deep blue eyes exuding a very seductive vibe. On the other hand, the Russo sisters were wearing white office uniforms. They were well-shaped with curvy bodies and long, slender legs. Their butts were bouncing while walking, which was sexy as hell.
They were heading towards the office. A lot of staff was peeking at them, some even whistled. Despite these actions, four of them didn¡¯t bother to spare them a nce.
¡°They changed their style? What¡¯s going on?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly upon seeing them. He spent three million dors to save them but they didn¡¯t appreciate it. It was hard not to be salty.
¡°Director Xia, I¡¯ve made you a cup of oolong tea,¡± said Qing Caiyue while cing the tea on the table.
¡°Alright, thank you.¡± Xia Lei turned around to face Qing Caiyue. ¡°Please make four more cups for me. With the cheapest tea.¡±
¡°Those four nasty people again?¡± asked Qing Caiyue.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s them. Now, go ahead.¡±
Just as Qing Caiyue finished brewing the tea, the Grey and Russo sisters barged into the office. Xia Lei sent Qing Caiyue away by asking her to check on the workshop before he greeted the fourdies. ¡°Morning,dies. I¡¯ve asked my secretary to make you guys the best tea.¡±
¡°We¡¯re not tea people,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei waved his hands. ¡°Alright then, what can I do for you?¡±
Giovanna took out a newptop from her bag and lifted the screen.
Rosa closed the door of the office.
Upon seeing the door closed, Giovanna started theptop. A video interface popped out on the screen.
In the video, there was a bald old man sitting by the office table. Behind him was a wall, which hung four paintings, which turned out to be the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. One of the paintings depicted a horseman who carried a sword and rode a red horse, which represented war. He was wearing a suit of silver armour and holding a huge sword in a dignified manner.
Xia Lei fixed his gaze on the Horseman that rode the red horse. He was attracted by the silver armour on the Horseman. That was a century style armour equipped with a helm, a pauldron, a breastte, a ckart, a tasset, a cuisse, a poleyn, a greave and a sabaton, covering its user from head to toe. The helm was equipped with a face shield that resembled a welder¡¯s shield. If the shield was put down, the Horseman on the red horse would be a real Mighty Knight.
The armour of the other three Horsemen was different. Their armour was made of cloth and leather. Although they looked imposing, the style was more casual and it was more like an armour depicted from imagination. Xia Lei was exhrated by the discovery. He thought, ¡°Among four Horsemen, three of them were wearing casual armour probably an assumption by the painter. The one on the red horse is the only one who¡¯s wearing a full-fledged armour withplicated structure and special designs. Could it have been drawn by the painter with a reference to the real thing? If that¡¯s the case, is that the armour I am after?¡±
He had the chance to look at the appearance of the armour before entering the pce, which was undoubtedly a bonus for him.
¡°Well...¡± The old man in the video cleared his throat and continued. ¡°Mister Xia, nice to meet you. I¡¯m the leader of Knights Hospitaller, Walton.¡±
¡°Oh, Mister Walton. It¡¯s an honour to have this video call with you.¡± Xia Lei was being polite, but he thought to himself, ¡°The real leader of Knights Hospitaller, Angelo didn¡¯t show up. Instead, he sent a powerless spiritual leader to talk to me. Do they really believe that I know nothing?¡±
The Grey and Russo sisters, who were standing behind Xia Lei, bowed to Walton.
Walton replied with a nod and asked, ¡°Mister Xia, are you satisfied with the operation in Siberia?¡±
Xia Lei kept silenced for a while before he spoke. ¡°Although the results were satisfying, the truth is I¡¯m not satisfied.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°I paid you fifty million dors and provided you with a lot of weaponry for you to execute the operation. I ended up doing most of the work myself. I lost six allies and I nearly lost my life during the battle with Dark Mona. How would I be satisfied?¡±
¡°Hahaha, you should be content,¡± said Walton. ¡°The result is more important than the process, just focus on that.¡±
Xia Lei replied calmly, ¡°I didn¡¯t pay that much just to take out Dark Mona. You¡¯ll have to find out and tell me the whereabouts of FA¡¯s headquarters and destroy it.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, it isn¡¯t easy. It took so much effort to destroy the training base of the FA, it would be much difficult to destroy the headquarters. Can you just...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted Walton. ¡°I don¡¯t care about the process. The result is more important than the process. Isn¡¯t that what you just told me?¡±
Walton frowned upon hearing this. He wasn¡¯t happy with how Xia Lei used his words against him but he couldn¡¯t refute it either. Fifty million dors and advanced weaponry from Thunder Horse Organizations, many mercenaries and the armed groups would have been tempted by this offer.
¡°Mister Walton, if you don¡¯t want to pay the price or intend to shift the loss to me, it will be very difficult for you to achieve your goals. We have a prior agreement and the agreement will not be changed.¡± Xia Lei paused for a while before he continued, ¡°You¡¯re not trying to convince me in modifying the agreement in this video call, right?¡±
Walton initially had that intention in mind but immediately dismissed it when he saw how strong Xia Lei¡¯s reactions were. ¡°No, no, no, Mister Xia, I¡¯m on this video call with you to tell you two things.¡±
¡°Please go ahead.¡±
¡°Firstly, Arthur¡¯s whereabouts are unknown and we do not know whether he¡¯s dead or alive. Thus, we decided to rece him with Giovanna. She¡¯ll stay in China and act as the liaison between you and us. Please take good care of them.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Xia Lei turned around to take a nce at the four women.
Four women held their heads up and pretended not to look at him.
¡°Another thing is although we¡¯ve sessfully destroyed FA¡¯s training base, we haven¡¯t found the headquarters. Our members from the information system are already working on this. We¡¯ll get back to you through Giovanna once we have the results. It would take around a month and in the meantime, keep our relic safe. Don¡¯t use it for experiments.¡±
¡°I won¡¯t.¡± The previous experiment appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He had cut a small piece of silver metal. Would that small piece affect the performance of the protective suit?
¡°That¡¯s it. Goodbye, Mister Xia.¡±
¡°Goodbye, Mister Walton.¡±
As Walton disappeared from the interface, Giovanna approached to shut down her MackBook and talked to Xia Lei. ¡°Mister Xia, do you understand now?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I understand. His first purpose was to convince me to make concessions, but clearly, I wasn¡¯t that easy to deal with. Thus, he decided against it. His second purpose was to tell me that you¡¯ve been promoted and you¡¯ve reced Arthur as the Commander. I¡¯m not sure how much power you hold, but you look happy. Another thing is he wants to warn me to not touch the relic and that I¡¯ll be under your surveince from now. Am I right?¡±
Giovanna was stunned. She didn¡¯t expect that Xia Lei had analysed the situation thoroughly and exined it to them. Thus, she averted his gaze.
Xia Lei continued calmly, ¡°There¡¯s something I like to talk to you about too.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± asked Giovanna.
¡°I paid three million dors to save you from the mercenaries and the armed personnel in Siberia. They wanted to rape and murder you. My condition of saving you all is to be my knight. However, you¡¯re clearly not acting it right now. When are you going to pay me back?¡± said Xia Lei.
The four women looked at each other.
¡°Oh, I left my clothes in your washing machine, I need to head back to get it out.¡± Giovanna took her MackBook and left.
¡°I¡¯m going back to hang theundry,¡± said Rosa.
Although Ste and Theresa didn¡¯t say anything regarding theirundry, they left before Giovanna and Rosa did.
As soon as the four women left, Xia Lei pulled out his satellite phone.
¡°Where is she now?¡±
¡°She just arrived in New Delhi. She seems nervous because she¡¯s unfamiliar with her surroundings.¡± Anjum Khan responded.
¡°Watch her closely. Don¡¯t lose her.¡±
¡°Boss, don¡¯t worry. This is my turf. I¡¯ve got my men involved. I¡¯m not going to lose her.¡±
¡°Alright, keep in touch.¡±
¡°She¡¯s in a cab now. The driver is one of my men. I have to follow her.¡± Anjum Khan hung up the phone.
Where is she going?
Xia Lei was getting more and more curious as the situation progressed.
Chapter 806 - Misty Mystery
An hourter, Xia Lei received a phone call from Anjum Khan.
¡°She went into a bank and got in touch with a man,¡± said Anjum Khan.
¡°A man?¡± Xia Lei was curious. ¡°What does he look like?¡±
¡°He¡¯s in his fifties, balding and wears sses. He seems like a professor or researcher. You know, people like that seem kind of neurotic.¡±
¡°Do you think so?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what it feels like, a little neurotic,¡± said Anjum Khan.
Xia Lei was more than curious. The answer raised his suspicion. Could he be hearing voices like Ning Jing?
¡°They went into the VIP room. I can¡¯t get in.¡±
¡°Stay outside then. Let me know when shees out,¡± said Xia Lei.
Anjum Khan hung up the phone.
Ning Jing was probably going in to withdraw the ten million dors. However, she was probably going to transfer it to another ount. Ten million dors was not a small amount. If she were to withdraw it in cash, it would have to be stored in crates.
¡°Which ount would she transfer the money to?¡± Xia Lei was extremely concerned about his money. He was worried that the money would be missing just like that. He was also worried about Ning Jing. She was such a timid girl and she brought arge amount of money to India alone. What if the old man was a bad guy?
He was regretting not following her there. If he was in the bank, he could have entered the VIP room with her and gained more information regarding her trip to India. Although Anjum Khan was there, he could not enter the VIP room.
After waiting anxiously for half an hour, Anjum Khan called again.
¡°Boss, she¡¯s leaving the bank with the old man. Shall I arrest the old man for questioning?¡± asked Anjum Khan.
Xia Lei thought for a moment before he replied, ¡°No, follow them. If they head to different ways, ask someone else to follow that old man. I want to know his identity.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯m on their tails. They got in a car. It looks like the old man¡¯s car.¡±
¡°Follow them,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll call you back if there¡¯s something new.¡± Anjum Khan hung up the phone.
It was a long waiting process.
Xia Lei went back to pondering about integrating AI into hispany. However, he couldn¡¯t stay focused with Ning Jing in his mind. The pictures she had painted, and the words she had spoken. He couldn¡¯t focus on the research n in this state. But that gave him an idea.
¡°I can¡¯t do everything myself. The Thunder Horse Organization is developing. The staff grow in numbers as the demand rises. If I insist on handling everything alone, I¡¯ll die before I can finish all the tasks. It¡¯s time to hunt for talents from the market.¡± The idea was growing in his mind. Shortly after, he asked Qing Caiyue to enter his room.
¡°Director Xia, is there anything I can do for you?¡± She put on her charming smile while asking.
Her n of seducing Xia Lei in France was nearpletion, but it eventually amounted to nothing. After her return from France, she decided to try again. Her outfit was a clear indication of that. The weather was cold in the North during this period. However, she was wearing a summer office uniform and a short skirt. The skirt was very short, which could only cover up to her hips. The belt of the suspender stockings that was supposed to be hiding beneath the skirt could be seen by Xia Lei. Three buttons of her shirt were undone. Herrge and plump bosom was stretching the shirt wide, showing her breasts. At least two-thirds of her bosom was exposed to the air. No one could have resisted such a sexy figure.
Xia Lei was not a person who could control his willpower in this area. However, he had many women by his side and it was not her time.
¡°Caiyue, whichpany did I recruit you from?¡± Xia Lei stared at her bottom while asking.
Qing Caiyue was anxious upon hearing this. ¡°Director Xia, why would you like to know?¡±
¡°If you¡¯re familiar with thatpany, can you contact them for me? I would like to recruit more talents for our organization,¡± said Xia Lei.
Upon hearing the answer, Qing Caiyue breathed a sigh of relief. She put on a sweet smile. ¡°Oh, that is a recruitment agency. They¡¯re called the Floor Talent Corporation. I have met with their CEO, Miss Wu, a few times in the past. I have her contact. Director Xia, what talents do you need?¡±
¡°Artificial intelligence.¡± Xia Lei paused for a while before he continued, ¡°I¡¯m mainly looking for talents in the field of artificial intelligence. I would also like to recruit some electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and software engineers. Ask thepany to recruit those talents for us.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure people would be attracted to our organization. Director Xia, you¡¯re the reason I¡¯m here now,¡± said Qing Caiyue.
¡°You¡¯re still good at sweet-talking.¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Alright, go ahead. I¡¯ll leave it to you. Please settle this as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get in touch with Miss Wu right away.¡± Qing Caiyue turned around. Just when Xia Lei thought she was going to leave, the folder on her hands dropped to the floor. She bent over to pick up the documents on the floor. As she bent, her short skirt moved upwards, which revealed half of her hips. The redce hiding beneath the skirt was also exposed. Thece was small, delicate and was ready to snap at any time.
Xia Lei¡¯s throat got dry suddenly. He had to swallow a mouthful of water to soothe his throat. When he thought it was over, the alluring woman was still bent over picking up the papers. A few pieces of paper cost her more than thirty seconds. During these periods, her hips dangled naughtily in front of Xia Lei. The redce was hanging around as if the Takumi Fujiwara in the film ¡°Initial D¡±. It¡¯s exciting to watch but you could overturn it at any time.
¡°Ahem.¡± Xia Lei let out an embarrassed cough.
Qing Caiyue picked up thest document and straightened her slim waist. She turned around to look at Xia Lei with her watery eyes as if she was sending a signal.
Xia Lei pretended to not see it. He lowered his head to look at Sylvia¡¯s drawing.
Qing Caiyue left with disappointment.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Xia Lei picked up the phone.
¡°Boss, I¡¯m at the entrance of a biotechpany. She went into the building with the old man a while ago,¡± said Anjum Khan.
¡°A biotechpany?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
¡°Yea it caught me off guard as well. The is a biotechpany named Might Biotechnology Corporation, it seemsrge.¡±
¡°Can you get in?¡±
¡°There are guards at the door. There must be a lot of surveince cameras inside the building. I need some time and professional helper,¡± said Anjum Khan.
Xia Lei¡¯s brow furrowed. Anjum Khan was the sharpshooter of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team but he didn¡¯t have the hacking skills to hack into their surveince system easily like Amanda. It would be difficult for Anjum Khan to sneak into the building without getting noticed by the people in there.
¡°For the time being, please ask some of your men to monitor every exit of thepany. I¡¯lle right away,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You want toe over?¡± Anjum Khan was shocked. ¡°But it¡¯s dangerous, you¡¯re not like her.¡±
No one would do anything to Ning Jing. However, Xia Lei was different. if hended on India, he might face pressure from the CIA, the Hattori family, the FA Organization, and the Knights Hospitaller. Each one of these rivals was stronger than the other, and neither of them was easy to deal with.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, boss. Although it¡¯s a bit of hassle, I can still handle it,¡± said Anjum Khan. ¡°India is a corrupt county. I¡¯ll try to enter the building by spending a few bucks. If it doesn¡¯t work, I¡¯ll sneak in during the night.¡±
¡°Alright, go ahead. Spend however much you need.¡± Xia Lei suppressed himself from going to India.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll return with good news.¡± Anjum Khan hung up the phone.
After hanging up, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t stop himself from walking around the office with the satellite phone on his hands. His mind was running with thoughts, analysing the current situation with the information he got.
Ning Jing had never gone to India. She wouldn¡¯t have known anyone from there. However, the first person she met in India was a man she had never seen or even known, what was going on?
¡°Where did the ten million dors go?¡±
¡°What did she buy with the ten million dors?
¡°What kind ofpany is Might Biotech?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was flooded with questions. Suddenly, something popped into his mind when he was contemting thest question. He walked to his desk and opened hisputer. Then, he entered ¡®India Might Biotech¡¯ into the search box of Baidu¡¯s search engine.
The page was flooded with information regarding thepany.
It was a biological research and biopharmaceuticalpany. Thispany also produced medical instruments. It had arge share in the biopharmaceutical market of India. Their assets were about fifty billion Indian rupees, which was equivalent to five billion Chinese dors. Although it wasn¡¯t as valuable as the Thunder Horse Organization, it was still argepany. A five billion-dorpany would be consideredrge in India.
Thepany produced a wide range of drugs used by doctors and general practitioners.
The building of thepany showed up in Baidu¡¯s search results. It was a thirty-storey modern building.
Xia Lei was attracted by one of the titles from the page.
The CEO of the Might Biotech was an old man known as Nahar, a biotechnologist. He had published papers regarding theology and biotechnology during his early years. However, the content of the papers was too bizarre. It was a joke in the science industry back then. After that, he had a string of sess and became one of the richest people in India. It was rumoured that he used this money to buy humans for experimentation. He was investigated but nothing was found.
There was a photo in this content, in which the photo was showing a bald old man. He had a weird-looking eye, which looked kind of neurotic. A name was shown under the picture. Nahar.
Xia Lei was stunned. Wasn¡¯t this the old man Anjum Khan was talking about?
Chapter 807 - Female Corpse and Container
It was a day of worry and anxiety for Xia Lei.
Anjum Khan bribed the security guards of the biotechpany. He had sessfully got in thepany but he was restricted to the lower-level areas. He was only able to ess areas that the guards were able to.
Anjum Khan sent Xia Lei a few photos that he took. A lot of surveince cameras could be seen from the photo. The security guards guarding the higher-level areas were not wearing their uniforms. As identified from the photo, Mighty Biotech was not an ordinary pharmaceuticalpany. It wouldn¡¯t make sense for a regrpany to have this many security guards around.
Xia Lei stayed the night in his office to wait for updates on Anjum Khan¡¯s operation.
¡°If Amanda was alive, it would be much easier.¡± Xia Lei thought of Amanda as he waited for news. Amanda was the hacker in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. All it took was aputer and an inte cable for her to hack into the most secure locations. The death of such a talent was a huge loss to the Chinese Battle Team.
He also thought of Liang Siyao and Long Bing. They had professional hackers working under them but they were all agents from Bureau 101. It was a risk to ask them to support Anjum Khan¡¯s operation.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
The satellite phone that was ced on the desk rang.
Xia Lei¡¯s thought was interrupted. He immediately picked up and asked, ¡°What is the situation now?¡±
Anjum Khan¡¯s voice rang from the satellite phone. ¡°I¡¯m on the thirtieth floor now. I¡¯m currently scaling the building.¡±
Xia Lei could hear the wind blowing when Anjum Khan talked.
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°You climbed thirteen floors with your bare hands?¡±
¡°I¡¯d have taken the elevator if that was an option,¡± said Anjum Khan. He had such a dry sense of humour.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°Be careful. Thispany is not an ordinary organisation. Abort the operation once you face danger. We can think of other ways.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, boss. From what I heard, thispany is indeed abnormal, but it¡¯s not as powerful as you think. Their security guards are all hired from the same securitypany. I can handle them,¡± said Anjum Khan.
¡°Every security guard is hired by the same securitypany? Are you sure?¡±
¡°Some are ex-soldiers, but they are not a threat to me. Oh well, I have to head in now. I¡¯ll contact you soon. Anjum Khan hung up the phone.
Once again, it was a long waiting process.
After ten minutes, Anjum Khan called again.
¡°I¡¯ve knocked out two security guards on the thirtieth floor, and I¡¯ve entered their core area,¡± said Anjum Khan.
¡°Be careful of their surveince.¡± Xia Lei reminded Anjum Khan.
¡°I¡¯m currently in their control room. The two guards that have been knocked unconscious are the guards in this room. Wait...¡±
¡°What did you find?¡± Xia Lei was anxious.
¡°I saw her, Ning Jing. Wait. Let me take a photo for you.¡±
Xia Lei received a few photos from his satellite phone. He was shocked as he saw the photos.
The photos were taken from the surveince cameras. It was a bit blurry but still viewable. The first photo was showing aboratory with a few staff wearing antibacterial clothing. Ning Jing was also in white antibacterial clothing. She stood in front of a metal bed as if waiting for something.
The bald old man, Nahar was also in the photo. There was arge ss container in front of him. The container was filled with red liquid. The liquid was transferred from the wires and pipes that connected to it. A figure, apparently a woman, could be seen in the ss container. She was soaked in the blood-red liquid. However, her face could not be seen.
Thest two photos showed two female corpses. One of them was a blonde western woman. She was tall and well-proportioned, with a muscr body. She was probably a sportswoman. She seemed young, in her mid-twenties. Another corpse was an Asian woman. She was petite with delicate facial features. However, she was not a frail-looking woman. Her muscle density was much bigger than most men. She was very young, around twenty-five years old. Delicate face, with superb muscle definition. She was a Macho Queen in real life.
A Western woman, a sportswoman that could be an athlete. An Asian woman that could have undergone weight training orbat training, with a muscr body. Both of them died at such a young age. Xia Lei was curious upon seeing their corpses. At the same time, he felt sorry for them. After all, they were two beautiful women.
A huge question appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind after looking at the photos. The two women who were in therge ss container and Ning Jing. What was their rtionship?
There must be a connection between them, or else Ning Jing would not have gone there from China.
¡°Boss, have you seen the photo?¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s voice rang.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. ¡°Yea I saw them but I still don¡¯t know what to make of it. How much longer can you stay there?¡±
¡°Around ten minutes,¡± said Anjum Khan. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what to do now. I¡¯m near to theboratory but I¡¯ll be found if I go in. I can knock down everyone in theboratory and get Ning Jing out of there if you want.¡±
Should he get her out?
Xia Lei hesitated.
Xia Lei knew that Anjum Khan had the skills. It would only be too easy. He could instruct him to do so. However, would Ning Jing be willing to do so? It was truly bizarre. She went from China to India, then to appear in aboratory with corpses in a mysterious biotechnology firm. Would she be doing this without reason? He was afraid that if Anjum Khan took her out before he found out the truth, it would lead to an undesirable result.
¡°Boss?¡± Anjum Khan called Xia Lei when he wasn¡¯t replying for a long while.
Xia Lei sorted out his thoughts. ¡°Don¡¯t take her. Leave her there. Copy the surveince footage of theb and give it to me. It¡¯ll be a bonus if you can find out what they are doing there.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll try.¡± Anjum Khan hung up the phone.
Once again, it was a long and anxious waiting process. After half an hour, Xia Lei had the idea of calling Anjum Khan. However, he was afraid that he was sneaking into an office to steal the materials and his phone call would expose him.
¡°I need a hacker. It was easy to find a hacker but it was impossible to let him join the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. Some of the things that I¡¯m doing cannot be exposed. Well, I should learn to be a hacker.¡± This thought popped into Xia Lei¡¯s mind during the waiting process.
He had some software knowledge during his stay in Germany to steal Josef¡¯s intelligentthe technology. Then, during his stay at Rheinmetall AG, he had also learned the knowledge in this area. However, what he learned was rted to electrical engineering and software engineering. He had never learned to be a hacker.
It only took him a few minutes to turn his idea into action. Shortly after, he phoned Long Bing.
¡°Yawn... It¡¯s sote now. What¡¯s the matter?¡± Long Bing answered the phone with anguid voice but warmth and joy could also be heard from the voice.
¡°Are you acquainted with hackers? Knowledgeable ones.¡±
¡°Why do you need the hacker?¡± Long Bing was suddenly sobered.
¡°I¡¯m not asking for a hacker. I want to learn to hack. If there¡¯s a person who can teach me, I¡¯ll be able to grasp on it faster,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh, that¡¯s why you¡¯re asking for a hacker. No problem, I have men who know about hacking,¡± Long Bing said while yawning.
¡°Ask him to bring some books regarding hacking when hees over tomorrow.¡±
¡°Alright... Oh yeah, why are you still up? It¡¯ste now.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t fall asleep.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t tell her about Anjum Khan¡¯s operation.
¡°I can¡¯t sleep after your call. What should I do?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Just rest your eyes. I can¡¯t sleep either, how can I help you?¡±
¡°Oh well, then you may continue with your stuff. Good night.¡± Long Bing hung up the phone.
Doot... Doot... Doot...
Anjum Khan called as soon as Xia Lei hung up the phone.
¡°Boss, I¡¯ve left.¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s voice rang.
¡°What took you so long?¡±
¡°I snuck into an office. I realised that it was the office of the CEO, Nahar when I saw the photo and the name tag on his desk. I¡¯ve got the materials you want.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great. Please send it to me immediately. If it¡¯s in paper form, please take pictures and send it to me.¡± Xia Lei was impatient.
¡°There¡¯s too much. I need aputer to do so. There is aputer in Nahar¡¯s office but I¡¯m afraid you would be investigated if I used it,¡± said Anjum Khan.
¡°You handled it well.¡±
¡°Boss, are you sure you don¡¯t want me to extract her? I¡¯m getting very weird vibes from the ce,¡± said Anjum Khan.
¡°No need, send the materials to me and continue to monitor thepany. Let me know if shees out. If Nahares out, try to approach him and set up a bug on him,¡± Xia Lei instructed Anjum Khan.
¡°I got it.¡± Anjum Khan hung up the phone.
Once again, he had to wait. However, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t anxious anymore. He felt closer to the truth. He might be able to piece the puzzle together once he received the material.
Chapter 808 - Reincarnation
Anjum Khan sent Xia Lei the documents half an hourter. One nce through it had Xia Lei glue his ass back to his seat.
Might Biotechnology Corporation had a secret research project titled ¡®Reincarnation¡¯.
Reincarnation was an aspect of Buddhism. When people die, their souls would exist in six realms, which were the higher realms of gods, humans and demi-gods and the lower realms of the animals, hungry ghosts and hell beings. It was their concept of the afterlife.
Reincarnation was a beautiful concept, it gave hope and taught its followers to do good. However, the sad truth was that nothing lives on after one¡¯s death. There was no guarantee of life after death. A majority of people understood that, but Nahar was obviously not among them. The man was such a firm believer of the Buddhist Reincarnation concept that he even turned it into a scientific research project. Other than that, this project wasn¡¯t a recent one, it had already started right after the sess of Nahar¡¯s business. It already had fifteen years of history!
The experiment required human subjects. In its earlier phase, Nahar used to experiment on children from the lower caste. The Indian police had investigated him after his shady experiment was exposed but the case was flimsy and had no sufficient evidence. From his journals about the experiment, Nahar had repeated it many times since then by recing his living subjects with freshly dead corpses.
The two female bodies shown on screen by Anjum Khan were undoubtedly materials to Nahar¡¯s Reincarnation Project. Before that, Xia Lei was perplexed as to why there were female corpses in theboratory. But it suddenly made sense. He now understood the purpose of this project. Nahar was aiming to revive the dead through technology and forgo the six realms of reincarnation to remain on Earth.
Xia Lei found out through Anjum Khan¡¯s document that though this project had run its course for about fifteen years with immense funds and effort from Nahar, the man had never managed to get a single sessful case.
¡°Trees wither and people will grow old then die. It has always been Nature¡¯sw and the rhythm of life. How could a measly human fight against that? Even our and the universe will meet its total destruction someday. Jeez, the man has strong foundations in biology yet he¡¯s trying to use technology to raise the dead? What a joke.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but shake his head as he read thest line.
Flipping to the very end of the document, a picture came to sight. Xia Lei¡¯s heart went still. He couldn¡¯t believe his own eyes.
The picture on the screen had Gu Kewen in it!
Her skin was pale, eyes shut in serenity. The corner of her lips even had that faint smile she had when she died. It looked as if she had merely fallen asleep. Her body was still d in the blood-stained winter battle attire from theirst encounter. Those murky stains reminded Xia Lei that she was no longer in this world anymore.
After a few minutes, Xia Lei finally snapped back to reality. He muttered to himself, ¡°How... Why is she involved in Might Biotech¡¯s Reincarnation Project?¡±
After the battle in West province Dawang, Chinese authorities hadn¡¯t disposed of the bodies immediately to wait for diplomatic involvement. The Americans and Indians had vehemently declined the ims that these were their men. With that, the bodies were left on the snowy mountain for a while but Xia Lei didn¡¯t ask about what happenedter on. With a turn of events, a picture of Gu Kewen¡¯s body had made its appearance in the Reincarnation Project of an Indian biotechnology firm.
Since Nahar¡¯s folder contained Gu Kewen¡¯s picture, Xia Lei didn¡¯t need to investigate on how her body was taken care of. No matter what had happened during that time, nothing will change the fact that Gu Kewen¡¯s body was already in the hands of Might Biotech!
Abruptly, Xia Lei thought of that gigantic ss container. He thought of that woman soaked within its blood-red fluid. Could she be Gu Kewen?
Ning Jing, the voice in Ning Jing¡¯s head that couldmand her death at will. Gu Kewen. Reincarnation Project. Ten million USD...
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was filled to the brim by these thoughts. He felt as if there was an invisible connection between all of them but he just couldn¡¯t find it yet.
¡°If Gu Kewen was in the container, could Nahar be aiming to revive her through this project? How is he going to achieve that despite not having a sessful case in fifteen years? Could the ten million USD Ning Jing requested be funding this project? If that was true, why would Ning Jing ask me for that sum of money to revive Gu Kewen? They never knew each other!¡± Multiple hypotheses formed in his mind, but each one of them was quickly destroyed.
Inexplicably, another familiar face appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
Zhu Xuanyue.
It probably wasn¡¯t the first time Ning Jing was ¡®possessed¡¯. Thest time would be when Ning Jing started to draw odd drawings under the influence of her ¡®possession¡¯. That was how he made it to the underground maze and awakened Zhu Xuanyue. The other time would be when Ning Jing got ¡®possessed¡¯ again and escaped the sanatorium to India after asking Xia Lei for ten million USD. She then got to Nahar and was already in theboratory where Gu Kewen¡¯s body was held.
Suddenly it all made sense, everything that had happened must have something to do with Zhu Xuanyue!
¡°She said she would be back. Don¡¯t tell me... She¡¯s trying to take over Gu Kewen¡¯s body this time? She made Ning Jing send money over to get Nahar¡¯s help? She¡¯s so powerful but why didn¡¯t she choose to control Nahar instead? What the hell is going on?!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s brain was about to explode. His urge to book the next flight to India was uncontrobly strong.
Flipping past Gu Kewen¡¯s picture, a purchase record soon appeared.
Written on the record was a piece of medical automation equipment bought for the Reincarnation Project. The automation had a high-level Artificial Intelligence baked into it and was able to execute minute work like brain surgery and nerve repair. The robot was probably one of the world¡¯s most expensive automation and was sold in the market for five million USD.
As soon as Xia Lei read the line of words underneath the robot, he was stunned.
The medical robot was provided to Might Biotechn by the V Science Corporation under the Hattori n!
Xia Lei was about toe to a conclusion but Hattori¡¯s involvement contributed moreplexity to the case.
What came after the purchase record had nothing to do with the project.
But the information provided allowed Xia Lei to understand Nahar¡¯s current situation.
Nahar was the founder of Might Biotechnology Corporation but he wasn¡¯t the sole shareholder of the establishment. All his profits were thrown into the Reincarnation Project while the other shareholders had soon managed to figure a way to gain full control of Might Biotech. Nahar¡¯s biggest problem now was not the desperate need to achieve some sort of scientific aplishment but that he was about to get chased out of the corporation¡¯s board of directors! There was no way he could afford such expensive automation from V Science Corp.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of Anjum Khan¡¯s description of Nahar. Anjum Kahn¡¯s first impression of Nahar was that he didn¡¯t seem like a billionaire. The man had seemed more like a deranged neurotic university lecturer or researcher. If he was really filthy rich, it wouldn¡¯t make sense for Nahar to drive himself to meet Ning Jing.
The sum Ning Jing took from him was to pay off Nahar¡¯s debt to V Science Corp. Half of it would be used to repair Gu Kewen¡¯s damaged nerve and the rest would fund the remaining experiment!
After Xia Lei was done going through the information, he pondered for a while in silence before picking up his satellite phone.
¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was tense. ¡°Gather everyone and head to New Delhi. Bring along our weapons. Yelena, you should contact Anjum Kahn immediately. He will arrange transport for you.¡±
¡°What is this about?¡± Yelena¡¯s voice rang through the phone.
¡°I¡¯m not sure but we must get to New Delhi.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but recall memories of that Japanese assassin. He had an inexplicable feeling that he might be reunited with the assassin he let slipst time in New Delhi.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll contact the others immediately. We¡¯ll move soon.¡± Yelena continued, ¡°Boss, are youing with us?¡±
¡°Of course, but I¡¯ll dy my arrival by a day. You guys head over first to prepare everything.¡±
¡°You should pick someone to escort you over. I¡¯m not entirely certain you shoulde alone,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei gave it a thought. ¡°Then I¡¯ll have Tsukino Kyoko escort me to New Delhi.¡±
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll reach out to the others now.¡± Yelena hung up.
Xia Lei then dialled for Anjum Khan.
¡°Boss, have you gone through the folder?¡± Anjum Khan continued, ¡°What did you get from it?¡±
Xia Lei ordered in a low voice, ¡°Leave Might Biotech immediately. Leave only your men there.¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Anjum Khan was perplexed.
¡°The Hattori n is involved in this. They are extremely dangerous people you don¡¯t want to mess with. You must leave now. Your strength alone is not strong enough to go against them. You¡¯ll be in grave danger if they discover you.¡±
¡°Boss, aren¡¯t you a little too paranoid?¡± Anjum Khanughed. ¡°This is India. This is my turf. Would a measly Japanese n dare to do anything to me here?¡±
¡°This n was the one who faced Bureau 101¡¯s special force head-on in Dawang. They were the ones after me and Tang Yuyan. If I wasn¡¯t lucky enough, I would¡¯ve been long dead. China is my turf and I had support from Bureau 101, that didn¡¯t do anything to stop them from attacking me. They had also hired fifty of the Indian Mountain Division to join their attack back then! That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to tell you, do you understand now? Retreat! This is an order!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was progressively getting louder.
¡°Alright, I got it. I¡¯ll retreat immediately.¡±
¡°Be careful.¡± Xia Lei hung up the phone after that.
The skies were dark and there were only a few hours before dawn. The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had already started their mission but Xia Lei was stuck here for another day. He had to utilize the day to take care of everything and make appropriate arrangements. He also had his own personal mission of learning how to hack.
It was utter nonsense for one to be a hacker within a day, even for a professional hacker. But that wasn¡¯t the case for Xia Lei. This bold thought wasn¡¯t merely a daydream, it was more dependent on how willing he was to do it.
With an IQ of nine hundred and ny-eight, impable memory and a brain that worked faster than aputer, he could do anything so long as he understood the foundations of the topic!
He sat in front of the office desk, opened up his browser and entered ¡®Hacking for beginners¡¯ into the Baidu search engine. A heap of information immediately appeared and Xia Lei soon started to put his super brain to work.
Chapter 809 - How To Train A Hacker
¡°Oh dear, Mister Xia. You didn¡¯t go home yesterday night?¡± gushed Qing Caiyue as soon as she entered Xia Lei¡¯s office.
Her voice made Xia Lei peer up from his screen. He nced at her before looking down. ¡°You really think being a boss is easy? I¡¯m always busting my ass off while you guys rest.¡±
¡°Director Xia, you¡¯re the most hardworking boss I¡¯ve ever seen. It¡¯s no wonder that you achieved sess at such a young age.¡± Qing Caiyue ced her coat down before approaching Xia Lei. ¡°Director Xia, you must be tired. How about I give you a massage?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°No need for that. I¡¯ll be alright after a cup of tea.¡±
¡°Not even a neck massage?¡± Qing Caiyue looked wronged.
¡°Alright, just a neck massage, please.¡± He spent the entire night studying hacker basics. Perhaps a massage was in fact very much needed to rx his tense muscles.
Qing Caiyue came to stand behind Xia Lei, she then started to squeeze his shoulders.
Her motions were gentle, slowly but surely relieving Xia Lei of his aches. As he continued to enjoy the massage, he returned his attention to the screen to focus on its disyed information.
Xia Lei had no idea how much information he had gone throughst night. However, he was not satisfied. The material avable online was not what he was looking for. ckhat hacking was considered illegal after all. Now that Long Bing¡¯s professional hackers wereing over with some books and teaching assistance, he must regain his energy, which was why he didn¡¯t decline Qing Caiyue¡¯s massage offer.
Qing Caiyue took a hard look at the information disyed on the screen ¡°Director Xia, are you enriching yourputer knowledge?¡±
¡°Nah, not really. I¡¯m just taking a look,¡± answered Xia Lei.
Qing Caiyue¡¯s attention quickly diverted itself from the screen. After all, she was much more interested in the man behind the screen. Her palm on his neck resumed its gentle rolling, she sneakily pressed her torso against Xia Lei¡¯s head.
¡°Director Xia, have you had breakfast yet? I can make some for you.¡± Qing Caiyue pressed her cherry lips to his ear. ¡°Tell me, what would you like to eat?¡±
Tell me, what would you like to eat?
Her voice was soft and there was seduction from the warm moisture her warm cavern emitted. This was not the only trick she had up her sleeve. Her full bosom was pressed against the back of Xia Lei¡¯s head silently. It was soft and round. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but smile in his heart. ¡°What a bold sly fox, seducing her boss out in the open like this.¡± But what came out of his mouth was something entirely different. ¡°No thank you. I already had a box of biscuits and some chocte before you came, so I¡¯m not hungry.¡±
That didn¡¯t sound like a direct refusal, which fuelled Qing Caiyue¡¯s courage. Her hands started to move from his neck onto his shoulder. Despite that, she wasn¡¯t giving up on the neck massage but simply exchanged her hands for two boneless mass. Due to its overflowing size, they had engulfed his entire neck.
Xia Lei slightly raised a brow. It wasn¡¯t because he was offended by the gesture, it was because he was starting to feel ufortable. What male could resist the bold seductions of a woman? He was just a normal guy.
¡°Director Xia, how about we go into the rxation room so I can massage you properly?¡± Qing Caiyue¡¯s voice was unbearably sweet.
As Xia Lei opened his mouth to answer, a young man appeared at the door. He looked like he was in his twenties, blessed with a firm physique and had an armful of books plus aptop bag on his back.
Long Bing¡¯s man was here.
Qing Caiyue frantically straightened herself, buttoning her opened cor in a flurry. ¡°Who are you? Who are you looking for?¡±
The man looked a little sheepish. ¡°I¡¯m Luo Hui, I work under Miss Long Bing. She instructed me toe here.¡±
¡°Please have a seat, Mister Luo,¡± offered Xia Lei courteously. He turned to instruct Qing Caiyue. ¡°Caiyue, please make two cups of tea.¡±
¡°Got it, right away.¡± Qing Caiyue left to make tea.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on Qing Caiyue¡¯s retreating behind. The visible wet splotch had him shake his head with a wry smile.
¡°Director Xia, Miss Long Bing had already exined the situation to me.¡± Luo Hui dove into his job as soon as he took a seat. ¡°I¡¯ve set a one-month learning n for you. If you put effort into it, I¡¯m sure mastering the basics will not be a problem for you.¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Does that mean that you¡¯ve taken a month off?¡±
¡°Yeah, Miss Long Bing had already approved my leave,¡± answered Luo Hui.
¡°No need for that. I can learn everything in a day,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Luo Hui was taken aback. ¡°Director Xia, how are you going to master everything in a day?¡± Truthfully, the younger man had even felt that his one-month n was still not sufficient to cover the basics. He was surprised Xia Lei had imed that he could master it all in twenty-four hours. Based on his experience, that would be close to impossible!
Qing Caiyue finally returned with two cups of tea. ¡°Mister Luo, Director Xia, please enjoy your drinks.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Caiyue, you may leave. What is the progress on the request I gave you?¡±
Qing Caiyue replied, ¡°I¡¯ve already contacted Madam Wu. She agreed as soon as I mentioned that the Thunder Horse Organization was looking to recruit people. She would be sending over some people for interviews today.¡± She shed the man a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve already said this earlier. It will not be difficult for the Thunder Horse Organization to recruit new blood. Anyone looking to switchpanies quickly scrambled to take their leaves to attend.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and said, ¡°Alright, please oversee the interviews for me. Try to be as selective as possible.¡±
¡°Alright, got it. I¡¯ll head over now.¡± Qing Caiyue left just like that.
Truthfully, other than the fact that she was a little handsy with her boss, her work capabilities were great. She was apetent employee who helped shoulder some of Xia Lei¡¯s administrative burden.
After she had left, Luo Hui spoke up, ¡°Director Xia, where shall we start?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°You can enjoy your tea while I take a look at the books you brought over.¡±
Luo Hui was a little surprised but nodded nheless. He sipped on his tea while he watched Xia Lei flip through the book. Xia Lei was seen scanning through it page by page. He didn¡¯t appear to stay on one page for long as he was searching the book for some hidden secrets. The younger male couldn¡¯t help but get a little irritated. ¡°Is Director Xia messing with me? How is he going to learn everything in a day like that?¡±
However, what was even more irritating for Luo Hui was that he had continued to sit there for another hour. Xia Lei was still beside him, flipping through the book like no one¡¯s business. He felt as if Xia Lei was trying to pull a prank on him. The vocabry he used were professional terms, which shocked Luo Hui a lot. Simply put, Luo Hui just couldn¡¯t understand the man in front of him.
After some time, Xia Lei had finally ced down the veryst book out of the armful Luo Hui brought into his office. Millions of words were imprinted from his left eye to his brain. Not a single shred of knowledge was wasted. The entire reading process was as if his brain and left eye had acted like a wormhole for knowledge.
Xia Lei ced the book onto the coffee table. He then faced Luo Hui and said, ¡°I¡¯ve actually read all these books before, but I¡¯d like you to demonstrate it to me.¡±
Luo Hui¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°You¡¯ve read all of these before? How is that possible? These are all written and published for the military.¡±
Xia Lei smiled in response. ¡°I¡¯m the boss of the organization. Any book you can get, I surely can as well.¡±
¡°Ah, that¡¯s true. Here, I¡¯ll demonstrate some for you.¡± Luo Hui took out hisptop. He didn¡¯t need to ask for the wifi password. A few keys in and Luo Hui had already found himself in an interface, he looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Where shall we attack?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s start with the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s security system,¡± answered Xia Lei.
Luo Hui then started to work, his fingers flying through his keyboard rapidly.
Xia Lei had his full attention on Luo Hui¡¯s maniption, his mind memorizing every single step and relevant information he saw. Pieces of hacking information he had floated about in his mind, matching real-life application with theories.
In just a few minutes, security footage of the Thunder Horse Military Factory was disyed across theptop screen. There were live feedbacks of the main gate and garage entrance. However, there wasn¡¯t any footage of the garage¡¯s interior. Its intention was to protect Thunder Horse from system breaches by the western military. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t keen on having his workers spied on as they work while the American military was on the other side of the world chewing on bubblegum.
¡°Director Xia, you¡¯re a smart man. Though I made it into Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s security system, I could barely extract any information,¡± praised Luo Hui.
¡±If it wasn¡¯t because my employees needed the inte for their leisure, I wouldn¡¯t have signed up for an inte package.¡±
¡°You¡¯re the expert, I¡¯m sure you know my rationale behind the decision. Many westerners are very interested in my technology.¡± Xia Lei smiled and continued, ¡°Alright, can you demonstrate it to me again? I¡¯d like to aim for something with tighter security.¡±
¡°Where would you like to breach?¡±
¡°Bureau 101,¡± Xia Lei said. ¡°I¡¯d like to see what Miss Long Bing keeps in her office desktop.¡±
¡°What?! No way! I¡¯m not doing that!¡± Luo Hui declined with a violent shake of his head.
¡°Why not? You can me it on me if everything happens. I can exin this in your stead to Miss Long Bing,¡± assured Xia Lei.
¡°But... what about Boss Shi?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go exin it to him too, how¡¯s that?¡±
¡°Alright, fine.¡± Luo Hui responded with a wry smile, then started to dance his fingers on the keyboard.
This time, the maniption was evidently moreplex, which demanded Xia Lei¡¯s utmost attention. He didn¡¯t dare to leave out a single detail. If they could breach Bureau 101¡¯s security system, then that would mean they had managed to invade the world¡¯s tightest cybersecurity space. Mastering this would mean that he could breach the CIA with ease!
Just likest time, Luo Hui focused on his work while Xia Lei was using his brain and eye to learn the process. Luo Hui¡¯s mind was in overdrive which helped Xia Lei manifest actualprehension and mastery of the skill. With his learning abilities, everything he understood had exceeded that of Luo Hui¡¯s knowledge!
Luo Hui remained blissfully unaware of Xia Lei¡¯s powerful memorisation. Every key he entered and every exnation he gave had contributed to the birth of a super hacker. The younger male didn¡¯t know what storm Xia Lei would bring with him into the field of hacking soon!
Time trickled bit by bit. The seed of an ultimate hacker sprouted amidst the fertile soil. It emerged out of the substrate and grew rapidly. This entire process was just like the sped-up footage of a nt¡¯s growth.
Chapter 810 - Are You Looking for Death?
It took Luo Hui a full twenty minutes to sessfully invade Bureau 101¡¯s security system. But that sweet sess onlysted for a few seconds.
¡°Shit, I¡¯ve been found.¡± Luo Hui was very anxious.
Xia Lei reassured him. ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll shoulder the me.¡±
As soon as he uttered hisst word, a call came.
¡°Bastard, are you looking for death?¡± Shi Boren sounded like an agitated bull.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Why are you yelling at me, Boss Shi?¡± Xia Lei responded to the call as he motioned for Luo Hui to shut down hisptop.
Luo Hui could only sh him a sheepish smile. What good would that do?
¡°What the hell are you trying to do, kid? What is there left to uncover in Bureau 101? If you really wanted to know the contents of myputer, you better get your ass here! I can show you!¡±
¡°If it wasn¡¯t Long Bing who mentioned that you were trying to learn to hack, my people would¡¯ve already been on their way!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s spine stiffened. ¡°Boss Shi, I¡¯m not doing this on purpose...¡±
¡°Are you kidding me? You¡¯re not doing this on purpose? Like hell I¡¯ll believe you! Be honest, why did you choose to target Bureau 101?¡±
Xia Lei exined, ¡°Because the security system of Bureau 101 is about the same level as the CIA¡¯s. I wanted to learn this to hack into the CIA system to peek around. Perhaps I might be able to offer you something useful soon.¡±
¡°You¡¯re delusional! It¡¯s not that easy! Focus on your research and weapon production, stop trying to pull worrying stunts like this or you¡¯llnd yourself in grave trouble someday!¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah. I got it. I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ll reflect on this.¡±
Shi Boren¡¯s tone took a sharp turn. ¡°I¡¯ll be celebrating my sixtieth birthday next month and I¡¯m toozy to write you an invitation. When that timees, please bring Tang Yuyan with you. Remember, I¡¯m not epting gifts this time, just dress nicely.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make sure to be there, Boss Shi.¡±
¡°Alright, that is all. I¡¯m going to let you off this time. If you try to pull this again, I¡¯m going to throw you into prison personally.¡± With that, Shi Boren hung up.
Luo Hui let out a faint sigh of relief. ¡°Wow, Director Xia. If you were someone else, this incident would probablynd you in prison for a ten-year sentence or more. You just needed to endure a lecture.¡±
Xia Lei paid no mind to his words. Shi Boren was about to turn sixty. This meant that his days in Bureau 101 were numbered. Who would be the next head of the bureau after his retirement? It would be best if Tang Yuyan was his sessor, but if it were to be someone else, what he instructed Luo Hui to do would definitely attract something more than a simple scolding.
¡°Should we carry on?¡± asked Luo Hui.
Xia Lei snapped out of his thoughts. ¡°Yeah, we should go on. Let me try this time.¡±
¡°You?¡± Luo Hui stared at Xia Lei weirdly. Luo Hui thought to himself, ¡°You¡¯re really trying to give it a go after merely watching me go through the process twice? Are you some prodigy?¡±
¡°Yeah, let me try.¡± Xia Lei pulled Luo Hui¡¯sptop over to face himself. He thought for a bit. ¡°Let¡¯s try hacking into Hanwu Weapons this time.¡±
Luo Hui didn¡¯t know what to say.
Xia Lei began to work, his fingers dancing across the keyboard in a fiery dance. The sounds of his fingertips knocking on the keys were crisp.
Luo Hui looked at him with widened eyes, his full attention on the working man.
Xia Lei keyed in codes continuously with slight pauses to hit enter every now and again. Every movement of his was light and graceful. Surprisingly, everymand was ced correctly. His actions had achieved perfect equilibrium with his thought process.
Ten minutester, CCTV footage appeared on hisptop screen.
Aside from that, a few folders had popped into the disy. It contains Hanwu Weapons¡¯ most confidential trade secrets, blueprints, designs and customer information.
Luo Hui¡¯s breath was taken away.
Not only did Xia Lei hack into Hanwu Weapons¡¯ security system sessfully, but he had also done it in a time Luo Hui would never have managed!
That was not all. What Xia Lei did next had his jaw hit the floor.
Xia Lei had activated the webcam on Ye Kun¡¯sputer¡¯s to record footage inside Ye Kun¡¯s office.
Ye Kun popped up on the screen with his young, beautiful secretary. They both were up to no good. The woman was nestled in hisp and both his hands were under her blouse.
Luo Hui was still in a daze, staring at Xia Lei nkly. The younger male didn¡¯t seem to catch his words.
¡°How about we switch a location? Let¡¯s try targeting something in Japan!¡±
They spent most of the day with continuous learning and practise. Xia Lei¡¯s target went from Asia to Europe, then from Europe to the Middle East. Anywhere he wished, he attacked.
A little short of one full day, Luo Hui decided that he had enough. ¡°Director Xia, what¡¯s the point of pulling such a prank on me? Your hacking skills are way stronger than mine. What¡¯s the point of meing here?¡±
The fact that Xia Lei knew nothing about ckhat hacking before his arrival remained a mystery. Xia Lei may be a newbie before, but he superseded Luo Hui in a matter of hours. Who could me Luo Hui for taking this to heart?
Looking at this from a different perspective would only give the same result. Anyone would have thought of this as a prank.
¡°Hehe, I just wanted to learn from the best. Please don¡¯t be offended.¡± Of course, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t going to spill the beans.
¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now!¡± Now Luo Hui was really pissed. He started to pack his things while fuming.
Xia Lei dug his pant pocket to ce a card on Luo Hui¡¯sptop. ¡°This is a gift card made especially for ourpany. It contains credit worth up to fifty thousand RMB, you should use this to buy something you like at the mall.¡±
¡°Director Xia, what do you mean?¡± Luo Hui didn¡¯t extend an arm.
Xia Lei gave him a smile. ¡°I¡¯m giving this to you. I don¡¯t mean any harm. You work under Long Bing and Long Bing is a close friend of mine. There¡¯s no way I¡¯d plot anything against you. I just want you to help me keep this a secret, okay?¡±
That convinced Luo Hui to ept the card. He nodded. ¡°Thank you, Director Xia. I won¡¯t tell anyone about what happened today.¡±
Xia Lei smiled.
Shortly after Luo Hui¡¯s departure, Qing Caiyue led a young male into Xia Lei¡¯s office. This man looked about in his early twenties. He had on a pair of frameless spectacles and was fair-skinned. He looked clean and sophisticated.
Qing Caiyue took the initiative to introduce him, ¡°Director Xia, this is who Madam Wu rmended. His name is Huang Xuewen, he works in the Artificial Intelligence technology field.¡±
The man gave Xia Lei a nod of respect. ¡°Hello, Director Xia.¡±
Xia Lei stood up to approach the man with a smile. ¡°I was expecting someone older. I¡¯m really surprised to see someone so young.¡±
Huang Xuewen replied, ¡°The older generation isn¡¯t as involved in AI as my generation is.¡±
¡°What achievements do you have?¡± probed Xia Lei.
¡°I had won a few national and international AI technologypetitions. Here, it¡¯s all written in my curriculum vitae.¡± Huang Xuewen handed out his CV to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei took a brief look, seemingly satisfied with him. ¡°You¡¯re a Qinghua University Artificial Intelligence degree graduate and you¡¯ve had an impressive share of aplishments. Though you don¡¯t have any working experience in any relevant field, I¡¯m willing to hire you.¡±
Huang Xuewen replied, ¡°Director Xia, I¡¯m a fresh grad, I haven¡¯t had the chance to work for otherpanies so far. Artificial Intelligence is such an unpopr field, it¡¯s very difficult to find relevant jobs out there. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. May I be so bold to make a request?¡±
¡°Yeah. What is it?¡± Xia Lei was a little taken aback. It wasn¡¯t difficult to tell that this youngster had close to zero workce experience. Which newbie in the right mind would dare to make requests on their first interview? Xia Lei paid no mind to it as long as Huang Xuewen could deliver. He needed someone capable, not a people-pleaser.
Qing Caiyue stared at Huang Xuewen weirdly, equally bewildered as her boss. She wasn¡¯t expecting Huang Xuewen to be this bold in his interview with Xia Lei.
Huang Xuewen hesitated for a while. ¡°Now that I havended myself a job, my ssmates had yet to find themselves a job. They¡¯re all from the same course, all of them AI graduates. I can guarantee to you that they¡¯re allpetent people. I know my request is a little too much but I really feel the urge to express it. Uh, Director Xia, we all respect your contributions to the nation and we idolize you as our hero. Can you please recruit them too?¡±
Qing Caiyue scowled. ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you? We¡¯re here to recruit you, not your ssmates. Are you going to pull in your rtives if Director Xia agrees to it? Quick, apologize to Director Xia.¡±
Huang Xuewen noticed that Xia Lei had no expression. Worried that he had offended his new boss, the young man panicked and immediately apologized. ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, Director Xia. I¡¯m so sorry... I¡¯m not good with words, please forgive me.¡±
Surprisingly, Xia Lei broke into a smile. ¡°What are you apologizing for? The fact that you care for your ssmates tells me a lot about your loyalty and I like loyal people. How many of your ssmates wanted toe with you?¡±
¡°Twelve.¡± Huang Xuewen could feel his scalp tense.
¡°No problem, invite them all over. I¡¯ll establish an Artificial Intelligence Technology department and I¡¯ll have you lead them. What do you think?¡± said Xia Lei.
Huang Xuewen broke into a bright smile. ¡°Thank you! Thank you so much, Director Xia!¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Go, go. You start work tomorrow. Remember to bring along your ssmates. No need to go through me anymore, just report straight to Secretary Qing.¡±
¡°Understood. Thank you, Director Xia! Thank you!¡± Huang Xuewen gave him a deep bow before he turned to leave the office.
Qing Caiyue was looking at Xia Lei with gleamy puppy eyes. ¡°Director Xia, you¡¯re such a softie. You¡¯re too kind.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you? Go, arrange an office space for them. When Huang Xuewen and his friends arrive tomorrow, you¡¯re in charge of showing them around and briefing their tasks to them.¡±
¡°Are you heading out again?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
Tomorrow around this time, he would probably be in New Delhi already.
As soon as Qing Caiyue left, Xia Lei took out his satellite phone and made a call. ¡°Where are you now?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you in your car. When are we leaving?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice rang.
Chapter 811 - The Speedy Hacker In New Delhi
India, New Delhi.
A couple exited the Indira Gandhi International Airport to wait for their vehicle by the sidewalk.
The man looked to be in his thirties. He was tall and ripped. In his hand was a toy monkey, probably for a gift for a child. The woman seemed to be of the same age. She had an average face but her body was exquisitely curvy. Together, they looked like a Chinese couple who was here in India for a vacation.
A taxi stopped in front of them. The driver popped his head out of the window to ask if they needed a ride but the two declined it. Soon, a red Ford Roadshaker came to a stop in front of them. They quickly hopped in with no words in the exchange. The Roadshaker made its way to the highway to head towards New Delhi city.
¡°Boss, if it wasn¡¯t for the toy monkey, I wouldn¡¯t have recognized you,¡±mented Anjum Khan who had his palms on the wheel.
The passengers in the backseat were indeed Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko, who had hidden their identities using hyper-realistic human masks. Xia Changhe had taught Xia Lei the techniques to this skill. Not only did Xia Lei master it, he actually further refined it. The human masks he made were very convincing and sophisticated.
Although they were in India, there was no way Xia Lei could show himself in public.
¡°Please give me an update,¡± said Xia Lei while throwing the monkey to the back seat.
¡°My men are still keeping an eye on activities in Might Biotechnology Headquarters from another building nearby. Ning Jing and Nahar have not left ever since they entered. Other than that, I managed to dig out more information on Nahar. He is a brilliant scientist but not a great businessman. He created Might Biotechnology from scratch but got himself kicked out of the director¡¯s board. People still think of him as a billionaire but he¡¯s got nothing to his name except that research,¡± said Anjum Khan.
It was more or less in line with what he gathered from the documents.
¡°Alright, I got it. Please take me to a digital mall,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
¡°A digital mall? Why? Are you sure about not heading to our safe house? Yelena, Sa¡¯im and the rest are waiting there,¡± questioned Anjum Khan.
¡°I¡¯d like to go buy aputer and some equipment. I¡¯ll be taking over Amanda¡¯s job from now on,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°You?¡± Anjum Khan couldn¡¯t help but turn his head around to gape at Xia Lei, shock stered all over his face.
Tsukino Kyoko was equally surprised. She wasn¡¯t sure if Xia Lei was a great fit for Amanda¡¯s job. Hacking was a skill that required proper training and some natural talent. Xia Lei hadn¡¯t exhibited those traits before.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t provide the two confused souls with an exnation. He chose to avert his gaze to the passing scenery outside, upying his mind with that woman who was soaked in the ss container. Could she really be Gu Kewen?
¡°Hey, eyes on the road,¡± warned Tsukino Kyoko.
Anjum Khan shrugged, finally turning around to focus on driving.
Half an hourter, the Roadshaker parked itself in front of a digital mall. Xia Lei had the other two wait in the car while he went to get his equipment.
¡°He said he wanted to take over Amanda¡¯s job.¡± Anjum Khan turned around to face Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°Do you think he can do it?¡±
¡°The man can produce tanks and infantry fighting vehicles but I really don¡¯t think he has what it takes to be a hacker. Though we haven¡¯t worked with Amanda that much, her skills are admittedly top-notch. It¡¯s a pity that she¡¯s dead now. She would¡¯ve been perfect for an assignment like this. I think we should give the boss some time. He¡¯ll be able to master it soon,¡± answered Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°I hope so too,¡± replied Anjum Khan.
¡°Hey, one question.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°Is it true that rape cases are rampant in India?¡±
¡°Look, I¡¯m Indian and your question makes me ufortable. Would you like to experience it first hand?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was speechless.
It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to exit the mall. He now had aputer bag and was clutching a very huge stic bag. The bag contained a plethora ofworking equipment.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei voiced as soon as he got in the car.
Anjum Khan started the vehicle and resumed their journey.
In the car, Xia Lei took out his newly purchased Lenovo R2000S 14.1 inch notebook from its box to alter some parts that he deemed necessary. This notebook would have cost him sixty-eight thousand RMB back home, it was only sold at six hundred thousand rupees here. It was fortified to be bulletproof and had a self-destruction function. Xia Lei had bought it due to its thick body that allowed plenty of customizability. Therge bag of wares had cost him a few hundred thousand rupees. His equipment was the best money could buy on a short amount of notice.
It took only ten minutes for Xia Lei topletely piece his equipment into the notebook. The original parts he took out of the notebook were dumped out of the moving vehicle. After that, he turned on the notebook and started to install some software. His fingers danced themselves rapidly across the keyboard, the vehicle was filled with furious tapping.
Tsukino Kyoko stared intently at Xia Lei, she couldn¡¯t understand a singlemand from the notebook. She couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Boss, are you familiar with this field?¡±
¡°No, I only learned these yesterday.¡± Xia Lei added on, ¡°I¡¯m still not quite familiar with it.¡±
Damn, if this was what it meant to be unfamiliar, what kind of a monster would he be when he mastered it?
After another ten minutes, Xia Lei inserted a broadband stick into the USB slot to gain Inte ess. He quickly instructed, ¡°Slow down.¡±
Anjum Khan heeded his request.
The vehicle slowed down, Xia Lei¡¯s fingers started to work noisily on the keyboard. The noise was crisp but boring, which did nothing to hinder Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan¡¯s curiosity.
Before the Roadshaker had even arrived at its destination, the notebook screen already disyed a wide array of camera footage.
Those were all footage from Might Biotechnology.
Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan were shocked to the core.
Xia Lei zoomed in on one of the disys with a few clicks. It was from within Nahar¡¯sboratory. It showed the ss container that had the woman soaked in red fluids and the two female corpses.
As soon as Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on a metal bed, he just couldn¡¯t pull his eyes away.
It wasn¡¯t a random female corpse lying on the bed, it was Ning Jing. The woman¡¯s body was filled with tubes and wires. Her eyes were closed and she waspletely stationary.
The two female corpses were in a simr state. Their bodies were also filled with wires and tubes.
The corpses and Ning Jing¡¯s wires were all connected to that gigantic ominous red fluid-filled ss container.
It was such a bizarre sight, Xia Lei couldn¡¯tprehend it at all.
¡°If Gu Kewen¡¯s body is in that container, that would make it three corpses in the room. What does Ning Jing have to do with this? Wait... Nahar¡¯s Reincarnation Project did use living humans for the experiment in the early phase. Is Nahar using Ning Jing as his subject? If this project was started by Zhu Xuanyue, she would only require one corpse to carry out the process. Weirdly, there were three in this room excluding Ning Jing.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind was on hyperdrive, gued with countless possibilities. In the end, he just couldn¡¯t wrap his mind around it.
¡°Boss.¡± Tsukino Kyoko couldn¡¯t suppress her curiosity further. ¡°Is this really your first time working as a hacker?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s thought process was interrupted. He answered, ¡° If Amanda was still alive, I wouldn¡¯t even have thought about taking this job up. But we have no choice now.¡±
¡°I think you¡¯re better than Amanda,¡±plimented Tsukino.
¡°Alright, enough about me.¡± Xia Lei swiftly switched the topic. ¡°Tonight, I need to get into thatboratory. You¡¯reing with me, this is your forte.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded.
Xia Lei returned his focus onto the screen.
Nahar soon appeared in it along with several other people. The new additions were all Asians who were dressed neatly, expressions stern.
Something clicked in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. ¡°Japanese? Could they be from the Hattori n?¡±
Truthfully, Chinese, Koreans and Japanese are all about the same. Their skin colour and features told nothing much about their identities but their mannerism and fashion sense could. The Chinese were more carefree and friendly. The Koreans were more sensitive and had a slightly prominent temper. The Japanese, on the other hand, was more formal and strict. It wasn¡¯t difficult for Xia Lei to identify them when the knowledge of the trade between Nahar and the Hattori n was put into the mix.
The Hattori n¡¯s involvement in this meant bad news.
In the footage, Nahar brought the Japanese closer to the ss container. He pointed to the woman in it and proceeded to exin some things about it, which garnered some nods of approval from his guests. Without further refinement, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t spy on their exchange as their lips were unreadable.
Two familiar faces appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. One of them was Hattori Mei¡¯s and the other was the Japanese assassin leader he encountered in Dawang.
¡°Kyoko, you¡¯re Japanese and a Iga-ryu ninja. Do you know if the Hattori n have ninjas serving under them?¡± Xia Lei suddenly asked.
Tsukino Kyoko gave it a long hard thought. ¡°The Hattori n has a long history. They¡¯re descendants of the legendary ninja, Hattori Hanzo. It¡¯s possible. To be honest, I don¡¯t know much about the Hattori n and I¡¯ve never encountered any of them. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re capable of.¡±
Xia Lei shed her a wry smile. ¡°Well, you¡¯ll be meeting them soon.¡±
The Roadshaker exited the road to enter a gate, stopping its tracks in the courtyard. ¡°We¡¯re here, boss.¡±
Before Xia Lei could exit the car, he could already see a few familiar faces through the window. Yelena, E¡¯er Demutu, Sa¡¯im and Alessio were already waiting.
Chapter 812 - Infiltrating The Lab
Night came, prompting citizens of New Delhi to brighten up their streets with neon lights. Thergest city in South Asia was a melting pot of the past and present.
In New Delhi Grand Hotel, a hijab-d female pulled her luggage along the corridor before stopping in front of a presidential suite. She used the room card to unlock the door.
Inside was a man waiting on a sofa. He was tall but his expression was distant.
If Xia Lei was present, he would¡¯ve recognized him in a nce. This Asian man was none other than the lucky Japanese assassin who got away during the Dawang war. He was Hattori Masao¡¯s illegitimate son, Hattori Geppa.
The female lowered the handle on her luggage then took off her headscarf to reveal her face. She was none other than Hattori Mei, whom Xia Lei had encountered multiple times yet gained nothing from.
¡°I don¡¯t understand why father sent you here,¡± said Hattori Geppa. His tone was devoid of any familial love.
Hattori Mei seemed to be very ustomed to his behaviour. She calmly replied, ¡°Our spies in China had lost sight of Xia Lei. All my calls made to Xia Lei via ourpany number were received by his secretary. His secretary mentioned that he was out taking care of some matters and I asked when we¡¯d be able to contact him, but she couldn¡¯t give me an exact answer. Also, Xia Lei¡¯s phone has been off, no one is able to reach him for now.¡±
Hattori Geppa frowned. ¡°Why are you bothering me with this?¡±
¡°It¡¯s always the details that make a difference.¡± Hattori Mei continued, ¡°He suddenly went missing and went unreachable. His whereabouts are unknown even to his secretary, which could only mean one thing. He doesn¡¯t want anyone to know where he was off to.¡±
¡°Ha.¡± Hattori Geppa scoffed. ¡°He¡¯s a perverted man who owns many side chicks. He¡¯s probably off on a rendezvous with some otherdy far away from the prying eyes. Funnily, you¡¯re taking this as if it¡¯s intel and even flew all the way from America to India. Can¡¯t you and father just let me do my job in peace? If you used this excuse to supervise me in India, I have to say, there¡¯s absolutely no need for it. You sound loony to me.¡±
¡°Why does everyone think he¡¯s a pervert?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that the truth? You slept with him before, you should know.¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Hattori Mei¡¯s expression changed drastically along with her tone. ¡°What I hate most about you is that shitty attitude of yours! Yes, I¡¯ve slept with him but it was in the name of the Hattori n¡¯s benefit! I¡¯m female and you¡¯re male. You¡¯re the one who will contribute to the Hattori bloodline and yet you always see me as a threat! You¡¯re the loony one!¡±
A faint smirk appeared at the edge of Hattori Geppa¡¯s lip. He remained unfazed by her words.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll just make it clear. I¡¯ve slept with Xia Lei and therefore I know him better than you do. That man is a real pervert but that¡¯s not his weakness. It¡¯s a facade he puts out to fool everyone.¡±
¡°I have absolutely no interest in your private life. I¡¯ll consider this as a meeting and a fulfilment of my father¡¯s instructions. You¡¯re free to do whatever you want. But I must tell you this, don¡¯t stand in my way.¡± Hattori Geppa then stood up and left.
¡°Hold it!¡± eximed Hattori Mei.
Hattori Geppa stared coldly at Hattori Mei, his gaze as sharp as a knife.
Hattori Mei was unaffected by it. ¡°If you don¡¯t listen to me, you¡¯ll die here. I think Xia Lei might be in New Delhi.¡±
Hattori Geppa was stunned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Might Biotechnology recently purchased our best medical automation equipment. The woman in hisboratory, do you know who she is? She¡¯s Ning Jing, a rather influential archaeologist from China. But that¡¯s not the most shocking thing. The most surprising thing is her association with Xia Lei. She¡¯s also from Haizhu. She helped Xia Lei through hard times from when he started his business. The woman had disappeared for a long time but the next time she appeared. She showed up in Nahar¡¯sboratory.¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
¡°Gu Kewen¡¯s body is also in Nahar¡¯sb. Now that Ning Jing has appeared, I suspect Xia Lei may be involved in this.¡±
¡°Xia Lei was the one who killed Gu Kewen and that Indian is trying to revive her. This is just an entire circus. How does Xia Lei y a part in this?¡±
¡°The whole situation isplex. Allow me to meet Nahar. I¡¯d like to ask him for the source of his money. I ran a slight background check on him beforeing here, the guy may look impressive but he¡¯s just an unlucky guy who¡¯s on the verge of bankruptcy. He doesn¡¯t have that much money to afford our equipment,¡± exined Hattori Mei.
Hattori Geppa was surprised. ¡°So you¡¯re trying to say that this money was from Xia Lei. Is he crazy?¡±
Hattori Mei calmly retorted, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here. If Xia Lei is here, it¡¯ll be our best chance to capture him. Bring me to Nahar, I need to ask him some questions.¡±
Hattori Geppa nodded.
At the same time, in a dark, humidne beside Might Biotechnology Corporation Headquarters, Xia Lei was busy setting his ns into action.
¡°Kyoko, are you sure we¡¯re climbing in via the walls?¡± Xia Lei lifted his head to gaze at the cloud-veiled top of the building. He did not have a fear of heights but it was his first time scaling the outside of a building. It was making his head spin.
Tsukino Kyoko instructed, ¡°Wait for me here, I¡¯ll go ahead.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not letting you do that.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko took a leap and grabbed onto the bricks above her head. With a pull of her arms, she started to climb. Her body was akin to a sticky lizard, adhering herself against the outer walls of the building.
Xia Lei finally snapped out of it. She was a ninja, what did he have to worry about?
Twenty minutester, a rope came falling from the top floor. Using the rope and Tsukino¡¯s pull, Xia Lei easily made his way up the side of the building.
The breeze at the top was strong, but both of them could see a mile away. The t top of the building had a helipad that was unupied. There wasn¡¯t any guard in sight, just a tightly shut metal door that separated the top floor from the balcony.
The metal door was an extremely thick security door that required a password and key to open. But that wasn¡¯t an issue for Xia Lei. He swiftly picked the lock using a piece of wire and used his left eye to observe the marks on the keypad to retrieve the password. There wasn¡¯t even a need to exercise his hacking skills.
¡°What¡¯s with the security here? Isn¡¯t this too easy? I thought I¡¯d have some action here but there¡¯s not even a single guard,¡±mented Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Nahar is on the verge of bankruptcy. All the guards he hired from the securitypany are focused only on the thirtieth floor to protect hisboratory. It¡¯s only natural that there¡¯ll be none here. Let¡¯s travel down now. Remember, try not to kill anyone.¡±
The two began to descend the stairs. Before they even took a turn, they heard someone conversing in Hindi below them.
¡°If we don¡¯t get paid tomorrow, I¡¯m quitting my job.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t the boss mention that he already received some money? That amount should be enough to pay us all.¡±
¡°That dude¡¯s an idiot! He founded thispany yet he gained nothing from it. He owes me my pay but I can¡¯t help but pity him.¡±
¡°My friend, nothing is fair in the real world. Boss is a great scientist but obviously not a great businessman. I had already seen thising.¡±
¡°Really? A great scientist? I don¡¯t think so. He¡¯s like a chronic daydreamer. Reviving the dead is something only God can do. He¡¯s nothing but an idiot.¡±
¡°Perhaps he¡¯ll seed this time. During the shift change this evening, I saw the woman in the ss container twitch. It really scared the shit out of me.¡±
¡°Really? Are you sure you saw that?¡±
¡°Of course it¡¯s real, why would I lie to you?¡±
The two Indians continued to talk without noticing a presence slowly creeping up behind them.
Two chops were delivered to the back of their necks, rendering them unconscious.
Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko dragged the two guards to the stairs leading to the balcony. They then entered the building¡¯s thirtieth floor. Xia Lei¡¯s mind couldn¡¯t help but recall what one of the guards mentioned, he felt a chill travel down his spine.
He had killed Gu Kewen once. Their resentment, hatred and everything else came to a stop on that snowy mountain in Dawang. None of it remained in his heart. If Gu Kewen was to appear in front of him again, regardless of the soul inside her, Xia Lei would still be creeped out by it.
Wouldn¡¯t you feel the same if someone you killed with your own hands suddenly appeared in front of you again?
Approaching theboratory door, Tsukino Kyoko instinctively lifted her head to nce at the security camera on the door ledge. Her worries were evident.
Xia Lei whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already hacked into their security system beforeing here. The guards in the footage room will only see the recement feedback I made. They can¡¯t see us.¡±
A small smile appeared on Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s face, but she didn¡¯t know what it was for.
The door to theb required a password and ess card.
Xia Lei removed his bag to retrieve a decoder from it. He connected the device to the keypad. He would¡¯ve used his left eye to obtain the password but this door required an extra ess card.
One minuteter, the tightly shut door unlocked with a ck.
Xia Lei quickly stowed away his decoder and entered theb with Tsukino Kyoko.
Theboratory was pin-drop silent, a few researchers were busy with their own tasks. Some were using theputer, some were working the equipment and some were changing the fluids for the two female corpses. Standing beside Ning Jing was a female employee, documenting Nin Jing¡¯s condition.
No one had noticed Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s presence.
Chapter 813 - Came in the Nick of Time
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t avert his gaze from the huge ss container. It seemed like his guess was correct. The woman in the huge ss container was indeed Gu Kewen.
She no longer had a peaceful look on her face. The peaceful smile had been reced by a stoic one. Her body was covered with patches with wires and a catheter to carry the fluid. She looked just like the monster in Frankenstein¡¯sb. Her skin was so pale that it did not seem like she had any blood in her body.
Suddenly, Gu Kewen¡¯s fingers twitched.
Xia Lei was shocked while opening his mouth wide. He hadn¡¯t really believed the guards before this. Now that he had seen it, he finally understood their shock.
Tsukino Kyoko nudged Xia Lei before walking towards one of the researchers.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses and prevented Tsukino Kyoko from heading towards the guards. He knew what she was going to do. But it wasn¡¯t the right n.
Tsukino Kyoko turned around with a puzzled look. There were only a few feeble researchers left in theboratory. After knocking them down, they were free to do as they wished. However, Xia Lei prevented her from doing so. She couldn¡¯t understand Xia Lei¡¯s intention of stopping her from doing what was necessary.
¡°Let them continue their work. There¡¯s no need to hurt them.¡± Xia Lei whispered to Tsukino Kyoko and headed towards the ss container.
Tsukino Kyoko was bewildered. However, she was used to following Xia Lei¡¯s instruction. After hesitating for a while, she followed Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps and walked towards the ss container.
At this moment, a woman spotted Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko. She said in Hindi as she left her work post and walked towards them. ¡°Who are you guys? What are you doing here?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko took a step forward and prepared to knock her out.
Xia Lei stepped in front of Tsukino Kyoko and blocked in front of her. He spoke in Japanese. ¡°We¡¯re from V Science Corp. We¡¯ve gotten permission before entering.¡±
The Indian woman shook her head, indicating that she could not understand him.
Xia Lei once again spoke in English. ¡°Miss, can you understand English?¡±
The Indian woman finally nodded. She spoke in English, ¡°Of course, English is one of our two officialnguages.¡± She paused for a while before continuing. ¡°I was asking, how did you get here? Who are you?¡±
¡°We¡¯re from V Science Corp. We are here to provide after-sales service. We have a very good after-sales service system. We¡¯re concerned that you¡¯re not familiar with our machine. We¡¯re here to give a helping hand. We¡¯ve got permission from Mister Nahar. He¡¯s the one who provides us with the password and the pass,¡± said Xia Lei. He had no way of backing up his statement. He was just making it up as he went.
Tsukino Kyoko finally understood Xia Lei¡¯s intention.
Sometimes, the simplest way to solve things was not with the fist but with words.
¡°Oh, that¡¯s why you¡¯re here. We¡¯re indeed facing some problems with your machine. It took us a lot of time to trante the manuals. However, it¡¯s far from enough. We did not dare to mess with it as it is too expensive. Youe at the right time. Can you give us a demonstration of this machine?¡± The Indian woman looked at Xia Lei expectantly.
Tsukino Kyoko took a nce at Xia Lei nervously. If Xia Lei wasn¡¯t able to provide a demonstration to the researchers, they would be found out.
In contrast, Xia Lei seemed rxed. ¡°Of course. By the way, miss, are you the person-in-charge here?¡±
¡°Yes, you can call me Salman.¡± The Indian woman who imed to be Salman held out a hand to Xia Lei. ¡°And you are?¡±
¡°Hattori Mai.¡± Xia Lei casually said a name and shook hands with Salman. Then, he introduced Tsukino Kyoko to her. ¡°She¡¯s my assistant. You can call her Yamaki.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you, Miss Yamaki.¡± Salman shook hands with Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Nice to meet you too, Miss Salman.¡± Tsukino Kyoko was being polite.
Salman led Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko to go around the huge ss container. The medical robot from V Science Corp was behind the container.
It wasn¡¯t a piece of equipment straight out of a sci-fi movie. Instead, it looked like a surgery bed, which the patients could lie on for surgery. It was equipped with aputer, robotic arms and several anciry types of equipment. It seemedplicated but exquisite.
Xia Lei secretly gasped in admiration. ¡°No wonder it cost five million dors. It¡¯s definitely worth the price. Japan¡¯s artificial intelligence technology is truly astounding.¡± Then, his lips curved in an inexplicable smile. ¡°However, the gap will soon disappear.¡±
¡°Mister Mai, please wait for a moment. I¡¯ll prepare a specimen for you,¡± said Salman.
¡°Go ahead. I¡¯ll get ready in the meantime,¡± said Xia Lei.
After Salman left, Xia Lei took the backpack off his shoulder and took out hisputer from it. He electrified the Divine Hand and connected hisputer to the Divine Hand¡¯s masterputer.
Divine Hand, it was the name given to the robot by V Science Corp.
Theputer was copying the software and the control program from the Divine Hand while Xia Lei was examining the structure of the Divine Hand using his X-ray vision.
What Xia Lei did best was not sniping and designing weapons. Instead, it was turning others¡¯ technology into his own and improving it.
¡°Boss, what are you doing?¡± Tsukino Kyoko failed to grasp the situation.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sharing is caring. Since we¡¯re here, let¡¯s get something good out of it. Don¡¯t worry about it. Just keep your mouth shut and watchter.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded.
After five minutes, Xia Lei put hisputer back to the backpack. Shortly after, Salman returned with an operational vehicle.
A man¡¯s corpse was lying on the vehicle. He was fat and stipped down entirely. He had probably been in the freezer because his skin was still covered with frost. The corpse looked stiff and disgusting.
Upon seeing the corpse, Xia Lei understood at once the specimen Salman mentioned. Thisboratory really lived up to its reputation as the ndestineboratory. They were able to retrieve human bodies at a moment¡¯s notice.
Salman pushed the man and stopped beside the Divine Hand. ¡°Can someone help me to lift this guy to the machine? We are so short-handed that I can¡¯t find anyone else.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Tsukino Kyoko moved the corpse from the vehicle to the operating table of the Divine Hand with the help of Salman.
Xia Lei moved in front of the Divine Hand. ¡°Miss Salman, what kind of demonstration are you after?¡±
¡°We broke his neck, I¡¯d like you to repair the nerves in the cervical spine by operating the machine,¡± said Salman.
Xia Lei¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°How can such an operation be done on dead people?¡±
¡°Stop asking. Just show me the operation,¡± said Salman.
¡°Alright.¡± Xia Lei entered an instruction into the masterputer. He learned the ways to operate the machine during the time theputer was copying the software and rted programs from the Divine Hand.
It was actually quite simple. Xia Lei was just typing in the relevant instructions for it to work as desired. Artificial intelligence was no smarter than the average person. The main purpose of this technology is to rece people with intelligent robots in certain environments. Ifplicated procedures were still needed while operating these kinds of machines, then it would not be known as artificial intelligence.
The Divine Hand was operating as soon as Xia Lei entered the instructions. The corpse was fixed on the operating table. Then, the robotic hand that was in charge of the operation made a small incision in the back of the neck. The progress was shown on the masterputer. The machine was using a biological material for repairing the nerve. The whole process looked simr to welding a piece of metal using a welding torch.
¡°Oh my god, it¡¯s amazing.¡± Salman gasped in admiration.
¡°The operation is pretty easy. By the way, Miss Sm, are you nning to use this robot to repair the nerves in the neck of the woman in the ss container?¡±
¡°You are right. This is our experiment. That¡¯s all I can tell you. Please stop asking.¡± Xia Lei detected a note of rm in Salman¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not a secret. Mister Nahar told me about his reincarnation program. We¡¯re interested in it and we¡¯re nning to invest in theboratory. I also know that he¡¯s going to bring back the woman in the ss container. Am I right?¡±
¡°You... Why would he tell you all these?¡± Salman¡¯s expression hardened.
¡°Miss Salman, there¡¯s no such thing as a secret in this world. I also know that Mister Nahar is facing some problems now. You all could be dismissed from thisboratory. How can you continue your research without investors?¡±
¡°I see he told you everything. However, I understand. He¡¯s done so much for theboratory. If theboratory were to shut down, it¡¯ll be worse than killing him.¡±
¡°Now that ourpanies are about to be partners. Miss Salman, can¡¯t you tell me when you¡¯re going to operate on that woman and how you¡¯re going to bring her back to life?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Alright,¡± Salman said. ¡°We¡¯re ready. All we were missing was the operation of the Divine Hand. Since you¡¯ve demonstrated it to us, we¡¯re going to operate on her tonight.¡±
¡°How are you going to revive her?¡±
¡°It¡¯splicated. You wouldn¡¯t understand even if I exined to you. If you¡¯re interested in this project, you may stay the night,¡± said Salman.
It was tonight.
They came in the nick of time.
Chapter 814 - Psychic
The Reincarnation Project has existed for fifteen years. Nahar had invested a great amount of money and energy in this project. However, it had never seeded once. Salman, being the head of this ndestineboratory, was aware of the possibility of it seeding. How was she so confident in the sess of this project?
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but think about this question.
¡°I¡¯ll call Mister Nahar. He should witness the miracle.¡± Salman pulled out her phone.
Xia Lei grabbed Salman¡¯s hand before she called him. ¡°Don¡¯t call him. I think it¡¯s better to surprise him.¡±
Salman frowned. ¡°So, you want me to surprise Mister Nahar. The man who¡¯s waited his whole life for this. Japanese people are so strange. What makes you think I¡¯m going to do this?¡±
¡°We¡¯re investors,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hmph! I¡¯ll call Mister Nahar now. You have two choices. You can either leave or shut your mouth and stay. Let go of my hands. Otherwise, I¡¯ll ask the security to show you out.¡± Salman was starting to get irritated.
Xia Lei let go of her hands, but at the same time, he took her phone.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Salman got angry. ¡°Get out!¡±
Xia Lei picked up his backpack from the floor and opened it. He then took out a pile of hundred dors. It wasn¡¯t a small pile. It was a big pile and the amount was at least fifty or sixty thousand dors.
Salman was stunned.
Xia Lei said in a calm voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯s been since you¡¯ve had a paycheck from Nahar. This is fifty thousand dors. To be honest, all of you would be dismissed after the experiment. Nahar may have fulfilled his lifelong ambitions, but what do you get from this? You all get nothing! You may even lose your job.¡±
Salman hesitated while looking at the pile of dors. Excitement and greed started to dance in her eyes. The ie of the Indians was only one-tenth of a Chinese. Twenty percent of Indians earned less than two dors per day. Most Indians earned less than ten dors per day. Although it was clear that she earned more than that, it must not have been much. Nahar offered her thirty dors per day by working here. It would take her five years to earn the money that was given by Xia Lei. Besides, this was only possible if Nahar did not go bankrupt. That was not the case.
¡°Isn¡¯t this enough for buying Mister Nahar a surprise?¡± Xia Lei smiled.
¡°You¡¯re not buying Mister Nahar a surprise. What on earth are you up to? Who the hell are you?¡± Salman was not a gullible woman.
¡°Would you like the answer or the money?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Her lips moved, but she did not say anything.
¡°It seems like you want both,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll tell you the truth. The truth is I¡¯m the CEO of V Science Corp. However, I don¡¯t believe the experiment you¡¯re working on would seed. Mister Nahar had discussed the reincarnation project with me but I find it too unrealistic. I simply can¡¯t believe that it would work. That is the reason I¡¯m here. I want to find out first hand if it is possible. If you manage to get it working, I¡¯ll fund a newboratory where you will work. You will get a better working environment and a higher sry. This is my answer. It¡¯s your turn to make a decision now.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko moved her hands behind her back. A sword slipped out of her sleeve. If Salmon rejected the offer, her life would be forfeit.
Salman hesitated. ¡°I need another fifty thousand dors to give to others. They have not been paid for two months.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Xia Lei took out another pile of cash and gave it to Salman. ¡°However, I have a request. I want their phones after you distribute the money. Then, start the experiment right away.¡±
¡°Alright, Mister Mai.¡± Salman¡¯s lips curled up into a smile. She couldn¡¯t pronounce ¡®Mei¡¯ properly yet.
Salman left after hiding the fifty thousand dors beneath her clothes. She nned to share the remaining fifty thousand dors with her colleagues. She also wanted a share of the fifty thousand dors.
Tsukino Kyoko was watching Salman as Salman was distributing the money. She said, ¡°Boss, do you carry arge amount of cash with you in every operation?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Money has a way of convincing people that guns don¡¯t. I know you were trying to kill that Indian woman, but if you kill her, who¡¯s going to carry out the experiment? She works for Nahar because of the money. So, if I give her more money, she¡¯ll work for me.¡±
¡°That makes sense. However, I don¡¯t think any amount of money can resurrect the dead. If a man dies, he dies. There is no possibility of resurrection. The people here, including Nahar, are no more than whimsical Frankenstein.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t mind the results. I can just treat it as a firework show.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was speechless.
Rich people had a different thought process to regr people.
Salman took a short amount of time to exin the situation to all her colleagues. All of them epted the offer. They agreed to start the reincarnation experiment immediately and handed in their phones. It was rather easy to make this decision. Their choice was between a boss that had not given paycheck for two months and cash that was worth a few years¡¯ sries. Anyone in their right mind would have made this decision. Besides, the one who was buying them had no ill intention. He was just buying a front-row seat to the experiment.
Almost all equipment in theboratory was turned on under the instruction of Salmon. Gu Kewen¡¯s body was also retrieved from the ss container and was put on the operating table of the Divine Hand. Salman operated the Divine Hand herself. She was repairing the damaged nerve in Gu Kewen¡¯s neck.
It was undeniable that Salman¡¯s apperception ability was considerably good as she could operate this after watching Xia Lei¡¯s operation for once.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help to reach out and touch Gu Kewen¡¯s calf during the operation. He was stunned after touching the calf. Her calf muscles were still stic and warm and it was nothing like a corpse. Her skin and muscle should have lost their sticity as she had been dead for so long.
Xia Lei moved to another corner of theboratory, where the two corpses were situated.
There was no fabric on the bodies of the two women. It didn¡¯t seem like two corpses. Instead, it was two fine works of art.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t suppress his curiosity. Once again, he reached out again to touch the calf of the blonde women. It was a soft and stic calf with normal temperature. He then touched the Asian woman¡¯s body. The result was the same.
¡°How is this possible?¡± Xia Lei was aghast at his discovery. His gaze fell on Ning Jing¡¯s body. Without hesitation, he approached Ning Jing.
Ning Jing was lying peacefully on the operating table. She was patched with wires and catheters, just like the other two. However, the difference between the corpses and Ning Jing was there was a slight movement from Ning Jing¡¯s chest. It indicated that she was breathing. Her skin and muscle tension were still like a normal person. Although Xia Lei was clear about this, he couldn¡¯t help himself but squeeze her arm while thinking. ¡°What role would she have in this experiment?¡±
Reincarnation was the future of the dead. Why would they need a living person?
¡°Mister, please refrain from touching them.¡± A researcher came over and said to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei snapped back to his senses. He nodded, ¡°I¡¯m just curious. When are you guys starting the experiment?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll start right after Miss Salman repairs the nerves of the corpse. She¡¯s the core of this experiment. We couldn¡¯t start the experiment without her presence,¡± said the researcher.
¡°What¡¯s going on with her?¡± Xia Lei pointed at Ning Jing. ¡°She¡¯s alive. What is her role in this experiment?¡±
¡°The psychic,¡± said the researcher. ¡°In the view of Hinduism, she¡¯s someone who canmunicate with God. In the view of science, she¡¯s a catalyst or a conductor.¡±
¡°Catalyst? Conductor? What conduction? What does this mean?¡± Xia Lei raised four questions at once.
¡°Stimting the soul¡¯s response, bringing in energy to the soul. It¡¯s an essential process during reincarnation. Don¡¯t worry, Mister. You¡¯ll understand it soon.¡± The researcher was annoyed by Xia Lei¡¯s questions. He walked away after giving a brief exnation.
Xia Lei had his understanding after listening to the brief exnation.
The reincarnation experiment was basically an experiment to revive the dead. They preserved the body and medically maximized its proximity to the body of a living person. Then, they awaken the soul by special means to achieve the purpose of resurrection.
The resurrection of the dead was not umon in medical history. However, that was only usible for people who had been dead for a few minutes. Once that time had passed, it was almost impossible for the dead to be alive. The existence of the soul was more of a myth. No one has ever been able to prove the existence of the soul. It only existed in religious settings. How can a thing that does not exist be made possible by scientific means?
¡°Hold on...¡± Just when Xia Lei was refuting the theory based on his understanding, he thought of a special existence. ¡°If souls do not exist in this world, then what is Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue?¡±
At this moment, Salman walked towards Xia Lei. ¡°Mister Mai, I have repaired her nerves. It¡¯s time to start the experiment.¡±
Xia Lei gathered his thoughts. ¡°Go ahead. I can¡¯t wait to witness the miracle.¡±
¡°Your wish will be fulfilled as the experiment will definitely seed this time.¡± Salman was confident.
¡°You have failed for fifteen years. Why do you think you will seed this time?¡± Xia Lei was bewildered.
Salman hesitated before she whispered to Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you a secret for the sake of the money.¡±
¡°What is the secret?¡±
Chapter 815 - Female Corpse and Clothes
¡°Mister Mai,¡± Salman murmured. ¡°Do you believe in God?¡±
¡°I do. I¡¯m Buddhist,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then, do you believe that God exists in this world?¡±
¡°Of course. God created everything, including me,¡± said Xia Lei seriously.
¡°Just so you know, Mister Nahar and I have heard the voice of God before.¡±
¡°Voice of God?¡± Xia Lei felt his heart racing. ¡°What did it say?¡±
¡°The voice of God led Mister Nahar to the southern frontier and mentioned that he¡¯ll find a female corpse there. I didn¡¯t believe him at first. I even suspected that Mister Nahar was driven mad by the situation he was in. However, we went to the mountain and guess what. We found a female corpse there. She had been dead for days but her body was warm like a person who was alive. The snow melted when it fell on her face. At that moment, I believed that there is a god in this world.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned upon hearing it. He had been wondering why Gu Kewen¡¯s body was here. Salman had provided him with the answer. Salman described the voice as the voice of God. However, Xia Lei knew that the voice was actually Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s voice. It was the same voice that controlled Ning Jing. It was Zhu Xuanyue all along. Zhu Xuanyue had controlled Nahar and Salman!
¡°I knelt beside the corpse and I worshipped her. Shortly after, I also heard the voice of God.¡± Salman looked just like a prayer that was full of piety, she seemed strange.
¡°What did you hear?¡±
¡°She told me that a blonde European woman and an Asian brte will die. She gave me the location and told me to go and get the bodies.¡±
¡®The voice you heard. Is it the voice of a...goddess?¡± Xia Lei was going to say woman, but he changed his mind.
¡°Yes, it¡¯s the voice of a goddess.¡±
¡°Are these the bodies she asked you to bring back?¡± Xia Lei pointed at the two female corpses.
¡°Yes, it¡¯s them. I can¡¯t exin all these. However, when I followed her instructions and got to that location. These two women arrived at that location in their respective cars. Then, they died in front of me. I don¡¯t know what happened to them, but they just died.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°Did no one doubt it? Or do something about it? Like calling an ambnce?¡±
¡°You weren¡¯t there. You don¡¯t know what it was like. That ce is deste. The nearest vige is an hour¡¯s drive away. No one could have discovered them except for me.¡±
The scene was appearing in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. A blonde European woman and an Asian brte drove to the middle of nowhere and died without rhyme or reason. It was as if both of them were travelling a thousand miles to offer their bodies.
¡°I took their bodies away with the freezer car. They are god¡¯s clothes.¡±
¡°Clothes? Is this what the god said?¡±
¡°Of course, these two corpses are her clothes.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. His mind went nk and he couldn¡¯t think straight anymore.
By this time, two researchers had already moved Gu Kewen¡¯s body into a ss container. Her body was covered with a patch of tape with wires and a catheter to carry the fluid.
¡°Mister Mai, it¡¯s time to witness a miracle!¡± Salman walked toward a machine that looked like the engine of arge bomber.
Xia Lei was anxious. At the same time, he was feeling extremely contradicted. He did not want Gu Kewen toe back to life. However, who wouldn¡¯t want to see the dead brought back to life?
Just when Salman was about to start the strange machine, a thought popped into Xia Lei¡¯s mind. His gaze moved towards Ning Jing. He didn¡¯t know those two women. He didn¡¯t care if they lived or died. However, Ning Jing was his friend. She was innocent. He couldn¡¯t bear to see her bing Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s host body.
¡°Hold on!¡± Xia Lei approached Ning Jing urgently. ¡°She can¡¯t join!¡±
¡°Stop it! What are you doing?¡± Salman hissed.
Xia Lei reached out and grabbed a patch on Ning Jing¡¯s forehead. ¡°I said, she can¡¯t join!¡±
¡°Who the hell are you?¡± Xia Lei raised Salman¡¯s suspicion towards him.
Xia Lei mentally scolded himself for being so edgy. He had forgotten that he was ying the role of a Japanese as he was too concerned about Ning Jing. He wouldn¡¯t know Ning Jing personally in this role. If he didn¡¯t know her, why would he stop her from participating in the reincarnation experiment?
¡°If you think you can stop this miracle from happening by giving me a little money, you¡¯re wrong.¡± Salman¡¯s eyes suddenly turned strange. It seemed hollow and numb. A momentter, a stranger¡¯s voice came out of her mouth, ¡°Get out of here! Danger!¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°What did you just say? Who are you?¡±
¡°Danger! Get out of here!¡± The stranger¡¯s voice was full of anxiety.
Xia Lei had heard it clearly when it voiced out for the first time. Listening to this voice jogged his memory. He recalled the night he was in Paris, France. That night, he got a call in Hattori Mei¡¯s vi. It was a woman that warned him of the danger. After the call, he met an opponent he had never met before and he nearly died there.
It¡¯s the same voice as before, does that mean the strange existence is in New Delhi now?
¡°Start the machine!¡± Salman¡¯s voice rang. Her voice turned normal.
A researcher quickly started the strange machine, which resembled a bomber engine. As the machine started, theboratory was filled with the whining sound which gave off a creepy vibe. Amid the voice, blue voltaic arcs were emitted from the machine and were transferred to the huge ss container through the wires. Gu Kewen¡¯s body trembled as the arc was transmitted into her body. After that, the blue voltaic arc flowed from the ss container into the blonde woman¡¯s body, the Asian brte body, and Ning Jing¡¯s body.
Due to the moment of hesitation. Xia Lei was electrified by the blue voltaic arc as he was still holding on to the patches on Ning Jing. He lost control of his body and the powerful current bounced him off and mmed him to the ground.
Tsukino Kyoko ran towards Xia Lei. She asked anxiously. ¡°What happened to you? Are you alright? Hey!¡±
Xia Lei shook his head to clear his mind. Although he was conscious, his body felt numb. He couldn¡¯t get up from the floor.
¡°Mister Mai, you can either stay or get the hell out of there. It¡¯s a warning!¡± Salman¡¯s voice was filled with anger.
¡°Moron!¡± Tsukino Kyoko scolded Salman in Japanese while ring at her. At the same time, a sword slipped from her sleeve into her palm.
Just when Tsukino Kyoyo wanted to raise her hand, Xia Lei had regained his mobility. He grabbed on Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s hands. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko watched Xia Lei in disbelief. ¡°Get out of here?¡± She was puzzled by Xia Lei¡¯s decision. Wasn¡¯t solving the mystery his intention all along? He climbed up to the thirtieth floor and spent one hundred thousand dors, but he decided to retreat when the mystery was about to be solved. She couldn¡¯t understand him at all.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t exin. He got up from the floor immediately, took his backpack and headed towards the exit.
¡°Mister Mai, it¡¯s your decision. I won¡¯t give you your money back,¡± said Salman. At this moment, she was the Salman from before.
¡°Keep the money. I just need you to keep the secret that I have been here. Otherwise, you will not get a penny,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem.¡± Salman pursed her lips with a sly smile. She was not an idiot who would let the fresh money slip away.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze once again fell on Ning Jing. Her body was quivering on the cold operating table, her hair standing up one by one. It was very frightening.
Xia Lei let out a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t take you under these circumstances. I hope you¡¯ll be alright. Take care...¡±
He withdrew his attention from Ning Jing and walked towards the door of theboratory.
None of the researchers would be able to stop him if he wanted to bring Ning Jing away by force. However, he knew he couldn¡¯t. He was concerned that the interruption of the experiment would harm Ning Jing. Besides, he was sure that this matter was rted to Zhu Xuanyue. He couldn¡¯t interfere in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s affair. If Zhu Xuanyue wanted Ning Jing to die, there was nothing he could do.
Just as Xia Lei was about to reach the door, Anjum Khan¡¯s voice rang from the tiny receiver hidden in his ear. ¡°Boss, someone has entered the building!¡±
¡°Who is it?¡±
¡°Japanese and Nahar. There¡¯s a lot of them. Get out of there with Ning Jing now! ¡± Anjum Khan urged.
¡°I got it, prepare for the retreat,¡± Xia Lei replied in a cold and low voice.
¡°Ah? Retreat?¡± Anjum Khan was shocked.
¡°You heard me right. Prepare to retreat.¡± Xia Lei repeated the instruction. It was not the Japanese that worried and frightened him. Instead, it was the terrifying existence that scared him.
Normal people weren¡¯t able to fight with it, just like how no one could fight with Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°Roger that, we¡¯ll wait for you outside.¡± Anjum Khan ended the call.
Xia lei reached for the door handle.
Suddenly, the lights in theboratory went out.
Chapter 816 - A Weightless Black Robe
The electrical supply to every machine was cut off. The lights dimmed and eventually went out covering theb in darkness. In that brief moment, everything froze as if time stood still. The silence ensued for a few seconds before it was broken.
¡°What¡¯s happening? Why is the power out?¡± Salmon asked. ¡°We have dedicated lines for our power, no?¡±
¡°I have no idea. I¡¯ll turn on the backup power now.¡± A voice rang. He spoke to Salman in Hindi.
During this period, Xia Lei quickly reached out to the door handle and left theboratory. He pulled something out from his backpack as he ran towards the stairway leading to the roof.
¡°Boss, aren¡¯t you worried about the experiment result?¡± Tsukino Kyoko followed after Xia Lei.
Crack! A gentle sound rang. Xia Lei turned on a tactical shlight. A beam of light shone in the pitch-ck hallway.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was anxious. ¡°Turn it off! You¡¯re basically painting a target on our backs.¡±
In contrast to Tsukino Kyoko, the tension gradually disappeared from Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Stop talking and follow me. We need to get out of here.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was confused but Xia Lei didn¡¯t bother to exin. She didn¡¯t pry any further given the situation. She followed Xia Lei into the stairway. Shortly after, they were on the roof.
They were shocked to see that this building was not the only building that had a power outage. Instead, no light was visible in the whole area. The whole area was shrouded by a nket of darkness. It was terrifying.
¡°How is this possible?¡± Tsukino Kyoko didn¡¯t know what to make of this.
¡°Forget it. We need to get out of here now.¡± Xia Lei approached the edge of the roof and found the rope with the help of the tactical shlight.
The rope was hanging at the outer wall. One end of it was tied to the base of the lightning rod, another end of it was hanging on the wall and dropped to the alley.
¡°Go on first,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, you go on first. I got your back,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Quick!¡± Xia Lei shouted. ¡°There¡¯s no time for this. Get down now! Also, turn on your shlight.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko shrugged her shoulder. ¡°When have you ever seen a ninja with a shlight?¡±
Darkness was the cloak for the ninja, the darker the environment was, the better for ninja. If a ninja used a shlight in the dark, that wouldpletely defeat the purpose of a stealthy suit.
However, Xia Lei couldn¡¯tugh at all. He felt the danger approach him from afar. The feeling was as strong as the feeling he had during that night in Hattori Mei¡¯s vi.
Fortunately, Tsukino Kyoko took action immediately. She grabbed on the rope tightly and slid down to the alley. She was fast, which she only took ten seconds to reach the ground from the thirtieth floor.
Xia Lei grabbed the rope and prepared to slide down.
Just when Xia Lei was about to jump off the roof, he heard woosh behind him. He felt that a bullet had hit on his tactical shlight. The ss of the tactical shlight and the bulb inside shattered. The impact wasrge enough to numb his hand.
Whoosh!
The sound of an object moving at high speed sliced through the air. However, it was too fast to be spotted with the naked eyes.
Before Xia Lei could do anything, the rope he was holding suddenly became lighter. Arge part of the rope fell onto the ground.
It was his only way out of this building.
Xia Lei could feel the fear rising in his chest. He quickly took a nce at his right, which was where the stairway was situated.
The security door was closed, but a person was standing in front of the doorway. He was wearing a ck robe. His face and hands were invisible. It seemed like a robe hanging in the air. It was not human.
As soon as Xia Lei spotted the man, he bounced back by kicking the ground while pulling out his gun. He quickly fired a shot at the man in the ck robe.
The viper pistol Xia Lei had was equipped with a silencer, which eliminated the sound of the gunshot. The bullet travelled beyond the speed of sound. The man was not far away either. The bullet should be fast enough to pierce his skull.
However, the man managed to avoid the bullet. He even did it after the shot was fired!
Ding!
The bullet hit the steel te of the security door.
Suddenly, the man dashed towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pulled the trigger and fired seven to eight shots at the man in the blink of eyes.
The man didn¡¯t let down his guard. He strafed from side to side, avoiding the bullets with ease. It was aplete vition of thew of physics. His body was as light as the robe, which was near weightless.
A bullet hit the man in the chest.
It was thest shot from Xia Lei. He saw the bullet pierced through the man¡¯s body, but he couldn¡¯t see blood flowing out from the man¡¯s body. He saw the man drifting back as the bullet passed through the man, but he recovered after a short while.
He didn¡¯t have a body!
He was simr to Zhu Xuanyue!
Perhaps, he was more powerful than Zhu Xuanyue.
Those thoughts popped into Xia Lei¡¯s mind in waves. However, the man came in front of him before he could conclude anything.
Although Xia Lei¡¯s evolution was near perfection, it couldn¡¯t bepared to the man in the robe. He was still too slow when he waspared with the man.
Before the gun smoke disappeared into the wind, the man grabbed Xia Lei by his neck. He could feel the cloth around his neck, but not the hands that were supposed to apany it. In a split second, a tremendous force threw him to the ground.
Xia Lei was so close to him but he couldn¡¯t see his face. His X-ray vision was not working either.
¡°Am I going to die?¡± This thought popped into Xia Lei¡¯s mind. Despair and fear were slowly creeping over him, he couldn¡¯t see any hope.
However, Xia Lei¡¯s fear didn¡¯t turn into reality. The man didn¡¯t do anything to him. Instead, the man stared at Xia Lei with his inky ck eyes, deeper than an abyss.
That was the illusion of Xia Lei. The eyes staring at Xia Lei were just a pair of ck eyes. The eyes with no other colour except for ck.
¡°Who are you?¡± Xia Lei asked in a trembling voice.
The man didn¡¯t answer Xia Lei¡¯s question. He reached out to the alloy pendant on Xia Lei¡¯s neck with his hand. It seemed like he was observing the pendant.
¡°Do you want it? You can take it if you want. I¡¯m not your enemy,¡± said Xia Lei. If he was given a choice to choose between his life and thest capsule, he would definitely choose his life.
However, the man let go of the pendant. He also let go of the hand that was grabbing Xia Lei¡¯s neck. It was truly bizarre.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei was stunned. He thought the man would break his neck, but the man let go of him instead. It was weird and he didn¡¯t know what was going on.
¡°No wonder, you¡¯re slightly iplete.¡± The man spoke in a cold, husky and low voice. It didn¡¯t sound like a human.
Much to Xia Lei¡¯s horror, the man was speaking in Chinese.
¡°Who...Who the hell are you?¡± Xia Lei asked this question while suppressing the horror and fear that crept over him. It was the second time he threw this question to the man.
¡°The answer lies within you,¡± said the man.
Xia Lei was stunned. What kind of answer was that?
¡°I won¡¯t kill you because the answer is in you.¡±
¡°What do you mean? What answer?¡±
¡°Everything has a starting point and an end. Perhaps, you may find the end this time,¡± said the man.
¡°The end? You mentioned that the answer is in me. Are there any other hints you can give me?¡± Xia Lei asked carefully.
At this moment, the man suddenly moved towards the stairway. He hissed, ¡°Damn, she¡¯s always making trouble.¡±
Xia Lei looked at the security door. However, he saw nothing but the empty staircase behind the security door
¡°Ah!¡± Out of nowhere, a shrill rang out in the distance.
It was Salman.
¡°Something happened in theb?¡± Xia Lei got up from the floor immediately.
¡°If you don¡¯t give me the answer in three years, I¡¯ll kill you,¡± said the man.
¡°Who the hell are you?¡± Xia Lei was getting worked up. It was equivalent to giving him a three-year suspended sentence of execution without amutation.
¡°I mean no harm.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°How can a man who threatened to kill me mean no harm?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll understand one day.¡±
¡°Who the hell are you? What on earth are you up to?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s emotions were out of control.
¡°You have to be careful. You aren¡¯t as smart as I thought,¡± said the man.
If he wasn¡¯t the definition of smart, who was?
Before Xia Lei could sort out his thoughts, the man suddenly moved towards the edge and jumped off the roof. Xia Lei hurriedly ran towards the edge of the roof and looked down. He saw the man break into the thirtieth floor, the floor in which theboratory was situated. The ss of that floor was shattered as he went into the floor as if the ss was as fragile as the tofu.
¡°What is he doing? Is he nning to stop Zhu Xuanyue?¡± Xia Lei started to rush towards the security door as he thought of this.
He only spent ten seconds unlocking the security door with the password. Just when he prepared to rush towards theboratory, he heard an explosion from downstairs. The st swept him down the stairs with splinters of ss, metal and wood trailing behind him.
The man¡¯s target for tonight wasn¡¯t him. It was Zhu Xuanyue!
¡°Ning Jing...¡± At the moment of the explosion, the person that popped into his mind was not Zhu Xuanyue or Gu Kewen. It was the quiet and pitiful woman, Ning Jing.
Ka-boom!
Another explosion happened, which shook the whole building.
The sky turned red as the fire broke out.
As weirdly as it seemed, the whole area regained its power supply. The explosion seemed to trigger the electrical supply of the whole region.
Chapter 817 - Ass in the Ashes
Thick soot came rolling upstairs, bringing along a pungent chemical scent with it. Xia Lei identally inhaled a puff, prompting him to cough vehemently.
¡°Boss! What¡¯s going on?!¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice rang through the micro-receptor in his ear. Her voice filled with concern and anxiety.
Xia Lei grabbed his cor. He was going to reply but only then noticed that it was broken. It might have been crushed when the ck-robe man pressed him against the ground or the explosion that just happened destroyed it. All he knew was that he could no longer reply and instruct the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members.
¡°Boss? Reply!¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s voice cracked with anxiety.
¡°Fucking hell!¡± Enraged, Xia Lei tossed the crushed transmitter harshly on the ground. He then quickly picked himself up and dove straight into the smoke-filled stairway.
This would be the best time to retreat, but as soon as his mind thought of Ning Jing, he decided to go against his rationale. There was still some hope in his heart that Ning Jing might have survived the explosion. The possibility was slim but Xia Lei wasn¡¯t willing to just give up. If Xia Lei was the one on that cold hard metal bed, Ning Jing would¡¯ve done the same.
The thirtieth floor was veiled with thick smoke, noxious gasses filling every corner of the confined space.
Xia Lei¡¯s vision pierced through the particte obstacle. He saw the lift door open and close at the end of the corridor. At the same time, someone appeared at the entrance to the stairway.
¡°Go get the gas masks! Quick!¡± A yell echoed among the stairs.
What followed after was a series of rushed descending footsteps.
Xia Lei had already gotten used to the toxic gas. It took some time but his body had adapted to the circumstance. His ridiculously powerful immune system had started to do their job. With that, Xia Lei could walk around freely in the cloud of toxic gases while the others couldn¡¯t.
This was a great opportunity.
Xia Lei barged into theboratory.
The doors to theb were thoroughly destroyed. The floor was filled with pieces of metal, ss shards, destroyed electronics and human flesh!
Pieces of bloody flesh, bones and even organs were scattered about on the floor. The bomb had disappeared and what was left was only its wares and debris. The gigantic ss container was gone too, leaving behind several pools of blood-red fluid and ss shards everywhere. Gu Kewen¡¯s body was nowhere to be seen. The Caucasian and Asian female corpses were gone too! They might have been part of the scattered flesh but theb employees were in the mix too. The wholeboratory looked like living hell.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on where Ning Jing wasst seen at, the surgical bed had fallen due to the impact. Suddenly, something white came to sight. Was that... her ass?
He didn¡¯t dare to use his vision on the bed, dreading the revtion of what was left of Ning Jing.
He couldn¡¯t even muster up his guts to imagine it!
After a moment of hesitation, he braced himself to walk over. Extending his arm, he moved the bed away.
One nce was enough to soothe him. The white stuff he saw was indeed her bare ass. Thankfully, she was not only left with just a mere behind. Her form was gathered together in a fetal position with every inch of her body drenched in blood.
This was a miracle! She was the onlyplete being in this wholeboratory. Other than her, there was no other soul spared.
Xia Lei turned her around and soon felt his heart shatter into pieces. Lying in the puddle of blood, Ning Jing¡¯s body was not missing a single part but her face was bloody and barely recognisable.
¡°Ning Jing? Ning Jing! Wake up!¡± Xia Lei shook her shoulders frantically.
¡°Cough... ¡° A cough abruptly rolled out of Ning Jing¡¯s throat. Then, she started to gape for air.
She was alive!
Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare to stay longer. He quickly picked up Ning Jing and dashed towards the door.
Footsteps could be heard from the corridor, someone was talking.
¡°How did this ce explode?¡± Someone questioned in Japanese among the smoke.
¡°I have no idea but I do hope that bastard is still in theb. I¡¯d love to st him into dust.¡± Someone else replied.
¡°There¡¯s no guarantee. The Indian could only verify that the sum was paid by the bastard. Yeah, through that archaeologist named Ning Jing or something. No matter how you look at it, this incident definitely has something to do with him.¡± Someone else mentioned.
¡°Be careful, theb is just ahead. Toxic gases are everywhere.¡±
They were getting closer.
The Hattori n had arrived at the most unfortunate time!
¡°Fuck!¡± Xia Lei screamed internally. He took a deep breath and rushed out of the exit. He then frantically made his way to the balcony of the building.
The smog may hide one¡¯s presence but it definitely did nothing to mask the footsteps. With Ning Jing in his arms and a ss-filled corridor, his footsteps echoed loudly along the corridor. It was noisy enough to wake a sleeping person, let alone the vignt Hattori men.
¡°I hear someone in front of us!¡± Someone eximed.
¡°Who are you? Hold it!¡± Another yelled.
¡°Moron! If you continue to run, I¡¯ll shoot you!¡± Someone cocked their gun.
Without further hesitation and before anyone could confirm his identity, Xia Lei made it into the stairways at the other end of the corridor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Someone fired in the thick cloud of smoke, a few bullets hit the walls of the stairway.
¡°Get them!¡± Someone yelled.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Another wave of bullets was fired followed by thundering footsteps.
Xia Lei was already out of the stairway. He paused after getting through the security door to shut it close with his leg.
Ning Jing heaved as her respiratory system tried its best to rid itself of the noxious gas. She needed immediate medical attention!
Xia Lei had no time to think. He quickly ran over to the edge of the roof to peer below. He could only pray that Tsukino Kyoko had made it up again after noticing he wasn¡¯t replying.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The rain of bullets began again onto the metal security door. The impact made deafening sounds with holes forming on the sturdy door.
Boom! Someone fired their shotgun.
The lock was sent flying away from the impact, another soon kicked the barricade open.
As soon the man with the shotgun emerged from the door, a bullet was fired from Xia Lei¡¯s direction straight into his skull before he even had a chance to stabilize his stance.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With one arm around Ning Jing, Xia Lei used the other to fire his pistol in the direction of the stairway. His bullets effectively halting the emergence of his enemy.
¡°That¡¯s Xia Lei!¡± A man screamed in excitement. ¡°Capture him!¡±
¡°He only has a pistol! Go, go, go!¡± Another roared.
Xia Lei got increasingly nervous. They were right. He did only have a pistol with him. It was not nearly enough to deal with the whole lot of them. To make things worse, Ning Jing was in dire need of medical attention. Every second wasted could be life-threatening to her. Xia Lei wasrgely disappointed as his hope didn¡¯te to fruition. Tsukino Kyoko didn¡¯t make another climb. Perhaps she had already retreated out of the smallne they came from and was about to make a direct attack with the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team through the main entrance. However, there was no time left for him to wait for their rescue.
Another sniper dashed through the security door.
Xia Lei pulled the trigger. Another bullet flew straight to his brain, blowing his unfortunate skull apart. His sharpshooting abilities were still terrifyingly precise.
Right after he shot the shooter and was about to adjust himself, a submachine gun was extended out from the gap of the metal door.
Xia Lei threw himself harshly to the ground, prompting Ning Jing to be thrown heavily onto the tough cement floor.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
A bullet scraped Xia Lei¡¯s back.
¡°Go!¡± Someone roared.
Two shooters came out from behind the security door. They ran while they continued to fire their bullets towards Xia Lei. The two were using hyper-fast submachine guns. The continuous stream of bullets had Xia Lei effectively pinned down. Within that one second of him being suppressed by their firearms, another two shooters emerged again.
The new addition had better precision than the special forces.
It was obvious that they were the elite fighters of the Hattori n!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two glimmering objects came flying from behind Xia Lei.
It was two shurikens.
The cold metal sheen zipped across the balcony. One flew away while the other hit its target. Thest shooter who stepped out of the door had the shuriken stabbed into his chest. In turn, the fallen man triggered his gun in the process, its bullet missing Xia Lei. It had hit hisrade¡¯s back instead. Though the unlucky bastard had managed to avoid the shuriken, he was not spared from idental fire courtesy of hisrade.
Coming face-to-face with a powerful god-like opponent was not as fearsome as having an ipetentrade. This seemed to be applicable too in the gunning world.
With that, Xia Lei¡¯s threat was greatly reduced. Taking advantage of the other¡¯s confusion, he quickly made two continuous shots, which took out thest remaining opponents.
As soon as Xia Lei turned around, he was greeted by the sight of Tsukino Kyoko. The broken rope was still around her waist.
¡°What happened?¡± Tsukino Kyoko still had her eyes on the broken security door, but no one wasing out of it anymore.
¡°I¡¯ll exin after we leave this ce.¡± Xia Lei felt his left eye twitched a little. He continued, ¡°There¡¯s still one hiding behind the door. Back up is about to arrive. Quick, connect that rope, we¡¯ve got no time to waste.¡±
As Tsukino Kyoko took the rope he passed, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, our team is already in their respective positions.¡± She pointed to a building located diagonally from their location. ¡°Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im had already found a snipping spot there. Alessio and E¡¯er Demutu will attack from the front of the building. We can actually head back to take out all of the Hattori n here.¡±
Two snipers in another building and twobatants downstairs. At the very top had him and Tsukino Kyoko. They could ambush them from all three angles. This was undoubtedly a great opportunity to take out the Hattori n. However, Xia Lei found himself unable to make such a decision with a dying Ning Jing in his arms.
Chapter 818 - Those Who Didnt Believe Me Shall Die!
¡°Retreat.¡± Xia Lei made his final decision.
¡°Why?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was shocked, turning to stare at her boss.
Xia Lei pointed at Ning Jing who was still curled up on the floor. ¡°She¡¯s not going to make it. My transmitter is broken. Contact Alessio and E¡¯er immediately. Have them give up on the attack and retreat with us. Get Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im secure the roof. Have them kill anyone who passes the security door.¡±
¡°Got it. I¡¯ll buy you some time,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko. She took out her Viper pistol and had its muzzle aimed at the stairways.
Xia Lei picked Ning Jing up and draped her over his shoulder. His other hand was used to grab the rope for their descent to the ground. His ankles were wrapped around the rope as they fell, aiming to reduce the friction and the stress their weights had ced on it.
As he was sliding down, a round of gunshots rang out above him. The Hattori n had begun their attack on Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Ah!¡± A harrowing scream echoed through the night amidst the gunshots.
It was a man¡¯s voice.
With the use of his limbs, Xia Lei broke their fall. When he had reached the ground, he sensed movement above him.
Tsukino¡¯s descend looked as if she was gliding down. With one firm grip around the rope, she came running down borrowing the surface of the building¡¯s wall.
Tsukino Kyoko made it to the ground in mere seconds.
¡°Careful!¡± Xia Lei shouted as he pushed her away.
Tsukino stumbled a few steps behind.
Bam! A body suddenly fell, breaking apart into unrecognizable mush on the ground. His skull was destroyed earlier on the roof by the submachine guns. The concrete dismembered what remained of his body. The only identifiable thing left was his scalp.
Though Xia Lei could kill, a scene like that made him retch vehemently.
Tsukino Kyoko snapped back to reality. She couldn¡¯t help but lift her head up to nce at the top of the building, letting the fear sink in. If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t pushed her away, a falling body from that height would¡¯ve taken her life!
¡°Go!¡± Xia Lei removed Ning Jing from his shoulder to hold her in his arms. He quickly dashed towards the end of thene.
Tsukino Kyoko followed closely. Her mind was still fixated on that push which saved her life.
Sirens started to approach the location from afar. No one was sure if it was the New Delhi police or the firefighters. No matter who they were, they had their work cut out for them.
Though they were reaching the exit of thene, Xia Lei suddenly halted his footsteps. With his odd pause, Tsukino Kyoko also seems to have sensed some danger. Together, theyy t against a wall to hide behind a utility pole.
¡°Xia Lei! You can¡¯t run!¡± Someone yelled in Japanese.
Footsteps could then be hearding from their intended exit.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. ¡°Left three, right two.¡±
¡°Surrender yourself! Someone wants to meet you!¡± Another shouted.
Xia Lei whispered, ¡°Kyoko, have you informed Alessio and E¡¯er yet? They¡¯re supposed to be here with us.¡±
¡°I did but I¡¯m not sure what happened.¡± Tsukino Kyoko was equally anxious.
Their enemies surrounded the exit yet no attacks wereunched. Even if Xia Lei and Tsukino¡¯s gun skills were impable, this was beyond them. The Viper pistol was not strong enough to pierce through the wall to hit their targets.
¡°The police areing! You have no time left!¡± Someone screamed into thene.
Xia Lei roared back in Japanese. ¡°Damn this little Hattori fucker. You want to capture me yet you don¡¯t dare to show yourself? Are you scared of me? You¡¯re just like a tortoise! Is Hattori Mei here? I must say, her skills in the sheets are an absolute killer!¡±
Words like that would¡¯ve enraged any men.
But Hattori Geppa was different. It did nothing to him. There were still no signs of his presence. He was not part of the five blocking thene.
Despite theck of his presence and theck of knowledge of his position in the Hattori n, Xia Lei could sense that he was nearby. If the Hattori n was here in the middle of the night, along with lots of elite fighters and even heavy firearms, how could an authority figure be absent?
Though he was unsure if the insults had affected Hattori Geppa, Tsukino Kyoko was already frowning right beside him.
¡°That dumb Hattori fuckface sure is a tortoise! Hattori Mei kneeled before me like a little bitch. Did you know that? Hahahaha!¡± Xia Lei continued to add fire.
¡°Moron!¡± Though Hattori Geppa seems to be unfazed by Xia Lei¡¯s words, it had enraged one of the Hattori elite fighters. The man suddenly revealed half his body from behind thene wall to fire towards where the two were hidden.
Bang! Bang!
Two shots were fired at the same time.
One hit the utility pole, sending sparks around.
One hit a skull, sending blood sshes everywhere.
Someone was always dumb enough to fall for Xia Lei¡¯s tricks and underestimate his aim.
Police sirens were getting nearer.
¡°Xia Lei! You can¡¯t run!¡± Someone roared.
At this very moment, a Ford Roadshaker appeared on the road opposite thene. The vehicle did a clean drift and opened its trunk to reveal two snipers. The two opened fire towards the Hattori n men that hid at both sides of thene¡¯s exit with gust assault rifles.
The remaining four Hattori men were very fixated on Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko. No one had noticed what was going on behind them. Just like that, their short response was taken advantage of and the four were knocked down to the ground within a second.
The sniper kept his gun away to yell into thene. ¡°Quick!¡±
He was Alessio, the most brutal assaulter among the Chinese Zodiac Team members.
Hering that, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko ran out of thene. Thetter had her eyes vignt on her surroundings. She held a gun towards the building¡¯s main entrance to protect Xia Lei. The man had his arms full with Ning Jing, there was no way he could fight while they ran.
Just then, two snipers ran out of the building hoping to catch them before they left.
Without waiting for Tsukino and Alessio tond a shot, the two snipers were immediately shot to the ground. The two had suffered the same fate, having their skulls destroyed by a sniper rifle.
No one dared to exit the building unless they were looking for a dance with death.
Xia Lei leapt into the trunk of the Roadshaker, throwing Ning Jing into the back seat before he climbed into the front seat. Tsukino Kyoko made one hard dash and jumped into the car¡¯s back seat after Xia Lei had cleared the area.
E¡¯er mmed the pedal hard, bringing the Roadshaker into a mad eleration.
As they shut the trunk, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye caught sight of a reflection on one of the utility poles. The exterior coating for the poles was copper. The reflection made using the light from the pole showed a man and a woman. These two weren¡¯t strangers to Xia Lei. One of them was Hattori Mei and the other was the lucky Hattori leader that made it out of the snowy mountains in Dawang alive. He was the man d in monk robes.
Xia Lei turned around as soon as the trunk door was shut taut.
¡°Contact Anjum Khan immediately. I need a doctor,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
Alessio quickly held up hismunicator. ¡°Monkey, the boss needs a doctor. Please see to it immediately!¡±
Anjum Khan¡¯s reply came through the device. ¡°Got it. You guys return to the safe point now. I¡¯ll be there soon with the rabbit.¡±
As soon as the exchange ended, Alessio quickly questioned, ¡°Boss, are you hurt somewhere?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s her, she needs a doctor.¡±
Alessio¡¯s gaze fell on Ning Jing but Xia Lei quickly covered her with his outerwear without sparing Alessio another nce. Xia Lei then held Ning Jing¡¯s body close to provide her with some warmth. Thank goodness the Roadshaker was spacious enough toy her t and provide her with somefort.
Despite that, Ning Jing didn¡¯t show signs of waking up. Her breathing was shallow and slow.
Xia Lei heave a sigh, averting his gaze to the window behind. Sadly, the vehicle had taken a turn, rendering him unable to see the reflection of Hattori Mei and the man.
Meanwhile, in the lobby of Might Biotechnology Headquarters.
¡°Alright, we can leave now,¡± said Hattori Geppa.
With a quickened pace, Hattori Mei made her way to the entrance.
¡°If you hadn¡¯t insisted on visiting Nahar¡¯s ce, I could¡¯ve captured Xia Lei!¡± Hattori Geppa was angry. If they could trap Xia Lei in theboratory before the explosion, they could¡¯ve killed him!
Hattori Mei returned him a wry smile. ¡°My dear younger brother, you¡¯re trying to put the me on me? Our men had actually trapped Xia Lei and his femalerade sessfully in thene. Xia Lei had wanted you to appear yet you didn¡¯t dare to spare a single appearance. Tell me, how could I believe your words anymore?¡±
¡°You...¡± Hattori Geppa clenched his fist, but he didn¡¯tnd a punch on his sister.
Making their exit, they were soon greeted by a hoard of police cars and firefighter trucks. The piercing sirens and the ring lights were overwhelming.
Hattori Geppa hurried steps down the stairs and made his way to a Toyota Land Cruiser parked nearby.
Weirdly, Hattori Mei hadn¡¯t followed him.
¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± Geppa sent daggers with his re.
Hattori Mei ignored him to retrieve her phone. She dialled a number and spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone. ¡°Hello, Mister Bahad. I heard you were moved to the police department recently. Congrattions! Ah, you actually recognise my voice. Yes, I¡¯m Beryl. I¡¯ve called to greet you in Madam Folsom¡¯s stead. Oh, that¡¯s great. We¡¯ll continue our conversation when we meet soon. I¡¯ve prepared a beautiful bottle of Lafite 1989 for you, I hope you¡¯ll like it.¡±
She finally made her way over to the Toyota Land Cruiser after ending the call. She calmly requested, ¡°Bring me to Mister Bahad¡¯s ce. We need some help.¡±
Hattori Geppa¡¯s lips twitched, but he ultimately endured it.
Chapter 819 - New Safe Point
They found themselves in a private clinic.
In front of the doctor were ten thousand USD and a Viper pistol.
¡°Pick one.¡± Anjum Khan stared at the doctor dead in his eyes.
Without hesitation, the doctor grabbed the wad of cash. He then spoke, ¡°My clinic has only the basic tools. I may treat her but I can¡¯t guarantee that I can cure her.¡±
¡°If you can¡¯t cure her, it;ll only cost you your life.¡± Anjum Khan took the pistol and cocked it against the doctor¡¯s forehead. His expression was terrifyingly dark, looking like a savage who was thirsty for blood.
Beads of cold sweat started to form on the doctor¡¯s forehead.
Xia Lei slid a handwritten list across the doctor¡¯s table. ¡°This is all the medicine you need to treat her. If you don¡¯t have it, have someone deliver it.¡±
The doctor spared the list a brief nce, then quickly picked up the phone to dial a few numbers.
While the doctor called for medicine, Xia Lei was already busy picking out usable medicines from the clinic¡¯s medical cab. Xia Lei was by no means a doctor but had a shockinglyplete array of medical knowledge. His knowledge of medicine could rival that of professionals. The man was able to treat Shentu Ren through acupuncture. Sadly, what Ning Jing suffered now was burn wounds and internal injuries from the explosion. He had no practical knowledge in that field.
As soon as the doctor hung up, he looked at the busy Xia Lei with an odd nce. ¡°Sir, are you a doctor too?¡±
¡°Stop asking me questions. Come with me, act as my assistant.¡± Xia Lei moved an arm full of medicine into the treatment room.
Ning Jing wasid on a simple patient bed, her body was covered with a white nket. Her face was bloody and mutted. Her condition had seen no improvement.
¡°I swear I¡¯ll heal you, you¡¯ll be home soon.¡± Xia Lei thought to himself.
The surgery soon began.
¡°Sir, how were you able to tell that there was an injury on her bone without using an X-ray? What the hell?¡±
¡°Oh my god. Sir, you must be a chief surgeon at some big hospital, right?¡±
¡°Sir, I¡¯ve never seen someone operate like this. Your handiwork is more precise than a robot¡¯s. How did you get to this point?¡±
¡°Sir...¡±
Time passed little by little. Soon, dawn came and chased away the night. It was a new day, the streets were bustling with people and the roads were filled with vehicles. A few cows could be seen roaming the streets, feeding on the grass along the sidewalk. In India, cows were sacred beings. They were not to be disturbed.
Ning Jing¡¯s surgery came to an end. She was wrapped up tightly in dressings, just like a mummy. She was still unconscious under the effects of anaesthesia but her condition had stabilized. Xia Lei and Anjum Khan carried her out of the clinic. They then ced her inside a small container. Anjum Khan¡¯s man had already prepared a stretcher for her beforehand.
The truck drove into the streets towards the outskirts. The lot had abandoned the first safe point for another new location where Anjum Khan had arranged.
In the moving vehicle, Xia Lei stared at Ning Jing¡¯s wrapped face as he began to space out.
He was eager to find out what had happened in theboratoryst night. The whole incident was too weird. He just couldn¡¯t wrap his head around it and deduce a logical reason behind it.
Questions lingered in his mind.
Back in Paris, the ck robe man had made a throat-slitting gesture when he first appeared. It was obvious that he wanted to kill Xia Lei, But when presented with the chance, he gave up. In addition, it was obvious that the ck robe man knew about the existence of AE capsules. Yet he didn¡¯t take those away. Why was that so?
¡°Give me the answer three yearster, then I¡¯ll kill you.¡± Those were the words the ck robe man left on the roof. He wanted answers. But what was the question? And why three years specifically?
When the ck robe man left, it was clear that he entered theboratory on the thirtieth floor. It was after that when the explosion took ce. What exactly happened then? Did he ruin Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s reincarnation n and a high-level fight took ce within that time frame? Why was Ning Jing the only one spared from the explosion when everyone else and all the machines was destroyed?
All of these questions stung themselves in Xia Lei¡¯s heart like needles. It was awful not knowing anything.
¡°Boss, what do we do next?¡± Anjum Khan asked.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°We¡¯ll stay for a few days at the new safe point until Ning Jing¡¯s condition improves a little more. Until then, we will devise a way to return to China. Instruct your men to keep an eye out for police activity in New Delhi. The Hattori n had bought over the Indian military before. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they returned with the police force.¡±
Anjum Khan replied, ¡°No problem.¡±
Two hourster, the truck arrived at a vige. The vigers in this particr vige lived very frugal lives. Their houses were simple, short and tattered. A bunch of filthy children started to run with the truck. Anjum Khan had to poke his head out to yell at them to chase them away. Finally, the vehicle came to a stop at a farmyard at the end of the vige. A beautiful young Indiandy approached the vehicle to greet everyone. Anjum Khan snaked his arms around her waist tond an affectionate kiss on her cheek.
Xia Lei finally understood that this wasn¡¯t just any mere safe point. It was where Anjum Kahn¡¯s lover was at. It was quite obvious that this wasn¡¯t the only lover he had. He must have plenty of safe points all over India.
After they settled down, Xia Lei feasted on some Indian dishes prepared by the female host. He took a well-needed bath and then retreated to his room for the night. Once he was alone, he turned on hisptop and connected it to the inte.
In mere minutes, Xia Lei had made it into the New Delhi Police¡¯s data system. From what he had gotten, the police had ssified the explosions and gunfight at Might Biotechnologyst night as a terrorist attack. They had even applied for the involvement of the Indian anti-terrorist organization, the 62 Air Force Assault Team.
The 62 Air Force Assault Team was India¡¯s best anti-terrorist team. Their role in India¡¯s military field was equivalent to that of the American Delta Force. In terms of training received and equipment, what they had were the best in the world.
Looking through the information, the edge of Xia Lei¡¯s lips curled into a smirk. ¡°You¡¯re trying to capture me in India? Hattori Mei, you¡¯re relentless. Are you really not going to ask for my consent? Fine, since you¡¯re so eager to get me and I¡¯m eager to get rid of your Hattori n, let¡¯s have some fun in India.¡±
After that, Xia Lei opened Google Maps. He settled on a location after ten minutes, which happened to be Punjab, close to the borders of Pakistan.
¡°Mm...¡± A female moan rang out through the wallsing from next door.
It was Anjum Khan¡¯s lover. Her screams were exaggerated, like a parched traveller presented to a sudden feast. What followed was the creaks of the wooden bed and Anjum Khan¡¯s groans.
The ce was built with wooden walls and therefore not very soundproof. Xia Lei frowned at the noise, opting to knock on the wall toin. ¡°Hey, Anjum Khan, please lower down your voices. You¡¯re distracting me from my work.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Anjum Khan responded, ¡°Sorry boss, we¡¯ll try to be quiet. Hehe.¡±
Heeding Xia Lei¡¯s request, it seems like Anjum Khan had covered his lover¡¯s mouth with his palm. Muffled weird female noises could still be heard from time to time but it was softer.
¡°Anjum Khan,¡± Xia Lei called him in Chinese over the wall. ¡°Get ready soon. We¡¯ll be flying off to Punjab after tomorrow then we¡¯ll cross over into Pakistan. We¡¯ll leave for China from Pakistan.¡±
The rationale behind the use of Chinese was to hide the information from Anjum Khan¡¯s lover.
Though Anjum Khan wasn¡¯t sure why his boss decided to use thenguage, he followed suit. ¡°No problem. We¡¯re not far from Punjab, a ten-hour drive will take us there.¡±
¡°Also, I need to bribe a policeman.¡±
¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± Anjum Khan was very surprised.
¡°I need him to help us ry a message.¡±
¡°What message?¡±
¡°That he received intel that we are sneaking off to Punjab to enter Pakistan then nning to return to China from there.¡±
¡°Uh... Boss, if you really wanted them to know, why not just leak it out straight? Why the need to bribe a policeman?¡±
Xia Lei exined himself, ¡°Our opponent is sly. If we leak it directly, the Hattori n will suspect that this is a trap. But if we reveal this to the Indian police, it¡¯s a different story altogether. You get what I mean, right? The policeman you bribe must be of a certain level of authority and influence. It would be best if he was part of the intelligencework.¡±
¡°I get what you mean. Corruption in India is nothing. There¡¯s literally no issue in bribing a policeman in India. I¡¯ll get to it soon. Yeah, right after I¡¯m done with my own business.¡±
The bed creaking continued.
Xia Lei smiled to himself, closing hisptop together then exited his room. The passionated noises were getting a little too much for him to handle. He just couldn¡¯t remain in the house anymore.
In the backyard, Xia Lei retrieved his satellite phone to dial for a non-member of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. The call got through after a minute, he calmly spoke, ¡°Hello, Prince Harifah. Do you recognize my voice? It¡¯s me, Xia Lei.¡±
Prince Harifah replied, ¡°I was wondering how someone could reach me on this number. I¡¯m genuinely surprised that it was you. My friend, I was just about to contact you. I want to order fifty units of your Sweeper Infantry Fighting Machine.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not a problem. I need your help with something.¡±
¡°Do tell, my friend. What can I do for you?¡±
¡°Can you have the United Arab Emirates media report on my official visit to the UAE to conduct a market survey along with pictures of arge-scale weing ceremony?¡±
¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡±
¡°I mean that I¡¯m in the UAE visiting your pce and had a meal with you. Pictures... Photoshopping it out shouldn¡¯t be a problem, right?¡±
¡°Oh. Hehehe... Got it, no problem.¡±
¡°Thank you, my friend. Your order shall be delivered soon. Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei ended the call.
Abruptly, a loud moan roared out from the house behind him.
Anjum Khan was obviously done with his business.
Xia Lei could onlyugh. How could the vigorous Anjum Khan onlyst for that long? In terms of sexual stamina, Anjum Khan could barelyst half of Xia Lei¡¯s record. Weirdly, amidst the mess he was in, all Xia Lei could think of was Hattori Mei¡¯s face and her smooth silky skin...
Chapter 820 - Who Are You? Who Is She?
That night, New Delhi¡¯s TV station aired the news about the alleged ¡®terrorist attack¡¯ on Might Biotechnology Corporation. There was no footage of a gunfight, only snippets of firefighters putting out fire and policemen busy ushering people away. A representative from the New Delhi police force also appeared in the news. He reprimanded the attack and hinted that the terrorists may be from the Middle East.
It was obvious that they were bribed to say that.
It wasn¡¯t difficult to guess who bribed them either. It was none other than the Hattori n¡¯s representative, Hattori Mei.
It wasn¡¯t that Hattori Mei didn¡¯t want to ster Xia Lei¡¯s picture on air to use him as a terrorist, the venal officer wasn¡¯t keen on doing so. Xia Lei was a very influential person in the Chinese military industry. He was also the associate dean of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. All in all, he was a prominent figure in society. If the Indian police had used him of being a terrorist, the whole situation would spiral out of the Hattori n¡¯s control.
There were some things that money couldn¡¯t achieve. Hattori Mei was fully aware of that. Her opposition to Xia Lei could only be done in secret. Although they were both in New Delhi, Hattori Mei wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything drastic and obvious here.
On the very same night, Xia Lei obtained some information on Hattori Geppa. He found out that the man was Hattori Masao¡¯s illegitimate son.
This knowledge came as a surprise to Xia Lei. He was shocked to know that Hattori Mei had such a brother.
¡°Hattori Geppa, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll meet again soon.¡± Xia Lei smirked coldly. ording to Hattori Mei¡¯s private number that he had managed to obtain, he found her exact location using satellite positioning.
Her location was a bit of a shocker to Xia Lei. She was currently in the United States Embassy in New Delhi.
Her location presented a bold thought in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He was contemting hacking into the embassy¡¯s system. Ultimately, he decided against it. No matter how great of a hacker you were, it was close to impossible to execute a seamless undetectable operation. If he did invade the embassy¡¯s system, they would certainly be able to track his location.
As the hegemon of the world, America¡¯s digital capabilities were top of the globe. The security systems of the American Intelligence Department and International Organizations were under the care of a watchful cybersecurity team. Xia Lei would prefer not to step foot into this territory.
Hattori Mei¡¯s whereabouts shrouded Xia Lei with worry. The Hattori n had started their coboration with the CIA since the West province Dawang incident. If Hattori Mei had revealed to the CIA that Xia Lei was in India, would the CIA leave him alone?
After Dawang¡¯s battle, the CIA had already improved on their operations. Before Gu Kewen¡¯s life ended, she told him that he was now a threat to the American war strategy. The Americans were nning to kill him and bring his body with them. If the CIA had really made their way over to India, their strategies would most definitely be more fortified than before!
Coming to that conclusion, Xia Lei could no longer sit still. He left his room. Just as he was about to dial for Anjum Khan, Tsukino Kyoko had approached him.
¡°I was just about to gather you all for a discussion,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°She¡¯s awake,¡± Tsukino Kyoko interjected.
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s face was in utter disbelief. ¡°Are you for real?¡±
¡°Go and take a look yourself,¡± replied Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei strode towards Ning Jing¡¯s room. He had estimated her to regain consciousness by tomorrow morning but she had woken up earlier than expected.
¡°Oh, you mentioned that you needed us for a discussion. What is it about?¡± Tsukino Kyoko chased after Xia Lei.
¡°I found out where Hattori Mei is. She¡¯s in the US Embassy in New Delhi now. I¡¯m worried that this isn¡¯t a Hattori n solo mission.¡±
¡°You¡¯re worried that the CIA may be involved?¡±
¡°Yeah. I have a feeling that they might deploy the Delta Force.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s expression hardened. ¡°Hence why we need a change in ns. We cannot wait until tomorrow to move. We need to leave this ce as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Alright, got it. Go head over to Ning Jing. I¡¯ll go get the others ready.¡± Tsukino Kyoko left with quickened steps.
Xia Lei entered Ning Jing¡¯s room.
The light was dim in the room, the air was filled with a strong note of medicine. Ning Jing wasid t on a medical stretcher. Only her eyes, nose and lips were exposed to her surroundings. There was a wooden stick right next to the bed with a bag of IV drops hanging on top of it. Its anti-inmmatory contents slowly dripped into Ning Jing¡¯s system. Though Xia Lei had done the necessary treatment for it, necessary measures were needed to avoid inmmation or suppuration would ur soon.
Ning Jing seemed to have felt his approaching presence. She tried her best to open her eyes. Her gaze fell on Xia Lei, lips twitching to make out a word but all she could mutter was a simple ¡°Ah.¡±
Xia Lei sat on a wooden stool next to the bed. Heforted her. ¡°It¡¯s alright, you¡¯re safe now. You should be better in another few more days.¡±
Though he meant his words, his heart dropped.
Her body had multiple injuries, thergest damage focused on the skin of her face. Her features were gone and the explosion had mutted her entire face. A burn wound of such a scale would probably require many rounds of stic surgeries to fix, and even then it is not a surefire guarantee. She was still so young and at her prime. How was she expected to live the remaining half of her life in this pitiful state?
¡°You...¡± Finally, a coherent word came rolling out of Ning Jing¡¯s mouth. She looked weak.
Xia Lei gave her a light pat on the back of her hand. He gently uttered, ¡°It¡¯s alright, take it slow. You¡¯re still very weak. You¡¯ll definitely feel better in two more days.¡±
¡°Who...¡± Ning Jing muttered another word.
Xia Lei was a little stunned.
¡°You...¡± Ning Jing finally made out the third word.
Though her sentence was barely coherent, Xia Lei¡¯s blood went cold.
This was the first thing she said to him.
It didn¡¯t matter if she was Ning Jing or a vessel housing Zhu Xuanyue, there was no way she couldn¡¯t recognise who he was!
Did the explosion cause her some brain damage that led her to suffer memory loss?
Judging from Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s existence, a direct hit from a cannon was merely sufficient to register any harm to her brain.
If she was really just Ning Jing, it made no sense for her to be the sole survivor of the ident!
Staring at the woman whose face was unrecognizable, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but question himself. Who was this woman before him?
He stared at Ning Jing, Ning Jing stared at him.
A silent minute passed.
¡°Who... are you?¡± Oddly, Ning Jing could utter aplete sentence.
¡°You really don¡¯t remember me?¡± Xia Lei moved his face, allowing the light to catch some of his features. ¡°I¡¯m Xia Lei. Do you not remember me?¡±
Ning Jing shook her head lightly, then muttered something else. ¡°Who... am I?¡±
¡°Huh?!¡± Xia Lei was once again shocked to the core. She even forgot who she was!
¡°Who am I?¡± Ning Jing¡¯s voice got increasingly clear, her words were articted better. Suddenly, her weariness dissipated.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. The gauze wrapped around her body quickly disappearedyer byyer, allowing him to peer into her skin condition. Scars were already forming on the initially damaged skinyer, which was an indication of a healing body. Under normal circumstances, her injuries would¡¯ve needed ten to twenty days to get to this point. She had only required twenty hours!
Not only was her wounds healing at an astonishing speed, but her energy also seemed to have improved fast. Her recovery was evident from her speech. When she first woke up, she was feeble, unable to utter a single coherent sentence. In a few minutes, she was able to produce coherent sentences.
An urge shed across Xia Lei¡¯s mind and he got more unsure of who this woman really was. He tried to use his X-ray vision to peer into her face. Unfortunately, her face was covered with scars and it was barely possible to even make out her facial structures. Seeing past the scars, all he could see was just flesh and blood. Her skin was still on its way to recovery.
After a pregnant pause, Xia Lei probed. ¡°You¡¯re Ning Jing.¡±
¡°Ning Jing? Who¡¯s Ning Jing?¡± Her stare was nk and in a daze.
¡°Zhu Xuanyue?¡± Xia Lei tried again.
¡°Zhu Xuanyue? Who¡¯s Zhu Xuanyue?¡± She got even more confused.
Xia Lei had gotten very anxious. ¡°Do you still remember what happened in theboratory?¡±
¡°I remember... ck...¡±
¡°A ck-robed man?¡±
¡°No, ck sky.¡±
¡°Could you recall the bodies? There were three bodies, one with the name Gu Kewen, a blonde Caucasian and another raven-haired Asian. Did the explosion destroy all three bodies?¡±
¡°You¡¯re so annoying, I¡¯m just going to head back to sleep.¡±
Xia Lei felt as if his throat was constricted by something. He couldn¡¯t say another word.
Ning Jing¡¯s current condition was by no means normal. Memories of what she had experienced personally in theboratory werepletely wiped clean.
Abruptly, footsteps could be heard outside the door. Tsukino Kyoko said, ¡°Boss, we¡¯re ready. Anjum Khan has returned too.¡±
Xia Lei spared Ning Jing onest look before he left the room.
The six Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were all in the yard, each of them with a camo backpack behind them. They looked prepared for the journey ahead.
¡°Anjum Khan, how¡¯s your progress?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I brought your money into New Delhi, managed to find an officer in the intelligence department. He agreed to our requests. He¡¯ll leak the information you designed into their system as soon as we arrive in Punjab,¡± reported Anjum Khan.
¡°Are you sure he could be trusted?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
Anjum Khan answered, ¡°How trustworthy would someone be if they could be bought over with twenty thousand USD? We¡¯re not asking for his loyalty, we¡¯re just asking for a hassle-free favour. If he doesn¡¯t do his part, my men will take care of him.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great to hear.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Bring Ning Jing along, we¡¯ll start our journey to Punjab tonight.¡±
Chapter 821 - Women and Clothes
Ten hourster, they arrived at Punjab, near the borders that divided India and Pakistan.
The scenery outside the vehicle was a piece of barrennd. Vegetation was absent from the hills and there seemed to be an endless horizon of gobi made out of stones and sand. There was no one here, let alone a single rat. Albeit resilient beings, rats still required food and water, none of which was present at this ce.
¡°Boss, if we go past that mountain, we¡¯ll be in Pakistan.¡± Anjum Khan pointed to a huge mountain ahead of them. ¡°Locals call it the Bone Mountain because of a war that took ce here in the past. It took the lives of many, hence why it got its name.¡±
Xia Lei took a good look at the mountain. It looked like a standard stone mountain. Its uneven surface consisted of various sized stones and sharp cliffs. It looked very difficult to climb.
This terrain was most suited for battles where your opponents outnumbered your forces. That was also the reason behind his choice of location. This was where he had nned to perish the Hattori n.
Another reason behind it was due to the location¡¯s proximity to the Pakistan border. If anything had gone terribly wrong, all Xia Lei needed to do was to cross over the mountain into Pakistan. Taking advantage of the diplomatic rtions between Pakistan and China, even a regr Chinese civilian would receive great help from the Pakistanis.
¡°Anjum Khan, give that dude a call. Have him add another detail to the intel. We¡¯ll be crossing over the mountain to get into Pakistan within four hours.¡± Xia Lei instructed.
¡°Why so specific?¡± Anjum Khan was confused.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°Yesterday, I¡¯ve phoned the UAE¡¯s Prince Harifah to have him order the nation¡¯s media to broadcast fake news that I was visiting the nation. The Americans would definitely take note of it and verify its authenticity. By now, the Hattori n would¡¯ve already given the American Intelligence Department our deliberately leaked information. That would result in the Americans holding two very different pieces of information. It would be difficult for them to decide where my location is. No matter what, the CIA would need some time to truly analyze and investigate it. The specific four-hour time frame was to pressure the Hattori n intoing here. They would be desperate to rify their given information to the CIA.¡±
Anjum Khan replied, ¡°I got it. The CIA would definitely not have enough time to join the battle. As long as they¡¯re not involved, it¡¯ll be easy for us to take out the Hattori n.¡±
¡°What if the Hattori n had actually bought over help from the Indian military and their special forces?¡± questioned Sa¡¯im. His brows were slightly furrowed, worried about the potential oue.
¡°If not many of them show up, we¡¯ll stick to our n and destroy them all. If there are too many of them, we¡¯ll retreat,¡± answered Xia Lei. He had already thought this through.
They continued their chatter, until the two four-wheeled drives they rode on halted at the foot of the mountain. This was as far as their vehicles could go. The particr path was built for the transportation of Indian armies and resources during the war between Pakistan and India. They did not extend it into the territories of their neighbour.
Everyone got off the vehicle. Anjum Khan stepped away to give the Indian official a call. Meanwhile, Xia Lei busied himself with moving Ning Jing out of the car with Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s assistance.
Perhaps the sunlight was too intense, Ning Jing started to stir from her sleep. She propped herself up on the stretcher bed, ring at everyone around her cautiously. Finally, she rested her gaze on Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, where are you bringing me to?¡±
Said man was immediately stunned.
Ten hours ago, not only she had no memory of who he was, but she also had zero recognition of who she was! How did she regain those memories during their ride?
¡°Xia Lei, answer me, where are you bringing me?¡± Ning Jing¡¯s tone was filled with severe displeasure.
Xia Lei snapped out of his daze. ¡°You finally remembered me?¡±
¡°Of course! Even if you became ashes, I could recognize you!¡±
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei was confused. That was very unlike Ning Jing. Since he knew her, she had always behaved in a mild and sophisticated mannerism. Her words were always gentle to him. Since when had she talked to him this way?
¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?!¡± Tsukino Kyoko reprimanded. ¡°How could you be so ungrateful? My boss almost died trying to save you? Not a single thanks uttered and you¡¯re speaking to him like that?!¡±
¡°Save me? More like he killed me.¡± Her voice was still unmistakably Ning jing¡¯s voice, but the feeling she gave off was as if she was a different soul.
As Tsukino Kyoko was about to reprimand her, Xia Lei waved his hand. He stared at Ning Jing¡¯s gauze-concealed face and activated his X-ray vision. The dressings and scars beneath soon disappeared, only to reveal a forming new face. It looked familiar, it was Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s face!
Suddenly, something shed within Xia Lei¡¯s mind. It all started to make sense. All of those unsolvable mysteries resurfaced. Memories of him locating Princess Yongmei¡¯s body in the old tombs back in Afghanistan then finding the same body underwater in Japan along with the weirdly familiar face painted by Leonarda da Vinci in the artwork disyed in Mark Armin¡¯s house. The female pirate in the painting too had the face of Princess Yongmei Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s face!
So this was how she was born!
The truth to many secrets lies in front of us. We just have the habit of overlooking them.
It was the same for Princess Yongmei¡¯s body. It would be impossible for someone to own the exact same body across different time periods. Plus, Princess Yongmei existed as a mere pure form of energy. She was basically indestructible but she had no physical vessel. If she wanted one, all she could do was to overtake someone else¡¯s then alter it to her needs through special methods.
Now to think of it, Salman had already dropped them a hint earlier. She mentioned that the bodies were clothes to the goddess. Since they were referred to as clothes, that would indicate that their forms could be tailored and fitted! The explosion that took ce in theboratory was just the ¡®alteration¡¯ of the bodies. Princess Yongmei had stitched different clothes together to fit her needs!
That begs the question, what was the ck-robed man¡¯s role in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s ¡®reincarnation¡¯? Was he here to stop it? What were his intentions?
Unfortunately, the only ones that could answer it would be Zhu Xuanyue and the ck-robed man themselves.
Xia Lei¡¯s flurry of thought was short-lived. After a brief pause, he muttered, ¡°Is Gu Kewen speaking to me?¡±
¡°Gu Kewen?¡± She stared back at him nkly.
¡°Yes, Gu Kewen. I¡¯m sure you remember the name.¡± Xia Lei continued to probe.
She hugged her head with her arms. Her expression changed drastically. Even her tone was different, reverting back to her usual soft and gentle tone. ¡°I don¡¯t know and I don¡¯t want to know. Why don¡¯t I remember anything? Weirdly, I have this feeling that you¡¯re the closest person in my life. You won¡¯t hurt me, right?¡±
Xia Lei felt as if the woman in front of him had switched back to Ning Jing.
¡°Please, take me away from this ce.¡± She suddenly grasped onto Xia Lei¡¯s elbow, giving him stares that glimmered with sorrow and pleading.
¡°Are you Ning Jing?¡± Xia Lei tried again.
¡°I can¡¯t remember. If you think that¡¯s who I am, then I shall be that. I¡¯ll listen to everything you say. Just take me away from this ce. I don¡¯t want to be near any of them.¡± She cast a nce at Tsukino Kyoko, not forgetting to sh her a wry smile.
Tsukino Kyoko spoke up at this. ¡°Boss, what the hell is wrong with her? Was her brain damaged by the explosion?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Of course the explosion did something. Nevermind, let¡¯s just start our trek up the mountain. We¡¯ll save this discussion forter.¡± Then, he gently pressed Ning Jing back to her stretcher bed. ¡°Please just stay still. I¡¯ll bring you away from here.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± She started to cackle. ¡°What are you so afraid of? There must be people chasing behind you, right? Xia Lei, you won¡¯t be able to escape your fate this time.¡±
¡°Gu Kewen, is that you?¡± Xia Lei was extremely confused.
¡°Who the hell is Gu Kewen? I¡¯m not sure why but the sight of you disgusts me. It would certainly please me if you fell and broke your leg.¡± She uttered.
Smack! Tsukino Kyoko who was about to move the stretchernded a hard p to the back of her skull. The Japanesedy started to warn her. ¡°Your brain may be damaged but mine certainly isn¡¯t. Continue to spew bullshit and I¡¯ll twist your neck!¡±
Perhaps the p had inflicted some pain, Ning Jing finally fell silent.
Following that, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko lifted the stretcher to head towards the mountain. Though he had sessfully saved Ning Jing, there was not a single hint of happiness in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. If this was really Ning Jing¡¯s fate, her entire life was one sad event after another.
At the same time, another question manifested in his heart.
What was presumably Gu Kewen¡¯s ¡®vengeful soul¡¯ had already revealed itself along with Ning Jing¡¯s original soul. What about Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s? Wasn¡¯t she the real formidable soul? Could it be that she had tailored her ¡®clothes¡¯ but it still wouldn¡¯t fit? Or was she still hibernating for some reason inside her ¡®clothes¡¯?
Multiple questions tormented Xia Lei¡¯s sanity.
Anjum Khan approached him. ¡°Boss, it¡¯s done. He said he¡¯ll nt the information we gave into the Indian counterterrorist intelwork immediately. I¡¯m sure the Hattori n will catch wind of it after a few minutes.¡±
¡°Well done, then they¡¯ll conduct a preliminary search in this area with the satellite and find our discarded vehicles. That way, they¡¯ll be convinced that this is real news.¡± A smile finally appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face.
¡°We only gave them four hours. There¡¯s no way they could catch up all the way from New Delhi,¡± said Anjum Khan.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°If they use helicopters, it¡¯ll only take one hour to get here. They would need some time to prepare the helicopter and some weapons, so I say we¡¯ll be seeing them in our horizons in another two hours.¡±
¡°What if they use military helicopters?¡± asked E¡¯er Demutu.
Xia Lei smirked. ¡°Then we blow them up.¡±
Chapter 822 - Cheeky Girl
The stone mountain wasn¡¯t very tall, standing at about one thousand five hundred metres tall. However, its terrain was very steep, making it difficult to climb. Its in facade made it easy to underestimate. Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had to trek two hours on foot to reach its summit. With this geographicalyout, even if the Hattori n decided to scale the mountain, they would require at least two hours to reach the peak. Not to mention, they would be faced with heavy fire from seven XL2500 sniper rifles while they made the tough journey. There was no way they could utilize the advantage they had from outnumbering their opponent.
¡°If they do decide to use the military helicopters, we¡¯ll be in trouble. Stones are everywhere on this mountain. It is sufficient to shield us from close quarterbat but it wouldn¡¯t do any good against helicopters. The damage from the debris resulting from explosions would be equivalent to them dropping shrapnel bombs,¡± mentioned Alessio. Though he had faced his fair share of battles, it was this one in particr where he felt nervous.
Xia Lei reassured him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve destroyed two of the American military helicopters before. Think about it. A helicopter of that size would only be able to carry its pilot and co-pilot. How would the entire Hattori n travel here? If they all took helicopters, most of them would probably be the paramilitary ones. At worst, they¡¯d be equipped with machine guns or some sort.¡±
To attack armoured targets was the main task of a military helicopter in battle. Helicopters that were intended to transport people to battle would have no way of fitting weapons and ammunition along with its passengers. Usually, they¡¯d add heavy-duty machine guns to the sides of the cabin and have someone control it for support. It was a fact that Xia Lei had sessfully destroyed two helicopters of that sort.
¡°Hehe, there really is nothing to worry about when fighting alongside you.¡± Alessio smiled sheepishly. His analytical skills were no match for Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re such a liar.¡± Yelena interrupted him.
¡°What did you say?¡± Alessio red daggers at Yelena. ¡°You think I¡¯m a coward? Since when did I not stand in the front lines of a battle?!¡±
¡°Alright, enough. Stop fighting.¡± Xia Lei stopped them before a brawl could break out. The man took out a simple map he had sketched andid it t on a stone. He started to give out orders. ¡°Alessio, you¡¯ll be stationed at this point. Yelena will be here, E¡¯er Demutu will be here. Sa¡¯im, you¡¯ll head over there and Anjum Khan, here.¡±
Six circles were drawn on the map, which had covered the full circumference of the peak. There were some high grounds and lower grounds. It was a stupendous arrangement. If the Hattori n had used the helicopter to get here, their vehicle would be attacked from any direction. Thebination of the XL2500 sniper rifle and armour-piercers would find no problem in destroying the pilot or oil tank.
¡°What about me?¡± Tsukino Kyoko stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Where would I be positioned?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll stay with me here. You¡¯ll fight with me while protecting her.¡± Xia Lei pointed to Ning Jing, whoid on the stretcher.
Honestly, he wasn¡¯t quite sure if there was any part of Ning Jing left anymore. Her face was most definitely not Ning Jing¡¯s and her consciousness had traces of Gu Kewen. It was just bizarre. He couldn¡¯t decide if it was still appropriate to refer to her as Ning Jing.
¡°Alright.¡± Tsukino Kyoko nodded.
The other five quickly moved out, headed towards their designated spot.
Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko busied themselves with arranging their weapons and explosives, bracing themselves for the battle ahead. Other than the two XL2500 sniper rifles they had, they had ess to two gust assault rifles, Viper pistols and one Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. The Hellbound One-soldier Cannon was the only heavy firearm the team had brought over from China.
Replies from the five quickly rang out from the transmitter. They were ready.
Now, all that was left was to wait until their prey entered the trap.
¡°Boss, have you ever considered an alternative scenario?¡± Tsukino Kyook said as she adjusted the XL2500 sniper rifle in her hands.
Xia Lei nced over. ¡°What kind?¡±
¡°You mentioned that the two Hattori offspring, Hattori Geppa and Hattori Mei were seemingly cowardly people. If your analysis was right, wouldn¡¯t the CIA require more time to gather more men to head here? Would they note because they fear you?¡± Tsukino questioned.
Xia Lei looked at the watch on his wrist. ¡°I¡¯m sure the Hattori n will be here. They¡¯re probably on their way now.¡±
¡°Are you sure?¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± Xia Lei stared ahead into the direction of New Delhi. ¡°Each overseas trip I make is a chance for the CIA and FA Organization to capture or destroy me. And every time I return home is a missed opportunity. Do you really think they¡¯d give up on this rare chance?¡±
¡°They won¡¯t.¡± She answered.
Right at this moment, from an explosion crater behind them, came Ning Jing¡¯s voice. ¡°Oh gosh! I¡¯m itching everywhere! Anyone there? I don¡¯t wanna stay here anymore.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko turned her head back, her brows scrunched up in disdain. ¡°She¡¯s so fussy. How about I knock her out? She¡¯ll only be a liability if this continues.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll handle this.¡± Xia Lei carefully moved backwards with a lowered stance. He then jumped into the crater.
The battle between the Indian and Pakistani troops had left behind multiple craters, which had ultimately served as Ning Jing¡¯s temporary hiding spot for now. There wasn¡¯t much space inside but it was enough to fit the stretcher bed. Xia Lei¡¯s sudden presence had made the room even more cramped.
¡°Ah, you¡¯re here. Please don¡¯t leave me.¡± She stared at Xia Lei pitifully, one arm trying to reach behind to scratch her itch.
Xia Lei squatted beside her and grabbed her arm. ¡°Don¡¯t scratch it. Itching is a good sign of recovery. Your wounds might be infected if you continue to scratch it.¡±
¡°No! I need to scratch it! It¡¯s crazy itchy!¡± She pouted.
¡°Hey! Listen to me!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s expression hardened, pretending to be mad. Behind this facade, was in sorrow. Though she was in ¡®Ning Jing mode¡¯, her condition after going insane had rendered her intelligence not more than that of a ten-year-old.
¡°Your name is Xia Lei, right?¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m Xia Lei. Do you remember me?¡±
¡°No, not really. But I find you very friendly.¡± She cocked her head and stared at Xia Lei intently. ¡°Can I call you Uncle Xia?¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°Uncle Xia, can you please help me scratch my back? I¡¯m so ufortable.¡± She pleaded.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll scratch your back for a bit. After that¡¯s done, please listen to my instructions and stay here. Don¡¯t move around, okay?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Alright, I will.¡± She seemed obedient.
Xia Lei extended his hand to the back of her waist. She had removed the dressing around the area. A new dermalyer could be clearly seen on the exposed span, it looked pale and supple. Some scars remained but it¡¯d probably fade soon. Then, he caught sight of her butt crack. He helped her scratch the reddish raw area. ¡°Is this alright?¡±
¡°No, move your hand downwards.¡±
Xia Lei heeded her request and gave the new area a few scratches.
¡°Please scratch slightly downwards. Quick, I¡¯m so itchy.¡± She couldn¡¯t take it any longer, opting toy on her side to ease Xia Lei¡¯s movement.
Xia Lei was stunned. His palm was already on her cyx. Any lower and it would reach her butt. Was it even appropriate for him to do so?
¡°Uncle Xia, quickly! I¡¯m begging you! It¡¯s too itchy!¡± She squirmed, disying a childlike cheekiness.
Xia Lei decided he had enough of this. He heaved a deep sigh to painstakingly reach his hand downwards. What he could feel was a soft, spongy mass that stirred his emotions into a hurricane.
He let his gaze fall on her, thinking about the Ning Jing before the ordeal. She was a girl who lived a turbulent life. Was it a good thing that she was reduced to this state? If she had lived a life like before, she would have never experienced joy.
¡°You¡¯re so nice, Uncle Xia. Can you move your hand further? Pretty please?¡± Her tone was sickeningly sweet but it sounded very cute.
But Xia Lei had a problem with that. Move his hand further? Jeez, was she not aware that there were some parts to keep private from other people? Had she lost all her female dignity and the ability to understand social cues?
¡°Weird. Why is it getting more itchy even when you continue to scratch? What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°...¡±
Children often asked the weirdest things, but the girl within Ning Jing was definitely crossing lines. Her question was undeniably suggestive.
¡°Boss! Something¡¯s happening!¡± Tsukino Kyoko eximed, her voice riddled with anxiety.
Xia Lei frantically pulled his hand out from within her dressing.
She hurriedly grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s wrist. ¡°Uncle Xia, no! Don¡¯t leave me, I¡¯m scared.¡±
¡°Behave yourself! Now is not the time!¡± Xia Lei was genuinely angry now.
¡°Hehehe...¡± Her tone took a drastic change. It suddenly became hollow and cold. She mocked, ¡°Is there someone after you? Are you going to die?¡±
Why was ¡®Gu Kewen¡¯ showing up now?¡±
¡°Remember to notify me when you get shot. I¡¯d love to see you bleed to death.¡± She said.
As soon she had uttered herst word, Xia Leinded a hard chop on the pulse point of her neck.
She finally fell silent, slumping weightlessly back onto the stretcher. The loosened dressing had exposed her smooth, slim waist and the lower half of her breast.
Xia Lei sighed audibly, then made his way out of the crater. He just couldn¡¯t imagine how he¡¯d manage her moving forward. She had Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s face, a face adorned with near-perfect features like that of the fairies depicted in legends. She even had both Gu Kewen and Ning Jing¡¯s personalities. Three souls dwelled inside one body, switching back and forth from time to time. Xia Lei head started to throb as soon as he pictured the addition of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s personality to the mix.
Returning to his spot, Xia Lei gazed at the scene ahead. From afar, four helicopters were approaching them. Tension began to stir in his chest.
Flying right in front of the formation was India¡¯s newest LCH military helicopter, which was a standard military-use aircraft equipped with rocketunch pods, cannons and surface-to-surface missiles!
Following close behind the LCH helicopter were two regr helicopters that had machine guns on both sides of its cabin.
And at the very back of the formation was a Chinook aircraft!
Chapter 823 - Sniper Rifles vs. Military Helicopters
The four helicopters started to approach them. When they were about two kilometres away, Xia Lei caught sight of the logo disyed on the LCH military helicopter. It was India¡¯s elite counter-terrorist sixty-two Air Force Assault Team. It didn¡¯t take long for him to be able to see the armed forces piloting the aircraft. The nearest military helicopter had two of the Special Forces from the elite team. The two behind were carrying armed personnel dressed in ck. There was no indication of their identity but from their face and physique, it wasn¡¯t difficult to deduce that they were Japanese. With that being said, the passengers on the two helicopters sandwiched between the more advanced aircraft were from the Hattori n. The Chinook aircraft in the very back had its hatch tightly shut. Xia Lei could only catch glimpses of the pilot, who was dressed in the sixty-two Air Force Assault Team¡¯s uniform.
¡°It¡¯s the Indian counter-terrorist troupe!¡± Xia Lei whispered harshly into the transmitter.
¡°Fucking hell!¡± Anjum Khan yelled. ¡°They¡¯re usually slow but today they¡¯re exceptionally fast. They¡¯ve been bribed to work as mercenaries now!¡±
¡°Chill out. This isn¡¯t the time to rant about the Indian government.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was heavy. ¡°Everyone, hide well. Do not fire recklessly. We need to focus on destroying the military helicopter in the front, it poses the biggest threat to us.¡±
¡°Got it!¡± responded five of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members.
As soon as Xia Lei hadid out the arrangements, the LCH military helicopter had entered their five hundred metre radius. The pilot was smart, choosing not to close in on the peak. They were obviously trying to use the first aircraft as bait. As soon as someone opens fire towards it, it would be akin to disturbing a beehive. The rocketunchers and cannons of the LCH aircraft would trigger the start of the intense bloodshed. With its firepower, not only was it possible to st the mountain t, it would definitely wipe out anyone hiding between the cracks of the rocks.
¡°Keep calm, keep calm...¡± Xia Lei instructed. ¡°They¡¯re trying to bait us. Do not fire your weapons!¡±
¡°But it¡¯s just right there! It¡¯s our best chance to fire, boss!¡± replied Alessio.
¡°I repeat, do not fire your weapons. The rotor des will affect your aim. The ss surrounding the cabin is heavily reinforced. There¡¯s no guarantee that we¡¯d be able to take out the pilot in one shot and we¡¯d only have one chance for that,¡± exined Xia Lei.
Though he was doing his best to calm his subordinates, he couldn¡¯t help but get anxious too. His palms were starting to sweat from the tension. Their opponent was India¡¯s best counter-terrorist team. They were elites of the Special Forces and the aircraft they controlled were equipped with great firepower. Great caution needed to be exercised.
The military helicopter paused in the air, prompting the three helicopters behind it to halt their approach.
This was a mind game strategy. The opponent was trying to pressure Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. There was so much one could tolerate. As soon as the stress became too much to handle, they would buckle and cave into it. This phenomenon wasmon in those fleeing the war, deserters would sumb to the mental stress and fall into the hands of their enemy.
Two minutes passed.
Those two minutes felt like two days to Xia Lei. It was excruciatingly difficult to sit through it. They shouldered great threats to their life with each passing second and every single second was torture.
But this was war, a gamble made on lives.
The Chinook aircraft approached them.
¡°What is that military helicopter in front waiting for?¡± Hattori Mei directed her question to a counterterrorist Special Forcemander.
¡°Miss Beryl, please be patient. Can¡¯t you see that everything is under control?¡± replied themander. ¡°What we¡¯re trying to do here is pressure them. As soon as they reach their limits and fire their bullets at us, we¡¯d be able to deduce their position and st them to ashes. And if they n to escape, that would make things simpler. ¡±
¡°But isn¡¯t it obvious that the target hadn¡¯t left the mountain? I¡¯m just worried that they¡¯d cross over into Pakistan before this. I think you should circle the peak to see what it¡¯s like at the back,¡± said Hattori Mei.
¡°Give us another two minutes. If there¡¯s no response after that, I¡¯ll do as you say,¡± replied themander.
¡°Are there no thermal detectors on the military helicopter?¡± asked Hattori Geppa, who was on the same Chinook aircraft.
¡°Of course, we do. Unfortunately, the detector is only useful within a certain proximity. The device is better used at night,¡± themander answered.
Hattori Geppa said nothing else. It was evident from his expression that he wasn¡¯t too pleased with themander¡¯s exnation and execution.
Hattori Mei anxiously nced at her wristwatch.
Soon enough, another two minutes had passed.
¡°Alright, time¡¯s up. Please have that helicopter cross over to check on the other side of the mountain,¡± urged Hattori Mei.
¡°Miss Beryl, what are you in a rush for?¡± Themander was reluctant to heed her request.
Hattori Mei answered, ¡°Aren¡¯t you aware of how cunning our opponent is? Did you know that he single-handedly took down fifty of your Mountain Division fighters?¡±
¡°Took down fifty of our Mountain Division fighters?¡± The Indianughed. ¡°Miss Beryl, you must be joking.¡±
¡°I am not! Let me remind you that we¡¯re near the borders to Pakistan!¡± Hattori Mei fumed. ¡°If the Pakistani radar notices four Indian aircraft, their Air Forces and infantries would spring into action. The Pakistanis will definitely protect that bastard from us. By then, we¡¯ll lose our chance to capture him! Don¡¯t you understand the situation? You better not forget how much we paid for this operation!¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Themander finally agreed. He picked up the transmitter. ¡°Falcon, begin the operation.¡±
The suspended LCH military helicopter finally began to move towards the peak of Bone Mountain.
Meanwhile, hidden between the rocks, Tsukino Kyoko was starting to get nervous.
¡°It¡¯sing closer.¡±
¡°Yeah, I see it. Everyone, stay calm and do not open fire. We must wait for the best opportunity,¡± responded Xia Lei.
Abruptly, the military helicopter started to concentrate a few rocket bombs towards one spot.
Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
Roaring explosion echoed through the air, reducing stones and rocks into debris. Thick smoke soon suffocated the air.
¡°Do not open fire! Do not open fire! This is theirst probe!¡± Xia Lei continued to insist on staying calm. Despite that, his back was already drenched in a cold patch of sweat. The helicopter was just aimlesslyunching bombs. If they somehow guessed the direction right, Xia Lei and his team would be in great danger.
Thankfully, the surface area of the peak was rtivelyrge. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to bomb the right spots. The statistics and their luck had to be in their favour to get through this safely. Fortunately,dy luck was still on their side for now.
After a few bombs, the military helicopter suddenly lowered its body. As it flew, it started to use its cannons on the two four-wheel drives parked at the foot of the mountain.
Whoosh!
A bomb zoomed across the air. In a blink of the eye, the two vehicles were sent flying by the impact.
¡°Bullseye!¡± The pilot in the LCH military helicopter cheered, overwhelmed with excitement. After destroying the two vehicles, he adjusted the head and flew in a straight path towards the peak.
What he hadn¡¯t noticed was that the aircraft¡¯s position was now on the same level as the peak.
¡°Fire! Now!¡± Xia Lei shouted through the transmitter.
As soon as his voice dropped, armour-piercing bullets were fired from seven gust assault rifles towards the pilot cabin. In that split second, it broke the bulletproof windshield, killing the pilot on the spot. If things had happened in slow motion, one would be able to see that four bullets destroyed the fortified ss and the remaining three had taken the pilot¡¯s life.
Due to the differences in their position, their bullets had hit their target at different intervals. It wasn¡¯t mere coincidence that the first four broke the obstacle letting the following three bullets get rid of their opponent. It was just ingenious nning!
Having lost its pilot, the helicopter went out of control. It flew past the peak and started to fall towards the ground behind the mountain. The co-pilot frantically released himself from his seat belts. Before he could take control of the wild aircraft, it was already toote!
Boom!
mes rushed towards the sky. The deafening explosion could probably be heard from ten miles away.
¡°Kill them!¡± Themander in the Chinook aircraft went berserk.
The back hatch of the Chinook opened to allow the team¡¯s Special Forces to abseil down from it.
At the same time, Hattori Geppa picked up one of the transmitters and proceeded to roar into it.
¡°Fire! Shoot them all! Kill them all!¡±
The other two suspended helicopters soon began to move. It closed onto the peak from both sides in coordinated timing. Inclining its body to aim its machine guns towards the peak, they started to open fire. It began to rain bullets as if it was a storm that hit the rocks. However, machine guns were not as effective as cannons. They could tear apart trees and walls but they were ultimately ineffective towards boulders. Shielded by the tough rocks, its opponents were hiding just like the army once did during World War II.
Bang! As one of the helicopters made its way around the peak, Xia Lei raised his gun. Within a second, its pilot was already slumped against its seat.
Ka-boom! Another aircraft carrying the armed Hattori men had also lost the battle.
The remaining men in the Chinook were terrified. The pilot quickly adjusted its height and retreated sideways. After pulling themselves away from the mountain at about a distance of four thousand metres, it started to unload all its firepower onto the mountain. Its heavy-duty machine guns had a bigger shooting range than the gust assault rifle did. Fortunately, the distance had made it difficult to aim precisely. The Chinook could only exercise this to pressure its enemies on the peak, buying time for themselves tond their men.
The aircraft flew rapidly towards a position beneath the peak. Ropes emerged from its hatches and sure enough, armoured counterterrorist elites came sliding down.
Holding a Hellbound One-soldier Cannon in his arms, Xia Lei called out to his team. ¡°Hold it, hold it... Wait till theye closer.¡±
Chapter 824 - The Battle on Bone Mountain
Under the machine gun¡¯s oppressive fire, the Chinooknded. Those Special Forces who had abseiled down from the aircraft began to shoot towards the peak, suppressing them with a rain of bullets. It was deafeningly loud.
In the midst of rapid-fire, Xia Lei suddenly revealed himself from behind the boulder. What came next was the booming roar of the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon on his shoulder. The cartridge went straight to the suspended Chinook helicopter.
Ka-boom!
The Chinook¡¯s rotor de was destroyed.
The Chinook¡¯s head was abruptly torn apart. The remains of its body crashed directly to the ground.
No one had expected Xia Lei to be equipped with such a heavy firearm. If they had known what firepower he was packing, the pilot wouldn¡¯t have dreamt ofnding within the shooting range of the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon.
Sadly, mistakes were made.
As soon as it hit its target, Xia Lei quickly went back to his hiding spot. A few bullets missed his head by a few inches in the process.
¡°Excellent job!¡± Tsukino Kyoko couldn¡¯t help but cheer. She excitedly gave Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder a few pats.
Using a cannon to take down a helicopter was something unprecedented in the world of warfare. The type of weapon used also yed a big factor. Not all bombs had equal chances of sess. However, if it were Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon, under special circumstances such as this, it waspletely possible.
¡°Be careful, these are no small fry. They¡¯re India¡¯s best counterterrorist Special Forces.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t permit himself to get caught up with the joy. As he spoke, his hands were busy loading another round of cartridge into the firearm.
All that was left now was thest helicopter, but it didn¡¯t seem keen to close in on Bone Mountain¡¯s peak. Though so, the machine gunners in its cabin continued to engage the peak in a frenzy of bullets. It felt as if they had a strong intention to tten out the peak. Such intention was merely wishful thinking as the pilot did not dare to enter within the shooting range of the XL2500 sniper rifle and not to mention, the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon. The precision of their aim was off as they kept a constant distance of four thousand metres.
Despite that, the blind shooting was a problem to Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. It was difficult to do anything under the threat of wayward bullets. Luck was something unpredictable. If they so happened to be on the short end of the stick out of bad luck, it would be lethal.
With the suppression, the abseiling of the Special Forces werepleted. They went forward to help those trapped in the Chinook out. The battle had just happened for mere minutes but it was already a nightmare to them.
¡°Damn it!¡± The counterterrorism Special Forcemander threw a fit as soon as he got out from the destroyed cabin. ¡°Whose intel was this?! This was obviously a trap!¡±
No one had bothered to answer him in the face of death.
Climbing out of the wreck, Hattori Mei propped herself against the ground. She was the only one not donned in battle attire and without a weapon. What she had on her was a short ck leather skirt paired with ck stockings and red heels. She didn¡¯t look like she was here for a battle, giving off the impression of a nobledy who was here to enjoy an action film.
She hadn¡¯t expected this. What she witnessed was nothing short of an action-packed movie. When the LCH military helicopter was struck down, she wasn¡¯t even a tad bit nervous. Now that the Chinook she rode on was trashed by Xia Lei¡¯s weapon, Hattori Mei finally understood that the battle was already out of her control! It was only then she realized that this operation wasn¡¯t hers to kill Xia Lei but Xia Lei¡¯s n to wipe out the Hattori n!
Themander abruptly rushed towards Hattori Mei and grabbed a fistful of her hair. He pointed his gun at her lifted head. ¡°Spit it out! What the fuck is going on?!¡±
¡°I...¡± The stress from a life-threatening situation and themander¡¯s outburst finally sank in, Hattori Mei¡¯s face paled. Fear had gripped her tongue, rendering her mute.
¡°Tell me, what the fuck is going on?!¡± Themander continued to roar. ¡°We¡¯ve lost so many men and valuable resources. How do you expect me to exin this to the higher-ups?¡±
An LCH military helicopter, a Chinook transport ne and a normal helicopter. It was indeed arge loss that would be difficult to exin to the military. Plus, this had also involved the integrity issue of the Indian military!
¡°Release her!¡±
A cold voice rang from behind them. Without waiting for themander to face its source, a gun was cocked against the bad of the Indian¡¯s skull.
Witnessing that, the Special Forces nearby quickly aimed their weapons towards Hattori Geppa who had theirmander at gunpoint. One of them yelled, ¡°Bastard! Are you so desperate to die? Put that gun down, right now!¡±
There wasn¡¯t a single hint of fear on Hattori Geppa¡¯s face. Instead, he raised the transmitter he held to his lips. ¡°My people are still on that helicopter. One order and they¡¯ll shoot you all. I¡¯ll make sure no one survives this.¡±
The Special Forces felt anxiety bubbling up their guts. The Hattori n still had control of a helicopter equipped with machine guns. If they really opened fire behind them, none of the Special Forces will survive the attack!
¡°Wait!¡± Themander quickly removed the gun on Hattori Mei¡¯s. ¡°Calm down, we¡¯re not your enemy.¡±
Hattori Mei finally snapped back. ¡°You¡¯re the one who should calm down! We paid for your chief! He¡¯s the one who owes an exnation to the authority. This operation was executed based on the intel given by your intelligence department. This is just a counterterrorism operation that went bad, do you understand?¡±
Her words brought some sense back to themander. He averted his gaze from Hattori Mei to the peak of the mountain.
¡°The one at the peak is someone America and India wants dead. If you and your men could get your hands on him, or even get rid of him, I¡¯m sure the Indian military will let you off the radar without consequences. Perhaps they might even offer you generous rewards!¡± Hattori Mei was not skilled with a gun but deadly with her words.
¡°Mister Hattori, have your men support us from above. I¡¯m going to get rid of those bastards!¡± Themander eximed.
¡°No problem.¡± Hattori Geppa spoke into the transmitter in Japanese. ¡°Fly higher, continue to suppress them with bullets and cooperate with the attack on-foot!¡±
¡°Got it!¡± A reply rang through the device.
¡°Also-¡± Hattori Geppa lowered his voice. ¡°Be a little smarter. You¡¯re driving thest helicopter, you need to save it for our final escape.¡±
¡°Roger.¡± Another reply came.
The suspended helicopter abruptly flew their position higher, attempting to close in on the peak without changing its distance. The Hattori men continued to fire with the machine guns on the cabin¡¯s side. What resulted from the firearm looked like a pool of sizzling hot aqueous metal falling straight towards the top of Bone Mountain.
¡°Go! Get rid of them!¡± Themander barked an order.
The Special Forces taking cover behind boulders immediately sprung into action. Taking advantage of the terrain, they started their speedy ascend with their torso lowered. They continued to shoot as they moved.
Oddly, their enemies seemed as if they had burrowed themselves into the soil. There was no counterattack at all.
As the Special Forces began their assault, Hattori Geppa shot Hattori Mei a look.
With that, Hattori Mei removed her heels unceremoniously and began her rapid descent towards the base of the mountain.
¡°What is she doing?!¡± Themander red at her retreating back, motioning for his men to lift their guns against her on reflex.
Hattori Geppa blocked in front of themander. ¡°She¡¯s a woman and she¡¯s not even armed. Are you trying to make the woman of our Hattori n fight this battle?!¡±
¡°We don¡¯t need her involvement but you¡¯reing with us!¡± Themander fumed.
¡°Of course! I¡¯m here to kill this bastard!¡± Hattori Geppa kept his pistol and readjusted a TAR-21 assault rifle on his back. He pulled the bolt and began his ascent towards the peak.
The battle continued, though not in the favour of the assaulter.
Those hidden on top kept their shootings sparse. As soon as the opportunity arose, their bullets were capable of killing one of the Special Forces in a single shot!
As the intense war carried on, Hattori Mei was fumbling down the mountain. The rocks gavecerations to the base of her barefoot, ruining her top and skirt in the process. The friction had left her pale snowy back exposed along with her red bikini bottom-d behind. In dire times, she no longer felt pain and shame. All she could think about was leaving this ce alive!
While the rest of the Hattori n and the Indian counterterrorism elites were busy at war, she had already given up. Back in China, on a snowy mountain in Dawang, close to a hundred Japanese, Americans and Indian elites were assigned to kill Xia Lei and one female agent under Bureau 101. Weirdly, the operation was a failure. Comparing the current battle in Bone Mountain with that, Xia Lei had the advantage of the terrain and had more assistance! How could she possibly expect to win?
She was fully aware that her brother had joined the attack, but she paid no mind to it.
Ka-boom! A loud explosion urred behind her. The running Hattori Mei nced back only to see a few of the Indian Special Forces blown away by the st. A skull even made a bloody trail mid-air before it sttered messily on a boulder ahead of her.
The poor head was already destroyed by the explosion. Brain fluids, blood and bone fragments were sshed mercilessly against her leg.
¡°Fuck-¡± Hattori Mei retched at the gory sight, unable to hold it back.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Xia Lei¡¯s team finally made their counterattack. Six gust assault rifles bared its fangs against their assaulter. Rapid firing speed paired with god-like aim left zero space forpromise. The gust assault rifle produced by the Thunder Horse Organization had advantages that were far superior to the sniper rifles used by the Indian counterterrorism Special Forces. The abrupt return of favour crumbled the Indian elite Special Forces. In the blink of an eye, bodies began to pile up on the floor.
Whoosh!
A cartridge suddenly made its way towards thest helicopter hovering above the mountain.
Chapter 825 - Be a Fish in Your Next Life
¡°No! No! No!¡± Hattori Mei screamed with her arms around her head.
The helicopter was her only hope to escape this horrid ce. If it was gone, she would have lost her veryst hope.
What would happen if she fell prey to Xia Lei? That was something she wasn¡¯t keen on thinking about. There was no time to ponder about it.
As the cartridge came near the helicopter, a bullet collided with it. With a deafening sound, an explosion erupted beneath the helicopter¡¯s body. The burst of energy shook the helicopter, but it hadn¡¯t crashed. The shocked pilot quickly pulled on the lever to reverse out of the area.
Hattori Mei finally remembered something. She quickly retrieved the transmitter from the pockets of her coat and screamed, ¡°Help me! Help me!¡± As her shrill screams for help resumed, she continued to tumble down the mountain.
The battle on Bone Mountain was still in action, though it was approaching its end.
Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were scattered at six different assault points. The charging Indian counterterrorist elites were under the attack of XL2500 sniper rifles and gust assault rifles from various directions. Without the aerial support from the helicopter, they were vulnerable. Within a few minutes, the path towards the peak had umted more and more bodies.
¡°Why did the helicopter leave?!¡± The Indianmander directed his rage towards Hattori Geppa. ¡°Call them back! Now!¡±
Hattori Geppa took cover behind a nearby boulder and spoke into his transmitter. ¡°Why did you retreat? We need to support the Indian soldiers!¡±
¡°It was Hattori Mei who instructed us to retreat.¡± The reply came back.
¡°That fucking bitch! Fucking moron!¡± Hattori Geppa saw red. ¡°She¡¯s not in danger. Come back to aid the operation now!¡±
¡°Sorry... Hattori Mei instructed us to ignore your orders.¡± The transmitter ryed another reply. The helicopter could be seen travelling to a blind spot at the base of the mountain.
Hattori Geppa¡¯s expression was terrifying. Between gritted teeth, he uttered, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you all!¡±
Abruptly, the Indianmander scurried over and held him at gunpoint. ¡°I¡¯m going to give you three seconds to order them back or else I¡¯ll kill you!¡±
¡°I was betrayed by that bitch too!¡± Hattori Geppa fumed.
¡°That¡¯s none of my concern! Get the helicopter back now!¡±
Weirdly, Hattori Geppa tilted his head.
The Indianmander was about to point his gun against the man¡¯s head but froze. He lowered his gaze to look at his chest before falling onto the ground.
There was abat knife in his chest.
No one had noticed what happened there. Hattori Geppa lifted his head to look towards the peak. He immediately stood up and made a mad dash towards the base. In that split second, a bullet was fired, mercilessly hitting his cyx. He lost control of both his legs and slumped onto the ground, the steep terrain tossed his body around unceremoniously until his head collided against a rock. The harsh impact robbed him of his consciousness.
¡°Ha, there¡¯s no point running. You¡¯ve run out of luck.¡± Xia Lei smirked coldly. The gust assault rifle in his hands was still smoking.
After a few minutes, the surviving Special Forces ceased fire. Their leader raised his sniper rifle from behind a boulder with a white cloth was tied to its barrel. Where did they even manage to find a white cloth?
Under the leader¡¯s influence, the Special Forces quickly did the same too. They raised their weapons and began toe out of their hiding spots. They have given up on the battle.
¡°Gosh, they actually surrendered. Boss, what do we do about this?¡± Alessio¡¯s voice rang out.
Xia Lei fell silent. He then muttered his reply into the transmitter, ¡°What do you think we should do?¡±
As soon as he was done speaking, Tsukino Kyoko pulled the trigger to kill one of them. Almost in the same instance, the other Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members did the same.
In a blink of the eye, the surviving Special Forces were reduced to nothing but motionless corpses.
Xia Lei was taken aback. ¡°I meant for there to be a discussion..¡±
Tsukino Kyoko answered him. ¡°The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team does not take captives.¡±
Truthfully, he had wanted to kill off all of the remaining Indian Special Forces. It¡¯d be asking for trouble if he were to let anyone live to tell the tale. Though so, his conscience made him hesitate. Thankfully, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had no reserve for the matter and helped him finish the dirty job.
¡°Too bad we let one slip, along with the Hattori n¡¯s elite fighters,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei stood up from his position behind a boulder. He tried to look ahead for where the helicopter hadnded, which unfortunately was a blind spot. His left eye couldn¡¯t make past the mountain body blocking his sight. ¡°I don¡¯t think the Hattori n¡¯s elite fighters were a part of this operation. Those who were involved today weren¡¯t on the same level.¡±
That was certainly a good sign, it was an indication that he had sessfully crippled the Hattori n¡¯s power.
¡°Perhaps they¡¯d be a little more humble next time. I¡¯m going to check for any survivors.¡± Tsukino Kyoko too left her hiding spot to make her way down the mountain with her gust assault rifle.
Everyone else did the same. Though they hadn¡¯t suffered from gun wounds, all of them had some form of injury. Alessio¡¯s arm, Yelena¡¯s forehead, E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s thigh, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s behind, Sa¡¯im¡¯s chest and Anjum Khan¡¯s face were unfortunate victims. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t excluded from the list, his thigh and back still had a few rock shards embedded in him. The back of his clothes was drenched with blood.
Xia Lei returned to check on the crater. Ning Jing was still lying peacefully on her stretcher bed without any obvious injuries. The only damage she received was some soil and rock shards littered on her body. Xia Lei sighed in relief and made his way down the mountain.
Sporadic gunshots sounded on the steep terrain.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had shot every Indian Special Force who had not fully sumbed to death. Mercy was not an option.
Xia Lei came to Hattori Geppa¡¯s side. The moment the Japanese man hadnded in India, Xia Lei had already made him his target. If Hattori Geppa hadn¡¯t attempted to escape, Xia Lei would probably require more effort to get rid of him. Thankfully, he did try to escape. Fleeing one¡¯s battle was equivalent to betraying their own backs to their enemy. Hattori Geppa was no amateur. He was aware of that but he was a victim to his own fear. The battle on Dawang¡¯s snow mountain had robbed him of his confidence and courage.
Hattori Geppaid motionless on the floor as blood continued to pour out from his waist. The bottom half of his body was drenched in red.
Xia Lei kicked away his TAR21 assault rifle then turned him around with his leg.
Hattori Geppa remained unconscious. The trauma to his head and the gun wound on his cyx had left him on the verge of death.
Xia Lei kneeled down and pinched Geppa¡¯s philtrum.
Out of nowhere, a helicopter emerged from the mountain¡¯s blind spot. It quickly fled the scene.
¡°That woman escaped.¡± Tsukino Kyoko continued, ¡°She¡¯s such a savage, being able to betray her own brother like that.¡±
Xia Lei replied nonchntly, ¡°The aftermath is in her interest. Now that Hattori Geppa is dead, she¡¯ll eventually be the heir to the Hattori¡¯s family business. I think she¡¯s the true winner of this battle.¡±
¡°Cough... cough...¡± Hattori Geppa finally stirred. An unfamiliar face appeared in his vision. Though a stranger, Hattori Geppa knew he was Xia Lei. Subconsciously, he reached for his weapon but all he could feel were rocks. He tried to pry a rock out from the soil to no avail for the tough mineral was deeply embedded in the substrate.
Tsukino Kyoko extended her leg over to step on Hattori Geppa¡¯s hand, slowly grinding her sole against it.
Hattori Geppa clenched his teeth, refusing to let a single sound escape.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Go treat your wounds, I can handle him.¡±
It was only then that the female ninja ceased her torment.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members made their way back to the peak, mocking each other¡¯s injuries as they climbed.
¡°Oh shit, Yelena! You¡¯re disfigured! How are you going to get married like that?¡±
¡°Fuck off. I think it¡¯s better for you to save that concern for your penis, Indian Monkey. Your dick is already pea-sized. Now that you got it sted off, there¡¯s nothing left.¡±
¡°Kyoko, do you need me to help with the wound on your butt?¡±
¡°Yeah sure,e over.¡±
¡°Hey, why are you holding up that knife? I¡¯m just joking.¡±
Laughter echoed around the mountain.
A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. He slid out hisbat knife and pressed it against Hattori Geppa¡¯s neck. He jeered in Japanese, ¡°Back in Dawang, you killed a lot of my brothers from Bureau 101. So, I¡¯m going to avenge them. I hope you won¡¯t mind.¡±
¡°Moron!¡± Geppa challenged. ¡°Stop yapping if you¡¯re going to kill me! Just do it!¡±
¡°Did you know that your own sister betrayed you?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t mention that bitch in front of me!¡±
¡°Do you hate her?¡± Xia Lei smirked. ¡°She¡¯s not too bad. Her skin is so soft. Hmm, it¡¯s truly some high-quality shit. Her sex skills are impressive too. I can tell that she¡¯s been appeasing the opposite sex a lot.¡±
¡°Fuck! Just kill me already!¡± Hattori Geppa could no longer tolerate such humiliation.
¡°I can make it fast but you must answer my question.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°What rtion does Hattori Mei share with the CIA?¡±
¡°Hmph!!¡± Hattori Geppa spat a mouthful of blood and saliva onto Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Xia Lei raised his arm to wipe his face. ¡°Or is she someone of high profile in Japan?¡±
¡°Why are you asking these questions?¡±
Xia Lei exined, ¡°She¡¯s the assistant to Lockheed Martin¡¯s Madam Folsom. Her background is rather normal but raised some red gs. In France, she didn¡¯t hesitate to sleep with me to extract intel and then plotted against me. Now, she¡¯s here in India to n this operation. No one in the right mind would see her as a normal civilian.¡±
Something glimmered in Hattori Geppa¡¯s eye.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°She has betrayed you. She¡¯s obviously after the Hattori¡¯s family business. Are you still going to protect her interest?¡±
¡°She¡¯s part of the Hattori n. Even if she betrayed me, I will not betray the interest of my own n. Go to hell, you filthy Chinese pig!¡± Hattori Geppa opened his mouth, about to spit on Xia Lei again.
At that moment, Xia Lei drove hisbat knife into his mouth. The de pierced through his tongue and stabbed through his throat.
¡°How about you be a fish in your next life? Spitting is part of a fish¡¯s natural behaviour.¡± With a roll of his wrist, Xia Lei drew back his knife.
Blood began to pool in Geppa¡¯s mouth. He gaped pitifully for air but all his efforts were in vain. In another few seconds, he remained motionless.
Xia Lei turned around to leave, deeming Hattori Geppa unworthy of his attention.
Chapter 826 - The Chief and The Monkey
The battle at Bone Mountain was illegal due to its sensitive proximity to the borders of Pakistan. The Indian military wasn¡¯t willing to take responsibility for it. Though the CIA knew of its existence, the information was categorized as top secret. Not one single article was written on it.
One dayter.
Pakistan, Peshawar.
The terminal market was filled to the brim with people. There seemed to be more humans than goods.
¡°Bullshit!¡± A woman screamed. She had a youthful face but her chest was the most impressive part of her body. She raised a low-cost phone high to smash it onto the ground but ultimately dropped the thought. The enraged woman cussed. ¡°Fucking hell, what kind of fucking phone is this? There¡¯s no way my man would give me a fake number. Why won¡¯t my calls go through? I¡¯ve already changed my phone several times!¡±
¡°Chief Smy, how about I bring a few of our sisters to go kidnap that phone dealer?¡± A middle-aged woman rushed over to her side. Her expression was terrifyingly cold, looking like she was plotting murder.
Out of everyone, the dude had chosen to scam an authority figure of the White Hun tribe.
He had chosen death.
¡°Are you stupid?!¡± Smy red at her subordinate. ¡°We¡¯re in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. There arews against kidnapping, you know?¡± Smy didn¡¯t forget to add on, ¡°Did all of your intelligence go to your breasts?¡±
The middle-aged woman stared at Smy¡¯s proud chest and chuckled. ¡°Chief, yours is much bigger than mine. I think you should pick another insult against me. I can¡¯t help but feel sorry if you continue to use that.¡±
Smy¡¯s arm whipped over but the older woman had skillfully dodged the p.
A few of the White Hun females around them began tough, obviously amused by their banter.
The insult she had used was ironic as Smy¡¯s bust size was, in fact, thergest among their tribe. This was probably the best joke of the year.
¡°Oi! Stopughing! Focus on your work!¡± Smy looked ferocious. ¡°Have you all sold off the goods? Where¡¯s the money?¡±
A few women approached her and surrendered all the cash they received from trade.
A very honest and mild-looking olddy passed a thick stack of American dors to Smy.
¡°Huh? How did you get this much money?¡± Smy stared at the dor bills in shock.
¡°I don¡¯t know, chief. I sold the white powders we snatched to an American. He said nothing else and handed me this stack of cash for it.¡± The olddy scratched her messy hair. ¡°I guess he¡¯s not sane.¡±
¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s crazy. You just sold drugs for an insanely cheap price,¡± one woman said.
¡°Drugs? What are those? I think it just looks like flour,¡± replied the olddy confusedly.
Smy stored the money. ¡°Come, let¡¯s go walk around. I¡¯ll buy you all anything you like.¡±
¡°I want ten panties, all of them red!¡±
¡°I want ten bras, they must be of good quality.¡±
¡°Can I ask for twenty packs of sanitary pads?¡±
¡°Can you buy me one of those rechargeable vibrators?¡±
¡°What the fuck?¡±
¡°Chief, your man hasn¡¯t been back for a while. I think you should buy one too.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±
Amidst theughter, Smy pouted. Her eyes were filled with profound sadness. Since young, she had always been a girl beaming with joy. She had never grasped the concept of sadness. It was until Xia Lei left her that she understood what sorrow meant. Every night, she would climb to the top of her roof and gaze into the direction of China. She missed Xia Lei oh so dearly.
¡°Even this disgusting phone is bullying me. Why won¡¯t it just let my calls get through?¡± The more her mind was fixated on it, the more resentment she felt. Overwhelmed with feelings, Smy finally mmed the device onto the ground.
¡°Chief, that phone was brand new. If you didn¡¯t want it, you could¡¯ve given it to me.¡±
A woman quickly rushed over to pick up the broken phone.
But before she could get her hands on it, a rougher and bigger palm had picked it up before her. The White Hun female was about to explode when she heard a man¡¯s voice. ¡°Damn, you¡¯re still as fiery as ever. You have big boobs but no brain. Couldn¡¯t you have gone to the dealer and have him activate your international long-distance call feature? How could you expect your calls to get through without that?¡±
That voice was no stranger to her ears.
The woman lifted her head to look at the unfamiliar face. Huh? The voice belonged to a particr man but she hadn¡¯t seen his face before.
Smy came over and stared at Xia Lei nkly. Her lips twitched, tempted to call out his name. However, the unfamiliar face before her made her hesitate.
¡°What are you staring at? I¡¯m talking to you, Miss big-boobs-with-no-brain,¡± replied the man. The corners of his lips curled into a gentle smile.
Recognition finally clicked in Smy¡¯s brain. She cheered and immediately tackled him. She didn¡¯t care if they were in public. As soon as she came close to him, she leapt and enveloped his waist with her legs. Her arms circled around his neck. There, under the eyes of the curious passers-by, she smooched the man noisily.
The women turned to look at each other.
¡°Is our chief so man-crazy? We¡¯ve got quite a lot of good men in our tribe. She could¡¯ve enjoyed any number of men she wanted. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not necessary for her to hook up with a random stranger.¡±
¡°That man just called her big boobs with no brain.¡±
¡°Yeah! How could she still tackle him and even give him a kiss? If it were me, I would¡¯ve pped the shit out of him.¡±
¡°But I got to admit. His voice sounds very familiar. He sounded like that man.¡±
¡°Which man?¡±
¡°Are you stupid? Of course it would be the chief¡¯s man. You know, that Chinese dude named Xia Lei?¡±
¡°No way, Xia Lei is very handsome. His skin is firm and his body is full of vigour. He looks great when working too...¡±
¡°I swear I only mentioned his voice, where the fuck are you bringing this conversation to?¡±
Meanwhile, Smy pried herself off the man then grabbed his hand passionately. ¡°Come, let¡¯s go to a hotel.¡±
The man quickly replied, ¡°How about youe to mine? I¡¯ve prepared some things for you.¡± The man looked over at the other women, ¡°Come with us too. Just speak up, I can treat you to anything you like.¡±
¡°Ah, that¡¯s great!¡± It didn¡¯t take long before one of them eximed, ¡°I want ten panties!¡±
¡°I want ten bras!¡±
¡°I want...¡±
They began to chatter noisily.
Bewildered, the man uttered something in Chinese. ¡°They¡¯re such simple women...¡±
Smy directed a cheeky grin at them. ¡°You brainless bitches, do you know who he is? Guess what, my man is back!¡±
Shocked, one of them muttered, ¡°You¡¯re Xia...¡±
He quickly halted them with an extended finger against his lips. ¡°Shh...¡±
Which effectively silenced her.
Yes, the man with the unfamiliar face was indeed Xia Lei. Originally, he had nned to take the ne home to China from Imabad. As soon as he made it to the capital city, he had a sudden change of mind. Since he was already there, it meant Xia Lei wasn¡¯t far from Peshawar. He knew that the White Huns had a stronghold in Peshawar where the women of the tribe traded their specialities and made necessary purchases once in a while. Xia Lei had intended to gift the tribe all the weapons that he and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had brought over along with some cash. Though he hadn¡¯t expected to meet Smy in Peshawar. He had only known of her presence as soon as he found out where their stronghold was.
Smy happily led him away, letting the rest of her tribe chatter behind them.
While they were walking, Smy asked, ¡°Xia, are the two following behind us your people?¡±
Though he had on a human mask, Xia Lei decided it would best to bring along support when dealing with a ce like Peshawar. The two behind them were Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er DEmutu, who were both terrifyingly skilled assassins.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t turn his head back, only returning her with a slight nod. ¡°You can ignore them, let¡¯s just focus on shopping. What would you like? I can buy it for you.¡±
¡°I only like you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sure, you can have me.¡± He paused for a brief moment then asked, ¡°Did you guys ride your horses to get here?¡±
¡°Yeah, we have no car.¡±
¡°How about this? I¡¯ll buy a few vehicles for your tribe along with a cargo truck and a four-wheel-drive suitable for the mountain areas. That way, your tribe wouldn¡¯t need to go through such a horrendous journey. You could even bring more goods with you.¡±
¡°How could I? It¡¯s going to cost a lot of money.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about money.¡±
¡°No, that¡¯s not right. I haven¡¯t even borne your children. I can¡¯t ask too much from you. How about I birth a child for you? That way, I¡¯ll feel more at ease to receive your cars.¡±
After making a round around the streets, the White Hun females had shopped till they couldn¡¯t walk anymore. Xia Lei¡¯s gifts to them were more than they had expected. The sheer number of things they received had even exceeded their carrying capacity. In the end, Xia Lei hired a little truck to deliver them back to their stronghold.
Following that, Xia Lei brought Smy to his hotel room.
In the room was arge stic case.
¡°Open it up.¡± Xia Lei instructed.
¡°What¡¯s inside of it?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll know once you open it.¡±
¡°Ah, I get it. This box is meant for weapon storage.¡± Smy directed him a lewd grin and continued, ¡°But I don¡¯t want the guns in the box. I want your gun.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Not waiting for a reply, Smy immediately snuggled into his embrace.
¡°You¡¯re so cruel. You didn¡¯t even bother to visit me for so long.¡±
¡°The CIA was after me, I couldn¡¯t go to Afghanistan.¡± Noticing something, he quickly mentioned, ¡°Hey, why are you trying to take off my pants?¡±
Smy extended her arm and pushed him onto the bed. She climbed over and straddled him.
A hundred words were no match for a simple action that would bring joy to her, conversations were no longer needed.
¡°How long are you staying this time?¡±
¡°I¡¯m leaving by tomorrow.¡±
¡°No! You¡¯re here for only one day?¡±
¡°This ce is too dangerous for me, I can¡¯t stay long. I only came to visit you and gift these things to your tribe.¡±
Smy went slumped against Xia Lei¡¯s broad chest. She looked absolutely pitiful. ¡°I understand that you¡¯ve got a very special identity and the Americans are after you but I missed you so much. I think of you every night.¡±
¡°Once things are settled, I¡¯ll be able to visit you more frequently.¡±
¡°Then you should give me a little monkey.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll carry a little monkey of yours. When you¡¯re not around, I can at least y with him. Seeing him would be like seeing you.¡± There was some tenderness to Smy¡¯s voice but her actions were not the least bit gentle.
¡°Oh, I see what you mean by that.¡± Xia Lei could only give a wry smile.
¡°Are you going to give it to me?¡±
¡°Yeah, I will, I will.¡±
¡°You¡¯re the best! You¡¯re not gonna get a single wink of sleep tonight!¡±
Chapter 827 - Screwdriver
His stay in Peshawar was like a one-day vacation. Xia Lei was already back in China the very next day.
To him, the times he shared with Smy were good times, one could even say that she was an ideal lover. The rtionship they shared was harmonious. He would stay out of her life and she would do the same. Though such dynamics might shift as the years passed, the sentiment they shared would remain the same.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t appear in public on the first day he returned to Jingdu. Surprisingly, he hadn¡¯t made himself present at the Thunder Horse Military Factory either. Before making his appearance, he needed to settle something important.
Ning Jing.
In a room back at the Peace Mansion,
¡°Uncle Xia, where are we?¡± Ning Jing, who was wrapped tightly in gauze blinked her big eyes at Xia Lei. The glimmer in her eyes radiated adorable child-like innocence.
Her current mind couldn¡¯t be any older than ten years old.
Xia Lei replied gently, ¡°This is my home.¡±
¡°Whoa, your house is really big and pretty.¡± Suddenly, the lights in her eye went out. ¡°I don¡¯t even remember what my home looks like...¡±
¡°You¡¯ll remember soon. Here, let me help you remove your dressing.¡± Xia Lei ced a metal tray that contained a sanitized scissor and some disinfecting liquid on the bed. He swiftly removed the contents onto the nket before he started to work on Ning Jing.
¡°Will it be less itchy when the dressing is gone?¡±
¡°Yeah, you won¡¯t feel any itch after this.¡± Xia Lei continued to engage her with conversation as he snipped away at the gauze.
There was some dried blood stuck to the covering, making it more difficult for Xia Lei to remove the dressing. Though it was obvious that she had a child¡¯s mind, her body was that of a grown woman. Freeing her chest from the tight grip of the material felt like peeling a bamboo shoot. Once you had gotten past its shell, the pale, firm flesh of the shoot would be revealed. Thest snip had even made her bosoms bounce. When presented to such a scene, no male would be able to resist it.
To his shock, the bloody scars adhered to the dressing. As soon as he got rid of it, her scars came peeling off her skin leaving behind a wide span of smooth pale skin. It looked like a warm wless white jade. This was probably the best skin Xia Lei had ever seen. It was close to perfect!
¡°Uncle Xiao is not shy at all.¡± Ning Jing started to giggle as Xia Lei began to work on the dressings around her thigh. She scratched her cheek bashfully. Though she said that, she hadn¡¯t bothered to hide her exposed body parts. She even extended a leg to give Xia Lei a yful kick. That bold movement showed Xia Lei an inappropriate scenery.
¡°Okay, enough. Let me take off those around your head now.¡± Xia Lei pulled the nket over her body. Although she felt nothing beingpletely naked in front of Xia Lei, the effect it had on him was intense. He wasn¡¯t able to concentrate at all!
The nket Xia Lei ced on her was unceremoniously kicked away. ¡°I don¡¯t want the nket! I don¡¯t want it!¡±
Xia Lei mustered a pained smile as he shook his head in defeat. Fine, if that¡¯s what she wanted, he¡¯d just pretend that she was nothing but a child. With tense shoulders, he began to remove the dressing that hid her face.
Layers andyers of gauze were slowly peeled off. As he came to the verystyer, Xia Lei felt his heart rate rapidly increase. He was getting nervous. With caution, he gripped the edges of the dressing and stripped it away from her skin. Just like before, countless bloodied scars were peeled away with the gauze. The entire removal process felt like he was deshelling a boiled egg. Underneath the eggshell was her bouncy and pale new skin, that resembled the texture of a hard-boiled egg.
Her healed face was now exposedpletely to air.
Upon seeing her face, Xia Lei immediately forgot how to breathe.
The woman in front of him was not Ning Jing nor was it Gu Kewen, she was Princess Yongmei also known as Zhu Xuanyue. She looked exactly like the Zhu Xuanyue Xia Lei found in the old tombs of Afghanistan and also the female corpse he found off the coast of Okinawa in the shipwreck. They looked the same, it was uncanny!
Even a 3D printer wouldn¡¯t be able to replicate the same thing twice. The woman in front of him was definitely an exact replica of the two female corpses he encountered. Her height, facial features, hair, skin and even her pores were the same!
She extended a hand to wave in front of Xia Lei. She giggled, ¡°Uncle Xia, you¡¯ve been staring at me. You¡¯re really not shy at all.¡±
That snapped Xia Lei back to reality. He took a deep breath and began to question. ¡°Who... Who exactly are you?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you say I was Ning Jing?¡± She smiled. ¡°So I must be Ning Jing.¡±
¡°Gu Kewen?¡± Xia Lei brought up another name.
¡°Who¡¯s Gu Kewen?¡±
¡°Zhu Xuanyue?¡± Xia Lei pressed on.
¡°Who¡¯s Zhu Xuanyue?¡±
The woman was unfazed by the two names he mentioned. Her response wasn¡¯t like this back in India. When she had first woke up, she had switched between Ning Jing and Gu Kewen. Now, her being seemed to have settled on being a young girl. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure if this was going to change.
The current situation posed a new problem. What identity should he assign her?
If he had made her Ning Jing, Ning Jing¡¯s parents would certainly be very against it.
If he had made her Gu Kewen, the dead female was still a wanted criminal. The possibility of him doing so was close to impossible. Other than that, it was his personal wish to not have the woman associated with Gu Kewen.
If he had made her Zhu Xuanyue, would she be able to embrace and utilize her identity? After all, Zhu Xuanyue was essentially non-existent and she had not shown mannerism that hinted at Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei was in a dilemma. ¡°If we use Ning Jing¡¯s identity and say that she did stic surgery, people would easily buy it. But she had escaped from the sanatorium. How would I exin her presence to Bureau 101 and the other investigators? Ah, jeez...¡±
¡°Uncle Xia, what have you hidden there?¡± She spoke.
Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were interrupted. He questioned, ¡°What did you say?¡±
¡°I asked, what have you hidden there?¡± Perplexed, she pointed to a spot on Xia Lei¡¯s pants.
Xia Lei averted his gaze to look at the standing tent in the front of his pants. Immediately, he felt his face flushed and frantically gave a sheepish answer. ¡°Uh... Well, it¡¯s a... screwdriver.¡±
¡°Why are you hiding a screwdriver in your pants? What if it stabs you?¡± She extended an arm towards him, in an attempt to help him adjust its position.
Xia Lei scurried away as he did his best to exin. ¡°It¡¯s fine! It¡¯s fine! My screwdriver won¡¯t hurt me, there¡¯s no need to worry about it.¡±
She looked at him innocently. ¡°Uncle Xia, does that mean your screwdriver will only stab others?¡±
Xia Lei could feel his heart race and his brain go numb.
It was true that his screwdriver would only stab others. His victims were only tasteful and beautiful women. Hearing those suggestive words from the mouth of a ¡®child¡¯ was truly bizarre.
¡°Uncle Xia, why don¡¯t I have a screwdriver?¡± She started to search at the same spot, looking defeated.
Gosh, she was as pure as a paper.
Her near-perfect face and amazing body lines made her look like a faerie from the storybooks. How could she be so pure-minded?
Abruptly, an urge urred to Xia Lei. His left eye twitched and went into X-ray vision mode. His vision went past her pretty face and tough skull to reach her greyish-white brain. Like fluid, his vision began to prate deeper and deeper into the structure of her brain.
¡°Wait, that¡¯s...¡± What he found shocked him to the core.
In the centre of her brain was something akin to mineral powder. urring in speckles, it glimmered ever so slightly with light.
The weird powder-like substance was no stranger to him. He hade across it in the underground maze back in Italy, specifically on the oil painting of a starry sky. Leonardo da Vinci had depicted something with transparent ink in his notebook. Whenever she visited, she would be injured. She would always bring some mineral powder with her return without fail. I had asked her about the powder but she had never given me an answer. I also asked what were her intentions behind such an odd painting but she only answered that someone would awaken her after her death. I remain confused due to my inability to understand the world of the Gods.
The answer to the mystery was hidden in Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s depiction. The substance wasn¡¯t any regr mineral powder. It was the core of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s existence!
The origins of Zhu Xuanyue or how she was born and where she had gotten the substance still remains a mystery for now.
This energy that had the appearance of mineral powder wastent in her brain with no signs of activity. It was as if it had entered dormancy.
Though Xia Lei remained unsure of what it was, this substance had helped him solve his problem. The woman in front of him was no longer Ning Jing nor was she Gu Kewen. She was Zhu Xuanyue!
¡°Next time...¡± Xia Lei hesitated but continued anyway, ¡°Listen closely, your name is Zhu Xuanyue. Can you remember that?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not Ning Jing?¡± She was puzzled.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, you¡¯re not Ning Jing. You¡¯re Zhu Xuanyue. When others ask you for your name, just say that you¡¯re Zhu Xuanyue. If anyone asks you where you live or where you are from, answer that you¡¯re from the White Hun tribe in Afghanistan.¡±
¡°Who would ask me weird questions like this?¡±
¡°Just remember it well. If you don¡¯t do as I say, I¡¯ll send you away,¡± threatened Xia Lei with a stern face.
¡°Uncle Xia, I promise to do as you said. Please don¡¯t send me away...¡± Zhu Xuanyue looked absolutely pitiful.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Good child. As long as you do as I ask, I will not send you away.¡±
¡°Mm!¡± Zhu Xuanyue let out a noise and snuggled herself into Xia Lei¡¯s chest abruptly.
Xia Lei could feel his entire body tense. She was no child. She was a physically matured and unbearably seductive female!
¡°Uncle Xia, your screwdriver is so weird. I think it¡¯s trying to stab me.¡±
¡°Say, can you show me your screwdriver?¡±
Xia Lei could no longer bear with her. He frantically pushed her away and dodged her sneaky hand. After he distanced himself for a good few metres away from her, he dug out his phone to make a call.
¡°Hey, Old Ye, what are you up to? I need you to help me with something¡±
¡°Director Xia, there¡¯s no need to be so courteous. What can I do for you?¡±
¡°Hehe, guess I won¡¯t hold back then. Could you help me apply for a visa? Her name is Zhu Xuanyue...¡±
Chapter 828 - Collective Death
Just like that, Zhu Xuanyue began to settle down with her life at Peace Mansion. The only people aside from Xia Lei who knew of her true origin were the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members and Xia Changhe. In the eyes of the general public, she was Zhu Xuanyue from the White Hun tribes in Afghanistan, here in China in search of her rtives. She was very unlucky, getting involved in a car crash with Xia Changhe who damaged her brain on her first few days in Jingdu. Out of obligation, Xia Lei decided to let her stay at the Peace Mansion to look after her.
The next day after helping Zhu Xuanyue get used to her new life, Xia Lei had received a call from Tang Yuyan. The conversation had prompted him to rush towards the sanatorium Ning Jing had escaped from.
He could already spot Tang Yuyan from afar, the female was waiting for his arrival at the bottom floor of the building. Today, she was dressed in a white sweater and some blue denim that went well with her New Bnce sneakers. The overall outfit gave her a refreshing appearance. Tang Yuyan¡¯s chest filled out the white sweater in the front snugly while her round behind had tightened her jeans. Her face was gorgeous underneath the warm afternoon sun. Tang Yuyan was akin to that of a pure white peony, beautiful and poised.
Xia Lei left his car to approach her with a smile. ¡°Yuyan, what¡¯s the matter? I tried asking but you didn¡¯t answer. Why have you called me here?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know that Ning Jing is missing?¡± Tang Yuyan stared at Xia Lei. Though the topic at hand was something serious, the corner of her lips couldn¡¯t suppress the smile it wanted to make. She was ecstatic to see her lover. Tang Yuyan just couldn¡¯t hide her glee.
¡°Ning Jing is missing?¡± Xia Lei feigned a shocked expression. ¡°When did this happen?¡±
¡°She¡¯s been gone for days.¡± Tang Yuyan grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s hand and pulled him into the building. She walked as she spoke, ¡°The sanatorium had decided to keep it a secret, nning to only report it to the police if they had given up. And yeah, I just received word yesterday.¡±
¡°The report was made yesterday but you¡¯re already starting investigations today?¡±
¡°Of course not. I¡¯ve already sent an agent over to do some prior investigations yesterday, we found nothing. That¡¯s why I decided toe here myself to see if I can get a hold of any clues.¡±
¡°If you¡¯re here to work, why did you need me over?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but raised his suspicion. Ning Jing was kidnapped by Qin Xiang under his instructions and if Tang Yuyan was the one handling this case, she was probably trying to probe him for information. Xia Lei had decided to be a little cautious to prepare himself in this aspect.
Tang Yuyan turned around to roll her eyes at Xia Lei coquettishly. You¡¯re Bureau 101¡¯s supervisor, you¡¯re the expert. Is it wrong for me to ask for your help in this case? If Long Bing had found herself in a case like this, she would definitely ring you up for help. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re always more than willing to rush to her aid.¡±
Xia Lei let out a slight sigh of relief while he remained in his engaged facade. ¡°What are you saying? Ning Jing is my friend. I¡¯m very anxious about her being missing. Plus, you called for me and I¡¯m certainly here to help.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry too much about it. A lot of people are looking for her, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll find her very soon.¡± She pressed on the lift buttons.
Entering the lift, Xia Lei scoffed to himself. ¡°Ning Jing had already morphed into another person. It would be weird if you could find her.¡±
The metal doors closed.
Abruptly, Tang Yuyan pushed Xia Lei.
On reflex, Xia Lei took a step back. He then found his back pressed to the walls of the lift.
Taking advantage of his position, Tang Yuyan lunged forward and sandwiched the man in between her arms against the cold metal wall.
They stared into each other¡¯s eyes. One gaze was awkward and nervous while the other fiery like mes.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei broke the silence.
¡°Did Uncle Xia not mention it to you yet?¡± Tang Yuyan began to close their distance slowly. Her proud breasts were the first to provide contact between the pitifully small gap between them. Her chest rubbed themselves against his. The entire process felt like two snow mountains experiencing an avnche at the same time.
¡°Mention what?¡± Before he could wait for her answer, Xia Lei quickly diverted her attention. ¡°Please don¡¯t do this, it¡¯ll be troublesome if someone were to walk in now.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Tang Yuyan continued to press her weight onto him. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for your response all this time. How long are you going to make me wait?¡±
¡°Hadn¡¯t I made it clear?¡± Thick-skinned, Xia Lei answered her. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be married again.¡±
¡°Then what is the point of your impressive wealth? Are you really not going to have an heir to continue your legacy? Have you really thought about it?¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°I really hadn¡¯t thought about that before. I¡¯ll answer you after I think this through.¡±
As soon as hisst word was uttered, Tang Yuyan abruptly closed thest remaining distance between them. Taking him by surprise, she pressed her red cherry lips against his mouth. Within a second, her tongue was ready to assault his warm cavern. The sneaky pink organ pried open his ck jaw to tangle itself with his tongue.
The fragrance and sweetness of her being invaded his senses. The softness and silkiness of her warm tongue were as inviting as a buttercream strawberry shortcake.
Xia Lei wanted to push her away but his palms had missed the target miserably tond on her soft mounts. He was certain that he had meant to push her away but the action definitely looked like groping.
Suddenly, the lift opened.
A bunch of white-robed medical personnel stared at the couple in the lift nkly. There were two things that drew their attention, which happened to be where her lips were and the position of his palms.
The moment the metal doors opened to reveal the rendezvous happening inside, all movements ceased. Everyone froze.
One secondter, Tang Yuyan quickly pushed herself away from Xia Lei.
Sheepishly, Xia Lei lifted his head to observe the ceiling, as if it were the most fascinating thing he had ever seen.
¡°Ahem.¡± Tang Yuyan cleared her throat then exited the lift. ¡°Where is your director? I¡¯m Tang Yuyan, the head investigator of Ning Jing¡¯s disappearance.¡±
A middle-aged man went forward to greet her courteously. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re Miss Tang! It¡¯s really nice to meet you. I too share the same surname, we¡¯re probably from the same family.¡±
Without letting Director Tang finish his introduction, Tang Yuyan interrupted his ramble. She held a palm up and said, ¡°This is Xia Lei, my colleague and my fiance.¡±
What the hell was that?
The other few medical personnel stared at Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei weirdly, including Doctor Wei Guanyi who knew Xia Lei very well. He was aware of Xia Lei¡¯s identity but decided to act like they were strangers this time.
At this moment, a nurse hurried down the corridor after emerging from a room at the end of it. She was pale and scared, she ran and screamed, ¡°This is bad! Something awful happened! Director, we¡¯ve got a situation!¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Director Tang immediately scowled. ¡°What are you doing panicking like that? Can¡¯t you wait till I¡¯m back in my office?!¡±
¡°I...¡± The nurse was absolutely panting from her dash, she looked terrified even. It seems that something awful had really happened but Director Tang was quick to dismiss her.
¡°You¡¯re viting the rules! Go to my office and wait for me!¡± Director Tang¡¯s words wereced with contempt.
As the nurse was about to leave, Tang Yuyan quickly halted her. ¡°Wait, what happened? Tell me.¡±
¡°I...¡± The nurse turned to stare at Director Tang with wide eyes.
Director Tang put up a practised smile. ¡°Miss Tang, please don¡¯t mind her. She¡¯s new here and hasn¡¯t been coached well. She still is not used to the rules and protocol here. I think we should continue...¡±
Tang Yuyan was resolute. ¡°I want her to tell me now! If she doesn¡¯t speak, you¡¯d be barred from speaking too.¡±
Director Tang paled.
¡°Speak!¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s tone hinted anger, which probably wasn¡¯t best to not have her request entertained.
This was the first time Xia Lei had encountered an angry Tang Yuyan. This was the first time he had felt such intense leader vibes from her. The current her was much different from when they were in the lift.
¡°Come on, speak. What are you stalling there for?¡± Director Tang was increasingly anxious.
¡°I.. I...¡± The nurse was very nervous. ¡°Leader, Director, another two of the expert team members had passed away.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Director Tang was stunned.
¡°Another two members of the expert team died?¡± Tang Yuyan was quick to question. ¡°Were there more deaths from the team before we came?¡±
The nurse returned an honest nod. ¡°We lost one yesterday night.¡±
Beads of cold sweat started to form on Director Tang¡¯s forehead.
Tang Yuyan pointed a finger at him. Coldly, she spoke, ¡°When Ning Jing went missing, you didn¡¯t report it to us. We missed the golden time frame for the search. You even hid the death of one of the experts that urred yesterday night. I¡¯ve got to admit, you¡¯re quite the talented man. Sadly, it seems that the director¡¯ job isn¡¯t well suited for you, I think you should consider being the security guard instead.¡±
¡°I...¡± Director Tang was very shocked.
¡°What are you waiting for? Bring me to them, now!¡± Tang Yuyan roared out her instruction with no regards to Director Tang.
The bunch of medical personnel quickly led the way, no one had bothered to spare Director Tang a nce.
Xia Lei followed behind them, not the least bit sorry over Director Tang¡¯s situation. There were just too many leaders like him roaming around thisnd. If he hadn¡¯t encountered Tang Yuyan today, Director Tang would¡¯ve probably kept up his disgusting act. Unfortunately for him, fate had something else in store for him.
There were two beds in the ward, eachid one member of the expert team. There was no colour to their face and voided any indications of breathing. It was evident that they weren¡¯t dead for long but the two bodies were already looking like they had been frozen in the morgue for a few days. Their conditions were eerie, they looked like zombies.
¡°How long were they dead for?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°I don¡¯t know the exact time but it¡¯s probably less than an hour ago,¡± answered the nurse who found the bodies.
Tang Yuyan averted her gaze onto Xia Lei, her fierce stares immediately melting into something more tender.
Xia Lei came closer to one of the beds. He extended an arm to touch the body¡¯s wrist. Upon contact, theck of warmth was stark. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but be confused, the man had only been dead for less than an hour, it didn¡¯t make any sense for his body to be so cold. What the hell happened to him?
His left eye twitched slightly. Soon, the man¡¯s scalp and skull made way for his inspection. He was shocked by what he had seen with his X-ray vision. The man¡¯s brain had already shrunken down to the size of an apple. It looked void of any form of moisture and its colour was not the regr greyish-white but a rotten ck.
A body who had not been dead for less than an hour shouldn¡¯t disy such obvious oddities aside from their brain¡¯s ceasing function. The phenomenon before him was definitely not normal!
What had the two experts experienced before their death?
Said question appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
¡°Bad news!¡± A woman¡¯s voice could be heard from outside the ward. ¡°Another expert is dead! Doctors! Please! It¡¯s an emergency!¡±
Following that, the doctors in the ward hurriedly rushed out.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind went nk for a moment before he followed suit.
Chapter 829 - Am I Really Planning To Be With Her?
In another room, doctors were busy trying to resuscitate two newly passed experts. They attempted cardiac resuscitation, then tried epinephrine injection and so on. But no matter how hard the doctors tried, the line on the electrocardiogram screen remained linear. The line was as stable as a moving bullet train.
Ten minutester, the doctors gave up. They had done everything medically possible but to no avail. There wasn¡¯t even a single responseing from the two bodies.
¡°Miss Tang, Mister Xia.¡± Guan Weiyi looked helpless. ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, we¡¯ve tried our best but failed to rescue the two experts.¡±
¡°How could this happen?¡± Tang Yuyan found it difficult to hide her shock.
Guan Weiyi exined, ¡°To be honest, we¡¯ve conducted a preliminary check on the two experts yesterday night. What we found was that their body functions had aged like nothing we had ever seen. His brain looked like it was ced under the sun for days, there wasn¡¯t a single bit of moisture and it had shrunken up.¡±
¡°What could¡¯ve caused that?¡± Tang Yuyan questioned.
Guan Weiyi shook his head in defeat. ¡°I have no idea.¡±
¡°How could you not know? You¡¯re the doctor.¡± Tang Yuyan wasn¡¯t pleased with his response.
The doctor replied, ¡°Miss Tang, not even the best forensics doctor would be able to answer you.¡±
As Tang Yuyan continued to engage Guan Weiyi in their conversation, Xia Lei went to stand in front of one bed and triggered his X-ray vision. The vision quickly prated through the body¡¯s brain. This time, he just so happened to catch the rapid shrinkage of the brain. The organ lost its moisture and then its regr colour to be a mass of rotten ck.
Following that, Xia Lei scanned his torso. Weirdly, his organs had seemed very normal, perfectly ordinary for a recently deceased person.
¡°What the hell?¡± He was shocked.
¡°What did you find?¡± Tang Yuyan came over.
Xia Lei hesitated before he answered, ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on. There¡¯s still no answer to the reason behind their insanity, let alone their cause of death.¡±
Tang Yuyan frowned. She seemed to be deep in thought.
¡°It¡¯s bad! It¡¯s bad! Doctor Wei!¡± Another shrill scream rang out from outside the ward. ¡°Thest one, thest expert... I don¡¯t think she¡¯s going to make it!¡±
Xia Lei dashed out of the ward into the corridor. Spotting the nurse standing in front of another ward, he quickly ran over.
¡°Wait for me.¡± Tang Yuyan caught up with him.
Entering the ward, the sight of a lying female patient came to Xia Lei vision. The woman was a remarkable physicist, whom Xia Lei hade across at the hillside base but they hadn¡¯t exchanged a single word. Back then, she looked as healthy as one could be. Unlike now, she was a very radiant middle-aged woman. Pitifully, her current face wascking its usual redness and her eyes were wide open. What was left was just a sad empty dark hole in her eyes.
Eerily, her lips were curled into a smile epting her approaching death. The upturned lip looked peaceful and content, it was one that could make anyone feel safe. The existence of her expression gave off an illusion that she wasn¡¯t about to die but that she had sessfully booked a ticket to heaven and was about to embark on an exciting journey.
Guan Weiyi and a few doctors quickly pushed all the emergency rescue equipment into the ward. Before they could do anything, the female physicist opened her mouth and let out a weird noise. Letting out herst breath, her lungs deted for thest time.
Wei Guanyi quickly led the rescue.
Xia Lei¡¯s left vision found itself in the woman¡¯s brain. All he could see was a brain that was shrinking like an ice cream left to melt in the sun. The whole process urred faster than he could imagine.
¡°Just what on Earth is going on here?!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart was shrouded with shock and confusion.
After a few minutes, Wei Guanyi found himself in front of Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan again. ¡°Mister Xia, Miss Tang, this is all I can do. Everyone on the team is dead. The whole thing hase to an end. I¡¯m terribly sorry that I wasn¡¯t able to help much.¡±
Tang Yuyan replied, ¡°I¡¯ll arrange professionals to run the autopsy. Please have aprehensive report ready for me.¡±
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll collect the data for it now.¡± Saying nothing else, Wei Guanyi left the ward. As soon as he got to the door, he turned around to look at Xia Lei, who was still staring at the body weirdly.
¡°We should go,¡± interrupted Tang Yuyan.
¡°Yeah.¡± Xia Lei retracted his vision and proceeded to leave the ward.
Leaving the sanatorium, the warmth of the bright afternoon sun could be felt on their skin but all they could feel were chills down their spine. A lingering feeling of emptiness gued their hearts.
¡°Everyone on the expert team died. The only one left is Ning Jing.¡± Tang Yuyan sighed. ¡°But we don¡¯t know if she¡¯s still alive or dead. I can only hope that she¡¯s alright now.¡±
Xia Lei felt a stabbing pain to his heart. He was fully conscious of the answer to that. Ning Jing wasn¡¯t exactly dead but her existence had disappearedpletely. In essence, Ning Jing was no longer a part of this world. Despite knowing that, Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to break the truth to Tang Yuyan.
¡°In the beginning, the experts either died straightaway or went insane but now even the ones that went crazy are dead. It¡¯s just really weird their deaths all happened within a twenty-four-hour frame. Who could exin something like this? I don¡¯t think I have what it takes to solve this case.¡± Tang Yuyan mumbled.
Xia Lei thought to himself secretly. ¡°Perhaps Ning Jing was already not herself when she went insane. Only Zhu Xuanyue would know the truth behind everything but she¡¯s still asleep. Gosh, I have no idea when she¡¯s going to wake up. This is such a mess...¡±
¡°Nevermind, let¡¯s just leave this to the professionals. I¡¯m going to hand off this case.¡± Tang Yuyan took a deep breath and allowed a smile to appear on her face. ¡°Let¡¯s go get some coffee.¡±
¡°You still have the stomach for coffee after such experience?¡± Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Well, death is not umon to our line of work. There¡¯s no point looking for excuses.¡± Tang Yuyan hooked her arms around his elbow intimately. ¡°There aren¡¯t many chances for us to be together like this. Now that you¡¯re here, I¡¯m not about to let you go just like that. Come, let¡¯s go for coffee. I heard there¡¯s this cafe nearby that¡¯s pretty popr, we should go try it out.¡±
Xia Lei could only let out a wry smile as she led him away.
What followed next was a date between the two ¡®lovers¡¯. Not only did Tang Yuyan bring him for coffee, but she had also forced him into the cinema for a movie. If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t sent his father a text for help, Xia Changhe probably wouldn¡¯t have called him and faked an emergency. Without that, Xia Lei was pretty certain that Tang Yuyan had half the mind to drag him into a hotel.
It was already night when he returned to the Peace Mansion.
Xia Changhe was in the garden admiring the moon as he sipped on his tea.
¡°Dad, look what you did to me.¡± Xia Lei groaned as soon as he spotted Xia Changhe. ¡°You promised her something and now she¡¯s forcing it onto me. I don¡¯t even know what to do with her now.¡±
Xia Changhe chuckled. ¡°As I said, my promise is only my promise. You¡¯re the one who gets the final say on the decision.¡±
Gloom was stered all over Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°But the Tang family had taken your promise very seriously. All they¡¯re waiting for is a green light from me. Today, Tang Yuyan had even introduced me as her fiance. She even mentioned that she would be expecting an answer from me at her godfather¡¯s sixtieth birthday party. How should I respond to this?¡±
¡°You should know what you want. After all, it isn¡¯t that difficult to reject someone. Unless... you¡¯ve started to catch genuine feelings for her. Is that what it is?¡± Xia Changhe seemed very interested.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°You really think rejection is easy? Sometimes, rejection brings damage.¡±
Xia Changhe took another sip of tea. The old man seemed to be enjoying his beverage very much. ¡°I¡¯m not going to involve myself in your youngster conflict. I just want to know when the hell you are nning to give me a grandchild, you bastard. You better not suggest grandchildren without marriage or I¡¯m going to beat the shit out of you.¡±
From Xia Changhe¡¯s words, the man had actually taken a great liking to the idea of Tang Yuyan bing his daughter inw.
Ah, it seemed that his father wasn¡¯t a man who was true to his words.
But he couldn¡¯t be med. Which father in this world hadn¡¯t hoped for grandchildren? His son had sessfully built an outstanding business but he had no ns for an heir. How was that eptable? To be fairly honest, Xia Changhe¡¯s way of urging marriage was rtively gentler among the cluster who practised the same behaviour.
¡°Ugh, I¡¯m calling it a day. I¡¯ll head back inside the house now.¡± Xia Lei was eager to leave.
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Changhe halted Xia Lei. The old man continued, ¡°Is there still no news from the Knight Hospitaller?¡±
¡°Do you mean the investigation on the FA Organization headquarters?¡± Xia Lei instinctively lowered his voice.
Xia Changhe nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not viable to allow the fourdies to continue staying here. You need to urge them for faster progress.¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°ording to our prior promise, the Knight Hospitaller are expected to give me a solid answer after a month. Before that, we¡¯ll just have to keep a close eye on the four of them. I let them stay here because I¡¯ve got ns to use them for.¡±
¡°Alright. Just try to end your deal with the Knight Hospitaller as soon as possible. There¡¯s bound to be trouble if this goes on,¡± warned Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll urge the Knight Hospitaller after Boss Shi¡¯s sixtieth birthday.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be going with you, the old lord Tang has invited me to a game of chess,¡± said Xia Changhe.
¡°Also, the woman you brought home...¡±
Xia Lei quickly halted his father. ¡°Dad, no need to involve yourself with her. Trust me, you¡¯ve got no control over the situation.¡± Without offering any exnation, Xia Lei turned around and left.
The moonlight shone on his lonely retreating back as the dilemma tormented Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
¡°Am I really nning to be with Tang Yuyan? Do I really want to marry her?¡±
This was the very first-time such thought had urred in his mind. The unfamiliar sensation sent waves to his head.
Then, he suddenly recalled the incident that took ce on the roof of Might Biotechnology Corporation back in New Delhi. The ck-robed man had mentioned that Xia Lei was expected to give him an answer after three years and that he was going to kill him.
The sudden recollection made his heart sunk. Now, there was more to worry about his unknown future.
If he had only left with three years left to live and that Thunder Horse Organization had yet to be assigned an heir, would that consider his life as iplete? Would this be an unrepairable regret in his life?
Passing by Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s room, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched to peer inside. The obstructing wooden door soon disappeared in his field of vision.
Zhu Xuanyue was still wide awake. Dangling her body on the edge of the bed, her butt was in the air while she glued her eyes to the bottom of the bed frame. She seemed to be looking for something but that was not the point. The point was that she was stark naked without a single bit of modesty. At the sight of that, Xia Lei was close to breaking into a nosebleed on spot.
What was she trying to do?
No one knew.
Chapter 830 - Creepy Girl
Though he found the situation inappropriate and ufortable to be in, Xia Lei still decided to enter Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s room.
As soon as the door was opened, Zhu Xuanyue, who had her upper half dangled over the edge of the bed, abruptly pushed her palms against the floor. Her body immediately sprung up from the ground. At that moment, her form looked like a freshly shot arrow. It required her less than a second to present the base of her feet against Xia Lei¡¯s head.
She had a pair of wless legs. There was not a single callous on the underside of her foot. Her legs were certainly one to admire. However, Xia Lei was not in the headspace to admire the beauty of her feet. In fact, he was scared shitless. The power of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s kick was a threat to him! If she kicked his face, his nose bridge would undoubtedly shatter!
Caught off guard, he quickly lowered his knees. The moment he had squatted, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s deadly long leg flew by his head and scraped against his scalp. Without wasting a beat, both of her hands were lowered straight from the air to grapple his neck. All Xia Lei could remember next was the immense pressure pressed against his throat and then suffocation!
Xia Lei hurriedly threw himself against the ground, quickly kicking his right foot up towards Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s crown.
Zhu Xuanyue loosened her grip on his neck to grab on Xia Lei¡¯s iing foot.
The assault came to an abrupt halt.
Out of exhaustion, Xia Lei slumped against the ground while Zhu Xuanyue let herself fall against his body. Her head was in between his thighs while his head was in between her thighs. The position they found themselves in was a very risque sixty-nine.
Zhu Xuanyue was presumably fine since Xia Lei had pants on.
But it was a different story for poor Xia Lei due to the proximity andck of clothing on Zhu Xuanyue. Her privates were a little too close forfort. Everything was too damned near! Her privates were within his reach! This was more intense from when he had found herpletely naked, Xia Lei felt like he was about to explode.
¡°Uncle Xia!¡± Zhu Xuanyue finally noticed that it was Xia Lei. Frantically, she scurried away from his body, face filled with regret. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, I didn¡¯t know it was you.¡±
Xia Lei lifted himself from the floor and proceeded to stare at her. His eyes were wide with unhidden terror. He thought to himself, ¡°Why is she so ridiculously strong?! She¡¯s even more powerful than Master!¡±
Liang Zhengchun had dedicated his entire life to the art of Wing Chun and had insanely fortified internal strength, Xia Lei was admittedly no match against him. But if aparison were to be made between Zhu Xuanyue and Liang Zhengchun, thetter was evidently much weaker!
Another cruel reality was that if Zhu Xuanyue had chosen to unleash her full capabilities on him, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive that brawl!
¡°Uncle Xia, why are you staring at me like that?¡± Zhu Xuanyue waved a palm in front of him.
Which finally snapped Xia Lei back to reality. ¡°Why did you attack me just now?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I just noticed that someone had entered my room and before I knew anything, I was already doing it. I¡¯m so sorry, Uncle Xia.¡± Zhu Xuanyue lowered her head, behaving like a child who knew she was in trouble.
Seeing her in this state, Xia Lei no longer reprimanded her. He shed her a faint smile instead. ¡°It¡¯s alright. Please remember to not recklessly attack anyone next time. You¡¯re very strong, you might hurt someone unintentionally.¡±
¡°Alright, I promise.¡± Zhu Xuanyue grinned.
¡°What were you doing just now? Were you looking for something?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°I found something small,¡± answered Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°What did you find?¡± Xia Lie lowered his body to look under the bed.
Suddenly, a rat came dashing out from underneath the bed towards the washroom.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s figure sway and the next time she halted, the rat was already in her palms.
Xia Lei was shocked. He wasn¡¯t able to see her move but when she stopped, the rat was already in her hands!
The speed she disyed was inhuman. It wasn¡¯t something any regr human being was supposed to have, Xia Lei, included!
Zhu Xuanyue abruptly tightened her grip.
Squeak! The rat let out an agonizing squeak before dying within Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s fist.
¡°Xuanyue, you...¡± Xia Lei wanted to say something but he didn¡¯t know what to say.
Zhu Xuanyue slowly approached Xia Lei with a sweet smile. ¡°Uncle Xia, here. It¡¯s a present.¡±
Before Xia Lei could reply, Zhu Xuanyue had already ced the dead rodent on his palm.
The sudden contact was cold. The unnatural temperature of the rat¡¯s body was as if it had been stored in the refrigerator for a few minutes!
Inexplicably, Xia Lei¡¯s mind wandered back to the incident back at the sanatorium that afternoon. When he touched one of the expert¡¯s newly-passed bodies, it was cold too.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and prated through the rat¡¯s brain.
Surprisingly, its brain hadn¡¯t shrunk. It looked rather normal. The finding allowed him to heave a sigh of relief. If the rat had experienced the same brain shrinkage as those experts, Xia Lei would really suspect that she had something to do with the deaths of the expert team!
¡°I¡¯m so full, I feel very sleepy.¡± Zhu Xuanyue yawned. ¡°Uncle Xia, I wanna sleep with you. Can you hug me to sleep tonight?¡±
Xia Lei frantically declined. ¡°No! You should sleep alone.¡±
¡°But I really wanna sleep with you,¡± whined Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°Behave yourself!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s expression was tense.
¡°Fine, there¡¯s no need to be so mean.¡± Zhu Xuanyue pouted, looking as if she was wronged.
¡°Also, no matter if you¡¯re in the room or outside, you must be clothed. You cannot run around the ce naked, promise?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone remained stern.
Zhu Xuanyue frowned silently but still gave a nod.
¡°Go to bed, I¡¯ll get you a teacher tomorrow. You need to learn some etiquette.¡± With that, Xia Lei left her room.
As soon as he was out of her sight, Xia Lei tossed the dead rat into the trash. The man couldn¡¯t help but turn around to use his X-ray vision on Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s room once again for good measure, only to find the girl pulling up a pair of panties. The entire process made him gulp.
¡°She¡¯s still a good child after all. I¡¯ll call Qing Caiyue over to teach her some manners tomorrow.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart wondered as he left.
Unbeknownst to him, the panty-d Zhu Xuanyue started to walk around her room in circles. Then, she began to mumble...
¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°Who are you?¡±
¡°What are you trying to do?¡±
¡°What are you trying to do?¡±
¡°Hey, shut up!¡±
¡°You¡¯re the one who should shut up!¡±
Next morning, Xia Lei brought Zhu Xuanyue to Thunder Horse Military Factory to pass her to Qing Caiyue. The girl wasn¡¯t keen on following the stranger but after Xia Lei had reprimanded her, she hurriedly scurried over to sit for Qing Caiyue¡¯s lessons.
Soon, Huang Xuewen entered his office.
¡°Director Xia, I¡¯d like to discuss an idea with you.¡±
¡°What do you have in mind?¡± Xia Lei glued his eyes on the younger male.
¡°The AI technologies you provided us are very advanced. It has greatly inspired me and my friends over at the AI department. We¡¯ve discussed and found that some of the techniques provided could be used on our current production process and perhaps some weapon parts. For example, it could be very useful for the production of the Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle and the uing tank.¡±
The technologies mentioned were extracted from Hattori Masao back then. The particr patents involved were not intended for the military sector but with some modification, it would be perfect. Xia Lei was merely the ¡®supplier¡¯ in this part. He had readied plenty of resources while Huang Xuewen and his AI department had acted as his brains. The department had selected a few out of the thousands of resources supplied by Xia Lei and added their own spin to it to create the best suited Artificial Intelligence product for Thunder Horse Military Factory.
¡°Excellent, that¡¯s great news. Proceed to implement it and let me know if you need anything else.¡± Xia Lei was delighted. Huang Xuewen had already offered impressive achievements. It was a good indication that Xia Lei had made the right choice.
Huang Xuewen continued, ¡°I need Miss Sylvia and Miss Anina¡¯s support on this. They¡¯re the ones behind the tank¡¯s research. I¡¯d like your permission for the AI department to join the research.¡±
Xia Lei simply returned a nod. ¡°Sure, not a problem. I¡¯ll give them a call soon.¡±
¡°Also, Director Xia,¡± The younger male hesitated, but decided to say it anyway. ¡°We only have one office for our department. Due to that, we¡¯re limited to theory-based research and I really think we¡¯d do much better with aboratory and a garage. I¡¯ve calcted the cost to be around eighty million.¡±
Xia Lei remained silent.
Huang Xuewen couldn¡¯t help but get nervous. ¡°Director Xia, I understand we have nothing much to offer yet and I know that it¡¯s a little difficult for you to fork out that sum of money. But I guarantee that...¡±
Abruptly, Xia Lei smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to guarantee anything. I¡¯ll hand you a fund of one billion, spend it wisely.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Huang Xuewen couldn¡¯t believe what he had just heard.
¡°Is it too much?¡± Xia Lei grinned.
¡°No, no, no... One billion makes things much easier.¡± A smile finally appeared on Huang Xuewen¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re such a bold and generous boss, it¡¯s my pleasure to work under you.¡±
¡°You better prove yourself to me with that amount given. Try to work out a way to incorporate Artificial Intelligence into our products as soon as possible. Our country is way behind in this sector, we need to catch up with the others fast,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Got it, we¡¯ll do our very best. Thank you for your time, Director Xia. I¡¯ll be off to work now.¡± Huang Xuewen turned around.
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Lei halted him and retrieved a USB from his drawer. ¡°Take a look at this for me.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Huang Xuewen was curious.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°It¡¯s a medical intelligence machine made by the Japanese. It¡¯s probably the benchmark of the current technological advancement of Japan. Study it, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be of use to you and your friends.¡±
¡°How do you have ess to things like this?¡± Huang Xuewen was shocked to know what it was.
¡°I¡¯ve got my ways. Go, go back to work.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t bother to exin its origins.
Huang Xuewen tightened his grip around the USB, barely able to conceal the excitement in his voice. ¡°Director Xia, please believe in me. I will definitely produce our very own AI machines. Whether or not it falls under the medical field or military industry, we¡¯ll certainly have it all!¡±
Xia Lei nodded his head, praising the youngster with his eyes.
If Xia Lei was only left with three years to live, then he shall make Thunder Horse Organization a world-renowned military organization that was up to par with Rheinmetall and even Lockheed Martin!
Chapter 831 - Solo Fight
Half a monthter.
A military procurement meeting was to be held in Jingdu. Xia Lei was the only one invited to the event as a representative of the private military sector.
At the entrance to the venue, Qing Caiyue and Xia Lei were halted by two security guards.
¡°Mister Xia, you may go in but your secretary has to remain outside.¡± One of the security guards courteously offered, ¡°Miss, please follow me to the refreshment room. You may wait there.¡±
Xia Lei nodded and said, ¡°Follow him, wait for me there.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Qing Caiyue trailed behind the security guard. Though her entry was declined, she wasn¡¯t too bothered about it. Qing Caiyue was fully aware that it was not her ce to attend a meeting of that calibre. They consisted of some of the most powerful people in the military sector.
Not long after Xia Lei made his entry, he found Ye Kun. Everyone else was scattered around the ce in groups of their own but Ye Kun was standing there alone. The man stuck out like a sore thumb.
Truthfully, such a situation was not surprising. Ye Kun may be the director of Hanwu Weapons but hispany stood against the others. There was no way that the others would acknowledge Ye Kun¡¯s presence now.
¡°Director Xia.¡± Ye Kun approached him with a smile.
Xia Lei returned the gesture and greeted him kindly. ¡°Old Ye, have you been here for long?¡±
¡°No, I just arrived too. Here, take a seat.¡± Ye Kun pulled out a chair for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t ustomed to his approach but sat on it anyway.
Suddenly, all eyes were on them. Chatter soon ensued.
¡°Look at that, Mister Ye is such a ve. Oh no, the better word for it is a eunuch.¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m certain that if Xia Lei¡¯s shoes were soiled, he¡¯d be willing to get down to the floor to lick it clean.¡±
¡°Fucking hell, I despise traitors. If it wasn¡¯t for him, Old Mu wouldn¡¯t have to suffer his fate¡±
¡°Damn, thinking of Old Mu makes me furious. Old Mu is still in there serving time and this motherfucker is out here having the time of his life.¡±
¡°It¡¯s just unbelievable. Old Mu had cared for him back then yet he had the heart to expose Old Mu. What an ungrateful fuck.¡±
¡°Ye Kun is despicable, but the real abomination is that Mister Xia. Look at this fe, he was merely a construction worker in Haizhu a few years ago. Now his pretentious ass is here to attend such an important national defence construction meeting. This is just ridiculous!¡±
¡°Hmph! I¡¯d like to see how long he couldst. I don¡¯t think Xia Lei could take us all, his stomach would probably burst open!¡±
They were being subtle with their words. Their unfiltered volume felt as if they had intended those remarks to be heard by both Xia Lei and Ye Kun. Xia Lei seemed unfazed but as Ye Kun continued to take it in, his face started to turn green then red. He was angry, but there was nothing he could do about it.
A barking dog never bites. Ye Kun¡¯s personality was the total opposite of that. He¡¯d let them have their way, continue to mock and humiliate him. But as soon as he got the chance, Ye Kun would make sure to return the favour tenfold. He¡¯d make sure to throw them into the gutters!
On the other hand, Xia Lei was pleased that they were trampling Ye Kun. This would fuel Ye Kun¡¯s hatred. But still, Xia Lei put on a courteous face andforted him. ¡°Old Ye, they¡¯re just a bunch of mad dogs. No need to take their words to heart.¡±
Ye Kun returned a cold smirk. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. There is no need to worry. I¡¯m a very tolerant person. If they really had any form of decency, they wouldn¡¯t be yapping here like a bunch of gossiping wives.¡±
Those words were clearly to retaliate against them.
Hearing that, they frowned. However, everyone remained cautious due to the nature of the setting. If this had taken ce somewhere else, Ye Kun would¡¯ve already confronted those insults.
At this moment, Yu Shanhe and Ling Han made their appearance. The two paused briefly to gaze at both Ye Kun and Xia Lei. Following that, they went elsewhere without a single greeting.
Ye Kun lowered his voice to a whisper. ¡°Director Xia, I got some information.¡±
In a heartbeat, Xia Lei pressed on. ¡°What did you hear?¡±
¡°I heard that Yu Shanhe intends to have Ling Han rece Mu Jianfeng. The whole thing is still in process but there¡¯s no telling how true it is,¡± said Ye Kun.
Xia Lei frowned slightly. It was a true or false situation, it was a matter of time. To switch Ling Han over to rece Mu Jianfeng¡¯s current spot was no big deal with Yu Shanhe¡¯s status. Not to mention, Ling Han was already recognized. If Ling Han had sessfully be the director of China Industrial Group, Ling Han¡¯s tricks along with the group¡¯s strength would certainly bring Xia Lei immense troubles.
¡°I also heard that the overall bnce of the current situation is off. As you know, America¡¯s Return to Asia-Pacific Policy is clearly against us. The American ships were a clear provocation and there has been continuous reported activity from the Japanese. Not to mention, the Sade Anti-Missile System in the Korean military is also a threat to our country. Hence, this meeting was to devise a strategy to stimte China¡¯s military sector and fortify our country¡¯s defence capabilities. I think Yu Shanhe would utilize this event to express his intentions of having Ling Han rece Mu Jianfeng.¡± Ye Kun scoffed for a brief second and continued. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that there¡¯ll be an election. If there are a hundred attendees, ny-eight of them would be in favour of the recement.¡±
One hundred votes with only two opposing votes from Xia Lei and Ye Kun. But Xia Lei was fully aware that even if there was a voting session, he definitely had no right to cast a ballot. It was clear that as long as Yu Shanhe had a say, the majority of the people would support him.
¡°Director Xia, tell me. If Ling Han takes over the position, who would be the first he¡¯d destroy?¡± probed Ye Kun as he stared at Xia Lei.
Without hesitation, Xia Lei answered him. ¡°Definitely you.¡±
The answer garnered no response from Ye Kun. It was obvious that he already had an answer prior to bringing up the question. The only thing he was after was just Xia Lei¡¯s reassurance.
And Xia Lei gave him just what he desired. ¡°No need to worry too much, Old Ye. Everyone who has stood by me has prospered. I¡¯m just trying to offer my best. The Thunder Horse Organization has worked itself to the bone all for the sake of strengthening our country¡¯s defence. You could say that we act as positive energy. As long as you get that clear, your goals will be much more tangible. Plus, there¡¯s no way Yu Shanhe would simplyy a finger on us.¡±
The corner of Ye Kun¡¯s lips curled up. He knew who Xia Lei was referring to. Fan Fan. The woman was someone who even Yu Shanhe had avoided like a gue. Aside from that, Bureau 101 was clearly on Xia Lei¡¯s side. He was not fighting this war alone. What was there left to fear about Ling Han?
As they continued to converse, a group of military representatives and relevant figures entered the venue.
There was a familiar face that Xia Lei had seen from the news. Inexplicably, he suddenly felt his nerves acting up but his heart was still filled with respect.
A military authority figure whispered something into that person¡¯s ear, then held a hand up to point towards Xia Lei. The person soon turned to look at Xia Lei. As soon as the look of acknowledgement settled in, the man greeted him with a nod and a smile.
His smile was majestic yet gentle, giving off a friendly impression that urges one to not mess with him. Though this was just an insignificant gesture, Xia Lei had taken that as a sign of acknowledgement that his hard work had not gone in vain.
Frantically, Xia Lei stood up from his seat to return a nod.
There were no greetings as there was no need for it.
Behind the group of figures, Xia Lei spotted Fan Fan.
Fan Fan¡¯s body had adorned a sleek ck zer. Her chest was pressing against the fabric proudly while the garment was synched tastefully to show off her slim waist. Her ck cks were filled out by her behind to form a beautiful curve with the length of her limbs. Although her outfit was a little old for her age, it didn¡¯t hinder her sexiness from shining through. Trailing behind a group of stern soldiers. Fan Fan was a red rose ced against the mouth of a gun. The whole scene created a unique contrast.
Fan Fan directed a smile towards Xia Lei before approaching him.
¡°It¡¯s nice to see you, Officer Fan,¡± greeted Ye Kun courteously. The kind smile on his face had made him seem harmless.
Fan Fan nodded at him. ¡°Hello, Director Ye. I see you¡¯ve decided to do the right thing.¡±
¡°Yeah, and I¡¯ll continue to work hard.¡± Ye Kun had understood what she meant.
Fan Fan came to Xia Lei¡¯s side. She whispered, ¡°My rtive is here again.¡±
Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°Who?¡±
Immediately, Fan Fan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Are you ying dumb? I¡¯m talking about menses. Menses, capiche?¡±
Xia Lei finally registered it but the rification rendered him speechless. He wasn¡¯t expecting Fan Fan to discuss her menstruation with him in such a dignified setting.
¡°Care to exin yourself?¡± Fan Fan squinted at Xia Lei suspiciously.
¡°Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Xia Leiughed nervously. ¡°I really don¡¯t know. Aren¡¯t these things up to fate? If not, why would there be a crowd rushing over to pray for fertility?¡±
¡°But I really want it.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to rush.¡± Xia Leiforted her.
But Fan Fan threw her eyes back again. ¡°Of course you¡¯re not in a rush. You¡¯re just in for a quick fuck.¡±
¡°Alright, I need to discuss something serious.¡±
¡°Yeah? Go on.¡±
¡°When will the Thunder Horse Organizationunch their new materials?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°It¡¯s not so simple. The Western countries have spent years on it and failed to produce even a working concept. You can¡¯t be serious about wanting me to produce something within less than three months?¡±
¡°Let me tell you something. Weren¡¯t you able to get your hands on fighter jet technology from France and Germany? Now the higher-ups have decided to fund research on a new fighter jet type that ispetent enough to be as good as Lockheed Martin¡¯s F35 jets. If you could speed it up a little and produce new materials to be used on it, it¡¯ll be a great contribution to the country and our people!¡± Fan Fan¡¯s excitement was poorly concealed.
¡°Alright, I understand. I¡¯ll try my best to elerate progress.¡± Xia Lei answered.
Fan Fan continued, ¡°But with your hands full on overseeing Thunder Horse Organization and the Alloy X Project, are you able to manage things? I¡¯ve suggested to my bosses to have my grandfather join you in the new material project.¡±
Hearing that, Xia Lei smiled. ¡°That¡¯s great news. He¡¯s the country¡¯s best material scientist. He¡¯s got a vastwork all around China and there¡¯s a lot of better scientific resources at the academy! With Mister Fan¡¯s involvement, we could see significant jumps in progress. I¡¯d wee him with wide arms. He can join whenever he wants to.¡±
This was free assistance that could even be considered as a driving force. There was no way Xia Lei could decline this!
¡°Alright, that¡¯s a deal then. We¡¯ll keep in touch.¡± Just like that, Fan Fan left.
Xia Lei watched her retreating back, heart heaving a heavy sigh. The implementation of AI technology to the military industry and the breakthrough discovery of new material would surely drive China¡¯s military standards to newer heights. Certainly, everyone would gasp at the marvellous improvement three yearster, right?
Would Xia Lei be able to see it with his own eyes?
Three years. Those words were like thorns in his heart. Whenever he was reminded of it, a stifling difort grips him and washes ayer of fear over him.
On the other end of the venue, Ling Han held his gaze towards Xia Lei as he smirked maliciously.
Chapter 832 - True Protagonist of This Era!
The meeting was done separately. Fan Fan had entered a smaller room for a meeting with the authorities. Though so, a high ranking leader and a few military representatives were present at the bigger meeting to y an important part as hosts.
The hosting figures gave their speeches one after another, earning rounds of apuse at each end. The attendees were rather proactive, creating an unexpectedlyfortable atmosphere. There were some reporters but they were all situated a distance away, silently recording the meeting.
This was the first time Xia Lei had attended something like this, the format and atmosphere werepletely unfamiliar to him. Thankfully, the leaders were done with their speeches within an hour. Leaving the remaining time for each invited representatives of the military industry.
Each of them hade prepared with a well-written speech. Their content was all structured along the lines of determination and their keenness towards eliminating obstacles and so on to produce achievements. Essentially, they were merely repeating one another. There was no point in paying attention to their words.
Ye Kun had also readied a script for himself, which happened to be a shocking length. While waiting for his turn, the man had frantically flipped through the papers thrice for good measure. He looked nervous but it was obvious that Ye Kun had taken this very seriously.
Soon enough, it was Ye Kun¡¯s turn. He kept away the script and picked up the mic. His overall expression and tone were appropriate for the setting, not forgetting to let emphasize certain points with great emotions. The speech and mannerism were constructed in a way that made him overflow with positivity as if the man was immune to all toxicity of society. However, Ye Kun¡¯s speech was no different from the others before him.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but think to himself. ¡°Though his words were simr to the ones before, Ye Kun actually made the effort to recite his script without reference. He¡¯s filled with confidence in a room of people beating him down. He was certainly proving himself useful for survival.¡±
No apuse was given after Ye Kun¡¯s speech. Taking his seat, Ye Kun raised a palm to wipe at the sweat that had formed on his forehead. He wasn¡¯t the least bit surprised at theck of response but the silence was still unsettling.
The meeting host continued the segment. ¡°Now, let¡¯s hear from the representative of China Industrial Group.¡±
Ling Han stood up with firm confidence. ¡°Good day to all leaders and my fellowrades, I¡¯m the representative of China Industrial Group and I¡¯ll be talking about a few things...¡±
Ling Han began to talk but Xia Lei wasrgely taken aback. It was merely an hour ago when Ye Kun mentioned to him about Yu Shanhe¡¯s intention of having Ling Han rece Mu Jianfeng. It was a shocker to find Ling Han speaking at the meeting as a person in charge of the China Industrial Group.
¡°The reason behind the technology suppression from Europe and America is obvious, but our military production standards have been showing steady improvement over the years. The gap between us is getting smaller.¡±
Suddenly, Xia Lei could feel Ling Han¡¯s eyes on him. There was a sharp change to his tone. ¡°We have no need for heroes in this industry. What we truly require is a firm foundation. What is the foundation, you may ask? In my opinion, it is all representatives invited to this esteemed meeting that lines the base for our country¡¯s strong defence. Though we had opened up one part of our military industry to the people, it doesn¡¯t mean an opportunity to monopolize the entire industry. Don¡¯t get me wrong,petition is beneficial to stimte market activity. However, the badpetition must be halted as it brings harm to us all. Some businesses who have already gotten their hands on good technique but had selfishly decided to keep it away from reach. Now, that is not a good approach to the development of China¡¯s military industry...¡±
Xia Lei could feel his brows scrunched up. Although Ling Han had not mentioned ¡®Thunder Horse Organization¡¯ or ¡®Xia Lei¡¯, the man was aware that Ling Han¡¯s words were directed towards him.
Refusal to share newly-acquired good techniques? If that was detrimental to the development of the industry, what use would there be for patents and trade secrets? Microsoft had dominated almost the entire market of theputer operating system. Apple was the biggest smartphone producer in the world and runs on its own iOS system along with its countless patented technology. You wouldn¡¯t catch them sharing it to Xiaomi and Huawei, no?
Ling Han¡¯s words didn¡¯t make much sense but it was said with a sense of righteousness. It was almost as if Ling Han was the epitome of justice and was the representative of the benefits of the people.
A round of apuse rang.
Ling Han nodded to express gratitude. He continued, ¡°The China Industrial Group is a big organization that is of utmost importance to the country. We¡¯re willing to shoulder the mass burden of this era for the sake of revitalizing China¡¯s military sector. We, the China Industrial Group, will do our best to finish up all chariots ordered and channel more resources into our research. Our new generation ZTZ100 tank project is already in its works. I¡¯m certain it¡¯ll be China¡¯s best tank. This is a gift from us to the country. No export models will be made for the tank and it will only be supplied to our own military troupes, unlike the overly-marketized private military sector. We won¡¯t be allowing outsiders to take advantage of our resources. Of course, this isn¡¯t directed at anyone. This is the end of my speech, thank you for your attention.¡±
A ZTZ100 main battle tank? It was bold for the China Industrial Group to start a new generation tank project at such a sensitive time. They were obviouslying after the Thunder Horse Organization.
Yet another round of enthusiastic apuse was given.
Ling Han¡¯s newfound identity as the leading figure of the group would certainly bring bigger troubles to Thunder Horse Organization. Not to mention, the man was slick and smart. Ling Han was much more of a threat than Mu Jianfeng was. The first thing he did on stage was to set Thunder Horse Organization aze. Albeit faced with a particrly sticky situation, Xia Lei still had on a bright sunny smile.
Xia Lei thought to himself. ¡°It¡¯smendable that you wish to stop us at this stage, your determination is strong. But I think you may have forgotten the implication of my presence here. Is there really no one here who noticed it? My era is here. I¡¯m the true protagonist of this era.¡±
It really was like that sometimes. The truth was nted right in front of them, all they needed to do was to look closely. Sadly, most would¡¯ve had their judgement blinded by interest and other unworldly desires. They refused to learn of the truth and even refused to take a single nce at it.
Finally, the host announced, ¡°Next, let us have the next speaker, Mister Xia Lei from the Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
Everyone¡¯s attention was immediately on Xia Lei.
Ye Kun, who was sitting beside Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous as he noticed that the man hadn¡¯t prepared a single script for his speech! He whispered lowly, ¡°Director Xia, how could you not prepare a script for such an important meeting?!¡±
Xia Lei picked up the mic in front of him. In a gentle tone, he spoke, ¡°Good day to all leaders and my fellow colleagues. I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to represent the Thunder Horse Organization. This is my first time attending such a significant meeting. I hope you¡¯ll forgive me for my inexperience.¡±
A handful of people looked at him arrogantly. Seemingly unimpressed with his choice of words.
Xia Lei ignored them and continued. ¡°I¡¯m not a man of words, but I¡¯m a man who delivers. From humble beginnings, Thunder Horse Organization has been able to get to this point firmly all thanks to the contributions of all staff involved. The same goes to our weapons, from the XL2500 sniper rifle to the gust assault rifle and the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon and to the Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle. Everything we produce is top ss. I¡¯m proud to say that our works are remarkable in all aspects of their kind. Even the western military giants are no match against us. In the past, we had relied heavily on imports of finished parts but now, even the Europeans and Americans are after the Thunder Horse¡¯s Thunder Dragon intelligentthe.¡±
The mass envy towards Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s weapons and both generations of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe was a fact. Xia Lei had even exchanged his technology on weapons and the intelligentthe for Germany¡¯s Typhoon fighter engine technology and France¡¯s Rafale avionics technology. Though the nature of this information had stopped any disclosure, no one could obliterate Xia Lei¡¯s contribution!
p. p. p. The leaders started to p for Xia Lei.
Initially, not a single apuse was given. Under the leaders prompt, there was a sudden intensity to the round of apuse. A majority of the attendees were very unwilling to acknowledge Xia Lei¡¯s words. The man was essentially boasting in public. Instead of a p, the others were much keen on giving him a p.
Truthfully, the acknowledgement given by the leaders through apuse was an obvious hint. Sadly, a lot of them were still reluctant to learn the truth, remaining blind by their personal interests and lusts.
¡°Thank you, thank you.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°As you all know, Thunder Horse Organization is a private-owned business. But it is still an enterprise that contributes to this country. We produce weapons for our military so that our country has the best the world has to offer. We export our products to boost our economy. All we could do a few years back was outsource our weapons by stretching our funds. But we havee a long way since then. Now our products are the highest in demand. What does this indicate? This indicates that we¡¯re now much stronger than before. Our time hase. Boldly speaking, Thunder Horse Organization does not fit in the ssifications of public or private enterprises. All our actions were unintentionally aligned with the needs of this era. It¡¯s just a mere coincidence that we became the protagonist of this era!¡±
Heated discussions soon erupted in the quiet hall.
No one had expected Xia Lei to disy such a lofty stance!
A private-run military enterprise as the protagonist of this era? Only Xia Lei had the courage to say shit like that.
This time, there was no apuse.
Clearing his throat, Xia Lei exined. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to show off our achievements here. I¡¯m just utilizing this opportunity to voice out my true opinions. I¡¯m very confident that the Thunder Horse Organization could be the Lockheed Martin of China. However, it¡¯s evident that my efforts alone are not sufficient. What we require is your support and trust, no more of this petty suppression and alienation.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, what are you trying to say?¡± Yu Shanhe decided he had enough of this.
¡°Yeah, your remarks are unnecessarily mean.¡±
¡°How could he say things like that?¡±
¡°Private owned is in the end, privately owned. How could he not know the basic rules? Where the hell does he think he¡¯s speaking at?¡±
Xia Lei proceeded to ignore them all. The venue showed no signs of calming down so Xia Lei picked up his volume. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to offend anyone but I only speak the truth. Export orders for the Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle had Thunder Horse Military Factory tied for the whole of next year, yet we have not received any orders for our best domestic models. Could anyone of you present here provide me with an answer to that?¡±
Suddenly, everyone went silent.
Ye Kun was relieved of Xia Lei¡¯s prior statement and he was genuinely impressed by Xia Lei¡¯s public speaking skills. However, the bold question that came out of Xia Lei¡¯s mouth had him sweating beads of cold droplets on his forehead again.
Chapter 833 - Stubborn
A nail who sticks out would get hammered down. It was amon saying. Xia Lei had made himself the nail and was due for a whole lot of hammering.
A private-owned enterprise had failed to sell its products to the domestic market. Yet they demand an exnation. Who did you expect it from? Just based on paperwork evidence, everyone present was equally if not higher status than Xia Lei.
That was what Ye Kun had feared. What was, even more, worrying for the chubby man was Xia Lei unapologetically iming that all weapons produced by the Thunder Horse Organization was the most advanced in the world and even emphasizing the fact that all his export orders were full till next year while receiving no domestic orders. This was a clear usation of someone ying truant in the industry.
While Ye Kun could read the situation, Xia Lei remained blissfully ignorant. Thetter was acting as if he was a fresh graduate with dreams, knowing nothing about how society functioned.
Someone scoffed, eager to watch the chaos take ce.
Yu Shanhe stared at Xia Lei coldly. Everyone had taken Xia Lei for an idiot but the old man knew Xia Lei had directed that to him!
¡°Mister Xia.¡± Ling Han finally spoke. ¡°I¡¯d have to disagree with you on that. I¡¯m sure we¡¯re all aware that changing weaponry in the military is a huge operation. We¡¯d need to go through rigorous testing and then sit through an evaluation meeting. All the vehicles designed for the military had taken a few to a good ten years for it to be used in the military. Perhaps your Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle is excellent but I think you¡¯re too impatient. How could you expect a process that took us years to be over within a few months?¡±
People started to discuss.
The leading figures hosting the meeting turned to talk about the matter with the military representatives hushed.
Yu Shanhe, who was seated on the host panel, remained speechless. He continued to stare at Xia Lei with utter resentment.
From Yu Shanhe¡¯s perspective, this was no longer an event. This was war.
In this battle, it was a bunch of allies against a single self-proimed hero. They were evidently outnumbered but the hero was determined tounch an attack! Xia Lei was crazy stubborn!
¡°Mister Xia.¡± Ling Han stared straight into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re the first private enterprise to enter our military market. The support you have received is unprecedented and you should be grateful. There¡¯s no point groaning about necessary protocols. I¡¯m very disappointed with the way you¡¯re acting.¡±
The only thing left out of the sentence was the word idiot.
¡°Yeah. Did he really think that the market orbits around him alone? All our weapons went through rounds and rounds of evaluation before receiving orders.¡±
¡°He¡¯s such an ungrateful person. He already has so much support yet he¡¯s here saying things like this.¡±
¡°I heard that the country had even waived his twenty billion debt. Is that not enough for him? That¡¯s just in greedy now.¡±
¡°We should chase this dumbass out of the industry. With him around, things are just not the same anymore.¡±
¡°He¡¯s such a rotten apple.¡±
¡°A rotten apple? Ha, I think he¡¯s more of a rat dropping.¡±
Hearing those remarks, a smirk appeared on Yu Shanhe¡¯s face.
Ye Kun sneakily tugged on Xia Lei¡¯s pants, motioning him to sit down and keep quiet.
But Xia Lei remained standing. The man stood proud and tall like a bronze statue, devoid of any emotion.
¡°Mister Xia.¡± Ling Han attempted to embarrass Xia Lei. ¡°I think you¡¯ve misunderstood something. It¡¯s not that anyone is being unfair to you, you¡¯re the one making too many demands. Everything has a protocol. If you get it over with quickly, wouldn¡¯t that be unfair for everyone else?¡±
The crowd turned to look at him.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°No, not at all.¡±
Ling Han returned a smile. ¡°How about you tell me where I went wrong.¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Everything.¡±
It was Ling Han¡¯s turn to frown. His expression darkened with fury.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Let me give you an example. Let¡¯s say we describe our military industry in ser terms. If I¡¯m Ronaldo or Messi or Suarez, it would only make sense if I y for Real Madrid or perhaps Barcelona. But you¡¯re saying here is as if demanding me to y for lower rank teams and to slowly work my way up to somewhere of your level. Now to you, that certainly is fair but is that ethical to me?¡±
Another round of discussion roared in the venue.
Xia Lei chose to ignore the noise. ¡°The international situation has changed abruptly. America and its allies are picking on any potentialpetitors, eager to ce obstacles on our development. I have the ability to close the gap between China and Western military resources and even surpass them. That way, they won¡¯t be a threat to us anymore. Just as I had described, I¡¯m the best ser yer in the world. I can secure big victories in the AFC, FIFA and even the World Cup. I just don¡¯t understand why everyone is so adamant for me to y lower rankpetitions. When I get to your level, I¡¯d long past the peak of my career. What I need now is a channel to get me to international games of the highest-profile! My opponents are Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall, not anyone of you here.¡±
With that, Xia Lei ended his turn.
¡°He must be insane!¡±
¡°This youngster is out of his mind!¡±
¡°Comparing Thunder Horse Organization to Lockheed Martin is utter nonsense! How could he say things like this? There¡¯s no way Thunder Horse can achieve technology as refined as their F35.¡±
¡°Does he not feel any shame yapping bullshit like this here?¡±
The meeting host quickly raised a hand to calm the crowd. He calmly voiced, ¡°Mister Xia, there are some parts that I agree and some parts that I disagree. You are truly capable but we don¡¯t y favourites here. We¡¯re a team and we¡¯re all working towards the same goal. Everything in this industry is done fair and square. But I¡¯m personally impressed that you take Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall as your opponents instead. Young people should be as ambitious as you! I¡¯m rooting for you! We¡¯ll discuss further the issue you pointed outter.¡±
Everyone else started to p.
It was evident that Xia Lei should take the cue to end his turn and wait for things to calm down.
Despite offering him an escape route, Xia Lei remained standing. ¡°Thunder Horse Organization had alreadyunched projects like our tank production, new industrial material research and even AI incorporation for military use. Each of these mentioned will certainly bring mass strategic advantages. Personally, I don¡¯t care much about money and honour but can China¡¯s war strategy interest wait for such benefits? Let me be frank, America and Japan have already sent assassins after me because my research and resources have already be a great threat to their interest. Are we all going to wait till they get rid of me before allowing me such ess?¡±
The host was stunned by the disy. He wasn¡¯t offended by Xia Lei¡¯s lofty stance. On the other hand, he was very surprised that someone as smart as Xia Lei didn¡¯t know to voice these requests in private but chose toy it out in an event like such.
No matter what the request was or what goals he had in mind, putting himself in the limelight was highly inappropriate and idiotic.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Yu Shanhe yelled in a hard cold tone. ¡°Behave yourself. Everything has a process and everyone is not exempted from it. How could you demand special permission? Yes, we know that you¡¯re talented but there¡¯s no need for immense arrogance!¡±
¡°I don¡¯t mean anything else.¡±
Yu Shanhe interrupted Xia Lei. ¡°And I don¡¯t care what you¡¯re trying to bring. If you¡¯ve got anything against me,e talk to meter. It¡¯s not right for you to take up someone else¡¯s speech slot. Sit down now! I¡¯ll talk to you after this meeting is over.¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s palm was starting to sweat. Xia Lei was here to stir things up with one apparent goal, which was to avoid all Yu Shanhe¡¯s obstacles and ce him in a dangerous spot!
The current situation was not good for the old man. With all the achievements Xia Lei had mentioned, who would dare toy a finger on him? Other than that, the three projects currently underway were all relevant to China¡¯s strategy interest. With these two points alone and Xia Lei running his mouth in a ce like this, no one would have dared to go against him! If anyone was deserving of punishment, it wouldn¡¯t be Xia Lei but Yu Shanhe!
This was why Xia Lei was a force to be reckoned with. The man had chosen to fire his shot at the right time and ce!
Initially, Yu Shanhe had felt no threat but as Xia Lei refused to save the host some face, the man had sensed dangering his way. That was the reason why Yu Shanhe was determined to stop Xia Lei from saying anything else.
But Xia Lei was not buying any of this. He continued to speak, ¡°I¡¯ve got great projects and the immense potential to improve that could change our current status quo but my strength alone is clearly insufficient. Allow me to repeat myself, I need more support. I¡¯ve got no time left to waste on your so-called protocols.¡±
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Yu Shanhe let his emotions get ahead of him, mming his fist harshly against the table. ¡°Why can¡¯t you understand anything I¡¯ve said? Didn¡¯t I offer to discuss this with you after the meeting?!¡±
To that, Xia Lei answered, ¡°No, I¡¯m not going to discuss this with you. I don¡¯t trust you.¡±
The man was out for blood! There was no mercy! This was Xia Lei¡¯s chance, missing it would mean he had lost it forever.
Yu Shanhe turned around to give a look at the security guards at the door.
The guards then started to approach Xia Lei.
Abruptly, a figure entered the room through a small door.
It was no one else but Fan Fan.
Without any pause, Fan Fan made her way over to the front of Xia Lei and ced down a piece of paper.
Xia Lei nced at it.
Its content was simple, merely telling him to execute all ns without worry.
A smile slowly crept its way up to Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Fan Fan closed the distance to whisper into his ear. ¡°You¡¯re such a bold bastard. I¡¯m absolutely intrigued by your personality and courage.¡±
Xia Lei shed her a smile.
Fan Fan lowered her voice further. ¡°All you need to do is to do what you should do. Someone else will handle your obstacles. No one has the right to hinder our country¡¯s progression. Anyone whoes in its way will perish, understand?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
He was fully aware that his shot had already gravely injured his target.
¡°Alright, carry on with your meeting. I¡¯ll bring over your orders tonight,¡± said Fan Fan.
Fan Fan turned around to leave, only stopping for a brief moment to re at the security guards who had already stopped their tracks as soon as they noticed her presence.
Xia Lei finally sat down, evidently rxed.
On the other hand, Yu Shanhe found it difficult to do the same. His forehead was already moist with cold sweat.
Chapter 834 - Relief
The night sky was free of clouds making it seem oddly quiet. A strong breeze blew and rustled the trees
In the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei circled his bedroom while holding the alloy pendant around his neck.
His mind wandered back to the time when he was in New Delhi, particrly when the ck-robed man had cornered him on the roof and grabbed the alloy pendant on his neck. Xia Lei had initially thought that the ck-robed man was after the pendant but that wasn¡¯t the case. The mysterious figure took one nce then released it to say something insanely weird to Xia Lei.
He said, ¡°No wonder you¡¯re stillcking.¡±
Certainly, this wasn¡¯t the first time Xia Lei had thought about the incident but he hadn¡¯t understood what it meant.
¡°It¡¯s obvious that he knows about the existence of the AE capsules and I have a good feeling that he knows I¡¯ve consumed it. Is he telling me to finish thest one?¡± This thought was no longer a stranger to Xia Lei for he had it countless times.
Often, the reality was cruel. Xia Lei¡¯s brain and body had already reached a point of advancement that was worthy of worship but it was merely child¡¯s y to the ck-robed man. Another thing that really brought him down was that Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against a mentality ten-year-old Zhu Xuanyue!
Bad thoughts came at him one after another. If the ck-robed man were to kill him three yearster, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t even have the ability to at least defend himself!
Now, the real question was whether he should consume thest capsule?
Would it fortify his body further and increase his potentials exponentially?
Before it had dawned upon him, Xia Lei had already opened up the alloy pendant and the AE capsule was already held onto his lips.
When in despair, people¡¯s greatest desire was to be a stronger version of themselves. Xia Lei was no different, there was just too much stress from the ck-robed man, the CIA, the FA Organization and even the Hattori n, not to mention the issues he was facing from the domestic market. Tonight was his breaking point,Xia Lei was desperate to be stronger than he ever was.
As he was about to consume the solution to his issues and hindrance, a voice echoed in his mind.
It sounded like him. ¡°Wait... Why is he doing this to force me into a desperate situation yet not rob me of the very thing that will make me stronger? What is his goal? Could it be... that he¡¯s aiming to make me take thest AE capsule?¡±
That voice of reason calmed him down.
¡°He mentioned that the answer is in me. Is he referring to the oue after I swallow thest capsule?¡± His heart tried to reason.
The possibility of it had him drenched with cold sweat.
Suddenly, footsteps were gradually approaching his door along with some conversation.
¡°Officer Fan, please wait a moment. I¡¯ll inform Director Xia of your presence. I think he might be asleep now.¡± It was Lu Sheng¡¯s voice.
Yelena and E¡¯er Demutu were involved in the Siberian operation earlier and assumed to be ¡®dead¡¯. With the four Knight Hospitallerdies hanging around in the Peace Mansion, there was no way they could appear here. Therefore, Lu Sheng was made the person in charge of security.
¡°No need, you can leave me here. I¡¯m here to discuss some business affairs with your Director Xia. If he¡¯s asleep, I¡¯ll just wait for him.¡± Fan Fan hade to visit.
¡°But...¡±
¡°No need to worry, go,¡± urged Fan Fan.
¡°Alright then.¡± Lu Sheng turned to leave, but decided to exim anyway, ¡°Director Xia, Officer Fan is here to visit you.¡±
In the room, Xia Lei frantically kept away thest AE capsule into his alloy pendant.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
¡°Give me a moment, I¡¯ming.¡± Xia Lei quickly went over to get the door.
It was already well into autumn but the fabric on Fan Fan¡¯s body was scarce. Tonight, she was wearing a ck off-shoulder dress that had a deep V-neck cor that showed off her cleavage and a span of pale skin. The valley between her chests was deep and there was even a hint of fragrance radiating off Fan Fan. Beyond her slim waist was a full bottom that lifted the fabric. Its roundness was in seductive. She had even gone the extra mile to forgo any sort of underwear.
She really gave it all to show off her exquisite body.
¡°Hey, are you not going to invite me in?¡± Fan Fan red at Xia Lei. She was getting a little cold, not willing to stand in the wind for another second longer.
Xia Lei quickly stepped aside to allow her in. ¡°Gosh, why are you dressed so scantily for the weather? Are you not afraid of getting a cold?¡±
Fan Fan threw her briefcase onto his bed before turning around to look at him with her big round eyes. ¡°I¡¯m doing all this to seduce you. Can¡¯t you tell?¡±
That was too straightforward. Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond to that.
¡°But yeah. I certainly did dress wrong for the weather. I wasn¡¯t expecting the temperature tonight to be so low. Can I please warm myself up in your bed?¡±
Before Xia Lei could reply, Fan Fan already took off her heels to nestle herself in his sheets. She pouted and said, ¡°Why is it so cold? I guess I¡¯ll help you warm it up. Open up my briefcase. I believe I have what you¡¯re looking for.¡±
Xia Lei did as she said and took out the set of documents inside.
Among the few sets was an order sheet for Thunder Horse¡¯s Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle.
¡°One thousand units?¡± The gigantic number shocked Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah. What¡¯s wrong with it? Isn¡¯t that what you wanted? I¡¯ve helped you get this but what¡¯s with that expression?¡± Fan Fan asked.
Xia Lei gave her a wry smile. ¡°I was expecting one to two hundred or at most five hundred. I really wasn¡¯t expecting it to be one thousand orders. I¡¯m sure you know that Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s production capacity is rather limited, so I¡¯m a little worried.¡±
¡°Too much to handle? This is just merely the first batch, there¡¯ll be moreing soon,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°One thousand infantry fighting vehicles. This is almost equivalent to switching out all armouredbat vehicles in the military.¡± Pausing for a moment, Xia Lei grinned. ¡°It may be overwhelming but this is something I must do. I¡¯ll find a way to increase our production.¡±
¡°That¡¯s my boy.¡± Excitement glimmered in her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re a man who¡¯s destined for big things. A man should be as charismatic as you, you¡¯re certainly my type.¡±
Xia Lei avoided her lustful gaze to flip through the other few sets of documents.
The remaining documents had nothing to do with orders. Instead, they were preferential policies that involved aspects like talent, funds and policy support. The support received was unprecedented. Simply put, with this document in his hands, Xia Lei was permitted to register for uncapped bank loans even recruit people from any university. Most importantly, all weapons produced by the Thunder Horse Organization, regardless of it being its export models or domestic models and amount, will not require an evaluation from the department under Yu Shanhe.
This wasn¡¯t just a green light, this was equivalent to opening up an aircraft runway for him!
The support wasn¡¯t to let him sprint, it was to let him fly!
¡°This...¡± The documents Fan Fan had brought over were undoubtedly authentic. But Xia Lei felt like this was too good to be true.
¡°What do you want to say?¡± Fan Fan smiled, face full of joy.
Xia Lei sighed dreamily. ¡°This is a dreame true. Now that it¡¯s in my hands, I¡¯m having a hard time taking this in.¡±
¡°You now have the country¡¯s support, you can achieve bigger things. I know your dream is to establish Thunder Horse Organization to be something akin to Lockheed Martin¡¯s level. This is your chance. Go make all your dreamse true!¡± Fan Fan¡¯s voice went a pitch higher from absolute delight.
¡°Thank you so much. Even though you¡¯ve never mentioned how you got there, I know that you¡¯ve given it your all.¡± The gaze Xia Lei had on her was unbearably gentle.
¡°How do you n to thank me?¡±
¡°What would you like from me?¡±
¡°You¡¯re fully aware of what I want.¡±
¡°But aren¡¯t you on your...¡±¡±
¡°On my what?¡± Fan Fan tilted her head in confusion.
¡°Your... uh... that.¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
This was no riddle, this was just bold teasing.
¡°Oh, you mean my menses. I¡¯m already done with it today. I even took the extra measure to clean myself thoroughly beforeing over with a half-hour bath. Smell me, don¡¯t I smell great?¡± She peeled away the nket to slowly lift her long skirt. The ck luxurious fabric glided across her ck-stocking d limbs as it made its way up, exposing her beautiful long legs. Her act of seduction was too much to handle.
¡°I need to use the washroom.¡± Xia Lei quickly escaped.
Barging into his washroom, he took out the counter-antidote fluid from the drawer.
But when he managed to open its cap, he hesitated.
¡°Three years... If I¡¯m only left with three years to live, am I really going to leave this world without a trace? If she wants a child and I need someone to take over my business, what¡¯s the harm? She¡¯s about to live a life of loneliness. Perhaps if she had a child, life would be much bearable for her...¡± Thinking about that, Xia Lei began to empty the fluid into the toilet bowl.
As soon as the ss bottle was tossed into the trash can, Xia Lei felt relieved. If there was only three years left to his life, why not spend it all without regrets?
From now on, he¡¯d do as he wished!
Fuck you, ancient alloy!
Fuck you, ck-robed man!
Fuck you, secrity and prejudice!
Leaving the washroom, a ck mass soon came flying towards him. This time, he didn¡¯t avoid it as it was just Fan Fan¡¯s dress.
Her ck dressnded on his face. It smelled really nice but there was also a hint of something inexplicable. It didn¡¯t take long for him to register that it was Fan Fan¡¯s antidote.
He raised an arm to peel away the garment blinding his sight and approached her. Nestledfortably in his sheets, she looked pale and fragile. Almost as if she would melt away with one breathe of hot air.
However, the one who melted wasn¡¯t the fragile and vulnerable Fan Fan but this strong man before her...
¡°Fan Fan, can you give me a little bit of your antidote?¡±
¡°It¡¯s meant for my use, not you. What do you need it for?¡± Between the nkets, Fan Fan stared intently at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei let out a littleugh. ¡°I¡¯m just nning to study it a little more. Perhaps I would even perfect it to increase its sess rate.¡±
¡°You think I¡¯d buy that? I know you very well. Hmph, you really think I¡¯d be stupid enough to let you use this on someone else?¡±
Xia Lei sheepishly replied, ¡°What do you take me as? Am I really that sneaky to you?¡±
¡°Hehe, do you really want it?¡±
¡°Yeah, just a little bit would do.¡±
¡°Then, I¡¯ll finish it all tonight.¡±
Before he could exin anything else, she had already pounced on him.
Was there a woman on earth who could be reasoned with?
Chapter 835 - The Game Between Zhu Xuanyue and Qing Caiyue
Dawn came and bathed Bailu in an ethereal glow.
¡°Go back inside. Your body is pretty weak.¡± Fan Fan held Xia Lei closer to kiss him farewell at the door. ¡°Remember to have your kitchen get you some supplements.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s hair looked even more messed up than usual.
After breakfast, Xia Lei went to the Thunder Horse Military Factory. His first task today was to gather all Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s higher-level personnel in his multifunctional meeting room. Not only were his own people present, but the higher-level personnel from the Haizhu and Shudi branch had also joined the meeting.
Through that, Xia Lei showed all the documents Fan Fan had brought over and exined the gigantic Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle order.
The support from the country was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.
In the multifunctional meeting room, Xia Lei scanned through all the familiar faces before him. His expression was stern and his gaze unwavering. ¡°Now that we have the country¡¯s support, we must utilize this chance. This isn¡¯t a matter of profit anymore. This has got to do with the important rise of our military industry. I¡¯m sure everyone here is clear about the responsibility and burden that we have to shoulder. I hope that once we¡¯ve be old, we could still look back to today and feel proud over our contributions. Your future generations will take pride in your sacrifices today.¡±
¡°Director Xia, there¡¯s no need to cheer for us. We¡¯re willing to work with you on this!¡±
¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll do anything you request!¡±
¡°Director Xia, we¡¯re willing to reach greater heights under your lead. We must show the Americans and Japanese our true capabilities!¡±
¡°Yeah! We¡¯ve been excluded from western technology for tens of years. They even had the heart to mock us that we¡¯re only capable of making blouses and socks! I¡¯ve had enough, this time I must prove them wrong!¡±
¡°Director Xia, we are with you!¡±
The atmosphere in the meeting room was upbeat and filled with excitement, everyone gave each other a pat on the back. Their morale was at an all-time high.
The ease Xia Lei enjoyed to bring his people together was not an overnight effort. The man had ced in a lot of effort to get to this point. Xia Lei had never once mistreated them and his prestige in the field was unmatched. The man practised grace and appropriate sternness to govern his staff like the ancient emperors. Xia Lei was the emperor of the Thunder Horse Organization, not once stering his entitlement all over but earning it in the process.
After the necessary exnations, Xia Lei began to make relevant arrangements.
¡°Huang Xuewen, you¡¯re in charge of the AI portion. If the funds are insufficient, I¡¯ll channel more. If there¡¯s not enough manpower, I¡¯ll recruit more for you. Do you do all you can to incorporate AI technology into our production lines and weapon systems.¡±
¡°No problem, Director Xia.¡± Huang Xuewen¡¯s reply was direct and confident.
Truthfully, the AI technology provided by Xia Lei had given Huang Xuewen a good foundation to work on. Xia Lei had already given him enough bricks and concrete, all he needed to do was to use the materials given to continue building the house. Coincidentally, this was what Huang Xuewen was best at.
Then, Xia Lei turned to look at Sylvia and Annina. ¡°Sylvia, Annina, you two are our chief engineers. The tank research project will fall under your responsibility. Do you think you can create the best tank?¡±
Annina smiled. ¡°I fixed tanks back in Germany. I canpletely disassemble a Leopard 2 tank and put it back together perfectly.¡±
Sylvia stared at Xia Lei intently. ¡°I was professionally trained to process precise parts. All precision materials Rheinmetall are from my workshop. Here, I have the world¡¯s best Thunder Dragon intelligentthe and Annina¡¯s assistance. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to create a tank beyond Leopard 2¡¯s advancement.¡±
Actually, not only did Annina have theplex construct of the Leopard 2 tank fresh in her mind, but Xia Lei had also stolen the techniques from Rheinmetall. Thebination of knowledge from the three of them was bound to birth the world¡¯s most advanced tank design. The only issue was how to incorporate different ideas to give way to Thunder Horse¡¯s very own tank that was the hardest part. Though so, it was just a mere matter of time.
Xia Lei smiled at them both. ¡°The garage is already yours. If there¡¯s anything else that you need, I can give it to you under one condition. Get our tank ready as fast as you can.¡±
Annina and Sylvia looked at each other with a crooked smile. There was something weird in their eyes.
It was only then Xia Lei realized that he may have given the wrong hint. He quickly averted his eyes to the screen at the front of the room. ¡°Lingshan, Xiaohong, your bases are in charge of spare part production. Start devising a n to increase your production. If youck people, seek help from the local ministry. If you¡¯recking funds, I¡¯ll inject more.¡±
On the screen, Guan Lingshan and Zhou Xiaohong who had joined the meeting through the inte replied in unison. ¡°No problem, Director Xia.¡±
As soon as all arrangements were settled, every higher-level personnel of Thunder Horse Organization had a job to fulfil. Soon, they¡¯d make the necessary adjustments to their current processes. In the face of a historical opportunity, every Thunder Horse personnel were protagonists that would shape the new era!
This meeting finally ended after two hours.
Xia Lei returned to his office and enjoyed some rest. After a few minutes, he went into the duty lounge. The lounge was prepared specifically for Qing Caiyue. It was currently used for Qing Caiyue to teach Zhu Xuanyue etiquette.
It was weird to see Qing Caiyue absent from the meeting earlier. The meeting was very important to the organization, which was why Xia Lei felt the urge to go check on her. He remembered clearly that he had invited Qing Caiyue to the meeting.
Before he even got to its entrance, he could already hear voicesing from within.
¡°Sit! I¡¯m telling you to sit! Bark like a dog!¡±
¡°Woof woof! Woof woof!¡±
¡°Roll around!¡±
¡°Whimper...¡±
What the hell was going on in there?!
Xia Lei was stunned.
The rationale behind the etiquette sses was to have Zhu Xuanyue behave like a normal person to the best of her ability. It was to avoid them all of any unnecessary scrutiny and suspicion. But from what Xia Lei could make out, it didn¡¯t sound like an etiquette ss, it sounded more like beast taming!
To make it worse, the beast tamer was not Qing Caiyue but Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei could hear Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s scolding while Qing Caiyue was barking like a dog!
¡°Wow, you¡¯re so smart! Open up, you may have a biscuit.¡±
¡°Woof woof!¡±
¡°Hehe, you¡¯re such a smart dog. Come raise your butt, I want to hit your butt!¡±
¡°Whimper... Woof!¡±
p! p!
It was the sound of ass-pping.
Xia Lei decided he could no longer take this. He quickly rushed in to intervene.
The sight that weed him was like a gush of winter wind. Everything was bizarre to the point he froze on spot.
Zhu Xuanyue was sitting cross-legged on the couch while holding a feather duster. On the other hand, Qing Caiyue had her ass raised in the air, exposing her blue silk underwear.
Under normal circumstances, it would¡¯ve been a sight to behold but Xia Lei was not in a headspace to take another look at the disy. All he could focus on was the surprise and curiosity in his heart. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°Uncle Xia.¡± Zhu Xuanyue quickly stood up from the couch. She seemed to have noticed something, quickly hiding the feather duster behind her back.
Oddly, with Xia Lei¡¯s announced presence, Qing Caiyue was still kneeling on the ground. She seemed to have no intentions to greet Xia Lei nor fix her position.
Xia Lei was about to question her but before he could, he changed his mind. Instead, he shed a smile and asked, ¡°What game are you two ying? Can I join?¡±
¡°Uncle Xia, you want to y too?¡± Zhu Xuanyue was very excited.
Xia Lei circled around to the front of Qing Caiyue. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d like to y too.¡± As he spoke, he sneaked a nce to observe Qing Caiyue. Shockingly, the woman¡¯s eyes were nk. It felt like she was a soulless puppet. Xia Lei felt chills down his spine. Abruptly, he was reminded of Ning Jing.
This was simr to when Ning Jing was living in the sanatorium!
Zhu Xuanyue extended a hand to p Qing Caiyue¡¯s behind. She instructed, ¡°Good doggy, bark for my Uncle Xia!¡±
Following that, Qing Caiyue lifted her head and barked at Xia Lei. ¡°Woof woof!¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t she a good doggy?¡± Zhu Xuanyue beamed.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression tensed. ¡°What did you do to her?¡±
¡°Nothing, I didn¡¯t do anything to her. I was just ying a game with her.¡± Zhu Xuanyue was starting to feel nervous.
¡°You told her to act like a dog so she became like this? What exactly did you do to her?¡± Xia Lei feigned anger. ¡°Tell me how you did it or I¡¯ll ignore you forever.¡±
¡°I...¡±
¡°Spit it out!¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to be so mean!¡± Zhu Xuanyue hesitated for a bit before admitting it. ¡°I could talk to her inside her body and make her obey me.¡±
Her answer rendered Xia Lei speechless.
Hypnotism was the first thing that came to mind, but it was too extreme. No hypnotist in the world was able topletely hold control over one¡¯s soul. At most, they would only be able to manipte their thoughts. Aside from that, they would also require lots of aid, medicines, props to assist them.
¡°I can even turn her into a cat. Would you like to see it?¡± Zhu Xuanyue interrupted his thoughts.
Xia Lei thought for a bit. ¡°Can you turn me into a dog?¡±
That was undoubtedly a risky choice but it was necessary to understand how she achieved that.
However, Zhu Xuanyue shook her head. ¡°No, I can¡¯t do it to you.¡±
Surprised, Xia Lei questioned, ¡°Why?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue pointed to her brain. ¡°Your body is too strong. I cannot convince you.¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright, give it a try.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s curiosity overcame his rationale.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try.¡± Zhu Xuanyue came to stand in front of Xia Lei and proceeded to stare straight into his soul without a word. Weirdly, her eyes turned eerie. The colour of her iris darkened, turning it intoplete darkness as if it was ink-soaked. Her iris even seemed to be swirling ever so slightly.
Fixated by this pair of eerie orbs, Xia Lei felt as if he was dragged into the dark pit by some kind of invisible force. Faintly, he heard a muffled voice. Sadly, its utterance was very incoherent, essentially impossible to understand. Xia Lei wanted to learn more about the voice but his consciousness was starting to feel heavier.
At this moment, his brain immediately unleashed a wash oftent mysterious energy. Before he knew it, he was already awake.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes returned to normal. She pouted, ¡°See, I told you it won¡¯t work but you didn¡¯t believe me.¡±
¡°Return her to normal,¡± warned Xia Lei.
He had expected Zhu Xuanyue to defy him but the kneeling Qing Caiyue abruptly regained her consciousness.
¡°Why... Why am I on the ground?¡± Qing Caiyue¡¯s shock was all over her face.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I think you slipped, the floor is kind of slippery today. From tomorrow onwards, there¡¯s no need to give her lessons anymore.¡±
If this went on, Qing Caiyue might end up as the next Ning Jing.
Chapter 836 - You Cannot Afford the Current Me!
New funding and talents from all over the country along with professional experts from Hanwu Weapons came barging into the Thunder Horse Organization like a tsunami. The ease of ess to such resources boosted the performance of Thunder Horse Organization!
If Thunder Horse Organization was described as aputer, then Xia Lei would certainly be its CPU. The gargantuan funding and hordes of talent worked their respective tasks under his careful management. Xia Lei himself was involved in technical research, triggering the knowledge that had settled in his brain into new chemical reactions.
Back in Germany, Xia Lei had stored most of Rheinmetall¡¯s technology in his brain in all aspects like tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, explosives defence systems and even the construction of work garages and relevant machines along with electrical engineering. An entire floor n of a factory was stored in his head. Now, he¡¯d join the knowledge of the Artificial Intelligence Information obtained from the Hattori n and the pieces of technology information learned during the Expositions de Villepinte with it. Though there was an influx of information floating about his mind, Xia Lei was still able to manage it. Filtering off all unwanted excess information to leave behind its essence, the essence was put into further processing and countless improvements to be better techniques. Then, Xia Lei would channel off everything in his mind to relevant departments and each workshop.
To the Thunder Horse Organization, Xia Lei was not only its leader but also its nutrient base.
Soon, the date of Shi Boren¡¯s sixtieth birthday celebration came.
Before Xia Lei had arrived at the venue, he had thought that Shi Boren had arranged for it to be at a grand hotel with hundreds of guests. However, when he arrived, it wasn¡¯t anything like he imagined. Shi Boren¡¯s birthday celebration was set in a rural resort. The resort was by no means fancy. It was just a regr hillside resort, having nothing else to marvel over except its scenery.
Emerging from the car was a smartly dressed Xia Lei in a well-tailored suit, who held a gift box in his arm. Around his arm was a dressed-up Tang Yuyan who had on a dark navy Qipao. She looked like a nobledy from the early twenties. Walking in toll, they made a good pair, attracting gazes of envy from the people around them.
However, there were also gazes of hatred.
Liang Siyao was one of them.
¡°She really believes that she is Xia Lei¡¯s girlfriend, huh?¡± Liang Siyao frowned as she said to Long Bing.
Long Bing had a stoic expression on her face. She calmly uttered, ¡°Not only that, but I¡¯m also pretty certain that she thinks herself as Xia Lei¡¯s fianc¨¦e.¡±
¡°How shameless,¡± spat Liang Siyao.
¡°Any woman would be as shameless for the sake of her love life and future,¡± said Long Bing monotonously.
Laing Siyao looked at Long Bing. ¡°How are you not bothered by this?¡±
Long Bing slightly shrugged. ¡°Why should I be bothered? That would be looking for trouble.¡±
Liang Siyao remained speechless. Her soul was in pain but she had nowhere to turn to.
Life really was weird. When we acquire something, we tend to not appreciate it until we lose it. If it wasn¡¯t for Liang Siyao, how would there be Shentu Tianyin and even Tang Yuyan?
¡°You¡¯re not the only one regretting their decisions.¡± Long Bing continued, ¡°The Xia Lei now has be a national treasure and the Thunder Horse Organization is favoured by the government. The interest of Thunder Horse is now the strategic interest of the country. Thunder Horse¡¯s assets had now far exceeded that of Vientiane Group, one particr Miss Shentu should be the most regretful.¡±
Liang Siyao scoffed. ¡°She¡¯s too smart for her own good. If she had given up on Vientiane Group and joined Thunder Horse Organization, there wouldn¡¯t even be a Tang Yuyan involved. The Tang family is obviously after Xia Lei¡¯s political prospects and assets, that¡¯s why they¡¯re so eager for Tang Yuyan to sleep with Xia Lei. The Tangs are just nothing more than a power-hungry bunch.¡±
¡°If the Tang Family had managed to survive hundreds of years in Shudi without crumbling, they must have their own skills.¡± Long Bing¡¯s tone was still soft. ¡°You¡¯re Xia Lei¡¯s first girlfriend, don¡¯t you know what his weakness is?¡±
¡°His weakness?¡± That certainly bought Liang Siyao¡¯s attention.
¡°Well, he doesn¡¯t know how to say no, especially to women.¡±
To that, Liang Siyao could only smile bitterly. Long Bing wasn¡¯t wrong. She has always known it. This, she had to admit. Xia Lei was a very kind person and he would never raise a hand against anyone who treated him well, especially women. For all the things she and Shentu Tianyin did to him, Xia Lei still had the heart to forgive them both. There weren¡¯t many men out there who was as forgiving as him.
Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei walked over.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but feel awkward. In front of his other two lovers, Tang Yuyan was still around his arm intimately. What kind of situation was this? He had assumed that Long Bing would be unfazed by the disy. After all, the woman wasn¡¯t too sensitive over things like this. However, Liang Siyao was a different story and she was a very jealous woman.
No matter what, he still had to greet them out of courtesy. With a tensed scalp, Xia Lei smiled.
¡°Ah, you¡¯re both here early.¡±
Long Bing nodded slightly.
Liang Siyao shed Xia Lei a smile in response. ¡°There weren¡¯t any tasks today so we came over early. Initially, I was nning to go get you from Bailu town but Boss Shi had asked for me and Ah Bing ¡®s help to set up the venue.¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond to that.
Abruptly, a smiling Tang Yuyan mentioned, ¡°Ah Bing, Siyao, what do you think about my Qipao? Doesn¡¯t it go well with Xia Lei¡¯s suit?¡±
Long Bing said nothing but had her eyes glued to Tang Yuyan.
Liang Siyao, on the other hand, shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±
Suddenly, the smile on Tang Yuyan¡¯s face vanished.
Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°How do Qipao and suits go hand in hand?¡±
Tang Yuyan forced a smile as she turned to face Xia Lei. ¡°Lei Zi, what do you think?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s head was about to explode.
How could he step into a battle between females? If he hadmented that Tang Yuyan didn¡¯t look good, the woman would be unhappy. If he hadmented that she looked pretty, Liang Siyao would be angry. Xia Lei was stuck in between the devil and the deep blue sea! There was no pleasing everyone in this situation!
As Xia Lei was troubled about the feud of jealousy ongoing between Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan, someone entered through the resort entrance.
Shockingly, Yu Shanhe and Ling Han had arrived.
Utilizing the opportunity, Xia Lei quickly switched the topic. ¡°Why are they here? Did Boss Shi invite them?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure, I¡¯ll go ask my godfatherter,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Long Bing said, ¡°Lei Zi, look for meter. I have something for you.¡±
¡°Got it.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t press on, agreeing to her request directly.
At this moment, Yu Shanhe and Ling Han approached him. From that, Xia Lei could see that they hade empty-handed. There wasn¡¯t a single gift in their hands.
¡°Director Xia.¡± Ling Han greeted her with a smile. ¡°Things sure are looking good for youtely. Your business is a sess, and you¡¯ve even got a beautiful wife. You look terrific together with Miss Tang.¡±
Hearing those polite words from Ling Han was shocking to Xia Lei. The man couldn¡¯t help but think to himself. ¡°Did this motherfucker take the wrong pills today?¡±
Though his heart had acknowledged Ling Han¡¯s presence, Xia Lei opted to ignore him.
Thements delighted Tang Yuyan. But as soon as she noticed that Xia Lei had stayed silent and wasn¡¯t smiling, she kept quiet. Tang Yuyan stared at Ling Han and Yu Shanhe without a word ying her role as Xia Lei¡¯s woman. Any enemy of her husband was an enemy of hers. Given the scenario, of course, she was going to treat Ling Han and Yu Shanhe as a fiend from Xia Lei¡¯s perspective.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ling Han threw his arms open and grinned. ¡°Are we not even on greeting terms anymore? We¡¯re businesspetitors but there¡¯s no need to make an enemy out of each other.¡±
¡°Yeah, we¡¯re not enemies. Not only are we not enemies, but we¡¯re also good friends,¡± replied Xia Lei with a wide smile.
¡°You¡¯re a magnanimous man, I like you. Let¡¯s head in for some tea,¡± offered Yu Shanhe with a smile.
A tea session with them? In your dreams! Xia Lei politely declined. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Officer Yu. I¡¯ve got some matters to tend to, how about next time?¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s expressions darkened terrifyingly. Who did Xia Lei think he was? If this was the ancient times, Yu Shanhe would be a fearsome general who led a massive army that was worshipped no matter where he went. However, this private entrepreneur had dared to speak to him in this tone?! What worse was that Yu Shanhe had no choice but to endure his own wrath because this private entrepreneur was none other than Xia Lei.
Xia Lei in the past was someone he could simply ignore. But now, Xia Lei was someone Yu Shanhe couldn¡¯t afford to ignore!¡±
This encounter ended on a bitter note.
Yu Shanhe brushed his shoulder against Ling Han.
¡°He¡¯s just a petty viin who is too full of himself!¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s eyes glimmered with fiery disdain. ¡°If I knew he would turn out this way, I would¡¯ve destroyed him earlier on!¡±
Ling Han sighed. ¡°Officer Yu, you can¡¯t me yourself for that. I had also underestimated him.¡±
¡°Fucking hell. I¡¯ve already offered a chance to bury the hatchet. I¡¯ve even personally tried to appease him but he dared to decline my advances!¡± Yu Shanhe fumed over Xia Lei¡¯s tone of ridicule.
¡°It¡¯s difficult to go against him now. Xia Lei¡¯s the apple of the government.¡±
¡°Difficult? There¡¯s no capitalist with an absolutely clean record in this world. Xia Lei had only used a few years to get to where he is today. I don¡¯t believe that Xia Lei hadn¡¯tmitted a single sin to achieve that.¡±
¡°Officer Yu, do you mean...¡± Ling Han halted in his tracks.
Yu Shanhe took a careful nce back to make sure no one was around before whispering into Ling Han¡¯s ear. ¡°Go dig out all his records.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already run a background check on him. The little bastard doesn¡¯t have a single crime or scandal to his name.¡± Ling Han continued, ¡°But I¡¯m sure he has done something of that sort, but we can¡¯t do much to him based on those alone. If it was doable, Station ZN would¡¯ve probably done it a long time ago.¡±
¡°If we can¡¯t mess with him, are we not going to try to involve the people around him?¡±
Ling Han furrowed his brows slightly. The current Xia Lei was certainly someone he wanted nothing with! Sadly, Yu Shanhe was too blinded by revenge and hatred.
Yu Shanhe heaved out a huff ofughter. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. I¡¯m not a hot-headed person. So, here¡¯s the n...¡±
Ling Han continued to listen with an asional nod here and there. Then, a smirk appeared on his lips.
Chapter 837 - Youre Mine
Entering the teahouse, Xia Lei found Shi Boren. He approached the older man to hand his gift over.
However, Shi Boren refused to ept it. He frowned. ¡°Didn¡¯t I mention that there¡¯s no need for gifts? Just your presence would be enough for me.¡±
Xia Lei let out a smallugh. ¡°Boss Shi, this is your sixtieth birthday celebration. How could Ie here empty-handed? To be honest, it¡¯s just a teapot and a catty of leaves.¡±
¡°Teapot? Tea leaves?¡± Shi Boren smiled at those words.
¡°Yeah. I got you a Yixing y teapot and West Lake Longjing tea leaves. It¡¯s nothing special,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan quickly went over to whisper into Shi Boren¡¯s ear. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him. He bought the teapot from someone else for nine hundred thousand dors. It was a family heirloom. I heard it was from the Qing Dynasty pce. The Longjing tea leaves are of the highest quality, it costs one hundred thousand dors per catty.¡±
Shi Boren could feel his jaw drop.
Xia Lei red at Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan giggled and said, ¡°Godfather, just ept the gift. Take it as a present from me. You¡¯ve taken great care of him all this while. Now that you¡¯re close to retirement, I¡¯m sure gifting you a nice teapot is the least he can do, right?¡±
¡°Oh, that goes without saying. I¡¯ve never used such an amazing teapot for tea. I¡¯ll ept.¡± With that, Shi Boren was finally willing to ept Xia Lei¡¯s gift.
The interaction between the godfather and goddaughter pair had made Xia Lei feel like he had be a ¡®godson-inw¡¯, which was a terribly awkward situation for him. However, he wasn¡¯t upset that Tang Yuyan had decided to reveal the price of his gift to Shi Boren. The gift came up to a total of one million dors. if Shi Boren had taken it as a gift worth a few hundred dors, Xia Lei would¡¯ve surely felt rather ufortable. Undoubtedly, Shi Boren had Xia Lei¡¯s back for a long while so this was Xia Lei¡¯s way of saying thank you. With that context, it was only natural for Xia Lei to wish for Shi Boren¡¯s acknowledgement of its value.
¡°Now that I¡¯m close to retirement, there¡¯s only one thing I¡¯d like to wish for,¡± said Shi Boren as he turned to look at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei continued the conversation. He smiled and replied, ¡°What is it that you wish for? If it¡¯s something I could help with, please do tell.¡±
Shi Boren grinned. ¡°Oh, son, isn¡¯t it obvious? The only one who could make my wishe true is you. No one else could help make it a reality.¡±
¡°Huh? Uh... What can I help you with?¡± asked Xia Lei curiously.
¡°Do you really not know or are you ying dumb?¡±
¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Alright, guess I¡¯d have to be direct.¡± Shi Boren smiled. ¡°My wish is to attend you and Tang Yuyan¡¯s wedding banquet soon. Do you see how you¡¯re the only one that could make ite true?¡±
Xia Lei felt tense. The only thing he could do was muster out a wobbly smile.
¡°Father!¡± Tang Yuyan huffed as she stomped her foot.
¡°Hehehehe...¡± Shi Boren chortled and then sighed. ¡°I¡¯m old. Everyone in my generation is old. The future is yours to take charge of. Oh, that¡¯s right. Yuyan,e with meter. I¡¯ll be introducing you to a few leaders. Before I retire, you must be prepared to take over my spot.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Tang Yuyan nodded in response.
To no one¡¯s surprise, Tang Yuyan would be the one taking over as the head of Bureau 101. The news was no shocker to Xia Lei, but the revtion felt a little too sudden.
Abruptly, Xia Lei noticed Long Bing waving at him from a corner, gesturing for him toe over.
¡°Um, allow me to excuse myself. Please carry on without me.¡± Xia Lei went towards Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan and Shi Boren¡¯s frowns went unnoticed by him.
Standing beside Long Bing, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but sh a smile at her. He asked gently, ¡°You mentioned earlier that there¡¯s something you want to tell me. What is it?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s continue this outside.¡± Long Bing immediately turned around.
Xia Lei was perplexed but trailed behind Long Bing to leave the teahouse.
They walked for a while before Long Bing came to a stop underneath a Banyan tree. ¡°I¡¯ve received some news. The higher-ups are nning to investigate Yu Shanhe and Ling Han.¡±
Not everyone who had sinned would receive impunity. It was only a matter of time before they received the punishment they deserved. Yu Shanhe and Ling Han would soon meet their fate. The duo had damaged the national interest for their own benefit and had even killed to hide their trails. They had done a fair share of evil deeds and karma was soon catching up to them.
Xia Lei could feel his mood improve. He beamed. ¡°That¡¯s amazing news. Is this what you wanted to tell me?¡±
Long Bing answered, ¡°Yeah. The authorities let me handle the case.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°This is a very big case. This ought to be a big project for you!¡±
¡°They gave me ten days to solve the case. In this time frame, I must get my hands on worthy pieces of evidence that will get Yu Shanhe and Ling Han punished. If I fail to do so, I¡¯ll be dismissed from my position.¡± Long Bing¡¯s faint smile was oozing with bitterness.
Xia Lei felt his heart sunk. Though the case seemed like a gigantic favour to Long Bing, it was actually a sticky situation. Ten days would be enough to take down Ling Han but Yu Shanhe would be an entirely different story.
Once someone had achieved a certain position, it would be very difficult to get rid of them. Exposing them would definitely trigger a butterfly effect. Evidently, Yu Shanhe was not a solo act. There were people supporting him in the dark. Nabbing one Yu Shanhe and tossing him into jail was easy but its aftermath would be extremely difficult to deal with.
This high-profile case was bound to be gruelling. It would be equally tough to handle even if Shi Boren took charge of this personally, not to mention a mere Section Chief like Long Bing. Asking for everything to be settled in ten days was too much!
In ancient times, a high-profile character like Yu Shanhe would¡¯ve required at least a few years to expose. If they were unlucky, the case would continue for up to tens of years! It wasn¡¯t an easy feat to achieve in modern times too. She was one person trying to move a mountain. Other than that, she was also required to deal with a lot of people involved. How could they expect her to get it all done within ten days?
The more he thought about it, the more suspicious the situation seemed. Xia Lei asked, ¡°Who gave you this assignment?¡±
¡°I have no idea.¡±
¡°How could you not know? There must be someone briefing you about this, no?¡± Xia Lei attempted to pry further. ¡°Was it Boss Shi?¡±
Long Bing shrugged. ¡°I really don¡¯t know. It was meant to be a secret. The assignment just appeared on my desk in the form of a confidential document. The papers had given me specific instructions to follow and the time frame stated was ten days. Today is the first.¡±
¡°I need to go ask Boss Shi about this.¡± Xia Lei was furious. ¡°He must know something about this! Which motherfucker handed you such a heavy case and yet only gave you ten days to solve this mess?!¡±
Long Bing hurriedly tugged on his arm. ¡°Calm down. Do not ruin your opportunities because of me.¡±
¡°You¡¯re mine. Now that someone is clearly abusing you, are you really expecting me to keep quiet about this?¡± She didn¡¯t want him to create a scene but Xia Lei found it difficult to calm the rage within him!
¡°What did you say just now?¡± Long Bing stared at Xia Lei with widened eyes.
¡°I said I want to beat a motherfucker up!¡± Xia Lei fumed.
Oddly, Long Bing smiled. ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean that. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve ever said it to me before. I¡¯m talking about the sentence earlier...¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. He knew what Long Bing was referring to.
¡°Say that one more time. I¡¯d like to hear it again,¡± requested Long Bing.
¡°You¡¯re mine.¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°You¡¯re being abused. How could I...¡±
Abruptly, Long Bing extended a palm to Xia Lei¡¯s lips to silence him. ¡°Just hearing this is enough for me. I don¡¯t care about anything else, I just want to hear that again.¡±
Was that really her request?
Was she that easy to please?
Yes, indeed. That was all she asked for. Long Bing was this easy to please because that was how she truly was. She was not Shentu Tianyin or Liang Siyao and certainly not Tang Yuyan. Long Bing had never asked for anything in return from Xia Lei over the years. No matter what Xia Lei did, Long Bing would always give him her silent support. No matter what danger Xia Lei had encountered, Long Bing would be the first to shield him. She was not afraid to take a bullet for him or to kill for him. But what has Xia Lei ever done for her? Even when she was a victim, she had the mind to think about him, stopping him in his tracks of retaliation.
Long Bing was truly a godsend.
¡°Lei Zi, just let this slide.¡± She released her grip on him.
¡°No! I insist on being involved! I don¡¯t care who the fuck he is and what ulterior motives he has, no one is allowed to abuse my woman!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s re was cold.
¡°Why are you so stubborn? Now¡¯s the time where you should be focusing your energy and time on Thunder Horse Organization, not me! At most I¡¯d lose my job, it¡¯s no big deal,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Are you sure about that? I know you well. You love this country as much as you love your job. You¡¯ve contributed so much to the country and to your job, you¡¯ve even given up on having what a woman should have. You can¡¯t be serious about telling me you don¡¯t find this a big deal?¡±
Long Bing fell silent. Xia Lei was right, but what could she do in this situation?
¡°I¡¯ll go ask Boss Shi about this.¡± Xia Lei was adamant.
¡°No.¡± Long Bing grabbed on Xia Lei¡¯s elbow. ¡°Even if you¡¯re going to do so, at least wait till I give this case a try. Perhaps I might pull off a miracle, that way you can avoid any potential trouble.¡±
¡°Fine. I won¡¯t ask him.¡± Though Xia Lei had said that, his heart thought otherwise. ¡°I¡¯ll go ask him aler when you¡¯re gone.¡±
¡°I know you and Liang Siyao investigated Song Baicheng¡¯s death. Can you tell me about your findings? This is the only breakthrough I can think of so far,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei hesitated for a moment before answering her. ¡°Even if you¡¯re just trying this out, you must bring me along. Yu Shanhe and Ling Han are my enemies. Those two scums havemitted crimes and escaped justice. I¡¯d like to send them into prison myself.¡±
¡°What can you do?¡±
Xia Lei smirked maliciously. ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon.¡±
Inexplicably, Xia Lei thought of a certain someone. A certain very special woman.
He thought of the power she possessed.
She could make Ning Jing obey her, making the poor scientist send money from China and even offer her body. She was also able to reduce Qing Caiyue into a mere puppet, acting like a puppy on the floor while she instructed her around. With help from her, how difficult could it be?
Chapter 838 - Matchmaking
The Tang family arrived before the banquet began. Tang Yunhai and Tang Tianlong along with Tang Bochuan and Zhang Yumei made their appearance. This time, Shi Boren had arranged Xia Lei¡¯s seat with the Tang Family. Disregarding the other guests, this birthday banquet was akin to a family gathering.
Yu Shanhe and Ling Han were seated at the table beside them along with some prominent figures, which Yu Shanhe seemed to be enjoying his conversations with.
From the corner of his eye, Xia Lei watched Yu Shanhe and Ling Han. Abruptly, thetter stood up and walked towards a window. The man dug out his phone and began to dial a number.
Before Xia Lei could lock his gaze on the reflection on the ss panel to read Ling Han¡¯s lips, his phone rang.
Who the hell was calling him at a time like this?
Xia Lei chose to ignore it, keeping his eyes on Ling Han. Ling Han, on the other hand, hadn¡¯t said a word.
¡°Your phone is ringing, are you not going to answer it?¡± Tang Yuyan came closer in curiosity.
¡°I wasn¡¯t paying attention, sorry.¡± It was only then that Xia Lei answered the call. Weirdly, there was no number disyed on the screen. Bewildered by it, he left the table before he picked it up. ¡°Hello? Who...¡±
¡°It¡¯s me.¡± A man¡¯s voice rang through its speaker.
Xia Lei was stunned. This was a voice he was all too familiar with. It was Ling Han¡¯s voice.
They both attended the same banquet. All conversations could¡¯ve been heard clearly just by raising their volumes but Ling Han had chosen this method.
What on earth was Ling Han trying to achieve?
Xia Lei was clueless on what his motives could be.
¡°No need to be weirded out. I just want to talk to you.¡± Ling Han continued the conversation.
Calmly, Xia Lei replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know what is left to talk between us. It¡¯s quite funny isn¡¯t it, calling me like this?¡±
¡°Yeah, I agree. It is quite funny.¡± Ling Han continued, ¡°But if I don¡¯t take the initiative, would you even talk to me? You¡¯ve decided to cease allmunication, I have no choice but to do this.¡±
¡°Communication?¡± Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been desperately trying to do in the past, but you both weren¡¯t keen on opening up a door for me. Look at how the tables have turned. You¡¯re now looking tomunicate with me? Don¡¯t you find this pointless?¡±
¡°Well, I hope not. Let me tell you something worth a listen.¡±
¡°Go on.¡±
¡°You¡¯re a smart man. I¡¯m sure you understand how to survive. You¡¯ve already gotten what you want. There¡¯s no need to be so hostile to us anymore. The hostility won¡¯t do any of us good as time goes on.¡± Ling Han lowered his voice. ¡°Officer Yu is trying to appease you, offering a chance for us to bury the hatchet. I think you should ept his advances to dissolve our conflict. As long as you¡¯re willing, we all can be friends. It¡¯s better to have more friends than enemies, right?¡±
Was this guy actually trying to threaten him politely or was he trying to solve the tension between them all?
No matter what the motive was, the conflict between Xia Lei, Ling Han and Yu Shanhe could never be dissolved. Their obvious involvement in the West province Dawang operation that brought Amanda and Park Taeyong to their deaths could never be resolved. Most importantly, Xia Lei himself almost died in the battle on Dawang snow mountain!
If you could forgive someone who had caused the deaths of your rtives, that would certainly not be an act ofpassion but a solid proof of your idiocy. Plus, this friendly gesture offered by Yu Shanhe and Ling Han was done in response to the sticky situation. They were merely trying to protect themselves. As soon as they regain theirposure and standing, would they still be friends with Xia Lei? Yu Shanhe and Ling Han were absolutely not trustworthy!
Xia Lei was clear about this. Despite that, he smiled. ¡°Sure, no problem. I like making friends.¡±
¡°Then that¡¯s decided. Later,e over to make a toast to Yu Shanhe.¡±
Xia Lei fell silent for a while before answering, ¡°I¡¯ll pass on that. How about this? Let¡¯s set an appointment tonight to talk about this elsewhere? Toasting ten sses of wine wouldn¡¯t be a problem then.¡±
With that, Ling Han ended the call. He turned around to sh a smile at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded faintly at him with a grin, trying his best to appear friendly.
Ling Han returned to his seat.
But Xia Lei dialled another number to make a different call.
¡°Hello, Director Xia. What¡¯s the matter?¡± Qing Caiyue¡¯s voice rang through.
¡°What is Xiao Zhu doing?¡± Xia Lei asked.
¡°She¡¯s out for a walk.¡±
¡°A walk? To where?¡±
Qing Caiyue replied, ¡°She said she wanted to buy some toys but I was busy. I let two security guards escort her to Bailu. There¡¯s nothing to worry about, the two security guards will take good care of her.¡±
¡°Please instruct the guards to bring her back and wait for my call. I¡¯ll be phoningter with a time and venue. Bring her over after my call, got it?¡± instructed Xia Lei.
¡°Understood. I¡¯ll call the guards now,¡± replied Qing Caiyue.
Xia Lei ended the call and returned to the table. The knowledge of Zhu Xuanyue going to Bailu didn¡¯t bother him at all. Although Zhu Xuanyue only had the mentality of a child, Xia Lei was certain that she would be safe from any harm. The only one who couldy a finger on her in existence would probably be the mysterious ck-robed man. Brushing him aside, the only worry now was her harming someone else.
¡°Bringing Zhu Xuanyue along to the appointment would probably give me some surprises, right?¡± Xia Lei smirked.
¡°What are you smiling at?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice snapped him out of it, the woman was smiling too. ¡°Were you thinking about something fun?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. There¡¯s something I¡¯d like to ask you...¡±
¡°Uncle Xia is here.¡± Tang Yuyan abruptly interrupted Xia Lei.
Xia Lei turned around. Indeed, Xia Changhe was approaching their table.
Tang Tianlong quickly left his seat to lead Xia Changhe over. ¡°Brother,e,e. Make yourselffortable. We¡¯re just waiting for you to start the banquet.¡± The man¡¯s tone was overwhelmingly friendly.
¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, the traffic was awful on my way here. Sorry for making everyone wait.¡± Xia Changhe began to apologize profusely. The man spared a nce at Xia Lei and the father-son pair exchanged a smile. No words were spoken between them.
Xia Changhe¡¯s arrival was weed warmly by the members of the Tang family. They were already treating him as a part of the family.
Taking that in, Xia Lei could feel his temples throb. He could tell that Xia Changhe had genuinely enjoyed the sight of him and Tang Yuyan together. That must be the case, or else Xia Changhe would never bring up the topic of grandchildren and even attend the banquet today.
Despite that, Xia Lei understood the sentiments of his father. All parents would love to see their children find someone they love. The Tang family was a noble family and Tang Yuyan was their darling daughter. A union between Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan would be a powerful merging of influences and resources. Admittedly, it was mutually beneficial.
Xia Lei too had considered the implications of their marriage. Tang Yuyan had an amazing family background and she was beautiful. Every aspect of her was excellent and she was about to be promoted as the head of Bureau 101. In front of a woman that was extremely outstanding from the bottom to the top that seemed fitting around his arms, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but find something missing in the image.
After they exchanged greetings, the birthday banquet began.
Each table took turns toasting each other, the atmosphere was lively.
¡°The more I look at Xia Lei, the more I¡¯m fond of him. He¡¯s so handsome and so kind, I wonder which lucky girl will be his bride.¡± Zhang Yumei suddenly brought the topic up.
The attention of the entire table was suddenly on Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan.
Their gazes were getting too much for Xia Lei. Slowly, he lowered his head in embarrassment.
Xia Changheughed breathily. ¡°Your Tang Yuyan is a great girl. Not only is she beautiful, but her temperament is also good too. Not to mention, your family is such a powerful one. Any man who marries your Tang Yuyan is truly lucky.¡±
Hearing that, Tang Yuyan blushed, lowering her head bashfully. From the corner of her eye, she stared at Xia Lei.
Shi Boren, who was seated on the same table, abruptly eximed, ¡°Alright, enough of this long-winded nonsense. I¡¯m a brute and I prefer being straightforward. Yuyan and Xia Lei are both kids I¡¯m fond of. Since both families are too shy to bring up the real topic, let me be the matchmaker today. Let¡¯s pair these kids up, yeah?¡±
¡°Sure! I¡¯ve got no issue with that.¡± Zhang Yumei was smiling so radiantly. ¡°I¡¯ve already taken a liking to Xia Lei the first time I met him. I really think he¡¯s the other half of my little Yuyan.¡±
¡°They¡¯re such a good match, they already look like a married couple.¡± Tang Yunhai teased.
¡°What do you think, Old Xia?¡± Shi Boren turned to look at Xia Changhe.
¡°I...¡± Xia Changhe spared Xia Lei a nce before replying with a grin. ¡°I¡¯ve got no objection to that. I quite like Yuyan.¡±
¡°Well, I guess we¡¯re set. Wasn¡¯t that easy?¡± Shi Boren chortled. ¡°My birthday dinner is your engagement dinner! Hahaha.¡±
With that, all attention was returned to the pair.
Both their families were on board with the idea and were fond of both parties involved. However, the main characters hadn¡¯t expressed their opinions on it.
¡°Oh dear, I almost forgot...¡± Shi Boren smiled. ¡°The old people were having too much fun with the discussion but the real main characters hadn¡¯t said a word yet. Yuyan, what do you think?¡±
¡°Godfather...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s face was already flushed, but now her face had turned beet red. Her mannerism now was like a bashful teenager that radiated effeminate charisma.
Shi Boren turned to look at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, how about you? What¡¯s your decision?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei hesitated, he looked sheepish. It was obvious he was insanely nervous.
Long Bing was right, not knowing how to reject someone was Xia Lei¡¯s biggest weakness. To make things worse, this wasn¡¯t a matter that was easy to decline.
The Tang family had utilized Shi Boren¡¯s sixtieth birthday to force a marriage on him, but they had done it in a way that spared him some dignity. Unfortunately, if Xia Lei was to reject the proposal in such a setting, the Tang family would certainly be humiliated. The scenario would most definitely damage Xia Lei¡¯s rtions to them. As if it wasn¡¯t tricky enough, the marriage was something Xia Changhe gave a green light to. His father had given him life twice. Once was when he brought him to this world and the second time was when he risked his life to steal the AE capsule from the facility to cure Xia Lei of his disease. Xia Changhe had never once asked for anything in return. There was only give and never take. His father had only one wish, could Xia Lei be so cruel as to decline him of that?
The worst thing was that Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan had actually developed hazy feelings for one another.
The whole table was on the edge of their seat, especially Tang Yuyan.
¡°What¡¯s with you?! Come on, tell us your decision,¡± urged Shi Boren.
Xia Lei inhaled deeply. ¡°Uh...¡±
Before he could mutter out another word, a distressed scream interrupted him. ¡°Brother inw! This is bad!¡±
Chapter 839 - The Matchmakers Words and The Parents Wish
In this whole wide world, there was only one person who called him a brother inw. That person was Bo Mingmei from the Shentu family.
Indeed, Bo Mingmei had appeared at the venue.
Her message for Xia Lei was clear and loud which effectively silenced everyone else.
The Tang and Xia family were busy matchmaking Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan together. The marriage was so close to bing a reality. However, Bo Mingmei¡¯s sudden appearance along with her exmation to Xia Lei as her brother inw threw them off. Was she here to sabotage the union?!
It was also due to the sudden intervention that Xia Lei¡¯s response was interrupted. The man was perplexed as to why Bo Mingmei was here.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s expression took an abrupt change, now filled with resentment and disdain.
Bo Mingmei strode across the hall to Xia Lei.
Zhang Yumei raised her brow. ¡°Who is she?¡±
¡°She...¡± Xia Lei tensed. ¡°She¡¯s Shentu Tianyin¡¯s sister. Uh, adopted sister.¡±
Hearing that, Zhang Yumei¡¯s expression darkened.
Everyone seated at the table knew who Shentu Tianyin was.
The unweed presence of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s adopted sister at a crucial time like this was already unspeakable. The woman hadmitted a taboo by calling him a brother inw in public.
The atmosphere took a great shift from its prior liveliness to an awkward silence.
¡°Brother inw!¡± Bo Mingmei finally made it to Xia Lei¡¯s side. She looked extremely anxious. ¡°My sister... My sister...¡±
¡°What¡¯s happened to Tianyin?¡± Seeing her like this, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous too.
A day as husband and wife meant endless devotion for life. Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin were married for some time. He was once deeply in love with her. Xia Lei had always been concerned for her, so seeing Bo Mingmei nervous made him panic too.
¡°My sister passed out suddenly at work! We¡¯ve already admitted her to the hospital. You must visit her, I don¡¯t think she... She...¡± Bo Mingmei was on the verge of tears.
The disy set off rms ring in Xia Lei. He quickly stood from his seat. ¡°Which hospital is she admitted to? Bring me there!¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Tang Yuyan hurriedly pulled on Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°I need to ask this Miss Bo something.¡± Without giving a chance for Xia Lei to reply, Tang Yuyan asked, ¡°Miss Bo, how did you find out that we were here?¡±
¡°I...¡± Bo Mingmei was at a loss for words.
¡°Answer me, how did you find us?¡± Tang Yuyan pressed on.
Preupied with his anxiety, Xia Lei hadn¡¯t noticed that. Now that Tang Yuyan had mentioned it, the man started to find it weird too. How on earth did Bo Mingmei know that he was here?
¡°Why should I answer you?¡± Bo Mingmei was irritated. She quickly looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Let me make this clear. This might be thest time you¡¯re ever going to see her again. Come with me if you wish.¡±
Xia Lei red at Bo Mingmei. ¡°That was uncalled for. I¡¯ming with you.¡±
Tang Yuyan was starting to get anxious. ¡°Wait, she hasn¡¯t answered me yet!¡±
Bo Mingmei turned around to leave.
Xia Lei quickly uttered, ¡°Please excuse me.¡± And with that, he was off.
Tang Yuyan had wanted to follow along but her legs felt as if they were chained to the floor. Her ¡®fianc¨¦¡¯ was rushing over to check on his ex-wife and that was not a ce for a ¡®fianc¨¦e¡¯ to be. The daughter of the Tang Family wouldn¡¯t spare her dignity for this!
¡°That woman really doesn¡¯t know when to...¡± Zhang Yumei wanted to cuss but ultimately decided against it. Instead, she huffed. ¡°She must have sent that woman over toe in between our Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei. She can¡¯t stand them being happy.¡±
Obviously, Zhang Yumei was referring to Shentu Tianyin.
Tang Tianlong looked at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Why are you not going with them?¡±
Tang Yuyan fumed. ¡°No! I refuse!¡±
Zhang Yumei supported her daughter. ¡°Why does she need to tag along? Our Yuyan is a girl with principles, she knows when to give men space.¡± As the mother spoke, she stepped on Tang Tianlong¡¯s feet.
Tang Tianlong seemed to have understood her hint and took the cue to shut up.
One reason was for the sake of the Tang family¡¯s respect. Another was Xia Lei¡¯s personality. With a man like Xia Lei, if Tang Yuyan had attached herself tightly to him, would he be delighted? Of course not.
Tang Yunhai finally spoke, but his tone was disgruntled. ¡°I¡¯ve heard about Shentu Tianyin. Xia Lei was her scapegoat yet she was extremely ungrateful and had even divorced him. Now that Xia Lei has made a name for himself, she¡¯s trying to leech off his favour. What the hell is she thinking? Did she seriously think that she could fool us?¡± At this moment, he turned to look at Xia Changhe. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Changhe?¡±
Xia Changhe answered, ¡°I¡¯ve never thought well of their marriage. I¡¯ve even advised him against it but my son paid me no mind.¡±
¡°Clearly, she¡¯s ying with fire.¡± Tang Tianlong sneered. ¡°All the things she had done are not easy to forgive.¡±
¡°This woman is cunning but she¡¯s messing with the wrong family now.¡± Zhang Yumei¡¯s tone was even more vicious than Tang Tianlong.
If the Tang family could retain its pride after hundreds of years, surely their members were nothing to sneeze at.
¡°Never mind, let¡¯s not talk about that woman anymore. It leaves such a bad taste in our mouth.¡± Shi Boren continued, ¡°Old Xia, I think the adults should just proceed with the nning. Yuyan likes Xia Lei and I can tell that your son likes her too. However... Uh, how do I say this...? Xia Lei is just too excellent of a man, he¡¯s great with women and likes a lot of people...¡±
Tang Yunhai cleared his throat.
Shi Boren was stunned and quickly changed his words. ¡°Well, we should quickly decide on the particrs and have Xia Lei settle down. It¡¯d be great for him to settle down in the family department to ease his heart. That way he¡¯ll be able to focus on work and contribute to the country. Since both parties are here, let¡¯s just all agree on the union and pick a date to book for the banquet? What do you think?¡±
¡°Sounds good, I agree.¡± Tang Tianlong¡¯s answer was direct.
¡°Father!¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes violently at Tang Tianlong but there was a hint of a smile at the edge of her lips.
¡°Oh, you...¡± Zhang Yumei teased, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re eager to pack your things and follow Uncle Xia home now.¡±
This was a prominent hint directed to Xia Changhe. The Tang family was not here to look for a potential husband. They were serious in marrying her off.
¡°Mom!¡± Tang Yuyan whined and red at Zhang Yumei like a spoiled child, but her glee was now stered on her face.
All members of the Tang family ced their attention on Xia Changhe.
Shi Boren stared intently at Xia Changhe. ¡°Old Xia, what do you think?¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Xia Changhe pondered before he answered. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s a deal. Let¡¯s set the date to be on... Uh...¡±
Tang Yunhai chuckled. ¡°Oh, Changhe, I¡¯ll take care of the dates. I¡¯ll go consult a master to pick out a good date to join our families together. One auspicious day will bring years of happiness.¡±
¡°Father, what are you saying?¡± Zhang Yumei beamed. ¡°You should say that one auspicious day will bring a life of happiness.¡±
¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. One good day, one good life! Hahaha!¡± Tang Yunhai was very happy.
Xia Changhe was smiling but his heart was sighing. ¡°Son, please don¡¯t me me for this. Your time hase. I know that you¡¯re not too keen on this but marrying Tang Yuyan is the best choice now...¡±
On another table.
Long Bing stopped staring at Tang Yuyan. Then, she tapped on Liang Siyao¡¯s thigh discreetly. ¡°Say, were you the one who phoned Shentu Tianyin?¡±
¡°What are you saying?¡± Liang Siyao lowered her voice further. ¡°Don¡¯t use me without evidence. I¡¯m not keen on getting involved with a bunch of hos like the Tangs.¡±
¡°I saw you phoning someone earlier outside. Surely, it won¡¯t be difficult for me to go through your phone, right? Would you like me to disy the evidence now?¡± Long Bing calmly threatened.
Liang Siyao whispered, ¡°Fine. Yes, it was me who called Shentu Tianyin. I swear I only told her that Xia Lei was about to get engaged to Tang Yuyan and gave her the venue and time. I said nothing else. I have absolutely no idea that Shentu Tianyin would send someone over to disturb them.¡±
¡°Shentu Tianyin is such a smart woman. She would know what to do to stop Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s marriage. Unfortunately...¡±
¡°Unfortunately what?¡±
¡°Unfortunately, all her efforts are futile. No one can stop their engagement from happening.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°You couldn¡¯t bear to observe their table but I did. Xia Changhe had agreed to it and Tang Yunhai will soon pick a date for the ceremony. Xia Lei would definitely not want to trouble his father and not to mention, disappoint him. Most importantly, Tang Yuyan is the most suitable match for Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Do you really think so?¡± Liang Siyao looked at Long Bing weirdly.
Long Bing shed her a wry smile. ¡°Here¡¯s my advice, try not to get in their way. You were no match for Shentu Tianyin back then and you¡¯re no match for Tang Yuyan now. Don¡¯t do the same thing twice. The Tang family is much more powerful than you can imagine. With your status, it¡¯ll be easy for them to get rid of you.¡±
Liang Siyao fell silent.
However, Long Bing suddenly blurted, ¡°Say, how many green hats you think Tang Yuyan has now?¡±
[Note: Green hat is modern ng for affairs/cheating.]
¡°...¡±
Meanwhile, in a raging Rolls-Royce Phantom, ¡°Mingmei, now that there¡¯s no one else here, tell me, how did you find out where I was?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence.
¡°Is that really important to you?¡± Bo Mingmei red daggers at Xia Lei.
¡°Not really but I just wanted to understand the situation better.¡± Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°It¡¯s alright if you don¡¯t want to tell me.¡±
¡°I...¡± Bo Mingmei hesitated. ¡°I called your secretary and she told me where you were.¡±
¡°I see.¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t think much about it. ¡°Say, is Tianyin really in a grave situation?¡±
¡°She¡¯s... still unconscious. They moved her to the ICU. I think you¡¯ll find out when you see her soon,¡± answered Bo Mingmei.
¡°Then you should speed up!¡± The reply fuelled Xia Lei¡¯s anxiety.
¡°Got it!¡± Bo Mingmei mmed on the oil pedal harshly. Already travelling at one hundred miles, the Rolls-Royce Phantom elerated to one hundred and fifty miles in a flurry.
At another location...
Qing Caiyue finally managed to locate the two security guards. They weren¡¯t picking up her calls at all.
The two security guards were loitering around Bailu¡¯s entrance while Zhu Xuanyue was nowhere to be seen.
¡°What the hell is wrong with you?! I instructed you to escort her to get some toys but you both ignored all my phone calls and even lost her!¡± Qing Caiyue was furious. Before she was in their proximity, her yells had echoed around the streets.
Weirdly, the two guards were unresponsive to her voice. They continued to walk soullessly along the street, they looked as if they were sleepwalking.
¡°Hello? Do you not hear me?¡± Qing Caiyue enraged.
But they both continued to ignore her.
Qing Caiyue stormed over to tug on one of their arms.
Abruptly, a woman¡¯s voice rang from the sugarcane fields by the road. ¡°Good boy,e here.¡±
Hearing that voice relieved Qing Caiyue. Thank goodness Zhu Xuanyue hadn¡¯t ventured far.
¡°You two, go lie in the field,¡± instructed Zhu Xuanyue.
Heeding her order, the two security guards left the path andid themselves well in the sugarcane field.
Qing Caiyue could feel her jaw drop as she watched the scene unfold. However, in a whole sudden, her mind went nk. She soon followed them into the field.
Among the sugarcanes stood a Zhu Xuanyue with a Kumamoto bear in one arm. In another arm, she carried arge bag of snacks. She smiled innocently. ¡°I¡¯m so hungry, can you please bring me somewhere to eat? Oh yeah, let¡¯s go somewhere that Uncle Xia will not find out!¡±
Qing Caiyue nodded.
¡°Drive me there.¡± With a grin, Zhu Xuanyue also added, ¡°Remember to turn off your phone.¡±
Qing Caiyue turned around nkly. She left the field and travelled towards the Thunder Horse Military Factory while she turned off her phone.
Zhu Xuanyue began to mumble to herself. ¡°Uncle Xia, I don¡¯t want to make you angry but I¡¯m so so so hungry! I want to eat something...¡±
Chapter 840 - Hubby
The hospital was under the governance of Vientiane Group.
Shentu Tianyin was still herself. The woman waspletely fine, perfectly healthy even.
She stood before the french window of the VIP ward, cold and elegant as ever. Her strong presence before the ward window felt unapproachable.
Bo Mingmei sneakily left the room.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but muster up a lop-sided smile. He was in such a panicked state that he had not thought the situation through. Now, everything was starting to make sense to Xia Lei.
¡°You... Was this really necessary?¡± he questioned.
It was only then that Shentu Tianyin turned around to face Xia Lei. Not a word was uttered but her stare was soulful and deep. There was a faint sheen of moisture in her orbs as if she had just cried.
Xia Lei sighed and said nothing else.
What else was there to say?
She had yed such a trick to lure him over but was it necessary for him to yell at her?
After three minutes ofplete silence and stares, Shentu Tianyin finally broke the silence. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were not nning to get married again? Why are you marrying Tang Yuyan now?¡±
¡°Huh? Where did you hear that from?¡±
¡°Liang Siyao called me and told me that you and Tang Yuyan were nning to get engaged during Shi Boren¡¯s sixtieth birthday.¡±
¡°What? Damn you...¡± Xia Lei felt the urge to punch himself. How could he buy Bo Mingmei¡¯s tant lie that Qing Caiyue was the one who gave her his location? Another reason was his mindless panic as soon as he heard that Shentu Tianyin lost consciousness and was admitted to the hospital.
Love could make one stupid. If love was a disease, Xia Lei would¡¯ve been diagnosed with itsst stage development.
Based on Liang Siyao¡¯s reaction today, it shouldn¡¯t be difficult to guess how Shentu Tianyin knew that the Tang family was nning to force the marriage on him today. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Liang Siyao, who was at a disadvantage, had utilized the timing to break the news to Shentu Tianyin and borrowed her strength to stop the marriage between him and Tang Yuyan.
¡°Don¡¯t weddingse after engagements? The Tang family are impatient, I¡¯m sure they¡¯d have you both register the marriage certificate within a few days or at most half a month.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was starting to get hoarse.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to answer that.
¡°Why does Tang Yuyan deserve a chance to be with you while you¡¯re not willing to even spare me a single nce?¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°The Tang family is eager to match me with Tang Yuyan and my father has agreed to it. But here¡¯s the catch, I hadn¡¯t agreed to it at all. When Bo Mingmei appeared, I was just about to tell them I would consider the proposal but she interrupted me with the news that you were ill. How could I still have the heart to continue the discussion? That¡¯s why I followed her here.¡±
¡°You still care about me, right?¡±
¡°Of course, I still care about you. But please don¡¯t do this again. I don¡¯t want you to be the boy who cried wolf. That would be bad,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You rejected me but you couldn¡¯t reject her?¡±
Xia Lei graced her a troubled smile. ¡°If we were in a more private setting, I¡¯d reject her. But the Tang family had brought it up at Shi Boren¡¯s event. The Tang family is a very old family. If I rejected her in such a setting, it would be very humiliating for them. The only way around this is to dy my decision instead of an outright decline. Plus, my father¡¯s wish is involved in this too.¡±
¡°That¡¯s what the Tangs are after. They¡¯re smart enough to utilize Shi Boren¡¯s birthday to use your father against you. You could run from this now but could you run from it forever?¡± She seemed extremely pained. ¡°I dare to say that your absence there had already led to your father promising the Tangs the marriage. What are you going to do about it?¡±
Now that she had mentioned it, Xia Lei could feel his brain throb. The only thing he was concerned about on his way here was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s condition. Xia Lei hadpletely forgotten about that! Thinking about it, Xia Lei felt that there was a high possibility that things had turned out that way. Both families had agreed to it, Tang Yuyan was willing and his attitude towards it was vague, which could be interpreted however they want. The circumstances werepletely possible for them to go ahead with the engagement!
Jeez, now that has created a new problem.
¡°Come on, answer me. What are you going to do about it?¡±
¡°So you¡¯re here trying to force me to make a decision?¡± Xia Lei uttered.
¡°I...¡± Shentu Tianyin was at a loss for words.
The man stared at her intently. ¡°If you had chosen me over Vientiane Group back then, would things have ended up the same way?¡±
Shentu Tianyin tensed up. Her heart immediately overwhelmed with shame and regret.
There was truth to his words. If she had given up on Vientiane Group to join Thunder Horse Organization as Xia Lei had begged her to, their marriage wouldn¡¯t have been affected at all. She would still be Xia Lei¡¯s wife and perhaps the mother to his children. Aside from that, her losses would then be returned generously, because Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s market value had far surpassed that of Vientiane Group. Most importantly, the Thunder Horse Organization was heavily influential and had great societal status in both the domestic and international market. They were performing way better than Vientiane Group was!
She had made a mistake. It tormented her heart with regret but most of her sufferings came from shame!
Shentu Tianyin made such a decision and even had Xia Lei be her scapegoat. Then, she was heartless enough to divorce him. Frankly speaking, what right did she have now to involve herself in Xia Lei¡¯s love life? Her approval and acknowledgement were not needed for who Xia Lei wanted to be with or marry!
The atmosphere was bitter. Xia Lei¡¯s smile was gentle but dispirited. ¡°You chose to leave me when I needed you the most. You showered me with affection when you wanted me and left me to rot when you were done. Am I just a ything for you?¡±
¡°I...¡± Shentu Tianyin burst into tears.
¡°I loved you. I was deeply in love with you. But the damage has been done. I¡¯m already long over this.¡±
¡°So you¡¯ve made up your mind to marry Tang Yuyan?¡± Shentu Tianyin wiped away the tears from the corner of her eye and forced a smile. ¡°Right, I shouldn¡¯t have called you over. I¡¯m grateful that you could forgive me when I¡¯ve wronged you so much. I shouldn¡¯t have expected more from this. But tell me, do you really love Tang Yuyan? I hope you¡¯d think this through. You¡¯ve experienced a failed marriage once, I wouldn¡¯t want you to experience it again. Surely, you¡¯re way more aware than me that the Tang family is after the political advantage and the benefit you could offer. After your marriage to Tang Yuyan, the Tang family will not be your support but your obstacle.¡±
¡°Why would you say that?¡±
¡°Hmph.¡± Shentu Tianyin scoffed coldly. ¡°The Tang family has been around for centuries. I bet their hands are far from clean. Tang Yuyan is a woman like me. The only difference between us is that she¡¯s more of a family-person while I give my all to my business. The reason behind the Tang family¡¯s survival is its strong control over its members. Since young, Tang Yuyan has been educated with the Tang¡¯s familial ideology. The concept of family is deeply imprinted in her. How could you expect her to change out of love?¡±
Inexplicably, Xia Lei thought about the Dawang operation. In that RV, he and Tang Yuyan were so blinded with lust and just before they could bed each other, Tang Yuyan could very consciously remind him to take responsibility for her. She even went as far as to hint marriage. Now to think about it, when he was just a nobody, the strong-standing Tang family could¡¯ve helped him easily. But did they offer him help? If Tang Yuyan had truly loved him to bits, why didn¡¯t she offer her help? All while Long Bing, on the other hand, was willing to sacrifice herself each time he was troubled without asking for return!
¡°Everyone needs sustenance to survive and get strong. The same applies to families with long histories. If they don¡¯t swallow the best, they¡¯d perish. I¡¯m not saying this out of jealousy. I¡¯m just trying to give you a piece of advice as an ex-wife. Your father is the Tangs¡¯ energy source but he has no shared quality. Your marriage to Tang Yuyan would only bring more harm than good-¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Abruptly, Xia Lei started to cackle.
¡°What are youughing at? Even if saying these hurts me more than anything, I don¡¯t wish to harm you again or allow any woman to cause you any damage!¡± roared Shentu Tianyin.
This is what it meant to love someone deeply.
Willing to hurt themselves if it meant that the person they loved was spared from damage.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°I guess only women will understand their kind. The only things men pay attention to most of the time are big boobs, a thick ass and a sweet face.¡±
Shentu Tianyin frowned. ¡°That was very unsophisticated but you make sense.¡±
¡°Jeez, they¡¯ve really cornered me. The Tangs are extremely smart. First, they try to win over my father with sweet talk and then involve Shi Boren. If marriage is the only way to solve this and I¡¯m not willing to marry Tang Yuyan, who do you think I should marry? Liang Siyao?¡±
Shentu Tianyin shook her head. ¡°If you marry Liang Siyao at such a time, it¡¯d be equivalent to killing her.¡±
¡°What about Long Bing?¡±
¡°She¡¯d face the same oue. She¡¯s a good person, please don¡¯t harm her.¡±
¡°What about Jiang Ruyi?¡±
¡°Damn, that¡¯s a lot of women you have there.¡± Shentu Tianyin red sharply at Xia Lei. ¡°She¡¯s even weaker than the rest. Even I am no match for Tang Yuyan, how is Jiang Ruyi going to survive against her? She¡¯s just an innocent and kind girl. I think she¡¯s content with her current situation. There¡¯s no need for you to turn her world upside down. Plus, I don¡¯t think she¡¯s at the appropriate social status. I bet she hasn¡¯te looking for you for a long while now, right? She¡¯s the type where she¡¯d be happy to just have you around for a few days at your convenience. If she had be the female owner of Thunder Horse Organization, she¡¯d be tormented.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was such an intelligent woman. It was amazing that she could analyze something like this with such impressive detail.
¡°I guess there¡¯s only one left for the job.¡± Xia Lei looked at Shentu Tianyin.
She met his eyes in anticipation.
But Xia Lei dug out his phone and dialled a number proficiently. As soon as the call got through, he purposely ced it on the loudspeaker.
¡°Xiao Lei Lei~ I was just about to call you and here you are! Hahaha... We¡¯re so in sync.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was speechless.
¡°Cut it out, I¡¯m here with serious business,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Why are you so tense?¡±
¡°Get your station to arrange a woman for me.¡±
¡°Huh? What the fuck?¡±
¡°I¡¯m serious. Arrange a woman for me to fake a marriage with.¡±
¡°Oh... I get it. You¡¯re getting pushed over the edge by that Tang girl?¡±
¡°And my father. If it wasn¡¯t for my father, I wouldn¡¯t have resorted to this.¡±
¡°What are your requirements for your fake marriage partner?¡±
¡°Big boobs, thick ass, high position and best if she has some kind of skin disorder.¡±
¡°You... You want to marry me?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t want it? Better think this through. This is your one and only chance.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go take an ID photo right away.¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Xia Lei added, ¡°Let me emphasize this again, this is a fake marriage. I¡¯ll be together with whoever I want and you¡¯re not to interfere with my freedom.¡±
¡°You make it sound like I¡¯ve done something like that. I¡¯ve got a request too.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t try to make me have sex with you along with other women. That¡¯s my baseline.¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go take the picture now. Call you soon, hubby.¡± This was the first time Fan Fan had called him her husband.
Ending the call, Xia Lei drew out a long sigh. Soon, a smile returned to his face. ¡°There, problem solved.¡±
¡°Is she very strong?¡± asked Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°The Tang family wouldn¡¯t want to mess with her unless they don¡¯t mind trouble. Alright, I need to go take a picture too. If there¡¯s a wedding thrownter, I¡¯ll be sure to invite you to the banquet.¡±
Shentu Tianyin could only smile disheartenedly at that as she watched him leave. Something in her itched to interject but no words were uttered.
Chapter 841 - Sweet Sweet Love
An hourter, Xia Lei returned to the resort.
The banquet had already ended but a few guests had remained. Some of them were sipping tea in the teahouse while some were busy with a game of cards. The atmosphere was still as lively as ever.
Noticing Xia Lei¡¯s return, Tang Yuyan beamed. She quickly strode forward to wrap her arms around his elbow and led him towards the teahouse.
¡°You¡¯re back so soon?¡± Tang Yuyan attempted to pry. ¡°Is Shentu Tianyin alright?¡±
Xia Lei returned a smile. ¡°She¡¯s fine, perfectly healthy even.¡±
¡°Perfectly healthy?¡± Tang Yuyan continued, ¡°I saw thising. Of course, I could guess what she was thinking. I¡¯m sure she¡¯s trying to stop us from getting together by suggesting that you marry her again, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not it. She just wanted to talk to me.¡±
Tang Yuyan smirked wryly. ¡°Don¡¯t try to lie to me. You¡¯re defending her.¡±
¡°No, I swear. She... She even gave us her blessings,¡± answered Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan was shocked. Within the next second, she was beaming with glee and joy. She didn¡¯t care about Shentu Tianyin¡¯s blessing, she was overjoyed by Xia Lei¡¯s response. His reply just now was essentially an agreement. Initially, she was worried that Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t give in so easily. How could she not be excited now that her dreams were about toe true?
Entering the teahouse, the guests watched the disy of Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei walking hand in hand. A round of hushed discussion soon erupted.
¡°It looks like the Tang girl and Xia Lei are a thing now, right?¡±
¡°Yeah, I guess so. The Tang family sure is amazing, able to have Xia Lei submit to them like that. Their future developments will be way beyond our imagination.¡±
¡°Yeah, who wouldn¡¯t want to marry their daughters to Xia Lei now? A few days ago, a friend of mine even asked if I knew Xia Lei because he wanted to invite him to his party. My friend so happened to have a daughter suitable for marriage. I heard that she was a Harvard graduate. Too bad I¡¯m not close to Xia Lei...¡±
¡°Jeez, I¡¯m so envious that the Tang family got ahold of something so good.¡±
¡°Who¡¯s not? Xia Lei is a national treasure full of potential. Anyone who marries him will enjoy the same potential for their own development.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s not forget about the limitless wealth he¡¯d bring. Xia Lei¡¯s current worth is a few billion and this is just the mere beginning.¡±
¡°Shh... Quiet down. If the Tangs hear this, they¡¯d be very upset...¡±
Amidst such discussion and gossip, Tang Yuyan brought Xia Lei over to where her family was seated.
¡°Is Shentu Tianyin alright?¡± Zhang Yumei looked concerned.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°She¡¯s alright.¡±
Hearing that, Zhang Yumei smiled. ¡°Oh dear, the whole situation really scared me earlier. I¡¯m just d she¡¯s alright. You¡¯re a busy man. Just have Tang Yuyan solve matters like that next time. There¡¯s no need for you to attend to it yourself. Women understand women best.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and said nothing else.
¡°Lei Zi,e sit, sit.¡± Tang Tianlong gestured for Xia Lei to be seated then swiftly called over a waiter to make Xia Lei some tea.
Weirdly, Tang Yuyan refused to take a seat and remained standing beside Xia Lei. Her dainty features were overflowing with happiness.
Seeing her daughter in that state was pleasing to Zhang Yumei¡¯s eye. With a smile, she said, ¡°Silly girl, what are you standing there for? Come, take a seat.¡±
Tang Yuyan went straight for the handle of Xia Lei¡¯s rattan chair. She smiled and replied, ¡°There you go, aren¡¯t I sitting now?¡± Her buttocks were mushed against Xia Lei¡¯s elbow. She didn¡¯t mind the gazes from the people around them.
Xia Lei was smiling too, seemingly unfazed by the action.
Xia Changhe, who was seated on the same table, chuckled. ¡°Well, isn¡¯t that settled? Hehe.¡±
Before this, he was rather worried about Xia Lei¡¯s decision. Now that his son had seemed like he was willing to marry Tang Yuyan, Xia Changhe felt relieved.
Zhang Yumei beamed. ¡°I just knew that Xia Lei and our Yuyan was a match made in heaven.¡± She turned to stare at Xia Lei affectionately. ¡°Lei Zi, we had a little discussion with your father after you left. We¡¯re nning to pick a good date for your banquet, what do you think about that?¡±
¡°Sure, no problem¡± Xia Lei continued with a grin. ¡°I¡¯ll go along with all your arrangements, Aunty.¡±
Tang Yuyan nudged Xia Lei with the tip of her elbow. She whispered harshly, ¡°Why are you still calling her aunty? It¡¯s about time for you to change it.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei smiled sheepishly. ¡°Right, I should call you... Mom.¡±
¡°Oh, you¡¯re such a good boy.¡± Zhang Yumei was positively over the moon. She was thrilled!
Shi Borenughed happily. ¡°Today is a good day, I¡¯m so happy. Lei Zi. I didn¡¯t have the chance to drink our hearts out together this afternoon. Tonight, we must drink more! This calls for a celebration!¡±
Before Xia Lei could even respond, Tang Yuyan warned, ¡°Godfather, I¡¯m not about to let you make him drunk.¡±
Shi Boren cackled. ¡°Jeez, silly girl. You¡¯re already siding with him before you¡¯re even married to Lei Zi! There¡¯s nothing wrong with a few cups of alcohol. Tonight is not even your wedding night. Even if it was your wedding night, I¡¯d still make him drunk!¡±
¡°Godfather!¡± Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Shi Boren, face flushed like a tomato.
Shi Boren¡¯s lewd words triggered a round ofughter. Everyone was an adult and they were soon to be a family, a joke like this was no harm.
In the middle of their conversation, Shi Boren received a call.
¡°Yeah... Yeah...?¡± Shi Boren hurriedly left his seat to travel towards the window on the far side of the room. ¡°I¡¯ll handle all the arrangements. Yeah, she¡¯s alright with this...¡±
Those words attracted Xia Lei¡¯s attention. The man quickly locked his vision onto Shi Boren.
¡°Yes, she¡¯ll be transferred away. Well, there are ways around that. Her resume and aplishments are way superior to Yuyan¡¯s. Yeah, I think it¡¯s better for her to assume a new position that is much higher than the one she¡¯s holding now. Yeah, I¡¯ll figure how to deal with her...¡± Shi Boren rambled on.
Though there wasn¡¯t a single mention of Long Bing, Xia Lei knew what Shi Boren was talking about. Along with that, he had gotten his truth behind Long Bing¡¯s impossible secret task too.
The soon to be retired Shi Boren was bound to pick his sessor among the internal members of Bureau 101. Long Bing¡¯s resume and performance were way above Tang Yuyan¡¯s. In order for Tang Yuyan to take over smoothly, Bureau 101 would have to execute a clean-up and its unfortunate victim was Long Bing. With Long Bing around, it would seem unfair for Tang Yuyan to seed Shi Boren. It would be a tant act of injustice. Soon, there would be usations that would undoubtedly damage the bureau¡¯s reputation and transparency. These were situations that Shi Boren and Tang Yuyan hoped to not encounter.
The truth clenched Xia Lei¡¯s heart painfully. In his heart, Long Bing was truly the best candidate to take after Shi Boren¡¯s position. The woman was passionate about serving the country. She loved the country and she loved her job. Long Bing had offered countless contributions, you could even say that she exchanged her badges of honour with her life. Sadly, this was the oue she was about to face.
But the worst thing was that Xia Lei couldn¡¯t find a fault in Shi Boren and Tang Yuyan for doing so. Sadly, these scenarios were far toomon in society. This was a battle for power.
Capabilities and fairness meant nothing here.
Originally, Xia Lei had nned to question Shi Boren at a more suitable timing but that was no longer needed anymore.
¡°It looks like Long Bing¡¯s time at Bureau 101 is numbered. Even if she does manage to get the case solved, Shi Boren would still transfer her to another department. What should I do to help her? Perhaps I should talk to her and understand her opinions on this.¡± Xia Lei thought to himself, he was starting to feel down.
¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Tang Yuyan seemed to have noticed that something was amiss.
¡°No, nothing,¡± Xia Lei hurriedly replied.
¡°Here, open up. Have an apple.¡± Tang Yuyan stabbed a slice of apple with a toothpick and brought it to his lips.
Xia Lei took a bite off the apple, all while forcing himself to smile.
¡°Hehe.¡± Tang Yuyan was smiling so happily. ¡°Feed me apples every day next time, alright?¡±
Xia Lei smiled and nodded despite his heart feeling like it was stabbed by a thousand needles. It pained him. Tang Yuyan obviously knew the truth. There was no way she would reveal it to Long Bing even if they were close friends. She was the prized daughter of the Tang family while Long Bing had no one to turn to. There was no way Long Bing could win against her. Long Bing was about to be Tang Yuyan¡¯s sacrifice to the throne too. Tang Yuyan could smile so radiantly because she was loved and was about to enjoy sess in her work. But what about Long Bing? Who was there to take her feelings into ount? Who was there tofort her through all these pain and torment?
¡°Oh dear, we¡¯ve spoiled you too much.¡± Zhang Yumei feigned a stern expression. ¡°Your engagement to Lei Zi means that you can be considered as his wife. You should take care of his daily needs, wash hisundry and cook for him. I don¡¯t want to see you miss any of those chores. You must change for the better or else I¡¯d have to hit you.¡±
¡°Ugh, got it.¡± Tang Yuyan pouted pitifully. ¡°All of you are bullying me and siding him. My life soon must be awful.¡±
¡°Haha, I can tell that you¡¯re wishing for it,¡± teased Tang Bochuan.
Tang Yuyan red at her brother. ¡°I¡¯ll have my future children call you idiot instead of uncle.¡±
The Tang familyughed.
Abruptly, a bunch of people entered through the entrance of the lobby. They were all dressed in sleek dark suits and had on a red badge on their chest. The aura they radiated was intense, about twenty to thirty of them had appeared in a formation.
Each of them was voided of any expression, they looked solemn.
The leader of the formation was a middle-aged man who was in his early fifties. The man had a sharp face and an equally sharp gaze. He looked untouchable and majestic.
¡°Aren¡¯t they from that organization...¡± There were people who recognized them but for some reason, they silenced themselves.
Their presence sent the teahouse hall from autumn straight to the depths of winter. The atmosphere was chilly and ufortable.
Shi Boren, Tang Tianlong and Tang Yunhai froze as they caught sight of the neers. Their postures were slightly tensed, starting to feel a little jittery.
¡°Boren, did you invite them?¡± After a brief moment of surprised silence, Tang Yunhai asked in a hushed tone.
Shi Boren answered, ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. I¡¯m not prominent enough to invite people like them.¡±
¡°Then why are they...¡± Tang Tianlong stopped himself from finishing his sentence.
As the three continued to talk, the bunch seemed to have found the person they¡¯re looking for.
Shi Boren quickly stood up and greeted them. ¡°Officer Zhou...¡±
Damn, the person was someone Shi Boren had to refer to as an officer. That was an indication that the man was of a much higher position.
The middle-aged man leading the bunch halted him. ¡°No need to greet us. We¡¯re here for Xia Lei.¡±
Chapter 842 - The Rocky Boat of Love
¡°You¡¯re here for Xia Lei...?¡± Shi Boren was nervous. His heart raced. ¡°Is Xia Leiin some kind of deep trouble?¡±
Officer Zhou decided to not borate the situation to Shi Boren, choosing toe straight to stand in front of Xia Lei.
Immediately, almost everyone stood up from their seat. Xia Lei included.
¡°You must be Xia Lei, right?¡± There was a smile on Officer Zhou¡¯s face, his tone immediately softened from its prior state.
Xia Lei nodded in a daze. ¡°Yes. What can I help you with, Officer Zhou?¡±
Officer Zhou shed him a gentle smile. ¡°I¡¯m here to have a heart-to-heart talk with you.¡±
¡°Heart-to-heart talk?¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡± Officer Zhou then gestured. ¡°Please take a seat, there¡¯s no need to stand up.¡±
¡°Officer Zhou, please make yourselffortable.¡± Tang Tianlong hurriedly went to move over a rattan chair for Officer Zhou.
Zhang Yumei and Tang Yuyan wasted no time to make tea for Officer Zhou and his men without assistance from the waiter.
¡°Officer Zhou, please have some tea.¡± Done with his tea, Tang Yuyan carefully ced the cup in front of Officer Zhou.
¡°Mm.¡± Officer Zhou only nodded as an acknowledgement and looked straight at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, I¡¯m here not to talk about business but some very personal matters.¡±
Courteously, Xia Lei replied, ¡°Officer Zhou, please do tell.¡±
Officer Zhou pulled Xia Lei¡¯s hand over. ¡°No need to be so courteous with me.¡±
Xia Lei returned the gesture, holding Officer Zhou¡¯s hand firmly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not.¡± Xia Lei began to sneak nces at the entrance from the corner of his eyes.
¡°Comrade Xia, we¡¯re fully aware of your current condition. Your contributions to the country have not gone unnoticed. Your unconditional service and your patriotism is a rare gem among our citizens. You¡¯re young but you¡¯ve already be a role model to many of ourrades.¡±
¡°Oh, Officer Zhou, you mentioned for me to not be so courteous but your words are all the more courteous.¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to praise me. I¡¯m just offering the country what I can do within my power.¡±
¡°Alright, let¡¯s quit being courteous. I¡¯m going to be direct.¡±
¡°Sure, please go ahead.¡±
¡°Uh... Well...¡± Officer Zhou paused briefly before continuing. ¡°The thing is this, after a background check done by the organization, we¡¯ve found that you were still single and at your prime. You¡¯re an important talent to the country and we understand that you¡¯re always busy with research and managing the Thunder Horse Organization with no time for a rtionship...¡±
Hearing those words made Zhang Yumei nervous. Failing to hold back, she interrupted Officer Zhou. ¡°Officer Zhou, to be frank, Xia Lei is actually engaged to our Yuyan...¡±
Before Zhang Yumei could utter aplete sentence, Officer Zhou interrupted her. ¡°I¡¯m not even done yet, why are you trying to cut me off?¡±
¡°I...¡± Zhang Yumei wanted to go on but was quickly halted by a look from Tang Yunhai.
Tang Tianlong gazed at Xia Lei nervously and shook his head lightly, hinting for him to not agree to anything.
Xia Lei pretended to not see it, letting Tang Tianlong panic for all he cared.
Truthfully, Tang Yuyan was the most nervous and anxious out of everyone present. This Officer Zhou was no stranger to her, his name was Zhou Yunzheng and he was in charge of organizational work. The department he was positioned in was an extremely vital core, therefore his status was extremely high-profiled. Now that Zhou Yunzheng was here to talk about personal matters with Xia Lei, wasn¡¯t this clearly an organizational matchmaking session?
Organizational matchmaking was an old practice. No one would pull such an act unless special interests were involved with specific people. Obviously, Xia Lei had fulfilled all criteria for that. But here was the question, was Xia Lei the kind of man that was too focused on his work that he hadn¡¯t had the chance toe in contact with women?
The Tang family was dumbfounded and silent. Zhou Yunzheng continued, ¡°Comrade Xia Lei, we¡¯ve thankful that you¡¯ve sacrificed all your time and effort to the country at the cost of your personal life. We know all about it and we¡¯re anxious about it. That¡¯s why we selected a suitable candidate based on your personality after a round of careful research. I¡¯m here specifically to ask for your opinion on her.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei looked terribly troubled.
Almost every member of the Tang family was shaking their heads desperately at him.
¡°There¡¯s no need to be so bashful, you¡¯re an adult.¡± Zhou Yunzheng smiled. ¡°You actually know that femalerade. We¡¯ve talked about this with her and she¡¯s very happy to ept the offer.¡±
Xia Lei seemed pressed. ¡°No, it¡¯s just that Tang Yuyan and I have actually...¡±
Zhou Yunzheng stopped him. ¡°That femalerade is Fan Fan. The granddaughter of Fan Yiming, the director of the Academy of Sciences.¡±
¡°Huh?!¡± Xia Lei was shocked.
¡°Comrade Fan Fan is an elite talent of our country and her grandfather was a scientist who had contributed a lot to China. Her mental health is perfectly healthy and she¡¯s beautiful and poised. The union between you both is something we¡¯d like to see. It will be beneficial to all of us and even to the interest of the state.¡± While he was saying that, Zhou Yunzheng¡¯s tone suddenly tensed up.
The Tang family attempted to say something but Zhou Yunzheng had effectively rendered them speechless.
They were all smart people. Was Zhou Yunzheng trying to direct that to Xia Lei? No, that wasn¡¯t the case. Those words were meant for the Tang family!
A union between Xia Lei and Fan Fan would do well to the country? The statement felt like a bomb going off! But if they calmed down and thought this through, that really was the reality! With Fan Fan¡¯s current status, she would be able to keep a close eye on him and subconsciously influence him and even control him if the marriage was a sess. With her around, would any other female dare approach him? Surely, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t be able to make mistakes easily. As Xia Lei¡¯s wife, not only would Fan Fan grasp all information on Xia Lei, but she would also be able to know Thunder Horse¡¯s real-time directions. These were incredibly important to the country now!
Frankly, instead of saying that they were here to introduce a match to Xia Lei, they were essentially assigning him a seneschal wife!
Soon, Thunder Horse Organization was bound to be a military superpower like Lockheed Martin. It was not difficult to tell that they would be of utmost importance to the country in the near future. If they were going to assign Xia Lei a seneschal wife, it was only natural for them to assign an elite from their core circle.
Another thing Zhou Yunzheng chose to redact was telling the Tang family to fuck off.
¡°Officer Zhou, I... Actually...¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m already engaged to Tang Yuyan. How am I supposed to marry Fan Fan? We¡¯re just friends with no romantic development between us.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s reply allowed the Tang family to exhale in relief.
A faint smile appeared on the corner of Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips. She knew Xia Lei¡¯s temperament well. There was no point in pushing him to do something he wasn¡¯t willing to do. This was also what took the Tang family so long to ¡®melt¡¯ Xia Changhe. If it wasn¡¯t for Xia Changhe¡¯s agreement, would Xia Lei be stuck in his current predicament? Of course not!
Just as the Tang family was starting to feelforted, Zhou Yunzheng added on. ¡°If there¡¯s no romance between you two, there¡¯s plenty of time to cultivate one. For Tang Yuyan, we¡¯ll figure out how topensate her. There¡¯s no need for you to worry about this.¡±
Those words struck the Tang family hard like lightning.
Judging from Zhou Yunzheng¡¯s tone, this wasn¡¯t a matter that permitted a refusal from Xia Lei and it certainly was something the Tang family had toply with!
In the face of state interest, forget about one Tang family, even if ten families joined forces, theirbined powers wouldn¡¯t even be enough to sustain a single attack!
Zhang Yumei was positively pressed. ¡°Officer Zhou, our Yuyan, is also capable of handling the assigned tasks required by the organization. Why must it be Fan Fan? Our Yuyan-¡°
Zhou Yunzheng shot her a look and cut her off once again. ¡°What is with this femalerade? Are my words not clear? Why do you find the need to interrupt me all the time?¡±
Tang Tianlong immediately sent Zhang Yumei a look, the man was furious.
Zhang Yumei quickly took the cue and silenced herself.
¡°No! I won¡¯t ept this!¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s emotions were out of control. Who the fuck assigned matches like this? Had anyone even considered her feelings before deciding things like this?!
Zhou Yunzheng frowned at the disy. ¡°Comrade Tang Yuyan, why can¡¯t you see this in a bigger picture? It¡¯s about time you execute your job properly!¡±
¡°No! I won¡¯t ept this!¡± Tang Yuyan was seething with anger. She was close to tears.
¡°Yuyan!¡± Shi Boren reprimanded harshly. ¡°How can you be so unreasonable at a time like this? You must take care of the overall situation!¡±
This was Tang Yuyan¡¯s wakeup call. She was about to seed Shi Boren as the head of Bureau 101. It was an extremely important milestone for her and the Tang family. If she was to defy the orders from the authority now, she might lose the position! This was the best possible oue.
For the sake of her family, Tang Yuyan silenced herself. She felt terribly wronged and angry.
¡°Officer Zhou, about this...¡± Xia Lei finally spoke, seemingly unwilling.
Zhou Yunzheng cast his fatherly smile andforted him. ¡°Just ept it. Come with me, we¡¯ve already arranged an appointment for you to meetrade Fan Fan. She¡¯s waiting for you.¡±
¡°I...¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Zhou Yunzheng seized Xia Lei¡¯s arm and pulled him away.
Xia Lei turned his head around to spare Tang Yuyan a nce.
Tang Yuyan immediately burst into tears.
Xia Lei sighed internally, but he felt no remorse.
They said love was the most wonderful emotion in the world, but pure innocent love was close to non-existent. In reality, romance and love were oftentimes associated with lust and desire. The impurities of society tarnished pure love. Sometimes, it was out of helplessness and sometimes it was apromise. Often, it was also for the sake of survival.
Xia Lei had solved his own problem with his own terms but he had hurt Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart in the process.
Sometimes, love was a double-edged sword. It¡¯d hurt the person you love and even yourself.
Xia Lei was taken away.
Tang Yunhai looked at Xia Changhe with a dark expression.
To which Xia Changhe could only sigh softly. Then, he left.
No one had bothered to ask him to stay. With the current circumstances, who would still have the heart to engage Xia Changhe?
¡°I hate this! I won¡¯t ept this!¡± Tang Yuyan finally unleashed her fury. She kicked over Xia Lei¡¯s seat and threw the cup of tea she made for Zhou Yunzheng to the ground.
A fragile teacup flew to the ground with a crisp crash, broken into pieces.
The teacup was just like her engagement to Xia Lei, broken.
Zhang Yumei hurriedly enveloped her daughter in an embrace. She began tofort her. ¡°Don¡¯t cry. There¡¯s no need to cry. As long as Xia Lei is unwilling to give in, the marriage won¡¯t be a thing. Doing all the mental work for Xia Lei would only upset him.¡±
Tang Yuyan coiled up pitifully against her mother¡¯s bosom and began to sob.
Chapter 843 - Youre Going to be a Father!
Initially, Xia Lei had thought that leaving the resort would bring an end to his demise. Sadly, that was far from reality. The authority figures of the organization had really arranged a matchmaking meeting for him and Fan Fan. Soon, he found himself in a meeting room within the Academy of Sciences.
The three of them sat together. There were some candies, fruits and sunflower seeds served on the table but no one had half the mind to enjoy it.
Zhou Yunzheng started with reciting his ns for Xia Lei. After that, he did the same for Fan Fan. The man was very serious when it came to Xia Lei¡¯s proposed future developments. But when it came to Fan Fan¡¯s he was rxed about it. Oddly, it wasn¡¯t too weird. What did Fan Fan have to be concerned about? Marriage was a big deal and Xia Lei had taken care of her with a mere phone call.
¡°Comrade Xia Lei, this is a good beginning for the both of you.¡± Zhou Yunzheng shed them both a smile. ¡°A rash decision is not true love. True love is developed over time. True love should be able to withstand fires and bloodsheds. Most importantly, it must be able to withstand the test of time. I¡¯m very hopeful that you two can get together. You¡¯re a patriot and she¡¯s also a patriot. Wouldn¡¯t it be wonderful if you two birthed a little patriot baby?¡±
Fan Fan looked a little bashful. All she did so far was nce at her feet shyly. Her cheeks were red and there was poorly concealed joy in her eyes.
¡°Comrade Fan Fan, there¡¯s no need to be so bashful. Is there anything you¡¯d like to say torade Xia Lei?¡± Zhou Yunzheng reminded the quiet woman.
It was only then that Fan Fan lifted her head. She seemed a little ufortable. ¡°Officer Zhou, with you around, I...¡±
Abruptly, Zhou Yunzheng came to a realization. He swiftly stood up from his seat and excused himself. ¡°Oh, I just remembered I have a very important meeting to attend to. Make yourselvesfortable. There¡¯s no need to hold yourself back. It¡¯s the twenty-first century now for god¡¯s sake. You need to be more open-minded. Yeah, your ideology and behaviour should be more up to date.¡±
What was there left for Fan Fan to learn about Xia Lei and what was there left for Xia Lei to learn about Fan Fan? The rtionship they shared was nothing new. There wasn¡¯t a need for Zhou Yunzheng to urge them to for more interaction.
With that, Zhou Yunzheng left.
Xia Lei took a careful look at the door to make sure that no one was around. It was after a brief moment of silence that he feltfortable enough to ask. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±
Fan Fan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°What¡¯s with you? Isn¡¯t this what you wanted?¡±
¡°Yeah, this is what I wanted but I wasn¡¯t expecting things to happen at such an exaggerated scale.¡± Xia Lei was still shell-shocked at the series of events that led to this.
¡°Do you mean Officer Zhou?¡± Fan Fan continued, ¡°Look, if I hadn¡¯t invited him to interfere, would the Tang family let you off like that?¡±
¡°Does Officer Zhou know that we¡¯re faking the marriage?¡± Xia Lei probed.
¡°No.¡± Fan Fan shook her head.
¡°What about the authorities?¡±
¡°Of course not.¡± Fan Fan rolled her eyes again and scoffed. ¡°Comrade Xia Lei, did you forget your brain today? If I were to tell Officer Zhou that you¡¯re trying to propose a fake marriage to me and have hime get you with the news, would he have done so? Officer Zhou would¡¯ve definitely yelled the shit out of me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Xia Lei was only expecting Fan Fan to appear alone and ¡®snatch¡¯ him away from the resort. It was certainly out of his expectations as Fan Fan had managed to invite such high-profile personnel to form the strongest matchmaking team in history. The current mess had certainly helped him out of the grasp of the Tang family but some bigger figures were alerted. Perhaps the whole ordeal might spiral out of control soon.
¡°Comrade Xia Lei, the authority wants us to be in love. What do you think about me?¡± One of Fan Fan¡¯s pretty feet had escaped her heels and found its way onto the top of Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. Thank goodness she was wearing long cks today, or else this bold movement would¡¯ve been extremely inappropriate.
Even though most of her skin was given modesty by the length of fabric, there was a sneaky outline of her privates against the tight taut fabric around her groin.
Unfortunately for her, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t in the mood for this. He smiled bitterly. ¡°Quit it. Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m pressed?¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t wish to marry me, I can go tell Officer Zhou of your refusal right away. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be able to throw you back to your lovely Tang Yuyan then.¡± She retracted her long legs. She seemed serious about informing Officer Zhou.
Xia Lei grasped her wrist. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not joking. Today was really tough on me.¡±
¡°Let me go!¡± Fan Fan pretended to struggle.
Getting irritated, Xia Lei raised a hand andnded a hard p on Fan Fan¡¯s full bottom. The plump behind rippled upon contact.
The impact elicited a moan from her due to her special constitution. Not only did it not drive her away, but she also took the chance to wrap her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s waist. Within a split second, she captured Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
The light peck became a sloppy open-mouthed kiss before it evolved to a full-on French kiss. She was getting impatient due to her hypersensitivity while Xia Lei was slowly getting clouded by lust.
Fan Fan finally released Xia Lei after a few minutes. She panted, ¡°Although this is fake, I¡¯m actually really happy.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°My child now has a father. Isn¡¯t that something I should be happy about?¡± She replied.
Xia Lei was taken aback. ¡°You... You¡¯re pregnant?¡±
Fan Fan hesitated but nodded anyway. ¡°Although it hasn¡¯t been a full month yet, I¡¯ve already confirmed it. Basically, I can confirm that there is a life budding in me. Do you know how crazy your sperm is? It swam into me during my safe period and waited for my ovum to appear in the fallopian tube. As soon as it appeared, they merged! Your sperm are like skilled assassins, staying hidden in the dark until the right time came up to kidnap the ¡®queen¡¯.¡±
Xia Lei could only gape in shock.
No wonder it only required him a phone call to convince Fan Fan. She was already pregnant with his child, how could she say no to his marriage proposal? From his perspective, this whole thing was fake but it had meant something different for Fan Fan. For her, everything was sufficient as long as the marriage certificate was real.
Now to look at this, this felt like destiny.
¡°She¡¯s pregnant with my child and we¡¯re about to get legally wedded. How am I supposed to divorce her in the future with a childing?¡± Abruptly, Xia Lei started to ponder about the concern.
Within a day, Xia Lei had experienced a breakup, a matchmaking session, marriage preparations and even news that he was about to be a father. Now, he was already pondering about a future divorce. It was safe to say that Xia Lei was the only man on earth capable of experiencing these things within twenty-four hours.
¡°Are you not happy?¡± Theck of smiles on Xia Lei made Fan Fan nervous.
That brought Xia Lei back to reality. He smiled gently. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m happy. I¡¯ve always wanted a child but I wasn¡¯t expecting it to happen so suddenly.¡±
¡°Are you surprised?¡±
¡°Very surprised.¡±
Fan Fan whispered into his ear. ¡°Since you can still have me before I¡¯m heavily pregnant, I want to...¡±
Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°Here?!¡±
¡°Xia Lei.¡± Fan Fan bit the lobe of his ear. ¡°This is the twenty-first century. You need to be a little more open-minded.¡±
Xia Leiughed. He lifted her and pressed her against the meeting table.
He¡¯d just leave the concerns of divorce forter. It was time to give his mind a well-deserved break.
It was already evening when they left the Academy of Sciences.
The streets of Jingdu were noisy yet lively. People of all walks of life crowded the city that reeked of lust and humanly desires. Perhaps, that was truly the smell of a city.
Xia Lei dug out his phone and dialled for Qing Caiyue.
¡°Sorry, the person you have called is unreachable...¡± Weirdly, the only response that returned was a system notification.
Xia Lei immediately frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve clearly told her to look out for my call and bring Zhu Xuanyue to me. Why is her phone turned off? ¡°
Something was amiss.
Xia Lei immediately dialled for Qin Xiang.
¡°Qin Xiang, have you seen Qing Caiyue today?¡±
¡°No. She left the office in the early afternoon, she¡¯s not back yet,¡± answered Qin Xiang.
¡°What about Zhu Xuanyue?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t see her too. What¡¯s the matter?¡±
Xia Lei had a bad feeling about this. ¡°I¡¯ll exin thister, Qin Xiang. Please get a few to help locate Qing Caiyue and Zhu Xuanyue immediately. Give me updates even if you don¡¯t find them.¡±
¡°Alright, got it. I¡¯ll do so now.¡± Qin Xiang ended the call.
A thought abruptly shed through Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
Was the ck-robed man here in China?
The only one who could hurt Zhu Xuanyue was the ck-robed man. With Qing Caiyue and Zhu Xuanyue unreachable, there was a possibility that they were in danger!
Ring... Ring... Ring...
As he pondered about the problem, his phone rang.
Without sparing a nce to his screen, Xia Lei immediately epted the call. ¡°Hey! Have you found them?¡±
¡°What are you talking about? Brother, did you lose something?¡± It was Ling Han¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei was confused but managed to regain hisposure before long. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s you, Brother Ling. I thought my employee was the one calling me, sorry about that. My employee had lost a very important blueprint and I was very on the edge about it.¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright. We¡¯ve been through the worst and managed to reconcile. There¡¯s no need to be courteous next time. You¡¯re still a brother to me no matter what.¡±
¡°Oh, Brother Ling... I¡¯ve always treated you like my own older brother.¡±
¡°Hehehe... Say, where are you at?¡± Ling Han asked.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°Have you already forgotten about it? Remember, we promised to meet up tonight after Shi Boren¡¯s birthday event today. Officer Yu has been waiting for your call all this while,¡± supplied Ling Han.
How could Xia Lei forget that? It was him that invited Ling Han and Yu Shanhe to an appointment after all and he had plotted a sneaky attack against them that involved Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s ability heavily. However, with Zhu Xuanyue missing, what was the use of going on with the appointment with Yu Shanhe and Ling Han?
¡°Uh, I¡¯m terribly sorry. As you can see here, there¡¯s an emergency back at mypany. I suspect that I¡¯m dealing with a business spy. The situation is quite grim and I must return to them at once. How about we move this appointment to some other day?¡± Xia Lei tried to sound genuine.
¡°But...¡± The displeasure in Ling Han¡¯s tone was prominent.
¡°Surely this is an eptable reason. How about Ie to visit you and Officer Yu personally and apologize to him straight? What do you think?¡± offered Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, that¡¯ll do. Go deal with your work, I¡¯ll look forward to your call.¡±
¡°Brother Ling, can you please help to ry a message to Officer Yu. Please tell him that I¡¯m sorry and that Xia Lei is not an idiot. He understands that having one more friend is better than having another enemy. Do you understand what I mean?¡±
¡°Hehehe, of course. I¡¯m d that you think so. Alright, see you next time.¡± Ling Han hung up.
Xia Lei grinned evilly. ¡°Next time? I can¡¯t wait till you¡¯re sent to hell.¡±
What on earth happened to Zhu Xuanyue and Qing Caiyue?
Xia Lei¡¯s mind returned to the question.
Suddenly, a few police cars screeched past him. Following closely behind was another few SWAT off-road vehicles. Those police vehicles were carrying fully armed Special Forces, they even had a sniper. The whole situation seemed severe!
Ring... Ring...
At this moment, his phone rang again.
Chapter 844 - Terrorist Attack?
¡°Where are you?¡± It was Long Bing.
Xia Lei looked at the signs outside of his car window. ¡°I¡¯m near the Academy of Sciences. Yeah, on Pingan Street. There¡¯s a Walmart beside me.¡±
¡°Wait for me, I¡¯ll be there right away.¡± Long Bing ended the call abruptly.
Xia Lei continued to wait in the car, worried sick over Qing Caiyue and Zhu Xuanyue. The man felt the urge to call Qin Xiang but he ultimately decided against it. He had faith in Qin Xiang. If Qin Xiang had found anything new, he would surely contact Xia Lei right away. Theck of contact from the trusted employee was a good indication that there was no new discovery.
True to her words, Long Bing arrived at Xia Lei¡¯s spot within a few minutes. The woman had taken less than ten minutes to get here.
She hastily parked her car by the shoulder of the road and immediately went over to the driver side of Xia Lei¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban. ¡°Move over, I¡¯ll drive.¡±
Xia Lei hurriedly climbed over to the co-driver seat.
Long Bing entered the vehicle. Immediately, she started the engine and drove away.
¡°Were you nearby?¡± Xia Lei was confused. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s expression was stone cold. ¡°Something weird happened at a gym. I received intel that a total of twenty-five people had died in the gym.¡±
Xia Lei gasped, ¡°That¡¯s insane. What happened?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure. The preliminary suspicion was a terrorist attack. The attackers seem to have used some new form of nerve gas on the victims.¡±
¡°Nerve gas?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not too sure about the overall situation, but this is the information I received.¡±
¡°Did Bureau 101 assigned you to investigate this alone?¡±
¡°Of course not, Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan were assigned the case too.¡± Long Bing continued, ¡°They¡¯ve probably arrived at the scene, I¡¯ve made a detour toe to get you.¡±
¡°What am I supposed to do?¡±
¡°Elder Shi had asked for your help on the investigation.¡± Long Bing spared Xia Lei a brief nce. ¡°Tang Yuyan was supposed to get you but she wasn¡¯t willing to do so.¡±
Xia Lei could only smile helplessly. After that whole ordeal, it was only natural for her to be enraged. How could one expect her toe to get him? Now that they were about to meet, Xia Lei was starting to feel his temples throbbing.
Long Bing switched the topic. ¡°I was surprised that the authorities had matched you with Fan Fan. This is actually good. If you married Fan Fan, Tang Yuyan and Shentu Tianyin could quit their fight and your sister disciple could finally stop having false hope. You¡¯ll be at ease soon.¡±
¡°What about you?¡± Xia Lei stared at her side profile. He wanted to know what was on her mind.
¡°Me?¡± Long Bingughed. ¡°Well, I¡¯m genuinely happy for you to be able to marry someone like Fan Fan. I¡¯m sure your future rivals and enemies would know their ces before bringing you trouble in the near future. Thunder Horse Organization needed a powerful female co-owner and Fan Fan is the right person for the job. She could help you take care of those oddities and you could focus all your attention on your work.¡±
Xia Lei came closer to her ear to tell her what happened.
Long Bing was a little stunned to hear that. She replied, ¡°If a woman is willing to go to such lengths for you, it means that she really wants to marry you. Be it fake or real, she probably doesn¡¯t really care. The problem is that Tang Yuyan has quite the ego. With what happened earlier, she must be extremely humiliated and embarrassed. If you could, you shouldfort her. She genuinely likes you, she must be very hurt.¡±
¡°Does she know how nice you are to her?¡±
¡°I¡¯d appreciate it if she could stop picking a fight with me. She¡¯s a spoiled rich daughter, it¡¯spletely understandable to have such a temperament.¡±
¡°Did you know that... The secret task you received was actually...¡± Xia Lei hesitated. He inhaled deeply and continued, ¡°Was actually aimed to remove you from Bureau 101 before she takes over Boss Shi¡¯s position?¡±
Screech!
The Chevrolet Suburban came to an abrupt stop by the road.
Long Bing¡¯s grip around the steering wheel was insanely tight. She was silent but Xia Lei could read that she was furious and frustrated.
Xia Lei wanted tofort her but he didn¡¯t know what to say. Instead, he reached an arm over to ce his hands over her fists on the steering wheel. No words were exchanged.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Themunicator rang.
The notification had Long Bing snapped back to reality. She inhaled and brought the device to her lips. ¡°This is Long Bing, over.¡±
¡°This is Liang Siyao.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice rang over the device. ¡°Where are you both? What¡¯s taking you so long?¡±
¡°We¡¯re on our way, will be there soon.¡± Long Bing mmed the pedal hard, bringing the vehicle to an eleration.
This was how Long Bing was. Nothing mattered more than her job and country. Not even her life.
Ten minutester, the Chevrolet Suburban stopped before a gym. The streets that the facility was located on were already locked by the police. Despite putting up a barricade tape, it didn¡¯t hinder curious passers-by to observe the scene. There was arge crowd around the area, eager to learn about the situation.
Long Bing led Xia Lei into the gym. Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan were already waiting inside for long.
Tang Yuyan red daggers at Xia Lei.
To which Xia Lei had to brace himself. He greeted, ¡°Hello, Yuyan, Siyao.¡±
Liang Siyao shed Xia Lei a smile.
Tang Yuyan continued to re at him.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°Yuyan, I really didn¡¯t want this to happen but...¡±
¡°Are you sure about that?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes were moist. ¡°You seem extremely happy about it! The authorities wanted to introduce Fan Fan to you. She¡¯s pretty and has a higher position than I do. You must be happy that you found a much better wife, right?!¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t wish to argue with Tang Yuyan. There was slight guilt in his heart but the man didn¡¯t feel too strongly about the situation. Perhaps if he hadn¡¯t found out that Shi Boren and her had plotted to remove Long Bing from Bureau 101, his regret would¡¯ve been stronger.
¡°Come on, say something!¡± Tang Yuyan was furious.
Long Bing halted them. ¡°That¡¯s enough. This is not a time for arguments. If you wish to yell at each other, get out.¡±
Tang Yuyan red at Xia Lei again but took the cue to stop the argument.
Coming to the front of the gym, Xia Lei could already see the heaps of bodies through the tightly shut ss windows. Some of the victims were slumped against the ground and some of them were still seated on the gym equipment. From what he could see, most of the victims were men while only two of them were women.
Liang Siyao exined, ¡°This is a professional gym. All the victims here were training to join a body-buildingpetition.
Xia Lei scanned around the facility. ¡°There are no signs of struggle. Are you sure this is a terrorist attack? Also, what nerve gas did they use?¡±
Long Bing answered, ¡°Bureau 101 has a team specially designed for pre-estimation and analysis of emergencies. A terrorist attack and nerve gases are just our hypotheses. Experts have alreadye to take air samples of the gym, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get the results soon.¡±
Tang Yuyan extended an arm in an attempt to open the main door.
Xia Lei grasped her arm. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±
¡°How are we supposed to investigate by just standing here?¡± Tang Yuyan shot him a dirty look. ¡°I¡¯m going in.¡±
¡°Theb results aren¡¯t out yet. What if it¡¯s really toxic nerve gases?! You¡¯ll end up like them if you go in!¡± Xia Lei eximed.
¡°You¡¯re worried about me? Well, guess what. I don¡¯t need your concern!¡± Tang Yuyan roared at Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯m better off dead!¡±
Xia Lei was troubled.
Liang Siyao sneaked a sly look to Long Bing with a faint smirk. However, Long Bing opted to ignore her.
At this moment, an expert approached them. ¡°The analysis results for the air sample are out but...¡±
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Long Bing was anxious.
¡°The air inside is perfectly normal. There¡¯s no trace of nerve gases at all,¡± answered the expert.
Upon hearing that, Xia Lei released his grip on Tang Yuyan. Since there wasn¡¯t anything toxic in the air, there was no need for him to stop her anymore.
Long Bing pushed the ss doors away and entered the facility. Xia Lei followed suit.
Liang Siyao went past the entrance and turned around to face a nk-faced Tang Yuyan who was still rooted at her spot. ¡°Are you noting in?¡±
Tang Yuyan finally entered the gym.
It was true, the air in the gym waspletely normal. Upon closer inspection, there really wasn¡¯t any sign of struggle. All the victims didn¡¯t seem in pain too, their expressions were peaceful. The overall situation made it seem as though their deaths were sudden and instant.
If it had only imed one victim, it could still be considered a sudden emergency. However, with the number of victims dead, this whole incident felt eerie.
¡°No gunshots, no struggling and not a single trace of nerve gases.¡± Long Bing frowned. ¡°How did they die?¡±
Liang Siyao shook her head. ¡°I have no idea. I¡¯ll have the Trace Experts enter the scene to look for clues.¡± She then picked up hermunication device to call them over.
¡°Lei Zi, what do you think of the situation?¡± Long Bing asked Xia Lei.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I have no idea either. I¡¯ll go take a careful look around the scene.¡± Following that, he approached the body.
The body wasid on a sit-up bench, still maintaining its posture.
Xia Lei carefully activated his X-ray vision and his Zoom-in vision. First, he scanned the body¡¯s surroundings. Finding nothing, he then moved to stare at the body¡¯s head. Sudden deaths were typically caused by two conditions, it was either a problem with their hearts or their brain.
The X-ray vision prated the body¡¯s brain.
What Xia Lei saw had him tense up.
The brain had shrunken and left behind arge amount of space in his skull. The powerful organ was dehydrated and ck!
This victim had died the same way as the expert team members!
Xia Lei then moved to another body to look into his brain. His observations were the same.
¡°Have you found anything?¡± Long Bing approached him.
Xia Lei was about to reveal his observations but was quick enough to stop himself. He shook his head. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t find anything useful.¡±
Once the body went through autopsy, Long Bing would surely find out the reasons for their deaths. It made no sense for regr people to find out what was going on within the bodies.
Soon, the Trace Experts from Bureau 101 entered the scene to extract samples.
Tang Yuyan came over to Xia Lei. ¡°There¡¯s nothing left for us to do now. Let¡¯s go out, I need to talk to you.¡±
Before Xia Lei could agree, his phone rang.
¡°Give me a moment, let me answer this.¡± Xia Lei retrieved his phone. The caller disyed on-screen had him shocked.
Qing Caiyue was calling him.
¡°Hello? Where were you? Where are you now?¡± Xia Lei blurted out a string of questions as soon as he picked up the call.
¡°I¡¯m at your ce looking after that brat for you.¡± Qing Caiyue¡¯s tone was begrudging. ¡°You have no idea how naughty she was. She actually escaped home into the mountains. I even tore my skirt while trying to search for her...¡±
Xia Lei sighed in relief. He interrupted her ramble. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll talk about this more when I¡¯m back.¡±
¡°Wait, hear me out.¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°I found her wet all over, I think she¡¯s down with a cold but she refuses to go to the hospital. I felt her forehead and it seemed like she¡¯s developing a fever. I can¡¯t handle her, pleasee back soon,¡± pleaded Qing Caiyue.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be back fast.¡± Xia Lei ended the call.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s nce was full of resentment. ¡°What? Now you don¡¯t even have time to talk to me?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not it, there really is an emergency. I need to get back now. Tomorrow, we¡¯ll talk.¡± Xia Lei said as he began to run.
Chapter 845 - Little Devil
Under the pale moonlight, silence overwhelmed the Peace Mansion.
However, there was only one room that wasn¡¯t silent.
¡°Woof, woof, woof...¡± A woman could be heard imitating a bark. It was loud and quite attractive.
¡°Wasn¡¯t she sick? Why is she ying the dog training game again?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but find it weird. He stood before the door for a few seconds before pushing it open.
Xia Lei was weed by a wonderful scene upon entry.
Qing Caiyue was bent over on the ground with her arms propping her body up. A red string was tied loosely around her neck. A piece of ham sausage was dangling off her lips. It was as if she was involved in a roleying fetish fantasy. Thest time this had happened, Qing Caiyue was merely imitating a dog while fully clothed. This time, she was stark naked with props surrounding her! She was caught in a particr scene with a suggestive posture. How could any man resist the sight of her on all fours?
Xia Lei was shell-shocked. Was there an upgrade to the game?
Qing Caiyue ignored him. She kneeled beside the bed and started to whine. Her raised behind started to sway side to side. This mysterious scene made Xia Lei¡¯s pants tight around his groins. He tried desperately to control his urges but there was just no way of suppressing his lust.
Zhu Xuanyue was on the bed under a thick nket. There was a thermometer peeking out from her mouth and there was a neatly-folded fabric against her forehead. It seemed like she was really sick.
¡°Uncle Xia.¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s mumbles were unclear due to the thermometer.
Xia Lei entered the room and quickly shut the door.
¡°Woof! Woof! Woof!¡± Qing Caiyue abruptly released the ham sausage in her mouth toe crawling towards Xia Lei.
Though her movements were nowhere as fast and effortless as a real dog, the way she crawled over was much more beautiful than any other dog in this world.
Looking at the swaying white masses, Xia Lei felt his throat go dry.
¡°Arf!¡± As soon as she got to Xia Lei¡¯s leg, she opened her mouth and bit on Xia Lei¡¯s pants. Then, she started to back off, attempting to rip Xia Lei¡¯s pants off him.
Xia Lei was helpless but he didn¡¯t dare to make any sudden movements. Her teeth were not those of a real dog after all. He extended a hand to pat on the top of Qing Caiyue¡¯s head. ¡°Let go, that¡¯s enough.¡±
¡°Whine!¡± Qing Caiyue made a noise and let go of his pants. Instead, she attacked Xia Lei¡¯s finger.
Xia Lei frantically moved his hand away. As he tried his best to dodge her, he yelled, ¡°Xuanyue, didn¡¯t you hear me?! I said that¡¯s enough!¡±
Zhu Xuanyue removed the thermometer from her mouth. Lazily, she drawled, ¡°I thought you were talking to her. Are you telling me to change her back?¡±
Xia Lei was about to affirm the statement but there was a sudden change of mind. He replied, ¡°Wait, can you make her quiet down?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue giggled. ¡°Uncle Xia, you¡¯re so bad! Are you trying to look at her butt?¡±
Xia Lei red at her dangerously. ¡°That¡¯s not it. I got something to say to you, she must not listen to this.¡±
With that, Zhu Xuanyuemanded, ¡°Good doggy, go to sleep.¡±
Qing Caiyue heeded her instructions obediently, gathering herself up against the floor and went to sleep. Weirdly, it didn¡¯t take another second more for Qing Caiyue to be in deep slumber.
Watching the scene, the calmness in Xia Lei was a fa?ade to his extreme shock. He rambled to himself, ¡°With such a power, who could escape death when she instructs it upon you? I should¡¯ve been able to get rid of Ling Han and Yu Shanhe tonight. Too bad...¡°
¡°Uncle Xia, didn¡¯t you want to talk to me? Why are you so quiet?¡± Zhu Xuanyue interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts.
Xia Lei came to the side of the bed. Before he could even sit on the soft surface, he felt an immense whiff of cold air invade his senses. The sudden shift of temperature felt as if he was sent from Jingdu in the autumn to Harbin in the winter. It was bone piercing and physically ufortable. But the most harrowing thing was the aura it gave off!
Xia Lei¡¯s attention was immediately caught by the thermometer in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s grip. The mercury inside was clumped together and there were no signs of a rise. He couldn¡¯t help but feel confused. Qing Caiyue mentioned that Zhu Xuanyue was developing a fever, but how was that possible when the thermometer said otherwise?
¡°Secretary Qing said that you fell into a ditch and got sick. She told me that you developed a fever. Was she the one who examined you?¡± Xia Lei stared straight into Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes.
¡°Yeah, she was the one who checked on me and she was the one who called you,¡± answered Zhu Xuanyue as she blinked her round dark eyes innocently.
¡°Are you sure you¡¯re developing a fever?¡±
¡°I... don¡¯t know. I wasn¡¯t the one who said that.¡± Zhu Xuanyue pointed to Qing Caiyue who was slumped against the floor and continued, ¡°You should ask her.¡±
Ask Qing Caiyue? Zhu Xuanyue was able to control Qing Caiyue¡¯s mind at will. There¡¯s no way to tell apart the words uttered by Qing Caiyue herself or the words fed to her by Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°No need.¡± Xia Lei attempted to pry further. ¡°Where exactly did you go today?¡±
¡°I went into the mountain and fell into a river,¡± answered Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°Really?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue pouted. ¡°I really fell into a river and even got sick. Yet, you¡¯re doubting me and not even worried. I... I...¡±
The woman started to cry. A string of water droplets came gushing down her cheeks.
¡°Shh... Don¡¯t cry. Of course, I¡¯d be worried about you. Why would I try to find out what happened to you if I wasn¡¯t worried?¡± As he spoke, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. His vision immediately prated through Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s skull into her brain.
Under the tough skull was a normally developed brain. However, as soon as he bypassed the regr brain structure to arrive at its core, a piece of glistening material weed his sight. The finding surprised him. Compared to when he first observed the material, its numbers and strength had doubled. Some parts of it were even showing signs of an awakening!
¡°Uncle Xia, what are you looking at?¡± Abruptly, Zhu Xuanyue stared at Xia Lei cautiously.
Suddenly, Xia Lei felt a sharp pain in his left eye. The glistening material in his field of vision was abruptly reced by a span of thick swirling darkness. It wasn¡¯t akin to a night sky voided of stars, it was akin to a powerful ck hole!
What the hell was going on?
Xia Lei was too shocked. This was the first time his X-ray vision had been cut off by an external force.
¡°Uncle Xia, what are you trying to look at?¡± Zhu Xuanyue repeated the question.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, nothing. What did you think I was looking at?¡±
An innocent grin appeared on Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s face. ¡°You¡¯re looking at me. You¡¯re a bad uncle, you kept looking at Aunty Qing¡¯s butt just now.¡±
Without warning, Zhu Xuanyue peeled away her nket. The fabric instion on top of her felt like it was frozen for days. With a swift moment, the fabric slid off her body like an oversized foam sheet.
¡°Pfft!¡± Xia Lei almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
Zhu Xuanyue waspletely naked, exposing all her beauty to the air.
Her body was aesthetically perfect, be it from her height, curves, dimensions, and proportion. She was perfectly crafted to the point where there was no fault to her body. However, that wasn¡¯t the most shocking thing to Xia Lei. The man had found it hard to move his eyes away from her skin, which looked like it was sculpted cautiously from ice. It was wless and translucent, creating an illusion where you could see past her skin to the muscles beneath. Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s beauty was mysterious and reigned superior over jades of the best quality.
¡°Hehe!¡± Zhu Xuanyue hugged the foam sheet-like nket to cover her body. ¡°You¡¯re a bad uncle! See, you¡¯re going to get a sty if you keep staring like that.¡±
Xia Lei broke out of his daze to extend an arm over. He grabbed on Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s wrist tightly. The skin contact transported a wave of chillness into his body but Xia Lei had an extremely strong homeostasis regtion. Before long, his body was already used to the stimtion brought by the bone-piercing coldness.
¡°Uncle Xia? What are you doing? It hurts.¡± Zhu Xuanyue looked pitiful.
In a stern voice, Xia Lei warned, ¡°Xuanyue, tell me the truth. Where exactly did you go today?¡±
¡°I went to the mountains!¡± Zhu Xuanyue was now irritated. Something dangerous shed in her eyes. ¡°This is the second time I¡¯ve repeated myself, stop asking me this!¡±
There was a surge of pressure and danger that gripped Xia Lei¡¯s mind. The man quickly released her wrist and took a step back.
Zhu Xuanyue reverted to her normal state. She looked wronged. ¡°Uncle Xia, please don¡¯t yell and beat me. I swear I¡¯ll listen to you, okay?¡±
The one who was frightened was Xia Lei, not her.
Xia Lei fell silent. He said, ¡°Xuanyue, promise me something. Promise me that you¡¯ll be a good guy and not a viin. No bad deeds are allowed under my watch, got it?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue nodded.
¡°Please do not turn Secretary Qing into a dog again, alright?¡± Xia Lei said.
¡°I don¡¯t mean to bully her too but she keeps bullying me. That¡¯s why I turned her into a dog,¡± defended Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°How did she bully you?¡±
¡°She said I was a rascal and beat my butt.¡±
Xia Lei could onlyugh at that. Having Qing Caiyue teach her etiquette would¡¯ve required some discipline. But Zhu Xuanyue was literally the devil. How was she going to obey Qing Caiyue¡¯s teaching wordlessly? Perhaps it would be best to keep Qing Caiyue away from Zhu Xuanyue. Who knew if Qing Caiyue would be badly injured by Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s actions someday?
¡°Alright, I rest my case.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°But let me ask you onest question. What¡¯s with your body? Why is it so cold?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I ate some things and I became very ufortable...¡± Zhu Xuanyue blinked innocently. ¡°Uncle Xia, I¡¯m really cold. Can you please sleep with me? If you do I¡¯ll take back my words about you growing a sty.¡±
Xia Lei red at her. ¡°That¡¯s enough. Alright, turn Secretary Qing back and have her go to sleep.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Zhu Xuanyue nodded.
Abruptly, Qing Caiyue crawled up from the floor and removed the string around her neck. Following that, she picked up her clothes and underwear that were scattered around the floor and began to dress.
Now fully-clothed, Qing Caiyue went to the exit, opened the door, and left their vicinity nkly.
¡°You should go to sleep too. Good night.¡± Xia Lei too left Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s room.
Exiting the room, Xia Lei watched Qing Caiyue enter the guest room prepared for her. Throughout her journey there, she did not even turn back to spare a nce.
The moonlight remained as pristine as before. The autumn breeze continued to rustle the trees.
Xia Lei stared at the stars above and began to ponder about the mysterious deaths of the body-builders along with Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s odd situation earlier.
Tonight was bound to be another sleepless night.
Chapter 846 - Cunning Women
The afternoon sun was warm.
Tang Yuyan arrived at the Thunder Horse Military Factory by car. At the parking lot, she saw a very ordinary Hongqi car. In it, was a solitary female driver. Her brows furrowed immediately. Although she couldn¡¯t confirm who it belonged to, she had her guesses. A woman¡¯s intuition was rarely wrong.
¡°Is it her? That shameless...¡± Tang Yuyan cursed privately. She hesitated but still entered the office tower in the end towards Xia Lei¡¯s office.
In the hallways, Tang Yuyan met Qing Caiyue bringing some documents to the garage. Qing Caiyue greeted her. ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you Miss Tang? Are you here to meet our director? I¡¯ll let him know you areing.¡±
Tang Yuyan replied, ¡°There is no need. Continue with your work, I¡¯ll look for him myself.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll get going then.¡± Qing Caiyue walked past.
¡°Wait.¡± Tang Yuyan stopped Qing Caiyue. ¡°Is there a guest in Director Xia¡¯s office now?¡±
¡°Yes, Miss Fan is here.¡±
¡°What¡¯s she here for?¡±
¡°Miss Fan made Director Xia some chicken soup. She personally came to deliver it.¡± Qing Caiyue smiled. ¡°Sigh, she¡¯s so nice. She came all the way here just to bring him soup, Director Xia is a lucky man.¡±
These words were like a knife to her heart but Tang Yuyan pretended not to care. She smiled. ¡°Alright, thank you. I¡¯ll go see him now.¡±
Qing Caiyue walked towards the staircase then turned to take a look at Tang Yuyan walking away. She quickly fished out her phone to type a message. ¡°Urgent. Ex-fiancee is here.¡±
One secondter, Xia Lei put down his phone with a smile.
Tang Yuyan came to Xia Lei¡¯s office but did not enter. She stood quietly by the walls, listening for any sounds.
¡°Lei, I helped you get a zero-interest loan and devised a n to recruit more talent.¡± It was Fan Fan¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice followed. ¡°Thank you so much. The Thunder Horse Organization has reached a critical period in its development. The things you helped with are very important.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t have to thank me, we¡¯re going to be family soon. Of course, I¡¯ll help my own family!¡±
¡°Hehe...¡± Xia Leiughed in response.
By the walls, Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart clenched. ¡°Such an idiot, are you going to give away a lifetime of happiness for that?¡±
¡°I know we don¡¯t really have feelings right now but it¡¯lle gradually. I am the type to love slowly. I believe you¡¯ll slowly feel it too...¡± Fan Fan said. ¡°Many leaders have high hopes for our rtionship and they care about us. I am hopeful for our future, Lei, what about you?¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei said. ¡°I thank the leaders for caring so much about me. I... I do not have an opinion on this.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great. Open wide. Drink some soup while it¡¯s still warm,¡± came Fan Fan¡¯s voice.
Tang Yuyan bit her lip. ¡°This is ridiculous! I can¡¯t believe you were defeated just like that! No way, I object!¡±
She reached to grab the door handle.
However, she heard Xia Lei say, ¡°Fan Fan, I have a request. Yuyan has been harmed and I feel bad for her and her family. Yuyan will be taking over Shi¡¯s position soon. I don¡¯t want her to be affected because of this matter. Do you understand what I mean?¡±
Fan Fan replied, ¡°I understand. But this also depends on her capabilities. Our matter was arranged by the organisation. If she forces herself in here as a third party, she definitely won¡¯t be able to take over Shi Boren¡¯s position.¡±
Outside, Tang Yuyan retracted her hand.
Fan Fan continued, ¡°If she¡¯s smart, the Tang family will benefit. If she isn¡¯t, they will suffer. I don¡¯t mind herpeting against me but you know, sometimes three¡¯s a crowd.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Yuyan said she¡¯lle by today. I¡¯ll discuss with her. I really don¡¯t want her and her family to suffer again.¡±
¡°She¡¯sing?¡± asked Fan Fan. ¡°I don¡¯t want to meet her.¡±
¡°Why not?¡±
¡°It¡¯s awkward....¡± Fan Fan said demurely. ¡°Come, open up, drink some chicken soup. Aiya, it spilt on your pants! Don¡¯t move, I¡¯ll wipe it off for you.¡±
¡°No, no, I¡¯ll do it myself.¡±
¡°Hehe, what are you thinking? You¡¯re so bad...¡±
Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t help but imagine the scenario of Fan Fan wiping his pants with a piece of tissue. Tang Yuyan could not bear to stay any longer so she dabbed her eyes and turned to leave.
If she wasn¡¯t a girl from the Tang family, she would have entered Xia Lei¡¯s office at that moment. However, the Tang family¡¯s blood was flowing in her veins. She could not harm her family for her own happiness. She had to make a sacrifice, even if she was unwilling.
In the office, Xia Lei sighed. ¡°She¡¯s gone.¡±
¡°So what if she¡¯s gone? Isn¡¯t this what you want?¡± asked Fan Fan.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°I¡¯m lying to her. Are we bad people?¡±
Fan Fan leaned against Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re a bad man and I¡¯m a bad woman. We make a good pair. In the future, we can have a naughty little kid. Then we¡¯ll all be bad.¡±
His mess with the Tang family had reached an end. But was this the final show? He did not know. Looking at her lonely silhouette, he was filled with guilt.
The next evening rolled around.
A Chevrolet Suburban travelled down the street.
Xia Lei opened the door and Zhu Xuanyue sat at the passenger¡¯s seat. She was holding a teddy bear, looking around at the brightly lit streets with awe.
¡°Don¡¯t y with your toyster,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°When we arrive at the restaurant, you have to follow my instructions. Alright?¡±
¡°Mmm.¡± Zhu Xuanyue nodded solemnly. ¡°Uncle Xia, what do you want me to do?¡±
¡°Do you like ying games?¡±
¡°Yeah, I love ying games!¡±
He smirked. ¡°Then we shall y a game with two other uncles...¡±
Half an hourter, a Toyotand cruiser arrived in front of a Western cuisine restaurant.
Ling Han got out of the car and opened the door for Yu Shanhe.
It was an expensive-looking restaurant but empty inside. Just two customers were present. One was Xia Lei and ady. Ling Han studied her. Thatdy was sitting at a table in the same row as Xia Lei¡¯s table. She wore a long white dress. She sat quietly at the table, looking at her ss of orange juice. She did not look up to look at him or Yu Shanhe.
Xia Lei got up to wee them with a smile. ¡°Brother Ling, Officer Yu, I¡¯ve been waiting! If you hadn¡¯t arrived, I would¡¯ve called.¡±
Yu Shanhe merely nodded slightly.
Ling Han looked at thedy again. ¡°Why is it so quiet here?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I booked the entire restaurant. We¡¯ll be eating and discussing business. I don¡¯t want too many people around us.¡±
¡°And the miss over there?¡±
¡°She¡¯s been here since I arrived. The boss of this restaurant said he can¡¯t kick her out. She was here first, it doesn¡¯t matter if there¡¯s one more person in the room,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Han did not ask more questions. The three of them sat down and the waiter brought a menu over. Xia Lei ordered and requested for an expensive bottle of French Lafite red wine.
When the waiter left, Yu Shanhe remarked, ¡°You don¡¯t have to waste your money like that. Why must you order such expensive wine? We can just drink our local wine.¡±
Feigning awkwardness, Xia Lei said, ¡°My apologies. Next time, next time I¡¯ll order Changchen or Changyu wine.¡±
Ling Han smiled. ¡°Officer Yu, Xia Lei is a billionaire now. We are the ones who got lucky today, would we ever splurge like that on ourselves?¡±
Yu Shanhe replied mildly, ¡°Stop calling me Officer Yu everywhere we go. This is a restaurant, call me Mr Yu. Or Uncle Yu. I¡¯m twenty or thirty years older than you both, I think Uncle is fitting.¡±
Xia Lei and Ling Han looked at each other with a grin. The tension in the air dissolved with this statement.
Ling Han looked at thedy once again. This time, he could see her full breasts, buttocks and thighs. He was not a perverted man. However, thisdy was so beautiful that he had to take a second nce.
Xia Lei said in a low voice, ¡°She¡¯s the most beautiful woman I¡¯ve ever seen. She¡¯ll be good for your eyes.¡±
¡°Mmm.¡± Ling Han coughed awkwardly and turned around. ¡°Brother, don¡¯t tease me like that! Look at the women around you, they¡¯re all gorgeous, aren¡¯t they? Plus, I¡¯m just looking. Everyone can appreciate aesthetic beauty.¡±
¡°Right, right. Aesthetic. Let¡¯s talk business now, forget about her.¡±
The waiter served the dishes and opened a bottle of Lafite red wine.
When the waiter left, Yu Shanhe spoke once again. ¡°Xia Lei, we can get straight to the point.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Xia Lei grinned. ¡°I am a direct person.¡±
¡°Right, then I¡¯ll speak first,¡± said Yu Shanhe. ¡°We had our disagreements but this is not a personal matter. But there are many people¡¯s livelihoods on the line here, I need to help them too.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I understand. I¡¯d do the same.¡±
Ling Han picked up the decanter and poured wine. ¡°That¡¯s great, understanding is the bridge between two people, the foundation of friendship. Let¡¯s toast to this unprecedented meeting.¡±
Ring ring... Ring ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang.
Yu Shanhe and Ling Han looked at each other as a slight smile on the corners of their lips.
Chapter 847 - Crocodiles Have No Friends
It was Shentu Tianyin.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I have to get this.¡± Xia Lei left the table, walked several meters away and stopped to answer her call.
¡°Lei, I...¡± Shentu Tianyin spoke but stopped.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei was puzzled. ¡°Why are you stuttering?¡±
Shentu Tianyin was silent for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to tell you this, I...¡±
¡°You can tell me anything. What is it?¡± Xia Lei had his guesses but he wasn¡¯t sure.
¡°I made a mistake. I¡¯m so sorry.¡± Shentu Tianyin sounded very regretful.
He smiled bitterly. ¡°Is it because of this? How many times have I told you? The past is the past. Every person makes mistakes. We cannot dwell on it.¡±
¡°About that...¡¯¡¯ Shentu Tianyin hesitated but finally said, ¡°I don¡¯t know who reopened the case. Several people came to my house this evening, saying they¡¯re some investigative team. They asked me several questions that were hard to answer. I didn¡¯t want to bother you but I also don¡¯t know what to do, so I...¡±
¡°Are these people still in your house?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Shentu Tianyin sounded frantic. ¡°They even asked me about your father. They were hinting to me that it might have something to do with your father. What should I do?¡±
Xia Lei looked at Yu Shanhe and Ling Han at the table and saw their faint smirks. Suddenly, he understood something.
This was not a meal between friends. It was a negotiation filled with mind games. In order to gain the upper hand, they had hid several tricks up their sleeves. Yu Shanhe and Ling Han had just yed their cards!
Xia Lei turned and said tly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be alright.¡±
¡°But they showed some evidence, I¡¯m worried...¡±
¡°Trust me, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±
¡°Can youe to my ce? I want to talk to you,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°I¡¯m in the middle of a negotiation, I can¡¯t.¡± After a moment of thought, he said, ¡°What about this. Deny everything. If they force you, push all responsibility to me. You don¡¯t need to do anything else. Don¡¯t be afraid.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll do as you say,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei hung up and returned to the table. He smiled. ¡°Women are troublesome, calling me about trivial matters.¡±
Ling Han spoke up, ¡°If it¡¯s an emergency, you don¡¯t have to apany us. You can leave us here. It¡¯s just dinner, we can eat another time.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a serious matter,¡± said Xia Lei with a grin. ¡°It¡¯s my ex-wife, Shentu Tianyin. You must know her.¡±
Ling Han smiled. ¡°The richest woman in China, who doesn¡¯t know her? Is she alright?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the same matter as before. I thought that case had already been closed. I don¡¯t know why some investigators are re-opening the case again.¡±
Yu Shanhe answered tly, ¡°I know about that case. It involves national assets worth billions. With such arge number, it will always be a major case. Xia Lei, I think you should go see her. You were once wed. You should help her when she¡¯s in trouble. Then again, the investigators will definitely give you face.¡±
¡°The investigators are obviously here just to cause trouble. Will they really give me face?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Yu Shanhe said, ¡°If they don¡¯t, then mention my name. I have a little reputation around here.¡±
¡°What do you mean by that?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Ling Han said, ¡°Brother, you don¡¯t have to be embarrassed! We are friends now. Isn¡¯t it normal for friends to help each other?¡±
Yu Shanhe grinned. ¡°We must be as sincere as friends. Xia Lei, I have a n that I¡¯ve been meaning to talk to you about. Today¡¯s a good chance to talk about it.¡±
¡°What sort of n?¡±
¡°Ling, make a call and ask who sent that team. Help Xia Lei settle this problem. I¡¯ll talk to him first,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll call someone.¡± Ling Han stood up and walked to the window. He fished out his phone.
Xia Lei privately thought to himself, ¡°Why are they still putting on a show? This is a restaurant, not a movie set.¡±
Yu Shanhe then said, ¡°My n is for you to work with China Industrial Group.¡±
¡°Work with China Industrial Group? Mr Yu, how?¡± probed Xia Lei.
¡°Research and development of new weaponry and production.¡±
¡°borate.¡±
¡°Shenzhou and your Thunder Horse are both researching the new tank, right? I think ovepping research is a waste of our country¡¯s resources. If bothpanies can share skills and talents, then we can develop a new model. This will benefit the country too.¡±
¡°You have a point. Then what sort of cooperation do you suggest?¡±
¡°Shenzhou has arge team of research personnel and capital machinery. This is what your Thunder Horsecks. Don¡¯t you have a project on rare materials? Let the Shenzhou team participate in the project too. With two organisations working together, you could guarantee results,¡± said Yu Shanhe.
¡°What about production?¡±
Yu Shanhe was still smiling. ¡°You have too many orders. I suggest you delegate some to the China Industrial Group. You just have to provide the technology and product specifications. Shenzhou is arge-scale military manufacturer and has many subsidiarypanies. They can help you increase production.¡±
Xia Leiughed in his heart. Cooperation? More like shameless piggyback riding on hispany. The China Industrial¡¯s tank must¡¯ve been unable to beat Thunder Horse¡¯s tank. The weaker side has to work with the winning side if they can¡¯t win. Aren¡¯t they mooching off Thunder Horse¡¯s work? Once this project ispleted, Shenzhou might just receive more orders than Thunder horse!
As for the project involving new materials, he had already gotten support from the Academy of Sciences, why would he need China Industrial? This cooperation was just cutting a slice of cake out for China Industrial Group!
¡°Xia Lei, what do you think?¡± Yu Shanhe looked at him in anticipation.
Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s a major decision, I need to think about it.¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Yu Shanhe turned to look at Ling Han. Thetter kept his phone and walked over.
¡°How was the discussion?¡± asked Ling Han with a grin.
Yu Shanhe said, ¡°Xia Lei said he¡¯ll think about it.¡±
Ling Han¡¯s brows were slightly furrowed. ¡°Brother, I almost got into a fight over your ex-wife¡¯s case. You¡¯ve seen how sincere I am, no? You can¡¯t do this alone forever. It¡¯s arge cake, how can you swallow the entire thing? If you eat the cake, everyone¡¯s going to starve. Help others and you¡¯ll get a lot in return. If everyone helps each other, it¡¯s a win-win for all.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Both of you are implying I should join your team then?¡±
Yu Shanhe did not speak.
Ling Han said, ¡°You can put it that way. You must be unwilling to stand alone against so many people, right? If you¡¯re happy, everyone¡¯s happy. You¡¯re already worth billions, you won¡¯t be able to spend it all in two lifetimes. You¡¯ve done so much, but you¡¯re not a politician either. Why do you want to put yourself in such a lonely ce?¡±
Yu Shanhe interjected, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll call you Little Xia as a friend. Little Xia, our life is short. Why do you want to earn so much? Sometimes, you can take a step back and your life will change.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°You both really put a lot of effort into this. First you send investigators to dig up dirt on my ex-wife, then youe here to convince me to help you. You both never had ns to reconcile. You¡¯re just here to force me into cooperation, right?¡±
Both their faces darkened.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°I think you¡¯re both overestimating your own strengths. Do you think you can make me crumble just over some trivial matter with my ex-wife? I¡¯ve always taken responsibility for that, and I¡¯m still living well, no?¡±
Ling Hanughed coldly. ¡°Brother, you spoil the fun.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not spoiling the fun, you just don¡¯t have enough cards in your hand,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What about your father¡¯s case?¡± asked Ling Han coldly. ¡°He¡¯s part of the special forces of our enemy.¡±
¡°I have a pardon.¡± Xia Lei remained unbothered.
To Yu Shanhe, with his position and pride, plus Shentu Tianyin¡¯s old dirt and Xia Changhe¡¯s special identity, even if Xia Lei did not agree to all of his conditions, he would stillpromise something. His own identity was actually one of his cards in his negotiation, yet he didn¡¯t expect Xia Lei to say no even after making so many offers!
After a short moment of silence, Yu Shanhe said, ¡°Xia Lei, you think I won¡¯t take action just because of your position? Alright, even if I can¡¯t touch you now, you think I can¡¯t touch the people around you? Or perhaps you don¡¯t think I have the capability to?¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Mr Yu, I think I¡¯m more used to this side of you. I was very ufortable with the front you put up just now.¡±
¡°Hmmph!¡± Yu Shanhe said coldly. ¡°Ling Han, call the investigative team. Tell them to capture Shentu Tianyin. Bring her away for interrogation.¡±
¡°Brother, is this really necessary? Isn¡¯t it better for everyone to make money together, to grow rich together?¡± Ling Han took out his phone and looked at Xia Lei, waiting for his answer.
Xia Lei said tly, ¡°I have forgiven many people because they were worth my forgiveness. I have many friends and some are willing to die for me. But I will never forgive you two because you do not deserve it. I will never be your friend. You are both crocodiles who would eat your own partner. How will you ever make friends?¡±
Yu Shanhe instructed coldly, ¡°Make the call, let¡¯s not waste time with him. Get them to bring Shentu Tianyin away. Then send people to investigate Haizhu, the policewoman. See if she has done anything illegal.¡±
Ling Han dialled his phone.
¡°Wait,¡± said Xia Lei.
Ling Han stopped. ¡°Changed your mind?¡±
Xia Lei then turned to thedy sitting quietly aside and asked, ¡°Hey Miss, wannae over here for a drink?¡±
Chapter 848 - Dead End
Mostdies would ignore guys who yell like that. However, thedy in a long white dress got up and walked over.
She had a beautiful figure, so gorgeous that she would be crowned the queen of beauties and no one would argue. From her face to her body, even the most critical people would not be able to find one w.
When she was seated, she was pretty. But when she got up and walked, even Yu Shanhe and Ling Han were stunned. She had a special aura to her, like a fairy from the legends. She felt sacred and powerful. At first nce, you¡¯d think she was very confident. At second nce you¡¯d realise it was a force more than confidence, it was as if she ruled the world!
However, this aura disappeared suddenly as she walked.
She tripped and fell unto Xia Lei, one of her heels fell on the floor.
¡°Stupid! Stupid shoe!¡± Thedy bared her shiny teeth and red at the high heel shoe on the floor. ¡°I¡¯ll chop you to pieces when I get home!¡±
Ling Han and Yu Shanhe couldn¡¯t help but take a look at each other.
Who was thisdy?
How could such a prettydy sound so crazy?
¡°Mmm.¡± Xia Lei cleared his throat. ¡°Miss, you alright?¡±
¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Thedy bent over to pick her shoe up then sat on the chair and put it on.
Ling Han watched her intently, cautious against her every move.
When she was done putting on her shoe, she looked up at him. ¡°What are you looking at? I¡¯ll scratch your eyes out!¡±
Ling Han suddenly said, ¡°You both know each other?¡±
¡°Yes, she¡¯s my friend,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yu Shanhe suddenly mmed the table. ¡°Xia Lei! What are you trying to do by inviting her here?¡±
¡°She¡¯s just here for a drink with us?¡± Xia Lei said with a smile. ¡°Do you really have to be so nervous?¡±
Yu Shanhe said coldly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to waste time with you. Little Ling, call them.¡±
Ling Han picked up his phone to dial the investigation team.
Xia Lei turned to thedy. ¡°Get him to make a call to instruct the investigators to leave the ce and destroy all evidence at hand.¡±
Thedy blinked, staring with herrge eyes. She pointed a finger at Ling Han seated opposite her. ¡°Uncle Xia, him?¡±
¡°Yes, him,¡± said Xia Lei.
Thedy turned to Ling Han, her re suddenly turned peculiar and deep. In a moment, she turned into another person. If she was an angel a few moments ago, she was a demon now!¡±
Ling Han froze.
Yu Shanheughed instead. ¡°Xia Lei, are you joking?¡±
However, Ling Han suddenly dialled a number and spoke into the phone, ¡°Retreat. Destroy all evidence.¡±
Yu Shanhe¡¯s smile froze.
Ling Han put down his phone and sat unmovingly. His gaze was empty like he had lost his soul.
Yu Shanhe suddenly sensed danger and prepared to leave. However, he realised he could not control his legs. Standing up from a chair was something a toddler could do, yet he couldn¡¯t!
¡°You... You...¡± Yu Shanhe paused. ¡°What did you do to me?¡±
Xia Lei said calmly, ¡°Just let him sit there like an honest man. I have to talk to him. He may speak but not loudly.¡±
¡°Alright, he¡¯ll be good,¡± said thedy.
There was only onedy who could do such a thing. Zhu Xuanyue. It was too bad Yu Shanhe and Ling Han were both not aware of her existence. If they did, they would never have agreed to dinner!
A surge of panic flooded his systems, Yu Shanhe lost control of his emotions as he roared, ¡°Help!¡±
He had used all his energy to yell but to no avail. His voice sounded like it wasing from the speaker of a phone!
Sweat sprouted from his forehead but he could not move to wipe it.
Xia Lei said monotonously, ¡°Yu Shanhe, you are powerful but that doesn¡¯t make me afraid. The Americans and Japanese couldn¡¯t kill me, what made you think you could? On the contrary, it will be easy for me to kill you.¡±
¡°You... You better watch out! I... I am not someone you can touch.¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s voice was faint but he tried hard so Xia Lei could hear him.
¡°Killing you would bring many consequences, so I will not kill you. However, you don¡¯t know that your bosses have already been conducting investigations on you, right?¡±
¡°You... What are you saying? Bring me to the hospital and we can forget our past. I guarantee not to cause you any trouble.¡± He was terrified.
¡°Why should I agree?¡± asked Xia Lei coldly. ¡°You must still remember the information you had Song Baicheng leak to the Japanese, right? Four of my good friends died during the operation at Dawang. They were my family. You killed four of my family members, you think I can forget it?¡±
¡°You... what nonsense are you spouting!¡± Yu Shanhe raged.
¡°You didn¡¯t just kill my people, you even killed Song Baicheng and his family. Also, you made so many ns to stop the development of the Thunder Horse Organisation. You would not hesitate to betray the country for your own benefits. You¡¯re a greedy man. How will you face Death when you get to hell?¡±
¡°Let me go!¡± Yu Shanhe roared but it was so faint only Xia Lei could hear him.
Xia Lei leaned forward to his face and lowered his voice. ¡°I¡¯ll let you go but you¡¯re at a dead end.¡±
Fear, shock, hatred, regret. All the emotions surged upon his being but he could not do a thing. At this moment, thedy next to Xia Lei lifted a ss of wine. She did not drink, just held it in her hand. At his surprise, the wine froze until rose-coloured ice was left in the ss!
¡°Uncle Xia, he¡¯s looking at me.¡± Zhu Xuanyue put down the ss and pointed at Yu Shanhe like a tattletale kid who was bullied.
¡°What do you want to do about it?¡± Xia Lei asked with a smile.
¡°I want him to be a dog, like Secretary Qing.¡±
Xia Lei recalled how Qing Caiyue ¡®became a dog¡¯, arching her ass in the air as she carried a piece of sausage in her mouth. However, he absolutely did not want to see Yu Shanhe and Ling Han do that. Just the thought was enough to make him nauseous.
¡°What about we y a game for them to tell the truth.¡±
¡°Tell the truth?¡± Zhu Xuanyue looked at him nkly.
¡°Yeah, a game to tell the truth.¡± Xia Lei took out his phone. ¡°Get him to confess to everything bad he has ever done. More importantly, talk about anything rted to bribery and corruption. And how he leaked information to the Japanese through Ling Han and Song Baicheng, and how he killed Song Baicheng¡¯s family.¡±
¡°How is that fun? I already know what is in his head. I can tell you that, I don¡¯t need him to tell you.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°How do you know?¡±
If Zhu Xuanyue hadn¡¯t told him, he wouldn¡¯t have known!
He thought his extraordinary vision in his left eye was already a very special thing, but it paled inparison to Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s superpower!
She knew everything in Yu Shanhe¡¯s head without moving a muscle! Could anyone keep a secret from her?
This was terrifying!
After a pause, he probed. ¡°Can you tell me what¡¯s in my head?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue thought for a moment. ¡°Hmm, something shiny. It¡¯s ck, like a room without light.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked.
It was exactly what he was thinking?!
A bold hypothesis came to him. ¡°Unless... would the final evolution be something like her? Or like that guy in ck? I might be like them!¡±
Xia Lei suddenly forgot why he was here. He had many guesses and hypotheses, all a mess in his head. However, he had no answers.
¡°Uncle Xia, it¡¯s very boring I can¡¯t see anything in your head. When will you let me?¡± said Zhu Xuanyue, interrupting his train of thought.
He snapped back to reality and frowned. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to.¡±
¡°But I can¡¯t see anything.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t see anything and you¡¯re not allowed to!¡±
¡°Fine, you don¡¯t have to get so angry,¡± she pouted like she was wronged.
Xia Lei finally understood why she was only afraid of him. It was because he was the only person she couldn¡¯t control! If he was like a regr person, he would be like her dog by now!
¡°You... You...¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s voice shook more violently. ¡°Who... Who the hell are you both?¡±
Xia Lei leaned forward to his face and said in a low voice, ¡°We were the people tasked with sending you to hell. Perhaps in your next life when you have repaid all your debts, I will tell you why.¡± Then, he opened the camera on his phone. ¡°Xuanyue, let¡¯s begin.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s gaze fell on him and she gave a mild look.
Yu Shanhe¡¯s eyes suddenly became empty. He stared at Xia Lei¡¯s phone and started to speak slowly.
He began to recall every shady and illegal deal or act he hadmitted.
Ling Han sat next to him, unmoving like a piece of wood.
Zhu Xuanyue continued ying with the frozen ss of red wine as if it was very interesting.
This was a peculiar scene yet no one looked over. No one asked questions either. That was because, in this restaurant, Xia Lei was the only normal person there!
Chapter 849 - Zombies And Perverts
It was quiet in the restaurant. Only the voices of Yu Shanhe and Ling Han¡¯s confessions were heard. They confessed to all the shady criminal acts they had done as if speaking about it over tea.
Xia Lei had already expected Yu Shanhe and Ling Han to be bad. But through their ¡®honest confessions¡¯, he realised they were eviler than he could ever imagine. Their blood was darker than squid ink.
¡°I made Song Baicheng¡¯s woman kill him. I¡¯ve known her for a while now and we have been intimate before. Song Baicheng¡¯s son is actually my son...¡± came Ling Han¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei suddenly pitied Song Baicheng. He worked so hard for Ling Han, yet Ling Han made his wife pregnant. In the end, his wife killed him. This was more than tragic.
¡°Uncle Xia, I¡¯m hungry.¡± Zhu Xuanyue shook Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
¡°Shhh.¡± Xia Lei gestured for her not to speak, then pointed at the food on the table.
She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat those, I want to go to the toilet.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
Zhu Xuanyue got up and left. Her absence did not affect the ultimate control she had over Yu Shanhe and Ling Han. Ling Han was still confessing to the camera.
Xia Lei looked towards the washroom and saw her walk inside. Turning back, he privately marvelled. ¡®Such a scary woman, where the hell is she from?¡±
Crash! There was the sound of ss shattering in the washroom.
His brows furrowed. ¡°Is she smashing ss in the toilet?¡± However, he did not check with his special vision. It was just a ss. If he did, he¡¯d be a peeping tom.
It took her ten whole minutes to return.
At this point, Xia Lei had already finished recording the video he wanted.
Ling Han and Yu Shanhe sat like blocks of wood, staring emptily in front of them. Just as Xia Lei was ready for Zhu Xuanyue to make the next move, they both stood up from their chairs then walked to the entrance.
Someone was looking inside but they left after seeing the ¡®closed¡¯ sign at the door.
Xia Lei asked curiously, ¡°You made them leave?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue nodded. ¡°Yes, I want them to y a new game.¡±
¡°What game?¡±
¡°Banging cars.¡± Zhu Xuanyue grinned. ¡°I want them to run into each other. Who do you think will win?¡±
Xia Lei tried to speak up but the words were caught in his mouth.
¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go watch!¡± she skipped over.
¡°Wait!¡± Xia Lei chased after her. ¡°Stop it! These two cannot die.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Zhu Xuanyue looked at him, puzzled. ¡°These two bad men are your enemies. You¡¯re going to let them go?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°They¡¯ll die but not by my hands. Make them give me the stuff they hid. Forget about everything else.¡±
She pouted. ¡°Fine. this game is boring.¡±
Four people left the western restaurant.
Xia Lei did not realise the ss of frozen wine had already melted, he didn¡¯t notice she seemed a lot more energetic either.
Ling Han left in the Land Cruiser with Yu Shanhe inside. They did not interact and it was eerily quiet.
As the car drove out of his sight, Xia Lei started his Chevrolet and drove in the opposite direction.
There were cameras controlled by the police in the streets. He did not want to leave evidence that he was following their car. After this incident, even if anyone found anything, they¡¯d see that he had dinner with Yu Shanhe and Ling Han and drove home afterwards. And that was it.
He drove several kilometres towards Bailu before stopping in a secluded area without cameras. He then proceeded to retrieve two human-like masks. One for himself, one for Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei put it on quickly but she was still holding it, flipping it over and peering closer.
¡°Put it on,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, it¡¯s ugly.¡± Zhu Xuanyue vehemently denied
¡°Be good!¡± Xia Lei said sternly. ¡°Put it on, we¡¯ll go home when we get the stuff we need.¡±
¡°Will you sleep with me? I¡¯ll go if you will.¡±
¡°Nonsense! A man and a woman cannot simply sleep on the same bed!¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going. I¡¯m also not making the two men get the stuff you want.¡± Zhu Xuanyue ced the mask on herp, sulking.
¡°I¡¯ll hit you.¡± Xia Lei red at her.
Zhu Xuanyue rolled her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m stronger than you.¡±
He could scold her, but she won¡¯t listen. If he hit her, she¡¯d overpower him. On the surface, he was the only one who could control her. However, if she was throwing a tantrum like a disobedient child, Xia Lei could not do a thing.
¡°So what do you want?¡± Xia Lei looked at the watch on his wrist. Fifteen minutes had passed. He was desperate.
¡°Sleep with me, I want a warm bed,¡± she said staring at him.
He hesitated and finally said, ¡°Fine, I promise.¡±
¡°Pinky promise.¡± She stretched one of her hands over. ¡°Don¡¯t change your mind or you¡¯re a dog.¡±
He did it while muttering, ¡°As if you can make me a dog if I change my mind. You can¡¯t control me.¡±
Only he could hear his own mutterings. However, in the next second, she said, ¡°I can¡¯t make you a dog but I can make other people dogs. If you change your mind, I¡¯ll make everyone dogs!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s face darkened.
Although he really wanted to spank her, Xia Lei had to be patient and help her with her human skin mask. He became a middle-aged man and a middle-aged woman. They hailed a taxi and they drove towards where Ling Han headed.
Weirdly, the driver did not ask where he was going. He merely drove quietly at a very high speed.
This person had not been to Yu Shanhe and Ling Han¡¯s house but Zhu Xuanyue was now the ¡®navigator¡¯. This GPS did not need verbal instructions, she just had to control him.
¡°Xuanyue, do you know where your hometown is?¡± Xia Lei probed.
¡°My hometown...¡± She scrunched her eyebrows and thought for a moment. ¡°I can¡¯t remember.¡±
¡°Do you remember if you have any family? Like parents, siblings?¡±
She shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t remember. You¡¯re the first person I saw when I opened my eyes. You¡¯re both my mom and dad.¡± Suddenly, she burrowed into his arms and blinked herrge eyes. ¡°Do you want to be my father or mother?¡±
An evil urge suddenly urred to him. He could not stand it any longer causing him to p her bottom. ¡°Do not say that! I¡¯m just Uncle Xia, do not call me mom or dad! Understood?¡±
¡°That felt so good, can you spank me again?¡± she said demurely, snuggling into his arms.
The friction brought with it excitement and sparks. She was just a child, yet physically, she was the perfect specimen. Her request and bodynguage made Xia Lei¡¯s mind fall into chaos. He could not control his biological response and his pants seem to bulge.
¡°Uncle Xia, what is that?¡±
¡°Uh... a pen.¡±
¡°Who puts a pen in their pants?¡±
¡°I do.¡±
¡°You¡¯re lying, let me see.¡±
¡°What are you doing? Take your hand away? I¡¯ll spank you!¡±
¡°Mm!¡± Her eyes grew excited once again, crouching over his knee and arching her bottom while shaking. ¡°Hurry, hurry, hurry! Uncle Xia¡¯s going to spank me! Spank me!¡±
Xia Lei banged his head against the car window.
Half an hourter, the rented car stopped.
Xia Lei stuffed a hundred bucks into the driver¡¯s pocket then got off with Zhu Xuanyue.
A few secondster, the driver shook his head and looked around in confusion. He saw Xia Lei and Zhu Xuanyue by the road and asked, ¡°Want a ride?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No thank you.¡±
The driver left.
Xia Lei studied the gates. There was a watchtower at the gate with soldiers carrying real weapons. Without a pass, no one could enter such an area.
Just this moment, the Land Cruiser drove out of the gates. Ling Han was driving and he stopped by the road next to Xia Lei and Zhu Xuanyue.
The car door opened. Yu Shanhe, sitting in the back seat and tossed a cardboard box out.
There were documents, ounts, property certificates. Xia Lei was surprised to see stacks of property ownership certificates.
¡°He has other good stuff hiding around. I can get him to bring them for you,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei said, ¡°There¡¯s no need. This is enough.¡±
The video and these things were enough for Long Bing to seal her case shut.
Yu Shanhe closed his car door.
Ling Han started the car and drove ahead.
Xia Lei asked curiously, ¡°Where are you bringing them?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±
¡°I¡¯m just making them drive forever and ever. How would I know?¡± After a pause, she had an idea. ¡°What if I make them go to Moscow? I saw on TV that a woman said people were queuing for hours to buy bread. They won¡¯t be able to get bread in Moscow if I send them there.¡±
Xia Lei had no response for that.
Chapter 850 - A Scary Night
Once all the documents in the box were sorted, about fifty property certificates worth billions were uncovered. Yet this was only the tip of the iceberg. There were several investment agreements in the box. Agreements for foreign investmentpanies to invest also billions of US dors. There were other documents proving he wasmitting treason by selling national property. Yu Shanhe was a man of many crimes.
Once these documents see the light, Yu Shanhe would suffer if he did not die. His political career would be nonexistent. He¡¯d be lucky if he came out of this alive.
After dealing with everything, Xia Lei wanted to call Long Bing. However, he stopped after thinking of something. He¡¯d do it tomorrow. Right now, he had to fulfil a promise. Zhu Xuanyue had helped him deal with Yu Shanhe and Ling Han. This was the equivalent of killing off two of his most powerful enemies in this country. This girl only had one request which was to sleep with him. How could he not fulfil this? More importantly, if he did not do it, he¡¯d have too many dogs running around.
¡°Uncle Xia, hurry up.¡± The little devil in the bed lifted the nket and stared at him. ¡°Hurry, I want to sleep with you!¡±
The nket unravelled to reveal crystal clear skin and her white breasts. Her eyes seemed like they were begging for him. His mind was a mess. Just sleeping on the same bed felt like a crime.
¡°Come on,e on!¡± Zhu Xuanyue was impatient, kicking the nket.
The nket was kicked off in a moment, revealing her luscious legs. It was as if they were carved from jadestone, clear and wless. Her belly was smooth with some baby fat, plus her waist gave him the urge to hug it.
His urge was strong but he could not overthink this. The more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt. He stubbornly went over to the bed, took off his shoes and hid under the nket. He would rather have Zhu Xuanyue on him instead of the nket.
¡°Uncle Xia, do you usually sleep with clothes on?¡± Zhu Xuanyue asked curiously.
¡°Yeah, I usually sleep in clothes,¡± he said, not daring to look into her eyes.
¡°You liar!¡±
¡°Why would I lie? It¡¯s true, I sleep in clothes,¡± Xia Lei said solemnly.
¡°I saw you sleep with that Fan Fan naked.¡±
Xia Lei gulped.
¡°Take off your clothes.¡± She reached over to grab his clothes.
Her hand was cold like ice.
Frantically, he said, ¡°You¡¯re so cold. If I take my clothes off, I¡¯ll get sick. Be a good girl. We¡¯ll just go to sleep like this. Or I won¡¯t sleep here.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
¡°Really.¡± He was already in a temperature regtion mode. He could fight in just his underwear on the snowy mountains of Dawang. This was nothing for him. He wanted to sleep in clothes because he was afraid of what he might do.
Zhu Xuanyue snuggled into his arms, one hand over his waist and one leg on his leg.
He froze, almost feeling the warm surge over his body. Yet he bitterly suppressed it, not moving a muscle.
She whispered into his ear, ¡°Uncle Xia, you feel so warm. I love sleeping with you.¡±
¡°Then sleep. Let¡¯s not talk.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± She closed her eyes and nudged her cheek on his face, like a kitten.
He heaved a sigh of relief. She¡¯s finally going to sleep.
One secondter, she opened her eyes. ¡°Uncle Xia, I can¡¯t sleep. Your pen is moving around.¡±
¡°Go to sleep!¡±
¡°It really is moving, I¡¯m not lying.¡±
¡°Go to sleep! If you¡¯re not sleeping, I¡¯m leaving.¡±
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll sleep.¡± She closed her eyes.
Xia Lei watched her in his peripheral vision nervously. He was terrified she might ask him another odd question.
Three secondster, she opened her eyes and stared at him. She chuckled. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you sleeping yet?¡±
He wanted to bang his head against the wall.
¡°Uncle Xia, you¡¯re so warm. Can you sleep with me every day?¡±
¡°Just kill me.¡±
¡°Why would I kill you? I could kill everyone else but not you,¡± she said.
He felt a chill down his spine. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to say things like that again, nor can you think such a thing. Everyone has a life. You cannot kill the innocent. Lives are precious.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have a choice. When I¡¯m hungry, I feel like killing,¡± she said.
His heart clenched. ¡°Is that true?¡±
Realising that she misspoke, she shut her mouth and closed her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep. Yawn... I¡¯m tired.¡±
He couldn¡¯t let her sleep now. ¡°Tell me, you always say you¡¯re hungry but you always eat so little as if you have no appetite. Why is that?¡±
Snores filled the room.
He frowned. ¡°I know you¡¯re not asleep. Talk to me, answer my questions.¡±
More snoring ensued.
Xia Lei suddenly pinched her bottom.
¡°Ouch!¡± Her eyes sprung open and she looked at him, teary-eyed with a glint of excitement.
He froze and regretted it.
¡°Uncle Xia, do it again,¡± she burrowed in his arms. ¡°Spank me, spank me! I beg you.¡±
Xia Lei changed the topic. ¡°Uh, tell me, do you remember a person d in ck clothing, super powerful?¡±
¡°Spank me.¡± She grabbed his hand and moved it to her rear.
¡°Tell me and I¡¯ll spank you,¡± Xia Lei said, suppressing the feeling that this was wrong.
¡°No, I don¡¯t remember. What kind of clothing? The kind Fan Fan wears?¡±
¡°That¡¯s a tuxedo!¡±
¡°Like Secretary Qing?¡±
¡°That¡¯s a pantyhose!¡±
¡°Then I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I¡¯ll let you know if I do. I¡¯ve answered your question,e spank me!¡± She arched her back.
Xia Lei closed his eyes and one secondter, there was snoring.
¡°You¡¯re lying, you¡¯re not asleep!¡±
This time it was his turn to snore.
¡°Wake up, Uncle Xia!¡±
Snore...
¡°Hmmph, you liar! I¡¯m not talking to you!¡± Shey down, bottom towards Xia Lei and pouted.
He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s good she¡¯s angry. Then she won¡¯te over. Please, I hope she sleeps.¡±
Two secondster, Zhu Xuanyue tossed and burrowed into his arms. One hand on his waist, another thigh on his.
He sighed helplessly.
¡°Mm, this isfortable.¡± She nudged her cheek on his and chuckled. ¡°Your pen is very odd. You¡¯re sleeping, yet it¡¯s still moving. Is it some automatic pen?¡±
He almost vomited blood.
This was the most difficult night he had endured in his life. Every minute was as long as an hour.
On the second morning, Xia Lei rose before the sun.
Zhu Xuanyue was still sleeping, wrapped in nkets like a tortoise. Xia Lei had crawled out of there.
She didn¡¯t notice he had left. There was a little drool on her mouth and she was smiling. Not sure what she dreamt about.
Walking out of her room, he saw the crack of dawn. The cool breeze blew across his face and he felt the fire in him calm down. He heaved a huge sigh of relief and dragged his tired body into the dining hall.
¡°Director Xia, what would you like for breakfast?¡± the private chef asked.
¡°Whatever will do. Uh, give me some healing porridge.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll make you some lotus seed soup.¡± The chef ran off to make breakfast.
Xia Lei turned on the TV to watch the news.
The screen showed a street with many police cars. Many policemen were keeping order there. There was a crowd watching outside the red tape too, it was chaos.
¡°What happened?¡± Xia Lei was engrossed.
The screen showed a row of bodies.
Ady appeared on the screen with a microphone. ¡°Good morning. I am now in front of a beauty centre. There was a terrorist attackst night here. The terrorists used unknown nerve gas in the centre, killing everyone inside. There have been thirty-one deaths so far. No organisation has imed responsibility for this attack...¡±
His gaze fell on the corner of the screen. He was shocked.
That was the western restaurant he, Yu Shanhe and Ling Han were eating atst night!
¡°Nerve gas again? Could it be the people who attacked the gym? If they were terrorists, they should have imed responsibility by now...¡± He suddenly thought of something and a chill went down his spine. Cold sweat sprouted out of his forehead.
The news droned on but he could not watch any longer.
He got up and walked into Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s room.
He reached for the door handle when he arrived at the door.
A few secondster, he let go, turned around and left.
Chapter 851 - The Devils Food
After breakfast, Long Bing¡¯s car arrived.
Xia Lei got in the car, carrying only a bag.
¡°What¡¯s in the bag?¡± asked Long Bing curiously.
Xia Lei said, ¡°It¡¯s for you. You can check it when you return.¡±
¡°Money?¡± Long Bing furrowed her brows. ¡°I don¡¯t need your money.¡±
He smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not money. Just open it when you get home.¡±
¡°No, I want to see.¡± She reached to grab the bag.
He swatted her hand. ¡°Be careful, focus on the road. I¡¯ll tell you.¡± With a pause, he said, ¡°It¡¯s all the property certificates, ounts detailing corruption and briberies, investments owned by Yu Shanhe.¡±
Long Bing was stunned for a moment andughed. ¡°You¡¯re joking right?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not.¡± He was very serious.
¡°Hehehe...¡± She chuckled. ¡°You think I¡¯ll believe you? I know you have a good friend who can steal very well but even he would not be able to steal anything in the house. Especially not evidence of his crimes. It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ll checkter. If it really is money, I¡¯m giving it back to you.¡±
He sighed. ¡°Does no one believe me anymore? It¡¯s fine if other people don¡¯t believe me, but you?¡±
Long Bing suddenly reached to pinch his waist.
He pinched her thigh back.
They almost fought in the car, pinching and grabbing at each other. In the beginning, there were some boundaries but it escted quickly into more inappropriate ces.
After a while, they finally stopped.
Long Bing¡¯s cheeks were red and her eyes teary. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the case at the beauty centre, I would¡¯ve brought you to the forest.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Haven¡¯t you had enough? We can do it anytime you want.¡±
They started flirting once again.
They had been acting like a couple for a long time. Although she was usually quiet, there was nothing she couldn¡¯t say around Xia Lei. Most of the time, she voluntarily flirted with him too. Only with him, she could feel the joy of being a woman.
¡°Was it really a terrorist attack?¡± He finally pulled the topic back.
¡°That¡¯s what the bosses say. But I think something¡¯s wrong. It must not be this simple but I can¡¯t ce my finger on it,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Still no evidence?¡±
She shook her head. ¡°No. Bureau 101¡¯s experts had already scoured the entire ce but found no traces. No suspicious footprints, fingerprints, blood, DNA or otherwise. The higher-ups have given us an ultimatum. Find out who is behind this or more people die.¡±
The experts¡¯ death, athlete¡¯s death and now customers of a beauty salon. Although he did not see the bodies, he guessed that their deaths were simr. He was nervous.
If he was right, then he did not know what to do.
¡°Lei, you¡¯ve seen quite a number of deaths. Tell me what could cause a human brain to lose its water content and shrivel quickly?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, did the victims¡¯ brains shrivel?¡±
Long Bing borated, ¡°They performed several autopsies and the results were the same. The brains lost most of its water content, then shrivelled and rotted as if they had been dead for a long time.¡±
Xia Lei knew of this but couldn¡¯t exin how he knew. All he could do was pretend not to know. This was arge secret. It¡¯s contents were more destructive than a bomb!
¡°It¡¯s such a huge case, who¡¯s in charge?¡± asked Xia Lei, changing the topic.
¡°Boss Shi volunteered. This will be hisst mission before his retirement. I hope he gets a nice closure to his career. He made me and Liang Siyao his assistants, Liang Siyao is already waiting at the salon,¡± she said.
¡°Aren¡¯t you already in charge of a time-sensitive case? And they decided to give you another one? What is this?¡± He knew what this was but this still made him very ufortable.
Long Bing smiled bitterly. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I understand. It¡¯ll be great for everyone if I leave. If any responsibility has to fall on someone, I¡¯ll take it.¡±
¡°No way!¡± he shouted. ¡°You might understand but I don¡¯t! How could they shun you like that? You love your job, they cannot do this. This is unfair.¡±
¡°The world is unfair.¡± She smiled. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s not talk about me. How are you and Fan Fan progressing?¡±
¡°Haven¡¯t I told you? It¡¯s all fake between us. Oh, right, how could I have forgotten?¡± Xia Lei suddenly grinned. ¡°She is influential enough to talk to powerful people. I can get her to say a few words so you can stay. Also, you¡¯ll solve Yu Shanhe¡¯s case. How could they send you away when you¡¯ve made such an achievement?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have confidence in that case. I won¡¯t be able to solve it. However, if Fan Fan can put in a few words for me, I think it could improve my situation.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll solve it, I¡¯m sure. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll help,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then... thank you.¡± Long Bing gave a sincere smile.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Do you have to thank me? You¡¯re so practical. You actually wanted me to get Fan Fan¡¯s help but you never asked.¡±
¡°I couldn¡¯t ask! She¡¯s your fiancee, it¡¯s best you offer. Right, does she know about our rtionship?¡±
¡°She does.¡±
¡°Huh? Will she still help me?¡±
¡°Both of us have an agreement. Even if we are officially married, she can¡¯t control me. I can be with anyone I want and she won¡¯t bother me.¡±
¡°You can do that?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yes, because I¡¯m Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Idiot.¡± She suddenly squealed, ¡°Don¡¯t touch me, I¡¯m driving!¡±
¡°You dare call me an idiot?¡±
¡°Idiot!¡±
¡°You must be doing this on purpose?¡±
¡°Mmm...¡±
They were back in the city. He returned to the western restaurant on the same street. It was just two minutes away from the beauty salon.
¡°You¡¯re both finally here.¡± Liang Siyao hurried over and smiled at both of them. ¡°What have you been doing? You took so long.¡±
Xia Lei said shyly, ¡°It¡¯s early, we shouldn¡¯t talk about it.¡±
Long Bing red at him.
Liang Siyao pointed at his crotch and said gently, ¡°Your zipper¡¯s open.¡±
He looked down and saw that the fly was opened. He wanted nothing more than for the earth to swallow him whole.
Long Bing blushed too. ¡°Where¡¯s Boss Shi?¡±
¡°Inside. Follow me.¡± Liang Siyao was calm but there was a pained look in her eyes. She was a traditional woman. When she saw the man she loved being intimate with another, it was very unsettling. This was the difference between Long Bing and herself. Long Bing did not care who he was with.
The three of them went to the salon but he looked at the back wall of the western restaurant.
He saw a window. Its ss was broken.
He suddenly recalled hearing something like shattered ssst night. That was when Zhu Xuanyue was in the toilet!
¡°You all go first, or Boss Shi will get mad. I¡¯lle as soon as I can.¡± Xia Lei did not borate, striding over to the western restaurant.
¡°What¡¯s he doing?¡± Liang Siyao asked.
Long Bing answered, ¡°I don¡¯t know, this isn¡¯t the first time he¡¯s done this. Don¡¯t you know your man?¡±
¡°What? My man, and yet you¡¯re having sex with him?
¡°Siyao, we both know that we¡¯re not innocent in this game. Get off your high horse and you¡¯ll have more joy in your life.¡± Long Bing crossed her arms and walked into the centre before Liang Siyao could speak.
Liang Siyao looked unwillingly at Xia Lei, who was already at the wall, then cursed him. ¡°Unfaithful bastard!¡±
At the wall behind the western restaurant, Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. He could see everything inside the wall.
The female toilet was behind the wall.
While the shattered ss had already been cleaned off, there were still pieces on the ground.
He saw a string of thread caught on a piece of ss.
There were no footprints or other traces, just this thread. It was pink. Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank.
His guess was right.
The experts, the athletes at the gym and the people in the beauty centre were all killed by one person, Zhu Xuanyue!
He recalled what happened yesterday.
She said she was hungry, yet she went to the washroom. There was the sound of ss shattering. She was gone for only ten minutes. She was more energetic when she returned. More importantly, she did not say she was hungry again.
Human brains were her food!
Fear took over his nervous system. He stood at the wall, frozen for a very long time. His face was pale to the point where he looked very, very sick.
Chapter 852 - Return of Sister Disciple
There were thirty-one bodies lying in the salon. The cause of death was the same. Shrivelled up brains rotting prematurely. Everything was the same. There were no traces left by the culprit.
As he looked at the dead bodies, a chill ran down his spine. Xia Lei knew who the killer was, yet he had no way of solving this problem.
Standing from the perspective of justice, conscience andw, he should tell them the truth.
However, his better judgement refrained him from doing so. Zhu Xuanyue was a non-human presence that was involved in the secret of the ancient alloy and AE capsule. More importantly, he had the looming threat of the ck-robed man. The man had said that he would return three yearster to kill him. Zhu Xuanyue was the only person who could defend him. It was obvious she would help him when the time came.
Solving the secret of the ancient alloy and AE capsule was his life¡¯s wish. For now, he could not reveal Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s secret. However, as he looked at all the bodies on the ground, he was filled with guilt. They were mothers who had children, wives, how many people were in deep grief over their deaths? Who would seek justice for these people?
He was in a mess.
¡°Kid, what are you thinking?¡± Shi Boren interrupted the silence
Xia Lei snapped back to reality. ¡°Uh, not much.¡±
Shi Boren¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°I brought you here to assist me, not space out. You have to think of a solution for this. I have personally taken this case for myself. It¡¯s thest case of my career. You wouldn¡¯t want me to end my career with failure, do you?¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei almost told him the truth but he swallowed his words. His guilt worsened but the words that came out of his lips betrayed his conscience. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best but I¡¯m not sure how much of a help I¡¯ll be.¡±
Shi Boren said, ¡°If I know who did this, I¡¯ll kill them no matter where they hide. Fuck, they¡¯re sick animals!¡±
Xia Lei filled with guilt. While Shi Boren was cursing the culprit in front of the ¡®aplice¡¯.
One hourter, the bodies were taken away.
Shi Boren wanted Xia Lei to attend a meeting in Bureau 101 but Xia Lei refused, saying he had matters to attend to with hispany. Before he left, he pulled Long Bing aside and whispered. ¡°The bag really contains evidence of Yu Shanhe and Ling Han¡¯s criminal activity. This will help you.¡±
¡°Ah?¡± Long Bing was shocked. She hadn¡¯t believed him before. Now that he mentioned it again, she thought differently.
¡°You just have to pick the right time and submit it.¡± Xia Lei patted her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m going back, call me if you have any problems.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± she nodded, looking at him warmly. Even the strongest woman still enjoyed when there was a man who cared for her. Xia Lei had helped her as her man.
¡°What are you two whispering about?¡± said Shi Boren, displeased. ¡°Kid, leave if you want. Long Bing still has to work.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯m going,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll send you off.¡± Liang Siyao came in.
¡°Mm.¡± Xia Lei nodded.
Shi Boren said, ¡°No, you have to attend the meeting too.¡±
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Boss Shi, I have some ideas and I want to discuss them with Lei. He¡¯s an expert on this and his opinions will help us a lot. If he doesn¡¯t have time to attend the meeting, I¡¯ll quickly talk to him about it. It¡¯s for the case.¡±
Shi Boren hesitated but finally nodded. ¡°Go, I¡¯ll give you half an hour.¡±
¡°Alright, no problem.¡± Liang Siyao went to get her car.
Xia Lei went to Liang Siyao¡¯s car and they drove towards Bailu.
Shi Boren watched as Liang Siyao left. After a few moments, he sighed. ¡°That brat. You messed around with three members of the Bureau already. I shouldn¡¯t have let you in. Sigh, Yuyan, she¡¯s just unfortunate. But he¡¯s such an unfaithful man. It¡¯s a good thing you both can¡¯t be together.¡±
At this moment, Tang Yuyan could not hear him. She was avoiding Xia Lei. Knowing Xia Lei woulde to help with investigations, she did note.
A BMW M6 flew down the highway.
¡°How is the Master these days?¡± Xia Lei found a topic to talk about.
¡°Same thing. Practising his martial arts, bird watching, ying chess with a few old men in the park. He¡¯s living well,¡± said Liang Siyao. ¡°He misses you but he¡¯s too embarrassed to call you. You should visit him.¡±
¡°Mmm, I¡¯ll go when I am free. Send my regards to the old man.¡± Xia Lei felt guilty towards Liang Zhengchun.
¡°You and Fan Fan...¡± Liang Siyao spoke but then stopped. Her eyes darted at Xia Lei in the passenger seat.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°It¡¯s fake. I just did not want the Tang family to keep bothering me. I only told you and Long Bing. Do not tell my father or Master. If the Tang family knows, they will...¡±
Liang Siyao interrupted him. ¡°I¡¯m not stupid, why would I tell anyone? But I¡¯m very happy you told me.¡± she smiled.
¡°Tang Yuyan will seed Shi Boren and the cards will be reshuffled in Bureau 101. Long Bing loves her job. I¡¯ll help her stay there. However, I don¡¯t suggest you stay there. I¡¯d rather you resign ande work in mypany,¡± said Xia Lei.
She sighed. ¡°I¡¯m the pig, the pig should...¡±
¡°Sacrifice yourself? Idiot!¡± Xia Lei interrupted her. ¡°I don¡¯t know how my father convinced you but I do not want you to sacrifice yourself. In the past, the Zodiac team was led by my father. Now, I am its leader. I will not lead as he did. No one should sacrifice themselves.¡±
¡°You... still care for me?¡± Liang Siyao stopped her car on the side of the road, staring intently at Xia Lei. Shi Boren only gave her half an hour. That was enough for her to go to the Thunder Horse Factory and return but she did not care now.
Xia Lei avoided her gaze and looked out at the fields and the grey skies. ¡°I might die. And if I cannot avoid it, I want to leave some things behind for you so you¡¯ll live a good life.¡±
¡°What nonsense are you talking about?¡± Liang Siyao cupped his face, turning it so he¡¯d look at her. She stared into his eyes. ¡°Look at me, I don¡¯t want you to say that again!¡±
Xia Lei looked into her eyes with mncholy. ¡°It will be very dangerous for you to stay in Bureau 101. Your past is a time bomb. If I¡¯m here, I can protect you. But when I¡¯m not here, people would start triggering the bombs. Then what will you do? Leave the Bureau,e work in mypany. Compared to the battlefield, you¡¯ll do better in apany.¡±
¡°You...¡± Her eyes watered. ¡°You¡¯re already nning for your death? You¡¯re nning for my life after your death? Tell me, what happened? Why are you saying you¡¯ll die?¡±
Xia Lei forced a smile. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I¡¯m just talking. Promise me you¡¯ll resign. Come to mypany.¡±
Liang Siyao teared up even more. ¡°In the past, in the factory, I was thedy boss. When I return, what will I be? Your staff? Or...¡±
Xia Lei grabbed her wrist. ¡°Still thedy boss.¡±
She froze.
He smiled. ¡°Do you want to be thedy boss?¡±
She rolled her eyes. ¡°Fan Fan is yourdy boss, alright? What am I?¡±
¡°She¡¯s the fakedy boss, you¡¯re the realdy boss.¡±
¡°Hmmph, I don¡¯t believe you. How manydy bosses do you have?¡±
Xia Lei stuttered ¡°I...¡±
¡°No, Long Bing was right. I¡¯ll live better if I shed off all this weight. Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t control you. Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t control you. Fan Fan couldn¡¯t control you. Then why should I?¡±
Liang Siyao seemed to have this revtion and became more rxed. ¡°A man like you will never have a truedy boss. It¡¯s fine. I am willing to be a fakedy boss. I¡¯ll resign today then be with you in the future.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. His Siyao was finally back to him.
Liang Siyao suddenly leaned forward and kissed his lips. A hot, wet kiss then became a tongue kiss.
Since she returned, she had never been truly happy. Now that she had shed the weight in her heart, she suddenly became the sister disciple in Haizhu where she was filled with joy. Since Xia Lei was a man who would never have a true partner, so what if she became a ¡®fake¡¯dy boss? He still cared for her, loved her, and thought about her. He treated her like a wife. Why did she need a marriage certificate?
It was just a piece of paper.
Shentu Tianyin had gotten that piece of paper. But what happened next?
¡°Let¡¯s have a child,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Liang Siyao was stunned.
¡°I¡¯m serious,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Siyao was blushed. ¡°You¡¯re so impatient! I just agreed toe back and you want a child.¡±
Three years. The ck-robed man gave him three years. He had to n for his life. He will n a will for his woman and his child. If one day he really passed away, he wanted them to live well. However, he could not tell her this. This was a burden he carried on his own.
¡°Are you willing to do it?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°You were the one who asked for it! We¡¯ll do it now!¡± Liang Siyao suddenly crawled over and sat on Xia Lei.
Beep beep beep!
A truck honked at them.
She frantically crawled back to the driver¡¯s seat, blushing. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll let you go this time.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You speak as if I should be afraid of you.¡±
She rolled her eyes. ¡°When have I ever been afraid of you? But... I guess you must¡¯ve done it with Long Bing just now. I don¡¯t want to use her hand-me-downs.¡±
¡°Hey! You can have sex if you want! I¡¯ll wait!¡± roared the truck driver, smirking.
Liang Siyao raised her hand and pointed her middle finger.
With an angry roar, the BMW rushed ahead.
It was the sound of pure joy.
Chapter 853 - The Devils Menu
Liang Siyao left after dropping him off.
She promised to resign. This was the highlight of Xia Lei¡¯s day. When he was starting his business, she had been very efficient and capable in helping out in thepany. Now that she would return to help him in Thunder Horse Group, he would have a bit more time to do the things he wanted.
If his life would really end in three years, every minute was precious.
The Peace Mansion was quiet.
Xia Lei saw Xia Changhe feeding fish by the pond and walked over.
¡°It has not been peaceful recently,¡± sighed Xia Changhe. He obviousy knew about the consecutive murder cases. However, he would not know that the true culprit was actually the confused girl living in his house, calling him Grandpa Xia.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Yeah, it hasn¡¯t been peaceful. No one can control this.¡±
Xia Changhe looked at him but did not speak.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I told Siyao to resign and help with mypany. She agreed.¡±
Xia Changhe froze and then said, ¡°I¡¯m surprised but I knew this would happen sooner orter. I just want to know, are you sure about this?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°You have not thought this through. You rejected Tang Yuyan. Even if the Tang family did not be your enemy, they will not be friends either. She will seed Shi Boren as the director of Bureau 101. While she will not harm us, her family might persuade her otherwise. If that happens, are you sure you want Siyao to leave the bureau?¡±
¡°I have made my decision,¡± said Xia Lei.
Xia Changhe smiled bitterly. ¡°Fine, I¡¯m old and I should let this go anyway. My opinion and decisions might not be the right one. Since you¡¯ve made your decision, then just do it.¡±
Xia Lei patted his shoulder with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t overthink it. No matter what it is, we¡¯ll cross the bridge when we reach it. Hmm, I also have good news.¡±
¡°You have more good news? What good news?¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to be a grandfather.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Changhe was shocked and then grabbed his shoulder and said emotionally, ¡°Really? Tell me, who¡¯s pregnant? Long Bing? The two Germans? Ruyi? Or Siyao?¡±
When Xia Changhe named an entire list, Xia Lei said awkwardly, ¡°It¡¯s Fan Fan.¡±
¡°Hahahaha... ¡° Xia Changhe guffawed. ¡°Right, look at me, how could I forget her. That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great! When will you invite her over for a meal?¡±
¡°Father, you¡¯re getting ahead of yourself. She¡¯s very busy but we¡¯ll see in two days¡¯ time. Alright, have your fun. I¡¯m leaving,¡± Xia Lei said as he left.
Xia Changhe continued feeding the fish, smiling to himself.
He was going to be a grandfather. This was extremely good news to him, how could he not be happy?
After passing a hallway, Xia Lei stopped at Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s door. He did not knock. His left eye twitched and the wall and door disappeared.
The room was empty. He did not see Zhu Xuanyue inside. The window was open, the curtains were billowing in the breeze.
¡°She¡¯s not here? Where did she go?¡± Xia Lei had many questions. He was here to talk to her but he didn¡¯t expect this.
He reached out and opened her door.
The room was colder than outside. This meant she hadn¡¯t left for long.
He walked over to the window and looked out. There was a wall near the window and behind the wall was a patch of forest. The Peace Mansion was built at the foot of a hill. When he looked up the hill, he still could not see her among the dense vegetation.
There were no traces on the ground outside the window or on the windowsill. However, he knew that she had left through here. He leapt through the window and came to the wall. This time, he saw faint footprints. These were left behind because the gardener had made the floor wet when he watered the nts.
The footprints belonged to a woman.
The prints were a meter from the window as if it appeared out of thin air. It seemed like she had leapt straight to this spot, then disappeared. She must have leapt over the wall.
Only Zhu Xuanyue had this ability. Even Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have been able to do this.
¡°What¡¯s she doing in the mountains?¡± He was extremely unsettled and hurried to the back door. He keyed in the password and then walked along the path up the mountain.
The forest was quiet with the asional bird chirping.
After walking for a while, frozen patches of water caught his attention.
It was not cold enough for water to freeze. This was evidence that Zhu Xuanyue had been here. He studied the ground and then sprinted in a direction. There was no path in the forest but he still ran fast anyway.
After passing some trees, he arrived at a patch of tnd in the middle of the forest.
However, the scene he saw made his heart grow cold.
Zhu Xuanyue was here but she was not alone. There were two people lying next to her. One young man and youngdy. They were two Thunder Horse factory workers. Their clothes were dishevelled, the guy¡¯s zipper was down and her chest was bare.
They were obviously a couple, hiding in the forest for a quick getaway. However, they didn¡¯t know they were targeted by a little demon.
Zhu Xuanyue was not anxious when Xia Lei suddenly appeared. She smiled. ¡°Uncle Xia, why are you here?¡±
He suddenly went over and grabbed her shirt¡¯s cor. He yelled sternly, ¡°What did you do to them?¡±
¡°I...¡± She panicked. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t lie to me!¡± He lifted a hand to p her.
Zhu Xuanyue lifted a hand and caught his wrist. She shoved him hard.
How strong was she?
At that moment, he felt like he was hit by a car rushing down the highway. His entire being flew in the air with one shove, flying several meters before he hit hard onto a tree and fell to the ground.
His blood was boiling, barely suppressing his anger, he pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Zhi Xuanyue.
¡°Uncle Xia, you...¡± Zhu Xuanyue panicked.
¡°Tell me, why did you kill them?!¡± he roared. ¡°Do you know that they were just regr, innocent people? Every person has their own family and loved ones. Why did you take away their lives?!¡±
¡°Uncle Xia, I know what that thing in your hand is. Do you want to kill me?¡± Zhu Xuanyue quickly returned to normal.
¡°I do want to kill you!¡± Xia Lei had lost control of his emotions.
Zhu Xuanyue took two steps back, hurt. ¡°You don¡¯t want me. You don¡¯t like me. What did I do wrong?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t know that you were the one who killed the people in the gym! And the salon! Why?¡± he roared. ¡°Tell me why!¡±
¡°I was helping you, don¡¯t you remember? You made me control the two men¡¯s brains. I did that. Then I was hungry so I wanted to eat,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei was stunned.
He didn¡¯t expect this answer at all.
Zhu Xuanyue could control the human mind so they did what she wanted. However, this energy had toe from somewhere. After spending her energy, she had to kill to recharge!
His gaze fell on the two people on the ground and heaved a sigh of relief when his special vision told him that their brains were still fine. Their breathing and heartbeats were normal. He was relieved to arrive just in time or they might be two dead bodies.
¡°Uncle Xia, I didn¡¯t kill them.¡± Zhu Xuanyue seemed to understand what Xia Lei was checking.
He red at her coldly. She didn¡¯t kill them only because he arrived on time. If he was anyter, they would have died.
¡°I didn¡¯t ask you to help me so why are you killing them?¡± His tone grew cold.
¡°Uncle Xia, why are you treating me like that? They¡¯re just food.¡± Zhu Xuanyue sounded wrong.
¡°You... You treat live people like your food!¡±
¡°Yeah, they¡¯re food! To them, aren¡¯t chickens, ducks and fish food too? Aren¡¯t chickens and ducks alive too? They can eat chickens and ducks, why can¡¯t I eat them?¡±
These words fell like bombs.
Zhu Xuanyue was an energy body. To her, humans were just a resource. She ate when she was hungry, resulting in human deaths.
Before pulling out the gun, he just wanted to scare her and teach her a lesson so she would not do such evil things again. However, he realised this was useless! For her to live, she would be hungry. And when she was hungry, she would need food!
¡°Uncle Xia, put that thing down.¡± She looked pitiful. ¡°I¡¯ll promise I¡¯ll eat less, alright?¡±
¡°You... How do you eat?¡± He asked, feeling deep fear and regret.
She pointed at the bodies on the ground. ¡°Their brains contain the energy I need. Just like a ma, I absorb it.¡± Her hand grabbed the air.
The man on the ground shook and then his head floated in the air. It seemed like something was flowing from his head into the air, then to her hand. Just like that, in one second, his face turned as white as a piece of paper!
Bang! Xia Lei pulled the trigger!
The bullet brushed against her shoulder.
¡°You... Wahhhh...¡± Zhu Xuanyue burst into tears, then turned and ran.
He pointed the gun at the back of her head furiously but he could not fire a bullet.
Kill her? It seemed like the right thing to do but how could he do it?
And in a few seconds of hesitation, she disappeared.
¡°Come back!¡± He snapped back to reality and ran after her.
Zhu Xuanyue did not respond.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something and roared, ¡°I wille looking for you in Langley!¡±
Langley, USA. The CIA headquarters.
Chapter 854 - A Warm Night
It was silent in the forest.
Xia Lei stood like a stone statue in the middle.
He was the one who ¡®woke¡¯ Zhu Xuanyue in the underground maze in Italy. Then, the expert team died, the athletes died, and then the people at the salon died. Three massacres, so many deaths. Whose fault was it?
He was not the killer, but he had awakened the killer.
His conscience was terribly ufortable, that was why he couldn¡¯t help but fire at Zhu Xuanyue when she demonstrated how she ¡®ate¡¯. However, he did not intend to kill her. If not, with his skills, killing her would not have been a problem.
He just couldn¡¯t kill her.
Perhaps she was really a demon.
Zhu Xuanyue was undeniably an extremely powerful assistant. Her leaving would be a great loss to him, especially in terms of dealing with the FA and Knight Hospitallers. However, he did not regret this. If she had to ¡®eat¡¯ so much every time she helped him, he could never clean himself of his deeds.
¡°Fine, leave then. Hope she heard me. Leave this country. If she wants to look for trouble, she can go look for the CIA. Although I wasn¡¯t the killer, I have to bear responsibility. When I get back, I¡®ll get Zhengnan to represent Thunder Horse to visit the families andpensate a million bucks per death,¡± thought Xia Lei. This was the only thing he could do.
The two young people on the ground moved.
He quickly left the scene.
¡°What happened?¡± The man shook his head. ¡°I might¡¯ve fallen asleep.¡±
¡°Yeah, I think I fell asleep too.¡± The girl was equally confused.
They did not see Director Xia watching them from among the trees. They looked around, didn¡¯t see anyone and then had the same thought. They embraced each other, started kissing, tossing, then there was heavy breathing.
Xia Lei turned around to leave.
This day had left him unsettled. He had several urges to go look for Zhu Xuanyue and bring her back but every time, the faces of the victims would surface in his mind. He dared not do it.
Liu Zhengnan followed his instructions to visit the families of the victims and only returned at night.
In the study, Liu Zhengnan spoke to Xia Lei. ¡°The families asked me why we¡¯re giving them so much money. I didn¡¯t know how to answer so I told them the Thunder Horse Organisation sympathised with them. I even invited reporters to report about this. Tomorrow, Thunder Horse and you will be in the headlines.¡±
One death was one million, tens of deaths would be tens of millions. This was still arge sum to thergest charity organisations. He would definitely be in the headlines.
¡°It¡¯s fine, the media can write whatever they want. ¡°He felt guilty and did not want to talk about it. ¡°Oh, right, I want to ask, when are you marrying Xiao Xue?¡±
Liu Zheng Man¡¯s face reddened. ¡°Brother, I do not have a problem with this. The key is Xiao Xue. We¡¯ll get married whenever she¡¯s ready.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll talk to her. If she agrees, you guys should just tie the knot,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah, I want to get married sooner too.¡± Liu Zhengnan looked very happy.
He loved Xia Xue. If he married her, that meant it was a good deal on both his romantic and career life. Who wouldn¡¯t be happy?
¡°Just go, go get some rest,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Brother, you should get some rest too.¡± Liu Zhengnan left the study.
If he only had three years left, one of his wishes was to see Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan get married. And maybe get him a nephew or niece. Then he would have no regrets.
Ring ring... Ring ring...
His phone rang suddenly.
Xia Lei looked at the number and picked up the call. ¡°Have you resigned? I¡¯ve been waiting. ¡°
¡°I have resigned,¡± came Liang Siyao¡¯s voice. There was the sound of a car engine. ¡°I¡¯m on the way to your house. Arriving in a few minutes.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°You¡¯re arriving soon. You didn¡¯t have to call. I¡¯lle to meet you at the gate, let¡¯s talk when we meet.¡±
Liang Siyao giggled. ¡°Do you have...¡±
Xia Lei was stunned and then finally understood that she called before she arrived to ask if there were any women with him. He didn¡¯t know tough or cry at this but he understood what she meant.
She was still a traditional woman, a delicate and sensitive girl. Although she had already shed the burden in her heart, perhaps the only ¡®sister¡¯ she epted was Long Bing and maybe Jiang Ruyi. As for Fan Fan, who was sitting in the ¡®official¡¯ position, perhaps she wouldn¡¯t like so much.
¡°She¡¯s not with you?¡± Since Xia Lei wasn¡¯t speaking, Liang Siyao finally asked a direct question.
¡°You¡¯re talking about Fan Fan?¡±
¡°Yeah, who else?¡±
¡°She¡¯s not here, she¡¯s busier than I am,¡± he said awkwardly.
¡°Alright. I¡¯m at your gate. You don¡¯t have toe to meet me. Where are you? I¡¯lle to you,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°I¡¯m at the study. Juste over, I¡¯m hanging up.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
A few minutester, Liang Siyao arrived with a cardboard box. There were some personal items and office stationery inside. They were from her office in the bureau.
Xia Lei took the box and saw a picture frame. Within the frame were a picture of him and her. He remembered the picture. It was taken in her study. They both had their cheeks up against each other, smiling ear to ear.
It took him back to simpler times.
¡°Without you, I relied on this picture to pass the days. Every time I see this picture, I go back to when we were together. Those were the happiest days of my life.¡±
¡°Those were mine too.¡± He turned and grabbed her waist. His heart melted.
¡°I¡¯m finally back.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes welled up with emotion and joy.
¡°Boss Shi didn¡¯t say anything?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°No, they actually couldn¡¯t wait for me to leave. Once I mentioned it, Boss Shi immediately agreed and signed my resignation document,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°He didn¡¯t ask why?¡±
¡°He did, I said I¡¯ll be working in yourpany. Then he didn¡¯t say anything after that.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s forget about them. You can stay to help me with mypany, stay here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then I¡¯ll be your housekeeper?¡±
¡°Hmm, you are my housekeeper.¡± Xia Lei smiled.
¡°I definitely don¡¯t want to be your housekeeper!¡± Liang Siyao whined demurely. Xia Lei liked her when she was like this.
¡°If you don¡¯t want to be my housekeeper, I¡¯ll look for another...¡±
Before he finished, she kissed him.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart melted. He felt so warm inside.
Just as the night was about to escte, a person appeared at the entrance. It was ady, her surname was Long.
Cough.
Long Bing, who was at the door, let out a dry cough.
Liang Siyao frantically smoothened her dishevelled clothes.
Xia Lei was not embarrassed at all. He coughed too. ¡°Uh, Bing, when did you arrive?¡±
¡°I just did. I seem to be interrupting something,¡± said Long Bing. She didn¡¯t look jealous but amused instead.
As she spoke, Xia Lei felt more awkward. ¡°We were just...¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes. ¡°You didn¡¯t knock the door before you came in. I haven¡¯t even said a thing and you¡¯re already teasing us? I¡¯ll punch you!¡±
This was a sign that they were on good terms.
Long Bing smiled.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there. Come in, close the door.¡±
Long Bing entered and kicked the door close with her heel.
¡°You¡¯ve alreadypleted the task?¡± Xia Lei knew she wasn¡¯t here for no reason.
Long Bing noded. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s done. I think I must have frightened Boss Shi when I handed over the evidence. His face was priceless.¡±
¡°Did he say anything?¡±
¡°He said I did good, then asked me how I got it.¡± Long Bing continued, ¡°I said I got them myself.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s best you don¡¯t mention me. If he knew, he¡¯de and pester me.¡±
¡°Boss Shi has already sent people to catch Yu Shanhe and Ling Hao but I haven¡¯t received news so far,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°He personally went to catch them himself because he wants to take credit for your work.¡± Xia Lei sighed. ¡°He really works hard to ensure a smooth transition of power to Tang Yuyan. If he treated other people like that, I wouldn¡¯t havemented. But because it¡¯s you, I¡¯m ufortable with this
¡°It¡¯s fine. As long as I stay in the bureau, this is nothing,¡± said Long Bing.
Liang Siyao brewed two cups of tea, bringing one to Long Bing and one for Xia Lei. She was already acting as the ¡®housekeeper¡¯.
Xia Lei smiled at Liang Siyao, then said, ¡°If you want to catch them personally, I have a lead.¡±
¡°What lead?¡± Long Bing was suddenly excited.
¡°I heard that they were are on their way to Moscow. They¡¯re driving there in a Toyota Land Cruiser. Their number te is A52308,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°How do you know this?¡± Long Bing was shocked.
Without Xia Lei speaking, Liang Siyao interrupted, ¡°You know how capable our guy is, he has his ways.¡±
Our? It looked like Long Bing was included in her ¡®our¡¯.
Long Bing blushed. ¡°Our family is a mess, don¡¯t you think?¡±
Laughter rang across the study.
¡°Continue with your night, I¡¯m going to capture two men.¡± Long Bing got up and left.
¡°Be careful,¡± reminded both Liang Siyao and Xia Lei.
Long Bing nodded and left.
Chapter 855 - My Family Is A Mess
Xia Lei, Liang Siyao, Qin Xiang, Liu Zhengnan.
Liang Siyao was given the position as CEO of Thunder Horse Group. She was their first CEO too. Xia Lei was the owner of the Group while she was its manager. She had studied business management at Harvard. In the past, she had done a very good job of managing Thunder Horse for him. Now that she had returned, she was going to pick up where she left off.
Her return did not just bring that, her return brought Peace Mansion and Thunder Horse a woman¡¯s touch.
Xia Lei announced Liang Siyao¡¯s position at a high-level meeting. Some of the high-level members were shocked, some understood, but there was always room for discussion.
¡°Why has a CEO suddenly been appointed? She¡¯s so young, and we haven¡¯t met her before.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine, do you know who she is?¡±
¡°Who is she?¡±
¡°She¡¯s Director Xia¡¯s first girlfriend. She even helped him with the setup of thispany. She¡¯s his sister disciple too.¡±
¡°Oh, I see. I understand now. Hehe.¡±
¡°She¡¯s a prodigy from Harvard. She studied Business Management too.¡±
¡°Yeah, don¡¯t underestimate Miss Liang. She is actually good.¡±
When Xia Lei announced Liang Siyao¡¯s position as CEO, he knew he could not avoid some debate and odd nces. However, after some exnation, everyone agreed. Even if they didn¡¯t, he did not care. This was hispany, he could put whoever he wanted as the CEO.
After the meeting adjourned, Qin Xiang came to talk to Liang Siyao with a smile. ¡°You¡¯re finally back. I¡¯ve been waiting for this day.¡±
¡°Really?¡± They were quite close so they spoke casually. Liang Siyao said, ¡°I hope that¡¯s not sarcasm?¡±
¡°Sarcasm? You¡¯ve always been thedy boss. I have always been impressed,¡± Qin Xiang said with a grin. ¡°That man needs a woman with him or he¡¯ll be too reckless.¡±
¡°You¡¯re hinting that I¡¯ll meet problems, right?¡±
¡°Sharp as always.¡± Qin Xiang leaned to her ear. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it bother you?¡±
Liang Siyao replied, ¡°Hey, he bullies me and yet you¡¯re not on my side. Plus you¡¯re teasing me!¡±
¡°Of course I support you. I didn¡¯t even support Shentu Tianyin, it¡¯s always been you.¡±
¡°Hehe, I like what I hear.¡±
On the other side, Xia Xue pulled Xia Lei aside and whispered, ¡°Brother, what¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei feigned confusion.
¡°You and Sister Siyao...¡± Xia Lei trailed off.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Me and Siyao what?¡±
Xia Xue rolled her eyes. ¡°Do you really want me to sound it loud? Are you and her together?¡±
¡°Is that bad?¡±
¡°No, I don¡¯t have anyments. I¡¯m just worried Sister Fan Fan will...¡± Xia Xue looked concerned. ¡°Also, Tianyin and Ruyi won¡¯t be happy.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t you worry. Our family is different from other families.¡±
She pouted. ¡°My family is a mess.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled awkwardly.
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll leave you alone. When I get back, I¡¯ll call Tianyin and tell her about Siyao. We¡¯ll see how she deals with you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare cause trouble.¡±
¡°Then you don¡¯t cause trouble! Last night, Zhengnan proposed. Although he didn¡¯t say, I know it must be your idea. You¡¯ve caused me so much headache. I must take my revenge!¡± Xia Xue looked mad.
Xia Lei was happy. ¡°Tell me, did you say yes?¡±
¡°Could I have said no? He brought me his grandmother¡¯s jade bangle, a bouquet of a thousand roses and said a bunch of romantic stuff.¡± Although she sounded like she was unwilling, there was a sweet smile on her face. It was obvious she was super willing to go through with it.
¡°When¡¯s the wedding?¡±
¡°Mid-autumn festival next year.¡±
¡°Such a long time?¡± Xia Lei furrowed his brows.
She rolled her eyes. ¡°Are you so worried your sister won¡¯t marry anyone? Why are you so impatient? I¡¯m still a university student.¡±
¡°Fine, fine. Next year it is. I won¡¯t hurry you both.¡± Xia Lei smiled.
Xia Xue said, ¡°If you don¡¯t hurry us, I won¡¯t tell Tianyin about this.¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. Even if she didn¡¯t tell, Tianyin would still know. This was going to be a headache. However, his life was messy enough. So what if it was a little messier?
Liang Siyao walked in with a friendly smile. ¡°Xiao Xue, you¡¯re getting prettier every day.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Xia Xue couldn¡¯t help but giggle. ¡°Sis, you really know what to say.¡±
Liang Siyao grinned. ¡°I¡¯m not your sister-inw. Your real sister-inw would be unhappy if you thought so.¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. My brother has already handed you hispany.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t win this argument. I have something good to show you,e to my office.¡± She grabbed Xia Xue¡¯s shoulder and led her away.
¡°Brother, I¡¯m leaving.¡± They both left.
Liu Zhengnan came to Xia Lei¡¯s side and said slowly, ¡°Brother, they seemed to have be allies, should we both ¡®forge a deeper friendship¡¯ too?¡±
Xia Lei turned and stared at him.
¡°Uhh, let¡¯s pretend I didn¡¯t say anything, it¡¯s useless.¡± Then Liu Zhengnan left.
Xia Lei smiled and shook his head, returning to Peace Mansion.
Liang Siyao was back. The weight on his shoulders had lifted a little. He had a little more time to do what he wanted now.
The four women from the Knight Hospitallers were in a room. The windows were closed, the curtains were shut so outside could not look into the room. This didn¡¯t stop Xia Lei. He used his left eye and suddenly, the doors and walls disappeared.
It was the Grey sisters¡¯ room.
The four women were having a meeting.
Giovanna said, ¡°One month has passed and we have not found where he hid the sacred relic. The leader will not be happy about this.¡±
¡°Do we have any other choice? People are everywhere and we don¡¯t know anyone. How will we look for it?¡± asked Rosa.
¡°Maybe we really can try the other way,¡± said Ste.
¡°Are you saying we lure him? Then make him happy with our bodies?¡± said Theresa.
¡°My goodness, even thinking about it makes me feel dirty. Let¡¯s not talk about that anymore. I¡¯m not going to pleasure him, ever,¡± said Rosa.
¡°Really? A few days ago I saw you eyeing him,¡± said Ste.
¡°Hey, what are you talking about? I was studying him for the reports. I think you like him, alright? I saw you staring at him, smiling, ¡°said Rosa.
¡°Stop it, you two. Based on our agreement with him, we have to give him information on the FA headquarters in a months time. But we haven¡¯t received any news from the headquarters. What should we tell him?¡± said Ste.
¡°Just say no?¡± said Rosa.
¡°How would that work? He¡¯s not a reasonable man,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei coughed and walked in.
The four women seemed frantic but quickly regainedposure.
Xia Lei knocked on the door. ¡°Excuse me, is anyone in there?¡±
¡°He¡¯s here,¡± Giovanna said in a low voice.
¡°Could he have heard us?¡± asked Ste anxiously.
¡°I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯ll open the door.¡± Rosa walked over and opened the door.
He strode in and spoke, ¡°I believe you know what I¡¯m here for. It¡¯s time to talk.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, wee,¡± greeted Rosa.
¡°I¡¯ll get you some water.¡± Giovanna quickly got him some water.
Ste grabbed a chair for him.
¡°You don¡¯t have to.¡± Xia Lei thought it was funny. ¡°I¡¯m not here to rx, we have to talk about the agreement. One month has passed. I need to know where the FA group¡¯s headquarters are and when you all n to act.¡±
¡°We...¡± Giovannaughed nervously. ¡°Mr Xia, it¡¯s like this, we are still waiting for news from them.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Are you beating around the bush? I paid you all fifty million dors, let you stay here, feed you food. Yet you show me such results! Are you taking me for a fool?¡±
¡°Mr Xia, drink some water, calm down.¡± Giovanna passed him a ss.
He suddenly swatted the ss away.
Crash! The ss of water shattered on the floor.
They were stunned. Xia Lei had always been a gentle, civilised man. They didn¡¯t know that he had a temper within him.
¡°Do you think I¡¯m a patient man?¡± roared Xia Lei. ¡°Let me tell you this, I¡¯ll give you an hour to contact the Knight Hospitallers headquarters. I want to know where the FA headquarters are and your ns. Or you¡¯ll never see your sacred relic.¡±
¡°Wait, Mr Xia, calm down,¡± said Giovanna stubbornly. ¡°Please give us some time. We¡¯ll find it.¡±
¡°Yes, we swear on the honour of the knights, we will definitely fulfil our agreement,¡± said Rosa.
¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± said Xia Lei sternly. ¡°One hour, not one minute more! I¡¯ll give you two choices- either pack up and leave or contact your headquarters immediately. I want to talk to your leader personally!¡±
¡°Mr Xia...¡± Giovanna trailed off.
He looked at the watch on his wrist. ¡°You have fifty-nine more minutes. ¡°
¡°How could you do this?¡± Rosa was furious too.
¡°Yeah, give us more time!¡± Giovanna looked angry too.
Xia Lei sat on the chair and crossed his legs. ¡°You have fifty-eight more minutes.¡±
¡°How can a minute pass so fast?!¡± Ste was annoyed.
¡°Yeah, a minute isn¡¯t that short!¡± Theresa was annoyed too.
He smirked. ¡°Time passes faster when I¡¯m impatient. You have forty minutes left.¡±
¡°You... ¡° Giovanna wanted to yell at him but couldn¡¯t.
Three of them red at him in fury.
¡°You still have...¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Giovanna cut him off. ¡°I¡¯ll call the headquarters immediately.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°That¡¯s all I ask.¡±
Chapter 856 - A Knight with Zero Loyalty
Giovanna took less than an hour to reach the Knight Hospitaller. Following that, Walton made an appearance on the screen of herptop.
¡°Mister Xia, it¡¯s nice to see you again,¡± said Walton.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Mister Walton, I¡¯m sure you know why I¡¯m calling you today.¡±
¡°Of course, it¡¯s just...¡± Walton paused. ¡°I just wish you could give us some time.¡±
Instantly, Xia Lei frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve already given you plenty of time. The Knight Hospitaller still hasn¡¯t produced any results. Let me guess, you¡¯ve found out its location but decided to not inform me about it. Are you nning to not take any further action?¡±
¡°Mister Xia, how could you put it that way? For the sake of finding out where it is, we¡¯ve lost a lot of our members. I think you should thank us instead of reprimanding us.¡±
¡°What did you find?¡±
¡°Well...¡± Walton continued, ¡°How about this? Come to Malta, we¡¯ll talk when we meet.¡±
¡°You¡¯re trying to get me to Malta?¡± Xia Lei found it suspicious.
This was a matter that could be ryed clearly through phone but Walton had wanted him to travel to Malta. Xia Lei was fully aware that Walton was just the Knight Hospitallers leader on the surface. Walton must¡¯ve been acting based on the real leader, Angelo¡¯s intention.
What was the Knight Hospitaller trying to do?
¡°Mister Xia, there¡¯s no need to overthink this.¡± Walton exined, ¡°We¡¯re not trying to plot anything against you. We¡¯ve already found out where the FA headquarters is. Sadly, it¡¯s not possible for the Knight Hospitaler to do this alone. We muste up with a feasible n. We need your help.¡±
Xia Lei went silent. ¡°Tell me, where is it?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll meet at Malta Ind. Please kindly bring along our sacred relic.¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Xia Lei was so pissed that he started to cackle. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m stupid? Malta is your territory. You¡¯re trying to have me bring over your sacred relic, ambush me to retrieve your stuff and then kill me? This is just in suicidal for me.¡±
¡°I swear in the name of the Knight Hospitaller you shall not be met with such situations. Trust me, we¡¯re just trying to destroy the FA Organization toplete our part of the deal.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no progress to our initial promise, how am I supposed to believe you?¡±
¡°Mister Xia...¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°I¡¯ve already given you fifty million USD and a lot of weapons. I guess I¡¯ll just forget about the fifty million dors and cancel our deal. I¡¯ll go take care of the FA Organization myself and you all can forget about ever getting your sacred relic back.¡±
¡°No no no!¡± Walton was pressed. ¡°Mister Xia, this is just a misunderstanding. We really have no other intentions. If you don¡¯t trust us, you can return us the sacred relic only after we destroy the FA headquarters.¡±
¡°Give me a good reason to go to Malta.¡±
¡°You¡¯re bound toe.¡± There was a small smile on Walton¡¯s lips. ¡°You¡¯ll need us to destroy the FA Organization and...¡± He paused. ¡°Are you not curious about the secrets behind our sacred relics? I know you¡¯ve been into Da Vinci¡¯s underground maze. You must have questions which need an answer.¡±
¡°Alright. I¡¯ll give this some thought ande back with an answer,¡± said Xia Lei coolly.
¡°Sure, please get back to us as soon as possible. I¡¯m looking forward to seeing you. Goodbye, Mister Xia.¡± With that, Walton disappeared from the screen.
Xia Lei turned to look at the four women. ¡°I find it hard to decide. Any suggestions?¡±
¡°Come with us to Malta Ind.¡± Giovanna added, ¡°We¡¯rerades, not enemies.¡±
¡°We won¡¯t hurt you.¡± Rosa went on, ¡°Plus, you¡¯re crazy strong. There¡¯s no way for us to defeat you even if we wanted to.¡±
Xia Lei smirked. Not his enemy? If he wasn¡¯t well-prepared for the Siberian operation back then, Xia Lei would¡¯ve been long dead in Arthur¡¯s hands. With Walton¡¯s current invitation to Malta Ind, Xia Lei could already guess what was lined up ahead of him.
¡°Mister Xia, as mentioned, you can leave the sacred relics behind. That way, you¡¯ll be more at ease. We¡¯re after the relics, not you.¡± Ste joined in to convince him.
¡°You¡¯re eager to learn about the secrets of the relic. I¡¯m certain you¡¯ll find your answers in Malta,¡± supplied Theresa.
Xia Lei stared at them. ¡°You¡¯re all my knights, right?¡±
The Gray and Russo sisters looked at each other. They were but they refused to admit it.
Though so, Giovanna nodded. ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve sworn our loyalty to you. ording to our tradition, we are your knights.¡±
¡°So you¡¯ve sworn to obey my orders, right?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Yes, as long as your orders do not vite justice.¡± Giovanna hurriedly answered.
¡°I won¡¯t have you do that.¡± Xia Lei began to walk to his bed andid on it. ¡°Come, all four of you shall sleep with me tonight.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± The female knights were shocked.
¡°Come on, I want to bed you.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s grins were unbearably lewd.
¡°Shameless man.¡± Rossa¡¯s cheeks were burning red from anger. ¡°We¡¯re your knights, your fighters. We¡¯re not prostitutes!¡±
¡°Please respect us.¡± Theresa was equally enraged.
¡°Hehe, you may be real knights but you¡¯re definitely not my knights.¡± Xia Lei propped himself up from his mattress. ¡°I was just trying to find out how loyal you are to me. Turns out, you all have zero loyalty.¡±
Giovanna was irritated. ¡°What are you ying at?¡±
Xia Lei crawled away from the bed. ¡°Since you¡¯ve obviously zero loyalty for me, I¡¯ve made my decision. You shall leave for Malta at this instance.¡±
¡°You¡¯re trying to chase us out?¡± Theresa gasped.
¡°We¡¯re your knights! You can¡¯t do this to us!¡± eximed Rosa.
¡°This is literally humiliation,¡± huffed Theresa.
Nonchntly, Xia Lei replied, ¡°We¡¯ll leave the discussion of whether you¡¯re my knights until the day you¡¯ve learned to offer me real loyalty. It¡¯s not my intention to chase you away by asking you to return to Malta. I want you to ry my decision to Mister Walton. I¡¯ll go to Malta Ind on my own terms.¡±
The four women looked at each other in unison.
Xia Lei urged them. ¡°Go. There will be no meals for you four from the kitchen today.¡±
¡°How stingy,¡± uttered Giovanna under her breath.
¡°I¡¯ve never seen a man this petty in my life.¡± Rosa¡¯s voice rang.
¡°He¡¯s not a gentleman at all.¡±
¡°How about our ne tickets? Are we supposed to buy our own tickets? We¡¯re your knights. The least you could do is to purchase them for us,¡±ined Theresa.
Ignoring them, Xia Lei turned around and left.
No matter what, Xia Lei needed to get to Malta Ind to retrieve the armour. However, he just couldn¡¯t wrap his head around the Knight Hospitallers current motivation. There was no way he could just barge onto the ind without proper nning. Bringing the four female knights with him would just make him an easy target. His presence in Malta Ind would open up an array of opportunities for the Knight Hospitaller to take him down. He couldn¡¯t just go there. HE had to sneak in.
If he brought the sisters to Malta, he would be alerting them of his presence. If he snuck to the ind, he would remain in the dark while the enemy was in the open. This was why he found the need to humiliate the sisters then chase them away.
As soon as Xia Lei left the room, Ste dashed to the windows and lifted the curtains slightly to observe her surroundings. From what she could see, Xia Lei was making his way slowly towards the kitchen. She huffed. ¡°That bastard is really going to inform the kitchen. He¡¯s crazy petty.¡±
¡°Hey, are you forgetting that he rescued us with three million USD? He¡¯s not that stingy of a person. He¡¯s just trying to get rid of us,¡± argued Theresa.
¡°How far is he?¡± questioned Rosa.
Ste released the curtains. ¡°Out of sight.¡±
Giovanna turned theptop on and started a video call, this time with a different ount. The person who appeared on the disy was no longer Walton but the Knight Hospitallers si.
As soon as the si appeared, all four women bowed to the screen respectfully. In unison, they greeted, ¡°Leader.¡±
A low, hoarse voice rang through the speakers. ¡°Has he made his decision?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± Giovanna reported. ¡°He wants us to return to Malta. He¡¯lle over alone.¡±
¡°Hmph, sly fox.¡±
¡°We...¡± Giovanna gulped nervously. ¡°He doesn¡¯t want us in his house any longer, he¡¯s chasing us out.¡±
¡°I¡¯m disappointed.¡± There was anger radiating from the voice booming through theptop. ¡°You¡¯ve remained in his residence for long but you¡¯ve yet to discover where he hid the sacred relic. Your ipetence has caused severe damage to the Knight Hospitaller. Our future ns and operations had to change because of your mistakes.¡±
The four female knights shivered, keeping their heads down.
¡°Come back. Awaiting your return is not honour but punishment.¡± Uttering that, the si vanished from the screen.
The four women were rooted to their spots nkly, refusing to budge.
Unbeknownst to them, there was a voyeur standing outside the walls behind them.
And that voyeur was none other than Xia Lei.
¡°Angelo, what the hell are you trying to do?¡± Xia Lei pondered. Before he left, he had a hunch that Giovanna would contact the authorities of the Knight Hospitallers headquarters. If it wasn¡¯t Walton, it would be Angelo. Now that Angelo was the real recipient, Xia Lei was surprised to find the man extremely cunning as he refused to show his face.
Thankfully, his efforts were still considerably fruitful.
The Grey and Russo sisters were now stuck in an awkward predicament. They had pledged their loyalty to him and became his knight, but Xia Lei had mercilessly chased them away. Now that they were to return to Malta, they were about to face punishment too. Certainly, the oue was beneficial to him as it gave the four women a chance to be his true knights once and for all.
Chapter 857 - Before the Trip
Tonight was a moonless night which made the skies look like a dark nk canvas. Rather than boundless space, it felt more akin to a dungeon, trapping all its prisoners.
¡°Tianyin, Uh... Good evening?¡± Receiving Shentu Tianyin¡¯s call had Xia Lei on his nerves. He knew why she was calling but did not know what to say.
¡°Is that you¡¯ve got to say to me?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was faint and spiteful.
Xia Lei started to sweat. ¡°Have you had dinner yet?¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t!¡±
¡°Huh? Why? You should eat your meals regrly. You¡¯ve got a weak stomach, you shouldn¡¯t skip your meals.¡±
Shentu Tianyin fell silent. ¡°Fine, since you¡¯re so reluctant to talk about it to me. I¡¯ll just be blunt.¡±
Now it was Xia Lei¡¯s turn to fall silent.
¡°Is Liang Siyao now thedy boss of the Thunder Horse Organization?¡±
¡°Yeah, it just happened today.¡±
¡°You...¡± She hesitated before continuing, ¡°You both reconciled?¡±
¡°I¡¯m about to marry Fan Fan.¡± Xia Lei uttered an answer.
¡°That was fake. I was there when you decided it.¡± Shentu Tianyin was not amused.
¡°Well...¡±
¡°I want to talk to you.¡±
¡°Sure, go ahead.¡±
¡°Not through a phone call. Can we meet?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s head was about to explode.
At this moment, Xia Changhe entered his room. Audibly, he questioned, ¡°Who are you talking to?¡±
¡°I was talking to...¡± Before Xia Lei could finish his sentence, the call disconnected from the device.
Shentu Tianyin had hung.
There was freedom between her and Xia Lei but Shentu Tianyin didn¡¯t dare to say anything in front of Xia Changhe. Her marriage to Xia Lei was not blessed with Xia Changhe¡¯s approval. Xia Lei had gone ahead and married her but she had made Xia Lei her scapegoat. How was Xia Changhe going to forgive her?
Xia Changhe was an old man full of experience and wisdom. Though he didn¡¯t hear Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice over the phone call, he could deduce who his son was calling. The father paid no mind to Xia Lei¡¯s numerous affairs and had blissfully ignored how messy Xia Lei¡¯s private life was. Albeit that, Xia Changhe had not a single inch of good impression on Shentu Tianyin. If Shentu Tianyin tried getting back together with Xia Lei, he would not be silent about it.
¡°Father.¡± Xia Lei kept his phone, relieved but sheepish at the same time. The unannounced presence of his father had rescued him. Shentu Tianyin was definitely about to bring up the topic of Liang Siyao¡¯s return. Talking about his ex-girlfriend to his ex-wife was destined to be a nightmare.
¡°Was it Shentu Tianyin?¡± questioned Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei smiled at him bitterly. ¡°Father, you know who it is. We... We were just having small talk.¡±
Xia Changhe stared at his son. ¡°I don¡¯t wish to interfere with your life but let me give you a piece of advice.¡±
¡°Mm?¡± Xia Lei looked at him.
¡°A married couple is supposed to face the difficulties of life together. She tossed you away at the first signs of danger. Are you really trying to get back with her? You deserve someone who¡¯s willing to go through your ups and downs together, not someone who¡¯s just here to leech off your hard work,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei kept silent but returned his father a nod. Xia Changhe¡¯s words made sense but there were some parts that he disagreed with. If Shentu Tianyin wasn¡¯t the chairman of the Vientiane Group, she wouldn¡¯t have done something like that. But what was done was set in stone. NO one could change the past. Xia Lei was not loyal to their marriage. While he was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s rightful husband, he had remained in rtionships with Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi.
¡°I know that you¡¯re a generous man, very tolerant of things. The fact that you could forgive Liang Siyao is a good example of that but Liang Siyao was a special case. She had wronged you only because she had a mission. In my opinion, she has already atoned for her mistakes. Liang Siyao was willing to sacrifice herself in order to rescue you back in Korea and she had helped me while I was in Israel. I had even managed to convince her to join the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team to be the new pig. I think she has proven herself. That¡¯s why I have nothing to say about you getting together with Liang Siyao. Do you understand what I¡¯m trying to convey here?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. This was the first time his father had lectured him on politics.
¡°Enough, let¡¯s stop talking about you.¡± Xia Changhe switched the focus. ¡°The four Knight Hospitaller women are gone, right?¡±
¡°Yeah, I instructed them to return to Malta. That¡¯s where their real headquarters is. I¡¯ll head over once I¡¯m done preparing for the trip. Anjum Khan and Tsukino Kyoko have already started their preparations,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m here because I learnt that they were preparing for this. Have you considered how dangerous it is for you to head to Malta?¡± Xia Changhe stared intently at his son.
Xia Lei defended his decision. ¡°Of course, I know how dangerous it is but you know my motivation. I need to solve the mysteries behind the ancient alloy and the AE capsule. I must go to Malta ind.¡±
Xia Changhe went silent. ¡°Let mee with you.¡±
¡°No. No way!¡± Xia Lei hadn¡¯t seen thising. He frantically declined while saying, ¡°You¡¯ve already washed your hands of your past. Father, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of how difficult it is to receive a pardon. There should be peace in yourter years, I don¡¯t wish to have you involved in this mess again.¡±
¡°But...¡±
¡°There are a lot of things we could do to increase our chances of sess. This is not one of them.¡± Xia Lei insisted further. ¡°You need to think about Xia Xue, she¡¯s your daughter. There¡¯s no turning back for me. What if I¡¯m met with an ident? Who would be there to protect her?¡±
Xia Changhe heaved a soft sigh. ¡°Alright then. Please, be extra careful.¡±
Xia Lei paused. ¡°Father, if you really wish to help me, tell me who the snake is. Have the snakee to assist me.¡±
¡°I knew you would say this.¡± Xia Changhe continued, ¡°I¡¯m reserving him as yourst resort. It is not time for him to reveal himself. Trust me, the snake will show himself someday when you¡¯re in a dire situation. This is not a time for that.¡±
Xia Lei was disheartened but shed him a smile anyway. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll wait for that time toe.¡±
Xia Changhe patted his shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s best to not wish for that.¡± With that, he turned around to leave.
A weird feeling overwhelmed Xia Lei, causing him to remain at his spot. ¡°Why is he so reluctant to reveal the snake¡¯s identity? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s best for me to not be met with such dire circumstances but who the hell is the snake? Jeez...¡±
Following that, he dug out the satellite phone used to contact the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
¡°Alessio, are you all done with your preparations?¡± Xia Lei questioned right off the bat.
¡°Yeah, we¡¯re ready. We¡¯ll be flying over to Sicily Ind tonight. We¡¯ll be waiting for you there.¡± Alessio answered.
Malta had its own airport but it wasn¡¯t a wise choice to travel there on a direct flight. Since Sicily and Malta were located in the Mediterranean, Xia Lei¡¯s n was to arrive at Sicily before taking a boat to Malta.
¡°You may start moving as soon as you¡¯re ready. I¡¯ll meet you there in a day,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°Are you sure about not having one of us to escort you?¡± Alessio questioned.
¡°Yeah, there¡¯s no need for that.¡±
¡°Alright, got it. We¡¯ll see you in Sicily. Oh right, fucking hell, it¡¯s also my turf! Haha!¡± Alessio¡¯sugh was deafening.
Sicily ind was the birthce of the Italian mafia. It was only natural for it to be Alessio¡¯s turf.
Ending the exchange, Xia Lei left the room to return to his bedroom. Before he could even start packing up his luggage for his journey, he was interrupted by a knock on his door.
¡°Lei, are you asleep?¡± It was Liang Siyao.
¡°No, give me a moment.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t resist a smile, quickly scurrying over to open the door for Liang Siyao.
The zer she had on today was tight around her form paired with a white cored blouse inside. Enticingly, her cors had showcased her pale chest and a deep valley. The fabric of her outerwear had made soften the curves of her waist, which led to a full bottom around her wide womanly hips. Liang Siyao was mature and so very attractive. The measures of the feminine allure were not all about chest sizes. The roundness of her hips and the curves of her legs were way more significant. Obviously, the woman in front of him was blessed with an outstanding behind and most importantly, her long legs were undeniably pleasing to the eyes.
He was no stranger to her body but Xia Lei found himself gawking at it.
A dazed appreciation over a female¡¯s body was frankly the best praise one could get.
Liang Siyao stifled augh. ¡°What are you looking at? It¡¯s nothing you haven¡¯t seen before. Are you going to let me in?¡±
Xia Lei made room to allow her entry, closing the door swiftly behind her. The intention behind Liang Siyao¡¯s visit at this hour was most definitely impure. Xia Lei felt the need to brace himself for what was about to happen.
As anticipated, Liang Siyao made a beeline to his bed. She kicked away her heels and began to stretch like a cat. With a soft voice, she whined, ¡°God, I¡¯m so tired. I haven¡¯t worked like this in ages! I have no idea that you were such azy person. I have way too much work.¡±
Perhaps she was genuinely tired. Liang Siyao threw herself onto the soft sheets, letting her stocking-d limbs hang off the edge of the bed. Under the soft light, her gentle curves were emphasized and meaty at the right spots. There was a hint of white peeking from beneath her skirt, Xia Lei could tell that those were her cotton undies. It was as if the little raunchy underwear was enticing him to explore further.
And Xia Lei did. He too removed his shoes and joined her in bed, pressing his palms against her back and began to massage her. ¡°You should take it easy. You could always delegate some of the tasks to Zhengnan and Qing Caiyue.¡±
¡°Zhengnan is a great employee and your secretary is pretty capable. The only problem is that she¡¯s rather coquettish.¡± Abruptly, Liang Siyao turned to stare at Xia Lei with a dangerous smirk. ¡°You¡¯re such a naughty boy and you¡¯re secretary¡¯s hot. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve fucked her, right?¡±
¡°Fuck you.¡± Xia Lei pped her behind. ¡°Do you really think of me that way?¡±
¡°Oh, you hadn¡¯t?¡±
¡°Nope and I¡¯m serious about that. This I can guarantee you,¡± answered Xia Lei. Truthfully, he was close to doing so but nothing really happened between them.
¡°Ah, I see. Good boy. As long as you¡¯ve neverid a finger on her, I could please her as I wish.¡±
Xia Lei stared at her in confusion.
¡°What¡¯s with that expression? I have my own reasons. If she had an affair with you in the dark and works for you in the open, she would definitely find it difficult to work for me. I¡¯d be troubled if she tries to influence you to frame me.¡±
Hearing those words melted Xia Lei¡¯s heart. Liang Siyao had really changed for the better.
¡°There¡¯s no need to worry. I¡¯ll be alright as soon as I get used to the new environment. I¡¯m bound to be exhausted these few days but as long as I get to help you, everything is worth it.¡±
Her gaze was full of honey-like sweetness.
¡°I¡¯m going to Malta soon.¡± Xia Lei broke the news. The man was reluctant to break the warm blissful atmosphere but this was something he didn¡¯t wish to hide from her.
¡°You...¡± As expected, Liang Siyao was immediately clouded with worry.
¡°I must go there. You know I¡¯ve got some secrets that demand answers. I must go to Malta ind. There¡¯s no need to worry too much, Anjum Khan and Alessio will be there to help me. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be alright. Please take care of thepany in my absence.¡±
Liang Siyao nodded. ¡°Please be careful.¡±
¡°Of course. But now, let¡¯s think of something else.¡± Xia Lei then pressed his weight against her soft body.
Chapter 858 - A Beautiful Encounter in Sicily
Up above the sky, a ne flew into a mass of thick clouds, trembling slightly due to turbulence. No one could pinpoint where they were and no one could see what was beneath them. But one thing was for sure. Their destination was the Palermo Airport on Sicily ind.
Lost in his thoughts, a middle-aged man went into a daze as he stared at the sea of clouds outside his window. The man was average-looking at best. His only redeeming features was his physique which was athletic and tall. Overall, his form felt like a mismatched disaster. Despite that, the expression he wore was gentle andforting to the eyes. He may be unattractive but there were qualities that made people look twice.
This middle-aged man was in fact, Xia Lei, who was bound for Sicily.
Xia Lei had only one person in mind, which was Zhu Xuanyue.
Was she ¡®hunting¡¯ for food somewhere? Where could she be? Had she remembered anything important?
Those were things he wanted to know. But no matter how hard he pondered, Xia Lei just couldn¡¯t seem to arrive at a usible answer.
Xia Lei really regretted letting Zhu Xuanyue away in the woods. If she hade along with him on his journey to Malta ind, the operation wouldn¡¯t be half as dangerous. He wouldn¡¯t even need to sneak in. With Zhu Xuanyue around, Xia Lei could even parade himself on the ind and grab away the protective suit with ease.
From the perspective of his own interest, firing that shot was a grave mistake. Due to that, he had lost his greatest asset. However, if he hadn¡¯t done so, the two innocent young employees would¡¯ve died in her hands. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have been able to live with himself.
Undoubtedly, Zhu Xuanyue remaining by his side was the most in line with his benefit. She was practically invincible. But if this advantage had meant that he needed to sacrifice hundreds and thousands of lives, Xia Lei would rather give up on it.
Whether Zhu Xuanyue was a ¡®predator¡¯ to the apex predators or a devil, he wasn¡¯t keen on knowing anytime soon. But there was one thing he was sure about. She mustn¡¯t turn into a devil. And if he had allowed more lives to be fed on to protect his interest, Xia Lei was a devil too. This was his baseline and he hadn¡¯t dared to cross it.
¡°Mister, you¡¯ve been staring at the clouds for a while now. Is there an angel out there?¡± A crisp voice interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s thought.
She was a blue-eyed blondie with freckles adorning her dainty features. Apanying it were ck full-framed sses that gave her a schstic look. The woman was soft-spoken and elegant.
The blonde was seated right beside Xia Lei. Inexplicably, seeing her face made Xia Lei think about Ning Jing. Sigh, poor Ning Jing whom he had no idea if her existence was gone forever or she had simply lived on in another form.
¡°Mister.¡± The blonde gave him a gentle smile. ¡°You seem very sad. How about you try talking to me? Perhaps it might help you feel better.¡± Suddenly, she paused for a moment before shrugging. ¡°Oh dear, you probably couldn¡¯t understand me. Nevermind, let¡¯s just act as nothing happened.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. Being fluent in Italian, he replied, ¡°I can understand you perfectly, Miss. Are you returning home to Italy after your trip to China?¡±
The well-articted response had her surprised. ¡°Whoa, I wasn¡¯t expecting your Italian to be this good. Yeah, I¡¯m Italian and I live on Sicily ind. I went to China for an academic exchange program and now I¡¯m heading back to meet a professor before going to Malta ind.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to Malta ind too?¡± Xia Lei continued the conversation. ¡°Are you going on a leisure trip?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯ve got an archaeological research project running there. It has to deal with the history of religion and the crusaders. Also...¡± She abruptly halted herself, shing him a sheepish smile instead. ¡°Sorry, we just met and you¡¯re probably not that interested in archaeology. I hope I haven¡¯t upset you.¡±
¡°No, not at all.¡± Xia Lei beamed. He held out a hand towards the blonde. ¡°My name is Ma Lei, it¡¯s really nice to meet you.¡±
She returned the gesture and gripped his palm. ¡°My name is Linda. I have a very old windchime back home and my dad named me after it when I was born.¡±
¡°Pleased to meet you, Miss Linda.¡±
¡°Pleased to meet you too, Mister Ma Lei.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I guess we¡¯re friends now. I really like cheerful people like you and I¡¯m on my way to Malta ind, how about we be travel buddies?¡±
Linda was stunned. ¡°You¡¯re heading to Malta too?¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m on a trip. I¡¯m actually really interested to know more about the history of religion and Malta ind,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°Really? That sounds great! I¡¯d love toe with you.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for Linda to agree.
¡°Uh, Miss Linda, if you don¡¯t mind... Could you tell me more about your research?¡±
¡°No problem! What do you want to know?¡±
The two began to chatter.
Truthfully, if he hadn¡¯t heard about her scheduled trip to Malta, Xia Lei would¡¯ve ended their exchange. There were other motivations behind his offer to be her travel buddy. Xia Lei figured that heading there with a local archaeologist would allow him more ess to the historical sites and artefacts on the ind. More importantly, sticking to her would help perfect his cover.
As they interacted, Xia Lei was able to establish a good understanding of Linda¡¯s background.
She was an employee working under the Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Office of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. She essentially had the same job as Ning Jing. Other than that, Linda had mentioned that she was a Catholic.
When it was Linda¡¯s turn to ask about his upation, Xia Lei had recited his formted answer. This time, he was a Chinese businessman that managed a small clothing productionpany. This was the cover Xia Lei had decided on prior to this.
Time flew by fast as they talked. Before they knew it, the air stewardess had already announced their arrival to Palermo airport.
Soon, the metal bird made its way onto thending strip.
Xia Lei and Linda pulled along their luggage towards the arrival hall. The skies outside had indicated that it was already evening. The brilliant blue sky and pure white clouds were already dyed crimson by dusk. Xia Lei could see blue waves crashing in the Mediterranean sea by the airport along with the seagulls flying around. Sicily ind felt like a painting. Xia Lei could feel the stark foreignness to the ce.
Entering the arrival hall, Xia Lei began to scan his surroundings with his left vision. Soon enough, he found Alessio and Yelena, who hade to receive him. Though the two had on masks, Xia Lei could identify them with a twitch of his left eye.
It didn¡¯t take long for Alessio and Yelena to train their gazes on the undercovered Xia Lei. Despite not having the advantages of Xia Lei¡¯s vision, they were trained well enough to discern him through other methods such as height, gait and his physique.
The n now was to leave the airport with Alessio and Yelena then take shelter at a stronghold Alessio designated on Sicily before taking his transport to Malta ind. This used to be Xia Lei¡¯s n but he made the conscious choice to change his ns during the flight.
Xia Lei pulled his trolley luggage towards Alessio and Yelena, pausing right in front of them briefly. ¡°Change of ns. Will contact you soon.¡±
Alessio and Yelena were stunned.
At this moment, Linda pulled her luggage along in an attempt to catch up with Xia Lei. ¡°Mister Ma Lei! Wait for me!¡±
Xia Lei turned around with a smile. ¡°Oh, I was just looking for you. Sorry, I was a little lost.¡±
Linda came to stand beside him. ¡°Let¡¯s go, there¡¯s no need for you to book a hotel. You can stay at my ce. I¡¯ve got plenty of empty rooms and I can bring you around the streets to experience life as a Sicilian local.¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s splendid. Thank you so much, Miss Linda. I¡¯ll treat you to dinner tonight. Feel free to ask for anything.¡±
¡°Wow! But I must warn you, I¡¯ve got an amazing appetite.¡±
¡°Hehe, me too.¡±
The two chattered away as they left, leaving behind Yelena and Alessio staring at their retreating backs.
Thetter waited for the pair to leave the arrival hall before whispering to hisrade. ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡±
Yelena shrugged. ¡°How am I supposed to know?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t there this saying in Chinese? Uh...¡±
¡°Are you trying to say hoes before bros?¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s it. Now that the boss is leaving with a woman, shouldn¡¯t that be fitting?¡±
¡°Shut the fuck up. The boss is not someone who¡¯s a brainless womanizer. Plus, the woman isn¡¯t half as attractive as his other lovers. There¡¯s no way he¡¯s doing this out of lust. I¡¯m sure he had his own reasons behind the sudden change of ns.¡±
¡°What should we do now? The boss hasn¡¯t exined himself yet.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious that it¡¯s difficult to exin in detail with her around him? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already snapped a picture of her.¡± Yelena shook the phone in her grip. She continued, ¡°We¡¯ll understand the boss¡¯s intention after we get back and have Sa¡¯im run a background check on her.¡±
Alessioughed unceremoniously.
Outside the arrival hall, Xia Lei waved to stop a cab. Linda and he then entered the vehicle and left the airport.
Driving on the roads along the outskirts, the horizons of the majestic Mediterannean sea seemed to stretch on forever. Just outside the window, Xia Lei could see lots of grape fields. Sadly, his arrival was just past the grape harvest season.
¡°You¡¯re really special, Mister Ma Lei.¡± Linda disturbed the pregnant silence.
Xia Lei smiled lightly. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°You look very sad but you¡¯re very confident. Your gaze... It¡¯s very deep like the embodiment of your vast knowledge and wisdom. I can¡¯t exin this well but you radiate a unique aura, you¡¯re really attractive,¡± said Linda.
Were Italian women all this passionate? Those were quite some words.
This happened to be the first time Xia Lei had received suchpliments from a woman. He was a little surprised but mostly delighted. He chucked. ¡°Was that apliment? Thank you so much. But I have to point this out. We just met and we¡¯re basically strangers. Why are you so keen on bringing me to your ce? Are you not afraid that I might be a criminal?¡±
¡°Mm. Do you think I¡¯m some dumb chick who would bring trouble to herself?¡± Linda squinted at him.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help butugh.
The deduction of an intelligent and experienced woman would sometimes be much more precise and sensitive than detectives, especially when it came to men.
If she had dared to bring him home, of course, she would¡¯ve done her fair share of observation and considerations.
Chapter 859 - The Sharpshooter of Witch Town
Xia Lei thought Linda¡¯s home was in the crowded city but when he arrived, he realised it was a house on the coast. It was situated on a grassy hill with tiny flowers littered around it. It was beautiful. The waves from the ocean crashed onto the reef at the bottom of the hill making the most calming sounds. The lighthouse faraway was lit, guiding fishermen out at sea. There was a small town at the bottom of the hill too. The Baroque style architecture was picturesque under the sky, he felt like time had stopped in the seventeenth or eighteenth century.
Although this was his first time here, he was already in love with the scenery.
¡°This is beautiful,¡± sighed Xia Lei in awe as he stood on her balcony.
¡°This is beautiful indeed but it gets boring after a while. You¡¯d want to get out or move somewhere else.¡± Linda brought him a cup of coffee. ¡°It¡¯s how humans think, no? Most people like new things.¡±
Xia Lei sipped some coffee and smiled. ¡°And yet you¡¯re an oddball. You like old stuff, right?¡±
¡°You?¡± Linda stared at him intently with her blue eyes, as if reading his past.
He did not mind. ¡°I am a logical person. I think I¡¯m in the middle of both. I like new technology but I also like antiques passed down generations. Have you seen Chinese dramas? I am a Chinese theatre enthusiast.¡±
He¡¯s just finished when Linda suddenly sang a line, ¡°The red-faced Zhang Fei, green-faced Cao Cao...!¡±
Was she imitating a Chinese opera singer? Xia Lei was very confused.
¡°Hehe, apologies. I only know one line. It¡¯s not bad, right?¡±
¡°You sing well,¡± said Xia Lei kindly, despite what he thought.
¡°It¡¯s fine, I just like Chinese culture but I know too little. Mister Ma Lei, wait a few minutes here. I¡¯ll make a call and then let¡¯s go to the town for dinner.¡± She smiled. ¡°You promised you¡¯d get me dinner.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°No problem.¡±
Once she left, he took out his satellite phone and dialled.
¡°Boss, I thought I¡¯d only receive a call from you tomorrow morning,¡± came Alessio¡¯s voice. ¡°If you know what I mean,¡± Alessio added suggestively.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Nonsense. She¡¯s Linda, an archaeologist from Italy. She happens to be going to Malta for some archaeological work. Her identity is a good cover for me.¡±
Alessio said, ¡®Yelena took pictures of her. Sa¡¯im did a background check. We can confirm that she is all clear, you can go to Malta with her. I have a question. What about us? Should we follow you in secret too?¡±
¡°Go to Malta first buty low. You just need to wait for my call.¡±
¡°I thought so. See you in Malta then.¡± Alessio then added, ¡°Boss, Italian women are famous for their passion. She¡¯s a good one. Don¡¯t waste this opportunity. I am sure she hasn¡¯t done it in a while.¡±
Xia Lei did not respond.
After hanging up, his gaze turned to where Linda left. He then saw her in a room, on the phone.
Perhaps out of habit, his left eye locked on her lips, reading them.
¡°Professor Oman, right, I have just returned to Sicily. I will rest a day then leave for Malta. Yeah, I¡¯ll be bringing a friend to town for dinnerter. You can just pass me the things. I won¡¯t being to your house. I know it¡¯s very important, don¡¯t worry. I will be very careful with them. Yeah, alright. See youter.¡± Linda hung up and then turned to leave the room.
Xia Lei looked back.
¡°I¡¯m ready, can we go now? I¡¯m starving,¡± said Linda with a smile.
Xia Lei nodded with a smile.
The town at the bottom of the hill was named Witch Town. It was named after a powerful witch from the middle ages. However, Xia Lei was not interested in Linda¡¯s story.
Both of them entered an Italian restaurant. He ordered their best dishes and best wine, then hired a street performer to y a song on the violin, the romantic ¡®Serenade¡¯.
¡°Mister Ma Lei, you¡¯re a romantic man. I don¡¯t know why our time together has felt so familiar, so warm. We have only known each other for a short while, but it feels like years. This is peculiar, no?¡± She was smiling from ear to ear.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Miss Linda, are you hinting at something?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± There was a mysterious smirk on the corner of her lips.
¡°Let¡¯s toast to that.¡±
Dinner was enjoyable. However, Xia Lei did not see Professor Oman and had already called the waiter over to pay the bill.
Linda looked at her phone frantically. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what happened. Professor Oman isn¡¯t here yet, we¡¯d agreed on the time.¡±
She called him but no one picked up.
¡°We can wait here,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Let¡¯s just go to his house.¡±
¡°Let me go with you. It¡¯ste, it¡¯s not safe for you to be out in the streets alone. This is Sicily,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hehe.¡± She chuckled. ¡°Mister Ma Lei, first, thank you for your concern, but you are wrong. Everyone thinks Sicily is a paradise for criminals, but that is the past. Now, the mobs are earning their fortunes from gold, property or investing in oil. Who¡¯d still want to kill and fight when there are much safer ways to earn more money? Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s safe.¡±
When he heard this, Xia Lei thought she didn¡¯t want him toe but when she finished, she came over to hold his hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll go together.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly thought Alessio might be onto something.
Professor Oman¡¯s house was not far away. They arrived in ten minutes.
It was a very old house, perhaps more than two hundred years old. However, it was well-kept and there were few signs of wear and tear. The house was like aposed, clean old man with many stories to tell.
Linda knocked on the door but no one answered.
He wasn¡¯t picking up the phone, nor was he answering the door. This was not normal. Xia Lei was suddenly alert. With a twitch of his left eye, the door and walls disappeared. It was at that moment he grabbed her waist and they both dove to the ground.
Tut-tut-tut!
The wooden door shook and several holes appeared. They were bullet holes. One secondter and these bullets would have pierced through Linda¡¯s chest.
¡°What are you doing?¡± She didn¡¯t know what had happened.
Xia Lei did not exin. He leapt and picked her up, carrying her towards the corner of the wall.
¡°Mister Ma Lei!¡± Linda was upset now.
The door behind them burst open and a shooter ran through the door.
Xia Lei had already brought Linda around the corner, away from the shooter.
Linda was about to scream but Xia Lei covered her mouth. His left eye saw through the wall and locked in the shooter.
The shooter walked over with a gun in hand. His arms were extended before him, aiming at the corner of the wall. His posture was on form and his hands were steady. He must be a trained professional.
However, Xia Lei was calm. He could see the man through the walls. Even if he didn¡¯t have any weapons, he could still disarm this sharpshooter. He had a knife hidden in his waist. Just as the shooter turned the corner, he would stab him.
However, this shooter was not his enemy. His target was the armour in the Knight Hospitaller¡¯s hands. This was not a hero-saves-damsel story. That was why unless his life was threatened, he would not kill this man.
The shooter approached.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows furrowed. He did not want to kill anyone in Sicily, yet this person seemed to want death. He let go of his arm around Linda and fumbled around his waist.
¡°Who is there? Come out!¡± The shooter stopped one meter away from the corner. However, his shadow was cast by the street lights on the ground. They could see his arms and the gun in his hands!
Seeing the shadow, Linda suddenly understood what happened and panicked.
A car suddenly stopped in the street and someone yelled, ¡°Hey! What are you doing?¡±
This startled the shooter. He looked at the car and sprinted off.
Xia Lei let Linda go and put down the hand that was about to grab his knife.
Linda looked around and saw that the shooter had already hurried off into an alley. Very soon, the sound of car engine roaring came. A very cool car rushed out like a ferocious beast and escaped into the darkness.
¡°Oh no! Professor Oman!¡± Linda rushed out of the corner.
Xia Lei hesitated, then walked out. Just as he contemted looking into the house, Linda had already rushed into the professor¡¯s house.
¡°Hey! Sir, what happened?¡± asked the car driver on the street.
In Italian, Xia Lei said, ¡°I don¡¯t know either. We were just attacked. Can you call the police?¡±
¡°No problem.¡± The driver took out his phone and called the police.
Xia Lei walked to the door in deep thought. ¡°Should I leave her here? But her identity really was a good cover...¡±
He did not reach a conclusion because he had already stepped into the house.
The room smelled faintly of blood.
¡°Professor Oman!¡± He heard Linda¡¯s shriek from a room.
Xia Lei rushed over.
It was a study. There was an old man lying in the middle of the room. He was shot in the chest and his shirt was already drenched with blood. There was also a loosened floorboard.
Chapter 860 - The Metal Book
¡°Professor Oman? Professor Oman?¡± Linda knelt by the old man, frantically calling his name.
The old man was not dead yet. He looked at Linda with his eyes filled with fear. He seemed to want to lift his hand but he could only move a finger.
Linda panicked. ¡°Professor, don¡¯t be afraid. You¡¯ll be alright! I¡¯ll call the ambnce now!¡± She quickly pulled out her phone to call the emergency line.
She had just reported their address when a sound came from his throat. ¡°Ugh.¡± It was hisst breath. His pupils started to dte as they slowly dimmed.
¡°Professor? Professor?!¡± Linda grabbed his hand, calling his name. She shook his arm, desperately trying to wake him.
Professor Oman did not respond.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye swept across the entire study. The study was in a mess, the books on the shelves were scattered on the ground. The drawers and wooden cupboards were opened violently and their contents were strewn all over the floor.
It looked like a robbery but Xia Lei sensed something was unusual. First, the shooter looked professional. Second, why would robbers only rob a study?
¡°Professor? Professor Oman...¡± Linda was in grief.
Xia Lei wanted tofort her but suddenly saw a symbol drawn using blood on the loosened floorboard. It was previously under the professor¡¯s hand but after Linda held it, the symbol was revealed.
The image was notplete. It wasn¡¯t clear either. To anyone, it was just a bloodstain.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched. He saw the parts drawn by a fingertip from the smudge of blood. Based on the general shape of the symbol, he had an answer. It was an unfinished drawing of a swallow¡¯s tail cross and a pyramid.
It was also known as a Maltese cross, made of four ¡®V¡¯s. This was the si of the Knight Hospitallers.
Xia Lei was deeply shocked by this discovery. He wondered, ¡°Was the old man hinting that his death was rted to the Knight Hospitallers? Or was he hinting something else at Linda?¡±
He wanted to tell Linda his discovery but he swallowed his words. He was now Ma Lei, not Xia Lei. He was just a businessman with a clothing factory. He had already acted very suspiciously for his story. If he told Linda his discovery, would she still think he was a businessman?
¡°He was my best teacher...¡± Linda started to sob.
Xia Lei grabbed her shoulders gently. ¡°I believe the police will punish the culprit.¡±
¡°He was a very kind man. I can¡¯t believe someone would kill such a good man...¡± Linda leaned against his leg, grieving.
Sirens could be heard from outside the house. One minuteter, two policemen entered.
Xia Lei helped her up.
Two policemen surveyed the site and asked Linda questions. Then, they also asked Xia Lei but he merely briefly exined the situation. He did not borate.
Half an hourter, Professor Oman¡¯s body was taken away. The police also sealed the ce up with tape. Linda left her number with the police and then went home with Xia Lei.
She sat at the balcony overlooking the town at the foot of the hill wordlessly.
Xia Lei made her a cup of coffee and put it in her hands. ¡°I know you¡¯re in grief. I hope you feel better soon. Everyone has to leave this world sooner orter, just in different ways.¡±
¡°Thank you for saving me.¡± Linda looked at him gratefully.
¡°I just did what I was supposed to do. You don¡¯t have to thank me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°But...¡± Linda looked confused. ¡°When I stood at the door, I didn¡¯t see the shooter. How did you see him?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°I was standing next to you and an open window nearby. The dark walls made it more like a mirror. I saw the shooter from the ss. He was already aiming his gun at the door. I didn¡¯t have much time so I just dove to the ground with you.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± her eyes were gentle. ¡°You must be an angel sent by God. Without you, I would be dead, along with Professor Oman.¡±
Xia Lei was silent before he continued, ¡°Linda, can you tell me what is going on? You and Professor Oman agreed to meet and he was about to give you something. Yet he was harmed. I did not see you receiving anything from him either.¡±
Linda merely looked at Xia Lei silently.
He shrugged. ¡°Forgive me for my curiosity. I just wanted to know the cause. If you can¡¯t tell me, then pretend I didn¡¯t ask.¡±
Linda then said, ¡°I returned to Sicily mainly to get the metal leaf book from Professor Oman. But I didn¡¯t know this would happen.¡±
¡°Metal leaf book? What¡¯s that?¡± Xia Lei was interested.
¡°It¡¯s made of bronze.¡±
¡°A bronze book?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched. He recalled the bronze book he had with him!
¡°Yes, it¡¯s a bronze book. An indecipherablenguage is etched on it. Previously, it was in the Vatican museum, a mysterious artefact that was not avable for public view. Some people used to suspect it was the legendary ¡®Leaf Book¡¯. Professor Oman happened to be good friends with the pope. The pope wanted him to study the book. Mm, that was a month ago.¡±
One month ago, Zhu Xuanyue was awakened and the ck-robed man appeared. Now, on the other side of the world, a bronze book appeared too. Was this a coincidence or was someone orchestrating all this in the dark?
Despite his high IQ, he still couldn¡¯t connect the dots.
¡°The academic exchange I attended in China hadn¡¯t actually ended. Professor called me saying he made a new discovery so he wanted me to return and bring the metal leaf book to Malta. I asked if it could wait for a few days, but he had already arranged the transport details.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched. ¡°Did he book the tickets, or did someone else book?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know, I didn¡¯t ask. He just seemed very anxious so I didn¡¯t refuse and came here. Such a coincidence that we met too, sitting next to each other,¡± said Linda.
Was it really a coincidence?
On a ne, if two people were friendly, it was not an odd thing if people sitting together would be friends. This happened often, it was not peculiar. However, Xia Lei¡¯s feeling that someone had orchestrated him meeting Linda grew stronger. Before Linda mentioned the metal leaf book, he assumed nothing of it.
¡°Why must you bring the book to Malta? Why can¡¯t he do it?¡± Xia Lei probed after a short pause.
¡°He didn¡¯t say but I think he must¡¯ve had his reasons.¡±
¡°Did he tell you where to bring the metal book? Or meet someone?¡± Xia Lei needed answers.
¡°Uh...¡± Linda¡¯s gaze fell on his face. ¡°Mister Ma Lei, why are you so interested in the metal book?¡±
Xia Lei realised he must¡¯ve sounded desperate. ¡°Nothing, I was just very curious. I¡¯m naturally interested in mysterious urrences. I like going to mysterious ces too, like Hansong Cave in Vietnam. I even single-handedly survived Venezu¡¯s Angel Falls.¡±
¡°Wow!¡± Before Xia Lei could continue lying, Linda looked at him in disbelief. ¡°You survived the Angel Falls? That¡¯s the tallest waterfall in the world and has a ny-degree drop. Many professional extreme athletes can¡¯t do it. This is unbelievable!¡±
He shrugged. ¡°I like the adrenaline rush. I don¡¯t actually want to be a businessman but you know, a job¡¯s a job. I have to do what I need to eat.¡±
¡°You¡¯re a strange man.¡± She stared at him. ¡°You must have many stories.¡±
¡°Everyone has their stories.¡± Xia Lei expertly changed the topic. ¡°Now that Professor Oman was killed and the metal book is missing, are you still going to Malta?¡±
If she wasn¡¯t going, he had to leave this ce tonight. He wasn¡¯t going to waste time with her otherwise.
¡°I will go. I will go check out the ce Professor Oman told me to go.¡±
Xia Lei did not ask where. He had already made the mistake of sounding too interested. He would not make the same mistake again.
She suddenly stood up from the chair and came to him.
He looked at her, measuring her intentions.
Linda suddenly ced a hand on his chest.
He was slightly stunned. ¡°Miss Linda, what are you doing?¡±
¡°Very strong muscles,¡± said Linda, ¡°You said you survived Angel Falls. I want to see if your body could really survive that. Can you show me?¡±
She was a smart woman.
Xia Lei hesitated and unbuttoned his shirt. His upper body was very strong but he didn¡¯t have exaggerated muscles. All the lines were gentle and proportionate, it was the perfect bnce of aesthetic and power.
Linda¡¯s hand slid from his chest to his eight-pack. The fair and hard muscles made them look like they were chiselled out of jade.
¡°I have never seen a body like yours. Your skin, your muscles. I cannot find words to describe them.¡± Linda¡¯s eyes filled with excitement, her hand sliding down the gap between his muscles and his pants.
Xia Lei took a step back. ¡°Uh, it¡¯ste. I¡¯ll go back to my room. Goodnight, Miss Linda.¡±
She looked disappointed. ¡°Mister Ma Lei, will you be going to Malta with me tomorrow?¡±
¡°Of course. I will be happy to go with you,¡± said Xia Lei.
He was waiting for her to ask.
Chapter 861 - Lindas Secret
*** don¡¯t edit the highlighted paragraph!
The dark-skinned shooter, the metal book, the Italian archaeologist and his student, Linda...
All these things were a mess in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
There was a soft sound from the next room. Footsteps.
It waste. Why was she up?
Xia Lei crawled from his bed. His left eye twitched and the walls disappeared.
In the next room, Linda exited through the door. She was d in a thin nightgown. In the faint light, every curve of her body could be seen under the nightdress. It was provoking.
Linda opened the door and then walked towards her study.
Xia Lei hopped off the bed and tiptoed to the door. He only opened the door when she entered the study. Then, he inched towards the study keeping his eyes locked on her.
She closed the study¡¯s door, then walked towards a bookshelf.
¡®I don¡¯t think she¡¯s just looking for a book to read?¡¯ thought Xia Lei.
He saw Linda squat down and open a wooden cupboard at the bottom of the bookshelf. Her nightgown stretched tightly around her bottom, shadows entuating her every curve.
This was awkward for Xia Lei. She didn¡¯t intend for anyone to see her in this state, yet here he was.
Linda did not know there was someone behind the door. Here, she took out a leather backpack from the cupboard. Bringing the bag to the desk, she opened it and took out something from within. She ced a passport, a notebook, a pistol and some misceneous items along with archaeological tools.
She had a gun. However, he did not find it odd that she had one. Although gunws here were strict, it was stillmon to own one in the countryside. Even an olddy might have one. You¡¯d never know.
She picked up the gun and checked its cartridge. Then, she put the rest of the stuff back in her backpack. She put the bag back in the cupboard and then walked towards the door, holding the gun.
Xia Lei hurried off soundlessly. He had just entered his room when Linda walked out of the study with her gun. He hid at the door with his left eye still locked on Linda.
She came to his door with her gun, then stopped.
¡°She wants to kill me?¡± Xia Lei was surprised but calm. He was prepared. With a hand on his waist, he was ready to pull out his army knife anytime.
However, just as he was poised for battle, Linda shook her head and turned around to leave.
Xia Lei froze, not sure of her intentions. Amidst his confusion, Linda went to the front door to put on a pair of sneakers, then left.
Xia Lei also opened the door and left. He saw her walking down the hill. Under the dim moonlight, she looked ethereal in her nightgown. She looked like a floating spirit lingering around the hills, maybe a ghost looking for her next victim.
¡°She¡¯s going to Professor Oman¡¯s house. So she just wanted to invite me just now?¡± Xia Lei guessed her intentions and started to think. ¡°At his homest evening, she wasn¡¯t looking for anything. Was it on purpose? Was she nning to retrieve it alone? Could it be the metal book? Or why would she bring a gun?¡±
This guess made Xia Lei anxious.
Linda was not walking fast. After walking a bit, she turned around to look.
Just before she did that, he dove behind the front door and also made a decision. He did not follow immediately and instead, hurried to her study.
There were no tall nts on the hill, it would be difficult for him to hide. If he followed her closely, she might see him. Based on her current speed, he could definitely catch up to her before she arrived at the town. During this time, he could investigate the notebook.
As he walked to the study, he quickly took her backpack out of the cupboard and the notebook inside.
He opened the notebook and read its contents.
Inside were some archaeological notes, annotations of her research of some artefact. While the contents were random, they looked very professional. He skimmed through and quickly reached the end of the notebook.
¡°Professor Oman wanted me to research the metal book with him. He told me it was the most difficult mystery in the world. The age of this book far exceeds recorded human history. There are mysterious texts written inside that till this day, no one can decipher. He estimates that the book had been here since the ice age. Did another intelligent civilization exist then, during another part of Earth¡¯s history? Well, the earth is billions of years old, and humans have only about two million years. Perhaps there is a possibility of an advanced civilization before this period? I epted his suggestion. This is an opportunity to witness an archaeological miracle.
I finally saw the metal book. It looks like any other book, just a littlerger. Before I thought it would be iron but I came to realise it was made of bronze. I asked Professor Oman why it wasn¡¯t called the bronze book. He said it was named by the owner of this book during Roman times and they kept the name. It had appeared during the Roman times? My goodness, it¡¯s been two thousand years since its discovery, yet till today, no one has been able to decipher its secrets.
Professor Oman and I have tried many methods. Light spectroscopy, talking to linguists, but to no avail. Our research hasn¡¯t made much progress and I am frustrated. However I know that this is a two-thousand-year-old mystery, how could I hope to decipher it so soon.
The people at the church are a little anxious. They sent people here to ask about its progress. This is a joke. They had this metal book probably hundreds, maybe thousands of years. Yet they hadn¡¯t been able to decipher it. How could they hope for me and Professor Oman and solve the mystery so soon? Why are they so impatient? I can¡¯t guess the reason. The church is as mysterious as this book.
Professor Oman says he has been having hallucinations, yet he has been clean of substances. I asked what sort of hallucinations but he wouldn¡¯t tell me. Never mind, it¡¯s time for me to put down my work. I need to attend an academic exchange in China. I hope I¡¯ll get some inspiration from the Chinese archaeologists, maybe I¡¯ll have an idea soon...¡±
When he finished reading, Xia Lei was stunned.
Although Linda did not include a picture of the metal book, ording to her description, he was sure that the book was the same as the bronze book he had with him.
Two bronze books! What was going on?
He suddenly recalled the ¡®I¡¯ mentioned in the audio recording of the bronze book.
¡°You can decipher my voice, because you are The One. I left my voice in this bronze book to tell you my story. I had a box once, and that was how I gained immense power. My life is long, long beyond your imagination. I built my own kingdom, but even I do not know howrge it is. I have conquered many, many women, so many that I do not remember their names anymore. My grandchildren have died before me, and even the grandchildren of grandchildren of my grandchildren have passed before me. A long life has be my torture, yet my subjects hail me as The One. I think they see me as a god ¡ª but I am not a god. Wine, women, and vastnds are no longer enough to satisfy my desires. I began to want to unravel the mysteries of the box. And so, I departed from my kingdom. I scaled the highest peak in this world, and crossed the deepest ocean. I don¡¯t know how many ces I¡¯ve visited, or if there was any ce in this world I had not yet visited. My kingdom was extinguished, but I was not concerned. Then, a continuous snow fell upon thend. I witnessed the extinction of tens of thousands of creatures, and I truly became The One. I despaired. I wanted to end my life in the ce where the sun rose. I came to the East, to the ce closest to where the sun rose. This was the end I wanted. I leave this bronze book to you, but when the timees when I am prepared to end my life...¡±
The audio had stopped here.
The ¡®I¡¯ in the recording did not say what happened when his life ended. He once guessed that some ident or sudden incident must have happened. However, it looked more like it was cut into two parts, not interrupted!
The part Professor Oman and Linda studied was the other half!
¡°As long as I can find the other part of the bronze book, I¡¯ll be able to understand the audio. Then I will know what happened as this person prepared to kill themselves. Maybe I can even crack the AE or ancient alloy¡¯s mystery!¡± Xia Lei was extremely excited.
Two minutester, he put the leather backpack in its original spot and left Linda¡¯s house.
As he left the front door, he looked up and spotted Linda at the entrance of the town.
She was travelling faster than before. Her hand was behind her back, holding the gun. She looked very nervous.
Under a normal circumstance, she should have changed into more appropriate clothing. However, she was just in a nightgown now, it would be difficult to hide a gun. He could tell how anxious she was to return to Professor Oman¡¯s house.
Xia Lei rushed down the hill quickly. He took two minutes toplete the journey that took her eight minutes to walk. As he entered the town, Linda had already arrived at the professor¡¯s house.
Streetmps lit the streets but there was no one around.
She ducked under the police tape and found a key under a flowerpot. Very quickly, she opened the door. Just as she stepped inside, a shadow leapt from the darkness!
Chapter 862 - The Girl On The Hill
The shadow was as quick as lightning.
She dove and rolled down the steps by the front door out of instinct, her nightgown fluttering around her.
A ck cat leapt over her head andnded soundlessly.
¡°Meow...¡± The ck cat looked at Linda who was sprawled on the ground.
¡°You bastard! I almost had a heart attack!¡± muttered Linda as she got up. Her nightgown was dirty and her bottom was scratched. She lifted her gown and found she was bleeding a little.
Xia Lei watched awkwardly.
She was smart but untrained.
She finally gave up on her injuries, picked up her gun and entered the house.
Professor Oman¡¯s house was dark but as she stepped inside, it was now lit brightly. The house now stood out in the darkened street.
¡°Idiot, does she not know what stealth is?¡± Xia Lei panicked, quickly following her footsteps.
The lights suddenly went out in the house.
¡°At least you still have some sense in you.¡± Xia Lei heaved a small sigh of relief and walked around to the back of the house. He watched Linda through the walls.
She was holding a shlight and looking around his study.
Xia Lei also moved to the back so he could see better. Although the room was only lit by her shlight, he was still able to make out her actions clearly.
The police had drawn a human outline around where the professor¡¯s body was. There were still bloodstains on the floorboards though it had been dried up. The mess in the room was not cleaned up, the floor was still scattered with books, papers and random objects.
This was normal. It was important to keep the scene of the crime untouched until it was solved
¡°Professor Oman, I hope that guy does not know your secret. Don¡¯t worry, I will decipher the metal book and I¡¯ll also help the police catch the murderer.¡± Linda said looking at the bloodstains on the ground before tracing a cross over her body. After she prayed, she walked towards a bookshelf.
¡°What is she doing?¡± Xia Lei was curious.
Just at this moment, she reached out to push a bookshelf. The shelf slid aside.
There was a small wooden door behind, locked with a passcode.
She entered the passcode on the device then opened the door and went inside. The door closed automatically but did not affect his sight. Xia Lei increased the power of his extraordinary vision and the space behind the wooden door came into his sight.
It was a narrow secret chamber, akin to a storeroom. There were archaeological antiques inside. Armour, weapons from the crusaders, oil paintings, and also misceneous antiques.
Xia Lei was anxious. ¡°No evidence of a break-in. Is the metal book still in his secret chamber?¡±
Linda walked to a safe, then opened it with a passcode. Just as it opened, she fell backwards and sat on the ground.
The safe was empty.
This extinguished what anticipation Xia Lei had in his heart. If the metal book was in the safe, it would be so much easier. He just had to slip inside, knock Linda unconscious, then take away the book. While hical, it was his best course of action. However, it would seem that it didn¡¯t matter.
After sitting on the ground for a minute in stunned silence, Linda closed the safe and then left the secret chamber. Back in the study, she looked at the bloodstains once again. ¡°Professor Oman, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll get the metal book back. I am sure the people of the church will take action and help me.¡±
As she finished, she left the study.
Xia Lei also left in a rush, running after distancing himself for the house. He sprinted up the hill. He had to return to his room before she did.
Both of them had returned empty-handed from this excursion, but at least he learned something. Now he confirmed that the leaf book was the other part of the bronze book. This was a very important discovery for him.
Three minutester, he was already up the hill. He turned around to see that Linda had already exited the town. She was travelling faster now, obviously didn¡¯t want anyone to see that she had been to Professor Oman¡¯s house. He then sprinted faster.
He approached Linda¡¯s house.
However, just as he was nearing the house, he stopped abruptly. Half a minuteter, he dove into the bushes next to the road. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. He had just dove when Linda¡¯s door suddenly opened and four people walked out.
They were all Caucasian men, bald and d in ck hooded cloaks. It did not look like long Arabian-style robes, nor the kind pastors wore. They looked more like robes worn by witches and wizards.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t just see the bald heads hiding in their hoods, he also saw the guns hiding beneath their cloaks. These four people didn¡¯t just have pistols, they also had submachine guns.
Who were they?
What were they doing in Linda¡¯s house in the middle of the night?
Based on Xia Lei¡¯s understanding, she is just an ordinary archaeologist who participated in the metal book¡¯s research project because of Professor Oman¡¯s invite. If these people were here for the metal book, it wasn¡¯t with her. What did they want?
He had no time to think because when he turned around, Linda had already reached the slope of the hill.
The four people spoke in Italian.
¡°Did the archaeologist escape?¡±
¡°Impossible, she doesn¡¯t even know we areing.¡±
¡°Her clothes are still in her room. Her passport is in her backpack. She nned to go to Malta. She would definitely bring her passport.¡±
¡°There is also another man¡¯s luggage in her house.¡±
¡°Will the man be a problem?¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. When we find them, we will kill them all.¡±
¡°I think someone¡¯sing.¡±
¡°It¡¯s the archaeologist.¡±
¡°Looks like she has a gun.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t startle her. We have to retreat. Before killing her, I have a few questions I need answers to.¡±
The four retreated into her house.
Their n was very simple. Hide, ambush, interrogate Linda and then kill her. If she didn¡¯t have a gun, they probably would have rushed forward by now. That gun also gave Xia Lei an opportunity to solve this problem because if the four attacked now, without a gun on him, Xia Lei did not dare fight four people with submachine guns.
As her front door closed, Xia Lei crawled from the grass and ran down the slope, crouching.
On the slope, Linda was muttering to herself as she walked. ¡°Thank goodness I didn¡¯t get Mr Ma Lei to apany me. I¡¯ve done something shady and even failed. Fuck that guy. He killed the professor and even took the book. When should I call the church and ask for help? Sigh, this is going to be difficult...¡±
However, at this moment, a burst of wind hit her.
Just as she realised this, she was already on the ground with the ¡®gust of wind¡¯. There was a person on her. He was Ma Lei. She looked at him, terrified.
¡°Shhh. Listen to me, there are shooters in your house. I was lucky to have escaped. Don¡¯t make a sound, listen to me and we will live,¡± Xia Lei said as he crawled up.
The breeze blew.
Linda felt the breeze on her stomach and almost died of embarrassment. As she fell, the wind blew her skirt up.
Xia Lei tugged her dress down, grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bush. Without a word, he sprinted down the slope with her.
Etiquette was not important now.
He was running fast, pulling Linda along with him. Her gown fluttered and billowed in the wind. However, at this point, she couldn¡¯t care less, Plus, she was sprinting too quickly to keep her gown down.
¡°I can¡¯t run anymore... Is there really a shooter?¡± Linda turned around but could not see anything. To her, it was a patch of darkness.
¡°Not just one, four,¡± said Xia Lei as he ran. ¡°Please, believe me. I heard their conversation. They want to catch, interrogate then kill you.¡±
¡°Who are they?¡± She sounded terrified.
¡°I don¡¯t know, they wore...¡±
Tut-tut-tut...
Gunshots rang out behind them.
The four shooters were starting to chase after them as they realised something went wrong.
The range of their submachine guns was two hundred meters. The gap between Xia Lei, Linda and the shooters was about the same. The bullets flew above their heads, whistling in the wind.
Xia Lei dragged her a few more meters before stopping.
He took the pistol from her and shot at one of the shooters. It was too bad the pistol only had a range of fifty meters. It did not hit the man.
¡°Get up, follow me!¡± Xia Lei gave up on using the gun to kill them off. He pulled Linda and then brought her towards the town. As they ran, he shouted, ¡°Terrorist attack! Terrorist attack!¡±
The gunshots behind quickly died down.
The four shooters did not shoot but Xia Lei shot several times.
The gunshots and his shouting quickly attracted attention. Many people turned on their lights and some people walked out of their houses with guns. Some had pistols, others had rifles or even SAS rifles.
It was a town in Sicily after all.
When Xia Lei and Linda arrived at the town, the ck-robed men had already disappeared in the hills.
They were indeed dressed very suspiciously. If they continued running, they would be up against an entire town of Sicilians, not just one Chinese man and an archaeologist.
Chapter 863 - Im Gay
One dayter at Valletta, Malta.
¡°I¡¯m already at Valletta, wait for my instructions.¡± On a street, an Asian man made a call and only muttered one sentence into the phone.
Next to the Asian man was a blonde woman browsing the stalls on the street.
¡°Mister Ma Lei, is this pretty?¡± The blonde held the underwear up, gesturing for the Asian man to check it out.
The man was Xia Lei, the woman was the Italian archaeologist, Linda. They had both secretly arrived in Malta from Sicily.
¡°Not bad.¡±
¡°Then Mister Ma Lei, could you help me pay first?¡± Linda looked timid. When she escaped, she only had her nightgown on her back. She didn¡¯t even have underwear, let alone money.
¡°Of course.¡± Xia Lei asked the seller for the price and paid.
They both stayed at a hotel that Xia Lei booked.
At the front desk of the hotel, she hadn¡¯t spoken up till they entered the room. ¡°Mister Ma Lei, you¡¯ve saved my life twice. I must repay you but I¡¯m not that kind of woman. Why did you only book one room?¡±
Why didn¡¯t she say so earlier?
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand me. I definitely have no intentions for that. I just don¡¯t want a repeat ofst night. With you by my side, I can protect you. That is all.¡±
She froze and looked disappointed. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that I mean...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°Miss Linda, let me tell you the truth. I¡¯m not interested in women, I¡¯m interested in men. Understand?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Linda looked sceptical. She didn¡¯t believe him.
¡°Alright, you go take a shower and I¡¯ll also wash up. We rest here for a night, then we¡¯ll discuss what to do next.¡±
Linda sighed. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go take a shower first. Since you¡¯re gay, you won¡¯t mind if I change here, right?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
She proceeded to strip off her clothing.
Xia Lei was a straight man. He was definitely going to have a response to this. He was starting to get anxious. How he was going to perpetuate this lie? He must solve this problem.
He looked down to use his special vision on hisher regions, something he hadn¡¯t done before.
He could now see the skin, muscles, nerves and blood flow in ¡®that¡¯ ce. In his mind, he had all the information he needed to create a 3D image of it.
The image he had in his mind was not a still image either. It was an animated, 3D image of blood flowing, signals travelling through nerves. Not one detail was spared.
This was the first time he looked at it so thoroughly. It was fascinating to know how it worked.
¡°How can I calm it down?¡± He thought hard.
The brain he used to build the Sweeper and Thunder Dragon intelligentthe was now used to study his penis. This was nothing.
The sound of flowing water came from the bathroom but his focus was not affected. He closed his eyes, keeping only the 3D image in his mind. He let it run on its own, like putting a machine on autopilot.
His brain analysed the image and data. He came up with a bunch of solutions and started to filter them one by one.
All sess stories were built on failure.
His brain was a delicate autonomous machine or a code-breaker that could decode an enigma.
After some time, something triggered and then a secret ability he had surfaced. The mysterious energy flowed into his blood, into his nerves and every cell. Suddenly, all his urges disappeared.
His eyes sprung open and looked down to see what he had done. His penis was back to its original state.
The problem was solved.
He was oddly surprised because this mysterious energy in his brain used to only awaken when his life was in danger. This time, it had appeared even though he wasn¡¯t in any extreme condition.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Does it activate in situations like this? His brain started to mull over new questions.
He closed his eyes and let his brain run. It released the mysterious energy once again. He slowed down the process, then slowed it down even more. One second, one-tenth of a second, one-hundredth of a second.
A few minutester, heughed hysterically. ¡°Hahaha! Hahaha! So that¡¯s how it works!¡±
That mysterious energy was stored in his brain and made changes while it controlled his body. This body has been evolving silently and so has the energy. Although this was a gradual growth, after some time, there were significant changes. This time, it was much more powerful than it used to be.
His brain could bepared to a battery. It might be a simple metaphor but the solution was also very simple and direct. Basically, he just needed a wire to ess the electricity in the battery!
He always had this wire within him, he just never realised it was there. This was just his willpower. When his willpower was strong enough to trigger the core region of his brain, the energy would be awakened and he¡¯d ess all of it!
Using this energy was also a type of training. The more he trained, the stronger he¡¯d be! This meant that using the energy would not drain it but benefit him instead!
¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve missed so many opportunities to train...¡± When he found the answer, Xia Lei was emotional but also slightly frustrated at himself. He could have been more powerful but he just never trained.
At this moment, Linda stepped out of the bathroom. ¡°I¡¯m done. It¡¯s your turn to shower.¡±
Xia Lei entered the bathroom.
¡°Wait,¡± Linda stopped him. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were gay? Then we are the equivalent of sisters. You can change in front of me. The bathroom¡¯s wet. It¡¯ll ruin your clothes¡±
¡°Alright.¡± He smiled and stripped.
Linda¡¯s jaw dropped.
Xia Lei walked into the bathroom.
Now that he could control his mysterious power, he could control his own urges. Even if Linda teased him or touched him, he would be able to control himself!
When Xia Lei disappeared behind the bathroom door, Linda snapped back to reality. ¡°Is he really gay?¡±
That night, Linda and Xia Lei slept on different beds. They chatted but it was mostly on the metal book and Malta.
As they went to sleep, Xia Lei grinned mischievously. ¡°I think my women at home would praise me for my intellect.¡±
If Linda could hear him, she might¡¯ve kicked his face.
Chapter 864 - Knights Castle
On the second day, two of them exited the hotel and took a rented car to the University of Malta.
Professor Oman had given instructions for Linda to meet someone at the university. He was a Jewish man named Ferkel. He was an important researcher on European history and a good friend of Professor Oman¡¯s.
At his office, his assistant told them that he was in ss so they waited in his office. The assistant did not say much, leaving soon after.
Xia Lei studied Ferkel¡¯s office.
It was definitely a historian¡¯s office, with several Christian oil paintings, a replica of the crusader¡¯s armour and some Middle-Ages styled ornaments. If it weren¡¯t for theputer on his desk, it was difficult to believe that it was an office.
¡°Have you met Professor Ferkel before?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°We¡¯ve met once at Professor Oman¡¯s house but we only greeted each other. I was leaving,¡± said Linda.
¡°Do you think he¡¯s a knight?¡±
¡°Knight?¡± Linda smiled. ¡°What year do you think it is? The age of knights has long passed. Perhaps some people buy the title but it¡¯s meaningless now. Mister Ma Lei, are you very interested in the history of knights too?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yeah, I am. They ride on horses, shouting their war cry and charge into battle. The dream of many men, to be a knight.¡±
Linda nced at his crotch with an odd look.
Xia Lei did not say a word.
¡°Have you never been...with a woman?¡± Linda then added, ¡°You know what I mean.¡±
Xia Lei smiled awkwardly. ¡°Why are you so interested in my personal life? Can¡¯t we talk about something else?¡±
¡°Oh, sorry,¡± apologised Linda.
He changed the topic. ¡°ording to you and the professor¡¯s n, you¡¯ll meet Professor Ferkel. Now that Professor Oman is dead and the metal book is gone, do you still need to meet him?¡±
¡°Of course,¡± said Linda. ¡°As I said, I¡¯ve met him before. That was the day Professor Oman brought the metal book from the Vatican Museum back home. After that, he told me that it was Ferkel who persuaded the pope to start research on the book. He must¡¯ve had his intentions to start persuading the pope. I want to know why.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°You mean Professor Ferkel actually knew something about the book?¡±
¡°Perhaps. He¡¯s the top historian on European history. He might know it¡¯s origins, maybe he also knows who took it.¡±
However, Xia Lei thought to himself. ¡®You know it¡¯s origins, yet you still can¡¯t decipher it.¡± However, he said, ¡°If Professor Ferkel tells you about it, what¡¯s your next step?¡±
She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m taking this one step at a time.¡±
She was just an archaeologist. In this aspect, her capabilities were limited.
¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of the dangers? You almost died twicest night,¡± said Xia Lei.
She smiled. ¡°I am afraid but I can do it. Then again, don¡¯t I have you helping me?¡± After a while, she stared at him. ¡°None of this is your concern. You could have stayed far away from danger. Why are you helping me? Before this, I thought you were attracted to me, you were pursuing me. But I was naked in front of you and you showed zero response. Tell me, what are you here for?¡±
Xia Lei now regrets not following through with his urgesst night. Then he wouldn¡¯t have today¡¯s problem. Last night, he had learned how to control his own biological urges and yet it led to today¡¯s problem with Linda.
Xia Lei struggled to answer the question but just then, one person entered.
However, the person was not Professor Ferkel, but his teaching assistant.
¡°Sorry,¡± the assistant said apologetically. ¡°He had matters to attend to at home so he ended ss early and went home. He told me that he¡¯ll meet you both at his home. Do you know where it is?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Linda. ¡°Could you please give us an address?¡±
¡°An address would be useless. He lives in a very secluded area. Very few drivers know where it is. What about I drive you there?¡± said the assistant.
¡°Thank you, thank you so much,¡± said Linda politely.
After that, the three of them sat in a Chevrolet truck and drove off on a road that went along the coast.
Through the car window, Xia Lei saw the ancient city wall and forts along the coast. These were built by the Knight Hospitallers when they upied this ce to defend themselves against the Turkish. It had been centuries and yet these structures stood the test of time, silently telling their ancient stories.
There were many structures rted to the Knight Hospitallers in Malta. However, he did not notice any members here. He knew that the Knight Hospitallers¡¯ true headquarters should be here because they never abandoned this piece ofnd that they owned.
¡°If the horsemen¡¯s armour was repaired, would they help the Knight Hospitallers take back this piece ofnd? The people of the Middle Ages believed this, but it was the 21st century. Perhaps even the Knights Hospitallers themselves did not believe this. Then why are they stubbornly looking to piece together the set of armour?¡± Xia Lei silently mulled over this matter.
His n was simple. He would quietly arrive on the ind and steal the armour if he could. If he couldn¡¯t, he¡¯d at least find out where the FA headquarters were. Then let the Knight Hospitallersunch a new war. However, now that another bronze book had appeared, things were escting out of his control.
¡°Sir, where are you from?¡± asked the teaching assistant as they left the Valletteca area.
¡°I¡¯m from China.¡±
¡°Oh, your Italian is good,¡± said the assistant. ¡°This is your first time in Malta?¡±
¡°Yeah, I really like it here. I¡¯ve never been here before.¡±
¡°Sir, what do you do?¡±
Xia Lei frowned. That¡¯s too many questions!
Linda seemed worried that Xia Lei might insult the assistant so she said, ¡°Mister Ma Lei is my friend, he has his ownpany in China. Mainly clothing design and manufacturing.¡±
¡°Oh, really? That¡¯s impressive, maybe the clothes I¡®m wearing right now are manufactured by yourpany,¡± he said with a smile. The tension eased, he shut his mouth and focused on the road.
As they travelled further from Valletta, their surroundings became quieter.
Linda leaned to his ear and whispered, ¡°Later, when we meet Professor Ferkel, keep your mouth shut. Let me talk to him, alright?¡±
Her hot breath tickled his ear. Xia Lei¡¯s body was about to respond to this but before it could, he used his willpower to calm himself down.
¡°Uh, what do you mean?¡± Xia Lei said gently.
¡°Some people have strong opinions against other races, you understand me?¡±
¡°Racism? I understand.¡± Xia Lei was ufortable.
¡°Sorry.¡± Linda ced a hand on his thigh. ¡°I¡¯ll make it up to you. Didn¡¯t you want to visit the historical sites? I¡¯ll go with youter, wherever you want.¡±
He smiled. ¡°Alright. When you meet him, I¡¯ll wait for you outside.¡±
Linda smiled, but her hand did not leave his thigh. It even brushed lightly against his most sensitive parts.
She had other intentions.
However, he didn¡¯t respond.
After several seconds, she retracted her hand, disappointed.
He wasn¡¯t responding!
The car entered a valley with a dense forest, ins filled with wildflowers and the ocean waves faraway. It was a beautiful scene.
He saw stone structures on a tall hill. It was sturdy and ancient, very special.
¡°Linda, where¡¯s that?¡± He pointed.
Linda looked up. ¡°That¡¯s the famous Temple of Apollo.¡±
¡°Temple of Apollo?¡± This was his first time hearing of it.
¡°It¡¯s kind of an unsolved mystery. It was built about the second century AD, very ancient. It can measure time using sunlight and is actually pretty urate. It¡¯s hard to imagine that the ancient people already had such urate construction technology, but it¡¯s even harder to believe that they could do the calctions for it.¡±
For some reason, Xia Lei thought of something else.
Why would these people build such a magnificent temple?
Did they just want to tell the time?
¡°We¡¯re here,¡± said the assistant.
The car turned a corner and they saw an ancient-styled mansion in the middle of the valley. Creepers and moss crawled up the walls. The sharp roofs gave it a mid-century look, like a knight¡¯s fort.
The assistant smiled. ¡°This is Professor Ferkel¡¯s house. You must be surprised, right? It¡¯s five hundred years old.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°This is a huge fort. It must be expensive. How did a university lecturer get this?¡±
An odd look shed across the assistant¡¯s face.
Chapter 865 - The Castle and The Knight
¡°Please stop!¡± Xia Lei cried, suddenly clutching his stomach. He looked anxious, embarrassed.
The teaching assistant furrowed his brows. ¡°Mister Ma Lei, what¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°My stomach hurts!¡± said Xia Lei frantically. ¡°Stop the car! Stop the car!¡±
¡°Professor Ferkel¡¯s house has a toilet. I can drive faster.¡± The assistant stepped on the elerator.
¡°I can¡¯t hold it in anymore! Stop now!¡± roared Xia Lei.
¡°What¡¯s up with you?!¡± The assistant did not stop the car, instead drove faster.
Linda also looked at Xia Lei with an odd look. Although she didn¡¯t say anything, she was obviously displeased by his behaviour.
He grew more dramatic. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll fucking shit in your car!¡±
That worked. The assistant stepped on the brakes.
When the car screeched to a halt, Xia Lei quickly opened the door and slipped into the forest by the road.
¡°Miss Linda, your friend is very vulgar. He has no sense of courtesy at all.¡± The assistant was very unhappy.
Although Linda was too, she said, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about my friend behind his back. You don¡¯t know him.¡±
The assistant smirked but did not speak. He looked towards the forest only to see Xia Lei taking off his pants and squatting. He looked away in disgust.
Just as he looked away, Xia Lei who was squatting by a tree, took out a satellite phone. When the call went through, he said, ¡°Where are you?¡±
¡°We are five kilometres away from you,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Take action now,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I suspect I have found the true headquarters of the Knight Hospitallers. Lock in on my coordinates and surround the ce.¡±
¡°Roger that. We will rush towards your current location in thirty minutes,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Remember, don¡¯t attack without my instruction, Hurry over and be on your guard.¡±
¡°I understand.¡± The call ended.
The Knights Hospitallers were both his allies and enemies. If he let the Zodiac team attack this ce, then they would be his enemies. This was the true headquarters of the Knight Hospitallers. If he acted rashly, the consequences could be dire.
Arthur once said that there were a thousand elite soldiers guarding the sacred pce of Malta. They were definitely not regr soldiers. This ce was the equivalent of an invisible kingdom ruled by the Knight Hospitallers. His small team was not enough. That was why Xia Lei was left with one option. Defeat them with wit. He let the Zodiac team stay close to him for the next step of his n, not for battle.
A few minutester, Xia Lei returned to the car, looking much lighter. ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m finally done. I feel much better. Let¡¯s go.¡±
¡°Do you think we want to hear you talk about that?¡± The assistant red at him in disgust then started the car and set off for the castle.
The main door of the castle was a door made of metal and wood, built through a traditional process that could withstand a battle ram. It was extremely sturdy. However, an old man who dressed like a gardener pushed the heavy door open easily.
¡°Thank you, Father William Arthur.¡± The assistant greeted the old man.
The man, William Arthur, merely nodded.
Xia Lei looked at him and thought him and Arthur looked simr. When he thought about it, he wondered if the old man was rted to Arthur.
The old man also looked at Xia Lei with a sharp re.
Xia Lei avoided his gaze.
When they got off the car, the assistant brought Xia Lei and Linda into the hall of the castle.
There was a white-haired old man waiting for them. He looked very strong, like a European version of Shi Boren. Not just his figure, the aura he gave off was simr.
¡°How do you do, Professor Ferkel.¡± Linda greeted him respectfully, walking towards him.
¡°How do you do, Miss Linda.¡± They both hugged and touched cheeks. ¡°I already heard about the unfortunate incident with Professor Oman. I am devastated. I know you must be grieving too. He was a good man, the Father has brought him home. In the future, we shall see him in heaven.¡±
¡®Thank you, Professor Ferkel.¡± Linda turned around. ¡°This is my friend, Ma Lei, from China. He helped him. Without him, I think I wouldn¡¯t be here.¡±
¡°Then I thank you, Mister Ma Lei.¡± Professor Ferkel walked up to Xia Lei and extended a hand.
¡°How do you do, Professor Ferkel.¡± They shook hands politely.
¡°Mister Ma Lei, we shall talkter. I¡¯d like to talk to Linda alone,¡± said Professor Ferkel.
¡°Alright, can I tour the ce? I haven¡¯t been in such an old castle,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course, should I get a person as a guide?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be fine on my own,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, go ahead.¡± Professor turned around and said, ¡°Linda, follow me. Let¡¯s talk in my study.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Linda looked at Xia Lei and then left with Professor Ferkel.
Xia Lei walked towards the entrance.
¡°Mister Ma Lei, let me remind me that this is private property. Trespassing in rooms will not be taken lightly. Also, please be aware of your environment, don¡¯t dirty the ce,¡± said the assistant. He looked at Xia Lei with disgust and contempt.
If they were outside, Xia Lei might have kicked him. However, he held himself back and smiled. ¡°No problem, I¡¯ll be mindful.¡±
After leaving the hall, Xia Lei looked around and walked towards a clock tower. It was the tallest structure within the castle. There was a clock at the top and looked very old.
The assistant followed far behind with a solemn face.
When he arrived at the entrance of the tower, Xia Lei stopped and turned around. ¡°I don¡¯t need a guide, why are you following me?¡±
The assistant said, ¡°I¡¯m worried you might dirty the ce. I¡¯ll stop you if you do anything inappropriate.¡±
¡°Horsefly,¡± cursed Xia Lei in Chinese.
¡°What did you say?¡± The assistant¡¯s expression darkened.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and saw through his clothing. He saw the maltese cross on the man¡¯s chest. This was a member of the Knights Hospitaller. He did not have a gun but did have an Italian army knife.
¡°Nothing, you can follow me if you want.¡± Xia Lei entered the tower.
The assistant did not go up with Xia Lei, he waited at the bottom.
Xia Lei climbed up the tower and could see the entire castle. After observing theyout of the castle, he looked towards where he initially came from. The valley was quiet. His vision was blocked by dense vegetation. He could not see the specific location of his people. However, based on what Yelena said, the Zodiac team must be near the castle. He could not see them but they could lock his coordinates based on satellite.
Looking back at the castle, he activated his special vision to look into the castle.
He avoided the thick and sturdy stone walls, only looking through the roof, doors and windows.
The inside of the top floor was the clearest for him because he only had to look through the roof.
Two minutester, he found Ferkel¡¯s study and saw Ferkel and Linda talking.
Just as he was trying to lip-read, ady walked into the study. When he saw her face, he was surprised.
This was not any woman. It was one of the four female knights who were definitely not loyal to him at all, Ste.
Ste was wearing a dress styled like a mid-century servant. She carried a silver tray with two coffee cups on it.
Xia Lei was shocked. He wondered, ¡®Have the four women be servants now? Such punishment must be a huge blow to the proud women.¡±
Ste put down the coffee and turned to leave. She seemed to be limping.
His left eye locked on Ste and looked through her dress. He was shocked again by what he saw. There were whip marks all over her body. Some wounds looked fresh too, and they seemed to have bled. There was a stripe on her left knee that had not recovered. It was covered with fabric, inmed. That was obviously the reason why she was limping.
He was sympathetic but thought, ¡®Now you know who treated you well. I spent three million to save you in Siberia. If it were the Knight Hospitallers, you¡¯d probably have to pay the ransom from your own pocket.¡¯
Ste left the study and carefully closed the door. Then, she limped towards the end of the hallway.
Xia Lei looked at the staircase at the end.
There was a woman kneeling, cleaning the wooden steps.
That was Giovanna.
She was also wearing a servant¡¯s outfit, scrubbing the floor with rags. There were wounds on her face, she also had a ck eye.
Xia Lei also saw whip marks all over her, She also had bandaged wounds that looked inmed.
His brows furrowed. ¡°They¡¯re cruel, can¡¯t believe they even refused the girls treatment for their wounds. These wounds could get inmed and make them sick. But I guess the more they suffer, the more they¡¯d understand how kind I was.¡±
Ste and Giovanna brushed shoulders as they left, onlymunicating with a look and did not speak. The two proud knights suffered so much they had lost their edge.
Xia Lei looked back to lock his vision on Professor Ferkel and Linda. He read their lips, deciphering what they said.
Chapter 866 - Cruel
¡°Linda, do you trust this Ma Lei?¡± Ferkel looked at Linda sharply.
¡°I trust him, he¡¯s a good man. Don¡¯t worry, he won¡¯t cause trouble. I promised to bring him around Malta¡¯s tourist spots. I wanted to make a stop here before we went on our way,¡± said Linda.
¡°What do you want to know?¡±
¡°Professor, you could persuade the pope to pass the metal book to Professor Oman? You must know some secrets rted to the book. Can you tell me about them?¡±
¡°You came here for that?¡±
¡°Yes, I want to look for the metal book. I want to find the culprit. Please help me.¡±
¡°You want to find the culprit?¡±
¡°Yes, I will not let the culprit escape thew. Professor Oman is one of the people I respect the most. He deserves justice.¡± She sounded determined.
¡°You¡¯re a brave and determined woman. If I were you, I would make the smart decision to pass the case to the police. You¡¯re a woman working alone, plus a Chinese man. What can you both do? Fight these armed robbers with your fists?¡±
¡°I will ask the church for help, but I need information. Professor, please help me.¡± She looked at him with begging eyes.
After a moment of silence, he said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll tell you. The book is older than the history of humans. From a religious perspective, it is something sacred. From a scientific perspective, perhaps it was left behind by an earlier intelligent civilisation. Different people believe different things about it. I¡¯m in the middle. Professor Oman felt the same. It appeared during the ancient Roman times but no one can prove who the first person who discovered it was.¡±
¡°Professor Ferkel, did you say this to persuade the pope?¡± Linda was dissatisfied with the answer because she already knew this. This was obviously not enough to persuade the pope to hand the book over.
He furrowed his brows. ¡°Haven¡¯t I said it clear enough? From a religious perspective, it¡¯s something sacred. That means it could possibly prove the existence of God. Right now, we are in an era thatcks faith in religion. If the church could prove that God exists, it could awaken the world in terms of faith. Isn¡¯t this reason enough to persuade the pope?¡±
When he put it that way, it did seem a very persuasive reason.
¡°Professor, how did you know about it? It has always been stored in a secret chamber in the Vatican museum. Without the pope¡¯s permission, almost no one can see it.¡±
¡°In a historical document.¡±
¡°Can you let me see it?¡±
¡°Of course, but it¡¯s in the school¡¯s library. I¡¯ll return to the University tomorrow. You and your friend can stay here for the night. I¡¯ll bring it for you tomorrow,¡± said Ferkel.
¡°Alright, thank you. I have onest question. Who do you think took the book?¡± said Linda.
He shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not a detective, just a historian. To be honest, Linda, you should let the police handle this.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll think about it, thank you.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make arrangements for your room.¡±
On the clock tower, Xia Lei retracted his gaze and thought to himself. ¡®It¡¯s obvious that Ferkel isn¡¯t telling the truth. He just lied to her like that. Historical document? I don¡¯t buy it.¡±
He went down the clock tower to see the annoying assistant still there.
¡°Don¡¯t you have anything to do?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°If I were the owner, I would make you leave immediately.¡± The assistant looked at him in hatred.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Is this the racism I hear about in stories? Or is this because of what happened just now?¡±
The assistantughed coldly. ¡°You want to know the reason? Well, I don¡¯t really like Chinese people. I hate you even more. Do you understand now?¡±
¡°Are you stupid?¡± Xia Lei tried his best to suppress his anger.
¡°You dare insult me?¡± He suddenly shoved Xia Lei.
At that moment, Xia Lei had two options. Catch his wrist and p him across the face or bear with it, not retaliating and perhaps pretending to be weak.
Xia Lei fell two steps backwards as if he was about to fall on the ground.
This was his choice.
It would have been easy to hit this annoying man but he chose not to do anything.
¡°Coward! Hit me back!¡± The assistant red at him fiercely, mocking him.
¡°What are you doing?¡± came Linda¡¯s voice.
The assistant stopped and said coldly, ¡°You better watch yourself or you¡¯ll regret it.¡±
Xia Lei avoided his gaze, looking weak once again. At this moment, he looked like a timid person.
Linda ran over and cried angrily, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°Nothing much, Miss Linda. I was just having a chat with your friend.¡± Then the assistant turned around and left.
Linda came to Xia Lei and smoothened his dishevelled suit, asking caringly, ¡°Are you alright?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯m fine, just a racist guy, I won¡¯t take it personally. Right, how did it go with the professor?¡±
¡°We¡¯ve spoken but I didn¡¯t get much out of it. He promised to give me a document but we¡¯ll be staying here for a night. Can you apany me for the night?¡±
¡°No problem.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll bring you to your room. Professor Ferkel has already prepared rooms for us.¡± Linda held his hand and walked towards the hall.
¡°Right, do you know where the Holy Mountain is?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Holy Mountain?¡± Linda thought for a moment. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of any holy mountain, where is it?¡±
¡°Malta¡¯s Holy Mountain, haven¡¯t you heard of it?¡±
Linda shook her head. ¡°Sorry, I haven¡¯t heard of any holy mountains in Malta. Honestly, I¡¯m familiar with the whole of Malta but I haven¡¯t heard of any holy mountain.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. The sacred pce within the holy mountain. That¡¯s where the armour stood. That was the information he got from Arthur too and it was impossible for Arthur to have lied to him. However, Linda did not know of it.
¡°Did you remember wrong?¡± asked Linda.
He pretended to p his forehead and said awkwardly, ¡°I made a mistake, I¡¯m thinking of Mount Everest in the western province. That¡¯s a holy mountain. Fine, let¡¯s not talk about that. Let¡¯s go to our rooms. One room or two?¡±
¡°Why would we get only one room?¡± Linda rolled her eyes.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t respond.
When they arrived at the hall she brought Xia Lei up a flight of stairs to the second floor.
There were three floors. This was the level Xia Lei didn¡¯t check using his special vision just now. As he entered the second floor, he turned on his special powers to observe every room. He was surprised to find that every room was normal. There weren¡¯t even secret chambers or Knight hospitaller secrets. He didn¡¯t even see a single Maltese cross.
He thought to himself. ¡®What¡¯s going on? All the signs tell me that this is the true headquarters of the Knight Hospitallers yet I haven¡¯t seen many knights or any of the major figureheads. If this is the headquarters, more of the high-level members should be here. There should be more knights too. But...¡±
¡°We¡¯re here, this is your room.¡± Linda¡¯s voice interrupted his train of thought.
Linda opened the room door to see ady arranging the sheets. When he saw her face, he was slightly shocked.
The person fixing his sheets was Rosa.
He¡¯d already seen three of the four knights, they were all servants here.
He used his special vision and saw the same injury-ridden body. There were whip marks on her back and bottom. It was horrifying. There were also wounds on her chest, these people were cruel!
¡°You¡¯ll stay here, I¡¯ll be next door. I¡¯ll go now,e look for me if you need anything.¡± Linda left for her room.
Xia Lei entered.
Rosa looked up and was also stunned. Although she thought she hadn¡¯t seen this Chinese man before, this man¡¯s height and stature seemed familiar. Also, his eyes.
Xia Lei averted his gaze. ¡°Thank you.¡±
She did not speak, merely nodded. She quickly put on the nket and left.
¡°Wait,¡± he stopped her in Italian. ¡°Can I smoke here?¡±
Rosa furrowed her brows. ¡°No, but you can smoke outside the castle.¡±
He shrugged. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll smoke outside.¡±
He never smoked. He just asked to nt an impression of a smoker in her mind. This would make her less suspicious.
Rosa left the room and closed the door.
He heaved a sigh. If she recognised him, it would be disastrous.
After she left, he used his left eye to look around downstairs.
It was a simple room. A woman was kneeling on the floor, applying a green gel to her bottom.
It was Theresa.
All four knights had appeared. All of them in pathetic states.
He couldn¡¯t help but smirk as he sat down to watch.
Chapter 867 - You Dare Bully My Girls?
The night sky was clear, dotted with stars. Moonlight fell on the valley, making the entire valley glow with a silvery hue. The Temple of Apollo far away was faintly visible in the night, giving off a mysterious aura. The nights here were beautiful.
Xia Lei stood at the windows, looking at the temple. ¡°Arthur couldn¡¯t have lied to me. So where is the Holy Mountain? Or is it just a name that the Knight Hospitallers use? While outsiders used a different name?¡±
When he found the mountain, he would have the opportunity to steal the armour. However, even an archaeologist familiar with Malta like Linda did not know where the Holy Mountain was, so how would he find it?
¡°Right, the Grey and Russo sisters should know where the Holy Mountain is. I should get the information from them. They¡¯ve been humiliated after returning. This is my chance.¡± Xia Lei returned to his room and looked down at the wooden floorboard. He saw Theresa in the room below.
Due to the wounds on her back, she could not sleep properly. A thin nket covered her body, he could see her curves underneath.
She was not asleep. There was a wet patch on her nket left from her tears.
She was in the room below but Xia Lei hesitated. ¡°If I go knock on her door now, that would announce my identity. Instead of being loyal to me, she¡¯d probably tell the Knight Hospitallers about me in hopes for a reward. If that happens, I¡¯d be the world¡¯s biggest idiot.¡±
Just as he hesitated, ady appeared at Theresa¡¯s door. This Caucasian woman wasrge and tall, around forty years old.
She rapped on the door with her fist. ¡°Theresa! Open up! Open!¡±
In the room, Theresa scrambled to get up. She did not have the time to put on clothes, opening the door wrapped in her nket.
When the door opened, therge woman pped her across her face, then kicked her in her stomach.
Theresa fell backwards on the ground, her wounds on her back hitting the ground. Pain red up as she cried in pain. However, she clutched to her nket, covering herself.
¡°Hmm! Bitch! You think you¡¯re some pure saintess? You¡¯re as dirty as the whores in the street.¡± therge woman grabbed the nket and tugged hard.
Her naked, curvy body was then revealed, together with the wounds all over it. It was a pitiful sight. However, therge woman did not sympathise. She suddenly kicked Theresa¡¯s stomach again and spat. ¡°You whore! Who said you could treat your wounds with medicine? Youmitted a sin, this is your punishment! You are evading your punishment!¡±
¡°I... Knight Tanni, my wounds are inmed. If I don¡¯t treat them, I¡¯ll die.¡± Theresa begged and begged. ¡°Please let me go, I beg you! We couldn¡¯tplete the mission, but we did not betray the Knight Hospitallers.¡±
¡°Shut your mouth! You disgusting whore!¡± The woman, Tanni, still had her foot on Theresa¡¯s torso. ¡°It¡¯s been so long, and you¡¯re still lying. The information we got was that your four knelt before the Chinese man in Siberia and swore to be his Knights. There were witnesses, and yet you tell us you did not betray the Knights!¡±
¡°These apparent witnesses are terrorists who wanted to kidnap and kill us!¡± Theresa was angry as she roared, ¡°Mister Xia used three million dors to pay for our ransom. He... he was just doing it for his own amusement, we did not do anything for him!¡±
¡°If you¡¯re all not that Chinese man¡¯s knights, why would he spend three million dors on you? You think I¡¯m an idiot? A whore like you is only worth five hundred dors a night in the streets. You think he¡¯d spend three million on you all? Ptui!¡± Tanni spat on her face.
Theresa did not wipe the spit off her face, tears streamed.
Tanni retracted her foot and said sternly, ¡°Follow me, we¡¯ll go to the Repentance Room.¡±
Theresa suddenly panicked when she heard this, her face pale. ¡°Knight Tanni, I was just... whipped... yesterday, why... why do I have to go again?¡±
¡°Hmmph!¡± Tanniughed coldly. ¡°This time, I will not be heading your repentance. Father William Arthur gave Bray the right to head the repentance for four of you.¡±
¡°Father William? Bray?¡± Her eyes filled with fear, her voice shaking. ¡°Why?¡±
Tanni mocked her. ¡°Why? So many people went to Siberia to carry out the mission but only you four came back. We don¡¯t even know if Arthur is alive or dead. We could not find his body. You should ask for forgiveness for what happened to him, what¡¯s wrong with that?¡±
¡°No! This is unfair!¡± Theresa had lost control of her emotions, sensing what would happen.
¡°This is not up to you! Rosa, Giovanna and Ste are already in the Repentance room, I give you one minute to put on clothes or you¡¯ll go there naked,¡± Tanni said coldly.
¡°You should not do this to us, you can¡¯t...¡± Theresa cried in agony but she did not forget what she was told to do. She crawled up to put on her clothes next to the bed.
One minute was never enough but Tanni did not give her one more second. Tanni grabbed her hair after one minute, dragging her out of the room roughly. She had not been able to put on her top.
Xia Lei retracted his gaze.
Although he wanted the Grey and Russo sisters to suffer a little, what he saw left him shaking in anger. This was torture. They weren¡¯t even treated as their own members anymore. This was not punishment or repentance, this was going to kill them!
He also now knew why.
If Arthur didn¡¯t die, perhaps they wouldn¡¯t have gotten such treatment. Arthur died, yet they returned alive and well. Would Arthur¡¯s father, William, let them go easily?
¡°That old man was actually a high-level member of the Knight Hospitallers. I really didn¡¯t expect this,¡± thought Xia Lei.
Within a minute, he left his room with a scarf on his head. He had bought this from the Valletta market. His head and neck were covered, even his eyes were not shown. He wore the long ck dresses they wore too, whichpletely covered his entire body. This entire fit cost him fifty euros. At the time, Linda had given him a long, weird look.
After passing through the hallway, he entered the stairwell to go downstairs. He was barefoot so he made no sound walking. However, Tannia and Theresa¡¯s footsteps echoed loudly.
When he reached the first floor, Xia Lei carefully walked down the steps.
¡°Hurry up! You whore!¡± came Tanni¡¯s shouts. Other than her voice and footsteps, there were no other sounds.
Xia Lei turned on his special vision and looked around.
He saw an old hallway surrounded by thick stone walls on both sides. The hallway was fifty meters long, with a ck door at the end. Just as he was prepared to look inside, the door opened. A man walked out.
The man was that annoying teaching assistant he hated.
¡°Bray, I¡¯ve brought the girl. Don¡¯t go soft.¡± Tanni thrust Theresa at him.
Xia Lei smirked. ¡°So he¡¯s Bray. This is going to be good.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take good care of them. This is what Mister William wanted. He¡¯ll be happy with the results.¡± Bray caught Theresa¡¯s shoulder and pushed her past the ck wooden door.
Xia Lei heard the sound of Theresa falling to the ground, then three other girl voices calling out her name.
¡°Enjoy.¡± Tanni smirked and then walked towards the staircase.
Tanni muttered to herself as she walked, ¡°The Grey and Russo whores. They think they¡¯ll get away with just a little punishment? In their dreams! They let Father William¡¯s son die. This is just idiotic. If that were me, I wouldn¡¯te back. They deserve this. You all used to think you¡¯re saints, all snobbish and arrogant. Now you¡¯re less than whores!¡±
When she turned the corner into the stairwell, screams of agony came from the back of the wooden door. Tanni turned around and smiled in delight. She then turned around and prepared to leave. However, a ck shadow suddenly appeared. Before she knew what it was, a sharp army knife was lodged deep in her heart.
It was only when she was stabbed when she saw what the shadow was. An Arabicdy. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She wanted to scream but she did not have strength to make a sound.
¡°You dare bully my girls? You must be looking for death.¡± Xia Lei pulled out his knife, pushed Tanni away gently and walked towards the ck door at the end of the hallway.
Tanni copsed on the ground in a puddle of blood.
Chapter 868 - The Hero And The Damsels
Perhaps due to its secluded location or the traditional lifestyle they had, the castle did not have electric lights or working CCTV cameras. This made it very convenient for Xia Lei but also made him doubt his previous conclusion. This was not the Knight Hospitallers¡¯ headquarters. This was probably just a front or a branch.
Xia Lei quickly headed to the wooden door.
¡°Aaah!¡± A scream came from the door. The scream was dripping with a bone-chilling cry for help.
Xia Lei saw through the door and saw inside the room.
The room was notrge. There were structures like a confession booth but that was obviously just a front. There were other torture devices in the room like whips, knives, a fire pit, brands, and more. Bray was holding a whip in the middle of the room while the Grey and Russo sisters knelt with their backs to him.
Bray waved his whip at Giovanna¡¯s behind, shing her clothing open and beads of blood flew. The whip was wet with blood and stained the bottom of his pants.
The kneeling Giovanna copsed on the ground, took a look of terror at Bray and then crawled towards the corner of the room.
¡°Hehehe...¡± he smirked. ¡°What¡¯s the use of that? You all havemitted a crime. This was the punishment given by the Father. This is the path to forgiveness. You must walk the entire journey yourself, not avoid it. Avoiding would just worsen your crimes, you¡¯ll go to hell like that.¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Rosa screamed as if she had gone mad. ¡°We did notmit any crime! We obeyed the principles of knighthood. We were loyal and brave, we lived for justice!¡±
Before she finished, Bray shed his whip down on her. This came down harder than the previous one, tearing apart arge piece of her clothing. Her blood-soaked skin was revealed underneath.
Rosa held her bottom, looking at him defiantly. Her eyes were filled with rage and hatred, and deep regret.
¡°Hmmph, you have guts!¡± Brayughed coldly. ¡°Tell me, how did you all work with Xia Lei to kill Arthur? Tell me, and I¡¯ll go easy on you.¡±
¡°What do you want us to do to make you believe us? We didn¡¯t! We didn¡¯t kill Arthur!¡± roared Theresa in tears.
¡°We¡¯re knights, you can¡¯t treat us like that!¡± Ste was crying too.
She was crying for many reasons, from the frustrations and unfairness of the entire situation.
¡°Knights? You were stripped of your titles. Right now, you all are just four criminals. Death is your only path for repentance. I can make it faster, or I can make it a very slow journey.¡± As he spoke, Bray waved the whip across Theresa¡¯s back.
Theresa wailed and fell on the ground, curled up and shaking.
Bray did not have an ounce of sympathy, waving the whip on Ste. Her skin broke and blood flew.
Outside, Xia Lei was furious. He wanted to save all four of them this instant but he hesitated because he had to make sure they wouldn¡¯t betray him the instant he saved them. This had already happened in Siberia after he spent so much effort in saving them, only to receive their betrayal. He was not going to let that happen again.
Crack!
It was the sound of the whip hitting flesh, scoldings and wails. Everything was mixed up together like a psychotic film.
After a few minutes, Bray finally stopped. He hadn¡¯t changed his mind, he was just tired
The four of them curled up on the ground, the cold stone floor was scattered with fresh drops of blood and pieces of fabric. Their clothing had been torn in various ces. They were ves with no power or rank.
Their cries seem to excite Bray. He put down his whip and came to Giovanna. He grabbed a handful of her hair and then lifted her head up.
¡°What... what do you want?¡± Giovanna saw the urge in his eyes and she was instantly filled with fear and hatred.
Bray pinched her breast and then looked at them greedily. ¡°If you all can satisfy me, I¡¯ll make this short.¡±
¡°No!¡± roared Giovanna. ¡°Just kill me!¡±
¡°Whore!¡± Bray pped Giovanna across the face and spat. ¡°You four can satisfy that disgusting Xia Lei, but you can¡¯t serve me? You¡¯re all dirty whores?¡±
When he was done, he pulled down his zipper.
At this moment, Rosa suddenly crawled up and pounced on Bray¡¯s back. Seemingly at the same time, Ste and Theresa also pounced on him and grabbed his two legs.
The four of them finally retaliated!
However, they were all injured and weak, they were no match for Bray. Bray grabbed Rosa by her hair and then tugged her off his back.
Rosa fell heavily on the stone ground and could not get up.
Bray kicked Theresa away and then grabbed Ste¡¯s hair, ¡°You whore! Blow me, or I¡¯ll kill your three sisters!¡±
At this moment, he pulled out a pistol at his waist and then pointed it at Giovanna¡¯s head.
¡°Kill me! I beg you, kill me!¡± cried Ste. Satisfying Bray with her mouth was worse than death.
¡°Fuck! You think I wouldn¡¯t do it? I¡¯ll kill Giovanna now!¡± He let go of her hair.
¡°No!¡± Ste said helplessly. ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Bray let out a guffaw. ¡°A whore will be a whore! Hahaha...¡±
Tears streamed from Ste¡¯s eyes.
Bang!
The door of the room was suddenly kicked open.
Bray turned around instinctively and his arm turned to point the gun. Before he could point the gun at the door, a knife flew and lodged deep in his wrist.
tter! The gun fell on the ground.
A ck shadow rushed in, leapt and kicked directly at Bray¡¯s face.
Teeth and blood flew from Bray¡¯s face. His nose immediately broke and blood started to flow out of it. His entire body flew in the air, falling heavily a few meters away.
The four girls looked at the ck silhouette with widened eyes.
An Arabicdy?
How is that possible! Before they realised what had happened, thedy picked up the pistol on the ground.
¡°Who... who are you?¡± Bray crawled up and looked at thedy in fear.
¡°The new holy war has begun. You must repay the blood you owe.¡±
¡°You¡¯re a man! Who the hell are you?¡± Bray slowly inched towards the door, distracting the dy¡¯. ¡°Do you know where this ce is? This is the Knight Hospitallers territory. Put down the gun and I¡¯ll let you leave this ce.¡±
Thedy took off the headscarf to reveal a Chinese man¡¯s face.
¡°It¡¯s you!¡± Bray said in shock. He wouldn¡¯t have dreamt that this person was Ma Lei!
Xia Lei turned to look at the fourdies and said tly, ¡°You idiots, what are you doing there? Close the door!¡±
Giovanna was stunned for a moment and suddenly cried, ¡°It¡¯s you!
¡°So it¡¯s you!¡± said Rosa. ¡°When I fixed your sheets today, I thought you looked familiar. I didn¡¯t know it was really you!¡±
Ste called up to close the wooden door.
¡°What are you talking about? Who is he?¡± Bray sensed something but couldn¡¯t confirm.
Xia Lei smiled and then rubbed several spots on his face. It was a delicate human mask. Beneath the mask was Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Bray had never seen him before but he¡¯d seen pictures of him. Now that Xia Lei revealed his face, he threw himself at Xia Lei. Before that, he bit back the pain to pull out the knife in his wrist, then stabbed it towards Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
Xia Lei shook his head. He dodged the attack then grabbed Bray¡¯s wrist and twisted it in the opposite direction!
¡°Ah!¡± Bray cried when he felt his wrist shatter.
Xia Lei chopped his palm on Bray¡¯s throat, lifted him by his cor and smashed him heavily into the ground!
Thud! Bray fell heavily on the ground. All the air was knocked out of him, effectively cutting him off. All there was left was hisborious breaths. Xia Lei grabbed his neck once again. Bray could not even cry for help.
Xia Lei suddenly lifted a foot and stepped heavily between Bray¡¯s legs.
¡°Ahh!¡± Bray wailed, his voice cracked.
¡°They¡¯re my girls. My knights, yet you treat them like that! Fuck, you really want to die!¡± yelled Xia Lei. This was actually meant to be heard by the four girls.
¡°Mister... Xia...¡± Giovanna crawled up from the ground. ¡°Why... Why are you here?¡±
¡°Because of you four.¡± Xia Lei red at her. ¡°I received news that you four had been stripped of your titles and became ves. Arthur¡¯s father wants to kill you all to avenge Arthur¡¯s death. Could I have just sat idly by as you were tortured?¡±
As he spoke, he thought he sounded brave and valiant enough.
Chapter 869 - Butt Blood Message
He was theirst shred of hope in this dire situation. It was as if someone had thrown them a lifeline on the verge of drowning. Xia Lei was their saviour and this wasn¡¯t the first time he hade to their aid. The four women stared at Xia Lei nkly. Upon recognition, their eyes glimmered with warmth and relief. At this moment, Xia Lei was no doubt their closest friend.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I know you¡¯re faithful to your beliefs. But I¡¯m certain there¡¯s no need to remain as part of the Knight Hospitaller to keep your faith. There¡¯s a lot of Catholics in this world. I believe a good half of them don¡¯t even know the existence of the Knight Hospitaller.¡± He pointed to Bray. ¡°And there¡¯s no need to endure severe humiliation from a fucker like this. Is this what your loyalty got you? Are you sure you still want to be associated like this? Come with me. Be my knights. This will be another way to continue your destiny as knights and serve your God.¡±
¡°We...¡± Giovanna attempted to probe. ¡°Are we still your knights?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ve never once given up on you. Why would I take such a risk to save you if that was the case?¡±
The four women locked eyes with each other and exchanged looks. Before long, they came to the front of Xia Lei and kneeled on one knee. They lowered their torso.
That reminded Xia Lei of something. He quickly picked up the military knife on the ground and tapped each of their shoulders lightly. While doing so, he dubbed, ¡°Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. This is your oath!¡±
In unison, they took their oath. ¡°I do swear to uphold the chivalrous tradition and protect the vulnerable against all violence. I will do my best to provide a voice to the oppressed strength to the weak and afflicted andrgesse to the poor. I will bear only true witness to my brothers and sisters and will serve them and the Order to the best of my abilities.¡± Then, they slowly lifted their heads to focus their intense gaze on Xia Lei. ¡°From now on, I shall serve as your knight and protect you till my death.¡±
The Knight Hospitaller had stripped them of their titles. Now that Xia Lei had dubbed them his knights, they werepletely loyal to him. This was different from their time in Siberia as the women had their hearts to the Knight Hospitaller. Now, the organization hadpletely dimmed their passion while Xia Lei had given them a second chance at life in their most desperate times. Their bodies and hearts had now belonged to Xia Lei.
Truthfully, Xia Lei held no right to do so but in the eyes of the Russo and Grey sisters, he was their king and lord. To them, Xia Lei was their rightful authority. With that, the sisters could regain their dignity, faith and knighthood!
¡°You have absolutely no right for des!¡± Bray screeched hoarsely. ¡°No one will ever recognize you and you¡¯ll never leave this ce! You¡¯ll all die here!¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure if we¡¯re going to die. But I am sure that you are definitely going to die.¡± With the military knife in his grip, Xia Lei came to approach Bray.
It was this moment that Bray realised that he had always been an insensitive prick and this w was about to bring harm to him.
¡°My lord, leave him to us,¡± offered Giovanna. She and her sisters rose from the ground.
Xia Lei halted his footsteps and gazed at them.
Their bodies were filled to the brim with wounds, poorly concealed by their tattered garments. Giovanna had arge part of her bosom exposed. Bloodied, she looked like a white magnolia which has been trampled on. Rosa had most of her buttocks out. Though the pale mounts were terribly wounded, its majestic roundness remained. On the other hand, there was no fabric left to cover up Ste¡¯s lower abdomen. Theresa could feel the wind on her legs and part of her behind. Between the torn pieces of fabric, there was a constant hint of her feminine mystery. They were his knights but Xia Lei didn¡¯t know where to rest his eyes on.
Giovanna reached for the whip on the ground while Ste retrieved a deboning knife from the wooden rack. Theresa went ahead to bring up a red scalding iron from the brazier and Rosa took an axe from another wooden rack.
Xia Lei moved aside.
The four women began inching closer to Bray, expressions terrifyingly cold.
¡°You... You... Are you looking for death?!¡± Fear gripped Bray, forcing him to frantically crawl towards the edge of the wall.
With a harsh motion, Giovanna whipped Bray¡¯s face into a mess!
Rosa split her axe on his heels, immediately triggering an explosion of blood! She had actually chopped his foot off!
¡°AAAHHH!!!¡± Bray¡¯s screams were ear-piercing.
As he continued to scream, Ste drove the deboning knife into Bray¡¯s stomach while Theresa mercilessly stabbed the scalding iron onto his groin over and over.
The sight of their revenge was too intense for Xia Lei to stomach. The man quickly averted his eyes away, feeling a numbing chill crawl up his back.
Never mess with women.
Why was there always an idiot who forgot about this?
Under their torment, Bray died beforesting two minutes. The vile man¡¯s body was still considerablyplete before this but within those two brazen minutes, his head was cleanly detached and his two legs were split into four! Bray¡¯s body was mutted with countless holes. His penis was also scalded to a point beyond recognition!
¡°Ptui!¡± As if it was not satisfying enough, the axe-wielding Rosa spat on Bray¡¯s face before kicking his skull away unceremoniously towards the wall.
Utilizing the time, Xia Lei had already stuck his human mask back onto his face, concealing his face back into the burqa. He looked at the heaving female knights. ¡°Tell me, where is the Holy Mountain at?¡±
¡°You¡¯re trying to get to the Holy Mountain?¡± Giovanna was surprised. ¡°That ce is dangerous!¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I have my way around it. Tell me, where is it at?¡±
¡°Did you happen to see the Temple of Apollo during the day?¡± Theresa¡¯s voice rang.
Something clicked in Xia Lei. ¡°I did. Don¡¯t tell me...¡±
¡°Yes, that mountain is the Holy Mountain.¡± Theresa continued, ¡°This old castle is just an outpost. The real headquarters are in the mountains. The Sacred Pce is also in the Holy Mountain but there¡¯s literally no way to get in there.¡±
Rosa¡¯s face was stern. ¡°Don¡¯t go there. The security they have there is beyond your imagination. You¡¯ll die.¡±
Ste was equally anxious. ¡°My lord, could you please tell me why you¡¯re heading to the Holy Mountain?¡±
Xia Lei gave a light pat on Ste¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Please don¡¯t call me that, you could just call me by my name.¡±
Giovanna frowned. ¡°Alright, Xia Lei. Don¡¯t switch the topic.¡±
¡°We understand if you¡¯re not willing to share your reasons.¡± Then, Giovanna offered, ¡°But we muste with you.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± The other three responded. ¡°We¡¯re your knights.¡±
Xia Lei took a good hard look at them. ¡°Are you even in the state to fight?¡±
The female knights nced at each other, their eyes were straight and unwavering.
¡°We can shoot,¡± said Giovanna.
¡°We¡¯re familiar with the surroundings,¡± said Rosa.
¡°We took an oath to protect you,¡± Ste added.
¡°We won¡¯t let you go to the Holy Mountain alone,¡± uttered Theresa.
Switching sides and bing his knights had inspired them to disy their chivalry. The sight brought glee to Xia Lei but it had also triggered a headache in the process. They meant well when they offered toe but their condition was just going to be a burden to him.
Xia Lei pondered and came up with an idea. ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t head to the Holy Mountain for the time being. I¡¯ll bring you all away from this ce. We¡¯ll decide on further action after your wounds are dealt with.¡±
Giovanna smiled bitterly. ¡°This whole ind is the Knight Hospitallers territory. The organization is like a transparent kingdom on this ind, where can we hide?¡±
¡°Yeah, unless we leave Malta ind, there¡¯s no way for us to avoid their pursuit.¡± Theresa looked troubled.
Xia Lei shed them a smile. ¡°Though this ind is their territory, as long as you¡¯re under my wing, I¡¯ll make sure the Knight Hospitaller will not be able toy a finger on you. There¡¯s one ce you¡¯ve hadn¡¯t thought of. The Chinese Embassy. Head there and seek medical assistance. The Knight Hospitaller won¡¯t be able to do anything even if they located you.¡±
An embassy was like a country¡¯s territory within a foreign country. Malta had sovereignty and despite the Knight Hospitaller holding a strong but transparent influence over the ind, it was no match against a country¡¯s military. Therefore, an embassy was their best option for shelter.
¡°That¡¯s settled then, we¡¯ll be heading to the embassy. But what about you?¡± Giovanna asked.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I¡¯m going to stay here. Don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll be dying all further actions.¡±
The female knight nodded. ¡°Understood. Please take care.¡±
With that, the other three women didn¡¯t press on their offer to stay with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei then led the female knights away from the repentance room. Passing through a corridor, they reached the stairs. Upon catching sight of Tanni¡¯s body, the fiery Rosa didn¡¯t forget to kick her skull before leaving.
Returning to higher grounds, before Xia Lei could step foot into the vicinity of the grand hall, the four female knights quickly pulled him into another room. Following that, they climbed over a wall into the backyard where a stable came into view. It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to understand their n as soon as he saw the horse. The man quickly went to hold the back door open as the female knights retrieved their horses.
Exiting the pce back door with their horses in tow, Giovanna questioned, ¡°Xia, how are we supposed to enter the Chinese Embassy?¡±
¡°Yeah. If you¡¯re noting with us, I doubt that they would receive us,¡± said Theresa.
Xia Lei came closer to Giovanna. Abruptly, he tugged on a torn spot on her skirt harshly and tore off a strip of cloth.
¡°You...¡± Giovanna was extremely taken aback by his action. She was bewildered.
From that point on, things got awkward for her. Xia Lei reached a hand onto her perky exposed buttock and pressed his palm firmly against it to dip it in blood. He began to write a string of numbers on the fabric.
¡°When you reach Valletta, call this number and tell her that you work under me. She¡¯ll help you arrange everything.¡± Xia Lei passed the dirtied cloth back to Giovanna.
On it was Fan Fan¡¯s number.
¡°Go! Take care!¡± Xia Lei urged.
¡°You too.¡± Giovanna got on her horse and cued the animal forward.
Following suit, the other three female knights too rode their horses and left into the night.
Despite the situation, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t the least bit worried about them facing attacks from the Knight Hospitaller. After all, this ce had been ced under good control of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
Chapter 870 - You Know Too Much
Now that the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was four members short, the four female knights seemed like the most suitable candidates to fill in their spots. This had seemed to be one of the reasons behind Xia Lei¡¯s intention to keep them. However, now was not the time for the female knights to meet the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. After all, they were presumed dead by the sisters. The influx of information would be too much for them. It was impertinent to take this one step at a time.
Returning to his room, Xia Lei washed away the blood on his hands then destroyed the burqa. Finishing off everything else, he went to rest for the night. But it had proved to be too difficult to fall asleep with his mind fixated on the torment the sisters had gone through. Considerations on how to ess the Sacred Pce lingered in his brain too.
The Knight Hospitaller headquarters were situated under the Holy Mountain, better known as the Temple Of Apollo. How was he supposed to get in if the security there was as tight as they imed?
¡°I¡¯ve made a copy of Arthur¡¯s ess card. I¡¯m sure that would allow me into the Knight Hospitaller headquarters but my appearance is now a problem. I must change my look but whose face should I use to guarantee my safety?¡± Xia Lei thought of Bray, then thought of William Arthur and Professor Ferkel.
Bray¡¯s status wouldn¡¯t suffice but to dress up as William Arthur and Ferkel was challenging. Their ages were a concern and the other problem was the two were still alive. It was too risky to impersonate someone who could walk in and ruin his ns!
How should he solve this?
Xia Lei was deep in thought.
An hourter, noises could be heard from the corridor outside. There were people screaming, there were rushed footsteps and there were rappings against the door. Before long, the bell in the clock tower rang loudly.
Abruptly, Xia Lei left his bed on the balcony to look into the direction of the Holy Mountain. This was surely a signal directed to the Holy Mountain. Was the Knight Hospitaller headquarters about to send their people over?
Sadly, due to the distance, his left eye couldn¡¯t make out the happenings on the mountain.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
His door was knocked and there soon rang an unfamiliar voice. ¡°Come out! Come out!¡±
Xia Lei averted his gaze to the door. There was a bald middle-aged Caucasian man standing behind the door. His body was built and his gaze was terrifyingly intense.
¡°Open the door!¡± The bald man mmed his fist.
Xia Lei made his way over and did as he asked, ¡°Mister, what¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°Go to the grand hall.¡± The intruder was unfriendly.
¡°But I was just sleeping...¡± Xia Lei tried to look unwilling.
Abruptly, the man pulled him by the arm away from his room. Shoving Xia Lei, he yelled, ¡°Do you not understand me? Move!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged, finding the treatment unpleasant. But he wasn¡¯t about to retaliate.
At this moment, Linda too exited her room. Bewildered, she asked, ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But this man over here had asked me to go down to the grand hall.¡±
The bald man eximed, ¡°You too! Get down to the grand hall!¡±
¡°Fine.¡± Linda walked towards Xia Lei and looked at the bald man. ¡°Can you please exin what¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to ask.¡± The man seemed more courteous with Linda than with Xia Lei.
Making their way there, Linda and Xia Lei spotted arge stic sheet on the floor of the grand hall. There were two bodies disyed, one was Tanni¡¯s and the other was Bray¡¯s. Bray¡¯s state was difficult to stomach. The man was missing a brain and his feet. There were countless holes all about his body and his genitals were charcoal burnt!
¡°Mmph-!¡± Linda gagged, quickly mping her mouth close with her palm to stop the urge.
Xia Lei gagged too. Almost vomiting his insides.
Ferkel and William Arthur were also present in the hall, gazing at Linda and Xia Lei darkly. Standing beside them were two bald Caucasian men.
Feigning his disgust, Xia Lei utilized the cover to ponder. ¡°Shit, why are there so many baldies here? Could it be that the ck-robed sharpshootering for Lindast night was a member of the Knight Hospitaller? If that¡¯s so...¡±
This was akin to willingly entering into the trap!
The sense of danger red up. But there was a new chance that surfaced in front of Xia Lei. If the Knight Hospitallers were the ones who killed Professor Oman and tried to assassinate Linda, then the Metal Book was in their hands!
With that, Xia Lei deduced a new hypothesis in his mind. The Knight Hospitallers surely knew some things about the ancient alloy or AE capsules!
Though this thought was formted from the murder of an Italian professor and had not enough to prove its validity, Xia Lei was certain that there was a high possibility!
As Xia Lei was upied with his thoughts, Ferkel spoke. ¡°Mister Ma Lei, where had you been before this?¡±
Xia Lei pushed his brainstorming aside. Tilting his head in confusion, he answered, ¡°I was sleeping in my room. Why are you asking me that?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t mean anything else. As you can see, there was a murder that took ce here and the sinner was excruciatingly cruel. I¡¯m just trying to understand the situation,¡± replied Ferkel.
¡°I really was sleeping the entire time in my room.¡± Xia Lei feigned his innocence.
¡°What about you?¡± Ferkel ced his gaze on Linda.
¡°I was sleeping in my room too.¡± Linda continued, ¡°I woke up due to the noise outside. Can... Can I please leave now? I can¡¯t take the scent here.¡±
Sternly, Ferkel warned, ¡°No one is allowed to leave until I get a hold of the situation.¡±
William Arthur approached Xia Lei. He paused in front of his face and started sniffing Xia Lei out.
Xia Lei acted dumb. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±
Suddenly, William Arthur grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s elbow. ¡°Why is the smell of blood so heavy on you?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched in fear. ¡°This... This entire ce reeks of blood! Don¡¯t use me like that, I really did nothing!¡±
William Arthur began to exert force on his grip.
¡°Ouch!¡± Xia Lei screamed in pain. ¡°What are you trying to do?! Let me go!¡±
Instead, the man pushed him away vehemently, causing Xia Lei to stumble backwards.
¡°What the hell?!¡± Linda hurriedly came over to help him up. Angered, she retaliated, ¡°Show me your evidence if you think we did this! Bring us to the police if you dare! Who do you think you are?¡±
Ferkel chortled. ¡°Miss Linda, did you and Mister Ma Lei sneak over?¡±
Immediately, Linda froze. ¡°Wh... What are you trying to say?¡±
Ferkel pressed on. ¡°Miss Linda, I¡¯m guessing no one knows that you¡¯re here in Malta, right?
¡°What do you mean?¡± Linda was starting to feel nervous.
¡°Is it not obvious?¡± Ferkel¡¯s face warped into something ferocious. ¡°No one knows that you¡¯re here. Naturally, no one will learn of your death!¡±
Something finally clicked in Linda¡¯s mind. She screamed, ¡°You! You were the ones who killed Professor Oman!¡±
¡°Professor Oman was a friend. I wasn¡¯t nning to kill him but it was inevitable.¡± Ferkel fixed his cold re on her. ¡°I went to the customs to inspect their arrival records. If you both had entered through the sea route and the Vatican knew that you¡¯re searching for me, it would¡¯ve been difficult for me toy a finger on you. But having the both of you as stowaways makes this so much easier!¡±
¡°You... You want to kill us?¡± Exasperated, she fumed. ¡°But why?!¡±
¡°Because you know too much.¡± Then, Ferkel sent a look to the bald man beside him.
Taking his cue, the man approached her and grabbed Linda¡¯s arm roughly.
William Arthur pulled Xia Lei up from the ground like a rag doll and handed him off to the bald minions. Xia Lei was soon brought away, locked in their tight grip.
¡°You can¡¯t do this to us!¡± Linda cried out. ¡°We¡¯re innocent!¡±
Ferkel was unfazed. Though he had mentioned that Linda had learned too much for her own god, he was clear that the amount of knowledge she had was pitifully shallow. Despite that, Ferkel was adamant on not letting them leave alive. He shall not allow her another chance to continue her search for the Metal Book.
It was only after Xia Lei and Linda were brought away from the hall that William Arthur finally eximed, ¡°It was those bitches that killed Tanni and Bray! I swear I¡¯ll chop them up and feed them to the dogs!¡±
¡°We¡¯ve already alerted the headquarters. I¡¯m certain their men will arrive soon. By then, you shall lead them after the four women. This is our territory, they can¡¯t run far.¡± Ferkel¡¯s tone was malicious.
¡°What about the thing?¡± William Arthur stared at Ferkel, eyes harbouring caution and suspicion.
Ferkel shrugged nonchntly. ¡°Our friendship goes way back. Do you not trust me? It was something we got via joint effort. Of course, I will wait for your return to present it to our lord. I won¡¯t enjoy the honour and glory alone. Trust me.¡±
¡°Of course I believe in you. I¡¯ll do as you say. I¡¯ll lead the men after the four bitches while you take care of that archaeologist and the Chinese. Tomorrow we¡¯ll hand in the Metal Book to the lord,¡± agreed William Arthur.
¡°Hehe, I can¡¯t wait to see the miracle happen. For the sake of this day, many of us had shed blood and sacrificed themselves.¡± There was a proud smile on Ferkel¡¯s face, his mind was already constructing an image of the supposed miracle.
Wiliam Arthur too had a smile. He extended his arms to hug Ferkel.
But the hug robbed Ferkel of his smile. He froze, quickly pushing William Arthur away. ncing down to his chest, Ferkel found a sharp knife stabbed into it. Blood was spewing out of the opening like a fountain. He pointed to William Arthur, in shaking fury and shock. ¡°Why...?¡±
William Arthur smirked. ¡°You, Bray and Tanni were all killed by the four bitches. They killed you and ran away. I¡¯m going to go after them to avenge you.¡±
¡°You...¡± Before he could utter his sentence, Ferkel slumped against the ground face-first. Eyes wide open, he suffered an unpeaceful passing.
¡°Rest in peace, my old friend.¡± William Arthur muttered under his breath. ¡°Professor Oman was an old friend of yours and yet, you had the heart to kill him. But please don¡¯t misunderstand me, I¡¯m not trying to have the fame and honour all to myself. The Vatican will take you as a clue to search for the Metal Book, so you must die.¡±
Sadly, Ferkel could no longer hear those words.
Chapter 871 - No Mercy
¡°Let me go! Let me go!¡± Linda screamed as she wriggled around in their grip. Sadly, the bald man held her down tightly, leaving no room for her escape.
¡°Quit it!¡± The man pped the back of her head. He threatened, ¡°If you don¡¯t stay still, I¡¯ll kill you right now!¡±
¡°You can bring me away but please... Please let my friend go! He¡¯s innocent, he¡¯s just here to travel!¡± Linda continued to beg.
Her words moved Xia Lei. At a time like this, Linda still had the heart to be concerned over a newly-acquired friend. It wasn¡¯t difficult to tell that she was genuinely a good person.
¡°Fucking bitch!¡± With a swift motion, the bald man scooped her up and dangled her body over his firm shoulder. He then strode towards the backyard.
Compared to the fiery Linda, Xia Lei was much pliant and quiet under their tight grip. He was oddly cooperative, letting the two bald men transport him away at ease. There was not even a single cry for mercy. Xia Lei was very polite in their exchange.
¡°Brothers, where are you bringing me?¡± Xia Lei asked meekly.
One of them smirked. ¡°We¡¯re sending you to the gates of hell. Do you understand that?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m a good person. Even if I die, I¡¯d be ascending to heaven, not hell.¡±
The other man hit the back of Xia Lei¡¯s skull. ¡°Shut up! Save your energy to dig your pit.¡±
¡°Dig a pit? What for?¡± Xia Lei seemed perplexed.
¡°Is this Chinese retarded?¡± The bald man cackled.
¡°He must be retarded. Stupid ass bitch.¡± The other manughed along.
Exiting the back door via the backyard, the three bald men brought Linda and Xia Lei across the woods. Venturing deeper, they soon came to a cleared space. There was a wooden cross erected in the middle of the area but there wasn¡¯t a single name etched on it.
The bald man tossed Linda against the ground harshly. The fear and impact were clearly too much for Linda to handle, causing her to pass out right away.
¡°Bitch!¡± The bald man screamed. ¡°Your friend passed out, looks like you got to dig two pits.¡±
Without warning, the men released Xia Lei. One of them mmed a shovel forcefully into his face.
¡°Someone¡¯s there!¡± Xia Lei pointed an abrupt finger into a direction.
In unison, the three bald men swung their head to the direction he pointed in.
There was nothing there though.
Taking advantage of their distraction, Xia Lei hurriedlynded a strong chop against the man¡¯s throat. The tough bone collided with hisparatively fragile trachea, earning a crisp crackling sound. The assaulted man started wing at his neck, heaving frantically.
Swiftly, Xia Lei delivered a round-house kick to his injured throat.
The sudden damage had the man fall limp against the ground. Before he lost all consciousness, his eyes widened in disbelief. The retarded Chinese had turned into a vicious tiger! How was that possible?!
Realization finally dawned upon the remaining minions, prompting them to lunge towards Xia Lei.
Before they could even reach him, out flew two shiny shurikens from the woods behind them. The weapon mercilessly prated the back of their brains.
The two fell to the ground. Blood began flowing from their newly-acquired wounds, dyeing their shiny heads crimson red.
¡°Come out!¡± Xia Lei called.
A petite form exited the dark. It was Tsukino Kyoko. Among the current appointed Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members, she was the only one who was able to hide within the vicinity of the old castle without any concern. The Knight Hospitaller wouldn¡¯t have noticed her at all.
Tsukino Kyoko spoke, ¡°One and half hours ago, I was about to kill off the four women who exited through the back. But I happened to see you touch one of their butts, so I decided against it.¡±
¡°So, what do we do with her?¡± The female ninja pointed at the unconscious Linda.
Xia Lei smiled awkwardly. ¡°You¡¯re not nning to get rid of her, are you?¡±
¡°Getting rid of her would be beneficial to me. She¡¯s bound to be a problem,¡± answered Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°No, I still need her to bring me to the Temple of Apollo.¡± Xia Lei pointed into the direction of the Holy Mountain. ¡°That is the Holy Mountain. The Knight Hospitallers headquarters and Sacred Pce is in there. I must borrow her official identity to enter the Temple of Apollo.¡±
¡°Sure. Don¡¯t worry, I was just kidding.¡± Tsukino Kyoko had no ns to kill Linda at all. In the face of a life-threatening situation, Linda was still willing to fight for Xia Lei¡¯s survival. Based on that, Tsukino Kyoko decided to not murder her.
¡°I¡¯ll leave this to you. Help me look after her, I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Xia Lei exited the woods.
Tsukino Kyoko went to stand beside the man that was taken down by Xia Lei. Mercilessly, she stomped and ground her heel into the back of his palm.
¡°Argh!¡± The pain woke him up.
Calmly, Tsukino Kyoko instructed in English, ¡°Wake up, start digging.¡±
The man was stunned. As soon as he noticed that she was only a petite woman, he quickly swung a kick towards her lower half.
Before he could do so, a sheen of silver struck down on his iing right limb.
The shuriken prated through the flesh of his calve, letting the tip exit the base of his foot cleanly. It was so sharp that it sliced through his flesh like tofu.
Pain gripped the man. Before he could scream, Tsukino Kyoko made another wave and sliced through his open jaw, taking a long half of his tongue. Crimson red started to pour out of his mutted jaw.
Tsukino Kyoko repeated herself. ¡°Stand up and get digging. Or would you like me to continue shing my way through your body?¡±
Beads of cold sweat began to form on his forehead.
There wasn¡¯t any change to the old castle despite arge number of deaths. The building remained quiet and peaceful under the moonlight, ancient and mysterious. The castle had certainly seen its fair share of deaths through the centuries, but the atmosphere remained unfazed.
Xia Lei avoided the main entrance, entering the castle once against through the route Giovanna had led him earlier. Following that, he activated his X-ray vision. It didn¡¯t take long for him to learn the situation on the first floor, where two men were busy clearing off a body.
Recognizing the body as Ferkel, Xia Lei was overwhelmed with shock. He thought to himself, ¡°The only one who could¡¯ve killed Ferkel here would be William Arthur. I can¡¯t believe this man had the heart to attack his ownrade. The man wants the Metal Book to himself!¡±
The thought bothered him. If the Metal Book had made it to the Knight Hospitaller headquarters, it would mean bad news! What was William Arthur¡¯s intention in killing Ferkel other than having the Metal Book to himself?
Xia Lei went upstairs to the second floor. He first did a parallel scan around the floor but found nothing. Then, he lifted his head. Finally, he found William Arthur in Ferkel¡¯s study on the third floor.
Cautiously, Xia Lei made his way upstairs.
In the study, William Arthur flicked a book on the shelf.
ck ck ck... A soft string of sounds made its way across the bookshelf as it began to separate, revealing the castle¡¯s stone brick wall. William Arthur reached over and started to caress the stones, beforeying his palms on a certain brick. Slowly pushing it into about a depth of an inch, a few bricks started to open up outwards. It looked like a regr closet, except its interior was decorated in red velvet. On top of the fabric,id a bronze book.
¡°Haha...¡± William Arthur began to cackle. ¡°Ferkel, you used two years to convince the pope to let you have the Metal Book. But who would¡¯ve known that it¡¯s mine now! The Metal Book and God¡¯s Armour. If the legends were true, I¡¯d receive formidable powers and be immortal! You must be stupid enough to believe that I¡¯d hand it to our lord. I would never do that and believe you weren¡¯t going to either! You were just waiting for a time to get rid of me, no? Hahaha...¡±
Laughing, William Arthur bent his torso to pick up the Metal Book. But as he straightened his posture, his body froze. Slowly, the man turned around. He saw that a de had prated his backing from a mysterious figure by the door.
It was Xia Lei.
Xia Lei began to close in on William Arthur, not forgetting to smile. ¡°Thank you so much. If it wasn¡¯t for you, I wouldn¡¯t have found the Metal Book. Not only did you help me get the Metal Book but you also helped me get rid of Ferkel. I¡¯m indebted, how shall I repay you?¡±
The man¡¯s sarcasm and the knife on his back was a poisonous concoction that triggered William Arthur¡¯s wrath. He spat a mouthful of blood. The ejection of red blood had seemed like it robbed him clean of his energy. William Arthur swayed and fell to the ground.
Swiftly, Xia Lei pried his grip away from the Metal Book and squatted in front of the dying man. In hushed tones, he spoke, ¡°Tell me. Is it difficult to get in the Sacred Pce?¡±
¡°You... You¡¯re going to hell!¡± William Arthur wheezed pitifully.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°I think it¡¯s better for us to talk about something more useful. Answer my question and I¡¯ll tell you where Arthur is.¡±
William Arthur twitched, looking at the man in front of him weirdly.
¡°Alright. Let me be frank, I¡¯m Xia Lei.¡±
Shakily, William Arthur wed towards Xia Lei, intending to choke him.
Xia Lei pped away his hands. ¡°You¡¯re running out of time. Isn¡¯t learning about your son¡¯s fate much better than asking for immortality and power?¡±
¡°Where is he?¡±
¡°How do I get into the Sacred Pce?¡±
¡°The Gold ess Card. It¡¯s a pass assigned personally by the lord. You won¡¯t be able to get in unless...¡±
¡°Unless?¡±
¡°You kill all of the knights.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°That sounds pretty impractical.¡±
¡°Arthur... Where¡¯s Arthur?¡±
¡°Buried in Siberian soil. I killed him,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°Argh!¡± Perhaps it was sadness that overcame him, causing William Arthur to muster up thest bits of his energy to throw his arms around Xia Lei¡¯s neck. He lunged forward with his jaws open wide in an attempt to rip through Xia Lei¡¯s neck!
The bloodied rows of teeth made him look like a savage.
Unfortunately, William Arthur hadn¡¯t gotten to close his jaw around Xia Lei¡¯s neck. The man had bitten on the Metal Book instead.
In the nick of time, Xia Lei had shoved the Metal Book into his mouth. Xia Lei mocked, ¡°Jeez, are you a dog?¡± Following that, he grabbed a fistful of William Arthur¡¯s hair and mmed him hard against the ground.
William Arthur¡¯s mouth was wide open, only able to exhale.
Xia Lei removed the knife on his back and stabbed his heart.
Three minutester, Xia Lei exited the old castle and disappeared into the dark.
Meanwhile, on the Holy Mountain, there was a storm of gallops. The long line of men looked like a slithering snake making its way down the mountain.
The knights from the headquarters wereing. Unfortunately, what was left for them were only bodies and mass confusion.
Chapter 872 - Just Treat Me as Your Doctor
It was still dark out. Morning would soon arrive but for now, the night was in full effect.
Xia Lei exited the ambassador¡¯s office with a first aid kit towards another room.
The ambassador was a friendly man named Zhang. Xia Lei spoke with him for a bit and expressed his gratitude for his help. Without doubt, all of this was made possible thanks to Fan Fan. Currently, his cover was a special agent on his mission, so naturally, the conversation only went on for a few minutes. If Xia Lei hade clean with his true identity, the situation would¡¯ve been vastly different. However, there was no need for that.
Xia Lei knocked on the door.
¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± A wobbly string of Chinese came from behind the door. It was Giovanna.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±
The door opened to reveal a dishevelled Rosa. Her body was tightly wrapped in a white towel, which squeezed her cleavage into a proud crevice. The other three women in the room were in simr states, covering their bodies miserably. They all looked filthy, hair astray but attractive nheless.
Xia Lei made his entrance.
Behind him, Rosa quickly closed the door before joining her sisters. The four then lowered their heads out of respect.
Back then, if Xia Lei had barged into their room at this hour, they would¡¯ve called him a pervert. But things were different now. They had nothing but respect and full submission for the man.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°No need to be so formal. We¡¯ve known each other for a while now. Do you still not know who I am as a person?¡±
The four women exchanged looks, breaking into a smile.
¡°Of course, you¡¯re a pervert,¡± answered Giovanna.
¡°A very impressive pervert,¡± added Ste.
¡°A good perverted hero.¡± Theresa went on.
¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re here in our room at this ungodly hour.¡± Rosa pointed out.
The atmosphere immediately brightened up.
¡°Xia, thank you so much,¡± uttered Giovanna.
Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°For what?¡±
She continued. ¡°Thank you for letting us see the true colours of the Knight Hospitaller. You saved us multiple times. It¡¯s all thanks to you that we get to carry on with our knighthood and faith. I hope you could find it in yourself to forgive us for all the offences we made and...¡±
She paused.
Xia Lei shed her a reassuring smile. ¡°And...?¡±
¡°Back in Siberia, we were fully aware that it was all a trap but continued to allow you to fall into it. We were also involved in Arthur¡¯s operation to capture you. We...¡± Giovanna lowered her torso. ¡°You¡¯re free to punish us.¡±
¡°Are you suggesting I hit you?¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°Look at yourselves. You¡¯re already in this pitiful state. How could I hit you? Plus, you¡¯re all my knights. Nothing can change the past so let¡¯s move on from that. I¡¯ve also hidden some things from you.¡±
The four of them had their attention on Xia Lei.
Xia Lei revealed what had happened on that day. ¡°My men didn¡¯t perish in the Siberian operation. I hid them away.¡±
The female knights couldn¡¯t help but stare at each other in shock.
Giovanna hesitated but decided to ask anyway. ¡°Xia, can I ask you something?¡±
¡°No need to ask.¡± Xia Lei stared into her eyes. ¡°I killed Arthur.¡±
It was probably better to tell them upfront than to have them y the guessing game.
They froze.
Xia Lei went on. ¡°I paid the Knight Hospitaller fifty million USD and even promised to return the sacred relic to them. But all they¡¯ve done has only resulted in disappointment. Arthur wanted to kill me. If I don¡¯t get rid of him, he is only going to make things more difficult for me. I learned of his ns and I prepared myself for it. I had no choice.¡±
¡°But...¡± Theresa halted herself.
Xia Lei smiled at her. ¡°Go on, you¡¯re free to speak.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Theresa questioned, ¡°You must¡¯ve known that we were involved in Arthur¡¯s ns and you could¡¯ve taken us down easily. Why did you rescue us?¡±
The manughed a little. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that I was a pervert? Letting pretty and sexydies like you to sumb to your deaths is not my style.
Of course, that wasn¡¯t his genuine intention. His words, however, had flustered the Grey and Russo sisters.
¡°I hope you¡¯re not bothered by my tant lies,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No, not at all. You did what you should do. It¡¯s just... We have tried to harm you countless times under Arthur¡¯s instructions and yet...¡± Giovanna was ashamed of herself.
The faces of these sisters were clouded with regret. The female knights and Arthur had nned to harm Xia Lei and Xia Lei was just defending himself. His lie was technically not a scam.
Observing their reactions, a small part of Xia Lei¡¯s worries dissipated. He smiled. ¡°It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s all in the past now. You¡¯ve made the decision to leave your old life behind, so brace yourselves for the new life ahead. I can guarantee you that there¡¯ll be no regrets under my care.¡±
Those words were interpreted differently by the female knights, causing a bloom of red over their cheeks.
¡°Come, let me treat you. I know a thing or two about medicine.¡± Xia Lei switched the topic.
¡°Huh? Oh, dear...¡± Giovanna¡¯s face was beet red at this point.
Ste mumbled meekly, ¡°You can just pass us the kit. We can do this ourselves.¡±
¡°Yeah, we can handle this.¡± Theresa convinced in a barely audible volume.
Rosa gapped, lost for words. Her eyes glimmered with some excitement, but a majority of it was aplicated mix of bashfulness and difort.
Though their decline was made clear, Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to take advantage of you. Really, please trust me. The injuries you received are not just external. I¡¯m certain you¡¯ve suffered some internal damage too. I must examine you and administer appropriate medicine. If this goes on untreated, you¡¯ll die. There¡¯s no doctor in the embassy and you can¡¯t show up at the hospital.¡±
The female knights looked at each other once again, tormented by the insufferable awkwardness.
Xia Lei eagerly pushed on. ¡°Who¡¯s first?¡±
The knights fell into silence, not daring to volunteer themselves.
A scowl appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Giovanna, you first. Get on the bed.¡±
¡°I...¡± Giovanna mumbled incoherently.
¡°Come on, go lie on the bed. Think of this as a hospital and I am your doctor.¡±
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go first.¡± Giovanna mbered onto the soft surface. She held her torn garments tightly against her frame, afraid that it would slide off.
To her surprise, Xia Lei swiftly tore the fabric away.
¡°You...!¡± Giovanna wanted to scream. Right now, all she wanted to do was to dig a hole and hide.
Xia Lei¡¯s course of action had the other knights praying for their lives. What Giovanna was experiencing now was the benchmark of their treatmentter.
Under the anxious watch of the female knights, Xia Lei began his treatment. He grabbed Giovanna¡¯s wrist to feel her pulse. The pulse-taking was just a fa?ade to allow his X-ray vision scan through her body, investigating the condition of her insides meticulously.
¡°There¡¯s some bleeding in your stomach. Your intestines are swollen and inmed and there¡¯s a disced rib...¡± Xia Lei started to mumble out his diagnostics, tone stern and collected like a genuine medical professional.
They gaped at him in awe, bewildered by how much he had managed to diagnose just by a touch of the wrist!
Following that, Xia Lei moved his right hand towards her protruding mounts.
Giovanna¡¯s nervous gulp was audible, stering her wavering gaze on Xia Lei. The female was worried that he would take the chance to cop a feel under the guise of treatment. As she reached the peak of her anxiety, Xia Lei¡¯s palmnded away from the soft masses on one of the bones.
He pressed on the spot lightly. ¡°Does it hurt?¡±
¡°It hurts.¡± Giovanna clenched her teeth and furrowed her brows. She seemed to be in a lot of pain.
Thinking that there would be a prolonged relief after Xia Lei¡¯s hand moved away, the man abruptly pinched the disced rib with his thumb and index finger, pushing the bone upwards!
¡°Ah!¡± Giovanna yelped.
Xia Lei released his grip. ¡°As I said, one of your rib bones got disced and must be returned to its original position. Let me bandage you and you¡¯ll be done for now. Try not to move around excessively for the next few days.¡±
Giovanna stared at him nkly. Her earlier suspicion and bashfulnesspletely diminished to leave behind respect and gratitude. Sadly, the admiration was short-lived as soon as Xia Lei started to dab on her wounds with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball.
His motions were gentle and slow.
Giovanna watched the cotton ball roll around her body, from her peaks to her ts and even inappropriate parts. The alcohol burned her skin a little, but it formted an unknown feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was nervous but also slightly excited by her own predicament.
Finishing up the bandage around her chest, Xia Lei helped Giovanna down from the bed. ¡°Next, please.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Before anyone could answer it, Ste had already made her way on top of the bed. Peeling away her dress voluntarily before Xia Lei could do so.
Her form was firm and supple. Ste¡¯s pale, wless curves were adorned pitifully with visible wounds all over. However, the surface damage hadn¡¯t interrupted the aesthetic, it had even pumped an element of stimtion into it.
¡°What¡¯s the diagnosis?¡± Ste was chirpy, anticipating her evaluation.
Rosa and Theresa were equally interested, staring at Xia Lei intently to watch him work his magic. They were all curious about how he had done it.
Xia Lei grabbed Ste¡¯s wrist. Two minutester, he spoke, ¡°Your anus is disying signs of inmmation. It seems like the internal condition of your body is very heaty. You¡¯ll be well after consuming some antibiotics.¡±
After a round of silence, Giovanna burst outughing. ¡°Hahaha!¡±
The consultation ended very quickly but Xia Lei took his time to clean her wounds. Throughout the process, Xia Lei kept a straight face. His sufferings were only made known to himself. If he hadn¡¯t controlled his physiological reactions, his inner thoughts would¡¯ve been portrayed without shame.
After Ste, Xia Lei went on to treat Theresa and Rosa. When he was finally done with the four of them, the sun was already up.
¡°You all shall rest and recover here for the time being,¡± instructed Xia Lei before exiting the room.
The four of them nodded, watching him retreat. As soon as the door was clicked shut, they burst out into a chaos of chatter.
¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting him to be a doctor.¡±
¡°Yeah, me too. This is unbelievable.¡±
¡°When he treated me just now, I was trying to figure out if he was actually an all-mighty deity or an angel.¡±
¡°I had that thought too. God, I was so excited earlier.¡±
¡°Jeez, you sound so horny.¡±
¡°You¡¯re the horny one!¡±
¡°Hehe, I really thought he was about to do that with us. Don¡¯t you dare tell me that you didn¡¯t think of that?¡±
¡°We¡¯re in this state, how could he have the heart to do that to us?¡±
¡°Have you thought of what will happen when we recover?¡±
¡°He¡¯s a total pervert. I¡¯m certain he wouldn¡¯t spare us. What should we do if he wants that from us?¡±
¡°Uh...¡±
On the other side of the door, Xia Lei shook his head with a defeated smile. His retreating steps regain some of his prior weight.
Chapter 873 - Secrets of the Temple of Apollo
The Knight Hospitaller began their search around Valletta for the four traitorous female knights. Their members stormed into the hospitals and hotels. Simply put, they were everywhere. But even with their influence, the knights had their entries denied into the Chinese Embassy as the ce was considered a territory of China. The Knight Hospitaller could flip the whole ind upside down and they¡¯d still not find Giovanna, Ste, Rosa and Theresa. Of course, Xia Lei too was out of their reach.
One day had passed since the incident and it was already noon. A bunch of people could be seen hiking up a hill. Their destination was the Temple of Apollo on the peak of the mountain. The group consisted of Maltese civil servants, archaeologists and policemen.
Xia Lei and Linda were part of them today.
Using Linda¡¯s name, Xia Lei had donated a fortune to the restoration of the temple. The Malta Heritage Protection Agency was utterly delighted at the generosity, immediately tasking their employees, archaeologists and a number of policemen to apany Linda on her requested visit to the temple.
Xia Lei had intended for such effect, luring the involvement of the Maltese civil servants into this operation. With them, there was guaranteed protection from the Knight Hospitaller. Malta Ind was governed under a sovereign hand. They had their own military and legitimate status. The time of the Knight Hospitaller was long gone, only existing in their history. If the organization had appeared to challenge the current government, they might face the loss of influence.
The Temple of Apollo wasn¡¯t quite like what Xia Lei had expected. It was made out of stone, far from the majestic pce he imagined. The temple was void of a divine idol of Apollo, only boulders scattered around its premise. Standing proud under the firmament, it faced the magnificent Mediterranean Sea, radiating its ancient but mystical aura.
Linda busied herself with academic discussions about the Temple of Apollo with the apanying archaeologists. She seemed excited, attentive to the ongoing exchange. Unbeknownst to her, Xia Lei had left the group in favour of exploring the edge of the temple. Cautiously, he looked into the sharp drop beneath him.
Under him was a cliff of about a five hundred metre drop. It was akin to a hundred story building. It was a terrifying existence that could make knees weak for those who couldn¡¯t stomach it. He activated his left eye to study the situation at its valley. Sadly, no caves or secret passages could be found, much to Xia Lei¡¯s disappointment.
When they arrived at the site, he had also conducted a detailed observation of its surroundings. There wasn¡¯t a single hint of the Knight Hospitallers existence. Even when he activated his X-ray vision to check the soil, the results had returned as nothing. All of his findings had led to one conclusion. This was just a regr mountain. The Knight Hospitallers headquarters and the Sacred Pce was nowhere to be seen.
¡°My intel couldn¡¯t have been false. If the Knight Hospitaller headquarters is really here, how should I go about finding it?¡± Xia Lei was deep in thought.
The salty breeze of the passionate Mediterranean Sea ruffled his hair and swayed his top. Instinctively, Xia Lei took a step back. Abruptly, he noticed a ck dot on the beach beneath him.
He quickly focused his left eye on the ck dot. It was a ck-robed man. The man was spying the happenings on top of the cliff with a pair of binocrs.
Xia Lei retreated his extended torso in response, keeping his left vision on the ck-robed man along the top of the boulders. The man was bald and his dark robes looked the same as the ck-robed assassin that tried to kill Linda earlier! d in the lengthy garment, the bald man looked like a warlock.
¡°ck robes... Could he be one of the Holy Knights?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart pondered.
The ck-robed man didn¡¯t remain long. After two minutes, he descended into a gigantic boulder to his side. Following that, Xia Lei lost sight of him.
¡°So that¡¯s how it works!¡± Xia Lei was overjoyed with his newest finding. ¡°The cliff was too steep to climb but it faced the sea. Sea transportation should allow easy ess to the area. If I¡¯m not wrong, there must be caves and water tunnels under this mountain!¡±
The odd appearance of the ck-robed man had hinted Xia Lei strongly, making his subsequent job immensely easy. If the man had note to spy on them, Xia Lei would¡¯ve wasted more valuable time searching around the top of the mountain. He wouldn¡¯t have paid attention to the situation at the bottom of the cliff.
¡°Mister Ma Lei, what are you doing?! Come back!¡± Linda sounded excessively anxious.
It was only then that Xia Lei left the edge of the cliff. ¡°It was nothing. I was just curious about what¡¯s at the bottom.¡±
¡°Jeez, you¡¯re just like a child.¡± Linda scowled. ¡°Have you not thought of what could possibly happen if you fell?¡±
Xia Lei paused to think. Then, he shed her a cheeky smile. ¡°I¡¯d probably be an Italian pizza.¡±
¡°Pfft-!¡± Linda broke intoughter.
¡°Have you found anything noteworthy?¡± Xia Lei switched the topic seamlessly.
Linda answered, ¡°This isn¡¯t my first time here. If there was anything left to find, I would¡¯ve found it back then. My visit this time is purely to apany you, yet you¡¯re here pulling such dangerous stunts.¡±
¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. Can you please show me around? I¡¯d like to take a good look at this temple.¡± Xia Lei said.
¡°Sure, no problem.¡± Linda wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s elbow. ¡°If there¡¯s anything you¡¯d like to know, feel free to ask. I¡¯ll do my best to satiate your curiosity.¡±
Was there anotheryer to her words?
Xia Lei opted to not dwell on it, ying his part as a young gay man.
With Linda¡¯spany, Xia Lei toured the insides of the Temple of Apollo.
The temple had a long history of about ten thousand years, existing around the Stone Age. Back then, mankind only had ess to stone tools. The most advanced technology of the era were fire and stone artefacts. There was no way that humans had the ability to build something akin to the stone temple in front of them. It wouldn¡¯t make sense for them to be able to tell time using the sun.
¡°It¡¯s just difficult to wrap my head around this. How could humans make something so majestic ten thousand years ago? The mystery had confused archaeologists for many years and till this day, I¡¯m having a hard time believing it too.¡± Linda turned to face Xia Lei. ¡°Mister Ma Lei, you¡¯re a smart man. I¡¯d like to hear your take on this.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m just ayman. How am I supposed to understand something that confuses professionals like you?¡±
¡°Come on, just say it. There¡¯s nothing wrong with telling me your thoughts, I promise I won¡¯t judge.¡± Linda swayed his arm about. asionally, the flesh of his arm would brush across the top of her breasts. Xia Lei could feel his arm melting into goo at the soft sensation.
This was a friendly disy among girls. Since they were ¡®sisters¡¯, what damage could such a harmless flighty act like this bring?
Xia Lei thought about it seriously, venturing deeper into Linda¡¯s statement. ¡°There should be a reason behind the Knight Hospitallers choice to set up their headquarters here. Could there be something to do with the Temple of Apollo? If mankind wasn¡¯t able to build this temple back in the Stone Ages, who built this? And what was its purpose?¡±
Focused on his brainstorm, Xia Lei ignored Linda¡¯s harassmentpletely. The mushy sensation apanied him through his storm of thoughts.
Abruptly, Linda stopped her action, letting Xia Lei¡¯s elbow rest in between her breast like a sausage bun. Inexplicably, Linda¡¯s gaze was glued to Xia Lei¡¯s groin. The man was spotting an erection and the tent it created was rather impressive.
Linda gaped in shock. She thought to herself, ¡°Didn¡¯t he say he was homosexual? Why is he showing responses like this?¡±
On the other hand, Xia Lei was still trying to figure out the corrtion between the Temple of Apollo and the Knight Hospitaller. He hadn¡¯t noticed the intense gaze Linda had on his member.
Linda began to squeeze his elbow tighter, resuming her rocking motion gently. She moved and continued to observe the protruded organ strained against the fabric.
¡°Sigh...¡± Xia Lei sighed dramatically. ¡°Sorry, I know nothing about this temple. I¡¯ve got noment.¡±
¡°Hey, you...¡± Linda pointed out.
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei looked at her confusedly.
Linda extended a finger to direct his attention to his crotch wordlessly.
Xia Lei followed her finger and nced down. At that moment, Xia Lei was flooded with the violent urge to knock himself unconscious.
¡°Well...¡± Linda cleared her throat. ¡°Don¡¯t you think you owe me an exnation?¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Are you really gay?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Xia Lei tried to affirm it.
¡°Then why is there a...¡± Linda pointed her finger at his part again.
Xia Lei interrupted her. ¡°Where¡¯s the toilet? I¡¯ve been holding in for too long.¡±
¡°It¡¯s...¡±
¡°Wait for me, I¡¯ll go somewhere far away to pee.¡± Xia Lei quickly extracted his arm from between her arms and bosoms, fleeing the scene hurriedly.
Linda watched him leave with a wry smile. ¡°You carry on with your act but I¡¯ll surely expose your true colours soon. Just you wait! Hmph!¡±
Hiding behind a boulder, Xia Lei could onlyugh helplessly at the situation. He pulled down his zipper and began to get rid of the problem. The man wasn¡¯t in need of ease to his desire, but he didn¡¯t want Linda toe to check for any evidence of bodily fluids on the floor. It would only raise more questions in her head.
Women were sometimes gullible, but they were also sometimes difficult to get past.
Solving his issue, Xia Lei zipped his pants up. But as he was about to leave, his eyes fell on top of a puddle of liquid on the soil. The foundation of a stone pir had revealed itself with the sshes of liquid. On top of the foundation was a square diagram.
The urrence of a square diagram around ancient historical sites was fairlymon. However, there was something different about this diagram. It was a carving depicting the ancient alloy box. Though it wasn¡¯t an urate depiction of the box¡¯s appearance, there were enough details to confirm his suspicion.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes widened in shock. ¡°What... What the hell?¡±
¡°Mister Ma Lei, what are you doing over there?¡± Linda¡¯s voice and her hurried footsteps indicated her iing presence. She was probably here to check on him.
Xia Lei frantically kicked some soil over to hide the diagram of the ancient alloy box. In the process, he activated his X-ray vision to investigate the stone foundation. Sadly, there was nothing else aside from the surprising diagram.
Linda finally came to sight. Brandishing a smile, she questioned, ¡°Mister Ma Lei, what are you doing?¡±
It was then that Xia Lei deactivated his vision and joined her at her side. ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡±
¡°Go back? We just got here not long ago, are you sure you want to return? You¡¯re not done circling the temple.¡± Linda was a little taken aback.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I feel sick all of a sudden. I¡¯d like to get some rest. How about you send me some professional information on the temple? I¡¯m curious and I¡¯d really love to learn more.¡±
¡°Of course. Alright, let¡¯s get you back.¡± Linda closed in on him to frame his elbow between her arms once again. ¡°I¡¯ll escort you down since you¡¯re unwell.¡±
Xia Lei had no words.
The man turned around to spare the stone pir onest look. His unintentional pee session had unearthed a secret of the Temple of Apollo. Now, he just couldn¡¯t wait to begin his study on the Metal Book he snatched from William Arthur.
Chapter 874 - The Story in the Metal Book
Truthfully, if it wasn¡¯t for Linda¡¯s unexpected stir in the dreadful hours before dawn, Xia Lei would¡¯ve already dissected the Metal Book. The silver lining was that talking to Linda had given rise to a new idea, which was to make a generous donation to the Malta Heritage Protection Bureau and make an official visit to the Temple of Apollo.
With that, he had found the diagram of the ancient alloy box around the temple, which helped strengthen hisprehension of the Metal Book.
Returning to the embassy, Xia Lei rushed into his room. After shutting all doors and windows for good measure, Xia Lei pulled out the Metal Book.
The book he had taken from William Arthur and the bronze book in his hands was the same. The only difference was that the book had different names for different people.
Flipping its cover away, mysterious and weird characters soon came to sight. Some looked like a bunch of astray grass, some seemed like ridiculously drawn tadpoles and some even resembled human faces with eyes and noses! However, the current interpretation shouldn¡¯t be too much of a challenge due to his deciphering experience earlier.
Xia Lei read every page, his mind swallowing every character he came across. He tried to use his abilities on it, which returned his findings as mystical sybuses.
He closed his eyes. Allowing thepass diagram made out of bricks that he found in an underground tomb back in China resurface in his mind.
Combining the weird characters and thepass diagram together, it created arger spherical diagram that looked like a rune-filledpass. Just likest time, there was a line of Han characters that appeared in the centre of thepass. You¡¯re the only one who can turn it.
Inexplicably, the image triggered Xia Lei¡¯s subconsciousness. The puzzling surge of energy awakened and thepass in his memories started to turn rapidly. Suddenly, he heard a distant voice in the back of his head.
This had happened before. It was the hidden sybus from the Metal Book. Thetent energy that existed in his brain was no different from a pin of a record yer while thepass decorated with runes was the vinyl.
¡°Perhaps you may not believe me, but when I was about to end my life, I met a maiden. I¡¯ve had many women in my life and I can confidently say that her beauty was iparable. She was perfect, from her features to her body. Even her disposition was wonderful. At that split second, I thought she was a goddess. A goddess that was here to grant me my hearts desires. The way she approached me was weightless, to the extent that I had suspected that this was merely my delusion. But she seemed so real. I spoke, pleading her to chase away the confusions that had clouded me but she only smiled at me. Then, she left...¡±
¡°Unsatisfied, I tried to run after her. But no matter how hard I ran, I just couldn¡¯t catch up to her. The distance between us got increasingly wide before she vanishedpletely from my view. Her light footsteps in the snow had my hopes up, I stubbornly chased in the direction she left. Oh, how I hoped to see her again someday somewhere...¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure how far I travelled or how long I have travelled for. When I was prepared to have all my efforts go to waste, she finally appeared. I was perplexed and shell-shocked. She was like a phantom during our first encounter. But this time, she had a solid body. She was still as ethereal as ever. I genuinely thought our second encounter would be the start of something beautiful. I was a fool. She attacked me and hurt me, crushing the box into debris.
Though I had made it out alive, the injuries I suffered were far too severe. This felt like the most ridiculous dream of mine. Years ago, when I was prepared to end my life, she appeared and brought me hope. Now, my ray of hope has perished...¡±
¡°On the verge of death, I dug my own grave and swallowed pieces of the crushed box. This is what I¡¯ve left for you. Please, uncover the secrets I¡¯ve yet to solve. If you ever meet her again, be sure to kill her. She¡¯s an entity that should not exist. She¡¯s the epitome of evil. I¡¯ve seen her massacred an entire tribe of a few thousand inhabitants. I was the chosen one and you¡¯re my chosen one. What I can¡¯t do, you must do. This is our shared mission. Remember, time does not merely travel forward, it seeps too. Farewell, the only one.¡±
Those were the contents of the Metal Book.
To be fair, it felt more like a CD than a book.
Finishing the ¡®Bronze Disc¡¯, some of the seemingly iprehensible mysteries were solved all at once. Albeit so, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t find it in himself to feel excited. His heart sank like a rock as if a heavily rusted basalt had pinned it down.
In the sacred city of Jerusalem, Xia Lei had found the corpse of an old man under the Holy Temple of Jesus with a stomach full of ancient alloy debris. He had no idea who the old man was and why there were so many ancient alloy shards in him. Now, Xia Lei finally had the answer. The old man was the ¡®chosen one¡¯ who left behind the Metal Book.
¡°He mentioned that he had lived for a long time, past the Ice Ages. He was essentially an immortal. Sick of living, the man tried to end his own life. Then, he met her. Could he be referring to Zhu Xuanyue?¡± The possible link made his follicles bristle. Xia Lei could feel his scalp go numb with a chill crawling up his spine.
Though the prehistoric ¡®chosen one¡¯ had not mentioned her name, Xia Lei was convinced that Zhu Xuanyue was the person in question. Zhu Xuanyue was perhaps one of the many names that were given to her. She must¡¯ve had different names over different periods. Some may have been recorded in history while somepletely off the radar.
Her existence was malicious. This was something Xia Lei had already learned. He had also witnessed how the woman ¡®hunted¡¯ for her appetite, no other proof was needed.
¡°Time does not merely travel forward, it seeps too... What the hell does that mean?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind tried to pick apart the old man¡¯s words. ¡°Is he trying to hint that there are different dimensions to this world? The world I¡¯m in now is obviously different from the one inside the box, is he referring to that?¡±
His brain went into overdrive.
The world a century ago was real, the world now was real too. Without doubt, the world after a century would certainly be real too.
A century may be too much of a stretch. If the unit of time was set as one second, how could anyone say the world a second ago was fake? Why would anyonement that the world will disappear after another second?
Humans survived on their senses. ¡®Reality¡¯ was anything tangible by their five core senses. However, the world wasn¡¯t so simple. Aside from the past, the present and the future world, there was probably something like a light world, a dark world, a world with a conscience or a world without one. If the universe was one big chaos, humans were probably just a small grain of sand stuck in this mess!
Letting go of all constraints, a wing sprouted out of his cogitation, leaving towards the boundless horizon. But the man of such brainwork remained seated in his room, still a measly puny existence to the vast universe.
Xia Lei finally broke intoughter after a considerable time. The prehistoric chosen one solved a good amount of his questions but brought a few new ones. Realisation dawned upon him that no matter how hard he tried, Xia Lei was still far away from solving the biggest mystery. What lies before him was an ocean and he was just a sailor in a pickle.
The pursuit of knowledge was a rocky path sometimes.
¡°I¡¯ve already found out how the ancient alloy box was broken and the reason behind its scattered appearance. I also know that the old man under the church was the prehistoric chosen one while Zhu Xuanyue had already existed long before civilization. But who exactly is the ck-robed man? He seemed to be simr to Zhu Xuanyue, but they were not friendly. Why is that so?¡±
¡°The only difference now is that Zhu Xuanyue is an anomaly. If he¡¯s after the ancient alloy box, there isn¡¯t much I can do to stop him. However, he hasn¡¯t done anything of that sort and he didn¡¯t intend on robbing me of myst AE capsule. Why?¡±
One question led to another, causing Xia Lei¡¯s mind to be split into halves. One half was alert while the other remained puzzled.
¡°Mister Ma Lei, are you in there?¡± Suddenly, Linda¡¯s voice rang from the other side of his door.
It interrupted his thoughts, prompting him to allow his vision pierce through the door. Before long, he caught a glimpse of Linda.
The woman must¡¯ve just returned from the gym, which was suggested by her tight spandex tracks and singlet. The white athletic wear clung onto her body like her second skin. It outlined her breasts clearly and her thighs and ass were on full disy. The feminine lines were matured and seductive. To make mattersplicated, her sweat had drenched the material. How was he supposed to react in this scenario?
A few seconds ago, his mind was upied with the ancient alloy, the AE capsule, Zhu Xuanyue and the ck-robed man. In the next second, his brain was now a hell hole of filthy images.
¡°Mister Ma Lei?¡± Linda rapped on the door. ¡°I know you¡¯re in there. Open up.¡±
Xia Lei could feel his brain thundering inside. He knew what Linda was here for. On the other side of the door, the man had full intention to solve one of the most difficult mysteries of the world while the woman was eager for an answer to her query. She wanted to know if he was genuinely homosexual.
¡°Mister Ma Lei?¡± Linda was losing her patience.
¡°Hey! What are you doing there?¡± Giovanna appeared out of the blue. The bandages around her body rendered her walk awkward.
¡°I... I¡¯m looking for Mister Ma Lei.¡± Instinctively, Linda held her hands over her crotch.
¡°He¡¯s out to deal with some matters. If there¡¯s anything you¡¯d like to say, you can tell me. I¡¯ll be sure to ry the message,¡± offered Giovanna.
¡°There¡¯s no need for that! Bye!¡± Linda left with a scowl.
The exchange allowed Xia Lei to heave a sigh in relief.
It sure felt good to be protected by his knights.
Chapter 875 - Were Just Friends
Silently, the night came.
Xia Lei rested on the balcony of the embassy, looking at the stars above him. In the dark, he began to gear his mind around a new question.
The prehistoric chosen one had gone through the Ice Age, mentioning that he was the only one left in this world. The loneliness was too much for him to handle, prompting him tomit suicide. Following that, Zhu Xuanyue appeared and he began his chase after her. He emphasized that the number of years spent and the length of the journey was a blur. The next time he encountered Zhu Xuanyue, she had already possessed a solid form. The man even said that he witnessed Zhu Xuanyue tore down an entire tribe. Though the timeline was unclear, could the appearance of a human tribe hint the end of the Ice Age due to the re-emergence of mankind?
Was Zhu Xuanyue reluctant to kill him because he was the only human left on this? Had she seen him as her seed?
Xia Lei was certain that his guesses were highly possible as Zhu Xuanyue didn¡¯t raise a finger on the chosen one for so long. It was only when she received her physical form that the man was attacked. Judging this from her perspective, she had already nurtured an entire jungle. Why keep one sole seed?
There was another thing that Xia Lei couldn¡¯t wrap his head around.
After the battle between Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one, the ancient alloy box was crushed. The man had snuck away its debris. A good portion of it was discarded but the remains were swallowed by him. Who made thepass that required the ancient alloy parts? Was it him or was it Zhu Xuanyue? Where on earth was thest part at?
It was certain that the Ming Dynasty emperor wasn¡¯t the one who made it. Technology back then wasn¡¯t advanced enough to enable that. This goes the same for the Temple of Apollo on the mountain. Perhaps there was an unknown entity that possessed great powers to manipte the history of mankind seamlessly to be the point of no w. Just like the pyramids in Egypt, the disappearance of the Mayan civilization and Antis.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was bustling with activity once again.
Depicted in the Mayan calendar and legends, the world was destined to experience five cataclysmic events followed by new beginnings. Each of them was referred to as ¡®an era of the sun¡¯.
The humans of the first era were titans who were wiped out by famine.
The humans of the second era perished in a gigantic ze.
The humans of the third era were ape-people, destroyed by one another.
The humans of the fourth era were the people of Antis, whose civilization was destroyed by severe flood disaster.
Currently, mankind was in the cycle of the fifth rebirth and destruction. The Mayans had predicted the date of it, twenty-first of December 2012, which didn¡¯te to fruition.
Despite that, the prior four Mayan predictions were spot on. The appearance of nes and automobiles along with the birth and death of Hitler was as they stated. Even the dates of the First and Second World War were predicted urately.
In the past, the four Mayan predictions had eerie uracy. But the fifth prophecy made the other four look like coincidences.
But had it all happened by chance?
¡°If they could foresee their destruction, would weirdly lucky coincidences be the case for their prophecies? Perhaps, there really is a force or powerful existence that changed the fifth cycle of destruction and rebirth of mankind... ¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind wallowed itself in the bottomless pit of the mystery.
Footsteps approached him.
Immediately, Xia Lei¡¯s brain stopped in its tracks. He looked towards its source. Under the pale moonlight, Linda was walking towards him from the stairway. She was still dressed in her gym wear with the addition of a towel around her body. Theparatively thick fabric was wrapped around her body, perhaps meant to dry off her sweat after a blood-pumping cardio session.
Linda stopped at his side, plopping herself down with her towel. She was silent, staring straight at Xia Lei.
The man could catch a whiff of sweat and perfume from her. The remarkable mixture of elements was lethally attractive to men.
¡°What are you looking at?¡± Linda broke the silence.
Nonchntly, Xia Lei pointed at the skies. ¡°The stars.¡±
¡°I absolutely adore starry skies. Stars are so mysterious, just like you.¡± She said.
¡°Just like me?¡±
Linda shed him a grin. ¡°Just admit it, you¡¯re not some fashion manufacturer. The fact that you could donate half a million USD to the Malta Heritage Protection Bureau under my name shows that. That is not a feat a fashion manufacturer could afford to do. Also, you were able to get rid of those three bald men. You saved me but you chose not to tell me.¡±
She was unconscious during the castle incident, hence she hadn¡¯t learned of Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s existence. Till now, the woman beside him still remained unaware of the deaths of Ferkel and William Arthur. Despite all of that, she had chosen to believe that he was her saviour.
Xia Lei could only smile at that. He wasn¡¯t keen on answering her.
¡°You¡¯ve saved me thrice. I want to repay the favour but I don¡¯t know how,¡± uttered Linda, eyes sneakily descended to Xia Lei¡¯s groin.
To save a damsel in distress and have her repay his kindness with her body was rather popr in Western society. But the problem lies in Mister Ma Lei¡¯s sexuality. The man was supposed to be gay. Such a thing shouldn¡¯t have worked on him.
Xia Lei smiled at her gently. ¡°We¡¯re friends, there¡¯s no need to repay my kindness. I¡¯m just d you¡¯re alright and safe.¡±
¡°Are you really gay?¡± Linda¡¯s mind brought back memories of when they were at the Temple of Apollo.
With a firm tone, Xia Lei replied her, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m gay. Unless you have something against it?¡±
Abruptly, Linda peeled away her towel and pressed her weight against Xia Lei. Not allowing him to struggle, her lips frantically fitted itself against his. Her entire body was oozing with passion, her corresponding actions were wild and out of control.
Weakened by the sudden advance, Xia Lei¡¯s body clicked into the mood. The sudden flip of his switch was hard to miss. Before he could halt himself and attempt to control his physiological reactions with his power, Linda had already found her hand on his firm penis. Xia Lei¡¯s secret was no longer a secret.
A round of silence calmed their frenzy, but the atmosphere reeked of explosives, threatening to st with the slightest spark of fire.
The moonlight showed off her curves beautifully aided by her spandex set. Although she was fully clothed, the garment bore no difference to her skin. The naughty outline of her nipples and the wonderful curves and crevices around her bottom could be clearly seen.
Xia Lei felt the urge to tear the obstructing fabric away from her form and...
¡°I knew it! You¡¯re not gay!¡± Linda yelled. mes flickered in her blue eyes.
Xia Lei was overwhelmed with awkwardness, but the man quickly calmed his animalistic urge. ¡°Linda. Yes, I admit I¡¯m not gay but I¡¯ve got someone waiting for me back home. I don¡¯t wish to betray her.¡±
Linda¡¯s eyes widened in shock, the fire in her eyes diminished by the sudden wash of coldness.
¡°I only see you as a friend,¡± said Xia Lei.
Linda frantically climbed away from on top of him, forcing out a smile. ¡°You should¡¯ve told me earlier. I wouldn¡¯t have... I wouldn¡¯t have...¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already arranged your transport back to Italy. You¡¯ll be leaving tonight,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°Huh? No, I¡¯m not going back. I need to find the Metal Book.¡± Linda vehemently declined. She continued, ¡°You can reject me but you have no right to order me around. I want to stay in Malta and I must find the Metal Book.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll find it, I can guarantee you that.¡±
¡°No!¡± Linda was furious. ¡°You cannot order me. I will not go home.¡±
Without warning, Xia Lei rose from the ground and wrapped his strong arm around her waist. With that, he assaulted her lips.
¡°You... Mmph!¡± The buzz and bashfulness came to her, prompting Linda to squeeze her eyes shut.
As soon as her eyes closed, Xia Lei¡¯s swung a chop to her carotid artery. The impact wasn¡¯t lethal but hard enough to knock her out.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, letting you stay would be dangerous and a hassle. Go back to Italy. Living a peaceful life is something you deserve. Please forget that we crossed paths.¡± Xia Lei muttered gently to her. Following his soft words was a peck on her forehead.
A few minutester, two SUVs were parked at the entrance of the embassy.
Xia Lei ced Linda, who was now bundled in a nket, into one of the vehicles. Following that, he looked at Alessio, the driver. ¡°Alessio, deliver her safely home to Sicily. There¡¯s something in the nket, remember to pass it to her when she wakes up.¡±
The item mentioned was the Metal Book. Now that Xia Lei was already done with it, he no longer had any use for it. He was the only one on this that could understand its content. Even if the book made its way back to the Vatican, it wouldn¡¯t affect anything.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll return after I send her back to Sicily.¡± Without another word, Alessio started the engine and exited thepound.
Xia Lei entered the second vehicle. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±
Sa¡¯im ignited the engine and drove the SUV out of the embassy¡¯s gate towards the port.
¡°The FA Organization had been inactive for a while. Have you managed to find out anything new?¡± In the car, Xia Lei questioned.
¡°No,¡± Sa¡¯im answered. ¡°But this is prettymon. The Knight Hospitaller is essentially a transparent empire, never short of fanatics. Together with the funds and weaponry you gave them, it¡¯s only natural for the FA Organization to want toy low. Their choice to stay silent now doesn¡¯t seem too out of ce to me.¡±
¡°The Knight Hospitaller had already grasped some intel regarding the FA headquarters, yet they refused to reveal anything to me. The Knight Hospitallers were never friends, to begin with. It won¡¯t be weird if they reached a deal with the FA to plot my downfall.¡± Something cold glimmered in Xia Lei¡¯s pupil.
¡°Boss, if what you said was true, what should we do?¡± Sa¡¯im looked a little disturbed. Tearing down a single Knight Hospitaller was already impossible. If they had joined forces with the FA, it would spiral into a disaster for the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
¡°Trust me, I¡¯ve got a n.¡± Weirdly, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t pressed about it.
Sa¡¯im chuckled and mmed on the pedal down hard. The car elerated towards the port.
Meanwhile at the port, inside a yacht...
¡°Sa¡¯im and the boss is back.¡± Watching the road through her binocrs, Yelena announced their return.
A few people then exited the cabin, which consisted of Tsukino Kyoko, Anjum Khan and E¡¯er Demutu.
¡°I thought the boss would bring along our new friends for the operation. I guess not,¡± said Yelena.
¡°New friends? You mean the four female knights?¡± There was a lewd smile on Anjum Khan¡¯s face. ¡°If he does, I¡¯m going to raise both of my arms in support. Two pairs of twins... Haha, our team will beplete again and now with pretty faces.¡±
¡°Quit your daydreaming.¡± Unamused, Tsukino Kyoko went on. ¡°Those four female knights are not people you can stomach. They¡¯re all authentic ssic knights and protectors of our boss. They also serve as his...bed warmers.¡±
Anjum Khan was speechless.
Chapter 876 - Lure the Tiger Off its Mountain Lair
The yacht left the port, venturing towards the roaring Mediterranean Sea.
Countless yachts of this sort were anchored above the sea surface, carrying bikini-d beauties, bottles of high-end champagne and wine on them. When night came, it was an earthly paradise for the filthy rich. The asional odd presences would probably go unnoticed by them.
At the same moment, four customers appeared at a hotel in Valletta. It was a group that consisted of three women and one man. Among the three women were a pair of identical twins and one equally gorgeous woman. Nestled in between the three women¡¯s unwavering attention was an Asian man, who had a bright handsome face that seemed to radiate sunshine.
Unable to walk in a straight line, the man was possibly pissed drunk. He was being supported by the three women. They were the only thing keeping him and the floor apart.
¡°Mister Xia, why did you drink so much?¡± One woman asked.
¡°Yeah, you¡¯re already drunk as soon as you got to Malta. Why are you like this?¡± the other woman chided.
The Asian man could only giggle uncontrobly, extending an arm to grab one of their breasts and giving it a lowly squeeze.
Immediately, her cheeks turn red from fury and embarrassment.
However, that didn¡¯t stop the drunken man from groping the other woman¡¯s ass.
¡°You damned pervert!¡± The female was flustered to feel a palm on her butt cheeks. There was a frantic attempt to swat away his wayward hand but the man took the chance to reach under her skirt and touched her privates.
The disy was hard to miss, drawing attention from the curious upants of the hotel lobby. The men threw envied nces to the Asian man¡¯s iing sexual bliss while the females had their eyes glued to the Asian man¡¯s face.
One of the women around him left to the reception to purchase a night in the suite. Following that, all three women escorted the man with their arms all around him to the elevator, constantly engaged in verbal exchanges.
¡°Mister Xia, please stop that. Save it forter, I¡¯ll surely satisfy you.¡±
¡°Shhh... Quit talking. We¡¯ll be done for if the others find out.¡±
¡°It shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Mister Xia¡¯s men areing for us soon, we¡¯ll be safe.¡±
The metal door soon separated to allow their entry.
As soon as they were gone, the lobby sprung back to life.
¡°Damn, that man is lucky. Can he handle threedies in one go?¡±
¡°If he can¡¯t, we should go help him out¡±
¡°Hahahaha...¡±
¡°Enough joking, thosedies around him are clearly not ordinary women. Did you all not notice that limited edition Patek Philippe SA watch on his wrist? That is worth half a million USD. Those three women are willing to sleep with him because he¡¯s filthy rich.¡±
¡°That man may be rich but let¡¯s not forget he has looks to die for.¡± A female patron attempted to defend the Asian youth.
As the discussion went on, a bald man exited the lobby. He quickly dug out his phone and dialled someone. With a heated voice, he spoke, ¡°Xia Lei is here! He¡¯s now in the Mediterranean Hotel, Valletta. I even saw the Russo and Grey sisters, but Giovanna isn¡¯t with them. There¡¯s only Rosa, Ste and Theresa... Okay, I¡¯ll keep a close eye on them.¡±
The bald man ended the call with a malicious smirk. ¡°He¡¯s actually here in Malta!¡±
Meanwhile, the three women finally made it to their room with the wobbly Asian man in toll.
Not a second after the door was shut, the man palmed his face and removed a human face mask. That was no man, she was just the mysteriously absent Giovanna. Due to her injured torso, the bandages secured around her chest had made her the best candidate for crossdressing.
The operation tonight didn¡¯t just involve Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. It had included the Russo and Grey sisters in their n too. As the new members of the team, their injuries rendered them unable to fight. However, it wasn¡¯t an issue for them to act under the watchful eyes of the Knight Hospitaller.
Theresa hurriedly went towards the television to connect a USB at its port. She then yed an audio file stored on the storage device.
¡°Ohhhhh! Yes, yes, yes, yes!¡± Giovanna lewd moans were heard not long after.
¡°Mister Xia, you¡¯re so good at this! I can¡¯t, I can¡¯t take it!¡± Ste¡¯s voice rang.
¡°Even if you can¡¯t take it... Raise your ass, little bitch! Haha!¡± Xia Lei barked an order.
¡°You¡¯re so bad! Can¡¯t you try to be gentler? Aaaaaaaaah- God, yes!¡± Theresa screamed.
¡°Rosa, what are you hiding there for? Move your ass over and let me p it.¡± Xia Lei called out.
¡°You¡¯re awful! I¡¯m not doing this.¡±
p p p p...
The abomination of a recording had the four women blushing furiously.
¡°I can¡¯t believe we actually agreed to record this for him.¡± Giovanna palmed her heated cheeks.
¡°It¡¯s fake so it¡¯s fine.¡± Though Ste had said so, the colour of her face said otherwise.
Theresa was staring out of the window nkly, thinking back to the afternoon when Xia Lei had instructed them to record this.
¡°Enough, we must stick to the n,¡± urged Rosa.
The four of them quickly stripped off the outeryer of their clothes to reveal the hotel¡¯s employee uniform. They quickly left the room, not forgetting to ce a ¡®Do Not Disturb¡¯ sign on the doorknob.
The minute they made it into the employee ess stairs, the yacht came to a halt. It remained still in the dark as if it was abandoned. Unbeknownst to the others, there were five people that were leaning t on the deck. Each of them had on a pair of binocrs, looking ahead into the direction of the Holy Mountain.
Glimpses of light soon appeared in the direction of the Holy Mountain, soon beginning its elerated movements on the waves. Upon inspection, they found that those were a collective of more than ten speedboats. The boats exited the foot of the Holy Mountain into the Mediterranean Sea, then followed the shoreline towards the direction of Valletta.
¡°They¡¯ve moved,¡± said Yelena.
¡°It¡¯s time for us to proceed too.¡± Xia Lei straightened his posture against the deck.
¡°Boss, are you sure about bringing Tsukino Kyoko alone?¡± Anjum Khan tossed a concerned nce to both Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko, who were now dressed in diving suits.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°We must have back up in case of emergencies. If there¡¯s an exchange of fire, I¡¯m sure you know what to do.¡±
Anjum Khan cackled, turning around to look at the box that hid their Hell-bound One Soldier Cannons. ¡°They better not be hasty. I¡¯ll split the seas with this thing.¡±
¡°Sa¡¯im, remember to contact Giovanna and her sisters. Make sure they retreat on time,¡± reminded Xia Lei.
Sa¡¯im returned him a curt nod. ¡°Got it, boss. No worries.¡±
With that, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko leapt off the boat into the water below. In a swift motion, they manoeuvred their dive motors towards the foot of the Holy Mountain.
Ten minutester, they found themselves before the steep cliff.
True enough, Xia Lei noticed a water tunnel that extended into the interior of the mountain. The waterbed of the tunnels was rather deep, about twenty metres or so. It had enough space that even a small cargo ship wouldn¡¯t be a problem.
Xia Lei gestured to Tsukino Kyoko to head into the tunnel. The duo soon activated their dive motors once again to quicken their pace.
Tonight, the waters were turbulent. The waves crashed into one another on the top of their heads and there was practically no light. Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare to turn on his torch, relying on his left vision fully to see in the dark. This was also why he was leading Tsukino Kyoko in the front.
After travelling for about a hundred metres into the tunnel, the water path soon came to an end, signalled by the appearance of light above their heads. Xia Lei activated his vision to obtain a quick understanding of the condition onshore.
Right now, they were at a port within the mountain. There were a yacht, a cargo ship and another few speedboats. Those that had left earlier were not their full force.
At the back of the port was a human-made tform. There was a flight of stone stairs at the edge of it, allowing its users to venture deeper into the cavern. A ck-robed man stood before the stairs. His hood wasn¡¯t draped over his head, allowing Xia Lei to notice that he too was a bald Caucasian.
Xia Lei focused his gaze on the man. Before long, he identified the man. He was one of the sharpshooters who tried to kill him and Linda the day before in Sicily!
He quickly retracted his vision and fixed the dive motor along the rock beds at the bottom. Then, he pointed to Tsukino Kyoko, notifying her about the presence of a target up there.
The female ninja nodded and fixed her dive motor alongside Xia Lei. The duo then began their ascend. In the process, Tsukino Kyoko had already brandished a shuriken.
Sticking close to the structures of the port, Xia Lei cautiously allowed the buoyant force to bring him upwards. Stealthily, Xia Lei brought up his silenced gun in preparation to take him out. Before he could do so, Tsukino Kyoko surfaced and threw her shuriken in an effortless swing.
Caught by surprise, the bald man wasn¡¯t able to respond in the nick of time, allowing the shuriken to strike his forehead. Slumping onto the ground with a thud, he twitched violently and wentpletely silent. Tsukino Kyoko had made sure to ce her weapons in lethal toxin prior to the operation.
The duo made it up the port, quickly removing their hefty oxygen tanks. Xia Lei went forward to strip the ck robe off the bald man and ced it over himself.
At the same time, Tsukino Kyoko actively installed the military bombs onto the few speed boats and yachts parked along with the port.
Hiding the body away, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko then climbed the flight of stairs.
Oilmps gave light to the bumpy rock surface of the tunnel, however, it was still rather dim. There was no electric lights and no modern-day security surveince. Subconsciously, Xia Lei caressed the surface of the golden ess card copy that he forged from Arthur¡¯s. He then wondered, ¡°There¡¯s no electrical supply here. Was the golden card not used with a card reader but by disying it to the guards?¡±
Infiltrating the Knight Hospitaller headquarters was admittedly dangerous. A slight giveaway would bring them a great threat. It wasn¡¯t that Xia Lei hadn¡¯t thoroughly weighed the risks, the man was out of choice. He had to retrieve the protective suit from them. Whether or not the Knight Hospitaller held answers to the ancient alloy and AE was none of his concern.
William Arthur mentioned that the golden ess card waspulsory to enter the Sacred Pce. It required Lord Angelo¡¯s approval but Xia Lei had deemed it unnecessary. Prior to this, Xia Lei had sessfully lured the tiger off its mountainir, thinning away at least half of their elites. Even if they got caught, it was certain that he and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team would be able to put up a great fight!
The long winding tunnel made it difficult for them to see ahead of their path.
As soon as they reached a corner, the duo could hear approaching footstepsing from ahead.
On reflex, Xia Lei reached down and drew out the military knife on his waist.
Tsukino Kyoko immediately halted him and silently urged him to survey the situation.
Chapter 877 - Into The Headquarters
Hidden in a corner, a ck-robed man was headed towards them. In his hand was a gust assault rifle produced by the Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Spotting the weapon, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but shake in anger. He had paid the Knight Hospitaller fifty million USD and even channelledrge batches of excellent equipment, yet this was the treatment he received? Judging from their responses tonight, it was clear that the Knight Hospitaller intended to take what they wanted by force. They certainly had no intention to go against the FA Organization!
They were faced with the choice to challenge arge-scale free special force organization or to go against a single Chinese businessman. From that, it was clear that the Knight Hospitaller had made the choice that would benefit them best.
Tsukino Kyoko finally released her grip on Xia Lei¡¯s hand. She signed a message to him.
Xia Lei nodded. As soon as the gun-wielding ck-robed man came near to the corner, Xia Lei made his sudden appearance.
On reflex, the man quickly readied his weapon. However, the sight of the same dark uniform had him relieved, immediately putting his weapon down. Soon enough, the man noticed that something was amiss. He raised his gust assault rifle again and opened his mouth to shout.
But before he could do so, a katana abruptly pierced through his opened jaw from underneath Xia Lei¡¯s armpit. The brutal weapon exited from the back of his skull.
Sustaining the lethal injury, the ck-robed man slumped against the ground with a heavy thud.
Tsukino Kyoko returned her bloodied katana back to its sheath. She then took the man¡¯s robes and quickly put them on. The garment was ridiculously big on her petite frame.
The two of them tossed the body into the drain on the inner side of the rock stairs and resumed their ascend. Soon enough, they came across a stable that was cut into the rocky walls. Upon closer inspection, there were a few warhorses inhabiting it. All its excreted products would be brought away via the drain, but theck of venttion in the tunnel had given the area a foul stench.
At the end of the stairs was a massive natural cavern. The stone ceiling was more than tens of metres in height with an impressive depth about three to four hundred metres. Its shape was rather odd, looking like an upside-down gyro due to its narrower top and broad bottom.
There was a new tunnelled stairway that led towards the bottom of the cliff, a guardrail was installed on one side for safety concerns. Venturing over to the edge of the cliff, they could see a few rooms which were dug into the rocks. The bottom of the cavern was wide and t. Looking ahead, there was a church modelled after ancient Roman churches. The sacred prayer ce was mind-blowingly majestic. It had lights projected from behind windows and doors, which helped add a touch of etherealness to it.
Aside from the church, there too were other buildings along the bottom of the cavern. Most of it was functional facilities like a canteen, warehouse, clinic and so on. Each of the erected establishments had the Knight Hospitaller si disyed. Theyout of the ce was made that all buildings were built surrounding the church, making it look like a little town.
¡°That church must be the Knight Hospitallers true headquarters.¡± Xia Lei looked to Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°Let¡¯s head down.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko only nodded and trailed behind Xia Lei as they made their way down the stairs. She was aware of the inevitable danger awaiting them but paid no mind to it.
The little rock chambers on the side of the stairs were upied. Weirdly, most of its inhabitants were women and children. The upants of the chambers were seemingly unfazed by the two people passing across the front of their houses. Some had the mind to spare them a nce while there were also those who barely batted an eysh. Despite the attention, Tsukino Kyoko and Xia Lei hadn¡¯t raised any suspicion. The lighting was dim, rendering anyone unable to see their faces clearly. Plus, the two were dressed in ck robes. It was only natural for the upants to take them as Knight Hospitaller members.
Reaching the bottom, Xia Lei began his journey towards the church all while keeping his left sight in X-ray vision mode. The man was cautious of his surroundings. Tsukino Kyoko had separated herself from him as soon as they made it to the ground. This was her style. If she was made to operate under brightly lit conditions, her capabilities would be highly jeopardized.
As Xia Lei was nearing the church, a massive ck-robed man suddenly exited the building to his side. The muscr man was also wielding a gust assault rifle. Other than the seemingly customary Knight Hospitaller si, the establishment behind him had a signboard written in Italian that allowed Xia Lei to identify the ce as a bar. The man had reeked of alcohol too.
¡°Hey! Brother, aren¡¯t you supposed to be capturing the Chinese? Why are you back?¡± The ck-robed man questioned loudly.
Xia Lei replied to him in Italian. ¡°They told me they had enough men, so I was asked to return.¡±
¡°Which leader are you under?¡± The ck-robed man pressed on.
At this moment, another two simr men exited the bar. Their appearances had allowed Xia Lei to confirm that these gunmen were the Holy Knights Arthur had mentioned. They were the elite fighters of the Knight Hospitaller.
¡°It¡¯s Gaddafi,¡± mumbled Xia Lei.
¡°What? Who?¡± The man didn¡¯t hear him clearly.
Abruptly, the two newly-exited men standing by his side fell to the ground.
The muscr ck-robed man quickly turned around. At that split second, a katana was lodged right into his chest, stabbing through his torso. The moment he hit the ground, the man soon came to a realization that the bartender inside was already unconscious against the flooring, his crimson blood had formed arge pool. Unfortunately, this would be the veryst sight bidding him farewell.
Tsukino Kyoko, who had emerged from the dark, quickly dragged the bodies with their legs into the bar.
Xia Lei kept away his vision and continued his journey to the church¡¯s entrance. Tsukino Kyoko was already long gone from the bar when he reached the door, she had run off sneakily towards a lighted house.
Her role in this operation was to get rid of all possible threats to Xia Lei. Xia Lei¡¯s earlier strategy had sessfully taken down most of the Holy Knights, so it was now her turn to get rid of the remaining ones. Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s job was to create an ideal operating environment for Xia Lei.
This was also the reason why Xia Lei had only chosen to bring her along. However, Anjum Khan, Sa¡¯im and the rest had their own roles to y. They were tasked to get rid of all exiting Holy Knights instead.
That was Xia Lei¡¯s wless n.
With a push against the wooden door, Xia Lei entered the church. The grand hall waspletely void of worshippers. There was a hanging cross in the centre of therge wall ahead. Jesus, nailed to the cross, gazed at Xia Lei as he made his way across the floor.
Hurriedly, Xia Lei passed through the hall into the inner parts of the church. After a quick scan with his left eye, his eyes quickly focused themselves on a room. It was a study, which had its door guarded by a ck-robed gunman holding a gust assault rifle.
Inside the study, a bald old man was making a call at his desk. Weirdly, the office was well-lit by a bulb instead of the oilmps Xia Lei had encountered along his way. There was also aputer set up on top of his table.
The office had probably gotten its electrical supply from on top of the mountain, or perhaps, there was a generator built around the area.
Carefully, Xia Lei walked towards the study.
Hearing his footsteps, the ck-robed man responded with a quick nce over.
Swoosh! A silver glimmer flew towards him. Before he knew it, there was already an Italian military knife lodged snugly in his left socket. The merciless weapon had stabbed into his brain through his eye.
Caught by surprise, the ck-robed man began to fall with nothing more than a gurgle from his throat.
Xia Lei rushed over and caught the body. Gently, heid the ck-robed man to the ground.
After taking care of the guard, Xia Lei had no intentions to barge into the study just yet. He stood quietly at the door, pretending that he was the guard while spying on the old man with his X-ray vision. At the same time, he tried to lip the old man¡¯s lips.
¡°... You want peace? That¡¯s not a problem, we had never wished to fight you in the first ce. Yes, it¡¯s all because of Xia Lei. Your Dark Mona had killed his men, which drove him insane. Of course, we need an armistice agreement. We¡¯re also willing topensate for your losses caused by the operation back then. Five million USD is all we can afford to pay. We won¡¯te in between your feud with Xia Lei and you shall not involve yourselves in our feud with Xia Lei. Join forces? I¡¯ll think about it first... Goodbye, my friend.¡± With that, the bald old man ended his call.
Hearing that, Xia Lei didn¡¯t need anything else to identify the old man before him. This elderly man was none other than the true leader of the Knight Hospitaller, Angelo!
There were two authority figures in the Knight Hospitaller. The one known by the public was merely a puppet leader, Walton. Clearly, Walton wouldn¡¯t be here. The man was most definitely in Rome, where the Malta Pce was. This ce was the Knight Hospitallers real headquarters, it only made sense for the real leader to be stationed here.
¡°Trying to work with me at a time like this? Haha.¡± Angelo¡¯s breathy cackle echoed about the study. ¡°We¡¯re close to getting our hands on Xia Lei, there¡¯s no point for us to coborate. The five million USD is just for a ceasefire.¡±
Xia Lei could feel his rage bubbling. He had paid the Knight Hospitaller fifty million USD for the operation. It was theirmitment to wage a war against the FA Organization. Watching the disy unfold, the Knight Hospitaller had literally zero genuineness to work with him. Not only did they breach his trust and swallowed his funds and weapons, but they had also made countless attempts to capture him!
His earlier decision to work with the Knight Hospitaller was akin to getting blood from a stone. Now, Xia Lei was here to put an end to this!
Extending an arm to grab the handle, Xia Lei pushed the door open.
¡°Why did you enter my office?¡± Angelo turned around to look at Xia Lei bewilderedly. As soon as he noticed the corpse behind the man, something clicked in the old man. Frantically, he reached an arm over to open a drawer.
Xia Lei strode and leapt over the table tond a hard kick against Angelo¡¯s chest.
Falling to his side, Angelo dodged the attack. The old man quickly lunged over to punch Xia Lei on the side of his skull.
Though Angelo¡¯s age was apparent, his elderliness hadn¡¯t hindered his agility. The old man¡¯s responses were quick. The power exerted into his desperate punch was no different from that of a wrestling champion.
Unfortunately, his opponent was Xia Lei.
Xia Lei leaned his back t on top of the table to avoid the iing fist. Taking advantage of his position, he quickly pressed the silenced Viper pistol taut in an angle underneath Angelo¡¯s ribs.
Immediately, Angelo¡¯s body froze. Though the old man¡¯s arm was extended forward, he didn¡¯t dare to move another inch. An inch was all it took for a bullet toy waste to his body.
Slowly, Xia Lei began to get up from the desk all while keeping his pistol on Angelo. ¡°Angelo, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet once again.¡±
¡°Who are you?¡± Angelo seemed calm,pletely voided of anxiety.
Xia Lei reached an arm to his face and peeled off his human face mask.
¡°It¡¯s you!¡± Angelo¡¯s eyes widened in unmasked horror. The old man had foreseen many scenarios, but none of them had included having Xia Lei before him.
Chapter 878 - The Devil in the Church
Xia Lei leapt off the table and kicked a chair over to the front of Angelo. ¡°Take a seat, Mister Angelo.¡±
¡°If you¡¯re here, who¡¯s in Valletta?¡± Angelo was positively perplexed, eager for rification.
Xia Lei snickered. ¡°Probably not me, don¡¯t you think?¡±
¡°You tricked us!¡± Angelo found it difficult to suppress the rage within him.
¡°I could say the same to you. You took my money, my weapons and yet still wish to get rid of me. Did you not consider the consequences of your actions?¡±
Extending an arm, Angelo reached towards the telephone on the table.
A dangerous smirk syed on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°I won¡¯t stop you, but I¡¯ll make sure to fracture whichever hand you use to hold the device. Do you want to try that out?¡±
The old man red daggers at Xia Lei. ¡°You dare do this to me? Have you really not weighed the consequences?¡±
¡°Oh, what consequences? Please do exin.¡± Xia Lei uttered a nonchnt response.
In a low voice, Angelo replied, ¡°You will die. Everyone around you will die too. If you stop this madness now, I can consider...¡±
Before he even got the chance to finish his sentence, Xia Lei aimed and shot a bullet above Angelo¡¯s eye socket.
Bang!
Angelo fell onto the ground face first. The impact fractured his brow bone, causing a stream of blood to flow out and obstruct his vision. The old man hunched over, pressing a palm onto his injured eye. He red intensely at Xia Lei through the other eye, expression filled with resentment and wrath. It was as if a pile of mes were set aze in his orbs.
Steadily, Xia Lei walked over to Angelo¡¯s side, gazing down at him from above. He mocked, ¡°I guess figures like you are more used to looking down on us. You can do whatever you want to me and yet I mustn¡¯t show you a single sign of disrespect, right?¡±
Angelo continued to re at him sharply, not saying a word.
¡°I heard you found where the FA headquarters are. Where is it?¡± Xia Lei interrogated.
¡°You¡¯re here for that?¡± Angelo tried to probe.
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Will you leave after I answer you?¡±
Xia Lei gave him another nod.
¡°There¡¯s an envelope in the middle drawer,¡± answered Angelo.
Xia Lei slowly backed off to the side of the study table and pulled the middle drawer open. There were a few documents in there while an envelopey quietly on top of the pile. The man picked up the envelope and opened it to reveal a map. On the map, there was one thick marking drawn with a pen. On the marking were the letters ¡®FA¡¯.
The minuscule words printed on the map were Spanish. Taking a brief nce through it, Xia Lei soon realized that this was the regional map of Jalisco state, Mexico.
Jalisco was a haven to the Mexican drug lords. The ce was an unruly territory which not even the Mexican government could handle.
Xia Lei stowed the map into his pocket. ¡°The FA headquarters is in Mexico? Is this real? I¡¯m not stupid. Jalisco is where all the drug lords gather. ¡°
Inexplicably, a derogatory smirk appeared on Angelo¡¯s face. ¡°You and your men could never find out where the FA headquarters is on your own. It¡¯s surprising that you hadn¡¯t drawn the link that the FA was a drug syndicate, to begin with.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°No wonder you¡¯ve chickened out of our deal. That¡¯s why you went for the easiest choice. Go against me instead of delivering your part of our deal, right?¡±
Angelo propped himself up from the floor. ¡°You¡¯ve already gotten what you came for, leave. Your payment and weapons should be a fair exchange with this piece of information.¡±
¡°Damn, your intel sure is expensive.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve promised to leave, now go.¡± Angelo pointed to the door. ¡°I don¡¯t wish to see you ever again.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Sure, I can leave but what about your sacred relic? Don¡¯t you want that back?¡±
Angelo looked straight into his eyes. ¡°We¡¯ll save the problem forter. I have no time to think about it now.¡±
¡°Later? Jeez, you guys are still nning to harm me? Am I really that easy of a target to get rid of in your eyes?¡±
With a cold expression, Angelo warned, ¡°If you don¡¯t leave now, the men I sent to hunt you will be back. Don¡¯tin that I hadn¡¯t warned you about it earlier.¡±
Ring... Ring...
The telephone on the table began to ring.
Angelo reflectively reached over. Before he held the receptor up, the glimpse of Xia Lei¡¯s extended gum had him halt himself. He could converse with Xia Lei rudely because Angelo was sure that the man wouldn¡¯t dare to gravely injure him. However, if Xia Lei was dropped into a corner, he would most definitely shoot Angelo. Therefore, Angelo figured that it was best to give Xia Lei hope.
Just when he had expected Xia Lei to disconnect the phone line, Xia Lei had said something surprising. ¡°Come on, pick up the phone. Your men must¡¯ve noticed that I¡¯m not in the hotel.¡±
¡°You...¡± Angelo couldn¡¯t wrap his head around Xia Lei¡¯s motive.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Tell them to continue their search in Valletta and to not return before capturing me.¡±
¡°Alright,¡± Angelo responded and grabbed the receptor. He spared Xia Lei a nce and abruptly announced, ¡°He¡¯s here.¡±
Following that, he quickly tossed the receptor away and began to back off.
In his imagination, Xia Lei would¡¯ve already mauled him after that line. In anticipation, Angelo made the smart decision to increase the distance between them in a hurry. But Xia Lei stood there, unwavering.
¡°If I were you, I would take the chance to leave this ce immediately,¡± hinted Angelo.
¡°One hundred Holy Knights. All of them are just nothing more than fanatics. Admittedly, engaging them in a battle would be a threat but I wasn¡¯t suggesting that to secure my escape route. I was trying to minimize casualties. I wanted you to have them continue their search in Valletta so I could spare their lives. You, on the other hand, were extremely eager to send them to the grave,¡± exined Xia Lei.
Hearing that, fear began to manifest in Angelo¡¯s heart. But Xia Lei¡¯s blurt of information had him rather dubious.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Actually if you wanted me to leave, I would. I could even spare your remaining men...¡±
Angelo interrupted Xia Lei. He chortled. ¡°Who do you think you are? What right do you have to wage war against us alone? Quit your big talk. Your attempts to intimidate me are pathetic.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you just wait till I¡¯m done talking? It¡¯s simple to have me leave. All you need to do is get me to the Sacred Pce and I¡¯ll leave after getting the armour set. I can guarantee you that as long as I get the armour, there¡¯ll be no war between us ever again.¡±
¡°You... How did you learn about the armour?¡±
¡°No need to buy yourself time. My men are already out there getting rid of your own. The more time you waste, the more people she¡¯ll kill,¡± threatened Xia Lei.
Angelo froze, feeling a surge of terror bubbling in his heart. This time, his fear was much prominent!
¡°Since you¡¯ve already asked for your men to return, there¡¯s no point waiting for their rescue. They¡¯re bound to die tonight,¡± said Xia Lei.
Abruptly, Angelo roared, ¡°Someone! Come quick!¡±
His loud booming voice travelled out of the windows and doors, disrupting the dead silence in the underground chamber.
Xia Lei hadn¡¯t stopped him.
¡°Anyone?! Juste already!¡± Angelo roared again.
At this moment, a feminine figure appeared at the door. Her entire body was d in dark fabric with two katanas stuck behind her back. Soaked in red, she looked as if she had just crawled out from a puddle of blood.
The woman was no Holy Knight serving under the Knight Hospitaller. She was Tsukino Kyoko.
The female ninja tossed over the food-grade stic bag in one hand. Itnded itself precisely before Angelo¡¯s foot.
The force shredded the material apart, prompting the pile of human ears to slide out from the inside.
This was her way of telling Angelo that his men could no longer hear his desperate screams for she had sliced off all their ears.
Angelo¡¯s face turned sickeningly pale at the sight of the ears. From the moment when Xia Lei made his appearance in the study, Angelo was convinced that he wasn¡¯t in too bad of a predicament. He had faith that he would survive until the moment this woman threw a bag filled with ears to him. It was at that moment, Angelo knew he was in deep trouble!
¡°Boss, the coast has been cleared,¡± dered Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Along with their dogs.¡± The woman added.
Jeez, she hadn¡¯t even spared their dogs!
¡°What did you say?¡± Angelo could no longer feign his calmness.
Xia Lei ignored him, opting to instruct Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°Stick to the n and support Anjum Khan and the rest of them. There¡¯s not much time left.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded obediently. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go clean out the area again. There are still some left in the houses by the cave.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated before replying. ¡°There¡¯s no need to kill targets who pose no danger.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko shed him a smile. ¡°I understand your style, no worries.¡± With that, she turned around and left. The smell of rust continued to linger in the air even with her departure.
Xia Lei reverted his gaze back on Angelo. ¡°Now it¡¯s just the two of us. What do you think about my suggestions earlier?¡±
¡°Bastard!¡± Angelo¡¯s emotions were now out of check. ¡°You think this is all the people we have? We¡¯ve got thousands and millions of worshippers. You¡¯ll never get rid of us all!¡±
¡°Are you referring to the regr worshippers? Honestly, I doubt they¡¯d care enough to avenge you. They have a job, a family plus their wives and children to look after. You even had the audacity to steal from the Vatican church. How could you still have the face to talk about religion? How is that relevant to the chivalry of knights? Don¡¯t even try to threaten me with your faith and number of worshippers. From all the history we shared together, hadn¡¯t you learnt that I¡¯m not one to back down?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll regret this!¡±
Abruptly, Xia Lei raised his gun and shot Angelo in his knees.
¡°Aargh!¡°Angelo screeched in agony, falling to the ground while clutching his knee.
Xia Lei neared him and stomped his foot on Angelo¡¯s injured knee. ¡°My patience is wearing thin. I¡¯m going to give you one minute to tell me how to get into the Sacred Pce.¡±
Angelo began to shiver from the excruciating pain, chest heaving frantically. ¡°Just shoot me already! This is not the end, this is the beginning of a war!¡±
With another movement of his finger, another bullet found itself in Angelo¡¯s thigh.
¡°Aahh!¡°Angelo broke down. The pain was beginning to be too much for him to handle. In the meantime, the older man could feel his rage growing exponentially. No one... No one had dared to treat him this way before! He was the most respected leading figure of the Knight Hospitaller. He was their true leader! What right had the Chinese kid possessed to tarnish his dignity and status?! Who gave him the right to point his gun at him as if he was a stray dog?!
¡°You¡¯ve got thirty seconds left,¡± reminded Xia Lei, face voided of expression.
Chapter 879 - Sacred Palace
In thirty seconds, Angelo was expected to make an important decision that could potentially risk his life. Stubbornly, the older man was still hesitant.
¡°Do you want me to burn this church down? Perhaps doing so would help you settle on a choice.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Or maybe, I could head back and melt that metal. You¡¯ll never find it again. If you give me the armour, you¡¯ll still have a chance to receive theplete relic. If not... you can forget about it for eternity.¡±
Thirty seconds was over, but Xia Lei was rather reluctant to fire a third bullet towards Angelo. This wasn¡¯t because he felt empathetic but he did not think Angelo would survive another bullet.
Angelo fell into silence. There was a brief pause before the old man spoke, ¡°Come with me.¡±
Shakily, he steadied himself up from the floor and started to limp towards the door of his office. Both wounds that Xia Lei had left on him were bleeding profusely.
Trailing behind him, Xia Lei left the study. The man cautiously activated his X-ray vision and did an extensive scan of his surroundings. No secret rooms and trap doors were found. His findings had allowed him to draw a conclusion. The Sacred Pce was not situated within the church.
Angelo led Xia Lei along a corridor.
Statues of the Knight Hospitaller knights were lined along both sides of the corridor. The stone subjects were all equipped with ancient armour, hands armed with swords, shields, hammers and a variety of weapons.
The back door of the church was at the end. With his vision, the heavy wooden door disappeared to reveal a rocky path that stretched towards a stone wall. It was close to a thousand metres long. Knight statues were also lined along the rock path, but now they were mostly depicted to be on their horses.
Xia Lei let his left vision prate the wall a distance away. He began to wonder. ¡°These statues along the path shouldn¡¯t just merely be here for aesthetic purposes. Could they bear any unique symbolism? Wait, was the Sacred Pce hidden within the walls?¡±
As he continued to observe the stone, Angelo sneakily pried away a stone axe from a nearby statue. Quickly, lunging forward in an attempt to chop Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
With a swift motion, Xia Lei took a light step to his side and leaned slightly. The axe missed his Adam¡¯s apple by an inch.
Poof! He fired his gun.
The axe in Angelo¡¯s grip fell with a ng. A hole was formed on the back of his hand.
Menacingly, Xia Lei threatened, ¡°Quit it or I¡¯ll kill you with my next shot.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to hell for this,¡± seethed Angelo.
¡°We¡¯ve been stuck in hell for a long time now,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°Hmph!¡± The retort effectively silenced Angelo. The old man resumed limping towards the door. He allowed the bloodied hand to dangle beside his form but reached his other hand into his pocket.
Xia Lei focused his vision on Angelo¡¯s moving hand, making past the fabric barrier of his pocket. At that moment, Angelo¡¯s palm was seen around a golden card. Surprisingly, the older man exerted force and folded the card.
The gold was soft, bending at the folding force. The action had even broken the chip embedded inside.
It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to identify it as the Sacred Pce¡¯s ess card. The card Angelo had destroyed was the same one Arthur had in his possession.
¡°Haha...¡± Angelo cackled maddeningly. He retrieved the broken ess card from his pockets and threw it in front of Xia Lei. ¡°I¡¯ve already destroyed the ess card. There¡¯s no way you can enter the Sacred Pce now.¡±
Xia Lei scowled. ¡°Was this really necessary?¡±
¡°You¡¯d still kill me even if I brought you into the Sacred Pce. I rather die with honour than to die a traitor!¡± Angelo had seemed to have made his choice.
Xia Lei questioned, ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that I won¡¯t be able to enter the Sacred Pce without an ess card?¡±
¡°Yeah. In your dreams, bastard!¡±
¡°I really wasn¡¯t expecting you to stoop so low.¡± Xia Lei threw his hands, shing him a face of disappointment and helplessness. ¡°Since I can¡¯t enter, I might as well leave now. But allow me to ask you onest question. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not a believer of the legends of the Red Rider and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, right? It¡¯s quite clear to me that you have no intentions of rebuilding your nation. Why are you so determined and so desperate to locate the broken shards of that particr armour?¡±
Angelo red at Xia Lei coldly.
¡°You were desperate enough to steal the Metal Book from the Vatican. What exactly are you all after? Or more rather, what is your goal?¡±
There was a pregnant silence before Angelo voiced, ¡°Do you believe in the existence of God?¡±
Inexplicably, the question had Xia Lei think about Zhu Xuanyue and the mysterious ck-robed man. Those two had possessed powers akin to ¡®God¡¯, but were they actually ¡®Gods¡¯? Xia Lei answered him. ¡°Yes, I do. However, people tend to romanticise and force their narratives upon Gods. Perhaps they weren¡¯t supposed to be our protectors, perhaps we¡¯re just vulnerable prey to them.¡±
¡°sphemy!¡± Angelo shouted at Xia Lei, waving his fist around.
¡°You consider this as doing a favour to God?¡±
¡°The armour is God¡¯s armour. We believe in his existence. We need to awaken him and receive his blessings to be bestowed upon potent powers and be blessed with immortality.¡± There was unmasked excitement glimmering in Angelo¡¯s orbs. His mind had already begun to feed itself delusions of his encounter with God.
¡°You¡¯re doing all this solely for that?¡± Xia Lei was rather dissatisfied with the answer.
Abruptly, Angelo blurted, ¡°Oh chosen God, I shall sacrifice myself for you. Oh chosen God, guide me to heaven!¡± The older man quickly lunged forwards to a statue and extracted arge sword from it. Without any hints of hesitation, the man gripped his fists around the handle tightly and rushed forwards to Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Xia Lei fired three continuous shots. The silenced Viper pistol spewing out fiery bullets that found home in Angelo¡¯s chest.
nk! Angelo¡¯s grip on the sword loosened. Soon, the older man slumped weightlessly towards the ground.
Xia Lei walked over, gazing down upon Angelo¡¯s pitiful face peacefully.
Crimson red came pouring out of Angelo¡¯s jaw like a fountain. The older man gaped, ¡°You¡¯ll die, God will punish you. You and the people you love will all die!¡±
¡°You¡¯re still adamant on cursing me even in this state? Fine, I was honestly nning to have you pass in peace but since you¡¯re so mean, let me show you something.¡± Xia Lei reached a hand into his pockets hidden under the robe.
Angelo glued his unwavering stare to Xia Lei. Despite his life slowly trickling away, the older man was eager to know what Xia Lei was about to show him. He hoped it would be the sacred relic.
Unfortunately for him, the thing Xia Lei had presented out of his pockets was a golden card.
Angelo¡¯s expression took a great shift.
Xia Lei waved the card in his face. He said, ¡°Do you see that? I¡¯ve got my own ess card too. I was trying to tell you but you didn¡¯t let me speak. What¡¯s the point in destroying yours? I¡¯m going to enter the Sacred Pce now and take away what I desire. It¡¯s about time for you to go too, no need to hang on anymore.¡±
¡°Mmph...¡°Angelo gurgled and allowed arge mouthful of blood to escape his mouth. His neck tilted and his breathing ceased. Perhaps the older man could¡¯ve stayed alive for a little longer but the sight of Xia Lei¡¯s ess card was thest thing his heart could handle.
When Xia Lei left Angelo¡¯s lifeless body behind, the man had no mind to spare the body onest nce.
Exiting the church, Xia Lei hurriedly strode past the stone path.
He saw four ck-robed gunmen bodies on the ground by the wall, evidently, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s doing.
If entering the Sacred Pce had required the ess card and signed permission from Angelo, then the four gunmen were thest obstacle standing between Xia Lei and the pce. Thankfully, Tsukino Kyoko had gotten rid of the issue beforehand. The only thing was that the female ninja was unaware of the secretying behind the stone wall.
¡°She¡¯s really efficient this time. I must reward her something when this operation is over.¡± Xia Lei made a little mental note to himself.
Soon enough, he neared the stone wall. The wall was unbelievably t and soft, spanning about a good area of about three hundred square meters. There was a horse-riding knight carved into the stone, the horse was red and the knight had on a silver armour. In his hand was a silver longsword, the piece was overall dignified and fierce.
Despite this, the knight was carved with a helmet on. The red rider wasn¡¯t depicted with distinguishable features.
Xia Lei began to ponder to himself. ¡°A red horse, sword-wielding... Isn¡¯t this one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? The one that symbolizes war? Weirdly, Angelo hadn¡¯t made a single mention about the horsemen. But he did mention something about his chosen god. Chosen god...?¡±
His thoughts suddenly arrived at the prehistoric chosen one, causing him to shudder in shock.
The prehistoric chosen one had lived past the Ice Ages and became the divine figure to the Knight Hospitaller. Was that scenario possible?
¡°Nevermind, I¡¯ll leave that thought forter. This is not the time for that.¡± Xia Lei cleared his mind and began to search for where he could slot the ess card in.
It didn¡¯t take long for him to detect an opening on one of the hooves that looked like an ATM card reader. He calmed himself down and used his X-ray vision on it. The returned results had surprised him, this stone wall was actually fake. It was actually arge metal door that consisted of intrinsicallyplicated electronic circuits and mechanisms inside of it.
He could¡¯ve still entered without an ess card, but he¡¯d require more firepower than he had on hand now.
Xia Lei inserted the ess card into the reader.
Within a few seconds, the metal door began to move slowly. It slid open towards the sides of the wall, revealing an arched tunnel sluggishly.
Thankfully, the tunnel hadn¡¯t extended to great distances. It was only about a few ten metres deep. The walls were cut polished into a smooth surface, there was no air and no light inside. However, this hadn¡¯t hindered from taking a good look into its interior with the help of the dim lights outside. The end of the tunnel seemed like a prayer hall typically seen in churches.
Xia Lei turned on his military-grade torch and entered it bravely.
Simr to the path, the sides of the tunnel was also decorated withrge, stern and holy looking knight statues. The sculptor had done an impable job. The knights actually looked like they had life breathed into them. Their stance looked intimidating as if they could swing their weapons against intruders whenever.
Reaching the end, Xia Lei found no statue of Jesus nor Mother Teresa around. On the altar where the divine statues were most normally ced, stood a silver armour. The protective equipment looked tattered with cracks all about, there was even arge hole in its helmet. Perhaps someone had driven a sword or spear into it.
The silver armour was motionless, silently existing in its ce. Despite that, it seemed rather alive to its spectators. While it had radiated of an ancient and historical presence, it gave off an uncanny feeling of some probably impending doom.
Xia Lei walked towards it. By the moment he reached the side of the disy, something on the hollowed wall behind the armour caught his attention.
There was an oil painting drawn on the wall.
A single glimpse of the painting had Xia Lei frozen. As if he was struck by thunder, Xia Lei could only gape at it.
Chapter 880 - Endless Guesses
The subject painted on the wall was none other than the prehistoric chosen one.
The man was depicted in the very same silver armour disyed in front of it. He held a silver longsword in one hand while the other arm was wrapped around a silver helmet. He looked like an ancient king or even a divine being!
Xia Lei immediately thought of what Angelo had muttered before his death. Oh chosen God, I shall sacrifice myself for you. Oh chosen God, guide me to heaven!
Chosen god? Wasn¡¯t that just the prehistoric chosen one?
Now that helped ce things into perspective. When the crusaders conquered the east, the red rider that passed through Jerusalem was no Horseman of the Apocalypse. It was the chosen one. The invisible person he was fighting against was possibly Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei also thought of the contents that Leonardo Da Vinci wrote with transparent ink. ¡°Am I the smartest person alive? No, if I was, I would¡¯ve been able to solve the mysteries of God¡¯s metal. In my opinion, its existence is as mystical as hers. They¡¯re definitely otherworldly beings. When she appeared in front of me thirty years ago, she made me different from the rest. Thirty yearster, my search was all for nought. I was growing old while she still looked as young as ever. I have a feeling that she was an angel and that the material was part of an angel¡¯s sword. She was a depraved angel, forsaken to our mortal realm and her sword was destroyed in the process. She was searching for a god¡¯s trail, fighting demons who hindered her. Her journey was destined to be one full of thorns...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s mind started to get bustling with activity.
The metal mentioned in the note was undoubtedly the silver metal in his possession. However, it seemed that Zhu Xuanyue hadn¡¯t revealed the truth to Leonardo Da Vinci. The metal was part of the armour and this armour wasn¡¯t Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s but that of the prehistoric chosen one. The prehistoric chosen one had relied on his armour to fight against Zhu Xuanyue while the woman had urged Da Vinci to discover its w so as to defeat the chosen one.
¡°When she returned, she was always injured. Every arrival, she¡¯d bring back some mineral powder and ssh it across the canvas. I¡¯ve asked her about it but never received a reply. I also tried to find out why she kept drawing such weird artwork. She said that if she were to die one day, someone would awaken her here. I couldn¡¯t understand it, just like how I can¡¯t understand anything about God¡¯s world.¡±
¡°She had never revealed what she was fighting for and she had never once told me who her enemy was. Every time she left the maze, she would return with wounds. She had never once given up but I could never lend her a hand. Thest time she returned was on a night with no moon and stars. This time, she was gravely injured, losing her body in the process. I couldn¡¯tprehend how she was able to exist in such a state but Gods were beyond ourprehension. She told me that she was about to die and gave me instructions. After her departure, I sealed the maze and aplished every single thing she had requested of me.¡±
Involuntarily, Xia Lei¡¯s brain began to feed him images. The battle between Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one was fierce and violent. The prehistoric chosen one¡¯s most trusty armour was severely damaged while Zhu Xuanyue had gotten herself gravely injured. There was no way to tell the true victor of the battle. Not only did the chosen one recognise his impending death, Zhu Xuanyue too had noticed that she was near death.
Pieces of histories along with endless guesses started to manifest in his mind. It tumbled and tangled with one another, leaving him no state of peace.
Though there wasn¡¯t any direct evidence to confirm this, Xia Lei had his own deduction. Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s enemy was the prehistoric chosen one and the aftermath of their battle had resulted in their deaths. The prehistoric chosen one had died while Zhu Xuanyue continued to exist in pure energy form. She had also done necessary preparations for her resurrection before her passing.
This begs the question. Had the chosen one prepared anything?
The query lingered in Xia Lei¡¯s mind, bringing his thoughts to the AE capsules and ancient alloy shards along with thepass that was searching for the ancient alloy. Certainly, these things had plenty to do with the prehistoric chosen one. For that, no evidence was needed. The surge of mysterious energy living inside his body was proof.
¡°If the prehistoric chosen one had left the AE capsules behind before death, and it finally found its way into my possession to create the current me, could I be the next chosen one? The prehistoric chosen one had greeted me in the Metal Book and Bronze Book. Weirdly, Zhu Xuanyue had referred to me as such but she wasn¡¯tplete back then. If I had inherited the powers of the chosen one, that would make me her arch-nemesis. Why didn¡¯t she attack me but help me instead?¡± A hypothesis began to take form in his heart, apanied by a question that he couldn¡¯t understand.
Zhu Xuanyue had helped him during the operation in Japan. If it wasn¡¯t for her, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have escaped from the Japanese Maritime Self-defence armed forces. He and Long Bing would¡¯ve been long dead in the waters. The second time she lent him a hand was during the West province Dawang snow mountain incident. Without her help, he and Tang Yuyan would¡¯ve been dead among the snow bed.
If Xia Lei was destined to be her arch-nemesis, why would she help him?
Another new question found its way into his brain. ¡°Was the prehistoric chosen one lying or was Zhu Xuanyue trying to deceive me? After all, the history that had been recorded might not be entirely urate. Plus, who the hell was that ck-robed man? Was he an unfriendly but simr existence akin to Zhu Xuanyue? Was he associated with the prehistoric chosen one instead? What role is he ying in this series of events?¡±
Abruptly, Xia Lei thought back to that particr night in Paris, during the banquet when he visited Hattori Mei¡¯s residence. After he had managed to take control of the Hattori¡¯s men, he received a strange phone call. He could remember vividly that a woman¡¯s voice had urged him to escape. Following that was the first appearance of the ck-robed man that greatly threatened his life.
Was the call from Zhu Xuanyue?
Xia Lei had suspected so for a long time, but there was never an answer from Zhu Xuanyue. After her awakening in India, her mental age was no older than ten years old. In the process of her resurrection, the ck-robed man had obviously attacked her and caused a vehement explosion in the process. From that, it seemed as if Zhu Xuanyue and the ck-robed man were oppositions.
The ck-robed man, Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one.
These three characters kept appearing in his mind. They formed a triangle while Xia Lei was a poor prisoner stuck in its middle.
¡°Sigh, I guess I¡¯d only be able to get further answers after locating Zhu Xuanyue. I wonder where she is now. Could she be in Langley? Or was she somewhere else?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but miss her a little. So much had happened between them.
Despite his slight longing for Zhu Xuanyue, he was not a tad bit worried about her safety. She might¡¯ve had the mind of a ten-year-old but her abilities would allow her to tower over the most terrifying criminal in the world.
Xia Lei shook his head to chase away his brainstorm and queries. His trip to the Sacred Pce was rewarded handsomely. However, it did nothing to answer his ultimate mystery but Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t ask for more. Now was the time for him to leave.
In a swift motion, he took off the ck robes and spread it t on the ground. Following that, he began to dismantle the armour from the wooden frame, securing its parts snugly inside the ck robes. To no surprise, the entire armour didn¡¯t even reach ten catties! Xia Lei wasn¡¯t too shocked as he had learned the structure of this silver metal prior to this.
Making sure that the armour was packed neatly in the fabric, Xia Lei threw the bag over his shoulder and spared the oil painting onest look. He uttered, ¡°Even if I had possibly gotten my powers from you, I would like to make one thing clear. You are you and I am me. I will not be someone else other than myself.¡±
Trapped inside the oil painting, the prehistoric chosen one seemed to be looking at Xia Lei weirdly.
Xia Lei turned around to leave.
Retracing his footsteps back to the port, he found no one in sight. It was only when he reached the port that he noticed elderlies, women and children gathered around there. They stood quietly at the dock, watching the boats get swallowed by mes. Some Holy Knight bodies floated about on the surface.
Xia Lei¡¯s ingenious n to distract a majority of the Knight Hospitaller elites away had rendered their search in the Mediterranean Hotel fruitless. When Angelo notified them that Xia Lei had found his way into the church, the elites had made an urgent retreat back to base. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to them, their boats were rigged with military-grade explosives.
Although Xia Lei himself wasn¡¯t there when it happened, he could imagine Tsukino Kyoko pressing a button on the remote to trigger the engulfment of mes. In the face of strong opponents like the Knight Hospitaller, brains proved to be much more useful than brawns.
Xia Lei passed the crowd and came to the edge of the port. Then, he made a quick leap into the dark waters below.
In no time, a diving-suit d female quickly swam towards him, bringing along his diving mask and oxygen tank to him.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s body looked exquisitely seductive in that tight diving suit of hers. The attention was stolen particrly by her round behind, powerful yet alluring.
She was already in this get up when they came but Xia Lei had no mind to notice it. Now that he had sessfully gotten his hands on the armour, his mind was eased off its tension. Thoughts freed, he allowed it to wander elsewhere.
Thankfully the waters were dark at this hour. Tsukino Kyoko hadn¡¯t seemed to notice Xia Lei¡¯s perverse stares on her assets. After helping him with his oxygen supply, she dived down to release the diving motor from the rocks. Letting it roar to life, she went ahead towards the exit.
Xia Lei followed suit. As the driving motor was ignited, he turned his head around to look at the port. From underwater, he could make out mes and blurry crowds. The man was aware that this wasn¡¯t the downfall of the Knight Hospitaller. This was just a headquarters where some of its fanatic followers resided. No matter what happens in the future, Xia Lei was certain that he would never step foot into this ce ever again.
¡°Now that I¡¯ve run this ce into ruins, perhaps Walton would be the person most thankful to me. He¡¯s about to be the real leader of the Knight Hospitaller. I sincerely hope for his sake that he is smart enough to leave me alone.¡± Xia Lei prayed to himself.
The massive ocean seemed to stretch onwards forever, turbulent waves hitting one another on the surface.
In the dark silence, a quiet yacht floated about in the waters.
Chapter 881 - A Harmonious Family
Two dayster, China.
Thunder Horse Military Factory, undergroundboratory.
Cautiously, Xia Lei started to put on the silver armour on himself. This entire process took him about thirty minutes toplete. Truthfully, he would only require a few minutes but the armour was in a pathetic state. He was afraid of breaking this armour of which even he did not know how to fix.
Thest part that made it to his body was the helmet, which he reced its gigantic hole with the silver metal he extracted from the underground maze. As expected, the material was a perfect match for the helmet. It wasn¡¯t a part of some sword, it was actually a part of the helmet.
Following that, he secured the metal onto the hole with some transparent tape. It was crude but it was also all he had. Xia Lei brought himself to stand in front of a mirror that he had moved in earlier.
The reflection showed no part of his face, fingers and neck. The armour hadpletely engulfed him from the top to the bottom. The piece of equipment could be both considered as armour and a protective suit.
Weirdly, the style it was made in was nothing like that of the crusaders of the Middle Ages. In fact, it was more of a gothic style full body armour. There wasn¡¯t anything fancy decorating the helmet. If the wed part wasn¡¯t put into consideration, the helmet would be as smooth as an egg. Purely judging on the helmet style, it radiated some science fiction vibes.
Xia Lei was fully aware that this was no gothic-styled full body armour nor was it from some ancient kingdom. Its material was something even modern-day mankind could replicate. The armour had covered him fully from the top to the bottom, but it was surprisingly lightweight!
After allowing himself to observe it in silence, Xia Lei moved to the front of his workbench.
On the workbench was the ancient alloy box that was missing an edge, thepass and the bronze book along with a Viper pistol.
Xia Lei picked up the pistol and pressed the muzzle against his thigh. He hesitated slightly before firing a bullet.
Bang! A gunshot echoed in the chamber.
The bullet collided with the leg armour, causing fiery sparks due to the violent friction. Before he knew it, the bullet ricocheted away to the side. The pistol was fired at such a dangerously close distance. Under normal circumstances, the impact would be sufficient to break a rib under a bulletproof vest but this armour had only allowed him to feel slight pressure. It was very negligible for the amount of damage that it would have originally caused!
What was even more surprising was that the leg armour had no dent or traces of bullets. The fire sparks that were caused just now was purely from the bullet too.
¡°Whoa, this is one scary armour. If I wore this to war, I¡¯d essentially be invincible even if my opponents n to take me out with gunfire. I dare say that Barrett¡¯s Anti-materiel weapons would only be able tond small scratches on this armour at most. There¡¯s no way it¡¯d be able to prate this.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t suppress his shock.
However, the shock wasn¡¯t sourced from the results of his bullet experiment but the concept that followed it. With such omnipotent armour, Zhu Xuanyue was capable of creating a hole in its helmet and leave behind countless cracks on the torso. How terrifying was her battle ability like during her peak?!
Xia Lei just couldn¡¯t bear to imagine it.
A few minutester, Xia Lei averted his attention onto the ancient alloy box. His emotions cooked into something more intense.
Xia Lei had sessfully gotten his hands on the armour. The initial reason behind his resolute pursuit was to use it to permit himself entry into the world of the ancient alloy box. Now that the armour was fastened on him and the box wasid inly before him, he was ready to enter it whenever he wished. However, as he was about to peek in, Xia Lei immediately lost all courage to do so.
This wasn¡¯t a decision that was as simple as entering a bedroom with your pyjamas or entering the bathroom with a bathrobe. This was a significant decision to enter one realm from another realm. What if he got trapped inside and couldn¡¯t get out? What if he lost his way as soon as he entered the uncharted realm? What if he died while exploring it?
Each usible aftermath had him cower in fear.
It was true that he did run some experiments on the shards. But that was just a harmless experiment, not an entry of his entire being. The littlest amount of unknown factors could possibly trigger a horrific butterfly effect with his entry.
Inexplicable, while he continued to sort out his dilemma, a few feminine faces began to take form in his mind. He could make out the faces of Long Bing, Liang Siyao, Jiang Ruyi, Shentu Tianyin, Tang Yuyan and Fan Fan.
Back then, thinking about his rtionship with these women had him breaking out into a headache. Now, they were the strongest forces that stopped him from adventures. He then thought of his father and Xia Xue. Lastly, he thought of his business. Thunder Horse Organization wasn¡¯t just any regr enterprise, it was a ray of hope to the country¡¯s military sector advancements!
¡°Never mind, I think I should wait this out until I learn more about it. When I have more information, I¡¯ll consider if I should head in to explore. Its current state would probably affect its performance and properties...¡± He began to give excuses, choosing to give up on the attempt.
He exited the undergroundboratory half an hourter.
Now was the transitional period between summer and autumn. The skies in the northern region were dark and moody, everything just felt depressing. The man took a nce into the sky and travelled towards his office. He began to ponder to himself. ¡°Three years. If I¡¯m only left with three years to live, I must shape Thunder Horse Military Factory into one of the world¡¯s best military enterprises! That way, even if I die, I¡¯d have no regrets. I¡¯d like to have some children too.¡±
Thinking of children, the edge of his lips couldn¡¯t suppress a smile. ¡°Fan Fan seems to be confident that she¡¯s pregnant. Now the only ones left are Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi. Within this time frame, I must impregnate them.¡±
Thinking of Jiang Ruyi, he swiftly took out his smartphone to call her. Before he could even press on her contact, a call reached him and it was shockingly Jiang Ruyi.
He grinned and epted the call. ¡°Ruyi, I was just about to call you. How are you doingtely?¡±
¡°Are you trying to trick me? You hadn¡¯t called me in ages and you hadn¡¯t bothered to visit me at all. Are you looking to die?!¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice was still the same as before.
Xia Lei chuckled. The only woman left in this world that dared to speak to him in this fiery manner was Jiang Ruyi. It was the same when they were children, nothing had changed. Though so, Xia Lei didn¡¯t mind. This was who Jiang Ruyi was. She wouldn¡¯t be Jiang Ruyi if anything had changed.
¡°Where are you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m in the office, of course.¡± Xia Lei answered.
¡°I¡¯m at yourpany now.¡± Jiang Ruyi continued, Are you in the office block? I¡¯ming over to meet you.¡±
Xia Lei quickly stopped her. ¡°Wait, I¡¯m not in the office block now. I¡¯lle to you instead.¡± He ended the call and began to stride towards the parking lot. As soon as he went around the corner of the office block, he immediately caught sight of Jiang Ruyi, who was now walking towards him.
Dressed in her police uniform, her full breasts lifted the front of her coat proudly. Her perky behind even managed to make those cks look amazing. Along with her pretty face, she gave off an indescribable freshness to the stereotypical girl next door look.
Catching sight of Xia Lei, Jiang Ruyi smiled wryly. He couldn¡¯t tell if she was smiling or mocking him but her dark orbs told him something else. She missed him oh so dearly. There was a momentary burst of relief and excitement to finally meet the man that lingered about in her mind, there was also a hint of familial love sandwiched inside. Despite that, the two uttered no words,pletely resorting to letting their eyes do the talking.
Xia Lei came closer to her.
Jiang Ruyi walked a few steps then broke into a run. Her chest jiggled and her hips swayed seductively with the movement. Soon enough, she was right in front of Xia Lei. Without another word, she opened her arms and enveloped him in a tight embrace. ¡°Why hadn¡¯t you called me or visited me? I... I really thought you hadpletely forgotten about me. I thought you had abandoned me.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart melted. His palms found its way onto Jiang Ruyi¡¯s waist to pull her closer against his body. He whispered into her ear, ¡°Don¡¯t cry. You¡¯re a policewoman, people will make fun of a crying policewoman.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m going to cry if that¡¯s what I want.¡± Jiang Ruyi buried her face into his shoulder. She didn¡¯t want to release him and was certainly adamant on not having anyone witness her swollen eyes.
Xia Lei felt a little helpless but continued to hold her tight, offering her some release to her pent up feelings.
He and Jiang Ruyi were childhood friends, the concept of romance was rather mild between them. Back then, it was her proactiveness that allowed their shared rtionship history to take ce. Xia Lei was a man who developed feelings over time. Jiang Ruyi had been with him for a long time, it was only natural for his love to deepen over the course of time.
The two shared an embrace in in sight. In fact, they were just right under the office block where most employees spent their time. Caught up in the moment, they hadn¡¯t realized that people were watching them from all floors of the building. Meanwhile, the office workers broke into rounds of discussion.
¡°Damn, Director Xia is such a man. Since when did he bag a policewoman?¡±
¡°Do you live under a rock or something? Don¡¯t you know who she is? That¡¯s Jiang Ruyi, the director¡¯s childhood friend and long-time girlfriend.¡±
¡°Wasn¡¯t Director Xia already engaged to that Fan Fan? How could he allow such a disy in public? Wouldn¡¯t this trigger a fierce fight with Fan Fan once she caught wind of this?¡±
¡°You can¡¯t think of him from our perspectives. Do you know CEO Liang? CEO Liang is the real female boss of our Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
¡°What the fuck? That¡¯s one shitstorm of a rtionship...¡±
¡°Yeah, and it¡¯s something you¡¯ll never have.¡±
¡°Shh. That¡¯s enough, CEO Liang is here.¡±
¡°Oh my god. Director Xia is going to be in so much trouble...¡±
Among the concerned gazes and heated gossiping, Liang Siyao had peeked her head out from the top floor to nce at the embracing couple. She yelled, ¡°Old Xia, are you not going to have Ruyi take a seat now that she¡¯s here? Save your hugging forter, I¡¯ll have the kitchen prepare her.¡±
Old Xia? The nickname had provided them with some insights into their odd dynamics. Weirdly, ¡®Old Liang¡¯ had actually suggested that her Old Xia should continue their mushiness with Jiang Ruyi elsewhere. The way she handled it was admittedly rather cool.
It was only then that Jiang Ruyi jumped and released Xia Lei. She lifted her head to lock eyes with Liang Siyao and shed a smile. ¡°Siyao, hello! Long time no see.¡±
Liang Siyao returned her a sweet toothy smile. ¡°Ruyi,e on up. We¡¯ll talk more when you¡¯re here.¡±
Liang Siyao understood what Jiang Ruyi was to Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi knew what Liang Siyao was to Xia Lei. The two women had acknowledged it, hence theck of need for any conflict.
Xia Lei took a good look above. The curious office employees quickly snapped out of it and disappeared off to their cubicles.
Chapter 882 - The Secret Code of Life
The atmosphere in the office was quite calming.
¡°Ruyi, here, have some tea.¡± Liang Siyao had made Jiang Ruyi some rose tea.
Jiang Ruyi looked a little sheepish. ¡°Siyao, you shouldn¡¯t be serving me tea .¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to be so courteous, we¡¯re sisters after all,¡± said Liang Siyao.
Sisters? Siyao had meant her words. Though Jiang Ruyi was a simple woman, she understood the underlying message. She held the teacup carefully between her palms and beamed. ¡°Yes, we shouldn¡¯t treat each other like strangers. If anyone dares to bully us, we should team up against them.¡±
Liang Siyao briefly cast a nce at Xia Lei. With a smile, she responded, ¡°He¡¯s pretty fierce. We won¡¯t be able to take him down even by joining forces. It¡¯s probably better for us to just surrender.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Yeah, how could you talk about attacking your own man?¡±
¡°Ptui!¡± Liang Siyao spat with a blush. ¡°You¡¯re so shameless! Who the hell is your woman?¡±
¡°How could you say something like that to the two of us? What the hell are you trying to do?¡± Jiang Ruyi was obviously on Liang Siyao¡¯s side now.
Abruptly, a filthy smirk appeared on the corner of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°Am I wrong? I¡¯m about to make you be the mother of my children. I¡¯ve already decided that I should start creating my heir now.¡±
¡°What the fuck? Jeez, how could you say things like that out loud?¡± Liang Siyao turned red.
¡°Yeah. You¡¯re such a shameless man.¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s face was beet red too.
Though the two women had acknowledged each other¡¯s existence and were willing to ept each other, there were things that should only be said in private. But Xia Lei had the mind to say something so filthy around both of them and even brought up the topic of bearing children. They couldn¡¯t help but feel embarrassed.
Despite that, Xia Lei put on a straight face and asked, ¡°So... Are you going to carry my children?¡±
¡°I...¡± Liang Siyao muttered bashfully. ¡°It¡¯s been so long since Ruyi came to Jingdu, you should have it with her.¡±
¡°I... I...¡± Frustrated, Jiang Ruyi stomped her heel. ¡°That¡¯s it, I¡¯m out. I¡¯m going to visit Uncle Xia now. I¡¯ll goin to him that his son is a gigantic bully!¡±
And then she left.
Jiang Ruyi decided she had enough of Xia Lei¡¯s teasing.
Liang Siyao quickly chased after her. ¡°Let me walk you there.¡±
The two women left Xia Lei alone in the office with no one to tease.
Watching the two women hook shoulders as they exited the building, Xia Lei let his wandering gazend on their lovely behinds. Immediately, his heart hummed in delight. They had given him a safe space from his stress and agony.
Xia Lei sat in silence for a bit before leaving the office block to the garage.
Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s first tank prototype was scheduled production. He was going to be very busy.
Before he knew it, a day had passed.
Sylvia and Annina were adamant on working overtime in the garage. Failing to convince the German workaholics, Xia Lei returned to the Peace Mansion alone.
Dinner was enjoyed with family, though Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan had quickly left the table after finishing their share. Following that was Xia Changhe.
¡°Uh... I¡¯m going to check on the two German girls in the garage. You guys may continue talking.¡± As soon as Xia Changhe left, Liang Siyao uttered an excuse to escape the dining room.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was gentle. ¡°You know, there¡¯s no need for you to leave.¡±
Liang Siyao turned to re at him, quicklying over to whisper into his ear harshly. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare think about it.¡±
¡°Ruyi, I¡¯ll be leaving first. Bye.¡± Liang Siyao bid Jiang Ruyi farewell.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s cheeks turned pink, nodding stiffly in response. The only thing she could say was a meek ¡®Mm¡¯. The woman was fully aware that Liang Siyao was purposely giving her and Xia Lei some privacy. Though the circumstances behind their dynamics were a little weird, Jiang Ruyi was sincerely grateful for Liang Siyao¡¯s thoughtfulness.
Now that Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi were the only ones left in the dining room, they allowed themselves to stare into each other¡¯s eyes. Back then, they were desk mates. Her bag would always be filled with snacks to attract his attention, but she¡¯d find a hundred reasons to deprive him of it.
They continued to stare at each other until Jiang Ruyi began to feel a little bashful under Xia Lei¡¯s intense stare. She lowered her head and averted her eyes. ¡°What are you looking at? Are you not done yet?¡±
¡°How could I ever stop staring at you? I could never get tired looking at you for the rest of my life.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice sounded so maic and gentle all of a sudden.
¡°You¡¯re quite good with your words. How many women had you managed to trick into your sheets?¡± Jiang Ruyi looked a little jealous.
Xia Lei chuckled and left his seat. In one swift motion, he hoisted Jiang Ruyi up and left the dining room towards his room. The lights illuminated the path, leaving behind a trailing shadow of a pair of lovers.
¡°It¡¯d be nice if you could hold me like this forever.¡± Jiang Ruyi was quick to brush away the thought of Xia Lei as a womanizer. She wrapped her arms around his neck, melting into his embrace. ¡°Promise me... Promise me you¡¯ll hold me like this for life.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Are you trying to kill me? I¡¯d be dead if I tried to carry you like this for life.¡±
¡°Are you going to do it or not?¡± Jiang Ruyi nipped his earlobe. She feigned fierceness but ced no strength into her bite.
Xia Lei guffawed. ¡°Alright, alright. I¡¯ll hold you like this forever, okay? I¡¯ll carry you around the garden all night long.¡±
Jiang Ruyi was smiling but thetter half of his response quickly erased that away. She whined, ¡°How dare you!¡±
¡°What are you going to do about that?¡±
¡°Well, I want you.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t I right in front of you?¡±
¡°I mean I want your...¡± She bit his ear then mumbled incoherently.
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Sorry, didn¡¯t hear that. What did you say?¡±
The two continued to bicker. Unknowingly, they finally made it to Xia Lei¡¯s room. A warm bed and dimmed lights, the room was filled with the smell of love.
They tangled themselves in one another. Now was not a time for words.
They paused.
¡°What is that?¡±
¡°It¡¯s an antidote.¡±
¡°Huh? I¡¯m not poisoned. Why are you making me use an antidote?¡± Jiang Ruyi was perplexed.
Xia Lei came closer to her ear. ¡°No, you¡¯re not poisoned. I¡¯m the one who is poisoned.¡± Then, he murmured something into her ear.
Jiang Ruyi broke into a violent flush. ¡°No wonder I couldn¡¯t get pregnant! My mom even brought me to get checked a few days ago. Turns out there¡¯s nothing wrong with me. I purposely took a day off to have you apany me for a check but you¡¯ve already handled it! You¡¯re so naughty!¡±
¡°Well then, let me show you how naughty I can be!¡± Xia Lei prowled on her.
The bed creaks of the night told an unspeakable story.
When morning came, the man arose while the beauty remained sleeping in the sheets.
Xia Lei had made sure to cover Jiang Ruyi well with the nket before leaving the room. But before he could leave, Jiang Ruyi had kicked away the covering unceremoniously. Worse, she tossed and turned, finally letting her long legs rest on top of the nket. Her round, delicate white mass exposing itself for his enjoyment.
Xia Lei smiled helplessly and shook his head, allowing his mind to wander back to their rendezvousst night.
The early sunlight was beautiful. It was rare to have such good weather in Jingdu.
Ring... Ring... Ring...
Xia Lei brought up his phone and nced at its screen. The number disyed was surprising as it indicated that it was a call from Italy. He immediately thought of someone and epted it.
¡°What can I help you with, Mister Walton?¡±
¡°I swear I¡¯m using a new number but you managed to identify me. I¡¯m impressed, you are a smart man.¡± Walton¡¯s voice came through the receptor.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve killed many of our people. I¡¯m sure you know the nature of my call?¡±
¡°Mister Walton, you better think your words through. I can hire an Italianwyer to sue you.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice turned cold. ¡°Or perhaps, I could use another way to get my justice.¡±
Walton fell silent. He uttered, ¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯m not looking for a fight. I want to end our war.¡±
¡°End our war?¡±
¡°Yes, what do you think of that?¡± Walton¡¯s tone had hints of anxiety and wrath.
Xia Lei abruptly broke intoughter. ¡°Mister Walton, we were never enemies and there was no war between us. Why are you talking about ending a war?¡±
The earlier battle at the Sacred Pce in Malta had wiped out a majority of Knight Hospitaller¡¯s elites. The current state the religious organization was insulting to their prior state. If Xia Lei had chosen to attack them again, a few of his Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members would do the job. This was why Walton decided to contact Xia Lei, the man wasn¡¯t thinking about revenge but protection!
¡°I¡¯m d you said that. I could worry less now.¡± Walton continued, ¡°About our sacred relic...¡±
Xia Lei threatened him in a low voice, ¡°Mister Walton, sometimes it¡¯s not good to be so greedy. I¡¯ve paid the Knight Hospitaller fifty million USD and gave you ess to weapons. All I got in return were your relentless attacks and betrayal. I don¡¯t owe you anything.¡±
Walton paused and sighed. ¡°Alright, I guess we¡¯ll just leave the issue to our descendants.¡±
¡°Congrattions, Mister Walton. You¡¯re now the true leader of the Knight Hospitaller. If you¡¯d like, we could be very good friends. You¡¯re most weed to do business with me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Thank you, Mister Xia. Farewell.¡± Walton ended the call.
The sense of relief Xia Lei felt was akin to easing a weight from his heart. Walton¡¯s personal effort to contact him meant that his problems with the Knight Hospitaller were now eliminated. Walton was a level-headed man. He would know the best course of action to take during this period.
¡°Leave the issue to our descendants?¡± Xia Lei recalled Walton¡¯s words. A bitter smile found a way to his face. ¡°I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯d still be around three yearster. Even if your Knight Hospitaller was recovered to its glorious state, there probably won¡¯t be a chance for you to seek revenge and snatch the sacred relic home.¡±
Xia Changhe approached him, in his hand was a neatly-folded map.
Xia Lei put his phone away and greeted the older man. ¡°Father.¡±
Xia Changhe passed the map to him. ¡°I¡¯ve looked into this. If you hadn¡¯t shown me this, I¡¯d still have no idea where their headquarters was. What a joke, I was a FA member for crying out loud!¡± He stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve found out where it is, what are your ns?¡±
Xia Lei pondered then answered, ¡°The FA Organization is no Knight Hospitaller. I must have a wless n and sufficient preparation. Jalisco is a ce where all the drug lords gather. It¡¯s a ce where even the Mexican government could do nothing about. It certainly won¡¯t be easy to erase one FA Organization.¡±
Xia Changhe patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I understand that you have your rationale behind this. I¡¯m also aware that I¡¯m a big part of your resolve to destroy the FA. You¡¯re worried that they would hurt me someday. It¡¯s alright, son. If they¡¯re willing to give up, you should give up too.¡±
¡°The FA has been pretty silent for a while. They hadn¡¯t appeared to trouble me and you yet. However, they¡¯re still a very big threat. Father, I promise that I¡¯ll let this go if the condition allows me so. If I can¡¯t, I¡¯ll make sure to erase the FA¡¯s existence, no matter what price I¡¯d need to pay,¡± dered Xia Lei. His stare was unwavering and determined.
Give up? The man had never once considered that.
If he was destined to leave this world, then he shall get rid of everything that threatened the lives he cherished! He shall create a peaceful world filled with nothing but happiness for everyone he held dear!
Chapter 883 - Uncle, Please Trick Me
¡°Tired?¡± There was a mischievous smile on Liang Siyao¡¯s face. ¡°Would you like a back rub?¡±
Xia Liaughed a little. ¡°No thanks. Ruyi had half the mind to phone youst night too.¡±
Liang Siyao was perplexed. ¡°What for?¡±
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°She wanted you to help her out.¡±
The realisation finally dawned upon her, causing her to flush violently across her cheek. She punched Xia Lei lightly. ¡°Fuck you. Why do you need me while you¡¯re off fornicating?¡± Some resentment shone through her pupils. ¡°I¡¯m already at a loss by being together with you. Yet, you¡¯re trying to have me fuck you with another woman?¡±
Xia Lei extended an arm and pulled her closer. He teased, ¡°Don¡¯t all women like bad men? Plus, I¡¯m a special case. It was her that wanted you to join us. I¡¯m not lying to you. I was the one who felt bashful enough to stop her.¡±
They¡¯d never reach a good middle ground when it came to sex.
Xia Lei slid a palm under her skirt. ¡°Wow, where did you buy this stocking from? It feels really good.¡±
The woman¡¯s ears turned red. She wanted to pinch his wandering hand but couldn¡¯t find the heart to do so. Yeah, the old Xia Lei was a wholesome boy, always sheepish and shy when it came to things like this. However, the current Xia Lei was now a man who had seen it all. Not only had he mastered sweet talk, but he had also attained invincible battle abilities. Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t tell if she had loved the old Xia Lei more or the current Xia Lei more. Though so, she was certain that every moment spent with him was delightful.
As long as she was happy, there was no need to overthink things.
¡°Hey, someone might walk in now.¡± Liang Siyao could no longer take it.
¡°Hmm, what brand is this?¡±
¡°Victoria¡¯s Secret. Remember? You bought it for me. Why are you asking questions that you know the answer to?¡±
¡°Let me take a look.¡± Xia Lei attempted to lift her skirt.
At this moment, Qing Caiyue entered the office and caught the couple red-handed. She urgently turned around. ¡°Cough, cough... I saw nothing!¡±
The mushy couple quickly pulled themselves apart.
Xia Lei quickly adjusted his sitting posture, acting like he was reading some documents.
Liang Siyao frantically tidied her crooked skirt. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Secretary Qing?¡±
Qing Caiyue finally turned around. With a straight face, she spoke, ¡°Director Xia, Annina and Sylvia have requested for your presence.¡±
¡°Oh, got it. I¡¯ll meet them right away.¡± Xia Lei left his seat.
Qing Caiyue was nning to escort him over to the garage but as soon as she caught Liang Siyao¡¯s stink-eye, she decided against it. Instead, she asked, ¡°CEO Liang, is there anything I can help you with?¡±
¡°Of course, please prepare a meeting draft for me,¡± instructed Liang Siyao.
¡°Alright, understood.¡±
Liang Siyao thought to herself darkly. ¡°Though I can¡¯t chase away Long Bing, Jiang Ruyi and that Fan Fan. There are still too many of us in this house. There¡¯s no way I¡¯d allow any new addition! I¡¯m the one that will regte the members of the Xia family.¡±
Exiting the office block, Xia Lei ced his finger under his nose and sniffed. He couldn¡¯t help the smirk that appeared on his face. ¡°Victoria¡¯s Secret, huh? Liang Siyao, you said that I was a bad man but you¡¯re no different... I like you better this way.¡±
Abruptly, a baseball-cap donning man walked towards him from the side.
Xia Lei spared him a nce and halted his footsteps.
¡°Boss, I got some new information on the person you requested me to find.¡± He was Sa¡¯im, the Intel expert of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thundered but the man kept his nerves in check. ¡°Where is she?¡±
¡°America.¡± Sa¡¯im continued, ¡°But I hadn¡¯t received much news. I need to head to America to learn more. I need some funding support.¡±
¡°How much do you need?¡±
¡°Half a million USD,¡± answered Sa¡¯im.
¡°I¡¯ll transfer you one million USD.¡± Xia Lei gazed straight into his eyes. ¡°However, you must remember. Keep your distance away from her. Don¡¯t try to help her even if she¡¯s met with danger. All you need to do is watch her and report to me.¡±
Sa¡¯im shed him a reassuring smile. ¡°No problem.¡±
¡°Safe journey.¡± Xia Lei hugged him then left towards the garage.
Meanwhile...
America, Washington DC.
A woman wandered the bustling streets of Washington. Her clothes were filthy and her pretty face was marred with dirt. There were even strands of wild grass in her hair. She looked like a beggar. Albeit her tattered appearance, her existence was a ma for attention. The reason behind that? Well, she was just too gorgeous to be real. Her face looked as if it was sculpted by a master and every ounce of her figure was dripping with indescribable sexiness. She was most definitely the pinnacle of beauty.
The streets were busy, yet many had stopped to look at this filthy woman. It was only natural for some buzz to be generated.
¡°What happened to her?¡±
¡°This is so weird. With her looks and body, any modelling agency will be more than willing to sign her up.¡±
¡°Is she homeless?¡±
I¡¯m not sure about that. Maybe this is a form of street art? It¡¯s just really confusing to see someone so beautiful homeless.¡±
As the others continued to chatter about, the woman walked towards an old man. In Chinese, she asked him, ¡°Old man, do you know how to get to Langley?¡±
The old man shook his head and uttered in English, ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re saying. Are you speaking Chinese?¡±
The woman blinked. Then, she pped the back of her skull and beamed. ¡°I can understand yournguage. I was asking you how to get to Langley. Could you tell me that?¡±
¡°That¡¯s rude, young girl. You should greet me as mister.¡±
¡°How about I call you grandpa instead?¡±
¡°Is there a problem with your head?¡± The old man pointed at his brain.
In that split second, her eyes shifted into something malicious.
Meanwhile, two men approached the two.
¡°Oy, old man, piss off!¡± yelled one fiercely.
The old man quickly left the scene.
It was then that the white man smiled at her. ¡°Miss, you¡¯re trying to get to Langley? We can bring you there.¡±
The woman beamed. ¡°Yeah, I want to go to Langley. Thank you so much. You¡¯re both very kind!¡±
The two males turned to look at each other, an unreadable smile forming on their lips.
¡°Come with us, I can drive you there.¡±
¡°Sure! Thank you, Big Brother.¡± She was overjoyed.
They led her into an old Ford car.
¡°Sigh!¡± Someone signed on the streets. ¡°Turns out she¡¯s just a crazy chick. That took her no time to fall into their trap.¡±
¡°Those two boys really got it easy.¡± A middle-aged man huffed. The man seemed rather disappointed in himself that he hadn¡¯t taken the chance to ¡®help¡¯ the crazy woman.
Under the curious gaze of many, the Ford drove towards the direction of a slum. It was long gone before they knew it.
¡°Miss, what is your name?¡± In the car, the man attempted to probe. But his eyes were lingering hungrily on her full breasts and firm thighs.
The white man sitting beside her was bolder. Without any reserve, he ced a warm palm on the top of her thigh.
She immediately scowled.
¡°Hey, you haven¡¯t answered me. What¡¯s your name? Where are you from?¡± A hand began to wander.
Abruptly, she caught his palm. ¡°Why are you touching me? Ask me questions if you wish. This is my leg, no one can touch my leg.¡±
¡°Who¡¯s allowed to touch your body then?¡± He chuckled. Not only was this woman pretty and hot, but her demeanour was also interesting too.
¡°Uncle Xia. I¡¯ll only allow Uncle Xia to touch me.¡± She uttered each word with unwavering sternness. ¡°I made a mistake so my Uncle Xia told me to wait for him in Langley. Uncle Xia will definitely be able to forgive me.¡±
¡°What have you done? Your Uncle Xia is pretty cruel,¡± asked the white man.
¡°I was hungry and needed to eat something.¡± She answered.
¡°Huh? He punished you just because you were hungry? Your Uncle Xia is a bad man. I¡¯m a good guy. How about I treat you to some banana?¡± The white man reached down and unzipped his pants, failing to suppress his lewd giggles.
She looked at him intently. ¡°Really? You¡¯re going to let me eat?¡±
¡°Of course. Come on, eat it up!¡± He impatiently grabbed a fistful of her hair and attempted to push her head to his crotch.
However, things took a surprising turn. Suddenly, she grabbed his wrist and tugged harshly. The white man¡¯s arm came off clean from the joint of his shoulder.
¡°AHH!¡± He screeched in agony. Before long, the colour of blood disappeared from his face. His body iled and slumped against the back seat. There was no longer any movement from him.
¡°Y-You...¡± The driver quickly stomped on the brakes, reaching over to open the door. He was desperate to escape. But before he could make a move, he immediately dropped lifelessly on to his seat. If the man could see his own brain, he would certainly be terrified to learn that his brain had shrunk andter rot at a horrifically rapid pace!
One minuteter, she inhaled and smiled widely. ¡°That was good, I feel so warm. But I¡¯m still kinda hungry...¡± She caressed her t stomach and sighed. ¡°Uncle Xia, I know you don¡¯t like it when I eat but I¡¯m just too hungry! You told me to wait for you in Langley but when are youing? I miss you so much. I promise that I¡¯ll never eat like that again. I¡¯ll only eat those who try to trick me. Yeah, I¡¯ll just take it as a yes from you. Pinky promise! Hehehe...¡±
A car that reeked of blood and her childish innocence was an eeriebination.
This woman was none other than Zhu Xuanyue.
She exited the car and observed her surroundings. After that, she began to walk towards a basketball court. A few youngsters were trading prohibited drugs there. An elderly man who just so happened to take another look was immediately faced with fiery threats.
Zhu Xuanyue approached them. As she walked, she mumbled to herself. ¡°Come on,e on,e on, trick me, trick me... You better trick me...¡±
A few minutester.
¡°Uncle, I¡¯m so hungry. Do you have anything you could feed me?¡±
¡°Yeah, I got a big banana. Would you like that?¡±
¡°Yes!¡±
¡°Hahaha,e, let me feed you a banana.¡±
¡°Sure, sure... How do I get to Langley?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll send you there after you¡¯re done! Hahaha!¡±
¡°Aww, you¡¯re so kind.¡±
Sandwiched in the middle of a bunch of men, Zhu Xuanyue was sent into a small wooden house.
Sometimes, the devil may just be close by and you had just given it a reason to pounce on you.
Chapter 884 - Monkey, Princess and the Car
Jiang Ruyi spent the next few days in the Peace Mansion. The woman had no issue when interacting ormunicating with Xia Changhe. She had long been referring to him as ¡®Uncle Xia¡¯, there was already a foundation for their transition into father and daughter inw. Xia Xue, on the other hand, epted her right away. They were neighbours and Jiang Ruyi had always been feeding her candy. The woman had long bought over this ¡®younger sister¡¯ of hers.
Truthfully, if Liang Siyao was the female boss of the Thunder Horse Military Factory, then Jiang Ruyi was the female boss when it came to family rtions.
Now that he had sessfully handled his problems with the Knight Hospitaller and lost all courage to barge into the ancient alloy world, Xia Lei spent the next two days pouring all his concentration into work. The Thunder Horse¡¯s first tank was at itsst phase of technical research. Everyone was counting on him to solve all the difficult technical obstacles they faced. Aside from that, he was also required to oversee the new material project and progress of the Artificial Intelligence department. Though Li Youdon and Huang Xuewen were both intelligent talents, they didn¡¯t possess a super brain like his. The tank technology, new material and AI technology came from him. Xia Lei¡¯s mind was like the CPU of aputer, it was apulsory element.
With that, Xia Lei tried to practise good work-life bnce by going to work in the morning and returning home to rest in the night.
However, the rest he was getting was merely theoretical. There were two women who yearned to be a mother back home and he was the only one who could make their dreams a reality. When night fell, either Jiang Ruyi or Liang Siyao would join him in bed. Not a night was free from strenuous activity.
Perhaps it was out of concern for his recent busy episode that Jiang Ruyi decided to boil herbal soup every day for him. Her soups were filled with deer antlers, tiger whip, ginseng and all sorts of nourishing materials. Consuming it once a day was alright. However, she would serve it for breakfast, send it to the office in the afternoon and serve it after dinner in the night. The frequent consumption was getting too much for him to stomach.
Days like this went on for a week until Jiang Ruyi¡¯s leave was over.
On the day when Jiang Ruyi was set to return to Haizhu, Xia Lei drove her to the airport.
¡°Wow, I really don¡¯t want to leave.¡± Jiang Ruyi sighed as they made it into the hall.
¡°Then don¡¯t,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Really?¡± Her eyes glimmered as she stared at him.
Xia Lei shed her a grin. ¡°Of course. I have more than enough to support you.¡±
Jiang Ruyi snickered. ¡°I know that very well and I¡¯d really like to stay but... Nevermind, going back to our lives is probably the best for now. That way, I will never get sick of you.¡±
¡°What¡¯s with that face?¡± Jiang Ruyi immediately noticed that he had interpreted her words wrong. She punched Xia Lei yfully. ¡°Hey, you damned pervert. I¡¯m not talking about getting sick of that!¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Alright, the offer still stands. You can resign ande work for me. You can work with Liang Siyao. Alternatively, you can just live at my ce and do nothing. I¡¯ll support you. I won¡¯t force you if you¡¯d like some time before making a decision. Whenever you¡¯re ready, all you need to do is pack your bags ande. Remember, we¡¯re a family now.¡±
His words filled her with warmth, Jiang Ruyi could feel nothing but happiness. She embraced Xia Lei tightly, not willing to let him go. She broke the silence after a heartbeat, ¡°I still love my current job. I have eight days of leave each month. If you don¡¯te to me, I¡¯ll juste to you. As long as I can be with you, I am content.¡±
Who wouldn¡¯t want to live with someone they loved?
Her decision had her own supporting rationale. It wasn¡¯t because she was worried that she¡¯d get sick of Xia Lei someday. It was just that Xia Lei had too many women around him. If she were to stick to him like glue, how would the other women react to it?
Her decision was for the sake of Xia Lei. She loved him. She was willing to ept hisplicated and messy private life. The current arrangement was the best for her, Jiang Ruyi was no match against women like Liang Siyao and Shentu Tianyin. The smartest way to survive is to distance herself from the warzone.
¡°Alright, I should go in now. You should go back too.¡± Jiang Ruyi pried herself away from Xia Lei, then tidied his crumpled suit and tie.
¡°Remember to go get examined. If you¡¯re pregnant, decline all dangerous operations and avoid strenuous exercise. I wouldn¡¯t want my baby to be hurt,¡± reminded Xia Lei.
Jiang Ruyi shed him a smile. ¡°Jeez, we don¡¯t even know if there¡¯s a child on the way and you¡¯re already so protective. I bound myself to a lifetime of misery. You two will most definitely bully the shit out of meter.¡±
Xia Lei just stared at her in silence.
Jiang Ruyi took that as her cue, waved goodbye, and left.
Though it was still unclear if she was pregnant, from Xia Lei¡¯s relentless performance and effort for thest few nights, it was entirely possible.
The image of a pregnant Jiang Ruyi ced a smile on his face. As he drove back to the Thunder Horse Military Factory, his mind pondered. ¡°Fan Fan¡¯s pregnant. If Ruyi and Siyao are pregnant, I would have three kids. Would Long Bing be willing to give me a child? If she was willing to, that would make it four kids. Wouldn¡¯t that be wonderful?¡±
Ring... Ring...
As his mind wandered all about, his phone rang. He nced at the screen before swiping it. ¡°Ah Bing, I was just thinking about calling you.¡±
¡°Haha.¡± Long Bingughed dryly. ¡°I¡¯m not some seventeen-year-old girl. You can¡¯t trick me. You¡¯ve been crazy busy for a while, would you still have the time to think about me?¡±
¡°I¡¯m serious. I was thinking about asking if you would like to bear a little monkey or a princess for me.¡±
¡°What the fuck? Hell no.¡± Long Bing quickly diverted the topic. ¡°Come to Bureau 101 quick, there are two visitors you¡¯d like to see.¡±
¡°Who?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s curiosity was piqued.
¡°You¡¯ll know when you¡¯re here. I¡¯ll be waiting for you.¡± Long Bing ended the call.
Xia Lei could only sigh. Long Bing was a great woman but she wasn¡¯t keen on being a mother. Though he was a little dejected, he understood her.
Half an hourter, a Cavalier¡¯s XV heavy off-road vehicle made it to the entrance of Bureau 101. This was a little something Xia Lei decided to treat himself to after returning from Malta. The hefty six-tonne vehicle was worth twenty million, equipped with a V10 engine. Its overall performance was way superior to that of any military four-wheel drive. The shell was practically imprable to normal bullets. With this baby, he could even avoid attacks from RPG rocket bullets or roadside bombs. It was basically like driving a moving fortress.
The appearance of Xia Lei and his new Cavaliers XV heavy off-road vehicle immediately attracted much attention. Normally, people would only be able to catch a glimpse of it in Fast and Furious 5, where Johnson drove it.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were part of the curious crowd.
¡°Since when did he buy this car?! It¡¯s hideous!¡±ined Tang Yuyan. The woman found it hard to move past the trauma. Now, everything about him was infuriating to her.
Long Bing had her eyes glued to the majestic Cavaliers XV heavy off-road vehicle that stuck out like a sore thumb in the parking lot. ¡°I find it pretty cool. I¡¯d really like to have a car like that.¡±
Long Bing loved four-wheel drives. The woman had mostly driven her fierce military warrior off-road vehicle. Sadly, her ride pales inparison to Xia Lei¡¯s new drive. It was almost akin toparing an Audi to a Ferrari.
Tang Yuyan tossed her a weird nce. ¡°You like that? That car is probably worth twenty million, how are you going to afford that with your sry? It¡¯s a car that I wouldn¡¯t dare to buy for myself. The car is almost the price of a ne. Only prodigals like Xia Lei would buy that.¡±
At this moment, Xia Lei approached them. With a toss, a central control key flew towards Long Bing.
Long Bing caught it with ease. ¡°What are you up to?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I saw the way you looked at my car and I know that you like two things. Guns and four-wheel drives. If you like it so much, I¡¯ll gift it to you.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Long Bing gaped.
Tang Yuyan could feel her jaw drop.
The man had gifted away his twenty million dor car just because of the appreciative stares Long Bing had graced it. If gifting cars to women was a new height, then Xia Lei was clearly a god.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I already paid its taxes but I hadn¡¯t gotten to install its car te. I¡¯m sure you can get it done fast.¡±
¡°No, no, no.¡± Long Bing finally snapped out of it, quickly returning the keys into Xia Lei¡¯s hand.
¡°I... I can¡¯t ept such an expensive gift from you.¡±
Tang Yuyan interrupted them. ¡°Yeah, what would your Fan Fan think about you giving something so expensive to Long Bing? Wouldn¡¯t that just be fuel for fights?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Now that you mention it, I should call Fan Fan and have her apany Ah Bing to get the car te done.¡±
Tang Yuyan was rendered speechless.
Long Bing had failed at returning Xia Lei his keys. Truthfully, she didn¡¯t want to decline his gift because the car was beautiful.
After a few pushes and pulls, Long Bing sighed and gave in. Sheepishly, she mumbled, ¡°I... I guess I¡¯ll ept it.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go buy another so we can both drive a few.¡±
Watching the scene, Tang Yuyan forced her lips into a line. Her tone was filled with jealousy. ¡°Director Xia, you really are living like a king now. The government arranged a wife for you and then you got Liang Siyao into your harem. Oh, right. How could I forget Jiang Ruyi? I know she has stayed a week at your ce. Look at you now, you got women everywhere. You¡¯re literally living in paradise.¡±
Xia Lei smiled helplessly. ¡°Yuyan, you know my circumstances. Don¡¯t rub more salt in my wound.¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°If this is considered a wound, all men would love to be covered in wounds, no?¡±
Xia Lei choked at her words.
¡°Since I had my eyes glued to your new car, how about you give me one too?¡± Tang Yuyan challenged.
Xia Lei could feel his head throb. The man was starting to regret his attempts to make Long Bing happy by gifting her an expensive car in front of Tang Yuyan. Now Tang Yuyan was asking for a Cavalier¡¯s XV. Was he really going to give her one?
¡°Yeah? You could give Long Bing one but not me?¡± Tang Yuyan red at him.
At this moment, Long Bing interrupted the tension. ¡°Lei,e stay the night at my ceter. I¡¯ll inform Liang Siyao.¡±
Tang Yuyan was taken aback.
Long Bing had intended to tell her that the man was willing to give her a car because she sleeps with him.
¡°If you want him to get you a car, go sleep with him tonight,¡± whispered Long Bing into her ear.
She was a daughter of the Tang family. There was no way she would sleep with anyone for the sake of a Cavalier¡¯s XV, even if the man was Xia Lei.
Chapter 885 - An Experts Strategy
When Xia Lei received Long Bing¡¯s call to get to Bureau 101, he hadn¡¯t expected the visitors to be Yu Shanhe and Ling Han.
Their meeting room had its walls and seats were wrapped in ayer of soft foam stic. Those were measures to prevent any suicidal attempts and self-harm. If Yu Shanhe and Ling Han were about to meet Xia Lei in such a room, it wasn¡¯t difficult to guess what the topic of their discussion was going to be.
Yu Shanhe sat leisurely on a couch as he read a set of newspapers. Ling Han, on the other hand, stood behind the older man. It was as if Ling Han was Yu Shanhe¡¯s servant. There was still some air ofmand on Yu Shanhe but Ling Han seemed like an entirely different person. There wasn¡¯t a single hint of his prior sharpness and confidence.
When Shi Boren led Xia Lei into the room, the two immediately looked over. They stared at Xia Lei intently, gazes channelling their resentment.
Xia Lei shed them a smile. ¡°Hello, Officer Yu. Hello, Brother Ling. Have you been well?¡±
They both remained silent.
This meeting was arranged by Bureau 101. There was no way the two would want to meet Xia Lei by their own will. Xia Lei¡¯s friendly greeting was especially painful for both Yu Shanhe and Ling Han.
Just short of a month ago, Yu Shanhe and Ling Han were at the top of the food chain. Regr civilians wouldn¡¯t have gotten the chance to get to their level even with generations of effort. Back then, they were glorious and influential. Now, they were criminals. The only thing that they had left waiting for them was their punishment from thew.
Life is full of surprises. It was bound to be filled with ups and downs. They had it their way long enough and now the privilege they enjoyed was robbed away.
The room atmosphere turned awkward and silent in a split second.
Shi Boren chided, ¡°Old Yu, put down the newspaper. Xia Lei is a busy man, let¡¯s not waste his time. The purpose of this meeting is to understand the situation better. I understand that everyone present here is reluctant to be in the same room but let¡¯s try to get this over with fast.¡±
In the past, Shi Boren would need to refer to him as Officer Yu. Now, even he had switched to calling him Old Yu.
Yu Shanhe folded the newspapers away. Nonchntly, he spoke, ¡°What is there left to talk about? Why are we dwelling on the same topic? Just go sue me already if you have evidence.¡±
Shi Boren scowled.
Ling Han looked like he had something to say but decided against it.
Xia Lei inched slower to whisper into Shi Boren¡¯s ear. ¡°When did you arrest them? Where were they arrested?¡±
Shi Boren reciprocated the action. He whispered, ¡°We got them at a small mountain vige at the borders of Heilongjiang and Russiast night. They both were nning to escape to Russia. If they had run off to some European countries or America, I¡¯m sure trying to get them back would be much more of a hassle.¡±
Would Yu Shanhe and Ling Han be so clueless?
Obviously not. Only Xia Lei knew the reason behind their ns. It was an instruction Zhu Xuanyue had hypnotized them into executing. If Bureau 101 hadn¡¯t gotten to them, the duo would¡¯ve probably made it to Moscow. There was no way Xia Lei was going to tell Shi Boren that though.
¡°I see,¡± answered Xia Lei. He observed Yu Shanhe and Ling Han carefully. He pondered, ¡°They both look rather normal. It seems like Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s control hadpletely worn off by now. Did they return to normal because Zhu Xuanyue is now in America? Or is there a time limit for her hypnosis?¡±
He began to ponder the possibilities of her powers again.
¡°What the hell are you two whispering about?¡± Yu Shanhe stood up. ¡°I¡¯m an honest man, I have literally nothing to fear about your usations. I¡¯m going to make this clear. This whole thing is not over yet. If you fail to produce any evidence, I¡¯ll make sure you suffer.¡±
Shi Boren sighed audibly. ¡°Old Yu, I wouldn¡¯t have invited you over if I had no evidence. I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re clear about what you¡¯ve done over the years. There¡¯s no need to beat around the bush. Let¡¯s just settle things to make it easier for everyone involved, okay?¡±
¡°Well, show me the evidence you¡¯re talking about,¡± urged Yu Shanhe.
¡°You¡¯ll find out soon,¡± replied Shi Boren.
¡°Hmph!¡± Yu Shanhe scoffed. ¡°If you can¡¯t show me anything, what is the point of me talking to you?¡±
Shi Boren immediately frowned.
¡°And you.¡± Yu Shanhe turned to point at Xia Lei. ¡°Get out. I don¡¯t want to see your face!¡±
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll excuse myself. I¡¯ll have Long Bing handle you.¡± Shi Boren turned around and left. However, he hadn¡¯t motioned for Xia Lei toe along.
Xia Lei came to realize why Shi Boren needed him here.
Anyone who interrogates a wild beast like Yu Shanhe would be faced with immense stress and even unknown risks. Shi Boren was about to retire, hence the older man wasn¡¯t willing to shoulder the danger. If he was the one who ratted out everyone else associated with Yu Shanhe¡¯s deeds, what would those people do to him?
Shi Boren didn¡¯t want that and he wasn¡¯t willing to have his sessor, Tang Yuyan, be exposed to such risk. Therefore, everything fell onto Long Bing¡¯s te.
Realizing that, Xia Lei¡¯s heart was filled with sadness and rage. Despite that, he was aware of the nature of workce politics. He knew of Long Bing¡¯s predicament but there was nothing he could help with.
¡°I and Zhu Xuanyue had helped her get this far on the essentially impossible task. But am I really doing her a favour? The more merit she is awarded, the more threatened Tang Yuyan¡¯s position would be. They have a pretty stable rtionship but anymore input from my end is just going to strain it. Plus, what would Yu Shanhe¡¯s associates do to her?¡± The list of increasing worries bothered Xia Lei.
Before Long Bing had arrived, Yu Shanhe broke the silence. ¡°Xia Lei, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re overjoyed now.¡±
Xia Lei kept hisposure and uttered, ¡°Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s tank is close topletion. Progress on AI technology and new material research has been well too. These are all things that made me happy but...¡± He paused and grinned. ¡°Seeing you two here overwhelms me with delight.¡±
¡°I think it¡¯s a little too early for that. You better watch out.¡± Yu Shanhe¡¯s hatred was unmasked.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Are you threatening me? You couldn¡¯t even scare me when you still had your position. What makes you think that I would cower in fear after a few unfriendly statements? Do you think I¡¯d change my standing just like that? Here¡¯s an advice, it¡¯s better for you toe clean. You need to man up and take responsibilities for all the things you¡¯ve done.¡±
¡°Ha! Enough. I¡¯ve taught many about politics throughout my life. There¡¯s no need for you to teach me. You¡¯ve got no credibility to say those things,¡± retaliated Yu Shanhe.
There was no way the exchange could go on.
Xia Leinded his gaze on Ling Han.
It was then that Ling Han finally spoke. ¡°Xia Lei, if you¡¯re here to humiliate me, you¡¯ve already seen your share. You may leave now. If you¡¯re here to help out with the investigation, my honest advice would be for you to stay out of this. Even Shi Boren isn¡¯t willing to be associated with this. Are you sure you want to do this?¡±
Xia Lei listened to him but said nothing. There was no way he would buy that Ling Han was showing him genuine kindness. Ling Han¡¯s ¡®advice¡¯ for him to stay out of the investigation was uttered out of fear. If the two could make a choice between Shi Boren, him and Long Bing, the two of them would settle on her in a heartbeat. Not him and not Shi Boren.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? You don¡¯t want to talk to me?¡± Ling Han continued, ¡°I¡¯m saying this out of goodwill.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Goodwill? If I believed that you had any goodwill towards me, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d be long dead by now.¡±
Ling Han let out a coldugh and then fell silent.
Less than two minutester, Long Bing entered the room. In her hands were a set of interrogation transcripts and an ink pad for signatures and thumbprints. It was obvious that Shi Boren had left the sticky battle to her.
Xia Lei had learned of the truth but Long Bing was still blind to it. She seemed excited, happy even. From that, the woman was very willing to ept the task.
¡°Sigh.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched. ¡°She¡¯s so gullible and so simple.¡±
Long Bing settled down the transcript on the table. ¡°Officer Yu, Mister Ling, I hope you¡¯ll cooperate with me. I¡¯ll make sure to finish off the protocols as fast as I can so you can rest well.¡±
Yu Shanhe and Ling Han refused to even meet her eyes.
¡°Did you hear me?¡± Long Bing furrowed her brows.
Yu Shanhe and Ling Han remained unfazed, still not looking her in the eyes.
Long Bing lost her patience, mming a fist down onto the table. She yelled, ¡°Are you clear about your current status? What¡¯s with that attitude?!¡±
¡°What a feisty femalerade. Are you here to torture us?¡± Yu Shanhe was finally willing tond his gaze on her. His words were drawled and disdainful.
Torture? With Yu Shanhe¡¯s social status, no one would dare to torture him even if he was a criminal.
If the person before her were just a normal criminal or terrorist, Long Bing would¡¯ve already beat them into submission. However, she was faced with Yu Shanhe, and there was no way she could do that!
Law was such a weird construct. When utilized seriously, a single poke of the finger could be deemed bodily assault. But when let loose, the death row would be reprieve then further dyed to another date. Long Bing¡¯s current situation was that. No one would have batted an eye if it were anyone else. But if she came close to a poke on Yu Shanhe, her troubles would soon pile in like a terrifying mountain. Long Bing could be charged as an abuser of authority or an assaulter.
That was also the strategy Yu Shanhe and Ling Han were counting on. They¡¯d waste her time and drive her mad with their attitude. What could she do about it? There was literally no way for her to get them to cooperate!
Chapter 886 - Shes My Woman
What else could she have done? They wouldn¡¯t budge no matter how hard she pressed them. The situation at hand had Long Bing helpless. She had no experience in handling high-profiled characters such as Yu Shanhe. As she started to worry, Xia Lei tugged on her sleeve, motioning her to follow him out.
Long Bing exited the room behind Xia Lei. ¡°What did you want to say?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°This case should be handled by Boss Shi. If he didn¡¯t want to get involved in this, why did you ept the task?¡±
Long Bing answered, ¡°He offered it to me personally. How could I say no to that? Plus, I began this case, it was only natural for me to handle the finale.¡±
¡°These men are not ordinary men. Anyone who gets involved will be faced with significant consequences. Do you not know that?¡± Xia Lei was starting to feel nervous on her behalf.
Weirdly, Long Bing was smiling. ¡°Of course I understand that. But if everyone avoids the problem, who would deliver the justice they deserve? Someone has to do this, I¡¯m not afraid of them. I¡¯m going to head back in now, you should stay out of this. You¡¯re a busy man, any potential risk would just dy your progress. I¡¯m not afraid of problems, I¡¯ll just have everythinge to me.¡±
Xia Lei pulled her over. ¡°No, you should just walk away from this. I¡¯ll help you with this.¡±
¡°You?¡± Long Bing stared at him in shock.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yeah, I can help you. I¡¯m a member of Bureau 101 too. I¡¯m a supervisor for crying out loud. If you can take over this task, I can take over too.¡±
¡°But...¡±
Xia Lei stopped her. ¡°Enough, you need to trust me. Let me handle this. If you¡¯re not afraid of problems, then problems fear me. Do you get what I mean?¡±
Long Bing was taken aback, but she must admit that what Xia Lei said was true. Though she was unafraid, the problems would surely find their way to her. Xia Lei¡¯s situation was very much her opposite. The man was able to go against people like Yu Shanhe and Ling Han. He even had a powerful ¡®fianc¨¦e¡¯ like Fan Fan. Would Yu Shanhe and Ling Han¡¯s associates dare to challenge Xia Lei?
He then led her towards Shi Boren¡¯s office.
¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Long Bing began to feel nervous.
¡°You know what I¡¯m trying to do. Say nothingter, okay?¡±
Long Bing wanted to reject him but Xia Lei¡¯s stern expression and rigid stance rendered her silent. Inexplicably, though Long Bing was forced into heeding his will, the woman felt glee. She quite likes this feeling of being spoiled with tenderness.
Coming to the front of Shi Boren¡¯s office, Xia Lei activated his left eye instead of knocking the door.
Inside, Shi Boren was talking to Tang Yuyan.
¡°Godfather, shouldn¡¯t you handle the interrogation? Why did you have Long Bing see to it?¡± Tang Yuyan continued, ¡°She managed to solve Yu Shanhe and Ling Han¡¯s case. Her contribution is hefty and significant, like capturing a massive beast all alone. Letting her take care of the finale is also allowing her to receive merit. I have done nothing worthy of the head of Bureau 101, how are the people going to see me? How would the higher-ups look at me?¡±
¡°You¡¯re too young. You don¡¯t understand the risk this will bring.¡± Shi Boren exined, ¡°Yu Shanhe is no small fry. The man has a lot of people behind him. Those people would¡¯ve felt threatened as of now. Under such circumstances, could they stay silent and do nothing? Anyone who takes over the job is bound to face risks. There is no need for you to worry about the oue of Long Bing¡¯s interrogation. Yu Shanhe will never cooperate with her. This whole matter would eventually be handed to the higher-ups. We¡¯re merely following the protocols to have Yu Shanhe and Ling Han warmed up.¡±
Tang Yuyan heaved a sigh. ¡°Godfather, I... I felt like I¡¯ve wronged Long Bing.¡±
Shi Boren replied, ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be sorry about. This is work. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll understand you.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed in his heart. What Shi Boren had really meant was, ¡®Long Bing is too honest for her own good. If she perishes, she perishes. There¡¯s nothing wrong with this.¡¯
Long Bing couldn¡¯t hear the ongoing conversation inside nor did she know that Xia Lei was spying on Shi Boren and Tang Yuyan. Curiously, she touched his elbow and stared at him. Though no words were said, her confused gaze was asking him why they were standing before the door for long.
Finally, Xia Lei reached out to knock on the door.
Tang Yuyan moved over to answer it, immediately weed by the sight of a stern-faced Xia Lei and Long Bing. Inexplicably, her heart thumped harshly. ¡°You... What¡¯s the matter?¡±
Xia Lei brushed past her shoulder, ignoring her to head towards Shi Boren. Without any hesitation, he spoke, ¡°Boss Shi, Yu Shanhe and Ling Han are not cooperating at all. How about you leave this to me? I can handle the job.¡±
¡°You?¡± Shi Boren had surprise written all over his face.
¡°Yes, me.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I guarantee that I canplete this task.¡±
¡°No can do.¡± Shi Boren shook his head fervently. ¡°Yu Shanhe is no regr person. You won¡¯t get anything out of him.¡±
¡°Why are you so sure about that? You should at least let me try.¡± Xia Lei could feel fury bubbling in his heart.
¡°What¡¯s the matter with you today? I regret having you over. You should focus all your energy onto creating weapons. That¡¯s your responsibility to this country. You shouldn¡¯t waste your time on tasks like these.¡± Abruptly, Shi Borennded his gaze on Long Bing. ¡°Oh, I see it now. You must be worried that Long Bing is overworked. Long Bing, tell me. What kind of rtionship do you share with Xia Lei?¡±
¡°I... We...¡± Long Bing found it difficult to admit.
¡°Boss Shi.¡± Xia Lei suppressed his anger. ¡°I think it¡¯s better if I say this. She¡¯s my woman.¡±
In that split second, Long Bing felt her heart melt into a mushy puddle. This was the first time Xia Lei had ever addressed their rtionship publicly. Never had she expected something like this under such a situation. Plus, he said it to Shi Boren¡¯s face. Those words were like a house, a house Xia Lei built for her.
On the other hand, Tang Yuyan could feel her heart shatter into ruins. She was desperate to receive his affection but Xia Lei had given his heart to Long Bing right in front of her.
The same sentence had both Long Bing and Tang Yuyan brimming with tears. Long Bing¡¯s tears from sweetness while Tang Yuyan¡¯s tears were from her heart-breaking reality.
¡°You both...¡± Shi Boren pointed at Xia Lei as he red daggers at Long Bing. The older man was pissed beyond words. Xia Lei was challenging him!
Xia Lei¡¯s tone was calm. ¡°Boss Shi, there are some things that I kept to myself for a while. I figure I should say it now.¡±
¡°Well, go on!¡±
¡°Long Bing is my lover, I just wish for her to live a happy life. It¡¯s just a simple wish, I hope you could help me make ite true.¡±
Shi Boren said nothing.
Xia Lei went on. ¡°I want to help herplete this task. Please let me handle this. I don¡¯t want her to get troubled while I literally have no fear of that.¡±
¡°So you think you can do whatever you want just because you¡¯re capable now? Long Bing is your lover. If you really think she¡¯s wronged here, you could just take her away.¡± Shi Boren¡¯s emotions were spiralling out of control.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯ve offered her that but she declined it. She loves this country and she loves her job. I would never ask her to give up on something she loves, but I¡¯ll be d to help her.¡±
¡°You¡¯re such a love expert! But I¡¯m the decision-maker here. No means no.¡±
Xia Lei threatened, ¡°It¡¯s alright if you disagree. I¡¯ll immediately resign from my supervisor position. The next time Bureau 101 faces difficulties, forget about consulting me.¡±
¡°You...¡± Shi Boren was rendered speechless. Though Xia Lei worked for Bureau 101 asionally, the man was undeniably a core member. His resignation would mean a gigantic loss to the bureau. Tang Yuyan¡¯s future would be greatly affected too!
¡°Godfather, just say yes.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was hoarse.
Shi Boren red at her briefly, then pointed at Xia Lei again. ¡°You... You bastard... You...¡±
Xia Lei let out a littleugh. ¡°Boss Shi, what are you trying to say?¡±
¡°If you want to handle it, what are you still standing there for? Get out and work!¡± eximed Shi Boren.
¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll be leaving now. Thank you, Boss Shi. Thank you, Yuyan.¡± Xia Lei thanked them and exited the office. The man had suppressed his wrath from the beginning till the end. Shi Boren and Tang Yuyan were no foe, they were friends. Though he was angry about how they mistreated Long Bing, the fact that this was a result of workce politics would never change. Politics were never clean. It was a fact that Xia Lei understood well.
Generosity was a must when treating friends and family, that was something he practised all the time. A man¡¯s heart must be big, so then it could contain mountains and oceans!
When Xia Lei exited out of the door, Tang Yuyan immediately chased after him.
Long Bing remained at the door, opting to not follow suit.
¡°I hope you won¡¯t me me for this.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s tears were rolling in her socket, threatening to drop down at any given second.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t find a heart to say anything. Instead, he sighed. ¡°I understand that there are some things you have no control over. I won¡¯t me you for that.¡±
A bitter smile appeared at the corner of her lips. Tearily, she asked, ¡°If that was me, would you help me this way?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°What kind of question is that? I gave you all my clothes back in Dawang. What else can I help you with?¡±
¡°You still had your underwear on,¡± teased Tang Yuyan, her mood clearly better now.
¡°That¡¯s enough, I¡¯m going to work now.¡±
¡°Last question.¡± Tang Yuyan stared intently at Xia Lei. ¡°Just now... When you revealed that Long Bing was your lover in front of me and my godfather, I felt like my heart was torn apart. I¡¯m not jealous of Ah Bing. In fact, I¡¯m happy for her. You¡¯re the best gift life has to offer. But if I were in her shoes, would you say something like that?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No.¡±
Tang Yuyan was surprised. ¡°W...Why?¡±
¡°Because you¡¯re the Tang family¡¯s daughter. You don¡¯t need that.¡± With that, Xia Lei left her behind.
Dazedly, she watched him leave. Two beads of tears silently slid down the curves of her cheek.
Long Bing slowly walked over, giving Tang Yuyan¡¯s shoulder a pat. ¡°The things you want, he can¡¯t give. The things he offers, you don¡¯t want. When you finally understand what you truly want in life, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to find happiness too.¡±
Abruptly, Tang Yuyan pulled Long Bing to her front. Then, she buried her face into the crook of Long Bing¡¯s shoulder.
Chapter 887 - Forget About Me, Im Not a Good Man
There was a box in Xia Lei¡¯s arms when he re-entered the room.
At the same time, Yu Shanhe and Ling Han focused their gazes on Xia Lei. To them, Xia Lei was just like an annoying fly. There was just no way to get rid of him.
Xia Lei took a seat before the table. He then began to speak. ¡°Good news, I¡¯m now your interrogator.¡±
¡°You?¡± Ling Han scoffed coldly. ¡°You¡¯re qualified for this?¡±
Yu Shanhe extended an arm to retrieve the newspaper on the table. The older man had no heart to read its contents but this was a tant disy of disregard!
Nonchntly, Xia Lei said, ¡°It looks like you both are not nning to cooperate.¡±
¡°Scram,¡± jeered Ling Han.
There was a smile on Xia Lei¡¯s face rather than a scowl. ¡°I understand that you don¡¯t wish to see me. But let me tell you this. If I leave this ce, I swear I will bring trouble to your families. I¡¯m not afraid of problems and I don¡¯t give a damn about your aplices and associates. I¡¯ll make sure that anyone who messes with me will perish. If I can handle both of you, I¡¯ll be able to handle them.¡±
Ling Han red at Xia Lei dangerously.
Yu Shanhe could no longer continue his act. The older man was now looking at Xia Lei. Other than the hatred in his expression, there was now the new addition of worry.
¡°Very well. Now that you are willing to listen, let¡¯s begin.¡± Xia Lei opened the cardboard box, beginning to take out its contents and disying them on the table.
Those were pieces of evidence of Yu Shanhe¡¯s illegal deeds and sins.
Abruptly, Yu Shanhe lunged forward in an attempt to snatch away the documents.
Xia Lei quickly grabbed his wrist then pushed him backwards. ¡°Don¡¯t try to do anything funny.¡±
Tripping a little, Yu Shanhe fell onto the floor. He yelled, ¡°How dare you!¡±
Ling Han hurriedly helped Yu Shanhe up. ¡°Xia Lei, how bold of you! How dare you attack Officer Yu!¡±
Xia Lei chuckled lowly. ¡°At this point, I wouldn¡¯t bother with the high and mighty act. You both better humble down and keep your hands to yourself. Try me and I¡¯ll beat the shit out you. What are you going to do about me? Sue me? Or get someone to mess me up real good?¡±
Yu Shanhe was so furious that he ran out of words to say. Even if he was able to instruct some people remotely for the job, those men were no match for Xia Lei. In fact, they wouldn¡¯t even be able toe near him!
Ling Han could only swallow down the dissatisfaction of defeat. He could never win over Xia Lei, no matter physical fights or verbal argument. Xia Lei was his nemesis!
In another room, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan sat in front of a surveince feedback disy. The two women were watching over the happenings inside the room.
¡°Wow, he actually pushed Yu Shanhe onto the ground.¡± Tang Yuyan was genuinely surprised.
However, Long Bing didn¡¯t seem to register her words. There was a poorly concealed smile on her lips. The smile was that of absolute happiness.
¡°Oi, I¡¯m talking to you. Stop sending heart-eyes over the screen.¡± Tang Yuyan begrudgingly hit the back of Long Bing¡¯s head, albeit lightly.
It was only then that Long Bing responded, ¡°What did you say?¡±
Tang Yuyan sighed in defeat.
Long Bing returned her attention to the disy screen. She didn¡¯t know why but the sight of Xia Lei made her heart race. She felt soforted and there was even an urge to sleep with him.
¡°Uh, Ah Bing, let¡¯s talk about some BFF tier topics.¡±
¡°What BFF tier topics?¡±
¡°How many times had you have sex with Xia Lei?¡±
Long Bing turned to look at Xia Lei weirdly. Sheepishly, she questioned, ¡°What the fuck is wrong with you?¡±
¡°Alright, fine. How about another question? Was he... good?¡±
¡°Have you not slept with him?¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at Long Bing. ¡°If I had, would I need to ask?¡± Though she seemed irritated, her mind kept bringing her back to that night with Xia Lei in West province Dawang. She and Xia Lei had shared some intimate moments in the RV, but that surely hadn¡¯t counted as sex.
Long Bing gaped awkwardly. She had never expected Tang Yuyan to ask such a bold question. She found herself helplessly thinking back to all the unspeakable things she had done with Xia Lei. Those sensual images turned her into a morning lily, whose petals were dripping with droplets of dew.
¡°Come on, we¡¯re women. What is there to be bashful about?¡± Tang Yuyan nudged the tip of her elbow against Long Bing¡¯s slim waist.
Long Bing was in a daze. She stared nkly before replying btedly, ¡°You¡¯ll know if you try.¡±
Long Bing began to inch closer to Tang Yuyan¡¯s ear. ¡°He... He uh...¡±
Now was Tang Yuyan¡¯s turn to gape to the point where she just decided to let her jaw hang open. Her cheeks were beginning to be feverishly warm, gaining some flush in the process.
¡°You¡¯re not a little girl anymore. You should experience it for yourself.¡± After muttering those scandalous things, Long Bing turned to advise Tang Yuyan with the tone of an experienced woman.
¡°Hmph! You¡¯re just eager for me to find some other men.¡± Tang Yuyan shed Long Bing the white of her eyes.
¡°I¡¯m calling this quits. You should just continue to be the obedient, docile daughter to your Tang family.¡± Long Bing decided to ignore Tang Yuyan, focusing her attention back onto the screen.
On the other hand, Tang Yuyan tried to grasp what Long Bing had just said. There was some sadness in her eyes.
Continue being the obedient, docile daughter to the Tang family?
Was this the way she wanted to live her life?
Tang Yuyan had no clue.
In the interrogation room beside, Xia Lei continued to pressure Yu Shanhe and Ling Han.
¡°Now that I¡¯m in charge of you, I¡¯d allow you to leave some funds to your family. At least they¡¯d be able to live the rest of their lives with ease. If you continue to not cooperate with me, the bureau would have no choice but to get the higher-ups involved in this. By that time, you¡¯d probably be forced to vomit out more than you can eat. Any family members who benefited or were involved in your deeds will receive their respective punishment. There¡¯s no point in hoping for their safety. I¡¯ll be sure to bring them out one by one and have them exposed under the limelight.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was calm but every word wasced with threat.
Yu Shanhe remained silent, not making a single sound.
Ling Han¡¯s face was turning pale and green. There was a sheen in his eye.
All of this hadn¡¯t gone unnoticed by Xia Lei. Stoic, he mentioned, ¡°Mister Ling, I know what kind of rtionship you shared with Song Baicheng¡¯s woman. Song Baicheng¡¯s son is actually yours. You¡¯ve harmed a great number of people in your life. Are you serious about harming your own son at this stage?¡±
Ling Han bit his lower lip, face horrifyingly pale. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°You really want me to go into detail? Let me summarize this for you. He will be an orphan. There would be no inheritance left under his name. Do you want your son to grow up in an orphanage? Or would you rather see him homeless on the streets, earning small pennies by collecting recybles?¡±
¡°Enough! That¡¯s enough!¡± Ling Han clenched his fists hard. The man had already lost all control of his emotions.
¡°Do you think anything will change even if I didn¡¯t say a word?¡± Xia Lei scoffed mockingly. ¡°Since we were able to get you here, you should¡¯ve already known your fate. What is the point of struggling?¡±
Ling Han and Yu Shanhe looked at each other.
Xia Lei stood up from his seat, stowing all the disyed pieces of evidence into the cardboard box.
Yu Shanhe voiced, ¡°How did you get all of these?¡±
¡°I paid a visit to your home.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°You should be clear that this is only a tiny part of it. It will not only be your dirt. Your wife, your son, and all of your rtives¡¯ dirt will not be spared by me. And you, Ling Han, I will dig out every single dirt you have along with the people around you. I can assure you that what the investigation team can¡¯t find, I can find. The more I find, the heavier your crimes, right? You two still want to y this game? Then know this, you can¡¯t beat me!¡±
Once everything was back into its box, Xia Lei lifted it and left the room.
But as he got to the door, Yu Shanhe finally called out. ¡°Wait!¡±
Xia Lei halted his footsteps, a smile slowly appearing over his face. ¡°You¡¯re finally willing to cooperate?¡±
Yu Shanhe only nodded his head meekly. At that moment, he was a defeated athlete at the mercy of his opponent. The person who had him defeated was Xia Lei.
Ling Han lifelessly hung his head low. His arrogance, his dreams and everything he had left him in that split second. The man looked like he had aged ten years.
Xia Lei returned to his seat and flipped the transcript open. ¡°Let us begin...¡±
Within an hour, Xia Lei was out of the interrogation room. What Shi Boren was reluctant to handle and what Long Bing couldn¡¯t finish was easilypleted by him.
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing were already waiting for him at the door.
Swiftly, Xia Lei returned the transcript into Long Bing¡¯s hands. ¡°I¡¯ll skip meeting Boss Shi. Please pass this back to him.¡±
Long Bing nodded in response. ¡°Please wait for me. I¡¯ll sign off work as soon as I get this to Boss Shi. Come to my ce, I¡¯ll cook dinner for you tonight.¡±
Xia Lei shed her a gentle smile. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll wait for you.¡± He was a busy man but nheless willing to spare some time for Long Bing.
The disy had Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart clenched in sourness. ¡°Can you both please not be so shameless?¡±
It probably would¡¯ve been better if she said nothing. Now that she had chided them, Long Bing abruptly reversed back to whisper into Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask for a child? I promise I¡¯ll give it a good hard thought.¡±
Xia Lei could feel his heart exploding with delight. But as soon as he caught sight of Tang Yuyan¡¯s scrutinizing gaze, he zipped his mouth shut. The man nodded instead.
Ending her sentence, Long Bing left a peck on his cheek.
She was doing this on purpose.
What Shi Boren and Tang Yuyan did to her had her disheartened. Despite that, Long Bing was not a pushover and she was most definitely not an easy target. She had her own method of retaliation. So Tang Yuyan didn¡¯t want to see her and Xia Lei being all lovey-dovey, right? Not only was she going to get handsy all around Xia Lei, but she was also going to get showered in his affection right in front of her face!
With that, Long Bing left to find Shi Boren.
Tang Yuyan quickly blocked Xia Lei¡¯s path. ¡°Are you really going to live a life like this?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I think it¡¯s pretty good, I¡¯m happy.¡±
¡°Fan Fan allows you to sleep around?¡±
Xia Lei frowned at her choice of words. ¡°What do you mean? Ah Bing and I share a long history together. She has helped me more times than I can count. She likes me and I like her. How could this be considered sleeping around?¡±
¡°What about Liang Siyao?¡±
¡°She¡¯s the first woman that I¡¯ve ever loved. Not to mention, she¡¯s the daughter of my master. We have been family since the start. It¡¯s true that we had a bumpy past but we¡¯ve moved on. Is there a problem with that?¡±
¡°What about Jiang Ruyi?¡±
¡°Jiang Ruyi is a childhood friend of mine. We have had feelings budding for each other since young. What wrong is there for us to get together?¡±
¡°What about Fan Fan?¡±
¡°She was arranged with me by the authorities. How could I say no to that?¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan was so angry that her tears were threatening to flow out.
Xia Lei sighed and spoke as he brushed past her, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, please forget about me. I¡¯m not a good man and I¡¯ll never be the good man the Tang family wants.¡±
Tang Yuyan was now in tears.
Chapter 888 - No Tiring Work When Paired With The Opposite Sex
The n was to have dinner at her ce. However, when dinner time came, the two found themselves on the bank of a river.
The night sky was dotted with stars, the moonlight gracing them a romantic ambience. The river waters flowed silently in the background. The Knight XV waited for them under the quiet night, strong contour standing out like a metal beast.
It should¡¯ve been expected. How could a car-loving enthusiast not want to hear the roar of her newly-acquired twenty million Knight XV? Could she have withstood the seduction of a V10 engine and its sound? Would she give up a chance to show her charming wild side to the man she loved?
Long Bing, was never one to be a housewife stereotype. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t even count the times she told him that she would make him dinner but had turned out to be a cup of instant ramen instead. Therefore, the man had no expectations to enjoy a good meal at Long Bing¡¯s ce. He had already braced himself for another cup ramen meal when Long Bing brought up the offer earlier.
Despite that, it seemed like even the cup noodles were out of reach. They had left all forms of civilisation. All they could see was arge span ofnd, it was somewhere where a billionaire couldn¡¯t buy cup noodles.
¡°Is it really worth twenty million?¡± On the grass patch, the woman lying on the crook of his shoulder broke the intimate silence.
¡°Why are you asking?¡± Xia Lei was content with the tranquillity.
¡°I¡¯m just curious. Tang Yuyan mentioned that it was worth twenty million,¡± said Long Bing.
¡°It would be twenty-one million including tax.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s jaw hung open in shock. ¡°That¡¯s crazy expensive. I don¡¯t dare to drive it anymore... Why are you giving me such a nice ride?¡±
Xia Lei stared at her in silence with gentle and tender eyes. ¡°You¡¯re my lover. You like guns, so I¡¯ll give you the best guns the world has to offer. You like cars, so I¡¯ll give you the best cars the world has to offer. I want to spoil you with the very best you deserve.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s heart thumped loudly against her chest. She mumbled, ¡°I just want you. You alone are enough.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yeah, I am the best.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Long Bing let out a burst ofughter.
Xia Lei allowed himself to indulge in the sight, trying to imprint her most beautiful form in his heart.
¡°Tang Yuyan was sobbing today.¡± Long Bing heaved a long sigh. ¡°I can¡¯t help but feel like I¡¯ve hurt her.¡±
¡°You¡¯re such a soft-hearted person. You¡¯re still thinking about her even when Yuyan and Boss Shi had tried to abuse you.¡±
¡°We¡¯re practically sisters. I would¡¯ve never wanted things to turn out this way... Am I really as soft-hearted as you im?¡±
Xia Lei reached over and pressed around. ¡°Well, isn¡¯t this soft?¡±
A blush immediately bloomed across her face.
Under the pale moonlight, her loosened cor showed off the shape of her firm chest. The exposed span of snowy skin was even paler than the moon, softer than the lunar light it gave off. The enticing cleavage felt like it had sweet fragrant wine flowing between it.
Xia Lei stared at it in a daze, forgetting to retract his wayward palm.
Long Bing too was staring at Xia Lei, her eyes seemed more passionate than his. ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask if I¡¯d want to bear you a monkey or a princess? I won¡¯t be able to do that if you keep staring.¡±
Xia Lei immediately leapt into action, darting over to capture her lips.
A few minutester.
¡°Ouch! Stop!¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Things were getting good and Xia Lei was impatient.
¡°I¡¯m literally lying on rocks! Can¡¯t you just keep it in for a bit?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head.
¡°How about you lie down while I get on top?¡±
A day had passed and Xia Lei found himself in Thunder Horse Military Factory¡¯s garage.
An iplete ZTZ100 model main battle tank wasid on the assembly tform. Sylvia, Annina and Xia Lei were busy as hell. Dressed in their work overalls, almost every inch of their body was covered in grease. It wasn¡¯t just the three of them bustling around the garage at this moment. There were many Thunder Horse elites working hard for the birth of their tank.
Though this ZTZ100 battle tank had borrowed a part of Germany¡¯s Leopard 2 Tank¡¯s technology, it was not an exact replica of it. The Leopard 2 Tank was only about fifty-five tonnes heavy while the soon to bepleted ZTZ100 tank was going to reach a shocking weight of sixty-five tonnes. It would be heavier than the Leopard 2 by ten tonnes and heavier than the newest American M1A3 main battle tank by twelve tonnes! Simply put, it meant that Thunder Horse¡¯s first tank would be the biggest main battle tank in the world.
Not only was its size impressive, but also included all the most advanced technologies Thunder Horse Organization could offer.
Its turret was about as long as its body. The impressive turret helped increase the thickness of the armour, which gave an advantage to its survivability in a real battle. Besides that, its armour was birthed from relentless research by the Thunder Horse Military Factory. The tank was equipped with the newest ceramic reactive armour, which would allow it to resist armour-piercing projectiles from a 155-mm main gun. This feature was superior to that of the M1A3 main battle tank, which too had a ceramic reactive armour but only resist armour-piercing projectiles form a 144-mm main gun.
Big body andrge space meant more room for projectiles. The impressive capacity would naturally require a better engine. The engine that would be used for the ZTZ100 main battle tank was the very same engine used in the Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle. It was refined and given the name ¡®Thunder Engine 2¡¯. Its horsepower reached an astonishing 2500 hp. This sheer power was stronger than the M1A3 engine by one third!
Most importantly, the engine was able to have the ZTZ100 tank elerate from its stationary phase to 100 km/h in only eight seconds. The fastest the M1A3 could go was only 82 km/h, and it was considered the most advanced tank so far!
In the firepower system aspect, Thunder Horse Organization had installed their very own fire control system into the ZTZ100. The system consisted of aser rangefinder, a ballisticputer, a gunner¡¯s stabilized sight, a two-way gun stabilization and control instruments. It also included various sensors, along with an automatic bomb refill system and aprehensive thermal imager.
Under Huang Xuewen¡¯s leadership, the Artificial Intelligence department had yed a great role in the development of the fire control system. AI technology had a massive role in ZTZ100¡¯s fire control system. In battle, thebination of strong firepower and AI technology would essentially make them invincible!
Firepower wise, the tank was given the 150-mm smoothbore, produced and researched entirely in the organization¡¯s explosives garage. The smoothbore would allow the tank to attack with a variety of special projectiles. One of its main weapons was the armour-piercing projectile that could destroy a 900-mm homogenous steel armour three thousand and five hundred metres away. With assistance from theser rangefinder, any shot projectile could prate any armoured target within a twelve-kilometre radius!
Other than that, the tank carried three 7.62-mm machine guns and one 12.7-mm remote control machine gun. It was simr to the M1A3 tank, but the difference was that any gun produced by Thunder Horse was certified the most advanced in the world. This required no further proof as the XL2500 sniper rifle and the gust assault rifle were solid facts to the statement!
They had real results as proof of their capabilities.
When the ZTZ100 main battle tank ispleted and birthed, the most advanced tank in the would no longer be the American M1A3. The title shall be robbed and given to Thunder Horse¡¯s ZTZ100!
¡°Lukas, half a month more. In another half month, we¡¯ll be able to give you the most advanced tank in the world,¡± said Annina in the ZTZ100 cockpit. Currently, she was busy with debugging the hydraulic assist system.
Xia Lei shed them a smile. ¡°You both had worked very hard. When the ZTZ100 tank is off the production line, you two should take a well-deserved break.¡±
Sylvia, on the other hand, was installing spare parts. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ve been worked to the bone. As soon this project is finished, Annina and I have travel ns to Greece. Lukas, would you like toe with us?¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to Greece?¡± Xia Lei was surprised, but there was some budding worry in his heart.
¡°Yeah, we¡¯d like to go to the Aegean Sea and the Temple of Athena. Are you really not going toe with us?¡± Sylvia looked at Xia Lei in anticipation.
¡°I¡¯m afraid I would not have the time. You two should go there and have some fun. I can arrange it for you.¡± On the inside, Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°If the Japanese and Americans learn that they¡¯re going to Greece for a trip, they¡¯d surely do something. But I think it should be fine if I have a member of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team protecting them. They¡¯ve both contributed heavily and have worked extra hard for a long time. I can¡¯t just deprive them of a simple request like this.¡±
¡°Lukas, can you step back a little?¡± Sylvia¡¯s voice interrupted his thought.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei snapped out of it. But before he could do as she asked, a thick bottom made an abrupt appearance before his face. It was Sylvia¡¯s ass, as she was squeezed to his front while she installed the instrument panel. Its sudden appearance left him no space to back off. In that split second, his face found itself in intimate contact with her ass.
¡°Oh crap, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Sylvia frantically moved her body forward.
Xia Lei chuckled sheepishly. ¡°It¡¯s fine. This is nothing...¡±
Before he could finish his words, Annina thought of a devious n. Immediately, she extended an arm and pressed his skull back into Sylvia¡¯s buttocks. The soft sensation was indescribable. Other than the scent of sweat and motor grease, there was the scent of...
The atmosphere in the cockpit immediately turned a few degrees hot. One may call it weird even.
¡°Annina, bold of you to prank me. Come on, bring your butt over and let me spank you.¡± Xia Lei raised a palm in preparation for an ass-spank.
Without hesitation, Annina turned around and bent over to extrude her bottom. Pliant buttocks waiting for Xia Lei¡¯s impact.
Xia Lei froze. The man was just fooling around but the woman was all too eager for a spank, preparing her buttocks as soon as he said it.
¡°Come on, I still got work to do,¡± urged Annina.
Xia Lei pped her ass, adding on a greasy handprint on to the back of her pants.
¡°Director Xia, you got guests.¡± An employee¡¯s voice rang out from the top of the turret.
¡°Who is it?¡± Xia Lei questioned.
¡°It¡¯s Miss Fan and a few military personnel.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be there soon.¡± Xia Lei wiped the grease off his hands and climbed out of the cockpit.
At the entrance of the garage, an office wear dressed Fan Fan and a few military figures were making their way over.
Spotting Xia Lei on the top of the ZTZ100 main battle tank, Fan Fan immediately broke into a smile, waving at him from a distance.
Xia Lei leapt down from the turret and went over to greet them.
Chapter 889 - Lets Make Our Country Proud
Among the few military figures that came with Fan Fan was one with a pine green epaulette. His two golden stars were adorned with golden branches and leaves. Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. This man was a general. He couldn¡¯t help but spare the man another look. The general seemed to be in his fifties. He had a majestic aura, giving him a capable and confident image.
¡°A general of the ground troops. He¡¯s probably here to check on the ZTZ100 main battle tank. We¡¯re not finished yet and they¡¯re already this anxious?¡± Xia Lei thought to himself. He immediately headed towards them to greet them.
¡°Old Xia.¡± Fan Fan greeted him passionately. ¡°This is General Huang He from the Northern Tank Corps.¡±
¡°Hello, General Huang. Wee to my humble factory.¡± Xia Lei extended a hand to shake Huang He¡¯s hands. Upon realizing that his palms were filled with grease, Xia Lei quickly retracted his hand with a sheepish smile.
Despite that, Huang He went ahead and grabbed his hand. ¡°This is just some grease, no? I worked with tanks all day back at my base. I absolutely like the smell of mobile grease.¡±
As expected, the man was here to see the tank. But Xia Lei had really liked General Huang He, he was such an unconventionally friendly general.
Following that, Fan Fan introduced the rest of the military figures that came with Huang He. They all didn¡¯t mind his greasy palms, willingly epting his handshakes.
¡°This must be the ZTZ100 main battle tank, right?¡± Huang He went towards the ZTZ100 which was ced on the assembly line without further ado.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°General Huang, you have arrived a little too early. We still need another month toplete it.¡±
Annina said the rest of the progress would be done within half a month, but that had only meant thepletion of assembly. Xia Lei had said a month to include relevant testings.
¡°I couldn¡¯t wait, I needed to see it now.¡± Huang He was very impatient, continuing his tour of the half-finished tank.
The few military men surrounded the ZTZ100 in careful observation. Some of them had engaged a few Thunder Horse employees in conversations while some studied the prints carefully. The most impatient of them all was still Huang He, who even made his climb onto the turret to study the tank¡¯s insides.
Xia Lei and Fan Fan watched them from the side.
¡°What¡¯s General Huang He here for?¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Our tank isn¡¯t even done with production yet.¡±
Fan Fan answered him, ¡°They visited China Industrial Group to take a look at their tanks but didn¡¯t leave satisfied. Their visit here is a special request. They¡¯ve requested to look at your ZTZ100 main battle tank. Hence, the authority assigned me to apany them over.¡±
¡°What do you mean by they hadn¡¯t fancied China Industrial¡¯s tanks?¡± Xia Lei was curious. China Industrial Group¡¯s Type 99 Main Battle Tank was still regarded as the most advanced main battle tank in the country. Though it wasn¡¯t as good as the ZTZ100, ignoring Japan¡¯s Type 10 Main Battle Tank and Russia¡¯s T90 Tank, the Type 99 was still quite advanced within Asia. Plus, Type 99 was the current in use main battle tank. Many troops were equipped with it and even if the military wanted to switch over from their Type 99 to ZTZ100pletely, the switch would only bepleted after a few years.
¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s dimples appeared. ¡°But from what I learnt, they aren¡¯t here to scout for a new battle tank. They¡¯re here in preparation for the tank biathlon.¡±
¡°The tank biathlon?¡±
¡°You haven¡¯t heard of that? It¡¯s a tournament meant for tanks. Though the Europeans and Americans hadn¡¯t bothered to participate in it, the tournament has a great impact in Asia and third world countries. Judging it from a strategic perspective, it¡¯s a great tform to showcase your abilities and intimidate your enemies,¡± exined Fan Fan.
Xia Leimented, ¡°That sounds rather significant.¡±
¡°Yeah, this is much more meaningful than those weapon exhibitions you¡¯ve taken part in the past. This is a direct confrontation of tank versus tank.¡± Mentioning that, Fan Fan paused and sighed. ¡°But we¡¯ve never won.¡±
Tanks were the kings of ground battle. The strength of a country¡¯s tank yed a great role in itsnd war capabilities. If they couldn¡¯t even damage their opponent¡¯s tank, what do their opponents have to fear?
¡°I guess they¡¯re here to evaluate if they should use your ZTZ100 to participate in it. The fact that we¡¯ve never won any title and having India one rank above us is a reality that our military found hard to digest,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°My tank is just halfplete now. How is it going topete in this state?¡±
At this moment, Huang He leapt off the turret. He waved at Xia Lei furiously. ¡°Comrade Xia Lei,e over here!¡± He seemed emotional. Not only was his voice booming loud, but his bodynguage was also very exaggerated.
Xia Lei approached him with a bright smile. ¡°Yes, General Huang. What can I do for you?¡±
Unexpectedly, Huang He closed in and wrapped Xia Lei in a firm hug. Heughed and said, ¡°This is great! Amazing! I¡¯m very impressed with you!¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei smiled sheepishly.
Bemused, Fan Fan teased, ¡°General Huang, I think you like the tank better.¡±
¡°Yeah, I really like the tank but I also really like Comrade Xia Lei.¡± Huang He beamed. ¡°It¡¯s an honour for the country to have talents like you.¡±
Xia Lei replied to the man courteously, ¡°General Huang, your words tter me.¡±
¡°None of it is ttery.¡± Huang He proceeded to point at the ZTZ100. Hemented, ¡°Though it¡¯s not done yet, from my experience with tanks, this will soon be the king of all tanks!¡±
Fan Fan couldn¡¯t suppress her joy, breaking out into a grin. From the corner of her eye, she studied Xia Lei¡¯s reaction.
Though the praises were impactful, Xia Lei felt nothing. The man knew that his ZTZ100 main battle tank was bound to surpass the American M1A3 Main Battle Tank.
¡°The top ten tanks of this world had ranked America¡¯s M1A1 as first, and that isn¡¯t even the most advanced M1A3 Main Battle Tank. To us, a tank like this felt unobtainable. But what¡¯s most infuriating is that the Indian Arjun Tank had ranked higher than us, following that is Japan¡¯s Type 10 tank.¡±
Huang He heaved a long sigh. ¡°We hadn¡¯t gotten a chance to battle Japan¡¯s Type 10 tank. During thest biathlon in Russia, we faced the Arjun Tank and we...¡±
The general refused to speak of the oue.
¡°Some people may think that our Type 99 tank is already the most advanced in the world. They would be very wrong. For example, European and American tanks are now automatic transmissions that use gas turbine engines. The gas turbine engine not only allows the tank to travel faster but it also gives it more flexibility. Its wear resistance is three times that of diesel generators. Our type 99, on the other hand, is still using a diesel engine. How can we call this the most advanced tank?¡± ranted Huang He.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Those are cold hard facts. We¡¯re constantly improving but we¡¯re always a few steps behind the Europeans and Americans. But trust me, we¡¯ll soon be able to catch up in the tank department. Our ZTZ100 uses a gas turbine engine and has 2500 hp to boot. Our tank will have automatic transmission too. Even if it is twelve tonnes heavier than the M1A3, ZTZ100 will be much faster and much agile.¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the reason why I¡¯m so moved. We¡¯ve been dreaming of having an automatic tank and you¡¯ve made our wildest dreams a reality.¡± Huang Hended a few pats on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Comrade Xia Lei, could you please do me a favour?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°General Huang, there¡¯s no need to hold back.¡±
¡°Could you rush thepletion within half a month? I¡¯d like to bring this to Russia for the tank biathlon,¡± said Huang He, his gaze filled with anticipation and hope.
¡°This...¡± Xia Lei was a little embarrassed to respond. ¡°Finishing the assembly would take half a month but we still need to run some tests after that. Half a month is not enough.¡±
Huang He reassured him. ¡°I know this is a little difficult for you. Admittedly, participating in the biathlon with an all-new tank that hadn¡¯t gone through its tests poses a great risk. However, the Japanese are participating. They¡¯re nning to use their newest improved Type 10 Tank for the tournament and it¡¯s a tank that I¡¯ve long dreamt of defeating.¡±
¡°Why is Japan participating this time?¡± Xia Lei was a little shocked.
¡°Because Japan and Russia have initiated negotiations of the four northern inds. Thispetition has now be an intimidation strategy for them. I¡¯m sure you know that Russia is in a tight spot now and they need Japan¡¯s investments. But these are none of my concerns, the only concern I have is that we must never lose to Japan,¡± said Huang He.
Xia Lei pondered for a while. ¡°Sure, I can get this done. After we¡¯re done with the assembly, I¡¯ll deliver ZTZ100 to Russia. I¡¯ll just run tests on the way there.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going too?¡± Fan Fan nudged the tip of her elbow against Xia Lei, seemingly a hint.
She was worried about his safety.
Huang He widened his fiery eyes. ¡°Comrade Fan Fan, what do you mean? I know Comrade Xia Lei is a national treasure and that him leaving the country brings great threats to him. But don¡¯t underestimate us. I¡¯ll have one thousand elites protect him. If hees close to even losing hair, you can have me to me.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± An awkward flush appeared on her cheeks.
Instead, Huang He pressed on loudly, ¡°Am I wrong? Comrade Fan Fan, I know that you¡¯re his fiancee and I can understand your worries. But is my status not enough to guarantee his safety?¡±
¡°Of course it¡¯s enough!¡± Fan Fan paused and looked at Xia Lei. ¡°If he wants to go, I¡¯m not going to stop him.¡±
Huang He grinned. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Comrade Xia Lei, you got yourself a great wife.¡±
A smile was stered on the corner of Fan Fan¡¯s lips. ¡°I¡¯m only one of his wives. His real carer is Miss Liang in his office. I don¡¯t even know where I rank at.¡±
Back then, the thought of bing Xia Lei¡¯s only woman had never crossed her mind. But as time passed and her love grew along with the little monkey in her womb, the woman couldn¡¯t help but think about it. It was inevitable, as there was no woman in the world who could bear to share their beloved with other women. Sadly, would a man like Xia Lei only have one woman?
Most definitely not.
¡°Then it is decided, General Huang. In half a month, we¡¯ll head to Russia and show them who¡¯s the real tank king!¡± eximed Xia Lei.
Huang He¡¯s hands were once again joined with Xia Lei¡¯s. ¡°Let¡¯s make our country proud!¡±
Chapter 890 - Absolutely Not!
Half a monthter.
Arabino Range, Moscow, Russia.
A cargo train from China entered the station. Other than the passengerpartments, there were more than a dozen t cars. The carriage was loaded with Type 99 Main Battle Tanks transported over from China. However, there was a carriage that waspletely covered by arge military canvas. Though it was obvious what was under it, no one could identify the model of the tank.
On the t cars were four armed military guards with live ammunition. They stood at their positions in an impressively straight posture, watching over the station vigntly.
There were a few trains parked in the station. Simrly, all of them had carried tanks. There was the Arjun Tank from India, the Type 10 Tank from Japan and armies from many other countries like Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Brus. The station was essentially a gathering ce for tanks from all over the globe.
¡°We¡¯re here, Comrade Xia Lei. Let¡¯s exit the train,¡± said Huang He to Xia Lei. The general was very courteous to him.
¡°Sure, after you.¡± Xia Lei stood and followed Huang He.
The man was protected by a huge bunch of Northern Land Corps Special Forces. The soldiers carefully surrounded him as he left thepartment.
As soon as Xia Lei exited the train, he could spot the Arjun Tank and Type 10 Tank in a nce. These two tanks were the ones that ranked higher than China¡¯s Type 99 Tank. It was inevitable that the Japanese and Indian media took the chance to sensationalize their victory while hinting mockery with their words. It was an unfortunate reality. While the Type 99 Tank had strong firepower, itgs far behind in terms of manoeuvrability, maintenance, and electronic equipment.
A hoard of Japanese had exited their train too. There were Japanese soldiers in their uniforms and casually dressed employees.
Abruptly, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze found its way onto a woman among the Japanese group. The man soon found it difficult to tear his focus away.
The woman was dressed in a traditional kimono. Her face was skillfully powdered and her lips were shaped into a small cherry-like shape. Albeit so, those weren¡¯t the factors that attracted Xia Lei¡¯s attention. The man couldn¡¯t look away as she was none other than Hattori Mei herself.
As he looked at her, Hattori Mei reciprocated the gesture. As soon as she noticed him, her attention too was solely focused on him.
Their eyes met and gave rise to a swell ofplicated emotions within Xia Lei¡¯s heart. Back in Paris, he had spent a lust-charged night with her. But they had be vicious enemies to one another in India. Xia Lei had even taken the life of her brother, Hattori Geppa. Their unnned meeting triggered a flood of memories that seemed to stagger around longer than Xia Lei had anticipated.
At this moment, a tall man dressed in military uniform exited the carriage. Coming to Hattori Mei¡¯s side, he blocked Xia Lei¡¯s line of view. He had exchanged words with Hattori Mei and immediate;y swung his head to stare at Xia Lei.
The man was unmistakably Hattori Masao.
While Xia Lei awkwardly pondered as to why Hattori Mei was here, the sight of Hattori Masao seemed to have answered his query. Hattori Masao was a general of the Japanese Land Self-Defense Force. It would make sense for him to be here as Japan¡¯s Type 10 Tank was involved in the tank biathlon.
¡°Hmph!¡± Huang He scoffed as he spared the Japanese a nce. ¡°That¡¯s General Hattori Masao of the Japanese Land Self-Defense Force. The man¡¯s very intense, he¡¯s considered a right-wing figure in Japan. He has made a lot of unfriendly remarks in the past.¡±
¡°I¡¯m acquainted with him.¡± Xia Lei looked away.
¡°How did you know each other?¡± Huang He was genuinely surprised.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Thest time we participated in the International Army Weapons Exhibition in Paris, he had visited the Thunder Horse Organization hall. His daughter is the personal assistant to Lockheed Martin¡¯s Madam Folsom, she¡¯s the one in the kimono.¡±
Huang He looked at Hattori Mei briefly. While Hattori Mei was an absolute beauty among mixed-raced females, Huang He wasn¡¯t the least bit interested in her. An honest soldier like him had no interest in hispetition.
The group of Japanese were also headed towards the main lobby of the station. Before long, the two parties came face to face at the entrance of the lobby.
The Japanese soldiers stared at the Chinese soldiers emotionlessly as thetter returned the gesture with stern expressions. Truthfully, such tension most certainly wouldn¡¯t be seen among their civilians but it definitely existed between their soldiers. The Japanese had invaded China and trampled their people and soil. It was basically impossible for the soldiers to forget about the past. To make things worse, the Japanese military was still upying an ind of theirs. tantly put, Japan¡¯s actions and decisions were hostile and both parties had viewed each other equally as potential enemies. How could one show joy in the face of a foe?
¡°So we meet again, Mister Xia.¡± Hattori Mei¡¯s smile was coquettish. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since we met in Paris, why hadn¡¯t you contacted me yet? Have you forgotten all about me?¡±
¡°You¡¯re...?¡± Xia Lei pretended.
Hattori Mei wasn¡¯t the least bit fazed at all. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good at acting. You may forget me but I¡¯ll never forget you.¡±
He was a man who she had bedded a few times, there was no way she could ever forget about him. Plus, Xia Lei had stolen the Hattori n¡¯s AI technology and even killed her brother!
Hattori Masao¡¯s gaze on Xia Lei was unbearably chilly. He would never forget the death of his son, Hattori Geppa.
¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, I really don¡¯t recognize you. Goodbye.¡± Xia Lei left the scene.
¡°Wait.¡± Hattori Mei quickened her steps to catch up to him. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±
¡°I could ask the same.¡± Xia Lei turned to meet her eyes.
¡°I¡¯m here to join the tank biathlon, of course.¡± She answered.
¡°I too am here to join the tank biathlon.¡± Xia Lei replied the same thing.
¡°Can we not do this?¡± Hattori Mei scowled. ¡°Just lend me a minute, it won¡¯t take long.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything left for us to talk about,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t think so. Come on, let¡¯s talk. You won¡¯t lose anything.¡± Hattori Mei was keen.
While Xia Lei was hesitating, Huang He immediately yelled after her. ¡°Madam, what is with you? Mister Xia had expressed his intentions clearly, please respect him.¡±
Hattori Masao quickly retaliated, ¡°Mister Huang He, is this how Chinese men treat a woman?¡±
Huang He red at him sharply. ¡°Depends on the woman.¡±
¡°How could you say something like that! You need to apologize!¡± One of the Land Self-Defense soldiers who could converse in Chinese quickly stood up for her. His tone was extremely unfriendly.
In that split second, the Chinese soldiers surrounded the scene.
The atmosphere immediately turned tense.
Xia Lei was helpless. It would be a big issue if a brawl were to take ce now, he would be the trigger of it too. The man quickly interrupted the tension. ¡°What are you guys doing? Please calm down.¡± With a change of his tone, he turned to Huang He. ¡°General Huang, I¡¯ll just talk to her, it won¡¯t take long.¡±
Huang He nodded. ¡°Very well, we¡¯ll wait for you.¡±
A group of armed Special Forces swiftly went into their positions to wait for one Xia Lei. This was a majestic disy only Xia Lei could have.
Hattori Mei began to walk straight, following along the station tform.
Xia Lei trailed behind her, silently activating his left eye to check for hidden threats. Soon enough, his findings had deemed her unarmed. The only abnormal thing on her was a butterfly-shaped absorbent material, to which his eyes felt like it got stabbed when he tried to see through it.
Hattori Mei resumed walking even though she had walked about twenty metres away. Xia Lei decided to stop walking. ¡°Enough, this is far enough. What do you want to say? You¡¯re free to say it now.¡±
It was only then that Hattori Mei halted her footsteps. She turned around to face Xia Lei. ¡°I saw that your train had carried a tank covered in military canvas. What tank is it?¡±
¡°How am I supposed to know? It¡¯s probably the Type 99 Tank,¡± answered Xia Lei nonchntly.
¡°There¡¯s no point trying to trick me. It may be covered but I can tell that its size is much bigger than the Type 99. It even seems to berger than our Type 10 Tank. There¡¯s no way it could be a Type 99, right?¡± Hattori Mei attempted to probe.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I¡¯ll ask themter.¡±
¡°Stop pretending. That is the tank produced by your Thunder Horse Organization, right? I¡¯ve received intel that your side has been busy with producing a tank, itspletion should fall around now if my estimations are correct.¡±
She could guess that the tank on the carriage was Thunder Horse¡¯s new tank but Xia Lei was not surprised at all.
¡°Why ask questions you know the answers to?¡±
¡°Can you tell me more about your tank?¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Haha, I don¡¯t think we¡¯re on friendly terms here. We¡¯re enemies. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to be so casual, directly asking me for such confidential information. Why are you so confident?¡±
¡°Well, you owe me.¡±
¡°I owe you?¡±
¡°You slept with me in France and had the audacity to steal my family¡¯s AI technology while I gained nothing from it. Don¡¯t you think you owe me something? Plus, you killed my brother back in India and yet I hadn¡¯t sought revenge from you. You really think you don¡¯t owe me anything?¡±
Calmly, Xia Lei replied, ¡°You should consider yourself lucky that I hadn¡¯t killed you off in India. If something like that were to happen again, you can start arranging your funeral.¡±
Disdain shed in her eyes but dissipated in the next second. ¡°It¡¯s alright if you don¡¯t want to tell me anything, it¡¯s only natural when you¡¯re about to join the tank biathlon. I hope you brought all the tools you need. The tank you¡¯re contesting against this time is not the Russian or Indian tanks, you¡¯ll be facing Japan¡¯s most advanced tank!¡±
¡°Japan¡¯s most advanced tank? Hehehe...¡± Xia Lei cackled.
¡°Tanks are the kings of thend battle, they¡¯re not as easy to make as guns. Just you wait, I¡¯ll be sure to give you a taste of defeat.¡± Hattori Mei was beaming with confidence.
¡°You brought me here just to say this?¡±
Unexpectedly, Hattori Mei abruptly came closer. She lowered her voice. ¡°There¡¯s someone who wants to meet you.¡±
Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°Who?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll know soon.¡± With that, Hattori Mei turned around and left.
Watching her leave, a disdainful smile soon found its way onto his lips. Though he had no idea who she was referring to, he wasn¡¯t interested at all.
Did she really think that he was someone anyone could meet?
Absolutely not!
Chapter 891 - National Enemy
In the Arabino Range barracks.
¡°Comrade Xia Lei, that Japanese woman is a sly fox. She¡¯s no good,¡± said Huang He sternly in Xia Lei¡¯s room.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°General Huang, I know she¡¯s not a good woman but thank you for reminding me.¡±
Huang He¡¯s expression was very stoic. ¡°You¡¯re still young. You will have rash tendencies. However, please do not let down the country. You must get a good grip on your thoughts,¡± advised Huang He.
Xia Lei remained silent.
¡°Alright, you should rest. I don¡¯t wish to nag you any longer,¡± said Huang He.
Xia Lei shed him a reassuring smile. ¡°General Huang, there¡¯s no need to worry. Do I look like a man who is easily swayed by women?¡±
Surprisingly, Huang He returned him a serious nod. ¡°Yes. Comrade Fan Fan had reminded me to keep a close eye on you.¡±
Xia Lei immediately froze, not moving an inch until Huang He had left his room.
Jeez, Fan Fan was so spoiled. How could she make someone as high profile as Huang He do her bidding? She had just earned herself an ass spanking session.
Xia Lei moved to the balcony. The man needed the harsh winter winds of Russia tob his horrid mood.
Russian nights arrived early, the skies were already dark just a few moments after dinner. The cold winds continued to whistle through the night, bringing along a storm of thick snowfall.
He wasn¡¯t sure when the barracks opposite his had ced on Japan¡¯s g. The red sun was extremely eye-catching among the snowy terrain.
Xia Lei used his vision to close in on a thirty-metre distance, scanning through the windows of the opposite building. The man was searching for Hattori Mei and Hattori Masao. Weirdly, he had seen through every single window but found none of them. That was until he whipped his head toward the location of the tanks.
The open space was divided into many areas, allowing each participating country to park their tanks there. China¡¯s Type 99 Tank stood quietly on one of the designated areas. However, unlike the other countries that had theirs lined up neatly, the Chinese tanks were parked in circles.
A few Type 99 Tanks were gathered into a circle while a solitary tank stood in the centre. However, that particr tank was wrapped tightly in thick military canvas, leaving no chance for a sneak peek. This unique parking method made the centre tank look majestic, it stood out from the rest as if it was the emperor of the Type 99 Tanks.
In the meantime, Xia Lei spotted Hattori Mei and Masao in the same open space along with some Indian soldiers.
The presence of a mysterious Chinese Tank among China¡¯s lineup attracted both the attention of the Indians and Japanese.
Xia Lei¡¯s field of sight locked itself onto Hattori Mei, Hattori Masao and the few Indian soldiers.
They were conversing in English.
¡°The Chinese really like their games, huh?¡± An Indian soldiermented as he mocked the Chinese tanks.
¡°So what?¡± Another Indian soldierughed. ¡°Their international ranking is still one rank lower than us. If a war took ce, our tank troops would be able to reach Jingdu city in less than a week.¡±
¡°What is that in the middle of those Type 99? Could it be an improved Type 99?¡± questioned another Indian soldier.
¡°That doesn¡¯t change anything. The Type 99¡¯s firepower is very strong but a tank requiresbined strength, not just firepower. Mobility, emergency maintenance support, electronic performance and so on are vital. These are unfortunately Type 99¡¯s shorings. There¡¯s nothing to fear about the improved version for it wouldn¡¯t be any stronger,¡±mented an Indian soldier.
¡°Miss Beryl, what do you think?¡± The first Indian soldier who spoke asked Hattori Mei.
She replied, ¡°It¡¯spletely concealed. If I could catch a glimpse of it, perhaps I could offer a very professional analysis.¡±
¡°That¡¯s easy.¡± One of them began to approach a stationed Chinese soldier who was tasked with guarding the tank. The soldier eximed, ¡°Hey, soldier! Can we go take a look at your new tank?¡±
The Chinese soldier remained stoic. His stance was rigid as ever but his grip around the gust assault rifle tightened.
¡°Hey, do you hear me?¡± The Indian soldier who yelled out his request was of rather high ranks. The man was rarely ignored so the sight of the ignorant Chinese soldier triggered him. The disy had offended his pride, prompting him to word things rashly.
The Chinese soldier spared him a nce. In Chinese, he yelled, ¡°Go away!¡±
What he really wanted to say was ¡®Fuck off.¡¯
¡°What did he say?¡± The Indian soldier turned around to ask.
Hattori Mei smiled at him. ¡°He said go away.¡±
¡°Damn you!¡± The Indian soldier reached out to grab his cor.
The Chinese soldier immediately aimed the muzzle of the gust assault rifle towards the soldier.
The Indian soldier frantically backed off.
¡°That¡¯s enough, let¡¯s just leave. We¡¯ll just let them y their favourite little mystery game until we beat them tomorrow,¡± said another Indian soldier.
With that, the few Indian soldiers left.
Hattori Masao and Hattori Mei remained in the open space.
¡°Since Xia Lei is here, the tank must have something to do with the Thunder Horse Organization.¡± Masao finally spoke. ¡°We must get some intel on the new tank.¡±
¡°It¡¯s going to be difficult.¡± Hattori Mei continued, ¡°They stationed a soldier to guard their tanks in a harsh winter night like this, it shows how much they value this tank¡¯s secrecy. However, obtaining their stats will be easy when the biathlon begins.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Hattori Masao had given up too.
As they left the open space, Hattori Mei brought out her phone. ¡°Xia Lei is at Arabino Range. When are youing over? I¡¯ll keep an eye on him. Please rest assured.¡±
After that, Hattori Mei ended the call.
¡°Mei, I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re clear about this. Not only is Xia Lei a foe to the Hattori n, but his existence and his Thunder Horse Organization poses a great threat to Japan¡¯s strategic interest. The fact that the Thunder Horse Organization ys such a big role in the overall strengthening of Chinese warfare begets worry. China¡¯s army is already very strong. Once they get their hands on Thunder Horse¡¯s high-tech weaponry, the Chinese army is going to be the strongest in Asia. Soon, there would be a change in the power bnce in Asia.¡± Hattori Masao¡¯s expression was burdened.
Hattori Mei replied, ¡°Compared to their army weaponry, I think we should be more worried about their Air Force weaponry.¡±
¡°Thunder Horse Organization is a military factory that puts its sole focus on producing and researching army weaponry. How are they also capable of producing air-based weaponry? You¡¯re overestimating Xia Lei, the man has no means to research those.¡±
Hattori Mei rebuked him. ¡°Father, Lockheed Martin has its own intel system. The CIA even has a special secret department that provides it with all weapons intel from all around the world. Lockheed Martin has been receiving an abundance of intel on Thunder Horse. One of which was their new material project and their Artificial Intelligence technology project. As soon as they aplish these two projects, the days of producing airbat weapons will not be out of reach for Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
That made Hattori Masao frown.
¡°Father, please don¡¯t forget that the Thunder Horse Organization now is nothing like the Thunder Horse Organization before. Xia Lei has received help from the Chinese government. With China¡¯s current national strength, Thunder Horse¡¯s development is shrouded in mystery. Currently, the United States has regarded him as a national enemy that must be eliminated. Not to mention, his risk assessment level in the Pentagon and CIA has even surpassed the previous Bin Laden.¡±
¡°Hence our need to kill him. The man has taken your brother¡¯s life and is the top enemy to Japan and America. We mustn¡¯t let him live no matter what!¡± Hattori Masao had something sinister in his eye.
Hattori Mei said, ¡°Father, there¡¯s no need for us to do it. Someone else will do the job for us. All we need to do is cooperate with them.¡±
¡°Are you referring to an assassin? You¡¯re probably aware that Xia Lei is protected by the Northern Land Corps this time around. The man is constantly surrounded by soldiers, how is one assassin going to do the job?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure about the particrs but I¡¯ll inform you when I receive further intel,¡± replied Hattori Mei.
The father-daughter pair continued their exchange until they reached the barracks.
Xia Lei hadn¡¯t left the balcony. He stood tall on the third floor, watching the walking Hattori duo in the snow. He pondered silently. ¡°They¡¯re plotting to kill me? I¡¯m not surprised but they¡¯re actually serious about attempting it when I have so many soldiers protecting me? Don¡¯t test me. I¡¯m a man with two more years left to live. Don¡¯t regret when I go berserk.¡±
From the corner of her eye, Hattori Mei noticed Xia Lei¡¯s presence. She nudged her father, hinting for him to stay silent.
Hattori Masao too lifted his chin to gaze at the balcony Xia Lei was on. No words were uttered but there was hatred in his gaze.
Hattori Mei mustered up a flirty smile. ¡°Mister Xia, are you enjoying the view? That¡¯s so romantic of you. How about youe down for a walk with me?¡±
Xia Lei smiled lightly. ¡°No thank you.¡±
Hattori Mei seemed dejected. ¡°Jeez, that¡¯s disappointing. Do you really not miss me at all?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I have a word of advice for both of you. Focus on surviving and stop ying with fire. Hattori Geppa was a prime example. I would wish for there only to be one example.¡±
Hattori Mei¡¯s expression darkened.
Hattori Masao, on the other hand, raised his right arm and graced his thumb lightly against his own neck.
Xia Lei shrugged nonchntly.
He was not the least bit surprised with the oue.
Chapter 892 - A Crazily Impressive Sight
The snowfall stopped when the morning came.
After breakfast, Xia Lei followed Huang He and the rest to the open space. The field was already bustling with activity. All the participating countries were already busy preparing themselves for the biathlon. Weirdly, only the Chinese men were calm. No one seemed to be doing any real work. The few Type 99 Tanks were still in the same round-shaped formation as they werest night, surrounding the massive tank in the centre.
¡°Comrade Xia Lei, are you confident?¡± Huang He looked a little concerned.
Xia Lei returned a smile. ¡°General Huang, there¡¯s no need to worry. This tank of mine could defeat all of Asia and East Europe¡¯s best tanks. I¡¯m sure if the Europeans had participated in this, we¡¯ll be able to defeat them as well.¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± A smile broke out on Huang He¡¯s face. The older man ced a few pats on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Itforts me to hear those words. But the ZTZ100 main battle tank is an all-new tank. My tankers hadn¡¯t had the chance to get used to it so I¡¯m afraid you might need to drive it yourself. I¡¯ll hand you two assistants, the best assistants I can vouch for.¡±
Xia Lei uttered a reply which surprised him. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I can handle this myself.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Huang He was shocked. ¡°You? Alone? Really?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°General Huang, this is a highly intelligent tank. Ny per cent of its core functions are automated. I only have to pilot the remaining ten per cent.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t need to reload it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s got an automatic reload system and it could select a choice of ammunition ording to my instructions,¡± mentioned Xia Lei confidently.
¡°I look forward to seeing it dash through the field!¡± Huang He was very emotional. ¡°Since you said that controlling it alone is possible, then I¡¯ll let you handle this alone.¡±
Following that, the general ordered his man. A hoard of tank soldiers climbed into their respective Type 99s and moved the tanks towards the contest field.
¡°Are the Chinese going to keep their front till the end?¡± A Japanese soldiermented audibly. He made no effort to conceal his words.
¡°I¡¯m certain that the tank will remain covered until the contest ends. It¡¯ll just return home like that.¡±
¡°Haha! I suspect that it¡¯s just a model.¡±
¡°Even if it¡¯s real, what can they do about us? The Chinese tanks are all the same, they look fierce but are very old-fashioned. They don¡¯t even have a decent engine!¡±
¡°Right? If this is a real war, I¡¯m sure one Type 10 Tank can easily destroy three Type 99s!¡±
The Japanese soldiers continued to chatter andugh among themselves. They spoke in Japanese, not holding back with their choice of words. Unbeknownst to them, Xia Lei had understood them but chose not to retaliate. He searched for Hattori Mei and Hattori Masao among the Japanese soldiers, finally locating them.
Clearly, the father and daughter pair had heard their soldiers well but chose not to interfere. The two of them had their attention focused on Xia Lei and the covered ZTZ100 main battle tank.
Huang He had a few Special Forces loosened the ropes binding the canvas. Soon, the canvas was lifted off the tank.
The minute the covering hit the ground, everyone¡¯s eyes were immediately on the ZTZ100.
With a barrel length of twelve metres and a width of nearly four metres, ZTZ100 had made the Japanese Type 10 and Indian Arjun tanks look like toys inparison. Coupled with its science fiction-like appearance, the main battle tank was a shocking visual that seemed like an alien weapon.
¡°Whoa...¡± Those Japanese soldiers who were mocking the ZTZ100 earlier couldn¡¯t help stare in awe.
¡°It¡¯s so huge! It looks bigger than the American M1A3! This is probably the world¡¯srgest tank, no?¡±
¡°What are they trying to achieve with the size? It¡¯s just a shell, I¡¯m certain that its space inside is enough to fit our barbeque session.¡±
¡°Hopefully their engine is as big as their shell. If not, it¡¯s quite the embarrassment.¡±
¡°Such a big tank and yet so weak in the engine department. Do you think it could run thirty kilometres?¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±
Amidst theughter, Hattori Mei took out her phone and began snapping photos of the ZTZ100.
Xia Lei made no move to stop her. He intended for this to be a publicity stunt for his new tank. He only spared her a nce and proceeded to climb into the tank.
Was the space inside the ZTZ100 enough to amodate a barbeque session?
Nope, not at all. The tank was filled with electronics and automation devices. There was enough space to fit three people. Since Xia Lei was the only one manoeuvring it, he had quite a bit of space to move around.
After Xia Lei made it into the ZTZ100, the main battle tank soon let out a roar and leapt into life. It began its slow crawl towards the contest field, which frankly looked rather weak to its spectators.
¡°I knew it. A tank this size is like a small horse trying to pull arge carriage. There¡¯s no way this can be fast on the battlefield. It¡¯s essentially a sitting duck.¡±
¡°Only the Chinese would make such a weird thing.¡±
¡°Their media is bound to sensationalize this. Just you wait, they¡¯ll be writing up bluffs to make this new tank seem strong.¡±
The Indian soldiers were also mocking the ZTZ100.
At this moment, a short Caucasian joined the Japanese crowd. The petite man was dressed in Japanese military uniform but he was clearly not Asian.
The man walked toward Hattori Mei. He said nothing, only tossing her a nce.
Hattori Mei too was silent, only nodding in response. With a wave of Hattori Masao¡¯s arm, two Japanese soldiers nodded in unison and began to head towards their respective Type 10 Tanks. The short Caucasian too went towards an improved Type 10 Tank.
After that, the Japanese tanks began their drive in tandem towards the field. Following behind them were the Indians and other countries. The majestic scene was like a torrent of steel. It was one that could make the male adrenaline soar.
Hattori Mei sent out the ZTZ100 photos taken earlier.
¡°Was that for Madam Folsom?¡± questioned Hattori Masao.
She nodded meekly. ¡°Yes. The direction Thunder Horse is heading in has already triggered the Lockheed Martin higher-up along with the White House and Pentagon.¡±
Hattori Masao¡¯s smirk was icily ominous. ¡°He¡¯s going to die.¡±
¡°Come on, father. Let¡¯s go take a look too.¡± Hattori Mei mustered up a smile. ¡°I really want to know how well the Thunder Horse tank can perform.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not expecting anything from it.¡± Hattori Masao scoffed. ¡°A slow andrge tank like that is just going to be a vulnerable shooting target in a war.¡±
The tanks were gathered on the contest field.
Arge Russian Air Force cargo aircraft passed over them in low altitude with a whistle, spraying water onto the tanks beneath it. This was a typical view of the Russian tank biathlon.
Following that, the judging panel led by the Russians made their entry. The contest had now entered its countdown.
Huang He was invited to watch thepetition over on an observation tform. Along with him were the Hattori father-daughter pair and officials of the other participating countries.
Before thepetition had started, discussions and debates regarding the ZTZ100 were heating up real quick.
A Russian official pointed to the parked ZTZ100. ¡°What tank is that? When did we supply those parts to China?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure. Maybe the technology was sourced from Ukraine?¡±
¡°The sheer size of it seems very Russian, but I don¡¯t think I can run up to sixty kilometres.¡±
Tranting thements of the Russian officials to Huang He, the man furrowed his brows. ¡°Jeez, they¡¯re so against us. Tell them, that is the main battle tank made by China¡¯s Thunder Horse Organization. It is the most advanced tank in this world.¡±
¡°Really? Do I really say that?¡± The trantor was hesitant.
¡°Say it! This is an order!¡± Huang He was pissed, he shall not let them trample over the pride of the military!
The trantor heeded his instructions and tranted his words into Russian to the officials.
The recipients pped in response, gesturing their acknowledgement. However, it wasn¡¯t difficult to tell their contempt and arrogance. China¡¯s national defence had long relied on Russian technology and weapons, those officials were long used to the subjective consciousness that underestimated the Chinese. To them, any weapon China produces could not stray far from Russian technology.
The other officials discussed the tanks with lowered voices, seemingly afraid of offending the fuming Huang He.
A few minutester, a Russian official announced themencement of the tank biathlon.
With the light explosion of the signal re, the participating tanks rushed out of the starting point and dashed towards the rugged terrain.
¡°I bet that so-called most advanced tank will be left behind with ten kilometres to catch,¡± said an Indian official.
Hisment triggered a round ofughter. The man had spoken in Hindi, so only the few Indians around him had caught it. However, in the midst of their boisterousughter, the slower ZTZ100 roared into action. In a whoosh, it sprinted forward. Its massive size sent snow upwards as it moved, making it look like a moving white hurricane.
In a blink of an eye, the Indian Arjun tank and the Japanese Type 10 Tank and even the Russian T90 Tank were left far behind.
The bewildering sight had Hattori Masao stand up from his seat. The man had his widened eyes glued onto the elerating ZTZ100 main battle tank. ¡°Is Xia Lei the only one driving it?¡±
¡°I didn¡¯t see anyone else entering the tank so most likely he is.¡± Hattori Mei too was now standing up in fear. Well-versed in AI technology, Hattori Mei knew exactly what it indicated. The ZTZ100 main battle tank possessed automation technology beyond their imagination!
More and more people started to stand to get a good look at the tank.
But this was merely the beginning! The ZTZ100 continued to zoom forward in the snow. It was as if the rugged terrain was t ground under its tracks! The other tanks had required more caution when climbing up the forty-five-degree slope. But the ZTZ100 had just roared upwards without any hesitation. Xia Lei didn¡¯t even need to move his feet away from the pedal. What was even more impressive was that the sixty-five-tonne tank was fleeting at the top of the slope like a car!
With its astonishing 2500 hp, the ZTZ100 main battle tank was the Lamborghini of all tanks!
Chapter 893 - Its Lonely At The Top
In the deliberately chosenplicated terrain, the ZTZ100 main battle tank took the lead. Its fiction-like appearance, impressive size and destructive momentum made it a worthy contender for the king of tanks!
The ZTZ100 picked up speed and increased its lead. During thest biathlon, the Russian T90 Main Battle Tank had be champions with a record of seventy-five minutes and thirty seconds while China came in third with a record of ny minutes and thirty seconds. However, the Japanese Type 10 Tank wasn¡¯t involved that year. If the Type 10 Tank had participated, China wouldn¡¯t even have stood a chance at a podium finish. Before the current biathlon had begun, people had forecasted that the champion this year would be either Japan or Russia while India would secure the third ce. China was not forecasted to obtain any rank. Though, in the present few minutes time, the expected top three countries were unceremoniously left behind ZTZ100 by a distance of one kilometre. The shocking turn of events felt like a p to everyone in attendance!
The ZTZ100 was invincible, leaving no chance for the other participants.
Unfortunately, the general of the Chinese tank corps was busy offending everyone else.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Huang He howled. He had an arm on his waist while he pointing at the zooming ZTZ100 with a finger. His tone was something akin to mockery. ¡°Can you see that! Look at it! This is China¡¯s tank! Remember, this is a new generation main battle tank made entirely by a Chinesepany, the Thunder Horse Organization! Those who had used us of using Ukrainian technology, I¡¯d like to ask you something. Could the Ukrainian army even hope to achieve something like this?¡± He paused and uttered the next words in a louder volume. ¡°Forget about Asia, even America and Germany can¡¯t produce a tank like this!¡±
America and Germany were both prominent existences in the military industry, even Russia had found it difficult to get close to their level. In the case of tanks, the American M1A3 was referred to as the future king ofnd warfare, the Leopard 2 Tank too had received countless acknowledgements. The tanks made by Japan, India and Russia were nothingpared to the American and German tanks. But now, a Chinese general had the audacity toment on their ipetence in the face of Japanese, Indian and Russian high-profile officials and military figures.
Though Huang He had barked out his insults in Chinese, his words were speedily tranted into differentnguages for the ears of the other officials and soldiers. It didn¡¯t take long for someone to stand up and argue.
¡°General Huang, your ZTZ100 main battle tank has only shown its ability to run fast. That certainly isn¡¯t a good measure to determine it as the world¡¯s most advanced tank. Don¡¯t even try topare yourselves to the Americans and Germans. We all know that their tanks are the best and there¡¯s practical proof to support the statement. What acknowledgements have your ZTZ100 gotten? It hasn¡¯t even been employed in real battle yet,¡± jeered a Japanese soldier.
Without missing a beat, his words were tranted for Huang He¡¯s ears. Huang He responded, ¡°Didn¡¯t you all mention that a tank that runs slow is nothing but a pile of metal junk and an easy target? You¡¯re obviously ying double standards.¡±
The Japanese soldier was rendered speechless. The Chinese general had used the words of his men against him.
The Indian officials had nothing to say. Fearfully, their tank drivers would need to use their binocrs to even catch where the ZTZ100 was ahead.
Hattori Mei approached Huang He, lips curled into a charming smile. ¡°General Huang, I only saw Xia Lei enter the ZTZ100. Is he driving it alone?¡±
Huang He studied her cautiously. ¡°Why do you want to know?¡±
Hattori Mei replied courteously, ¡°Please do not misunderstand me, General Huang. I¡¯m just curious if Xia Lei is driving the ZTZ100 solo. We¡¯re good friends and I¡¯m very proud of him.¡±
¡°You¡¯re just trying to gauge ZTZ100¡¯s levels of automation, aren¡¯t you?¡± Huang He huffed augh. ¡°But we¡¯ve got nothing to hide. ZTZ100¡¯s automation level is up to ny per cent. Driving this tank solo in battle is well within reason.¡±
Huang He¡¯s words were once again tranted.
Everyone seated on the observation tform gaped.
What could an automation level of ny per cent suggest? It indicated that the existence of the ZTZ100 main battle tank was akin to that of a military robot! If this was real, the Japanese, India, Russian and even America¡¯s most advanced M1A3 would pale inparison!
After a short moment of silence, a Russian official spoke up. ¡°General Huang, I¡¯ve got to admit that the ZTZ100¡¯s automation levels and speed are highly impressive. However, such an impressive tank should show the same performance in its firepower. How is the ZTZ100 like in this aspect?¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Huang He grinned. ¡°The ZTZ100 uses the 150-mm smoothbore, which is currently thergest calibre tank gun. The range is much longer than M1A3. As for its uracy, there¡¯s no need to question the uracy of all guns produced by Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
Thunder Horse Organization had the best intelligentthe in the world. It was the epitome of precision.
¡°Haha.¡± The Russian official who askedughed dryly. ¡°I hope the ZTZ100 will be able to show something great in the second phase of thepetition.¡±
Huang He decided to ignore him.
No one here was willing to embrace the possibility of a stronger China. The Chinese nation had ruled Asia for thousands of years but faced its downfall in thete Qing dynasty. What followed after was plenty of suppression and bullying. Now that they have umted enough momentum to take off, China shall once again be the king of Asia!
Chatters and discussions ensued about on the observation tform.
¡°Since when was China able to make a tank like that? How is it possible?¡±
¡°Xia Lei. Xia Lei¡¯s Thunder Horse Organization. That kid and his military factory shouldn¡¯t exist on this!¡±
¡°I can¡¯t picture this. A tank like this wouldplete the Chinese military. How else are the other Asian countries going to challenge them fornd warfare?!¡±
¡°Now that they¡¯ve made it and brought it here for the biathlon, they¡¯re certainly going to switch their tanks soon. Who wouldn¡¯t want such an amazing tank?¡±
¡°What is the Thunder Horse Organization trying to achieve? They made the XL2500 sniper rifle, gust assault rifle and the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon. Those are all admittedly excellent weapons. They took the leap and created the Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle and now the ZTZ100 main battle tank. At this rate, anyone who fights China is basically courting death.¡±
¡°If the Americans find out about the ZTZ100, they¡¯d definitely devise something against China. They¡¯d try to suppress China¡¯s funds and military affairs. But Thunder Horse is pulling the gap further with their rapid development. The moment America loses its control over China¡¯s military affairs, the world¡¯s power bnce would see a great change.¡±
Discussions of that sort appeared among different groups of officials.
Huang He¡¯s heart soared with pride.
While the crowd busied themselves with debates, Hattori Mei had snuck to an isted corner out of sight. There, she made a call. ¡°It¡¯s me, Beryl... Madam Folsom, the situation is bad. My initial deduction tells me that the ZTZ100¡¯s overall performance has surpassed the M1A3. The gap isn¡¯t small, the gap is... terrifyingly huge...¡±
On the terrain, the ZTZ100 main battle tank continued to make wonders. The man could no longer make out the tanks behind him, the only visible was the aerial helicopter filming thepetition. Without its opponents, the king of tanks seemed awfully lonely at the top.
Forty minutester, the ZTZ100pleted the entirety of the course and entered the waiting zone for the second phase.
The previous champion, the Russian T90, had used seventy-five minutes and thirteen seconds while the ZTZ100 had only used an astonishing forty minutes and one second. That odd second was even a slight dy caused by Xia Lei¡¯s urge to scratch his itch.
Doot... Doot... Doot...
As he waited for the other tanks, the satellite phone rang.
Xia Lei answered it. ¡°It¡¯s me. Speak.¡±
¡°Boss, I found her.¡± Sa¡¯im¡¯s voice rang through.
Xia Lei¡¯s pulse hitched. ¡°How is she?¡±
¡°She¡¯s...¡± Sa¡¯im paused. ¡°She¡¯s terrifying.¡±
Initially, Xia Lei was worried about Zhu Xuanyue but Sa¡¯im¡¯sments had reassured him. ¡°Do not go near her. I repeat, do not try to approach her. If she notices you and threatens your safety, mention my name.¡±
¡°How the fuck would I be able to get close to her?¡± Sa¡¯imughed bitterly. ¡°I¡¯m calling you to bring you some bad news. I lost her. The man I sent to tail her was found sleeping by the road. When I found him, he remembered nothing. He couldn¡¯t even remember who he was. It was horrifying.¡±
Xia Lei instructed, ¡°There¡¯s no need to follow her anymore. Come back.¡±
¡°But...¡±
¡°It¡¯s decided. I don¡¯t want you getting hurt.¡± Xia Lei was firm with his decision.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll tell you more when I get back.¡± Sa¡¯im hung up.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s face began to take form in Xia Lei¡¯s brain. She was smiling at him, innocence pouring out of the curl of her lips but in a split second, she turned into a man-eating demon.
It took another half an hour for the other tanks toplete the course. Their arrival soon signalled the start of the second phase. The new king of the tanks was already losing its patience at thetter half of thepetition.
The judges and spectators too had moved to the venue of the second phase.
The second phase was a battle simtion.
While the contestants busied themselves with preparation tasks like maintenance and refill, Xia Lei climbed out of the hatch leisurely and stretched his waist. His gaze abruptlynded on the side of a Type 10 tank. There was a Caucasian face amongst the Japanese ones. Curiously, he wondered, ¡°Had the Japanese Self-Defence troop started to recruit Caucasian soldiers? Or is this guy an American tank operator stationed in Japan?¡±
Huang He came towards him. The older man¡¯s voice reached him before his form. ¡°Haha. Comrade Xia Lei, excellent job!¡±
Xia Lei averted his gaze. The man beamed and replied, ¡°General Huang, you should really consider making bulk orders. I¡¯ll dly produce tanks for you!¡±
Huang He narrowed his eyes. ¡°What kind of bullshit are you yapping about? If the authorities aren¡¯t going to make their orders, I¡¯m going to fight them!¡±
Xia Lei chortled. Frankly, after getting rid of Yu Shanhe, he essentially had no obstacles left in the country.
Huang He uttered, ¡°Comrade Xia Lei, the second phase allows the involvement of multiple tanks but I decided to not have the Type 99 involved here. This is a great tform for you to showcase your ZTZ100. Mess them up real well, show them what you¡¯re capable of!¡±
¡°Hehe, of course!¡± Xia Lei beamed.
¡°You still don¡¯t need any assistance?¡±
¡°Nope, I can handle this myself.¡± Xia Lei reassured.
On the observation tform, Hattori Mei stared at Xia Lei¡¯s form intently with an imperceptible smile on her lips.
Chapter 894 - Real Battle
Ka-boom!
With the sound of an exploding shell in the distance, the target board one kilometre away was reduced into dust by the ZTZ100. The 150-mm smoothbore main gun was thergest calibre of its kind. With the same armour, the ZTZ100 main battle tank was able to shred through his opponent¡¯s defence armour while the opponent¡¯s shells were unable to scratch its armour.
Plus, its ceramic reactive armour was able to withstand 155-mm calibre main gun attacks from one kilometre away. Even the main guns of the M1A3 weren¡¯t of 140-mm calibre and its ceramic reactive armour was only able to withstand attacks from a 140-mm calibre main gun. The ZTZ100 could easily st other tanks into oblivion while not taking a scratch from any one of them!
Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
A string of another four explosions rang. The ZTZ100 fired five times within thirty seconds, each of them hitting the designated targets with perfect uracy. What was even more impressive was that the thirty seconds had included time for its turret adjustments!
Destroying the five targets wasn¡¯t difficult at all. Xia Lei didn¡¯t even need to feel anxious as the radar and fire control system had helped him navigate around seamlessly.
Before the soot and smoke had even blown off, the observation tform was already filled with exciting discussion.
¡°That¡¯s impossible! It doesn¡¯t make sense for a solo driver and an automatic reloading system to be able to hit all five target within thirty seconds!¡±
¡°It was able to show pinpoint precision with targets two-thousand metres away. What¡¯s the difference between this and a sniper?¡±
¡°I¡¯m beginning to think that even the American M1A3 won¡¯t stand chance against China¡¯s Type 99 main battle tank!¡±
¡°Does this mean that a new king of the tanks is born?¡±
Though they weren¡¯t keen on epting reality, the solid proof of ZTZ100¡¯s invincibility was ced on a silver tter right in front of them. There was no way they could brush the truth aside anymore!
Their bewilderedments were tranted for Huang He¡¯s ears, feeding his ego.
In the past, China would have to beg and plead to buy technologies from Russia. Most often, the technologies sold were outdated and no longer used. They would cap their most advanced equipment and technologies to be out of reach, refusing anyone to get a hold of it. Why? Well, it was because they didn¡¯t want China to grow stronger. When China bought over the outdated entities and improved it, everyone else wouldment that the Chinese were nothing more than copycats. For years, the Chinese were under intense scrutiny and were hurled insults. Things were going to be different now that the Thunder Horse Organization had allowed China¡¯s military industry to pick up its pace. Soon, Russian technology and even American technology would need to stand aside!
Having one-upped hispetition, Huang He as a soldier couldn¡¯t help but feel proud!
Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
On the shooting range, the other tanks were also shooting at the targets. Comparatively, their practical performances were like giggly toddlers beside the ZTZ100. It was humiliating to watch.
Hattori Masao¡¯s expression was gloomy as he watched the ZTZ100 in silence. As considerable foes, he wasn¡¯t hoping to see China with such amazing tanks.
In the meantime, the ZTZ100 hade to a halt afterpleting its rounds.
Hattori Masao sent a look to his daughter behind him.
Hattori Mei nodded and raised her wrist gently. She whispered into her wristwatch, ¡°You may begin.¡±
Immediately, three Type 10 Tanks began to approach the calm ZTZ100 tank on the shooting range. It quickly formed a triangr formation, effectively trapping the ZTZ100 inside of it. As soon as it got into position, the Type 10 Tanks aimed their main guns towards the ZTZ100.
The sirens in the tank red off, prompting an automated voice to warn, ¡°You¡¯ve been targeted! You¡¯ve been targeted!¡±
A 3D disy formed on the radar, showing the three Type 10s that were dyed red by the system.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind abruptly brought up the face of the Caucasian tanker! With no time to waste, he mmed on the pedal, bringing the stationary ZTZ100 into eleration. Its gigantic body made it look like a track athlete, the sudden motion sending dirt flying as it lunged forward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the ZTZ100 began to elerate, the three Type 10 Tanks opened fire towards it.
Ka-boom! A shell hit the ceramic reactive armour on the left of the ZTZ100 while another hit the right. One missed and hit the ground, sting rocks and mud away.
Despite getting shot twice, the ZTZ100 hadn¡¯t shown signs of stopping. It did not even slow down to recover!
If this were some other tank, the two shells would have already reduced it to debris!
Violent mes began to burn on the top of the ZTZ100. Within mere seconds, the tank¡¯s automatic system extinguished the fire sessfully.
Everyone else on the observation tform gaped in awe, save for the few Japanese.
¡°What the hell?! What are you trying to do?!¡± Huang He jolted and left his seat. He immediately dashed towards Hattori Masao.
Noticing the furious man, a few Japanese soldiers quickly shielded Masao.
The trantor quickly restrained Huang He from the back.
¡°This must be a mistake! Something must¡¯ve gone wrong!¡± Hattori Mei offered an exnation albeit jittery and nervous.
¡°Yeah! This must be an error!¡± Hattori Masao uttered the same exnation.
¡°Error your fucking ass!¡± Huang He cussed vehemently. ¡°You¡¯re dering war! This is a deration of war and we¡¯ll see to the end of this!¡±
¡°General Huang, please allow us to investigate the matter before anything else. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll give you a solid exnation for this!¡± A Russian official made a frantic attempt to calm the conflict.
On the shooting range, the three Tank 10 Tank hadn¡¯t gone after the ZTZ100 and they hadn¡¯t fired another shot towards it. One of the hatches soon opened and out came a tanker from its cockpit. From afar, everyone could see that the soldier was waving his helmet around.
All the signs had seemed to convince everyone that this was just an ident, that it was possibly a mere malfunction. But no one had bothered to ponder about why three tanks had malfunctioned at the same time.
¡°Look! Our tank soldiers are signalling us. This really was just a misunderstanding.¡± Hattori Mei forced an exnation. Unbeknownst to her, the woman¡¯s forehead was already wet with cold sweat.
¡°Alright! Alright! A malfunction, right? I¡¯ll make sure to have my soldier give them a bigger misunderstanding!¡± roared Huang He.
¡°No! Please don¡¯t!¡± The Russian official was at wit¡¯s end.
¡°I don¡¯t care! I¡¯m not buying any of your stupid lies!¡± Huang He went berserk. The man¡¯s rage wasn¡¯t sourced from the ZTZ100, it was Xia Lei who was inside the tank. Xia Lei was the right-wing of China¡¯s military industry. What the Japanese had pulled was akin to destroying all hope for China¡¯s rejuvenation. This was uneptable!
Enraged, another Russian official shouted, ¡°This is Russian territory! If you wish to fight each other, do that on your territory! If you refuse to back down, it would mean dering war to Russia! I will have the anti-tank troops sent here right away!¡±
¡°Bring it on! It¡¯s not like we hadn¡¯t fought before!¡± Huang He yelled back.
¡°You...¡± The Russian man was at a loss for words.
Fight China? Even America hadn¡¯t dared to do so, not to mention a tormented sanctioned Russia. Without China¡¯s support, the situation in Russia would only worsen.
Surprisingly, Huang He was starting to calm down after losing his temper. The general hadn¡¯t instructed his tanks to attack anymore.
Anyone was to be held ountable in their ce. Huang He was a Chinese general. Approvals and advice must be obtained before he could open fire!
Noticing that Huang He was calming down, Hattori Masao quickly added on, ¡°This really is just a big misunderstanding. I promise to give you an answer after a round of careful investigation.¡±
Huang He squinted at Hattori Masao coldly, saying nothing else.
The soldier standing on top of the Type 10 Tank was waving his helmet towards the ZTZ100 as he screamed something inaudible. Though his words were unclear, it wasn¡¯t difficult to guess that he was exining the situation to the ZTZ100.
¡°Xia Lei, why can¡¯t you just die already?¡± Hattori Mei hissed internally.
Without warning, the moving ZTZ100 suddenly twitched.
Boom!
A fiery shell came shooting out of the 150-mm main gun.
Ka-boom!
A sh of red and white exploded, the soldier standing on top of the Type 10 Tank was instantly shredded into pieces. The Type 10 beneath him was tossed around vehemently, then followed by the destruction of its innards. The deafening sound echoed through the field, shaking the ground immensely with its sheer force!
¡°He...¡± Hattori Masao immediately jumped. ¡°He fired a shell towards our tank and soldiers!¡±
As soon as he fell silent.
Boom!
Another explosion. The second Type 10 Tank was destroyed. The armour-piercing shell prated its frontal armour and steel tes, plunging itself into the cockpit before exploding.
The remaining tank quickly rushed off to the side.
¡°Quick! Stop him! Stop him now!¡± Hattori Masao roared at Huang He.
Huang He seemed unfazed, shrugging his shoulder with schooled nonchnce. ¡°He¡¯s not my soldier. I can¡¯t order him to do anything. Why are you so agitated? I¡¯m sure this must be a malfunction as well. Don¡¯t fret, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to offer you a good exnation soon.¡±
Hattori Mei rushed to the front of the tform. The woman itched to do something but as soon as she was near the stairs, she halted.
If she had appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision, what would the man do?
The answer was clear. Xia Lei would fire a shell at her!
The escaping Type 10 was an improved version that outperformed the other two Type 10 Tanks involved. But against the ZTZ100, the Japanese tank was literally no match. It wanted to run but the ZTZ100 had caught up to it within two minutes.
The turret of the ZTZ100 moved and locked its guns in the zooming Type 10.
¡°Make him stop!¡± Hattori Masao was desperate.
Huang He watched the tanks in the shooting range calmly, not bothering to entertain Hattori Masao.
Boom!
The Type 10 Tank exploded in the cruel ze.
The ZTZ100 finally came to a stop.
Xia Lei picked up the transmitter given by the Russian organizers. There was a slight pause as he cleared his throat.
¡°This is a misunderstanding.¡±
Chapter 895 - Firm Standing
An ident?
A misunderstanding?
If the Japanese could exin the unison firing of the three Type 10 Tanks towards the ZTZ100 main battle tank as an ¡®ident¡¯, then Xia Lei¡¯s exnation wasn¡¯t too much of a stretch either.
That way, everyone would be even.
From Xia Lei¡¯s perspective, he waspletely epting of such a reason but it was a whole different story from the Japanese¡¯s perspective. Things weren¡¯t going to their n. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t dead and his ZTZ100 was only heavily damaged. Surprisingly, the tank was still able to put up a fight but the three Type 10 Tanks were already charred trash metals at this point. The nine Japanese tankers were dead too. The Japanese were not having any of it. Their soldiers were clearly waving their helmets to signal that the nature of the incident was just an ident but Xia Lei had killed them regardless. However, there was no way the Japanese could push reality away as they were in fact the ones that initiated the attack.
The ZTZ100 drove out of the shooting range and parked itself by the observation tform.
A hoard of Russian Special Forces began to surround Xia Lei, who had just emerged from the hatch.
Xia Lei leapt off the tank calmly, showing no other expression.
Xia Lei remained silent while Huang He warned the gathered crowd, ¡°Comrade Xia Lei does not owe an exnation to anyone. I¡¯m sure everyone is clear about what had happened just now. If you Russians wish to arrest Comrade Xia Lei, I can guarantee that the consequences will be severe.¡±
The Russian military official detected the oddity of his words, quickly dismissing the Special Forces around Xia Lei with a slight wave.
Arrest Xia Lei? The Japanese would be delighted and the Americans would be leaping in joy. However, the most important thing was that China wouldn¡¯t be pleased to hear it. Russia could coerce anyone, anyone but China. If they had offended China, the huge investments would be disrupted and their crude oil wouldn¡¯t be purchased. Other than that, the export of industrial products will be stopped too. By then, Russia would be out of tears to cry. Therefore, the Russians would be better off taking care of the Chinese¡¯s emotions than the Japanese.
¡°Since this is just a misunderstanding...¡± The Russian military official continued, ¡°I¡¯ll erase all recorded footage. What do you think?¡±
The underlying meaning was simple. The issue ended here.
Hattori Masao nodded. The Japanese knew he wouldn¡¯t benefit from prolonged involvement.
¡°Hmph!¡± Huang He was mad but the man had given them his agreement.
If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t destroyed the three Type 10 Tanks, Huang He would certainly not give up. However, not only had Xia Lei reduced the Type 10 Tanks into molten metal, but he had also killed off nine of their soldiers. He had given himself justice despite being mistreated. They would no longer get anything out of this.
¡°Comrade Xia Lei, let¡¯s go.¡± Huang He said to Xia Lei.
The man returned a nod, not forgetting to spare Hattori Mei and Masao onest nce as he left.
Hattori Masao¡¯s re was sharp.
On the other hand, as soon as Hattori Mei met his eyes, the woman hurriedly avoided his gaze. Chills were creeping up her spine for the way Xia Lei held his eyes were terrifying.
With that, Xia Lei exited behind Huang He and the Chinese tanks were moved away, including the severely damaged ZTZ100 main battle tank.
Hattori Masao pulled Hattori Mei down the tform. ¡°What the hell? Didn¡¯t you promise that your n was going to work? Why did it fail?¡±
Hattori Mei exined, ¡°If he was driving a Type 99 Tank, his body would be cremated on the shooting range. Father, you¡¯ve seen it with your own eyes. Three tanks had attacked one ZTZ100, two shells hit it and yet the ZTZ100 was still able to fight. How could you put the me on my n? The only thing to me here is ourck of understanding of their ZTZ100!¡±
¡°Damn it!¡± Hattori Masao clenched his fist tightly and hurled it against a metal pipe on the frame. Immediately, blood began to seep out of his knuckles.
Hattori Mei held her palms over her father¡¯s fist. ¡°Father, I really didn¡¯t want this to happen. The n was devised by the Americans. We all thought that this was the best way to get rid of Xia Lei because a tank was just a metal cage. What we hadn¡¯t foreseen was the toughness of his metal cage!¡±
¡°Are there really no alternative ns?¡±
¡°You mean assassinating him on another date? That will be difficult. America had lost hundreds of their elite Special Force members and agents in an attempt to kill him. If it was doable, they would¡¯ve already done something. Plus, Xia Lei is surrounded by not just a few bodyguards but an entire military squad.¡±
Hattori Masao fell silent. The man was fully aware of the difficulties of wiping out Xia Lei. The mission was essentially impractical. Besides, initiating another attack would only enrage Xia Lei. By then, who could guarantee that the man wouldn¡¯t do something out of line? What happened earlier was a prime example. Xia Lei had the audacity to destroy three Japanese tanks in the face of so many participants!
¡°Father, please rest assured. Since the Americans are determined to kill him, he will not live long. Osama bin Laden is a good example. In the end, the Americans did kill him, no?¡± said Hattori Mei.
Hattori Masao nodded. ¡°Pack up your things and prepare to return to Japan.¡±
Half an hourter, back at the barracks.
Under the escort of a group of Japanese soldiers, the Hattori father-daughter pair headed towards the Japanese barracks. When they left the barracks earlier in the morning, everything was normal. Now, there were a few hundreds of Russian Special Forces guarding the area. It was inly obvious that the soldiers were not here to protect the Japanese but Xia Lei.
¡°Miss Mei.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice suddenly rang from above.
With a lift of her head, Hattori Mei found Xia Lei standing on his balcony.
The man was wiping an XL2500 sniper rifle with an oil-soaked wipe cloth.
Hattori Mei forced a smile. ¡°Hello, Mister Xia. What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you mention that someone wishes to see me? Where are they? Look, I even prepared a gift for them.¡± Xia Lei abruptly raised his XL2500 sniper rifle, adjusting his muzzle to lock its aim on Hattori Masao.
In a split second, Masao¡¯s soldiers surrounded the man using their bodies. Some of them even raised their guns, aiming their muzzles towards Xia Lei in return.
The atmosphere froze. A spark of fire would undoubtedly cause a gigantic explosion.
¡°What are you doing? Put your guns down!¡± A Russian Special Force leader snapped.
tter! All of the Russian Special Forces had their guns on the Japanese without missing a beat.
The unexpected turn of events had the Japanese put their guns down unwillingly.
The Special Force leader pretended to not see the XL2500 sniper rifle in Xia Lei¡¯s grip.
The Japanese weren¡¯t keen on offending the Russian for the northern four inds conflict was stuck in their throat like a fishbone. There hasn¡¯t been much progress on the issue. Every time Russia did something, the Japanese would suffer greatly. America was a hegemony but they had never once aided Japan to reim the northern four inds.
¡°Xia Lei.¡± Hattori Mei gulped. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of the events that will take ce after opening fire. Perhaps the Third World War would be triggered by you.¡±
This was not a baseless threat. Hattori Masao was the general of the Japan Land Self-Defense Force, which meant that his status was about the same as General Huang He¡¯s. Firing a shot and killing such a high-profile general may not start a war but it would certainly cause immense havoc.
Slowly, Xia Lei kept his XL2500 sniper rifle. He grinned harmlessly. ¡°I was only testing its aim. I wasn¡¯t nning on pulling the trigger. Even if I wanted to fire a shot, I wouldn¡¯t have done it in a situation with so many witnesses.¡±
¡°Hmph! Are you trying to assassinate me?!¡± Hattori Masao roared, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare!¡±
A switch flipped in Xia Lei¡¯s voice. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare? We¡¯ll see soon. You tried to kill me today but thankfully my ZTZ100 armour was thick enough to withstand the damage or I would¡¯ve died in your hands. I really wasn¡¯t expecting you to ambush me at such a setting. Since you¡¯re so eager to get rid of me, wouldn¡¯t you be disappointed if I hadn¡¯t done something in return?¡±
Hattori Masao¡¯s heart sank. His mind fixated on his daughter¡¯sment earlier about how Xia Lei was the most powerful sniper in the world. The man couldn¡¯t help but fear Xia Lei¡¯s next moves.
¡°Xia Lei.¡± Hattori Mei exined, ¡°That was really just a misunderstanding. That was nned by the Americans, it has nothing to do with us. My father and I are still trying to grasp the situation. Plus, you¡¯ve already killed them off. What else do you want?¡±
¡°Our grudge and bad blood will be resolved eventually. I¡¯m not in a rush. My revenge will not happen today or tomorrow. But it will certainly happen in the near future,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°The incident had nothing to do with the Hattori n. What should I do for you to believe me?¡± Hattori Mei stared at Xia Lei with widened eyes.
Xia Lei only waved at her. ¡°How about youe up and we talk this out like adults? If you could convince me, I¡¯m willing to believe it.¡±
Hattori Mei was tempted but as soon as shended one step in the snow to get to Xia Lei¡¯s location, she decided against it. The woman shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re not sober. I can¡¯t be alone with you. I¡¯ll just answer your question. The person who wants to meet you is Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, Madam Folsom. She was supposed to be here tonight but I¡¯ll be informing her on your mental condition and earlier incident. She¡¯ll be meeting you on another asion.¡±
¡°Why does she want to see me?¡±
¡°That I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m sure she could give you an answer. Just wait for her call.¡± Hattori Mei turned around and left.
Watching the group of Japanese enter the barracks opposite of him, something hostile shed chillingly in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. Once again, the man thought about Zhu Xuanyue. If his ¡®little princess¡¯ was here, perhaps getting rid of the whole lot would¡¯ve been a much easier task.
¡°Lockheed Martin¡¯s Madam Folsom wants to see you?¡± Huang He entered the balcony from behind Xia Lei. ¡°She¡¯s definitely up to no good!¡±
¡°She really thinks she could see me just like that?¡± Xia Lei huffed augh. ¡°She thinks she¡¯s some hotshot.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s return to China. I have no interest in participating in this bullshit tankpetition any longer. Your safety is of utmost priority,¡± said Huang He.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go home.¡±
Chapter 896 - A Female Knights Wish
The shocking ¡®ident¡¯ at Arabino Range had media outlets all over the world scrambling to be the first on the issue. Japan had lost three Type 10 Tanks and nine men, but the Land of the Rising Sun wasn¡¯t nning on demanding any exnation from China. On the contrary, they were very much afraid that China would demand an exnation from them. After all,having three tanks malfunction at the same time and target one tank was a hard lie to stretch. Who would¡¯ve bought that lie?
On the other hand, China wasn¡¯t nning on questioning Japan about the incident at Arabino Range. The foreseen best oue would just be an official apology from both sides, which gave no meaning to the already ended issue. Not to mention, Xia Lei was the one who destroyed three of Japan¡¯s tanks. The incident literally ended with an eye for an eye resolution.
Xia Lei remained unbothered about the entire ordeal. Returning to China, the man immediately started a maintenance and resurrection project for the damaged ZTZ100 while he provided some feedback to improve the model.
For the Thunder Horse Organization, the Arabino Range incident was beneficial to them as it was essentially a field test. The so-called ident had testified to ZTZ100¡¯s overall practical performance. The ZTZ100 main battle tank was the brainchild of Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s most advanced technologies. Any inadequacy and shorings sourced from the data collected on Arabino Range were very important.
On the second day since his return, Sa¡¯im too had returned from America.
Xia Lei met him in a secret room back at the Peace Mansion. While the meeting was in progress, four women guarded outside the door. They were Giovanna and Ste from the Grey family and Rosa and Theresa of the Russo family. Their wounds were healed and they were officially members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. However, their main task was focused on protecting Xia Lei and the people around him. Therefore, it was probably more appropriate to call them Xia Lei¡¯s knights than members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
In the room, Xia Lei dove straight into the topic. ¡°Still no updates on her?¡±
Sa¡¯im shook his head. ¡°None. After ourst call, I¡¯ve tried to search for her and used some of my contacts. Unfortunately, we found nothing. Thest ce she appeared at was Washington, but she¡¯s clearly not there anymore.¡±
Xia Lei thought of Langley but he said nothing. He didn¡¯t want Sa¡¯im sending his men to that ce. The area was the CIA¡¯s turf. It was literally a forbidden territory for spies and agents.
¡°Also, I obtained a very weird piece of information back in America.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei returned to the present.
Sa¡¯im answered, ¡°A few inexplicable deaths had urred in Washington. Initially, the police had suspected that it was a terrorist attack that used nerve toxic gases but the progress on the case was gradually undered. Eventually, the cases fell silent.¡±
The term ¡®inexplicable deaths¡¯ was something Xia Lei had associated with Zhu Xuanyue. The man didn¡¯t need American intel and investigation findings to know that this was Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s doing.
¡°The weirdest thing is that all victims that had died were members of the mafia and drug dealers. They¡¯re all scums of society. Some American media outlets had even hailed the mysterious murderer as some kind of hero. They have yet to find out about the person¡¯s gender. Some depicted them as male while some were convinced that they were female. There was no uniformed idea about its gender,¡± said Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei thought to himself. ¡°She kills only bad people. Was this because of me? Was it because I yelled at her and she had learnt that she was in the wrong? If that¡¯s the case, she¡¯s not as evil as I had imagined her to be...¡±
¡°That¡¯s all I have.¡± Sa¡¯im looked ashamed. ¡°Boss, you entrusted a task to me but I lost her. I...¡±
Xia Lei shed a reassuring smile. ¡°This isn¡¯t your fault. It was a task even I couldn¡¯tplete. You may head back now. I¡¯ll be handing you someone new to investigate.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the new task about?¡±
¡°The FA Organisation.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°The Knight Hospitaller has been severely damaged. Without their threats, the FA Organization will definitely resume its operation. I want to know their next moves so I need you to collect as much FA intel as possible.¡±
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll have my men start work as soon as I get back,¡± said Sa¡¯im.
After Sa¡¯im had left, Xia Lei stayed behind in the room in a daze. There was an unwavering presence in his mind. Zhu Xuanyue.
Earlier, when Sa¡¯im had told him that Zhu Xuanyue was only murdering bad people, Xia Lei felt the sudden urge to bring her back. However, now that he had thought things through with a calmed heart, the urge dissipated.
What would happen after her return?
Fearfully, the man would be faced with the problem of getting her fed. Was there an abundance of viins for her to feed on in Bailu Town and Jingdu? Zhu Xuanyue couldn¡¯t live on without food either. She was bound to get hungry.
¡°The more she eats, the more energy she¡¯ll harbour. If this goes on, will she recover her normal state? What would she be like when that happens? Will she be a friend or foe?¡± Those were questions Xia Lei had no answers to.
The door to the secret room was opened. The entrance of the four female knights immediately added alluring fragrance to its interior. There was a variety of scents, the room smelt of roses,venders, jasmine and something akin to sweet osmanthus.
All four of the female knights were dressed in dark feminine suits. The well-tailored garments highlighted their curves beautifully, extruding the sexiness they naturally possessed. In this getup, they didn¡¯t look like knights or security but they certainly looked like secretaries.
Xia Lei could no longer resume his thoughts. He smiled at them. ¡°You smell really good. When did you buy perfume?¡±
Giovanna was the first to speak up. ¡°We used Taobao.¡±
¡°We used your chef¡¯s ount to buy these,¡± said Ste.
¡°It was ten dors per bottle.¡± Theresa helpfully supplied.
¡°And it was on promotion. Buy four free one.¡± Rosa chimed in.
Xia Lei stared at them in confusion.
¡°What¡¯s with that expression?¡± Giovanna pouted. ¡°We¡¯re penniless, we even had to borrow money from your chef to buy ourselves perfume.¡±
¡°Yeah. And these clothes were gifted to us by Liang Siyao,¡± said Theresa.
¡°We don¡¯t even have money to buy our other ¡®necessities¡¯,¡± grumbled Rosa.
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°Buy what?¡±
¡°You know, that.¡± Ste seemed a little bashful. ¡°Period pads.¡±
The unannounced appearance of the female knights doused in cheap perfume and cries of poverty had made their ulterior motive obvious.
Xia Lei dug into his pockets for his wallet and pulled out a card. ¡°Take this. You can buy anything with this, including cars.¡±
¡°What? Even cars?¡± Giovanna gaped in shock.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°This card has a limit of ten million dors for domestic transactions. Use it as you please.¡±
¡°Woah! Xia, you¡¯re so wonderful!¡± Giovanna spread her arms and embraced Xia Lei. Her full breasts unforgivingly pushing themselves against Xia Lei¡¯s taut chest. The female knight even pecked his cheek after releasing him.
Their gestures were amon form of greeting in Italy. However, Xia Lei was raised in China. They did not do that in China. Regardless of his difort, Theresa, Ste and Rosa did the same after Giovanna had let go of him, kissing and hugging him in turn. The physical contact had stirred up some physiological reaction, which could be seen from the tent of his pants.
Giovanna was all smiles as she stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia, are you thinking of what I¡¯m thinking?¡±
The other three stared at him intently. Their eyes were smiling, lips curled in a coquettish manner.
Sheepishly, Xia Lei said, ¡°Go! Buy whatever you want! Now that you work under me, I¡¯ll make sure that you live the rest of your life in luxury. Each of you shall receive two hundred thousand dors per month as sry.¡±
¡°Yay!¡± Theresa eximed, rushing towards him with stretched arms.
The other three followed suit.
Xia Lei frantically dodged their iing embraces. ¡°Enough, that¡¯s enough. I¡¯m not too used to gestures like these. Anyway, let me just say this again. As long as you serve me, you will enjoyfortable and dignified lives.¡±
¡°We were already yours in Malta,¡± uttered Giovanna.
¡°Yeah, do you need us to show you our hearts.¡± Theresa¡¯s fingers were fumbling with a button.
Xia Lei could feel his head spin. ¡°You... What are you trying to do?¡±
The four women looked at each other.
Giovanna spoke, ¡°We will not be returning to Italy and we¡¯re not nning to return. We¡¯re your knights and we¡¯ll protect you with our lives. However, we don¡¯t wish to abandon our faith, so...¡±
¡°Go on.¡±
¡°Xia, could you build us a Catholic church?¡± Giovanna finally said it out loud.
Rosa added, ¡°Just beside the Peace Mansion.¡±
Theresa supplied, ¡°With the church, there¡¯ll be more brothers and sisters joining us. We¡¯re well aware that we¡¯re way weaker than your men inparison. Hence, we wish to build a faithful team.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Ste chimed in, ¡°We¡¯ve got many brothers and sisters back in Italy who would be more than willing to join us.¡±
Ah, so that was it. Xia Lei hadn¡¯t seen thising but the revtion had himforted. ¡°That¡¯s a great idea. Sure, no problem. I¡¯ll contact a constructionpany in a bit and have them build a church for you beside the Peace Mansion.¡±
A faithful religious team controlled by his four female knights meant additional power. It was true that thedies were nothing like the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. But with that, they would be able to hold very important roles around him.
¡°Xia, we didn¡¯t know this before but we know better now,¡± mentioned Giovanna.
¡°Know what?¡±
¡°You¡¯re the most charming man in the world, and perhaps the best man the world has to offer.¡± Giovanna went forward and gave him another embrace.
Xia Lei had never felt more awkward in his life.
The female knight whispered into his ear. ¡°You saved our lives and protected our dignity and faith. You own us. If you want it... it¡¯s alright too.¡±
Xia Lei felt his body tense up.
Though it wasn¡¯t explicitly worded, it wasn¡¯t difficult toprehend the matter she was implying.
Giovanna released her grip and beamed. ¡°Alright then, we¡¯re going shopping.¡±
The other three sisters shed their best smiles at Xia Lei.
But all Xia Lei could feel was a flurry of emotions terrorizing his heart.
Chapter 897 - Youre Pregnant?!
Finally, the ZTZ100 was fixed. What needed improvement was improved and fine-tuned. The main battle tank was now better and stronger than it was before. Using it as the standard model, Thunder Horse Organization soonunched their ns of mass-producing the ZTZ100 main battle tank.
The Thunder Horse Organization didn¡¯t need to worry much about orders. Their concerns were with the scale of production. The higher-ups had told Xia Lei to produce as many tanks as they possibly could. Funding wasn¡¯t a concern and the avability of resources was essentially limitless!
Those words were a turning point. After that, the Thunder Horse Organization began soaring towards a better future.
Now that the ZTZ100 had its foundation, Annina and Sylvia could finally be at ease. The two German engineers soon weed their anticipated trip to Greece. Before they had departed, Xia Lei had made them each a skillfully crafted human mask, turning them into strangers. For safety sake, the man even assigned Alessio and Yelena to protect them in the dark. Annina and Sylvia were important talents to the Thunder Horse Organization and Xia Lei had to ensure their safety.
The second day after Annina and Sylvia¡¯s departure, Thunder Horse Military Factory weed an unexpected guest.
Hattori Mei.
The Hattori Mei before Xia Lei was a corporate genius. She was d in ck office wear and frameless sses. In Russia, the aura she had radiated with her luxurious kimono was something more feminine and alluring.
Qing Caiyue led her into Xia Lei¡¯s office and was about to prepare some tea when Xia Lei dismissed her right away.
¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re actually here.¡± Xia Lei let out an unfriendly scoff. For this woman, he only had one term to describe her. As poisonous as a scorpion.
Hattori Mei giggled behind her palm. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m right here. What are you going to do to me? Kill me? Or are you nning to fuck me?¡±
Her entire being reeked of enticement and her words wereced with seduction.
¡°You really think I wouldn¡¯t dare to kill you?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s threats were cold.
¡°Why are you so hostile to me?¡± Hattori Mei had the audacity to look hurt. ¡°Do you really hate me that much?¡±
¡°You had three tanks try to kill me. What else can I feel other than hatred? Am I suppose to like you for that?¡±
¡°That¡¯s your reasoning?¡± Hattori Mei shrugged with nonchnce. ¡°I¡¯m just doing what I¡¯m ordered to do. If I don¡¯t execute the order, there will be others who will. You¡¯ve threatened America¡¯s strategic benefits. The number of people after your head is more than you realise.¡±
Though Xia Lei felt nothing but contempt towards her, he must admit that her words held some truth. His current existence had greatly tilted the power bnce in Asia. There was no one else more eager for his death than the Americans.
¡°Xia Lei, I know you hate me but I must give you a piece of advice.¡±
¡°What do you want to say?¡±
¡°Avoid going overseas from now on. They might ambush you.¡±
Xia Lei grinned dangerously. ¡°Thank you, you just gave me an idea on how to kill you and your father.¡±
Hattori Mei was taken aback. ¡°Is yourpany working on producing drones?¡±
¡°That is a military secret. Send a spy if you dare,¡± said Xia Lei. Truthfully, Thunder Horse Organization had no ns on producing drones at the moment but there surely would be someing soon in the future.
Hattori Meiughed again. ¡°Ohe on, please don¡¯t kill me. After all, I¡¯m a woman who you slept with. I¡¯m sure we share some sentiment or are you really that heartless?¡±
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to say.
This woman was not only cruel but also terrifyingly shameless. Hattori Mei possessed the two disdainful features but the uncanny thing was that it garnered her no hate.
¡°Alright, if you¡¯re nning to kill my father, please do inform me before doing so. I¡¯d like to arrange a good funeral for him,¡± mentioned Hattori Mei.
Something clicked in Xia Lei. ¡°You did that on purpose back in India, right? You escaped and left your brother behind. You knew what the oue would be but you still chose to do so. Now, you¡¯re saying things like this in my office. Are you trying to...¡±
¡°You¡¯ve got the answers. Why are you trying so hard to pry it out of my mouth?¡± Hattori Mei interjected with a sly smile.
Xia Lei could feel a surge of coldness in his heart. This woman had brought death to her brother, Hattori Geppa and she was now mindlessly spilling out her ns to get rid of her father. Describing her like a venomous viper or scorpion was no longer sufficient. She was better offpared to a ck widow!
¡°Are you not afraid of me exposing your ns to your father?¡± After a brief pause, Xia Lei attempted to pry.
¡°If I was, would I choose to tell you? Sometimes, enemies won¡¯t be enemies forever. In times of need, enemies can be great benefactors.¡± Hattori Mei winked at Xia Lei.
He understood what she meant but he remained unfazed. ¡°You came all the way here just to tell me that?¡±
¡°Of course there are other formal matters to talk about. I¡¯m merely trying to reminisce about the past with you.¡± Abruptly, Hattori Mei¡¯s nimble fingers unbuttoned a button on her blouse and reached a finger into her cleavage.
In Xia Lei¡¯s view, her smooth digit entered the pale cleft and pried her ck undershirt to produce an off-white card.
Hattori Mei brought the card in her palms to the front of Xia Lei.
The off-white card had remnants of her scent.
Xia Lei declined to receive it but read the words written on top.
Mister Xia Lei, looking forward to seeing you at the Boao Forum For Asia.
Folsom, CEO of Lockheed Martin.
It was only after hisprehension of the written content that Xia Lei was willing to ept it. This was equivalent to an invitation sent to him by Folsom. However, he really had no clue why Hattori Mei had chosen to hide the card in her undershirt.
As if she could read his mind, Hattori Mei raised an arm and waved it lightly in front of his face. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking about. I did not bring a bag and had nowhere else to keep it. I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t mind. After all, you¡¯ve already gotten a taste of what¡¯s hidden in my undershirt.¡±
¡°The theme for this year¡¯s Boao Forum is The Peace and Stability of Asia. More than twenty countries will be sending their representatives to join the event. Madam Folsom is invited to the forum as a special guest. She¡¯ll be meeting you there,¡± said Hattori Mei.
¡°Where will it be held?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know where the Boao Forum headquarters are? You should really pay more attention to things like this.¡± Hattori Mei continued, ¡°The event will be held in its headquarters in Hainan. People like Bill Gates and Ma Yun have participated in the past.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not a member. Why do I need to attend the Boao Forum?¡± Xia Lei was disinterested. Compared to rying big ideas and noble concepts in some event, the man was keener on working in peace.
¡°After all, you¡¯re a qualified businessman worthy of an appearance. Many would kill for an opportunity to make an appearance and yet you¡¯re not interested.¡±
¡°I have never once thought of myself as a qualified businessman. I¡¯m more skilled at producing weapons,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°So you mean you won¡¯t be attending?¡±
¡°No. I won¡¯t fly to Hainan just because she wants to meet me.¡± Xia Lei hummed mockingly. ¡°What a joke.¡±
¡°But...¡± Hattori Mei itched to say something but halted herself.
Xia Lei added on, ¡°I¡¯ve received Madam Folsom¡¯s invitation, you may leave now. It¡¯s probably better for you to scurry away because a change of my heart would have you die here.¡±
Hattori Geppa was dead. The only heir left for the Hattori n was Hattori Mei alone. Unfortunately, she was a woman and the Japanese held on to their traditional societal views strongly. Most family businesses were inherited by the sons and not the daughters. There was no guarantee that Hattori Masao would try to produce a son due to familial pressure. When that happens, Hattori Mei¡¯s sweet dreams woulde to an end. The simplest and most upfront solution to her problems would be to get rid of her father. With a personality like hers, she was only too eager for it to happen.
Not long after Hattori Mei had exited his office, Liang Siyao made her appearance. Today, her smile was wide and her pretty face looked like a blooming blossom.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Why do you seem so happy today?¡± The sight of Liang Siyao eased Xia Lei¡¯s heart, making him shift his focus onto his lover.
The woman approached him, refusing to reveal much. ¡°Take a guess.¡±
Xia Lei pondered and shook his head. ¡°I have no idea. Can¡¯t you tell me already?¡±
¡°Come on, you¡¯re not trying hard enough. Think a little further, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to guess it.¡± Liang Siyao was firm on creating suspense.
Xia Lei pulled her onto his body and had hery t on hisp. He raised a palm and pped her twice. He threatened jokingly, ¡°Are you going to tell me now?¡±
¡°Nope, I¡¯ll say nothing even if you p me to death.¡± Liang Siyao giggled.
p p p!
Xia Lei¡¯s palms drummed the surface of her meaty cheeks, triggering fervent ripples to resonate on her pink flesh. The slightly parted officedy skirt concealed a pair of ck stocking-d limbs.
¡°Jeez, you actually dare to spank me? Go on, spank me. If your son gets miscarried, it¡¯s all your fault.¡± Liang Siyao turned her face around to re at him. Her expression was a contrasting mix of disgust and enticement. Xia Lei was the only thing reflected in her gorgeous dark eyes, everything else around him blissfully ignored.
Xia Lei¡¯s palm came to an abrupt halt mid-air. There was a silent pause before he spluttered, ¡°You¡¯re pregnant?!¡±
Chapter 898 - Virtuous Wife and Loving Mother
¡°Yeah.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes glimmered with joy. ¡°My period waste so I went to purchase a pregnancy test. I got the results on the first try.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Leiughed in glee.
Liang Siyao frantically ced a hand over Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°What the hell are you doing? This is the office! We¡¯ll be the butt of the joke if anyone learns this.¡±
¡°Am I not allowed to express my happiness?¡±
¡°Hell no.¡± The sister disciple rolled her eyes at him. Bearing a man¡¯s child before marriage was very frowned upon in Asian society.
¡°Alright, alright. I won¡¯tugh. Come, let me see my child.¡± Xia Lei carefully flipped Liang Siyao over. His swift hands then lifted her zer and the sweater inside.
Her pale stomach was now exposed to his eyes. The smooth expanse of skin was delicate and had some child-like pudginess to it. He itched to use his left eye to spy on the baby but quickly diminished the thought. What if using his X-ray vision left radioactive side effects? Xia Lei would have been heartbroken if something were to happen to his little boy.
Not using the X-ray vision didn¡¯t hinder his fatherly love. Xia Lei extended a hand to smooth over her silky abdomen while he mumbled, ¡°Son, can you feel my hand? Come on, say hello to Papa. Give me a high-five.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Liang Siyao broke into a fit ofughter. ¡°High-five your fucking ass. Our child would only be about the size of a peanut now. How are you expecting him to p your palm? Plus, it might be a daughter instead of a son.¡±
¡°A daughter is great too. She¡¯ll be our little princess. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll grow to be a woman as beautiful as you.¡± Xia Lei said while grazing his palm lightly on top of her stomach.
Liang Siyao made no move to stop him, the woman closed her eyes in embarrassment. He brought her happiness and she would offer him everything she had.
¡°What shall we name our child?¡± Xia Lei murmured into her ear gently.
¡°Shouldn¡¯t that be decided by the father?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
¡°You deserve to name her too.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s hand was starting to get a little frisky.
¡°You... Stop it. This is the office. What if...¡± All thoughts of a potential name immediately stopped as she gazed nervously at the sneaky hand that had made its way upwards onto forbidden territories.
¡°No one wille in at this hour,¡± Xia Lei said with a grin.
However, as soon as hisst word rang out, someone entered through the door.
¡°Oh shit...¡± The person eximed in shock, quickly turning around to face the wall.
Xia Lei let go of Liang Siyao while thetter quickly removed herself from hisp. Panicked, she quickly tidied her crumpled shirt. The woman felt even more embarrassed than Xia Lei himself for the person who entered was Xia Lei¡¯s legal wife, Fan Fan.
¡°Erm...¡± Fan Fan cleared her throat awkwardly. ¡°Are you guys done?¡±
Xia Lei coughed dryly twice. ¡°What do you mean? We were just in the middle of a discussion.¡±
Only then did Fan Fan face them. With flushed cheeks, she responded, ¡°Yeah, right, a discussion. What I saw was just you both hard at work.¡±
Having to witness a sight of her fiance getting intimate with another woman in his office would certainly leave her bitter. Albeit so, Fan Fan had to force herself to look cheery. This was because the woman was aware that the foundation of her rtionship with Xia Lei was paper-thin. In the end, the union between her and Xia Lei was dyed with the colours of ¡®political marriage¡¯, and the term was extremely difficult to get rid of. She needed time and she needed to get along with Xia Lei¡¯s other women.
However, Fan Fan had to face a rather direct question. If Xia Lei didn¡¯t run into problems with Tang Yuyan in the first ce, would he even try to get together with her? After understanding her circumstances, Fan Fan was now sure of how to get along well with his other lovers.
Liang Siyao cleared her throat lightly, desperate to resolve the awkward tension in the air. ¡°Ah, Miss Fan. Please take a seat, I¡¯ll be back with tea soon.¡±
¡°No, no, no. You should sit down too. You must be tired. I¡¯ll make you tea instead.¡± Without waiting for Liang Siyao¡¯s response, Fan Fan began to stride towards the water cooler on the side. The woman uttered, ¡°Siyao, there¡¯s no need to call me Miss Fan next time, just sister will do.¡±
Liang Siyao felt embarrassed, quickly looking over to Xia Lei. The man only nodded at her in response. She red at him and hissed internally, ¡°Lucky you!¡±
Xia Lei was a very lucky man. He had managed to solve an issue not many men could do.
On the other hand, Fan Fan had really made Liang Siyao chrysanthemum tea and red tea for Xia Lei. She was literally the image of a virtuous wife and loving mother.
Liang Siyao could her cheeks burn, quickly bringing a chair for Fan Fan and tried to initiate a topic. ¡°Sister, do you not have work today?¡±
¡°I wish, but I could never enjoy a carefree life.¡± Fan Fan chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m here to bring our man a message.¡±
There was a faint tinge of pink on Liang Siyao¡¯s cheek. Fan Fan¡¯s words were direct and clear. They were destined to be family in the near future. Though some things were better left unsaid, the reality was there and everyone had to work towards epting it.
¡°What message?¡± questioned Xia Lei. To let a high-positioned employee like Fan Fan deliver him a message personally would indicate that it was of utmost priority.
¡°The higher-ups want you to appear in theing Boao Forum For Asia.¡± Fan Fan continued, ¡°You¡¯ll be attending it as a special representative. Also, Time Magazine is preparing to interview you there. You¡¯re required to ept their interview.¡±
Xia Lei was utterly surprised. Earlier, Hattori Mei was in his office trying to convince him to attend the Boao Forum. It wasn¡¯t even long after her departure and Fan Fan was here talking about the same event. However, he was clear that thetter¡¯s appearance wasn¡¯t a result of Hattori Mei or Madam Folsom little political tricks. The higher-ups had truly intended for him to attend the forum.
¡°Why do they want me there?¡± Xia Lei was bewildered.
¡°They want to promote the existence of you and the Thunder Horse Organization to the world.¡± Fan Fan went on, ¡°The message is simple. We are stronger than before.¡±
Liang Siyao interjected, ¡°The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting, what a smart strategy.¡±
Fan Fan giggled. ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯re so smart.¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Alright then. Since they¡¯re that adamant, I¡¯ll go.¡±
Fan Fan quickly added on, ¡°I¡¯ll go with you. Siyao, you shoulde with us too.¡±
¡°Me?¡± The other woman frantically shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m meant to appear in such a setting.¡±
Xia Lei tried to convince her. ¡°Siyao, you shoulde. Hainan is a good ce to rx.¡±
Liang Siyao shook her head fervently. ¡°No, I really don¡¯t want to go. If you left and I followed suit, who is going to look after thepany?¡±
Xia Lei wanted to continue but found himself out of words.
Abruptly, Fan Fan stuck herself close to Liang Siyao¡¯s side. Their new proximity was so close that Fan Fan¡¯s lips were essentially touching her ears. Fan Fan whispered, ¡°Shentu Tianyin is an important figure of the Boao Forum. You and I both know that our man is a gigantic softie who doesn¡¯t know how to say no. Do you get what I mean?¡±
Liang Siyao blinked slowly, her hesitation onlysted for a second. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go.¡±
Fan Fan grinned. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s settled. I¡¯ll prepare another luggage for you.¡±
¡°Oh dear, there¡¯s no need to do that!¡± Liang Siyao was profoundly embarrassed by the extensive hospitality.
Fan Fan grasped her hand. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so courteous. We¡¯re sisters, we¡¯re a family now.¡±
The two women continued to chatter about. They were bing closer, totally ignoring their man in favour of each other.
Dispirited, Xia Lei asked, ¡°Siyao, what did Fan Fan say to you? You weren¡¯t budging when I tried to convince you but you immediately agreed after a few seconds of her talking to you. What the hell is going on?¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Our business is none of your concern. I won¡¯t tell you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you too,¡± said Fan Fan.
The two of them continued to talk, both engaging and friendly to one another. The disy now was still rather normal but in another few months, it would be a scene of two heavily pregnant women deep in conversation. The image made Xia Lei¡¯s head spin. Suddenly, he thought of Jiang Ruyi. Ah, he didn¡¯t dare to imagine further.
Fan Fan once again whispered into Liang Siyao¡¯s ear. ¡°Hey, how long have you been pregnant?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± The query caught her by surprise. ¡°Sister... How did you know?¡± Liang Siyao felt a little down. She had just learnt of it just now and rushed over to deliver the good news to Xia Lei. How did Fan Fan know off the bat?
Fan Fan lowered her voice. ¡°The expression he had when caressing your stomach was the same as when he caressed mine... Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡±
Liang Siyao shot a sharp re at Xia Lei. She was most definitely going to eat him alive.
Xia Lei stood up and came to stand behind the two women. He ced each of his palms on the back of their pale necks. Gently, his palms began to pinch and press. ¡°You both have worked hard. Your husband shall give you a massage as a reward.¡±
¡°How shameless can you be?¡±
¡°Who the hell are you calling wife? Shameless.¡±
¡°Hehe, there¡¯s no need for shame when I have you both.¡± Fan Fan was being nice to Liang Siyao and they both were getting along well. It was a rare sight to see. They hadn¡¯t even said a word about him massaging them at the same time. Perhaps they wouldn¡¯t mind him having them in the same bed in theing future.
For the sake of his future happiness, the man was determined to do his best.
The two women really hadn¡¯t minded each other¡¯s presence, only feeling a little embarrassed and awkward about the entire situation. Despite that, they made no move to avoid his hands and no one had said a word of protest. Was this considered a silent acknowledgement...?
The two of them squeezed their lids shut, not daring to look at each other and Xia Lei.
Unbeknownst to them, Xia Lei¡¯s smile behind them was devious and plotting.
There was still much to do with his women. Though the process was bound to be difficult, it was inevitable.
Chapter 899 - Deep Sisterly Love
Travelling from Jingdu to Hainan was simr to crossing over to the other end of China. From the strong chills in the north, they weed a summer-like warmth. The temperature in Hainan was about twenty-degrees Celsius, which allowed the northern folks to experience a summer breeze.
This time, Xia Lei did not bring the four female knights along. They werepletely focused on the preparation work for the uing church and secondly, the nature of this current task was very different. He did not have to worry about safety. A squad of elite bodyguards were in charge of his safety and his residence was separated from the other members of the Boao Forum For Asia. He was arranged to reside in an isted vi.
The sight of ten or more elite bodyguards surrounding the vi was not as jaw-dropping as the air defence missiles set on the side of the vi. It was to protect them from possible air assaults. After the episode at Russia¡¯s Arabino Range, it was not hard to tell of Japan and America¡¯s desperation to get rid of Xia Lei. Therefore, it would only make sense to spare no expense when it came to his safety.
Xia Lei was the key to the rapid development of China¡¯s military industry. No mistakes could be tolerated.
Entering the vi, the person-in-charge showed them to their rooms. They had arranged a bedroom for Xia Lei and Fan Fan while Liang Siyao was expected to stay in another bedroom. Fan Fan had an official status with Xia Lei. They were legally engaged to one another. It made sense for them to live together. Liang Siyao, on the other hand, was the current acting CEO of Thunder Horse Organization. Though her status was sufficient enough to score a lodging with Xia Lei, theck of a legal status meant she couldn¡¯t stay in the same room.
Despite that, the two rooms were actually right beside each other. It literally only needed a few steps to reach the door of the other.
As soon as the person-in-charge left them behind, Fan Fan said, ¡°Siyao, you¡¯ll stay with Xia Lei. I¡¯ll sleep in your room.¡±
¡°No, no. There¡¯s no need too.¡± Liang Siyao quickly declined.
¡°It¡¯s alright. You can stay in the same room as Xia Lei.¡± Fan Fan insisted.
Liang Siyao shook her head vehemently. ¡°No, I¡¯ll just stick to the arrangement. You¡¯re Xia Lei¡¯s fiancee and I¡¯m just his employee. How could I live in the same room as him? Wouldn¡¯t it look bad to the others?¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing to worry about. The people working here will not gossip around,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°No means no.¡±
¡°Look, we¡¯re sisters. Just listen to me and...¡±
The two women yed a game of tug-of-war,pletely forgetting about the man beside them.
Xia Lei interjected them with a cough. ¡°Hey, are you both done yet? We¡¯re here in Hainan for two things. A forum and a trip. Of course, the first motive is of the highest priority but the main point of this trip is to have fun. Since we¡¯re here to be happy, why limit ourselves? In my opinion, there¡¯s no need to push back and forth, let¡¯s all sleep in the same room.¡±
He then walked forward and grasped Liang Siyao and Fan Fan¡¯s wrist. ¡°I¡¯m serious about this.¡±
¡°Oh, fuck you.¡± Liang Siyao huffed with red cheeks.
¡°Yeah.¡± Fan Fan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You¡¯re incredibly shameless. We¡¯re stuck here with you and yet you¡¯re trying to take advantage of us. Isn¡¯t that right, Siyao?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡± There was a tacit understanding between Liang Siyao and Fan Fan.
Fan Fan pried her wrist out of Xia Lei¡¯s grip. ¡°The twodies shall sleep in the same room while he sleeps alone.¡±
¡°Good, we¡¯ll share a room and let this pervert sleep alone.¡± Liang Siyao smirked.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t keen on that happening. He offered, ¡°How about this? We all share the same room and I¡¯ll give you a full-body massage.¡±
The two women look at each other. The offer was tempting but the two weren¡¯t about to bite the bait.
Xia Lei added on, ¡°The second programme would be prenatal education. I¡¯m going to talk to the two kids and teach them the ways of life.¡±
¡°Pfft.¡± Fan Fan failed to suppress herughter.
Liang Siyao broke into a fit of giggles.
Weirdly, Xia Lei still had on a straight face. ¡°What are you twoughing at? Scientific research has proven that prenatal education can be done at any stage of development. Prenatal education is important. Don¡¯t underestimate it. After that, we¡¯ll name the children together. How¡¯s that?¡±
¡°You sure you¡¯ve got nothing else nned?¡± Liang Siyao squinted at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei put on a serious face.¡±Of course not. I¡¯ve got nothing else nned.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Fan Fan red at him in disbelief.
Xia Lei raised a palm. ¡°I swear...¡±
Before the man could finish his words, Fan Fan had already pressed his arm down. ¡°Don¡¯t try to swear on something you don¡¯t mean. There¡¯s no need to swear, we¡¯ll just say yes. Happy?¡±
A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. He ced an arm around each of their waists and entered the room.
The room decor was elegant and refined. Overall, the living condition put them at ease. The only regrettable thing was that the only bed avable was a double bed with a length of one hundred and eighty centimetres. It would be a little small to fit three but the slight squeeze would be more than weed.
While Xia Lei busied himself with putting away the luggage, the two rxed women began to talk with hushed voices.
¡°I feel like we¡¯ve been fooled.¡±
¡°Yeah, we sort of gave in.¡±
¡°Jeez, I¡¯m embarrassed to even think about it.¡±
¡°But he seems happy.¡±
Yeah, if he brings it up, we¡¯ll...¡±
¡°Yikes, don¡¯t mention it. I¡¯m about to die from cringing.¡±
There were certain regrets about how they ended in this situation. However, the two women were secretly curious and looking forward to it. Regardless of what emotions were about to arise or triggered, the sight of a smiley Xia Lei would make their sacrifices worth it. Women were born to put men on their pedestals. Once a man had vanquished their existence, women would ce him as their utmost priority and submit themselves to them. The entirety of Liang Siyao and Fan Fan was Xia Lei¡¯s alone. They would dly die for him so what else would they not be willing to do for him?
It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to settle the luggage. He turned around and shed them a smile. ¡°My darlings, would you like to have your massage on the couch or bed?¡±
Liang Siyao and Fan Fan couldn¡¯t help but blush.
Liang Siyao quickly replied. ¡°I... I don¡¯t wish to receive your service yet. I¡¯d like to go to the beach.¡±
¡°Yeah, me too.¡± Fan Fan agreed.
¡°Alright then, let¡¯s go to the beach.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart cackled evilly. ¡°We¡¯ll see how long you can put this off.¡±
The three of them left the vi and followed a path of palm trees towards the beach surrounded by a hoard of casually-dressed national elite bodyguards. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that Xia Lei was now regarded as a national treasure.
Reaching the beach, Xia Lei bought some slippers and swimsuits along with towels and sunscreen from a sundry shop nearby.
¡°Hey, I don¡¯t feel like swimming. I¡¯m worried that the baby will be cold.¡± Liang Siyao advised, ¡°How about you return the swimsuits?¡±
¡°Yeah. This ce may be warm but it¡¯s still not warm enough to swim. We must think about our children¡¯s wellbeing.¡± Fan Fan supported her.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything about swimming. I bought these so you can go sunbathing. It¡¯ll be great for the baby. Can¡¯t you see that I even bought towels? Those are for you to lie on, I¡¯ll help you both put on sunscreen.
Xia Lei¡¯s perverted motives didn¡¯t go unnoticed by Liang Siyao and Fan Fan. They were fully aware of what his ns were but they found themselves eager to bite the lure and satisfy him. They were like gullible fishes, clear about the dangers of hooked baits but still willing to give it a bite.
Such was love.
The sandy beach was bustling with activity. There were sundry shops operated by locals and a massive hoard of tourists.
Xia Lei searched for a remote ce and held up the towels to create a makeshift changing room for the two women. The man beckoned them to enter it when he was done.
¡°What the hell? I¡¯m not doing that. That¡¯s too much!¡± Fan Fan was the first to reject it.
¡°Can¡¯t we just walk around and enjoy the view.¡± Liang Siyao was beet red.
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Come on, hurry up. There¡¯s no one here and I promise to not watch you both change. What¡¯s there to be embarrassed about? It¡¯s not like I haven¡¯t seen your bodies before.¡±
Those words had two fists hurled towards him.
Though the punches were packed with strength, the two women heeded his request and entered the ¡®changing room¡¯. Xia Lei became their hangers, their skirts were ced over his shoulders. Fan Fan hung her bra on his ear while Liang Siyao boldly hovered it on top of his head, letting the structured cups settle across his face. In the end, two panties, one ck and one white fell on the top of his head. The whole disy wasplicatedly obscene.
This was probably his punishment.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t mind a punishment like this at all. In fact, he was enjoying the process gleefully.
The sight of his two lovers in skimpy swimsuits was wonderful. One of them tall with long limbs and the other pale like jade. They possessed sexiness and beauty unique to each, allowing Xia Lei to feast on the disy hungrily with an itchy heart.
¡°Pervert.¡± Fan Fan covered her chest. ¡°You bought such an exposing swimsuit.¡±
¡°Damn you.¡± Liang Siyao tugged her skimpy bottom as she red daggers at the man. ¡°This is awful. What if someone else sees this.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s no one else here. Loo, the bodyguards chased everyone away. We¡¯re the only three on the beach. This will be for my eyes only. You both look so pretty.¡±
The sweet-talking sessfully garnered bashful giggles from Liang Siyao and Fan Fan.
¡°Help me hold the towel up, it¡¯s my turn to change now,¡± said Xia Lei.
And so the two women held the towels to conceal him. But as soon as Xia Lei stripped his pants away, the women abruptly pulled the towels away and ran.
Xia Lei screeched loudly, quickly covering his privates and dropped to the sand.
¡°Hahaha...¡± The womenughed and iled.
¡°Just you wait! I¡¯m going to avenge myself!¡± Xia Lei threatened over the distance.
¡°Come get us then! Come on!¡± Liang Siyao challenged him, kicking sand over with her long limbs.
Xia Lei gritted his teeth in annoyance. He shamelessly pulled up his trunks and began to run after them.
The three of them yed a game of chase on the beach. Xia Lei caught up to Liang Siyao, hugging her and kissing her and then he caught up to Fan Fan, repeating the same disys of affection.
Perhaps even the gods hadn¡¯t even lived a life half as happy as his.
From another beachside vi, a woman stood at the balcony as she watched the chasing trio closely with her binocrs.
This woman was none other than Hattori Mei.
¡°My goodness, he sure does know how to enjoy life.¡± The smile curled on Hattori Mei¡¯s lips was an intriguing one. ¡°Enjoy this while you can. It won¡¯t be long until you¡¯re unable to do this anymore...¡±
Chapter 900 - The Showdown Between the Ex-wife and Fiancee
The night breeze was rather chilly for it was still winter in the region. Even a ce like Hainan would still feel cold in the night.
At this moment, three beautiful people sat inside a lit room. The whole vi was filled with tender romance with a heavy dose of shyness and awkwardness.
¡°Are...are we really going to sleep on the same bed tonight?¡± Liang Siyao was so nervous that she started to tremble. If a gigantic hole were to appear beneath her now, the woman would surely leap in without a doubt.
¡°I... I¡¯ll go sleep in the next room.¡± Fan Fan was cringing so badly that she had the violent urge to chicken out. Truthfully, she was the more conservative and traditional woman out of the two. She was a woman with poise and status.
However, all efforts to run away were futile when Xia Lei blocked their way out. There was a smirk on his face. ¡°What¡¯s with you two today? It¡¯s not every day that we get the chance to travel together. Shouldn¡¯t we enjoy this opportunity more? I mentioned that I wanted to tell stories to my children. Have they given you permission to leave?¡±
Both Liang Siyao and Fan Fan stared at him in silence.
This man sure was shameless. His children were probably as underdeveloped as a peanut, how were they supposed to give their mothers permission? And of course, the inevitable question. How should Fan Fan¡¯s child refer to Liang Siyao and how would Liang Siyao¡¯s child refer to Fan Fan?
Not leaving a chance for his two lovers to understand the question, the shameless man extended his arms and pulled them by the waist to the bed. The two women struggled half-heartedly in the process.
Following that, Xia Lei immediately helped them take off their shoes and socks, washed their feet then rubbed their backs. The man did not forget to add in a bunch of gentle and sweet words of love, melting their hearts into goo and dissipating their bashfulness.
There was a process for everything. Xia Lei had been nothing but lovely, showing his best performance as a man and husband.
¡°A long long time ago, there was a monk who lived in a temple, deep within the mountains...¡± After making sure that his wives werefortable, he ced himself between them. The man told a story to his children as he caressed the top of his lover¡¯s stomach. He was content with the peace and honey-like sweetness their dynamics had.
¡°Gosh, you¡¯re bringing up such an old story?¡± Fan Fan pouted. ¡°If this is what you meant by prenatal education, I am disappointed.¡±
Xia Lei scowled, looking like a wronged child.
¡°I second that,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Prenatal education should be left to us women. A man like you wouldn¡¯t know what to do,¡± noted Fan Fan.
Xia Lei abruptly continued his story. ¡°One day, two nuns appeared at the temples. They soon took a great liking towards the monk and the monk had reciprocated their interest. After that, they lived happily ever after. They¡¯d share meals, wash each other¡¯s feet and...¡±
¡°What the fuck? What kind of dirty story are you reciting? You¡¯re actually serious about telling that to your children?¡± Fan Fan was bewildered.
¡°Yeah, you¡¯re so damned awful. You¡¯re going to pollute the kids!¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Sleep together!¡± This seemed to be the ending of his story. As soon as his words fell in silence, Xia Lei pulled the covers over them and the three weed the darkness.
Sleeping together under arge nket was something Xia Lei yearned to do. This little dream of his was no longer a fantasy.
¡°Whose hand was that?¡±
¡°Jeez! Stop that!¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I mention that I¡¯m going to be a part of this!¡±
¡°No! No damn way!¡±
¡°I think you¡¯re better off telling stories... Mmph!¡±
¡°Who gave you the permission to take those off?! Kya!¡±
Whatever that followed next in the dark was a string of risque stories.
The next morning, after Xia Lei and his two lovers had arisen from their slumber, someone all too familiar had made an appearance before they could leave for breakfast.
She was Shentu Tianyin.
She was wearing a ck maxi skirt, ck stilettos and her glistening Sacred Heart diamond ne. Her aura was the same as ever. It was as strong and prominent as a queen¡¯s. Albeit so, there was a faint sheen of sadness in her beautiful orbs.
Her abrupt appearance quickly stripped Xia Lei and his two lovers of their smiles and prior light-heartedness. Suddenly, the tension was heavy and awkward.
¡°Tianyin, when did you reach?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence.
Shentu Tianyin spared a brief nce on Fan Fan and Liang Siyao instead. ¡°I arrived yesterday too. I heard you wereing and was expecting a visit from you. However, you hadn¡¯t made a move to look for me till now so I figured that I shoulde to you.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled sheepishly. He was busy enjoying life with his two lovers, why would he be reminded of Shentu Tianyin?
¡°Hello, Siyao.¡± Shentu Tianyin greeted Liang Siyao.
¡°Hello, Tianyin.¡± Liang Siyao returned it with a light courteous smile. Her words were hallowed from friendliness.
Some time ago, Shentu Tianyin had reigned victorious over her. The woman was Xia Lei¡¯s wife. But things had taken a turn and made her his ex-wife while his ex-girlfriend had reinstated her status. Not to mention, Liang Siyao was now secretly pregnant with his child. This was something both Shentu Tianyin and Liang Siyao hadn¡¯t seening.
¡°And this is?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s gazended on Fan Fan.
Before Xia Lei could open his mouth to introduce them, Fan Fan came and stood closer to Xia Lei¡¯s side. She hugged his arm and put on a bright smile. ¡°I¡¯m Xia Lei¡¯s fiancee. I¡¯m Fan Fan and you are?¡±
¡°Shentu Tianyin, his ex-wife.¡± The woman answered.
Truthfully, they both knew who each other were.
They continued to hold their gazes, eyes meeting one another. Their disdain and resentment towards each other were poorly concealed.
Immediately, the tension thickened.
Xia Lei could feel the top of his head go numb. He cleared his throat. ¡°Uh... Tianyin, have you had breakfast? Would you like to join us?¡±
Liang Siyao reached one of her long legs over to kick the back of his shin lightly.
Xia Lei pretended to not feel it in favour of soothing the pain in his head. The man certainly didn¡¯t want Shentu Tianyin to take his offer, especially in a setting with Fan Fan and Liang Siyao around. Xia Lei was just offering it out of courtesy. To no one¡¯s surprise, as soon as the words escaped his mouth, Liang Siyao had already given him a kick. If Shentu Tianyin had actually agreed to it, would Fan Fan go easy on him?
¡°That sounds like a good idea. I hadn¡¯t had breakfast either.¡± Shentu Tianyin smiled.
At this moment, Fan Fan reached her arm over and pinched his lower back with force.
Once again, Xia Lei feigned ignorance. The man kept his friendly smile on his face to mask his urge to cry. Last night, his women had served him like a king. The feast of desire was his paradise on earth but the spoiled man was immediately met with a sharp turn of events the next morning. He was walking on thin ice and this was akin to a dangerous calm before a storm.
Three women and one man were seated at the dining table.
Each woman had shared a messy romance history with Xia Lei. Having to face an uncannybination of the three women whom he loved had Xia Lei¡¯s appetite thrown out of the window. The only thing he wished, for now, was that breakfast would end without any issue.
¡°When is your marriage ceremony?¡± Only touching her lips with some congee, Shentu Tianyin broke the silence.
¡°We...¡± Now that she mentioned it, Xia Lei came to the realization that he did not even know when he would be registering his marriage with Fan Fan. The union was supposed to be a hoax but their feelings had matured over time. Now, their marriage was not as fake as it started out to be. Plus, Fan Fan was carrying his seed inside of her womb.
¡°We will do it when we feel it is the right time.¡± Fan Fan continued, ¡°I¡¯m already pregnant with his child so we can¡¯t put this off too long or my stomach would be too obvious.¡±
A small smile formed on Liang Siyao¡¯s lips. Fan Fan¡¯s strategic response was amazing. She would¡¯ve said the same thing to Shentu Tianyin hoping to dim her lingering feelings for Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression went a few shades darker, the mncholy in her eyes bing more obvious. The woman forced out a smile. ¡°When we were still together, I had always wanted a child. Sadly, things didn¡¯t turn out the way I wanted.¡±
Xia Lei felt his heart clench painfully. If his rtionship with Shentu Tianyin was smooth-sailing, perhaps they would¡¯ve been parents by now. Despite that, bearing a child would be close to impossible for Tianyin back then without Fan Fan¡¯s antidote.
Fan Fan replied, ¡°Miss Tianyin, you¡¯ll have a child of yours someday. You¡¯re an amazing woman, I¡¯m sure you have many suitors. If you give yourself another chance at marriage, you¡¯ll surely have your own child.¡±
Shentu Tianyin looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. It was not his ce to speak.
Shentu Tianyin consumed another few spoons of congee and then ced her cutleries down. ¡°You guys go ahead, I¡¯m done with breakfast. Xia Lei, I¡¯ll look forward to hearing your speech at the forum.¡± With that, she stood from her seat and left.
Xia Lei wanted to call out to her but Liang Siyao hurriedly stuffed a french bean into his mouth.
Fan Fan eximed, ¡°Bye, Miss Tianyin. Come visit us someday when you¡¯re free.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s footsteps halted for a moment but the female said nothing. She strode away with her back against them.
Her departure had Xia Lei¡¯s heart sigh in both relief and heaviness. He wasn¡¯t keen on having their issue entangle them for life, it was about time to put an end to this.
¡°If we weren¡¯t here, you would¡¯ve made a mistake again,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Sister Fan Fan, you¡¯re amazing,¡± praised Liang Siyao with a grin.
Xia Lei could only smile wryly. ¡°She¡¯s got it hard too. She¡¯s managing apany all by herself and constantly gued with family politics.¡±
As soon as he was done talking, his two lovers immediately stuffed his mouth full of vegetables.
Fan Fan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You¡¯re too soft for your own good. You¡¯re a failure at rejecting others. She¡¯s got it hard but have you thought about us?¡±
¡°Think about what she did. That way, you won¡¯t be able to go soft on her,¡± added Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei silently chewed on his french beans.
Chapter 901 - Madam Folsom
The opening ceremony for the Boao Forum For Asia was held in the main hall. When Xia Lei had reached the hall, the venue was already packed. A brief nce around allowed him to spot a handful of familiar faces. They were the elites of Asia.
It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to locate his seat, it was also then when he realized that the seat next to him had a tag for Shentu Tianyin. He froze, was this just a coincidence?
¡°I thought you wereingter.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice rang from behind him.
Xia Lei shed her a light smile. ¡°Better an hour early than a minutete.¡±
¡°Where¡¯s your fiancee and girlfriend?¡± She asked.
Fiancee and girlfriend? What was she trying to achieve by saying that?
Xia Lei began to speak, ¡°Tianyin...¡±
¡°Who is the big sister amongst them?¡± She paused and delivered another sharp line. ¡°So Jiang Ruyi is the third sister?¡±
Shentu Tianyin stared into his eyes. ¡°Xia Lei, are you sure you want to live like this? Is this the lifestyle you want?¡±
¡°My life is not bad, actually. I¡¯m quitefortable with it. Life is short so why limit yourself to the societal norm? I like it and they don¡¯t mind it.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve got something that I wanted to ask for some time.¡±
¡°What is it? You¡¯re free to ask whatever you want,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Who am I to you?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a while and answered carefully, ¡°You¡¯re my ex-wife and a friend.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips itched to say something but an event staff approached them. ¡°Mister Xia, please take a seat at the VIP seats.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°Why?¡±
The staff returned him a polite smile. ¡°Mister Xia, you¡¯re a very important special guest of the highest-profile this year. There will be a debate session between you and another important special guestter. A staff member will be attending to youter.¡±
¡°Who is the other important special guest?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, Madam Folsom.¡± He replied.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Alright, I¡¯lle with you.¡± Before he left, he turned around to face Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Tianyin, I¡¯ll catch youter.¡± Xia Lei knew it but needed confirmation.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression was calm. ¡°Goodbye.¡±
As soon as Xia Lei left with the staff member, Shentu Tianyin bit on her lower lip hard. She was unhappy and couldn¡¯t find an ounce of will in her to force herself to act happy. She was the one who gave up on Xia Lei for the sake of the Vientiane Group. Back then, the only alternative to divorce was for her to let go of Vientiane and help Xia Lei. The Thunder Horse Organization was just a small startup inparison to Vientiane. However, that wasn¡¯t the case now. The current Thunder Horse Organization was worth a whopping one hundred billion and was steadily rising in fame. Based on Thunder Horse¡¯s contribution to the nation and its global poprity, the enterprise was way head of Vientiane!
For someone who aimed for the best in her work, how could she not regret? For the sake of Vientiane, she had even sacrificed her love life and eternal happiness!
She wished to atone for her sins but there was no longer a chance for her to do so. Xia Lei was an easy target. She knew that because she was his ex-wife. Unfortunately for her, the women around Xia Lei were not easy to handle. Liang Siyao¡¯s presence essentially apanied him everywhere. Would she allow someone who robbed her of Xia Lei near him again? Not to mention, Fan Fan was someone she dared not offend. With those two around him, how would she be able to return to him?
Xia Lei followed the staff member along a corridor and into a room. The room seemed like a regr tea room that was upied by a few familiar faces. Director Ma, who was the most influential emerce expert and a few other prominent business figures were present. It was practically impossible to not know of these people. On the other hand, Xia Lei may have enjoyed media exposure to a certain extent but his frequency paled inparison.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyesnded on a woman with short blonde hair. She seemed to be in her early fifties and her deep blue eyes were hollow. There was an air of wisdom and intelligence around her. Along with her thin and tall stature dressed with impable fashion sense, the woman looked like a cold-blooded, sharp and highly efficient corporate crocodile. Though this was his first time meeting her, Xia Lei knew who she was. She was Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, Madam Folsom.
Aside from Madam Folsom, there were a few blonde Caucasians in the tea room. However, Xia Lei recognized none of them.
¡°Mister Xia, they¡¯re all important guests of ours. Please enjoy your rest here while you wait for themencement of the opening ceremony. Someone will be here to inform you of when to go up the stage.¡± The staff member left.
Xia Lei went forward to an empty couch.
When he first entered through the door, the man¡¯s presence had actually garnered everyone¡¯s attention. There were different expressions triggered by his appearance, there was respect, some were envy and some were upright jealousy.
They were all elites of China that held an impressive amount of wealth. Simply put, they were here because they were rich. Xia Lei was different from them because he possessed talent with his riches. The man was literally a national treasure! Xia Lei had brought development to the entire military industry with his sheer capabilities alone. He was a man no one could replicate!
¡°Mister Xia.¡± Director Ma approached him with a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve heard many good things about you. Would you like to be friends?¡±
Xia Lei actively reached an arm out with a polite smile. ¡°Director Ma, I¡¯m a fan of yours. I would love to.¡±
If this had taken ce three years ago, Director Ma would¡¯vepletely ignored him. With his current profound status, a figure like Director Ma had made the first reach to establish somework with him. This was life. Birds of a feather flock together.
With Director Ma¡¯s lead, the other business superstars soon followed his example and greeted Xia Lei. Friendships were not the main point for now. These people had resources which he might need to tap into in the future.
Every Asian in the tea room had made an effort to converse with Xia Lei in an effort to establish contact. However, Madam Folsom and the handful of Caucasians made no move to the slightmotion. They kept to their circle and spoke in hushed tones. asionally, Xia Lei would catch them watching him out of the corner of their eyes. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that their quiet discussions had much to do with him.
In the meanwhile, Xia Lei watched Folsom intently. Weirdly, the woman was silent since the beginning. She said nothing and had on a face of unwavering nonchnce.
Xia Lei thought to himself darkly, ¡°She wants to challenge me to a debate but what would it be about? I¡¯ve never gotten into a public debate. I better not embarrass myselfter. It¡¯ll be awful if I brought humiliation to the country.¡±
At this moment, Fan Fan entered the room and threw a look at Xia Lei at a distance.
¡°I¡¯m sorry, please excuse me for a moment.¡± Xia Lei left his new ¡®friends¡¯ behind to approach Fan Fan.
The woman wordlessly led him to the corridor outside. ¡°The opening ceremony is about to begin. I know that you¡¯ve never experienced public debate so I prepared some material for you.¡± She passed Xia Lei a thick folder.
He held onto it but made no move to open it. Instead, Xia Lei grasped her hands with a gentle smile. ¡°You¡¯re so thoughtful.¡±
¡°Siyao was the one who prepared it for you. She couldn¡¯te in so I came in her ce,¡± mentioned Fan Fan.
¡°You both are the best.¡± There was a burst of warmth in Xia Lei¡¯s heart, it brought some inexplicablefort in the midst of such intense times.
¡°I¡¯m d to hear that. Don¡¯t you dare try to meet Shentu Tianyin in secret, or else...¡±
¡°Or else...?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll be sleeping on the sofa for the rest of your lives,¡± finished Fan Fan.
Xia Lei gulped and nodded his head.
¡°Look through the material. Get someone to reach me if you need anything,¡± reminded Fan Fan.
¡°Sure, see youter.¡± Xia Lei released her hand and sent her off with his gaze.
The man opened the folder to reveal its contents in the corridor, scanning through the material. Xia Lei had impable memory, which meant he could memorize all its contents without fail.
An usher to get on stage came not long after he returned to the room. Xia Lei let everyone else take the lead and followed the group at its tail.
Folsom purposely slowed her footsteps to match his. As soon as they were the only ones left in the room, she spoke, ¡°Mister Xia, I believe you know who I am.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Of course. You¡¯re Madam Folsom, the CEO of Lockheed Martin. Your personal assistant, Beryl, had visited my office earlier to tell me that you wish to meet me. However, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re keen on seeing me. You didn¡¯t strike a conversation just now.¡±
Folsom¡¯s reply was cool. ¡°How could we speak with such a crowd?¡±
Xia Lei smiled politely. ¡°Why so? Are there any secrets between us?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Folsom lowered her voice. ¡°If you wish to know more about the AE Research Centre,e meet me some other time. I¡¯m sure you can find out where I live.¡±
¡°What do you know?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s utter shock was barely concealed.
¡°Come meet me. However, you must pass my test. We¡¯re about to face each other in a debate. I hope you won¡¯t perform shabbily. This debate is streamed live all over the globe.¡± Folsom¡¯s lips curled into a subtle smirk, but it was of a mocking tone.
Questions lingered in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. ¡°Why does she know about the AE Research Centre? Does she know about the AE capsules?¡±
There were certain concerns, but thinking further into it made it easy to guess the probable source of Folsom¡¯s intel. Xia Lei was viewed as America¡¯s national enemy. It had only made sense for the American government to leak his secret information to the rival of the Thunder Horse Organization, Lockheed Martin. There was a good possibility that this was the truth.
¡°Mister Xia, I look forward to meeting you alone.¡± Folsom left him behind with wide steps.
Xia Lei remained silent.
To meet or not was a decision of his, not hers!
The story about the AE Research Centre?
His interest for that has been deep-seated for a long time!
Chapter 902 - Dark Humour
The opening ceremony for the forum themed ¡®The Peace and Stability of Asia¡¯ began with a speech from a politician. Every special guest was expected to present something based on the theme. Among these guests were representatives from some Japanese consortium, a few Korean politicians and a few influential figures in politics and business from the Philippines and the Western countries.
While everyone else talked about noble, far-fetched ideas on stage, Xia Lei was bored out of his mind. As he allowed his eyes to travel along with the audience seat beneath, his gaze stopped on Shentu Tianyin. Shentu Tianyin was staring at him as well, shing him a slight smile in response. The man returned the gesture and immediately felt troubled. He was undeniably intelligent but he could never sort out his private life.
After all, intelligence quotient and emotional quotient were two vastly different things.
Shentu Tianyin brought out a pen and began writing in her notebook. She flipped the book around to show Xia Lei a line of words.
Xia Lei could make out the message from a distance. ¡®Come have lunch with meter¡¯.
As he found himself about to nod, he thought about Fan Fan¡¯s stern reminder to not meet Shentu Tianyin in secret or he¡¯d be sleeping on the couch for the rest of his life. Immediately, his neck went stiff and he did not respond. The warning from his two pregnant lovers must be taken seriously. He really didn¡¯t wish to offend them then get chased out from bed to the couch.
Another reason behind his inability to nod was the fact that Fan Fan and Liang Siyao were both carrying his offspring. The tolerance they showed to acknowledge one another was a rare asion. As a man, he too should not indulge in his shallow desires in favour of being a good husband and father.
This was seemingly the reason why he hadn¡¯tid a finger on the four female knights. If this had happened before Fan Fan, Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi were pregnant with his children, he would have dly sumbed to his desires for the four sisters.
Shentu Tianyin stared at Xia Lei intensely.
Xia Lei made a smart move to shake his head and point to his eyes as if hinting that he couldn¡¯t read her tiny handwriting. Shentu Tianyin ced the notebook down and as she prepared to write it in a bigger font. He immediately turned his head to the side.
As if on cue, the host¡¯s attention hadnded on Xia Lei. The man smiled at him. ¡°Mister Xia, could you tell us more about your hopes and dreams for the future of Asia?¡±
Xia Lei focused his concentration on the question. He spoke into the mic ced in front of him. ¡°My hope for Asia is simple. I just wish for it to enjoy eternal peace and stability. Only people who have experienced war would understand how precious that is to us. Asia needs a stable environment for development.¡±
¡°Mister Xia.¡± A representative from the Japanese consortium interjected. ¡°I learnt that you¡¯re an arms dealer. The momentum of the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s development has been nothing but fierce and your weapons are given the limelight in Middle Eastern wars. You¡¯re a man who provides ess to terrifying weapons and yet you¡¯re here talking about the preciousness of peace and harmony? What kind of sick joke is that?¡±
Everyone else made no move to stop him for the forum¡¯s nature had allowed open challenges. Following that, Xia Lei could feel more gazes on him as they anticipated an answer.
Xia Lei had expected Folsom to make his time here difficult but it was a surprise to have a Japanese start the fire. He smiled at him. ¡°Allow me to answer your query. From the dawn of human development until now, we have never stopped researching for better weapons. In prehistoric times, we defended ourselves with sticks and stones. Stronger tribes will conquer smaller tribes for their food resources and women. It is not much different in modern times too. Stronger countries will use war to plunder weaker countries and rob them of their resources. I¡¯ll spare you no example for I fear that you might be offended.¡±
The expression of the Japanese consortium representative darkened for Xia Lei was implying about his origin country. During the Second World War, The Land of The Rising Sun brought terror to the entirety of Asia, especially to China. The crimes they hadmitted on the Chinese territory were countless, the Japanese soldiers were literally vile savages.
¡°History is in the past. We are now in a time of peace and modernization. Every country is cutting down on funding resources for their military and making an effort to reduce their nuclear weapon arsenals. You, on the other hand, are making strides in more dangerous weapons. Your answer is not much of an answer, you¡¯re just trying to deviate the question, no?¡± The Japanese representative retaliated.
With schooled nonchnce, Xia Lei answered him, ¡°In contrast, my motive behind the creation of better weapons is for peace. We¡¯re literally rebuilding everything from ruins that were resulted by a very dark period of our country¡¯s modern history. Throughout these years, we have been bullied and exploited. To avoid the repetition of history, we need to be strong. When we are strong, there will be less opposition. Where there is less opposition, there is peace.¡±
¡°You¡¯re being unreasonable.¡±
¡°Okay, how about I use your country as an example? You¡¯ve invaded us and even stole away ournd and minerals. Not to mention, you¡¯ve made our women suffer from humiliation and destroyed a good part of our historical relics. How can we live in peace with a neighbour like Japan around? Currently, your country is home to strong American troops, aircraft carriers, military submarines and the world¡¯s most advanced fighters like B2 and F35. If you¡¯re trying to make a point that weapons are a representation of war and therefore, not peace, Japan should first have the American troops leave Asia. Didn¡¯t you make some changes in your peace constitution to allow more freedom for war initiation to your troops?¡±
The Japanese representative paled, rendered speechless by Xia Lei¡¯s fieryeback.
¡°Japan is not the same Japan it was during the Second World War. You¡¯re aware that the Americans will protect you. So here¡¯s the question. Where have we offended you by strengthening our own defence?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
The Japanese representative snorted slightly, obviously displeased with the situation. He chose to back down after Xia Lei¡¯s mini-speech.
Metaphorically put, if Japan and China were two men who lived in a vige named Asia, the situation was as if Japan had given China a beating of its life when thetter was bedridden and vulnerable. The assault had rendered China near death but now that the man had recovered and grown stronger, Japan started talking about peace in fear of the consequences of past actions. Every time China produces a high-tech weapon, Japan would feel the need toment extensively and invite America to help hinder China¡¯s development. This was Japan¡¯s mentality.
Seeing that the man had fallen silent, Xia Lei too did not press further. Instead, he continued, ¡°Weapons were never the obstacle to peace but its guarantee. War has always been the result of conflicts of interest. What we want is not the peace donated by others. What we want is to control our own peace. Therefore, the Thunder Horse Organization is determined to create advanced weapons to aid our country to obtain that peace freely.¡±
His words could be directly interpreted as, ¡®As long as you do not vite my interests, we shall enjoy peace. If you vite my interests, we will have no peace. I would prefer it if we didn¡¯t fight but if we do, I¡¯ll beat the ever-living shit out of you!¡¯
The main motive the higher-ups needed Xia Lei to attend the forum was clearly ryed by Fan Fan. They needed his lips to tell the world this message and he was determined to do his best!
¡°That¡¯s all from me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I¡¯ll end my speech with this. The advancement of history forward and not backwards. Thank you for your attention.¡± Xia Lei nodded his head down as a sign of respect.
p! p! p!
Shentu Tianyin was the first to p. The way she looked at Xia Lei was filled with excitement and admiration. The Xia Lei now was no longer the same man she married. At his current height, she could only look up to him now!
The main hall echoed with thundering apuse.
¡°What an interesting speech!¡± The host smiled. ¡°Mister Xia, there is a special segment for this year¡¯s forum. You¡¯re about to participate in a public debate about our theme with Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, Madam Folsom. We look forward to your performance. This way, please.¡±
The host moved aside and gestured an invitation.
Xia Lei looked at the two erected podiums in the middle of the stage then cast a nce at Folsom. He pondered to himself darkly, ¡°That Japanese was the vanguard, huh? Jeez, not another debate. I just want to bring my women around the beach to sunbathe...¡±
Though his heart relented begrudgingly, Xia Lei stood from his seat and walked towards his designated podium.
Folsom followed suit and went to her designated podium.
The debate between an American arms giant and a Chinese arms giant on the peace and stability of Asia was ironic.
The main hall fell silent in anticipation.
Folsom was the first to speak. Her English was wonderfully enunciated and fluent. ¡°Firstly, I¡¯d like to thank the organizers for the invitation. It is an honour to be here. Asia holds a vital position in the world. As the protectors of peace, America genuinely hopes that Asia will enjoy a peaceful and stable environment to grow stronger and contribute to the greatness of mankind.¡±
A round of apuse erupted.
Folsom gestured to Xia Lei for his turn.
Xia Leiid his palms firmly on the sides of the podium. ¡°Wee to Asia, Madam Folsom. It is a pleasure for me to exchange my opinions with Madam Folsom. I hope this will be a wonderful session.¡±
Folsom replied, ¡°Thank you. Just a short few years ago, there was no Thunder Horse Organization on this vast continent. Now, Thunder Horse had already imed the crown being the ace of China¡¯s military industry. As a businessman, Mister Xia¡¯s achievements are undoubtedly sessful. Many media had even described your rise to fame as a miracle. Personally, I admire you very much.¡±
Xia Lei shed her a smile. ¡°Thank you.¡±
There was an abrupt change of tone. ¡°Mister Xia, though you have achieved impable results, some of your decisions and actions fill me with regret. Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s weapons had made it into the battlefields of the Middle Eastern and Southern America. Before my arrival, I did my research and found that Thunder Horse¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifle, gust assault rifle and the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon had yed a crucial role in the Middle Eastern feud. A certain amount of Thunder Horse¡¯s weapons had made it into the hands of the terrorists. For the sake of rapid development and flow of customers, you¡¯re willing to sell your weapons to terrorists. Think about those crying women and children, what do you feel about that?¡±
Folsom wasn¡¯t here to y.
This was not bound to be a friendly debate.
Chapter 903 - Folsoms Attack
Where Thunder Horse¡¯s weapons would end up after exportation was not within Xia Lei¡¯s control. He sold to legal governments and legal military troops, but that didn¡¯t mean these people wouldn¡¯t resell these for a higher price.
Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifle, gust assault rifle and Hell-bound One Soldier Cannons were in high demand in the Middle Eastern region. The weapons allowed them to attack with impressive power. Regardless of government forces or rebels, even the active terrorist organization of the region had favoured Thunder Horse¡¯s weapons. Judging from that perspective, Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s weapons had certainly rubbed salt into the tormented local¡¯s wounds.
However, was the Thunder Horse Organization really at fault? Was this actually Xia Lei¡¯s fault?
¡°Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s excellent weapons had brought more damage than good to the innocent Middle Eastern locals. In the war zones of Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, many soldiers of America and its allies had met their end under the weapons you created.¡± Folsom¡¯s tone was increasingly aggressive. ¡°Mister Xia, you¡¯re a sessful man but is the kind of sess you¡¯re after? Is this the firm peace that you¡¯re referring to?¡±
Everyone turned to look at Xia Lei.
After a brief moment of silence, Xia Lei spoke, ¡°You mentioned that my weapons had fallen into the hands of the terrorists. Do you have any evidence to support that?¡±
Folsom smirked coldly. ¡°I was expecting you to ask that so I brought footage with me.¡±
As her words ended, the screen behind the pair began to project a video.
In the video, a ck-robed terrorist sted his gust assault rifle at a gathered group of women, children and elderlies. Every bullet fired was a lifeless body on the ground. At the end of the footage, the bearded terroristmented that the gust assault rifle was the best rifle he had ever used after a round of merciless massacre.
The video switched to another footage where a troop of American military convoys stationed in Afghanistan were met with a terrorist attack. The armoured vehicle driving in the front was unceremoniously sted apart by a shell fired from a Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon and the remaining American soldiers were killed by an XL2500 sniper rifle. The end of the video disyed an armed terrorist that showed off his XL2500 sniper rifle while praising it as a weapon given by Ah. Following that, another terrorist kissed the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon, mentioning that the weapon had given him the courage to try challenging a US tank.
The video ran its course for about two minutes before it ended. Folsom inhaled sharply and mustered her next words in pain. ¡°Mister Xia, shouldn¡¯t you say something about this?¡±
Xia Lei simply answered, ¡°I¡¯ve got a video to show you too.¡±
Before long, the big screen behind them yed a new set of footages.
In this video, two M1A1 Main Battle Tank¡¯s drove into a small Iraqi town. The tanks fired unhesitating shells to the escaping vigers and Iraqi government soldiers who were protecting the town. The terrorist member who had filmed the entire ordeal appeared near the end and thanked the Americans for their tank with an uncanny smile.
The next footage showed a battle in Syria. The American Hercules transport ne whistled through the air, dropping off boxes of weapons with parachutes. However, those weapons were not collected by the American supporting counter-attack forces but by the terrorists.
Xia Lei stopped the video prematurely.
Calmly, he turned to look at Folsom. ¡°Madam Folsom, you¡¯ve asked me toment on the Thunder Horse¡¯s involvement in terrorism. I would like to ask for yourment towards the video I showed as well.¡±
¡°The airdropping of weapons was a mistake. As for the tanks, those were equipment left behind in Iraq during the Gulf War. After Saddam¡¯s fall, a part of these weapons and equipment ended up into the hands of the terrorists.¡± Folsom emphasized, ¡°This was not our intention and most affirmatively not done on purpose.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°That begs the question. How could you think that I had done those on purpose? As you imed, your tanks and air-dropped weapons had ended up with the terrorists by mistake. Simrly, my weapons had found itself in the hands of the terrorists through some channel by mistake. Can¡¯t that be understood as an unintended ident?¡±
¡°The nature of the incident is not the same, Mister Xia!¡±
¡°Fair point. After all, your mistakes were done legally while mine was illegal. You¡¯re allowed to be erroneous but I¡¯m not allowed to slip up. Is that what you¡¯re trying to say?¡± Xia Lei questioned.
A sh of fury roared in Folsom¡¯s eyes but the burst of emotion was short-lived. She shrugged her shoulders calmly. ¡°If this is how you n to avoid my queries, then I have noment.¡±
Xia Lei pressed on, ¡°This itself is in differential treatment. For the same thing, you¡¯re able to forgive yourself but you¡¯re unwilling to forgive others. In fact, you¡¯ve never nned to understand the real reason behind the flow of Thunder Horse weapons into the hands of the terrorists. Isn¡¯t that so?¡±
¡°Time will show that you¡¯re wrong,¡± warned Folsom.
Xia Lei retaliated, ¡°Time had already proven that your colour revolution in Ukraine and the Arab Spring revolution is a failure.¡±
¡°Oh!¡± Folsom huffed. ¡°This is supposed to be a non-political event. We should avoid the topics of politics and I have no interest to further engage you in that path.¡±
Xia Lei smiled at her. ¡°Then what would you like to talk about?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s talk about you.¡± She answered.
Inexplicably, Xia Lei had a very bad feeling about it.
The intensity in her gaze was terrifying. ¡°Mister Xia, your father, Xia Changhe, was a member of an illegal special force organization known as the FA Organization. It was he who infiltrated the AE Research Centre in America to steal their fruit of research, the AE capsules. It was those capsules thatpleted you!¡±
A deafening silence enveloped the hall.
But it was seconds before low murmurs of discussion could be heard about.
¡°What kind of institution is the AE Research Centre?¡±
¡°What is an AE capsule? It sounds like some kind of pill.¡±
¡°Is it a kind of pill that will give its consumer superpowers? You know, Spiderman, Superman, the Hulk and so on?¡±
¡°Maybe! A lot of reports on Xia Lei¡¯s climb of sess stated that he was just a mere construction worker a few years ago and the man is now a billionaire!¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve always found it weird. How can he be so powerful in such a short time? The weapons he manufactured and designed are internationally renowned. Even the European and American technologies can¡¯t keep up with his pace. Nothing makes sense.¡±
¡°It really doesn¡¯t make any sense. In my opinion, Madam Folsom must¡¯ve known something about it. She isn¡¯t someone who would make bold baseless statements in a setting like this.¡±
¡°Aren¡¯t they supposed to be talking about the peace and stability of Asia? Why is she bringing up Xia Lei¡¯s private affairs?¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you tell? This isn¡¯t just some regr debate, this is a fight between two military aces!¡±
¡°I think so too. It¡¯s impossible for Lockheed Martin to sit still in the face of Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s rapid development and watch them conquer its market. The fact that Thunder Horse is making better weapons than us most probably won¡¯t sit well with the American government.¡±
Discussions of this kind could be heard at all corners of the venue.
Shentu Tianyin watched Xia Lei with glistening eyes.
On the podium, Xia Lei too was rendered silent. He felt fury but for the most part, he was worried.
The thing he had feared most had manifested today. Someday, his secret will be brought to light and everyone would view him as a monster. He wasn¡¯t worried about how the world would view him. However, he was extremely worried about how the people he held dearly would view him.
Worse, the revtion of his secret would serve severe damage to him and his Thunder Horse Organization!
Currently, the Thunder Horse Organization was at a key developmental phase. If the momentum was interrupted by his secret, things would be in favour of Lockheed Martin along with the Japanese and American government. The battle to defeat his domestic enemies had been difficult. Would his secrets attract new challengers or perhaps hindrance?
¡°Silence, please,¡±manded Folsom sternly.
The audience immediately fell silent.
Folsom returned her gaze onto Xia Lei again. ¡°Mister Xia, your father had stolen the fruit of America¡¯s research and you¡¯re its ultimate benefactor. We¡¯ve got enough evidence to prove that you¡¯ve surpassed current human evolution to create an empire of your own. You¡¯ve had military operations in Germany, India, Afghanistan, Russia, France and even Italy. More than a hundred people have fallen victim in your hands. This is an achievement even professional killers could not match. I¡¯ve said this much, it¡¯s about time you make ament.¡±
Abruptly, Fan Fan made a mad dash up the stage.
Her actions seemed to indicate her urge to cut off Folsom¡¯s words forcefully but Xia Lei quickly halted her with a stern look. This was a live conference broadcasted all over the globe. If she had actually halted Folsom¡¯s speech, the status she bore was bound to garner negative nder andnd her in trouble.
Fan Fan was furious. She saw the struggle in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes but could only suppress her violent urge to drag Folsom off stage.
¡°Mister Xia?¡± Folsom¡¯s lips were curled into a vicious smirk.
Xia Lei raised a palm and gave a few slow ps. He smiled at her. ¡°Madam Folsom, your story is impressively interesting. I feel like you¡¯ve got better talent as a scriptwriter than managing Lockheed Martin. You really should consider a jump ship. Maybe be an actor and join the Avengers.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, I wouldn¡¯t be stating things like this without evidence. Since I could bring it up in such a setting, I¡¯m also able to show you the evidence.¡± Folsom chuckled a little. ¡°Here, I¡¯d like to hear you defend yourself. If you choose to stay silent, I¡¯ve got noment. After all, humans are the most reluctant to admit their sins.¡±
To avoid the topic was equivalent to giving silent confirmation.
However, what Folsom had said was merely the truth. This wasn¡¯t something that could be discussed and defended here. Xia Lei was at a loss.
The man felt horrible, absolutely fucking horrendous. He had never expected the first public debate of his life to end this way.
¡°Mister Xia, are you really going to say nothing?¡± Folsom approached him with careful steps.
Xia Lei shed her a smile. ¡°Madam Folsom, I don¡¯t know whose order you are acting on but I¡¯d like to tell them something. They¡¯re going to pay for everything they¡¯ve done. You won¡¯t be able to escape your fate too.¡±
Folsom scowled. She was intelligent and she picked up Xia Lei¡¯s underlying message.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°About the AE Research Centre and the AE capsule that could magically make someone smarter. I¡¯ll be frank, are the researchers a bunch of idiots? If those capsules were as miraculous as you imed, why hadn¡¯t they mass-produced it to create smarter Americans? Isn¡¯t that aligned to America¡¯s best interest? Lastly, if that AE Research Centre is still producing such capsules, I¡¯d be happy to buy some. I would love to try them out. I¡¯ll end my speech here, thank you.¡±
With that, Xia Lei left the podium towards the door without sparing a nce back.
Chapter 904 - The Power of Love
Not long after Xia Lei had left the stage, Folsom too did the same.
¡°Madam Folsom, can we interview you?¡± A reporter held up his recording pen as he approached her.
Folsom paused her footsteps with a smile. ¡°Of course, but I¡¯ve got not much time to spare. I¡¯ll spare you five minutes.¡±
¡°Madam Folsom, were you speaking of the truth?¡±
¡°Madam Folsom, does the AE Research Centre exist in America? Are they really manufacturing medicine to advance human evolution?¡±
¡°Is Xia Lei an experimental subject?¡±
¡°Did Xia Lei really kill up to one hundred people? Do you hold any evidence to support the statement?¡±
¡°Will America bring Xia Lei to court? And if they are, what will he be charged with?¡±
¡°Madam Folsom, will the Thunder Horse Organization be severely impacted by this incident? Is this something Lockheed Martin is eager to see?¡±
Folsom was calm and collected as the vast bombardment of questions went on. Nonchntly, she spoke, ¡°I can¡¯t answer each of your questions but I¡¯ll give you a simple statement on the current situation. What I said was the truth. Xia Lei¡¯s father had stolen pills from the American AE Research Centre and made Xia Lei invincible. He is currently the world¡¯s most evolved Homosapien and the height of his evolution is beyond our imagination. This has also allowed him to be ambitious. All my usations against him are true and he should take responsibility for it...¡±
Following that, Folsom pushed the reporters apart and quickly made her way into a special path.
There was a woman waiting for her at the end of the path silently. She was Hattori Mei, dressed in a smart yet feminine business suit that entuated her lovely body. The fullness of her breasts and behind was the peak epitome of enticement.
¡°The car is ready for you, Madam Folsom.¡± Hattori Mei was respectful around her superior.
¡°Let¡¯s return to the hotel.¡± Folsom headed towards the parking lot.
Hattori Mei trailed behind her closely. ¡°Madam Folsom, will Xia Lei visit you?¡±
¡°I¡¯d say the possibility for that is at a mere twenty per cent,¡± replied Folsom.
¡°Ah, that¡¯s equivalent to not showing up.¡± Hattori Mei seemed a little disappointed.
Folsom uttered, ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush. We¡¯re not only ones he¡¯s going against. It¡¯s alright if he doesn¡¯te, we¡¯ll just let him perish in his own battle.¡±
¡°What if the internal battle we anticipated doesn¡¯te to fruition?¡±
¡°Do you think that¡¯s possible? You know how Chinese people are and you should know that it¡¯ll definitely happen.¡± Folsom¡¯s smirk was booming with confidence.
Two minutester, a Mercedes-Benz S ss sedan left the Boao Forum under the escort of a few Chevrolet Suburban off-road vans.
At the same time, a room in a well-decorated isted vi was gloomy.
Fan Fan and Liang Siyao eyed Xia Lei nervously. They were both worried about his current condition. There were no words exchanged between the three of them.
Since his return from the Boao Forum, Xia Lei has beenpletely silent, looking absolutely burdened. The trouble Folsom had triggered was severe and the fuss it was bound to bring was just in its budding stage. It was literally a ticking bomb!
Fan Fan couldn¡¯t stand the tension any longer. She went and brought Xia Lei a ss of water, nestling the ss securely between his palms. ¡°Hubby? Come, drink some water.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei made no move to drink its contents. But he knew this was Fan Fan¡¯s effort to halt his wild array of thoughts.
¡°That Folsom must be working under the orders of the American government. Without their support, she wouldn¡¯t have been so bold,¡± theorized Liang Siyao. Out of all his lovers, Liang Siyao was the only one who knew Xia Lei¡¯s secret. Hence, her rtively calm responsepared to Fan Fan. The woman was not surprised.
¡°Hubby, is Folsom...?¡± Fan Fan attempted to probe. Her mind involuntarily showing her memories of them under the rain and the peculiar trivia of Xia Lei¡¯s 998 IQ score. Those were numbers that she had obtained personally from the experiment and it fuelled her suspicion that Folsom¡¯s usations were true.
Xia Lei¡¯s smile was painful. ¡°You want to know if Folsom was telling the truth, right?¡±
The question made Fan Fan anxious. ¡°No, no. I¡¯m not that curious. There¡¯s no need to tell me if you don¡¯t want to.¡±
The woman was afraid of hurting Xia Lei. The fetus in her stomach was Xia Lei¡¯s child. The truth of the matter was less important than her future. This had much to do with her iing child, her family and her happiness. If her curiosity were to get in the way of these, she would rather abandon the thought.
There was a brief moment of silence before Xia Lei spoke, ¡°We¡¯re a family now and it¡¯s only fair for you to know the truth. It¡¯s all true.¡±
Fan Fan was shocked, but quickly calmed herself down to feigned nonchnce and shrugged. ¡°Truth or not, I don¡¯t really care.¡±
¡°Let me finish this.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I think it¡¯s about ten years since then, I don¡¯t even remember what day it was but my father passed me some pills to treat my illness. Back then, I had a brain tumour and its growth had threatened my life. I thought I was going to die but after consuming those pills, the tumour was gone without a trace. After that, my father went missing. I took care of my sister and life was difficult. Truthfully, I still have no idea what those pills are. I refer to it as the AE capsules but it could have another name. The only thing that I¡¯m certain about these capsules was that it gave me abilities beyond myprehension. I had been trying to investigate the source of these AE capsules but sadly, there¡¯s not much progress till this day.¡±
¡°What have you found so far?¡± Fan Fan was eager to know.
To her surprise, Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°This is only as much as I can tell you. I can¡¯t reveal anything more.¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°You still don¡¯t trust me fully?¡±
¡°Sister Fan Fan, please don¡¯t misunderstand him,¡± said Liang Siyao.
Fan Fan was sulking, feeling as if his love towards her wascking.
In a swift motion, Xia Lei grasped her hand and pulled her into hisp. Fan Fan¡¯s buttocks were meaty and his thighs were firm and muscr, it acted as a sturdy stool that supported his lover.
The passionate disy of intimacy had her insecurity dissipated. However, she still kept her pout on and continued to throw her silent tantrum.
Xia Lei pinched her pouting cherry lips between his fingers. ¡°Since when have you be so petty? I¡¯m not telling you the full story not out of distrust. You¡¯re my lover and the mother to my child. We¡¯re a family, would I hide things that I could tell you? The reason behind it is simple. Those who know be my enemies targets. I don¡¯t want you to get hurt.¡±
Fan Fan and Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes met. They were silent but they were both no regr women. Particrly Fan Fan, she was the head of Station ZN and that position made her important to China. Who would dare to threaten her?
¡°You mean the American government?¡± Fan Fan had no fear.
Xia Lei returned her a bitter smile. ¡°The American government? No, what I¡¯m talking about is an existence that is more dangerous than that.¡±
¡°What?¡± Fan Fan and Liang Siyao gasped in unison.
An existence more terrifying and stronger than the American government? Clearly, this was something beyond theprehension of Fan Fan and Liang Siyao. It was only natural for them to be in shock and in a state of disbelief.
¡°Liang Siyao,e.¡± Xia Lei beckoned her over.
¡°What for?¡± She seemed a little hesitant.
Xia Lei responded, ¡°Juste over already. I¡¯ve got something to say to both of you.¡±
It was only then that Liang Siyao heeded his request. As soon as she approached him, Xia Lei separated his joined thighs and plopped her down on the unupied thigh. Now Xia Lei¡¯s thighs were two stools that were respectively seated on by Fan Fan and Liang Siyao.
The awkwardness between them had dissipated. After all, they both had slept togetherst night. What was there left to fret about sitting on the legs of their shared husband?
Xia Lei circled his arms around their slim waists. With a heavy tone, he said, ¡°One day, If... If I¡¯m gone, please live on and take good care of our children.¡±
¡°What are you bullshitting about?!¡± Fan Fan red at him. ¡°Do not say anything like that!¡±
Liang Siyao too punched his side. ¡°If you say another word like this, I¡¯m going to ignore you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°I¡¯m just talking about what-ifs.¡±
¡°What-ifs are not allowed too,¡± insisted Fan Fan.
¡°I will not allow that to happen,¡± said Liang Siyao.
Though the two women¡¯s responses were evidently rude, their actions and words hade from their overflowing love.
Xia Lei could feel his heart melt into mush. ¡°Let me finish this, okay? I could never bear to leave you and the children but we must face the fact that some things are out of my control. I¡¯ll draw a will when we¡¯re home and leave all my property to you and the children. As for the Thunder Horse Organization, I¡¯ll be leaving it to the hands of the country. If there are any more arrangements to be made, I¡¯ll tell you when I¡¯m reminded of itter.¡±
The two women were now silent, eyes moist with unspilled tears.
All the talk about wills and inheritance made them realize how severe the problem was.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei chuckled lightly. ¡°It¡¯s only best if I prepare myself for it.¡±
The two women continued to stare at him with tears in their eyes. They just couldn¡¯t find it in themselves to mutter anything.
Xia Lei reached his arms to spank their bottoms lightly. ¡°You¡¯re both pregnant. Crying isn¡¯t going to do good to the babies¡¯ health. You need to smile. Please smile or I¡¯ll need to spank your asses again.¡±
Liang Siyao and Fan Fan crouched over to bury their faces into the crook of his shoulder. They let their tears fall helplessly, but they were determined to hide it from him.
Silently, he hugged them tighter. Lockheed Martin¡¯s attack was bound to give him trouble but the man had no care for that. His true threat was the mysterious ck-robed man who had only given him three years to live. It was even more saddening that he had less than three years time now. Time was running out.
Not to mention Zhu Xuanyue. She too was an existence that could endanger his life. It was just that her time for action hadn¡¯t arrived yet.
Xia Lei continued to think about his demise until when Liang Siyao abruptly removed her face from his shoulder and grabbed his cheeks. Without another word, she kissed him intensely.
Fan Fan was a little dazed but quickly joined them.
If love could conquer fear, it could conquer sorrow too.
Chapter 905 - Hattori Meis Checkpoint
Their lustful indulgence had onlysted a brief moment until it was interrupted by a call from Tang Yuyan. Xia Lei was in the middle of a lovemaking session with his wives, which made him hesitate whether to ept the call or not. He had already foreseen her intentions but the man just didn¡¯t know how to talk about it.
Liang Siyao peered at the screen over his shoulder. ¡°Tang Yuyan? Nah, ignore her.¡±
On the other hand, Fan Fan said, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s about the incident at the Boao Forum. She¡¯s probably calling for official affairs, ignoring it wouldn¡¯t be good for you. Hubby, ept the call.¡±
This was the first time his lovers had conflicting opinions.
Xia Lei made up his mind and received the call. ¡°Hello, it¡¯s me. What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice rang through, but she paused in hesitation.
Xia Lei cut the chase. ¡°You want to ask me if Folsom was telling the truth, right?¡±
¡°Yeah. Is it real?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯swent to question.
¡°Of course not. It¡¯s fake,¡± answered Xia Lei.
The woman on the other side of the line was almost the head of Bureau 101. Her current status was very different from her past. Each word exchanged between them should be spoken carefully.
¡°You¡¯re lying to me!¡± Tang Yuyan heaved with anger.
Xia Lei could only smile bitterly. He could say nothing else. If he were in Tang Yuyan¡¯s shoes, the man would find it hard to believe it too.
¡°Are you aware of the weight carried by Madam Folsom¡¯s status? Do you know the poprity and significance of the Boao Forum to the world?¡± Tang Yuyan huffed.
¡°If you believe that is the truth, then there is nothing more I canment,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Where are you now?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
¡°In Hainan, of course,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°What are you doing now?¡± She pressed on.
¡°Talking to you. What do you think I¡¯m doing? If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯m going to...¡± Xia Lei wanted to end the call already.
Abruptly, Liang Siyao allowed a sickeningly coquettish voice to roll out of her throat. ¡°Darling? Who are you on the phone with? Come back to bed quickly, I¡¯m going to get cold without a nket.¡±
Xia Lei gaped in surprise. He was certain that Tang Yuyan had caught that and was already picturing a naked Liang Siyao on his sheets.
¡°Liang Siyao?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice sted from the receiver. The woman was now enraged. ¡°You fucking prick! You¡¯re sleeping with her?!¡±
¡°Hello? What did you say? Oh dear, why is the reception so terrible?¡± Xia Lei pped his phone lightly.
¡°What the hell?! I was worried sick and you¡¯re out there sleeping around?!¡±
¡°Hello? Hello? What kind of phone is this? Damn, China phones sure are faulty.¡± Xia Lei continued to hit his phone.
¡°Oi! Quit pretending! I¡¯m going toe to you this instant! Just you wait for me! You¡¯re going to pay for this!¡± Tang Yuyan was the one to hang up.
Xia Lei tossed his phone on to the bedside drawer. He fumed, ¡°Siyao, why did you do that?¡±
Surprisingly, Liang Siyao felt no remorse. She pulled the man around and pressed her naked weight on his body. ¡°I just sabotaged you but what are you going to do about that? You wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to me.¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to you?¡± Xia Lei was fierce.
¡°Come on, I¡¯d like to see you try.¡± Liang Siyao was not the least bit afraid.
And Xia Lei gave her the punishment she deserved. Albeit, gently.
Fan Fan watched with interest on the side. ¡°Hubby, I think you should brace yourself for potential trouble soon.¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll n my strategies ordingly. There¡¯s no need for you to worry about me, the usations Folsom brought up had the elements of national interests. I was only working for the country, it¡¯s unlikely they¡¯ll charge me for that,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m not worried about that. I¡¯m more concerned about the...¡± Fan Fan didn¡¯t finish her own sentence.
¡°The AE capsule?¡±
Fan Fan nodded. ¡°If there really is something like that, I¡¯m afraid that many would want to get their hands on it.¡±
It was a creation that could bring the human brain and physical form into advanced evolution that would bestow them powers and even immortality. The properties it offered was enticing to everyone. Not to mention, Xia Lei¡¯s current sess had sweetened the whole deal further.
Xia Lei thought for a while. ¡°Perhaps I should go meet Madam Folsom.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to meet her?¡± Fan Fan was immediately troubled.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I need to know how much she knows about me along with the source of her intel. Lockheed Martin has already openly challenged me and the end is not going toe any sooner. Lockheed Martin is a whole new rival that I know too little about.¡±
¡°Alright then, I¡¯lle with you,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°No, it¡¯s best for you to stay out of this. You¡¯re my fiancee and your status is special,¡± declined Xia Lei.
Fan Fan was worried but decided against the insistence. She had never once interfered with Xia Lei¡¯s decisions.
Liang Siyao mumbles interjected their serious talk. ¡°Can you both save that forter?¡±
Fan Fan immediately pressed her into the sheets...
The Boao Forum For Asia was still ongoing as scheduled while its two most important guests had long left the event.
The warmth of the afternoon sun was brilliant.
Escorted by his group of elite bodyguards, Xia Lei arrived at a five-star hotel not far from the Boao Forum venue. He obtained Folsom¡¯s room number from the reception without much hassle.
Though Folsom was only residing in one room, the whole floor was booked by her. Everyone else hanging around that particr floor were her bodyguards and also some members of the CIA and Special Forces.
The entrance of Xia Lei¡¯s armed bodyguards from the lifts on that floor immediately had Madam Folsom¡¯s security squad alerted. They were all permitted to carry firearms and some even had theirs already in the air. The tension in the air was extreme, reeking of fire and fury.
Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Calm down, I was invited here by Madam Folsom. Please inform her of my presence.¡±
A Caucasian bodyguard questioned, ¡°If you were invited, why the crowd?¡±
¡°For my own safety, of course.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s answer was salient.
While the Caucasian man was about to retaliate, Hattori Mei presented herself. She raised her voice, ¡°Let him through, but only him alone.¡±
The Americans quickly made way.
Xia Lei turned around to have his escorting guards remain at the spot before walking towards Hattori Mei alone.
¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you toe.¡± Hattori Mei was smiling, her expression oddly friendly.
Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°This is an invitation from Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, how could I note? I need to save Madam Folsom some face.¡±
¡°Alright, I need to search your body,¡± said Hattori Mei.
That garnered an immediate scowl from him. ¡°Is that really necessary?¡±
Hattori Mei nodded, ¡°Yes, it is necessary. Madam Folsom is worried that you have any hearing bug or pinhole cameras on you. Weapons are not allowed either. She¡¯s worried that you would threaten her safety.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed and stretched his arms wide.
Hattori Mei inched closer, almost pressing her form against him. She searched Xia Lei¡¯s sleeves then ventured her palms inwards to his armpits and followed the groove of his body down. When her hands reached his hips, her search around that particr area was excruciating slow.
¡°Hello?¡± Xia Lei red at her. ¡°That¡¯s too much.¡±
¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just doing my job. I need to be precise. You¡¯re one of the most capable special agents on this. If you happen to have a bug at your groins and Ipletely missed it, I¡¯d be fired without a doubt.¡± Hattori Mei exined as she continued to roam her hands around. ¡°If you find this unfair, you can search me too.¡±
After she was done with the tubes of his pants and socks, Hattori Mei finally stood up and showed him in.
The first thing that entered Xia Lei¡¯s sight after making it past the door was Madam Folsom lounging on the couch. The Caucasian woman had her eyes glued to the television that yed the footage of the ZTZ100 main battle tank during the tank biathlon in Russia. His appearance only garnered a brief nce from her, Folsom returned her attention to the screen shortly after.
On the screen, three Type 10 Tanks were firing shells at the ZTZ100. The ZTZ100 managed to avoid one shell but it was not unscathed from the other two shells.
Xia Lei approached her. Before Folsom could make a sound and greet him, he plopped himself down on the cushioned seat opposite her.
Hattori Mei came to him with a ss of wine, but Xia Lei opted to ignore it.
¡°Madam Folsom, you invited me over to watch television?¡± Xia Lei disturbed the silence.
Folsom inhaled and turned off the device. ¡°I¡¯ve watched this footage about ten times now. The ZTZ100 main battle tank sure is excellent, even the M1A3 wouldn¡¯t have survived the hit of two armour-piercing shells. I must say that you¡¯re tough, nothing can take you out.¡±
¡°Have you considered my feelings before pulling acts like that?¡± Xia Lei stared at her nonchntly.
¡°Consider your feelings? Hahaha...¡± Folsom chuckled. ¡°Your existence has threatened the power bnce of this world. No one will ever take your feelings into consideration, that I dare to guarantee you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m afraid that my existence threatens the American interest instead of the power bnce of the world. Isn¡¯t that so?¡±
¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how you interpret the situation. Your perspective is not important as it changes nothing.¡± Folsom continued, ¡°We¡¯re able to destroy Osama bin Laden. Do you think your capabilities and powers are stronger than his? I must remind you that even if he wascking your invincible battle capabilities, the bastard had plenty of underlings willing to die for him. Do you have that?¡±
Xia Lei was so angry that he started tough. ¡°You¡¯reparing me to a terrorist and your attempts to kill me is clear as day. Do you think I¡¯m that easy to mess with?¡±
¡°Tell me then. What can you do about that?¡± Folsom turned to look at Xia Lei in the eye, mockery and disdain flickering in her eyes.
What could he do?
His current opponent was the world¡¯s hegemony and a country that housed the world¡¯srgest aircraft carrier fleet, thergest air force and army system. Not to mention, every weapon it owned was widely praised and excellent. Its currency was the only universal settlement currency in the world. Regardless of its military strength or economicpetence, this was something no regr person could confront!
Chapter 906 - Bring it On!
Folsom¡¯s words could be interpreted in another meaning. ¡®Yeah, we¡¯re trying to kill you but what can you do about that?¡¯
There was a violent fire burning in Xia Lei¡¯s soul, masked by his calmness on the surface.
¡°Xia Lei, still the same example.¡± Hattori Mei interjected, ¡°The American Intelligence Department and Special Forces had tracked him for more than ten years, but he died in the end. I think you should consider your future cautiously. Your people may be able to protect you for now, that we believe. But have you ever thought about how they would treat you once you lose your value?¡±
Xia Lei averted his gaze to Hattori Mei. ¡°Baseless assumptions? I don¡¯t remember you as such a naive person.¡±
The woman shrugged. ¡°The Chinese always say that bitter medicines cure diseases. A piece of honest advice may be unpleasant to the ear. I¡¯m sure you understand what I mean. Plus, the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s development is bound to reach a peak. You¡¯re not going to be able to keep breaking limits. Think about this carefully, when that dayes, how much value would you be left with?¡±
Folsom added on, ¡°When the timees, the most valuable thing about you is your body. The sound of AE capsules and advanced evolution makes my heartthrob, not to mention your country¡¯s state apparatus. You won¡¯t be facing one particr opponent in the future but the entirety of the state apparatus.¡±
¡°Ah, I see it now.¡± Xia Lei huffed out a burst of breathyughter. ¡°You are trying to convince me to betray my own country, right?¡±
¡°Human society is bound to be uniformized eventually. Perhaps everyone would be like you by then. There¡¯s no point for you to mind your country, be it China or America. You need to stand at the height of humanity and examine your future. You should make the right choice,¡± said Folsom.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei chortled uncontrobly.
¡°What are youughing at?¡± There was wrath flickering in Folsom¡¯s eyes.
With a smile, Xia Lei replied, ¡°You drew me a gigantic pancake in an attempt to lure me over. Do you see me as someone who would betray my own country and people for the sake of my own interests?¡±
¡°Patriotism?¡± Hattori Mei chuckled mockingly. ¡°You tickle my funny bone. Patriotism is a human virus. Ambles Pierce mentioned that patriotism is nothing but a pile of mmable garbage that could be ignited by an ambitious man to illuminate his name. This shouldn¡¯t be too hard to understand with your IQ, right?¡±
Xia Lei was nonchnt. ¡°He may be right but there would always be idiots who would offer their county and its people unconditional love.¡± He thought of Long Bing, a woman he truly loved. She was a woman who would willingly sacrifice her all for the sake of the country. On the other hand, while Xia Lei was unable to reach her level, he wasn¡¯t about to betray it. Bribing him to do so with one trillion dors would be impossible, let alone one hundred billion dors.
Money... To a man who only had two years left to live, would all the money in the world make a difference? Was it even important?
¡°Mister Xia, I hope you can consider this seriously.¡± Folsom¡¯s gaze was intense. ¡°You should be more than aware of America¡¯s current standing and its goal. You have threatened our strategic bnce and national interest. It¡¯s either you be one of us or you be our enemy. What happened in Russia is only the beginning. What follows next, you won¡¯t be able to shoulder.¡±
It finally made sense to Xia Lei. This was why Folsom had utilized the debate segment during the Boao Forum to expose his secrets to the world. The American government was trying to force himself into a corner then offer him a rescue n. Xia Lei was convinced that the American government had cued Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO to ry him a message. They were going to attack him!
To hit with a stick before offering a carrot was a tactic the American government excelled at.
Hattori Mei uttered, ¡°There¡¯s no need to answer us now. We¡¯ll be giving you some time to ponder about it, but try to not take too long. It¡¯ll be best if you could give us an answer before Madam Folsom leaves Hainan.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°There¡¯s no need to wait, I can give you an answer now.¡±
Folsom and Hattori Mei looked at each other, before returning their gazes onto Xia Lei.
¡°My answer is simple. Bring it on!¡±
Folsom snorted, ¡°You really think you¡¯re someone who can fight against America?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was unwavering. ¡°You want to kill me and I¡¯ve seen what you¡¯re capable of. Heck, you even dare to have the Japanese Land Self-Defense Force fire at me. You even have my secrets at the tip of your hands. However, I must say that I¡¯ve been through worse, I am not afraid of your advances. I really must warn you that I¡¯m not someone who would stay quiet and docile after someone hits me. If you hit me once, I¡¯ll hit you once. If you hit me twice, I¡¯ll hit you twice. It¡¯s an eye for an eye.¡±
Folsom threw her arms. ¡°It seems that there¡¯s no need to continue this conversation any longer.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°And I think there¡¯s no need for you to stay in Hainan any longer. You attacked me during the Boao Forum today, so I must return you the same favour. Thunder Horse Organization shall begin a drone research project. With it, I shall single-handedly cripple the American air-force. This is my biggest goal.¡±
¡°Hmph.¡± Folsom decided she had enough, tossing a look at Hattori Mei.
Catching it, Hattori Mei gestured for Xia Lei to leave.
The man stood from his seat and headed towards the door. But before he exited it, he turned around and spared Folsom onest nce. ¡°Madam Folsom,st question. Is the FA Organization working for America now?¡±
Folsom¡¯s tone was unfriendly. ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
Xia Lei was not surprised, but the man noticed something odd about the glint in her eyes.
¡°This way, Mister Xia.¡± Hattori Mei blocked his line of sight.
¡°Better look out for yourself.¡± Xia Lei reached for the handle and left.
As soon as the click of the door was heard, Folsom let her emotions loose. ¡°Who the hell does he think he is?! Superman? Even China wouldn¡¯t dare to challenge America, yet he turns a blind eye to America¡¯s state interest. He even dared to be hostile to the American government! This man is literally waltzing with the Grim Reaper!¡±
Hattori Mei listened attentively in silence.
Surrounded by his elite bodyguards, Xia Lei entered the stairway and descended a level down. Abruptly, he instructed them, ¡°Wait for me here, I need to do something.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, but...¡± One of them seemed troubled.
Xia Lei offered no exnation, quickly walking towards the end of the corridor. The hoard of bodyguards stood at their spots, not daring to follow behind him.
Before long, the man came to stand in front of a hotel room. He extended an arm and rapped on the wooden door.
The door swung open to reveal a dishevelled man in pyjamas. The man looked at Xia Lei bewilderedly. ¡°Who are you? What¡¯s the matter?¡±
Xia Lei forced himself in with a push, squeezing his torso against the man deeper into the room.
¡°Kya!¡± A stark naked female shrieked from the bed, frantically pulling up the covers to hide.
The man was now enraged. ¡°What the fuck...¡±
With a swift motion, Xia Lei pushed him onto the mattress. ¡°Shut up. Let me stand here for a few minutes and you get ten thousand dors.¡±
The man and woman immediately froze.
Xia Lei dug out his wallet and began to empty its contents onto the bed.
American dor bills, Chinese RMB bills and Euros were scattered about on the sheets. With a nce, one could easily tell that the thick stack disyed woulde to a total of more than ten thousand dors. The sight of money seemed to calm them down.
Xia Lei lifted his chin and stared at the ceiling, his left eye effectively removing all obstacles to see Folsom and Hattori Mei standing above him. Focusing his vision on the two females, Xia Lei activated his lip-reading ability.
¡°Madam Folsom, I¡¯ve informed the pilot and he¡¯s arranging your departure now. We¡¯ll be leaving China after he¡¯s done,¡± said Hattori Mei.
Folsom nodded. ¡°Why does Xia Lei think that the FA is working for the American government?¡±
¡°It¡¯s no surprise that a smart man like him could guess it.¡± Hattori Mei hummed. ¡°I¡¯ve interacted with him before and he...¡±
¡°Go on.¡± Folsom¡¯s eyes bore into Hattori Mei.
There was a brief moment of hesitation before the woman continued herself. ¡°He seems to have some kind of instincts that allows him to detect any iing danger. Before anything happens to him, he knows. I think that is also why he¡¯s able to escape from our ns all the time.¡±
¡°The AE capsule...¡± There was a hint of excitement sandwiched in Folsom¡¯s tone. ¡°It used to be the highest level national secret of the United States. But now its existence is widely known by the world. I¡¯m sure there would be many who would try to get the AE capsule from me. The poor man has no idea what¡¯s waiting ahead of him.¡±
¡°Madam Folsom... In my opinion, even if Xia Lei chose to betray his country and be American, his final destiny wouldn¡¯t be any better,¡±mented Hattori Mei.
¡°He¡¯s a man who is about to change the course of human evolution. No matter where he goes or which country he serves, the only ce he¡¯ll end up at is in theboratory.¡± Folsom spat disdain with every word. Her wisdom seemed to be one that could perceive the essence of the matter.
¡°What a pitiful man...¡± Hattori Mei drew a long sigh.
¡°Contact the FA member after we leave China. It¡¯s about time they do something,¡± instructed Folsom.
To which Hattori Mei nodded obediently.
Beneath them, Xia Lei pulled his gaze away and left the hotel room. His icy re was as sharp as knives.
Chapter 907 - Love Rival
The bright moon rose from the horizon of the ocean. Its pale luminescence illuminated the waves. The tumbling sea felt like a delicate organza dancing with the wind.
Staring ahead at the sea, Xia Lei watched the body of water stretch far into the distance. With the turbulence of the waves, Xia Lei¡¯s heart escaped the constraints of his flesh and passed through time and space. It weaved past countless past memories and many people he had encountered in search of something.
But poor Xia Lei had no idea what he was searching for.
Now that the armour was sessfully taken from the Knight Hospitaller, Xia Lei learnt that it was a protective suit but still found no courage in him to wear it and enter the world of the ancient alloy box.
The ck-robed man could be anywhere on this. Perhaps he was in Hainan, hidden in an underground chamber while preparing himself for something.
Zhu Xuanyue, on the other hand, was still somewhere on this. When was she going to be fully awakened? Would she be his foe or friend when that moment came? However, friend or not, the woman would still need to feed on mankind.
The current situation was a mess with Lockheed Martin turning hostile towards him. What made it worse was that it had support from the hegemonic American government. The threat it presented was bound to be lethal.
His problems tormented him, making his temple throb in pain from the stress and anxiety it brought.
Suddenly, a group of cars entered Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision. Although it was still a kilometre away, the man could see clearly. Those were a convoy of army troops and special agents.
Sigh, he knew what was about toe.
¡°It¡¯s cold out here, you should get inside.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice rang from behind him.
Xia Lei peeled his eyes away and ced it on Liang Siyao instead. He turned around and spread his arms. The woman approached him and nestled herself snug against his chest. Her body was soft and she smelt so nice. It was a gentle scent that he was all too familiar with.
¡°You¡¯re feeling awful and burdened but I just don¡¯t know how tofort you...¡± Liang Siyao mumbled gently. ¡°However, I¡¯d like you to know that I¡¯ll be here for you, always. Our child will be here for you too.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about me. For the sake of both of you, I¡¯ll stay safe.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Liang Siyao whispered and buried her head into the crook of his neck. She took in his scent, enveloping her mind with the warmth of his body and everything about her lover.
¡°Hey, what about me?¡± Fan Fan emerged onto the balcony, feminine features adorned with a lovely smile.
Liang Siyao released Xia Lei but before she could move away and allow Fan Fan her share, thetter squeezed into her side and enveloped her hands around her as well.
Three people and five hearts were stuck together.
¡°Hubby, please rest assured. I¡¯ve already talked to the higher-ups to convince them that this is nothing but a ploy by America to defame us,¡± said Fan Fan after the sweet andforting embrace.
Xia Lei firmly reminded, ¡°Remember, if the higher-ups decide to go against me, you must not involve yourself in the mess. Do not oppose it either.¡±
¡°What? How could I do that?¡± Fan Fan replied, ¡°I won¡¯t let anyone hurt you! No one can hurt you!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s sternness was unwavering. ¡°Fan Fan, listen to me. Do not oppose their ideas. If that ever happens, you must not involve yourself. You need to protect yourself and our child. You must keep Thunder Horse Organization away from those with ulterior motives. Do you understand me?¡±
Fan Fan nibbled her lip then nodded.
How could she not understand him?
If something were to happen to Xia Lei, she was to be someone with the highest authority associated with him. Xia Lei¡¯s children, which included the babies carried by her, Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi would all fall under her protection. The woman was also expected to manage the aftermath of the Thunder Horse Organization in ordance with his will.
However, with understanding came great pain. Before she realized it, her eyes were already glistening with a sheen of moisture.
Liang Siyao was tearing up too.
Sadness shrouded the three on the balcony.
The convoy came to a halt, allowing dozens of armed special forces to move into the vi¡¯s premise quickly. In a blink of an eye, the entire vi and its surroundings werepletely under their control.
Tang Yuyan exited one of the cars and was escorted by special agents to the main entrance. The four elite bodyguards stationed at the courtyard immediately saluted her. The air around the woman seemed more like a leader of the Bureau 101 now.
Before she had made it into the building, Tang Yuyan spotted the embracing trio on the balcony. In that split second, the woman felt like her heart was stabbed violently by countless needles.
Noticing her presence, Xia Lei finally released Fan Fan and Liang Siyao. He greeted her, ¡°Yuyan, it¡¯s nice to see you here.¡±
¡°If I could have flown, I would¡¯ve been here earlier.¡± Tang Yuyan stared at him intently. ¡°Are youing down or do I go up to you?¡±
Xia Lei gave a small smile. ¡°The view up here is great, how about youe up?¡±
¡°Good, I¡¯ll be there.¡± With that, Tang Yuyan pushed the door open.
Liang Siyao was the first to speak up, ¡°She rushed here with so many people, I¡¯m afraid that she¡¯s here too...¡±
The woman¡¯s footsteps were nearing them.
Xia Lei hinted to Liang Siyao to stay silent.
Liang Siyao and Fan Fan cast a nce at each other, then they both turned their heads to watch the entrance to the balcony.
Tang Yuyan emerged from the stairway with a smile. ¡°I hope I¡¯m not interrupting your family time.¡±
¡°Siyao, go make some tea for Yuyan,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
¡°Mm.¡± Liang Siyao hummed a noise of acknowledgement before facing Tang Yuyan with a smile. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I forgot to make tea for Director Tang. I¡¯m terribly sorry for my rudeness.¡±
With nonchnce stered over her face, Tang Yuyan replied, ¡°What are you talking about? You¡¯re already Officer Fan¡¯s sister, what is a little bureau director to you?¡±
Fan Fan furrowed her brows. ¡°Director Tang, why do you feel the need to involve me in your exchange with Liang Siyao? I don¡¯t think the jurisdiction of Bureau 101 extends to who I want to take as my sister.¡±
Tang Yuyan scoffed lightly, refusing to continue her argument with Fan Fan. The woman could belittle Liang Siyao for all she wanted but Fan Fan¡¯s presence was another thing entirely. Fan Fan¡¯s official position was higher than hers in the hierarchy. Tang Yuyan may have background support from the influential and wealthy Tang family but Fan Fan¡¯s support was sourced from the Chinese Academy of Sciences represented by Fan Yiming. The academy had a heavier significance than the Tang family.
In a fight, men would use their fists while women would use words. Despite the stark differences in approach, they were all fighting with their own strength.
Liang Siyao returned with a cup of tea for Tang Yuyan. She wasn¡¯t the kind of woman with a small smile. After all, women who practised martial arts were typically more straightforward and tolerant. They wouldn¡¯t take such small matters to heart. Aside from that, it was Xia Lei who asked her to make the cup of tea, not Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei invited Tang Yuyan to take a seat. ¡°Yuyan, I¡¯m aware that you¡¯re here because of what happened during the Boao Forum. But what are you trying to achieve by bringing a crowd with you?¡±
Tang Yuyan took a brief nce at Liang Siyao and Fan Fan, who were both standing beside Xia Lei. She said, ¡°There are some things that I must tell you in private.¡±
That made Xia Lei scowl. ¡°We¡¯re no strangers to one another. You know that they¡¯re my family, is that really necessary?¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s tone had an edge. ¡°Tang Yuyan, what are you trying to do?¡±
Tang Yuyan answered, ¡°I don¡¯t intend to do any harm. It¡¯s just that the authority wants me to do so. We¡¯re all friends so I hope you could spare me and notplicate things further.¡±
Before Fan Fan could say another word, Liang Siyao grasped her hand. ¡°Sister Fan Fan, let¡¯s go. You can leave Tang Yuyan with Xia Lei.¡±
Fan Fan red at Tang Yuyan then left the balcony with Liang Siyao.
Tang Yuyan watched them leave. She waited until Fan Fan was out of her sight to scream, ¡°That¡¯s just bullying!¡±
Xia Lei smiled helplessly. ¡°What? What do you mean? Who would dare to bully you?¡±
¡°Fan Fan!¡± Tang Yuyan huffed angrily. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for her, you would¡¯ve already been my fiance. She snatched you away from me and now she¡¯s bullying me. Isn¡¯t that too much?!¡±
Despite that, her hostility towards Fan Fan was understandable to Xia Lei. If Fan Fan wasn¡¯t added to the equation, he would have been engaged to Tang Yuyan. To steal someone¡¯s lover was a great crime for women.
¡°Ugh, nevermind. I¡¯m not here to talk about that. Plus, you wouldn¡¯t even find me pitiful even if I was in trouble,¡± relented Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to do. He understood her sentiments but there was nothing he could offer her.
¡°That Folsom... Was she telling the truth?¡± After a short moment of silence, Tang Yuyan brought their attention to official affairs.
Xia Lei paused to think. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s true?¡±
¡°I¡¯m asking you,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°If I admit that it¡¯s true, are you going to arrest me?¡± Xia Lei eyed the special forces on the other side of the wall.
Tang Yuyan abruptly stood from her seat and swayed a punch at Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
Xia Lei received the hit wordlessly, letting the woman¡¯s fist tond on him. The feeling of pain immediately began to spread across his being. Tang Yuyan had not held back but the man found it difficult to even be mad at her. In the face of this woman who was almost his fiancee, Xia Lei only felt guilt. He felt like he owed her something.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you avoid it?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was fierce. ¡°Why are you not retaliating?¡±
The smile on his face was bitter. ¡°If hitting me would make you feel better, please go on until you¡¯re feeling much better.¡±
Tang Yuyan raised her arm again but the anticipated impact did note. Although Xia Lei was now together with another woman and not just one, she still loved him dearly. It was a love so deep that she just couldn¡¯t pull away from it.
She ced her fists down. At that moment, her tears came pouring out.
The sight of her tear tracks overcame Xia Lei with an urge tofort her in his embrace. But the man suppressed the thought. Xia Lei had promised Fan Fan and Liang Siyao to be a better man.
Tang Yuyan plopped herself back onto the chair. ¡°I brought a crowd over not to arrest you, they¡¯re here to protect you.¡±
Xia Lei was apologetic. ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry but I hope you could understand my circumstances. What happened earlier just made me paranoid about these things.¡±
¡°Are you telling me that I don¡¯t understand you well? Tell me, is Folsom telling the truth?¡± Tang Yuyan stared into Xia Lei¡¯s soul. ¡°Do not lie to me, I only want the truth.¡±
Xia Lei nodded solemnly. ¡°What she imed was true.¡±
Tang Yuyan froze. She had seen thising but hearing it from Xia Lei himself was a new reality check.
¡°Do you have anything you¡¯d like to say to me?¡± asked Xia Lei cautiously.
Tang Yuyan fell silent. ¡°Troubles are about toe very soon, you¡¯ll need my help. Come back to Jingdu with me. In the next twenty-four hours, there¡¯ll be much for you to do.¡±
¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s pulse began to hitch from anxiety.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you on the way back,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°I¡¯ll go tell Siyao and Fan Fan about this, we¡¯ll all head back together,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°Okay, but you must sit in my car. I don¡¯t want them both in the same car as us,¡± sneered Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sighed in agony. When would he be freed of problems? In the end, the trouble that overwhelmed him most was none other than those associated with women.
Chapter 908 - A Gentle Operation
At daybreak, a convoy departed from the Jingdu International Airport. They were headed towards the Thunder Horse Military Factory.
Xia Lei was sitting silently beside Tang Yuyan in one of the cars.
The moment they touched down, Fan Fan was immediately picked up by a car. The woman hadn¡¯t even told him where she was headed to.
Though Tang Yuyan had mentioned that she would spare him more details on the road, she had remained silent for the better part of their journey.
Xia Lei had made an attempt to reach his father, Xia Changhe, in the airport washroom. However, the older man¡¯s phone was turned off.
The uncanny urrences worried him immensely.
After the convoy had reached a certain distance away from the airport and was now nearing the Thunder Horse Military Factory, Xia Lei could no longer stay silent. ¡°Yuyan, we¡¯re about to reach Bailu Town. Are you still not going to tell me anything?¡±
Tang Yuyan nibbled her lips nervously. ¡°I was ordered to stay silent, you...¡±
Xia Lei was a little taken aback. ¡°Ah, I see. That¡¯s alright, I understand.¡± Though his words wereposed, his heart was clenched in pain. Back on the snowy mountain at Dawang, Xia Lei had offered her every single piece of his garments to keep her warm. He had even fought against more than a hundred enemies for her sake. Currently, Xia Lei was in need of help. The man needed some information but all she cared about was heeding the instructions of the authorities.
Though so, the man was understanding of her decision. Regardless of what the matter at hand was, the first thing she¡¯d think about was the interest of the Tang family. If she disobeys the orders from above, she may lose her position as the director of Bureau 101. Not doing so was a steep deviation from Tang Yuyan¡¯s style.
Hesitantly, Tang Yuyan tried tofort him. ¡°Lei, there¡¯s no need to worry. Everything is going to be alright. Even if there was something, only...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted her ramble. There was a forceful smile on the edges of his lips. ¡°I¡¯m alright. I¡¯m not convinced that we¡¯ll be doomed just because the Americans decided to y dirty. What is our country going to do to me? Send me to theb?¡±
¡°Not you.¡± Tang Yuyan finally caved in. ¡°My task was to bring you home and take your father away for investigation.¡±
¡°Take my father away?¡±
¡°Yes. ording to what Folsom said, your father was the one who stole the AE capsule from the AE Research Centre. The nature of the capsules and the mass-production of them is vital information to us. We need to know these,¡± exined Tang Yuyan.
¡°Is that all?¡±
¡°I¡¯m only in charge of this. There will be someone else in charge of you. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know much about his agenda.¡± Spilling the eased her a little.
¡°You were ordered to keep silent. Why are you telling me these?¡±
¡°You gave me every clothing you had on Dawang snow mountain. You did not leave me behind even when attacked by countless enemies. You did all these for me and if I continue to be selfish and only think about the benefits of my family, I won¡¯t be able to forgive myself,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
She finally did it. Though it was well overdue, it was betterte than never. All her concerns about her personal future and the benefit of the Tang family was dissolved into unimportance the moment she opened her mouth.
¡°Thank you so much.¡± A genuine smile finally appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face, chasing away his earlier pain.
Tang Yuyan turned to face him and fixed him a fierce re.
To which Xia Lei coughed out augh at.
¡°Just ignore me.¡±
There was a brief pause before he asked again, ¡°Can you tell me where will you be bringing my father to? How long is this investigation expected tost?¡±
¡°The first ce we¡¯ll be at is definitely Bureau 101, but I¡¯m not sure where we will be after that.¡± Tang Yuyan continued, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long the investigation will take. It¡¯s something that I have no control over. Lei, if...¡±
¡°If what?¡±
¡°If you don¡¯t want your father to be taken away, you can call him now to warn him,¡± offered Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.
¡°I mean it.¡±
Xia Lei felt warmth around his heart. ¡°I¡¯ve already tried to phone him in the airport washroom. I can¡¯t reach him.¡±
Tang Yuyannded a yful fist on his bicep. ¡°Jeez, and you¡¯re only telling me now?¡±
Xia Lei made no move to avoid it. Instead, he uttered, ¡°Yuyan, thank you so much for your help. But it¡¯s best if you follow the protocol and do what you need to do. Keep yourself out from this mess.¡±
¡°But...¡±
¡°No buts. The matter is settled,¡± Xia Lei insisted.
The convoy finally arrived at the Peace Mansion, allowing Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan to emerge from the car. Everywhere around the entrance was filled with armed special forces. It wasn¡¯t difficult to interpret the weight of the problem.
He turned around to eye the car Liang Siyao was in. The woman was still inside along with a few apaniments. It was obvious that she was not allowed to exit the vehicle.
Entering the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei found a few strangers standing in his courtyard. All of them were unfamiliar faces, Xia Lei was positive that he hadn¡¯t seen them before. A middle-aged man who held a ck metal case approached them with a smile as soon as he noticed Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s presence. ¡°You¡¯re finally home, Mister Xia. I¡¯ve been waiting for you here for the whole night.¡±
¡°Excuse me, you¡¯re...?¡± Xia Lei attempted to probe.
¡°My surname¡¯s Sun, I¡¯m Sun Wen. I got some things that I require your cooperation on. It¡¯s all simple tasks, it¡¯s nothing to worry about,¡± said Sun Wen politely.
Xia Lei gave him a curt reply. ¡°No problem.¡±
Following that, his left eye twitched and allowed his X-ray vision to prate Sun Wen¡¯s coat. He wanted to take a look at Sun Wen¡¯s work identification but there was nothing beneath his outerwear. Xia Lei then focused his gaze on the metal case in Sun Wen¡¯s grip. He magnified his X-ray intensity and was finally able to study its contents.
The ck metal case was actually a portable freezing container that carried a blood sampling cushion, a catheter, a few ss containers and a scalpel.
The revtion of its contents allowed Xia Lei to understand Sun Wen¡¯s motive. Under normal circumstances, there was no way anyone would want to force him onto a surgery bed to extract a sample of his blood. Lockheed Martin¡¯s Folsom hadid such a heavy card under the instructions of the American government but China was no idiot. They wouldn¡¯t be as stupid as to waste all their efforts and execute something drastic towards him in the midst of Thunder Horse¡¯s rapid development. However, they couldn¡¯t just let this slide without doing anything appropriate. Which was why Sun Wen was here to get some samples off Xia Lei.
This was a gentle approach, evident from Sun Wen¡¯s cautious demeanour. The government was worried that Xia Lei would take offence.
¡°Where shall we do this?¡± asked Sun Wen courteously.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Let¡¯s head to my study.¡± Then, he turned to face Tang Yuyan. ¡°Yuyan, we¡¯ll talk after you¡¯re done with your task.¡±
Tang Yuyan left with a nod, disappearing into the depths of the mansion.
Her task was to bring Xia Changhe away but even Xia Lei was unsure if the older man was still within the Peace Mansion.
Xia Lei led Sun Wen into his study, leaving thetter¡¯s subordinates at the door.
The man allowed his guest to take a seat. ¡°Mister Sun, what would you like to drink?¡±
¡°Oh, Mister Xia, there¡¯s no need for that.¡± Sun Wen was friendly and generous with his smiles. The man then ced his metal case on top of the coffee table.
Xia Lei attempted to pry. ¡°Mister Sun, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, which department do you serve under?¡±
¡°Hehe.¡± Sun Wen chuckled softly. ¡°Mister Xia, if I could tell you that, I would¡¯ve already done it. I¡¯m sure you know that there are some things that we cannot control. The same goes for our country. They¡¯re reluctant for this to happen but what must be done, must be done.¡±
He was trying to give Xia Lei an exnation.
If the AE capsule was truly capable of bringing mankind into a new height of evolution, the state interest it could bring, regardless to America or China, was beyond imagination. Even if this hadn¡¯t happened now but fifty years down the road, the AE capsules would still be very attractive to the state interest.
In the face of such events, even if Xia Lei had to y the role of a scapegoat, the country was not going to turn a blind eye to the existence of the AE capsules.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°We all have things that need to be done. Don¡¯t worry, I understand your feelings. Mister Sun, let us not waste time. You¡¯re here to take samples, right? Let¡¯s get right into it.¡±
Sun Wen was taken aback. ¡°Mister Xia, you know what I¡¯m here for?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO had said some shocking things at the Boao Forum and you¡¯ve been waiting for me with a portable freezer all night. If you¡¯re not here to take samples from me, what else would you be here for?¡±
¡°Hehehe. Mister Xia, you¡¯re exceptionally perceptive. Sure, I¡¯ll get right into work.¡± Sun Wen opened the metal case and rolled on a pair of sterile gloves.
The sample extraction process was very smooth. Sun Wen first started it with a few blood samples, then he used the scalpel to extract about a square centimetre of his skin tissue from Xia Lei¡¯s finger. Following that, the man took some of Xia Lei¡¯s hair, saliva and so on. As he busied himself with the sampling, the man had asked Xia Lei a few questions.
¡°Mister Xia Lei, what do those capsules look like?¡±
The AE capsules?¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡±
Xia Lei smiled at him. ¡°It¡¯s been close to ten years, I no longer remember how it looked like. I only remember that my body was frail and I had to rely on constant medication to live. I don¡¯t even remember what medicines had my father fed me back then. I think... it should be no different from a regr capsuled pill.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not sure if the AE capsule exists?¡±
¡°Hahaha... If America had really created such a capsule that allowed humans to evolve further, they would¡¯ve already used it on their armies. Compared to the authenticity of the AE capsule rumour, I¡¯m more concerned of the plot America has against the country. Thunder Horse Organization is slowly threatening their superiority in the military industry and they¡¯re losing their strategic bnce as time goes by. If I were to be deemed guilty, the Thunder Horse Organization will not be able to offer more advanced weapons to the country. Isn¡¯t it obvious who the benefactor from this would be?¡±
For Sun Wen to be in charge of him was proof of his status. Xia Lei¡¯s words were not aimed to solve the problem, he was merely using Sun Wen to bring his words to the authority.
Chapter 909 - Whos Going to Hell if Im Not?
¡°Mister Xia, may I ask you something?¡± asked Sun Wen as soon as he was done collecting his samples.
¡°What would you like to know?¡± Xia Lei looked at him.
¡°Fan Fan has done a series of tests on you for the Alloy X Project. Is the data from tests genuine?¡± Sun Wen stared at Xia Lei with a sharp gaze.
Xia Lei could feel himself panic. Back when the higher-ups decided to have him manage the Alloy X Project, Fan Fan had indeed carried out a few tests and medical experiments and reported her data to the authority. However, it was faked. Now that Sun Wen was to take charge of the current case, the man would be getting new data and relevant findings. A new report is inevitable and if the results differ too much from Fan Fan¡¯s, she would find herself in a lot of trouble.
An array of thoughts flooded his mind but Xia Lei¡¯s expression remains undisturbed. ¡°Most of it is real but some isn¡¯t that urate.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I have to admit that my condition back then was rather unstable. I kept having delusional episodes. Plus, my heart rate is all over the ce and I experienced symptoms like abdominal pain, pneumonia and so on.¡±
Sun Wen looked surprised. ¡°Huh? Why wasn¡¯t that mentioned in the report? Why would you be experiencing such symptoms?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Mister Sun, since you know about the Alloy X Project, I believe you are aware of the metal¡¯s existence. There was a team of experts that researched the metal and they¡¯re all dead. I came into contact with that material but my constitution was altered. The fact that I¡¯m still alive now is a miracle. The reason why it isn¡¯t on the report is not Fan Fan¡¯s fault. It was all because of me. I didn¡¯t want the leaders to be worried, so I deliberately hid the fact. I cheated during the series of tests during that period.¡±
There was a brief moment of silence before Sun Wen spoke, ¡°Ah, I see. Thank you so much for trusting me enough to tell me that. The information is very important to myter work.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°You¡¯re wee. We¡¯re both doing this for the sake of the country, we¡¯re all here for the sake of bringing China to greater heights.¡±
Sun Wen nodded with a small smile. ¡°I really respect your contributions to the country, Mister Xia. It¡¯s true, you¡¯re the mainstay of our country¡¯s military industry.¡±
¡°Mister Sun, your words tter me.¡±
¡°Alright, that¡¯s all from me today. I¡¯ll be paying you another visit soon for a series of medical evaluations. Will that be alright, Mister Xia?¡±
¡°What kind of medical evaluations are you going to do?¡±
¡°Comprehensive examinations like X-rays and NMR tests.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s answer was curt.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll see you next time then.¡± Sun Wen gave Xia Lei a handshake and left the room with his metal case in tow.
Truthfully, Xia Lei was not worried about Sun Wen finding anything worthwhile. The man understood his body well and he knew that its constitution was no different from a regr person. The main evolved portions were his left eye and brain. The former couldn¡¯t be detected at all while thetter stored mysterious energy along with a glistening mineral powder-like material that was simr to that in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s brain. None of this could be found with regr science.
Hence, it wasn¡¯t difficult to foresee the probable oue of this ¡®gentle operation¡¯.
His body may be healthier than regr which might show impressive statistics on a variety of data, but none of it could be concluded as ¡®superhuman¡¯. Theck of remarkable findings would leave the authority with two choices. The first choice would be to intensify the ¡®gentle operation¡¯ into something more aggressive. However, this would indicate that the country had bitten America¡¯s lure and sabotaged its own development. The second choice was to do nothing until a more suitable timinges.
The study was quiet.
Xia Lei sat on the couch quietly as his mind reyed Folsom¡¯s words to Hattori Mei. ¡®He¡¯s a man who is about to change the course of human evolution. No matter where he goes or which country he serves, the only ce he¡¯ll end up at is in theboratory. The cold metal bed would also be thest bed he sleeps on.¡¯
Though they were enemies, Xia Lei had to admit that Folsom was right. No one could be spared from the attraction the AE capsules offered. It was advanced human evolution they were talking about!
Elephants died because of their tusk while oysters injure themselves by producing pearls.
This was his destiny.
Abruptly, Xia Lei broke into a burst of maniacalughter. ¡°I¡¯m a man who¡¯s only left with two years to live. Thunder Horse shall utilize the next two years to climb as high as it can and make as many weapons as it can possibly produce. If I die, they can just have fun with my body however they like. Any results they can conclude from the study can be considered as myst contribution to the people of China. If our civilians can be stronger, I don¡¯t see any problem with it. Who¡¯s going to hell if I¡¯m not?¡±
With only two more years to live, judging the mess at hand from that perspective surely didfort him that this was not something he couldn¡¯t make through.
Suddenly, Tang Yuyan had appeared at the entrance of the study. ¡°Your father... He¡¯s gone.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought was interrupted. ¡°He¡¯s gone?¡±
Tang Yuyan shrugged confusedly. ¡°Before I went to Hainanst night, there was a troop of special forces stationed here. They locked the entire area and forbade anyone from leaving. Your father was still at homest night but he¡¯s gone now. Weirdly, no one has seen him leave this ce.¡±
Xia Lei stared at her innocently. ¡°I really have no idea.¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not here to interrogate you, I¡¯m just informing you of the situation. Is your father really a special agent from the FA Organization? If he was that powerful, why would he be troubled by the FA Organization?¡±
Those words threw Xia Lei in a loop. This was the first time he had ever heard of such a theory. Tang Yuyan may have blurted it out without much thought but as he analyzed it closely, the situation she talked of may not be all that impossible.
¡°Is father hiding something from me? He was FA¡¯s special agent and yet he was hunted down by the organization for years. The old man even formed the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. Oh right, he hasn¡¯t even told me who the snake is...¡± Questions began to bud in Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
¡°Why did he escape?¡± questioned Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei returned her a helpless smile. ¡°You know what kind of a person my father is. No one can force him to do something he doesn¡¯t like. Xia Xue and I had suffered and he still refused to show up. If he wants to leave, no one is able to stop him. He probably doesn¡¯t want to be brought to investigation.¡±
¡°Guess my job will be difficult. Both you and your father sure do know how to give me one hell of a headache.¡± Tang Yuyan sighed heavily. ¡°I must¡¯ve been indebted to the Xia family in myst life.¡±
Tang Yuyan plopped herself down onto the couch, she turned her face to stare at Xia Lei.
¡°Alright, there¡¯s no one around now. Let¡¯s talk.¡±
¡°What would you like to talk about?¡±
¡°You.¡±
¡°What is there to talk about me?¡±
¡°Plenty. I¡¯d like to know everything about you,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°What is there left that you didn¡¯t know about me? Please don¡¯t trouble me further, I have enough to stress about.¡±
¡°Alright, just a question then. I won¡¯t bother you as long as you answer it.¡±
¡°Sure, go ahead.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Tang Yuyan hesitated. ¡°When you sleep with Fan Fan and Liang Siyao, are you able to satisfy them both at the same time?¡±
Xia Lei sat there with his mouth open wide.
He expected her to ask something about the AE capsules. This caught him by surprise.
¡°Come on, answer me. You promised,¡± urged Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei smiled wryly and nodded stiffly after a heartbeat. Though the man was silent, he had affirmed the fact.
¡°Is this because of your evolved body?¡± Tang Yuyan shot another question.
Xia Lei scowled. ¡°Didn¡¯t you promise to leave me alone after one question?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the same question.¡±
Xia Lei gaped at her. A stubborn woman could never be countered with reason.
¡°When we were at Dawang, on top of that snow mountain, you were able to continue fighting despite being almost naked in harsh temperatures. Was it because of the capsule?¡± Tang Yuyan had obviously ignored her prior promise with Xia Lei.
The man stood and left towards the door. ¡°I¡¯m going to check on Siyao. She¡¯s pregnant, sitting for long in the car isn¡¯t going to do her good.¡±
Initially, Tang Yuyan had ns to ask him more but the urge was immediately suppressed by Xia Lei¡¯s words. Unbeknownst to him, his words were like des that stabbed Tang Yuyan¡¯s soul violently. The pain was agonizing.
Xia Lei took a step and sighed internally. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. Asting pain is worse than a short pain, I wouldn¡¯t mind if you hate me.¡±
Before he could walk far, the man noticed two women walking towards him from the main entrance. One of them was Liang Siyao and the other was Long Bing. It wasn¡¯t weird to find thetter in his house at such timing.
Long Bing came to stand in front of him and asked meekly, ¡°Are you okay?¡±
Her words may be simple but her eyes were overflowing with concern and worry.
Xia Lei reassured her. ¡°I¡¯m okay. I can handle this.¡±
Unexpectedly, Long Bing whispered into his ear. ¡°I didn¡¯t dare to call you but you must be careful for the time being.¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
At this moment, Tang Yuyan made her exit from the study. She greeted Long Bing, ¡°Ah Bing, how long have you been here?¡±
¡°I just got here,¡± answered Long Bing.
Liang Siyao offered, ¡°Ah Bing, how about you take a seat in my room? It¡¯s cold outside.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go to your room.¡±
Tang Yuyan halted her. ¡°Ah Bing,e with me. There¡¯s much to work on, let¡¯s not disturb the love birds any longer.¡±
Liang Siyao red at Tang Yuyan, but the woman was uncharacteristically collected.
At that moment, Long Bing turned to Liang Siyao. ¡°Siyao, guess I¡¯ll just visit you some other day.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Liang Siyao nodded.
Long Bing immediately came closer to Xia Lei and wrapped her arms around him. She pecked his cheek softly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you still have me. If you need help, do not hesitate to give me a call.¡±
Long Bing was a woman like that, cold exterior but with a burning passion within.
¡°You need to be careful too, okay?¡± reminded Xia Lei tenderly.
¡°Mm.¡± Long Bing released him and waved to Tang Yuyan. ¡°What are you still standing there for? Don¡¯t we have work to do?¡±
That made Tang Yuyan snap back to reality. She strode past Xia Lei and spared him a brief re.
¡°Your house is a mess.¡±
To which Xia Lei returned with a smile and no words.
As long as he was happy, what was a little mess?
Chapter 910 - A Smokeless Counterattack
Tang Yuyan and Long Bing left but the special forces remained at his residence. Half of them guarded the Peace Mansion while another part guarded the Thunder Horse Military Factory. Though the general hadn¡¯t met Xia Lei personally, he was aware of their duty. They were here to protect him and the Thunder Horse Organization while keeping a close eye on him.
There was an air of love and wholesomeness in the bathroom.
Liang Siyao helped Xia Lei scrub his back thenthered his hair with shampoo. The product dripped on her body unintentionally, turning her into a glistening figure.
¡°Is Sister Fan Fan alright?¡± Liang Siyao was worried. ¡°I tried calling her earlier in the car but her phone was turned off.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure but there¡¯s nothing to worry about. I¡¯m certain she¡¯ll be alright.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°If they¡¯re convinced that the AE capsules exist, the person they should look for is me.¡±
The woman huffed a sigh. ¡°I really hope she¡¯s okay. I¡¯m worried about her.¡±
Xia Lei stood up slowly. ¡°I¡¯ll have someone check on her tomorrow. I¡¯ll tell you as soon as there¡¯s news.¡±
¡°Okay. Wait, don¡¯t move. I¡¯m not done yet.¡± Liang Siyao pressed him down. She continued to massage his scalp diligently.
Xia Lei obediently sat on the stic stool she prepared. ¡°Siyao, there will be awyering tomorrow to settle my will. I need you to keep it well.¡±
¡°No!¡± Liang Siyao smacked his back. ¡°Do not bring up anything about the will.¡±
However, Xia Lei grabbed her feminine fingers. ¡°Siyao, listen to me. Even if you don¡¯t wish to prepare yourself for my doom, you need to be considerate of our children.¡±
Liang Siyao froze. There was a momentary pause before sheid herself against his back. Her moistened smooth skin and her warm body were pressed tightly against his skin. The fragrant shampoo followed the curves of his hair and dripped onto the both of them. Liang Siyao desired security from the contact of his warm skin. Unfortunately, instead of feeling safe, something else overwhelmed her. Her chest heaved and her breathing was rapid.
¡°Siyao?¡± Xia Lei noticed the abrupt change in her demeanour.
¡°I¡¯ve been through so many hardships with you and yet you might still abandon your child and I?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes were red with unshed tears. She choked on her next words. ¡°Promise me... Promise me that you won¡¯t leave us behind, please?¡±
¡°Siyao...¡±
¡°Promise me.¡± Liang Siyao hugged him tighter. The force she had exerted was as if the woman was trying to envelop him into her body.
Xia Lei nodded. He suppressed the sorrow within him and offered, ¡°Siyao, let me help you with your hair.¡±
¡°No, I want you to wash my feet. When you washed my feet the other day, it felt really good. Come, wash my feet for me.¡± Her voice was soft.
Her legs were the most beautiful out of Xia Lei¡¯s flowers. Liang Siyao loved to have him wash her feet because the action would allow her to offer her very best to Xia Lei without doing much.
The woman plopped down onto the stic stool and stretched her legs forward. Her legs were dainty and delicate. It looked like it was carved from the finest ivory in the world. Everything about it was just right, a little more meat would look chubby but a little less meat would make her look too thin. The jade-like skin covering her muscles were translucent, letting some of her darker blood vessels to peek through from between the fragrant foams.
¡°Are you going to keep staring and do nothing?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was fleeting and teasing. It was gentle and very alluring.
¡°Nope! I¡¯m not going to wash them!¡± Xia Lei changed his mind and immediately pulled her into his embrace.
The showerhead continued to rain on them while their scattered clothes on the floor outside silently told of a story children were too young to listen.
One hourter, Liang Siyao was asleep. The smile on her face was blissful and content.
Xia Lei tucked her in and left her room. The earlier rendezvous made him feel better. It cleared his head and allowed his brain to return to its original sharp state.
He entered his study and sat in silence, before pulling out the satellite phone used tomunicate with the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. The man dialled for Sa¡¯im.
¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Xia Lei spoke in a low voice.
¡°Boss, we¡¯ve retreated.¡± Sa¡¯im voice rang through. ¡°There are special forces and agents from the Bureau 101 all-around your house. We cannot continue to stay in Jingdu.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I know. All of you need toy low for the time being. By the way, do you know where my father is?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Has he left?¡±
¡°Yeah, probably did sost night.¡±
¡°Your father hasn¡¯t contacted us yet.¡± Sa¡¯im continued, ¡°But I know he wasn¡¯t going to stay put forever. If he wants to leave, no one can stop him. Boss, do you need us to locate him?¡±
¡°No need. Since he hasn¡¯t told me where he was going, it¡¯s clear that he¡¯s trying to hide his tracks. I¡¯ll let him be for a while and continue to wait for his news. If you learn anything new, inform me immediately,¡± uttered Xia Lei into the device.
¡°We know that you¡¯re in trouble now. If you need any help, feel free to instruct us. Also, I¡¯d like to tell you something...¡± Sa¡¯im paused in hesitation.
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Go on. You¡¯re free to tell me anything.¡±
Sa¡¯im went on, ¡°Boss, you¡¯ve managed to umte wealth that couldst you forever. I feel like there¡¯s no need to keep handling your military factory anymore. If this goes on, you¡¯ll be stuck forever. How about you leave China now, buy a small ind and live a hidden luxurious life with all of your lovers? Isn¡¯t that better?¡±
Xia Lei huffed a bitter chuckle. ¡°I¡¯m not producing weapons for the sake of money but I understand your sentiment. I¡¯ll leave when the time is right, not now.¡±
¡°Alright then, boss. We¡¯ll keep in touch, farewell.¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Lei halted him. ¡°I need to ask you something.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
¡°The woman I had you follow earlier, Zhu Xuanyue, where was thest time your men spotted her?¡±
¡°In Washington. But you know...¡±
¡°I know. That¡¯s all I needed to know. Keep in touch, goodbye.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Immediately after their call, Xia Lei retrieved his hackingputer from the safe. Sa¡¯im may have lost Zhu Xuanyue, but Xia Lei still had his ways to find her. He was going to utilize his hacking skills for that.
Though Sa¡¯im knew a thing or two about hacking, his skills paled tremendouslypared to thete Amanda, let alone Xia Lei who was basically unstoppable. Xia Lei¡¯s brain was like a supeputer, along with his fundamentals and learnt hacking techniques, Xia Lei had the ability to locate Zhu Xuanyue in America from his study.
Zhu Xuanyue was a ticking time bomb he nted in America.
The Americans were eager to force him into submission and Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, Folsom, had delivered a splendid first attack. It was about time he did something about it.
Aside from the ck-robed man and Zhu Xuanyue, there was no one else on this that could attack him and escape unscathed.
The study was a calming silence. The hackingputer whirled quietly while Xia Lei¡¯s fingers furiously danced across its keyboard, enteringmands in a flurry. His speed was so fast that the only thing you could notice about his fingers were the shadows itgged behind. The harmony between his brain, his mind and his fingers was the peak of human capabilities. If something required ten minutes to bepleted by other hackers or even experts of the field, Xia Lei would only need one minute.
Ten minutester, his fingers began to slow and the screen was now filled with security footage. Those were footage from Washington city¡¯s traffic monitoring system. He even had a facial recognition software running in the background. The software was busy at work, searching for a match among the urring different faces.
Xia Lei had chosen not to hack into Washington¡¯s police monitoring system and decided to stay away from the CIAwork. Tracks left behind would be inevitable and that would have him traced and locked down instead. Hence, he chose the traffic monitoring system which had a rtively low protection level for safety concerns.
Minutes ticked by, the facial recognition system ran its rapid course within all of the traffic monitoring records. However, the heap of information was too immense. Zhu Xuanyue was still not found even after half an hour.
Xia Lei was bored from waiting. Left with nothing else to do, he grabbed a pen and a few sheets of paper to draft his will.
The first one would be for Liang Siyao and her child.
The second one would be for Jiang Ruyi and her child.
The third one would be for Fan Fan and her child.
The fourth one would be for Long Bing and her child. Though Long Bing wasn¡¯t pregnant yet, Xia Lei was confident that she would carry his offspring with time. This was also why he wrote one for her even if she wasn¡¯t pregnant.
His four lovers and their children would receive fifteen percent of Thunder Horse¡¯s original share each. If the organization had maintained its current scale and no major changes were to be made to its assets, they would obtain approximately fifteen billion in assets. As the Thunder Horse Organization continues to grow, his lovers and their children are bound to receive more.
The fifth one was written for Xia Xue. The man decided to give her thirty percent of Thunder Horse¡¯s original share. After all, Xia Xue was his biological sister and was a daughter of the Xia family. If his death was untimely, she would be the new owner of the Thunder Horse Organization. Her sister inws would most definitely help her.
In thest will, he left ten per cent of his shares to the people who had helped him establish the business. Guan Lingshan, Zhou Xiaohong, Qin Xiang, Lu Sheng along with Annina and Sylvia. He hadn¡¯t forgotten to include the White Hun tribe in Afghanistan. Smy would be receiving a generous amount of assets.
But of course, this was just the drafts. Many of its details still required awyer¡¯s service toplete.
It took him an hour to finish off the draft.
However, the facial recognition software still hadn¡¯t found a match.
When Xia Lei decided to leave his seat for some coffee, the facial recognition software had focused on a face and a notification was triggered. Match found, one hundred percent certainty!
Chapter 911 - Uncle Xias Instructions
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell onto the face the software had pinpointed. As soon as he got a clear look at it, he had no doubt in his mind that it was Zhu Xuanyue.
Shown on the screen, Zhu Xuanyue was only dressed in thin clothes, sticking out like a sore thumb among the thickly-clothed Americans dressed for the winter. However, she didn¡¯t seem cold and looked incredibly energized. Her eyes stared into a direction as if looking for something.
Currently, she was at the entrance of a supermarket. Her presence was coincidentally captured by the security cameras by the street.
Xia Lei took a look at the time stamp and his brain gave him an immediate calction of the time difference. The footage was captured ten minutes ago, the direction of her feet seemed to indicate her urge to buy something from the supermarket. His fingers sent out a flurry ofmands. Bringing up live footage from the vicinity.
Zhu Xuanyue was no longer at the entrance of the supermarket.
Following that, Xia Lei quickly pulled out Google Maps and found the exact location of the supermarket. Next, he found the franchise¡¯s website on a billboard along with its customer hotline. Within two minutes, the man had hacked into the supermarket¡¯s surveince system. Theptop disy was switched to show him the CCTV feedback inside the facility.
It didn¡¯t take long for him to find Zhu Xuanyue. The woman was now standing in front of a rack of menstrual pads.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°She actually needed those?¡±
To Xia Lei, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s existence was close to invincible. Heck, even her food was the human brain. The woman was certainly beyond the scope of the Homosapien and was definitely an advanced existence. It would only make sense that she was freed from mortally feminine concerns like menstruation!
Zhu Xuanyue finally settled on a certain brand and began walking towards the exit with the product in toll.
Xia Lei thought to himself bewilderedly. ¡°She had constructed a near-perfect human female body for herself. I guess it¡¯s only natural to share its issues.¡±
It had been a while since theyst met. The current sighting of her made him excited and gleeful but her shopping needs overwhelmed him with awkwardness.
Zhu Xuanyue had no ns to pay for her pads, walking straight to the exit.
¡°Hey! Miss, you haven¡¯t paid for that yet!¡± The young blonde cashier warned her.
Zhu Xuanyue halted her footsteps, turning her face to look at the blonde woman who called her out. There was a trace of anger in her gaze.
Sadly, the young blonde woman had no idea that she was messing with the devil. She continued to threaten, ¡°What are you trying to do? Are you shoplifting? Pay and apologize or I¡¯ll report you to the police!¡±
Zhu Xuanyue scowled. She started to approach the counter.
Xia Lei had a bad feeling of the events that may take ce. He quickly entered a few moremands into the interface.
Ring... Ring...
On theputer screen, the telephone beside the young blonde cashier rang.
She instinctively picked it up. ¡°Hello, this is...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted her in English. ¡°Hi, please pass this phone to the woman approaching you.¡±
¡°You are...?¡± The cashier was understandably shocked, she spared Zhu Xuanyue another nce.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Please stay calm. I¡¯m an agent from the CIA. Your response will now determine the sess or failure of my operation, your role is important. Please pass the phone to the woman in front of you.¡±
As soon as the cashier heard that he was a CIA agent, her expression warped into something more anxious and stern. Without hesitation, she extended the phone to Zhu Xuanyue. ¡°Miss, a call for you.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue was stunned. ¡°A call for me?¡±
¡°Yes. Please ept it, it¡¯s very important.¡± The blonde cashier took a careful look of her surroundings before whispering, ¡°It¡¯s from a very important person.¡±
¡°A very important person?¡± A grin broke out on Zhu Xuanyu¡¯s face. ¡°Hehe, could it be from my Uncle Xia?¡±
Located a few tens of thousands of miles away, Xia Lei was about to spit blood.
The cashier shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but please just take the phone.¡±
The scenario seemed almost stereotypical of an American spy movie. A sweet innocent girl had received a call from a self-proimed agent. The blonde cashier in front of her had clearly thought she was met with such a situation, long forgetting about Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s shoplifting attempt. Right now, the most vital thing to her was to have Zhu Xuanyue answer the CIA agent¡¯s call.
Zhu Xuanyue dropped the unpaid pack of pads onto the counter and brought the phone to her ears. ¡°Hello? Is this Uncle Xia?¡±
Xia Lei wanted to die.
His mission was now exposed. If Xia Lei was at the supermarket right now, he would certainly hold her against her will and p her ass vehemently. The man would not stop until her ass cheeks were swollen raw.
¡°Eh? Hello? Uncle Xia, is that you?¡± Zhu Xuanyue frowned worriedly. It wasn¡¯t difficult to tell from her attitude that Xia Lei was an irreceable ¡®rtive¡¯. He was someone of the utmost importance to her.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°It¡¯s me, your Uncle Xia.¡±
¡°Wow! It really is you! Uncle Xia, when are youing to get me? I miss you so much!¡± Zhu Xuanyue was as excited as a child with candy.
¡°Shh, quiet down. Listen to me.¡± Xia Lei spoke in a stern voice. ¡°Someone is trying to kill your Uncle Xia. You need to help me or I¡¯ll be in danger.¡±
There was an abrupt coldness to her eyes, it was murderously terrifying. ¡°Who¡¯s trying to kill you?¡±
¡°The CIA.¡± Xia Lei went on, ¡°It¡¯s the American Intelligence Department. It¡¯s not just one person, they act as a whole.¡±
¡°No matter how many people they have, if they want to kill you, I¡¯ll have them all killed.¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Langley... Do you remember that ce?¡±
¡°Of course, I hadn¡¯t forgotten it. But I can¡¯t seem to find that ce. I¡¯ve asked many people but no one wants to help me. They all lied to me.¡±
¡°Did you kill them?¡±
¡°No! I didn¡¯t!¡± Zhu Xuanyue shook her head violently.
Her mental age could not be over ten years old. Even the easy she lied was innocent and naive. She was a bad liar and it was obvious she wasn¡¯t telling the truth.
Despite that, Xia Lei did not care about their pitiful fates. ¡°Alright, I believe you. It¡¯s actually pretty simple to get to Langley. All you need is some money, then order a cab and have the driver send you there.¡±
¡°So all I need is a driver?¡±
¡°Yes, it¡¯s that simple.¡±
¡°Then what do I need the money for? I can make all the drivers obey me.¡±
Xia Lei stopped talking for a bit.
¡°Say, Uncle Xia. When are youing to meet me? I miss you. I dreamt of youst night, I was sleeping with you and your body was very warm.¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s lips curled into a sweet smile, seemingly reminiscing the sweet dream.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart was turbulent. ¡°Trust me, we¡¯ll be meeting each other very soon. For now, help me aplish something.¡±
¡°Mm!¡± Zhu Xuanyue made a noise of acknowledgement.
Xia Lei instructed, ¡°Try to get yourself a handphone and tell me its number.¡±
Following that, Zhu Xuanyue extended her arm towards the young blonde cashier. The woman said nothing but the cashier had brought her phone out and ced it in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s palm.
There was no difficulty in having anyone heed her desire for Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°Uncle Xia, how do I use it?¡± Zhu Xuanyue toyed with the phone.
Xia Lei was starting to get annoyed but found the whole scenario funny. The man taught her how to use the phone and soon enough she gave him her number. Xia Lei diligently record it down.
¡°Alright, bring this phone with you to Langley. When you¡¯re there, I¡¯ll give you a call and tell you what to do next,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Can¡¯t I just barge in and kill them all?¡±
¡°Follow my instructions. It¡¯s important that you do this. Follow everything I say or Uncle Xia is going to get mad. Once I¡¯m angry, I won¡¯t being to see you.¡± Xia Lei ¡®threatened¡¯ her.
¡°No, please! Don¡¯t abandon me, Uncle Xia. I¡¯ll listen to you, okay? I¡¯ll do as you say. I haven¡¯t been eating mindlessly now.¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s pitch heightened in anxiety.
That seemed to soften Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He couldn¡¯t help but pity Zhu Xuanyue. She had no friends and no family. She had spent most of her existence in solitary. Who could¡¯ve understood her aching loneliness? It hadn¡¯t been easy for her to acquire an uncle figure like him, but this Uncle Xia she held dearly had chased her to America.
There was always some element of unwillingness to life, there are things that you wouldn¡¯t want to do but you couldn¡¯t help it. In the end, you¡¯d be forced to get it done.
¡°Xuanyue...¡± Xia Lei hesitated briefly. ¡°Do you me me for making you go to America?¡±
¡°Yes... No,¡± answered Zhu Xuanyue weirdly.
¡°What kind of answer is that?¡±
¡°I med you in the beginning but I finally understood that my actions were wrong. There are some things that could be eaten while some are off-limits. I¡¯ve learnt how to differentiate them and now I only eat what I can.¡±
¡°How do you differentiate them?¡±
¡°Those who lie to me and trick me are bad guys. I only eat bad guys.¡±
Xia Lei felt a wave offort, prompting a smile to bloom on his face. ¡°Well done. When you¡¯re done with this task, I¡¯lle over to meet you.¡±
¡°Mm! You¡¯re the best, Uncle Xia. I¡¯ll go to Langley now.¡± Zhu Xuanyue was excited, extremely eager to head towards the location Xia Lei had instructed.
¡°Good. But before you move, could you have the girl in front of you forget about us?¡±
¡°Uncle Xia, I¡¯ve already turned her into an idiot. She doesn¡¯t remember anything and she has already forgotten how to talk,¡± replied Zhu Xuanyue.
Even though she could differentiate right from wrong, she was still a devil.
Chapter 912 - Consciences and Awakenings
After walking out, Zhu Xuanyue checked the situation on the streets and then headed towards a police car stopped by the road.
A Caucasian policeman was sitting inside enjoying a burger. His eyes wandered around the streets, stopping on a pretty passerby, eyeing her ass. Like many Western men, he liked women with huge assess.
The policeman quickly noticed an Asian girl walking towards him. She was ridiculously pretty. The other thing he noticed was that the girl was holding a sanitary pad in her hand. He stared at her perky and full breasts, wondering where she was from. He guessed either Japan or South Korea.
Zhu Xuanyue walked over to the police car, opened the car door and crouched to get inside.
The policeman stared at her in shock and quickly took to questioning her actions. ¡°Who are you? What are you trying to do?¡±
¡°Drive,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue.
The policeman was amused. ¡°To where?¡±
¡°Langley,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°What for?¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to kill someone at the CIA.¡± Zhu Xuanyue looked at the policeman with her inky ck eyes.
¡°A psycho!¡± The policeman was prepared to pull out his gun but before he could, his entire body went soft. Throwing away his burger, he started the car and drove towards Langley.
Xia Lei, who was at the coast far away, could not help butugh. He regretted not stating what kind of car she should get. A policeman driving away from his post would raise questions from the police station nearby. If he did not reply, it would cause suspicion and they might send people over to investigate.
No matter what, he was not worried about Zhu Xuanyue because even if every policeman in Washington was dispatched to catch her, it would not be enough. She could eat them as food or get them to shoot at each other, kill themselves, or jump off the buildings. There were many ways to kill them.
Half an hourter, the police car left the town area and entered a suburban road with no surveince. The police car fell off the hackerputer¡¯s radar too.
Xia Lei turned off hisputer and left the study.
When he was at the door, he stopped abruptly and thought to himself, ¡°I¡¯m instructing a demon to kill. I did not even care that Zhu Xuanyue had just destroyed a young American girl¡¯s life. I did not care about what¡¯ll happen to that policeman. Not just that, I even instructed her to kill the people at the CIA. If I do this, wouldn¡¯t I be the same as her?¡±
He was furious at America¡¯s attacks against him. However, innocent people were going to die because of his retaliation. He had used unscrupulous methods to attain his goals. How different was he from a terrorist who strapped bombs to himself and walked into a market? Although he did not strap bombs to himself, Zhu Xuanyue was his bomb!
¡°My enemy is the American government, the CIA, the Lockheed Martinpany. They are organisations. If I retaliate, how different would I be from a terrorist? I sent Zhu Xuanyue to kill the people in the CIA but soon there¡¯ll be new ones taking over. Would I have to kill again and again? Would I end up killing the entire country?¡± Xia Lei asked himself.
He thought about the cashier at the supermarket. She was so young. She had parents who loved her, maybe even a lover. But with Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s appearance, her parents and her lover lost her forever. She would live her life like a block of wood. What had she done to deserve this? She did nothing wrong!
And that policeman, with his age, he might have a wife and children. However, because of Zhu Xuanyue, he might not be able to go home. His wife and children would suffer because of him. Had he done anything wrong? He did nothing wrong!
Zhu Xuanyue was basically a powerful bomb in his hands. He could not use her like that. He never wanted to view these regr civilians as his enemy. The ordinary people were the ones who suffered in the face of war, not the people in their ivory towers.
¡°I won¡¯t do anything against humanity!¡± Very soon, Xia Lei made a decision. He fished out his satellite phone and called the number he memorised.
Very quickly, he heard Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s voice. ¡°Uncle Xia, I haven¡¯t arrived. ¡°
Xia Lei took a deep breath. ¡°Make him turn around, go back to Washington.¡±
¡°Eh? Why?¡± asked Zhu Xuanyue. ¡°Didn¡¯t you want me to go kill the people at the CIA? The CIA wants to kill you so I¡¯ll kill them all!¡±
Xia Lei shuddered. ¡°Listen to me, the operation has been aborted. ¡°
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Be a good girl. Wait at Washington, I¡¯ll meet you in fifty hours.¡± Xia Lei had made a decision.
¡°You¡¯reing to the US?¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯ming to solve this problem with you,¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhu Xuanyue was not a good weapon to be controlled remotely. He had to be there for more precise attacks. Then he would not harm innocents. This would also be easier for him to attain his goals.
He had always wanted to check on the AE Research Centre. This was a good opportunity.
In the past, he never dared step on American soil. Now, it was different. He had this ¡®super bodyguard¡¯ with him. While he had to be careful in dangerous territory, the threats were still manageable.
He didn¡¯t know when Zhu Xuanyue would return to normal. There were too many unknown variables about her eventual maturity. Worse, he did not know if Zhu Xuanyue would turn against him. How would he be able tomand her then? He mustplete his mission while he could still control her, or he wouldn¡¯t have the chance again!
Also, the FA Group was in Mexico. This time, he didn¡¯t just need to take action in the US, he would also bring Zhu Xuanyue to Mexico to take revenge on the FA Group!
Due to these reasons, he must go to the US!
He heard Zhu Xuanyue¡¯sughter over the phone. ¡°Hehehe... Uncle Xia, I knew you¡¯d never abandon me. You must miss me, right?¡±
Xia Lei calmed his emotions down. He said tly, ¡°Yes, I miss you very much. Listen to me, wait for me in Washington. I¡¯ll see you in fifty hours. Bring your phone with you, I might call you anytime.¡±
¡°Mm!¡± said Zhu Xuanyue happily. ¡°Uncle Xia, I¡¯ll listen to you, I¡¯ll wait in Washington.¡±
¡°After the policeman brings you to Washington. Don¡¯t kill him, don¡¯t turn him into an idiot, alright?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Uh... Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier? I¡¯ve already turned him into an idiot,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°I¡¯ve already made him turn around. We¡¯re heading towards Washington now. Hurry up, I miss you. I wish I could meet you now.¡±
Xia Lei sighed lightly. ¡°Mm, alright, I¡¯lle as soon as possible. Wait for my call.¡±
¡°Mm!¡± came a grunt.
Xia Lei ended the call with a heavy heart. Although he hadn¡¯t personally killed them, two innocents had lost their souls and would be ¡®idiots¡¯ because of him. His conscience was ufortable. It did not feel good.
He must arrive in Washington DC in fifty hours. Other than the flight, he must make necessary arrangements during the remaining thirty plus hours. The first thing was to settle his will with hiswyer, then pass it to his women and Xia Xue. Second, he had to think about how he could leave China. This would be the most difficult part.
There was a special force team of guards guarding the Peace Vi. On the surface, they were there to protect him but in reality, they were watching him. Every move would be reported to their superiors. It would make things difficult if he was seen trying to leave the country.
As he thought about it, a face surfaced in his mind. A n gradually formed.
¡°That¡¯ll do.¡± A smile crept up his face. He opened the safe in his study, then took out the two human skin masks. He brought the masks to Liang Siyao¡¯s room.
The room was quiet, Liang Siyao was in deep sleep. She had a faint smile on her face as if she was at peace.
Xia Lei did not wake her. He gently walked to her vanity, took several cosmetic products and headed to her washroom.
However, before he entered, he heard Liang Siyao¡¯s voice.
¡°I hate you... Hey, don¡¯t do that...¡±
Xia Lei felt as if his legs were filled with lead, he couldn¡¯t move them. He turned to look at her. She had stuck out a luscious leg from under her nket, even her butt cheek was exposed in the air.
He could already guess what she was dreaming of.
¡°Be gentle, I have a baby in me.¡±
Although he was aroused, he still went over and covered her with a nket.
¡°You can¡¯t even be good in your sleep, you must have a son.¡± Xia Lei wanted to spank her bottom but decided not to. She would wake, then her dream woulde true. Right now, every second was precious.
Xia Lei entered the washroom and began his artistic journey.
Chapter 913 - Gathering Of The Xia Ladies
The weather had been clear the day before, yet today, it snowed at dawn. Snow fluttered in the air, turning the rooftop white with snow.
Standing before his office window, Xia Lei looked out at Peace Mansion to see the special force team guarding Peace Mansion and Thunder Horse Military Factory. At the area where the four knights were building a church, several guards were setting up camp on an empty piece ofnd. It was obvious that they were not going to leave anytime soon.
Liang Siyao came to hug him from behind, admiring the snowstorm outside.
¡°All the filth will be covered with snow,¡± she said.
Xia Lei said, ¡°But the snow will melt eventually. The hidden filth will soon reveal itself.¡±
¡°I wish it would be like that forever. The world looks so clean, with everything in white,¡± she said.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be the Ice Age? We¡¯d run out of food, people would starve.¡±
She nudged her chin at him. ¡°I hate you, can you not be so realistic? Can¡¯t you be romantic?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Siyao...¡±
¡°Director Xia,¡± Qing Caiyue entered through the door. ¡°Thewyer is here.¡± When she saw both of them in an embrace, a hint of jealousy shed in her eyes.
Liang Siyao¡¯s return had ruined her rags-to-riches story.
¡°Alright,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Siyao let go of his back and faced him. ¡°You called thewyer over? You¡¯re really going to...¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Let me speak with thewyer alone. I¡¯ll call for youter. I have an important task that I need your help with.¡±
Liang Siyao nodded. She did not even ask what it was. She was willing to do whatever he needed.
Thewyer entered while Liang Siyao and Qing Caiyue left Xia Lei¡¯s office.
¡°Director Liang, why did Mister Xia invite thewyer over?¡± probed Qing Caiyue.
Liang Siyao furrowed her brows. ¡°Don¡¯t ask any questions that don¡¯t concern you. Run along now.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll continue with my work.¡± Qing Caiyue turned, though she pouted when her back was towards Liang Siyao. ¡°What is she so smug for? You were only the CEO of Thunder Horse after sleeping with Director Xia.¡±
Liang Siyao did not hear her. She fished out her phone and dialled Fan Fan¡¯s number. The call went through.
¡°Why did you take so long to turn your phone on?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
¡°Sigh, I was just in an investigation,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Any trouble?¡±
¡°A small one but it¡¯s not too serious. Yawn...¡± Fan Fan yawned. ¡°I¡¯m so sleepy, I want to go to bed.¡±
¡°Xia Lei invited thewyer over, thewyer¡¯s in his office now,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°What for?¡±
¡°He¡¯s writing his will. You should¡¯vee over,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°He¡¯s serious? I... I¡¯ming now!¡± Fan Fan hung up, all fatigue vanished.
After a quiet moment, Liang Siyao dialled Jiang Ruyi¡¯s number.
¡°Siyao, I¡¯m in a meeting,¡± said Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice was very soft. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°Xia Lei...¡± Liang Siyao spoke but then stopped.
¡°What happened to him?¡± Jiang Ruyi suddenly panicked. ¡°Wait a moment, I¡¯ll talk to you outside.¡± After a minute, her voice came on once again. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve left the meeting room. Siyao, tell me, what happened to Xia Lei? ¡±
The foreign media had a field day reporting about what happened at Boao forum but local news did not mention it. It was not odd that Jiang Ruyi did not know what happened.
¡°No, it¡¯s...¡± Liang Siyao hesitated but finally told her. ¡°Xia Lei is writing his will.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s voice went up an octave. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him? Why is he writing a will for no reason? He¡¯s so young. Our kids aren¡¯t born yet. Why would he need a will for?¡±
Liang Siyao sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know but thewyer is in his office. I¡¯ve talked to him about it but you know his temper. He won¡¯t change once his mind is set. You¡¯re part of the family, I think you should know too. If you have time, you shoulde.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll apply for leave immediately and take a flight over.¡± Jiang Ruyi hung up.
Liang Siyao dialled Long Bing¡¯s number.
¡°Siyao, it¡¯s early. What¡¯s up?¡± said Long Bing.
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s writing his will. You shoulde,¡± said Liang Siyao directly.
¡°Huh?¡± Long Bing was shocked. ¡°Is he mad?¡±
Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve already informed Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi. If youe, then the entire family would be here together. Writing a will is a major matter. Usdies should sit together and talk about it.¡±
¡°This is so chaotic...¡± Long Bing chuckled bitterly. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll head over immediately. If he doesn¡¯t exin himself, we¡¯ll smack him.¡±
¡°Yea, we will.¡± Liang Siyao smiled, though her smile was filled with bitterness.
All fourdies had been informed. Long Bing was the first to arrive at Thunder Horse Military Factory. As she parked, Fan Fan had arrived in her car too. Jiang Ruyi couldn¡¯t arrive that soon but she would arrive before nightfall. For the first time, all of Xia Lei¡¯s women would gather here. It was their firstdies¡¯ meeting too. However, Xia Lei, who was still in his office, did not know of this.
Within the parking lot, Long Bing got off her Knight XV and waited for Fan Fan. Although they knew each other, they weren¡¯t very close. She was different from Liang Siyao, who had taken the role of the ¡®rope¡¯ tying all of them together.
¡°Ah Bing, your car is so badass,¡± said Fan Fan with a smile, walking over.
Long Bing smiled. She rarely smiled, so this was already a gesture of friendliness.
Bothdies shook hands and hugged. When they pulled apart, they looked at each other and smiled once again. It was awkward but nothing they couldn¡¯t get past.
¡°I really don¡¯t know why he¡¯s gone mad. Why is he writing his will for no reason?¡± Fan Fan held Long Bing¡¯s hand as they walked to the office tower. She talked as they walked, ¡°Later, we must unite and oppress him.¡±
Long Bing nodded, though she was thinking about something else. ¡°Would this be rted to ·ðÉ¡¯s matter? Do you have any news?¡±
Fan Fan said, ¡°I have no choice now. I had just undergone investigations when Liang Siyao called. I¡¯ll let you and Liang Siyao know if I have any news.
The threedies met at the door of Xia Lei¡¯s office. Their eyes met each other¡¯s. Although they were familiar with each other, this was their first formal meeting.
Long Bing looked at Liang Siyao¡¯s belly, then Fan Fan¡¯s belly. She was a woman and wanted her own child too.
Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°Ah Bing, why are you looking at our bellies?¡±
Long Bing grinned awkwardly. ¡°Just looking to see if they¡¯ve gotten bigger.¡±
Fan Fan said, ¡°Not so soon. I think it¡¯ll take a few months.¡±
Liang Siyao held Long Bing¡¯s hand. ¡°When are you having your own?¡±
Long Bing blushed. ¡°I...I don¡¯t want to be a mother so soon.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t lie to us, I see the look you have when you see our bellies,¡± said Liang Siyao. ¡°Get Xia Lei to work for it. You can hurry for him to give you a child. Then me, Sister Fan Fan, Ruyi and you will have one child each. The four children would be able to y together, it¡¯ll be fun.¡±
Fourdies, four young mothers, four crying babies with only one husband. How chaotic would it be? Long Bing could not imagine. But she was not repulsed. Instead, she was leaning towards this.
Fan Fan held her hand. ¡°Ah Bing, you can do it tonight. You and Xia Lei. Remember to get him to use the antidote. It¡¯ll make you pregnant.¡±
¡°You all...¡± Long Bing had turned very red.
At this point, the situation was very messy in Xia Lei¡¯s home.
All three women chatted and soon, the office door opened. Thewyer with his briefcase walked out, nodded at the three women, then left.
Xia Lei appeared at the door, stunned. ¡°Fan Fan, Ah Bing, when did you both get here?¡±
Fan Fan and Long Bing did not speak. All three women squeezed through the door.
Liang Siyao closed the door.
All three of them looked at him with a hostile look in their eyes and solemn expressions.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°What are you all doing? Are you here to fight with me?¡±
¡°Why are you writing a will?¡± Liang Siyao attacked first.
¡°Yeah, why?¡± asked Fan Fan. ¡°We thought you were joking. I can¡¯t believe you actually did it.¡±
¡°Anything you¡¯re hiding from us?¡± Long Bing¡¯s approach was different from them both.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I knew you might havee for this. Siyao, were you the one who called Fan Fan and Ah Bing?¡±
Liang Siyao said, ¡°I called them. Not just them, I invited Ruyi over too. She¡¯ll arrive tonight. What do you think?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°I think I want to spank you.¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes but she believed that if Fan Fan and Long Bing weren¡¯t here, he would probably have spanked her.
Xia Lei walked to the office table and distributed the will to three of them. ¡°These are photocopies, thewyer has taken the original. What do you all think?¡±
The threedies looked at each other. Suddenly, six fists flew at him.
Chapter 914 - Four Ladies And Dinner
How many men could effortlessly distribute his assets worth billions to hisdies, his little sister and his co-founders? That was what set him apart from other men.
Very few people could deal with the matter of personal finances so cleanly like that.
Receiving a share of the inheritance was a major gift. How could thedies not be touched? However, more than touched, they felt mncholy. Xia Lei¡¯s writing of his will hinted that something bad would happen.
The three girls attempted to ¡®interrogate¡¯ him but in the end, they were all frustrated and gave up.
¡°You really don¡¯t want to tell us the truth?¡± Fan Fan looked at him with sad eyes.
She was the best at ying the ¡®adorable¡¯ card out of all three.
Xia Lei said, ¡°What else do you want me to say? It¡¯s just a will? I¡¯m just preparing for any surprises.¡±
¡°Is that really true?¡± Liang Siyao red at him with suspicion in her eyes.
Long Bing and Liang Siyao were the same. They were trained special force agents. They were not like Fan Fan who used her emotions to question him.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m telling the truth, don¡¯t ask me any more questions. You know my current situation. Maybe one day I¡¯ll be ab rat. Making prior arrangements makes me feel more secure.¡±
The threedies looked at each other, not sure if they should believe him.
Of course, he was lying. He didn¡¯t write his will because he was worried he¡¯d be sent into ab for science experiments. He was worried about the ck-robed man and Zhu Xuanyue. However, he could not tell them about the existence of the ck-robed man, nor could he tell them what Zhu Xuanyue was. Telling them the truth would not benefit them. He must carry this burden alone!¡±
Xia Lei looked at his watch and said, ¡°It¡¯ll be lunchtime soon. You all go home and cook, I¡¯lle home at noon for a reunion meal.¡±
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Ruyi isn¡¯t here yet, our reunion meal will have to wait till dinner.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°A small reunion at lunch, a major reunion for dinner. How about that?¡±
¡°You¡¯re a lucky man.¡± Fan Fan rolled her eyes.
Long Bing said, ¡°Then let¡¯s go back to Peace Mansion. I don¡¯t feel like working today.¡±
¡°Alright, let¡¯s go,¡± said Liang Siyao.
Fan Fan red at Xia Lei. ¡°We¡¯ll get Ah Bing to finish you off tonight!¡±
Long Bing blushed immediately, disappearing without waiting for Fan Fan and Liang Siyao. The two pregnant women made her want a child but she was too embarrassed to ask.
When they all left, Xia Lei called Liu Zhengnan to his office.
¡°Brother, what¡¯s up?¡± Liu Zhengnan entered all smiles. He had already talked to Xia Xue about marriage so he was morefortable in Xia Lei¡¯s presence.
¡°Close the door, I have something to talk to you about,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Zhengnan was confused but obliged nheless. He was about to ask but Xia Lei walked into the lounge. He also entered the lounge.
Xia Lei closed the door.
¡°Brother, what¡¯s the matter?¡± Liu Zhengnan grinned.
In a serious tone, Xia Lei said, ¡°Zhengnan, what I tell youter will be for your ears only. Do not tell anyone else, including Xue.¡±
Liu Zhengnan grew solemn. ¡°Tell me, brother. What¡¯s the matter?¡±
Xia Lei did not answer. Instead took out a ck briefcase from his safe. He put the briefcase on a tea tray and opened it. There were two human skin masks inside.
¡°Brother, you...¡± Liu Zhengnan was shocked because one mask was Xia Lei¡¯s face, the other was his.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Zhengnan, take one.¡±
Liu Zhengnan hesitated, grabbing his mask.
¡°That¡¯s the wrong one, take the other.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Liu Zhengnan looked at him in surprise. ¡°You want me to pretend to be you?¡±
He was smart. Without Xia Lei¡¯s exnation, he had already guessed Xia Lei¡¯s intentions.
¡°I will be leaving for a while,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°My problem is the guards surrounding my mansion. It would be impossible for me to leave.¡±
¡°Brother, where are you going?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t mind that,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I will leave early tomorrow morning. When I leave, you¡¯ll be me until I return.¡±
¡°Where are you going?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t mind that either,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Just follow my instructions.¡±
Liu Zhengnan smiled bitterly. ¡°Brother, hiding from the guards isn¡¯t easy but I can¡¯t fool Liang Siyao. Once I put on this mask, she¡¯ll be able to spot me within seconds. When she confronts me, how will I exin myself?¡±
It was true. Both Liang Siyao and Long Bing were women who were one with Xia Lei. His body shape, his eyes, his scent, his mannerisms, they were familiar with it all. If Liu Zhengnan pretended to be him, just being in the office with Liang Siyao for five minutes would be enough for her to notice.
Xia Lei took out a letter from his pocket and passed it to Liu Zhengnan. ¡°Tomorrow morning, pass this letter to Siyao. She¡¯ll know what to do. I never wanted you to lie to Siyao. Instead, I need her to help you with your cover.¡±
¡°Oh, then there won¡¯t be a problem.¡± Liu Zhengnan rxed and put the letter in his pocket.
Xia Lei reminded him, ¡°Remember, stay in the office as much as you can. Decrease your time outdoors to a minimum. Tomorrow, send Secretary Qing away on a trip to the branch at Haizhu. You understand?¡±
Liu Zhengnan nodded. ¡°I understand, Brother.¡±
Xia Lei hugged him. ¡°Take good care of Xia Xue. Don¡¯t bully her or I¡¯ll punch you.¡±
Liu Zhengnan smiled awkwardly. ¡°Brother, I¡¯m already very lucky she doesn¡¯t bully me. Yesterday, she made me carry her on my back for one kilometre! One kilometre!¡±
¡°Her heels broke?¡±
¡°She was wearing sneakers.¡±
Xia Lei sighed at his sister¡¯s antics.
In the evening, Jiang Ruyi arrived. Four of thedies were finally together, it was an unprecedented event. Fourdies sat at the same table with Xia Lei, Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan. The atmosphere was gloomy and awkward as hell.
Xia Xue and Liu Zhengnan had a quick meal and slipped away.
When they left, Xia Xue pinched Liu Zhengnan¡¯s ear. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare learn from my brother, alright?¡±
¡°Your brother¡¯s great. He¡¯s a role model for the youth of China. Many businessmen take him as their idol,¡± said Liu Zhengnan.
¡°I¡¯m not talking about that, I¡¯m talking about...¡± Xia Xue said in a low voice, ¡°Are you sure you want four wives like him? Do you have a death wish?¡±
Several ck lines appeared on his forehead.
Within the dining hall, the atmosphere eased up when Liu Zhengnan and Xia Xue left. The awkwardness dissipated into warmth.
¡°Have some, have some, have some, have some.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s chopsticks moved and bits of vegetable appeared in all four women¡¯s bowls.
They didn¡¯t move, just watching him.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you eating? Even if you don¡¯t want to eat, the child needs nutrients.¡±
Fan Fan and Liang Siyao finally picked up their chopsticks. This was Jiang Ruyi¡¯s first time with Xia Lei¡¯s three other women. She was very timid, also anxious.
Xia Lei gave her a little more vegetables. ¡°Ruyi, have some more vegetables, they¡¯re rich in vitamins.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Jiang Ruyi started eating too.
Long Bing was still staring at him with an odd gaze. ¡°Ah Bing, you... also have some vegetables.¡±
¡°I... I¡¯m not pregnant, why do I need more nutrients?¡± Long Bing said timidly.
Xia Lei was stunned for a moment, not sure what to say.
¡°Mm.¡± Liang Siyao put down her chopsticks. ¡°I¡¯m full, I¡¯m going home.¡±
Fan Fan put down her chopsticks. ¡°Oh, wait for me, I want you to teach me Wing Chun.¡±
Jiang Ruyi was still eating when Liang Siyao quietly tugged her sleeve. When Jiang Ruyi realised what was going on, she also put down her chopsticks. ¡°I¡¯m full, I.. I want to go learn Wing Chun too.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s face turned red. ¡°You three...¡±
All of them disappeared.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°What are they doing?¡±
Long Bing put down her chopsticks and rolled her eyes. ¡°To hell with you. You must know too, right?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. Of course, he did. Long Bing had just said she wasn¡¯t pregnant when the three of them took that as their cue to disappear. Weren¡¯t they giving them a chance to make a child?
¡°What are you sitting there for? I don¡¯t want to make a child here,¡± said Long Bing.
She had always been straightforward. She had passion and boldness which excited him greatly. He walked over and picked her up by her waist, then they went to his room.
Long Bing wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s neck. ¡°Fan Fan said we had to use some medicine she made, is that true?¡±
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s an antidote. Without it, my sperm would kill each other.¡±
¡°That¡¯s why I never got pregnant even though we never used protection. It was because of this.¡± She nudged him with her head. ¡°You¡¯re crazy, even your sperm is crazy.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled.
¡°Am I supposed to eat the medicine?¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s topical.¡±
¡°You or me?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll apply it.¡±
¡°How?¡±
Xia Lei leaned closer to her ear and whispered.
¡°Ugh! That¡¯s insane. You help me, I¡¯m not doing it.¡±
¡°Yes Ma¡¯am, I¡¯d be happy to help.¡±
¡°Of course you would, asshole.¡±
They closed the door as a blissful atmosphere filled the room.
Chapter 915 - The Trip To America
When the sky brightened, the snow had stopped. The ground was covered with a nket of snow, giving it an ethereal glow.
Liang Siyao came to Xia Lei¡¯s door and knocked. ¡°Time for breakfast.¡±
There was a rustling sound of someone wearing their clothes and Long Bing said, ¡°Coming.¡±
¡°He¡¯s still sleeping?¡± Liang Siyao frowned. She didn¡¯t hear Xia Lei. Not even the sound of him putting on clothes. She thought he was just beingzy.
Long Bing opened the room door, speaking as she smoothed her clothes, ¡°He was already gone when I woke up. Go check Fan Fan or Ruyi¡¯s ce. Maybe he¡¯s there.¡±
Liang Siyao smiled, ¡°Fan Fan and Ruyi are busy cooking in the kitchen. If he was there, would I have asked you? Did you tire him so muchst night that he rolled under the bed? Have you checked under your bed?¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes. ¡°What are you talking about? It was only five times. He¡¯s alright but I was exhausted. If this was what you wanted to know, are you satisfied now?¡±
Liang Siyao grinned. ¡°Let¡¯s go eat breakfast.¡± She held Long Bing¡¯s arm and went to the dining hall.
Long Bing wasn¡¯t used to Liang Siyao treating her like a close sister so it felt very unnatural to her. However, she was starting to get more and morefortable. They were all Xia Lei¡¯s girls. Was it a bad thing if they were close? Did they always have to be jealous of each other like in the TV shows?
Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi had prepared breakfast.
¡°Where¡¯s he?¡± asked Fan FAn.
¡°Yeah, where is he?¡± Jiang Ruyi peeked behind Liang Siyao and Long bing but did not see Xia Lei.
Fan Fan smiled. ¡°Ah Bing, did you tire him out? He can¡¯t even wake up.¡±
Long Bing smiled awkwardly. ¡°Sister Fan Fan, let¡¯s not joke about it. I haven¡¯t seen him since I woke. I don¡¯t know where he has gone. I even told Siyao to check if he¡¯s at your ce.¡±
¡°No, I slept alonest night,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Then where is he?¡± asked Jiang Ruyi.
The fourdies looked at each other but there was no answer.
Long Bing walked over to the side, dialling his number but the call did not go through. His phone had been turned off. She had a bad feeling.
¡°Ah Bing, are you calling Xia Lei?¡± asked Fan Fan.
Long Bing nodded. ¡°Yeah, but he turned off his phone.¡±
¡°You all go ahead. I¡¯ll check the office.¡± Liang Siyao left.
When she arrived at his office, she saw him standing in front of the window. She tiptoed over to him, then clutched his shoulders suddenly. ¡°Boo!¡±
¡°AH!¡± Xia Lei screamed, losing his bnce in the process.
Liang Siyao was stunned. ¡°I was just scaring you, did you have to be so dramatic?¡±
This man was a killing machine. Since when had he be so timid? It was odd.
¡°Siyao, y...you¡¯re here,¡± stuttered Xia Lei.
¡°Your voice?¡± Liang Siyao furrowed her brows.
¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with my voice,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liang Siyao suddenly grabbed his cor. ¡°You¡¯re not Xia Lei, who are you?¡±
¡°Let go, I am Liu Zhengnan.¡± Liu Zhengnan, who was disguised as Xia Lei, finally relented. He thought he could pretend for five minutes, not five seconds.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Liang Siyao whispered, ¡°Tell me now!¡±
Liu Zhengnan passed her the letter that Xia Lei gave him.
She opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.
Written on the letter was this. Siyao, do not look for me. Do not conduct a search. I will be back very soon, don¡¯t worry. Please help Zhengnan, protect his identity.
Long Bing read the letter, then took out her phone. ¡°Hello, Ah Bing, get Fan Fan and Ruyi over.¡±
Their husband was missing. This was the problem thedies had to face on their second day of reunion.
At the same time, within a regr local-made car, Xia Lei took off Liu Zhengnan¡¯s human skin mask to change to another face. A few minutester, he had be a young teenager. Just from his face, he looked not more than twenty years old.
When he arrived outside of the airport, he did not even pull out his key from the ignition. He had a backpack on with aputer in his bag and a passport. ¡®Liang Fan¡¯ was the fake name he had on his passport.
Fifteen hourster.
Washington DC, USA.
When he walked out of Washington Airport, Xia Lei hailed a cab and headed towards the city centre. He had to look for Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s supermarket.
Twenty minutester, he arrived.
A blonde walked out of the supermarket, colliding with Xia Lei as he walked in.
¡°What the hell?¡± demanded the blonde. ¡°Watch where you¡¯re going!¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry,¡± Xia Lei apologised and then walked in. He had one more phone in his hand.
He had the satellite phone used to contact the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team with him, though he turned it off before hended. There was a beacon in that phone so the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team could track him. However, this time, he did not want the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team involved in this. Zhu Xuanyue was more powerful than a national army put together. Plus this trip would never benefit the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
When he entered the supermarket, Xia Lei dialled her number while standing in an aisle. ¡°I¡¯m here, in the supermarket. Where are you?¡±
¡°Uncle Xia, you¡¯re here?¡± Zhu Xuanyue sounded excited.
¡°I¡¯m here, I¡¯m waiting for you at the supermarket,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ming now!¡± said Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei chose several random things, paid for them and left. He saw her at the entrance, the same time she saw him. After a pause, she ran over and hugged him.
¡°Uncle Xia! I¡¯ve missed you!¡± Zhu Xuanyue rubbed her cheek against his face demurely. She was acting like a kitten.
However, Xia lei secretly thought, ¡°She recognised me after barely one second. Even my special vision isn¡¯t as quick as her. Does she have a vision better than mine?¡±
Kiss! Zhu Xuanyue held his face in her hands and kissed him. She giggled, ¡°Uncle Xia, why do you have a piece of...¡±
Xia Lei covered her mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t talk, that¡¯s a secret.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue nodded. ¡°Mm!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°To Langley?¡± asked Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°No, we¡¯re going for a walk.¡± Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°I want to go to the White House.¡±
¡°White House?¡± Zhu Xuanyue blinked. ¡°A house that is white?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yes, the house is white.¡±
¡°What¡¯s so great about it?¡± Zhu Xuanyue pouted. ¡°Boring.¡±
She was like a living doll, naive and peculiar.
Xia Lei did not exin why he was going to the White House. Since he was already in America, and the White House was the headquarters of the enemy, he needed to do some recon.
They were not far from the Whtie House so he did not hail a cab. He walked with zhu Xuanyue.
¡°Have you eaten anything these two days?¡± probed Xia Lei.
¡°No, no.¡± Zhu Xuanyue shook her head, though she said, ¡°I did eat something. I ate hamburgers, fries and fried chicken. It tastes bad, not like the delicious food you have in your house.¡±
Xia Lei saw the glint in her eyes. However, he did not expose her for lying. What use would that be? If Earth was like a forest, then Zhu Xuanyue was a lion within. She was at the top of the food chain. But she was a carnivore by nature, how could he persuade her to eat nts instead?
Both of them walked towards the White House. From far, they could already see the Washington memorial. It looked like a majestic sword thrust into the skies.
Zhu Xuanyue was initially walking behind him but she now leaned on him. Her full and soft breasts unintentionally pressed up against his arm. Xia Lei stiffened but did not stop her. In China, he would take the role of an uncle. However, in America, he needed her help so he had to tolerate everything.
¡°Uncle Xia, you¡¯re so warm,¡± Zhu Xuanyue signedfortably. ¡°I want to sleep with you now.¡±
Xia Lei coughed awkwardly. ¡°It¡¯s daytime, what are you talking about? We¡¯ll sleep at night.¡±
¡°Sleep with me.¡±
¡°Uh... Alright,¡± Xia Lei nodded. He then thought to himself, ¡°Bear with it. I must let her be.¡±
¡°Uncle Xia, you¡¯re so nice to me. You¡¯re the only person I like in the world.¡± Zhu Xuanyue shook his shoulder like a little girl.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart shuddered. ¡°Xuanyue, when you sleep with other people, do you get a warm feeling?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue shook her head. ¡°I haven¡¯t slept with anyone before. But I know you¡¯re the only one who can warm me.¡±
Chapter 916 - The White House
Inexplicably, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s words made Xia Lei reminisce about the time he was on Dawang mountain. In that battle, the man had stripped off all his clothes for Tang Yuyan. His body automatically adjusted itself to the harsh temperatures. When he slept with Zhu Xuanyue, the woman¡¯s body was as cold as ice. His body reacted the same and got used to the freezing temperature. It began to produce heat to protect his vital organs against the cold.
¡°Uncle Xia, it feels so nice to be close to you. Your warmth is sofortable.¡± Zhu Xuanyueid her head on top of Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. Though she referred to him as an uncle, she acted more like a woman in love.
Xia Lei tolerated her agonizing ¡®harassment¡¯, thinking, ¡°When she had no physical form, she called me the chosen one and loved to take hot baths with me. Now that she has a physical form, she likes sleeping with me. Does she share a connection with me that I am unaware of? No, no way. Even if it had something to do with me, it¡¯s most probably due to the mysterious powers within me. There¡¯s no way it could be me. If it wasn¡¯t for the strange energy, I would probably still be back in Haizhu in some random construction site moving bricks and welding metal.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue ignored the weird looks people tossed at her. The woman hugged her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s elbow tighter, like a kitten seeking attention.
Xia Lei was still deep in thought. ¡°Am I the same chosen one as the prehistoric chosen one? Is there such a possibility? In the Metal Book, the prehistoric chosen one had fought to his death with Zhu Xuanyue. The battles they shared were extremely violent, how could they be friends? If I¡¯m the sessor of the prehistoric chosen one, that would make me Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s arch-nemesis. But why is she so passionate about me? She even mentioned that I¡¯m the only one that could warm her up. Her behaviour and mannerism tell me that she genuinely enjoys being around me. But why?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue, the prehistoric chosen one, the ck-robed man and Leonardo da Vinci along with bits of inexplicable strange memories flooded out from different corners of Xia Lei¡¯s mind. It created a storm of confusion.
Without realizing it, they soon reached the side of the White House where all the tourists went to take pictures. They were unable to get closer to the White House. If they were to do as much as to cross over the designated area, a group of armed security forces would halt them. Other than the armed forces, there were also agents around the White House. Each of them had serious expressions and were constantly on high alert.
Xia Lei made no move to get closer to the railing. He opted to stand far away.
¡°Uncle Xia, would you like to go in and take a look?¡± Zhu Xuanyue continued, ¡°I can get you in there.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°Your idea is to turn them all into idiots, right?¡±
¡°Uh, how did you know?¡± Zhu Xuanyue had the audacity to look shocked.
Xia Lei ignored her, letting his gazend on the White House instead. His left eye twitched slightly and the X-ray vision was activated. Soon, his vision prated into the interior of the White House.
He scanned through a few rooms, finally stopping at an oval-shaped office.
The oval office served as the working space for many famous American presidents. The bald eagle and the Stars and Stripes were obvious signs of that.
There was a ck man upying the office. He looked about in his fifties but the way he held himself was serious and majestic. It didn¡¯t require much for Xia Lei to identify him. He was the current acting president of America, Bachoma. Anyone who was updated enough with current world news would know who he was, every decision and action he executed pulled the world¡¯s nerves taut.
Bachoma was seatedfortably on his spinning office chair. He had his legs ced on top of his desk leisurely. A pen was spun nimbly between his fingers. He seemed to be in deep thought but he also seemed like he was waiting for someone.
The man governing the world¡¯s hegemony was now within Xia Lei¡¯s sight. The moment Xia Lei caught a glimpse of Bachoma was the moment an abrupt urge to have Zhu Xuanyue bring him in for a visit was birthed.
If Zhu Xuanyue wanted to enter the oval office, no armed forces or elite president bodyguards and special agents could stop her. The woman could decide the president¡¯s fate as soon as she made it into the office!
The idea was attractive because all it would take was one word from him and the president of the United States would either turn into an idiot or food.
However, the thought of it was wild and intangible. Perhaps Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s presence in the oval office would cause an irreversible change in the global power bnce. Worse, she might even be the trigger to a Third World War.
¡°Uncle Xia, do you see that man inside?¡± Zhu Xuanyue scowled. ¡°He¡¯s so ugly.¡±
Her mindlessment jolted Xia Lei back into reality. The abrupt wake made Xia Lei realize that he had worked up a pool of cold sweat inside his clenched fists. He was so close to doing that but knew it wasn¡¯t right of him to do so.
Yes, the American government was trying to get rid of him. The incident of the Japanese Land Self-Defense Force¡¯s tanks firing their shells at him was a prime example. Following that, the government had even instructed Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO, Madam Folsom, to expose his secrets on live broadcast during the Boao Forum For Asia. From those two incidents alone, there was enough reason for him to send Zhu Xuanyue into the oval office and have her initiate close contact with President Bachoma. This was most definitely going to avenge him and deliver him a sense of relish.
However, would that solve his problems?
Was that the right action to take?
There were many answers to that.
The American government was the most powerful governing force in the world and Bachoma was only a part of it. His role as president wasn¡¯t even the core of the government. If he made Zhu Xuanyue get rid of him, someone new woulde and take over his throne. After that, America was going to be a revenge machine. Which country in the world could face up against America and its allies?
Killing one person was easy but could he make Zhu Xuanyue destroy the entire United States of America? That certainly was impossible. Even if it were, it must not be done. He was not the same as Zhu Xuanyue, who was a devil that harvested humans as food. Xia Lei could never see the innocent civilians of America as his enemies.
¡°Uncle Xia?¡± Zhu Xuanyue nudged his shoulder. ¡°Why are you so quiet?¡±
Xia Lei broke out of his daze. He smiled at her. ¡°What do you want me to say?¡±
¡°Uh... Praise me. Tell me that I¡¯m a good girl.¡± Zhu Xuanyue seems serious.
¡°Hahaha.¡± Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Xuanyue, you¡¯re such a good girl.¡±
¡°Hehehe.¡± Zhu Xuanyue giggled joyfully.
Xia Lei¡¯s vision prated into the oval office once again. This time, President Bachoma was joined by a woman.
This woman was none other than the Madam Folsom of Lockheed Martin who attacked Xia Lei during the Boao Forum.
Folsom¡¯s unexpected appearance had Xia Lei focused his vision on Folsom and Bachoma, activating his lip-reading abilities at the same time.
¡°Hello, Mister President.¡± Folsom greeted the man with respect, then passed him an envelope of documents with both hands.
¡°Please take a seat, Madam Folsom.¡± Bachoma flipped the envelope p open to empty its contents.
Xia Lei averted his gaze onto the document, then intensified the strength of his X-ray vision. He found a printed picture of the ZTZ100 main battle tank and him right beside it.
This was captured back in Russia.
¡°Mister President.¡± Folsom reported, ¡°After the end of the tank biathlon in Russia, we received some intel and information from the Japanese. I had mypany¡¯s experts analyze the data and what you¡¯re reading now is aption of our findings.¡±
Bachoma read the printed content. He furrowed his brows. ¡°Is the ZTZ100 main battle tank really that good?¡±
Folsom replied, ¡°Mister President, there¡¯s a USB inside the envelope with some footage the Japanese had recorded. In the video, Xia Lei personally drove the ZTZ100 and obtained an easy victory over Japan¡¯s Type 10 Tank and also Russia¡¯s T90 tank.
¡°The Japanese and Russian tanks were no big deal,¡± Bachoma scoffed.
Folsom added on, ¡°Mister President, you won¡¯t say the same after watching the footage. Xia Lei had won thepetition and ced the ZTZ100 was in resting mode. When the three Type 10 Tanks had fired their shells at him, he was able to dodge one shell but was hit by the other two. Despite that, the ZTZ100 was still able to move around rapidly and even destroyed the three Type 10 Tanks who ambushed it.¡±
The shocking piece of information seemed to intrigue Bachoma.
Folsom continued, ¡°Our expert team has given me a solid conclusion. The ZTZ100 is at least ten years more advanced than our current M1A3. If we were to challenge China onnd, we¡¯d at least need two M1A3 to have a fair battle against one ZTZ100 main battle tank.¡±
Bachoma took out the USB at the bottom of the envelope but made no move to insert it into hisptop port. He trusted Folsom¡¯s ims.
¡°Mister President, I¡¯ve met with Xia Lei. The man rejected our offer and had a personal vendetta against us. He said he¡¯d be researching drone technology next. He¡¯s going to temper with the air battle bnce between us and China. There is no country in the world that would dare to challenge China to and battle. The air force and navy is ourst protection against them. If we lose this advantage, we¡¯ll have to submit to them. We won¡¯t be able to protect the interest of us and our allies in Asia.¡± said Folsom solemnly.
¡°You exposed his secrets. Is China not nning to do anything to him?¡± questioned Bachoma.
¡°The CIA intelligent agents have done some investigations. Currently, there is a troop of special forces stationed at the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters in Jingdu. But they¡¯re merely surrounding his property,¡± reported Folsom.
¡°His existence has threatened America¡¯s core interest. He is an enemy of the country. The danger he brings is much more severe than what the Middle Eastern terrorists are capable of.¡±
¡°I agree. As soon as Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s overall performance surpasses Lockheed Martin¡¯s, we¡¯ll find ourselves in dark times.¡±
¡°Xia Lei must die. The next operation must seed. You need toe up with a better and feasible strategy.¡± Bachoma stared at her. ¡°You may leave now. I¡¯ll have the CIA contact you.¡±
¡°Understood. Till we meet again, Mister President.¡± Folsom stood and left.
Xia Lei peeled his attention and grabbed Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s arm. They began to move forward.
¡°Uncle Xia, where are we going?¡± Zhu Xuanyue was confused.
¡°We¡¯re going to visit an old friend of mine,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°And then we¡¯ll be sleeping?¡± Zhu Xuanyue blinked herrge innocent eyes at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei said nothing and continued to walk.
Before they walked far, a Chevrolet Suburban four-wheel-drive emerged from behind the metal gate.
Xia Lei focused his gaze on the car te number, imprinting thebination of numbers into his mind.
Chapter 917 - The Video Conference
The skies had darkened.
A skyscraper adorned with Lockheed Martin¡¯spany si immersed itself in the night, only allowing its illumination system to radiate. The building itself looked majestic and intimidating at the same time.
In a multipurpose meeting room, Folsom was in the middle of a video call with someone.
On the screen in front of her was CEO Michael Ram of The Boeing Company, on the other screen was General Dynamics¡¯ CEO Forster and another screen was Raytheon Company¡¯s CEO McCali.
The four military aces of America were currently engaged in a video conference. This was an unprecedented event. They did not even gather during dire times when America had sent troops to Iraq during the Gulf War. All of this took ce for the first time all because of one man and hispany. Xia Lei and the Thunder Horse Organization.
With Lockheed Martin¡¯s lead, the fourpanies had propped up almost the whole of America¡¯s defence and the war system. From the skies to the ocean, these fourpanies had made their products to cater to different battles. They were the driving force behind America¡¯s overwhelming military power. They held an advantage in every field until the emergence of Xia Lei and the Thunder Horse Organization.
The Chinese man and hispany had ced immense stress and pressure on the four globally renowned military aces. The man and his sesses were choking them in the throat.
¡°Madam Folsom, if it wasn¡¯t for your episode at the Boao Forum, we would¡¯ve remained blissfully unaware that there was an AE Research Centre in America. Hmph, what a bunch of idiots! They helped create a superman as our enemy!¡± said CEO Michael Ram.
¡°Is there only one AE capsule?¡± questioned CEO Forster. ¡°If it isn¡¯t the only one created, why are we not creating more people like Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Superman? That¡¯s not a good term to coin him.¡± CEO McCali of Raytheon Company rubbed his chin. ¡°From my understanding, he is only a man who has entered an advanced stage of human evolution. I think he¡¯s a man that¡¯s a few tens of years ahead of us or even what humans would be like in another hundred years.¡±
Folsom responded, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how far ahead he is. His existence threatens us. It only took him a few years to surpass us in thend weaponry aspect. If a war was to happen in theter years, would our armies dare to attack them?¡±
General Dynamics¡¯ CEO Forster uttered, ¡°We¡¯ve already epted his challenge. The M1A3 main battle tanks produced by us should be the world¡¯s most advanced tank but as soon as Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s ZTZ100 main battle tank isunched, ours will be nothing more than a joke. At this rate, General Dynamics will be surpassed and Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Company and the Boeing Company will not be spared as well.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that a little too exaggerated?¡± CEO Michael Ram wasn¡¯t on board with that statement.
Folsom replied, ¡°It¡¯s not exaggerated at all. I¡¯ve met Xia Lei earlier and the man had mentioned that he was going into drone production next. With the way things are progressing, he¡¯s most probably going to create a drone that will surpass ours.¡±
¡°Really?¡± CEO McCali wasn¡¯t convinced.
¡°I can¡¯t deduce if Xia Lei was telling the truth but I can tell you that hispany holds the most advanced intelligentthe, which is the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe and its second generation. The equipment can provide Thunder Horse with the most precise parts required. Other than that, Xia Lei had obtained Artificial Intelligence technology from the Japanese. With these foundations and the support from the Chinese government, it¡¯s not impossible for Xia Lei to create an advanced drone.¡±
At this point, CEO Forster voiced, ¡°I agree with Madam Folsom. Although the Thunder Horse Organization has yet to involve themselves with the air force, the weapons they¡¯ve produced have greatly diminished ournd battle advantages. Regardless of the XL2500 sniper rifle, gust assault rifle, Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon or the Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle and ZTZ100 main battle tank, every single product of his has made ours irrelevant. As soon as they venture into the air battle aspect, we¡¯ll most certainly lose our advantage as well. This threatens our global leadership and influence!¡±
¡°Madam Folsom, just be direct. What are the President¡¯s ns?¡± questioned CEO McCali.
¡°The president has his own ns but we should have ns for ourselves. His presidential term is about to end and he¡¯ll be spared from the mess. But we¡¯d still have to face threats from Thunder Horse. Therefore, we must have our own n,¡± insisted Folsom.
The American government had always been controlled by Wall Street. Arms trade was an important source of ie. Anyone who dared to interfere with the interests of the consortia would pay a great price. To be frank, even the American president was afraid of these consortia. They were, in fact, the boss behind this world hegemony. Democracy? The act to ban gun ownership had failed despite multiple presidentsing in and out of office. How could that be interpreted as a democracy?
¡°My n is simple, we need to hire someone to do the job,¡± spoke Folsom.
¡°You¡¯re going to hire an assassin? If that is your n, then I must say that it¡¯s ridiculously naive. Three tanks couldn¡¯t eveny a finger on Xia Lei. You must remember that he is advanced and evolved.¡± CEO McCali wasn¡¯t satisfied.
Folsom replied, ¡°It won¡¯t be just one assassin, I¡¯m going to hire an entire special agency. Have you heard of the FA Organization? That organization has experience dealing with Xia Lei. They can get the job done.¡±
¡°What do we have to offer?¡± questioned CEO McCali.
¡°Money, weapons and some equipment along with intel and political support,¡± answered Folsom.
¡°Political support?¡± General Dynamics¡¯ CEO Forster paused. ¡°Madam Folsom, what are you referring to?¡±
Folsom replied, ¡°I¡¯ll be talking to a representative from the FAter. He¡¯ll bring up their requirements. I presume that they¡¯d be asking for legal status and to be taken off the government¡¯s hit list. If it¡¯s just weapons and money, I wouldn¡¯t have gathered you. If the FA wants the legal status and its name gone from the hit list, it would require coboration from the four of us.¡±
¡°No problem, I¡¯ll have my councillor to start working on it.¡±
¡°I¡¯m on board.¡±
¡°Count me in.¡±
The other three military aces reached an agreement without hesitation.
Folsom smiled at them. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s settled. I¡¯ll contact you again after I confirm the details. Goodnight.¡±
The three CEOs disappeared from the disy.
When Folsom exited the meeting room, she noticed Hattori Mei who was already waiting for her at the door. Her personal assistant immediately ced Folsom¡¯s coat over her shoulders.
¡°Madam Folsom, how did it go?¡± Hattori Mei asked.
Folsom¡¯s answer was rather nonchnt. ¡°How else could it have gone? Their very livelihoods are at stake.¡±
Hattori Mei smirked. ¡°As expected. With Thunder Horse¡¯s impressive momentum, it¡¯s only best to take care of the hindrance as early as possible.¡±
¡°Can your father¡¯s side provide us with support? After all, Japan is closer to China.¡± Folsom¡¯s stare on Hattori Mei was as sharp as a de.
Hattori Mei replied, ¡°No problem. My father mentioned to me that as long as your side has settled a deal with the FA, he¡¯ll dly offer them some highly skilled assistance for the operation.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± Folsom switched the topic seamlessly. ¡°Is the FA representative here?¡±
Hattori Mei answered, ¡°He arrived five minutes ago. I already had him wait in the reception room on the top floor. He awaits your arrival.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go meet him now.¡± Folsom began to walk towards an elevator.
At the same time, a taxi came to a stop at its destination opposite the building.
The vehicle doors opened and out came a Chinese youngster with a baseball cap along with a woman that was so astonishingly gorgeous.
The pair was none other than Xia Lei and Zhu Xuanyue.
During their ¡®visit¡¯ to the White House, Xia Lei had memorized Folsom¡¯s car te number. Following that, he swiftly hacked into Washington¡¯s traffic system and tracked her car to this building.
¡°That will be five dors, thank you.¡± The driver peeked his head out of the window.
Xia Lei pulled out a hundred dor bill from his wallet and handed it to him. ¡°Keep the change.¡±
¡°Thank you, mister! Thank you so much!¡± Off the driver went.
¡°Uncle Xia, I want some money too!¡± Zhu Xuanyue grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s arm and proceeded to il it wildly.
Xia Lei could only sigh defeatedly at her antics. ¡°Enough, I¡¯ll give you how much you want when we¡¯re back. There¡¯s something we need to do now.¡±
¡°Do what?¡±
¡°Do you see that building over there?¡± Xia Lei pointed to the tall skyscraper on the opposite street. ¡°We need to climb the water pipes.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue tilted her head confusedly. ¡°Isn¡¯t it way easier to go in through the main entrance?¡±
¡°People will notice us.¡±
¡°Anyone who notices me will be turned into an idiot.¡±
Before she could say anything else, Xia Lei quickly pulled her towards an alley at the side of the building. Using the main entrance was indeed convenient and Zhu Xuanyue would most definitely turn anyone who stops them into an idiot. However, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the surveince system by barging in like that. If Zhu Xuanyue had caused a rampage of fear at the bottom floor, the rm would go ring in no time.
The pair made it into the alley before long. All light was blocked off by the gigantic building, rendering the area poorly lit. Albeit so, it was a prime condition for Xia Lei and Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s operation.
¡°Xuanyue, you¡¯re up first,¡± urged Xia Lei quietly.
¡°Mm.¡± Zhu Xuanyue hummed a sound of acknowledgement. She gripped the pipes along the wall and began her climb upwards.
Xia Lei waited for her to reach a height of about two metres before following behind her.
The climb was no big deal for them. It wasn¡¯t even half difficult to execute. However, Xia Lei was met with a very awkward problem. Whoever Zhu Xuanyue robbed her clothes from had resulted in her bottom poorly concealed by a miniskirt. Her limbs beneath the skirt were seductively d in dark stockings clipped onto a garter belt. As she made her ascend, the wonderful view was fully exposed to his eyes.
Sadly, the view was not something delicious but a white panty that had wings of a menstrual pad peeking from its sides.
Chapter 918 - Gu Kewens Back?
Soon enough, the two of them made it to the bottom of the roof. Xia Lei was able to see two armed security guards right above him. The two men were chatting among themselves while smoking cigarettes near the stairway.
¡°Uncle Xia, there¡¯s someone above us,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue in an unexpectedly loud volume. She intended to remind Xia Lei of the danger on the roof, afraid that he couldn¡¯t catch her well.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯sck of stealth made Xia Lei sigh heavily. When would this little devil grow up? However, he was aware that as soon as she returned to her normal state, there was no way he could trick and manipte her.
To no one¡¯s surprise, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s voice immediately attracted attention from the two security guards.
¡°I heard voicesing from that direction,¡± alerted a guard.
¡°I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± The other guard threw his cigarette bud onto the ground and readied his gun. The man began to walk into the pointed direction, his muzzle coincidentally pointing towards the pipes.
¡°He¡¯sing!¡± Zhu Xuanyue was not nervous at all. Instead, she looked crazy excited. ¡°Uncle Xia, can I turn him into an idiot?¡±
Jeez, how clueless is she?!
Xia Lei wanted nothing more than to reprimand her but all he could muster was, ¡°Shut up!¡±
¡°Ah, I¡¯ll stay silent then,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue. There was a brief pause of silence before she spoke again. ¡°I want to climb up now.¡±
The armed security guard was getting closer. If Zhu Xuanyue was to show her head now, the guard would undoubtedly pull the trigger. Urgently, Xia Lei quickly grabbed a fistful of her skirt to stop her from moving forward.
How would Zhu Xuanyue understand his intention? All she did was lunge herself forward and let her skirt slide off her bottom.
Zhu Xuanyue looked down to spare Xia Lei a confused gaze. ¡°Uncle Xia, why are you taking my skirt off? Are you trying to do naughty things to me?¡±
Now, the security guard had made it to the edge of the roof. Before he could even stretch his torso out to investigate the situation, his knees buckled and he plopped down onto the roof limp.
This was evidently Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s doing. Those who were murdered or eaten were ultimately spared of fear, let alone the excruciating process of agonizing terror and hopelessness as they sumbed to doom.
¡°Bro, what¡¯s the matter?¡± The other guard standing at the stairway cautiously held his gun. However, after he hadpleted the movement, he lost all control of his body and slumped down like his colleague.
Xia Lei watched the scene unfold, feeling a terrifying chill crawl up his spine. Aside from the ck-robed man, he could not think of another person who could withstand Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s silent assassination!
Zhu Xuanyue helped herself onto the roof with Xia Lei following suit seconds apart.
She huffed and had her arms akimbo. ¡°Uncle Xia, you haven¡¯t given me an answer. Why did you take my skirt off? Are you thinking of naughty things?¡±
Xia Lei could onlyugh helplessly. ¡°What do you mean by that? Don¡¯t overthink this. Quick, go get one of their pants and put them on. We need to hurry.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t wanna!¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to wear something that has been worn by filthy men.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t be serious about walking around butt-naked, right?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not wearing it. At worst, I¡¯ll just kill off anyone who has seen my buttocks.¡± There was something evil glimmering in her eyes.
Xia Lei could feel his heart sink with anxiety. ¡°Are you going to kill me too?¡±
¡°Of course not, Uncle Xia. You¡¯re wee to look at my butt anytime you want. My butt can only be seen by you alone.¡± Zhu Xuanyue began to giggle childishly. However, her giggles died down abruptly. Her tone shifted into something different. ¡°How shameless of you! I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re still this perverted. I¡¯ll make sure you remember me forever, do you recognise me?¡±
Those words felt like a hit on the head by a thick wooden bat. The sudden surprise made him dizzy, rendering him only able to gape stupidly at the woman before him.
The Zhu Xuanyue in front of him still looked like Zhu Xuanyue, but Xia Lei had a strong feeling that the woman talking to him now was Gu Kewen!
This woman was created through Ning Jing and Gu Kewen¡¯s body and upied by Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s soul. The characteristics of Ning Jing and Gu Kewen were very obvious at the initial moment of her awakening. However, as time passed, Zhu Xuanyue seemed to have overshadowed and suppressed Ning Jing and Gu Kewen. Xia Lei had not expected Gu Kewen¡¯s awakening at a time like this!
Was there no regrity?
Had he triggered something by ident? Did this work like flipping a switch where a corresponding personality change would take ce at certain intervals with a suitable trigger?
There were one too many guesses in Xia Lei¡¯s head.
After all, to Gu Kewen, she had every reason to kill him. Xia Lei had taken away everything from her. He killed her father and her brother. He was also the one who robbed her of her life.
Xia Lei paused for a moment to digest his shock. He tried to probe, ¡°Gu Kewen? Is that you?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue turned her head around. ¡°Uncle Xia, who were you talking to?¡±
Gu Kewen had ¡®left¡¯.
Xia Lei fell silent momentarily. ¡°Oh, it was nothing. Listen to me, go wear some pants.¡±
¡°No! No! No!¡± Zhu Xuanyue began to throw a tantrum.
The man was helpless. ¡°What can I do for you to put on some pants?¡±
¡°I can wear yours but I don¡¯t want to wear these two filthy men¡¯s pants!¡± fumed Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know whether to cry or tough at her behaviour. The man could only reluctantly strip his pants off and give it to her. He then proceeded to take off one of the guard¡¯s pants for himself. It didn¡¯t take long for him to be clothed but Zhu Xuanyue was still gaping at his pants in confusion. Xia Lei decided that there was no need to urge her. With a swift motion, he retrieved hisputer from his backpack and connected it to the tel junction box at the side of the stairway.
Two minutester, he had gained ess to the building¡¯s surveince system.
Zhu Xuanyue was finally clothed but felt the urge to toy with her zipper. She proceeded to pull the zipper up and down again and again.
Watching the little devil toy with the zipper, an unprecedented bold thought manifested in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. ¡°If the real Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one were enemies but the current Zhu Xuanyue is reliant on me, could this be rted to Ning Jing and Gu Kewen¡¯s existence? If that is the case, will Zhu Xuanyue experience some changes?¡±
Regardless of Ning Jing or Gu Kewen, bothdies had him in their hearts. Ning Jing¡¯s affection towards him was strong. There were elements of adoration in her love. On the other hand, Gu Kewen shared a love-hate rtionship with him. She even took the extra step to die in his arms so that he could remember her forever! The existence of these anomalies could alter Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s perception of him! Based on her original personality, there was no way she could be easily manipted and tricked by Xia Lei. If there was no change, they would¡¯ve fought each other long ago!
Zhu Xuanyue was no longer interested in the zipper, choosing toe closer to the side of Xia Lei. ¡°Uncle Xia, what are you up to?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I¡¯m connecting to their surveince system. That way, we could just enter into the building without the need to hide.¡±
¡°What if someone finds us? Can I eat them up?¡± Zhu Xuanyue smacked her lips. ¡°My tummy is grumbling.¡±
¡°Sure, but you can only do so when absolutely necessary. Understood?¡± Xia Lei reminded her gently.
The woman returned a smile. ¡°Mm, I understand. You¡¯re the best, Uncle Xia.¡±
Despite that, the smile on Xia Lei¡¯s lips was bitter. He was aware of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s true nature. Every usage of her powers would follow with a hunger that needed to be satiated with sustenance. Now that he had brought her on his operation, he had to be prepared for a mountain of bodies.
¡°Alright, I¡¯m done. Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei stuffed theptop back into his bag then pushed the emergency doors in the stairway open. Initially, the door would require a passcode to open but there was no need for that now. His hacking earlier ago had unlocked every door that required a password in the building.
Along with that, Xia Lei had also searched for Folsom¡¯s location. It was a pity that he couldn¡¯t track her down.
Entering the stairway, Xia Lei activated his X-ray vision. The man immediately found two armed security guards stationed at a door and gestured for Zhu Xuanyue to keep silent. Slowly, he reached behind him to brandish a gun he got from the security guard along with his trusted military knife.
Before he could signal her to attack, Zhu Xuanyue had already bounced out from behind him.
¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± Her abrupt appearance was immediately noticed.
¡°Oh no! You found me! Haha!¡± Zhu Xuanyueughed happily.
The two security guards steadied their muzzles with the intention to aim at her but their elbows were rendered motionless. The men soon noticed that they couldn¡¯t even control their tongues!
With a light bounce and a skip, Zhu Xuanyue approached the guards. Her face came into the proximity of one and his face was immediately stripped of its colour. Two secondster, he was on the ground. Xia Lei didn¡¯t need his left eye to know that his brain was probably only the size of an apple now.
The second guard fell onto the ground.
Following that, Xia Lei exited into the corridor. His left eye prating through the door that the two unfortunate guards were tasked to protect.
Abruptly, he was weed by two familiar faces.
Chapter 919 - Accident
The two familiar faces were that of Folsom and Hattori Mei. However, there was an addition of a stranger in the room. It was a man with dark skin and features pointing towards a Hispanic origin. The stranger looked to be about in his early forties, his body stature strong and powerful.
Noticing his appearance, Xia Lei quickly abandoned the thought of barging in. He quickly pulled away Zhu Xuanyue.
Zhu Xuanyue was confused. ¡°Uncle Xia why...?¡±
With a swift motion, Xia Lei pulled her into his embrace and ced a palm over her mouth at the same time. He ducks down to ce his lips near her ear. ¡°Shh! Keep quiet. I need to know what they¡¯re talking about inside.¡±
A string of mumbled words came out of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s mouth despite there being a hand over it.
Her words may be difficult toprehend but she was clearly asking, ¡°Whoa, you can hear them?¡±
Xia Lei opted to ignore her, holding his palm firmly against her lips. At the same time, he kept his left eye in active X-ray vision mode along with the lip-reading ability toprehend the conversation happening within the room.
¡°Madam Folsom, we would happily work with you.¡± The Mexican man continued, ¡°However, we will not do this for free. We need your party to fulfil some conditions.¡±
¡°Weapons and money, these are things we can give you. Other than that, what else do you want?¡± questioned Folsom.
¡°A legal status.¡± The Mexican man stared at her intently. ¡°The FA Organization must disappear from America¡¯s hit list. You must release everyone captured by the US in thest few years.¡±
¡°Mister Franco, you¡¯re asking too much from us,¡± warned Hattori Mei.
Franco, the Mexican man, shed her a smile. ¡°You want us to sacrifice ourselves for your needs and yet you refuse to satisfy our terms and conditions. Is there a need to continue this discussion any further?¡±
Folsom replied, ¡°Alright, I agree. But I must know when will you be able to start the operation?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll start as soon as we get the things we want,¡± answered Franco confidently.
¡°Very well, I¡¯d like to hear your ns.¡± Folsom said, ¡°After all, the target of the operation is Xia Lei. He¡¯s a man much more difficult to handle than the Middle Eastern terrorists.¡±
¡°Yeah, he¡¯s one of the most difficult opponents we¡¯ve encountered so far.¡± Franco went on. ¡°One of our members, Dark Mona, had perished in his hands. The bastard had also destroyed our training facility in the Far East.¡±
Folsom scowled. ¡°I don¡¯t think you understood my question right. I was asking for ns. You¡¯re about to receive all your demands. I have the right to learn of the operation details.¡±
¡°You¡¯re just trying to evaluate if we¡¯re able to kill Xia Lei off, right?¡± Franco asked.
Folsom kept quiet.
Hattori Mei continued the conversation. ¡°That¡¯s right, Mister Franco. Our investment in the operation is no small sum. As your prime investors, we must ensure that our funds will not be wasted. Money and weapons are honestly no big deal but to clean the FA Organization¡¯s records and status would require plenty of assistance and resources.¡±
¡°We need military-use drones, precision-guided missiles and intelligence support,¡± requested Franco.
¡°Xia Lei is in China at the moment. Our military drones are useless against China¡¯s air defence system.¡± Folsom shifted and leaned forward to stare at Franco intensely, expression judgemental and filled with scepticism. ¡°How exactly are you nning to get the job done?¡±
Franco chortled. ¡°The drones we need are not the current serving models. We need you to customize a drone that¡¯s devoid of any sort ofpany or American army logos. The same goes to the precision-guided missile. We¡¯re going to enter China through thend, then have the drone and missiles shipped into Chinese territory.¡±
Folsom and Hattori Mei couldn¡¯t help but look at each other wide-eyed.
Franco continued, ¡°After we smuggle the drone and missiles into China, we¡¯ll implement targeted clearance within the territory. By the time their air defence system discovers us, Xia Lei would be dead. The Thunder Horse Military Factory will be reduced into ashes.¡±
Folsom grinned. ¡°Unmarked drones, missiles and targeted clearance huh? It¡¯s a bold n for sure but it might just work. If you can destroy the military factory, we¡¯re willing to pay you an extra one hundred million USD as a reward. But of course, Xia Lei is our main target.¡±
¡°Aside from this n, we have a backup n,¡± mentioned Franco.
¡°What¡¯s the backup n like?¡± Folsom seemed genuinely interested.
Surprisingly, Franco shook his head slowly. ¡°The n will only be executed in dire situations. Our leader has made it clear that we¡¯re going to convince you to believe in our capabilities but the backup n shall not be revealed. However, I assure you, Madam Folsom, If the first n fails, Xia Lei and Thunder Horse Military Factory will be done for as soon as we put the backup n into action. Therefore, please prepare the one hundred million USD reward you mentioned. We definitely have this in the bag.¡±
¡°Hehehe, very well.¡± Folsom was absolutely delighted.
To her, the sess rate for the first n was bound to exceed a good seventy per cent. Plus, the FA Organization had another n in mind that seemed much promising than its proposed n. This felt like an effective tranquiliser for Folsom¡¯s worry.
Hattori Mei picked up a ss of red wine from the coffee table. ¡°Mister Franco, Japan will be your logistics base. Put down your reservations and go all out.¡±
Franco imitated her gesture and raised a ss. ¡°To our cooperation and sess.¡±
Clink! The mouth of three sses met each other, eliciting a crisp sound.
But as the scheming trio were about to take a sip, the door was pushed open. There were a young Asian man and a woman standing at the entrance.
Out of surprise, Folsom¡¯s ss slipped from between her grip to smash unceremoniously on the floor.
Franco quickly reached for his pistol. Before he could draw the weapon out, the man¡¯s body froze. He could no longer control his movements and his mind!
In the face of Zhu Xuanyue, impressive assassins and the best special agents the world were no big deal. In her eyes, everyone was just mere sustenance.
¡°Don¡¯t kill him!¡± Xia Lei yelled in warning.
¡°What if I turn him into an idiot instead?¡± Zhu Xuanyue tilted her head.
¡°No!¡± Xia Lei felt the violent urge to p the back of her skull but decided against it. Her mental age was that of a child. It would be unreasonable to demand her to think like an adult or to even understand his intentions like a professional agent. It was difficult to have her cooperate with him but as long as she gave him no additional trouble, the man was content.
¡°Ah, how boring.¡± Zhu Xuanyue shrugged.
Abruptly, Hattori Mei screamed towards the door. ¡°HELP...¡±
She wanted to scream for help but before she couldplete her sentence, a limb swayed over andnded itself heavily on her lower abdomen. The woman¡¯s feet levitated and she crashed loudly against the floor.
¡°Who are you? What do you want?¡± Folsom was panicking but as the proud CEO of Lockheed Martin, she was determined to keep her air of leadership afloat. This was why she could still question Xia Lei calmly in such a threatening situation.
p! Xia Lei swung his arm vehemently to let the flesh of his palm collide with Folsom¡¯s cheek. The woman¡¯s body rotated a half-circle midair beforending itself onto the flooring. Half of her face was now pitifully swollen. She stared at Xia Lei, utterly terrified. Folsom was unwilling to believe that such a thing would ur in her life. Her fear rendered her at a loss for words, afraid to spew out another word that may offend her assaulter.
After subduing Hattori Mei and Folsom, Xia Lei went ahead to take Franco¡¯s pistol away and searched his body. From that, he found a smartphone, a wallet and some white powder substance inside a small stic bag. Franco was obviously carrying drugs around.
Xia Lei unlocked Franco¡¯s phone, beginning to memorize every single shown content on the screen. He memorized all the numbers in his contact list, messages and even pictures in his gallery. Many of his pictures were taken with a certain woman.
¡°Is this your wife or girlfriend?¡± Xia Lei shoved the phone into Franco¡¯s face. On the screen was an Indo-European mixed woman d in a thong. Her bottom was scarcely covered by the scanty garment and there was not a single trace of fabric on her upper body. The background in the particr picture shown seemed like a vige.
Franco remained unmoving like a piece of wood,pletely motionless.
Xia Lei was reminded of something. The man turned around to face Zhu Xuanyue. ¡°No need to control him anymore, I need to talk to him.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Zhu Xuanyue responded.
Abruptly, Franco¡¯s control over his body was regained. In the next second, he lunged forward for the exit.
Xia Lei extended a leg.
Crash!
Franco tripped and toppled over into the flooring.
Xia Lei stomped a foot heavily against the Mexican¡¯s back. ¡°Who is the leader of FA?¡±
¡°Who the fuck are you?¡± Franco¡¯s eyes were aze with rage. The man had no idea what happened just now and who he was facing at the moment.
Xia Lei lifted his foot and stomped it on Franco¡¯s waist instead.
Franco groaned, body coiling up in defence. The intense pain almost had him suffocated, causing the man to shiver from the sensation.
¡°What do you want?¡± Folsom called out. ¡°If you want money, I can give you money.¡±
¡°Shut the fuck up, old bitch!¡± Zhu Xuanyue lunged and kicked Folsom in the waist.
¡°AAAAAHHH!¡± A shrill scream rang out and Folsom was sent flying at an undetectable rapid speed. Before anyone knew it, the woman had crashed into the ss window and fell out of it.
Xia Lei gaped in shock.
Zhu Xuanyue panicked and covered her mouth, unable to look at Xia Lei in the eyes.
She was probably trying to imitate Xia Lei¡¯s movements to attack Folsom like a roleying game but the woman had failed miserably at controlling her strength. Her inhuman strength was something that even Xia Lei was no match for!
The motive behind Xia Lei¡¯s bold entrance and forbidding Zhu Xuanyue from killing anyone was to obtain more information for future purposes. The man was most definitely going to kill Folsom and Hattori Mei but that would have to wait until he had gotten his hands on valuable intel. However, the man had not expected Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s streak of mischief to trigger a shocking ident like this.
Bam! A loud crash was heard from the ground.
Folsom¡¯s body was gruesomely smashed onto the roof of her Chevrolet Suburban off-road van, which had formed a dent from the impact. The sses were destroyed from the sheer force that resulted from her high fall.
The vehicle rm began to pierce through the air.
Lockheed Martin¡¯s armed security quickly went over to evaluate the situation.
In another few seconds, a rapid rm red throughout the building.
Chapter 920 - A Mistake That Stemmed From A Kick
Folsom was dead.
Her death was a tragedy but not a terrible one.
With her passing, Lockheed Martin was bound to have a new CEO. This wouldn¡¯t affect anything in thepany but it sure would bring great impacts to Xia Lei¡¯s future ns. Folsom was no regr civilian. The incident of her murder at the Lockheed Martin Washington office was going to attract chaos and attention from the American society.
Xia Lei did n to get rid of Folsom eventually, but the man was only going to take action after he had obtained valuable information. The most vital thing to aplish now was to hide Folsom¡¯s body to dy the American Intelligence Department from learning of her death. Doing this would help decrease the risk and impact factor to its minimum. After all, Folsom was Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO! How would the American Intelligence Department not go berserk at the death of an important figure?
It was because of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s kick that things were developing towards a direction Xia Lei did not wish to see.
¡°Uh... Uncle Xia, it was an ident.¡± Zhu Xuanyue lowered her head, looking like a misbehaved child.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to deal with her.
At that split second, Franco made a mad dash to the door.
Xia Lei quickly extended a leg out on reflex, tripping Franco over onto the ground. The man mercilessly drew out his military knife and drove it deep into Franco¡¯s thigh. Drops of maroon sttered everywhere as the Mexican man screamed in agony.
Abruptly, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s gaze fell on Hattori Mei, her eyes glimmering with excitement.
Hattori Mei was still unconscious, eyes shut and motionless on the cold hard floor.
Rapid and messy footsteps were heard echoing about in the empty corridors outside the door. It was not difficult to tell that Lockheed Martin¡¯s security team had found the heaps of bodies lying around.
Xia Lei pointed to the door and yelled at Zhu Xuanyue, ¡°Why are you still here? Get out and stop those people froming close!¡±
¡°Can I...¡±
¡°You can do whatever you want!¡± Xia Lei roared at her urgently.
¡°Haha!¡± Zhu Xuanyue immediately ignored Hattori Mei and ran out of the door.
As soon as she stepped foot outside, her normal ims to kneel and submit rang out from the hall. Following not long after were sounds of guns cocking and shrill screams, it sounded like utter chaos.
The happiest things to Zhu Xuanyue were undoubtedly being able to kill and feed on humans.
Xia Lei, who was left behind in the room, began doing what he needed to do. With a twist of his wrist, the man rotated the embedded military knife in Franco¡¯s thigh. ¡°Tell me, who is the leader of the FA? What is the backup n?¡±
¡°Ptui!¡± Franco spat a mouthful of blood at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pulled out the knife and swung his arms horizontally to impale Franco¡¯s lower abdomen. Blood gushed out from the sides of the de, hurriedly drenching the floor in red.
¡°Gaaaaah!¡± Franco choked out a cry.
¡°Spit it out!¡± Xia Lei threatened.
¡°Who the fuck are you?!¡±
Xia Lei gripped the handle, pulled it out and stabbed it back into Franco¡¯s abdomen.
Franco gasped, beginning to inhale painfully.
Xia Lei repeated his savage motion, driving the knife into Franco once again. It took another three stabs to immobilize Franco. Weirdly, the man¡¯s eyes were devoid of fear. His eyes glimmered with something akin to sickening pleasure.
¡°Kill me! Kill me! Who are you?! Who are you?!¡± Franco was beginning to be delirious.
This was the fourth time Xia Lei had drawn his knife out of Franco. This time, the man aimed it at Franco¡¯s heart instead. ¡°This is yourst chance. Tell me who the leader of FA is and what is the backup n about!¡±
Suspiciously, Franco¡¯s gaze averted to the side of the window.
This reminded Xia Lei of something, quickly following Franco¡¯s line of sight.
At that moment, the initially unconscious Hattori Mei abruptly leapt from the floor. She wasn¡¯t throwing herself onto Xia Lei and she wasn¡¯t lunging forward for the exit. The woman turned around and threw herself out of the window that Folsom had broken earlier. In that split second, her body went through the shattered frame and began to fall like a rag doll.
Bam! Another muffled impact was heard.
But her crash sounded much lighter than Folsom¡¯s.
Xia Lei finally wrapped his head around the situation. Hattori Mei wasn¡¯t suicidal, she was trying to escape!
She had been pretending to be unconscious, awaiting the perfect chance for her to flee. The ss window had shattered thanks to the kick Folsom had received from Zhu Xuanyue. While Folsom may have died due to the fall, it was now a cushion for Hattori Mei¡¯s escape. This was the seventh floor and while this decision had its risks, it was her best option!
Regardless of the terrifying and neurotic woman or the savage Asian youth that was driving his knife repeatedly into Franco, this was Hattori Mei¡¯s decision. She was clear that staying behind would mean that she would be next after the man was done with Franco!
Ear-piercing sirens red from a handful of police cars and special force vehicles urgently from below.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Franco cackled insanely. ¡°You must be Xia Lei¡¯s underling, aye? Xia Lei is going to be done for. You¡¯re going to be done for too. I¡¯ll see you in hell.¡±
With a swift motion, Xia Lei dove the de deep into his heart.
Franco was silenced for eternity. The man revealed no secrets to Xia Lei. He knew nothing would change even if he came clean. He was destined to die today.
Xia Lei came to the window and extended his torso out to peek.
Where Hattori Mei hadnded was right on top of Folsom¡¯s body. The Japanese woman was motionless on the vehicle¡¯s roof. It was difficult to tell if she was alive or dead. On the empty square before the skyscraper was hoards of policemen and national guards. They were heading for the building and their numbers were immense. It was difficult to pinpoint their exact amount.
¡°Someone¡¯s up there!¡± A national guard general abruptly pointed at the shattered window.
A machine gunner aimed his weapon towards the window on top of a military vehicle.
Xia Lei backed off as a storm of armour piercing bullets flooded the window and the ceiling. ster debris began to fall from it, along with some concrete pieces from the top.
Xia Lei ran out of the room.
Corpses were messily strewn around the corridor. In the distance, Zhu Xuanyue was using a military knife to stab a still-living security guard. The unfortunate fe was filled with gashes and holes. He looked like a strainer that was rapidly bleeding out to death.
¡°Speak! What secrets do you know?¡± Zhu Xuanyue dove the knife into the guard¡¯s lower abdomen.
¡°AAAAHHHH!¡± He screamed in terror. ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me, please don¡¯t kill me...¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Xia Lei halted her. ¡°Stop tormenting him, we need to leave.¡±
¡°Oh, okay.¡± Zhu Xuanyue stuck her palm against the guard¡¯s head. In a split second, the man stopped groaning. The blood in his face drained, apanied by a wild dtion of his pupils.
His fate was gruesome. He ended his life as Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s ything then her meal.
Xia Lei made no move to stop her cruel acts. He was clear that even if Zhu Xuanyue decided to spare him, the guard wasn¡¯t going to make it with the number of injuries he sustained. More importantly, he had seen both his and Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s face.
Xia Lei grabbed Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s arm and made a run to the roof.
The current operation was consideredplete, but the man had not a single clue if this was a sess or a miserable failure.
Getting rid of Folsom could be counted as a win. The four military aces of America had formed an alliance and Folsom was its leader. With her dead, there would be new blood taking over her spot and it would require time before they could devise a new n. Therefore, killing Folsom was equivalent to buying themselves more time.
Truthfully, the biggest gain today was finding out that the FA had two operation ns. Although only one was made known, the information was still very important to him. He did not need to install a missile air defence system over the Thunder Horse Military Factory, all he needed to do was to inform Long Bing or Tang Yuyan about this. The women would help report the threat to the higher-ups and a defence n could be implemented.
Despite that, there were regrettable parts.
His first failure was not having Zhu Xuanyue question Franco about his ns. Zhu Xuanyue had the ability to interpret and excavate messages and information stored in the brain. If he had let her interrogate Franco, Xia Lei would¡¯ve sessfully learnt the particrs of the backup n along with the identity of the leader of FA organization. He was worried that Folsom or Hattori Mei was going to trigger some kind of secret emergency button, hence his burst of attacks. While Zhu Xuanyue had rendered Franco stationary, Xia Lei took the chance to kick Hattori Mei and subdued Folsom. It was the kick packed with Xia Lei¡¯s urge to vent his fury that sent Franco flying that became the precursor to a series of unfortunate events. Seeing that, the mischievous Zhu Xuanyue imitated him and kicked Folsom. It was that unintentional kick that sent Folsom to her doom.
All in all, this was a hasty operation. There was no detailed n and the situation was a mess. In addition to Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s unpredictable actions, this operation ended up with such an oue.
However, who was there to me?
¡°Are you angry with me?¡± On the roof, Zhu Xuanyue popped the meek question at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei huffed and red at her angrily. ¡°We¡¯ll talk about this when we get back.¡±
¡°You¡¯re definitely angry with me...¡±
¡°We need to go now!¡± Xia Lei lunged forward and sprinted to the edge of the roof. As he approached the end, he made a strong leap and tossed himself forward for about tens of metres in trajectory onto the roof of the lower building opposite Lockheed Martin¡¯s building.
Zhu Xuanyue followed suit, jumping off the edge after a sprint. She began to fall towards the opposite roof.
¡°Catch me!¡± Zhu Xuanyue squealed excitedly at Xia Lei who had just steadied his stance.
Xia Lei stared at her and took a step back.
St!
Zhu Xuanyue face nted the concrete floor with her outstretched limbs.
¡°You...¡± Zhu Xuanyue lifted her chin to look at Xia Lei. ¡°You did this on purpose!¡±
Xia Lei shrugged nonchntly. ¡°Are you ming me?¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± Zhu Xuanyue mbered up from the floor, rubbing her proud bosoms in circr motions. ¡°Ouch! The fall really hurt my boobs!¡±
There was lighting from Lockheed Martin¡¯s building. It was a beam emitted by a tactical shlight held by a national guard.
Before the beam could catch their presence, Xia Lei had pulled Zhu Xuanyue into a stairway.
The Washington police force and national guard had just begun their search, but to capture a man with X-ray vision and Zhu Xuanyue was destined to be impossible.
¡°Uncle Xia, where shall we sleep tonight?¡± As they descended the stairs for the ground, Zhu Xuanyue did not forget to bring up her most anticipated benefit.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, opted to keep his mouth shut.
Chapter 921 - An Unbearable TV Programme
Armed policemen and fully-equipped national guards could be seen everywhere on the streets of Washington. Every vehicle heading out of the city was subjected to stringent checks whileprehensive searches were done in the airport and subways.
Terrorists had attacked Lockheed Martin and killed their CEO, Madam Folsom. This was the official statement produced by thepany. It brought out unsettled fear among the civilians of Washington DC.
Almost the entire city was in search of the so-called terrorists, but the person they were looking for was lounging in a high-end whitemunity housing area watching the newsfortably.
The house owner was a single man who worked for Wall Street. He was beaten to a pulp by Xia Lei and had his limbs restrained then chucked into the storage room.
Crunch... Crunch...
Zhu Xuanyue sat on the pristine leather couch with her legs folded. She munched noisily on chips as she watched the news. At the moment, a news anchor was reporting about the assassination of Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO Folsom. The woman pointed at the TV innocently and asked, ¡°Uncle Xia, didn¡¯t we do that?¡±
¡°Yeah. And you still dare talk about it?¡± Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t kicked Folsom down the building, this whole thing wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡±
Everything was under control but that kick had foiled an otherwise perfect n.
¡°Do you me me?¡± Zhu Xuanyue blinked her round eyes pitifully at him.
Xia Lei sent her a sharp re. ¡°Are you not the woman to me?¡±
It was then that Zhu Xuanyue silenced herself and resumed snacking on the chips.
Xia Lei returned his attention to the TV, but his heart had spiralled off to think about other things.
Folsom¡¯s death was a shock to America. An increase in investigation efforts was needed for the near foreseeable future. Hasty operations would bring great danger.
There was still no news on Hattori Mei¡¯s fate. It would be great if she died. That way, all traces of their escapade would be buried. If she was alive, she would most definitely tell them all she had experienced after awakening. Perhaps she might even raise suspicion about his true identity.
Hattori Mei was a thorn in his side.
¡°If she¡¯s still alive, she must be in the surgery theatre in some hospital now. But there are so many hospitals in Washington, where could she be at?¡± Xia Lei pondered quietly.
Crunch... Crunch... Crunch...
Zhu Xuanyue continued to snack on her chips. Extending her arm, she picked up the remote and pressed it around like Xia Lei. However, her unfamiliarity with the device was very evident. She unintentionally pressed on the volume controls, which caused the programme to re deafeningly. After a while, she toyed the channel buttons, causing the screen to fade into a solid ck.
Xia Lei ignored her, choosing to bring out his hackingptop from his bag. The man wanted to obtain some information on terrorist attacks, keying in relevant keywords into the search engine. In a few minutes, Xia Lei found some viable information. After every severe case, the Washington police force would send the casualties to a certain hospital for medical attention.
The particr hospital was well known for treating casualties that resulted from terrorist attacks.
It was a hospital named Lincoln Hospital.
Xia Lei connected his device to the inte, attacking the IP address he had obtained from his search on the hospital to gain ess to its surveince system. Fortunately, Lincoln Hospital¡¯swork defence was very weak.
Theptop screen disyed multiple windows of real-time feedback footage that showed the main lobby, ICU, corridors, elevators and an office area. There was no footage of the patient wards but it was to no surprise. The aspect of patient privacy was important after all. No one would wish to be watched when they were admitted to the hospital, right?
¡°Hattori Mei fell from a high spot. Though Folsom¡¯s corpse cushioned her fall to an extent, there was no way she got off with light injuries. She¡¯s probably in the ICU or in the surgical theatre receiving emergency care.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s fingers knocked on the keyboard loudly and the footage on-screen changed abruptly.
All intensive care units in Lincoln Hospital were now shown on disy, there was also footage of the emergency room.
As he expected, Hattori Mei was currently under the knife.
One of her legs suffered an open fracture, causing a piece of bone to jut out from her calf. The sight was gruesome and horrifying. Her leg wasn¡¯t the only casualty. She also sustained broken ribs, which warped her torso weirdly. Just from the observable bone injuries, Xia Lei could determine that her internal organs were severely injured. Hattori Mei must be facing a serious concussion to her brain.
Two main surgeons and a few nurses hovered over Hattori Mei to rescue the unfortunate woman. The electrocardiogram machine on the side showed her pulse rate. Her palpitations were weak and the lines depicted unstable trends, but it was still beating.
Hattori Mei was very much alive.
Xia Lei jolted up. A wild idea manifested in his heart. He should head over to Lincoln Hospital and kill Hattori Mei!
Just as that thought was cemented, the surveince footage outside the emergency room captured a few casually-dressed people. They came to the doors and barged into the treatment room without hesitation.
There was no voiceing from the footage but that did not stop Xia Lei from putting his lip-reading abilities to use.
A surgeon stared at the unannounced intruders and fumed, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Who are you? Don¡¯t you know that you¡¯re not supposed to enter the theatre in the middle of a surgery?!¡±
A Caucasian man answered, ¡°We¡¯re from the CIA. This patient is important to us. She¡¯s relevant to a terrorist attack. Doctor, please enlighten me with her current condition.¡±
¡°Oh, I see.¡± The surgeon continued, ¡°She¡¯s in grave condition, her injuries are very severe but we¡¯re confident that she could survive.¡±
¡°Can she speak?¡±
¡°You mean now?¡±
¡°Yes, now.¡± The Caucasian man uttered, ¡°I need her to give her testimony on the attack.¡±
The surgeon shook his head urgently. ¡°No way, she¡¯s too weak. There¡¯s no way she could participate in your investigation.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you give her a shot of adrenaline?¡±
¡°No, that will only kill her.¡± The surgeon firmly rejected it.
¡°When do you presume that she would be awake?¡±
¡°At least eight hourster,¡± answered the surgeon.
¡°Very well, we¡¯ll be back in eight hours.¡± With that, the Caucasian man brought his underlings out of the emergency room.
As they exited, the Caucasian man halted in his footsteps and turned around. ¡°You guys stay here and protect her. She¡¯s the daughter of Japan¡¯s Land Self-Defence Force¡¯s general, Hattori Masao. Her status is significant. Madam Folsom¡¯s assaulters maye back for her. Your duty is to protect her. As soon as she wakes up, contact me immediately.¡±
The Caucasian man exited the building after giving his underlings instructions.
Watching that, Xia Lei decided against the urge to kill Hattori Mei at the hospital. Though there were only a handful of CIA agents present, Hattori Mei¡¯s status would garner reinforced protection. Some members of the Japanese side may be lurking around in the hospital too. To attempt an assassination at such timing would be suicidal. Plus, his motive was to silence Hattori Mei for good. If he had brought Zhu Xuanyue along to the building, wouldn¡¯t there be more witnesses of him and her?
Xia Lei plopped himself back onto the couch. He watched Hattori Mei through the screen, studying her dangerously as he thought darkly, ¡°I¡¯ll let you live to see a few more sunrises. The next time I see you, I¡¯ll kill you¡±
¡°Mm... Ahhhh... Yes! Yes!¡± Some questionable voices came pouring out of the TV¡¯s sound system.
Xia Lei¡¯s attention was immediately captured, prompting him to take a peek at the screen.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Xuanyue had fumbled around with the remote and pressed on a paid subscription adult channel. On the screen, a hunky ck man was lifting up a blonde woman as they indulge themselves lustfully in unspeakable actions.
Zhu Xuanyue stared at the screen curiously. ¡°Uncle Xia, what are they doing?¡±
¡°Uh... They¡¯re...¡± Xia Lei was taken aback. Instead, he scowled. ¡°How about you switch to a cartoon channel? Why are you watching things like this in the first ce? Change the channel this instance!¡±
¡°Nah. I quite like this show,¡± answered Zhu Xuanyue.
The blonde continued to spew out delirious moans, her wanton expression and actions unrealistically exaggerated.
¡°Uncle Xia, does she feel no pain?¡±
Xia Lei froze.
¡°She seems veryfortable.¡± Zhu Xuanyue pressed on.
¡°Why do you have so many questions?¡± Xia Lei snatched the remote away from her grip and turned the TV off.
¡°Hehe.¡± She giggled. ¡°Uncle Xia, you must be embarrassed. Actually, I know what they¡¯re doing.¡±
Xia Lei stared at her in surprise. ¡°What do you think they¡¯re doing?¡±
¡°Well...¡± Zhu Xuanyue tilted her head. ¡°They¡¯re exercising.¡±
The answer elicited a relieved sigh from Xia Lei. Zhu Xuanyue was as pure as paper. He wasn¡¯t keen on having her innocence sullied.
¡°Uncle Xia, let¡¯s go to sleep. I¡¯m sleepy,¡± urged Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°You go ahead, I¡¯m not sleepy yet. There are some things I must do.¡± Xia Lei tried to put on a serious face.
¡°You liar!¡± Zhu Xuanyue pouted. ¡°You promised me that you¡¯re going to sleep with me tonight. If you¡¯re noting to bed with me, I¡¯m going out for food. My tummy¡¯s rumbling.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. He relented, ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go to sleep.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue was probably the only woman in the world that he couldn¡¯t handle.
Xia Lei diligently packed up his equipment and headed towards the bedroom. As he rose from his crouched position, Zhu Xuanyue abruptly threw her arms around his neck and jumped on to his back. Swiftly, she wrapped her legs around his waist, tightening her arms around his neck.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei was shocked by the cushiony sensation against his upper back.
¡°Piggyback me to bed!¡± Zhu Xuanyue squealed.
¡°Charge!¡±
Chapter 922 - Let The Second War Begin!
Honestly, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s body wasn¡¯t that cold. But after a brief two minutes with her in bed, the temperature dropped so fast that it sent a bone piercing wave through his body. The surge of mysterious energy dwelling in Xia Lei¡¯s body immediately set to work, helping his body get used to the icy sensation.
Zhu Xuanyue kept her arms tight around Xia Lei, entangling her legs with his in the process. Her grip on him was taut as if she was afraid that he would disappear into the night. She kept this posture and drifted into slumber. On the other hand, Xia Lei felt incredibly awkward. The man conditioned his mind sternly, to control the raging tent that threatened to form on the front of his pants.
He tolerated her harassment as he pondered quietly to himself. ¡°She¡¯s upying a human body. By right, she¡¯s not supposed to be this cold. Why then does she be a block of ice whenever wee into contact? Had I triggered some reaction from her? Does it work like the two maic poles? Like when we¡¯re far apart nothing much happens but when we¡¯re in proximity we¡¯ll stick to each other? If that really is the case, why so?¡±
The man continued to think about the weird question, ignoring the woman¡¯s relentless cheek rubs against his broad chest. ¡°This feels nice, Uncle Xia. I really want to stay with you forever and never leave your side.¡±
¡°But what if you get hungry?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Then I¡¯ll go out and hunt for food. Don¡¯t you go to the kitchen when you¡¯re hungry?¡± said Zhu Xuanyue as she climbed on top of Xia Lei. The posture was suggestively weird.
Xia Lei felt his heart leapt in anxiety. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±
¡°I¡¯m trying to sleep, of course. Sleeping on top of you like this is the mostfortable,¡± mumbled Zhu Xuanyue as her eyes closed slowly.
Her mental age was not more than a few years old. The woman had no idea about the little things between opposite sexes. No matter how suggestive her actions and posture was, she truly meant nothing else. She only wanted to sleep.
While she enjoyed her wonderful slumber, Xia Lei was in agony. The man had to grit his teeth and force his body control to suppress his dangerous erection. To effectively distract himself, he began to avert his gaze to a closet in the bedroom. It wasn¡¯t long until the nk sight of the furniture began to bore him, to which Xia Lei decided to activate his X-ray vision to study its contents.
The wooden boards disappeared from his line of view. Other than a pile of clothes, a doll entered his sight.
Upon studying it closer, the doll happened to be a very high-end doll. It was made using silicone of the highest grade. Every part of its form was done realistically.
Something clicked in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. ¡°Once Hattori Mei wakes up, she¡¯d definitely describe our faces to the police and CIA. Maybe our pictures will be in the wantedwork within half an hour after her wake. A mask is a must, I need to make one for Zhu Xuanyue too. She needs to alter her appearance.¡±
Silicone was the key ingredient to create a human face mask and the high-quality doll inside the closet would help solve his problem.
¡°After I¡¯m done with the masks, what should I do next?¡± He resumed his thought. ¡°I¡¯ve achieved my first goal with Folsom¡¯s death, which is also an answer to the American government. I probably should get to the AE Research Centre next or should I seek revenge at the FA Organization?¡±
Based on my current information, the AE Research Centre was situated in the heavily-guarded Area 51. That ce was built to be imprable. From its establishment till this day, no spies or special agents had ever seeded in obtaining any information from Area 51.
¡°Wait a second...¡± The thought of Area 51 made Xia Lei think of his father, Xia Changhe. ¡°Didn¡¯t my father infiltrate the research centre and steal the capsules? How did he manage that?¡±
Xia Changhe had always kept a tight lip on past memories, so there was no hope for Xia Lei to learn how his father had managed to achieve that feat.
¡°Entering Area 51 is insane. How America got their hands on the AE capsule is also an interesting secret to be uncovered. But I guess not knowing won¡¯t do much harm to me. I don¡¯t think I can afford to put myself through such risks too. The most pressing concern now is the alliance of the four military aces and their associations with the nasty FA Organization. Lockheed Martin had promised to provide them with drones and precision-guided missiles. Folsom and Franco are both dead but it¡¯s safe to say that it would be carried out anyway. However, knowing what I know, I think I could beat them at their own game.¡± A rough n began to take form in his mind, eliciting a smirk from the curls of Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Snore... Snore...
While Xia Lei upied himself with devising a n, Zhu Xuanyue was already sound asleep on top of him. There was a trickle of drool at the edge of her mouth, slowly dripping itself onto Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
Nonchntly, Xia Lei extended an arm to push her off. But as he was about to sit up from his position to get working on the human face masks, Zhu Xuanyue did a quick flip and returned herself on top of him. This time, her embrace was tighter. The woman was not even half awake.
Xia Lei repeated his movements, cing her down onto the mattress. Before she could grab him again, Xia Lei stuffed a pillow into her arms.
Zhu Xuanyue took the bait and squeezed the soft pillow tightly. Following that, she continued to sleep on top of the pillow.
Sneakily, Xia Lei made his quiet escape. The sight of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s highly perched buttocks was enticing. He suddenly felt the urge to p it.
But as his palms hovered over her behind in an attempt to pretend to y pretend some spanking, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes blinked open. ¡°Uncle Xia, what are you trying to do?¡±
Xia Lei froze, quickly putting his arms down. ¡°Why are you awake?¡±
¡°Why are you not on the bed? Come back.¡± Zhu Xuanyue prided herself away from the pillow to stare at Xia Lei innocently.
¡°Uh, I need to make you a human face mask and make some changes to mine. We need to alter our appearance or we¡¯ll be in trouble. I¡¯ll be back soon,¡± said Xia Lei.
Zhu Xuanyue gave it a slight thought. ¡°Sure, but you need to sleep with me tomorrow night.¡±
¡°Promise me that, please.¡± Zhu Xuanyue iled his arm around.
Xia Lei felt helpless, figuring that it was best to give in. ¡°Alright, alright. I promise you that.¡±
¡°Okay! Then I¡¯ll wait for you in bed. Come sleep with me when you¡¯re done with the masks.¡± Zhu Xuanyue grinned happily then nestled herself in the sheets.
Was sleeping the only important thing to her?
Xia Lei chuckled bitterly with a shake of his head, making his approach to the closet. He retrieved the doll from its interior and entered the study. There was an abundance of better quality face mask chemicals and materials that Xia Lei carried along in his bag. The owner¡¯s doll had provided him with enough resources to achieve his goal. Other than masks, he even had the means to create a desirable skin colour.
Two hourster, two Hispanic masks werepleted. It was a man and a woman¡¯s face, both made to appear in their twenties. He purposely made them rather in-looking as a pretty face would only attract unwanted attention.
Other than the two masks, Xia Lei created a bunch of brown and tan shaded skin. Mexicans were a fusion of indigenous pre-Columbian origins and European, which resulted in their tanner skin tone. It was incredibly helpful that Hispanic hair colours tend to be within the same range as that of Asians, making it much convenient for both Xia Lei and Zhu Xuanyue.
Finishing off the mask, Xia Lei tried putting it on. He skillfully pulled on the silicone mask and began to stick necessary skin parts onto his body. ncing at his reflection from the ss windows in the study, he studied his new appearance.
The reflection that returned was that of a slightly pudgy Mexican youth.
It delighted him. ¡°Looks like I better make changes to my body when I use face masks next time. That way, people won¡¯t be able to tell my identity by studying my body shape.¡±
There was still time before morning arrived but Xia Lei felt repulsed by the idea of returning to bed with Zhu Xuanyue. The woman, on the other hand, was more than happy for him to return.
Instead, he sat himself down at the table and booted the owner¡¯sputer. With a few hits and taps, Xia Lei helped himself into the interface after hacking through the password.
The owner was a manager for a financial securitiespany on Wall Street, there were client information and stock trading updates stored in his device. Xia Lei nced through the influx of data, storing it diligently in his brain. The new knowledge seemed to have triggered something, causing his mind toe up with an idea.
¡°My brain works like aputer and I can hack the system. I know the trading rules of the American stock market. I can instantly calcte the trend of the market and the multiple trends of a single stock. I can do less or do more and still be able to make money at any time of entry. America¡¯s financial predators had once shorted Hong Kong¡¯s stock market. They¡¯ve been trying to do the same to china for the past few years. Why haven¡¯t I thought of doing this? The money I extort from America will help me expand Thunder Horse faster and y a part in dealing with my opponents!¡± Xia Lei eximed excitedly in his heart, eager to try.
In the past, wars were won by aggression and violence as evident from World War I and World War II. Anyone who possessed stronger forces could afford to wage war on weaker countries, upying theirnd and stealing their resources. However, things were different now. This was an era of financial wars. Europe and America had never once stopped waging financial wars against third world countries, continuing to plunder their capitals from the third world.
Thew of the worldid in America¡¯s palm. The nation deemed what was justice and what was evil. America had sessfully made its currency the strongest trading currency globally, which yed an irreceable part in world finances. Anyone who dared to shake their status shall be bestowed with problems.
The European and American capital entered the third world that yed by their rules, buying away minerals and forest resources that could be found. Their capital built foundries in third world countries, enving locals as theirbourers and polluting their environment in the process.
They enjoyed the best benefits but had they once realized who had made it possible for them? Their indulgence and daily necessities hade from the hardbours of African ves and yellow faces in factories located in developing countries.
No one had ever dared to touch America¡¯s trade market because no one had the ability to do so. But things were about to change now that someone with the ability to have entered.
Nimble fingers danced a fiery tango on the keyboard. Xia Lei made four new ounts in the owner¡¯spany database.
Four ounts were that of four Italians which were none other than his female knights, Giovanna, Ste, Rosa and Theresa.
Very soon, forty million US dors were transferred from the Bank of Switzend to these four ounts.
¡°My dear knights, it¡¯s time to fight for me! Full speed ahead!¡± Xia Lei smirked evilly.
Chapter 923 - Lockheed Martins Headquarters
The morning rays shone from between the curtains, weing the world to another new day.
The house owner bustled about in the kitchen as he fried some eggs, turned on the coffee machine and busied himself with making a hearty fruit and vegetable sd. His name was Honick, a textbook Caucasian man. The man was pretty young to achieve his position as a financial securitiespany manager. Admittedly, Honick was very outstanding in this aspect, which was evident by his sess on Wall Street.
Honick was making three sets of breakfast. One for himself and two for his masters.
¡°Is he alright?¡± In the living room, Xia Lei averted his gaze from the kitchen onto Zhu Xuanyue. The woman was currently watching some cartoon broadcasted on TV.
¡°Uncle Xia, what do you mean?¡±
¡°I made you hypnotize him and have him work for us. Of course, I meant if there would be any problem from your hypnotism,¡± exined Xia Lei. The man was worried about this dumb child¡¯s horrid ipetence. She had ruined everythingst night and he must prevent her from repeating the same mistake.
Zhu Xuanyue pouted. ¡°You gave me a ton of instructions as soon as I woke up. I did everything as you said and you¡¯re questioning if I¡¯d make a mistake? I¡¯m beginning to think that you¡¯re not my real uncle.¡±
¡°I never imed to be.¡± Xia Lei chuckled helplessly. ¡°I¡¯m just trying to make sure, this matter is very important.¡±
Xia Lei had fed her knowledge of modern hypnosis techniques and theories. He really wasn¡¯t keen on having her turn someone insane or dumb them down when attempting deep hypnotism.
Zhu Xuanyue had followed his words faithfully. Judging from Honick¡¯s reaction, her sess was guaranteed but Xia Lei felt the need to reconfirm.
At this moment, the woman turned around and whistled towards the kitchen.
Honick immediately ran out of it,ing to a halt in front of Zhu Xuanyue. The man wordlessly kneeled before the woman without hesitation.
Zhu Xuanyue lifted a leg. ¡°My little ve, polish my shoe.¡±
On her feet were a pair of filthy leather shoes.
Immediately after sounding her request, Honick held up her foot and began to clean the shoes with his face and tongue.
Not waiting until he was done with hers, Zhu Xuanyue barked out anothermand. ¡°Go clean Uncle Xia¡¯s shoes too.¡±
Honick obediently crawled over with his knees rubbing against the carpeted floor.
Frantically, Xia Lei moved his legs away. ¡°Alright, alright. That¡¯s enough. I believe you. Please get him back into the kitchen.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Have you forgotten what you told me? The usage of a keyword during deep hypnosis will allow you to instruct him too.¡±
¡°Do you have one?¡±
¡°Yeah, I do.¡± Zhu Xuanyue seems serious.
¡°What¡¯s the keyword?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue showed her fingers. ¡°Uncle Xia, sleep. Uncle Xia sleeps butt naked. Uncle Xia is a bad guy.¡±
¡°I could use other words but you could give it a shot, Uncle Xia. As long as you recite the keywords to him, he¡¯d enter a deep hypnosis condition just like you¡¯ve mentioned earlier. He¡¯ll follow your instructions. You can try it and see for yourself.¡± Zhu Xuanyue stifled a giggle, she really wanted to hear Xia Lei spew out those keywords.
Xia Lei flicked the bulb of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s nose and faced Honick. ¡°Uncle Xia, sleep. Uncle Xia sleeps butt naked. Uncle Xia is a bad guy.¡±
Themand was as if flipping a switch within Honick¡¯s brain, the man¡¯s eyes changed abruptly. He seemed to be in a daze.
Xia Lei instructed, ¡°Rollover.¡±
Honickid himself t on the carpet and rolled once.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Two rolls.¡±
Honick obeyed and rolled twice. What Xia Lei requested, Honick would do. The man had asked him to roll twice and Honick followed his instructions closely, not a roll less and not a roll more. Honick executed Xia Lei¡¯smands to the letter. The current Honick was like a highly intelligent robot, carrying out Xia Lei¡¯s instructions like aputer.
In Xia Lei¡¯s absence, Honick would be controlled remotely away from America just by a few mutter of words.
The man had now obtained a puppet who works for Wall Street. This was a very sessful first step into his second war.
¡°Resume making breakfast,¡± said Xia Lei.
Honick stood and left for the kitchen.
Zhu Xuanyue freed her small feet from the encasement of the leather shoes, choosing to ce her legs on top of Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. She whined childishly. ¡°Uncle Xia, I did what you asked for well. How are you going to reward me for being such a good girl?¡±
Xia Lei cautiously questioned, ¡°What kind of reward do you want?¡±
¡°Can we go take a hot shower and sleep?¡± A light of hope danced in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes.
But Xia Lei retorted, ¡°We literally woke up just a while ago. Quit messing around, we need to head to Lockheed Martin¡¯s headquarters after breakfast.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue immediately responded with a pout, she was obviously displeased.
Xia Lei attempted to soothe her. ¡°How about we do that tonight, yeah?¡±
The woman immediately leapt into his embrace, nuzzling her face into his chest like a kitten. ¡°Alright! I hope the skies get dark soon.¡±
Xia Lei sighed heavily. His temples were throbbing painfully.
After breakfast, Honick left his home for New York. He still had two days to spare for his leave but Xia Lei wasn¡¯t keen on having him remain in Washington for the time being. In his second war, Honick would y an immensely vital role very soon. Not long after Honick had left, Xia Lei brought Zhu Xuanyue away from thefortable house.
They went straight to a second-hand car market to purchase a Ford pickup truck. From there, Xia Lei drove them both to Lockheed Martin¡¯s headquarters located in Bethesda, northwest of Washington DC. The National Naval Medical Centre and Discovery Channel headquarters were established there too.
Folsom was dead and Lockheed Martin needed a new CEO. Surely, their ns with the FA Organization were not going to stop. Therefore Xia Lei had decided to go investigate the drones Folsom offered along with the precision-guided missile.
A corresponding n was birthed during a night of silence earlier.
The Ford pickup left the city towards the northwest.
Zhu Xuanyue adjusted the mirror above the passenger seat, immediately pouting at the sight of her new face. ¡°I look horrible. Uncle Xia, you really suck at making face masks. Can¡¯t you make my face look cuter?¡±
Xia Lei answered with nonchnce. ¡°This is temporary. After we¡¯re done with our task, you may return to your original face.¡±
¡°How long will it take?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s reply was honest.
The main motivation behind his trip to America was to have Zhu Xuanyue get rid of his enemies. He had gotten Folsom out of the way which eased his burdens along with the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s own issues. He had aimed to get rid of Hattori Mei as well, but the Japanese had managed to save herself. However, it was an ident, so it wasn¡¯t a loss that was too unbearable.
Next, he¡¯d target the FA Organization.
To head directly to Mexico and use Zhu Xuanyue to defeat them was a choice. The choice was upfront and simple. The headquarters was located in Jalisco, where all the drug lords and drug rings had gathered. It was a wild ce that even the Mexican army dared not dabble into. If a battle was to happen in Mexico, Zhu Xuanyue would be able to resurrect herself but Xia Lei would not be able to do so. Hence, he needed a thorough and safe n. He must not be hasty.
Another choice would be to utilize the deal between Lockheed Martin and the FA. The n would consist of them tempering with the drones and precision-guided missiles.
Xia Lei had alsoe up with a backup n. Hisst resort would be to hire armed mercenaries. However, the incident with the Knight Hospitallers had served as a lesson, which made Xia Lei rather reluctant to execute this n.
The car continued to drive for another two hours, finally bringing them to Bethesda.
From the car window, Xia Lei took a peek at Lockheed Martin¡¯s headquarters. It was an eight-storey building that had blue-tinted ss panels installed all around it. The si of Lockheed Martin reflected the strong sunlight radiantly on its wall.
As the headquarters of Lockheed Martin, its appearance was surprisingly simple. Xia Lei felt like it wasn¡¯t even half as pleasing to look at against regr buildings in China. But that did not change the fact that this was the headquarters of a world-renowned arms giant. The building may look in but its influence was widespread!
Behind the building was a wide factory area, which birthed the famous F35, F16, F22, F117A and other aerial weapons. This was also the main factor that gave America its invincible military capabilities. Without it, there was no way America could wage wars and build military bases all around the globe.
Xia Lei¡¯s first glimpse of the area had him shocked. Though the Thunder Horse Military Factory had indeed achieved great results, its performance was ten thousand miles behind that of Lockheed Martin. The military power offered by Thunder Horse would allow victories onnd but Lockheed Martin could win the war thousands of kilometres away.
To catch up and even surpass Lockheed Martin would require the Thunder Horse Organization to research and produce aerial weaponry!
¡°Uncle Xia, is this where you wanted to go? Is this Lockheed Martin¡¯s office?¡± Zhu Xuanyue beamed at the sight, pointing an excited finger at the vast factory area behind the building.
¡°I see lots of nes!¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re here. This is where I wanted to go.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue looked at him. ¡°Uncle Xia, let¡¯s barge in. Let¡¯s kill everyone and blow up every single ne!¡±
Her eyes shone brightly with absolute excitement. On the contrary, Xia Lei actually looked troubled. ¡°Xuanyue, this is Lockheed Martin¡¯s headquarters for crying out loud. It¡¯s the world¡¯s best militarypany. You can¡¯t just barge in and attack everyone and everything in sight.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t believe that!¡±
¡°You don¡¯t? Lockheed Martin is like the heart of the American army. How would the country not protect this ce? If you attacked stubbornly, a precision-guided missile would be fired and you¡¯d be sted into chunks,¡± warned Xia Lei. It wasn¡¯t a baseless guess. As soon as they deem Zhu Xuanyue as a threat, heavy arms would make their appearance after their regr soldiers fail to subdue her!
¡°Then what should we do?¡±
Xia Lei fell silent for a brief moment. ¡°Let¡¯s go find a nearby ce to stay and get used to our surroundings. After that, we¡¯ll decide what to do next.¡±
¡°Alright, let¡¯s go sleep!¡±
¡°You¡¯re definitely a pig.¡±
Chapter 924 - The Simplest Way to Woo Someone
Xia Lei and Zhu Xuanyue stayed in a hotel in a small town named Free Mary. Its name was derived from an incident which happened during the founding of the United States, where a woman had bravely vited the alcohol ban to brew cheap and delicious booze for everyone. In honour of her bravery, they had named the town after her.
A majority of the town¡¯s inhabitants were Lockheed Martin employees, but most of them were regrbourers for the production line. However, there were also people from the management and designing departments. Due to their higher ie, these people rarely bought properties in this town. Most of them lived in Washington city.
These were intel Xia Lei had obtained from the web. He did not need to hack into their servers. He had gotten it off social media instead.
There was no hacker in the world who would be stupid enough to breach into Lockheed Martin. Thepany that programmed and produced most software was not Microsoft but Lockheed Martin. Thetter had invested greatly in its manpower, material resources and intelligent technology every year. Its investment was even greater than that of Microsoft. Surely, its defence against hackers wouldn¡¯t be weak.
Lockheed Martin possessed the world¡¯s most advanced fighter jet technology, missile technology, drone technology, military-use software and so forth. These vital technologies were the base of America¡¯s status as a hegemony. Even with his mastery of hacking, Xia Lei would not dare to invade Lockheed Martin¡¯swork. It was suicide!
If he couldn¡¯t hack, he needed another way to breach their system.
After enjoying a brief rest in their hotel room, Xia Lei brought Zhu Xuanyue on a stroll around the town.
Xia Lei bought some clothes for them along with some other necessities. He even bought Zhu Xuanyue some cosmetics. Following that, he brought the woman to the only bar in town.
The establishment had an entric name, The ming Skeleton. This was a ce where everyone gathered to enjoy some downtime, which made it the perfect ce for Xia Lei to obtain information.
¡°Behave yourself inside, okay? Keep your hands to yourself and say nothing. Do you understand me?¡± reminded Xia Lei.
¡°Yeah.¡± Zhu Xuanyue obediently nodded.
But Xia Lei knew this was just a facade.
The bar was crowded with customers, most of them Caucasians.
¡°What would you like to have today, Sir?¡± The bartender was a pale female blessed with a curvy body.
¡°Two red wines, please,¡± ordered Xia Lei politely.
The bartender left them momentarily to retrieve a bottle of wine off the rack.
Xia Lei noticed that she took the cheapest red wine avable. ¡°Not that one. What is the most expensive wine you have here?¡±
¡°Lafite, no doubt.¡± The bartender studied Xia Lei before curling her lips into a mocking smirk. ¡°But a ss would set you back a hundred US dors. Are you sure you want it?¡±
One hundred US dors was equivalent to a day¡¯s pay! Who in the right mind would pay that amount just to purchase some red wine for a drink?
With schooled nonchnce, Xia Lei replied to her. ¡°Are you saying that I can¡¯t afford it? Very well, I¡¯ll treat everyone here with one ss of that wine each.¡±
The bartender gaped in shock.
But Xia Lei had already pulled his wallet out to present a fat stack of bills on the countertop. ¡°Do you need to examine its authenticity?¡±
¡°No, no, no. I¡¯m terribly sorry, Mister. I¡¯ll get you your wine right away.¡± The bartender smiled, prior hostility melting away.
A roar of whistles and apuse erupted from all corners of the bar. There were a few patrons who raised their ss to thank Xia Lei for his generosity.
Xia Lei turned around and nodded in acknowledgement. He drank his alcohol quietly at the counter.
¡°Mister, is this your first time here?¡± The bartender returned after passing the other customers their orders.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m on a trip around America with my sister.¡±
¡°Why did you choose toe here?¡±
¡°We were on a road trip, stopping by every town or so. Our destination is Washington.¡± Pausing briefly, Xia Lei took out a few more hundred-dor bills and pushed them towards the bartender. ¡°Sorry, I forgot to tip you. This is yours.¡±
¡°Whoa! Thank you so much, mister. You¡¯re really generous.¡± The bartender beamed joyfully, happily stuffing the cash into her bra.
As she stashed the bills, Xia Lei winked at her discreetly.
The bartender interpreted his gesture, slowly bending over to whisper into Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°I¡¯ll be done with work around ten tonight.¡±
To which Xia Lei nodded lightly.
¡°My name¡¯s Caitlin, by the way.¡± She said.
¡°I¡¯m Costa,¡± replied Xia Lei with a tender smile.
¡°Costa, feel free to holler me over if you need anything. I¡¯m going to excuse myself now,¡± uttered Caitlin with a bright smile.
¡°Sure, see you tonight.¡±
Honestly, Xia Lei knew her name despite not having been acquainted before. The town¡¯s poption wasn¡¯t big and many of them had ounts on Facebook. A majority of them loved to share their most recent selfies and pictures of family on their feed. It was also there that Xia Lei had found Caitlin.
Before entering the bar, Xia Lei had no ns to woo her. It was the sight of her face that reminded him that one of her selfies was taken beside a Global Hawk with a Caucasian man. The man was Jack, her older brother who worked as a technician on Lockheed Martin¡¯s military drone production line.
As soon as the picture resurfaced in his mind, Xia Lei made the decision to woo her.
He was now a man ofmon looks and tan skin. Truthfully, a person¡¯s appearance was only second to their wealth. Being rich would make the entire thing easy, which was why Xia Lei pulled such a generous disy and spent thousands to treat the bar patrons to Lafite.
At this moment, a Caucasian youth made his way over with a ss of Lafite. Without much thought, he wedged himself in between Xia Lei and Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s seat at the counter.
The rude action made Zhu Xuanyue scowl, a murderous glint shing in her eyes.
Xia Lei hurriedly tossed her a re.
The woman pouted and did nothing else.
However, the man wouldn¡¯t have noticed that Xia Lei had just saved his life. He nudged his elbow against Xia Lei crudely. ¡°You¡¯re from Mexico, right?¡±
¡°Yes. What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei kept his annoyance in check, tone courteous and polite.
¡°How are you spending money like this? Are you a drug dealer?¡± jeered the Caucasian male.
¡°I don¡¯t like your booze, it¡¯s filthy, I¡¯m returning it to you.¡±
Following that, the man raised his ss and inclined it, causing its content to ssh on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder de.
¡°Michael!¡± Caitlin quickly rushed over, furious. ¡°What the hell are you doing?!¡±
¡°Hmph! You bitch!¡± Michael turned to yell at Caitlin. ¡°I invited you to a barbeque and you rejected me. You meet this Mexican man once and you¡¯ve already agreed to go on a date! You¡¯re a fucking bitch! You¡¯re a gold digger!¡±
Abruptly, Michael reached over to grab Caitlin¡¯s cor.
Xia Lei stood andunched a hard punch into Michael¡¯s abdomen, his torso immediately doubling over in pain. Before Michael could retaliate, Xia Lei¡¯s palm gave his neck a harsh chop which effectively cked him out.
The bar immediately fell silent.
No one had expected this in-looking Mexican kid to be such a good fighter. The man had not hesitated to defend himself, defeating Michael in a sh.
Xia Lei did not expect to fight even though Michael did ssh wine down his shirt. But as soon as the man had touched Caitlin, Xia Lei was left with no choice but to do something. Caitlin was the woman he needed to woo and his motivation certainly wasn¡¯t to enjoy a one night stand. He needed to visit her house to obtain information from her brother. There was surely some valuable information that could be obtained from Jack, he was working for the drone production line after all.
If he was lucky enough, Xia Lei would probably be able to get some intel on the drones that would be provided to the FA Organization soon. For that goal alone, how could he risk disappointing Caitlin and ruin a chance to go on a date after investing thousands of dors?¡±
Everyone was gawking at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei cleared his throat. ¡°It¡¯s alright. Everyone¡¯s drinks will be on my tab today. Please help yourselves.¡±
A round of passionate apuse broke out, everyone forgetting the unconscious man in no time.
¡°Thank you.¡± Caitlin batted her eyshes at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei returned her a small smile of his. ¡°I absolutely despise men who are rough to women. Women should be showered with love.¡±
¡°You¡¯re an interesting man. I can¡¯t wait till nightes.¡± Caitlin winked at Xia Lei suggestively.
Xia Lei blinked at her. With a smile, he reminded her, ¡°Miss Caitlin, I¡¯ll pick you up at nine-thirty.¡±
¡°See you soon.¡± Caitlin waved meekly.
Xia Lei and Zhu Xuanyue exited the bar, walking towards their hotel.
¡°Uncle Xia, are you really going to pick up the freckleddy at night?¡± Zhu Xuanyue didn¡¯t seem too pleased. ¡°She¡¯s ugly.¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°I¡¯m going to her house tonight to steal some stuff. Wait for me at the hotel.¡±
¡°But I wanna go too,¡± whined Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°No, this operation does not require you. You just need to wait for me at the hotel.¡± Pausing momentarily, Xia Lei added on, ¡°We¡¯ll sleep together when I¡¯m back.¡±
¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll wait for you at the hotel.¡± Zhu Xuanyue beamed.
Problem solved.
She was a fearsome devil but Xia Lei had his ways to handle her.
They walked along the streets. At one point, Xia Lei turned around to spare the bar behind a nce. Then, he looked into the direction of Lockheed Martin. Albeit the distance of two kilometres, the man could see the building clearly.
In his left field of vision, an unfinished F35 roared its engine and speeded along the track. It was only its test flight and the ne looked sleek and majestic.
¡°When will Thunder Horse be able to create a jet simr to this?¡± He sighed internally. It was a question only he could answer.
Chapter 925 - The Eye of Jesus
Xia Lei had some time to kill before meeting Caitlin so he decided to get some work done at the hotel.
He opened hisptop which showed a stock trading software, where the progress and status of Giovanna¡¯s ount were disyed clearly. Five stocks were bought under her name. Among them, three had suffered some losses while the other two profited. Aprehensive calction showed that one hundred thousand USD was lost from the principal ten million USD. The same phenomenon had urred to the ounts of the other three female knights. Their five purchased stocks had shown some growth but Rosa, Theresa and Ste¡¯s ount had gained a profit totalling to around fifty thousand USD.
Four ounts, forty million USD worth of principal stocks and losing fifty thousand USD in a day was not considered a failure. Without much consideration and hesitation, he bought every single stock the app could detect randomly. After the purchase was done, there was no further entry into the market.
Xia Lei had thought this through. It would be dangerous to utilize his impable analytical skills and estimation abilities offered by his brain to cause a surge in profit to all four of his proxy ounts. Doing so would just attract unwanted attention. For now, he¡¯d let himself lose a little each day and wait till the transaction data updates before he starts ying for real. His puppet, Honick, might have been a manager to a financial securitiespany but this was something that required his own effort. There was no way Honick coulde close to Xia Lei¡¯s level.
A bait was required before fishing. In the world of the stock market, be it a farmer who sold leeks or a vegetable retailer who hiked up the harvest prices, the rule of thumb was to be calm and generous. It was crucial to give and take.
¡°Uncle Xia, what is that?¡± Zhu Xuanyue came to stand behind Xia Lei, resting her head on top of his. Together, she studied the stock trend with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei corrected her. ¡°Are you asking what this is for?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue replied, ¡°Why the hassle? We could just go straight to the person who sells the stock and have me hypnotise him. That way they¡¯ll give away all their money to you. Wouldn¡¯t that be easier?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°This is the world¡¯srgest stock market. Everyone all around the globe trades in this market. There¡¯s so many of them involved here, are you really going to hypnotise everyone?¡±
¡°There¡¯s a lot of people involved? Ah, nevermind.¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s interest immediately diminished. The woman moved her head away from the top of his skull.
Xia Lei closed hisptop and stood up. ¡°Your time wille but not so soon.¡±
¡°Who do you need me to hypnotise?¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s interest was piqued once again.
Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°There¡¯s no target at the moment. Caitlin¡¯s brother could be one but I need to confirm his worth. If he is unworthy, I¡¯ll use him and Caitlin to get in touch with important figures in Lockheed Martin. You¡¯lle in handy when the timees.¡±
¡°Okay!¡± Zhu Xuanyue nodded fervently. ¡°I¡¯ll turn anyone you want into your puppet.¡±
Extending an arm, Xia Lei patted the top of her crown lightly. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s about time. I¡¯m going to meet Caitlin now.¡±
¡°Come back soon, I¡¯ll be waiting for you in bed,¡± reminded Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei could feel his temples throb but decided to nod instead. Following that, he left the hotel to head towards The ming Skeleton.
There were isted kes of snow dropping from the clouds above. It wasn¡¯t particrly heavy but the roofs and streets were veiled in white snow. The roadmps along the street were broken but despite theck of illumination, the ck tar road was obvious thanks to its stark contrast against the snow.
Due to the temperature, there was no one on the streets tonight. After walking forwards for a little while, Xia Lei spotted The ming Skeleton. There was a good number of motorcycles parked in front of it.
¡°I knocked Michael out cold, I sure hope he doesn¡¯t bring me trouble. If he does, the only thing I can do is to have Zhu Xuanyue eat him.¡± Xia Lei deduced internally.
Abruptly, a ck shadow shed before his eyes.
Xia Lei halted his footsteps in shock. The ck shadow was moving at an incredibly rapid speed, but it took him no time to realize that it was just a ck cat. Xia Lei was not someone who would be easily spooked by a mere cat but he was always on guard. However, as the cat crossed the road, he felt an unsettling sensation bubbling in the pit of his stomach.
His advanced evolution had allowed his sixth sense to be more sensitive than regr people.
The ck cat left behind a few imprints of its paws on the snow, quickly disappearing out of sight.
Xia Lei instinctively averted his eyes to where the ck cat hade out from. In that direction was a very small church.
The dread of danger crept up his spine rapidly. Under the influence of that feeling, Xia Lei felt as if a threat could appear from any direction and attack him. Perhaps it was waiting for an opportunity to seize him and tear his body apart!
There were only two things that could bring him such fear. One of them was Zhu Xuanyue and the other was the ck-robed man. There was certainly no need to suspect Zhu Xuanyue as she was back in the hotel room awaiting his return. Eliminating Zhu Xuanyue, the only possibility left was the ck-robed man.
Weirdly, as his sixth sense came to a peak, the ck-robed man had not made his appearance.
Xia Lei inhaled deeply and yelled in the direction of the small church. ¡°Is it you? Quit hiding, show yourself!¡±
There was only silence. No one answered him and nothing moved. The wooden door of the church remained tightly shut.
¡°I know you¡¯re there,¡± warned Xia Lei. As he spoke, the man activated his X-ray vision to spy if anyone was hidden behind the wooden door.
The church was empty and dark. At the very front of a few rows of long benches was the podium, where pastors and hosts carried out masses. At the back of the podium on the wall was a cross and the statue of Jesus Christ. As Xia Lei focused his gaze on the statue, Jesus¡¯s eyes felt like it was staring right into his soul. In the dark, his expression held no warmth. The darkness of the statue¡¯s eyes felt like a spiralling ck hole that threatened to swallow him whole!
Xia Lei¡¯s heart jolted at Jesus¡¯s uncanny stare. But as he focused his left eye once again on the statue, Jesus was back to his merciful self. His gaze was cast down at forty-five degrees, his expression filled withpassion.
¡°What...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t fathom what had just happened.
Bewilderingly, the earlier sense of threat had disappeared. Xia Lei tried to jog his memory, what happened earlier felt like an illusion and not reality.
¡°If that was the ck-robed man, why is he here? He gave me three years and I¡¯ve got two years left. An entity like him can¡¯t be someone that breaches their promises, right? If he is really here, then his target must be...¡± Xia Lei quickly snapped his head around, letting his X-ray vision prate through the winter night to go through the hotel walls. The hotel was about a few hundreds of metres away from his position.
He saw Zhu Xuanyue, peacefully asleep on the bed. The woman¡¯s underwear was scattered about on the top of the covers. In his absence, she had gone to bed in her birthday suit.
Xia Lei looked away and sighed. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just my imagination. The pressure must be getting to me now.¡± He shook his head with a troubled smile, continuing his journey to The ming Skeleton.
He kept his alert high as he walked down the street. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened and the same sense of dread hadn¡¯t urred again.
Perhaps it really was nothing more than an illusion.
Finally making it to the entrance of the bar, Xia Lei nced at his Patek Philipe wristwatch. There was still a few minutes to spare before his date with Caitlin. He ultimately chose to wait for her outside instead of entering the facility.
At this moment, a middle-aged Caucasian exited the bar. He noticed Xia Lei and immediately came forth to greet him enthusiastically. ¡°My Mexican friend, it¡¯s so nice to see you!¡±
Xia Lei responded with a polite smile.
¡°My friend, I¡¯d love to talk to you but Caitlin is in trouble.¡± The man continued, ¡°Michael had brought a biker gang over and they¡¯re not letting Caitlin leave. Perhaps they¡¯re waiting for you to rough you up. You need to leave now.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. Though he was just using Caitlin for her interpersonalwork in town, not once had he expected Michael to bring him trouble out of jealousy.
Noticing that Xia Lei was unfazed, the Caucasian man shrugged his shoulder. ¡°I know you¡¯re not afraid of those people but I must warn you. Those rowdy youngsters might have guns with them.¡±
¡°Thank you, my friend.¡± Xia Lei extended a hand. ¡°My name¡¯s Costa, I work for a family business. It¡¯s really nice to meet you.¡±
¡°Ah, not bad. My name¡¯s Ton, I work for Lockheed Martin.¡± Tonughed at himself for a bit. ¡°Oh, friend. I¡¯m not half as good as you. My sry is barely sufficient to treat you to a round of booze.¡±
¡°Hehe, making money isn¡¯t that difficult. If you¡¯d like, we could meet tomorrow and talk about business over coffee.¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°But I must excuse myself now, it¡¯s time to take care of some matters.¡±
¡°My friend, are you really going inside?¡±
¡°Of course, I¡¯m not someone who¡¯d be terrified by jeering delinquents.¡± Xia Lei was resolute.
¡°If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll meet you tomorrow.¡± Ton continued, ¡°I¡¯m good friends with the sheriff in town. Perhaps Michael would spare me some face.¡±
¡°Thank you in advance Let¡¯s head in.¡± Xia Lei and Ton entered the bar.
As soon as they stepped foot inside, Xia Lei spotted Michael among a small crowd of muscr leather jacket-d bikers. Caitlin was circled by those strong men, looking anxious and troubled.
Caitlin noticed Xia Lei. The freckled woman hurriedly waved at him. ¡°Leave! Leave!¡±
As soon as Michael spotted Xia Lei, he lifted his hand and pointed at him. ¡°It¡¯s this damned Mexican, it¡¯s him!¡±
The group of men in leather jackets left Caitlin alone to size up Xia Lei.
Ton advised, ¡°Michael, quit it. Mister Costa is a friend of mine, please just...¡±
Before Ton could finish his sentence, Michael interjected rudely. ¡°Shut up! I¡¯m going to paralyze this fucking Mexican today! Do note in my way!¡±
¡°You...¡± Ton shook with anger.
Michael came closer to the older man and shoved him, causing the older man to stumble backwards. Ton itched to say something but the man was quickly silenced by intimidation, ultimately opting to stay silent.
A biker replicated Michael¡¯s action, hurling a palm towards Xia Lei.
Chapter 926 - Mexican Tyrant
With fast reflexes, Xia Lei caught the iing hand and pulled the man closer to his body. Therge biker man attempted to push Xia Lei away but thetter¡¯s feet were nted steadily against the ground. The smaller man hadn¡¯t bulged at the force.
¡°Fuck!¡± Michael pulled out a knife and roared in anger. ¡°Beat this motherfucker up!¡±
The other bikers finally set into action.
Before chaos could take ce, Xia Lei whispered nonchntly into the ears of therger man before him. ¡°I¡¯m friends with Ohada. I hope you know how she¡¯s like before youy a finger on me.¡±
Who was Ohada?
Well, she was an infamous Mexican drug lord who killed and ripped bodies apart without batting an eysh. All of her underlings were savages, making her a permanent headache for the Mexican government. How would a little biker gang stand a chance against such a terrifying enemy?
The biker who had his wrist locked by Xia Lei quickly raised his other arm, motioning for his friends to stop charging forward.
The action prompted the other bikers to halt in their footsteps.
It was a lie, of course. Xia Lei had not even met the drug lord, but he knew that his opponents had no way of finding out.
Xia Lei whispered into his ear again. ¡°Perhaps we can settle this problem with another method. How about I give each of you one thousand USD to drag that punk outside and beat him to a pulp?¡±
¡°Make it two thousand.¡± The biker man spoke. ¡°Michael is a friend. To make us raise our fists at a friend, you must pay us two thousand. There are five of us here and we only ept cash.¡±
Xia Lei nodded lightly. ¡°Sure, no problem.¡±
Money wasn¡¯t everything but it was a solution to most of the problems in the world.
The gang leader hissed. ¡°Michael, fuck you! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you¡¯ve brought upon us? You fucking piece of shit!¡± Uttering hisst word, the man hurled a punch straight onto Michael¡¯s cheek.
Immediately, Michael fell with a thud.
The leader tossed a look to his members who dragged Michael out the door.
¡°What are you doing?! We¡¯re friends!¡± Michael was evidently clueless.
¡°Shut up, you fucking idiot!¡± One of them delivered a hard p across Michael¡¯s face.
After a few minutes, a young attractive woman hugged Xia Lei¡¯s arm as she led him to her house. Michael was getting the beating of his life in the back alley but Xia Lei paid no mind. To him, lowly delinquents like Michael were ants. The man could simply mush him to death with the tip of his finger.
¡°Costa, I¡¯ve been meaning to ask... Why me?¡± Caitlin¡¯s arms were tight around his elbow, the proximity allowing her soft breasts to squeeze themselves against his joint. Women were born with the knowledge of how to delight men. Caitlin was no exception.
Xia Lei spared her a nce. ¡°Why the question?¡±
¡°You¡¯re rich and strong. I... I¡¯m just a in Jane,¡± muttered Caitlin, avoiding Xia Lei¡¯s stare. Despite that, she studied his reaction from the corner of her eye.
The man smiled softly. ¡°You resemble my mother. I can¡¯t help but be reminded of her when I saw you. I love her so much and I feel at ease around you.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Caitlin uttered a soft apology.
¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±
Abruptly, the woman wrapped her arms around his waist and seized his lips. Her kiss was genuine and fragrant. It urred to Xia Lei that Caitlin had actually prepared herself to be intimate with him. Not only was her body doused in wonderfully smelling perfume but her mouth was also rinsed with mint voured mouthwash.
Xia Lei gave the kiss his all, daringly roaming his hands all over her body. If he wasn¡¯t aiming to use her, there was no way he would have given in. It was only best if he pretended to be an absolute horndog, entangling his tongue with hers in a sloppy french kiss as he reached a palm under her garment.
¡°No, not here. It¡¯s too cold outside. My house is warm and cosy.¡± Caitlin stopped the wandering hand.
Xia Lei removed his palm and attempted to probe, ¡°Is there anyone at home now?¡±
¡°I live with my brother, but there¡¯s no need to worry about him. He¡¯s a workaholic. He has never disturbed my rtionships,¡± answered Caitlin.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°I think I can be great friends with him. Let¡¯s go.¡±
Caitlin¡¯s house was located at the side of town. The isted building had a simple exterior for it was made of wood. It wasn¡¯t difficult to gauge her financial status from the build of her home.
In front of the wooden house was an asphalt road that led to Lockheed Martin¡¯s headquarters. There was an old Buick Regal sedan parked on the side, which was a considerably low-end car in America. Observing it closely, he found a stained Lockheed Martin uniform overall over the driver¡¯s seat. The car must have belonged to Caitlin¡¯s brother, Jack. It was evident that his position at Lockheed Martin was very low in the corporate hierarchy.
The sight of Jack¡¯s overalls filled Xia Lei with regret for he had worked hard to woo Caitlin. A measly engineer wouldn¡¯t be of much use to him. The urge to turn around and leave was strong but Xia Lei managed to suppress it.
¡°How am I going to find anything useful if I don¡¯t try talking to her brother or entering her house?¡± Xia Lei tried to convince himself.
Yes, that was true. Gol was often found amongst grain. If one did not even bother to sieve through the grain, they would miss out on the gold.
¡°This is my house. Let me unlock the door for us.¡± Caitlin let go of Xia Lei¡¯s elbow to retrieve a key hidden under the carpet. She swiftly unlocked the door.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye jumped a little, quickly scanning through the space inside like a whistling wind. It didn¡¯t take him long to find a blond man studying a highly professional book rted to military drones. There was a cup of coffee that was no longer steaming. The entire scene was true to Caitlin¡¯s description, her brother really was a workaholic.
Caitlin tugged Xia Lei into her house. As soon as the wooden door clicked shut, Caitlin was already pressing herself into his chest to lock his cold lips into an abrupt kiss. Her hands worked at his belt, trying to get them off fervently.
Females of the Western hemisphere had no reservations when it came to sex. They were so open-minded that having sex anywhere anytime wouldn¡¯t be a concern to them, as long as they were willing to do so.
Xia Lei continued to press open-mouthed kisses onto her lips, the sheer lust making them shuffle around messily. As the pair came closer to the coffee table, Xia Lei sneakily tipped a ss of water on the surface over.
The ssware rolled over to the edge of the table, interjecting their activities with a crisp shatter.
¡°Oh dear, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Xia Lei purposely said it louder. ¡°I broke your ss.¡±
However, that didn¡¯t diminish Caitlin¡¯s fiery gaze. She stared at him intensely. ¡°It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s just a ss. There¡¯s no need to apologize. Let¡¯s continue, I...¡± She pressed her lips against his ear lobe. ¡°I need you now.¡±
Thank heavens she hadn¡¯t said anything about being moist.
Xia Lei gave her a small smile. ¡°How about we drink something and then...¡±
Before he could say another word, footsteps thumped against the wooden floor, apanied by a man¡¯s timbre voice. ¡°Caitlin, what are you doing?¡±
Caitlin lifted her head up,cking any form of shame. ¡°Jack, I thought you were asleep.¡±
Xia Lei quickly zipped his pants up for decency sake, running his fingers along the length of his belt to buckle it in ce. He knew Jack was bound to appear, or else he wouldn¡¯t have allowed Caitlin to ravage him as she pleased. Truthfully, it would have been easy for him to call it quits during the process just now.
Jack made his way over. ¡°You¡¯re fooling around with men in the living room while I¡¯m asleep? If you wish to bring men home, do your business in your room. This house does not belong to you alone.¡±
¡°Jack!¡± Caitlin was thoroughly embarrassed. The woman red at Jack, itching to retaliate but controlling her impulse to not leave a bad impression on Xia Lei.
Xia Lei came to stand before Jack and extended a friendly hand. ¡°Hey, Jack. I¡¯m Costa, pleased to meet you.¡±
Jack hesitated, studying Xia Lei¡¯s palm carefully. ¡°I hope your fingers hadn¡¯t touched her there.¡±
What the fuck?!
¡°Ignore him, let¡¯s go to my room.¡± Caitlin pulled Xia Lei¡¯s arm, preparing to flee for her room.
Jack called out to her. ¡°Caitlin, the utility bill for this month along with a change of kitchen utensils and groceries totals up to one thousand dors. You owe me half.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll pass you my sry in a few days,¡± replied Caitlin dismissively.
Jack scowled. ¡°You said the same thingst month and you still owe me two hundred dors. You¡¯re an adult now. Do you still expect me to cover for you?¡±
¡°I...¡± The woman¡¯s face was red with anger that rendered her speechless.
Xia Lei offered, ¡°Caitlin, let me pay your part.¡±
¡°Costa, there¡¯s no need for that.¡± Contrary to her words, she made no sound of rejection as soon as Xia Lei pulled out his wallet.
The man reached in to pull out a stack of crisp green bills, passing it over to Jack. ¡°Here¡¯s ten thousand dors. I believe this would be enough to cover her for the next few years or so.¡±
Jack grasped the thick stack of cash, rooted at his spot in shock. The sight of his sister bringing home a stranger offended him. Jack had attempted to embarrass and humiliate the pair enough to make Xia Lei leave but never anticipated that this man was a goddamned tyrant. This man was fucking generous too, being able to offer ten thousand dors off the bat. With this sum, the bastard could even buy two hundred or more sex workers that were more attractive than his sister!
¡°Hmph, happy now?¡± Caitlin mocked gleefully.
¡°Mister Costa, what...¡± Jack gulped. ¡°What do you do for a living?¡±
Chapter 927 - Gold Among Sand
Xia Lei shrugged his shoulder lightly. ¡°My upation? Well, I work at my father¡¯spany. It¡¯s a family business.¡± Pausing for a brief moment, he added, ¡°I know some Americans have a warped impression of us Mexicans. But let me make it clear, we do legitimate businesses. We invest in the energy sector, chemical manufacturing, real estate and...¡±
¡°And what?¡± Jack pressed on.
Xia Lei shed him a smile. ¡°My friend, I can assure you that my family do not associate ourselves with drug dealing. We also dabble in venture capital. As long as the potential dividend is good, we will invest.¡±
¡°You guys do venture capital too?¡± Jack was genuinely surprised
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah. As long as there¡¯s a suitable project, money isn¡¯t an issue.¡±
Jack stared at his sister, then averted his gaze on Xia Lei. Lastly, he let his gaze fall onto the stack of dors Xia Lei passed to him. Truthfully, without the money, there was no way Jack would¡¯ve bought Xia Lei¡¯s story. The fact that Xia Lei could shove him ten thousand dors onto his face changed everything. Who would have the ability to do so in such a sum? Who else other than billionaires?
Truth to be told, Xia Lei was a real billionaire. The momentum of his expenditure may not be the top in the world, but the manner would certainlynd him in the top three.
¡°Costa, let¡¯s go.¡± Caitlin hooked her arms around Xia Lei intimately. The corner of her eye studied the thick stack in Jack¡¯s grip discreetly. As soon as her beloved Costa leaves in the morning, she would surely ask for the money.
Jack seemed to have noticed something, purposefully stuffing the cash into the pockets of his trousers. He smiled brilliantly at Xia Lei. ¡°Mister Costa, you¡¯re our valued guest. How about we have a drink together?¡±
Xia Lei responded, ¡°Sure.¡±
Caitlin red at Jack intently. Since Costa had mentioned that he¡¯d like a drink, there was no point in her insisting that they move to her room for nightly activities. Would a man like Costack female attention? Definitely not. Hence, she had to calm herself down. Stubbornly prying off someone¡¯s pants would not get you the man.
Jack headed over to the alcohol rack to retrieve a bottle of whisky and three sses. The man swiftly poured a ss each for Xia Lei, Caitlin and himself.
¡°A toast to our meeting.¡± Jack raised his ss.
A crisp chime of ss rang and the three took a sip from their ss. They began to talk as they drank.
¡°Mister Costa, what is the name of your family business?¡± After another few sses of alcohol, Jack tossed a question to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei pondered darkly, ¡®Why does this dumbass have so much to ask? Under normal circumstances, he would be trying to appease me but this man is persistently trying to test me. He doesn¡¯t feel like a normal engineer. Could he have some other kind of identity?¡¯
¡°Mister Costa.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°Mister Jack, is this a police interrogation?¡±
¡°Uh, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m just trying to know you better. After all, you seem to be involved with my sister now.¡± Jack¡¯s answer was well-rounded.
Displeased, Caitlin scolded, ¡°Jack, that¡¯s very rude of you. You should apologize to Costa.¡±
Jack did as she said. ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, Mister Costa. I really am.¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright, there¡¯s nothing wrong with telling you these.¡± Xia Lei added on, ¡°It¡¯s the Sky Group. My family business back in Mexico goes by that name. You can search it up, there should be records of it on the inte.¡±
He wasn¡¯t the least bit worried that Jack would find anything. Xia Lei had already prepared some answers for this line of questioning. Before he came, the man had already hacked into the Mexican Commerce Authority and nted a shellpany under the guise of Sky Group. He had even made sure to make relevant entries on Google search engine.
¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I believe your words, Mister Costa. Uh, do you mind sitting here for a bit while I talk to my sister?¡± asked Jack.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Sure, no problem.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you say it here?¡± Caitlin was extremely reluctant.
¡°Come with me to the study, it¡¯ll only take a few minutes. You wouldn¡¯t want me to take up more of your time, right?¡± insisted Jack.
¡°Sure, just a few minutes.¡± Caitlin moved her face tond a peck on Xia Lei¡¯s cheek. ¡°Give me a moment, I¡¯ll be right back.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, watching the siblings disappear into the walkway before they disappeared into a room at the end of the corridor. That was Jack¡¯s study. As Jack closed the door, Xia Lei activated his X-ray vision, allowing it to prate through the obstacle.
Jack was talking to Caitlin.
The first one to speak was the sister. She blurted out angrily, ¡°Jack, are you fucking stupid? Are you trying to ruin my chances here?¡±
¡°Calm down!¡± Jack continued, ¡°People who can spend money like this are real billionaires. Which billionaire would be attracted to you? I¡¯m not trying to discourage you but if he really did want to sleep around, the sum he gave me would be enough to hire more than a hundred prostitutes for the night!¡±
¡°That sum was meant for me. Take the amount I owe you and return the rest. If you called me here just to say things like that, there¡¯s no need for us to continue this conversation.¡± Caitlin reached an arm out, asking for the stack of bills to be returned.
Surprisingly, Jack returned the entire untouched stack into her extended palm. He didn¡¯t want anything to do with it.
Xia Lei was shocked and perplexed. He thought to himself, ¡°His performance earlier made him seem like a greedy person. He was the one I passed the money to but he did not hesitate to give it to Caitlin. There¡¯s something fishy about Jack...¡±
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t the only one surprised, Caitlin was equally shocked too. ¡°You¡¯re returning everything to me?¡±
Jack lowered his voice. ¡°You¡¯re my sister. Of course, I¡¯d want you to live a better life and find your happiness. I¡¯m worried that you¡¯re deceived by people with ulterior motives.¡±
¡°What do you mean? Have you gone crazy?¡± Caitlin mocked him. ¡°Who would try to deceive me with this sum of money? What is there to get from me other than sex? I¡¯m willing to offer him my body.¡±
¡°Shh! Pipe down!¡± Jack¡¯s voice was reduced greatly. ¡°Do you know what ce this is? We¡¯re in Free Mary and Lockheed Martin is right beside town! Do you know how many CIA agents are roaming around along with military men? This is the heart of America¡¯s army. Spies are captured every year around here. Those sneaky spies will offer you money and perhaps give you whatever you want. But once you¡¯re busted, you¡¯d be charged for treason. There will be no court session and they¡¯ll send you directly into the depths of Guantanamo prison.¡±
Caitlin shrugged nonchntly. ¡°There are no military secrets that I can leak to him. Even if he is a spy, what can he benefit from me? I only have a set of breasts and a hole to offer. If that¡¯s the case, I got no problem with it.¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Jack was maddened but quickly kept his emotions at bay. He came close to whispering into her ear, ¡°You may not have anything but I¡¯ve got something. I¡¯ve been through hell and shit for years just to join Mister Thompson¡¯s team. Thompson has high hopes for me. He wants me toplete a Predator B as soon as possible. ording to his instructions, there must not be any logos on the Predator B and a self-detonation system needs to be installed. Though I do not know why he¡¯s requesting for such specifics, I¡¯ve got a feeling that this whole thing is not as simple as it seems. Thompson promised me that I¡¯ll get a raise and promotion after itspletion. By then, I¡¯d be able to bring you in. Isn¡¯t working in Lockheed Martin your life-long dream? I can help you make this a reality.¡±
There was a brief pause where Caitlin cautiously turned her head to stare at the door. Hushedly, she uttered, ¡°Jack, are you calling him a spy?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure, but we need to be careful.¡±
¡°Our government only talks about being careful of spies with Asian faces, but not Mexican ones. I think you might be overthinking this,¡± retorted Caitlin.
¡°If he was Chinese, I would¡¯ve already reported him. I didn¡¯t do that only because he¡¯s Mexican. Tell me, why is a man like him attracted to you?¡±
¡°He said I resembled his mother.¡±
¡°Have you seen what his mother looks like?¡±
¡°Now that you mentioned it, no.¡± Caitlin continued, ¡°You¡¯re too nervous. Say, Mister Costa is a man that could afford stacks of dors. Please stay out of our hair. You do your work and I¡¯ll seduce my man. Let us not interfere with each other¡¯s businesses. Like seriously, think about it. If I manage to marry him, you wouldn¡¯t need to go to work anymore. I can buy you a sports car and I could even give you some money to start a business. Isn¡¯t that great?¡±
¡°Hmph, you can continue your wishful thinking. I can stay out of your hair but you¡¯ll need to pay me half of that.¡± Jack extended a palm.
There was a brief moment of hesitation. In the end, Caitlin still divided half of the dor stack to her brother but his portion was obviously less than what she had on hand.
The siblings ended their talk, to which Xia Lei decided to peel his eyes away.
Before entering this house, Xia Lei genuinely regretted spending a sum and a considerable amount of effort for an unguaranteed return. However, it was a pleasant surprise to learn that there was indeed gold among the sand. He had not expected Jack to be the engineer tasked with creating his murder weapon.
¡°He¡¯s in charge of creating the drone meant to kill me, they¡¯re even nning to install a self-detonation system to clear their tracks. How impressive.¡± A curl of Xia Lei¡¯s lips birthed a smirk.
The man had a new understanding of Jack and Caitlin. They were biological siblings who relied on each other to live. The siblings may be harsh to one another due to personality differences but they truly care for each other. Jack was a cautious hardworking man who wishes to improve their lives. Caitlin, on the other hand, was evidently more rxed than her brother. She was passionate and open-minded, but she also wished to live a better life.
To enjoy a better life would be everyone¡¯s biggest dream, right? It was the driving force for everyone¡¯s willingness to offer their blood, sweat and tears to their jobs.
Caitlin and Jack returned to the living room.
¡°Mister Costa, you both can go on. I¡¯m getting rather tired, I¡¯m going to bed now,¡± said Jack.
Caitlin uttered, ¡°Let¡¯s go to my room, you¡¯ll get drunk soon if we keep drinking.¡±
To everyone¡¯s surprise, Xia Lei stood from his seat. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I just received a call from my sister. She said that there are some emergency matters for me to attend to. I must go back now. Thank you so much for having me here.¡±
¡°You...¡± Caitlin was stunned.
¡°Mister Costa, is this because of what I said? If it is, I¡¯m really sorry...¡± Jack was starting to feel regretful.
¡°No, there¡¯s real trouble back there,¡± said Xia Lei.
Boom!
A deafening explosion roared out from the north of town, the skies immediately shining red by the mes.
Chapter 928 - The Little Devil is Missing
Xia Lei ran out of Caitlin¡¯s house.
The location of the explosion was at the little hotel. By the time he found its source, the unfortunate establishment was already engulfed in mes.
Caitlin and Jack quickly ran out of the wooden house.
¡°Isn¡¯t that the hotel?¡± Caitlin¡¯s face paled. ¡°Costa, aren¡¯t you staying in that hotel with your sister?¡±
Xia Lei said nothing, quickly making a mad dash to the hotel. He ultimately thought about what happened on his way to The ming Skeleton. The strong sense of impending doom and the odd gaze of Jesus inside the church. At the time, he brushed it off as an illusion but now it really seemed like that wasn¡¯t the case!
Did the ck-robed man cause the explosion?
Did a fight break out between Zhu Xuanyue and him?
These were questions Xia Lei needed answers to.
Before long, Xia Lei had made it to the asphalt road along the front of the hotel. There was already a crowd forming around the vicinity, a good majority of the town¡¯s residents were gathered here. He scanned his eyes throughout the crowd, but Zhu Xuanyue was nowhere to be found. Following that, he focused his left eye into the sea of mes. But before he could study the zing building carefully, the wooden hotel copsed into a wreck.
A fire truck zoomed over, and firefighters jumped off the truck. They motioned for the curious crowd to stand back.
The sheriff of the town had also made his appearance. The man was questioning the residents to learn the cause of the explosion but no one had a clear idea of what had happened.
Xia Lei averted his gaze to a direction, where he spotted his Ford pickup truck. The vehicle had suffered some damage but was fine overall. The shattered window on the driver¡¯s side had resulted from the merciless impact. Suddenly, Xia Lei noticed something white on the dashboard. It was a piece of paper.
The man¡¯s left eye twitched and pulled the paper closer to his line of sight.
A box-shaped motif was drawn on the paper, it was depicted in a way that the box was on top of some mes. Underneath the illustrated mes were two Han characters. Destroy.
[TL Note: Destroy - »ÙÃð]
The man immediately froze uponprehension. The box may have been drawn with simple shapes but he understood that the person had meant the ancient alloy box.
With that, Xia Lei could confirm that the ck-robed man had left this note.
¡°What is he trying to achieve through this note? Is he asking me to destroy the alloy box? Why can¡¯t he do it himself? If he really wanted to, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop him.¡± Xia Lei failed to grasp the idea. However, his direct concern now was Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s safety. Undeniably, she was extremely powerful but the woman had a child¡¯s mentality. How was a child going to be able to beat the ck-robed man?
Ka-boom!
The pickup truck exploded out of nowhere.
The crowd yelped in shock, frantically backing away from the burning vehicle. The firefighters were thrown onto the ground by the impact.
It felt as if a time bomb was nted in the pickup truck, sneakily waiting for time to pass to set into action. But Xia Lei discarded the thought. Regardless of the type of bomb, explosives are an essential ingredient. Explosives werepulsory but there was literally no sign of it.
This reminded him of that incident back in New Delhi, where the ck-robed man had appeared out of the blue and tried to interfere with Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s resurrection. Following the ck-robed man¡¯s invasion, theb was subjected to an intense explosion. There had not been any forms of explosives in theboratory. There was no way it would have achieved an explosion at such a scale.
¡°The ck-robed man and Zhu Xuanyue exist in the form of pure energy. Did the collision of energies trigger an explosion? Why would he want to fight Zhu Xuanyue? What is his goal? To stop her? Or to kill her?¡± Questions tormented Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
Caitlin and Jack finally made it over.
The woman cautiously came to stand at his side, wrapping a gentle arm around his body. Sheforted, ¡°Costa, your sister...¡±
There was a paused silence before Xia Lei muttered, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I hope she got away in time.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, God will protect her,¡± Caitlin reassured Xia Lei.
Jack did not approach Xia Lei. Instead, he talked to an acquaintance in town. ¡°What happened here?¡±
¡°Not sure. I heard it¡¯s caused by gas leakage.¡±
¡°What about the hotel customers?¡±
¡°With an explosion like this, chances of survival are small.¡±
¡°Could it possibly be caused by something else?¡±
¡°Something else? Do you mean a terrorist attack? Impossible, I was just outside the hotel and saw no one entering or exiting the hotel. Plus, what terrorist organization would be dumb enough to st a small hotel? It¡¯s a waste of resources.¡±
Hearing their conversation, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but be increasingly anxious. ¡°No one was seen leaving the hotel. The ck-robed man is an energy form while Zhu Xuanyue currently has a body. There¡¯s no way she could disappear in thin air like the ck-robed man. Had the ck-robed man won their fight? Is she dead?¡±
Was Zhu Xuanyue dead?
Xia Lei fervently rejected the possibility the moment it presented itself in his mind. There was no way that Zhu Xuanyue would die. Even if her body was sted to bits, it would just be akin to a torn garment. As long as she was willing, she could create her new ¡®clothes¡¯ anywhere and anytime she pleased. Another thing thatforted him was that the New Delhi explosion was way severe and she had managed to survive it. She looked frail after the impact back then. If the ck-robed man couldn¡¯t get rid of her when she was at her weakest, how would he be able to kill her now?
The more he thought about it, the moreforted he felt.
¡°Costa, how about I apany you to ask the sheriff?¡± Caitlin voiced, ¡°Perhaps he would know something about this.¡±
Xia Lei nodded solemnly. ¡°Sure.¡±
As Caitlin brought him over to the sheriff, Xia Lei reached a hand into his pocket and did something to his phone.
Ring... Ring...
Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang all of a sudden.
¡°Ah, please excuse me for a moment. I need to take this call.¡± Xia Lei brought out his phone. Without leaving for some privacy, the man answered his phone beside Caitlin.
No one was calling him, Xia Lei had merely yed his ringtone out loud.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was evidently outraged. ¡°You¡¯re back to Mexico?! Your boyfriend cheated on you? Bastard... Fucking bastard! I¡¯ll beat him up when I get home!¡±
Caitlin sighed relievedly.
¡°Thank goodness you¡¯ve left the hotel. There was an explosion at our hotel. Yeah, it¡¯s bad... I¡¯m just relieved that you¡¯re safe and sound. Do you have any idea how worried I was just now? Alright... See you soon.¡± Xia Lei ¡®ended¡¯ the call, returning the device into the pocket of his pants.
¡°Is your sister alright?¡± Caitlin was concerned, feeling the urge to confirm the fact.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Luckily, she managed to leave before all of this.¡±
¡°Ah, that¡¯s great news. God must¡¯ve protected her. Come, let¡¯s go home first. The sheriff and firefighters will get to the root of this incident,¡± said Caitlin.
¡°Alright, looks like I got to stay at your ce tonight.¡± Xia Lei shed her a small smile, allowing her to wrap her arms around his as they left.
Jack caught up to them. ¡°Let¡¯s head back together.¡±
Caitlin furrowed her brows but said nothing.
¡°Mister Costa, is your sister alright?¡± asked Jack.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Yeah, she left earlier. She¡¯s alright.¡±
¡°Wow, talk about luck,¡±mented Jack.
Xia Lei added on, ¡°She¡¯s an incredibly selfless girl, God would surely protect her.¡± He paused and let his gazend on Caitlin. ¡°My mom was a devoted Catholic. You¡¯re just like my mom, to be able to encounter you is my pleasure. It feels almost as if my mom is guiding me from heaven, wanting me to do the right thing.¡±
¡°Oh, Costa... You¡¯re the absolute best.¡± Caitlin was moved, throwing her arms around his waist to capture Xia Lei¡¯s lips in a kiss.
The two of them began to make out in front of Jack. If the brother was absent, the pair would¡¯ve probably started fornicating in the snow.
¡°Uh... Do you need me to walk away?¡± Jack huffed a sheepish dry chuckle. ¡°I can leave you both alone but I must remind you that outdoors is a little too cold for intimacy.¡±
Xia Lei and Caitlin separated themselves.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, I was too emotional. Caitlin, this is a blessing from above, I need to do something in return. Caitlin, I¡¯ll give you one hundred thousand dors, please use the money to help anyone in need. You can pass an amount to the hotel owner, or to those who had died or gotten injured in the explosion. You may even help them buy necessities. Will you be willing to do that for me?¡±
¡°Of course, you¡¯re such a kind person.¡± Caitlin beamed, casting a nce to the side at her brother. Though no words were spoken, her eyes were clearly mocking Jack. She thought to herself, ¡®What¡¯s the point in working hard if I could just take my pants off?¡¯
Jack could only chuckle breathily. He said nothing else.
The three of them made it back home.
¡°I¡¯m so happy today, how about we drink again?¡± suggested Xia Lei.
¡°You want to drink again? We...¡± Caitlin attempted to hint at Xia Lei that they should continue their rendezvous but as soon as she found herself being pushy, the woman silenced herself.
¡°Sure, we should celebrate this miracle.¡± Jack, on the other hand, was enthusiastic.
¡°I¡¯ll go get the booze.¡± Xia Lei walked towards the alcohol rack.
Jack was still silent. But the moment Xia Lei had his back to them, Jack immediately pulled Caitlin closer to his body. He whispered, ¡°We can¡¯t just give away the one hundred thousand dors. With the money, we can renovate the house and even buy a brand new pickup truck.¡±
Caitlin scowled in annoyance. ¡°Must you talk about this right now?¡±
Jack replied, ¡°It seems like this man is a true rich idiot. You hit the jackpot his time. Remember, you must not let him leave you. This might be the nest thing to ever happen to you.¡±
Caitlin nodded.
As the siblings plotted behind his back, Xia Lei had dropped a white tablet into a ss of whisky. The tablet fizzled and dissolved into the drink.
The tablet was not a regr sleeping pill. It was a special medicine made by Bureau 101.
Now that Zhu Xuanyue was missing, the rest of the operation had to be done alone. As the ace supervisor of Bureau 101, it wouldn¡¯t take much for him to handle this pair of day-dreaming siblings.
¡°Cheers.¡± Caitlin and Jack raised their sses in unison.
Xia Lei smiled and chugged down his portion in one go.
Chapter 929 - Jacks Treasure
A few seconds after emptying their contents, Caitlin slumped into Xia Lei¡¯s chest while Jack dropped to the floor. Simrly, Xia Lei was out cold for about two minutes before waking up from the tablet¡¯s influence all thanks to his incredible immune system.
He had drugged an entire bottle of whiskey and allowed himself to consume a portion of it. It was only natural for him to face the same effect as them. Jack was too cautious. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t want to raise his suspicion by drinking different alcohol.
He blinked his heavy eyelids open, then shook his head vehemently to chase out the remaining bits of drowsiness. The man ced Caitlin carefully on the couch. Following that, he shook her shoulders a little and probed her.
¡°Caitlin? Caitlin?¡±
The woman gave no response.
Xia Lei then came over to Jack¡¯s side to deliver a few pats to the unconscious man¡¯s cheek.
¡°Jack? Jack?¡±
Jack was unresponsive as well.
Confirming that the siblings wouldn¡¯t wake up any time soon, Xia Lei made a beeline to Jack¡¯s study. He shut the door behind him.
In the study were a simpleputer desk and a massive book rack. There was an abundance of professional academic books that seemed to follow a theme. Most of them were relevant to aerospace engineering, electrical engineering and programming. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that Jack was studious and doing his best. The brother was determined to change their lives through his hands.
His situation was fairlymon in China. Many children from regr homes study hard in hopes that academics would change their fate. Sadly, only a few have ever seeded in their challenge against luck. Even so, this path still had a fiercepetition that could destroy someonepletely.
Xia Lei activated his X-ray vision and ran a scan around Jack¡¯s study. He found no hidden space and no safes to speak of.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze immediatelynded on the Appleputer on the desk. People of modern times like Jack wouldn¡¯t have the habit of printing their secrets on paper and then storing them in safes. Jack¡¯s secrets would most possibly be on hisputer.
The man sat down at the desk and booted Jack¡¯sputer. The device had only required a password to log in, which was nothing for a hacker of Xia Lei¡¯s level. Xia Lei had only used two minutes to crack his password and helped himself to its content.
Xia Lei was genuinely surprised in a good way. Jack¡¯s database was like a treasure field.
Jack was only an engineer working under Lockheed Martin¡¯s drone production line. Though his sry was only a tad bit higher than abourer, the man was a diligent and intelligent man who wished to improve his life through ving himself off. There were heaps and heaps of information on drones stored in his database. There were design ns drawn in great detail and it even included dimensions, measurements and even material information on its parts. There were even some entries that depicted his unique interpretation and opinions on drone technology along with some estimations of future drone development. Digging deeper, Xia Lei found some work logbooks and records on the production of the R-170 sentry and the Global Eagle. Lastly, Xia Lei found a file of maintenance records that were skin to Jack¡¯s umtion of experience. All of this information was precious.
It was a true treasure trove, especially for a man like Xia Lei who was preparing to dive into drone research and production. However, Xia Lei felt a teensy bit of disappointment as there were no higher-level confidential regarding Lockheed Martin¡¯s fighter jets and precision-guided missiles inside Jack¡¯s storage.
It was a shame but not unexpected. After all, Jack was just a normal engineer in Lockheed Martin. His upation status was at near the bottom of the hierarchy and he worked on the drone production line, it was only natural for him to note in contact with the jets and missiles.
Lastly, Xia Lei found an encrypted file.
Soon enough, Xia Lei hacked into the file and was presented with its contents.
To his delight, the encrypted file was priceless information on the untagged Predator B drone¡¯s assembly. The signee at the bottom of the document was the man Jack had mentioned, Thompson.
The contents had mentioned that all parts would be provided by General Dynamics but the missile shall be prepared specifically by Lockheed Martin alone. The precision-guided missile was going to be powerful. Lockheed Martin¡¯s Predator B was set to carry two precision-guided missiles, one named ¡®Skunk Surprise¡¯ and the other named ¡®Key to Hell¡¯. ording to the numerical figures stated, the missiles had enough power to level the entire Thunder Horse Organization.
Due to the added weights of the missile, some alterations were required to increase Predator B¡¯s load. This, in turn, would require corresponding modifications to theunching device.
When Caitlin and Jack talked about the drone project earlier, Xia Lei found himself questioning something. The Predator drone series was not a product of Lockheed Martin but that of General Dynamics. Lockheed Martin¡¯s drones were more high-end. Those were the most advanced unmanned aircraft of the American army. However, as far as the R-170 sentry was concerned, its wingspan had reached twenty metres and its take-off weight had reached an impressive four tonnes. It was a behemoth. There was no way it could sneak into China and avoid its air defence system then attack Thunder Horse Organization. It had now urred to him that the four military aces had formed an alliance to share their resources!
¡°Skunk Surprise? Key to Hell?¡± Xia Lei snorted. ¡°Let¡¯s see what would happen after your creation. When the timees, I¡¯d love to see if you can st my Thunder Horse apart and kill me.¡±
Xia Lei took another look at the documents and exited the encrypted file. He made sure to scan through everything twice, memorizing every single detailpletely in his mind. The man imprinted everything Jack had entered securely in his brain. For him, there was no need for printing or USB sticks.
After memorizing its contents, Xia Lei searched through all the pictures in Jack¡¯s folders to gauge who this man was associated with.
The number of photos was surprisingly many. There were childhood pictures of Jack and Caitlin, a few scrolls down showed Jack¡¯s graduation photos and some that were taken with his colleagues. Jack had no girlfriend as Xia Lei had failed to find any intimate photos with any opposite sex.
In the end, Xia Lei¡¯s attention was piqued by a particr photo. In front of an iplete F35 fighter jet stood Jack and an oddly familiar man. Jack was dressed in his overalls while Ton was dressed in a sleek suit. There was a corner of a card peeking through the edge of the suit cor.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Ton?!¡± Xia Lei immediately recognized the Caucasian man. He was the one who had befriended Xia Lei at The ming Skeleton. Earlier, Ton had proved himself to be a man of justice, offering to apany Xia Lei to help Caitlin out. He had also mentioned that he was friends with the sheriff too.
Xia Lei could clearly recall the man telling him that he worked at Lockheed Martin, but had indicated that he was in the lower-ie group of society. In this picture, Jack¡¯s overalls were messily stained while Ton¡¯s suit was smooth and creaseless. The sight of them together in this get-up seemed off-bnced.
Suddenly, Xia Lei thought of something. He looked at the card at the cor of Ton¡¯s suit. The edge of the card was dark blue, it seemed to have a white logo printed in its middle but the pixels of the photo had limited further inspection.
Xia Lei activated his X-ray vision and zoomed-in onto the white logo. Immediately, everything seemed much clearer.
It was the linework of a bald eagle.
Upon recognition, Xia Lei could only gape in shock. ¡°He works for the CIA! No wonder Jack was crazy cautious and had a certain level of anti-spy skills. It¡¯s got to do with Ton! Jack must be his source of intel in town. Perhaps Jack¡¯s doing this for some quick cash.¡±
Out of the blue, Xia Lei began to cackle. So what if he was involved with the CIA? So what if Jack was an intel source for the CIA? This ce was known as the forbiddennd among spies and Xia Lei still managed to get what he wanted!
Deciding to call it a day, Xia Lei erased his tracks and shut theputer down. Before he turned and left the room, he made sure to wipe down everything he had touched twice.
Caitlin and Jack were still blissfully unconscious in their living room. There was no sign of stirring or awareness.
Xia Lei poured the remnants in their sses into the basin, remembering to flush it with tap water down the drain. He cleaned the ssware and bottles thoroughly to remove any trace of chemicals. After that, he retrieved another bottle of whisky from the rack and poured some part of it into the clean bottle. Then, Xia Lei returned the whiskey bottle onto the coffee table.
Done with the alcohol, it was now time for him to create a usible scene. He moved Caitlin back into her room, proceeding to strip her and himself. Then, he scattered their clothes strategically around the house, leaving two in the living room, two along the corridor and their underwear around her bed.
After that, he moved to the kitchen to steal a carton of milk. Returning to Caitlin¡¯s room, he dropped a few beads of milk on a corner of her body then poured a few drops on the sheets and floor, creating an intense lovemaking session.
Making sure everything was in ce, Xia Lei finally allowed himself to climb under the covers with her. All that was left now was for Jack and Caitlin to wake up.
Time passed in silence.
Xia Leiid stark naked on an unfamiliar bed, unable to control his mind from wandering astray.
¡°Zhu Xuanyue is missing. Should I contact the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and have theme over? No, I can¡¯t do that. It¡¯s too risky...¡± There was no definite answer to this question but now his mind had found itself a new focus. ¡°The R-170 sentry, the Global Eagle and Predator. This is the closest I have ever been to America¡¯s best drones. Well, what perspective shall I begin my study to create Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s very own drone?¡±
This was a question to himself that required much careful consideration.
Chapter 930 - Spy Game
Jack stirred after two hours, finally blinking his heavy lids apart. Everything felt blurry. With a slight shake of his head, his vision became clearer but Caitlin and Xia Lei were nowhere to be seen. He jogged his memory, urgently jolting up from the floor. Jack grabbed the whiskey bottle over, twisted the cap open and took a sniff. There wasn¡¯t anything out of ce. Then, he repeated the action on the ss cups but found nothing weird as well. Following that, his gazended onto the side of the couch, finally noticing Xia Lei¡¯s coat and Caitlin¡¯s pants.
Carefully, Jack picked up Xia Lei¡¯s coat and began to rummage through his pockets. He found a shockingly plump wallet filled to the brim with cash. There were American dor bills, Euros and even Pesos. Other than money, there was a Mexican driver¡¯s license that had Costa printed on it and some ID pictures of his Hispanic get up. Soon enough, Jack found a passport. An observant look inside its content had revealed that there were no inconsistencies. The man stuffed everything back in ce in the coat pockets and entered the corridor.
As he strode along the corridor, he found Caitlin¡¯s bra and a pair of dark boxer briefs. Jack scowled at the sight, allowing himself to curse. ¡°Fucking assholes. The only thing they know is how to fuck. No one had bothered to check on me! I was out cold on the floor for god¡¯s sake!¡±
The pair had left him unconscious on the wooden floor on a winter night. Costa ignoring him was not a big deal but Caitlin was his blood sister. How could she do that to him?
Jack gripped the door but immediately discarded the thought seconds before turning it open. He turned around and left for his study. Upon entering it, he observed everything inside carefully.
There was a deafening but peaceful silence in the study,pletely void of any signs of intrusion.
Jack came to the front of theputer desk and pulled open a drawer to retrieve a UV pen. With a click, he turned it on and shone its light onto the mouse.
Jack was an extremely cautious person. Followed by every use of hisputer would be a thorough wiping of all hisputer appliances. Before usage, he would shine his UV pen to detect fingerprints which would allow him to tell if anyone had used his device without permission. Caitlin had once used hisputer without Jack¡¯s knowledge and after he had found out, she had experienced a round of intense scolding. Nothing of that sort had repeated itself after that incident.
The man checked his mouse and then checked his keyboard, both of which were very clean. No one had touched it prior.
Despite finding nothing, Jack switched on his device. With swift motions, he logged in with his password and began to search for any trace of file duplication and reading.
Soon enough, there was a conclusion. Jack¡¯sputer waspletely untouched.
¡°Seems like he really is just a civilian. I was too paranoid.¡± Jack thought to himself, finally leaving his study to stand at the front of Caitlin¡¯s room. This time, he pushed the door open and invited himself inside.
The unsightly disy before the brother made him scowl. His sister and the Mexican boy hadid on bed stark naked. The heater was sting through the room with no regard for their electricity bills. However, that wasn¡¯t the worst part. Jack¡¯s face flushed with embarrassment upon noticing the thick white substances clinging all over his sister¡¯s body. There were white traces all over her chest, her face and in between her legs. Disgustingly, there were even droplets of it on the floor.
¡°Fuck!¡± Jack screamed internally. ¡°Is this guy a fucking horse or some kind of animal?!¡±
As Jack tried to stomach the scene, Xia Lei turned around abruptly andnded a leg along with an arm onto her body and neck respectively.
The weight of Xia Lei¡¯s leg was not enough to wake her up but as soon as the weight of his arm had fallen on her neck, Caitlin¡¯s breathing was instantly disturbed. She blinked her eyes open, immediately waking up in shock.
Noticing Jack, she shrilled. ¡°AAAHHH! Jack?! What are you doing here?! Get out! Get out!¡±
¡°I¡¯m just here to bring you your clothes.¡± Jack shrugged his shoulders with feigned nonchnce, quickly tossing the garments onto the bed and left.
On the contrary, Xia Lei was still snoring. He had not shown the least bit movements even with Caitlin¡¯s screaming and Jack¡¯s voice. After all, he had ¡®came¡¯ at an astonishing one-third of a milk carton¡¯s volume. The amount could easily slump a bull too.
¡°Costa? Costa? Hey, wake up. I need to talk to you.¡± Caitlin shook his shoulders, trying to wake him up.
Xia Lei continued to snooze away, mumbling a string on incoherent Spanish words.
¡°Costa, why are you saying?¡± It was evident that Caitlin knew no ounce of Spanish.
Xia Lei said nothing else and started to snore.
Caitlin studied her body, finding a copious amount of sticky substance particrly around her lower abdomen and privates. The sight of it had her gape in surprise. ¡°Costa, you... you¡¯re that strong?¡±
The woman trailed her eyes along the length of Xia Lei¡¯s body, the sight of him in his naked glory causing some excitement in her heart. She had felt nothing during the process earlier. It felt as if she was presented with a tter of the most scrumptious delicacy but ended up having it delivered straight into her stomach through stic tubing.
She pouted and pushed at Xia Lei again. ¡°You made a mess out of me and yet continue to sleep your head off. Come on, wake up. We need to talk.¡±
There was no response from Xia Lei.
¡°Alright, fine. Since you fucked me while I was drunk, then I shall help myself with you.¡± Caitlin prowled over.
Ten minutester, she gave up. Feeling extremely dejected, she pulled the covers over and went to sleep.
Under the warm covering, Xia Lei smirked sinisterly. As long as he wished to control himself, the current him was literally invincible against all women in the world.
¡°Siyao, Fan Fan, Ah Bing and Jiang Ruyi. If you four found out what I had just experienced, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll apud me for my determination. You¡¯re definitely going to reward me handsomely as a good husband, right?¡± Xia Lei thought of his four lovers in silence.
His thoughts were one-sided. If Liang Siyao, Fan Fan, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi had caught sight of what Caitlin did to Xia Lei, they¡¯d probably rip Caitlin¡¯s mouth a new one and beat the crap out of her. A reward was out of the question.
Caitlin soon fell asleep.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the walls beside the door. With a slight twitch of his left eye, his X-ray vision brought him across the wooden walls and headed forward until it reached the inside of Jack¡¯s study.
Jack was answering a call.
Xia Lei locked his sight on Jack¡¯s moving lips.
¡°Yeah, I learnt what happened to the hotel. But I heard it was nothing more than an ident, perhaps caused by gas leakage. Yeah? The Mexican? Do you mean Costa? Right, he¡¯s right here in my house sleeping with my sister. Jeez, I¡¯m terribly ashamed of my sister. She had only known Costa for less than a day and they¡¯re already sleeping together. That Mexican kid is filthy rich. He had given me ten thousand dors in ce of my sister. He even said that he¡¯d give her another ten thousand dors to spend as she pleased. If I was female, I wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand such ttery too. Please rest assured, I¡¯ve run a thorough check. The man is alright. He¡¯s just a normal rich second-generation. He mentioned that he was attracted to my sister because she resembled his mother. Alright, I¡¯ll continue to keep an eye out. Goodnight, Mister Ton.¡± Jack ended the call.
Mister Ton?
That was thest word Jack had uttered. The mere interpretation of his lips had Xia Lei thinking about that Caucasian man along with the picture he had found inside Jack¡¯sputer storage.
¡°There¡¯s no doubt that he¡¯s from the CIA. This town really is guarded intensely by the CIA. Thank goodness I chose a Mexican disguise. If I had used an Asian disguise, I would¡¯ve been targeted and they¡¯d probably have the idea to interrogate me.¡± Xia Lei pondered to himself. ¡°I can¡¯t stay at this ce for long but who knows when Jack will be done with the drone? If I leave right now, all my efforts will be futile. If only Zhu Xuanyue was here. Turning Jack into a puppet wouldn¡¯t be a problem and I could control him with ease.¡±
The best n was definitely utilizing Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s powers to hypnotize Jack then make him alter the drone¡¯s makeup. As long as the FA ships the drone back to Mexico, Xia Lei would be able to manipte Jack to st the FA nest open!
This was a non-consequential n with zero ws. It was extremely unfortunate that Zhu Xuanyue had gone missing at such a critical time.
ns could never catch up to changing times. Xia Lei had gotten a taste of it and it sure did leave him feeling helpless and bitter.
Footsteps were thudded along the wooden corridor.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye prated through the walls once again, immediately locating Jack.
Jack had an arm wrapped around a book. He came to a halt in front of Caitlin¡¯s door and stuck his cheek snug against the frame. His attempt to spy of them was returned with nothing, causing him to return to his room disinterestedly.
¡°Jeez, what a pervert. I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s trying to spy on his sister¡¯s private time.¡± Xia Lei cursed silently, resuming his X-ray vision to observe Jack.
Jack read a few pages of the book and dozed off eventually.
With that, Xia Lei closed his eyes. It was time for some rest.
The next morning, Xia Lei had woken before Caitlin. He had to be cautious enough to avoid her drowsy excitement that may lead to her request for some morning sex. As expected, Caitlin had stirred just as Xia Lei was fully clothed.
¡°Costa, why are you up so early?¡± Through sleepy mumbles, Caitlin looked at Xia Lei hopefully.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Baby, I was just about to make you breakfast.¡±
¡°But I¡¯d like to have you instead.¡± Her drawl waszy but alluring.
It elicited a chuckle from Xia Lei. ¡°Baby, haven¡¯t you had enoughst night? I was almost wrung dry by you. You need to spare me some refractory period.¡±
¡°Fine. How about a kiss then?¡± Caitlin climbed out from between the covers.
One sweet kisster, Xia Lei exited her room.
Jack had long awakened and the brother was already done with making breakfast. Xia Lei¡¯s sight was weed by a neatly-dressed Jack who was about to leave for work. The man looked at Xia Lei and said, ¡°Costa, I¡¯m going off to work. Breakfast is on the table, please enjoy it with Caitlin.¡±
¡°Are you in a rush?¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I was just thinking of inviting you and Caitlin to Washington. I¡¯m going to buy her a car and I recall her saying that you¡¯d like a pickup truckst night so I¡¯m thinking of gifting you the newest Ford F550 pickup as well. Do you think you will be avable for that?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Jack froze momentarily. ¡°You want to buy me an F550? That car costs about three hundred thousand.¡±
Calmly, Xia Lei replied, ¡°Is three hundred thousand expensive? I¡¯ve won five million from a round of ckjack in Las Vegas.¡±
¡°I... I¡¯ll be avable tomorrow.¡± Jack shed him a smile. ¡°Will tomorrow be alright?¡±
Xia Lei returned the smile. ¡°No problem.¡±
Chapter 931 - A Battle of Intelligence
The fact that Jack had time off tomorrow hinted Xia Lei at something. The assembly of his murder weapon, Predator B, was set to bepleted today. Following itspletion, the drone would be left with its final test. The only thing left he needed to know was where the drone was to be delivered.
¡°The FA members will not enter Lockheed Martin¡¯s building directly, the American government wouldn¡¯t want to leave trails of this incident either. Without a doubt, Lockheed Martin will want nothing to do with this to avoid potential sanctions and revenge. They¡¯ll definitely send Predator B elsewhere toplete the transaction. I need to enter the Lockheed Martin headquarters to find more information on this. At the same time, I shall help myself with studying their drones and fighter jets along with their production line. Since I¡¯m here, I might as well enter that ce or it¡¯d be a waste of efforts.¡± Xia Lei made an immediate decision.
Entering Lockheed Martin as Costa wouldn¡¯t happen.
But whose identity should he enter with?
Out of the blue, a Dodge Ram parked itself on the side of the road. Xia Lei immediately gathered his thoughts and took a peek out of the opened door, immediately noticing Ton in its driver¡¯s seat.
Xia Lei could feel his heart clench with mild anxiety. ¡°What is this bastard doing here this early in the morning?¡±
He moved a step away from the doorway to stand behind the wooden wall. His left sight prated through the wall to peer at the peculiar situation ahead.
¡°Mister Ton, why are you here so early in the morning? Is there anything I can help you with?¡± said Jack as he instinctively turned his head back to look at the door. Xia Lei was no longer in sight. ¡°That Mexican kid must¡¯ve returned to bed to get touchy with my sister! What a horndog!¡± Jack assumed in his mind.
Ton exited his car and took a look at the door behind Jack. The man lowered his voice, ¡°Is that Mexican man in your house?¡±
¡°Costa? Yes, he¡¯s inside.¡± Jack huffed a bitter chuckle. ¡°I told you thatst night. He¡¯s gotten involved with my sister. I won¡¯t be surprised if they¡¯re in the middle of a fuck session right now.¡±
Ton said nothing.
Jack said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Mister Ton. The Mexican kid is fine. I¡¯ve checked myputer through and found nothing. He hasn¡¯tid a finger on my device. If he was a spy, he would¡¯ve already done a number to myputer. I would have a better time believing that he¡¯s a member of a drug ring. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s a spy.¡±
¡°If he wasn¡¯t Mexican, I would¡¯ve already taken him away for tea.¡± Ton shot Jack a look. ¡°No matter what, it¡¯s better to be careful. The job you have is incredibly important, you¡¯re not allowed to make mistakes.¡±
¡°Got it. Please rest assured, Mister Ton,¡± affirmed Jack.
Ton extended an arm over to pat the top of Jack¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re a diligent person. After this whole thing is over, I¡¯ll write a letter to Mister Williams on your behalf. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll agree to let you join the CIA officially as an intelligence officer. You¡¯ll have a double identity and double ie.¡±
Hidden behind the wall, Xia Lei gaped in shock. He had initially thought that Ton held an insignificant role in the CIA. But he did not know that Ton was able tomunicate with Williams directly. Williams was the leader of the CIA! Based on this short exchange between Ton and Jack, Xia Lei had a change of impression on Ton¡¯s identity. Ton was probably at least a person-in-charge of a designated zone. His status was about the same as Liang Siyao¡¯s when she was working for the CIA!
On the roadside, Jack broke into a bright smile. To work for the CIA and to obtain a status would boost his career advancement in Lockheed Martin rapidly. Mainly because the CIA would require him to hold a high administrative position in Lockheed Martin for the job.
¡°Alright, you may leave now. Call me when the trial is done,¡± said Ton.
Jack replied, ¡°Alright, see you next time.¡±
Bidding him goodbye, Ton began to approach the entrance of Jack¡¯s house.
Xia Lei immediately took a few steps back. Avoiding Ton¡¯s line of sight, he carefully entered the corridor and strode towards Caitlin¡¯s room in a flurry. He had obtained a piece of very important information from the process. Ton was the one in contact with the FA organization!
Entering Caitlin¡¯s room, he found the woman still bundledfortable under the covers. His entrance had not triggered any reaction from her but Caitlin had noticed his presence. She drawled intimately, ¡°Baby, let me sleep for a little more.¡±
Xia Lei was silent. He quickly took off his top and bottom, peeling the covers off of her abruptly.
The suddenck of warmth peeled Caitlin¡¯s eyes open. She was surprised to be faced with a dishevelled Xia Lei. ¡°Baby, you...¡±
¡°You¡¯re just too alluring. I can¡¯t take it anymore.¡± Xia Lei pounced on her eagerly.
¡°Wait, didn¡¯t you say that- Mmph!¡± Before she could utter another word, her lips were captured in a kiss.
The pair began to writhe against the sheets, passionately making out as if their lives had depended on it. The room door was left ajar. Peering in from the gap would only allow you to see two entangled lovers.
Ton appeared at the doorway, freezing at the unsightly scene before him. The man quickly turned around in shock. ¡°Oh, sorry, I didn¡¯t know you both were...¡±
¡°Ahh!¡± Caitlin screeched.
Xia Lei frantically pried himself away from Caitlin and rolled off the bed. He made a hasty attempt to pull up his garments for decency sake. ¡°Mister Ton, what are you doing here?¡±
Ton cleared his throat. ¡°I¡¯m good friends with Jack. He invited me over for breakfast.¡±
Xia Lei huffed in his heart. ¡°You¡¯re just here to investigate me yourself. Here for breakfast my ass.¡±
Caitlin pulled the covers over to hide her naked body, her panicked attempt leaving out a wide mass of pale skin to sight. She fumed, ¡°Mister Ton, why didn¡¯t you knock?!¡±
Ton shrugged helplessly. ¡°But Caitlin, the door wasn¡¯t shut.¡±
The woman rolled her eyes at Ton¡¯s back. ¡°Mister Ton, can you please leave so I can wear something?¡±
¡°Uh, sorry.¡± The older man moved away from the door.
Xia Lei bent over and pecked Caitlin. ¡°That dude¡¯s pretty annoying.¡±
The insult was worded audibly on purpose to make sure Ton caught it.
In a mushy tone, Caitlin said, ¡°We¡¯ll continue after he¡¯s gone, okay?¡±
¡°Of course, baby. You¡¯re astounding.¡± Xia Lei gave her another kiss.
The sound of lip-smacking travelled out of the room, apanied by a harmonious feminine moan.
The obscene noises furrowed Ton¡¯s brow.
It was only then that Xia Lei exited the door. ¡°Mister Ton, thank you so much for your helpst time. How about we start eating now? Caitlin wants to grab a shower and you know it¡¯s going to be a mess to clean up.¡±
¡°Alright, alright.¡± Ton stopped Xia Lei before he went on. ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡±
The two men sat at the dining table and began to enjoy breakfast. Jack¡¯s breakfast was rather simple. It consisted of a few fried eggs, some bread and sausages. However, the mind of both men was not fixated on breakfast.
¡°Mister Costa, is your sister alright?¡± Ton attempted to pry. ¡°I heard from the sheriff that the explosionst night had killed more than ten victims. All of their bodies were burnt crisp, it was basically impossible to identify them apart.¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°My sister had already returned to Mexico. God has protected her from the disaster.¡±
¡°Mister Costa, are you really...¡± Ton reduced his volume to a whisper. ¡°Are you really acquaintances with Ohada?¡±
The question made Xia Lei frown. ¡°Mister Ton, aren¡¯t you asking too much about me? Are you here for breakfast or to interrogate me? Are you from the Drug Enforcement Department?¡±
¡°No, no, that¡¯s not it. Please don¡¯t misunderstand my intentions, Mister Costa. I am genuinely curious. You mentioned a namest night and scared away an entire biker gang. I must admit it was pretty impressive.¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Well, Ohada is famous around Mexico. A mention of her name could make children cry. I was just using her name to scare away those bastards. But as you had witnessed, I still paid them ten thousand dors to solve the problem. There¡¯s nothing that can be done without money. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re well aware.¡±
¡°I do. The breakfast is pretty hearty. Hehe,¡±mented Ton with a smile.
Thetter half of the meal had consisted of Ton throwing indirect questions at Xia Lei to gauge his background. Xia Lei was smart enough to evade all of his queries perfectly. He had long prepared himself for this cover. His long fight against the CIA had honed him enough experience to even write a book that could be potentially titled ¡®How to Handle the CIA¡¯.
By the time both of them had finished their portions, Caitlin was still stuck in the shower. The woman was determined to be in the cleanest and best-smelling state she had ever been for her Costa. As for Ton, that man could go eat shit!
¡°I got to leave now, Mister Costa. Catch you next time!¡± Ton excused himself as soon as he had finished off breakfast.
¡°Safe trip, Mister Ton,¡± responded Xia Lei.
Ton left Caitlin¡¯s house and returned to the roadside Dodge Ram. He reminisced about his breakfast encounter with Xia Lei in detail. His thought process was precise but he had found nothing suspicious about Costa.
¡°Jack¡¯s deduction was correct. This man was nothing more than a rich yboy...¡±
As Ton shut the car door behind him and was about to ignite the engine, Xia Lei exited Caitlin¡¯s house with a pack of in flour.
Ton stared at Xia Lei surprisedly. ¡°Mister Costa, what are you doing with that?¡±
The man came to stand at the side of the Dodge Ram and brutally threw the flour sack into the car. ¡°Take this home and make yourself breakfast. I don¡¯t want to see you here tomorrow morning.¡±
Xia Lei shed Ton the middle finger and promptly left for the house.
¡°Motherfucking asshole!¡± Ton yelled after him and drove away.
As the Dodge Ram was driven out of sight, Xia Lei allowed himself out of the house. He came to stand on the side of the road. Noticing the flour debris left by the wind, the edges of his lips curled themselves into a cold smirk.
The best way to handle an elite CIA member like Ton wouldn¡¯t be to nt tracking devices on his body or car. The simplest method of flouring might just do the job.
If one flour sack wasn¡¯t enough, then two flour sacks would¡¯ve solved it all.
But for now, one sack was more than sufficient.
Chapter 932 - Sneaking In
A Yamaha 600CC motorbike zoomed towards the South away from Free Mary town. The ck leather jacket over the biker¡¯s body was paired with a tastefully excessive helmet. There were glittering skulls, rivets, crosses and so on. The biker¡¯s look was unconventionally roguish.
The biker made a few stops at intervals to study the roadside and on-road condition. He seemed to be in search of something.
And that biker man was none other than Xia Lei.
The Yamaha bike along with the leather jacket was bought from a biker gang member at a price of ten thousand dors. Caitlin had wanted toe with him but Xia Lei had rejected her vehemently. Instead, he gave her one hundred thousand dors and told her to go shopping wherever she wished. Though he was just using her, he had not forgotten to allow her some benefit from the exchange.
Xia Lei had spent a lot of money on Caitlin, but in the end, the information he got was worth so much more. If this were to be done legally, one billion dors wouldn¡¯t even be enough to have the American government and Lockheed Martin spare him some attention. Therefore, for the sake of this operation, all the cash spent to woo this woman was worth every penny.
After receiving arge sum of money, Caitlin was obedient and did not further insist toe along with him. Xia Lei had only told her that he was off to meet a business partner but in reality, he was going after Ton.
He had a feeling that Ton was off to see the FA representative. This would soon be the turning point of his stay in America.
Without a tracking device, the sack of flour he had ced in Ton¡¯s car would y a key role. There was a minuscule opening on the top of the sack. As Ton continues his journey, the opening would be wider through wind force and then the flour would scatter itself along the way.
However, the degree of visibility wasn¡¯t one that could be detected by everyone. An untrained eye would probably require a magnifying ss but all Xia Lei needed was his X-ray vision.
The highway towards the south was in the direction of Mexico. Lockheed Martin headquarters and Free Mary Town had long been left behind, both of which were already out of sight. The asphalt road and the trail of flour seemed to stretch on forever. asionally, Xia Lei would pass by a vige or town but they were all tiny. Overall, those ces hadcked the hustle and bustle of life.
He continued to ride on. After zooming along and achieving a journey of one hundred kilometres, a sawmill was presented before Xia Lei¡¯s sight.
The flour trail had led straight to the sawmill. Apparently, the car had made no turns. It was obvious that Ton had entered the facility.
Xia Lei stopped his bike one kilometre away from the sawmill. He was afraid that their surveince system would pick him up. With a swing of his leg, Xia Lei got off the bike and pushed it into the forest on the roadside. He collected a few branches and weed to cover the vehicle. After making sure that the bike was hidden out of sight, he left the woods for the sawmill. There was a path towards the building among the trees but Xia Lei made an effort to avoid itpletely, opting to travel across the dirt.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei had arrived near the sawmill. The ce had no stone fence but it had an anti-theft installed around the area. The metal pipe studs were each equipped with a surveince camera. Security seemed tight and no blind spots were detected.
On an empty space beside the mill was a gigantic pile of wood, mainly that of oak trees and hardwood. These woods were suitable flooring material. A portion of it was typically exported to China. From the binding ropes around the logs, one could notice Chinese flooring brands which indicated that these resources were ordered by Chinese factories.
Xia Lei stayed away from the fence and activated his X-ray vision to study the sawmill. Before long, he found Ton¡¯s Dodge Ram in an area northwards. Ton was no longer in the car and that sack of flour was tossed unceremoniously on the grounds of the sawmill.
Xia Lei scoffed. Throwing the flour away now was useless.
Not far away from the car was a group of wooden buildings. There were buildings and bungalows as well as what seemed like warehouses and workshops. Xia Lei averted his attention onto the establishments. He found some people but none of them looked like lumberjacks. Most of them were armed men, there were Caucasians and cks and even Mexicans. Those men looked fierce. One could evenment that their states could kill, it was evident that they were not part of the American military or agents.
Xia Lei pondered to himself, ¡®Perhaps these people are members of the FA. After the destruction of their Siberian base, they¡¯ve seemed to recruit some Mexican armed forces. It¡¯s safe to assume that they¡¯re nning to receive the drone in America. This operation will clean FA¡¯s status and its sess is very important to them. Certainly, they would have an important figure to oversee the handover. That person¡¯s hierarchical status would be higher than that of Dark Mona¡¯s, right?¡¯
He could imagine the presence of FA¡¯s leader but there was a higher probability of his right-hand man or assistant to be here.
Unfortunately, other than a heap of armed men, Xia Lei found no one suspicious after conducting a careful search with abination of his X-ray vision and microscopic vision. Ton was nowhere to be found too.
¡°He¡¯s not here? Where would Ton and the FA representative be? It looks like I must head in after all.¡± Xia Lei walked along with the anti-theft, which brought him deeper into the sawmill. He refused to believe that this sawmill had the entire forest fenced up. There must be a security blind spot somewhere.
As expected, Xia Lei was met with its corner after a distance of half a kilometre. From there, the extendedterally. After he continued to walk forward, Xia Lei found a simple gate two hundred metres away along with a road that led into the woods. There were mountains of logs on the sides and he could see logging machines and transport trucks. An armed man was stationed at the gate, cigarette dangling off his fingers. The man took in a deep smoke as he talked into themunicator.
¡°What the fuck? Cut me some ck. There¡¯s even someone at the back gate.¡± Xia Lei scowled.
It wouldn¡¯t be difficult for him to get rid of the FA member. As long as he snuck over stealthily, a single stab would be able to solve his concern. However, the FA Organization would notice that someone had infiltrated the facility. This would heavily impact thetter half of his operation and bring him great risks. In his n, it was most important to stay out of sight from the FA Organization. Hence, he could not kill anyone.
An operation without killing was bound to be difficult.
He assessed the situation cautiously, cing his attention along the length of the fence where the gate was. Xia Lei immediately noticed something. There was a drain. The terrain of the woods was increasingly higher as one travelled deeper, the sawmill at the foot would certainly require some infrastructure to drain off water during the rainy season. Fortunately for him, it was not the rainy season currently and the drains werepletely dry.
An idea took form in Xia Lei¡¯s mind, to which he quickly headed towards the drain through circling the forest. A few minutester, he came to the upstream of the drain. Upon inspection, the drain before him was about two feet deep and two feet wide. There was enough space for him to sneak into the mill without anyone noticing him from the ground above.
He jumped into the drain and began his crawl towards the downstream.
The FA Organization was definitely not the owner of the sawmill. This facility was probably a temporary ce used by Ton to liaise with the FA. It made sense as this area was rtively near to Lockheed Martin andparatively rural. However, the FA members or Ton wouldn¡¯t have expected Xia Lei to be in here. No one could care less about a measly drain.
The drain was the only way into the sawmill. It was a good choice as the FA Organization couldn¡¯t possibly haveplete control over an unfamiliarnd. Hence, the drain was the safest path to take.
It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to arrive at the underside of the fence. The drain behind him had no cove. Luckily, the remaining stretch after the fence had shelter, depriving the straight path of light. It was better this way. Now, Xia Lei can worry less and get to his destination for his next course of action.
The underground drain was dark, but it wasn¡¯t too dark to the point of absolute blindness. Some gaps that resulted from loosened coverings provided a small amount of illumination. Utilizing the weak light rays and his incredible night vision, Xia Lei faced no limitation in vision in the dark underground. He could even see from a distance away and he could even activate his X-ray vision to spy on the happenings above ground.
Despite being able to see ahead, Xia Lei¡®s crawl was slow and careful. It took him an hour to get close to the group of wooden buildings. He lowered himself and activated his left vision, letting his sight travel past the concrete drain cover and the surfaceyers of the ground.
Above him, four FA members headed towards a wooden building. He didn¡¯t even require his lip-reading ability to understand their conversation.
¡°I never imagined that one day, we would coborate with the Americans.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not impossible. Some organizations in the Middle East were all supported by America at some point.¡±
¡°The country is the hegemony of this. It dictates what is legal and who is legal. We¡¯ll work for it and get rid of that Chinese man. After that, we¡¯ll be free.¡±
¡°When is that aircraft arriving? Fucking hell, I don¡¯t want to stay at this horrid ce any longer.¡±
¡°After we havepleted our task, I¡¯d like to visit Washington. The CIA has been after my ass for years. I need to take a picture with the White House and post it on Facebook.¡±
¡°Are you fucking insane?¡±
¡°Mister Yan will kill you.¡±
¡°For Mister Yan to do the deed personally...¡±
The remaining was unheard due to their increasing distance. Those four men had their backs to him as they ventured towards the building, rendering his lip-reading ability utterly useless.
However, Xia Lei was rewarded with a new finding. Firstly, it was now confirmed that the sawmill was the location of the exchange. Secondly, there was the appearance of a new character, Mister Yan.
¡°Mister Yan?¡± Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°Could he be Chinese?¡±
Chapter 933 - Crazy Reward and Request
The underground drain canal passed the wooden building and continued forward. The terrain ahead had a drop. The further it extended, the deeper the distance between the drain and upper ground. Reaching a position parallel to the building, Xia Lei could no longer use his X-ray vision to spy above ground. There was no light shining through the gaps ahead.
Fear was inevitable in a constricted ce like this. One could not help themselves away from thoughts about potential unforeseeable doom. What if there was watering his way? What if the ground copsed and caved into the drain? Xia Lei was not spared from such terrifying worries, but it didn¡¯t take long for him to adjust his mental space.
He continued to crawl forward, choosing to stop in the middle of the same wooden building. There, he took out a fluorescent stick from his bag and twisted it lightly. The motion immediately allowed a weak glow to chase away the dark. With some form of light, his vision was no longer limited.
There was a sewage culvert that was connected to the drain system from the direction of the wooden building. The branching piqued Xia Lei¡¯s interest, to which he decided to follow along its path.
It was fortunate that the drain pipes were extremely dry and void of sewage. Theck of smell made the entire crawl bearable.
The glow of the fluorescent stick extended ahead. There was a drop, paired with a simple steeldder along its concrete wall that led towards a cover above. However, the opening waspletely sealed off by the cover, which had not allowed any light to project through.
Xia Lei climbed into the open space, finally able to stand up straight.
Upon inspection, the distance between the bottom and the concrete cover was about two metres tall. Xia Lei activated his left eye once again and let his X-ray vision prate through the cover. All he saw was the blue sky and a part of the building¡¯s roof. The area around the cover were patches of grass. There was no one in sight.
With caution, Xia Lei gripped the steeldder and ascended. The man then borrowed the strength of his back to lift the cover up lightly. A gap appeared. Studying his environment through the small gap, his left eye passed through a bunch of weed to a window on the wooden building. Though the ss panels were shut and its curtains were drawn, Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision had allowed him to find his target. Ton.
However, Ton wasn¡¯t alone. There was an Asian man inside the same room.
The Asian man sat opposite Ton. He looked about in his thirties and waspletely bald. He had a long face and had decorated his ear lobes with a dainty earring. Not to mention, his lips were painted with lipstick. The man exuded a form of femininity, choosing to wear ck long sleeves, gold leather shoes and a generous adorning of statement nes.
The man had reminded Xia Lei of Qin Xiang but Qin Xiang was better looking than he was.
¡°Could he be the man the four armed men were talking about? Is he Mister Yan?¡± Xia Lei questioned silently.
He drew his military knife and lodged the handle into the gap. It relieved his back from the cover lifting while maintaining an appropriate gap.
In the room, the Asian man was deep in discussion with Ton.
¡°Mister Ton.¡± The man spoke up, ¡°You know what we want. Satisfy our needs and we¡¯ll create your gun.¡±
¡°I¡¯m here to settle two things.¡± Ton exined, ¡°Firstly, to deliver the drone to you. I¡¯m sure the aircraft will be arriving here very soon. Secondly, to finish off the discussion with the FA Organization.¡±
¡°Very well, where would you like to start?¡±
¡°I have an amnesty order signed by the president and a bill that will be proposed during the congress. The passing of this bill will legalize the FA Organization and allow it to be recognized by America and its allies.¡±
¡°Splendid, please hand it over,¡± said the Asian man.
Ton stopped him. ¡°But there¡¯s a requirement.¡±
¡°To kill off Xia Lei, right?¡± The man continued, ¡°There¡¯s no need to mention it. There¡¯s no need for you to show distrust in our determination to get rid of him.¡±
Ton stared at him. ¡°No, it¡¯s not about that.¡±
¡°Huh? Then what could it be?¡±
Ton replied, ¡°We¡¯d like to know who the leader of the FA is.¡±
The other man was taken aback but he declined with a shake of his head soon after. ¡°Sorry, that can¡¯t be done.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Think about bin Laden, think about Gaddafi. Those were significant figures that your party has gotten rid of. The leader wouldn¡¯t wish to end up like them. They wouldn¡¯t want to receive a precision-guided missile as a gift someday,¡± exined the Asian man.
¡°Mister Yan, you should be clear that this is our condition.¡±
Oh, so he was Mister Yan.
¡°Anything but that.¡± Mister Yan¡¯s tone was stern. ¡°If you cannot agree to this, then we must cancel off our deal.¡±
Ton shrugged. ¡°Alright then, guess I¡¯ll switch it up. Tell me, what is your backup n like?¡±
¡°For that, we¡¯ll hijack a ne and reenact the tragedy that scarred all of America,¡± revealed Mister Yan.
Ton chuckled. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s the ne. I must admit I¡¯m relieved to hear that. Your n A and n B are unique. Is there a n C?¡±
Mister Yan returned Ton a slight smile and said nothing else.
Under the cover, Xia Lei shook with anger. Though the disaster Mister Yan had uttered was not specified, Xia Lei could guess that he meant the 911 incident. The FA Organization was actually nning to recreate the terrorist attack on him!
¡°Hijack a ne and crash it into the Thunder Horse Military Factory? If I let you live any longer, you will poison this world!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s re was piercingly scary.
In the room, Ton opened his work bag and passed two sets of documents to Mister Yan.
The effeminate Asian man had only flipped through the pages for a mere ten minutes before cing it down onto the table. He asked, ¡°When is the droneing?¡±
Ton checked the time on his wristwatch. ¡°Probably in another two to three hours or so.¡±
¡°Will it fly over or...¡±
¡°There¡¯s nonding track for it here so we¡¯ll be transporting it by car. You¡¯ve got experts to assemble it, right?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t underestimate us. Even if you gave us a nuclear bomb, we can find a way to trigger it.¡±
¡°Surely you jest,¡±mented Ton.
Mister Yan retorted, ¡°This is not a joke, Mister Ton. We¡¯ve got experts and we¡¯ll be assembling the drone in Chinese territory.¡±
¡°You¡¯re sending it straight to China?¡±
¡°Of course, we¡¯re not going to be sending it elsewhere,¡± answered Mister Yan.
Xia Lei plucked the military knife from under the cover and returned to the drain canal through the sewage culvert. Then, he made a quick crawl back to his entry point.
No one had noticed his reemergence into the woods.
Returning to the forest, Xia Lei dashed towards the spot where he had hidden the Yamaha bike. Time was of the essence. He needed to utilize every second well for he had only one chance at this!
Hopping onto the bike, he rode off in the opposite direction where he hade from. The lush forest whistled by him rapidly, the wilderness empty of human presence. The roadside scenery was aplete blur, Xia Lei weaved through traffic as fast as a bullet train. The vehicle roared on for a while until a vige had appeared ahead at a distance.
Ten minutester, Xia Lei and his Yamaha 600CC bike had appeared at that vige.
A Caucasian couple enjoying a leisure stroll by the river bank stared at Xia Lei and his intimidating bike curiously. His appearance had given him a delinquent appearance, and this ce had never seen anything like him before.
Xia Lei hopped off the bike and headed straight towards the couple.
Immediately, their gazes were cautious. The young blond male came to stand in front of his girlfriend, wary that this stranger might have half a mind to harm his lover.
Xia Lei paused a few steps away from them. He took off his helmet and graced the couple with his attractive Asian features. He shed them a smile. ¡°Hello. It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m not here to hurt you.¡±
Noticing that the stranger was Asian seemed to calm the young couple down. To them, Asians did not appear threatening.
¡°What do you want?¡± The blond questioned.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Well, you see... I¡¯ve got a terminal disease and I¡¯m running out of time very soon. I wish to entertain myself before an untimely death.¡±
The young Caucasian woman replied, ¡°You came to the wrong ce. There¡¯s nothing fun to do around here. This is a very rural area.¡±
Xia Lei continued to exin, ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean drugs and women. I¡¯m not even looking for alcohol. The entertainment I yearn for is rather unconventional.¡±
¡°I hope you¡¯ll find what you want,¡± said the blond man. His words seemed to be hinting that it was about time for Xia Lei to leave them alone.
Xia Lei pressed on. ¡°I¡¯m filthy rich and I¡¯ve got money that you could only dream of. If you entertain me, I¡¯ll pay you handsomely. How does that sound?¡±
The young couple looked at each other in confusion. The blond asked, ¡°What do you mean? ¡°
Xia Lei answered, ¡°It¡¯s very simple. I¡¯ll pay you ten thousand dors for you to go to a spot designated by me and...¡± Words were left unsaid, reced by a lewd gesture. Xia Lei clenched his left fist and jammed his right finger into the tight fleshy space.
The universal motion had hinted at them strongly, anyone of a certain age would¡¯ve known what it meant.
¡°You...¡± The blond gaped in shock. ¡°You want us to do that?¡±
There was a sheepish smile on Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯m into voyeurism, especially outdoor voyeurism. What do you think? Will you be willing to take on the deal? I¡¯ll pay you ten thousand dors.¡±
Though ten thousand dors wasn¡¯t a gigantic sum to normal Americans, the lure of a handsome pay was most definitely alluring to anyone.
The couple whispered among themselves hushedly before the young woman nodded her head.
The blond asked for further rification. ¡°Will the designated spot be far away?¡±
¡°Not at all, it¡¯s about one kilometre from here. I can drive you there,¡± offered Xia Lei.
The young woman voiced, ¡°We¡¯ll like to receive a deposit first.¡±
Xia Lei retrieved his wallet and dug out five thousand dors. The man ced it on the floor. ¡°Here is five thousand dors. I¡¯ll pay you the other half after the deed is done.¡±
The blond picked up the deposit excitedly. ¡°Of course, no problem.¡±
Xia Lei specified, ¡°I¡¯ve got a request though. Once we get there, you both need to wait at the roadside for a bit. I¡¯ll hand you a phone. You can get to fucking as soon as you received my call. You must make sure to fuck in the middle of the road, okay? Don¡¯t stop even if there are cars honking at you. You must carry on until you¡¯re finished.¡±
¡°Huh? We can¡¯t stop even with cars in front of us? What if they refuse to stop?¡± The blond man was perplexed and weirded out.
Xia Lei convinced him further. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, nothing bad will happen. Just do as I say and I¡¯ll add on an additional reward of another ten thousand dors. You both will get ten thousand each. It¡¯s more than enough for you to buy a decent car.¡±
¡°Haha! You¡¯re such a generous man.¡± This time, the young Caucasian woman replied before her boyfriend could. ¡°We¡¯re willing to do it. Please bring us there.¡±
Xia Lei stepped aside and gestured an invitation. ¡°Here, hop on board.¡±
Chapter 934 - The Thief and Xiaoqian
The temperature in the afternoon was warmer as the sun rose over the clouds.
An International truck carrying a very long container drove along a path between the forest. The speed of the truck was rather slow due to its length.
The driver was a young and decently attractive ck female. At the moment, Jack was her passenger who¡¯d sometimes sneak a nce at her thighs. Her thick thighs stretched her leggings taut, which allowed the garment to emphasize the curve of her limbs. It was all in all seductive. However, all he could do was stare because he knew that the ck chick was Ton¡¯s underling, which meant that she was an elite special agent working for the CIA. On the contrary, he was just a member of the CIA reserve team.
Nevertheless, he believed that he would be an official member after this mission. He had hoped that he would be given a significant role.
¡°Wanna touch?¡± said the ck female agent as she turned her face to look at Jack.
Jack sheepishly avoided eye contact. All of a sudden, he screamed, ¡°Watch out!¡±
The ck female special agent snapped her attention back to the front, mming the brakes.
Ahead of them was a young Caucasian pair having sex. The man was putting in so much effort whereas the woman¡¯s reaction was crazily exaggerated. In broad daylight, they shamelessly continued, blissfully ignoring the truck inches away from them. In fact, they did not even have the slightest intention to stop.
¡°Hey!¡± The female agent couldn¡¯t resist butugh. ¡°What are these jerks doing?¡±
¡°You know what they¡¯re doing,¡± said Jack unamused. The man moved his hand and honked at the couple.
The horn was deafening but the couple was unfazed by the sound, opting to continue their fornication. Their pale asses looked dazzling under the winter daylight. The shameless couple even went to the extent of cing in twice as much effort than before. Perhaps they felt the need to appease their audience.
While Jack and the female agent were distracted by the bewildering disy, a ck mass fell from the branches andnded itself directly behind the container of the truck. The mysterious mass had sessfully evaded the side mirrors of the truck.
Xia Lei was the shadow.
Xia Lei leapt effortlessly, grabbing the side of the container and crawled to the top.
The container was not locked with a single-use steel lock. Instead, it was locked with a very advancedbination lock. If it were a single-use steel lock, Xia Lei would¡¯ve left unwanted traces. Yet, thisbination lock gave him a chance to clear his tracks.
Twenty secondster, Xia Lei sessfully unlocked thebination lock without triggering the rm system.
Xia Lei kept his encoder away and pried the container door open. Following that, he then squeezed in through the gap, remembering to shut the door behind him. His stealthy mission had taken him all but thirty seconds.
The container was loaded with the disassembled wing from the customized Predator B drone. The drone body was fixed to a frame.
Xia Lei went below the ne body and pried the cabin door open, immediately presented with a host of data ports. Then, he took out his hackingptop and connected it to Predator B¡¯s data port.
Meanwhile, on the asphalt road, the couple continued their show.
The ck female agent decided she had enough of them. She pulled out her pistol and reached her upper body out to its muzzle at the white young man. ¡°Get off or I will shoot you!¡±
The young man shivered. Perhaps he was frightened, or perhaps it was due to some other reason.
¡°How dare he...Ugh, fuck!¡± The female agent pulled the trigger of her pistol.
Bang! The bullet hit the road and sparked a little.
The young man began to run for his life while he attempted to pull up his pants. His girlfriend, however, stumbled to the ground due to her underwear that restricted her ankle. The scene looked exactly like it was a snippet from a movie directed by Tinto Brass.
The female agent put her gun away and scoffed mockingly. ¡°Can¡¯t you guys do this at home? What a fucking asshole!¡±
Jack seemed to be reminded of something. ¡°Wait a minute.¡±
The female agent looked at him questioningly. ¡°What?¡±
Jack replied, ¡°Doesn¡¯t this feel strange? It worries me. Let me check the back of the truck.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯lle with you,¡± said the woman. With that, Jack and the female agent got off the truck. Cautiously, she held her pistol and aimed it at the back of the truck.
Both of them came to the tail of the truck. There was no one behind and there were no unusual signs. The container lock seemed to be perfectly in ce.
¡°Should we unlock it and take a look?¡± asked the female agent.
Jack replied, ¡°That¡¯s not necessary. I alone hold thebination to this lock. Even the best hacker in this world would take at least ten minutes to crack thisbination lock.¡±
¡°Is it that good? It¡¯s just a normalbination lock to me.¡±
Jack replied, ¡°This lock was manufactured by Lockheed Martin. Let¡¯s go, we can¡¯t have Mister Ton wait too long.¡±
They returned into the truck and drove towards the sawmill.
After driving for a certain distance, the female agent peered outside. She saw the weird young man pulling his pants up while his girlfriend tried to clean her body with pieces of tissue. The young woman had hurt her knees and there was blood trickling down from her wounds. Her brows were furrowed in pain. As they noticed the approaching truck, they got frightened again and jumped into the bushes by the road like rabbits.
The female agent stretched an arm out of the window and shed her middle finger.
¡°Bitch!¡± The young man crawled out of the bushes after the truck drove by, spitting vehemently towards the ground.
¡°Darling, there¡¯s no need to be angry. We¡¯re about to receive twenty thousand dors. We should be happy,¡± said the woman in an attempt to console her boyfriend.
¡°Let¡¯s go find him. He still owes us fifteen thousand dors,¡± said the man.
The couple returned onto the road and walked towards the location where they were separated from Xia Lei.
In the meantime, inside the container of the truck, a progress bar shown on-screen had just beenpleted. It was copying all the data, programs and software of Predator B onto Xia Lei¡¯sptop.
Xia Lei had almost failed his mission a few minutes earlier because of Jack and the ck female agent. He would have to kill them if Jack had opened the container. And if that happened, both the CIA and FA organization would be alerted and changes would be made to their n A.
Xia Lei¡¯s fingers danced on top of the keyboard. It was the only thing audible in the very quiet container. Nevertheless, he was not worried that the sound would be detected by Jack and the female agent since the container was equipped with an outstanding soundproofing function.
He was keying in a virus code he wrote, which he had affectionately named ¡®Xiaoqian¡¯.
The inspiration of the name Xiaoqian came from a ssic horror movie titled A Chinese Ghost Story. Xiaoqian was the main leading character in the film, who waster turned into a powerful ghost.
He imnted Xiaoqian on the control system of Predator B so that he could lurk at its control like a ghost. Once the FA organization does a test run on Predator B, Xia Lei would gain ess to relevant data. This would be very useful to him as he was about to dwell into drones.
More importantly, once Predator B¡¯s trial mode was activated, all he needed to do was to send amand to Xiaoqian. Then, he would be able to control Predator B. He could bomb anyone as he pleased!
Xia Lei ended his operation a few minutester. He bagged hisptop and opened the container, squeezing through the gap to exit the truck. He made sure to close the container and then grabbed its sides. Steadily, he lowered his feet onto the road. After running a certain distance with the truck, he released his grip the moment the truck turned a corner. Immediately, he fell andid t on the ground. The spot he hadid himself was the exact blind spot of the driver. That way, Jack and the female agent would not spot him.
The truck continued its journey to the sawmill as Xia Lei got up and left the road into the forest.
His n was one-thirdplete.
Recalling the process, he had to admit that it was very troublesome and full of risks. However, the rewards were truly iparable. Even the reward for the drone itself could not be measured with money.
About a minuteter, he arrived at the ce where he hid his Yamaha. There, he also spotted the young couple waiting for him.
¡°Hey, Boss. We did as you asked, please pay us the remainder,¡± uttered the young man.
The young woman was staring at Xia Lei eagerly. Her pants were dyed red due to the bleeding wounds she sustained on her knee. For the couple, they had risked their lives to please this sick China brat. Yet, twenty thousand dors was worth all the fright and pain.
Xia Lei took out his wallet and handed the young man a stack of US dors along with somerge denomination Euros. After that, he pushed his Yamaha and left.
¡°What a weirdo,¡±mented the young man.
¡°He sure is. If he wasn¡¯t weirdo, there¡¯s no way he¡¯d pay us twenty thousand dors for that,¡± muttered the blushing woman.
Abruptly, Xia Lei turned his head around. ¡°Remember, I never met you and you have never met me. I did not pay you twenty thousand dors. If word spreads out, I will return and take back all my money.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you worry at all. I will never speak about it,¡± swore the young man.
Who was foolish enough to lose twenty thousand dors?
Xia Lei pushed his Yamaha back onto the road. With a swing of his leg, he rode on top of it and roared the engine into life. The man headed back to Free Mary Town.
He had executed the most difficult part of his n. This made the rest of it significantly easier.
Chapter 935 - A Sly Opponent
Xia Lei reached Free Mary Town. Without taking out the key, he left his Yamaha in front of The ming Skeleton, bought from a member of the biker gang.
The one who sold Xia Lei the Yamaha was drinking in The ming Skeleton at the moment. Whenever he decided to leave, he would find that the bike he sold for ten thousand USD returned out of nowhere. He would certainly ept this gift. Would a simple-minded bike gang member even think of what had happened?
Xia Lei returned to Caitlin¡¯s ce.
Caitlin wasn¡¯t at home. She was probably shopping at a shopping mall in Washington with her newly acquired one hundred thousand USD. She was in love and enjoying a wonderful life. It must be celebrated and shopping was definitely the best way to do it for a woman.
Caitlin was in Washington, while both Jack and Ton were at the sawmill a hundred kilometres away. Now, it was the time for the second part of his n, to infiltrate Lockheed Martin.
This was the best and only chance he had. He must seize this opportunity because he would be entering Lockheed Martin as Jack.
Xia Lei rushed to Caitlin¡¯s room. He then put on a human skin mask in the bathroom and amended it.
One hourter, Xia Lei was in front of Lockheed Martin. His face was covered with Jack¡¯s human skin mask, which was identical to the original Jack. The one and only w were his eyes. Xia Lei was not able to put makeup on his eyes and turned them into those dark-blue eyes that Caucasians have. Even though he managed to alter the colour slightly, the w could still be spotted if studied closely. However, this issue was solved easily by putting on a pair of Ray-Ban sunsses.
The armed guards in front of the gate nced at Xia Lei and did not take any further action. Jack¡¯s mission was ssified. They won¡¯t even know where Jack went based on their role in thispany.
Xia Lei walked past the armed guards calmly, which formed the first line of defence. After that, he took out the identity card he copied from Jack earlier when he reached the gate. He inserted the card into the identifier and passed sessfully. He then kept his identity card and entered Lockheed Martin in a swaggering manner. He went to the production area instead of the headquarters.
Jack was an engineer. It was very normal for him to have ess to the production area of Lockheed Martin.
The headquarters of Lockheed Martin definitely possessed highly ssified secret intelligence and military technology. However, Xia Lei knew that it would be a trap because if he chose to enter the headquarters, the high board members of thepany would definitely think that there was something wrong. If not, why was he in the headquarters when he was supposed to be at the sawmill? Xia Lei was a person who knew to make a choice and the right time to be greedy.
In fact, based on the current situation, the rewards would be more than enough as he walked around the production area of Lockheed Martin.
As he walked past the production line for the F16, he recorded the production line with his sight and immediately stored it in his brain. Some were numbers, images, even three-dimensional images.
Previously, he did the exact same thing when he was at Rheinmetall in Germany. Nevertheless, when Xia Leipared Rheinmetall to Lockheed Martin, he found out that the former was just a beast on the ground whereas thetter was a dragon that triumphs the air!
Lockheed Martin made up forty per cent of the global military trade. They have the number-one military technology and they yed a significant role in making America a world-leading country.
That was how powerful Lockheed Martin was.
When passing through the production line F35, Xia Lei crouched down and tied his shoces.
When passing through the production line of AGM-114 missile, he was caught in a daze for a while.
A whole lot of information was absorbed into his brain as he passed through the production lines one by one. The information he got in such a short period of time was much, much more than he was able to digest. He could not take it anymore. Yet, he still had to try his best as this would be the only chance he had. Even without possessing the military technology of Lockheed Martin, it was good enough to understand the capability and relevant parameters of the products of Lockheed Martin as this intelligence would be quite valuable to a country too!
Tick tock. Tick tock. Xia Lei was so immersed in the military technology of Lockheed Martin that he did not feel the passing of time. Nevertheless, the hours went by.
After some time, an International truck with a container wasing in from the shipping gate when Xia Lei reached the side of a fighter. He was staring at the fighter that was ced on the open-air ground and so impressed by its aerodynamicyout that he did not know what had happened. As he was preparing to use his X-ray vision to have a three-dimensional shot of the fighter, the truck stopped behind him in close proximity.
¡°Jack, why are you here?¡± Someone called out to him from behind.
Xia Lei heard the voice and immediately realized what had happened. He had stayed at Lockheed Martin for so long that Jack and Ton were already back!
¡°What are you talking about? I was just out to deliver something,¡± said Jack.
¡°Uh, sorry. Perhaps I mistook you for someone else,¡± uttered someone.
Xia Lei did not look back and strode past the nose of the fighter and reached its wing. He covered himself behind the fighter¡¯s body to avoid being spotted by Jack. In the meantime, he saw Jack and the ck female agent with his X-ray vision.
A Ram came inside too and stopped beside the truck. Ton got off from the Ram and beckoned at Jack, ¡°Well done, Jack. Follow me and I shall introduce you to Mister Thompson. You will get the reward you deserved.¡±
Jack headed towards Ton, but he turned and looked back at his colleague he had a conversation with just now. He also looked around the ce after that.
¡°Is this guy born to be so cautious and sly? Perhaps he will be an outstanding opponent if he joins the CIA. And a huge pain in the ass,¡± thought Xia Lei.
Xia Lei even thought about killing Jack now to save himself some future trouble.
Jack walked in front of Ton and said, ¡°Mister Ton, one of my colleague said something strange just now.¡¯¡±
¡°What did he say?¡± asked Ton, his eyes filled with suspicion and vignce.
Jack lowered his voice and answered, ¡°The colleague asked me why I was here and said he mistook me for someone else.¡±
¡°You are saying that...¡± said Ton with a frown.
¡°Could it be there was someone who looked like me came here?¡± muttered Jack as he looked around again. ¡°Or perhaps, there was someone who disguised as me.¡±
¡°Disguised as you? How could that be possible?¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing impossible in this world,¡± Jack replied. ¡° Mister Ton, I think that we may need to check the ess record for safety measures. Based on the security level of Lockheed Martin, he could only use my identity card to enter. If there was someone who really disguised as me, there would be a record in the system once he used my identity card.¡±
¡°So what are we waiting for?¡± uttered Ton. ¡°Let¡¯s go and find out now. If there was really someone who disguised as you, then we must seal off the entire building.¡±
Both of them trotted towards the headquarters.
Without further ado, Xia Lei trotted towards the shipping gate. He must leave this ce before Jack found out about the ess record andmanded to seal off the entire building. Even a single second spent there was more than enough to get him killed!
ns were not always urate. He could not think of every step precisely even with his super brain.
¡°Jack! Ton!¡± thought Xia Lei, feeling the urge to kill them bubbling once again.
Reaching the shipping gate, he slowed down to a normal pace and exited. The guards stationed at the gate did not get suspicious as it felt like something regr.
He left the main road and headed towards ane after he exited.
There was a dense forest beside thene. Xia Lei picked up his backpack and began to run as fast as he could in the forest.
This was not the route he chose provisionally. Instead, this was exactly the route he nned for his escape. Through Google Maps, he knew everything about the area, from terrains tondforms. The backpack was hidden before he entered Lockheed Martin.
From now on, every second he had was crucial!
Jack and Ton would find out about his record in the ess system soon, which indicated that they would know the ce he left from!
Thene in the forest was very rugged. He moved his chest up, and his legs were working like the pistons in an engine. His speed could even bepared with a cheetah. Still, he did know that if there were an SUV with a speed of eighty miles per hour topete with him. He would be ahead of the SUV instead of the other way round!
Yet, for the first time in his life, he was forced to run this fast.
In the blink of an eye, he was already quite a distance from Lockheed Martin. As he was preparing to run at his full speed, he heard the ear-piercing siren from Lockheed Martin. Without looking back, he could imagine the picture of the armed guards from Lockheed Martin at operation. Even the special agents in the CIA, which was the special force of thepany, would join the same operation too!
A two-meter wide river appeared in front of him as he ran. Xia Lei did not slow down and jumped over the river effortlessly using his right foot.
Swoosh!
Hended on the opposite side of the river sessfully, but an obvious footprint was left at the ground full of dead leaves. But right now, it was none of his concern.
Chapter 936 - Guerilla Tactics
¡°Mister Ton, there¡¯s a footprint here.¡± Jack found an obvious footprint on the riverside of the forest and crouched beside the footprint. ¡°It seemed like this footprint was left recently.¡±
¡°Nice work,¡± praised Ton. ¡°You have been working very hard and executed every task I gave you perfectly. But can you tell me why he disguised as you and infiltrated Lockheed Martin?¡±
Jack shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m quite confused as well. Based on the surveince images from some of the surveince cameras, it seemed like he was just walking around the ce. Nothing more.¡±
¡°It¡¯s impossible that he would have taken such a high risk just to walk around Lockheed Martin,¡± said Ton. ¡°He must have his reasons. He fled when we found out about him just now.¡±
¡°Mister Ton, what could be his purpose?¡± asked Jack.
Ton looked at the opposite side of the river, ¡°I can¡¯t figure it out yet. This is so bizarre. One thing for sure, he can¡¯t escape from us. By the way, do you have any idea who he might be?¡±
Jack tried his best to recall. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure, but I can think of someone...¡±
Ton sneered. ¡°Costa. He¡¯s the only one who would have had the chance to copy your identity card, isn¡¯t it? Seems like we have the same candidate in our mind.¡±
¡°Hmph! I knew it. I knew that he had other purposes when he approached my sister. He will suffer once I catch him! I swear!¡± Jack¡¯s eyes were filled with rage.
One of the armed men from Lockheed Martin went down into the river. The water of the riverbank was already covering his waist. Perhaps he would be immersedpletely when he went to the centre of the river.
¡°Mister Ton, this river is too deep. We need to find some other ways to cross the river. His legs must be very strong to jump over such a wide river,¡± whined the man in the river.
Ton raised his assault rifle and pulled the trigger, shooting at a tree beside the river.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
All of the bullets hit the trunk on the tree and sawdust was flying everywhere. The damaged trunk was on the brink of copsing. Without Ton¡¯s order, Jack walked towards the tree and shoved the tree down with both of his hands.
The trunk fell and formed a log bridge, allowing them to cross the river.
¡°Let¡¯s go catch this bastard!¡± Ton was the first man who crossed the river.
Arge group of armed men then followed behind him.
Meanwhile, there were four military helicopters flying in the sky. An RQ-4 Global Hawk even appeared at a higher altitude. The RQ-4 Global Hawk was a surveince aircraft used by America to investigate their enemies. Everyone involved in the operation knew that catching the invader would be as easy as pie with the help of the RQ-4 Global Hawk sent from Lockheed Martin.
In the meantime, Xia Lei stopped hurriedly in the dense forest and looked up to the sky. He saw four of the military helicopters well before their engine reached his ears. He also spotted the RQ-4 Global Hawk that was flying higher and towards his direction.
¡°Fuck! An RQ-4 Global Hawk? Isn¡¯t that a little overkill?¡± he cursed them as heid on the ground and covered his body with the branches and dead leaves beside him swiftly.
The four military helicopters were very close to him when he was justpletely covered with branches and dead leaves.
Xia Lei observed the sky with his X-ray vision as he heard a loud engine sound from the sky. When he saw the four military helicopters fly by, he felt like his heart had clenched to the point of him having a heart attack. He could not help this anxiety he had.
Four of the military helicopters flew past him and parted to different ces to continue searching. A minuteter, the RQ-4 Global Hawk flew towards his current location.
Xia Lei was staring at the RQ-4 Global Hawk with his X-ray vision, thinking that the RQ-4 Global Hawk was more powerful than the four military helicoptersbined. His consequences would be disastrous if he was caught by it!
Eventually, the RQ-4 Global Hawk flew past him too. It always managed to spot its targets on the ground, from a pistol to hidden tanks and ammunition. No military equipment could not escape from it. Yet, it was not able to spot a person hidden under dead leaves and branches.
He got up from the pile after the RQ-4 Global Hawk flew away. He continued moving forward but stopped after a while and thought, ¡°In front of me is a denser forest. There are four military helicopters and an RQ-4 Global Hawk hunting me right now. I can never outrun them even with my full speed. The RQ-4 Global Hawk might spot me as long as I move. Then, four of the military helicopters will surround me from four different directions once I¡¯m spotted. All of them are equipped with cannons and even air-to-ground missiles. I would be dead before I know it.¡±
Xia Lei turned and headed back to Lockheed Martin when he thought of that.
All the areas being searched by four of the military helicopters and the RQ-4 Global Hawk would not be searched thoroughly by the armed men on the ground. They would only follow the guides provided by the four military helicopters and the RQ-4 Global Hawk to search in the deeper areas of the forest. So, it was a brilliant idea to go back to Lockheed Martin now.
This was reverse psychology at its best. I shall head towards the base camp of my enemy!
He ran at his maximum speed when he fled just now. But he slowed his speed down and walked cautiously when he was heading towards Lockheed Martin. He understood that based on his speed, the armed men from Lockheed Martin would need a certain period to reach his current location. He might encounter them if he was running at full speed towards Lockheed Martin. He did not have any weapons with him. All he had was a sabre which he hid in his backpack previously.
Even though there was only one path, Xia Lei chose a new path that deviated from the original path. He had no choice but to do that to evade the men from Lockheed Martin, even though he had to walk longer.
Sometimes he could hear birds chirping or the howling of the beast in the quiet forest. He listened closely even to these boring voices as he could not afford to make any careless mistakes. He handled his traces meticulously too, by not stepping on the branches or dead leaves on the ground if he could jump over it. If somehow there were traces left inevitably, he would use the branches and dead leaves to cover them.
After a distance, there was a conversation going on in the forest in front.
¡°Is this guy a bird or something?¡±
¡°He¡¯s still not caught even though four of the military helicopters and an RQ-4 Global Hawk were sent to search for him. Is it possible for a person to outrun a ne?¡±
¡°No, this is really strange.¡±
Xia Lei held his breath when he heard the conversation. At the same time, he used his X-ray vision on his left eye and tried his best to spy on them.
Unexpectedly, he spotted Jack.
Jack was with Ton initially, but he did not see Ton there. It seemed like Jack and Ton separated after they crossed the river.
Xia Lei¡¯s sight focused on Jack¡¯s lips the moment he saw Jack.
¡°There¡¯s absolutely no one in this world who can outrun a ne. There¡¯s only one possibility in this circumstance. He must be hiding somewhere. Perhaps we are very close to him now,¡± said Jack to an armed man.
¡°I¡¯m really curious. Once we catch him, I am going to see if he does have four legs. I would make sure to break all of his legs even if he¡¯s got four of them,¡± uttered the armed man.
¡°Let¡¯s search separately and make sure to stay in touch with Mr Ton,¡± Jack ordered.
¡°Sure. You are the smartest man I ever met Jack,¡± praised the leader of the armed men.
¡°Kapi, all of your men won¡¯t be treated shabbily too if I get any reward,¡± Jack promised.
The group of armed men turned from a straight line formation into a circr sector-shaped formation and parted.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei furrowed his brows as he was thinking about Jack. Jack may not have the same IQ as Albert Einstein, and he may not be an outstanding scientist to invent some crazy shit, but he definitely has huge potential to be a spy or a special agent. Jack was going to be trouble for him!
Xia Lei had the urge to kill him and nothing could stop him from doing so. Yet, Jack was with arge group of armed men from Lockheed Martin. All of them were well-trained and well-equipped retired special forces. They even may have better attainmentpared to the active America special forces. All he had was a sabre. There was nothing he could do.
It was very tempting for Xia Lei to kill Jack but he managed to resist the thought. He continued movingterally and carefully, remembering to cover his traces on the ground while his sight was focused on Jack.
In the meantime, Jack took out his phone and made a call while the other armed men were searching Xia Lei in a circr sector-shaped formation.
¡°Hey, Caitlin. Where are you now? It¡¯s me, your brother! Is Costa with you right now? It¡¯s very important to me. Tell me now!¡±
Xia Lei could not hear the voice from the phone, but he knew that Caitlin would tell Jack the truth.
Undoubtedly, Jack was angry. ¡°What did you say? He¡¯s not with you? And he gave you a hundred thousand dors? Hmph! I knew it. I knew he¡¯s a scammer. That¡¯s why he approached you. Listen to me, call him right now. NOW! Don¡¯t you understand? He¡¯s a spy! He¡¯s using you and he never loved you! Call him now. Give him any excuse so he¡¯ll pick you up. You must make the call right now. Hello? HELLO!¡±
It seemed like Caitlin hung up the phone.
¡°Fuck!¡± Jack raised his phone up and seemed like he wanted to smash it against a rock.
¡°How dare he use his own sister to hunt me down? Apparently, Caitlin did not want to cooperate with her ambitious brother. Well, now I will avenge myself by using your sister and teach you a lesson...¡± Xia Lei sneered, as he prepared to teach Jack his biggest andst lesson ever!
Xia Lei avoided the area filled with the armed men sessfully and left gradually.
Once again, the river appeared right in front of him. This time, he didn¡¯t jump over the river. Instead, he went into the river and flowed all the way west, along with the freezing current.
Chapter 937 - The Heartless Brother
Two dayster, El Paso.
El Paso was a unique city. It was separated from Ju¨¢rez, Mexico by the Rio Grande River. Americans who took a walk along the river in El Paso could wave at the Mexicans who were on the opposite side. And if there were any Mexicandies who lifted their dress up, the Americans on the other side could literally see their underwear too.
Xia Lei was now at the riverside of the Rio Grande River, but there were no Mexicandies. He strolled along the walkway of the river, while his sight was locked on the opposite dock.
There were a couple of ships around the dock, including some freighters and yachts. There was a group of Mexicans on one of the freighters. They did not look like loaders who worked at the dock. All of them were wearing a ck suit.
There were no obvious symbols on their bodies. None of them were armed. Yet, Xia Lei knew that all of them were the men from the FA organization. And now, they were waiting for their shipment, the Predator B drone.
The Rio Grande River crossed between El Paso and the centre of Ju¨¢rez before entering the Gulf of Mexico. ording to Mister Yan¡¯s statement, the Predator B drone provided by Lockheed Martin would not be shipped to Mexico. Instead, the FA organization would ship the drone directly to China. Even though Mister Yan did not mention the route, Xia Lei had help that told him about the route nned by the FA organization.
Xiaoqian was the help. It was the virus he imnted on the Predator B drone previously.
The sunset turned the grey mountain range to golden yellow in colour.
Xia Lei sat on a rock on the riverside and took out theptop from his backpack. A satellite positioning image appeared on the screen the moment he turned on hisptop. The map showed that a red dot was heading towards El Paso. Based on its current speed, it would pass through El Paso and reach the dock for half an hour.
Xia Lei¡¯s attention returned to the opposite dock again. At this time, the engine of the freight started and headed towards the dock near Xia Lei.
¡°They must be following orders,¡± thought Xia Lei. ¡°Just like that, Mister Yan shipped the Predator B drone away? Doesn¡¯t he want to test it? Under normal circumstances, he¡¯s supposed to test it. Is he nning on using an untested drone to kill me and bomb the Thunder Horse Military Factory? Isn¡¯t it too risky? He should be testing it if he is a cautious man.¡±
Was Mister Yan a prudent man?
Xia Lei knew the answer right away without even thinking. The way Mister Yan handled the situation on the sawmill during their encounter in Washington already portrayed his cautious personality.
The freight had crossed the Rio Grande River and reached the dock near Xia Lei while he was immersed in his thoughts.
After the freight was stopped and anchored, all of the armed men from the FA organization got off from the freight. Then, there were a few SUVs heading towards the dock. All of them got into the SUV and went downtown in El Paso.
Xia Lei shifted his attention to hisptop screen and saw the red dot had stopped moving. It did not stop at El Paso but at another location. He erged the scale of the map until it¡¯s surroundings were visible.
That was a farm, a farm full of cocoa trees.
There was also a highway beside the farm that led to a wastnd.
The highway was already abandoned and there were no more vehicles driving along the highway.
Xia Lei thought of something and sneered. ¡°I knew it. Of course he¡¯s a cautious person. Of course he¡¯ll test run the Predator B drone first before he smuggles it to China. The highway beside the farm is the track that he¡¯s going to use for the test run of the Predator B drone!¡±
ording to Mister Yan¡¯s vignt personality, he would not ship the Predator B drone to Mexico. And he certainly would not test run an American-made assault drone in Mexico. America allowed the FA organization to kill Xia Lei and destroy Thunder Horse Military Factory, so it was the safest choice to test run it in America. It would not be trouble even if the air force had spotted it.
After the test run, the Predator B drone would then be loaded to the freight and traveled all the way to Asia. That was Mister Yan¡¯s n.
Xia Lei kept hisptop and left the walkway on the riverside. He got into a Land Rover Defender and drove, following the same direction as the SUVs. The Land Rover Defender was a second-hand car he bought in Washington which helped him escape the CIA.
After a few kilometres, the Land Rover Defender managed to catch up with the SUV. The SUV was rather slow, which surprised Xia Lei. He did not want to get too close with the SUV as it would have given his position away. When he was preparing to stop his car and only followed them when they were separated at a greater distance, the SUV stopped in front of a hotel entrance.
The armed men got off from the car and entered the hotel.
Xia Lei stopped his car at the roadside and nced at the hotel.
¡®Warm Holiday¡¯ was the name of the hotel and it looked luxurious and well-furnished.
Xia Lei got off from his car and walked forward for a couple miles. His X-ray vision on his left eye prated through the translucent ss in the hotel lobby and he saw the armed men. In the meantime, an old Caucasian man and a mixed India-Europe Mexicandy were walking towards them.
In a uniform manner, all of the fierce-looking armed men bowed and sent their greetings to both the old Caucasian man and the Mexicandy.
Xia Lei¡¯s vision was focusing on the old man¡¯s lips as he was prepared to read his lips. Yet, when he was done preparing, all of them went straight to the elevator without talking.
Xia Lei disabled his X-ray vision and wondered. ¡°It seemed like the old man and the Mexicandy were powerful. Could it be that both of them have a significant role in the FA organization? Or could they be the ones who want me dead?¡±
A few minutester, Xia Lei entered the hotel lobby and booked a room at the reception desk. He then went into his room and took out hisptop. Before the screen woke up, a Thai face was reflected on the ck screen. Thick eyebrows. Thick lips. t nose. He looked exactly like a person who got hit badly with a shovel on his face. It was not appealing at all.
This was his new face.
He named his new identity Pakse. Undoubtedly, Pakse was also the name he used on his new fake passport.
After a while, theptop screen woke up and Xia Lei connected it to the Wi-Fi of the hotel. A few minutester, he was able to ess the management system of the hotel sessfully. Effortlessly, he found the room booked by the old Caucasian man and the Mexicandy. It was a presidential suite located on the top floor of the hotel.
He then hacked into the surveince system of the hotel, and the screen immediately showed the surveince images of the hotel. He brought up the surveince images on the top floor and saw two armed men standing in front of the presidential suite. It showed clearly that both the old Caucasian man and the Mexicandy were inside the presidential suite. However, there was not a single hotel in this world that installed a surveince camera in their room, so he could not observe the situation inside the room.
¡°The old Caucasian man and the Mexicandy are definitely important. I have to know who they really are and I need to find a way to get near to the room too,¡± thought Xia Lei.
It was at this moment, one of the surveince images on the screen caught his attention right away.
That was the surveince image of the hotel lobby.
A group of men were entering the hotel. The person leading the group was none other than Mister Yan. Two of the people who walked beside him were Xia Lei¡¯s old acquaintances, Ton and Jack. What surprised Xia Lei was that Caitilin was actually among the group as well.
Xia Lei focused on her face and her facial expression showed that she was not quite pleased. There seemed to be a trace of fear in her eyes as well.
¡°Caitlin is just an ordinary woman. How could she end up with those people?¡± Xia Lei could not understand. He was prepared to read their lips.
Mister Yan, Ton, Jack, and Caitlin, along with the group of armed men went to the elevator. One of the armed men pushed the button and the elevator door opened.
When Mister Yan and Ton were entering the elevator, Caitlin turned and ran towards the exit instantly.
Jack grabbed Caitlin¡¯s arms immediately. ¡°What are you doing? Don¡¯t cause me any more trouble!¡±
¡®I don¡¯t wanna go! I wanna go home!¡± Caitlin was struggling hard but she could not escape from Jack.
Meanwhile, in the lift, Ton¡¯s face turned gloomy after seeing this.
Ton¡¯s unhappy expression seemed like he was ordering Jack without saying a word to be more ruthless. All of a sudden, Jack pped Caitlin hard and burst into anger. ¡°You better behave yourself. You¡¯re the one who is in big trouble. I¡¯m helping you now! Please grow and be more mature!¡±
¡°I...¡± Caitlin held her face and stuttered, as she was stunned by the p. Tears were dropping from the corner of her eyes.
Jack said, ¡°Mister Ton, why don¡¯t you all go up first? Let me talk with my sister.¡±
Ton nodded, not saying anything.
The elevator door closed and Jack dragged Caitlin to a corner.
¡°Caitlin, do you know what trouble are you in? Costa was a spy and he used you. And now you are facing usations of treason. Even I cannot help you if you don¡¯t cooperate nicely. Am I clear?¡± Jack was grabbing Caitlin¡¯s shoulder and shaking it.
¡°How could he be a spy? I don¡¯t believe it,¡± uttered Caitlin.
¡°Humph! Are you really that foolish enough to believe that he was in love with you? This kind of Cindere story only happens in a fairy tale!¡± Jack¡¯s tone was very harsh. ¡°What you can do now is to tempt him to show up and help the CIA to catch him. Only then you¡¯ll be free of the usations.¡±
¡°But if he really was a spy, he would have fled already at this time. How can he show up? I cannot reach him through the phone anymore,¡± cried Caitlin as she was in a suffering state.
¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. I¡¯ll handle it. All you need to do is cooperate. Remember, don¡¯t bring me any more trouble!¡±
Caitlin nodded her head.
Meanwhile, in the room, Xia Lei¡¯s finger ran across Jack¡¯s throat on the screen.
Chapter 938 - The Commander of the FA
A staff-only elevator was heading upwards and stopped after it reached the top floor of the hotel. The elevator door opened and there was a hotel staff walking to the corridor while pushing his cleaning cart.
The cleaner had an Asian face with thick lips, thick eyebrows, and a t nose. He strolled to the end of the corridor with his cleaning cart.
Two of the armed guards were watching the cleaner¡¯s each and every movement closely. Their hands were crossed between their legs. This was not to help them sit but to help them draw their weapons quicker.
The cleaner did not act suspiciously. He even smiled at them when he approached them like he was being kind.
Two of them stared at the cleaner coldly. They had no reaction, not even a friendly smile to return. Who cared about a smile from a cleaner?
The cleaner brought the cleaning cart and stopped it beside them.
Instantly, both of the armed men raised their hands, as they were about to take out their pistol at any time.
The cleaner did not seem to notice anything as he walked towards the room opposite them and inserted a room card into an identifier.
There was a soft click and the door was unlocked.
The cleaner brought his cleaning cart inside, remembering to shut the door. Meanwhile, the armed men lowered their hands.
Xia Lei was the cleaner.
The room card he used was not for this room but the room he booked previously. Before he came to the top floor, he shut down the identifier of this room in the management system. Any card would have opened the door.
The room he entered was an unupied presidential suite. It was the reason he chose this room. He could not do anything if this room was booked earlier.
He stayed at the door after entering the room. His X-ray vision prated through tworge wooden doors and reached the opposite room.
The opposite room was very crowded. The passageway, windows, and doors were upied by dozens of armed men, forming a very solid defence.
Jack was in that room too, but not Caitlin. She was probably locked in another room.
¡°Mister Ton, it seemed like there was a situation on your side. What happened exactly?¡± asked Mister Yan.
Mister Ton answered, ¡°Mister Yan, you¡¯re surely good at collecting intelligence. You could even know such a highly confidential secret. I¡¯m afraid that I have to check your sources.¡±
¡°Hahaha.¡± The old Caucasian man was amused. ¡°Mister Ton, the FA organization is not one of those terror organizations from the Middle-East. We have our own rules of survival. Don¡¯t be curious about how we obtain any intelligence. If you do really want to check, I¡¯m afraid you will regret the consequences.¡±
His tone sounded a bit menacing.
¡°Who is this man?¡± Ton looked at the old Caucasian man. Ton was not frightened at all.
Meanwhile, in the other room, Xia Lei was surprised that even Ton did not know about the identity of the old Caucasian man. What exactly was his role in the FA organization?
Mister Yan looked at the old Caucasian man, seemingly asking for his permission.
The old Caucasian man nodded his head.
Only then did Mister Yan look at Ton. ¡°This is Mister Augustan, he¡¯s the mentor of the Dark Mona. He¡¯s been training soldiers for the FA organization. ording to you Americans, Mister Augustan can be considered as ourmander.¡±
Themander of the FA organization. He was the highest-ranking person in the FA organization that Xia Lei had ever encountered.
Instantly, there was awe in Ton¡¯s eyes. ¡°Nice to meet you, Mister Augustan.¡±
¡°The pleasure is mine,¡± said Mister Augustan. ¡°I do actually know you, Mister Ton. The Director of National Intelligence from CIA stationed in Lockheed Martin. You¡¯ve been gathering intelligence for Lockheed Martin, especially military intelligence from Russia and China. In the meantime, you¡¯ve also been busy collecting and sorting out the intelligence of Lockheed Martin for the CIA. Lockheed Martin is the most powerful armoury in this world. You were assigned by the American government to be basically both a guardian and watcher in Lockheed Martin. Your ranking in the CIA must be much higher than those directors of Asia and Africa, right?¡±
Ton chortled. ¡°I¡¯m just a normal staff. The American government is my boss and there are no differences between high ranking and low ranking.¡±
¡°Democracy. Haha.¡± Mister Augustanughed out loud but there was a hint of disdain in his smile.
Mister Yan pointed at the Mexicandy who was sitting beside Augustan. ¡°This is Sirita. She is Mister Augustan¡¯s apprentice.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you, Miss Sirita,¡± said Ton.
Sirita nodded to Ton, ¡°Nice to meet you too, Mister Ton. From now on, both of us will be working for the American government. We hope that we¡¯ll have your support.¡±
¡°Naturally,¡± Ton promised.
Augustan uttered, ¡°Mister Ton, I believe that you didn¡¯te all the way here to meet me and Sirita. Are you worried about us? Or you are worried about your drone?¡±
Ton did not answer his question. He turned and nced at Jack who was standing behind him.
Tacitly, Jack said, ¡°Mister Augustan, I had analyzed everything that happened and I believe you are aware of the events that transpired at Lockheed Martin. I have the absolute reason to believe that he¡¯ll follow us here. I¡¯m also sure that his target is the drone that we gave you.¡±
In the other room, Xia Lei wanted to kick Jack¡¯s face so badly after seeing him talking with such confidence. The bastard had guessed his motives and schemes more than once. Jack was really born to be a spy!
Three of the important people of the FA organization gazed at each other at the same time.
Jack continued on his analysis and thoughts. ¡°He disguised as me and infiltrated Lockheed Martin. I suspect that he was looking for the Predator B drone that Lockheed Martin manufactured for you.¡±
¡°Who are you?¡± Augustan looked at Jack.
Ton answered, ¡°He¡¯s an engineer from Lockheed Martin and he¡¯s my underling. He¡¯s a clever man. And he¡¯ll have a bright future in the CIA.¡±
Augustan muttered, ¡°So tell me, Jack. You mentioned that the person who sneaked into Lockheed Martin was looking for the drone. Let me ask you. He could not steal the drone from and he certainly won¡¯t be that stupid enough to destroy the drone in Lockheed Martin. Could you tell me what his reasons were for infiltrating the ce?¡±
¡°Perhaps he¡¯s going to imnt a virus programme,¡± said Jack. ¡°And if that happened, he¡¯ll be the one controlling the Predator B drone. He can control the drone to attack any targets. You must know that the two missiles we gave you were specifically customized and they¡¯re very, very powerful.¡±
Three of them looked at each other again.
After exchanging eye contact, Mister Yan said, ¡°It seemed like he missed the right time. ording to my intelligence, we were at the sawmill when he infiltrated Lockheed Martin. We also checked the drone and there were no traces of it. Your analysis did make sense but I think we¡¯re good.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better to be safe than sorry,¡± Jack advised. ¡°There are only two purposes for our visit. Firstly, to find that guy. Secondly, to check the drone again.¡±
¡°We had checked the drone already.¡± Mister Yan furrowed his brows.
Jack said, ¡°I know. But they are not familiar with the drone. I¡¯m the one who made the drone. I can tell if there is any problem.¡±
¡°You Americans are so troublesome,¡± Siritained.
Jack retorted, ¡°This is not child¡¯s y. We can¡¯t afford any mistakes. This is the first time the FA organization is coborating with us, right? I would not like our first coboration to end in a disaster.¡±
Augustan said, ¡°This kid is quite good. Seems like you had found your perfect sessor, Mister Ton.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± said Jack. ¡°I shall take a quick look at the Predator B drone. Is that okay?¡±
Mister Yan uttered, ¡°Our professionals are assembling that drone. They should be done assembling it now.¡±
¡°What will they do after the assembly?¡± Jack sounded a little bit worried suddenly.
Mister Yan replied, ¡°Test run it, of course. Then, we¡¯ll ship it to Asia. We¡¯ll not have any chance to test run it in Asia. You certainly cannot expect us to test run it in Mexico as the Mexican Air Force will strike it down.¡±
¡°Tell your men not to run the test. Let me go and check now,¡± said Jack.
¡°Sure. I¡¯ll bring you there now. But there¡¯s no need to contact them. They will only test run it until I order them to do so,¡± said Mister Yan. He looked at Augustan and Sirita. ¡°Are you bothing with us?¡±
Augustan replied, ¡°I¡¯m not joining. Have fun with them.¡±
Sirita shook her head too.
Both of them did not care about Jack¡¯s analysis at all.
Mister Yan, Jack, and Ton left the room then. Mister Yan told the two armed men who were guarding the door to follow him to the farm.
Hence, both of the armed men guarding the door left with Mister Yan.
Xia Lei opened his door and left with the cart after they walked through the corridor and entered into the liftpletely.
There was a blindspot that was not covered by the surveince camera at the corner between the elevator and the stairs. He drew out a cheap phone and called a number without looking at the number pad. As soon as the call was connected, he changed to a soft tone. ¡°Hey, Babe. Can you recognize my voice? I miss you so much, my dear...¡±
Chapter 939 - Diversion
Caitlin¡¯s voice could be heard on the phone. Her voice was full of excitement and joy. ¡°Costa, I knew that you¡¯d call me. You do really love me, right?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Of course, my dear. I¡¯ll always love you.¡±
¡°I love you, I love you so much...¡± Caitlin¡¯s voice trembled a little. ¡°Costa, where are you now?¡±
¡°I¡¯m in Ju¨¢rez, Mexico,¡± Xia Lei answered.
¡°Isn¡¯t that close? I¡¯m in El Paso. I¡¯ll meet you and follow wherever you go.¡±
¡°Are you in trouble?¡± Xia Lei pretended to be concerned about her.
¡°My brother... It¡¯s not so simple. Let¡¯s meet up somewhere,¡± begged Caitlin.
¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be waiting for you at the opposite dock,¡± Xia Lei hung up the phone. Then, he pushed the cleaning cart into the staff-only elevator.
Meanwhile, Ton received a call as he headed towards the hotel lobby from the elevator.
¡°Mister Ton, Costa just called Caitlin.¡±
¡°Did you manage to locate Costa¡¯s position?¡± Ton was agitated. ¡°Tell me now!¡±
¡°No. He was very cautious. He hung up the phone before we managed to locate his position. Besides, we also highly suspect that his phone was modified to not be tracked. But he mentioned that he was at Ju¨¢rez and he¡¯s going to meet with Caitlin at the dock.¡±
Ton hung up his phone, turned and headed towards the elevator again, ¡°Let¡¯s go back now! Costa had shown up!¡±
Jack immediately perked up. ¡°He contacted my sister, did he?¡±
Ton answered, ¡°Yes, and he promised to meet your sister at the dock in Ju¨¢rez.¡±
Jack¡¯s eyes were sparkling with excitement. ¡°He surely can¡¯t escape this time!¡±
Ton asked, ¡°Not going to the farm anymore?¡±
Jack replied, ¡°After we handle Costa.¡±
Mister Yan shrugged his shoulder. ¡°You Americans are so troublesome.¡±
Ton and Jack entered the elevator and went back to the top floor of the hotel while Mister Yan would be waiting in the hotel lobby. Before Mister Yan stopped looking at the direction of the elevator, a man was walking out from another elevator. He was a Thai person with a normal-looking face. Yet, he was considered quite tall among Thai people.
Perhaps of his height, Mister Yan could not help but stare at him longer.
The Thai person was Xia Lei, who had just called Caitlin. He even smiled at Mister Yan when he approached Mister Yan. His smile looked honest but silly because of his ugliness. He also made a gesture of greeting from Thai people by putting his palms together while smiling at Mister Yan.
All Mister Yan did was look at him, nothing more.
Xia Lei walked past Mister Yan and exited the lobby.
Meanwhile, on the top floor, Caitlin was crying loud because she was stopped by two armed men from the FA organization.
¡°Who are you? Why are you stopping me? I want to go out!¡± Caitlin was pushing the armed men who were guarding the door. ¡° Let me out! You have no right to restrict my personal freedom!¡±
Jack, who wasing in from the door, pped Caitlin the moment she finished whining.
A loud sound could be heard and Caitlin was stunned instantly. She held her face, looking at her brother who she once relied upon. The p on her face hurt, but it was far less than the pain she felt in her heart. That kind of heart-wrenching pain was so deep that she could feel it in her bones.
Without any sympathy andmiseration, Jack grabbed Caitlin¡¯s arm and burst into anger. ¡°Was I not clear enough? Asshole! How dare you betray me! When you received Costa¡¯s call, instead of letting me know, all you wanted to do was to sneak out and meet him!¡±
Caitlin bit her lips, not saying a word.
Jack ordered,¡± Call him right now and stall for time.¡±
Caitlin did not move at all.
Jack howled in agony, ¡°I¡¯m telling you to call him right now! You whore!¡±
¡°You....Did you just call me a whore?¡± Caitlin waspletely devastated and heartbroken. He was not her brother he used to be anymore.
In a rude manner, Jack took out Caitlin¡¯s phone from her trouser pocket and stuffed it into her hand.
Still, Caitlin did not move at all. She did not want to make the call.
Ton¡¯s face turned gloomy. ¡°Miss Caitlin, I don¡¯t think you understand the gravity of the situation. If you don¡¯t cooperate with us, you¡¯ll be charged for treason. I have the power to send you to a detention camp. You will not have the rights to awyer and you may even face death charges. Think about it. All he did was use you. But you¡¯ll be fine as long as you cooperate with us. You can even be rewarded with a considerable amount of money.¡±
Caitlin hesitated for a few seconds because of the coercion. She nodded eventually, as a gesture to ept Ton¡¯s offer.
She loved Costa but she loved his money and the materialistic life he provided her more. The foundation of such love that built on money was fragile and surely could not stand a test. Spending the rest of her life in Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp for Costa? Even being executed? She would rather ask for a bounty if this was the result of defending this rtionship.
Caitlin returned the call.
Jack and Ton were staring at Caitlin.
Ton said, ¡° Turn on the loudspeaker.¡±
Caitlin bit her lips and nodded, and turned on the loudspeaker.
The dial-up connection sound was rtively crispy in the silent room
Everyone in the room was tense just by hearing the dial-up connection sound.
The call finally connected after almost a minute. A man¡¯s voice could be heard from Caitlin¡¯s phone, ¡°Hey babe. Miss me already?¡±
That was Costa¡¯s voice.
¡°Ye... Yes.¡± Caitlin sounded very nervous. ¡°I, I can¡¯t wait to see you.¡±
¡°Me too,¡± Costa said. ¡°There¡¯s no one beside you, right?¡±
Caitlin looked at Ton and Jack subconsciously.
Jack stared at her with his malicious eyes.
Ton shook her head at Caitlin, implying what should she do.
Caitlin took a slight breath. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s just me, alone. Where, where are you now?¡±
¡°Ju¨¢rez. Didn¡¯t I tell you before?¡±
¡°Um, sorry. I forgot ...¡± Caitlin sounded a little worried. ¡°Costa, are you sure that we are meeting at the dock?¡±
¡°Of course. I am driving there now. You should get going now. Don¡¯t make me wait too long,¡± Costa¡¯s voice rang out.
¡°Okay. I¡¯ll go now. But what are we going to do? Where are we going after we meet?¡±
¡°To my home, of course. I¡¯ll marry you and make you the happiest woman alive. By the way, where is your brother now?¡±
¡°He...¡± Caitlin looked at Jack.
Jack subvocalized, ¡°Lockheed Martin.¡±
Caitlin followed what his brother said, ¡°He¡¯s at Lockheed Martin now. What about him?¡±
¡°I would like to invite him to our wedding. We shall talkter. I¡¯m driving so I can¡¯t talk much now.¡± Costa kissed her goodbye. ¡°I miss you too, darling. I can¡¯t wait to see you.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be there soon.¡± Caitlin kissed him goodbye as well.
The conversation ended.
Ton said, ¡°Well done. You¡¯ll be fine as long as you help us to catch him.¡±
Caitlin nodded her head, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Costa never hurt her before and he gave her a lot of money as well. She felt worried about betraying him.
All of a sudden, Jack uttered, ¡°Now I understand.¡±
¡°What are you talking about?¡± Ton gazed at Jack.
Jack answered, ¡°Costa¡¯s purpose. That dude was trying to use my sister to get to me since I¡¯m the one who engineered and made the Predator B drone. He thought that he could control the drone once he caught me. That must be his n.¡±
Ton thought for a while. ¡°You¡¯re right. He infiltrated Lockheed Martin but he missed the right time because we had delivered the drone to the sawmill. He found out about thatter and escaped from Lockheed Martin. He didn¡¯t have any chance at all to get near the drone. His only way now is to catch you.¡±
Caitlin forced a smile. ¡°If that really is his n, I can¡¯t help but feel sad about being a hostage. Even if Costa used me as a hostage, you won¡¯t even bother to save me right, my dear brother?¡±
Jack sneered, not saying anything.
Ton said, ¡°Let¡¯s go to Ju¨¢rez now.¡± He turned and made a call, ¡°All of you, go to Ju¨¢rez now and set up a trap around the dock.¡±
Augustan and Sirita blocked Ton¡¯s and Jack¡¯s path.
¡°Mister Ton, how could you go without us?¡± Augustanined. ¡°A spy from an unknown side is nning to steal my drone. Is the CIA going to operate without us?¡±
Ton said, ¡°Mister Augustan, it¡¯s just catching a spy. We appreciate your kindness. Your target is Xia Lei. All you need to do is to kill Xia Lei and bomb the Thunder Horse Military Factory.¡±
¡®No, no, no. I would like to see who was the man behind this plot. We got our principles as well. Those who oppose the FA organization will end up in only one ce, hell.¡± Augustan turned and walked away after saying that.
Sirita walked past them. ¡°This is my territory and we¡¯re more familiar than you. You¡¯ll definitely need our help.¡±
In the meantime, a Land Rover Defender was heading towards the farm and there was a cell phoneid on the ground behind the Land Rover Defender. Later, a truck rolled over the cell phone and it turned into a pile of debris immediately.
Xia Lei was smiling in the driver¡¯spartment.
Diversion. That was his n. So far, so good.
Chapter 940 - Kill Them All!
The brown field appeared ck as night fell. Without the stars and the moon in the night sky, it seemed very ominous.
A Land Rover Defender was driving along the road in the suburb. Xia Lei wanted nothing more than to elerate at full speed as time was of the essence to him.
After a certain distance, the Land Rover Defender left the main road near the farm and continued its journey until it reached a wastnd. The ce Xia Lei stopped his car was at least two kilometres away from the farm, but he could clear that distance in a matter of seconds.
Xia Lei got out of the car and headed towards the boot. He took out a military bag, which consisted of weapons he bought from a Mexican drug cartel. The weapons included a TAR-21 assault rifle manufactured from Israel IMI Systems, a Barrett M98 semi-automated sniper rifle, and a pistol. All of them were equipped with a silencer. There were some grenades and shock bombs in the military bag too. He was definitely scammed by the Mexican drug cartel as all of these weapons cost him two hundred thousand USD. Nevertheless, money was just a bunch of numbers for Xia Lei.
He headed towards the farm after acquiring all his weapons. By using the weeds and cactus on the wastnd as his cover, he moved swiftly and reached the side of the farm.
Xia Lei sneaked into a sugarcane field and moved towards a warehouse.
The Predator B drone was at the warehouse.
A few professionals were assembling the drone in the warehouse while there were eight armed men from the FA organization guarding the perimeter. All of them were equipped with an AK47 rifle. One of them was even carrying a Russian made bazooka.
There were twelve armed men from the FA organization in the wooden building near the warehouse. There were also twenty armed men guarding the perimeter of the farm. They intended for their defences to be unbreakable.
From the edge of the sugarcane field, Xia Lei observed the drone inside the warehouse closely. Two professionals were done assembling its wing and were loading missiles for the drone.
Xia Lei enabled his X-ray vision and focused on the two professionals to decode their conversation by reading their lips.
¡°We¡¯re about to finish assembling this drone for Mister Yan,¡± one of the professionals said. ¡°But we haven¡¯t received any order to test run it yet. Did something happen?¡±
Another professional muttered, ¡°All I know is that people from the CIA were here. Something must havee up. But no worries. This is America and we¡¯re working for the American government now. The CIA will take care of everything.¡±
¡°You¡¯re right. There¡¯s nothing to be worried about. Let¡¯s finish loading the missile so that we can test run the drone immediately once we receive the order from Mister Yan.¡±
¡°It¡¯s very vital to conduct the bullet test. If everything¡¯s alright, we¡¯re off to China.¡±
¡°Haha. I can¡¯t wait toplete this mission. What a rush, bombing the most important factory in China. This attack would definitely have a higher impact in this worldpared to when Osama bin Laden attacked the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center building. My friend, we¡¯re going to make history!¡±
¡°That Chinese bastard had the guts to oppose the FA organization and threatened the strategic interest of America. What a dumbass!¡±
¡°He¡¯s going to be a dead man!¡±
Xia Lei disabled his X-ray vision and sneaked into the wooden building beside the warehouse from the sugarcanes field.
He had to kill all of the armed men. It was not an easy task to fight twenty well-equipped armed men. He could not afford any mistakes. He needed a n, a n that could outsmart his opponents.
The armed men guarding the perimeter of the warehouse were always on edge. Once he shot one of them, all the other armed men would definitely shoot in his direction. The armed men in the wooden building would rush over once they heard the gunshots as well. He could not challenge their firepower unless he had A M134 minigun. He, who was the target hiding in the sugarcane field, would be dead undoubtedly by being shot by dozens of bullets even if they weren¡¯t sure where he was!
There were two armed men guarding the entrance of the lit wooden building. Both of them were Mexicans. And they were smoking marijuana and telling dirty jokes to each other.
There were six armed men in the living hall and were watching a football match from two Mexican football clubs. They watched the game while having a beer, cheering out loud from time to time.
There were four armed men upstairs. The first armed man was at the balcony whereas the second armed man was sleeping in one of the rooms. The third armed man was writing something in the study room whereas thest armed man was taking a bath in the bathroom while humming a Mexican bad. He was truly enjoying his bath.
After his investigation. Xia Lei bypassed the front of the wooden building and came to the back of the building. As the armed man on the balcony upstairs turned and looked at another direction, he rushed out of the sugarcane field. His movement was silent like the wind and reached the wall at the back of the wooden building in a blink of an eye.
He pulled out a sabre and held it in his mouth. Then, he bent his knees and leapt after recruiting all his legs muscles. Immediately, his body rose from the ground, reaching a height of two meters. His right leg tapped the wall while he was still in the air to rise higher until the soles of his feet reached a parallel height with the balcony.
The armed man on the balcony immediately spun to face the noise. At that moment, he saw a man and a shining light. Before he had any responses, the light was stabbed into his forehead.
The armed man¡¯s heartbeat stopped before he could call for help. His body lurched towards the ground. Xia Lei stretched out an arm to catch him andid his body down on the ground quietly.
Xia Lei pulled out the sabre that was stabbed on his forehead, releasing a stream of blood which painted the ground red.
Xia Lei went immediately to the study room after he entered the wooden building.
It seemed like the armed man in the study room was their leader and he was writing a report. He had not a single idea that the Grim Reaper was outside his door.
All of a sudden, Xia Lei opened the door and threw his bloody sabre at the leader.
The leader looked at the door subconsciously after hearing the door open. But before he was able to see who had entered, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down anxiously and saw a sabre lodged in his chest. The sabre dug its way through his skin so deep that only the handle was visible. He opened his mouth wide and wanted to call for help, but was unable to make a sound.
At once, heid on the desk. What a simple way to die.
Xia Lei walked towards him and pulled out his sabre from the corpse while taking a nce at the unfinished report on the desk.
There was this paragraph on the report, n A went smoothly and we had received the drone. We would ship the drone to China once wepleted the test run. n B has also begun as well. Commander Yan Fo had sent a squad of expendables to Japan who would hijack the ne to act in concert with n A. If n A failed, they wouldmence their attack...
The third n of the FA organization could not be known due to the unfinished report.
Xia Lei thought, ¡°It turned out that Mister Yan¡¯s name is Yan Fo. He¡¯s actually themander of the FA organization. His ranking must be higher than Dark Mona and Sirita but lower than Augustan. If I could assassinate these three people, the FA organization would be in big, big trouble.¡±
The idea was very tempting, but it was extremely difficult to do so. It wasn¡¯t as simple as hunting for Dark Mona.
¡°I cannot stay here any longer since the FA organization has sent a squad of expandables to Japan. I need to tell Long Bing about this intelligence,¡± Xia Lei thought.
This was a critical issue. Once he ruined n A, they would soon begin n B. It was really possible to be sneak attacked by the FA organization if Bureau 101 did not take any precautions.
Xia Lei exited the study room. He entered another room and rushed straightaway to the bathroom.
The Mexican bad hummed by the man and the sound of water flow resonated from the bathroom. Xia Lei was holding his sabre and approaching the bathroom slowly and stealthily. Upon reaching the bathroom, he grabbed the handle of the ss door which was covered with water vapour. He opened it right away and charged forward. He covered the man¡¯s mouth with his hand and stabbed the man¡¯s heart with his other hand.
In just a few seconds, Xia Lei stabbed the man a couple of times, rendering him useless on the bathroom floor. Blood was trickling from all of his wounds and even the water could not wash away his blood.
Xia Lei left the scene and went to another room. This was the room with the sleeping man. He had no idea that the Grim Reaper woulde to him in his sleep.
Instantly, Xia Lei grabbed his sabre and stabbed into the sleeping man¡¯s heart. Then, he covered his mouth and sliced his throat. The dream he had would be hisst dream ever.
As of now, four of the armed men on the first floor were killed.
Xia Lei came to the stairs and ced his footsteps very lightly, walking downstairs cautiously.
The voice of thementator was in Spanish and the mour at the live scene from the television could be heard. Both football clubs were ying in overtime. The home team, Cruz Azul FC was trailing one goal behind. The match was very intense as it could end at any moment. The six armed men in the living hall were all the fans of Cruz Azul FC and all of them were very anxious. Their sights never shifted from the television¡¯s screen to somewhere else.
Xia Lei smiled maliciously as he raised his TAR-21 assault rifle toward them.
Chapter 941 - I Hope Youll Like My Gift
The assault rifle trembled violently but its shots were dampened due to the silencer. Bullets burst out of the muzzle like a merciless storm, instantly killing the men watching football. The storm had brought no rain but scalding hot steel bullets which pierced through their bodies in a blink of an eye. It brought along stters of blood and chunks of dislodged flesh.
Within two seconds, Xia Lei had moved his muzzle horizontally by a distance of seven to eight centimetres across the six men on the couch. Their chests, brain and abdomen were filled with gushing bullet wounds. The scene was atrociously cruel.
Finishing off the six men in the living room, the TAR-21 assault rifle in Xia Lei¡¯s grip was finally empty. He made no move to replenish it but hurriedly retreated back into the stairway and borrowed the walls to shield himself. The moment he made it in there, the two armed men guarding the entrance barged in through the door.
Bang Bang Bang...
The AK47 assault rifle made deafening barks as bullets whistled past wildly into the stairway. The impact made the structure tremble with debris falling from above in the process. A portion of it fell onto Xia Lei, ripping his shirt and skin apart.
Xia Lei picked out a grenade, removed the safety pin and let it rest on his palm. There was a silent count of two before he swung his arms strongly to toss the explosive towards the door of the living room.
Ka-boom!
The two-second dy had allowed the grenade to be primed before exploding. The trembling impact shattered the ss windows and destroyed some walls. Most importantly, its explosion had taken ce above the head of the two armed men. A mid-air grenade explosion¡¯s energy release range was a full three hundred and sixty degrees. Under those circumstances, the first things that were destroyed were their skulls.
The two armed men slumped down to the floor btedly. Their heads were nowhere in sight. One of them had even lost his backpack and an arm.
Xia Lei dashed up the stairs and entered the study. There, he aimed a Barrett M98 sniper rifle out of the window. The ss panels were ajar and had its curtains drawn. Xia Lei found the group of eight-armed men rushing over but they were unaware of his presence.
Without any additional movement, Xia Lei pulled the trigger as soon as Barrett M98¡¯s muzzle protruded out of the gap.
Bang... Bang... Bang...
The gunshots were silenced but it did nothing to alter its speed. The moment the shots were heard, three men had already sumbed to it and fell to the ground. Among them, two suffered headshots while the other got hit in the chest.
Xia Lei was the world¡¯s most precise sniper. Even without the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s XL2500 sniper rifle, he still was the best sniper to ever exist. The man was unbeatable!
¡°He¡¯s on the second floor!¡± One of them alerted, raising their AK47 and started to shoot towards the study.
The wooden walls were no match against steel bullets and even Xia Lei was no exception as a stray bullet had collided with his chest.
Bang!
Bullseye. The man who had fired at him dropped to the ground, his forehead caved in with a hole that was as big as a fist.
Abruptly, Xia Lei turned around and dashed for a distance before lunging his entire body forward.
Crash!
The force in inertia allowed his weight to break through the study¡¯s door, which thudded loudly alongside his body into the corridor on the second floor.
Swoosh!
A rocket missile wasunched into the window and knocked itself against the wall of the study.
Ka-boom!
A ruthless explosion took ce, shaking the wooden building violently. It felt like the building was about to fall into shambles anytime soon.
Xia Lei crawled forward along the corridor and entered a room on the other side. He ran two steps forward and threw his body out towards the window.
Crash! The impact broke the ss window and he was transferred to downstairs one secondter.
Bang... Bang... Bang...
The AK47 bullets rained on the little wooden building like there was no tomorrow. There was even another missile fired toward his direction.
This time he wasn¡¯t aiming it into the second floor, he was now firing towards a supporting pir on the first floor.
Boom!
The deafening st was birthed under the night sky. The ear-shattering sound waves apanied by the threatening waves of heat travelled far and wide.
Unable to sustain any further damage, the little wooden building shook and finally copsed loudly.
By the time this had happened, Xia Lei was already back into the sugar cane fields. He dislodged a wooden stake stabbed into his shoulder, the abrupt removal causing blood to gush and drench his shoulder.
¡°Did we kill him?¡± An armed man on the ground asked nervously.
¡°Probably.¡± Hisrade answered him. ¡°Even if the explosion hadn¡¯t killed him, he should be buried underneath. With a fire so strong he¡¯ll be scorched to death in no time.¡±
¡°Shall we go check?¡± A third man suggested.
¡°No, we should wait.¡± The fourth armed man gulped in fear. ¡°That bastard is strong. He knows how to put up a fight. Everyone in the building is dead, we need to be extra careful.¡±
The remaining four men continued toy low on the ground, watching the fire engulf the wooden structures. No one had dared to get closer but at the same time, they were displeased. They were aware of the importance of this particr mission. If that sniper had destroyed the drone, the four men were as good as dead.
Despite that, the sniper who they had thought was buried had already snuck up on them from behind.
Xia Lei exited the sugar cane field without so much as a whisper. Utilizing the darkness, he stopped at twenty metres away from the four men. He removed a grenade from his weapon belt and pulled the pin. This time, he had only held it for a second before throwing it towards them.
Thud!
Something that sounded like a harmless rock fell between the men.
¡°Huh?¡± One of them turned to look at its source. Upon recognition, a hopeless scream roared out of his throat. ¡°Grenade! Ah!¡±
Ka-boom!
The grenade exploded.
Dirt was thrown towards the sky and rained down unceremoniously to its origin.
Two of them had died from the impact while another two were on the verge of death.
Xia Lei emerged from the dark, pistol in his grip now.
The two that were alive noticed him and started to crawl towards the warehouse desperately. One of them pleaded in Spanish, ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me... Please don¡¯t kill me... My son is only one year old, he needs me...¡±
Poof! The silencer equipped pistol trembled slightly. A bullet had found a home in the pleading man¡¯s brain.
The other did not plead. Instead, he reached around to pull out a pistol of his own. He wished to kill Xia Lei before the man could send him to hell. Unfortunately for him, such wishful thinking was impossible and gullible. Before his weapon had made it out of its holster, Xia Lei¡¯s muzzle was already aimed at him.
¡°No...¡±
Poof!
Against his enemies, Xia Lei had nopassion and empathy.
So far, twenty armed men were wiped out by him alone. The only ones left behind by the FA Organization were the two professional technicians working in the warehouse.
Xia Lei approached the warehouse. In the process of the fight, the two technicians had already locked the warehouse entrance. With a twitch of his left eye, his X-ray vision revealed to him the situation inside.
Both of them were still inside. One was steadying an AK47, guarding the door on the side. The other man was phoning someone frantically.
Xia Lei focused on his lips, utilizing the lip-reading ability toprehend the exchange.
¡°Mister Yan, I have bad news! This is terrible!¡± The man on the phone shivering with fear. ¡°Everyone is dead! That man is not human! He came alone but managed to wipe out twenty of us! Please save us, we can¡¯t hold on for long. Protect the drone? Mister Yan, we... we¡¯re not fighters...¡±
Xia Lei stealthily came to the wall on one side of the entrance, he pressed his TAR-21 assault rifle against the wooden wall. On the other side of the wall was the technician with the AK47.
In the warehouse, the technician guarding the entrance asked nervously. ¡°What did Mister Yan say?¡±
His colleague looked at him helplessly. ¡°Fuck, he wants us to stay out and protect the drone. We should¡¯ve escaped. That man is going to kill us both very soon.¡±
¡°Escape? Mister Yan will never let us go...¡± But before he could finish his sentence, the wall trembled slightly and out emerged a new smoking bullet hole. The AK47 wielding technician was like a short-circuited robot, he lost all control of his body and slumped onto the ground. There was a round hole in his temple, blood streaming out of it.
¡°Ah!¡± Thest remaining technician picked up the AK47 and fired recklessly along the length of the wall. The bullets pierced through the wooden wall and left behind smoking holes. However, he did not hit anything.
¡°Bastard! Come out!¡± roared the man. His emotions were out of control, he cussed and held up the weapon. His voice trembled uncontrobly. ¡°I...I surrender! Please don¡¯t kill me!¡±
Poof!
Another bullet travelled through the wall, knocking itself into his brain.
Xia Lei was not one to ept a surrender.
Poof... Poof... Poof...
Xia Lei aimed his pistol and opened a round of fire onto the entrance. The man kicked open the door as soon as the door bolt was destroyed. His entrance was weed by the sight of Predator B. Under its glorious wings were two precision-guided missiles, one of it the ¡®Skunk Surprise¡¯ and the ¡®Key to Hell¡¯. They stood still in silence, radiating coldness that felt murderous.
Xia Lei went over and keyed in a line ofmand into the technicians¡¯ptop.
Predator B suddenly roared into life, slowly gliding out of the warehouse and onto the abandoned road. It elerated and soon, took off towards the dark night.
Xia Lei watched Predator B with a smirk. ¡°Since you¡¯re thoughtful enough to send me a gift, I shall return the favour too. I hope you¡¯ll like it, my dear enemies.¡±
Chapter 942 - The Appearance of the King
Ten minutes earlier.
Ciudad Ju¨¢rez, Mexico.
Caitlin walked towards a dock. The street lights illuminated her body, highlighting her slim waist and her wonderful jean-d buttocks with every step she took. Not far behind her, a person lying t on the fence along the river said to the opposite bank through his miniature receiver hidden in his cor. ¡°The Dancer is in ce. The Audience is in position too.¡±
The Dancer was an operational code given to Caitlin by Ton.
Caitlin was a performer and the dock was her stage. The CIA and FA members were the audiences of this show. All they were waiting for was the presence of Caitlin¡¯s lover boy.
Said lover boy was Xia Lei, but the man was nowhere to be seen.
Caitlin came to the dock and allowed the cold winds of the Grand River to caress her cheek. She closed her cor tighter around her neck and studied her surroundings. There was a hearing bug installed on her body so she did not dare to speak. However, her heart was caught up in a storm of thoughts. ¡°Costa... Please don¡¯te... But what if he really doesn¡¯te for me? What will Ton do to me? Is he really going to toss me into Guantanamo Prison? Jack, you¡¯re a fucking asshole! You¡¯re actually doing this to me for the sake of your future...¡±
Her mind was like the wild strands of golden locks blown out of ce by the wind, it was a mess.
One hundred metres away, three snipers on standby went into position on the roof of a building. There was a Chevrolet Suburban parked below them. Jack and Ton sat in the car while keeping tabs on Caitlin. A CIA agent was their driver, a desert eagle perched proudly on the top of his thigh. Though the vehicle was stationary, the man was constantly peering all around him. He was prepared to enter battle mode at any time.
¡°Is the bastard going toe?¡± A few minutes had passed as they waited near a dock along the Grand River. However, the long-awaited Costa hadn¡¯t appeared anywhere, making Ton¡¯s confidence waver a little.
¡°He wants to use my sister to threaten me. With my sister here, he¡¯s bound to appear.¡± Jack still believed his judgement, his confidence was firm.
¡°Jack, you must have made guesses about that guy¡¯s identity. Tell me, how did you arrive at that conclusion?¡± Ton put down his binocrs and stared at Jack.
Jack paused to think. ¡°I¡¯m not sure but...¡±
¡°But what? It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m not going to make you write a lengthy report about this.¡± Ton went on. ¡°I¡¯m just curious about your thought process. You¡¯re a genius when ites to this field of work.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not a genius, sir. I¡¯m just a hardworking man.¡± Jack chuckled lightly. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll exin my thoughts. Costa came to woo my sister while I was in charge ofpleting Predator B. His true goal is the drone. Who would be so anxious about it? Who would wish to learn about the FA¡¯s operation desperately? The Chinese man and Bureau 101. So I¡¯m guessing that if Costa doesn¡¯t work for Xia Lei, then he would be working for Bureau 101. However...¡±
¡°Since when did Bureau 101 look into recruiting Mexicans?¡± asked Ton.
For Bureau 101 to hire Mexicans seemed like an unlikely possibility. Hence, they were left with one sole hypothesis.
Jack met Ton¡¯s eyes with a confident smile. ¡°He¡¯s working for Xia Lei.¡±
Ton nodded. ¡°Xia Lei has a team of elites. Costa might be one of them.¡±
At this moment, a Mercedes-Benz GL450 off-road vehicle approached theirs slowly. It parked itself behind the Chevrolet Suburban. The one driving the GL450 was Sirita of the FA Organization.
Ton furrowed his brows. ¡°What is she trying to do?¡±
Jack nced at the rear mirror. ¡°She probably wants us to go over.¡±
As anticipated, Sirita extended a hand out of her window and waved at their car.
¡°What the fuck? Who does she think she is? The same goes to that damned Augustan and Yan Fo. They better not think that they¡¯re irreceable. Osama bin Laden was a prime example of their kind!¡± Ton huffed.
Jack replied, ¡°Terrorists will be terrorists. There is nothing we can change about who they really are. Let¡¯s go take a look. Perhaps they¡¯re asking for a discussion. We must warn them to not operate recklessly. One wrong move will throw off our operation.
Ton nodded and exited the car. Following that, Jack trailed behind his superior towards the parked GL450.
The doors to the vehicle clicked open, Sirita emerged from within followed by Yan Fo and Augustan.
¡°Mister Ton, it seems that the spy is not going to appear.¡± Yan Fo continued. ¡°I think we should give up on this operation and return to the farm. Testing the drone should be our priority.¡±
¡°Why are you so sure that he won¡¯t appear?¡± Ton questioned. ¡°It has only been a couple of minutes.¡±
Yan Fo nced at his wristwatch. ¡°Then we shall wait for another ten minutes. As soon as the time is up, we¡¯ll head back to test Predator B.¡±
Ton felt offended. ¡°Mister Yan, you must be clear that this operation is under my leadership. It is not up to you and the FA Organization to dictate its direction.¡±
Yan Fo shrugged nonchntly. ¡°Ah, the ssic CIA working style. Are you all so used to ordering people around?¡±
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Yan Fo¡¯s phone rang out of the blue.
The man picked up his phone and took a look at the screen. ¡°See, my men are already urging for our return.¡±
¡°Just let them wait,¡± said Ton.
Yan Fo answered the call. ¡°It¡¯s me, speak.¡±
¡°Mister Yan, this is bad! This is really bad!¡± A terrified and trembling voice rang through the speakers. ¡°Our men are dead. That man is not human! He came alone but he managed to wipe out twenty of us! Please save us! We can¡¯t hold on for long!¡±
Yan Fo¡¯s expression immediately went stiff, he roared into the phone. ¡°Get a grip! You must protect the drone!¡±
¡°Protect the drone? Mister Yan, we¡¯re... We¡¯re not fighters...¡±
Bang!
A bullet shot was heard.
Yan Fo could no longer be bothered with the call, he quickly put down his phone and made a dash to the vehicle. He shouted as he ran. ¡°There¡¯s an emergency! That man attacked the farm!¡±
Sirita tossed a furious re at Jack. ¡°You fucking idiot!¡±
Her voice was meek but Jack caught it. In that split second, all of his earlier confidence dissipated into thin air. The defeat he felt was like a two-tonne boulder ced on his back.
¡°What are you waiting for?! Go!¡± Ton roared at Jack.
Jack lowered his head and returned to the car. He just couldn¡¯t understand where he had gone wrong. Despite that, the oue was already served to him on a tter. Jack had fallen into Costa¡¯s trap.
Ten vehicles zoomed across a gigantic bridge. The CIA¡¯s Chevrolet Suburban opened a path for the rest of the cars. It shed its lights and yed a piercing siren. All the other civilian vehicles slowed down and some had even stopped to make way for this convoy of CIA and terrorists.
¡°What the hell?¡± After a short moment of silence, Ton was fuming. ¡°Jack, you guaranteed that Costa was going to appear. But he has made it into the farm tounch an attack on the FA members!¡±
Something clicked in Jack¡¯s mind abruptly, his expression warping into intense realization. He grabbed Ton¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Mister Ton, that man... He¡¯s not Costa!¡±
¡°That¡¯s obviously a fake name!¡±
¡°No, I don¡¯t mean that.¡± Jack¡¯s voice wavered. ¡°Do you remember? When we found him at Lockheed Martin, we failed to nab him even though a group of people and the Global Eagle were deployed. Tonight, he was able to ambush an FA point alone and killed off twenty of their members. The FA is known for their insane fighting capabilities. What kind of person would have such an ability that surpasses them all?¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying that...¡± Ton¡¯s expression shifted into something more akin to excitement.
¡°Yes, that Costa...¡± Jack paused briefly to regain hisposure. ¡°He¡¯s most likely Xia Lei!¡±
Ton froze, immediately grabbing hismunicator. He yelled, ¡°Everyone, attention! The King has appeared! We must grab him!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s code name was King, courtesy of the CIA.
Ton¡¯s voice rang through all of themunicators.
In the Mercedes-Benz GL450, Augustan and Yan Fo couldn¡¯t help but look at each other in shock and utter disbelief.
Sirita stomped on the pedal hard, pushing the vehicle into a mad sprint along the highway.
¡°Ton said that Xia Lei has appeared. How is that possible?¡± Yan Fo pondered. ¡°We¡¯ve got a spy nted in Bailu Town back in China. Xia Lei has been seen in the Thunder Horse Military Factory. How could he be here? It¡¯s even shocking that he¡¯s operating alone!¡±
¡°To be able to take out twenty of our elite fighters alone says a lot,¡± muttered Augustan, a surge of emotions hidden under the veil of his tone. There was even a hint of murderous intent!
Sirita chimed in, ¡°You¡¯re forgetting someone. When he appeared in Free Mary Town, there was a woman that came along with him. He¡¯s not here alone.¡±
¡°That woman went missing,¡± said Yan Fo.
¡°If it really is him, what is he trying to achieve?¡± Augustan questioned, ¡°Is he here despite the great dangers all for the sake of destroying his murder weapon? America has plenty of drones. As long as we want it, they¡¯ll hand us another for the purpose.
What was the king trying to do?
The question lingered unsolved.
It made the three FA members silent for they could not guess his motive.
The convoy went through El Paso and zoomed all the way to the farm.
The darkness of the night was suffocating. Betweenyers of clouds, the Predator B flew stealthily towards the direction of El Paso. Under its wings were two precision-guided missiles, the ¡®Skunk Surprise¡¯ and ¡®Key to Hell¡¯.
Opposite El Paso, on the banks of the Grand River in Ciudad Juarez, a young Thai man sat silently in his Land Rover. There was aptop perched on hisp, its screen showing live aerial footage from Predator B that was captured through its camera.
What was shown on it was an aggravated convoy.
Chapter 943 - Skunk Surprise
How great was their desire to get rid of Xia Lei?
To the CIA, that would be their most important mission since their establishment. Though Xia Lei wasn¡¯t a terrorist, the threat he brought to America¡¯s interests surpassed all the terrorists they had to deal withbined! The terrorist organizations active around the Middle East had only given America safety threats and some chaos at most. None of their doings had wavered the country¡¯s foundation and was not significant enough to threaten its hegemony status. Xia Lei was different. He and his Thunder Horse Organization had pressured America¡¯s world-leading military capabilities and the current world order that it dominated.
During the tank biathlon in Russia, the Japanese Land Self-Defense Force tanks had opened fire at Xia Lei under America¡¯s support. They were so desperate to get rid of him to the point of ignoring the possible triggering of World War Three!
Xia Lei had gone to France, Germany, Italy, Afghanistan and Japan but never America. The man had avoided America for so long. Who would believe that he was there now?
Now, Xia Lei was in America.
That was Jack¡¯s deduction.
Ton fully believed this and the three significant FA organization figures had expressed their agreement too. The reason was simple. The incident at the farm had fitted the description of Xia Lei¡¯s past doings. Barging in alone into enemy grounds but sessfully getting rid twenty of the FA¡¯s best special agents! On this, there were only a handful of people who were capable of suchbat capabilities. But only Xia Lei had both thebat ability and hostility towards the FA Organization!
¡°It¡¯s him.¡± In the Mercedes-Benz GL450, Sirita¡¯s expression was stone cold. ¡°The CIA and American Special Forces, the elite fighters of the Japanese Hattori n and the fifty-membered Indian Mountain Division Warriors, had totalled up to more than a hundred people who had tried to kill Xia Lei and Bureau 101¡¯s Tang Yuyan. But the sole survivor was Hattori Geppa from the Hattori n. Dark Mona had survived the ordeal because she was absent from the battle on the mountain while busy with four of Xia Lei¡¯s subordinates. Butter on, Xia Lei managed to get rid of her along with Hattori Geppa. I dare say that Xia Lei is the most powerful killer ever to exist. He¡¯s the only one who would dare to invade the farm.¡±
¡°If it really is him, his courage ismendable,¡± uttered Augustan. His expression seemed calm but there was a hint of worry in his eyes.
Yan Fo said, ¡°When we reach the farm, we¡¯ll let the CIA enter first. We¡¯ll wait it out and observe the environment before taking our next course of action. Ton will definitely call for support and the nearby American soldiers might rush over to aid. I¡¯m guessing that he will not be calling for the National Security members but the Delta Special Forces.¡±
¡°If he¡¯s around the farm. He won¡¯t be so lucky this time. This is America¡¯s territory. They will not lose him,¡±mented Augustan.
¡°If there¡¯s a chance, I¡¯ll kill him myself. I must avenge Dark Mona,¡± sneered Sirita, her eyes cold as des.
A conversation akin to this urred in another car.
¡°If we can arrest Xia Lei, we¡¯ll be national heroes.¡± Ton continued, ¡°Jack, by then you¡¯ll be joining the CIA with glory and you might even be a party supervisor. The president will even award you a Medal of Honor.¡±
The Medal of Honour was the most difficult acknowledgement to obtain in America. To be able to get rid or capture Xia Lei was deemed worthy enough for such an unreachable award.
Longing glimmered in Jack¡¯s eye as he turned and looked out at the moving scenery. The man peered into the direction of the farm. He said that Xia Lei was still in the farm meddling with the drone and had missed the best opportunity to escape.
¡°He¡¯s probably still at the farm. That drone is what he wants. But it will take a long time for him to crack the control codes or replicate the contents inside. There¡¯s no way he can do all of that in such a short time. He¡¯s too greedy...¡± Jack thought to himself solemnly, finding himself sympathizing with Xia Lei. The man even felt a tad bit sorry for Xia Lei¡¯s probable fate.
At that moment, a ray of light manifested among the clouds.
Jack jolted, focusing his eyes on the ray. It didn¡¯t take long for reality to sink in. It was not a shooting star but a ball of mes. It dropped from the skies and with an intimidating momentum, it felt as if God was exerting his wrath on the mortals below.
¡°That¡¯s...¡± Jack roared in unprecedented terror. ¡°A missile!¡±
It really was a missile. In fact, it was the one Lockheed Martin made for Xia Lei, the ¡®Skunk Surprise¡¯.
Watching the missile travel downwards, Ton paled. In that split second, he finally understood Xia Lei¡¯s n. The man wasn¡¯t trying to destroy Predator B, he had intended to utilize the drone to attack them instead! From the start, Xia Lei had been teasing him and Jack relentlessly. The sly man had even hidden a twist in his n!
What Ton had realized, Jack came to realize as well. Fear overwhelmed his spiritspletely, a never-ending pit of despair eating away at his hopes and dreams for the future. He was extremely smart but the gap between him and his opponent was like an idiot and a genius!
The CIA agent driving the car panicked. He quickly drove the car away from the road, in an attempt to avoid the missile. But as he began to move the Chevrolet Suburban out of the way, the missile had alreadynded on the hood.
Ka-boom!
The ruthless explosion shattered the tranquillity of the wilderness, illuminating the area in a vibrant red. The shockwaves generated from the st overwhelmed the convoy, passing by everything like a strong typhoon wind. Vehicles were sent tumbling away, it burned and crashed, exploding by its own means. In no time, the wilderness was littered by iplete human parts.
The impact destroyed every single vehicle. Not one of it wasplete and on the ground as usual.
As soon as the shockwave rode out, a bloodied dislocated penis fell from above with a plop. It was peculiar, it stood upright like a bamboo shoot that sprouted from hell.
The oue was as expected. This was a life-threatening missile tailored by Lockheed Martin for Xia Lei after all. Despite it beingunched from a drone, the power it packed was no less than that of a Tomahawk cruise missile!
One second ago, they were still an aggravated convoy. One secondter, the convoy was reduced to nothing but a pile of trash and pieces of minced meat.
The penis that descended from the sky was like an exmation mark that signalled the end of this thriller story.
Among the clouds, the drone made an urgent turnaround. It was now headed towards Jalisco, Mexico.
Predator B would be delivering its remaining gift to the FA headquarters and that gift was the ¡®Key to Hell¡¯.
In Ju¨¢rez city, by the Grand River, Xia Lei folded hisptop. It was only then that he allowed himself to heave a long sigh. He had seeded but there was not a hint of joy on his face. The impact of the gigantic explosion earlier had brought upon absolute shock and solemnity.
Just by the Skunk Surprise alone, if Xia Lei hadn¡¯t received information on FA¡¯s n A and not tempered with their operation, the FA organization would¡¯ve sent Predator B to China andunched an attack on Thunder Horse Military Factory. If that happened, he and his factory would perish!
The Land Rover returned to the road slowly, the vehicle now headed towards the dock. Reaching his destination, Xia Lei got off and approached a man and a woman steadily.
Caitlin was still waiting for Costa on the dock. Beside her was a bald Caucasian that had a muscr physique. The man leaned against the railings along the dock, hands gripping the sides of a newspaper. He was not reading it but using it as a front to study his surroundings.
He was the CIA special agent tasked to supervise Caitlin under Ton¡¯s instructions.
The abrupt appearance of a young Thai man produced some alertness.
¡°Hey, miss. How much for a night?¡± Xia Lei went towards Caitlin, lips curled into a lewd smirk. ¡°You know what I mean. I want the full package, not just a blowie.¡±
The woman was instantly angered. ¡°Fuck off!¡±
¡°Oy! Who gave you the right to shout at me?!¡± Xia Lei strode over, looking like he was about to beat her up.
¡°Hold it!¡± The agent put down the newspaper and rushed to Xia Lei. ¡°Did your mother not teach you manners? Get lost or I won¡¯t go easy on you!¡±
Just as he roared his threat, Xia Lei raised his palm. In his grip was a pistol equipped with a silencer.
The muscr agent¡¯s expression shifted drastically and he frantically reached for his pistol. Before his hands could reach the weapon, a bullet shot out from the muzzle and pierced through his brain. Blood and brain tissue sprayed violently from the back of his skull. The man¡¯s body swayed involuntarily, flipping itself over the railing and into the turbulent waters below.
The dock was dark and the tragedy that took ce went unnoticed. It was as if it had never happened.
Caitlin was terrified out of her wits. She wanted to run butcked the courage to do so. The woman had no strength left. With horrified eyes, she stared at the armed Asian youth. It didn¡¯t take long for her to slump onto her knees and plead, ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me. I beg you! I saw nothing!¡±
¡°You don¡¯t want to die?¡± asked Xia Lei calmly.
¡°Yes, I don¡¯t want to die. Don¡¯t kill me, please. I can do whatever you ask for.¡± Caitlin immediately thought of something. With wrapped fists, she pulled up her sweater to reveal a pair of naked breasts. ¡°Don¡¯t you desire me? I can give you anything you want. I can satisfy all your needs. Do you want to do it here? I¡¯m alright with that, I can pleasure you.¡±
In the threat of death, anyone would be willing to do anything to save themselves.
Caitlin stared at Xia Lei with wide teary eyes, awaiting his dictation on her fate. Tears rolled around in her socket, her heart a vast field of despair. First, she was abandoned by her brother and now this? The woman felt no hope for the future.
As Caitlin slowly resigned herself to her fate, a card was thrown on the ground before her.
The woman stared at it nkly.
Xia Lei stowed away his pistol. He turned around and walked as he said, ¡°There are half a million dors in there. Move to Russia and spend it wisely. The pin to the ount in thest six digits of your birthday. I¡¯m sure you know your own birth date right?¡±
¡°You...¡± Caitlin snatched the card from the ground and straightened her posture urgently. ¡°Wait! Who are you?!¡±
Xia Lei halted in his footsteps, turning around to spare her a nce. ¡°I am who you think I am.¡±
¡°You¡¯re... Costa?!¡± Caitlin screamed emotionally. ¡°You¡¯re Costa!¡±
A woman¡¯s intuition was a mystery.
Xia Lei did not acknowledge it but did not deny it either. ¡°There¡¯s still time for you to escape.¡±
¡°Did you ever love me?¡± Tears began to flow along the groove of her cheek.
¡°No.¡± Xia Lei entered the Land Rover and drove away.
Caitlin stood in the night breeze staring at the retreating Land Rover.
Chapter 944 - A Devils Tragedy
Bang!
With a kick, a wrecked door car was opened. Out came a severely bloodied Sirita from the driver seat. Soon after her emergence, the two back doors of the Mercedes-Benz GL450 were forced open too. Augustan and Yan Fo emerged from the door drenched in red, it almost looked as if they were scooped out from a puddle of blood.
The three of the FA members were severely injured. It was a miracle that they were still alive.
They said nothing but turned to stare at the upside-down GL450 in unison. Thank goodness this vehicle had a custom bulletproof body. Out of sheer luck, their car was at the tail of the convoy when the explosion urred. If not, they would¡¯ve ended up like those CIA members, sted to a form that was beyond recognition.
Out of the entire convoy, only three of them had survived. They were lucky but the thought of the incident earlier made the three shudder in fear.
Sirita¡¯s attention was nabbed by a headless corpse. The unfortunate body was sted to mushy pieces of flesh and blood. However, from the remnants of its garments, Sirita could identify that this was Jack¡¯s body. Not far away from Jack¡¯s body was Ton¡¯s. The older man¡¯s skull was blown off with an arm missing. His wounds made it look like he got gnawed on by a huge grizzly bear. The sight was horrible.
The woman averted her gaze abruptly onto the road surface a few metres away from the two bodies, where she saw a sole penis. Two deted tyres were stuck to the asphalt road to act as a ¡®foundation¡¯ of sorts for the little penis, which made it possible for the organ to stand upright.
Sirita nced at a spot between Jack¡¯s legs and immediately found its owner. At that instance, her expression darkened. She spat lightly and cussed, ¡°Fucking idiot!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Augustan broke into a burst of maniacalughter abruptly.
Sirita and Yan Fo turned to look at him, unsure of why he wasughing.
Augustan stopped. ¡°The CIA is a bunch of clowns. Ton and Jack thought they were so close to capturing the king but they¡¯ve stepped into his trap instead unknowingly.¡±
¡°We were tricked as well. If it wasn¡¯t for the CIA taking the first leap, we would¡¯ve ended up like them,¡±mented Yan Fo.
¡°What do you think the king will do next?¡± Augustan questioned.
Sirita shook her head.
Yan Fo replied, ¡°If there¡¯s another missile loaded on the drone and if I was Xia Lei, where do you think I¡¯ll destroy next?¡±
¡°The Lockheed Martin building?¡± guessed Sirita.
Lockheed Martin was desperate to rid the earth of Xia Lei. They wanted to destroy Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s Jingdu headquarters and thepany was undeniably Thunder Horse¡¯s number onepetitor. Hence, Xia Lei did seem to have enough reason to bomb Lockheed Martin.
However, Yan Fo shook his head. ¡°Xia Lei is not an idiot. Would he not be aware that America¡¯s air defence system is so advanced and could neutralize the drone easily? Forget about the drone, even if a country had deployed all of its fighter jets to bomb Lockheed Martin, the sess rate would still be aplete zero.¡±
Sirita was perplexed. ¡°Then where would he destroy next?¡±
¡°Wait!¡± Something clicked in Augustan¡¯s mind. ¡°He... He¡¯s going to bomb our headquarters!¡±
Yan Fo¡¯s expression was heavy. ¡°That¡¯ was my guess. The Mexican air defence is close to non-existent and Predator B has anti-radar features of a certain extent. As long as it enters Mexican air space and into Jalisco, it¡¯ll be easy to bomb the headquarters. That itself is not impossible...¡±
Before Yan Fo could finish his sentence, Augustan frantically searched for his phone. The sight of his phone felt like a punch to his gut. His device waspletely shattered by the violent explosion earlier, it was unusable.
Yan Fo and Sirita pulled their phones out, immediately freezing at the sight of it. Their devices suffered the same fate as Augustan¡¯s. Their phones had fallen victim to the Skunk Surprise.
If their vehicles werepletely shattered, how could the durability of a handphone bepared to a metal vehicle? Honestly, the terrifying injuries Augustan, Yan Fo and Sirita sustained would be the answer to that. They almost died, how would a measly device survive the explosion?
¡°Fuck!¡± Yan Fo threw his messed up phone harshly onto the ground.
He could guess Xia Lei¡¯s next step but he had no means to stop the man. What was worse was that the problem would¡¯ve been easily solved with a phone call but Yan Fo had no device on hand.
¡°Search around, check if any of their phones are usable,¡± instructed Yan Fo anxiously. He limped towards aparativelyplete CIA agent corpse.
¡°It¡¯s no use.¡± Sirita added, ¡°Our phones are destroyed, would there be any different?¡±
Despite that, Yan Fo stubbornly went on. All he could find from the body was nothing but a pile of scattered phone parts.
¡°There should be phones on the farm. We need to get there,¡± said Augustan.
¡°Yes! We need to go to the farm!¡± Yan Fo felt like there was still hope. ¡°We must tell ourrades at the headquarters. They must evacuate the premises urgently!¡±
Sirita walked over and helped Yan Fo up with a heave. The simple motion made the ace assassin of the FA Organization wince in pain, blood began to pour out of his numerous wounds. Despite that, Sirita managed to help Yan Fo stand.
The three significant figures of the FA Organization began their journey towards the farm. The burning car wrecks and scattered bodies became their background. A scene like this would typically appear as the ending of a hero movie. The victorious heroes had managed to leave the battle filled with injuries, they had each other¡¯s back as they returned to their homes. Awaiting their return was their beautiful lovers, cute children and the promise of a peaceful and loving life.
However, the reality was far from movie portrayal.
At that moment, roaring engine sounds were heard from a distance in the sky. Several helicopters soon came from four directions, searchlights on its nose illuminating the area. Onnd, armoured off-road vehicles and armoured cars turned on their lights as they zoomed over rapidly.
From an armed helicopter, a Special Forcesmander spat out his chewing gum and screamed into a loudspeaker. ¡°You¡¯ve been surrounded! Surrender now! Kneel and put your hands above your head!¡±
¡°We¡¯re...¡± As Yan Fo attempted to dere his identity, he paused and gulped.
It wasn¡¯tmon knowledge among the Special Forces that the FA Organizations were working with the American government now.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Rapid bullets were shot from the helicopter, triggering some friction sparks against the asphalt road.
¡°Kneel! This is yourst warning!¡± Themander roared.
Anxiety, anger, and helplessness engulfed the three FA members in that split second. They were at wit¡¯s end. Added with their severe injuries, they could no longer push on. Their knees gave out and they slumped into a kneel.
At this same time, the Predator B weaved through the Mexican air space without a care in the world. Its destination was Jalisco.
Yan Fo was right but he had no means to contact his headquarters.
This was probably the saddest thing he had encountered in his life.
Under the same sky, a Land Rover Defender exited downtown Juarez and drove a kilometre along the Grand River towards the Gulf of Mexico. As Xia Lei drove, he spared brief nces towards theptop screen perched on top of the passenger seat. On the screen was Predator B¡¯s control interface and live feedback footage. However, due to its altitude, all feedback produced were of clouds and blurrynd.
But those were not important. Xia Lei had already entered an autopilotmand along with the coordinates of the FA Organization. As soon as the FA is within its shooting range, it will let the ¡®Key to Hell¡¯ loose. ording to its travelling speed, the aircraft would arrive in Tuxpan city, Jalisco in another hour. Then, it would fire the missile towards a group of isted buildings serving as the FA headquarters in the middle of the desert.
Predator B resumed its journey, gliding through the air. ¡®Xiao Qian¡¯, which was nted in its system, was extracting all the raw data about the drone forter use. Those figures would then be of great use to Thunder Horse¡¯s research and drone pilots.
Time passed by steadily as the Land Rover drove further and further away from Juarez city.
At one point, Xia Lei produced the satellite phone used tomunicate with the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
¡°Hello, it¡¯s me. I¡¯ll be reaching Matamoros in five hours. Prepare me a ride home,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
It was Sa¡¯im on the other end of the call. ¡°Ah, I knew it was you. How could you not bring us along and cause havoc at Lockheed Martin alone? Have you not considered the consequences?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°We¡¯ll talk about it when we meet.¡±
¡°Sure, we¡¯ll see you in Matamoros five hourster.¡±
¡°How¡¯s everyone doing?¡±
There was a brief pause before Sa¡¯im answered, ¡°I have some bad news.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s anxiety red.
Sa¡¯im paused for a bit before speaking, ¡°Tsukino Kyoko gained weight.¡±
Smash! The crash of what sounded like a ss cup against the wall rang over the phone.
Though Xia Lei wasn¡¯t there, he could imagine it. A furious female ninja snatching a ss cup and throwing it in Sa¡¯im¡¯s direction. Though Sa¡¯im had dodged the attack, the unfortunate ssware was shattered into shards against the hard wall.
Xia Lei had nothing to say about the prank but weirdly, it warmed his heart. The sensation wasfortable.
Ending the call, Xia Lei pulled the car over and watched theptop screen closely. At that exact moment, the device speaker let out a sharp rming beep. Predator B was not rming him about getting targeted by the Mexican air defence radar, it was notifying him that it was now approaching its destination.
Predator B had reached the location one minute earlier than Xia Lei¡¯s estimate.
The drone lowered its altitude, its camera returning footage of the ground. What Xia Lei could see was a vast desert filled with yellow sand and cacti. There was the asional sight of viges that had agave ntations for Tequ brewing.
Soon enough, a group of buildings made its appearance.
Chapter 945 - Long Bing is Expecting
The clump of buildings looked like a vige from far, but it sure wasn¡¯t the case. The footage Predator B had returned not only showed multiple armed men around the premise but also tanks and armoured vehicles. There were even nes and ne tracks. It was clearly an independent military base.
The premise was huge, upying an area of about two kilometres.
Studying the image of FA¡¯s headquarter, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but furrow his brows. One ¡®Key to Hell¡¯ was not sufficient to clear it off due to its sheer size.
A cross aim appeared on the screen. Predator B had locked a target on the ground below. It was a three-storey tall building, a result of keying in the coordinates Xia Lei had obtained from the Knight Hospitaller.
A three-second countdown emerged.
Xia Lei¡¯s attention moved the top floors of the building, where the lights were still on. He saw some regr armed members along with some that did not carry weapons. They seemed to be producing something. Though Xia Lei couldn¡¯t make out what it was, the answer was obvious. What else could be made in the Mexican desert? If it was not socks or clothes, it would be drugs.
The drug trade was lucrative. How would the FA not seize the opportunity? Without sufficient funding, how would it sustain so many armed members?
One second left...
Abruptly, Xia Lei tapped the keyboard and halted Predator B¡¯s auto firing mode. He focused his mind onto theptop screen, studying the headquarter buildings carefully. There was nothing wrong with the coordinates. It was indeed FA¡¯s headquarters. However, it was clear that this building was not worth being the target. If Predator B was carrying nuclear bombs, then Xia Lei would¡¯ve had an easier time. The man could just toss it down just like that. However, he had only one ¡®Key to Hell¡¯ to spare. He had to fire at something worthwhile
Where would the FA leader be?
Xia Lei would love to find out.
But for something that even the CIA had no answers to, how was Xia Lei going to solve the question?
Predator B continued to round the premise, the night skies shielding it from sight.
Xia Lei resumed his pursuit of something worthy of an explosion through the screen.
Suddenly, Predator B had captured some chaos from above. Many ran out of the buildings in hoards and started their vehicles.
Xia Lei jolted. ¡°Did they find out? Does the FA have its own air defence radar?¡±
Regardless, all oues would end up the same. The chaos that erupted indicated that they had noticed Predator B.
Suddenly, a sh of fire was headed straight into the sky.
It was a Stinger Missile, a shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missile produced by General Dynamics!
Beep! Beep! Beep!
An rm was triggered urgently, ringing through the speakers of theptop. ¡¯Xiao Qian¡¯ sent out a notification. ¡°You¡¯ve been targeted by a Stinger. ETA 5 seconds to contact.¡±
The more dire the situation was, the calmer Xia Lei¡¯s was. The moment the Stinger rose to air, his mind absorbed everything he had seen from buildings, barracks, warehouses, sentry towers, hangers and so on. A calction of valuables was executed in his brain at the same time.
The way Xia Lei¡¯s brain worked withputation and analysis was as wless as aputer. Xiao Qian had warned of five seconds while Xia Lei¡¯s analysis had only taken up a mere one second toplete. In the next second, Predator B fired the ¡®Key to Hell¡¯. The missile flew towards a ground target with a whistle.
Its target was the petrol warehouse of the base. There were a fewrge petrol tanks lying around along with some fuel transport trucks.
Stinger and ¡®Key to Hell¡¯ brushed by each other mid-air, ignoring each other to head towards their respective targets.
Xia Lei abruptly moved Predator B into a steep dive.
Stinger made an urgent turn and chased after the drone.
¡®Key to Hell¡¯ had collided with a fuel storage tank and at that split second, terrifying mes burst towards the clouds. Everything in the picture trembled. The ignition of one petrol tank triggered a string of explosions. The initial energy resulting from the missilebined with the aftershock waves produced by the petrol tank explosions had produced an effect akin to that of a small nuclear bomb!
In the shaky footage, the buildings of FA¡¯s headquarters were like vulnerable dominos met with the wind. The building interiors rumbled one floor at a time, everything soon reduced to a tnd!
Predator Bunched itself into the sea of fire.
The Stinger following behind closely.
And the footage feedback was cut off.
The operation to destroy the FA headquarters hade to an end. Though Predator B had only brought one precision-guided missile to battle, the petrol storage on the premise had helped elevate the effect tremendously. Thebined effect was like a mini nuclear explosion. Though he did not have the chance to witness its aftermath, the FA headquarters wouldn¡¯t be left with much judging from the explosion earlier.
Xia Lei folded hisptop and drove the vehicle away. There was finally a smile stered on his face. He felt that as long as the FA leader was still in the buildings when the explosion urred, there was a high possibility that he managed to kill him off. If not, Xia Lei was fine either way. After all, he had sessfully destroyed their headquarters!
The Land Rover Defender zoomed along the highway.
Xia Lei made another call again to a certain Chinese Zodiac Battle Team member. This time he contacted the pig, which was Liang Siyao.
¡°Siyao, it¡¯s me.¡± The tenderness in Xia Lei¡¯s tone was filled with love and longing.
¡°Hubby... Give me a moment.¡± Footsteps rang over the phone. It took about ten secondster for Liang Siyao¡¯s voice toe through. ¡°I¡¯m worried sick. Where are you now?¡±
¡°I¡¯m in Mexico.¡±
¡°Huh? What are you doing in Mexico?¡±
Xia Lei huffed a smallugh. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you about it when I return. What is it like back home?¡±
¡°Zhengnan is doing well. No one has found out until now. However, it¡¯s better for you toe back soon. He can¡¯t keep up the front any longer. People are bound to find out, especially Tang Yuyan. There¡¯s no way Zhengnan¡¯s cover could fool her. It¡¯s a relief that she hasn¡¯t been looking for you. If she¡¯sing to the office, she¡¯ll definitely find out.¡±
¡°I see. Got it, I¡¯ming home soon,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I miss you so much.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s gentle voice was a whisp. ¡°I dream of you every night. Have you been thinking about me?¡±
¡°Yes, of course.¡±
¡°That sounds like a lie.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. His stay in America and Mexico had been nothing but an incredible roller coaster. There wasn¡¯t even a second of rest for his mind to wander. However, women do tend to fancy sweet words of love, even if it was a lie to pacify them.
¡°What do you miss most about me?¡± There was a teasing edge to her tone.
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I miss everything about you.¡±
¡°Your son wishes to talk to you, would you like to hear him?¡±
Xia Lei was taken aback. ¡°He can speak already? Quit teasing me.¡±
Abruptly, Xia Lei¡¯s ear was filled with the sound of rustling fabric. What followed after it was unintelligent gurgling sounds. It was obvious that Liang Siyao had stered the phone taut against her stomach, letting its noise travel through the receptor. However, it wasn¡¯t the sound of his developing child. The odd noises had resulted from peristalsis within her body. Everyone¡¯s organs made sounds like that.
Listening to the bewildering organ noises, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but picture Liang Siyao standing in his office with her phone close to the skin of her abdomen. He was sure that her smile was that of happiness and contentment.
Women were the prettiest and happiest when expecting a child.
¡°Do you hear that?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice rang again. ¡°He said he misses you too.¡±
Xia Lei wished he could fly home at that instance. Despite such lovely sentiments, the words that he uttered were theplete opposite. ¡°Siyao, I heard that. I think you have diarrhoea.¡±
¡°Fuck you. You¡¯re not romantic at all. When you chased after me in the past, everything I did you¡¯d praise. Now you got me pregnant and you¡¯re here telling me that I got diarrhoea. Just you wait. Watch how I¡¯ll take care of you when you¡¯re back.¡± Her threats were empty, uttered with extreme glee and anticipation.
Xia Lei and her could be considered a married couple. It wasn¡¯t umon for cheesy jokes between husband and wife.
¡°Alright, there¡¯s something serious that I must tell you.¡± Xia Lei regained hisposure, speaking sternly into the phone. ¡°I received intel that the FA Organization is nning tounch an attack on our Thunder Horse headquarters in Jingdu.¡±
¡°Huh? That¡¯s insanely bold.¡± Liang Siyao panicked. ¡°What is the n like?¡±
¡°They¡¯ll hijack a ne in Japan and fly it into the headquarters.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that a tant replica of the 911 incident?! How dare they!¡± Her voice shook with wrath.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°This is real. The FA Organization is working for America, they¡¯ve got governmental support. There¡¯s nothing that they¡¯ll shy away from. You need to tell this to Ah Bing, she¡¯ll know what to do. Try not to involve yourself in this mess, take good care of our home, okay?¡±
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll tell her right away.¡± Liang Siyao paused. ¡°Oh, right. I¡¯ve got some good news for you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Ah Bing...¡± Liang Siyao hesitated.
¡°What¡¯s with her?¡± Xia Lei could feel his pulse hike. ¡°Quick, tell me.¡±
¡°Hehehe.¡± Herughter twinkled like bells. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you if you give me a kiss.¡±
Xia Lei was bewildered but kissed the satellite phone once anyway, letting the sound of a moist peck reach Liang Siyao¡¯s ear. He urged again, ¡°Quick, tell me!¡±
¡°Ah Bing is expecting.¡±
¡°What?! What?!¡±
¡°Idiot, she¡¯s pregnant!¡± She yelled at him with a grin. ¡°You¡¯re going to be a father again!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei guffawed.
That was amazing news. All of his four women, Liang Siyao, Fan Fan, Jiang Ruyi and now Long Bing were pregnant. He had four children on the way. Now he wouldn¡¯t feel any regret if he were to die two yearster. His four children would carry his legacy.
¡°Okay, I know you¡¯re driving so I¡¯m going to end the call now. Come home soon, have a safe trip. I love you.¡± Liang Siyao kissed her phone.
¡°I love you too.¡± Xia Lei reciprocated the gesture and ended the call.
He mmed on the pedals hard, bringing the Land Rover to a maddened dash like an agitated beast.
The driving man pictured his wonderful future. ¡°Siyao does martial arts. She¡¯s probably carrying a son, right? A son would suit her well. Fan Fan is a researcher. She¡¯s more of a mild and gentle person so a daughter would be fitting for her. Perhaps her daughter might be the next top scientist that will contribute greatly to the country. Ruyi is very soft-spoken and kind, a daughter will suit her too. I can cultivate her into a business talent and have her enter Thunder Horse¡¯s management in the future. Long Bing... She¡¯s a special case, perhaps she¡¯s carrying a son? Her son could join the military and be her sessor and continue to protect this country.¡±
None of his children was officially born, but he was already on cloud nine.
Chapter 946 - Going Home
Five hourster, in Matamoros City, Mexico, the Landrover Defender was parked on the roadside while Xia Lei enjoyed his breakfast. He was busy checking up on his ounts on the stock market.
His ounts had suffered some loss in the stock market. As of yesterday¡¯s closing, the four ounts had suffered a total loss of four hundred thousand dors. The numerical loss seemed hefty but in terms of their forty million dor principal, the loss was only one per cent. It was no big deal.
¡°I¡¯ll have them grow at a terrifying rate as soon as I get back.¡± Xia Lei folded hisptop, letting a smirk loose on the edge of his lips.
If he wanted money, he was going to get it. His brain worked like aputer, able to analyse andpute things with great efficacy. Any share market that he targeted, he would know its future direction within a minute or two. However, this was not his only advantage. Xia Lei¡¯s other unsurpassable advantage was his super hacking skills. He could obtain insider news through hacking, especially into thosepanies that stored this information on their servers. This would allow him to ess business secrets.
Combining all three advantages, he would be the Buffett and Soros of the East! As long as he wanted it, he¡¯d get it. The man was bound to surpass beyond the top two stock gods in the world!
Stowing hisptop away, Xia Lei checked the time. It was past the agreed five-hour interval but the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had yet to contact him. But as he prepared to dial for Sa¡¯im, a petite yet voluptuous Asian woman walked towards his direction through the walkway. At a nce, she was a stranger but her body felt familiar to his eyes.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched slightly and the X-ray vision was activated. From that, he saw her real face. The recognition brought a smile to his face, it was Tsukino Kyoko!
Xia Lei could tell it was her through her human face mask but Tsukino Kyoko did not share his ability. She overshot the stationary Land Rover, only sparing a nce at its driver briefly in the process.
But as the man tried to call out to her, she made an abrupt reverse and rapped on the ss window lightly.
Xia Lei rolled down his window and saw the device in her grip. The screen had shown a blinking red signal and he immediately knew she had tracked him here. Though Tsukino did not see his face, his location could be pinpointed upon activation of his satellite phone. No matter what face he donned and where he was, as long as his satellite phone was turnedon, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members would be able to locate him.
Tsukino Kyoko stared at Xia Lei carefully. Silently, she pulled the door open and entered his car. It was clear that she had confidently identified him.
¡°Where are they now?¡± Xia Lei initiated the conversation.
She replied, ¡°They¡¯re waiting at a dock along the Gulf of Mexico. Drive, this ce is not safe. We need to leave as soon as possible.¡±
Xia Lei ignited its engine and began to drive towards the Gulf of Mexico.
¡°In your absence, a few things had happened,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°What happened?¡±
¡°Hattori Mei had returned to Japan and an American named Thompson had taken over Lockheed Martin as the new CEO. Though he was announced to be a temporary recement, he would be given the official position should his performance be up to par. ¡°
Thompon... What a familiar name. Xia Lei could remember that the man held a rtively high position in Lockheed Martin and was in charge of some kind of team that Jack had tried his darndest to enter. The poor man had made it to its doorstep but died shortly after. Thompson was someone Xia Lei had not met before, so he wasn¡¯t too sure about him.
Tsukino Kyoko continued, ¡°Other than that, we received word that your father has appeared in Jerusalem.¡±
¡°My father?¡± Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°What is he doing in Jerusalem?¡±
She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He had only appeared once and gone off the radar.¡±
Xia Lei spiralled into deep thought. ¡°Father left China to avoid interrogation about the AE capsules. Under normal circumstances, he should go into hiding. Why is he in Jerusalem? That ce is not safe for him at all.¡±
Xia Lei just couldn¡¯t wrap his head around it.
¡°There¡¯s also a new intel. A drone attack had taken ce in the desert fifty kilometres north of Tuscan City, Jalisco. Apparently, a drone from the American army had destroyed a vige into rubles.¡± Tsukino Kyoko turned to look at Xia Lei. ¡°Boss, did you do that?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°That was not a vige. I bombed the FA headquarters. That drone, Predator B, was made specially as a coborative effort between four of America¡¯s top arms dealers. The original n for the drone was to assassinate me and destroy Thunder Horse¡¯s Jingdu headquarter. I didn¡¯t want that to happen so I stole the drone and sted the FA.¡±
Though his words were uttered with nonchnce, Tsukino Kyoko couldn¡¯t help but gape in shock.
¡°And Lockheed Martin¡¯s ex-CEO, Folsom... I was the one who killed her,¡± admitted Xia Lei.
To be honest, Folsom was killed by Zhu Xuanyue. But that woman was not supposed to have existed. Who else could take up the mantle as her scapegoat?
Tsukino Kyoko heaved a long sigh. ¡°When we heard of her death, we guessed that you were behind it. But we didn¡¯t dare to enter America without your orders, fearing that it may interfere with your ns.¡±
¡°You were right to note.¡± Xia Lei said nothing else.
Truthfully, it wasn¡¯t for that little devil, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have the courage to travel to America. After Folsom¡¯s unnned death and Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s disappearance, Xia Lei could only push on alone toplete everything else.
A palmnded on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and a pat was given. ¡°You¡¯re the strongest person that I¡¯ve ever encountered.¡±
But her pats had made Xia Lei crack his lips open, prompting him to inhale sharply with a wince.
¡°You¡¯re injured?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was concerned.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I haven¡¯t got the time to tend to it, I¡¯ll dress it when we reach the dock.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko forced his cor down and immediately found a wooden splinter stabbed into his shoulder de. The sight made her scowl. ¡°Here, let me help you with it.¡±
¡°Uh...¡±The thought of taking care of his wounds now had never crossed his mind.
Before Xia Lei could even sound his consent, Tsukino mped down on the wooden splinter and pulled it upwards. The foreign object left his flesh, eliciting a loud groan from Xia Lei.
¡°I just praised you for being the strongest man in the world and yet you¡¯re already groaning over such a teensy injury?¡± Tsukino¡¯s eyes were filled with doubt.
That earned a sheepish smile from him. ¡°Alright, you can help me dress it if you please. The embedded wooden shards in my flesh are really ufortable.¡±
At this moment, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s head closed in abruptly totch her lips onto his shoulder de. Her lips covered the span of the wound and Tsukino began to suck it.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei was inexplicably nervous.
¡°There are contaminants in your wound, the blood must be let out. Yeah, saliva is an antiseptic to a certain extent.¡± Tsukino exined with a straight face. Following that, she used an arm to lift the hem of his jacket and grabbed onto another wooden splinter.
Half an hourter, Tsukino was finally done with all of Xia Lei¡¯s wounds. Vivid red kiss marks were littered across his body but it had resulted from her lipstick, his blood had dyed her cherry lips red.
The car soon arrived at the dock.
Xia Lei found a yacht ahead and five standing figures on its deck. They were Sa¡¯im, Anjum Khan, E¡¯er Demutu, Yelena and Alessio. They were all wearing human face masks but Xia Lei was able to identify them with his X-ray vision.
The five members on deck along with the woman beside him was the entirety of his current deployable members. The pig was Liang Siyao, so there was no way he would assign her with a dangerous mission. Currently, her most important task was to birth his child safely. The four female knights, on the other hand, were still busy with building their church and the expansion of their team. As long as he gave them more time, the knights would surely be strong assistants to him.
¡°Let¡¯s go home,¡± said Xia Lei.
And a few minutester, the yacht was seen leaving the dock towards the east.
Chapter 947 - Catfight
One dayter, Thunder Horse Organization Jingdu Headquarters, China.
¡°Liang Siyao, what do you mean?¡± Tang Yuyan red sharply at the woman blocking her way. ¡°I need to meet Xia Lei. What right do you have to stop me?¡±
Oddly, Liang Siyao was not agitated. ¡°Yuyan, Xia Lei is in the middle of a meeting. Meeting you right now is inconvenient for him.¡±
¡°Inconvenient? ¡± Tang Yuyan gushed angrily. ¡°Who are you to him? Are you his wife? Even if you are, why do you feel the need to be so controlling? You¡¯re just a hired employee, not his legal partner.¡±
Such words would trigger difort but Liang Siyao was ultimately unfazed. She listened to Tang Yuyan¡¯s ramble with a faint smile.
Her smile was her response. Admittedly, she and Xia Lei hadn¡¯t registered their marriage and there was no ceremony to celebrate their union. Despite all of that, she was indeed his wife. Not only was she Xia Lei¡¯s wife, but she was also the mother to his child. Tang Yuyan had wasted a lot of time around but received nothing in return. In front of Liang Siyao, Tang Yuyan was nothing but a sore loser.
¡°What are you smiling at?¡± Tang Yuyan was extremely sensitive.
Liang Siyao threw her arms open. ¡°Yuyan, you should go back. Come again tomorrow. Xia Lei will be free by then.¡±
¡°Move!¡± Tang Yuyan no longer wanted to continue their argument.
But Liang Siyao remained rooted in her position, continuing to block Tang Yuyan away.
The stubborn woman scowled. ¡°I¡¯m thoroughly impressed that you think you¡¯re the female boss despite being one of his women. Between you, Fan Fan, Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing, which one holds the highest position? Where is your rank? I find this whole thing utterly nauseating.¡±
Liang Siyao continued to swallow her wrath. However, even saints had their own limits. Her expression darkened. ¡°Tang Yuyan, watch your words!¡±
¡°What can you do about that? So what?¡± Tang Yuyan reached an arm and pushed at Liang Siyao.
¡°Move aside!¡±
With a raise of her wrists, Liang Siyao blocked off Tang Yuyan¡¯s palm. Swiftly, her arms glided along the length of the assaulting arm and hooked. Tang Yuyan¡¯s arm waspletely locked in a hold.
¡°You want to fight?! I¡¯ll fight you!¡± Abruptly, Tang Yuyan sent a kick to Liang Siyao¡¯s lower abdomen.
The woman jolted in shock, frantically releasing Tang Yuyan to avoid the attack.
Tang Yuyan lunged forward, punching her pale fists vehemently at a fervent pace. The heavy exertion of force and power made her punches whistle as they travelled. The Tang n¡¯s martial art speciality was naturally their flying sword technique, but their hand to handbat was not subpar.
Liang Siyao had spent most of her life honing her Wing Chun techniques, there was nothing for her to fear about Tang Yuyan. The only thing holding her back from going all out was her pregnancy. Before long, she found herself forced backwards by Tang Yuyan.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Is that all Wing Chun could offer? Come on, show me what you¡¯re made of!¡± pressured Tang Yuyan unforgivingly.
Liang Siyao fumed, ¡°I¡¯m only holding back because I¡¯m pregnant! If not, I¡¯ll definitely beat the shit out of you!¡±
It would¡¯ve been better if Liang Siyao kept quiet about her pregnancy. The knowledge had evidently triggered Tang Yuyan, to which the woman spat in absolute wrath. ¡°You shameless bitch!¡±
m! m! Thud!
Punches were met with kicks and so forth. The two women attacked one another, wreaking havoc in the office.
In Xia Lei¡¯s office, Liu Zhengnan sweated profusely as he paced around the room anxiously. There was no way he could concentrate on anything. If Tang Yuyan barges in, then he would have failed Xia Lei. The whole ordeal would spiral into a gigantic disaster if the higher-ups caught wind of Liu Zhengnan¡¯s little undercover episode, Xia Lei would definitely find himself in great trouble.
¡°Brother, when the fuck are youing home?¡± Liu Zhengnan gripped his hair in balled fists, trying to reach a solution. However, no probable solution had presented itself despite him pulling out a good amount of hair.
At this moment, a third female voice was heard from outside the door.
¡°What are you two doing?¡± It was Long Bing.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan were here at the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters for the same reason. They needed to rify the information provided to Bureau 101 by Xia Lei through Liang Siyao. They needed further confirmation if the FA Organization was nning to hijack a ne then execute a suicide terrorist attack on Thunder Horse¡¯s Jingdu headquarters. Tang Yuyan had arrived at the premises one step earlier because Long Bing had an appointment at the Women¡¯s Hospital beforeing over.
Long Bing¡¯s arrival was weed by the sight of a fierce brawl between Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan. The woman immediately panicked. On one hand, Liang Siyao was pregnant. The excessive exercise might harm the fetus! On another hand, if she did not step in to stop Tang Yuyan, the woman would soon find out about Liu Zhengnan¡¯s cover. As soon as the ¡®fake Xia Lei¡¯ was exposed, all hell would break loose!
What could she do?
The question had only lingered in Long Bing¡¯s mind for a second before she charged ahead and hugged Tang Yuyan¡¯s waist. At that moment, Liang Siyao¡¯s punch travelled towardsTang Yuyan¡¯s forehead. The woman watched the punch approach her but could do nothing to avoid it for Long Bing had restrained her.
The impending punch came to an abrupt stop an inch away from Tang Yuyan¡¯s head before returning to its master.
It was then that Long Bing released Tang Yuyan.
If it wasn¡¯t for her, Liang Siyao¡¯s punch would have definitely collided with Tang Yuyan¡¯s head. But if Long Bing had yed a part in this and allowed her to punch Tang Yuyan, Long Bing¡¯s work life in Bureau 101 would be all but over. After all, Tang Yuyan was the current head of Bureau 101. Liang Siyao and Long Bing were both Xia Lei¡¯s women and could be considered his family, which made all the more reason for her to put in more considerations on Long Bing¡¯s part.
¡°Go on! Hit me!¡± Tang Yuyan huffed. ¡°Xia Lei got your back. Go on! I¡¯d love to see what his women can do to me!¡±
Liang Siyao relented, ¡°Calm down. Why are you so desperate to create a scene?¡±
¡°You¡¯re stopping me from meeting Xia Lei, how dare you tell me to calm down?! Are you insane? I¡¯m here to deal with official matters!¡± hissed Tang Yuyan loudly.
Liang Siyao sneaked a nce at Long Bing.
To which the other woman returned with a slight nod, her heart pounding as hard as hers. Liang Siyao had told Long Bing the piece of intel earlier. With such a severe matter ongoing in the back, Long Bing would have certainly reached out to Bureau 101 without dy. That was the main event that led to Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan¡¯s catfight.
Ah, so she was here because of that. Liang Siyao zipped her mouth shut and decided to rest her case with Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan averted her gaze onto Long Bing. ¡°Long Bing, you¡¯re the head of a department in Bureau 101. How could you join forces with Liang Siyao? What are you trying to do?¡±
¡°I...¡± Long Bing exined, ¡°Siyao is pregnant, I was worried that you might hurt her child. That¡¯s why I restrained you. I¡¯m just trying to stop the fight. I did not side with Liang Siyao to attack you.¡±
¡°Hmph! Xia Lei¡¯s women sure do get along well. I have to ask how he manages to have a rtionship with four women at the same time!¡± Tang Yuyan strode towards Xia Lei¡¯s office.
Liang Siyao found herself blocking Tang Yuyan again. ¡°I repeat, he¡¯s not avable now to meet you.¡±
Without warning, Tang Yuyan drew her pistol and aimed it at Liang Siyao¡¯s head. ¡°You better think this through. The attack that the intel described would be the worst terrorist attack since the establishment of this country. If you continue to interrupt my work, don¡¯t me me for being heartless.¡±
Though she had yelled at Liang Siyao and a fight had erupted, Liang Siyao had not suffered from any consequences. However, Tang Yuyan had the status and power to arrest Liang Siyao. Banters and brawls were not umon among women who practised martial arts but things would be different if she arrested Liang Siyao. If that happened, she wouldn¡¯t be able to face Xia Lei. Tang Yuyan had owed a lot to Xia Lei in this life.
Liang Siyao¡¯s head was pounding, trying to devise an appropriate measure to handle the sticky situation. There was no way she could keep Tang Yuyan from entering Xia Lei¡¯s office. But if Tang Yuyan really did go through, she couldn¡¯t even bring herself to imagine the chaos and shit Xia Lei was bound to get afterwards.
¡°Yuyan, we¡¯re all sisters. There¡¯s no need to use the pistol, put that down.¡± Long Bing¡¯s eyes were focused and cold.
Tang Yuyan ignored her. She cackled dryly. ¡°What the hell is going on? Is Xia Lei not in his office? Are you hiding something from me?¡±
Liang Siyao and Long Bing couldn¡¯t help but turn to look at each other, expressions equally troubled. Tang Yuyan was intelligent. She had already guessed the situation half right before even meeting Xia Lei¡¯s imposter!
At that moment, Shi Boren made a sudden appearance. The older man emerged from the stairway with a few military men trailing behind him. These soldiers were all dressed in Air Force uniforms.
If the FA Organization was serious about replicating the al-Qaeda¡¯s September eleven attack, the Air Force would most definitely take action. It only made sense for the Air Force generals to appear in this ce. Though Tang Yuyan had taken over Shi Boren¡¯s position, the older man would still be required as her mentor for the time being. His real retirement would have to wait until she could execute her job independently. Hence, Shi Boren was still the main decision-maker of Bureau 101.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Shi Boren¡¯s eyes widened at the pistol in Tang Yuyan¡¯s grip. His expression darkened scarily. ¡°Yuyan put your pistol away!¡±
Tang Yuyan immediately heeded his instructions.
¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Shi Boren scowled and took in his surroundings. ¡°What is wrong with you three?¡±
The three women remained silent, actively avoiding Shi Boren¡¯s eyes.
¡°Speak!¡± Shi Boren yelled, ¡°Is this a fight stemmed from jealousy? If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll give each of you a p! You¡¯re being unreasonable!¡±
¡°Old Shi.¡± A general interjected, ¡°I think it¡¯s best to go straight to Xia Lei. This is an emergency.¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± Shi Boren huffed. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with you threeter! All of you are acting insane!¡±
The older man began to walk towards Xia Lei¡¯s office. This time, Liang Siyao let them have their way. Her heart was palpitating heavily, guilt twisting her guts. ¡°If only I waited until his return to tell Long Bing about that. It¡¯s all my fault. I clearly caused this mess. What should I do now?¡±
Long Bing was regretting her decisions. She thought to herself darkly. ¡°For something so severe, I should¡¯ve known that the higher-ups were going to assign people to rectify the information. Hubby isn¡¯t here and... God! What do I do?! I¡¯m so stupid! I¡¯m so fucking stupid!¡±
Sadly, crying over spilt milk did nothing to help the situation.
Shi Boren came to Xia Lei¡¯s door and extended an arm to grip the doorknob.
Liang Siyao and Long Bing immediately mped their eyes shut.
Chapter 948 - Scapegoat
Shi Boren gripped the doorknob. Before he could twist his wrist, a few impressively-sized horses barged in from the factory entrance into the lobby. There were five horses. In the front were four chestnut horses that carried its respective female riders on its strong back. The women looked identical. Dressed in traditional Italian dresses, they looked feminine yet heroic at the same time. They were the Russo and Grey sisters. Behind the horses was a wonderful ck horse. On its back was none other than the owner of Thunder Horse Organization, Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had made it back seconds from disaster.
Returning to China from Mexico on a yacht was obviously going to take time. But Alessio had a n. As soon as they left Mexican waters, Xia Lei had switched over to take a seane arranged by Alessio. The ne was owned by an Italian mafia gang, primarily used to smuggle drugs.
The unannounced appearance of five horses had caused amotion. Immediately, everyone¡¯s attention was grabbed, which included that of Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Tang Yuyan.
Noticing Xia Lei on the back of the ck horse, Liang Siyao¡¯s worries were dissolved. She called out to him excitedly, ¡°Hub... Director Xia!¡±
Shi Boren released the doorknob in favour of studying the situation. The older man had noticed Xia Lei as well. He furrowed his brows. ¡°What the hell is this bastard doing? Since when was he into equestrian sports?¡±
Long Bing suddenly remembered something. She screamed, ¡°Xia Lei! Boss Shi is here to see you. Quick,e up. There¡¯s no time to be messing around!¡±
Those words were not meant for Xia Lei but Liu Zhengnan who was currently hiding in the office.
As expected, Long Bing¡¯s warning had immediately alerted Liu Zhengnan. The man quickly ran into the bathroom room and removed Xia Lei¡¯s human face mask. He made a quick dash into the toilet to wash off its remnants.
Below, Xia Lei pulled the rein in and stopped his horse. The man lifted his chin and studied the situation above and shouted back, ¡°Got it, I¡¯ll be there soon.¡±
Xia Lei dismounted the animal and passed its reins to Giovanna.
Following that, the ck horse was brought away. She trailed behind her sisters and left the building. Their task was to create an illusion that he was out horse-riding with them and they had already fulfilled their job.
Xia Lei went up the stairs calmly. His eyes scanned through the crowd, letting it pause for a brief moment on Liang Siyao and gave her a slight nod. When he passed by Long Bing, his palm ¡®identally¡¯ grazed the top of her stomach. The gesture seemed innocent.
Long Bing understood his intentions and rolled her eyes at him. Despite the disy of annoyance, her heart was genuinely radiating with joy and warmth. She may appear cold and distant to the others but her true colours were red hot. However, the woman was changing, bing more sensitive and sentimental. But the change hadn¡¯t urred because of Xia Lei. It was because she was about to be a mother. There was a life budding within her womb and that little soul changed her bit by bit in silence.
The nod and smiles he gave to Liang Siyao along with the sneaky but soft caress against Long Bing¡¯s stomach did not go unnoticed by Tang Yuyan. She watched him withplex feelings welling in her heart. They were at the point of meeting each other¡¯s family, they were about to get married but everything was ruined because of Fan Fan. The higher organization robbed Xia Lei away and forced him to take part in their matchmaking session. She would have a better time stomaching things if Xia Lei was only together with Fan Fan. However, not only was the man lovey-dovey with the scientist, but he was also involved with Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi. She was the only woman who he had kept a distance with. How could she not feel offended by it?
Xia Lei paused briefly beside Tang Yuyan, nodding to her with a smile.
She returned him the whites of her eyes.
The man was unfazed, brushing past her shoulder as he walked forward to greet Shi Boren. ¡°Hello, Boss Shi. Hello, generals. You should¡¯ve told me that you wereing today, I could¡¯ve arranged a decent weing ceremony or something.
Shi Boren replied nonchntly, ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. We¡¯re here to talk, shall we head into your office?¡±
Xia Lei suggested, ¡°Let¡¯s go to the meeting room instead. Siyao, please have someone send some tea there.¡±
¡°Sure, I can handle this myself,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°I¡¯ll help you.¡± Long Bing followed behind her.
Shi Boren scowled. ¡°Little bastard, were you assigned here by the gods to trouble Bureau 101 for eternity?¡±
Abruptly, the door to Xia Lei¡¯s office was pushed open. Liu Zhengnan emerged and greeted, ¡°Director Xia, all the documents you need are on your desk.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll have a look at itter. You¡¯re dismissed.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Liu Zhengnan left hurriedly.
But not before Xia Lei could pat his shoulder as an expression of gratitude.
The gesture prompted Liu Zhengnan to turn around and sh Xia Lei a reassuring smile. Though there were no words, it was an action that could be easily interpreted. They were a family. There was no need for courtesy.
Xia Lei led his guests into the meeting room, Long Bing and Liang Siyao bringing them their tea not long after.
Shi Boren uttered, ¡°Liang Siyao, you¡¯re no longer part of the Bureau 101. The matters that we¡¯re about to discuss do not involve you. Please kindly leave the room.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Liang Siyao left.
The woman went for the door, stopping by to whisper into Xia Lei¡¯s seat when she passed him. Her cherry lips almost pressed against his ear. ¡°Hubby, I¡¯ll go give Fan Fan a call. She has been worried about you. I¡¯m sure she¡¯d like to see you now that you¡¯re back.¡±
Xia Lei said nothing but nodded.
Liang Siyao lowered her voice further. ¡°You must be hungry, we¡¯ll make you something nice tonight.¡±
Her wispy words had hinted at something sensual. Xia Lei was half certain that he was going to get lucky tonight.
To hear thating from the lips of his sister disciple made him buzz with concealed excitement. The implications were boundless, his mind going wild with fantasies.
¡°Ahem.¡± Shi Boren cleared his throat.
It was only then that Liang Siyao cut herself off and exited the room.
Tang Yuyan watched her leave with hatred and displeasure. She knew that the woman was doing it on purpose to trigger her. For some unknown reasons, Tang Yuyan found herself gloomy. She was here for a sole reason. To rectify the authenticity and uracy of the intel but she had long forgotten her real task.
¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk.¡± Shi Boren began, ¡°You said that the FA Organization is nning to hijack a ne in Japan to attack Thunder Horse Military Factory, is that right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
¡°Where did you get that from?¡± Shi Boren stared at him sharply.
Long Bing and Tang Yuyan¡¯s attention went onto Xia Lei.
The few Air Force generals too had their eyes glued to him, anticipating an answer.
Everyone wanted to know his source, including Long Bing.
There was a brief pause before Xia Lei revealed it. ¡°I got it from my father.¡±
Shi Boren was stunned. ¡°Your father?¡±
The answer had stirred surprise. But upon thinking about it further, it seemed probable and made absolute sense. After all, Xia Changhe used to be a member of the FA. It wasn¡¯t impossible for the older man to obtain such information.
¡°Yes, my father.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°He gave me this and told me to prepare ordingly. However, there¡¯s no point asking me for his location because I don¡¯t know that myself. He had written me an email with a time limit. It got corrupted after I read its contents.¡±
Shi Boren wanted to learn more about how Xia Changhe was able to reach his son but his intentions were immediately halted by Xia Lei. He couldn¡¯t help but turn to look at the generals, noticing that they too were equally bewildered.
Xia Lei¡¯s exnation was reasonable and fair. But its high probability also made it seem very unlikely.
Tang Yuyan questioned, ¡°When will the FAunch the attack?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. My father didn¡¯t tell me much.¡±
She tightened her lip. ¡°Are you telling the truth?¡±
Xia Lei shifted his posture. ¡°Of course I am telling the truth. Do you not trust me?¡±
¡°I used to trust you a lot but I don¡¯t trust you now.¡± Tang Yuyan red at him. ¡°You¡¯re a liar. You¡¯ve deceived me more than I can count.¡±
Xia Lei knew that she was bringing up her past which was why he did not say anything. Indeed, he was guilty of deceiving her.
¡°Ahem.¡± Shi Boren harrumphed, tossing a re in Tang Yuyan¡¯s direction. It was a stern warning to not involve their private affairs in such a setting.
Following that, the woman brought the topic back onto the intended track. ¡°Is the FA preparing to attack you and the Thunder Horse Organization because of that AE capsule Madam Folsom was talking about? Is this an act of revenge?¡±
Long Bing was taken aback, ring at Tang Yuyan coldly. She had a gut feeling that Tang Yuyan and Shi Boren¡¯s appearance was not just to rectify the intel. They had an ulterior motive to investigate Xia Lei!
The AE capsule was shrouded in mystery. It was an odd capsule that could advance human evolution. The allure it packed had made it almost impossible to reject. Everyone would love to have a piece of that. Their hopes to get their hands on it was as hot as volcanicva!
Truthfully, the investigation on Xia Lei had been ongoing without a stop. It was subtle enough to go unnoticed.
Once again, everyone¡¯s attention was gathered on Xia Lei, they demanded an answer. Other than Long Bing¡¯s worried stares, everyone else was observing his response. They were making guesses of what his answers would be.
Surprisingly, Xia Lei did not dwell on it and made no pause. As soon as the question left Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips, he immediately retorted. ¡°Huh? I gave you such a vital intel and yet you¡¯re here to interrogate me?¡±
She avoided his eyes, not able to bring herself to face his wrath.
¡°Xia Lei, what¡¯s with you?¡± Shi Boren chuckled dryly. ¡°Kid, you¡¯re being paranoid over nothing. We¡¯re just here to rify the information. If you don¡¯t wish to answer her, there¡¯s no need to do so.¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°I understand and I don¡¯t me you, everyone is just doing their job. I don¡¯t mind answering your query.¡± Pausing for a brief moment, he went, ¡°I¡¯ll answer Yuyan¡¯s first question. I did indeed consume unknown pills but I can¡¯t pinpoint if they were AE capsules. I was feeble as a child so I had taken plenty of medications. Maybe it was just amoxicillin or flu pills. It was too long ago so I can¡¯t give you a firm answer.¡±
¡°I...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was meek. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you that.¡±
Xia Lei continued, ¡°On to the second question. The FA Organization has be one of America¡¯s dogs. They are now serving the American government. Their motive behind the nned attack is to halt Thunder Horse¡¯s production and further weaponry contributions to China.¡±
Shi Boren gaped. ¡°The FA is working for the American government? Is that what your father told you?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. Since his father wasn¡¯t here, Xia Changhe was the perfect scapegoat.
Shi Boren pped the table. ¡°That¡¯s preposterous!¡±
Chapter 949 - Once Again, A Father
¡°We need to issue a warning to America,¡± one of the Air Force generals fumed. ¡°This is a tant act of war!¡±
¡°Do they really think we¡¯re still in our past pathetic state of national development? Do they think that they can do whatever they want to us?¡±
¡°Japan... Are the Japanese involved in this?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? The Americans and Japanese are allies. In Asia, the country most reluctant to see us advance is Japan.¡±
The generals¡¯ discussion was heated. Their sworn duty was to protect the country, but a terrorist organization had threatened to destroy one of China¡¯s most important talent. When dealing with this, their sensitivity would always be way intense more than that of civilians. It was only natural for them to react so strongly towards it.
Shi Boren nced at Xia Lei. ¡°What do you think about it?¡±
The generals went silent and ced their attention on Xia Lei.
The man answered, ¡°There¡¯s no point for negotiation. Thunder Horse¡¯s existence has threatened America¡¯s strategic benefits greatly. If Thunder Horse Organization wasn¡¯t based in China, they would¡¯ve probably long deployed their B52 and B2 on us. They don¡¯t care about us at all. At most, they¡¯d offer an official apology and call it a day.¡±
The meeting room was quiet, the past taunting everyone like a thorn in their hearts.
¡°Japan¡¯s Land Self Defense Force had fired at me during the Russian tank biathlon. Not to mention, it was a round of fire from three Type 10 tanks. That was clearly an act of war, but did they care? No, not at all. With America¡¯s support, they had all the courage in the world.¡± Xia Lei paused momentarily. ¡°The general of the Japanese Land Self Defense Force, Hattori Masao, has a daughter named Hattori Mei who works for Lockheed Martin. She was Folsom¡¯s personal assistant. Folsom had wrung out the secrets of the AE capsules during the Boao Forum For Asia and then this happened. Isn¡¯t their goal obvious enough? They¡¯re trying to create an opportunity for you to assault me.¡±
Shi Boren uttered, ¡°We¡¯re not idiots. No one would ever assault you. You¡¯re a national hero. You need to remember that.¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly at that. ¡°And what¡¯s with the Special Forces stationed all around my house?¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Shi Boren had the audacity to look sheepish. ¡°That was to protect you.¡±
With schooled nonchnce, Xia Lei said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll believe that the Special Forces are there for my sake.¡±
¡°What are your ns?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯ll continue to do my work. Thunder Horse Organization will carry on with its unmanned aircraft project, My time is precious and I don¡¯t n to waste it orbiting around the FA Organization.¡±
Hearing his words, the generals buzzed with excitement and glee.
¡°Mister Xia, is that true?!¡± One of them gushed rushedly.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Of course, Thunder Horse will be stepping into air force weapons. In the future, we won¡¯t be solely producingnd weaponry. The drone is just the beginning and I¡¯m sure a fighter jet and strategic bomber would follow soon. Simply put, I want to make Thunder Horse surpass Lockheed Martin¡¯s existence. They will never seed in their efforts to get rid of us.¡±
¡°Good! Well said!¡± Another general pped the tabletop. ¡°The weapons produced by yourpany had made our army brothers stand proud and confident in battle. The Air Force has only been able to stare in envy. If the Thunder Horse Organization is going to produce advanced fighters for us, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to defend our borders away from those pesky bastards confidently!¡±
¡°Mister Xia, you may rest assured.¡± Another general spoke, ¡°I will arrange for a troop to protect Thunder Horse¡¯s premise from possible air assault. They¡¯ll be bringing an S400 set over. I¡¯d love to see the FA¡¯s attempt to bomb you with their hijacked ne!¡±
¡°That...¡± Xia Lei seemed a little troubled. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a little too much? After all, the Thunder Horse Organization is just a private enterprise. Why are you protecting us to that extent?¡±
The S400 air defence missile was imported from Russia. Not only did it have long-range defence capabilities, but it also offered regional air defence capabilities. Its reaction speed was between two to five seconds. If the FA had only managed to hijack a civil aircraft, then the S400 missile would destroy it three hundred kilometres away! It was basically impossible for it toe near Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s Jingdu headquarters!
¡°Mister Xia, yourpany is the pride of our country and the pride of China¡¯s army. We look forward to your Air Force products. Now that you¡¯re in trouble, how can we stay silent and do nothing? There¡¯s no need to reject us. You¡¯ll see a troop and a set of S400 here around this time tomorrow.¡± The Air Force general who suggested it was adamant, not allowing a word of refusal from Xia Lei.
There was no way Xia Lei could say no to that. The man was just pretending to be courteous for decency sake. Under such a threat, he certainly hoped for military involvement to help protect the Thunder Horse Organization. After all, hispany had no air defence missiles to use for now.
Shi Boren interjected, ¡°Though the military will protect the Thunder Horse Organization, it¡¯s best to handle this by destroying FA¡¯s n at its early phases. The FA probably won¡¯t hijack nes from Japanese airlines. They¡¯re most likely going to target Chinese airlines. I will have my agents board nes and go undercover as flight attendants. As soon as the FAunches its operation, we will take them out there and then.¡±
¡°Boss Shi has a point. We should be working at this from all angles.¡± One of the generals agreed.
Shi Boren nced at Long Bing. ¡°Long Bing, I¡¯ll be handing this mission to you. Will that be alright?¡±
Long Bing froze.
¡°Long Bing?¡± Tang Yuyan urged, ¡°Boss Shi is asking you, are you alright with the mission?¡±
¡°I...¡± Long Bing hesitated.
This was the first time she had shown doubt in the entirety of her career. If she wasn¡¯t pregnant, she would¡¯ve epted the mission in a heartbeat. But things wereplicated now that she was carrying Xia Lei¡¯s offspring. To protect her child from possible danger was every mother¡¯s natural instinct. This mission was bound to have elements of physicalbat, what if the child was harmed?
Shi Boren furrowed his brows. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Long Bing? Do you not wish to ept this mission? You weren¡¯t like this in the past, what happened?¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s gazended quietly on Long Bing¡¯s abdomen. She recalled how Xia Lei had snuck a caress against the surface of it and studied Long Bing¡¯s expression. In that split second, she understood what was going on. The revtion clenched at her heart and there was an eversting sourness that gripped her mind. Tang Yuyan felt the desperate need to run out and cry to her heart¡¯s content.
Xia Lei had refused to marry her and abandoned her in public to meet Fan Fan. He was surrounded by not one Fan Fan but many other women. What worse was that he had even impregnated both Liang Siyao and Long Bing with his seed!
All this took a toll on Tang Yuyan greatly.
Xia Lei understood Long Bing¡¯s response as clear as day. He wasn¡¯t keen on having her involved in such a dangerous mission as well. He interjected, ¡°Boss Shi, Long Bing has worked hard over these years. It¡¯s about time she takes a break, you could still assign smaller missions to her.¡±
The older man red at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re Thunder Horse¡¯s decision-maker. What happens in Bureau 101 is not up to your jurisdiction. Yuyan, what¡¯s your say on this assignment?¡±
Xia Lei averted his gaze onto Tang Yuyan, worried that she would insist on Long Bing taking up the mission. From what he had gathered about her, Tang Yuyan might actually do that.
Instead, Tang Yuyan was silent. ¡°Godfather, we¡¯ll talk about this when we return. Let¡¯s go.¡±
The woman was reluctant to remain another second here, immediately heading for the door after uttering her words.
¡°Boss Shi, we¡¯re going to head back to start on our preparation. That¡¯s all for today.¡± The Air Force generals left their seats.
Xia Lei stood and bid them farewell.
Long Bing should¡¯ve left with Tang Yuyan and Shi Boren but the woman had chosen to remain in the room. She blinked her big eyes at Xia Lei, watching him click the door shut and approach her. T
However, before Xia Lei could gather her in his arms, she stopped him with a push against his chest. ¡°Be careful, you need to be gentle to me in the future.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Our child should still be in its early stages, right? Your stomach is still t.¡±
¡°You still need to be gentle,¡± insisted Long Bing. It was rare for her to pout.
¡°Alright, I promise to be gentle.¡± There was a soft smile on his face. ¡°But I must admit that I¡¯m curious. It hasn¡¯t been long since we used the antidote. How did you find out that you¡¯re expecting?¡±
His curiosity was piqued ever since hearing it from Liang Siyao when he was in Mexico. It was perplexing how soon Long Bing had found out about it.
Long Bing answered, ¡°My period was supposed toe two days after you left but it waste. I wasn¡¯t too bothered by it. I was talking to Fan Fan about it not long after and as soon as she learnt that my period waste, she ran a test on me. I knew I was pregnant then.¡± Long Bing could feel her cheeks heat up.
Xia Lei wrapped her in his arms. This time, his motion was much gentler. ¡°I¡¯m so lucky, I¡¯m going to be a father.¡±
¡°Once again.¡± Long Bing rolled her eyes.
Xia Lei had nothing to retort.
¡°I need to head back now,¡± announced Long Bing.
Xia Lei called out to her. ¡°Hey, promise me. Don¡¯t ept this mission. It¡¯s too dangerous. If you¡¯re going to Japan, the FA isn¡¯t the only party you¡¯re facing. You¡¯d being face to face with high tech personnel and the Hattori n¡¯s elite fighters. There might be some CIA members involved as well.¡±
Long Bing heaved a sigh. ¡°I can¡¯t say no. If Boss Shi and Tang Yuyan ordered me to go, I must heed their instructions.¡±
¡°Then you could resign from your job. Come here to my ce. You can do whatever you want.¡±
But that offer elicited a bitter smile from her. ¡°Other than being a special agent and killing enemies, what else am I good at? There¡¯s no need for you to worry about this, I can handle it myself.¡± She turned to leave.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°You¡¯re my lover and you¡¯re the mother to my child. I must take care of you.¡±
Long Bing bit the insides of her cheek, her heart beaming with joy. She turned around and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be visiting you tonight.¡±
Chapter 950 - Chlorellas Secret
Watching the Knight XV disappear from his sight, Xia Lei turned around and left for his office. He took out his hackingptop and began to work.
Today, he gave himself two tasks. Firstly, to prepare himself for his second battle and then to sort out all of the information he had obtained off Jack and Lockheed Martin. Both of these matters were veryplex.
However, it took no time for Xia Lei to calm down and shift his mood. He booted hisptop and tuned into the stock market application to learn yesterday¡¯s status.
Just from yesterday, the four female knights had lost another one hundred thousand dors from their ounts. A particrpany¡¯s stock had suffered a severe loss while the others had lost a little and gained some. Overall, the phenomenon showed some bnce except for that particrpany which had only been on the losing streak. There was no sign of rebound for that.
Xia Lei studied the stock trading chart. In China, these were referred to as a K-line chart that used contrasting red and green coloured ¡®candles¡¯ to highlight the trends and direction of development. However, America used a chart referred to as the American Line. Be it the American Line or K-line chart, the charts disyed a huge influx of trade information. The amount of information in these charts was so vast that though many could understand what it expressed, a majority of them could notprehend hidden clues in the chart.
But Xia Lei was different. Numbers and diagrams were imprinted in his mind as his brain booted up in a fury like a supeputer. Every part of his brain searched through the elements for faint traces of something.
In just ten minutes, there was already a smile stered on Xia Lei¡¯s face. The man had found something. A foundation was operating the stock market. Instead of selling its stock, it was eating it up. In the process of suppressing others and feeding itself, the foundation had decreased its principle tremendously.
Following that, he exited the interface and Googled thepany¡¯s IP address. When he purchased its stock, he only had half the mind to learn thepany¡¯s basic information. The only thing he knew was that thepany was a technologypany registered as Chlore Company. Chlore Company was mainly involved in applied technology research, but it was also involved in smaller novel invention projects like smart toilets, fitness equipment to aid physical exercise for obese patients and so on. Its products had great diversity but none of them had been able to excel in its respective market. They had only managed to keep their performance afloat and its stock trend was rolling downhill. It gave off the impression that it might dere bankruptcy anytime.
From all the clues he had obtained, Xia Lei was sure that those were just an illusion.
A few minutester, Xia Lei made the conscious decision to hack into Chore¡¯s management system. The private enterprise¡¯s security firewall was just like a curtain to him. It took literally no effort on his end. Entering it, he was just like an intruder into a stranger¡¯s household, flipping through the drawers in search of something valuable.
Suddenly, the office door was pushed open. Liang Siyao made her entrance with Fan Fan trailing close behind her. With their current rtionship with Xia Lei, there was no need for knocking before entering his office. When Xia Lei was at home using the washroom, they would squeeze their way in to brush their teeth or fix their makeup. With that being said, what was the point of them knocking on his door to ask for permission?
Xia Lei lifted his head and smiled at them. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re here.¡±
The greeting may be simple but it was filled with warmth.
Fan Fan approached him, visibly upset. ¡°I heard from Siyao. Why are you so reckless? You¡¯re a father to multiple children for crying out loud. How could you still go on wild adventures like that? Tell me, why were you in Mexico? Why did you need Liu Zhengnan to be your imposter?¡±
Liang Siyao stared at Xia Lei in anticipation. In all honesty, she was curious too.
What happened in America and Mexico was something that Xia Lei couldn¡¯t possibly exin to anyone. Fan Fan and Liang Siyao were clearly here to get some answers. This wasn¡¯t just triggered by their curiosity but also out of concern. Facing the concern his women and the mothers to his children had offered, could he reject them out t?
Xia Lei extended an arm to grab Fan Fan¡¯s delicate palm, pulling her onto hisp. Gently, he ced his cheek taut against her soft belly, pretending to listen to the movements of his unborn child. ¡°I think our daughter just called me papa, such a good girl.¡±
Fan Fan jabbed a finger against his forehead. ¡°How are you so sure that I¡¯m carrying a girl? Also, the child is undeveloped. How on earth is it calling you daddy? Stop changing the topic and answer me.¡±
Xia Lei waved a hand at Liang Siyao. ¡°Siyao,e over. I¡¯d like to say hello to my son.¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You¡¯re insanely shameless. We¡¯re in the office. If someone sees this, it¡¯d be no wonder that they want to bomb the building.¡±
¡°Come on.¡± Xia Lei cooed with a warm smile.
¡°I refuse.¡± Her words were not a direct reflection of her intentions, but her body was honest. She approached them and hovered over the pair.
Xia Lei split his legs apart and wrapped an arm around Liang Siyao¡¯s waist to pull her onto his other unupied leg.
Fan Fan was on his left and Liang Siyao upied his right.
If Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing were here, then Long Bing would be sitting in front of him while Jiang Ruyi takes the back. It was the definition of a perfect picture harem.
Xia Lei too stuck his cheek close to Liang Siyao¡¯s belly. With a straight face, he said, ¡°Oh dear, I think our son is practising Wing Chun.¡±
The woman pinched at his waist unforgivingly. ¡°Wing Chun, my ass. I haven¡¯t even felt any movement from the baby and here you are spewing bullshit.¡±
Xia Lei retorted, ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be so. I¡¯ve already thought this through. I think Fan Fan is pregnant with a daughter. In the future, we¡¯ll cultivate her into a scientist. Siyao, I¡¯m pretty certain that you¡¯re carrying a son. You and your father would have a st teaching him Wing Chun. We¡¯ll encourage him to be a martial arts expert just like Bruce Lee. He¡¯ll definitely bring Wing Chun to greater heights. What do you think about my grand n?¡±
The two women looked at each other unamusedly, both of their hands attacking Xia Lei¡¯s waist in unison. At the same time, they delivered a strong pinch on each side.
¡°Gaaaaaahhhh!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s scream was shrill.
¡°What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Fan Fan panicked. She was worried that the others might hear them and barge into office, only to find that she and Liang Siyao were intimately seated on Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. If that happened, embarrassment would only be secondary to the punishment they would have to endure.
Liang Siyao¡¯s response was a contrast to Fan Fan¡¯s, she abruptly wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s head. In that split second, she stuffed her soft bosoms against his lips.
¡°Are you trying to kill us?¡± Liang Siyao hissed between gritted teeth, shaking his head side to side in the process.
To be forced into silence like this was a joy to Xia Lei. The man had interpreted Liang Siyao¡¯s gesture as some sort of signal, his hands began to wander around the span of their body. At the same time, he slid his palms along the thighs of his two lovers. The women did not shy away from his touch but as soon as it transpired into something else, both of them escaped from his thigh.
¡°What the hell? Are you seriously doing that in broad daylight and in your office no less?¡± Fan Fan red at Xia Lei. Weirdly, her anger was absent, reced by excitement and something carnal. Her body was overly sensitive. But she wouldn¡¯t say that aloud to Xia Lei and Liang Siyao that she had actually orgasmed when the man slid his palm around. Though words were left unsaid, the dark flush across her cheek had betrayed her. The violent red was something that typically followed after her climax.
Though Liang Siyao¡¯s bodily response wasn¡¯t as exaggerated as Fan Fan, the redness on her face and her heaving chest was a good indication of her desire and excitement.
The women were clearly deprived of their lover¡¯s intimate contact.
In a lowered voice, Xia Lei said, ¡°Let¡¯s go talk in my rxation room. I need to tell you a secret.¡±
Fan Fan and Liang Siyao stared at each other nkly, immediately spitting in unison.
¡°I¡¯m not falling for that, I rather not be curious,¡± said Fan Fan. ¡°You¡¯ve got your own things and we both will stay out of it. We have no control over you. But I hope you remember that you¡¯re no longer acting as a single person. You¡¯ve got wives and children to think of. I hope you¡¯ll think more about us and not do anything dangerous in the future.¡±
Xia Lei could feel his heart melt into goo. He nodded meekly, ¡°Yeah, but I think we should go inside for this discussion.¡±
Fan Fan was tempted but Liang Siyao grabbed her arm instead. ¡°Sister Fan Fan, let¡¯s head back and prepare some ingredients for dinner. Long Bing ising over tonight. I¡¯ll go ask if Ruyi is joining us. It¡¯ll be a full family reunion if Ruyies tonight.¡±
¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go home. Ignore this little bastard,¡± said Fan Fan.
Liang Siyao tossed Xia Lei a re. ¡°You¡¯re sleeping on the couch tonight!¡±
Xia Lei had nothing to retort.
After their departure, Xia Lei resumed on his work. But all he could focus on was the groove of Liang Siyao and Fan Fan¡¯s fleshy behind and the sensation they left imprinted into the top of his thigh. The man couldn¡¯t help but relive the moment in memory.
A few minutester, he reverted back and continued to flip through Chlore¡¯s database.
This time, he finally found their dirty secret.
A project titled ¡®Jay Garrick¡¯ appeared before him in the form of an encrypted file. However, the degree of security it packed was nothing more than a simple math equation to Xia Lei.
Decoding its password, Xia Lei learnt quickly that the project was about handphone batteries.
Jay Garrick was actually The sh, under the DC gship. He was a fictional superhero that possessed lightning abilities and impressive speed. Chlore Company had named this research project aimed towards the mobile phone market with his name, surely the nature of their project was plenty obvious.
¡°A charging time of two minutes, with a usage time of eight hours? Extremely thin battery but can store twenty-five thousand milliamp-hours? If this project is sessful and they push their product into the market, a new phone battery revolution will be triggered. The project is good but its stock price is falling. Their motive behind the hefty purchase before the announcement of the project is obvious.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s smirk was calctive.
He made a copy of Chlore¡¯s entire database, not sparing a few important figures of Chlore¡¯s Board of Directors. Xia Lei too made copies of their mailbox contents.
Completing that, he moved on to his other task. To sort out all the information he had obtained off Jack and Lockheed Martin.
The American stock market would only be in business in the night but Xia Lei was already ready for it.
This would be his first attempt and he was determined to not leave any openings to his rival.
Chapter 951 - Brain Upgrade
Xia Lei spent the whole day sorting through the information he got from Jack and Lockheed Martin. With all the hours ced into it, he was barely a quarter done. This was already a rtively decent speed. If it were to be someone else, their progress would be less than one per cent.
Sadly, there was no specialized printer catered to replicating brainwaves. If that had existed, things would be easier.
¡°This is not it. I¡¯m too slow. I need to sieve through it and only keep valuable information. The others need to be discarded.¡± Xia Lei thought to himself.
His initial n was to sort everything and leave his knowledge to the use of Thunder Horse¡¯s research team and technicians. But the time it took was enough for him to discard the thought. At this rate, he would¡¯ve needed a few months to record everything in his brain physically and the Thunder Horse personnel would need a longer time to study its contents. Xia Lei was running out of time and he was not keen on waiting.
¡°Maybe I should just research this myself and produce Thunder Horse¡¯s first drone. After I¡¯m done with the framework, all they need to do is assemble it ording to my instructions. They¡¯ll probably be able to learn relevant information and techniques in the process.¡± An idea manifested itself in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
What Thunder Horse Organization needed now was not an elite team but a hero that could dictate the direction of the era!
Perhaps the idea of working on the drone himself and the word ¡®hero¡¯ had triggered something in the depths of his mind. The strong urge to take the drone project into his own hands and prompted his brain to switch into a whole new mode.
It was something unprecedented.
The Predator B, Global Eagle, F35 and all the technologies he had seen in Lockheed Martin during his time in America along with the spare part production lines and design ns from Jack¡¯sputer flooded out like a tsunami. His brain went into work, separating the image into itsponents with numbers and detailed diagrams.
It was as if his brain was bustling with multiple researchers, each of them the sweetbination of a scientist and an engineer. Not only were they knowledgeable in their expertise, but they also worked in perfect unison. They calcted everything and deduced everything, they were putting together an unmanned aircraft like never before!
It was mysterious but crazily amazing, it was unbelievable.
Xia Lei¡¯s intention was merely a thought. All of these had happened in his brain without his control. It all happened naturally.
He felt as if his brain had gotten an upgrade!
Ring... Ring...
In all of a sudden, Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were interrupted by his ringtone. The sudden interjection was met with an excited smile. Within that short time of experimentation, he was confident that he had found another use for his super brain. He no longer needed to instruct his brain to execute tasks specifically. All he needed to do was feed it the information and let it run on its own. With that, his brain was able toplete tasks faster and with terrifying precision!
With this new feature, Xia Lei was certain that Thunder Horse Organization would be having its first drone very soon!
How terrifying would thebination of a handful of ¡®researchers and engineers¡¯ with uniform standards and incredible productivity be? This was a question that couldn¡¯t be answered by anyone, Xia Lei included. Though Xia Lei was sure that the ¡®researchers¡¯ he had meant were his brain cells. That point alone was enough to cement his belief that his brain had gotten stronger than it was before.
Ring... Ring...
His phone rang again, finally snapping Xia Lei out of his trance. But before he could answer it, the device had already gone silent.
Abruptly, Liang Siyao¡¯s voice roared from downstairs. ¡°Old Xia! It¡¯s time for dinner!¡±
Xia Lei exited his office and leaned against the railing. He lowered his chin and immediately found Liang Siyao.
The winter skies had darkened prematurely. Under the weak illumination of the streemps, Liang Siyao¡¯s body still looked plump and gorgeous as ever. Her ck suit and pants set had highlighted her wonderful curves. The woman hade to urge Xia Lei home for dinner with her apron on!
¡°Come on, everyone is waiting for you.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice boomed. It was only natural because she was screaming for him from the ground.
But her volume had not only summoned Xia Lei but also the entirety of the employees working in the office building. Everyone¡¯s attention was on the sister disciple. Some people were envious, some people ogled her long legs and some stared at her proud-standing chest.
¡°Did you hear that? CEO Liang is already calling Director Xia Old Xia. When is the wedding banquet happening?¡±
¡°We¡¯re not deaf. Of course, we heard that. Why are you so confident that Director Xia would invite you to his wedding? He doesn¡¯t need your money. He¡¯s the one paying your sry.¡±
[Note: It¡¯smon practice in Chinese society, especially among working adults, to chip in a certain amount for a wedding you¡¯re invited to.]
¡°Hehehehe, this is great news! It¡¯s a happy asion! This is...¡±
¡°Bro, are you out of your mind?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t Director Xia¡¯s fiancee that Officer Fan? Would CEO Liang get into trouble with such a disy? I can¡¯t believe this but I¡¯m actually worried about her.¡±
¡°There is nothing to worry about. Look at Director Xia. He is in a league of his own. If he can¡¯t handle that, is he even worthy of being our idol? Yesterday, when I went to drop off some files to Director Xia, I caught sight of CEO Liang and Officer Fan sitting on top of his thigh through the gaps of his window. And his hands were...¡±
¡°What the fuck?! Why are you grabbing my ass?! Are you insane?!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡±
Under much noise andughter, Xia Lei exited the office building and studied his surroundings. He yelled, ¡°You all seem free. Do you want to work overtime?¡±
Whoosh!
All the busybodies and curious spectators disappeared into the depths of the office.
¡°Jeez, I think I need to stop going easy on them,¡± grumbled Xia Lei to himself. He walked towards Liang Siyao and pulled her hand towards the gate.
Liang Siyao was ultimately unfazed by the extra attention. She said, ¡°Ruyi says she¡¯s noting tonight.¡±
¡°That¡¯s alright. When she visits next time, try to advise her to resign and consider working for Thunder Horse instead,¡±mented Xia Lei.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll do that when she visits.¡± Liang Siyao said, ¡°She¡¯s pregnant too. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll consider your words when her baby begins to develop. I¡¯ll continue to convince her.¡±
Jiang Ruyi had gotten pregnant before she was married. Working at the police station with a pregnant belly was bound to garner her some unwanted gossip. It waspletely possible for her to give up on the job ande live with them in Jingdu. Her situation was different from that of Long Bing¡¯s. Long Bing had treated her job like her lifeline while Jiang Ruyi was not as headstrong about it.
Long Bing had arrived as promised. She was dressed differently, opting to wear a red skirt with some winter stockings underneath and a white zer coat to top it all off. The woman looked positively feminine and chic.
Xia Lei shed her a smile. ¡°Ah Bing, it¡¯s a surprise to see you dressed like this today.¡±
Long Bing replied, ¡°Do I look bad?¡±
¡°No, not at all. You look great like this,¡±mented Xia Lei.
Long Bing giggled bashfully. ¡°ttery won¡¯t get you anywhere. Sister Fan Fan and Siyao look better than me in skirts.¡±
Fan Fan retorted, ¡°I think you and Siyao look better than me in skirts.¡±
Liang Siyao argued, ¡°You both are the ones that look better with skirts.¡±
The three women continued to pushpliments back and forth. However, Xia Lei decided that he had enough of their banter. ¡°None of you look good in skirts. I¡¯m the one that looks best in it.¡±
The three women spluttered and burst intoughter.
¡°Let¡¯s dig in,¡± said Fan Fan.
The four of them sat around the dining table with delicious food and fragrant wine present. His eyes had them and their eyes had reflections of him. Their eyes hooked onto one another, forming a out of intertwining red strings of fate that trapped the hearts of the man and his women.
This was what home was like.
And this was love. Love was simple.
¡°Ah Bing, what were Boss Shi and Tang Yuyan¡¯s decision?¡± Xia Lei brought up the question as they dined.
¡°They...¡± Long Bing hesitated, but relented anyway, ¡°After some careful consideration, they decided to let me on the mission.¡±
A frown immediately formed between Xia Lei¡¯s brows. ¡°I already made it clear to Boss Shi that I don¡¯t want you to get involved in such a dangerous mission. Is he not nning to leave me any face?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s difort was strong after what happened to Long Bing earlier. That incident was like a thorn in his heart. His fondness towards Shi Boren was slowly fading away.
Long Bing replied, ¡°Please don¡¯t do that. I understand you¡¯re just thinking on my behalf but I love this job. I¡¯m willing to sacrifice my all for this country. That¡¯s something you can¡¯t change about me. Now that Siyao has left Bureau 101 and with Tang Yuyan as the leader, there is no suitable candidate left in the bureau to attend the mission. If I don¡¯t go, who¡¯s going to?¡±
Xia Lei retorted, ¡°Isn¡¯t there Tang Bochuan? He¡¯s also a department head in Bureau 101. I think he¡¯s more than capable of handling something like this.¡±
Long Bing fell silent, not wanting to continue their argument. She knew he was right. Bureau 101 had resources and she was not the only one capable of taking the job. Tang Bochuan had the credentials for the mission as well. Even if they did not select Tang Bochuan, there were still others that could fulfil the position.
¡°Hubby, how about we stop talking about that? You¡¯re upsetting Long Bing,¡± interjected Liang Siyao with a smile.
¡°Let¡¯s have some wine. Let¡¯s do a toast for our family.¡± Fan Fan aided to shift the tension.
The four of them clinked their sses.
Liang Siyao borrowed the proximity as she refilled Xia Lei¡¯s ss. She whispered, ¡°You know her temper. But I¡¯m sure you can have the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team to protect her in the shadows.¡±
The man had been so preupied with everything that he had forgotten that the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had nothing to do at the moment. Long Bing¡¯s mission would be a great opportunity for them to exercise their muscles. Tsukino Kyoko was Japanese and she would be familiar with the environment. Having her aid Long Bing secretly wouldn¡¯t be an issue.
Liang Siyao¡¯s suggestion immediately eased Xia Lei¡¯s anxiety. His mood visibly lightened up.
¡°Let¡¯s have another ss. After that, let¡¯s head to bed.¡±
The three of them looked at each other in silence
Fan Fan sheepishly uttered, ¡°Hubby, we¡¯re all pregnant. You need to control yourself.¡±
Liang Siyao added, ¡°Yeah, please just put up with it.¡±
Long Bing replied, ¡°Even though I just found out, I still need to be careful. So it¡¯s a hard pass from me.¡±
Xia Lei had nothing to say.
Had they all formed a pact before this?
Chapter 952 - A Rigged Gamble
Due to the time zone difference, the American stock market opened from ten at night to five in the morning for China during winter. By nine fifty, Xia Lei was already in his study to begin his preparation.
Entering the American stock market would render Xia Lei unable to deliver a spectacr shock like what Soros had done to the stock markets of Thand and Hong Kong. The scale of those markets was small inparison to the world¡¯srgest stock market. However, he could always gradually increase his foothold until he made a huge impact. Truthfully, Xia Lei hadn¡¯t thought about the extent he could achieve but he had a goal. To maximize his influence!
The American capitalists had dominated a majority of the third-world stock market, mercilessly plundering all their wealth. On the other hand, no third-world capitalists had ever made the move to enter the American stock market. Regardless of the oue, Xia Lei was willing to be the trailzer!
In another room, three women gathered and talked.
¡°Is it alright for us to reject him like that?¡± Fan Fan looked a little concerned.
Liang Siyao reassured her with a smile. ¡°Sister Fan Fan, there¡¯s no need to be afraid. A man needs his own space and so do we. It¡¯s alright to say no from time to time.¡±
But Fan Fan begged to differ. ¡°But he has been away for some time. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s got needs. If we don¡¯t indulge him, he might cheat on us. I find the way the four Italiandies look at him a little odd.¡±
Liang Siyao knew the sisters¡¯ background story but she wasn¡¯t sure if she could reveal it to Long Bing and Fan Fan. The woman nced at Long Bing and noticed that she was looking out of the window in a direction. Following her line of sight, Liang Siyao found her staring at a fence that separated the iplete church.
¡°Ah Bing, what¡¯s on your mind?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
It was only then that Long Bing snapped out of her daze. She replied, ¡°Nothing.¡±
The other woman asked, ¡°When are you leaving.¡±
¡°Tomorrow,¡± answered Long Bing.
¡°Do you really need to go?¡± Liang Siyao continued, ¡°Think about your child. Think about Xia Lei.¡±
Long Bing could only huff a meek chuckle. Her eyes oozed with determination as she said, ¡°I am a warrior of this country. The country needs me and I shall respond. There¡¯s no need to keep advising me. I know what I¡¯m doing.¡±
Liang Siyao hesitated but opted to reply, ¡°Alright then, the Chinese Zodiac Team will help you in the dark.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± That garnered a bewildered stare from Long Bing.
Fan Fan too was equally shocked. ¡°What? We have a Chinese Zodiac Battle Team?¡±
¡°I¡¯m part of it. I¡¯m the pig.¡± Liang Siyao studied their responses. ¡°This team was formed by our father inw. If it wasn¡¯t for their involvement, our husband would¡¯ve been long dead...¡±
The secret was out, but not because of Liang Siyao¡¯s selfish wish. She was merely heeding Xia Lei¡¯s instruction to tell Fan Fan and Long Bing about its existence after dinner. To have Liang Siyao reveal it to them ensured that they would be able to stomach it better.
Meanwhile, in the other room, Xia Lei had already begun his mission.
He opened the stock trading software and began his maniption. He dumped three stocks from the four female knights¡¯ ounts and cashed it out. Then, he waited for the perfect time to strike.
Chlore¡¯s stock plummeted violently as soon as the market was opened.
Transactions entered Xia Lei¡¯s vision and those numbers were quickly imprinted into his mind. His brain began to sort and calcte them immactely. Ten minutester, he was able to purchase an order worth five million in the lower position. As soon as his opponent tossed it away, he engulfed it within mere seconds.
A transaction of five million dors was a significant amount. Abruptly, the stock price rose and some investors who were selling turned into spectators. Treasuries that cracked down on stocks immediately put uprge purchase orders to resume their control over the stock prices.
This time, Xia Lei did nothing. Excessive greed would only alert his opponents. He switched to another ount and used it to build a subtle position. For each purchase, the lowest price was calcted. Not only had he mastered the price trend well, but he had also perfected his pace and timing. Xia Lei knew when was the right time to purchase and to feign tossing. He even knew when prices were going to fall and the number of appropriate purchases!
If the scene before him could be described as a gamble, then he would be the sole yer among everyone else who had already seen his opponent¡¯s trump card.
One hourter, the four ounts made investments that totalled up to nearly forty million dors into Chlore. Therge purchase immediately increased stock prices by three per cent. He had made every purchase at the lowest position. If he were to clean out his holdings, he would be able to obtain a profit of about five per cent and receive revenue of close to two million dors!
Xia Lei¡¯s move had breached the acting treasury for Chlore Company¡¯s policy, causing them to halt their operations temporarily.
He exited the software. It didn¡¯t take long for him to obtain the IP of the treasury that was registered as Centennial Fund. It only took him a few minutes to gain ess into their surveince system.
Ten people were gathered in a meeting room.
A balding old man came on to screen and was not happy with the situation. ¡°Did someone leak our information? How could that person purchase forty million? Tell me, what the hell is going on?¡±
¡°Mister Connor, we keep all confidential information well and secured. There¡¯s no way information was leaked out. Maybe someone had high hopes and was confident enough to make bulk purchases. I notice that the other party owns four ounts under the Golden Bull Securities. I cannot confirm if it is a singr person behind this,¡± reported a Caucasian man. Judging from his tone, he was probably the assigned trader of Chlore¡¯s stock.
¡°You need to chase them out. They¡¯re holding forty million of Chlore¡¯s stock. As soon as the project is announced, the stock value will rise by fivefold. In the future, it¡¯ll increase by tenfold. We must not let them profit from this,¡± hissed Connor.
¡°Mister Connor, so you mean to continue tossing?¡±
¡°Yes, toss! Continue tossing!¡±
¡°We¡¯ve got two hundred million worth of stock. How much should we toss out?¡± asked the trader.
Connor went silent. With a firm tone, he answered, ¡°One hundred million.¡±
Following that, the few in the meeting room began to study and devise a n to toss their stock.
By the end of their discussion, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but crack a smile.
Ten minutester, the four ounts under Golden Bull Securities had an additional one hundred million dors in it. Centennial Fund also began suppressing Chlore¡¯s stock prices crazily. The stocks were tossed out skillfully, they began doing it little by little to gauge Xia Lei¡¯s motives.
Xia Lei joined them, replicating their actions and tossing out his stocks. They were probing him so he was adamant on feigning a worrying impression that the stock prices would continue to drop. The feeling he gave off was that Xia Lei was nning topletely exit Chlore¡¯s stock holding.
As expected, as soon as he sold his ten million dor inventory, they abruptly disyed a few days worth of selling orders. Their intentions were clear, they were trying to get rid of him in one swoop. In that split second, Xia Lei swallowed up Centennial Fund¡¯s gigantic selling list in one go. One hundred million dors worth of stocks were purchased by four ounts, leaving nothing behind.
Before this started, the Centennial Fund was Chlore¡¯srgest shareholder. But now, Xia Lei had taken the crown from them.
Xia Lei cackled. Admittedly, this wasn¡¯t a fair fight. He had cheated his way through but he was happy with the oue. In a capitalist world, there was a fine line between good and evil. The only thing that remained true was greed. Any capitalist would be willing to do anything for advantages and benefits!
Across the vast ocean, the Centennial Fund trader gripped his hair till his knuckles turned white. He seemed to be in pain. He had smashed a cup of coffee on to the floor spilling all of its contents. There were brown coffee stains against the tiles but his assistant made no move to clean it up. The assistant could only gape in horror as Chlore¡¯s stock began to grow in brilliant green as shown on screen.
Connor appeared. Immediately, he looked as if he had aged ten years ahead.
¡°Mister Connor...¡± The trader chewed the insides of his cheek. ¡°Those four ounts must be handled by the same person. They¡¯re probably our rival and they know about the Jay Garrick project. It was toote when I realized their motive... I¡¯m so sorry!¡±
Smack! Connor swayed his arms and pped the trader¡¯s cheek. ¡°Fuck you!¡±
The man palmed his swollen cheek. ¡°Mister Connor, the only way around this now is to have Chlore hide that project. I foresee that the share prices will drop a few dayster. We¡¯ll see if he can keep holding on.¡±
¡°I guess that¡¯s the only option we have now.¡± Connor¡¯s expression darkened scarily. ¡°Leave Chlore¡¯s stock as it is for now. Make relevant preparations. We¡¯re going to attack a new share in China.¡±
¡°Mister Connor, do you mean the Vientiane Group from China?¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± Connor continued, ¡°Vientiane Group is worth one hundred billion in the Chinese market. That share is a fat b of meat, much more significant than Chlore.¡±
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll go make preparations now.¡± The trader turned around and left.
As soon as the trader made his exit, Xia Lei stopped spying on them. The man was perplexed. ¡°Vientiane Group has entered the American market? What is Tianyin trying to do? Is she trying to expand into the Western market?¡±
After bidding farewell at the Boao Forum For Asia, Shentu Tianyin had ceased all contact with him and Xia Lei was starting to get used to the distance. However, he did not expect toe across her like this.
¡°Nevermind, Vientiane Group is not a smallpany. I¡¯m sure Tianyin has her own reason behind the decision. She¡¯s got many expertsying around, there¡¯s nothing for me to worry about. Perhaps I should give her a call to warn her about Centennial¡¯s intentions.¡± Xia Lei made a mental note.
A few minutester, Xia Lei used a messenger app and dialled for a number he had freshly obtained.
It took a minute to get the call through. The woman who answered it had spoken with a standard American ent. ¡°Hello, to whom am I speaking to?¡±
With a calm and unrushed tone, Xia Lei said, ¡°Miss Isabelle, I¡¯ve got a scoop for you.¡±
¡°Oh, is that so?¡± Isabelle chuckled briefly. ¡°Do we need to meet physically? But I must make this clear that I won¡¯t be able to pay you much.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Miss Isabelle, you¡¯ve got it wrong. I¡¯m not here for your money. On the contrary, I¡¯m going to offer you one hundred thousand dors.¡±
¡°What?¡± Isabelle gasped audibly.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°One hundred thousand dors with a guarantee that my information is legitimate. You won¡¯tnd yourself in trouble. All you need to do is report my information.¡±
¡°Why me?¡±
¡°Because you¡¯ve got a hot body.¡±
¡°Hahaha! You¡¯re so funny!¡±
The study door was abruptly pushed open and three women made their unannounced entry.
Chapter 953 - Lion Theory
The three of them were in their nightgowns and seemed to have just gotten out of the shower.
Xia Lei stared at them in a daze, having all of his attention averted away from his phone call.
Liang Siyao¡¯s hips swayed as she approached him. ¡°Spill, who are you wooing this time?¡±
Abruptly, Isabelle¡¯s voice rang through the speaker and interjected them. ¡°Hello? Sir, are you sure about this? When will I be able to receive your information? Also, how am I supposed to receive payment?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Check your bank ount in an hour. You¡¯ll be receiving a deposit of ten thousand dors and then another ny thousand dors after everything isplete.¡±
Just as his voice fell, Xia Lei tapped enter and sent out all of the materials he had prepared earlier.
The three women came to stand beside Xia Lei, staring at his screen in unmasked curiosity.
Xia Lei directly turned the hackingptop towards them for a better view.
Disyed on screen was a chubby American woman. She seemed to be around a hundred and eight pounds, corresponding with her double chin and protruding belly. Her appearance waspletely out of touch of a conventional hot body. There was a work ID around her neck, printed with the logo of the Wall Street Journal and her name.
Realizing that Xia Lei was just merely contacting a reporter, the three of them heaved a sigh of relief. A smile boomed across their faces.
¡°Why are you contacting a Wall Street Journal reporter?¡± Liang Siyao was curious.
¡°I¡¯m ying with the stock market,¡± said Xia Lei, but the man instantly changed the topic. ¡°What are you three doing here anyway? Are you here to urge me to sleep? I just finished. I¡¯lle and join you in bed now.¡±
¡°Who the hell is trying to get in bed with you?¡± Long Bing punched Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder lightly. ¡°You hid the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team from me for so long. If Liang Siyao hadn¡¯t told me anything, how long were you nning to hide it from me?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Somethings are better off unsaid. I¡¯m just doing this for your benefit. Think about this. They are an illegal armed organization and you¡¯re a departmental head of Bureau 101. If you knew about them, wouldn¡¯t it be in your best interests to capture them? But they are my people too. What are you going to do about that?¡±
Words were stuck in Long Bing¡¯s throat. It truly was a difficult situation to be in.
Xia Lei grasped her hand. Gently, he said, ¡°I know you wish to know everything but I promise I¡¯ll tell when the time is right.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Long Bing was genuinely perplexed.
Xia Lei exined patiently, ¡°I¡¯m forcing you to resign from the bureau. Your current mission is dangerous and your people can¡¯t help you with it. If you¡¯re going to Japan, you¡¯ll need assistance from a local. Tsukino Kyoko from the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team is Japanese. I¡¯m certain she can provide you with great help.¡±
There was a momentary silence before Long Bing replied, ¡°If I ept Tsukino¡¯s help, I¡¯ll be breaching discipline code. I would have no choice but to resign.¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yes. This is for the sake of our children. I hope you could consider it for your own benefit too.¡±
Long Bing was evidently hesitant.
Liang Siyao added, ¡°Ah Bing, I know you love the country but there are many other ways to contribute to the country without being at your position. Every one of us is involved in the development of the country. Everyone is the same. We¡¯re no different from the cleaners on the streets, doctors, farmers and teachers.¡±
Xia Lei continued to convince her. ¡°Yeah, Lockheed Martin has its own armed troop. In the face of threats from Japan and America, Thunder Horse Organization would also require something akin to that too. I¡¯m going to establish an armed force and I¡¯d like for you to be its leader. I formed Thunder Horse and you¡¯ll protect it.¡±
Long Bing was still silent. She was clear that she needed to settle on a decision but this dilemma had proved to be too difficult or her. This meant that she had to abandon her firm belief that had always adhered to and leave a job that she was passionate about.
Xia Lei stered a warm hand against her belly. ¡°My son, please help your poor daddy convince your mom. She¡¯s crazy stubborn. Could you please tell me to not do dangerous things anymore?¡±
Long Bing burst into fits of giggles. ¡°Fuck you, I¡¯m just a few days pregnant. There¡¯s no way you can talk to him. Why are you so sure that it¡¯ll be a son? I¡¯m going to bet that it¡¯s a daughter.¡±
Xia Leiughed along. Her words were a clear sign of her decision.
Fan Fan smiled at them. ¡°Isn¡¯t that great? No matter where we¡¯re stationed at, we¡¯re all doing our best for the sake of our country. If I get sick of my job someday in the future, I¡¯m going to resign ande work for Thunder Horse too.¡±
Surprisingly, Xia Lei retorted, ¡°You better not resign. With your job, a lot of things are easier to handle.¡±
¡°Ugh, fine. I get it.¡± Fan Fan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Say, you haven¡¯t answered it yet. Why are you suddenly interested in the American stock market?¡±
Xia Lei huffed, ¡°To earn some money to raise kids, of course. All of my lovers are expecting and I¡¯m about to get four children in one go. If I don¡¯t buck up and earn more money, how am I going to sustain this family?¡±
Everyone audibly rolled their eyes at him. The proud owner of Thunder Horse Organization could afford to build a house on Mars. Did he really need to use that weak of an excuse to dwell into the American stock market?¡±
Xia Lei guffawed a little at their response. ¡°Alright, let me tell you why. Other than increasing my profit, I¡¯m here to create chaos. All this while, America has been channelling money away from third world countries. I want to be the first to change that. Other than that, America has some personal vendetta against me and I¡¯ve been on a passive standing so far. I want to reciprocate the ¡®respect¡¯ they¡¯ve given me proactively this time. That¡¯s all there is to my rationale.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve never done stocks before, are you able to handle this?¡± Fan Fan was concerned.
The man shrugged nonchntly. ¡°Aren¡¯t I learning right now?¡±
¡°When did you start?¡± Liang Siyao was abruptly reminded of something. ¡°How much have you lost as a lesson?¡±
Xia Lei answered truthfully, ¡°Around one hundred and forty million dors.¡±
Liang Siyao had rendered speechless.
Long Bing and Fan Fan couldn¡¯t help but stare at each other bewilderedly.
Xia Leiughed at their disy. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve calcted all of my risks. Our children will have sufficient milk to grow stronger.¡± At this moment, a yawn was produced. ¡°I¡¯m getting tired, let¡¯s go to sleep. If there¡¯s anything else that you¡¯d like to know, we can talk more about it tomorrow.¡±
¡°We¡¯re just here to check on you. Our job here is done and it¡¯s time to leave, right?¡± Liang Siyao tossed a look in Long Bing and Fan Fan¡¯s direction.
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right,¡± responded Long Bing.
¡°We¡¯re heading to bed. You can carry on,¡± said Fan Fan as she stifled a giggle behind her palm.
The three of them left just like that, not even turning back to look at him.
Xia Lei stared at the door in a daze. He was pretty certain they had just teased him and that really felt weird.
Just as he grumbled to himself dejected, a delicate finger appeared from the side of the door frame. Liang Siyao hooked her index finger and beckoned for him toe.
Xia Lei smirked and left the study.
His women were worried that a vigorous man like him needed to be kept in check lest he run wild. In the eyes of his lovers, he was a male lion. There was only one way to tame a lion and stop it from hunting in the vast wilderness, which was to stuff the animal full.
Liang Siyao, Fan Fan and Long Bing led the way, Xia Lei tailing behind them dutifully.
Long Bing was beginning to feel a little bashful, wanting to head into another direction of the corridor but Liang Siyao was quick to stop her.
Witnessing that, the man couldn¡¯t help butugh at their antics. At this moment, he felt like he was the happiest man in the world.
However, Xia Lei made a stop in the middle of the corridor and allowed the women to travel forward. He turned around and said, ¡°Come on out.¡±
A ck shadow showed itself,ing out from the eaves. It was no one else but Tsukino Kyoko in a night suit that covered her from her head to her toes.
¡°What are you doing up there? Are you trying to harvest bird nests?¡± teased Xia Lei.
¡°Two of your women hold special jobs. I¡¯m worried that they¡¯ll see me,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Do as you wish.¡± Xia Lei proceeded toy out his instructions, ¡°Bring some people over to Japan and protect Long Bing in the dark. Help her finish this mission safely, okay? Kill every FA member you encounter on your mission.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded obediently. ¡°Got it, I¡¯ll lead them to Japan right away.¡±
Xia Lei waved her farewell. ¡°Be careful.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s head appeared again. ¡°You too, I wish your lower body well.¡±
Xia Lei gaped.
The moment he pushed the door open, he immediately caught a whiff of something sophisticated and fragrant.
Women may not be alcohol but they were much more intoxicating than the beverage.
Chapter 954 - The Queens CPR
Next morning, Xia Lei had already arrived at his office before it was even time for work. The first thing he did was boot hisptop and check on Chlore¡¯s shares. Chlore Company¡¯s stock had risen by three per cent. All four of his ounts had started off in a lower position but it had profited by n seven per cent instead of the three per cent disyed. He had spent one hundred and forty million dorsst night but managed to profit about another nine million dors. He had made more money in one night than most people could only dream of. Not to mention, he had spent most of the night entangled in the sheets with his three expecting lovers.
Terrifyingly, this was merely the beginning. He had made his debut and his true killer move was yet to be executed. As soon as the Wall Street Journal reporter, Isabelle, published his information, many opportunists would hop on the Chlore bandwagon. At that point, he¡¯d be earning more than one hundredfold of his current profit!
His snowball had started its descent from the peak and its size at the halfway mark was going to be hard to determine. The numbers were too difficult to estimate that even his superbrain was having a hard timeputing it. It was only natural as theplex dynamics and unforeseeable variables involved in it were far tooplicated.
After a while, his three pregnant lovers paid him a visit in his office.
Liang Siyao made her entrance and said, ¡°I heard your German engineers yelling at an employee in the garage. I¡¯ll go check on them.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Sure, but do not be biased. The Germans take their job seriously. If our employee is in the wrong, just let them carry on with their lecture.¡±
¡°What if the engineers were wrong instead?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei shed her a smile. ¡°Aren¡¯t you heading over to check on them? You get to make your decision.¡±
That exchange elicited a pout from her. ¡°Ah, you sure do know how to trouble me. We shouldn¡¯t have given you such a nice treatst night. Hmph.¡±
After Liang Siyao had left, Long Bing spoke up, ¡°I¡¯m going to leave too. My flight is in the morning.¡±
Xia Lei passed a satellite phone into her hands. ¡°It is literally impossible to track this phone. Keep it with you and only the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team will be able to locate you. They¡¯ll be near you. Sa¡¯im will bring you intel and Tsukino Kyoko will be prepared to assist you. Simply put, they¡¯re able to give you all the help you may require. As soon as you arrive in Japan, it¡¯s best to contact Tsukino Kyoko.¡±
Long Bing nodded. ¡°Got it, I¡¯ll contact her as soon as I reach Japan.¡±
Last night, Xia Lei had run his brain diligently to devise a framework for Long Bing¡¯s foreseeable future. Through their long talks and exchange, Xia Lei was finally able to convince her into epting help. This would be herst mission with Bureau 101. After this, she would resign and join him in the Thunder Horse Organization to help form the organization¡¯s very own armed force. But of course, this armed force would only be active overseas. Their sole mission was to protect Thunder Horse¡¯s international interests. There was no need for this troop in the domestic territory.
¡°I¡¯m going off to work too, hubby. Try not to push yourself too hard and take care, okay?¡± Fan Fan closed in and helped him tidy his tie.
Xia Lei borrowed the proximity to peck her lips.
That immediately rendered her into a blushing mess. Carrying a child did not change anything about her overly sensitive body. She was still as sensitive as ever. A light touch from Xia Lei was enough to drive her senses wild.
Long Bing turned away from the sight sheepishly, pretending to not see it. Though the four of them had rocked the bedst night, it was still too early for Long Bing to adjust herself to the new norm. She had not been as experienced as Liang Siyao and Fan Fan, so it was only natural for her to need some time to familiarize herself.
But as Long Bing tried to avoid the pair, Xia Lei came over and captured her lips in a kiss.
¡°You¡¯re... shameless as hell.¡± Long Bing red at him sharply.
Xia Lei smiled. In a gentle tone, he reminded, ¡°Have a safe flight, darling. Remember that I¡¯ll be waiting for you at home.¡±
A simple sentence was enough to melt away Long Bing¡¯s initial awkwardness, turning it into tender warmth. She stared at him longingly before humming a sound of acknowledgement btedly.
Fan Fan and Long Bing left his office.
Xia Lei finally returned to his desk once again. This time, he did not set to work but closed his eyes instead and let his brain shift into its new mode. Design ns, technical charts and numerical figures flooded his mind in that split instance. It mixed around and triggered turbulence, some melted into each other and underwent tremendous changes just like a sand grain that was brought away by a fierce tornado. It was a mess but this chaos had its unique structure and discipline. With that, new designs and figures were birthed along with a visualized prototype.
Lockheed Martin had begun their production and research on drones in 1994. From the earlier Predator series to its current sessor and the Global Eagle, the entire process had taken them twenty years of hard work. Lockheed Martin had channelled in countless talents and material resources in exchange for their current sess. However, this was allpleted by Xia Lei in mere minutes. He did not require thousands and hundreds of researchers nor did he need any engineers or technicians. Heck, he didn¡¯t even need a workspace. All he needed to do was to close his eyes and allow his mind to take its course.
Based on that alone, it was no wonder America wanted him dead.
Xia Lei was in a trance, not noticing the passing of time. Unsure of how long it had been, the sound of rapping against his wooden door had finally brought him back to reality. He took a look at his Patek Philippe wristwatch instinctively and was shocked to learn that it had been four hours! He was so absorbed in this state of ¡®meditation¡¯ that it felt like mere seconds to him.
Knock... Knock... Knock...
¡°I¡¯ming. Is it you, Siyao? I¡¯m not hungry, I don¡¯t feel like eating lunch.¡± Xia Lei made a move to leave his seat in an attempt to reach the door. However, as soon as his back left the chair, his vision went dark. Before he knew it, his entire body fell for the floor with a loud thud.
Despite that, a sparse consciousness had remained. His brain was still alert and this alertness made him realize that using this new superbrain mode was way taxing than using his X-ray vision!
Nothing was free in this world. Every gain was bnced with loss. When two things came in contact, an exchange of some kind would ur. This was a statement from the famous Locard¡¯s exchange principle. For his brain to operate in ways others couldn¡¯t and birth him a drone would require an exchange. The more he had gained, the heftier his payment.
In his clouded state, he heard the sound of the door opening and then rushed footsteps. Lastly, he heard his name uttered in an oddly familiar voice. Shentu Tianyin was here.
¡°Lei Zi? Lei Zi?! What¡¯s the matter? Are you alright? Hey, wake up! Please don¡¯t scare me...¡± Her voice was heavilyced with anxiety and worry.
Xia Lei wished to blink his eyes open but he had run out of the strength to do so. He could not use his X-ray vision either.
¡°Hey, don¡¯t scare me! Wake up! Wake up! What¡¯s going on?!¡± Perhaps her panicked state had driven her into linearity, forgetting to shout for assistance. Finding no response from Xia Lei, the woman straightened her arms and pressed her palms against his chest. She began applying pressure. It didn¡¯t take her long to notice that he still had a pulse, so she switched to pinch his nose and pry his lips open. She covers his lips with hers and begins to exhale into it.
Her lips were just as soft and pliant as he had remembered it to be. The warmth of her tongue was still as alluring as before. In that split second, Xia Lei felt like he was in dreand. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s CPR was like a fairy tale kiss, bringing him back to a past they shared.
Back then, she was his wife and he was her husband. They were the perfect couple that made people envious.
However, the past had disappeared like smoke, blown away and fragmented by the wind.
Xia Lei blinked his eyes. His exhaustion had hit like a storm but his recovery was equally speedy. This was certainly all thanks to the mysterious energy. It was something that Xia Lei could never measure.
Realizing that he had regained consciousness, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mind went into a daze before she broke intoughter. Tears began falling from her eyes. ¡°Oh, thank goodness you¡¯re awake. You really scared me right there.¡±
Xia Lei struggled to mber up. But as soon as he was propped himself up slightly, his arms gave way. He was awake but his body still needed more time to recover. ¡°Looks like I got to control my usage time when utilizing this mode. I should learn to take breaks in between.¡±
¡°What happened to you?¡± Shentu Tianyin fussed over him, reaching an arm to help him up.
Xia Lei grabbed her elbow and stood slowly. ¡°It was nothing. I guess the fatigue from all the overtimetely had finally gotten to me.¡±
¡°Jeez, you¡¯re so young and you¡¯ve already achieved heights. You should take it easy and spare yourself sometimes,¡± uttered Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I could say the same to you. Is the Chinese market not enough for you? Why did you enter the American market?¡±
Shentu Tianyin was stunned. ¡°How... How did you find out?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve got my ways. Tell me, why the American market?¡± Xia Lei stared at her. She used to be his wife but things had changed so much that he was no longer able to understand her.
¡°When thepany has saturated, new markets bust be ventured in to¡± Shentu Tianyin gazed out of the window into the endless blue sky. ¡°Vientiane Group will enter the American market and expand its wings there. This is a step that must be taken. China¡¯s market is big but it isn¡¯t the entire world.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was still the same woman that Xia Lei knew. Her wild ambition was sufficient to conquer the world.
Was it wrong for a woman to be ambitious and wild ambitions?
Xia Lei found no fault in that but he wasn¡¯t willing to admit that Shentu Tianyin was right.
Shentu Tianyin averted her gaze onto Xia Lei. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the same? China¡¯s market is big but you¡¯re also trying to expand your reach internationally. You made Lockheed Martin your rival and you¡¯re determined to defeat them. I just realized that you¡¯re the most suitable person for me and I am the most suitable person for you.¡±
That bold statement earned a bitter smile from him. Xia Lei was at a loss for words.
Judging her words from the perspective of capital expansion and enterprise development, Shentu Tianyin was right. Her natural talent in the industry was sky-high. It was way superior to Xia Lei by a great extent. However, her methods were also cruel and heartless. A prime example would be her resolute to end their marriage and love for the sake of Vientiane Group.
Xia Lei¡¯s silence brought a veil of sadness and resentment into Shentu Tianyin¡¯s glimmering eyes.
Chapter 955 - The Failed Material
The atmosphere in the office abruptly shifted into an awkward silence. They stared at each other with a million thoughts running through their heads. But nothing was said. It was as if they had their mouths taped.
Xia Lei could no longer stand the silence. He cleared his throat. ¡°Tianyin,e take a seat. I¡¯m sorry I had you stand around for so long. What would you like to have? I can go get you some tea.¡±
¡°Is there a need to be so courteous?¡± Shentu Tianyin pouted in displeasure.
Xia Lei nonchntly shrugged it off. He smiled at her. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re here today to tell me that Vientiane Group is entering the American market. Am I right?¡±
Shentu Tianyin nodded. ¡°Yeah, I really can¡¯t hide anything from you. In front of you, I feel as if I¡¯m transparent.¡±
Xia Lei questioned further, ¡°You¡¯re really just here to tell me that?¡±
¡°What else would I be here for?¡±
¡°Ah, I don¡¯t mean that. Please don¡¯t misunderstand me. You¡¯re free toe here anytime you wish.¡±
¡°Easy for you to say. Would your two tigresses wee my presence? I don¡¯t want to be running home with wounds,¡± muttered Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know how to respond to her statement.
¡°Let¡¯s talk about business.¡± Shentu Tianyin started, ¡°Vientiane Group is going to be listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market. Our performance so far has been good and the profit has surpassed many in this industry. If you¡¯re interested, I can help purchase it for you. Thunder Horse Organization is expanding at an incredible speed. You can¡¯t keep relying on the governmental funds because the more you receive, the further your nature deviates. Using your own funds would be the best choice.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve got a point. Thunder Horse Organization is indeed facing rapid expansion but I can solve it with my own resources.¡± Xia Lei paused, ¡°But Vientiane Group on the other hand...¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Please keep my words in mind. Though Vientiane is yet to be officially listed, you¡¯ve already got a treasurypany targeting you.¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on? Please exin.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression turned hard.
¡°Thatpany is registered as Centennial Fund. It¡¯s very capable and strong. They¡¯re like the hunters of the American stock market. As soon as anything with potentiales to sight, they¡¯ll attack it. You need to prepare your team for it.¡±
¡°How do you know all this?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Remember? During the Boao Forum, that woman came on stage and told everyone I was at the forefront of human evolution? I think she¡¯s trying to say that I¡¯m superman. That¡¯s why I would know things like these.¡±
The woman scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You were such a tease back then when we were married. Nothing has changed about you.¡±
Abruptly, someone entered their office. Her feminine figure was lengthy and thin, dosed in generous perfume that smelled unexpectedly pleasant. There was no need for Xia Lei to turn around, his temples immediately aching at the sound of her heels. Liang Siyao was here.
She walked over to Xia Lei¡¯s side and brought out a handkerchief from her zer pocket.
The man was perplexed, unsure of what she was doing. But as soon as Liang Siyao presented the handkerchief in front of his face, Xia Lei wanted to run.
The fabric was stained with brilliant red lipstick.
Liang Siyao uttered, ¡°If you want to cheat, remember to be a smart man and wipe your mouth.¡± She paused briefly. ¡°And even if you wish to cheat, better pick someone wisely. Stop going after poisonous peonies that would kill you.¡±
The front of Liang Siyao¡¯s words was obviously meant for Xia Lei and itstter half meant for Shentu Tianyin.
The other woman frowned. ¡°Siyao, what do you mean?¡±
¡°My indication is clear enough.¡± With a swing of her arm, she tossed her dirtied handkerchief into Xia Lei¡¯s dustbin.
¡°This is a misunderstanding. Xia Lei fainted earlier and I... I did CPR on him,¡± exined Shentu Tianyin.
Liang Siyao huffed a peal of dryughter. ¡°My man? Fainted? What kind of joke is that?¡±
A man that was stronger than a lion passing out during an intense battle would make sense. But for him to go unconscious in his own office? Liang Siyao was not buying any of that bullshit.
Shentu Tianyin felt wronged. ¡°Lei Zi, please exin to her.¡±
But as Xia Lei made a move to dissolve the tension, he noticed that Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes were filled with sadness. He quickly jammed all of his words back into his throat. Shentu Tianyin had asked for an exnation but doing so in front of Liang Siyao would give off a feeling that he was still loyal to his ex-wife. How could he follow his ex-wife¡¯s instructions and hurt his pregnant lover in the process?¡±
¡°Tianyin, you should head back.¡± Xia Lei reminded, ¡°Please remember to watch out for that Centennial Fund that I mentioned.¡±
It was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s turn to look grudgeful, she bit her lip and turned around to leave. Back then, she had defeated Liang Siyao in the war of love. However, Liang Siyao was now the standing victor, snatching away Xia Lei as his lover.
Shentu Tianyin left.
Two pairs of eyes stare into each other, awkward silence filling the air. Liang Siyao had tears forming in her eyes.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Siyao, it really wasn¡¯t what you think it is. I lost consciousness and she so happened to find me in that state. Perhaps she was too overwhelmed with panic so she started doing CPR on me.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°What? You were really unconscious? What happened? What¡¯s the matter?¡±
The woman immediately came closer to inspect his head, caressing it in the process. She cooed, ¡°Should we go check it out? I can bring you to the hospital.¡±
Xia Lei grabbed her hands. ¡°No need, I¡¯m alright. There¡¯s nothing to worry about. I understand the secrets of my body the best. I will never get sick. I just overused my brain this time.¡±
Liang Siyao stared at him with a straight face. ¡°What were you thinking about?¡±
¡°I was studying how to build a drone. I can¡¯t describe how my brain works in words but you need to believe that it¡¯s a very taxing process. Just now, I really was...¡±
Liang Siyao muffled his mouth. Her voice was unbearably gentle. ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking for an exnation. The way you asked her to leave helped me ease all of my grudge and resentment towards her. I¡¯m so happy.¡± She looked into his eyes with a gaze so deep that Xia Lei found himself lost in it until two moist tears fell against his cheek.
¡°Why are you crying?¡± Xia Lei got nervous.
Liang Siyao buried her face onto Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m so happy and it¡¯s none of your business.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s palm moved along the groove of her pretty waist and pped her behind lightly.
¡°Why did you hit me?¡± Liang Siyao abruptly removed her face from his shoulder and stared at him, tears rolling around in her eyes.
All women seemed to have the ability to change their expressions at ease.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart melted into a gooey mess. ¡°How could I bear to hit you? I was just caressing it.¡±
She circled her arm around his neck and pulled him into a kiss.
¡°Hey! What the hell is going on in her?¡± An old man¡¯s voice rang out of the blue.
The entangled lovers frantically separated themselves and looked to its source.
Fan Yiming strode in, Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s material scientist, Li Youdun, trailing closely behind.
Fan Yiming seemed extremely upset. ¡°You bastard, aren¡¯t you Fan Fan¡¯s fiance? How could you be here kissing some other woman?¡±
The sudden intrusion had Liang Siyao¡¯s bright red but the woman didn¡¯t mind it at all. She shed him a smile and greeted, ¡°Elder Fan, how are you? Have you had lunch yet?¡±
¡°I did... No, I did not.¡± The older man red daggers at her. ¡°I¡¯m going to tell Fan Fan about this. She¡¯ll be out for your blood!¡±
Liang Siyao smiled at him. ¡°Okay.¡±
The response elicited was not what he was expecting. Fan Yiming was able to solve the mostplicated scientific questions but he had no experience in dealing with a cheating grandson inw. There was no right form to deal with this.
Xia Lei questioned, ¡°Youdon, what¡¯s going on?¡± Fan Yiming was confused but the older man wasn¡¯t keen on dwelling on this problem further.
It was only then that Li Youdun spoke, ¡°Director Xia, after Elder Fan had joined me in theb, we¡¯ve had a breakthrough regarding the material. We were able to replicate the sample using the silver metal¡¯s atomic structure. It was a sess and we¡¯re excited for you toe to see it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great news!¡± Xia Lei was evidently pumped. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±
¡°Come,e,e...¡± Fan Yiming went over and pulled Xia Lei¡¯s arm.
Watching the three men leave the office, Liang Siyao allowed herself the privacy to touch her lips with a contented smile. She followed behind them with a deliberate distance to avoid Fan Yiming¡¯s attention. The woman knew that Fan Yiming would forget all about the incident within the matter of a few minutes.
Entering Li Youdun¡¯sboratory, Xia Leinded his gaze onto the replicated sample.
It was just a block of metal, size simr to that of a book. Its entire body was silver in colour, simr to that used on the armour.
Xia Lei donned sterile gloves and picked it up. It felt like it had no weight.
Li Youdun mentioned, ¡°Director Xia, we ran a test with electromaic waves from the radar and found that it has close to no reflection. All the electromaic waves irradiated were absorbed.¡±
¡°All of it absorbed?¡± Xia Lei was moved.
Fan Yiming answered, ¡°Of course, I tested it myself. Kid, I¡¯m confident to say that this is the best material in the world for a fighter jet. It might as well be invisible at this point.¡±
Modern fighter jets would usually use paint to limit their reflection in order to reduce chances of detection. There was yet a material capable of fully absorbing electromaic waves from radars!
If a fighter jet was made with this material, it could even fly directly on top of Time Square, New York without detection and airdrop a full bunch of China-made socks!
XiaLei held the material up and activated his left eye. But as soon as his X-ray vision was activated, his world went ck. The man¡¯s body began to fall.
¡°Careful!¡± Liang Siyao rushed over and caught him in time.
But she had only managed to hold him, not able to spare the silver metal any attention.
The silver metal block slipped from his fingers and was smashed into the ground.
Crack! The silver metal shattered into chunks.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart shattered with the material. He wasn¡¯t out cold, eyes merely giving out. He had merely recovered from his earlier faint, there was not enough time for recovery before he activated his X-ray vision once again. His body was functioning like using a battery-deprived handphone to forcefully watch a video.
¡°This...¡± Li Youdun froze, gaping at the scene in shock.
Fan Yiming too furrowed his brows. ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be tough. Why did it break just like that? Crap, something must¡¯ve gone wrong. I need to find out why.¡± The old man picked up a chunk and immediately went to study it.
Xia Lei did the same. ¡°I¡¯m going to investigate too.¡±
Li Youdun looked embarrassed.
Xia Lei gave his shoulder a pat. ¡°You did amazing. Miracles aren¡¯t easy to achieve. Let¡¯s do our best together, okay?¡±
Li Youdun nodded his head slowly.
Chapter 956 - Perfect Material
The silver metal block was perfectly fine until it collided with the ground. Xia Lei refused to ept its oue no matter what. The term ¡®give up¡¯ was never in his dictionary.
Leaving Li Youdun¡¯sboratory to his own underground one, Xia Lei had made sure to bring along the broken sample chunks and the scientist¡¯s report.
Theboratory was still under the watchful eyes of the Special Forces but no one had dared to enter. The mysterious ancient alloy was an existence that none would dare to approach.
The underground establishment was devoid of any sound. The suffocating silence only had lights to apany it. Despite the illumination, thebination of the two was medically eerie.
Pulling out the armour set, the patch on the helmet was still as prominent as ever. Xia Lei extracted it and reced it with the new material provided by Li Youdun. Following that, he began to observe it closely.
Admittedly, the scientist did an amazing job. His replica looked exactly the same as the original silver metal, bearing pinpoint simrity on its colour and weight. After all, Li Youdun had replicated it using its original atomic arrangement and structure.
But that begged the question. Why was the new material so fragile?
Observing for a while, Xia Lei was tempted to use his X-ray vision. However, this temptation was pushed away as soon as it was manifested. He hadn¡¯t fully recovered. If the man decided to use his ability again, he might find himself unconscious once again.
He flipped through Li Youdun¡¯s report.
¡°Eh?¡± A particr passage piqued his curiosity. ¡°Li Youdun and Elder Fan had done physical tests on the new material. Its strength and endurance were recorded as high. Certain degrees of impact and extrusion were unable to dent it at all. Why was it as fragile as ss when it slipped from my hands?¡±
Xia Lei continued to read it. He soon came to a realization that from Li Youdun¡¯s report alone, this new material was indeed the best material for fighter jets and aerospace equipment. Not only was it feather-light, but it also had the strength and endurance that surpassed alloys. Its main advantage was its ability to fully absorb electromaic waves from radars. Using this on drones or fighter jets would fully eliminate the need for special paints!
However, everything written on the report was deemed invalid after its shattering.
Failure was a failure. It was a reality that beautiful numerical data could not alter.
Done with Li Youdun¡¯s report, Xia Lei tossed it aside and brought a fire axe near the armour. There was a brief moment of hesitation before Xia Lei lifted his axe and hacked at the breastte.
ng! A muted noise rang out and red sparks flew all around the room. The armour bounced against the bench from the impact, causing the axe to sway backwards from its resultant force.
There was no visible damage on the breastte. Its surface was as smooth as ever. But now, there was a row of curls on the axe!
Xia Lei pondered deeply, ¡°Based on what the prehistoric chosen one had described, he had relied heavily on this armour to fight against Zhu Xuanyue. It took multiple battles with her before this armour finally broke. There¡¯s no need to picture how strong Zhu Xuanyue was. She was an invincible entity. But even she needed multiple intense battles to be able to destroy the armour. This armour is also an unbeatable existence. However, it doesn¡¯t make sense for the new material produced by Li Youdun and Elder Fan that followed its original form closely to be utterly fragile. Why did it break just from a mere fall? Both of them had even run physical tests that proved their incredible durability. Li Youdun¡¯s methodologies were also listed in the report. What exactly went wrong?¡±
Without the aforementioned physical tests, fragility could be immediately tied to an error in the atomic structure. But things were different. The numbers and data that returned from the physical test were brilliant. How could it all change just after some time?
¡°Wait... When we analyzed the silver metal back then, Li Youdun did mention seeing something he had never seen nor heard before. Could it becking the mysterious mineral powder? Do they y a stabilizing role in the silver metal?¡± Sorting his thoughts, Xia Lei seemed to have arrived at the root of the problem.
After a while, Xia Lei returned to the new material and silver metal. He inhaled sharply and activated his X-ray vision. This time, there was no longer any difort. His body had passed its recovery period.
He let his X-ray vision lock the two materials presented and began to slowly ease his mind into it. In the process, he intensified his X-ray vision bit by bit until it entered the insides of the metal block. There, he switched to the microscopic mode. Presented to him was a vast field of atoms that were asrge as fists due to the magnification. Despite that, all he could see was aplete three-dimensional image. It showed the full atomic arrangement within the two materials.
The overall structure was the same.
Xia Lei felt like he was forced into a dead-end by his discovery. He could see the atomic structure but not itsponents. If the ¡®stabilizing¡¯ agent was not found, all the replicated new materials would be nothing but trash!
¡°I wonder if I can approach it this way...¡± Xia Lei abruptly shut his voluntary mind, allowing his brain to be on autopilot. In that split second, his brain went into a new super mode once again.
The energy exertion to use this mode was gigantic, but it was worth a try.
Under this super mode, anything brought into his mind would be dissected and analyzed by millions of ¡®researchers¡¯. They were even able to create a replica in his mind.
Just like with the drone, Xia Lei¡¯s brain cells became his most powerful ¡®researchers¡¯, ripping apart at the image and studying it carefully. Thebined effort of more than millions of ¡®researchers¡¯ was nothing like the world has ever seen!
Figures and atomic structures seized and flooded his mind mercilessly, finally allowing him to see what he had failed to notice. Itsponents!
His brain had even made the effort to conclude its trueponents that even Li Youdun had failed to analyze! In those few minutes, his brain was able to present to him a terrifyinglyplete silver metal atomic structure!
Itsponent had included charcoal, the mostmon naturally urring carbon element. There was also tantalum, a rare metal that was an irreceable and precious material for the development of the electronics industry and space technology. Other than that, there was tungsten. Combining tungsten with carbon elements would produce the hardest metal in the world, which was tungsten gold.
Lastly, an unprecedentedponent announced its appearance in Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
It was not some kind of rare metal but it was something that did not exist in this realm. It was the glimmering and shining mineral powder-like material dwelling within the brains of Zhu Xuanyue and himself!
Those were the true stabilizers of the silver metal!
Now that allponents were revealed, his brain began to simte the silver metal¡¯s reproduction. All the elements were mushed together, his mind adding in the mineral powder into it as a final step. It felt like the material was a secret ingredient. If it was added at the right time, the material would be peerless. Without it, it would be nothing but scrap!
As expected, a simr silver metal was birthed inside of his brain. It was the same one as the ones on the armour and not the sad excuse that broke from a fall.
Xia Lei blinked his eyes open, his knees immediately giving away. Thankfully, he had managed to stop his brain from pushing it further. If he had missed the timing, he would most definitely be knocked out cold in the undergroundboratory.
Xia Leiy on the ground silently, allowing his body and energy to recover. As he waited, he began to think about a new problem. ¡°It¡¯s a surprise to learn that its key ingredient was the mineral powder. But what exactly is that thing? It¡¯s something Zhu Xuanyue needs to resurrect and I have it in my brain as well. She needs to rely on feeding on brains, which would mean that she eats souls to bnce out the exertion of the mysterious energy. Could it be that humans are just a kind of mineral to Zhu Xuanyue? Or is Earth just a farm to her and her kind? If her kind needs such materials to survive, would that mean that her civilization was built around this mysterious substance?¡±
Were those questions even valid? Did those really exist?
Xia Lei had no answers, but he could not suppress such thoughts. The wild thoughts wrapped his heart in terror and anxiety.
It took an hour before Xia Lei decided to stopying around. This time, he took away the mysterious silver metal and used his X-ray vision only on Li Youdun¡¯s replica. His super mode was entered once again to allow detailed inspection and simtion.
He finally called it quits after a while. Xia Lei¡¯s body swayed, almost slumping to the ground. He quickly clung onto a workbench to break his fall. At this point, his body and mind were insanely exhausted after continuous abuse. Despite the difort, Xia Lei had a smile on his lips. The man had already found a solution to an obstacle Li Youdun and Fan Yiming were stuck on.
Now, all he needed to do was to incorporate one new element into itsposition to obtain an invincible durable material that imitated the original silver metal. The element wasmon enough too, being just metallic calcium.
As long as he was faithful to theposition chart, production process and technical aspects presented to him in his brain, Thunder Horse Organization would be able to obtain material that had aprehensive performance of thirty percent of that of the mysterious silver metal.
Though it was just a small percentage, it was bound to be the perfect material for the world¡¯s best fighter jets and aerospace equipment!
Xia Lei began to work on itsposition list and noted down particrs about its production process. But as soon as he jotted down thest line, Xia Lei immediately lit it on fire. What he had obtained was possibly a trigger to a material revolution. Writing it down on a piece of paper and handing it to Li Youdun was not the safest choice. Xia Lei trusted Li Youdun. But Li Youdun, on the other hand, had no power to protect this secret!
Chapter 957 - Rapid Rise
The night was near when Fan Fan had stepped foot into the main entrance of the Peace Mansion. Her entrance was weed with the sight of Liang Siyao training in the courtyard. Under the orange warmth of the sunset, every punch and kick was executed gracefully and urately. Liang Siyao¡¯s form was a work of art.
Fan Fan approached her with a smile. ¡°Siyao, your technique looks amazing. I¡¯m actually tempted to learn it from you.¡±
Liang Siyao eased herself and shed the other woman a gentle smile. ¡°Sister Fan Fan, have you eaten anything yet?¡±
¡°I had dinner earlier.¡± Fan Fan stared ahead into a direction. ¡°Where is he?¡±
Liang Siyao answered, ¡°He¡¯s still in his undergroundboratory. I don¡¯t have permission to enter that ce and I don¡¯t dare to phone him for dinner.¡± Pausing briefly, she returned her attention to Fan Fan. ¡°Is there anything urgent that concerns Xia Lei?¡±
Fan Fan was perplexed, shrugging in response. ¡°He was the one who phoned me over.¡±
Liang Siyao reciprocated her confusion. ¡°Huh? He did not tell me anything.¡±
At this moment, Xia Lei appeared at the entrance, dragging his feet behind him. He looked incredibly ill as if he had run out of energy. The man seemed uncharacteristically vulnerable. Weirdly, his expression wasn¡¯t burdened. He had a smile stered on his face.
¡°What¡¯s the matter with you?¡± Liang Siyao and Fan Fan called out in unison, quickly scrambling over to support his frame.
¡°I¡¯m alright, just terribly exhausted.¡± Xia Lei was still smiling.
¡°Weren¡¯t you in theb? What experiment could possibly wear you out to this state?¡± Liang Siyao tilted her head in absolute confusion.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Experiments weren¡¯t the only thing I was doing. Can you get me some food, please? I¡¯m starving. I¡¯ve got some good news for you afterwards.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go make you something now. Sister Fan Fan, could you bring him inside?¡± Liang Siyao left right away.
Fan Fan dutifully dragged Xia Lei into the living room and helped him up the couch. Sheter joined him, letting him use her thigh as his cushion. She then began to massage his temples and neck.
¡°Hubby, what good news do you have for us? Can you tell me first?¡± Fan Fan attempted to coax him. She had a gut feeling that Xia Lei¡¯s good news would be extraordinary.
The man was motionless, dozing off on Fan Fan¡¯s thighs into afortable slumber.
She could feel a smile bloom across her lips. Fan Fan continued to massage his head gently. Despite garnering no reaction from her husband, the massager herself was beginning to feel something. Her breathing started to get heavy as her cheeks grew red.
¡°You¡¯re such a naughty man. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re able to tease me even when asleep.¡± Fan Fan grumbled to no one.
Unbeknownst to her, Xia Lei¡¯s lips yed a faint smirk.
Liang Siyao had made him a bowl of Yang Chun noodles, bringing it straight to the living room for his convenience. Fan Fan shook him awake and the two women watched him wolf down his dinner to a state of oblivion.
Finishing his meal, Xia Lei¡¯s spirits were evidently perked and much at ease.
¡°Come on, tell us,¡± urged Liang Siyao, still d in her apron.
Xia Lei returned the cutleries to the table and pped the top of his lovers¡¯ thighs seated within arm¡¯s reach. ¡°You know about the new material project Thunder Horse has, right? The good news is this, I managed to solve the problem and Thunder Horse is going to get its own in-house produced new material.¡±
Fan Fan was ecstatic, gaping at the revtion.
But Liang Siyao, on the other hand, was sceptical. ¡°Hubby, wasn¡¯t the prototype material a failure? I saw it shatter with my own eyes. The incident had only taken ce hours ago. How were you able to solve a hefty problem in such a short time?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯ve already taken care of it. Initially, I wrote down its formtion and relevant technical aspects but destroyed it fearing it would be leaked. However, I can guarantee that this material wille out as the world¡¯s most wless material for fighter jets and aerospace equipment. It can absorb radar electromaic waves without the need for paint jobs to hide its trail.¡±
Liang Siyao and Fan Fan cried in joy, immediately closing to peck his cheek. Both sides of his face had now the addition of two red lipstick stains. One on the left, the other on the right.
¡°Hubby, you¡¯re amazing!¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes glimmered with adoration and love.
Who wouldn¡¯t want their lovers to flourish and be the world¡¯s most capable person? Which woman wouldn¡¯t want their man to be the world¡¯s hero? Not only was Xia Lei the most capable man this could offer, but he was also the ground-shaking hero of the Chinesemunity!
¡°Hubby, I need to tell this piece of good news to grandpa!¡± Fan Fan impatiently reached for her phone.
Surprisingly, Xia Lei caught her wrist. ¡°I need you to hide this from him for now. I don¡¯t wish for this breakthrough to be known by others. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I trust your grandfather but there are a lot of people involved in this project. I can¡¯t guarantee that all of them are good at keeping secrets. Do you understand what I mean?¡±
Fan Fan nodded.
With a smile, Xia Lei offered an alternative. ¡°You could still hint at him to make him happy. But you have to emphasize the secret part of this.¡±
¡°Uh, nevermind. I won¡¯t hint him. He¡¯s so single-minded that he¡¯ll definitely pay you a visit after I drop him hints. When that timees, the secret will no longer be one anymore,¡± said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I called you here because I intend to use your channel to reach the higher-ups directly.¡±
¡°What would you like me to say?¡±
¡°Tell them that Thunder Horse Organization haspleted its new material research and concluded that it will be the most perfect aerospace material to date. I need the best material workspace the country has to offer. I will also need human and material resources. This time I won¡¯t be asking it for free. I will pay them appropriately,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s words had influenced him. Xia Lei had been receiving governmental help and sponsorship. If it went on at this rate, who would the Thunder Horse Organization belong to? Plus, Xia Lei was not tight on funds. The American stock market was his ATM machine!
¡°I¡¯ll head over right away.¡± Fan Fan could no longer sit another second more.
Xia Lei nodded in acknowledgement. ¡°Sure, safe journey.¡±
But Liang Siyao stood and stopped Fan Fan from leaving. ¡°Can¡¯t you leave tomorrow morning?¡±
Fan Fan came closer and whispered into her ear, ¡°He¡¯s exhausted today, you should be safe. You¡¯ll be fine even if I don¡¯t stay tonight.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s cheeks immediately turned pink. She smacked Fan Fan yfully. ¡°Fuck you. Go, go.¡±
After Fan Fan¡¯s departure, Xia Lei returned his head onto Liang Siyao¡¯s thigh instead. He uttered, ¡°Siyao, the new material workspace will be under your jurisdiction.¡±
¡°Me? Are you sure about that?¡± Liang Siyao looked bothered.
Xia Lei reassured, ¡°Of course you can. Li Youdun is a man I trust and Elder Fan can be the supervisor. The other members involved need to be selected among extremely loyal employees but the most vital formtion and technical aspects would be under your control. Your knowledge of these secrets will ensure that no one will attack you with your past even if I...¡±
Liang Siyao pressed a palm against his lips. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to say things like that.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t.¡±
Liang Siyao went on, ¡°To build the best workspace in the country will require a lot of money. With so many projects running in the background and you rejecting mary funding from the government, how are we going to afford it?¡±
Xia Lei checked his watch. ¡°I¡¯ll be off to make money in another hour.¡±
It took a while for that to sink in. Liang Siyao was stunned before breaking out inughter. ¡°I see, I see. Then I have no concerns regarding that. You should rest. I¡¯ll meet youter. I¡¯d like to know how my man makes money.¡±
Xia Lei hummed a sound of approval before shutting his eyes.
Liang Siyao continued to run her finger through his hair, eyes overflowing with tenderness. The woman couldn¡¯t help but think about the past they shared years earlier, her heart transported back to those happy and carefree times of her life. She had lost him but gotten him backter, which fuelled her determination to not take things for granted.
Five minutes to ten, Xia Lei and Liang Siyao were already in the study.
The man booted hisputer while Liang Siyao went to fetch her husband some tea. Today¡¯s beverage was not the usual Tieguanyin or Dahongpao tea. Instead, it was a supplemental tea made of wolfberry and jujube. Wolfberry and jujube were both known to nourish the kidney, which exined her choice today. However, it seemed as if her worries were in vain as Xia Lei was positively radiating with energy. The man was confident and excited.
Xia Lei first spared some attention to the Wall Street Journal. It didn¡¯t take him long to find the article penned by Isabelle that told of the information he had leaked to her, which was Chlorepany¡¯s Jay Garrick project. In that article, Isabelle had smartly kept it vague to describe the matter. It was a typical technique to evade possible investigations.
The vagueness of her tone would not be a problem to hyper-sensitive capitalists on the stakeout. This was enough to lure them to take the bait.
Pleased with her writing, Xia Lei transacted the remaining sum and emailed her, Your parcel has arrived.
Liang Siyao ced the supplemental tea in front of Xia Lei and plopped herselffortably on top of hisp. ¡°You¡¯re allowed to do this in America?¡±
That earned a chuckle from Xia Lei. ¡°All the markets are the same. Their investors tend to be more rational and focused on long-term investments. With this article, a lot of them would rush over and Chlore¡¯s share would have continuous room to rise. I estimate that it will increase by a few folds tonight.¡±
¡°When are you going to cash out?¡± Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but be curious about her lover¡¯s n.
Xia Lei¡¯s palm found its way to her soft thighs. ¡°Tonight.¡±
¡°Huh? Aren¡¯t you aiming for its increment? Why are you stopping tonight? Wouldn¡¯t that cut your profit short?¡±
Xia Lei smirked. ¡°I¡¯ll sell off my share tonight and buy another lot three dayster.¡±
¡°Huh? I don¡¯t understand.¡±
¡°My opponent wouldn¡¯t wish to see Chlore¡¯s share prices go high. Wall Street Journal had published what I intended to tell the world and they¡¯d use more aggressive approaches to hide this piece of gold. When that happens, their share prices will drop and that will be my chance to buy it at a lower price. After that, I¡¯ll just publish another article to raise its value again.¡±
Liang Siyao giggled, smacking Xia Lei¡¯s sneaky palm away. ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t you have your fill earlier?¡±
As the clock struck ten, the American stock market bustled with life.
As expected, Chlore¡¯s shares rose at an impressively rapid pace!
Chapter 958 - Plan C
Japan, Tokyo, Hyper Technology secret headquarters.
A Toyota van parked itself on the shoulder of the road to allow a tall Mexican girl to emerge from within. Her wheat-colouredplexion along with her impressive one hundred and eighty-five-centimetre height made her stand out among the Japanese.
She was Sirita, a member of the FA Organization.
After Xia Lei had destroyed the FA¡¯s headquarters in Mexico, the organizationunched its n B. The FA would¡¯ve proceeded with n B even without the support of the American government. This no longer had anything to do with just interests. They wanted revenge!
Sirita took in her surroundings cautiously after exiting the vehicle. In that short amount of time, she was able to spot the highest points around here and any potential hiding spots on the ground. After all, she was the FA¡¯s best assassin.
¡°Miss Sirita, please follow me. Miss Hattori is waiting for you in her office.¡± A middle-aged man weed her in Spanish.
Sirita replied, ¡°There¡¯s no need to converse in Spanish with me. I can understand Japanese and you may even speak English with me.¡±
As an elite assassin, the world was her hunting ground. How could she not know an extranguage or two? This was an advantage shared between herself and Dark Mona.
¡°Very well. Come with me, Miss Sirita.¡± The man switched to Japanese, giving her a respectful bow in the process. With an extended arm gesture, he invited her into the building.
She trailed behind him, venturing deeper into the building. Soon enough, she found herself inside an office.
Hattori Mei stood before a french window, staring out ahead at the scenery of the Japanese Royal Pce in the distance. It wasn¡¯t sakura season but as soon as March rolled around, her office would be blessed with a sea of pink.
The middle-aged man announced Sirita¡¯s presence. ¡°Miss Hattori, your guest is here.¡±
That snapped Hattori Mei out of her daze. The woman turned around and studied Sirita with a smile. ¡°Miss Sirita, please have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?¡±
Sirita replied curtly, ¡°I¡¯m not here to drink. The CIA sent me here. You should know what I¡¯m here for.¡± The Mexican woman tossed a look at the middle-aged man beside her.
Hattori Mei spared a meaningful nce at the man.
¡°Miss Hattori, I shall resume my work. Please excuse me,¡± The man bowed deeply and left the office.
Hattori Mei returned her gaze onto the guest. ¡°Miss Sirita, that was my assistant. He goes by the name Watanabe Kazuo. Should you require any assistance, you can contact him and he¡¯ll amodate your needs.¡±
Sirita furrowed her brows. ¡°I don¡¯t need any special assistance but I do have a request. My people will choose a Chinese Airline to board. All you need to do is liaise with your border inspection team so that we can board without issue.¡±
¡°You¡¯re bringing weapons?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Sirita continued, ¡°How are we supposed to hijack a ne without weapons? Do you expect us to only use our fists?¡±
Hattori Mei reassured, ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be a problem. However, I¡¯ve got a request too. Your people shall not leave behind any trace of our activity. The incident will definitely drive the world in shock and China¡¯s wrath would erupt like a volcano. This is serious and dangerous business. If China finds out that Japan was involved in this, the aftermath will be severe.¡±
¡°Why is that our concern?¡± Sirita¡¯s tone was devoid of any hint of humanity.
Hattori Mei chuckled dryly. ¡°Miss Sirita, this is not the tone to use with allies. We almost managed to colonize China. We know them better than you do. They may look kind and docile but their eruptive force triggered by their wrath is truly horrifying. Let me just make this simple. If your operation leaves behind trails and traces, China¡¯s Special Forces and special agents will hunt you down.¡±
Sirita scoffed,pletely unamused by Hattori Mei¡¯s warning. ¡°We¡¯ll destroy the hijacked ne with explosives provided specially by the CIA. As soon as they are detonated, the ne will not be left with any debrisrger than five square centimetres. With that being said, I¡¯m sure you have nothing else to fear.¡±
¡°Miss Sirita, don¡¯t get me wrong. It¡¯s only a reminder. This mission is significant. You must make sure that it is done cleanly without a trace. Other than that, I would like to extend my respects and gratitude to yourrades.¡± A smile bloomed across Hattori Mei¡¯s face. ¡°Their sacrifices will not be in vain. We will remember their names and build a shrine for them. They will be prayed to and remembered for generations toe.¡±
Sirita scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in your shrines. All we want is ess to all the information on all flights headed to Jingdu. We¡¯ll be alright as long as you can offer us these.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already prepared it for you.¡± Hattori Mei pulled a drawer open to reveal a thick envelope, passing it into the hands of Sirita.
Sirita opened its p and took a quick scan of its contents. ¡°We¡¯ll select our flight and inform you of the details soon. See you soon, Miss Hattori.¡±
¡°Goodbye.¡± Hattori Mei sent her off with a courteous bow.
With the envelope secured under her arm, Sirita headed towards the exit. From the corner of her eye, she studied the leisure room within the office as she approached the door frame. The room¡¯s door was shut taut but Sirita had noticed something. That realization made her clench her brows and a mocking smirk yed on her lips.
After Sirita¡¯s departure, the door to the leisure room was pushed open.
Hattori Masao exited the smaller room. ¡°Do you think the FA¡¯s n B will work?¡±
Hattori Mei went silent and shook her head.
¡°You think it¡¯ll fail?¡± It was Hattori Masao¡¯s turn to frown. ¡°Then why are we still working with them? As soon as China finds out, we¡¯ll be faced with the fury of more than one billion people!¡±
Calmly, Hattori Mei uttered, ¡°That¡¯s why we need our own operation.¡±
¡°Our own operation?¡±
¡°Yes, FA¡¯s n C.¡±
¡°Our own operation but a n C of FA?¡± Hattori Masao¡¯s brows were furrowed with more intensity. ¡°Just spill it. I¡¯m not in the mood to hear you beat around the bush.¡±
Hattori Mei pulled another drawer open to retrieve a brown paper envelope. The woman handed it to her father.
Hattori Masao extracted the contents. There was a woman¡¯s photo inside, her face expressionless. The woman was beautiful but seemed cold and distant.
¡°She¡¯s...?¡±
¡°Long Bing.¡± Hattori Mei continued, ¡°ording to our intel, she¡¯s already in Japan. She¡¯s a departmental head of China¡¯s Bureau 101.¡±
¡°To send their important talent over to Japan in such a time. Could it be that...¡± Hattori Masao paused. ¡°Could it be that China had already received intel about FA¡¯s n B?¡±
¡°There¡¯s an eighty percent possibility.¡±
¡°This n needs to be cancelled!¡±
¡°No, father.¡± Hattori Mei proceeded to exin, ¡°The existence of Xia Lei and the Thunder Horse Military Factory threatens not only the interest of America but also Japan. We are the main ones who want to hinder China¡¯s growth. We cannot ept a stronger China.¡±
¡°What are your ns then?¡±
Hattori Mei came closer to her father and whispered into his ear. ¡°The reason why we need a n C is that...¡±
Meanwhile, arge bunch of tourists exited Tokyo¡¯s Narita Airport, lugging with them their backpacks and suitcases. These were tourists from China and their next stop was to head into Tokyo city through the Narita Express train. However, there were a few that halted their footsteps and seemed to not be in a rush to leave. Among them was a woman with a baseball cap. It covered a good half of her face but it did nothing to conceal her tall and alluring figure.
The woman was none other than Long Bing. Standing around her were her subordinates from Bureau 101.
¡°Leader, where are we heading to next? Into Tokyo or...?¡± One of them asked.
Long Bing answered, ¡°Tokyo has two airports. Haneda and Narita. Most flights to China will depart from Narita but we can¡¯t be sure if the FA will board from Haneda. How about we split up? I¡¯ll handle Narita and the rest of you shall head to Haneda.¡±
¡°Leader, are you sure you¡¯re fine with being left alone here?¡±
¡°It¡¯s dangerous.¡±
¡°Leader, that doesn¡¯t sound right. Even if we need to split up, it¡¯s only safe if two of us apany you.¡±
All of these agents were Long Bing¡¯s most loyal and capablerades. They shared a sibling-like bond with her. Her abrupt decision was enough to trigger their worry.
¡°This is an order.¡± Long Bing¡¯s face was void of any expression. She was as cold and distant as ever.
The few agents looked at each other, not daring to move a single muscle.
¡°Execute the order! Now!¡± Long Bing yelled at them unforgivingly.
It was only then that they were willing to leave. They understood her temper. She was as stubborn as an ox. Any decision made was her final say.
As soon as they were far enough, Long Bing found a deserted corner and brought out the satellite phone Xia Lei passed to her. She dialled a saved number.
It didn¡¯t take long for the call to be answered. A woman¡¯s voice was immediately heard from the device. ¡°It¡¯s me, the one you¡¯re looking for.¡±
¡°It¡¯s me, the one you¡¯re looking for.¡± Long Bing repeated.
¡°I know where you are. Just keep walking ahead and you¡¯ll find me very soon. I¡¯ll be waiting for you there.¡± The feminine voice instructed.
Long Bing kept the satellite phone away and continued to walk along the road. Roads in Japan were spotless and clean. There were houses on either side of the road, all of them clean and lovely. The scent of their culture was thick in the air.
She continued to walk for another few minutes until a Toyota car was spotted on the side. There was a woman standing beside the vehicle. Her stature was petite and she had a delicate doll-like face.
She was Tsukino Kyoko, the rat of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
¡°Is she the female ninja hubby was referring to? She doesn¡¯t seem that capable, she looks more like a student.¡± Long Bing was sceptical.
Tsukino Kyoko opened the car doors for Long Bing. ¡°Madam Long, please enter.¡±
¡°Madam Long?¡± Long Bing blinked in shock. This term was such a stranger to her ears.
¡°Would you prefer that I call you Miss Long instead?¡± questioned Tsukino Kyoko.
Long Bing declined. ¡°Madam Long is fine.¡±
With that, Long Bing climbed into the Toyota and the vehicle began to travel towards an unknown destination.
Chapter 959 - Settling On A Date
A crowd was gathered outside of the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s materialboratory, consisting of Li Youdun, Fan Yiming and the rest of Thunder Horse¡¯s personal research team. Everyone waited around with great anticipation for an arrival.
They were waiting for Xia Lei to appear.
The man had already been inside theboratory for eight hours, but there were still no signs of him emerging from within.
¡°Do you think Director Xia will seed this time?¡± A material science expert popped the question.
¡°I¡¯m not sure. Director Xia is great at designing weapons but material science is not his area of expertise.¡± Someone answered.
¡°Elder Fan is the country¡¯s most prized material scientist and the Director of the Academy of Sciences. If this was an issue that Elder Fan couldn¡¯t solve, how would Director Xia be able to break through it?¡±mented another person.
¡°Sigh! What a shame. If this was a sess, the material would take the crown as the best aerospace material. This would be an achievement that will trigger the Americans¡¯ jealousy.¡±
¡°I wish Director Xia would juste out now and tell us the oue. Even if it¡¯s a failure, a direction would do us good too,¡± said someone else.
The area was noisy with discussion.
Li Youdun was starting to lose his patience. He turned to whisper Fan Yiming a question, ¡°Elder Fan, do you think Director Xia will seed?¡±
Fan Yiming caressed his white beard. There was a brief pause before he answered, ¡°I have no idea.¡±
That garnered a bitter scoff from Li Youdun. ¡°Elder Fan, isn¡¯t Director Xia your future grandson inw? Had he not told you anything in private?¡±
Fan Yiming rolled his eyes at Li Youdun. ¡°He is my grandson inw but he told me nothing so far.¡±
Knowing that he wouldn¡¯t get any answers, Li Youdun decided to shut up.
Among the buzzing discussion, arge group of people were seen to be heading in their direction from a distance. Walking in the front was Fan Fan with her leader trailing close behind her. He wasn¡¯t just any random person, he held the highest rank amongst them all!
Noticing the leader¡¯s presence, the crowd before theboratory quickly dispersed to open a path.
Fan Fan briefed him about the current situation. Her expression was solemn and respectful. ¡°Leader, this right here is the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s materialboratory.¡±
The man nodded lightly, his overall appearance seemingly approachable.
Despite that, all the Thunder Horse employees held their breath in nervously. To them, Fan Fan was already a high-ranking officer and for an officer like her to regard someone else as a leader was already a great indication of his ranking.
The significance behind his appearance was clear. The man paid great attention and had high hopes for Thunder Horse¡¯s new material.
After all, the birth of this material was destined to shake the power bnce of the world. In the near future, even if America nted radars in Korea, Vietnam and Japan, the Chinese fighter jets would still be able to evade it! To use this material on aircraft would enable even the elderly to make circles above the Japanese territory. They would be able to attack anyone stealthily! They could even utilize an aerial tanker to refuel mid-air before heading over to fly ap above America!
A single material would open the door to endless possibilities with aircraft design. With such a resource, China would be able to thrive even with suppression from the other countries!
This was the turning point of the era. It was now charging its energy before its birth. After itspletion, it would take off without mercy!
Fan Yiming came over to greet them. Even the respected older man was humble and courteous with them.
The leader asked with a smile, ¡°Elder Fan, why are you out here?¡±
Fan Yiming returned a sheepish smile. ¡°Oh, that kid wouldn¡¯t let me in. So I had no choice but to wait outside too.¡±
¡°But isn¡¯t he your grandson inw?¡± The man averted his gaze to look at Fan Fan, still smiling. ¡°Oh, that reminds me. Fan Fan, when are you both going to tie the knot?¡±
Fan began to feel a little self-conscious about her slightly ¡®swelling¡¯ belly. Dizziness was starting to seep into her. ¡°He¡¯s such a busy man, we hadn¡¯t had the time to spare for a ceremony yet. Perhaps we¡¯d be getting married after a while.¡±
¡°No, that won¡¯t do. A job is a job but personal affairs must be taken care of too. Marriage is one of the most important stages of life. Well, Lunar New Year is right around the corner. How about you get married during then?¡± suggested the leader.
¡°Sure, we¡¯re willing to follow all instructions given.¡± Fan Fan¡¯s heart leapt in joy.
Though her marriage to Xia Lei was arranged by the authorities, the couple was already involved with each other before that. Everything had taken its course naturally. However, though she had confirmed her rtionship with Xia Lei, he hadn¡¯t given much thought into a ceremony. Her belly was growing day by day and with her status, to have a child before marriage wouldplicate things. Now that the leader had suggested a date, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t be able to escape her grasp even if he was a slippery catfish!
¡°Elder Fan, congrattions. Your granddaughter will be in good hands.¡± The leader said.
Fan Yiming was grinning ear to ear. ¡°Yeah, yeah. My granddaughter is a lucky one.¡±
Fan Fan sent a teasing re at him. ¡°Grandpa, why isn¡¯t Xia Lei the lucky one? Are you saying that your granddaughter is worthless?¡±
Theyughed.
At this moment, Li Youdun seemed to have mustered up enough courage. He announced, ¡°I¡¯m going to ask Director Xia toe out.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for that, we can wait here. Let¡¯s not interrupt his work,¡± declined the leader. His tone had never once wavered from its friendliness.
Li Youdun stepped away, evidently nervous.
Fan Fan studied the closedboratory door with bubbling anxiety. She had mentioned the situation to her superiors and the man had insisted to pay the site a visit. They had postponed a very important meeting. But now that they¡¯re here, Xia Lei was nowhere to be seen. She had no idea how long they were going to wait. It just didn¡¯t feel appropriate to have an important figure wait outside closed doors for god knows how long.
This was a moment when Fan Fan wished Liang Siyao was with her. The woman was great at helping hernd on a decision but Liang Siyao had opted to stay away due to her special past.
As Fan Fan¡¯s worries began to eat at her, the doors to theboratory were opened. A familiar figure had emerged from the room.
Xia Lei was finally out. In his hands was a stainless steel tray that carried a silver coloured metal. Its length and width looked to be at least one foot. Its height was about fifty centimetres tall. In terms of its volume, it would only make sense if it had weighed at least a few tens of pounds. However, the way Xia Lei held it made it seem only as heavy as a book.
The surprising amount of attention his appearance had garnered from the crowd waiting outside the door had Xia Lei stunned. Despite that, it didn¡¯t take him long to notice Fan Fan and the smiling man beside her. The realization hit him hard with shock.
Fan Fan rushed over to him. ¡°Hub... Xia,e with me. I¡¯d like to introduce someone to you.¡±
It was only then that Xia Lei snapped out of his daze, following Fan Fan¡¯s lead over to his unexpected esteemed guest.
The leader shed him a grin. ¡°There¡¯s no need for introductions. I know him and he knows me. Let¡¯s just jump straight into it. Comrade Xia Lei, is the thing in your hands the new material?¡±
¡°Yes, it is.¡± Xia Lei passed the tray over.
¡°Is it heavy?¡± The sheer size of the metal block was a little mind-boggling, causing the man to be a little afraid.
Xia Lei smiled at him reassuringly. ¡°It only weighs nine and a half pounds.¡±
The shocking statement had triggered discussions among the crowd.
The leader picked up the metal block with utmost caution as if he was holding the hope of his people.
The silver coloured metal block glimmering under the illumination of the setting sun. It looked mystical, divine even.
Fan Yiming impatiently strode over and held Xia Lei¡¯s forearm. ¡°Have you tested it out?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I did.¡±
¡°How¡¯s the oue?¡± Fan Yiming was anxious. ¡°Quick, tell me!¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°It¡¯s about the same as your test results earlier. It¡¯s not any stronger than before.¡±
The words had Fan Yiming¡¯s mind go nk. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean...¡±
Xia Lei interjected him. With a smile, he uttered, ¡°Elder Fan, there¡¯s no need to worry. I¡¯ve solved the instability problem of the new material.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Fan Yiming yelped and gawked in shock.
The man chuckled. ¡°Xia Lei, why are you still calling him Elder Fan? That is no longer suitable, it¡¯s about time you start calling him grandfather too.¡±
Fan Fan blushed at the indication, studying her lover¡¯s reaction from the corners of her eyes. Her heart was positively pumping with delight and nervousness.
¡°Grandpa,¡± Xia Lei called. This was the first time he had ever called Fan Yiming with that title.
Fan Yiming broke out from his daze. Instead, the older man pressed on with his question. ¡°Quick, you need to tell me how you managed to solve it! Tell me!¡±
The setting wasn¡¯t appropriate for Xia Lei to exin in detail. His methods to achieve it were confidential.
¡°Yeah. Director Xia, how did you solve it?¡± Li Youdun joined, demanding answers.
¡°I understand your eagerness to know but...¡± Xia Lei hesitated.
Fan Fan immediately picked up the hint. She quickly called, ¡°Grandpa, Xia Lei just called you grandpa. Did you notice that?¡±
¡°Huh? He called me what?¡± Fan Yiming¡¯s mind had only been focused on the silver metal before him. There was literally no room to be concerned about other things.
Fan Fan continued, ¡°Xia Lei called you grandpa. You hadn¡¯t answered him yet. Jeez.¡±
¡°Oh... He called me grandpa...¡± The thought finally clicked in Fan Yiming¡¯s brain. He guffawed. ¡°Good, good... You¡¯re an outstanding man. It is an honour for my granddaughter to be able to marry you!¡±
Fan Fan was speechless.
¡°Hahaha.¡± The leader spoke up, ¡°This is a great asion. Say, Xia Lei. Lunar New Year is near, how about we host the marriage during then? What do you say about that?¡±
¡°Sure, thank you for your concern.¡± Xia Lei beamed.
With his current situation, there was literally no difference between being married and not married.
The leader returned the metal block to Xia Lei. ¡°It¡¯s a huge metal block but it¡¯s so light. What other benefits does it have to offer?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Its strength is slightly superior to that of titanium alloy. It¡¯s able to withstand the force of speed several times the speed of sound. Other than that, it is able to absorb radar electromaic wavespletely. No radar in the world would be able to detect it if this material was used.¡±
¡°Excellent!¡± The man patted Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Work your hardest on this. You¡¯re allowed to ask for any resources you need. Please remember that this is not just about you but the entire country. This achievement will be massive!¡±
Xia Lei nodded his head heavily. ¡°We won¡¯t disappoint the country¡¯s expectations.¡±
At this moment, Fan Yiming pried the metal block out of Xia Lei¡¯s grip and began to study it closely.
Li Youdun joined him, eyes glimmering at the wonderful silver metal block. The scientist was overwhelmed with excitement and hope.
After a few flips and turns, Fan Yiming abruptly lifted the block and threw it against the ground.
¡°Grandpa!¡± Fan Fan screeched but she was toote. The metal block mmed onto the concrete floor with a loud m.
As soon as the block came in contact with the concrete ground, it bounced back from the impact and rolled twice beforeing to aplete halt.
Everyone had their eyes glued to the area the block had hit.
On the concrete floor was a ridiculously obvious triangr dent. The metal block, on the other hand, was free of any damage upon inspection.
It was only yesterday that the silver metal replicated by Fan Yiming and Li Youdun had broken apart just from a fall!
¡°You... You really solved the problem! Hahaha!¡± Fan Yiming was ecstatic,ughing his heart out.
Li Youdun wrapped his fingers around the metal block. With shining eyes, he looked at his boss. ¡°Director Xia, how did you do it? How did you solve the issue?¡±
Xia Lei did not answer him.
¡°Xia Lei, let me treat you to a meal.¡± Fan Yiming came over, his grin intense.
¡°Sure, it will be my honour.¡± Xia Lei returned a smile.
The older man turned to Fan Fan. ¡°How about you cook a hearty meal for us?¡±
Fan Fan was rendered speechless.
A meal to celebrate the sess of the new material.
Chapter 960 - Natural Talent
China has embarked on the research of a new material that aims to serve as the most perfect alloy material for the aerospace industry. Thepletion of this new material research is estimated to be within five years. Its birth will create a new milestone in material science. It will soon be widely used in aircraft creation, offering its selfless contribution to mankind.
That was an excerpt from an official article by the Chinese government. Despite announcing its existence, not once did the writers mention the exact identity of the new material, nor did it bring up whichpany was responsible for the project. It was kept vague and a secret.
No fighter jets or weapons were clearly stated but following the little hints sandwiched between the lines, even regr soldiers would be able to guess that this new material was going to be applied in the production of fighter jets.
This article wasn¡¯t intended to praise one¡¯s achievements, it was actually a signal. A signal to the whole wide world.
In Xia Lei¡¯s opinion, the man really wasn¡¯t eager to have an article announcing his research. But this was politics. All decisions made had to be strategic. Unsheathing their sword at the right time would be able to intimidate one¡¯s enemy or rivals. Doing such things would require extremely high political literacy and wisdom, both of which he was inept. Xia Leiforted himself in the fact that this new material would be announced to the world inevitably someday. Nothing would be affected even if its presence was made known earlier than expected. All he needed to do was to keep its confidentiality well.
It was after the article that Xia Lei named the new material. It was given the name Alloy X.
The Alloy X Project had been under his wing since its beginning. The man felt that it was only appropriate to name the new material with it after some consideration. Though it was under his watch, the Alloy X Project was at a dead-end for a long time. The use of its name on the new material could be considered an exnation of some sort to the authorities.
From another perspective, this silver metal was indeed rted to the ancient alloy. If he had stopped his relentless research and refused to embark on his multiple adventures, this material wouldn¡¯t have existed.
He sowed what he reaped. Karma was Buddhist teaching but it had an undoubtedly useful philosophical value that added to one¡¯s wisdom.
While Xia Lei was busy handling the logistics of his new project, Long Bing was staring at a zooming Boeing 747 ne from a vige near Narita Airport. That was a ne serving for a Chinese airline, the sight of it grasped her heart with worry.
¡°This is not it. What can I do if I continue to stay here? I need to get my job done, not stay here and be protected by others.¡± Long Bing thought to himself anxiously. She ripped her attention away and left her room.
Tsukino Kyoko was busy training her sword skill in the yard. There were two katanas in her grip, one long and one short. With varying swinging forms, she bnced her technique with different length. Switching between offensive and defensive, her sword skills were superb.
The female ninja had noticed Long Bing exiting her room, but Tsukino Kyoko made no move to stop herself. Her sword dance intensified as she picked up her rotating speed, enveloping her form in the cold sheen of her de.
¡°Mind if you stop for a minute? I need to talk to you,¡± said Long Bing with furrowed brows.
It was only then that Tsukino Kyoko stopped her movements, returning her des into its sheath skillfully. Every rippled of her muscle was practised with terrifying precision. She approached Long Bing. ¡°Madam Long, how can I help you?¡±
Long Bing said, ¡°I¡¯m here on a mission, not to be a witness. I don¡¯t need protection. All I need is for you to help locate the FA members and get rid of them.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko shed her a smile. ¡°Madam Long, since the boss had instructed me to assist you, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re already aware of the existence of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team, yes?¡±
Long Bing nodded.
Tsukino Kyoko continued, ¡°Since you¡¯re aware of its existence, you probably have an idea of the number of our members and realpetence.¡±
Long Bing nodded again. Before she had left China, the woman had a deep conversation with Xia Lei. The man had told her many things about the Zodiac Team and the forte of each member. She knew that this female ninja before her was an expert assassin.
¡°Madam Long, my duty is to protect you. I know you require some intel but that¡¯s Sa¡¯im¡¯s responsibility. The man is our intelligence expert and he has an intel system that he had formed alone. Trust me, you can enjoy the sun with a nice cup of tea and you¡¯d still get the information you wish for,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°But... What if the FA members board the ne now? My mission would be a failure,¡± uttered Long Bing grimly.
Tsukino Kyoko reassured her. ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about that. Yelena is keeping a watch at Narita Airport. She¡¯s the chicken of the team. Please have some faith in her. As soon as the FA members show up at Narita Airport, you¡¯ll be receiving a call within no more than one minute.¡±
¡°But what about Haneda Airport?¡±
¡°There are fewer flights to China departing from Haneda, most of it is headed towards Europe. Under normal circumstances, the chances of the FA selecting that airport is low. But even if they picked that airport, we have Anjum Khan over there. The monkey is a sharpshooter. If anything happens at Haneda Airport, you¡¯ll also be the first to know,¡± uttered Tsukino Kyoko.
Long Bing shrugged her shoulders and heaved. This was the first time she was protected well during a mission. How could this be considered as a special agent mission? This literally was a millionaire¡¯s vacation runaway. Bing Xia Lei¡¯s woman had allowed her to enjoy such privileges.
Tsukino Kyoko studied Long Bing¡¯s abdomen. ¡°Madam Long, how far are you along?¡±
The question caught Long Bing by surprise. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°The child.¡±
Long Bing immediately felt sheepish. ¡°I just found out not too long ago. Why?¡±
¡°I¡¯m a woman too.¡± Tsukino Kyoko exined, ¡°I¡¯m curious about how it feels to be pregnant. Do you mind sharing your feelings on it?¡±
Long Bing reached an arm to caress her stomach lightly. Though it was stillpletely t, she was positive she could feel the budding little life within her. The gentle touch had her produce a faint smile. ¡°I¡¯ve not experienced any obvious pregnancy effects but I know that a baby is growing within me. My child fills me with worries.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko smiled at her gently. ¡°Yeah, you should think more about your child. We can help you handle this mission. All you need to do is take good care of yourself and the child.¡±
Abruptly, a motorbike came to a halt beside the yard. The helmet-d rider leapt off the bike and headed towards them.
Long Bing had noticed him since he appeared on the streets of the vige. However, this was a stranger to her.
¡°Kyoko, can I have a cup of coffee? One sugar cube would do,¡± requested the man, taking off his helmet in the process. His features were Arabian.
Tsukino Kyoko stood her ground, turning to introduce the neer to Long Bing. ¡°This is Sa¡¯im, our intelligence expert.¡±
Long Bing nodded to him. ¡°Hello, Mister Sa¡¯im.¡±
¡°Nice to meet you, Madam Long.¡± Sa¡¯im was courteous. ¡°Let¡¯s talk inside.¡±
The three of them entered the house.
In the living room, Sa¡¯im brought out a folded newspaper issue and ced it on the coffee table. The newspaper was fully in Japanese. Though Long Bing¡¯s mastery of thenguage wascklustre, there were many simrities between the Japanese and Chinese characters. So it wasn¡¯t difficult for her to get a gist of the headline¡¯s content.
Long Bing eyes widened in shock.
The content had talked about how China was researching new aerospace material. The woman had also noticed the words ¡®Xia Lei¡¯ and ¡®Thunder Horse¡¯ written in between the lines.
Tsukino Kyoko broke the silence. ¡°This article is quoted by Asahi News from a Chinese news outlet. What is the point of you showing this to us?¡± She frowned at him. ¡°This piece of intel barely has any value. It can¡¯t be exchanged for a cup of coffee. Not to mention, you even asked for a cube of sugar.¡±
¡°The official article published by the Chinese government had not mentioned the boss¡¯s name and Thunder Horse Organization. If you look here, Asahi News had mentioned him and thepany specifically. This article indicates that China had obtained the new material sessfully but is only going to achievepletion after five years. China did not drop a bomb on them. The country¡¯s intention of releasing this signal was to ease the growing tension of the marine territory situation,¡± exined Sa¡¯im.
Tsukino Kyoko shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in politics.¡±
Something clicked in Long Bing¡¯s mind. ¡°Mister Sa¡¯im, you¡¯re saying that...¡±
¡°Madam Long, there¡¯s no need to be courteous with me. You can just call me Sa¡¯im, but you can also call me Sa¡¯im al-Majid al-Tikriti. Of course, thetter is a mouth full to say.¡± Sa¡¯im chuckled.
¡°Alright then, Sa¡¯im,¡± said Long Bing. She needed to learn more about this person and adjust herself to them. She was destined to fight alongside them for the sake of the Thunder Horse Organization soon.
Tsukino Kyoko interrupted them, displeased. ¡°Cut the crap, Sa¡¯im. Speak, what have you found?¡±
Sa¡¯im¡¯s expression turned hard. ¡°I¡¯ve seen many simr articles from mainstream Japanese media but none with the same tone. In the past, when China announced its research oue, the typical tone Japanese media would use was full of mockery and suspicion. They would either question the product or show how inferior it was to its Japanese counterpart. This time, this article was firm with its wording. It reeks of anxiety and concern too. This may seem normal but if youpare this to their earlier publications, this tone is not normal at all.¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying that...¡± Long Bing was troubled. ¡°The Japanese have an urate intel source?¡±
Sa¡¯im nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
¡°There¡¯s a spy in the Thunder Horse Organization?¡± Long Bing pressed on.
Sa¡¯im answered, ¡°That I¡¯m not sure. But I¡¯m rarely wrong about situations like this. I even suspect that the Japanese Intelligence Department knows that you¡¯re already here in Japan.¡±
To be able to sniff out intel from a single Asahi News article was Sa¡¯im¡¯s expertise. When God made humans, there was always bound to be some entricities to create a person with terrifying natural talent.
¡°I need to contact Xia Lei right away.¡± Long Bing reached for the satellite phone.
Surprisingly, Tsukino Kyoko pressed on her hand. ¡°No, we need to evacuate this ce as soon as possible!¡±
Ring... Ring... Ring...
At this moment, Long Bing¡¯s other phone had rung.
Her Bureau 101 colleagues were trying to reach her.
Chapter 961 - The Battle At The Safehouse
Sa¡¯im had brought along his suspicion with his sudden appearance. If he hadn¡¯t gotten a clear idea of the problem, there was no way he would decide toe to the safehouse Tsukino Kyoko had prepared for Long Bing. His presence had indicated the seriousness of the issue.
The abrupt call from her Bureau 101 colleaguesunched Long Bing¡¯s heart into a pulsating madness.
Every sign was clear. Murphy¡¯s Law seemed to be taking ce now.
Long Bing brought up the ringing phone and answered the call. ¡°It¡¯s me, speak.¡±
¡°Leader, we...¡± The voice was cut off abruptly.
¡°Hello?¡± Long Bing shouted into her phone. ¡°Hello?! What¡¯s going on?! Speak!¡±
The call ended.
Long Bing froze with the phone still stuck to her ear. This wasn¡¯t normal, there was a bad sinking feeling manifesting in her gut. Her colleagues might be in trouble!
¡°We need to leave this ce, now!¡± Tsukino Kyoko seemed to have realized something. Her tone changed to one of panic.
Long Bing kept her phone away. ¡°We¡¯ll leave this ce and I¡¯ll contact Xia Lei on the way.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko questioned, ¡°Are you sure about that? You should know that a call from you would bring him here.¡±
Long Bing hadn¡¯t intended to call Xia Lei for assistance. She only wanted to inform him of a possible skilful spy lurking within the Thunder Horse Organization. Tsukino Kyoko had misunderstood her intentions greatly.
Sa¡¯im interrupted them. ¡°Leave this matter for discussionter. If something had happened in Narita Airport, then this ce...¡±
Doot... Doot... Doot...
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s satellite phone rang. She answered the call without hesitation, uttering only one word, ¡°Speak!¡±
¡°There¡¯s trouble! Leave the safehouse at once!¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s panicked voice rang through the phone. ¡°They have an expert among their lineup this time. I need to leave this ce too. I¡¯ll return to the other safehouse. We¡¯ll meet there.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko ended the call. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong, we need to leave now!¡±
The piercing screech of tyres was heard all of a sudden. From the sound of it, there were numerous vehicles.
The three people seated in the living room looked at each other with a heavy gaze. With just a look, Long Bing immediately avoided all vulnerable firing spots like the doors and windows. Sa¡¯im did the same, hurriedly hiding away from direct hit spots.
Tsukino Kyoko quickly made it over to the wall where the television was and extended an arm to press on a button disguised as a trinket. The wall sectioned itself and opened to reveal a hidden space. It was a firearm storage, filled with different weapons produced by Thunder Horse Organization. Long Bing could spot the XL2500 sniper rifle, gust assault rifle and the Viper pistol. There was even a Hellbound One-soldier Cannon. All of the other weapons came in pairs.
Tsukino Kyoko grabbed a gust assault rifle and tossed it to Sa¡¯im. She selected the same weapon for herself.
Long Bing requested, ¡°Get me the XL2500 and the Hellbound One-soldier Cannon.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was surprised at her choice but passed the weapons to her anyway. Following that, the three set to load their weapons.
At the same time, more than twenty gunmen in casual clothing covered each other as they approached the fence of the safehouse. They were all armed with assault rifles and submachine guns.
Entering the yard, they separated themselves into three teams. One team lowered their stances and moved under the window and another climbed over the fence to sneak towards the back. Thest team came to the door of the living room.
Theirmander gestured and a gunman brought a door breaker to pry the frame open.
Several gunmen stuck their backs against the wall, waiting for the door to be opened.
The gunman lifted his door breaker and struck it onto the iron door.
Bang Bang Bang...
Shots were fired and the iron door began to tremble under its force. The man with the door breaker slumped onto the ground. He had worn a bulletproof vest but it did nothing to protect his und face. The iron bullet pierced through the iron door and embedded itself snugly in the middle of his forehead.
¡°Charge!¡± Themander was aggravated, immediately signalling their attack.
Bang Bang Bang!
The roaring gunshots made it feel as if Lunar New Year hade early. Among the concentrated ruckus, a storm of bullets made its way into the house.
Japan was a country constantly gued by earthquakes. Hence, a majority of their construction materials were light tobat the natural disaster. However, its lightness was not resistant to the striking of bullets. In that split second, the television, couch, walls andmps were reduced to debris. The air was saturated with dust and debris which bounced around the room. Looking at the rate of fire, not even a frog could¡¯ve survived that, let alone human!
The first round of aggression came to an end, prompting the gunmen to reload their cartridge.
Themander gestured again for a Howa Type 89 assault rifle-wielding gunman to stand from his position on the door side to enter the house.
m! The shredded iron door was kicked open with ease.
No target was found in the living room nor there was any corpse to be seen. The wooden floor was littered with bullet holes and debris from furniture and electrical appliances. It was a mess.
The man who had entered gestured to hisrades and began to venture deeper into the house.
Themander swung his right arm and the gunmen entered the property. They began to search every corner of each room.
Doors were kicked open but no one was found.
This house was surrounded by their people. Unless they could turn invisible, why had everyone inside of it disappeared?
At that moment, a gunman pointed to an area behind the television wall. The particr wooden nk was two centimetres higher than the others. It was not easy to spot without careful inspection.
Themander silenced them with a gesture and began to approach the nk cautiously. It didn¡¯t take him long to realize that it was just a cover for an underground passage disguised as part of the flooring.
Themander made no move to lift the cover. Instead, he adjusted the Type 89 assault rifle in his arms.
Bang Bang Bang...
Themander opened fire and his underlings backed off and began firing at the cover as well. Wooden shards flew about the air and the disguised cover was destroyed soon enough. The entrance to the underground passage was circr. The only thing left was a woman¡¯s shoe. This had meant one thing. The woman had made a frantic escape!
¡°Get down!¡± Themander no longer used gestures.
A gunman came to its entrance and began to descend with the metaldder stuck to the concrete walls.
The gunmen that guarded the back rejoined their group through the backdoor. The gunmen guarding the windows were thest to enter. All of them were gathered at the span of the area behind the television wall, awaiting their turn to enter the underground passage to pursue their fleeing target.
¡°It¡¯s very deep!¡± The first person to enter observed and lifted his head. ¡°I can¡¯t see the end. They must¡¯ve escaped through this passage.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll split into two teams. One will follow the passage and the other shall search around the underground area. Miss Hattori had ordered us to not let them escape. The woman with the surname Long must be captured alive!¡±
¡°Understood!¡± The gunmen responded in unison.
Thump!
A grenade dropped from the ceiling.
A portion of the gunmen had noticed it but before they could do anything, it exploded!
Boom!
A fiery explosion sounded out and flipped the gunmen onto their backs. Those around the centre of the explosion had died right away, their bodies sted into a bloodied minced meat mess. A ripped arm crashed through the ss window and flew into the yard.
¡°They¡¯re in the ceiling! Shoot them!¡± Themander roared, pointing his gun upwards at the same time. The grenade shards had injured his leg earlier.
The surviving gunmen fired their weapons insanely towards the ceiling. The rapid storm of bullets causing the wooden ceiling to disintegrate, its material falling onto them in the constricted space. What had fallen from the ceiling were only wood and tiles, no human presence was to be detected.
Bang Bang Bang...
A bullet whooshed by abruptly from the back windows and hit a man. The person immediately slumped onto the ground with the rest of hisrades.
The ambush had onlysted for two seconds. Following that, the sneaky assaulter hid away before even exhausting a cartridge. When the gunmen spun around to search the area, the only thing left behind was a broken ss window and a waft of blue smoke floating about.
There was someone on the roof and there was someone at the back of the house. Despite the advantage of arger group, the gunmen were forced to be passive. The entire thing felt like a clumsy obese fool going up against an agile athlete.
¡°Evacuate the area!¡± roared themander. He was now afraid of the oue of their mission. Half his team was already dead. If they continued to stay inside, he was certain that this battle would end soon. They would all die instead of their targets.
However, just as the surviving gunmen began to retreat, a bomb wasunched from the door and collided with the first retreatingmander. Just as the soft impact of human flesh on the solid bomb had urred, themander was torn apart and destroyed. The energy emitted from the explosion blew away everyone inside the house and then demolished the building. In under a second, the house was reduced to nothing!
Long Bing was the one whounched the bomb.
Sa¡¯im had attacked them from the back.
And Tsukino Kyoko had attacked them from the roof. Before Long Bing had sted everyone away, the female ninja had left the roof and joined the other woman.
This was a house personally designed and built by Tsukino Kyoko. How could a ninja¡¯s house not have a few escape routes to spare? Those gunmen had assumed that they surrounded them but had no idea that they were instead, surrounded by Tsukino Kyoko, Sa¡¯im and Long Bing.
¡°Who the hell are these people?¡± Long Bing ced the piping hot Hellbound One-soldier Cannon down.
Tsukino Kyoko answered, ¡°The weapons they carry are specifically used by the Japanese Land Self Defense Force. They must be the Special Forces of the troop. I reckon that there¡¯s a possibility that the Intelligence Department members are involved in this.¡±
Long Bing fell silent. ¡°No matter what, I need to give Xia Lei a call. I need to inform him that there¡¯s a spy around him.¡±
Sa¡¯im urged, ¡°Let¡¯s go, you can call him on the way. We created amotion. They will be sending reinforcements soon.¡±
The three of them head to the road.
Sa¡¯im straddled his motorbike. ¡°Ladies,e ride with me. My driving is superb.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko only graced him a middle finger and climbed into the Toyota Lukuze that the gunmen came in. Long Bing shrugged at Sa¡¯im nonchntly and joined Tsukino Kyoko.
Perhaps the vehicle was being tracked but that wouldn¡¯t be an issue to Departmental Head Long of Bureau 101. This was her expertise after all.
The car engine roared to life and zoomed forward.
Sa¡¯im followed the vehicle closely with his loud engine ring in the wind.
Chapter 962 - Who Is The Spy?
One phone callter, Xia Lei¡¯s mood was at an all-time low.
Long Bing had phoned him immediately after her debacle in Japan.
There was a high chance that the secrets of the new material were leaked.
Long Bing was ambushed shortly after arriving in Japan and her other subordinates had disappeared off the radar. If it wasn¡¯t for Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s earlier preparations, Long Bing would¡¯ve been captured.
These two things had inevitably pointed to a certain person.
That person might be a spy!
This wasn¡¯t the first time something like this had gued the Thunder Horse Organization. Regardless of what he did, Xia Lei could never keep spies away from hispany. Thunder Horse¡¯s expansion was happening at such a rapid speed that they required mass hiring of human resources. There was no way he could¡¯ve run an extensive background check on each person. There was a chance that a spy could have slipped through the cracks.
Another reason was that Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s existence had long threatened the strategic benefit of America and its allies. It was only normal for those countries to send their spies to infiltrate thepany. Aside from that, all the spies assigned by America and its allies would¡¯ve been agents who have gone through rigorous training. The spies would definitely be morepetent than those regrbourers Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun had used in the past.
This spy had been lurking around the Thunder Horse Organization for a while now with no obvious signs of activities. The spy collected intel in silence while waiting for orders. Before the birth of the new material, the spy had hidden well but the first sess of the project had the person lose their initial patience. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t them who decided to leak the news, their agency or origin country might¡¯ve been the impatient ones instead.
¡°Spy... Spy, huh? I wonder who it is?¡± In the Thunder Horse headquarters, Xia Lei slipped into deep thought in the privacy of his office. Countless faces of people that he had encountered in the past were brought into his mind, there were friends and unfamiliar contacts. As long he had seen them before, he would be able to recall their faces.
After a while, Liang Siyao joined him in his office. In solemn silence, she clicked the door shut behind her and came to his side.
Xia Lei looked at her. ¡°Have you heard about it?¡±
Liang Siyao nodded. ¡°Sa¡¯im has shared the information. Who do you think it is?¡±
In the past, the other members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team were clueless that Liang Siyao was their pig. It was only after coaxing her to resign from Bureau 101 that her status was revealed. With the knowledge, Sa¡¯im made the right choice to inform her of the current situation. She was Xia Lei¡¯s lover and was constantly within his proximity. If the spy had noticed that they were no longer safe, they might execute something dangerous in a panic. In that case, it¡¯d be better to be cautious.
¡°I¡¯ve sorted through them all but I have no idea who it might be.¡± Xia Lei shed her a wry smile. ¡°The spy is doing a good job. We¡¯ve not been able to notice their presence at all.¡±
His answer was genuine. Despite sorting through images of all the employees stationed in the Thunder Horse headquarters, his eyes and brain couldn¡¯t detect a single clue. One of them had to be the spy.
¡°Is there no one you found suspicious?¡± Liang Siyao questioned.
Xia Lei said, ¡°No, I sincerely have no idea who to suspect.¡±
¡°How about me?¡±
Xia Lei was visibly taken aback. ¡°What the hell are you talking about? Don¡¯t say things like that. I don¡¯t want to hear it.¡±
Liang Siyao had once spied on him and left a great deal of damage to Xia Lei. The mental scar had taken him ages to heal, but to hear those words uttered out from her lips had reopened the wound.
Despite that, Liang Siyao was determined. ¡°I mean it. From now on, you need to be careful around everyone, myself included.¡±
Xia Lei was beginning to get irritated. ¡°Don¡¯t you understand? I said to stop speaking of that incident. Why are you bringing it up?¡±
¡°Trust me, I¡¯m more than unwilling to bring up the past.¡± Liang Siyao continued, ¡°What I can tell you is that there is no mercy among intelligence agents. Even though I am your wife, you would still need to be cautious around me. Do not miss a single person. From now on, you need to go through everyone¡¯s documents again. From there, you can push the investigations further and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to single out the spy.¡±
Her words had eased Xia Lei¡¯s palpitating heart. Earlier, the way she phrased things had instilled fear in Xia Lei that the woman he loved was once again a traitor.
¡°Wait, Siyao.¡± After a short pause, Xia Lei uttered, ¡°There¡¯s no need for action at this moment. Keep this knowledge to yourself.¡±
Liang Siyao was surprised. ¡°Why? The current timing is crucial. If we don¡¯t find the spy, they¡¯ll pose a great danger to you and thepany.¡±
¡°If we do something now, it may alert them.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I¡¯m not saying that we should do nothing, we need a better n.¡±
¡°You¡¯re suggesting to lure the spy out?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯sprehension skills had always been excellent.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. That person has been able to go undetected in Thunder Horse, only choosing to show hints of their existence with the sess of the new material research. Their target is my material. With a good n and an attractive bait, they would bite.¡±
A smile finally bloomed across Liang Siyao¡¯s face. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll follow your n and halt my investigations. But as soon as youe out with a n, you must tell me. I want to join you.¡±
Xia Lei announced, ¡°I¡¯ve already thought of a n.¡±
¡°What is it like?¡± Liang Siyao came closer to him.
Xia Lei¡¯s expression was stern. ¡°Siyao, Long Bing is in danger. I wish to go to Japan and bring her home.¡±
That immediately triggered Liang Siyao¡¯s anxiety. ¡°No! You can¡¯t head to Japan! I won¡¯t allow that! If anyone has to go retrieve her, it should be me!¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough, Siyao. I¡¯m serious about this,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°So am I!¡± Liang Siyao shouted back.
¡°You...¡± At this point, Xia Lei had run out of words to say.
¡°How about this? Let¡¯s all take a step back. I¡¯ll contact her and see if I can convince her toe home. If I fail, we¡¯ll think of another way around this,¡± suggested Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Alright, but you must hurry.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll call Ah Bing right now... Mmph!¡± Liang Siyao pped her palm over her mouth and ran for the washroom.
¡°Siyao, what¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s worry red up, quickly following after his wife.
Liang Siyao supported herself against the walls, pitifully vomiting out what seemed like clear water.
The man finally understood what was happening, opting to pat the small of her back tofort her. ¡°Is the kid tormenting you again? When he¡¯s out, I¡¯m going to smack his butt.¡±
Hearing that, Liang Siyao¡¯s heart fluttered. Her difort slowly dissipated away.
Xia Lei smiled at her. ¡°Look at you. How are you going to Japan in this state? I will not allow you to do so. If you got captured by the Japanese, who am I going to scream at?¡±
Liang Siyao nodded in acknowledgement. ¡°But you¡¯re not allowed to go too. If you get into danger, how would four pregnantdies be able to live without you?¡±
Xia Lei wanted to agree, but as soon as he thought of Long Bing, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to nod. It was as if a long wooden rod had pressed his jaw taut.
At this moment, Qing Caiyue¡¯s voice rang in his office. ¡°Director Xia, Elder Fan wants to see you.¡±
The surprise appearance had Xia Lei confused. ¡°When did she return? Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be in the Haizhu branch?¡±
Liang Siyao exined, ¡°I moved her back. My pregnant belly is going to growrger day by day. Soon, I won¡¯t be able to work like before so it is best if she¡¯s here to help me. Go meet Elder Fan now. I¡¯m feeling much better already.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± With that, Xia Lei left the washroom.
Qing Caiyue stood there with a smile, weing Xia Lei¡¯s presence. Her voice was as sweet as honey. ¡°Director Xia, Elder Fan is in the material scienceb at the moment. He has instructed me to invite you over.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be there soon,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh dear. Director Xia, your tie is a little wonky. Allow me to adjust it for you.¡± Qing Caiyue tried to decrease their bodily distance.
As if on cue, Liang Siyao exited the washroom in time. She said nothing as she stared at Qing Caiyue intensely.
The sight of Liang Siyao had Qing Caiyue jolting like a mouse when faced with a tiger. She frantically stopped her approaching presence and said sheepishly, ¡°Oh, there¡¯s actually nothing wrong with it.¡±
Xia Lei quickly stepped away.
It was only then that Liang Siyao spoke, ¡°Secretary Qing, there are a few order sheets on my desk that require a confirmation from our customers. Please handle it for me.¡±
¡°Sure. Right away, CEO Liang.¡± Qing Caiyue quickly turned around and left. As soon as her back was to Liang Siyao, her red lips were pulled down to a deep frown.
Liang Siyao watched her leave with furrowed brows. ¡°Damned fox. I swear I¡¯ll fire you when this is all over.¡±
As Xia Lei headed towards the material scienceboratory, every step was apanied with thoughts of the spy¡¯s identity. ¡°Who is it? Is the spy female or male? There are many who had learned of the sess of the Alloy X Project but a majority of them had no idea that Long Bing was out on a mission in Japan. The spy had known both of these but who would fit both these criteria?¡±
The analysis made him feel like he was getting one step closer but he knew it was just in his head.
On the day they announced the project¡¯s sess, almost the entirepany had learned about it. If he was going to suspect someone, everyone was equally as suspicious. However, Long Bing¡¯s mission was kept confidential. Members of Bureau 101 would have full knowledge of it and if the problem had stemmed from their side, there was no point for him to keep dwelling on his employees. It was bound to be difficult for him to narrow down on the people closest to him. Those who knew about these two things were all his lovers. How could he just simply suspect them?
Chapter 963 - My Granddaughter Will Not Marry You
¡°Jeez, you¡¯re finally here.¡± As soon as Xia Lei arrived at theboratory, he was immediately brought deeper into the room by the long impatient Fan Yiming.
¡°Grandpa, what¡¯s the matter?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Fan Yiming scanned his employees in theb carefully. There was a slight twitch to his lips but the older man said nothing. He then pulled Xia Lei by the hand into another room.
Xia Lei found the entire thing suspicious. He attempted to probe. ¡°Grandpa, what is going on?¡±
¡°You call me Grandpa now and Fan Fan told me I¡¯m about to be a great grandfather soon. Is that true?¡± Fan Yiming stared intently into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei felt a little awkward under his intense stare. ¡°Yes, Grandpa. Fan Fan is pregnant.¡±
¡°So that means we¡¯re a family now, right?¡± Fan Yiming pressed on.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course, we¡¯re a family.¡± Suddenly, he finally understood why Fan Yiming had requested his presence and even ensured that their conversation was private.
As expected, the older man was beating around the bush. Fan Yiming had finally brought the conversation to the real topic. ¡°Tell me, how did you solve Alloy X¡¯s stability issue?¡±
¡°Come on, tell me,¡± urged Fan Yiming, patience long gone.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Grandpa, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t wish to tell you but it is not time.¡±
¡°Not time?¡± Fan Yiming scowled. ¡°When are you nning to tell me then? Noon? Or after office hours?¡±
Suddenly, Xia Lei caught light footsteps echoing about in the hallway.
His head quickly snapped to the direction of the door, left eye twitching slightly to activate his X-ray vision. Xia Lei quickly saw a woman who was carrying arge box that contained a lot of ssware. Her steps were careful, afraid that the heavy box might slip from her grip onto the ground.
She passed the door, never once pausing, and headed to the end of the corridor.
Xia Lei turned his head away. The spy issue had him extremely paranoid these days. Any minor sign of suspicion was enough to have him on edge.
¡°Hey, when can you tell me about it?¡± Fan Yiming was not the least bit interested in what Xia Lei was observing earlier.
Xia Lei looked at him. ¡°Grandpa, how about this? I¡¯ll tell you about it on Fan Fan and I¡¯s wedding day. How about we treat it as my betrothal gift?¡±
¡°You¡¯re just afraid there¡¯ll be an information leak, right?¡± Fan Yiming was evidently upset.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Grandpa, we¡¯re family. Why would I not trust you? It¡¯s just...¡± Fan Yiming had possessed not a faint bit of anti-spy capability, so Xia Lei had no ns on having the older man alerted about the presence of a spy lurking around in the Thunder Horse Organization.
¡°Stop calling me Grandpa. My granddaughter shall not marry you. I will not approve of this,¡± threatened Fan Yiming, studying Xia Lei¡¯s response silently.
Xia Lei just merely smiled at him. ¡°That¡¯s enough, Grandpa. I¡¯ll let you get back to work, I need to go check on the garage.¡±
¡°Hey! You better think this through! I¡¯m not letting Fan Fan marry you, for real!¡± The Fan Yiming at this moment was just like a spoilt child. This was the first time he had used his beloved granddaughter against Xia Lei.
Xia Lei paused and spared him a nce. ¡°Grandpa, how about I tell Fan Fan about what you said earlier?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Fan Yiming¡¯s expression immediately slipped into a panic. He quickly waved his hands. ¡°Ah, no, no. Uh...I was just joking around.¡±
¡°I was just joking too. It¡¯s decided then. Grandpa, on the day of the wedding, I¡¯ll give the secret to you in exchange for your granddaughter¡¯s hand,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°This better not be a lie.¡±
¡°When had I ever lied to you?¡±
¡°You tricked my granddaughter away, yet you have the audacity to feign innocence? You damned bastard, you¡¯re not genuine at all.¡± Fan Yiming grumbled angrily.
Xia Lei decided to not continue the banter and left the room.
¡°Director Xia.¡± In the material scienceb, Li Youdun greeted Xia Lei.
The man returned a nod. ¡°What have you been doing these past two days?¡±
Li Youdun answered, ¡°Now that the Alloy X is done with, all experiments have ceased. I¡¯m currently doing some preparation work for the production line. Director Xia, you wish to obtain the most advanced garage in the country which requires me to submit a n to you before the machineryes.¡±
A smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°True, nning is definitely needed. Oh right, try to refer to international examples and past studies. Our country¡¯s material science sector is, unfortunately, a little behind others. You should really give it a read and try to extract the good parts of it.¡±
¡°Got it. Director Xia, I won¡¯t let you down. I¡¯ll definitely give you a good n.¡± Pausing briefly, Li Youdun spoke, ¡°But... I don¡¯t know the exact details of the technical aspects, so the n might not be able to includeplete production.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on Li Youdun¡¯s chest, letting his left eye pierced through the cavity to peek into his heart.
The scientist¡¯s pulse rate was normal, not showing any signs of picking up.
To observe one¡¯s pulse rate as a lie detection method was something Xia Lei had learned a long time ago. Liang Siyao¡¯s words of caution the other day had influenced Xia Lei greatly. The woman was once an excellent CIA spy and it was only natural for her to know how the world of spies operated. She had reminded him to suspect everyone, including her. With him suspecting his own lover, how could Li Youdun escape the radar?
¡°Director Xia?¡± Li Youdun piped.
Xia Lei snapped out of it. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s nothing. You can continue doing what you can at the moment. I¡¯llplete the rest for you.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Li Youdun shed him a warm smile. ¡°I¡¯ll look forward to the day the secret can be revealed. Director Xia, as a fellow Chinese, I¡¯m honoured to be able to work for you and be involved in the Alloy X research.¡±
Xia Lei gave him a pat on the shoulder. ¡°Do your best. We¡¯ll change this era for sure.¡±
¡°Yeah!¡± Li Youdun¡¯s nod was ecstatic.
Xia Lei left the material scienceboratory but did not head into the garage. Instead, he left the Thunder Horse premise to venture towards the unfinished church beside the Peace Mansion.
Construction workers bustled around the site alongside unfamiliar faces. There were Caucasians, cks and some other races. Their coexistence made the ce feel diversified and international.
They were all Catholic worshippers, fanatics even. These people were summoned here from all corners of the globe by the Russo and Grey sisters. Giovanna, Rosa, Ste, and Theresa¡¯s goal was to build an armed force specifically for Xia Lei. These extremely loyal worshippers would be the base of this team.
Xia Lei studied each stranger with great attention. He thought darkly to himself, ¡°Could the spy be one of them?¡±
He couldn¡¯t deny that he was getting unbelievably paranoid all because of Liang Siyao¡¯s words. He suspected everyone he came across as the spy.
The Grey and Russo sisters noticed Xia Lei¡¯s presence and approached him.
Four female knights, two pairs of twins, blonde hair, and blue eyes along with nice tits and full behind. They were alluring and incredibly attractive. The way they strutted over was far from the impression of a religious nun or proud knights for a matter fact. All others could think of was unspeakable thoughts.
¡°Xia, it¡¯s rare to see you here. What are you doing here?¡± The curve of Giovanna¡¯s lips was beautiful, the woman was conversing in Italian.
The four female knights were still in the process of learning Chinese. However, Chinese was one of the hardestnguages to master in the world. Their level of mastery was not sufficient to hold a normal conversation.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯m here to check on the church¡¯s progress.¡±
¡°It¡¯ll take another three months toplete,¡± said Theresa.
Xia Lei turned around and studied the huge church that covered at least fifty acres ofnd, a wry smile ying on the edges of his lip. ¡°Are you building Spain¡¯s Sagrada Familia?¡±
¡°Ah, no way. It¡¯s impossible to build a church of that scale. The church here is our own Holy Thunder Church,¡± responded Ste.
¡°Holy Thunder Church?¡± This was the first time Xia Lei had ever heard of a name like that.
Ste gave him an affirmative nod. ¡°That¡¯s right, Holy Thunder Church is its name. We used your name* for the church.¡±
[Note: Thunder = Lei]
Xia Lei gasped. ¡°Is that appropriate? I¡¯m not even Catholic, to begin with. How could you name this church after me?¡±
Giovanna assured him. ¡°Religion should not be confined to believers and non-believers. We believe that you¡¯re God¡¯s chosen one and you have your mission.¡±
¡°My mission.¡± Xia Lei failed to suppress augh. ¡°What mission has God given me?¡±
Giovanna said, ¡°We don¡¯t know for now, but one day it¡¯ll ur to you and we¡¯re preparing ourselves for the destined date. We are your knights. We will protect you and heed your orders.¡±
¡°Are you the four horsemen of the apocalypse?¡± Xia Lei teased.
Theresa¡¯s lips turned into a frown. ¡°Xia, please don¡¯t joke about that. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are deities of the world¡¯s end. Their appearance would mean mankind had reached the end of their cycle and that the world is nearing its end.¡±
Xia Lei shifted his posture. ¡°Okay. Other than checking on the church, I¡¯m also here to tell you something else...¡± There was a brief pause before he continued, ¡°I¡¯ve been using your identities to open up an ount in an American financial securitiespany. So I have been dwelling into shares in the American stock market. If you¡¯re ufortable with this, I¡¯m more than happy to cancel the ounts.¡±
The four female knights shook their heads in unison.
Xia Lei tried to rify their thoughts. ¡°Are you ufortable with it?¡±
Giovanna said, ¡°You own every inch of our being. You¡¯re free to use us whenever.¡±
Those words were crazy suggestive.
It flustered Xia Lei a lot. ¡°Alright then. That¡¯s all from me. You can return to your work, I¡¯ll be heading back now.¡±
Giovanna insisted, ¡°Xia, please know that our words are genuine.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. He looked like he understood what Giovanna was trying to say but in all honesty, he did not understand her intentions at all. The minds of the opposite sex worked differently. When females spoke words like this, men would take it as a hint when it really was not. When men brushed off their words, those words would turn out to be an actual hint.
¡°Look at everyone here, they¡¯re all faithful worshippers of God. If there¡¯s anything you need help with, they¡¯ll assist you without hesitation,¡± said Rosa.
Xia Lei nodded his head again. This time, he hadpletely understood Rosa¡¯s message.
¡°I guess that¡¯s all for today.¡± Giovanna came closer and hugged Xia Lei, then she nted a kiss on each of his cheeks.
Following that, Rosa, Ste, and Theresa repeated the action. Xia Lei instinctively nced at the direction of the office block, fearing that Liang Siyao would see this in action. Hormones were wild during pregnancy and Xia Lei had no intention of getting caught up in Liang Siyao¡¯s fury of jealousy despite the seemingly intimate gesture being nothing but a Western norm.
Leaving the construction site, Xia Lei returned to the Peace Mansion. But before the man could take another few more steps, he froze. A silver Rolls-Royce Phantom was zooming over to his property from Bailu Town.
Toplicate things further, Bo Mingmei wasn¡¯t the one steering the wheel. It was Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei could feel his heart sink. ¡°What is it this time?¡±
Chapter 964 - Rift
The Rolls-Royce Phantom came to a halt beside Xia Lei. Shentu Tianyin rolled the windows down and greeted him. ¡°I was just about to visit you at your office. What are you doing out here by the road?¡±
¡°I was just checking on the progress of the church,¡± answered Xia Lei. His gazended on the empty backseat of the vehicle. ¡°What are you doing here all alone? It¡¯s dangerous for you.¡±
¡°Are you worried that I¡¯ll get kidnapped?¡± Her lips curled into a lovely curve.
Xia Lei responded, ¡°You¡¯re the richest woman in the country. It wouldn¡¯t kill you to be a little cautious.¡±
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s next words came out of nowhere. ¡°If I got kidnapped someday, would youe to rescue me?¡±
Xia Lei could only smile bitterly at that. ¡°You know I would but I wouldn¡¯t want that to happen to you. Please bring along two bodyguards the next time you head out.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll make sure to do that next time,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei was reminded of something. ¡°Why are you visiting me today?¡±
¡°Hop in and we¡¯ll talk.¡± Shentu Tianyin unlocked the doors.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but nce at the Thunder Horse office block once again.
Noticing that, a glint of resentment shed across her glossy eyes. ¡°Are you afraid that Liang Siyao might see us?¡±
Xia Lei returned her a sheepish smile. ¡°Nah, that¡¯s not it.¡± He went across the front of the car and got into the passenger seat.
Shentu Tianyin sighed. ¡°There¡¯s no way you can trick me. You¡¯re terrified of her seeing us together. We¡¯re just talking to each other, not entangling our limbs in the sheets. Plus, it¡¯s not like we hadn¡¯t slept with each other in the past.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
To hear words like that from Shentu Tianyin was rich. This was something no other man could hear for the rest of his life.
Shentu Tianyin turned the car around and drove towards Bailu town, which was also the direction to go into the city.
¡°Where are you bringing me?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin answered, ¡°I¡¯m about to head to America soon. I just want to treat you a meal before I leave. Is that alright?¡±
His seatbelts were already strapped in. It was a little toote for anything else.
Xia Lei affirmed, ¡°Of course, but I¡¯ll still like to offer you a piece of advice.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Shentu Tianyin nced over briefly.
¡°Don¡¯t go to America,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin uttered, ¡°It¡¯s major that Vientiane Group is entering the American market. This is our first step into the Western market and as the Chairman of the group, how can I not attend the officiating ceremony?¡±
Xia Lei fell silent. ¡°You should be clear about America¡¯s standing about me. They see me as an enemy and you¡¯re my...¡±
Shentu Tianyin mmed on the brakes to stare deeply into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. ¡°Come on, say it. What am I to you?¡±
Xia Lei could only smile meekly. ¡°You¡¯re my ex-wife. They might try to attack you in America and take you as a hostage to threaten me. It¡¯s not safe for you to be there.¡±
¡°Ex-wife... Do people use ex-wives to threaten their ex-husbands?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was growing meek with each word. Sadness and regret overflowing through her sentence.
¡°Tianyin, please don¡¯t misunderstand my intention. I¡¯m not afraid of threats but it¡¯s really dangerous for you to go to America. Have you forgotten all about that time you were kidnapped by the CIA?¡±
¡°How could I forget that? There¡¯s no way I could erase that memory for life? I wasn¡¯t scared at all during then, because the man who saved me was a handsome hero.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s attention returned onto Xia Lei, her eyes glimmering with hope.
¡°Please promise me that you won¡¯t go to America.¡±
¡°Why should I? I¡¯m just an ex-wife,¡± muttered Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei was rendered speechless.
Though she was no longer his wife, he would still rush to her aid if something were to happen to her. If she was kidnapped by the CIA, Xia Lei would most definitely rescue her. BUt prevention was better than cure. That way, all the fuss and danger could be prevented. Why was she so stubborn? Why did she have toplicate things further?¡±
The vehicle carriage became oddly silent.
¡°Ah-hem.¡± In the end, it was Xia Lei who broke the awkward silence. ¡°Aren¡¯t we heading out for a meal? We won¡¯t be eating anything if we go on like this.¡±
Shentu Tianyin giggled, then turned the keys to ignite the engine once again.
¡°Uh, I¡¯ll take it that you promised me. Okay?¡± Xia Lei uttered softly.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips were pulled into a tight line. ¡°I can promise you that but you need to convince me better.¡±
¡°Alright, here¡¯s what I think about it.¡± Xia Lei began, ¡°Though America ims to be the most lucrative, fair and free market on the, the statement only applies to Americans and European capitalists. Chinese capitals are excluded from all fairness and freedom. Vientiane¡¯s entry is bound to face exclusion from the local American capitalists as well as the trade barriers set up by the government. They¡¯re able toe up with any reason to investigate you and issue you an incredibly hefty penalty. They can even frame you for stealing sensitive technology or equipment and toss you into prison.¡±
¡°Is it really that bad?¡± Shentu Tianyin found it hard to believe.
Xia Lei responded, ¡°I might have exaggerated my words but you have to admit that it is the reality. They¡¯ve been known to hold something against the cks, Middle Easterners and Chinese. That is what their society is like.¡±
¡°But aren¡¯t there a lot of capitalists from our country investing in their market?¡±
¡°I understand it¡¯s difficult for you to be convinced but I do hope that you¡¯ll think this through carefully,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I will think about it, but...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°Just convincing is not sufficient, you need to offer me some benefit.¡±
¡°What kind of benefit do you want?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s temples were beginning to throb.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you after I have an idea,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
What would she want from him? Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare to guess.
Half an hourter, the two of them found themselves in Jingdu city centre. Shentu Tianyin had already booked a restaurant earlier. It was a famous Western restaurant in the city and it was opening its doors today to only two guests. Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei.
As they dined, Shentu Tianyin made no mention of the benefit she wanted. Her eyes were fully glued on Xia Lei¡¯s profile, never once letting it stray away from her line of sight.
Before the queen was a wonderful smelling Tomahawk Steak and a sleek ss of 82¡¯ Lafite. Despite that, her attention wasn¡¯t in the scrumptious steak nor was it in the fragrant wine. Today, Xia Lei was her focus.
¡°Please, just promise me to not go to America.¡± Xia Lei had not given up yet.
¡°Then offer me a benefit to make me stay.¡± Shentu Tianyin sipped on her red wine elegantly.
Xia Lei huffed helplessly. ¡°Alright then. Tell me, what do you want?¡±
¡°I want...¡± Truthfully, she had already settled on an answer long ago. But the request was difficult to utter.
At this moment, a woman entered the restaurant. Upon noticing Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei¡¯s table, she immediately began to stride over. The waiters quickly came forward in an attempt to halt her but she ignored thempletely.
Hearing the waiter¡¯s panicked voice, Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin turned their face towards the source of the sound at the same time. The sight that entered their sight had them frozen.
The woman who had entered was not a wrathful Liang Siyao but Tang Yuyan.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s brows were already furrowed before the other woman had evene close to their table. ¡°What is she doing here?¡± It was not easy to get her ex-husband for a meal together. Now that Liang Siyao hadn¡¯t chased them over, Tang Yuyan was here instead. The sudden turn of events had twisted Shentu Tianyin¡¯s heart violently.
¡°Wow, you guys sure do know how to enjoy life. You booked an entire restaurant to bask in some privacy,¡±mented Tang Yuyan with a smirk.
Xia Lei said to the nervous waiter, ¡°It¡¯s alright. We know her, you can resume back to work.¡±
The waiter nodded in response.
¡°Wait, I¡¯d like a steak with a sprinkle of truffle and a little bit of foie gras. Everythingpleted the French way, capiche?¡± orders Tang Yuyan.
¡°Understood. Please take a seat, miss.¡± The waiter left them behind.
Nonchntly, Shentu Tianyinined, ¡°Your tastes are unexpectedly specific. Truffles and foie gras are not cheap at all.¡±
Tang Yuyan tossed a nce at Xia Lei. ¡°You¡¯re paying for my meal, right?¡±
¡°You¡¯re free to eat anything you want.¡± Xia Lei let his gazend on Tang Yuyan. ¡°Speak, what are you here for?¡±
In turn, Tang Yuyan let her eyesnd on Shentu Tianyin briefly inplete silence.
Shentu Tianyin was getting irritated at her disy. ¡°Tang Yuyan, I¡¯m treating my ex-husband to lunch and I¡¯m the one who booked this entire restaurant. You can¡¯t be serious about chasing me out?¡±
Tang Yuyan was unfriendly in her reply. ¡°Shentu Tianyin, I think you should direct your anger towards Liang Siyao and Fan Fan instead of me. Oh yeah, there¡¯s Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi too. The four of them are about to be mothers. Your ex-husband is bound to be the father of four children. I have literally nothing to do with your ex-husband, so why the grudge?¡±
Shentu Tianyin was stunned, eyes turning moist with unshed tears. Her information was never as updated. If Tang Yuyan had kept silent, she would¡¯ve never learnt that Xia Lei had made Liang Siyao, Fan Fan, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi carry his children.
¡°Is that real?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice tremored.
Xia Lei nodded, confirming the news. He had nothing to hide and there was no need for that. Liang Siyao, Fan Fan, Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing were his lovers and they were all pregnant with his child. There were no differences and favouritism among them, he was willing to admit to it to anyone and anywhere.
¡°We... I¡¯ll see you some other day, I¡¯m full now.¡± Shentu Tianyin left her seat and rushed to the exit.
Xia Lei said nothing. He watched her leave silently before turning to meet Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze. ¡°Is that what you¡¯re here for?¡±
Tang Yuyan retorted, ¡°Do I look like I¡¯ve got time for that? I¡¯m here to talk about the spy issue with you.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve heard about it already?¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be weird if the head of Bureau 101 would learn of thister than you. How long are you nning to keep it hidden from my knowledge?¡± questioned Tang Yuyan sharply.
Though she had not mentioned the source of her information, Xia Lei knew it was most definitely Long Bing who reported her finding to the bureau. The appearance of a spy in the Thunder Horse Organization had involved national interest. She wouldn¡¯t even think of keeping it a secret in the first ce.
¡°What are you nning to do about that?¡± Tang Yuyan asked again.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯m still thinking of a n. I¡¯ll tell you when I have a concrete idea.¡±
Tang Yuyan frowned deeply. ¡°You¡¯ve started your operation but refuse to tell me about it. Isn¡¯t that so?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not lying to you. It¡¯s up to you to trust me or not.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t trust you at all.¡±
¡°Then there¡¯s nothing I can do about it.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Since you knew about the spy issue, you must know that Long Bing is in grave danger in Japan, right? What are you nning to do about that?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t send more agents to Japan. This operation was meant to be hushed. If we let the Japanese learn about this, our diplomatic rtionship would be threatened. It¡¯s not up to my decision to send more agents as support or not,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sighed pitifully. The Tang Yuyan before him felt so foreign.
¡°Long Bing is Bureau 101¡¯s best agent. She can look after herself well. The more pressing concern now is the Thunder Horse spy issue. I¡¯ll be looking into this case myself. Before I came over, I¡¯ve already looked through all employees tied to yourpany. They all came up clean with nothing to report. I need to find them within this week,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°That¡¯s your own business, you deal with it yourself. Also, I must remind you to keep your investigations out of the Thunder Horse Organization. Doing that will only draw attention and send the spy into hiding.¡± Xia Lei pushed the chair back and stood up. ¡°You can continue on with your meal, I¡¯m full. Goodbye.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan was taken aback.
The man headed for the exit, never once turning back.
Chapter 965 - Decisive Kill
Xia Lei did not see Shentu Tianyin¡¯s Rolls-Royce Phantom when he left the restaurant. He phoned her but it always rang into voicemail. The man was worried that she would act against his advice and storm off to America in anger but now that the woman was not answering his calls at all, there was no point for him to prolong his worry.
His heart was troubled. Xia Lei was just living his best life and settling down with his family, had he wronged them? Shentu Tianyin and Tang Yuyan were acting as if he hadmitted a great crime.
Sometimes, love was difficult. It was as difficult to love and to not love.
Returning to the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei caught sight of Fan Fan and Liang Siyao talking at the front of his study. Noticing his presence, his two pregnant lovers immediately fell silent and turned to stare at him. Their expressions looked rather feline.
Xia Lei mustered out a wry smile. ¡°Uh, about that... I¡¯ll be honest. I went to have a meal with Shentu Tianyin. Vientiane Group is about to enter the American market and she is headed to America soon. I advised her against going there herself. But Tang Yuyan had arrived at the restaurant after that to talk about the issue. We talked for a while but it was an unpleasant experience, so I left.¡±
For a happy husband and wife rtionship, both parties would have to do their part to upkeep it. However, in Xia Lei¡¯s case, it was a matter of multiple parties. As the man, he needed to be more proactive.
To no one¡¯s surprise, his ¡®honesty¡¯ immediately melted away his lovers¡¯ intention of dealing him serious consequences.
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at him. ¡°We didn¡¯t ask you about that. You and Shentu Tianyin were once married. It¡¯s only natural for you to care about her. You¡¯re our man, are we not clear about what kind of a person you are? You¡¯re a loyal person and you care about everyone close to you, it¡¯s not weird for you to meet her.¡±
That brought out Xia Lei¡¯s smile. ¡°Siyao, you¡¯re the best.¡±
Liang Siyao was starting to be more generous, and it was a genuinely good thing.
¡°What about me?¡± asked Fan Fan.
Xia Lei walked over and ced a warm palm over the surface of his lover¡¯s shoulders. ¡°You¡¯re the best too. My wives are the best.¡±
It earned a pretty smile from both of them.
Xia Lei mentioned, ¡°Oh right. I just remembered that I ate nothing earlier. My stomach is empty, is there anything to eat today?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go make you some noodles, you can go talk to Sister Fan Fan for a bit. She¡¯s also here to talk about the spy issue,¡± said Liang Siyao as she went to the kitchen.
There were in-house chefs working in the Peace Mansion but Liang Siyao loved cooking for Xia Lei.
Fan Fan hooked her arms over Xia Lei¡¯s elbow and brought him into the living room. After settling him down onto the couch, she unceremoniously plopped herself on top of his thigh.
The man allowed himself to enjoy the soft fleshy sensation pressing against his leg. He teased, ¡°Darling, you¡¯re nning to talk about serious matters like this?¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s presence here definitely meant that she came with orders from the higher-ups. There was no need to second guess that.
Fan Fan retorted, ¡°Do you not like it? I can talk about work and check if you have cheated on us four.¡± Whispering words in a lowly seductive tone, her plump breasts closed in on his chest. There was a smile on her face when she said, ¡°The little doggy knows to appease and ask for a meal from his female owners. All conditions are normal, you have not cheated on us.¡±
Xia Lei was at a loss for words.
¡°Alright then, let¡¯s talk about serious matters.¡± Fan Fan adjusted her tone and put on a straight face. ¡°The higher-ups had received reports from Bureau 101, so they sent me here specifically to find out more about the situation.¡±
¡°What do they wish to know?¡±
¡°Plenty. They¡¯d like to know everything about it. Who are your suspects and where it might be and so on? If you know anything, please do tell,¡± answered Fan Fan.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯ve got no suspects for now. Tang Yuyan mentioned that she had checked through everyone¡¯s information but found no one worthy of suspicion.¡±
Fan Fan furrowed her brows. ¡°If that spy can go unnoticed by Tang Yuyan, they must be very good at their job.¡±
Xia Lei agreed. ¡°Yeah. He must¡¯ve been lurking beside me for a very long time. I¡¯ve noticed nothing all this while and this must mean that I¡¯m met with a master. Just tell the authority everything I said word for word but emphasize them to not worry about this. I can solve this issue myself.¡±
Fan Fan nodded. ¡°You need to be careful, okay? The spy might...¡±
Xia Lei interjected, ¡°Honestly, I just wish he could attack me right now. The sooner he attacks me, the faster I¡¯ll find him. But I¡¯m more worried about you and Siyao. Bring some bodyguards with you when you¡¯re out. If bodyguards are not an option, I can assign the four knights to protect you.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I can call a bodyguard up if I ever need them. Don¡¯t worry about me, focus your energy on protecting Siyao. She¡¯s working in the office too, the spy might be lurking around her,¡± said Fan Fan.
At this moment, Liang Siyao finally appeared in the living room with a bowl of hot noodles. ¡°Hubby, are you going to eat your noodles or Sister Fan Fan?¡±
¡°Noodles, of course,¡± said Xia Lei. An obvious hint for Fan Fan to get down from his thigh.
Despite that, Fan Fan had extended an arm over to hold the bowl of noodles up. She grinned, ¡°Since you¡¯re such a good boy today, allow me to feed you this.¡±
Liang Siyao chimed in, ¡°You¡¯re going to spoil him at this rate. What if he bugs you to feed him his meals next time?¡±
Fan Fan giggled. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to spoil him. I¡¯m just making him feel indebted so he¡¯d feed us next time.¡±
¡°Ah, then that¡¯s no problem.¡± Liang Siyaoughed.
What kind of double standard was this?
Everything felt hot. The noodles were hot and so was the warmth of Fan Fan¡¯s bosoms.
Xia Lei and Liang Siyao returned to thepany after sending Fan Fan off.
Entering his office, there was a brief moment of hesitation before Xia Lei brought out his satellite phone. He dialled Long Bing¡¯s number.
Japan, Tokyo.
¡°I¡¯m doing alright, there¡¯s no need to worry.¡± That was the first thing Long Bing said through the phone.
¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯re well. Where are you now?¡± Hearing her voiceforted his heart.
¡°I¡¯m in Tokyo, currently in a safe house in a vige.¡± Long Bing pulled away the Japanese paper windows to peek through a narrow gap. In her line of vision was a Kendo Dojo, where a group of inked yakuza members were practising their skills.
¡°Don¡¯t lie to me, I can hear hitting noises.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice rang through. ¡°Is it a Dojo?¡±
Long Bing heaved an audible sigh. ¡°It¡¯s a Kendo Dojo owned by a very small yakuza group. Kyoko had rescued their leader and they¡¯ve agreed to let us stay here for a few days. There really isn¡¯t anything for you to worry. This ce is Kyoko¡¯s turf, she can handle this.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Every member of the Zodiac Team holds power in their own turf. That I know better than you. But you need to know that the one you¡¯re going against are the Japanese Intelligence Department and the Special Forces. Let¡¯s not forget about the CIA. Your identity has been exposed, it¡¯s time toe home. Don¡¯t risk it further.¡±
¡°But my team was captured by HyperTech. I cannot leave them behind and escape. This mission is very important to the country. I must fulfil it. Quit convincing me. This is myst mission assigned by Bureau 101 and I do not wish to see my career end with a failure.¡± Long Bing¡¯s tone was stern.
¡°Ah Bing, listen to me...¡±
¡°That¡¯s all, I¡¯m ending the call. Don¡¯t call me again, this would only increase my risks.¡± And with that, Long Bing hung up without any reservation.
Meanwhile, the yakuza members were finally done with their training in the Dojo.
One of them stared into the direction of Long Bing¡¯s room. ¡°That woman is a stowaway from China. The leader has allowed her to stay here for a few days. I¡¯ve met her, she¡¯s pretty hot.¡±
Another said, ¡°Smuggling herself into Japan? She¡¯s probably a prostitute.¡±
¡°Hahaha! I bet that too. How about we go give her some business today?¡± Another yakuza member chortled.
The few of them had reached an agreement and began to head towards Long Bing¡¯s room.
Long Bing quickly closed the window, scowling violently at the approaching group. ¡°What are they trying to do?¡±
Her Japanese was awful, barely sufficient to converse with someone else. It was unfortunate that the trantor for this mission was captured too. She didn¡¯t know what Tsukino Kyoko had fabricated about their situation to the leader. Due to the secrecy of being a spy, Long Bing was now ced in a difficult position. When Xia Lei had asked her to return earlier, Long Bing had to admit that she was tempted to ept the offer.
Since this was what she had signed up for, she would not allow herself to desert her battle!
As Long Bing entertained herself with her woes, the wooden sliding door was opened with a loud thud. A few half-naked yakuza men dressed in shorts barged into her room.
Instinctively, Long Bing took a few cautious steps back. In staggering Japanese, she questioned the lot. ¡°What are you...¡± She had intended to ask what they were doing here but she did not have the vocabry to finish her own sentence.
¡°Chinesedy,e y with me.¡± One of them grinned lewdly at her.
Another began to sway his hips suggestively and cackled. ¡°We¡¯ll all join in, I promise you¡¯ll feel really good.¡±
Though she could notprehend their words, Long Bing could get a gist of their intentions through their bodynguage. Immediately, her eyes shifted into something cold.
¡°I¡¯ll help you strip!¡± A man extended an arm to reach for her proud-standing breasts.
In a swift motion, Long Bing caught his wrists and had her other arm pushed against his chest. The next time her palms had stopped, there was already a cold military dagger against the yakuza¡¯s bare chest.
Fear was bullshit. If she needed to kill, she would kill!
Before anyone could understand the situation, one of theirrades was murdered, leaving behind a group of stunned yakuza.
Long Bing drew her dagger out and lunged forward, shing it harshly against the vile men!
Danger finally sunk into the mind of the surviving members, urging them to run for their lives.
Another cold metallic sheen zoomed through the air to embed itselffortably in the back of the frontmost escapee.
Before the unfortunate skull couldnd onto the ground, there was another cold sheen and a few more of them slumped unceremoniously onto the ground. Fresh, warm blood began seeping out from their bodies. The wooden floors were dyed maroon in no time.
ck! Returning the katana de into its sheath, Tsukino Kyoko bowed respectfully to Long Bing. ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry, Madam Long. I was running a littlete.¡±
Long Bing cleaned her dagger on one of the bodies. ¡°No need to apologize. Tell me, what did you find out?¡±
¡°The ones who attacked us earlier and captured your team was acting under Hattori Mei¡¯s instructions. She holds a very high position in Hyper Technology,¡± reported Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Where are they holding my people at?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was about to answer before she caught her own tongue.
¡°Tell me!¡±
Despite that, Tsukino Kyoko only shook her head. ¡°I have no instructions to disclose this to you. I need the boss¡¯s instructions for that. We must leave this ce, their bodies will only bring the police here.¡±
¡°Got it, let¡¯s leave.¡± Long Bing did not press on. As they walked, the woman asked, ¡°Is there any news from the FA?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko answered, ¡°For the time being, no. But I believe that the FA must be in Tokyo. Sa¡¯im¡¯s intelligence resources are plenty useful in America and the Middle East. Sadly he¡¯s a little slow in Tokyo. We need to give him more time.¡±
Long Bing could only let out a long sigh in her heart. The urge to go home was resurfaced once again, but she just couldn¡¯t allow herself to give in to thefort. This was herst mission, did she really want to see it fail?
Chapter 966 - A Fathers Call
There was a lot on Xia Lei¡¯s te regarding the spy and Long Bing¡¯s safety. Despite that, the man had made the point to clear his head at about ten in the night to enter his second battle on time. Truthfully, no matter how busy he was for the past few days, Xia Lei would always enter his study at ten sharp. He needed to be in tip-top condition for the American stock market.
Previously, he had created his own advantage and had gulped up Chlore¡¯s stock to the brim of his holding capacity. The Centennial Fund hadter released bearish news and even coborated with media outlets to expose thepany¡¯s vition scandal. The Chlore Company had resorted to extreme measures to suppress their share values. However, this had all amounted to a great chance for Xia Lei to earn more. The American stock market had offered him much flexibility. He could buy more or he could sell them off. As Centennial Funds had tried their hardest to lower their shares, Xia Lei went to join the ranks of sellers.
Switching between buying and selling, his four ounts had no longer just contained one hundred and forty million USD. It had now risen to an astounding sum of three hundred million USD in just a few days. Much to his glee, the American stock market had no limiting system. Any ount holding more than twenty-five thousand USD was allowed to trade to their heart¡¯s content. This was also why his profits had doubled in the course of thest few days.
Albeit so, Xia Lei had decided to change his strategy tonight.
¡°Hello, Miss Isabelle. It¡¯s me, your friend.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was friendly through the web call.
¡°Ah, my friend. Hello.¡± Isabelle¡¯s voice rang through the speakers of theptop. From the tone of her voice, it was clear that she was smiling. ¡°I¡¯ve received your gifts well. Thank you so much. It allowed me to move into my dream house.¡±
Xia Lei replied calmly, ¡°But I¡¯m afraid one hundred thousand dors isn¡¯t enough money for you to purchase a good house, right? I believe it¡¯s only enough for a down payment.¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. But there¡¯s no need to worry, friend. I¡¯ll work harder.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°How would you like to pay off your entire loan and throw in some renovations after that? I¡¯m sure this task might even leave with enough to buy some electrical appliances of your choice.¡±
Isabelle fell silent. ¡°My friend, speak. What is it that you wish for me to do? And... How much are you going to pay me this time?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°You¡¯ve already made your loyalty and capability known to me. So you¡¯re definitely in for a treat this time. I¡¯ll send you an email. You¡¯re free to open the text contents and video contents. Your sole task is to make sure that the content you put out is impactful.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not a problem, I¡¯ve got a lot of friends working in social mediapanies and content generating outlets. I can provide you with the impact you need,¡± replied Isabelle confidently.
¡°Very well then, this time I¡¯ll pay you one million dors. You¡¯ll receive a deposit of half a million.¡±
¡°Wow! Oh my god! You¡¯re too generous!¡±
¡°Use your pay to buy some of Chlore¡¯s stock while you¡¯re at it. You¡¯ll be sure to thank me.¡± And with that, Xia Lei ended the call.
A few momentster, he sent out an email as promised. Its contents were details concerning that ¡®Jay Garrick¡¯ project he had stolen from Chlore¡¯s database and surveince footage in Centennial Fund. As soon as the information was published, Chlore¡¯s stock would experience an insane rise in the market. But tonight, Xia Lei would still have to channel in three hundred million USD into his ount and take Chlore by surprise.
Three hundred million USD would be six hundred million, and six hundred million would eventually be twelve hundred million! His money would snowball into an amount beyond imagination!
However, he was not foolish enough to try his luck repeatedly with Chlore¡¯s stock. After this, Xia Lei would abandon it and move on to other prey.
Centennial Fund had been malicious, eager to short sale themselves to drive away retail investors and smaller investors from their holding. Those investors couldn¡¯t help but sell off their shares. This was exactly what Xia Lei was aiming for. With the lower prices, he¡¯d eat it up bit by bit. His three hundred million USD had only managed to boost the value by a mere two per cent. Despite that, his cost was below the two per cent amount. Simply put, even though his consumption had seemed massive, it was only a small increase.
After transacting three hundred million dors, Xia Lei made another call.
This time, it was for Honick.
When the call made it through, Honick¡¯s voice rang through theptop¡¯s speaker. ¡°Hello, who¡¯s this?¡±
Xia Lei murmured gently, ¡°Uncle Xia, Sleeping, Uncle Xia Sleeps Butt Naked, Uncle Xia is a bad guy.¡±
Immediately, all voices died down on Honick¡¯s side.
This was the keywords Zhu Xuanyue had imnted into Honick¡¯s subconscious when she had attempted deep hypnotism on the unfortunate Caucasian man. As soon as these keywords were uttered, Honick would be a puppet and pliant to execute any instructions without objection.
Though Zhu Xuanyue was the one who had hypnotized Honick, the woman was missing. Thankfully, Xia Lei was able to deliver the same effect through this peculiar choice of keywords to order the man around.
¡°Cough three times,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
¡°Cough, cough, cough.¡± Honick¡¯s cough was heard. It was exactly three times.
Confirming that Honick was in a trance, Xia Lei began toy out hismands. ¡°Go take a holiday in Greece for a month.¡±
¡°Understood,¡± said Honick monotonously.
¡°If anyone wishes to investigate Giovanna, Ste, Theresa and Rosa¡¯s ount, you must do your hardest to keep them away.¡±
¡°Understood.¡± Another soulless reply from Honick.
Vague instructions were still useful in Honick¡¯s case.
Xia Lei had a purpose behind using Honick this time. Chlore¡¯s stock had a burst of weirdly good and bad news recently. There were clear traces of suspicions of maniption. This phenomenon would soon attract the attention of the United States Securities Regtory Commission and an investigation was bound to beunched. This was also why Xia Lei had decided to abandon his Chlore holdings after this. Even if Chlore¡¯s shares had the obvious potential of value increment, Xia Lei had decided to not touch it again.
But of course, this was just the very beginning of his maniptions. It was illegal, which had made it necessary for Xia Lei to execute appropriate preventive measures. When his snowball rolls into something gigantic, his funds would be scattered around every corner of the American stock market. When that timees, he would no longer have to worry about the watchful eyes of the United States Securities Regtory Commission. With Soros as an example of utilizing his American capital to attack the stock markets of Hong Kong, Thand and Japan, the governments in question were unable to do anything despite being aware of the situation. There was nothing the government could do because everything was done legally. They were making money under the market rules. To shut the market down was the only way around this!
Finishing his task for the day, Xia Lei left the study. It was already two in the morning.
¡°What is that bastard doing now? Is the spy nning their next course of action? Are they watching me now?¡± Leaving the room, Xia Lei¡¯s mind returned itself to fret over the spy issue. The sudden spark of insecurity immediately made him observe his surroundings carefully. Sadly, the man had found nothing.
Taking another few steps, he made an abrupt turn and went into another direction.
¡°Siyao reminded me to suspect everyone and she¡¯s got a point. With the spy being able to hide this well and extract important information, they can¡¯t be just any regr employee,¡± thought Xia Lei to himself.
Now, he was headed to the room of his future brother inw, Liu Zhengnan.
Standing before Liu Zhengnan¡¯s room, a wave of hesitation gripped his heart. Xia Lei had a probable answer in his heart. When he had left America and instructed Liu Zhengnan to be his imposter, the CIA had not been able to grasp Liu Zhengnan¡¯s traces. This fact alone was enough to diminish all suspicion. Another source of his hesitation was Xia Lei¡¯s trust towards his sister. He believed that his sister had good taste. If Liu Zhengnan was a person with malicious intent, she would¡¯ve known.
He paused in front of the door briefly and then left. It was alright to suspect Liu Zhengnan but if Xia Lei had barged into his room to investigate him, the distrust would be made clear. Doing that would hurt Liu Zhengnan¡¯s heart. After all, the man was Xia Xue¡¯s fiance. Liu Zhengnan would be part of his family. Xia Lei just couldn¡¯t do something so selfish. Xia Lei was her brother.
¡°This spy is capable of hiding well. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll go into hiding again after this period of time. I can¡¯t let this go on like this. I need a way to lure them out...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart pondered hard. Unknowingly, he had made it to the front of Liang Siyao¡¯s room. The man peeked through the wooden door and saw that his lover was sound asleep, which immediately waved away his thoughts of somete-night intimacy. He couldn¡¯t bear to disrupt her slumber.
Doot... Doot... Doot...
As Xia Lei turned to leave, his satellite phone rang.
He quickly pulled it out and gazed at the screen. It was an unfamiliar number. There was a brief moment of hesitation before he epted the call. ¡°Hello?¡±
¡°Listen closely.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s body froze. This voice was all too familiar. His father, Xia Changhe, was on the other side of the call!
¡°America hasunched a new material research project. It¡¯s the same as yours.¡±
Xia Lei could feel his heart sink with shock. ¡°How is that possible?¡±
¡°The project is confidential but it¡¯s an exact copy of yours. I don¡¯t have much information to spare but I believe that the Americans have gotten their hands on your sample and form.¡±
¡°Where is the project site at?¡±
¡°Now, I know what you¡¯re thinking but I won¡¯t allow you to do anything drastic.¡± Xia Changhe continued, ¡°Because the site is located in the East of America- Brandenburg, North Carolina. Do you know what that ce is? It¡¯s where the headquarters of the Delta Special Forces is at.¡±
The Delta Special Forces were the most elite and mysterious military force in the world. It was an existence that no other special forces couldpete with. Since its establishment, the Delta Special Forces had many glorious battle achievements in the reconstruction of Operation Hope, Operation Free Iraq and so on. Their battle performances had be the textbook standard for special forces training in many countries.
For America to proceed with their new material research in the Delta Special Forces headquarters was a clear indication of its strong caution.
¡°Father... Y...you¡¯re in America?¡± Xia Lei asked meekly.
¡°It¡¯s only temporary.¡± Xia Changhe¡¯s voice rang again. ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about me, I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯m more worried about you. There¡¯s a powerful spy lurking around you. You need to capture them as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Will do. When are youing back?¡±
Xia Changhe fell silent, Xia Lei could only hear his breathing. ¡°I... haven¡¯t considered that yet.¡±
¡°My wedding with Fan Fan will be happening during the Lunar New Year. I really hope that you can attend it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll really like to attend but my presence will only bring about big trouble. How about we save this talk forter? Even if I don¡¯t make it back, I hope you can understand me and not be disappointed about it,¡± relented Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I understand. I understand where you¡¯reing from and I¡¯m sure Fan Fan will too.¡±
¡°You seem to have four wives. Are you only nning to throw a wedding for Fan Fan? What about the other three?¡±
Xia Lei could only huff a burst of dryughter. ¡°I will handle that. There¡¯s no need to worry about that.¡±
¡°Alright then, that is all.¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Lei halted his father. ¡°Tell me. What on earth are you searching for?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll know someday. But that day is not today.¡± Finishing his sentence, Xia Changhe hung up.
The soreness in Xia Lei¡¯s heart made his drawl a long sigh.
At this moment, the door to Liang Siyao¡¯s room was pushed open. Liang Siyao, in her full pyjama glory, stared at Xia Lei silently as sheid against the door frame.
Xia Lei kept his satellite phone away and approached her. ¡°Why are you up?¡±
¡°I noticed your presence when you came. Who was on the phone?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei said nothing but pulled her plush into his embrace. ¡°Let¡¯s talk under the nkets. You¡¯ll get a cold with your thin pyjamas.¡±
Liang Siyao extended a teasing finger to jab at Xia Lei¡¯s waist. ¡°You¡¯ll just strip everything off even if I was wearingyers, right?¡±
Xia Lei found no words to retort.
And so, the room door was clicked shut.
Chapter 967 - The Secretary with An Affair
There was an unexpected snowfall at dawn, letting the pristine white snow cover everything in silence. The weather had dyed the arrival of light, making the early hours of the morning look like night. This was the kind of weather to snuggle up into your warmest nkets and sleep in.
Xia Xue exited Liu Zhengnan¡¯s room. Without even pausing to stretch her spine, she had rushed towards Liang Siyao¡¯s door. However, before she could wrap her cold fingers around the metal door knob, Liang Siyao¡¯s voice came from inside the room.
¡°Ah, you need to be gentle. What if you hurt the child?¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m doing my best? I¡¯m literally not exerting any strength.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s deeper voice followed after.
¡°Jeez, it feels rough. I¡¯m going to feel so sore after this. I still can feel it at your gentlest. My body feels so abnormally sensitive.¡±
¡°Should we stop for a moment?¡±
¡°No, no. I can feel the baby moving. Ah, there it is again...¡±
Xia Xue could feel her cheeks heat up as her mind manifested a filthy assumption. The voices travelling from inside the room made her think of something unspeakable. The woman turned around to leave all while grumbling hushedly, ¡°Jeez, how shameless! Doing the deed so early in the morning. My brother is such a horny bastard. Sister Siyao is already pregnant and yet he¡¯s still eager to getid. What if he hurts his own child?¡±
At this moment, Xia Lei called out to her from behind. ¡°What are you doing out here? Come on in.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Xue halted her footsteps and turned to stare at the still shut door. There was only shock stered obviously across her dainty face.
¡°Hey, stop making assumptions. I was just massaging your sister inw.¡±
Xia Xue had nothing to say.
So she made her way into Liang Siyao¡¯s room, finally realizing that her brother was telling the truth. Her brother really was only massaging his lover and the spot was Liang Siyao¡¯s slightly protruding baby bump. No wonder Liang Siyao was uttering such weird things just now.
¡°Sister Siyao,¡± greeted Xia Xue meekly.
Liang Siyao shed her aforting smile. ¡°Come sit down, Xiao Xue. What are you doing here so early in the morning? Are you here for me or your brother?¡±
Xia Xue answered, ¡°I¡¯m here for my brother.¡± Then, she turned to look at Xia Lei but said nothing else.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Your Sister Siyao is part of our family, she¡¯s not a stranger.¡±
Xia Xue smiled defeatedly. ¡°Alright then. You gave me the permission so I¡¯ll just dive into the main topic.¡±
¡°Go on,¡± urged Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s going to be Lunar New Year soon. When is the exact date of your wedding with Fan Fan and where would the venue be?¡± Xia Xue spoke fast, eyes studying Liang Siyao¡¯s response through the corner of her view.
Ah, so that was it. It would¡¯ve been awkward to discuss Xia Lei and Fan Fan¡¯s wedding in front of Liang Siyao. Xia Xue was just trying to be tactful because the younger woman wasn¡¯t eager to hurt Liang Siyao.
Liang Siyao finally understood Xia Xue¡¯s initial reluctance. She smiled at her. ¡°Xiao Xue, there¡¯s no need to worry about my feelings. I¡¯m fine with it. I¡¯m even going to be her bridesmaid during the ceremony.¡±
Xia Xue could only gape.
Xia Lei interjected, ¡°Xiao Xue, do you wish to handle the ceremony arrangements?¡±
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why I¡¯m here to discuss this,¡± answered the younger woman.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll let you handle it. Let¡¯s set the date on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.¡±
¡°Why that specific date?¡±
¡°Because I¡¯m going to marry four wives on that day,¡± replied Xia Lei shamelessly.
Xia Xue found herself at a loss of words once again.
Though speechless, Xia Xue couldn¡¯t help but be impressed by her brother¡¯s ability to manage such a messy private life. The fact that his lovers have gotten along well was a miracle. There were not many men that could get on the same level as her brother. Despite that, she had made up a decision in the dark. Liu Zhengnan must not be left alone with her brother for long in the fear of him getting polluted by Xia Lei!
Liang Siyao punched Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You sound like you¡¯re enjoying all of this, huh? I¡¯m so not going to marry you.¡±
Xia Lei, on the other hand, dismissed her half-heartedment. He continued, ¡°Xiao Xue, you¡¯re free to decide who to invite for the ceremony.¡±
¡°Alright then. Now that you¡¯ve settled on a date, I¡¯ll help take care of the other things. I¡¯m estimating five hundred tables for your banquet. I¡¯ll make sure to make it as grand as possible. You and your wives shall not be disappointed,¡± dered Xia Xue with a smile.
¡°Work is work but you need to be careful,¡± reminded Xia Lei solemnly.
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll watch out.¡± This wasn¡¯t the first time Xia Xue was met with a simr situation.
¡°Hey, can you leave already? I¡¯d like to talk to Xiao Xue.¡± Liang Siyao nudged Xia Lei¡¯s side, attempting to kick him out of the room.
Xia Lei retorted, ¡°I did not bring our discussion out of the room so why are you kicking me out?¡±
¡°It¡¯s women¡¯s talk, men are not weed here. Get out.¡± Liang Siyao pushed him out of the door and clicked it shut.
To be fairly honest, it would¡¯ve been a piece of cake for Xia Lei to spy on their pillow talk. All he needed to do was activate his X-ray vision and use his lip-reading ability to get the job done. But he had integrity. To spy on a conversation between his wife and sister was such a lowly thing to do.
After breakfast, Xia Lei clocked into work.
The piece of information he had received from his father yesterday was crucial, albeit it being iplete. But Xia Lei had his own interpretation, which was that the forms and production technical information implemented in America¡¯s new material project was severelycking. Until now, the urate andplete information regarding the new material was all stored in Xia Lei¡¯s brain. The man had not mentioned it to anybody so far. Therefore, unless the Americans had the ability to steal it from his subconsciousness, they would only have iplete forms.
This deduction had pushed him into another direction. The spy had stolen some samples and earlier formtion recipes from Li Youdun¡¯s new materialboratory. The Americans had managed to master the silver metal¡¯s carbon element arrangements and that was a gigantic loss on Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s part.
Xia Lei made a beeline for the new materialboratory. A few footsteps shy of theboratory entrance, he came across Qing Caiyue, who had just exited theb.
¡°Good morning, Director Xia.¡± Qing Caiyue¡¯s little smile was sweet as ever, retaining the same honey-like loveliness in her feminine voice.
Xia Lei replied nonchntly, ¡°Why are you here so early in the morning?¡±
¡°Well, it¡¯s because I¡¯m hardworking.¡± Qing Caiyue grinned and handed a stack of documents into Xia Lei¡¯s hands. ¡°These are reports Mister Li Youdun had requested me to deliver to you. He mentioned that it was very important.¡±
Xia Lei did not move a finger to understand its content. Instead, he looked at her straight, ¡°Why can¡¯t he bring it over to me directly?¡±
Qing Caiyue answered, ¡°This I¡¯m not really sure, perhaps he¡¯s just really busy. I recall him talking about working on a mastern to build the material workspace.¡±
¡°He told you all of this?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was still as calm as ever.
Qing Caiyue giggled. ¡°Director Xia, please don¡¯t misunderstand our dynamics. He doesn¡¯t fit my taste in men. We¡¯re just regr friends.¡±
Xia Lei dismissed her. ¡°Okay, you can leave now. I¡¯ll go check on him now. Wait, please make me some tea and ce it on my desk.¡±
¡°Alright, Director Xia.¡± And there she went.
Xia Lei watched her leave, letting his left eye twitch to peel apart Qing Caiyue¡¯s office attire. The man needed to check if there was any spying bug imnted on Qing Caiyue. He was in search of something akin to a hearing device or a pinhole camera.
But as his X-ray vision prated through theyers of fabric on her back, his search was proven to be futile. There was nothing of that sort on her.
Before he could even pull his attention away from her retreating back, his eyes caught onto something.
¡°Huh? It¡¯s so early in the morning, what the hell is going on?¡± An idea immediately clicked in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. Abruptly, he pulled out a signature pen and tossed it in front of him, having it aimed tond on the grass plots right beside Qing Caiyue.
Qing Caiyue hadn¡¯t noticed that her boss had done something so meaningless but she did hear him scream for her attention.
¡°Caiyue! My pen dropped, can you please pick it up for me?¡± Not waiting for Qing Caiyue to whip her head around, Xia Lei continued, ¡°It¡¯s just on your left. Yeah, on the grass.¡±
Qing Caiyue looked into that direction and bent over to pick up his pen.
As she lowered her torso, Xia Lei spied on her perky bottom. Qing Caiyue¡¯s posture was stimting to watch, but it also made one fact clear to Xia Lei. His secretary had just gottenid with someone earlier.
Qing Caiyue strutted over to pass the pen back into Xia Lei¡¯s extended palm. ¡°Here you go, Director Xia.¡±
¡°Thank you,¡± Xia Lei said with a charming smile.
¡°Is there anything else I can do for you, Director Xia?¡± asked Qing Caiyue.
¡°Nope, you¡¯re free to go.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Qing Caiyue nodded and proceeded to leave.
Today, the woman had kept her hands to herself. Qing Caiyue had not made a move to disturb her superior. If it wasn¡¯t for his earlier finding, Xia Lei would¡¯vepletely overlooked that detail.
¡°I wonder who she gotid with?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t suppress his curiosity, but the man was quick to give up. ¡°She¡¯s an adult and she has needs. She had attempted to seduce me one too many times but couldn¡¯t get anything from me. I can¡¯t possibly expect her to be deprived of her needs forever, right? Since Siyao had returned, she had literally zero chance of seducing me. It¡¯s only natural for her to get a boyfriend. Right... I wonder who her boyfriend is?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was filled with unimportant thoughts.
Finally entering the materialboratory, Xia Lei came to stand in front of Li Youdun¡¯s office. Once again, he activated his X-ray vision and scanned the insides of the office carefully.
Li Youdun was seen chipping away at a document at hisputer desk, which happened on the new material workspace for Thunder Horse Organization. The man seemed extremely focused on his work.
Xia Lei studied hisboratory again, finding nothing suspicious. Eventually, the man ended his prying and pushed the office door open.
The intrusion attracted Li Youdun¡¯s attention, to which the scientist quickly fumbled to stand from his seat. ¡°Ah, Director Xia. Good morning, please pardon the mess in my office... Here, please take a seat. I¡¯ll go get you some tea.¡±
Xia Lei quickly reassured the man. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I¡¯m just here to check on the progress of your mastern.¡±
¡°I¡¯m just at the beginning, I¡¯m only halfway done with the introduction.¡± Li Youdun shifted, a little sheepish in his own office. ¡°I worked overtime yesterday night and only managed toplete the experiment report fromst time.¡± He noticed the stack of papers in Xia Lei¡¯s grip. ¡°Oh, isn¡¯t that my report? I see that Secretary Qing has delivered it to you.¡±
¡°Yeah, I met her outside just now.¡± Xia Lei admitted, ¡°But I didn¡¯t have the time to flip it through. I¡¯ll make sure to read it when I¡¯m back in my office.¡±
Li Youdun nervously rubbed his palms. ¡°Director Xia, I should¡¯ve delivered it to you personally but...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted his sentence, ¡°It¡¯s alright, you¡¯re busy. You¡¯re free to request Secretary Qing to bring documents to me. How about this? I¡¯ll leave you to do your work. Pleasee meet me in the multipurpose room for a meeting tomorrow.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be there on time,¡± affirmed Li Youdun.
Xia Lei reached over to pat the scientist¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll be looking forward to your good work. If everything goes well, you and I will leave a footprint in history.¡±
Li Youdun returned him a heavy nod. ¡°I will not disappoint you, Director Xia.¡±
Xia Lei smiled and left Li Youdun¡¯s office.
As soon as he was out of sight, he opened his clenched palm. In the middle of his hand was a strand of pubic hair.
It took no time for his mind to be supplemented with inappropriate imagery.
These two fes sure do know how to y.
Chapter 968 - No Choice
Tokyo, Japan.
Two women walked before the open-air television at Ginza za. When they walked past, their gazes turned to the televisions at the same time.
On therge screen was a Kendo Dojo with corpses lying haphazardly on the ground. Although the images were blurred, it was still a gory scene.
The news reporter suspected that it was a revenge murder casemitted by the mafia but no one would know that the person who started all of this was currently watching the news here.
These two girls were Tsukino Kyoko and Long Bing, both wearing a human skin mask.
¡°The yakuza?¡± Tsukino Kyoko smirked coldly. ¡°I wonder if they¡¯d even suspect the Yamaguchi n.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go, Sa¡¯im¡¯s arriving soon,¡± said Long Bing.
Tsukino Kyoko nodded then walked towards the street next to the square. This was where she and Sa¡¯im agreed to meet.
At this moment, a woman suddenly appeared on the television screen.
¡°This is an emergency news report.¡± A female news reporter in formal wear appeared on the screen with a solemn expression. ¡°ording to the police, this woman is a spy from China. She has stolen a techpany¡¯s AI technology and is currently on the run. If anyone sees this woman, please report to the police...¡±
She was now a wanted criminal on TV!
Long Bing¡¯s eyebrows furrowed.
Tsukino Kyoko grabbed her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s not watch this. Let¡¯s go.¡±
¡°How could the Japanese media do this?¡± said Long Bing coldly.
Tsukino Kyoko smiled. ¡°Your man had stolen the tech ages ago. The Hattori family isn¡¯tpletely wrong in putting the me on you either. Don¡¯t you Chinese talk about how the husband owes and the wife pays?¡±
¡°You¡¯re talking about ¡®the father owes and the son pays¡¯.¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t matter wife or son, it¡¯s the same,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°My point is, you should consider returning to China. Although you have a mask, experienced lookers will soon catch on. It¡¯s very unsafe for you to be in Japan now. Think about it.¡±
¡°Why are you always advising me to go back?¡± said Long Bing coldly. ¡°Is it because you¡¯re Japanese?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko shrugged. ¡°I know you¡¯re unhappy and worried. But let me tell you this. Although I¡¯m Japanese, I am not nationalistic. My father gave me my life, and all that I have now was given by your man. I will always stand on your side. That is why I am here. I don¡¯t care about your mission. My first concern is your safety, do you understand?¡±
Long Bing fell silent. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll consider returning to China but I need time.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded. She wasn¡¯t angry and she was familiar with the women around Xia Lei. Long Bing was the one she liked most.
When they came to the street, a motorbike approached slowly. The rider was a muscr man, though his face was covered by the helmet. However, just from his physique, the two women recognised him. He was Sa¡¯im.
¡°Get on!¡± came Sa¡¯im¡¯s voice from beneath the helmet. He did not take it off.
Long Bing did not move. She did not want to touch anyone in this world other than Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko seemed to understand. She got on the bike and turned to Long Bing. ¡°You can sit behind me.¡±
Long Bing finally got on, secretly thankful for Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s action but did not express it.
Sa¡¯im turned around and grinned. ¡°Kyoko, grab my waist.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko said tly, ¡°I have a dagger on my belt. Scoot forward or it might end up in your ass.¡±
Sa¡¯im fell silent.
He liked Tsukino Kyoko but she felt nothing towards him. She was always a thousand miles from his grasp.
He scooted forward, his ass almost on the gas tank. He knew her well. She was a person of her word. He did not want a dagger in his ass. When they were both seated, he revved the engine and rode down the street.
One hourter, all three left the Tokyo city area to arrive at a vige at the foot of Mount Fuji. This vige wasn¡¯t very far from Oshino Hakkai, just over ten minutes¡¯ ride. It was a memorable ce to Long Bing because she had spent time with Xia Lei here. It was in this ce that she became his woman.
Under Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s lead, Long Bing and Sa¡¯im entered an ancient building. It was a Kendo Dojo with a two-hundred-year-long history. It was a new safe haven that Tsukino Kyoko prepared for Long Bing.
Within the courtyard covered in snow, a thin, old Japanese man was practising Kendo. His movements were very slow but seemed very powerful. Although Long Bing wasn¡¯t familiar with Japanese Kendo, she could tell that he wasn¡¯t as simple as he looked. He reminded her of Xia Lei and his teacher, Liang Zhengchun, also simr to Tang Yuyan¡¯s grandfather, Tang Yunhai.
¡°This is my teacher, Yuichi Yagyu,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°He owed his life to my father so he repaid this debt by teaching me. He taught me ninjitsu and how to kill. He¡¯s very good.¡±
¡°So Xia Lei¡¯s father is really...¡± Long Bing had an odd feeling but couldn¡¯t put a finger on it.
¡°What do you want to say?¡± Tsukino Kyoko looked at Long Bing as if she guessed what Long Bing was thinking.
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°Nothing.¡± She changed the subject. ¡°Your teacher¡¯s fine with this?¡±
¡°He is, don¡¯t worry about it. You just need to make your decision as soon as possible. This ce isn¡¯t as safe as you think. The longer you stay, the closer danger gets,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Long Bing said, ¡°I¡¯ll think about it, you don¡¯t have to keep...¡±
Ring, ring...
The phone rang, interrupting Long Bing. It was the satellite phone she used tomunicate with her colleagues at Bureau 101.
¡°My people are calling me.¡± Long Bing was very surprised when she looked at the phone.
¡°Don¡¯t answer it,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Long Bing did not pick it up. Even without Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s reminder, she knew that the Japanese might use her colleague¡¯s phone to track her location. It was amon tactic used in Bureau 101.
Ring, ring...
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to pick up?¡± Yuichi Yagyu stopped his practice. ¡°Or are you just going to let it ring?¡±
To her surprise, he was fluent in Mandarin.
Long Bing was stunned for a moment, then decided to decline the call. It was a satellite phone meant for Bureau 101 special force agents. Its anti-tracking properties were as good as the Chinese Zodiac¡¯s satellite phones. As long as she didn¡¯t pick up, the Japanese intelligence would not be able to track her location.
¡°Kyoko,e train with me,¡± said Yuichi Yagyu, tossing a katana at her.
Tsukino Kyoko caught its handle and turned to Long Bing. ¡°Head inside and rest, I¡¯lle look for youter.¡± Then, she strode into the yard and fought Yuichi Yagyu intensely.
des glinted and the sound of weapons hitting each other rang constantly.
Long Bing¡¯s mind was a mess.
Ring, ring...
The satellite phone rang once again.
The urgent rings were agonising. She suspected the Japanese intelligence for luring her colleagues into a trap. She could not take the call. However, she also suspected her colleague had escaped the control of the Japanese and was calling her for help. If she did not pick up and her colleague died because of this, she would regret it for life.
Should she pick up?
Long Bing was torn, unable to make a decision.
However, just as she hesitated, the ringing stopped.
¡®The Japanese intelligence lost their patience this quickly? This is not normal...¡¯ thought Long Bing.
Beep beep!
A row of text entered her inbox. ¡°Leader, we¡¯ve escaped. We are now hiding in Oshino Hakkai. We need your help, please meet us immediately.¡±
What happened?
Long Bing was already unable to determine the situation. ¡°Oshino Hakkai? Why is it Oshino Hakkai again?¡±
Long Bing and Xia Lei had undergone a bloody fight there. It was during that battle when she thought she had killed Gu Kewen but Dark Mona of the FA group had escaped too. Now her colleagues had escaped to that ce? Was this a coincidence or a set-up by the Japanese intelligence?
Knock knock! Someone knocked on the door.
Long Bing cleared her mind. ¡°Come in.¡±
The Japanese-style wooden door slid open. The person who walked in wasn¡¯t Tsukino Kyoko but Sa¡¯im.
¡°What is it?¡± asked Long Bing. She was still quite foreign to the members of the Zodiac team and she did not like being in a room with a strange man.
Sa¡¯im sat down, cross-legged. ¡°Madam Long, you should talk to me.¡±
Long Bing frowned. ¡°About what?¡±
Sa¡¯im said, ¡°About the missed calls you chose not to pick up. Were they from your people?¡±
¡°You saw it?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t forget what my job is,¡± said Sa¡¯im.
Long Bing said, ¡°Yes, they were from my subordinates. Two calls but I didn¡¯t pick up. I received a message saying they¡¯ve escaped and are at Oshino Hakkai. They want me to meet them.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a trap.¡±
Long Bing fell silent. She had also sensed danger but she couldn¡¯t ignore the life and death of her people.
¡°Let me deal with this, I¡¯ll find out the truth.¡± Sa¡¯im got up.
Long Bing looked at him, not speaking.
He smiled bitterly. ¡°You¡¯re just like a block of ice. Uh, ignore what I said. I just want to say, we¡¯re on Boss¡¯ side. You canpletely trust us. But you must decide if you want to conserve Boss¡¯ military power or protect the people of Bureau 101. But no matter what you do, we will support you.¡±
She stared as he left, though she did not speak.
Chapter 969 - Laying The Trap
On the afternoon of the next day, the higher executives of Thunder Horse Organization all arrived at the conference room within the headquarters. The meeting was set to be at 2:30 pm but it was already 2:40 pm and Xia Lei hadn¡¯t shown up.
In the beginning, the conference room was quiet but when Xia Lei failed to show, they started to talk.
¡°Director Xia was the one who invited us here for a meeting. It¡¯s past 2:30, why hasn¡¯t he showed up? Unless there¡¯s some emergency?¡± said Huang Xuewen, the AI expert, to Li Youdun next to him.
Li Youdun replied, ¡°I¡¯m not sure, something must¡¯vee up.¡±
¡°Brother Li, do you think Director Xia called all of us for a meeting because the workshop for the new material is ready?¡± asked Huang Xuewen.
¡°Probably. It¡¯s the most pressing matter right now.¡±
¡°Sigh, this is ridiculous. Director Xia should let us catch our breath and give us some time to prepare.¡±
¡°Hehe, don¡¯t worry about it. Director Xia is a genius. He probably already has a n. We just need to follow his instructions,¡± said Li Youdun with a grin.
As everyone conversed, Liu Zhengnan, on the other hand, was very quiet. He was on his phone in his chair. There was a diamond ring on his screen. This diamond was huge and shiny, obviously quite expensive.
He must be choosing a wedding ring for Xia Xue.
Based on Xia Xue¡¯s current status and position, it was only normal for her to receive the most expensive jewellery. He just couldn¡¯t afford that.
At this moment, Qing Caiyue entered the room and ced the projectors on the table. She turned them on and the images of twodies were projected. One was Guan Lingshan from the Haizhu base, another was Zhou Xiaohong from the Shu Di base. Bothdies were veterans here at Thunder Horse. They were the ones who started thepany with Xia Lei.
It was obvious that Guan Lingshan and Zhou Xiaohong had both received the notification too. They couldn¡¯t rush to Jingdu on time so they could only participate online.
Guan Lingshan was sitting very straight, her expression solemn as she waited to enter the conference. Zhou Xiaohong was checking a document. A middle-ageddy, her secretary, was whispering by her ear to remind her of something.
¡°That must be Zhou Xiaohong, the one in charge of the Shu Di base?¡±
¡®Yep, I heard she was just a middle schooler. Xia Lei had taken her in a while back. If he didn¡¯t, she would probably amount to nothing more than a kitchen porter,¡± whispered someone.
¡°Yeah, this is fate,¡± sighed someone.
¡°Fate? I think...¡± Someone wanted to say something but did not continue.
No one whispered about Guan Lingshan though, because she was a university graduate and held a high position in the Thunder Horse Organization. Zhou Xiaohong was a middle schooler, yet she was already head of the base. Many people who had more suitable qualifications were not happy about that fact. While they did not dare raise this to Xia Lei, when he wasn¡¯t here, discussions like that emerged.
The world wasn¡¯t fair. All sorts of prejudice existed. Race, nationality, academic background, industry were all grounds for discrimination.
When Qing Caiyue finished setting up the two projectors, she sat next to Liu Zhengnan. Her gaze fell on him scrolling through diamond rings and smiled, ¡°Woah, Zhengnan, are you buying a ring for Xia Xue?¡±
Liu Zhengnan kept his phone frantically and gave a faint smile.
She nudged him with her shoulder. ¡°What, are you going to propose at Director Xia¡¯s wedding?¡±
Liu Zhengnan nodded awkwardly. ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t know if she¡¯ll say yes.¡±
¡°You¡¯re handsome and so nice, you¡¯ll definitely seed,¡± said Qing Caiyue. She then lowered her voice, ¡°What if I help you when the momentes? You¡¯ll definitely seed.¡±
¡°Thank you for your kindness,¡± said Liu Zhengnan politely.
Two German architects walked in. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Anina and Sylvia added another dose of eye candy in the room. Qing Caiyue was no longer the main attraction.
They both sat at the end of the long conference table, speaking in German.
¡°Lukas must be announcing theunch of the workshop for the new material right?¡± said Anina.
Sylvia said, ¡°I think so too. It¡¯s the best aerospace material in the world. I get so excited just thinking about it. After mass production of the material, we must keep some to make an imprable ZTZ100 battle tank.
¡°Of course, he¡¯ll definitely give us some.¡±
¡°He doesn¡¯t visit us anymore.¡± Sylvia looked disappointed but did not talk about it.
¡°Shhh, his wife¡¯s here, don¡¯t let her hear you,¡± whispered Anina.
Sylvia looked at the entrance and saw Liang Siyao. Sylvia shut her mouth because she knew how capable this woman was. Lian Siyao was a former high-level intelligence agent at the CIA, and Sylvia did not dare take this woman¡¯s man.
When Liang Siyao entered, the room fell quiet.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Director Xia left due to an emergency. I will be hosting his meeting.¡± With an abrupt turn in the topic, she said, ¡°I believe you all know the topic of this meeting. You¡¯re right, this meeting will be about the workshop.
¡°CEO Liang, when shall we begin manufacturing?¡± said Huang Xuewen.
Liang Siyao replied, ¡°Very soon. This n must begin before the Spring Festival. The higher-ups are in a hurry. They will provide money, people and machines wherever needed. They are willing to give huge support like never before and are just waiting for us to set a n.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great,¡± said Li Youdun with a smile. ¡°In that case, we can mass-produce Alloy X soonest by next year¡¯s summer. At that point, I believe our drone will be born then.¡±
¡°Yes, Director Xia and I discussedst night. He actually has already designed the drone for the Thunder Horse Organization. He will name the drone the Wasp.¡±
When the word ¡®Wasp¡¯ fell, there was an eruption of discussion.
¡°Can¡¯t believe Director Xia had already designed the drone. That¡¯s great! With new materials and a new drone, our Thunder Horse Organization would very quickly take over regions initially held by Lockheed Martin. We¡¯ll be able to fight them!¡± Huang Xuewen was especially emotional, his voice shook as he spoke.
¡°Are you sure?¡± said someone else. ¡°Isn¡¯t this too soon?¡±
¡°Do you really want to question it? With Director Xia¡¯s speed and capabilities, nothing is ¡®too soon¡¯. I don¡¯t think that was too fast at all, everything is very normal,¡± said someone.
¡°That¡¯s right! Director Xia didn¡¯t take too long designing our tank either. Plus designing a tank is much more difficult than creating a drone,¡± said someone.
There was a flurry of discussion.
Qing Caiyue had her head lowered, taking notes seriously.
Amidst the heated discussions within the conference room, Xia Lei was watching through the security cameras. He carefully observed every person. Liu Zhengnan, Qing Caiyue, Huang Xuewen, Li Youdun...
This was his objective of arranging this meeting. He wanted to use his eyes and his bait to lure the mole out.
The drone Liang Siyao talked about, that he designed for Thunder Horse Organization, wasn¡¯t real either. He named this non-existent drone ¡®Wasp¡¯ because he wanted to sting the spy very badly!
¡°All the people who knew about the project on new materials and this project are all here. Would the spy be here too? Who stole the recipe and samples of Alloy X and gave it to the Americans? Who sold Long Bing¡¯s Japanese mission out?¡± As he observed everyone in the meeting room, he repeatedly thought about these questions.
Within the meeting room, Liang Siyao raised a hand again and smiled. ¡°I know you are all very emotional, I am too. However, emotions are not what we need now. Look at this. This is the blueprint of Director Xia¡¯s drone and the true recipe of Alloy X with its production methods. Director Xia has alreadypleted the most important sections. The next step is for all of us to work hard.¡±
Liang Siyao held up the two folders she brought. Both folders had very clear markings. One was written ¡®Alloy X¡¯ and the other was ¡®Wasp¡¯. However, she did not open them, just showed the folders and put them down.
¡°CEO Liang, can I take a look at it?¡± said Huang Xuewen hurriedly.
Liang Siyao looked at Huang Xuewen. ¡°You¡¯re in the AI tech field, drones and materials aren¡¯t in your expertise.¡±
¡°Can I look at it?¡± said a material scientist from the materialsb.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Director Xia will make the final decision. I brought his secret documents here only to show you all that this matter has reached a critical moment. We must work together to shoulder this workload so Thunder Horse¡¯s workshop for the new material can be built as soon as possible.¡±
There was a flurry of discussion again.
After a few moments, Liang Siyao spoke up. ¡°After so many discussions, I think it¡¯s time for you all to share your opinions. Secretary Qing, please record the sharing.¡±
¡°Alright, CEO Liang.¡± Qing Caiyue opened her notebook, entering a minutes-taker state.
Liang Siyao looked at Li Youdun. ¡°Youdun, you¡¯re one of the participants in the making of Alloy X, as well as the person in charge of the new material. You have the most right to speak.¡±
After a thought, Li Youdun said, ¡°CEO Liang, I am currently writing a proposal for Director Xia and have only written the introduction. I don¡¯t know Alloy X¡¯s recipe and its manufacturing procedures. Me and Elder Fan have made samples but they were unsessful. I deeply admire Director Xia for solving the problem. While I¡¯m very curious how he did it, I¡¯m not in a hurry because I know he will announce the recipe and production methods at the right time.¡±
Liang Siyao said, ¡°That¡¯s not a suggestion.¡±
Li Youdun smiled awkwardly. ¡°CEO Liang, I believe Director Xia has already nned everything. He just wants to observe our determination. I have this resolution and I am willing to dedicate my life to Thunder Horse¡¯s production of this new material! I believe many here are like me, we Thunder Horse people aren¡¯t afraid of hardships. We are confident enough to appease Director Xia and are worthy of his trust!¡±
Qing Caiyue pped softly.
This was a trigger. In a moment, there was apuse in the room.
In the other room, Xia Lei¡¯s eyebrows were slightly furrowed. It wasn¡¯t because he had found something suspicious, or any clues but because everyone looked very normal. He couldn¡¯t find the spy!
Xia Lei picked up his walkie-talkie and said in a low voice, ¡°Siyao, adjourn the meeting. It¡¯s meaningless to continue with it. We¡¯ll just have to wait for them to take the baitter.¡±
In the meeting room, Liang Siyao said, ¡°That will be it for today, the meeting has adjourned.¡±
Chapter 970 - The Walls Have Eyes
After she left the multipurpose conference room, Liang Siyao entered Xia Lei¡¯s office. She ced the two confidential documents for ¡®Alloy X¡¯ and ¡®Wasp¡¯ on his office desk.
Qing Caiyue entered and handed over her notebook. ¡°CEO Liang, these are my notes.¡±
Liang Siyao tossed the meeting minutes on the table. ¡°There really wasn¡¯t anything worth recording.¡±
¡°I thought so too, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t take many notes,¡± said Qing Caiyue.¡±
Ring, ring...
Liang Siyao¡¯s phone rang suddenly. She picked up. ¡°Hello... Director Xia? Mmhmm... You want me toe over? Alright, I¡¯ll be there.¡± As she spoke, she walked out of the room.
¡°Was that Director Xia?¡± asked Qing Caiyue.
¡°Yep, that was him.¡± Liang Siyao didn¡¯t stop walking. She had already exited the door when she finished her sentence.
Qing Caiyue was the only one left in the office.
Once she left, Liang Siyao whispered, ¡°I¡¯ve left, it¡¯s all on the table. Watch it closely.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice came from the phone. ¡°I¡¯m watching.¡±
In the other room, Xia Lei was watching the screen of hisptop. The screen showed Qing Caiyue staring at the confidential documentsbelled ¡®Alloy X¡¯ and ¡®Wasp¡¯ on the table. She was only two steps away.
¡®Take it, take it,¡¯ thought Xia Lei silently.
Qing Caiyue walked over to the desk in two steps and stretched her hand out.
¡®Is it really you?¡¯ wondered Xia Lei. Images of their first meeting, the work she did in Paris and the scene of him almost sleeping with her surfaced in his mind.
There were two documents and one set of meeting minutes on the table. Qing Caiyue¡¯s hand slowly moved.
¡°Pick up the phone, princess. Pick up the phone, princess...¡±
Her phone rang. This quirky ringtone was suited for a girl like Qing Caiyue.
She retracted her hand and epted the call. ¡°Mm...mm.¡±
She didn¡¯t say anything, merely grunted twice and hung up. Then, she picked up her notes and turned to leave.
She didn¡¯t touch the two documents at all!
Xia Lei was baffled. He thought she was about to touch the documents, maybe use her phone to take pictures of them but she didn¡¯t. She only took a look and left.
The door opened as Liang Siyao walked in, asking hurriedly, ¡°Is it her? Is it her?¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly, then turned theptop around to show her the screen.
There was no one in the office now, yet the documents were still on the table.
¡°You mean it¡¯s not her?¡± asked Liang Siyao, surprised.
¡°There are no security cameras in my office and Qing Caiyue knows this. You weren¡¯t there either. If she were the spy, could she really ignore the lure of Alloy X? Plus the secrets of the drone. If she wanted to steal the confidential data, she merely had to take pictures with her phone.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s brows were furrowed. Then, she suddenly took out her phone and made a call.
She was calling Qing Caiyue.
¡°Hello? Secretary Qing, I was in a hurry just now and forgot about the two confidential documents I left on Director Xia¡¯s desk. Help me keep them... Where? Put them in the drawer under his desk,¡± said Siyao.
Xia Lei asked, ¡°Why bother asking her to store them?¡±
Liang Siyao said, ¡°I want to test her again. Plus, it¡¯s a very logical and normal thing for me to ask her to keep them. By giving her this instruction, she will think I trust her.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. Liang Siyao used to be a high-level intelligence officer at the CIA, her capabilities were undeniable. He believed that she was right in doing this.
On the screen, Qing Caiyue had entered the office again.
She walked directly to the desk, then picked up the documents. She did not open them and ced it in the drawer before locking it. Then, she left.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Not her.¡±
Liang Siyao thought for a moment. ¡°Based on my observations, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s her. However, I was also observing other people at the meeting, but...¡±
¡°But you did not find anything suspicious,¡± said Xia Lei with a bitter smile. ¡°I was observing too. I observed everyone, especially their expressions when the documents were revealed. It¡¯s too bad I did not find anything suspicious either.¡±
¡°The spy really is a master at this, we must¡¯ve underestimated them.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s eyebrows were tightly furrowed.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Siyao, you used to work at the CIA and held a high position, you...¡±
Liang Siyao hit him. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to bring up my past, why did you have to mention myst job? That¡¯s not allowed either.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to catch the guy too?¡±
Liang Siyao sat in hisp. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking about, I¡¯ll tell you.¡± After a pause, she said, ¡°The CIA is a giant organisation with tens of thousands of employees around the world. Although I¡¯ve worked at the CIA, it¡¯s forbidden for us to look up employee records.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Tens of thousands of employees, you can¡¯t possibly know them all.¡±
¡°Also, the CIA has its own assassins. These were directly controlled by the highest-ranked officials to assassinate national enemies and disrupt enemy nations¡¯ political systems. They are the true elites of the CIA. Have you seen the movie?¡±
¡°Are you talking about The Bourne Identity?¡±
¡°Yeah, that one. In the movie, Jason was based on a CIA assassin. They are not deployed for regr people, only for huge missions. This time, if we cannot catch the spy, they will probably be a ssic case studyter within the CIA.¡±
Xia Lei smirked. ¡°I won¡¯t let it happen, the spy cannot escape me.¡±
¡°You have another idea?¡± Liang Siyao stared at him intently.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s a secret for the moment.¡±
¡°Hmph! Can¡¯t believe you¡¯re keeping secrets from me. No way, tell me now or I¡¯ll tell your son.¡± Liang Siyao twisted her hips like a child.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll tell you. Give me your ear.¡±
Liang Siyao leaned over.
Xia Lei came to her ear and mumbled something. She smiled and nodded. When she thought he was done, he stuck his tongue out.
¡±Aargh, you...¡± She blushed heavily from his actions.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°So you¡¯re the only one who¡¯s allowed to y dirty?¡±
Sa¡¯im returned with a lot of photos.
Some were taken from the hotel¡¯s surveince system, some were taken from a pinhole camera while others were taken by the drone in the air. These pictures showed the entire situation at Oshino Hakkai.
There weren¡¯t pictures of anyone from the Bureau 101 but there were people who obviously were from the Japanese special forces. Some of them were disguised as tourists, some as the owner of a bathhouse or service staff, others as local farmers. The entire area had essentially be a battleground.
As long as Long Bing appeared in Oshino Hakkai, it would be a battlefield!
¡°Madam Long, I think you now understand that the call for help was a trap waiting for you to jump in,¡± said Sa¡¯im. ¡°I risked my life taking these pictures. I believe there are FA group members lying low within Oshino Hakkai. If all of us went with you, not one of us would survive.¡±
¡°Madam Long, it¡¯s time to make a decision.¡± Tsukino Kyoko appeared at the door. ¡°Even if you don¡¯t want to think about yourself, think about the boss. Even if you don¡¯t want to think about yourself or the boss, thinking about the child in your womb. Are you going to rob that child of its chance of life?¡±
Long Bing instinctively looked at her small belly. Although it was still t, she could feel the little life form within.
¡°Madam Long, is it worth destroying everything just for a mission you couldn¡¯tplete?¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Sa¡¯im said, ¡°I even suspect someone assigned you this mission on purpose. Knowing of the FA group¡¯s n B, the Thunder Horse Organization has also made a Anti-Aerospace defence plus a set of S400 anti-aircraft missiles. What¡¯s the use if the FA group seeds in hijacking the ne this time?¡±
Long Bing heaved a long sigh. ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡±
Thest mission of her career as a special force agent ended in a failure.
Chapter 971 - Extinguishing An Old Flame
¡°I¡¯ming back,¡± came Long Bing¡¯s voice from the satellite phone. ¡°I¡¯ve given up...¡±
Her voice filled with fatigue and disappointment.
¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good.¡± Xia Lei could finally rx. ¡°Come home. Leave the rest to me.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Long Bing grunted in reply.
¡°Don¡¯t forget, you¡¯re not alone. You have me. No matter what, we will be together.¡±
¡°Mm.¡±
¡°Be careful on the way back.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± There was a pause. ¡°You be careful too. Have you caught the spy yet?¡±
¡°Not yet, we¡¯ll catch the spy together when you¡¯re back,¡± he said.
¡°Mm, I¡¯m hanging up.¡± Long Bing hung up.
She had always been a woman of few words but it was enough for Xia Lei.
He proceeded to keep his phone.
Liang Siyao and Fan Fan leaned over, asking at the same time, ¡°Ah Bing¡¯sing back?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yes, she¡¯s given up on her mission. She¡¯sing back.¡±
Fan Fan said, ¡°That¡¯s great, Ruyi¡¯sing back soon too. Then our family will all be together again.¡±
Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°You must be thinking of having us as your bridesmaids, right?¡±
¡°What bridesmaids?¡± Fan Fan held Liang Siyao¡¯s hands. ¡°I¡¯m just having the ceremony first. We¡¯ll have three ceremonies for each of you.¡±
Liang Siyao was stunned. She looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Is that true?¡±
Xia Lei pulled her into his arms. ¡°Of course, where do you want our wedding to be?¡±
Liang Siyao buried her face into his chest, emotion and joy welling up within her. ¡°I...I¡¯ll let you know when I¡¯ve decided.¡±
Every woman wanted to have their own wedding. However, there were times where it was just not possible. Her situation with Xia Lei was a special one and she did not expect to have a wedding ceremony with him. However, how could she still not want one?
¡°I think I owe you all an apology,¡± said Xia Lei. He felt guilty.
¡°Don¡¯t say that. You don¡¯t owe anyone an apology.¡± Liang Siyao shushed him gently. ¡°This is quite nice. Other people¡¯s families aren¡¯t as bustling as ours.¡±
¡°Yeah, our family¡¯s the noisiest, the most peaceful and the happiest,¡± said Fan Fan with a smile.
All three of them hugged.
¡°Don¡¯t you think this is too corny?¡± A woman¡¯s voice came.
Tang Yuyan had arrived at that moment.
Tang Yuyan was d in a ck tuxedo, standing at the doorway looking solemn. After bing the head of the Bureau 101, her clothing style had changed.
People changed. Change was the only constant thing in the world.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s words were like a stick hitting on the lovebirds, who separated instantly.
¡°Yuyan.¡± Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have knocked?¡±
¡°You didn¡¯t even close the door, what do you mean knock?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Fan Fan said, ¡°Tang Yuyan, what are you doing here?¡±
¡°I¡¯m looking for Xia Lei,¡± said Tang Yuyan. She was cautious with Fan Fan here, not daring to do anything brash.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Yuyan, what are you looking for Xia Lei for?¡±
Tang Yuyan furrowed her brows. ¡°I don¡¯t think I need your clearance to talk to Xia Lei, do I?
She had no reservations about Liang Siyao, raging at her whenever she pleased. She did not care about Liang Siyao¡¯s feelings.
¡°You...¡± Liang Siyao was irritated and didn¡¯t know what to say. However, that was just on the surface. She was actually very happy. Liang Siyao was as good at mind games as the Tang family¡¯s princess.
As expected, Xia Lei said, ¡°Siyao, don¡¯t be angry. It¡¯s bad for the baby.¡±
He shouldn¡¯t have spoken, for Liang Siyao suddenly gagged and covered her mouth as if she was about to puke.
He quickly patted her back and said caringly, ¡°Are you alright? Do you want me to bring you home for some rest?¡±
Liang Siyao continued to feign ¡®morning sickness¡¯.
Xia Lei continued to pat her back.
¡°That¡¯s enough of acting, Liang Siyao. Can you stop it?¡± Tang Yuyan was smirking condescendingly.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Tang Yuyan, you should go.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart sank into despair.
Xia Lei dumped another bucket when he said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter what you wanted to talk to me about. I¡¯m not avable today. Let¡¯s make another appointment to meet.¡±
Tang Yuyan looked at Liang Siyao, who was leaning into his arms, then looked at Xia Lei. She welled up instantly. She was the one whose feelings were hurt, why didn¡¯t Xia Leifort her? He scolded her instead offorting her!
Liang Siyao nced sideways slightly from within his arms, then winked at Tang Yuyan.
It was a challenge.
Tang Yuyan wanted badly to beat her up but she finally swallowed her anger. With a deep breath, she said, ¡°Siyao, I¡¯m sorry, I was wrong. I am here to talk to Xia Lei about the spy. It¡¯s very important.¡±
When had the Tang family¡¯s princess lowered her head for anyone?
This was probably a first.
Liang Siyao then came out of Xia Lei¡¯s arms. ¡°Hubby, just talk to her. Sister Fan Fan, let¡¯s go knit in the house.¡±
¡°Mm, I¡¯m stillcking a sleeve for my baby¡¯s sweater. I¡¯m not good at knitting, you¡¯ve got to teach me.¡± Fan Fan walked out with Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei was speechless. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk. Have a seat.¡±
Tang Yuyan did not move as tears flowed out of her eyes, and down her cheeks.
Xia Lei was terrified of crying women. He said worriedly, ¡°Why are you crying? Alright, I¡¯ll apologise to you too. I... I was too harsh.¡±
¡°You know she was acting to provoke me!¡± whined Tang Yuyan.
He wrung his hands. ¡°She bears my child, I need to help her.¡±
Tang Yuyan did not speak.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk business. Today, I¡¯ve tried baiting the spy but to no avail. Siyao said that the spy could be an elite from the CIA. Catching the spy won¡¯t be easy, it¡¯s best if you don¡¯t take action yet. This person is very cunning. They might run the moment you do something, maybe even take extreme action to escape.¡±
¡°I heard you¡¯re marrying Fan Fan this Spring Festival?¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Both of them were supposed to talk business but she was still most concerned about his private life.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Yuyan, I¡¯m sorry but it¡¯ll be impossible between us. You know I¡¯m going to get married soon, and...¡±
¡°And it¡¯s a group marriage, right?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think much of it. As long as everyone¡¯s happy. I don¡¯t care what other people think.¡±
¡°Then I...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips quivered. ¡°Congrattions.¡±
He nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡±
¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk about serious matters.¡± Tang Yuyan said, ¡°The authorities only gave me one week. I don¡¯t have much time. If you can¡¯t catch the spy within two days, I will have to take action. Everyone other than you here will be liable for background checks.¡±
¡°Two days? Are you joking?¡± He frowned. ¡°Yuyan, I¡¯ve made it clear that I was unsessful. I have to think of another idea. How are two days going to be enough?¡±
¡°I won¡¯t interfere with that, but I can only give you two days. After that, I will take over this case and everyone within the Thunder Horse Group at Jingdu headquarters will have their freedoms limited. They cannot leave the country.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s tone was determined.
¡°So you¡¯d rather identally ruin one thousand innocents¡¯ lives than let one spy go?¡±
¡°You can put it that way. This rtes to a country¡¯s military situation. I¡¯m sure you understand its capabilities.¡±
Xia Lei fell silent. ¡°Yuyan, you¡¯ve changed so much since you became head of the Bureau 101.¡±
¡°You¡¯re wrong. If I have changed, then it was because of the day you left me for Fan Fan.¡± As she spoke, she suddenly lost herposure. ¡°You¡¯re a liar!¡±
He didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°One more thing,¡± she said. ¡°Long Bing called to apply for termination of her mission. I did not approve of it.¡±
His face darkened. ¡°Why?¡±
¡°The FA organisation isunching attacks simr to the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. It is the most dangerous threat our country has ever faced. As a warrior of the nation, she should not retreat on the battlefield.¡±
He suddenly raged. ¡°She¡¯s your friend!¡±
¡°I have to put my personal feelings aside for the good of the country.¡±
¡°You knew she was pregnant, yet you still let her take such a dangerous mission!¡± Xia Lei roared. ¡°What the hell do you want?¡±
¡°I¡¯m just thinking about the good of the country, you should put your personal matters aside too!¡± Tang Yuyan did not back down.
She seemed to have changed into a different person. A stranger.
Xia Leiughed sarcastically. ¡°The good of the country? Hehe, are you really going to make me say it? You and Boss Shi shunned Long Bing so that you could seed him. Shepleted it and hence stayed. You then sent her on such a dangerous job to Japan. Are you really that worried that she¡¯ll rece you? Let me tell you this, she¡¯sing back to resign from Bureau 101 this time! She will not interfere with your position as the head of the bureau!¡±
Tang Yuyan was stunned. She did not know this.
¡°Is this what you really want? Or what your father or grandfather wants? The Tang family¡¯s more important than the country, right?¡± Xia Lei said coldly. ¡°Ah Bing¡¯s people have already been caught by Japanese intelligence. How will sheplete the mission alone now? And you, you aren¡¯t even sending reinforcements! Tang Yuyan! Do you really want her to die this badly?¡±
¡°I...¡±
¡°You should go. I don¡¯t want to see you again.¡± Xia Lei heaved a long sigh. ¡°Also, it doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t approve. If Ah Bing can¡¯te back, I¡¯ll go to Japan to help her. I¡¯d like to see how you can stop me.¡±
Before she could speak, Xia Lei turned and left.
Within the room, Tang Yuyan stood quietly for a while.
Tears were streaming down her face and did not stop.
Chapter 972 - A Group of Actors
On the second morning, Xia Lei received a message from Tang Yuyan. I have already approved of her return and her resignation. You have two more days to find the spy.
Xia Lei showed Long Bing and Fan Fan her message.
¡°She suddenly gained a conscience?¡± said Fan Fan.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Nope. She probably just approved because she now knows that Ah Bing wants to resign and will not threaten her throne.¡±
Long Bing¡¯s contribution far exceeded Tang Yuyan. She was the one who arrested Yu Shanhe, who was a major criminal. More importantly, she was Xia Lei¡¯s woman. Although Xia Lei had no official title in China, he was the pride of the nation. His reputation was astounding in the country. If she wanted to rece Tang Yuyan, it would be a piece of cake. This threatened the Tang family.
¡°Do you think the Tang family leaked information about Ah Bing working on a Japanese mission?¡± said Fan Fan.
Liang Siyao stared intently at him, waiting for an answer. She already had an answer for herself.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°Probably not. That is considered treason. Even if the Tang family are ruthless people, they would not risk it. You can speak of it here but don¡¯t mention it outside of our home.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too kind. You trust so easily,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Thew forbids murder, yet there are so many murderers out there, no? Thew also forbids corruption, yet bribery still happens, right?¡± said Liang Siyao.
Her words made sense. He just didn¡¯t want to believe it.
¡°Fan Fan, get your grandfather toe to the office,¡± said Xia Lei, changing the topic.
¡°Alright, but why do you want him toe?¡± Fan Fan seemed awkward. ¡°Are you talking to him about the wedding? He won¡¯t ept your dowry.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not about the wedding,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I am going to trick him.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Fan Fan was stunned...
When he arrived at the office, Xia Lei got busy, typing out a document at his desk.
Qing Caiyue walked in. ¡°Director Xia, why isn¡¯t CEO Liang here today?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°She¡¯s out picking wedding dresses with Fan Fan.¡±
She walked over to him. ¡°Is she picking a dress for herself or for Fan Fan?¡±
Xia Lei quickly turned the monitor off and pretended to be solemn. ¡°Caiyue, don¡¯t say that. It would be bad if other people hear you.¡±
She grinned. ¡°Director Xia, everyone knows about your marriages. Also, it¡¯s not a bad thing. All the men in thepany are so jealous.¡±
¡°Just don¡¯t say that,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qing Caiyue walked over, slightly lowering her chest. The top three buttons of her shirt were undone, revealing her fair skin. He could clearly see her deep cleavage and smell the fragrance of her perfume.
Xia Lei instinctively leaned back. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±
¡°Director Xia, have you forgotten what happened in France? You almost...¡± Qing Caiyue said seductively. ¡°We almost did it.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°That was a misunderstanding.¡±
Qing Caiyue continued leaning closer towards Xia Lei.
¡°Siyao, you¡¯re here,¡± he said suddenly.
Qing Caiyue straightened up and turned around, only to realise Liang Siyao was never there.
She pouted. ¡°Director Xia, you lied.¡±
Xia Lei said tly, ¡°Caiyue, stop this nonsense. We will never be together. If you continue this behaviour, I will have you sent to the Shu Di base. Go make me some tea.¡±
Qing Caiyue¡¯s eyes darkened. Just now, Xia Lei was like a friend who was an old crush but now, he was truly just her boss. There was a cold distance between them. Right now, she was just an employee here for her paycheck.
Qing Caiyue turned around to make him some tea.
He turned the monitor on to continue working. When she brought his tea over, he turned it off again.
¡°Director Xia, what are you typing?¡± Qing Caiyue ced a cup of Jinjunmei ck tea.
¡°It¡¯s not important. You may leave to do your own work now.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± She turned and left.
¡°Wait,¡± Xia Lei stopped her. ¡°Elder Fan will being today, please prepare for that. Decorate the conference room. Inform my chef to prepare lunch.
¡°Are many peopleing?¡± said Qing Caiyue.
¡°Not many, just a few leaders from the military. Right, it needs to be more official. Get some girls who can dance and sing. Arrange for a few performances,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°No problem, Director Xia,¡± said Qing Caiyue. ¡°Which military leaders are they? We¡¯ve never done any performances before, why now?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°This time, the general of the Airforce ising along with a major figure from Pakistan. I heard this Pakistani will y an important role in our military position within the South Asian subcontinent. He will be bringing with him a...¡± Xia Lei trailed off. ¡°That¡¯s all you need to know. Go prepare, remember to choose talented and beautiful girls. It¡¯s important for the image of Thunder Horse Group.¡±
Qing Caiyue smiled. ¡°Then I should perform myself, I will be the face of Thunder Horse.¡±
Xia Lei waved. ¡°Go, go.¡±
Qing Caiyue left. After that, he turned the desktop monitor on and essed the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s surveince system. This time, he did not use any tactics because he already had the highest authority clearance within the organisation.
Boxes appeared on the screen, people at every corner of the ce were put on disy.
It was time to cast the a second time.
There were many suspects but he had no direct evidence that anyone was the spy. He made Qing Caiyue go choose the performers and knew that this news would reach the spy¡¯s ears. This was the first step to his n.
The n wasn¡¯t supposed to be this soon but Tang Yuyan only gave him two days. If he still couldn¡¯t find the spy, then the Bureau 101 would intervene. When that happened, the spy would either run or do something drastic to save themselves. He did not want to ept any of these oues. He had to catch the spy by his own means!
Meanwhile, within the academy of sciences.
Fan Fan put a fresh set of formal attire on Fan Yiming¡¯s office desk.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Fan Yiming, who was busy with work, looked up at his precious granddaughter.
Fan Fan said, ¡°Grandpa, change into this and visit the Thunder Horse Group.¡±
¡°No. That punk has been going behind my back. Does he know who I am? I¡¯m his grandfather! If he doesn¡¯t treat me as one, then I refuse to recognise him as my grandson! Listen to me, don¡¯t marry him. You won¡¯t be happy married to him.¡±
¡°Sigh. Grandpa, you¡¯re acting like a child!¡± Fan Fan pouted. ¡°He didn¡¯t tell you because you didn¡¯t have the ability to keep the secret. Do you know how important the secret is to our country?¡±
¡°I could protect you well enough. Why can¡¯t I protect this secret?¡±
¡°Is it the same thing? Also, didn¡¯t he say he¡¯ll tell you when we get married?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t sleep, I can¡¯t eat. I¡¯ll probably die before your wedding.¡±
¡°What are you talking about? I don¡¯t want to talk about this.¡±
¡°Hmph, fine.¡± Sometimes, Fan Yiming acted like a child. His hatred towards Xia Lei was like a child hating his ss teacher.
Fan Fan sighed. ¡°Grandpa, I came today because you need to apany an important person from Pakistan and a leader from the Air Force on a visit to Thunder Horse. This is very important. Your presence will show our sincerity. Listen to me, go change.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not going. I¡¯m not going no matter what you say.¡± Fan Yiming was stubborn.
¡°Fine.¡± Fan Fan said, ¡°If you go, I¡¯ll get Xia Lei to give you the true recipe and manufacturing process of Alloy X for your research. What do you think?¡±
His eyes shone with excitement instantly. ¡°Are you serious?¡±
¡°Of course I am, I¡¯m your granddaughter, why would I lie to you?¡± Fan Fan gave a solemn expression.
¡°He¡¯ll listen to you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m pregnant with his child, he¡¯ll listen to whatever I say.¡± Fan Fan pushed her hips out forward to show the small bump on her belly.
¡°I knew it. Sigh, fine. I don¡¯t want to scrutinise your lifestyles. I¡¯ll go change.¡± Fan Yiming picked up the tuxedo from the desk and left for the lounge.
Fan Fan left the office and went to her office.
When she opened the door, there were several people in airforce uniforms and a Pakistani. He was d in traditional attire, slightly tanned and had a tall nose. He had the ssic Punjabi look. Punjabis made up a major portion of Pakistan, a branch of the Aryan people. They were easily distinguishable.
Liang Siyao was also in the office. ¡°So?¡±
Fan Fan smiled. ¡°It¡¯s done. My grandfather is easy to convince. He¡¯s just like a child sometimes.¡±
Sometimes, Fan Yiming acted like a child but women were best at coaxing children.
¡°I¡¯m done too.¡± Liang Siyao grinned.
The ¡®generals¡¯ from the air force came over to shake Fan Fan¡¯s hand, calling her ¡®Director Fan¡¯.
These weren¡¯t any soldiers. They were teachers from a performing arts school in Jingdu, all experienced actors. The Pakistani wasn¡¯t any important figure from Pakistan. He was just a student actor who came to Jingdu to further his studies.
¡°Are you all okay with it?¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Of course.¡± The actors were all rxed.
¡°You all remember what to say, right?¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°We remember. Don¡¯t worry, General Fan. We will put on a good show,¡± said the actors.
¡°That¡¯s good, let¡¯s go then,¡± said Fan Fan.
A group of actors and two pregnant directors.
The only audience member changed into his tuxedo excitedly.
The show was about to begin.
Chapter 973 - Let The Fishing Begin!
Several Hongqi cars with special number tes arrived at the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s headquarters under the escort of two military SUV vehicles. The Thunder Horse staff lined up to wee the guests. There were pretty girls giving out flowers. It was a formal event.
¡°What are these leaders doing here at ourpany?¡± asked Huang Xuewen curiously within the crowd.
Qin Xiang, who was next to him, said slowly, ¡°I heard that a Pakistani representative from the Pakistani military is here. He¡¯s here to look at Thunder Horse¡¯s drone design blueprint and the new material.¡±
¡°Our drone and new material are merely at their design phases, and Pakistan¡¯s already visiting us?¡± Huang Xuewen was shocked.
Qin Xiang said tly, ¡°What do you know? China and Pakistan have strong rtions. I heard from Director Xia that they will rent another port out to us. This is a major national event, the US is furious.¡±
Pakistan had three ports. One of them, Gwadar, was built by China and a leasing agreement was formed. This agreement shortened China¡¯s petroleum shipping route by eighty-five per cent. Although Qin Xiang did not mention the other port, it was enough for Huang Xuewen to understand its importance. Looking as if he understood, he said, ¡°I understand. So that¡¯s why Director Xia spent the effort to arrange for us to wee the guests.¡±
Lu Sheng also uttered simr words.
Then, many people knew.
Xia Lei shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with the important Pakistani and the ¡®military official¡¯ of the air force. He looked very courteous. Under such circumstances, he acted as an impressive foreign rtions officer.
Fan Fan was also in the crowd but Liang Siyao did not appear.
Fan Yiming¡¯s gaze fell on Xia Lei the moment he arrived, his eyes filled with anticipation and frantic. He did not care about this major national event. He only wanted Xia Lei¡¯s Alloy X recipe and production methods. He was like a mad scientist from the movies, willing to give up everything for the secret of science.
After waiting impatiently for Xia Lei to finish exchanging pleasantries with the few military officers, Fan Yiming quickly came up to Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, when will you...¡±
Xia Lei cut him off. ¡°Grandpa, be patient. I¡¯ll definitely fulfil the promise I made.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not teaming up with Fan Fan to trick me, are you?¡± Fan Yiming did not want to wait one more minute.
Xia Lei gave Fan Fan a look as if asking for help.
She rolled her eyes dramatically. ¡°Grandpa, why are you so impatient? This is a public setting. We cannot talk about it so casually!¡±
Fan Yiming shut up immediately.
Xia Lei brought the few ¡®officers¡¯ and the ¡®important¡¯ Pakistani into the office.
The Pakistani conversed in Mandarin with Xia Lei as they walked. ¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯m very excited to see your new material and drone. You¡¯re one of the most dedicated geniuses I¡¯ve met. I¡¯d like to invite you to visit Pakistan. You will definitely receive the highest wee there.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Thank you, I will definitely visit Pakistan.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, I have a favour to ask,¡± said the Pakistani ¡®official¡¯.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Just name it, Mister Abbas. There¡¯s no need for formalities.¡±
¡°It¡¯s like this. Mister Xia, can I bring a piece of the new material back as a sample?¡± The Pakistani official¡¯s eyes were filled with anticipation.
Xia Lei looked hesitant.
Fan Fan leaned over. ¡°Old Xia, you should do it.¡±
He then nodded. ¡°Alright, I will arrange for a piece of it to be cut off and wrapped for you.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, you¡¯re a treasured friend of Pakistan.¡± Mister Abbas looked very excited, shaking hands with him once again.
The group arrived at the multi-purpose conference room.
¡°Xia Lei, what about the thing you promised me?¡± Fan Yiming wasn¡¯t going to leave.
Fan Fan sighed exasperatedly. ¡°Grandpa, you¡¯re impossible...¡±
¡°I¡¯m not talking to you, I¡¯m talking to my grandson,¡± said Fan Yiming.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°Alright. Fan Fan, make our guestsfortable while Grandpa and I go to my office. I¡¯ll give him the material.¡±
Fan Fan and the few entered the conference room while Xia Lei brought Fan Yiming to his office.
When he entered the office, Xia Lei opened his safe and took out a document pouch and a USB drive. Just as he put the documents and the drive into a ck safe, Qing Caiyue entered. He closed it frantically. ¡°Caiyue, what are you doing here?¡±
Qing Caiyue said, ¡°Director Xia, I¡¯m here to tell you that the few officers are already waiting at the conference room.¡±
¡°I know.¡± Xia Lei gave the safe to Fan Yiming.
Fan Yiming cried emotionally. ¡°Xia Lei, so the USB drive contains...¡±
¡°Mmhmm!¡± Xia Lei coughed a few times.
He seemed to snap back to reality and shut his mouth, awkwardly saying, ¡°I understand. I¡¯m going back now.¡±
¡°So soon?¡± Xia Lei looked surprised.
¡°I don¡¯t want to join any meetings. I¡¯ll be going back to study the things you gave me. That¡¯s all. I¡¯m leaving now.¡± Fan Yiming turned to leave.
¡°Be careful, Grandpa,¡± reminded Xia Lei.
¡°I know, I know. You nag more than Fan Fan.¡± At this point, Fan Yiming was already out of the office.
Xia Lei was about to follow him but Qing Caiyue said, ¡°Director Xia, do you need me to tell the few officers that you¡¯re only going overter?¡±
Xia Lei stopped. ¡°Caiyue, get Lu Sheng to bring a few people to send Elder Fan off.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll do it now.¡± Qing Caiyue turned and left.
Xia Lei privately heaved a sigh when he was the only one left in the office. Although he hadn¡¯t solved the mystery, he knew he was close to the truth.
Fan Fan walked in and said, ¡°Hubby, I saw my grandfather driving off alone. How¡¯s everything going?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll find out soon enough,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°My grandfather...¡± She was worried.
He gripped her waist and leaned close to her ear, whispering, ¡°Siyao and the four knights are protecting him. He will be fine.¡±
¡°What do we do now?¡± she asked.
Xia Lei said, ¡°You just stay here. I want to catch the spy myself.¡±
¡°Be careful,¡± reminded Fan Fan.
Xia Lei nodded and took out another box from the safe. There was a human skin mask inside. It was the face of a very beautiful woman. There was also a set of women¡¯s clothes.
Fan Fan watched as he put on the mask, asking in surprise, ¡°Isn¡¯t this that the German engineer, Anina?¡±
Xia Lei spoke as he put on the golden wig, ¡°Help me stuff the sponge in the bra, I¡¯m in a hurry.¡±
She was speechless.
Three minutester, Xia Lei had turned into a blonde-haired beauty. Anina was about as tall as him and his body proportions had always been long and proportionate. With two sponges on his chest, he looked like a true voluptuous Caucasian woman. If Fan Fan hadn¡¯t seen the transformation process herself, Fan Fan would¡¯ve thought he was Anina.
¡°I¡¯m leaving.¡± Xia Lei pecked on her cheek and strode out.
When he left the office tower, Xia Lei entered a Great Wall Motors pickup truck. As it left the gates, he took out his phone and made a call. ¡°Lu Sheng, has Qing Caiyue talked to you?¡±
¡°No, what¡¯s the matter?¡± came Lu Sheng¡¯s voice.
¡°Did you see her?¡±
¡°I saw her on the phone at the entrance of my office, should I go talk to her?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need. Get someone to check where Li Youdun is right now, then call me back.¡± Xia Lei hung up and stepped on the elerator. The pickup truck dashed ahead.
There was a problem with Qing Caiyue. Her fox¡¯s tail was showing.
If she sent the message to Lu Sheng immediately, then she wouldn¡¯t be suspicious. However, she was at the entrance of his office and did not enter. She was even dragging time with a phone call.
¡®Who is she calling? Who is she dying the time for? Unless she¡¯s not the only spy. She has a close rtionship with Li Youdun. Could she have seduced Li Youdun to extract the secret from him? How much does Li Youdun know? What role does he y in this?¡¯ These were all questions Xia Lei had in his mind.
At this point, he was very close to the truth. All he had to do was grab it.
This was his second n to lure the snakes out. He put the document and USB drive into the safe and sent Fan Yiming away, even telling Qing Caiyue to send protection for Fan Yiming. The spy would now be aware of the significance of the USB drive. They would also deduce that the USB drive contained information on the new drone. With the arrival of the officer from the airforce and an important Pakistani official, this told the spy that national powers would be involved soon. The spy only had one chance to get the ¡®fruit¡¯ now!
His n wasn¡¯t perfect. However, sometimes people would still take the risk even when they knew of the dangers.
Ring, ring...
Xia Lei picked up the phone. ¡°Lu Sheng, speak.¡±
¡°Li Youdun¡¯s in hisb, I think he¡¯s writing a report,¡± said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows.
Was Li Youdun really innocent?
If he was working with Qing Caiyue, he should be taking action now. Yet he was in hisb.
¡°Director Xia, she¡¯sing in.¡±
¡°Keep her in there, but don¡¯t let her know.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Meanwhile, a Hongqi car was on the road towards Jingdu. The driver was Fan Yiming. Bailu was far behind him now. There weren¡¯t many cars on the road but because he was old, he wasn¡¯t driving very fast.
Out of nowhere, a truck charged towards his car from the front!
Chapter 974 - Unbelievable Efficiency
Qing Caiyue put down her phone and came to Lu Sheng¡¯s office door. She knocked twice.
¡°Come in.¡± She heard Lu Sheng¡¯s voice from the inside of the office.
Qing Caiyue pushed the door open and walked in. Her footsteps were light and graceful. She also had a friendly, mesmerising smile on her face. These were signs of a good mood.
Lu Sheng got up and walked towards her. ¡°Secretary Qing, what¡¯s the matter?¡±
Qing Caiyue said, ¡°Director Xia told me toe.¡± But she stopped speaking here, waiting for him to ask.
¡°Does Director Xia have a task for me?¡± Lu Sheng walked up to her. He was now standing parallel to her.
Qing Caiyue said, ¡°Director Xia wants me to pass a message for you to protect Mister Fan Yiming. You should hurry, Mister Fan Yiming should still be at the car park.¡±
¡°Is that so?¡± Lu Sheng gave her a weird look, smirking.
¡°Why are you looking at me like that? Why are you smiling?¡± The smile on her face disappeared when she saw him smile.
Lu Sheng said, ¡°Secretary Qing, you look nervous. Why?¡±
¡°Do I? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I¡¯ve already passed Director Xia¡¯s message. It¡¯s up to you to decide if you¡¯re going.¡± Qing Caiyue turned to leave.
Lu Sheng suddenly grabbed her shoulder.
She struggled with all her strength but his hand was as strong as a pair of metal pliers, she could not escape at all. She grew frantic. ¡°What do you want? Let me go! You¡¯re hurting me!¡±
¡°Why aren¡¯t you calling for help?¡± said Lu Sheng.
¡°I...¡± Qing Caiyue did not dare call out.
¡°Follow me. I¡¯ll bring you somewhere.¡± Lu Sheng pulled her towards the door
¡°Where are you bringing me?¡± Qing Caiyue¡¯s face was pale as if she realised something. Her eyes were filled with fear.
¡°You¡¯ll know soon,¡± said Lu Sheng.
Qing Caiyue immediately ripped her shirt off.
Lu Sheng was stunned. ¡°What are you doing?¡±
¡°Brother Sheng, I¡¯ve always liked you but never dared to confess my love to you. Please...please ept my confession! I cannot bear to keep missing you, I want you...¡±
¡°You really like me?¡± Lu Sheng looked shocked.
¡°Don¡¯t speak, kiss me.¡± Qing Caiyue closed her eyes. ¡°Brother Sheng, you can do whatever you want.¡±
Lu Sheng did not move.
At this moment, Qing Caiyue¡¯s hand secretly moved towards her skirt. When she took her hand out, there was a pen-like syringe.
It was a weapon.
However, before Qing Caiyue could stab him with the pen, Lu Sheng punched her in the stomach. With a groan, she crouched over like a prawn. He chopped his palm down on her neck.
Qing Caiyue copsed.
A few minutester, Lu Sheng left his office and went to the materialsboratory. Xia Lei had given him two tasks. One, to capture Qing Caiyue, another to check on Li Youdun.
Within the materialsb, Li Youdun was typing his proposal in his office. He looked very focused on his work. He didn¡¯t even look up when Lu Sheng appeared.
¡°Mister Li, you¡¯re busy?¡± Lu Sheng said.
Li Youdun finally looked up. He smiled when he saw Lu Sheng. ¡°Brother Lu, it¡¯s you. How can I help you?¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m here for a periodical safety check,¡± said Lu Sheng. ¡°You know how it is. This is getting so frustrating. I¡¯m doing more than ten checks every month.¡±
Li Youdun said, ¡°Well, work can be like that sometimes. I¡¯m like you, I¡¯ve got to rush this proposal out too. Director Xia¡¯s waiting for it.¡±
¡°You go ahead, I¡¯m off to work.¡± Lu Sheng turned to leave without lingering. His task was to check on him, not catch Li Youdun.
After Lu Sheng left, Li Youdun continued burying his nose in work. He was still as focused as before.
On the other side, on the road to Jingdu, a goods truck suddenly turned. The several-tonne heavy truck brought with it immense momentum as it hurled itself towards the Hongqi car that Fan Yiming was driving.
Fan Yiming stepped hard on the brakes. Since he was driving slow, his car skidded to a stop very quickly.
The truck stopped too. They did not collide.
The door of the passenger seat opened. A person d in ckbat attire and bulletproof vest armed with an American-made M4 and an M203 grenadeuncher charged at Fan Yiming¡¯s car. Behind him, the storagepartment of the truck opened too. Four fully armed soldiers hopped off and surrounded the car. Their faces were covered but judging from their veryrge, muscr physiques, it was unlikely that they were Asian. They must be either tall whites or cks.
Fan Yiming was absolutely terrified. He did not even attempt to reverse his car. However, even if he did think of that, it would have been useless because the two people fired to puncture his two front wheels. There were no gunshots. All their weapons were silenced so there was almost no sound.
One of the men grabbed the Hongqi car door. In a second, a bullet flew from nowhere and pierced his head. Half of his brain split off!
Fresh blood and brain sttered on the car window as the body with half a head copsed unto the car door. Fan Yiming had never seen anything like this in his life. When he witnessed this with his own eyes, he screamed shrilly and fainted.
Just as the person hit the ground, the other four guards deduced the sniper¡¯s position and fired in that direction. One of the men tossed a smoke grenade to cover their position.
The truck driver turned his vehicle around instantly.
Crash! The truck window shattered. Another bullet flew from another direction. The bullet shot through the window and stopped only when it was lodged in the driver¡¯s brain.
In a sh, two out of the six men were dead. The rest of them hid behind Fan Yiming¡¯s car. Under the cover of the smoke bomb, the snipers could not see their target. Even if they did, they would not dare fire easily because within the car was China¡¯s head of the academy of sciences, Fan Yiming.
Fan Yiming was probably the only one powerful enough to bait them like this. However, bait like him had an inconvenience too. Once he was held hostage, it would be a huge problem.
¡°Drag the old man out!¡± ordered themander of the armed men amidst the smoke. ¡°And the box!¡±
One person started firing as a cover while the other two opened the car door, taking away the safe on the passenger seat while the other grabbed Fan Yiming¡¯s arm and dragged him out.
After a round of bullets, themander made a call on his satellite phone. ¡°Password A120, code King Snake! We were ambushed. Prepare to escape into the mountains with the hostage. Please send reinforcements...¡±
A pickup truck suddenly appeared, charging from the direction of the Thunder Horse Group.
¡°There¡¯s a car at six o¡¯clock!¡± roared one of the men. ¡°Destroy it!¡±
Before they could fire, the pickup truck stopped and there was a whiny noise from the car door. ¡°Password A120, code King Snake! I¡¯m the reinforcement! Don¡¯t fire!¡±
¡°You¡¯re one of us?¡± Themander was stunned. He had just asked for help and they had already arrived. The efficiency was unbelievable, it was suspicious.
¡°Open the box!¡± said the voice. ¡°There¡¯s a tracking device inside. They can track your location with it. Open the safe, take the things out and we¡¯ll leave now!¡±
Although he was suspicious, themander did not have time to think and analyse. He chose the simplest method, pointing his night vision equipment at the truck. ¡°Stand up!¡±
A blonde-haired woman¡¯s face peeked out, then retracted down. ¡°Hurry! We don¡¯t have time!¡±
¡°Open the safe, take the things out, bring the hostage!¡± Themander gave new orders. If the other person was Asian, he would be suspicious. However, this was a white woman. It was unlikely that she was an enemy.
One of the men pointed his gun at the lock and pulled the trigger. The lock of the safe popped off. He reached to open the safe.
Boom! A bright sh of light shot from the safe. A round of unbearable ringing and strong shockwaves.
There wasn¡¯t just a secret document and pen drive inside, there was also a stun grenade!
All four men lost their ability to move and copsed on the ground though they were still conscious.
In his double-vision and dizziness, themander saw a blonde-haired woman appear in front of him like a ghost. That was hisst memory. Then, his consciousness plunged into darkness and he lost all sensations.
The woman was Xia Lei.
He was disguised as Annina only to trick Qing Caiyue. He didn¡¯t know it would y such a crucial role here.
Themander was the first one knocked unconscious. In three seconds, the other three were unconscious too. They were all knocked in the head by the back of an XL2500 sniper rifle.
Fan Yiming was also on the ground but he had been unconscious since the beginning.
Xia Lei took away all their weapons and then shot the two bodies several times with his XL2500 sniper rifle.
When he was done, he took out his satellite phone and said, ¡°You should all leave. Don¡¯te back to the Thunder Horse Group for the moment.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll go wedding dress shopping,¡± came Liang Siyao¡¯s voice. ¡°Also, I¡¯ming home tonight. I want the pan-seared salmon you make. It¡¯s good for the baby.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He was standing next to a pool of brain pulp. Did she have to talk about fish now?!
Chapter 975 - Harvest
Tang Yuyan arrived with a huge group of Bureau 101 agents tagging behind her. All Xia Lei had left for them to do was to clean away the bloodied corpses. Before their arrival, Xia Lei had removed all traces of his disguise in order not to raise suspicion.
Studying two battered corpses that were brought to their doom by the XL2500 sniper rifle, Tang Yuyan furrowed her brows. ¡°Was there a need to do this?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°What were you expecting me to do? To go talk to them like civilized adults and convince them to release the hostage?¡±
¡°You know I wasn¡¯t referring to that. Was there really a need to fire so many shots?¡± asked Tang Yuyan, all while studying Xia Lei with suspicious eyes. No one could ever trick her.
¡°I was mad so I fired a few shots more than needed. Got a problem with that?¡± Xia Lei admitted.
¡°No, I got nothing against it.¡± Tang Yuyan did not bring it up again, making a move to switch the conversation topic. ¡°Who do you think these people are?¡±
Xia Lei turned to gaze at the unconsciousmander. ¡°They¡¯re really well-equipped. Their gear is on par with that of the Delta Special Forces. Not to mention, their battle capabilities were excellent too. I think they might be gueri members of America¡¯s best Delta Special Force. However, I can assure you that you won¡¯t find anything on them that could possibly serve as identification.¡±
Even if she found any, America would never admit to it.
¡°Have you managed to capture the spy?¡±
¡°I caught the underling. The real spy is still lurking around,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°There are two of them?¡± Tang Yuyan gasped. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯m convinced.¡±
¡°Who is it? I¡¯ll go capture them right away!¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Didn¡¯t you agree to give me two days to capture the spy? I still have another day left. You shoulde only after tomorrow.¡±
¡°This is not something for you to decide.¡±
There was a hint of a smirk at the corner of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°That¡¯s what Fan Fan had said. If I¡¯m not the one to decide, I¡¯m sure she¡¯s plenty worthy to give a decision.¡±
¡°Do not use that woman against me!¡± Tang Yuyan was beginning to lose her cool.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Yuyan, just bring these people away for now. Interrogate them and you might be able to get ahold of some valuable information. Thunder Horse Military Factory is mine and I get the final say. I need to capture him myself, there are some things that I need an answer to.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Tang Yuyan stared at him intently.
¡°You¡¯ll find out soon but not now.¡± Xia Lei turned around and approached the unconscious Fan Yiming.
¡°Wait!¡± Tang Yuyan screamed. ¡°You...¡±
Xia Lei spared her a nce. ¡°Is there anything else?¡±
¡°Are you doing this because you hate me?¡±
¡°Why would you take it that way?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
¡°Because that¡¯s what this whole thing feels like!¡± Tang Yuyan was visibly agitated. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, you¡¯ve got no right to hate me but I¡¯ve got all the reasons to resent you!¡±
Xia Lei threw his hands defeatedly. ¡°Then do as you wish, I¡¯m heading back now. I¡¯ll give you a call after everything is taken care of.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan wanted to say something else but all the words got stuck in her throat. She could not utter a single word.
She may have threatened Xia Lei strongly but she was clear that she couldn¡¯t find anything in her to resent him. Truthfully, she had no right to bear any hatred towards him. If it wasn¡¯t for Xia Lei, she would¡¯ve been dead on top of the snow mountain in Dawang. Their so-called ¡®engagement¡¯ had only taken ce due to the Tang family¡¯s pressure and lots of uwful acts. If it weren¡¯t for those happenings, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t even be seated with her to talk about marriage.
There was so much that she owed to Xia Lei. How could she hate him?
Xia Lei picked up the unconscious Fan Yiming and began to walk towards a pickup truck.
¡°Xia Lei! You bastard!¡± Tang Yuyan roared from behind him.
Xia Lei pretended to not hear it, cing Fan Yiming carefully onto the passenger seat. He hopped into the truck and ignited its engine to begin their journey back to the Thunder Horse headquarters.
She could call him a bastard for all he cared. It was none of his concern.
He had his reasons to urge Tang Yuyan to stick to their prior agreement. His reasoning had nothing to do with the woman¡¯s role as the current leader of Bureau 101. Xia Lei just couldn¡¯t have Tang Yuyan barge into hispany and conduct a wide span investigation among his employees. That was bound to bring some chaos to the Thunder Horse Organization. Other than that, he needed to capture the spy with his own hands and force an answer regarding Long Bing¡¯s mission in Japan! If that was the case, Xia Lei could reach Tang Yuyan swiftly and have her bring the spy away. If not, that would be a strong indication that someone else had leaked details about Long Bing¡¯s mission instead!
To try to harm his wife was equal to killing his child. This was something Xia Lei must confirm personally.
As the truck had reached Bailu Town, Fan Yiming suddenly stirred from his ckout. He mbered and straightened himself. And then the old man screeched, ¡°AHHH!¡±
¡°Quit shouting, Grandpa.¡± Xia Lei mmed on the brakes in shock.
Recognizing Xia Lei¡¯s voice, Fan Yiming blinked his eyes and noticed that Xia Lei was indeed in his proximity. The realization calmed Fan Yiming greatly. ¡°W...where are we?¡±
¡°We¡¯re in Bailu Town. You see thatdy over there operating that pancake stall? She¡¯s the image of Bailu Town.¡± Xia Leiforted the older man with a smile.
¡°You damned bastard, I¡¯m not in the mood to joke around!¡± Fan Yiming studied his surroundings. ¡°I remember seeing a man with a gun beside my car door, then his entire skull was sted away. Was all of that real?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yeah, it happened. You almost died. I killed all of them off and saved you.¡±
¡°What about my things?¡± Fan Yiming gushed nervously, ¡°You gave me a password-locked box. Where is that box now? Tell me!¡±
Xia Lei sighed, ¡°That box was sted into pieces. I¡¯ll have to make another one.¡±
¡°Make another one?¡±
¡°Yeah, an exact copy. My mind is not aputer, how could I possibly remember so many things. What I gave you were all data and documents. Now that they¡¯re all destroyed, how can I afford not to recreate them again?¡± Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Jeez, I can¡¯t believe all my hard work had gone to waste.¡±
¡°This...¡± Fan Yiming wanted tofort Xia Lei but as soon as he remembered that he had triggered the incident, the older man couldn¡¯t say another word.
¡°Grandpa, I¡¯m sorry but you¡¯ve got to wait a little longer. I¡¯ll get it done and send it to you soon, okay?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I guess this is the only way around this. But next time, you really need to make it a habit to keep a copy elsewhere. Do not repeat such an error again, okay?¡± reminded Fan Yiming.
¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll remember that. Uh, about our wedding...¡±
¡°You can¡¯t be serious about using this as an excuse to dy your wedding. Don¡¯t you even think about it!¡± Fan Yiming threw a fit. ¡°You made my granddaughter pregnant! You must marry her! As soon as possible!¡±
Xia Lei had initially wanted to discuss about betrothal gifts. But with Fan Yiming¡¯s overreaction, the man just didn¡¯t know how to continue the conversation. Xia Lei released the brakes and brought the vehicle forward, en route to their destination.
Driving into the entrance, Xia Lei noticed Lu Zheng, who was standing beside the guardhouse. The man rolled the window down and asked, ¡°What is he doing now?¡±
Lu Sheng¡¯s answer was salient. ¡°He¡¯s working on the mastern in hisb.¡±
Xia Lei spared a sneaky nce to Fan Yiming behind him. Though no words were uttered, Lu Sheng had understood the cue immediately. Lu Sheng came over to the driver¡¯s window and whispered into Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°I did not notice anything weird. He seemed very normal and I feel that he¡¯s innocent.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to dwell on this further.¡± Xia Lei asked again, ¡°How about her?¡±
¡°Her?¡± The span of Qing Caiyue¡¯s pale chest was projected in Lu Sheng¡¯s mind, causing him to huff a smallugh. ¡°I locked her in my work station. I even made sure to have someone keep watch. There¡¯s no way she can escape.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go check on herter.¡± Xia Lei proceeded to drive the car away.
Fan Yiming loungedfortably on the backseat of the truck, expression clearly suspicious of Xia Lei¡¯s exchange earlier. ¡°Son, what were you whispering about with that muscle man? What kind of mischief are you up to now?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Grandpa, how can you say that? Had it not cross your mind that all of this happened because of your impatience? I haven¡¯t even asked for revenge and yet you¡¯re already pointing fingers at me?¡±
¡°Uh... Let¡¯s talk about betrothal gifts instead. My great-grandchild is about to arrive, I think you should buy a property in his name,¡± suggested Fan Yiming.
This old man was surprisingly caught up with modern wedding practises.
Just as the truck came to a stop, Fan Fan could be seen running out of the office block towards them. She looked positively anxious, but her stance was immediately rxed as soon as she noticed that Fan Yiming and Xia Lei were alright. Suddenly, everything felt alright again.
¡°Hubby!¡± Fan Fan threw herself into Xia Lei¡¯s arms. The burst of emotions made her voice tremble ever so slightly. ¡°I¡¯m so d you¡¯re back. I was so worried...¡±
¡°Ahem!¡± Fan Yiming cleared his throat.
It was only then that Fan Fan lifted her head from between Xia Lei¡¯s arms to study her grandfather. ¡°Grandpa, are you alright?¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m alright,¡± replied Fan Yiming.
¡°If you¡¯re alright, why did you need to clear your throat at me?¡± questioned Fan Fan.
Those words had Fan Yiming choke on his own saliva. The older man pointed at her nose. ¡°A...am I still your grandfather?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Fan Fan answered confusedly.
Fan Yiming immediately used, ¡°Then why are you only hugging him? What do you mean by this? So you¡¯ve got a husband and suddenly your grandpa is no longer important?¡±
Fan Fan released Xia Lei and went over to hold his wrinkly hand. ¡°Jeez, you¡¯re just like a child. Come, I¡¯ll bring you somewhere to rest. Are you hurt anywhere?¡±
Fan Yiming only red at Xia Lei. ¡°Remember, buy my great-grandchild a property! And you better buy my granddaughter a car! Anyone marrying their daughter away would want a house and a car!¡±
Xia Lei was so taken aback that all he could do was stare.
¡°Grandpa! That¡¯s enough! If you do this again, I¡¯m going to ignore you forever!¡±
¡°Alright, alright. I¡¯ll stop...¡±
The pair continued to bicker as they went into the office block.
At this moment, Lu Sheng took it as the right timing to approach Xia Lei. Thetter then followed the muscr guard into his work station.
Watching the door were two security guards working for the Thunder Horse Organization. Noticing that Xia Lei and Lu Sheng were headed their way, both of them straightened their posture and unlocked the door.
Xia Lei entered the little room and immediately found Qing Caiyue, who wasid inly on a bed.
Qing Caiyue¡¯s hands and feet were restrained with tough rope and her chest was exposed. The woman¡¯s eyes were shut and there seemed to be no response from her.
¡°That...¡± Lu Sheng turned a little sheepish. ¡°I didn¡¯t do that, she tore her blouse herself. I tried to cover her up but the front of her shirt waspletely torn.¡±
Despite that, Xia Lei seemed to not have registered any of Lu Sheng¡¯s exnations. Studying Qing Caiyue for a good five seconds, his expression immediately turned stone cold. He quickly strode over to the bed and touched Qing Caiyue¡¯s neck...
Chapter 976 - Dead Fish
Qing Caiyue¡¯s neck was stiff, but it wasn¡¯t to an extent of extreme rigour mortis. It felt like someone who had just died not more than one hour ago. During then, Xia Lei was still out there chasing after Fan Yiming.
Lu Sheng seemed to have realized it, prompting the man to hurry over to the bed and press on Qing Caiyue¡¯s wrist. Her wrist was devoid of any temperature nor was there a hint of her pulse.
¡°How... How is this possible?¡± Lu Sheng let his shock sink in before screaming at the door. ¡°Both of you! Get in, now!¡± The muscr man was positively enraged.
The two security guards made their way in, all while ncing at a fuming Lu Sheng nervously.
They had no idea what had happened.
Lu Sheng wanted to yell at them but Xia Lei stopped him. Xia Lei began to question, ¡°Were you two stationed at the door since the start?¡±
The two guards nodded. One of them voiced nervously, ¡°Director Xia, we¡¯ve been guarding the room entrance since the beginning. We didn¡¯t even step away for a second. What happened?¡±
Xia Lei pressed on, ¡°Did you see anyone here all this while?¡±
The two guards looked at each other for confirmation before shaking their heads in tandem.
¡°Leave, do not say a word about this incident,¡± warned Xia Lei.
To which the guards nodded and left the security office together.
Xia Lei¡¯s mood was dampened and heavy. He thought to himself darkly, ¡°How did Qing Caiyue die? Was she killed or was this a suicide? She¡¯s so vain and incredibly afraid of pain. Would she have such courage to end her own life?¡±
Qing Caiyue¡¯s death was filled with mystery.
¡°Director Xia, do you think this damned woman killed herself to avoid charges?¡± guessed Lu Sheng.
¡°What do you think?¡±
Lu Sheng shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±
Xia Leiid down stern instructions. ¡°Keep watch over her body. Do not let anyone near her. Also, make sure all her belongings are safe, no one is allowed to touch it until I say so.¡±
¡°Do we call the police?¡± asked Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Keep the thought on hold. Just do as I say for now.¡± The man quickly left the security office for the material scienceboratory urgently.
All the signs and hints had pointed to Qing Caiyue being the pesky spy and her death could be fully interpreted as a suicide to avoid legal punishment. This case seemed to have arrived at its closure but Xia Lei did not think so.
Everything felt too normal, too simple in fact. That spy had sessfully hidden around him and lurked around in the Thunder Horse Organization for so long, only deciding to show their existence during the birth of the new material. Now that America had only begun its initial steps, would the spy die in such a crucial time? Would that spy be Qing Caiyue? She was a woman who was blinded by greed.
This whole ordeal wouldn¡¯t be something so simple. And that spy was definitely not someone of Qing Caiyue¡¯s level. Qing Caiyue was just a mere chess piece that got sacrificed by the real mastermind! It was an act of sacrificing one¡¯s pawn to save the queen.
Xia Lei barged into the material scienceboratory without hesitation.
Theb personnel were bustling about their jobs, no one had time to learn what happened earlier. Upon realizing the presence of their boss, everyone left theb to grant Xia Lei some privacy with their superior.
Xia Lei strode towards Li Youdun¡¯s office.
His left eye twitched slightly and pierced through all the obstacles in his view. Li Youdun entered his line of vision and Xia Lei could clearly see that the scientist was still hard at work. Li Youdun¡¯s focus was ced fully onto the sheet ahead of him, it almost seemed as if everything that had happened outside of thisboratory had nothing to do with him. He, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t care less about it too.
Xia Lei intensified his X-ray vision, scanning along the length of Li Youdun¡¯s body. Surprisingly, there was no weapon on the scientist. The drawers beside his work desk had nothing of that sort too.
Everything about the material scientist felt normal to the point that to even think about him being the spy was an usation and defamation. Despite the revtion, a cold smirk appeared on the edge of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. Li Youdun was a great actor. Everything was too perfect and it felt artificial. His wlessness was a w in itself.
Xia Lei reached a hand to knock on the office door.
Li Youdun hadn¡¯t even bothered to lift his head. ¡°Come in.¡±
And so Xia Lei did.
It was only then that Li Youdun spared some attention to nce at Xia Lei. Noticing his boss, the scientist stood from his seat and greeted Xia Lei respectfully. ¡°Director Xia, are you here for the n? There¡¯s no need toe here personally, you could always phone me and have me deliver it to you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s smirk turned a few degrees colder. ¡°Since when?¡±
¡°What? ... What do you mean?¡± Li Youdun was perplexed.
¡°Why are you doing this?¡± Xia Lei shot another question.
Li Youdun¡¯s face contorted into something more anxious. ¡°Director Xia? What¡¯s the matter? Why are you asking me questions that don¡¯t make any sense?¡±
¡°Quit acting!¡± Xia Lei roared. ¡°This is pointless, I know you¡¯re the spy!¡±
¡°Huh? What...¡± While Li Youdun¡¯s shock was written all over his face, the glint in his eye was oddly sharp.
Xia Lei chuckled dryly. ¡°You¡¯ve been hiding around in my ce since the beginning, stealing information from Thunder Horse for America. You tricked Qing Caiyue to work for you. Not only had you used her, but you also killed after you were done. On the surface, you managed to make it look like Qing Caiyue was a female spy sent by the American government who seduced you to get a hold of forms and samples of Alloy X. It would have worked on everyone but not me.¡±
¡°Director Xia, I... I¡¯m not the spy!¡±
¡°You entered the Thunder Horse Organization when it was in demand for material scientists through Qing Caiyue¡¯s recruiting agency. Qing Caiyue has been your target since the beginning, huh? You made it into Thunder Horse and continued to lurk around, waiting for the right time to shine. Your main aim was the new material all along.¡±
Li Youdun fell silent.
Xia Lei went on, ¡°Qing Caiyue had no idea of the danger she had invited. She was young, beautiful and incredibly vain. But you and I would have to admit that she was too simple-minded. You maintained a secret affair with her and she unknowingly became your scapegoat. You sent Alloy X¡¯s early phase findings and carbon arrangement to America so that they could start a simr new material project. Sadly, the early conclusions were failures, which was why America¡¯s new material project had not been able to see sess. You continued to lurk around, waiting for a new chance to strike. After my sess in solving the material issue, Alloy X was born and that was when you finally lost your patience. Which is why this is happening today, right?¡±
Li Youdun¡¯s lips were tight, saying nothing in response. The gaze he had on Xia Lei wasplicated, but there was no fear.
¡°I was thinking... Your appearance probably has something to do with the AE Research Centre. Am I right or am I wrong?¡±
Something odd shed briefly in Li Youdun¡¯s pupil.
¡°I¡¯ve managed to obtain a material that did not belong to this realm and I possess evolution beyond that of current mankind. The brains of America would certainly have some research or deductions towards me. They¡¯ve studied me and made a hypothesis. That¡¯s where youe in, right?¡± analyzed Xia Lei.
There was a quiet pause before Li Youdun sighed and disturbed the tension. ¡°Director Xia, I sincerely have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re so adamant that I¡¯m a spy sent by the American government. I understand that you¡¯re a stubborn person set in his opinion once set but I must make this clear. I am not a spy sent by America and I really, really liked Qing Caiyue. How could I bear to kill her?¡±
¡°Li Youdun... Is this really your name?¡± Xia Lei huffed, ¡°When I told you about Qing Caiyue¡¯s death, you did not even blink. Now you¡¯re here talking about your genuine love? Do you think I¡¯m stupid or is this a ploy to humiliate yourself?¡±
Li Youdun went quiet again.
¡°Today, if this wasn¡¯t yourst chance to strike, you wouldn¡¯t have thought of implementing something so risky. But you couldn¡¯t take it any longer. When you made up your mind, you had already decided to sacrifice Qing Caiyue, right?¡±
There was a faint bitter smile at the corner of Li Youdun¡¯s lip.
¡°I said so much and yet you¡¯re still not keen on admitting anything?¡±
¡°Director Xia, I don¡¯t understand the source of your severe misunderstanding. Why are you trying to make me admit to something I¡¯m not? I really can¡¯t do it but I am clear that I can no longer work in this ce. If you¡¯ve got evidence, I urge you to bring it to the correct authority,¡± replied Li Youdun.
Xia Lei abruptly raised his hand, fingers now coiled around a Viper pistol. He red at the scientist. ¡°There is no appropriate authority to turn to. If I wanted, I can kill you right here, right now!¡±
In the face of death, Li Youdun looked as peaceful as ever.
Though he had not admitted it, his response for the past few minutes was enough to determine the truth. A scientist, or more rather, a regr civilian would not be able to stay so calm in front of serious usations and a threatening gun.
¡°Qing Caiyue may have betrayed me but honestly, she did not deserve to die. You¡¯re the one who needs to die!¡±
Nonchntly, all Li Youdun said was, ¡°Shoot me then.¡±
Xia Lei pressed on the trigger.
A soft click rang out from the unloaded Viper pistol.
Yet, Li Youdun did not even blink.
To have this courage to face death. This was something Xia Lei couldn¡¯t achieve!
¡°Are you not afraid of dying?¡±
¡°Everyone dies eventually, you¡¯ll die someday too. What¡¯s the difference between dying now and dying tens of yearster?¡± mused Li Youdun.
¡°You should be clear about this. My mercy and graciousness do not mean that I don¡¯t wish to beat the shit out of you. But if you really wish tounch this whole ordeal into a bigger mess, I¡¯ve got no objection. You¡¯re allowed to not admit it out loud because I¡¯m not the investigator in charge of this case. All I need is for you to answer a few of my questions. If you cooperate, I¡¯ll do nothing to you and you¡¯ll get to leave this ce in one piece.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to let me go?¡± Li Youdun smirked mockingly, it was evident that he did not believe that Xia Lei would let him off so easily.
¡°No, but I¡¯ll be sending you somewhere you deserve to be.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll ask you a few questions in turn. Likewise, I¡¯ll answer your questions and you¡¯ll answer mine. This is more of a fair exchange.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°You dare to ask for things in a situation like this? Do you really think I¡¯m that easy of a person?¡±
¡°You can torture me but it¡¯d be pointless. I¡¯ve received the most gruelling and cruel pain tolerance training in the world. You¡¯re not someone who¡¯s intensely sadistic and inhumane, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not willing to do the dirty deed too,¡± answered Li Youdun calmly.
Xia Lei stared at him in silence. ¡°Very well, consider it a deal. I¡¯ll begin first.¡±
¡°Go on.¡±
¡°Who was the one who leaked information about Long Bing¡¯s mission in Japan? Was it you or Qing Caiyue?¡±
Chapter 977 - Sudden Change of Mind
¡°I knew you would ask me that.¡± Li Youdun shifted his position nonchntly. ¡°I can answer you that. It wasn¡¯t me, nor was it Qing Caiyue.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s brows were immediately scrunched. ¡°It wasn¡¯t you?¡±
¡°I know you would suspect me. Trust me, it¡¯s only natural to assume that but I¡¯ve got nothing personal against you or your women. Why would I do something so unnecessary?¡±
¡°The FA Organization had ns to attack the Thunder Horse headquarters. Would a CIA ace like you not provide them with some valuable information?¡±
Li Youdun chuckled. ¡°You¡¯ve already learnt of FA¡¯s ne hijacking terrorism n and equipped the entire Thunder Horse headquarters with air defence missiles. Just think about, was there a chance for sess? Any person with normal intelligence would know that the sess rate of the n would be close to zero. Do you think the American government and the CIA would risk my exposure for a failing n?¡±
It was Xia Lei¡¯s turn to fall silent.
Li Youdun was speaking the truth. It made no sense for the American government and CIA to sacrifice their best spy who painstakingly made it into Thunder Horse¡¯s higher management level for a flimsy terrorist attack n. The one who had brought Long Bing danger was not Li Youdun, it was someone else.
But who could that be?
Unsure of why, as Xia Lei began to put some thought into the question, the man was immediately reminded of Tang Yuyan and her family. The possibility made him feel awful. It was a probable situation that he couldn¡¯t bear to even believe.
¡°It¡¯s my turn to ask.¡± Li Youdun interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s thought. ¡°How did you solve the new material issue? I¡¯m actually not an expert in this field but I¡¯ve got support from a team of America¡¯s best material scientists. Even they were not able to synthesize a probable solution. Theymented that this was a difficulty that no one in this world could possibly fix. Yet, you managed to ovee it. How did you do it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s because of this.¡± Xia Lei pointed to his head.
Li Youdun scowled at the salient answer. The response was far too simple than he thought and it certainly was extremely unexpected.
¡°How did you kill Qing Caiyue?¡± Before Li Youdun could say another word, Xia Lei asked another question.
¡°I ¡®drugged¡¯ herst night. She would have died after a certain time period,¡± answered Li Youdun. There was a brief moment of silence before Li Youdun proceeded with his second question. ¡°My next question. Has Thunder Horse started their research on drones?¡±
Without warning, Xia Lei whipped a kick towards Li Youdun. The surprise attack made him look more like a leopard than human. His speed and strength were out of this world!
Li Youdun did not see thising. Caught off-guard, he frantically took a step back and used his firm arms to shield his body from Xia Lei¡¯s weighted attack.
Li Youdun¡¯s stance was a typical defence form in boxing. As the CIA¡¯s ace agent and assassin, Li Youdun had full confidence that he would be able to withstand Mike Tyson¡¯s punches at his peak. However...
Thud!
With a muted sound, the huge impact sent Li Youdun flying away from the ground. In that split second, his body flew a couple of metres before his back finally collided with the wall. He felt as if his arms were crushed by heavy hammers. The merciless shock he experienced all about his being was simr to that of falling off from the second floor. Everything was so overwhelming, Li Youdun was close to passing out!
Without allowing Li Youdun to recover, Xia Lei lunged forward. His right clenched fist was thrown like a bomb towards Li Youdun¡¯s chest.
Crack!
The sound of ribs cracking echoed throughout the room.
Li Youdun made no noise, but his expression had contorted into absolute agony. Using that vulnerability, Xia Leinded a violent chop against the length of Li Youdun¡¯s neck.
The spy wheezed and fell unconscious, his body slumping down from the wall unceremoniously.
There was no more movementing from him.
To exchange answers and questions was not the point. Xia Lei had only one thing to confirm. If Li Youdun was behind the leaking of Long Bing¡¯s mission. Once the man had obtained his answer, it was a closed case. His second question was muttered out of pure curiosity, it didn¡¯t matter if Xia Lei got an answer to it or not. On the other hand, the thought of Xia Lei answering Li Youduns¡¯ questions genuinely had not crossed the man¡¯s mind.
¡°This is not a school ss, bastard! Q and A session? Damn you!¡± Xia Lei kicked hard at Li Youdun¡¯s lower abdomen.
This one was for Qing Caiyue, that poor woman who was met with an untimely death.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t need to ask how Li Youdun managed to convince Qing Caiyue into siding him. It wasn¡¯t important but the man could guess it already. Some women were very attracted to the ideal luxurious life that could be offered through the guise of an American Green Card. Added with some sugar-coated words, the concept of danger and possible risks would escape their minds almost instantly. Qing Caiyue was the type of woman who would fall for such schemes.
Truthfully, Qing Caiyue¡¯s death was a pity. If they had continued to roll between the sheets that night in France, she would¡¯ve be his lover and Li Youdun would have no chance of tricking her into his pretty lies.
Making sure that Li Youdun was fully subdued, Xia Lei flipped his office upside down. The oue was not surprising. The spy was skilful enough to not leave any trace behind.
¡°He must have amunication channel with the CIA? Is it his phone or hisputer? Or does he ry messages through an informant?¡± Xia Lei continued to stress his mind over the concern.
At this point, he could phone Tang Yuyan to move Li Youdun to Bureau 101. However, Xia Lei decided not to do that as a new n began to take form in his brain.
Ending his fruitless search, Xia Lei tossed Li Youdun into a big wooden box. The man then hammered down the lid with nails before calling Lu Sheng over. It only took about a few minutes for Lu Sheng to appear with extra manpower.
¡°Please bring this box to my house. You can ce it in my study,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
The few security guards lifted the heavy box onto a trolley and brought it away. Xia Lei trailed behind them carefully.
Out of curiosity, Lu Sheng questioned, ¡°Director Xia, where is Li Youdun?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Oh, he already went home. He said he left a very important material back home and had to retrieve it.¡±
¡°Ah, jeez. He¡¯s such a busy man. Oh, right...¡± Lu Sheng probed, ¡°Is he problematic?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I ran some searches and found that he¡¯s innocent. It was all done by Qing Caiyue. I treated her well and yet this is how she decided to repay my kindness.¡±
¡°I knew it was her! What a bitch!¡± fumed Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei could only sigh faintly. Her death was already her payment to all her sins. Whether she was really a bitch or not, Xia Lei preferred to refrain himself from thinking about it.
¡°Have you cleaned up all of Qing Caiyue¡¯s belongings?¡± Xia Lei switched the topic.
¡°We¡¯re still working on it. I¡¯ll send them all over when we¡¯re done. Actually, do we send it to your office?¡± asked Lu Sheng.
¡°Just bring it to my house,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go do it now.¡± With that, Lu Sheng left to work.
The security guards ced the wooden box in the middle of Xia Lei¡¯s study and excused themselves. A few moments after their departure, Xia Lei brought the box to one of the Peace Mansion¡¯s undergroundboratories. His initial intention behind these facilities was to serve as an interrogation room. Li Youdun would be its first ¡®customer¡¯.
Xia Lei broke the lid open and carried Li Youdun out. He settled the limp man down and restrained his limbs with metal chains. After that was done with, Xia Lei sshed a bucket of water on Li Youdun¡¯s face.
Li Youdun¡¯s eyes shot open. Immediately, his pupils went into a flurry. Li Youdun¡¯s sharp eyes scanned and mapped his surroundings, which included Xia Lei, in less than a second.
Xia Lei brought a chair over and sat in front of Li Youdun. In a hollow tone, Xia Lei uttered, ¡°You¡¯re going to stay here for a while.¡±
¡°You wish to imprison me?¡± There was no fear in Li Youdun¡¯s eyes, what had glimmered inside was only confusion and cautiousness.
¡°Yes, I¡¯ll be holding you in here until the day I decide to free you.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°You better not try anything funny. I personally designed this prison myself. Unless you¡¯re able to pick all the locks in one go, your metal chain will act as a conductor and electrocute you. But of course, the electric shock is not sufficient to kill you. It would only be able to provide you with the most excruciating pain in your life.¡±
¡°Why are you doing this?¡± Li Youdun thought he would find himself in Bureau 101¡¯s interrogation room. Never had he imagined to be restrained in Xia Lei¡¯s private little prison.
¡°Since you¡¯re so smart, can you guess why?¡± The smile curled on Xia Lei¡¯s lips were eerie.
¡°You¡¯re... You¡¯re nning to use my identity and mymunication channel to send the CIA a message? That, or you wish to confirm something.¡±
¡°As expected, you¡¯re really intelligent.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Li Youdun cackled. ¡°Even if you can be my sessful importer, you won¡¯t be able to find my channel. Even if you managed to find it, you won¡¯t be able to achieve your intended oue. Your n might sound marvellous but it¡¯s destined to fail.¡±
¡°Then what do you think I¡¯m trying to achieve?¡±
Li Youdun paused to ponder but shook his head in the end. ¡°You¡¯re unpredictable.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t even know what I¡¯m trying to execute and yet you¡¯re so determined of my failure? I can guarantee you some decent results.¡± Xia Lei left his seat for the door.
Just before Xia Lei disappears out of sight, Li Youdun roared to his retreating back. ¡°You should¡¯ve sent me to Bureau 101. You¡¯ve got no right to restrain me!¡±
¡°Right?¡± Xia Lei nced back at Li Youdun. ¡°My fists are all the right I need. For now, just shut up and enjoy your stay.¡±
¡°How am I supposed to use the washroom all tied up?¡±
¡°Oh crap, I almost forgot about that.¡± Xia Lei strode towards a corner of the wall and kicked an empty bucket over to Li Youdun. ¡°Sorry, but you would need to make do with this.¡±
It took a while for Xia Lei to emerge from the underground chamber. He had only arrived at his study for a short while when Lu Sheng appeared with a huge box of items.
¡°Director Xia, these are things I¡¯ve gathered from Qing Caiyue¡¯s office and pantry. Please take a look.¡± The muscr man ced the box down on Xia Lei¡¯s desk.
¡°Thank you, my brother. You¡¯re free to leave now, I¡¯ll handle the rest from here,¡± dismissed Xia Lei.
¡°There¡¯s no need to be so courteous with me. We¡¯re fellow disciples for crying out loud.¡± Lu Sheng grinned, showing his pearly whites. With that, the man left Xia Lei to his privacy.
Xia Lei began to pull everything out from the box. There were cosmetic products, books, notebooks, stationeries and an Appleptop.
His search had taken less time than anticipated. Other than theptop, Qing Caiyue¡¯s other belongings were normal and had no spying device. Xia Lei averted his gaze on to the unassumingptop. If there were to be anything, it¡¯d probably be in her personalptop.
But before he could even move to boot herptop, his phone began to ring.
The satellite phone was ringing and the caller was Long Bing.
¡°I¡¯m already back in China, I¡¯ll be flying to Jingdu tonight.¡± Long Bing¡¯s voice was audibly strained from exhaustion, but her hint of joy was unmasked.
¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯re back. I¡¯ll prepare you something to eat to wee you home.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s spirits were immediately lifted.
¡°Sure, I¡¯m going to hang up now.¡± And she did.
Xia Lei smiled fondly. Long Bing was still as untalkative as ever. Despite that, Xia Lei always had a hard time dealing with a warmed up Long Bing. Her coldness, her passion, her wildness. Everything about Long Bing was so intoxicating and Xia Lei was high on her love.
Chapter 978 - A Lively Family
Long Bing was hometer that night. The moment her eyes met Xia Lei¡¯s, she lunged into his embrace and buried her head in the crook of his neck. There were no tears, only silence. When engaged in battle, Long Bing wouldn¡¯t show a moment of hesitation when it came to killing. This tender moment was highly contrasting, in which the cold-blooded agent was now huddled up in the warmth of her lover. Xia Lei was the only man in the world who could support a woman like her. He was the only man who could be her shoulder and allow her the vulnerability of bing the smaller woman.
Her mission in Japan was a failure, meaning that the veryst note of her career as Bureau 101¡¯s special agent wasced with regret.
Xia Lei allowed her to enjoy the grounded peace for a while. At some point, he soothed into her ear gently, ¡°It¡¯s alright. We make mistakes. Failure is inevitable but what¡¯s most important is that you¡¯re safe and sound.¡±
Long Bing lifted her head from the side. ¡°I¡¯m fine with myst mission being a failure but my colleagues are my biggest regrets. They all fell prey to the Japanese and they did not make it back. How am I supposed to face their parents? Their wives? And their kids?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. Those agents that had joined the mission had family anticipating their safe return. So many people would be hurt by the news and that little anticipation would meet no resolution. This expectation would be eternal grief.
¡°Have you caught the spy?¡± Long Bing¡¯s nce was sharp and cold.
Xia Lei knew what it spelt. ¡°I did.¡±
¡°Bring me to him.¡±
¡°Ah Bing, wait. Listen to me.¡± Xia Lei looked at her in the eye. ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to do but I¡¯ve interrogated the spy. He¡¯s not the one who leaked information about your mission.¡±
That took Long Bing back. ¡°How is that possible?¡±
Xia Lei exined further, ¡°I had the same thought but I believe him. His sole target was Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s new material and drone. He wouldn¡¯t spend extra effort to leak details about your mission.¡±
¡°Who is the spy?¡±
¡°Li Youdun.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°His identity was a material scientist working for the Thunder Horse Organization. I even gave the new project to him thinking he could manage it.¡±
Long Bing jogged her memory. ¡°If you¡¯re talking about that person, I would believe his words. My mission to Japan was top secret. There¡¯s no way he¡¯d find out about it.¡±
¡°Ah Bing, I suspect that...¡±
¡°Who do you suspect?¡±
¡°That it might be the Tang family who did this,¡± said Xia Lei.
Long Bing froze. She wanted to say something but her gaping lips could produce no sound. She and Tang Yuyan shared a close rtionship. They were essentially sisters. She and Tang Yuyan had experienced deadly battles together and they would both be each other¡¯s shield. However, if Xia Lei¡¯s suspicion were to be true, there was no way Tang Yuyan had nothing to do with it. Because even if she hadn¡¯t leaked the information directly, she was no doubt an aplice.
Xia Lei offered, ¡°Long Bing, would you like me to look into this?¡±
¡°No, please don¡¯t.¡± Long Bing was quick to reject.
¡°Why? Don¡¯t you yearn for an answer?¡±
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°If the Tang family is behind this, I... I don¡¯t wish to find out more.¡±
Xia Lei only sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll respect your decision. If you wish to investigate this, I will do it for you. But if you don¡¯t wish to learn the truth, I¡¯ll stay out of it.¡±
Sometimes, ignorance was bliss.
¡°It¡¯s time for dinner.¡± Fan Fan called from a direction behind Xia Lei. ¡°How about you save those affectionate disys forter?¡±
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go eat something. Fan Fan and Siyao are almost done with dinner preparations.¡±
Long Bing teased, ¡°Didn¡¯t you mention that you¡¯ll cook a meal for me? Why is it Sister Fan Fan and Siyao in the kitchen tonight?¡±
¡°Well...¡± Xia Lei answered, ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m out here to wee you.¡±
Long Bing smiled endearingly, choosing to say nothing else. Men were always more willing to go the extra mile when trying to woo someone. They would try to make their qualities stand out and might even do their best to prepare an entire feast for the sake of impressing their interest. However, once they had sessfully gotten the girl, they became morecent. This was amon thing among men and Xia Lei was no different. Despite that, Long Bing was certain that her love for him had only deepened.
When the three women were gathered together, the level of their affection was higher than that seen between a pair of besties.
¡°I¡¯m so d you¡¯re home. You have no idea how worried Siyao and I were.¡± Fan Fan hugged Long Bing tightly.
¡°Try not to dwell on it for too long. To be able to return home safe and sound is all that matters.¡± Liang Siyao gave Long Bing another warm hug.
The three pregnant women started to chat excitedly among themselves,pletely casting Xia Lei aside.
¡°Ruyi will be moving here two dayster. She already wrote her resignation letter and she¡¯ll be joining our family very soon. This house is going to be so lively.¡± Xia Lei attempted to use a topic to shove himself inside their circle. Both Fan Fan and Liang Siyao were aware of the arrangement but Long Bing had yet to hear about it.
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°You must be on cloud nine. Four wives for you to kiss here and there. Your house is about to be converted into your perverted utopia.¡±
Tossing the word ¡®perverted¡¯ into the conversation had Xia Lei cringe inwardly.
Fan Fanughed. ¡°Hubby, is your mind already supplying you with tons of perverted ideas?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°No, not at all. I¡¯m just thinking if I should go custom make a bed big enough for the four of you.¡±
Liang Siyao and Fan Fan choked at the same time, cheeks flushing red at the indication.
Even Long Bing, the quietest of them all, was flustered. She tossed a re at Xia Lei. ¡°You damned bastard, you¡¯re not just thinking about custom making a bed for four. You¡¯re going to include a space for yourself too, right?¡±
Of course, there would be some space saved for himself. Or else, why the need for a custom made piece?
¡°I also want to buy a mahjong table for the four of you. That way you won¡¯t get bored as your pregnancy progresses. Mahjong is the perfect activity for four,¡± said Xia Lei with a smile.
¡°Fuck you. Do you wish for your children to be gamblers?¡± Liang Siyao guffawed. But her refusal was shallow as she had pictured how the four of them would spend time beating each other in mahjong while Xia Lei would serve them tea from aside.
After dinner, the women set to clearing the table. They remained in the kitchen to chatter.
Xia Lei opted to stand by the door of the kitchen to spy on their conversation.
¡°He should sleep alone tonight. We need to all refuse to sleep with him,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°You said the same thingst time but we wound up in bed together atst.¡± Fan Fan chuckled. ¡°Just surrender to your fate, our family is bound to be lively even in bed.¡±
¡°He¡¯s listening to us at the door. Do you two really need to discuss that?¡± Long Bing turned her head around to look at the door. Though she couldn¡¯t spot Xia Lei, she noticed his presence. Plus, his shadows against the kitchen flooring was a dead giveaway.
¡°Hubby, you¡¯re insanely shameless. We¡¯re gossiping here, can¡¯t we have some privacy?¡±ined Fan Fan jokingly.
¡°Yeah, why are you so shameless?¡± Liang Siyao chimed.
It was only then that Xia Lei appeared in their sight. He smiled at them. ¡°If I had shame, there¡¯s no way your bellies would be so big.¡±
They spluttered.
¡°Also, I better say this seriously.¡± Xia Lei shifted the atmosphere. ¡°The spy is in the Peace Mansion.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± The sudden revtion elicited confusion.
¡°Li Youdun.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I chained him up in the underground chamber. He¡¯s my torture chambers¡¯ first customer.¡±
¡°Hubby, why did you not surrender him to the authority?¡± Liang Siyao was positively perplexed.
Long Bing joined in. ¡°Yeah, you can¡¯t just keep him chained like that. Once word gets out, you¡¯ll be in trouble. How about we just kill this man and keep the problem at bay?¡±
¡°Such a huge issue needs to be reported. The trouble would be gigantic if you continue to keep mum about it,¡± warned Fan Fan.
His lovers all had different opinions.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I¡¯m bringing this up to in hopes for a discussion. I¡¯ve got a n but as soon as the news gets out, my n can no longer be executed.¡±
¡°What is the n?¡± Liang Siyao and Long Bing asked in unison.
Xia Lei entered the kitchen and hugged the three women. Then, he whispered into their ears.
¡°If that¡¯s the case, you imprisoning Li Youdun won¡¯t be a problem. But how exactly are you going to continue hiding this?¡± Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but be concerned.
Long Bingmented, ¡°If Tang Yuyan finds out about this, she will certainly bring Li Youdun away. She¡¯s the head of Bureau 101 and she has all the right to do so. You won¡¯t be able to stop her.¡±
All of these concerns, Xia Lei had already considered. Sadly, a good solution felt so out of reach. It was true that he had no right to continue what he was doing. tantly put, his current act of imprisonment was illegal. If Tang Yuyan were to press on the issue, he would be in deep legal trouble.
Xia Lei turned to look at Fan Fan. ¡°Darling, do you have any ideas?¡±
Fan Fan pondered. ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll go talk to the authorities and tell them about your n. It is a usible n. If it works, we¡¯ll be able to trick the other party onto the wrong path. I¡¯m sure the authority would be interested and attracted to agree. With permission from above, you¡¯ll be able to do everything with a peace of mind.¡±
Her words made Xia Lei smile. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s settled then. Do you wish to go take a look at him?¡±
The three women looked at each other, seeking confirmation.
Liang Siyao was the first to speak. ¡°I¡¯ve seen that Li Youdun around but I¡¯ve got no interest. I¡¯m not going to see him.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t wish to see him too,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Me neither.¡± Truthfully, Long Bing was tempted to go but changed her mind when Liang Siyao and Fan Fan had refused to do so.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s just go to the room then.¡±
¡°Ah, I¡¯ll pass from that.¡± Liang Siyao rejected with a grin.
¡°Me too,¡± added Long Bing.
¡°Me three,¡± responded Fan Fan.
Slow and steady, Xia Lei convinced, ¡°I just learnt a new massage method and I would love for you three to try it out. Since you¡¯re not keen on it, I¡¯ll just forget about it. Oh right, that massage is great for babies. It¡¯ll help them grow taller in theter years.¡±
¡°Huh? Is it really that good?¡± Fan Fan was half suspicious.
Xia Lei pointed to his skull. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, their father is not any regr man. I can create advanced machinery out of thin air. A massage technique is just a piece of cake to create. Nevermind, I¡¯m going to go back to my room to sleep. I gotta enter the marketter to earn some money for milk powder.¡±
Fan Fan and Liang Siyao reached out to grab his elbow and Long Bing took the move to grip his cor.
¡°Since you¡¯re so adamant, let¡¯s go. We got three people here, you¡¯re not threatening at all,¡± challenged Long Bing. She began to pull Xia Lei along like a cow.
Liang Siyao and Fan Fan both tugged on his arm to push him forward. The three women were like heart-shaped locks, locking Xia Lei solid and diminishing any chance of escape.
As soon as they got into the room, the three women got onto the bed.
¡°Come on, begin the massage. I¡¯ll like to try this new massage technique you mentioned,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°If it doesn¡¯t feel nice, we¡¯ll beat you up,¡± huffed Liang Siyao.
¡°Try to press harder on my waist, I¡¯ve been suffering aches there these past few days,¡± instructed Long Bing.
Unexpectedly, Xia Lei began to strip.
¡°Wait, why are you stripping?¡±
¡°You¡¯re a filthy liar.¡±
¡°Don¡¯te near us... Kya!¡±
Chapter 979 - Wedding Invitation
Tang Yuyan arrived at the Thunder Horse¡¯s Jingdu headquarters first thing in the morning. Tolling behind her was a huge group of Bureau 101¡¯s special agents. The promise was to give Xia Lei two days and today was the very end of the agreed time limit.
¡°Barricade the area, no one is allowed to leave this premise. Go and take over the surveince system. No one is exempted from the investigation. You must not miss anyone.¡± Tang Yuyanid down her instructions.
With that, her subordinates quickly set to work. A few agents had already controlled the situation at the entrance in a blink of an eye. The security guards opted to stay out of their way.
As Tang Yuyan¡¯s agents took over the entrance, a security guard with a particrly special background picked up the phone.
The guard was none other than E¡¯er Demutu of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
¡°What are you doing? Put the phone down!¡± One of the agents yelled in response.
That earned a scowl from E¡¯er Demutu. ¡°And what are you all trying to do? If you wish to take over this area, I need to inform our Director Xia about it.¡±
¡°Put it down!¡± The agent threatened, ¡°Or I won¡¯t go easy on you!¡±
And so E¡¯er Demutu ced the device down and stood to leave for the door.
¡°Hey, stay here and don¡¯t wander around.¡± The agent remained aggressive.
Despite that, E¡¯er Demutu ignored his tant threat and continued to head towards the door.
That prompted the agent to grab E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s shoulder. With a slight shake of his shoulder, E¡¯er Demutu casually evaded the agent¡¯s grip.
Other than Tang Yuyan, no one here was worthy to be his opponent.
But as that agent attempted to grasp his shoulder again, E¡¯er Demutu gave up on fighting back. He allowed the agent to hold him by the shoulder without a word. Though anger was starting to bud in his heart, E¡¯er Demutu was clear that he must refrain from doing anything. If he had done so, his repercussions could be considered insignificant. But Xia Lei, on the other hand, would get the short end of the stick.
¡°You¡¯re pretty bold. Just stay still and do nothing already!¡± The agent utilized the contact to push at E¡¯er Demutu harshly, making the man stagger. The man almost fell to the ground due to the sudden aggression.
But once again, E¡¯er Demutu remained docile. He returned to his chair and watched Tang Yuyanying out each of her orders to her subordinates through the ss window without an expression on his face.
Making sure everyone had a task to aplish, Tang Yuyan finally began to head towards the office block.
At this moment, a Hongqi car drove into the main gate. Recognizing the vehicle, Tang Yuyan¡¯s brows couldn¡¯t help but be gathered at the centre of her forehead. The car te it had was no different from that used by civilians but Tang Yuyan knew the woman inside it was no regr person.
Before long, Tang Yuyan could tell who was the driver of the Hongqi car. However, her subordinates could not tell who the driver was. One of the agents approached the Hongqi car. ¡°Reverse! No one is allowed to leave this ce!¡±
Rolling the windows down, Fan Fan peeked out of the vehicle. ¡°Move aside!¡±
The unexpected edge to the woman¡¯s tone took the agent aback.
¡°Do I need to repeat myself?¡± Fan Fan looked especially fierce.
¡°Who are you? What right do you have to be so loud?¡± The agent went closer to the car with a dark expression.
Fan Fan turned to look at Tang Yuyan, who stood beside the path. Fan Fan screamed at her, ¡°Tang Yuyan, what the hell are you doing here?¡±
¡°I¡¯m here to do what I need to do.¡± After that, Tang Yuyan gestured. ¡°You may let this person leave.¡±
The agent blocking the car¡¯s path moved away.
Surprisingly, Fan Fan made no move to leave. Instead, she exited the car and went straight to Tang Yuyan. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you¡¯re here for. I¡¯m giving you one minute to instruct a full retreat away from the Thunder Horse Organization. One minute on the dot, I will not tolerate an extra second!¡±
Tang Yuyan was so mad that she resorted to cackling instead. ¡°You robbed me of love and now you¡¯re telling me how to do my job? Who the hell do you think you are? Are you the queen?¡±
A cold smirk appeared on the edge of Fan Fan¡¯s lip as well. ¡°I robbed you of love? Was Xia Lei your husband or your boyfriend? If I remember correctly, he was neither. How could you say that I robbed him away from you? Even Shentu Tianyin reserves no right to use those words on me, let alone you!¡±
¡°Enough, I don¡¯t wish to argue. You¡¯re free to go about your daily activities. Do not interfere with my duty.¡± When faced with Fan Fan, Tang Yuyan still had reservations.
¡°You¡¯re disrupting Thunder Horse¡¯s stability.¡± Fan Fan snapped, ¡°I said I¡¯m giving you one minute to stop your operation. Exceeding one more second of the promised time frame will lead to me phoning the authorities. You best not forget that I¡¯m Xia Lei¡¯s fiance and our wedding is just around the corner!¡±
It was a statement that dealt double damage and it was something Tang Yuyan refused to shoulder.
¡°You know what I¡¯m here for!¡± Tang Yuyan was beginning to lose herposure.
¡°Yeah, I know that you¡¯re here for the spy. But I must tell you that the issue had already been handled by my husband. You can go see him but you must go alone. Alright, one minute is up.¡± Fan Fan checked her wristwatch and brought out her phone.
Tang Yuyan chewed on her bottom lip before making the decision to speak into her walkie-talkie. ¡°Everyone, leave the premise and await mymand in the car.¡±
¡°See, it¡¯s not that hard. Farewell, I gotta leave now.¡± Fan Fan turned around and climbed into her car.
Watching Fan Fan¡¯s car leave through the gate fuelled Tang Yuyan with the violent desire to fire a missile at the back of the vehicle.
The Bureau 101 agents retreated and Tang Yuyan appeared at Xia Lei¡¯s office doorter on.
¡°Siyao, your belly seems a tad bitrger than before.¡± She could hear Long Bing¡¯s voice.
¡°Really? No wonder I felt like I was gaining weight,¡± replied Liang Siyao.
¡°It¡¯s a pity that my stomach has no obvious change yet.¡±
Liang Siyaoforted, ¡°You just got pregnant. There¡¯s no need to rush. It¡¯s bound to swell bigger by the day. When that timees, your knees will be screaming for help with every step you take.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll be here to give your legs a good massage,¡± offered Xia Lei kindly.
¡°Fuck you, your massages always lead to no good.¡± Long Bing jeered in return.
¡°Yeah, you promised us a massagest night and yet you fucked us all. We will not fall prey to your tricks next time.¡± Liang Siyao drawled, with an edge of a coquettish tease. The hint of seduction was strong. It was alluring but also yful at the same time.
Tang Yuyan could not take it further. She reached out and rapped on the door twice, exerting more force than needed.
¡°Who knocks a door this loud?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice rang.
¡°I¡¯ll go answer it,¡± said Xia Lei as he left for the door.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Tang Yuyan¡¯s pulse began to pick up with anxiety. It felt almost as if she was reliving her past and the recognition of such thought pricked her heart painfully.
The door opened to reveal Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan could only take in the sight, unable to utter all the dialogue she had nned earlier.
¡°Oh, it¡¯s Yuyan. Come on in,¡± invited Xia Lei.
To which she took as a cue to enter.
¡°Yuyan.¡± Long Bing greeted her curtly.
¡°Ah Bing,¡± responded Tang Yuyan, her eyes never once meeting the other woman¡¯s eyes.
Liang Siyao did not extend a greeting. There were no signs of friendliness in her eyes. Liang Siyao and Long Bing were essentially bedmates, there was no way she wouldn¡¯t have known the possibility of the Tang family behind Long Bing¡¯s disaster in Japan. She may have had some good blood with Tang Yuyan back then but now, said goodwill was close to non-existent.
¡°Here, take a seat.¡± Xia Lei gestured to the chairs. ¡°I¡¯ll go make you some tea. What tea would you like to have?¡±
Tang Yuyan did not sit. She refused, ¡°No need for that. I¡¯m not here for tea and a catch-up session. Plus, I do not wish to interrupt your private time. Let¡¯s just dive straight into the topic, you know what I¡¯m here for.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Very well then, I¡¯ll make this short. We¡¯ve managed to capture the spy. Turns out, it was my secretary, Qing Caiyue. Unfortunately, she has alreadymitted suicide to avoid charges. Her body is still in the security guard¡¯s room. I can bring you over to check on it. Other than that, all her belongings are gathered and you¡¯re free to bring it away.¡±
There was a moment of silence before Tang Yuyan spoke again. ¡°So it was your secretary?¡±
Xia Lei confirmed, ¡°Yes, it was her.¡±
Tang Yuyan was not convinced. ¡°I¡¯ve met your secretary a few times and I¡¯m clear about what she is capable of. How could she possibly be the spy? You must have missed someone.¡±
¡°I missed no one. The spy really was her,¡± insisted Xia Lei.
¡°I want to investigate further,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Tang Yuyan, that¡¯s not up to you to decide. This is the Thunder Horse Organization and I would like to remind you that this isn¡¯t a regrpany. This establishment concerns the strategic interest of this country.¡± Liang Siyao continued, ¡°If you wish to challenge politics and capitalism, I advise that you target elsewhere instead.¡±
¡°What the hell are you saying?!¡± Tang Yuyan was immediately ticked off.
¡°I¡¯m sure you heard that well. There¡¯s definitely no need for me to repeat myself, right?¡± Liang Siyao was not backing off either.
¡°Siyao, quit it,¡± warned Xia Lei.
It was only then that Liang Siyao kept quiet.
Xia Lei persisted, ¡°Yuyan, just bring Qing Caiyue¡¯s body and belongings back to the bureau. You can¡¯t just order a further investigation here like that.¡±
Tang Yuyan eyed the man suspiciously. ¡°What are you hiding from me?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°If there really was a spy, I¡¯d be more anxious than you. How could you use me of hiding something from you? Trust me, this whole thing hase to an end.¡±
Ring... Ring...
Tang Yuyan¡¯s phone rang. She quickly answered it. ¡°Hello? Yes, godfather? What? Uh... Alright, I¡¯ll end the investigation.¡±
It was a call from Shi Boren. Learning that Tang Yuyan had received orders from her superior allowed Xia Lei¡¯s heart to heave a relieved sigh. This was all thanks to Fan Fan, who had managed to convince the authorities to have him handle the situation himself. Xia Lei was now able to proceed with his ns without the involvement of Tang Yuyan and Bureau 101. For Shi Boren to phone Tang Yuyan personally was a great indication of how much the authorities had supported him. Xia Lei could go all out now!
Ending the call, Tang Yuyan turned to look at him. ¡°I¡¯ll bring away the body and belongings. This marks the end of the spy case. Despite that, I must warn you. Do not y with fire. The support you receive now must turn into an obstacle in the future.¡±
¡°Thanks.¡± Xia Lei went to his desk and produced a wedding invitation from one of his drawers. He then passed it into Tang Yuyan¡¯s hand. ¡°My wedding with Fan Fan will be on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. I would like for you to attend...¡±
Tang Yuyan gazed at Xia Lei in solemn silence. ¡°Have you not hurt me enough?¡±
Xia lei could only chuckle bitterly at that. ¡°Yuyan, I¡¯m inviting you to my wedding as a friend. You¡¯re free to not attend it.¡±
Without warning, Tang Yuyan snatched the invitation away from Xia Lei¡¯s grip. ¡°I¡¯ll be there! I¡¯d like to see how your three bridesmaids would look at the wedding.¡±
The three bridesmaids in mention were obviously Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi.
Hearing that, Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at Tang Yuyan out of exasperation.
Long Bing had seemed unfazed by the chaos as if she had chosen to ignore all of Tang Yuyan¡¯s thornced words.
Tang Yuyan turned to leave.
And Xia Lei made no move to make her stay.
In life, some things were just meant to be given up on.
Chapter 980 - Imposter Show
In the dark suffocating night, the underground chamber was lit.
Xia Lei woke Qing Caiyue¡¯sptop up and turned the screen towards Li Youdun. Disyed before him was a text document. It said He started showing signs of affection towards me, much to my surprise. To be honest, he pales greatly inparison to Director Xia. However, ever since a certain woman with the surname ¡®Liang¡¯ entered the picture, I knew I longer stood a chance. That woman wouldn¡¯t let me near Director Xia. Sigh, I guess this is life. That night in Paris was my best shot at it but I wasted it. Now there¡¯s no way for me to woo Director Xia and I should really quit barking up the wrong tree. The man is a material scientist and he¡¯s a very gentle and caring man. All his qualities are decent, should I consider him? Jeez, this is such a dilemma...
Xia Lei clicked on another file. I had sex with him and I must say, he performed adequately. He told me that he had a way to secure me an American Green Card. He said that he could even help me change my nationality. I¡¯m not after the Green Card but to be an American citizen has been my dream. I wasn¡¯t expecting myself to earn something out of this. Had the goddess of luck decided to bless me? He made me promise to not tell anyone and keep the secret between us. I¡¯m not that foolish of a person. Why would I want to tell anyone about this?
Xia Lei continued to open another few more files.
By the time when they were at the sixth file, Li Youdun finally spoke. ¡°This is impossible! I formatted herptop!¡±
Nonchntly, Xia Lei replied, ¡°I was able to recover the data on her hard disk. These are enough to serve as evidence andnd you on the death row.¡±
Li Youdun huff coldly. ¡°You think I¡¯m afraid of dying?¡±
¡°Of course not.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Tell me, who were youmunicating with? Those Delta Force members wouldn¡¯t appear here out of the blue with no clear reason. Who was the one who ordered them here?¡±
Li Youdun spat onto the ground.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I¡¯m offering you a chance at life. Are you sure you don¡¯t want it?¡±
Li Youdun said, ¡°Quit lying. Even if I tell you everything I know and you managed to obtain the things you¡¯re after, you would still kill me in the end. Is that right?¡±
¡°That wasn¡¯t my n.¡±
¡°Save your energy.¡± Li Youdun scoffed. ¡°It¡¯s either you kill me or hand me to Bureau 101. Just give up on your dodgy n. You need to remember that you¡¯re up against the whole of America!¡±
¡°You said that my n was dodgy. Now I must ask you, what do you think my n is?¡±
¡°Your n is not hard to guess.¡± Li Youdun answered, ¡°You wish to destroy the CIA informants nted in Jingdu. If you¡¯re done with that, your next target is the CIA headquarters and the AE Research Centre, right? I can tell you with confidence that none of your goals will seed.¡±
¡°Are the informants in Jingdu that hard to locate?¡±
Li Youdun said nothing.
¡°What if I tell you that making you spill that out was part of my n? Honestly, it¡¯s probably the easiest part of it,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re insane.¡±
Xia Lei, unfazed by his words, made the move to p his hands.
Suddenly, someone entered the underground chamber down its stairs.
Recognizing the new presence, Li Youdun¡¯s eyes went wide. No matter how he looked at it, their face and body was an exact copy of his! There wasn¡¯t an imperfection at all!
The Li Youdun replica was silent, the man strutted over leisurely in front of Xia Lei and Li Youdun. Even making a stop to turn around so that the other two could look at his back.
Even his back was terrifyingly simr to that of Li Youdun¡¯s.
The replica stopped to stand beside Xia Lei, cing a palm on his shoulder.
Xia Lei immediately pped his hand away. ¡°Quit fooling around, we¡¯re in the middle of a serious business.¡±
¡°Ohe on, I wasn¡¯t doing anything!¡± The replica¡¯s voice was pitchy and sharp.
Li Youdun was immediately reminded of someone. ¡°You¡¯re... You¡¯re Qin Xiang!¡±
¡°Fuck!¡± The imposter¡¯s face immediately warped exaggeratedly. ¡°What the fuck man? I can¡¯t even fucking tell myself apart and this bastard already manages to identify me? Are you a dog or something?¡±
Li Youdun huffed. ¡°If you wish to act as me, you better learn how to act like a man first.¡±
Without warning, Qin Xiang stomped hard on Li Youdun¡¯s lower abdomen without mercy. But Li Youdun had only shifted a little without a mere furrow of his brows.
While there was no response from Li Youdun, Xia Lei¡¯s brows were scrunched up furiously. ¡°This is not working! This is not it! Qin Xiang, you¡¯re not suitable to y his part. As soon as you talk, you¡¯ll be exposed.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t just ask your future brother inw to be this guy¡¯s imposter again. There will be no problem if you make him stay in the office but if you put him up against a CIA agent, I can almost guarantee that your sister will end up a widow,¡± hissed Qin Xiang.
¡°Fuck you.¡± Xia Lei red at Qin Xiang sharply.
Qin Xiang only shrugged a little. ¡°Fine, ignore what I¡¯ve said then. You¡¯ll be sorry when your sister gets heartbroken.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Li Youdun abruptly burst intoughter.
Xia Lei squinted at him. ¡°What are youughing at?¡±
It took some work for Li Youdun to stopughing. ¡°I¡¯ve always found you smart but I was sorely mistaken. When facing some things, your response is just like that of a childish wildly imaginative kid.¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying that I¡¯m naive?¡± Xia Lei was finally feeling the build-up of anger.
The angrier Xia Lei seemed, the happier Li Youdun felt. Soon, there was a mocking smirk at the edge of the spy¡¯s lips. ¡°Those who hade in contact with me would be able to tell that you¡¯re an imposter. You might justify your n with the amount of effort spent but all it takes is a few minutes ofmunication for it to fail.¡±
Xia Lei roared, ¡°Stop trying to trick me into cancelling my ns! As long as I solve the voice issue, this whole thing will work fine!¡±
¡°Hmph, you¡¯re naive as hell. Other than voice, you would also need my fingerprint and cornea...¡° Immediately Li Youdun shut up.
¡°Hehehe...¡± Xia Lei chuckled delightedly. ¡°I see. So we need your fingerprint and cornea. With that, I can tell that your informant circle must be pretty well-established in Jingdu.¡±
Li Youdun kept silent.
Xia Lei tapped on Qing Caiyue¡¯sptop to y freshly-recorded footage. On the screen, Li Youdun spoke and at times he was shocked and he was mad. There was a good variety of his bodynguage captured too. This was literally an educational example for an imposter.
Li Youdun could no longer maintain his calm front. It was only then that he realized that Xia Lei was taunting him to obtain valuable reference!
¡°Qin Xiang, you can head back now. I¡¯ll talk to you tomorrow,¡± said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang pouted. ¡°You¡¯re tossing me away after using me? You¡¯re a heartless man!¡±
With Qin Xiang¡¯s departure, Xia Lei and Li Youdun were the only ones left in the underground chamber. The absence of the other turned the atmosphere stiff and eerie.
¡°Do you wish to replicate my fingerprint and cornea?¡± Li Youdun attempted to probe.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯m replicating the former and borrowing thetter. I jogged my memory back to the first time we met. I noticed that you¡¯ve got a very faint mark on the hole of your left eye and brow bone. Thinking back, it must be where your left eye sits on the scanner. Therefore, I would only need to borrow your left cornea.¡±
¡°Impossible!¡± There was terror glinting in Li Youdun¡¯s eyes. He could not believe that Xia Lei was able to recall their first meeting in great detail. The man was even able to notice very minute details from memory! To be able to achieve that, Li Youdun was sure that Xia Lei¡¯s eyes and mind would have to achieve the same capabilities of a camera and microscope. But how was that possible?
Xia Lei folded Qing Caiyue¡¯sptop and opened another box. Inside the box was a syringe and a scalpel, along with a small liquid nitrogen cold storage equipment. The man picked up the syringe and began walking towards Li Youdun.
¡°So you¡¯re going to be the one imposing as me. Not Qing Xiang and certainly not Liu Zhengnan, right?¡± Li Youdun tried his hardest to suppress his horror. He wasn¡¯t afraid that Xia Lei would torture him but he had feared the possible damage to his eye!
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, the CIA informant base in Jingdu would beplicated to infiltrate. The leader in charge of this base won¡¯t be someone easy either. If I need to trick his eyes and mind, I must see to this personally. I can¡¯t have anyone else do the job for me.¡±
Li Youdun smirked sadistically. ¡°There¡¯s a spot saved for you in hell.¡±
¡°Even if I go to hell, I¡¯d still be a vengeful ghost that the King of Hell would fear.¡± And then, Xia Lei stabbed the syringe deep into Li Youdun¡¯s neck.
Half an hourter, the man exited the underground chamber with the box in his hands. In the box, were all the things he had extracted from Li Youdun. His first step of the n wasplete.
Passing by his room, he noticed that the lights were still on and he could vaguely make out the voices of his three pregnant lovers. They sounded like they were having fun. He paused momentarily before heading towards the study. Women were like alcohol to him. But even the best alcohol was still harmful if over consumed. Plus, despite his incredibly strong physique, his lovers were carrying his child. He needed to protect their bodies for the sake of his children. Hence, if it wasn¡¯t too much of a pain to hold it in, he would have to control his urges for a while.
Entering his study, Xia Lei locked the box in his safe and retrieved his hackingptop. Tonight, he was going to sell off all of his Chlore shares.
Ring... Ring...
¡°Jeez, who is it this time?¡± Xia Lei slid his phone out. Upon recognizing the number, he froze a little.
It was Shentu Tianyin.
He let it ring for a while before Xia Lei decided to answer it. ¡°Tianyin, why are you still awake at this hour?¡±
¡°I could ask you the same.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve got something going on at hand. I¡¯m going to bed after it¡¯s settled with,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°Uh...¡±
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±
¡°Are they around you?¡± Shentu Tianyin attempted to pry.
Xia Lei chuckled dryly. ¡°No, they¡¯re asleep now.¡±
¡°Ah, that¡¯s a relief to hear. If they were around you, I¡¯ll just leave with a mere greeting. Since they¡¯re not here, let¡¯s talk,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Despite the invitation, Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what else was there left to talk about with her.
¡°I heard that you¡¯re marrying Fan Fan on the fourth day of New Year, right?¡±
¡°Yes, I am.¡±
¡°Are you not going to invite me to the ceremony?¡±
¡°Of course, I¡¯m going to send you an invitation soon. If you¡¯re avable that day, I really wish that you can attend it.¡±
¡°I can ept the invitation card but I think it¡¯s best for me to be absent. I can¡¯t bear the sight of my ex-husband marrying another woman.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice wasced with great despair.
Xia Lei could only sigh lightly in the background. ¡°Sure, I won¡¯t force you intoing. You¡¯re free to make a decision.¡± There was a slight pause before he switched the topic. ¡°That reminds me, how¡¯s the progress of Vientiane¡¯s entry into the American market?¡±
¡°Sigh, you¡¯re switching topics again.¡± Shentu Tianyin made a disappointed sigh. ¡°Well, you know that I was never one to defy your opinion. You asked me to not go to America and so I cancelled my trip. Vientiane Group will officially enter the market tonight but there will not be any physical ceremony.¡±
¡°It¡¯s best to not go, then...¡±
¡°Let me end the call this time. Good night.¡± Shentu Tianyin hung up.
What was left behind was Xia Lei, slumped against the back of his chair in absolute silence.
Chapter 981 - Protector of the Clan
As soon as the American stock market opened, Vientiane Group¡¯s shares rose rapidly. The same thing had happened to Chlore¡¯s stock, all thanks to Isabelle¡¯s article. Her publication was evidence-based and with that, it brought along a new crowd of eager investors.
There was demand and not many were willing to sell their share that night. Xia Lei literally did not require much effort to sell away all of his Chlore shares. Thepany¡¯s shares were destined to face another rise but Xia Lei had decided to pass. Rather than getting investigated by the American Securities Regtory Commission for malicious maniption, leaving now was the best approach.
In total, Xia Lei had managed to earn two hundred and sixty million USD from Chlore¡¯s shares. Truthfully, these were all achieved through his maniption alone. If he had continued to manipte the marker more, he would certainly have profited more. His profits would triple or even quadruple its current amount.
Selling off all of the shares he held in Chlore Company, Xia Lei returned his attention to Vientiane Group¡¯s shares once again.
Surprisingly, despite the initial violent rise during the market¡¯s opening, Vientiane¡¯s share was falling. The phenomenon was absolute worrying.
Though the Vientiane Group had no presence in America, the group was widely famous in China. Any investor would be able to obtain information about it on the web. With Vientiane¡¯s financial reports, its debut in the American stock market was supposed to witness a rise. It was weird that it rose for a good two or three hours but plummetedter on. Judging the trend from the chart, it wouldn¡¯t even hit below the issue price.
¡°As expected, Centennial Funds have started their attack on Vientiane.¡± Xia Lei thought to himself darkly.
The frequency of him thinking about his ex-wife right before another marriage was not a good sign.
Ring... Ring...
The loud ringtone of his phone chased away his thoughts. As soon as recognition sank in, he realized that he really wasn¡¯t getting away from Shentu Tianyin today.
It was a call from Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Hu... Xia Lei, you¡¯re right. Someone is targeting Vientiane¡¯s share!¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tone hid none of her anxiety. The woman was understandably nervous and agitated.
Xia Lei understood where she wasing from. Vientiane Group held great fame in China. If the group¡¯s share had plummeted on the first day of its debut, the Chinese media would go ham with stering it all over the headlines tomorrow morning. In that case, Vientiane¡¯s share in China would be highly threatened.
¡°Do you remember thepany I mentioned earlier?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Of course. Centennial Fund, right?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice rang through the speaker.
¡°Yes, Centennial Fund.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°What is your next course of action?¡±
¡°Since they¡¯re short selling, I need to buy long,¡± answered Shentu Tianyin.
¡°I¡¯ll help you out. I have four hundred million USD on hand. I¡¯ll put them all into Vientiane¡¯s share now.¡±
¡°You... Why are you helping me?¡±
¡°We were once a married couple. Even if it¡¯s all in the past now, we still can be friends. To me, you¡¯re my best friend. I¡¯d like to help you out now that you¡¯re in trouble.¡± Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°But of course, I¡¯ll still be able to profit off Vientiane¡¯s shares.¡±
The hint of sadness in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was unmasked. ¡°What kind of a best friend am I to you? What is the nature of our dynamics?¡±
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure how to answer that.
¡°Come on, speak.¡±
¡°Best friends are best friends, just like... a BFF?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Yikes, I don¡¯t want a BFF as ugly as you.¡± Shentu Tianyin giggled, but herughter brought a bitter aftertaste.
¡°What about I call you bro? Being bros sounds good.¡±
¡°Are you saying that I¡¯m a tomboy?¡±
Xia Lei followed with another dry chuckle. ¡°Tianyin, let¡¯s just return to the topic. I studied the trend. If we wish to open a position, we need to do it below the issue price.¡± The man took another good look at the lines. ¡°If the issue price is eleven dors, we¡¯ll open the position at ten and a half dors. My maniption will consist of a quarter. Now, we wait till the share price rises to eleven dors to open the position at ten dors fifty cents. After two maniptions, I¡¯ll buy everything when the price is ten dors.¡±
¡°Are you sure that the share price would drop to ten dors?¡±
¡°Of course. I entered the American stock market with one hundred and forty million USD and now I have four hundred million USD. My predictions are on point. You need to have some faith in me. You¡¯ll be able to protect Vientiane and earn some money at the same time. What¡¯s not to like about it?¡± Xia Lei convinced with a smile.
¡°I believe you. I¡¯ve never once doubted your ability,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. Xia Lei¡¯s capabilities were the most charming things about him.
¡°Alright then, I¡¯m going to start working now,¡± uttered Xia Lei.
¡°I... Let me end the call instead. I¡¯m scared of you hanging up on me.¡± And with that, Shentu Tianyin cut the call.
Xia Lei sighed. There was a momentary pause before his fingers started to work again.
A few minutester, surveince footage of Centennial Fund¡¯s headquarters was sprawled all over theptop screen.
There seemed to be somemotion in the multipurpose meeting room. The old director of Centennial Fund, Connor, threw his coffee mug onto the tile floor and began to point fingers at his subordinates. ¡°Trash! All of you are trash! Chlore¡¯s shares rose rapidly but that bastard had already withdrawn. All the money he profited was ours! He bought shares from us at a lower price and sold it back to us for a much higher price! Now you all still have the face to tell me to continue short-selling Chlore¡¯s share? Are your brains filled with shit?¡±
No one dared to utter a word.
¡°That Isabelle bitch made valuable information known to the public. It¡¯s weird that she has evidence. Resuming our short-selling strategy is only equivalent to tossing money into theke. I¡¯ve decided that from now on, we¡¯re going to buy long for Chlore¡¯s share and short-sell Vientiane¡¯s share.¡± The silence that followed was deafening until Connor disrupted the tension, ¡°What are you all stalling there for? Get to work!¡±
Everyone quickly left the multipurpose meeting room.
Connor started to mumble to himself. ¡°Who the hell is that bastard? His strategy is spot-on and all maniptions were extremely precise. The man can¡¯t be someone unheard of in the capitalist circle.¡±
Unbeknownst to Connor, Xia Lei really wasn¡¯t someone well known among capitalists. But this was something no one would believe.
Xia Lei closed the surveince window and made a phone call. ¡°Uncle Xia, Sleep, Uncle Xia sleeps with his butt naked, Uncle Xia is a bad guy.¡±
Honick was once again reverted into his puppet form. Xia Lei proceeded toy down instructions to have Honick manipte the four ounts. The man could no longer care less about doing this himself. Unless he was nning to go up against major opponents, Xia Lei had decided to save his energy.
By the time Xia Lei returned to the bedroom, his three pregnant wives were already asleep. However, aside from Fan Fan, Liang Siyao and Long Bing¡¯s eyes immediately shot open as soon as he entered the room.
Xia Lei gestured for them to stay silent before joining them in bed. He lodged himself snug between Long Bing and Liang Siyao. Against the covers, Long Bing and Liang Siyao wrapped one of their legs around his body. Then, they snuggled their heads into the crook of his neck.
Everything felt mundane but romantic.
Meanwhile, in Naha military base, Okinawa, Japan...
In the hangar, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft was in the middle of a refuelling session while some Japanese soldiers bustled around loading military supplies onto the ne.
Several Mitsubishi off-road vehicles drove into the hangar and opened its doors to reveal Hattori Mei and Sirita with a huge bunch of frence agents from the FA Organization.
Hattori Mei nced at her wristwatch. ¡°This will be taking off in another half an hour. It¡¯ll bring you to Korea. There, you¡¯ll be able to sneak into China through a boat. Your arrival in Chinese territory will be greeted by our people. They will help you go into hiding in Jingdu.¡±
Sirita scowled. ¡°That¡¯s not our n.¡±
Hattori Mei answered, ¡°Indeed, this isn¡¯t your n but this is the best approach around this. ording to our informant, Thunder Horse Jingdu headquarters has already established an air defence system. They even equipped themselves with an S4000 air defence missile system. Even if the ne hijack was a sess, you won¡¯t be able toe close to their premise. Sadly, there¡¯s no point destroying their Haizhu and Shudi branches either. Are you sure you¡¯re going to stick with your ineffective n?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve got nothing againstnd-based operation but I must warn you that the FA Organization represents no country. If you wish to use us as cannon fodder, you¡¯ll pay for it.¡± Sirita¡¯s words had an edge.
¡°No one is trying to use the FA as cannon fodder. We¡¯re allies with the same goal.¡±
Sirita scoffed. ¡°You keep saying that we¡¯re allies, going on about noble things like unity and cooperation. If that really is the case, why is there no Japanese involvement for thisnd-based operation?¡±
Hattori Mei pped her palms lightly.
A beatter, an old man emerged out of a small door in the hangar. The old man looked to be in his sixties and his physique was rather small. Despite that, the piercing intensity of his eyes was immense and suffocating. There was a very worn-out leather suitcase in his hand along with a katana in his other hand. From the looks of it, the sheath and the handle of the katana seemed to indicate that the weapon was at least a century old. The old man¡¯s footsteps were slow. While there was nothing special about his appearance, his presence was intimidating and unique.
The old man came to a halt beside Hattori Mei and bowed to her. ¡°My Lady.¡±
Hattori Mei returned the bow. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you again, sensei.¡±
The old man¡¯s attention was brought onto Sirita. His eyes were peaceful, imposing transparent intimidation.
A smirk appeared on the edge of Sirita¡¯s lips. She could tell that this old man was a ridiculously strong samurai.
Hattori Mei introduced him. ¡°This is the protector of the Hattori n, Hattori Hyakusai. He has represented our n in past battles. I¡¯m sure this is sufficient to prove our sincerity, right?¡±
Hattori Hyakusai raised his katana. In that split second, tens of ninjas d in dark ninja uniforms showed themselves at every corner of the hangar.
Solemnly, Sirita replied, ¡°Yes, I believe that you¡¯re sincere.¡±
Hattori Mei smiled sweetly at her. ¡°I wish you all sess in advance.¡± Pausing for a bit, she came closer to whisper into Sirita¡¯s ear. ¡°If you managed to kill Xia Lei, please cut off his dick and bring it to me.¡±
Sirita had noment.
Chapter 982 - New Skill: Imitation
When the morning came, Xia Lei was up and awake hours before his three wives. Pregnant women needed that extra sleep. The three of them did not even stir when Xia Lei left the warmth of the bed. He made himself a rather simple breakfast and left to work promptly after finishing it. However, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t headed for the office block today. With hisptop and cosmetics toolbox, Xia Lei was going straight to the mansion¡¯s undergroundboratory.
In the undergroundboratory, he did not start to imitate Li Youdun nor start superimposing the spy¡¯s features on himself just yet. Instead, he brought out all of the important items he had stored in the undergroundboratory, the ancient alloy box, the bronze book, thepass and the broken armour.
It had taken him years to collect them all. The process was painfully slow but every time he felt closer to finding out the truth, new problems would arise and dull his hopes. The truth was hidden within these few items disyed before him. Though the items were just within his reach, Xia Lei was clear that the answers were still miles away. There was still a long way to go to uncover the truth.
¡°So many things had happened. I wonder if there will be any changes to thepass¡¯s direction?¡± A harmless little question manifested in Xia Lei¡¯s heart out of the blue. Under the influence of his own curiosity, Xia Lei ced its needle back onto thepass.
After thepass had collected sufficient energy, it pointed its needle to the sky.
Nothing had changed.
Xia Lei held the ancient alloy box and waved around the side of thepass. Nothing particr had happened either. The ancient alloy box did not possess the ability to interfere with thepass¡¯s navigation.
¡°Could thest piece really be up there? Is it on a? Could it be left in an abandoned spaceship?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind began to think wildly, but the sheer ridiculosity of his thoughts made himugh.
Those ideas were too absurd.
When the needle had fluctuated from its original position on thepass, Xia Lei took it off and stored everything else in the safe.
¡°The ck-robed man had given me three years to figure this out. I still have two years plus left. If I fail to uncover the mystery a day before the promised date, I¡¯ll take thest AE capsule, put on the armour and enter the ancient alloy world. The ck-robed man wouldn¡¯t be able toe after me in the ancient alloy world, right? Perhaps I might die but I was going to die either way. I bear no tinge of hope to win against the ck-robed man in a battle.¡± Pondered Xia Lei as he secured the door of the safe.
In the next hour, Xia Lei booted hisptop to take a look at the American stock market¡¯s situation. This time, he did not check Chlore¡¯s share again as the share would still be on a violent rise for now. There was no way Xia Lei would do anything to it for the time being, which was why the man went straight to check on Vientiane¡¯s share.
In a single trading day, the stock price of Vientiane Group was maintained at the issue price of eleven USD. However, due to the fact that his four ounts had bought shares at the lowest price, Xia Lei had managed to profit two per cent through this way.
The edges of Xia Lei¡¯s lips curled into a smile. ¡°When I decide to withdraw from Vientiane¡¯s stocks, my four ounts would probably be able to umte a billion USD by then. With a base cost of one billion dors, my next goal will be earning twenty billion dors.¡±
With his current approach, his ount would snowball into something gargantuan!
Some part of the sum could be used to expand Thunder Horse Organization and some part could be used to destroy others. Even if he couldn¡¯t shock the world¡¯srgest capitalist market, he would most definitely deal some heavy blows! Other than that, the money also had another purpose. To fund his fights against his enemies!
Currently, this ridiculous sum of money was his private stash. Perhaps he was the only man in the world that could have such an amount of private savings.
Deciding that he was done with stocks, Xia Lei clicked on the video he recorded a few days ago in the underground chamber. It was time to start learning how to imitate Li Youdun.
In the video, Li Youdun roared, ¡°This is impossible! I formatted herptop!¡±
The expression stered on Li Youdun¡¯s face when he uttered those words, details like mouth shape and even the way his faint wrinkles moved entered Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision. The man imprinted the sight, reying Li Youdun¡¯s changing expressions and bodynguage repeatedly in his mind. At the same time, Xia Lei tried to manipte his body precisely to mimic Li Youdun¡¯s actions.
Which prompted Xia Lei to repeat after Li Youdun. ¡°This is impossible! I formatted herptop!¡±
¡°Quit lying. Even if I tell you everything I know and you managed to obtain the things you¡¯re after, you would still kill me in the end. Is that right?¡± The Li Youdun in the footage said.
¡°Quit lying. Even if I tell you everything I know and you managed to obtain the things you¡¯re after, you would still kill me in the end. Is that right?¡± Xia Lei copied.
¡°Save your energy...¡±
¡°Save your energy...¡±
Soon enough, Xia Lei no longer required the videos to mimic Li Youdun. When he closed his eyes, every single detail about Li Youdun manifested in his mind. His imitation of Li Youdun was bing more and more convincing and by the end of everything, Xia Lei¡¯s mimicry was close to perfect!
Truthfully, Xia Lei¡¯s greatest skill was not processing ultra-precision parts nor was it marksmanship or even manufacturing weapons. His greatest skill of all was his exceptional learning ability! A few years back, Xia Lei was nothing but a constructionbourer doing electric welding or moving bricks and doing odd jobs. In just a short amount of time, he was now the nation¡¯s pir, a national hero. Everything he had obtained was made possible through his own learning and creation!
If he could achieve near-perfect imitation with one session, a perfect imitation wouldn¡¯t be impossible after practising a few more rounds.
From this experience, Xia Lei came to a realization that he had never once put in serious effort to imitate anyone. He had not paid much effort in this aspect when he had be Jack¡¯s imposter to infiltrate Lockheed Martin¡¯s headquarters in Washington D.C. earlier. This time, he needed to be convincing enough to trick CIA informants and infiltrate their Jingdu informant base. He needed to achieve perfectpatibility and the only way to obtain that was through careful study.
It was also through this serious imitation session that Xia Lei found a new possible world to venture into.
And in this new world, Xia Lei was born to be its king!
His brain had already advanced into new heights, able to control every nerve in his being like an extremely intelligentthe to achieve desired responses. Be it sensory nerves or lotive nerves, his brain was able to control any as required!
Once he bes more proficient with his ultra-precision control, he would be able to dictate any part of his body. If he wanted a particr finger to feel pain, his finger would feel pain. If he wanted his lung movements to slow down, it would slow down.
However, these were not the most important aspects of his imitation. The most crucial part was for him to be able to control the muscles of therynx to constrict or expand atmand. That way, Xia Lei would be able to achieve the same pronunciations Li Youdun used!
Same voice, the same glint in the eye, the same array of expressions and the same habitual movements. Who would be able to see through such an imposter? Unless the most advanced bone structure identification was involved, it was literally impossible to pinpoint his ws!
However, such a system would only be avable in the CIA headquarters, Area 51 and Russia¡¯s GRU. The presence of such technology would be unlikely in the CIA¡¯s Jingdu informant base.
Completing his learning session, Xia Lei checked the time on his wristwatch. To his surprise, he had already spent the entire day in the undergroundboratory. It was time for day shift workers to get off work.
An adverse effect from using his brain intensely, Xia Lei felt rather dizzy and drained. Albeit so, the difort wasn¡¯t as bad as when he had used his automated superbrain mode.
I should go talk to Li Youdun tonight. The more I talk to him, the more I¡¯ll learn about him. I can even use my X-ray vision to study the diameter and movement of his vocal chord,¡± Xia Lei thought to himself. His surprising revtion of a new ability had brought him glee. To add to it, this ability was insanely useful!
Ring... Ring...
¡°Hmm? It must be Liang Siyao urging me to go get Ruyi from the airport. But there¡¯s still three hours more to her arrival, why are they in a rush?¡± Xia Lei mumbled to no one, as he answered the phone without checking the number.
All he could hear was breathing.
The voice on the other side of the call was eerie and cold, almost as if it was elicited by a body that was extracted from the depths of an icy hell.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped loudly with anxiety. ¡°Xuanyue?¡±
¡°Xuanyue? You¡¯ve caught feelings for her?¡± Surprisingly, it was the deep masculine voice.
Upon recognition, Xia Lei froze. He had heard this voice before. This was the voice of the ck-robed man!
¡°And the cycle repeats itself again,¡± said the ck-robed man.
Xia Lei inhaled deeply, trying his best to calm down. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll understand someday.¡±
¡°You can tell me now,¡± urged Xia Lei with an edge.
¡°Hehehe...¡± His cackles were bone-piercingly cold.
¡°What are youughing at?¡±
¡°There is an equilibrium to existence. If you wish to obtain something, you must give something of simr value in exchange. Everything in existence functions on this basic principle. You won¡¯t receive something for no reason and you won¡¯t lose something for no reason. The answers you desire have the potential to change or destroy the world. What are you going to offer in exchange for that?¡±
Xia Lei gulped.
¡°Are you scared?¡±
¡°I am, but what can I do about it? Are you calling me to instil fear in me?¡±
¡°I¡¯m merely calling to remind you that you¡¯re running out of time. Don¡¯t waste all your time on meaningless things. If you wish to escape the cycle, you need courage and of course, intelligence.¡±
¡°Cycle?¡± Xia Lei scoffed loudly. ¡°Since when were you Buddhist?¡±
¡°Remember, you¡¯re running out of time.¡±
¡°I know. There¡¯s no need to remind me. Tell me, what happened to Zhu Xuanyue?¡±
¡°She... Doot... Doot... Doot...¡± The line had disconnected abruptly.
¡°Hello? Hello! Fuck you!¡± Xia Lei raised his phone with anger but the crash did note.
The undergroundboratory slipped into a dead silence, making it feel more like an ancient tomb than aboratory.
¡°Cycle? He mentioned cycles twice. What could he possibly mean by that?¡± Even Xia Lei¡¯s superbrain could notprehend it.
When he had finally left the undergroundboratory, the moon was high up in the sky and the lights around the Thunder Horse Organization were lit. Illuminated by themps, the headquarter was a radiant pearl under the night sky.
Under the warmth of the orange streetmps, Xia Lei could see his three lovers walking towards him with a sweet smile on their faces.
The sight of their happy grins brought a faint smile onto Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Time can go fuck itself. People die eventually and I still have two more years to live. I don¡¯t give a shit about what he doesn¡¯t want me to do. To me, the most meaningful thing to do is to help build the country and serve the people. I want to leave behind a mountain of gold for my women and children!¡±
And with that, Xia Lei began to pick up his pace to meet his wives halfway.
Chapter 983 - A Father-In-Laws Wish
Jiang Ruyi was here. She had finally taken care of everything relevant in Haizhu, which included resigning from her job. This time, her flight to Jingdu was a one-way ticket. Jiang Ruyi was not going to return to Haizhu anymore other than the asional visit to her parents.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s presence was weed warmly. The four women were now gathered around the dining table, busying themselves with endless chatter. On the other hand, their husband¡¯s life was going to be much busier than theirs. Xia Lei needed to do his best to make sure his pregnant wives were well-fed andfortable. Life was going to be a little exhausting but Xia Lei was gleeful. His four wives and the children in their bellies allowed him to take his mind off the ck-robed man, easing off all of the anxieties he had surrounding his fleeting life.
It took Xia Lei a full hour toe out with a full-course dinner. Though there weren¡¯t many dishes, each was exquisite and delicious. Xia Lei had never ced much effort into studying culinary arts but the little bits of knowledge he had about cooking was enough to make him a top chef. He had no problems going up against food experts, let alone his four pregnant wives.
Everyone started to dig in. Pregnant women were advised against alcohol consumption so Xia Lei dutifully refrains from drinking it. The sight of the five of them dining together felt very warm, making each of their hearts hum in content. However, the peace was disrupted by the presence of an uninvited guest.
It was Liang Zhengchun. The man stood at the door of the dining hall rigidly as he took in the sight of the five people inside.
¡°Father? Why are you here?¡± Liang Siyao was jittery.
¡°Master, you...¡± Xia Lei too was equally nervous. He almost repeated after Liang Siyao but he made a quick move to change his sentence. ¡°Have you eaten yet? I¡¯ll go get you a bowl of rice.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s heart thumped loudly, her swelling belly was getting obvious. There was no way she could¡¯ve hidden it from Liang Zhengchun¡¯s eyes.
On the other side, Xia Lei gulped loudly because Liang Siyao was not the only pregnant woman beside him. In fact, there were three of them in the same vicinity. If Liang Zhengchun finds out that he had not only impregnated Liang Siyao but also all of the remaining females seated at the table... Xia Lei couldn¡¯t even bring himself to think about the oue.
Liang Siyao¡¯s belly was bound to grow each day, there was literally no way to hide it from Liang Zhengchun. Plus, the baby was destined to be born. Liang Zhengchun was Liang Siyao¡¯s father, which meant that the man was the child¡¯s grandfather. Could Xia Lei and Liang Siyao continue to hide this from the rest of her family? Liang Zhengchun was an obstacle that had to be faced, it was just a matter of time.
Surprisingly, the other three women showed no obvious response. They quickly stood from their seats to greet Liang Zhengchun warmly.
Liang Zhengchun courteously returned their greetings and turned to face Xia Lei. ¡°You little bastard! You kidnapped my daughter here and decided to abandon her father? For god¡¯s sake, I am your master!¡±
Xia Lei mustered some courage. ¡°Master, what are you saying? How could I possibly abandon you?¡±
As a matter of fact, Xia Lei did extend some care to the older man. Upon Liang Zhengchun¡¯s return to the country, Xia Lei had bought him a big house and gave him arge sum of money. TIt was enough for Liang Zhengchun to livefortably till the end of his life. Liang Zhengchun¡¯s usation of Xia Lei abandoning him actually stung.
¡°Father, what are you saying?¡± Liang Siyao was not happy to hear those words, her temper beginning to simmer.
Despite that, Liang Zhengchun smiled. ¡°This is not a conversation for you to interrupt. If this kid really cares about me, then why hadn¡¯t hee to visit me for tea or booze? Just dropping by to talk or even practise martial arts would be nice.¡±
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll go grab us some alcohol in a jiffy. Let us men drink to our heart¡¯s content tonight.¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s the spirit. It¡¯s been so long since west did this together. Let¡¯s enjoy ourselves tonight.¡± Liang Zhengchun guffawed.
The two men sat and began downing alcohol, not an exchange between them. The four pregnantdies looked at each other helplessly.
By the time they were done with dinner, both men were still at it. The women tried hinting at Xia Lei a few times but none of their efforts seemed to work. It was then that they decided to ignore him and left the dining hall.
¡°Siyao, why is your father here?¡± Long Bing couldn¡¯t help but ask once they were out of earshot.
Liang Siyao chuckled dryly. ¡°He¡¯s probably lonely, living alone in a big house. That¡¯s probably why he¡¯s here to visit his disciple.¡±
¡°If that¡¯s the case, it shouldn¡¯t be an issue. But if he decides to stay...¡± Fan Fan tried to rephrase her words. ¡°Siyao, I hope you won¡¯t take this wrong way but what I meant is that...¡±
Liang Siyao interjected, ¡°We¡¯re sisters and part of the same family. There¡¯s no need to be so courteous around me. I understand what you mean and trust me, I¡¯m equally worried. If my father decides to stay and our bellies grow bigger each day, we wouldn¡¯t be able to hide reality from him.¡±
¡°Will your father hit you if he finds out?¡± Jiang Ruyi asked meekly.
¡°He might kill me,¡± answered Liang Siyao.
The reply made Jiang Ruyi shiver. ¡°What are you waiting for then? We need to think of a way to make him leave.¡±
¡°Let me try.¡± With that, Liang Siyao returned to the door of the dining hall. From a distance, she called out to her father. ¡°Father, tell me when you¡¯re done. I¡¯ll drive you home.¡±
That earned a pointed re from Liang Zhengchun. ¡°Are you trying to chase me away?¡±
¡°No... How could I do that to you...?¡± Liang Siyao could feel her temples throb. ¡°I¡¯ll go prepare a room for you. You can stay the night and I¡¯ll send you home tomorrow.¡±
Liang Zhengchun¡¯s reply was a shocker. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I n to stay. I¡¯m not going home tomorrow. It¡¯s just too lonely to live in a big house alone.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s head was about to explode.
Xia Lei¡¯s head was about to explode too.
The other three pregnantdies felt the urge to run.
Xia Lei¡¯s master appearing at their doorstep without an invitation spelt trouble!
¡°What are you stalling there for? You should head to sleep. You may not need the rest but the child you¡¯re carrying needs it,¡± Liang Zhengchun said out of the blue.
Beads of cold sweat were starting to gather on Liang Siyao¡¯s forehead.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? You no longer listen to your father?¡± The older man¡¯s expression turned serious.
Liang Siyao did not dare to stay long, quickly turning around to escape to safety.
Watching the exchange, Fan Fan could only shrug and say, ¡°Let¡¯s all sleep separately from now on.¡±
Jiang Ruyi seemed surprised to hear that. ¡°You all... You all have been sleeping together? All four of you?¡±
Fan Fan and Long Bing nodded in unison then took their leave.
Leaving behind a stunned Jiang Ruyi, who was already a blushing mess. No one could pinpoint what self-fed images were shing through her mind but it certainly took the form of a certain Japanese production.
After gulping down an entire bottle of Maotai, Liang Zhengchun found it easier to speak. ¡°The child in my daughter¡¯s belly is yours, right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Master, we¡¯re...¡±
Liang Zhengchun quickly assured him. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be so nervous. No man could take care of my darling daughter like you. I¡¯ve always wanted to see you both together and now that you are a thing, I guess my little wish has been fulfilled.¡±
Xia Lei continued to listen, not daring to say anything.
Out of nowhere, Liang Zhengchun changed the topic. ¡°Uh, are the other three women all carrying your child?¡±
Xia Lei wanted to die. But the man decided that honesty was the best way to deal with Liang Zhengchun. ¡°Yeah.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s reply was so meek that it was almost as if he was talking to a mosquito.
¡°Are you happy?¡±
Xia Lei was at a loss for words.
¡°Rx, there¡¯s no need to be so nervous.¡±
¡°I¡¯m... not nervous.¡±
¡°So is Siyao the bigger one or one of the smaller ones?¡±
¡°Big. She¡¯s the bigger one.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ve got nothing else to say. The proudest thing in my life is not how well-versed I am in the art of Wing Chun but to receive disciples like you. You are the hero of our people and the pir of this country. You are a rare talent. For Siyao to be able to meet you is her honour. If she doesn¡¯t mind that you have other women around you, why would I mind? Plus, you were able to forgive her despite her earlier treatment and gave her another shot at bing a better person. You provided for her and allowed her to livefortably. It is only fair for her to give you something in return for your kindness.¡±
¡°Thank you, Master. You really are the best.¡± Knowing that Liang Zhengchun thought that way was enough to soothe his worries. The difort had melted away to bring out Xia Lei¡¯s smile.
¡°But I¡¯ve got one condition.¡± Liang Zhengchun held up a finger.
¡°¡¯ll do my best to offer you what you desire,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be frank then.¡± Liang Zhengchun began, ¡°I don¡¯t care about your other weddings but the one with Liang Siyao has to be done traditionally. You must not leave out the matchmaker and betrothal gifts. Your attire needs to be traditional too.¡±
¡°Sure, no problem. I can do that.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart hummed in joy.
¡°Wait, let me finish my sentence.¡± Liang Zhengchun requested, ¡°Lei Zi, stand up and listen to what I have to say?¡±
The request itself was weird but Xia Lei heeded Liang Zhengchun¡¯s instructions.
Liang Zhengchun stood too.
¡°Master, if there¡¯s anything you wish to ask for, go ahead. I¡¯m your son now, there¡¯s no need to hold back.¡±
To his absolute shock, Liang Zhenchun abruptly kneeled.
Xia Lei yelped, frantically reaching an arm over to pull him up. ¡°Master?! What are you doing?¡±
¡°Let go of me!¡± Liang Zhengchun meant his words.
But how could Xia Lei let go of his arm? The younger man remained his hold. ¡°Master, there¡¯s no need for this. You could just tell me. I can give you anything. How can I call myself your disciple if you kneel to me like this?¡±
¡°Okay, here¡¯s the thing.¡± Liang Zhengchun mbered off the ground and regained hisposure. ¡°I know how it is in my family. Siyao¡¯s mother passed away ages ago and I have only had her. The Liang family would end at Liang Siyao and I honestly felt sorry towards my ancestors. My ancestor was the pioneer of Wing Chun and I¡¯m determined to not have the family end. I have a request. If Liang Siyao¡¯s child is a boy, please allow him to take the Liang surname. If it¡¯s a daughter, she can have your surname. Anyway, no matter how many children you decide to have with Siyao, I hope that you could let us have one sessor. Would that be alright with you?¡±
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not an issue.¡± Xia Lei was quick to add, ¡°Even if we need to make eight children, the both of us will make sure to give you one son.¡±
¡°Hahaha! Great!¡± Liang Zhengchun¡¯sugh was boisterous.
Honestly, Xia Lei did not mind the request. He would be having four children. Even if one of them took on their mother¡¯s surname, Xia Lei was alright with it. After all, he was not one to stick to conservative ideologies. The boy would still be his child.
¡°Lei Zi,e on. Let¡¯s continue drinking! I¡¯m so happy today, we¡¯re not going to stop until we¡¯re pissed drunk!¡±
The Lunar New Year was right around the corner. If he was only left with two years to live, then he must make sure that he sees the births of his children and develops the Thunder Horse Organization to the best of his ability. He still needed the Thunder Horse Organization to be way advanced than Lockheed Martin in the aerialbat arena!
To him, every second was precious.
But now, he would have to spend the entire night entertaining his father-inw.
Chapter 984 - Liang Zhengchun Marries Off His Daughter
Liang Zhengchun actually stayed over at the Peace Mansion. Xia Lei had no choice. It wasn¡¯t as if he could kick his father-inw out. If Xia Lei had no choice, it was worse for Liang Siyao. She did not dare bring up the topic of asking him to go home in front of Liang Zhengchun.
On the second day, Fan Fan went off to work while Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi went to the office with Xia Lei. Long Bing went to the four knights¡¯ church. Jiang Ruyi went to limatise to the environment while Long Bing went to get to know the female knights. Everyone had their own matters to attend to.
Xia Lei entered his office. Half an hourter, he left and walked towards the materialsb. He now donned Li Youdun¡¯s face instead of his own.
¡°Morning, Mr Li.¡± The staff in the materialsb all greeted Xia Lei.
¡°Morning.¡± Xia Lei greeted them, imitating Li Youdun¡¯s voice. He then walked towards Li Youdun¡¯s office.
So far, no one had suspected a thing.
There were no ws in his imitation of Li Youdun¡¯s appearance, expressions, voice and even gaze. The only problem was that Li Youdun was a hundred and eighty-two centimetres tall, while he was a hundred and eighty-five centimetres. Regr people would not be able to tell the three-centimetre difference but Xia Lei made arrangements ordingly. His solution was to wear a very normal-looking pair of shoes with a sole that was only one millimetre thick. It was basically just ayer of leather beneath his feet. Li Youdun definitely wore shoes every day, and since they were regr shoes, their soles must be much thicker than this. This way, Xia Lei shortened the difference between their heights.
As he entered Li Youdun¡¯s office, Xia Lei turned on Li Youdun¡¯s workputer and started to work. He wasn¡¯t pretending. He was actuallypleting the new material Alloy X¡¯s proposal. Although he was pretending to be Li Youdun and was waiting for someone, he did not want to waste time waiting.
Xia Lei spent the entire day in disguise and working.
On the second day, Xia Lei disguised himself as Li Youdun and went to the materialsb again. This time, other than the proposal, he had another task toplete. He started to study up on the drone. With previous experience under his belt, this time, he did not spend a long time immersed in research. He limited the user time period, immediately stopping when he was tired and only continuing when he recovered.
During the day, he switched between his Li Youdun and Xia Lei identities as he worked as Li Youdun in Thunder Horse. At night, he continued expanding his earnings in the American stock market. His days were very productive. Liang Zhenchun moving in actually brought him a benefit. He had fewer chances to waste time with thedies and a lot more time to do actual work.
The days passed but no suspicious individuals contacted Li Youdun. It was as if the intelligence division of the CIA in Beijing suddenly shifted up into space. On the other hand, he was making massive progress at work. Half a monthter, he finallypleted the Alloy X proposal document. With this document, Thunder Horse Group could invest in purchasing equipment, recruiting technicians and prepare forunch.
Half a month afterpleting the Alloy X, Thunder Horse Group¡¯s first unmanned drone was born. From the avionics system to the gas vortex generator, every part¡¯s dimensions were saved in his brain!
The avability of materials to make the drone wasn¡¯t a problem because Thunder Horse Group had the perfect aerospace material. The drone, made with Alloy X, would bepletely invisible. No radars on earth would be able to find it!
The world¡¯s most advanced unmanned drones consisted of USA¡¯s Global Hawk, X47B, Falcon, Predator, Shadow; Ennd¡¯s BAE Systems Taranis; France¡¯s Dassault nEUROn and Israel¡¯s Harpy and Heron UAV. On the world¡¯s list of top ten drones, there were no Chinese aircraft. However, this would soon be mere history once Thunder Horse Group¡¯s drone emerged. It would be the most terrifying drone in the world.
Ghost. This was the name Xia Lei gave his drone.
The USA had taken up most of the top ten spots. However, even before its birth, Thunder Horse¡¯s Ghost was already contemptuous of the top ten drones. The new king shall arrive and there would be no list. Ghost would be the only name on it!
In a month, Alloy X¡¯s production process waspleted along with the Ghost drone¡¯s blueprint. This was an admirable feat, a sess that was destined to shake the world. However, Xia Lei was still fretting over the fact that the person hadn¡¯t appeared yet. He was still at square one despite having been disguised for so long.
The FA organisation had been a puzzling matter to him too.
The FA organisation¡¯s n A had been decimated by him. He¡¯d also destroyed their Mexican headquarters. They thenunched n B, where Long Bing¡¯s Japanese mission ended with a failure. However, he still hadn¡¯t seen FA attack Thunder Horse with their aircraft yet. The Thunder Horse Group had set up an anti-aircraft defence along with a set of S400 Missile systems. The FA organisation must have caught wind of this and knew that an air raid would not work. However, they could also attack bynd. He felt like all his enemies were hibernating this month, deciding not to bother him.
While his enemies slept, the Spring Festival arrived.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, Thunder Horse¡¯s quarters were well-decorated. They gave out gifts and bonuses.
It was a different atmosphere within the Peace Mansion.
¡°Look at you,¡± said Qin Xiang by the vanity mirror, looking at Xia Lei in his traditional Chinese attire.
Liu Zhengnan handed him a Chinese skullcap and smiled. ¡°Brother, I¡¯ve never seen you in traditional Chinese attire before. You look great.¡±
¡°You like this?¡± asked Xia Lei with a grin. ¡°I¡¯ll arrange for a traditional wedding ritual and get a set made for you when you marry Xia Xue.¡±
Liu Zhengnan quickly wrung his hands. ¡°Brother, it¡¯s fine. Xiao Xue said she wanted the world¡¯s most beautiful wedding dress and a Western wedding ceremony. She¡¯s the one in charge, I¡¯ll do whatever she wants.¡±
With an eye roll, Qin Xiang said, ¡°Look at you, all your masculinity¡¯s gone.¡±
Liu Zhengnan gave an odd look.
Qin Xiang shrugged. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? I don¡¯t need to be masculine, I just need to be pretty.¡±
He was speechless.
¡°Alright, stop bickering. Help me put on the cap.¡± Xia Lei was done fixing his attire.
Liu Zhengnan ced the Chinese skullcap on Xia Lei¡¯s head.
The mirror reflected a handsome young man in traditional Chinese attire. He gave off the aura of a folk hero in ancient times.
Xia Lei smiled in the mirror. ¡°Are the gates shut?¡±
Qin Xiang said, ¡°The main and back gates are all shut. Giovanna and Theresa are guarding the front while Rosa and Ste are at the back. No one cane in.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±
This traditional wedding ceremony was what Liang Zhengchun wanted. His wedding with Liang Siyao would not be publicised. With the advancement of social media, if he let his staff attend, someone would definitely upload pictures on the Inte. He was a Chinese hero. Of course, the media would sensationalise his wedding! Three dayster, he would be holding a wedding with Fan Fan too. Many super important figures would attend that ceremony. If the pictures from Xia Lei and Liang Siyao¡¯s wedding leaked, how would he still be able to attend the wedding with Fan Fan in three days?
¡°Hubby, are you done?¡± came Fan Fan¡¯s voice from outside the door.
¡°Alright,ing.¡± Xia Lei went to open the door and left with Fan Fan.
Qin Xiang and Liu Zhengnan gave each other an odd look.
¡°He¡¯s pretty impressive,¡± said Qin Xiang with a grin. ¡°The bride-to-be in three days is a bridesmaid today, and today¡¯s bride will be a bridesmaidter. Zhengnan, you should take notes. It¡¯s a man¡¯s life.¡±
Liu Zhengnan suddenly looked up to the door. ¡°Xiao Xue, you¡¯re here.¡±
Qin Xiang was startled and looked up at the door, though no one was there. Just as Qin Xiang wanted to punch Liu Zhengnan, he¡¯d already slipped away.
Within the Peace Mansion, there was arge ¡®Ï² (Xi)¡¯ character stuck in the main hall withrge rednterns hung up. There was even red carpet on the floor. Liang Zhengchun was d in traditional attire like a true martial arts master.
When Xia Lei arrived at the door, Liang Siyao arrived together with Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi. She entered slowly through another hallway. She wore a full red traditional dress with a red veil. There was already a bump on her stomach. She could not hide her pregnancy anymore, it was obvious that she was pregnant. However, this did not affect her at all, adding a feminine glow that only made her a mesmerizing beauty.
Xia Lei and Liang Siyao entered the hall holding arge red silk bouquet.
The main hall was empty without guests, almost pitiful looking. However, this did not affect Liang Zhengchun¡¯s mood at all. Initially, when he took Xia Lei in as a disciple, he was already set on marrying Liang Siyao to Xia Lei. His wish had been fulfilled. He did not have any reservations about Xia Lei being his son-inw.
The couple arrived in position.
¡°First, bow for the heavens and the earth!¡± yelled Lu Sheng, who was the host of the ceremony.
Xia Lei and Liang Siyao turned to pay respects to the heavens and earth.
¡°Second, bow for the elders,¡± said Lu Sheng loudly.
Xia Lei and Liang Siyao bowed at Liang Zhengchun.
Liang Zhengchun chuckled happily.
¡°A bow for the husband and wife,¡± said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei and Liang Siyao bowed at each other but identally bumped heads. There wasughter in the hall.
¡°Are you alright?¡± Xia Lei asked. concerned.
¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine,¡± replied Liang Siyao gently, filled with bliss.
¡°The tea ceremony shall begin, then the couple shall enter the bedroom,¡± said Lu Sheng.
Xia Lei and Liang Siyao knelt before Liang Zhengchun, each of them holding a cup of tea.
Liang Zhengchun first took a sip from Xia Lei¡¯s cup, then Liang Siyao¡¯s. He also drank in ce of Liang Siyao¡¯s mother. After drinking the tea, he gave Xia Lei a red packet but gave Liang Siyao a red date.
Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Father, why did you give him a red packet but give me a date?¡±
¡°Eat it, it represents fertility,¡± said Liang Zhengchun.
¡°Aren¡¯t I pregnant already?¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Just eat it and get into the room.¡± Liang Zhengchun hurried them along.
Liang Siyao stuffed the date into her mouth and chewed slowly. Xia Lei helped her up and held her hand as they entered the bedroom.
Liang Zhengchun saw them off but suddenly remembered something. Loudly, he said, ¡°Lei, you be careful. Siyao¡¯s pregnant.¡±
Xia Lei tripped on his own step and spluttered incoherent mumblings.
Liang Siyao turned around and rolled her eyes but did not say a word.
Chapter 985 - A Candlelit Night
The bedroom was decorated with red phoenix-and-dragon sheets, arge Xi ϲ character, red candles and even peanuts and red dates scattered on the sheets.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Look at how much Dad loves you. He knows you like peanuts and dates so he scattered so much on the bed.
[TL Note: Xi represents joy and is amon symbol at weddings; peanuts and red dates symbolise fertility]
Liang Siyao shook his hand off her body. ¡°You¡¯re bullying me too? Well, then I don¡¯t want to talk to you.¡± She sat on the edge of the bed, her head turned away.
Xia Lei looked at her and couldn¡¯t help but think of the first time he went to her house. At the time, he thought he was the happiest man in the world. Right now, he had the same feeling. They both had gone through so many hardships and in the end, they were finally husband and wife.
¡°What are you doing, standing there?¡± Liang Siyao said she didn¡¯t want to talk but spoke up after barely two minutes. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to lift my veil.¡±
¡°Oh, I almost forgot. The secondst step of our wedding¡± said Xia Lei with a smile and walked over.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°The veil should be thest step, no? What¡¯s thest step?¡±
Xia Lei lifted her veil and kissed her forehead. With a smile, he said, ¡°Making a child.¡±
Liang Siyao blushed timidly, biting her lip. ¡°You¡¯re the worst, that¡¯s not part of the wedding. Don¡¯t even think about it.¡±
Xia Lei reached out to touch her small bump and said gently, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to, we can just talk and then go to sleep.¡±
¡°You¡¯re so well-behaved today. Help me out of these clothes so we can sleep,¡± said Liang Siyao demurely.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll help you out of them.¡± Xia Lei helped peel off heryers.
Xia Lei was slightly stunned with what he saw.
¡°Have you looked enough yet? You pervert.¡± Liang Siyao was slightly embarrassed. She was still delighted although she called him a pervert. She was happy to find that her man was so mesmerised with her body.
¡°I could never get enough of this,¡± said Xia Lei.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Another set of fireworks exploded in the skies.
Fireworks were a joy to both adults and the kids.
Pretty lights lit up the night sky. Although every explosion onlysted a moment, one moment was enough to leave a deep, unforgettable impression. Just as everyone was mesmerised by the fireworks, a stout figure appeared in the forest behind Peace Mansion. His body waspletely covered in ck clothing with only his eyes exposed. Even his eyes were like darkness, cold and deep. He had a sword on his back, an ancient one that was at least a hundred years old.
Behind the old man were more than ten people standing quietly in the dark, d in the same ck clothing. They seemed to be part of the forest, unmoving.
The stout figure was the protector of the Hattori family, Hattori Hyakusai. Behind him were the most elite fighters of their Hattori family. They were all trained by him, all ninjas well-versed in the art of assassination. They werepletely loyal and capable fighters.
The martial artists of the Hattori family had appeared in the forest when the sky darkened, waiting for an opportunity to slip into the Peace Mansion to assassinate Xia Lei.
Peace Mansion was right in front of them. While the very tall walls surrounding the mansion weren¡¯t a problem for these ninjas, they had to wait for orders.
There was Xia Lei¡¯s Zodiac Team, then the four knights and their passionate follower¡¯s military powers. Forgetting all that, even the soldiers stationed by the country on the outskirts of Thunder Horse was more than they could handle. These soldiers were the best in the country, even their weapons were top-notch. This small team of barely twenty had an almost zero possibility of killing Xia Lei here.
Hattori Hyakusai held up night-vision binocrs and saw a patrol team around the walls with guns and grenades. These soldiers were equipped with the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s Gust assault rifles and wearing bulletproof vests. The most dramatic part was that they were wearing helmets used for battle. The ninjas¡¯ stealth abilities were greatly threatened by this team. If anyone was seen, more than ten Gust assault rifles would bring a storm of bullets down on them. These rifles were the most powerful in the world!
And this was just one patrol team around the walls surrounding the mansion. There was a camp set up by elite soldiers near the Thunder Horse Group. There were more than a hundred elite task force soldiers at that camp. Although they were setting off fireworks, they were still armed to the teeth. There was even a missileuncher next to the campsite, ready to fire up into the sky. Within inconspicuous corners, there were even snipers. The Peace Mansion was an imprable fortress. Would these ninjas be able to take it down?
Hattori Hyakusai furrowed his brows. Initially, he had already received news about all the soldiers that were going to be around Thunder Horse. However, he still brought his people here because he felt like the eve of Spring Festival was a day they would let their guard down. He thought he might get an opportunity tonight but upon arrival, he realised he was too naive.
¡°Master, are we going to attack?¡± One of the fighters couldn¡¯t help but ask in a low voice.
Hattori Hyakusai suddenly turned to look in the direction behind him. In that one moment, all the Hattori warriors unsheathed their swords and entered a battle stance.
A tall woman appeared from within the darkness, holding a modified assault rifle. She did not cover her face. She had tan skin and Mexican features.
This woman was Sirita from the FA.
¡°Tell your people to show themselves, ¡°said Hattori Hyakusai coldly. His voice was low and raspy, it sent chills down to the bone. It felt like a sharp de.
One slight sound was enough to alert Hattori Hyakusai that someone was approaching them, and there were more hidden nearby. He was a master after all.
Sirita lifted one hand and in a few seconds, almost twenty armed FA soldiers appeared from the darkness and approached quickly.
¡°Mr Hattori, when do you n to act?¡± said Sirita.
After a moment of silence, Hattori Hyakusai said, ¡°It¡¯s very difficult. We can be sure that we won¡¯t be seen by the patrol team but not you. If you¡¯ve been seen and someone fires, the battle will end in barely five minutes. And you all will be just a pile of corpses.¡±
A contemptuous smirk appeared at the corner of Sirita¡¯s mouth. ¡°My people aren¡¯t afraid of death.¡± She pointed at one of her people.
The armed soldier stepped forward and unzipped his jacket. Underneath was a bomb vest, equipped with high-intensity explosives that could create huge explosions. They were manufactured for the American military.
Sirita said, ¡°Just one vest on this man is enough to destroy half the Peace Mansion.¡±
Hattori Hyakusai had a slight change in expression. ¡°Very good, you are all true warriors. Great, then we can clear a path first. Then, we will enter from the back door and kill Xia Lei.¡±
Sirita looked at her wristwatch. ¡°Mr Hattori, we only have five minutes. We must kill Xia Lei and retreat within five minutes. My warriors will detonate their bomb vests. We must retreat as soon as possible.¡±
Hattori Hyakusai nodded. ¡°Now!¡±
More than ten Hattori fighters exited the forest with cat-like movements, using the darkness and weeds as cover as they moved towards the Peace Mansions¡¯s back door. At this moment, the patrol team had already turned the corner, the space behind them was now a blind spot.
Chapter 986 - Preparing To Attack
Sometimes, darkness is used to represent the unknown because it is very difficult to find the mysteries hidden within it. Something could approach without you knowing, then suddenly open its jaws wide and tear you to pieces mercilessly.
However, the darkness had its romanticism too.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Just as all the Hattori fighters got into position to ambush the patrol team, there was a sudden loud explosion from the Peace Mansion. Consecutive fireworks flew up into the skies and bloomed, lighting the sky up so bright it was like day.
All the Hattori fighters frantically crouched down on the grass, not daring to take another step forward.
Hattori Hyakusai himself dropped t onto the grass. Ninjas weren¡¯t invisible, they specialised in camouging with darkness or their environment. If the sky wasn¡¯t dark anymore and they were on a t piece of grasnd, even a master could not utilise his stealth skills.
However, the Hattori fighters did not give up. They believed that the fireworks show would not go on for too long. It would onlyst at most, ten minutes. That would be enough time for the patrol team to return to this spot. Then it would be the moment they struck.
Bang! Bang! Bang!...
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
Fireworks were fired consecutively into the night sky. Their beauty could be seen even five kilometres away. There was a group of religious followers making wishes as they fired. There was a pile of fireworks on the ground worth five million dors.
Xia Lei had bought all these fireworks to celebrate his marriage to Liang Siyao as well as theing Lunar new year. Money was meaningless to him at this point. In just a month, he had more than doubled his money in the American stock market! The snowball he was rolling hadn¡¯tnded but a portion of it had already been turned into fireworks in the sky.
[TL Note: The Chinese new year / Lunar new year is also known as the Spring Festival.]
One minute passed. The fireworks continued.
Two minutes passed. The fireworks continued.
Three minutes...
Four minutes...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
¡°Asshole! How much did he spend on fireworks?!¡± Hattori Hyakusai couldn¡¯t help but curse. He was extremely frustrated.
At this moment, there was an old man crawling up the roof of Peace Mansion. He was d in traditional Chinese clothing and holding a bottle of Baijiu alcohol. He wobbled as he walked on the roof tiles but did not seem to fall.
All the Hattori fighters stared at the old man on the roof intently, observing his every move while panicking. The old man wasn¡¯t far from them. At such a high point, it wasn¡¯t difficult to observe them.
The old man guzzled some wine and roared towards the skies, ¡°San, our daughter is married now! You¡¯ll have a grandchild soon! Hahaha!¡±
That old man was Liang Zhengchun, whose daughter just got married.
His daughter had married a national hero, and his son-inw had agreed to change their first son¡¯s surname to Liang so he could pass on the Liang name. It was a piece of immensely great news for him. For some reason, he decided to climb up the rooftop to talk to Liang Siyao¡¯s mother, to tell her the good news.
After talking to Liang Siyao¡¯s mother, he started throwing Wengchun punches. He might have drunk a little too much but every move was sharp and precise. He was agile, every kick and punch was one of a master¡¯s!
Within the bedroom, Xia Lei heard Liang Zhengchun¡¯s ¡®howl¡¯ so he used his special vision to look up. Very quickly, he noticed Liang Zhengchun throwing punches and shouting on the roof. At this moment, Liang Siyao was currently riding him. Xia Lei was speechless. ¡°I think Dad¡¯s on the roof.¡±
Liang Siyao was very gentle. ¡°Ignore him. In the past, when we were in my hometown, he would also start training on the roof and talk to my mother. He¡¯lle down after a while. Don¡¯t worry about him falling, he¡¯s a sturdy man.¡±
¡°Alright, we¡¯ll leave him be. Honey, are you tired? If you¡¯re tired, why don¡¯t you let me do my work?¡± Xia Lei was equally gentle.
¡°No way,¡± said Liang Siyao mischievously. ¡°I like this, and I don¡¯t trust you.¡±
¡°As long as you¡¯re happy.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve got to move too, are you really going to let a pregnantdy do all the work?¡±
The scene was as such. An old man training martial arts on the roof, glorious fireworks in the sky and bliss within the bedroom. There seemed to be two worlds divided by the walls surrounding the Peace Mansion. On one side, people were very nervous and panicking. The air was tense. On the other side, it was all festivities and joy.
They were getting closer to the timing they agreed with Sirita but the old man still wasn¡¯t leaving. With furrowed brows, Hattori Hyakusai pointed at Liang Zhengchun on the root with his knife.
One of the Hattori fighters took out a crossbow and aimed at Liang Zhengchun.
¡°Uncle Zhengchun, what are you doing! Get down! You¡¯re disturbing the bride and the groom in bed!¡± It was Qin Xiang.
When Liang Zhengchun heard Qin Xiang¡¯s reminder, he did a flip and leapt off the roof. The arrow brushed past the sole of his shoe.
Liang Zhengchun fell unsteadily to the ground, yelling, ¡°Who?! Who put nails on the ground?¡± He drunkenly hugged his right foot and looked at it. There was a deep scratch from something sharp on the sole.
¡°Uncle Zhengchun, you¡¯d better go rest. The bride and groom can¡¯t get in bed with all your shrieking. Also, how can you jump like that? What if you hurt yourself?¡± Qin Xiang was deeply afraid that Liang Zhengchun had hurt himself, moving over to help Liang Zhengchun up.
¡°I¡¯m fine... fine... Nail... Someone¡¯s...¡± Liang Zhengchun said.
¡°Is there someone?¡± Qin Xiang turned to look at the back door. He did see someone there but they were the knight twins, Giovanna and Ste Grey.
¡°No one? Come! Come, let¡¯s drink!¡± Liang Zhengchun burped.
¡°Alright, alright, I know. I¡¯ll bring you to the house.¡± Qin Xiang helped Liang Zhengchun into the house.
¡°I¡¯m serious, I¡¯m not drunk...¡± Liang Zhengchun had lost all sense.
In the bedroom, Xia Lei suddenly held Liang Siyao¡¯s hips, his expression solemn.
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Did I hurt you?¡± asked Liang Siyao, concerned.
Xia Lei said, ¡°There¡¯s a situation. Stay in the house and don¡¯te out. I¡¯ll go outside to check.¡±
¡°What happened?¡± Liang Siyao immediately climbed off Xia Lei. She could guess what happened based on his expression and it was not a pleasant feeling.
¡°I¡¯m not sure yet.¡± Xia Lei leapt off the bed and put on his boxers at lightning speed. He only put on his underwear before dashing out the door.
Just now, he had seen Liang Zhengchun leaping off the roof through his special vision but his left eye also caught a sh of light. It was a very quick sh, disappearing in the blink of an eye. A regr person would not have been able to see such a fast object.
He quickly reyed the scene in his brain. In his mind¡¯s eye, he saw Liang Zhengchun leaping off, then the sh brushing beneath Liang Zhengchun¡¯s shoe. His brain focused on this ¡®scene¡¯ and magnified it. In a moment, he found his answer. It was an arrow!
The metal tip of the flying crossbow arrow had reflected some of the fireworks¡¯ light. That was why he saw the sh!
There were enemies nearby!
Xia Lei grew anxious the moment he thought of it. He swept his eyes across every corner of the mansion, looking for the intruders. At the same time, he waved his arms and made a few gestures to Giovanna and Ste at the back door.
Giovanna and Ste were initially surprised to see Xia Lei running out in his underwear but after reading his gesture, they entered battle mode.
Giovanna gripped her Gust assault rifle.
Ste put her fingers between her lips and blew a shrill whistle.
It was the cue to fight.
The armed religious followers opening new boxes of firecrackers stopped for a moment, then ran towards the back door. They all held guns in their hands, entering battle mode.
On the other side of the walls, Hattori Hyakusai also heard the shrill whistle. He looked up at the skies to see that it had returned to its original tranquillity.
One secondter, he suddenly leapt from the ground and sprinted back. ¡°Retreat!¡±
More than ten of the Hattori fighters disappeared into the night instantly. They were careful and slow when they approached but they retreated like a gust of wind.
On the edge of the forest, Sirita seemed to also realise something. She instinctively hid behind a tree. Xia Lei was the best sniper in the world! No one would dare expose their body on his turf, not even her!
In just three seconds, all the Hattori fighters had retreated into the forest.
¡°They noticed something, retreat!¡± Hattori Hyakusai¡¯s voice was filled with frustration.
¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡± said Sirita. ¡°Those soldiers didn¡¯t react at all.¡±
¡°Soldiers? Those soldiers are easy but there are many powerful figures in Xia Lei¡¯s home. Even the guy on the roof was a master!¡± said Hattori Hyakusai.
Sirita looked at the back door of the Peace Mansion. It was still shut tightly, no one came out to check.
¡°Remember, if you go ahead with the mission today, the mission won¡¯t just fail, you will all die here. We only have one chance left. That opportunity wille three dayster at Xia Lei¡¯s wedding,¡± said Hattori Hyakusai coldly. ¡°Are you sure you want to trade your life for a failed mission?¡±
¡°Retreat!¡± Sirita also gave out her orders. She trusted his judgement.
At the same time, Xia Lei approached the back door. He used his left eye to look through the walls and door, scanning the field engulfed in darkness, as well as the forest far away. He saw grass and trees but did not see any people.
¡°Xia, your gun,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei turned around. ¡°I don¡¯t have a gun.¡±
¡°Fine, you go out there alone then,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei looked at himself and turned to leave. ¡°Inform the special task force to conduct a search across the field and forest.¡±
Giovanna shrugged. ¡°What happened?¡±
Ste shook her head. ¡°Probably a battle simtion training?¡±
Giovanna grinned as she looked at Xia Lei¡¯s plump ass.
Chapter 987 - Mysterious Code
The special force soldiers guarding the Thunder Horse Groupunched a search across the forest behind the Peace Mansion but came up empty.
This was merely their search results though. Soon after, the Zodiac team had a different opinion regarding the situation.
Within the study, Tsukino Kyoko, who was covered in ck, said, ¡°Boss, your suspicions were right. We had visitors.¡±
¡°Could you tell where they were from?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I found some traces in the forest. They tried to cover their tracks but it wasn¡¯tplete. Based on their sizes, they¡¯re probably Europeans.¡±
¡°People from the FA.¡± Xia Lei had his guesses.
¡°And this.¡± Tsukino Kyoko ced the crossbow arrow on the desk.
Xia Lei picked it up and studied it carefully. It was very special, its tip was simr to a triangr bay used in the military and it had a blood groove. The tip was made of an alloy, initially silver in colour but was now dark purple because it had been dipped in poison. One could only imagine how deadly the poison was given its deep colour.
There was no marking on the arrow so they could not identify the owner.
¡°This crossbow arrow isn¡¯t an ordinary one. The tip is handmade and it¡¯s dipped in poison. Who still uses a weapon like that in this era?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I recognise this. It belongs to the Hattori n,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Boss,¡± said E¡¯er Demutu who was also in the study. ¡°We should inform the soldiers to send out aircraft tounch a search party. We could possibly catch up to them.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s only a possibility. The hills behind stretch out across a few hundred kilometres. If we don¡¯t do anything, they might start to draw the wrong conclusions, that we don¡¯t know of their arrival. They¡¯d think they only alerted a momentous response.¡±
The people in the study consisted of Liang Siyao, Long Bing, the Grey sisters and the Russo sisters. Yelena, Alessio, Sa¡¯im and Anjum Khan were all on guard outside.
Other than the snake, the entire Zodiac team was here. Long Bing reced the snake. The Russo and Grey sisters reced the deceased Amanda, Bagu, Marcus and Park Taeyong. Although the two pairs of sisters weren¡¯t as capable as the four, they still had their strengths. They had an army of passionate followers with strong firepower. Just from this point, the new Zodiac team was much more powerful than before.
¡°Hubby, are you saying that they¡¯ll be back?¡± said Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei said, ¡°They will definitely be back.¡±
Long Bing said, ¡°Hubby, I agree with Sa¡¯im. We should report this to the authorities and then mobilise aerial andnd troops to find them. And if wee down to a battle, we can¡¯t guarantee we¡¯ll all escape unscathed.¡±
She was right. Onnd, soldiers were the ultimate task force. No one would be able to beat them. Even the FA or Hattori n would be ttened in the face of the military tanks.
Everyone looked at Xia Lei, waiting for his final decision.
After a pause, Xia Lei said, ¡°No, we don¡¯t want the military involved.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Long Bing looked worried.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Mobilising troops would increase our chances but it¡¯s still not absolute. These people aren¡¯t regr criminals or terrorists. And if they escape, it would be very difficult to catch them again. But this is not the only reason for my decision, the main reason is...¡± After a pause, he said, ¡°n Mayflower.¡±
The Mayflower Compact was a prominent agreement in the USA.
Here, Xia Lei¡¯s target in n Mayflower was the US. It didn¡¯t matter if it was the stock market or what he was doing now, they were all working towards the same goal. Long Bing and Liang Siyao were the ones who knew the most about this n. However, even Liang Siyao and Long Bing did not know the entire n.
It wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t willing to tell them, he just couldn¡¯t right now.
¡°Boss, what exactly is this n?¡± Tsukino Kyoko asked.
Xia Lei said, ¡°If we catch the intruders from tonight, we will end up killing them. But they are not prominent figures. They are just pawns. My target is the CIA¡¯s intelligence base in Jingdu. I need to find that ce and then send something to the US, then get the thing I need. That is what I want to achieve.¡±
Even this exnation wasn¡¯t the entire n but that was all he could say.
E¡¯er Demutu smiled. ¡°I understand. You¡¯re trying to lure the bigger fish. We may have let some small fish escape tonight but next time, we will catch the big fish.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°If I guessed right, they won¡¯t wait too long before attacking again. They should return in three day¡¯s time.¡±
¡°Hubby, isn¡¯t that the fourth day of the Lunar new year? That¡¯s your wedding with Fan Fan,¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei said, ¡°If I were them, I¡¯d pick that date. Ah Bing, after your mission in Japan failed, the FA group hasn¡¯t done anything. The Hattori n and FA took more than a month to slip into China, into Jingdu and chose to attack during Lunar new year¡¯s eve. They spent so much money and time on this, they won¡¯t give up so easily. They will definitely attack again on the fourth day of the new year but we also have enough time to prepare.¡±
¡°And we still aren¡¯t going to involve the military in this?¡± said Long Bing.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Let Fan Fan deal with this. She¡¯ll settle it.¡±
Fan Fan had contact with high-level officials. Engaging the military was not going to be a problem for her.
Long Bing nodded. ¡°Then I won¡¯t need to worry too much.¡±
¡°That¡¯s it then. You should all rest,¡± said Xia Lei.
The group left the study.
Long Bing initially walked with Xia Lei and Liang Siyao but soon after, she said, ¡°You both should just return to bed, don¡¯t worry about the outside world. I¡¯ll be standing guard.¡±
¡°Why don¡¯t you...¡± Liang Siyao had other thoughts.
Long Bing rolled her eyes. ¡°Hey, tonight¡¯s your night. It¡¯s not my ce to get involved. Also, your father¡¯s here. If he finds out, I can¡¯t beat him in a fight.¡±
Liang Siyao started giggling.
Xia Lei suddenly thought of something. ¡°I need to check on our Master.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll go too,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°You may go ahead. I¡¯ll take a stroll in the garden instead.¡± Long Bing had no interest.
Xia Lei and Liang Siyao arrived at Liang Zhengchun¡¯s room. He was already sound asleep. He did not notice nor wake when Xia Lei and Liang Siyao entered the room.
Qin Xiang had helped take off his shoes before leaving. Xia Lei picked Liang Zhengchun¡¯s shoe up and saw the cut left by the flying crossbow arrow. After seeing the arrow that Tsukino Kyoko found, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but shudder. If Qin Xiang hadn¡¯t called him off the roof, he might already be dead already.
Liang Siyao also shuddered when she saw the cut. She was filled with rage too.
Xia Lei gripped her tender hands. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let this happen again.¡±
Liang Siyao leaned her head on his chest, sinking into his arms.
Xia Lei said gently, ¡°Go back and rest. I will be going out.¡±
Liang Siyao looked up in surprise, ¡°What are you going to do?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°The FA and Hattori n just left so they must really want to know our response to what happened. And they only have one source to go to for this information.¡±
She suddenly understood. ¡°You¡¯re referring to Li Youdun?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°One month has passed and I still haven¡¯t announced Alloy X¡¯s recipe and production procedures. Thunder Horse¡¯s drone project hasn¡¯tunched yet either. Plus after what happened tonight, someone whom I am expecting might appear.¡±
¡°Then I could...¡±
Xia Lei cut her off. ¡°You¡¯re pregnant. I won¡¯t let you do anything risky. Stay home. You can tell Long Bing and Fan Fan about this but don¡¯t let theme with. This is a very important matter. We must not let the other party find even a single w.¡±
Liang Siyao bit her lip gently. ¡°You be careful.¡±
He kissed her cheek, then left Liang Zhengchun¡¯s room. Ten minutester, he arrived at the main building of Thunder Horse. He didn¡¯t enter through the main entrance but instead jumped over the walls.
When he arrived at the office, he opened his safe and took out all his cosmetic tools. He started to disguise himself as Li Youdun. After checking himself out in the mirror and ensuring there were no ws, he left the office and slipped into the materialsb.
There wasn¡¯t anyone working overtime in theb. It waspletely empty and silent.
Xia Lei entered Li Youdun¡¯s office. He put all the electronic devices associated with Li Youdun on the desk. Even his workputer was turned on. If the other person wanted to contact Li Youdun, they would have sent an alert. He had been waiting for this alert for a month but it never happened. Not a single person called Li Youdun¡¯s cell phone, not even an email or text.
Lunar new year eve passed. It was the first day of the Lunar new year.
¡°After what happened tonight, is that guy really going to remain silent? Unless FA and Hattori didn¡¯t call for reinforcements?¡± Xia Lei was losing his patience.
Another hour passed.
He was starting to regret giving up his consummation night with Liang Siyao to sit here like an idiot.
Another hour passed.
Xia Lei got up to leave.
However, a carrier pigeon suddenly appeared at the window. Itnded on the Osmanthus flower tree outside the window and cooed twice.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart shuddered and opened the window.
The window opened and the carrier pigeon flew into Li Youdun¡¯s office. There was a note attached to its w. Xia Lei carefully grabbed the pigeon and took the note. When he let go, the pigeon disappeared into the night in a sh.
Xia Lei opened the note but it did not contain any words. Instead, there was a string of numbers on the inside. 11, 45, 89, 69...
What could it possibly mean?
Chapter 988 - Cracking The Code
The numbers looked like they were Beale cyphers. The Beale cypher was created in 1885. It was said to be a location of a treasure worth sixty-five million dors. However, no one had cracked the code to his day. The Beale cypher constrained only numbers, simr to this note.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t interested in the legendary treasures, nor did he think that this was a part of the Beale cypher. He used many methods in an attempt to crack it but couldn¡¯t solve the message.
¡°What exactly do these numbers represent? Are these location coordinates for Li Youdun to send information to? Or are these the time and location to meet Li Youdun?¡± wondered Xia Lei bitterly.
Five minutester.
¡°Wait...¡± Xia Lei had an idea. ¡°The pigeon had flown directly into the office. This mustn¡¯t be the first time it has passed Li Youdun a note like that. These numbers seemed very random but Li Youdun must have a method to read them. He must have the tools to crack the code!¡±
When the word ¡®tools¡¯ appeared in his mind, a flood of information rted to passwords came into Xia Lei¡¯s mind. There were contents from literature and movies, all these were mystery-themed books and movies he had encountered.
One minuteter.
He smirked coldly and opened the drawer by the office desk. He took a novel out.
It was a French novel named The Mysterious Ind.
Xia Lei had found this book a month ago and skimmed through. However, it wasn¡¯t anything special. At the time, he found it weird that Li Youdun was reading a French novel but did not think much of it. He didn¡¯t ask Li Youdun about it either. Now, he thought differently as he took the book out.
Li Youdun could understand English. He had conversed in English before too. However, Xia Lei hadn¡¯t heard him use French before. Reading was a very normal activity, it was especiallymon for a person like Li Youdun to make a habit of reading. He would¡¯ve found it a lot more suspicious if he found a novel near someone who didn¡¯t like to read.
Xia Lei opened The Mysterious Ind then flipped to the pages ording to the numbers on the note. He then picked out individual words by counting to the number on the note too. He tranted these words into Mandarin and wrote them down on another piece of paper.
Very soon, he had sessfully decoded the message. Tomorrow night at eight. Tree Leaves Cafe.
He burned the note and left Li Youdun¡¯s office. He also put the novel back into the drawer.
Ten minutester, Xia Lei drove out of the Thunder Horse headquarters. He was also driving Li Youdun¡¯s car, a Buick Envision SUV. He¡¯d inspected this car before and did not find any problems with it.
¡°Mr Li, are you really working overtime on new year¡¯s eve?¡± said the security guard on the night shift.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s still a lot to be done. Aren¡¯t you the same? Hehe, happy new year.¡±
¡°Happy new year.¡± The guard opened the gates for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded at him and drove out of the headquarters onto the main road. When he passed the gates of Peace Mansion, he took one nce but did not stop.
From this moment on, he had to face everything alone.
Within the Peace Mansion, four women gathered in Xia Lei¡¯s room.
¡°He has already left.¡± Liang Siyao was filled with worry. ¡°He doesn¡¯t want us to help.¡±
¡°How could he do that?¡± said Jiang Ruyi, panicking. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous for him to go alone!¡±
Fan Fan added, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a huge deal. How could he just leave like that? He didn¡¯t even bring a partner with him.¡±
Long Bing said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just trust him. He must have his reasons for doing it this way. I¡¯ve experienced things way more dangerous than this with him. Plus this is China, we¡¯re in Jingdu.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Sister Fan Fan, when hubby left, he said that the FA and Hattori n will attack during your wedding. You¡¯ve got to report this to the authorities and apply for the military to get involved. But before the other party reveals themselves, you must act ignorant to the matter. Do not take any action beforehand.¡±
Fan Fan sighed. ¡°Alright, I know what to do.¡± After a pause, she said fiercely, ¡°I¡¯ll punch anyone who tries to ruin my wedding!¡±
Long Bing gave her a thumbs up.
Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°Sister Fan Fan, do you really have to be this fierce?¡±
Fan Fan smiled sheepishly.
Jiang Ruyi merely smiled without a word.
Xia Lei¡¯s four wives could be divided into two categories. One was the normal team, consisting of Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi, who had never killed before. The other team consisted of Long Bing and Liang Siyao, non-regr people who had countless kills under their belt
Meanwhile, deep in the hills, within the dense forest.
The retreating troops stopped in their tracks because the two leaders had given the cue to stop.
Sirita said, ¡°Mr Hattori, there isn¡¯t anyone after us. Are you going to exin yourself?¡±
Hattori Hyakusai replied coldly, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±
Sirita huffed. ¡°You know what I mean. You are all being too careful. I think we¡¯ve lost a very good opportunity today. It was a good opportunity to kill Xia Lei today.¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± Hattori Hyakusai huffed. ¡°If you all want to go on a suicide mission, I won¡¯t stop you. If we didn¡¯t have the same goal, I would have been happy to let you die there. We¡¯re different from you all, we would never sacrifice ourselves for something meaningless.¡±
¡°Imbecile! What did you say?¡± cursed one of the FA armed members. He was about to lift his gun.
However, before he couldplete his action. One of the Hattori ninjas had already acted. He unsheathed his sword and swung. The de was now pressed against the FA soldier¡¯s neck. All this in one second. If he moved even slightly, blood would spurt out.
All the FA soldiers raised their guns instantly!
The Hattori ninjas entered their battle stance, all gripping different kinds of des in the darkness. These des had been dipped in poison. From the surface, the FA group seemed to have the advantage with their heavy artillery. However, the truth was not such. In closebat, the Hattori n had absolute confidence in themselves. However, they also knew that they would pay a hefty price for it. Once a battle broke out, perhaps only about three would be left alive.
Hattori Hyakusai¡¯s eyes were locked on Sirita. His eyes were like two unsheathed swords, sharp and sent chills to the bone!
Hattori Hyakusai hadn¡¯t even moved but Sirita could feel immense pressure. It was just a pressing force to her though. She was an assassin on the same level as Dark Mona, she did not fear a battle with him.
All weapons were drawn, the atmosphere within the forest was very tense. If a naughty child were to toss a firecracker into the circle now, it would trigger a bloody war. Corpses would litter the ground.
A few secondster, Sirita lifted a hand. ¡°Put down your guns, we are not enemies.¡±
The FA people put down their guns but still remained guarded.
Hattori Hyakusai also raised a hand. He did not say a word but the ninjas put down their weapons.
He said, ¡°Miss Sirita, I feel like you do not trust me and the Hattori n. Could you tell me the reason?¡±
Sirita said tly, ¡°It¡¯s not that I do not trust you. I am just suspicious of everything. It is a habit of mine. It¡¯s also the reason I¡¯m still alive to this day.¡± This was what she said but another scene appeared in her mind. She saw the image of the moment she met Hattori Mei at the Japanese Hyper Technology Headquarters. She could hear the sound of breathing in the room, the sound of Hattori Mei talking to Hattori Masao. Although she didn¡¯t hear the entire conversation, she understood clearly that within these people¡¯s ns. She and the FA were just gunpowder. Other than staying on guard, she also had other ns.
¡°I don¡¯t care what the reason is but I suggest you should put your judgement and scepticism aside. We must work together to kill Xia Lei. Isn¡¯t that what you want?¡± said Hattori Hyakusai.
¡°I agree!¡± said Sirita. ¡°But we need more information. We need to know Xia Lei¡¯s every move.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, the Americans have taken action. The Americans are in charge of this puzzle piece. They will be the ones providing us all the intelligence,¡± said Hattori Hyakusai.
¡°What sort of intelligence?¡± probed Sirita
¡°I¡¯m the same as you, I¡¯m not sure. But I can tell you this. The clearance level these people have for information is enough to shock you. Don¡¯t worry, the fourth day of the new year will be Xia Lei¡¯s death day.¡±
Sirita nodded. ¡°I believe you. I hope to receive a message from the Americans tomorrow night.¡±
¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± said Hattori Hyakusai.
¡°Let¡¯s meet at the safe point in three days, after midnight.¡± Sirita turned to leave.
The FA soldiers left with her, with two soldiers walking backwards, keeping an eye on the Hattori n.
¡°Retreat.¡± Hattori Hyakusai gave an order.
The group of ninjas disappeared into the darkness.
Time passed slowly.
Time was meaningless to the trees and hills. They were here a year ago and will continue to be a year after. Time was an invention of mankind. Only mankind would appreciate the passing of time, something so abstract. The hills were not interested in the secrets they heard.
Chapter 989 - Informant
At dawn, Xia Lei arrived at a luxury residential area.
Li Youdun¡¯s house was in this neighbourhood. In the past month, he hade here ten times, and five times for more than eight hours. Xia Lei had been hoping that the informant would appear in Li Youdun¡¯s house but it didn¡¯t happen. Even so, he still insisted on visiting this ce every few days.
This was a must. He was basically Li Youdun. How could he not return to his own home in the span of one month? If that was the case, it would definitely attract suspicion from the Jingdu CIA intelligence quarters.
Xia Lei opened the door with Li Youdun¡¯s key and entered. The house was very quiet, there was no sound.
There was a ss door separating the balcony and the living room. Xia Lei stood in the living room and activated his left eye. He looked through the curtains and ss door, scanning every window in the apartment opposite.
This wasn¡¯t the first time he had done this. Every time he came to Li Youdun¡¯s house, he would do the same. He hadn¡¯t found anything suspicious but that didn¡¯t mean there was never going to be.
The CIA was the world¡¯s most powerful intelligence organisation with more than ten thousand people working for them. Every one of these people had undergone strict formal training. Not all of them would be special task force agents or spies nted in enemy countries. Some of them were used to keep tabs on their own members. These agents¡¯ identities would be kept a tight secret. With such an important spy like Li Youdun, why wouldn¡¯t the CIA send people to watch him?
Due to this reason, Xia Lei started checking all the windows much like his first time here.
One minuteter, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze locked on a window directly opposite his. The window was also tightly shut, with its curtains drawn close. However, there was a gap between the edge of the curtain and the wall.
Xia Lei zoomed in using his left eye and quickly identified the object. It was a telescope with a thermal camera. The person holding the telescope was a man with yellow skin and ck eyes. He looked like a regr Chinese man. He wasn¡¯t tall nor short, with an average figure and face. He was the kind to disappear in a crowd.
The watcher had finally appeared.
Xia Lei was not surprised to see this person. If the CIA had to watch Li Youdun in Jingdu, a Chinese person would best suit the role. A Caucasian or a ck person would merely attract attention. The CIA would nevermit such a low-level mistake. Plus, every country in every age across history did notck citizens who would betray their own country. Some would willingly sell their daughter for personal gains. Why wouldn¡¯t they betray their country?
When he saw the watcher, Xia Lei started to move. He walked towards the ss door between the living room and the balcony, drew the curtains open, opened the ss door and stretched facing the rising sun.
There was a slight movement at the curtains opposite, for the watcher had hidden behind the curtains. He did not want Xia Lei to identally catch him for even a second.
Xia Lei turned to enter the living room, then sat on the couch to watch TV. After watching the news, he entered the bedroom, took a shower and went to bed. Everything he did was characteristic of someone who had just pulled an all-nighter at work.
However, he did not sleep. He activated his left eye once again, looked through the walls and the windows opposite to observe the watcher.
The watcher was still observing him through the telescope. While the telescope had limitations, its thermal observation properties were close. He could see the heat signature of Xia Lei on the bed, then deducing if he was asleep or doing something else.
The watcher was patient, maintaining the same posture for hours on end.
Xia Lei retracted his gaze. He could not maintain his x-ray vision for long. He thought to himself, ¡®Where would he send his reports to? The CIA headquarters at Langley? Or the base in Jingdu? The informant hadn¡¯t even appeared for a month. Yet after what happenedst night, the watcher is suddenly here. Looks like the FA and Hattori n require intelligence reports urgently. They need to track me well, and Li Youdun is the only route they can get information from.¡¯
He knew well enough to specte this without expending his brain power.
As hey in bed, he entered ¡®sleeping¡¯ mode. Xia Leiy in a sleeping position but his brain was still analysing things, simting the responses and consequences of each possible situation. In the end, when there was nothing much to do, he started to refine his Alloy X and Ghost drone ns again.
With something to think about, time passed quickly. Soon, it was already four in the afternoon. It was time for him to wake up.
When he woke, he checked on the watcher. To his surprise, the other guy was still in the same posture, watching him. He was like a mannequin at a costume shop.
After washing up, Xia Lei entered the living room, closed the ss door and drew the curtains. It was at this moment when he saw the man bring out a satellite phone to make a call. At least he wasn¡¯t watching Xia Lei through the telescope anymore.
Xia Lei read the watcher¡¯s lips.
The watcher was speaking in English. ¡°Code Messenger, password FF5230. He rested at home for eight hours and slept for six hours. He did not make any calls, nor did he use hisputer. He has already woken up, probably preparing to leave the house. I understand. End of call.¡± At this point, the watcher ended the call and continued watching through the telescope.
When the call ended, Xia Lei had already walked to the door at the living room. When he picked up his telescope, Xia Lei was coincidentally reaching out to open the door. It was exactly timed, down to the second.
Xia Lei opened the door, carrying the briefcase he had previously prepared and exited.
The watcher disappeared behind the curtains in the apartment opposite.
At ten minutes to eight, Xia Lei arrived at Tree Leaves Cafe. This cafe was run by an Indonesian businessman selling the world-famous Luwak coffee. It cost several hundred to a thousand yuan per cup. Its customers were all from the top tiers of society. This ce felt safe and public, for there were no suspicious people around. It was perceived to be a more innocent atmosphere. Control was easy to maintain in a ce like this
When Xia Lei entered, there were already customers inside. There were Chinese and Caucasians here and they were all well-dressed. He walked towards the innermost table. Every face was deeply etched into his mind. Someone was staring at ady¡¯s legs, another was looking out of the window, while another was calling for the waiter. Xia Lei took in every detail.
He must study them in detail to lock in on one target through the process of elimination. This was necessary because the true Li Youdun had met this person more than once. If Xia Lei showed no response to the person in this cafe, it would be a serious w in his disguise.
The process seemedplicated but only actually took three seconds. Three secondster, Xia Lei activated his left eye to scan the ce. This time, he wasn¡¯t looking at faces but the things in their clothes.
The informant must have something with him, right? Listening devices, pinhole cameras, weapons, passcards or something. He just needed a little hint.
An assortment of different objects appeared before his eyes. Wallets, phones, lipsticks, powder, sanitary napkins, chewing gum, pens, condoms...
Thirty secondster, Xia Lei stopped looking and sat at a table. He hadn¡¯t seen anything that would give him a clue. This meant the informant hadn¡¯t arrived. He wasn¡¯t surprised. Xia Lei had arrived ten minutes early for a reason. He needed time to observe the ce.
¡°Sir, would you like to order?¡± A waiter approached.
Xia Lei said mildly, ¡°One Luwak coffee, and a te of dessert.¡± After a pause, he added, ¡°Chocte dessert.¡±
¡°Alright, sir. It¡¯ll be a moment.¡± The waiter left.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on the door. It was going to be eight soon. The informant would be here anytime now. On the surface he was calm, but he was actually very anxious.
Three minutester, the waiter ced a tray on his table. He put a cup of Luwak coffee and a te of chocte dessert on the table, saying politely, ¡°Have a good meal, sir.¡±
During the moment he ced the dessert down, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on his right index finger. There was an obvious callous on the joint of his index finger. He had a realisation. ¡°He¡¯s a waiter at a cafe, how could he have a callous on his right index finger? Only people who use guns often have that callous. Could he be the informant?¡±
However, he quickly eliminated this possibility. If the waiter was the informant, then he would have given him a hint already. He wouldn¡¯t turn and leave like that.
At this moment, there was a reflection of a person in his cup. It came from a Caucasian man walking in from the door.
This Caucasian man was about forty-seven years old, with a robust physique and harsh lines on his face. He was wearing a pair of spectacles with transparent frames. However, to Xia Lei, no matter how this man dressed, he was definitely still a man who had experienced countless battles and killed many men.
A person could disguise as anyone but it was difficult to change one¡¯s aura. Xia Lei had undergone a month of imitation training, plus he had a super brain to control every nerve in his body so he couldpletely transform into Li Youdun. Who else in this world could control his entire body like him?
Xia Lei looked up at the Caucasian and nodded slightly. This was Li Youdun¡¯s habit. In the past, Li Youdun would always give him a slight nod whenever they met.
The Caucasian man nodded slightly at Xia Lei.
The informant had finally shown himself.
Chapter 990 - CIA Intelligence Base
The Caucasian man sat down and raised a hand. The same waiter walked over and asked in English, ¡°What would you like the order, Sir?¡±
¡®A Chinese man with a callous on his index finger and speaks very fluent English. Who exactly is he?¡¯ wondered Xia Lei. He activated his left eye and checked the waiter. What he saw was a very strong body, with eight defined muscles on his abdomen, gunshot scars on both his abdomen and chest. There was also a terrifying tattoo of Medusa on his chest.
The Caucasian man said, ¡°The usual.¡±
¡°Alright, please wait for your meal.¡± The waiter left.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on the Caucasian man once again, who also had a robust physique. He was covered in scars from gunshots and des. There was also a pistol with a muffler attached, a voice recording pen and the pin on his tuxedo was actually a pinhole camera. Xia Lei also saw a passport with the name Sperry on it.
Xia Lei thought to himself. ¡®Sperry chose to meet here and that waiter is obviously not a waiter. They look like they don¡¯t know each other but I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s not the truth.¡¯
Sperry looked at Xia Lei for a solid ten minutes before speaking up. ¡°What did you bring today?¡±
¡°Something good.¡± Xia Lei patted his briefcase lightly.
Sperry¡¯s eyes shone with excitement. ¡°The new material?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Xia Lei is very careful. He hasn¡¯t announced the recipe and production procedure for Alloy X to this date. He seems to also be working on a new type of drone, though he hasn¡¯t announced publicly. Even the head of academy sciences, Fan Yiming, doesn¡¯t know of the secrets regarding Alloy X and the drone. How could I get anything?¡±
¡°Then what did you bring?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°The blueprint of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe.¡±
¡°The first or second generation?¡±
¡°First,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°The second one won¡¯t be easy to get but give me more time and I¡¯ll get the blueprint of the second generation.¡±
One must put out bait in order to catch a fish. The first generation of the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe was already in Germany and France. The Germans and the French treated it like a treasure. They wouldn¡¯t share it easily. However, the Americans definitely would have their methods of getting their hands on this technology. Instead of obtaining information through Germany and France, it was easier for ¡®Li Youdun¡¯ to give it away. Plus, without the core parts that he produced, the Americans would find it hard-pressed to produce products of identical quality.
A smile appeared on Sperry¡¯s face. ¡°The French and Germans have one Thunder Dragon intelligentthe each but they aren¡¯t willing to share. Since you¡¯ve got it, you¡¯re likely to be rewarded. Give it to me.¡±
Xia Lei snickered coldly. ¡°Why?¡±
The smile on Sperry¡¯s face hardened. ¡°It¡¯s not safe for you to keep it with you. What are you trying to do?¡±
Xia Lei said tly, ¡°This was something I risked my life for. You think I¡¯d give it to you just like that?¡±
Sperry was just an informant, which was frankly just a messenger. In terms of ranking, ¡®Li Youdun¡¯s ranking must out-rank him. Right now, as ¡®Li Youdun¡¯, Xia Lei did not need to be too polite to this Sperry.
¡°Do you want to meet the leader of the intelligence base?¡± said Sperry.
¡°He¡¯s barely qualified,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re being too reckless. Do not make this mistake, my friend.¡± There was a hint of malice in his tone.
Xia Lei merely looked at him.
Sperry shrugged. ¡°Alright, you can meet with the Head of Base. But you must tell me, when are you going to get your hands on Alloy X¡¯s recipe and production procedures?¡±
¡°It is the most well-kept secret in China. Do you think anyone could take it whenever they wanted? I have a very good n but I need time and resources.¡±
¡°What kind of resources?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not talking to you about this,¡± said Xia Lei.
Sperry¡¯s mouth twitched. He was holding himself back. ¡°What about Thunder Horse¡¯s drone?¡±
¡°You¡¯re wasting your time,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hehe.¡± Sperryughed coldly. ¡°I¡¯ll know, sooner orter. Give me some updates on Xia Lei¡¯s personal life then. That should be fine, right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°What do you want to know?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°He and Liang Siyao held a traditional wedding ceremony yesterday. Based on the Chinese tradition, they were consummating their marriagest night in their bedroom. However, he did not invite anyone to this wedding. I wasn¡¯t able to enter the Peace Mansion so I¡¯m not too sure about the situation inside.¡±
¡°Did the Chinese special task force soldiers at the Thunder Horse camp take any actionst night?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°None.¡±
¡°Are you sure?¡± The man stared at him intently.
¡°I¡¯m sure. They were only doing their scheduled rounds around thepound.¡± Xia Lei added, ¡°I know what your n is but I¡¯m warning you now. Do not interfere with my work. Compared to retrieving the secrets of Alloy X and the new drone, your mission of killing Xia Lei is of zero importance.¡±
¡°You¡¯re wrong. Killing Xia Lei is actually the most important of all. Without Xia Lei, there will be no Alloy X, no more advanced weaponry. He is currently threatening the military powers of the US. He must die.¡± Sperry¡¯s gaze was intense.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t n on debating with you. You have your tasks, and I have mine.¡±
The waiter brought a cup of coffee over and a few cookies.
¡°Enjoy your meal, sir,¡± said the waiter.
Sperry said, ¡°I¡¯d like to take a look at your kitchens.¡±
¡°Alright, I will inform the manager,¡± said the waiter as he left.
The odd conversation between Sperry and the waiter made Xia Lei realise something. The CIA¡¯s Beijing intelligence base was here!
So that was why the waiter had such a powerful body with gunshot wounds.
However, there were mostly regr waiters here too. They definitely didn¡¯t know what sort of organisation they were working for. Their Chinese ethnicities and easily-found background information had be the CIA¡¯s cover!
Initially, Xia Lei was worried that him not knowing if Li Youdun had been to the base would be a w in his disguise but there was no need for concern now. He believed Sperry wouldn¡¯t ask him about it either. Sperry hadn¡¯t seen through his disguise and was treating him like he was the true Li Youdun. Hence, he wouldn¡¯t ask a question like that.
Sperry picked a cookie up, put it in his mouth and got up. ¡°Follow me.¡±
Xia Lei took his briefcase and followed Sperry into the kitchen.
After passing through the kitchen, they entered a hallway. There was a manager¡¯s office at the end. The waiter from just now was already in the office. When he saw them enter, he closed the door and walked to the bookcase. He reached for a bible on the shelf.
However, he did not take it off the shelf because the shelf itself was already sliding sideways to reveal a wall.
When the shelf stopped moving, the wall suddenly opened up to reveal an underground tunnel.
Sperry entered.
Xia Lei followed suit. When he entered, the waiter moved the bible on the shelf once more and the metal door disguised as a wall closed up. There were lights in the hallway to illuminate the path. Xia Lei had already seen through the end of the hallway with his special vision.
There was another door at the end. It looked more advanced and sturdier. Upon the silver-coloured door, there was an iris and palm scanner.
They both came to the second door. Sperry stood aside. He didn¡¯t say anything but Xia Lei already knew what he had to do. He put his left eye at the iris scanner, then his left hand on the fingerprint scanner. Three secondster, there was a light beep.
The metal door opened.
There was an office space behind the door but only one person inside. It was a Chinese man, about fifty years old. He was thin with a sharp gaze. If he were outside on the streets, other people would¡¯ve thought he was a mechanic who didn¡¯t care about his job.
Xia Lei looked at his clothes and saw through his money clipper to read an identity card.
Yang Shan. This was the Chinese man¡¯s name.
This identity card wasn¡¯t a fake, though Yang Shan wouldn¡¯t be his only identity. He also had an identity as an American.
¡°Mr Li, you¡¯re not supposed to be here,¡± he said.
¡°Mr Yang, I have my reasons for being here,¡± said Xia Lei. Without Yang Shan¡¯s invitation, he sat on the chair opposite Yang Shan.
¡°I know,¡± said Yang Shan. ¡°Hand it over and leave.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°This is the heart of the Thunder Horse Group, the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. I want to personally give this to Mr William Mussi.¡±
William Mussi was the person controlling the entire CIA.
Yang Shan¡¯s expression turned cold. ¡°Your request is unreasonable.¡±
Xia Lei said tly, ¡°My work requires me to risk my life. Any request I make isn¡¯t unreasonable, especially not requests I make to you.¡±
Li Youdun looked like a gentleman but was actually a ruthless person. In the past month, Xia Lei had grasped the depths of his personality. His current response was one that Li Youdun would have.
He had already passed the iris and fingerprint scanners so Yang Shan and Sperry would definitely not question his identity. However, he still had to be careful.
¡°You don¡¯t have to trouble yourself. Just tell me, what do you want?¡± said Yang Shan.
Xia Lei said mildly, ¡°You can¡¯t provide the things I want. Also, there are some things I need to talk to Mr Mussi myself. You aren¡¯t qualified to make this decision.¡±
Yang Shan and Sperry looked at each other, their eyes filled with anger and suspicion.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I don¡¯t have much time. I need to hurry back to Thunder Horse Group. Set up a safe channel for me to talk to Mr William Mussi. Neither of you can afford to bear the consequences of causing any dys to my work.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Yang Shan nodded.
Chapter 991 - Planting Xiao Qian
A few minutester, an image appeared on theputer screen. It was William Mussi¡¯s office and William Mussi himself.
Xia Lei sat on Yang Shan¡¯s chair and nodded at William Mussi on the screen. With some respect, he said, ¡°How do you do, Mr Mussi!¡±
He merely nodded slightly. ¡°Do you really have the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe¡¯s blueprint?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°It is with me.¡±
¡°Hand it over.¡±
¡°I would like a reward of a million dors,¡± said Xia Lei.
William Mussi smiled. ¡°No problem. I will transfer a million dors into your ount if you really have the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe blueprint.¡±
¡°Of course I have it. I can send it to you now.¡± Xia Lei opened his briefcase and found a USB drive inside. He stuck it into Yang Shan¡¯s CPU.
Yang Shan and Sperry looked at each other as if understanding why Xia Lei wanted to personally pass it to William Mussi. One million dors was arge sum to them. However, they did not know that Xia Lei had already spent this amount just on fireworks alonest night.
The upload process merely took ten seconds but Xia Lei did not immediately unplug the USB drive. ¡°Mr Mussi, I know that the CIA is nning to kill Xia Lei but I wish to request for a postponement of this mission.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°I am sure that he already has Alloy X¡¯s recipe and its production procedures. I have a very good n and I am confident in getting that information. Even the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s blueprint. I can get these.¡±
¡°I would like to listen to your n.¡± William Mussi seemed interested.
Xia Lei reached to unplug the USB drive and said, ¡°I would only like for you to know of this n.¡±
Yang Shan furrowed his brows. ¡°Mr Li, you have already gotten what you wanted. A million dors is enough to fund the rest of your life. Aren¡¯t you satisfied?¡±
Xia Lei merely turned to look at him without a word.
William Mussi said, ¡°Yang Shan is fine. He is the head of the Beijing CIA intelligence base. He is qualified to know. Plus, if your n requires reinforcements, he will be the person to help you. Sperry is fine too. Just speak up.¡±
William Mussi didn¡¯t mention Sperry¡¯s position but from his tone, Xia Lei guessed that Sperry must have a simr rank to Yang Shan in the CIA.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Mr Mussi, I would like to remind you that it will include the AE capsule. Are you sure they are both qualified to know? If you are sure, I don¡¯t mind talking about it.¡±
¡°Yang, Sperry, you both wait outside.¡± William Mussi changed his mind.
Yang Shan and Sperry red at Xia Lei coldly and left.
The AE capsule was something the Americans had wanted for a long time. It would help with their military, though it would be further into the future.
When the metal door closed, William Mussi said impatiently, ¡°Speak. What information do you have?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°No matter Alloy X or the AE pill, they do not belong to this world.¡±
¡°Then where are they from?¡±
¡°Alien civilisation.¡± Xia Lei nudged at the space above his head. ¡°Xia Lei has been studying the AE capsule and something called an ancient alloy. This was what he found.¡±
¡°Another kind of metal?¡± gasped William Mussi. ¡°Is it more perfect than Alloy X?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve only seen it once. I¡¯m not sure about its structure and properties. However, I am sure that it is better than Alloy X. This metal was discovered by a Chinese archaeologist called Ning Jing. It fell into Xia Lei¡¯s possessionter. One time, I identally overheard a conversation between Xia Lei and Ning Jing. He said that the metal was likely a piece from an alien weapon. He had some evidence of it too. If they could piece together all the pieces, then Thunder Horse would be able to build a powerful weapon.
¡°Are you sure this is true? It sounds like a science fiction novel to me,¡± said William Mussi.
¡°I am not sure if it¡¯s true either. However, if it is, then the Chinese would be the new rulers of this world,¡± said Xia Lei.
Of course, there weren¡¯t any alien civilisations or alien weapons. Ny percent of what Xia Lei said was fake, with ten percent of it being true truth. The only goal was to hoodwink William Mussi. It would not be easy to trick the head of intelligence so he must have some truth to his words.
¡°So that means the AE capsule could likely be from an alien civilisation too, right?¡± William Mussi¡¯s eyes were filled with scepticism and excitement.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I think so too. I have already gotten Xia Lei¡¯s trust. Other than letting me participate in the research for Alloy X, he also let me research the ancient alloy. Yet you n to kill him now. If he dies, I won¡¯t be able to get any useful information.¡±
¡°This is the n you wanted to tell me?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
William Mussi shook his head. ¡°Killing Xia Lei is an order from the highest level. Both the White House and Pentagon made a unanimous decision on this. No one can change their minds.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly recalled what Gu Kewen said before her death. Gu Kewen mentioned that the determination of the Americans to kill him had exceeded everything. She was telling the truth.
¡°That¡¯s too bad, we¡¯re just about to receive technology that could change the world,¡± said Xia Lei, feigning pity.
William Mussi thought for a moment. ¡°Just do your job well. Don¡¯t worry about the FA and Hattori n. We¡¯ve spent so much effort to put you in Thunder Horse, do not expose yourself at a time like this. Even if Xia Lei dies, Thunder Horse Group would still exist. Alloy X and drone projects would still continue. You will have your opportunities. As for the ancient alloy, you will get the chance to get your hands on it too. Your reward will be fifty million dors for it.¡±
Xia Lei said emotionally, ¡°Mr Mussi, I know what to do.¡±
William Mussi said, ¡°Go back to Thunder Horse. Don¡¯t go to the intelligence base again. It is very important to us. You visiting it will just increase the risk of its exposure.¡±
¡°I know.¡± Xia Lei added, ¡°I have a request before I leave.¡±
¡°What request?¡±
¡°I need all the information regarding the AE research centre¡¯s research on the AE capsule. Everything.¡± Xia Lei spoke with a firm tone.
¡°Why would you need that?¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°Mr Mussi, the ancient alloy and AE capsule came from the same ce. They have many simr properties. I have gotten Xia Lei¡¯s trust so I will being into contact with the ancient alloy and some of that medicine. I need to know more about the pill. It¡¯ll help me gain more of Xia Lei¡¯s trust. This is the only way for me to provide more useful intelligence.¡±
¡°Xia Lei has another medicine?¡±
¡°Yes but I¡¯m not sure if he replicated it from something else,¡± said Xia Lei.
William Mussi didn¡¯t speak.
However, Xia Lei knew that he was convinced. He had just offered a lot of enticing secrets that the CIA wanted.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll send them to you. Please leave that ce once you get it. I do not want you there again.¡± William Mussi made his decision.
Xia Lei nodded and plugged his USB drive in again.
The USB drive didn¡¯t just contain his Thunder Dragon intelligentthe blueprint. It also contained something special. Xiao Qian. It was a virus he encoded himself. The first Xiao Qian had already been destroyed during the bombing of the FA headquarters. He had written it again and perfected its ws!
Just now, when he plugged it into Yang Shan¡¯sputer, Xiao Qian had already moved in into theputer. Right now, as he received the information into his USB drive, Xiao Qian could infiltrate the CIA headquarters through theirwork!
In the future, whenever he activated Xiao Qian, Xia Lei would not only get information from the intelligence base, he would also receive information from the highest levels of the CIA!
The transfer process ended in five minutes. Xia Lei got up and excused himself, then picked up his briefcase to leave Yang Shan¡¯s office.
Outside the door, Yang Shan and Sperry red at him coldly.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Good luck with your mission.¡±
Sperry smirked coldly. ¡°Thank you.¡± Then, he changed the topic. ¡°I forgot to ask you something.¡±
¡°What?¡±
Sperry said, ¡°Where will Xia Lei¡¯s wedding be?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Xia Lei and Fan Fan¡¯s wedding will be at the Sheraton Hotel. I received an invitation but due to your mission, I don¡¯t n on going. Let me remind you that there will be many major military figures present, there will be security and surveince within a five-kilometre radius. The FA and Hattori n wouldn¡¯t be able to enter with their guns. In fact, you can¡¯t even approach the hotel with a knife.¡±
Yang Shan said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Goodbye, Mr Li.¡±
Xia Lei gave a light nod and left.
Xia Lei and Fan Fan¡¯s wedding was going to be at the Sheraton, though he still hadn¡¯t announced it to the public. Other than his four wives, Yang Shan and Sperry were the first ones to know of his wedding venue.
Now that he had told Sperry and Yang Shan, the FA organisation and Hattori n would receive new very soon. Since he said that there would be security in the five-kilometre radius, the FA and Hattori n would n their ambush on the journey back from the wedding.
When he exited the cafe, Xia Lei looked up at the usher. He smirked. This was the CIA¡¯s secret intelligence base but it would not exist for long.
He walked towards Li Youdun¡¯s Buick and started to drive back. However, due to the human skin mask, he could not feel the wind. When he approached the car window, he saw the same reflection he saw at the cafe. Sperry was watching him from a floor-to-ceiling window.
Xia Lei looked at Sperry¡¯s reflection and whispered gently, ¡°Bang!¡±
Chapter 992 - The Origins of the AE Capsule
The first day of the Lunar New Year was extremely important to every Chinese person. In the Chinesemunity, the luck they received on this day would determine their luck for the year. This was why the Chinese had a lot of superstitions surrounding this fateful date, which included seemingly unassuming things like avoiding arguments and losing at a round of poker.
For Xia Lei, his luck today was pretty decent. It would be a difficult task to determine his luck for the year but it wasn¡¯t looking too bad with the information he had just received.
In his study at the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei opened the tightly encrypted file inside the USB stick. William Mussi had provided him with one text document and a video file inside the USB¡¯s folder.
¡°Could this be how the Americans got the AE capsule?¡± Xia Lei was curious, quickly clicking onto the video.
In the media yer was a small valley surrounded by tall mountains. There was no vegetation to speak of on the brown mountain, making the barrennd seem particrly deste. Judging by the angle, the videographer seemed to be standing on the side of the hill. After recording a scenery shot of the valley, he moved the camera to another direction deliberately. Momentster, the Holy Cross Mountain and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the foot of the mountain could be seen from a distance.
There was no doubt that this was shot in the outskirts of Jerusalem.
The focus was returned to the valley once again. The videographer seemed to have begun his hike, causing the footage to be rather shaky. It was as if the camera was a GoPro strapped to the top of his head. He spoke as he walked, ¡°Today is the first Christmas of this millennium and I¡¯m here working in this damned ce. But this is going to be worth it. As an archaeologist, discovering the eighth wonder in this world is the best Christmas gift god has blessed me with!¡±
A woman¡¯s voice came from the video. ¡°George, it¡¯s too early to be congratting yourself. The information we received might not be urate. Perhaps that ce is nothing but a regr tomb.¡±
¡°Trust me, Elena. I¡¯ve got a gut feeling that we found something amazing this time,¡± replied George.
¡°Really? I sure hope it is.¡± Elena mused, ¡°Right... George, what period do you think this tomb would date back to?¡±
¡°I called Israel¡¯s Professor Mark earlier. He mentioned that the tomb might be one from the time of the Crusaders. Ah, you know me. I¡¯m a fan of the Middle Ages. My dream ever since I was a kid was to be one of the Crusade¡¯s knights, fighting in the name of the holy God.¡±
¡°Ohe on, you¡¯re no material for a knight. Did Professor Mark tell you anything about the who the tomb belongs to?¡± questioned Elena.
¡°Nope, our exchange was fairly simple. After that, he urged us to travel here as soon as possible. And ta-da! Here we are.¡±
They continued to talk as they continued their descent. It took them a full ten minutes to get to the bottom of the valley.
When they made it down the hill, what seemed like a copsed rock wall appeared in the video. In the midst of the rocky mess was a cave that had a diameter of about three metres and an equivalent height.
The two archaeologists entered the cave.
George turned on his torch, allowing the concentrated ray of light to guide them. It was pitch ck. Save for a few cold stones, there was nothing else to look at.
The pair continued to walk forward. It was about a distance of twenty metres that George finally yelled into the distance. ¡°Professor Mark, we¡¯re here! I¡¯m George, and I brought Elena with me.¡±
A man¡¯s voice came echoing through the dark cave. The man shouted back in English, ¡°George, Elena, I¡¯m in here! I¡¯m around twenty meters ahead of you. Quick, quick! I can¡¯t wait to show you this miracle!¡°
¡°Got it, we¡¯reing!¡± George and Elena picked up their pace.
The pair continued to walk a distance and immediately met with some light. The space shown in the video had gotten spacious. It was a natural cavern in the shape of a triangle. It was an equteral triangle. It was almost as if it was a pyramid built deliberately inside the cave.
¡°Wow! Nature is amazing! The work on this... Oh my god...¡± George choked on his feelings, no longer able to speak coherently.
¡°How the hell is this natural?¡± A white-haired old man appeared in the video. Behind him was a bustling bunch of workers trying to pry open a stone sarcophagus. The size of the sarcophagus was humongous. It looked like a military tank made out of stone. Xia Lei reckoned that it was sturdy as hell.
¡°Professor Mark, you were right. This is definitely the eighth wonder of this world! She looks like a pyramid built in the middle of a cave! I can¡¯t wait to find out who this tomb belongs to. Professor, do you happen to know anything about the owner¡¯s identity?¡± George went closer to the old man. His camera shaking ever so slightly with the movement.
¡°Sorry, George. I too would like to know. The answer would probably have to wait until we find some clue after the sarcophagus is opened. But before that, I suggest that you take a good look above you.¡± Mark¡¯s tone was full of suspense.
The moment George lifted to look at the scene above him, he froze. Suddenly, the man was unable to move a muscle.
The scene was a sight to behold, stunning even Xia Lei, who was just a mere spectator in front of his screen.
On the top of the equteral triangle were human skulls. Each of them aligned neatly one after another. Pieces of human bones were arranged deliberately as well. How it stuck onto the rock wall was another mystery. Its arrangement formed a line of bones going around the edges of the triangle. At a nce, the densely packed skulls covered the upper third of the pyramid-like a gigantic ceiling.
¡°Jesus Christ! Who would do such a thing?!¡± Elena¡¯s voice trembled with fear. ¡°Is this the devil¡¯s nest?¡±
¡°Only God knows.¡± Professor Mark said, ¡°Come, let me show you the stone sarcophagus.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± George trailed behind Professor Mark. The younger man asked, ¡°Professor Mark, who was the first person to find this ce? How did he discover it?¡±
¡°This ce was discovered around a week ago. There was a slight earthquake that caused the situation you saw at the cave¡¯s entrance. It seems that someone had tried to hide this cave and its existence was uncovered right after the earthquake.¡± Professor Mark smiled. ¡°It was a bunch of young backpacking tourists that found this ce. They reported it to the police and here we are. We¡¯ve been working here for a full week because of this damned stone sarcophagus. It¡¯s crazy sturdy and we can¡¯t use explosives on it.¡±
¡°Yeah, using that would be unwise. You¡¯ll risk destroying all the artefacts inside,¡±mented Geroge.
¡°But I must say, you guys are lucky. You¡¯re just in time for the opening of the sarcophagus.¡±
¡°Is it going to be opened soon?¡± Elena¡¯s pitch went higher due to excitement.
Professor Mark nodded. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why I urged you toe here as soon as possible. In five minutes or so, we¡¯ll be witnessing a miracle!¡±
The chatter went on as Professor Mark led George and Elena to the stone sarcophagus.
George circled the sarcophagus and stood at its side. A blurry carving on the surface of the stone sarcophagus came into focus.
George went closer and brushed away the pile of dust on top with the back of his hand.
Immediately, everything was clearer. It had the carvings ¡®AE¡¯ on it!
At this moment, Xia Lei immediately realized what that could possibly mean for the contents of the sarcophagus. The man was now more eager than George for the moment of its revtion!
¡°So the AE capsule came to existence from this ce. It somehow ended up with me and I had consumed it to create the current me...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind was filled with thoughts, feeling extremely conflicted with the knowledge.
¡°A...¡± George tried to identify the alphabets in the carving. ¡°E!¡±
¡°George, what are you mumbling about?¡± Elena approached him.
¡°AE!¡± George abruptly raised his voice. ¡°Professor Mark, did you notice that there are alphabets carved in this diagram? It has the alphabet ¡®AE¡¯!¡±
¡°Hehe!¡± Professor Markughed cheerily. ¡°George, my friend. There¡¯s no need to be so shocked. This ce is littered with those two alphabets you mentioned. There¡¯s so much of it that I couldn¡¯t be bothered to count.¡±
¡°Why?¡± George hadn¡¯te down from his surprise.
Professor Mark replied, ¡°My friend, do not ask me that. I don¡¯t know either. Let us do our best to solve this mystery together.¡±
A few minutester, the workers had finally pried the sarcophagus open. It took a few muscr men to achieve that feat.
Before the cover waspletely off, George was already at the front of the sarcophagus. The man impatiently stretched his neck to get a good look inside.
With the help of illumination, they found out that the sarcophagus was empty.
There was nobody nor was there any treasures. Heck, there was not even the slightest sign of a relic. Despite that, at the very bottom of it sat an amber with the size of a fist. Its luxurious golden shade was that of a ray of sunlight that cut through the darkness at dawn.
In the middle of the amber was a bunch of glittering material that looked simr to mineral powder.
¡°What the hell? What is inside the amber?¡± George was in awe.
¡°I¡¯ve seen many fossilised ambers throughout my career. Usually, it would be insects or leaves but why is its content so peculiar?¡± Elena studied the amber curiously.
¡°We¡¯ll find out after we bring it to theb,¡± said Professor Mark as he extended an arm to grab the amber.
Suddenly, a bullet was shot from the back. It immediately went into the older man¡¯s head, bringing along a spluttering mess of brain and blood. Professor Mark¡¯s life was robbed away in that split second.
¡°Who are you?! What are you doing... Gah!¡± Another gunshot rang out and George fell with a thud.
The camera was stationary, aimed at the top of the pyramid. The lifeless skulls watched the tragedy unfold beneath them silently.
More gunshots rang, apanied by a chaos of ear-piercing screams and pleads of mercy. It echoed around the cavern.
Nearing the end of the video, someone entered the frame. With his back to George¡¯s camera, his face was hidden. However, one could tell from the back that his physique was impably strong. He reached an arm and grabbed the amber.
For a brief moment, Xia Lei could see a ck tattoo on his arm. It was a tattoo of a king cobra.
¡°Leader, there¡¯s a camera on this guy¡¯s helmet. It¡¯s still recording. Should we destroy it?¡± Someone spoke in English but was out of the frame.
¡°No, keep it. Everything other than the bodies must not be tampered with.¡± The man with the cobra tattoo instructed, ¡°st the cave¡¯s entrance when you exit this ce. Anyone who knows about the existence of this ce must be wiped out.¡±
¡°Understood!¡± There were a few scattered affirmations.
The footage came to its end after the man covered the lens with a palm and turned the device off.
And that was it. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t find it in himself to move, staring nkly ahead at the screen in shock.
He had finally learned how the AE capsules came into the picture but he had more questions than before. Xia Lei could notprehend how the pyramid within the cave was built and what its probable function was.
Anyway, who the hell killed George and Professor Mark, then took away the amber?
Chapter 993 - A Gigantic Mess
Xia Lei clicked on the text document, noting that it contained research information extracted straight from the AE Research Centre. They had conducted a few tests on the mineral-like material within the amber but even the geniuses in America couldn¡¯te up with an answer.
Breezing through the lengthy reports till its end, Xia Lei gasped in surprise. The AE Research Centre had actually not done any study on the material for medical purposes. Their main focus was just identification, to which they had concluded that the material was a kind of mineral. A mineral that was even rarer and way more precious than rare earth elements.
¡°What the hell?¡± Xia Lei tried his best to suppress his shock. ¡°When Father gave them to me, they were already encapsted. He told me to take one each month and I consumed eleven of them, leaving thest one till now. How was Father so confident in them that he fed them to me? There is nothing in here to prove its medical functionality.¡±
The main research focus of the AE Research Centre was on the rare mineral alone. If Xia Changhe¡¯s knowledge was in tune with that of the centre, why would he make his own son consume it? This fact alone indicated that Xai Changhe knew more than the centre. But how would an FA agent hold more knowledge about the mineral than the AE Research Centre that was funded and supported by America?
This was a question that seemed to bear no answer.
He gave it some thought, deciding to pick up the satellite phone. Xia Lei wanted to contact his father but the line just couldn¡¯t seem to reach the old man.
This was his father¡¯s style. Xia Changhe was a nomad. When would he ever take a break from this lifestyle and settle down for life? No one knew.
¡°Hubby, why are you still awake at this hour?¡± Jiang Ruyi entered the room, holding a steaming bowl of white fungus and wolfberry soup with jujube.
Wolfberry and jujube were typically used to nourish the kidney. It so happened that these were the two materials that his pregnant wives fed him often. The sight of those two cursed elements was enough to make Xia Lei gag now but he refrained from doing so. He would always force a smile whenever his lovers had served him that, not forgetting to apud them on how nice it smelt.
¡°Drink up, I¡¯ll go fetch you another bowl when you¡¯re done,¡± beamed Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei had nothing to say in his defence.
¡°Open wide, I¡¯ll feed you.¡± Jiang Ruyi scooped a spoonful of soup daintily, hovering it over to Xia Lei¡¯s lips carefully.
Xia Lei forced himself to swallow it, allowing Jiang Ruyi to sit on hisp. The affectionate disy immediately filling the room up with warmth and sweetness.
¡°Are they asleep?¡± Xia Lei wrapped his arms around her waist gently, rubbing a cautious palm over her slightly protruding belly. He marvelled the little life budding within his lover.
¡°They already went to sleep. They said that I¡¯ve not been here for a really long time so I should give you somepany tonight.¡± As soon as the sentence escaped her lips, Jiang Ruyi was a blushing mess.
Xia Leiughed breathily. ¡°There¡¯s no need for such hassle. Isn¡¯t it livelier to sleep together?¡±
¡°Ptui!¡± Jiang Ruyi pinched her fingers hard around his ear. She jeered, ¡°I knew you were one hell of a rascal when we were kids. I guess some things don¡¯t change, huh? You¡¯re still a rascal. Come clean, what did you do to them three whenever you slept together?¡±
This was the Jiang Ruyi Xia Lei was familiar with.
¡°Well, isn¡¯t it obvious? Why do you need to ask?¡± Xia Lei had at least the decency to feel bashful.
¡°I could already imagine it without you saying a thing.¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s lips were pulled into a frown.
¡°Anyway, I refuse to sleep with them.¡±
¡°It¡¯s only an asional thing. How could I handle frequent nights like that? After the children are born, we won¡¯t be able to do things like that. It¡¯ll be a bad influence on our children.¡±
¡°Say, what should my child call Fan Fan?¡± Jiang Ruyi was suddenly reminded of this question.
Xia Lei paused to think. ¡°First mother.¡±
¡°What about Liang Siyao?¡±
¡°Second mother.¡±
¡°What about Long Bing?¡±
¡°Third mother?¡±
¡°Then what about me?¡±
¡°What kind of question is that? Of course, your child would call you mom, idiot.¡± Xia Lei pped Jiang Ruyi¡¯s round bottom.
¡°No!¡± Jiang Ruyi wiggled in his hold, smushing her soft bottom against Xia Lei¡¯s firm thigh. ¡°I wanna be the first mother. I¡¯ve known you since we were kids and you¡¯ve already gotten a taste of my body a long time ago. I am your very first woman.¡±
Xia Lei gaped at her silently.
¡°I don¡¯t care, I want to be the first mother to all the children.¡±
¡°I see.¡± Xia Lei mused, ¡°I¡¯ll have Fan Fan¡¯s kid call you first mother instead.¡±
¡°Then what will Liang Siyao¡¯s child call me?¡±
¡°Second mother.¡±
¡°Long Bing¡¯s?¡±
¡°Third mother.¡±
¡°What the hell? Why is it so confusing?¡±
Putting on a straight face, Xia Lei exined his rationale, ¡°Your child will call Fan Fan first mother and her child will call you first mother in return. Siyao¡¯s child will call Long Bing their first mother and Long Bing¡¯s child will return the favour. With that, won¡¯t everyone have the chance to be called the first mother?¡±
Jiang Ruyi rolled her eyes at Xia Lei in exasperation. ¡°Wow, amazing!¡±
¡°Of course. I¡¯m the head of this house. It¡¯s a given that I must consider every aspect well.¡±
Abruptly, Jiang Ruyi reached over again to pinch Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
¡°Ow...¡± Xia Lei winced. Despite the little yelps of pain, he made a move to lift Jiang Ruyi up effortlessly. ¡°Let¡¯s head to bed.¡±
All while Jiang Ruyi¡¯s mind was still a jumbled mess of confusion. ¡°So Fan Fan¡¯s child will call me first mother and Liang Siyao¡¯s child will call me second mother. Jeez, why is our family a gigantic mess?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s wife and children were his drugs. It was a remedy to make him forget about the pressing worries and concerns.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year,
Xia Xue paid a visit to Vientiane Group¡¯s headquarters in Jingdu. She was here on a mission to deliver Shentu Tianyin an invitation to her brother¡¯s wedding. At that moment, the woman was staring hard at Vientiane¡¯s closing price on the American stock market yesterday. After a month or so, Vientiane Group had finally fallen below the issue price. It was a decline of a good fifteen percent.
Her mood was already dampened to see such a fall. The moment she set eyes on the invitation Xia Xue held out to her, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mood worsened. She grasped the edges of the card tightly, forgetting to greet her ex-sister inw altogether.
¡°Sister, are you okay?¡± Xia Xue studied Shentu Tianyin with concern.
It was only then that Shentu Tianyin snapped out of it. ¡°Oh, uh, I¡¯m okay. I saw thising but it still feels very sudden to me.¡±
Xia Xue sighed. ¡°I was really rooting for you and my brother. I had a feeling that you both wouldst long. It¡¯s still a shock to me that you both are divorced now.¡±
Shentu Tianyin mustered a wry smile. ¡°Don¡¯t me your brother for this. It¡¯s my fault, I have wronged him greatly.¡± Pausing for a moment, she continued, ¡°And yet, you still take me as a sister. If Fan Fan catches this, she¡¯ll be upset. I don¡¯t wish toplicate things between you and your sister inw.¡±
¡°Look, she won¡¯t be the only sister inw I¡¯m about to have... Let¡¯s not talk about them. The dynamics of my family is terrifyinglyplicated.¡± Xia Xue uttered, ¡°Sister, you should attend the wedding.¡±
¡°But...¡± Shentu Tianyin had made it clear that she wouldn¡¯t attend Xia Lei and Fan Fan¡¯s wedding. However, now that Xia Xue was here personally to deliver the invitation, her initial decision had swayed. To watch the man she loved marry another woman was masochistic but she couldn¡¯t help but wish to see Xia Lei again.
Xia Lei was her drug. She knew full well that it was bad but she was hooked onto it. Her addiction had gone beyond her willpower to quit.
¡°Sister, I need to excuse myself now. There¡¯s still some invitations to deliver elsewhere. Thank you for making time for me, see you next time.¡± Xia Xue bid her farewell and exited Shentu Tianyin¡¯s office.
Bo Mingmei entered the office this time with a pout. ¡°She¡¯s so fake, just like her brother.¡±
That unsolicitedment made Shentu Tianyin scowl. ¡°Don¡¯t say things like that.¡±
Bo Mingmei huffed. ¡°The divorce was not too long ago and he¡¯s already about to get married to a high official. Not to mention, that man has three other women on the side. Didn¡¯t you catch how delighted Xia Xue was when she mentioned her numerous sisters-inw? Her little smile ticks me off.¡±
¡°Quit it, you¡¯ve said enough!¡± Shentu Tianyin was genuinely mad.
¡°I don¡¯t care if it offends you. I just don¡¯t want to see you in pain again.¡± Bo Mingme stared straight into Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes. ¡°I was beginning to think that Xia Lei was already involved with the other women while you were married. What right does he reserve to live life like a paradise while you¡¯re constantly in pain despite a minor fault?¡±
¡°You...¡± Shentu Tianyin swayed her arm over. But before her palm could collide with Bo Mingmei¡¯s cheek, she halted herself.
¡°If hitting me would make you feel better, go ahead.¡± Bo Mingmei said tantly.
Shentu Tianyin retracted her arms. ¡°I divorced him. You can¡¯t shift the me on him. He did give me a chance to give up on Vientiane Group to join him in the Thunder Horse Organization and I rejected him. Xia Lei has helped me dissolve multiple disasters that couldnd me in jail. My father owes him a life too. He has done so much for me and yet I let him be my scapegoat. Before the incident took ce, I had even prepared the divorce letters and signed it. Shouldn¡¯t I be punished for my sins?¡±
Bo Mingmei was aware of it but she hadn¡¯t learnt of the entire story. Now that Shentu Tianyin had confessed aloud, Bo Mingmei¡¯s disdain towards Xia Lei was immediately gone. Shentu Tianyin was evidently at the wrong. She was the one who brought up the divorce. How could Xia Lei be med for her own demise?
The other women drawled a long sigh. ¡°He was willing to forgive me and see me as a friend. I¡¯m already grateful for that. And yes, it¡¯s true that I¡¯m suffering inside but I brought this upon myself. I won¡¯t me it on anyone else.¡±
¡°But you can¡¯t stay like this forever. This is detrimental for your health.¡±
¡°Do I look like someone who would copse easily?¡± Shentu Tianyin tossed her a pointed look.
Bo Mingmei could only chuckle dryly. ¡°I know I can¡¯t convince you but I¡¯ll like to advise you against attending their wedding.¡±
¡°No, I made my decision. I¡¯m attending it.¡±
¡°Why are you trying to hurt yourself? There will be a lot of reporters at the event. With you attending as his ex-wife is only going to fuel headlines.¡±
¡°They can write whatever they want, I couldn¡¯t care less. The fourth day of the new year is a very important day for him. I just wish to see him happy again,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Jeez, you really should go get another man and start another rtionship.¡±
Shentu Tianyin replied, ¡°Sure, why don¡¯t you get me another man that is as good as him?¡±
That seemed to have shut Bo Mingmei¡¯s mouth up effectively.
Was there anyone on earth who could match up to Xia Lei?
No, Xia Lei was the best.
¡°Go prepare me a gift,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Anything specific?¡± Bo Mingmei said, ¡°He¡¯s way richer than you now. He¡¯s got money and women at his disposal. What is there left to give him?¡±
Shentu Tianyin caressed the sacred heart ne around her neck.
Bo Mingmei gasped. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious about giving that away?! There¡¯s only one of it in this world!¡±
¡°I¡¯m not stupid. This is a wedding gift from Xia Lei. How can I give it away and have it worn by some other women?¡± Shentu Tianyin sighed and continued, ¡°Nevermind, I better go pick the gifts myself.¡±
Doot... Doot... Doot...
Out of the blue, thendline phone on her desk started to ring.
Shentu Tianyin answered the call. ¡°Hello?¡±
¡°Shentu Tianyin, it¡¯s me. Tang Yuyan.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice rang through the receptor. ¡°Are you free for a cup of coffee now?¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll like to talk to you about some women affairs.¡±
There was only a brief moment of hesitation before Shentu Tianyin answered, ¡°Okay.¡±
Chapter 994 - The Ex-wife Alliance
The fourth day of the Lunar New Year.
Jingdu, Hilton Hotel.
Before the main characters of the banquet had even arrived, the well-decorated hotel ballroom was already bustling with life. Many of those attending Xia Lei and Fan Fan¡¯s wedding were high-profile military figures and billionaires. In this ceremony, the concept of social sses and ie were blurred. There were ordinary people within the crowd as well.
Some of the guests busied themselves with talks about Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Some of them opted to discuss Xia Lei¡¯s current assets and wealth while others reminisced about their past with Xia Lei. There were also guests who were more interested in discussing Xia Lei¡¯s looks and height, even bringing up a few celebrities as aparison. Here, everyone was from different worlds and thus influencing the choice of their topics.
Above all, this was a great tform to get to create connections and expand one¡¯sworking. When Xia Lei had first started out, there were many who looked down on him. Ironically, those were the ones who tried their hardest to get a hold of an invitation to Xia Lei¡¯s wedding. They hoped to get to know a few political figures or even high-ranking business owners through this asion.
Humans were born this way. When you were poor, your friends and rtives would rarely visit even if your house was located on the side of the road. However, as soon as you got rich, your friends and rtives wouldn¡¯t even mind the fussy journey even if you lived in the depths of a mountain.
At this moment, two women entered the grand ballroom at the same time. One of them was Tang Yuyan and the other was Shentu Tianyin. While Xia Lei¡¯s invitation had stated that the couple would not be receiving any gifts, both women had an intricate gift box within their palm.
The appearance of Shentu Tianyin and Tang Yuyan immediately drew the media¡¯s attention. A round of heated discussion ensued.
¡°Isn¡¯t that Vientiane Group¡¯s Shentu Tianyin? Isn¡¯t she Xia Lei¡¯s ex-wife? Why is she attending his wedding?¡±
¡°Yeah? That¡¯s quite masochistic.¡±
¡°Damn, I really pity her. Xia Lei¡¯s current worth has way surpassed hers. He¡¯s such a capable man and yet she divorced him.¡±
¡°I think the problem was probably not their rtionship. Perhaps Xia Lei is not that skilful in bed.¡±
¡°Haha, is this a joke? I heard that Xia Lei has a harem living with him in the Peace Mansion. A regr man wouldn¡¯t be able to handle a single woman, let alone an entire harem.¡±
¡°Say, would it be awkward when Xia Lei¡¯s current wife meets Shentu Tianyin?¡±
¡°Of course it¡¯s going to be awkward. But watch your mouth. Gossiping about Shentu Tianyin is fine but never gossip about Xia Lei¡¯s current wife. I heard she¡¯s a governmental officer and her rank is ridiculously powerful. You better be careful with your words.¡±
¡°Okay, okay. Got it...¡±
In the midst of a flurry of words, the reporters swarmed towards Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Miss Tianyin, mind if we interview you?¡±
¡°Director Shentu, as Xia Lei¡¯s ex-wife, how are you feeling now that you¡¯re attending Xia Lei¡¯s wedding?¡±
¡°Miss Tianyin...¡±
The reporters continued to throw questions at Shentu Tianyin who couldn¡¯t help but frown. The divorce was a scar of hers, the pain was still fresh and the recovery was slow. It was as if these reporters had not learnt of tact, peeling apart her massive scar in the face of the public.
¡°What are you trying to do? Who let you in?¡± Tang Yuyan red at them coldly.
¡°We were invited by Xia Lei¡¯s sister. Is there a problem?¡± One of the reporters answered.
Tang Yuyan waved a hand, motioning a few security guards and agents over.
She turned to them and instructed, ¡°Please see them out.¡±
¡°Who the hell are you?¡±
¡°What gives?¡±
¡°You can¡¯t do that! We were all invited.¡±
Their exnation fell on deaf ears. The security guards swiftly escorted them out of the ballroom.
Shentu Tianyin regained herposure and turned to look at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Thank you.¡±
Tang Yuyan replied, ¡°No problem. We¡¯re all women who were hurt.¡±
¡°But wouldn¡¯t this upset Xia Xue? She was the one in charge of nning Xia Lei and Fan Fan¡¯s wedding and yet you¡¯ve chased away all the reporters she invited.¡± Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t help but be concerned.
Tang Yuyan huffed. ¡°When Fan Fan had snatched away Xia Lei from me, I said nothing. So what could Fan Fan and her little sister-inw say about this?¡±
Shentu Tianyin gaped, not daring to say anything.
Tang Yuyan said, ¡°Besides, the only female decision-maker in Xia Lei¡¯s family is Liang Siyao.¡±
¡°Why do you say that?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Liang Siyao is the one managing the Thunder Horse Organization.¡± Tang Yuyan continued, ¡°I know Liang Siyao better than you do. She is a former senior intelligence officer of the CIA. If it wasn¡¯t for her exposed identity back then, your marriage with Xia Lei would not have happened.¡±
¡°Fan Fan...¡±
¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to ask.¡± Tang Yuyan shifted her posture. ¡°Her rank is higher than mine and the authority she holds is immense. Despite that, she¡¯s docile and soft. If it wasn¡¯t for Xia Lei¡¯s help, she would never have gotten there. She¡¯s gentle and not a fan of conflicts. She was able to get together with Xia Lei all because he wanted to escape me. But what began as a fake rtionship had spiralled into real feelings.¡±
¡°What about Long Bing?¡±
¡°Her? Haha.¡± Tang Yuyan huffed a few breathyughs. ¡°She¡¯s a simple one. Even if during the time when you were still together with him or now, she wouldn¡¯t be a threat to anyone. Let me tell you something unheard of. Before your divorce had even taken ce, Xia Lei and Long Bing were already involved but you were kept under the wraps. And had she threatened your position back then? No.¡±
Sadness surged in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s heart. After she had married Xia Lei, the thought of shaking another man¡¯s hand had be ufortable to her. Yet, Xia Lei had an affair with Long Bing. While it was the past, hearing it from Tang Yuyan filled her heart with bitterness and jealousy.
¡°What about Jiang Ruyi?¡± Shentu Tianyin no longer wished to dwell on Xia Lei¡¯s infidelity.
¡°That woman is from a regr family. She¡¯s got no remarkable achievements but she grew up with Xia Lei. They were ssmates from kindergarten to high school and they were also neighbours. They were real childhood friends. From what I¡¯ve learnt, she harboured feelings for Xia Lei but the man did not reciprocate it. I have no idea how they ended up togetherter on.¡±
¡°I know what kind of a person Xia Lei is. He¡¯s blessed with everything but the ability to refuse others, especially towards women who showed him kindness,¡±mented Shentu Tianyin.
¡°I think so too. That¡¯s why Jiang Ruyi is not suitable to be the female decision-maker of their family. She¡¯s not intimidating and a very traditional woman. Despite that, she is still able to ept that Xia Lei has a harem. This means that her tolerance is great as long as she gets to be with Xia Lei,¡± said Tang Yuyan
¡°What about you?¡± Shentu Tianyin stared straight into Tang Yuyan¡¯s eye.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips curled into a smirk. ¡°Do you wish to return to Xia Lei¡¯s side?¡±
Shentu Tianyin froze a little, not expecting that to escape Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips. She travelled back to when she met Tang Yuyan. During then, Tang Yuyan had started the conversation with the very same question. While her answer was not muttered, her heart had yearned for it strongly.
She fell for Xia Lei because of his outstanding capabilities. Some women would fall for a man because of his looks, hence a decent appearance was a requirement. Some women would fall for a man because of his skills, hence good skills was also a requirement. Xia Lei¡¯s individual capabilities were the same as the nature of these requirements, but the things he had were way beyond the boundaries of these requirements. Falling in love was not without reason. If Xia Lei had not possessed his abilities and had remained as a construction worker and electric welder, would the queen of Vientiane Group even notice him? Of course not. She wouldn¡¯t even spare him a single nce.
Shentu Tianyin was not an ordinary woman. She was a woman who stood in a magnificent pce. Her love could not bepared to that of civilians. She was also not an office worker who could not afford to get into a rtionship for the sake of winning the favour of her boss. She was Shentu Tianyin and she only had eyes for the best male the world had to offer.
Perhaps this was precisely the reason, the reason why she fell in love with Xia Lei. That made him even more irresistible to Shentu Tianyin now. She had married Xia Lei when he was still a struggling entrepreneur. It was a time when his worth was not even one-tenth of hers. Despite that, Xia Lei had grown to be a celebrated hero of the nation, owning more wealth than she could ever picture. In the face of such an ex-husband, how could she not have the thought of returning to him? In her heart and in her world, there was no other man who deserved her affection. Xia Lei was the only one that caught her eyes and he was her only one.
¡°You¡¯re still unwilling to answer this question, huh?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice brought her back to reality.
Shentu Tianyin stammered, ¡°Well... I do wish to return but...¡± She chuckled airily. ¡°There¡¯s no point wishing for it.¡±
Tang Yuyan leaned over to position her lips to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s ear. ¡°As long as you¡¯re willing, I¡¯ve got a way to get you back to him.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Shentu Tianyin could guess what Tang Yuyan had in mind but the woman had refused to acknowledge it.
¡°Well, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve said enough since yesterday. There¡¯s no way you hadn¡¯t picked up my intentions, hmm?¡±
Shentu Tianyin remained tightlipped.
¡°I¡¯m not trying to trick you, I¡¯m not that kind of person. Xia Lei might be the only person in this world who could trick you.¡± With schooled nonchnce, Tang Yuyan uttered, ¡°You should consider my offer. They say that the enemy of an enemy is a friend. We were once rivals in love but I believe that the love rival of a love rival can be friends too.¡±
¡°What are you trying to get from this?¡± Shentu Tianyin studied the other woman cautiously. ¡°Tell me, what¡¯s on your mind.¡±
Tang Yuyan leaned in once again and whispered, ¡°I want justice for myself. You may think of it as revenge. Fan Fan and Liang Siyao had destroyed my rtionship with Xia Lei and I¡¯m not the kind of woman to take a beating and back down. Xia Lei was yours and he was meant to be yours. You¡¯re not robbing him, you¡¯re just getting back the happiness you deserve. Now tell me, what¡¯s your resolution?¡±
Shentu Tianyin fell silent. ¡°What should I do then?¡±
Tang Yuyan smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not thatplicated...¡±
As if on cue, a loud booming voice announced, ¡°The bride and groom have arrived!¡±
Chapter 995 - Heated Gossip
The heated discussions died down as soon as everyone¡¯s attention was brought to the entrance of the ballroom.
Under their gazes, Fan Fan entered in her full glory. Her wedding dress was pristine white. She was as radiant as the sun. An air of intellectuality that was cultivated through years of effort shone through. But at the same time, she had also possessed the gentleness and virtuousness of ordinary women. All in all, she was fascinating to look at.
Three bridesmaids trailed behind the bride dutifully. On the left was Liang Siyao and Long Bing while Jiang Ruyi stood on Fan Fan¡¯s right. These three women were equally as gorgeous.
The bridesmaid apanied Fan Fan to one-third of the red carpet and took their stop. Meanwhile, Xia Lei¡¯s three best men did the same. The best men for this asion was Liu Zhengnan, Qin Xiang and Lu Sheng. The assembly of three pretty-faced men was no small feat, topped by the main attraction which was the groom. Xia Lei had be everyone¡¯s focus as soon as he appeared on site.
Shentu Tianyin studied Xia Lei¡¯s appearance, his back straight and his hair styled. The sight of his handsome side-profile triggered an onught of mncholy from the depths of her heart. All those sweet memories they shared began to seep through the crevices of her brain, reminding Shentu Tianyin of what they had. Never had she expected those honey-like memories to morph into a weapon that stabbed at her mercilessly years down the road.
¡°Look at how happy he is,¡±mented Tang Yuyan.
¡°Please= stop.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s heart ached.
At this moment, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze had hovered over to their side. He had a habit to observe everyone when faced with a crowd. It was through this brief scan that he quickly pinpointed Shentu Tianyin and Tang Yuyan amidst the guests.
Their gazes locked, a wordless exchange urring through their nce. It felt like a subtle humming of a sorrowful tune.
Xia Lei was genuinely surprised. Shentu Tianyin had made it clear that she would dly ept his invitation but not attend. It was a shocker that she was actually here and an evenrger shock that she was standing there right beside Tang Yuyan.
Shentu Tianyin offered Xia Lei a small smile that left behind a bitter aftertaste.
Xia Lei returned a nod, apanied by a faint smile. Despite her sins, she was his wife and he had loved her deeply. They said being husband and wife for a day meant a hundred days of grace. They were married for a while and he was not a heartless man.
After greeting Shentu Tianyin, Xia Lei trained his eyes on Tang Yuyan. Admittedly, he was fond of her in the past but after what Long Bing was met with during her mission in Japan, that initial fondness was diminished. Xia Lei no longer harboured feelings for her and not to mention the Tang family.
Albeit so, there was a time when they were involved with one another. With that, Xia Lei extended his greeting, opting to grace her a simple nod.
That elicited a beam from Tang Yuyan. But as she made a move to motion Xia Lei over, Xia Lei turned his head away, peeling his attention away from her. It was that split moment that tore at her heart, letting it bleed silently within her. She hastily put down her arm and pretended that nothing happened.
The wedding host took the stage and announced themencement of the ceremony enthusiastically. Xia Lei had hired a popr anchor from the Satellite Station. The man had appeared rathercking in the height department and he was very thin. Despite all of that, his wrists were thick.
Fan Yiming waste. As the guardian of the bride, he was supposed to walk Fan Fan into the ballroom and hand her over to Xia Lei. But not only was this old mante, but he had also said something that made Xia Lei¡¯s temples throb.
¡°Kid, I¡¯ll be leaving my granddaughter in your care.¡± Fan Yiming leaned closer to Xia Lei¡¯s ear. ¡°Hey, when exactly are you nning to tell me Alloy X¡¯s formtion?¡±
Xia Lei was taken aback. They were all here to celebrate a joyous asion and this man was still adamant on knowing the formtion?
¡°Look, I don¡¯t care. My granddaughter is yours to keep and we¡¯re already a family, right? It makes no difference to tell me about it now, right?¡±
Xia Lei stared at him hard.
¡°Grandpa! Jeez, quit it already! It¡¯s my wedding today for crying out loud! If you continue to do this, I¡¯m really going to ignore you forever.¡± Fan Fan red at Fan Yiming threateningly.
It was only then that the older man dropped the act.
¡°Now, let us wee the bride and groom!¡± The host¡¯s tone was gleeful and infectious.
Xia Lei let Fan Fan slip her hand onto the insides of his elbow and began their march along the red carpet.
The bridesmaid lifted Fan Fan¡¯s train while the best men cleared a path.
¡°Wait a second. Why are the bridesmaids all pregnant?¡± Someone in the crowd chimed.
That would have gone unnoticed by the crowd but as soon as that person had pointed it out, more eyes studied the little lump on the three bridesmaids. The three of them were dressed in loose dresses that concealed their figure. Albeit so, the shifting of fabric had subtly given away the form of their slightly swollen bellies.
¡°What¡¯s going on? Why did Xia Lei select three pregnantdies to be his wife¡¯s bridesmaids?¡±
¡°Yeah, this is too weird. I¡¯ve never seen anything like this.¡±
¡°Is this some kind of local practice?¡±
¡°Xia Lei is from Haizhu and I¡¯m very familiar with that ce. There are no practises like that there.¡±
¡°Could there be something going on behind the scenes?¡±
¡°It¡¯s probably the case. But anyway, we should not gossip about their private affairs.¡±
¡°Yeah, this is none of our business. Xia Lei had already given us face for inviting us here.¡±
The discussions about the three pregnantdies were gone as fast as it had manifested. Most guests present had an image to uphold. They were elites of society and their upbringing was way different from regr civilians. They would not tarnish their images by making unnecessaryments about other people¡¯s private lives, especially Xia Lei¡¯s.
However, while the situation had calmed down, the same person who pointed it out spoke once again. ¡°Wait, the bride is pregnant too.¡±
Another round of debate ensued.
¡°Getting pregnant before marriage? How could they be so careless?¡±
¡°I heard the bride is a high-ranking officer. Does the government allow their employees to engage in such acts?¡±
Thankfully, the discussion was shot-lived. The pin-drop silence was resumed after three minutes.
Among the crowd, Shentu Tianyin nced at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Who is that person? Is he here to sabotage the wedding?¡±
¡°Who?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.
Tang Yuyan pointed her finger at the person not far from their location. It was a middle-aged man that seemed to be a businessman. Shentu Tianyin could not recall meeting this person anywhere. This felt too weird. Shentu Tianyin was Xia Lei¡¯s wife and she was very clear of the faces in Xia Lei¡¯s crowd. This man was obviously not part of his closest circle so how would he learn of such private information?
¡°I see him. I don¡¯t know who he is.¡± Tang Yuyan stopped staring. ¡°Just ignore him, it¡¯s just harmlessments. You can¡¯t deny the truth.¡±
Shentu Tianyin watched Tang Yuyan carefully, lips itching to say something. But those words did note.
At that moment, that man spoke again, ¡°I heard that the three bridesmaids are also Xia Lei¡¯s lovers. They and the bride are most probably carrying his child.¡±
Thements he made earlier wereparatively minor but this was major.
¡°Is that a joke? How is that possible?¡±
¡°Xia Lei is marrying Fan Fan but the other three women that were pregnant with his child are acting as her bridesmaids? Who the hell said that? Is this even true?¡±
¡°If it is true then his private life is one hell of a mess.¡±
¡°Xia Lei is our national hero. How can his life be so chaotic? This is impossible!¡±
¡°No wonder the bridesmaids are pregnant, they¡¯re all sisters. That¡¯s pretty impressive on Xia Lei¡¯s part, being able to manage his rtionships well.¡±
This time, the discussion roared on for a while. Some of the guests even started to gauge more of the bridesmaids¡¯ background.
Shentu Tianyin returned her gaze on Tang Yuyan. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t know who that person is?¡±
Tang Yuyan replied, ¡°Tianyin, what are you trying to say? Don¡¯t forget, we¡¯re both on the same boat.¡±
That effectively shut Shentu Tianyin up. She had seen enough in her life and it was clear that the man was here to sabotage the ceremony. In China, no one in the right mind would dare to hackle Xia Lei¡¯s wedding without support. Shentu Tianyin was beginning to suspect that the man had something to do with Tang Yuyan but there was no proof to solidify her hypothesis. Plus, even if she had evidence, what could she do about it?
The voices became louder.
Initially, Xia Lei didn¡¯t have a clue of what was going on among his guests. He had most of his attention on the wedding itself and the subsequent operation that¡¯d follow. But as more people joined in on the discussion below and the voices had gotten increasingly louder, he had no choice but to acknowledge the disturbance. His eyes did a rapid scan through the guests, in an attempt to locate its source.
Long Bing and Liang Siyao locked eyes.
¡°Someone is sabotaging the ceremony.¡± Liang Siyao scowled as she studied the crowd. It was a pity that the man had already fallen silent. There were too many faces in this venue and she couldn¡¯t locate where the culprit was.
¡°If I find him, I swear I¡¯m going to rip his mouth open.¡± The glint in Long Bing¡¯s eye was terrifyingly murderous.
The host found himself in an awkward spot, not expecting someone to sabotage the wedding. But his adaptability was apudable. With a beam, he quickly brought the attention to himself, ¡°Haha! Are you surprised? This is part of the agenda. Yes, this is the effect we¡¯re going for.¡± The gears in his mind turned. ¡°Let us invite the bride¡¯s grandfather, the director of the Academy of Sciences- Professor Fan Yiming on stage!¡±
Fan Yiming jolted. ¡°What am I supposed to do on stage?¡±
Laughter erupted.
The host¡¯s chuckle was charming. ¡°Mister Fan, because Mister Xia¡¯s father is absent from this ceremony, you¡¯re the only parent present. You need toe up for the tea serving ceremony. Please, make your way over.¡±
Fan Yiming heeded and went on stage.
Xia Lei and Fan Fan bowed once to Fan Yiming and served him tea.
¡°Now, the couple shall read their wedding vows,¡± announced the host.
Xia Lei began, ¡°I, Xia Lei, am willing to take Fan Fan as mywfully wedded wife. For the rest of my life, I promise to support you and give you all I have. From this day forward, be it for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us apart.
Fan Fan followed, ¡°I, Fan Fan, am willing to take Xia Lei as mywfully wedded husband. For the rest of my life, I promise to support you and give you all I have. From this day forward, be it for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us apart.¡±
The host turned to Xia Lei. ¡°Do you, Xia Lei, wish to marry this woman? To love her, to respect her and tenderly care for her for the rest of your life?¡±
Xia Lei muttered, ¡°I do.¡±
The host turned to Fan Fan this time. ¡°Do you, Fan Fan, wish to marry this man? To love him, to respect him and tenderly care for him for the rest of your life?¡±
Tears of happiness were already brimming in her eyes. ¡°I do.¡±
The host offered them his smile. ¡°Very well. You may now exchange your rings.¡±
Xia Lei and Fan Fan brought out the prepared wedding bands.
But before they could slip it onto their fingers, the heckler disrupted the exchange from the crowd. ¡°Mister Xia, shouldn¡¯t you exchange rings with the four of them? You can¡¯t y favourites. They¡¯re all pregnant with your child.¡±
Xia Lei found him.
Before anyone could react, Shentu Tianyin had rushed over and delivered a harsh resonating p onto the man¡¯s cheek.
Chapter 996 - The Biggest Honour
The sound of the p was crisp.
Momentarily, heads were spun to focus on Shentu Tianyin and the heckler.
It was nothing special to see a woman p a man. But it was a peculiar sight to witness when said woman was none other than Shentu Tianyin.
Even Xia Lei was ck-jawed. He had never seen Shentu Tianyin in such a state of fury.
The heckler had a palm to his burning cheek as he red at Shentu Tianyin in shock. If he wished to retaliate, Shentu Tianyin was evidently no match for him. Despite the advantage he held, he refrained from doing so. Why? Because Shentu Tianyin was Xia Lei¡¯s former wife.
¡°What the hell are you running your mouth about?¡± Shentu Tianyin fumed. ¡°Who ordered you to sabotage the wedding?¡±
The man kept silent, quickly turning away to leave.
Shentu Tianyin was fast to grab his arm. ¡°No! You¡¯re not leaving until you spit it out!¡±
¡°Let me go!¡± The man yelled fiercely. Though his front was intimating, it was clear that the fear and panic of being caught was settling in.
¡°No! You¡¯re not leaving until you made it clear!¡± Shentu Tianyin was furious.
Xia Lei watched Shentu Tianyin, relishing in the sight of an entirely different side of her personality.
Long Bing came to Xia Lei. ¡°Hubby, I¡¯ll head over to handle this.¡±
Unexpectedly, Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, just leave it.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Long Bing kept her eye on the man. ¡°That man is clearly doing this under someone¡¯s instructions. He¡¯s here deliberately to sabotage your wedding.¡±
Xia Lei merely replied, ¡°Just keep watching, someone will handle this real soon.¡±
Just as his sentence fell, Tang Yuyan was seen to move over. Shended a punch to his stomach.
¡°Bastard!¡± Tang Yuyan lifted him up by the cor. ¡°Who made you do this? Speak!¡±
¡°I... I was just telling the truth!¡± The heckler defended himself. ¡°Is it illegal to tell the truth now?¡±
Tang Yuyan motioned a few Bureau 101 agents over. She instructed, ¡°Bring him away and interrogate him.¡±
The agents extracted the man away from the scene.
Tang Yuyan turned to look at Xia Lei, a smile blooming across her face.
Xia Lei shook his head and avoided her gaze.
The man didn¡¯t even need to guess about what was going on. Fan Fan had snatched him away from Tang Yuyan and this was undoubtedly a very triggering event for the woman. How could the proud daughter of the Tang family not do a number to offend Fan Fan on this asion? The Tang family had wealth and power that the Shentu family couldn¡¯t evene close to. It was given for Tang Yuyan to cultivate such a temper with privileged upbringing. It was almost natural to expect that the woman would not give a damn about the feelings of others. But honestly, what was the point of these?
The wedding carried on. Xia Lei and Fan Fan exchanged their rings.
Watching the wedding band find its home on the digits of Xia Lei and Fan Fan, Shentu Tianyin found her vision blurred. She could never forget that moment when Xia Lei had slipped the wedding band snug on her ring finger. It was a time where she would have never expected Xia Lei to exchange another wedding band with a different woman.
Tang Yuyan came to stand beside Shentu Tianyin. ¡°You did well just now.¡±
Shentu Tianyin asked, ¡°Did you n this?¡±
Tang Yuyan was quick to decline, ¡°No way, would I pull something so childish? But even if it were my doing, doesn¡¯t this count as helping you out? You pped that man and effectively halted the disturbance. Xia Lei will be grateful for your help.¡±
Shentu Tianyin only heaved a faint sigh. ¡°A gratitude like this... I don¡¯t want it.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care if you want it or not. I just don¡¯t like seeing that woman happy. That woman could ept that her own husband has another three women. Just thinking of this makes me sick.¡± Tang Yuyan red at Fan Fan, not bothering to mask her hatred.
¡°Enough, I don¡¯t wish to talk about this anymore,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Oddly enough, there was an unreadable smirk on Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips but she did not press on.
At this moment, a middle-aged man surrounded by a flock of tuxedo-d bodyguards entered the ballroom. His presence immediately drew silence from the crowd.
Xia Lei and Fan Fan went and greeted him.
The man smiled. ¡°Xia Lei, Fan Fan, congrattions on your union. I¡¯ll need to excuse myself now as there are a few urgent matters that demand my attention. I brought you both a congrattory gift. May you have a pleasant life together.¡±
¡°Officer, you didn¡¯t have to. You gracing us with your presence here is our biggest honour.¡± Xia Lei offered him a polite smile.
One of his bodyguards passed a gift box into the palms of the man. He then passed it over to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei opened it to find andscape painting. On the canvas were majestic mountains, water and the sun. The most eye-catching of all was a hawk and the bold calligraphy adorning its side. The eagle spreads its wings and soars for thousands of miles. The spirit of Thunder Horse shall serve the country faithfully!
It was apliment and a spur.
¡°Thank you! Thank you so much, Officer.¡± Xia Lei was overjoyed. While this painting was not worth much, this was an acknowledgement of his capabilities.
¡°Do your best, the country needs you. You are the hero of our people!¡± The man gave Xia Lei a solid pat on the shoulder.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Officer. I will not let the country down.¡±
¡°Very well, very well.¡± The middle-aged man seemedforted. They shook hands and he offered a smile to Fan Fan. ¡°Fan Fan, congrattions on finding your happiness.¡±
The lift of Fan Fan¡¯s lips was absolutely sweet. ¡°Thank you, Officer.¡±
¡°Make sure to keep an eye on him. If you lose him, I¡¯m going toe for you.¡± The man teased.
To which, Fan Fan wrapped her arms tightly around Xia Lei¡¯s arm. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s not going to run far.¡±
¡°Hehehe, please carry on with your agenda. I need to catch a flight to Argentina,¡± said the man.
¡°Have a safe journey, officer,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Safe trip, Officer,¡± offered Fan Fan.
The man waved and left. It waspletely silent until the man was out of the ballroom.
¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting this. I didn¡¯t know Xia Lei was able to invite...¡±
¡°This is an honour that money can¡¯t buy. This shows that Xia Lei is too important to this country.¡±
¡°Yeah, he¡¯s our Chinese hero.¡±
Discussions arose. Earlier, they busied themselves with vile gossip of Xia Lei and his three lovers but it was already forgotten. Who was willing to offend a national hero for the sake of shallow entertainment?
Shentu Tianyin strutted towards Xia Lei and Fan Fan. Tang Yuyan decided to tag along behind her. Both women had brought gifts for the newly-weds and it was only then that they had a chance to hand it to Xia Lei.
Noticing them walking over, Xia Lei felt his temples throb again. What was he going to do about it? They were already here as guests, he couldn¡¯t just chase them out for no solid reason. He was not the kind of man to pull that sort of act.
A small frown formed on Fan Fan¡¯s face. ¡°Hubby, what are they doing here?¡±
Xia Lei replied with a whisper, ¡°I think they¡¯re here to pass us their gifts.¡±
Fan Fan pouted. ¡°I don¡¯t want their gifts.¡±
Shentu Tianyin stopped ahead of them and smiled. ¡°Xia Lei, Miss Fan, congrattions on the wedding. This gift is nothing much but I hope you¡¯ll ept it.¡±
Xia Lei reached over for the gift. ¡°Thank you.¡± He muttered, ¡°You being here is enough. There¡¯s no need to bring us a gift.¡±
Shentu Tianyin replied, ¡°I don¡¯t wish toe empty handed.¡± She refused to dwell long on the contents of her gift, quickly switching the topic. ¡°Miss Fan, you look gorgeous today.¡±
Fan Fan uttered, ¡°I¡¯m no longer Miss Fan now. I¡¯m Messrs Xia but you can call me Madam Fan now.¡±
While the statement was harmless, it was not courteous. It stung Shentu Tianyin a little but the woman continued to put up a strong front. ¡°Sorry, my bad. Please forgive me, Messrs Xia.¡±
Fan Fan replied, ¡°It¡¯s alright, help yourself around. There¡¯s a lot of guests here today and I¡¯m sorry for not being able to cater much.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a problem, Messrs Xia.¡± There was a waft of sadness that apanied Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tone. The term ¡°Messrs Xia¡± was once hers but it had now belonged to someone else.
Tang Yuyan presented herself before Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, Messrs Xia, congrattions! Please ept my small gift.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei received Tang Yuyan¡¯s gift. ¡°Please help yourself to the drinks, I¡¯m going to have to excuse myself now.¡±
Fan Fan wanted to show some temper to Tang Yuyan but seeing that Xia Lei was unwilling to spare the woman another second, Fan Fan scrapped the thought. The way Xia Lei handled it was appropriate. There was no solid proof that Tang Yuyan was behind the sabotage. But if he had stayed longer and provided a chance for Fan Fan and Tang Yuyan to converse, a conflict was sure to unfold. Today was supposed to be a joyous asion and Xia Lei wished to avoid any potential problem.
With that, Xia Lei led Fan Fan away.
The corner of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes was once again moistened.
Tang Yuyanmented nonchntly, ¡°Only the weak will cry. From my impression of you, you¡¯re not a weak woman.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was dispirited. ¡°People change. You changed too.¡±
Tang Yuyan was taken aback, no words forming on the tip of her tongue.
After making customary greetings to most of his important guests, Xia Lei let Fan Fan and his three pregnant wives remain in the ballroom. He quickly moved to a room at the back of the venue. Qin Xiang, Liu Zhengnan and Lu Sheng were already waiting for him inside.
Xia Lei checked his wristwatch. ¡°It¡¯s time to start the operation. Brother Sheng, Qin Xiang, you both will take the same vehicle as Fan Fan and thedies. You must ensure their safety.¡±
Lu Sheng assured him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Even if I die, I will make sure that they¡¯re safe and sound.¡±
Qin Xiang made a face. ¡°Don¡¯t talk about deaths, today¡¯s Lei Zi¡¯s happy day. Quit yapping inauspicious things like that.¡±
Lu Sheng smiled sheepishly. ¡°Oops, my bad.¡±
¡°What¡¯s my role?¡± asked Liu Zhengnan.
Xia Lei instructed, ¡°You¡¯ll be my imposter. After I leave, all you need to do is show yourself. Liang Siyao and Long Bing will help you with your cover.¡±
¡°Alright, leave that to me,¡± said Liu Zhengnan.
Xia Lei inhaled. ¡°Let us begin.¡±
Qin Xiang brought Xia Lei a box that contained all of his cosmetic tools. After that, he left the room to guard the door.
Xia Lei fetched a delicately crafted human face mask from the box and began manipting Liu Zhengnan¡¯s features.
It took a while before Liu Zhengnan was allowed to leave the room for the ballroom.
Xia Lei too had left the premises. He had even discarded his sleek suit in favour of casual clothes.
The moment he exited Hilton Hotel, he brought his satellite phone to his lips.
¡°Begin the operation!¡±
Chapter 997 - Ambush Ring
Two in the afternoon, outskirts of Jingdu city.
Having suffered a punctured tire, a container truck was forced to make a stop at the side of the road to Bailu Town. A burly driver emerged from the vehicle and began to change the tire. His pace, however, was excruciatingly slow.
The truck was not transporting any sort of stock. It was carrying humans. All of them were fighters d in sturdy bulletproof vests armed with American weapons. They were the elites of the FA Organization.
At a distance of two hundred metres behind the truck, a bunch of people hid in the small patch of forests. They were the elites of the Hattori n. The operation was executed in daylight, forcing the Japanese fighters to change their dark stealth clothes to camouge wear. Some blended into the tall grasses while the others camouged themselves as trees. While they were not armed with firepower, the Hattori n fighters were still capable of long-distance attacks due to their strong crossbows. The shooting range of the crossbows offered did not pale inparison to firearms. Aside from that, the tip of the arrows wasced with lethal poison. One drop was enough to kill its intended target in seconds.
Everyone was waiting for Xia Lei¡¯s returning convoy from the wedding venue to the Thunder Horse Organization. As soon as the convoy enters the radius of their ambush ring, they would end the battle within two minutes. With their powerful firepower, it was no doubt that they could easily aplish that.
In a further spot, located on a slight hill about three hundred metres away, was Sirita. The womanid t in the middle of a grass patch. Without careful observation, it was almost impossible to notice her presence.
In her grip was a custom Barrett sniper rifle that provided a shooting range of one thousand and five hundred metres. Combined with her skills, Sirita could hit a one-yuan coin within three hundred metres. As long as Xia Lei¡¯s convoy was forced to stop, Sirita was confident that she could destroy Xia Lei.
There was a photograph on the side of the sniper rifle. Inside of it was a younger Sirita who had her arms around another woman¡¯s shoulder. The woman was taller and bigger, it was Dark Mona.
¡°Dark Mona... I swear I¡¯ll avenge you. Just a little bit more and you¡¯ll be able to see him in the afterlife. I promise you that.¡± Sirita mumbled to no one.
Abruptly, light rustling came from behind her.
Sirita alertly flipped over, instantly pulling out her Desert Eagle from its holster and aimed.
An old man emerged from behind a tree. Nonchntly, he warned, ¡°Be careful, you wouldn¡¯t want to misfire now.¡±
It was Hattori Hyakusai, the guardian of the Hattori n. He was probably the only person who had enough stealth toe this close before Sirita¡¯s knowledge. If it were to be anyone else, the poor soul would probably learn of his proximity the moment their skull hit the ground.
Sirita kept away the gun. ¡°You should be at your station. Why are you here?¡±
Hattori Hyakusai replied calmly, ¡°Xia Lei is not an easy match. We need to cooperate to get rid of him.¡±
Sirita raised an eyebrow. ¡°I admit Xia Lei is a difficult opponent but you exaggerate. As long as his convoy stops, I¡¯ll be able to lock my aim and pull the trigger.¡±
¡°You¡¯re oversimplifying the problem. If Xia Lei was that easy to kill, he would have been dead ten times over. But after everything, Xia Lei is still living and well. Were you involved in the Dawang operation to assassinate Xia Lei? My young master had brought the elite ninjas of the Hattori n to battle alongside Special forces from the US Navy SEALs and CIA agents, totalling up to more than one hundred involved. None of them survived the battle. Let¡¯s not forget that Xia Lei killed my young master during the battle at the border of India and Pakistan. Do not underestimate this man.¡± Hattori Hyakusai¡¯s tone was stern.
¡°I¡¯m a sniper and you¡¯re a ninja. I kill with sniper rifles and you kill with swords. I need to be away from the battle by three hundred metres. How are we supposed to work together?¡± Sirita cast Hyakusai a cold mocking smirk.
The old man made a move to remove the seemingly ancient longbow off his shoulder. Offering no exnation, he picked out an arrow from the quiver and steadied it on the weapon. Following that, he widened his stance and pulled at the string. The exertion made the veins on the back of his palm pop, his supporting feet on the grass driving itself deeper into the substrate.
Sirita watched Hyakusai in shock. The demonstration alone had made it clear that this was no ordinary bow. Drawing the bow required impable strength. Even if Mike Tyson was challenged to draw an arrow from this longbow at the peak of his career, he probably wouldn¡¯t even achieve Hattori Hyakusai¡¯s performance!
Twang! The string was released and the arrow was sent into a raged flurry.
The arrow flew parabolically in the air and then stuck itself onto the door of the container truck.
Sirita quickly went over to the sniper scope of her Barrett rifle, taken aback by the surprising sight. The arrow waspletely plunged into the car door, leaving only the feathered end visible from the outside.
The FA fighter tossed a nce in their direction and shrugged, surprised at the sudden intrusion in the middle of his tyre change. Perhaps the man was trying to express his annoyance.
Sirita returned her attention to Hattori Hyakusai. ¡°Why do you not use guns?¡±
Hattori Hyakusai mused, ¡°Depending on them would make onecent. Ultimately, it weakens their ability. Aside from that, ancient weapons can achieve the same performance as guns. Might I say, sometimes better even.¡± His sentence fell and Hyakusai produced another three arrows from the quiver, each with cone-shaped explosive units. The metal surface seemed to be coated with something, probably dangerous toxin.
It was only then that Sirita relented. ¡°Very well, let¡¯s work together. But you need to pick another location. Once they locate us, we¡¯ll be within the shooting range of their Gust assault rifle. That rifle can shoot at a radius of a kilometre and we¡¯re only three hundred metres away from the road.¡±
Hattori Hyakusai nodded silently, quickly disappearing towards a big tree.
Sirita watched him approach the tree. With an effortless leap, the old man ced himself on top of a branch two meters from the ground.
It took him a few more climbs topletely disappear into the lush green crown.
Sirita scoffed under her breath. ¡°Don¡¯t take me for a dummy, I know what you¡¯re up to. After I get rid of Xia Lei, you¡¯ll kill me and my people. The responsibility of this operation will be shifted onto the FA Organization while you and the Americans will feign innocence. Anyone who tries to make the FA their cannon fodder will get their payback.¡±
The woman returned to her position among the grass, watching the road through the sniper scope of her weapon. She waited patiently for the appearance of Xia Lei¡¯s returning convoy.
The container truck that would act as a road obstruction carried two Minigun multi-barreled heavy machine guns. Once Xia Lei¡¯s convoy entered their radius, the container doors would open and allow the machine gunners inside to fire at them. Under the cover of the machine gun¡¯s fire, the assaulters hidden inside the container would spring to action. They would be tasked with cleaning up the targets. At that time, Xia Lei¡¯sst resort would be to reverse his vehicle to safety. However, what awaits him in the forest a distance away was the Hattori n fighters. Even if Xia Lei was lucky enough to escape the first two rounds of attacks, Sirita and Hattori Hyakusai would be waiting for him.
This was the coborative assassination mastern that the Hattori n and the FA had concocted together. Judging by the scale of firepower and personnel involved, their determination to kill Xia Lei was outright obvious.
¡°The convoy has appeared! They¡¯re going at fifty miles per hour.¡± A masculine voice rang through themunicator. He was the nted informant outside the ambush ring, located approximately two kilometres away.
¡°Got it!¡± Sirita asked, ¡°Did you see Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Yes, he¡¯s in the bridal car in the middle of the convoy.¡±
¡°What about his woman?¡±
¡°In the same car,¡± said the informant.
¡°How many people are armed in his convoy?¡± questioned Sirita.
¡°I spot no one with weapons and all the cars are regr models. None of them is made to be bulletproof.¡±
¡°Very well, continue to keep an eye out on the situation.¡± Sirita quickly instructed, ¡°Everyone, standby. The target has appeared! ETA five minutes.¡±
¡°Roger!¡± A round of responses erupted from themunicator.
Sirita inhaled deeply, picking up the photograph of her and Dark Mona. She gave it a kiss and stuffed it deep into the pocket of her shirt.
On the tree, Hattori Hyakusai picked up anothermunicator. He whispered silently into the device, ¡°The battle has ended, retreat.¡±
The FA members were targets to the Hattori n fighters and Sirita was Hyakusai¡¯s target. This was the main reason why he had suggested they work together.
With Xia Lei dead, what was the point of leaving the FA members alive?
Two minutester, a convoy appeared on their horizon. The leading vehicle was a Ford Raptor, which was driven by Lu Sheng. Trailing behind the Ford Raptor was a long line of vehicles. Surprisingly, there weren¡¯t any luxurious sports cars in sight. The worth of this convoy made it seem imusible to be for the wedding of the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s director, it was extremelymoner-like.
One word to describe Xia Lei¡¯s wedding convoy was humble. It was ridiculously humble.
At that moment, something weird happened out of the blue. The convoy stopped before it even came near to the patch of forest. Before anyone could make sense of the situation, two domestic produced Great Wall H9 off-road vehicles stopped beside Lu Sheng¡¯s vehicle to form a steel wall.
On the road, the tyre-changing FA member lifted his head to study the situation. On his side, the container doors rattled faintly, but the action was quick to stop.
Lu Sheng exited the car, careful to not expose his body. Both drivers of the Great Wall H9 did the same. They exited the vehicle body to open up the boot. To everyone¡¯s utmost bewilderment, the boot was filled to the brim with almost every weapon Thunder Horse Organization had produced. There was the XL2500, the Gust assault rifle and even the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon!
¡°This is a trap!¡± Hattori Hyakusai roared urgently as he watched the scene unfold with his telescope. ¡°That bastard is aware of our n!¡±
¡°How?¡± Sirita couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing. In fact, she didn¡¯t wish to acknowledge the fact.
¡°The people stationed on the road cannot escape. Have them attack and distract them while everyone else retreats!¡± Hattori Hyakusai leapt off the tree.
Sirita tossed a pointed re at Hattori Hyakusai, gritting her teeth. She screamed into hermunicator, ¡°Charge!¡±
The container doors opened to reveal two men behind the double Minigun multi-barrel heavy machine gun.
Before they could even pull the trigger, a Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle came roaring out of the sugar cane field by the road. Without pausing for a moment, the vehicle delivered a truckload of Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon artillery to the container truck!
Chapter 998 - Samurai Duel
Ka-boom!
The explosion shook the skies and ground, tearing the container truck apart mercilessly. The fighters within were shredded into pieces from the shockwave. They were robbed by the Grim Reaper before they could even taste death.
The twenty-tonne vehicle was overturned. The armed FA man who was pretending to change his tyres was lucky enough to dodge the aftershocks of the explosion. However, his fate was sealed when the tumbling vehiclended on him. His body was smashed t under the weight of the truck.
Thud thud thud...
The Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle opened fire with its machine guns, aiming specifically at the patch of forest where the Hattori fighters were hiding. It came like the tide, pushing away all of its obstacles!
Trees were littered with bullet holes, causing it to fall to the ground. The fighters of the Hattori n hiding at the very edge of the forest had faced the same fate. Their bodies were torn in an instant, artillery shells bringing their thighs, arms, heads, internal organs flying everywhere.
Those who were fast enough to duck and sprawl t on the ground survived Sweeper¡¯s aimless fire. Despite that, the Goddess of Luck had decided to not bless them today. The people on the road, who happened to be elite special forces from the military, had gotten ahold of weapons and were starting to attack them.
In that split second, the Gust assault rifle tore through the forest. Paired with the sts of the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon and the precision of the XL2500 sniper rifle, the surviving Hattori n fighters were forced into the afterlife. They were already a pile of minced meat before they had the chance to use their crossbows.
What was supposed to be an ambush had turned into a massacre.
And this battle had just started minutes ago.
Within that short span of time, Sirita and Hattori Hyakusai had already distanced themselves from the scene.
Minutes ago, they were confident that they could defeat Xia Lei. Hattori Hyakusai even had ns to ughter Sirita and her subordinates after the end of this operation. Sadly, the older man was now forced to be a gueri team with Sirita.
The dynamics between humans were weird sometimes.
¡°Fucking hell!¡± Sirita ran for her life as she roared, ¡°What the fuck is going on?!¡±
¡°The CIA¡¯s intel is faulty!¡± Hattori Hyakusai berated. ¡°Xia Lei knew of our operation long ago. He was just luring us out with the wedding and then-¡±
He continued to run with Sirita like wild dogs in the forest. As the protector of the Hattori n and the leader of all the ninjas serving under the n, the incident today robbed him of his pride and dignity.
¡°That night was our best shot at killing him but you gave up!¡±
¡°Now is not the time to talk about responsibilities! If you wish to leave this ce alive, we need to work together!¡± Hattori Hyakusai yelled in response.
A cold smirk appeared at the edge of Sirita¡¯s lips. Honestly, if it wasn¡¯t for this reason, she would¡¯ve already shot Hattori Hyakusai.
The FA¡¯s ace assassin and the protector of the Hattori n dashed with all their might to escape the onught. This was China and they were in Jingdu territory. As soon as the Chinese military issued a full search in the area, they would be stuck! They needed to escape from danger before it manifested!
Chirp chirp chirp...
The sound of wings pping resonated from the forest ahead. A flock of birds abruptly flying out of the trees.
Hattori Hyakusai halted urgently, unsheathing his katana and producing a shuriken in another palm. His grip was careful, avoiding the poisonced tips of the shuriken.
Sirita stopped, looking into the direction of themotion cautiously. As an experienced assassin, her alertness and sensitivity to danger were as sharp as Hyakusai.
The flock flew further, disappearing from earshot gradually. An eerie silence enveloped the forest. Not even the faint whistling of the wind. In their field of vision was a span of wilting yellow, only a handful of trees retained its lush green. This patch of the forest looked dead, voided of life. Everything about this ce reeked of death.
But there was no one around.
Hattori Hyakusai and Sirita locked eyes, nodding in unison over an unsaid agreement.
Sirita ced her sniper rifle down and pulled out her pistol, crouching over slowly with care. She was using the same model as Dark Mona, both of their pistols customized with arger barrel. One could describe it as a hand-held cannon.
Hattori Hyakusai did the same with practised caution, his movements a tad bit more deliberate than Sirita. He would close a short distance fast to hide behind a tree. From the protection of the bark, he would assess the situation with his eyes and ears before leaving his cover to dash forward once again.
He had gone through decades of ninja training. Every single movement of his wasced with his gruelling training.
The two approached the tree where the birds had flown away from. Weirdly, they couldn¡¯t spot anyone in its vicinity but there was an A4 paper stuck to its trunk with a military dagger.
A simple line graced the paper. You have one minute to surrender. Your one minute starts now.
This was tant mockery!
With a whip of his arm, the katana in Hattori Hyakusai¡¯s grip created a line of silver. It sliced the A4 paper through, causing the note to fall off the tree. The cut he created was ridiculously straight. It was terrifying that Hyakusai had only sliced through the paper without inflicting any damage to the tree bark!
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Sirita screamed abruptly. ¡°Show yourself!¡±
No one answered her. The forest was silent, allowing Sirita¡¯s maddened voice to echo.
¡°Are you a turtle? Come on out!¡± Sirita continued to taunt. ¡°Fight like a man!¡±
At that moment, Hattori Hyakusai dodged to the side to avoid an iing shuriken. The weapon lodged itself snugly into a tree trunk where Hyakusai was milliseconds ago.
Their opponent had finally attacked and it was a ninja!
Hattori Hyakusai finally gave in to his emotions. Hiding behind a tree, he questioned in Japanese, ¡°Who are you? Why are you working for a Chinese? What a disgrace!¡±
It took one attack from his opponent to know that he was met with someone from the same field.
Thud thud thud...
Gunshots were heard, rifle bullets began to fly from every direction like a storm. The tree trunk quivered from the impact. While safe from the bullets, the wood debris acted as its proxy, tearing Sirita and Hyakusai¡¯s clothes andcerating their skin!
Bang!
Sirita shot at a direction. The trunk of an old tree pitifully losing half of its mass from her custom bullet!
Poof! Another bullet ambushed Sirita from behind, hitting her gun-holding right wrist. Shot from the Gust assault rifle, the bullet destroyed Sirita¡¯s wrist. It rendered her unable to keep her grip on her weapon. The pistol slid from her hands to the ground.
But Sirita was fast. She used the momentum of her injury and tossed herself onto the ground, immediately reaching out her left arm.
Poof! The back of her left palm was shot, breaking the phnges of her middle finger and index finger. There was no way she could pull the trigger with a hand like this.
A young man emerged from behind a tree. He was none other than the person they were desperate to kill off. He was Xia Lei.
In this forest, Xia Lei had returned to his original state. His smile was bright. There was a faint smirk at the curled edges of his lips, confident and lofty but undeniably charming. His entire vibe was like that of a satisfied explorer and not a gun-wielding killer.
Hattori Hyakusai waved his left arm at the sight of Xia Lei. The shuriken that left his fingers whistled towards Xia Lei.
Ping! Another shuriken came from the side and deflected Hyakusai¡¯s shuriken from its intended path. The metal weapon shed together mid-air beforending on the same tree in unison.
A female ninja showed herself. Crimson red uniform with a katana in her grip.
It was Tsukino Kyoko from the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
Following Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s reveal, a few people emerged from three different directions. It was Yelena, E¡¯er Demutu, Alessio, Anjum Khan, Sa¡¯im and the four female knights, Giovanna, Ste, Rosa and Theresa. This would mark the first time the knights had joined them on an operation.
Other than Liang Siyao, the pig, and the uingmander of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team that would rece Xia Lei, Long Bing, along with the mysterious snake, everyone else was present.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was almostplete. With the addition of Xia Lei, they could perish all the armed fighters and ninjas who might¡¯ve survived the earlier assaults, let alone two big fishes who escaped the!
Hattori Hyakusai and Sirita¡¯s predicament was deliberate. Xia Lei had allowed them a slight opening to find themselves stuck in this ambush ring. If the two had died or gotten captured by the military, Xia Lei would have unanswered questions left.
Xia Lei took slow steps towards Sirita and Hattori Hyakusai.
Tsukino Kyoko trailed behind him closely, her sharp gaze never leaving Hattori Hyakusai. A silent warning to him.
¡°Who are you?¡± questioned Hattori Hyakusai coldly. ¡°Why are you serving Xia Lei? Are you not aware that he¡¯s an enemy of Japan?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve always resented right-wing bastards like you. Quit talking about Japan to my face. My katana will only serve people who I deem worthy,¡± replied Tsukino Kyoko coolly.
¡°You disgrace!¡± Hattori Hyakusai lunged forward with his katana.
Bang bang bang!
Yelena shot thrice to the ground before Hattori Hyakusai.
It effectively stopped the man. He may be strong but he was human. If Yelena wished to do so, she could easily create a few holes in his body.
¡°Allow him to entertain me.¡± Tsukino Kyoko said, ¡°I¡¯d like to see how great the protector of the Hattori n is.¡±
Hattori Hyakusai stood silently with his katana. The situation was clear, he had no way to escape this. However, he would rather die trying than to die a cowardly death. It certainly didn¡¯t help that the person Hyakusai was about to face was a disgrace to the country and its people!
Tsukino Kyoko inched closer, katana in her strong grip. Her steps were designed and calcted, there was room for attack and room to defend herself.
Xia Lei relented, ¡°Kyoko, can you not y at a time like this? Just subdue him with a shot and drag him away.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko insisted, ¡°Give me one minute. I¡¯ll handle this all in one minute.¡±
They were both experts of the art. It was such a rare asion toe across someone worthy of an opponent and Tsukino Kyoko was adamant to challenge Hattori Hyakusai to a duel. This was a great chance to prove the fruit of herbour.
Xia Lei shrugged helplessly. ¡°Very well. One minute it is. Your time starts now.¡±
Hattori Hyakusai scoffed. ¡°One minute? I¡¯ll kill you in less than ten seconds!¡±
His sentence fell and he lunged forward.
Tsukino Kyoko held up her katana in defence, shing their swords together.
Xia Lei went towards Sirita instead.
Chapter 999 - The Post-Explosion Mushroom
Sirita mbered up from the ground. The Grim Reaper was just by her side and yet fear was absent from her eyes.
She reached an arm into the pocket of her shirt.
Xia Lei cautiously halted, aiming his Gust assault rifle at her chest. He warned, ¡°Put your hands down!¡±
¡°Ptui!¡± Sirita spat a mouthful of blood and spit onto the dirt. ¡°Coward! You¡¯re nothing but a sly rat!¡±
¡°Allow me to take her out. That would teach her some manners,¡± offered Yelena.
Instead, Xia Lei raised a hand to decline Yelena¡¯s suggestion. Sirita¡¯s hands were basically useless now. Her fiery front was just to mask her inability to fight any longer.
With furrowed brows, Sirita trembled as she reached her somewhat movable left hand into her pocket to retrieve a single photograph. In that photo, she and Dark Mona hugged each other¡¯s shoulders with radiant smiles.
Sirita studied the photo, her gaze softening and a small smile forming. ¡°Dark Mona, just you wait for me. I¡¯ll be there with you very soon.¡± Shended a chaste kiss on the photograph, losing all of her fire to let deep feelings seep through its corners.
Xia Lei had to admit he was surprised. ¡°You¡¯re lovers?¡± And then he broke intoughter. ¡°Are you the top or the bottom? Judging by Dark Mona¡¯s physique, you¡¯re probably the bottom, right?¡±
Sirita ignored his jeers as she continued to train her gaze on the photograph. Before long, her blood had soaked through the printed sheet. Despite that, she couldn¡¯t bear to put it down.
ng!
Hattori Hyakusai and Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s battle was fervent.
Though Hyakusai had dered that he would kill her within less than ten seconds, their battle had already gone on for a good full minute. Yet, Tsukino Kyoko was still well and very much alive. Hyakusai was certainly impressed by this young female ninja.
In the midst of exchanging attacks, Hattori Hyakusai realized something. ¡°Your master... Your master is Yagyu Yuichi!¡±
That seemed to enrage Tsukino Kyoko, she delivered a harsh blow with her katana. ¡°The Hattori n has no right to say his name!¡±
Hattori Hyakusai continued defending himself and then charging forward with an aim to Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s small waist. His vehement force was filled with determination to cut Tsukino Kyoko in half!
Tsukino Kyoko quickly leapt backwards, sessfully dodging the iing danger while thrusting her katana forward.
As Hattori Hyakusai¡¯s katana pierced the air, his revert was slowed by a millisecond.
Stab! Tsukino Kyoko drove her sword deep into his chest, letting it exit through his back.
¡°You...¡± The older man¡¯s words came out as a quiet groan. He crumbled forward towards Tsukino Kyoko.
The woman drew her bloodied sword away and stepped aside.
Hattori Hyakusai fell to the ground with his face down. It was then that she noticed the needle at the back of his neck.
Tsukino Kyoko whipped her head around to re at E¡¯er Demutu dangerously.
The man only shrugged in return. ¡°The boss gave you a minute.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko could only continue to re at him. But she was clear that if it wasn¡¯t for E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s help, there was no way Hattori Hyakusai could be defeated. If the older man had a dying wish to kill her. It wasn¡¯t impossible
Xia Lei returned his attention to them, expression displeased. ¡°What the hell is wrong with you two? Didn¡¯t I make myself clear? We¡¯re supposed to catch them alive. Why did you kill him?¡±
E¡¯er Demutu and Tsukino Kyoko were quick to reply. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault.¡±
¡°So it¡¯s mine?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
E¡¯er Demutu stayed silent.
Tsukino Kyoko was already avoiding his gaze.
But things had already turned out this way. If it wasn¡¯t for E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s help that numbed Hattori Hyakusai¡¯s senses, Tsukino Kyoko would not be able to take him out with a stab. But the cause of the man¡¯s death was not due to E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s tranquiliser, so it was only fair for both of them to not take responsibility.
¡°She better not die,¡± huffed Xia Lei, reverting her gaze back onto Sirita.
The team members surrounded Sirita closely, making sure to leave no room for escape.
Sirita remained motionless in the middle of the circle. She looked to be at peace but theck of fear was almost scary. As the Zodiac team members continued to close in, there was a ghost of a cold smirk on her lips.
The shift in her expressions was brief but Xia Lei caught it. It made his heart sunk with insecurity, prompting him to activate his X-ray vision. Sirita¡¯s clothes were immediately dissolved away to give way for a full-body inspection.
Other than her impressive rack, there was something else. She was wearing a bomb vest!
There was a timer on the vest and when Xia Lei found it, the numbers were already ticking!
Xia Lei finally understood it. Sirita was retrieving the picture earlier as a front to trigger her bomb vest!
The recognition settled in and Xia Lei eximed urgently. ¡°Lay t!¡±
Everyone in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was a veteran at war. The urgency in Xia Lei¡¯s voice had told them what they needed to know. They immediately threw themselves onto the ground. Without the need for Xia Lei¡¯s reminders, they were already rolling themselves to hide behind the nearest tree.
However, the Russo and Grey sisters were slower to respond. They still had no idea what was going on. They were taken aback for a bit before realizing that they should do the same.
Sirita let out a shrill scream and lunged towards Xia Lei.
Bang! Xia Lei fired the Gust assault rifle once, allowing the bullet to hit Sirita¡¯s forehead. Her blood sttered around messily. The damage to her brain ceased all control of her body and Sirita slumped onto the ground.
Xia Lei rolled around and hid behind a tree.
At this moment, three seconds had passed and the time shown on the vest was 00:00.
Ka-boom!
The earth-shaking explosion sent violent shockwaves in all directions, breaking all the trees within its five-metre radius in halves!
If it weren¡¯t for the vegetation, the aftershocks would¡¯ve travelled more than tens of metres away.
The soot lingered in the air after the explosion. The trees in the centre of the explosion were hung limply with a mix of Sirita¡¯s disembodied flesh chunks syed around. Some of her body parts had even flown to tens of metres away.
Though the sturdy tree trunks had absorbed most of the shock, the noise and impact it emitted were far beyond human tolerance. Human organs and the brain would face damages inevitably under such shock. Xia Lei was the first to recover from the effects, but even that took him five minutes to achieve.
The first thing that weed him the instance his eyes were blinked open was double vision. He shook his head hard to regain his focus. In the distance, he spotted a red uniformed ninja along with E¡¯er Demutu and the others. Thankfully, no bloodstains were seen on their bodies so they were probably unharmed. Lastly, his gaze fell onto the Grey and Russo sisters. The sight of their state immediately clenched his heart.
Obvious bloodstains were seeping through their backs, their clothes were torn apart by the myriad of wooden splinters. Giovanna looked the most pitiful among them all, the explosive impact and splinters ripping her pants apart to reveal her vulnerable bottom. Her plush pale flesh was bleeding. It made her bottom appear like a mushroom and that poor fungus had arger wooden splinter stabbed into it. The location of the injury was close enough to be inappropriate.
Xia Lei mbered over to Giovanna¡¯s side. He reached an arm over to her neck. Ah, thank goodness she still had a pulse. He then went to check on Ste, Theresa and Rosa. Their conditions were alright, sustaining only slight injuries. Everyone had survived the impact.
Sirita might be dead but jogging his memories of earlier sent chills down Xia Lei¡¯s spine. If he hadn¡¯t caught the hint of a smile on Sirita¡¯s lips, he wouldn¡¯t even be rmed. Her palms were totalled and she wasn¡¯t able to continue her fight. However, if things had gone unnoticed for another three seconds, he and the entire Chinese Zodiac Battle Team would be dead!
Dark Mona and Sirita were the best assassins the FA Organization had. While the former was a better fighter than thetter, thetter was much more cunning and cruel!
Who would¡¯ve known if this was part of Sirita¡¯s n? Could she be waiting for him to capture her deliberately?
If that was the case, then Sirita¡¯s was not only cruel but also terrifyingly intelligent. Sadly, the only thing she hadn¡¯t expected was Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision.
Xia Lei took off his jacket and tied it around Giovanna¡¯s waist. The fabric acted as a skirt to give Giovana¡¯s exposed bottom some modesty.
At this moment, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had begun to mber up. They first shook their heads hard to regain their bearings.
¡°Is everyone alright?¡± Xia Lei asked with concern.
¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± Tsukino Kyoko barely stood up when she lurched forward to puke a stream of red.
The same thing had urred on the other members, everyone had a small stream of blood flowing through the corners of their lips. Xia Lei¡¯s body was stronger than theirsbined, they were already lucky enough to have survived the explosion.
Studying the conditions of his subordinates, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious over the female knights. He quickly held up hismunicator to call for help. ¡°We¡¯ve got casualties here, please bring medical help over immediately!¡± Then, he instructed, ¡°Yelena, fire the signal!¡±
Yelena heeded his instructions and brought out a signalling gun. She pulled the trigger and let the red smoking signal head to the skies.
¡°Assess their condition, I¡¯ll go look after Giovanna. Her injuries seemed to be the most severe.¡± Xia Lei hastily arranged.
¡°That woman was nning for this to happen.¡± Tsukino Kyoko limped over. ¡°The fact that she wore a bomb vest is clear that she wasn¡¯t nning to leave this ce alive. She was just waiting for us to capture her because she knows we will.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s identity gave her the qualification for such deduction.
Xia Lei could only reply with a forced smile. He instructed her, ¡°Help me cover her for a bit.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s eyesnded on the jacket around Giovanna¡¯s waist, immediately understanding what Xia Lei meant. She quickly stood over to the side, shielding Giovanna away from the other men.
Xia Lei peeled his jacket away to reveal her bloodied bottom. With a strong grip, he pulled the splinter upwards.
¡°Ah!¡± Giovanna moaned in pain, her eyes remaining closed. Her moan had sounded rather suggestive as if the splinter had gone inside instead of getting removed.
That attracted the attention of the men.
¡°Boss, that¡¯s unfair.¡± The monkeyined, ¡°You let Kyoko stand in our way but you get to enjoy the view of the knight¡¯s ass.¡±
Xia Lei was rendered wordless.
It was possible that he spoilt these bastards too much.
Chapter 1000 - Would You Want Me?
The Grey and Russo sisters were rushed to the hospital. Xia Lei volunteered to follow them there. The doctors ran a few checks on the female knights and concluded their diagnostics with a concussion and damage to their internal organs. Their injuries were severe but not life-threatening.
The female knights regain consciousness moments after the doctors had left. Xia Lei went to check on Ste, Theresa and then Rosa before entering Giovanna¡¯s ward.
At this moment, Giovanna¡¯s skull and many parts of her body were wrapped with bandages.
¡°Are you feeling better?¡± Xia Lei came to the side of her bed.
¡°Yeah, but...¡± Giovanna furrowed her brows and halted her speech.
¡°What is it? You can tell me anything. There¡¯s no need to be so reserved,¡± assured Xia Lei.
¡°Really?¡±
¡°Yeah, I mean my words. What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei was starting to feel annoyed.
Giovanna swallowed. With a meek voice, she admitted, ¡°Uh... Well... They bandaged my wounds but because of the dressing, I¡¯m a little itchy down there. Can you help me scratch it?¡±
Xia Lei was stunned.
¡°Uh, that¡¯s not what you think it is.¡± Giovanna seemed to catch on to the awkwardness in the air that hinted Xia Lei¡¯s misunderstanding of her words. The woman¡¯s cheeks reddened as she exined, ¡°Please don¡¯t misunderstand me. The ¡®down there¡¯ that I¡¯m referring to is not what you think it is, I¡¯m referring to my thighs.¡±
Xia Lei released a breath that he didn¡¯t know he was holding. ¡°And here I am thinking that I misheard you. Sure, I¡¯ll help you scratch your itch. It is pretty awkward of a request to ask a nurse for.¡±
Giovanna nodded.
Xia Lei peeled her nket away. The thick covering had only left her body for two seconds before Xia Lei frantically returned it to its original position. Though Giovanna was referring to her thigh, her bottom half was stark naked.
¡°Why did you tuck me in again?¡± Giovanna scowled. ¡°Come on, help me scratch it. The itch is starting to feel unbearable.¡±
Xia Lei had actually noticed that there were angry red rashes along her thighs. The sight of it was enough proof of how itchy it was.
¡°Xia, are you not willing to do it?¡± Giovanna pressed her lips into a thin line. ¡°If you can¡¯t do it, can you please do me a favour and call a nurse over?¡±
Not willing?
Xia Lei was willing to do almost everything. Giovanna was his knight and was ready to give up her life for him. How could he decline such a simple request to scratch her itch? Plus, it had taken him quite some effort to appease his female knights and they had provided him with a troop of strong-armed fighters in return. Just by that fact alone, the request was not asking for too much.
With that justification in mind, Xia Lei peel away her nket once more and reached an arm over to scratch at her itch.
It turns out that Giovanna herself hadn¡¯t noticed that she was bottom naked. Perhaps the abundance of dressings around her body and anaesthetics earlier had numbed part of her senses. But for the sake of the situation, it was ideal.
¡°Xia, congrattions on your wedding,¡± wished Giovanna. Xia Lei¡¯s hands were gentle as they provided somefort to her itching legs.
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei shed her a smile.
¡°How are you faring with your four wives?¡±
¡°Uh... What¡¯s the brand of your underwear?¡± Xia Lei tried to shift the topic.
¡°Victoria¡¯s Secret, of course. Didn¡¯t you mention that we should try and live a little? That¡¯s why I¡¯m only going to wear the best,¡± replied Giovanna.
¡°Ah, that¡¯s good. Life is short. You should remember to treat yourself kindly while keeping to your faith. Women should treat themselves with more kindness,¡± said Xia Lei, his eyes involuntarily returning onto that mature and alluring spot.
This was his first time discussing underwear fabric with a butt-naked woman.
¡°Ah, this feels good. Can you move upwards a little?¡±
Xia Lei heeded her request, hovering his hand upwards cautiously.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside the door and soon came the sound of door rapping.
Xia Lei frantically covered Giovanna with her nket before turning around to face the door. ¡°Come in.¡±
He didn¡¯t need to use his X-ray vision here. This was a hospital and there was no need for that.
The ward door opened to reveal a woman.
As soon as Xia Lei recognized her, his temples began to throb.
It was Miss Tang Yuyan, the proud daughter of Shudi¡¯s Tang family.
¡°Is she alright?¡± Tang Yuyan asked with concern.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°She sustained some injuries but she will be fine. Why are you here?¡±
¡°Do I need a reason to be here?¡±
Xia Lei could only smile wryly. ¡°Of course not. But...¡±
¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to say.¡± Tang Yuyan continued, ¡°You¡¯re trying to remind me that you¡¯re already married and have four pregnant partners, right?¡±
Xia Lei was rendered speechless, but this was what he was trying to ry to Tang Yuyan in general.
¡°You can say what you want but it is my freedom to do what I want.¡± Tang Yuyan studied the man before her. ¡°I don¡¯t have confidence that your marriage willst long. If you can divorce Shentu Tianyin, you can do the same to Fan Fan. I¡¯ll be waiting for that day to arrive.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the point of this?¡± Xia Lei sighed audibly. ¡°I¡¯m not worth the wait.¡±
¡°I was not worth the sacrifice. I was not worth what you did on Dawang mountain. Why did you do that for me? If you didn¡¯t love me or liked me, why would you treat me with such kindness? My life is yours and everything about me belongs to you. Do you get what I¡¯m trying to say?¡± Tang Yuyan stared intently at Xia Lei. Her eyes were fiery, brimming with expression.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°I saved you because we wererades. You would have done the same for me, right?¡±
Tang Yuyan huffed. ¡°That¡¯s not how it works. For starters, I have never seen you as arade. You offered me such kindness and I insist that you must take responsibility.¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. To reason with women was futile.
¡°What are you both talking about?¡± Giovanna nced between them curiously. With her level of Chinese, she could not understand a single thing they said.
Xia Lei assured her, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just lie down and get some rest.¡±
Giovanna nodded obediently and stayed silent.
¡°Yuyan, let me ask you something.¡± Xia Lei looked at Tang Yuyan straight in the eye. ¡°Were you the one who nned for that heckler to appear during me and Fan Fan¡¯s wedding?¡±
There was a moment of hesitation before Tang Yuyan bit the bullet. ¡°Yes, it was me.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Xia Lei had expected her to stay mum so it had urred as a surprise for her to admit it so quickly. Not to mention, her confessions were rather straightforward.
¡°When Fan Fan snatched you away from me, did she apologize? No, she did nothing. What she did was over the line so how could some minor disturbances during her wedding amount to anything?¡± Tang Yuyan justified it with a straight face.
Xia Lei shook his head in disbelief. A spoiled child was always one. Tang Yuyan had her own way of handling things and her actions were sometimes extremely unconventional and hard to ept.
¡°You can hit me and you can yell at me all you want but not her,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei sighed again. ¡°That¡¯s enough, I¡¯m not going to deal with this now. If this is why you¡¯re here, consider the issue solved. Go back, I know you¡¯re busy with work.¡±
¡°What exactly did I do wrong for you to treat me this way?¡± Tears were starting to gather in Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes.
She had a point. What had she done wrong?
She was just doing her best to pursue her own happiness. What was so wrong about that?¡±
¡°You did nothing wrong but...¡± He paused, considering the weight of his words. ¡°It¡¯s just that you¡¯re part of the Tang family and I don¡¯t wish to be a part of that world. Do you understand?¡±
¡°Of course I do, I¡¯m not a dumb child.¡± Tang Yuyan red at Xia Lei. There was an extended silence before she spoke up, ¡°You mean that as long as I leave the family, you would want me?¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t think it was going to turn out this was.
¡°Do you mean it?¡±
¡°I... Yuyan, just calm down already.¡±
¡°I am calm.¡± Tang Yuyan pointed a finger at him. ¡°Just you wait!¡±
To leave the Tang family would mean for someone like Tang Yuyan to die and get reincarnated again. It would be extremely difficult for her to achieve. But what if she managed to do that? What was he supposed to do when that happens?
That was another problem.
This problem was enough to have Xia Lei suffer from a gigantic migraine.
¡°Enough, let¡¯s talk about serious matters,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Took her a long time.
Xia Lei offered her a sheepish smile. ¡°This whole incident is nothingplicated. The FA Organization and the Hattori n joined forces to kill me. The Americans provided them with intel and were the main mastermind behind the scenes. However, everyone involved had died and this is as much as I can tell you.¡±
It was true that he had only this much to tell Tang Yuyan. There were some minor details but he decided to keep it from her. This would be the perfect time to tell Tang Yuyan about the CIA¡¯s informant base in Jingdu but Xia Lei was certain that Tang Yuyan would uproot the base within an hour after learning of its existence. That would undoubtedly affect his subsequent n.
¡°Is there really nothing else that you wish to tell me?¡± Tang Yuyan was obviously displeased with his answer.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah, this is what I have for now.¡±
¡°Very well, I¡¯ll be leaving then.¡± Tang Yuyan turned for the exit.
Xia Lei watched her leave.
Before she walked out of the door, Tang Yuyan abruptly whipped her head around. ¡°Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Yes?¡±
¡°I wish you an early divorce!¡± chimed Tang Yuyan.
The door to the ward clicked shut behind her. It was only then that Giovanna voiced her doubts. ¡°Xia, what were you both talking about earlier?¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing much, just some private matters,¡± answered Xia Lei.
Giovanna snickered slightly. ¡°I¡¯m a woman too. I can tell that her love for you runs deep.¡±
Xia Lei huffed a ghost of augh. ¡°Just rest and focus on recovering. There¡¯s no need to mind insignificant things like this.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Giovanna paused for a moment and lifted a chin to look at him. ¡°Actually, can you scratch my itch again?¡±
Xia Lei sighed and got to work.
Chapter 1001 - Enemy at the Great Wall
It was evening. The warm lights radiating off the decorations hung around the Peace Mansion filled the atmosphere with joy.
The bride was currently conversing with her three pregnant bridesmaids. They felt each other¡¯s bellies, exchanging thoughts and muses about pregnancy. The groom was cast aside by the lot, no one bothering to include him into their conversation.
Xia Lei paced outside the door back and forth, stopping once in a while to stare at nowhere. He was anxious. This was the hour that he was supposed to consummate his marriage with Fan Fan, but the bride hadn¡¯t done so much as look at him in the eye.
There was no other reason for that. This Xia Lei was fake. The real Xia Lei was currently on a stakeout in Li Youdun¡¯s office over at the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters.
Now that the coborative operation between the FA Organization and the Hattori n had failed, the CIA informant base was definitely going to contact him soon. Xia Lei was waiting for the fated emergence of the messenger dove.
One hour had passed and there was still no sign of the dove. Despite that, Xia Lei had not felt nervous nor had he felt the need to activate Xiao Qian to begin bugging the informant base.
Using Xiao Qian to excavate intel from the CIA could only be done once. That single instance would result in the CIA noticing the virus and then destroying it off. That was why Xia Lei had decided to only use Xiao Qian when it is most crucial.
He decided to utilize his waiting time by browsing the world wide web for equipment suppliers. He was in search of suitable machinery that could be used in the production of Alloy X and the drone. But of course, these pieces of machinery would undergo customization once they arrived at the doorstep of Thunder Horse Organization.
The country was more than happy to provide the Thunder Horse Organization with everything they needed but Xia Lei had to admit that their domestically produced machinery wascking quite significantly. With that being said, the domestic machines would require a lot of customization and that would be a burden to his workload. This was the main reason why Xia Lei was more willing to pour in more funds to import equipment from other countries.
Soon, the skies turned dark.
¡°Was my prediction off? Could it be that the CIA informants had not thought of contacting me?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s confidence was wavering. He continued to stay rooted in the office but eventually decided to leave after an extended period of time.
At this moment, the long-awaited messenger dove flew in from the window and perched itself on top of Li Youdun¡¯s desk. There was a note stuck to its anklet, obvious to sight.
¡°Coo... Coo...¡± The dove called, as if urging Xia Lei to hurry up and retrieve the note.
Xia Lei grabbed it and plucked out the note.
On it was a string of numbers. 66, 39, 28, 56...
It was the same as thest note, all of the numbers pointed to a certain page in the book.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t even need to flip through the pages of the french version of L¡¯?le myst¨¦rieuse this time. On cue, the image of the entire book appeared on the front of his mind. It didn¡¯t take long for the man to pinpoint the corresponding pages and lines. Before long, the tranted lines began to manifest in his thoughts.
The content of the note was spelt out in his head. Tomorrow, two p.m., Great Wall Mutianyu section.
Xia Lei released the dove and left Li Youdun¡¯s office.
Upon entering the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei had already returned to his original state. Liu Zhengnan had left the premises after receiving a message from Xia Lei.
His entrance into the bridal room was weed by the sight of all four of his women. His lovers were all smiles and giggles, obviously engrossed in their conversation.
¡°I¡¯m back,¡± said Xia Lei.
Fan Fan lifted her head to meet his eye. ¡°Zhengnan, that¡¯s not funny.¡±
Xia Lei went over and pped her ass hard. ¡°Huh? You can¡¯t even recognize your own husband?¡±
The sound that rang from the physical contact was crisp. While Xia Lei¡¯s exertion was suppressed, the impact was loud. Fan Fan was stunned but reached a jerky arm over to embrace him. ¡°Haha, it¡¯s your fault that you asked Liu Zhengnan to be your imposter. What should I do if he tries to cop a feel?¡±
Xia Lei pped her ass once again, this time softer.
¡°We should head back now, have a great rest tonight,¡± announced Liang Siyao, sending a meaningful nce to Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing.
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s quitete already. We should head back to rest.¡± Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi immediately took the hint. They swiftly trailed behind Liang Siyao and took their leave.
Xia Lei teased shamelessly, ¡°Hey, why are you all leaving? Wouldn¡¯t it be nice to sleep together?¡±
¡°In your dreams.¡± Liang Siyao scoffed and disappeared out of sight along with Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi.
When Liang Siyao and Xia Lei got married on New Year¡¯s Eve, she was allowed to enjoy their privacy alone. Now that it was Fan Fan¡¯s turn to get married, Liang Siyao was determined to not impede on their private moment. Liang Siyao was now the main manager in Xia Lei¡¯s messy family. She had taken it upon herself to coordinate the rtionships between the women.
Exiting Xia Lei and Fan Fan¡¯s bridal room, Liang Siyao reached over and grabbed Long Bing¡¯s wrist. ¡°Ah Bing, tell me. What kind of wedding would you like to have?¡±
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°The thought has never crossed my mind. I¡¯m fine without a ceremony. I don¡¯t really care about it. It¡¯s just a figure of celebration.¡±
Liang Siyao frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t say that. A wedding is a very important event for women. Give it a thought and tell me how you would like your wedding to be, I¡¯ll n it for you.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll tell you when I¡¯ve got an idea.¡± Liang Siyao turned around to hold Jiang Ruyi¡¯s hand this time. ¡°How about you, Ruyi? How would you like your wedding to be?¡±
Jiang Ruyi hummed in thought. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯ve not thought about it. I¡¯ll tell you when I think of something.¡±
Liang Siyao shed them a smile. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve some thoughts about it. You would probably want the ceremony to be held in Haizhu, right? Were your parents able to attend with ease? I can n for Xia Lei to travel to Haizhu for your wedding.¡±
That brought a small smile to Jiang Ruyi¡¯s lips. ¡°Thank you, Siyao.¡±
Liang Siyao beamed. ¡°You¡¯re wee. We¡¯re a family now, there¡¯s no need to be so courteous.¡±
Abruptly, their synergy was interrupted by a strangled moan that sounded like Fan Fan.
The three women couldn¡¯t help but turn around wide-eyed.
There was a beat of silence before Liang Siyao regained herposure. ¡°She really needs to go get some medical attention for her disease. Her bed stamina is literally non-existent.¡±
The next day, in the afternoon.
A Buick Encore parked itself in the parking lot of the Mutianyu Great Wall attraction located in the outskirts of Jingdu. Xia Lei exited his car, bought admission tickets and entered the site.
To not meet at the informant base was William¡¯s intention. It was weird that the CIA leader had not instructed Li Youdun to meet at the Tree Leaf Cafe. But this showed how powerful Williams¡¯ orders were.
Xia Lei ascended the stairs to the Great Wall, travelling along its majestic length while studying his surroundings. It was still the Lunar New Year and the ce was crowded with tourists. The traffic was horrible along the walls. But despite the situation, Xia Lei had it all under control. As long as the person is within his field of vision, no one could hide nor escape his detection.
With the powerful synergy between his eyes and brain, an assassin hidden in the crowd with the desire to take him down could be easily avoided!
Continuing his path ahead, a few ¡®tourists¡¯ caught Xia Lei¡¯s attention. A few people blended into the crowd, seemingly training their gazes on him from time to time. They were armed with cold weapons, short daggers and shurikens.
¡°Are they from the Hattori n?¡± Noticing the assortment of weapons on their bodies, Xia Lei¡¯s mindnded itself in confusion. ¡°The elites of the Hattori n were almost depleted, why are there still ninjas here? Unless...¡±
He immediately remembered someone. Hattori Mei.
Thinking about the possibility of Hattori Mei here filled his heart with a flurry of emotions. As long as Hattori Mei was dead, the threat Hattori n posed on him would be eased by half!
A man started to walk towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei immediately recognized him. He was the waiter at the Tree Leaf Cafe. So he was right. The waiter was part of the CIA. Following that, Xia Lei returned his attention to the spying ¡®tourist¡¯. The man stood tall on a tower with a pair of binocrs in his grip. He pretended to appreciate the scenery but in reality, the man had been observing him.
Was this part of the strategy?
Xia Lei felt his heart sink. ¡°Had they noticed that I¡¯m an imposter? Are they trying to take me down here? That¡¯s impossible. There are just too many eyes here...¡±
The man finally got to the front of Xia Lei after weaving through the crowd. In a lowered voice, he spoke, ¡°Mister Li, please follow me.¡± He turned around and began to walk in that direction.
Xia Lei followed him forward.
They continued their trek past the tower, soon reaching an area with fewer tourists. The two men picked up their paces. The ninjas Xia Lei had spotted earlier joined their path, keeping a huge distance between them. They were experts of stealth. It was literally impossible for anyone to notice anything weird even in a more dested area. However, their opponent was Xia Lei. No matter how good they were with hiding, they were still vulnerable.
There were fewer tourists a kilometre ahead. They had finally reached a point where the signage had read ¡®Renovation Ahead, No Visitors Beyond This Point¡¯. Xia Lei saw a tower with scaffolding but there was no one in in sight in that area. It was then that he activated his X-ray vision. He hadn¡¯t bothered to use the vision on the stone material but directly applied it to the wooden portion of the tower instead.
He found Yang Shan and his superior, Sperry. Beside them was a woman he was all too familiar with. Hattori Mei was here.
Xia Lei¡¯s hunch was correct. The Hattori n had paid an excruciating price to assassinate him this time and had gotten no benefit in return. But why did Hattori Mei take the risk to travel to Jingdu? She couldn¡¯t possibly be here to bring away the bodies of her family fighters, right?
The waiter led Xia Lei over to the tower¡¯s stairway. The man paused his footsteps. ¡°Mister Li, please head upstairs.¡±
And Xia Lei did. His appearance immediately attracted Hattori Mei¡¯s attention. The woman stared at him intently.
¡°Mister Li, you¡¯rete.¡± Yang Shan remarked nonchntly.
Xia Lei replied with the same tone. ¡°My presence here is risky. You should be clear that my mission does not include working for you.¡±
That seemed to silence Yang Shan.
Hattori Mei stepped forward and held out a hand. ¡°Mister Li, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you. I am Hattori Mei.¡±
¡°I¡¯m aware of that.¡± Xia Lei received her palm. ¡°Speak, tell me why you called me here? If there¡¯s no reasonable excuse, I¡¯ll ry your mishap to the CIA headquarters.¡±
¡°Well, your journey here is not for nought. I¡¯ve got something really important for you.¡± Hattori Mei pped her hands lightly.
One of the family fighters held out a brocade box and came to Xia Lei.
Chapter 1002 - Operation S
Xia Lei was not the least bit worried that Hattori Mei would see through his cover. Hattori Mei¡¯s abilities were certainly not as sharp as Yang Shan¡¯s or Sperry¡¯s. The men were both seasoned intelligence officers. The experience they had was sufficiently valid to point out Xia Lei¡¯s ws.
Xia Lei was more worried about the contents of the brocade box.
An urge manifested in his mind, causing his left eye to twitch slightly. There was a bottle of liquid nestled within the box. The container and liquid within were both transparent. He noted its existence but was unable to detect the nature of the mysterious fluid.
¡°What is she trying to do? Is she nning to kill me?¡± Xia Lei thought to himself darkly, all while keeping his calm facade as he received the box. He feigned confusion. ¡°What is this?¡±
Hattori Mei answered, ¡°It¡¯s poison. We call it the Grim Reaper. It¡¯s currently the most lethal poison to exist. It¡¯s able to deliver its effects in ambient temperature. Upon contact, the target will die within five minutes. Anyone whoes into contact with the victim will die too. There¡¯s no way to save the target.¡±
So it really was poison. One that could spread through the air and kill many unassuming souls. The efficacy of this substance was weak when used in open spaces because the wind would bright it away and diffuse it. However, if this were to be used in a closed environment, it would do its job well.
Xia Lei chuckled coldly. ¡°You failed your operation and you¡¯re asking me to kill Xia Lei in the dark? Let¡¯s forget about my consent for a minute here and look at this realistically. You im that this poison could kill anyone within five minutes. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll make it out alive within that time. Plus, this poison can spread through the air. I¡¯ll be done for the moment I use it on Xia Lei. tantly put, do you think I¡¯m stupid?¡±
¡°Mister Li, please don¡¯t misunderstand me.¡± Hattori Mei continued, ¡°Of course I¡¯ll provide you with its antidote. But do note that this wasn¡¯t mine or Mister Yang¡¯s idea, this was Mister Williams¡¯s instructions.¡±
¡°How is that possible?¡± Xia Lei feigned offence.
Yang Shan dug into his pocket to produce a satellite phone. He dialled a number and passed the device to Xia Lei. ¡°Here, take it.¡±
Xia Lei pressed it to his ear. Immediately, Williams¡¯ voice rang through. ¡°Li, Williams speaking.¡±
¡°Mister Williams.¡± Xia Lei did not beat around the bush. ¡°Is this true?¡±
Williams replied, ¡°Yes, this is part of the new operation. Operation S. You y a vital role in this operation. You are the only one who coulde in close contact with Xia Lei.¡±
¡°But I only just...¡±
¡°I know what you¡¯re about to say and Ipletely understand where you¡¯reing from. However, this was based on amon agreement settled by the White House and the Pentagon. If you do this right, you won¡¯t be discovered. Xia Lei¡¯s death will not stop China from resuming its production of new materials. But when that happens, you will be put in charge of the new material. Based on our analysis, your sess rate of obtaining the formtion of Alloy X and relevant production technology is up to ny-five per cent. You need to do your job,¡± insisted Williams.
¡°Alright.¡± Xia Lei paused. ¡°But...¡±
Williams interjected, ¡°I know what you want. Do note that Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics are funding this operation. They¡¯re offering you one billion USD as the reward. You¡¯ll receive one-tenth of it as a deposit. After this mission, you can live your life to the fullest.¡±
Xia Lei pretended to be touched. ¡°Mister Williams, please rest assured that I¡¯ll see to the end of this. But I would like to ask for half the amount as a deposit.¡±
On the other end of the line, Williams fell silent. ¡°Very well then, that¡¯s settled.¡±
¡°Goodbye, Mister Williams.¡± Xia Lei returned the device to Yang Shan.
A call with Mister Williams had provided Xia Lei with aprehensive perspective of the situation.
Hattori Mei¡¯s presence was no coincidence. Not only was she a representative of Japan and the Hattori n¡¯s interests, but she also had another identity to live to. She was also the representative of Lockheed Martin. The most surprising revtion was that the top four arms dealer alliance had a new addition. The Northrop Grumman Company was America¡¯srgest naval ship and defence technologypany. It had ranked third in the list of America¡¯s most prominent arms dealers.
Currently, the Thunder Horse Organization had no ns to venture into the realm of naval technologies. Even if they did, it would have to wait for a while. Hence, the Thunder Horse Organization had posed no threat to the interests of Northrop Grumman. However, thepany had joined the alliance and shared the will to kill Xia Lei and destroy Thunder Horse Organization.
It urred to him that his existence had reached a new height among the five arms dealers. Xia Lei was now a man who was deemed better off dead. As long as he was alive, Thunder Horse Organization would continue to produce new weapons and soon it¡¯ll monopolize the market. China¡¯s national defence would be fortified and stronger. It was only natural for them to wish that they¡¯d stop at the new material and unmanned aircraft.
From the perspective of the White House and Pentagon, Xia Lei was now a dangerous existence. The new material had posed an unprecedented threat to America. As soon as China obtained Alloy X, America would lose all of its air battle advantages! Thunder Horse Organization was only skirting around the field of drones. However, as soon as Alloy X was thrown into the production of fighter jets and bomber aircraft, America would bepletely vulnerable! This was why the White House and Pentagon¡¯s will were aligned with that of the five arms dealer¡¯s intention. They needed to put a stop to Xia Lei¡¯s advancements.
Hence, they gave their all to aid Li Youdun¡¯s infiltration into the central management of the Thunder Horse Organization andter came up with Operation S.
With his new knowledge, Xia Lei¡¯s couldn¡¯t help but smirk internally. ¡°Since you don¡¯t wish to see Thunder Horse Organization thrive with the Alloy X and drones and have a dying wish to not see us produce fighter jets and bomber nes, I¡¯m determined to shove it in your faces. Since you want me dead, I will put on a show and die for you. To not earn this easy one billion USD by killing myself is a waste.¡±
¡°Mister Li.¡± Hattori Mei studied him. ¡°I¡¯m sure that answered your questions, right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Since this is Mister Williams¡¯ orders, I will do it. Hand me the antidote.¡±
Hattori Mei reached into the pocket of her blouse and pulled out a tiny vial. She shook it lightly, making the pills within knock against each other.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched to inspect the pills inside. It was three white-coloured pills. He mused, ¡°Could this also be poison to wipe me out after I¡¯m done with my job?¡±
Hattori Mei let out an amused chuckle. ¡°Mister Li, please do not joke around. You¡¯re one of the most important agents in the CIA. Thepanies, the White House and even the Pentagon has high hopes for you. They are determined to have you obtain the Alloy X formtion and technical information from the Thunder Horse Organization. You¡¯re too important to their goal, who would want to get rid of you?¡±
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Hand it over.¡±
Hattori Mei pressed the vial into his palm and said, ¡°These two substances can¡¯te in contact with each other, which is why I decided to keep them apart. You must consume the antidote one hour prior before using the poison. Take another pill an hour after exposure to the poison. Thest pill must be consumed eight hourster.¡±
Hattori Mei must¡¯ve sensed his doubts. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, these pills are formted by the AE Research Centre. The human trial conducted in Africa has returned with promising results. All who have been poisoned have died and those who had the antidote lived.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± Xia Lei kept the vial carefully. ¡°Is there anything else? If there¡¯s nothing, I need to head back now. Thunder Horse Organization has entered its final phase of preparation for the building of the new material workshop. I need to be there working or Xia Lei might suspect me.¡±
¡°Sure, but I¡¯ve got a question for you,¡± piqued Hattori Mei.
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei faced her.
¡°I wish to know the details of your n.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve just gotten a briefing about this just now and you¡¯re already asking for a n? What do you take me for? I¡¯m not invincible.¡±
The woman seemed to be unfazed by Xia Lei¡¯s tone. Instead, she smiled sweetly at him. ¡°I¡¯ve got a n. Perhaps you can take it as inspiration.¡±
¡°Do tell me.¡± Xia Lei stared at her intently.
Hattori Mei began, ¡°Try to enter the Peace Mansion and poison him at home when he¡¯s distracted by his lovers. Men always put down their guards around pretty women. It¡¯s an added benefit that he has plenty of them.¡±
¡°Do you wish for me to kill his women as well?¡± Xia Lei raised a brow.
Hattori Mei nodded. ¡°This is nothing personal. It¡¯s essentially the best time for you to attack.¡±
Nothing personal?
Xia Lei had stolen the Hattori n¡¯s Artificial Intelligence technology and used it on the ZTZ100 main battle tank and the Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle. The man had also killed Hattori Geppa and Hattori Hyakusai. If this wasn¡¯t personal, vengeance would not be a word in the dictionary.
Xia Lei nodded with a faint smile. ¡°I¡¯ll consider it.¡± He turned around and left.
Exiting the tower, he turned back and used his vision through the wooden structure above him. He saw Hattori Mei conversing with Yang Shan in English.
¡°Is he trustworthy?¡± Hattori Mei was sceptical.
¡°Of course.¡± Yang Shan assured her, ¡°There¡¯s no need to doubt his capabilities. He is a product of the CIA¡¯s ¡®Project Peerless¡¯. While I don¡¯t know much about the training, I do know that agents trained under the programme only take on high-risk operations. Their sess rate is terrifyingly high too.¡±
¡°Project Peerless, huh?¡± A smirk of disdain yed on her lips. ¡°He seems too normal.¡±
Yang Shan argued, ¡°You can¡¯t judge his capabilities with the standards of an armed agent or an assassin.¡±
¡°Perhaps...¡± Hattori Mei paused. ¡°He¡¯s got something up his sleeve. There¡¯s something very unique about this guy. However, no matter what agent rank he is, as soon as he gets ahold of Thunder Horse¡¯s Alloy X formtion and information, he¡¯ll...¡±
Yang Shan nodded.
Xia Lei peeled his attention away and strode away.
If it wasn¡¯t for Hattori Mei and Yang Shan¡¯s conversation, Xia Lei would remain clueless that Li Youdun was an esteemed product of ¡®Project Peerless¡¯. While the information had seemed rather meaningless, it had its use. ¡®Project Peerless¡¯ must¡¯ve produced more than one agent like Li Youdun. On the surface, Li Youdun had been given the mission to assassinate Xia Lei but there was no guarantee that the CIA would try to sneak in another ¡®Peerless¡¯ agent into Thunder Horse Organization to rece Li Youdun. After all, there was still a possibility that Li Youdun would fail and die on the job. This was likely to happen because the Thunder Horse Organization was about to organize mass recruitment!
¡°We must be careful with the recruitment this time. You¡¯ve got Operation S and I¡¯ll help add a B behind it.¡± Xia Lei smirked dangerously.
[Note: SB is the abbreviation for ɵ(sh¨£)±Æ(b¨©), mostmonly used on the inte. It¡¯s essentially a profanity that is equivalent to ¡®Fuck¡¯.]
Chapter 1003 - The Childrens Gender
Before they realized it, Lunar New Year had reached its end. It would be a year before it came around again.
Despite that, time was a fleeting concept. Any time passed would not return.
Morning came and the sun rose from the east, painting the horizon a brilliant orange. Standing before the tall windows of his office, Xia Lei watched the sunrise. He could feel the strong bustling energy radiating off it. But even if the Sun was the centre of the sr system, it would eventually die someday.
Xia Lei averted his gaze elsewhere. Under the skies stood a majestic church built in a style akin to the Sagrada Familia. Standing before its entrance was Long Bing and the four female knights, seemingly engrossed in their conversation. Alongside the five women were worshippers from every corner of the globe. This was the formation of Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s very own armed force.
In the tranquil front yard of the Peace Mansion was Jiang Ruyi, busy knitting baby clothes for her child. She was not like Long Bing and Liang Siyao. She wasn¡¯t someone who could stand alongside him in the heat of battle. Jiang Ruyi was also not someone with a high authority position like Fan Fan. All in all, Jiang Ruyi was just a regr woman. Perhaps it was her ordinary background that helped Xia Lei remain down to earth. He had found that aspect of her very endearing and cute. She was a portal that allowed Xia Lei to reminiscence about a simpler time.
At this moment, a long line of military cargo trucks drove out of the main gate. Each vehicle carried a ZTZ100 main battle tank or the Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle. After these vehicles had entered its mass production phase, the military had begun to rece its tank equipment. In the near future, no country, including the United States, would dare to challenge China into and war.
This seemed to add to the sentiments of the red rising sun, it was positively radiating with energy.
Footsteps were heard from behind him. It was soft and almost negligible. The person was deliberately hiding their presence as they crept closer. Xia Lei didn¡¯t need to turn around to know that it was Liang Siyao.
Liang Siyao reached her arms over and covered Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. She teased, ¡°Guess who am I?¡±
¡°You¡¯re the pig.¡± Xia Lei breathed a chuckle.
That earned a hit to his biceps. ¡°Jeez. Now that I¡¯m pregnant and a tad bit meatier, you¡¯re starting to call me a pig now. You¡¯re so evil.¡±
Xia Lei turned around to embrace her. ¡°But it¡¯s true, you¡¯re the pig.¡±
There was a hint of amusement in Liang Siyao¡¯s eye. Yes, Xia Lei had a point. Liang Siyao was undoubtedly the current pig of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. However, her position had lost its meaning because her pregnancy had rendered her unable to join in on their operations.
¡°The few that went to scout for equipment in Europe, what have they found?¡± Xia Lei shifted the topic onto official matters.
Liang Siyao sighed. ¡°I read their reports just now. Turns out...¡± She paused. ¡°The European suppliers are reluctant to sell us equipment, despite offering double the price.¡±
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°This must have something to do with the Americans. They know that I¡¯m about to mass-produce Alloy X and the drone. That¡¯s why they¡¯re trying to stop us from importing equipment from Europe.¡±
Liang Siyao reported, ¡°There seems to be no issue with Russia and Ukraine, but the standard of their equipment is no different from ours. In my opinion, how about we opt for a domestic supplier? You could create a design n for your equipment along with its specifics, then we¡¯ll order parts from domestic suppliers before customizing the machines further. That way we¡¯ll be able to obtain what we desire.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°This might bring us a lot more hassle but desperate times call for desperate measures. Give me three days, I¡¯ll get the designs ready.¡±
¡°Three days? Isn¡¯t that too fast? How are you going to aplish something soplicated within that time frame?¡± Liang Siyao was bewildered.
¡°Trust me, it will be done.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s confidence was unwavering.
¡°Hubby, please don¡¯t wear yourself out. Give yourself time if needed, no one is rushing you. There¡¯s no need to rush.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s furrowed brows were overflowing with concern.
Three days to prepare design ns for an entire workshop worth of equipment sounded impossible even with a superbrain. Despite his brain containing all of the data and images he needed, the speed of Xia Lei¡¯s hand could only reach a certain extent. Doing this digitally had sounded as impossible as it was, let alone drawing it out traditionally. At least that was what Liang Siyao had thought.
Albeit so, Xia Lei had his own solution to this.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can pace myself.¡±
¡°But... Using three days to design all of it is crazy. There are so many things involved in a material production workshop. How could you possibly do it?¡± Liang Siyao stared at her man intently, trying to figure out if this was a joke.
Instead, Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Not only will I be preparing for the material workshop but I¡¯ll also be handing you the ns for the drone equipment. I¡¯ll give them all to you and you can proceed to send them to suitable suppliers in the country. With the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe, I¡¯m sure we can refine the ordered spare parts into something better.¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Hubby, will it kill you to be straightforward? Stop beating around the bush. How on earth are you nning to achieve all of these?¡±
Xia Lei merely pointed at theptop on his desk.
Liang Siyao was stunned, but she was a smart woman. It didn¡¯t take long for her to understand what he meant, the knowledge eliciting an evil grin from her. ¡°Oh... You meant stealing, not drawing.¡±
Xia Lei grinned back. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t say that. I¡¯m just going to copy.¡±
¡°Alright, my bad, copy it is. Hubby, let me go make you some tea then watch you copy those ns from aside, yeah?¡± It was Liang Siyao¡¯s attempt to appease her lover.
Xia Lei replied with a smile. ¡°Sure, no problem.¡±
Liang Siyao left to make tea while Xia Lei booted his hackingptop, preparing tounch into action.
If the Americans could assign Li Youdun on a mission to steal Thunder Horse¡¯s intelligent property, Xia Lei was allowed to do the same too. However, the radius of his attack was not confined to America. Applying hacking techniques to ces like the CIA and Lockheed Martin was difficult. There was a high chance of them finding out. But for him to attack establishments like specific suppliers or material suppliers was almost too easy.
There was no point justifying the practice with justice orw, it had taken form ever since the existence of human civilization. Who had the right to criticize its existence from the perspective ofw and justice?
When Liang Siyao returned with a steaming cup of Tieguanyin, Xia Lei had already started to work. In under five minutes, the man had managed to gain ess to the documentation system of a French equipment supplier. It took another few more minutes to extract design ns and duplicated them. Everything was achieved without breaking a sweat.
¡°Damn, when will I ever be as good as you?¡± Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but express her envy towards Xia Lei¡¯s skills.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve got a shot, but perhaps your son will. You can try to cultivate him into bing the next best hacker. Wouldn¡¯t that work the same?¡±
¡°My father will kill me. He probably has alreadye up with a training n to teach the child Wing Chun. I¡¯m just worried that giving birth to a daughter would piss him off,¡± relented Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei stared at her swollen belly then shed her a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s a boy.¡±
Liang Siyao rested her head on top of Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Sure, I believe you. I believe in everything you say.¡±
Truth to be told, not only that Xia Lei had confirmed that Liang Siyao was pregnant with his son, but he was also aware of the gender of his other children. All he needed to do was use his X-ray vision. In the past, he was unwilling to use it on his pregnant wives because he was afraid that the fetuses would be too weak against any possible adverse effects. However, all his worries were slowly dissipating as his children continued to flourish in their mother¡¯s womb. Albeit so, the man was mindful to exercise restraint. He had only used the vision once to assess their gender.
Out of the four pregnant wives, Liang Siyao and Long Bing were carrying sons while Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan were carrying daughters. Two boys and two girls, two pairs of dragons and phoenixes. Long Bing and Liang Siyao could be said as the ¡®Wu¡¯ while Fan Fan and Long Bing were the ¡®Wen¡¯. The ¡®Wu¡¯ would birth sons while the ¡®Wen¡¯ would birth daughters. This was a wonderful bnce.
[Note: There¡¯s a saying in Chinese- ÎÄ(wen)Îä(wu)Ë«È«, in which praises the mastery of both polite letters and martial arts. The upation and nature of Xia Lei¡¯s lovers allow them to be separated into such.]
He continued to entertain Liang Siyao with baby talk as he altered his copied information. The designs he had extracted from the French supplier werecklustre, there were many things that did not satisfy Xia Lei¡¯s tastes. However, after a little bit of change, the designs were refined and perfected.
Gaining ess and extracting may have taken him minutes. But altering it, on the other hand, was incredibly time-consuming. He had used up an entire hour but couldn¡¯t manage to get past a handful of ns. But the man was confident that his designs were going to be the best out of its kind at the end of this process.
Liang Siyao was excited when she first started but she was slowly losing patience and interest after an hour. ¡°Hubby, I¡¯m going to the garage to check on them. Please take breaks, okay? Do not strain yourself.¡±
Surprisingly, Xia Lei called out to her. ¡°Siyao, I¡¯ve got something to tell you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Liang Siyao turned back, curiosity piqued.
There was a beat of silence before Xia Lei mustered up enough courage. ¡°Help me n for a funeral.¡±
¡°What?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes shot wide open.
¡°Yes, you heard that right.¡± Xia Lei had a straight face on. ¡°Help me n for a funeral. It doesn¡¯t need to be arge scale event. I just want it to be lively.¡±
Without warning, a fist made an impact with his skull. Liang Siyao huffed, the rims of her eyes were red and moist. ¡°What the fuck are you saying? Do you hear yourself? I don¡¯t want to hear words like this from you. If you leave us, what would happen to our children? Have you thought about Fan Fan, Ah Bing and Ruyi? What would happen to their children?¡±
¡°Silly, let me finish.¡± Xia Lei tugged on her arm and pressed her down onto his thigh. He inched closer and whispered, ¡°Let me tell what¡¯s going on...¡±
The tears in Liang Siyao slowly faded away with every revtion Xia Lei split from his lips.
An Operation S tailored by the CIA and America¡¯s top five arms dealers. Li Youdun was the assignee and the end goal of the operation was to have Xia Lei dead. The opposition had channelled heaps of effort into this. How could Xia Lei not be tempted to follow their n and satisfy them?
¡°What¡¯s the point of doing this?¡± After Xia Lei was done, Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but question his rationale. ¡°You could¡¯ve ignored them and destroyed their informant base right away.¡±
Xia Lei exined, ¡°Destroying the CIA¡¯s Jingdu informant base would only spur them into building another. I need to follow through with their n. I need them to think I¡¯m dead. With me out of the picture, they¡¯ll lower their guard. When that timees...¡±
¡°What are you trying to achieve?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell when it is right,¡± said Xia Lei. Truthfully, he had already devised aplete n but he was reluctant to reveal it. The details of his strategy would only trigger worry among his wives.
¡°Then when do you n to...¡± Liang Siyao still couldn¡¯t mutter the word.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°In about a week after I¡¯m done with appropriate arrangements. By then, I can...¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s palm darted over to muffle Xia Lei¡¯s mouth. ¡°You are not allowed to utter that word.¡±
Xia Lei smiled with his heart filled with warmth.
Chapter 1004 - Xia Leis Death
Three dayster.
A few printers chugged fervently in the background, printing out sheets of designs. The desk in Xia Lei¡¯s office was crowded with rolls of design ns, each of it reaching a diameter of an inch. These were all the refined products of the designs Xia Lei had ¡®duplicated¡¯ off suppliers from America and Europe. Some of them were for Alloy X and the remaining were for the drone.
These design ns were categorized and separated neatly. A majority held information about the spare parts and standard toply with itsponents. Xia Lei had done his job to its fullest and the only thing left now was to send it off to domestic suppliers along with negotiations about the quotation.
The rest would be handled by Liang Siyao and the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s employees.
After he confirmed that thest of it was printed, Xia Lei entered the rxation room. The man had turned into Li Youdun by the time he exited the space.
Liang Siyao, who had just retrieved thest sheet from the printer, was stunned upon seeing ¡®Li Youdun¡¯. It took her a while to respond ordingly. ¡°Hubby, are you sure about this?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course, this n is very important to me. Just do as I say.¡±
¡°But you haven¡¯t told me where you¡¯re going to be for the time being? When will I see you?¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s worry was apparent.
Xia Lei gulped. ¡°You¡¯ll see me in half a month or maybe twenty days. I can assure you that it won¡¯t stretch beyond a month¡¯s time.¡±
Liang Siyao furrowed her brows. ¡°So how long will this take? Half a month? Twenty days? Or a month? Also, don¡¯t you dare escape my question. Where are you going to be?¡±
¡°Haizhu.¡± Xia Lei answered, ¡°I wish to go back and visit the city. I¡¯m familiar with that ce. There¡¯s no way for the CIA to notice me. But you all need to act like you know nothing of this and you must not travel to Haizhu to look for me.¡±
¡°Are you really sure about this?¡±
Xia Lei nodded solemnly. But he was certain that this was just a white lie. The ce he was heading to would be dangerous but he didn¡¯t wish to overwhelm his wives with worry.
¡°Call Zhengnan over. He¡¯s done preparing,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
A few minutester, Liu Zhengnan entered Xia Lei¡¯s office. The man had donned a human face mask that Xia Lei had created for him. He was once again, Xia Lei¡¯s imposter.
¡°Take a seat on my chair, I need to touch up a few things,¡± said Xia Lei.
Liu Zhengnan plopped himself down on the seat. ¡°Brother, how... How long am I expected to y dead?¡±
¡°I¡¯d say ten days to half a month?¡± Xia Lei grabbed his cosmetic brushes and began his attempt to make Liu Zhengnan appear dead.
¡°What? Ten days to half a month?¡± Liu Zhengnan was positively pouting. ¡°Can¡¯t you have someone else do this job instead?¡±
¡°Hey, stay still. You¡¯ve yed this role several times now. You¡¯re the best at this, no one is fit to be my imposter.¡±
¡°Dude, I¡¯m your brother inw!¡±
¡°Shut up or I¡¯ll have Xia Xue beat the shit out of you.¡± Xia Lei warned sternly.
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do it.¡± That seemed to do the job.
Xia Xue was Liu Zhengnan¡¯s weakness. One mention of her was enough to finish him.
Moments after finishing up the look, Xia Lei left the office.
¡°Hubby? Hubby...! Aaaaaaaaaaah!¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s cries of despair boomed through the corridor outside Xia Lei¡¯s office.
Her cries surprised the employees in the office block, prompting them to run over to its source. Before they could enter Xia Lei¡¯s office, E¡¯er Demutu was there to halt them. They could only see Xia Lei on his chair from a distance. Xia Lei¡¯s face was purple with blood trickling out of his eyes, nose, lips and ears. The man was even foaming at the edge of his lips. It had appeared that Xia Lei was dead.
¡°What the hell?¡±
¡°How is this possible?¡±
¡°Sob... Director Xia... Sob...¡±
¡°Director Xia, you can¡¯t leave us! Wake up! You said that you¡¯ll lead us to defeat Lockheed Martin! How can you leave the world just like that?!¡±
¡°Aaaahhh! Director Xia!¡±
Cries and sorrow overwhelmed the office building. Xia Lei was China¡¯s national hero and he was well-received among his subordinates. The employees of the Thunder Horse Organization loved and respected him to bits.
Xia Lei¡¯s other three women had arrived at the scene. E¡¯er Demutu had only stepped aside to allow their entrance before resuming his station at the door. No one was permitted to enter.
The four women surrounded Xia Lei¡¯s lifeless body, crying their lungs out like no tomorrow.
¡°Hubby, how could you do this to us? What do we do now? What will happen to our children?¡± Fan Fan cried.
¡°Sob... Sob... Sob... Hubby... Wake up... Please... Wake up! Sob... Sob...¡± Jiang Ruyi was inconsble.
¡°Wake up! You can¡¯t die on me! Who did this?! I swear I¡¯ll rip them apart! Sob...¡± Long Bing seethed with both sorrow and anger.
¡°Hubby... Hubby... You were alright just now. Why did you die in a blink of an eye? Sob...¡± Liang Siyao mumbled.
Four women with vastly different personalities disyed their sorrow differently.
As if influenced by their tears, more began to sob. In that split second, Thunder Horse Organization turned gloomy, grief heavy in the air.
Ten minutester, two helicoptersnded on an empty square before Thunder Horse Organization.
Tang Yuyan and Shi Boren scrambled out of the aircraft and began to dash into the office block.
Tang Yuyan ran as fast as her legs could carry her. ¡°You damned bastard, you fucking bastard! How could you die?! You made me fall in love with you and yet you had the heart to leave me behind in this world... You bastard!¡±
Love and hate were two strong emotions, not always separate.
Shi Boren¡¯s expression was solemn. Xia Lei¡¯s death was certainlyplicated. It definitely didn¡¯t require much brainwork to figure out that it had something to do with America. What was even more worrying was how far could Thunder Horse advance without Xia Lei? How would the country respond to this massive loss? Every issue he considered was important to the country.
Behind Shi Boren were medical assistance from Bureau 101. They trailed behind the dashing pair closely, medical kit and stretcher in their grip.
¡°Move aside!¡± Reaching the top floor, Tang Yuyan squeezed herself between the crowd of employees standing along the corridor. Before they could even make way, she mmed herself into them ruthlessly.
¡°Hold it!¡± E¡¯er Demutu raised an arm to barricade Tang Yuyan¡¯s path.
¡°What the hell are you doing? Fuck off!¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s emotions were long out of check.
¡°You can¡¯t enter.¡± There was no aggression in E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s tone.
Tang Yuyan drew her Viper pistol and pointed its muzzle at E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s forehead. ¡°I said fuck off!¡±
The man remained stationary. ¡°You can¡¯t enter.¡±
¡°What gives? Arrest him!¡± Shi Boren arrived at the door, anger written all over his face.
At this moment, Fan Fan finally peeled herself away from Xia Lei¡¯s side to stand behind E¡¯er Demutu. ¡°He¡¯s doing his job under my order.¡±
For some reason, hearing those words from her lips filled Tang Yuyan with the violent urge to shoot her.
¡°Officer Fan, do you know what you¡¯re doing?¡± Shi Boren roared at Fan Fan.
Fan Fan wiped her tears. ¡°My husband is dead and I don¡¯t wish for you to disturb his peace.¡±
¡°We¡¯re here to investigate his death! We need to avenge Xia Lei! Also, why are you rejecting medical assistance? There could be a chance for resuscitation! Let us in, please!¡± Shi Boren pleaded with his words.
Shi Boren had a point.
However, Fan Fan wasn¡¯t having any of it. She replied, ¡°Thunder Horse¡¯s private doctors had already conducted checks. There¡¯s no mistake about this. I¡¯ve already reported his death to the authorities. A designated investigation squad will be arriving shortly. Bureau 101 has no right to be involved in this case.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t stop her tears, fury roaring in her heart.
The person she loved had left this world. He was only a few metres away and yet she was not spared the grace of seeing him onest time? This pain was agonizing! Her heart felt like it was ripped into a million pieces!
¡°Tang Yuyan, put away your gun!¡± Fan Fan raised her voice. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, this isn¡¯t my personal decision. This is the decision made by the authorities. If you wish to barge in, there will be consequences!¡±
Tang Yuyan reached an abrupt arm to push at E¡¯er Demutu.
Before E¡¯er Demutu could respond, Shi Boren restrained her. ¡°Yuyan, calm down. This is what the authorities had decided to do. We need to wait outside for further instructions.¡±
Tang Yuyan gritted her teeth, heart pounding with pain. How she wished she could kick E¡¯er Demutu and Fan Fan away and dash to Xia Lei¡¯s side. How she wished to hug him tightly onest time then send him off to the afterlife. Despite that, her brain began feeding her images of Tang Yunhai and Tang Tianlong. She thought of the Tang family and her urges died down just then. Shi Boren was right. This was a decision made by the higher-ups. If this case had not required the involvement of Bureau 101 and she had stubbornly insisted to enter the scene, her leadership position would be threatened.
She had told Xia Lei that she would leave the Tang family for him. However, this was easier said than done. It was just too difficult.
Shi Boren was worried that Tang Yuyan would lose her cool again. The older man quickly pulled her aside to a window and whispered into her ear. ¡°Do you remember what that Folsom revealed during the Boao Forum? Xia Lei is an advanced human. His body is a valuable resource. His death is marked with an unknown price. The authorities must be aiming to ship his body away for further research. These are things you can¡¯t change.¡±
Tang Yuyan trembled and hunched forward onto Shi Boren¡¯s shoulder. She fell apart. ¡°Godfather, how... How is he dead? Sob... I loved him so much and yet I cannot have him... Sob...¡±
Shi Boren wanted tofort her but he didn¡¯t know what to say. Words paled in a situation like this.
Soon after, a bigger helicopter arrived. Tens of personnel from an unspecified department exited the aircraft. Every ounce of them radiated piercing coldness. They showed a slip to Fan Fan and brought away Xia Lei¡¯s body.
Fan Fan followed the team, leaving Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi to grieve in the office.
Making it onto the helicopter, the dead Xia Lei cracked an eye open. ¡°Sister... Where are we heading to now?¡±
¡°The funeral home. Resume your act.¡± Fan Fan turned to look at him. ¡°Next time, pop a sleeping pill in.¡±
Liu Zhengnan was speechless.
Chapter 1005 - Tears of An Ex-Wife
A familiar silver Rolls-Royce Phantom barged into thepound of Thunder Horse Organization. The security guards stationed in the gate made no move to stop it. The vehicle came to a sudden halt at the entrance of the office block and before the car was switched off, Shentu Tianyin had already dashed out of the car. Her contrastingly uncalcted actions caused her to stumble, almost falling t onto the ground. She sprinted for the stairs despite the risk she posed to herself.
The ex-wife was here to send her ex-husband off. Unfortunately, she did not have the chance to see Xia Lei¡¯s face for the veryst time.
¡°Xia... Where¡¯s Xia Lei?¡± She huffed, finally making it into Xia Lei¡¯s office. Shentu Tianyin noticed the three crying women in the room. Long Bing, Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi. Reality sunk in, causing her to brim with tears that were threatening to fall at any given moment.
Liang Siyao wiped her crocodile tears away. ¡°You¡¯rete. His body was just brought away.¡±
¡°He...¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s tears were gushing out of her eyes. ¡°He¡¯s dead?¡±
Long Bing gave her an affirmative nod.
¡°No!¡± Shentu Tianyin screamed. ¡°This is impossible! Impossible! This must be a lie! This can¡¯t be real! Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have died. There¡¯s no way he could be dead!¡±
Tang Yuyan entered through the door this time, choking on her words through tears. ¡°Tianyin, he¡¯s gone. They¡¯ve already brought his body away.¡±
A shrill scream was elicited from Shentu Tianyin and she doubled over, eyes shut.
Tang Yuyan lunged forward and caught Shentu Tianyin.
Five women, two different stands.
Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but lock gazes with Long Bing. They knew that Xia Lei wasn¡¯t dead but this was confidential. Tang Yuyan and Shentu Tianyin did not share the same knowledge. Their grief was overwhelming and very much genuine. It was clear that they harboured strong feelings for the man. How would they react after they learn that this was just an act?
¡°Yuyan, did we contact her over?¡± asked Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan sneered, ¡°She¡¯s Xia Lei¡¯s ex-wife, is she not allowed to send him off?¡±
Long Bing wanted to say something else but Liang Siyao quickly caught her off guard with an embrace. The woman bemoaned, ¡°Ah Bing, I don¡¯t want to live anymore. I want to go with him...¡±
Long Bing picked up the hint, quickly staying mum.
At the same time, a Buick Encore Mercedes zoomed along the suburban highway.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
¡°Boss, we¡¯re on standby at the spot. The target has not appeared yet.¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s voice rang through the satellite phone as soon as the call was connected.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°They are bound to appear. Remember, do not shot the target. You are only allowed to open fire when my life is at stake.¡±
¡°Understood.¡± Anjum Khan smiled. ¡°But man, I really hope they would try to kill you.¡±
¡°It¡¯s unlikely. I still hold some value to them. If everything goes well, they wouldn¡¯t do that. I¡¯m ending the call now.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
He was on his way to meet Hattori Mei, Yang Shan and Sperry. The meeting spot was the same. They would meet at the tower at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Before he left, Anjum Khan, Tsukino Kyoko, Yelena and Sa¡¯im were already waiting at a mountain one kilometre away from the site. They were armed with four XL2500 sniper rifle, each standing by at different sniping points. As soon as Yang Shan or Hattori Mei initiated an attack, they would open fire.
While the predicted likelihood of the situation had not exceeded ten per cent, he needed to eliminate all possible danger. Xia Lei was bound to die but he still had two good years left. The man was determined to not die prematurely. He still had so much nned for the Thunder Horse Organization and his family! He was determined to not die no matter what!
Half an hourter, Anjum Khan contacted him as his vehicle came close to the Mutianyu Great Wall attraction.
¡°Boss, they¡¯re here.¡±
¡°Got it.¡± Xia Lei swiftly ended the call and kept the satellite phone well. He made his way into the attraction site.
The crowd of tourists had died down after the Lunar New Year. It created a less straining environment for Xia Lei to study his surroundings. It only took him one stare to spot the people he wished to meet. Hattori Mei, Yang Shan and Sperry along with a few Hattori family fighters and special agents from the CIA Jingdu informant base had arrived.
Xia Lei approached the tower at a regr pace and trained his X-ray vision on them. All of them were armed.
¡°If they¡¯re really nning to kill me, I¡¯d have no choice but to take them out, destroy the CIA informant base and activate Xiao Qian to steal as much information as possible.¡± Xia Lei manifested an idea. But to be honest, he was not looking forward to that n.
In his n, Hattori Mei, Yang Shan and Sperry had to die. The timing of their deaths was specific. If he was forced to kill them now, his ns could be considered ruined.
¡°Mister Li, you¡¯re right on time. Pleasee with me.¡± The waiter from the Tree Leaf Cafe was already waiting for him.
Xia Lei returned him a slight nod before trailing behind his lead.
¡°Mister Li, how did it go?¡± Yang Shan questioned impatiently as soon as Xia Lei¡¯s head peeked through the stairway.
Xia Lei nodded again. ¡°Yeah, it went well all thanks to the poison. The poor man probably had no idea how he died.¡±
¡°What happened to his body?¡± Hattori Mei blurted out a question.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°His body was already whisked away by the Chinese government. He carries some kind of secret in his body, so the authorities deemed his body a priceless research specimen. But judging from the contributions Xia Lei had done for China and his status in the hearts of the people, the Chinese government would most likely hold an official funeral for him.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Hattori Mei¡¯sughter was pitchy and maniacal.
Xia Lei watched in silence. This Japanese woman had reminded him strongly of Gu Kewen. Both Hattori Mei and Gu Kewen¡¯s will to kill him was abnormally apparent.
¡°Are you sure?¡± Yang Shan scrutinized Xia Lei, his suspicion thinly veiled.
Xia Lei did Li Youdun¡¯s characteristic shrug. ¡°If you had called me here just to confirm Xia Lei¡¯s death, I have already given you my answer. If you have further qualms about the validity of the oue, please feel free to confirm it at Xia Lei¡¯s funeral.¡±
¡°Hehe, no. I hope there¡¯s no misunderstanding between us, Mister Li. I was just curious.¡± Yang Shan continued, ¡°I¡¯ll report your progress to Mister Williams. You¡¯ll be getting the rest of your payment soon.¡±
Internally, Xia Lei let out a sigh. Yang Shan¡¯s speech held no malice. It seemed like he wasn¡¯t here to cause harm.
Yang Shan slid out his satellite phone and exited the tower to make a call.
As Xia Lei was about to use his X-ray vision to spy on their call, Hattori Mei came to stand before him and blocked his sight. She leaned in to whisper into his ear.
Xia Lei cautiously took a step back. ¡°Miss Hattori, what are you doing?¡±
Hattori Mei offered him a sweet smile. ¡°You killed someone that I was desperate to get rid of. I would love to kiss you to express my gratitude.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed disinterestedly. ¡°I don¡¯t want a kiss from a venomous snake.¡±
¡°Hehehe.¡± There was something charming about her chime-like giggle. ¡°Mister Li, you¡¯re so funny.¡±
Xia Lei decided to say nothing else. The more he talked, the more he¡¯d reveal about himself. It was a smart move to say less in the face of intelligent officers and spies.
Hattori Mei lowered her voice to a volume that was barely audible. The woman was essentially asking him to read her lips. ¡°If you happened to obtain the form and technology information on Alloy X, please remember to contact me.¡±
The angle she had chosen to stand at was nned out perfectly. Other than Xia Lei, people within their vicinity had no way of noticing what she mouthed.
A smile flitted across Xia Lei¡¯s lips. This was a hint, a hint that indicated that she could offer him a price after he had gotten ahold of the Alloy X. His undetectable smile was an appropriate response to Hattori Mei.
Yang Shan came over and pressed his satellite phone into Xia Lei¡¯s palm. ¡°Mister Williams asked for you.¡±
Xia Lei brought the device to his ear. ¡°Mister Williams.¡±
¡°Excellent job, Li!¡± Williams was ecstatic.
Xia Lei listened, not humming a word.
¡°I need to know a few things.¡± Williams¡¯ emotions calmed down. ¡°Did anyone notice you?¡±
Xia Lei was certain that everyone standing around would pounce him if he mentioned that he was noticed. Nonchntly, he replied, ¡°No, my trails were not left behind. Even if the Bureau 101 were to investigate this case, they¡¯d never suspect me.¡±
¡°Can you resume with your mission?¡± asked Williams.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Of course. It¡¯d be even better now that Xia Lei is dead. The construction for the material workshop is about to begin and I got assigned the position to be in charge of it. I¡¯m confident I¡¯ll be able to obtain the information we need.¡±
¡°Very well then. Cut off all contact with Yang Shan for a while until you¡¯ve got everything,¡± instructed Williams.
¡°Mister Williams, I kept my end of the promise and killed Xia Lei. About my payment...¡±
¡°No problem. We¡¯ll be paying the rest of it after we receive a confirmation on Xia Lei¡¯s death,¡± said Williams.
It was that instance that Xia Lei was reminded of the incredibly patient observer. If the CIA informant base were to assign someone to verify his death, he would be the best candidate. However, Xia Lei had nothing to fear. The observer had no means toe in proximity with his ¡®corpse¡¯.
While his mind pondered further about it, Xia Lei furrowed his brows exteriorly. ¡°Mister Williams, this was not what we agreed on earlier. I had risked my life for this payment. If I don¡¯t receive it...¡±
There was no need to voice his threat for Wiims had certainly picked it up.
Williams inhaled. ¡°Alright. The transaction shall arrive within twenty-four hours. I¡¯m sure that the time frame is enough for us to obtain final confirmation.¡±
¡°Thank you. I need to leave for the Thunder Horse Organization now. I¡¯lly low for the time being. I won¡¯t be in contact for a while and I don¡¯t wish for anyone to contact me either.¡± Letting his sentence fall, Xia Lei ended the call and returned the device to its owner.
His words earlier were purposeful, making it audible to Yang Shan, Sperry and Hattori Mei. He needed toy low and asked for no one to contact him, it was obvious that he was referring to the three of them.
Hattori Mei winked at him discreetly.
Xia Lei noticed it but gave no response, taking his leave immediately.
¡°Damn, that guy is arrogant.¡± Sperry jeered, ¡°One billion USD... That man just earned one billion USD!¡±
Yang Shan drawled in a calm tone. ¡°He¡¯s got the luck but no time left to spend them.¡±
Hattori Mei mused, ¡°Judging from the current situation, he should be able to steal information on the Alloy X from the Thunder Horse Organization. By possessing it, you¡¯ll definitely be able to sell it for more than two billion.¡±
Yang Shan and Sperry turned to lock gazes.
This was an obvious hint.
Humans were greedy animals. There weren¡¯t many who could reject the seduction of wealth.
Xia Lei exited the tower. The man gazed at the top of the mountain opposite him. He mouthed, ¡°Retreat, move out.¡±
They were moving to his next destination, but it wasn¡¯t the Thunder Horse Organization.
Chapter 1006 - Jerusalem, A Fathers Hint!
Two dayster, Jerusalem.
A Jeep Wrangler drove out from downtown Jerusalem towards the east. Xia Lei¡¯s passengers consisted of four people. Yelena, Anjum Khan, Sa¡¯im and Tsukino Kyoko. The four Chinese Zodiac Team members sat in the back while Xia Lei drove at a steady pace down the freeway.
They were all able to drive but left it to Xia Lei as the man in question was extremely tight-lipped about their destination. Forget about an exact coordinate, the man hadn¡¯t even let them learn their general direction. Under such circumstances, Xia Lei had no choice but to take the wheel.
His destination was the tomb where the AE capsules were first found. Unfortunately, he himself had no clue where it was. The only thing he could refer to was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
¡°Boss, where exactly are we heading to?¡± asked Sa¡¯im.
¡°I have no idea either.¡± Xia Lei answered with a sigh. He nced at the rear mirror, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre already far behind.
¡°Is there a name for the ce?¡± Sa¡¯im asked again.
Xia Lei shook his head.
Tsukino Kyoko chided, ¡°Sa¡¯im, quit asking. The boss will eventually get us to... Where?¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Anjum Khan burst intoughter.
¡°Quitughing, you damned monkey. Yourughter hurts my ears,¡± hissed Tsukino Kyoko as she sent him a sharp re.
Everyone in the car had donned an intricate human face mask. The guise was necessary in order to hide their trails from the Israeli Mossad and the informants nted around by the CIA.
The vehicle continued to venture forward until it arrived at the front of a barren hilltop. The road that winded around the curves of the terrain was cut off. There was a warning sign erected on the side of the road. The warning was printed in Hebrew and English, Disaster site ahead, please turn around.
¡°Ah, a dead end.¡± Sa¡¯im suggested, ¡°Boss, we should take another path.¡±
Xia Lei parked the vehicle and lifted a chin to study the hill through the window deep in thought. His mind pulled out snippets of the video. In that video, the archaeologist named George had stood on the top of a hill and looked back to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the distance.
¡°Boss?¡± Sa¡¯im interrupted.
It was only then that Xia Lei snapped back into reality. He abruptly manoeuvred the Jeep away from the asphalt road and made his way to the foot of the hill. The rocks along the way made its course bumpy, to which poor Yelena had a knock to her head against the window. Thankfully, the journey down only took them several minutes.
Xia Lei pushed the door open and instructed, ¡°Come down, we need to get to the other side of the hill.¡±
The four members left the vehicle and retrieved their backpacks from the boot.
¡°Boss, where exactly are we heading to?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s patience had finally worn thin.
Xia Lei turned around to study the direction of the church, then pointed at the hill body before him. ¡°There is a pyramid within it. I¡¯m trying to get there.¡±
¡°Woah!¡± Anjum Khan eximed exaggeratedly. ¡°A pyramid? Within a hill? Boss, I¡¯ve always believed your words to the letter. But even this has got me questioning you.¡±
Yelena and Sa¡¯im weren¡¯t convinced either. A pyramid hiding within a mountain was just too weird to the ears. Anyone with a normal mind wouldn¡¯t believe it.
¡°Let¡¯s go. You¡¯ll find out when the timees.¡± Xia Lei did not provide further exnation, reaching over for his gear and began his hike.
The four members trailed behind him along the hike, asionally chatting as they went.
¡°What is the boss trying to achieve?¡± Sa¡¯im hummed. ¡°China is holding a funeral for him and yet he¡¯s here at such a deste ce in search of some pyramid. I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s on his mind.¡±
¡°Yeah, this is too weird,¡± agreed Anjum Khan.
¡°There¡¯s no need for assumptions.¡± Tsukino Kyoko reprimanded, ¡°I¡¯m sure the boss has his own reasons for doing this.¡±
¡°Kyoko... Do you like the boss?¡± Anjum Khan shot a hushed question.
ng! A katana was unsheathed.
¡°Fine, let¡¯s forget that even happened.¡± Anjum Khan shrugged coolly.
Xia Lei had heard them well but his mind had no capacity to be spared on trivial things like that. The man¡¯s brain continued to feed him images of the video¡¯s content. Other thanparing the terrain and angles, Xia Lei was also preupied with other thoughts.
The first destination Xia Changhe had appeared at after leaving Jingdu was Jerusalem. Had his fathere to the same ce? Another question lied in the form of the mysterious man with the cobra tattoo. Who the hell was he? The tattooed man was clearly the person who brought away the amber that contained the AE material. So why had it ended up in the AE Research Centre instead?
Xia Lei was eager for answers. He had his own analysis but things didn¡¯t seem to match up.
One hourter, the five of them made it on top of the hill. Looking down from the top, all they could see was a barren hill that was mainly rocks and sand. Not a single patch of shrubbery was in sight. All around the hill were smaller valleys that had tough vegetation that could survive through droughts.
Xia Lei turned around once again and eyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This time he was certain that this was the hilltop the archaeologist, George, had captured in his video. The mysterious pyramid was just beneath his foot.
¡°Anjum Khan, stay here and set up a snipping point. Contact us immediately if anything arises,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Alright, no problem.¡± Anjum Khan set to work. The man had the urge to follow them in but this was Xia Lei¡¯s orders.
Following that, Xia Lei pointed in another direction. ¡°Yelena, you¡¯ll guard that point. Contact us if anything happens.¡±
¡°Alright, leave that to me.¡± Yelena lugged her gear over to the designated spot that oversaw the valley.
¡°Kyoko, Sa¡¯im,e with me,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
The two mentioned members nodded and followed Xia Lei downhill.
Letting a sniper and an alerted Yelena as security while having an assassin and intelligence officer with him in the hill body was a smart choice.
They spent about an hour to reach the peak but only used less than twenty minutes to get to the foot of the hill.
It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to pinpoint the position of the entrance. From George¡¯s video, the entrance was about three metres in height and width. It had enough space to allow an off-road vehicle in. However, it was now sealed with a gigantic boulder.
At the very end of the video, the man with the cobra tattoo had barked out instructions to st the entrance. His team had definitely kept their end of the promise, judging from the rocks scattered around the entrance. Their cement of explosives had been generous when they retreated. The aftermath had nearly torn half of the hill apart. If anyone had wished to get inside, they would probably require a heavy-duty construction machine. It would take them several days to achieve too.
Xia Lei activated his X-ray vision and peered inside. Sadly, his left eye had no way around the obstructing boulder ced at the entrance. The issue pulling his brows into a frown. He had severely underestimated the problem and he was certainly too impatient.
¡°Boss, is this it?¡± As expected, Sa¡¯im was quick to read his expression.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, but we have no way to get inside.¡±
Sa¡¯im hummed. ¡°We¡¯ll need some machines for this but this ce is not too far from Jerusalem. Mossad probably has eyes nted in the area. If we do this at arger scale, there¡¯s a high chance that they¡¯ll notice us.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko offered, ¡°How about we wait till dark to execute it? Wouldn¡¯t it be faster to st it open?¡±
Sa¡¯im shook his head. ¡°No, the noise might travel to Jerusalem. The tremors would be picked up by the Earthquake Prevention Department too. It¡¯s not feasible.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko threw hands. ¡°This does not work, that does not work. What are we supposed to do then?¡±
As Tsukino Kyoko and Sa¡¯im continued their debate, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on a boulder. Sharp lines were carved into the stone. Its patterns were erratic. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be Han characters hidden between the lines.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye ¡®captured¡¯ the messy lines and reorganized its patterns. It separated it, filtered through it, and pieced it together like a puzzle. It didn¡¯t take long for his mind to register a pattern. Some of the lines were carved by stronger exertion and some of them were gentle grazes. There were stark pressure differences between those lines. Following that, he eliminated the stronger lines while retaining the faint lines. Two Han characters manifested in his mind. Left, Hundred.
Those words felt weirdly familiar to him.
¡°Left, hundred?¡± Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°What does that mean?¡±
Combined, it sounded like a typical Chinese name. However, judging it by the surface, it was a description of a direction and its distance. The wonders of thenguage had made it difficult to determine its message.
¡°Wait...¡± Something clicked in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. ¡°That¡¯s father¡¯s writing! No wonder... No wonder it felt so familiar!¡±
It was left behind by Xia Changhe. It definitely was not a name. It was a direction! The older man had been here prior and left a hint. To go left by one hundred metres!
Scribbling on the walls with a hard object was something almost everyone had an experience with during childhood. The doodles were rubbed away but the traces would remain. It had always been there but concealed.
¡°What will there be to the left by a hundred metres?¡± Xia Lei turned to his left. There was a sharp turning at about a hundred metres distance that had obstructed further viewing.
¡°Boss, looks like we gottae up with another approach?¡± Sa¡¯im said.
¡°Come with me.¡± Without warning, Xia Lei began walking to his left.
Sa¡¯im turned to look at Tsukino Kyoko, then shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
Tsukino Kyoko returned him a dramatic eye roll. She had never spared her Iraqi suitor any face.
Chapter 1007 - Female Lizard, Male Lizard
After turning at the corner, they saw a vertical cliff ahead. It looked to be about five hundred metres tall and had upied almost the entirety of the hillside. The front of the hill had looked normal but this side of it looked as if a god himself had split it in two.
The power of nature had never failed to leave anyone awestruck.
Xia Lei walked towards the cliff as he studied it. He noticed that the surface of the cliff was exceptionally smooth. Not even a professional cliff climber could ascend such a cliff without the aid of professional gear.
Standing at its bottom, Xia Lei studied the ground and noticed new clues. At the start of the cliff was a pile of three stones. Two stones made up its base to prop the remaining stone on top. It looked like a triangle.
Xia Changhe had left behind a discreet direction at the entrance along with this triangr pile. It all started to make sense now! There was an entrance at the top of the hill
This was probably a secret that the man with the cobra tattoo had no idea of.
Tsukino Kyoko and Sa¡¯im lifted their heads and observed the top.
¡°Boss, you¡¯re about to tell us that there¡¯s an entry point at the top, right?¡± Sa¡¯im said mindlessly.
¡°Yeah, there is one on top,¡± confirmed Xia Lei. His gaze began scanning through the top to pinpoint its location.
¡°Boss, you¡¯ve never been here. How did you know that there¡¯s an entrance above?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was curious.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°My father. Did you notice the lines carved on the rock earlier? That was a hint he left for me.¡±
¡°Ah, I recall seeing some lines on the rocks. I thought it was some child¡¯s mindless scribble but you managed to decipher it. How did you do it?¡± Sa¡¯im was equally curious.
The man had always taken pride in his observation skills. However, he felt that his observation was pathetic whenpared to Xia Lei.
¡°I simply observed it carefully.¡± Xia Lei ended his search, theck of oue filling him with helplessness. He had attempted to utilize all features of his X-ray vision, but nothing had seemed to work. There were no obvious entrances. The cracks along the cliff were only big enough to fit a snake. There was no way an adult could squeeze in through it.
Xia Lei scowled as he thought to himself. ¡°Could there be more clues lying around?¡±
¡°Boss, how about we climb up and check it out? There¡¯s no way we could map it out from down here,¡± suggested Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei declined. ¡°Patience. This cliff is difficult to climb. If we don¡¯t find its exact location, it¡¯ll be a waste of energy. A climb alone is dangerous enough.¡±
¡°Then we better continue looking.¡± Tsukino Kyoko tossed a re at Sa¡¯im. ¡°What are you still standing there for? Let¡¯s split up, we¡¯ll search in different directions.¡±
¡°Sure, no problem.¡± Sa¡¯im began walking towards the other end of the cliff.
Tsukino Kyoko followed him in the same direction but stopped her tracks at the middle of the cliff.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was trained on the triangr stone pile again. This time, he used the microscopic vision feature. That seemed to do the trick. Xia Lei had managed to find simr carvings on the rocks.
His father did leave behind some other clues.
Xia Lei ended his usage and picked up the rock. He looked at the lines, applying the same technique to decipher it. One minuteter, he obtained a new piece of information.
This time, it wasn¡¯t abination of Han characters but a string of numbers. 369, 225.
The messages left behind by Xia Changhe had its purpose. The older man knew Xia Lei possessed the X-ray vision, which was why he decided to leave his clues out in the open like that. To the others, the lines would just appear random. But the older man had confidence that his son would be able to extract the message within. Despite that, there was a new problem now. What could these numbers mean?
Xia Lei jerked a chin up, scanning his eyes hurriedly along the cliff. This cliff was about five hundred and thirty-nine metres in height and four hundred and twenty-eight metres in width. With this estimation, his lips were curled into a smile. The numberbination Xia Changhe had depicted a height and width dimension. The intersection point would be the location of the entrance!
Xia Lei immediately went to Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s spot at the centre of the cliff.
¡°Boss, did you find anything?¡± Tsukino Kyoko turned to face him.
Xia Lei said nothing, walking straight past before stopping at a fifty-metre distance away from her. He eximed, ¡°It¡¯s here, I found it!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko and Sa¡¯im went over to him.
Xia Lei pointed a finger upwards. ¡°It¡¯s three hundred and sixty-nine metres above us.¡±
Sa¡¯im reached an arm into his bag to pull out his binocrs. He studied the aforementioned position and then looked at Xia Lei confusedly. ¡°Boss, could you be mistaken? My binocrs have a calibration feature and there seems to be nothing at the spot you pointed at. It just looks like a smooth surface.¡±
Truthfully, Xia Lei had already studied the same spot Sa¡¯im was referring to. The man was right. It was a smooth surface three hundred and sixty-nine metres above them. Despite that, there was a strong feeling in Xia Lei¡¯s gut that told him that there were secrets hidden there.
Perhaps it was some mechanism or a disguise. But no matter what it was, Xia Changhe wouldn¡¯t have left behind those numbers without any reason.
¡°I¡¯ll climb up to check.¡± Tsukino Kyoko had no qualms. If Xia Lei had said that there was an entrance there, she would head up and prove it to him.
Xia Lei halted her. ¡°No, let me do it.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko insisted, ¡°There may be cliffs that I wouldn¡¯t dare to climb in this world, but this is not one of them.¡± The woman did not even stop to put her bag down. She merely reached in and grabbed a pair of special gloves that were adorned with spikes. Swiftly, she leapt forward and stuck herself onto the rock wall.
The glove was probably a special ninja tool for climbing.
¡°Be careful.¡± Xia Lei was surprised at her impatience, causing him to fret a little.
Tsukino Kyoko turned around briefly to sh him a smile before continuing her climb. Her speed was insane. The way she climbed looked dangerous but in reality, every motion was extremely stable.
It only took her a few minutes to climb tens of metres. To Sa¡¯im, her position on the cliff was about seven to eight storeys tall but in Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision, the distance was also non-existent. He could study the efficient synergy of her limbs and core as she coordinated her climb. Along with the sway of her bottom of course.
¡°Boss, she fancies you,¡±mented Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei could only smile wryly at the remark. ¡°But you like her, no?¡±
¡°Yeah, that I admit. I really like her but she has never felt anything towards me.¡± Sa¡¯im sighed deeply. ¡°A woman¡¯s mind is so difficult toprehend. But I know most women would fall for men like you.¡±
¡°Oh,e on. Don¡¯t say that.¡±
¡°Hehe, I¡¯m not jealous. Back at where I¡¯m from, I can legally marry a few women. You paid me so much money so I have ns to utilize it. But...¡± Sa¡¯im was reluctant to continue.
¡°But?¡±
¡°We are orphans. Our lives had been anything but normal since we were children. We can¡¯t live our lives like this. If it¡¯s possible... Boss, I hope you¡¯ll let her experience a normal life,¡± said Sa¡¯im.
To love someone did not necessarily mean to own someone. As long as she was living a good life and was happy, it was also another kind of bliss.
Xia Lei fell silent to cote his words. ¡°There is an end to everything, the same goes to our life. Rest assured, after everything ends, I¡¯ll make sure that you¡¯ll all live a normal and happy life. I¡¯ll give you the normal life you are referring to.¡±
¡°Boss, I don¡¯t think you understand what I mean,¡± said Sa¡¯im.
Suddenly, Tsukino Kyoko called out to them. ¡°Boss, am I at your spot?¡±
Sa¡¯im picked up his binocrs.
Xia Lei merely took a look and shouted back, ¡°Climb another fifty metres!¡±
¡°Got it!¡± Tsukino Kyoko carried on.
Sa¡¯im ced his binocrs down, shock obvious. ¡°Boss, I just took a look. It really was an exact fifty metres from her spot. How did you...?¡±
¡°Shadows and site elements are great indicators for measurement and distance.¡± Xia Lei tried to sound deep but in reality, it was all the work of his X-ray vision. It was a piece of cake for him to obtain the exact measurements down to the millimetre. Thankfully, the man had kept the distance vague or else it would be difficult to fool Sa¡¯im.
Tsukino Kyoko was fast, reaching the spot in no time. She took out a rope and threw it down. However, she had misjudged its length. The rope in her bag was only a hundred metres long.
¡°Shit, I should¡¯ve brought along two more ropes.¡± Tsukino Kyoko groaned. ¡°I¡¯lle down and bring the rope with me on the second climb.¡±
¡°No need, just wait for me up there!¡± Xia Lei began to climb the cliff.
¡°Boss, that¡¯s dangerous!¡± Sa¡¯im tried to halt him out of concern.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, just stay here and keep watch. Do not let anyone near this site,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Sure. I couldn¡¯t climb this even if you ordered me to,¡± said Sa¡¯im sheepishly.
¡°Boss, be careful!¡± It was obvious that Tsukino Kyoko was worried.
Xia Lei mimicked Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s ascending stance. He had only studied her movements once and his brain had already allowed him to achieve near-perfectpatibility. What Tsukino Kyoko had spent her entire childhood to master was absorbed by Xia Lei instantly.
The only difference between Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko was the former¡¯sck of climbing gloves. Despite that, he had his strength, perfect motor coordination and agility. Ninja rock-climbing gloves couldn¡¯te close to the advantages his body offered.
Watching Xia Lei, who climbed the cliff effortlessly like a lizard, Sa¡¯im couldn¡¯t help but gape. Tsukino Kyoko gaped in shock too. She had the impression that Xia Lei was secretly a ninja master.
Soon, Xia Lei joined Tsukino Kyoko at her location. The nail Tsukino Kyoko had driven into the cliff had served them as a resting point. Peering down, Sa¡¯im was already as small as a toy soldier. The height they were at was terrifying. Forget about a tool-less climb. Anyone without a fear of heights would be acrophobic if they lingered a minute longer at their position.
¡°Boss, are we at the right position?¡± asked Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve already knocked the rocks earlier. The wall is thick and there is no space within. Could you really have mistaken its position?¡± Tsukino Kyoko stared at him.
¡°Give me a moment to study it.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched and activated his X-ray vision.
Chapter 1008 - Mysterious Skull
One knock was all it took to verify Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s words. The returning sound was solid, indicating theck of open spaces behind the rocks. There were no cracks around the surface either. This was too weird. Xia Changhe had hinted at this area, the intersection of 369 and 225. But the current circumstances had justified Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s assumption of a faulty interpretation.
Was Xia Lei mistaken?
One minute of X-ray vision usageter, Xia Lei pulled out his dagger and continued to climb the surface. He grabbed the rock that the ninja had nailed to the wall. He climbed and made gashes on the surface with his dagger.
Tsukino Kyoko was surprised to notice that Xia Lei had shed the rock surface so effortlessly like he was creating patterns on dirt instead. The marks were deep and its edges had appeared jagged. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for a mere dagger to register scratches this deep.
Xia Lei¡¯s motion ceased as soon as he marked a circle of one-metre diameter. Following that, he then drove his de into its centre.
ck! The sharp dagger was pierced deep into the rocks with a smooth glide.
Tsukino Kyoko moved closer to Xia Lei, picking up some ¡®debris¡¯ from the freshly-made gaps on her fingertips. Upon closer inspection, her mind was blown. The debris had note from the rocks. It was wax. Someone had sealed the entrance with wax! The person had even gone through the process of matching the wax with the colour of the stone.
There was no way of knowing who had created this wax ball and when it was nted in this ce. But it was certain that the wax ball had been here for a very long time. It seemed to be made of a special form, else it would have been worn down from harsh weather.
Xia Lei was now gued with another question. How the hell did his father know about this entrance?
¡°Boss, I bet you can see female underwear on a whim, right?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s remark felt almost out of ce.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei feigned confusion and surprise.
¡°You¡¯re able to notice a discreet entrance like this. I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t face a problem trying to figure out someone¡¯s underwear colour,¡±mented Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei was taken aback. His heart had sunk earlier, thinking that the ninja had found out about his X-ray vision. He had only confided in his father about this, not once had he told this to someone else. If Tsukino Kyoko had this knowledge, it would be obvious that its source was Xia Changhe. Why would his father reveal such a secret to her?
Suddenly, Tsukino Kyoko huffed augh. ¡°Boss, I was just joking. What¡¯s with your expression?¡±
The joke was almost uncanny.
Xia Lei sighed in relief in his heart, a smile blooming across his face. ¡°I was deep in thought, trying to guess the colour of your underwear. It¡¯s ck, isn¡¯t it? Withce edges?¡±
In his line of sight, the long pants that covered Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s lower half were gone. It left behind the scanty piece of undergarment. However, it was far from the ckce-edged panty he had described. It was a in white cotton panty. The material was thin. Its attempt to provide modesty to the mysteriously mature scenery behind it was futile. Things felt like a calligraphy painting; non-defined arches of the hills, mists that veiled the piece along with vegetation and a flowing stream. It was fruit for imagination.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s cheeks were adorned with a ssh of red. ¡°Pervert.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m correct, no?¡±
¡°Yeah, yeah, whatever. How are we supposed to open it?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was desperate to deviate the topic. She had initiated the joke but was caught in the awkward situation herself.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°It¡¯s simple. Just destroying it would do.¡± He pulled out his silenced Viper pistol from its holster and began firing at the wax ball.
Tsukino Kyoko mimicked his action.
A wax wall of this calibre was only weak to one thing, heat. Their bullets were hot and the impact it offered was immense. It only took them a cartridge to turn the wax ball into a ¡®beehive¡¯ littered with cracks.
Xia Lei stomped at it.
Crack!
The damaged wax ball broke with a crisp noise. Some parts of it fell to the bottom while a part of it rolled back into the mountain body. A tunnel was now presented to them. Its diameter is only about one metre wide with a seemingly bottomless drop. There was no uniformity in its structure, hinting that this was natural and a part of a cave.
While the pyramid within the mountain was artificially constructed, it had lent strength from the hill. One hypothesis could be drawn. Someone had found a gigantic cave within this mountain and built the pyramid in its centre. But the ¡®someone¡¯ might not be a singr party. It could¡¯ve been a country or a tribe. There was no way that the pyramid was a solo effort, it had to be amunity or country.
Though so, history seemed to contradict with his theory. Even if the history of Israel was pushed to the thirteenth century BC, when the Hebrews had returned to Canaan from Egypt, Xia Lei was not convinced that the Hebrews possessed the capability to create a pyramid within the mountain.
If it wasn¡¯t the Hebrews nor the Arabians, who could¡¯ve built it?
As Xia Lei was upied with his thoughts, Tsukino Kyoko twisted a fluorescent stick and began squeezing herself into the tunnel.
¡°Careful.¡± Xia Lei gripped her ankle. Then, he snaked an arm along the curve of her spine into the tunnel.
The man had on a multifunctional wristwatch that could test the altitude, air pressure and airposition in a given area. This tactical watch was customized from Audemars Piguet in Switzend. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t the only one who owned it, every member of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had one too. However, he was worried about Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s impatience. This was the sole reason behind him holding her back.
If there was poisonous gas in the enclosed space, it would be highly dangerous.
There was no guarantee for their safety. Even if the likelihood of his concern was small, the consequences would be unfixable.
The results were revealed in a second. The air quality ahead wasn¡¯t ideal but it was still considered normal.
Xia Lei released Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s ankle.
And she continued to crawl forward and said, ¡°If there¡¯s a shift in the air quality, you must reverse upon mymand.¡±
Xia Lei followed her lead. ¡°Be careful, this ce feels eerie.¡±
The naturally formed tunnel was winding and curved, shaped almost like a human intestine. To crawl in such a situation with no telling of its end was anxiety-inducing.
Xia Lei crawled, asionally pausing to graze his dagger against the walls as marks. This was necessary. If they had gotten lost in the tunnel, they could still retrace their steps through his marks.
After aborious crawl that spanned across half an hour, Tsukino Kyoko stopped and started to back away. Xia Lei had just finished off another mark and hadn¡¯t noticed her sudden movement. He crashed headfirst into her ass.
The sensation was as if he had dunked his face into arge jello chunk. His nose was assaulted with a feminine fragrance and a very special scent.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei frantically moved back.
Tsukino Kyoko did not mind their close interaction earlier. She answered, ¡°We¡¯ve reached the end,e take a look.¡± Letting her sentence fall, she gripped a rock and slid her body out of the tunnel.
Xia Lei moved forward to her spot, immediately breaking into a gasp at the sight.
Under the illumination of Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s fluorescent stick, all Xia Lei could see were densely-arranged skulls in neat circles. Beneath them was pitch darkness that felt like an eternal drop. Despite that, his eyes were able to borrow the weak light of the fluorescent stick to study the situation below. It was the bottom of the pyramid. The man could locate the sarcophagus and the skeletons that were littered around it.
Those were the bodies of George the archaeologist, Professor Mark and the Israeli personnel. This was the exact location where they had met their demise twenty years ago.
Tsukino Kyoko threw her fluorescent stick to the bottom. It fell at the base of the pyramid, finally allowing Tsukino Kyoko some vision. Her jaw cked as she inhaled sharply. ¡°This ce... It¡¯s a miracle!¡±
A miracle was probably the only best praise she coulde up with for now.
Xia Lei twisted another fluorescent stick and held it above his head. He lifted his chin and the scene before him had him shocked to the core.
George¡¯s video was captured from the base of the pyramid. The peak was about a few hundreds of metres from the base and the camera quality back then was grainy. Along with theck of light, it was hard to make out what was in the pyramid. The details of the pyramid¡¯s peak were vague. Albeit so, things were different now. The spot where Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko had emerged from was close to the peak. Now, the man could see everything in clear detail!
There were also skulls at its peak, arranged in a dense line formation. It was as if the skull had acted as bricks to support the peak. However, the skull at the summit was unique. It was crystal clear like it was carved from crystal. Catching the light of their fluorescent sticks, it shone dazzlingly.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched, the crystal skull immediately brought forward into his vision. In that instance, his eye switched into the microscopic mode that allowed him to study the minute details of the crystal skull. It was void of artificial maniption. It was natural!
A natural crystal skull!
Which human would have such a skull?!
Though there was no advanced equipment to analyze it, Xia Lei was certain that it was impossible for the skull to be of crystalline material. The truth behind this skull would definitely be another unsolvable mystery.
¡°Boss, what are you looking at- Ah?¡± Tsukino Kyoko followed his line of sight, finally settling her gaze on the crystal skull. Her mouth hung low at the sight of the skull.
Xia Lei peeled his eyes away after a few moments. ¡°Let¡¯s head down.¡±
¡°That skull. Are you not nning to take it away?¡± Tsukino Kyoko felt the urge to whisk it away.
Xia Lei chided. ¡°It¡¯s best if we don¡¯t touch anything until we have grasped the situation. We¡¯re definitely not the first ones to find it. Why did the people before us not take it away?¡±
¡°You got a point. Let¡¯s head down.¡± Tsukino Kyoko agreed.
Chapter 1009 - The Prehistoric Chosen One and His Kingdom
Utilising the rope, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko went past the area studded by the countless skulls and arrived at the bottom through the rocky surfaces. Tsukino Kyoko twisted a few more fluorescent sticks and had it littered around the base. With the room now illuminated, they were able to see things previously not able to. One new finding was the sculptures.
Around the sarcophagus were sculptures of warriors with no face. Xia Lei recalled seeing something simr at the ancient tomb beneath the Holy Sepulchre, where he had extracted arge number of ancient alloy fragments from the old man¡¯s body.
Those face-less warriors reminded Xia Lei of a memory. All corners of his surroundings were captured in that snippet, not letting any detail escape his observation. His mind beganparing the warrior sculptures of the two locations. Soon enough, Xia Lei arrived at a conclusion. The faceless-warrior statues in the ancient tomb and this ce were crafted during the same era by the same people.
¡°Faceless warriors... What does it symbolise?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s query chased away the dark silence and Xia Lei¡¯s train of thought.
Xia Lei returned her a bitter smile. ¡°Who knows? You¡¯re a warrior. Judging it from the perspective of a warrior, what do you think this means?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko gave it a thought. ¡°Ninjas.¡±
¡°Ninjas?¡± Xia Lei thought to himself quietly. ¡°These things probably belonged to the prehistoric chosen one. Japan hadn¡¯t existed back then, how could these face-less warriors be ninjas?¡±
¡°Of course, I¡¯m not saying they were ninjas. In Japanese history, no ninjas were ever dispatched to Jerusalem.¡± Tsukino Kyoko hummed. ¡°I¡¯m trying to say that they were simr. Theck of face might mean no identity. In ancient times, kings and aristocrats raised their warriors. Theck of face on the statues may represent their unwavering loyalty to their master. They no longer hold onto their identity and honour. They are also not afraid to sacrifice themselves. As long as their master calls, they are ready to offer their lives.¡±
Her perspective was refreshing to Xia Lei.
He too had tried to read into the mystery of the face-less warriors. However, he chose to think based on the perspective that the statues had no face because of their extinction. He had never once stood at the angle of a warrior to decipher the mystery. Now that Tsukino Kyoko had offered him an interpretation, he figured that she had a point. These face-less warriors didn¡¯tck facial features. The sculptor was probably trying to depict their loyalty and sacrifices, just like the oath taken by the female knights.
¡°You make sense.¡± Xia Lei slowly stepped away to one of the statues.
¡°There¡¯s no way to prove that I¡¯m correct. Boss, you¡¯re a ridiculously smart person. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find an answer to this mystery.¡± Tsukino Kyoko followed his steps.
Xia Lei reached out and touched the sculpture. He activated his X-ray vision once again to study the statues. This time, an eerie result returned. His X-ray vision felt like it got pulled into a whirlpool. Not only was he unable to see its insides, but the energy in his body was draining fast!
This wasn¡¯t the first time he was met with such a sensation. The same thing had happened when he used his vision on the ancient alloy every time. The current situation felt simr, but it was dulled to only minor difort.
Xia Lei pulled his gaze away and pushed at the statue abruptly. He had exerted great force, but the face-less warrior did not budge. Xia Lei attempted it again to no avail. Following that, he crouched to look at the statue¡¯s base. Shockingly, the figure was not embedded into the ground.
¡°How...? Is this statue about one-tonne heavy?¡± Shock gripped Xia Lei¡¯s heart.
In the ancient tomb beneath the Holy Church of Sepulchre, he had his attention trained on the old man¡¯s corpse. When he found ancient alloy fragments, his focus was once again robbed away. Time was running short and Xia Lei did not have the leisure to study the warrior sculptures in detail. He had left as soon as he obtained the alloy fragments. Back then, he had only thought of the statues as nothing more than regr rock figures. This was why he had found theirck of a face odd. It was clear that Xia Lei had overlooked something with great research value!
Xia Lei pulled out his pistol and shot the warrior statue twice.
Bang! Bang!
The noisy bullets were aimed at its chest. Fire sparks were triggered and the bullet was deflected away, falling unceremoniously to the ground. Its head was blunt but not a single mark was left on the statue¡¯s chest!
A Viper pistol¡¯s power wasparable to a Desert Eagle. The bullets fired by these weapons could dent a steel te. Despite that, the stone statue had remained unscathed!
This indicated that the material was extremely rigid. The fact that bullets couldn¡¯t scar it had suggested its toughness. Out of all the rocks and minerals that existed in nature, only diamonds were able to satisfy these conditions. However, diamonds of this size did not exist.
Xia Lei had his preliminary conclusion, deeming that extraterrestrial rock materials were used to create the face-less warriors. The stone was either from another realm or artificially produced by another high-technology civilisation.
Plus, what tools had the sculptor used to create these?
The face-less warriors, the pyramid... Everything had pointed towards the possibility of non-human origins. The characters behind this must¡¯vee from some other alien or prehistoric civilisation.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind immediatelytched on to one person. The prehistoric chosen one.
In the bronze book, the prehistoric chosen one had noted that he had unified the earth and built his kingdom. His people had called him the Only One and they hailed him as their god.
¡°Wait... Could the corpse in the ancient tomb be the prehistoric chosen one? Did he build this pyramid? If there were remnants of his civilization, is the pyramid one of them? So this means that his civilization was advanced enough to produce high-quality rocks and yet the civilization he created couldn¡¯tpare to us in the present day? This doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± Questions flooded his mind,unching Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts into a flurry.
There was no way around this. The exchange between him and the prehistoric chosen one was limited to the pitifully scarce messages left in the bronze book. Xia Lei had nothing else to refer to.
¡°Boss, what¡¯s on your mind? Are you trying to make it fall? I can help you with it.¡±
Watching Xia Lei push and shoot at the statue, Tsukino Kyoko was utterly bewildered.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that, I¡¯m just... Nevermind, let¡¯s move to another spot.¡± He began approaching another rock wall.
He pushed at the statues and used his bullets on them, all for the sake to understand itsposition. Xia Lei had no intention of making them fall.
On this side of the wall were multiple murals.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes found themselves glued to the paintings.
The first set of murals had depicted a young man with a box. The possession gave him superpowers. He went on to kill bears, mammoths and even dinosaurs. The young man had led the warriors of his tribe around to conquer thend andter built his own kingdom.
In the second set of murals, the young prince robbed himself. There was aplete box in his grip. Countless face-less warriors, ministers and people worshipped him. He seemed to have many wives and children of many races. He built many cities and expanded the territory of his reign, upying almost most corners of the globe. However, the continental tes were way different back then. Xia Lei could only spot a few geological simrities.
The third set of murals showed his wives and children dying of old age while the man had remained young. No one in his kingdom had challenged his reign. Eventually, he left his kingdom and brought away the box. His mileage was traced from one continent to another, crossing oceans after oceans. He searched for something but there was no further exnation for it.
In the fourth set of murals, the man had returned to his kingdom out of the blue. He recruited craftsmen and selected a mountain. There, they built a pyramid within the mountain. Itspletion was graced by a ray of light that shone from the top onto the sarcophagus. Specks were illustrated in the ray and the man gathered it, sealing the material in an amber. The amber was kept in the sarcophagus. At the end of everything, the man ordered his face-less warriors to kill everyone involved.
The man left his kingdom once again in the fifth set of murals. This time, there was no return.
Wasn¡¯t these the events recorded in the bronze book?! The only difference here was that the prehistoric chosen one had not mentioned his return and the pyramid¡¯s existence in the bronze book.
¡°What did he collect from the ray of light? Could it be...¡± Xia Lei felt like he was arriving at something. On a whim, he prompted his multifunctional watch into a torch.
Xia Lei shone the light onto the fourth set of murals. The ray of light that shone down from the peak of the pyramid a tad bit clearer to the eye. Despite that, the thickyer of dust had veiled away details.
Huff! Xia Lei blew at the mural.
Theyer of dust lifted off, finally revealing the full story.
In the presence of light, Xia Lei could finally see the glittering speckles that were dotted in the ray. They were ground pieces of gold, silver and crystals. Hidden beneath the dust, they blended into the rocks. But as soon as the filth was blown away, its majestic presence was announced to the world.
Xia Lei knew what they symbolized. They represented the medicinal powder encapsted in the AE capsules!
The prehistoric chosen one had returned to his kingdom, built a pyramid and collected the powder. He had also killed off everyone involved. These decisions were deliberate, perhaps acting under a mission!
The set of murals had shone a new light to the origins of the AE capsules. It was not made by humans but brought by the ray of light that shone from the top of the pyramid!
Xia Lei swiftly lifted a chin to study the crystal skull.
Where could this be from?
And where did the light shine through?
Chapter 1010 - Butt and Needles
The crystal skull was new for Xia Lei. He remembered reading about it in a book titled Unsolved Mysteries of the World. The story piqued his interest, effectively engraving itself into his memory. In the book, the crystal skull was said to be made by the Mayans. They had created a total of thirteen crystal skulls, which waster brought to the American continent by the Native Americans. It was said that the skulls were modelled after a female skull and had the same dimensions as a regr human skull. Mayan astronomers regarded that it held supernatural powers that carried the secrets of the origins of the universe and mankind. The crystal skulls were closely tied to the survivability of humans at the end of this aeon. Humans would need to ce all thirteen crystal skulls in the right position to generate a maic field, which would push the into its correct orbit.
But of course, it was nothing more than a hoax. Even the end of the world predicted by the Mayans turned out to be untrue. The crystal skulls exhibited in the British Museum were said to be manufactured by grinding wheels. They were products of modern times and far from being historical relics.
Regardless of the crystal skulls excavated from the Mayan civilization ruins, or those that the Native Americans had brought over to the American continent, they were obviously not the same type as the apex skull that stood tall on the pyramid. The apex skull may appear crystal clear but it did not necessarily mean that it was made out of crystalline material. It looked like a real skull!
Tsukino Kyoko mimicked Xia Lei¡¯s motion and studied the crystalline skull. Despite that, Tsukino Kyoko was just a regr woman that did not share Xia Lei¡¯s superhuman abilities. The lights provided by the fluorescent sticks were weak. All she could see was darkness. Albeit so, it did not hinder her from making correct deductions. ¡°Boss, are you still looking at that skull? I can go retrieve it for you when we¡¯re about to leave. You should bring it away, it belongs to you.¡±
Xia Lei turned to face her, curious. ¡°Why do you say that it belongs to me?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko exined, ¡°It¡¯s just a very odd feeling. People who had entered this ce left it behind for some reason. It¡¯s as if they were waiting for your appearance.¡±
Xia Lei gulped, body going rigid at her words. He wasn¡¯t keen on believing it but he had no way to prove her wrong.
The Israelis that first found this ce had sufficient time to acknowledge its existence. The armed forces that barged inter to kill everyone too had enough time to explore the ce. The likelihood of them not noticing the crystal skull was small. But that begs the question. Why hadn¡¯t they taken it away?
In addition, Xia Changhe seemed to have extensive knowledge about the secret passages beneath the pyramid¡¯s base. How was it possible for him to not notice the crystal skull? Why did he not take it away?
If Xia Lei were to judge things by the series of events that happened, the crystal skull was perhaps waiting for the right person to appear!
But who was the right person?
Xia Lei thought to himself darkly. ¡°If my father knew about the pyramid and crystal skull¡¯s existence, he should¡¯ve told me about it long ago. Why was he so adamant on keeping it a secret? He learnt new secrets, left me a message and left? Why is he so sure that I¡¯lle here? He literally has no idea that I¡¯ve deceived the CIA and obtained the footage from Williams.¡±
Things didn¡¯t seem to click, nothing made sense. Xia Lei decided to give up and went for the sarcophagus.
The sarcophagus was open. Its heavy lid was pushed to the ground. The ¡®AE¡¯ engraving on its surface is still considerably clear. Its insides were positively empty, the bottom covered with fine dust. Air cirction within the cavern was pretty decent and the air would carry dust.
Staring at the empty bottom, Xia Lei¡¯s mind was flooded with a set of images. The prehistoric chosen one had collected medicinal powder from the ray of light and kept it inside an amber. Said amber was kept inside the sarcophagus. The glimmer of the crystal skull on top felt almost eager to ry him a message...
¡°Boss?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice rang.
Xia Lei snapped out of his trance. ¡°Yes?¡±
¡°Nothing. I just felt that you look kinda weird,¡± answered Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei chuckled lightly. ¡°What do you mean? Why do I look weird?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko replied, ¡°Well... To be honest, weird isn¡¯t the right word. The face you make when deep in thought is really attractive.¡±
The light was scarce but he could see the red of her cheeks.
Who would¡¯ve known that a veteran ninja would blush a pretty pink after saying things like that? This was almost difficult to believe.
They locked eyes, the shift of the atmosphere intense.
Tsukino Kyoko took one step forward. The wobble of her footing was hesitant, but the second step was firm. Her protruding chest was suddenly in close proximity to his body.
Frantically, Xia Lei took a step back and switched the topic. ¡°Uh, let¡¯s go check out other ces. Yeah, you¡¯ll take the left while I take the right. If you find anything, call out to me.¡±
A glint of disappointment shed before Tsukino¡¯s eyes. Yet, she nodded and heeded his instructions.
Xia Lei could read her expression like an open book. The man was no rookie in the field of love. While he was far from being a womanizer, he was fairly certain he knew a great deal about the female heart. Xia Lei had many attractive qualities. Appearance, capabilities, temper, wealth, fame, influence and even his adaptability on the battlefield. It was almost natural for Tsukino Kyoko to feel attracted to him. It was also understandable that she intended to drop hints in private. However, Xia Lei was the father of four children. He needed to control his lower half better, Xia Lei was determined to be a good father and husband.
The base of the pyramid was wide. It took one full hour for Xia Lei to arrive at the end of his side. He arrived at their beginning point only a few moments earlier than Tsukino Kyoko. The two returned to the sarcophagus. Nothing had changed, things were the same. They found nothing new.
Xia Lei checked his watch. ¡°We¡¯ve been away from Sa¡¯im and the rest for three hours. It¡¯s about time we leave this ce.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko remarked, ¡°I took a look at the satellite phone earlier and noticed that we¡¯ve got no signal. I wonder if everything¡¯s alright out there.¡±
¡°They should be fine. No one knows we¡¯re here,¡± replied Xia Lei. He went closer to the rock walls and began to climb it.
Tsukino Kyoko only started climbing after him. Yet, she caught up to him, thanks to her superb climbing speed. She surpassed the man and led the climb.
They finally reached the rope. Tsukino Kyoko gripped the rope and continued her climb while Xia Lei waited for her to enter the tunnel before doing the same. The woman offered a hand to ease him into the tunnel after he had reached the spot. The space was so tight it was virtually impossible to avoid bodily contact.
The crystal skull entered their sight once again. It was the only reason stalling their exit.
¡°Boss, I¡¯ll go get it for you,¡± offered Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Wait.¡± Xia Lei immediately tugged on her arm and slid his body along the curve of hers to stand up. He straightened his back and gripped a skull on the top of the tunnel¡¯s entrance. His grip was careful as he attempted to shake it loose.
Crack!
A crisp sound rang out. Surprisingly, Xia Lei had broken the skull without using much force.
Whoosh!
Xia Lei frantically retracted his arm, crouched down and pulled Tsukino Kyoko into the tunnel. But in the blink of an eye, Tsukino Kyoko wrapped her arms around his waist and flipped him over. When they fell to the ground, her body was on top of his.
She was using her body to shield Xia Lei!
Clink! Clink! Clink!
The edges of the opening and inner walls had sparks of fire.
¡°Ah!¡± Tsukino Kyoko let out a dulled groan.
The trap mechanism only had one wave of attack, stopping almost as fast as it ensued.
Xia Lei peeled Tsukino Kyoko away from his body, immediately spotting the ck steel needle stabbed into her ass. It looked like the kind of arrow that the Native Americans used, save for the fact that it had no feathering at its end.
Xia Lei gripped the needle and removed it, quickly sinking his mouth onto her wound. He sucked at it vehemently, trying to remove all the toxic blood from her system.
¡°Boss, you...¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s mind was delirious. Not only was it gued by fear and anxiety, but the feeling was also slowly reced by excitement and bashfulness. The conflicting emotions overwhelmed her brain.
¡°Ptui!¡± Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Xia Lei resumed his efforts.
It went on. Ten mouthfuls of bloodter, the blood spilling out of Tsukino¡¯s wound was finally brilliant red. However, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t content just yet. For extra precaution, he dove in for another few mouthfuls.
¡°Boss, thank you...¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice was meek, face flushed like a tomato.
¡°There¡¯s no need to thank me. You didn¡¯t need to protect me earlier.¡± Xia Lei sighed. ¡°I am the one who should be thanking you.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko avoided his gaze. ¡°Boss, I¡¯ll willingly die for you. There¡¯s no need to thank m- Ah!¡±
Xia Lei squeezed at her wound mercilessly. Under his strength, her pale cheeks were gathered to one side. More blood oozed out from her wound.
Xia Lei drawled a relieved sigh. ¡°Alright, you should be fine now. The toxin on the arrow is crazy potent but time has worn its potency. Thank goodness for that or you¡¯d be long dead. Was throwing yourself in front of me really worth it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s worth it. I told you, I¡¯m willing to die for you.¡± This time, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s gaze was unwavering. She no longer hid from his attention.
It was Xia Lei¡¯s turn to turn away. He looked at the skull opposite them and quickly made a decision. ¡°Those arrows were shot from the eyeholes of the skull over there. Its position is coincidentally parallel to us. I think each skull hides a trap. The speed of these arrows is insane, almostparable to bullets. There¡¯s no way for us to hide from its attack.¡±
¡°Uh... Boss...? Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice was strained. ¡°Can you please let go of my butt already?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei turned around, only to realize that his palms were still gripping the plump flesh. His fingers were still around the wound. He immediately jerked his arm away and turned around.
He may have stripped her pants away yet he was bashful to watch her put it on.
Chapter 1011 - Kyokos Death Wish
The rustling sounds of pants being worn rang beside his ear. At that moment, such stimting sounds reminded Xia Lei of her fair, alluring bosoms.
¡°Ugh.¡± Tsukino Kyoko let out a petite little moan before she copsed onto Xia Lei¡¯s back. Her body was so soft and supple.
Out of the blue, Xia Lei began panicking. ¡°Kyoko, you...¡±
¡°I feel dizzy.¡± Tsukino Kyoko feebly replied.
Xia Lei anxiously turned towards her, and only then did he realise she was extremely pale. He held onto her hand and checked her pulse. It was muddled and erratic, which left him even more panic-stricken. ¡°Are you...feeling worse?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko murmured weakly. ¡°Not really, but my heart¡¯s beating so fast and I feel so weak.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll take you out now alright, to the hospital. Lean on my back I¡¯ll get us out.¡± Xia Lei freed her from the setup,id t on the ground and awaited her to climb onto his back.
Deferring from his suggestion, however, Kyoko replied. ¡°No, you need to find the crystal skull. I know how much it means to you.¡±
¡°Screw that. Your life means the most to me! C¡¯mon, cut the crap and get on my back!¡± Xia Lei was slightly agitated.
But she was insistent. ¡°No, I¡¯m really fine, I can take this.¡±
Xia Lei emphasized. ¡°I might have extracted most of the toxins from your wound, but I couldn¡¯t do it a hundred per cent! We don¡¯t know everything about the toxin just yet, what if...¡±
¡°Clock¡¯s ticking, boss.¡± Tsukino Kyoko dered.
¡°You sure are a...¡± Xia Lei sighed in response. He then pulled out a utility toolbox from his backpack, and from it, he retrieved separate parts of a Gust assault rifle. Assembling them together, he crawled out of the tunnel of the entry. He then aimed and fired at the skulls above!
Bang! Bang!
Clusters of skull pieces puffed up the air as they fractured into pieces. A tight array of iron needles formed an imprable death trap over the pyramid.
Xia Lei cleared an entire magazine of five rounds as he single-handedly blew a path out of the granite walls of the cave!
The iron needle trap came to a stop.
Subsequently, Xia Lei brought along his rope and a pair of custom made climbing gloves as he cautiously made his way towards the crystal skull. Throughout most of the action, his body was left hanging haphazardly in the air, solely relying on the strength of his arms! It was as if he was walking on a tightrope. Any misstep and he would sumb to the abyss.
About ten minutester, Xia Lei finally came close to the crystal skull at the pinnacle of the pyramid. At this point, the glorious beauty of the crystal was right within his field of vision, yet just adequately beyond grasp.
It was not the crystal skull found within the Mayan ruins or the ones in the middle of the British Museum. This wasn¡¯t even made out of crystal! The Mayans sculpted theirs from a single chunk of crystallized rock. This one seemed like a naturally urring skull!
¡°A real skull huh? Whose skull could look like this? God?¡± Xia Lei mumbled.
¡°Boss...¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s trembling voice resonated from below. ¡°Hurry!¡±
Her voice was feeble and shaky, yet within the enclosed structure of the cave walls, he could still hear it in an instant. He promptly snapped out of his contemtion as he replied. ¡°Almost there, just hang on a little.¡±
He resisted the urge to reach out with his bare hands, choosing to instead first secure the rope onto a granite boulder. It was his escape route should anything go wrong.
Once it was settled, Xia Lei awakened his X-ray vision. He intentionally avoided the crystal skull and began examining its surroundings. The structure of the cave around the direct radius of the skull wasplex, to say the least.
Behind the crystal skull was rtively unarmed, a tunnel or crack towards where the scare sunlight seeped through were also absent. It seemed only to be set on the granite rock formations, and to retrieve it was arguably the easiest part of the process.
¡°But why is the rock formation so strange? Could something be lurking in the radius?¡± Xia Lei grew more suspicious with time.
On one hand, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s life is on the brink, and there was no guarantee how much time more could she afford. But on the other, the crystal skull was now within reach, and all he had to do was to grab and go. But somehow, the more straightforward the process was the more apprehensive Xia Lei was of it. And in a crucial time like this, he managed to calm his mind.
Xia Lei began to envision the structure of the pyramid in his head, piece by piece, from its length and width to the approximate weight of each singr building block.
And then he began structuring a simtion in his mind as he removed the crystal skull from the pinnacle of the pyramid. What came next was shocking as the entire megastructure crumbled into rubble! Piles and piles of stone boulders and debris copsed upon themselves!
¡°Phew...¡± Even if it was a simtion, that sure caught him off guard.
Fixated onto the simtion in his mind, the entire deconstruction of the pyramid took at most only two seconds! And in those two seconds, he couldn¡¯t picture himself escaping into the tunnel. And even if he did, the copse of the pyramid would bury himself and Kyoko alive under its debris!
With a structure like that, no one could possibly retrieve the crystal skull from the pinnacle of the pyramid.
Which reminded him of his assumptions a while back. He was sceptical that the crystal skull would still be in ce, yet it would never have crossed his mind that this would be the oue of whoever attempted.
If you can¡¯t retrieve it, it sure was not going anywhere.
Even the man with the King Cobra tattoo or Xia Changhe would have already known about the defence mechanisms in ce. If either of them attempted before, this ce would already be in ruins long before he could make a move!
¡°Building a pyramid like this was the first of its kind and possibly thest. But from the message he left me, it seems he wasn¡¯t my enemy. He might even see me as his sessor, to use me as the weapon to kill Zhu Xuanyue.
If that¡¯s true, then the crystal skull must be up there because he ced it there. He wanted me toe around and take it away. Maybe he might have an escape route built-in somewhere to support my cause...¡± His mind clicked as Xia Lei instantly went into the supernatural mode.
This time, his mind no longer relied on simtions to picture the self-destruction of the pyramid, but instead, he began calcting the symmetry point of the entire stone structure. He took into ount the size, weight and positioning of each and every stone block into the calction.
After a few minutes, Xia Lei¡¯s line of vision was promptly directed towards a granite rock. He swung himself towards it and gave it a thorough puff. The dust cleared from its surface, exposing an ¡®AE¡¯ symbol in the process.
His eyes twitched ever so slightly as he gave it a quick scan with his X-ray vision. It was then he realised there was a tiny crack right under the symbol. That was the answer to his query, It was where the centre of gravityy for the entire pyramid!
¡°So you really did leave a safe route for me. Not sure why but I feel like there is a lot inmon between the two of us. I promise you, the route that you started, I¡¯ll do you a favour to make it to the end. I¡¯ll crack all the riddles there is to crack, and when that dayes I¡¯ll tell you all the answers that I¡¯ve found.¡± Xia Lei mused to himself as he pulled out a military-grade knife and aggressively stabbed it onto the ¡®AE¡¯ symbol.
Ka-chang! A pop of activation was heard as the granite stone with the ¡®AE¡¯ sign cracked open. Amidst the fractured pieces was the steel of the knife, matching up to ny per cent with its after-effect on the granite rock.
Without hesitation, Xia Lei grabbed hold of the crystal skull, gave it a hasty twist and popped it out of its ce. He then promptly slid down the rope into the tunnel entrance, gave the rope a little jerk and propelled himself safely right where he needed to be.
¡°You got it?¡± Kyoko appeared rather anxious to know, yet her face seemed far paler than before.
¡°Yeah, let¡¯s get out of here,¡± Xia Lei stuffed the crystal skull into the utility bag and dropped to the ground. ¡°Come, crawl on my back.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko feeblytched herself onto his back, her arms around his neck, both legs wrapped around his waist with whatever strength she had left in her.
Xia Lei then hurled himself up from the ground and dashed towards the entry that they came in from with a lightstick in his mouth. Their decision to leave markings throughout the route ended up to be an invaluable decision as he easily navigated through the twists and turns of an underground cavern.
¡°Boss, if I die, can you bury me in the courtyard of the Peace mansion?¡± Kyoko mumbled into Xia Lei¡¯s ears.
¡°Don¡¯t say that. You¡¯re not going to die. Not on my watch!¡± Xia Lei sped up his climb as he replied.
¡°I¡¯m serious, can you promise me that?¡±
Xia Lei was stunned, and with a grim tone, he promised. ¡°If that happens...I¡¯ll make sure of it.¡±
¡°Can you nt a cherry blossom tree by my tombstone?¡±
¡°Sure. Let¡¯s stop talking about this alright?¡± Xia Lei was feeling awful. If he had to risk the life of Tsukino Kyoko for the crystal skull, in a million different oues he would have chosen against the crystal skull.
Nothing was worth more than life, especially for a woman that would die for himself.
¡°That¡¯s great to hear,¡¯ Tsukino Kyoko chuckled before she let out a sigh. ¡°What a pity though...¡±
¡°What? Is there anything you always wanted to do? Tell me, I promise you that I¡¯ll get it done.¡± Tears had already been encircling his pupils at that point.
¡°Really?¡±
¡°No matter what it is, I¡¯ll give you my word.¡±
Kyoko hesitated for a little before she replied. ¡°I never even had a boyfriend, I¡¯m still...an inexperienced woman. It would be a pity if I die like this. But are you sure you would fulfil this little wish of mine?¡±
¡°I...¡¯ Xia Lei¡¯s tongue was tied.
To bury her in the courtyard of the Peace Mansion, nting a cherry blossom tree by her tombstone. These were hardly tough requests. Expensive care, big mansions, or wealth that couldst her a lifetime was nothing but a drop in his savings. But herst wishes were personal to Xia Lei. And what he deemed the toughest.
¡°Thank you.¡± Kyoko made sure to express her gratitude.
¡°Thanks...for what?¡± Xia Lei at that moment just wanted to p himself in the face!
Tsukino Kyoko added, ¡°You agreed to fulfil my dream. I can¡¯t be more grateful for that. When I recover we can talk about this again.¡±
Her literal death wish was a tomb and cherry blossoms! How else could they discuss this when she recovers?
What was happening?
A piercing screech was heard from the back.
¡°Shit!¡± Xia Lei instantly turned pale as he once again hastened his climbing, hoping he could dog his way out on all fours!
Chapter 1012 - Escape Into The Hands Of Disaster
The military knife used as leverage was evidently not the perfect match, yet it still had a formidable suitability level of ny percent. If Xia Lei was given more time, he could have found or built a lever with perfect bnce.
Nevertheless, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s condition worsened by the minute. He didn¡¯t have any time to spare.
¡°Boss, leave me be, make it out on your own!¡± Kyoko pleaded.
¡°Cut the fuss! Stay put!¡± Xia Lei put all limbs to good use as he crawled his way forward. His hands were equipped with the custom made climbing gloves that Tsukino Kyoko had gifted him with. The rocky surface of the granite cave had already torn holes through his trousers. His knees were bloodied and bruised.
But that all paled inparison to his only goal. He needed to escort Kyoko to safety before the pyramid copsed on both of them!
The crumbling walls echoed through the cavern.
The entire mountain shook from the copse as chipped rock and debris broke off the ceiling and rained down on them.
¡°Put me down, Xia Lei, just put me down!¡± Kyoko was persistent as she began limply iling her limbs. She knew she had be a burden to his survival at that point and was certain that her presence might impede his survival.
Out of the blue, Xia Lei lifted one of his hands and groped her by the buttock. The pindened climbing gloves effectively jabbed her butt cheek!
¡°Eek!¡± Kyoko let out a muted grunt as she took a deep breath from reflux.
Xia Lei then frustratingly grumbled. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving you here alone to die. It¡¯s either we both leave here alive, or we die in here together. Your choice!
Tsukino Kyoko wrapped her arms back onto his neck, her legs crossed tighter than before. Even though she said nothing, her actions were all the answers Xia Lei needed to hear.
Roars from the decimation shook the cavern walls even harder as the mountain itself began to tremble, yet miraculously had yet to bury both of them alive. That military knife undoubtedly did its part as the lever at the centre of bnce as it single-handedly offered them sufficient time to make it to the entrance from where they came.
At the entrance of the cave, Xia Lei removed his belt and fastened it around Kyoko against himself. The interior of the mountain shook immensely but it was rtively muted from the outside. With the pair of gloves with added grip, he navigated his way down atmendable speed.
Nevertheless, as he got closer to the ground, the internal copse of the mountain began resonating greater and greater from the exterior, akin to that of an eight-degree earthquake.
Ba-thum!
It sounded as if a row of dynamites simultaneously exploded from within!
The mountain started its copse to the ground.
Xia Lei jerked his two feet off the cliff walls and upon stepping onto solid ground, hurled himself down the slope!
Thump!
The mountain catastrophically lost half its height in a blink of an eye!
The granite boulder that Xia Lei had just entrusted his life upon promptly sumbed into the pits of the abyss before his eyes. A second more and both of them would be minced meat!
Thud!
The two fell on the ground, Xia Lei bearing most of the impact while cushioning the weak Tsukino Kyoko on top. She was on track to end up below himself but at the brink of the moment, he twisted his body and did a potential life-changing switch.
¡°Bleurgh!¡± Bearing the full force of the fall and the rumble, Xia Lei spat out a mouthful of blood.
Tsukino Kyoko flopped off Xia Lei¡¯s body, but this time she was left unscathed. Xia Lei had taken the full force of mother nature head-on.
¡°Boss, you okay?¡± Tsukino Kyoko anxiously took to checking. She held onto Xia Lei¡¯s arm to lift him to his feet but was too feeble to.
¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m okay...bleurgh!¡± Xia Lei once again spat out a mouthful of blood. This time, it was not from the injury, but instead lifted the burden on his organs. He instantly felt much better with the subsequent blood ejected from his body.
With a body built-in with a near-perfect immune system, his self-recuperation process was far ahead of most people. For an injury of this severity, most people will need a few days to half a month to heal. But for Xia Lie, a few minutes will do the trick.
Xia Lei might have felt much better since, but two subsequent blood spurting moments left Kyoko terrified as she frantically added. ¡°Are you really okay? Tell me what can I do for you boss!¡±
Xia Lei hurled himself off the ground. ¡°I¡¯m fine, really, don¡¯t worry about me.¡±
He took a good look around before his smile quickly faded. ¡°We¡¯re already out here, but where the hell is Sa¡¯im?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko reactively gave her surroundings a quick scan, there was evidently no sight of Sa¡¯im.
That was not normal.
Xia Lei instantly had a spike in awareness as his line of vision quickly diverted towards the direction of the valley. The valley had no sign of life within a ten-mile radius, making it especially barren from afar. Yelena should be by the mouth of the valley but she was nowhere to be seen.
Xia Lei then shifted his gaze towards the current peak of the mountain that just had its height halved by his doing. Unsurprisingly, Anjum Khan was not there too. He should be positioned by the peak, but from themotion a while ago, he might have taken shelter somewhere. Nevertheless, he was absent on either side of the mountain.
Their connection in the form of Sa¡¯im, Anjum Khan and Yelena were all missing, so where else could they possibly be? The more he began analysing the situation, his expressions muddled as it began to irk him. What exactly happened out here?
Kyoko retrieved her satellite phone, but before she could dial any number, the roaring of engines through the vast desert paired with the chuffing of a ck Hawk chopper appeared on the horizon.
Right when the chopper revealed its propellers, Xia Lei had already scooped Tsukino Kyoko off the ground and began running towards the pile of rubble. The gargantuan rubble was naturally created from the aftermath of the crumbling cliffs. But right now, it had be the makeshift shelter for Kyoko and himself.
Xia Lei squeezed Tsukino Kyoko into a crack between two granite boulders, and just before the chopper hovered above them hurled himself inside in the nick of time.
The ck Hawk chuffed past the overhead sky before it began encircling the rubble.
Amidst the debris, Xia Lei peeked out from the cracks to observe the ck Hawk chopper as it hovered above. Even though the chopper was a few hundred meters above ground, the distance was hardly a stretch to Xia Lei as if it was just a few meters away.
With his extraordinary left eye, he caught glimpses of the pilots. Both were dressed in Israeli ground military uniforms, with several soldiers strapped in behind, also donning the Israeli military uniform. The slight distinction in their uniform from the air force was what gave Xia Lei the identification he needed.
But why would Israeli troops be here? And is there a clear corrtion between their presence and the absence of Sa¡¯im, Anjum and Yelena?
Tsukino managed to pull out her satellite phone from the confined space that they were in, dialled all three of their numbers, only to no avail.
¡°I can¡¯t get to them, what¡¯s happening?¡± Kyoko was in a frenzy.
Xia Lei replied. ¡°What about you, how¡¯s your condition? Can you still hold on?¡±
¡°I¡¯m fine I suppose, just that...¡± Kyoko cut herself off midway through the sentence.
¡°Just what?¡±
¡°I should be the one protecting you, but it looks like you¡¯ve been shielding me again and again. I¡¯ve be your burden.¡± Tsukino Kyoko mumbled.
¡°Come on now, we¡¯re family. I¡¯ve always seen you as a younger sister, to defend my sister is a responsibility a brother should be ountable for.¡± He emphasized.
¡°Are all men this indecisive?¡± Kyoko blurted out of the blue.
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was baffled.
¡°You promised you would fulfil my wishes.¡± Kyoko rified.
Xia Lei immediately fell silent.
After two rounds of intensive searching, the ck Hawk chopper did not immediately depart the area but had instead chosen tond on a rtively t plot about a hundred meters away from their hiding spot.
Excluding the pilots, six fully armed Israeli soldiers hopped off the chopper and began marching towards where Xia Lei and Kyoko were hiding.
Xia Lei reactively pulled out The Viper.
His own Gust assault rifle had sumbed into the depths of the demolition. While Kyoko did have her rifle in the backpack, it was a hassle for her to retrieve and assemble in the limited space they had.
The footsteps of half a dozen Israeli militants gradually got louder as they approached.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind began muddled as an effect, acknowledging that there were essentially only two oues for the two of them. Upon their exposure, they would either be ughtered on the spot, or taken as prisoners. There just wasn¡¯t a third option.
Notably taking into consideration the fact that besides the six fully armed soldiers that they first have to deal with, there was literally a militarized helicopter parked right behind them!
With its heavy artillery and built-in machine gun, it didn¡¯t matter how good he was with a gun. There was no way he could outmatch a helicopter!
To avoid an oue of the sort, he was naturally anxious, frightful even.
The six Israeli soldiers came closer while conversing in the Hebrew tongue.
Xia Lei locked onto their lips, and with his lip-reading techniques began interpreting their conversation.
¡°The hell happened here?¡±
¡°Seems like an earthquake.¡±
¡°An earthquake? You¡¯ve got to be shitting me, it¡¯s out of the question. How can the earthquake only affect a single mountain in the area?¡±
¡°If it isn¡¯t an earthquake then what the hell can possibly happen here?¡±
¡°God knows.¡±
¡°Previously there were three unknown armed militia crawling around the Gaza strip. Mossad has been hunting them, and I¡¯m confident that whatever happened here has to do with them.
¡±You mean there¡¯s a terrorist attack in this part?¡±
¡°Who the hell would ambush a deserted region? It makes no sense.¡±
Xia Lei was infuriated. Mossad was a world-renowned secret organization, tied best with the Soviet Union¡¯s Krupp Mak Maschinenbau. And now Mossad¡¯s men were sent to hunt down Sa¡¯im, Anjum Khan and Yelena, how could he not be?
¡°Stop making pointless assumptions, take a good look around and report back to head office.¡± A leader figure was heard ending his conversation. He then quickly ordered his men to split into two groups, one to the left and the other to search by the right, around the pile of rubble that they were at!
Chapter 1013 - The Jewish Couple
The leader, escorted by two fully armed Israeli militants as they strived towards the rubble. All three appeared to be at ease, but Xia Lei was neurotic as he held his breath.
Tsukino Kyoko reached out and tapped Xia Lei on the shoulder.
Xia Lei turned back to nce over to her, only to watch as Tsukino Kyoko squeezed through from the back. Chest to chest, legs crossed, they were skin tight with one another.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Xia Lei whispered with as little sound as he could make, yet with a stern tone he said.
¡°If they spot us, you have to shoot at them.¡± Tsukino Kyoko replied.
Xia Lei was stunned beyond belief before realizing her true intention. She wanted to act as a human shield for himself while securing however more valuable moments for him to retaliate against their enemies.
Upon realisation of the situation, he was slightly irked by her reckless actions, yet gradually more touched and indebted by her sincerity of heart.
Tsukino Kyoko lifted her lip ever so slightly for a half-smile before she inched towards the front. Her voluptuous breasts were squished out of shape from the restricted space that she had to turn around, but it hardly mattered to her. It might even be the reason she was smirking.
She made her way across andid t on Xia Lei¡¯s torso. She too had her Viper pistol in hand, ready forbat.
The three Israeli soldiers stopped before the pile of rubble.
¡°How terrifying, that¡¯s half the mountain gone,¡± One of the soldiers remarked.
¡°Wrong ce at the wrong time and you¡¯d probably be a meatloaf by now,¡± The other one replied.
The leader closely examined the crumbled rocks, before he frowned. ¡° Colonel Kante demolished the roads leading to this valley just a week ago. Now the mountain copsed onto itself. I wonder what secret lies within this...¡±
¡°Secrets? I guess only Mossad Intelligence Officer Kerns will know, he was the one requesting Colonel Kante to seal this valley off after all. Even the demolition of the freeways was probably also his idea. Those Mossad fellows always act all mysterious. Who knows what they are nning,¡± A soldier took to reply.
¡°The crumbling of a mountain huh...would it mean the interior of the mountain was actually empty? Who knows, there might¡¯ve been a secret base or a biochemical weapon research centre in there,¡± Another Israeli soldier added.
¡°Alright, cut it out. This is Mossad¡¯s business so we should steer clear of it. Let¡¯s go take a look over at the far right corner. Once clear let¡¯s leave this ce,¡± The leader ordered as the conversation came to an end.
The two other militants obeyed his orders as they left the pile of debris and headed towards the right corner.
Watching them move further and further away, Xia Lei once again let out a sigh of relief. His palms and back were soaking wet from cold sweat, even his feet were trembling from immense anxiety.
Right then, Kyoko copsed backwards. Petrified, Xia Lei reactively held onto her. ¡°Kyoko, are you okay?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was unresponsive, with both eyes closed. It was already a miracle that shested that long. Moments ago, just like Xia Lei, after an intense moment of extreme anxiety and eventual relief, Xia Lei might still be visibly shaken, but that was too much a toll on the already sickly Kyoko.
Xia Lei held her in his embrace, as tight as he could. He had already lost Amanda, Park Taeyong and the others. He wouldn¡¯t want to experience that again.
About ten minutester, the ck Hawk chopper finally took off, heading towards Jerusalem.
Xia Lei dragged Tsukino from within the cracks and set her on his back. He now had two options, one was to head towards the Gaza Strip, and the other was to Jerusalem.
From the standpoint of their personal safety, the Gaza Strip would pose the least risk of hostile encounters. He might even reunite with Sa¡¯im, Yelena and Anjum Khan. But eyeing from Kyoko¡¯s perspective, she required urgent medication and treatment, which would lead them to Jerusalem instead.
Xia Lei piggybacked Tsukino Kyoko as they strode towards the mouth of the valley. Towards that direction, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the first to catch this idea as it shimmered under the golden sunlight.
Even though he was a single person bearing the weight of two, Xia Lei was hardly hindered as he made intermittent dashes throughout the journey, asionally slowing down when the fatigue caught up to him. He would brisk-walk for the next couple of minutes before he resumed his jog.
Along the way, he would keep close attention to all activities within a four-kilometre range.
He however was hardly worried of being exposed to the Israelis, given how his left eye had a vision range further than that ofmon telescopes.
Making out of the valley, Xia Lei strayed off the road and chose an unpavedndscape.
The shepherd¡¯s jeep was long gone, but it was unclear who drove it off. Was it Sa¡¯im and the others, or was it the Israelis?
Xia Lei was distraught every time the three of them crossed his mind. But at that instance, his main focus was Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s life.
About half an hourter, within the far corners of the barrenndscape, he began noticing Israeli settlements. It was a farndmunity with settlement houses, and the plots of soil richnds offered to support their livelihoods.
A quick nce ahead and he witnessed colourful patches of persimmons and strawberries, red peppers along with some Israeli farmers mending their crops. It was a tranquil sight to behold.
Israel¡¯s agriculture is among the most advanced in the world. Every settlement was well equipped with its own schools and hospitals, essentially making them a township of their own.
¡°Kyoko¡¯s condition is getting worse, if I carry her to Jerusalem, she might not evenst till then. Besides, Jerusalem isdened with Mossad¡¯s intel, not to mention the CIA, who knows what we¡¯ll face there?
Maybe I should head towards the settlements first. See if we can at least stabilize her condition.¡± Xia Lei came to a decision with Kyoko in mind as he sprinted towards the settlements.
Coming close within five hundred meters, he gently put her down on the ground, before hastily gathering the weapons, explosives and infiltration equipment in their possession and buried them deep in a well-dug hole.
After meticulously sealing the hole and memorizing it, he carried Kyoko on his back once again and headed into the housing area.
Children were ying by the paved roads of the settlement. Some were impersonating the national guard, others as Hamas militias. It was a merry sight.
A Jewish woman with an apron on came running out from the house, demanding her children to get in for dinner. Noticing Xia Lei with Tsukino Kyoko on his back, she was stunned. After a moment of pause, she hurried towards their direction.
Xia Lei respectfully greeted her, before engaging her in Hebrew. ¡°Dear madam, my girlfriend here needs immediate medical attention. Could you please help us out?¡±
¡°Oh, you speak Hebrew, too! What happened to her?¡± The Hebrew woman brought herself forward.
Xia Lei continued. ¡°I think she got bitten by a snake or a scorpion or the like. I tried to suck out as much poison from her wound but it doesn¡¯t seem to help much. Please help me.¡±
¡°Where are you both from?¡± The Jewish woman took to asking.
¡°We¡¯re from China on a trip to Israel. We live in Shanghai, but my grandpa had the opportunity to offer Jewish people with some help back in the years. It¡¯s part of his dying wish for us toe back and meet the Jewish people that he had previously offered support to. Right, part of his will is to pass this to the rtives of those Jewish people.¡±
¡°What¡¯s that?¡±
¡°Fifty thousand American dors,¡± Xia Lei replied.
¡°You¡¯re a good person I can see that. Follow me,¡± The Jewish woman hinted before she began leading the way.
Xia Lei tailed behind her as he followed up with a question. ¡°Ma¡¯am, mind if I ask, are you taking me to the hospital?¡±
¡°Oh my, I¡¯m sorry to tell you that there are no hospitals around here, only a clinic. But my husband is a doctor, and the clinic is here in my home. Come, I¡¯m sure he can help.¡±
When she turned towards the house, Xia Lei breathed a sigh of relief. He had no intention to lie to the honest Jewish woman but he had no other choice. Back in World War II, Jewish people were ughtered by the masses by the Fascist German army and in turn, was scattered all over the. Some of which made their way to Shanghai, China, where they were sheltered and fed by the Chinese people.
The Jews werepassionate and grateful people, and they returned a lot of the favour after the war. The Chinese people had always received a certain amount of warmth during their visits to Israel. His lie yed right into the sympathy of the earnest Jewish woman and had ignited the respect and gratitude amongst her.
She must be thinking at this point. A man who came all this way from China to deliver fifty thousand dors. Why else would she reject an opportunity to offer her help?
Xia Lei followed the Jewish woman into her home. Sure enough, there was a clinic in there. The shelves were filled with medication and blood test equipment alike.
Xia Lei gentlyid Tsukino Kyoko on the patient bed, before the Jewish woman noted. ¡°You both stay here a minute alright, I¡¯ll get my husband. He¡¯s out in the fields now.¡±
She then proceeded to leave the house to get her husband.
But Xia Lei was anxious. He knew he couldn¡¯t wait for the doctor¡¯s return so he grabbed a needle syringe and jabbed it on her finger. He then dripped a few drops of blood on the testing kit to investigate her blood content.
He might not be a doctor, but his technique on first aid was far superior to most ordinary people and some doctors.
The blood sample results were promptly revealed and in her blood, he identified the toxins that had broken down the potassium and Acetylcholine. Arge dose of it was more than enough to damage the neural system, leaving the victim with asting condition simr to that of Alzheimer¡¯s!
If it disintegrates the potassium from the body, electrolytes would quickly diminish which would effectively stop her heart. Disrupting the Acetylcholine in the system further deteriorates the functioning of the brain, amplifying the damage on its victim!
If it were not for its prolonged exposure in the hot desert air, a toxin of this capacity would have killed Kyoko long ago.
After finding the nature of the toxin, Xia Lei began his counter procedures to find a cure. He salvaged through the medical inventory and found a syringe of potassium chloride and promptly jabbed it into her vein. He then fed her medication to slow down the dissociation of the Acetylcholine.
Both medications used weremon oral medication regrly utilized on neural rted treatment, simply due to how ubiquitous conditions such as arrhythmia and dementia were among humankind. Given that he was in a clinic, it was hardly a tough find.
After he was done, a Jewish couple came into the room.
¡®Is she the patient?¡± The man said as he approached Tsukino Kyoko with huge strides.
¡°She is, but...¡±
¡°What?¡± The man pulled open her eyelids to examine her pupils, then held onto the pulse to check her heartbeat.
Xia Lei then continued. ¡°Truth is, I¡¯m also a doctor. I was worried that her condition might worsen, so I took some of your equipment and medication to treat her. If the lord had his way, she would have been long gone.¡±
¡°Oh?¡± The man gazed towards Xia Lei starry-eyed. ¡°You¡¯re a doctor too?¡±
Xia Lei nodded in response. ¡°Yes I am, I¡¯m a doctor from China. I work at a hospital in Shanghai. My name¡¯s Zhou Qiang by the way, pleasure to meet you.¡±
¡°Pleasure¡¯s mine. I like your culture! My name is Haimer, and this is my wife, Mina,¡± Haimer offered to shake Xia Lei¡¯s hand, and hinted to his wife to do the same.
Xia Lei chatted a little with the couple.
¡°Ugh...¡± Tsukino Kyoko lying on the hospital bed abruptly regained her consciousness. Struggling to focus her vision, she noticed the silhouette of Haimer and Mina.
She did not do it to offer her greetings, but held them in an offensive stance!
Xia Lei hurriedly grasped onto her arms. With his own hands pressing down onto her shoulder, he quickly remarked, ¡°Oh babe you¡¯re awake! Praise the Lord, you¡¯re finally awake...¡±
Kyoko was dumbfounded.
Xia Lei was unfazed as he continued. ¡°Babe I was so afraid I¡¯d never see you again, thank god we met these good people along the way. Mr Haimer here offered to help with his medicine. You can thank him when you feel better.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko eventually seemed to grasp the entire situation as she mumbled. ¡°Thank you.¡±
Xia Lei gasped from presumed revtion. ¡°Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, my girlfriend doesn¡¯t speak Hebrew.¡±
Kyoko cracked a smile.
Chapter 1014 - The Night At The Settlement
As night fell upon the region, Jerusalem was well lit as the city dwellers readied themselves for a bustling night. Traditional and contemporary elements of the city blended impably with one another, shaping an undeniably joyous atmosphere.
Just a couple of miles away however, the settlements were serene and ready for slumber.
Haimer and his wife Mina prepared dinner. It was a traditional Israeli feast, consisting of hummus and pita bread, sardine spread and red wine. Tsukino Kyoko was still rather frail so she skipped the meal.
Xia Lei, after dining with the Jewish couple, went back to the ¡®lovers¡¯ room with a te of food.
He gently cracked open the door, only to find Kyoko with her hands tucked into her nkets, albeit with a fruit knife in her grasp.
¡°Lower your guard.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko, relieved to find that her visitor was none other than Xia Lei, crawled out of her bed and ced the fruit knife on the table.
Xia Lei then brought himself closer. ¡°Here, have some food. Your body is still really weak, so eat some and get some rest. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll feel much better tomorrow. We¡¯ll leave at dawn.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko appeared to be in pain as she pleaded. ¡°But you still gotta treat this wound for me right? It looks like there¡¯s inmmation. There might even be pus building up.¡±
Xia Lei was rattled by her request, yet swallowed his emotions as he replied. ¡°You have some of this. I¡¯ll go over to Dr Haimer¡¯s medicine trove to grab some antiseptics and some gauze.¡±
¡°Mm, alright,¡± Kyoko retrieved the tray from the food over.
Haimer and Mina had both returned to their rooms, so Xia Lei didn¡¯t have to greet them along the way towards the consultation room.
Searching through the medicine cab, Xia Lei gathered some Amoxicillin, Aspirin and Hydrogen peroxide. He also grabbed a couple of bandages and rolls of gauze
When he returned to the room, Tsukino Kyoko had already eaten some of the sardine spread, with some pita bread left. She however only ate a little while ting the rest and ced them by the bedside shelf.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you eat more?¡± Xia Lei strode towards her.
¡°I wasn¡¯t feeling it.¡±
Xia Lei bent down towards the bedside, handed her a ss of water, along with the Amoxicillin and Aspirin tablets that he prepared for her. ¡°Here, take these.¡±
Kyoko swallowed the pills before promptly turning over to her back. Xia Lei at that point had not done anything yet, but her face was already slightly flushed from anticipation.
¡°Time to treat the wounds at that part again I guess...huh.¡±
Xia Lei sighed internally as he resisted his difort and reached to loosen her trousers, and gradually pulled it down.
After unbuckling her trousers, he inevitably stopped at her thighs, which looked especially firm and voluptuous under the light.
Her legs held tight with one another with no gap in between, yet unable to hide the beguiling charm from within.
Unsurprisingly, she wasn¡¯t lying when she said her wound was in bad shape. The blood seeped through the bandage that coagted into a moist patch of bloodstains. White pus oozes through the thinyer of bandage, albeit not too much to handle.
Xia Lei tried to peel it off but the bandage was practically glued to her wound. He, however, did cause her to frown as an oue of his action. ¡°Eek...ow.¡±
¡°Do you even feel pain?¡± Xia Lei finds it baffling that a headstrong woman like Kyoko would be shaken by a minor wound like this. She was able to take on gunshots and still fight. But now, she was whining from an old wound like a sulking teenager.
¡°Of course I do, I¡¯m also a woman too,¡± Kyoko replied before she added. ¡°Just a woman.¡±
Her intentional repetition seemed to be hinting towards something else.
¡°I¡¯m going to cut it off, are you okay with that?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Do whatever you want, you don¡¯t need my permission.¡±
Xia Lei lifted the pair of medical use scissors and began snipping through the used bandages and gradually shifted course downwards.
Her fair, supple buttcheeks were gradually exposed into the light, resembling pre-baked dough. Nevertheless, there was still grime in the form of her triangr wound, oozing with blood and pus that had tainted the otherwise alluring sight.
Xia Lei shifted his gaze towards the gauze as he carefully snipped and ripped it off. He tried not to overthink the process as it reminded him of the male protagonist in a melodrama.
After the used bandage was fully detached from her body, he reactively threw it on the ground. He then forced his gaze towards the filth. How am I going to do anything if I¡¯m gonna act like this?
There were things in life that just couldn¡¯t be avoided.
¡°Can¡¯t avoid the patient. I¡¯m a doctor.¡± Xia Lei attempted to recalibrate his thoughts before he lifted the hydrogen peroxide spray and began disinfecting her wound.
¡°Ughh,¡± Tsukino Kyoko took a gasp of air from suppressing pain.
¡°Almost done,¡± Xia Leiforted, while casually distracting her attention. ¡°Right, what do you think they¡¯re up to right now?¡±
Kyoko replied. ¡°I wonder too. Hope they¡¯re doing okay. They must¡¯ve encountered some trouble along the way to force themselves into hiding. Once they¡¯re back to safety I¡¯m sure they¡¯lle looking for us.¡±
Xia Lei shared her thoughts. If Sa¡¯im, Yelena and Anjum were not in grave danger, they couldn¡¯t possibly have all left their designated positions.
Out of the blue, he was reminded of the man with the king cobra tattoo. If he¡¯s still alive, where will he be?
Minutester, after he was done mending her wounds, her voluptuous buttocks now had a supplementary patch. He adjusted her trousers and zipped it back into ce. ¡°Alright, there shouldn¡¯t be much of an issue anymore. Upon leaving we should grab more Amoxicillin tablets. They¡¯ll help with the inmmation.¡±
¡°Where are you going?¡± Tsukino Kyoko forced herself up into a sitting position as she held onto his hand.
Xia Lei was stunned in ce. ¡°I¡¯m going out to sleep by the couch. We¡¯re still at high risk of a potential threat after all. Somebody¡¯s gotta keep watch.¡±
Kyoko tried her best to pull him over to the bed. Yet despite her best efforts she still was not physically able to. Less so as she had just escaped the ws of death. She pulled his arm to its full length but he did not even budge.
¡°Uh-hmm.¡± Xia Lei faked a cough. ¡°Get some sleep, you need it.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko hesitated for a bit. She then let go of his hand, albeit sulking as she blurted. ¡°But...you promised me.¡±
Xia Lei was left in an awkward position as he chuckled. ¡°About that...we can talk about it again when you get better. You¡¯re not in a condition to satisfy those urges now anyway.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s face blushed for a moment as she silently stared at him.
Xia Lei left the room, before letting out a long sigh of relief. Mumbling under his breath he said, ¡°Shit, when did I promise to satisfy her lust...did I?¡±
A fun night away from the responsibilities was not much of a taboo for him. Yet for Xia Lei, he was not that kind of man. His jewels were a prized possession at this point.
Even if he agreed to fulfil her wishes in the spur of the moment, given the current circumstances his only solution was to dy it.
Haimer and Mina were already fast asleep, their rooms were dark for hours now.
Xia Lei sat by the couch in the living room momentarily before leaving the house. He weaved through the narrow alleyways out of the settlement and darted towards the hiding spot where he hid all their weapons and explosives. The next morning he would escort Tsukino Kyoko out of here, so it sure was reasonable for him to retrieve his weapons right now. Nevertheless, the top priority of it all was his prized possession, the crystal skull.
The situation early that day was unique, for his main n was to take Tsukino Kyoko out to a hospital in Jerusalem for medical treatment. There was zero chance he could make it in with all the artillery and the crystal skull with him.
He quickly located the spot where they were buried, dug through the dirt and retrieved two bags of equipment. Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s backpack was the one with the weaponry, while his had the crystal skull. He opened up to check if they were missing anything, and as expected, the crystal skull was still delicately ced deep in his backpack.
He took a good look around his surroundings, ensuring that his whereabouts were secure within a four-kilometre radius. Securing his logistics, he pulled out the crystal skull and held it in his palm.
Under the moonlight, it sparkled with a cold yet soft radiance of light. Nevertheless, Xia Lei was aware of that fact the moment he had his hands on the skull back in the pyramid, yet he never had the opportunity to slowly examine the magnificence of its creation.
He quickly picked out on astonishing details of the crystal skull. Despite its sturdy appearance, its actual weight might just be approximately half a kilogram.
An ordinary skull would probably weigh around a quarter of a kilogram, but this skull was double the weight of a regr skull. It couldn¡¯t have been a crystal given the fact that most crystals of this size were much heavier!
If it was not crystal, then what can it be?
Could it actually be the skull of a living thing?
What species could bear a skull of this sort? If there really was a being that had a crystallized skull, where was the rest of its skeleton?
Those were questions he knew he had no answers to.
Xia Lei¡¯s left brow twitched ever so slightly as he activated the X-ray vision. The X-ray prated into the right eye socket of the crystallized skull.
Right at that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s head seemed to be shaken by a huge interference, akin to a prisoner chained to a pitch-ck dungeon and now thrown into broad daylight! His eyes were blinded by white light and his mind went nk!
Chapter 1015 - The Message Within The Crystal Skull
The process was so excruciating that it felt like hot needles going into his eyes and radiating along the nerves. Xia Lei felt like his head was about to explode at any moment.
Amidst the fiery sensation of pain and agony, he caught glimpses of powdered jewel spots every now and then. They seemed to be rapidly multiplying and before long began gushing in his mind like a tsunami at its peak. It cannot be true, it must be an illusion!
But what kind of illusion could this be?
Next, a far more bizarre illusion appeared. Through shes of a scene at y, there seemed to be a person walking on the white light! All Xia Lei could see was his silhouette but not a full glimpse of his face. That man strode forward, towards a structure resembling a door, maybe even a portal in front.
Who was that?
Where was he going?
Xia Lei just couldn¡¯tprehend any of the scenes that shed by his eyes.
Not long after, the illusions vanished and Xia Lei snapped back into reality. The clear night sky with the crescent moon and showering stars, away from the light pollution of the city were breathtaking to behold. The crystal skull in his hand was just as cold and mysterious as before.
¡°Huh...¡± Xia Lei exhaled from the trippy experience. He realised that his hands and feet were ice-cold, his back drenched in a cold sweat. Despite him maintaining the exact position this whole time, his mind had already wandered thousands of miles away and back.
A multitude of perceptions.
The ancient alloys, silver metals, crystal skull, even faceless warrior statues within the pyramid. They weren¡¯t human.
Even though he had yet grasped the full extent of this mystery, the connections between each clue seemed to be hinting towards an obvious fact. All these things were extraterrestrial.
This mysterious civilization once graced the earth way back in the ice ages, leaving their footprints all over the. They might have gone extinct or they could still exist, just not on this.
¡°Right, that should be it! These things wouldn¡¯t just exist in the world, somebody must have made them. It¡¯s pretty clear that humans don¡¯t possess such technologies. It must be a higher civilization.
If there really was a superior race, it seems like they might have gone extinct. Or maybe not, they could still live among us. Regardless, Zhu Xuanyue and the man in the ck cloak might just be one of the surviving few.¡±
Xia Lei went into deep contemtion.
His assumptions might have been verified a long time ago. Taking on the identity of a hunter, everything on this can be rounded up and ssified as one. A viable food source. Like poultry and fish, waiting to be feasted upon at will.
Naturally, he was the only exception.
¡°I wonder how¡¯s she doing right now, that Zhu Xuanyue, is she still in the USA?¡± If the man in the ck cloak is a member of the race, then why are they mutually antagonising one another to their deaths?¡± Thinking about Zhu Xuanyue, the undeniable question promptly followed.
Before long, a series of unanswered questions began to saturate his mind. Some he could solve on this own, others not so much. Minutester, Xia Lei snapped out of his thoughts and proceeded to wrap his crystal skull and meticulously ced it back into his backpack. He carried his own on one shoulder and Kyoko¡¯s on another as he brisk-walked back towards the Jewish settlement.
Just when he made it into the fringes of the settlement, several vehicles with blinding headlights came speeding in from the roads leading in from Jerusalem.
¡°Who¡¯d make a hassle to siege an outskirt settlement thiste at night?¡± Xia Lei instantly dialled his vignce up a notch as his left eye twitched.
The leading vehicle was a military-grade all-terrain, paired with a heavy-duty rotary cannon on its roof. Even when it was still far from where the settlement was, the weapon handler was on full alert. Inside the vehicle were fully armed Israeli special ops, all equipped with top tier weapons and equipment.
Right behind the military all-terrain were two ck sedans and a police vehicle.
Xia Lei withdrew his vision and began sprinting towards Dr Haimer¡¯s house.
The reason behind the special ops and police forces visiting the settlement at wee hours of the night were still unknown, but Xia Lei was certain that it was about time Tsukino Kyoko and himself made an exit as quickly as they could.
Dr Haimer¡¯s house was pitch ck.
Xia Lei halted his footsteps. When he had first left earlier that night, Dr Haimer and Mina were already long asleep, but the lights in the living room were on. Kyoko naturally wouldn¡¯t have crawled out of bed to turn it off. So if it weren¡¯t the couple, then who else could it possibly be?
The wall before him vanished from his sight as he gave the interior of the house a quick scan.
No one was in the living room.
Dr Haimer and Mina¡¯s room were also vacant.
But when his vision got to Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s room, he instantly identified three people. Kyoko on the bed and the two behind the back of the door were none other than Dr Haimer and Mina.
The couple were each armed with an assault rifle and a desert eagle pistol respectively, ready to shoot.
Xia Lei gently turned the doorknob and entered the building. With muted footsteps, he made his way towards Kyoko¡¯s room, armed with the Viper with a silencer equipped.
Out of the blue, Tsukino Kyoko blurted. ¡°It¡¯s pointless, he¡¯ll kill you both.¡±
¡°What are you talking about?¡± Mina sneered. ¡°You speak English?¡±
¡°I do. I¡¯m saying, why would you both do this?¡± Kyoko replied in English. ¡°We¡¯re not the bad guys here, so why do you want to kill us?¡±
¡°Stop lying, you both must be spies,¡± Mina replied
¡°How can you so confidently tell?¡± Tsukino Kyoko struggled as she brought herself into sitting position.
¡°Lie down!¡± Dr Haimer ordered brusquely. ¡°You better not be plotting anything or I¡¯ll blow your brains off!¡±
Kyoko returned to her lying position as she continued. ¡°You¡¯re not a doctor are you? And you, you were never just a housewife. Who the hell are you people?¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± Mina strode up to Kyoko and punched her on the head.
Tsukino Kyoko copsed onto the bed again. She was still far from recovery and was visibly unfit for battle. Otherwise, with her capabilities and her killer instinct, murdering these two were hardly a challenge.
¡°Did Mossad send you?¡± Kyoko was not ready to just obey their demands,pletely oblivious of their threats.
Xia Lei tweaked the tip of his lip for a half-smile. He finally came into aprehension that Kyoko was aware that he had returned into the house. What she was doing was to draw attention and spite towards herself while creating an opening for Xia Lei to sneak up on them both.
Mina mmed a second punch on her forehead as she scorned. ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to do. But so what if you knew? Tonight, you and your partner will die!¡±
¡°What can you both possibly be up to, undercover in an outskirt settlement like this?¡± Kyoko proceeded with her aimless bbering.
¡°Finish her!¡± Haimer scowled. ¡°I¡¯m sick of her yapping, that son of a bitch will return very soon. We just need to keep one alive.¡±
Mina nodded obediently and cucked the desert eagle towards her head.
Bang!
The house shook from the impact! A bullet bore its way through the wooden door and shot through the back of Mina¡¯s skull! She had her finger on the trigger but was outmatched by the sheer speed and uracy of Xia Lei¡¯s bullet.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Haimer pulled the trigger towards the door, the wooden door splintered and porous as a result.
Bang!
The dyed shot came through and down went Haimer.
Haimer decidedly turned around to face the enemy behind the door, but he made a critical decision to ignore the woman lying on the bed. Tsukino Kyoko, despite being frail, was still a stone-cold killer nheless. With the desert eagle in hand, she could kill him just as effortlessly.
Xia Lei cranked open the door, before firing an extra shot to his head. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here, they called reinforcements. I reckon they¡¯d arrive within five minutes.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko crawled out of bed. Upon putting both feet on the ground however, she began wobbling and copsed onto the ground.
Xia Lei reactively reached out to assist her. ¡°I think it¡¯s better if I carry you. We¡¯ll use their car to escape and head towards Gaza.¡±
Kyoko had other ideas. ¡°You leave with the car, I¡¯ll cut them off.¡±
Xia Lei seemed to have missed her remark as he dug through Haimer¡¯s corpse and retrieved a pair of car keys.
¡°Boss, I don¡¯t think you heard what I said, I¡¯m serious!¡±
Smack! Xia Lei was not having it as he spanked her on her voluptuous booty and bent down before her. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was caught off guard but had quickly taken heed of his reminder as she climbed onto his back. Xia Lei then piggybacked her on their way towards the car, while retrieving time bombs from her backpack. Each wasid at secluded corners and all set at the exact same time, five minutes and thirty seconds.
Leaving the house and towards the garage, he gently sat Tsukino Kyoko down next to the driver¡¯s seat, started the car and dashed out of the garage.
Haimer and Mina¡¯s vehicle was an Israeli made Desert Raider, a multi-terrain powerhouse of a vehicle. Even though it was made formercial everyday use, all that wascking aspared to the military ones was the absence of built-in weapons. In terms of specifications, it could speed through the Gobi desert without a hitch. Reaching Gaza was hardly an issue.
Moments after the Desert Raider left the settlement, the reinforcement vehicles steered into the area.
Xia Lei steered the vehicle off the paved road and over a sand dune, before turning back to look at the direction of the settlement.
In his vision, several Israeli special ops and police officers hopped off their respective vehicles and began surrounding the house.
The upants of the two ck sedans were thest to exit. A few men dressed in dapper ck suits stepped out of the cars armed to the teeth with machine guns.
One middle-aged soldier pointed at the door which led an Israeli special op soldier breaking through it with his shoulder. The moment the door was open the ck-suited men marched in and subsequently the special ops and the ultimately the police.
Xia Lei thought to himself at the sight of the scene. Could those guys be from Mossad? So Mossad nted eyes nearby just to secure the secrets lying within the pyramid? Or is there something else?
Before he could formte deductions for his enquiries, a thundering bang was heard from afar. The magnitude of the explosion was so strong fire erupted into the air,unching projectiles of shattered bricks and debris along the process. Given the extent of the detonation, it was visible even from where Xia Lei and Kyoko were, miles away from what remained of the house.
Reigniting the Desert Raider, they headed towards the Gaza Strip.
Chapter 1016 - A Chase Under The Starry Sky
Ten minutes after the explosion, a Nighthawk helicopter made its way to the deste outskirts of Jerusalem. It flew to the settlement and carried a few armed men to emerge. They were all dressed in sleek ck suits. Inhabitants of the settlement scurried towards different directions in cars, all of them armed with some form of weapon. The people of Israel were all soldiers. The country had subjected every adult to military service. After retirement, they were still considered as part of the militia. The people were ready to head into battle anytime.
Following that, a few drones began to fly over from Jerusalem. The formation split directions to provide aerial detection to the personnel on the ground.
The Desert Raider zoomed widely in the vast wilderness. Without its headlights, it was running like a beast in the dark.
At one moment, Xia Lei lifted his head to study the night sky, halting the vehicle abruptly. They were about one hour away from Gaza at this point.
Tsukino Kyoko seemed to have noticed something too, quickly whipping her head around to investigate. However, having found nothing, she asked, ¡°Boss, are they catching up to us?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°It¡¯s the Israeli drones.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko couldn¡¯t help but wonder. Her eyesight was impable and yet she saw nothing while Xia Lei was able to notice drones. Did he possess the eyes of a hawk? Despite her curiosity, she did not press on.
¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting to catch up so soon. I guess the couple was working for Mossad.¡± Xia Lei felt the pile of his anxiety.
¡°When I asked them of their mission, the dude named Haimer immediately called for his woman to kill me. I guess they¡¯re trying to protect the secrets within the pyramid.¡± Tsukino Kyoko remarked.
¡°It¡¯s close,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tsukino whipped her head around again, still finding nothing.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze studied their surroundings carefully, finallynding it on the trunk. Sparing it one nce, Xia Lei opened the car door and went to the rear. He opened the trunk. There was a bag of flour, a bottle of olive oil and a huge roll of aluminium foil. Looks like the vehicle¡¯s owner had nned for a barbeque.
Xia Lei brought the foil out and scurried to open the passenger cabin¡¯s door. The man picked Tsukino Kyoko up and ran for the bushes.
¡°What... What are you trying to do?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was confused.
Xia Lei ced her down into the bushes and ran back to the Desert Raider. The man swiftly retrieved their gear bags then returned to the shrubs. Xia Lei was in such a hurry that he had not bothered to close the door. As soon as they were surrounded by greens, he grabbed the foil roll and pulled everything out. ¡°Quick! Wrap these around your body!¡±
¡°Wrap my body with foil?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was dumbfounded.
¡°The drones have heat-seeking capabilities. If we get caught, Mossad will definitely utilize air weaponry. We won¡¯t be able to escape Israel when that happens.¡± Xia Lei exined as his fingers made a frantic effort to wrap two wide sheets of foil around his body.
It was only then that the idea clicked in Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s mind. The female ninja had to admit that she was thoroughly impressed with his knowledge and fast thinking.
Soon enough, Xia Lei¡¯s body was wrapped in aluminium foil. The man quickly helped Tsukino Kyoko with hers. The ninja was still recovering, hence hernguid actions. He helped her wrap her legs and waist.
Tsukino Kyoko pressed a sheet onto her chest. Due to her impressive bust size, her double attempts were futile. As soon as she moved her hands away, the foil would fall. Her bosoms were just like two mischievous rabbits, pulling pranks on her at a dire time like this.
Xia Lei snatched the sheet away and poked at it hastily. The foil crinkled and soon, two holes were made. Problem solved.
Tsukino Kyoko could only gape.
Xia Lei offered no further exnation and pushed her into the bush. He raised an arm coiled with foil to cover Tsukino¡¯s exposed chest. The foil sheet was torn with two holes to make way for the soft mass beneath.
¡°You...¡± Tsukino Kyoko was so shell shocked that she ran out of words to say.
¡°Shh! It¡¯s here. Don¡¯t move,¡± warned Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s round dark eyes watched the sky through the gaps of the aluminium foil. Entering her line of sight was a Heron 2 drone that served the Israeli Defense Forces. Its huge wings and ground missiles on itsunch pad faintly visible in the dark.
The Heron 2 circled the air, most probably studying the area beneath it. Its target was obviously the stationary Desert Raider in the middle of the wilderness. No one could tell how many eyes were glued to its feedback elsewhere.
¡°Boss, I must say. I¡¯m really impressed.¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice was meek, almost inaudible to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was small. ¡°Honestly, I just want to live like a normal person.¡±
¡°You know that¡¯s impossible,¡± uttered Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei could only smile wryly at that. The path he took was a one-way road. It was much like his body that continued to advance with no ns of degradation.
¡°They said that you¡¯re an advanced human, is that true?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Xia Lei watched the sky. The Heron 2 drone was still making rounds above them. But judging from its flying course, the machine had expanded its search radius.
There was no one in the car. The best deduction its drone driver could make was that their target had abandoned their vehicle to escape. Expanding the search radius was the next best option.
¡°So... Are you good in bed?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s question was muttered softer than before.
Xia Lei could only gape at her question.
¡°We¡¯re probably going to die here. Tell me, I must satiate my curiosity.¡±
Xia Lei was embarrassed as hell. ¡°...Mm.¡±
¡°What does that even mean?¡±
¡°What do you think it means?¡± Xia Lei switched the topic. ¡°Jeez, how long more is the drone going to circle this area?¡±
¡°Actually I think I already have an answer. You have four wives and they always seemed happy to be with you. This means that you¡¯re pretty capable,¡±mented Tsukino Kyoko.
What was she trying to achieve?
What the hell did she want?
Abruptly, the circling Heron 2 interjected his confused mind with a ground missile. With a fiery tail, the missile flew towards the Desert Raider.
Ka-boom!
The vehicle was thoroughly destroyed, sending its remains to the area surrounding it.
It was then that the Heron 2 flew away and headed towards Gaza.
Xia Lei mbered from the ground. ¡°Mossad¡¯s men probably figured that we¡¯re heading to Gaza. There will be more of Mossad¡¯s people at the borders of Gaza along with the Israeli National Defence Force.¡±
¡°Do we continue our journey?¡±
Xia Lei paused to ponder. ¡°Carrying on would be suicidal.¡±
¡°Then where should we go?¡± questioned Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Since they think we¡¯re heading to Gaza, we¡¯ll head in the opposite direction. The most dangerous ce is actually the safest ce. We¡¯re going to Jerusalem,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko replied, ¡°Even if we¡¯re giving up on Gaza, going to Jordan is a choice. Why Jerusalem?¡±
¡°The borders of Jordan would be watched tightly. Anything you cane up with, Mossad too can think of. We¡¯re facing off a country, not a singr enemy,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll stick to your decision. I was merely offering you a suggestion. Even if you¡¯re going to hell, I¡¯ming with,¡± assured Tsukino.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°If I¡¯m going to the afterlife, heaven is my choice. There¡¯s nothing great about hell.¡± He reached out to pull her up.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Suddenly, Xia Lei¡¯s satellite phone rang. He quickly answered the call, voice low. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±
¡°Boss, I only have thirty seconds to spare. Listen well.¡± It was Sa¡¯im. ¡°Mossad is after us. We¡¯re hiding in Gaza. Where are you now?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Tsukino and I are at the outskirts of Jerusalem.¡±
¡°Do note to Gaza. The borders are locked. The activity of the Israeli army is rampant here.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. Sa¡¯im description of their situation was just as Xia Lei had guessed.
¡°Where are you heading next?¡±
¡°Jerusalem.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Do you think you can join us?¡±
¡°We can but we need some time to prepare. Be careful, I¡¯ll contact you soon.¡± Sa¡¯im hung up.
Xia Lei checked his watch. The call had ended right on the dot of the thirty-second mark.
For Sa¡¯im to call at such timing had a simple motivation. Other than pinpointing Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s whereabouts, he needed to warn Xia Lei of the dangers ahead. He was the intelligence expert of the team and he was Middle Eastern, the intel he held was definitely way moreplete than Xia Lei.
This call had also eased Xia Lei¡¯s nerves a little. Sa¡¯im, Yelena and Anjum Khan were alright. This knowledge held importance to him.
The two left the bushes and turned around to Jerusalem. However, the duo had taken another new path with deliberate intentions of avoiding their earlier departure point.
They were still wrapped in foil, which crinkled at each step. Tsukino Kyoko ducked down to look at her exposed breasts that protruded out of the foil. Her mind was fixated on how Xia Lei had grabbed her bosoms earlier rather than their route to Jerusalem.
Xia Lei¡¯s mind too was preupied with something else. ¡°The tomb of the prehistoric chosen one was found underneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the pyramid he built was found in the outskirts of Jerusalem. The final battle between Zhu Xuanyue and the chosen one was also in Jerusalem... Why did I miss the possible involvement of Israel? What role did Israel y in this series of events?¡±
Truth to be told, Xia Lei¡¯s attention had been ced on America and the FA Organization for a long time. It was only now that Israel had caught his interest. If he had to make a choice between the CIA and Mossad, he¡¯d rather choose the former. The way Mossad operated was unique. If the enemy wishes to kill, you must kill them first.
¡°Boss, can I remove the aluminium foil? They¡¯re really noisy.¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice disrupted his train of thoughts.
Xia Lei turned to face her. ¡°No, leave it be. Mossad might dispatch a few more drones.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko shrugged dejectedly as her exposed breasts jiggled with each step she took.
Chapter 1017 - The FAs Involvement
Dawn was still hours away. Thend and skies had entered its darkest hours.
On the highway exit to Jerusalem were checkpoints guarded by armed Israeli soldiers. They checked each vehicle and passer-by with great attention. In their grip were pictures of two Asians, but the faces depicted did not exist. Not even the Mossad intelligence system was able to obtain their identities.
The two Asians were none other than Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko. They were currently convicts wanted by the Israeli government. At this moment, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko were coincidentally within earshot of the temporary checkpoint.
¡°Ah, they¡¯re really going all out to catch two non-existent people. I wonder whose instructions it was.¡± At a house beside the road, Xia Lei stood at the edge of its wall to observe the checkpoint one kilometre away. He felt troubled. He must¡¯ve missed something, but he just couldn¡¯t figure out what it was.
Tsukino Kyoko approached him from the side and held up her military-grade binocrs. The checkpoint was in sight but she couldn¡¯t see anything past lights and blurry figures. Her high-grade binocrs had returned results that were different from Xia Lei¡¯s clear sight, but the ninja was able to grasp the situation.
¡°The road leading into the city is closed too.¡± Tsukino scowled. ¡°The person behind this operation must be some bigshot who knows about the pyramid¡¯s secret. I think their target is the crystal skull that we whisked away from the pyramid.¡±
Without reason, Xia Lei thought about the man with the cobra tattoo. In George¡¯s footage, the tattooed man did not reveal his face. The only thing captured was his back and the striking cobra tattoo on his arm. He reyed the video in his head, but theck of details was infuriating. Even if the man had passed by him, he could easily hide his tattoo with sleeves. Xia Lei was certain that he wouldn¡¯t be able to identify him.
¡°Boss, what do we do now?¡± Tsukino Kyoko asked.
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°They have our pictures and they¡¯re trying to match it to everyone that enters through the checkpoint. We need to change our appearance.¡±
¡°Then we¡¯ll need a safe ce.¡± Tsukino Kyoko looked around, trying to search for a patch of tall grass.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the house beside him. His eyes were trained on it for a few seconds before he moved to the door along the outer wall. Tsukino Kyoko did not hesitate to follow after him. Xia Lei¡¯s treatment was working really well, allowing the ninja to regain one-third of her usual performance.
Tsukino Kyoko pulled out her Viper pistol.
¡°No need, it¡¯s vacant,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko was taken aback. In her eyes, Xia Lei was already a god amongst men. He opened the door and led Tsukino Kyoko inside.
True to his words, there was no one home. The owner was a single man, his identity further told by the lewd posters stered around his bedroom. The floors were scattered with CDs and gentlemen magazines, along with a desktopputer.
Xia Lei opened his bag and brought out his cosmetic tools and materials on theputer desk. He peeled his human face away, prompting Tsukino Kyoko to do the same.
¡°Lie down and get some rest. I¡¯ll wake you up when I¡¯m done,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko nodded andid on the bed. Her body was running weak and exhausted after staying up the entire night for their lengthy journey.
Xia Lei altered both human face masks extensively, turning them into Native American faces. Native Americans had shared about the same skin tone as Asians.
After adding on some finishing touches, Xia Lei allowed Tsukino to rest further. Instead, he booted the owner¡¯sputer. The owner¡¯s desktop had no security protection and was of lower specs. It paled greatly inparison to his ownptop. However, as long as Xia Lei let his mind do the work, a normal setup was sufficient for him to aplish what he needed to.
Ten minutester, Xia Lei gained ess to the Jerusalem traffic system. The screen was disying his desired surveince footage.
Checkpoints were set up on all main roads in Jerusalem. There were also some checkpoints that were stationed with armed Israeli Defence Force members. However, there was bound to be openings around the city. The checkpoints at remote ces hadcked soldiers. It wouldn¡¯t be an issue to enter through those parts. Along this process, Xia Lei¡¯s mind had already drawn out a safe route. With this designed route, he was ready to wake Tsukino Kyoko up and bring her into Jerusalem. After that, they¡¯d find a ce to wait for Sa¡¯im, Yelena and Anjum Khan.
Pleased with his safe route, Xia Lei switched the surveince footage to peer into the Tel Aviv Airport. While he had no ns to leave Israel via ne, the man simply wanted to study the security situation at the airport.
The situation in Tel Aviv Airport was soon disyed through the monitor. Arge number of Israeli soldiers patrolled its exterior. Even if this was still the wee hours of the morning, the soldiers were on high alert. The same situation was seen in the waiting hall. All flight passengers were under heavy surveince of the police and military. The Israeli military had even dispatched K-9 units to sniff out possible weapons and ammunition hidden among unassuming luggage.
¡°Did the President of Israel give them orders? Isn¡¯t this too much?¡± Xia Lei could only muster a bitter smile at the scene. He had no idea how things could have progressed to this extent.
At this moment, several people exited the security checkne and entered the pick-up hall. Among these were Mexicans, Asians and Europeans. Although there were only a few of them, the racial profile was diverse. However, the rity of the surveince footage wasn¡¯t high. It was difficult to study their facial details.
¡°Flights to Tel Aviv have been suspended for a while now, they must¡¯ve arrived here through chartered flights. Who would fly chartered to Tel Aviv at a time like this?¡± Xia Lei crossed his arms, curiosity peaking. He leaned forward and zoomed in on the footage.
The footage was pixted but the zoom had made their faces a tad bit clearer.
At that instance, Xia Lei¡¯s attention fell on his face. He was stunned. The elderly man had a crown of white hair, his body was skinny but buzzing with energy. It was almost as if the man was an extremely sharp knife. This old man was none other than the FA Organization¡¯s chief instructor, Augustan.
Another familiar face appeared alongside Augustan. It was a man that bore Asian features. It was Yan Fo, the proud military advisor of the FA Organization.
Back in America, Augustan and Yan Fo had led elite assassins of the FA Organization on a chase for him towards the borders of Mexico. Following a twist of events, Xia Lei used Predator B on the chasing convoy. Back then, Xia Lei had assumed that everyone involved was dead. However, Sirita¡¯s appearance during the Jingdu assassination scheme had made him question things. He wanted to capture Sirita alive for some closure but things had taken a different turn. Following Sirita¡¯s suicide, Augustan and Yan Fo had decided to reenter his sight at this timing.
¡°Why are the FA members here with bigshots like Augustan and Yan Fo? Does the FA know about the crystal skull¡¯s secret? If many are aware of it, why did they continue to seal the entrance but never once try to take it away?¡± Xia Lei was more confused than before.
Yes. If the FA Organization had known about the crystal skull, they would have brought it away regardless of the pyramid being destroyed. Judging by their style, they would have no qualms killing everyone inside.
If the FA Organization was aware, wouldn¡¯t the CIA know about it too? With America¡¯s capabilities, it wouldn¡¯t be an issue for them to uproot the entire pyramid and bring away the crystal skull.
Hence, the possibilities of this scenario were low, especially thetter. However, casting aside FA¡¯s knowledge of the secret, Xia Lei had no idea why Augustan and Yan Fo were in Israel.
On the screen, the FA members were stopped by a few soldiers. The K-9 barked at Augustan fiercely. Despite that, there was no audio feedback for the footage.
Realizing it, Xia Lei glued his eyes to the screen and activated his lip-reading abilities.
The lieutenant requested for them to show their documents and cooperate for a body search in English. Augustan remained silent, letting Yan Fo do the talking.
At this point, Yan Fo stopped talking to the lieutenant. He dug out his phone and made a call.
Xia Lei once again locked his gaze on Yan Fo¡¯s lips. ¡°We¡¯re here but there¡¯s some issue at the airport. Please notify your men.¡± Following that, Yan Fo held out the device to the lieutenant.
The lieutenant pressed the phone to his ear. ¡°Hello? Yes... Yes... Very well. Understood.¡± A simple conversation happened and the man returned the device. ¡°My apologies, I was not aware of the situation. You may leave now. Should you require transportation, I can assist with the arrangement.¡±
It was only then that Augustan spoke. ¡°No need.¡± That all he said before he strode into the pick-up lobby.
Yan Fo continued to be engaged in the call as they walked. ¡°48, St. Cross Street. See you soon.¡± And the call ended.
Xia Lei¡¯s fingers quickly switched the camera to the one outside the pick-up lobby.
Augustan and Yan Fo made their exit. Two Mercedes-Benz was already waiting for them outside the door. The FA members sorted themselves into the vehicles and it left for the city.
Xia Lei exited the interface and shut theputer down. He padded over to the bed and gently tapped on Tsukino¡¯s cheek. ¡°Hey, wake up. It¡¯s time to put on our disguise.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko cracked an eye open and noddednguidly. There was a brief pause before she requested, ¡°Hey, can you change my bandages? My wound is really itchy.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Chapter 1018 - Prisoner and Food
Dawn finally arrived, returning light to the ancientnd. The golden rays shined on the contour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock. For thousands of years, many have lost their lives in the name of faith. The dispute seemed to continue till this day, its end seemingly out of reach.
Jerusalem, St. Cross street.
Two Native Americans visited a breakfast diner. The young couple looked to be in their early twenties. Draped over their shoulders were huge backpacks and their features were adorned with ethnic essories. They looked like a pair of Native American tourists visiting Israel.
These tourists were Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko in disguise. The human face masks paired with the wonderful magic of makeup, Xia Lei could barely recognize himself, let alone those who were after him.
They chose a seat by the window. Xia Lei ced their orders and watched the street through the ss.
Number 48, St. Cross street was just across the street. It was a very ancient-looking property, probably about hundreds of years old. Its main body was made out of stone and it had threeyers above and below. Both sides of the building were extended to form a concave shape. Judging from its appearance, it was probably a residence of a knight or lord during the time of the Crusades. Its architectural style seemed to resonate that of the French medieval times.
Who was the current owner of this property?
The answer seemed to be hinted by the armed Israeli soldiers guarding its entrance. It m Israeli government.
The soldiers armed with live ammunition had suggested that this ce had more than met the eye. Despite that, Xia Lei hadn¡¯t noticed any signage that had indicated something else. There was nothing like ¡®St. Cross Street Office¡¯ or ¡®St. Cross Street Neighborhood Committee¡¯.
¡°If only Sa¡¯im was here... He would¡¯ve known what this ce is.¡± Xia Lei thought about his subordinate. The man was looking forward to their reunion.
The waiter served them their breakfast. Their order was a very traditional Israeli breakfast tter that consisted of sour olives, salted fish and egg custard.
Xia Lei munched on his breakfast as he watched the building. This time, he activated his X-ray vision and let his sight prate through the curtained windows.
Whatid behind those walls was shocking. The ancient building was actually a modern office space. The central hall of the first floor had arge TV wall that upied the entire span. It disyed surveince feedback from many important ces in Jerusalem like bus stations, subway stations, airports and so on. It covered virtually every blind spot.
Aside from that, the screen had also shown high-quality satellite surveince footage. Its monitoring area had covered the entire territory of Israel and even included Jordan and the Gaza strip as well as areas bordering Egypt. Many staff were working in the hall, some were answering calls while others operated drones. Xia Lei had even noticed some employees debriefing a batch of ground agents.
The central hall itself had allowed Xia Lei to deduce something. The ancient building had not housed a regr governmental department. It was an intelligence agency instead.
Xia Lei moved his gaze upwards into the second floor. Here, he noticed a few offices and a warehouse. There were a few people inside the office but all of them were unfamiliar faces. No FA members were spotted. Finding nothing worthwhile, Xia Lei peered through the windows on the third floor.
The third floor had served as a multifunctional area. There were facilities for sparring and treatment. A few had upied the space to practise their closebat techniques while another few more people were getting their wounds treated on the other side.
His X-ray vision had scanned through all visible windows on the third floor, yet Xia Lei found no FA members here. He pulled his attention away. While his X-ray vision could not prate through the toughyers of rocks and stones, such a ce surely had room underground.
¡°Is this Mossad¡¯s headquarters? Or is this just an important branch office? What are the FA members doing here?¡± Xia Lei just couldn¡¯t figure it out.
The current FA Organization was reduced to nothing but a loyal dog to the American government. It would be perfectly eptable for them to meet the members of Mossad with their newfound identity. However, the more important question was, Yan Fo and Augustan were important figures in the organization, why are they in Israel?
Naturally, Xia Lei would think that they were scheming to kill him again but that couldn¡¯t be right. Xia Lei was ¡®dead¡¯ by Li Youdun¡¯s assassination in China. His homnd had held a funeral as the whole country mourned for him. The scale of his distraction was high. How was it possible for the FA Organization to suspect that he was still alive? There was no way they had the means to trace him to Israel. In fact, he had even kept his journey a secret from his four wives. If his wives weren¡¯t aware, how would the FA members find out?
There must be some other reason behind this.
¡°What the fuck is this? It¡¯s fucking disgusting.¡± Tsukino Kyoko spat out a sour olive. The sourness was too overwhelming that the ninja was on the brink of tears. She was actually observing the same building across the street, but she had found nothing worth mentioning.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°The climate here is dry and water is scarce. Most of their food is pickled. Just bear with it. You can eat whatever you want after we¡¯re out of this ce. Also, make sure to only stick to using English. The building across the street is Mossad¡¯s property. We need to be cautious.¡±
That earned a surprised look from the woman. Tsukino Kyoko quickly turned to spare the building another nce before nodding. She had no idea how he had deduced that but she knew better than to doubt him.
At this moment, an Israeli man exited the building. He strode towards the restaurant.
Xia Lei let his vision study the man. Within two seconds, he had already conducted a full investigation. The man was armed with a Desert Hawk. His full name was printed on his ess card. Harde. Countless scars had littered his body, which had included both shes and bullet wounds. The man looked about in his thirties. Judging by his age, it wasn¡¯t difficult to realize that he was a veteran soldier from the Special Force that joined the Mossad after retirement.
Part of Mossad¡¯s ndestine agents were recruited from Special Force retirees. They were veterans who had many experiences. The recruits would undergo specialized Mossad training. There was a popr saying in the field of espionage that the Mossad agents were the best at gathering intel, assassination and stealing. They had the same reputation as America¡¯s CIA. The British MI6 and the Russian Federal Security Service (Krupp Bo) were literally no match for their capabilities.
Hence, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but be rmed at the sight of a regr agent. He subtly nudged Tsukino Kyoko under the table. ¡°Don¡¯t say a word, a Mossad agent ising.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded. She had also noticed that Harde, who was currently crossing the street, was no ordinary person. The ninja had her own ways.
Harde pushed the door and entered the diner.
A waiter offered him a smile and a greeting. ¡°Hello, Mister Harde. The usual?¡±
¡°Yes, the usual.¡± Harde¡¯s eyes scanned the diner rapidly, finally training his gaze on the table where Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko were seated at.
Xia Lei was not looking at him, but scooping custard out of his cup. His eyes were focused on the reflection of the steel cutlery, spying on Harde from it.
The waiter rushed into the kitchen and eximed, ¡°Mister Harde¡¯s here. He wants the usual, sour olives and rye bread.¡±
It was only then that Harde removed his attention from the two.
Speaking of disguises, if Xia Lei had considered himself second-best, then no one would dare to im the first ce. The man was able to disguise himself as Li Youdun, sessfully tricking the CIA watchers and the cunning Hattori Mei. To trick a Mossad agent didn¡¯t seem like an issue.
The kitchen was quick to finish Harde¡¯s order. The sour olives and rye bread were packaged in paper boxes instead of a te. Harde gripped the handles of the takeaway bag, paid the cashier and left with his breakfast.
As Harde began to cross the street, Xia Lei activated his X-ray vision again. His line of sight went past Harde¡¯s spine and peered into his stomach. Xia Lei saw his intestines in the middle of peristalsis. It was not empty, filled with pieces of sausages, cheese and waffles. If Xia Lei could identify the contents of his stomach, surely Harde had his breakfast not long ago. Why was he buying breakfast again?
The waiter approached his colleague. ¡°Damn, he¡¯s such a strange one. He orders the same thing every single day. I¡¯ve been working for three years and it hasn¡¯t changed. Why is he so obsessed with rye bread and olives? I¡¯ve seen him drive a Toyota off-road vehicle, it¡¯s worth at least two hundred thousand NIS.¡±
His colleague responded, ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s a civil servant with a high sry, yet his taste in food is appalling.¡±
¡°Hey, don¡¯t say that. We¡¯ve got customers here.¡±
¡°You mean the two over there? There¡¯s no way they¡¯ll understand us. He ordered in English earlier.¡±
¡°Ah, true. Anyway, the building opposite us seems to house a bunch of weirdos.¡±
The two waiters continued to gossip out of boredom, settling to talk about a mutual female friend.
At that point, Xia Lei lost interest. His eyes returned to study the building across. If it weren¡¯t for the two waiters, he wouldn¡¯t have obtained such information. Xia Lei certainly would have overlooked the abnormality of Harde¡¯s order. Harde had already eaten breakfast so it was possible that he bought it for a friend. However, that would mean his friend had an uncanny obsession for sour olives and rye bread. Xia Lei¡¯s perception waspletely altered after listening in on their conversation.
¡°Three years and the same breakfast almost every day... If Harde is not the one eating it, it doesn¡¯t make sense for him to have such a weird colleague. Who in the right mind would eat something like that?¡± Suddenly, a word manifested in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. Prisoner.
Only a prisoner would eat disgusting food like that every day. That was because they had no choice but to submit to their punishment!
The sudden realizationunched his mind into an active state. ¡°The waiter had mentioned that he worked here for three years and Harde had bought sour olives and rye bread every single time. This would mean that the prisoner has been held there for more than three years. Who could the prisoner be? Why did he have to face such treatment? Could the FA members arrive in Israel and contact the Mossad to meet the prisoner?¡±
His mind may be filled to the brim with questions but Xia Lei was now with a new urge. He wanted to meet the prisoner, purely because the FA members had decided to get involved.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
However, these were all bold assumptions. They still needed to find proof for the prisoner¡¯s existence.
¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei stood up.
Tsukino Kyoko ced her cutlery down and left for the door.
Chapter 1019 - Kyokos Wish
A high-ss and secured house, a custom action-ready four-wheel drive and aptop with the best specs money could buy. As long as you had money, you could have anything you desired.
In the presidential suite of the Sheraton hotel, Xia Lei¡¯s fingers tapped across the keyboard in a fiery dance. Theptop soon disyed a set of traffic surveince footage captured on Number 48, St. Cross Street.
Under the veil of night, the ancient building was silent. Xia Lei could see light through some windows but could not spot anyone behind it. Two armed guards remained at the entrance, but they weren¡¯t the same people from this morning. A shift change must¡¯ve happened some time ago.
It took no time for Xia Lei to pull out footage recorded today. He then set to work, trying to find Yan Fo and Augustan in it. While he had managed to see the FA vehicle entering the building, he did not see it exit. Till the end of the footage, Xia Lei was not able to see Yan Fo and Augustan in it.
¡°Those bastards are still in there. What the hell are they up to?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help bute up with his own assumptions. It was then that the words echoed in his mind. Prisoner.
Stter...
The sound of water sshesing from the bathroom interrupted Xia Lei¡¯s line of thought. He immediately remembered something, urging him to turn around and shout in the direction of the bathroom. ¡°Kyoko, your wound is still recovering! You shouldn¡¯t be showering. Moisture will make your injury worse. You need toe out.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s reply echoed within the confined walls. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I cling wrapped my butt.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Before he knew it, his mind had already wandered off to an image of a certain ninja in cling wrap. Plus, the wraps were transparent... Right?
¡°Crap, some water got in.¡± The female ninja was clearly frustrated.
Xia Lei chuckled dryly and left her at that. What could he do about it? She should¡¯ve wrapped her ass better.
Xia Lei returned his attention to theptop once again and did something else.
A stock trading software popped up. Recently, Xia Lei hadn¡¯t been paying much mind to his profits on the American stock market, preupied with the preparations for his death. But truth to be told, he hadn¡¯tpletely forgotten about it. Prior to his death, he had already activated his puppet, Honick, that worked for Wall Street.
Honick was a senior securities manager with an impressive annual sry of more than one million USD. It was not an issue to activate him and have the man manipte the four female knight¡¯s ounts. The only problem was that the profits he could generate were significantly lower than his.
Xia Lei checked the ounts. At the moment, the four ounts had umted a total of 2.188 billion USD. Among the amount, one billion USD were shares of the Vientiane Group. The rest of it was from Google, Apple and Microsoft. Before Honick was activated, the total of the ounts was 2.09 billion USD. Honick had only managed to help him obtain a few tens of millions of dors on the base Xia Leiid.
But even so, Honick was highly capable.
Before this, most of Xia Lei¡¯s stock was from Vientiane. He had never once thought of getting involved with Google, Apple and Microsoft. Honick was gradually throwing out shares from Vientiane to buy in shares from Google, Apple and Microsoft in rapid session. At this rate, Honick would be done with selling out Vientiane shares in just a few days. Vientiane Group had declined to eight USD per slot. The entire market outlook for the establishment was dim.
Under such circumstances, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t me Honick. The man was experienced and had his own approaches to the situation. With the amount of money in his ounts, the veteran securities manager had ced emphasis on securing the fund before profit. The man had opted to use stable approaches for profit too. Xia Lei, on the other hand, was more aggressive. He was behaving like a hungry wolf on the battlefield that tore at his opponents!
¡°I wonder if Tianyin thinks I¡¯m giving up on her, which is why I¡¯m dumping out all of the shares I bought from Vientiane...¡± Xia Lei paused and then shook his head. ¡°No, wait. I¡¯m already dead to her. There¡¯s no way she¡¯ll consider that thought.¡±
Xia Lei closed the application. The man had no ns to correct his puppet. This was not the time for profit, it was time for war.
Tsukino Kyoko was still in the midst of a shower, humming to the tune of a Japanese folk song. It was something along the lines of a young woman taking a bath while her lover peeks from the door. She¡¯d throw a soap bar at him but identally trip over, which really hurt her ass...
What a weird song.
Xia Lei snorted at it under his breath with a shake of his head. He turned on the television to entertain himself while keeping watch of the surveince videos.
On the screen was a news broadcast. The blonde Israeli news anchor read her script in Hebrew. ¡°... China¡¯s Father of Rifles, vice president of the Academy of Sciences and the founder of Thunder Horse Organization was assassinated. His funeral was held in Jingdu and the whole of China had mourned for his passing...¡±
It began showing snippets of the funeral. Xia Lei wasid in a coffin, pale as a corpse could be. Beside his body were white roses and chrysanthemums. Fan Fan, dressed in hemp mourning attire, wept beside his coffin. Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi apanied her. The other three women were not wearing hemp, only having a mourning patch attached to their arm.
Many high-profile figures had attended the funeral, most of them were politicians and from the military. The only ones missing were those from the business industry.
This situation was to be expected andmon. The authority knew Xia Lei was just faking his death and had agreed to go along with his n. The higher-ups certainly wouldn¡¯t want anyone with ulterior motives to attend the funeral and notice mishaps. This was a gigantic act that required the coordination of a country.
Tsukino Kyoko exited the bathroom, body wrapped in a thin towel.
Xia Lei quickly averted his eyes away awkwardly, training his gaze on the television.
The news segment about his funeral had ended and the perspective was switched over to domestic news. This time, the reports were about the explosion that happened in the outskirts of Jerusalemst night.
¡°There was an explosion on the outskirts of Jerusalemst night. A settlement doctor and his wife were killed along with a dozen militiamen. The police had provided initial deduction that this was a terrorist attack. The suspects were two Asians. If you have seen these suspects, please contact the police immediately...¡±
Sketches of the two Asian faces appeared on the screen. It was none other than Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko¡¯sst disguise.
A bitter smile made its way on the corner of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. These suspects had already donned on faces of Native American people. How were the people of Israel supposed to notice him and Tsukino Kyoko and report it to the police?
Tsukino Kyoko plopped down beside Xia Lei all while drying her hair with the towel. There was a waft of fragrance that surrounded her. It was not overwhelming but very alluring.
¡°Boss, can you change my dressings? It got wet in the shower,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko. She pretended to watch the news, but the woman was watching him through the corner of her eyes.
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei stood up. ¡°Let me go get the medical kit.¡±
¡°Are you not going to assess the wound first?¡± Tsukino Kyoko questioned. Then, she mbered up on the couch and peeled her towel away.
In that split second, Xia Lei¡¯s heart thundered. The baseline that he so painstakingly built shook, threatening to crumble at any given moment.
A scar was forming on Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s wound, meaning that it had recovered well. Honestly, there was no need to dress her wound anymore. Xia Lei knew what her intentions were. She was asking for him to keep his promise at the pyramid. But wasn¡¯t the promise just a pile of mess? Xia Lei had never once agreed to it consciously.
Tsukino Kyoko turned around, looking at him deeply. ¡°Just once. Please fulfil my wish.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s first response was to shake his head but his mind felt like it was filled with lead. It was so heavy that he couldn¡¯t shake it. The woman before him was someone ready to die for him. Tsukino Kyoko was attracted to him and had feelings for him. It was just a simple wish too. How could he bear to reject her?
Tsukino Kyoko offered him a reassuring smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Your wives will not hear about this. I can guarantee that.¡±
Xia Lei nodded lightly, the notion ever so slight. At this point, he wasn¡¯t if he had just agreed to her advances. However, this subtlety did not hinder the female ninja from making a deduction. A sweet and bright smile bloomed across her face. Then, she reached over to grab at the simple knot on her towel and began to pull it outwards.
Xia Lei inched closer...
Ding dong! Ding dong!
The doorbell rang out of the blue.
Chapter 1020 - Well, Fuck Them Then!
They were only two centimetres apart.
The couple urgently halted their actions, turning their heads to the door anxiously.
Tsukino Kyoko could not see what was outside the door, reaching out to grab her pistol on reflection. It was only then that she realized she was unarmed. She was only d in a towel that was now on the carpet.
What Tsukino Kyoko couldn¡¯t see, Xia Lei saw. Waiting at their door were two hotel attendants, one female and one male, with a room service cart. He let his eyes scan through their faces. With that, his tensed nerves were soothed.
The two attendants were Sa¡¯im and Yelena.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the room service cart. And as expected, Anjum Khan was indeed hiding within its storagepartment.
Yelena reached an arm and pressed on the doorbell again.
Ding dong. Ding dong.
¡°Who is it?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was still on high alert.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°It¡¯s Yelena, Sa¡¯im and Anjum Khan. They made it here.¡±
Hearing that, Tsukino Kyoko sighed in relief. But soon, her brows were furrowed again. ¡°Damn...what timing...¡±
Xia Lei shrugged and feigned innocence.
Tsukino Kyoko mbered up from the sofa and answered the door.
The first thing that weed Yelena¡¯s sight was the face of a Native American. The face of a stranger immediately prompted her to reach over to the back of her waist, preparing to draw her gun.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Come in.¡±
Recognizing his voice, Yelena and Sa¡¯im immediately responded. They pushed the cart inside without a word.
Xia Lei closed the door. ¡°How did you find us here?¡±
Sa¡¯im answered, ¡°As long as your satellite phone is on, we¡¯ll be able to find you.¡±
Yelena chimed, ¡°Boss, aren¡¯t you aware of that? Why the sudden question? You don¡¯t look too good either, is everything alright?¡±
All Xia Lei could think of was Tsukino¡¯s soft pale mounds. But he had intended to distract their attention with the question.
¡°Boss.¡± Anjum Khan crawled out of the cramped storagepartment with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re surprised to see me here.¡±
Xia Lei returned him a chuckle. ¡°I could smell your curry scent even before you came in.¡±
Anjum Khan shrugged nonchntly. ¡°Dude, I haven¡¯t eaten a single drop of curry for the past few days. How am I supposed to smell like curry? Hey Kyoko, do I smell like curry?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko only red at him, but the motion was notced with anger.
Yelena seemed to have picked up on something. The woman moved over to Xia Lei¡¯s side to whisper, ¡°Boss, what were you doing with Kyoko earlier?¡±
¡°Noth...¡± Guilt was starting to weigh on Xia Lei.
Yelena gave a soft pat on the top of his shoulder. In a hushed tone, she said, ¡°There¡¯s a strand of her hair on your shoulder. I got it off for you, there¡¯s no need to thank me.¡±
A chicken really was a chicken. Her observation skill was top-notch.
At this moment, Tsukino Kyoko exited her room. This time, she was already dressed in gym shorts and a sports bra. The ninja was attempting to create an illusion that she had just finished working out. She put on a shocked expression upon exit. ¡°Yelena? How did you get here?¡±
The ghost of a mysterious smile appeared on the edge of Yelena¡¯s lips. The woman could see through their facade but she had made the civil decision to stay quiet.
¡°Kyoko, are you alright?¡± Sa¡¯im expressed his concern.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s answer was curt and almost nonchnt. ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± She knew Sa¡¯im had feelings for her but the attraction was one-sided. Plus, she had finally gotten to share a two-centimetre rtionship with Xia Lei after lengthy persuasion. There was just no chance for Sa¡¯im to earn his ce in her heart.
Sometimes, love had to be that way. Liking someone did not mean that you would be in a rtionship with them. One-sided attraction hurt, but it was part of life.
Xia Lei switched the topic. ¡°Tell me, what happened the day before yesterday? You were gone as soon as we got out. We couldn¡¯t even reach you and then the Israeli soldiers had arrived.¡±
Yelena said, ¡°After you went in, there was no signal for the satellite phone. We were not able to contact you and Kyoko in time. That ce was being watched. We found Mossad¡¯s informants moments after you¡¯ve entered the mountain. We couldn¡¯t contact you but we needed to distract Mossad. If they noticed that you¡¯ve entered, all they needed was to wait at the exit for you.¡±
¡°You did the right thing. As long as everyone is safe, everything is alright,¡± reassured Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko warned, ¡°You need to leave this room soon. You can¡¯t be in here for too long or else things will start to get suspicious.¡±
Yelena¡¯s smirk was growingrger than before. She knew why Tsukino Kyoko was in a rush to chase them out. Again, Yelena chose to keep it to herself.
¡°I hid inside the cart, the surveince didn¡¯t capture my presence. I can stay,¡± said Anjum Khan.
Hearing that, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s lips were pulled into a tight line. Anjum Khan¡¯s reasoning was reasonable, there was no way she could find an excuse to chase him away. She was obviously upset. Why was it so darned difficult for her wish toe true?¡±
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°Anjum Khan, you can stay. Sa¡¯im and Yelena, you need to leave for the time being. Go change your clothes ande back. No need to worry about the corridor surveince, I¡¯ll find a way to blind them for the time being.¡±
Yelena, Sa¡¯im and Anjum Khan nodded.
The disappointment in Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s eyes was obvious. But this was Xia Lei¡¯s decision, she would not disrespect it.
With that, Yelena and Saim took their leave and left behind Anjum Khan.
Tsukino Kyoko returned to her room. Xia Lei engaged Anjum Khan in a short exchange before the former left to her room. He forwent the knocking to head inside straight. Tsukino Kyoko wasying t on her chest on top of the bed.
Other than Xia Lei, who else would dare to enter her room without knocking? Hence, there was no need to turn around to check who it was.
Xia Lei went to the side of her bed. He coughed lightly. ¡°Kyoko, about earlier...¡±
It was then that Tsukino removed the pillows that covered her head. She flipped around. The gaze she trained on Xia Lei was hot and desperate. Her aura was different. She shifted her body, forming an alluring curve with the peaks of her chest and her t abdomen. No matter how he looked at it, the ninja¡¯s body was mature and incredibly seductive. She looked amazing.
Xia Lei braced himself. ¡°Kyoko, about earlier... I¡¯m so sorry, I was too rash.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s gaze was unwavering. ¡°Why are you apologizing?¡±
Xia Lei shrugged.
¡°Boss, they¡¯re here.¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s voice interrupted them from the living room.
Xia Lei responded, ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look. You should change and join us too.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded with a small smile, bowing to send him away. In that instance, the pliant qualities of the Japanese women shone through.
Sliding out of the door, Xia Lei allowed himself to rx before controlling his nerves. It allowed his body to revert back to its usual state. If he did not do that, Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im would be able to pick up on what was going on between him and Tsukino Kyoko off the bat. Anjum Khan would probably be nonchnt about it but Sa¡¯im... A potential problem was threatening to manifest. Xia Lei was aware of the Iraqi¡¯s feelings towards Tsukino Kyoko. The knowledge made the entire situation ten foldsplicated. It was a tough spot to be in.
In the living room, Yelena, Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im were already waiting for him on the couch.
Xia Lei approached them and faced his hackingptop towards them on the coffee table. Then, he unfolded the device.
The awakened screen showed surveince footage from 48, St. Cross Street.
¡°What is this ce?¡± Sa¡¯im asked curiously.
Xia Lei raised a brow. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡±
Sa¡¯im shook his head. ¡°No. I¡¯m from the Arabian side of the world. Israel is an enemy to us. I¡¯m not too familiar with things in Jerusalem and I don¡¯t dare to nt informants here. Who would dare to go against Mossad in their territory?¡±
Initially, Xia Lei was hoping that Sa¡¯im could provide more answers. It was quite surprising to learn that they were both equally clueless. The man said, ¡°Okay, let me exin.¡± He pointed a finger. ¡°I suspect that this is Mossad¡¯s headquarters or a sub-branch.¡±
¡°Boss, what are you trying to do?¡± questioned Yelena.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yesterday morning, I found that the FA members had gotten into contact with Mossad. They entered this building. Kyoko and I had paid this street a visit and I obtained a very surprising piece of information. It seems that a very important prisoner is confined in that ce. The FA members might be here for that prisoner.¡±
Anjum Khan gasped. ¡°Boss, you can¡¯t be thinking about attacking the Mossad office to rescue a prisoner we don¡¯t even know?¡±
Xia Lei fell silent. ¡°This is a very risky operation. I cannot have you all shoulder the risks for my own sake. How about we vote to decide this. If the majority opposes the idea, we¡¯ll scrap it.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Tsukino Kyoko answered from behind him. She was dressed casually this time.
Yelena snorted. ¡°Boss, why do you always pull this trick? The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team does not need fake democracy. You¡¯re our leader, you¡¯re our boss. We¡¯ll do whatever you want us to do. We¡¯ll heed your orders.¡±
Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im agreed. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll willingly follow you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart felt warm. He bent over and brought up his bag thatid against the side of the couch. He ced it on the coffee table and pulled the zipper open. Swiftly, the crystal skull was brought out and disyed to them.
Yelena, Sa¡¯im and Anjum Khan gawked at it.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°This is the reason why I need to find out who the prisoner is. I think the FA¡¯s presence had to do with our current operation.¡±
Yelena was fast to answer. ¡°Well, fuck them then!¡±
Chapter 1021 - The Wild Beast Behind Bars
There was a light drizzle that morning. The drynds of Jerusalem had finally gotten its share of moisture, bringing the scent of spring to the ancient city.
Harde exited the diner with a bag in his grip. It was his staple- sour pickles and a very dark and tough rye bread. The man crossed the street and entered Number 48, St. Cross Street.
The guards at the door greeted him and he returned a polite smile.
He walked past the lobby and entered a corridor. At the end of the walkway was a stone staircase. He ascended it and entered another corridor. The light was scarce in the confined space and the air was moist.
Both sides along the corridor were cell rooms that looked ancient. Some of the stone walls within were carved with Arabic words that praised their God. There were even strings of words that talked about finding freedom and love. From the content littered over the wall, this ce had probably served as a holding cell for the prisoners of the Arab world during the Crusades.
Harde continued forward until he reached a door at the end of the corridor. Sturdy wood was used for the base of the door and the metal bars that provided it added security were immensely thick. On both sides of the door were braziers made of copper with the Crusaders¡¯ emblem engraved on it. Despite that, the braziers were no longer in use. In ce of them was a LED ceilingmp. The cold white light that illuminated the space made everything particrly eerie.
Harde came to the door and unlocked it with a set of keys.
Behind the door was a cell of about twenty square metres. There was no bed. The closest thing that resembled one was a patch of dead weeds. On top of the pseudo bed was a man. His thin and ragged clothes veiled his malnourished body. The messy hair on top of his crown had grown past his waist. From the length of his hair, it was evident that it had been some time since he had arrived here. Perhaps it had been a few years or tens of years.
At a corner of the room was a wooden bucket filled with excretory products that emitted a foul stench. Despite everything, the long-haired male was soundly asleep. He wasn¡¯t even bothered by Harde¡¯s entry.
Harde tossed the food bag onto the bedding and kicked his thigh. He roughly eximed, ¡°Hey, bastard! Your food is here. Come on, wake the fuck up and eat! You¡¯ve got guests today.¡±
¡°Who?¡± The man finally cracked an eyelid open.
¡°Enough bullshit!¡± reprimanded Harde.
The man abruptly sat up from the weeds and threw a stomp towards Harde¡¯s groin. When heid among the weeds, he looked like a severely abused dog on the verge of death. However, when he attacked, his speed and uracy were like a venomous snake that lurked between the grass. He was harmless when stationary but as soon as he leapt into action, he was a threat!
Harde frantically stepped back.
nk! The man¡¯s iing limb was held back by metal chains, leaving only a gap of two centimetres between his toes and Harde¡¯s groin. It was so close yet so far tond a hit. But this was the extent his shackles had allowed him to go.
Even so, Harde was shocked. Agitated, the man reached for his Desert Hawk. Harde pointed its muzzle in between the prisoner¡¯s forehead. ¡°Bastard! Do you think I won¡¯t kill you?!¡±
The prisoner lifted his arm, swept his fringe away, finally revealing his face. It was a sharp and sunken face. His facial hair was long, adding age to his appearance. Despite that, theck of wrinkles at the end of his eyes was an indication of his youth. He looked downright awful and yet, his eyes were sharper than a hawk.
There was arge cobra tattoo on his raised arm. Its green body, red eyes and tongue looked particrly maleficent.
¡°If you wanted to kill me, you wouldn¡¯t have sent me food. You¡¯re nothing but a lowly subordinate, quit acting like some bigshot.¡± The man finally spoke. His voice was hoarse and cold. Every word reeked of disdain.
Harde lunged forward and knocked the man¡¯s head with the pistol.
The man silently stared at Harde.
It was then that Harde came to a realization, abruptly halting his attack and stepped back to safety. He scoffed and shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t be fooled. The guy you killed three years ago. How long did it take you to agitate him?¡±
¡°Two years.¡± The long-haired man answered. ¡°You¡¯re smarter, but it¡¯s all the same. One day, I¡¯ll kill you. If I manage to escape this ce, I¡¯ll imprison your wife and children. I¡¯ll feed them sour olives and rye bread every single day. I¡¯m sure your wife would love the taste of my thick cock.¡±
Harde suppressed his rage. ¡°Keep dreaming, you¡¯re bound here for eternity. This is where you¡¯ll end your life. I suggest that you spill everything you know before it¡¯s toote. As long as you spit it out, you¡¯ll be free of this torment. You can enjoy freedom in hell by then.¡±
The long-haired man stared at the food bag on the floor. A sh of hatred whizzed through his eyes and he stomped on it hard.
The bag broke apart, the rye bread ttened by the force. The sour olives were not spared.
Harde scoffed. ¡°Stop doing unnecessary things like this. You know better. All the food you destroy, you will still eat. This is all you have for a day. This portion is only enough for one meal. You¡¯re hungry all the time. I bet you¡¯ll eat a dead rat if there was one, let alone this trashbination of a meal.¡±
¡°Fuck off.¡± The long-haired man returned to his weed stash, no longer sparing Harde attention.
At this moment, the door was pushed open. Among the three that entered the cell, there was only one familiar face to Harde. The man quickly straightened his posture and saluted the man.
¡°Mister Kerns.¡±
The only familiar person was a tall man named Kerns. The man seemed to be about forty years old. Kerns was a high-ranking intelligence officer that served Israel¡¯s Mossad. His position was second only to Ib, the head of the Israel Intelligence and Special Mission Agency, who was also the leader of Mossad.
The two other presence alongside Kerns was Yan Fo and Augustan.
¡°Harde, please excuse yourself.¡± Kerns order was stern.
¡°Understood.¡± And with that, Harde left.
Kerns waited a few moments after Harde¡¯s departure before he introduced the prisoner, ¡°This is him. He¡¯s got no name so we call him the hyena. He spent five years in Guantanamo Bay and five years with us. But neither the Americans nor us could make him speak.¡±
¡°So he¡¯s the one who found the AE capsule?¡± questioned Yan Fo.
Kerns nodded. ¡°Yes. But still this day, we have no idea where he found it from or how he hade to learn about its existence. He killed everyone who had the knowledge. He¡¯s the only one who knew the truth but he wouldn¡¯t relent.¡±
¡°I think I know just the way to make him speak,¡± said Yan Fo.
Still lying on the patch of weed, the long-haired man opened his eyes. He turned around and spared Yan Fo a nce, a lofty smile manifesting on his lips.
If the wardens of the Guantanamo prison nor the Mossad agents could make him talk, what gave this bastard the confidence?
Yan Fo locked eyes with the man, a cold smirk ying on his lips as well. ¡°I know that the Americans and Mossad couldn¡¯t get you to speak. But I got to tell you that I¡¯m not one of them. Have you heard of the FA Organization? I¡¯m specialized in interrogation. Please, enjoy.¡±
The man abruptly stood and reached for Yan Fo¡¯s neck. His fingernails were long, like wolf paws made of engineered stic.
Yan Fo was unfazed, letting Augustan punch the man.
Bam! Augustan¡¯s fist attacked his palm like a missile. Following the muted thud, the long-haired man was sent flying. His back smashed against the rock wall harshly. The moment his right arm had slid down, Augustan¡¯s punch was directed to his right palm. The sound of bone cracking rang out from within his body.
As the chief instructor of the FA Organization who had trained skilled assassins like Dark Mona and Sirita along with countless disciples, his capabilities were evident.
The long-haired man stared at Augustan with amazement. ¡°Who are you?¡±
Augustan¡¯s reply was calm. ¡°You¡¯re just a man on the verge of dying. What¡¯s the point of knowing my name? What you need is freedom, not irrelevant answers like this.¡±
The long-haired man uttered, ¡°FA Organization, huh? I know of your existence. But I¡¯m not going to tell you anything you wish to know. Quit dreaming already.¡±
¡°Guess we gotta try.¡± Yan Fo said with utmost confidence. The eerie surge of confidence reeked trouble. His odd demeanour had onlysted for a second before Yan Fo regained hisposure.
Kernsined, ¡°We really racked our brains for this guy. When do you n to start?¡±
¡°We¡¯re still waiting for Mister Williams¡¯ instructions.¡± Yan Fo uttered, ¡°He¡¯s probably going to lend us one of the American military bases here. We¡¯ll be executing this in an area under his control.¡±
Kerns scowled. ¡°This wasn¡¯t what we agreed to. The secrets this man holds is very important to us. Are you trying to keep the knowledge to yourself?¡±
¡°No. Anything I obtained, the Mossad would obtain too. I¡¯m sure you know how the rtionship between America and Israel is like, yes?¡±
Kerns pondered for a moment. ¡°But I insist on overseeing it myself.¡±
Yan Fo replied, ¡°That is not an issue. When can we bring him away?¡±
¡°I would need to report this to Mister Ib first. We¡¯ll inform you with a confirmed time soon,¡± answered Kerns.
Yan Fo and Augustan exchanged looks and nodded.
Chapter 1022 - The CIA Tenshin System
Half an hour ago.
A Native American couple entered at the start of St. Cross Street and began their leisurely pace down the path. The petite woman had her arms hooked around the man¡¯s arm intimately, not fazed by the brush of his elbow against her soft chest.
¡°He went in.¡± Tsukino Kyoko reported, ¡°He¡¯s probably buying the same food again. Disgusting sour olives and rye bread.¡±
Xia Lei confirmed, ¡°Yeah, it is the samebination again. His name is Harde. He¡¯s using this method to torment their prisoner.¡±
¡°A prisoner that the FA is interested in and chose to engage in a time like this. I wonder who it is? I¡¯ve got no clues to assume either,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei gazed down at her. ¡°What are you referring to by time like this?¡±
¡°After the pyramid crumbled,¡± answered Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re forgetting something.¡±
¡°What did I forget?¡± Tsukino Kyoko looked at him with curious eyes.
¡°That I¡¯m dead.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I¡¯m dead now but the CIA is not going to let up. Their target is no longer me but the source of the AE capsules. They¡¯re trying to investigate what happened years ago and obtain some clues from within. That¡¯s why the FA members are here. The current FA Organization is nothing but ap dog reared by the American government.¡±
¡°You¡¯re right, I forgot about that,¡± agreed Tsukino Kyoko as she tightened her hold around Xia Lei¡¯s arm.
Xia Lei felt sheepish but tolerated her advances. It was all he could do for now. This was the consequences of his rashness. While they had only enjoyed a two-centimetre rtionship, it was enough verification of their rtionship for the Japanese woman. Plus, it didn¡¯t help that they were disguised as a young couple.
The two of them entered the diner opposite number 48, St. Cross Street.
Xia Lei ordered their meal and began enjoying his breakfast with Tsukino Kyoko. His took his time, slowly enjoying his breakfast while using his X-ray vision on the building across them.
Tsukino Kyoko studied the situation inside the diner through the corner of her eyes.
A waiter was walking over with two egg tarts.
Tsukino Kyoko kicked at Xia Lei under the table.
Xia Lei shed her a faint smile of gratitude.
¡°Good morning, mister and miss.¡± The waiter greeted them courteously. ¡°Thank you for supporting us, I noticed that this is your second visit here. Please enjoy these egg tarts. It¡¯s free of charge and we hope that you can continue to be our patron.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, replying to the waiter in English. ¡°Thank you.¡±
The waiter set the pastry down on their table. ¡°Are you from America?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re from the Pine Ridge in South Dakota. We¡¯re from the Sioux tribe.¡±
¡°Oh. Though I haven¡¯t been there, I¡¯m sure that ce is lovely,¡± said the waiter.
At this moment, Tsukino Kyoko quickly inched over and pecked Xia Lei¡¯s cheek. ¡°Darling, you should eat it soon. Your food is getting cold.¡±
¡°Oh, right.¡± Xia Lei responded and took the chance to end the conversation with the waiter. However, the man offered the waiter a five USD bill.
The waiter left them alone with a bright smile.
Xia Lei used his X-ray vision on the waiter, finding no weapons or spy bugs on him. Despite that, he needed to keep his guard up. This diner was located across a Mossad base. Who would be surprised if Mossad nted agents in every building on this street?
Xia Lei turned back to train his vision on the ancient building. This time, he attempted to locate Yan Fo and Augustan from the FA Organization.
Finally, he found them in an office on the third floor. When he noticed them, a new face had just joined them in the space. The man was led by an Israeli agent.
Prating through the thick curtains, Xia Lei locked his gaze on their faces and read their lips.
They spoke English.
¡°Mister Kerns.¡± As soon as the door was shut, Yan Fo was direct. ¡°We¡¯ve received information that a mountain had copsed on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Is that true?¡±
Kerns was taken aback. ¡°Who did you hear that from?¡±
¡°We¡¯re from the same field, why the unnecessary question?¡± Yan Fo squinted.
Kerns shook his head. ¡°It is possible that something like that happened but I¡¯ve not received any relevant intel. I¡¯ll rectify it soon. Mister Yan, why are you so interested in this incident?¡±
¡°You know what we¡¯re here for. We¡¯re here on behalf of America¡¯s interest and we work for their government. We¡¯re investigating this under Mister Williams¡¯ instructions,¡± said Yan Fo.
¡°Are you trying to threaten us with the CIA?¡± Something akin to anger shed through Kerns¡¯ eyes.
¡°Mister Kerns.¡± Augustan, who had been quiet throughout the exchange, had finally spoken. ¡°That is not our intention. What America wants, you want too. Your country has been conducting this investigation for years and yet you¡¯ve found nothing. A genuine coboration will help solve the problem.¡±
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s dead.¡± Kerns held his gaze. ¡°And you took the chance to shove your hands into my pocket and yet demand genuine cooperation. You¡¯re really...¡±
Yan Fo interjected his sentence. ¡°Mister Kerns, let me show you something.¡±
¡°What?¡± Kerns raised a brow.
Yan Fo retrieved a few photographs from the insides of his zer and pressed them into Kerns¡¯ palm.
The way Kerns held the photographs had obstructed half of it from Xia Lei¡¯s view. Despite that, the remaining half was enough to make him inhale sharply.
It was a picture of a corpse. The unfortunate soul was a very built ck man that had an array of impressive tattoos. He looked intimidating. On the steel table, his skull was cut open to reveal his brain. The most shocking thing about it was the size of his brain. It had shrunk to the mere size of a fist. It looked positively dehydrated and had signs of dposition while the rest of his body was free from such symptoms.
Kerns inspected the rest of the stack. It recorded different corpses but the same shrivelled and shrunken brain.
It did not require much thinking for Xia Lei to recognize who was the culprit. His heart throbbed with emotions. ¡°Zhu Xuanyue is alive! She¡¯s feeding! She¡¯s still in America!¡±
From a human¡¯s perspective, Xia Lei had hoped for her death. However, from the perspective of his personal sentiments, he wished that she was alive. Xia Lei always had conflicting feelings when it came to things relevant to Zhu Xuanyue.
In the office, Kerns ced the photographs on the table. ¡°Why are you showing me these?¡±
Yan Fo answered, ¡°Mister Kerns, did you not notice how unique the cause of their deaths was?¡±
¡°Indeed, it is unique. But what does it have to do with me? What does it have to do with Israel?¡± Kerns questioned sharply.
Yan Fo replied, ¡°Recently, hundreds of simr deaths were reported in America. In the beginning, relevant experts had thought that it was a rare brain-eating parasite. Eventually, the hypothesis was rejected because it was too much of a coincidence that all of them who died were charged with felonies. They were criminals, abusers and drug dealers. A parasite cannot choose its victims. This was a serial killers work¡±
¡°How would someone kill like this?¡± Kerns gasped. ¡°What weapon did they use?¡±
¡°I have no idea.¡± Yan Fo continued, ¡°But the CIA had used the Tenshin system to analyze the patterns. All of the obtained hints had pointed to Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that person dead already?¡± Kerns was baffled.
¡°He¡¯s dead but these mysterious deaths had started urring after his reported presence in America. He is the only advanced human to exist. The Tenshin system suspects that he had created an all-new virus that even America couldn¡¯t wrap their heads around.¡±
Kerns brows furrowed.
In the diner opposite the building, Xia Lei furrowed his brows too. He thought to himself darkly, ¡°Tenshin system? I¡¯ve never heard about it before. It¡¯s able to give them specific clues and involve me? This alone proves its value. Does it know about the virus I nted inside the CIA¡¯s intelligencework?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank with anxiety.
Yan Fo spoke again. ¡°Mister Kerns, the Tenshin system had also deduced a very interesting conclusion. I¡¯m sure you¡¯d like to hear it.¡±
¡°What is the conclusion?¡± Kerns lifted his gaze.
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s advancement and abilities are sourced from the AE capsule and the capsule originated from Israel. The source is here and who can guarantee that the virus is not here? Don¡¯t forget that Xia Lei had been to Israel and opened fire with the CIA. If you don¡¯t wish to cooperate with us, you won¡¯t be able to ess information provided by the Tenshin system. It¡¯ll be toote to do anything when the virus outbreak happens here,¡± warned Yan Fo. As the military officer of the FA Organization, Yan Fo had a way with words. It was more powerful and effective than weapons.
Augustan persuaded, ¡°Yes, working together is the best choice. Bring us to the mountain, we¡¯ll need to share with you all the information obtained in recent years.¡±
Kerns fell silent. ¡°Give me a moment, I¡¯ll go report this to Mister Ib.¡± With that, the man left the office.
Yan Fo and Augustan stared at each other without a word. In the office of a high-ranking Mossad intelligence officer, one careful inspection would allow you to pinpoint several minuscule cameras and spy bugs. These two were as cunning as a fox. They yed a game they knew well, opting tomunicate with their eyes instead of words.
Xia Lei took the chance to rest his eyes. He picked up the egg tart and munched on it as he pondered about his next step. ¡°Israel has nothing to fight against America with. If America threatens Mossad with a new virus strain, the Americans would surely have their way. Yan Fo and Augustan will be heading to that mountain. Should I hand them a gift?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko lowered her voice. ¡°Boss, we¡¯ve been here for too long. We need to leave or we¡¯ll attract suspicion.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated briefly. ¡°Give me another three minutes.¡±
Within that time frame, if Kerns did not return to his office, Xia Lei would leave with Tsukino Kyoko.
The ninja nodded.
Thankfully, Kerns was back in his office two minutester. ¡°Our boss has agreed to it. Come with me, I¡¯ll bring you to the mountain.¡±
Yan Fo smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±
At the same time, Xia Lei stood up from his seat in the diner. ¡°Let¡¯s go, shall we?¡±
And with that, Tsukino Kyoko took it as her cue to wrap her arms around his own.
Chapter 1023 - The Sewers Scenery
A convoy drove out of 48, St. Cross Street to embark on a journey to the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem. The formation consisted of four Desert Hunter armed off-road vehicles and bulletproof Mercedes Benzs. In the vehicles were Israel¡¯s best Special Force Troupe, ¡®Sword of David¡¯. While the other vehicles had carried special agents from Mossad. The total headcount of the convoy had reached a total of thirty people.
As the convoy had exited St. Cross Street, an unassuming Ford Raptor pickup truck began its journey on another path towards the eastern suburbs of Jerusalem.
The Ford Raptor had carried five people. Xia Lei and the four Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. The driver of the day was Sa¡¯im, the Iraqi. As of now, Sa¡¯im had on the face of a Mexican.
¡°Boss, do we follow them?¡± Sa¡¯im questioned.
Tsukino Kyoko, Yelena and Anjum Khan ced their attention on Xia Lei. This was not a simple decision to make. This was ultimately a choice that concerned their life and death. The amount of personnel that left 48, St. Cross Street earlier was sufficient to take down more than three hundred people. They, on the other hand, only had five people to spare. Another problem was that Mossad agents were able to call for air support within minutes. As soon as the battle began, there was no turning back.
Xia Lei was very aware of the circumstances. He wished to get rid of both Augustan and Yan Fo. He wasn¡¯t going to get a better shot than this one. However, he would be subjected to another endless chase after the first shot rang out. This was essentially making the conscious choice to die!
His dilemma shed loudly in his mind. It took him ten seconds to settle on a decision. ¡°Stop the car.¡±
Sa¡¯im mmed hard on the brakes, stopping the Ford Raptor violently.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°More than thirty people had left Mossad¡¯s base. Based on my observation, there are twenty-eight Mossad agents and eight members of the Special Force. With so many people gone, infiltrating their base would be .¡±
¡°Haha!¡± Anjum Khan guffawed. ¡°Boss, even if we fail, attempting to infiltrate Mossad¡¯s headquarters would shake the world!¡±
Xia Lei was reminded of the conversation between Yan Fo and Kerns. ¡°No, 48, St. Cross Street is not their headquarters. It¡¯s just a very important base to Mossad.¡±
¡°Boss, are you sure about that?¡± asked Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes. We¡¯ve ignored a very tant fact. This is Jerusalem, a holynd to many Arabians. Israel had built its nation on this piece ofnd and made Jerusalem the capital. However, most of their most important government departments are not here. This is a decision made for the sake of security. The Mossad¡¯s headquarters is equivalent to the CIA¡¯s Langley headquarters.¡±
Sa¡¯im pped a palm harshly against his forehead. ¡°Ah, shit! How could I miss something as simple as that!¡±
Xia Lei continued, ¡°With twenty-eight agents dispatched from the base along with the addition of eight Special Force members stationed here, there isn¡¯t much left to pose a threat at the base. This is our best opportunity.¡±
Yelena gnawed on her lip worriedly. ¡°Boss, you need to think this through. We¡¯re in Jerusalem. As soon as we open fire, Israel¡¯s Emergency Response Force would arrive within a few minutes.¡±
Xia Leiughed lightly. ¡°There¡¯s no need to fire.¡±
¡°Huh? How should we approach it then?¡± Tsukino Kyoko could no longer suppress her curiosity. Xia Lei¡¯s calmness and wisdom on the battlefield were the qualities that pulled her in like a ma.
Xia Lei trained his gaze on Sa¡¯im. ¡°Sa¡¯im, dispatch your Middle Eastern intelligencework immediately. I¡¯ll pay you twenty million USD. Can you have your people create some ruckus in the Gaza Strip around the borders? After that, have them arrange a safe escape route for us. After the retreat isplete, I will pay them another twenty million USD.¡±
¡°Forty million USD? Long live Ah.¡± The excitement in Sa¡¯im¡¯s tone was obvious. ¡°The sum is enough to have them do whatever you wish. Fighting a battle is no issue.¡±
Xia Lei turned to Yelena. ¡°Yelena, I need you to locate the optical fibre of the St. Cross Street base within twenty minutes. After that, wait for my signal to cut it off.¡±
The woman nodded.
Following that, Xia Lei turned to face Anjum Khan. ¡°Anjum Khan, find the underground gas pipeline of St. Cross Street and nt timed explosives at three points that will not harm the civilians. The timer of the bombs should be set for half an hour. After you¡¯re done, drive around the area ande pick us up at the twenty-five-minute mark and we¡¯ll leave.¡±
Anjum Khan nodded. ¡°No problem.¡±
Xia Lei checked his multifunctional watch. ¡°It¡¯s 9:09 now, the timer shall start at 9:10.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko asked, ¡°What about me?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°You¡¯lle with me. We¡¯ll enter the base and rescue the prisoner.¡±
Hearing that, the edges of Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s lips were curled ever so slightly. She knew that Xia Lei had allowed her to y a part in the most important portion of the n due to her forte. Be it any usible reason, Tsukino was just happy to be able to work with him.
One minuteter, four people emerged out of the Ford Raptor.
Yelena picked up her pace, searching for the optical fibres as she walked.
Sa¡¯im pulled out his phone to make calls as he walked briskly.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei led Tsukino Kyoko into 48, St. Cross Street. On his back was his trusty backpack that contained hisptop along with other pieces of gear. Tsukino Kyoko was carrying a backpack as well but its contents were mainly weapons and explosives. Her usual katana was absent but the ninja had made sure to bring along her dark stealth attire.
Anjum Khan drove the Ford Raptor into another road. He kept a steady speed as he attempted to figure out theyout of their underground pipeline.
Xia Lei continued to walk as he studied his desired entry point, using his X-ray vision to aid his judgement. A few minutester, he finally stopped before about a hundred metres away from 48, St. Cross Street to enter a two-storey building.
The entrance to the building was locked.
Xia Lei approached the door and picked the lock open with a steel wire. He then entered the ce with Tsukino Kyoko behind him.
¡°Guard the door. No matter whoes in, knock them out,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko nodded obediently and took her ce beside the door.
Xia Lei removed his bag and brought out hisptop. Two minutester, he gained ess into the Jerusalem Municipal Sanitation Bureau¡¯s database. It took another minute for theptop screen to disy the underground drainage system n of St. Cross Street and its surrounding streets.
Studying the two-dimensional image on the screen, what appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind was instead a three-dimensional model of the drainage system. He could see everything. From where the pipes would lead to, to the number of manhole covers and size of the sewer along with everything else. His brain had grasped it all.
Finally, his attention was captured by a shaded area on the map. The peculiar area had faced the ancient building that was 48 St.Cross Street.
Realizing something, Xia Lei smirked. ¡°A very important prisoner has been held at 48 St. Cross Street for god knows how long. Would a ce like that not have underground dungeons? If there is a dungeon, it is bound to have a drainage system. There¡¯s no way Mossad would have their agents handle their prisoner¡¯s excrement by themselves.¡±
Giving the n another look, Xia Lei finally folded theptop and returned it into his bag. ¡°Kyoko, let¡¯s change our clothes.¡±
¡°Change clothes?¡± Tsukino Kyoko stared at him in confusion, clearly clueless of Xia Lei¡¯s intention.
Xia Lei did not offer further exnation, quickly moving into a room to open a closet. Within its storage were overalls for sanitation workers. The man threw the crisp new overalls to Tsukino Kyoko while he took the used uniform. ¡°Put that on.¡±
It was then that Tsukino Kyoko had understood where he wasing from. She made a quick move to remove her bag and took off her denim jeans and jacket. Beneath her clothes was a matching set of white cotton undergarments. The bra covering her bosoms were thin and breathable, almost close to transparency. Xia Lei could see slight colour changes amidst the white magnolia-like scenery. There was a dash of mysterious ck and some pink. Its edges were hazy and suffocatingly seductive.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare to take another look, averting his gaze away immediately. He needed all the concentration he had for the operation. There was no room for error.
To be fairly honest, it was far from Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s intention to seduce the man. Her fingers worked deftly to put on the overalls Xia Lei threw over. While she was in the middle of changing, Xia Lei had managed to locate two sets of portable oxygen supply equipment from a toolbox. He took one and gave the other to the ninja.
To say that Tsukino Kyoko was bewildered was an understatement. How did Xia Lei know so much about this ce? This was his first time here. Not only did he know what the house owner had worked as, but he also knew where his work uniform was. The most shocking part was that Xia Lei was aware that the owner had a manhole cover in the backyard! Despite that, Tsukino Kyoko did not voice her confusion. She was starting to get used to his antics.
Putting on the oxygen supply gear, they left the room. Tsukino Kyoko had thought that Xia Lei was going to lead her out of the building. Surprisingly, they were headed for the backyard instead.
In the midst of lush greens and beautiful flowers was a cast-iron manhole cover.
Swiftly, Xia Lei pried it open with some tools and descended the irondder.
Tsukino Kyoko followed suit, remembering to pull the cover back to its original spot after her entry.
It was pitch dark underground. The oxygen supply gear that Xia Lei found had yed an important function in their operation. Without it, it was essentially impossible for a normal human being to breathe in such an environment.
Xia Lei turned on his tactical torch and waded forward in the filthy water. The building was only one hundred metres away from 48 St. Cross Street on the map but Xia Lei knew he had to walk at least three hundred metres to reach his destination.
¡°We need to hurry.¡± Adjusting himself to the environment, Xia Lei began to speed up through vehement twists of his waist.
Tsukino Kyoko did the same, the increased exertion of energy causing her proud chest to sway with the motion. It was a pity that there was no light to enjoy this impressive scenery.
Chapter 1024 - The Clash of the Ox
Three hundred metrester, Xia Lei paused in his tracks. He reached out and knocked at the cement walls behind the thick sewage pipes. Despite his vehement force, there was no echoing from beyond the cement walls. Under normal circumstances, the sound itself would¡¯ve been a good indication that there was no space behind the walls but Xia Lei knew otherwise. ¡°This is it, Kyoko. st this open.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was perplexed. ¡°But there was no echo. There¡¯s no space behind it. Are you sure you want to do that?¡±
Xia Lei was firm. ¡°Believe me, just do it.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko did not press on further. She took out the explosive device from her bag. The explosion offered by the custom directional explosive device was made to be quiet.
Xia Lei ced his palm on the wall again, giving it a light p this time. ¡°This spot, please.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko stered the device onto the spot Xia Lei pointed to and they both took ten steps back to avoid the explosion radius. As soon as they were safe, she pressed on the controller in her grip.
Boom! A muted noise rang through the confined underground system and shook the cement wall. It trembled and crumbled backwards.
Without even waiting for the soot and dust to settle, Xia Lei strode forward to the fresh opening. Beyond the wall was an even more ancient underground sewage system. It was tall, wide andparatively dry.
This was Jerusalem¡¯s ancient drainage system. Previously, Xia Lei had managed to locate the ancient tomb beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre through an underground system like this. 48 St. Cross Street was an ancient building that was built during the time of the Crusades. Hence, the ancient system would most definitely lead them there. It was clear now that the odd shaded area in the Sanitation Bureau¡¯s map was a part of the ancient system. Mossad probably did not wish for the general public to find out.
¡°There¡¯s actually a drainage system? Boss, you¡¯re amazing!¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s eyes were positively glistening with admiration.
Xia Lei crossed into the opening. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯re running out of time.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko quickly trailed closely.
After a twenty metre trek, the once t ancient drain ditch had an abrupt two-metre drop. He jumped down without an ounce of hesitation.
Tsukino Kyoko did the same.
It took Xia Lei another ten metres and an exit from a well appeared before him. His gaze shifted to study the sewage well, a gush of filthy water just so happened to drop from above. Xia Lei broke into a smile. ¡°This is it, we found it.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko came closer. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that this well will lead us to 48 St. Cross Street?¡±
Xia Lei returned her a nod. ¡°The underground dungeon of 48 St. Cross Street to be exact. The well is the drainage system for the cells. We¡¯ll climb up from here, find the prisoner and rescue him.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko had her doubts. ¡°If it¡¯s a cell up there, it surely wouldn¡¯t have only one prisoner. We¡¯ve never seen them before, how are we going to know who to bring away?¡±
The question was simple but it was a valid concern. In fact, it was one of Xia Lei¡¯s worst worries. He had considered the thought but his mind could not arrive at a good solution. The only thing he could depend on was his left eye and brain. To be fairly honest, this operation was essentially a gamble. The addition of a left eye and a brain along with luck might seem wobbly to others but Xia Lei was confident enough to give it a shot. Truthfully, even if the sess rate was only half, Xia Lei would still try it out!
¡°Watch your step and follow me.¡± Xia Lei began to climb the metaldder. The streams of filthy sewage asionally sshed onto him. Despite donning an oxygen mask, the stench was still so intense that it was nauseating.
Tsukino Kyoko, who was only one step below Xia Lei¡¯s hovering butt, faced the same fate. The foul smell caused her brows to crease.
They continued to climb three metres until a steel manhole cover cut their path. Xia Lei activated his X-ray vision and let it prate through the cover. Soon enough, he could see that it was a public shower and toilet, where the prisoners took care of their hygiene.
At the moment, it was unupied. The tiled room was empty and silent.
Xia Lei ducked his head down and pushed the cover upwards with his back. It must¡¯ve been a long time since the cover was removed, as the rust that formed around its edges had made it incredibly stubborn. Xia Lei rammed his spine against it twice to no avail.
¡°Shit, it¡¯s rusted.¡± Xia Lei felt his mood dampen. Everything had gone well up to this point but the rusted manhole cover was something he did not calcte.
Nothing was perfect. Even an extremely intelligent person could not have seen thising.
¡°Why don¡¯t we st it away?¡± Tsukino Kyoko suggested.
¡°No! If we execute an explosion here, Mossad agents would hear it!¡±
¡°Then what should we do?¡± Tsukino Kyoko checked her wristwatch, anxiety bubbling in her heart. ¡°We only have eighteen minutes. We won¡¯t be able to make it on time with dys.¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± Xia Lei mmed against it once more, using all his might this time. The force had knocked the airs out his lungs. He sounded like an ox in the middle of a rice field.
Unfortunately, the manhole cover did not even move an inch.
The cover was not welded and no guardrails were installed in ce. The surprisingck of security structure was because Mossad knew its structure like the back of its hand. Only a handful of people had the knowledge. The drainage system used in 48 St. Cross Street was mainly this ancient system. Ever since its first upancy, the manhole cover was not removed for more than five times. Each removal would cost a fortune and who would care about it if they knew that it was incredibly tough to open?
Another minute was wasted. There were only seventeen minutes left until their retreat. Xia Lei was anxious. It would be a joke if the operation had failed merely due to a rusted manhole cover.
Suddenly, Tsukino Kyoko abruptly climbed upwards.
¡°Kyoko? What are you trying to do?¡± Xia Lei was taken aback.
Tsukino Kyoko offered no exnation. She removed her oxygen mask and pushed her torso closer.
¡°No!¡± Out of desperation, Xia Lei¡¯s body made a sudden jolt to avoid Tsukino¡¯s sneak attack. His urgency was as if he had gotten a bite from a venomous snake. The sudden burst of force was so immense that the rusted cover wobbled.
ck! The cover waspletely loosened, letting a ray of light shine through its gaps onto Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s face. Her smirk was evil, like a bully challenging her victim to retaliate.
¡°I¡¯ll make you pay after we get out!¡± Xia Lei reprimanded her sternly.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s reply was meek. ¡°Sure, no problem. You¡¯re free to punish me however you want.¡±
Xia Lei could only sigh internally. When would their weird mutual debt be cleared off? But the man had to admit that the ninja¡¯s boldness in some aspects was very mind-boggling.
The cover was moved aside to allow them an exit. Xia Lei was the first to climb out, quickly scanning through his surroundings with his ability. There was no one in themunal showers and toilet cubicles. He walked towards the door with caution in every step.
Outside themunal showers was a corridor and separated cell rooms nking its sides. All of it had looked old.
When Tsukino Kyoko came closer to his back, there was already a silenced Viper pistol and a poisonced shuriken in her grip.
Xia Lei whipped his head around to check on her, immediately surprised at the sight. The man reached over and removed a strand of ck hair from the top of her cherry lips. He discreetly hid it in his palm.
Oddly enough, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s cheeks were flushed red. Guess Xia Lei¡¯s motion wasn¡¯t exactly that discrete.
Despite that, the slight episode did not affect their performance.
Xia Lei opened the door and entered the corridor.
The dungeon cells along the corridor were vacant. It wasn¡¯t weird as this ce wasn¡¯t a professional prison. It only held special prisoners. The fact that Harde had to buy breakfast at the diner opposite the building exined the situation. Any prison that held a certain number of people would surely have its own kitchen and staff. Harde wouldn¡¯t need to buy breakfast if that was the case.
¡°I hope I¡¯m lucky enough to only find one prisoner in the dungeon. That person would surely be the one I¡¯m looking for. Looks like I¡¯m on a roll today.¡± The empty cells had brought some joy to Xia Lei. There was no longer the need to rack his mind over analyses and deduction. His steps felt lighter now.
Taking the corner, the corridor continued to extend forward. At the end of the corridor was a staircase made of stone. It spiralled upwards leading to the main base. Xia Lei¡¯s attentionnded on a wooden metal door on the side of the turning. Beside the tightly-shut door were two bronze brazier that seemed so ancient that it was out of use. The lit LEDmp that reced it was cold and eerie.
Xia Lei had a gut feeling. He took a step forward and allowed his X-ray vision to prate through the door. Immediately, the sight of a prisonerying on a stack of dried grass was projected into his brain.
The man looked positively horrible. His hair was a ruffled greasy mess. It looked like it had been months since hisst shower. The clothes on his back were tattered and filthy. The prisoner was curled into a fetal position on his pitiful excuse of a bed.
At that moment, Xia Lei caught sight of an exposed arm from his ripped sleeve. He could not believe it. On the prisoner¡¯s right arm was the tattoo of a cobra snake. Its body was green, its eyes and tongue were blood red.
All of a sudden, Xia Lei¡¯s mind was reminded of something. In that fated mountain body in the outskirts of Jerusalem, a built man had murdered a troop of Israeli archaeologists with a rain of bullets and took away the amber that contained the AE capsule...
So this was him!
Chapter 1025 - Out of the Dungeon
A few steps shy of the door, Xia Lei came to an abrupt halt. A simple lift of his chin had shown him a surveince camera pointed towards the sturdy cell door. If he took another two steps forward, he would be in in sight of the camera.
Right at the moment when his step faltered, Tsukino Kyoko gripped his elbow urgently. She too had noticed the same surveince camera in the corridor. However, her reminder was not as fast as his intuition.
Xia Lei checked his multifunctional wristwatch. There was still thirty seconds to spare before Yelena would cut off the optical fibres. He thanked himself for notmitting a trivial mistake. Anyone would be prone to look past something when they were riding on a high. Sometimes, a small error would be enough to bring severe consequences.
It didn¡¯t take long for thirty seconds to pass. Xia Lei locked his vision on the surveince camera, noticing the red warning LED bulb on the side of the device.
Yelena had managed to cut off the optical fibres of 48 St. Cross Street in the nick of time.
Xia Lei quickly strode over to the door and pried it open with tools within fifteen seconds.
With the metal barred wooden door open, Tsukino Kyoko and Xia Lei showed themselves in. The former closed the door behind her back. They had to be careful as the door was right opposite the rock stairway that led to the upper floors of the Mossad base. If anyone walked down, they would be able to see both Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko.
The pungent scent of shit and piss weed their senses. The air inside the cell room was horrible. Tsukino Kyoko couldn¡¯t help but furrow her brows. Like the majority of the female poption, she too wasn¡¯t a fan of filthy living conditions.
¡°Hey!¡± Xia Lei spoke in English. ¡°Wake up!¡±
The man with the cobra tattoo remained motionless. He looked to be asleep or he had just passed out.
Xia Lei came to his side and nudged him with his foot.
At that instant, the man suddenly flipped over on the hay bedding. His right foot aimed towards Xia Lei¡¯s weak spot between his legs!
One second ago he looked nothing better than a dying stray. In a blink of an eye, he had switched from a dead dog to a ferocious tiger. He was out for blood!
Caught by surprise, Xia Lei frantically lifted his right leg and blocked the iing assault with his tough knees.
m! The force sent Xia Lei wobbling, forcing him to take a small step back. There was not much bnce offered by one leg of support to begin with anyway.
The man with the cobra tattoo was in an unbelievably horrible state, yet his strength and speed were terrifying. If he was in his prime condition, his real capabilities would be invincible!
Failing his sneak attack, the man mbered from his spot on the ground. Before he couldunch another attack, Tsukino Kyoko was already pointing the silenced Viper pistol to his skull.
¡°One more movement and I¡¯ll shoot.¡± Her threat was icy.
And so the man heeded, no longer attempting to attack Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko. He was wary, unsure of the unfamiliar Native American faces. But if he had resumed his defence, the woman would certainly not hesitate to kill him on the spot.
¡°You¡¯re not part of Mossad. Who are you? The CIA?¡± The man with the cobra tattoo questioned. He too spoke English.
It was only natural for him to assume so due to their unannounced presence.
Xia Lei warned, ¡°Do you want to live? Come with us.¡±
¡°Not until you answer me!¡± The man did not budge. It was not that he had long given up on freedom. But if the two Native Americans were CIA agents, it would mean submitting to greater torment. It would make no difference.
¡°Bastard!¡± Tsukino Kyoko yelled. ¡°I risked myself for the sake of rescuing you! What the fuck are you thinking?!¡±
The man studied Tsukino Kyoko, then shifting his gaze onto Xia Lei. He seemed to be making his final guess.
¡°This is not the time to make our identities and intentions clear.¡± Xia Lei checked his wristwatch. ¡°We¡¯ve got eleven minutes to spare and we need to retreat out of St Cross Street within the time limit. I¡¯m giving you thirty seconds to think this through. Come with us or waste away. But I¡¯m sure you know that the FA Organization is going to bring you away very soon.¡±
¡°Twenty seconds left.¡± Tsukino Kyoko announced, helping Xia Lei keep track of time.
¡°Hmph!¡± The tattooed man scoffed coldly. ¡°You¡¯re trying to trick me? It¡¯s not the first time you¡¯ve done this to me. Did I even fall for thisst time?¡±
Just as Tsukino Kyoko was about to reprimand him, Xia Lei stopped her. It had been years since the man hadst learnt of freedom in this dingy filthy cell. The man was physically and mentally tattered by the countless torments and lies. There was no way he could easily trust someone anymore.
¡°Boss, his thirty seconds is up.¡± Tsukino Kyoko said as she spared the watch another look, reminding Xia Lei of the scarce time.
The person he was looking for was here in in sight and Xia Lei was reluctant to give up like this. He thought briefly and decided to rub his fingers along the edge of his cheek. It lifted a corner of the human face mask to reveal a span of his original skin.
Before Xia Lei had uttered another word, the tattooed man was already speaking out of shock. ¡°This... Where did you get a human face mask like that?¡±
To everyone¡¯s surprise, the man was speaking Chinese now!
Something thumped at Xia Lei¡¯s heart. ¡°You¡¯re Chinese?¡± He used the samenguage in response.
The man with the cobra tattoo refused to answer Xia Lei¡¯s probe. ¡°Tell me, where exactly did you get this human face mask from?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I made this myself.¡±
The man was riled up with emotions. ¡°Who taught you this?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll tell you more when we escape. Come on, we¡¯re running out of time.¡± Xia Lei urged.
¡°Fine, I¡¯lle with you. Help me with the chains.¡± The tattooed man had finally settled on a decision.
Xia Lei broke the metal shackles that restrained his ankles and wrists with a picklock. With the help of his X-ray vision, he could see every internal structure of the lock, which helped make the process effortless.
Tsukino Kyoko watched the tattooed man with caution when thest of the restraint had slid off his limb. If he had attempted any funny business, she would not hesitate to attack him. However, her worry was unnecessary. The man was content with no ns to seize the opportunity to injure Xia Lei. He merely exercised his limbs and followed Xia Lei out of the door.
But before they could exit, Xia Lei stopped. He raised his right arm and gestured with two fingers.
Tsukino Kyoko swiftly slid to one side of the door, Viper pistol raised to her cor bone. Xia Lei had signalled that there were two iing targets.
The tattooed man did not need any instructions from Xia Lei, smartly returning himself onto the hay bedding. He curled his body to hide the unlocked shackles beneath.
The three of them braced themselves.
Outside of the door came the sound of footsteps and chatter.
¡®One of the field agents already went to investigate it. Turns out it was a problem with the optical fibres. Nothing like this had happened before.¡± A deep voice muttered in Hebrew.
This voice was not a stranger to Xia Lei¡¯s ears. He could recognize that it was Harde¡¯s voice.
Another man replied, ¡°Sir, do you think this is a premeditated attack?¡±
Harde answered, ¡°We need to be careful. The FA members are known to be sly. Who knows if they had ns to extract this bastard themselves?¡±
¡°Sir, let me unlock the door.¡± Harde¡¯s subordinate came to the door and unlocked it.
The door opened and he strode inside. The sight of the motionless tattooed man entered his line of sight. Nothing out of the ordinary, the man was still the dead dog he had grown ustomed to.
¡°Man, this dude is such a pig.¡± Harde¡¯s subordinate entered the cell.
Poof! Before the man could notice anything, a bullet was driven into his skull. Warm blood sttered about and sshed against Harde¡¯s face.
Harde was fast, stomping both soles against the hard ground to leapt backwards. His gun was already out while in the middle of the action. He was prepared to scream and warn those above!
The moment his jaw had cked, another mass came flying out from the other side. Before he could even make out the face of his assaulter, a bullet had flown into his mouth and pierced through the back of his skull.
In the end, he could not produce a single word nor shot.
Harde¡¯s body slumped onto the cold hard ground.
Xia Lei¡¯s body finally came in contact with the floor. With a slight lift of both palms, the man regained his posture. ¡°Bring the bodies, we¡¯re leaving.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded and lifted the Mossad agent onto her back while Xia Lei lugged along Harde. They exited the damned space, not forgetting to rub off the blood trails with his shoes. If only they had more time to spare, Xia Lei would¡¯ve cleaned everything up. It was unfortunate that they didn¡¯t have that luxury.
The man with the cobra tattoo helped them out with the blood trail, running behind Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko towards themunal showers.
They had just merely gotten to the corner when the green light of the surveince camera returned. It was working again. Mossad had managed to fix the optical fibre issue with such unbelievable speed.
Stumbling into themunal showers, Xia Lei removed the manhole cover and threw Harde¡¯s body into it. Tsukino Kyoko repeated the motion with the corpse on her back. The three of them made their way into it and Xia Lei returned the cover to its original spot again. But in doing so, they left behind obvious trails. There were trails in the dungeon cell, along the corridor and even the pried manhole cover was one. However, Xia Lei could not afford to care at this point.
The moment they reached the bottom of the metaldder, the tattooed man stomped on Harde¡¯s head. He kicked at it, screaming at the top of his lungs to soothe his fury and hatred. ¡°Fuck you! You had an easy death! I¡¯ll find your family and have them see you in hell!¡±
His words and contorted expression sent shivers down Xia Lei¡¯s spine.
The man gave onest stomp to Harde¡¯s skull and proceeded to leave with Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko. Motionless in the contaminated sewage, Harde¡¯s skull was shattered and beyond recognition.
Crossing over three hundred metres worth of ancient pipe systems, they made it to the opening in two minutes.
Xia Lei passed his portable oxygen supply gear to the tattooed man. ¡°Wear this, oxygen levels are low here.¡±
¡°But what about you?¡± The man eyed Xia Lei weirdly.
Xia Lei shrugged. ¡°I can hold my breath for five minutes.¡± And as his sentence fell, he crossed over the opening and entered the sewage system.
Tsukino Kyoko followed suit wordlessly.
Watching their retreating backs, the man with the cobra tattoo could help but mutter to no one.
¡°Who the hell is he to him?¡±
Chapter 1026 - The Great Escape
In the peaceful backyard of a little building along St. Cross Street was a moving manhole cover. It was shifted from its resting ce and out came Xia Lei, Tsukino Kyoko and the man with the cobra tattoo. Xia Lei made a hasty kick to return the cover to its original state and left for the gate. There were only two minutes left until their promised extraction time.
Just as they left the building towards the beginning of St. Cross Street, a ring rm pierced through the air from the ancient building all of a sudden. Xia Lei whipped his head around and caught sight of the two Special Force members stationed at the entrance running into the base.
It was obvious that someone must¡¯ve noticed that the prisoner had escaped and the blood trails that littered the ground. Unfortunately for them, Kerns had brought away most of their field agents. There were very few field agents in there. Even the Special Force members guarding the door needed to be utilized.
However, Xia Lei was certain that this situation would onlyst for another few more minutes. Five minutester, the Rapid Response Force based in Jerusalem would arrive. When that moment arrived, it wouldn¡¯t merely be a small chase around the area. The entire city would be locked down for the operation!
¡°Quick! Quick!¡± Xia Lei urged.
Tsukino Kyoko and the tattooed man picked up their pace. The tattooed man was now wearing the overalls Xia Lei had donned earlier to avoid suspicion.
They had just reached the beginning of the street when a Ford Raptor pickup truck stopped urgently in front of them. The car door was opened and the three of them quickly scrambled in. Anjum Khan ignited the engine and drove into the road calmly before gradually increasing their speed.
With six passengers inside the Ford Raptor, space was limited.
Tsukino Kyoko moved to make space for Xia Lei, squatting in the gap between the seats. Her full behind was squashed against Xia Lei¡¯s knees. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t wish to sit but it was just too much of a hassle for everyone else in the vehicle to do so.
Xia Lei offered, ¡°It¡¯s going to be very tiring for you. It¡¯ll be a problem if the traffic police notice you. How about you sit on myp instead?¡±
Xia Lei had offered a proposition Tsukino Kyoko was more than happy to ept. She wordlessly plopped her ass down on his thigh.
The sensation of a soft mass of flesh against the top of his thigh and the pressure from her slim toned waist against his lower abdomen was infectious. So infectious that his sensitive groin was affected. Despite the dire situation they were in, his feelings were in turmoil. All of his boundaries were blurred in all of a sudden. As if she was aware of it, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s pale ass was restless. It backed into his body closer, squishing their parts together momentarily before pulling apart. The movement was discreet. Tsukino Kyoko was not doing that deliberately. Anjum Khan¡¯s choice of a route that involved ancient bricks instead of asphalt or cement roads. The vehicle and its passengers shook like a leaf with every distance taken. Before the Ford Raptor could even get out of the alley, Xia Lei was already spotting an erection. A very angry erection, in fact.
Tsukino Kyoko could feel the changes of Xia Lei¡¯s body obviously, a smirk sneakily manifesting on her lips. But she quickly regained herposure, hiding the tiny satisfaction she felt from the knowledge. This was her secret and she would rather not have anyone learn it.
The Ford Raptor finally got out of the alley. Ahead of them was an eightne road that circled the city. At the moment, the road was bustling with passing vehicles.
Anjum Khan had just driven the Ford Raptor onto the road when a long convoy of military off-road vehicles and armoured vehicles zoomed by from the opposite direction. In the skies were a handful of helicopters that were headed for St. Cross Street. The Rapid Response Team based in Jerusalem was dispatched at a moment¡¯s notice, just as Xia Lei had expected.
¡°Sa¡¯im, are the arrangements for our retreatplete?¡± Xia Lei questioned, disrupting the silence in the car.
Sa¡¯im answered, ¡°Everything¡¯s in ce, boss. The Rapid Response Team would only need ten minutes to lock the entire Jerusalem up. Before that, we¡¯ll be a distance away from this city. There will be people picking us up outside at the Gaza strip.¡±
¡°Do they know who we are?¡± Xia Lei questioned.
Sa¡¯im replied, ¡°Rest assured, boss. They only know money. They do not care about their identities. Didn¡¯t you mention that an enemy of an enemy is a friend? In their eyes, we are friends.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± Xia Lei curtly answered. He could see Sa¡¯im watching Tsukino Kyoko from the corner of his eyes. There was no mistake that the man was actually sad and dejected from the sight of the female ninja atop Xia Lei¡¯sp. Xia Lei could only sigh and think of ways to talk this through with Sa¡¯im after everything was over.
Sa¡¯im had feelings for Tsukino Kyoko but thetter did not reciprocate his sentiments. Xia Lei, on the other hand, was a husband to four wives and a father to four children. Their dynamics were more than a simple triangle rtionship. The root of the cause was the odd debt between him and Tsukino Kyoko. Xia Lei was certain he did not feel anything remotely romantic towards the ninja. The affection he felt towards her was at most familial.
A few minutester, Anjum Khan drove out of the ring road and exited the interchange and then drove towards the suburbs. Merely a minute after the Ford Raptor had left the road, the Jerusalem police set up a roadblock for inspection. Xia Lei¡¯s n had to be executed to the second. A minute¡¯s dy would¡¯ve ced everyone in a difficult situation.
Everyone could finally ease the tension as soon as they entered the outskirts.
Sa¡¯im made a call and turned around to announce, ¡°They¡¯re already waiting for us in the vige ahead. We have ten minutes to get there.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Everyone, eyes wide and alertter. If they try any funny business, you know what to do.¡±
Anjum Khan cackled. ¡°We could just get rid of them and save the sum!¡±
Sa¡¯im said nothing. It was obvious that the Iraqi did not wish for anything to go wrong. These were his contacts. If they had any ulterior motives, Sa¡¯im had no idea how to make it up to Xia Lei for the mishap.
Xia Lei seemed to sense his insecurity. He said, ¡°Sa¡¯im, there¡¯s no need to overthink this. Even if something were to happen, know that it isn¡¯t your fault. And uh, we should have a good talk when this is done with.¡±
Sa¡¯im shed Xia Lei a smile, seemingly aware of what the topic would be.
Xia Lei¡¯s worries resurfaced. He was now Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s human couch. The bumpier the journey, the more Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s ass was grinding against his crotch. And worse of all, his erection was only getting worse and worse.
The man with the cobra tattoo, on the other hand, had been silent ever since he climbed onboard. He observed everyone in the vehicle, mind seemingly upied with deep thoughts.
There were so many things that Xia Lei wanted to ask him. But this was not the right time for questions and Xia Lei couldn¡¯t bring himself to talk to the tattooed man for some reason as well.
A few momentster, the vehicle entered an Arabian vige. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were purely Jews, a small portion of their poption were Arabians too. They lived in the crevices of the country.
With Sa¡¯im direction, Anjum Khan pulled up into the yard of a farmhouse. Before the vehicle engine had even gone silent, four Arabians emerged from the building. The thickly bearded men were all armed with AK-47s.
Tsukino Kyoko reached for her gun on reflex.
Xia Lei grabbed her wrist. ¡°Calm down, observe before doing so.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded obediently and returned her Viper pistol to its holster.
Sa¡¯im left the car to talk to the four armed men.
At this moment, the man with the cobra tattoo spoke. ¡°These guys are armed members that lurk around the Gaza Strip. They can be a threat, you need to be careful.¡±
Xia Lei responded, ¡°You were locked away for years. You could still recognize them?¡±
The tattooed man turned to meet his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know them specifically but the emblem on their weapons tell me much. I recognize it.¡±
Xia Lei quickly averted his eyes over onto their weapons and there it was. An emblem that consisted of stars and a moon. Xia Lei had gained a new perspective on the man with the cobra tattoo. While he was locked away in the underground dungeon, he had never once given up on himself. His determination was so firm that his capabilities had not weakened the slightest bit through time. What was certain was that if Xia Lei were to provide him with a gun, the man would turn into a vicious coldblooded murderer immediately.
Sa¡¯im¡¯s exchange with the four Arabians ended shortly. The Iraqi turned around and called to them, ¡°Come down, everything is in ce.¡±
Everyone left the vehicle.
One of the Arabians waved an arm and eximed in his nativenguage. ¡°Come with me, keep silent and do not question anything or there¡¯ll be consequences!¡±
Xia Lei and his team followed the four Arabian men into a house. It was a simple one-bedroom property. The man who barked out the warning earlier lifted a Persian style carpet to reveal a wooden trap door. He opened it and beneath it was a tunnel.
Palestine had beenpletely blocked off by Israel and the Gaza Strip had severelycked medical care and supplies. This was also why people who inhabited the Gaza Strip possessed the ability to dig tunnels. It was not surprising that they were able to dig a path from Gaza into Egypt. But to have one that led into the Israeli territory was unheard of. If he hadn¡¯t seen it with his own eyes, Xia Lei would certainly find a hard time believing it.
¡°Put the sack over your head!¡± The armed Arabian man tossed a few ck sacks on the ground. His tone was incredibly hostile and his expression was fierce. ¡°And surrender all of your weapons!¡±
The unfriendly instructions had Xia Lei frowning. He replied in Arabic, ¡°What do you mean? We paid you forty million USD and this is the service we get? I can use the money to employ four thousand of you.¡±
¡°Bastard!¡± The Arabian raised the rifle in his arm and swung it downwards.
Xia Lei remained rooted but Tsukino Kyoko had already dashed to his front. While she had no guns, there was a shuriken in her grip.
¡°Stop!¡± Things were getting heated until their leader quickly grabbed ahold of his subordinate¡¯s rifle. ¡°They¡¯re not enemies!¡±
The Middle Easterners had hated the Americans and the Native Americans were caught in the middle of the chaos. Those who knew the history of America well would know that the whites were ruthless when it came to the massacre of the Native Americans. They were so close to causing their extinction.
The leader apologized, ¡°Sirs, I¡¯m terribly sorry. This tunnel is part of our warfare strategy and we have our own rules. I hope you can cooperate. It¡¯s fine to keep your weapons, but you must put on the sack.¡±
Sa¡¯im locked eyes with Xia Lei. This waspletely out of his control. Truthfully, he was already regretting everything. Xia Lei had allocated forty million USD to get the job done but his boss was clearly not getting the treatment he wished for.
Xia Lei relented, ¡°Sure, we¡¯ll put on the sacks.¡±
Xia Lei covered his head and pretended to be blind, inching his way into the tunnel. Following that, Tsukino Kyoko and the rest did the same and entered through the trap door.
Chapter 1027 - Perish, Greedy Bastards!
Space was scarce in the tunnel, but it was just enough to let an adult through. Two armed Arabians led them through it. Their leader and anotherrade were trailing at the back meaning Xia Lei and his team were sandwiched in between. The man was not at all affected by the ck sack over his head. Sadly, that wasn¡¯t the case for the others. The offset caused them to stumble and slow down.
Xia Lei would try to turn around once in a while to watch the two Arabians in the back, secretly observing them. He wasn¡¯t worried that they would attack them here because he had promised to pay them the remaining half after they had left Jerusalem safely. Twenty million USD was a gargantuan sum for an independent armed force like them. They needed that money to operate.
¡°Climb up. You¡¯re going to reach Gaza soon.¡± The leader spoke.
Xia Lei could obviously see the metal box on the metal rail. Yet, he pretended to be confused. ¡°Huh? Where do I climb up?¡±
The two Arabs in the front whipped their head around, one of them knocking the back of his gun against the box rudely. ¡°This is just a cart. Climb up and get in!¡±
¡°Oh, okay.¡± Xia Lei hovered his arms around like a blind man. It was only after his fingers came in contact with therge box that he carefully climbed on top. Following him, Tsukino Kyoko and the rest did the same.
The four Arabs joined them. Making sure they were settled, the leader pulled the lever on its electrical gear. The metal cart began to move forward at approximately fifty miles per hour.
In the moving cart, one of the armed Arabian members inched closer to whisper into their leader¡¯s ear. While his voice was inaudible, there was a pair of discreet eyes that were studying his lips.
¡°Sir, are we really going to let them loose after we get the money?¡±
The leader smirked in return. ¡°They were willing to pay forty million USD for a mere escape route. This is a rare chance. After we get out, we¡¯ll kidnap them with those waiting on the other side. I¡¯m sure we can easily earn another few million USD from the Native American.¡±
¡°What about everyone else other than him?¡±
¡°Are you seriously asking me that? Kill everyone else. We don¡¯t need to keep them alive,¡± answered the leader with a harsh whisper.
The man nodded, falling silent after that.
Xia Lei peeled his gaze away. Abruptly, he gasped and eximed in Chinese. ¡°Oh shit! I left my safe in our hotel back in Jerusalem. Crap... There¡¯s about one million USD inside and a diamond worth five million!¡±
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team turned their heads to the source. They understood what he was saying but no one could remember him owning a safe like that.
¡°Hey! What the fuck were you saying?¡± The leader warned.
Xia Lei yelled anxiously in Chinese. ¡°I was talking about my money, USDs and diamonds! They¡¯re worth six million USD in total! I left them in a hotel in Jerusalem!¡±
¡°Speak in Arabic!¡± The leader¡¯s gaze turned cold and dark.
Xia Lei did as instructed. ¡°I said I left a safe in a hotel back in Jerusalem. There¡¯s one million USD and a five million USD diamond inside.¡±
Hearing that, the leader¡¯s jaw had hung low.
Xia Lei sighed dramatically. ¡°Ugh, nevermind. I guess I won¡¯t be getting it back, it¡¯s just six million USD. It¡¯s barely enough to y a round of cards in Las Vegas.¡±
¡°You can tell us which hotel it was.¡± The leader swallowed his spit. ¡°I can have my men retrieve it for you.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was convincingly surprised.
¡°Of course. But you must pay us half of it,¡± said the leader.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s not an issue. Getting back at least three million USD doesn¡¯t sound bad. My room is on the top floor of Sheraton Hotel, room number 408. I left my room card at the hotel¡¯s storage room. It¡¯s safe with a password. The password is 908912. There¡¯s also a limited edition Patek Phillipe watch inside. It¡¯s my favourite. I hope you can bring it back to me.¡±
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were dumbfounded at Xia Lei¡¯s words. They were aware that those were tant lies but they couldn¡¯t figure out the rationale behind it.
The leader stopped the cart and turned to his nearest subordinate. ¡°Bring one with you and get the stuff from Sheraton hotel.¡±
¡°On it.¡± The Arabian leapt out of the cart. Another quickly rushed to get out of the moving box to join the other man, pushing hisrade out of the way in the process. It was obvious that he wanted to leech some wealth off the mini operation.
After they had left, the leader pulled the lever again. The cart continued to move forward.
The end of the tunnel felt so far away. Their journey continued, illuminated by the cheap fluorescent bulbs along the tunnel. To sit in a moving metal box in such a tunnel was an experience. It felt like a one way trip to gell.
Tsukino Kyoko gently ced her head on top of Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder de. But she did not utter a word.
Xia Lei seemed to realize something. He took the cue and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to add intimacy to their position.
This disy did not escape the leader in the back, but the man gave no response. After all, what the man had seen were two Native Americans. It was natural to assume that they were romantically involved.
The metal cart continued to zoom forward for a distance.
Finally, the leader¡¯s attention on Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko had faded. He looked away.
As he looked away, Tsukino Kyoko lowered her voice to a volume only audible to Xia Lei. ¡°Are they nning to kill us? Is that why you tricked two away?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s voice was hushed too. ¡°Yeah. They¡¯re nning to kidnap us. The leader has ns to kill everyone else except me.¡±
¡°I knew these fuckers are not to be trusted. What the hell is Sa¡¯im doing?¡± Tsukino Kyoko grumbled.
Xia Lei defended him. ¡°Don¡¯t me him. We were short on time and the fact that he could achieve this is already a feat. Those bastards only see the money. They¡¯re not trustworthy at all.¡±
¡°So what do we do now?¡±
¡°On a count of three, I¡¯ll take the one at the back and you take the one in front,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
¡°Mn.¡± A sound of affirmation from the female ninja.
¡°One...¡± He counted and slid his palms to grip the military dagger strapped to his waist.
Tsukino Kyoko produced a shuriken.
¡°Two. Three!¡± Xia Lei abruptly turned over and struck his de towards the leader¡¯s skull.
However, before Xia Lei couldnd any damage, the man with the cobra tattoo was quick to whip a chop on the leader¡¯s neck.
Xia Lei was fast, but the man¡¯s attack was one step earlier!
With a muffled groan, the leader slumped over the edge of the cart. Without waiting further, the tattooed man lunged forward and grabbed his head to twist it violently.
Crack! The leader¡¯s cervical spine broke like sugarcane. Losing its support, his skull dropped low.
With a light push, the leader fell off the metal cart. The leader¡¯s AK-47 was now in the possession of the ex-prisoner.
In that instance, Xia Lei¡¯s heart was struck with panic. Despite that, he did not try to stop the man. While there was a weapon in the tattooed man¡¯s grip, Xia Lei could sense that he had no ill intention. He merely bnced the AK-47 on top of his knees and let his grip loose. The man¡¯s finger did not hover over the trigger.
Meanwhile, Tsukino Kyoko had executed Xia Lei¡¯s order cleanly. When Xia Lei had counted to ¡®three¡¯, Tsukino Kyoko swiftly stabbed her shuriken into the back of the Arabian¡¯s skull. The physical damage was enough to kill him right away, let alone the poison coating the cold metal.
Sa¡¯im, Anjum Khan and Yelena stripped away the ck sack over their heads. There was no hint of shock across their faces. While they had not witnessed the events earlier, they had an idea of what had ensued.
Xia Lei moved over and stopped the cart.
Sa¡¯im swallowed and began to speak, remorse and guilt clouding his expression. ¡°Boss, I¡¯m so sorry. I really fucked this up. Those bastards, they tricked me.¡±
Xia Lei patted his shoulder softly. ¡°No need to me yourself, you did your absolute best. I would¡¯ve done the same too. These assholes have no humanity at all. They¡¯ve abandoned all morality for the sake of money.¡±
¡°But boss, I...¡± Despite Xia Lei¡¯sforting words, Sa¡¯im couldn¡¯t help but let his guilt gnaw him alive.
¡°It¡¯s alright. Let¡¯s not speak of this anymore in the future.¡± Xia Lei shifted the topic. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that we¡¯ll be out of this tunnel very soon. They have someone waiting for us on the other end. As soon as we emerge, don¡¯t hesitate. Kill them all.¡±
¡°We¡¯re going to get that twenty million back!¡± Sa¡¯im sneered.
¡°Money is not that important. We¡¯ll leave after everyone is murdered,¡± said Xia Lei.
Twenty million USD was a sum that would send anyone with a functioning mind into a craze. But to Xia Lei, twenty million was nothing. If he wanted money, he could either withdraw it from Thunder Horse¡¯s bank ount or the American stock market.¡±
¡°I...¡± The man with the cobra tattoo interjected meekly. ¡°Can I use a gun?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course.¡±
The man nodded in return and fell silent.
Xia Lei said, ¡°My friend, we¡¯ve paid a great price to rescue you. Trust us, we¡¯ve got no ill intentions. We¡¯ve got no ulterior motives either. I only have one goal. To understand the truth behind some matters. So do not leave.¡±
It was a courteous warning.
The man with the cobra tattoo nodded, still silent. He too had questions that required answers from Xia Lei. Even if Xia Lei hadn¡¯t mentioned that, he had no ns to leave.
Chapter 1028 - The Snake
The escapees in the metal cart travelled until beams of light began to appear in front of them. They had reached the end of the tunnel. Jerusalem was long behind them.
Before the metal cart had made it out of the opening, a few people appeared. They obstructed the light shining into the tunnel, each of their silhouettes had included that of a weapon. Xia Lei could see it clearly. The light at the end was not natural. It was merely bright artificial lighting.
Though he couldn¡¯t see what was going on above the ground, Xia Lei¡¯s mind had helpfully offered him a simtory image. Over their heads was a damaged courtyard that belonged to an old Arabian man. On the floor of his bedroom was an entrance into the tunnel that was hidden by wood panels and a frugal rug. While he was preupied with the mental image, a few men with live ammunition took their ces at the exit.
Xia Lei spoke, ¡°There are two men at the end of the tunnel, armed with AK-47s. Keep them unharmed for now. There are more above them. We¡¯ll take action after we get out.¡±
Everyone else in the metal cart nodded.
¡°Then I wouldn¡¯t need this for the time being. If I hold it, they¡¯d be on high alert.¡± The man with the cobra tattoo swiftly tossed the AK-47 out of the cart.
From his perspective, an AK-47 in his grip would¡¯ve added to his security. But the man did not hesitate to throw it out.
A smirk yed on the edge of Xia Lei¡¯s lips. This was a good indication of the man¡¯s trust towards him and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. This was an excellent start.
The metal cart came closer to the end. Xia Lei took out two thick stashes of American dors and screamed at the top of his lungs in Arabic. ¡°Friends in the front! Ah blesses you!¡±
His voice boomed through the enclosed space. The green bills in his hands pped around wildly.
Money was evidently more useful than words.
And Xia Lei, on the other hand, was onlycking the word- hostage- scribbled across his forehead.
The armed Arabians at the end raised their guns as a precautionary measure. Xia Lei¡¯s eyes locked onto them. If they had signs of pulling their triggers, he would order his subordinates to subdue them. In the face of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team, the armed Arabians were literally no different from boy scouts.
The metal cart finally came to a halt.
The Arabian man studied them. ¡°Where are our people?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I left a safe in Jerusalem¡¯s Sheraton Hotel. I¡¯ve got one million USD and a diamond worth five million USD inside. They¡¯re off to get it for me.¡±
It was fortunate that the two men that left the metal cart midway had not contacted these men on the other end. Xia Lei had not seen thising and honestly, he couldn¡¯t be bothered at this point.
¡°I¡¯ll call them to confirm that. If you dare lie to us, you¡¯re done for!¡± The Arabian hissed and produced a cell phone.
Tsukino Kyoko reached an arm behind her back.
Xia Lei quickly gripped her wrist. He whispered discreetly in Chinese, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this is a tunnel. Their shitty phones wouldn¡¯t be able to capture any signal.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded, returning her hand to its original position.
As expected, the man couldn¡¯t get any signal. He changed his positions multiple times to no avail.
Xia Lei tossed over his two stashes of USDs. ¡°My friend, go make that call above ground. You¡¯ll get a better signal up there. Take this, it¡¯s a gift from me. Long live Ah.¡±
The two armed Arabians picked up the dor bills. They turned to look at each other before breaking out into smiles. One of them instructed, ¡°Come with me.¡±
The two Arabians brought them to a metaldder. One of them led the climb and the other guarded the end. One by one, Xia Lei and his team ascended thedder.
Exiting the tunnel, all Xia Lei could see was a dpidated house. There were ten armed Arabians in the same vicinity. There was also a bed, its sheets filthy and strewn. The bed was the only furniture in this house.
The members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and the man with the cobra tattoo left the tunnel and joined them in the house.
Xia Lei offered the strangers a smile. ¡°My friend...¡±
¡°Kneel!¡± Theirmander barked out the blue.
Xia Lei raised his palms. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
Before Xia Lei could utter another word, themander whipped the back of his gun onto Xia Lei¡¯s skull.
As soon as Xia Lei¡¯s head was tilted, his right hand lunged forward into themander¡¯s chest. His fingers struck themander¡¯s heart before it turned into a fist. He drove it into the same position again.
Everything had happened in a mere second.
Themander screamed in agony, the immense force sending him away from the ground. He fell backwards before his back collided with the wall.
Gunshots rang, not from the Arabians but from the members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. The excellent Viper pistols equipped with a silencer rapidly harvested the souls of the men in the vicinity. Yet, the most exaggeratedly deadly of them all was Tsukino Kyoko that used no firearms. The moment Xia Lei had attacked themander, her arms were thrown forward. The four Arabians in front of her slumped to the ground, each of their foreheads adorned with a shuriken.
The man with the cobra tattoo had executed a set of lethal attacks unknown to the rest of them. When Xia Lei attacked themander, he took a step back and lunged forward to m his weight onto one of the Arabians. In that process, the man slid his finger into his opponent¡¯s AK-47 and blocked the trigger. He flipped over and drew out a dagger from the Arabian man¡¯s waist. The tattooed man then began to drive the de repeatedly into his chest until everyone had gotten rid of their opponents.
The battle was over before anyone realized it began.
Fairly speaking, the better word to describe this was a massacre instead of a battle.
The man with the cobra tattoo finally halted his assault, letting loose of his victim¡¯s cor. The poor man had at least twenty gashes in his body. The frequency of the man¡¯s stab was as fast as lightning. Mind you, he was able to create twenty flesh holes in a matter of not more than two seconds!
¡°We should leave,¡± reminded Xia Lei.
They left the house and found themselves in a garden that had two Great Wall pickup trucks parked in it. It was a genuine surprise to find China produced vehicles in the Gaza Strip. However, it was to be expected as the Great Wall trucks were very well-received in the Middle East. It was cheap and had the versatility to add machine guns on it
Xia Lei opened the gate. Gaza City was only a distance away. While it was Palestine¡¯srgest city, it didn¡¯t radiate any ounce of urban life. The torn city was filled with traces of bombings everywhere.
Sa¡¯im came closer to Xia Lei. ¡°Boss, we need to get past Gaza to enter Egypt. After that, we¡¯ll board a ne from Egypt back to China.¡±
¡°If we¡¯re going to Egypt, let¡¯s take their car.¡± Xia Lei urged, ¡°We got to move fast.¡±
One minuteter, two Great Wall trucks drove out of the back gate towards Gaza.
In one of the vehicles, Yelena was the driver while Tsukino Kyoko sat at her side. Xia Lei and the man with the cobra tattoo sat behind them. The arrangement wasn¡¯t made deliberately to avoid Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im, Xia Lei just wanted some privacy to talk to this mysterious ex-prisoner.
¡°Can you tell me your name?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence in the moving truck. ¡°And I mean your real name, not your alias.¡±
There was a beat of silence before the tattooed man replied, ¡°What¡¯s your name? Also, remove the human face mask. I want to see who you really are.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko whipped her head around. Her icy res sent warning signals to the man. She was pissed at his attitude.
Xia Lei was reluctant to heed his request but he was certain that this dishevelled man before him was no ordinary person. Mossad had locked the man away in an underground prison for years and yet failed to get him to speak. If Xia Lei did not offer him some form of sincerity, the man would not reveal anything.
And so Xia Lei rubbed his fingers around his face. He removed his mask to reveal himself.
The man with the cobra tattoo froze at the sight. There was something unusual about the glint in his momentarily expressive eyes.
His response had triggered a feeling in Xia Lei. After all, his observation skills were second to none. New assumptions were manifested. ¡°This guy is the first one toe in contact with the AE capsule, but the capsule had made its way into the grasps of the Americans atst. After that, my father stole it away. Therefore, it¡¯s obvious that he knows about the structure of the pyramid. My father had left me clues and this man knows much about the pyramid. This is the first time he has seen my real face. Why is he looking at me in such a weird way? Does he recognize me from somewhere? Does he know my father? What kind of rtionship did he share with my father?¡±
As Xia Lei pondered about these new queries, the tattooed man blurted, ¡°Your surname is Xia. Your name is Xia Lei.¡±
Just one sentence was enough to have Xia Lei¡¯s mind blown.
¡°Alright, let me answer your questions.¡± The man with the cobra tattoo continued, ¡°My surname¡¯s Qian. My name is Qian Jun.¡±
Qian Jun... What an imposing name.
He was a fellow Chinese and even owned one of the rarest surnames in the maind.
¡°How... How did you know my name?¡± Xia Lei found it difficult to recover from his shock.
¡°I know your father. I¡¯ve been to your house once and met you. But you¡¯ve never met me,¡± said Qian Jun.
Unknowingly, Xia Lei immediately thought of someone Xia Changhe was adamant on keeping hush about. The snake.
The association wasn¡¯t brought on by the intimidating cobra tattoo that decorated Qian Jun¡¯s arm. It made no sense because everyone else in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team did not have tattoos with their corresponding animal. Tsukino Kyoko did not have a rat tattoo and Yelena did not own a chicken tattoo either. The tattoo yed no part in his reasoning. Xia Lei was merely making a guess based on how Qian Jun was the first one to obtain the AE capsule while Xia Changhe was familiar with the pyramid¡¯s structure like the back of his hand!
¡°You¡¯re probably wondering what your father was to me.¡± Qian Jun stared directly into Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. There was no ounce of caution in his pupils. Now, there was only excitement.
Xia Lei choked out. ¡°You¡¯re... the snake?¡±
Qian Jun nodded.
Yelena couldn¡¯t help but peel her eyes away from the road to spare Qian Jun a nce.
Tsukino Kyoko was equally shocked. No one in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had evere across the snake. No one had expected that the person they painstakingly saved happened to be the mysterious snake!
Chapter 1029 - A Magnetic Field That Fools
One hour earlier, on a barren hilltop in the outskirts of Jerusalem.
The hill¡¯s initial height was approximately five to six hundred metres tall. Sadly, its height was reduced by half after it imploded and caved in. On top of this hill were arge group of people that seemed to be engrossed in their work. They seemed to be searching for something.
Mossad and the FA Organization had agreed to form a coborative investigation team. This ce was no stranger to Kerns, who had visited this site countless times. However, this was all new to Yan Fo and Augustan.
¡°This is it.¡± Kerns gestured. ¡°Our archaeologists had gone missing in this area along with two American archaeologists.¡±
Yan Fo studied the site for a moment and hummed. ¡°Indeed, it is arge area. But with your capabilities, why haven¡¯t you found the site where the AE capsules originated from? It¡¯s been years.¡±
Kerns¡¯ gaze shifted to the foot of the hill. An engineering team was slowly ascending the terrain. All the machinery used by the engineering team was military-grade. While a distance had separated him and the engineering team, Kerns could guess that they were from the Israeli military.
Yan Fo had gotten the answer to his question. It was at the foot of the hill.
Without an earthquake, the hill had toppled over without reason. This itself was an obvious clue. Yan Fo was only blurting out the question due to his disbelief.
Kerns replied, ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. We have explored this ce more than ten times. Do you know why we weren¡¯t able to find it still?¡±
Yan Fo¡¯s gaze returned onto Kerns. ¡°Mister Kerns, I would prefer that you tell it to me straight.¡±
Kerns frowned. ¡°Mister Yan, this area has a unique maic field that rendered all of our equipment useless. It would point us to the wrong ces and waste all our time and efforts. Once, our team had found another location. It was a hill too. Our equipment had told the explorers that the mountain had no cavity and that there was a triangr-shaped space within. It felt magical.¡±
Augustan too averted his attention away from the approaching engineer team onto Kerns, interested. ¡°So what happened?¡±
Kerns chortled dryly and shook his head. ¡°It was a fluke. We dispatched massive construction machines and an engineering team to excavate the mountain. We were working like construction workers that built roads and tunnels. It took us an entire year to tear the mountain apart but there was no triangr space at all. After that, all equipment had returned to normal. The hill had offered us nothing but rocks and soil.¡±
Yan Fo and Augustan locked eyes. While Kerns exnation was weird and did not make any sense, they both found themselves believing it. Other than this, what else could exin Israel¡¯s failure to locate the right site after so long?
What kind of maic field was it to be able to drive their equipment crazy and fool them around?
Oh, unfortunate Israelis. Imagine getting all excited that they¡¯d found the location of a treasure and then beginning their lengthy excavation only to realize that they had been fooled. Not to mention, they had experienced this disappointment one too many times.
Kerns continued, ¡°We¡¯re fooled again and again. Each humiliation paired with gigantic losses. This is the answer to your question. Through these years, we had desperately hoped to find the right spot. But if we had resumed our efforts in that manner, we would¡¯ve been able to fill in a new Israel in the vast Pacific Ocean.¡±
While his words were highly exaggerated, there was some truth to it.
¡°So without your equipment, we¡¯ve already found the right spot. It¡¯s beneath us, isn¡¯t it?¡± Yan Fo made his own deduction.
¡°This hill had copsed out of the blue. It may be the ce we¡¯re searching for but who can guarantee that? The maic field had fooled us time after time. There¡¯s no way to guarantee sess,¡± Kerns relented. It was obvious that the man himself was tired of lies. Despite the truth was possibly within reach, Kerns found it hard to convince himself that they were close.
¡°I have a feeling that this is it. Beneath us is where the AE capsules were found,¡± said Yan Fo.
Augustan voiced, ¡°The mysterious maic field could be associated with the hill body. Have you not investigated this hill?¡±
Kerns shook his head. ¡°Never. But we know that there¡¯s nothing here.¡±
There was a faint smirk of confidence on Augustan¡¯s lips. ¡°Then I¡¯m sure that this is the hill that you¡¯re searching for. I really wish to know what¡¯s hidden inside. From your description, it¡¯s almost like a mischievous child that loves to pull pranks. It¡¯s just right below you and yet it decides to direct you elsewhere.¡±
¡°Ah, I sure do hope so.¡± Kerns shifted his posture. ¡°This is also why we decided to dispatch a team of engineers for the excavation. We hope to find the truth this time.¡±
Yan Fo uttered, ¡°Mister Kerns, how about we ce a bet.¡±
¡°A bet?¡± Kerns frowned. ¡°What do you want to ce bets on?¡±
Yan Fo smiled. ¡°I bet that I will find the answers one step ahead of you. The reward I ask for is to allow me entry into the site.¡±
Kerns snorted coldly. ¡°Mister Yan, I know you mean to obtain answers from that prisoner. I really don¡¯t see how you¡¯ll seed. That fe probably has the highest pain tolerance I¡¯ve ever encountered. No matter how much torture we put him through, he wouldn¡¯t say a word. Since you¡¯re so confident that you¡¯ll get something off him... I¡¯ll entertain you on this bet. The reward I ask for is that you leave Israel and nevere back.¡±
Yan Fo chuckled. ¡°That is far. It¡¯s a deal.¡±
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
At this moment, Kerns¡¯ phone vibrated.
Kerns quickly answered it. ¡°Hello, speaking... What?!¡±
The man¡¯s loud exmation made Yan Fo and Augustan look at each other. The feeling of dread started to wash over them.
¡°How the hell did that happen?! You bunch of fucktards!¡± Kerns¡¯ veins popped as he roared into the device. ¡°Chase after them! Immediately! You don¡¯t have enough manpower? Fuck you! Do you not know how to contact the Rapid Response Team? Call them over! Inform the police and have them lock the entire Jerusalem up! I¡¯ming back now. You better have the targets locked before I¡¯m back or... You know what¡¯sing.¡±
Though Kerns had not mentioned the prisoner, Yan Fo and Augustan seemed to have understood what happened. The two of them had rushed over to Israel from America with a mission entrusted by the CIA¡¯s leader, Williams, and the White House. But before the two could even do anything remotely useful, the most important prisoner was brought away!
¡°I guess you can tell what happened, right?¡± Ending the call, Kerns¡¯ expression was solemn. His eyes were positively on fire.
¡°Then what are you waiting for? We need to rush back.¡± Yan Fo was more on edge than Kerns.
¡°What¡¯s the point of getting jumpy at this rate? Our helicopter is on its way. We can get to Jerusalem within eight minutes.¡± Kerns looked into the direction of Jerusalem city. While the iing helicopter was nowhere in sight, he had faith that the Rapid Response Team was alreadying to get them.
Driving back was not as fast as travelling by air. Yan Fo gave up on urging Kerns. The Asian male tried to probe, ¡°Who do you think is behind this?¡±
Kerns shook his head. ¡°We have no confirmed suspect. The suspect had entered the base through the ancient drainage system. It¡¯s top-secret information. The suspect was not alone and they came with a detailed n. Someone had disrupted our optical fibres and another had hired Arabians around the Gaza Strip to create chaos to disperse our attention. The person behind the rescue effort had snuck in through the ancient waste system, rescued the prisoner and killed Harde along with another field agent.¡±
Yan Fo furrowed his brows at that. ¡°We had just left the ce and that person had managed to execute an operation of that scale. Which means that we¡¯ve been monitored and we didn¡¯t notice it at all!¡±
Augustan supplied, ¡°To spy on the Mossad Jerusalem base and us and then infiltrate the base. This is a feat that even the Bermuda Force or the Russian KGB is incapable of. Who else is capable of this? Who do you think could be the mastermind behind this operation?¡±
Yan Fo froze slightly. ¡°Wait, I think who you¡¯re talking about. This operation does feel like something he would do but...¡±
Augustan confirmed, ¡°But he¡¯s dead.¡±
Kerns looked at Yan Fo and then shifted his gaze onto Augustan. ¡°Are you talking about... Xia Lei?¡±
The mutual silence of Yan Fo and Augustan confirmed his thoughts.
Yeah, Xia Lei.
A man who dared to sneak into America with a single pistol and infiltrate Lockheed Martin¡¯s headquarters to steal intellectual property. A man who dared to follow up the operation by killing most of FA¡¯s best-armed members at the borders of Mexico and steal away Predator B. America felt like a territory without borders to him.
If there were feats that couldn¡¯t be aplished by the Bermuda Force or the Russian KGB but still found itself resolved. Well, you could suspect that Xia Lei was behind it.
If there were espionage missions that the CIA and Mossad couldn¡¯tplete and yet found itself as a real-life sess... You could suspect that Xia Lei was behind it as well.
Xia Lei was the king in the world of espionage.
¡°Impossible!¡± Kerns ran a hand through his hair. ¡°We¡¯ve got intel that Xia Lei was verified to be assassinated by the CIA!¡±
Yan Fo could only huff out a peal of breathyughter. ¡°That bastard is skilled at trickery. Anything relevant to him must be taken with a grain of salt. Looks like it¡¯s time for a visit to China.¡±
A helicopter hovered over them. It was two minutester than Kerns had expected. Apparently, Israel¡¯s Rapid Response Team was slow sometimes.
Chapter 1030 - To Serve the Old King or the New King?
Two trucks entered Gaza City and halted its movements on a dested curb. Xia Lei and his team went past another street and stopped before an Arabian style building.
¡°Sa¡¯im, do not make the same mistake again or I¡¯ll chop your dick off.¡± Tsukino Kyoko threat was harshly whispered into Sa¡¯im ear. She looked ready to murder.
Sa¡¯im subconsciously mped his thighs together. The woman he had feelings for had loved another man and the man was essentially invincible. Xia Lei was a man that he had no hopes to surpass in this lifetime. It was safe to say that Sa¡¯im felt incredibly awful before the threat.
Sa¡¯im reached an arm and knocked on the door once. Two secondster, he followed with three knocks. A secret sign that signalled his identity. As soon as the rappings ceased, the door was answered.
An Arabian woman dressed in a Burqa had answered the door. Her body was voluptuous, blessed with full breasts and wide hips. Despite the dark veil over her features, the first impression was that she must be a young gorgeous beauty.
Xia Lei had already learnt what she looked like. She had the features of a ssic Arabian beauty. Tall nose bridge, deep eyes and a set of irises that looked like glimmering sapphire. Everything about her was exquisite. Xia Lei had also noticed the expression she wore when greeting Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei smiled faintly. This woman was Sa¡¯im¡¯s lover.
Unsurprisingly, after she had realized that Sa¡¯im was behind the door, the woman was stunned at the sight of his face. There was a slight pause before she attacked Sa¡¯im with an embrace while calling his name gleefully.
¡°Yaada, we¡¯ll continue our talk inside,¡± said Sa¡¯im with a sheepish edge to his tone. This was awkward, especially in front of Tsukino Kyoko.
Yaada obediently released her grip on Sa¡¯im and opened the door wider to wee the team in.
¡°Sa¡¯im is one horny bastard. All of his information hade from hiswork of women.¡± Tsukino Kyoko remarked after she caught up to Xia Lei.
The smile on Xia Lei¡¯s lips was more prominent now. The turn of events had dissolved one of his worries. If Sa¡¯im was a loyal man, it would be difficult to solve the sticky situation they were both in. But Sa¡¯im was revealed to be a man so generous with love that he had a lover in Gaza and more elsewhere. He had used love as a method to establish his intelligencework and these women were willing to be a part of it and even manage his informants. Sa¡¯im was a womanizer. What else did Xia Lei need to worry about the predicament looming over their dynamics?
Yaada served them cups of Damascus rose tea graciously. Sa¡¯im did not stop to introduce the woman to them, immediately leading her out after the tea was served.
¡°We should leave too,¡± said Yelena. She knew Xia Lei and Qian Jun required some privacy to talk.
Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan left the living room.
Now, they were alone. Xia Lei and Qian Jun remained silent. While they hadn¡¯t started to converse, the suffocating silence had allowed them time to construct their thoughts. Xia Lei needed to reorganize the list of questions he wanted to ask while Qian Jun seemed to be pondering about things rted to Xia Lei.
The silence had stretched on for minutes before Xia Lei broke it. ¡°You know what I desperately need to know? Information about the AE capsules. Tell me, how did you learn of its existence and how did you find it?¡±
Qian Jun answered, ¡°Your father. The only answer I can provide is your father.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°My father is the founder of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. I understand that he had tasked you to seize the AE capsule, but this is the answer I¡¯m looking for.¡±
There was just too much mystery surrounding Xia Changhe. If his father had intended to tell him in the first ce, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t need to direct these questions to Qian Jun.
Qian Jun stared at Xia Lei with a burning gaze. ¡°Did your father not tell you anything about it?¡±
Xia Lei scoffed bitterly. ¡°If he did, would I need to ask you?¡± He paused slightly. ¡°There wasn¡¯t even a chance for me to ask anything. He¡¯s not with me.¡±
Xia Lei had his own reasons to add in the information of Xia Changhe¡¯s absence.
For one, while he had rescued Qian Jun from the Mossad base, he did not think that Qian Jun would be able to offer him his loyalty like Tsukino Kyoko and the others. Qian Jun was Xia Changhe¡¯s most powerful warrior. His capabilities were far superior over the rest of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. He had never once gotten involved with the members during operations but he had also never once proactively contacted anyone in the team. He had no concerns over the team.
The second reason had much to do with Xia Changhe. His father surely had known where Qian Jun was locked away but the man had refused to reveal anything to Xia Lei. Why on earth did he do that? This was all too confusing for Xia Lei, there were just too many possibilities!
Qian Jun was quiet for a moment. ¡°If he wanted to tell you, he would¡¯ve done it long ago. He has his own reasons to hide it from you. Are you trying to have me betray his intentions?¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°Even if he¡¯s not nning to tell me, are you not going to tell me too? Mind you, I¡¯m the current leader of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. I¡¯m certain I reserve the right to learn those secrets.¡±
Qian Jun responded, ¡°I knew a day like this woulde. The first time I saw was when you were still in school. Your father said you would be a miracle to mankind someday and I believe him. Now, I believe him more.¡±
¡°Why are you dodging the question?¡±
¡°Your father... How about this? After you find him, and if he agrees, I¡¯ll tell you everything I know,¡± offered Qian Jun.
Anger began to boil in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He had risked his life and led the members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team on a rescue mission to save Qian Jun. He had high hopes that the man could offer him answers. But Qian Jun¡¯s attitude was throwing him off. Xia Lei hade to realize something new. Between him and his father, the snake of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was more inclined to his father.
¡°Don¡¯t me me for this. It¡¯s difficult for me too.¡± Qian Jun avoided Xia Lei¡¯s gaze. Inexplicably, the strongest ace of the Zodiac Team felt fear in the face of an angry Xia Lei!
¡°Leave.¡± Xia Lei said.
¡°Huh?¡± Taken aback, Qian Jun was convinced he heard him wrong.
Xia Lei repeated, ¡°I said, leave. Is that clear?¡±
¡°You... You¡¯re chasing me away?¡±
¡°I saved you out of my own will. I wanted answers to those questions and I decided to not press you further. You¡¯re a free man now. You¡¯re free to go search for my father and you¡¯re free to do whatever you like. From now on, anything that has to do with you is none of my concern. There is no snake in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and if there is one, it will not be you,¡± uttered Xia Lei.
The atmosphere in the living room was suffocating.
Qian Jun had not seen thising. It was shocking to learn that Xia Lei was chasing him away due to some disagreement without sparing him some time to think things through. Truthfully, he had made the terms clear. Qian Jun was willing to tell him everything after Xia Changhe had permitted him personally. But Xia Lei was trying to chase him away now!
¡°Why? I mean...¡±
Xia Lei interrupted his sentence. ¡°You want some time, right?¡±
Qian Jun nodded.
But Xia Lei was merciless. ¡°I¡¯ve got no time for you. I¡¯m running short on time. Plus, I have no ce for a secretive member. I don¡¯t care if my father had explicitly told you to not spill a word. The current Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was not what it once was. We¡¯re a family. But you are a stranger to me.¡±
¡°What do you mean by you running short on time?¡± Qian Jun was reluctant to depart.
Xia Lei merely stared at him nkly. He had no intentions of answering his questions.
The silence that enveloped the living space was gloomy and tense.
One minuteter, Qian Jun rolled his shoulders. ¡°You¡¯re really forcing me to make a decision between you and your father. He¡¯s the old king and you¡¯re the new king. Do I pledge my loyalty to the new king or keep to the old king?¡±
¡°You¡¯re oveplicating things. I¡¯m sure that my father had his own reasons but I will find my own answers,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯m from Hunan County, Jiaozuo District. My father passed away when I was very young and my mom remarried into another family. She abandoned me. I remember the very first time your father had appeared in front of me. It was raining and I was huddled under a bridge. No one had spared me a nce, everyone walked by me without a single concern. I thought I was going to either starve or freeze to death at this point. I swore that if anyone was kind enough to offer me mantou, I would repay their kindness. That was the time when your father and I crossed paths. While he hadn¡¯t given me mantou, he offered me a serving of warm and fragrant beef. He even gave me a down jacket...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s mind supplied him with mental images of the scene. He noticed one small detail. Xia Changhe had observed Qian Jun from afar. He was the only one who stopped to provide Qian Jun with the help he needed most. He was the only one who offered him a warm meal on a cold day.
The world was cruel. If you gave a billionaire s dor, the only thing you¡¯d get in return was probably a p and a sneer. But if you gave a begging child a dor, the sum would¡¯ve been able to quench his dire hunger with two buns. And you would¡¯ve gotten a thankful sentiment in return.
¡°That was how I met your father. Not only had he given me food and clothes, but he had also sent to Shaolin temple for martial arts training. I went and trained for years. On the year I turned sixteen, your father withdrew me from the Shaolin temple. He ordered me to kill someone and I did. From that day onwards, a new life began. I followed all of his orders, never once failing my mission. I can¡¯t even remember how much blood I have on my hands. Your father ordered me back to his side when I was eighteen. He told me about the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and that I was the snake. I asked about the other members but he kept it a secret from me. He said I didn¡¯t need to know and that all I needed to remember was my identity. I was to heed all of his instructions and execute it...¡± At that point, Qian Jun stopped.
While Xia Lei had really wished for him to continue, he did not urge him. He didn¡¯t know what could¡¯ve caused Qian Jun to change his mind but to deal with a character like him had not only required a certain amount of intelligence but also a great dash of patience.
¡°Other than bestowing me the position of the snake in that meeting, your father gave me a mission...¡± Qian Jun paused again.
He was hesitating.
He needed to make a decision.
To either remain loyal to the old king or to serve the new king!
Chapter 1031 - The Strongest Warrior
The silence in the living room was stifling.
Xia Lei was starting to feel nervous. He had tried to guilt Qian Jun into spilling his secrets, but it had also meant that Xia Lei was forcing him to betray Xia Changhe¡¯s orders. Xia Lei had feared that the man would give up eventually and take his leave. Qian Jun was finally willing to reminisce about his first encounter with Xia Changhe but the man was starting to feel the urge to give up.
This was to be expected.
The deeper Qian Jun immersed himself into his memories, the more the man would be reminded of Xia Changhe¡¯s generosity and kindness. The old man was one that had given him an opportunity to start a new life. His debt towards Xia Changhe would y a great role in his decision.
¡°Nevermind...¡± Qian Jun sighed.
In the end, he had arrived at a decision that Xia Lei did not desire.
Right at that moment, the high pitched screeches of vehicle brakes came from the back of the living room.
Xia Lei had a bad feeling about this. He could recall that this house was located in aparatively secluded area. There was barely enough space to allow a fast-moving car. The urgent screeches of brakes could only be produced by a car moving at a rapid speed.
Who and why would anyone zoom their vehicle along a narrow road in a housing area without concern?
Xia Lei shifted around to look at the back walls of the living room. At that instance, his X-ray vision was activated. A Great Wall pickup truck entered his field of sight. Several armed men with ck turbans and green cloth strips tied around their heads had emerged out of the car. The pickup truck had transported a famous Russian 12.7 mm ¡®Curtain¡¯ machine gun. The machine gunman started to adjust its aim, directing the muzzle towards the walls behind the living room!
Following this pickup truck, a few more vandalized armed pickup trucks were headed this way. Each of the trucks had carried more armed men that were equipped with heavy-duty machine guns.
The armed independent groups of the Gaza Strip had arrived and all of them seemed to be elites!
Crossing the Gaza Strip was a risky operation. After all, this was still the territory of Hamas.
The moment of realization was paired with the efficient management of information in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. There was arge scale operation going on in Israel. How would Hamas not catch wind of it? Israel had locked their borders and the people they were after just so happened to be the few that they helped snuck over from Jerusalem. They had left behind a pile of bloodied corpses and fled the scene. Not to mention, it wasn¡¯t difficult to identify their trucks parked in the middle of nowhere. It was just natural for them to piece together information that the bastards they were responsible for the mess were still in Gaza City. In this ce, anyone with a radical mindset was an informant. The appearance of two Native Americans and a dishevelled Chinese man whose hair was grown to his waist was too prominent!
However, the only problem here was that they were faster than expected. Xia Lei had to admit that he had underestimated their capabilities. The armed groups of the Gaza Strip were able to defend themselves against Israel for years. How could they possibly be that easy to handle?
Qian Jun¡¯s ears twitched ever so slightly. He couldn¡¯t see what Xia Lei had seen and by the time he had a reaction, the noise had died down. Despite that, Xia Lei¡¯s expression had piqued his alertness. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±
Xia Lei abruptly stood and screamed in Chinese, ¡°Take cover!¡±
Frantically, Xia Lei threw himself onto the ground.
Qian Jun¡¯s response was one beatte but it was considered speedy. He copied Xia Lei¡¯s motion as soon as thetter had hit the floor.
Just as theyid t against the cool floor, the gunners began to open fire.
Thud thud thud! Thud thud thud...
The unique rapping of heavy machine-gun fire hammered their eardrums. The bullets had weighed about fifty grams each. At a speed of 1500m/s, it tore through the wall mercilessly. In nearly a second, the entire back wall of the house was reduced to rubble!
Thick soot filled the air and obstructed everyone¡¯s view. No one had dared to lift their heads under the heavy assault of the machine guns. Even if the bullets had not hit their vitals, having it lodged into their limbs was lethal enough!
However, Xia Lei was an exception. The smoke had done nothing to block his sight. The momentary pause for slight aiming adjustments could not escape his left eye!
In that tiny time gap where the gunner had utilized to adjust the direction of aim, Xia Lei, who hadid t on the floor, had already drawn his gun and pulled the trigger.
Poof!
A bullet escaped the Viper pistol and pierced in between the gunner¡¯s forehead. His lifeless body slumped backwards and fell off the vehicle.
With the gunner wiped out, the remaining armed members immediately devoid of firearm support.
Xia Lei¡¯s finger pulled the trigger a few more times, letting four bullets escape within a second. Four armed members had slumped to the ground at that instance, each of their foreheads sporting a simr hole.
Qian Jun was stunned.
The transformation process of Xia Lei¡¯s alertness to retaliation had only taken not more than five seconds. But within that amount of time, he was able to destroy the opponent¡¯s gunner and five armed members!
The terrifying power Xia Lei had demonstrated was enough to intimidate the strongest warrior of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. Qian Jun couldn¡¯t brave himself to even lift his chin and take the chance to attack the gunner at the back among the suffocating smoke. On the other hand, Xia Lei had already ended the battle within two seconds!
¡°The contents of the amber...¡± Qian Jun¡¯s mind was returned to the pyramid within the mountain.
¡°This is not the time to talk about this! There¡¯s more of them on the way, we need to leave this ce immediately!¡± Xia Lei mbered from the messy floor and grabbed his backpack. He quickly made way to the door. He was certain that Qian Jun had realized something about his body but this was not the right time for closures and exnations.
Tsukino Kyoko, Yelena, Anjum Khan exited one of the rooms. Following that, Sa¡¯im and Yaada had emerged from another room. Sa¡¯im¡¯s upper body was naked and his woman was no better. It was evident that they were dressed in the midst of chaos. It also wasn¡¯t hard to guess what they were up to moments earlier.
¡°Fucking hell! I¡¯m so going to kill them!¡± Sa¡¯im jeered angrily.
Everyone ignored him because there were more important things to do. Tsukino Kyoko, Yelena and Anjum Khan zipped their bags open to retrieve explosives and weapons. They braced themselves for battle. In Tsukino Kyoko and Yelena¡¯s grip was the gust assault rifle. Meanwhile, Anjum Khan assembled his XL2500 sniper rifle in a jiffy.
Xia Lei had lost his gust assault rifle in the tunnel that led to the pyramid so all he was left with was the Viper pistol.
¡°Here, you can have mine.¡± Tsukino Kyoko tossed her gust assault rifle over to Xia Lei.
The man returned a smile. Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s forte was never guns but des and discreet weapons. She had her own style of fighting and it didn¡¯t make a difference if she had a gust assault rifle or not.
Receiving the rifle, Xia Lei threw his Viper pistol to Qian Jun. ¡°It¡¯s yours now.¡±
While everyone was busy equipping themselves, Sa¡¯im had also made quick work to do the same. His current weapon of choice was also the gust assault rifle. With his thick chest hair exposed, thebination of the gust assault rifle with it had created a fiery image. His woman ogled at him excitedly while the man had earned a mocking pout from Tsukino Kyoko instead.
After everyone was ready, Xia Lei took the lead and ran straight for the front door. He had noticed that the supporting trucks were dispersed in an attempt to surround the house.
¡°In the twelve o¡¯clock direction, armed pickup truck, five targets. Ten o¡¯clock direction, armed pickup truck, five targets...¡± In the process, Xia Lei recited all details eloquently like a spy satellite.
Bam! Xia Lei stomped the door open and fired his gust assault rifle before he could aim.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
Five shots. A standard burst that hit the spot. The machine gunner and four-armed members that had barely got off the armed pickup truck in the twelve o¡¯clock direction fell to the ground.
Each of them had lost their lives to a headshot!
Effortlessly, the enemy in the twelve o¡¯clock direction was cleared.
Bang bang bang...
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members began their retaliation after stepping out of the door.
Qian Jun was the only one who did not fire. In fact, his gaze was not set on any of their opponents but Xia Lei himself. Qian Jun was different from the other members as he had never once worked with Xia Lei in the past. He did not know anything about Xia Lei¡¯s abilities. But now, Xia Lei had already established himself as someone unbeatable. He was essentially... God!
The armed members seemed to increase due to the number of pickup trucks that came to their aid. But the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was not one to back down when backed into a corner. After Xia Lei had set an example with the enemies in the twelve o¡¯clock direction, the members applied the same tactic. To snipe the biggest threat, the machine gunners, and then take out the AK-47 wielders. Though AK-47 and the gust assault rifle were members of the same family, thetter was king. The AK-47 literally could not pose a good fight against the gust assault rifle!
They were weak. Their weapons were weaker too. At this point, the battle was honestly a one-sided massacre. Amid the rapid gunfire, more armed men sumbed to death. They were experts of fighting in the streets but they had no idea who they were up against.
As the battle was drawing to a close, Xia Lei suddenly eximed, ¡°11 o¡¯clock direction, a sniper in the wall!¡±
All of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members immediately scrambled apart and found their respective bunkers.
With the sniper hiding in the wall, they had no choice but to seek shelter despite being stronger!
Qian Jun had instead begun to take action now. With a stomp against the ground, his body lunged forward like an arrow escaping an immensely tensed bow.
Bang! A bullet was shot from one hundred metres away.
Before the gunshot had even rung out, a bullet had already brushed against Qian Jun¡¯s body and hit an electric pole on the roadside instead. A fiery spark was triggered and the cement pole copsed almost instantly!
Despite that, Qian Jun did not stop. He sped up even faster.
Another bullet flew towards Qian Jun. But before the bullet could evene close to his body, the man had changed the trajectory of his sprint and avoided the bullet!
This was merely reflexes on his part. There was no way Qian Jun could make out the direction of the whizzing bullets!
¡°That man...¡± Sa¡¯im gaped. ¡°Is pretty good.¡±
Everyone was an expert of some trade in the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. It was rare for them to be impressed by someone else. For Sa¡¯im to be able to give praise was already a great feat.
Covering a distance of a hundred metres within five seconds, Qian Jun made it into the building that hid the sniper.
Bolt¡¯s hundred-meter sprint world record was 9.58 seconds but Qian Jun had only needed 5 seconds to achieve that.
Despite theck of resonating gunshots, Xia Lei was certain that Qian Jun had already killed the sniper.
The strongest warrior of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team?
Yeah, Qian Jun definitely was it.
Chapter 1032 - King of Street Battles
The end of the battle was weed by an eerie silence. The inhabitants of this area had fled as soon as the first round of gunshots were heard.
Qian Jun returned to Xia Leu¡¯s side, holding an unfamiliar Russian sniper rifle in his grip. That was his prize. While it wasn¡¯t as good as the XL2500, it was sufficient for a street battle.
¡°You run really fast,¡±mented Xia Lei.
Qian Jun nonchntly replied, ¡°The faster you run, the higher chances of living.¡±
A simple sentence like that had let Xia Lei realize the pain, hard work and countless fights that shaped Qian Jun.
¡°What do we do now?¡± Anjum Khan asked.
Xia Lei quickly surveyed the scene and arranged his strategy. ¡°Strip the bodies clean. We disguise ourselves at them. Then, we destroy the rest of them!¡±
¡°Very well, that¡¯s a great idea.¡± Anjum Khan seemed pleased.
To disguise as the enemy and kill them after blending into their crowd was amon tactic among terrorists. Now, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was about to use the same technique
In the next two minutes, everyone had managed to snag their clothes. Even the opponent¡¯s ck turban and green bands were not left behind.
The only one that didn¡¯t join the disguise was Sa¡¯im¡¯s lover, Yaada. There was no need for her to do that because she was already donning a traditional burqa that covered her from top to bottom.
¡°Yaada, you need to leave this ce fast. Arrange a boat for us to get to Egypt,¡± instructed Sa¡¯im.
¡°I¡¯d need an hour for that. I¡¯ll call you when everything¡¯s settled.¡± With that, Yaada turned and left.
¡°Will she be alright?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but be concerned.
Sa¡¯im answered, ¡°Trust me, she¡¯ll be alright. All of my women are skilled.¡±
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. Let¡¯s head to the harbour.¡±
¡°No, we¡¯re going to leave through a fishing vige named Green Pearl. I¡¯m familiar with that ce. We need to get you there,¡± said Sa¡¯im. With a quick work of his fingers, his multifunctional wristwatch disyed a satellite map. He zoomed in and showed Xia Lei the Green Pearl fishing vige he was talking about.
At the same time, all the members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had received the same satellite map from Sa¡¯im through their wristwatch. The navigation function was triggered at that instant. While the multifunctional wristwatch had cost a hefty two hundred thousand USD, it was good value for money.
Confirming their destination, Xia Lei led them away from the main street to weave through the narrow alleys.
The Gaza armed groups quickly mobilized their members. They had no ns on sparing their targets. Under their watch, their targets were not going to leave their turf alive!
¡°You! Bring your men over to the east and seal the exit! You! Bring your men to guard the exit at the south! You! Bring your team to...¡± An important figure of the Gaza armed group barked out instructions. ¡°As soon as you find the target, kill everyone else except the Native American man!¡±
Things had already progressed to this stage and yet money was the only thing on their minds.
After receiving instructions from their leader, team leaders began to usher their members towards four different directions. The Gaza armed group had dispatched about five hundred members for this operation! Even if the Israeli ground forces had entered the Gaza Strip instead, there was no way they would operate on such a scale in these areas.
Five hundred armed members after six targets. That would mean that each one of Xia Lei¡¯s team members had to fight off a hundred men!
They were incredibly outnumbered. Judging from that, the Gaza armed groups were bound to achieve victory. There was literally no chance for them to escape their grasp.
But was that set in stone?
A team of nearly one hundred armed men infiltrated the eastern zone quickly. Under the instructions of their team leader, a dozen armed pickup trucks blocked all exits within the zone. There were people stationed everywhere, from the alleys to the streets even around the manhole covers of the sewer!
Pleased with their efficiency and speed, the team leader rxed slightly. He brought out a stool and a pot of milk tea from someone¡¯s house. He ced the stool in the middle of the street and sat on it. The man helped himself to a steaming cup of milk tea leisurely as hismunicator reported real-time situations of other areas.
¡°Even if Mossades here, we¡¯d still have to go on. The targets had dared to kill our people. Once we extort enough money out of him, I¡¯m going to behead him personally.¡± The team leader said to his assistant beside him.
The assistant turned to him. ¡°Our men had ryed a message from Jerusalem. The bastard had tricked them. There was no safe left behind in Sheraton Hotel. They used this lie to distract them and killed off our members. That fucker isn¡¯t going anywhere. I¡¯m going to have him suffer when we...¡±
Before he could even finish his sentence, a stray bullet was shot through his opened jaw. It exited through the back of his skull cleanly.
His body slumped onto the ground, blood began to pool from his mouth and the back of his head.
The pot of milk tea in the leader¡¯s grip crashed onto the ground. With a shock, he peered forward but could not catch anyone in sight.
One secondter, he leapt from the stool and pointed at a probable direction where the bullet might¡¯vee from. ¡°Fire!¡±
Two gunners began to fire from the armed pickup trucks that blocked the street.
Thud thud thud!
Thud thud thud...
The heavy machine gun roared into the air, sending countless fifty-gram bullets forward. With each bullet, the rock walls broke and debris flew.
¡°Kill them! Kill off those heretics!¡± The team leader screamed with maddened excitement.
Poof! His voice fell, stopped abruptly. One bullet escaped a gust assault rifle and plunged itself into his forehead and sted off his entire skull. His head soared across the air.
Their leader was dead. The machine gunners didn¡¯t know what to do. They didn¡¯t know where their enemies were and they didn¡¯t know which direction they should shoot. They had a heavy machine gun that offered a superior shooting rangepared to regr sniper rifles. Yet, the enemies were hidden. How were they supposed to continue this fight?
Thankfully, they wouldn¡¯t need to be bothered by such worries.
Poof! Poof!
The gunners both received a headshot and fell off the truck.
Two substitutes quickly mbered onto the truck but as they settled under the weapon, a bullet hit one of the oil tanks of the trucks.
Ka-boom!
A deafening boom rang across the battlefield. Shards of the pickup truck and used bullets pushed towards all directions like a violent storm. The armed men who did not have the luck of escaping in time were dismembered and flipped onto the ground.
The east was cleared just like that.
Half a kilometre away, Xia Lei kept the gust assault rifle in his grip. Beside him, Qian Jun ced the Russian sniper rifle down onto hisp.
In the episode earlier, Xia Lei had taken care of the team leader, his assistant and one of the gunners. Qian Jun, on the other hand, had gotten rid of the other machine gunner and shot the oil tank of the pickup truck.
¡°Not bad!¡± Xia Lei praised.
Qian Jun returned a slight smile. ¡°Not as good as you. I¡¯ve never seen anyone use an assault rifle as a sniper rifle.¡±
¡°I designed this gust assault rifle, mypany produces these. If you like it, I can gift you one,¡± offered Xia Lei.
Qian Jun merely nodded. So he was the kind of man who found it difficult to express his gratitude verbally.
Xia Lei could feel that the battle and exchange was bringing him and Qian Jun closer.
¡°Do we go through this street now?¡± Qian Jun asked.
Xia Lei watched the other three directions. ¡°No, the survivors of this wing have hidden in the houses. We¡¯d be ambushed if we exit through this street. We¡¯ll head north. The team in the north is rushing to the east. They¡¯d assume that we¡¯re retaliating in the east, so we should get to the north.¡±
¡°You¡¯re...¡± Qian Jun looked at him weirdly. ¡°Gueri warfare...?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°Specifically, it¡¯s abination of gueri warfare and street battle.¡±
The edges of Qian Jun¡¯s lip twitched.
Bang! Another gunshot rang. From the roof, a sniper fell to the ground, only one-third of his skull made it through.
Anjum Khan had shot him. The Indian man kept away his XL2500 sniper rifle and sent a thumbs up towards Xia Lei¡¯s direction.
Yelena shed her middle finger at him.
Anjum Khan could only helplessly shrug his shoulders.
All of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members began to gather towards Xia Lei. Following that, they moved to the north. Xia Lei led the team in the very front, acting as a human radar. All of the armed members hiding inside the buildings could not escape his sight. Even if their enemies were two kilometres away, Xia Lei could still see them all.
Xia Lei was the king of snipers.
Now, he had achieved another title. The king of street battles.
In the deserted streets, those who did not have time to retreat peeped at the team heading to the north through their windows and the gaps of their doors. Despite that, no one had suspected them to be invaders because the armed group that dominated the area was just like them.
Any enemies encountered along their way to the north would be killed.
Though the size of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team was significantly smaller than the armed group, their killing efficiency would leave no more than ten who had seen them!
This was the advantage posed by their weapons. Firearms manufactured by the Thunder Horse Organization were the world¡¯s best. Regardless of the gust assault rifle of the XL2500 sniper rifle, they were both aces in their field!
When a shot was made, a corpse would litter the ground.
Chapter 1033 - Weak Against A Beautys Kindness
Another search team consisting of more than ten armed men appeared on the now cleared street. Their fists were wrapped tight around their AK-47s and missileunchers, their firepower was intimidating. They travelled along the streets and peered into the shops that lined its sides.
They were searching for their targets.
The men brought out a bakery owner by force. Their team leader pointed his gun towards the terrified owner. ¡°Tell me, have you seen anyone suspicious?¡±
The bakery owner trembled, stuttering on his words. ¡°A... A team just passed through this area minutes ago!¡±
¡°What team?¡±
¡°They looked about the same as you. Other than you, I really have not seen anyone suspicious.¡± The bakery owner swallowed his spit and proceeded to plead, ¡°I swear to Ah, I¡¯m not lying. They have gone into hiding and I know nothing else. Do you want some bread? Take all you want, it¡¯s on the house.¡±
The bakery owner was scared shitless.
¡°If you find anyone suspicious, especially a Native American, contact us immediately!¡±
¡°Yes, yes, yes. I will. I swear I will.¡± The bakery owner nodded fervently.
The team leader pushed the trembling man onto the ground and led his team in the opposite direction.
Since their own men were in the front, there was no need for another team to sweep the same area. He needed to search in another area in hopes that they would find the targets soon and kill them all except for the Native American mentioned.
¡°Leader, isn¡¯t that part of us?¡± As they walked, one of the armed members pointed into an alleyway to their side.
The leader followed his finger, immediately spotting a tall and curvy armed member. He was taken aback. Since when had they recruited female fighters?
¡°Get her!¡± The leader immediately realized something, picking up his AK-47 and started to shoot at the female fighter.
Bang bang bang...
His aim was extremely weak. Despite the rain of bullets, none of them had hit within the one-metre radius of the woman.
The female fighter quickly ran towards a corner of the alley and disappeared.
Tens of armed men swarmed over. They shot and they screamed. The noises emitted were admittedly terrifying.
But as they all entered the alley, six people appeared from behind them.
Poof poof poof...
The gust assault rifle swept through, causing all of them to fall onto the ground.
The female fighter that disappeared earlier emerged from behind the corner. She was Yelena.
Yelena jogged towards Xia Lei and the team with light steps. It was only when she was needed as a bait that she would remove the binder that held her chest tight. A woman was an obvious disguise w to the enemy.
¡°This should be thest of them in the north. But as soon as we leave this ce, we¡¯ll be in the centre of Gaza City. There will be more there and we won¡¯t be able to fight like this,¡± Sa¡¯im told Xia Lei.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Then we will return to the east and barge out from there. We¡¯ll head towards our destination from there.¡±
Under his leadership, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had cleared out all enemies in the north. The Gaza Strip armed group would certainly assume that they were trying to enter the city centre through the north. They would not expect them to return to the east again.
In the face of such enemies, even if themander of the Gaza Strip armed group had ten brains, he would still be fooled.
What was most terrifying about street battles was that there were hiding spots everywhere. Everyone involved needed to practise extreme caution. But now, that wasn¡¯t an issue because no matter where they chose to hide, someone would notice them. How was it possible to continue the battle under such circumstances?
There were more than one hundred armed members dispatched to the north. But once Xia Lei and his team had retreated from the area, the members had collectively lost their lives. A majority of them were killed from a distance. Another portion of them was ambushed and killed by a sweep of bullets.
Theck of surviving enemies in the north made their retreat easier. With their human radar, Xia Lei, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had enjoyed apletely safe route. Within a radius of two kilometres, even dogs with chains around their necks could be spotted, let alone armed men with guns.
¡°You...¡± Qian Jun, who was walking to the left of Xia Lei, could no longer suppress his curiosity. He directed a question to Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei, can you tell me about the pills...¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah, I know what you¡¯re thinking. It¡¯s true.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re...¡±
Xia Lei interjected Qian Jun. ¡°This is not the time to talk. Have you forgotten what happened to our exchange earlier today? You had some reservations against me and yet you¡¯re expecting me to reveal everything to you?¡±
Qian Jun abruptly neared his side. ¡°If we can escape this ce alive, I¡¯ll tell you everything I know.¡±
Xia Lei was surprised, but still remembered to offer a smile. His father, Xia Changhe, had graced Qian Jun with kindness while he had conquered the snake with his raw capabilities. However, Xia Lei must admit that if he wasn¡¯t Xia Changhe¡¯s son, it would¡¯ve been difficult to handle a man like Qian Jun even if he was Superman.
Soon enough, the team was back in the east.
The armed men that survived the earlier battle had long lost their patience. They had left their hiding spots to head to the north to join the attack on Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
They drove the pickup trucks that were lucky enough to be still functional from the explosion. The machine-gunners on the armed pickup truck kept their eyes peeled. Finger hovered over the trigger, any movement captured would prompt them to open fire. They would destroy all threats with their heavy machine gun!
Five minutester, the convoy of trucks passed through a street and took a turn at a crossroad to enter the north region. At that moment, a rain of bullets came flying out of the houses around the crossroad. Taken by surprise, the armed members in the trucks had no way to run. Worse, their cheap trucks were not equipped with bulletproof properties. Forget about the XL2500 sniper rifle or gust assault rifle, even a bullet from a Viper pistol could pierce through the vulnerable chunk of metal.
This was yet another massacre. They had entered a trap ring formed by Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members and werepletely wiped out.
Losing control, the armed pickup truck zoomed towards the buildings by the road. It broke through a wall and lodged itself in the hole. Some of it had hit the trees, causing the urgent impact to send its front-row passengers flying onto the ground tens of metres away. Some were even flipped over by the curb.
Xia Lei exited from one of the buildings and went towards the truck that hit the tree. He opened the door, reached in and pulled out amunicator from itste driver.
As if on cue, a deep male voice rumbling with rage rang through the device. ¡°Where the fuck are they? Who the fuck are they?! I don¡¯t care about the cost, destroy them all!¡±
Xia Lei muted the device. ¡°Sa¡¯im, do you know who this is?¡±
¡°That voice...¡± Sa¡¯im jogged his memories. ¡°He¡¯s probably the second leader of the Gaza Strip armed group, Guliasa. Do you wish to kill him off? If you want that, I can make it happen.¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Our conflict had only happened because they did not keep their end of the deal. We¡¯ve killed many of his men and gave them the payback they deserved. So I hope the conflict between us and him could end here before things get worse.¡±
¡°What if they find out who we are?¡± asked Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°That possibility is low. If that really happened, I guess I¡¯d use my ways to solve the issue. Have your informants collect their information and observe their activities. If they find out who we are, we¡¯ll attempt a negotiation. I¡¯m willing to solve it with money and weapons. If that doesn¡¯t solve it, we¡¯d just have to get rid of them.¡±
¡°I know what to do now,¡± said Sa¡¯im.
¡°Alright, we should take our leave. Let¡¯s head to...¡± At that point, Xia Lei abruptly lifted his chin. He stared ahead into the direction of Jerusalem.
Two kilometres away, a Heron 2 drone was zooming over at light¡¯s speed. It had an altitude of three thousand metres and there were four air-to-surface missiles attached to the underside of its body.
Xia Lei could notice it but the other members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team couldn¡¯t. They too had looked into the same direction but all they could see was a span of the blue sky.
¡°Take cover!¡± Xia Lei eximed out of the blue.
While they remain clueless about the situation, the members quickly heeded his warning out of respect and admiration. Their bodies came in contact with the ground.
¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± Xia Lei warned again.
Aside from Qian Jun, everyone else had fallen to the ground and faked death.
Qian Jun hesitated but followed suit eventually.
He did so just in time. The drone with the missile had plunged from its three thousand metres altitude to nine hundred metres above ground sharply. Two secondster, even Qian Jun could finally make out the shape of the four missiles attached to the hovering unmanned aircraft.
To Israel,unching an air attack on Gaza was just a walk in the park. But this time, their target was not any of the authority figures of the Gaza Strip armed groups. Instead, it was Xia Lei and Qian Jun, along with the other members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
Despite theck of confirmation that Xia Lei was behind the rescue effort of Qian Jun, Mossad was not willing to let loose that possibility. After all, America was its ally. Protecting the strategic interests of America was equivalent to protecting their own. With their intention and goals, Israel had to investigate the current ongoing conflict in the Gaza region.
The drone flew past them in the air, then it made a U-turn. It hovered over the corpse-filled ground and circled it once before it took its leave towards the north.
Once the danger had left, Xia Lei sat up from the ground.
¡°Haha!¡± Sa¡¯im cackled. ¡°Boss, fighting with you is always a pleasure. This is better than sex!¡±
Xia Lei could only return him a wry smile. After he and Tsukino Kyoko had something slight going on in the background, Sa¡¯im was already making his true colours obvious.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Sa¡¯im¡¯s phone rang out of nowhere. He pulled out the device and pulled an exaggerated face. ¡°Ah, jeez. Women sure are fussy. Can¡¯t she leave me alone for a while?¡±
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Don¡¯t mind it, I think you should answer the call. Your woman had probably settled the boat arrangements.¡±
It was only then that Sa¡¯im was willing to pick up her call. ¡°Hello? Yeah... I got it. Be careful, we¡¯ll be joining you soon.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko walked over and joined Xia Lei by his side. She reached an arm over and wiped away a drop of blood that clung to the side of Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
Xia Lei smiled at her faintly.
He sure was weak against kindness from beauties.
Chapter 1034 - Prometheus
The fishing vige was small. It was decorated by a wide patch of palm trees and wooden racks used to dry fishings. Graced by the gentle sea breeze, the women sat around and mended their fishings while the children yed chase on the sandy shore. It was a tranquil and beautiful scenery, almost like it was out of this world.
A group of armed personnel entered the vige. Their emergence had alerted its inhabitants, quickly disturbing the peace. The women quickly ushered their children into the house and locked the doors.
The unweed intruders were none other than Xia Lei and the members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. They had managed to escape Gaza and entered the outskirts to reach this remote fishing vige.
Xia Lei scanned all the houses lining the beach. He noticed women who were kneeling on their prayer mats, asking their god for protection. There were no fixed-line phones here and Xia Lei had not found anyone using their phones to report the abnormality either.
Xia Lei shifted his gaze into the ocean where he saw a small cargo ship anchored to the harbour of the fishing vige. The g of Egypt flew proudly on top while its sides were painted with the logo of thepany. He activated his X-ray vision and checked the ship. Fortunately, no one suspicious was lurking around the boat.
As he observed the cargo ship, a speedboat came zooming over the water surface from the same direction. The person behind its wheel was Sa¡¯im¡¯s woman, Yaada.
A smirk found its way onto Xia Lei¡¯s lips. Sa¡¯im was right. All of his women were indeed skilful assistants. He led the Chinese Zodiac Battle team members towards the harbour. It was a naturally formed one that would allow easy ess to smaller fishing boats and speedboats. Due to the fact that the waters around it wereparatively shallow, cargo ships could not enter this area.
Yaada¡¯s speed boat arrived at the harbour. She waved at Sa¡¯im and the man ran over with extended arms. Truly, Sa¡¯im had yed his character as a romantic man to its fullest.
Xia Lei turned around and watched the sky. There were no drones in sight. Currently, the armed militia was the least of his concerns. They did not possess any capability for a battle on the sea. However, Israel... Israel was an issue. If the drones had found them at a time like this, they were as good as dead.
Xia Lei allowed himself to sigh in relief after finding no drones tailing them. But as he prepared to peel his eyes away and board the speedboat, one of the doors to the vige houses opened. A child peeked his head from the back of the door, a handphone in his grip.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart plummeted instantly, quickly locking his eyes on the child¡¯s lips.
Poof! A bullet was lodged into the child¡¯s skull. The handphone in his palms fell to the ground as his small body slumped backwards.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on the phone. At that moment, his heart felt like it was stabbed with countless needles. Everything felt awful.
It wasn¡¯t a real device. It was just a mere toy.
Xia Lei peeled his sight away and turned to look at Qian Jun, who stood beside him.
Qian Jun was the one who had robbed life away from the child. He had noticed the phone in the child¡¯s grip through the iron sight on the gust assault rifle. His first response was that the child was an informant to the Gaza Strip armed group or even the Mossad. Which was why Qian Jun had decided to shoot the child.
The man in question ced down his assault rifle and boarded the speedboat without offering any exnation.
Xia Lei¡¯s lip twitched, but no words were produced. While this shouldn¡¯t have happened, Xia Lei could not me Qian Jun. No one could¡¯ve known that the phone was just a toy one hundred metres away. If the child was truly an informant to Mossad, he and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team would be in deep trouble. Judging from that perspective, Qian Jun wasn¡¯t wrong. On the contrary, he had done what a warrior should do.
In war, cruelty was not umon.
The best example of this would be the Arab Spring Movementunched by America in the Middle East. The American banner was to bring freedom and Peace to the Arabs of thend but it was actually a mere guise for war. The American bombers had terrorized their sky and killed many innocents.
Xia Lei too boarded the speedboat. This was not the time for such sentiments or to show empathy. To survive in a war meant more than this.
Yaada drove the speedboat back to the cargo ship swiftly. After the speedboat was brought up to the cargo ship, she tossed a lifebuoy into the water below.
Sa¡¯im and Yaada embraced. They peppered each other with kisses and said sweet nothings.
The members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team would rather die than watch the exchange.
They quickly left to check the cargo ship.
Xia Lei did not turn to leave. The man waited for them to be separated before he came to Yaada and brought out the cash he had inside his bag. The thick stashes of cash had totalled up to three hundred thousand USD.
¡°Boss, what are you doing?¡± Sa¡¯im tilted his head in confusion. ¡°There¡¯s no need to pay her.¡±
Xia Lei hushed him. ¡°It¡¯s not for her.¡± He turned to face Yaada. ¡°Yaada, that child... He¡¯s not an informant. Please take this money to his family aspensation.¡±
A smile bloomed across Yaada¡¯s lips. ¡°I will, Sir. You¡¯re a kind person.¡±
¡°Be careful,¡± reminded Xia Lei.
Yaada simply nodded, turned around, and plunged into the water below.
Following that, the cargo ship began its journey towards Egypt.
The members of the Zodiac Team hadpleted their routine check of the cargo ship very quickly. A majority of the sailors on board were from an Asian third world country. The shipowner was an Iraqi. Yaada had utilized the rtionship between Sa¡¯im and the shipowner to handle the arrangements for their retreat.
At the moment, Sa¡¯im and the shipowner were chatting in the captain¡¯s deck. The other members of the Zodiac Team hid away their weapons and changed into sailor uniforms, blending into the crowd on board.
Xia Lei found himself on the stern deck after everything was settled.
Qian Jun was also on the stern deck, peering ahead into the direction of Israel. He had suffered for years on that piece ofnd. Now, he had finally gained his freedom. This feeling he felt deeply at the moment was only reserved for himself.
Xia Lei walked over and joined him. They stood shoulder to shoulder, looking into the direction of Israel. All Xia Lei could think of was the pyramid and all of the mysterious happenings that surrounded it.
The two men stood in silence, reminiscing the past quietly.
Until Xia Lei disrupted the quietness. ¡°That child... He was holding a toy phone, it wasn¡¯t real.¡±
Qian Jun replied, ¡°Yeah, I know. After I shot him, your expression fell. That was when I knew I killed someone by mistake.¡±
Xia Lei offered Qian Jun a smile that didn¡¯t quite reach his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to reprimand you but I hoped you would consider the situation before acting.¡±
Qian Jun nodded.
¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk about us.¡± Xia Lei cleared his throat. ¡°You promised that you¡¯ll tell me everything if we leave Gaza alive.¡±
Qian Jun shifted his gaze away from faraway and plopped himself onto the floor of the deck.
Xia Lei was a little surprised but joined him on the floor anyway.
¡°Your father...¡± Talking about it was difficult. Qian Jun inhaled deeply, reorganized his thoughts and continued, ¡°Thest time I stopped at my encounter with your father. Let¡¯s continue from there.¡±
Xia Lei was hopeful, his silence urging the tattooed man to carry on.
¡°Your father has given me a mission. He wanted me to head to Jerusalem, learn Hebrew and familiarize myself with the environment. It was weird at the time but I had no reason to question it. So that¡¯s how I came to Jerusalem. I¡¯ve stepped foot on every street and visited every ancient ruin site. One yearter, my mastery of Hebrew had achieved the level of being able to carry a decent conversation with the Jews. It was then that your father gave me another mission...¡±
¡°Your father presented to me a human face mask and disguised me as a student. It was a student in the Archaeology Department of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I killed the student and reced him. I went to school but not to study. Your father had intended me to get close to Professor Mark...¡±
Professor Mark... Xia Lei remembered who he was. In the grainy footage supplied by thete archaeologist, George, Mark¡¯s life had ended with a headshot given by Qian Jun himself.
Xia Lei interjected him. ¡°My father had you pretend to be one of his students but you¡¯ve never studied this field before. How were you able to trick a professor?¡±
Qian Jun answered, ¡°I wore spy bugs to get all the information I needed. When Professor Mark asked me questions in ss, your father would have someone pass me the right answer through the spy bug. This was why I was able to perform like a ster student and earn Professor Mark¡¯s fondness. Two monthster, I joined one of Professor Mark¡¯s research projects...¡±
¡°He was in need of assistants and me with my astounding academic results and unique opinions was what he needed. I became his assistant and earned permission to enter his office.¡±
Xia Lei was impatient at this point. ¡°Was the pyramid part of his research project?¡±
There was a beat of silence before Qian Jun replied, ¡°That isn¡¯t a pyramid. It just so happened to look like one.¡±
Xia Lei was surprised. ¡°Then what is it?¡±
¡°No one knows what its real name is but Professor Mark had referred to it as the Grave of Prometheus.¡±
Prometheus, the God of Intelligence in Greek mythology. He had created mankind and taught humans about utilizing fire and farming techniques. What was it based on for Professor Mark to regard it as the Grave of Prometheus?
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but upy his mind with such thoughts.
Qian Jun did not let the silence drag on. ¡°But that name was given only towards the end of the research. When I joined them, Professor Mark was in the process of finding a number of clues from a pile of ancient historical scrolls.¡±
¡°What was he looking for?¡±
¡°Clues regarding the tomb.¡± Qian Jun continued to narrate, ¡°His project had been ongoing for more than thirty years, meaning that he had begun working on it in his youth. At that time, he wasn¡¯t even a professor yet. He had collected and studied the information alone. Most of his ie was spent on this project. Things only took a better turn after he became a professor at Hebrew University. Honestly, I was recruited at thest phases of the project. From what I¡¯ve read from his collection of ancient scrolls and clues, the most important clue of all was... the crystal skull.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thundered, its tremors pulsating against his ribs.
Chapter 1035 - Qian Juns Memory
Beneath the blue skies and white clouds was a cargo shipping heading to Egypt.
Qian Jun was still reminiscing. ¡°I don¡¯t know what a crystal skull was but I knew your father wanted it. I began to pay extra attention to Professor Mark¡¯s research, remembering to take pictures of important information. Your father wanted me to take it slow and have some patience, he wanted me to stay beside Professor Mark longer. Though I may be the professor¡¯s assistant, he did not trust me a great deal. I wasn¡¯t able to get my hands on the vital core...¡±
¡°So your father scripted an incident. He hired a few criminals to attack Professor Mark¡¯s granddaughter. I was destined to appear at the right time. Before his granddaughter was harmed, I rescued her. But of course, I killed off the hired criminals after it to keep it under the wraps. But after that, I received Professor Mark¡¯s utmost trust...¡±
¡°One night, after Professor Mark was done with the day, we decided to drink and chat. He asked some really weird questions. He asked where I had been one minute ago. I answered that I was still here. But he said that was merely the me of this minute, not one minute ago. I could only chuckle awkwardly, I seriously thought that this man was out of his mind...¡±
¡°He remarked that the human¡¯s concept of time was shallow. One minute equates to sixty seconds. One hour equates to sixty minutes. One day equates to twenty-four hours while there were three hundred and sixty-five days in a year. Judging from certain perspectives, time was just a keepsake to remind mankind of important dates like birthdays, wedding anniversaries, important asions and times for work. Other than that, it yed no function. But time is actually...¡± Qian Jun paused, his eyes nk. The man was deep in memories that dated back to ten years ago.
Xia Lei urged, ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Let me think...¡± Qian Jun closed his eyes, only blinking it open after a minute. ¡°He said time was actually a door, a portal.¡±
¡°Door? Portal?¡± What did he mean? Can you be specific?¡±
¡°I asked him the same question and he told me that nothing in this world would truly disappear. A stone after hundreds and millions of years of weathering would turn into sand. Another hundred and millions of yearster, the sand grains would be rocks again. Time was like such. The previous minute, hour, year, and century would not disappear. They are just right beside us. As long as we find the right door or portal, we would be able to visit the past and see ourselves a minute or year ago. He mentioned that he was eager to find out what the world in the past had looked like and that if people were moving or stationary.¡±
Xia Lei immediately thought of the ancient alloy box. He had conducted relevant experiments. Everything he threw into it had alle out weathered, almost as if it had gone through thousands of years. Shock settled into his heart and he mused to himself, ¡°Could the ancient alloy box be the portal and door Professor Mark is referring to?¡±
¡°He followed our conversation with more topics on time but I wasn¡¯t interested in those. It took awhile for him to talk about his research. He mentioned that his research was actually based on a topic that the Mayans were studying in the past. The crystal skulls made by the Mayans were reproductions. The real crystal skull was not an art piece but a genuine human skull. It existed in this realm, hidden within a triangr-shaped tomb. The ancient Mayans had deduced that finding the crystal skull would solve all their queries about the origin of mankind and the secret of time. He even said that the concept of time grasped by the ancient Mayans during the stone ages was equivalent to our modern understanding of time. It was unbelievable...¡±
A passage Xia Lei had read before manifested in the back of his mind. The Mayans were the first tribe who found ¡®0¡¯, they had utilized it eight hundred years and one thousand years ahead of China and Europe respectively. The Mayans were able to estimate that the orbit of Earth had taken 365.2420 days. The current urate number was 365.2422 days, the deviation was only 0.0002 days. For a calction made five thousand years ago, the error was merely one day off. The Mayans had even used the decimal system and that theirrgest number was four billion. All of their calction techniques could still be applied four million yearster. The Mayans had used a method simr to an abacus that involved two symbols- the Tzolk¡¯in system. Tzolk¡¯in operated based on a 260-day calendar but no scientist of modern times could point out which in the sr system was a great fit for such calction...
There were many secrets that surrounded the Mayans but Xia Lei wasn¡¯t at all interested. The reason why he had so much information on them was that the Mayans had created the crystal skull!
The ancient alloy box, the prehistoric chosen one and his armour, Zhu Xuanyue, the ck-robed man...
They kept resurfacing in his mind without warning, trapping his sanity like a fishing. The addition of a crystal skull to the mix of thoughts tormented his brain.
¡°Professor Mark said that the Mayans had never once given up on searching for the real crystal skull. Professor Mark had achieved sess primarily because he had obtained a confirmed location. He said that as long as he gets the crystal skull, he would be able to solve the mysteries about time and the human origin...¡± Qian Jun¡¯s sentence fell in silence.
Xia Lei turned to look at him. ¡°Did he mention who the crystal skull could belong to?¡±
Qian Jun shook his head. ¡°No, it made no sense for him to know everything. If he had the knowledge, he wouldn¡¯t have needed tens of years to find the pyramid within the mountain. After that night, Professor Mark proceeded to hire a few workers to investigate the area. All of their detection equipment went haywire because of some odd maic field that enveloped the terrain. It kept directing those in search elsewhere...¡±
Something clicked in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. Could the maic field have something to do with the crystal skull? But if it was able to release energy that interfered with modern technology, why is the cargo ship cruising normally? If not the crystal skull, what then?
¡°It took months of hard work for Professor Mark to finally find the right location. His workers tore the stone wall apart and found an entrance to a tunnel. I was there with him on that particr day. I have to admit, the sight shocked me to my core. Professor Mark had even noticed the skulls that lined the top of the pyramid along with the crystal skull. He sent two people above but before they had even gotten to it, they were shot dead. He paid their families a handsomepensation fee to keep this under the wraps and took care of the bodies personally. Thanks to that, the whole issue remained hidden...¡±
Xia Lei interjected, ¡°Mark is merely a normal university professor. Where did his fundingse from?¡±
¡°I was curious about it too but I never once asked Mark about it. I only nted a hearing bug on his phone. The answer came fast. The sponsors of this project were the Americans. Professor Mark had kept it a secret from everyone, including me.¡±
Xia Lei had a feeling that Qian Jun would touch on the subject of the AE capsules soon. The one thing that he desperately needed answers to.
¡°The deaths made Professor Mark cautious and no one had dared to attempt the climb again. He shifted everyone¡¯s attention to the sarcophagus within the pyramid. He even joked to me about how Prometheus¡¯s body might be inside since he was the god that created humans. If he had not mentioned it, I wouldn¡¯t have understood why he decided to call this ce The Grave of Prometheus. It was then that I realized Mark had ced all of his faith on the crystal skull...¡±
¡°With all the equipment working incorrectly, nothing could detect the contents of the sarcophagus. So Professor Mark contracted the Americans and they sent over two of their best archaeologists. While waiting for their arrival, Professor Mark instructed the workers to pry a gap in the sarcophagus. It was meant to be a gift of gratitude...¡±
¡°I had an idea when the sarcophagus would be opened but when the day had arrived, Professor Mark instructed me to return to school. He had even tried tofort me, making a promise that he would tell me of his solved mysteries. I knew that the Americans had requested this and he was just working based on their orders. I told everything to your father and he dispatched some manpower to me...¡±
¡°When the two Americans arrived at the mountain and entered the opening, I calcted the time and don the human face mask your father gave me. I invaded the site, killing everyone in the process. I found an amber inside the sarcophagus but I didn¡¯t know what it contained. The only thing I knew was that your father wanted it...¡±
¡°I had the best person on my team to climb the pyramid and grab the crystal skull. He avoided all of the other skulls but all it took was a touch to the crystal skull and he came tumbling down like a rag doll. The fall over a hundred metres turned him into a squashed pile of meat. I realize things weren¡¯t that simple. I stepped outside and made a call to your father. I told him the situation and he decided for me to ignore the crystal skull. I asked him why but all he answered was that someone would retrieve itter on. We settled on a meeting time and ce where I would pass him the amber...¡±
¡°I sted out all the tunnels and killed everyone who knew about this ce. I left Israel and travelled to Rome. But I wasn¡¯t aware that the Americans hadid a trap in silence. I fought a gruesome battle and while I managed to send a signal for your father to escape, I was captured. The Americans obtained the amber and I was imprisoned in the Guantanamo prison. They tortured me, eager to force out an answer to where I had gotten the amber from but I kept mum. Eventually, Israel and America settled on a deal. It was then when I got transferred to Mossad¡¯s underground dungeon...¡±
This was Qian Jun¡¯s story.
What happened next did not require his narration.
Xia Changhe¡¯s prophecy was realized. Indeed, someone had entered the pyramid and took away the crystal skull. It was none other than his own son, Xia Lei. But what Xia Changhe did not foresee was that Xia Lei would rescue Qian Jun from the grasp of Mossad.
Realization sunk in and Xia Lei finally realized why his own father had kept the identity and whereabouts of the snake a secret! His father had really acted his part to its fullest.
After a beat of silence, Xia Lei uttered a question. ¡°You have sacrificed yourself greatly. Was it worth it?¡±
Qian Jun only answered with a smile. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for your father, I would¡¯ve died long ago under that bridge. Was it worth it? Yes, it was. But I can say thatpared to your father¡¯s style, I like yours better.¡±
In other words, Qian Jun was trying to say thatpared to serving under your father, I much rather work under you.
Xia Lei shed him a toothy grin. ¡°You and Professor Mark were the one who found the crystal skull but you didn¡¯t have the luxury of inspecting it up close. I¡¯ve already removed it from the pyramid, would you like to take a look?¡±
Qian Jun nodded with anticipation.
Chapter 1036 - Memory Erasure
Xia Lei brought Qian Jun into one of the ship cabins. The first thing that weed them beyond the sturdy metal door was Tsukino Kyoko. She had been watching over Xia Lei¡¯s bag, aware of the importance of its contents.
Noticing Xia Lei and Qian Jun, Tsukino Kyoko dutifully stood up and said, ¡°I¡¯ll go watch the door outside.¡±
Xia Lei returned a slight nod.
Tsukino Kyoko left the cabin and closed the door behind her. While she was genuinely curious about the secrets surrounding the crystal skull, she was not keen to pry. She was content with the way things were now. If Xia Lei had chosen to confide in her, that¡¯d be great. But if he didn¡¯t, it wouldn¡¯t affect anything.
Xia Lei zipped the bag open and brought out the crystal skull.
The ship cabin was located at the bottom level of the cargo ship. The only light source illuminating them was only a regr twenty-five-watt fluorescentmp. Lighting was scarce but as soon as the crystal skull had emerged out of the bag, the ship cabin immediately felt brighter. It was almost as if the crystal skull had absorbed all the light and reflected it back. It was a pristine white crystal, showcasing crystalline-like properties at the same time.
This was the first time Qian Jun had seen something like this. He gaped at the sight.
¡°It¡¯s so beautiful.¡± Qian Jun was emotional.
Xia Lei asked, ¡°Do you think it¡¯s a real skull?¡±
Qian Jun studied it closely. ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that. Professor Mark had studied it for tens of years and looked through piles of information. He said that the crystal skull was a real skull and I believed him. After all, he¡¯s a professional.¡±
¡°Back then, my father¡¯s aim was the amber within the sarcophagus and not the crystal skull. Is that right?¡± Xia Lei tried to confirm.
¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that. Perhaps that was the case. I¡¯ve told your father the exact coordinates of that mountain. After I was captured, he had all the chance to obtain this crystal skull but he didn¡¯t do so. Based on that, it does seem like his goal wasn¡¯t the crystal skull after all.¡± Qian Jun answered.
¡°Did you know that there was a secret tunnel that led into the mountain body? It was sealed by a special kind of wax.¡±
¡°Yeah, I was aware of that. That tunnel was found by the person who I instructed to climb up and retrieve the skull. It was indeed sealed by wax to hide it from the general public. Minutes after he found out, he fell to his death. I did tell your father about it and even drew a map,¡± answered Qian Jun.
Things were finally making sense. No wonder Xia Changhe had left clues for him at the foot of the mountain. If it wasn¡¯t for Qian Jun¡¯s map, there was no way Xia Lei would¡¯ve found the passage.
Despite learning some truth about the situation, Xia Lei was beginning to umte more suspicions against his own father. While he himself was a man full of secrets, he was certain that Xia Changhe too had plenty of mystery surrounding him!
Xia Lei mused to himself darkly, ¡°We really should sit down and talk this out next time we see each other. If he continues to hide it from me, I¡¯m not going to let him embrace his grandchildren.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, can I...¡± There was a moment of hesitation. ¡°Can I touch it?¡±
Xia Lei turned to look at him. ¡°Of course. Go ahead.¡±
Qian Jun reached over and picked it up.
At that very moment, it glowed brighter and beamed.
Xia Lei gasped, staring at the crystal skull in shock. Qian Jun¡¯s body slumped tensely towards the ground.
¡°Careful!¡± Xia Lei frantically reached out an arm to support Qian Jun by his waist and held him up.
The crystal skull slipped from his grip and fell onto the sheets. Thankfully, theyers of soft bedding had saved the crystal skull from any possible damage.
The crystal skull was unscathed but Qian Jun was unconscious. Xia Lei shook his lifeless body twice, garnering no response.
¡°Boss, what¡¯s going on?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice rang from outside the door.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°An ident, stay out!¡±
¡°Got it. Tell me if you need me,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei had halted Tsukino Kyoko from barging in fearing that Ning Jing fate would replicate itself on the female ninja. He was terribly worried. Xia Lei did not know anything about the crystal skull. What if the skull had possessed the same energy as the ancient alloy box that could drive anyone that came in contact with it insane?!
Dread settled in and Xia Lei found himself fretting over Qian Jun¡¯s wellbeing.
¡°Hello? Hey, can you hear me? Wake up...¡± Xia Lei continued to shake Qian Jun¡¯s body but no reactions were produced. He ced Qian Jun back onto the bed and checked his vitals. To his relief, everything was alright.
Qian Jun was breathing smoothly and his pulse rate was regr. The only odd thing was his slower brain activity. All his physiological properties had confirmed that he had not received any damage. Qian Jun had just passed out for no particr reason.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on the crystal skull.
Itid against the soft sheets, radiant and glistening in silence.
It was hard to believe that it was a human¡¯s skull. If someone had a skull like this, what would their eyes look like? Was it white? Was it blue? Or was it ck? What would their skin colour be? Was it as clear and translucent like what he was seeing?
The flurry of thoughts ransacked Xia Lei¡¯s mind. The man lifted the crystal skull and held it firmly. He did not fall unconscious. All he could feel was the coolness against his palms that radiated off the crystal skull.
¡°Why did Qian Jun fall over just from one touch while I¡¯m alright?¡± Xia Lei was utterly perplexed. But soon, he remembered Qian Jun¡¯s earlier description. ¡°Qian Jun mentioned that he sent someone up the peak of the pyramid for the crystal skull. But just from one touch, the man had fallen from the top. Was it because he fell unconscious all of a sudden?¡±
While that was just a guess, it was safe to assume that Qian Jun shared a simr experience. They both had touched the crystal skull and immediately lost consciousness. The only difference was that Qian Jun was lucky to be alive due to a shorter fall while the man had literally plummeted to his death from a great height.
¡°Why did I not face the same thing? Why... Why did father not insist on Qian Jun bringing away the crystal skull and not do it himselfter on despite knowing where it was? Was he already aware of the crystal skull¡¯s properties?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but bring his thoughts deeper.
A few minutes had passed and Qian Jun had yet to regain his consciousness.
Xia Lei¡¯s brain was filled to the brim with confusion. The man shook his skull in an attempt to chase away the thoughts. Eventually, he found the strength to stare at the crystal skull again and activated his X-ray vision.
Last time, he had begun his closer inspection from its right eye socket. Now, Xia Lei decided to switch to another entry point, the top of the skull.
The X-ray vision prated through the crystalyer and brought him into its interior. At that split second, Xia Lei¡¯s brain thundered loudly. The force was so immense that it felt like his entire brain was imploding from the inside. But the feeling had left as quickly as it attacked. Following that was the feeling of imprisonment as if Xia Lei had spent one whole month in a dark underground dungeon. Abruptly, the mental environment shifted to somewhere close to the sun. Xia Lei was blinded by the white beams that seemed toe from everywhere!
The entire process was way more painful than the earlier concussion. The sharp pain felt like someone was adamant on running a de across his brain and eyeballs. Paired with aches along his nerves, his head felt close to exploding.
In the midst of excruciating pain, countless glittering substances made its appearance. They were like the stars that littered a clean night sky, but one could easily describe it as diamond powder. They danced and floated about in his brain. Among the white lights and shimmering powder, a figure appeared. His stature was thin and tall. The man¡¯s back was faced towards Xia Lei, shielding his face away. The feeling of loneliness that wafted off him was immense. A door manifested before him. Upon closer inspection, perhaps a door wasn¡¯t the right word. It looked more like a whirlpool made out of light and powder.
And then he vanished into the whirlpool...
Xia Lei wished to see more but as the retreating back had disappeared into the light, his X-ray vision was forced to a stop with a violent knock.
The X-ray vision ended, leaving Xia Lei to stare at the crystal skull nkly. He looked like he was pondering aboutplex thoughts but truthfully, his mind was as nk as paper.
¡°Mm...¡± A noise rolled out of Qian Jun¡¯s throat.
Xia Lei snapped back to reality. He frantically stuffed the crystal skull back inside his bag and ran over to Qian Jun¡¯s side. ¡°Hey, you alright?¡±
Qian Jun blinked his eyes open forcefully. ¡°Why... Why am I on your bed?¡±
Xia Lei was taken aback. What the hell was happening?
Qian Jun supported himself up to sit on the bed. From his movements and agility, there were no signs of difort. The man looked disorientated. ¡°Weren¡¯t we on the deck? What happened?¡±
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei was so shocked that he was failing to find words.
Qian Jun shrugged his shoulders and mocked himself, ¡°Sorry, perhaps I¡¯ve been locked away for too long. There¡¯s probably something wrong with my brain.¡±
¡°No...¡± Xia Lei wished to offer him an exnation but he just didn¡¯t know how to put it into words.
¡°Nevermind, this is my own problem. It¡¯s nothing severe, I can fix this. I¡¯ve already told you all I know, so that¡¯s it from me. I¡¯ll go take a shower and sleep the night away.¡± With that, Qian Jun left the bed and took his leave.
Xia Lei sent him off with a gaze. While he looked calm, his heart was turbulent and riddled with unprecedented surprise. ¡°The crystal skull interferes with the maic force field of modern equipment and it can erase memories? It¡¯s obvious that Qian Jun had lost an hour worth of his memory. He couldn¡¯t even recall anything that happened in this cabin! But... Why...? Why am I spared for its effects?¡±
At this moment, Tsukino Kyoko entered the cabin with a faint smile. ¡°Boss, we¡¯re about to reach Egypt soon. Do you have any ns for now?¡±
Her petite body was a front to the vigorous energy hidden within. There was a hint tinged to the curve of her cherry lips. Her mind was not fixated on whatever n she was talking about, it had more to do with the person who makes the ns.
rms were ring in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. With a tensed scalp, he answered, ¡°Well, I...¡±
Before he could say anything else, Sa¡¯im¡¯s deep resonating voice interrupted them. It echoed along the empty corridor. ¡°Fuck! This is bad! Boss,e on out! We¡¯ve got trouble!¡±
Xia Lei quickly dashed out of the cabin.
Tsukino Kyoko felt all of her energy drain out of her body as she slumped down in defeat. Then, with a wave of her arm, a cold silver sheen was dragged along the air. In the blink of an eye, a broom that stood against the wall of the cabin was broken in half.
¡°Sa¡¯im, this is your damned penis,¡± hissed Tsukino Kyoko.
Chapter 1037 - The Attack of the Drones
The first thing that appeared to Xia Lei once he exited the cabin was Sa¡¯im with an odd expression on his face. Despite that, the Iraqi did not look nervous. Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°What happened?¡±
¡°Boss, take a look at this,¡± Sa¡¯im gestured him over.
Xia Lei trailed behind the man onto the deck. There, the Iraqi captain and a few of his sailors were huddled together deep in discussion. The captain looked into the distance while another sailor traced his finger along a mapid on the floor. The scene was reminiscent of an ancient ship on an expedition where the lost crew were in search of an ind to dock.
Xia Lei was immediately reminded of the crystal skull. He thought no one. ¡°Did the crystal skull wreck havoc on the ship¡¯s navigation system? Is that why they¡¯re resorting to ancient sailing techniques to pinpoint their path?¡±
And as expected, the captain pointed to the span of ocean ahead of them. ¡°What the fuck! We were en route to Egypt¡¯s Port Said but... For some reason, we¡¯re heading towards Cyprus instead!¡±
Cyprus was a Mediterranean ind nation. It was ny degrees off their original route.
Xia Lei was certain of its cause, yet there was no way he could tell them that. He thought about it before turning to Sa¡¯im. ¡°Tell your captain friend to continue the journey to Cyprus. I¡¯ll shoulder all of his losses and pay him an extra one million USDter.¡±
¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll talk to him about it.¡± Sa¡¯im left to discuss with the captain.
Xia Lei¡¯s offer to waiver their losses and pay them extra was so attractive that the captain had found it difficult to say no. Even if he were fired tomorrow, the one million USD was enough to cover the rest of his lifefortably.
The exchange between Sa¡¯im and the captain was short. The captain swiftlyid down instructions to his crew to maintain their current course towards Cyprus. He even strode over and gave Xia Lei a tight hug, praising his generosity.
But to be honest, this had nothing to do with generosity. It was just that Xia Lei had the mary capacity to solve issues like this.
Egypt was their initial n but Cyprus wasn¡¯t a bad choice either. The only difference was they extended time at sea.
Xia Lei left the deck after the issue was solved.
Sa¡¯im followed him into the corridor and utilized the privacy to whisper, ¡°Boss, what the hell is going on?¡±
Xia Lei cleared his throat. ¡°The crystal skull is behind this. But we must not let the captain find out.¡±
Sa¡¯im was taken aback but nodded anyway. ¡°Got it.¡±
Xia Lei supplied, ¡°By the way, keep a lookout of the sky too. If you find an Israeli ne, inform me immediately.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll watch the sky on the deck.¡±
¡°Go.¡± With that Xia Lei excused himself into his cabin.
Tsukino Kyoko was still inside, loyally watching over his bag. Noticing his return, she immediately blossomed with a smile. ¡°What happened out there?¡±
¡°The ship got deviated away from its course. The direction we¡¯re heading in is not towards Port Said but Cyprus,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± Tsukino Kyoko gasped. ¡°Isn¡¯t that quite a big deviation? Even if the navigation system is wrong, simply looking would point out that we¡¯re heading towards Cyprus instead, no?¡±
She had a point. For a ny-degree error, the helmsman must have at least hit a full rudder. But it was near impossible for any qualified helmsman to do so on a straight course. This meant that the issue had arisen long before the captain had even noticed it. The disruption provided by the crystal skull certainly begun ever since he boarded the cargo ship.
Xia Lei pointed a finger at his bag. ¡°It¡¯s causing this.¡±
¡°The crystal skull?¡±
Xia Lei nodded affirmatively. ¡°Yeah, it could even erase memories. Qian Jun had experienced it earlier. We talked for quite some time but hepletely forgot whatever happened within that one hour span.¡±
¡°Are you alright?¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± Xia Lei drawled the silence as he pondered briefly. ¡°Hey, can you try to look around for some lead material? I¡¯ll make a box and ce it inside. Otherwise, who knows where this might lead us.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go look around.¡± Tsukino Kyoko hastily went out of the door.
Now, Xia Lei was the only one left in the cabin. He brought out the crystal skull again and ced it on top of the sheets.
The crystalline skull tranquilly radiated its pristine reflections of light. It was translucent and pure.
Xia Lei watched it carefully. ¡°You¡¯re nothing but a skull. How are you able to interrupt modern equipment? You¡¯re even able to tamper with it and direct others towards the wrong path. Do you have a soul?¡±
He extended an arm and caressed it, feeling its surface. It wasn¡¯t a real crystal. Its density and hardness was greater than any known crystal. Judging from its exterior, every clue had pointed towards it being a real skull. But whose skull was this? What was it made of? The questions that surfaced in his mind seemed to have no answer.
There was silence as Xia Lei pondered. After a while, he brought out his satellite phone and dialled for Liang Siyao.
Doot... Doot... Doot... Doot...
The line was connected instantly.
¡°Hey, Siyao. It¡¯s me...¡±
¡°Inhale... Exhale... Inhale... Exhale...¡± The voice ringing through the device was weird.
A lump manifested in Xia Lei¡¯s throat. ¡°You?! What the hell do you want?!¡±
This voice was no stranger to his ears, it sounded too simr to the ck-robed man. Xia Lei would always hear this prior to their exchange. The only thing Xia Lei could think of right now was that the ck-robed man had kidnapped Liang Siyao and was about to threaten him!
¡°Inhale... Exhale... Inhale...¡± The odd breathing continued, no other word muttered.
¡°Come on, speak! What the fuck do you want?! Come at me!¡± roared Xia Lei.
¡°Inhale... Exhale... Inhale...¡± Nothing changed.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows, no longer attempting to make them speak. He too fell silent, maintaining his ear close to the device.
¡°Inhale... Exhale... Inhale...¡± The eerie noise continued with no signs of stopping.
Xia Lei took a nce at the multifunctional watch adorning his wrist. Shockingly, this had gone on for a full minute. He quickly arrived at a conclusion. Liang Siyao was not kidnapped by the ck-robed man and that thetter was not trying to liaise through the satellite phone. The satellite phone was merely interrupted by the crystal skull!
The intention behind making a call to his wife was to gauge the crystal skull¡¯s interruption. And yet, the results still managed to raise Xia Lei¡¯s goosebumps from its eeriness.
Xia Lei made another call to Tsukino Kyoko, testing it further. While they were aboard the same ship, it was clear that he could not reach her as well.
¡°That¡¯s weird. In George¡¯s video, he was able to call Professor Mark while standing on the hill. Their signal was not interrupted then, so why now?¡± Xia Lei scratched his scalp. ¡°Could it be that Professor Mark was standing outside the cave? But that¡¯s not right. Qian Jun mentioned that it could trick technology and the human mind. How is it possible to escape its influence just by standing outside the cave? Unless... unless it possesses intelligence. Does it really have a soul?¡±
To think that the crystal skull had the intelligence of a soul was insanity. But that was the only assumption Xia Lei could manifest to exin how Mark and Professor Mark were able to contact each other via phone. Honestly, this thought was baffling to Xia Lei himself as well.
¡°Boss! Bad news!¡± Sa¡¯im¡¯s screams echoed down the corridor outside his cabin, apanied by his rushed footsteps.
Xia Lei hastily stuffed the crystal skull into his bag, making a quick move for the door. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°The Israelis found us!¡± Sa¡¯im¡¯s eyes were wide and trembling. ¡°There¡¯s a drone hovering above us and it has missiles!¡±
Xia Lei could not even hold his breath any longer. He ran for the deck.
True as it was, a Heron 2 drone was zooming towards them from the direction of Israel. It was approaching real soon. Xia Lei could clearly make out the air-to-surface missile attached firmly to its body. They were not regr missiles. It was thetest God of War air-to-surface missile developed by the Israeli Military Industry Corporation. But of course, the missiles hung on the Heron 2 drone were ofpatible sizes and not the five hundred kilograms version carried by fighter jets. The drone¡¯s approximate weight should range about one hundred kilograms and it carried four missiles. Even if it wasn¡¯t therger God of War missiles, one sole lightweight drone version would be able to sink this ship no problem!
It would be great if they had a shoulder-fired air defence missileuncher now. Sadly, the nature of this operation had rendered neither Xia Lei nor the members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team unable to bring along one.
With a blink of the eye, the Heron 2 drone had reached the top of the cargo ship at about two thousand metres altitude.
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Sa¡¯im, bring me Anjum Khan¡¯s sniper rifle. I¡¯ll destroy it with the XL2500!¡±
¡°Ah, only you¡¯d be able to do that.¡± Sa¡¯im threw a remark and dashed for the cabins.
But before Sa¡¯im could aplish that, the circling Heron 2 abruptly fired a missile!
With the power it packed, it could easily tear a crater in the ship¡¯s body. Within an hour of its st, the cargo ship would breathe itsst breath before sinking into the depths of the ocean forever. If the missile hadnded on the wheelhouse instead, the crew can bid the electronic instruments and lotive equipment farewell. Either way, the result was the same.
¡°It¡¯s trying to destroy the right side of the hull!¡± Xia Lei quickly deduced where the missile wouldnd and quickly dashed to the left of the deck, throwing himself forward onto the harsh floor.
Sa¡¯im mirrored him and watched the impending missile fall from the skies above as his stomach lurched with anxiety.
Chapter 1038 Nothing Left to Bury
The God of War whistled harshly against the wind, spelling out doom and destruction for those who braved against it.
In that split second, even Xia Lei¡¯s mind was a nk canvas, not to mention everyone else.
The God of War missile flew onto the right of the ship hull.
Ka-boom! A water pir rose to the ocean surface!
The ship swayed, but there was no tell-tale sign of fire. Nothing was destroyed either.
Xia Lei frantically mbered up from the deck and ran for the right of the hull. Everything was fine and the missile did not manage to tear a hole on the ship. It plunged into the ocean below headfirst and exploded underwater.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two missiles were headed their way again.
It wasn¡¯t established if the Israeli military or Mossad was behind the maniption of this threatening drone but Xia Lei could figure that the man behind the drone was pissed. He had fired two at one go.
Sa¡¯im kneeled on the deck, both palms t against the ground. He prayed wholeheartedly, ¡°Ah, I¡¯m your loyal ve...¡±
The Iraqi ship captain did the same as well, praying for their god¡¯s protection.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, remained standing. His eyes were calm as he watched the missiles rush for the ship with their fiery tails. At this moment, there was no fear in his heart. Oddly enough, the man had the capacity to smile. Xia Lei knew that with that around, there was no way that the Israeli would be able to drown them all.
The other two missiles sshed into the ocean, one of themnding in front of the ship and the othernding behind it.
Boom! Boom!
Two pirs of seawater rushed for the sky. The waves generated by the shockwaves came crashing against the ship. It was a terrifying disy no doubt, but it wasn¡¯t enough to blow up the ship.
Xia Lei raised his right arm towards the drone and extended his middle finger proudly.
A tant gesture of mockery and insult.
Miles away in themanding centre of the Jerusalem Mossad base, Israel.
Xia Lei¡¯s image was erged greatly along with his vulgar digit.
A Native American face was stered widely on the central screen. The man¡¯s smirk was an eyesore and the confidence that shone through his eyes was immense.
Running in the background was a face recognition software that rapidly birthed point-by-point analysis andparison. Soon enough, another face was produced on the screen. It was Xia Lei¡¯s face. The conclusion offered by the face recognition software was that the facial features of these two men were at about fifty percent simrity. But thepatibility of their skeletal structures and physique was aplete match.
With theplete matches, the software¡¯s AI had neglected the difference between their facial features to lock on Xia Lei.
¡°It¡¯s him!¡± The edge of Kerns¡¯ lips twitched involuntarily out of rage.
With confirmations that it was Xia Lei, Yan Fo immediately dug out his satellite phone.
He needed to reach the head of the CIA, Williams.
¡°Mister Williams, I¡¯ve got terrible news.¡±
¡°Did the prisoner escape?¡± Williams¡¯ voice rang through the receptor.
¡°That¡¯s not the pressing issue.¡± Yan Fo inhaled sharply, letting his emotions settle to the bottom of his stomach. ¡°What I wish to tell you is that... Xia Lei is not dead.¡±
¡°Huh?! What? That¡¯s impossible!¡± Williams¡¯ exmation came like a grenade. ¡°What the fuck is this bullshit?!¡±
Yan Fo was unfazed. ¡°Mossad will be sharing their data with the CIA soon. By then, you¡¯ll know what I¡¯m saying. Xia Lei is in Israel and he has rescued the prisoner we¡¯re trying to bring to America.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll have someone dig his grave up right away! I need to open up his grave!¡± Williams was reluctant to believe that Xia Lei was still alive.
How was this remotely possible?
It was a process. They hadunched assassinations after assassinations. And after all that work, their sess was a lie? Why couldn¡¯t the damned Chinese bastard just die obediently and make everyone else happy?
¡°If it really is him, I want you to kill him no matter what it takes! I¡¯ll have America send the nearest army troop to your aid! Tell me, where the fuck is he now?¡±
Yan Fo supplied, ¡°He¡¯s on board a cargo ship heading towards Cyprus. It was supposed to be cruising towards Port Said, Egypt but it changed its course to Cyprus for some unknown reason. The Israeli found them through satellite and dispatched a drone to investigate. They managed to find Xia Lei and his people. They¡¯re all in disguises but they had their images captured.¡±
¡°Are you sure it¡¯s them on the ship? Like, now?¡±
¡°Yes. Mossad had just verified Xia Lei¡¯s identity. They¡¯re using their facial recognition system and it offers a ny-five per cent uracy,¡± said Yan Fo.
¡°Then what are you waiting for? Israel should dispatch nes to st the ship open!¡±
¡°They had attempted that but their drones had fired three missiles to no avail. None of it had managed to even scratch the hull.¡±
¡°What the hell?¡±
¡°Perhaps it¡¯s some issue with their drone or missile. I wish to ask for the US Navy¡¯s involvement. This is the best shot to kill off Xia Lei for good. There will be no better opportunity if we miss this,¡± uttered Yan Fo, his eyes glinting with a sh of something fierce.
¡°Our Sixth Fleet is in the Mediterranean. I¡¯ll contact the Pentagon right away.¡± Williams quickly hung up.
At this moment, Kerns barked out an order to the drone driver. ¡°Close in on the cargo ship and fire the missiles at close range. If that doesn¡¯t do the trick, ram the drone into the ship!¡±
The droner driver executed Kerns¡¯ instructions.
Disyed on the screen, the drone plunged from its altitude sharply. It arrived five hundred metres above the ship within five seconds, hovering above it with an aerial distance of one thousand metres. At this distance, it was almost impossible to miss!
The drone driver pressed on the button and fired.
Whoosh! The final God of War zoomed for the ship.
Two secondster, it came close to the ship¡¯s tail. And without warning, it was deflected ever so slightly away from its intended trajectory and plunged into the ocean.
Ka-boom!
The waves generated off thest missile were suppressed well.
¡°What the fuck is going on?! Can anyone tell me?!¡± Kerns raged.
The drone driver turned around to face him with great confusion. ¡°I have no idea.¡±
At this moment, the Heron 2 drone fell into the sea. The impact as it collided with the water surface had broken off its wings and it began to sink towards the bottom.
The footage on the central screen went ck.
¡°Switch to the satellite feedback! Quick!¡± Kerns yelled.
The fast return of the satellite feedback had shown them a boundless horizon of the ocean voided of any cargo ship.
Watching the turbulent ocean, Kerns could only gape at the absurdity of the situation.
Onboard the cargo ship floating on top of the Mediterranean sea...
¡°Hahaha! Long live Ah!¡± The Iraqi ship captain climbed onto the deck and watched the destroyed drone that floated on the water surface. Overwhelmed by a flurry of emotions, he screamed, ¡°Ah must¡¯ve blessed us! Our prayers were answered! Israelis! Israelis! Ha! They¡¯re a fucking joke!¡±
A vast variety of responses were drawn out by the sailors. Some of them were excited while some were still absolutely dumbfounded.
Sa¡¯im mbered up from the deck and watched Xia Lei with eyes filled with respect and loyalty. He did not think that his answers to Ah were answered. He has prayed too many times to know this wasn¡¯t the work of his god. But this incident was sufficient for Sa¡¯im to pin its conclusion onto Xia Lei. The gaze that the Iraqi had trained on Xia Lei was that of a worshipper.
Xia Lei peeled his attention away from the dark blue ocean. There was no relief on his face, only solemness.
¡°Boss, are you god himself?¡± Sa¡¯im tried to probe.
Xia Lei halted his footsteps. ¡°If I am god, can I not pay you your sry?¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Sa¡¯im shed him a toothy grin. ¡°You¡¯re human, the best man in fact!¡±
But Xia Lei was not in the mood for friendly banter. The man muttered, ¡°Gather our team immediately in my cabin. This is not the end of the dangers we¡¯ll be facing. This is merely the beginning.¡±
Sa¡¯im replied, ¡° We¡¯ll be entering Cyprus sea territory very soon. The Israeli will not dare to let their jets enter into the territory of a European Union ally and attack us.¡±
Xia Lei stared at him hard. ¡°I¡¯m not talking about Israel, I¡¯m talking about America. The American Sixth Fleet is based in the Mediterranean sea. You can¡¯t be serious about expecting us tost a battle with just a cargo ship? The American fighter jets would not give a shit about a European Union member.¡±
¡°Right away!¡± The magnitude of the issue had settled in, changing Sa¡¯im¡¯s expression in a sh.
Xia Lei returned to his cabin and brought out the crystal skull from his bag.
He raised it to his eye level. There were no detectable changes on the skull. It was still as pristine and pure as the first time Xia Lei had noticed it. It seems to have no life either. It was as if the events earlier had nothing to do with it! But Xia Lei was certain that everyone on this ship had owed their lives to this translucent crystal skull!
¡°If you have a soul or intelligence, can you please enlighten me on what you are? If you are a human skull, what form did you possess when you were alive?¡± Xia Lei mumbled to himself.
The crystal skull provided no responses, only leaving behind its cold sheen.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team gathered in his cabin in no time, even Qian Jun. Everyone¡¯s attention was grabbed by the crystal skull that sat atop Xia Lei¡¯s palm.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°It¡¯s able to disrupt modern equipment and technology. We were able to survive all thanks to this. While our threat earlier was just a drone, I believe that the American Sixth Fleet would dispatch their fighter jets to hover above this entire area. They might even use their submarines.¡±
¡°If it can disrupt the Israeli drone, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s able to trick the American jets and submarine.¡± Anjum Khan mused.
But to everyone¡¯s surprise, Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re oversimplifying the problem. We¡¯re not sure how much equipment the crystal skull can tamper with. If its limit were full electronics of two nes, we¡¯d have nothing left to bury if the Sixth Fleet attacks. They attack in a formation.¡±
Anjum Khan was silenced, face morphing into sobriety. It was certainly not rational to bet his luck on a crystal skull he knew nothing about.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°We need to consider another situation. What if the crystal skull exhausts some kind of energy to trick their equipment? The more disruption it poses, the more exhausted the energy is. If its energy is depleted after one round of attack from the Sixth Fleet, we¡¯d be goners.¡±
Everyone was dead silent, hearts heavy to its extreme.
¡°Also.¡± Xia Lei swallowed. ¡°We might need to face the worst scenario soon.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Sa¡¯im couldn¡¯t help but ask.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Cannonballs need no equipment. How many bombardments do you think this ship can withstand from the Sixth Fleet?¡±
Chapter 1039 Super Hornet
Death seemed to be inevitable. Approaching it with an alternative would also lead to death. The three possibilities Xia Lei had brought up had a great likelihood of disaster, especially thest one. As long as the American ships came close, two cannonballs would be all it takes to sink them all.
¡°Boss, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got a n, right?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s gaze was unwavering. ¡°You summoned us here to tell us your n. What would you like us to do?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko had always been obedient. She never demanded reasons, only heeding to Xia Lei¡¯s instructions loyally.
Xia Lei fell silent. ¡°There¡¯s a speedboat on this ship. We¡¯ll lower it down, bring along enough fuel, food and water then avoid Cyprus. We need to leave the danger zone before deciding on anything else.¡±
¡°Yelena, let¡¯s go,¡± Tsukino called.
Yelena nodded in acknowledgement and left with her.
¡°Anjum Khan, you should go with them too. Help Kyoko and Yelena with the food supply but I must remind you. No curry from the kitchen,¡± said Xia Lei.
Anjum Khan was speechless. While Xia Lei¡¯s reminder was borderline questionable, he still went nheless.
Xia Lei returned his gaze onto Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun. ¡°You two, go tie up the captain and the crew. Best if you can give them some wounds, you¡¯re allowed to go a little heavy-handed.¡±
Qian Jun nodded. This was the first time Xia Lei had assigned a task to him as the current leader of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. It was impossible for him to decline the job.
Sa¡¯im, on the other hand, was hesitant. He wanted to say something but no words were produced.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Sa¡¯im, I know this is difficult for you. But you must understand that we cannot bring your friends along on our escape. They¡¯ll be captured by the Americans and may be subjected to interrogation. We¡¯re creating an illusion that we¡¯ve kidnapped them so they could be exempted from possible trouble. Tell your friends that we¡¯ve kidnapped them and they know nothing about us. I¡¯ll pay him two million USD and five hundred thousand USD each to his sailors aspensation.¡±
¡°Alright, I know what to do now,¡± replied Sa¡¯im. He and Qian Jun took their leave.
To leave the cargo ship with the speedboat was the best way Xia Lei could¡¯vee up with. Other than this idea, the man could not settle on any alternative to dissipate their danger.
For Sa¡¯im¡¯s friends, it was true that they¡¯d shoulder a heightened risk. But if they could live past this obstacle, they would be able to enjoy the rest of their livesfortably. They¡¯d no longer need to drift along the sea for work. Everything had its price and this was theirs to pay.
A few minutester, Xia Lei came to the deck. Tsukino Kyoko, Yelena and Anjum Khan had yed their parts well. The three of them hadpleted relevant preparations for the speedboat and managed to store sufficient fuel, food and water. Meanwhile, Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun too were done with the captain and his crew.
¡°Farewell, my friend. May Ah bless you.¡± With his bruised up face, the Iraqi ship captain squeezed out a friendly smile and bid Xia Lei farewell. If his hands weren¡¯t restrained, he would probably rush over and embrace Xia Lei.
The tightly rope bound sailors were grinning from ear to ear, smitten by the promise of five hundred thousand USD. While the sum was nothing to the rich, it was a life-changing amount for these tough sea-dwelling men.
¡°Remember what Sa¡¯im had told you, push all the me onto us and act dumb. Better keep the act up well, try not to screw it up. May Ah protect you.¡± Xia Lei told them firmly in Arabic and descended the ropedder down onto the released speedboat beneath.
The rest of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members boarded the speedboat as well.
Sa¡¯im seized the wheel and brought them towards the east.
The standard capacity for a speedboat was five adults, but Xia Lei and his team had totalled up to six grown humans. Having one additional passenger was honestly no big deal but it would impact the sustainability of the fuel, food and water supply. Assuming that the average weight was sixty kilograms, to convert this weight into the essentials would have provided them with enough tost for days. Other than that, the converted fuel would¡¯ve allowed them to venture further and stay longer on the ocean surface.
¡°Boss, the food and water avable on the speedboat will onlyst us three days. I wanted to bring more but the speedboat could no longer withstand more weight,¡± said Anjum Khan.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows, troubled. ¡°What about fuel?¡±
Yelena snapped her head up. ¡°I¡¯m in charge of that. If the journey stretches on continuously for twenty-four hours, fuel will be exhausted after thirty hours.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled bitterly. So it seemed that fuel was a bigger issue. After all, this was a speedboat. Its size could not transport so many passengers and bring along more supplies at the same time.
¡°If the situation is dire, we can row the speedboat.¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s shoulders were surprisinglyx. ¡°We can even fish if we¡¯re running low on food.¡±
¡°But what about water?¡± Sa¡¯im turned to look at her.
She red at him, hard. ¡°You can settle that yourself!¡±
The issue with the water supply dampened everyone¡¯s mood immediately. Tsukino Kyoko had a point. Without fuel, the speedboat could still be propelled with manpower. Theck of food could be easily solved by the seafood avable around them. But they couldn¡¯t just resort to drinking seawater, right? If that was the case, death woulde sooner than expected.
Xia Lei thought hard. Abruptly, an idea clicked in his mind. ¡°Kyoko, are you wearing a bra?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tsukino Kyoko froze, expressions adorned with something akin to embarrassment and bashfulness. If Xia Lei had pointed this question to her in private, not only would she answer him, but she would have probably stripped to reveal it to him. She was willing to show him the real stuff beneath. But now that the man had asked her that in the eyes of many others, she really was at a loss for words.
Xia Lei studied the shape of her chest carefully. ¡°Ah, yes. You are wearing one. Keep it well and when we run out of the water, give it to me.¡± Then, he turned around and looked at Yelena. ¡°Oh, you too. Pass it to me when we¡¯re out of the water, yeah?¡±
Yelena was speechless.
Anjum Khan cackled unhelpfully. ¡°Boss, you can¡¯t be thinking about using their bras to provide us with drinking water.¡±
Yelena pped the back of his skull harshly without warning.
While the Indian had gotten a beating, he was stillughing joyfully.
Qian Jun spoke, ¡°Boss if you¡¯re thinking about using their bras to filter seawater, the filtration rate of their underwear is negligible.¡±
Anjum Khan had mentioned their bras and he was beaten. But Qian Jun had mentioned the same thing but no one had even raised their hands.
And this was also the first time Qian Jun had called Xia Lei ¡®Boss¡¯.
While it may seem like nothing, to call him that was a promise of loyalty from a man like Qian Jun!
The snake of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had officially returned!
Xia Lei was delighted. He shed him a smile. ¡°I¡¯m not thinking about using them as a filter, I¡¯m only considering the absorption rate of the garment. There sponges in the bras and it offers strong absorption. Other than that, we¡¯ve got food packaging. Most of it is lined with ayer of aluminium. We can create a pot cover shape with the aluminium and ce it on top of a bra that is fully saturated with moisture. The heat from the sun would evaporate the seawater and there will be condensation on the back of the aluminium. We¡¯ll collect the condensation and we¡¯ll have distilled water.¡±
Qian Jun did not see that exnationing.
¡°Wow! Boss, you¡¯re just like Ganesha!¡± Anjum Khan cackled lewdly. All he could conjure was the mental image of Tsukino Kyoko and Yelena deprived of their bras while they collected condensation off their undergarments half-naked.
Smack! Yelena¡¯s palm collided with the back of his skull once again.
¡°What the fuck? Why do you keep hitting me? Why aren¡¯t you doing the same to Qian Jun?¡± Anjum Khan was annoyed now, but his heart was still amused. He could easily dodge her attack but he did not. He loved getting pped by the Russiandy. Xia Lei could do nothing and yet still manage to woo the female poption but that was not the same for Anjum Khan.
Qian Jun only offered them a smile and nothing else. There was still a gap between him and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. The man needed more time to blend into the team well.
The speedboat braved through winds and waves at a quickened pace, the cargo ship long-abandoned behind them.
An hour after the departure of the speedboat, a shadow reconnaissance aircraft entered the sea area where the cargo ship was under the escort of threerge Super Hos. At this moment, the cargo ship hade to aplete halt atop the water surface. It did not break down, letting the waves bring them on a peaceful drift with almost negligible distance.
¡°Command centre, we have arrived at the destination coordinates. Currently scanning the target.¡± On the shadow reconnaissance ne, the pilot reported to themand centre of the Sixth Fleet through amunicator.
The three Super Hos flew over the ship. One of them dropped a cluster bomb onto it.
Ka-boom!
The cluster bomb detonated underwater triggering pirs of water. The cargo ship rocked and swayed along the turbulent waves.
This was a deliberate miss on their part. The pilot had heeded the instructions from the Sixth Fleet to test the situation.
There was nothing wrong with the ship.
The three Super Hos and the shadow reconnaissance ne were fine too. There was no disruption or what sort ever.
¡°No disruption, all equipment is working fine.¡± The pilot continued to report his progress. ¡°The scan ispleted, no armed forces onboard. All the crew are restrained... Pleasey instructions for further action...¡±
Meanwhile, in the CIA headquarters in Langley.
Williams stared at the central screen stered to his office wall pointedly, carefully observing the satellite feedback fed by the Sixth Fleet Command Centre. The pilot¡¯s report had reached his ears in real-time but his words had riddled Williams with frustration.
There was only the ship captain and his crew on board and there were no signs of Xia Lei and any of his underlings. This was the Mediterranean Sea. How could those bastards disappear without a trace within a mere hour?
Through the speaker, the pilot continued to report. ¡°Radar detection shows that there are no other vehicles around the area...¡±
Williams could no longer stomach another word. He grabbed thendline phone on his desk hastily. ¡°Have the Sixth Fleet Commando board the cargo ship and arrest everyone. Conduct interrogation and let the shadow reconnaissance ne expand their search area. Do not miss any ships! Also, let the spy satellite do its job in the Mediterranean right away. That person must be found even if we need to drain the ocean dry!¡±
¡°Yes, sir. Right away!¡± The recipient answered.
Williams returned the phone to its machine and tapped his fingers against the oak tabletop. Ten secondster, he picked up the phone and dialled for another number.
This time, it was for Yang Shan, the CIA Jingdu informant base¡¯s leader.
¡°Yang Shan, retreat immediately. Close down the base temporarily.¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°Xia Lei might still be alive.¡±
¡°What?¡± Yang Shan¡¯s confusion and shock were prominent even over the line. ¡°How is that possible. Our agents had verified his death, there¡¯s no way he is still alive.¡±
Williams pressed on, ¡°Go verify it again. Other than that, contact Li Youdun and urge him to steal the form for Alloy X. If Xia Lei¡¯s is not dead, his identity might be exposed at any given second.¡±
¡°Got it, right on it.¡± Yang Shan answered.
Williams ced the phone down again, his fingers resuming its thumping against his tabletop.
Thump thump thump... Thump thump thump...
How reliable was Israel¡¯s intel?
Was Xia Lei truly dead or alive?
These were things Williams was eager to find out.
Chapter 1040 - A Deserted Island
Yelena¡¯s predictions came true. They were out of fuel before they were out of food and water. The view before them was the boundless sea that seemed to stretch on forever with no hint of an end. The end of the thirty-hour continuous journey was coincidentally in the dead of night. Everyone¡¯s multifunctional wristwatch was not working as intended, showing them that the current time was twelve noon and that they were near Tunisia territory. But here was the thing. The speedboat had been heading into the east for hours on end and they had been cruising with the sun as their reference. There was no way that the crystal skull could interfere with the sun. But despite that, they did not know their exact location. All they could reckon was that they were headed into Turkish territory instead.
Without fuel, the paddles on board came into handy. Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im were assigned the job.
¡°Should¡¯ve brought more fuel than water.¡± Anjum Khan regretted his choices of opting to ensure sufficient water and food as he rowed their boat.
Sa¡¯im grumbled, ¡°Kyoko, Yelena,e help us out. You¡¯ve sat for long, you should roll your tendons.¡±
Yelena snapped, ¡°You have the audacity to demand us women to help you with that?¡±
Sa¡¯im was effectively silenced.
¡°Here, let me help you,¡± offered Qian Jun.
¡°Sure, sure.¡± Sa¡¯im swiftly moved away and pressed the paddle into Qian Jun¡¯s palms.
This was Qian Jun¡¯s attempt at socializing with the team.
Xia Lei offered too, ¡°Anjum Khan, go take some rest. I¡¯ll take over for now.¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright, I can go on.¡± Anjum Khan beamed. ¡°You¡¯re my Ganesha for crying out loud. This isn¡¯t a task befitting of your position¡±
Ganesha was the deva of intellect and wisdom of Hinduism. It was the removal of obstacles and bringer of wealth. It was equivalent to Guan Eyre with a higher IQ score in the Chinese culture.
Xia Lei pried the paddle away from his grip and forced his way over.
¡°Boss, let me do it,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei smiled at her. ¡°Yelena is right, we men can handle this. Please help us with the water issue instead. From tomorrow onwards, you both would need to sacrifice your clothing for water.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko and Yelena couldn¡¯t help but lock gazes, sheepish expressions blossoming across their features.
Anjum Khanughed. ¡°Boss, just say it. It¡¯s just retrieving water using bras! But would the water smell like boobs if we use that method?¡±
A palm smacked the back of his head as soon as his sentence fell. Yelena was once again his assant. This was a temperament that no regr men could stomach, but Anjum Khan seemed to be an obvious exception.
Without the worry of a chase, the atmosphere was rxed. Everyone was chattering lightheartedly.
Rowing a speedboat offered a speed no faster than walking. Qian Jun and Xia Lei had rowed close to three hours without stopping and the speedboat was only propelled forward by an approximate thirty kilometres. At this rate, they could expect themselves to reach Turkey within a month of rowing. However, even if they fished to replenish their food supply and harvested condensation for water, a majority of them wouldn¡¯tst till Turkey with such an extended period of time. The human body required a variety of nutrients. Seafood was not sufficient andcked nutrients like potassium that could affect their heartbeats along with trace elements necessary for the human body. Deprivation for a few days would not pose a threat but one month of such would result in a decline of bodily functions. When that timees, illness would be the mildest oue. Ultimately, it would result in death.
Xia Lei was painfully aware of that but he couldn¡¯t bear to sunken the atmosphere. He was the leader of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. Even when the problem was severe, he would not bring it up at this time.
¡°Boss, I really...¡± At some point, Anjum Khan¡¯s expression was scrunched weirdly.
Xia Lei faced him. ¡°Speak your mind. What¡¯s stopping you?¡±
Anjum Khan eximed with exasperation. ¡°I really can¡¯t hold it in anymore! I need the toilet!¡±
This was also another issue. A speedboat was far from a yacht. The scarce space could not offer a toilet. It would be easy if everyone onboard were male. All they needed to do was to head over to the edge, unzip their pants and do their business. However, they had two women among their party. Tsukino Kyoko and Yelena. They couldn¡¯t just ease themselves in their faces like that, right? Plus, the two women wouldn¡¯t be able to do the same in the face of the men.
¡°I don¡¯t care. I need to get it out of my system!¡± Anjum Khan turned around and unzipped his pants loudly.
Truthfully, Anjum Khan wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone needed it too, Xia Lei included.
But before Anjum Khan could even dig out his penis, Yelena delivered a stomp onto his ass and sent him into the waters below.
¡°You...¡± Anjum Khan red at her furiously.
Yelena scoffed, ¡°Do it in the sea, yeah?¡± Then, she too plunged into the water.
Anjum Khan was pissed at first but seeing that Yelena was joining him in the waters, the anger was gone. He tried to train his eyes on Yelena¡¯s sea-soaked lower half, trying his darndest to see something interesting. Sadly, all he could see was water.
¡°What the fuck are you looking at? Keep this up and I¡¯ll gouge your eyeballs out.¡± Yelena barked a threat.
Anjum Khan steeled his face and mustered a wobbly smile. ¡°Can¡¯t you try to be a little gentler?¡±
Yelena looked at him. ¡°You like gentle types?¡±
Anjum Khan replied, ¡°No, I like women like you. But it¡¯d be great if you can be a tad bit softer.¡±
Abruptly, Yelena began paddling over to Anjum Khan.
Anjum Khan stared at her approaching figure with widened eyes. He could not help but feel awkward. The situation they were in was akin to him being in the male toilet while Yelena being in the female toilet. The closing of their distance on her part was equivalent to her barging into his cubicle.
But as Anjum Khan froze at the disy, Yelena extended an arm over and hooked Anjum Khan¡¯s neck and seized his lips. Caught off guard, he was as nervous as a child. He kissed back stiffly.
¡°What is this?¡± Sa¡¯im peered over with a mischievous smirk. ¡°Do we need to spare you both some privacy? Are you guys gonna start fucking out of a sudden?¡±
¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± Their harsh screams were directed at Sa¡¯im in unison.
Sa¡¯im shrugged nonchntly, an evil smirk in in sight.
On the speedboat, Tsukino Kyoko cast a nce onto Xia Lei, eyes filled with anticipation and excitement. Yelena and Anjum Khan had gotten together. Shouldn¡¯t her and Xia Lei do something in a simr fashion to celebrate the asion?
Xia Lei avoided her gaze to peer ahead. Two secondster, his exmation rang out. ¡°There¡¯s an ind ahead!¡±
¡°Where?¡± Sa¡¯im quickly came over but saw nothing in that direction.
Qian Jun utilized the scope of his sniper but could not see anything clearly.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°It seems like an ind. We should be able to see it better once we get closer.¡±
Yelena and Anjum Khan hastily made their way aboard. Thetter reached out for Xia Lei¡¯s paddle while Sa¡¯im resumed his position after getting his paddle from Qian Jun. The two men continued to paddle forward.
Everyone could finally see the ind about ten minutester. It wasn¡¯trge. Its coastline was only about ten kilometres long and its body was in the shape of a gourd. The main body of the ind was two mountains and a forest on the top. There was no light and no dock, seemingly a deserted ind.
The speedboat entered its pgic waters. Anjum Khan anchored the boat deep into the substrate and parked the boat. Everyone else brought down their supplies and trekked toward the sandy beach.
Anjum Khan and Yelena handed out rations while Qian Jun and Sa¡¯im chopped branches and ratans to cover the speedboat. This was the only way for them to hide from the watchful American spy satellite.
Xia Lei observed the ind on the beach, using both his normal and special vision. Every area that his eye could see was carefully studied. In the end, it provided enough evidence to conclude that this ind was indeed a deserted one.
This deduction troubled him. Xia Lei had hoped that there would be a vige. They would be able to purchase fuel and other necessities. Perhaps they would even be able to purchase arger and faster boat that could bring them to Turkey, where they¡¯d depart from Istanbul to Russia and then finally back to China. This was their safest route. It would be faster to take a direct ne but the risk was too high.
¡°Boss, you should eat something.¡± Tsukino Kyoko brought him a bottle of water, a loaf of bread and a sausage.
Xia Lei plopped down onto the sand and enjoyed silence alongside Tsukino Kyoko. From the corner of his eyes, Xia Lei noticed Yelena and Anjum Khan heading into the woods. He could not suppress the smirk at the edge of his lips. To what the couple was up to in the woods, every adult knew.
Xia Lei ced his attention on Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun this time. The two men seemed to be
conversing about something on the beach. The sight filled him with joy. Qian Jun was doing his best to get along with the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. Xia Lei appreciated his efforts.
¡°Uh, Anjum Khan and Yelena...¡± Tsukino Kyoko stopped herself.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Anjum Khan and Yelena are adults now. This is normal, there¡¯s no need to mind them.¡±
¡°No, I meant to say that the forest is littered with mosquitoes. Their asses are going to be filled with itchy bumps when they get out,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Hahaha!¡± Xia Lei broke out intoughter.
¡°What about us?¡± Tsukino Kyoko stared into his eyes straight.
Xia Lei was surprised but quickly mbered up from his position. ¡°I¡¯d like to check the other side of the ind. Perhaps things might be different on the other side.¡±
¡°This is a deserted ind, what is there to see?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was slightly disappointed.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, there might be inhabitants on the other side of this ind. If there is someone, we¡¯ll be able to get fuel and even a new boat. Go get some rest. This ind is small, I can get there by trekking along the beach. Perhaps I can reach the opposite side within half an hour.¡±
¡°No way. I can¡¯t let you go alone.¡± Tsukino Kyoko mbered up too, insisting on following him.
All Xia Lei could do was to muster up a wry smile. ¡°Alright then, let us go together.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko took her ce beside him as they walked. The urge to weave her fingers between his was strong but s, she hadcked the courage.
Sa¡¯im¡¯s voice came booming from behind. ¡°Boss, remember to use protection or you¡¯ll be getting a fifth child soon!¡±
Weirdly, Tsukino Kyoko did not reprimand him this time.
Chapter 1041 - Happy Raindrops
As scheduled, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko made their way across the ind in about half an hour.
The other side of the ind was no different from the side theynded. The bun-shaped hills were covered by dense forests. At second nce, the ind resembled less of a gourd and more of a brassiere.
Unsurprisingly, there was apleteck of inhabitants. He shifted his gaze towards the far corner of the horizon but there was nothing.
¡°Boss!¡± Kyoko pointed towards a far corner. ¡°Is that a boat?¡±
Xia Lei was invigorated by a simple statement as he instantly turned towards where she directed. Yet within his vision were a void of nothingness. Not only were there no boats, but there was not even a bird in sight.
¡°Is that a Turkish or an Iranian boat?¡± Tsukino Kyoko enthusiastically added.
Xia Lei frowned in dismay. ¡°You really see a boat?¡±
¡°Well yeah, there it is. You don¡¯t see it?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s head slightly tilted as she turned towards Xia Lei.
¡°Tell me then, what kind of boat is that?¡± Xia Lei stared at the vast ocean as he added.
¡°It¡¯s a little blurry, but I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s a cruise ship,¡± Kyoko answered. ¡°You really don¡¯t see it?¡±
Xia Lei promptly figured out the situation. It was not that his sight was blinded, but Kyoko who was the one hallucinating. The culprit was none other than the crystal skull!
¡°I need to catch their attention!¡± Tsukino Kyoko sprinted towards the beach before she began screaming and vigorously ying her limbs.
Xia Lei, however, was upied with something else. ¡°Something that could disrupt the most cutting-edge of technology, one that could wash the memories of the strongest of wills, even creating hallucinations in many minds at once...¡±
These powers fittingly reminded Xia Lei of Zhu Xuanyue.
Excluding the military-grade equipment created with that intended purpose, Zhu Xuanyue could also create hallucinations or mess with a person¡¯s memory at will. Could this be a member of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s tribe? One could only wonder what he could do when he was alive!
The reason his deduction of the skull¡¯s owner was a ¡°he¡± was that the crystal skull was a man¡¯s skull. The Mayans, however, created theirs resembling a female¡¯s.
Professor Mark stated that the Mayan¡¯s crystal skull was a replica of this one, which wasn¡¯t the case. Unless there was a different skull of a tribe woman, and the Mayans based theirs over that...but where could it be?
The truth was shrouded in mystery.
¡°If the crystal skull was from Zhu Xuanyue and her tribe, would that mean...¡± Xia Lei shifted his thought back to himself.
He was reminded of his current evolutionary status, currently approaching thirty percent. If he keeps his momentum, his evolution percentage will only go up from there to a full hundred percent!
And when the timees, who knows what would happen to his brain? Will I have a crystal skull too?
The mere thought kept him on his feet.
¡°Hey, you rascals!¡± Tsukino Kyoko scowled towards the open sea. ¡°We¡¯re here! Hey! Steer your ship over here you dimwits!¡±
She actually drew her gun.
Xia Lei came to a certain realisation as he hurled himself towards Tsukino Kyoko and they both went toppling down on the beach.
Tsukino Kyoko aggressively wiggled and struggled as she attempted to shake herself free from Xia Lei¡¯s overpowering clutches. She was intertwined with Xia Lei as her muffled screams struggled to reach its intended volume, like a beast in chains.
Xia Lei mped down upon her while disarming the Viper from her possession.
Tsukino Kyoko utilized the split second that he loosen his grip to wrap her arms around his neck, her legs locking onto his waist, instantly closing in on what little gap that was left between the two bodies. The prey had instantly be the predator.
The sudden change in position caught Xia Lei off-guard. Staring nkly at Tsukino Kyoko, he took to questioning. ¡°Kyoko, snap out of it! It¡¯s just a hallucination created by the crystal skull. It¡¯s the reason you¡¯re seeing things, there is no boat!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko mumbled fervently, ¡°Doomsday is here. Doomsday has caught up to us. We¡¯re all going to die...¡±
¡°What¡¯s going on in your head? Or should I say, who¡¯s telling you all of that?¡± Xia Lei was getting anxious. Yet amongst the nonsensical statements, it reminded him of Ning Jing. She saw hallucinations too. She even drew out the unprecedented visualisations in her head.
Tsukino Kyoko mumbled on, ¡°Doomsday, destruction...corpses everywhere, devils who feast on the human mind...¡±
Xia Lei was visibly shaken by her words as he aggressively clenched onto her shoulder. Panicking, he asked, ¡°Kyoko, how did you know about the devils that feast on human brains? Who told you that?¡±
The devil that feasts on the human mind was none other than Zhu Xuanyue. But nobody knows that but Xia Lei, not even his father, so how would Tsukino Kyoko know?
This was spiralling into peculiarity!
Xia Lei shifted his gaze towards the zipped up backpack. Its contents were obscured from general sight, but with Xia Lei¡¯s vision, the crystal skull was vividly within his sight. ¡°Kyoko is clearly in this state because of it! The way it manipted Kyoko¡¯s mind is exactly how Zhu Xuanyue used to y around with Ning Jing¡¯s head. I guess my assumptions were indeed true. This skull was from Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s tribesmen!¡±
Pitter-patter...
Beads of rain came pelting down from the overcast sky into the vast ocean. As the rain quickly began heavier, tens of thousands of holes were bored as miniature pits on the sand.
And one particrly vigorous soul was doing just the opposite.
Unknown to them, however, a mild glow seeped through the backpack, hidden even from the eagle-eyed Xia Lei.
Chapter 1042 - A Tough Misunderstanding
The rain faded as quickly as it arrived. Just as the clouds began to clear up, the luminescence of the moon was once again unveiled in the night sky.
Back on the ground, the uninhabited ind too had its own fair, round, ¡®half moon¡¯. It was pale as porcin, supple and enticing. The beach was saturated with ¡®evidence¡¯ of its cheeky deeds.
¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that this...¡± Tsukino Kyoko seemed to be reminiscing a certain something, yet her gaze and the smug look on her face seemed to elude delight and contentment.
¡°What about this?¡± Xia Lei mindlessly blurted. He was slightly tired, but happy nheless. At that moment, he was genuinely unproblematic, free from all worries and distress in life. All he wanted to do was stare nkly at the night sky, silently stargazing on the beach with the gorgeous woman lying beside him. It was paradise on earth.
¡°Hmm...I never thought it would be this interesting, this...¡± Tsukino Kyoko hesitated mid-way through her sentence. Slightly awkward, she continued nheless. ¡°Exciting. Comforting even.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled in response.
¡°Boss, rest assured. I¡¯ll keep everything that¡¯s happened tonight a secret from everyone else. They wouldn¡¯t know.¡±
Xia Lei sighed ever so slightly as he replied. ¡°Even if you keep this a secret, what¡¯s done is done. And I¡¯m guilty as charged.¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s not your fault. It was me, I couldn¡¯t hold it in...¡±
¡°Alright, let¡¯s stop this here.¡± Xia Lei shifted the conversation. ¡°Kyoko, try giving it a deeper thought. What hallucination did you experience earlier? Did you hear a voice? Try telling me everything that you can recall, as detailed as possible.¡±
Kyoko pushed herself hard to recall everything that came to mind, but ultimately shook her head disappointingly, ¡°Nah, everything seems to have slipped past my head. Did I really hallucinate just now?¡±
Xia Lei rified. ¡°Yes you did, you told me doomsday was approaching and you saw the devil feasting on human brains. These are all your words just minutes ago. Try concentrating harder, maybe you can catch something from the cracks.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko held her eyes tight, seemingly in deep contemtion, but her hand on the contrary seemed to reach out towards his forbidden spot.
Xia Lei felt instantly stimted by a charge to his vital spot as his entire body reactively became tense. In response, he then dered, ¡°Kyoko, I might be distracting you so I¡¯m going to the ocean for a dip. Try to give it some thought and tell meter on about what you can recall.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko lovingly nodded.
¡°Wait, can Ie along to scrub your back?¡±
Xia Lei sighed and continued walking.
The fair, alluring woman sat idly by the beach as she contemted, while the man plunged into the water. He needed more than just chilly seawater to calm the tingling senses in his body, along with the anxiety that came with it.
Xia Lei while diving in the mildly cold seawater felt that it began to serve its purpose, clearing his head while also subduing the fiery impulses within hisher regions.
After his head was invigorated from the quick swim, his mind was rejuvenated. With it came a question that had previously slipped through his mind. Kyoko was engulfed in her hallucinations when her urges were at her peak. If I don¡¯t solve her problem she might go crazy!
But her head was clearly manipted, yet she had no memory of what she had experienced just moments ago. Why would the crystal skull target her as the main source of maniption?
Zhu Xuanyue messed with Ning Jing¡¯s head solely to send a message.
The crystal skull¡¯s maniption and utter possession of Kyoko¡¯s mind were more of a joke than one with an actual purpose. But why would it y a prank of himself?
¡°Wait!¡± Xia Lei recalled a certain something. The reason why Zhu Xuanyue did not control my brain is because she couldn¡¯t!
The crystal skull¡¯s previous owner was presumably the same species as Zhu Xuanyue is. With only a single skull left, she couldn¡¯t control my mind even if she tried. But she could mess with other people¡¯s minds to send me a message!
Something like this was no secret to Zhu Xuanyue herself, that was probably why she used Ning Jing to send a message anyway. But this time, the crystal skull¡¯s message was the end of the world!
Puh-huh!
Xia Lei emerged from the chilly ocean waves, taking a huge gulp of fresh air to keep his mind aware. In his vision, however, was Tsukino Kyoko in close observation of the crystal skull, in her possession.
Xia Lei was petrified, ¡°Don¡¯t touch it!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko seemed to bepletely immersed in her observation as she stared soullessly at the crystal skull in the palm of her hand.
A secondter, she copsed on the beach.
Xia Lei paddled his limbs as quick as they could as he made his way back to shore. He then sprinted across the beach and scooped the unconscious Tsukino Kyoko up. ¡°Kyoko, wake up! Can you hear me? Wake up I say!¡±
Tsukino Kyokoid lifelessly, devoid of reaction. Her situation was simr to that of Qian Jun, unconscious after a slight interaction with the crystal skull. Even after Qian Jun woke up, he had lost all memory of the past hour. Could the same happen to Tsukino Kyoko?
Xia Lei attempted to wake her twice more only to no avail. He then took a quick check of her vitals, making sure she was still breathing. He gentlyy her back down on the beach, before reaching out for the crystal skull.
¡°I don¡¯t give a shit about who you are when you were alive, I don¡¯t care where you were from, or what you set out to do. Here¡¯s onest warning to you, if you hurt my people I will pulverize you into a thousand pieces, you hear that?¡± Xia Lei cursed at the skull in his grasp.
The crystal skull unsurprisingly gave no response.
Xia Lei chucked the crystal skull back into the backpack, then carried Tsukino Kyoko to the sea and washed off all the impurities on her body.
He then carried her to drynd and began dressing her up.
Halfway through, however, Tsukino Kyoko let out a petite moan as she awoke.
¡°Boss what...¡± Tsukino Kyoko stared bafflingly at Xia Lei and his antics.
Xia Lei was ultimately unprepared by the sudden turn of events as he solemnly nced towards his bottomless half, and then towards his fully clothed top, before turning towards the thong hanging on his finger.
A sudden realisation struck him. At that moment, he looked less like a man dressing up, but instead, more like a man really to get down to business. Not to mention Tsukino Kyoko lying t on the beach.
After a full three seconds, Xia Lei consciously covered his private parts with the remaining clothes in his hand, while reactively interrogating her, ¡°Kyoko, do you remember anything at all?¡±
¡°Remember what?¡± Tsukino Kyoko giggled coyly. ¡°Oh yeah I remember, you brought me here just to fulfil my wishes right?¡±
Xia Lei was stupefied.
Tsukino Kyoko crawled onto her two feet before she blushingly turned towards the far corner and then began removing her clothes. Her honourable and much-idolised leader had already stripped to hisst piece of clothing. Why else would she turn down his invitation?
¡°Hold on, actually we¡¯ve already...¡± Xia Lei reactively held onto her hand, ¡°we already did it. Your wishes are fulfilled.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was stunned in her ce, biting on her lip from utter disappointment.
¡°No I¡¯m serious, I swear we just...it¡¯s true. It must be for the crystal skull that you¡¯ve lost your memory from the past hour. And we just had an hour together, you get what I¡¯m saying?¡± Xia Lei exhausted all the words he could piece together to exin their situation.
¡°I know you don¡¯t love me, but you don¡¯t love those two German girls too don¡¯t you? Why can¡¯t you keep your word? I¡¯m disappointed.¡± Tsukino Kyoko frustratedly turned away.
¡°What...listen to me...¡± Xia Lei wanted to further exin but was himself out of words to describe the situation that they were in.
Tsukino Kyoko turned back towards Xia Lei, her dark pupils were gued with dismay, her bubbly eyes watery. A woman bore all she had just to have the man for herself for just a fraction of his time. Yet the man had to lie to her that they had already done it. What insulting excuse that was!
Xia Lei shrugged awkwardly. ¡°Next time alright, how about that? I¡¯m owing it to you.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko cracked a sneer from his words. ¡°You said it yourself, you owe it to me.¡±
Xia Lei thick-facedly nodded.
Bloody hell! It¡¯s all that crystal skull¡¯s fault, fucking hell!
Tsukino Kyoko took a quick turn and strode towards Xia Lei, her eyes filled to the brim with anticipation and lust. ¡°Why not now? Nobody¡¯sing anyway.¡±
Xia Lei hesitated for a moment, and promptly stripped his underwear and tossed it to the side.
Kyoko and Xia Lei intertwined once more.
¡°Boss!¡±
Right then, Sa¡¯im¡¯s voice was heard from the far corner. ¡°Where are you both? Let¡¯s go! We found a ship!¡±
In full submission under him, the female ninja clenched her teeth as she grunted. ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill him!¡±
Xia Lei was dead silent as he solemnly crawled off the female ninja under himself, solemnly reaching for the clothes that he just tossed to the side just a moment ago.
Sa¡¯im did note alone. Trailing behind was Qian Jun as they navigated to where Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko were. And by the time they arrived, the two were already fully dressed and ready to go.
¡°What ship?¡± Xia Lei was especially sensitive to the word ¡®ship¡¯ as he interrogated, ¡°Tell me, did you see a cruise ship?¡±
¡°What cruise ship?¡± Sa¡¯im bafflingly replied, ¡°It¡¯s a Russian destroyer ship, seems to be on the way from Istanbul to the ck sea. Yeah, it¡¯s a destroyer from the ck sea fleet.¡±
Qian Jun added, ¡°This is our chance, neither the Americans nor the European Union would dare touch the Russian fleet. If we can get on this ship we¡¯ll make it back safely to China!¡±
Xia Lei nced towards Sa¡¯im, then to Qian Jun, ¡°Y¡¯all sure it¡¯s not a cruise ship?¡±
Sa¡¯im was dumbfounded, ¡°Boss, are you feeling well? It really is a Russian ship. I got Anjum Khan and Yelena to light up an SOS signal on the beach. I¡¯m guessing the Russian troops should¡¯ve spotted us by now.¡±
Qian Jun continued, ¡°Yelena is Russian, not to mention her connections. I¡¯m sure a little money will do the trick.¡±
¡°Alright,st one and we¡¯re done. Did you witness doomsday orva or anything of the kind?¡±
Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun were stupefied.
The truth was that it was not just Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun who felt that Xia Lei was different from his usual self, even Tsukino Kyoko felt that there was something off about him tonight.
¡°Alright, we should go now.¡± Xia Lei abandoned his interrogation mid-way and decided to go with the flow. Any more and he was sure they were convinced that he had gone mad.
Contrary to their trip towards this side of the ind, which took half an hour from casual strolling, this time around Xia Lei, Sa¡¯im, Qian Jun and Kyoko jogged their way back, which took less than ten minutes.
Circling past the reef area that was shielding their view, they were promptly greeted with a burning ¡®SOS¡¯ signal.
Xia Lei turned towards the sea and there it was. It wasn¡¯t an illusion this time, a massive destroyer with a Russian g hung in the middle just meters away. Then came several rescuer pods drifting towards the atoll where they were positioned at lightning speed.
So it wasn¡¯t an illusion after all.
Xia Lei took a long sigh of relief. He was finally homebound!
Chapter 1043 - Warrior Tribe
It took Yelena no time at all to seal the deal. Her Russian connection predictably meant barely anything since the protection deal with the Russian fleet was essentially sealed from the money they offered. Xia Lei generously handed out six million US dors to the captain, one million each for all six of them.
After receiving the six-million-dor deposit, the captain of the Russian destroyer boasted that any infiltration on the ship would mean war!
Aboard the ship, Xia Lei requested aptop and some lead material from an officer named Ivanovic.
Xia Lei¡¯s request naturally caught Ivanovic off guard. Suspicious of the pairing of his demands, Ivanovic proceeded to interrogate, ¡°For theptop, I can give you a military-grade standard, but why the raw lead material? What do you want to do with it? What do you have with you?¡±
Xia Lei reassured, ¡°Captain sir, rest assured. I have no nuclear ingredients in my possession or any radioactive materials. If my words don¡¯t sound convincing enough feel free to do a nuclear detection test on us.¡±
¡°For security precautions, I have to.¡± Ivanovic then retrieved a detection scan from one of the marines.
The Russian soldiers then proceeded to do a thorough scan on Xia Lei and his backpack, before moving on to the rest of the crew along with their belongings. Unsurprisingly, there were no suspicious detections.
Truth was, with the characteristics of the crystal skull, even if Xia Lei had a nuclear warhead in his possession, the detectors would not even be able to pick it up.
The results came as a relief to Ivanovic as he continued, ¡°My friends, would you mind if I check the content of your bags?¡±
¡°No can do, sir.¡± Xia Lei rejected.
Ivanovic was on the edge once again as he could not wrap his head around Xia Lei¡¯s strange request. It was well known among the sector that lead was mostmonly used to contain radiation.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Captain, with all due respect, I¡¯m sure you must be full of questions at the moment, but I can assure you that there is nothing in our possessions that would threaten this ship and the national interests of the Russian government. Which is why, for the sake of the six million dors on your hands, try curbing your curiosity.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Ivanovic chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re right my friend, I am curious. But with much consideration for your generous ¡®donation¡¯, I guess I¡¯ll have to shift my curiosity elsewhere. Okay, you sit tight on my ship, and when you¡¯re on board, nobody, not even the Americans cany a finger on you.¡±
Six million USD was a lot of money for a Russian military captain. So why let that go to waste for some unnecessary answers?
Moments after Ivanovic left the scene, a marine soldier brought the materials that Xia Lei requested, a hacker gradeptop and a rectangr suitcase intended to store nuclear materials.
¡°Sir, I cannot locate any raw lead on board. All I have is this suitcase. It is mostly made from lead, I hope it could be of use to you. If it doesn¡¯t fit your request please let us know, we¡¯ll sort it out,¡± The Russian soldier was particrly amiable.
Well, why wouldn¡¯t it work? With the suitcase, it¡¯ll save me all the time needed to make one from scratch. He replied, ¡°Oh this fits perfectly, thank you. One thing, I need you to keep this a secret. Here, a little gift for the favour.¡±
He then handed the Russian soldier a few five hundred Euro notes.
¡°My pleasure sir, feel free to call me up anytime you need,¡± The soldier happily epted and left.
Money isn¡¯t everything. But without it, he might¡¯ve still been on that uninhabited ind hunting for crabs.
After the marines left, Xia Lei ced the crystal skull into the rectangr radiation insnt suitcase. Subsequently, he dialled up Long Bing¡¯s number through a satellite phone.
Ddu-ddu...ddu-ddu...
The calling process was the ordinary, now in the absence of the haunting sounds of ominous breathing. Secondster, a familiar voice was heard on the other end of the line.
¡°Where are you?¡±
It was Long Bing. In her heart, Xia Lei¡¯s whereabouts and his safety were, by andrge, her top priority.
Xia Lei reassured, ¡°I¡¯m on a Russian destroyer, will be back in no time.¡±
Long Bing let out a prolonged sigh, ¡°That¡¯s great, been worried sick. The past days I never had a proper meal or even a decent rest.¡±
Xia Lei continued, ¡°That¡¯s not very good, you¡¯re pregnant! Your health is key.¡±
¡°Well now that I know you¡¯re okay, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll have a much better appetite today.¡± Long Bing murmured. ¡°Without you, I just couldn¡¯t sleep. For the sake of your son,e home, alright?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°I miss you too.¡±
¡°Mm. By the way, do you want me to pass the phone to Siyao and the others? They¡¯re also very worried about your whereabouts.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine, you can pass on the message in my stead. I still have some stuff to handle. The reason I called was actually to have you convey a message to Tang Yuyan.¡±
¡°What do you need me to tell her?¡±
¡°Tell her that the CIA has an intelligence point in China. A cafe called Leaf cafe. The person in charge is a Chinese man called Yang Shan, a particrly cunning person.¡±
¡°Let me reiterate, you¡¯re telling me to inform Tang Yuyan about this, knowing that she will immediately proceed to bring that intel point to the ground. Are you sure about this?¡± Long Bing made sure she heard it right.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°The news of me faking my death has been exposed. I should have just updated her with this piece of intel back then. This was beyond my calctions.¡±
¡°If she knows you¡¯re not dead...¡± Long Bing, for the first time in the conversation, voiced her dissent.
¡°Well let her be then.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go now.¡± A pause ensued before she added. ¡°Hubby, take extra care of yourself. Whatever you do, think about us and your children, we¡¯re waiting for you at home.¡±
Xia Lei was rather moved but simultaneously felt slightly guilt-ridden from the sex he had with Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°I¡¯m hanging up now, bye.¡± Long Bing was ready to end the call.
Xia Lei blew her a virtual kiss.
Long Bing¡¯s giggle was heard through the other end of the line, ¡°Save it for when youe back, can¡¯t feel it through the phone.¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but crack a smile at her mischievous reply.
It¡¯s always nice to have someone waiting back home.
After ending the call, Xia Lei turned towards the rectangr radiation insnt suitcase as he mumbled, ¡°So its mind control powers were actually through energy, the box surees in handy.¡±
If it was ineffective, he wouldn¡¯t have sessfully made the call to Long Bing. Taking that into consideration, he made it his top priority upon boarding the ship to find lead materials to inste it from everything else within its radius.
Xia Lei then flipped open theptop that Ivanovic handed to him, checked the hardware of theputer, then activated it to investigate its software and its contents.
He quickly identified the trojan horse coding in the system, as he reactively raised the edges of his lips for a half-smile. Ivanovic wanted to track his actions, but he had truly underestimated what Xia Lei was capable of.
Xia Lei promptly removed the trojan horse from theptop and subsequently ran the system.
Now it was time to activate ¡®Xiao Qian¡¯ previously nted into the CIA.
His actions went smoothly as it took only twenty minutes to navigate into the CIA¡¯s internal cloud drive, thereafter activating Xiao Qian from within.
That was where he would call it day, leaving the rest to Xiao Qian. Like a pixie in the woods, unless it chose to reveal itself, nobody would even know it existed.
Everything was going just as nned.
Xiao Qian was awoken from within the core software of the CIA, and like a tumour it rapidly manifested through the system. The moment the CIA was aware of its presence, it would be toote!
¡°Done.¡± Xia Lei was finally relieved.
Right then, a red warning pop up window showed up on the monitor of theptop, front and centre, along with a warning message. You have been discovered.
¡°How is this possible?¡± Xia Lei was distraught. There is a better hacker than I am out there? That¡¯s impossible!
The opponent was collecting his data, with the intention of tracking his whereabouts!
Xia Lei instinctively wanted to exit himself from the CIA¡¯s internal system, but he quickly identified a major w in his knee-jerk reaction. It would take no time before the opponent located Xiao Qian!
¡°Bad idea, can¡¯t let that bastard track down Xiao Qian!¡±
Convinced, he decisively chose to retaliate against the unknown enemy.
This was a virtual war between the unseen, and their ammunition was none other thanbinations of ¡®0¡¯ and ¡®1¡¯s, stacked upon one another to destroy the opponent!
A minuteter, Xia Lei reactively blurted. ¡°The enemy isn¡¯t a person, it¡¯s a defence mechanism! The CIA had the God system! The Americans developed an AI of such phenomenal capabilities!¡±
Two minutester, he managed to lose the CIA internal mechanism, and by the skin of his teeth managed to shake himself loose from detection.
Oncepleted, he turned theptop off and unplugged its battery.
Sitting silently by the disassembledptop, now just a pile of essories, he thought to himself. ¡°The God system sure is powerful, and very intelligent at that. It took hardly any time for it to find Xiao Qian...I wonder if Xiao Qian even made an impact on it.¡±
While on a video call with William Mussi, Xia Lei utilized the database of the CIA¡¯s Kyoto intelligence point to imnt Xiao Qian into its system.
He knew then that Xiao Qian was meant for a single-use attack. What was ultimately beyond his expectations was that he would be discovered within minutes, and now the next target would very much be Xiao Qian.
What would Xiao Qian be able to bring to the table would lie entirely to fate.
¡°Boss!¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice resonated through the cabins. ¡°There¡¯s a little issue out here, would you like to take a look?¡±
Xia Lei held onto the radiation insnt suitcase and strode towards the cabin alley. In Kyoko¡¯spany, he strode towards themand bridge.
Through the windows, he quickly identified three F35 fighter jets whirling through the air above them, encircling them like vultures, seemingly on an investigation.
Ivanovic yelled into the broadcast mouthpiece. ¡°Bloody hell, do they have free gas or what? Activate the radars on them!¡±
The Russian ship sounded the rm.
The Russian destroyer initiated all radars, locking onto the three American F35 jets. The missile silos were subsequently unlocked and ready to fire.
Three secondster, the three F35 fighter jets steered away towards the Turkish maritime border and vanished into the clouds.
Ivanovic turned towards the team with a smug look on his face. ¡°Friends, did you see that? They¡¯re just a bunch of cowards!¡±
Xia Lei smiled in response and gave Ivanovic a thumbs up.
The route back home was now a safe one.
Chapter 1044 - A Deathly Plot
Two dayster, Jingdu.
Over at Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s headquarters in Beijing where a cluster of reporters surrounded the premises.
¡°CEO Liang, what will Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s next move be?¡± a reporter took to ask.
¡°CEO Liang, now that Mr Xia Lei is gone, who will inherit the organisation? Will it be his sister or his unborn child?¡±
Another reporter quickly followed up with another question.
¡°CEO Liang, is the child in your belly Mr Xia Lei¡¯s love child?¡±
A little spark lit up the forest fire.
¡°CEO Liang, my apologies in advance for the offensive question, but our sources informed us that the child is Mr Xia¡¯s. Thunder Horse Organization is a significant asset of our national defence, so we are truly intrigued to know who the sessor will be.¡± The aggressive reporter went on bombarding her with borderline offensive questions.
Liang Siyao chuckled at their questions. She felt no obligation to reply to their request, and unlike two days ago, she was calm andposed. Prior to knowing that Xia Lei was alive and well, these questions would have sparked a tsunami of emotions within herself. But now, she was relieved.
Who will inherit the Thunder Horse Organization? That was not a question that had crossed her mind, because the fetus in her womb was already a major shareholder of this organisation. Regardless of which child would end up on the helms, she knew that her ce was secure.
¡°CEO Liang, answer my question please.¡±
¡°Sure. But first, why don¡¯t you tell me where your source is from?¡±
¡°This...¡± The hasty reporter was left stuttering.
Liang Siyao solemnly added, ¡°You¡¯re not answering my question, so I¡¯ll do the same.¡±
¡°CEO Liang, when will Mr Xia¡¯s funeral and cremation proceed?¡± Another reporter took hold of the opening as she engaged.
Liang Siyao replied, ¡°About this, I think it¡¯d be more appropriate if you talk to his wife, Madam Fan Fan. But here¡¯s one thing you should know, our chairman isn¡¯t dead.¡±
¡°Mr Xia Lei is alive?¡± The reporter was bbergasted. ¡°How is that possible?¡±
An uproar ensued in the venue.
¡°Is CEO Liang dishevelled by the news? What is she even talking about?¡±
¡°Right?¡±
¡°The news of Xia Lei¡¯s death was broadcasted throughout the country, even the national g was lowered in conjunction with the mass funerals and remembrance events happening in cities big and small across the country. Even schools are beginning to educate about the life ofrade Xia Lei, so how can you just give a reply this brazen?¡±
¡°She must have been shell-shocked from his passing and is still traumatised. If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯m certain the child in her womb is Xia Lei¡¯s.¡±
¡°Well this is getting interesting, isn¡¯t it. Now that Xia Lei is dead, his sister has one hand on the inheritance, along with his missing father. Then there¡¯s his pregnant wife, and if the child in her womb is his, it¡¯s all a ticking time bomb. This is going to be exciting!¡±
¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it be? This is a multi-billion-dor inheritance we¡¯re talking about!¡±
¡°These family conglomerates sure are full of action ain¡¯t it? I¡¯m starting to feel thankful for my life as a simplemoner.¡±
Facing themotion, Liang Siyao was unwavered. After the press¡¯ discussions amongst one another died down, she promptly added, ¡°I¡¯ll repeat myself, Chairman Xia is NOT dead. So here I say before all of you if you witness the return of our chairman, don¡¯t get too shocked.¡±
This time there was no ensuing discussion, for the press were all fixated upon Liang Siyao, deep down unterally convinced that she had gone insane.
¡°Siyao, time for dinner,¡± Another pregnant woman came into the frame, unting her alluring curves. The attention of most in the venue was fixated on her enticing figure, the same reason Xia Lei was captivated, to begin with.
¡°Got it Ruyi, I¡¯ll be there in a moment,¡± Liang Siyao replied. ¡°Alright, you guys can call it a day now. That¡¯s all I have for today if there¡¯s anything new we¡¯ll hold a press conference, goodnight.¡±
Upon finishing, Liang Siyao shoved her way through the clusters of reporters and headed towards the main gate, looking closely at Jiang Ruyi¡¯s shoulder. The two pregnant women seemed ratherfortable with each other¡¯spany, akin to actual sisters.
¡°Who would this other pregnant woman be? And to think she¡¯s this close with CEO Liang.¡±
¡°Huh, that¡¯s not it. I¡¯m sure I saw another one not too long ago,¡± someone added, referring to Long Bing.
¡°Including Xia Lei¡¯s wife Fan Fan, wouldn¡¯t that mean there are four pregnant women in the Peace Mansion?¡± Another took to ask.
¡°Well obviously, I saw the four of them shopping for groceries at the supermarket under the protection of a horde of bodyguards previously. Oh, now that I think of it, it was just three days ago,¡± the reporter added.
¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s check out what they¡¯re up to. Who knows, we might actually get some newsworthy shots!¡± The reporter instincts quickly came to them.
The rest of the press quickly followed.
A military-grade all-terrain vehicle came steering in from the capital, almost in sync with Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi as they arrived at the gate, just in time to wee the parked all terrain at their doorstep.
The doors of the all-terrain flung open and it was Tang Yuyan with a stride of her long alluring leg from the driver¡¯s seat. She originally meant to enter the Peace Mansion but had quickly noticed Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi by the gate.
Liang Siyao intentionally dragged her feet as she whispered into Jiang Ruyi¡¯s ear, ¡°Look at that conniving bitch. How thick-skinned can she be? If the man I love just impregnated four different women I wouldn¡¯t even bother toe looking for him.¡±
Jiang Ruyi giggled as she rhetorically questioned, ¡°What if it¡¯s our man?¡±
¡°I still wouldn¡¯t see myself looking for him,¡± Liang Siyao replied with a coy smile.
¡°Yeah right,¡± Jiang Ruyi was unconvinced.
¡°Ruyi, whose side are you even on?¡±
¡°Well of course I¡¯m on your side. I¡¯ll believe everything you say from here on out, is that enough?¡±
¡°That¡¯s what sisters do. When our man returns, I¡¯ll allow him to sleepover at your ce first, how¡¯s that?¡± Liang Siyao faintly pinched Jiang Ruyi on the corbone.
¡°Screw you, you wouldn¡¯t,¡± Jiang Ruyi responsively jabbed her on the waist.
¡°Alright, together then,¡± Jiang Ruyi teased.
¡°Eww, not happening,¡± Her cheeks instantly reddened.
The two pregnant women were in all smiles, and even though they were essentially strolling the whole time, they ultimately made it to the gate.
There was no running from the issue at hand.
¡°Siyao, Ruyi, good to see you both,¡± Tang Yuyan greeted the two pregnant women in an affectionate manner.
¡°Yuyan, didn¡¯t see you earlier, what made you stop by? We were just about to have dinner. If you gave us a call we would have prepared an extra serving for you,¡± Liang Siyao gave a civilised reply.
Jiang Ruyi intercepted, ¡°That¡¯s true, I made only four servings, would you be joining us for dinner?¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes on her statement.
Jiang Ruyi noted her signal and promptly kept her silence. It was noteworthy to mention that she was actually the most earnest amongst Xia Lei¡¯s women.
¡°Nah, I¡¯ve eaten,¡± Tang Yuyan replied.
¡°You¡¯ve eaten? Then why are you here?¡± Liang Siyao had no intention of letting her in.
Tang Yuyan frowned in response, ¡°This isn¡¯t a good ce to talk, let¡¯s head inside.¡±
Liang Siyao promptly declined, ¡°Why isn¡¯t it convenient to talk out here? I think it¡¯s perfectly fine, say what you need to.¡±
Tang Yuyan found it increasingly hard to control her temper. ¡°Since when do you get to decide? If it¡¯s Fan Fan I will give her a speaking chance. But you, hmph! I don¡¯t care what you think!¡±
Liang Siyao was unfazed, ¡°Well suit yourself, but right here it has always been my word that counts.¡±
Tang Yuyan was exasperated.
¡°That¡¯s all? Well then ta-ta,¡± Liang Siyao turned and strode towards the house, still denying Tang Yuyan her entry.
¡°I¡¯m here for Xia Lei!¡± Tang Yuyan burst, ¡°I know he¡¯s not dead!¡±
A simple sentence stirred up a huge row.
The reporters that were still within the vicinity hastily readied their equipment and recorders.
¡°Is Xia Lei really alive?¡±
¡°How is this possible?¡±
¡°This recording and photos will undoubtedly be on tomorrow¡¯s headlines!¡±
¡°He¡¯s alive? What exactly happened in the dark?¡±
¡°God knows! Xia Lei¡¯s stories are all newsworthy that¡¯s for sure!¡±
¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be great if it was true. He¡¯s a national hero and the shield upholding our national defence.¡±
Amongst the messy array of press crew, stood an unassuming photographer who had his single-lens reflex camera in his hands the whole time. He had spoken no words and no questions thus far, only photos.
By the Peace Mansion¡¯s gate, Liang Siyao turned towards Tang Yuyan. ¡°You¡¯re right, he¡¯s alive, but what does that have to do with you?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not here to reason with you, I need to see him!¡± Tang Yuyan stormed towards the gate.
Liang Siyao reactively cut into her path, effectively blocking her way forward.
¡°You¡¯re pregnant, don¡¯t make me force your hand,¡± Tang Yuyan warned.
Liang Siyao did not react, but instead ordered, ¡°Ruyi, go get help,¡±
¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Ruyi nodded and hastily headed indoors.
Tang Yuyan was anxious as she lifted her feet for a high kick to the shoulder!
Liang Siyao took a quick step back to dodge her attack, but was shaken by her actions as she blurted, ¡°Tang Yuyan, what the hell are you doing? If anything happens to Xia Lei¡¯s child I will destroy you!¡±
¡°Wow, so it really is Xia Lei¡¯s child!¡±
¡°She admitted, this is going to be huge!¡±
¡°Camera, aim towards her belly!¡±
At the gate, Tang Yuyan did not further attack Liang Siyao. After all, now that Liang Siyao had Xia Lei¡¯s unborn child, she¡¯d use it to her advantage. Hurting her child would leave her to the wrath of Xia Lei!
She still had a glimpse of hope left in her. But if she caused the miscarriage of Liang Siyao¡¯s child, that would effectively crush any chance left for herself.
Jiang Ruyi brought Long Bing and Fan Fan to the front porch.
She was first to call her out. ¡°Tang Yuyan, what are you doing here! This is private property and you¡¯re trespassing!¡±
¡°I need to see Xia Lei!¡± Tang Yuyan demanded. ¡°This is not private, it¡¯s business!¡±
Fan Fan replied, ¡°I couldn¡¯t care less if it¡¯s business or private. This is my house! If you¡¯re here to meet my husband, he¡¯s not here so you can go now. About any other matter, feel free to meet him in the office, you¡¯re not weed here.¡±
Tang Yuyan would go head to head against Liang Siyao. But Fan Fan is a whole other story.
She could only stare blindly at Long Bing.
Long Bing added, ¡°He¡¯s not back yet. If you¡¯ve got business you can deal with me.¡±
Both as agents themselves, Liang Siyao and Tang Yuyan tend to allow the heat of the moment to dictate their actions, but Long Bing was characteristically calm and collected as she does in most situations. She was convinced that Tang Yuyan might have pressing matters at hand, otherwise, with her boastful personality, she would never bring herself to the Peace Mansion to be shunned by these women.
¡°Great, we¡¯ll go somewhere else to discuss,¡± Liang Siyao noted.
¡°Youdies go ahead, I¡¯ll join soon enough,¡± dered Long Bing.
At the Peace Mansion, the reporters were having a field day as the shes and clicks were in abundance. A smart guess would put all four of these pregnant women into the narrative, connecting the dots.
Just as Long Bing crossed the boundaries of the gate, the peculiar reporter pointed his single-lens reflex camera, on the shutter he clicked for a rather ominous shot.
Chapter 1045 - A Kiss of Life and Death
Three seconds ago.
¡°You girls go ahead, I¡¯ll be right with you,¡± Long Bing said.
Tang Yuyan turned around and strode into the gates of the Peace Mansion.
Cameras shed and clicked around her.
Lights galore.
Tang Yuyan instinctively lifted her head and shifted her gaze to its usual position. Every other single-lens reflex camera was shing in session, but one ominously stood out from the rest.
The reporter on the other end of the camera waspletely still.
¡°Get down!¡± Tang Yuyan reactively grabbed Long Bing by the shoulder and hurled the woman that had just crossed the threshold onto the ground.
Click!
A modest click was heard amongst the herd of shutters, the camera lens promptly retracted and shrapnel resembling a bullet came shooting out!
The reporters were still in a daze from Tang Yuyan¡¯s warning out of the blue and none went down on their knees. The four pregnant women naturally would have done less so. Any brash action that might put their unborn children to risk was not eptable.
In less than a second, Tang Yuyan then cut in front of the lens and interrupted the travelling bullet with her body, while simultaneously reaching to her waist to draw her pistol. She was ultimately a step toote.
As she came into contact with her weapon on its holster, the customized bullet exploded right before her chest.
It was not a regr bullet.
Pop! An ever-growing fog-shrouded her.
Tang Yuyan did not back down, as she ultimately managed to retrieve her gun, and BANG!
The Viper exhibited its magic, amongst the ash and dust a spark was seen. A sole bullet ensued, soullessly prating through the thick smog.
The assassin naturally was not expecting any retaliation and naturally was caught off-guard by the sheer precision and agility of Tang Yuyan¡¯s reflexes!
Bang!
Almost within the same second, the bullet hadnded right where it was intended. Smack dab in the middle of the assassin¡¯s forehead.
His eyes were wide open as his life was promptly cut short. Fear streaked through his entire nervous system but was most noticeably seen at his pupils. Blood and innards subsequently gushed out of the bullet induced pit. He was dead before he could truly grasp its cause.
Thud!
The killer copsed on the ground.
From identifying the hidden reporter to shooting him down at his spot took three seconds at most.
Long Bing rushed ahead to assist her.
¡°Scram...¡± Tang Yuyan gathered all that was left in her to make a warning plea.
Long Bing seemed to have understood the situation as she stumbled backwards while yelling. ¡°Get to shelter!¡±
Liang Siyao did not wait for Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan to react as she intuitively wrapped her arms around them both and began dragging them to safety.
The press scrambled for shelter, stepping over anyone in their way.
The assassin used a customised poison capsule as the bullet tip!
Long Bing, Liang Siyao and the two women in her arms halted their steps. The breeze came down from the mountains, conveniently excluding the poison gas beyond the radius of the Peace mansion. It was also the same reason the women stopped after all.
In the field of vision of the four women, was Tang Yuyan lying unconscious by the wooden gate. Not too far away from the wooden steps by the entrance was the assassin in a simr position, along with several reporters affected by the poison smog.
¡°Do you think...she¡¯ll die?¡± Liang Siyao was riddled with guilt.
Long Bing shook her head. ¡°Can¡¯t tell. What we should do now is to contact Bureau 101. Tell them to get some professionals to investigate the scene.¡±
¡°There just isn¡¯t enough time left,¡± Fanfan deeply sighed, ¡°Even if Bureau 101es by helicopter, it¡¯ll still take ten full minutes, I wonder if she¡¯ll...make it till then.¡±
Liang Siyao felt worse. If she hadn¡¯t been toying with Tang Yuyan, the killer might have missed his opportunity. The more she wallowed in her thoughts the more she felt disgusted by her actions. She then decisively proimed, ¡°I¡¯ll go check on her, she needs help.¡±
Long Bing held onto her hand as she emphasized, ¡°Calm down! I don¡¯t want to see her die either, but we don¡¯t know what we¡¯re dealing with! If we brashly approach you might end up just like her! Think about your baby!¡±
The sole mention of her unborn child struck her like lightning to the rod, and with it quickly ended the knee jerk reaction to check on the unconscious Tang Yuyan. Protecting one¡¯s child is a mother¡¯s instinct, and she was no different.
Outside, the huge majority of the press had cleared the radius and settled down at the distance as they began collecting footage of the fainted Tang Yuyan along with the other reporters. In the face of breaking news for the week, they had no intention of leaving for their safety.
¡°Who¡¯s the assassin?¡±
¡°Who¡¯s this woman? Why does she have a gun?¡±
¡°Who dares pick a fight with Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Well, it sure looks like it did not work. Their target this time around was his harem and their children!¡±
¡°Who would do such a thing? What a lowlife!¡±
¡°Call the police, somebody call the police!¡±
The crime scene was in chaos.
Amidst the disarray came a rental car steering in from Bailu town. The vehicle came close to the gates of the Peace Mansion, stopped, and the door promptly flung open. A native American person sprinted to the gate and scooped Tang Yuyan into the mansion interior. Whilst running he shouted. ¡°Move aside! Get outta here!¡±
That voice!
That¡¯s Xia Lei¡¯s voice!
The reporters were finding it odd that a native American person could speak such fluent Mandarin. But to the four pregnant women in the Peace Mansion, it was crystal clear. Their man has returned.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice effectively snapped the four pregnant women back to reality as they cleared the path. Watching as Xia Lei with Tang Yuyan in his arms headed towards the study, they instinctively tailed his path.
Nevertheless, a few steps on Xia Lei¡¯s voice was once again heard through the corridor.
¡°Get back into your houses and wait it out! It¡¯s dangerous outside!¡± Xia Lei ordered, his tone filled with anxiety and concern.
Long Bing shared his unease. ¡°You take care of yourself too!¡±
Liang Siyao added, ¡°Let¡¯s leave it to Bureau 101 to deal with this!¡¯
¡°I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t worry about me,¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t bother to turn his head.
It was actually a false promise on his side, he actually was notpletely sure his super immunity could withstand the residual toxins in Tang Yuyan¡¯s body.
However, he did manage to identify the custom-made bullet head just before he was about to carry Tang Yuyan to safety. It was the same toxic gas Hattori Mei handed to Li Youdun during his own assassination.
It was the same exact reason he carried Tang Yuyan to the study. He had some of the vine from Hattori Mei left in his inventory.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s livelihood depended on that one bottle.
Upon arrival, he yanked the door open and darted into the study. Gently lowering Tang Yuyan on the couch, he cranked open the safe and retrieved a single bottle of the vine. He carefully held her lower chin to gape open her mouth, then promptly fed her the entire vine.
The vine contents he had previously verified did not contain any ingredients resembling the poison. For what Li Youdun was worth, the CIA would never risk letting him die before securing the Alloy X recipe.
However, after ingesting the entire bottle, Tang Yuyan stilly motionless.
Xia Lei was on the edge as he frantically reached for her pulse. It was still feeble. She was so frail her heart could stop at any moment.
All of a sudden, it clicked. Hattori Mei said the toxin can spread through the air, so from ingestion to death would take a full five minutes.
He watched as Tang Yuyan copsed on the ground right at the edge of Bailu town, and the time it took for me to get to her was two minutes. A little below a minute to crack open the safe and feed her the medicine which means she still has thirty seconds more! How is she still so weak?
His heart was about to explode.
The heart-throbbing pain felt like itsted forever. He felt like he could die!
Just as his body was about to copse from deprivation, however, a mysterious power was awoken and surged through his veins! His blood, now infused with an immense power channelled to his heart and exported to every corner of his body, instantly invigorating himself with a newfound vigour!
I had just a single drop and it nearly paralysed me, and to think that Tang Yuyan took so much of it.
Xia Lei halted his thoughts right then.
Just like cancer, full recovery was possible in its early stages. But anything after that would mean almost certain death! Seeing her in this state, even if I know there is a cure just from the sheer volume of toxins she inhaled alone, I¡¯m afraid we might have missed the golden hour.
I¡¯m afraid...she¡¯d leave just like that.
Xia Lei was instantly reminded of the shbacks he had with her on the snowcaps of Dawang mountain and the scene from which she shielded Long Bing and his three other women with her own body. He was overwhelmed with guilt and pain as tears streamed down his cheeks.
¡°Hold on...there¡¯s antibodies in my blood, I wonder if...¡± Without a second thought, he hastily went ahead and sunk his teeth on his wrist, ripping up an open wound.
Blood began oozing out as he once again cracked open Tang Yuyan¡¯s mouth, allowing his own blood to drizzle down her throat.
Meanwhile, he had another hand on her chest, anxiously pushing in synchrony, hoping that it would help her heart pump better.
Two minutester...
Bleurgh!
Tang Yuyan threw up a mouthful of blood, some even sttered over Xia Lei¡¯s face. It could be from the blood she ingested, or something else but it doesn¡¯t matter now. All he cared about was that she was awake again.
¡°Ugh...¡± Her voice trembled as she struggled to speak. Catching a glimpse of Xia Lei, and his wrist by her lips, dripping from blood, his blood that she was sucking on.
Watching as Tang Yuyan regained her senses was a huge relief to him, his tears trickling down his cheeks once again. They were tears of joy.
¡°Cough cough...bleurgh!¡± Tang Yuyan once again spewed blood from her mouth. ¡°Stop...feeding me...blood...¡±
Xia Lei eventually understood her condition as he reactively lifted his wrist and applied pressure on the wound.
¡°Take off the mask. I..want to see your face,¡± Tang Yuyan requested.
Xia Lei abided as he removed the skin mask from his own face, revealing his own appearance. He was just as bright, bold and attractive. Just as she remembered.
Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t help but crack a smile. ¡°I...am dying...can you kiss me?¡±
Xia Lei nearly agreed from impulse but had quickly given it a second thought. That doesn¡¯t sound right, she¡¯s awake! And she looks ten times better than she was just moments ago. There¡¯s no way she¡¯s dying.
¡°Quick, I don¡¯t have much time left,¡± Tang Yuyan added as she spewed more blood.
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°You¡¯re not dying, not today. Close your eyes and get yourself some rest. Everything is going to be fine when you wake up.¡±
Teardrops like crystal beads silently trickled down her face.
¡°Yuyan...you...we can¡¯t be like that.¡± Xia Lei was out of options.
Right at that moment, a deafening chuff was heard above their heads.
Xia Lei instantly clicked as he proimed, ¡°You wait here, I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± And off he went.
Tang Yuyan cracked a faint smile.
Chapter 1046 - The Blaring Horns of Revenge
Shi Boren and Tang Bochuan flew over via the helicopter in great urgency. Once the aircraft hadnded on the helipad, Tang Bochuan sprinted towards Xia Lei. Before he had evene close, his voice had already made its way into Xia Lei¡¯s eardrums. ¡°Xia Lei, how¡¯s my sister?!¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yuyan is alright, but she¡¯s very weak now. You need to get her to the hospital as soon as possible.¡±
¡°Quick, lead me to her.¡± Tang Bochuan¡¯s tone was understandablyced with anxiety.
¡°Come with me.¡± Xia Lei brought him to the study.
Shi Boren quickly caught up to them. ¡°What about the assassin? Who does he work for?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°The assassin was shot dead by Yuyan. I haven¡¯t gotten the chance to investigate his background. It¡¯s most probably an assassin from the CIA or FA.¡±
¡°Fucking hell! They¡¯re out of their minds!¡± Shi Boren raged, his heart sheltering a violent burst of mes.
Approaching his study, Xia Lei could see the four pregnantdies standing in a distance. Their stances were cautious and had not bothered toe closer. Truthfully, they had the intention toe over and take a look but with their minds fixated on the safety of their unborn child, they decided against it.
Xia Lei allowed Tang Bochuan and Shi Boren into his study.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes were mped shut and her cheeks were devoid of its lively flush. The corner of her lips, chin and chest were bloodied. The visualbination of everything looked awful.
¡°Yuyan!¡± Tang Bochuan was shocked by the state of his sister. He quickly rushed to the couch and grabbed her limp palm.
Her eyes flew open. She cast a nce at her brother. ¡°I¡¯m alright. Xia Lei saved me.¡±
¡°You¡¯re spitting out so much blood! How can you say that you¡¯re alright?¡± Tang Bochuan fussed over her.
¡°That¡¯s actually... Xia Lei¡¯s blood,¡± muttered Tang Yuyan weakly.
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Bochuan whipped his head around to spare a look at Xia Lei. It was only then that he noticed a wound on Xia Lei¡¯s wrist. Blood was still seeping through the opening but it was not severe.
The ghost of a bitter smile manifested on Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips. ¡°Xia Lei, I owe you my life once again.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Don¡¯t say that. If it wasn¡¯t for you, Long Bing and the others would¡¯ve been harmed.¡±
¡°Long Bing? What does this have to do with Long Bing?¡± Shi Boren fumed. ¡°Call her over, I need to talk to her.¡±
¡°Boss Shi, what exactly are you going to talk to her about?¡± Xia Lei shot a question.
Shi Boren finally remembered. Long Bing was no longer affiliated with Bureau 101 and that he was merely an ex-boss. She was now Xia Lei¡¯s woman. Shi Boren had no power over her any longer. She was not someone he could call over and reprimand.
Tang Yuyan uttered, ¡°Godfather, this has nothing to do with Long Bing. I was the cause of my current state. No need to fret about it.¡±
¡°Nevermind, I got nothing worthwhile to say. This is a matter between you two, no third party can intervene in this,¡± grumbled Shi Boren, facial expressions not veiling his displeasure.
Xia Lei called, ¡°Bochuan, take Yuyan to the hospital. She needs a full check-up and relevant treatment.¡±
¡°But I don¡¯t want to go to the hospital,¡± mumbled Tang Yuyan.
That earned a dirty re from Tang Bochuan. ¡°Look at yourself! You¡¯re in no state to say no! I¡¯m bringing you to the hospital.¡±
¡°No, I don¡¯t want to.¡± Tang Yuyan was stubborn.
Shi Boren reprimanded, ¡°Listen to us and go to the hospital! How can you not go there in such a state?¡±
¡°No.¡± Tang Yuyan turned her face away, no longer wishing to stare at his stern wrinkly face.
Tang Bochuan turned around to send Xia Lei a look.
Xia Lei braced himself. ¡°Yuyan, listen to them and go to the hospital. Your condition is unstable and you really need professional care and treatment.¡±
¡°Okay, then I shall go to the hospital,¡± agreed Tang Yuyan. Her answer came gentle, her hint of submission heavy.
Tang Bochuan couldn¡¯t help but lock gazes with Shi Boren. One of them was her blood-rted elder brother and the other was her godfather. Their words had done no magic against her but a simple uttering from Xia Lei had proved to be way more useful than harshmands.
Hearing her agreement, Tang Bochuan walked over to pick her up, about to head for the helipad. But before his arms could evene in contact with her, she rolled her eyes at him. It was a telltale disy of her cold-shoulder.
Tang Bochuan seemed to have picked up her hint, quickly stepping away. ¡°Xia Lei, can you help me bring her to the helicopter? I¡¯ll phone the hospital and have them ready for her arrival.¡± He dug out his phone and walked away without any consideration for Xia Lei¡¯s feelings.
Xia Lei stared at Shi Boren.
Shi Boren stared back. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious about having her godfather do something like that?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless. He obediently went over to the couch and picked her up, bringing her towards the exit of the study.
Tang Yuyan was snuggled close to his chest. She was quiet andcent. As Xia Lei neared the study¡¯s door, she looped her arms around his neck. As a result, the misleading scene was disyed to his four pregnant wives tantly.
His four wives watched their husband carry Tang Yuyan. Sure, Tang Yuyan had saved them and she was injured as a result. It waspletely understandable for their husband to help move her to the hospital. Despite the voices trying to reason in their mind, the sight made them ufortable and worried.
¡°If that fucker is still alive, I¡¯d love to kill him one more time,¡± hissed Liang Siyao through gritted teeth.
Long Bing cast her a wry smile. ¡°What¡¯s the point even if you can kill him ten more times? Regardless of our feud with Tang Yuyan, you¡¯ve got to admit that she saved us this time around. Without her, we¡¯d probably be dead.¡±
Liang Siyao had nothing better to retort. Every encounter with Tang Yuyan of hers would always result in heated arguments. However, Liang Siyao had to admit that she owed her life to Tang Yuyan this time. If she were to count in the budding life in her womb, she would¡¯ve owed two lives to Tang Yuyan.
Fan Fan chuckled distantly. ¡°She saved us and we owe it to her. Yes, that is true. But I¡¯m worried that she might use this incident to her merit. You know our man¡¯s biggest weakness is that he doesn¡¯t know how to refuse someone. Tang Yuyan saved us and our child. But if she wants to...¡± Fan Fan could not bring herself to finish her sentence.
¡°What would she want from us?¡± Jiang Ruyi looked at her innocently. ¡°Is she going to use it to trouble us?¡±
Fan Fan pulled her lips into a tight smile. ¡°She has never once stopped giving us trouble, okay?¡±
Jiang Ruyi furrowed her brows. In the face of such games, she waspletely clueless. Her mind began feeding her the mental image of a dining table. Initially, five cutlery sets would be ced on the table but her mind had shown her a scene with six sets instead. The extra one was for Tang Yuyan.
¡°No need to fret.¡± Liang Siyao mused, ¡°Tang Yuyan is part of the Tang family. There is no way her family would allow her to marry Xia Lei like us. The Tang family would want Xia Lei all to themselves. They¡¯re too greedy for their own good.¡±
Fan Fan questioned, ¡°But what if Tang Yuyan is willing to let her family go as we have?¡±
Liang Siyao immediately fell silent.
That was a tough question.
As they continued to mumble among themselves, Xia Lei had finally brought Tang Yuyan to the helicopter. He instructed its pilot, ¡°Bring her to the hospital immediately.¡±
The pilot nodded and swiftly ignited the engine.
Just as he was about to peel away, Tang Yuyan seized his wrist. ¡°Can¡¯t you apany me to the hospital?¡±
Her eyes were brimming with sadness and anticipation that melted the tip of Xia Lei¡¯s resolution. He answered, ¡°Get there first and I¡¯lleter. I need to check on the assassin and find out who he is. I will not allow something simr to happen twice.¡±
¡°Very well, then... I¡¯ll wait for you in the hospital.¡± Tang Yuyan released her grip.
Tang Bochuan climbed into the helicopter while Shi Boren opted to stay back. The older man and Xia Lei went to the main entrance.
The assassin¡¯s body was ced at the entrance. Not far away from his body were the corpses of a few reporters. They weren¡¯t as lucky as Tang Yuyan, who had ess to the antidote and a stream of blood filled with super antibodies.
Xia Lei halted Shi Boren before the older man got close to the body. ¡°Boss Shi, stay far from his body. Leave the checking to me.¡±
¡°Your life has more value than mine, let me take over,¡± insisted Shi Boren.
There were some things about Shi Boren that Xia Lei detested, one could even say that he was utterly disgusted by it. But for the sake of the greater good and national interest, Shi Boren had never once failed to be self-sacrificial. This fact, Xia Lei was impressed. He retorted, ¡°Boss Shi, let me do it. I already consumed the antidote, you did not.¡±
Shi Boren realized that he couldn¡¯t win over Xia Lei. The older man relented, ¡°Be careful. If it¡¯s too difficult, we¡¯ll wait till the experts arrive.¡±
Before he could even finish his sentence, Xia Lei was already striding over to the body. He activated his X-ray vision with approaching steps. The assassin¡¯s body was very clean. Other than a few one hundred RMB notes on him, he did not have an identification card nor a driver¡¯s license.
Xia Lei tried to search for his phone but there was none.
He returned his attention onto the assassin¡¯s face. It was an Asian man and a stranger. His forehead was torn apart by the bullet, flesh and skin curling up at the edges. It was evident that he wasn¡¯t donning a human face mask.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°He¡¯s clean and has no cosmetic alterations. He¡¯s aplete stranger too. Is he an assassin from the CIA or the FA? Or could he be from the Hattori family?¡±
Helpfully, he was suddenly reminded of the Hattori n. Back then in the secluded tower on the Great Wall of China, Hattori Mei was the one who passed him the poison that would eventually be his own murder weapon! This meant that this assassin was most possibly one that worked for the Hattori n!
Deducing his identity, Xia Lei¡¯s heart burned with rage. He seethed to no one, ¡°Hattori Mei... Hattori Masao... It seems that killing me no longer satiates your desire. You¡¯re even turning to harm my women and children. Very well. Since you¡¯re so eager to destroy my whole family, I reciprocate the sentiment!¡±
The horns of revenge were ring.
¡°Xia Lei, what did you find?¡± asked Shi Boren.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°This is no ce to talk. Let¡¯s go to the hospital, I¡¯ll tell you on our way over.¡±
¡°Alright. We¡¯ll leave this to the experts. Come, sit in my car,¡± offered Shi Boren.
¡°We¡¯ll use my car.¡± Xia Lei turned to cast a nce at Long Bing, who was standing at a distance. He called out, ¡°Ah Bing, drive your car. We¡¯re visiting the hospital.¡±
¡°Alright, right away.¡± Came Long Bing¡¯s answer.
¡°We¡¯reing with,¡± said Fan Fan out of the blue.
¡°Yeah. We¡¯re going to check on her too.¡± Liang Siyao yed along.
¡°I¡¯ll go grab a few bottles to drink on the journey. Pregnantdies should drink more water,¡± uttered Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei turned around and looked at Shi Boren. ¡°Yeah, I guess I should ride with you after all.¡±
Shi Boren had nothing to say.
Chapter 1047 - Super Child
The Army Hospital, special ward.
¡°Mister Tang, the conditions of your sister are stable. It¡¯s just that her white blood cell levels are low. There¡¯s no need to worry, she¡¯ll recover within two days of rest.¡±
¡°Thank you, doctor,¡± said Tang Bochuan.
¡°Oh, right. Mister Tang, there¡¯s something weird that I¡¯d like to ask you about.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°When Miss Tang was admitted, she came in with a lot of blood in her intestine. It¡¯s also all over her body. We collected it and ran some tests. Turns out, there¡¯s a type of superstrong antibody inside it and those were coincidentally the antibodies that saved Miss Tang¡¯s life.¡±
Tang Bochuan¡¯s mind fleeted onto the image of Xia Lei and his bloodied wrist. Yet, he maintained his calm facade. ¡°I have no idea what could lead to that. Doctor, let¡¯s just cast this aside. Is it alright if you pass me all the test results and samples to me and pretend that none of this transpired?¡±
The doctor was visibly taken aback but he nodded his head anyway. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll get it done now.¡±
The doctor excused himself. Tang Bochuan came to the bed and trained his burning stares on Tang Yuyan. ¡°Yuyan, did you hear that? A poison that could kill within minutes and Xia Lei¡¯s blood had antibodies that countered it! He really is an advanced human!¡±
Tang Yuyan, on the other hand, was exceptionally calm. ¡°Is that something worth being shocked over? On the snow mountain in Dawang, he gave me everyst shred of his clothing. All he had was his boxers and that was the night he sessfully wiped out more than one hundred enemies.¡±
Tang Bochuan said nothing in return, seemingly deep in thought.
At this moment, Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei entered the ward. Tang Yunhai trailed behind them.
¡°Yuyan, how are you feeling? Is everything alright?¡± Zhang Yumei barged in with knitted brows.
¡°I¡¯m alright, Mother,¡± assured Tang Yuyan.
Zhang Yumei held her daughter¡¯s palm. ¡°I¡¯m so d you¡¯re alright. How am I supposed to live without you if something were to happen?¡±
¡°Yumei quit muttering useless nothings.¡± Tang Yunhai cleared his throat. ¡°Yuyan, I heard that you got hurt because you rescued Xia Lei¡¯s women. Is that true?¡±
Tang Yuyan nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
Tang Yunhai drove his borately decorated cane to the ground. ¡°Why are you so stupid? If his women die, wouldn¡¯t you stand a chance?¡±
Tang Yuyan froze, not daring to retaliate. This was wrong on so many levels. They were Xia Lei¡¯s four wives and they were pregnant! This was a total of eight lives! If she had let them die for the sake of getting together with Xia Lei, Tang Yuyan could never live with the guilt.
¡°Stupid girl, that assassin was obviously after Xia Lei¡¯s women. You protected them and if you lost your life as a result, would they mourn you? I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be delighted to eliminate a love rival.¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Tang Yuyan clenched her jaw. ¡°I was there and I was one of his targets. How could I not do anything in that situation? Plus, if Xia Lei¡¯s women and children had perished, he would lock his heart away from anyone else.¡±
Sigh! Tang Tianlong heaved a hefty sigh. ¡°This is fate. You and Xia Lei were destined to be together and yet Fan Fan had to intervene. Look at them now. Fan Fan is not the only one. Xia Lei houses four pregnant lovers in the Peace Mansion. What a messy private life!¡±
¡°Yuyan, I¡¯m warning you!¡± Tang Yunhai pointed a finger sternly. ¡°If Xia Lei is not divorced, don¡¯t you dare get together with him!¡±
Tang Yuyan huffed dryly. ¡°You talk as if he wishes to be with me. He¡¯s the kind of man who can get whatever woman he wants. What am I, a mere in Tang Yuyan, to him?¡±
¡°Bullshit! You¡¯re just depreciating yourself!¡± Tang Yunhai screamed, ¡°Every woman of our Tang family is elegant and smart! If you keep up with that, you¡¯re embarrassing the Tang family!¡±
Tang Yuyan stopped herself from biting back, quickly avoiding Tang Yunhai¡¯s eyes. She understood what her grandfather meant. Women who bore the Tang surname were fit for anyone, even if he were a king. However, she could not disrupt the Tang family¡¯s order just because she was in love with Xia Lei. Xia Lei¡¯s excellence was not an exception either.
Something sour pinched at her heart, almost as if a great helping of salt was dumped into her heart. The biggest obstacle between her potential rtionship with Xia Lei was not his four pregnant wives but the dignity and ego of the ancient Tang n!
¡°Hey, that¡¯s enough.¡± Tang Bochuan gently dissolved the tension. ¡°Father, grandpa, Yuyan just survived the ordeal closely. She was given a second chance at life by Xia Lei and I¡¯m sure she¡¯s feeling terrible.¡±
¡°Xia Lei rescued you?¡± Tang Tianlong asked Tang Yuyan.
To which she nodded dutifully and offered nothing else.
¡°It¡¯s a given for him to save you. After all, without you, his women would be done for. You do not owe him anything. As a matter of fact, he is in debt to you,¡± concluded Tang Tianlong.
Xia Lei had saved her once. One life. Tang Yuyan had saved four of his pregnant lovers. Four women, eight lives. If they were to weigh their debt with quantity, Xia Lei would have owed her seven lives. That would mean that he was truly indebted to her.
¡°Father, you can¡¯t weigh it like that,¡± mumbled Tang Yuyan. She was not on board with that thought.
Tang Tianlong roared at her, ¡°Shut up!¡±
Tang Yuyan could only mp her jaw shut. To the outside eye, she was a proud daughter of the Tang n. But at home, in front of the elders, she was nothing. She was only a youngling susceptible to their instructions. She was just a pawn for the family!
Ning Jing was in such a position back then. Butpared to Tang Yuyan, Ning Jing had it better. She was at least able to leave home but where could Tang Yuyan escape to? Her skull was literally imprinted with the mark of the Tang family!
¡°Father, grandpa...¡± Tang Bochuan tried to shift the focus. ¡°I have something to tell you.¡±
Effectively, the two elders of the Tang family spared him their attention. Tang Tianlong urged, ¡°What is it? Come on, spit it out straight.¡±
¡°Xia Lei used his blood to neutralize the poison inside her body.¡± Tang Bochuan studied their reactions. ¡°This was what the doctor told me earlier. There¡¯s some super strong antibody dwelling in Xia Lei¡¯s blood. If it wasn¡¯t for it, Tang Yuyan would¡¯ve been dead long ago.¡±
¡°Huh? How is that possible?¡± Tang Tianlong was surprised.
Tang Bochuan exined, ¡°There were also a few reporters that died at the footsteps of the Peace Mansion. Our experts had concluded their autopsy. The poison is a bioweapon that targets the heart and nerve system. Any contact would result in death in a matter of minutes. If an antidote is avable and the poisoning had not exceeded three minutes, the victim could still be rescued. But after three minutes, not even god can save them. I was thinking, Xia Lei really might be the advanced human we were specting him as. He is strong now but who knows how much more advanced he will be in the future? Everything will probably be beyond our imagination.¡±
Tang Bochuan¡¯s revtion could be summarized simply. Xia Lei would only be stronger, his potential was limitless!
¡°Grandpa.¡± Tang Bochuan stared at Tang Yunhai. ¡°I think...¡±
Tang Yunhai seemed to have understood what Tang Bochuan was hinting at. The older man quickly interjected, ¡°Bochuan,e out. I¡¯ll like to talk to you.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Tang Bochuan followed him out of the ward.
Tang Yunhai went past the corridor, only stopping as they reached the stairway. He watched the bottom then checked the top. Following that, he checked the situation out at the end of the corridor.
¡°Grandpa, what¡¯s the matter?¡± asked Tang Bochuan.
Tang Yunhai made sure they were alone before answering, ¡°I have nothing to talk about, it¡¯s more of what were you trying to say back then. There¡¯s no one here, you can finish your sentence with ease.¡±
Tang Bochuan huffed a sound ofughter. ¡°Grandpa, aren¡¯t you a little too cautious? Yuyan is your granddaughter. Is she not allowed to hear our conversation?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± Tang Yunhai grumbled angrily, ¡°She¡¯s deeply intoxicated by a poison named Xia Lei. She has thrown away all regards to the Tang family¡¯s interest in the back of her mind. From now on, it¡¯s better that she remains blissfully unaware of some of the family¡¯s bigger decisions. I¡¯ll consider this decision again when she shows signs of remorse and awakening.¡±
¡°It¡¯s not that bad?¡± Tang Bochuan couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing.
Tang Yunhai replied, ¡°You, my child, are too linear-minded. You do not understand theplexity of a woman¡¯s mind. We¡¯ve used many connections and logistics for years on end just so she could be the leader of Bureau 101. She is equivalent to our biggest asset. But she was willing to die for the sake of protecting Xia Lei¡¯s women! If Xia Lei hade to her aid ten secondster, she would be done for! What else can you say about that other than her abandoning our familial interest?¡±
Tang Bochuan had no better argument.
Tang Yunhai pressed on, ¡°Yuyan seeded Shi Boren¡¯s position and you¡¯re bound to seed mine someday. You are on track but not her.¡±
Tang Bochuan still did not know what to say.
¡°Speak!¡± Tang Yunhai urged harshly.
It was only then that Tang Bochuan responded, ¡°I wanted to to say that the rumour about the AE capsules is real. Xia Lei was able to advance because of those capsules. Everything he owned was built on the fundamentals of his ability. If we can¡¯t get him into our family, we can get...¡±
He left his sentence hanging.
Tang Yunhai shot him a dangerous re. ¡°Go on.¡±
¡°We can get his children. We can cultivate his child into a sessor to the Tang family. While we can¡¯t guarantee that the child we obtain would inherit one hundred per cent of Xia Lei¡¯s excellent gics and ability, as long as they have half of that, the Tang family will be the superior n of China!¡± Tang Bochuan finally told the full story.
¡°You¡¯re saying to have Yuyan...¡± Tang Yunhai found it difficult to spit it out. As the master of the n, the implications had him flustered.
¡°Actually, there¡¯s no need for them to get together.¡± Tang Bochuan inched closer and whispered into his ears. ¡°I can have the doctors numb Yuyan and extract her ovum. Then...¡±
¡°What approach are you nning to extract Xia Lei¡¯s sperm?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for us to do that. The authorities have never once ceased their research on Xia Lei. The researchers have the legal rights to obtain their bodily fluids. From that, we can cultivate our very own Tang family super child,¡± answered Tang Bochuan.
Tang Yunhai let the words settle in his mind, finally breaking into a grin. ¡°Hehehe, your idea is not bad. If we seed, it would be great. But children grow fast, what do you n to do?¡±
¡°Me? For the sake of our future, I¡¯m willing to give up my shot at bing the n¡¯s master,¡± assured Tang Bochuan.
¡°Then the child shall be under your wing. When the right timees, you¡¯ll let them seed you,¡± decided the older man.
That elicited a pleased smile from his grandson. ¡°Sure, then I¡¯ll bring this to the doctor.¡±
They left the stairway to the doctor¡¯s office.
Coincidentally, the lift doors opened to allow a group of people to emerge. One man and four women got out of the little space. The man was handsome and bright. The women that surrounded him were each uniquely gorgeous and with great body proportion. Despite their pregnant bellies, they looked far from swollen. They radiated the soft beauty of an expecting mother.
Xia Lei had brought his family to visit the patient.
Chapter 1048 - Full Control
A man with four pregnant women around him, each with faces blessed by the gods. A family lineup like that was bound to attract attention no matter where they were. Plus, this was the family of China¡¯s Father of Rifles.
But to that, Xia Lei had noment. He wasn¡¯t staying humble on purpose either, there were just too many mysteries that surround him.
Watching Xia Lei and his four pregnant wives, Tang Yunhai couldn¡¯t suppress the cold snort that bubbled out of his throat. His expressions were that of disdain too. Xia Lei had forfeited a marriage arrangement with the Tang family in public and chose to marry Fan Fan instead of Tang Yuyan. Tang Yunhai had every reason to despise him.
Contrastingly, Xia Lei seemed rxed. He approached the older man with a grin. ¡°How have you been, Lord Tang? Why are you here? How is Yuyan doing now?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for your concern. She¡¯s a tough one, she¡¯ll survive,¡± huffed Tang Yunhai indignantly.
It was almost as if he had thrown a bucket of water over Xia Lei¡¯s crown.
Fan Fan would not tolerate any disrespect shown towards her man. In her heart, Xia Lei was the world¡¯s hero! Hearing those words spat out by Tang Yunhai with malice had her nose scrunched up. ¡°Tang...¡±
That was the only word she had managed to mutter out before Xia Lei seized her arm. ¡°Fan Fan, let¡¯s go check on Yuyan.¡±
He knew everything about his lovers. He was fully aware of what Fan Fan was attempting to do. With her identity and position, Tang Yunhai wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to her if she went on and gave him an earful. However, there was no need for that. Tang Yunhai was Tang Yuyan¡¯s grandfather after all.
Back when Long Bing¡¯s Japan operation was faced withpromisation, Xia Lei was unprecedentedly pissed at Tang Yuyan. He felt ill towards Tang Yuyan. But after the events that transpired today, there was no way he could treat her like before.
¡°Xia Lei, go ahead into the ward. My father and mother are there with Yuyan. I¡¯m on my way to the doctor¡¯s office with grandpa to ask for specifics,¡± uttered Tang Bochuan.
¡°Sure. Go on ahead, Bochuan. I¡¯ve asked for her ward number at the receptionist, I know where it is.¡± Then, Xia Lei led his wives away to Tang Yuyan¡¯s ward.
Coming from the opposite direction, a young nurse approached them with an instrument cart in the same corridor. She watched the ensemble curiously, studying Xia Lei¡¯s face and the four expectingdies trailing behind him.
But as they were about to brush past each other, the nurse abruptly reached over.
Xia Lei quickly stepped to the side, dodging her extended arm and seized her neck. Before his fingers were wrapped around her windpipe, he immediately deflected his palm away tond it atop her shoulder gently. He shed her a soft smile. ¡°Miss, is there something I can help you with?¡±
Long Bing and Liang Siyao were ready to fight, but as soon as they noticed that Xia Lei had given up on assault, they eased their grip on their pistols.
¡°I... I...¡± The nurse¡¯s cheeks were flushed red. ¡°Are you Mister X...Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s me. Have we met? Or is there something wrong?¡± Xia Lei was calm.
¡°No. Uh...¡± The nurse was having a hard time calming down. ¡°M...Mister Xia, aren¡¯t you dead?
Fan Fan reprimanded almost immediately, ¡°Hey! What¡¯s that supposed to mean?!¡±
¡°Sorry.¡± She fumbled over her words. ¡°It¡¯s because our department had learnt about Mister Xia¡¯s past activities and I¡¯ve heard a lot of his heroic deeds. Mister Xia is my idol. I hope this isn¡¯t too much but... Mister Xia, can you please give me your signature?¡±
Xia Lei was taken aback.
He almost forgot. He was supposed to be dead. Everywhere in the country was learning things about him and his patriotism. He was already marketed as the era¡¯s hero. And while everyone in the country had learned that he was dead, he was back. Alive and well. No wonder the nurse was staring at him as if she had met a ghost.
¡°Sure, no problem.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s answer was quick.
¡°Mister Xia, can you sign the back of my uniform?¡± The nurse looked at him with wide pleading eyes as she held out a pen.
Xia Lei nodded and retreated behind her. Gripping her ink pen, he signed his name on the back of her clothes.
Once he was done, he returned the pen to her and stepped closer to the side of her face. He whispered, ¡°I wrote a phone number on your back. Please dial the numberter, okay?¡±
¡°You...¡± Stars were positively clouding up her vision now.
Xia Lei¡¯s next words were perhaps out of context. ¡°Tell that person that I¡¯m alive and well. Tell her not to worry too.¡± And with that, he brushed past her shoulder and left.
The young nurse stayed rooted to her spot, watching the dreamy retreating back of Xia Lei.
The four pregnantdies came next in a formation of two in the left nk and the other two in the right nk. All of them patted the nurse¡¯s shoulder. No one said a word but the suffocating murderous intent was unmistakable. Their stares seemed to have lowered the temperature around the corridor by a great notch.
The four pregnantdies left.
How was the nurse supposed to stay frozen for another minute longer? She quickly pushed her cart away to safety.
Returning to the nurse¡¯s station, she stripped off her ivory uniform to marvel at Xia Lei¡¯s signature. It was then that she noticed the discreet line of numbers written in the seam. It was a telephone number.
The nurse brought out her phone and dialled it. There was a beat of silence before a woman¡¯s voice came ringing over the line. ¡°Hello, Shentu Tianyin speaking. Who is this?¡±
¡°Huh? Shentu Tianyin...?¡± The nurse pped a palm over her mouth.
¡°You have five seconds to answer me. Where did you get this number from?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voice was heavily doused in annoyance and displeasure.
It was only then that the nurse calmed down slightly from the spike of anxiety. She frantically exined, ¡°I got this number from Mister Xia Lei...¡±
¡°Wait, what? Who gave you this number?!¡±
¡°Mister Xia Lei.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a lie!¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a lie. I just saw him earlier and he signed my back. It was him who gave me your number and told me to tell you that he is alive and well. He says of you to not worry,¡± answered the young nurse.
Crash! The shattering sound of ss came through the speaker.
¡°Miss Shentu? Are you alright?¡±
¡°Where are you? Tell me.¡±
¡°Mister Xia Lei did not mention anything about this. I need to ask him if I can disclose his location.¡± said the nurse.
¡°I¡¯ll pay you one hundred thousand RMB for the address.¡±
There was only one second of hesitation. ¡°The Army Hospital.¡±
And with that, Shentu Tianyin hung up.
Anything that could be solved with money was measly for the queen of the Vientiane Group.
This was the same for her and Xia Lei.
In one of the wards, Xia Lei led his wives into Tang Yuyan¡¯s room. Their appearance earned a wide-eyed look from both Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei. The old couple did not greet him. They only spared him a nce of unhidden resentment.
Xia Lei could only offer them a wry smile. He was aware that he had now the impression of a ky man in their eyes. He braced himself and greeted them courteously. ¡°Hello, uncle and aunty. How have you been?¡±
¡°Well, not dead as you can see,¡± responded Zhang Yumei nonchntly.
Tang Tianlong scoffed coldly. ¡°Director Xia, I must congratte you. You¡¯re bing a father to so many children soon. Please do remember to invite me to their one-month celebration.¡±
Tang Tianlong was definitely not going to show up if the invitation came.
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll send you the invitation personally when the timees.¡±
The four pregnantdies did not greet Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei. They headed for Tang Yuyan¡¯s bed straight.
¡°Yuyan, thank you.¡± Liang Siyao felt regretful. ¡°I... misunderstood you in the past.¡±
¡°It¡¯s nothing, I quite like arguing with you,¡± said Tang Yuyan with a smile all while watching Xia Lei out of the corner of her eyes.
Long Bing grabbed her palm. ¡°Are you feeling better?¡±
¡°Yeah. The doctor said that I¡¯ll be well after two days with some medication and rest.¡±
¡°If there¡¯s anything you need, feel free to ask us. There¡¯s no need to be so courteous with us, let us do something for you,¡± offered Fan Fan with uncharacteristic generosity.
Tang Yuyan chuckled at that. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll tell you if there¡¯s any.¡±
Jiang Ruyi ced a thermos container on the bedside drawer. ¡°Yuyan, I made you some chicken soup. Make sure to drink it while warm, it¡¯ll help your recovery.¡±
¡°Alright. Thank you, Ruyi.¡± Tang Yuyan was equally courteous.
The five women chattered with a hint of caution in the air.
Initially, Xia Lei wanted to converse with Tang Yuyan briefly. But with his four pregnant wives around, he couldn¡¯t even make the choice to go close to her bed. Plus, Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei were still in the same vicinity.
While Tang Yuyan¡¯s expressions gave nothing away, her heart was sullen. All she wanted was for Xia Lei to visit her alone so they could enjoy some privacy. In that environment, she could say anything. She had rescued his four pregnant wives, that was a good reason for her to do something along the lines of that, right? But the fact that Xia Lei was apanied by his wives was something she did not expect. Eight watchful eyes had full control over their interactions. How was she going to confess?
¡°Alright, you¡¯ve been here for too long. Yuyan needs to rest now. You¡¯ve visited her and it¡¯s time to go.¡± Zhang Yumei chased them away subtly.
The four pregnantdies seemed to already have a n of their own earlier. They bid their farewells and turned to leave.
Liang Siyao wrapped her arm around Xia Lei¡¯s elbow. ¡°Hubby, let¡¯s go home.¡±
Xia Lei looked at Tang Yuyan. ¡°Yuyan, please take care. There¡¯s no need to fret over the case. I will help investigate it too. If I find anything new, I¡¯ll update you right away.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart could only sigh. She mustered out a smile to send them off. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll look forward to the good news.¡±
Under the protection of the four pregnantdies, Xia Lei was brought to the door.
But as he was about to step foot into the corridor, Tang Yuyan was reminded of something. She quickly called out, ¡°Xia Lei, the location Ah Bing had informed me under your instruction has been under the careful watch of my people. The area is closed for the moment but I hadn¡¯tid instructions for any action in fear of alerting them.¡±
Xia Lei turned around. ¡°Alright, got it. Rest well.¡±
And the little peculiar family left.
The moment the door click shut was the moment Zhang Yumei let her emotions free. ¡°Bastard! What kind of a person is that?! He¡¯s a gigantic pervert, how could anyone call him the people¡¯s hero?! Does he think he¡¯s the emperor?¡±
¡°Mom, that¡¯s enough. You don¡¯t know the full story between them,¡± muttered Tang Yuyan.
¡°I don¡¯t know? Do you know then? You¡¯re supposed to be the rightful wife to Thunder Horse¡¯s owner. The Liang woman is such an eyesore. She¡¯s obviously a fox!¡± Zhang Yumei continued to run her mouth,
Tang Yuyan could no longermunicate with her own mother.
Tang Bochuan and Tang Yunhai returned to them minutester. They both did not mention a single thing about their earlier conversation, only opting to discuss topics about Xia Lei.
In the matter of another few more minutes, the door to the ward was pushed open to allow the entry of a panting Shentu Tianyin. She scanned the room with anxious eyes, her turbulent mood settling down into calmness. There was a prolonged silence before she could ask, ¡°Where is Xia Lei?¡±
Tang Yuyan answered, ¡°He left. But I highly suggest that you call his number and not find him at the Peace Mansion. The four female tigers are crazy protective.¡±
Tears began to flow down the curves of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s cheek.
The Tang family could only watch her silently at her disys of despair.
Chapter 1049 - Kyokos Ultimate Trial
Light bled out of their windows as the evening faded into night. The Peace Mansion was well lit despite the darkness that shrouded them. The only thing out of the ordinary was that the Special Forces had intensified their patrol and security efforts. The entire premise of the Peace Mansion and Thunder Horse Organization were heavily guarded by the Special Forces. After the shocking incident that urred in broad daylight, the strengthening of security measures was inevitable.
But as far as things were concerned, an unarmed reporter did not seem threatening. The incident could not be med on the inadequacy of the Special Force members stationed here either.
Beneath the Peace Mansion in the underground dungeon...
Two men faced each other, gazes locked. One of them was seated while the other stood.
¡°Have you thought it through?¡± Xia Lei interjected the deep silence after a full minute. ¡°You¡¯ve been restrained here for a while now. You could get a second chance at life.¡±
¡°Are you trying to buy me over?¡± A disdainful smirk manifested on Li Youdun¡¯s curled lips.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s going through your mind right now. What did the CIA offer you? Honour? They don¡¯t even dare to acknowledge your identity. Was it money? How much have you earned from the CIA? You were tasked to steal industrial secrets and you even had to risk your safety to assassinate me. And all for what? A measly two million USD. Was the money even worth it? People who work for us earn more than that in a year.¡±
Li Youdun focused his uninterested gaze on Xia Lei,pletely silent.
¡°Tell me. Now that the CIA Jingdu informant base is forced to close, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s another backup stronghold somewhere. Where is it?¡± Xia Lei had not given up yet.
¡°So I¡¯ll tell you and you¡¯ll give me a painless death?¡± Li Youdun raised a questioning brow.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°No, but I want you to do me a favour.¡±
¡°You want me to be a double agent?¡± Li Youdun was surprised.
¡°Nothing is impossible. Not only will you get paid by the CIA, but you¡¯ll receive money from me too. I¡¯m offering you a six million USD yearly pay. I¡¯ll transfer five hundred thousand USD per month to your preferred ount on a fixed date. This does not include any bonuses. With that added, you making ten million USD a year from me is not an issue.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Li Youdun¡¯sughter echoed about in the closed space.
¡°What are youughing at?
¡°You really think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re up to? You¡¯re going to trick information out of me then kill me. You¡¯ve got no need for double agents, to begin with, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± Xia Lei shook his head slowly. ¡°I can show you my sincerity. Give me an ount and I¡¯ll immediately transfer one year worth of sry. I¡¯m sure six million USD is a sincere enough gesture, no?¡±
Li Youdun hesitated.
¡°You¡¯re just after the money and I can give you that, lots of it even. As long as you agree to work for me. This is just a business deal, there¡¯s no need to overthink it.¡± Xia Lei relentlessly convinced him. But he spared Li Youdun silence to answer after his sentence fell.
Having enjoyed one minute of clear-mindedness, Li Youdun settled on a decision. ¡°I¡¯ll pass you my ount. We¡¯ll talk after the six million USD enters my ount.¡±
¡°Sure.¡± Xia Lei swiftly went over to the torture gadget counter and booted hisptop. ¡°Your ount number, please.¡±
Li Youdun recited the numbers of an anonymous ount he registered in Switzend. He was still suspicious about this entire deal.
Xia Lei was quick toplete the transaction. He brought theptop to Li Youdun and showed him the record.
The record was as promised. Xia Lei had transacted six million USD into the ount.
¡°You see that? That¡¯s my sincerity.¡± Xia Lei hummed. ¡°It¡¯s your turn to show me yours. Tell me, where is the CIA¡¯s safe house?¡±
¡°Freedom EDM Music Bar. That¡¯s the CIA¡¯s safe house in Jingdu. Yang Shan and Sperry should be there,¡± answered Li Youdun.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°That¡¯s my boy.¡± He produced a key and unlocked the shackles that restrained Li Youdun¡¯s limbs. Li Youdun was free.
¡°You... You¡¯re really letting me go?¡± Li Youdun¡¯s disbelief was written all over his face. He studied Xia Lei¡¯s features cautiously, afraid that the other man would attack and kill him when he least expected it.
¡°This is also my sincerity. You¡¯re free to leave this ce now. But I¡¯d like to know how you are going to exin yourself after this.¡± Xia Lei shot him a question.
Li Youdun replied, ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about that. I¡¯ve got my ways around it.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll steal the CIA¡¯s intel and give them to me. Contact me once a month.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not an issue, I can do that.¡± Li Youdun nodded curtly.
¡°Last question, has the CIA researched and implemented a system with Artificial Intelligence?¡± Xia Lei watched Li Youdun. He was different from the others. Others would stare into the eyes to gauge the truth but all Xia Lei had focused on was Li Youdun¡¯s beating heart.
¡°No. How is that even possible? The best and most matured AI technology in the world would have toe from Japan and that is a feat that Japan had yet to aplish. How was it possible for America to obtain something like that?¡± responded Li Youdun.
Xia Lei peeled his eyes away and shed him a smile. ¡°Go, be careful on your way. Inform me when you reach America.¡±
Li Youdun nodded and off he went.
Xia Lei¡¯s gazended on theptop that sat silently atop the counter. A reminder interface popped out. The simtion transfer was sessful.
Sigh.
That was the only response Xia Lei¡¯s heart had produced. When Li Youdun had told him about the Artificial Intelligence system earlier, his pulse rate had picked up and turned irregr. The man was lying.
Li Youdun made it out of the underground chamber and found himself in the backyard of the Peace Mansion. The backyard was delicately adorned with lush nts and the moonlight was veiled by the healthy crown of a tree. It also shielded him away from the lights of the front yard. Everything was pitch ck.
Li Youdun turned around to spare a nce at the humble vintage-styled bungalow behind him. He sneered coldly. ¡°Money? Do you really think I¡¯m after the money? That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m after power. Williams¡¯ position is mine and you can¡¯t provide me such authority. So...¡±
So what? The moment his mind had paused at that second, a petite woman came plummeting from the roof. Like an eagle after its prey, her movements were feral but silent. And just before shended, a three-stab steel fork was sheathed into Li Youdun¡¯s skull vehemently.
Li Youdun went limp.
He was dead. He was free from the pain of his suffering.
If he had been honest with Xia Lei and worked as his double agent, Xia Lei would have spared him because Li Youdun held value. However, he had dared to lie even under such circumstances to hide away information on the CIA¡¯s AI system. What he didn¡¯t know was that Xia Lei already had an exchange with the system. It wasn¡¯t that Xia Lei was ruthless, it was Li Youdun¡¯s greed that brought him his demise. Xia Lei could¡¯ve flooded him with more money but the agent wasn¡¯t satisfied with just that. He wanted bigger power. Humans were often driven by their desires. Soon orter, they would find themselves trashing against the weaved by their many lusts and perish.
Tsukino Kyoko did not remove the weapon lodged into Li Youdun¡¯s head. She effortlessly hauled him over her shoulder and entered the room behind them.
Tsukino Kyoko made it into the underground dungeon and noticed that Xia Lei was still fiddling with hisptop. She threw the body down onto the ground with a huff and came to his side. ¡°Boss, how should I dispose of his body?¡±
¡°Any method is fine. Just don¡¯t leave any traces, that¡¯s all I¡¯m asking for,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Alright then.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes had not once left theptop screen. His device was in the middle of extracting confidential information from Xiao Qian. While it was just a singr file, it would be more than enough to make the CIA panic!
It took one minute and fifty-nine seconds for the document to arrive in his system. At the two minute mark, the CIA Tenshin system had noticed the breach and began tounch an attack on Xiao Qian while pinpointing Xia Lei¡¯s location. But before it could reap the efforts it had sown, Xia Lei tapped the enter key and sent out amand. Xiao Qian self-destructed within the CIA information database.
To destroy Xiao Qian and erase traces was undoubtedly a wise choice. If he had allowed the Tenshin system to take out Xiao Qian, they would have found out about Xiao Xian¡¯s secret. It was hard to guarantee that the secrets would stop Tenshin from obtaining more truths from within. Destroying Xiao Qian at his own means would render Tenshin unable to find out anything, it wouldn¡¯t even know what they had stolen from the CIA¡¯s database. One of Xiao Qian¡¯s features includes ¡®document reading¡¯, where it would start writing its copy after essing the file. This had left behind zero traces of replication.
Xia Lei withdrew from the CIA Tenshin system and shut down hisptop.
¡°Alright, all done.¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t suppress the joy in his heart. There was so much pent up rage that he had umted from his time in Israel and the Mediterranean. Not to mention, his return was weed by an assassin trying to harm his women. He was fuming and this had served as a stress relief mechanism.
¡°Boss, what¡¯s going on? You look delighted.¡± Tsukino Kyoko gazed at Xia Lei curiously.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Let me enlighten you with it. I just got ahold of a list of spies nted by the CIA in China. Among them are important spies that had been here for tens of years. They¡¯ve already be high ranking government officials, businessmen and even soldiers. With this list, it¡¯ll be equivalent to them operating beneath our eyelids. We can capture them at any given moment. We could even use them to ry wrong information back to the CIA and fool them.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not interested in those,¡± mumbled Tsukino Kyoko. Her fingers reached for Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Xia Lei reflectively withdrew from it. Yet, he was unable to dodge her reach. Her fingers caressed the side of his face, her touch light as a wisp of a breeze.
¡°Kyoko, we...¡± Xia Lei wanted to provide more exnation about the events that transpired that fateful night on the deserted ind.
A soft smile manifested itself on Tsukino¡¯s face. ¡°There¡¯s some blood on your cheek, I removed it for you. Alright, I better head off and take care of the body.¡±
A gentle and graceful smile was all it took for Xia Lei to swallow his exnation.
¡°Are weunching the operation tonight?¡± Tsukino Kyoko picked up an axe from the counter and waved it in the air to gauge its weight.
Xia Lei thought for a brief moment. ¡°No. We need to prepare ourselves for it. Make it tomorrow night instead.¡±
¡°Alright, tomorrow night it is.¡± Tsukino Kyoko turned around and went towards Li Youdun¡¯s body.
Abruptly, Xia Lei said, ¡°Nevermind, just drag him to the back mountains and bury him there. There¡¯s no need for such treatment now that he¡¯s dead.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded obediently.
Later that night, Xia Lei left the underground chamber and returned to his room. He could already see the four women waiting for him inside. Long Bing and Liang Siyao were sitting with their guns in their hands. On the other side, Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan were knitting sweaters for their children. He really had the best of both worlds.
Chapter 1050 - Big Four Happiness
The scent of spring floated about in the air among the murky night mist. It was the smell of the Can flowers that came from the ntations that surrounded Bailu town.
Xia Lei slid out his phone and called someone.
¡°Why are you still awake at this hour?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice came ringing through the device. She was probably woken up by the call but did not mind. On the contrary, she was rather pleased by Xia Lei¡¯s unexpected call.
¡°I was just about to sleep.¡± Xia Lei went on, ¡°But I have two good news to tell you. I won¡¯t be able to sleep if I don¡¯t get it out of my system. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be intrigued.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Firstly, I found the CIA¡¯s safe house.¡±
¡°What? Quick, tell me where it is.¡±
¡°I have a request before I tell you that.¡±
¡°Well, go on. What is it?¡± urged Tang Yuyan.
¡°I want to operate with you to capture Yang Shan and Sperry. We¡¯ll move tomorrow night. Do not send a monitoring team to the location for the time being to avoid alerting them,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s not an issue. I¡¯ll be almost fully recovered tomorrow night, I¡¯m able to lead a team too.¡± Tang Yuyan impatiently pressed on, ¡°What is the next good news?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s really good. You need to brace yourself for it.¡±
¡°Oh,e on. Stop beating around the bush. You know I¡¯m an impatient woman,¡± huffed Tang Yuyan.
They were talking about official affairs but words like that seemed to hint at something else.
Xia Lei went silent. ¡°Yuyan, we...¡±
That rendered Tang Yuyan with silence, she listened intently.
¡°Nevermind, let¡¯s continue talking about business.¡± Xia Lei was absolutely reluctant to talk about rtionship matters with her. He swiftly switched the topic, ¡°I got a list from the CIA, it involves all agents that America has nted in our country.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yuyan gasped. She gushed, ¡°Is the list genuine?¡±
¡°Of course it is. Why would I joke about something like this? Some have been here for tens of years. Some of them have even achieved high governmental positions as officials or military figures. Some have even blended into the industry and became big bosses. These are all people with influence and status. How can I make light of the situation?¡±
¡°No, no. That wasn¡¯t my intention. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Tang Yuyan apologized right off the bat.
Her apology caught Xia Lei by surprise. From what he remembered about her, Tang Yuyan was someone who would never apologize. But her apology today was a small sign that things were changing.
¡°Yuyan, there¡¯s no need to be so courteous with me.¡± Xia Lei returned the topic to their current track. ¡°This list is of utmost importance to us. I¡¯ll send them to you. This is a huge contribution and it¡¯d help you stabilize your position as head of Bureau 101. It could also bring great interest to your family. Consider this as thanks from me for saving Long Bing and the others.¡±
¡°Why...?¡± Tang Yuyan was initially filled with joyful anticipation but Xia Lei¡¯s response had dimmed all the fantasies she had.
¡°Yuyan, I know you¡¯ve always been nice to me but I can¡¯t give you what you desire. We... We have no fate.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t care about fate!¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s tone wed at him with desperation and anguish. There was a breath of fury too. ¡°I could understand your rtionship with Long Bing. I can do the same for Jiang Ruyi and Liang Siyao. But was it fate that you and Fan Fan got together? Did you really love her? You got married to avoid me. Do you think I was stupid enough not to pick that up? Why are you still lying to me? Tell me, just why? You always say that you can¡¯t give me what I desire. But let me ask you this. Have you ever asked about what I wanted ever since we met? Have you?¡±
She was crying.
Xia Lei too felt awful. It was true that he had never once asked her that.
¡°I¡¯m telling you, Xia Lei. Though I am a daughter of the Tang family, I¡¯m a woman before anything else. Do I not reserve the right to fight for my own happiness and love? Do I not?¡± She sobbed and sobbed.
Xia Lei had always been afraid of women when they cry. He was even beginning to regret this call. He sighed audibly and braced himself. ¡°Yuyan, please don¡¯t cry. Get some well-deserved rest. We still need to work tomorrow night. We¡¯ll talk more about this tomorrow, okay?¡±
¡°Okay. But make sure it¡¯s just me and you. I don¡¯t want to see your four pregnant wives. With them around, I won¡¯t be able to speak a single word with you.¡±
¡°They won¡¯t be involved tomorrow, it¡¯s just me alone. Alright, I should let you off to rest. Good night.¡± Xia Lei was ready to hang up.
In that brief moment, Tang Yuyan felt the sudden surge of courage. ¡°Xia Lei, I love you. I can¡¯t live without you.¡±
¡°I...¡± Xia Lei just didn¡¯t know what to say.
Tang Yuyan fell silent and ended the call.
The deafness of the line allowed Xia Lei to sigh in relief but he could already feel the migraine threatening to erupt at its seams. It was his genuine intention topensate Tang Yuyan¡¯s contribution of saving his family with the list. Despite that, Tang Yuyan was evidently reluctant to have him repay her kindness just like that. How was this going to end? Xia Lei had no idea.
At this moment, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice rang from behind him. ¡°Boss, if you can marry four women, why can¡¯t you marry one more? You can just bed her and try to cultivate feelings over time.¡±
Xia Lei turned to look at her, speechless.
Did the female ninja even understand how that worked?
Tsukino Kyoko beamed at him then dragged arge heavy sack for the back door. In her grip was a shovel, a tool for Li Youdun¡¯s burial.
There were patrol teams that consisted of Special Force members in the back of the Peace Mansion. But obviously, it wasn¡¯t an issue for an experienced ninja to hide from their sight.
Xia Lei scrunched up his nose at Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voluptuous back before scooting away into his room.
But before the man could even enter his doorway, his attention was brought towards the main entrance. He noticed Lu Sheng heading for the main door to open it for someone. With a twitch of his left eye, the obstructing wooden door quietly faded away.
A silver Rolls-Royce Phantom was parked at the main entrance. There was a woman in a long sleek dress beside it. She was exceptionally elegant, posture straight with a cold expression on her face. Shentu Tianyin was here.
¡°What... What is she doing here?!¡± If his mind was already pulsating from his earlier call, the sight of his ex-wife had threatened to st his brain into bits.
He suddenly remembered something. He had signed the back of a nurse¡¯s uniform in the day, slipped in Shentu Tianyin¡¯s number and instructed the nurse to call her.
The rationale behind that was simple. He had intended to inform her that he was not dead through the lips of a third party. Telling her as soon as possible was just to avoid any potential awkwardness in the future. That was his sole motivation and nothing else. He couldn¡¯t make the call himself to not instil jealousy among his wives. He had only meant to preserve the peace and stability of his family unit but what he did not seeing was Shentu Tianyin paying the mansion a visit that very night.
Lu Sheng answered the door.
Shentu Tianyin greeted him politely, ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Mister Lu. I¡¯m here to meet my hus... No, uh, my ex-husband.¡± She turned a little sheepish.
Lu Sheng replied, ¡°Director Xia is...¡±
But before Lu Sheng could finish his sentence, Xia Lei urgently imitated a cuckoo¡¯s call. ¡°Cuckoo! Cuckoo...¡±
Why was there cuckooing in the dead of night?!
Was the bird bored out of their mind?
Unable to control his curiosity, he turned around.
Xia Lei frantically jumped into a nearby flower bed. The man had deliberately dyed his response so as to let Lu Sheng notice his obvious hiding.
This was an obvious hint.
Lu Sheng could no longer face his head forward. In an apologetic tone, he replied, ¡°Miss Shentu, I¡¯m sorry about this but Director Xia is out at the moment.¡±
¡°Huh? Why is he out at this hour?¡± Shentu Tianyin allowed disappointment to wash over her features. She tried to crane her neck and peek beyond the huge door in hopes of catching a glimpse of Xia Lei.
Lu Sheng apologized profusely. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t know anything about that. Director Xia most probably had invited some big authority figure for discussion but I don¡¯t know much about it.¡±
¡°What did he leave?¡±
¡°He left as soon as night fell.¡±
¡°And when will he return?¡± Shentu Tianyin wasn¡¯t eager to leave just yet.
Lu Sheng answered, ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that either but I presume it¡¯ll be tomorrow. I heard he took a ne. Miss Shentu, I advise that you visit again on another date.¡±
¡°I see, then I shall take my leave then. Sorry for the trouble. Goodbye, Mister Lu.¡± Shentu Tianyin found it difficult to mask her dismay.
¡°Farewell, Miss Shentu.¡± Lu Sheng shut the door after Shentu Tianyin had turned around to leave.
Xia Lei watched her climb into the back of her Rolls-Royce Phantom. Bo Mingmei ignited the engine and off they went for downtown Jingdu.
It was only then that Xia Lei stood up from between the flowers. He shed Lu Sheng a thumbs up.
Lu Sheng quickly approached him with a smile. ¡°Director Xia, even if you did not hint me, she wasn¡¯t going to get past these doors. Siyao had already told me that if Shentu Tianyin were to visit, I need to stop her from meeting you no matter what.¡±
¡°I¡¯m leaving now, take care.¡± Lu Sheng left him behind with that.
Take care? What could he possibly mean with that?
Xia Lei shook his head with a wry smile and continued his path to his room.
Alluring fragrances weed his presence into the room. There was Fan Fan¡¯s, there was Siyao¡¯s, there was Long Bing¡¯s and there was Ruyi¡¯s. Different scents were wafting off different women. It was distinctly different from one another, each of them a unique smell, a different type of sexiness and beauty.
They said that the passion that followed a short separation was stronger than that of newly-weds. Xia Lei was away from them for a while but they missed him extremely, both mentally and physically.
¡°Got it done?¡± Long Bing asked with a gentle curl of her lips.
Xia Lei returned a nod. ¡°Yes. Tsukino Kyoko is handling the rest. She¡¯s the expert in this, there shouldn¡¯t be any problem.¡±
¡°Oh, that¡¯s good to hear. Alright, I think it¡¯s time for us to go back to bed,¡± said Liang Siyao as she got off the bed and turned for the door.
Led by Liang Siyao, the other three women did the same. There was a teasing smirk on both Long Bing and Fan Fan¡¯s face. Jiang Ruyi, on the other hand, had lowered her face to hide from Xia Lei¡¯s gaze.
The four of them made it to the door.
Xia Lei felt dejected. ¡°I have so many things to tell you. Are you really leaving now?¡±
¡°Yeah. You can¡¯t be expecting us to sleep with you,¡± Liang Siyao grumbled.
Xia Lei sneakily fed himself the mental image of him in the sheets with four pregnantdies. Just the fantasy itself was sufficient to have his heart tremble with excitement.
Jiang Ruyi reached for the door handle but Liang Siyao was fast to stop her.
Jiang Ruyi felt panic rise to her stomach. ¡°Hey, what... what are you trying to do?¡±
¡°Hehe.¡± Liang Siyao chuckled evilly. ¡°All three of us have been through this, you¡¯re the only one who hasn¡¯t experienced it. We¡¯re essentially sisters and a family, you can¡¯t try to be a special case.¡±
¡°I...¡± Jiang Ruyi couldn¡¯t even bring herself to imagine it. Her cheeks immediately ring red as a result.
Xia Lei huffed out a lightugh. So it seemed that they had no real intention to leave. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t even have bothered to wait for him in his room. ¡°How about I massage you all? Massaging is good to ease your pregnancy diforts and my skills are pretty good. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll feel great after this.¡±
¡°N...no thank you. I just remembered I have something to do, I need to get to my room first.¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s nervousness grew tenfold, she was fully aware of what Xia Lei¡¯s massage had enticed.
Unfortunately for her, Liang Siyao, Fan Fan and Long Bing were not about to let her loose. They dragged her over to the bed and pressed her into the sheets.
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to massage her? Come on, hurry up,¡± urged Fan Fan.
Jiang Ruyi struggled but her motions were weak and more for show.
Xia Lei was itching with temptation, he walked over slowly. But he abruptly remembered something. His eyes trembled unsurely. ¡°But wait, isn¡¯t Master Liang...¡±
Liang Siyao was quick to reply. ¡°Iced his milk with some sleeping pills. He won¡¯t be checking on us any time soon.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
And the lights were turned off.
Chapter 1051 - Launching the New Material and Drone Project
Dawn lifted its curtains slowly. The warm golden rays of the morning sun shone amongst the seams of white cottony clouds, sprinkling radiant gold flecks on every corner. Everything was luxuriously golden.
The world was only capable of looking like heaven at sunrise.
An ethereal man gently removed himself from a web of entangled female limbs. He mbered off bed gently and clothed himself.
Truth to be told, Long Bing and Liang Siyao were awake when Xia Lei started to stir. It was just that they hadn¡¯t bothered to move another muscle, merely sparing him a nce before resuming their slumber. The child in their womb exhausted them and their need for resources greatly. Among it had included oxygen, which was why they constantly felt lethargic and in a need for a good nap.
Xia Lei tidied himself up and returned to the bedside. The sight before him was marvellous. Pale snowy peaks and curves had proved to give him wobbly knees and a pained waist. Nheless, it reignited the fire of his lust. Xia Lei could only smile bitterly at the scenery before reaching over for a duvet and tuck them in.
This was just like the dynamics shared between an ox and the field. Has anyone had a field that was thoroughly destroyed by the ox? No, but there were more instances of exhausted oxes who have tirelessly plowed a field.
Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi slept through everything like a log. They were not trained in both situational awareness and fighting. Their alertness could not bepared to that of Liang Siyao and Long Bing.
Xia Lei raised a mischievous palm and gave Jiang Ruyi¡¯s pale buttocks a p.
Jiang Ruyi twisted her waist slightly and mumbled drowsily, ¡°Leave me alone, go y with the others instead.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes blinked open once again, quickly directing a sleepy wink at Xia Lei. She hummed, ¡°Hey babe, wanna y with me instead?¡±
Sharp pain in the waist reminded Xia Lei that he better not dy his departure. He turned around quickly and escaped.
¡°Don¡¯t you dare think that pregnant women are easy targets. I¡¯m not afraid of you.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s giggle came ringing from behind him. Herugh was light and chimed like wonderful bells, but Xia Lei did not even dare to spare her a look.
Ten minutester, Xia Lei was out of the Peace Mansion. As he walked to the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters, the reporters that had been waiting outside the mansion began rushing over. The Special Forces members were starting to get overwhelmed. They were armed but they couldn¡¯t just grace the reporters with violence, not to mention fire a warning shot.
Exaggeratingly long camera lenses and shorter ones birthed blinding shes that clouded everyone¡¯s vision and offered shapes in the back of their eyelids. A load of questions tided over ruthlessly towards Xia Lei.
¡°Director Xia, aren¡¯t you supposed to be dead? Can you tell me what is going on?¡±
¡°Director Xia, did you fake your death to avoid assassinations from opposing forces?¡±
¡°Director Xia, can you please answer me this? Is Liang Siyao carrying your child?¡±
Xia Lei halted his footsteps and stared at thest reporter hard. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true. And what about it?¡±
¡°Uh... Sorry, Director Xia.¡± The reporter started to feel nervous.
What kind of person was Xia Lei?
Well, he was the one who carried the country¡¯s military industry with one shoulder and brought them into a great eleration. He was the national hero of China! While he wasn¡¯t a government official, his contributions exceeded that of ordinary officials. How would a measly reporter even have the courage to offend him?
¡°You better not behave yourself or I¡¯lle to give your bosses a stern talk.¡± Xia Lei hissed a cold threat.
¡°Director Xia, I¡¯m terribly sorry. I will not write anything inappropriate.¡± The reporter¡¯s heart was pulsating frantically. ¡°May I switch the question?¡±
¡°Sure. What is it?¡± Xia Lei was still staring at him.
¡°Director Xia, why did you fake your death? Everyone in the country is curious about your rationale, could you please enlighten us with it?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°I know everyone¡¯s eagerness to obtain the answer. If I continue to keep it away from you all, everyone would continue to wait outside my house for longer. I¡¯m sure some of you have a family to return to. I don¡¯t have the heart to see this go on anymore. If this goes on, your family will probablye and yell at me.¡±
That earned some lightheartedughs and apuse from the reporters. Xia Lei¡¯s words were dripping with concern that melted their hearts.
¡°Please be quiet for a moment,¡± said Xia Lei.
The noisy chattering died down to pin-drop silence.
Xia Lei¡¯s eye scanned through the sea of unfamiliar faces, including the Special Force guards that stood at the outer ring with their Gust assault rifles. He quicklypleted his survey. There was no one suspicious among the crowd this time.
¡°This was my rationale.¡± Xia Lei began, ¡°I received intel that someone was nning an assassination to take me out and put a stop to my new material and unmanned aircraft research projects. For the sake of time efficiency and a safer work environment, I decided to fake my death toy low. In that time being, I have managed toplete both projects. I¡¯m proud to announce that our country¡¯s new aviation material and new generation drone will be birthed on Children¡¯s Day, first of June. That fateful date will too be Thunder Horse¡¯s official entry into the aviation battle arena. Under my leadership, the Thunder Horse Organization is going to stir up a red tornado in the air. Here, I¡¯d like to borrow your pens to ry a message to those eager for my death. None of you can stop Thunder Horse from advancing!¡±
¡°Yeah!¡±
¡°That¡¯s right!¡±
¡°This is great! So inspiring!¡±
p p p!
A round of crisp apuse erupted.
¡°Alright. Now that I have answered it, please go home and quit waiting outside my gate. If I see you here again tomorrow morning, I¡¯m going to release the dogs on you,¡± teased Xia Lei with a smile.
The reporters guffawed at it. Sending the group of reporters on their way, Xia Lei finally made it into his office. Before he could even take a seat, he made tens of calls in a row to inform the headquarter¡¯s senior staff to attend a meeting in the multifunctional conference room. Xia Lei was back and it was time for the long prepared Alloy X project and drone project to begin officially.
In the past, menial tasks like meeting notifications were under Qing Caiyue¡¯s responsibility. Sadly, Qing Caiyue was dead. While the next person in charge in Qing Caiyue¡¯s absence was supposed to be Liang Siyao, thetter was still at home among the sheets at this hour. Who else was left to do the job if Xia Lei did not take it upon himself?
Pregnantdies owned all the rights to ck off. He was the one who caused this after all. Xia Lei was more than eager to spoil the hell out of his sister disciple.
Soon enough, all of Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s senior staff were gathered in the multifunctional conference room. The only empty seat had belonged to Li Youdun.
¡°Where did Li Youdun disappear to recently? Why is he always out of sight?¡±
¡°Yeah, I haven¡¯t seen him in a while too.¡±
¡°Did he return to his hometown?¡±
¡°Where is his hometown? I¡¯ve never heard him mention anything about it before.¡±
¡°That¡¯s unlikely. He is the person in charge of the new materialboratory. We¡¯re in the middle of the new material workshop¡¯s vital phase, how can he return home at such timing?¡±
Everyone was suddenly fixated on discussing Li Youdun¡¯s whereabouts.
Xia Lei lifted a palm to restore silence. He uttered, ¡°Li Youdun has been working in secret. Please do not make baseless assumptions. This is an important time for all of us. We have two tough battles ahead. Each of us must do our part well, do not waste your focus on things irrelevant to work.¡±
¡°Director Xia.¡± Huang Xuewen spoke, ¡°The Artificial Intelligence department is ready for any task. The new material workshop and drone workshop will implement our in-house AI technology. We¡¯ve sessfully produced our own production line robots too, which will heighten our productivity greatly.¡±
¡°Well done.¡± Xia Lei was absolutely delighted.
On a monitor before them, it was Guan Lingshan¡¯s turn to report. ¡°Director Xia, ording to your earlier arrangements, we¡¯ve cedmissions for spare parts to foundries across the country and received our orders for further refinement. Currently, the Haizhu base haspleted its production task. A batch of refined parts that weighs a total of five hundred tonnes is on its way to the Jingdu headquarters.¡±
A smile blossomed across Xia Lei¡¯s features. ¡°Amazing work, you¡¯ve done an excellent job.¡±
On another monitor was Zhou Xiaohong. ¡°Director Xia, our current progress is the same as the Haizhu base. We¡¯vepleted our part refinements and have already sent a three hundred tonne batch for the Jingdu headquarters.¡±
¡°Well done.¡± Xia Lei nodded with a smile.
¡°Director Xia.¡± A senior staff member received Xia Lei¡¯s attention. ¡°I visited Hanwu Weapons yesterday. Director Ye haspleted up to sixty per cent for the refinement of our parts. Director Ye can send us what they havepleted for now.¡±
¡°The Haizhu and Shudi base have finished their tasks earlier than expected, yet Hanwu Weapons have only progressed to about sixty percentpletion. They have the least amount of work to do too.¡± Someone remarked on the side.
Xia Lei defended, ¡°You can¡¯t me Ye Kun for this. Hanwu Weapons is a country-owned enterprise. The employees clock in on time and leave work on time, their efficiency isparatively regr. To aplish this progress is already a feat. This is our own mission and we shouldn¡¯t rely on others to get it done. Speaking of which, how is constructioning along?¡±
The senior staff responsible for that answered, ¡°Director Xia, the constructionpany haspleted the main structure. We can already move the parts in for assembly. Construction will be done once we¡¯re done assembling too.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Good. Then we will transport all the parts inside today and start both Thunder Dragon intelligentthes for refinement.¡±
At this moment, Liang Siyao made her entrance with a document folder along with a cup of wolfberry juice in her hands. She gentlyid the cup in front of Xia Lei and took the seat beside him casually. As her behind made contact with the seat, she extended an arm over to massage her sore waist.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched at the sight. ¡°Look at you. You should¡¯ve skipped work if you¡¯re in pain. Why did you even clock in? Go home and get some rest, okay?¡±
¡°How can I do that? This is a crucial period for both the new material and drone workshops. You¡¯re going to be so overwhelmed with work, I can help shoulder your burden,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Let me rub your back.¡± Xia Lei extended his arm over and rubbed at her waist. ¡°Is this the spot.¡±
¡°Move your thumb to the left, ah, lower...¡± Liang Siyao was in bliss, clearly enjoying every moment of it.
The entire room trained their wide eyes at the tant public disy of affection. Everyone had much to say but no one dared toment.
Liang Siyao was quick to snap out of it, cheeks glowing red at the realization. ¡°Hey, what are you doing? Everyone¡¯s watching. We¡¯re in the middle of a meeting.¡±
Xia Lei abruptly ced his questioning gaze to everyone else in the room. ¡°What are you still here for? You¡¯re all dismissed. Go do what you¡¯re supposed to do.¡±
A hoard of staff members immediately stood from their seats and scrambled out of the closed space with great urgency.
Now, Xia Lei and Liang Siyao were the only two left in this multifunctional conference room.
¡°This is your fault. I told you I can no longer be in that position anymore and yet you were too stubborn. Look, you sprained your own waist.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not it, you were lying down the entire time. It¡¯s not about the position, okay?!¡±
¡°Really? Why do I not remember anything about it?¡±
Xia Lei abruptly red at the door. ¡°Have you rascals heard enough?¡±
Swoosh!
Chaos erupted at the door as the eavesdropping youngsters ran for their lives.
Huang Xuewen dropped a shoe but was not brave enough to muster the courage to get it.
Chapter 1052 - Before the Operation
The Army Hospital.
¡°Miss Tang, may I know how long your menstrual cycle is?¡± A nurse questioned politely in a certain ward.
Tang Yuyan weed the odd question with a scowl. ¡°Why do you need to know?¡±
¡°Miss Tang, I¡¯m merely asking this on doctor¡¯s instruction. We need to understand more details for your sake to avoid possible side effects,¡± replied the nurse.
¡°What side effects are we talking about?¡±
¡°Well, the doctor deduced that the poisoning may or may not affect your fertility. We need to conduct a test on your ovum. I hope you can lend us your cooperation.¡± The nurse was patient.
The weight of the situation riddled Tang Yuyan with a sudden surge of anxiety. ¡°Will it really impede my fertility?¡±
The nurse shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re not certain. We¡¯re just hoping to extract samples for the test. If any problem is detected, we¡¯ll be able to subject you to relevant treatment right away.¡±
¡°Uh... My period just ended the day before. The duration was for five days,¡± answered Tang Yuyan sheepishly.
The nurse hummed. ¡°Oh, that would mean that you¡¯re ovting now. I need to extract an ovum. The process is going to be a tad bit ufortable, please bear with it.¡±
Tang Yuyan gave her a stiff nod...
Meanwhile, a middle-aged man visited Xia Lei¡¯s office.
His face was not a stranger to Xia Lei. The man was Sun Wen, the person in charge of the ¡®Gentle Operation¡¯. Sun Wen had paid him a visit right after Folsom¡¯s revtion of the AE capsule during the Boao Forum. This time he had appeared with the same thing. A chiller box.
¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯m terribly sorry.¡± Before anything, Sun Wen¡¯s apology was already profuse. ¡°I know my appearance offends you but I hope you can understand that I¡¯m merely doing my job. Please bear with me. Yeah, I promise it won¡¯t take up too much of your time.¡±
Xia Lei studied him. ¡°What samples are you looking to extract this time?¡±
¡°A few blood tests and...¡± Sun Wen shifted his gaze onto Liang Siyao, who was in the same room.
Liang Siyao was not having any of this suspense. She sneered, ¡°And what else? Come on, speak. Am I not allowed to know?¡±
Sun Wen returned her an awkward smile. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll just tell you straight. This time, I¡¯ll need a sample of Mister Xia¡¯s semen.¡±
That earned arge frown from Xia Lei.
Liang Siyao¡¯s question waspletely warranted. ¡°Why?¡±
¡°Sorry, the details of my task are confidential. I cannot reveal it to you,¡± said Sun Wen.
Liang Siyao huffed. ¡°So you¡¯re allowed to do whatever you want? Who¡¯s giving you such authority?¡±
¡°Mister Xia...¡± Sun Wen was not eager to argue with Xia Lei¡¯s wife, opting to cast pleading nces at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei cleared his throat. ¡°Siyao, it¡¯s alright.¡± He paused briefly. ¡°Mister Sun,e with me to the rxation room. I¡¯ll spare you five minutes.¡±
¡°Absolutely. Thank you, Mister Xia.¡± Sun Wen sighed in relief, immediately following Xia Lei into the mentioned room.
After the two men disappeared out of sight, Liang Siyao slid her phone out. She dialled a number and skillfully ced a palm over her lips and spoke in a hushed tone, ¡°Sister Fan Fan, a man named Sun Wen has paid us a visit and is demanding a sample of our man¡¯s semen. Can you run a background check on this person?¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s voice came ringing over the device. ¡°Sun Wen... Sure, I¡¯ll take a look. Oh right, I bought a few abalones. Let¡¯s have them for dinner, yes?¡±
¡°Abalone? Sure. That reminds me! Can you buy me a few facial masks on your way home...¡±
The two women continued to chat, moving their topic from official affairs to mundane things.
Before long, the door of the rxation room was opened to allow Sun Wen¡¯s exit. The man lowered his head and closed the door behind his back.
Liang Siyao watched him curiously and thought, ¡°So soon?¡±
At this moment, Xia Lei¡¯s face peeked out from behind the door. ¡°Siyao, could youe in and do me a favour.¡±
Liang Siyao was at a total loss for words.
Four in the afternoon.
Li Youdun had finally appeared in the Thunder Horse¡¯s materialboratory. He did not grace anyone with greetings, heading straight for his office in a beeline.
The scientist¡¯s sudden presence triggered a round of heated discussion among theboratory technicians.
¡°What is going on with Leader Li?¡±
¡°Yeah, he¡¯s been so weird recently.¡±
¡°Hey, quit gossiping and do your work. The new material workshop is about to be done with construction. We still have much to do.¡±
¡°Jeez, this is prime time for Leader Li to boost our morale. He¡¯s tantly ignoring us.¡±
¡°Well, he¡¯s the leader of our department after all.¡±
Xia Lei ended his X-ray vision in Li Youdun¡¯s office. The sounds of the discussions were only natural with the given circumstances. Plus, he wasn¡¯t here in the materialboratory to lead the technicians as Li Youdun. Xia Lei was merely here in preparation for his operation tonight.
One thing was certain. When Xia Lei was away in Israel and the Mediterranean, Yang Shan and Sperry had attempted to make contact with Li Youdun. Now that his death was debunked, the CIA must¡¯ve had its panties in a twist to figure out if Li Youdun¡¯s identity was exposed. With that, it was safe to assume that the CIA informant base would definitely try to establish contact with Li Youdun.
In the process of waiting, Xia Lei utilized the time to work on some official matters. Now that the new material and drone workshops were about to bepleted, Xia Lei¡¯s workload was immense. He did not have the time to lounge around and wait idly by.
One hourter, a white messenger pigeonnded on the branch outside the window. It noticed Li Youdun¡¯s presence and allowed itself into the office.
From the responses of the pigeon, it was obvious that the training it received was extraordinary.
Xia Lei retrieved the note from the bird. Same as before, its content was numbers. At this point, there was no need for him to even flip through L¡¯?le myst¨¦rieuse in his mind to decipher it. Tonight, eight p.m., meet at the safehouse.
Xia Lei tossed the note into the bin and stuffed another note into the pigeon¡¯s anklet. I will be there on time.
The pigeon took flight out of the window and disappeared into the sky within a blink of the eye.
Xia Lei left the office, making a call as he exited theboratory.
¡°Yuyan, it¡¯s me.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I received their message. They want me to meet them at the safe house at eight tonight.¡±
¡°What was your reply?¡± Tang Yuyan asked over the line.
¡°I told them that I would be there at eight sharp,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°Do not go. All we need is a confirmation of their location. Move with me. Do not operate alone.¡±
¡°We¡¯ll discuss this over when we meet. I¡¯ll be there right away.¡± Xia Lei ended the call hastily.
One hourter, a Cavalier XV arrived at Bureau 101¡¯spound. Xia Lei left the vehicle, immediately greeted by Tang Yuyan who was already waiting in the parking lot earlier.
¡°I¡¯m done with preparations. Field agents are already on standby in the area. The operation will begin with our presence,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei matched her pace, speaking as they walked. ¡°It¡¯s best to capture them alive. That way we¡¯ll be able to lure them out.¡±
Tang Yuyan rejected. ¡°No, that¡¯s way too risky. The area is under our control. There¡¯s no way they¡¯d escape us. Suicide requires courage and I¡¯m sure they wouldn¡¯t opt for that path.¡±
Xia Lei followed Tang Yuyan into Bureau 101¡¯s central control centre. On the wall was a gigantic screen that disyed surveince feedback from around Freedom EDM Music Bar. The bar was situated on a bustling street with lots of traffic. From the screen, it seems that the area was rather peaceful. There was nothing out of the ordinary. However, all it took was a careful look for Xia Lei to pinpoint a few suspicious figures. Evidently, those were field agents under Bureau 101.
There were tens of well-equipped armedbatants in the central control centre. Tang Bochuan was in the middle of a sand table brief, not forgetting to exin their respective tactical arrangements. Shi Boren supervised the man from the side, interjecting asionally to offer an opinion or two.
Tang Yuyan led Xia Lei over. ¡°Godfather, brother, Xia Lei is here.¡±
Tang Bochuan greeted him with a nod before resuming his sand table exercise.
Shi Boren approached them and graced Xia Lei with a straightforward remark. ¡°You sure are capable, kid. You managed to locate the CIA¡¯s Jingdu informant base and even found their safehouse. The Bureau 101 has been working on this for years.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°That¡¯s not too weird. The CIA too does not know that Bureau 101 has informant bases and safehouses in New York and Washington. Fate has its ways.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Shi Borenughed. ¡°Damn, you really are using fate to exin this. But I have to admit that you do make sense. Other than fate, you really have nothing to offer as an exnation?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Nope.¡±
Shi Boren furrowed his brows. ¡°You¡¯re lying again.¡±
Xia Lei merely smiled and offered nothing else.
Tang Bochuan¡¯s sand table exercise ended in a jiffy. Under his instruction, thebatants had left the central control centre to board their vehicle and await furthermand.
¡°Alright, I¡¯m done here.¡± Tang Bochuan grinned at them. ¡°Leader Tang, your instructions please.¡±
Tang Yuyan rolled her eyes at her sibling. ¡°Lead thebatants discreetly into the targeted area. Me and Xia Lei will be there not long after.¡±
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll be off then.¡± Tang Bochuan left, stopping briefly as his shoulder brushed against Xia Lei. He inclined over and whispered, ¡°She recovers faster when she¡¯s with you. Look at her, she doesn¡¯t even remotely look like a patient anymore. I¡¯m going to hand her over to you, please take good care of her.¡±
Xia Lei did not know of an appropriate reply, only able to return a small polite smile.
Tang Yuyan spoke again, ¡°Xia Lei, let¡¯s use my car instead of your Cavalier XV. Your car is too attention-grabbing. It¡¯s not great for an operation.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
¡°Godfather, sit back and rx here and await our reports, yeah?¡± Tang Yuyan turned to look at Shi Boren.
The older man reminded, ¡°Be careful. If they resist, just kill them off.¡±
¡°I understand.¡± Tang Yuyan turned and left.
¡°Goodbye, Boss Shi.¡± Xia Lei excused himself.
Shi Boren watched their retreating backs in silence. It was only then when they were out of sight that he sighed audibly. ¡°They make such a great pair. Why is there no future there?¡±
Minutester, three vans that carriedbatants began moving out of the Bureau 101 headquarters. Following that, Tang Yuyan ignited the engine of her unassuming Hongqi car and exited the premise for the targeted area.
¡°Are you... feeling better?¡± Xia Lei tried to diffuse the stifling silence.
¡°I¡¯m alright. What about the wound on your wrist?¡± Tang Yuyan spared Xia Lei¡¯s arm a quick look. There was no dressing around his wrist but his sleeves were obstructing further inspection. Tang Yuyan could not see the wound.
¡°Oh, it¡¯s alright. It has already formed a scar,¡± answered Xia Lei.
That concluded their conversation. The car ride was nothing but awkward.
Footnote: Author¡¯s menstrual cycle/ovtion calction ispletely wrong.
Chapter 1053 - Infiltrating the Tigers Den Alone
By seven, a Hongqi sedan had found a parking spot along the street. Right opposite them was the one and only Freedom EDM Music Bar. It seemed to be a popr spot for foreigners to rx. This was why despite its location in the heart of the bustling city, the structure of their staff was notplicated, which made things easier toprehend.
To set their safehouse in the middle of Jingdu city was a cunning move by Yang Shen.
Xia Lei watched the bar¡¯s entrance through the window. Standing in front of it were two blonde waiters with crystal blue eyes. One simple scan through their body showed that they were unarmed. He pushed his left vision further into the establishment, noticing a few drinking foreigners inside. A majority of its patrons were whites with a few ck people in the mix. Regardless of its service or customers, everything about the bar looked normal. However, Xia Lei was almost certain that there was an underground structure beneath the property. It was just a pity that he couldn¡¯t see through the ground.
Tang Yuyan picked up themunicator. ¡°Dispatch an agent to scout its interior.¡±
¡°Roger.¡± Tang Bochuan answered.
Soon enough, a casually dressed female agent went into the bar. The agent was young and was blessed with great body proportions. This was the kind of female patron that a bar would love. Gorgeousdies were mas which helped drive business. Some bars would even offer good-looking women free drinks for the night. Despite that, the young and pretty female agent was immediately stopped by the two.
Xia Lei locked his left eye to read the exchange between the greeters and the female agent.
¡°Sorry, miss. This bar is for members only. If you wish to enter, please kindly produce your membership card.¡± The blonde greeter spoke fluent Chinese, her tone polite and courteous.
The Bureau 101 female agent replied, ¡°Huh? Is that so? Can I just register for one now?¡±
¡°To register as a member now is not an issue. However, verification of documents would take time.¡±
¡°What? Verification is needed too?¡±
¡°Yeah, we¡¯re terribly sorry for the trouble.¡± The blonde greeter apologized softly.
¡°What the hell? Ugh, this ce sucks. You¡¯re not the only bar along this street anyways.¡± The female agent feigned anger, swiftly turning away to leave.
In the car, Tang Yuyan furrowed her brows. ¡°There really is something fishy about this ce. Bars rarely implement strict membership systems.¡±
Her analysis was the same as Xia Lei¡¯s judgement after a thorough study of the bar¡¯s interior.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°This ce was set in downtown Jingdu to make it look like it has arge customer flow withplex social structure. But in reality, the party has a great amount of control over the ce. The lively traffic andplexity of the environment, in turn, provide them with an excellent cover. I¡¯m guessing that Yang Shan and Sperry are beneath this bar. Surveince is to be expected inside the bar. As soon as our people move in, they¡¯ll be rmed.¡±
¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting this to be so difficult.¡± Tang Yuyan rubbed her temples. ¡°With the membership system, there¡¯s no way for our agents to enter the bar. Forcing our way in would only create a scene. Yang Shan is sly, would a safehouse he built have secret passages? If he notices us, he would certainly flee. If an intense gunfight were to break out, the mortality rate would be high.¡±
She made sense. If gunfire were exchanged and turned arge number of civilians into victims, then the operation would be a failure and the agents involved would be punished.
Xia Lei thought about it. ¡°I think I should head inside alone.¡±
¡°No way, that¡¯s too dangerous. I won¡¯t allow that.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s gaze was filled to the brim with worry.
Xia Lei offered her a rxed smile. ¡°It¡¯s just one Yang Shan and Sperry, it¡¯s not that big of a threat to my safety. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯m not trying to force myself through this, I just don¡¯t wish to harm anyone innocent involved in this operation. I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t want this to go south? This is Jingdu, there will be great consequences.¡±
Tang Yuyan gulped. ¡°But...¡±
Xia Lei interjected, ¡°There¡¯s no need to talk me out of this. This is settled. I¡¯ll disguise myself as Li Youdun to gain ess. Bring your team in after ten minutes.¡±
¡°Wait...¡± Tang Yuyan abruptly met his eyes. ¡°Li Youdun is such a familiar name. What is he to the CIA?¡±
¡°He¡¯s an assassin working for the CIA, also the one responsible for killing me. He blended into the Thunder Horse Organization for two things. To steal trade secrets on the new material and to take my life,¡± answered Xia Lei.
Li Youdun was dead. There was no longer a need for him to continue keeping this a secret. There was no point in doing that. It was only a matter of time until Bureau 101 discovers the truth and when that timees, Xia Lei would be in a sticky situation while attempting to exin himself. Hence, this was the best time toe clean.
Tang Yuyan fell silent for a moment. ¡°When I visited your office to investigate the spy incident, you tried to stop me from progressing further. You knew who exactly it was, why did you choose not to tell me?¡±
Xia Lei nodded to confirm her thoughts. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve known for some time. I have my own reasons for doing so.¡±
¡°Is he still in your grasp?¡± Tang Yuyan questioned.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°How did you think I got a hold of the CIA¡¯s list? Plus, how was I able to find out where the CIA¡¯s Jingdu informant base and safehouse was?¡±
¡°You... made a deal with him?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right. I gave him his freedom and he gave me what I wanted. I wasn¡¯t nning on doing this initially but the value of that list was enough to exchange more than his life. This is beneficial for the country. Why give up the opportunity?¡± Xia Lei stared into Tang Yuyan¡¯s eye with unwavering calmness. There was nothing but honesty and sincerity in his gaze.
Tang Yuyan reciprocated the stare. There was a few seconds of silence before she spoke again, ¡°From what you¡¯ve gained, this deal was certainly worth it. But your approach is illegal.¡±
¡°Being aw-abiding citizen will not get the job done.¡±
¡°Alright, I can help you cover this up but there will be no next time. If something simr were to happen again, you need to tell me the truth or have me handle it,¡± warned Tang Yuyan.
¡°No problem, I.¡± Xia Lei pulled out his toolbox from the backseat. He opened it and brought out his human face mask.
Five minutester, Xia Lei hadpleted his disguise and left the Hongqi car. This was not the first time he had be Li Youdun¡¯s imposter. At this rate, all preparation work was as effortless as breathing.
¡°Be careful.¡± Tang Yuyan gently reminded him through the car window.
Xia Lei nodded slightly as acknowledgement before making a beeline for the entrance of Freedom EDM Music Bar. As he strode over, he began to ponder quietly, ¡°I don¡¯t have any membership card on me. If the two greeters stop me, what should I do? Do I just head straight inside? I hope they recognize him here.¡±
The two blonde greeters were quick to register his presence. In unison, they bowed and weed him. ¡°Wee.¡±
Xia Lei went past the greeters and made it into the safehouse. From his assumptions earlier, thest one certainly was the case.
As soon as Xia Lei entered the establishment, Tang Yuyan beganying down instructions through hermunicator. ¡°Allbatants on standby. Calibrate your watches. It is now 7:45 pm, force entry at 7:55 pm. Shoot anyone who stands in your way!¡±
¡°Roger!¡± A wave of responses came ringing through the device.
Inside Freedom EDM Music Bar, Xia Lei made his way to the bar counter and ordered a ss of whisky. He took a seat and waited. After the bartender had ced his order in front of him, Xia Lei made no move to take a sip. This was not a ce that he would find safe enough to consume anything.
Two minutester, a familiar figure emerged from the back corridor of the bar. The man made his way over to Xia Lei.
It was Sperry. He immediately inched closer to Xia Lei¡¯s side and lowered his voice. ¡°Anyone tailing you?¡±
This question was basically a round-about method of asking, Have you been exposed?
Xia Lei turned to face Sperry. ¡°There are not more than twenty people in the world that are capable of tailing me. Do you think there would be one here?¡±
Sperry shrugged nonchntly. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t get so defensive. I was just checking. This is ourst stronghold. If we lose this too, it will be difficult to reform our informant base in Jingdu.¡±
¡°That¡¯s none of my concern.¡± Xia Lei snorted. ¡°You brought me here. What¡¯s the issue?¡±
¡°Well, of course, it¡¯s something very important.¡± Sperry began, ¡°Mister Williams wishes to confirm your progress. I¡¯m sure you know what that means.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed coldly. ¡°Of course I do. If my identity was exposed, I would¡¯ve probably been sitting around in a special cell within China¡¯s Intelligence Department. It will be impossible for me to reach this ce. That¡¯s enough, I don¡¯t wish to answer anything else. Bring me to Williams.¡±
¡°Follow me.¡± Sperry led him away from the bar counter and into the back corridor.
Both sides of the corridor were lined with rooms. There were storerooms and VIP rooms. However, none of it was to store alcohol.
Xia Lei quickly concluded his corridor study with the help of his X-ray vision. His heart hummed, ¡°This means that there¡¯s an underground cer. Yang Shan should be waiting inside. He must¡¯ve turned that ce into a temporary informant base.¡±
They reached the end of the corridor, which happened to be a storeroom for random appliances. Sperry moved to the one corner and rotated a filthy ashtray that was ced on one of the dusty shelves.
ck! With a soft sound, the entire storeroom began to sink.
This room was an elevator!
The moving elevator came to a halt a few momentster. Sperry turned the doorknob and exited the storeroom. Xia Lei quickly tagged behind him. Contrary to his assumption, it wasn¡¯t an alcohol cer but a multifunctional space. It had an office area and a training area, which thetter was surprisingly small. On another side of the space was an area for weapons and espionage gadgets.
Under one wall was a desk, where Yang Shan was seated. The man immediately locked gazes on Xia Lei as soon as he emerged out of the elevator, the suspicion burning in his eyes was unmistakable.
To Yang Shan¡¯s side was a wall that hung an impressive row of monitors. All of it showed the surroundings and interior of the Freedom EDM Music Bar along with body scans of the entire street. There was no doubt that the CIA had full control over this entire area!
Other than Yang Shan, there were also six CIA agents in the underground space. There was one Caucasian and five Asians.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyesnded on one of them, his face ringing a bell in his mind. This fe was Li Youdun¡¯s observer.
Typically, informant bases would have ten to fifteen agents. But with Yang Shan and Sperry included, there were not more than eight agents. Their numbers did not even reach the standard minimum. Xia Lei¡¯s heart was confused, ¡°I observed this ce. Everyone in the bar seemed normal and definitely not agents. Where are the rest? Why are they hiding?¡±
Suddenly, the thought triggered a surge of rm in Xia Lei that seemed to w for the roof.
Chapter 1054 - Revelation
No one uttered a single word in the underground space. The silence was suffocating.
Xia Lei speedily checked the side and front walls, his X-ray vision prating beyond the walls with ease. Despite that, behind the walls were concrete. There was no means for him to view past it.
Xia Lei turned to the right wall. Behind the walls were also concrete.
Following that, Xia Lei moved to look at the left wall. This was when he finally discovered a hidden space behind it. It was a tunnel that was about one hundred and fifty metres wide and stretched forward with no end in sight. Four fully-armedbatants were stationed inside the tunnel. All of which had tall, well-built bodies that were carrying the best American weapons. The pins of the M41A assault rifles were unlocked, they would be able to open fire at any given notice. The wall shielding them was nothing more than aluminium alloy, particleboard and spray paint. Surveince footages were even made avable to them through monitors on the wall.
Evidently, behind the left wall was where the emergency evacuation route of the safe house was located at.
Having discovered the hidden tunnel, Xia Lei deactivated his X-ray vision. He made his anger visible. ¡°Mister Yang, what is the meaning of this?¡±
Yang Shan returned him a smile that did not reach his eyes. ¡°Mister Li, your question does not make any sense to me. What are you referring to?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°You asked for me to meet you here. But you¡¯ve arranged six field agents here and ced armedbatants in the emergency evacuation path. That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about. What are you trying to achieve?¡±
Yang Shan and Sperry were taken aback, shocked at his words. They weren¡¯t expecting Li Youdun to be capable of such deductions through a wall.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Yang Shan was quick to regain hisposure, cackling in the process. ¡°Mister Li, I hope there is no misunderstanding between us. We have no intentions to go against you. As you know, Xia Lei is not dead. There is a high chance that our informant base has beenpromised. I¡¯ve closed the base for the time being and retreated to this venue. But who could truly guarantee that this ce is safe? That¡¯s why we¡¯re always prepared for possible battle and evacuation. Mister Li, does doing so make you feel uneasy?¡±
Xia Lei calmly responded, ¡°Why would I feel that way? I just think that you¡¯re extremely paranoid.¡±
¡°It¡¯s better to be safe than sorry.¡± Yang Shan studied Xia Lei¡¯s expression. ¡°Mister Li, we called you here to ask you a few very important questions. Mister Williams has given us the authority to do so, please kindly cooperate.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s expression betrayed nothing. ¡°No problem. You may start whenever you please.¡±
¡°Let us begin now then. Please take a seat, Mister Li.¡± Yang Shan invited him over and instructed one of the field agents, ¡°Make Mister Li some tea. He likes Chinese tea.¡±
The agent nodded obediently and left for the water cooler at a corner. The corner even had a pantry cab that housed tea leaves and mugs along with a coffee machine.
Xia Lei observed the tea-making agent from the corner of his eye. Unfortunately, the agent had his back facing him, there was no way Xia Lei could see his hand movements. But as Xia Lei prepared to activate his X-ray vision, Yang Shan abruptly demanded his attention. ¡°Mister Li, let us start.¡±
At this point, Xia Lei did not bother to check on the agent anymore. Anyhow, he would not drink from that cup. He lifted a chin and answered, ¡°Alright, what would you like to know?¡±
Yang Shan questioned, ¡°You said that you killed Xia Lei. So why is he still alive?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I have no idea. This question would be better directed at Hattori Mei. She was the one who supplied me the poison. She mentioned that this poison is transmittable through the air. Death would follow after three minutes of contact, at most five minutes. As long as the poisoning has taken effect for more than three minutes, no amount of antidote would be effective. I ced the poison in Xia Lei¡¯s office and made an excuse to leave. After they dered his death, they brought away his body. Isn¡¯t that sufficient proof that Xia Lei was dead? Why are you even asking me this question? Who the fuck do I direct this question to myself? I too wish to know whatever the fuck is behind this!¡±
¡°You really don¡¯t know?¡± Yang Shan narrowed his eyes at Xia Lei, evidently not convinced by his answer.
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Am I supposed to know?¡±
The field agent returned with a cup of steaming Biluochun tea made out of cheap tea leaves.
¡°Mister Li, please enjoy.¡±
Xia Lei did not bother to extend an arm out, merely acknowledging it nonchntly. ¡°ce it on the table.¡±
The field agent heeded his request and quietly backed off.
¡°Mister Li, there¡¯s no need to be so cautious. We just want to confirm a few things,¡± said Yang Shan, the ghost of a cold smirk atop his lips.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°It¡¯s better to be careful. I¡¯m alive because I¡¯m cautious.¡±
¡°Sometimes, there¡¯s no use being so cautious,¡± Sperry interjected from the side.
Xia Lei smiled faintly. ¡°That is true. Being cautious sometimes has not much use but that would highly depend on who that person is. There¡¯s a difference between Wolverine and the Hulk.¡±
Sperry chuckled. ¡°Hehe. I never knew that you had such great humour, Mister Li. I rarelyugh at jokes but that was pretty amusing.¡±
While the exchange felt unnecessary and unimportant on the surface, it was merely a cover for the creeping tension manifesting in the room.
¡°I don¡¯t joke often but I love telling these on the eve of a killing.¡± Xia Lei added on.
Sperry¡¯s expression immediately turned dark. ¡°Li Youdun, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?¡±
Xia Lei narrowed his eyes. ¡°I was merely reminding you to not make a mistake. Some mistakes can only be made once because it¡¯d lead to death. Some things just don¡¯t offer the luxury of a second shot.¡±
Sperry began to reach for his hip.
Yang Shan waved an arm, signalling Sperry to ease off. The man sent Xia Lei a sharp re, the unfiltered intention to rip Xia Lei from limb to limb!
¡°Mister Li, let us resume our topic.¡± Yang Shan continued, ¡°The second question. Your assassination efforts involved cing poison in Xia Lei¡¯s office and yet he was unscathed. With his intelligence and ability, did he not suspect you at all?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s answer was firm. ¡°No.¡±
¡°Why are you so sure?¡±
¡°If he had suspected me, he would¡¯ve already captured me or even killed me. Why would he leave me alive to lurk within the Thunder Horse Organization?¡±
Yang Shan and Sperry locked gazes.
Xia Lei went on, ¡°Also, he went to Israel. I think he was deliberately using my assassination to fake his death and head to Israel. While I¡¯m not sure what his goals are, we were tricked. After his return, the Hattori n made another attempt to assassinate him with the same poison. The killer was shot dead by Tang Yuyan. The killer¡¯s death had helped distract suspicions away from me. With that, I¡¯m confident to say that I have not been exposed and my identity is still currently protected.¡±
Yang Shan asked again. ¡°Third question. Do you still have a chance at obtaining the new material trade secrets from Thunder Horse?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Of course. I¡¯m still the current leader of the new material department. I still have a chance of getting a hold of the information. It is not an issue at all.¡± While speaking, Xia Lei stoke a nce at his wristwatch. It was 7:52 pm, there were three minutes left to the ambush.
A smirk took form on Yang Shan¡¯s lips. Without warning, he turned his desktop monitor around and turned on its power.
The monitor immediately disyed a call interface. In the video tab, Williams was staring into his monitor, looking at Xia Lei who sat opposite Yang Shan.
The recording of their conversation was clearly ongoing since the beginning. Yang Shan had merely switched the disy off but the monitor¡¯s camera remained on. Williams had been watching their exchange and observing Xia Lei for a while now.
Xia Lei was suddenly reminded of the CIA¡¯s Tenshin system, a highly advanced AI system. While Williams had sat back and enjoyed the entire conversation, the Tenshin system was probably hard at work running extensive analyses on the recorded footage!
Xia Lei was confident that with the superior analysis and recognition capabilities that the Tenshin system had possessed, his real identity had already been revealed!
To not notice that the external camera on the monitor was in use and that the CPU beneath the desk was running was a gigantic mishap. This was a mistake that Xia Lei would be prone to repeat. His X-ray vision had limitations when it came toputer parts. There was no way he could tell what software was running in the device.
As realization dawned upon him, Xia Lei braced himself for battle. Despite that, his external appearance remained calm. He greeted Williams. ¡°Mister Williams, how are you? I wasn¡¯t expecting you to be waiting for me in the background. You¡¯re more than wee to demand reports from me right away.¡±
Williams drawled his words. ¡°Report? Well, it¡¯s no lie that I need a report on the entire situation. However, what name were you nning to sign with on that report? Li Youdun or Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Mister Williams, what do you mean?¡± Xia Lei checked the time discreetly through the corner of his eye. One minute fifty seconds left to the ambush.
Williams chortled eerily. ¡°In Israel, you were a Native American. If we didn¡¯t have a recognition system, you would¡¯ve gone past us. The real Li Youdun must¡¯ve been dead now, aye? You disguised yourself as Li Youdun and managed to trick us. However, I wasn¡¯t expecting you to enter our safehouse alone. You are such an unpredictable opponent. Always full of surprises. I¡¯m just going to ask one question. What is it that you¡¯re after?¡±
Xia Lei answered earnestly, ¡°I want to kill everyone here.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Williams guffawed and abruptly shifted into a roar. ¡°Kill him!¡±
Xia Lei instantly shot up and stered both palms against the underside of the table. He flipped it upwards.
The office desk flew from the ground and knocked Yang Shan and the six field agents that stood behind him over.
The wide tabletop effectively veiled at least half of the field agent¡¯s attack trajectory.
Sperry urgently stepped back, reaching for his gun at the same time.
However, Xia Lei was faster. He pulled out a Viper pistol but also a small ss vial. The ss container was tossed onto the left wall as fast as it had appeared.
Throwing out the vial, Xia Lei immediately threw himself to the ground sideways. In mid-air, he fired a bullet from his Viper pistol.
Crash!
The ceiling¡¯s LEDmp was instantly reduced to shards. Off it went!
The underground space was abruptly thrown intoplete darkness.
ck!
The office desk finally collided with the floor. And the shooting ensued.
Chapter 1055 - The Underground Battle
The ceilingmp dimmed and brought the entire space into pitch-ck darkness. It was aplete visual limitation.
Xia Lei¡¯s body made contact with the cold hard ground and at that split second, he pushed his palms against it to roll his body over to the side.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
A few stray bullets hit the spot where he had fallen, generating sparks of mes against the concrete floor.
Xia Lei stomped his foot hard, sliding a few metres away to stop beside a pir. With a coordinate exertion of his waist and limb, he stealthily rolled behind it.
Bang bang bang...
The field agents continued to fire, relying on the light at the end of their barrels. It was barely sufficient to make out their surroundings. They had to rely on continuous shooting to maintain illumination. All of the CIA field agents underground were armed with pistols. At most, they would only be able to fire ten bullets. With the current firing speed of modern pistols, to clear their cartridge would only require seconds. However, that was an issue. Who in their right mind would want to exhaust their cartridge in such an environment?
The first round of bullets came to a halt after a moment. The visibility it brought was immediately robbed away by the darkness. No one knew where Xia Lei was hiding, it was as if the man had disappeared into thin air.
Suddenly, the left wall lifted upwards without warning. Four extensively armed CIA agents rushed out of the secret tunnel with tactical torches mounted on their assault rifle. Their emergence chased away the tense darkness of the environment.
¡°Kill him! Make sure you kill him!¡± Yang Shan roared in unfiltered anger. The stark difference between him and the agents around was that Yang Shan was armed with a revolver. The handheld gun was long and had arge calibre. It didn¡¯t take much to understand that this was a powerful revolver. A revolver was a popr choice among those who were well-versed with guns.
The four CIAbatants pointed their rifles at different directions, producing four clear rays of light that scanned through potential hiding spots in their vicinity.
A shadow mass was found beside a cement pir. Other than the pir¡¯s shadow, there was also...
¡°He¡¯s hiding behind the pir! ¡° Sperry abruptly pointed at the spot. ¡°Fire!¡±
Bang bang bang...
Bullet after bullet rained down like hellfire. Fiery hot bullets sted the concrete pir mercilessly, sending sparks and pieces of cement fragments around.
¡°Hahaha!¡± Yang Shanughed menacingly. ¡°Xia Lei! You can try to escape but you¡¯re not going anywhere! Come on, run!¡±
Judging from the current situation, Xia Lei was deprived of any possible escape route. As soon as he emerges from behind the pir, he would be the target of tens of guns. A bullet shower was inevitable!
¡°Surround him!¡± Sperry directed the field agents to move.
A twist of events urred. Without warning, the fourbatants slumped against the ground, losing their grips on their assault rifle. The tactical torch shone closely against the floor, immediately weakening illumination by at least two-thirds.
¡°What the hell?¡± There was now a hint of horror to Sperry¡¯s tone. ¡°Stand up, bastards! Stand up!¡±
No response came from the four fallenbatants. If there were to be any, it would merely be pre-death convulsions.
While everyone else was taken aback by the scene, Xia Lei¡¯s voice suddenly came from behind the pir. ¡°Oh, I forgot to tell you this. That ss vial earlier contains the poison Hattori Mei provided me. It is transmittable by air and I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ve inhaled a great deal of it at this point.¡±
As soon as his voice fell, one of the field agents wed at his throat. His desperate actions made it seem as if he wished to squeeze something out of his windpipe. Unfortunately, all his efforts were futile. One secondter, he fell stiffly onto the hard ground.
Another field agent held his breath and dashed for the secret tunnel. His initial spot wasparatively further from where Xia Lei broke the ss vial, hence he had managed to maintain decent health levels and agility.
However, as he was about to take the route, a hand reached out from behind that particr cement pir with a ck Viper pistol in his grip.
Bang!
A shot was fired.
The escaping agent lost control over his movements as a ping pong sized indent was created on the back of his skull.
Xia Lei retracted his arm. He had held off firing bullets earlier because the man had essentially no chance of firing. One gunshot was enough to betray his hiding spot. Thankfully, that was no longer an issue. After the fall of the fourbatants, the risk level was greatly reduced. Xia Lei was now able to fire at anyone he wishes!
Crash!
Another field agent slumped over, convulsed and died.
Sperry and Yang Shan dodged to another corner that was the furthest away from their evacuation tunnel. There was also a cement pir at their corner which could shield Xia Lei¡¯s bullets. Other than that, there was also a venttor that would help blow away the toxic gas.
Noticing that their leader and Sperry had gone into hiding, thest remaining field agents quickly ran for that corner.
Bang! Bang!
Another two bullets were fired.
There was no need for Xia Lei to stick his body out for better aim. All he had to do was reach an arm out from behind the pir and fire two shots.
Thegging two field agents sumbed for the ground.
Two smoking holes the size of ping-pong balls were produced on the back of their heads, both in the same location that brought them simr deaths. Xia Lei¡¯s killing approach was an art of its own. His aim was terrifyingly artistic!
¡®Xia Lei checked the time. One minute and thirty seconds had passed since the promised time for operationmencement. Based on Bureau 101¡¯s efficiency and speed, Tang Yuyan had most probably gained full control over the bar and upied the back area at this given moment.
Xia Lei wasn¡¯t worried that Tang Yuyan and the Bureau 101 agents would barge into this ce at this moment because there was only a slim chance that the woman would notice that the crusty ashtray atop the shelf was actually a trigger for an elevator. This was ideal. If they were to enter the battle now, their main enemy would not be the CIA agents but the lethal gas itself!
The two surviving field agents finally made it to a safe corner. But before they could even resume position behind a pir, their bodies gave out. At that instance, it was as if their bones were forcefully fractured and that their joints were chopped.
The two field agents twitched pitifully and wentpletely still.
Now, Yang Shan and Sperry were thest remaining ones of the CIA¡¯s Jingdu informant base.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye prated through the side of the concrete pir and locked itself on the other corner of the room. His Viper pistol was aimed and still, maintaining its position to shoot. Once any body part of Sperry or Yang Shan was visible, Xia Lei would give it a bullet.
¡°Mister Yang, let us talk.¡± Xia Lei screamed, ¡°How long have you worked for the CIA?¡±
¡°Go to hell!¡± Yang Shan abruptly showed his upper body and right arm from behind the pir, three bullets were produced from his revolver.
The three bullets flew from Xia Lei ferociously. The three spots Yang Shan had aimed for were centred on Xia Lei¡¯s voice!
Regardless of his marksmanship or deduction of the target, Yang Shan had disyed extraordinary mastery. The fact that he was appointed the leader of the informant base was a good indication of hispetency.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
The bullets from the revolver collided with the pir shielding Xia Lei. The corresponding points would be his left eye, right eye and jaw. If Xia Lei did not have a pir in front of him, there was no doubt that his skull would¡¯ve already been decorated with three bullets!
Despite that, not a single blink was garnered from Xia Lei. The man did not even flinch. It was at that very moment Yang Shan fired three shots that Xia Lei pushed his right index finger against his trigger.
Bang!
The Viper pistol spat a bullet and the hot bullet lodged itself deep inside Yang Shan¡¯s right wrist.
¡°Argh!¡± Yang Shan screamed in agony, frantically retracting his injured right arm.
Comparing their shooting speeds was likeparing a human to a cheetah! This was a skewedpetition. They were atpletely different levels!
¡°Sirs, why not we settle on an exchange.¡± Xia Lei showed himself, leaving his hiding spot. Yang Shan had lost his weapon andbat abilities. The only opponent left was Sperry, but this no longer posed much threat to Xia Lei.
¡°Exchange? What kind of a deal do you want?¡± Sperry¡¯s voice wavered slightly, his fear unmasked.
Xia Lei slowly approached the corner, right hand constantly at the same level as his chest in a position to shoot. ¡°What I want is simple. Tell me where Hattori Mei is and how she contacts you. Also, I need to know if the FA Organization was involved with the assassination of my family. Are they also in Jingdu? Along with their contact details. If you give me what I want, I¡¯ll spare your lives.¡±
¡°Shut up! Do you think we¡¯re stupid?¡± Sperry roared, ¡°Even if you got the information you need, you¡¯ll still kill us!¡±
Xia Lei chortled. ¡°You¡¯re giving up so soon? Why not give it a go? Why are you so sure that I wouldn¡¯t spare you? To me, you¡¯re just a civil servant to the American government. There¡¯s no bad blood between us.¡±
¡°Shut up! Fuck you!¡± Sperry hissed.
Xia Lei raised an arm and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A gunshot was sounded and the venttor ceased all activity.
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°Oh dear, I think I broke the venttor. Sorry, it was an ident, definitely a misfire. You should leave this ce soon or the toxic gases will reach you. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve seen what it does to you after inhtion...¡±
¡°Fuck! Fuck!¡± Sperry rushed out from behind the pir and began to fire at Xia Lei.
Chapter 1056 - Rushed Murder!
Bang!
A crisp gunshot rang out.
But the one bleeding wasn¡¯t Xia Lei but Sperry. The bullet that came out of the Viper pistol was nestled snugly within his right wrist, causing his gun to fall.
Sperry immediately bent over to reach for his gun. While he knew his chances were next to nothing, Sperry was ready to risk it all. He was out of choice, his survival instincts were kicking in.
Bang!
¡°Gah!¡± Sperry shouted in agony, grabbing his right knee as he doubled over. But without wasting another second, his left arm was already reaching for his weapon.
Bang!
Another bullet hit Sperry in his left wrist. His left grip was already wrapped around the handle but the sudden destruction of both his wrist and tendon had caused him to lose all strength.
Xia Lei nonchntly studied the man. ¡°If you can pick the gun up with your left leg, I can assure you that I¡¯ll stand still and allow you to shoot me.¡±
¡°Fuck! Ah!¡± Sperry¡¯s mental strength was breaking at its seams. In a desperate attempt, he really reached his left leg over for the gun.
Bang!
A bullet hit Sperry in his left knee.
Sperry cried in agony and was knocked unconscious. Even if he was spared from this battle, he was as good as dead.
Sperry was right. Even if they had told him all about Hattori Mei and the FA Organization, Xia Lei had no ns of letting them loose. There was no other reason for that. The CIA Jingdu informant base was the mastermind behind the attempted assassination on his family!
This was the sole reason that Xia Lei would kill them ten times over!
Xia Lei continued to move forward towards their pir. Just when he was merely ten steps away from them, his heart clenched sharply. It was as if the organ had abruptly ceased function, causing his mind to enter a hazy nk mode. The entire phenomenon persisted for only a moment before the mysterious energy dwelling within him was awakened. The energy rapidly seeped into his blood, cells and bones.
Pant! Xia Lei exhaled a drawled breath of contaminated gas, the feeling of death dissipating along with it.
This was the second time he felt close to death. The feeling was terrifyingly surreal that it was able to grip his being in unfiltered fear!
However, the experiences allowed him to realize how powerful the mysterious energy and super immunity truly was. It made him wonder. If his body was able to neutralize a lethal poison like this, didn¡¯t that mean he was essentially invincible against all forms of existing poisons?
The only thing he could be sure of was that his organs and brain were continuously upgrading. His advancement was improving constantly in the background!
¡°Cease fire!¡± Yang Shan eximed from behind the cement pir.
¡°Come out, I promise I won¡¯t fire,¡± said Xia Lei. Despite that, the muzzle of his Viper pistol was aimed at the pir. No matter which direction Yang Shan chose to emerge from, the man would still be ready.
It took two seconds of hesitation for Yang Shan to finally show himself. He walked from behind the pir with his left palm pressing against his injured right wrist. The hot blood was seeping through the gaps of his fingers, drop by drop it stained the ground.
Yang Shan eyed Xia Lei cautiously, filled with terror. He tried to probe, ¡°Is... Is your deal still viable?¡±
¡°Of course, I¡¯m a sincere person. There is no exception even in the face of enemies,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Put your gun down onto the floor and we¡¯ll talk,¡± uttered Yang Shan sternly.
Xia Lei threw his Viper pistol to the ground swiftly and kicked it ten metres away. He did not care that he waspletely unarmed now. Even if Yang Shan was healthy and in prime condition, it would¡¯ve been nothing to take him down. Yang Shan was handicapped and in pain, the man was no longer a valid concern.
¡°Is this better?¡± Xia Lei stared at him. ¡°I¡¯ve fulfilled your request. It is your turn to give me what I need,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Hattori Mei was in the Japanese Embassy the day before yesterday. I have no idea where she is currently,¡± answered Yang Shan.
¡°How do you keep in contact?¡±
¡°You know her style. She never leaves contact. She always came to me,¡± replied Yang Shan.
Hattori Mei was indeed an exceptionally sly woman. She would never stay a night at any hotel and would never leave any contact behind. Xia Lei understood how she functioned but he was reluctant to believe Yang Shan¡¯s words. Why? The reason was simple. This entire mission was led by America. How could there not be any form of contact between its participants?
¡°She provided the poison and the FA Organization provided the assassins. We... Actually, this whole thing has nothing to do with me,¡± said Yang Shan.
While Xia Lei was painfully aware that this was a lie. Xia Lei shot another question, unimpressed. ¡°Where are the FA members at then?¡±
¡°FA¡¯s Yan Fo is at...¡± Before he could even finish his sentence, Yang Shan palmed at his heart and swayed. His body slowly crumbled to the ground.
Xia Lei watched him silently, offering no help.
Yang Shan fell onto the floor, twitched a few times and went still.
There were antibodies inside Xia Lei¡¯s blood that could easily save Yang Shan. However, Xia Lei chose not to do so. Yang Shan was a man that offered a lie even at a dire time like this.
What was the point of saving his life?
Above them, in the Freedom EDM Music Bar.
Bang!
Tang Yuyan fired a bullet into the ceiling above and yelled at the top of her lungs. ¡°Speak! Where is the underground basement?!¡± The waiter quivered in fear.
¡°I don¡¯t know... I really don¡¯t know!¡± The waiter was close to tears.
Tang Yuyan smacked the back of her gun into the waiter¡¯s skull.
¡°Ah!¡± The waiter screeched in pain, sounding more like he was stabbed instead of getting hit. His tears, snot and even piss began flowing out of his body uncontrobly.
How could he be a CIA agent with such courage?
The waiter was reduced to tears. Meanwhile, Tang Yuyan was driven to tears by pure frustration. Xia Lei had barged into an enemy¡¯s territory alone andpletely went out of the radar. Where was he? Was he hurt? Was he in danger? These worries clouded her mind and tortured her sanity.
¡°What the hell are you still standing there for?¡± Tang Yuyan yelled through her hot tears. ¡°st off all the walls in here! I don¡¯t care if you destroy this ce, find him!¡±
The entire group of agents gulped and obeyed her instructions, cing explosives along the wall.
But as if on cue, rustling and movement were heard from the storeroom. The agents had ransacked that particr room over and over with nothing found.
Thebatants immediately ran towards it.
Tang Yuyan was the first to reach its entrance. The door of the room opened abruptly and out emerged a familiar face.
Tang Yuyan froze at the sight before quicking throwing herself against his chest. While the two were only separated for ten minutes, it felt as long as a lifetime.
All of the agents halted their actions. Some offered no emotion while some stifled their giggles. Everyone knew who Xia Lei was. He was Bureau 101¡¯s ace advisor and a fighter of extraordinarybat abilities! The agents knew exactly what the indication was behind Xia Lei¡¯s solo appearance. The implication allowed slight ease to their tension. All they needed to do now was to wait for instructions to handle the bodies. But of course, that would require their very own Leader Tang to leave Xia Lei¡¯s body and make space.
Tang Yuyan was reluctant to let go. Her arms were tight around Xia Lei¡¯s waist, her plump bosoms pinned tightly to the front of his chest. The soft mounts were ttened into literal pancakes but she did not care. What harm would a little skinship do anyway?
Xia Lei, on the other hand, wanted to flee. He was a married man. Not to mention, he had four wives and four kids on the way. Now that Tang Yuyan threw herself on him without any care in the world, how could a married man feel at ease in a situation like this?
¡°Everything is alright. I got it handled.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Those bastards are all dead...¡±
This was his attempt to have Tang Yuyan voluntarily loosen her grip. However, Tang Yuyan seemed to have not registered a single word of his. Xia Lei was now painfully aware of how soft her breasts and lower abdomen were. The odd sensation brought him someplications. As time went by, one particr part of his body began to show responses enthusiastically. This waspletely normal, inevitable even. This was a natural feature that evolution decided to grace men with. Anyone normal would produce a boner at close contact with someone as crazily gorgeous as Tang Yuyan unless they were sick or dysfunctional in the groin.
Xia Lei inhaled stealthily and utilized his ability to control his nerve endings. It was only then that his proud forming erection calmed down and repented its sins.
¡°Do you have any idea how worried I was?¡± Tang Yuyan stared at him tearfully. ¡°How am I supposed to live on if something were to happen to you?¡±
Boisterousughter was earned from the agents. They had never imagined that their normallyposed and strict Leader Tang would say something so corny. In their eyes, Tang Yuyan was undoubtedly a female tiger. But in Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, she was no different from a kitten in front of a lion.
¡°Yuyan... Please... Stop. Your underlings areughing at us,¡± said Xia Lei.
It was only then that Tang Yuyan was willing to let go of him. She turned around and yelled sternly, ¡°What the hell are you looking at? What is so funny? Go on and you¡¯ll have a goodugh back at the headquarters!¡±
The agents immediately ceasedughter.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°The CIA agents are in the underground basement but they¡¯re all dead. The storeroom was actually a functional elevator. The ashtray on top of that shelf is its trigger. There is also anotheryer above the ceiling.¡±
¡°What are you still standing for? Did you not hear it?¡± Tang Yuyan hissed, ¡°Go on, move!¡±
Arge bunch of agents rushed towards the door.
But Xia Lei quickly blocked their way. ¡°Wait, there are toxic gases underground! You can¡¯t just barge in like this. You need a hazard mask and an oxygen tank.¡±
A few immediately left the group to retrieve corresponding gears.
Tang Yuyan pulled Xia Lei¡¯s wrist. ¡°Come with me.¡±
Xia Lei was slightly taken aback. ¡°To where?¡±
A sh of dejectedness took form in the eyes of Tang Yuyan. ¡°What? Are you afraid that I¡¯ll eat you up?¡±
Xia Lei spluttered a little before falling silent
Tang Yuyan did not bother to hear an answer from Xia Lei, immediately pulling him towards the end of the corridor.
Xia Lei¡¯s urge to escape her grasp was vehement but as soon as he caught sight of the tear tracks that had yet to disappear at the corner of her eye, he could only relent.
This did not require any exnation.
If someone was so deeply in love with you to the point where they couldn¡¯t live on without you, would you be so heartless as to push them away? Could you bear to hurt them repeatedly?
Some might be able to achieve that but Xia Lei was not part of that crowd.
There was only one reason behind that.
Xia Lei was Xia Lei, after all.
Chapter 1057 - The Right Eyes Evolution!
Freedom EDM Music Bar was evacuated a while ago. Regardless of its patrons or staff, all of them were detained. Awaiting them was a strict identity interrogation. Anyone suspicious wouldn¡¯t be able to escape Bureau 101. With that being said, Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei were now the only customers of this establishment.
With a grip around Xia Lei¡¯s wrist, Tang Yuyan led them over to a dimly-lit corner. She pressed him down onto the couch and joined him.
On the ss table before the couch was a sealed bottle of untouched whiskey along with two sses. From what they could see, there was no alcohol in the sses, indicating that no one had used it prior. Perhaps the customer had ordered it but got brought away before they could even enjoy it.
Once they settled down, Tang Yuyan stared at Xia Lei intently. Her gaze was burning hot as if bearing the intention to melt Xia Lei into a puddle.
Xia Lei offered her a small smile. ¡°Yuyan, what are you trying to do?¡±
Tang Yuyan swiftly twisted the bottle cap open then emptied a small portion into the ss to wash its cavity. While the rock sses had clear indications that it was unused, the woman was reluctant to use it as it was. Before long, the deep caramel coloured whiskey was poured into the ssware. ¡°Let¡¯s have a drink. It¡¯s been so long since we¡¯ve drunk together.¡±
Xia Lei was bewildered. ¡°Yuyan, this is not the time to fool around. We¡¯re in the middle of a mission. We can¡¯t be drinking on the job.¡±
¡°You killed everyone. What else do my underlings have to do other than cleaning bodies up? Plus, I¡¯m now the leader of the bureau. I can drink so long as I permit it. Why are you so worried when I¡¯m not even bothered?¡±
Domineering and self-willed. These were things deeply rooted in the bones of the proud daughter of the Tang family that were difficult to erase.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re no longer willing to drink with me now?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice mellowed down, its gentleness filled with faint mncholy.
Xia Lei chuckled breathily. ¡°Drinking is not a problem. But could we do this some other day where we¡¯re free to drink to our heart¡¯s content?¡±
¡°You make it sound so easy.¡± Tang Yuyan frowned. ¡°Your four pregnant wives have a personal vendetta against me. Arguments are inevitable whenever Ie in contact with them. Some other day? It¡¯ll be a miracle if they¡¯d let you on an asion like this some other day.¡±
That effectively drove Xia Lei speechless. While this filled him with awkwardness, he had to admit that she had a point. His wives had an iron grip over his whereabouts, they wouldn¡¯t let any young beautiful woman get close to him, not to mention Tang Yuyan. It did not require much thinking that his expecting wives wouldn¡¯t allow him out to drink with Tang Yuyan alone.
Xia Lei decided to not reply. Instead, he brought up the filled whisky ss and toasted with Tang Yuyan. The man downed its contents in one go.
Tang Yuyan too did the same, finishing the beverage in onerge gulp. She then ced her head on his shoulders.
Xia Lei¡¯s body froze at the contact. ¡°Yuyan, that was only half a ss. That¡¯s not enough to render you tipsy.¡±
Tang Yuyan hushed him softly. ¡°Things would be better if I died from intoxication now. I can finally be free from constant despair. Do you know? Ever since you left with Fan Fan, I haven¡¯t felt a shred of happiness. I would spend most of my time trying to remember our past when things were alright. Long Bing told me to figure out what it is that I truly want. Back then, I paid no mind to her words. I¡¯ve never even spared it a single thought. But after you left, I pondered about it every single day. What exactly do I want? Lei Zi, tell me. What exactly do I want?¡±
How on earth was Xia Lei supposed to answer her? He turned away and filled their rock sses again and passed one to her. ¡°No need to ponder aboutplicated questions like this. Let us carry on drinking.¡±
Tang Yuyan abruptly hooked her arm over the arm that held Xia Lei¡¯s ss. Their tangled arms now in an odd position.
Xia Lei studied Tang Yuyan¡¯s expression oddly. The way their arms were linked was how grooms and brides would consume their ceremonial alcohol on the night of consummation. If they drank in such a manner, what would he be to her and what would she be to him?
¡°Didn¡¯t you say that we should carry on drinking? Come on, let¡¯s continue,¡± urged Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei awkwardly stated, ¡°Uh... This isn¡¯t right. How are we supposed to drink like this?¡±
Saying nothing else, Tang Yuyan tipped her ss and chugged it clean. Following that, she inched closer to his body and forced him to empty his ss with a tip.
p p p...
Two passing Bureau 101 field agents that witnessed the scene coincidentally began showering them with apuse.
¡°Leader Tang, I¡¯m so happy for you! When will you and Xia Lei be getting married?¡± One of the field agents asked with a bright smile.
The other one mirrored hisrade. ¡°Leader Tang, please remember to invite us to your banquet!¡±
Weirdly, Tang Yuyan did not reprimand them. Her cheeks were flushed red instead.
Xia Lei wanted to die. ¡°Quit bullshitting, it¡¯s not what you think.¡±
¡°Advisor Xia, you¡¯ve already consumed your cross-cupped wine. You can¡¯t hide it from us.¡±
¡°Yeah, we¡¯re bound to attend your banquet. There¡¯s no running away.¡±
The two agents continued to tease Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei decided he had enough and fixed the agents with a hard re. ¡°Off you go. Go do your work properly. Quit cking off already.¡±
The field agents snickered and left. The fact that Tang Yuyan was almost Xia Lei¡¯s fiancee was no secret to the bureau. Which was why they had used it to appease their leader.
¡°Lei Zi, I know I have the temperament of a spoiled brat and you don¡¯t like that. I¡¯m eager to change for your sake.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was meek and soft.
Xia Lei was already at his limit. ¡°Look, I need to go home now. We¡¯ll... We¡¯ll drink again next time.¡±
Her arm around Xia Lei¡¯s elbow slumped wordlessly, all energy leaving her being in that brief second. Moistness began to cloud her eyes.
Xia Lei could only sigh. He toughened his heart, stood and took his leave. If he were to stay, he couldn¡¯t guarantee that nothing would happen. If they continued to drink and Xia Lei gave in to her desperate pleas, the Peace Mansion would have one more new female owner. This was her strategy, Xia Lei knew it well. Tang Yuyan seemed to have finally figured out what she truly desired. She had mustered out the courage to offer change but Xia Lei did not dare to ept it. As soon as he was reminded about the Tang family, he did not dare to do anything else to her.
Tang Yuyan watched him leave with a longing gaze. Her lips twitched. She so desperately wished to stop him from leaving but failed to produce a single word.
Xia Lei turned around abruptly after a few steps. ¡°Yuyan, you helped save Ah Bing and the rest. The safety of my wives and child are all thanks to you. I would like to invite you to my ce for a meal. I¡¯ll be your personal cook and pass you the item too. Certainly, that would be a treat, will you be willing toe?¡±
The item mentioned was the list of nted Chinese CIA spies stolen from the database with Xiao Qian¡¯s help.
That earned a smile from Tang Yuyan. ¡°Of course. But when are you nning to cook for me? I need to prepare myself for it.¡±
Xia Lei paused and thought. ¡°How about tomorrow night? Take it as a celebration for your sess.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be there on time.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s smile grew sweeter.
Truthfully speaking, Xia Lei was never a hard one to handle. In the past, the four women were strong enemies that gave no chance for Tang Yuyan to attack. But now, things were different. She had rescued eight lives. How could they still treat her with hostility?
This may be a turning point. A turning point towards happiness.
Xia Lei left the bar and weed the night breeze. It was cold andfortable, blowing away his troubles.
¡°Even if Yuyan and I don¡¯t end up as husband and wife, we could still be friends. I really hope that the women at home can ept her as a friend. After all, Yuyan was the one who saved their lives at the cost of her own...¡± Xia Lei thought to himself.
Despite that, it was obvious that he didn¡¯t know what Tang Yuyan thought or had in mind.
This was a good illustration of the differences between man and woman.
At this moment, a van abruptly turned into the street from the corner on the right.
The street was already blocked by the Bureau 101 agents and police forces assisting the operation. As soon as the van emerged, the policemen were already approaching it, ready to stop it for relevant questioning.
However, the van showed no signs of halting. It decided to speed up instead.
All of this was actually images captured through the corner of Xia Lei¡¯s right eye. He was already rmed by the vehicles sudden presence and as he habitually attempted to look into the situation with his left eye!
Before he could even adjust his left view, his right eye began to twitch involuntarily. What followed after that was as if his right eye cast a huge forward, quickly locking his focus on the van. In that split second, his mind was fed with an overwhelming among of information.
A Baojun van, 4750mm in length, 1735 mm in height, 785mm in width, 2750mm in wheelbase... Current tire pressure is 165, a tad bit on the lower side, transporting heavy loads that were preliminarily estimated as 3 tonnes... The driver is 43 years old, male, Mexican, weight 90 kg, height 185 cm...
Xia Lei felt his jaw ck.
His right eye had evolved and it had offered such outstanding abilities that had exceeded all of his expectations!
While his left eye had allowed him to see through things along with microscopic and macroscopic vision, his right eye had provided him with analysis, calctions and scanning abilities!
This day had arrivedte and too abruptly!
Xia Lei had never once thought that his right eye would receive any sort of abilities. But the surge of mysterious energy would act as it pleased, giving no warning or sign!
The policemen yelled for the driver to stop. One of them even reached for their holster as a warning. Despite that, the driver of the Baojun was unfazed. He eximed in Spanish, ¡°Move away! I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying! I need to get to the hospital. My child is ill! Move away! Move away!¡±
He screamed and continued driving his van over.
Xia Lei turned around and faced the van. At that very moment, his left and right eye were activated at the same time. His left eye brought him past theyers of material and the right projecting ridiculously detailed data into his mind.
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye found a huge load of explosives hidden within the van. His right eye supplied him with information. He was currently 539 m 19 cm away from the moving van going at 30 miles per hour. The van would reach him within 10 seconds. The American produced explosives in the vehicle were 500 kg heavy, the explosion radius would be 50 metres. The shrapnel and steel balls would have a killing range of about 1000 metres and the initial estimated death toll would be 270...
In the past, Xia Lei would only be able to see what was hidden inside the vehicle. It was essentially impossible for him to estimate the explosion range and death tolls along with data of the usible aftermath. But now, with his newly-acquired right analysis and deduction ability, the coboration between his eyes and brain was now seamless. He was now stronger and much moreplete as a whole!
Xia Lei instinctively reached for his gun, not willing to offer the driver another second extra.
Chapter 1058 - Raunchy Combination
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots were fired within a second. The three bullets flew through the windshield at terrifying uracy and lodged themselves into the skull of the Mexican man. Brain fluids and fresh blood were immediately sttered across the cracked windshield. Losing its driver, the van went out of control, crashing into the curb and into one of the police cars. It was a blessing that the van was travelling slowly. The slowed speed allowed the vehicle to stop right after impact. If the driver was driving at a faster speed, there was a high chance that the vehement impact would detonate the explosives inside.
Watching the van stop, Xia Lei heaved a sigh of relief. His mind fixated on reying snippets of events that took ce when he fired his pistol.
When he raised his pistol, his right eye informed him with a long string of numbers and some text. The target distance is 312 m 48 cm, exceeding the current shooting range of 162 m. The wind speed is 3 m/s, the wind direction from the northwest. The target distance is 289 meters and 79 cm, it is beyond the shooting range... The muzzle is shifted up by 1.1 cm, 3 shots, the interval is 0.33 seconds...
This was the mental process that took ce when shooting the van¡¯s driver.
When that happened, his right eye was merely offering an image while his brain had supplied him with extensive data and information. It was thanks to the cooperation between his right eye and brain that he was able to ess those valuable insights. Simply, the right eye was a material feeder while the brain had refined the material into something useful.
Compared to his X-ray vision, the right eye¡¯s ability was more towards an extension of his mind¡¯s power. While the manifestation of his abilities felt abrupt, it was actually inevitable. This was bound to happen. His mind was ever-evolving and the mineral-like substances in his brain had also been increasing subtly. With that context, it was not surprising that his right eye had suddenly obtained such power out of the blue.
Confused, Xia Lei¡¯s heart was quivering with emotions.
If this had happened in the past, there was no way Xia Lei would fire a bullet without hesitation. The Viper pistol only had a shooting effective range of a hundred and fifty meters. To shoot a target one time further from this range would nullify his uracy. But his evolved right eye would be a game-changer. His right eye had made the unthinkable possible!
¡°Why today specifically?¡± Xia Lei scratched the back of his head. ¡°Was this triggered by my two near-death experiences? Or was it because my body is constantly evolving and today so happened to be the day it decided to show it? Now that my right eye has evolved, what¡¯s next? What is the result of my final evolved form?¡±
The heap of questions troubled Xia Lei.
A few policemen rushed over to Xia Lei, with their guns trained on Xia Lei. The policeman eximed, ¡°Put your weapon down or I¡¯ll shoot!¡±
That brought Xia Lei back to reality. These policemen did not know who he was. It was only natural for them to have such responses. But before Xia Lei could even toss the Viper pistol onto the ground, a few agents screamed into their direction.
¡°Put your guns down! He is one of us!¡± A higher ranking agent jeered fiercely.
It was only then the policemen eased off and lowered their guns frantically.
Tang Yuyan dashed out of the bar and stared at the van two hundred metres away in sheer shock. She stared at it, then stared at Xia Lei. Her surprise rendered her speechless. Tang Yuyan was no stranger to the Viper pistol¡¯s properties. Its power was second only to the world-famous Desert Eagle. But despite that, even with Tang Yuyan¡¯s proud marksmanship, there was no way she could hit a target at three hundred metres away with the Viper pistol.
An agent went over and checked the van¡¯s condition. His voice quickly ryed over through themunicator. He yelped, ¡°Oh my god! A clean headshot! Advisor Xia is insane!¡±
Tang Yuyan stared at the scene nkly, not knowing what to say. In her eyes, Xia Lei was already a higher entity. But it seemed that this man was constantly climbing higher in that department!
Xia Lei kept his Viper pistol away. ¡°Yuyan, the van is carrying a lot of explosives. The driver might be part of the FA Organization. Call the bomb disposal unit over.¡±
Tang Yuyan was finally brought out of her trance. She nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll have someone handle this. But you...¡±
Xia Lei knew what she was trying to ask. He offered her a smile. ¡°I have done some alterations to my pistol. I¡¯m going to head back now. Pleasee earlier tomorrow, I¡¯ll be waiting for you with your meal.¡±
¡°I will be there,¡± answered Tang Yuyan softly as she watched him leave.
Xia Lei walked along the street slowly. After about fifty metres, he whipped his head around. Tang Yuyan was still standing there on the empty street watching him. His right eye twitched slightly and took in her image. Following that was an onught of information. Height 175 cm, weight 56.39 kg. Bust 82 cm, waist 58 cm, hip 88 cm, leg length 108 cm...
One secondter, his left eye twitched again and awakened his X-ray vision. All he could see now was an unclothed Tang Yuyan, a pure unadulterated pristine scenery. His brain was again filled with the same information. Height 175 cm, weight 56.39 kg. Bust 82 cm, waist 58 cm, hip 88 cm, leg length 108 cm...
Weirdly, once his eyes hadnded on a certain spot on Tang Yuyan¡¯s body, his mind had supplied him a string of numbers correspondingly. 3678 strands of pubic hair...
The appearance of those mind-breaking numbers caused him to turn around frantically. There was no way he could continue staring at Tang Yuyan. Trying to ease this awkwardness, Xia Lei could only force a curl of the edge of his lips. ¡°What the fuck? That¡¯s all it takes to get a clear number?¡±
He was even silently grateful that his gaze did not linger long. Perhaps another second would furtherplicate things. Thebination of his left and right eye had great potential to be raunchy.
Meanwhile, though Xia Lei was already out of sight, Tang Yuyan remained her nk gaze into the direction where the man had left. She thought to herself, ¡°If what Folsom said was true, he would be a man that has far surpassed that of current human evolution. To what extent will his evolution continue? As a woman, being paired with a man like this would certainly bring no regrets. Would the children inside Fan Fan, Long Bing, Jiang Ruyi and Liang Siyao share some parts of his ability? If that is the case, his offsprings would certainly bring the Xia family into unimaginable heights. Children, huh? I want to have one that has Xia Lei¡¯s ability too...¡±
She was suddenly reminded of something, causing her to fumble for her phone. ¡°Hello, Doctor Huang? I would like to ask... Yeah, that sample. Is everything alright? ...Oh, that¡¯s great news! I¡¯m so d. Thank you.¡±
She drawled a sigh as soon as the call ended, a smile forming on her lips.
Half an hourter, a taxi emerged onto the street where the Japanese Embassy was located.
¡°Brother, we¡¯re here at the Japanese Embassy,¡± announced the taxi driver.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Can you wait here? I won¡¯t be going down, I¡¯ll book your service for the entire day.¡±
¡°Sure, that¡¯s no problem. We can stay here for as long as you like.¡± The taxi driver was absolutely delighted.
Xia Lei rolled down the back windows and watched the embassy on the opposite side of the road. Yang Shan had mentioned that Hattori Mei was here the day before yesterday. While Xia Lei remained sceptical over his words, Xia Lei wanted to see it for himself and confirm its legitimacy. If Hattori Mei was here as told, Xia Lei would need tounch an operation!
His left and right eye went into perfect teamwork, exposing the interior of the Japanese Embassy to a state of transparency.
This was the first time he had conducted abined investigation over a building in this whole new mode.
In the past, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t able to prate through cement or rock structures with his left eye. This was new. Things were way different now, the thick concrete wall was prated without any problem. The exact thickness of the wall was supplied to the front of his mind. Everything his right eye came in contact with had appeared alongside urate data and relevant information. Even the details of the bulbs were not spared! No matter who it was, their height, weight, muscle strength and so on would manifest at lightning speed in his mind. This ability was excruciatingly detailed!
It only took him five minutes to scan a three-storey buildingpletely.
Hattori Mei was not inside the Japanese Embassy.
But as Xia Lei was about to call it quits, someone in the third-floor office seized the phone abruptly.
Xia Lei had a gut feeling, quickly focusing his sight on the target¡¯s lips.
The middle-aged man spoke into the phone. ¡°Hello? Yes, I have just received reports from our informant. It was a failure, Xia Lei had shot the FA gueri fighter before he had a chance to detonate the bomb. Sorry, I don¡¯t have an exnation for that. Xia Lei was using a pistol but the target was three hundred meters away. Miss Hattori, please do note to China for the time being. The situation is very turbulent here. Alright, I got it. I¡¯ll see to it myself...¡±
Coincidentally, this phone call was made to a certain Hattori Mei.
Xia Lei peeled his attention off the middle-aged man as soon as the exchange ended. It was sheer luck that this investigation did not leave him empty-handed, Xia Lei had at least gotten something useful out of it. Hattori Mei had already left China. This operation was led by the CIA¡¯s Jingdu informant base with involvement of Japanese agents.
¡°Hattori Mei, after I ease my work I¡¯ll be visiting soon for sweet revenge. It won¡¯t make a difference even if you were to be in America or Japan.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s re was icy cold.
The taxi finally left the street and made arge detour before it stopped again nearby Bureau 101. Xia Lei paid the driver handsomely and left the premise again with Long Bing¡¯s Knight XV for the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters.
Chapter 1059 - Family Meeting
Darkness was once again brought about and the Peace Mansion was once again brightly lit. The warmth of the illumination brought tranquillity to the household. Typically, the owners of this mansion would¡¯ve been asleep but the women of the family were adamant on waiting for their husband¡¯s return. They would not be retiring to bed before their husband was home.
But this wait wasn¡¯t spent idly by. While they continued to pace around the room, a heated family meeting was ongoing.
¡°I¡¯m sure everyone is clear about the current situation.¡± Liang Siyao brought up the topic. ¡°You¡¯re all aware of Tang Yuyan¡¯s feelings, right? If she doesn¡¯t mind her position in the family and insists on joining us, how would you react?
¡°I wouldn¡¯t agree with it, of course.¡± Fan Fan huffed. ¡°I know the Tang family and I understand the women from that n. Tang Yuyan is the daughter of an ancient n. She¡¯s destined to serve and seek ways to benefit the family till death. If a woman like that joined our family, how are we supposed to get along with her if she¡¯s so stuck up on seeking benefits for the Tang family constantly?¡±
It was Jiang Ruyi¡¯s turn to speak. ¡°I don¡¯t wish for that to happen too. Things would end up like a television drama. The women would sh out of jealousy and a mind game would begin. They¡¯d harm one another for as long as they lived. How are we supposed to live like that?
Long Bing merely listened to them, not expressing any opinion. Her face was calm, seemingly uninterested in the current topic.
Liang Siyao nudged Long Bing¡¯s waist with an elbow. ¡°Ah Bing, I understand that you¡¯re not the most talkative person but you must say something this time. We¡¯re a family. There¡¯s no way you wouldn¡¯t have an opinion?¡±
It was only then that Long Bing responded. ¡°I¡¯m fine with anything. You guys are free to decide.¡±
¡°Oh,e on. Tang Yuyan kicked you out of Bureau 101 for crying out loud. Are you not fazed by the idea at all?¡± said Fan Fan.
Long Bing mustered a smile. ¡°My life is alright. Plus, no matter what wrong she had done, she was the one who saved us and our child. This alone is enough to make up for all her past mistakes.¡±
¡°This happened all because of that. True, she did save us and our child. But what if she uses this incident as leverage against us and demands a negotiation?¡± Liang Siyao frowned.
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s brows were furrowed as well. ¡°This is such a messy situation. If she manages to convince our husband and use that as leverage, it really will be difficult for us to reject her.¡±
¡°Alright, a show of hands please.¡± Fan Fan instructed, ¡°Those who do not wish for Tang Yuyan to join this family, please raise your hands.¡± She was the first to raise a palm.
Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi mirrored her actions.
Long Bing was stunned. Under the tensed gazes of the other three women, she too slowly raised a palm.
¡°Mm, very well. Good to know that everyone¡¯s on the same page.¡± Liang Siyao was pleased with the oue.
Suddenly, the room¡¯s door was pushed open as Xia Lei appeared with a smile. ¡°Are you in the middle of a secret discussion? What¡¯s everyone on the same page for?¡±
¡°Hubby, you¡¯re back. We were just discussing Tang Yuyan,¡± answered Fan Fan straightforwardly.
Liang Siyao exined, ¡°Hubby, we havee to a decision. Tang Yuyan must not join our family. It is true that she has saved us, that is a fact that we won¡¯t deny. However, we will not let her into this family unit just because of that. We will repay her kindness in other ways.¡±
Jiang Ruyi supported, ¡°That¡¯s right, hubby. If Tang Yuyan is wedded into the family, our family would be like thoseplicated rich families in dramas. Us women would be wrapped up in never-ending fights and our children would w at each other¡¯s throat for inheritance in the future.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Are you sure it would be that awful?¡± Hended his gaze on Long Bing. ¡°Ah Bing, why are you so quiet?¡±
Long Bing mumbled, ¡°I... I share their sentiments.¡±
Liang Siyao, Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi had shared the same stand on the matter. Even if Long Bing was not bothered by it, she too needed to be on their good side. Or else, their harmonized dynamics would face a rift.
¡°Hubby, this is a uniform decision. When you are together with her, please be more mindful. Don¡¯t you dare make a mistake,¡± warned Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei was fully aware of what mistake she was referring to. He had to admit he was rendered a little speechless by the direct warning. ¡°What do you see me as? Do I look like someone prone to mistakes?¡±
¡°Of course you are. Do you dare to deny that?¡± Liang Siyao curled a brow.
Ring... Ring...
In all of a sudden, Xia Lei¡¯s phone started to ring. He slid the device out and immediately felt like exploding. In the midst of a heated debate about Tang Yuyan and his helplessness, Shentu Tianyin was trying to contact him.
Liang Siyao had always been blessed with a sharp eye. It took her only a second to notice the caller ID disyed on his screen. She pouted, ¡°See, even your ex-wife ising for you. You¡¯re so popr withdies. Everyone just can¡¯t keep their hands off you.¡±
Burning gazes were focused on Xia Lei.
The man hesitated briefly but declined Shentu Tianyin¡¯s call eventually. He said, ¡°Is this handling method alright?¡±
Smiles were immediately elicited from his wives. This was the first time they had seen him decline Shentu Tianyin¡¯s call right off the bat. While the gesture may seem insignificant, this was a good start.
¡°What about Tang Yuyan? Hubby, I need you to announce your standing tonight,¡± said Liang Siyao.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I have never once thought of bringing her into the family. I only see her as a friend now. Regarding the incident, there is no need for four of you to repay her kindness. I¡¯ll see to that myself.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t be thinking of repaying her with your body, right?¡± Liang Siyao stared at him.
Xia Lei swung a palm lightly against her ass. ¡°You¡¯re such a rascal. I¡¯m not going to repay her kindness like that. I have gotten a list of CIA agents nted in China. I will give that to her. I¡¯m sure it will be a great boost to her career, it might even bring the Tang family some political assets.¡±
¡°Ah, that¡¯s splendid.¡± Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°You have saved her life and she has saved ours. Now, you¡¯re even entrusting such an important list to her.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Jiang Ruyi was absolutely delighted.
¡°I¡¯m nning to invite Tang Yuyan over to our ce for dinner tomorrow to pass her the list and settle this once and for all. Is everyone okay with that?¡± questioned Xia Lei cautiously.
¡°Sure, I¡¯ve got no issues with that,¡± Liang Siyao nodded.
¡°I¡¯m alright with that too. I¡¯ll cook dinner tomorrow,¡± offered Jiang Ruyi.
¡°Me too. It¡¯s best to settle this as soon as possible. That way, we can be at peace throughout our pregnancy,¡± agreed Fan Fan.
There was a twitch to Long Bing¡¯s lip before her dyed answer came. ¡°I¡¯ve got no problem with it either.¡±
Theck of resistance put a smile on Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Then that¡¯s settled. Ruyi, there¡¯s no need for you to work a sweat in the kitchen. I¡¯ll make tomorrow¡¯s dinner. You four shall entertain our guest until dinner is served.¡±
Jiang Ruyi initially wanted to insist on having her work in the kitchen but Liang Siyao halted her with a sneaky nudge to her shin. ¡°It¡¯s better for us to entertain Tang Yuyan than to have our husband do it instead. Let him be in the kitchen. Perhaps we might even chase her out before the table is set.¡±
Jiang Ruyi giggled.
With a slight twitch, Xia Lei¡¯s left and right eyes entered its new X-ray vision mode instantly. Here, his four wives bore no secrets. Jing Ruyi¡¯s hips, Liang Siyao¡¯s legs, Fan Fan¡¯s chest and Long Bing¡¯s waist. All sorts of data were fed into his brain, bringing him a whole new sensation.
It wasn¡¯t appropriate to use this on other women, but it certainly wasn¡¯t a crime to apply it onto his own wives. He enjoyed the view to his heart¡¯s content without a hint of awkwardness.
But this certainly had its own side effects.
¡°My dears, should we head to bed? It¡¯s gettingte,¡± suggested Xia Lei.
His words were immediately responded with eye rolls.
¡°We really have spoilt you rotten. You always demand us four to sleep with you. Can¡¯t you just sleep with us one on one?¡± Liang Siyao massaged her temples.
Xia Lei had no ounce of shame. ¡°It¡¯s boring to just sleep like that. It¡¯s much livelier to sleep together.¡±
¡°I invented a new massage technique today, you¡¯re in luck to try it out. Come on, let¡¯s get snuggled up in bed,¡± urged Xia Lei eagerly.
¡°Wow, now you¡¯re not even bothering to switch up your excuses.¡± Fan Fan grumbled below her breath.
To that, Xia Lei had nothing to retort.
No matter how they stalled, the oue was always the same. How could the four pregnant women decline an alluring prompt for another eventful night?
They fooled around extensively. Xia Lei had only managed to catch a wink of rest before mbering out to the study.
There, he booted hisptop and checked the ount statuses of the four female knights.
Xia Lei could not afford to care about the share market recently. It was when he logged in to the interface that he realized Honick had sold all Vientiane Group shares and bought shares ofpanies like Apple and Microsoft. While it was undeniable that those stocks were valuable and offered more security, their profits were pitifully measly. Last time, the total assets of the ount had totalled to 2.188 billion USD. Now, it has increased slightly to 2.21 billion USD. Throughout this period, Honick had only managed to help him earn more than twenty million USD.
Usually, Honick¡¯s profitability was impressive. But this was not enough to please Xia Lei. If he himself had manipted the ounts, it would¡¯ve been closer to three billion USD! Despite that, one of his shorings was hisck of time. Time was now his biggest enemy.
Taking in the information, Xia Lei went to check on the shares of the Vientiane Group. He gaped at the screen. The stock prices of Vientiane Group had fallen by thirty per cent. At this rate, Vientiane Group was at risk of a dangerous capital disconnection.
Xia Lei pondered internally, ¡°Was Tianyin trying to reach out to me about this? Was she asking for my help?¡±
He quickly checked his phone. Just before he could call Shentu Tianyin, Xia Lei quickly abandoned the thought. If his wives were unable to ept a saviour, how would they possibly ept Shentu Tianyin? Plus, Shentu Tianyin had left a deep scar. He himself was also unable to move past himself.
¡°Ah, fuck it. I¡¯ll just help her from the shadows.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart settled on a decision. He then began to sell superpany stocks from his ounts and bought Vientiane Group shares across the board.
His personal work was different from Honick.
It was a good thing to earn profits while helping out an ex-wife.
Meanwhile, in the headquarters of the Vientiane Group.
¡°Chairman, someone is buying all of our shares! Our shares have stopped falling!¡± Vientiane Group¡¯s trader screeched excitedly.
¡°Oh my god! It stopped falling and it¡¯s even rising now!¡± Cheers erupted among the employees of the Capital Operation Department.
¡°This is so weird! Who would buy our shares at such timing? That person is dealing with tens of millions!¡± Someone remarked curiously.
¡°I have no idea. But damn, he really saved us.¡± Another person sighed in relief.
Shentu Tianyin watched the disyed trend chart inplete silence. She remained rooted to her spot, not moving a single inch. As the realization hit her, she had already sent a text message a minuteter. Thank you so much, my ex-husband.
Chapter 1060 - The Promise of Two Years
Jingdu, in the main garden of the Tang mansion.
Completing a round of fist techniques, Tang Yunhai pulled back his palms and stood upright. His posture made him look like an old pine tree, vigorous and powerful.
Zhang Yumei went forward and passed him a towel with a smile. ¡°Father, your agility makes you look so young. Mayhaps you might even outmatch me and Tianlong.¡±
¡°Oh you, you really do know how to sweet talk an old fe. I know my body and I am ageing fast. A set of drills is enough to make me pant, I¡¯m not as good as before.¡± Tang Yunhai sighed audibly, his gazending on Tang Yuyan who was in a daze at one corner.
Tang Yuyan was seated atop a bench, palms resting against his cheek and expressions empty.
No one knew what was going through her mind.
Zhang Yumei turned to look at her. ¡°Yuyan, don¡¯t you have something to tell your grandpa? Your grandpa is done with his training, you may speak now.¡±
It was only then that Tang Yuyan gained some focus back. She stood up and approached them. ¡°Grandpa, I¡¯ll be heading over to Xia Lei¡¯s ce for dinner tonight.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going over for dinner?¡± Tang Yunhai expression shifted into something dark. ¡°What for? Did he invite you over personally?¡±
Tang Yuyan replied, ¡°Yeah, he invited me. It¡¯s just a simple dinner, nothing else.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not going,¡± came Tang Yunhai¡¯s stern reply.
¡°Why?¡± Tang Yuyan too wasn¡¯t about to settle for a simple rejection.
¡°Because he is a married man! Because he brought the Tang family embarrassment! Aren¡¯t those reasons sufficient to deter you from going over?!¡± Tang Yunhai was angered.
Her lips twitched, itching to defend the man. However, Tang Yuyan didn¡¯t dare to utter anything else under the burning gaze of her grandfather. She swallowed herebacks. Tang Yunhai had used twenty years to establish his authority within Tang Yuyan¡¯s subconsciousness. She¡¯d feel deep-rooted fear manifest whenever her grandfather¡¯s anger was detectable. All she could do was submit.
Zhang Yumei spoke, ¡°Yuyan, your grandfather is only stopping you for your sake. Think about how Xia Lei had treated you in the past. Are you sure you don¡¯t mind it at all? He is already a man with four women. Yet, he is unsatisfied and still making approaches to you. I deeply regret misjudging his character from the beginning.¡±
Tang Yuyan could only muster out a bitter smile. ¡°Mother, he¡¯s a man that could have any woman he desires. The fact that someone of Fan Fan¡¯s calibre is willing to share him with other women exins a lot of things. He¡¯s not exactly trying to woo me, it¡¯s me that...¡±
¡°Enough!¡± Tang Yunhai hissed fiercely. ¡°Do not speak of things like that. Do you want him to degrade the Tang n further?!¡±
Tang Yuyan avoided Tang Yunhai¡¯s seething eyes.
Zhang Yumei continued to meddle softly, ¡°Yuyan, I know you like him. Xia Lei does have likeable qualities but he is married. His wives are pregnant too. Please give up on him. There are many excellent men in this world, he is not the only one. You need to look further. I¡¯ll introduce you to some wonderful matches in a bit, okay? I find Officer Wang¡¯s son decent, he just got back from America...¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough of this! I don¡¯t want to listen anymore.¡± Tang Yuyan abruptly lost control over her emotions. ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone else that¡¯s not Xia Lei!¡±
¡°You...¡± Zhang Yumei was never as imposing as Tang Yunhai. The woman sent a pleading nce for help at Tang Yunhai.
Tang Yunhai red daggers at Tang Yuyan.
Seemingly, Tang Yuyan had decided to go all out. ¡°Mother, you were the ones who tried to match me and Xia Lei together. You convinced me of how great he was. But once he got married to another woman, he was suddenly nothing in your eyes. I don¡¯t think the problem lies in his messy rtionships. It¡¯s more of the fact that he cannot be a son inw to the Tang family, am I right?¡±
She hit the spot.
But as her sentence fell, Tang Yunhai delivered a harsh p onto her cheek.
p!
A crisp sound rang out and red finger marks were added to her cheek. Tang Yuyan palmed her face, no longer daring to bark another word.
Tang Yunhai was merciless. ¡°You need to remember that you¡¯re a member of the Tang family! Anything you do, you need to think about this n that brought you up! I admit that Xia Lei is one of the rarest men this world has to offer. But some things can¡¯t be changed. A match between him and you will not work. You can¡¯t expect the women of our family to follow him around like nameless trophies? If you wish to be with him, sure, but he has to divorce the other four women. That will be the only circumstances that I will wee him as a son inw to the Tang family!¡±
Tang Yuyan smiled wryly. ¡°Is that even possible?¡±
¡°You¡¯re asking me that?¡± Tang Yunhai scoffed. ¡°Then you should stick to your mother¡¯s arrangements obediently!¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want to!¡± Tang Yuyan turned around to leave.
¡°Hold it right there!¡± Tang Yunhai roared.
Tang Yuyan ignored his words to speed up her pace instead.
¡°You...!¡± Tang Yunhai pissed beyond words.
¡°Father, please calm down. I understand her temper well. She¡¯ll be alright in a while. I¡¯ll go talk to herter and have her apologize to youter,¡± Zhang Yumei attempted tofort him.
Tang Yunhai fumed, ¡°You both really spoilt her rotten!¡±
At this moment, Tang Bochuan made his appearance. ¡°Grandpa, mother.¡±
¡°Ah, Bochuan, you¡¯ve arrived at the nick of time. Go look after your sister and stop her from leaving. I¡¯d love to see how she¡¯d leave to see that bastard!¡± Tang Yunhai¡¯s anger was still boiling bubbles.
Tang Bochuan muttered, ¡°Grandpa, I fear that...¡±
¡°What is it that you¡¯re trying to say?¡± Tang Yunhai furrowed his brows deeper. ¡°Spit it out. Quit sputtering.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Tang Bochuan inhaled and readied himself. ¡°I received some results from the doctor.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± That seemed to ce Tang Yunhai on the edge of his nerves. ¡°Come on!¡±
¡°It failed.¡±
Tang Yunhai froze at his words. ¡°Huh? How is that possible?¡±
Tang Bochuan offered him a bitter smile. ¡°The samples extracted off Xia Lei were all dead. To make it worse, his cells had killed each other off. It¡¯s technically impossible for us to extract gic material to create a super child for the Tang bloodline.¡±
¡°This makes no sense. His four wives are pregnant without an issue. Could it be that the children are not his?¡± Zhang Yumei was equally bewildered.
Tang Bochuan retorted, ¡°Mother, what are you saying? How can those children not be his? Among all four of his wives, other than Jiang Ruyi, the other three are ambitious women. I personally like Long Bing a lot, but it only took Xia Lei two tries to grab her heart. She loved her career at Bureau 101 more than her life. But after Xia Lei advised her to resign and be a stay home wife after getting pregnant, she resigned without hesitation. Does this not exin the situation?¡±
¡°But... How are his sperm cellspletely dead after it leaves his body?¡± Zhang Yumei just couldn¡¯t understand the situation.
Tang Bochuan shrugged. ¡°How would I know? Perhaps we might need to find out through his women.¡±
¡°Father, what do you think?¡± Zhang Yumei turned to look at Tang Yunhai.
There was a moment of silence before Tang Yunhai gathered his thoughts. ¡°I initially thought that there won¡¯t be a need for Tang Yuyan to continue contacting the bastard. Looks like I have no choice but to let her visit his ce. The American woman, Folsom, was right. Xia Lei is an advanced being that has surpassed overall human evolution. His genes will bear unimaginable value. If we can get our hands on it, then the Tang family will benefit from it twenty years down the road. I don¡¯t think I need to tell you what to do now, right?¡±
Zhang Yumei nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go talk to Tang Yuyan now and give her a green light to Xia Lei¡¯s ce.¡±
Meanwhile, in the Peace Mansion was a contrasting atmosphere.
¡°Hubby, I wanna eat sweet and sour ribs and pepper fried eggs,¡± mentioned Jiang Ruyi.
¡°Hubby, I wanna have vinegar fish and grilled fish,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°Hubby, I wanna eat French steak and foie gras for dinner,¡± whined Fan Fan from another corner.
¡°Hubby... Can I have an Italian pizza and some spaghetti? Uh, I¡¯ll like to order a serving of steam beef too,¡± requested Long Bing.
¡°Are you guys pigs?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice rang.
¡°Beat the shit out of him!¡±
¡°How dare you call us pigs!¡±
¡°Do you have a death wish to sleep on the sofa?¡±
¡°You¡¯re the worst! Go away! Ew, your lips are so oily! Keep it away from me!¡±
The kitchen was a mess.
Tang Yuyan had arrived just as Xia Lei was done cooking. The woman had brought along four gifts for each pregnant wife, but none was for Xia Lei. It was a little odd but Xia Lei did not question her.
Five women and one man were gathered around the table for an oddly tensed meal.
The four pregnant women were expecting Tang Yuyan¡¯s outrageous request to join the harem with unshielded worry. Weirdly, the meal progressed without a single mention of the matter from her. Their dinner table conversations were merely irrelevant topics like fashion trends or cosmetic brands.
The four women were long prepared for any confrontation but it did not seem like there would be one. It took some time but they finally saw it through. Tang Yuyan was feeling down today but kept up a happy facade.
¡°Yuyan, are you alright?¡± Approaching the final bites of their meal, Long Bing shot the question.
¡°I¡¯m fine, what else could happen to me? I¡¯m so happy to see everyone get along well as arge family. I¡¯m very happy, I¡¯m alright.¡± Tang Yuyan answered with a grin.
¡°If there¡¯s something you want to say, I can listen. You¡¯re free toe to me anytime, I have nothing to do now anyway,¡± offered Long Bing kindly.
Tang Yuyan returned her a light nod.
¡°Yuyan,e with me to the study. I¡¯ll pass you the item,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Oh, sure.¡± Exchanges between Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei were kept to a minimum tonight.
After the two left for the study, the four pregnantdies began to discuss.
¡°What is with Tang Yuyan today? She¡¯s not acting like herself,¡± Fan Fan pointed out.
¡°Yeah, I feel that way too. She¡¯s clearly troubled and down. She¡¯s pretending to be cheerful,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
¡°How about we follow them and eavesdrop on their conversation?¡± suggested Liang Siyao.
Long Bing declined. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I can make out part of the situation. There must be trouble at home. It is none of our business.¡±
In the study, Xia Lei pressed an encrypted USB stick into Tang Yuyan¡¯s palm. ¡°The list is inside this, take it home and look through itter.¡±
Without warning, the woman threw herself onto Xia Lei¡¯s chest, no longer able to hold her tears. Watery beads broke free from the constraints of her rims like a damaged dam. ¡°I¡¯m so sick of this...¡±
Xia Lei made no move to push her away. He could feel her sorrow radiating form her.
¡°I don¡¯t want to live like this. At this rate, I¡¯m bound to crumble... Lei Zi, how long more do I have to wait for you?¡± Tang Yuyan relented.
Xia Lei went silent. ¡°Are you really going to continue waiting?¡±
¡°Do you think I¡¯d joke about that?¡± Tang Yuyan stared at Xia Lei through her muddled vision.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°If you really wish to wait for me, please give me another two years.¡±
¡°Two years?¡±
¡°Yes, two years.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll wait for two years. When that timees, regardless of how many women you have by your side, I¡¯m going to marry you!¡± Tang Yuyan finished her sentence with a chomp to Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder.
Xia Lei winced.
The woman finally let go of Xia Lei and left.
Xia Lei watched her retreating back, a bitter feeling settling at the bottom of his heart. ¡°Two years... I might not even be around. I¡¯m sorry, Yuyan. I¡¯m not trying to keep your hopes up on purpose...¡±
Chapter 1061 - Full Operation
Following the fall of the CIA¡¯s Jingdu informant base, the Thunder Horse Organization new material and drone workshops held its groundbreaking ceremony. After Xia Lei had returned from Israel, he had made a promise. Thunder Horse Organization was set to own their very own unmanned aircraft by first of June along with the world¡¯s most superior aviation material. For the sake of this promise, everyone in the Thunder Horse Organization began working hard towards it.
Sylvia and Annina seemed to be the busiest out of them all. They were tasked with handling everything rted to the production of extra-refined spare parts and core equipment.
Crackle crackle... Patter patter...
Firecrackers were set off in front of the new workshops. The sound of drums roared and filled the air.
¡°The Chinese sure are weird people. Why do they need to use firecrackers? Also, their instruments are so simple. It¡¯s literally nothing but noise.¡± Sylvia paused her work to look at the new workshops. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was underway, gathering a crowd of prominent leaders, representatives of the military and a lot of important figures. The scene was majestic but she and Annina were unwilling to spare them their attention.
Annina wiped droplets of sweat away with the towel hanging off her shoulder. She didn¡¯t pay mind to Sylvia¡¯s words, concentrating her thoughts on a piece of core equipment.
¡°Hey, Annina. I was talking to you. Did you not hear me?¡± Sylvia pulled the towel off her shoulder abruptly and tossed it into Annina¡¯s face.
It was only when the soft fabric made contact with Annina that she finally gave Sylvia attention.
She stared at her confusedly. ¡°What?¡±
¡°I was talking about Lukas¡¯ ribbon-cutting ceremony. Firecrackers, gongs and drums... His taste is awful. The obnoxious noises are distracting me from my work.¡±
Annina shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s their culture.¡±
¡°Fine then. Let¡¯s change topics. How about we talk about his wives?¡± suggested Sylvia.
Annina hummed. ¡°He has four wives. Who would you like to talk about?¡±
¡°All four of his wives are pregnant and their due date ising soon. Don¡¯t you think he should spare us some attention? I really hate the toys you bought,¡± grumbled Sylvia.
Annina was at a loss for words.
Sylvia sighednguidly. ¡°Annina, I miss home. We have no friends here and I¡¯m not used to their culture. Be honest with me, do you miss home?¡±
Annina nodded. ¡°I do, but...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°Our development here is great. Lukas has given us everything. He needs us most right now. With him, we¡¯re able to create miracles. If we leave him and return to Germany, we¡¯ll merely be the same old us years ago. Would you prefer that?¡±
¡°Fine, let¡¯s just resume work.¡± Sylvia¡¯s eagerness to continue the conversation died.
At this moment, a familiar person appeared at the door and showed himself in. Recognizing his face, Sylvia and Annina quickly stood up. Excitedly, they spoke, ¡°Lukas! Aren¡¯t you supposed to be hosting the ceremony now? Why are you here?¡±
Xia Lei approached the two Germandies, a bright smile on his face. ¡°That was my brother inw. From now on, I¡¯ll be working with you two until the birth of the new material and drone.¡±
¡°Wow!¡± Annina threw herself onto Xia Lei for a tight embrace.
Sylvia inched closer. ¡°Lukas, you mentioned your brother inw earlier. Do you mean that your brother inw is pretending to be you for the ceremony?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Yeah. From today onwards, the one in overalls is the real me.¡±
Annina still had her arms around Xia Lei, Sylvia gave her a warning kick from the back. It was then that she snapped out of it and let him go.
¡°Lukas, I missed you so much.¡± As soon as Annina stepped away from Xia Lei, Sylvia came and took her ce. The woman gave him another emotional hug.
Xia Lei suppressed sheepish feelings to muster a smile. ¡°I was too busy. I¡¯m terribly sorry for not being able to meet you both much... Um.¡±
Xia Lei could find it in himself to reject Tang Yuyan and even Shentu Tianyin. But there was no way he could say no to the Germandies. However, there was also another reason for that. The two German women had stayed long in his business not because of the outrageous sry he offered but the man himself. If he was unwilling to even spare them some sweetness and cause them heartaches, would they still remain loyal to him?
¡°Today is a good day for me and I wish to make it the same for you.¡± Xia Lei dered after Sylvia finally decided to release him after god knows how long.
¡°A good day for both of us? Lukas, what do you mean?¡± Sylvia stared at him curiously.
Xia Lei cleared his throat. ¡°I¡¯ve decided to pay your sry in Euros.¡±
¡°You¡¯re paying us in Euros?¡± Annina gaped in shock, afraid that she had heard him wrong.
¡°Yes, your sries will be paid in Euros henceforth,¡± confirmed Xia Lei.
Sylvia beamed. ¡°Annina, you¡¯re such an idiot. Lukas probably means to convert our current sry into Euros.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± Xia Lei corrected her, ¡°I¡¯m going to calcte it using Euros. Your current sry is five hundred thousand RMB. I¡¯m going to double it into one million Euros.¡±
¡°Wait...¡± Annina was stunned. ¡°You mean you¡¯re paying us twelve million Euros per year?¡±
¡°Exactly.¡± Xia Lei offered them a smile. ¡°You were with me when my business was rocky. In the past, I couldn¡¯t pay you much because money was tight. Now that I¡¯m richer, I¡¯m definitely going to raise your sry. A yearly pay of twelve million Euros will allow you to enjoy the rest of your life after two years. When that timees and your assets have yet to reach more than one billion Euros, I¡¯ll make sure you hit one billion.¡±
Annina and Sylvia were cked jawed. Holding a wealth of more than one billion Euros was unthinkable in Europe, especially for working-ss members like them.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°What is with your faces? I raised your pay and you¡¯re not even going to smile?¡±
Sylvia abruptly assumed, ¡°Lukas, were you eavesdropping on our conversation earlier?¡±
¡°No, why would I do something like that? Am I that awful of a person?¡± defended Xia Lei but deep down, that was indeed the case. While Liu Zhengnan had taken his ce and hosted the ceremony, Xia Lei was already in the garage. However, it was a mere coincidence that he so happened to hear the female engineer talk.
Both of them had missed home and were unacquainted to how life was in China. This was a severe issue for the Thunder Horse Organization. Regardless of Annina or Sylvia, both of them were irreceable talents to the enterprise. Annina was a core figure of the infantry vehicle garage. Sylvia, on the other hand, was the best mechanic the world had to offer. Without Sylvia around, all the refinery work would fall upon Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder and the man had no time for that. Hence, he needed a way to make them stay no matter what.
¡°You must¡¯ve heard our conversation. Lukas, you¡¯re lying to us.¡± Sylvia was convinced that she had exposed his secret.
¡°I¡¯m telling the truth. Annina, do you believe me?¡± Xia Lei turned to look at theparatively reserved Annina.
Annina shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±
¡°Lukas, there¡¯s no need to pay us that much. You¡¯re clear that we¡¯re here not because of money. We chose to remain here for you,¡± said Annina, blue eyes glinting with hurt.
¡°Yeah.¡± Sylvia added, ¡°Your wives have such a tight lock over you that you¡¯re deprived of a chance to approach us.¡±
Xia Lei could only smile wryly. ¡°I really have no way around this. I am just too busy of a person...¡±
¡°Those are excuses.¡± Sylvia narrowed her eyes. ¡°If you¡¯re willing to spend time with us tonight, we¡¯re willing to forgive you and ept your offer.¡±
To raise someone¡¯s pay to above one million Euros and yet the eptance of such was dependent on that someone¡¯s mood. As their boss, Xia Lei felt as if he hadcked power in the front of these two German engineers.
¡°So what is your decision? If you decline it, we¡¯re going home to Germany,¡± threatened Sylvia.
Xia Lei gulped and braced himself. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll stay with both of you tonight.¡±
¡°No, no, no. Not just tonight.¡± Annina quickly added on, ¡°We want you tomorrow night and the day after tomorrow. We demand yourpany for at least two nights per week.¡±
¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. If you can¡¯t fulfil that, we¡¯re really packing our bags to go home.¡± Sylvia harrumphed.
¡°And we¡¯ll go on a holiday,¡± Annina helpfully supplied.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know if he shouldugh or cry. Even if he said no to their request, they would not be returning to Germany for real. They were only asking him to spare them some attention. This was also petty revenge towards him for casting them aside for so long.
This revenge was honestly quite sweet and alluring. Most men would definitely be more than eager to be its receiving end.
¡°Alright, I can do that. I¡¯ll work overtime with you for at least two nights per week. Happy?¡± Xia Lei gave his promise. To make both German cows produce more dairy, he needed to feed them grass. And that goes without saying, Xia Lei was the one holding the grass out.
What were they supposed to do during overtime?
He could think with his toes and still be aware that it would be nothing less than inappropriate ¡®work¡¯.
Achieving their goal, the moods of the two women were evidently lighter. To them, they had everything. A tenfold increase in their sry that would allow them to earn more than one million Euros per year and thepany of a beloved man. They had satiated both their desire for wealth and lust. It was indeed a good day as Xia Lei had promised.
Xia Lei quickly went to work. Today, he needed to work on the most vital parts.
¡°Lukas, you¡¯re sweating. Come here, let me wipe it off.¡± Somewhere along the process, Annina came to him and started cleaning his perspiration.
¡°Oh, Lukas! Your pants are soiled. Look at you, jeez. Be a little more careful, will you?¡± Following that, Sylvia came over and dusted away the filth on the front of Xia Lei¡¯s pants.
Chapter 1062 - Big Winds and Heavy Rain
The Thunder Horse Organization had been upgraded. The new material and unmanned aircraft workshops had been built in no time. Not only was the constructionpany moving fast, but Thunder Horse itself was also progressing rapidly in their part of equipment alterations and the building of the production line. At their current rate, Thunder Horse Organization would see the birth of their very own aviation material and new generation drone before the first of June.
They were able to progress this quickly all thanks to sufficient funding and impable teamwork. With pushes from the country¡¯s leaders, Thunder Horse couldn¡¯t slow down even if they wanted to.
On the other hand, the country had also intensified protection over the Thunder Horse Organization and Xia Lei. Around the premise, including the Peace Mansion, countless elite Special Force members were stationed. They had even doubled the amount of air defence missiles. At this level of security, there was no way an assassin could get past them, no matter how invincible they were.
Time continued to pass day by day.
Three monthster.
Israel, in the wilderness to the southeast of Jerusalem.
¡°Up, up, up...¡± An Israeli military engineer directed a crane to hoist the faceless warrior statues up from between the rocks.
In a clearing behind the crane were three faceless warriors. Alongside the disy were countless fragments of skulls and a few of those that were lucky enough to be intact.
¡°Three months! And finally, we managed to dig this ce out.¡± A senior intelligence officer of Israel¡¯s Mossad, Kerns, sighed in relief.
¡°Mister Kerns, what is the point of excavating this? Xia Lei had brought away the most important thing.¡± Yan Fo massaged his temples. ¡°I don¡¯t find a reason to be happy over this.¡±
¡°Mister Yan, is that mockery I sense?¡± Kerns shed him an unfriendly smirk. ¡°Should I mock you too for the pathetic operation in Jingdu? I heard the CIA¡¯s Jingdu informant base got thoroughly destroyed by China¡¯s Bureau 101. Your FA Organization had dispatched gueri fighters and five hundred kilograms of explosives. Yet, you failed to even kill a single Chinese ant.¡±
Yan Fo shrugged cooly. ¡°Mister Kerns, I didn¡¯t travel all the way to Israel for such meaningless banter. Xia Lei is the only person in the world to transcend current human evolution. To use America¡¯s favourite thing to describe him would make him Superman. When faced with a Superman-like being, would sesse easy?¡±
Kerns stared at him straight. ¡°Then what are you here for this time?¡±
Yan Fo answered, ¡°I¡¯m here to bring four of the faceless warrior statues back along with some artefacts and skulls.¡±
¡°Who do you think you are? How dare you ask for something like that!¡± Kerns¡¯ expression abruptly shifted into something dark.
¡°I¡¯m not acting based on my own decision. Mister Williams had instructed me to do so. This is also President Bachoma¡¯s order.¡± Yan Fo kept anguid pace. ¡°This is a national exchange between America and Israel. We¡¯re nothing but messengers. Putting it that way, I¡¯m sure you can understand what I mean, right?¡±
The meaning of his words was simple. You can¡¯t stop me from bringing these away!
Kerns snorted coldly. ¡°How American of you. Since Mister Williams and President Bachoma are involved, I certainly reserve no right to stop you. But I do wish to know what use would the statues be to the Americans?¡±
¡°Mister Kerns, I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t answer that. I made it clear that I¡¯m merely a messenger. But don¡¯t worry, I have someone here who could give you an answer. Let me introduce you to him right away,¡± said Yan Fo. The man waved to a group of people who were standing beside the statues as he eximed, ¡°Mister Erik, can you spare me a moment? Mister Kerns wishes to talk to you.¡±
A bald Caucasian man left the group towards them. He looked to be in his sixties. His face was skinny and devoid on any hair. This made his skull look like a peeled egg. He was tall and thin, giving off a very frail impression. Despite that, his eyes were a unique pair that held both depth and knowledge. It helped establish a deep impression.
Before Erik had entered earshot distance, Kerns questioned, ¡°Who is he? Is he from the CIA or a member of the parliament?¡±
Yan Fo replied, ¡°Neither. He¡¯s the person in charge of the AE Research Centre.¡±
¡°Ah, so that¡¯s him.¡± Kerns felt as if things wereing together in that split moment. ¡°So he was the one who first brought the medicinal substances within the amber to the centre for research. Hmph, he let those capsules loose and gave way to the birth of a superhuman like Xia Lei. Did he not just shoot himself in the foot?¡±
Yan Fo registered his words but offered silence. He couldpletely understand the grudge Israelis had towards the AE incident. If the amber had remained in Israel and was studied by Israeli scientists, perhaps Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t even exist. What had happened too wouldn¡¯t have taken ce.
Sadly, time was irreversible.
Erik finally reached them and offered Kerns a firm handshake. He introduced himself, ¡°My name is Erik and I mainly work on research. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Kerns.¡±
Kerns shook his hand. Courteously, he began, ¡°Mister Erik, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you too. I¡¯m a very straightforward person so I want to ask. What are you trying to achieve by bringing these statues back to America?¡±
¡°Mister Kerns, though your question is beyond your authority, I¡¯m willing to supply an answer. The material of these statues is extraordinary. We would like to further study its chemicalposition. But of course, all findings obtained will be shared with Israel. Your country is a Middle Eastern ally to America. On this matter, both our interests are aligned.¡± Erik¡¯s answer was practised and refined. Hearing it would soothe you but it did not answer the true question.
Kerns wrinkled a brow. ¡°Mister Erik, the fact that you rushed over to bring these statues away indicates that you do know something. As an ally, are you not going to share the information with us?¡±
¡°Not that I don¡¯t wish to, Mister Kerns. It¡¯s merely because your authority is insufficient. Your boss and the higher-ups of the country are definitely aware of it. If you insist on finding out, I would suggest that you try another channel,¡± said Erik.
That soured Kerns¡¯ mood. He was eager to understand what research would the statues be subjected to in America but yet the Americans were evidently belittling him.
Suddenly, one of Erik¡¯s assistants copsed. The group of experts and entourages from America began to panic. Some people called for help while some brought out their phones to dial for emergency services. Some that knew first aid began to check on the fallen assistant.
Yan Fo, Erik and Kerns quickly rushed over. An American archaeologist that suffered a heart disease had fallen to the ground due to an acute cardiac arrest. His pacemaker had suddenly stopped working for no reason.
¡°What is going on?¡± One of the American staff huffed with fear, her phone still stuck to the side of her face. ¡°It was alright just a while ago. Why is there no signal now?¡±
¡°The signal is out here too.¡±
¡°What the hell? Even my watch is not working well. It¡¯s showing me that it¡¯s two in the morning now!¡±
Chaos ensued.
In the midst of mass panic, the unfortunate archaeologist ceased breathing.
¡°What... What is that?¡± Someone pointed to the skies that hovered over the east.
Immediately, everyone¡¯s attention was brought to that span of the area. A cluster of grey clouds was moving towards them along with a symphony of lightning and thunder.
Israel was a dry and barrennd. Rain would only ur at most once or twice per year and a storm like this was essentially unheard of. But now, under the thick mast of gloomy clouds, the dry country seemed to have relocated themselves into the Amazonian rainforest that saw storms that happened without warning.
Crackle!
The ck clouds suppressed them like a bolt of lightning struck from the skies. Large droplets of rain began to pitter-patter onto the ground and obstructed their view.
Bam! The steel cord on the crane broke off abruptly and the faceless warrior statues that were dangling mid-air fell for the ground. Before the Israeli engineer in the crane was able to respond, the two-tonne heavy statue smashed him t. He was instantly squashed, his head ttened to the thickness of a piece of dough.
¡°Gather! Gather, now!¡± Amander quickly barked instructions for assembly but his message was not ryed. Themunicator was not working.
¡°What the hell is that?!¡± One of the archaeologists screamed in English urgently in the middle of the storm.
Yan Fo quickly followed the direction of his finger, immediately freezing at the sight. In between themotion, a woman figure was seen to be approaching them from fifty metres away. Cloaking her body was an odd attire that stuck to her like a second skin due to the rain. It made her look as if she was naked. He widened his eyes to make clear her face but no matter how hard he tried, the rain had proved to be too much of an obstacle.
¡°Is that a woman?¡± Someone had noticed the same thing.
¡°Yes, it is a woman!¡±
¡°Why is she here?¡±
¡°Hey, who are you?¡± Someone tried to establish contact.
¡°What is she trying to do?¡±
Bang bang bang!
The Israeli soldiers began firing their guns at the sky.
¡°Stop shooting! Damn it!¡± Kerns roared.
No one dared to fire another bullet but the woman amongst the storm had vanished out of thin air.
The storm reached its end after thirty minutes. Sunlight immediately graced the blue skies right after it. There was no indication that the supernatural phenomenon had happened
¡°There are words over there!¡± One of the soldiers shouted and pointed to a statue sharply.
Yan Fo, Kerns and Erik immediately ran over.
On the statue was a message written with blood. Underneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Chapter 1063 - Battle of Tongues
All it took was three months of Thunder Horse¡¯s new material and drone workshops to rise from the ground.
Every day, a huge hoard of reporters waiting outside their gates in hopes of attaining some form of material or hint for their headlines. Sadly, every employee who exited the premises was tight-lipped on the matter, not offering a single word of exnation.
The reporters camping outside the Thunder Horse Organization were not only from domestic news outlets but also international media outlets from America, Europe, Japan and India. After Xia Lei¡¯s return from Israel three months ago, he had made a public promise to produce the world¡¯s most advanced aviation material and unmanned aircraft by first of June. Now, there was merely half a month more till the specified date. It was only natural for the world to be on edge regarding Xia Lei and Thunder Horse¡¯s activities.
Truthfully, some of the international reporters were not who they imed to be. Among them were intelligence officers from America, Japan, Europe and India. They were hoping to extract valuable intel but unwilling to make any hasty actions.
Despite fully aware of such presences, Bureau 101 chose topletely ignore them. But even so, many internal political experts of the Thunder Horse Organization had arranged political ideology sses for their employees. They adamantly reminded everyone to avoid any mistakes and to appreciate what they had currently.
One end stubbornly hid while the other end ced no protective barriers up. It created a vulnerable impression. It was as if all the prying eyes outside the flimsy fences of the Thunder Horse Organization could only make out the heavy ck curtains shielding the insides. This was honestly nothing more than a psychological war. The victor would only be known at the veryst moment.
Xia Lei finally appeared at the gates. The camping reporters immediately swarmed over. Their desperation was understandable. In all of three months, Xia Lei had only made not more than two public appearances. One time was because Jiang Ruyi had suffered a leg cramp. Another time was when he exited the office block for the gate but turned back urgently without offering a word. That was one incident where the reporters had thought Xia Lei was about to give an official announcement but was actually on a stroll. On this fateful day, he had finally shown his face again. How could the reporters that had camped outside the premise for more than a month not be excited?
¡°Director Xia, is there an official announcement today?¡± One of the reporters asked.
¡°Director Xia, recent activities of the Thunder Horse Organization are veryrge-scaled. The entire world is eagerly waiting for more news on your new aviation material. Can you tell us something about it?¡± questioned another reporter.
¡°Director Xia, you mentioned that Thunder Horse will possess its very own aviation material and drone by the beginning of June. There is half a month left but we have yet to notice any trial flights.¡± Another reporter interjected rushedly.
¡°Director Xia, over here. Based on what I¡¯ve heard, America currently holds the most advanced aviation material in the world. Are you sure your researched products will surpass simr American technology or products?¡±
¡°Director Xia, this will be Thunder Horse¡¯s debut in the air battle arena. This is unprecedented. Seeing that this is your debut, will your drone really be the world¡¯s most advanced?¡±
A flood of questions was shot, all of them rted to the new material and unmanned aircraft. The fervent reporters had also included those from overseas.
The situation and crowd wereplicated but it did not deter Xia Lei. With the help of his left and right eye, Xia Lei hadpleted basic checks on everyone present before he had evene close to the gate. The x-ray vision was used to scan their bodies and their camera equipment. Truthfully, he was only willing to approach the crowd after confirming the absence of threatening weapons.
Casting aside female reporters, the side effects of this investigation would certainly be the urge to puke his guts out at the information returned from the male reporters. It was as if Xia Lei was thrown into a mixed bath. One scan with his eyes had fed him with all sorts of data. What could be more awkward than this?
¡°Everyone, please.¡± Xia Lei raised a palm and gestured to them to quiet down.
The mumbly chaos suddenly dispersed.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have much time to spare so I¡¯ll keep this simple.¡± He paused and studied the crowd. ¡°Thunder Horse Organization has sessfully produced its own new aviation material. It can absorb electromaic waves emitted by radars and sonars. Not only does that mean it is the best material for aircraft but also the best material for naval fleets. Its name is Alloy X. Using it to build aircraft would hide it from radars all over the world. It will be transparent and undetectable by any detection device this world has to offer.¡±
As soon as his sentence fell, the scene went out of control.
¡°Director Xia, based on what you¡¯ve said, this is literally the perfect material. Are its physical properties as good as you im?¡± A reporter asked among the crowd.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course. I am very confident that Alloy X is the most perfect material in the world.¡±
¡°Director Xia, based on your earlier speech, are there ns for Thunder Horse Organization to enter the naval warfare market and produce warships?¡± asked someone else.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Currently, we have no ns to producerge warships such as aircraft carriers and destroyers. However, ns to produce a limited number of stealth submarines might happen in the future. We possess mature submarine technology. Production will begin once a certain number of Alloy X is umted.¡±
¡°Director Xia, since Thunder Horse haspleted production and research for the Alloy X, are we able to visit the workshop?¡± A bespectacled blonde reporter asked from a corner.
Xia Lei¡¯s sight was immediately brought to the area between her thighs. On her crotch was the tattoo of a triangr sword and lightning bolt. The symbol of the Delta Special Forces. The blonde reporter was obviously an intelligence officer from America. She must¡¯ve been amando in the Delta Special Forces back then or perhaps a medical soldier. However, no matter how secretive her tattoo was, it would not go unnoticed by Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision.
¡°Director Xia, can you please answer my question?¡± The blonde reporter urged.
Xia Lei offered a small smile. ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t. The Alloy X workshop is a national secret. While I may be the owner of this establishment, I am not permitted to bring strangers in for a visit.¡±
¡°Then can you show us a sample of the alloy?¡± The same reporter was evidently unsatisfied.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t.¡±
¡°Then how are you going to prove your ims?¡± The blonde reporter challenged him.
Xia Lei merely returned a polite smile. ¡°I don¡¯t need to prove it.¡±
The blonde reporter tossed a sharp re.
¡°Director Xia, I¡¯m more concerned about the rtively tense situation in the South China Sea. The International Court of Justice is about toy a ruling and an American fleet is about to enter the territory. Here you are making an appearance and telling us about your new material and a new drone. Could this be considered a response to the matter?¡± A reporter from Southeast Asia asked with fluent Chinese.
In a calm tone, Xia Lei gave his reply. ¡°Let me make this clear. I do not meddle with politics. None of myments is directed at any country or group. We produced a new material beneficial to the entire aerospace industry, not a weapon for war. Regarding the possible voyage of the American fleet, I can only make a personalment. In thest two thousand years or more, our race had full control over the waters of Asia. We too are people who are preachers of peace but that does not mean we will shy away from war. For thousands of years, we have rebuilt ourselves from the ruins multiple times.¡±
¡°Director Xia, those do not sound like words of someone that loves peace. Are you trying to hint that you¡¯re not afraid of war?¡± The same reporter remarked, lips curled into a disdainful smirk.
Xia Lei chuckled lightly. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not a soldier nor am I a civil servant. I¡¯m nothing more than a civilian. Compared to weapons, I¡¯m more inclined to produce socks and shirts. What I said is insignificant. If anyone wishes me to take responsibility for my earlierment, feel free to approach me.¡±
¡°Heh, you¡¯re saying bold things for a country that depends on protection from another country. What a joke.¡± A Chinese reporter sneered, obviously intending to offend him.
¡°What did you just say?!¡± The Southeast Asian reporter snapped at him.
¡°I said it¡¯s about time I end my maid¡¯s contract! Is it clearer now? What are you going to do about it.¡± The Chinese reporter too was fueled with emotions now.
Xia Lei interrupted them. ¡°This is no ce to fight. Are there any other questions from the floor? I only have two minutes left.¡±
¡°Director Xia, you talked about the Alloy X but you did not mention anything about drones. Can you please touch on that topic?¡± A Japanese reporter asked in proficient Chinese.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°You¡¯re in luck. We¡¯re just about to conduct the first trial flight for Thunder Horse¡¯s drone. You should be able to get pictures of it. However, I do not wish for you to capture pictures here. Perhaps it might appear in the screens in Langley or Japan¡¯s Hyper-Tech in a matter of minutes.¡±
The intelligence officers in the crowd began to feel anxious.
¡°Haha, I was just joking. How could there be so many agents or spies in this world? Alright, that¡¯s all I have to say today. After all, seeing is believing. Do peel your eyes wide and wait for it.¡± Xia Lei offered with a smile.
At this moment, the sounds of heel cking against the ground could be heard. With his chest half-exposed and skin-tight leather pants, the package he had between his legs was obvious. Contrastingly, his lips were painted skillfully in smoky red and his eyelids were decorated with smoked out shadows. With the glimmering diamond earring on his ears, his appearance immediately robbed away the attention ced on Xia Lei earlier. Why you may ask. Despite being biologically male, he was more breathtaking than most women.
Qin Xiang¡¯s beauty was getting more sinister day by day.
¡°Babe.¡± Qin Xiang strutted over. ¡°The drone maniptors are ready. All it needs is your word and our little drones are going to fly.¡± The man passed amunicator into his palm.
Xia Lei gripped the device and checked his multifunctional wristwatch. Then, he uttered slowly into themunicator. ¡°Take flight!¡±
Click click click!
Camera shes began to go off.
Chapter 1064 - Suicidal Jing Ke
A silver drone zoomed off into the skies via a proppeduncher on the back of a car. Within a blink of the eye, it was already hundreds of meters from the ground.
As the drone continued to soar, the chatters below were increasingly intense.
¡°Is this Thunder Horse¡¯s drone? Is this real? It just looks like something they bought off Taobao.¡±
¡°It¡¯s so small, there¡¯s no way it could carry any weapon system. Without that, how can he im this to be the world¡¯s most advanced drone?¡±
¡°Calling this a level of technology the world¡¯s most advanced drone is far-fetched. The Thunder Horse Organization is quite shameless.¡±
¡°You can¡¯t possiblypare this to America. It¡¯s barely above Vietnam¡¯s drones. What kind of a sick joke is this?¡±
¡°What the hell? With their standards, there¡¯s no way something this simple woulde out of the Thunder Horse Military Factory. Are my eyes fooling me?¡± Everyone was shocked. The international reporters were baffled and even the domestic reporters were equally bewildered. This felt off.
All of those remarks did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s ear. The mockery and jabs, however, did not seem to dampen his mood. A light smile yed on his lips, the man still unfazed.
¡°Babe, their words are truly brash.¡± Qin Xiang quirked a brow.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not your babe. We¡¯ve got reporters around us, what if they start writing gossip about us? You¡¯ll be the death of my world-famous reputation.¡±
¡°Fine, fine. I won¡¯t call you that anymore... babe,¡± said Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei was at an absolute loss for words.
The man really can¡¯t do anything about Qin Xiang.
The drone continued to soar, asionally dipping and rising. Sometimes it plunges and it would even circle the top of the Thunder Horse premise at times. It flew as if it did not require any charge. The drone was small, there was no way it ran on fuel. Its engine was definitely electrical.
¡°Director Xia, so this is the world¡¯s most advanced drone?¡± The blonde reporter from before asked Xia Lei.
Xia Lei turned away from the hovering drone and gave her attention. His tone remained firm. ¡°Of course. This is the most advanced drone made by the Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
¡°The most advanced drone?¡± The blonde reporter huffed a mockingugh. ¡°What exactly makes it so advanced?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was unwavering. ¡°That is a secret that I can¡¯t tell you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re just abashed to say it out loud, right?¡± The Southeast Asian reporter smirked coldly.
Xia Lei relented, ¡°Very well then, looks like everyone won¡¯t be satisfied until I exin where its technology advancement lies. The drone we produced has filled up a lot of gaps in the current market. So far, we have filed for one hundred and thirty patented technology. I believe everyone would be more interested in learning about its invisibility. That¡¯s right, you heard me right. This drone is invisible to all radar.¡±
¡°A drone like this is capable of that?¡± One of the Japanese was evidently unimpressed. ¡°What? Did you test the drone with World War II radars?¡±
¡°Director Xia, how about you just allow us to visit your maniption centre. We would like to see its invisibility with our own eyes.¡± The blonde reporter continued to convince him.
Xia Lei rejected her again. ¡°That won¡¯t do. Our maniption centre is not open to outsiders.¡±
¡°You¡¯re not able to do this and you¡¯re not able to do that. How are you nning to prove that this is truly the world¡¯s most advanced drone?¡± The Southeast Asian reporter pressed on.
¡°Well, my ims shall be held ountable. You all are here voluntarily. I did not send you an invitation. It is notpulsory for me to satiate your curiosity,¡± said Xia Lei.
The Southeast Asian reporter was immediately silenced by his own anger.
¡°Director Xia, Thunder Horse Organization has chosen to conduct a test flight at such a sensitive time. Not to mention, this drone was made using your very own new aviation material. I think you¡¯re rying a very dangerous signal to America and its allies. But if your ims of the Alloy X and advanced drone are nothing but a hoax, then the signal you¡¯re giving off is not an honest one. You would only be adding trouble to the already sticky situation. Don¡¯t you think that you¡¯re being a tad bit too irresponsible?¡± remarked the blonde reporter.
Xia Lei merely smiled at her, offering no answer in exchange.
The waves of questions came to a temporary halt. It was safe to say that none of the reporters was pleased with Thunder Horse¡¯s official statement. They had been waiting there for more than a month for god¡¯s sake! The more recenters had also waited for ten days at least. It was a difficult wait for Xia Lei¡¯s public appearance but what they received felt like a gigantic ¡®fuck you¡¯.
¡°Nevermind, Director Xia. I can see that you have no ns to answer it.¡± The blonde reporter continued, ¡°Guess I¡¯ll write about how the Thunder Horse¡¯s proimed advanced drone and new material is nothing but a hoax. The miracles of the ck horse shoulde to an end soon.¡±
But as herst words fell through, the hovering drone over the Thunder Horse Organization buildings lost control and plummeted from the sky.
¡°It¡¯s falling!¡±
¡°I can¡¯t believe this is happening!¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± The Southeast Asian reporter barked the loudestugh. ¡°The world¡¯s most advanced drone? More like the world¡¯s biggest joke!¡±
Ka-boom! The silver drone fell into a farming field across the gates of the Thunder Horse Organization. At that split moment, all everyone could see was a blinding sh of red. A violent shockwave reduced everything to powder within its vicinity!
Though the silver drone¡¯snding spot was at least one kilometre away from the gate, the reporters could too feel the shocks and scalding heatwave the st delivered.
Everyone froze.
That was not a drone! That was literally a middle-sized missile! Its explosive strength wasparable to that of America¡¯s Tomahawk cruise missile!
¡°Was...¡± The blonde reporter paled. It took a while for her to gather enough words. ¡°D...Director Xia, was that really a drone?¡±
Meanwhile, Xia Lei did not seem to have registered her query. He stared at therge crater formed in the middle of the field with furrowed brows. ¡°Who chose that spot?¡±
Qin Xiang shrugged. ¡°How would I know?¡±
¡°Get right to it, now! I need to find that idiot and cut his sry!¡± Xia Lei fumed. ¡°That was a wheat field for crying out loud! It¡¯s about to be harvested soon! The farmer had been working on it hard for half a year. He was so close to harvesting time and the explosion had wiped his efforts out! I need to deduct that idiot¡¯s wage!¡±
¡°Hey, calm down. There¡¯s no need to be so angry.¡± Qin Xiang quickly offered, ¡°I¡¯ll go check it out right away, okay?¡±
Xia Lei positively bristled at it. ¡°Do it. You must find out who is responsible for this! The wheat farm is huge!¡±
Qin Xiang had nothing to say.
The reporters looked into each other¡¯s eyes.
The sudden plummet of the Thunder Horse¡¯s drone had produced arge crater in the middle of the field. Judging from its explosion force, it certainly did not pale inparison to the Tomahawk cruise missile. Thunder Horse¡¯s drone research was a failure and its first test flight was an absolute joke. But was that really the truth? It was quite evident that Xia Lei and Qin Xiang¡¯s exchange was scripted. They were rookie actors. From the first word to itsst, their conversation sounded forced and unnatural. It garnered more assumptions among the reporters.
¡°Director Xia, this research wasn¡¯t aimed to produce drones, right?¡± questioned a domestic reporter. The man was overwhelmed with feelings, obviously excited.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°What else would that be if not a drone?¡±
¡°A flying missile!¡± The same reporter supplied.
Xia Lei stared at him oddly. ¡°Have you ever seen a missile that can¡¯t fly? Or have you seen a walking missile I haven¡¯t?¡±
¡°Director Xia, how did your drone trigger such a violent st?¡± The blonde reporter tried to pry.
Xia Lei answered her. ¡°I have no idea. There must be some issues somewhere. I¡¯ll find out its cause and provide everyone with a satisfying answer.¡±
¡°Director Xia, your drone is obviously powered by lithium batteries. Without fuel, how was it able to set off such an explosion? It¡¯s actually a new type of weapon, right?¡± A Japanese reporter attempted to probe.
Xia Lei merely answered, ¡°Remember my friends, please do not make assumptions. This is just the first test flight and as you can see, it resulted in a failure. I¡¯m actually quite ashamed about my earlier statement now. The drone just plummeted from the skies like that. Everyone witnessed it too. Thank goodness the fields were empty. If it fell in the middle of the city, airport or military checkpoints, things would¡¯ve been worse.¡±
¡°Director Xia.¡± The Japanese reporter tried to probe once again. ¡°What is the name of this drone?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°This is one question I can answer. Its name is Jing Ke.¡±
Jing Ke was the name of the Thunder Horse¡¯s very first drone model.
¡°Jing Ke?¡± The blonde reporter was confused. ¡°What a weird name? Does it have a meaning?¡±
The Japanese reporter¡¯s expression went dark. ¡°Jing Ke is the name of the most famous assassin in all of Chinese history. He had once assassinated the most famous emperor in China and took over the throne!¡±
At this point, this Japanese reporter had revealed himself. He was an intelligence officer from Japan and the man had done his research on Chinese history and culture.
Despite being fully aware of his identity, Xia Lei was not bothered at all.
Chapter 1065 - Fraud Is Not An Issue
¡°Naming a drone after an assassin?¡± The blonde reporter seemed to havee to an understanding. Anxiety and fear came creeping soon after.
¡°Is it inappropriate to use an assassin¡¯s name on a drone?¡± Xia Lei was nonchnt. ¡°Your country has the Thor drone series and the Predator series. But is it true that the American drones are real gods and predators? I think not. However, I still have to admit the gap between us and America. You have witnessed it personally, the Jing Ke drone had failed its trial flight. It is nothing but a joke.¡±
Though Xi Lei had called it a joke, no one was willing to piggyback on his words. It was ugly, yes. But it was definitely not gentle at all!
Undeniably, the Jing Ke drone had plummeted from the sky. However, there was an underlying message to Xia Lei¡¯s reply. The drone maniptor had purposefully made the drone fall to gauge its explosion range. While it wasn¡¯t fuel-based, it had carried a sufficient load of explosives. Based on the terrifying threat it posed, if it were to be added with guaranteed invisibility, this would make it the world¡¯s most fearsome self-destructive drone!
Since it was bound to be destroyed, what was the point of giving it a fancy appearance?
While it wasn¡¯t explicit, it was implied. It was obvious enough for the measly reporters to pick up on it too. But of course, the domestic reporters had better feelings towards the news in contrast to the disguised officers.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Alright, that is all for today. I¡¯ll announce more information after I find out its cause. Also...¡± His gazended on the blonde reporter. There was a silent pause before he continued again, ¡°You mentioned earlier that the American naval fleets are about to enter the South China Sea and you used me of rying an inappropriate signal in a special and sensitive time like this. Let me answer your question now. Regardless of my signals being appropriate or not, as long as the American fleets dare to enter the southern waters, they will be seeing the Jing Ke and Phantom drones.¡±
¡°Phantom drone?¡±
¡°Director Xia, there is another drone model in the works?¡±
¡°Director Xia, why did you not conduct a test flight for the Phantom drone?¡±
¡°Director Xia...¡±
In the midst of utter chaos, Xia Lei turned and left. Not bothering to even spare them the slightest nce.
Qin Xiang matched his pace, twisting his torso around at the shing camera lights.
Xia Lei returned to one of the multifunctional conference rooms in the office block. The moment of his entrance was weed by thundering apuse and cheers.
Hands together, their praises were directed to Xia Lei. Indeed, he was worthy of being referred to as the brain of the Thunder Horse Organization. From the first design sketch of the Jing Ke drone, Xia Lei was the sole person in charge. Without his efforts and contribution, Thunder Horse Organization would not have seen a drone of their own.
¡°Director Xia, what do we do next? Are we going to put our real ace to the test?¡± Huang Xuwen asked meekly. The youngster was extremely passionate, patience wearing thin especially towards matters like this.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, we¡¯ll do nothing for the time being. Let the workers off for a few days of break. They have worked hard for the past few months.¡±
¡°But there are still so many reporters crouching outside. If we show them our trump card, they¡¯ll help us publicize it for free. Why are we not doing that?¡± questioned Huang Xuewen.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Indeed, that would do good for our products but it does not benefit the country at all. The drones we produce will only be supplied to our own army. We¡¯re not going to export it all. I¡¯ve made my decision, please respect it.¡±
A military product did not share the same behaviour as an agricultural product. Some could be sold while some must not be sold. All developed countries in the world adhere to this concept strictly. Any product that poses threat to their rivals must not be sold. China had faced enough of such situations for the past ten years.
Xia Lei was not in need of money. The man would not sell it even if they tripled the price!
¡°Lukas...¡± As soon as the name escaped her lips, Sylvia quickly noticed its inappropriateness for a situation like this. The German mechanic quickly corrected herself. ¡°I mean... Director Xia, you mentioned that you¡¯ll be giving the employees a holiday. What about me and Annina?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Actually Phantom has yet to bepleted. Looks like we¡¯ll be busy for a while more.¡±
¡°You mean there¡¯ll be more over time?¡± questioned Sylvia with a light mirth smile.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, overtime is inevitable.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Sylvia joyfully high-fived Annina, who was standing beside her.
The entire room of senior staff eyed the Germandies weirdly. Some of them thinking about how idiotic they were being about work. The past months were filled with countless extended hours. Were they not sick of it yet? Were theypletely out of their minds?
The context under the two German mechanics¡¯ joy was their filthy little secret. Extended hours were what they absolutely adored recently.
Xia Lei instructed, ¡°Can each department and each workshop visit the treasury department? Everyone will be receiving a share of mary rewards. But please remember to remind your subordinates to watch their words. Do notnd yourselves in trouble due to greed.¡±
¡°Please rest assured, Director Xia. We have been lecturing them on political ideas everyday. There shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± uttered Hu Zhi. After Li Youdun¡¯s ¡®departure¡¯, Hu Zhi was made the leader of the new material department.
¡°Alright, that is all for today. You are dismissed,¡± announced Xia Lei.
The group of senior staff exited the conference room. This meeting was considered a node. Before it was its seeding and harvest soon to arrive following it.
The first sight that came into Xia Lei¡¯s view after leaving the office block was Fan Fan. Despite her heavily swollen belly, she was leading a group of soldiers dressed in navy uniforms.
Fan Fan¡¯s belly was huge at this point, her walking evidently affected by it. Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched painfully at the sight. ¡°Jeez, there¡¯s no need to work if you¡¯re feeling unwell.¡±
Fan Fan offered him a small smile. ¡°I¡¯m not that weak of a person, darling. Plus, walking is great for my body.¡± There was a slight pause. ¡°Hubby, let me introduce him. This is chief of the navy stationed at the southern waters, Chief Yu Zhenhai. He wishes to talk to you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s attention was immediately given to the high-ranking man. He extended both arms and smiled courteously. ¡°Pleased to meet you, Chief Yu Zhenhai. Wee to Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
Yu Zhenhai frantically mirrored his gesture, more courteous than Xia Lei himself. ¡°Comrade Xia Lei, Comrade Fan Fan and I have been friends for long. There¡¯s no need to be so formal with me. I¡¯m older and I¡¯ll admit my age. How about you call me a brother instead?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s smile was unwavering. ¡°Nice to meet you, Brother Yu. Shall we continue our conversation in my office?¡±
Yu Zhenhai declined, ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. Can you show us around in your drone workshop?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Sure. Pleasee with me, Brother Yu.¡±
It felt like it wasn¡¯t a coincidence for Yu Zhenhai¡¯s visit along with a few navymanders. Yu Zhenhai¡¯s motive was already very obvious, the man was here because of the intense southern water situation.
Expectedly, Yu Zhenhai began before they had even made it into the workshop. ¡°Brother Xia, what was with the explosion earlier?¡±
Xia Lei turned his face to the side to meet his eye. ¡°Oh, it was nothing. It was just an ident.¡±
Yu Zhenhai studied his expression. ¡°Brother Xia, please do not fool me. My information tells me that Thunder Horse¡¯s drone had plummeted and exploded. Is that true?¡±
¡°Yes, it is.¡± Honestly, Xia Lei had not thought of fooling anyone.
There was an abrupt change to Yu Zhenhai¡¯s expression. ¡°Brother Xia, I was even hoping for you to provide a solution to our problems. Why did your drone fall just like that?¡±
Xia Lei smiled sheepishly. ¡°Even if there was no issue, it is just a drone. I don¡¯t think that can solve your worries, right?¡±
¡°Do you know what issues we are facing?¡± Yu Zhenhai asked instead.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Of course. It¡¯s the issue in the southern waters.¡±
Yu Zhenhai hummed. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it be a solution? That shit ass court made a ruling with no regards to the facts. The American fleets now have an excuse to provoke us. Didn¡¯t you say that your drone has absolute invisibility? I wish to borrow it, have it carry missiles and circle the top of the American aircraft carrier. But before my arrival, I had received a surprising message saying that your drone was destroyed. Damn, this is really driving me crazy...¡±
Xia Lei grabbed Yu Zhenhai¡¯s hands. ¡°Brother Yu, there is no need to worry. Tell me when you need it by and I¡¯ll have it ready for you.¡±
Yu Zhenhai stared at him firmly. ¡°I need it in one week. It cannot take longer than ten days. But... Isn¡¯t your drone destroyed? Wouldn¡¯t it be an issue?¡±
¡°No, it won¡¯t be at all,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What do you mean? What exactly happened to it?¡± Yu Zhenhai¡¯s curiosity was piqued. Meanwhile, the few officers that came with him had varying faces of confusion.
Xia Lei inched closer to whisper into Yu Zhenhai¡¯s ear.
The older man¡¯s solemn expression was immediately dissolved by his own boisterousughter. ¡°Oh, I see! Jeez, you sneaky bastard! Haha!¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Fraud is not an issue. Brother Yu, you¡¯re a general. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re no stranger to this.¡±
¡°Look at you, being so courteous again.¡± Yu Zhenhai hooked an arm around Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder, the friendly disy looking as if they had been friends for decades. ¡°You¡¯re right. You¡¯re absolutely right. I¡¯ll be waiting with my popcorn ready then!¡±
Reaching the doorsteps of the drone workshop, Xia Lei keyed the passcode into a device. The metal door rolled aside sluggishly to reveal a sight that stunned Yu Zhenhai and his entourages on spot.
What they saw was a highly modernized drone workshop. Several workers were busy operating robots on the production line. There were a total of four Jing Ke self-destructive drones in the middle of production. On anotherrger and more refined production line, more workers and robots were assembling arger drone.
That was the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s trump card. The Phantom!
Chapter 1066 - A Call From Father
Yu Zhenhai and his entourages had arrived at the Thunder Horse Organization with knitted brows. Their visit had sessfully dissolved their anxieties away.
¡°Xia Lei, haha!¡± As he took a step out of the main entrance, Yu Zhenhai broke into abruptughter. Hisughs were booming. ¡°He really is a Chinese wonder! A man full of surprise! The whole world is going to shake in their boots!¡±
An entouragemented, ¡°Chief Yu, this is great. We¡¯ll soon be able to put up a good fight against the Americans!¡±
¡°Yeah! They¡¯re always provoking us. Our brothers had suppressed their frustrations for long enough.¡± Another entourage continued, ¡°We had to swallow our anger in the past because they owned superior weapons. Now, they¡¯re no match for us. Everything is better now that we have Xia Lei and the Thunder Horse Organization. I¡¯m definitely going to give them a punch square in their jaw!¡±
¡°Before today, I was worried about their fleet entering our waters. Now, I just can¡¯t wait for them to arrive. We¡¯re going to scare them shitless!¡± Another entourage eximed excitedly.
Soldiers were national barriers, the guardians of the country and its people. They were a group of hot-blooded people with a sense of honour! While they may speak arrogantly, this was to be expected from a soldier! If soldiers were as soft and reasonable as the literati, the country would fall.
Their cars were parked beside the Peace Mansion¡¯s gate, a few policemen diligently guarding their vehicles in a line. Just as Yu Zhenhai and his entourage were about to head over, Long Bing, Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi just so happened to leave through the door.
Long Bing greeted Yu Zhenhai with a nod and a smile.
Yu Zhenhai reciprocated the friendly gesture, even extending it to both Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi.
Jiang Ruyi and Liang Siyao gave him a polite smile.
It was only until the car doors were shut that one of themanders was brave enough to point out, ¡°Xia Lei is quite the man. I heard these three women are his wives too.¡±
¡°I too heard of something like that. I wonder what Chief Fan thinks about this. The most shocking thing of all is that all three of them are pregnant as well.¡± Anothermandermented.
¡°Haha. Judging from their bellies, Xia Lei is set to father four children soon. I¡¯m sure things will be lively at home,¡± said amander with a soft smile.
¡°Shut up!¡± Yu Zhenhai¡¯s expression turned dark. ¡°You¡¯re free to gossip about anyone but not my Brother Xia. So what if he has four wives? Go get four women if you wish to talk.¡±
Themanders were effectively silenced.
Topare themselves with Xia Lei?
Perhaps no existing man would dare to do that, let alone bear the slightest hint of confidence.
Just as Yu Zhenhai and his entourage had left, Xia Lei exited the gates with Fan Fan in his arms. Carrying her weight, Xia Lei slowly made his way to the Peace Mansion. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say that walking would help strengthen your body? Why are you suddenly tired? What is this?¡±
¡°Well, I just want you to carry me.¡± Fan Fan stered her cheek against the side of Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Carrying me is equivalent to carrying two souls. You¡¯re a lucky man.¡±
What kind of reasoning was that? How was Xia Lei even supposed to give a response?
Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi watched the two inching over to their spot. There was no jealousy in their gazes, only pure happiness and joy.
¡°Jeez, you¡¯re really doing that under broad daylight? Are you not afraid of someone seeing this?¡± teased Jiang Ruyi.
¡°Oh, sorry for making you see this. How about I have hubby carry youter?¡± offered Fan Fan with a dazzling smile.
That made the other woman giggle. ¡°I¡¯m not a little girl anymore. I don¡¯t need him to carry me.¡±
¡°I can assure you that it¡¯s superfortable.¡± Fan Fanmented and rubbed her cheek against Xia Lei¡¯s face like a kitten. Though her body was still hypersensitive as ever, she was now able to conceal it well.
Liang Siyao was suddenly reminded of something. ¡°Sister Fan Fan,e down this instant. Please stop this at once.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Fan Fan was confused.
Liang Siyao warned, ¡°It¡¯s a rather inconvenient time now. If you set a fire, you¡¯re going to have to fight it yourself. We¡¯re not going to help you at all.¡±
It was only then that Fan Fan understood Liang Siyao¡¯s words. She quickly wriggled in his hold. ¡°Hubby, please release me. I don¡¯t want to be carried anymore.¡±
All that was present on Xia Lei¡¯s face was a gigantic smirk. ¡°All four of you have starved me for months. Are you not even going to spare me some crumbs?¡±
¡°No, not at all. You¡¯ve got to wait until we¡¯re able to move around like before. When that timees, you¡¯re free to eat as many times as you wish,¡± replied Fan Fan.
Xia Lei ced her down carefully with a big pout. While he looked disgruntled on the outside, his heart was filled with shame with regret. How could he even say that he was starving? He had been well fed by the two Germans all this while!
Liang Siyao inched over and sneakily pinched Xia Lei¡¯s waist. Though she said nothing, Xia Lei was already panicking inside. Liang Siyao knew all about his rtionship with the two Germandies. In thest three months, he had been staying back at work with them. To say that nothing had happened was a tant lie. Evidently, the pinch was to chastise him and a warning.
Xia Lei silently endured it, not daring to make a single noise.
Long Bing too was fully aware of his little affair with the Germandies. But the woman felt nothing about it. In regards to this aspect, Xia Lei had to admit that Long Bing was his favourite.
Returning to the confines of his home, Xia Lei began to speak of formal matters. ¡°My loves, I¡¯m going to the southern waters in one week.¡±
¡°Huh? You¡¯re heading there? It¡¯s crazy messy over there. Why are you going there?¡± Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but worry. ¡°If the soldiers want your drone, they could just bring it there themselves. There is no need for you to be present personally. I won¡¯t be able to sleep well knowing that you¡¯re there. Can you please not go?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I need to go there for some businesses. I wouldn¡¯t go there without reason with a sane mind. If I¡¯m not going, you¡¯re not going, he¡¯s not going, then who else will go?¡±
Liang Siyao knew better than to continue convincing Xia Lei. She understood his temperament well. If Xia Lei made a decision, no one else was going to be able to change it. Despite that, she still wasn¡¯t quite ready to give up just yet.
¡°Hubby, could you please listen to Sister Siyao?¡± Jiang Ruyi joined in. ¡°Things are crazy over there. There¡¯s no guarantee that you won¡¯t be caught in a crossfire. If you went and something were to happen to you, what will be of us?¡±
¡°Hubby, it¡¯s better to not go. Just hand them the drone and end it there. The military will have its own drone maniptors. You won¡¯t be of much help even if you¡¯re there,¡± said Fan Fan in a calm tone.
Xia Lei mustered out a wry smile. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s gotten into everyone? I¡¯m not going as a front liner. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll be met with any kind of ident. There¡¯s no need to worry. Other than driving the drone, my main goal is to collect some information about the American aircraft carrier fleet. I must go to the southern waters.¡±
The four pregnant wives looked at each other, hearts riddled with heavy concern. Despite that, they knew full well that further persuasion would be futile.
¡°Darlings, don¡¯t worry. I too wish to embrace my own sons and daughters. I have no ns to die so soon,¡± said Xia Lei as he wrapped his arms around Liang Siyao and Jiang Ruyi.
As soon as his words fell, Jiang Ruyi quickly pped a palm over his lips. ¡°Don¡¯t say that, it¡¯s not auspicious.¡±
¡°Alright, alright. I won¡¯t say it again.¡± All Xia Lei could feel was warmth. Truthfully, he too couldn¡¯t bear to leave his expecting wives but this trip was a must. Other than studying the American aircraft carrier fleets, he too would stand a chance at controlling Phantom and obtain data from real battle engagement. This information would serve as the foundation to Thunder Horse¡¯s next step. Fighter jets!
¡°Be careful, alright? No matter what you do, please think of us and the children.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was a gentle lull.
Xia Le nodded. This was his promise, simple but heavy. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about something else. I haven¡¯t been spending time with you for a while now. How about I give you four a massage? Pregnancy must be hard on your bodies.¡±
¡°No, no, no. We don¡¯t want your massages.¡± Fan Fan began to panic.
Xia Lei shed them a grin. ¡°I mean a real massage this time with no ulterior motives. Go sit on the sofa, I¡¯ll tend to you one at a time.¡±
That earned a genuine smile from the four pregnant women. Their husband was a gentleman. To be wedded to a man like this had left them with no regrets as a woman.
Xia Lei began to work his knuckles diligently. It took him a full hour to be done with it.
Doot... Doot... Doot...
Xia Lei¡¯s satellite phone began to ring. Alerted, he quickly answered it. ¡°Hello?¡±
¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Xia Changhe¡¯s voice reached his ears. ¡°Listen well, I only have one minute to spare.¡±
¡°Father? Where are you ?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice trembled with emotions.
The four women immediately turned their attention onto him.
Xia Changhe did not answer his question. ¡°The Israelis had excavated four statues from the ruins of the pyramid. They¡¯re currently digging at the ancient tomb beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.¡±
Xia Lei froze, his mind immediately reying scenes of the ancient tomb. There were also two faceless warrior statues there and that tomb had belonged to the prehistoric chosen one. He was only able to ess the tomb all thanks to thepass. How were the Israelis even able to pinpoint such a secretive location?¡±
¡°All the statues will be shipped to America, the AE Research Centre would most likely head research. I¡¯m still investigating this, I¡¯ll contact you again when I find something new.¡±
Xia Lei asked, ¡°What are the Americans going to do with the statues?¡±
¡°So far, I have no idea what their goal is...¡± Pausing for a moment, Xia Changhe questioned, ¡°So... When are my grandchildren going to be due?¡±
¡°Soon.¡± Xia Lei replied, ¡°I hope that you can be here with us during their births. Would you be able to make it home?¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do my best. Also, please be careful when you¡¯re in the southern waters,¡± reminded Xia Changhe affectionately before hanging up.
The call had ended on the one minute mark.
Chapter 1067 - Missile Alteration
The Thunder Horse workshop was quiet in the night.
Four split-force air-to-air missiles were ced on the workbench. On another end was a bigger fe, the famous Eagle w anti-ship missiles in China. Now that the Thunder Horse Organization had set foot in the air force, the production of drones was no longer an issue. The only problem present would be theirck of airbat ammunition. To research and produce their own ammunition was a must but Xia Lei still hadn¡¯t had the time to do so. The risk of a war on the southern waters had intensified to a considerable extent and he was set to mobilize himself over in due time. Hence, the fastest way around this was to alter their current missiles and adapt them to the Phantom¡¯s battle system.
Annina and Sylvia were also present in the same workshop providing assistance to alter the split-force air-to-air missiles and the Eagle w.
d in their navy overalls, the German mechanics¡¯ tall stature and alluring curves was a sight to behold.
Their presence was not a hindrance to Xia Lei¡¯s productivity. On the contrary, they had helped boost his speed tremendously.
¡°Lukas, I still can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re trying to get this into your Phantom drone,¡± said Sylvia as she measured the outer shell of the Eagle w.
¡°Slyvia, there is nothing impossible with Lukas around.¡± Annina, busy with preparing the Alloy X materials, chimed in. ¡°Have you forgotten all about the miracles he had created? I certainly have lost count.¡±
¡°But this is an anti-ship missile.¡± Sylvia turned to face her. ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem for Phantom to carry a few air-to-air or air-to-surface missiles. But anti-ship missiles are different. Till this day, I have not seen any country capable of that. Germany hasn¡¯t done it and America hasn¡¯t done it either. This wish is basically impossible on technical terms. Sess would mean that a normal fighter jet possesses the possibility of bing a fleet chaser and destroyer.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°People did not think it was possible for humans to fly, but don¡¯t we have nes now? There is nothing impossible in this world, it is just a matter of feasibility and approach. As long as the n is feasible and you have the right resources, everything is possible.¡±
¡°Are you sure?¡± Sylvia cast an odd look at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Of course. Just continue watching, I¡¯ll manage to fit the Eagle w on my Phantom drone.¡±
¡°Jeez, you¡¯re so strong but why aren¡¯t our stomachs big at this point?¡± said Sylvia.
Xia Lei was immediately stunned and silent.
¡°Yeah. I find it weird too, Lukas. You¡¯re able to impregnate your wives but why not us?¡± Annina too shared equal confusion.
Xia Lei scratched his numb scalp. ¡°I have no idea. Could the problem be you instead?¡±
¡°Us? I think not. Annina and I have been to the hospital for check-ups, the doctor said we¡¯re healthy and normal,¡± replied Sylvia.
Xia Lei felt dread brewing in his gut. ¡°What¡¯s with you two? You can¡¯t be thinking about bing mothers?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t like mix-blood babies?¡± Sylvia questioned instead.
This wasn¡¯t a matter of his personal preferences, this was a question that shouldn¡¯t even be asked. If his wives at home had learnt of the German mechanics¡¯ intention, they¡¯d desperately try to chase Annina and Sylvia out of the picture.
¡°Haha!¡± Abruptughter rolled out of Sylvia¡¯s throat. ¡°Oh, you should see your own face! Lukas, it¡¯s just a joke. We have no ns to be mothers this young. We¡¯re loaded and we haven¡¯t even gotten a chance to y to our hearts yet.¡±
¡°Yeah, we wish to enjoy the world.¡± Annina too was smirking. ¡°Actually, we¡¯re on pills. Otherwise, you would¡¯ve knocked us up long ago.¡±
Ah. So it was just a joke.
¡°Damn you. How could you joke with me at a time like this.¡± Xia Lei feigned anger. ¡°Go back to work! Sylvia, refine the Alloy X into artillery shells after you¡¯re done with the measurements.¡±
¡°On it, my king.¡± Sylvia giggled.
Xia Lei raised a palm and pped it hard against her bottom.
¡°Ow! What was that for?!¡± Sylvia winced pitifully.
¡°You asked for it. I¡¯ll spank you until you¡¯re swollen if you misbehave again!¡± Xia Lei threatened emptily with a pretend fierceness.
Sylvia had nothing to say in defence.
Then, Xia Lei turned to Annina. ¡°Annina, you¡¯re in charge of cutting the materials and taking apart all four of the split-force air-to-air missiles.¡±
¡°Understood, king.¡±
¡°Lukas, why was she not spanked?¡± questioned Sylvia.
And so Xia Lei did, waving his arm over towards Annina¡¯s ass.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Annina chortled happily but was immediately cut off by dropping the wrench in her grip onto her calf. ¡°Fuck!¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± It was Sylvia¡¯s turn tough.
This was how work was like for Xia Lei and the German mechanics in the past three months. Each day no different from another.
Ending their flirtatious banter, the mechanics reflected the rigorous German work ethic perfectly.
Xia Lei too had calmed down. The man was responsible for the most important part. The ¡®brain¡¯ and the ¡®heart¡¯ of the missile.
A missile would consist of four parts. The propulsion system, the guidance system, the warhead and the body. Sylvia and Annina were responsible for the missile body while Xia Lei was in charge with its propulsion system and guidance system. To call those parts the ¡®brain¡¯ and ¡®heart¡¯ was certainly not an exaggeration.
The alteration n for the missile was surprisingly simple. Firstly, they would remake the artillery shells with Alloy X. With the invisibility offered by Alloy X, the shells would go undetected. As soon as the shells make it into the visible range, it would be toote to dodge it. Take the split-force air-to-air missiles as an example. With a speed of Mach 4, its overload was 38G. Its inevitable range would be thirty-five to forty kilometres in front of a carrier. Its enemy wouldn¡¯t escape unscathed. One simple reason for that was because no fighter can outrun a missile and no fighter had possessed the mobility that rivalled a missile. Under that situation, the locked target would most definitely be set aze.
Despite that, real-life confrontations like that were literally impossible. Modern wars were typically fought beyond visual range. Fighters would be spotted hundreds of kilometres away while the air-to-air missiles only have a shooting range of a few tens of one hundred kilometres. This was why the inevitable ranges of air-to-air missiles only existed as numerical data. It had no chance of bing reality in a battle.
However, if the aircraft carried air-to-air missiles that had absolute invisibility, it would most definitely be able to take out the world¡¯s most advanced F35 fighter!
Theoretically, once Thunder Horse¡¯s Phantom enters the battlefield, it would bepletely off the radar. It would be able to destroy an F35 without a doubt!
That was not even the most terrifying thing. Once the Phantom was capable of carrying the Eagle w anti-ship missiles, it would be able to hover over the American fleets and ce them in an absolute predicament!
Xia Lei¡¯s left and right eyes set to work. In his field of vision, the Eagle w was turned into data and independentponent images. All this information was presented to his brain, allowing him to regroup and splice things together effortlessly. They eliminated the unusable parts and optimised it, driving the bad parts to excellency.
The new perspective was coupled with the superbrain mode. This was the first time Xia Lei had coordinated all three modes at once, which was undeniably a brand new experience. All problems were granted solutions, regardless of what it was. No matter howplicated the construct was, three-dimensional images were produced in a very short span of time. With this new mode, it wouldn¡¯t be too far-fetched to say that building a space shuttle was impossible!
All obstacles met with the Eagle w anti-ship missiles were ovee under an hour. The modification n birthed inside Xia Lei¡¯s brain was terrifyingly refined and urate to the exact dimensions of its screw!
Chapter 1068 - Chaser
One weekter, above the waves of the southern waters...
The sea breeze caressed his face, the humid air bearing the unique scent of the ocean. Watching the sea extend to the horizons, the roaring of the waves brought Xia Lei into a trance.
¡°What are the Americans trying to do by bringing all six of the faceless warrior statues away? Those statues represent the six faces of the ancient alloy box. Are they actually trying to unveil its mysteries? That¡¯s impossible, there¡¯s literally no way for the Americans to be aware of its existence. All they know is the AE capsules and the sacred relic of the Knight Hospitalers. But that begs another question. If they don¡¯t know about it, why would they be so interested in the statues?¡± All it took was one call from Xia Changhe to fill Xia Lei¡¯s brain with thoughts for the rest of the week.
Footsteps were heard from behind him. It was light and almost inaudible. The approaching figure was extremely cautious or perhaps they had ulterior motives.
Without needing to turn around, Xia Lei knew who it was. ¡°Kyoko, you¡¯re still ying hide-and-seek at this age?¡±
¡°Boss, I¡¯m not ying games.¡± Tsukino Kyoko stopped creeping over and came to join Xia Lei by his side. ¡°I was just testing your awareness and listening abilities.¡±
It was only then that Xia Lei ced his gaze on her. She was dressed in a summer navy uniform that consisted of a navy short-sleeved blouse and a matching skirt. Her proud protruding chest had tented the front of her blouse tall and her ass had filled out the skirt well. This was the first time he had seen her in a uniform.
She was as attractive as ever.
¡°So what did you find out?¡± In the face of beauty, Xia Lei controlled his subconscious urge to use his left and right eyes.
Tsukino Kyoko hummed. ¡°My steps earlier would be inaudible even to a cat. Not only did you manage to pick up on it, but you were also able to recognize me. The oue of your test has shown that your ears are much more sensitive than a cat¡¯s.¡±
Xia Lei was immediately taken aback. All this while, he had only bothered to pay attention to the state of his eyes and brain. He had never once noticed anything different about his other organs. It was only natural for him to be shocked over Tsukino Kyoko¡¯spliments on his hearing.
¡°You¡¯re exaggerating it.¡± Despite Xia Lei¡¯s shock, he kept up a cool face that betrayed no thoughts.
¡°My findings are not exaggerated, it is the truth.¡± Tsukino Kyoko went on, ¡°I was only using a cat to illustrate the current sensitivity of your hearing. A cat¡¯s ear is four times more sensitive. I wasn¡¯t using a dog¡¯s ear as a metaphor because a dog¡¯s hearing is at least ten times better than ours.¡±
¡°Why do you know so much about that?¡± Xia Lei cocked his head.
Tsukino Kyoko answered, ¡°These are what my master had taught me. We¡¯re much more sensitive to movement, sound and vision than regr people. Knowing things like these are helpful in stealth inplete darkness. We¡¯re able to get close to our target and kill them off.¡±
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°Shepared my hearing to a cat¡¯s hearing but not a dog. If this is the beginning of my ear¡¯s evolution, then it can be considered pretty sensitive. Could this evolution end in a hearingparable to a dog?¡±
The creator of this universe had graced mankind with intelligence. But at the same time, they weakened the human body and the function of its organs. There were so many examples to be drawn from nature, like the sensitivity of cats, dog ears, bird wings and even the joints of a mantis. Not only was Xia Lei phenomenally intelligent, but his organs were also much stronger than any existing species!
¡°Boss, seriously. You¡¯re the strongest human I¡¯ve seen in my life. Do you not think so? I am incredibly honoured to have met you,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko earnestly, her gaze hot.
Xia Lei returned her a calm smile. ¡°Keep thesements to me only. Try not to ry it to others. They¡¯ll probably see me as a monster.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded and watched the turbulent ocean. Abruptly, she spoke up. ¡°Boss, is it alright if I wait for you in my cabin tonight?¡±
There was so much hope and anticipation in her glimmering eyes. She had never once forgotten about their promise. She didn¡¯t have a chance to initiate it back in Jingdu but now that they were away, she had a shot.
The invitation made Xia Lei feel miserable. He needed to make a decision. But no matter what decision it was, it was bound to ce him in a difficult position.
Thankfully, E¡¯er Demutu had made his appearance at a time like this. ¡°Boss, Chief Yu is looking for you. He wants you to join him on the fleet¡¯s bridge.¡±
¡°Got it, I¡¯ll be there right away.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°You two, stay on this ship and don¡¯t wander around. Do not touch anything that doesn¡¯t belong to you and avoid triggering conflicts among the soldiers, alright?¡±
¡°Hehe. There¡¯s no need to worry, boss. Kyoko and I aren¡¯t rowdy teenagers, we won¡¯t cause you more trouble on the ship,¡± assured E¡¯er Demutu.
¡°That¡¯s great to hear. I¡¯ll be leaving now then. You guys should catch up.¡± Xia Lei left the deck and headed for the bridge.
Dressed in a simr getup, E¡¯er Demutu moved to stand beside Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°Kyoko, he¡¯s still not yours yet?¡±
¡°What are you trying to say?¡± The initial warmth and gentleness in her voice were stripped away, unlike when she was with Xia Lei.
E¡¯er Demutu shrugged nonchntly. ¡°The best waters shall not flow to an outsider¡¯s field. You¡¯re the prettiest member of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. You getting together with the leader will be the best oue. What I¡¯m trying to do is to offer my help. If you should require any form of assistance, all you need to do is ask.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was admittedly a little interested. ¡°What can you help me with?¡±
¡°I can help guard the door while you get it on. I can even help you get ahold of sex supplies like lingerie and more. Would you need any of that?¡± E¡¯er Demutu raised a brow.
¡°You have those?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± E¡¯er Demutu hummed. ¡°But it is not for free. I¡¯m selling it to you at a discounted price. ten thousand RMB.¡±
¡°What the fuck? You¡¯re better off robbing me straight up!¡± Tsukino Kyoko pointed her middle finger at him.
¡°Then what about eight thousand RMB? On this ship, I am the only person who can provide for your needs..¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was rendered speechless.
On the bridge, Xia Lei spotted Yu Zhenhai.
¡°Ah. Brother Xia, you¡¯re here.¡± Yu Zhenhai waved at him. ¡°Come here and take a look.¡±
Xia Lei went closer and watched the screen with Yu Zhenhai. It was an image provided by the BeiDou satellite. An American fleet was sailing in from the Pacific Ocean. Among their ships were a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, three defence cruisers, three chasers, two frigates and one supply ship.
Yu Zhenhai pointed to the sailing ships on the screen andmented, ¡°This is the seventh fleet of the American navy. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier fleet is the USS George Washington. We¡¯re only able to see warships on the surface, there should be two or three nuclear-powered submarines underwater.¡±
The faces of the military officers beside Yu Zhenhai were solemn. While they had swallowed the mes of their anger and did not wish to admit defeat, they had to acknowledge America¡¯s strength. Based on sea battles alone, China¡¯s navy was most definitely no match for the American navy.
Yu Zhenhai uttered, ¡°If they wish to enter through the a, we might not be able to stop them. Our ships are far weaker than theirs. The military facilities on the ind have yet to bepleted either. Damn it. If time could spare us ten years, I¡¯ll be the first one to beat them up.¡±
Under various circumstances, the world had graced China with thirty years to develop from an impoverished country to the current world¡¯srgest economy body. The results were impressive but America was no idiot. They wouldn¡¯t wish to hand China more years to grow. So there came the trade barriers and technical blockades. After these tactics had fallen through, it had turned to brute force. Its resumption of the Asia-Pacific strategy was a prime example.
Even Xia Lei was shocked by the satellite images, specifically by the variety of fighter jets parked atop the USS George Washington. They were all amazing weapons for war and could easily tear apart a country¡¯s defencework if it wished. But the purpose behind his visit was to challenge the fighters resting on the USS George Washington.
¡°Brother Yu, how long more till they reach us?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Yu Zhenhai answered, ¡°Six days at most. But I don¡¯t think we have six days to spare, we need to speed up our preparations.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s stare was firm. ¡°How long would it take for my goods to arrive at the ind?¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be there tomorrow.¡± Yu Zhenhai tapped the keyboard and produced an image of an ind. It was a man-made ind created through artificial remation. Two runways were built on it and there were radars and other military facilities as well.
Xia Lei studied it and asked again, ¡°When will we reach the ind?¡±
Yu Zhenhai replied, ¡°This ind is the Dagua ind. At the speed of this chaser, we¡¯ll be able to reach the day after tomorrow. Alternatively, I can arrange a helicopter ride for you to get over there first. You¡¯ll be able to reach the ind within five hours. If you¡¯re in a rush, you would probably be able to reach Dagua ind with your goods.¡±
Xia Lei gave it a long hard thought. ¡°Guess I¡¯ll take up that helicopter offer.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll have it arranged.¡± Yu Zhenhai grasped Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°Brother, I¡¯ll be leaving this to you.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Please rest assured. I won¡¯t disappoint everyone.¡±
Chapter 1069 - The Crazy Flames of Wrath
There were strong winds apanied by an ensemble of thunder and lightning that evening. The gods seemed to be adamant at making Xia Lei¡¯s visit to the southern waters extra difficult. Despite the weather offset, Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps were not to be halted. He had travelled all the way here, he must do what he needed to do!
A military chopper moved forward in the midst of the storm. Above it was an aggressive storm and beneath it was a span of an angry sea that threatened to swallow them whole. Not only was the pilot sweating profusely, its passengers, Xia Lei, Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu, were equally tense. No matter how strong a person could be, they were nothing but a speck of dust in the face of the wrath of nature.
¡°Comrade, how long more till we reach Dagua ind?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°We¡¯re only one hour away now.¡± The pilot went on to assure him. ¡°Mister Xia, there¡¯s no need to worry. Flying during a storm like this is a verymon urrence.¡±
¡°I see. We¡¯re alright with this, don¡¯t worry. Just focus on getting everyone there safely,¡± replied Xia Lei.
The chopper continued its journey.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
The satellite phone began to ring in all of a sudden.
Xia Lei brought it to his ears after sparing a nce to its screen. ¡°Hello, it¡¯s me. Speak.¡±
Sa¡¯im¡¯s voice rang through the device. ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve arrived in Israel.¡±
¡°Be mindful of your surroundings. If you can find something on it, pursue it. If you can¡¯t continue your investigation, then stop. Your safety is of utmost priority,¡± reminded Xia Lei strongly. He had dispatched Sa¡¯im off to Israel to find out more on the Americans and the faceless warrior statues. This matter was no less important than his current business. Xia Lei needed to find out how the Americans found out that there was an ancient tomb beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
¡°Got it, boss.¡± Sa¡¯im rambled on, ¡°Yelena and Anjum Khan have probably arrived in the Philippines already. They¡¯ll probably call you soon. I¡¯ll cut myself short now and contact you again when there¡¯s something new.¡± With that, Sa¡¯im ended the call.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Moments following Sa¡¯im¡¯s call, the satellite phone rang again.
This time, it was from Yelena. ¡°Boss, we have made it to the Philippines.¡±
Xia Lei reminded, ¡°Be careful. Do not hold the intel scout higher than your own safety. Do you understand me? Do everything at moderation, do not risk your life.¡±
¡°Got it, boss.¡± Yelena shifted, ¡°There¡¯s nothing to worry about. I will reach my contact from the Russian Intelligence Department. There¡¯s no point risking my life when I can get the information at a price, isn¡¯t that right?¡±
Xia Lei just sighed.
¡°Alright, that¡¯s all I have to say. I¡¯ll call you again when there are updates.¡± Yelena immediately hung up.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but rake his mind over this. Had the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members be slothful because of the security his wealth had provided them? Had they lost all will to fight? Had they lost grip on their incrediblebat skills and efficiency?
¡°Boss, have they arrived at their destinations?¡± asked E¡¯er Demutu.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah, both sides have begun their operation.¡± The man shifted his gaze to the dark clouds outside. ¡°We too are close to our destination.¡±
At this moment, his ears had captured a faint odd noise. It wasn¡¯t the angry howl of the wind nor was it the fervent ssh of rain. It wasn¡¯t even close to the deafening thunders. He peered into the direction it came from. Sadly, his vision was impeded due to the heavy veil of storm clouds.
¡°Boss, what¡¯s going on?¡± Tsukino Kyoko detected his unease.
¡°I heard something...¡± Xia Lei frowned. The noises of the wind and ocean were too overwhelming. It interfered with his hearing.
Tsukino Kyoko closed her eyes and concentrated her thoughts. She listened. After a brief moment, she turned to him. ¡°I didn¡¯t catch anything other than the wind, ocean, rain and thunder.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu chimed in, ¡°Yeah, I heard nothing different too. Boss, could you have misheard it?¡±
Xia Lei was convinced that he heard something. It was just that he didn¡¯t know what could¡¯ve elicited such a sound. Remembering how Tsukino Kyoko closed her eyes and focused her thoughts, Xia Lei¡¯s mind birthed an idea. He too mirrored her, closing his eyes and nking out his mind.
He halted his train of thoughts. In this created tranquillity, his subconscious desperately searched for the source of the sound. The desperate urge had turned Xia Lei¡¯s hearing into the dominant sense of the body. This entire process felt like the eve of a long jump, where the athlete would focus all of their strength before an explosion exertion!
Boom! In that split second, his eardrums received light tremors. Every sound was amplified greatly. The howling sound of the wind sounded like it was big enough to flip the fleet over! The shaking sounds of thunder shook his body to its core! The waves crashed into each other furiously! And from the midst of everything, Xia Lei finally managed to close in on a faint sound. He amplified it... It was the sound of a helicopter engine!
And it wasn¡¯t just one of them. There was a group of them!
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes shot open in urgency. He eximed, ¡°Comrade! Did General Yu arrange for someone to get us?¡±
The pilot whipped his head around to stare at Xia Lei. ¡°Mister Xia, from what I know, no. I would¡¯ve gotten word if that was the case. Why the sudden question, sir?¡±
Xia Lei felt dread. ¡°There are helicopters approaching us. Four of them!¡±
¡°Huh? But there¡¯s nothing on the radar.¡± The pilot observed the radar that showed no abnormality.
¡°Are you sure about that?¡± Xia Lei pressed the question.
The pilot offered him a smile to soothe his nerves. ¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯m sure that there¡¯s nothing approaching us. If there is something, the radar would¡¯ve detected it earlier.¡±
Xia Lei closed his eyes again, ending his hearing process in a matter of five seconds. He growled, ¡°I am certain that it is four helicopters, it¡¯s closing in soon. Contact General Yu immediately, tell him we¡¯re in trouble!¡±
¡°Mister Xia, but...¡± The pilot spared another long hard nce at the radar before mustering a wry smile. ¡°There really isn¡¯t anything near us. What would you want me to tell General Yu? He¡¯s really going to yell at me.¡±
Xia Lei insisted loudly. ¡°Quit believing your radar! The onesing might be America¡¯s top-secret Comanche helicopter!¡±
¡°Huh?¡± The pilot was startled.
Before he knew it, Xia Lei was already reaching for the life vests on the cabin wall. He swiftly put it on and screamed, ¡°E¡¯er Demutu, Kyoko, get ready!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu looked at each other and immediately sprung into action. Whether there was a Comanche helicopter or not was unimportant, all they needed was a little faith in that. After all, Xia Lei was hardly wrong!
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll contact themanding department.¡± The pilot brought up themunicator.
Crackle crackle crackle...
The sharp crackling of electricity in the device was painful to the ear.
The pilot¡¯s expression abruptly shifted. ¡°Shit, our wireless signal has been disrupted!¡±
At that very moment, four intense rays of light appeared from four different directions. The chopper was surrounded!
It was indeed America¡¯s most advanced and secretive stealth helicopter. The Comanche!
¡°What the fuck?! What are they trying to do?!¡± The pilot was so angry his face turned green. ¡°This is our waters and territory. How dare they surround us here!¡±
Xia Lei quickly lowered the rim of his navy cap, avoiding any possible recognition from the opposing force. Certainly, if he was recognized here, the White House and The Pentagon would¡¯veid orders to wreck this helicopter!
Seemingly sensing his worries, Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu quickly avoided all positions that would allow identification.
At this moment, an amplified voice was broadcasted from the Comanche. ¡°You have invaded American Navy jurisdiction territory. Turn around and leave!¡±
The pilot activated the onboard loudspeaker. ¡°This is China¡¯s airspace! You¡¯re the ones invading it. Leave at once!¡±
¡°You¡¯re given one minute to leave or we¡¯ll fire.¡± The other party threatened with arrogance.
¡°Impossible!¡± The pilot was enraged. ¡°This is our airspace! Plus, our fuel is only enough for another half an hour. Having us turn back is equivalent to killing us!¡±
¡°That is none of our concern. Turn around and leave!¡± The other party demanded forcefully.
¡°Damn it!¡± The pilot roared, ¡°So you want war?!¡±
A sh of red was released from underneath the Comanche!
¡°Quick, jump!¡± Xia Lei did not dare to hesitate for another second, quickly pulling the hatch open and dove for the raging sea below.
Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu did not need to be told twice.
Right after the three escaped the helicopter, an air-to-air missile hit its body.
Ka-boom! The chopper was reduced to a ball of mes. The young navy pilot did not make it out alive, sumbing to sudden death. Till his demise, he could not believe that the American helicopters hadunched a missile on him. His tragedy did not reach the ears of themanding department.
Crash! Xia Lei¡¯s body plunged into the water. The forceful impact rendering the life vest¡¯s buoyancy useless. His body was quickly swallowed by the waves. E¡¯er Demutu and Tsukino Kyoko too were in the same predicament, bodies pushed underwater as soon as they made contact with water.
The sea continued to roar.
The chopper debris too fell for the waters.
The four Comanches began to move east.
On themanding helicopter that shot the missile, a military officer brought itsmunicator to his lips. ¡°Target cleared. Aquaman 11, you may follow.¡±
Behind the four Comanche emerged a multi-purpose Aquaman anti-submarine helicopter.
These helicopters were clearly here on purpose. They were on a mission to locate Chinese submarines, tasked to figure out the situation of this area for the approaching Seventh Fleet.
Watching the helicopter convoy leave, Xia Lei¡¯s head emerged out of the turbulent ocean surface. All he could see was red as his eyes burnt with the crazy mes of wrath!
Chapter 1070 - Surviving the Angry Sea
Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu emerged above the water surface, immediately paddling towards Xia Lei. But before the duo could even do so, a gigantic wave came crashing over, forcing them to submerge.
Xia Lei was gripped by terror but he could not help them. Before nature¡¯s wrath, he too was merely a speck of dust.
¡°Fucking hell!¡± E¡¯er Demutu raged. ¡°How dare they fire at a ce like this!¡±
Xia Lei relented, ¡°They think we¡¯re weak and the weak are always bullied. This is insanity, this is absolutely moronic. I will make them pay. I must get back at them!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko quickly grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s wrist. ¡°Hold me tight, the three of us need to stay together.¡±
Xia Lei heeded her instructions and reached out for E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s wrist. The three of them bopped and sunk, vulnerable to the raging waves like a three-leafed clover.
Thankfully, Xia Lei had managed to make a deduction in the nick of time and instructed both Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu to put on their life vests. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be able to stay afloat for long in the choppy sea. As soon as their energy was depleted, they would drown.
¡°There¡¯s a board over there!¡± In the midst of their struggle, Xia Lei spotted a floating piece. It used to be part of the chopper that was thoroughly destroyed earlier. It looked like a stic board that had a polystyrene centre.
The three of them swam over to it.
The stic board was only about three square metres big, with just enough space to amodate three adults on top.
¡°Kyoko, you first.¡± Xia Lei supported her waist and lifted her up.
Tsukino Kyoko gripped the sides and climbed up. But as soon as her palms had exerted pressure, the board began to tip over, causing her to fall into the water again.
There was only so much physical strength could do when immersed in water. Plus, the board wasn¡¯t fixed to the position. Even if she was an experienced ninja, this was a difficult task to aplish.
¡°One more time!¡± E¡¯er Demutu swam over to the other side of the board and pressed it down.
Xia Lei held her sides once again and brought her up. This time, Tsukino Kyoko managed to bring her weight to the edge of the surface. Now, Xia Lei had to lend her strength with a push to her bottom.
The navy uniform set on her body waspletely soaked. Just as she managed to bring her entire torso atop the board¡¯s surface, an abrupt wave came crashing in. It lifted her skirt onto her hips, revealing her underwear-d bottom all for Xia Lei to enjoy.
The wet piece of fabric had clung to her like a second skin. It left nothing much to imagine. The shape of her peach buttocks was clear as day and the outline of her intimacy was shown without reserve. It looked like lush hills separated by a lovely small valley.
Xia Lei shook his head and scoffed, silently chastising himself for admiring her behind at a time like this. While this scene was presented to him without choice, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but spare it a few more nces.
Tsukino Kyoko finally made it onto the board¡¯s surface. She turned around and held out her arm. ¡°Quick, grab my hand.¡±
And so Xia Lei took her hand and made it onto the board with her assistance. Then, Tsukino Kyoko carefully made it over to the other end of the board while Xia Lei climbed over to where E¡¯er Demutu was. With a heave, Xia Lei pulled E¡¯er Demutu onboard.
The three of them finally allowed themselves to sigh in relief. If it wasn¡¯t for this board, who knows what would have be of them. They would be dragged to the bottom after they eventually ran out of strength. The board was a life saviour that would help them save energy and add hope to their survival.
Xia Lei pressed on his multifunctional wristwatch and used the satellite positioning mode. He zoomed in on the map interface and found Dagua ind in no time. He said, ¡°We¡¯re about one hundred kilometres away from our destination. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be able to get there in due time.¡±
¡°I think we should contact Chief Yu,¡± suggested E¡¯er Demutu.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°No. Wasn¡¯t the incident earlier a good warning?¡±
¡°Boss, I know you¡¯re talking about the wireless digital barrier but those bastards are gone. One minute is all we need to reach Chief Yu. I¡¯m sure he will arrange a ne or boat to rescue us.¡± E¡¯er Demutu had his own opinion, evidently convinced that his proposal was feasible.
However, Xia Lei pointed to the gloomy skies above. ¡°Though we can¡¯t see it, I¡¯m sure there are American soldiers hovering above us. Based on what they¡¯re capable of, the Americans will be able to pinpoint our location as soon as your call gets through. With what they¡¯ve done earlier, do you think they¡¯ll let us live?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s words let fear creep along E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s spine.
Tsukino Kyoko agreed, ¡°Yeah, you can¡¯t make a call now. If our call gets tapped in by the American Intelligence Department, their agents would be able to conclude that our boss is in this span of time. Perhaps what will greet uster is tens of fighter jets and a warship. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of how eager the Americans wish to take the boss out, right?¡±
E¡¯er Demutu shrugged. ¡°Alright, I take back my words. Prolonging our stay in the waters in such weather is very risky.¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Let¡¯s consider if a call is necessary when we¡¯re tens of kilometres away from Dagua Ind.¡±
Following that, the three of them utilized their palms and paddled their makeshift raft towards Dagua Ind. It was sheer luck that the wind was blowing in that direction as well, allowing them to conserve their stamina and travel faster. If not, they would¡¯ve needed two full days to paddle over with their palms.
Meanwhile, on the Chinese¡¯s chaser.
¡°Huh? What do you mean you can¡¯t reach them?¡± Yu Zhenhai was positively shaking with anger. ¡°What the fuck are you doing?! If you lose him, you won¡¯t be able topensate even with your life!¡±
On the bridge, arge group of navy officers and ship operators stood silently. Yu Zhenhai¡¯s extreme wrath was warranted because onboard the missing chopper was Xia Lei, the hero of China. Xia Lei and his Thunder Horse Organization were changing international dynamics in their favour. If Xia Lei was caught up in a tragedy, the country would suffer an irreversible loss.
¡°What are you stalling there for?! Go find him now!¡± Yu Zhenhai screamed at the top of his lungs. ¡°Continue attempts to reach the chopper! Also, request for aerial support. Have the Air Forces search the area with their nes! Call the Dagua base to dispatch search boats right away!¡±
The bridge immediately bustled with activity.
¡°General!¡± The radar maniptor eximed urgently. ¡°An unidentified flying object has appeared ahead of us!¡±
Yu Zhenhai mbered over, noticing a red dot moving towards them rapidly on the radar screen. He furrowed his brows. ¡°Open the public channel and have them report their identity!¡±
The correspondent quickly followed through his order. ¡°This is the territorial waters of China. This is an illegal invasion, please report your identity.¡±
There was no response.
¡°With this speed, it¡¯s most probably arge chopper.¡± A military officer continued, ¡°I presume that this is an anti-submarine chopper, probably America¡¯s Aquaman.¡±
¡°The Americans are out of their minds!¡± Yu Zhenhai seethed with raw fury. ¡°This is our waters and they¡¯re scouting it out with an anti-submarine chopper! Illuminate it with the radar! If it refuses to leave, just bomb it right away!¡±
There were anti-aircraft missiles on the chaser, it certainly wasn¡¯t an issue for them to take down an anti-submarine chopper with ease. But what Yu Zhenhai had in mind were the ship cannons. This was merely a deterrent approach. If the chief had really wanted to wipe the aircraft out, he would need to report to the higher-ups and await approval.
¡°It turned around,¡± reported the radar maniptor confusedly.
¡°Hmph! They really think they¡¯re the rulers of this, huh? This ain¡¯t the Gulf of Mexico and this is not the Mediterranean Sea. This is not the ce for them to let their warships and nes go wild!¡± Yu Zhenhai¡¯s anger had no signs of dissipation.
But at this moment, the observer working the optical telescope eximed loudly, ¡°Report! It is not alone. The helicopter is escorted by four armed helicopters. There are five helicopters headed our way!¡±
Yu Zhenhai dashed for the ship-borne optical telescope and peered forward. Sure enough, four low-flying armed helicopters appeared in his field of vision. He immediately barked an order, ¡°Prepare for first-level engagement. Those are the Comanche helicopters capable of stealth!¡±
While stealth aircraft were practically invisible to radars, it was still observable by the human eye.
If the four Comanches were trying to attack the chaser, it would be too easy. However, it was clear that they had no courage to do so. This was a chaser for crying out loud. The weapons the Comanches were armed with could not possibly destroy a military ship of this size.
A few secondster, piercing rms red all across the ship. All soldiers quickly responded to it. The cannon shooters raced to their stations and the missile maniptors were on standby.
Just as the rms were sounded, the four Comanche stealth helicopters abruptly turned around and flew towards the Philippines.
Yu Zhenhai clenched his fist and punched the window beside him. ¡°They¡¯re doing this on purpose! Fuck! We¡¯re still steps behind!¡±
The ship was burning with rage.
On one of the Comanche helicopters, its Caucasian pilot snorted. ¡°They didn¡¯t even notice us when we¡¯re so close. If a war breaks out, I wonder how long can their old-fashioned warshipst?¡±
¡°Hahaha! David, when our fleet enters their waters, they would be theughing stock of the world!¡± His co-pilot chortled without care.
¡°Kane, let¡¯s head back to the base and have some fun with a few Filipino chicks,¡± David smirked deviously.
Kane held out a fist and David bumped it with his own. ¡°Okay, no problem. I know a ce with younger girls...¡±
Chapter 1071 - There Is Much To Tell On Our Flimsy Raft
The skies were turning darker by the hour. In the midst of ruthless winds, rainfall and core-shaking thunders, the world stomached nature¡¯s wrath wordlessly. Their wavering raft inched forward above the turbulent waves. They could capsize at any given moment.
Tsukino Kyoko was curled up against Xia Lei¡¯s chest. The man radiated a warmth that eased her shudders.
Xia Lei was blessed with a stronger immune system. Courtesy of the AE capsules, his body was able to get used to extreme environments. He wouldn¡¯t face any bodily malfunction risks in lower or higher temperature. During his time on the Dawang snow mountain, he had offered all clothes on his back to Tang Yuyan in the merciless cold. Yet, he was able to maintain hisbat abilities. The chilly air brought by the storm was just a piece of cake to Xia Lei.
While Tsukino Kyoko had the luxury of his warmth, E¡¯er Demutu was not so lucky. The pitter-patter of fat rain droplets against his body had stripped him of warmth. He was reduced into a pile of trembling limbs in a corner. Arms around across his chest tightly, E¡¯er Demutu tried his best to conserve heat. But despite his efforts, it was barely sufficient. His condition was deteriorating by the second. His skin was turning purple due to his slowing blood cirction. At this rate, he wasn¡¯t going tost till Dagua Ind.
Xia Lei nudged Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°Hey, can you move a little?¡±
¡°Why?¡± Despite her question, the female ninja had already pried herself away from his chest.
Xia Lei quickly stripped off his top and bottom, pushing the pile of fabric against E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s front. ¡°Put these on!¡±
¡°But boss...What... about... you? I can¡¯t... take that...¡± E¡¯er Demutu muttered with ttering teeth. In his perception, Xia Lei was as cold as he was. How could he take Xia Lei¡¯sst line of defence?
¡°Quit bullshitting and put them on!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was stern, not about to ept otherwise.
¡°But...¡± E¡¯er Demutu wanted to say something but couldn¡¯t.
¡°Trust me, I¡¯m not cold at all. One more clothing or one more clothing less makes no difference to me but it can save your life. Put it on and rest against my back!¡± instructed Xia Lei.
It was only then that E¡¯er Demutu reluctantly put them on and inched closer to Xia Lei¡¯s body. The contact immediately flooded him withforting warmth. Xia Lei was so warm. E¡¯er Demutu was warm, not only physically but also in his heart. There were water tracks all over his face but no one could tell.
Tsukino Kyoko returned herself to his front. While she noted that Xia Lei had given all his clothes to E¡¯er Demutu, he was still radiating as much heat as before. It was almost as if he was a rechargeable electric nket. At this point, Xia Lei was only left with a triangr brief that reserved him some modesty. Laid t against his front, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s nose and lips hovered above his sensitive groin. Her periodical huffs of warm breath were directed to the area between his thighs. His masculinity seemed to expand with the hot puffs of warmth, offering Tsukino Kyoko a show of its subtle changes over time.
Xia Lei willed to scoot backwards but E¡¯er Demutu was pliant against his back. There was no room to move.
Tsukino Kyoko seemed to have picked up on his intentions, a teasing smirk forming on her lips.
That immediately struck a nerve. Xia Lei tossed her a sharp re, a stern warning to not try anything else.
¡°Boss.¡± E¡¯er Demutu suddenly spoke up.
Xia Lei inexplicably flinched at it. ¡°Yes?¡±
¡°Are you nervous?¡± E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s tone was full of curiosity.
Xia Lei tried to calm his nerves. ¡°Is that so? Perhaps. This weather is crazy...¡±
¡°I am very nervous too. It¡¯s normal.¡± E¡¯er Demutu failed to notice anything wrong with the situation. He lifted his chin to look at the dark skies above and sighed. ¡°Boss, if I survive this ordeal... I¡¯ll return home and get married, build a family with two children. I¡¯ll train them well and have them serve you as well.¡±
¡°Please don¡¯t say things like this. You¡¯ll survive this, we¡¯ll survive this. We still have a lot of things to do, please hang in there...¡±
¡°Boss, is your body feeling alright?¡± questioned E¡¯er Demutu once again.
¡°Uh... No. Actually, my stomach kinda hurts now,¡± replied Xia Lei and then he reached over and twisted Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s ears.
The motion lifted Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s skull, allowing E¡¯er Demutu to meet her eyes in the nick of time as he coincidentally spared a nce back.
¡°Kyoko, you should help rub his tummy. If I was a chick, I would¡¯ve done it already,¡± huffed E¡¯er Demutu indignantly.
¡°Mm, sure. Where are you hurting, boss?¡± Tsukino Kyoko put on a straight face.
¡°No need, no need. I¡¯m feeling alright already.¡± Xia Lei had the sudden urge to throw E¡¯er Demutu and then Tsukino Kyoko back into the water.
¡°Boss, what do you n to do when we reach Dagua Ind?¡± asked E¡¯er Demutu.
¡°I¡¯m going to fuck them over, of course!¡± Xia Lei gnawed his lip. ¡°That young soldier died because of us, we need to avenge him! Ah- ¡°
¡°Boss, are you hurting again?¡± E¡¯er Demutu called over his shoulder, ¡°Kyoko, do your part better!¡±
¡°Alright!¡± Came Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s reply.
Xia Lei had nothing better to say.
As the raft continued to swim forward and braved the storm, stories above it seemed to umte endlessly.
There was the trademark Japanese courtesy and gentleness in Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice as she asked, ¡°Boss, how do you feel? Is my rubbing alright? Does your stomach still hurt?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko darted a tongue to wet her lips. ¡°If it still hurts, I can go on.¡±
¡°No, no, no. I¡¯m feeling much better.¡± Xia Lei could feel his head start to spin.
Tsukino Kyoko giggled and snuggled closer to his chest. But this time, she was quiet.
The rescue raft seemed to have calmed down, all three of its passengers deep in their own trances. E¡¯er Demutu imagined what his future spouse would look like. Tsukino Kyoko was busy making up filthy scenarios in her mind. Xia Lei, on the other hand, was thinking about nothing. His empty head bore no thoughts, a canvas of nkness after their earlier stress-filled ordeal.
Not long after, a ray of light began to manifest on the eastern horizon. The morning had arrived and the rain had stopped. The sea breeze chased the suffocating clouds away and arge span of blue emerged from behind. The sky was so blue that no one dared to blink. The bright glowing sun finally rose from the east, casting the calmer waves in shimmering gold. The clouds were too dusted with ayer of glitter, an ethereal sight to behold.
Xia Lei checked his multifunctional wristwatch. After a night of drifting, the stic board had miraculously stayed on the path. The distance between their current position and Dagua Ind soothed his anxiety. They were merely fifty kilometres away from the man-made ind!
Peering into the distance, Xia Lei abruptly stood up. ¡°There¡¯s a ship over there! There¡¯s a shiping to our direction!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu mbered up from their positions, craned their necks and followed the direction where Xia Lei was pointing into. There was a missile escort ship headed their way. Illuminated by the golden sunlight, a familiar red g soared with the wind. It was beautiful. Blue skies, white clouds, a silver warship and a waving red g.
¡°Ah-ha! That¡¯s part of our fleet! We¡¯re saved!¡± E¡¯er Demutu screeched and leapt. He then roared, ¡°We¡¯re over here! We¡¯re...¡±
Ssh! Just as E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s foot fell back onto the board, the entire stic board tipped over and lost its bnce. It sent them plunging into the water once again.
¡°Fuck you, E¡¯er Demutu!¡± Tsukino Kyoko cursed.
Xia Lei brought out the Viper pistol against the waistband of his briefs and shot the air.
Bang bang bang!
On the escort ship, a navy officer turned his optical telescope to the direction where the gunshots rang. It took no time for him to notice the stic board floating atop the sea surface. Stunned briefly by his finding, he quickly turned around and dashed for the bridge. ¡°Report! I found them! I found them!¡±
Cheers all across the ship!
The captain quickly picked up themunicator and took a deep breath. ¡°Reporting to Chief Yu, we found them!¡±
Yu Zhenhai¡¯s reply came in urgently. ¡°Rescue them immediately! If you lose him again, you¡¯re bound to toilet cleaning duties!¡±
¡°Got it!¡± The captain straightened his posture.
A few momentster, an armed patrol boat went zooming towards the stic board.
With a soldier¡¯s assistance, Xia Lei and his team made it up the speedboat. The soldier quicklyyered a nket over his shoulders, prompting Xia Lei to nod as thanks. ¡°Thank you,rade. Did youe from Dagua Ind?¡±
¡°Yes, Mister Xia. We were dispatched from Dagua Ind.¡± The soldier continued ¡°We were operating under Chief Yu¡¯s orders. It¡¯s a relief to be able to locate you.¡±
¡°Has my items arrived on the ind yet?¡±
¡°What items are you talking about?¡± The soldier was perplexed.
¡°Oh, nothing. Please bring us to Dagua Ind,¡± said Xia Lei. A regr soldier would hold no rights to learn of such confidential information.
The soldier skillfully drove the speedboat back to the escort ship. Xia Lei looked into the direction of the Philippines coldly.
Before the patrol boat had docked near the ship, Xia Lei brought out his satellite phone. ¡°Yelena, look into the American Philippine military base database for me.¡±
¡°What do I look for?¡± Yelena¡¯s voice came ringing through the device.
¡°Dispatch details,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°Got it.¡± And with that, Yelena hung up.
Chapter 1072 Impulse And Logic
Dagua Ind.
¡°Bastards!¡± Yu Zhenhai mmed his fist into the table. ¡°How dare they fire at us!¡±
A teacup leapt from the table then shattered on the floor. White porcin and tea leaves were strewn in a mess but no one cared.
The meeting room was filled with anger as Xia Lei described what happened to the navalmanders. They would have brought their guns out to fight the culprits now if they could.
¡°This is literally an act of war!¡± eximed a navalmander in anger. ¡°We must retaliate!¡±
¡°Yes! Retaliate! They must pay for the blood we have shed!¡± cried another through gritted teeth.
After the disappointment came about fury. Human emotions were notplicated. First anger, then fury, and after fury was madness!
In the midst of furious soldiers, Xia Lei gradually calmed down instead. Dering war was indeed a simple act. However, dering war against America was still an insane thing to do. It was the blood and lives of soldiers, as well as the livelihoods of regr people. How could one speak lightly of war like that? Especially when the opponent is America?
In this world, there was no country who could win America in an all-out war. Russia could not, China could not either. Plus, dragging a country with more than a billion people into the war would also end up being a dark page in the history of mankind.
America was aware of this too. The Americans had a simple strategy. Not only will I provoke you, but I¡¯ll also hit you too. Yet you wouldn¡¯t dare retaliate. You retaliating will mean you¡¯ll get sucked into a war. Then you¡¯ll have to worry about feeding your one billion people during an all-out war. Just their mouths would kill you. Once you copse, there will be no one else left in this world who can stop me. How could I not provoke you then?
This was not the first time either. The incident in Yugovia was a bloody example of this.
¡°Brother Xia, what do you think?¡± asked Yu Zhenhai. ¡°They killed our warriors, even almost killing you. We must show them what we think! At least avenge our people!¡±
¡°Mr Xia, just tell us what you want us to do!¡± cried multiplemanders. ¡°I¡¯ll just die on this mission if that¡¯s what it takes!¡±
¡°We¡¯ll fight them!¡± One mmed the table.
¡°Everyone, be quiet. Let¡¯s listen to what Brother Xia has to say,¡± said Yu Zhenhai.
The conference room fell silent.
After a moment of silence, Xia Lei said, ¡°Brother Yu, report this to the military leaders. We were bullied, yes, and one young warrior died. But this is still not an excuse to y with the fate of an entire nation¡¯s people. Dering war isn¡¯t something you or me can decide either. That¡¯s up to the decision-making leaders of the nation.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s words were like a bucket of cold water dumped on the group of navalmanders.
Some were woken up, while the rest grew even angrier.
¡°Mr Xia! I thought you were a brave man, yet you¡¯re just a...¡± The soldier trailed off.
Xia Lei was not angry. He said tly, ¡°I¡¯m just a coward, is that what you wanted to say?¡±
The soldier red at Xia Lei, stewing in his fury. Although he did not admit it, that was exactly what he wanted to say.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°At this point, the number of American CIA agents and special military task force members I killed have exceeded hundreds. If that¡¯s called a coward, may I know what the benchmark for not being a coward is?¡±
There was silence in the room.
They were brave soldiers but they were soldiers living in a peaceful time. Other than experienced generals like Yu Zhenhai, which of these people had killed actual humans on the battlefield?
Yu Zhenhai was furious too. mming the table, he dered, ¡°Anyone who dares call Xia Lei a coward better get the fuck out now! Last year during the Russian tankpetition, Brother Xia defeated three Japanese tanks alone in his ZTZ100. He¡¯d sted them off in front of all the other participating nations! Who else here has the guts to do such a thing?¡±
Themander who had wanted to call Xia Lei a coward felt guilty. He hesitated then saluted Xia Lei in an instant. ¡°Mr Xia, I apologise. I just...¡±
Xia Lei cut him off. ¡°It¡¯s fine, there¡¯s no need for an apology. I understand your predicament. If you all do not have courage, then this country is done for. However, sometimes, logic is the right path to take. Impulse can lead to your downfall.¡±
¡°Mr Xia, so is this case closed just like that?¡± The navalmander looked like he was hiding a lot of pain.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Of course not. Our warriors shouldn¡¯t die in vain. Plus I almost died on the helicopter. They must not shed one less drop of blood, everything they owe must be returned with interest. However, you and I have separate paths. Just hand this over to my people. We¡¯ll deal with this.¡±
¡°Wait,¡± probed Yu Zhenhai. ¡°Brother Xia, what do you mean by ¡®you and I have separate paths¡¯?¡±
¡°I made myself very clear. You do you, I¡¯ll do me. You¡¯re all soldiers, you represent the country and her people. Every move of yours will be scrutinized. But I just represent myself. I¡¯m the only one responsible for whatever I do. If needed, the country can refuse to recognise me as one of them. They can even double-cross me and put whatever sort of me on me.¡±
That was Xia Lei¡¯s n to exclude the military.
The military was a country¡¯s weapon. Mobilising troops would drag an entire country into war. China was in a critical development period now. However, the Americans wanted China dragged into war and would relentlessly cause friction with various countries. Their purpose was simple. To prevent the rise of China. China used this period of rtive peace to rise as a nation now, hence America¡¯s impatience. Their tactics have been growing increasingly brutal in order to achieve their target! If the Chinese decided to fire at the American airforce or navy, that would mean falling into their trap.
But Xia Lei acting alone was different. What could America do against him? Send assassins? That was nothing to Xia Lei!
The room ofmanders finally understood his ns. No one spoke. There was a suffocating silence in the room.
After a while, Yu Zhenhai finally spoke up. ¡°Brother Xia, are you sure you can do it alone?¡±
He smiled. ¡°Didn¡¯t I talk about this already? I have my helpers.¡±
¡°I know you do but that¡¯s just one man and one woman. What can the three of you do?¡± said Yu Zhenhai.
¡°I have my ns, of course. Brother Yu, you just need to provide a storage unit. Then transport my goods into that storage unit. That is all.¡±
¡°Tell me your ns, I want to know them,¡± said Yu Zhenhai.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Brother Yu, it¡¯s best you don¡¯t know about this. I won¡¯t have you lie in future investigations.¡±
Yu Zhenhai was stunned for a moment.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Brother Yu, report what happened yesterday to the higher-ups, then operate ording to their instructions. As for me, I¡¯ll do whatever I want.¡±
Yu Zhenhai wasn¡¯t an idiot either. At this point, if he still hadn¡¯t understood what Xia Lei implied, he didn¡¯t deserve his position. He nodded without a word.
Xia Lei said, ¡°That¡¯s good. From today onwards, I do not know you all, nor have I been here before.¡±
Yu Zhenhai said, ¡°Dismissed! Today¡¯s meeting stays in this room! Also, no one interferes with Brother Xia¡¯s work!¡±
¡°Yes, sir!¡± came a series of deafening replies.
When he walked out, a vast, blue ocean entered Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision. A flock of seagulls flew among the clouds. He looked ahead and saw a man-made ind ahead. There was a military camp, training grounds, garages and storage warehouses. It was a small but self-sufficient ce.
Tens of soldiers were training at the training grounds, drenched in sweat under the hot sun. Their focus on their training was admirable.
There were two Quasi-aircraft on the airstrip in the middle of the man-made ind.
Two transport aircraft glided into the airstrip, elerated, then lifted off into the air in a deafening rumble.
These two nes were the ones that sent the ¡®delivery¡¯ from Thunder Horse Group to this ind. Xia Lei looked at the ¡®delivery¡¯ next to the hangar and smirked. He went downstairs and walked towards the hangar. The soldiers, as ording to Yu Zhenhai¡¯s orders, left him alone. However, their eyes were filled with respect for Xia Lei.
He walked to the goods and was weed by Tsukino Kiyoko and E¡¯er Demutu who were guarding the ce.
¡°Boss, what did you talk to the soldiers about? Are we going into war?¡± E¡¯er Demutu rubbed his fists as if itching for a fight.
¡°I told them to do nothing. All they have to do is watch our performance.¡±
¡°Huh? Just the three of us?¡± E¡¯er Demutu was shocked.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Or more urately, my performance. You two are just extras.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu was speechless.
Tsukino Kyoko smiled, not feeling like she was just an extra. Anyhow, she was still the most important female extra in the show.
Doot doot doot, doot doot doot...
The satellite phone suddenly rang.
Xia Lei answered it. ¡°It¡¯s me. What¡¯s up?¡±
¡°Boss,¡± came Yelena¡¯s voice, ¡°Are you alright?¡±
¡°I¡¯m alright, do you know what happened?¡±
¡°Of course, I have already got the results from what you wanted me to investigate.¡±
¡°So soon?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
¡°The Russian informants were more than willing. I offered a high price, so three hourster I received the information,¡± said Yelena. ¡°I just knew about the Americans shooting down a helicopter and guessed that you were on it. Anjum Khan and your four girls were already prepared after they knew about this.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°What are they going to do?¡±
¡°The Russian informant¡¯s information was very detailed. We even received details on the identity of the Americans who shot at your helicopter. The two of them are celebrating at the red-light district right now.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Tell them to be careful, they must not expose their identities. Also, Giovanna and the rest rarely go on missions like this, so take care of them.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just two bastards. There won¡¯t be a problem. That will be it. I¡¯ll contact you once we catch them.¡± Yelena hung up.
Xia Lei kept his satellite phone. ¡°Start moving the goods, it¡¯s time for us to begin working too!¡±
Chapter 1073 - Phantom
It waste at night. Four Jing Ke drones and one Phantom drone had been assembled. Three modified air missiles and one Eagle w anti-ship missile was also mounted on the Phantom.
Thepletely assembled Phantom was a giant. It had a wingspan of twenty meters and was fifteen meters in length. It used vortex generators created by the Thunder Horse Group, with a force of a hundred thousand Newtons which was seventy thousand Newtons less than the F35¡¯s generator but only a third of its weight. This lighter weight meant faster flight speed, agility andrger cargo space!
Additionally, the Phantom Drone carried enough fuel to fly eleven thousand kilometres. Even when carrying cargo at its maximum capacity, it can still reach up to eight thousand kilometres. All the hardware and software on the ne were designed by Xia Lei and the rest of the team. They had basically improved upon the most advanced technology avable in the world!
How advanced was the Phantom?
Itspletely invisible Alloy X body put aside, the fact that it could carrynd-based anti-missile weaponry on its aircraft was already one-of-its-kind.
The Phantom carried three split-force air-to-air missiles hence could be considered a fighter ne. Its modified Eagle w anti-ship missile also meant it was one that carried explosives. It was a manless drone yet it was the most functionallyplete fighter jet in the world. Its ability to traverse over eight thousand kilometres with maximum capacity meant it could engage in war after liftoff from any Chinese air base across the South China sea. All the countries within the area were within its range ofbat!
However, the core of its technology was still the Alloy X.
Since the aircraft was made of Alloy X, it had the ability to bepletely invisible. No radar in this world could detect its presence. At the same time, it gave the Phantom the ability to defend itself against electronic interference, graphite bombs, electronic pulses and so on. All these electronic attacks were useless to the Phantom. Its vortex generator made of Alloy X had powerful detection capabilities. Although it was not the fastest aircraft mankind had ever created, it was still the fastest in the fighter ne industry. Air missiles could fly up to four times the speed of sound but this was a giant!
The sight of a silver manta ray shing across the sky like lightning will be a terrifying one!
After all the assembly wasplete, Xia Lei looked at the giant in the hangar and four other smaller Jing Ke drones. He couldn¡¯t help but smile with pride.
Manufacturing these five drones didn¡¯t require too much time but the preparation for all of this dated back to the time he infiltrated Lockheed Martin. With his abilities, research that took this much time was considered a very long one.
¡°Boss, do you think this can beat the American Ho?¡± asked E¡¯er Demutu.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You¡¯re talking about the American mothership¡¯s carrier-based ne, the Ho? I¡¯m afraid only the F22 and F35 are worthy opponents for this one. The Ho is nothing.¡±
¡°Are you sure it¡¯s that impressive? It¡¯s just a drone,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko, shocked.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Manless wars are going to be the norm soon. I am merely at the forefront of the wave. And yet, a manless war is actually most terrifying because both sides do not need to take into ount casualties or consequences.¡±
¡°Boss, the Phantom is impressive. If we manufacture them on arger scale, can¡¯t we beat America with just a few hundred of them?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Manufacture a few hundred of them? Do you know how much Alloy X we¡¯ve manufactured since the beginning?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in that, you know this.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°All the Alloy X that Thunder Horse has produced are here. Plus we¡¯ve used up all the raw material we had in store. It is very difficult to get our hands on the raw material and the rare metal used inside was provided by the country. It¡¯s not avable in the market at all. That is why it¡¯s impossible to build a few hundred Phantoms. At least not with the current situation.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko furrowed her brows. ¡°Then doesn¡¯t that mean we can¡¯t improve the disadvantage China¡¯s air force holds?¡±
¡°You¡¯re wrong. We only need twenty drones. My next step is to research and invent the first fighter ne belonging to Thunder Horse Group. It will use more Alloy X but it will be much more powerful. Twenty of them will be all we need. Thest step is bombers made of Alloy X. They¡¯ll use even more Alloy X than the ne but I estimate that only two will be required,¡± said Xia Lei. He already had the blueprint in his mind.
¡°I understand now. You want to build a super-fleet using tens of drones, fighter jets and two bombers and once it isplete, the Americans would not dare act recklessly,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
E¡¯er Demutu smiled. ¡°At that point, this fleet would be unrivalled. If they carried atomic bombs, then it would be even more terrifying than the current powerful American navy. At that point, they would have to be drunk to ever try to oppress China like they¡¯re doing now.¡±
Tsukino saw the scene in her mind¡¯s eye. Among the blue skies and white clouds, tens of silver drones and fighter jets, as well as two bombers, flew across. It was a powerful sight.
However, Xia Lei secretly heaved a sigh. Manufacturing just these five drones required three months and used up all his current supply of materials. Creating a fleet like that would require at least ten years! But he did not have that much time. He was left with only two years. How could heplete such arge project in two years?
¡°Boss, what you¡¯re talking about is probably only going to happen a long time from now. What about the present? We only have five drones but we¡¯re up against the United States Seventh Fleet and the Filipino military base.¡± Tsukino Kyoko quickly changed her focus to the present.
Xia Lei said, ¡°They are, but we are not going on a full war now, it is just a conflict. Not even an officially-recognised conflict.¡±
Without the participation of the Chinese military, it was considered just a conflict. The Americans would not want to provoke the Chinese military into a full war now anyway.
China was arge country with a billion people. It was not one that America could just step on. Although America had an advantage in a more powerful military force and caused more casualties, it was still a war they had to cross half the for. Supply chains would be a problem. That was why no matter what the result of the war was, America¡¯s economy would still be ruined. The European Union and Russia would overtake America, and this was not a price they were willing to pay.
¡°Since a full-scale war isn¡¯t going to happen, this is where the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s Jing Ke drones and Phantome into use. The American¡¯s aren¡¯t as powerful as they think. Their confidence is derived from their advanced technology. Without that advantage, they wouldn¡¯t dare act recklessly. I intend to shatter their confidence! That is why I do not aim to beat the Seventh Fleet but I just need to defeat the fighter jet they think is the most advanced.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s eyes glittered with excitement.
His target was the F35 fighter ne, the one that America called the most advanced fighter jet in the world!
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
The satellite phone suddenly rang.
Xia Lei picked up. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡±
Yelena¡¯s voice could be heard on the phone. ¡°We¡¯ve caught them, boss.¡±
¡°Where are you all now?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Yelena said, ¡°We¡¯re in a fishing vige. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re safe here.¡±
How far is it from Dagua ind?¡±
¡°Just over a hundred kilometres. Takes about two hours on a speedboat,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei looked at the smartwatch on his wrist. He magnified the satellite image on his watch and quickly found Yelena¡¯s current position. ¡°I see you. Prepare a fishing boat and set off in the direction of Dagua ind at six. There¡¯s a small ind about a hundred and thirty kilometres from where you are now. We¡¯ll meet there.¡±
¡°Wait, you¡¯re asking me to prepare a fishing boat, do you...¡± Yelena said in surprise. ¡°You intend toe to the Philippines?¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Yes. After dealing with the two guys, I¡¯ll go to the Philippines.
¡°That won¡¯t do. It¡¯s very dangerous!¡± said Yelena.
¡°I have my ns. Don¡¯t worry about it, just follow my instructions.¡±
¡°Alright, we¡¯ll talk when we meet. I¡¯ll go prepare now. See you then.¡± Yelena hung up.
Xia Lei kept his satellite phone. ¡°I need to talk to Brother Yu, get him to send a boat to bring us to this small ind.¡± He left the hangar.
E¡¯er Demutu said, ¡°Why does he want to go to the Philippines? Isn¡¯t it safer here?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s his style.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu said, ¡°You probably know him better than me, you even know the shape of his...¡±
Tsukino Kyoko slid a dagger out of her sleeve, her eyes terrifyingly cold.
E¡¯er Demutu smiled, not worried at all. ¡°Kyoko, don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know what you did on the boat. I just acted as if I didn¡¯t. If you touch me, I will ensure that everyone catches wind of this.¡±
As the hunter of the Zodiac team, the movement of every de of grass would never escape his eyes nor ears. How could Tsukino Kyoko hide something like that when he was so close by?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko fell silent. ¡°Uh, sell the sex supplies you mentioned to me. I¡¯ll pay you ten thousand RMB.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu and Tsukino Kyoko shook hands. ¡°Deal.¡±
Chapter 1074 - Small Island Threats
The sun was setting.
An armed patrol boat appeared in the waters close to Filipino shores. The waves bobbed up and down revealing a small ind in the distance.
¡°That¡¯s the ind,¡± said Xia Lei, pointing forward. ¡°Comrades, you just need to drop us off there.¡±
¡°Alright, no problem. But Mr Xia, you must be careful. These waters are controlled by the Filipino navy,¡± said one of the naval soldiers manning the armed speedboat.
Xia Lei patted the soldier¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Thank you, I will be careful.¡±
A few minutester, the armed speed boat arrived at the shallow waters around the ind. Xia Lei jumped off the boat carrying arge duffel bag, then waded through waist-high waters to the ind beach.
After dropping the three of them off, the patrol boat quickly turned around and drove off towards Dagua Ind.
¡°Boss, how long are we nning on staying here?¡± asked E¡¯er Demutu as he observed the situation on the ind.
Xia Lei looked at the multifunctional watch on his wrist and said, ¡°At eight, Yelena will pick us up. We have an hour till eight, we¡¯ll leave then.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu said, ¡°This ind could be dangerous. It¡¯s best we leave as soon as possible.¡±
¡°What did you find?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Nothing, I just have a bad feeling,¡± said E¡¯er Demutu.
Xia Lei was also scanning the ind using both the powers on his left and right eyes. He did not find anything either, only that it was an uninhabited ind. However, he also trusted E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s gut feeling because he was the hunter of the Zodiac Battle Team. He had the sharp senses of a hunter.
¡°Let me take a look around the ind,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei said, ¡°No, this ind is about five squared kilometres. Scouting the entire area will take at least a day. We¡¯ll be here only for an hour. There¡¯s no need for scouting, we just need to survey the area nearby.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll turn left,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°E¡¯er Demutu, you go right. We¡¯ll each travel three hundred meters, then return to meet Boss.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu nodded and turned to the right to scan the area.
Xia Lei headed straight but he did not n to scout the three hundred metres. He headed around a hundred meters ahead then returned.
¡°E¡¯er Demutu, any updates?¡± asked Xia Lei through themunication device.
¡°Not at the moment,¡± said E¡¯er Demutu.
¡°Kyoko, what about you?¡±
¡°Nothing special on my side either. I don¡¯t see any traces of human activity but...¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei grew alert. ¡°But what?¡±
¡°I found some tracks that look like they were left by a wild animal. Huge and obvious markings,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
He furrowed his brows. ¡°A small ind like that cannot sustain arge beast. Tell me, what animal is it?¡±
¡°Horse,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko. ¡°It looks like traces left behind by a horse.¡±
¡°Horse? How can there be horses on this small ind?¡± Xia Lei was puzzled.
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure they¡¯re horse tracks.¡± Tsukino Kyoko sounded confident.
¡°Where do they lead to?¡±
¡°They lead towards the centre of the ind,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei could see a bird¡¯s eye view of the entire ind through his mind¡¯s eye. It was the same as the map he saw on his watch. A very dense tropical jungle covered the surface of this ind. It wasn¡¯t possible to see every nook and cranny of this ind.
What secrets did this ind hold? The satellite image in his mind could not solve the problem at all because it was just a tiny image. The image he saw was just an approximate image so his brain could not zoom in on details.
Xia Lei opened his duffel and took out hisptop. Hisptop couldplete tasks his watch could not.
A few minutester, Xia Lei connected to a North Star locator system. His clearance level was the same as the military hence all of the resources that could be essed by the Chinese military could also be essed by him.
A new satellite bird¡¯s eye view of the ce appeared on theptop. The initially small, blurry image was magnified and clearer. With the flick of his fingers, he could clearly view the entirety of the ind.
He looked at the areas around the ind, then slowly zoomed in on the centre. Very soon, the image on the screen stabilised on the midpoint. He saw the corner of a wooden building. It was no ordinary house but a treehouse built on arge tree. It was simple but very sturdy so it must not have taken long to build.
Then, he saw more treehouses in the centre and people. They were Filipino soldiers.
He realized there was a small military base in the middle of the ind with about fifty Filipino soldiers. There were more than ten robust, stout draft horses tied to the side with wooden structures attached to their backs filled with goods.
On the other side, more than ten soldiers were helping some foreigners set up a radar device. There was a missileuncher next to the radar, with two Harpoon anti-ship missiles nearby.
Xia Lei now understood the situation. This uninhabited ind was close to Dagua ind. The Filipino radars and anti-missile weaponry were pointed at Dagua Ind!
The Filipino military was not as strong as the other countries. Their weaponry could notpare to the Europeans and Americans. However, their confidence came from backing from the Americans. Building radars and anti-ship missiles on the ind was an obvious sign that they were targeting Dagua ind¡¯s military ships!
Xia Lei picked up hismunication device. ¡°Kyoko, E¡¯er Demutu,e back. Do not continue searching.¡±
¡°I haven¡¯t reached my limit,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
E¡¯er Demutu said, ¡°Why, Boss?¡±
¡°There¡¯s a military base on the ind with Filipinos and Americans,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ming back now,¡± answered E¡¯er Demutu and Tsukino Kyoko almost at the same time.
Xia Lei opened his duffel then assembled his Gust assault rifle. He took a look at hisptop to realize there was somemotion at the military base. A troop of more than ten soldiers were travelling in their direction along with their horses.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. They were obviously a team tasked with transporting goods. If they travelled in this direction, it meant a boat would be meeting them. However, the problem was that Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu required at least twenty minutes before arriving. If the goods boat arrived at the same time, the situation would be bad.
¡°Kyoko, E¡¯er Demutu, a goods-transporting team just left the military base and is moving towards the beach. Hurry up, meet me here in less than ten minutes if possible,¡± urged Xia Lei.
¡°No problem!¡± came E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s voice and the sound of heavy breathing. He was already sprinting.
¡°Boss, why not get the armed patrol speedboat toe back here? I don¡¯t think it has returned to Dagua ind yet,¡± said Tsukino Kyoko. Based on the sound of heavy breathing, she was also sprinting.
¡°I need to confirm the situation here first. We¡¯ll discuss when you both arrive,¡± said Xia Lei. He scrolled the map with his fingers until he could see the sea between the Philippines and this ind. All hopes of calling that speedboat were dashed after he saw it. An escort ship was travelling in this ind¡¯s direction.
When he zoomed in on the ship, he scanned it with his right eye and received a flood of information. This military ship was the Philippines¡¯rgest, most powerful escort, the Rajah Humabon Cannon-ss destroyer. This ship had quite the history. It was built by the Americans in World War II. She was then transferred to Japan where she was named ¡®Hatsuhi¡¯. After Japan¡¯s surrender, she was given to the Philippines to fight the Chinese navy.
Xia Lei had received all this information when he read about the Filipino navy on the way here.
This ind had a military base and a group of soldiers was travelling in his direction. At sea, the Filipino¡¯s most powerful escort ship was also heading here. There was also Yelena, she might be driving in this direction on her fishing boat too. All these factors added together formed the worst-case scenario.
Coming to this ind was obviously a risky, stupid decision.
However, Xia Lei smiled. He took out his satellite phone and called Yelena. ¡°Yelena, where are you now?¡±
¡°About thirty kilometres away from the small ind you mentioned. I¡¯ll arrive in about half an hour,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be waiting on the northside of the ind. Take note of the Filipino escort ship, the ship¡¯s also heading towards this ind,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± came Yelena¡¯s surprised gasp.
Xia Lei did not offer any exnation.
E¡¯er Demutu and Tsukino Kyoko emerged from the jungle on both sides.
¡°Boss!¡± E¡¯er Demutu looked worried. ¡°I heard your call with Yelena. If you know there¡¯s an escort ship heading in this direction, why do you still want Yelena toe here?¡±
¡°We need to leave!¡± said Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯m here to fight. How will I fight without an opponent? In the face of America, I can still justify hiding but why would I hide if it¡¯s just the Philippines?¡±
E¡¯er Demutu smiled bitterly. ¡°This is a military base, and they have an escort ship.¡±
¡°We have reinforcements too.¡± Xia Lei typed on the keyboard and a drone system interface appeared on the screen.
Chapter 1075 - Hunting In The Jungle
Within the dense forest, more than tenpletely armed Filipino soldiers and workhorses travelled on a long-trodden path towards the beach.
¡°Hurry, hurry. The sun is setting soon. We must bring these back to the base. The Americans say this is very important,¡± urged the Filipinomander for his troops to speed up.
¡°Are these American weapons going to be used against the Chinese ships?¡± asked a soldier.
¡°These are military secrets, you are not allowed to ask questions like that,¡± said themander.
¡°It must be. With the Americans supporting us, the Chinese ships are nothing,¡± said another with contempt.
¡°We will definitely take Dagua Ind down this time,¡± said the Filipinomander. ¡°I¡¯ll let you in on a secret. The American Seventh Fleet will be travelling from a, then straight towards Dagua Ind. That will be our time to shine, we must take Dagua Ind.¡±
¡°Is that true, sir?¡± asked a soldier.
¡°Of course it is. I overheard a conversation between the two Americans. With the support of the international court, America ns to oppress China with its military power,¡± said themander.
¡°China would not be willing to hand over a man-made ind they built. That is a military base. Dagua Ind is now like a never-sinking mother ship. Would they ever give it up?¡± said the soldier.
¡°Then would we stand by just because they aren¡¯t willing to give up? Dagua Ind is now like a fishbone stuck in America¡¯s throat. Now that they have the support of the international court, it would be very difficult to find an excuse to attack if they miss this chance. That is why the Americans would never let this chance go,¡± analysed themander.
¡°Then who will fire the first shot?¡± said the soldier.
¡°Us, of course. The international court has already decided that Dagua Ind will be ours. The Chinese military base on Dagua Ind is the equivalent of encroaching into our territory. We do have the right to fire at them. And when we do, the American Seventh Fleet will help us. The Chinese military power of that ind is not enough to defend themselves.¡± Themander looked very excited, imagining the scene of them nting the Filipino g on Dagua Ind.
¡°I understand. Once we fight, the Harpoon anti-ship missile we hid on this ind will be a hidden sniper, taking down Chinese ships, right? Sir.¡±
¡°Very smart. Right, let¡¯s not talk now. Hurry up, everyone.¡± Themander urged everyone to speed up once again.
The soldiers and workhorses arrived on a considerably tter piece ofnd. It was about five hundred metres to the beach.
The Filipinomander looked at his wristwatch and said, ¡°We need to be faster, the ship is arriving soon.¡±
¡°Sir? When is the Seventh Fleet arriving?¡± asked the soldier.
Themander said, ¡°The navy fleet needs about a day but the carrier-based nes on the mother ship can fly over anytime. I think theirmander must have sent his reconnaissance aircraft to spy on them... Hehe... China¡¯s definitely going to...¡±
Before he could finish, a bullet flew right at his face and lodged itself deep into his brain.
One headshot and the Filipinomander copsed.
¡°Enemy!¡± roared someone in shock.
Bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang...
The Filipino soldiers started firing at random into the forest, causing splinters and leaves to spray up in the air. The few horses ran into the forest after the shock.
¡°The enemy is...¡± Before the soldier could finish, a bullet from the side killed him. It was also a headshot.
Without a gunshot, it was difficult to tell where the bullet came from.
When the soldier fell, another bullet came from another direction, puncturing another soldier¡¯s head.
¡°We¡¯ve been surrounded!¡± A soldier turned to run towards the centre of the ind.
Poof! A bullet entered through the back of his head and flew out of his right eye. Blood and brain spewed out of his eye.
The remaining soldiers did not dare to retaliate, opting to return to the centre of the ind.
Poof! Poof...
One by one, the soldiers copsed in pools of blood.
If they formed a formation, they might have been able to defend themselves. Too bad their decision warranted them a death sentence. A quick one too.
Two minutester, only one Filipino soldier remained.
On a tree, Tsukino Kyoko lifted the Gust assault rifle in her hand with a finger on the trigger. The crosshairs of the rifle trembled on the back of his head. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, she heard Xia Lei¡¯s voice from themunication device.
¡°Do not kill him,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Understood.¡± Tsukino Kyoko kept her rifle and jumped off the tree.
E¡¯er Demutu approached from another direction, then lifted four fingers at Tsukino Kyoko.
She smiled and then held up five fingers.
E¡¯er Demutu had four kills from the battle while Tsukino had five. The Zodiac Battle Team would always do this after every fight.
There were sixteen bodies in the forest. Without any gestures, everyone knew Xia Lei had the most kills.
¡°Boss, why should we leave him alive?¡± said Tsukino Kyoko when they met Xia Lei. ¡°The ind is small, the gunshots were enough to alert the military base. Even without this one alive, the people at the base would know what happened.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°I don¡¯t need him to report the incident, I need him to lead the way for us. There will be about sixty more people at the base, will you both be alright?¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± E¡¯er Demutu replied, ¡°You underestimate us!¡±
¡°I¡¯m ready. Boss, walk behind us.¡± Tsukino Kyoko changed the magazine on her rifle then walked in the direction where thest soldier escaped to.
E¡¯er Demutu and Tsukino Kyoko walked at the same pace, ten meters horizontally apart.
Xia Lei carried his bag, then walked briskly towards the centre of the ind with the two.
The traces left behind by thest soldier were obvious. There were not just footprints but the asional blood. It was obvious the lucky bastard was injured. After following the tracks for about five hundred meters, Xia Lei activated the powers in his left and right eyes, as well as his ears. No movement within a hundred-meter radius of himself would escape his notice.
When the trees blocked his vision, he could not see through them to search for his target but his ears were good recements. When there was wind, his eyes reced his ears. He was now a human radar.
The blood on the ground suddenly increased. After walking a short distance, Xia Lei stopped and whistled.
Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu stopped. They looked around, observing with alert caution but did not notice anything.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was locked in a direction. Theyers of trees blocked his vision so he could not use his eyes to scan the area but his ears picked up some sounds.
It was the Filipino soldier speaking in Tagalog. ¡°It¡¯s bad... bad! Someone.... Someone infiltrated this ce! The entire transport team is dead. I¡¯m... I¡¯m the only one left...¡±
These words entered Xia Lei¡¯s ears, then his brain. Tagalog teaching resources and dictionaries appeared in his mind. While he had never learned thenguage before, he had downloaded Tagalog learning resources in his brain. It was the same as before. When themander spoke with his subordinates, Xia Lei¡¯s brain still sessfully tranted everything to a ny-five percent uracy. It was a miracle unique to him.
Xia Lei lifted his left hand, then one finger. He then pointed in the direction of the injured soldier.
Tsukino Kyoko and E¡¯er Demutu nodded and surrounded the soldier in both directions.
The injured soldier was still talking. ¡°Many people! At least twenty! They surrounded us, they ambushed us! They must be Chinese soldiers!¡±
At this moment, he looked in the direction where he came from. A young Chinese man appeared. He dropped themunication device in his hand, then scrambled to grab the AK-47 next to him. Just as he grabbed the gun, an army knife reached from behind and silently sliced his throat.
The soldier instinctively grabbed his throat as it gurgled grotesquely. Bright red blood flowed through his fingers. He wanted to turn to see who would do this to him but he did not have the strength to turn his head. Three secondster, he lost too much blood and copsed.
E¡¯er Demutu lifted five fingers.
Xia Lei suddenly said, ¡°They¡¯re here.¡± He cocked his head to listen, then said, ¡°About thirty people, approximately fifty meters away from us.¡±
¡°Boss, how... are you so sure?¡± E¡¯er Demutu was shocked.
¡°I¡¯ll tell you when we get back. It¡¯s your time to shine now,¡± said Xia Lei.
E¡¯er Demutu took his duffel bag off and a few anti-personnel mines. They were small but deadly.
E¡¯er Demutu nted them quickly, choosing the spots where the reinforcements from the base would likely pass through.
Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko both found hiding spots to shoot from.
Chapter 1076 - Bloodbath
Within the jungle, thirty Filipino soldiers moved swiftly towards the reported location.
They were carrying M14 assault rifles and among them, three were carrying light machine guns, three grenadeunchers, three rocketunchers and one sniper rifle. Leading the team was a sub-lieutenant who looked in his early thirties. He was not tall but looked very strong.
The sub-lieutenant suddenly stopped when he arrived at a patch of forest, raising his left arm high.
The team stopped. Based on his gestures, they split into two and travelled ahead in two directions.
The sub-lieutenant went in front slowly, with the M14 in his hands still held up. The body quickly entered his field of vision. The body was lying face-down and there was a pool of fresh blood.
There seemed to be something under the body¡¯s shoulder.
He pointed at the body and a soldier stepped forward to inspect it. The soldier extended his M14 assault rifle barrel towards the body¡¯s shoulder, then flicked up. When the shoulder was lifted up, an anti-personnel mine leapt up from underneath the shoulder.
Boom!
There was an explosion and multiple Filipino soldiers had already copsed on the ground. Some of them had broken arms and legs, some missing a chunk of head. Other than the few bodies, the shrapnel also injured a few more.
This was the power of the mines. Since it exploded mid-air, it could cause damage in all directions. Other than being out of range or hiding behind another body, one cannot escape!
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Despite theck of gunshots heard, a few startled Filipino soldiers were shot in the head.
¡°Shooters! twelve o¡¯clock!¡± The sub-lieutenant crawled on the ground.
Ra-ta-ta!
Three machine guns shot angrily into the forest. However, the dense vegetation proved to be an obstacle for the bullets.
¡°Go!¡± roared the sub-lieutenant.
The soldiers on the ground and taking cover behind trees all rushed forward.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Bullets flew from another direction, hitting multiple soldiers again.
The sub-lieutenant was now panicking. Shooting his M14 towards the direction of the bullets, he yelled at his subordinates, ¡°Eight o¡¯clock!¡±
The shooters adjusted the machine guns to shoot at the eight o¡¯clock direction. At the same time, a few snipers ambushed from the side. However, as they moved, one of the soldiers stepped on an anti-personnel mine. It leapt in the air and exploded!
¡°Retreat! Retreat!¡± The sub-lieutenant no longer had any guts to fight. Before his subordinates retreated, he had already crawled up and ran towards the base.
The rest of the soldiers continued running.
During the few seconds they retreated, a rain of shots came from the military base. The bullets were very urate. None of them missed.
Someone copsed at every single shot!
The only person in the world who could do such a thing was Xia Lei.
It was barely five minutes since the beginning of the fight. Five minutes ago, this was a lively troop. Five minutester, only the sub-lieutenant was alive.
ck...
The sub-lieutenant pulled the trigger but there were no more bullets in his assault rifle. Tossing away his M14 assault rifle, he pulled out his handgun and fired in front of him. He roared furiously as he fired, ¡°Come out! Come out! Ah!¡±
He was in a mental breakdown. All his men were dead, yet he still hadn¡¯t seen his enemy¡¯s faces!
Just as he finished speaking, three bullets from three different directions flew at the same time. One hit his right wrist, another his left knee and thest on his right knee. He copsed on the ground from the immense pain.
He breathedboriously. A few secondster, when he had regained some strength, he scrambled for the handgun on the ground with his left hand. Just as he clutched the grip, arge foot stomped on his hand and twisted it cruelly.
¡°Ahhh!¡± screamed the sub-lieutenant. He saw a muscr Asian man, who was now staring coldly at him as if he was just a worm. Then, he saw two faces. A young Asian man and a petite yet curvy Asian woman.
There were only three people on the enemy team!
¡°Boss, why do you always have to leave one alive?¡± E¡¯er Demutu lifted the foot on the sub-lieutenant¡¯s hand and kicked the handgun away.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I need to ask him about the camp.¡± Then, he said in Tagalog, ¡°Sub-lieutenant, I¡¯ll give you a chance to live. Tell me how many soldiers there are left in the base, how many Americans and who they are. Tell me this and I¡¯ll let you go. ¡°
¡°I... I¡¯ll tell you...¡± The sub-lieutenant did not hesitate for a second. ¡°There is still one more team in the base but they are the special forces. There are eight Americans, two radar specialists and six Navy SEALs. They are there to protect the specialists.¡±
¡°What else do you know?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I... I know that when we arrived, the Americans had already called their troops over.¡±
¡°The Seventh Fleet or the tanks from the military base onnd?¡±
¡°It¡¯s the one from the Bautista Air Base.¡±
¡°Fighter nes or helicopters?¡± asked Xia Lei.
He shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know... I really don¡¯t. You¡¯ll let me go, right? You promised.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko looked at Xia Lei, who nodded.
With one wave of her arm, the short knife in her hand glinted.
The sub-lieutenant copsed, clutching his throat.
¡°Boss, do we continue to invade?¡± E¡¯er Demutu looked at Xia Lei, his eyes filled with bloodlust.
Xia Lei looked at his watch and said, ¡°Kyoko, greet Yelena and the rest at the beach. They must have arrived by now. Quickly bring them to me and E¡¯er Demutu. We¡¯ll both go to the base first.¡±
¡°No problem,¡± said E¡¯er Demutu, thirsting for a battle.
¡°Go back to the beach, Yelena and the rest should be here already. We need more people to take the base down.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko turned and sprinted towards the beach.
After she left, Xia Lei did not immediately head towards the centre of the ind. Instead, he took out hisptop to survey the ce through the satellite surveince system.
Within the military base, the special forces team was moving fast. Some entered sturdy, fortress-like structures while others set up their sniper rifles after climbing up tall trees. The SEALs wore disguises and dispersed around the radar and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t gotten to observe their hiding process in time, it would have been much more difficult.
E¡¯er Demutu did not see anything peculiar in the area. To him, the base waspletely silent. He did not know that the young man had used the powers in both his eyes to survey the entire ce.
Xia Lei focused his attention on the surface of the ocean.
The Rajah Humabon escort ship was set to arrive at noon. This gave them twenty minutes. News of the battle here might have reached the Filipino military system and the American military bases in the Philippines. That meant that reinforcement wasing in three directions.
This was why the Filipino special forces team and the SEALs were not willing to show themselves. They only had to hold on for twenty more minutes and the Raja Humabon escort ship would arrive, plus the fighter jets from the Bautista Air Base. To them, their enemies would be dead in half an hour.
Xia Lei surveyed the beach and saw a fishing boat by the shores. Yelena and Anjum Khan were already on the beach while the four knights were wading through the waters with two hostages.
He then snapped theptop shut and put it in his duffel. He got up and travelled towards the base.
¡°Boss, what kind of woman do you think suits me best?¡± asked E¡¯er Demutu suddenly.
Xia Lei looked at him in surprise. ¡°Are you alright? Why are you asking that now?¡±
E¡¯er Demutu looked very serious. ¡°Boss, this ce will be a sea of fireter. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll get to go home. Give me a suggestion, I just want to be able to imagine my wife.¡±
¡°A woman like Fan Bingbing, I guess. Suits you,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Really?¡±
¡°Someone like Liu Yan suits you too.¡±
¡°You must be joking?¡±
¡°Hehe, what¡¯s the use of thinking about this now? I¡¯ll introduce one to you when we get back. There are many pretty girls in mypany.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a promise, don¡¯t you dare lie to me.¡±
Behind them, at the beach, Tsukino Kyoko appeared on the beach.
¡°Kyoko, what about Boss and E¡¯er Demutu?¡± asked Yelena, slightly anxious.
Tsukino Kyoko said, ¡°They¡¯re going to invade the military base on this ind. Follow me, we need to go help them and quickly take over this ind.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I thought the n was that we arrive, they get on our boat and we leave. What happened?¡±
¡°Shut up and prepare to fight,¡± said Yelena.
Giovana kicked David¡¯s butt and roared, ¡°Hurry!¡±
David fell clumsily into the sand, turning around to re angrily at Giovanna.
One secondter, Theresa¡¯s middle finger was stabbed into his left eye.
¡°Ah!¡± David yelped.
Theresa said, ¡°Anymore ring and my finger will be a knife!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko waved. ¡°Stop fooling around, follow me!¡±
Rosa pointed a gun at Kane¡¯s back and roared, ¡°Run now! If I overtake you both, I¡¯ll send you to hell!¡±
Kane sprinted.
David too.
Chapter 1077 - Invading The Base!
When they were about a kilometre away from the military base, Xia Lei walked up to E¡¯er Demutu. This was necessary because even E¡¯er Demutu was unable to grasp theplete situation in the forest.
The special task force had already camouged themselves. They had camouge wear on so one might not even see them if they were in front of you. However, once they saw you, you could be sniped down very quickly.
Xia Lei walked cautiously towards the radar and then stopped one hundred meters away. ¡°Yelena and Kyoko are here.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu turned but did not see anyone. He was about to ask when he saw Tsukino Kyoko jump out from behind a tree. He was curious to know how Xia Lei noticed that but he didn¡¯t.
However, he did not ask any questions because he had witnessed too many quirks around Xia Lei and this was nothingpared to the rest.
She was followed by Yelena, Anjum Khan and four other knights. His gaze fell on the two blond Americans. Without asking, he knew that they were the American pilots who shot his helicopter down.
Xia Lei looked at the watch on his wrist. Two minutes until his estimated time. He turned to walk towards the hostages.
¡°Boss, these are the two you wanted,¡± said Yelena.
Xia Lei nodded and said, ¡°Two nights before, you shot down a Chinese helicopter. Tell me, whose idea was it and who shot the helicopter?¡±
Both of them looked at each other but did not answer the question.
Xia Lei said, ¡°You two have one and a half minutes left. If you two don¡¯t speak, I will kill you both after.¡±
¡°What do you mean by this? Who are you?¡± David asked Xia Lei. He was terrified but still bold enough to act like he wasn¡¯t.
¡°What I mean is that only one of you will live today. If I gave you two one knife so you both could decide your own fate? Then you can ignore my questions.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was t but there was a chill in it.
¡°We are war prisoners. You need to deal with my partner and I based on the Geneva Agreement,¡± said David.
Kane also said, ¡°Yes, we are American soldiers. You all must know the consequences of killing us.¡±
¡°What kind of consequences?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Kane answered, ¡°I¡¯m sure you know the answer, no? If you kill us, you will be hunted down by the American government¡¯s agents.¡±
Xia Lei smirked slightly.
Giovanna hit Kane on the back of his head with her gun. He yelped in pain and touched his head. Warm blood flowed from the wound.
¡°What do you all want?¡± demanded David angrily. ¡°We¡¯re the ones who shot the helicopter down! But we were operating on orders. We are soldiers, soldiers obey orders. If you think we did anything wrong, you should bring us to the international court. Let the jury decide if we are in the wrong.¡±
He spoke arrogantly as if he was in the right. But the entire Zodiac Battle team looked at him, amused, and also smirked with contempt.
International court?
Hrious.
¡°Alright, I know a court and the judge isn¡¯t too bad. I can bring you two there for judgement,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What court is that?¡± asked Kane curiously.
¡°The Court of the Underworld,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei had spoken in Mandarin, so it was obvious they did not understand what he meant.
Xia Lei suddenly took out his viper handgun and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang! With a gunshot, a ping-pong ball-sized hole appeared on Kane¡¯s head.
One secondter, Kane¡¯s body copsed. There was no emotion in his death. Even until death, he did not believe the Chinese man had shot him. He had thought of many things to exin and persuade the Chinese man but he did not have a chance for any of it.
¡®My goodness, no...¡± David, who initially had a little hope, broke down the moment Xia Lei fired his gun. Deep terror ensued. ¡°No, no, no, I¡¯ll tell you... He was the one who gave the orders. He was the one who fired at the helicopter. I don¡¯t have anything to do with this! I swear!¡±
¡°I believe you but you¡¯ve also made your point very clear. Let the jury decide if you did anything wrong. Go talk to the judge at the Court of the Underworld,¡± said Xia Lei.
As he spoke, he lifted his gun...
Bang!
The viper handgun shot out a bullet of vengeance, which buried itself in David¡¯s head.
The Chinese navy soldier who had been killed was avenged.
Xia Lei once said his enemies must bleed double and he had just fulfilled this promise.
David¡¯s body hit the ground, his eyes fixed in an angry re.
The Zodiac Battle Team looked at the two bodies coldly without a word.
Xia Lei looked at the watch on his hand. ¡°We have twenty more minutes to take down the base. Tiem to get to work!¡±
Rosa took the XL-2500 assault rifle from her shoulder and tossed it to Xia Lei. ¡°Boss, you should use this. I¡¯ll take yours.¡±
He took the XL2500 and tossed his Gust assault rifle at Rosa. ¡°Do you all know what to do?¡±
Yelena said, ¡°Is that even a question? Boss, you and Anjum Khan will be the snipers, we will lure them out of their hiding spots.¡±
¡°Honey, we will be watching your asses at the back. No one will hurt you,¡± said Anjum Khan to Yelena.
She red at him.
He just looked at her curvy ass and grinned.
¡°Alright, that was disgusting,¡± interjected E¡¯er Demutu. He then spoke in a low voice, ¡°I¡¯ve got some pleasure toys for you that you¡¯d like, just ten thousand bucks...¡±
Xia Lei was not in the mood to listen to this. He moved towards the radar quickly. However, he did not actually hate jokes like that because he knew that they had to rx before the big battle and this was an outlet.
Good mood led to good oues.
Even if they were heading to their deaths, might as well smile on the way there!
Anjum Khan quickly found his sniping spot. It was a tree with a diameter of more than one meter. He climbed up quickly to the top, which was about forty meters to the ground. This was the height of about ten floors so he now had the advantage of looking over half of the ind.
Xia Lei did not pick a tree. He preferred moving between his sniping spots.
Five hundred meters away from the radar.
Xia Lei had already separated from the Zodiac Battle team. There was a man-made road in front of him. It extended from the forest to the radar and the military base.
He did not take the road, instead opting to wade through the trees. He saw the map of the topography from hisptop in his mind¡¯s eye,paring it to the actual terrain as he travelled.
He arrived at a spot, then snuck his way towards a tree by the road. He slowly crouched unto the ground and then peaked the tip of his XL2500 assault rifle from the bushes around the tree.
Even without the crosshairs, he could see another sniper in a patch of grass at the end of the road.
The sniper was covered in green and mud-coloured camouge wear. If he hadn¡¯t memorised this sniper¡¯s location, Xia Lei might have been fooled.
Both his left and right eyes were activated. His X-ray and scanning properties all activated at the same time. He saw that the sniper in the grass had his sights set on the other end of the road. This sniper was very patient, lying on his stomach without any movement at all. He was using a Barrett 82A1 semi-automatic rifle. The bolt had been pulled so all he needed to do was to fire when the target appeared.
However, the SEAL team sniper did not see Xia Lei.
With both eyes working together, a flurry of data entered Xia Lei¡¯s brain. ¡°Distance: four hundred and ny-three metres, Wind: ss 1, blowing northwest, humidity...¡±
Based on these numbers, Xia Lei quickly adjusted his gun and pulled the trigger with his right hand¡¯s finger.
Bang!
With a gunshot, the sniper in the grass lost a third of his head.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°SEAL team? They¡¯re worse than I thought.¡±
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots came from Xia Lei¡¯s back, front and right sides. The SEAL team had determined Xia Lei¡¯s position based on his gunshots and were not firing blindly in his general vicinity. They were using MK18 assault rifles, the best in the world in terms of power, speed and range. Of course, they were still not as good as the Gust assault rifle.
The five remaining SEAL members fired aggressively without any restraint. But none of them were even close to Xia Lei at all. They were either lost or stopped by a tree.
During the five seconds they spent firing at him, Xia Lei was already done re-adjusting the direction of his gun.
Chapter 1078 - Killing Them With Their Weapon
All it took was one bullet. The SEAL member with his MK18 assault rifle did not even get to see his enemy¡¯s face before he died.
Bang bang bang...
Gunshots echoed.
The Zodiac Battle Team and the Filipino soldiers from the military base started to fire at each other.
The best soldiers on this ind were the six SEAL members guarding the radar and the Harpoon anti-ship missiles which were ¡®taken care of¡¯ by Xia Lei. The Filipino special force soldiers were ¡®settled¡¯ by the rest of the Zodiac Battle team members. This was the most logical distribution of work. Pitting the strongest against their strongest.
Two SEALs were killed in just under a minute. Xia Lei quickly left his first position and moved sideways towards the right side of the radar.
He travelled across four hundred meters in just the blink of an eye. The forest in front grew sparse and there were fewer obstructions to his vision. It was not a benefit nor disadvantage for him because he could see his enemies behind obstacles while they couldn¡¯t see him. However, there were only four of them so he did not mind this tiny disadvantage. At Dawang mountain, he had faced a hundred enemies. Four SEAL members were nothing!
As he was about to rush out of the forest, Xia Lei suddenly stopped and leaned with his back against a tree trunk. A flurry of bullets flew past him just as his body went behind the trunk. The trunk shook as splinters flew and rained down on him.
¡°He¡¯s there!¡± One SEAL member used his MK18 to restrict Xia Lei¡¯s movements as well as alert his partner.
Not just his partner, even the two SEAL members on his left also fired towards Xia Lei while running towards him.
Four MK18s were fired manically at Xia Lei¡¯s hiding spot. Their response and teamwork were seamless. Two people fired while two people reloaded so theypletely trapped Xia Lei with their shots. Under such a rain of bullets, exposing himself would only mean certain death! He couldn¡¯t run faster than bullets!
The tree trunk quickly cracked under vigorous fire as if it would copse at any second.
Bang! A SEAL member fired a grenade at Xia Lei¡¯s hiding spot.
Boom! The trembling tree trunk crashed into the ground along with the explosion.
All four SEAL members shot at the space revealed by the fallen trunk.
None of the bullets hit anything because Xia Lei was not behind the tree.
Bang! Bang!
Two gunshots rang out as the two SEALs still searching for Xia Lei copsed. They did not understand how Xia Lei could have escaped their sight and circled next to them.
The two left started firing at his direction but their opponent suddenly disappeared into the forest like a ghost! It seemed as though he was faster than their bullets!
But no one in this world can run faster than a bullet. Xia Lei¡¯s brain merely calcted the best route to escape the enemy¡¯s sight, where to attack and at what moment to dodge the bullets. It was as if he had a cheat sheet in a game!
Just as the SEAL members lost their targets and were preparing to hide, Xia Lei flew out from behind a tree trunk.
Bang! Bang!
The viper handguns in his hand fired two consecutive shots, each bullet burying itself right in their foreheads. It was as if the shots had been measured with a bullet because they were fired at exactly the centre between their eyebrows.
When the two bodies hit the ground, Xia Leinded on the ground. Supporting himself with both palms, he flipped himself upright and stood on the ground. The moment hended, he sprinted towards the radar¡¯s control room.
The radar control room was built sturdy but had a wooden door.
Within the control room were two engineers. One stood by the door with a gun in hand, ready to shoot any enemy who opened the door. Another was calling for help through a satellite phone. ¡°They¡¯re going to reach us! When are the nes arriving? What? Half an hour? Be patient? How the fuck are we supposed to be patient under these circumstances?!¡±
Xia Lei, who had arrived at the door, took the XL2500 assault rifle off his shoulder and lifted it horizontally. He aimed the barrel at the engineer standing by the door.
¡°How many of them? How would I know? Just send someone to save us?¡± The engineer was having a mental breakdown.
Not many in this world could withstand the looming threat of death.
Bang! With one gunshot, the XL2500¡¯s bullet punctured the wooden door and then the engineer¡¯s chest. Due to the powerful momentum, his chest was torn open and his body thrown up in the air and flung several metres backwards.
Xia Lei kicked the wooden door open.
The engineer on the call tossed the satellite phone away and extended an arm to grab a gun on the table.
Bang!
Thest engineer copsed. At such close range, a shot at the stomach would¡¯ve been fatal, let alone the heart.
The radar control room was now cleared.
Xia Lei picked up hismunication device and said, ¡°I¡¯m done over here.¡±
Anjum Khan¡¯s voice came from themunication device. ¡°Boss, those were six SEAL members, how are you so quick?¡±
¡°How many left on your side?¡± Xia Lei started to control the radar.
¡°Three more... Bang...¡± After the gunshot, Anjum Khan said, ¡°Two more.¡±
With the three Zodiac Battle team member¡¯s intelligence, plus the four knights, thirty special force soldiers were not a problem.
¡°Meet me at the radar after you¡¯ve killed everyone. Over.¡± Xia Lei kept the device. A map of the sea around the ind appeared on the screen. It showed that one ship was approaching the ind.
Boom!
A bomb fell from the sky, causing a patch of the forest surrounding the base to erupt. Smoke and fire shot up into the air as the entire ind shook!
Xia Lei zoomed in on the satellite map of the ind. The Rajah Humabon was currently firing at the ind. Based on the satellite input, the Rajah Humabon was also deploying armed patrol speedboats. There were around a hundred soldiers heading toward them.
Boom!
The Rajah Humabon fired at the ind again. The second bombnded at the forest outside the camp once more. It was an explosive designed to rm for it was obvious themander did not want to hurt his own people or the radar and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. He guessed that the enemy should be around the military base and his cannons should be able to kill off a few!
Boom!
The third shot was fired.
Xia Lei ran to a workbench. It was the controls for the harpoon anti-ship missiles.
---
The bridge of the Rajah Humabon.
Boom!
The fourth explosion.
The captain studied the ind with his telescope but could not see anything other than the dense vegetation.
¡°Captain!¡± said the subordinate, ¡°Do we continue to fire?¡±
¡°Of course! Kill them all!¡± The captain was furious. ¡°How dare they invade our military base. I need them to know that provoking the Filipino military is a stupid thing to do!¡±
¡°Yes, Captain.¡± The subordinate grabbed amunication device. ¡°Continue to fire! Increase your fire rate!¡±
Boom! Boom! Boom!
They increased the frequency of shots as if with the intent of sinking the ind!
¡°Sir!¡± gasped a crew manning the radar. ¡°This is bad. We¡¯ve been targeted!¡±
¡°Who targeted us?¡± roared the captain. ¡°Is it the Chinese ships? I¡¯ll sink anyone who darese here!¡±
¡°No... It¡¯s...¡±
¡°What is it?¡± roared the captain.
¡°It¡¯s the Harpoon anti-ship missile on the ind!¡± The crew at the radar was drenched in a cold sweat.
¡°How... How is that possible?¡±
Whoosh! A harpoon missile shot up into the air from somewhere in the centre of the ind and then flew towards the Rajah Humabon.
Within the ship¡¯s bridge, all the crew and officers¡¯ faces paled. Their minds nked the moment they saw the missile!
The missile approached them in the blink of an eye. There was no time even for the ship to activate their anti-missile mechanisms or to intercept it.
¡°No...¡± The captain¡¯s eyes widened with fear and hopelessness.
In the next second, he watched as the missile flew towards the windows of the bridge and plunged itself inside this ship.
Boom! The entire bridge was torn apart. Forget about survivors. There was not even a single body that remained intact!
Rumble! The entire Rajah Humabon was ripped in half. The soldiers who managed to get on the armed speed boats were not ready for any battle, many jumping into the ocean to save themselves. The injured ones wailed on the deck, begging for their mates to bring them with. It was chaos.
Within the radar control room, Xia Lei left the harpoon missile workbench. He entered the spy satellite interface once again and noticed a new target. A fleet of aircraft flying from a. The two leading nes were the most advanced F35 nes in the world, with six Hos behind. Every one of them was armed to the teeth with explosives!
The main stars of the show were finally here.
The Filipino military? They were not Xia Lei¡¯s target nor opponents at all. His true opponent was the American Seventh Fleet.
Tsukino Kyoko appeared at the door. ¡°Boss, we¡¯re done. We should retreat now!¡±
¡°Boss! Did you fire a missile at the Filipino ship?¡± Anjum Khan appeared too, his response different from hers. He looked very excited and emotional.
Yelena, E¡¯er Demutu and the four knights arrived too.
None of the Zodiac members were injured. They were only slightly dishevelled or dirty.
Xia Lei knew they were waiting for his decision so he said, ¡°No, we are not retreating. I want to fight the American Seventh Fleet here. They need to experience our pain...¡±
¡°You¡¯re already bombed their ship and the rest are fighter nes, what can we do?¡± said Anjum Khan.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Bring a stool outside and watch the show.¡±
Anjum Khan stared with wide eyes at his boss.
Chapter 1079 - Seventh Fleet
Five hundred nautical miles west of a.
The United States Seventh Fleet rode at top speed towards a.
Within the bridge of the USS George Washington, Wilshire was looking at the screen of the satellite imagery. He was themander of the Seventh Fleet.
The screen showed the Filipino ship sinking with several dots around it, indicating those who abandoned ship and were now swimming.
¡°This must be the top elite team of the Chinese navy,¡± said the Chief of Staff, Taylors.
¡°You think so?¡± said Wilshire.
Taylors replied, ¡°If they were terrorists, why would they attack the Philippines? And do terrorists this powerful even exist?¡±
¡°If they aren¡¯t terrorists, then they must be Chinese. But I can¡¯t believe the Chinese could invade a Filipino military ind and sink an escort ship in such a short period of time.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t believe it either but it happened,¡± said Taylors. ¡°Based on the current situation, it looks like China is ready for war.¡±
Wilshire said, ¡°China is the fastest-developing country in the world with a billion people. Why would they provoke a war so hastily?¡±
¡°They aren¡¯t trying to provoke a war, they are dering war.¡±
Wilshire huffed. ¡°Their decision-makers must be acting rashly. All the US wants is to see China dragged into war. China has always shown restraint. The incident at the embassy of Yugovia is an example. Guess they cannot hold themselves back any longer. This is an opportunity given by the heavens. The European Union is in chaos, China dered war against the Philippines. If we beat China this time, then America will rule the world.¡±
¡°Sir, are we proceeding with the Tamer Project?¡± asked Taylors.
Wilshire said, ¡°Of course we are. China has dered war against the Philippines and is now in the wrong. The United Nations will stand on our side. Then we will attack Dagua Ind and China will not dare touch us.¡±
Taylors replied, ¡°Yes, as long as we take Dagua Ind, it will be the same as pricking their throats with a needle. We will then control an important part of the Chinese economy.¡±
Wilshire picked up themunications device and said in a low voice, ¡°Attention everyone! The Tamer Project begins now. All military personnel, prepare for battle. We will take Dagua Ind down!¡±
A few minutester, on the USS George Washington, a Global Hawk lifted off from the deck and flew towards a.
Then, an electronic-warfare aircraft shot into the sky. Behind it were eight Hos escorting the Global Hawk towards a.
This was the standard battle protocol for the American fleet. The Global Hawk would survey the area, the electronic aircraft would disrupt the enemy¡¯s radars while the Hos performed a surgical strike. It was a very clean operation
After the nes took off, the bridge entered a battle stance. Many crew members dealt with dataing from the warnes while also viewing data which came from the satellites above them. Everything looked normal for now.
¡°We estimate to be able to clear the radars and anti-aircraft facilities on Dagua Ind in one hour. As for the other military targets on the ground, we will have to send ships to destroy them,¡± said Taylors.
Wilshire said, ¡°The Chinese have military ships and submarines at this patch of the ocean but they are no match for the Seventh Fleet. How can a military without a mothership fight us? And we have the F35. Their fourth-generation warnes are only in the testing phase. They are no match for us at sea and in the air. This war will not be a difficult one, I think we can end it within two hours.
¡°Sir...¡± Taylors wanted to say something but stopped.
Wilshire looked at Taylors. ¡°Chief, you wanted to say something?¡±
¡°Sir, I think we are forgetting one person and hispany,¡± said Taylors.
Wilshire paused for a moment. Suddenly remembering something, he said, ¡°Chief, you¡¯re referring to Xia Lei and his Thunder Horse Group?¡±
Taylors nodded. ¡°Yes, Xia Lei and the Thunder Horse Group. One week ago, the Thunder Horse group was testing their drones. Our informants asked him a few questions disguised as reporters and witnessed the entire test pilot process.¡±
Wilshireughed drily. ¡°I know of their results. That was aplete joke. Their drones are ugly and have no impressive points at all. The most hrious part is that they even crashed. Chief, what is the meaning of mentioning Xia Lei and his Thunder Horse Group now? Are you worried they might interfere with the Tamer Project?¡±
A few officersughed. The Seventh Fleet could easily destroy a medium-sized country¡¯s anti-aircraft facilities and important military bases, even assassinating their leader if needed. How could Xia Lei and the Thunder Horse Group stop them? Let alone their Tamer Project.
¡°Sir, I suggest you watch the recording our informants provided,¡± said Taylors.
Wilshire smiled. ¡°Alright, no problem. I can watch Thunder Horse make a joke out of themselves again.¡±
Under Taylors¡¯ instruction, a technician quickly opened the file with the video.
On arge screen was a simple, ugly drone flying in the sky. It looked ugly without any elegance in its design. It was not flying fast, just a little faster than a helicopter. It did not have any mounts for weapons so it could not carry any bombs.
This was the Thunder Horse Group¡¯s drone, Jing Ke.
¡°Haha!¡±ughed one officer. ¡°What is that for? To waste our bombs?¡±
¡°Using a missile to fire at it would be a waste,¡± said another with a grin. ¡°It¡¯s so slow and does not carry any bombs. My machine gun will take it down instantly.¡±
Amidst theughter, Jing Ke suddenly fell from the sky.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Wilshire guffawed. ¡°This is the funniest drone I¡¯ve ever seen. This belongs to the circus, not the battlefield.¡±
Just as he spoke, the Jing Ke drone crashed into the ground with a loud rumble. The camera shook and the video was filled with a blinding white light followed by a shockwave. It was powerful enough to knock the informant with the camera over!
A few secondster, everything returned to normal. The informant zoomed in on the camera and a crater could be seen. This crater was enough to hold one trunk.
At this moment, no one wasughing.
The soldiers standing there were all seasoned military men. They were not idiots. Anyone could see that it was a ¡®suicide¡¯ ne. It did not carry any bombs because it was the weapon itself!
Taylors said, ¡°Actually, I just received news that our specialists found Thunder Horse Group¡¯s Jing Ke drone to be a self-destructing drone. It is as powerful as several Tomahawk missiles strapped together. Our experts suspect that Jing Ke can also be equipped with atomic bombs. This means it¡¯s no longer a drone, it¡¯s an atomic bomb!
Wilshire said, ¡°Chief, are you worried that Thunder Horse will attack us with these drones?¡±
Taylors replied, ¡°Yes, I am concerned. Commander, think about it. China has shown restraint for decades without dering war. Why have they suddenly got the guts to do it? And they knew we wereing with our Seventh Fleet, yet they still did this anyway.¡±
¡°Chief, you are right to be worried but I don¡¯t think it will be a problem for us. This drone is too slow to approach us.¡±
¡°This is bad!¡± said a messenger suddenly. ¡°Our pilots say they have encountered Chinese nes!¡±
¡°What?¡± Wilshire¡¯s jaw dropped.
The news fell like a bomb on the bridge. No one could believe it because no one had received any alerts of nearby enemy nes!
¡°No, it¡¯s a drone!¡± came the messenger¡¯s voice. ¡°A drone without any markings! Please look at the recording from our electronic aircraft!¡±
A live stream appeared on the screen.
Four simple drones were heading towards a from the South. They flew in a horizontal row, each drone about two hundred meters apart and in a straight line. This was a crystal clear live feed from the Global Hawk. They were a mere few kilometres away from the Seventh Fleet.
¡°They¡¯re Jing Ke drones from Thunder Horse!¡± someone recognised, as they had all just watched the video of the Jing Ke drones crashing.
¡°How is that possible? Our radars did not even pick them up?¡± gasped the crew manning the radars.
Taylors¡¯ eyes were fixed on the four drones on the screen, his brows tightly furrowed. He could no longer suppress his fears. The radars could not pick them up but their eyes could. However, this situation in modern warfare only meant certain defeat!
¡°What are they trying to do?¡±
¡°Does China want to chase us back with four drones?¡±
¡°Self-destructing drones like these are very powerful. Since they fly so slowly, we can shoot them down once they get close with our automatic anti-aircraft weapons!¡±
The bridge erupted in a discussion.
Wilshire suddenly said, ¡°Fire at them using our electronic warfare aircraft. Bring them back!¡±
Themand was quickly issued to the respective people.
Chapter 1080 - A Manless Battle!
The ne in charge of carrying out the order was the Growler electronic warfare aircraft. It was currently the most advanced warne in the world. Its trump card was being able to disrupt allmunications the size of a city. It could also cause flying missiles to deviate from their paths and even paralyse an entire militarymunications unit. Using it against four manless drones was overkill.
However, the information transmitted from the Growler to the USS George Washington made everyone¡¯s jaws drop. The four Jing Ke drones werepletely immune to the Growler¡¯s electronic baiting!
Completely invisible and immune to electronic attacks. These two abilities were enough for the Jing Ke drones to demand a respectable position amongst the warnes!
The air within the bridge of the USS George Washington was silent and tense. The officer and his crew were used to the concept of America leading the world. They did not know any other country with military power strong enough to be a match for America. However, four ugly drones were all it took to render their Growler helpless, and worse, their Seventh Fleet and spy satellites could not even detect the drones!
Within the live stream from the Growler, the four Jing Ke drones suddenly ascended while still flying towards the Seventh Fleet. To the drones and their master behind-the-scenes, the six Hos were nothing but air.
It was an insult!
¡°Damn it!¡± Wilshire yelled furiously, ¡°Hos, attack! Destroy them!¡±
On the screen, the six Hos also ascended. One of them fired a Sidewinder air missile.
It was an infrared guidance missile.
The drone that was locked on by the Sidewinder missile suddenly flew towards the missile. The other three dove towards the ocean at an rming speed.
Boom! The Jing Ke drone that was originally locked on by the missile exploded upon impact. The shockwave spread out in all directions, smashing into the Ho that fired the missile. In a second, it turned into a fireball!
Not just this Ho, the rest of the Hos suffered varying levels of damage. The pilot from Ho that sustained the most damage activated emergency ejection protocol!
The three Jing Ke drones left suddenly ascended after flying low then turned around. It looked as if they had been startled and now wanted to return home. One of the Hos still capable of battle chased it down but the three drones suddenly elerated to fly as fast as missiles.
Everything looked like a show written out by a screenwriter.
Now the opponent had lost one drone but the Seventh Fleet lost two Hos. The rest of the four all sustained different levels of damage. This was supposed to be an easy fight, yet America was going to walk away with a swollen face.
Plus these were actually in international waters. The Seventh Fleet was in the wrong. The four drones had the right to fly over this area. The Seventh Fleet were the ones who fired first.
Within the bridge of the USS George Washington.
Wilshire¡¯s face darkened. ¡°What the hell happened! Four drones! Yet the Growler could not intercept them! And two Hos were destroyed, the other four damaged!¡±
¡°There¡¯s something wrong with that drone!¡± said Taylors. ¡°No, there¡¯s something wrong with all four drones. It looked like our missile caused the explosion upon impact but I suspect it self-destructed!¡±
¡°What has that got to do with anything?¡± said Wilshire. ¡°We¡¯vepletely embarrassed ourselves in this encounter!¡±
¡°I don¡¯t understand why the three drones would turn back.¡± Taylor¡¯s gaze was filled with confusion, he was deep in thought.
¡°I don¡¯t care what tricks they are trying to pull. They were just a few drones. We will send our F35 warnes and Hos to bomb the Filipino military ind, then Dagua. Our Growler and Global Hawk must proceed with the Tamer Project. The goal is China¡¯s Dagua Ind military base!¡±
¡°Sir, are you still going to attack Dagua Ind?¡±
¡°Yes, I suspect the three drones willnd at Dagua Ind¡¯s military base. If we¡¯re lucky enough, we¡¯ll take them down too,¡± said Wilshire.
¡°Change to the satellite image of the first ambush team,¡± said Taylors.
Obeying hismand, the crew showed the stream of two F35 warcraft and four Hos flying on therge screen. The six American aircraft flew silently towards the Filipino ind in the darkness of the night sky like silent ghosts.
Wilshire¡¯s voice was cold. ¡°I don¡¯t care if the four drones were controlled by the Chinese military or Xia Lei. They shall feel the wrath of the Seventh Fleet! We must show them what we are made of!¡±
¡°I think thetter is more likely,¡± said Taylors. ¡°Xia Lei is a must-kill candidate on the American government¡¯s cklist. He has already threatened the American military power as well as position on the international stage. If he is the one controlling the drones, we might have a chance to kill him.¡±
¡°Get all our nes to head towards Dagua Ind,¡± said Wilshire with a low voice.
Xia Lei was likely to be on Dagua Ind. That was enough to make all the nes on the USS George Washington to lift off. All the explosives on all the nes were already enough to tten the entire Dagua Ind!
This manic air raid was all because of the possibility of Xia Lei being on the ind. This showed how determined the Americans were to destroy Xia Lei!
One by one, warnes lifted off from the USS George Washington and flew towards a.
Meanwhile.
On the Filipino ind.
Xia Lei looked at the fleet of warnes on the radar screen. He couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly. ¡°Really? You guessed I was on Dagua Ind just because of my drones? You even sent all your nes after me? Do you want to kill me that badly?¡±
He typed on the keyboard and a new image popped up on the screen. Six flying objects were heading in his direction at top speed. The spy satellite showed that they were two F35 and four Hos in a battle formation.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll y with you then.¡± Xia Lei moved hisptop over and got to work.
Theputer showed aplicated interface to man the drones. It controlled all the drones Xia Lei brought over this time, including the Phantom Drone he hadn¡¯t used yet.
At the bridge of the USS George Washington.
Themander pilot¡¯s voice came from themunication device. ¡°The Tamer has arrived, please advise if we should fire. ¡°
Wilshire spoke into the device, ¡°Fire!¡±
Just as he spoke, arge object appeared on the giant screen. It had emerged from among the clouds like a sh of silver lightning straight at the Seventh Fleet¡¯s battle nes!
¡°That¡¯s...¡± came a gasp from the pilot on the radio. ¡°That¡¯s a drone!¡±
Gasps could be heard on the bridge of the USS George Washington.
¡°It looks like an F22!¡±
¡®But is it a drone?¡±
¡°What¡¯s hanging underneath the ne?¡±
¡°My goodness, it looks like the Chinese Eagle w anti-ship missile!¡±
¡°That¡¯s impossible. Even warnes cannot carry anti-ship missiles, how could a drone do it?!¡±
¡°Our radars still aren¡¯t responding! Is it invisible too? If that is the case, when the drone fires the missile at us, we¡¯ll be fish food!¡±
The bridge erupted in conversation. Emotions ran high as they discussed this drone.
¡°Destroy it!¡± roared Wilshire into themunication device.
An F35 warne fired an AIM120C air missile.
When the missile was about to hit the drone, the drone suddenly lurched and dodged the missile in.
There was a sharp inhale within the bridge. No one expected such arge drone to be so agile! It was as if its massive size meant nothing!
The missile, which missed its target, flew off into the distance and never returned. Under regr circumstances, after locking on a target, it would boomerang around to chase its target. Yet, it was now hurling off into the distance!
¡°Our missile couldn¡¯t lock on its target!¡± Taylors thought of something and yelled furiously, ¡°The previous drone wasn¡¯t hit by our missile, it just pretended to collide with our missile and self-destructed at the most suitable moment!¡±
Since the radars could not pick up on it, then all the electronic warfare aircraft¡¯s attacks were rendered useless. How could their missiles lock on Thunder Horse¡¯s drones now? The brutal truth was now out in the open. Perhaps no missile will be able to lock on the Jing Ke drones!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Another F35 warne and two Hos fired their own air missiles at almost the same time. The F35 shot an AIM120C missile while the Hos fired an infrared-guided Sidewinder.
The massive, silver drone suddenly descended quickly and all three missiles flew straight ahead without turning back. Both types of missiles failed to lock on! They were just like stones fired from a child¡¯s slingshot!
The world¡¯s most advanced warnes and missiles now looked like rubbish.
It waspletely silent within the bridge of the USS George Washington. In the one-minute long encounter, the American military¡¯s pride and power had burst like a bubble.
Chapter 1081 - The Turning Point Of An Era
¡°I noticed something in the intel our informants sent.¡± Taylors was abruptly reminded of something. He went on, ¡°That was actually a deliberate signal from Xia Lei. He mentioned that the Thunder Horse Organization was not working on only one drone model but two. From the video earlier, the drone we destroyed was the Jing Ke drone. What we are seeing now is the drone Xia Lei was very secretive about. There is not much information on it so far.¡±
Wilshire hummed. ¡°That drone is truly the most advanced drone Thunder Horse Organization has put out. The earlier Jing Ke model was just a self-destructive drone. But not only did this measly drone carry regr missiles, but it was also able to transport an anti-ship missile. It was invisible to our radars, which means it can easily break past our air defencework and just appear over our heads andunch its missiles!¡±
The tension growing on the ship was stifling. There was only one thing that everyone could imagine. A stingray-like drone announcing its presence silently above the Seventh Fleet. The only time one could see it would be when it enters the field of vision of the optical telescope. Even then, it would be considered as an indetectable existence. The drone was essentially able to destroy the fleet whenever it wished!
However, this wasn¡¯t the factor that brought them the most fear. What made them tremble most was if China had created tens of these or even hundreds of these. What would the oue be like?
In the gigantic screen, the stingray-like silver unmanned aircraft suddenlyunched an air-to-air missile.
¡°How dare it attack our F35s!¡± roared a Caucasian military officer.
His booming voice snapped everyone out of their daze, bringing their attention back to the screen.
In that split second, the silver air-to-air missile flew right into an F35 fighter jet. Everything happened so abruptly that the F35 couldn¡¯t respond to the threat!
It birthed a deafening explosion, its mes rushing for the sky. The F35 worth over two and a half billion USD was reduced to debris. Then, everything was burned into charcoal with the heat and shockwaves!
¡°It... It really just did that!¡± The seething Caucasian officer stared at the screen with wide eyes, utterly dumbfounded.
It was obvious he had forgotten that the American fighter jets had fired not one but four air-to-air missiles towards the silver drone.
Despite that, the four missiles graced by the American fighter jets did not manage to scratch its surface once. On the other hand, all it took to turn the world-renowned F35 fighter jet into a ball of mes was a single air-to-air missile!
¡°Contact the Pentagon now!¡± Wilshire barked out orders. ¡°Tell them that a Chinese drone has perished one of our F35s!¡±
¡°No...¡± Taylors¡¯ voice trailed off.
On the screen, the silver drone casuallypleted an aerial flip beforeunching another air-to-air missile.
Ka-boom!
Another F35 fighter jet was turned into a fireball. It suffered the same fate as the first F35. Its pilot was not alerted of it and did not have enough time to respond appropriately.
¡°No, it¡¯s two F35s...¡± This somewhat seemed to be words missing from Taylors¡¯ lips.
All signs had shown that the silver drone was absolutely invisible. Even its missiles were invisible too!
Missiles of this kind would trigger no response from the radar upon locking targets. Prowling onto its target, its speed was almost six times the speed of sound. There was no way for an active anti-aircraft missile to intercept in time. At such speeds, the pilot would only be able to see it the moment he was shot!
¡°Commander!¡± The huffing Caucasian military officer turned around. ¡°They¡¯re attacking our fighter jets! This is a tant deration of war! We shouldunch nuclear bombs onto their country!¡±
¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± Wilshire, who had been dead silent the entire time, finally lost it. He turned around forcefully and yelled, ¡°Can¡¯t you see what just happened?! You fucking idiot! If China has tens of these drones, what are our Navy and Air Forces going to need to defeat them? Nuclear bomb my ass! Do you think we¡¯re the only ones with nuclear bombs? China has them too! The anti-ship missile on their drone is obviously a modified version of the Eagle w anti-ship missile. Their altered Eagle ws can definitely carry out nuclear loading!¡±
The USS George Washington fell into gloomy silence.
The Seventh Fleet soldiers had just taken a huge beating but theirmander was demanding that they swallow their fury!
Disyed on the screen, the four remaining Ho fired Sidewinder missiles again.
Nothing was different, the missiles were once again off target.
Whoosh!
The silver droneunched its veryst missile, sting one of thest Hos into mes. The Ho¡¯s pilot was deprived of a chance to escape due to its insane travelling speed!
That was the silver drone¡¯s final air-to-air missile. It was now depleted of its fighting ability.
Taylors immediately thought of something. He urgently screeched, ¡°Knock it down! Knock it down!¡±
Wilshire was quick to pick up on his idea. The man spun around and yelled frantically. ¡°For the sake of America, knock it down! We need to get a hold of it!¡±
If they could collect it as a sample and replicate the drone, America could hold its reign over the world¡¯s sky!
The three Hos hesitated. It couldn¡¯t be med, this was something they needed to rush into heads first after all.
Wilshire further added, ¡°The American president will personally award you your Medal of Honour!¡±
The Congressional Medal of Honour was awarded by the American President in the name of the Congress, hence its name. It was the highest acknowledgement an American soldier could hope to get in their career. From the founding of the country till this day, only one hundred and twenty-three soldiers were awarded it during World War I, four hundred and thirty-five soldiers during World War II, one hundred and thirty-one during the Korean War and two hundred and forty in the Vietnam War. There were only a mere nine hundred and ny-two soldiers who could call this medal theirs!
In the face of great honour, the pilots were finally motivated. They rushed towards the silver drone from three different directions.
Without warning, the silver drone began to increase its altitude, zooming upwards to the clouds. The three Hos pursued it, but their speeds were no match for it.
Back on the USS George Washington, a battlefield data analyst gasped out loud, ¡°Oh god... Its speed has reached Mach 5.0!¡±
Everyone onboard was ck-jawed.
The maximum limit of the F35 was merely Mach 2.0 but this unassuming silver drone was able to hit Mach 5.0!
In the world of fighter jets, Mach 1.0 was subsonic and Mach 5.0 was already supersonic. These speeds were only ever heard of on missiles but this was a drone!
The Hos quickly lost sight of it.
¡°Reporting to themander. We lost the target. Requesting for return.¡± One of the pilots requested the flyingmander.
That moment seemed to have aged Wilshire by ten years. Voice devoid of its initial vigour and strength, he replied, ¡°Approved, you may return.¡±
With that, the three Hos disappeared off-screen, reced by a fleet of fighter jets about to cross the Straits of a for Dagua Ind to execute a bombing mission. Great numbers would always add to its majestess.
While this was usually a blood-pumping scene, it elicited no joy from the Seventh Fleet soldiers. The Americans had initiated two battles and both had ended in absolute failure!
For a country that imed to be a hegemony, the oue was certainly hard to swallow. They had gotten used to getting things their way. It was absolutely difficult to stomach that they were just defeated!
¡°Lieutenant General.¡± Taylors ced his attention on Wilshire. ¡°Are we still going to bomb Dagua Ind?¡±
Wilshire¡¯s expression was horrid, his eyes riddled with hesitation and worry.
Taylors went on, ¡°If the Thunder Horse organization has created a certain amount of drones for China, it will be dangerous for our fighter jets to go on with the n. We might even...¡±
The worry was valid. If the Chinese army had possessed a certain amount of these drones, there was a great chance that China would heighten its defences if the Seventh Fleet were to st Dagua Ind. When that happens, all of the Seventh Fleet¡¯s fighter jets and even the air fleet carrier would perish!
Despite that, Wilshire hadn¡¯t considered giving up just yet.
Just as Wilshire was stuck on the fence, an observer at the optical telescope suddenly eximed, ¡°Iing enemy nes!¡±
The group of military officers rushed to the observing window.
Above them were three approaching silver Jing Ke drones. They looked absolutely horrendous but menacing at the same time.
¡°Shoot them down!¡± One of the officers screamed.
¡°No!¡± Wilshire quickly stopped him. The man growled, ¡°We do nothing.¡±
Immediately, questioning nces were focused on Wilshire. Do nothing? In that case, the three Jing Ke drones had enough power to sink a chaser ship and even damage the USS George Washington greatly!
Surprisingly, Wilshire continued on with a new set of orders. ¡°Call all fighter jets back! We¡¯re ditching the Tamer Project!¡±
¡°Commander, what?¡± A military officer couldn¡¯t believe his ears.
Wilshire exined, ¡°I believe that their drones are able to collect footage. We were the ones who initiated battle both times. All aftermath would fall into our responsibility. Are we going to fall for it thrice? It makes no difference if we st Dagua Ind open. The Filipinos can¡¯t even defend that ind. If we really went through with the n, China would intensify all fighting efforts. We must not rush into a battle with China without proper intel!¡±
He too shared the same concern as Taylors.
Above the skies, three Jing Ke drones continued to make rounds around the Seventh Fleet without signs of hostility.
Hos that were dispatched earlier, F35 fighter jets and all kinds of electronic fighter jets and rm nes had returned to hover over the Seventh Fleet. Swiftly, theynded atop the USS George Washington. Those Jing Ke drones continued to share the sky with them without intent to harm.
Tonight certainly was a turning point. The era of America¡¯s reign over the ocean and skies were over.
Chapter 1082 - The Departure of the Seventh Fleet
After all the carrier-based aircrafts had left, it was USS George Washington¡¯s turn to follow suit. Following it, all warships, including the submarines, had too mirrored its motion and left towards where it came from.
Three Jing Ke drones hovered over them, providingpany to their departure towards the far end of the Pacific Ocean.
The USS George Washington bridge.
¡°What are they trying to achieve?¡± An officer hissed with unmasked anger.
¡°Are they nning to follow us back to America?¡± Another officer studied the sky.
A lot of military officers shared the sentiment. Honestly, it would be easy to destroy the three drones but they didn¡¯t dare to do so. What they felt now was the oppression they doled out in the past. This feeling certainly wasn¡¯t great.
Wilshire was silent. This felt like an insult to his military career. To the entire American navy, this was unmistakably a deeply ingrained embarrassment!
The correspondent¡¯s voice rang in all of a sudden. ¡°Commander! There is a call request through a public channel.¡±
Wilshire regained hisposure. ¡°Did they mention who they are?¡±
¡°He says he¡¯s Xia Lei,¡± said the correspondent.
¡°ept it!¡± Wilshire went over to his station.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice could now be heard in the room. ¡°I am Xia Lei. Greetings, soldiers of the Seventh Fleet.¡±
¡°Pfft!¡± A radar maniptor choked on his water. A few military officers quickly sent him a look, causing the man to frantically p a palm over his wet jaw.
Wilshire screamed into the device. ¡°I know who you are! Are you trying to make fun of us?!¡±
¡°You¡¯re too sensitive, Sir. I merely wish to greet you.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°I¡¯d like to express my gratitude for making the right choice. War does no good for both parties. If a war were to break out between the Chinese navy and the Seventh Fleet tonight, there will be victors in war. Both of you will be its losers.¡±
His deliberate use of ¡®both of you¡¯ did not go unnoticed.
Wilshire frowned. ¡°You¡¯re trying to say...¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°The unfortunate event that took ce yesterday night was between me and you. But I am willing to shoulder all responsibility.¡±
¡°You think you¡¯re worthy of that?!¡± Wilshire roared into the device.
Xia Lei¡¯s voice remained calm. ¡°This meek responsibility is not an issue for me. I have allowed my drone to take a test flight over these waters but your nes have attacked them. Out of self-defence, I too have fired shots. Under these circumstances, if you deem me guilty of a heavy crime, you may charge me at the International Court of Justice. However, I can¡¯t guarantee my physical attendance to the hearing and I will notpensate you. I have kept all recordings of our exchange. I am not afraid of sharing it to the world either.¡±
¡°You¡¯re insane!¡± Wilshire huffed.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°I wish to talk to you to settle our differences. If you keep this attitude up, there is no point continuing this conversation. I¡¯ll make this clear. This is my doing. Whatever you wish to do, bring it on! However, I must warn you. Thunder Horse Organization has already produced ten Phantom drones for the Chinese military along with fighter jets and bomber nes that you have never heard of. Thetter have capabilities surpassing these measly drones you have seen tonight. They are certainly capable of sending you back to the Civil War.¡±
The silence in the USS George Washington was a suffocating one.
Turns out, the stingray-shaped drone was named Phantom. And yet, it wasn¡¯t even the most technologically advanced aircraft the Thunder Horse Organization had produced! They even had fighter jets and bomber nes ready!
To be fairly honest, many were reluctant to buy Xia Lei¡¯s words. The slightest possibility of the scenario had meant that China possessed enough power to start a full-blown war with America! With contextid, how could America simply provoke a country that was equipped with Thunder Horse products?
There was a beat of silence before Wilshire spoke, ¡°Are your fighter jets made with the Alloy X?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone has gotten a good look at the functionality of my drones. Your so-called most advanced fifth-generation fighter, the F35, is no match for it at all. You should head back and report to the Pentagon and White House about everything that transpired tonight. Kindly ry a message to them on my behalf. Ask them to be a little more courteous to us in the future. Your return to the Asia-Pacific strategy is a joke. I don¡¯t want to hear any more arguments on that and you better not intervene in our affairs.¡±
¡°What will happen if we don¡¯t?¡± Wilshire suppressed his seething rage to the best of his ability. ¡°Are you going to lead an attack on us?¡±
¡°Hahaha.¡± Xia Leiughed. ¡°I am a lover of peace. I wouldn¡¯t do something like that. However, let¡¯s not forget that I¡¯m an arms dealer. I¡¯ll sell my fighter jets and drones to organizations and countries you don¡¯t favour. What do you think will happen when a few particr Middle Eastern organizations get a hold of my drones?¡±
¡°You...¡± Wilshire was pissed beyond words.
That was truly a severe threat.
The 911 incident was a tragedy that scarred all of America. If the Middle Eastern terrorists owned a few Jing Ke drones or even the Phantom drones, history might just repeat itself!
Fearfully, Xia Lei was just as capable as he imed to be. He wasn¡¯t a political entity. Anything he imed could be done!
¡°Mister Wilshire?¡± The prolonged silence prompted Xia Lei to speak up.
Wilshire hardened his expression. ¡°I will ry your message to the Pentagon and White House.¡±
¡°Thank you, Mister Wilshire. Goodnight, soldiers of the Seventh Sleet.¡± Xia Lei ended the exchange.
A stifling heavy atmosphere shrouded the USS George Washington in stunned silence. No one could find the will in themselves to speak another word for long.
In the skies, the three Jing Ke drones had finally left.
Back in the Philippine military base...
With hisptop in his grip, Xia Lei exited the radar station. All of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were throwing him nces filled with admiration and respect. The weak would always respect the strong. They felt incredibly honoured and proud to be able to serve under someone as great as the man before them.
Indeed, to defeat the Seventh Fleet and chase them back to the Pacific Ocean was a feat many countries couldn¡¯t aplish. Xia Lei, on the other hand, had achieved it on his own.
¡°Boss, I...¡± Tsukino Kyoko failed to express her feelings in words, but she made it up with bodily movements. She quickly threw herself on him and embraced him tightly. Then, she tipped toes to peck him gracefully.
Women loved heroes. What had happened earlier was enough to get her hormones running wild. It wasn¡¯t entirely weird to see such a reaction from her.
Xia Lei was sheepish but said nothing against it.
The Grey and Russo sisters looked at each other oddly. Everyone felt weird about the situation but they just couldn¡¯t pinpoint where exactly.
¡°Uh.¡± E¡¯er Demutu teased with a smirk. ¡°Kyoko, can you give me a hug like that too?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Keep dreaming for the rest of your lives. But you cane over and try to hug me instead?¡±
E¡¯er Demutu quickly shook his head. ¡°Ah, nevermind. I don¡¯t wish to be stabbed or poisoned by you.¡±
Yelena uttered, ¡°Boss, what do we do now?¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t you arrive at this ce with a fishing boat? We can use it to get back to Dagua ind, get some rest and then return to China,¡± suggested Xia Lei.
¡°Sure. I¡¯ll go fetch the boat.¡± Yelena nodded.
¡°Hey, I¡¯ll go with you.¡± Anjum Khan slid over. ¡°After all, I can¡¯t just let my babe go alone. Those Filipino soldiers that fell into the waters earlier might¡¯ve already made their way onshore.¡±
Yelena graced the Indian man a smile. While he was a tad bit too horny for his own good, he was a very observant and caring lover.
Xia Lei said, ¡°How about we all go together? If wee across any Filipino soldiers, I¡¯m sure you all know what to do, right?¡±
¡°Hehe.¡± Sa¡¯im snickered. ¡°We¡¯ll fuck them up!¡±
Their retreat speed wasn¡¯t rapid by all means. Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had used a full half an hour toe near to the beach where they arrived at.
There were lights moving around atop the sandy shore, apanied by the chatter of the Filipino soldiers.
One of the military officers was contacting someone through hismunicator, evidently emotional. ¡°What? The Seventh Fleet retreated? Why? How could they abandon us with no regards? The Chinese destroyed our warship! Fucking hell, the Americans yed us like a fiddle...¡±
Between the trees of the jungle that fringes the beach, Anjum Khan raised his sniper rifle. Its muzzle was aimed at the screechingmander.
¡°Rx.¡± Xia Lei reached over and pressed Anjum Khan¡¯s weapon down.
Anjum Khan nodded, giving up on killing the military officer.
On the beach, more than a hundred drenched soldiers gathered together. They had jumped into the sea to escape to safety, hence their heavier weapons were lost in the process to ease off some burden. As a result, they had arrived on this ind with handguns as their sole form of defence. It was worth noting that they most probably did not have additional magazines too.
The fishing boat Tsukino Kyoko had driven over was on the other end of the beach, veiled from sight by a reef rock. At the moment, no one had managed to notice it yet. That wouldn¡¯t be the case for long as a few Filipino soldiers were making their way in that direction. They were scouting the ind to eliminate any possible threats.
¡°Boss, please allow me to kill them,¡± requested Tsukino Kyoko.
E¡¯er Demutu offered, ¡°I¡¯lle with you. The scouting team is a nuisance. It¡¯ll be bad if they find our boat. We¡¯ll be left with no way to leave this ind if they find it.¡±
Xia Lei suddenly snapped his head towards the direction of maind Philippine. His expression grew solemn.
Yelena too followed his line of sight but saw nothing. Curiosity piqued, she asked, ¡°Boss, is something wrong?¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°It¡¯s a Comanche helicopter. Trouble ising.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t the Americans leave already?¡± Giovanna asked meekly.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°The Seventh Fleet were the ones who left. But if the CIA had done their deductions based on current incidents and confirmed that I am indeed on this ind, the American soldiers stationed in the Philippines would definitely be assigned with something. They might even resort to sting this ind open with missiles.¡±
¡°If that¡¯s so, aren¡¯t we in grave danger?¡± Yelena¡¯s expression hardened. ¡°To destroy all Filipino soldiers on the beach is not difficult. But if we sail across the sea with the fishing boat, it¡¯d just make us an easy target for missiles.¡±
¡°Fuck!¡± E¡¯er Demutu ran a hand through his hair. ¡°If that is true, let¡¯s go bomb the American base!¡±
¡°Let¡¯s not do anything for the moment. Let me make a call first.¡± Xia Lei brought out his satellite phone and dialled for someone. ¡°This is Xia Lei. Please help connect me to the Dagua Ind base. I need to speak to General Yu Zhenhai.¡±
Chapter 1083 - Trapped in a Cage Of Bullets
Yu Zhenhai¡¯s reply came quickly through the satellite phone, the man was audibly excited. ¡°Brother Xia, excellent work! Hahaha... It feels great!¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Oh, Brother Yu... I¡¯m finding it quite difficult tough as you have. I¡¯m stuck on the ind. Can you arrange for someone toe get me?¡±
¡°We¡¯re on our way.¡± Yu Zhenhai smiled. ¡°You did such a great job. There¡¯s no way we could just sit down and do nothing! I¡¯ming over personally to pick you up. Without support from the American soldiers, the Filipino navy is nothing but boy scouts. If they dare fire at you, I¡¯ll make them pay ten times over!¡±
Xia Lei chuckled over the phone. ¡°Then I¡¯ll wait for you on the west side of the beach.¡± Pausing for a moment, he rearranged his thoughts. ¡°My Phantom drone has alreadynded on Dagua Ind. Could you have someone load it with new split-force air-to-air missiles? I think we might need it soon.¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ll see to it right away. I¡¯ll see you soon.¡± Yu Zhenhai ended the call.
From the conversation, Xia Lei could hear the faint crashing of waves. It was obvious that the man had already left the Dagua Ind military base. As the main figure of the South China Sea navy, Yu Zhenhai¡¯s presence would mean a majestic lineup. Without the Seventh Fleet¡¯s support, the Filipino navy and American soldiers stationed in the Philippines were no big deal!
Xia Lei kept away his satellite phone, expression evidentlyx. ¡°I booked a ship. We¡¯re going to be home soon.¡±
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members rxed slightly.
But right at this moment, the Filipino soldiers searching the west side of the beach finally noticed the fishing boat hidden behind the rocks. A second lieutenant eximed, ¡°We found their boat! They are still on this ind!¡±
¡°Fuck them up!¡± Someone roared.
¡°Destroy those barbarians!¡± Another vigorous scream.
The beach was instantly filled with yells and noises. A colonel ranked Filipino officer began tomand his subordinates into the forest along the beach for a search. At the same time, he used amunicator that was spared from water damage to contact the Filipino military base to request for support.
Before the soldiers had even made it inside the forest, four Comanche helicopters and a Chinook aircraft appeared above the ind. The Comanche helicopters immediately dispersed off into different directions to surround the ind area. The Chinook let down a few ropes and more armed marines began to descend from above.
Above the waves, tens of armed patrol speed boats were zooming over fast. Each of it had carried Special Force members of the US Marine Corps and CIA agents in civilian clothing.
With this situation, it was not hard to tell that the CIA had deduced that Xia Lei was indeed on this ind by piecing together urrences and new intel!
The Seventh Fleet had left but that was a strategic decision. It was important to know that the CIA acted independently of the Seventh Fleet. If a great chance to kill off Xia Lei was presented, the CIA would definitely do all they can to aplish their goal. As long as the CIA could show convincing information, the White House and the Pentagon would approve their operations without hesitation. They would even dispatch the stationed American soldiers to support them!
The iing American party was a sight that elicited excited screams from the Filipino soldiers. The highest-ranking Filipino colonel quickly went over to discuss with the American militarymander in charge of this operation.
Xia Lei ducked down low between the trees and locked his focus on their lips. Then, he activated his lip-reading ability.
The Filipino colonel and the Americanmander conversed in English.
¡°Our men found their boat on the west of this beach.¡± The Filipino colonel reported. ¡°The fact that their boat is still here means that they¡¯re on this ind. We¡¯ve surrounded them from all directions, there¡¯s no room for escape!¡±
The Americanmander hummed in thought. ¡°We too suspect that Xia Lei was on this ind. Tell your soldiers this. Shoot immediately as soon as you spot the man in this picture. Those who took out Xia Lei will be rewarded with five million USD.¡± He held up a picture of Xia Lei.
¡°No problem!¡± The Filipino colonel answered.
¡°Lead your soldiers on a search in the forest and we¡¯ll provide you with weapons, equipment and aerial support,¡± said the Americanmander.
¡°I will make sure to kill him personally,¡± promised the Filipino colonel. Five million USD was more than enough to let him livefortably for the rest of his life.
In the forest, E¡¯er Demutu whispered, ¡°Boss, looks like we need to return to their base. They¡¯re about to conduct a carpet search and we can¡¯t fire at them. As soon as we fire, it¡¯ll give away our hiding spots. The Comanche helicopters above also have targeted shooting. We won¡¯t be able to escape their machine gun assault.¡±
Surprisingly, Xia Lei had something different to say. ¡°We cannot return to the ind¡¯s base.¡±
¡°Why?¡± E¡¯er Demutu was perplexed.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°Can¡¯t you see that the American soldiers are merely surrounding the edges and not joining the search? They¡¯re just here to confirm the situation. As soon as they confirm our presence, I can guarantee that missiles will be fired. Thending spot was most probably the military base at the centre of the ind and the radar station.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu finally understood his rationale. ¡°No wonder they¡¯re noting in even though they are very menacing. It¡¯s so rare for them to be providing the Filipinos with ammunition. Turns out, they¡¯re aiming to use the Filipinos as cannon fodder.¡±
Yelena let out a cold snort. ¡°Americans treasure their lives greatly. Why would they willingly toss themselves to death? The Filipinos had always been their cannon fodder. With what happened in front of our eyes, if the Filipinos refuse to be cannon fodder, they would lose their value as an ally to America.¡±
On the beach, a few armed patrol speed boats rammed up against the shores. Boxes of weapons and ammunition were quickly handed off to the Filipino soldiers.
Giovanna couldn¡¯t help but worry. ¡°Boss, the Filipinos will reach us soon but we can¡¯t shoot them. How are we supposed to fight this battle?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko turned to face her. ¡°These are times when knives are better than guns.¡±
Giovanna met her eye, gracing her no emotions.
Anjum Khan, who was observing the sea surface with his binocrs, abruptly yelped, ¡°Boss, your prediction was spot on. The American fleet is back again, it¡¯s an Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer ship!¡±
Xia Lei had actually noticed it. The Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer ship was thergest of its kind possessed by the American navy. Judging the amount of firepower it packed, it wouldn¡¯t be an issue for it to st this ind t.
The CIA¡¯s strategy was notplicated. First, they¡¯d surround this ind and have their Filipino counterparts do the ind-wide search. The ind was small, it was inevitable for them toe across Xia Lei¡¯s team. When that happens, a shower of bullets would ensue and the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer waiting for them in the waters would not hold back. Added with the hovering four Comanche helicopters, they could kill whoever they wished!
¡°Boss, when is your boating?¡± Anjum Khan was evidently on edge.
¡°Soon, I hope. There¡¯s a high chance that the destroyer has already detected our boat.¡± Xia Lei began to strip off his bag to retrieve hisptop. ¡°But I still need to exert some real stress on the Americans or else a fight will happen.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Yelena was confused. ¡°If the Chinese military ship refuses to fire and the American and Filipino soldiers do not battle as nned, would the Americans let us go? They definitely think we can¡¯t escape this ind.¡±
¡°Well, of course, we need to engage in battle. But we¡¯re not going to involve the Chinese military ships, I will fight alone.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s fingers began to dance along the keyboard.
One hundred kilometres away, Dagua Ind.
With a full tank of fuel and loaded ammunition, the Phantom drone was driven out of the garage and sprinted along the tracks. Gradually, it left the ground and elerated for the skies above. In that split second, it disappeared out of sight.
On the beach, the Americanmander received a call. ¡°What? The Chinese military fleet ising over? Four destroyers? Xia Lei must be here, there¡¯s no mistake! They¡¯re here to pick him up! We need to get rid of him no matter what!¡±
The call was obviously made from the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer. The radar must¡¯ve picked up signals from the Chinese fleet.
¡°Order our fighter jets to take flight, scare them off this instance and st the ind base apart! I¡¯m guessing that Xia Lei and his underlings are waiting for them here.¡± The Americanmander hastily ended the exchange.
In the next second, the cannons of the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer lifted its head and fired the first cannonball.
Ka-boom!
The military base went up in mes!
Thud thud thud...
Alongside the cannon, the artillery arrays went to work, firing relentlessly at the military base. Within seconds, the military base located in the heart of the ind was overwhelmed by bullets and reduced into nothing but smoke and debris.
Whoosh!
A Tomahawk cruise missile wasunched. It flew ahead to the area behind the ind which regr machine guns and cannons could not reach.
Ka-boom!
A mushroom cloud was born.
¡°What are you still waiting for?¡± The Americanmander roared at the Filipino soldiers. ¡°Resume the search immediately. Find them no matter what it takes!¡±
The Filipino colonel screamed at his man to enter the forest.
Arge group of Filipino soldiers began entering the bordering forest in a fan formation. Their entry point was merely three hundred metres away from Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
The four Comanche helicopters slowly circled the sky, narrowing down the search area to support the Filipino soldier¡¯s efforts. As soon as Xia Lei and his team were spotted, they would start firing without regards to the Filipino soldiers below!
From the sky tond and to the sea, they were entrapped in a cage made of bullets!
Doot doot doot...
The Americanmander, still on the beach, received another call.
He quickly epted it with a solemn expression. ¡°Mister Williams. Yes, I¡¯m sure he¡¯s on this ind. There¡¯s no need to worry. Before the Chinese fleet can make it here, this ind will be burnt down to crisps. Xia Lei is done for this time. I will personally bury him.¡±
Williams¡¯s voice rang from the device. ¡°I¡¯ll repeat my reminder. Kill Xia Lei at all costs! Just ignore the Chinese fleet!¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡± The Americanmander hung up and watched the never-ending me and smoke on the ind with a cruel smirk.
Chapter 1084 - Leaving After Success
Ka-boom! Rumble...
The Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer began its ruthless assault, firing its artillery with no reservations. The centre of the small ind was already reduced to nothing but ck smoulder. All the trees were levelled, let alone the buildings. As the destroyer continued to fire at the ind¡¯s heart, it made constant adjustments to the trajectory. Its bullet stretched on to the edge of the waters, seemingly adamant on killing Xia Lei even if it required them to flip the ind over!
The Filipino soldiers made a temporary entrance into the forest, creeping closer to Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members.
Hovering closely above the Filipino soldiers was a Comanche helicopter. With its firing system constantly on battle mode, they¡¯d be firing machine guns andunching air-to-surface missiles as soon as the target was detected.
Things were getting intense. The Filipino soldiers were now closing in with only ten meters between them. When that happens, a gunshot would be all it takes to signal the Comanche¡¯s attack. Subsequently, the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer would join in. It certainly wouldn¡¯t take long to send the entire forest up in mes!
The situation was dire, fuelling the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members¡¯ heart with fear. Despite that, Xia Lei still seemed rtively unfazed.
¡°Boss, how about we move to distract those soldiers?¡± Giovanna suggested, ¡°There¡¯s no way of telling when our escape boat will arrive. We¡¯re running out of time.¡±
Xia Lei delivered aforting pat atop her shoulder. ¡°Rx, this will be over within minutes.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Giovanna looked at Xia Lei weirdly. It was difficult to believe his words.
At that very moment, Xia Lei jammed a finger onto his keyboard. On theptop disy, the Phantom drone fired its Eagle w-12 anti-ship missile. In that split second, the screen turned ck.
¡°Boss, are you nning to bomb the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer?¡± Anjum Khan gasped loudly.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°So what? I poured so much effort and time into modifying the Eagle w-12 missile. The destroyer was here. I can use it as target practice to test the missile¡¯s strength. If they can afford to fire at us without reservations, why can¡¯t we do the same?¡±
Anjum Khanughed, amused.
Yelena said, ¡°That¡¯s weird. While Dagua Ind isn¡¯t too far from our position... Your Phantom drone had only left the tracks minutes ago. I¡¯m pretty sure it would have to close a distance of at least 50 kilometres. Normally, the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer can detect an anti-ship missile fired at that distance and alert its crew. Why is there no response at all?¡±
Anjum Khan came closer to her with a mirth smirk. ¡°Babe, you know nothing. Everything the boss made with Alloy X is invisible, including his anti-ship missile. Those bastards on board the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer must be dreaming about sting us into minced meat. On the other hand, I¡¯m just waiting for that sweet sound of...¡±
Ka-boom!
Without warning, an earth-shattering explosion echoed throughout the ind. Despite kilometres away, the sound was enough to make everyone¡¯s eardrums hum. Secondster, the aftermath came, bringing a wild gush of hot wind through the forest.
Xia Lei stood up. A slight twitch of his left and right eye activated his special vision. In his field of sight, he could see that the side of the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer had been destroyed by the missile. The Eagle w 12 anti-ship missile had created arge crater of a little over nine metres in its nk. The difference in pressure immediately enticed the surrounding seawater to rush inside the hollow cavity as billowing smoke and mes emerged from the hull. Many American soldiers scurried about the deck in a futile attempt to help patch up the damage. Some were busy tending to their injuredrades. Everything was chaos. There was no way they could afford to resume fire. They were lucky if they could make it out alive! If the current situation went on without a solution, the Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer would be nothing more than fish food!
The Filipino soldiers tasked with the search halted their footsteps, turning around to assess the situation. Through the gaps between the tree trunks, a mushroom cloud was vaguely seen. Fear seized their hearts. The almighty American Navy and the proimed king of destroyers, the Arleigh Burke-ss, was taken out of battle just like that!
The Americanmander watched the scene unfold with a ck jaw on the west side of the small ind shores. His mind went nk. How was it possible for a missile this destructive to not be detected by the destroyer?!
What he didn¡¯t dare to imagine was that the possibility of theunched missile being a nuclear bomb instead of a regr cartridge. That would meanplete annihtion of an Arleigh Burke-ss destroyer. If the anti-ship missile had hit the American mothership, they would share the same fate!
America had gained control of the international situation with its mothership and fleets. The aircraft carrier fleet and mothership had yed an important part in America¡¯s diplomacy strategy, But within one night, the pride of America was fucked over!
This was a reality that all Americans would not ept.
After a few moments of stunned silence, the Americanmander abruptly picked up hismunicator device and screamed at the top of his lungs, ¡°Helicopter formation! Bomb this ind up! Everyone, enter the fucking forest and find Xia Lei! Kill him!¡±
The deployed Marine Corps special force members and CIA agents began to charge into the forest.
However, just five seconds after the order was made, an air-to-air missile suddenly lunged from the direction of Dagua Ind, creating a bright tail across the sky before hitting the Comanche helicopter hovering above the soldiers.
Boom!
The Comanche helicopter burst into mes, as its ming remains rained down on the unfortunate Filipino soldiers killing some of them in the process.
What the hell was going on?! The leading Filipino colonel gaped at the bewildering scene.
The gigantic drone began to zoom down from higher altitude. Its majestic wingspan created an eagle-like impression. The three remaining Comanches and Chinook transport aircraft looked like mere chicks under the ws of a predatory bird!
Whoosh!
Ka-boom!
The Phantom drone released yet another air-to-air missile as soon as it made its presence. The second Comanche helicopter was destroyed.
In the blink of an eye, only two Comanche helicopters had remained. The Phantom seemed to know no mercy!
Who on earth would have the guts to remain rooted at their spot? Thest Comaches quickly turned around and fled.
Above the waves, four destroyer ships appeared. Tens of patrol speed boats nked it from the side, bringing over plenty of naval soldiers to the small ind.
In the air above, four Z-10 helicopters emerged. However, they did note alone. Following closely behind them were dozens of fighter nes. They formed an impressive battle lineup, the ammunition they carried sufficient to blow the ind up several times!
Feet nted in the sand, the Americanmander went pale at the sight. His lips trembled ever so slightly. He felt not fear but fury. Since when did the Chinese army get so bold?!
An amplified voice boomed off an armed patrol boat out of the blue. ¡°You have invaded our territory. Put down your weapons! Do not resist or we will open fire!¡±
The Filipino soldiers in the forest lost all interest in finding Xia Lei. They quickly turned around and left.
The Phantom drone reappeared above the ind. It circled the ind once before flying away.
Xia Lei folded his hackingptop and grinned. ¡°There we go. Our boat is here. Let¡¯s go, about time we head home.¡±
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members allowed themselves to smile and rx. The earlier tension had melted away. It was a miracle that nothing bad had transpired.
The Chinese naval soldiers were quick tond along the shores.
The American Marine Corps members and the Filipino soldiers who had just evacuated the forest formed a defensive barrier. Though they have outnumbered the Chinese soldiers, they dared not act rashly under the threat of four-armed helicopters and dozens of fighter nes. Not to mention, there were four Chinese destroyers observing the exchange in a distance. If they had dared to resist, the destroyers would be able to mutte them into puddles of blood-red ketchup before they even know it.
¡°This territory is part of the Philippines!¡± The Flipino colonel took a step forward, bodynguage evidently agitated. His English was extremely fluent though. ¡°Why are you invading ournd? This is very uncivilized! You will receive punishment and sanctions from the internationalmunity!¡±
The Chinese navalmander calmly retorted, ¡°This area has been China¡¯s territory since ancient times. Since when did it be yours to im? Punishment? When has the internationalmunity ever stopped posing that onto us? Sanctions, huh? So you¡¯re saying that the Philippines wants to stop selling bananas to us?¡±
¡°You...¡± The Filipino colonel was pissed beyond words.
In the midst of their argument, Xia Lei led the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members out of the forest. Using the Chinese naval soldier formation as a shield, they quickly boarded a waiting armed patrol boat.
The soldier steering the boat was sensitive and alert. As soon as the group made it onto the vehicle, he quickly ignited the engine and rushed for one of the destroyers.
This scene did not go unnoticed by the Americanmander. However, all he could do was watch them escape.
The Filipino colonel was positively fuming. ¡°I¡¯m going to call your embassy right now...¡±
¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough. If this is really your territory, you would need to provide relevant proof and bring it the case to the International Court of Justice. I¡¯ll cut this exchange short because of time constraints. Goodbye.¡± The Chinesemander hastily ended the conversation and brought up hismunicator. ¡°Pull out!¡±
The Filipino colonel watched the Chinese soldiers leave with a burning re. But in reality, his heart was in turmoil.
He sincerely thought that this was unreasonable.
Chapter 1085 - Iga-ryu Secret Technique
Xia Lei was immediately weed by loud cheering and crisp apuse the moment he boarded the military ship. His presence in the ship¡¯s bridge was celebrated by a neat line of military men saluting him. Yu Zhenhai was one of them and this was an honour of a lifetime. While Xia Lei wasn¡¯t a soldier, he still returned the gesture and saluted back.
Yu Zhenhai came over and hugged his shoulders. With a delighted smile, his praise was nothing but the best. ¡°Brother Xia, you¡¯re the only person I admire. You helped the country solve a pressing problem and did a great job! If we weren¡¯t on board a military ship and have a strict no-alcohol rule, I would love to drink to our heart¡¯s content together.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°Sure, we will definitely have a drinking session next time!¡±
¡°Alright, that¡¯s a promise.¡± Yu Zhenhai guffawed.
The military ship departed to join the fleet. This time, they were not headed back for Dagua Ind military base but straight home.
Xia Lei was not the least bit bewildered by Yu Zhenhai¡¯s decision. After all, Dagua Ind was only an artificial ind. If the Americans found out he was there, there was no telling what they wouldunch. An underwater missile was hard to detect, Yu Zhenhai¡¯s decision was merely for safety considerations.
After staying on the bridge for a while, Xia Lei left for the cabin to rest after engaging Yu Zhenhai and other military officers in conversations. Space was scarce on board. But despite the tight squeeze, they managed to reserve a private andfortable ce for him to lounge in.
Xia Leiid on the narrow military bed, finally releasing the tension in his mind and muscles. He had done something so shocking that he was confident that the events that transpired tonight would not be reported in both American or Filipino media.
If America had gone ahead and reported this standoff, their prestige would be the first to go. Subsequently, so would their reign over the Middle East. Compared to Asia, they haverger interests in the Middle East. And for the Philippines, if they attempted to attack China through the power of words and try to garner sympathy from other countries by ying victim, they would still lose. There was no benefit to earn from that. Doing so would only let other countries realize China¡¯s rising power and convince them to take China¡¯s side instead.
This was a dog eat dog world.
Eased, fatigue began to catch up to Xia Lei. He shifted around, trying to find afortable position to rest his body. He had just engaged in something so intense. The usage of his left and right eye had been relentless and he was beyond exhausted.
Before long, he was lulled to sleep. He dreamt. In that dream, he had swallowed the veryst of the AE capsules. Full evolution of his body took ce and he became an entity simr to Zhu Xuanyue. He was no longer interested in the delicacies the mortal realm had offered. He too needed to eat brains to survive. Then, he dreamt of the ck-robed man, adamant to take his life...
Doot doot doot! Doot doot doot!
The satellite phone rang.
Xia Lei mbered up from the bed and epted the call. ¡°It¡¯s me. Sa¡¯im, go on.¡±
Sa¡¯im began, ¡°Boss, I found relevant information. The Americans had already located an ancient tomb beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They managed to find two faceless warrior statues from within and have ns to transport all six of the statues back to theirnd.¡±
¡°How are they nning to do that?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Sa¡¯im replied, ¡° I don¡¯t know. But Qian Jun is interrogating an Israeli. I heard some things about it though. The six statues were able to interrupt some equipment and gear functionalities. I think they won¡¯t be using nes to transport it, they¡¯d most probably use sea freight instead and do relevant radiation management.¡±
¡°Did you find out anything about how the Americans and Israelis are able to find out about the tomb?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
Sa¡¯im hummed. ¡°No. I found nothing on that. But Qian Jun seems to know a little about it. Give me a second, I¡¯ll put him on the line.¡±
The thudding of footsteps and the sound of a door creaking rang over the line. Following that was an agonizing scream. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but manifest the image of Qian Jun tormenting an Israeli. He shuddered at the thought. Qian Jun was tortured for years by Mossad. He loathed Israelis.
Sa¡¯im said something to Qian Jun and thetter¡¯s voice was soon heard over the device. ¡°Boss. It¡¯s me, Qian Jun.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°Sa¡¯im mentioned that you managed to find out something. Tell me.¡±
Qian Jun replied, ¡°It¡¯s just a baseless story that I got off an Israeli archaeologist. But of course, I had to do a number to get that.¡± Pausing momentarily, he sorted his words. ¡°That archaeologist said that on the day they brought out the four faceless warrior statues, a storm with lightning and thunder loomed over. The rainfall was exceptionally heavy and one of the statues had even smashed one of their military engineers to death. They said they saw a woman... ¡°
¡°A woman?¡± Xia Lei impatiently interjected. ¡°W...what does she look like?¡±
Qian Jun answered, ¡°No one could see it clearly but she seemed to be riding a horse. Many felt that it was most probably a mirage caused by rain and light. But as soon as the rain stopped, a blood message appeared on a statue. The message had directed the Americans and Israelis to excavate the bottom of the church to find the other two statues.¡±
Xia Lei fell silent. ¡°Do you think this is legitimate?¡±
¡°I¡¯d say it¡¯s most likely true.¡±
¡°Alright, got it. Who are you interrogating by the way?¡±
Qian Jun uttered, ¡°A Mossad agent. I think he might know what route the Americans are nning to take.¡±
Xia Lei pondered for a moment before replying, ¡°No matter what you get out of the interrogation,e back straight with Sa¡¯im after you¡¯re done.¡±
¡°Alright, noted.¡±
¡°Be careful on your way back.¡± Xia Lei ended the call, plunging his mind into a sea of thoughts.
Israel was a dry ce and rain was such a rare urrence. Why did a heavy downpour and lightning suddenly appear? And that woman... A woman on a horse... Who the hell was she? Was she the one who left them the blood message? How did she know about the ancient tomb beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? Why would she want to direct the Americans and Israeli there to excavate the faceless warrior statues?
¡°Could she be Zhu Xuanyue?¡± Xia Lei abruptly thought about her. ¡°She was the one who destroyed the prehistoric chosen one. It¡¯s no wonder that she knew about the tomb¡¯s existence. If it really was her, why did she reveal it to the Americans and Israelis?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue was a worm that resided in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. After her inexplicable disappearance in America, there was essentially no way to get a hold of her news. But a call from the ck-robed man afterwards implied that he was well, which could only mean that Zhu Xuanyue was most probably injured. Despite heavy injuries, those damages must¡¯ve healed. And if she was healed, what hadn¡¯t she reached out to him? Where was she now? What was she up to?
A flood of questions tormented his mind, refusing to let him sleep.
Knock knock.
Rappings on the door were heard.
Xia Lei shifted his gaze over. With his left eye, he noticed Tsukino Kyoko, who was standing on the other side of the door.
Tsukino Kyoko was fresh out of the shower, judging from the slight dampness that clung to her hair. The fresh set of naval uniform that consisted of the same navy blouse and skirt did not hide her proud front and round bottom. Not only did she possess the intensity of a soldier, but she also radiated the merciless coldness of a killer. This look was fantastic on her.
Despite the eye-candy, all Xia Lei could feel was an oing migraine. He knew what Tsukino Kyoko had in mind. What else could she be here for? She had even bothered to take a shower beforehand. There was no mistake about her intentions.
Knock knock knock.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s knuckles came in contact with the door three more times. The squeeze between her brows was a telltale sign of her impatience.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly at the disy. He climbed down the bed and answered the door. He feigned shock as soon as he met her eyes. ¡°Oh? I wasn¡¯t expecting you, Kyoko. What¡¯s the matter? I was sleeping earlier.¡±
Hopefully, she would take the cue and leave.
Sadly, Tsukino Kyoko directly went past Xia Lei and entered his cabin. ¡°Boss, close the door. I¡¯ve got something very important to discuss with you.¡±
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xia Lei was genuinely curious now, closing the heavy metal door behind him.
Tsukino Kyoko uttered, ¡°Come take a seat on the bed. I¡¯ll tell you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Jeez, why are you being so mysterious? What the hell is going on?¡± Despite saying so, he still heeded her request and sat atop his sheets. In his impression, Tsukino Kyoko was never one for jokes. She meant her words.
Xia Lei took a seat. Tsukino Kyoko came over to the edge of the bed. Without warning, she kneeled and ced her palms atop his knees.
What kind of position was this?
Tsukino Kyoko ced her unwavering gaze on Xia Lei, mouth still shut.
¡°Uh.¡± Xia Lei cleared his throat. ¡°So... Didn¡¯t you say that you had something important to say? What¡¯s the matter?¡±
Nervousness began to take form across Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s face. ¡°Well... It¡¯s about what you¡¯ve promised me.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless. While he had guessed her motive, he had foolishly let himself believe that she was here on important business.
¡°I want you to fulfil your promise,¡± drawled Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei¡¯s smile was turning wobbly. ¡°Kyoko, I¡¯ve already fulfilled itst time on the beach of that small Turkish ind...¡±
Tsukino Kyoko took the moment of hesitation to ster her lips against the shell of his ear. ¡°Let me tell you a secret. Kunoichis are the best in this world at treating men right. The Iga-ryu ninjas are most excellent at this. And I am a woman of its teachings.¡±
Was this for real?
Chapter 1086 - Black Letter
The withdrawal of the American Seventh Fleet into the Western Pacific Ocean seemed to indicate a change in their policy towards China.
¡°A fire broke out aboard a secondhand destroyer ship owned by the Philippines after a severe malfunction had urred mid-cruise. This was presumably due to poor maintenance...¡±
This was how the Chinese media had reported the incident above the waves of the South China Sea. In fact, most news outlets in the world had reported the same thing. No one reported the truth.
The truth was often hidden behind closed doors and America had doors of iron. If the American government had wished to keep it away from the media, all they needed to do was to pressure the Philippines. Thetter wouldn¡¯t dare to go against them for they did not possess that courage and strength.
The chaos that happened in the southern waters was calmly settled by China, America and the Philippines. However, the solution was evidently temporary. It wasn¡¯t difficult for China¡¯s strategists to analyze America¡¯s next step. It was almost certain that the country would be dispatching more intelligence officers to infiltrate the Thunder Horse Organization. There was an urgent need for the Americans to grasp the production status of Thunder Horse¡¯s Phantom drones and Jing Ke drones along with the reserve capacity of the modified Eagle w-12 anti-ship missiles.
Thankfully, Xia Lei no longer needed to deal with it personally. The first thing he did as soon as he returned to the Thunder Horse Jingdu Headquarters was to throw himself head-first into the drone workshop. The data obtained from real battle engagements of the Phantom and Jin Ke drone had shown that while its potential was there, it needed to be refined.
Jing Ke and Phantom¡¯s outstanding performances in battle had sessfully attracted attention from the higher-ups. Without needing a word from Xia Lei, new raw materials and other resources needed for Alloy X production were already sent to the Thunder Horse¡¯s warehouse in batches. Despite requiring one billion RMB for one Phantom drone unit, the Chinese government did not hesitate to ce a two hundred unit order that filled up all production capacity for five whole years.
Xia Lei dly signed five years worth of orders. Solemnly aware of his fleeting life, Xia Lei was confident that the Thunder Horse Organization would make good use of the Alloy X and drone technology he left behind to fulfil the production demand.
While Xia Lei fine tuned the drones, Thunder Horse Organization went into full action. Every production line was used to birth more Alloy Xs, Phantom and Jing Ke drones.
But of course, there was no way America would draw a line here. Before they coulde up with any n, letting the Chinese Air Force obtain the Phantom and Jing Ke drones would¡¯ve been a bad move. These were the very two things that threatened America¡¯s war strategy!
One weekter, Xia Lei was done with tweaking the Jing Ke and Phantom drones. As long as thepany adheres to his instructions on the production line, the drone units would be near perfect.
He had nned ahead, making sure to not waste a single bit of his remaining two years. In that time span, he¡¯dunch research projects to incorporate the Alloy X into a new fighter ne model and a bomber ne. That way, the Thunder Horse Organization would develop an identity akin to Lockheed Martin. They¡¯d hold reign over the world¡¯s firearms as the very best.
Meanwhile, he set a goal to solve the mysteries of the ancient alloy box. If that wasn¡¯t doable, he¡¯d enter the ancient alloy box¡¯s realm himself before the inevitable deadline. Before that, he would need to consume thest capsule. Within that same period, he¡¯d also need to make future arrangements for people around him, especially his wives and children. He wanted to make sure that they would live, safe andfortable for the rest of their lives. This was what he needed to aplish in private.
There was so much to do in just two years, time was precious to him.
Just as his task for the Jing Ke and Phantom drone was done and dusted, Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun had made it back from Israel with new information.
In a secret chamber within the Holy Thunder Church.
¡°Boss, the Americans had deployed the Seventh Fleet to move the six faceless warrior statues back,¡± reported Sa¡¯im.
¡°The Seventh Fleet?¡± Xia Lei was surprised. But again, some careful thought showed that it shouldn¡¯t have urred as a shock. He had chased away the fleet and they went to Israel to bring home the statues. It was apletely reasonable course of action.
Qian Junmented, ¡°We weren¡¯t expecting the scene to be sorge-scale. If not, Sa¡¯im and I would¡¯ve already snatched the statues.¡±
Using the Seventh Fleet certainly diminished any chances for an extraction.
Xia Lei slipped into deep thought. There was a pause before he spoke up again, ¡°It¡¯s just a few stone statues. Why are the Americans putting in so much effort to bring it home?¡±
Qian Jun shrugged. ¡°I have no idea either. I tortured the Mossad agent to death and he still refused to tell me anything.¡±
If the agent did not know anything in the first ce, what information did he have to offer?
¡°Boss, this is too weird.¡± Sa¡¯im knitted his brows. ¡°If the six statues have no value, there¡¯s no way America would use its Seventh Fleet to carry them home. They must know of something we don¡¯t.¡±
Xia Lei remained silent. He too shared the thought but there was literally nothing to support it. They did not even have the slightest bit of direction for an assumption.
¡°Boss, I would like to pay America a visit,¡± said Sa¡¯im.
That snapped Xia Lei out of his trance. ¡°You wish to pursue this further?¡±
Sa¡¯im nodded. ¡°Boss, I know it¡¯s dangerous but I understand how important this is to you. You need more information and this is my forte. If I don¡¯t go, who will?¡±
¡°I¡¯lle with you.¡± Qian Jun offered.
¡°You want to go too?¡± Xia Lei looked at Qian Jun.
Qian Jun replied, ¡°There were a few Americans that made my life hell back then. While time may have passed, I still wish to even the debt.¡±
¡°You both should be clear. Since the Americans had deployed the Seventh Fleet to ship the statues back, its value to the country requires no further exnation. What you¡¯re nning to execute is risky. Are you sure you wish to proceed?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Without the faintest hesitation, Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun nodded in unison.
¡°Boss, we have already discussed it on our way back. There¡¯s no need to convince us, just let me and Qian Jun do the job for you,¡± assured Sa¡¯im.
¡°Very well then. Since you¡¯ve both made your decision, I will not talk you out of it.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°However, there¡¯s another favour I¡¯d like to ask of you.¡±
¡°Boss, you want us to help you locate that woman?¡± Sa¡¯im raised a brow.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yes. Once you arrive in America, try your best to collect as much information on her as possible. I suggest searching for clues in the morgue or police station, pay extra attention to unsolvable death cases like the shrinking of the brain.¡±
¡°Jeez, that¡¯s eerie as fuck. But okay, I got it. I¡¯ll start there.¡± Sa¡¯im nodded away.
Qian Jun supplied, ¡°Boss, we¡¯re prepared to move as soon as tomorrow night.¡±
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°Sure, that¡¯s not an issue. I¡¯ll make the relevant arrangements. I¡¯ll hand you two million USD as an operation fund. Spend it however you want and if you¡¯re out, you may ask for more. All bnce is yours to keep.¡±
Qian Jun couldn¡¯t believe his own ears. ¡°Boss, isn¡¯t that too much? How are we supposed to spend that much money?¡±
Sa¡¯im onlyughed in response. ¡°Qian Jun, that¡¯s our boss¡¯s style. He¡¯s very different from his father. Just ept what he gives. People like you and I have no retirement pension. Saving up for life after retirement is best.¡±
¡°You mean to save up for more women, right?¡± Xia Lei teased.
Sa¡¯im could only muster out a sheepish lopsided smile.
¡°Then... Thank you very much.¡± It was obvious that Qian Jun had yet to get used to the way the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team¡¯s new leader functioned. Despite that, the man was still filled with gratitude.
Knock knock knock.
Someone was requesting entry.
Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun immediately snapped their heads to re at the door.
Contrastingly, Xia Lei paced over leisurely to the door. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just Giovanna and her sisters.¡±
Both in charge of intelligence, Saim and Qian Jun were easily anxious. It was natural for them to disy such behaviour in an unfamiliar environment. After all, this church was only built recently.
The door opened to reveal four women in traditional Italian dresses. They were the owners of this church. The Grey and Russo sisters. The fact that they named the church after Xia Lei was a tell-tale indication of how important Xia Lei was to them.
¡°Good evening, brothers.¡± The four female knights offered them a polite smile. ¡°Good evening, boss.¡±
Four women, two of the same faces, was confusing for Sa¡¯im¡¯s senses. It seemed as if he had taken a second nce at somewhere inappropriate, which immediately caused the knights to roll their eyes. He quickly averted his gaze.
Qian Jun was not the least bit interested in them. He returned them a courteous nod. ¡°Boss, I¡¯ll retire for tonight. Please continue without me.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be taking my leave too,¡± said Sa¡¯im as he tailed behind Qian Jun to leave the chamber.
All that was left in the secret chamber was Xia Lei and four female knights, the situation felt increasingly inappropriate as time passed.
¡°Uh, I think I should go to bed now. But I must say this ce is not bad at all,¡±mented Xia Lei.
Giovanna was fast to seize his wrist.
Xia Lei was taken aback.
She spoke, ¡°Boss, we have something important to tell you.¡±
Theresa gestured to a chair. ¡°You should take a seat.¡±
Inexplicably, Xia Lei was reminded of Tsukino Kyoko. On that fateful night one week ago when they were on their way back, Tsukino Kyoko too started off their rendezvous in this manner. What followed afterwards was a wrecked cabin bed. It was deja vu. Could the Grey and Russo sisters be up to no good?
Before Xia Lei could say anything, Rosa and Ste extended an arm and pressed him onto the chair.
This was a church for crying out loud.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart screamed.
Instead, Giovanna pulled out a ck envelope from her opened cor and passed it into Xia Lei¡¯s palm.
Xia Lei held the envelope, body abruptly seized by a flood of anxiety. ¡°This...?¡±
Giovanna borated, ¡°We found this on the palms of a Jesus sculpture. It¡¯s really weird. See for yourself.¡±
Who would¡¯ve used ck envelopes to ry messages?
Xia Lei flipped the p open and brought out the note.
The note was ck as well. On it was a mere number. 700
There was no recipient information nor was there anything that could indicate its sender. The only thing visible was the ambiguous number.
Suddenly, it hit him. This was from the ck-robed man! The man had paid this ce a visit and left the letter here! This was a firm reminder that Xia Lei was now left with only seven hundred days to live. That was less than two years!
Chapter 1087 - The Establishment of a Relief Society
700 days, 16800 hours, 1008000 minutes. That was all the time Xia Lei had. Every moment spent fixated on the numbers was time wasted.
Assets over hundreds of billions, the national hero of all maind China, owning the identity as an indispensable pir of the country along with being wedded to four splendid wives and having four children on the way. In the eyes of many, he was undoubtedly happy. His life was what a lot of people wanted but could never attain but no one was aware of the stress he bears. He was only going to be alive for another seven hundred days. After that, he¡¯d face an invincible opponent. It was no different from facing the grim reaper himself!
Losing assets was the least of his concern. Xia Lei had been through a lot, facing losses again was no big deal. However, the thought of losing his beloved wives and children was a pain he did not wish to go through.
¡°ck-robed man...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart was heavy. ¡°Zhu Xuanyue had fought him twice. Twice, she came back severely injured. His capabilities are evidently above Zhu Xuanyue. I can¡¯t even defeat her, how am I supposed to win him? Looks like I¡¯m fated to enter the realm of the ancient alloy box. If I enter it, will I make it back again? Will I still be able to see Siayo, Fan Fan, Long Bing and Ruyi ever again? Will I see my children again?¡±
The mere thought alone was too much to bear. Death was no question the most excruciating pain in life. Sadly, it would be inevitable for him at the end of seven hundred days.
¡°Boss, what¡¯s on your mind?¡± Giovanna studied his expressions curiously.
Ste chimed in, ¡°Yeah, we read this letter too. There¡¯s only the number ¡®700¡¯ on it. What is the context? We can¡¯t understand it at all. What does the number mean?¡±
It was only then that Xia Lei was brought back to reality. He knew exactly what it meant but he feigned cluelessness. ¡°I don¡¯t know either. Oh, that reminds me. Did you see who left this letter?¡±
The Grey and Russo sisters shook their heads.
¡°This does not seem simple.¡± Giovanna narrowed her eyes in thought. ¡°Our brothers and sisters live in the residential area behind the church. They¡¯ve created a volunteer patrol team so there¡¯s always someone there. Plus, every corner of this church has a surveince camera, there¡¯s literally no blindspots. Weirdly, no one hade across the person who left this letter in the Holy Son¡¯s palm. We ran through all recorded footage and found nothing too.¡±
¡°Yeah.¡± Theresa faced Xia Lei. ¡°The sender appeared and disappeared out of thin air.¡±
Xia Lei stood up. ¡°There¡¯s no need to look into this matter. It¡¯s gettingte, you should all go to bed. It¡¯s time for me to head home too.¡±
¡°Wait, boss.¡± Giovanna halted him.
Xia Lei whipped around. ¡°Is there anything else?¡±
Giovanna went on, ¡°Boss, everything we own is given by you. It was you who saved us and our faith. We are your knights and we¡¯re willing to sacrifice everything for your sake, including our lives. Do you understand what I mean?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I do but...¡±
Giovanna shook her head gently. ¡°No, you do not understand. We have followed you for some time now. All you ordered us to do is to be an assistant to the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. We¡¯ve been standing on the sidelines all along. I must tell you that while our fighting abilities are not as great as the members, we have our own advantage. We have brothers and sisters all around the globe. A globalwork. If you seek any information, we can easily obtain it for you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. That¡¯s right. How could he forget about their background?
Rosa uttered, ¡°What you have now is an actual hitmanwork. Give us a target and our brothers and sisters will get rid of that person. All you need to do is pay their family somepensation fees should they die on the job.¡±
Ste interjected, ¡°Boss, do you know how many people we¡¯ve recruited at this point?¡±
Xia Lei questioned, ¡°How many?¡±
Ste raised a finger.
Xia Lei was a little speechless but still yed along. ¡°One hundred people?¡±
Ste replied, ¡°Nope, you¡¯re wrong. One hundred is very far off the actual number. Let me tell you straight. Since the beginning of Holy Thunder¡¯s construction to this day, we¡¯ve recruited 2228 worshippers.¡±
¡°2228 worshippers?¡± Xia Lei gaped. ¡°That¡¯s insane! Then what was your single finger supposed to imply?¡±
Ste shed him a cheeky smile. ¡°That finger was just to prompt your guess. You are the smartest person in this world. If you couldn¡¯t understand what that meant, I guess that means I¡¯m slightly smarter than you.¡±
The other three women began tough, the atmosphere in the church¡¯s chamber dissolving into something more peaceful.
¡°Boss, I have a n,¡± said Giovanna.
¡°What¡¯s it about?¡± asked Xia Lei. He couldn¡¯t help but be curious about what these women had up their sleeves. The female mind was a maze.
Giovanna replied, ¡°We already have more than 2000 brothers and sisters scattered across the globe. America, Italy, South Africa, France, Germany... They are in almost all of the Catholic regions. Sadly, most of them don¡¯t have their own church and are tormented by life. Could you fund us in building a church across these ces? That way, you¡¯ll receive more and more brothers and sisters. From that, we can select a few suitable worshippers to train and cultivate your very own armed force. Isn¡¯t that our initial goal behind the establishment of this institution?¡±
¡°Sure, no problem. But I¡¯m not doing this for myself. I can give you money but those are strictly for helping your brothers and sisters in need. There¡¯s too many living in poverty, I can¡¯t reach out and help all of them. But I am able to do so now.¡± Xia Lei paused. ¡°How much do you need?¡±
¡°That¡¯s great news! Boss, thank you so much!¡± Giovanna was filled with gratitude. ¡°We need ten million USD for this.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give you one billion USD then,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Huh?¡± The Grey and Russo sisters looked at Xia Lei, mouths agape. Was this real? Was this a dream? They couldn¡¯t tell.
Xia Lei chuckled with mirth. ¡°You wish to help so many people. Ten million USD would not be enough. That¡¯s why I¡¯m giving you one billion USD first. You¡¯re free toe to me and ask for more if it¡¯s insufficient.¡±
The sisters were stunned beyond words.
For a knight, to serve a master like this bore no regrets.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Do you still remember me mentioning that I¡¯ve borrowed your names to open up ounts in the American stock market? Your ounts had generated me thirty billion USD. I¡¯m merely passing on one-thirtieth of the money. Please help keep this a secret from my wives, they just might confiscate it.¡±
There was no way his pregnant wives would do that. It was meant to be a joke that served as a tiny reminder for them. Hey, I¡¯m a married man with children on the way.
But as soon as his sentence fell, Giovanna abruptly came closer and gave him a soft and warm embrace. ¡°You are our angel. I thank you in the stead of our suffering brothers and sisters.¡± Then, she pecked his cheek firmly.
After Giovanna had released him, it was Ste¡¯s turn. Then, it was Rosa and Theresa¡¯s turn. At the end of it, Xia Lei¡¯s cheek was littered with four lipstick marks. If the X-ray vision was used on him, you would¡¯ve noticed four cheeky handprints on the curve of his ass.
¡°Boss, please name the team,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei was taken aback. ¡°You know them better than I do. You name them.¡±
Giovanna replied, ¡°No. It was born because of you. You are our master too. We don¡¯t own the right to do that.¡±
Xia Lei gave it some thought. ¡°Then... its name shall be the Relief Society.¡±
¡°Relief Society?¡± The four female knights were perplexed.
Giovanna questioned, ¡°I thought you would give it a very intimidating name, something like the Holy King¡¯s Knight. Why this name in particr?¡±
¡°Yeah. Why?¡± Rosa too was confused.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°We¡¯re not creating some illegal armed force. We¡¯re forming an organization that aims to help those stricken with poverty. Our weapons are not guns but love. Even if anyone is willing to sacrifice themselves to do the extreme for the sake of this society, we cannot change our mission.¡±
¡°I understand. Relief Society it is,¡± Giovanna gave in. As long as it was Xia Lei¡¯s decision, she would even ept it if he decided to name it ¡®Orgy Society¡¯. There was no harm in epting such a decent and formal name.
Ste joined in, ¡°To show you its value, we can try to get you someone¡¯s information within a week.¡±
Xia Lei was tempted. ¡°Whose information?¡±
Ste suggested, ¡°How about Hattori Mei? We know how much you wish to get rid of her. Say the word, give us a week and we¡¯ll deliver her information to your doorstep.¡±
Theresa supplied, ¡°We know you also desire to know about someone¡¯s whereabouts.¡±
¡°Zhu Xuanyue.¡± Giovanna continued, ¡°As for her, we¡¯ll find Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s current location within a month.¡±
Xia Lei was surprised. ¡°I believe that you can obtain Hattori Mei¡¯s information. But to find Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s whereabouts will be extremely difficult.¡±
¡°The more difficult it is, the better we can prove ourselves. Just sit back, rx and wait for good news,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei finally understood it. He had always wished to incorporate the four female knights into the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team but to no avail. The members were people who could kill without flinching, they barely had any bottom lines. The female knights, on the other hand, were knights with faith. How could twopletely different worlds melt together? They were determined to prove their value to stop acting as assistants for the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members, that was why the Relief Society was born. That was why they willingly took on the challenge to obtain Hattori Mei and Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s information.
¡°Alright. I¡¯ll look forward to it,¡± said Xia Lei.
Theresa smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go get some drinks to celebrate the establishment of the Relief Society!¡±
Xia Lei entertained that thought and studied the odd looks thrown at him by the four female knights. He responded, ¡°How about some other time? We can move this asion to another date. My wives are asking me toe home earlier and rest. If I stay here any longer, I¡¯m afraid they¡¯ll pay this ce a visit themselves. I¡¯ll see myself out now, you should rest soon. Good night.¡±
He left without turning back.
The four female knights looked at each other, disappointment obvious in their eyes.
¡°Jeez, I can¡¯t believe a man who chased away the Seventh Fleet is afraid of his wives!¡± Giovanna groaned.
Chapter 1088 - A Warm Family Full Of Love
His four wives were sound asleep. With their due dates approaching closer and closer, they found themselves more easily worn out than before. Watching their swollen bellies and peaceful expressions atop the bed, Xia Lei was content and blissful.
They were still waiting for his return before this. In Liang Siyao¡¯s grip was a guidebook on navigating parenthood. Jiang Ruyi was still holding her crochet needles and wool while Fan Fan and Long Bing were too still holding books on baby nursing. They wouldn¡¯t have been sleeping on the same bed if they weren¡¯t waiting for him.
Xia Lei carefully pried the tools away from Jiang Ruyi¡¯s grip, worried that she might turn around in her sleep and stab herself. But as he just managed to ce the items on the bedside table, Liang Siyao and Long Bing stirred awake, opening their eyes to stare at him.
Liang Siyao yawned. ¡°Hub...¡±
¡°Shh.¡± Xia Lei interjected, gesturing for her to keep quiet before he joined them in bed. Long Bing and Liang Siyao wiggled a little to make space, allowing him to take his ce between them. Before he could even getfortable, they both quickly inched over andid their heads over his chest. One head on the left, one head on the right.
The three of them were like entangled veins.
¡°What did Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun bring back this time?¡± Liang Siyao whispered into his ear. The hot puffs of air tickled the shell of his ear.
Xia Lei carefully lowered his voice to the best of his ability. ¡°Nothing special. There¡¯s no need to worry about this. Just focus your energy on taking care of your pregnancy and birth me a chubby son.¡±
Liang Siyao reached over and pinched the top of his thigh. ¡°All you worry about is your son. What happened at the South China Sea was massive, there¡¯s no way the Americans would rest their case. Everyone was worried sick for you.¡±
Truthfully, she had no idea what Xia Lei had ordered Qian Jun and Sa¡¯im to investigate in Israel.
America? The country was no doubt the biggest hegemony in the world and basically invincible. However, it was not Xia Lei¡¯s biggest threat. Xia Lei¡¯s biggest enemy was the ck-robed man. It was just that the man had refused to rant his worries to his wives. Knowing all about the situation would just bring them anxiety. It would do no good to their bodies and the children.
Long Bing too pressed her moist cherry lips against his ear. ¡°After our child is born, I¡¯lle and join you in your operations. I don¡¯t care what you say, I need you to promise me that.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled lightly. ¡°If youe with me, who is going to nurse our child?¡±
Long Bing was taken aback. Then, she pinched his thigh. ¡°This is all your fault! You made me pregnant and now I¡¯m like a penguin. I still need to feed your baby penguinter on too!¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s so bad about feeding our little penguin? You feed the baby and I¡¯ll feed you well. Isn¡¯t that fair?¡±
Long Bing gave a curt nod, then pecked his lips. All women loved the sweet talk. Leaving behind Bureau 101, the woman had taken a liking towards a calm life like this. After this, even if she was given dangerous missions, she might not be too keen on taking it on anymore.
Liang Siyao¡¯s gazended on Xia Lei¡¯s groin, eyes glimmering with excitement. She cheekily drawled, ¡°Hubby, are you hungry?¡±
¡°No, dinner was very filling tonight,¡± replied Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯re lying. You¡¯re hungry.¡± Liang Siyao began to hike her leg higher against Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. How naughty and eager.
Xia Lei finally picked up on her innuendo. The hunger she had meant was his hunger for sex. Suddenly, he felt a gush of blood down south. He panicked. ¡°Siyao, no. You¡¯re due soon. We can¡¯t do that.¡±
Liang Siyao merely pouted. ¡°If you¡¯re not going to hand in your homework, are you nning to hand it to some other female teacher?¡±
¡°Teacher Liang wants to check your homework now,¡± whispered Liang Siyao coquettishly. She got up and one secondter, Xia Lei¡¯s underwear was stripped off.
¡°No, Siyao. This is too risky.¡± He was worried.
All Liang Siyao did was grin at him. ¡°I¡¯m just going through it, I¡¯m going to mark it. There¡¯s nothing to worry about.¡±
Xia Lei had nothing better to say, all words felt useless in this current situation.
Liang Siyao buried her face down south...
While Long Bing caught his lips in a fiery kiss...
Her style was never different. What they could do, they wouldn¡¯t express with words. This was perhaps the only time things were initiated differently.
Next morning, Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi stirred awake around the same time. Their awakening was weed by the sight of Xia Lei lying in the middle. He watched them quietly, a gentle gaze full of love.
¡°Good morning. How was sleep?¡± Xia Lei spoke softly.
Jiang Ruyi whimpered and snuggled against his chest. ¡°When did you returnst night? Howe I didn¡¯t notice that you were back?¡±
Xia Lei teasingly delivered a light p to her ass. ¡°You were sleeping like a pig. There¡¯s no way you would notice that I was lying next to you.¡±
¡°Hmph! I became a chubbier because of your little monkey in my stomach and you still dareugh at me? You¡¯re a bully,¡± Jiang Ruyi whined cutely.
Fan Fan too shuffled closer to lie in his embrace like a kitten. ¡°Hubby, why didn¡¯t you wake me up when you got back?¡±
Xia Lei cooed, ¡°You were so peacefully asleep, how could I bear to wake you up? You can sleep more and wake upter.¡±
Unfortunately, Fan Fan no longer had the urge to sleep. She took notice of the empty space beside her with curiosity. ¡°Where¡¯s Siyao and Ah Bing?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°They¡¯re off to make breakfast. Once they¡¯re done, we¡¯ll get up and go eat breakfast.¡±
¡°Are you going to thepany again after that?¡± asked Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei kissed her forehead. ¡°No, the Jing Ke and Phantom drones are done. I¡¯m avable for a while now so I¡¯ll be home to keep everyonepany. Isn¡¯t that great?¡±
¡°Really?¡± Jiang Ruyi lit up.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s true. From today onwards, I¡¯ll be home by your side.¡±
Fan Fan blew a puff of air against his ear.¡± You¡¯re so nice. What would you like as a reward?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Come on, I¡¯m not some kid. There¡¯s no need for a reward.¡±
¡°Hmm...¡± Fan Fan thought momentarily, her pink tongue peeking out of the corner of her lips. She expertly wetted her pink lips. ¡°We¡¯ve been out of reach recently due to the pregnancy. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re crazy hungry, right?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Fan Fan tossed a look at Jiang Ruyi, causing thetter to flush red. Despite that, her movements were sharp, catching his lips in a kiss to swallow his retorts.
Fan Fan clumsily mbered over and began to reward her lover...
Liang Siyao and Long Bing urged to check his homework while Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi opted to reward him. How could Xia Lei not be satiated?
Just as things were getting intense, the door was pushed open. Liang Siyao was stunned at the scene weing her. Her shock had onlysted for a brief moment before regaining herposure. She giggled and snorted, ¡°Oh,e on! It¡¯s so early in the morning. Hurry up or the porridge I made is going cold!¡±
Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi rolled their eyes at her and continued on like she didn¡¯t exist.
Xia Lei¡¯s family was as harmonious as ever.
Keeping true to his words, Xia Lei stayed home after breakfast. Discounting off one night, he was only left with 699 days to live. There were so many things to do and so little time to spare, every second was precious but he was willing to make time for his women. Eternal separation might arrive after 699 days. How could he not treasure moments like this?
In the morning, Xia Lei serviced his wives with massages. After that, he apanied them on walks in the garden. Every moment was not withoutughter. They talked about the future and they talked about their children. Love was in the air. He even sat beside them as they did their online shopping, purchasing arge haul of baby items and other items like handbags, clothes, cosmetics and so on. They were preparing for theirbour, Xia Lei genuinely couldn¡¯t wait to be a father soon.
¡°Hubby, you bought me so many girly items. What if I give birth to a son?¡± In the middle of browsing tabs, Jiang Ruyi whined to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°I have a good feeling that you¡¯re pregnant with a little princess.¡±
¡°What if your hunch is wrong?¡± Jiang Ruyi wasn¡¯t so keen on believing him.
With a twitch of both his left and right eye, the unborn child within Jiang Ruyi¡¯s womb was presented before him. The development of the baby had reached maturity. It¡¯s genital structure was already formed. It really was a little princess. He scanned the stomachs of the other three pregnant women. There was a little boy in Long Bing¡¯s womb, a little girl in Fan Fan¡¯s womb and a little boy inside of Liang Siyao. He was long aware of this, but he had never once made it clear to them.
¡°Hubby... What do we do if it¡¯s a son? We can¡¯t use all these little girl items on him,¡±ined Jiang Ruyi. Truthfully, she wished to birth a son to take on Xia Lei¡¯s family name and continue the bloodline. After all, she was raised very traditionally.
Xia Lei hugged her pretty shoulder. ¡°Then we could just buy a few male items, just in case. That way, you will not be deprived of anything regardless of the baby¡¯s gender.¡±
Jiang Ruyi pulled her lips into a tight line. ¡°Isn¡¯t that very wasteful?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not. If you can¡¯t use it now, you can still use itter. You can give me another childter on. Wouldn¡¯t that work?¡±
¡°Ptui! I won¡¯t go through this again!¡± Jiang Ruyi blushed a pretty pink. While her words were sharp, her heart was literally thumping.
¡°Aiyo, we¡¯re not even done with this pregnancy and you¡¯re already nning for a second child?¡± huffed Fan Fan.
¡°Jeez, what do you take us as?¡± Liang Siyao joined in the chaos.
Long Bing merely regarded them with a smile and offered nothing else. All she could think of was the mental image of a boy and a girl fighting for a toy in front of her. The imagination flooded her heart with happiness and unprecedented warmth.
Xia Lei barked out inughter and replied, ¡°After the children are born, I¡¯ll pour my seeds again. Your second child will being very soon.¡±
¡°Fuck you! We¡¯re not baby factories!¡± Liang Siyao punched his sides. ¡°Beat the shit out of him!¡±
Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan raised their fists.
Long Bing hesitated for a moment but gave in. She just reached over and caressed Xia Lei a few times.
After the harmless punches, Xia Lei still dly brought them in closer and kissed their faces.
They loved each other. This was a warm family full of love indeed.
ncing down from the horizons, this mansion upied a very small portion of Bailu Town. Yet, this roof had housed the hopes and dreams of the Chinese people. Xia Lei had nted four seeds at home, four very miraculous seeds. Even if he had vanished off the surface of this world someday, the seeds he nted would thrive and grow. They¡¯d continued growing into arge booming tree that would be the pir of China!
And it really felt like there was a pair of eyes taking in everything silently. Nothing could escape its eyes, there was just no secret under its stealthy watch.
Chapter 1089 - The Son Of God
Xia Lei stayed home with his wives for the next few days. Despite that, he also tried to squeeze in some work in between hours when his wives did not demand his attention. He began designing Thunder Horse¡¯s very own bomber nes and fighter jets. There was no need forputers or other tools. All he needed was his trusty brain.
With the experience of designing the Jing Ke drone, he took on the task himself. However, it did mean that the task had gotten easier. Fighter jets and bomber nes were far moreplicated than drones, there were more stringent requirements in all aspects. It was also significantly difficult to manufacture.
To design their very own bomber nes and fighter jets was Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s final contribution to the country. Even if the goal was difficult to achieve, Xia Lei was adamant to see it through.
Time passed day by day, Xia Lei¡¯s seemingly leisure and boring vacation were actually contrastingly productive.
One week was gone silently.
On this particr afternoon, the four female knights had decided to pay Xia Lei a visit as he stood beside his four pregnant wives, who were admiring some goldfish on the side.
The four female knights were a marvellous sight to behold with amazing proportions crowned with golden hair and a pair of shimmering sapphire blue eyes. They approached them in a line, almost as if they were part of a Victoria Secret¡¯s catwalk.
Long Bing and Liang Siyao couldn¡¯t help but give each other a look. Both women seemed to have felt the same feeling.
Giovanna stepped forward with a brilliant smile. ¡°Good day, madams! You look wonderful today!¡±
A ssic Western-style greeting.
After a year¡¯s worth of Chinese sses and intensive practises, the four Italian women were getting better at thenguage.
Liang Siyao nodded. ¡°Giovanna, is there something we can help you with?¡±
¡°We¡¯re here for...¡± Giovanna averted her gaze onto Xia Lei but did not finish her words.
Xia Lei was fully aware of the reason behind their presence. He replied, ¡°Giovanna, let¡¯s go to the study.¡±
The female knight obediently nodded. ¡°Alright, no problem.¡±
Liang Siyao was evidently displeased by this, lips pulled into a taut line. ¡°Hubby, can¡¯t you do it here?¡±
Honestly, Xia Lei had no ns of making the matter known but Liang Siyao¡¯s ¡®hubby¡¯ had sessfully melted his heart. He confessed, ¡°Siyao, I¡¯m not trying to hide this from you. I¡¯m just worried about what this is.¡±
Liang Siyao felt dejected. ¡°If you don¡¯t tell us, we¡¯re bound to get more worried. We¡¯d be worried sick.¡±
A lopsided smile appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Alright, I shouldn¡¯t hide this from everyone. It¡¯s about Hattori Mei. The longer she lives, the more anxiety I suffer. She¡¯s as venomous as a scorpion. If I don¡¯t get rid of her, our family will be in danger. For the sake of a better environment and peace for you and the children, I need to get her out of the picture.¡±
¡°Hattori Mei?¡± Something cold shed across Long Bing¡¯s eye. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for Tang Yuyanst time, we would¡¯ve been dead for long. That woman is indeed too dangerous, you mustn¡¯t spare her.¡±
At this point, Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan had lost the mood to admire the goldfish. They stared at Xia Lei worriedly. However, things like these were literally Liang Siyao and Long Bing¡¯s field of expertise, there was nothing much the other two women could offer in a situation like this.
Long Bing looked at Xia Lei. ¡°Hubby, I know you¡¯re doing this for us and the children but you need to be careful. No matter what you do, please keep us in mind.¡±
Xia Lei merely nodded and led the female knights into the Peace Mansion.
As soon as they entered the study, Xia Lei immediately spoke, ¡°Damn, you¡¯re really efficient. You managed to get the information within a week.¡± He huffed a quiet chuckle. ¡°So tell me, what have you brought today?¡±
Giovanna reported, ¡°Boss, our brothers and sisters had managed to locate her. Hattori Mei is in America at the moment. Specifically, Las Vegas, Nevada.¡±
Xia Lei was taken aback. ¡°Sin City? What is she doing there?¡±
Ste continued, ¡°She¡¯s definitely not there to gamble. America¡¯s most mysterious Area 51 is in Nevada.¡±
Theresa carried on, ¡°The Seventh Fleet had brought six faceless warrior statues from Israel to Nevada. Its destination is confirmed to be Area 51.¡±
Rosa supplied, ¡°Hattori Mei is there for the statues. Currently, she¡¯s lodging in Caesars Pce Hotel. Though she¡¯s keeping on the down-low, she will not be able to escape from our informants as long as she is not invisible.¡±
The Grey and Russo sisters finished each other¡¯s sentences andpleted their report.
Xia Lei mused, ¡°The AE Research Centre is also located in Area 51. Looks like the Americans had passed the six statues to the research centre for further studies. Hattori Mei is part of Japan¡¯s HyperTech and her n holds significant power over their domestic military scene. She is also a high profile employee of Lockheed Martin. With her numerous important positions, it¡¯s not weird for her to be invited.¡±
Giovanna asked, ¡°Do you need our brothers to kill her?¡±
Xia Lei pondered. ¡°Can your brothers do it?¡±
The Grey and Russo sisters took a step back and studied each other¡¯s faces. From their expressions, they wished to offer Xia Lei a solid answer but they had no guarantee. After all, they¡¯re up against Hattori Mei. Forget about regr hitmen, it was already difficult for a professional assassin to take her out with the level of protection surrounding her. This fact alone suggested how tough it was to get rid of her. Under this situation, how could they afford to promise Xia Lei that?
Xia Lei had his own deduction. ¡°You¡¯ve already done a great job at tracking her steps. Killing her is bound to be difficult. Qian Jun and Sa¡¯im are already in America. Qian Jun is an expert in this, I¡¯ll have him do it instead.¡±
¡°But...¡± Giovanna stopped herself. They wished to seize this chance to insert themselves more but Xia Lei was thinking of handing the task to a Chinese Zodiac Battle Team member to get it done. She was understandably upset.
Xia Lei offered them a smile. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking about. There¡¯s no need to take things personally. The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team is a unit of their own. They have their own expertise. The Relief Society is not the same thing. You and your siblings are good at different things. There¡¯s no need topete against one another. Using the current matter as an example, you managed to build an impressive intelligencework and located Hattori Mei. Just leave the rest to Qian Jun. That way, you¡¯ll avoid unnecessary sacrifices. What¡¯s so bad about that?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s words had gotten through the four female knights well. What was once pouts had melted away into faint smiles instead.
¡°Then we shall focus our efforts on Zhu Xuanyue now. Please give us half a month on this, we¡¯ll be back with more information,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei¡¯s interest was piqued. ¡°Did you find any clues?¡±
Rosa said, ¡°Not at the moment. But if we ce all of our manpower on this, I believe we¡¯ll arrive at something very soon.¡±
¡°Just how many brothers and sisters does the Relief Society have in America?¡± Xia Lei was curious.
Theresa answered helpfully, ¡°Until today, we have 832 regr siblings and 128 important members. This data is only temporary as we expect our numbers to grow. It¡¯s difficult to give you an exact idea of what this society will grow into.¡±
Xia Lei was genuinely surprised. There were already so many members from America alone. Added with members from other countries and areas, there were possibly more than tens of thousands of them!
This was the power of faith and religion!
Giovanna borated, ¡°The one billion USD you gave us was helpful. We¡¯ve got churches all across the globe in the middle of its construction and we were able to provide aid to those in need. After you offer them warmth and support when they need it the most, they tend to be devoted followers. That¡¯s how we gain their trust.¡±
¡°So... Try not to be too surprised if we manage to reach the scale of the old glorious medieval Knight Hospitallers.¡± Steughed.
Xia Lei was at a loss for words.
As long as the funds were sufficient, building churches in ces with demand and reaching out to those in dire situations brought on by poverty and chaos was indeed beneficial for the development of the Relief Society. Perhaps they might really be as huge as the Knight Hospitallers. Sadly, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d live long enough to see that happen.
¡°Then that¡¯s settled. Please have your siblings investigate Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s whereabouts,¡± requested Xia Lei.
To which Ste nodded. ¡°Sure, no problem.¡±
¡°Boss, there¡¯s something else I wish to tell you but...¡± Giovanna paused.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei tilted his head.
There was a moment of hesitation before Giovanna bit the bullet. ¡°You built those churches and eased their troubles. They refer to you as the... Son of God.¡±
¡°Son of God?¡± Xia Lei spluttered. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Giovanna answered, ¡°They im you are the son of God that had descended from heaven to save them under God¡¯s instructions.¡±
Rosa chirped, ¡°Those in Africa even said that you¡¯re God¡¯s only son.¡±
Those revtions brought upon a flood ofplex feelings inside of Xia Lei¡¯s gut. Everything that had urred had reminded him of something inexplicably.
With the powers he received, the prehistoric chosen one led his people to conquer most of the. He built his own kingdom and reigned supreme over every inch of his territory. That was why his people had called him the chosen one and saw him as a divine figure.
Tying this to his current situation, wasn¡¯t he also using his capabilities to make the people of China stronger? The Relief Society formed by his four female knights was the source of his powers and its followers had hailed him as God¡¯s only son. They were willing to serve him and even sacrifice themselves in his name. At this rate, was he destined to be the king of this realm?
This felt almost like reincarnation.
¡°Boss?¡± Rosa called. ¡°What are you thinking about? Are you upset about it?¡±
Xia Lei regained hisposure. ¡°Uh... No, I wasn¡¯t thinking about anything in particr. I¡¯m not upset either. I can understand their gratitude. However, please don¡¯t treat this like some new religion. I¡¯m no god and I don¡¯t need worshippers. Do you get what I mean?¡±
Giovanna merely shrugged. ¡°Boss, we¡¯re not trying to y god. They had interpreted it based on everything you¡¯ve done for them. The more you deny it, the more they¡¯d think that you¡¯re just being humble. They will only worship you more than ever.¡±
Theresa grinned. ¡°Honestly, I too think that you¡¯re our angel. This is not a joke, I mean it.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°No matter what, we¡¯re yours. We¡¯re willing to do anything for you. Everything we have belongs to you. We were raised this way and so were the members of the Relief Society. So please, just allow things to progress naturally,¡± uttered Ste.
Xia Lei could only smile wryly. He was only left with around 600 days to live. The development of the Relief Society was the least of his concern. He mentioned, ¡°I¡¯ll hand the Relief Society to your care. If you need money, do not hesitate to reach out to me for more. My hands are soiled with blood. I¡¯m just doing my best to help those in pain topensate for my sins.¡±
The four female knights watched him, eyes full with respect and something inexplicable.
Xia Lei brought out his satellite phone and dialled for Qian Jun. ¡°Qian Jun, Hattori Mei is in Las Vegas, Caesar Pce Hotel...¡±
Qian Jun¡¯s reply rang through the device. ¡°I¡¯ll move right away. Please await my development.¡±
¡°After you get there, get in contact with the members of the Relief Society first. They¡¯d provide you with assistance,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
¡°The Relief Society?¡± This was the first time Qian Jun had heard of its existence.
¡°It¡¯s Giovanna and her sisters¡¯ contact. I¡¯ll hand the device to them now.¡± Xia Lei passed the satellite phone to Giovanna.
The woman held the device and spoke, ¡°Hi, this is Giovanna. After you reach Las Vegas, head to Pande Town. There is a church there...¡±
Thus began the very first joint coop mission between the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and the Relief Society..
Chapter 1090 - The Woes of the Hattori Clan
America, Nevada State, Las Vegas.
The Caesar Pce Hotel was a marvellous sight at night. It shone with a bright golden hue in the middle of Sin City. The top dogs of society, businessmen, avid gambles and attractive women were part of its diverse crowd. Humans, hotels and the city had created a captivating art piece.
In the presidential suite on the hotel¡¯s top floor was Hattori Mei.
Seatedfortably on Room 404¡¯s couch, Hattori Mei¡¯sptop was perched atop herp. The woman was currently watching a video that took much effort to get a hold of. That was because this footage was an extract of the exchange that took ce between the Seventh Fleet, Phantom drone and the Jing Ke drone.
The Seventh Fleet had endured severe losses and embarrassment, thus the video wasbelled as top secret. Despite this, Hattori Mei had her own ways to obtain it.
On the screen, three Hos fired Sidewinder air-to-air missiles at the Phantom drone simultaneously. The Phantom drone dodged the missiles with ease and the Sidewinders glided on by with no signs of returning. It behaved like aunched spear that was thrown into the sea.
That triggered a frown from Hattori Mei. ¡°The Sidewinder couldn¡¯t even lock it as a target! How is this possible?!¡±
The video went on uninterrupted. The ¡®invisible¡¯ Phantom drone finally fired back. The first one to go down was an F35. In the face of the Phantom¡¯s split-force air-to-air missile, the world¡¯s strongest fifth-generation fighter ne was essentially unresponsive. It was reduced to a ming ball of scrap.
Hattori Mei inhaled sharply, shocked beyond words. As a higher employee of Lockheed Martin and the future sessor of the Hattori n, she was equipped with extensive military knowledge. She knew very well that the situation had indicated that the Phantom drone¡¯s split-force air-to-air missiles were invisible to the F35¡¯s radar!
The video was far from over but it had already shown her a fact that she was uneager to ept. If China were to initiate war with Japan, Japan would be reduced to rubble!
Even a hegemony like America had decided to keep mum about what transpired above the waves of the South China Sea. What choice was there left for Japan?
Ding dong. Ding dong.
The doorbell rang.
Hattori Mei folded her Macbook and sent a look at the Hattori n fighters stationed at the back of the couch. The family fighter went over to answer the door.
As soon as the door was opened, the man quickly bowed to salute the new presence.
It was no one else but the current lord of the Hattori n. Hattori Masao.
Hattori Mei quickly mbered off the couch to greet her father. Respectfully, she began, ¡°Father, I was under the assumption that you¡¯d arrive in Las Vegas tomorrow.¡±
Hattori Masao replied, ¡°The America-Japan Military Coalition will be holding a meeting in the Pentagon the day after tomorrow. I decided to arrive one day earlier than scheduled and make a pit stop to check on you.¡±
Hattori Mei uttered, ¡°The six statues seem to require another three days to reach this ce. I don¡¯t know much about it other than the fact it ising from Israel.¡±
¡°You must be clear about it. Anything rted to the AE is no simple matter. They¡¯re equally important to Japan too.¡± Hattori Masao¡¯s expression was rock solid.
¡°Understood!¡± Hattori Mei bowed over. ¡°Father, you¡¯ve arrived at the nick of time. I just managed to gain ess to a recording of the events that happened recently in the South China Sea.¡±
¡°Where? Show it to me!¡± Hattori Masao was impatient, not willing to waste another second to find out what had happened during the recent America-China exchange.
The woman swiftly brought up the Macbook on the couch and showed it to her father.
Hattori Masao immediately woke the device and resumed the video. That instance saw an abrupt shift in his gaze. It shifted from shock to fear.
Hattori Mei dutifully stood beside her father, eyes no longer glued to the screen. All she could think of now was a familiar face. Bright, handsome, someone women tend to gravitate to. Despite all attractive qualities, this face brought her unprecedented terror. Any reminder of him would elicit an involuntary shudder from her core.
Xia Lei was the person in her mind.
If she hadn¡¯t sent assassins out to harm his women with the poison with a fantasy to destroy all of Xia Lei¡¯s future bloodline, perhaps she would be spared. Against all odds, she did it. Hence, she needed to face his wrath!
This was exactly why she decided to stay low and erase her tracks after the failed assassination.
But how long more would she be able to stay out of reach?
Now, she was probably the most eager person to see Xia Lei die in this world. Her desire was even stronger than that of the White House and the Pentagon.
Ten minutester, Hattori Masao shut the window and tossed the Macbook lightly on the couch. ¡°This is worse than what we¡¯ve anticipated. If we don¡¯t reach a solution soon and allow Xia Lei and his Thunder Horse Organization to spread their wings, China¡¯s military sector will surpass America in ten years. When that happens, America would be powerless in Asia. What Japan will face is another eastern empire as strong as China in the Tang dynasty. We¡¯d have no other choice but to surrender ourselves.¡±
Hattori Mei supplied, ¡°Father, don¡¯t forget what we¡¯ve done to China during World War II. Japan and China had no bad blood. But after World War II, a good majority of Chinese bear grudges against our people. If we let China be an eastern empire and dethrone America from its current international status, our future will be bleak.¡±
¡°Is there really no other possibility to get rid of him?¡± questioned Hattori Masao.
The woman could only offer a bitter smile. ¡°If we could, there wouldn¡¯t be a need for the Americans to invite you to a meeting in the Pentagon.¡±
That earned an unfriendly snort from the man. ¡°The Americans are the best at using others as cannon fodder. The Japanese will not simply serve as anyone¡¯s weapon. We will never forget the nuclear bomb they dropped on Hiroshima. This old debt must be paid soon orter.¡±
There was a moment of silence before Hattori Mei had mustered the courage to speak again. ¡°Father, the past few battles had depleted most of our elite fighters. We need skilled fighters to protect and serve us. You are very influential among the samuraimunity back home. Is there any way for you to recruit someone?¡±
¡°Why question about this now? This concerns the whole of Japan. Those traditional Japanese bears a burning passion for the country. Before I departed, I paid a visit to the Iga-Ryu¡¯s Yagyu Ruichi and the Koga-Ryu¡¯s Saruo Sanada. They are two powerful figures in the samuraimunity so I had to visit them myself. Other smaller branches like the Hatano-Ryu and Zaga-Ryu were invited by your mother instead,¡± answered Hattori Masao.
¡°Will theye?¡± Hattori Mei tilted her head.
The man replied, ¡°This has nothing to do with the Hattori n but much to do with Japan¡¯s national development and its future. The Japanese samurais have their set of traditions. Pledging loyalty to the emperor is one of them. That¡¯s why I¡¯m sure that they¡¯d be willing to help us.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great news.¡± Hattori Mei sighed shallowly. ¡°Father, how about you stay a night here and leave for the Pentagon tomorrow morning?¡±
Hattori Masao merely nodded in response.
Suddenly, chattering was heard from the other side of the closed door.
¡°Why are you here?¡± A heavily-ented English rang out.
¡°You ordered dinner and I¡¯m here to deliver it.¡± The respondent was a woman with a standard American ent.
¡°Stand aside, I need to check your cart and your body.¡±
¡°Why? This is America, who are you? Are you the bodyguards of a Middle Eastern prince?¡±
¡°You better cooperate!¡±
¡°Alright. But only if you pay me a small tip.¡±
The argument continued, prompting Hattori Mei to check on the situation outside. She was weed by the sight of a ck woman in her forties.
A woman like this posed no threat, allowing Hattori Mei to ease off the built tension in her nerves. She spoke, ¡°I was the one who ordered dinner. Just check her cart and body would do.¡±
¡°Understood!¡± The Hattori n fighter speedily began his routine security check.
Another fighter brought out a metal detector and ran it over her body to check for spy bugs and weapons.
Beep beep beep...
The instrument abruptly rang out in rm as it reached the area between thedy¡¯s legs.
Hattori Mei immediately ducked into the room.
The fighter in charge of checking the woman quickly drew his pistol and jammed it harshly against her skull.
At that same moment, a handful of bodyguards armed with assault rifles and submachine guns gushed out of the rooms beside the presidential suite in a flurry. Their response was lightning fast!
The woman was scared shitless. She frantically raised her arms high, unsure of what to do.
The fighter nearest to her lifted the corner of her skirt.
Upon inspection, there were no weapons hidden underneath the fabric. All he saw was a panty with a metal zipper front.
Obviously, this was the culprit that rmed the metal detector.
¡°I... I can give you all my money!¡± The woman fumbled with the zip and dug out a crumpled hundred dor bill. She shakily passed it over to the Hattori n fighter that lifted her skirt.
The fighter instinctively backed away. The dor bill had a smell clinging to it.
This was nothing more than a harmless scare.
The Hattori fighters put away their guns and returned to their stations.
¡°Danger dissolved,¡± reported one of the fighters.
It was only then that Hattori Mei exited the room. Shenguidly threw two hundred dor bills at the bottom of the woman¡¯s feet. ¡°This is your tip. You better not utter a single word about this or you¡¯ll regret it!¡±
¡°Alright, alright. Thank you.¡± The woman cautiously picked up the bill and meekly questioned, ¡°So... Do you still want your dinner?¡±
¡°Leave the cart behind and go. You maye back to retrieve it after an hour,¡± instructed Hattori Mei.
One of the fighters rolled the cart into her room.
¡°Understood.¡± The woman fled as soon as she finished her word.
Five minutester, in the kitchen¡¯s washroom.
The same woman brought up a tattered phone to the side of her cheek. ¡°Someone important is here...¡±
Chapter 1091 - Taking Out Hattori Masao
A new day had arrived. While Las Vegas shone like a radiant pearl in the night, the city looked like a painful hangover in the morning.
Hattori Masao and Hattori Mei exited the presidential suite under the protection of a massive hoard of fighters.
¡°Father.¡± Hattori Mei called out as they entered the lift. ¡°What strategy do you think the Pentagon woulde up with this time?¡±
¡°I think they¡¯d probably have the United Nations ce some stress on China. Perhaps through an economic sanction. This is the only tactic the Americans can resort to at this dire moment,¡± answered the man.
Hattori Mei hummed in thought. ¡°But China is not Russia. China¡¯s light industrial productions hold arge share over the world. American and European countries will not function well without their cheap goods. Plus, China is the biggest consumer market in the world. America¡¯s Apple devices, automobile industry, luxury goods and tourism are inseparable from the Chinese market. Any sanctions aren¡¯t just punishing them, it¡¯s punishing us too.¡±
Hattori Masao¡¯s brows were knitted. ¡°If sanctions are not a viable choice then they¡¯d resort to military pressure. I¡¯m guessing that America and us and even NATO will see increased military drills in the foreseeable future.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not exactly effective either. Military drills are not real battle after all. China wouldn¡¯t even bat an eysh.¡±
¡°You must have something in mind. Tell me.¡± Hattori Masao raised an intrigued brow at his daughter.
Hattori Mei exined, ¡°The problem lies in Xia Lei and his Thunder Horse Organization. If Xia Lei dies for good, everything will be solved. Father, try to suggest the Pentagon this time that getting rid of Xia Lei as soon as possible should be their priority.¡± She paused and caught her breath. ¡°Don¡¯t forget Xia Lei has four wives. His women are pregnant and due forbour soon. His children might inherit his advanced genes.¡±
¡°You¡¯re saying to...¡±
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s children must perish too. None of them deserves to live. If his children end up as capable as their father or even better than him, the threat they¡¯d bring us after taking over his business will quadruple-fold.¡± Something cold glimmered in Hattori Mei¡¯s eyes.
Hattori Masao hummed. ¡°You make sense. I¡¯ll bring it up to the Pentagon. I¡¯m putting you in charge of the samurais.¡±
Hattori Mei replied, ¡°Father, I will not disappoint you. I swear I¡¯ll avenge Geppa.¡±
Face forward while uttering those words, Hattori Mei sneakily studied her father¡¯s expressions from the corner of her view. Hattori Masao¡¯s expressions were scrunched up in pain but it soon returned to one of neutrality. Hattori Mei smirked deviously. While she wasn¡¯t the one who took Geppa¡¯s life, she had been nning to bring him to the same predicament. With Hattori Geppa dead, she was made the only sessor of the Hattori n.
The doors opened.
Four family fighters exited the space and formed a passage. When it was Hattori Masao and Mei¡¯s turn toe out, the lift beside them opened. Eight fighters left the space and headed straight to the hotel¡¯s main entrance.
In the lobby, the military bodyguards who had been waiting since earlier went into alert mode. Some were on security watch while some were in charge of driving.
¡°Father, hold on. I¡¯ve got something important to give you,¡± Hattori Mei halted her footsteps.
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°It¡¯s an analysis report on Xia Lei and hispany. You¡¯ll need it at the Pentagon. We were in such a rush earlier that I forgot to pass it to you,¡± replied Hattori Mei.
¡°I¡¯ll wait for you in the car.¡± The older man nodded and left for the main entrance.
Hattori Mei quickly entered the lift and pressed ¡®27¡¯. Weirdly, she was supposed to be living on the 28th floor.
The lift stopped at its destination. The doors opened to reveal an identical woman. The clothes on her body were the same as Hattori Mei¡¯s coordination. In her grip was a document folder. As soon as Hattori Mei came to sight, the woman greeted her with a respectful bow.
She was Hattori Mei¡¯s substitute.
¡°Go. Bring this to him ande back,¡± ordered Hattori Mei.
The substitute nodded and entered the lift.
Then, Hattori Mei entered a room on the 27th floor. In the middle of the room were a cosmetic toolbox and a set of the hotel¡¯s employee uniform.
¡°Killing me won¡¯t be that easy.¡± Hattori Mei muttered to herself.
At the entrance of the Caesar Pce Hotel, Hattori Masao climbed into a Mercedes-Benz. This vehicle was made bulletproof for maximum security. He made himselffortable in the backseat and motioned for the driver to wait. ¡°Please give me a moment.¡±
Three minutester, Hattori Mei¡¯s substitute appeared. She paced over to the car. Naturally, Hattori Masao rolled his window down and waited for the document.
Hattori Mei walked over and reached into the car to pass the document into his waiting palm. She quickly turned around and left without another word.
Hattori Masao scowled. ¡°How rude! ¡°
Just as his sentence fell, an explosion rang out!
Ka-boom!
A tourist van parked beside the Mercedes-Bens burst into mes. The violent shockwaves immediately flipped the car over.
Crash!
The windows of the hotel were shattered to bits.
Boom! The Mercedes-Benznded harshly, breaking its windshield in the process. While it was bulletproof, it was only able to withstand bullets from pistols and submachine guns. Even assault rifles had proved to be difficult for the vehicle to stay intact, let alone a bomb.
Everything fragile was broken by the explosion, its grand chandelier wobbling wildly above the ceiling. The panicking crowd screamed and cried as they scrambled for safety.
Hattori Mei¡¯s substitute, who was sent flying around like a ragdoll courtesy of the shockwave, strenuously pushed herself up. Before she could take another step, a bullet came flying down from a skyscraper opposite the hotel and lodged itself deep in the back of her skull without warning.
Poof!
Eliciting a sound simr to a smashed watermelon. Her blood spluttered around uncontrobly. The unfortunate substitute was missing half a skull. Her limp body fell to the ground, her legs reflectively twitching.
A few Japanese military bodyguards that survived the st by a hairline lunged forward to the ming Mercedes-Benz. At that very moment, another bullet came flying from the same origin.
Poof! Before Hattori Masao could even push the door open and escape alive, arge crater was created on the side of his skull. His head mmed against the door as his body went limp.
¡°The sniper is on top of the building opposite us! Block all exits!¡± One of the dishevelled military bodyguards roared.
The surviving bodyguards quickly made a run for the building.
On the top of said building, Qian Jun expertly lowered the muzzle of his sniper rifle propped against the balcony¡¯s ledge and pulled the trigger. The silenced XL2500 sniper rifle trembled silently as another bullet wasunched. It precisely hit themanding bodyguard¡¯s head as he crossed the road rapidly. Once shot, his body fell onto the asphalt road and slid forward due to reflex.
A pickup truck that failed to brake in time ran over a portion of his skull. It was ttened to be part of the road.
One secondter, another crossing bodyguard suffered the same fate.
Who would dare to continue this pursuit? Thest remaining ones quickly turned around and ran.
Qian Jun stood up on the balcony and swiftly dismantled his XL2500 sniper rifle before tossing it into a luggage case. He rolled the case over to the other side of the balcony as he grabbed a pre-prepared rope and tossed it to the ground below.
Making sure that the rope was straight, he gripped it firmly with one hand. With the case in his other, he made a graceful retreat.
Hended at a small alley where a tourist van was parked. Qian Jun sprinted over to the end of the alley and quickly climbed into the vehicle.
The driver was no one else but the ck woman manning the night shiftst night. As soon as Qian Jun was in the vehicle, the woman ignited the engine and brought the van to the main road. They were headed towards Pander Town. asionally, the woman would look back and stare at Qian Jun in unmasked respect.
Qian Jun brought out his satellite phone and dialled a number. ¡°Boss, I got it done. Hattori Mei and even Hattori Masao are now out of the picture.¡±
¡°Well done!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s praise rang over the device along, Qian Jun could also hear muffled feminine voices on the side. He was not interested in finding out what they were saying but he has a good idea on the topic. Xia Lei¡¯s four wives were chattering away.
¡°Alright, that is all,¡± said Qian Jun.
¡°For now, hide and stay low. You can head to Mexico or even Cuba for that,¡± suggested Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll talk this out with Sa¡¯imter. Goodbye.¡± Qian Jun ended the call.
A long convoy of police cars sped along the street alongside soldiers of the National Guards. The scene was massive. The van that carried Qian Jun had just brushed by the urgently speeding vehicles, thetter blissfully unaware of their existence.
Two minutester, a female staff member of the Caesar Pce Hotel exited the main entrance. She walked by Hattori Mei¡¯s pitiful substitute, merely sparing a fleeting nce before walking away. The woman halted her tracks beside the damaged Mercedes-Benz.
The vehicle¡¯s driver was painted red. The Hattori n fighter in the seat beside him too had long gone cold. His death was brought by a lethal ss cut that sliced through his carotid artery. Hattori Masao was limp against the door, death caused by a fist-sized crater between the bridge of his nose and forehead.
The female staff chuckled slowly. ¡°Father, your death was necessary for Japan and America to step up their game. The samurais you invited will also serve me out of wrath. Me, on the other hand, will finally take control over the entire Hattori n. Please rest in peace, Father. For your death is invaluable to me.¡±
If Hattori Masao could hear those words leaving the tip of her tongue, he would not hesitate to sheet her in the back as well.
Chapter 1092 - Return of an Acquaintance
Peace Mansion, Beijing.
Xia Lei lowered the satellite phone and reactively scooped Long Bing up by the waist as he burst intoughter. ¡°She¡¯s dead, she¡¯s finally dead!¡±
Long Bing was dumbfounded by his childish actions as she frantically added, ¡°Who is? Put me down this instant.¡±
Xia Lei quickly caught a grip of reality that the woman before him was currently an expecting mother, instead of the usual Section Chief Long that was full of vigour. He ced her back down as he exined, ¡°Hattori Mei. Qian Jun called, saying that he had already gotten rid of Hattori Mei.¡±
¡°What? He did?¡± Long Bing appeared surprised.
Xia Lei chuckled as he replied, ¡°I was just as surprised as you are a moment ago. The truth is I never thought it would be this anticlimactic. But I guess Qian Jun, being the best of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team, personally letting me know means she¡¯s truly dead. Besides, Qian Jun said he got to Hattori Masao too, that can¡¯t be fake.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great news!¡± Long Bing eximed, ¡°Now that Qian Jun has gotten rid of Hattori Mei and Hattori Masao, you wouldn¡¯t need to go anymore. It¡¯s great that you got to stay out of something so dangerous hubby.¡±
Xia Lei wrapped his arms around her and gave her a little kiss before gently reassuring her, ¡°Well that¡¯s great isn¡¯t it, I get to stay here apanying you women as youdies approach your dues.¡±
Long Bing was slightly perplexed by his words, ¡°Are you serious? You want to watch them being born in person?¡±
Xia Lei with a solemn look on his face, ¡°Well yeah of course I am, I wouldn¡¯t want to miss my children¡¯s arrival to this world.¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes on his remark, ¡°I don¡¯t know about them, but I wouldn¡¯t want you around when I¡¯m inbour.¡±
Xia Lei was perplexed, ¡°Why not?¡±
¡°Well, what¡¯s so good about that? There¡¯s blood, the umbilical cord and all that. I¡¯m sure it would diminish my sexual appeal forever,¡± she said with a serious tone.
Xia Lei was conflicted.
Long Bing pecked him on the cheek, ¡°I don¡¯t care, I want you to remember the best of me. The clean, pure version of me. I wouldn¡¯t want you anywhere near the ce of my childbirth. You promise me now alright, will you?¡±
Xia Lei let out an awkward smile, ¡°Well alright, alright, I promise.¡±
At that moment, Liang Siyao entered the room and promptly noticed Xia Lei and Long Bing in each other¡¯s embrace as she took to ask, ¡°What are you guys talking about, hugging each other like that.¡±
¡°About mybour,¡± Long Bing replied, ¡°I said I didn¡¯t want him to watch when the child is being born.¡±
¡°Well me too then,¡± Liang Siyao replied.
Xia Lei shrugged at her response, knowing full well her reasoning was just the same. After considering his options, it seemed to him that his only chance to watch the birth of his child would be with his puppy lover Jiang Ruyi. He was certain that she would not mind as much. A little pampering would do the trick.
Liang Siyao then added, ¡°Hubby, about the childbirth business we can talk about thatter, we have a guest.¡±
¡°At this hour?¡± Xia Lei finally decided to free Long Bing of his embrace.
"An old acquaintance is here waiting for you in the living room.¡±
The sole mention of his ¡®old acquaintance¡¯ quickly reminded him of two possible women. One of them was Tang Yuyan and the other was Shentu Tianyin. His expression promptly became uneasy.
¡°You can stop guessing now, it¡¯s Tang Yuyan. Go ahead, don¡¯t make our guest wait,¡± Liang Siyao replied, albeit slightly teasingly.
Xia Lei went up and gave a tight spank on her buttcheek. ¡°Well, you could have just said her name, couldn¡¯t you? If you use that term again I¡¯ll give you a tight spanking!¡±
With hardly any strength, Liang Siyao, however, reacted with an exaggerated shriek.
¡°Ugh, that hurts! How could you do that to me!¡±
Xia Lei sneered at her response yet wittily avoided her coy punching his way.
In the living room, Xia Lei noticed Tang Yuyan sitting on the couch, keeping herpany were Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan. The three women were apanied by a huge array of presents on the coffee table, mostly snacks, things like almond chocte and whatnot. Besides, the snacks were four tins of milk powder originated from New Zend.
Xia Lei felt a slight churn in his belly. Why can¡¯t she just stop by like normal? What¡¯s with
the gifts? Is this her little ploy to get them to like her? Thinking about the two-year promise he made with Tang Yuyan, Xia Lei shuddered at the thought of it.
In contrast to his spiralling thoughts, however, his face was stacked to the brim with joy as he engaged, ¡°Oh Yuyan how nice for you to stop by. But you could have omitted the gifts, not to mention the sheer volume.¡±
Tang Yuyan chuckled in response, ¡°You¡¯re just days away from being a dad, it wouldn¡¯t be nice if I stop by empty-handed now isn¡¯t it?¡±
Fan Fan then dered, ¡°Hubby, you guys go on, I¡¯m calling it a day.¡±
Jiang Ruyi subsequently followed as she added, ¡°Me too, I¡¯m exhausted.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Go ahead you both, get some rest.¡±
The two expecting women strode through the corridor before halting their footsteps, then turning around and back towards the living room. Just before the entrance, they met the two other pregnant women heading the same direction.
The four women seemed to convene on their motives as they kept their silence. All four of them walked into the next room and pressed their ears against the door to eavesdrop on the conversation.
¡°Yuyan, for you to stop by thiste at night, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not to send these gifts to me, isn¡¯t it? Let¡¯s get to the point,¡± Xia Lei was direct.
Tang Yuyan proceeded with her updates. ¡°We just had reports that the Japanese defence army officer Hattori Masao was assassinated in Las Vegas, America, and has died.¡±
Xia Lei appeared unaffected by the news, yet his heart was still rather awestruck as he replied, ¡°Wow the 101 sure has thetest news in check.¡±
Tang Yuyan then replied, ¡°I originally genuinely wanted toe to visit you, but I got caught up by a sudden phone call. Otherwise, I would really have arrived empty-handed.¡±
It all felt slightly odd to Xia Lei not too long ago, notably the fact that just minutes after Qian Jun called, Tang Yuyan was already seated in his living room. At least now he knew why.
Xia Lei¡¯s face had by then returned to its usual calm, ¡°Hattori Masao¡¯s dead? Now that¡¯s a surprise,¡± He chuckled, ¡°But it sure is one good news.¡±
¡°Not just him, even Hattori Mei too,¡± Tang Yuyan added.
¡°What? Hattori Mei too?¡± Xia Lei cracked a smile.
¡°About time now, that venomous wench, keeping her alive posed a danger to society. Thest assassination attempt on Ah Bing was from the Hattori family. If it wasn¡¯t for you I might not even see my wives again.¡±
Tang Yuyan stared right at Xia Lei. ¡°Do you know who did it?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°That I have no clue. But I¡¯m sure for people like Hattori Mei and Masao people must be fighting each other to make that happen.¡±
Tang Yuyan red at him. ¡°Nice acting you got there, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s you.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t possibly be in two ces at once!¡±
¡°Nobody said you have to do it on your own. I¡¯m sure somebody else did it in your stead. Who could it...nevermind.¡± Tang Yuyan let out a petite sigh.
¡°I understand if you don¡¯t want to tell me, but let me remind you of this, if even I can point the ¡®perpetrator¡¯ to you I¡¯m sure there are many out there who would have already locked in on their assumptions. Stay away from the public eye.¡±
Xia Lei remained silent and only replied with a faint nod. Yet that was all it needed for him to admit that he masterminded the ughter of the Hattori¡¯s¡¯.
Tang Yuyan continued, ¡°You executing Hattori Masao and Hattori Mei was a pretty foolish move I must say. From the victory we earned at the South Sea, your achievements would be more than sufficient to be kept in the history books. Yet while that was happening front and centre you decidedly pulled a lever in the shadows and created such a blunder. Hattori Masao was themanding general of the Japanese defence army! How can you just kill him as you will? That alone could have started a war!¡±
¡°The Hattori¡¯s wanted the lives of my wives and my expected children. Do you think I can let that slide? If they plotted for an assassination once, I wouldn¡¯t put it above them to do it several more times. I wouldn¡¯t want my wives and kids and to live in constant fear and anxiety.¡±
These words came out especially heartwarming to the four women eavesdropping from behind the wall.
With the battle of the South sea ending in a sounding defeat for the enemies, it simultaneously brought Xia Lei¡¯s name into the hall of fame. But this time around, murdering Hattori Masao and Hattori Mei had nothing to do with national interests. This sure wouldn¡¯t drag his name to the mud, but it will undeniably dent his legacy.
Yet it was clear however that the battle of the South sea was for his country and the assassinations plot was on him. He knew the time he had left was limited, which was why he had to take action and cut them down his hit list one by one until they were all dead! It was never at the heat of the moment.
¡°Come along and take a walk with me,¡± Tang Yuyan invited out of nowhere.
Xia Lei was caught off guard. Where?¡±
¡°Bureau 101.¡±
Xia Lei frowned at her request, ¡°What do you mean? Even if I¡¯m wanted for interrogation there should at least be evidence doesn¡¯t it?¡±
Right then, the four anxious expecting women came into the light one after another.
Fan Fan was the first to break the silence, ¡°Tang Yuyan, what do you mean by this? My hubby just did the nation a huge favour by winning the battle of the South sea. Who dares to arrest him?¡±
Tang Yuyan responded by deliberately standing up as she cautiously exined, ¡°Big sis Fan Fan, fret not. You¡¯re absolutely right, nobody in the nation would dare call for his arrest, including me.
I¡¯m not taking him back to the Sweeper to arrest him, neither are any of us going to interrogate him. Even if the Hattori¡¯s were important people, they can¡¯t provide solid evidence that we have anything to do with it. All we have to do is deny all ims. It wouldn¡¯t be too big of a problem.¡±
¡°Then why else are you taking him to the bureau?¡± Liang Siyao obnoxiously questioned, visibly suspicious of her motives.
Tang Yuyan, perplexed, awkwardly chuckled in response. ¡°I know all of you are worried about Xia Lei and I understand that. I wouldn¡¯t want to involve him in any more trouble either. Besides, this really isn¡¯t much of an issue, it¡¯s just someone personally requested to meet him and he sent me to fetch Xia Lei in his stead.¡±
¡°Who did?¡± Long Bing quickly added.
Tang Yuyan replied, ¡°That I am not informed. I did ask my godfather but he told me to keep it hush. Follow orders, he said. The bureau is now on peak security mode.¡±
Long Bing wanted to follow up her previous question but Fan Fan instinctively held her by the hand. ¡°That¡¯s enough, let him go.¡±
Long Bing seemed to have certain assumptions in mind as she nodded and promptly halted her questions.
¡°Don¡¯t you worrydies, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t lose even one body part. I promise to return him in one piece,¡± Tang Yuyan reassured them with a wide smile.
Yet the mention of the word ¡®part¡¯ seemed to perk their distrust even more as they all red at her almost simultaneously.
Which part would he lose exactly?
Food for thought indeed.
Tang Yuyan promptly noticed the reaction from her poor choice of words as she tried to patch her error. ¡°I mean hair, of course.¡±
Xia Lei finally spoke, ¡°All of you should go to bed now. I will make sure Ie home as soon as I can.¡±
Liang Siyao leaned herself forward towards Xia Lei as she mumbled, ¡°You best watch out for this seductive little pixie, alright?¡±
Xia Lei stood there chuckling sheepishly.
Chapter 1093 - Special Reward
The Brave Warrior off-road vehicle zoomed along the empty street. Xia Lei nced out of the window, immediately spotting the sniper and overwatch stationed on top of certain buildings. There were also policemen and soldiers blocking the intersections leading to the building. Just with that lineup, Xia Lei had a good idea on who it was that demanded his presence.
¡°There¡¯s no point looking around. You already know who it is, don¡¯t you?¡± Tang Yuyan cast a nce over to Xia Lei, who was seated beside her. There was a faint smirk on the edge of her lips. She thought of Xia Lei¡¯s promise to her. Two years... Two yearster, she¡¯d be allowed to be together with him. Just thinking of that alone was enough to fill her head with joy.
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°You know it too. Why didn¡¯t you say?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve got orders to have it remain confidential. You know the rules,¡± answered Tang Yuyan.
¡°Fair.¡± Xia Lei could already see Bureau 101¡¯s boring office block in the distance.
¡°Do you know? After learning about what you¡¯ve pulled in the South China Sea, I was so excited that I couldn¡¯t sleep at all,¡± uttered Tang Yuyannguidly.
Xia Lei averted his attention onto her, merely smiling in response.
¡°You really are the best man in this world.¡± Her voice was overflowing with tenderness and yearning. ¡°I really wished two years had already passed.¡±
Was this her way of reminding him?
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly at that.
Two yearster?
He didn¡¯t know if he¡¯d still exist in two years. It was either he had died in the hands of the ck-robed man or he had entered the ancient alloy box¡¯s realm with no return. There was no third scenario.
The vehicle entered Bureau 101¡¯s premise and a few bodyguards dressed in sleek ck suits came over to wee it. Some of them were armed with Gust assault rifles and some had ck cases in their grips.
One of the bodyguards immediately came over to greet Xia Lei courteously as soon as the man pushed the car door open. ¡°Mister Xia, this way please.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Xia Lei allowed him to lead the way.
Tang Yuyan wanted to follow them but the woman was quickly halted by two bodyguards. One of them said to her, ¡°I¡¯m sorry but you can¡¯t go with them.¡±
Knowing the gravity of the situation, Tang Yuyan remained rooted in her spot. She watched Xia Lei enter the office block, enamoured with the man ahead of her.
Tang Bochuan approached her from the other side of the parking lot. He swiftly pulled Tang Yuyan away to an isted spot and whispered, ¡°What is with you and Xia Lei?¡±
Tang Yuyan blinked. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°I¡¯m your brother, okay? You can¡¯t deceive me. You look too happy for someone who was tasked to deliver him. Did you and Xia Lei get together recently?¡± asked Tang Bochuan.
The woman scowled. ¡°So I¡¯m only normal if I frown all day long?¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be honest. I¡¯m asking this on behalf of Grandpa, he wants to know.¡±
The word ¡®grandpa¡¯ immediately chased away all good thoughts Tang Yuyan had earlier. ¡°Why can¡¯t he ask me himself?¡±
¡°You never fail to get agitated when he brings up the question. He sincerely does not wish to argue with you. He¡¯s growing old, you should try and go easy on him,¡± relented Tang Bochuan.
¡°Am I not tolerant enough? What else do I do to please him?¡± Tang Yuyan was starting to lose her cool. ¡°When I had a shot with Xia Lei, he had run into some tension from Hanwu Weapons and China Industrial Group. Grandpa and father were worried sick, they had no qualms in having me give up on Xia Lei. And I did. But Xia Lei managed to stay afloat and became even more sessful. That when everyone started to devise ns to get me with him. When he needed help the most, I wasn¡¯t there with him. What right do I have to reap the fruits of hisbour? Now he is already married to Fan Fan and three other women, who are all pregnant with his child. Not only did you all stop me from contacting him, but you also never stop arranging matchmaking sessions with higher officers. It¡¯s obvious the family is pushing for a political marriage. I am a woman for crying out loud! I too have the right to pursue my own happiness!¡±
Finally speaking her mind after years of suppression, Tang Yuyan felt infinitely lighter.
Tang Bochuan was silent. ¡°Yuyan, you need to remember that in the end, you¡¯re still part of the Tang family. Our n has managed to stay intact for hundreds of years with what? Dedication! Holdfast!¡±
¡°Enough, I don¡¯t wish to argue with you.¡± Tang Yuyan shifted away. ¡°To answer you, we¡¯re not together. That is my answer and if you¡¯re not pleased with that, kindly direct the question to Xia Lei instead.¡±
¡°No, you¡¯re wrong.¡± Tang Bochuan held his steely gaze.
Tang Yuyan was taken aback. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±
Tang Bochuan replied, ¡°The battle at the South China Sea is a sign that Xia Lei is nearing the pinnacle of life. We know he has ns to enter the fighter jet airspace. When that timees, he¡¯d be at his peak.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t that a well-known fact? Nothing in this world can stop him. I believe that he¡¯ll seed.¡± Her eyes glimmered with admiration.
¡°You¡¯re able to foresee that far?¡± Tang Bochuan smirked coldly. ¡°When the nes are birthed, China¡¯s military technology and capabilities will be at the top of this world. After that, Xia Lei¡¯s worth would no longer be ced on his creations but his body.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°You mean... The country willunch a research project on his body?¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± Tang Bochuan continued, ¡°This matter can¡¯t be openly discussed but it is inevitable. Xia Lei is the only human in the world that has undergone further evolution. His body is invaluable to the country¡¯s people and future prospects. They will definitely do that.¡±
¡°And what does that have to do with me?¡± Tang Yuyan huffed. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear it from you!¡±
¡°Tha Tang family wants a child with Xia Lei¡¯s genes.¡± Tang Bochuan stated sternly.
¡°You... You...!¡± Tang Yuyan urged to scream about how shameless her family was, yet nothing managed to escape her lips.
¡°What Grandpa is trying to say is that regardless if you and Xia Lei are together or not, the Tang family must obtain a child with his genes. It¡¯d be best if you are the one carrying it,¡± revealed Tang Bochuan.
¡°Hahaha...¡± She broke out in a peal ofughter.
¡°What are youughing at?¡± Anger adorning his features, Tang Bochuan growled, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare forget how you got to the top of Bureau 101. I was the one who let you take it. The future of the Tang family is mine to dictate. You must listen to me!¡±
¡°Brother, do you really think I don¡¯t respect you?¡± Tang Yuyan finally stoppedughing, evidently disheartened by his harsh words. ¡°I¡¯m clear of what you¡¯re trying to pull. You¡¯re asking me to seduce Xia Lei, let him bed me and get pregnant with his child. However, you won¡¯t be satisfied. The next step after me getting pregnant would be making sure that I be part of his family to obtain proper gauge of his future developments. He will also certainly draft a will for me and my child. If he¡¯s met with any misfortune, the child and I will get ahold of a portion of Thunder Horse¡¯s shares and that will eventually be the Tang family¡¯s. That is the n, no?¡±
Tang Bochuan was quiet. His silence was a confirmation.
¡°This n was made because of Xia Lei¡¯s ability to defeat the Seventh Fleet, right?¡± Tang Yuyan posed the question.
¡°Give it some thought, okay? When you consider it, please be mindful that you¡¯re a part of the Tang family. Give me an answer after you¡¯ve given it some thought. I¡¯ll make the relevant arrangements.¡± Tang Bochuan let his sentence fall and turned around to leave.
Tang Yuyan stood nkly at her spot, not willing to move for long.
In one of the numerous multifunctional conference rooms in Bureau 101¡¯s office building.
Xia Lei shook hands with that person. He used both hands and the person reciprocated the motion. His smile was returned with a smile as well. It felt almost as if the two had be friends.
¡°Comrade Xia Lei, you have aplished something very important to the country. You managed to ease tens of years of tension that we had to shoulder. I should¡¯vee to visit you once you returned from the south but my schedule just couldn¡¯t afford to do so. I¡¯m terribly sorry that this visit had to be pushed back to this date.¡± The person was apologetic.
¡°Chief, you¡¯re too courteous. For you to wish to visit me is already an honour,¡± said Xia Lei confidently.
¡°You¡¯ve done a great deed. Tell me, what reward would you like in return?¡±
Xia Lei merely offered a polite smile. ¡°Chief, the country has already given me enough support. I generate enough ie for my bloodline tost generations. I don¡¯t think a reward is necessary. Seriously, I don¡¯t need it. Our country isn¡¯t that rich, to begin with. Our poption is extremely dense and that alone is an economic burden. Please take my reward to aid those in need, they need it more than me.¡±
The man nodded. ¡°I¡¯m extremelyforted to know that you¡¯re a considerate man. To have a talent like you is the country¡¯s pleasure!¡±
¡°I¡¯m honoured to be able to contribute something to my mothend.¡±
¡°Hehehe. Comrade Xia Lei, there¡¯s no need to be so formal. You don¡¯t wish to receive money and you don¡¯t wish to assume a position in the government. But to not offer you any form of reward feels inadequate. You¡¯ve contributed a lot to the country and the people, we should really do something for you. There¡¯s no need to be so bashful, I¡¯m able to give you anything you ask for as long as you say it out,¡± persuaded the man.
Xia Lei pondered about it and probed, ¡°Chief, can I really say it out?¡±
The man chuckled. ¡°Look at you. I already made myself clear. Come on, say it. What can I do for you?¡±
There was a beat of hesitant silence before Xia Lei confessed, ¡°Chief, can you cancel off the pending research on my body?¡±
That seemed to ur as a surprise. The man blinked. ¡°Sure, I can try to do that. Your body may be the culmination of the best of human evolution but we can cancel off the n if you don¡¯t wish to participate. In the future, when you reach the end of your life, you can donate your body and allow studies to take ce. Is that a better n?¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°That will be great! Thank you, chief.¡±
To donate his body to the country after his natural death was already Xia Lei¡¯s n in the first ce. But to hear such a promise escaping the lips of a higher figure was a guarantee that had also served as respect!
Plus, it was only natural for a country or a person to not be able to fight the temptations of learning more about human evolution.
¡°However, Comrade Xia Lei, this is not a reward. We can consider that your suggestion just now is settled. I can promise you that there will not be any research posed on you from today onwards. Now, please think harder about what I can do for you.¡± The man¡¯s smile was unwavering, tone and bodynguage open and approachable.
¡°Wow, you¡¯re really adamant on rewarding me.¡±
¡°Come on, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s something we can do for you.¡±
Xia Lei thought again. ¡°Okay... Chief, so... Other than Fan Fan, I also have another three more women. They¡¯re all due soon. Can you see if it¡¯s possible to grant me a wedding certificate of some sort? I need it for the children.¡±
¡°...That¡¯s all?¡±
¡°That¡¯s all.¡±
The man cackled. ¡°Jeez, you¡¯re excellent in all areas but your private life. I¡¯m not unaware of your affairs. I know everything about you. As a man, I have to admit that you¡¯re full of charm. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll help you settle the issue.¡±
Xia Lei was gleeful. ¡°Thank you, chief.¡±
In China, one man can only have one legal wife. But his request was to be wed to four women legally. This reward was one of its kind. But to a national hero like him, to receive such a special reward was worth it.
¡°You¡¯re the only one in this country that can receive such treatment. Do you feel special?¡±
¡°Yes, very.¡± Xia Lei smiled sheepishly. ¡°Sorry for the trouble, Chief.¡±
¡°What are you going to offer in return?¡±
¡°Within two years, Thunder Horse Organization will produce the world¡¯s most advanced fighter jets and bomber nes for the country,¡± dered Xia Lei.
¡°Excellent! That¡¯s a deal!¡± The man stood up and shook Xia Lei¡¯s palm firmly.
Chapter 1094 - Sharing Birthdays
Hattori Masao was dead.
The news gripped the whole globe in shock. All sorts of wild guesses and conspiracy theories began to appear on mainstream media. Somementators had even boldly hinted at the possibility of World War III. Thementator had even tried to exin the simrities of Masao¡¯s inexplicable death to the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife that led to the outbreak of World War I.
History seemed to have repeated itself. The world med China for the death of the Japanese Land Defense Force¡¯s general, Hattori Masao. Public opinion and analysis had directed their attention to China. It was no secret that the two countries bore unresolvable historical conflicts. A little military friction at a time like this could very likely cause the outbreak of a third world war!
Despite that, no matter how hard the media tried to sell the news, no matter how exaggerated the opinions of the militarymentators were, America, Japan and China had kept theirposure. They could not risk war at a critical time like this one.
Humans hade a long way since the dawn of their existence. War was no longer a good solution to conflicts. Economic attacks were moremon among countries in modern society. In the past, America was able to use their fleets and advanced battle aircraft to gain leverage over China and force them to heed their demand. But things were much different now. With the Jing Ke and Phantom drones offered by the Thunder Horse Organization to China, these drones posed a high risk of it bombing America with no warning whatsoever. The Phantom drone was even able to obliterate America¡¯s best F35 fighter jet. All circumstances considered, what else could America use against China?
America¡¯s tried and tested strategies were no longer working for them!
The Thunder Horse Organization had instilled huge fear in America, not to mention Japan as well. Japan¡¯s current woe would be the possibility of the Phantom drone flying into their territory undetected and taking aerial photographs above Tokyo. It would be a tant statement of how China could bring about destruction any time it pleased. What else could they do to such an opponent?
Hattori Masao¡¯s assassination felt like the beginning of a storm but no war was about to take ce. What would happen at most would probably be an intense battle of words between American and Chinese media.
In the midst of chaos, Xia Lei weed the most important day of his life.
¡°Ah...¡± In the middle of her walk around the garden, Fan Fan suddenly pawed at her swollen stomach and slumped to the ground. Cold sweat began to bead along the span of her forehead, her features scrunched up in pain.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei frantically rushed over to tend to her. ¡°Are you feeling unwell?¡±
¡°I think I¡¯m about to give birth soon. The baby is kicking me, it¡¯s so painful.¡± Fan Fan widened her mouth to swallow more air.
Xia Lei quickly picked her up. ¡°Calm down. I¡¯m bringing you to the hospital right away!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll drive!¡± eximed Long Bing as she waddled over to the garage like a penguin. She really intended to run but her big belly was a hindrance.
¡°No, you shouldn¡¯t drive. Let me do it instead.¡± With Fan Fan in his arms, it did not take him more than a few strides to surpass Long Bing.
¡°I... I¡¯ll go phone the hospital to have them on standby!¡± Liang Siyao was panicking now, quickly reaching for her phone.
Panic erupted and a few minutester, a XIV Knight under the escort of several military off-road vehicles was rushing off to Jingdu city. Qin Xiang was the one behind the wheel instead of Xia Lei.
¡°Crap... Crap... The child seems to be arriving soon. This hurts like hell! Why does it hurt so much to give birth to a child?! I don¡¯t wanna do this anymore...¡± Fan Fan continued to whine in agony.
To be fairly honest, the pain she felt was far from unbearable. It was only because of her hypersensitive physique that magnified the pain to this extent.
Xia Lei was clear about her situation. He wrapped his arm firmly around her in an attempt to provide her with some form offort. ¡°Hang in there, Darling. We¡¯re reaching the hospital very soon. The doctors are prepared and they¡¯ll take good care of you.¡±
The other three pregnantdiesforted her too.
¡°Don¡¯t fret, your water hasn¡¯t broken yet. You won¡¯t be giving birth in the car,¡± said Jiang Ruyi softly.
¡°You¡¯re only in this state because of your pain tolerance. Hang in there, it¡¯d be over soon,¡± encouraged Long Bing.
¡°Yeah, grit your teeth and endure it. There¡¯s no need to be afraid.¡± Liang Siyao chimed in.
Despite that, Fan Fan was close to tears. ¡°Easy to say. You¡¯re not the ones in pain. When it¡¯s your turn, you¡¯ll understand how much pain I¡¯m in now... Ah...¡±
There was not a moment of silence in the car.
¡°Sister Fan, you have no idea how envious I am.¡± Qin Xiang, who was driving the Knight XIV, spoke up. ¡°Giving birth to a child is one of the happiest things in a woman¡¯s life. You should treat this agony as the many forms of joy in life. Think about happier times and you¡¯ll feel better.¡±
¡°Feel better my fucking ass...¡± hissed Fan Fan. ¡°How about you try giving birth for a change?!¡±
Qin Xiang stuck his tongue out and focused on the road.
At this very moment, Liang Siyao too palmed her stomach. ¡°Shit! I think I¡¯m about to give birth too! Ow...¡±
Xia Lei was about to piss himself. ¡°How could there be such a coincidence? You¡¯re about to give birth too?!¡±
¡°Ah... God... It hurts, I think the baby¡¯s moving.¡± In that split second, Liang Siyao turned pale and started to sweat. Her expression looked excruciatingly painful.
If it wasn¡¯t for the cold beads of sweat dotting her forehead and her pained expression, Xia Lei would think she was joking. But it really did seem like she was about to give birth soon.
Xia Lei quickly reached over tofort her. His heart was screaming in utter confusion, ¡°What the fuck is going on?! Fan Fan was the first to get pregnant so it¡¯s no doubt she would be due first. But Liang Siyao only got pregnant after some time. Why would she be giving birth on the same day as Fan Fan?!¡±
His four wives had gotten pregnant at different times. Despite that, he had to admit that the timing was rather close to one another. The longest gap would be one month at most. It was natural for human gestation tost for ten months, which was the case for the length of Fan Fan¡¯s pregnancy. Liang Siyao was only nine months pregnant but it was not umon for this to happen early. Xia Lei decided to not overthink this, seemingly arriving at a conclusion that this was merely a coincidence. After all, to wee two children in a day was a joyous asion!
¡°Siyao, please hang in there. I¡¯ll give your father a call as soon as we reach the hospital and have hime over right away,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I don¡¯t want him, I want you,¡± Liang Siyao pouted.
Xia Lei relented, ¡°Alright, alright. I¡¯ll be in thebour room with you. I promise I won¡¯t leave, okay?¡±
Qin Xiang giggled. ¡°Damn, Lei Zi! Congrattions! Two of your wives are giving birth, you¡¯ve got two bundles of happiness arriving soon! Remember to make me their godmother, okay?¡±
¡°Ah!¡± Jiang Ruyi screamed out of the blue. ¡°My stomach hurts! The baby is kicking me! Does that mean it¡¯sing out soon? Ow ow ow...¡±
Xia Lei froze. If Fan Fan and Liang Siyao going intobour at the same time was a coincidence, having Jiang Ruyi added to the mix wavered the deduction. This level of coincidence was too bizarre!
No matter what, Xia Lei had to fulfil his duty as their husband. He quickly climbed over and caressed Jiang Ruyi gently. ¡°Hey, rx. There¡¯s no need to be scared, we¡¯re reaching the hospital really soon.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not scared but I¡¯m... in... pain...¡± Jiang Ruyi grabbed Xia Lei¡¯s elbow and squeezed hard. Her fingernails were digging into his flesh painfully. This response was no joke, she really was about to give birth too!
¡°Haha!¡± Qin Xiang couldn¡¯t help butugh at Xia Lei¡¯s predicament. ¡°Did the three of you n to go intobour on the same day?!¡±
¡°Shut the fuck up, you fuckin... Ouch! Crap...¡± Liang Siyao wished to curse at him but the waves of pain were cutting her off.
¡°Haha... Ow!¡± Qin Xiang¡¯s boisterousugh was immediately halted by a punch to his head, courtesy of Long Bing.
Right after delivering her punch, Long Bing suddenly went tense. Her hands flew down to her stomach and her expressions shifted into something weird. She looked very constipated.
Xia Lei stared at her. ¡°Ah Bing, seriously?¡±
Without warning, she seized his other arm with gritted teeth. No longer able to maintain herposure, she wheezed, ¡°Ow... I... I...! I think I¡¯m about to give birth too!¡±
Even the pain of giving birth had proved to be too much for even a tough woman like Long Bing.
Everything had happened so abruptly. Xia Lei was driven to a panicked state, unsure of what to do with the chaos in front of him. It felt like a coincidence when Fan Fan and Liang Siyao had screamed out in pain. When Jiang Ruyi too broke out in cold sweat, he was beginning to find things odd. Now with Long Bing feeling painful contractions too, Xia Lei was convinced that this was no longer a coincidence.
However, if that wasn¡¯t the case, how else could this be exined?!
With a twitch of his left and right eye, Xia Lei went into his superbrain mode. He used the X-ray vision on Fan Fan first. In her womb, a little girl wiggled around with unease. Her little palms and feet were grabbing and kicking the edges of her amniotic sac. No wonder Fan Fan was having such a difficult time.
Just as Xia Lei was about to peel his gaze away, his daughter had changed her position. Her original ¡®standing¡¯ position that had her legs directed to the birth canal opening was fixed with a few wiggles so that her head was pointing downwards instead.
¡°What...¡± Xia Lei gaped in shock.
The little princess inside Fan Fan¡¯s belly shed him a faint smile.
Xia Lei was spooked. He thought he was seeing things but another look had confirmed that his unborn daughter was indeed smiling. It felt almost as if the little girl was congratting herself after her sessful change of position that would benefit her birth.
How on earth was a baby in her mother¡¯s womb able to have feelings?!
Following that, Xia Lei peered into Liang Siyao¡¯s stomach.
Inside of her was a little boy, whose position was just right for birth. Despite that, the little fe was crazy energetic. His son¡¯s patience seemed to be running thin, filled with the burning desire to see the world as soon as possible.
Xia Lei quickly took a look into Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing¡¯s stomach. The state of their babies was about the same. Both of them wiggling against the opening, eager to enter this big world.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart was suddenly supplied with an unorthodox thought. ¡°Could it be... Could my four children share some sort of mental connection and decided to share birthdays?¡±
The thought of it alone was enough to send him into cardiac arrest.
Chapter 1095 - The Woes of Childbirth
The Knight XIV screeched to a halt at the entrance of the Army Hospital. Their arrival was long anticipated by a hoard of waiting doctors and nurses. It was a full female lineup with no male in sight. As soon as the pregnantdies got off the car, they could be ferried into the emergency rescue right away.
This sort of treatment could not be bought by any amount of money. It was only possible due to Fan Fan¡¯s position in the military and Xia Lei¡¯s status as a highly regarded hero. Her status was so prioritized that even the hospital director had to show up and greet her out of respect.
As soon as the Knight XIV went still, the doctors and nurses immediately urgently swarmed over, almost eager to be the first face their patient sees.
Xia Lei hopped off the car with Fan Fan in his arms. But as two nurses pushed the stretcher over to them, they heard something positively bewildering. ¡°Quick! Prepare three more stretchers! There are another three women going intobour!¡±
The nurses froze in her tracks with wide eyes.
Three more pregnantdies?
What on earth is happening?
The doctors were equally perplexed as well.
Xia Lei was panicking, hard. ¡°Did you not hear me?! Hurry up!¡±
It was only then that someone scrambled for the phone to request for more surgery theatres and prompted the nurses around to push more stretchers over. It was chaos.
A few minutester, the four pregnantdies finally made it into the surgery theatre. Four of them were positioned at four different levels, each of them inside a different theatre. Xia Lei had no idea how to apany each of them. Till this minute, his mind was still a numbing mess.
A hospital staff member found Xia Lei pacing around the front of Fan Fan¡¯s theatre. Politely, he approached the dishevelled man. ¡°Mister Xia, we need you to register at the counter and sign an agreement letter. What time would you be avable for that?¡±
Xia Lei was unupied but it was just courtesy to ask.
Xia Lei asked, ¡°What am I supposed to register for? What agreement letter are you referring to?¡±
¡°Mister Xia, the agreement letter is to allow your wife to give birth on our premise. It¡¯s just regr protocol but this process is vital. We need your information to fill in your child¡¯s birth certificate.¡±
¡°Bring it to me, I¡¯ll fill that in,¡± answered Xia Lei.
The staff member passed a form and an agreement letter to Xia Lei along with the nk ink pen in his grip.
It didn¡¯t take long for Xia Lei to get to the bottom of the papers. ¡°There¡¯s only one set here. Bring me another three sets.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± The staff member and the two escorting nurses gaped at Xia Lei in shock.
Xia Lei red at them. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? Go on, I don¡¯t have much time to spare.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, are the other three pregnantdies your wives too?¡± The staff member braced himself and asked the important question.
¡°Of course. What about it?¡± Xia Lei narrowed his eyes further.
¡°No, no, no. I have no qualms about it...¡± The staff member stepped away but abruptly turned around. ¡°Mister Xia, can you present your wedding certificates to me? I can help you fill in some details.¡±
That took Xia Lei by surprise. He quickly reached into his bag.
The two young nurses began to whisper.
¡°One man impregnating four women and four of them went intobour on the same day. What the hell is going on?¡± One of them gasped scandalously.
The other nurse whispered back, ¡°There must be no extra marriage certificate. He¡¯s just putting on a show of digging around to burn time.¡±
¡°Of course he wouldn¡¯t have any. If there is more, isn¡¯t hemitting a crime?¡±
¡°Damn, I¡¯m really curious to see how this will turn out.¡±
As the two nurses continued to gossip away, Xia Lei presented four red-covered marriage certificates to the waiting staff member. He urged, ¡°Quick, go on. Remember to tell your people to take good care of my wives and children.¡±
¡°Right away, Mister Xia.¡± While the staff member¡¯s polite smile was ever-present, he couldn¡¯t help but think that the other three certificates were fakes.
¡°What are you waiting for?! Go!¡± Xia Lei eximed nervously.
The hospital staff member quickly strode away. With his back to Xia Lei, he flipped through the four marriage certificates. The first one was Xia Lei and Fan Fan¡¯s, everything on it seemed regr. But as he opened the second one, the man was stunned. The second certificate was Xia Lei and Liang Siyao¡¯s. While the details were fairly regr, there was something unique written on the booklet by hand. A ¡®Special Approval¡¯ line that was apanied by the personal stamp of a chief. The man lifted the corners of the third and fourth booklet. Those two had the same line and the same stamp.
The two young nurses gathered over to the staff member. One of them giggled hysterically. ¡°Sir, this must be fake, right?¡±
The other nurse hummed. ¡°The one presenting fake marriage certificates is Xia Lei for crying out loud. He¡¯s a national hero, what do we do? Do we do as stated in our protocol or do we just let this slide?¡±
¡°Shut up¡± The staff member chastised them, ¡°Their marriages received special approval!¡±
¡°Huh?¡± The nurses gaped.
All four of Xia Lei¡¯s marriage certificates were usable in hospitals and even at the police department. To others, his marriages were against thew. In reality, his behaviour was granted special approval and was very much legal. To receive special treatment regarding marriage was a feat capable of none other than Xia Lei.
Sentiments were heavily considered by thew. After all, Xia Lei was a hero who selflessly offered his own life to contribute to the country. He had established the Thunder Horse Organization and carried the entire Chinese military industry on his shoulders to greater heights. He was also the one who chased away the American Seventh Fleet and dissolved the battle tension in the South China Sea all by himself. Just that alone was enough to grant him special treatment.
At this point, it wasn¡¯t any of Xia Lei¡¯s concern. He paced down the corridor back and forth without pause to an extent that triggered Qin Xiang a thundering headache.
¡°Oi. Can you just sit down and stop walking around? You¡¯re just walking in circles like a fucking clock! My eyes are about to pop out of its sockets!¡±
Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°How can I sit down and rx? All four of my wives are inbour now!¡±
As if on cue, the doors to three lifts beside the surgery theatre opened to reveal three nurses at the same time.
¡°Mister Xia, your wife, Long Bing, has requested for your presence,¡± said one nurse.
¡°Mister Xia, your wife, Jiang Ruyi, has requested yourpany in the surgery theatre,¡± said another nurse.
¡°Mister Xia, your wife, Liang Siyao, has requested for your presence,¡± said thest nurse.
Oh shit.
Xia Lei felt like his head was about to explode. Didn¡¯t Liang Siyao and Long Bing explicitly ask for him to not enter thebour room to witness their children¡¯s births? Why the sudden change of mind?
Before he could even get an answer, the door behind him opened. A nurse emerged and stated, ¡°Mister Xia, Chief Fan has requested for you toe inside.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s vision went dark.
To marry four women and receive special approval and legal protection over it was a man¡¯s fantasy. Anyone would be jealous about that. However, this head-splitting moment would never be experienced by other men. This was an odd and extremely rare case only to be experienced by Xia Lei. Four women requesting his presence for their birth simultaneously. Every woman would hope that their husband would be present during such a hard time in their life. It was the birth of the fruit of their love. The problem, however, was that the man was incapable of tending to them all at once! He was only one man. How was he supposed to be in four different theatres in four different levels?
¡°Hahaha...¡± Qin Xiang wasughing so hard that he doubled over.
Xia Lei mercilessly pped the back of his skull.
Qin Xiang pressed his sore spot and stared at his assant with wide eyes. ¡°All you do is bully me...¡±
¡°Three of you may return to your stations. I¡¯ll be there right away.¡± With that, Xia Lei disappeared into the room behind him.
Laid on the surgery bed, Fan Fan¡¯s legs were spread and bent. There was a piece of white cloth over her lower half that preserved some of her modesty. She whined non-stop, obviously in a lot of pain. But as soon as she noticed Xia Lei¡¯s presence, she instinctively bloomed into a smile. ¡°Hubby, this hurts so bad...¡±
Xia Lei walked over and held her hand tight. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this will be over soon. I¡¯m right beside you.¡±
¡°Hubby... Ah...¡± Fan Fan grabbed his arm. A sudden wave of intense pain muddled her senses and caused her to chomp on his flesh hard.
Xia Lei¡¯s jaw fell ck but no screams were produced. His eyes twitched slightly and peered into her stomach.
What entered his field of vision was the sight of a little princess doing her hardest at squeezing herself through the opening. With her chubby buttocks raised, she stomped her heels hard. It was eerie watching a newborn do all that!
She was able to achieve that even in the womb, the girl would be unstoppable when she grows up!
¡°It¡¯sing! It¡¯sing! Chief Fan, give me a little push!¡± The obstetrician cheered her on.
Xia Lei huddled over and whispered into Fan Fan¡¯s ear. ¡°Darling, I¡¯m going to check on them. I¡¯ll be right back.¡±
¡°Go...¡± While Fan Fan wasn¡¯t eager to have him away from her side, she was fully aware of the construct of their chaotic family. She shared the same husband with three other women, all of whom were giving birth now.
No one wanted things to turn out this way but it happened anyway.
Xia Lei rushed out of the sterile space and opted to use the stairs instead of the lifts in a maddened dash. He barged into the surgery theatre on the first floor, where Jiang Ruyi was situated.
The woman was sweating profusely out of pain. Her lips were trembling miserably. ¡°Ahhh... Pain... Mmph!¡±
Xia Lei worriedly lunged forward and squeezed her palm. ¡°Ruyi, it¡¯s alright. This pain will be over soon.¡±
¡°I¡¯m in so much pain... The only thing you do best since we were kids is bully me. Even your unborn child is bullying me before they¡¯re even out of my womb! Gah...¡± Jiang Ruyi huffed through her words while she tried her darndest to birth the child.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze swept through Jiang Ruyi¡¯s swollen abdomen, eyesbining the X-ray vision and data retriever in one go. He immediately saw his other daughter disying the same behaviour as the one inside of Fan Fan. She too was squeezing against the opening of the birth with freaky body coordination!
Xia Lei gulped nervously. ¡°Did my children really form a pact to be birthed at the same time? If that¡¯s the case, do they share a mental connection? If there¡¯s no mental connection, how are they evenmunicating with one another to coordinate this?!¡±
Shockingly agile body coordination, an odd coincidence, mental connection. All the keywords he could think of was a gigantic shock to him!
After staying with Jiang Ruyi for two minutes, Xia Lei mentally braced himself and uttered, ¡°Ruyi, I need to go check on Siyao and Long Bing. I¡¯ll be back in a moment to apany you, okay?¡±
Jiang Ruyi gnawed her red lips. ¡°Go, go. I¡¯m alright. Seeing you just for a bit is enough for me.¡±
Xia Lei gave her a chaste kiss and rushed over out of the surgery theatre once again.
Jiang Ruyi watched him leave with her big round eyes. The faint sadness in her heart dissolved away just in the next second. She treated Fan Fan, Liang Siyao and Long Bing like her closest sisters. This was not a time for jealousy.
Chapter 1096 - Four Miraculous Children
Liang Zhengchun barged through the doors of the hospital, managing to catch Xia Lei right as the younger man was about to enter Liang Siyao¡¯s surgery theatre.
¡°Lei Zi!¡± Liang Zhengchun shouted with a tremor to his voice. ¡°How is she?¡±
Xia Leiforted him dutifully, ¡°Master, there¡¯s no need to worry. Siyao is inside and well. She¡¯ll be alright.¡±
¡°I hope you remember our promise.¡± Liang Zhengchun stared at him with wide eyes, afraid that Xia Lei would regret and go back on his words.
Xia Lei smiled reassuringly. ¡°Master, please rest assured. I¡¯ve already discussed this with Siyao, she¡¯ll be the one naming the child. The child¡¯s surname will be ¡®Liang¡¯ as promised.¡±
A smile bloomed across the older man¡¯s features. ¡°That¡¯s great... That¡¯s great... I really don¡¯t know how to thank you for this.¡±
¡°Master, we¡¯re a family. There¡¯s no need to thank me. A child taking after his mother¡¯s surname is still a child of mine,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Lei Zi, are you sure it¡¯s going to be a son?¡± Liang Zhengchun seemed to be reminded of something.
¡°Yeah, I have a good feeling that it¡¯ll be a boy. Please excuse me, I¡¯m going in to check on her.¡± Xia Lei offered no further exnation.
¡°Go. I¡¯ll be out here waiting,¡± said Liang Zhengchun. After Xia Lei disappeared into the room, the older man began pacing along the corridor anxiously.
On the surgery bed, Liang Siyao¡¯s forehead waspletely covered with beads of sweat. The pain had caused her to groan out loud. Experiencing the same level of pain, Liang Siyao was evidently more tolerant to it than Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi. Xia Lei¡¯s presence was weed by a forced smile from her that motioned for him toe closer to her side.
Xia Lei stood beside the bed and wiped off her sweat with the back of his palm. He cooed, ¡°Everything is going to go by in a sh. Everything will be alright.¡±
¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting giving birth to be so painful. Mmph...¡± Liang Siyao heaved. ¡°That little rascal is kicking me again.¡±
Xia Leinded his gaze on her stomach and activated his X-ray vision. A baby boy was immediately presented to him. The baby had already made it to the birth canal but he did not seem pleased just yet, he relentlessly grabbed around and kicked his chubby lower limbs. He¡¯d definitely have what it takes to continue Liang Zhengchun¡¯s legacy and grow into a famous Wing Chun master!
¡°Siyao, your father is here too.¡± Xia Lei grabbed her trembling palm. ¡°I promised him that the child will take on your surname and to let you name him.¡±
¡°You¡¯re the father, you should be the one naming him,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± Xia Lei chuckled lightly.
Liang Siyao punched his arm weakly. ¡°Look, that¡¯s your child for crying out loud. If you¡¯re not naming the baby, who else is going to do it?¡±
Xia Lei went into deep thought. ¡°Since he¡¯s going to take your surname... Liang... Liang Jiayu.¡±
¡°Liang Jiayu?¡± Liang Siyao tested it on her tongue. ¡°Why this name in particr?¡±
Xia Lei exined, ¡°¡®Yu¡¯ means to bring up. Liang Jiayu means a child that is brought up by the Liang family. I decided to name him that in hopes that our son will remember his mission and continue his grandfather¡¯s legacy.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s heart melted at the thought. Her lips trembled slightly but all she could elicit was a pained groan.
¡°Siyao, I need to go to Long Bing now. I¡¯ll be back soon, okay?¡± Xia Lei murmured softly.
The woman nodded. ¡°Go, go... Ow... You damned rascal, I swear I¡¯m going to beat you up after you get out... Ow...¡±
The baby was already busy practising his kicks while still stuck in the womb, Liang Jiayu was indeed in for a good ass-whooping.
Ascending another floor, Xia Lei came to the surgery theatre where Long Bing was at. He saw her, teeth gritted with force as she braved through the waves of pain. She was the strongest out of all four of his wives. She was quiet, the only thing indicating her suffering was her scrunched up features.
Xia Lei walked over carefully and squeezed her palm tightly. He said nothing because he knew she did not need words. Long Bing was alone. Liang Siyao had her father, Fan Fan had her grandfather and Jiang Ruyi¡¯s parents were still alive and well. Xia Lei was the only rtive Long Bing had in this world. He was her everything.
¡°Hubby, I¡¯m alright. Just seeing you is enough to make me happy. You should go to them instead,¡± said Long Bing, beads of perspiration sliding off the top of her head.
How could Xia Lei bear to leave her in this state? With a tender voice, he muttered, ¡°Let me stay with you for a little longer. How about we think of a name for our son?¡±
He had named Liang Siyao¡¯s child, all that was left was to figure one out for the rest of his children. It was his task as their father.
¡°I... Ah!¡± Long Bing hissed in pain.
Xia Lei quickly attempted to shift her focus elsewhere. ¡°Ah Bing, our child... Uh, we should name him Xia Long.¡±
¡°Xia Long?¡± Long Bing tilted her head and repeated it twice. She broke into a pretty smile. ¡°Yeah, I like that name. But wouldn¡¯t this make it obvious that he¡¯s our son?¡±
Xia Lei shed her aforting smile. ¡°I want to let the world know that he is our son. Xia Long. Our son will thrive like a roaring dragon high above the clouds when he grows up.¡±
¡°Hehe...¡± Long Bing couldn¡¯t help but giggle at the mental image. ¡°We don¡¯t even know what he¡¯d look like and you¡¯re already this proud about him. You¡¯re quite shameless, aren¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei bent over to kiss her the area between her brows. He activated his X-ray vision and observed her swollen stomach. It made no sense to not check on Long Bing¡¯s baby after doing the same for his other children.
In her stomach, a fat baby was already nearing the exit. His limbs wiggled around stubbornly, eager to break out of his warm cocoon. The size of his head was seeminglyrger than Liang Siyao¡¯s baby and he was built more stockily as well.
The sight filled Xia Lei with delight. ¡°Ah Bing, our son is such a good child.¡±
Long Bing rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Jeez, you haven¡¯t even seen his face yet and you¡¯re already praising him. You¡¯re so going to spoil him rotten and I¡¯m not about to allow it. If he misbehaves, don¡¯t you dare stop me when I discipline him.¡±
Xia Lei grinned from ear to ear. ¡°You speak as if you wouldn¡¯t spoil him. Nevermind, time will tell. You¡¯ll definitely be the one smothering him with love.¡±
The couple went back and forth, not allowing the obstetrician and nurses a chance to speak up. But one minuteter, Long Bing screamed out in agony. ¡°Crap! He... He¡¯sing out!¡± She twisted Xia Lei¡¯s arm and dug her nails deep into his skin.
Xia Lei waspletely distracted from the pain by the events transpiring inside Long Bing. Xia Long, his son, had managed to squeeze both of his palms out of the birth canal. His palms were sped together tightly, cing himself in a streamline position. His posture was like that of a swimmer about to plunge into the pool!
¡°What...¡± Xia Lei gaped stupidly at her stomach. ¡°Is he... already aware of what¡¯s going on around him? He knows that he¡¯s about to arrive in this world so he positioned himself like this? How is this possible?¡±
Indeed, the mind of an unborn baby should¡¯ve been a hazy nk that held no knowledge. Any responses elicited would be attributed to natural instincts. But whatever Xia Long was pulling right now was an action that could only be achieved by toddlers!
¡°It must be my genes!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind clicked. ¡°It must be my advanced genes! Though he is only an unborn baby, he possesses genes that transcend current human evolution. He¡¯s already evolving in his mother¡¯s womb!¡±
If that was the case for Long Bing¡¯s child, then it would be the same for the rest of his children! With these four children under the Xia family and with the Thunder Horse Organization as an asset, they¡¯re bound to thrive and umte wealth!
¡°The baby¡¯s out! The baby¡¯s out!¡± The obstetrician eximed excitedly. ¡°Madam Long, give me a little push to help him out! ¡°
¡°Mmph!¡± Long Bing inhaled deeply and exerted force.
The loud cries of a baby rang throughout the sterile room.
The first cry was the most melodious noise given by the universe¡¯s creator to mankind. It signalled the start of a new life.
¡°Congrattions, it¡¯s a son. He¡¯s pretty big.¡± The doctor chuckled lightheartedly.
¡°I wanna see his face. Let me hold him.¡± Xia Lei was impatient and emotional.
However, the doctor quickly stopped him. ¡°No. Your hands are full of germs. We need to bathe the baby and wrap him in a nket. After that, you may hug him.¡±
¡°I see. Then hurry up!¡± urged Xia Lei.
At this moment, the doors to the surgery theatre were pushed open. Three nurses appeared in his vision.
¡°Mister Xia, Madam Liang has birthed you a son. You should visit her soon.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, Madam Jiang has birthed you a daughter. Please visit her in her ward soon.¡±
¡°Mister Xia, congrattions. Chief Fan has birthed you a healthy daughter. You should go take a look.¡±
His children must¡¯ve formed a pact to share their birthdays!
Xia Lei¡¯s vision went dark and he slumped onto Long Bing¡¯s panting body.
Long Bing hugged his head and giggled. ¡°You should be overjoyed, hubby. But I think your rascals really were thinking of giving you a hard time.¡±
Even Long Bing found the whole situation weird.
Ten minutester, his four women were rolled into a luxurious VIP ward. Four babies were presented to Xia Lei. Two daughters and two sons. Xia Lei had already named his sons and it was time for him to name his daughters.
Xia Lei hugged Jiang Ruyi¡¯s daughter and kissed her dainty cheek. ¡°Little princess, what do you think of the name Xia Jianghe? You¡¯re a little lotus that blossomed in the summer. Do you like that?¡±
Jiang Ruyi smiled at the affectionate disy. ¡°I like that.¡± What she truly fancied was Xia Lei¡¯stter sentence. Her daughter was a beautiful flower that stemmed from Xia Lei¡¯s seed and germinated within her womb.
Xia Lei returned Xia Jianghe to her mother¡¯s embrace and then went over to pick up Fan Fan¡¯s daughter. The little girl was as beautiful as Xia Jianghe, her chubby cheeks were pink and her eyes were round. She was extremely calm as she blinked herrge watery eyes at her father, almost as if she was trying to imprint her father¡¯s face in her mind.
An idea manifested in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He beamed and announced, ¡°Papa¡¯s precious little girl. You shall be Xia Fan!¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Xia Lei and Xia Fan giggled away,ughter light and crisp like bell chimes.
Fan Fan pouted. ¡°Jeez, hubby. Shouldn¡¯t you take this seriously? You named Ah Bing¡¯s son Xia Long and you named our daughter Xia Fan. If my surname was ¡®Mian¡¯, are you going to name her Xia Mian?¡±
[Note: Thanks to the wonders of Chinese, ¡®xia mian (ÏÄ(ÏÂ)Ãæ)¡¯ can mean a lot of things, from cooking noodles to crotch.]
Xia Lei guffawed at her words. ¡°Oh,e on. Xia Fan, as in the descendant of a fairy. Our daughter is a fairy that descended from heaven.¡±
[Note: ÏÄ(ÏÂ)·² - ÏÂ means to descend; ·² means mortal here. When used together, it means to descend to the mortal realm. It ismonly used on fairies.]
That took Fan Fan by surprise. She burst out in a peal of giggles. ¡°It¡¯s lovely.¡±
Xia Lei eyed Fan Fan¡¯s filled breasts hungrily and thought to himself, ¡°Did all of your intelligence go to your boobs?¡±
Abruptly, Xia Fan pped her palm against Xia Lei¡¯s eye.
This was something many babies were capable of but Xia Fan was just a baby born literally less than an hour ago. This was too odd to not think about it!
He stared at Fan Fan¡¯s breasts again and mused in his heart, ¡°Tonight I¡¯m going to eat both of them.¡±
Xia Fan pped her other meaty palm onto Xia Lei¡¯s other eye.
Xia Lei was at aplete loss for words.
Chapter 1097 - Feeding the Children
A crowd of reporters were gathered outside the Army Hospital. Thankfully, the swarm of eager reporters were halted by the police and Special Forces from barging into the premises. Xia Lei was an important asset to China. It was only natural for the government to pose heavy security on him and his family.
The hospital board had even made itpulsory for their staff to keep mum about Xia Lei, his wives and his children. Anyone caught in breach of this was to be fired without notice and punished severely. After all, four specially approved marriage certificates were bound to garner plenty of backfires if the media makes this known to the mass public.
In the luxurious VIP ward that looked more like a presidential suite, Xia Lei watched his sleeping children in their respective basss. Typically, newborns would be wheeled away to the neonatal intensive care unit but Xia Lei¡¯s children had possessed bodies far beyond that of a newborn. There was no need for them to be in the NICU. Plus, Xia Lei was worried that his babies would face troubles there. The man had requested specifically to let his babies stay with their mothers.
The ward was a soothing silence. His four wives were snoring away after their intense battle in the theatres. Their postnatal bodies seemed rather weak, which waspletely understandable after the agony they went through. They promptly fell asleep as soon as they were settled in this ward.
Xia Lei locked his eyes on Xia Long and used his X-ray vision to peer into his brain carefully. His brain seemed normal for his age. A thorough scan across the organ had shown no floating mineral-like substance inside.
This finding brought him relief. It would¡¯ve been bad if his children too possessed the mysterious energy in their bodies. Worse if they were built like Zhu Xuanyue.
He had no qualms over his babies inheriting his refined genes. However, he didn¡¯t wish for them to live a life like his. While he was the most advanced human to date, the ck-robed man wished to kill him and the Americans and Japanese were ever so eager to assassinate him. He did not want that kind of hardship for his children. Two years would be over before anyone notices. If Xia Lei should cease to exist, who would be there to protect his children? Their mothers wouldn¡¯t be able to protect them from those formidable foes.
Making sure that Xia Long was alright, Xia Lei ced his gaze on Xia Jianghe, Xia Fan and Liang Jiayu. They were no different from Xia Long.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help butugh to himself, thinking about how Xia Fan had pped her palms against his face. He was merely mocking how Fan Fan had gone stupid with her swelling boobs and Xia Fan had mercilessly smacked him. The event earlier had led him to believe that Xia Fan was capable of detecting his thoughts and feelings, which was why she felt the need to protect her mother. However, pondering further about the matter made it seem like a coincidence instead. Sloppy iling of limbs was typical of a baby. There was literally nothing deep about it.
Despite that, he couldn¡¯t help but wrack his mind over one detail. The time of their births stated on their respective birth certificates was the same. They were born at the same minute and only about thirty seconds apart. Was this a coincidence too?
All in all, these kids may look normal but Xia Lei had a gut feeling they were equally mysterious as him.
The slight differences in seconds had at least offered him some basis to arrange his children¡¯s lineup.
Liang Jiayu was the firstborn. He was the eldest brother.
Xia Long was second. So he was the second child.
Xia Fan was the third to follow. She was the third child.
And Xia Jianghe was thest of them all. She was the youngest child.
Honestly, the standard he has based this off was hazy. They were born within seconds of each other.
Xia Lei picked up Xia Jianghe and kissed her soft cheeks again. He cooed adoringly, ¡°Little Jianghe, you¡¯re my youngest daughter. I promise I¡¯ll love you the most, okay?¡±
The emperor would love his eldest son while the people would tend to gravitate to the youngest child. Xia Lei was merely joking. As a proud father, he would love all four of his children equally. He was adamant on not ying favourites.
Xia Jianghe fixed her shiny eyes on her father and giggled cutely. She looked like an oveying image of him and Jiang Ruyi. Xia Fan too looked like a bncedbination of her parent¡¯s features, face dainty and gorgeous.
Suddenly, a voice rang from behind the door. ¡°Sir, you can¡¯t go in.¡±
It was the voice of a female nurse.
Liang Zhengchun¡¯s reply came soon after. ¡°I¡¯m the baby¡¯s grandfather. Why can¡¯t I go in?¡±
¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry about this, sir. This is our hospital director¡¯s request. Please kindly give us your cooperation,¡± the nurse pleaded.
¡°I¡¯m not trying to trouble you but you are the one troubling me! Move away! I want to see my grandson!¡± Liang Zhengchun was fuming.
Xia Lei carefully ced Xia Jianghe back to her bass, picked up Liang Jiayu and headed for the door. If Liang Siyao was the only patient in this room, he would dly wee Liang Zhengchun. Sadly, the ward was shared by Fan Fan, Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing. It would be very awkward with the older man inside. Breastfeeding them in the presence of another man was awkward. Xia Lei knew that Liang Zhengchun wished to see Liang Jiayu the most, hence he had decided to bring the child to him.
¡°Master.¡± Xia Lei greeted him. Then, he turned to mutter to the nurse, ¡°I can take it from here. You maye backter.¡±
¡°Understood, Mister Xia.¡± The nurse walked away.
¡°Master, this little guy here is Liang Jiayu.¡± Xia Lei passed the bundled baby into Liang Zhengchun¡¯s arms. Xia Lei smiled and cooed, ¡°Jiayu, this is your grandfather. Say ¡®y¨¦ye¡¯.¡±
Liang Zhengchun secured his arms around the baby. As soon as he heard Xia Lei regarding him as ¡®y¨¦ye¡¯, the older man couldn¡¯t help but tear up with emotions. He was supposed to be Liang Jiayu¡¯s grandfather on his mother¡¯s side but Xia Lei had ced him as the grandfather on the father¡¯s side. He has always beencking a proper sessor, which was why he was desperate enough to plead to have Liang Siyao¡¯s first son with Xia Lei to take on his mother¡¯s surname. Now, Xia Lei had fulfilled his dream and Liang Zhengchun was made the ¡®y¨¦ye¡¯ instead of ¡®w¨¤i g¨ng¡¯.
¡°Lei Zi... I...¡± Liang Zhengchun was so overwhelmed with emotions that he didn¡¯t know how to word his gratitude.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°Master, we¡¯re family.¡±
Liang Zhengchun reciprocated the smile. The older man lowered his head to kiss Liang Jiayu¡¯s face. ¡°Hello, Jiayu. I¡¯m your grandfather! Your y¨¦ye.¡±
Liang Jiayu stared at Liang Zhengchun and parted his lips. ¡°Ya ya.¡±
The pronunciation shocked Xia Lei and Liang Zhengchun. The noises that escaped his little lips were almost spot-on. How on earth was this baby able to make almost tangible noises? It also seemed that he knew to respond on cue!
Liang Zhengchun was the first to recover. He guffawed. ¡°Oh my god! As expected from your child, he¡¯s a prodigy! I will teach him everything I know about Wing Chun and his mother will cultivate him in literature. He will dominate this world with both brains and brawn!¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Master, I too have another son and two more daughters. Please teach them too.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Liang Zhengchun chuckled. ¡°I knew you would say that. No problem, any child of yours will be treated equally!¡±
¡°Thank you, master.¡± Xia Lei smiled widely.
¡°Waaahhhhh...¡± The sharp wails of a baby pierced through the air.
Fan Fan¡¯s voice was heard next. ¡°Hubby, can you please bring her to me? It¡¯s time to feed her.¡±
Long Bing too spoke up, ¡°Hubby, Little Long is crying too. Please bring him over quickly, I need to breastfeed him.¡±
Perhaps his siblings¡¯ cries had gotten to him, Liang Jiayu broke down in tears and began to wail. Liang Zhengchun attempted to soothe the baby but to no avail. He quickly passed the boy back to Xia Lei. ¡°Jiayu is probably hungry now. Quick, head inside and let his mother feed him some milk.¡±
¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be heading in first, Master.¡± Xia Lei brought Liang Jiayu into the ward.
The other three babies in the room wailed loudly, each of them louder than the next. It felt too much like a contest.
Liang Siyao weakly mbered to sit atop her bed. ¡°Hubby, is my father outside?¡±
Xia Lei ced Liang Jiayu in her arms. ¡°Yeah. He was very happy.¡±
Liang Siyao returned him a smile as she lifted the corner of her hospital gown to expose a pale breast. She ced it inside her son¡¯s lips, effectively silencing him and turning those cries into sloppy sucking.
Xia Lei paced around like a manager. Fixing his burning gazes on one breast to another.
Fan Fan rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Jeez, won¡¯t you control your lust a little? Look at you, you look like you want to suck on my breasts too.¡±
Xia Lei snickered. ¡°If there are leftovers, I would dlyp it clean for you.¡±
¡°Ptui, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re thinking of fighting your daughter for breastmilk.¡± Fan Fan chastised teasingly and reached over for the other corner of her hospital gown. She showed him her other unupied breast. ¡°If you really dare totch onto my breast,e on over.¡±
There was only a brief moment of hesitation before Xia Lei really went for it.
Liang Siyao snorted, ¡°Jeez, hubby. You really are out of your mind.¡±
¡°I¡¯m gonna say this first. I have no extras to feed you,¡± announced Long Bing coolly.
Jiang Ruyi quickly covered her daughter¡¯s eyes. ¡°Darling, close your eyes. Your father is about to be disgusting.¡±
Xia Lei ignored their teases andid himself on Fan Fan¡¯s side. He really inched his face closer to her other pale, full and enticing breast. He parted his lips. But before his lips could even close around the perimeter of her nipple, Xia Fan extended her arm and stuck a finger into his nostril. She began to dig around.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Fan Fanughed so hard that she ran out of breath. ¡°Look! Even your daughter has no ns to spare you!¡±
Xia Lei pulled out the cheeky finger and kissed her little knuckle. He was an absolute sucker for her. ¡°Little darling, papa is really hungry. Could you spare me some milk?¡±
Weirdly, Xia Fan retracted her arms away.
¡°Haha! She said yes! You¡¯re such a good girl!¡± With that, Xia Lei pressed his face forward.
Fan Fan abruptly pulled the corner of her gown back in ce and covered her bosom. ¡°Nope. I¡¯m not about to feed a giant baby like you.¡±
The ward was filled with mirthughter and jokes.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
In the midst of sweet normality, Xia Lei¡¯s satellite phone began to ring.
He brought out the device, spared the screen a nce and began walking towards the door.
As soon as he was out of the room, his four wives shared a grim look.
Chapter 1098 - Zhu Xuanyue And The Black Moon Force
Giovanna was on the other end of the phone.
¡°Boss, are you still at the hospital?¡± asked Giovanna.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m at the Army Hospital.¡±
¡°We¡¯re at the entrance but they won¡¯t let us in. Can youe out? We¡¯ve brought you very important news,¡± uttered Giovanna.
¡°I¡¯ll be there right away.¡± Xia Lei kept his satellite phone away and returned to the ward. His gaze swept through all four of his nursing wives while feelings of guilt crept through his heart. Still, he heaved deeply and said, ¡°Giovanna and the knights are looking for me. They said they brought me important information. I need to go meet them.¡±
¡°Be careful.¡± The same line had escaped their lips in unison.
Xia Lei was moved. He nodded and took his leave. Truthfully, he really did not wish to leave his family. This was a wondrous moment for him and his family. Sadly, reality was often unforgiving and cruel. Xia Lei was running out of time and there were still so many things that he wished to achieve, each task harder than the previous. How could he afford to linger another moment to relish in the sweetness of life?
Exiting the Army Hospital. Xia Lei immediately spotted the Haval H9 off-road vehicle driven by Giovanna and the girls. It was a cheap locally produced vehicle. Despite that, its specs were almost as good as imported off-road vehicles worth more than six hundred thousand RMB. The female knights certainly had more than enough to purchase better cars but they were raised to be frugal.
A few steps shy of reaching its door, Theresa, who was seated in the back seat, had already propped the door open for Xia Lei. She beamed brightly at him, ¡°Congrattions, you¡¯re a father now.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± Xia Lei returned the smile. He climbed into the vehicle and shot the direct question. ¡°So what have you gotten on Zhu Xuanyue?¡±
Giovanna answered, ¡°Our brothers and sisters have managed to locate her.¡±
¡°Where is she?¡± Xia Lei was on the edge of his seat now.
Giovanna instructed, ¡°Theresa, please show Boss the information.¡±
Theresa obediently lifted theptop bag beside her and brought out aptop. She booted the device and ced it on Xia Lei¡¯s knees.
A media yer window was already waiting for him. The video ying had shown him a filthy run-down apartment block where a few weirdly-dressed ck men were seen loitering about with their tattoos on disy. The environment had obviously indicated that this was the slums.
The videographer approached the apartment building, camera shaking with each step. The camera was hidden in one of his buttons, told by his moving arms andck of face exposure. In one of his palms was a ck case with unknown contents.
The man came to its entrance. Standing on both sides of the door were two youngsters that tried to sell him some drugs. He ignored them and barged into the building and began to climb the stairs.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes left the screen momentarily. ¡°Is the videographer a member of our Relief Society?¡±
Rosa answered helpfully, ¡°No, he¡¯s actually a CIA agent.¡±
¡°A CIA agent?¡± Xia Lei was surprised to hear that.
Ste exined, ¡°The CIA is trying to track down Zhu Xuanyue as well. After all, America is their turf. They have a solid and huge intelligencework that covers most of America¡¯s surveince system. The simplest way to find Zhu Xuanyue is to start with the CIA¡¯s database.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue needed to feed on humans and she just so happened to be in America. If that was the case, mysterious death cases that involved brain degeneration must¡¯ve been on the rise recently. It was only natural for the CIA to establish a case on this. The female knights and their contacts were smart enough to realize this.
¡°This is a recording from a CIA agent, right? How did you even get this thing?¡± Xia Lei blinked slowly.
Giovanna chuckled. ¡°Boss, you should continue watching. Your questions will be answered in this video.¡±
Xia Lei returned his full attention back to the screen.
The videographer made it to the fifth floor and entered a corridor. The long walkway was littered with all sorts of graffiti. Some were works filled with violence and slurs, while others were downright sinister. It was full of skulls and a Grim Reaper with its signature scythe. There were also crude drawings that depicted sex. All in all, the walls were an eyesore.
In front one of the rooms was a young, attractive ck woman with thick makeup. The skimpy white bikini that seemed to do nothing to hide her bits showed off her body to the camera.
The man wordlessly passed by the room. The woman waved at himnguidly, trying to invite him inside to be serviced. He waved her away and continued walking. Pissed off, the woman shed her middle finger at him and cussed. The man gave no response, not even stopping to spare her another nce.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were captured by a particr graffiti on the wall.
The scribbled contents were of an indecipherablenguage. It did not seem like one he was very familiar with for it was thenguage used in the Bronze Book. His brain immediately went into overdrive, trying toprehend the odd letters.
It was promptly tranted to, Uncle Xia is the worst. You ganged up on me with that bastard! Go to hell! I don¡¯t want to see you anymore!
That was obviously written by Zhu Xuanyue.
While the strange letters were captured by the CIA agent, no one in America could decipher it. The female knights too could see those words but they couldn¡¯tprehend it at all.
It wasn¡¯t hard to feel Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s wrath from her written message. She had misunderstood that Xia Lei had nned her attack with the ck-robed man!
Allowing that to sink in, Xia Lei¡¯s heart was overwhelmed by aplicated feeling. On one hand, he was d and relieved that she was alright. But on the other hand, he felt upset about the tant misunderstanding. How could he possibly n something like that? His life was threatened by the ck-robed man too!
The videographer continued to head straight, finally stopping at the veryst unit along the corridor.
Two men guarded the door. They were built as big as goris. On their necks was a shiny gold chain ne. Their wrists were decorated by equally luxurious watches. The rings that wrapped their fingers were thick as hell too.
The graffiti on the door was a menacing ¡®Hell¡¯s Gate¡¯.
Xia Lei frowned lightly. ¡°What the hell is she up to?¡±
The two men at the door searched the agent¡¯s body. Finding nothing suspicious, they allowed him in.
The space hidden behind the door was wide. Along with eerie decorations made out of bones stered all about the walls were red paint stters that looked like blood. The walls and floors were ck, giving off a suffocating unweing feeling to its visitors. A few men pointed their pistol at the videographer¡¯s head.
The man continued to walk straight until a woman seated at an office desk had entered the camera¡¯s view.
Xia Lei stared at the screen intensely.
That was Zhu Xuanyue!
Her face was still the same. However, the way she held her gaze was vastly different. In the past, her eyes were always radiating with innocence but now all that was reflected was a dark cold abyss of evil.
As the agent approached her desk, Zhu Xuanyue stood. Her voice sent chills down Xia Lei¡¯s spine. ¡°Did you bring what I asked for?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± The man settled the ck case on the desk and opened it.
Inside of it was a silver card and a silver-coloured uniform.
Xia Lei¡¯s right eye quickly zoomed in on the silver card, vaguely catching the numbers ¡®51¡¯ and the name ¡®Sophia¡¯. The picture on the ID card was Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s picture, her expressions uncharacteristically solemn.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°That card looks like the ess card to Area 51. Is she trying to get inside? With her powers, she¡¯s totally capable of barging in with ease. Why does she even need an ess card?¡±
In the video, the man turned the case around so it faced Zhu Xuanyue. ¡°We¡¯ve already tested it. There should be no issue with this card. This thing will allow you to enter Area 51 without suspicion. Where¡¯s my money?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue abruptly reached forward and grabbed his neck.
The man¡¯s eyes went ck. Within three seconds, his eyes rolled back.
Zhu Xuanyue finally released her grip and allowed the man to slump onto the ground. ¡°Drag him out.¡±
The two strong men quickly heeded her orders. They picked the man up and brought him to the door. The camera lens was pointed to the ceiling, capturing a white drawing in the process.
Xia Lei¡¯s brain shook as soon as he caught the drawing. It was the painting of a door in white, a door made out of light! This drawing was no stranger to him. Xia Lei had seen this when he tried to use the X-ray vision on the crystal skull!
Peering into the crystal skull had made him hallucinate that he was in his own realm. When he continued to walk straight, the white light door was presented to him at the end of the path!
Zhu Xuanyue was no longer in the video, but her voice rang out near the end of the recording. ¡°My warriors, let¡¯s go take a stroll in Nevada.¡±
The gunners screamed and cheered. It was utter chaos.
And that was the end of the video.
Xia Lei stared soullessly at the darkened screen, not daring to move a single muscle.
¡°Boss?¡± Giovanna¡¯s arm reached over to poke at Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Is everything alright?¡±
Xia Lei finally snapped out of it. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I¡¯m good. Did they get this off the agent¡¯s body?¡±
Giovanna responded with a curt nod. ¡°Yes. Zhu Xuanyue had discarded the body at a cemetery and one of our brothers had happened to be a graveyard keeper. He found the secret hidden in his body and brought it to us.¡±
Rosa reported, ¡°Sa¡¯im too is trying to track her but he had found nothing. From what we understand, Zhu Xuanyue is in the middle of forming her own armed force. Anyone who tries to spy on her will be annihted. She named her armed force the ck Moon Force.¡±
¡°The ck Moon Force?¡± Xia Lei let it roll off the tip of his tongue as chills ran down his spine.
¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a very weird name,¡±mented Rosa.
¡°Boss, what do you n to do next?¡± Giovanna stared at him.
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve no clue.¡±
He hadn¡¯t thought of any ns. From this video, he realized that the situation was bad. Zhu Xuanyue was no longer the innocent little girl she used to be. She had metamorphosed into a devil through and through!
Zhu Xuanyue had ns to enter Area 51. Xia Lei urged to see her and understand her intentions. But Zhu Xuanyue had changed. He wasn¡¯t sure if she would attack him or not!
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
At this moment, his satellite phone rang again.
Chapter 1099 - Project Shepherd
It was Sa¡¯im.
¡°Sa¡¯im, it¡¯s me. Speak,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Boss, I finally found something worth reporting.¡± Sa¡¯im¡¯s voice rang through the device. ¡°The six faceless warrior statues have been sent into Area 51. The American government hadunched a new study. Project Shepherd. The man in charge is Eric, who so happens to be the head researcher in the AE research facility. Other than that, I also received some non-rectifiable news. It seems that the AE Research Centre is nning to dissolve the statues to extract some sort of material.¡±
The information he brought was vital!
The main reason why Xia Lei had sent Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun to America was to investigate what the country was nning to do with the six faceless warrior statues. Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s whereabouts were supposed to be somewhat of a side-gig. It seemed that Sa¡¯im had managed to reel in something big.
Xia Lei forcefully suppressed his bubbling emotions. ¡°Do you know what the extraction is for?¡±
Sa¡¯im answered, ¡°Project Shepherd is currently a top-secret agenda. This is as much as I can find out about it.¡±
Xia Lei slipped into an abyss of thoughts.
He just found out that Zhu Xuanyue was trying to devise a method to breach Area 51. Now Sa¡¯im had reached out with news that the Americans were trying to extract something from the six faceless warrior statues. While he had no clue what they were after, he could confirm that Zhu Xuanyue wished to enter Area 51 and was after the six faceless warrior statues.
It was something even Zhu Xuanyue desired. What exactly could be hidden inside?
Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°How¡¯re things in Area 51?¡±
Sa¡¯im huffed exasperatedly. ¡°Boss, it¡¯s Area 51 we¡¯re talking about. That ce is America¡¯s ck box. There are even rumours that they study aliens in that facility. They have the world¡¯s best security. Even our human face masks won¡¯t do the trick.¡±
Xia Lei entertained the thought. ¡°Where are you and Qian Jun at currently?¡±
¡°Las Vegas, Nevada.¡± Sa¡¯im went on, ¡°Qian Jun just came over from Mexico. He has beenying low there for a while now. Do you wish to speak to him?¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright. No need.¡±
¡°So uh... Boss, the woman you asked us to investigate...¡± Regret wasced in his tone. ¡°I couldn¡¯t find anything about her.¡±
Xia Lei reassured him. ¡°It¡¯s alright. Giovanna and the girls have managed to find something.¡±
¡°Eh? Wow! They¡¯re good!¡± Sa¡¯im chuckled. ¡°I heard from Qian Jun that the Relief Society under the female knights¡¯ leadership was the main reason behind his sessful assassination. The Relief Society is a real asset.¡±
But to Xia Lei, while it was undeniable that the Relief Society was highly functional, it had its own limits. Searching for someone and spying for lower ssified information was their forte. However, Sa¡¯im¡¯s intelligencework was a more viable option when it came to higher ssified information. After all, the Relief Society was formed by members of the lower level of society. The environment and characters that theye in contact with were vastly different from Sa¡¯im¡¯s informants. All in all, they both had their own advantages that couldpensate for each other.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Remember, the Relief Society is on our side. If you should require any assistance, please feel free to contact them.¡±
¡°Got it, boss. So do we return to China or continue spying around in Las Vegas?¡± Sa¡¯im asked.
¡°Stay there for the time being. I mighte over to take a look myself,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°You¡¯reing over? Hehe! I knew you wouldn¡¯ty dormant for too long. I¡¯ll make relevant preparations for your arrival.¡±
¡°Alright, that¡¯s all. I¡¯ll be in touch soon.¡± Xia Lei ended the call.
Giovanna stared at him. ¡°Boss, are you sure you¡¯re going to Las Vegas?¡±
Xia Lei returned the gaze. ¡°I need to think this through.¡±
Giovanna hummed. ¡°If you decide to head there, we can move to Mexico first and enter America from their borders. We¡¯ve got a church and siblings in Mexico too. This is really something very convenient, there¡¯s no need for Sa¡¯im to do any preparation.¡±
Something clicked in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. ¡°Is the Relief Society¡¯s channel safe?¡±
¡°Yes, it is,¡± answered Theresa firmly.
¡°What about the members? After all, you haven¡¯t met most of the members.¡± Xia Lei had his own concerns.
Theresa said, ¡°Those who have faith are different from those who don¡¯t. Boss, I assure you that all of our brothers and sisters can be trusted. Just trust them like how you trust us.¡±
Xia Lei shed her a smile. ¡°But I¡¯m an atheist, I don¡¯t practise any religion.¡±
Theresa rebuked, ¡°You¡¯re the son of God.¡±
Xia Lei let out a chuckle. ¡°Jeez, you¡¯re so good with words that I have nothing left to say. You all should head back first. I¡¯ll tell you once I made my decision.¡±
Momentster, the Haval H9 off-road vehicle left the gates of the Army Hospital. Xia Lei entered its pristine premise and began to ponder his choices.
From his perspective, he had the violent urge to find out more about what the Americans were after from the six faceless warrior statues. The man also had a strong wish to meet Zhu Xuanyue so he could exin that he wasn¡¯t involved with the ck-robed man. He didn¡¯t want another enemy of that calibre.
The two points alone had made his journey to Las Vegas almost inevitable.
However, there were also two issues that would threaten him. The first problem was the Americans. Their government was in such desperation to kill him that if his tracks were exposed, he¡¯d be faced with a nationwide hunt! The second problem was Zhu Xuanyue. She had misunderstood that he and the ck-robed man had teamed up to harm her. If she attacked him as soon as they were reunited, his life would be in danger!
These were things that could not be solved. How would he dare to depart to Las Vegas without hesitation?
¡°Lei Zi, are you in trouble again?¡± Qin Xiang asked him in the hospital corridor.
Xia Lei replied coolly, ¡°No, nothing¡¯s bothering me. Keep your nose out of my hair.¡±
Qin Xiang scoffed, ¡°Oh,e on. I can tell with a nce that you¡¯re burdened with something. But I can¡¯t help much with the things you¡¯re up to now. If there is anything that I can help you with, please reach out to me. I¡¯m willing to go to hell and back for you!¡±
¡°You¡¯re such a bro.¡± Xia Lei patted Qin Xiang¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Could you be a darling and bring me myptop? It¡¯s in the Peace Mansion and I don¡¯t think I¡¯m in any state to leave.¡±
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at Qin Xiang. ¡°Look at you. You made a loud promise but you¡¯re not willing to do a simple task?¡±
¡°Fuck you.¡± Qin Xiang red at him and turned around.
Xia Lei sighed as his thoughts echoed in his heart, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to keep you out of this but I¡¯m dealing with matters of life and death. You still have a mother to look after. How could I bear to endanger your life? Simple jobs like this would have to suffice.¡±
Returning to the ward, the four women immediately wanted to learn more about the situation. He merely told them about how the four female knights were building churches all across the globe and helping those in need. He did not mention a single word about anything else. He didn¡¯t want to burden them with worry. The four women too did not press the issue further, opting to y with their newborns and chat about mundane things. For a moment, things felt alright.
A smile stered to his face, Xia Lei¡¯s heart was secretly gued by unease and mncholy. His wives had no idea he was left with less than two years to live. Seeing how well things were going for his happy little family had only filled him with more sadness every day. He could not bear to imagine how Fan Fan, Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi would feel after they lost him.
One hourter, Qin Xiang was back with hisptop.
Xia Lei immediately went to work on the ward¡¯s sofa after waving Qin Xiang off. Bncing the sturdyptop on hisp, his ten fingers began to a fiery dance atop the keyboard.
On the bed, Fan Fan pointed to Xia Lei and talked to Xia Fan. ¡°Darling, look at your papa. What is he doing? He¡¯s using theputer. Look at how cool your papa is! He¡¯s the quickest typer mama has ever seen.¡±
Surprisingly, Xia Fan¡¯s eyes did follow the direction of her finger. ¡°Yaya... ya... pa... pa.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Fan Fan squealed out of the blue. ¡°Hubby, our daughter said ¡®papa¡¯!¡±
Xia Lei did not spare them his attention. Gaze still trained on the screen, he mumbled back, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not imagining things? She is only a few hours old, how is that possible?¡±
¡°Papa... papa...¡± Xia Fan called again.
Fan Fan pouted. ¡°Your daughter is really calling you. You can¡¯t expect a baby¡¯s pronunciation to be spot on. Are you not going to praise her or encourage her? What are you doing anyway?¡±
¡°Yeah. Hubby, what are you up to?¡± Liang Siyao joined in. ¡°Even I could hear Xia Fan saying it.¡±
¡°I¡¯m attacking the White House,¡± replied Xia Lei nonchntly.
¡°Pfft!¡± Caught by shock in the middle of gulping down water, Long Bing unceremoniously spat it all out.
Xia Lei still hadn¡¯t lifted his head. His eyes were still glued to theptop. The entire room was filled with the pitter-patter of the keyboard that sounded a lot like a heavy storm.
¡°Cough cough.¡± Long Bing cleared her throat. ¡°Hubby, why are you attacking the White House for no reason? This isn¡¯t something to joke about!¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°I¡¯m trying to create some issues for the current owner.¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Since you¡¯re so bored, how about youe over and help me pump out some milk? There¡¯s too much in my boobs, it¡¯s so swollen.¡±
Xia Lei was silent.
A few secondster, his fingers came to an abrupt halt.
He had entered the White House¡¯s system and found out something. They had incorporated the Tenshin system!
He bit down his gasps. ¡°The CIA headquarters have the Tenshin system and the White House also has the Tenshin system. I wonder if Area 51 has it too. If they¡¯re using the AI system, then Tenshin would be America¡¯srgest AI system. As long as I can find its weakness, I¡¯m bound to find out more about Project Shepherd!¡±
Noticing Xia Lei¡¯s furrowed brow, Liang Siyao stopped her teasing. His other wives too left him alone. He had his worries and they had theirs.
As tranquillity reimed the room, an idea manifested in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. He quickly opened the stock market application and checked the statuses of his four ounts.
At yesterday¡¯s closing, the total in his ounts had reached over 30.11 billion USD. The one billion he gave the female knights had already been made back. Vientiane Group¡¯s shares had also recovered to its original form with his assistance. The American stock market imed to be the world¡¯s mostplete share market. But in the eyes of a hacker like him, it was merely an ATM machine.
¡°30 billion USD is not enough to shake the market. The most I can do with that amount will be attacking a few American corporations. But the CIA would be alerted if I try to give the sum away, right?¡± Suddenly, a cold smirk appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s lips.
Chapter 1100 - Baiting Tenshin
Lulled by the silence of the night, the four women and their children were fast asleep. Xia Lei quietly moved his work station to the attached balcony.
Today¡¯s extensive usage of theptop had depleted it of power. Right now, it had to be connected to a charger in order to keep on working. In the past hours, Xia Lei had been using an ID- Bad Boy- toment on a terrorist group¡¯s public social media ount. He imed that he wished to wire them some donations to upgrade their weapons and ammunition. To prove his sincerity, he had even deliberately donated a few million USD to charity organizations and sent the group his acknowledgements.
The charity organizations had public ounts so it wasn¡¯t difficult to track its transactions. To no one¡¯s surprise, the terrorist group had sent someone to rectify this. One check alone was enough to show that ¡®Bad Boy¡¯ was not a flimsy scammer. Following that was a series of exchanges between their spokesperson, ¡®Hangman¡¯, and Xia Lei, ¡®Bad Boy¡¯.
Hangman: Why do you support us?
Bad Boy: Because we¡¯re the same, we¡¯re all victims of America. My family was killed by the bomb dropped by an American ne in the Gulf War.
Hangman: You¡¯re Iraqi?
Bad Boy: It doesn¡¯t matter where I¡¯m from. The most important thing is that I¡¯m willing to sponsor your group one billion USD.
Hangman: One billion USD? Are you sure?
Bad Boy: I swear to Ah, yes. I¡¯ve thought about it for a long time. I¡¯m cursed with a terminal illness and I¡¯m dying soon. Money has no meaning to me anymore. I want you to avenge me.
Hangman: My brother. We will grant your wish! Pass me your number and I¡¯ll tell you our ount number via call.
Bad Boy: No. I have ced that sum in an offshore ount. One billion USD is avable for transfer at any given moment. I will send its details so you¡¯ll be able to cash out as soon as you log into the ount. All you need to do is send me your phone number and I¡¯ll message you.
Hangman hesitated for thirty seconds before sending out a line of numbers.
Meanwhile, in Langley, America.
An intelligence officer dashed for Williams¡¯ office and rapped its door hard.
¡°Enter.¡± Williams¡¯s voice rang out from behind.
The informant stumbled into the room frantically. ¡°Sir, there¡¯s trouble!¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°A ¡®Bad Boy¡¯ ount has surfaced. The user is asking for contact details from a Syrian terrorist group, iming that he wishes to donate one billion USD to them. I have records of their conversation.¡± The intelligence officer emptied a folder and disyed screenshots of a social media chatroom to Williams.
Williams only spared it a brief look. ¡°One billion USD? Surely this must be a joke. Even if he was serious about it, it should be a physical transaction. Why would this be discussed on social media?¡±
The officer replied, ¡°I think it¡¯s fake but Bad Boy had donated a few million dors to a few charity organizations separately. I ran a check and those transactions were genuine.¡±
Something shifted in Williams¡¯ gaze. ¡°Conduct a background check on the ount user!¡±
The officer reported, ¡°The team is already in the middle of it. So far, they hadn¡¯t had much luck finding anything about Bad Boy¡¯s identity and mary source.¡±
Williams returned his attention to the screenshots. He scowled. ¡°Bad Boy says that he¡¯d send the ount details to them via SMS. Crackdown on his phone number and decrypt the terrorist group¡¯s SMS storage. As soon as we obtain the ount¡¯s information, freeze it before the transaction takes ce!¡±
The officer fumbled. ¡°But we¡¯re running out of time. We might need to use the Tenshin system.¡±
Williams regarded the question with a mere nod.
The intelligence officer quickly turned around and left.
One minuteter, three of the CIA¡¯s best hackers entered a highly protected underground space.
It was a sphere-shaped room. Its curved walls along with its narrow ceiling and floor were made of alloy, making it able to withstand the force of a nuclear bomb. In the centre of this spherical space was a sphere-shaped instrument that had screens as its outer shell. Each screen had disyed vastly different content. One of them showed the surroundings of the White House, another showed the situation around the Pentagon. There were also footage of military zones, the CIA Langley headquarters, military ports, Area 51 and so on.
Almost all of America¡¯s most important ces and facilities were under its careful watch and protection.
This was the Tenshin system.
The three hackers took their ce in front of Tenshin¡¯s control panel. They swiftly entered its temporary passcode and initiated working mode.
Williams had evene to watch them. In the face of a situation like this, he couldn¡¯t just sit idly by and wait for a response.
The CIA hackers were fast. Command lines and prompts shed through the 3D projection atop the control panel along with its results relentlessly.
A beatter, an artificial female voice echoed from the sphere. ¡°Target identified to be Omarben... Omarben¡¯s tel service provider found... Obtaining the provider¡¯s authority to intercept text message content... Transmitting message content...¡±
Soon enough, the contents of an SMS was projected.
¡°The bastard must be delirious by the sum to actually send his phone number to Bad Boy.¡± The officer chuckled lowly. ¡°Now we need to gain ess into the encrypted message and locate the ount. After that, we¡¯ll attempt to track down Bad Boy. We have to arrest him.¡±
Williams fell silent. ¡°Something¡¯s not quite right about this. Everything is too simple and the sum sounds way too big.¡±
¡°If Bad Boy is able to donate a few million dors at a whim, he definitely has no issue with funding.¡± The officer further reasoned, ¡°My analysis is that this might be his first exchange with a terrorist group, hence hisck of security.¡±
Williams sighed. ¡°I hope it is.¡±
At this moment, one of the hackers said, ¡°Sir, the SMS is tightly encrypted. Even Omarben is having a difficult time opening it.¡±
¡°Decode it!¡± Williams hissed.
The three excellent hackers returned to work.
At the same time, on the other side of the globe.
ck ck ck... ck ck ck...
On the balcony, Xia Lei¡¯s fingers typed on the keyboard furiously as they birthed strings ofmands one after another. The summer mosquitoes fluttered around him but none of them made a move tond on his skin. Below him on the ground level, a ring ambnce had entered through the gates of the hospital. Yet, the piercing res of its siren had no chance at interrupting him.
This was a war without smoke.
America¡¯s Tenshin system was very strong, able to take out Xiao Qian upon detection. Xia Lei had gained some experience from it but despite that, he still was a little shaky in this exchange. There were a few times where they were close to capturing him.
Thankfully, the nature of this exchange was different from his first. He had taken the initiative the first time around. This time, he merely needed to defend against Tenshin¡¯s attacks. The push and pull felt like a ser match. Once one party had crossed the board, there would surely be loopholes in the back defence that could be countered!
When a weaker team goes against stronger teams in ser, the defensive counterattack is a strategy they must adopt. Now, Xia Lei was China¡¯s Suning team while the CIA was FC Barcelona.
Truthfully, he was not only doing defensive counterattacks. He had mediated a trap for the other party to crawl into. The SMS he sent to Omarben. The SMS alone had taken him three whole hours to code. With his hacking abilities, the fact that he had poured hours of work into the SMS had spoken volumes.
The ambnce below halted in front of the trauma unit, its driver finally switching off the siren. The doors burst open and out came four paramedics and a stretcher. The patient lying on top was covered in blood, looking like an absolute mess.
The four paramedics hurriedly wheeled the patient inside, allowing the driver to park the ambnce back to its spot. Tired by the event, the driver lit up a cigarette on the driver¡¯s seat and nced up. He could not see Xia Lei who was working on the balcony.
The CIA¡¯s headquarters, Langley.
¡°Yes!¡± One of the hackers screamed in joy. ¡°The Tenshin system has unlocked his message!¡±
Just as his words fell, a few lines appeared in the 3D projection hovering above the control panel. There really was an offshore ount registered at the Swiss Bank. True to Bad Boy¡¯s words, the ount PIN and transaction passcode was inside too.
¡°Contact the bank immediately to freeze this ount. Have them send us the ount holder¡¯s information too!¡± Williams barked out orders. The oue had brought him some relief.
¡°Wait...¡± One of the hackers suddenly pointed out, ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with the ount!¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Williams and the intelligence officer questioned in unison.
The hacker paused to disy his findings to the room.
There was only 0.5 USD in the ount.
There was no one billion USD inside but 0.5 USD!
This was Bad Boy¡¯s donation to the terrorist group.
Abruptly, the 3D projection began to warp. Even the monitor-filled outer shell was beginning to experience the same issue, especially Area 51¡¯s screen. It wentpletely dark.
¡°This... ¡° Williams finally realized. ¡°This is a trap!¡±
The hackers urgently responded to the situation, the feverish clicks and cks of the keyboard filling the spherical space with heavy suspense.
The intelligence officer was beginning to sweat, not daring to say another word.
Thirty secondster, everything was back to normal.
Tenshin¡¯sputerized voice rang again. ¡°System hibernation hadsted for 29 seconds... Recovery speed, 100%... No signs of attack detected...¡±
¡°What...¡± The intelligence officer finally spoke. ¡°What the fuck just happened?¡±
Williams turned around, eyes threatening to burn holes in his skull. ¡°Five hours! Find out who Bad Boy is within five hours. If you can¡¯t do it, preparedto be punished!¡±
The officer was stunned into silence.
The Army Hospital, Jingdu, China.
¡°All done!¡± A smile finally appeared on Xia Lei¡¯s face. Tapping his index finger on the ¡®Enter¡¯ key, another message was sent.
In a dingy tent on the desert borders of Syria and Iraq...
¡°He sent us another SMS with a new PIN and transaction passcode! Hahahahaha! I¡¯m in!¡± A built bearded man with a turban screeched excitedly.
Bang bang bang!
Thud thud thud...
His people waiting outside the tent began to celebrate with firing nks.
¡°0.5 USD?¡± The bearded men couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. Chills began to trickle down his spine.
Bang bang bang!
Thud thud thud...
Gunshots rang out outside the tent once again, but this time it was apanied by the sound of angry curses.
¡°Bad Booooooooyyyyyyyy!¡±
¡°We¡¯re gonna fuck him up!¡±
¡°But who is he?¡±
No one knew who he was.
Bang bang bang!
Thud thud thud...
Chapter 1101 - Hospital Flashfire
29 seconds. An insignificant amount of time. Yet that was all Xia Lei needed to get what he wanted.
As the God¡¯s system fell into his meticulously set trap and entered its 29-second sleep mode, Xia Lei infiltrated Area 51. The area was vast and certainly unable to be covered within twenty-nine seconds. But he had a goal. He wanted to get into the heart of Area 51.
29 seconds was far from enough to dismantle the central servers, or to expose all the top-secret information from within, but to retrieve a single document.
The shepherd project was now in Xia Lei¡¯s hands.
Back at the ward, the night was serene. The four women and the children were in deep sleep, bringing about a sense of tranquillity. Xia Lei took to appreciate the soothing ambience after he finished reading the shepherd project.
Reading it through led him to conclude that their trip to Las Vegas was a victory secured.
Right then, Long Bing cracked her eyes open, taking a quick peek at her husband before she whispered, ¡°Why are you still up thiste at night? Come lie down here, we can squeeze a little.¡±
¡°They arranged a bed for me. I will rest there for the night,¡± Xia Lei added.
¡°I want you cuddling me,¡± Long Bing coyly added.
Xia Lei chuckled at her remark. ¡°You¡¯ve convinced me.¡±
He strode over to her and gave her a tight smooch on her forehead.
On the other bed, Liang Siyao was also awoken as she turned her head towards them, ¡°This is a ward. Are you both sure that¡¯s what you wanted to do?¡±
Long Bing red at her, ¡°All I want is for him toy by my side for just a moment, what else were you thinking?¡±
Liang Siyao chuckled, ¡°Alright, alright, just don¡¯t wake the other two up, or else you both are up for a treat.¡±
Xia Lei mumbled, ¡°Siyao, I¡¯lle over in a bit alright.¡±
Liang Siyao nodded, that was exactly what she was waiting for.
Xia Lei flipped over Long Bing¡¯s sheets and she promptly nudged slightly to the side, clearing a space for him to lie down. Just as he was closing in on a sitting position, his ears perked from a faint noise from a distance. It appeared to be sounds of vehicle tyres rolling across the tar road. It was so soft and sudden that one blink was all it took to miss it. But not Xia Lei.
A vehicle disappeared into thin air?
Xia Lei¡¯s awareness heightened as he tweaked his ears to capture the surrounding sounds.
After the evolution of his right eye, his ears had begun to receive new upgrades. Nevertheless, after he noticed that his ears began to exceed beyond the ordinary, he never really got to use much of its abilities.
One of the reasons was because his eyes were far too reliable. It had be a subconscious habit for him to rely on it instinctively for all matters at hand. His ears were naturally relegated to the sidelines.
Nevertheless, in an extremely silent hospital environment, any sound beyond the corridor was amplified through his ears. Almost instantly after he caught the odd sound, his mind began piecing several visualisations together into one. A surgical cart, footsteps of four different people but the breathing of five.
Just as the picture began taking shape in Xia Lei¡¯s head, the scene of four medical personnel pushing the surgical cart began shing in his mind.
However, given the venue they were in, it was not umon for that to be happening.
Nevertheless, an ominous feeling began encircling his mind!
Both eyes instantly switched to Xray mode as his vision zoomed past wall after wall, pir after pir with an unobstructed view.
His vision had promptly fixated upon a group of medical staff pushing a surgical cart towards the direction of the elevator. Two at the front had their hands ced on the edges of the cart, while the other two at the back each had a hand firmly on the handle.
All four medical personnel moved almost in unison, so much so even their footsteps aligned with one another as if the cart was empty.
Lying on the stretcher was a patient drenched in blood, his eyes wide open, seemingly in distraught. His eyes however were filled with animosity, resonating a chilling aura at his presence.
Xia Lei expanded the range and intensity of his X-ray vision, scanning the five medical ¡®personnel¡¯ from top to bottom, an action that would promptly leave him terrified.
All five of them were strapped with firearms, even explosives!
If it were not for his enhanced hearing, with just his X-ray vision, he would easily have overlooked the four medical personnel with their desperate patient!
But humans have time and time again been deceived by their eyes, and in that case, it was almost a mistake that would have cost the lives of his family!
Xia Lei stood up stiff, with a dull voice he murmured, ¡°Get up! We havepany!¡±
Long Bing and Liang Siyao were petrified, but nevertheless quickly snapped out of it as they hurried off their respective hospital beds.
¡°Tell Fan Fan and Ruyi to hide in the bathroom, along with the kids,¡± Xia Lei then urged.
¡°What about you...¡± Liang Siyao worryingly blurted.
¡°Go, now!¡±
Long Bing and Liang Siyao carried their children before respectively waking up Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan.
Shaken from a deep slumber, Fan Fan was stillpletely dumbfounded by the situation but before she could ask she was muffled by Liang Siyao¡¯s hand over her mouth!
¡°There are people out there trying to kill us, take the kids and get into the bathroom,¡±
Over on the opposite corner of the room, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi were in simr circumstances.
While the four women and their kids retreated into the bathroom, Xia Lei had already rung the medical attention signal and positioned himself by the door. His hands were upied with the Viper pistol on one hand and a military-grade knife on the other.
The five assassins eventually arrived by the door of the ward. Just as they were ready for assault however, a stationed nurse made her way towards their direction in urgent strides.
The nurse halted her footsteps before the five assassins,pletely catching them off guard.
Behind the door, Xia Lei had his gun cocked towards the killer lying on the surgical trolley.
¡°Doctor.¡± The nurse,pletely oblivious of the tension building up around her, took to asking, ¡°This is the gynaecology floor. I¡¯m not sure you¡¯re in the right ce.¡±
The five assassins remained silent while the one by the back drew his silenced pistol, ready to get rid of the interference.
Just as he had his gun hoisted right at the back of her head, an explosive shot was heard behind the door. In that instant, the head of the killer on the surgical cart popped like an overcharged battery.
Xia Lei consciously chose the idle killer as his target because he knew he was a suicide bomber. To him, it was clear that the stationary man on the surgical cart was clearly the imminent threat. He needed to get rid of the most imminent threat to the situation!
Once the first shot was fired, the four other gunmen reactively hurled themselves away from the surgical trolley, towards both sides of the door. Two of the assassins managed to retrieve their assault rifles during the process.
¡°Argh!¡± The nurse attempted a prompt exit as she shrieked, ¡°Murderers!¡±
Bang! The gunman with the pistol shot right through her abdomen, and down the nurse went. Blood gushed out the wound as it drenched the white of her nurse uniform.
Brrr!
BANG BANG!
The deafening sounds of gunfire rang out as bullets tore through the wooden door. Bullets fired at all directions while others ricocheted, wreaking any and all in their paths. It didn¡¯t take long before the four previously u[ied hospital beds were reduced to shreds.
¡°Break down the door!¡± A gunman ordered.
But it was in Japanese!
The gunman with the pistol then clenched his hands on the cart handle, steered it towards the door and hurled it towards the tattered door.
BANG! Another slew of gunshots was heard as the killer by the handle was shot in the knee and promptly kneeled on the ground. The surgical cart that was aimed at the flimsy door swayed from its intended destination and crashed into the gunman closest to the door!
The next second he crawled back to his feet, gave an agonizing howl and once again had both hands on the handle, steering the surgical cart towards the door!
The human sacrifice might be dead, but the explosives were still primed and active. As long as it was detonated in the ward, it would be a sessful mission.
Another bullet once again came firing out of the door, and this time around without surprise still aimed at the gunman by the handle. Before he could evaluate the attack he felt excruciating pain on his left leg. His only functioning leg was hit at the knee! His body promptly lost its bnce once again as he tumbled onto the ground.
¡°You cunt!¡± The gunman by the door scowled as heshed out from the wall that was shielding him all this while and came barging at the door with his shoulder.
BANG! The next bullet came through and drilled through his forehead, putting his best effort to an abrupt halt.
Thump!
The dying killer¡¯s copse resembled the final straw that broke the camel¡¯s back, tumbling onto thepromised door.
Another gunman saw the opportunity and forced the surgical trolley into the ward.
¡°Put down your weapons now, or we will fire at will!¡± Right at the moment, special ops began marching out of the stairway with a warning call.
¡°Get in!¡± The assassin with the assault rifle hastily shifted his target towards the special ops unit, an array of bullets sprayed onto the backup unit effectively putting them back on defence.
ss shattered through the hallway from the rain of bullets!
POP! A lone sniper bullet came flying in like a silent missile, and in a sh, the bullet bore a hole into the cranium of the unhinged gunman with the assault rifle.
Blood and innards began spewing out of the wound, and another corpseid among the pile.
And now there were two.
One diligently mended the surgical cart, while the other decisively sacrificed himself to shield the other from the vision. His life was worth the seconds needed for their suicide n to work!
Nevertheless, it was all wishful thinking for the simpleminded. As he bravely stood with broad arms before his teammate, the captain of the special ops barged through the stairwell. Three sessive shots were fired from his handgun before he had evennded!
Bang Bang Bang!
Three shots, three bullets, two right at the killer¡¯s abdomen, and thest in his heart.
The special ops captain tumbled onto the ground.
Thest assassin broke into the ward. He did it.
Chapter 1102 - Cruelty
Though his legs were shot, the assassin smiled as hisrade rolled the surgery cart into the ward. In his imagination, the next thing that¡¯d follow was a ground-shaking explosion. All the targets that needed to be taken out would be reduced to chunks of meat.
Bang!
A bullet rang out.
Those were his final thoughts before death.
The one that took the assassin¡¯s life was a Special Force member that lunged out of the stairway in the nick of time.
In the ward.
¡°AAAAAAHHHHHH!¡± The assassin with the rolling surgery cart roared a battle cry and mmed his right thumb onto the detonation button.
Whoosh!
A ray of silver flew by in a sh. Before he could even feel pain, the assassin watched as his thumb was severed. It rotated unceremoniously to aplete 360 degree before sttering onto the tiled floor.
Blood gushed out of the new opening. The assassin instinctively switched over to his index finger. Another ray of silver flew by in a sh. His index finger once again detached itself from his fist and was sent flying away.
He was in so much panic that he did not bother locating the target. Sadly, no matter how hard he tried to improvise with the situation, he was still one step slower.
As his index finger slid off, he finally saw the culprit behind his two broken fingers. Xia Lei. It was a handsome face adorned with a menacing expression. The man looked like a beast thirsty for blood!
¡°Ahhh!¡± Thest surviving assassin lunged the control device forward to his chest.
Whoosh!
It was another silver ray that reached the extremes of cruelty. Before the killer could even knock the device against his chest, his entire right palm was chopped off.
Xia Lei extended an arm, caught the bloodied severed palm and kicked the surgery cart. The cart flew off out of the ward and mmed against a wall.
There was no explosion because the detonator was now in Xia Lei¡¯s grip. He flexed his fingers tightly around it. His family of eight was hiding in the room¡¯s attached bathroom. He needed to be extremely cautious.
Thest assassin stumbled back, doubling over and hitting the ground. Immediately, his remaining left hand wed for an AUG assault rifleying nearby.
Xia Lei lunged forward and delivered one slice.
The assassin¡¯s left index finger, middle finger, ring finger and pinky were severed in one go.
¡°Ahh!¡± The torment proved to be too much even for a well-trained assassin like this. He screamed and screamed as he writhed helplessly on the tiled floor.
Xia Lei took another step and waved his arm. The killer¡¯sst thumb fell with a plop.
This time, the assassin could no longer scream in agony. The man¡¯s vision went dark as he slipped into unconsciousness.
A group of Special Force members barged into the ward, gaping at the sight of a bloodied Xia Lei standing above a limp body on the floor.
¡°Mister Xia... A...Are you alright?¡± The Special Force member asked cautiously.
¡°Is this how you do your fucking job?!¡± Xia Lei snapped, ¡°How the fuck did these assassins get past you?!¡±
¡°We...¡± The captain hesitated.
¡°Fuck off!¡± Xia Lei¡¯s wrath was uncontroble!
His anger did not stem from the fact that there was an attack. His precious wives and children were in this ward for fuck¡¯s sake!
The Special Force members quickly exited the ward.
¡°Go get the doctor and save this bastard!¡± Xia Lei sneered. ¡°Also, there are explosives in the cart. Go deal with it now!¡±
Two Special Force soldiers picked up the severed arms while the captain personally pushed the surgery cart towards the lifts. A few of their men went to check on the nurse.
¡°She¡¯s alive! Doctor! Doctor!¡± The soldier screamed as soon as he detected her pulse.
It was only then that Xia Lei allowed himself to rx. He pried the detonator out of the detached fist.
Liang Siyao, Fan Fan, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi carefully exited the bathroom. The children were long awake but none of them was crying. The four newborns stared at their father nkly, seemingly unfazed by the blood and gore disyed.
¡°Hubby, are you alright?¡± Liang Siyao strode over.
The other three women too approached him. Used to this, Long Bing was unfazed. However, Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi¡¯s faces went pale. It was only natural for them to be shocked by the scene. While they weren¡¯t able to wrap their arms around him, they opted to stay close to him. He was the only man that could bring them a sense of security in a time like this.
Xia Lei extended his arm around his family. Though he couldn¡¯t hug them all, he really wished to do so. He had never once felt so much fear over possibly losing them.
¡°It¡¯s alright. Everything is under control now. I hope it didn¡¯t spook you out.¡± Xia Leiforted his wives.
¡°We¡¯re alright. Are you hurt?¡± Fan Fan was anxious.
¡°I¡¯m good.¡±
¡°That doesn¡¯t sound too convincing when you¡¯re caked with blood. I¡¯ll go call the doctor for you,¡± offered Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei tugged her back. ¡°I¡¯m really alright. This is someone else¡¯s blood.¡± He paused and studied their expressions. ¡°I¡¯ll call the female knights over immediately to escort you home. The hospital is no longer secure. We will carry out your postnatal confinement at home.¡±
[Note: Postnatal confinement is a traditional Chinese practise where new mothers are given special care to recuperate and rest during the first month following childbirth.]
The four wives agreed to it right away. After what had happened, there was no way they¡¯d feel safe to extend their length of stay at the hospital. While there were protections from the Special Force, the security level was obviously not as good as that in the Peace Mansion and Thunder Horse Organization headquarters.
Xia Lei dialled for Giovanna. Then, he turned around and instructed, ¡°They¡¯ll be here soon to pick you up. I¡¯ll go check on the surviving assassin. I need to find out who sent them here.¡±
¡°Alright, be careful,¡± reminded Long Bing sternly.
Xia Lei left the room and was led by one Special Force soldier into a surgery theatre. One doctor and two nurses were in the middle of an emergency rescue on the assassin. The loss of his palms had left him suffering from excessive blood loss which plunged him into aa. On one side of the surgery table, a nurse transfused more blood while the doctor tried to seal the exposed veins to halt the bleeding.
¡°Doctor, when will he be awake?¡± Xia Lei rushed forward.
The suddenmotion caused the doctor to spare him a nce. Noticing that it was Xia Lei, the doctor answered, ¡°Mister Xia, he¡¯s in aa due to excessive blood loss. We¡¯re in the middle of a blood transfusion. He¡¯d most likely be awake an hour after the surgery.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have that much time. Can you try to wake him up now?¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°An adrenaline shot can wake him up but it¡¯s very dangerous,¡± replied the doctor.
Xia Lei hissed, ¡°He is nothing but a filthy animal. If he dies, he dies. He does not deserve your concern. Inject the adrenaline, now.¡±
¡°But...¡± The doctor was hesitant.
¡°Inject him, now!¡± Xia Lei shouted at the doctor.
The events that transpired tonight had made it difficult for him to realign himself. A slight bit of inconvenience was enough to drive him over the edge again.
¡°Mister Xia, I understand your feelings but I need approval. Please give me a moment.¡± The doctor swiftly turned around and said, ¡°Xiao Li, can you please get me the hospital director?¡±
Xia Lei fumed but did his best to suppress it. The doctor had his own responsibilities. If his hasty decision to inject adrenaline into the assassin had killed him, the doctor would be held responsible.
The nurse took off to look for the hospital director.
The hospital director was a plump man in his fifties that radiated the aura of a leader. Despite that, his status was nothing to Xia Lei.
¡°Mister Xia, I¡¯m terribly sorry for the mishap. I shouldn¡¯t have allowed this to happen...¡± The first thing the hospital director did was to apologize profusely.
Xia Lei¡¯s patience was running thin. ¡°No need to apologize, I suspect that someone has leaked out information. I need to interrogate the assassin. Tell your doctor to give him an adrenaline shot to wake him up. If he dies, I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡±
¡°But...¡± The hospital director too gaped at his outrageous request.
Xia Lei lost his cool immediately. ¡°Were you the one who leaked information?¡±
¡°Huh? Mister Xia, don¡¯t say things like that! You¡¯re bound to kill someone!¡± Caught by surprise, the hospital director yelped. The older man quickly turned and faced his subordinate. ¡°Inject a dose of adrenaline so Mister Xia can interrogate him.¡±
So the doctor did as he was told.
¡°Mister Xia, you... Please conduct your interrogation as you please. This has nothing to do with me. I... I¡¯ll take my leave now.¡± The hospital director speedily left the theatre.
From the hospital director¡¯s perspective, offending Xia Lei was a small issue. However, offending Xia Lei¡¯s wife, Fan Fan, would be an entirely new story! He had no capacity to care for the assassin¡¯s life in such circumstances!
With the hospital director gone, the doctor straight up wrapped some ropes around the severed wrists as a temporary solution. ¡°Mister Xia, uh... I¡¯ll be back after you¡¯re done.¡± Immediately, the doctor fled.
The only ones left behind in the quiet surgery theatre was Xia Lei and the injured assassin. The suffocating silence and the strong scent of disinfectants in the air were incredibly ufortable.
¡°Ugh!¡± The adrenaline kicked in and the killer regained consciousness. He reflectively tried to mber up but the energy drained away by his blood loss rendered his efforts futile.
¡°I¡¯ll ask you a few simple questions. If you cooperate well, I¡¯ll allow the doctor to resume your surgery.¡± Xia Lei threatened coldly in fluent Japanese. ¡°Your resistance will result in death. I have my ways to make you regret ever being born into this world.¡±
The assassin stared at him nkly. Without warning, he spat at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei easily dodged it. In the process, the man picked up a scalpel and drove it into the assassin¡¯s right exposed wrist.
¡°AHHHHHHHHHH!¡± The killer screeched in agony, cold sweat taking form on his forehead.
Xia Lei tilted the scalpel upwards, letting the sharp de split the man¡¯s flesh open. Blood began to pool again.
¡°This is yourst chance. Tell me, are you working for the Hattori n?¡± His interrogation was paired with thebo of his eyes. His X-ray vision and data scanner began to close in on the assassin¡¯s beating heart.
The killer avoided Xia Lei¡¯s piercing re and his pulse picked up. Though so, his exterior was calm.
Even if he chose to stay mum, Xia Lei had already gotten his answer. These assassins were sent by the Hattori n. ¡°Qian Jun took out both Hattori Masao and Hattori Mei with his sniper rifle. The core characters of the n are all dead, why is there still arge scale operation like this? Could it be...¡±
Was Hattori Masao alive?
Was Hattori Mei alive?
How was it possible for Qian Jun tomit such a mishap?
After a moment of silence, Xia Lei attempted to probe, ¡°Did Hattori Masao send you over?¡±
The assassin betrayed no truth, lips faintly curling into a challenging smirk. His pulse returned to normal.
Xia Lei attempted again. ¡°Did Hattori Mei send you here?¡±
The killer was once again silent. However, the ghost of a smirk was gone. His pulse picked up as soon as her name was mentioned.
Xia Lei was surprised. ¡°Hattori Mei is still alive? How?!¡±
¡°How did you get in here? Was someone tasked to show you in?¡± Xia Lei shot another question.
¡°Hmph! This is just a hospital. How hard do you think it is to blend in?¡± The killer spat back in Japanese.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was still on his heart. His pulse was normal. He wasn¡¯t lying.
¡°You¡¯re bound to die soon orter!¡± The killer seethed, ¡°You¡¯ve angered out people and the samuraimunity!¡±
¡°Oh, really?¡± Xia Lei snorted. The man extended an arm and turned off the blood transfusion machine. His movements were excruciatingly slow as he drawlednguidly, ¡°So you¡¯re a samurai? Hmm... I¡¯m trying to kill you here. What are you going to do with me?¡±
Ka-boom!
A deafening explosion abruptly rang from outside the hospital.
Chapter 1103 - Kyokos Woes
The violent st shook the windows. The people in the theatre weren¡¯t excluded from the shockwave. As the mes wed its way towards the skies, the sky was painted a glowing red.
Xia Lei dashed over to the window and peered below.
The explosion was not caused by the cart but the ambnce below. Scattered around the burning vehicle were a few Special Force members. Some were groaning in pain, evidently injured by the unintentional proximity.
It seemed that there was another person on standby after the ambnce had snuck in the assassins. Surrounded by the Special Force soldiers, the hidden person detonated the explosives strapped to the vehicle.
If everything had fallen through, suicide was theirst-ditch attempt. How so truthful to the ways of the Japanese.
Xia Lei left the window and returned to intimidate the killer.
The assassinying t on the bed red daggers at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°Let me guess. You made an emergency call and when the hospital¡¯s ambnce reached your destination, you and your friends popped out and killed them all. After that, you disguised yourselves as the staff and drove your way back here. There¡¯s a record of exits and entries at the hospital¡¯s entrance, which became equally useful for your infiltration. The security guards and Special Force members would not do extensive searches on ambnces rushing in on an emergency. Am I right?¡±
¡°You¡¯re pretty smart,¡± said the killer. He did not acknowledge it but confirmed it.
¡°So Hattori Mei really is still alive.¡± Xia Lei raised a brow.
The assassin once again zipped his lips, not willing to say another word.
Xia Lei chuckled exasperatedly. ¡°Your eyes and pulse are already congratting my guess. Tell me where she is and I¡¯ll call the doctor back for your treatment. You¡¯re bleeding now and there¡¯s not much left in you to be bled.¡±
The killer scoffed. ¡°Everyone involved in tonight¡¯s operation is prepared to die. We¡¯re not expecting ourselves to return home alive after killing you and your family here. There¡¯s no point threatening me with death.¡±
Xia Lei shrugged nonchntly. ¡°Very well then. Since you¡¯ve made your decision to wee death, I¡¯ll at least make it a little interesting for you.¡±
Calm words that bore great malice. The assassin was beginning to panic.
Xia Lei lifted the syringe used for the adrenaline injection earlier and stabbed it into the man¡¯s chest. ¡°There¡¯s nothing but air in this syringe. If I inject this into you, it¡¯ll form an air pocket that¡¯d press onto your lungs andbour your breathing. You¡¯d itch to w at your throat and chest to make it better. All you¡¯d feel is pain and pain and more pain, death wille slowly after. This process is going to be torturous, are you ready for it?¡±
The assassin began to pant nervously. He was ready to die. But to die in this manner? No way!
Xia Lei pressed his thumb firmly against the end of the instrument. ¡°Last chance. Either you die a painful death or you receive the treatment you need and survive.¡±
¡°Heave... Heave...¡± The anxiety caused the killer to breathe irregrly.
Xia Lei continued to exert more pressure onto the syringe. ¡°What did Hattori Mei offer you? Why are you so willing to protect her? You better speak while you can. When this whole thing is inside, I won¡¯t be able to get the air out even if you changed your mind.¡±
¡°Pant... Pant... She...¡±
Xia Lei stopped pressing. ¡°Where is she?¡±
¡°America... Las Vegas!¡± The killer finally broke under pressure.
Xia Lei stopped. Abruptly, he injected the remaining air into the assassin¡¯s chest.
¡°You...!¡± The assassin couldn¡¯t believe his eyes, heart immediately filled with regret and anger. Regardless of his feelings, nothing was going to save him now.
Xia Lei looked at him in the eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with you trying to kill me. But you actually tried to involve my wife and kids in this dirty business. For that, I¡¯ll show no mercy. No matter who is out for their heads, I¡¯ll kill them just like how I killed you.¡±
¡°Heave... Heave... Wheeze... Cough cough...¡± The assassin fruitlessly iled his arms around. He wished to w at his chest but his fingers were already cut off prior. The blood loss was starting to affect him.
Xia Lei watched him in silence, eyes cold as ice.
Five minutester, the assassin was dead. His struggles ceased. What was more tortuous was the fact that the person he urged to kill was merely standing within arm¡¯s reach and watched him go like some movie in the cinema.
Xia Lei left the room, immediately approached by a few hospital staff members in the corridor.
¡°Mister Xia, how is he?¡± The doctor who was in charge of the assassin¡¯s treatment was questioned.
Xia Lei curtly replied, ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡±
¡°Dead? Dead...? Uh... Great, no need to waste more resources to save him then.¡± The doctormely attempted to appease Xia Lei.
Xia Lei merely regarded him with a dry smile and left. When he made it to the hospital¡¯s main lobby, he could already spot the four female knights in a distance alongside arge group of Relief Society members. Tsukino Kyoko, E¡¯er Demutu, Yelena and even Anjum Khan were here too. His women and children were protected by them. Not even the Special Force members were allowed toe near.
If given a choice, Xia Lei would¡¯ve used his own armed force to protect his own family. If that was the case, the incident tonight would¡¯ve been diffused before the explosions had ever taken ce. However, it was not appropriate for him to insert himself into the country¡¯s affairs, which was why he did not order them toe along. This event had given him a stern reminder to utilize his own armed force no matter how big of a troop the country was dispatching to protect his family.
Giovanna walked over. ¡°Boss, is everything alright?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I¡¯m good. Is everything set?¡±
Giovanna answered, ¡°All arrangements are in ce. All we need is one word and we¡¯ll head home.¡±
At this moment, Tsukino Kyoko stepped forward.
Xia Lei could sense that she had something to say. So he said to Giovanna, ¡°Give me a few minutes.¡±
Giovanna silently nodded and returned to the formation.
Tsukino Kyoko came over to Xia Lei¡¯s side and lowered her voice. ¡°I ran a check on the bodies earlier... Their identities areplex.¡±
Surprised, Xia Lei asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko went on, ¡°One of them was a Hatano-ryu ninja, another was a Koga-ryu ninja and two of them were the Hattori n¡¯s family fighters.¡±
Xia Lei was reminded instantly of what the assassin had said earlier. You¡¯re bound to die soon orter! You¡¯ve angered our people and the samurais!
Tsukino Kyoko too was a ninja from the Iga-ryu. Naturally, she would be able to identify them. It was her confirmation that filled Xia Lei¡¯s heart with stones. This time, the Hattori n weren¡¯t the only ones who wanted him dead. The whole of Japan¡¯s samuraimunity wanted him dead!
Tsukino Kyoko sighed deeply. ¡°I wonder what did the Hattori n do to charm so many of us to serve them.¡±
In a low voice, Xia Lei revealed, ¡°Hattori Mei might still be alive. Qian Jun messed up.¡±
¡°Huh? How... How is that possible?¡± The ninja was shocked.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°It¡¯s highly possible that his own eyes had fooled him. We¡¯ll talk about the full thing when we see Qian Jun again.¡±
¡°There¡¯s another terrible situation too.¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s expression darkened.
¡°What is it?¡±
The woman presented a charred metal shard to Xia Lei.
It didn¡¯t take much for him to figure out that it was a broken shuriken. But other than that, he couldn¡¯t tell what was so bad about it.
Tsukino Kyoko huffed a bitterugh. ¡°This is the Iga-ryu¡¯s shuriken. I found this beside the ambnce. The person must¡¯ve been sted to unidentifiable pieces but I can recognize his shuriken. His name was Watanabe Hakusho, one of my master¡¯s disciples.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°So you¡¯re trying to say that your master now serves the Hattori n?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko corrected him. ¡°Not exactly. My theory is that the Hattori n is using Japan¡¯s current development status and the future of the people to charm the samuraimunity. You¡¯re now seen as the national enemy of Japan by the samurais. They will not hesitate to sacrifice everything to take you out. They do not fear death and regard their honour above their life. You¡¯ve threatened the interests of the people they¡¯re loyal to. This reason is enough to unite them and have them assassinate you.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. This was bad. This was really bad. Assassination and stealth were the ninja¡¯s forte. If they had regarded him as an enemy, this very likely indicated that tonight¡¯s episode wasn¡¯t thest!
¡°Kyoko.¡± He hesitated but decided to say it anyway. ¡°You mentioned the Iga-ryu and your master. If your master attacks me, what will you do?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko was caught aback by the question. This wasn¡¯t something simple that she could answer right away.
¡°Answer me.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s stare was unwavering.
Tsukino Kyoko lightly murmured, ¡°I¡¯m still trying to figure this out. How about this? After you return,e to the other side of the mountain behind and I¡¯ll give you an answer.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll look for you. But can¡¯t you tell me if you chose to side with your master, are you going to go against me?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko insisted, ¡°Please do not rush me, I need some time. I¡¯m heading back first. I need a tranquil environment to think this over.¡±
Xia Lei nodded again and watched her leave. His heart and mind were sent into turmoil.
Tsukino Kyoko was also a Japanese samurai. In fact, she was a very traditional one. She loved her country and she loved her people. Now, her master, Yagyu Yuichi, had turned into Xia Lei¡¯s enemy. She needed to take a stand. If she chose Xia Lei, she¡¯d need to face her master as an enemy on the battlefield. If she chose Yagyu Yuichi, she would be Xia Lei¡¯s enemy. Xia Changhe¡¯s kindness, her feelings for him, the unforgettable experiences they both went through together. How could she just cut that off?
¡°Let¡¯s go home,¡± said Xia Lei. He was tired, he needed to rest.
A crowd exited the hospital lobby. Outside the building was filled to the brim with vehicles. They were by no means cars but the all-in-one Sweeper infantry fight vehicle produced by the Thunder Horse Organization. Each of it had carried a machine gunner that maintained a quasibat state at all times.
Liang Siyao and Long Bing brought their baby into one of it while Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi entered another one. While Xia Lei was stuck with the choice of joining a part of his family in either vehicle, a convoy could be seen zooming over in a distance.
The Bureau 101 agents have arrived.
Tang Yuyan was here.
Xia Lei could only chuckle bitterly at the scene. ¡°Giovanna, please see my wife and kids home on my behalf. I¡¯ll be back soon after everything is settled.¡±
Giovanna nodded and waved her arm.
The majestic convoy of Sweepers began to move forward steadily.
Chapter 1104 - Im Marrying You, Not the Tang Family
The streetmps shone coldly in the dark, attracting a hoard of moths unable to suppress their natural instincts. They crashed against it repeatedly until a pile of corpses began to form under themp.
¡°Are you alright?¡± Light catching the curves of her side profile, Tang Yuyan expressed her concern gently.
¡°I¡¯m alright. I¡¯m good,¡± answered Xia Lei. ¡°I think you should pay more attention to those entering China from Japan.¡±
Tang Yuyan studied his face. ¡°You¡¯re worried there¡¯ll be more assassins from Japan?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I interrogated one of them. He tells me I have angered the Japanese samuraimunity and will stop at nothing to kill me. They¡¯re not just after me, they¡¯re after my children too.¡±
Tang Yuyan kicked themppost beside her in anger. ¡°Damn it! How could they not spare innocent children?! That¡¯s inhumane!¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°My children inherited my evolved genes, that¡¯s why Japan sees them as a threat too. The current assassination was directed by the Hattori n, Hattori Mei is probably still alive.¡±
¡°She¡¯s alive?¡± The woman gasped. ¡°So the intel we collected wasn¡¯t true?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Can you please investigate the Hattori n¡¯s current directions on my behalf?¡±
Tang Yuyan stated, ¡°Your business is my business too. Rest assured, I¡¯ll look into this for you. As soon as I find out who¡¯s involved with the Hattori n¡¯s operation, I¡¯llunch a clean-up project.¡±
Bureau 101 had their ways.
If samurais could enter China and execute gueri attacks, Bureau 101¡¯s assassins too were equally capable of taking out those that needed to be held ountable. There was a need for bnce. Tang Yuyan was the director of the Bureau 101, she¡¯d definitely get it done.
¡°Thank you. That¡¯s all for my report. It¡¯s time for me to go home, my wives and children need me more than ever at a time like this,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan murmured lowly, ¡°Why are you thanking me?¡±
Xia Lei avoided her mncholic gaze. He tilted his chin to look at the night skies above. Tonight¡¯s view was a pristine full moon in the middle of a span of harmonized blues and cks with countless radiant stars in the distance. They were so out of reach and they were very mysterious. Humans fought for their lives on this tiny. They¡¯d calcte their odds and w at each other¡¯s throat. Forget about humans, even Earth was nothing but a grain of sand in the boundless universe.
His abrupt musings and thoughts were odd. Despite that, he felt like he had arrived at something, like the sudden realization of a Buddhist philosopher.
Without warning, Tang Yuyan suddenly strode forward and wrapped her arms around Xia Lei. She squeezed him tight as if he¡¯d disappear out of sight the next second.
Her firm and round breasts were pressed against his chest bringing about a wonderful sensation. Xia Lei¡¯s head in the clouds moment brought back to Earth so fast that he¡¯d suffer a whish. He watched the beautiful face in his proximity with no idea of what to say.
¡°I¡¯ve been counting days. I really wished this was two yearster...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was full of yearning and sadness. ¡°Why are you making me wait for so long? Don¡¯t you know how precious a woman¡¯s most beautiful years are? I wish to offer my everything at my best. Why are you so cruel? Why are you making me wait for so long?¡±
Xia Lei was melting away. ¡°Yuyan, I...¡±
He wished to tell her the truth but he knew that she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it.
The reason behind the extensive wait was because Xia Lei was certain that he¡¯d no longer exist on the face of this world when the timees. He¡¯d either die in the hands of the ck-robed man or he¡¯d enter the ancient alloy box¡¯s realm with no return. With that being said, he had never once sincerely considered getting together with her!
This promise was nothing but a knife masked in a lie.
If he revealed it now, Tang Yuyan would be crushed.
So he chose to have her take the damage naturally two yearster.
Suddenly he felt sorry for her. Tang Yuyan was a woman tied to a renowned ancient n. Many were envious over her family background and career but who knew that the woman herself did not even possess the right to chase after her own happiness? Who had any idea that her most ideal form of life was to live like a simple woman?
¡°Come on, tell me. Why?¡± Tears were rolling in Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei could not bear to say it.
Tang Yuyan forcefully pushed at him. ¡°You¡¯re lying to me. You must be lying to me, right? You¡¯ve never thought of wanting to be with me, that¡¯s why you made that promise, right?¡±
She was an intelligent woman. There was always something very eerie about a woman¡¯s sixth sense.
Tears began to pour from her rims. She was already suffering before the inevitable had taken ce. There was no telling how she would react to the truth.
Xia Lei found it difficult to imagine. He reached over and pulled her hard into his embrace. He dove down and seized her cherry lips.
¡°Mmph...¡± Tang Yuyan made a small noise of surprise before closing her eyes.
Suddenly, the answers weren¡¯t important anymore.
Xia Lei felt free in that instance. He was only left with this much time to live. Why was there a need to hurt someone who loved him so deeply?
They finally separated after a while.
Tear streaks were all over Tang Yuyan¡¯s dainty face but her lips were curled into a contented smile. This was the first time Xia Lei had initiated a kiss. That initiative meant a lot to a woman.
Xia Lei muttered, ¡°I should go home now.¡±
Tang Yuyan hesitated. ¡°Are you really serious about having me wait two more years? I... might not be as beautiful as I am now two yearster. Could you bear to do that to me?¡±
This was as much of a hint Tang Yuyan was going to drop on him.
Xia Lei chuckled in response. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind how lively my family is, you can move in with us.¡±
¡°You...¡± The woman blinked owlishly in shock. She snuggled in his embrace. ¡°Do you really mean it?¡±
¡°You can start with Long Bing. She¡¯s the one who understands you the most. You two share a sisterly bond with years in the making.¡±
¡°You¡¯re teaching me what to do?¡± Tang Yuyan giggled. ¡°You don¡¯t need to teach me anything. I¡¯m just worried how Fan Fan and Liang Siyao would view me. Their disdain for me has not really been a secret.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°You saved their lives at the cost of your own wellbeing. Trust me, they¡¯re all softies on the inside. You can start from their children, bringing up that you¡¯ve saved their babies and share a bond with them. Ask to be their godmother and they¡¯d most likely say yes. When your rtionship with them has improved to a certain extent, bring the thought up and they¡¯d be more inclined to ept it.¡±
¡°Haha, you¡¯re really smart.¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s smile grew wider.
Xia Lei fell silent. He regarded her for a moment before saying, ¡°Actually, what I mentioned just now is the easier part. I know for a fact that they¡¯d wee you but the hardest part of this is on you. Do you understand what I¡¯m trying to say?¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s smile was wiped away.
Xia Lei went on, ¡°I¡¯m aware of what your grandfather, your parents and your brother are nning. Remember, I¡¯m marrying you. Not the entire Tang family. I know forcing you to make a decision is unfair but... I really hope that you¡¯d make the right choice.¡±
Tang Yuyan chewed her bottom lip slightly before nodding.
Xia Lei uttered again, ¡°I¡¯ll be away for the time being for about half a month to one month. I hope you can give me an answer when I return.¡±
¡°Where are you heading to this time? What do you have in n?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I¡¯m off to do something I should do. It is none of your concern.¡±
¡°But...¡± Tang Yuyan stopped herself.
Xia Lei pulled her into his embrace again and cheekily pinched her behind. He grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re such a wonderful woman. I can¡¯t bear to not taste you before I die.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s cheeks turned red.
Xia Lei finally released her and began travelling to the Knight XIV parked in the hospital¡¯s parking lot.
She watched him leave in silence, finally letting her tears roll free. This time, those were tears of joy.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei was back at the Peace Mansion. His women and children were already soundly asleep. After all, their postnatal bodies were exhausted. Added with the earlier shock, the familiar environment of their home had helped them rx and put them to slumber.
Xia Lei did not wake them. He quietly walked out of the backdoor for the forest.
Tsukino Kyoko had explicitly requested him to find her in the forest. Xia Lei was in a desperate need for her answer.
The forest was not entirely quiet. There was the whistling of the wind and animal cries from all corners of the dark forest. Xia Lei¡¯s ear dutifully received the sounds as his brain began disying corresponding information. Left, 8 o¡¯clock direction, 15 metres, two crickets; Right, 3 o¡¯clock direction, a frog. Ahead, 12 o¡¯clock direction, 37.9 metres, an owl...
These came naturally into his mind without the use of his eyes.
It made him realize that his binaural evolution was progressively mature. His hearing was bing increasingly powerful.
He followed the path in the woods over the slope of the mountain and continued to walk a hundred metres further until a cliff appeared in his sight. There was a mountain spring at the edge of the cliff pouring down about fifty meters. The water formed a spring pool at the bottom of the cliff. The crystal clear pool only had an area of about a few square metres and a depth of a metre. This was Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s favourite ce to train and concentrate. The female ninja had requested him to find her in the back mountains. Surely this was the spot in question.
Despite that, Tsukino Kyoko was nowhere to be found in the clearing beneath the cliff.
Insects were flying all around under the pale moonlight, apanied by the gush of night breeze blowing across the forest. As Xia Lei stopped in his tracks and concentrated, those noises were filtered out mysteriously. In his ears, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s little world was extremely quiet.
Suddenly, a new inexplicable source of sound entered his ear. It wasing from behind him, closing in on him very quickly!
In his mind, a dynamic picture was automatically painted. A female ninja in dark stealth clothing was approaching him. Her soft-soled running shoes had softened her footsteps against the grass. Veiled by the night breeze and relentless croaking of the insects, her presence could hardly be heard.
Even so, he caught it.
Whoosh!
Something broke through the wind!
As soon as his ears captured it, Xia Lei¡¯s heart sunk. She was attacking him!
Had Tsukino Kyoko chosen her country, her people and her master?
Chapter 1105 - A Trivial Request
Just as something sliced through the wind, Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. Suddenly, his anxiety dissolved away.
Before long, the sound was nearing the back of his skull. Judging from its trajectory, it wasn¡¯t meant to aim for the back of his head. It continued to fly forward after brushing against his cheek.
When the item had passed Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder, he reached forward and grabbed it on reflex. It was not a shuriken nor was it a stone. It was a bottle of Japanese sake.
Xia Lei sheepishly blinked at the sake in his grip. He turned around and finally saw Tsukino Kyoko a small distance away.
The female ninja was dressed in a white short-sleeved blouse and a dark skirt that reached the top of her knees. Her beautifully carved feet bare against the ground, the Tsukino Kyoko in Xia Lei¡¯s field of vision was pure and innocent like a highschooler. Her appearance was a great contrast to the stone-cold killer inside. Illuminated by the moonlight, her chest seemed unbearably round and her bottom was full. Added with her tiny waist that curved in smoothly, she was the personified of subtle allure.
However, Xia Lei was not in the state to drink in the sight.
¡°I see that you¡¯ve brought alcohol. Are you nning to bid me farewell?¡± Xia Lei said with a heavy heart.
Tsukino Kyoko offered no answer. She wordlessly paced over and brushed past him, only stopping at the edge of the spring. She folded her legs and plopped herself down onto the grass with her back to him.
Xia Lei could only sigh. Life was as such. Some people just weren¡¯t meant to stay by your side. He walked over and took a seat beside her. The man skillfully opened the bottle of sake, gulped a mouthful of it and passed it to Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°Are you not afraid that I might¡¯veced it with poison?¡± Tsukino Kyoko turned to meet his eye.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°As long as you have offered it, I would drink it regardless.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko took a sip and wiped the corners of her lips with her palm. ¡°You should be wary of me. You¡¯re just putting yourself in trouble like this.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Xia Lei stared at her.
Tsukino Kyoko huffed out bitterly. ¡°I¡¯m Japanese and a very traditional Japanese samurai too. My master has channelled the ideals of pledging loyalty to the emperor and making sacrifices for the sake of prized honour since I was a kid. Now, the entirety of Japan¡¯s samuraimunity views you as an enemy. My master is among them. All things considered, I have plenty of reasons to assassinate you. Poison would be the most efficient way to get it done.¡±
Xia Lei smiled lightly. Hattori Mei¡¯s lethal poison was nothing to him. Even if Tsukino Kyoko had poisoned the sake, his super immune system would neutralize it. With that level of security, why should he be afraid of that scenario? Plus, he trusted her a great deal. If she was going to leave him, it was bound to be a peaceful separation.
¡°What are youughing at?¡± Tsukino Kyoko asked.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Your sake tastes good. I¡¯d like another sip.¡±
The female ninja passed the bottle into his palm. ¡°I brought this from my hometown. You can¡¯t find this here in China.¡±
Xia Lei gulped down most of the bottle in one go. The alcohol¡¯s distinct warmth stimted his throat, eliciting a sensation that allowed him to rx. ¡°Kyoko, I¡¯vee and even drank your sake. It¡¯s time for you to tell me your decision.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko went silent. The quietness stretched on for a while before she finally mustered the strength to speak up. ¡°Your father gave me a second chance at life and my master gave me a third chance at life. Your father and my master y an irreceable role in my heart. They¡¯re both equally important to me.¡±
¡°Kyoko, no matter what your decision is, I¡¯ll fully ept it.¡±
¡°Are you really serious about wanting me to take a stand between my country, my master and you?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s full attention was on him now.
Xia Lei was slightly caught aback. Tsukino Kyoko had ced her country, her people and her master on one side while he was ced on the other side of the bnce. The other end had three blocks of weight while his end only had one small block. Was Tsukino Kyoko hinting her answer? If yes, then her choice would be to serve Japan, its people and remain loyal to Yagyu Yuichi.
¡°Is that your decision? It¡¯s alright, I understand.¡± It felt difficult to even force a smile.
Tsukino Kyoko lowered her gaze. ¡°You¡¯ve guessed it?¡±
Xia Lei shed her a dejected smile. ¡°Your hint was obvious enough. When are you going to leave? I¡¯d like to send you off if possible.¡±
He willed to leave her a wonderful impression at separation but what would happen on the battlefield? Xia Lei didn¡¯t dare to entertain that thought.
Tsukino Kyoko offered no reply. She quietly stood up and began to go closer to the pool. Her steps were poised and elegant, white pale calf and toes dainty against the green grass. Everything about her was as light as the breeze.
Two steps shy of the pool, Tsukino Kyoko paused. She began to unbutton her blouse.
¡°Kyoko, please, no...¡± Xia Lei was cringing.
He could ept them parting on friendly terms but he was unwilling to ept a breakup after a passionate merging of the body and soul.
But Tsukino Kyoko refused to listen.
Xia Lei didn¡¯t know where to hold his gaze.
Tsukino Kyoko inched forward into the pool until the clear waters submerged her legs.
She turned around and nced at him.
Now, Xia Lei didn¡¯t know what to do.
She began, ¡°Before you came, I¡¯ve thought it over and over again. I even received a call from my master. It was ten minutes long.
¡°Yagyu Yuichi called you...?¡± Xia Lei could only smile wryly. ¡°He must¡¯ve reinforced all the ideals he taught you in your childhood. Something about the country and people and the spirit of the samurai before telling you to kill me, right?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded solemnly.
¡°You said yes?¡± Xia Lei studied her expression.
Tsukino Kyoko sighed. ¡°I told him that I¡¯d make the right choice.¡±
A vague answer.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t understand her thoughts.
They both fell silent, gazes firmly on one another. One was clothed, the other was in her birthday suit.
It went on for a full minute before Tsukino Kyoko broke the stifling silence. ¡°I bought a flight ticket home. It¡¯s right in my breast pocket.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s left eye twitched, immediately zeroing in on the ne ticket in her pocket. While he had already learned of her decision, the sight of the ne ticket still stung. All members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team were brothers and sisters to him. They were family. Plus, the fact that Tsukino Kyoko was a woman who had rtions with him had made this whole farewell way harder than anticipated.
¡°My flight ister at one in the morning,¡± stated Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei¡¯s lips began to tremble slightly, his ingenuine smile threatening to fall apart. ¡°I... I¡¯ll drive you there.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko smiled. ¡°But it¡¯s not on me.¡±
Perplexed, Xia Lei asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°You told me to choose between my country, where the fate of my people and master lie and you, a man that I¡¯m madly in love with. I don¡¯t know how to choose. How about you make the decision for me?¡±
¡°You¡¯re asking me to decide on your behalf?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t want you to leave. But I don¡¯t want you to be in pain by forcing you to stay. You¡¯d face the attacks from your own people and even your master. Would you be helping me when that timees or would you keep out of the battle? I don¡¯t wish toplicate things for you and I certainly don¡¯t wish to hurt your feelings. So...¡±
Tsukino Kyoko interjected, ¡°Back at my vige if a man really liked a woman, he¡¯d help her cleanse the filth off her body. If you really care about me, choose me. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll...¡± She left the sentence hanging, gazing at the ticket in her shirt pocket.
Her ticket home was in that blouse.
Xia Lei stood up and went towards her.
All Tsukino Kyoko wanted was his response or some sign to indicate her standing in his heart. It was a trivial request and if he wasn¡¯t willing to do that, there was no point for her to stay behind. There was no point betraying Japan, her people and even her master to serve a man who couldn¡¯t be arsed.
Xia Lei began to scrub her back with a soft smile. ¡°Do men do this for their women back home?¡±
¡°Only those in love or a couple would do this.¡± A smile bloomed across her lips. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of hot springs scattered around my vige. On nights with good lighting, you¡¯re bound to walk in on a few intimate activities if you go out.¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s eyes flew shut, body melting into his touch. This little gesture meant the world to her.
¡°What will you do when your masteres for me?¡± Xia Lei tried to probe. This was something he needed to know first.
The female ninja opened her eyes, something cold swirling inside. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t do anything to you, I will not do anything to him. If he touches you, I¡¯ll kill him.¡±
This was Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s answer.
The members of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had all tasted the despair and coldness of the world at a very young age. They had lived most of their early years in an environment that shaped their ruthless persona. Anyone who aided them would have their kindness paid in their service. Tsukino Kyoko was adopted by Xia Changhe before she was sent to Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s dojo for her ninjutsu training. Both Xia Changhe and Yagyu Yuichi had shown her kindness. Xia Lei had reced Xia Changhe in this aspect, not to mention that she was deeply enamoured by him. Tsukino Kyoko was more than willing to offer him everything she had. That was why the arrival of her decision was a difficult process. The dilemma was tortuous. Otherwise, why would she find the need for such a trivial request?
¡°Thank you.¡± A genuine expression of gratitude from Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko replied with a sweet honey-like smile. ¡°Bring me along when you go to Las Vegas.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. A wordless promise.
Chapter 1106 - The Rift Between Master and Disciple
A man in the eastern hemisphere was having the time of his life as the female ninja continued to experiment new positions on him. It was a known fact that the Japanese women were the best at serving men. Despite that, a certain woman on the other side of the world was in apletely different mood.
America, Las Vegas, in the Hattori n¡¯s V Science Corporation Limited branch office building.
¡°You bastard!¡± Hattori Mei pped a family fighter across his face with unconcealed wrath. ¡°You¡¯re all garbage!¡±
The family fighter with the swelling cheek bowed his head lower and ced his palms in the middle of his trousers. Wordlessly taking in her berating and beatings.
¡°Six gueri fighters and a carefully nned operation had resulted in failure. Everyone is dead but not Xia Lei and his children!¡± seethed Hattori Mei.
The family fighter respectfully reported, ¡°The operation had progressed smoothly. Our men had made it into the hospital but everything went wrong when we confronted Xia Lei. I don¡¯t know the details but this was the oue.¡±
¡°Get out!¡± Hattori Mei pointed sharply at the door.
¡°Yes, madam.¡± The family fighter nodded slightly, took three steps back and turned around for the exit.
The door to the lounge in the office opened. A tall and thin old man with a crown of silver hair paced out of the quiet lounge. He was dressed in a traditional Japanese kimono with a battle-worn katana hanging off his belt.
He was Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s master. Yagyu Yuichi.
There was not an ounce of expression on his face. His pace over to Hattori Mei was spent entirely in cold, stifling silence.
Hattori Mei regarded him respectfully. ¡°Sir, our operation has failed. All six of the gueri fighters had perished, but Xia Lei and his children remain alive.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi finally spoke, ¡°No need to feel defeated. Their deaths are not without value. At least we¡¯ve understood something.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Hattori Mei blinked in confusion. ¡°What do you mean, sir?¡±
Yagyu Yuichi exined, ¡°China is Xia Lei¡¯s turf. To assassinate him in China is bound for failure. The Chinese government has realized how valuable of an asset Xia Lei is. You don¡¯t need much to piece together how heavy security will be. Also, six samurais are not enough.¡±
¡°Sir, do you know how to get around this?¡±
¡°I have a disciple serving him. Her name is Tsukino Kyoko, an excellent samurai I personally cultivated.¡± Pausing for a moment, Yagyu Yuichi revealed, ¡°I¡¯ve already called her.¡±
¡°You¡¯re asking her to kill him?¡±
The older man nodded. ¡°I¡¯m still waiting for her response.¡±
¡°Can we trust her?¡±
Yagyu Yuichi replied, ¡°I¡¯ve reinforced the values of the samurai spirit. Benevolence, justice, respect, wisdom, fidelity, loyalty and sincerity in her ever since she was a child. She was raised as a traditional Japanese samurai and I trust that she¡¯d make the right choice.¡±
A smile immediately appeared across Hattori Mei¡¯s face. ¡°Wow, I wasn¡¯t expecting that from you. Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier? If so, the six fighters wouldn¡¯t need to be sacrificed.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi answered nonchntly, ¡°Without sacrifices, how will I awaken Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s morals? She had served the man for too long. The only way to wake her up is through the use of her people¡¯s blood and soul. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve sent her brother disciple, Watanabe Hakusho to join the assassination operation. Watanabe had cared for her when they were kids, they share a pretty decent bond.¡±
Hattori Mei lowered her head. ¡°Sir, your mastery of human nature is impressive. At this rate, I¡¯m sure your disciple will make the right choice.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s lips were curled into a confident smile that channelled control. ¡°Six valiant fighters, including her brother disciple were sacrificed in the battle. As a Japanese samurai, she¡¯d know what choice to make.¡±
¡°Sir, when will she give her answer?¡± Hattori Mei was evidently rushed.
Yagyu Yuichi studied the clock on the wall. ¡°Soon. I think she¡¯d be calling very soon.¡±
Both of them waited for the fated moment.
Ten minutester...
¡°Sir.¡± Hattori Mei could no longer wait. ¡°She might still be hesitating. If you could call her, surely it¡¯d help her settle on a decision.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi returned her a light nod and brought out his phone.
Hattori Mei meekly asked, ¡°Sir, can I listen to it too?¡±
Yagyu Yuichi pressed on the loudspeaker button.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
The call was only answered at the fifty-fifth second mark.
The moment Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice rang through the device, it felt as if her timbre had the power to freeze time. Suddenly, Yagyu Yuichi and Hattori Mei found it difficult to breathe.
¡°Ah...! Stop! This is embarrassing!¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s words burnt like fire. The woman sounded as if every tension suppressed in her lithe body was about to flood out.
On one end, it was a solemn discussion about the nation¡¯s interest, the fate of the people and the Bushido spirit. On the other end, were feverish moans and sweet nothings. In that instance, Hattori Mei and Yagyu Yuichi felt like they needed to reevaluate life.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s moans continued to pour out from the device. It was not exaggerated, grounded by the slight pauses and chokes that made it sound genuine.
Thirty seconds had passed, Hattori Mei decided she did not want to listen to this monstrosity further. She tossed a look at Yagyu Yuichi.
The man¡¯s expression was extremely dark. With all his might, Yagyu Yuichi swallowed his rage. ¡°Kyoko, what are you doing?¡±
¡°Mmph! Not there! Not there... please! I¡¯m gonnae...¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s high pitched whine had the power to bend the toughest steel in the universe.
Yagyu Yuichi was pissed beyond words.
How dare Tsukino Kyoko give her reply in this manner. This not only indicated her choice but it was also tant disrespect to her master!
Hattori Mei was suddenly reminded of something. She lowered her voice to its minimum. ¡°The person with her must be Xia Lei.¡±
It probably would¡¯ve been better if Xia Lei wasn¡¯t mentioned. Yagyu Yuichi lost his cool. ¡°Kyoko! Kill him or you must die!¡±
¡°Ah! Ah! This feels too good...¡± That was all Tsukino Kyoko had to say.
¡°Bastard!¡± Yagyu Yuichi smashed his phone against the ground.
Crack! The poormunication device broke into pieces.
And with that, the call had ended.
Hattori Mei carefully spoke, ¡°Sir, it seems like this n is a no-go. Your disciple has betrayed you and her country. A person like this must die!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll ughter her myself!¡± Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s re was sharper than a knife.
¡°We need toe up with a new n,¡± said Hattori Mei firmly.
Yagyu Yuichi fell into a thoughtful silence. ¡°I mentioned that the chances of sess are low if we continue to attempt assassination in China. We need to lure him out of the country and gather forces to take him out. What will be a good bait for the job?¡±
Hattori Mei suggested, ¡°If the recent incident hadn¡¯t urred and I was still ¡®alive¡¯, I would¡¯ve served as pretty good bait. However, I¡¯m supposed to be dead. My worth as a lure is lost. If we let news loose that I¡¯m still alive, I fear it might raise his suspicion.¡±
There was a cold smirk ying on Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s sharp features. He understood her concerns. Their opponent was Xia Lei. No one was going to risk their lives as bait against him. While Hattori Mei may be their best shot, the woman was not willing to shoulder the risk.
Japanese samurais were known to be greatly sacrificial for the sake of Japan¡¯s national interest and future. But as soon as the need for their service was called, their true colours would begin to show. What an ironic joke.
Seemingly picking up the shift in Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s emotions, Hattori Mei quickly followed up, ¡°But this time, I think there¡¯s no need to sacrifice our own people. All of our lives are precious. Since we¡¯re in a desperate need for bait, why can¡¯t we just use someone else?¡±
¡°Who?¡±
¡°The FA Organization members, Yan Fo and Augustan.¡± Hattori Mei continued to borate, ¡°Xia Lei had always wished to destroy the FA Organization from its roots and those two just so happened to be their prizedmanders. They¡¯re working for America at the moment and are involved in Project Shepherd. He¡¯s bound to take that bait.¡±
¡°If he doesn¡¯t?¡± Yagyu Yuichi raised a brow.
Hattori Mei chuckled coldly. ¡°Then we¡¯ll size up the lure.¡±
¡°With what?¡±
¡°Information on the FA¡¯s new headquarters.¡± Hattori Mei studied the older man¡¯s expression.
Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s lips went into a smirk. ¡°You¡¯re better than your father.¡±
Hattori Mei reached over, letting Yagyu Yuichi sp her hand in a handshake.
Meanwhile, across the globe, in a small unnamed spring.
Cmity had finally returned to the turbulent water surface as two pale mermaids prided themselves apart. Minutes ago, the pair were still fooling around on the patch of grass surrounding the pool, uprooting some strands in the process.
Floating above the surface in tranquillity, Xia Lei had a satisfied smile stered on his face. The Iga-ryu women were really as skilled in physical pleasure as Tsukino Kyoko had imed. When she serviced him, he felt like a deity. No wonder she had the confidence to challenge his ability tost.
Beautiful women were like alcohol. Some were good and some were poisonous. Some were secret formtions that would get one hooked on with the first sip. Yet, he was lucky enough to meet thetter. Xia Lei had always been one with great luck when it came to women.
Tsukino Kyoko swam over to him and floated beside him. She was the smaller mermaid while he was therger mermaid. Her expression too showed her bliss. This world only had one Xia Lei and she felt lucky enough to have encountered him.
They both stared at the radiant stars above as it flickered like some kind of undecipherable light signal.
¡°My master must be angry with me.¡± Tsukino Kyoko interrupted their peace.
Xia Lei muttered, ¡°I hope you won¡¯t meet each other in battle. If you do, I¡¯ll handle it for you.¡±
¡°No, he¡¯s powerful. You won¡¯t stand a chance against him. I know him the best so I should be the one doing it. If I kill him, it¡¯ll be considered as a personal milestone,¡± Tsukino Kyoko mumbled back.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly at that. The Japanese hivemind sure was difficult to understand sometimes.
¡°When are we moving to Las Vegas?¡± She asked.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°We¡¯ll go as soon as Giovanna and the knights are done with preparations. Also...¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°In that phone call with your master, I heard another woman¡¯s voice.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s expression turned serious. ¡°It was Hattori Mei¡¯s voice. She really is still alive. She¡¯s with your master as of now.¡±
¡°So my master is in Las Vegas too? If I meet him, I¡¯ll personally end his life. No one is allowed to interfere.¡± There was a hint of excitement in her eye.
¡°Kyoko, I should head back now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Quietly, Tsukino Kyoko dove into the water.
Xia Lei¡¯s legs immediately went stiff with a cramp.
The Iga-ryu women sure had their techniques to make a man stay.
Clouds began to shroud the moon as if protecting it from the sinful exchange.
Chapter 1107 - The Blue Straw Hat Town
Three dayster, Tijuana, the border city of Mexico.
A Russian cargo nended on the runway of Tijuana Airport. As the airport staff scurried over to unload the cargo, two men and five women exited the cargo hold. Nothing was spoken in the exchange. In Mexico, curiosity often resulted in death.
This team consisted of Xia Lei, Anjum Khan, the four female knights and Tsukino Kyoko. E¡¯er Demutu and Yelena were instructed to stay in China to protect Xia Lei¡¯s wives and children. Though there were Special Force members stationed around the perimeters of the Thunder Horse Organization headquarters and the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei needed to have people he trusted amongst them.
Everyone present did not have their original appearance. Every identification on their bodies were counterfeits crafted personally by Xia Lei. It was so fake that it was able to deceive even the eyes of official departments.
Exiting the airport, Xia Lei and his team of seven boarded an unassuming minibus. It was upied by a handful of locals. There were women who were out for grocery shopping, some were construction workers heading to a site nearby. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, including the driver himself.
Despite that, this was nothing more than an illusion.
As soon as they boarded the bus, Giovanna said to Xia Lei, ¡°They¡¯re all members of the Relief Society. Everyone was born and raised here. They¡¯re exceptionally familiar with the terrain.¡±
Xia Lei could tell that even without Giovanna¡¯s introduction. He noticed that everyone was armed and had tattoos relevant to their religion. Heck, the driver had a ¡®Holy Thunder¡¯ Han character tattoo along his sides. The man had definitely worshipped Xia Lei as a divine figure.
Facing his own worshippers, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but feel weird.
¡°Do they know I¡¯m here?¡± Xia Lei whispered the question discretely to Giovanna as he sat down.
Giovanna replied with equal volume, ¡°No, they aren¡¯t aware of your presence but they know I¡¯m here. Don¡¯t worry, everything will be fine.¡±
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°Then I shall now disguise myself as your subordinate. There¡¯s no need to treat me with courtesy. In front of them, you may even let me handle tasks that you¡¯d have them do.¡±
Giovanna regarded the request with a meek smile, thinking about how meticulous Xia Lei¡¯s thoughts were.
The minibus lurched jerkily into motion and began its journey to the west of Tijuana. Before long, the Mexicandy sitting at the front took out her ordion and began to apany its melody with her singing. Her music was infectious, prompting all the other Mexicans to sing along. The car was infinitely livelier.
The Mexican¡¯s fondness of the ordion was equivalent to the Chinese¡¯s love for mahjong.
Half an hourter, Mexico¡¯s most famous tourist city, Tijuana, began to enter their field of vision. Last time, Xia Lei had only managed to make a short pitstop in the city. Today was no different. The route arranged by Giovanna did not involve entering Tijuana city.
The minibus bypassed Tijuana and continued westward at a speed of fifty miles per hour. In that direction in a distance was San Diego, a city housing the mostplex ethnic poption in all of Mexico. The city was well known for sex, violence and drugs.
¡°Hey, brother. Are you from China? Do you understand Spanish?¡± When the singing eventually died down, a tanned youngster attempted to strike up a conversation with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, I am from China. I¡¯ve learnt thenguage so I can understand Spanish well.¡±
¡°Wow, you¡¯re the first Chinese I¡¯ve encountered who can speak fluent Spanish.¡± The Mexican youth studied him curiously. ¡°My brother, do you mind telling me what do you do for a living?¡±
¡°Trantion,¡± answered Xia Lei.
¡°Haha! I see.¡± The Mexican youth turned to look at Giovanna, who had been watching their exchange quietly from the side. His expressions turned into solemn respect, ¡°Bishop, is this trantor from the Holy Land?¡±
Giovanna nodded.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but cast a bewildered nce at Giovanna. His heart screamed, ¡°Bishop? Holy Land? They actually made themselves their bishop and called the main Holy Thunder church the Holy Land? So that would mean that I¡¯m regarded as the god of the Relief Society while they¡¯re the four bishops. This is raw talent! If they weren¡¯t knights but marketers instead, they¡¯d be loaded!¡±
¡°Bishop, when will we ever get to visit the Holy Land?¡± asked the Mexican youth, eyes hopeful.
Giovanna answered, ¡°Hernandez, you¡¯ll get your chance. For now, could you kindly pipe it down?¡±
¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll shut up.¡± The Mexican youth apologized with a sheepish smile and left the two alone.
Giovanna titled her side onto Xia Lei slightly. She whispered, ¡°He¡¯s the leader of Tijuana¡¯s armed force. Eventually, he¡¯ll be the general leader of our Mexican armed force. So far, our development has only covered Tijuana but we¡¯re about to expand very soon.¡±
Honestly, Xia Lei could hear her even if she was twenty meters from him.
¡°Can we count on him? He¡¯s still so young.¡± Xia Lei had his doubts.
Giovanna replied, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate him because he looks young. He used to be the ace assassin of a Mexican drug cartel. He¡¯s an excellent killer.¡±
¡°Why would a drug cartel¡¯s assassin join the Relief Society?¡± Xia Lei was dubious, alert spinning up in his heart.
Giovanna answered, ¡°He¡¯s a man full of stories. I¡¯ll just tell you one of them. He fell in love with their boss¡¯s woman and got her pregnant with his child. In the end, the boss found out about their affair and killed her out of rage, including his unborn child. He was hunted down by the criminal organization and got his entire family killed. He came to our church for aid and we saved him. That¡¯s how he became part of us.¡±
¡°Ah, so that¡¯s what happened.¡± Xia Lei let the thought sink in. ¡°How many armed members do we have in the Mexican branch?¡±
¡°Around thirty of them,¡± said Giovanna.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°That¡¯s too small of a number. In the case of an emergency, this amount of people wouldn¡¯t be enough to fend off our enemies.¡±
¡°Are we expecting a battle in Mexico?¡± Giovanna asked.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°The FA¡¯s base is in Mexico. If they find out that we¡¯re here, a battle would be the least of our worries. Remember to stay on the down-low and try not to expose your identities. The Relief Society has a number of members and you can¡¯t possibly understand each of them well. Do you understand what I¡¯m trying to say?¡±
Giovanna nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
Xia Lei continued, ¡°When we leave Mexico, instruct the Relief Society members to collect intel on the FA Organization. They most likely built their new headquarters by now.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Giovanna¡¯s acknowledgement was discrete.
The proximity between rows honestly did not provide much privacy to Xia Lei and Giovanna¡¯s conversation, a few Mexicans in their radius could pick up bits of it. However, the two had conversed in Mandarin.
Another hour or so had passed when the minibus had finally made it to a small town in the middle of the desert.
The town was named the Blue Straw Hat Town. It was a small town through and through due to its small poption of only two hundred people. Most of the town¡¯s youngsters had smuggled themselves into the United States for work, leaving behind the elderly, children and women. The town was evidently suffering from severe poverty. The most eye-catching building in the town was the church. It had justpleted its construction not too long ago and was now the acting base for the Relief Society. A portion of the one billion USD fund Xia Lei had handed to the female knights was used here.
The minibus manoeuvred over to the back of the church.
Hidden out of view by the religious building were a clinic, library and board game room. The doctor in the clinic was tending to the elderly while a few children read in the library. Some old folks were in the middle of apetitive game of ping pong and chess. The ce was bustling with activity. The remaining closed doors were residential quarters, shielding its upants from prying eyes.
The scene before Xia Lei had brought him ease. The societal construct of this ce seemed fairly simple. There was no need for him to worry about informants. Other than that, the town residents were obviously benefiting off the Relief Society¡¯s graciousness. It was almost certain that their rtionship with the society wasn¡¯t anywhere near bad.
A pastor had arranged rooms for them.
Under the eyes of the Relief society members, Giovanna was not the least bit courteous to Xia Lei. She made him carry their bags to their rooms. But as soon as they¡¯re out of sight, the female knight¡¯s persona changespletely. Not only did she help move Xia Lei¡¯s luggage into the room, but she also changed the sheets for him and even brought him indoor slippers.
¡°I need to get to Las Vegas as soon as possible. Can you arrange that for me?¡± Xia Lei said after he settled down.
¡°Go catch some rest, I¡¯ll get it done for you. You¡¯ll be able to leave tomorrow morning.¡± Giovanna gave her promise.
After the female knight had left, Xia Lei brought out his satellite phone and pressed on some buttons. ¡°Hello? It¡¯s me.¡±
¡°Boss, are you in Mexico?¡± Qian Jun was the recipient.
¡°Yes,¡± Xia Lei answered.
¡°When are you heading over to Las Vegas? I¡¯d like to know so Sa¡¯im and I can prepare for it,¡± questioned Qian Jun.
¡°Oh, there¡¯s nothing you need to prepare. I¡¯ll join you after I get some things clear. Also...¡±
¡°Yes?¡±
¡°I have something I must tell.¡± Xia Lei inhaled deeply, ¡°Hattori Mei is still alive.¡±
¡°What?! Impossible!¡± Qian Jun was shocked to the core. ¡°I clearly shot her in the head! There¡¯s no way she would still be alive unless modern medical technologies had allowed skull transfers.¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°I don¡¯t know how things yed out but I can confidently tell you that she¡¯s still alive. Hattori Mei had taken over the Hattori n and had gathered an army of Japanese samurais as we speak. Remember, if you see her again, do not act rashly. I will be the one who ends her life.¡±
¡°Understood.¡± Qian Jun hung up.
Ending their conversation, Xia Lei brought out hisptop from a bag and plugged in his mobile inte broadband. Going to Las Vegas was not an issue but Xia Lei needed to master the current situation before doing so. Otherwise, he¡¯d be vulnerable to the various traps ced by his enemies. The American CIA, the Pentagon, the FA Organization, the Hattori n and even Japan¡¯s hyper-tech. He couldn¡¯t afford even an inch of error.
A few minutester, Las Vegas¡¯ traffic surveince control panels appeared on theptop¡¯s screen.
Chapter 1108 - The Mexican Mafias Sketchy Behaviour
Las Vegas¡¯s traffic condition was the only thing Xia Lei obtained from gaining ess into its surveince system. To the average person, this was pointless. However, this nd and boring activity had valuable intel when ced in Xia Lei¡¯s hands. The man began to capture each and every vehicle shown on the screen along with the faces of their drivers. As he did that, his mind began recreating a map of Las Vegas.
The map in his mind had shown the number of foreign cars and domestic cars, how many vehicles were on the road, the number of vehicles parked and their duration of stay. The list goes on. Every detail was incorporated into what seemed like a meticulous introductory documentary of Las Vegas!
The information load was massive beyond imagination. Despite that, Xia Lei¡¯s brain soaked it up like a sponge. With a thought, he was able to ess all this information. Xia Lei spent the entire afternoon on this, only finishing it when the skies darkened. Xia Lei was now the only person to know the entirety of Las Vegas like the back of his hand. Forget the mayor or the locals. They couldn¡¯t even hold a candle to what he knew. His mind would readily pour out any information of his wish as long as he thought about it. The upants of a certain area? The types of vehicles around a particr zone? What flowers are nted around an area? Everything was only a thought away!
With this mental map, Xia Lei¡¯s visit to Las Vegas city would be equivalent to returning to a familiar hometown. There was no corner in the city that felt like a stranger!
Keeping away hisptop, Xia Leiid down on the bed. He was about to doze off until some noise jolted him awake. Begrudgingly, he mbered away from the bed to check the situation outside through his window.
Under the night sky, a campfire was set up on the clearing behind the church. The town¡¯s residents were gathered around the orange mes as they sang and danced. Of course, the ordion was a staple in a situation like this. He could even see bottles of tequ and roasted mutton on the side.
There were a few young faces in the crowd. A few were Mexican youths that bore ssic Hispanic features. These were new faces to Xia Lei.
¡°Why are there strangers in the mix?¡± Xia Lei was immediately rmed. His left eye and right eye twitched to bring him into his X-ray vision and data scanning mode.
Clothes disappearing out of sight, he could clearly see the tattoos and needle syringes used for drug-use on the unfamiliar Mexican youths¡¯ bodies. It was obvious that they meant trouble. They were either mafia members or drug vendors or assassins of some cartel in the area.
Xia Lei could also see a few Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members and armed members of the Relief Society scattered around the clearing. They were all disguised well. Lastly, he found Giovanna, Ste, Theresa and Rosa together with Hernandez. Only Giovanna¡¯s identity was revealed. While she had donned on a disguise and altered her facial features, she still came as their bishop. Hernandez seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with her. Evidently, the young man had no idea who Theresa, Ste and Rosa were. He hadn¡¯t bothered to spare them another nce because their disguises were frankly, deliberately ugly.
Just as Xia Lei was about to return his attention to the handful of strangers, one of them waved at Hernandez, a signal for him toe over for a talk.
Hernandez quickly ended his exchange with Giovanna and walked over. Now, Giovanna had left her spot to head to Xia Lei¡¯s room. Perhaps she was going to report to him about the current situation.
Hernandez greeted the youngsters from a distance courteously.
The men answered his greetings. It seemed that they were at least acquaintances.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°How would Hernandez know this crowd? They look like they¡¯re from the area but Hernandez is supposedly on the run. Why is he so friendly with them?¡±
Hernandez went closer and gave them each a hug. Their lips began to move.
Xia Lei no longer needed to rely on his lip-reading ability to understand their conversation. His hearing had evolved sufficiently to tap into their exchange at his spot.
¡°Scimitar, it¡¯s such a surprise to see you here,¡± One of them said.
Scimitar seemed to be Hernandez¡¯s code name. Just based on that alone, these men held quite a bit of dirt on Hernandez.
Things were getting progressively weird.
Hernandez replied, ¡°Lobo Negro, my friend. What brings you here?¡±
¡°I heard that there¡¯s this new wonderful church erected in the town. We too are followers of God. We decided to check it out.¡± The youth nicknamed Lobo Negro answered.
His code name had seemed to stem from the menacing ck wolf tattoo spread across his back. Aside from that, the way he held himself bore indication that he was the leader of the group.
¡°Lobo Negro, enough jokes. We¡¯re aware that you¡¯re no worshipper of God. There¡¯s no point beating around the bush. Say, what are you here for?¡± Hernandez stared at them.
One of them shifted into a more aggressive stance. ¡°Oi! The fuck you¡¯re saying? What¡¯s with your tone?!¡±
Something cold shed through Hernandez¡¯s pupils, but his face betrayed no expression. He remained as calm as ever.
Lobo Negro raised a palm and stopped his subordinate from taunting Hernandez.
The man scoffed, displeased at being told to stop. Even so, he quitted mocking Hernandez.
At this moment, Giovanna opened Xia Lei¡¯s door.
¡°Boss, we¡¯ve gotpany.¡± Noticing that Xia Lei was at the window, she reported straightforwardly, ¡°Those are members of the Tijuana gang, one of the bigger mafia gangs in Mexico. Their leader is Lobo Negro. He¡¯s somewhat influential in the organization¡¯s construct.¡±
The Tijuana gang, one of Mexico¡¯s sixrgest mafia gangs to exist. They were notorious for their capabilities and were massive headaches to the country¡¯s military and police force. The mafia functioned like a miniature kingdom, equipped with its own power construct and rules on survival.
¡°Boss?¡± Noticing hisck of response, Giovanna prompted him.
Xia Lei finally gave her some attention. ¡°I heard you. I¡¯m listening to their conversation.¡±
Giovanna took a spot beside him and studied Hernandez¡¯s interaction with the Tijuana gang members through the window. All she could see were blurry faces illuminated by the campfire. The female knight could not catch a single word. Just as she was about to question it, Xia Lei quickly hushed her up. She stayed silent. Giovanna then brought Xia Lei¡¯s coat over from the bed and draped it over his shoulders.
Beside the campfire, the tense conversation was still ongoing.
¡°Hernandez, we¡¯re clear of your predicament.¡± Lobo Negro narrowed his eyes, ¡°Your leader is offering one hundred thousand USD for your bounty. What do you think we should do?¡±
Hernandez replied, ¡°Lobo Negro, I¡¯m no longer the same person as I was before. Please spare some mercy.¡±
Lobo Negro snorted. ¡°But that¡¯s one hundred thousand USD we¡¯re talking about. You think we¡¯d spare you just like that?¡±
¡°Then what do you want?¡± Hernandez lowered his palm, ready to draw his gun out at any given moment.
Lobo Negro¡¯s subordinates mirrored him.
Behind Hernandez, a dozen of Relief Society members did the same. They began to move over on alert.
The tension was stifling.
A gunfight over a disagreement was far toomon in thisnd.
¡°Oh, ho ho.¡± Lobo Negro raised his arms, signalling his underlings to keep calm. He chuckled. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve built your own power here. You know I¡¯m part of the Tijuana gang, right? If you dare shoot at me, I will have this entire town bulldozed to the ground.¡±
Hernandez raised his arms too, stopping his people from doing anything outrageous.
The Tijuana gang had around a few thousand members and this town was too close to their base forfort. To bulldoze the town t was merely a simple task to them that wouldn¡¯t take more than an hour to achieve.
¡°Lobo Negro, I am not afraid of death. However, I am now just a worshipper. I don¡¯t see how that threatens your interests.¡± Hernandez continued, ¡°How would you like to settle this?¡±
¡°Fifty thousand USD,¡± said Lobo Negro.
¡°I don¡¯t have that much money,¡± replied Hernandez.
¡°Then how are you able to build such a majestic church? That¡¯s bullshit.¡± Lobo Negro was not nning to let this die. He had the Tijuana gang as his support, Hernandez and the Relief Society members felt like ants to him.
In the room, Xia Lei instructed, ¡°Send a brother over to tell Hernandez to pay them fifty thousand USD.¡±
Giovanna nodded lightly and went out. She could notprehend how Xia Lei could understand that those strangers were asking for money from Hernandez. Nevermind that, Xia Lei was certainly morphing closer and closer to her idea of ¡®God¡¯.
Just as Giovanna stepped out of the door, Lobo Negro added on, ¡°Aside from the fifty thousand, I want you to do me a favour. You all may remain on thisnd after you¡¯re done.¡±
Hernandez swallowed his building anger. ¡°What are you asking of me?¡±
Lobo Negro presented two pictures from his pocket and tossed it to Hernandez¡¯s shoes.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes followed the photos. One nce was enough to freeze him.
It was none other than the important figures of the FA Organization. Yan Fo and Augustan!
Xia Lei was utterly confused, he thought to himself, ¡°Why are their pictures in the hands of the Tijuana gang? What are they trying to make Hernandez do?¡±
¡°Who are they?¡± These faces were unfamiliar to Hernandez.
Lobo Negro exined, ¡°They¡¯re enemies of our gang. We¡¯ve managed to track them down. They¡¯re currently at Las Vegas¡¯ Caesar Hotel. I want you and your people to take them out in exchange for your survival here.¡±
¡°Lobo Negro, don¡¯t you dare push this too far!¡± Hernandez bristled.
At this moment, a Mexican teen came over to Hernandez¡¯s side and whispered into his ear.
After a beat, Hernandez relented, ¡°We can give you fifty thousand USD. Take the money and leave. That is all we will do.¡±
¡°Fine, fifty thousand isn¡¯t a small amount. We will let you live for a year. We will be back,¡± sneered Lobo Negro.
Before Hernandez could act up, he caught Giovanna¡¯s wink from aside. He quickly let it slide.
A Relief Society female member passed a ck stic bag into Lobo Negro¡¯s waiting hands.
The man checked its contents and broke out into a smile. ¡°Boys, let¡¯s go!¡±
And with that, the Tijuana gang members left.
Back in the room, Xia Lei brought up his satellite phone andid some instructions, ¡°Kyoko,mence attack after they¡¯re away from the town. Remember, leave two of them alive. Leave the leader for thest.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko uttered her acknowledgement. ¡°Understood.¡±
Xia Lei ended the call, his lips curling into a malicious smirk.
This was a man who had single-handedly challenged the Seventh Fleet. The Mexican mafia was a mere child¡¯s y to him!
Chapter 1109 - A Series of Traps
A pickup truck left the small town behind for the bustling Tijuana.
Lobo Negro, now seated beside the driver, smirked at the sight of the Blue Straw Hat Town through the rear-view mirror.
¡°Boss, are we really going to let that bastard go?¡± His subordinate asked.
¡°Let him go? Ha.¡± Lobo Negro scoffed. ¡°That¡¯s one hundred thousand USD on the line. Plus tonight¡¯s fifty thousand USD, we¡¯re in for a total of one hundred and fifty thousand USD. We¡¯reing back tomorrow night. This time, we¡¯re bringing more men with us.¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± They cackled boisterously.
Pang!
The windshield of the truck suddenly shattered. Before anyone could notice, a bullet flew in and lodged itself into the driver¡¯s skull. His head was immediately split open, blood and bodily fluids sshed disgustingly across the broken ss and dashboard.
¡°Fuck! It must be Scimitar!¡± One of them screeched.
¡°It must be a trap!¡± Another hissed.
Bang bang bang...
The truck continued to glide forward as more bullets rained onto their truck. Multiple bullets were shot into the windows, causing its resultant shards to dig into their bodies along with the stray metal bits from the car door.
Boom!
The truck lost control and crashed into a tree. It finally stopped.
Lobo Negro tore the door away with strength and rolled out of his seat. Heid t on the ground, studying his surroundings cautiously with trained sensitivity. Just as he was searching for their assants, one of their men finally crawled out from the back seat. Pistol in his grip, the younger man was frightened.
¡°Boss, those fuckers are out to kill us!¡±
¡°Go call for help!¡± Lobo Negro was fuming. ¡°How dare they dere war on the Tijuana gang. I swear I will flood the streets with their blood!¡±
Lobo Negro¡¯s underling frantically pressed for his contacts. Before he could even make a call, a bullet whistled over and turned his palm into an unidentifiable chunk of meat!
¡°Ahhhhh!¡± The excruciating pain caused Lobo Negro¡¯s underling to scream in agony. He clutched the injured palm to his chest and writhed on the ground.
Bang bang!
Lobo Negro fired twice in that direction. He snarled, ¡°Scimitar, do you know what the fuck you¡¯re doing?! If you kill me, our gang will paint the town red with your blood! Let us leave and we¡¯ll pretend nothing has... Ah!¡±
A petite shadow abruptly leapt over the vehicle¡¯s roof. At that split second, a sh of silver sliced through Lobo Negro¡¯s palm. His right hand was detached mercilessly, falling to the gritty ground.
The petite mass finally made hernding with an impably sharpened katana in her grip.
Lobo Negro instinctively reached out his left arm to seize his fallen gun.
Tsukino Kyoko waved her katana, stabbing its tip into Lobo Negro¡¯s left hand to pin it to the ground.
Lobo Negro didn¡¯t dare to make another move. He had encountered many ruthless women in his career butpared to Tsukino Kyoko. Everyone else couldn¡¯tpare to the ferocity in her actions! Her icy gaze was enough to give him genuine shudders!
From scattered directions, four women and two men appeared. Lobo Negro had initially thought that Scimitar was the mastermind behind the ambush but the man in question was nowhere to be found. The faces presenting themselves were strangers and none of them was Mexican.
Those strangers were none other than Xia Lei, Anjum Khan and the four female knights.
Xia Lei went over to the pickup truck and eyed Lobo Negro on the ground. ¡°Kyoko, pull out your sword. He can¡¯t answer me in this state.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko finally dislodged her katana from his left palm. Yet, she made no move to sheath it.
Lobo Negro palmed his wrist with his injured left hand. His voice shook, ¡°Wh...Who are you? Do you know who you¡¯re messing with? I¡¯m...¡±
Xia Lei interjected amusedly, ¡°Hey, enough with the Tijuana gang. I¡¯ve got something I need to know. If you¡¯re kind enough to help me, I¡¯ll let you go. If you refuse to answer me, I can guarantee that I will feed your remains piece by piece to a pack of dogs.¡±
¡°W...What do you wanna know?¡± The tremor in Lobo Negro¡¯s voice was growing.
Xia Lei pped the two pictures against the shaking man¡¯s body. ¡°These are photos you gave Hernandez. Tell me, who gave you these?¡±
¡°M... My... My boss. The head of the Tijuana gang.¡± Lobo Negro gulped nervously. ¡°These two are enemies of the gang. We¡¯ve tracked them down but they¡¯re in America. That¡¯s why we¡¯re asking for Scimitar to get it done for us.¡±
¡°Are you sure about that?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Y...Yes.¡±
Xia Lei tossed a look at Tsukino Kyoko.
It was a mere undistinguishable emotion. Tsukino Kyoko raised her katana and sliced off Lobo Negro¡¯sst remaining palm.
¡°AHHHH!¡± Lobo Negro writhed and screeched in pain.
Xia Lei moved over to the front of Lobo Negro¡¯s underling. He nonchntly uttered, ¡°See what bes of him? Same question, what do you know about it?¡±
¡°I...¡± Lobo Negro¡¯s underling looked over to his leader.
Xia Lei reassured him. ¡°No need to worry and no need to fear him. If you make this clear to me, you can leave this ce alive. But if he answers me first, he¡¯ll be the one to leave here alive. You understand what I mean?¡±
He was only intending to keep one of them alive. This was the reason why he explicitly told Tsukino Kyoko to spare two of them with one of them being Lobo Negro. He wanted to pressure them with the stress of doom and trigger their survival instincts. Under those circumstances, anyone would be prompted to betray their own friends.
Lobo Negro¡¯s underling nodded. ¡°I understand.¡±
¡°Tell me and you¡¯ll be leaving here soon. You¡¯ll be able to get medical help before it¡¯s toote,¡± persuaded Xia Lei.
¡°Fucker!¡± Lobo Negro growled, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡±
¡°I...¡± The fear and power posed over his underling for years were difficult to diminish in such a short time.
But his shock got the better of him and Lobo Negro gushed, ¡°It was a Japanese who gave me these photos.¡±
Noticing that he was deceived, the underling grew frantic. Before Lobo Negro could finish his sentence, his underling interjected, ¡°The Japanese paid us five hundred thousand USD to spread this news to new churches in Mexico.¡±
¡°Japanese? What do they look like?¡± Xia Lei asked.
Lobo Negro spoke in a rushed tone, ¡°It was a man. He never stated his name but I remember his appearance.¡±
His underling supplied, ¡°He¡¯s about 175 centimeters tall. Silver hair. He looked old.¡±
Xia Lei spared a nce at Tsukino Kyoko.
She nodded. ¡°It¡¯s him.¡±
The man she was referring to was Yagyu Yuichi. Xia Lei had never once gotten a chance to meet this person but with Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s response, his assumption was pretty much confirmed.
The thought of Yagyu Yuichi passing around photos of Yan Fo and Augustan of the FA Organization to the hands of a Mexican mafia in an attempt to spread the news was highly suspicious.
None of the Mexican mafia gangs had ever been on par with the FA Organization. How would any of the gangs dare to fight the FA¡¯s reign over their underworld? Five hundred thousand USD was not a small amount but to a gang that held control over a drug traffickingwork, it was not an impressive deal. There was no way it would appease the higher circle of the Tijuana gang. But if the gang¡¯s higher leaders had no knowledge over the exchange, why would Yagyu Yuichi deliberately have Lobo Negro bring the news to newly-built churches?
¡°I... I¡¯ve said all I know.¡± Lobo Negro¡¯s underling pleaded pitifully, ¡°Please let me go. I¡¯ll never tell a soul about what happened tonight.¡±
¡°You¡¯re so fucking dead!¡± Lobo Negro cursed but immediately shifted into a pitiful state. ¡°I too told you all I know. Everything I said is real. Please spare me, I¡¯ll pretend this never happened.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not done yet. What are you in a rush for?¡± Pausing for a moment, he shot another question. ¡°Tell me, do your leaders know about this?¡±
¡°No, they don¡¯t. I swear they don¡¯t!¡± Lobo Negro sounded pathetic.
¡°They don¡¯t know anything about this. I swear!¡± His underling followed.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°Has he told you his rationale behind the request? I¡¯m sure you probably asked something along the lines.¡±
¡°I did. I certainly did.¡± Lobo Negro was fast to speak. ¡°But he did not answer me. All he said was to follow his instructions and another five hundred thousand USD will be deposited in my ount.¡±
¡°How many churches have you visited?¡± Xia Lei questioned.
Lobo Negro answered, ¡°About ten. We¡¯ve visited almost every new church in the country. This was going to be ourst stop.¡±
Xia Lei raised a brow. ¡°This area is right beside your nest. Why did you visit this cest?¡±
¡°I needed to send a batch of goods to Guatem so I nned my route as such. My starting point wasn¡¯t here but Guatem.¡± Lobo Negro response sounded earnest.
¡°How did you ask the other churches?¡±
Lobo Negro did not hesitate. ¡°I show them the pictures and tell them that these are enemies of the Tijuana gang. I said that they¡¯re in Las Vegas and I needed an assassin to take them out. There were only pastors and their worshippers there, it¡¯s very different from here. All I did was scare them and then leave.¡±
¡°No, he¡¯s lying!¡± The underling called out abruptly. ¡°That Japanese man told us to record the situations in the churches, especially during the exchange and send them to Las Vegas. After that, he will pay us the remaining five hundred thousand dors.¡±
Xia Lei huffed out dryly. ¡°Lobo Negro, why are you hiding such an important detail from me?¡±
¡°I swear I¡¯m not! I...I was just about to tell you that!¡± Lobo Negro panicked.
¡°Tell me.¡± Xia Lei menacingly spat, ¡°Where did he tell you to send the recordings to?¡±
¡°A Japanese branch office.¡± Lobo Negro did not dare to tell lies. ¡°But I don¡¯t know what thepany name is. He did give me an address though. 112, Gold Mine Street. He says as long as I present myself there, I¡¯ll receive the remaining amount.¡±
¡°What else do you know?¡± Xia Lei stared at him hard.
Lobo Negro responded with a shake of his head. ¡°That is all. I¡¯ve told you everything I know.¡±
Xia Lei nced over at Tsukino Kyoko.
The female ninja waved her katana in a graceful arch to let a silver sheen slice through Lobo Negro¡¯s neck.
Blood went everywhere. The man wed at his oesophagus. He wanted to scream but nothing came out. Three secondster, his brain had lost its blood supply. Lobo Negro was sent into eternal darkness.
¡°Don¡¯t kill me... Don¡¯t kill me... You promised...¡± Lobo Negro¡¯s underling went into abrupt silence as Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s katana pierced him in the chest through her armpits.
Xia Lei briefly scanned through a few bodies before removing a wristwatch from one of them. It was a watch with a built-in camera. Its storage was filled with recordings of Lobo Negro and the gang.
Tsukino Kyoko uttered, ¡°He¡¯s there at the Hattori¡¯spany. It¡¯s likely that Hattori Mei is there too. We should head over and end it once and for all.¡±
Surprisingly, Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°In that case, you¡¯ve bitten the bait.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was stunned.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°It¡¯s a series of traps. Not sure if this was your master¡¯s work or Hattori Mei¡¯s but the design is exceptionally meticulous. Sadly, they¡¯re trying to deceive the wrong person.¡± He looked at Giovanna. ¡°The Relief Society is no longer a secret. Tell your brothers and sisters to be extra careful. Help them go into hiding if it¡¯s necessary¡±
Giovanna nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll tell them that.¡±
The Relief Society was expanding at an incredible speed with heaps of new followers every day. Who could guarantee that there was no enemy informant blended in the mix? Plus, there was such a gigantic church built right beside the Peace Mansion. All the intelligence agents sent by America and Japan would¡¯ve surely reported it.
Chapter 1110 - The Mad Dog Operation
Hernandez led a team over to take care of the bodies. Lobo Negro and his underlings were dragged to a burial spot, which was basically a span of a desert area beside the small town. The pickup truck too was towed to an abandoned garage to be ripped apart into spares and metal scraps. While Hernandez and the Relief Society members were out taking care of loose ends, Xia Lei and his team ran through Lobo Negro¡¯s recordings.
The contents of the recordings were true to Lobo Negro¡¯s subordinate¡¯s description. They had merely frightened those innocent pastors and followers, church after church. It seemed that they were inhumane enough to rape some of the church¡¯s female followers. Lobo Negro and his good-for-nothing gangsters were absolutely ruthless.
When the video came to an end, Tsukino Kyoko spoke up, ¡°Boss, Lobo Negro were doing as my master had asked. But I believe this has to be Hattori Mei¡¯s idea. There was no way Lobo Negro and his men had any idea that we¡¯re here. This means my master and Hattori Mei are equally clueless. And my master and Hattori Mei would be right where Lobo Negro had said they would be. How is this a trap?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡± Anjum Khan agreed. ¡°This is our chance to destroy that bitch. We should march over to the Japanese branch office and kill her and her people.¡±
There was a moment of silence before Xia Lei spoke again, ¡°If we head over, I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be up against a few samurais but the whole of Japan¡¯s samuraimunity. That is not even the worst-case scenario. There could be CIA agents stationed there as well. Can we win against an army troupe? Can we even defeat a hoard of CIA field agents?¡±
The thought of taking Hattori Mei, Yagyu Yuichi and even Yan Fo and Augustan was no doubt enticing to the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. But if this was really a trap, the oue would be disastrous for them. As soon as they arrive at the destination, the ones waiting for them would not only be Japanese samurais but CIA agents and America¡¯s best Special Force too!
Tense silence enveloped the room. Everyone present, regardless of Tsukino Kyoko, Anjum Khan or even the Grey and Russo sisters were brave. However, there was no way that they¡¯d muster enough guts to win a battle against the American Special Force, let alone CIA agents, samurais and the FA.
¡°I must see the end of Hattori Mei. This is the main reason why I¡¯m here.¡± Xia Lei narrowed his gaze. ¡°But we must approach this rationally. We must leave Mexico soon. Pack up and make relevant preparations. We¡¯ll move in half an hour¡¯s time.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan darted out of Xia Lei¡¯s room to begin packing. Both Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members bore no sentimental value over the ce. On the other hand, the four female knights showed some hesitation when asked to return to their rooms to start packing.
Giovanna felt a little reluctant but said it anyway, ¡°Boss, it wasn¡¯t easy for us to be able to build this church here. Everyone in this town is our followers. If we leave them behind at a time like this, they¡¯d be vulnerable to the Tijuana gang¡¯s revenge. We...¡±
Xia Lei turned to look at her. ¡°Lobo Negro and his team were running a private errand. They have no ns to share their one million USD. Rest assured that the people running the Tijuana gang know nothing about this. I¡¯m more worried about the FA Organization. I think there might be a possibility that the FA had sent someone to follow Lobo Negro and his men around until they found the church housing the Relief Society. If that¡¯s the case, all of the town¡¯s residents and Relief Society members will be in danger.¡±
¡°What do we do?¡± Ste grew anxious. ¡°Are we going to abandon them?¡±
Rosa and Theresa stared at each other. It was obvious from their expression that they wished to not do so. However, they were clear that they alone were not enough to protect the people. To abandon their followers here and leave with their armed members was the right choice. Despite that, to cast away those in need for the sake of themselves was very much against their oath and religion. This was a difficult choice to make.
Their moods soured but Xia Lei had broken out into a smile at this moment. ¡°I understand that you¡¯re different from Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan. I will not force you to abandon your brothers and sisters. In fact, I have a task for you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± The female knights asked in unison.
Xia Lei said, ¡°I will bring Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan to Las Vegas while you four will lead the armed members here to Colombia. I¡¯ll hand you five billion USD. After you reach Colombia, hire as many criminals and mercenaries for their service, just like what you did in the Siberian operation back then. There¡¯s no need for us to fight this battle ourselves. We have enough funds to afford a proxy battle.¡±
The four female knights were shell-shocked.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Oh, right. Buy some assassins too. Contact assassin organizations and offer them a higher price to take down the FA members and the Hattori n members. Payment will be performance-based. More kills more money. Simply put, no matter who it is, anyone who willingly works or fights for us will get a pocket full of our money.¡±
¡°How... How much will that cost?¡± Giovanna found it difficult to stomach that this was Xia Lei¡¯s n.
Xia Lei smiled faintly. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m running tight on money? If five billion USD isn¡¯t enough, I can give you another five billion USD.¡±
Casting aside his main ie generator, the Thunder Horse Organization, the amount of money he made off the American stock market was more than enough for one proxy battle!
Mercenaries, assassins and criminals would never say no to money. As long as the amount was enticing enough, they¡¯d dly destroy anyone you wish! They did not care about the target, only the money!
A smile finally appeared on Giovanna¡¯s lips. ¡°Then we¡¯ll head out to Colombia. That¡¯s a haven for crime and murder. Five billion USD should be sufficient to build our own mini-army.¡±
¡°Can you find out more about those involved with the Hattori n?¡± asked Xia Lei.
¡°Of course.¡± Ste uttered confidently, ¡°I¡¯m fairly certain that we can even find out more information on the higher management circle and important figures of V Science Corp.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Do it as you see fit. My only request is to get things done as soon as possible. I would like the Hattori n and FA Organization¡¯s numbers to dwindle by the time I arrive there.¡±
¡°Ah, I understand now!¡± Ste pped her hands excitedly. ¡°Our task is to distract the Hattori n and FA Organization and bring chaos to their internal system, right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded with a smile. ¡°This shall be the Mad Dog Operation. Our proxies will gnaw at them like dogs!¡±
¡°Mad Dog? That sounds terrible,¡± Giovannained.
¡°How about Rose instead?¡± suggested Ste.
¡°The Sword of the Relief Society!¡± Rosa chimed in.
¡°The Knight¡¯s Holy War!¡± Theresa suggested.
Xia Lei just sighed and left them to their musings.
Half an hourter, a Ford pickup truck left the town for the American borders. It was Anjum Khan¡¯s turn to drive this time, leaving Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko in the back row.
Not long after the three had left the Blue Straw Hat town, a convoy of different-sized cars began to pour out from the town too. This had transported not only the four female knights and the Relief Society armed members but also all residents of the town. The money Xia Lei had given the female knights was enough to house the residents elsewhere.
With everyone gone, the town was vacant. Theck of its typical lights in the night was an eerie sight to behold.
One hourter, a few off-road vehicles arrived in the town. They observed their surroundings within their vehicles before making the decision to drive into the area. Shortly after, a hoard of armed men equipped with American gears exited the car. They first checked the church before expanding their search radius.
Soon, a dozen of them gathered back at the church¡¯s entrance.
¡°Boss, we found pieces of Lobo Negro¡¯s vehicle in an abandoned garage.¡± One of them reported, ¡°There were bullet holes on its roof and bloodstains on the bottom.¡±
Another armed member said, ¡°This is certainly the so-called Relief Society¡¯s base. Lobo Negro and his team had found out their secret so they were killed. We were one stepte.¡±
Their leader¡¯s expression darkened. He brought out a satellite phone and made a call. ¡°Mister Yan Fo, we found out where their Mexican base is.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t touch anyone there, just act like you¡¯re just passing by. Commence operation when they¡¯re done spreading the information and have returned to their base. Wipe out the entire town.¡± Yan Fo¡¯s voice rang through.
¡°No, there¡¯s a bit of a problem.¡± The leader revealed, ¡°They¡¯ve evacuated the town. The members that the Japanese bought over have been killed.¡±
¡°That arrogant Japanese bitch!¡± Yan Fo seethed with unhinged fury. ¡°Where are your current coordinates?¡±
¡°We¡¯re in the western suburbs of Tijuana. In a small town named Blue Straw Hat Town.¡±
¡°Tijuana west suburbs?¡± Yan Fo paused. Abruptly, heid out new instructions, ¡°Gather all members in Tijuana and San Diego immediately. We must find those bastards! There might be someone major hiding among them!¡±
¡°Right away, sir.¡± The leader quickly ended the call and instructed his men, ¡°Board the car! We¡¯ll be heading for the American borders! Other than the ones driving, everyone else is tasked with contacting all of our members in Tijuana and San Diego!¡±
The FA armed members leapt into action.
Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, in a minibus...
¡°Hey, my friend. I am in need of some assassins. Who¡¯s the target? Well, there¡¯s a lot of them. No need to question it, this might be your best chance at getting rich in your lifetime. Can you rmend some to me? Money? Oh... You¡¯re definitely getting paid too, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll even double up your payment. The assassin will be getting double the amount too...¡± Giovanna was on the phone.
¡°I¡¯m offering you a shot at getting rich. I need assassins, lots and lots of them... Target? The target is Japan¡¯s Hattori n. Anyone killed that belongs to the n will be paid for per head...¡± Ste too was on the phone.
¡°There¡¯s nothing to be sceptical about. After this gig, you can afford a small private ind and live the rest of your lives in peace... The target is Japan¡¯s Hattori n. As long as they belong to the family, be it their dog or whatever, I¡¯ll be willing to pay you one hundred thousand USD for...¡± Theresa continued on.
¡°It¡¯s a great business opportunity. You¡¯ll be paid for as many as you can kill. I¡¯ll send you the target details in a moment... Yes, the FA Organization. Would you like to take this job up? You do? Great! You¡¯ll be paid ten million USD for authority figures, five million USD for mid-tier figures and fifty thousand USD for regr armed members. You¡¯ll earn as much as you can kill...¡± Rosa spoke confidently.
A storm was looming over.
Mad dogs. Heaps of mad dogs were on their way.
Chapter 1111 - The Many Deaths of the Hattori Clan
Twenty-four hourster, Tokyo, Japan.
A middle-aged man was about to leave his residence. His wife had meticulously arranged his tie before passing his briefcase to him.
His driver dutifully opened the car door and waited for him to board the vehicle.
His transport today was a Mercedes-Benz S ss sandwiched by twoToyota Land Cruiser off-road vehicles on the front and back. Every car, including the driver, had carried a total of four bodyguards. A line of eight bodyguards stood by the side of his porch, waiting for the man to get in the car.
This man was Hattori Jiro, Hattori Masao¡¯s brother. After the death of Hattori Masao, Jiro was now second to Hattori Mei¡¯s position in the n.
His wife, Ikeda Kazuka was a gentle and virtuous woman who served as a wise asset to Jiro. It was all thanks to her help that Hattori Jiro was able to gain a lot from V Science Corp.
¡°My dear, that woman has called all of the family fighters to America. We¡¯re no longer under the protection of elite fighters. Please be extra careful out there,¡± reminded Ikeda Kazuka.
Hattori Jiro scoffed coldly. ¡°That damned bitch... I¡¯m fully aware that she was the one who killed my brother. She and her mother should not have existed. I am the rightful sessor of the Hattori n!¡±
¡°Shh.¡± Ikeda Kazuka ced a finger gently above his lips. ¡°Be careful with your words. She might¡¯ve bought over the favour of people around us. If she finds out, your life will be in danger.¡±
Hattori Jiro nodded solemnly. ¡°Alright, I should leave now.¡±
¡°Safe trip, love.¡± Ikeda Kazuka bowed at his retreating figure.
But as she bent over, something hot sshed against her head and neck. Confused, she raised an arm and wiped at those spots. When her manicured fingers were presented to her eyes, she froze. Her fingers were coated with blood!
Hattori Jiro toppled forwards onto her body with a fist-sized crater on his head!
¡°AHHHHHHHH!¡± Ikeda Kazuka let out a blood curdling scream.
The bodyguards quickly drew their guns and dashed over as they scanned for danger. But before they could reach Ikeda Kazuka, a bullet was shot into her skull.
The couple had died within seconds of each other.
This was something a lone sniper could not achieve.
As Ikeda Kazuka and Hattori Jiro¡¯s bodies fell for the floor, a White sniper yelled at a fellow sniper three hundred metres away. They were stationed on top of two buildings located beside each other.
The other sniper was courteous, only shing the fuming White sniper a middle finger.
They acknowledged each other¡¯s presence for a moment before returning their focus on the scene. Together, they worked their sniper rifles to take out Hattori Jiro¡¯s bodyguards. Even bodyguards had a bounty. These snipers had travelled all the way from the American continents for money, not some petty fight. If they had the time to cuss each other out, they might as well utilize it to take out two more of them to add to their running bill.
At another location, the V Science Corporation Headquarters.
An elevator came to a halt on the top floor of the building. The metal doors opened and a young delivery man exited it. In his hands was a birthday cake in a delicate box. He trailed over to a door and entered an office space.
¡°Hello, is there a Miss Hattori Hyakuei here?¡± He asked politely.
¡°That would be me.¡± A young woman stepped forward. ¡°Is that for me?¡±
¡°Yes, Miss Hyakuei. Happy Birthday.¡± The delivery man dropped the box into her proffered hands.
Hattori Hyakuei, daughter of Hattori Jiro. She was one of the core members of the Hattori n.
¡°Who is it from?¡± Hattori Hyakuei studied the box curiously.
¡°He didn¡¯t leave me a name but he mentioned that he has been in love with you for years,¡± the delivery man said with a smile. ¡°However what I can tell you is that the man is very handsome. I thought he looked like Takeshi Kaneshiro when I saw him.¡±
¡°Takeshi Kaneshiro?¡± Hattori Hyakuei giggled. ¡°You have such a way with words. Here, please ept this tip.¡± She held out a crisp one thousand yen bill.
Receiving it with thanks, the young deliveryman soon left the office.
He quickly entered the elevator. Just as it began to move downwards, he dug out a remote control from his pockets and pressed on the button.
Ka-boom!
The windows on the top floor were shattered by its violent shockwaves. Suffocating smog began to seep out from a certain office as the mes continued to engulf everything in its reach.
On a golf course just outside Tokyo city.
Hattori Masao¡¯s uncle, Hattori Kai swung his club on a grass field. A caddie walked up to him. As their shoulders brushed, the older man¡¯s neck was sliced open by a knife. Before he realized what happened, he had gone into a state of eternal rest.
V Science Corporation Limited office building, Las Vegas, America.
Hattori Mei watched the crowd of Japanese samurais disguised as regr employees through her office window. She seemed to be a in good mood. With a smile, she turned to face Yagyu Yuichi. ¡°Sir, our men have already blended into their surroundings. The Americans are stationed nearby too. As soon as Xia Lei and his folks appear, we can end this whole ordeal for good.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi said, ¡°ns always seem perfect and wless but the oue is typically not what we¡¯re after.¡±
¡°Do you think Xia Lei wille?¡±
¡°I¡¯m concerned about that.¡± Yagyu Yuichi furrowed his brows very so slightly. ¡°He¡¯s one of the most cunning people I¡¯ve ever met.¡±
Hattori Mei reassured him. ¡°Sir, I¡¯m convinced that he¡¯ll show up.¡±
¡°Why are so sure?¡±
Hattori Mei answered, ¡°Sir, don¡¯t you forget that the Japanese samurai alliance had sent gueri fighters to assassinate his wives and children. If we went after him alone, he would¡¯ve most probably brushed it aside. But if we target his family instead, he¡¯d be driven out of his mind.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi uttered nonchntly. ¡°Let¡¯s hope for the best. This time, we¡¯ve utilized all resources avable to us. If we can¡¯t kill him this time, I...¡±
¡°Sir?¡±
¡°If we can¡¯t kill him this time, I think it¡¯s high time you consider giving up,¡± relented Yagyu Yuichi.
¡°Why?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve taunted a lion time after time. If you don¡¯t have the ability to kill it, it will kill you,¡± warned the older man.
Weirdly, Hattori Mei began tough. ¡°Sir, the American government is backing us up. The strongest hegemony in the world is our ally. Our interests are aligned with theirs. Lion? China ims itself to be the dragon of Asia, but it¡¯s no stronger against America¡¯s suppression and taunting. If a dragon can¡¯t even deal with the situation, what is there to worry about a mere lion? If he survives, it just means that the man is lucky. I believe his luck will run out.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi wanted to retort but as soon as he caught the glimmer of hatred and twisted excitement in her eyes, he swallowed his words. She imed that Xia Lei was going out of his mind but the woman was beyond insane.
At this moment, someone knocked at her office door fervently. It was rushed and very rude.
¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± Hattori Mei regarded it with a look.
¡°It¡¯s me! Nakamura!¡± A man¡¯s voice was heard. ¡°President, open the door! I have bad news!¡±
That earned a scowl from Hattori Mei. She did not rush over to answer him but paced over to her desk to check the surveince footage to confirm his identity. Only then did she pressed on her keyboard to let him in.
Ever since she decided to be part of the bait to lure Xia Lei over, she hired a German expert to renovate this space. The doors were made of alloy material and the windows were reinforced to be bulletproof. A few shots from a tank would be required to knock this office down!
The office door opened to allow a Hattori family fighter to stumble in. He was evidently panicking. ¡°President, your family... your family...¡±
Hattori Mei roared, ¡°What are you so nervous about? What¡¯s going on? Speak clearly!¡±
That did nothing to help Nakamura¡¯s nerves. ¡°Japan... Japan became a money heaven for assassins within a night. They¡¯re... They¡¯re all fighting to see who can kill... kill off your family first.¡±
Hattori Mei froze.
The man continued, ¡°Hattori Jiro and his wife, Ikeda Kazuka were assassinated at their doorstep. Their assassins did not spare their bodyguards and drivers. Everyone on scene was killed. Your cousin, Hattori Hyakuei received a bomb at the V Science Crop Headquarters. Including her, everyone in the office has been killed by the explosion. And also Mister Hattori Kai... His throat was slit by an assassin in a golf course...¡±
¡°AAAAAHHHH! THAT MOTHERFUCKER!¡± Hattori Mei screamed at the top of her lungs. ¡°How dare hemit such sin! How dare he trample over the n!¡±
That motherfucker in question was obviously Xia Lei.
She seemed to have forgotten how nonchnt she felt when nning the Jingdu Army Hospital attack. It was ironic that she found it unforgivable when Xia Lei reciprocated her cruel ways.
The Hattori n fighter did not dare to mutter another word in the face of her wrath. He lowered his head further after he was done talking.
Yagyu Yuichi was the only one that paid no mind to her anger. Calmly, he repeated, ¡°I told you that you¡¯ve taunted a lion. If you don¡¯t have the ability to kill it, as soon as it begins to hunt you down, it¡¯ll certainly shred you apart.¡±
¡°What about my mother?¡± Hattori Mei snapped and grabbed Nakamura¡¯s cor.
¡°Your mother is fine,¡± reported the family fighter.
It was only then that some tension escaped Hattori Mei¡¯s being. ¡°Go, find out which assassin organization is involved in this attack. I¡¯ll make sure to return the favor tenfold!¡±
¡°Yes, Madam!¡± Nakamura hurriedly left.
The office door was closed once again.
Hattori Mei mmed her fists on the desk with a loud thump. She maniacally hissed, ¡°Xia Lei, I swear I¡¯ll snap your neck myself!¡±
Yagyu Yuichi merely regarded the scene before him with disinterest. ¡°You better not think that way. He¡¯s trying to enrage you. I have a feeling that he¡¯s already in America as we speak. Give up on seeking revenge. You can¡¯t afford to divide our concentration now. The person the Japanese Samurai Alliance needs to face is Xia Lei and not the assassins.¡±
¡°Sorry.¡± Hattori Mei lowered her crown, eyes averted away from Yagyu Yuichi. Despite her humility, her gaze was as menacing as a venomous viper.
Chapter 1112 - Valuable Intel
A Ram pickup truck with an American license te entered Las Vegas as the massacre took ce.
In the vehicle, Xia Lei was in the middle of using hisptop. However, this time he wasn¡¯t attacking anywhere. The man was browsing for properties on a housing agency website.
Booking a hotel room was not a wise choice. No one had any idea just how many informants were nted in every hotel established in Las Vegas. They had to expect those from the CIA, the FA Organization and even Japan. Despite their disguises, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape human face recognition AI systems. Therefore, Xia Lei was willing to buy a house even if it was only for a few nights.
However, he wasn¡¯t about to buy new properties offered by the agency. Purchasing a fresh property would require an identity verification procedure. That was why Xia Lei¡¯s choice was to search among the lists of second-hand houses. The only requirement to buy them was to pay them the sum.
Anything that could be solved with money was not an issue to Xia Lei.
Soon, Xia Lei found a prospective property. From the information given, it was a vi in a rich white neighbourhood in the eastern suburbs of Las Vegas city.
¡°Do you like this ce?¡± Xia Lei broke the silence in the car.
Tsukino Kyoko spared the screen a nce. She could see a two-storey vi with a lush green garden nted with decorative nts in the front. It even had a swimming pool in the back. It was gorgeous. She offered him a smile. ¡°Not bad. I like the swimming pool.¡±
¡°Then this shall be it,¡± said Xia Lei with a nod.
Anjum Khan whined, ¡°Boss, I haven¡¯t even gotten to see it. You¡¯re deciding just based on Kyoko¡¯s opinion?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°What if I let you cook curry in that house?¡±
¡°Haha, cool. I¡¯m good with that.¡± Anjum Khan was grinning ear to ear now.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s arm glided over against the back of the plush seat row and wrapped itself around Xia Lei¡¯s waist. Her torso inclined over and snuggled against his body. Then, Tsukino Kyoko dropped her head onto his shoulder and watched him navigate around the website.
This intimate disy made Xia Lei sheepish. It was just too easy for Anjum Khan to spot them at any given moment through the rear mirror. Yet, he didn¡¯t dare to inch away. The only thing he could do was act natural and pray that everything would be alright.
Confirming his purchase, Xia Lei still had to hack into the agency¡¯s database. It didn¡¯t take long for him to find the seller¡¯s information. One brief nce over his details had Xia Lei shocked.
The seller was a white man named Thompson. His upation was a soldier and his rank was not low. He was a brigadier general. That was all that was avable to the system. The registry filed into the agency¡¯s database was simple and did not mention which military troop he belonged to. This was natural. When a soldier¡¯s rank had reached a certain level, everything would be ssified confidential. Those became things that must not be leaked.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows and mused to himself, ¡°Soldier, brigadier general, Las Vegas. The housing information mentioned that this property was just bought three years ago. There¡¯s norge military force stationed in this area. If he is a military officer from elsewhere, why would hee here and purchase a property? Why is he selling it now?¡±
The mysterious Area 51 was just one hundred kilometres away from Las Vegas. In addition to the city¡¯s convenient traffic management, an hour¡¯s ride would bring you there. In that case, it wouldn¡¯t be weird for a brigadier general named Thompson to purchase a house in Las Vegas.¡±
¡°Boss, a soldier¡¯s property? He¡¯s even a brigadier general.¡± Eyeing the surprising detail, Tsukino Kyoko couldn¡¯t help but feel uneasy. ¡°If we buy his house over, will we be inviting trouble?¡±
Anjum Khan too turned around in an attempt to take a look. While he couldn¡¯t see anything from the screen, he expressed his concern too. ¡°Boss, if it¡¯s a soldier¡¯s property, I think you should think twice before purchasing. If he suspects us, we¡¯ll be in trouble.¡±
Despite that, Xia Lei questioned, ¡°Why would a brigadier general want to sell his house?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan locked gazes. Both of them could never quite grasp Xia Lei¡¯s wildly turbulent thought process.
Xia Lei checked his wristwatch. ¡°It¡¯s two in the afternoon now. Let¡¯s go to his house and check it out. If he¡¯s out, we might be able to find some valuable intel.¡±
Anjum Khan smiled bitterly at that. ¡°Boss, I have nothing against buying another house. Why are we exposing ourselves to risks?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I think he¡¯s an Area 51 soldier.¡±
That took Anjum Khan by surprise. He shrugged, hands still on the steering wheel. ¡°Well then, I¡®ll drive us over there now.¡±
A beatter, Tsukino Kyoko lips were curled into a slight smile from atop Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I know what you¡¯re up to. Your mind is just like a.¡±
Xia Lei merely smiled at that before busying himself with news articles.
The website, Asahi Shimbun, was a portal of the Japanese press that reported domestic and international news relevant to their country.
As soon as the interface wasunched, the front headline was shocking news about the assassination of Hattori Jiro¡¯s family. Names of other Hattori family members were also mentioned in the report. The total death toll of the n had reached an astounding twenty-eight people!
The number was surprising even to Xia Lei.
The Japanese Police Force had deduced the serial murders to be a personal vendetta, hinting at the fact that it was an overseas assant. Honestly, they were this close to mentioning Xia Lei or the Thunder Horse Organization at this point.
The report was penned with wrath. The tone andnguage used were meant to fan the burning rage of their people.
Such an incident was bound to knit their samuraimunity tighter and closer.
Xia Lei smirked coldly at the rming headline. He thought to himself, ¡°What can you do about it even if you realize I was the one behind it? You¡¯ve tried to kill my women and children so I repaid your kindness by destroying the Hattori n from its roots. This is just the beginning. You¡¯ve chosen to initiate it in that manner and I shall reciprocate it. First the Hattori n, then the samurais!¡±
The Hattori n and samurais¡¯ assassination attempt on his wives and children had resulted in failure. However, they had still initiated an attempt. Hence, they¡¯d need to face Xia Lei¡¯s wrath and revenge. They would not escape the bites of this mad dog!
¡°Will she regret it?¡± Tsukino Kyoko asked out of the blue.
Xia Lei blinked. ¡°Hattori Mei? Hmph, she¡¯s the kind of vicious woman that would think of overtaking her own father. There¡¯s no way she¡¯ll regret it. The only time her actions will sink in is when I have a gun pointed at her head.¡±
Soon, they drove onto a roadwork section. The tar roads that were broken up by machines had turned its rtively smooth surface into rocky bumps. Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s chest began to alternate between smothering against the length of his arm and shoulder de. Thepression was admittedly, soft andfortable. Despite the obvious difort, Tsukino Kyoko did not shift her position. The female ninja continued to stick close to his body.
Perhaps she had been waiting for this to happen.
In China, she barely stood a chance at getting close to Xia Lei. It was only when they left the country for missions that she could do such a thing. These opportunities were few and far between.
Anjum Khan cast a nce at them through the rear mirror, smirking unhelpfully. He found Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s open disy of interest bold and liberal. Anjum Khan had no idea what sinful acts Tsukino Kyoko had done to Xia Lei. While they struggled to live with E¡¯er Demutu on the stic board, she promptly utilized their proximity to get a taste of Xia Lei¡¯s member.
Xia Lei tried to remain unfazed.
It took more than ten minutes for the road conditions to improve. The Ram pickup truck too had finally reached its destination.
Both sides of the wide road were liberally decorated with majestic palm trees and morous flowering nts. The entirendscaping of the area was marvellous. Buildings lined the sides of the streets, most of them were two-storey vis that looked impable and luxurious.
¡°Let¡¯s stop here,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
Anjum Khan stepped on the brakes and pulled the handbrake. They alighted the vehicle following Xia Lei and continued to trail forward.
The afternoon sun was scorching hot, their surroundings threatening to steam them alive. Everyone had opted to stay at home so the streets were exceptionally quiet. However, the pools on the back of the properties were very lively. Some homeowners were enjoying a poolside barbeque with their neighbors and friends. A few blonde bikini-d girls had be the summer scenery, attracting male gazes from all around.
The three of them reached the gates of 119, Palm Road before long. Xia Lei halted his tracks and scanned the house with his left and right eye. Making sure that no one was in, they quickly moved inside its front yard.
Thompson had installed a surveince system around the house. Thankfully, those things were not an issue to Xia Lei. He had merely used twenty seconds to unlock all his passcode locks and showed his team into Thompson¡¯s house. The first thing they searched for was the hard drive that stored recorded surveince footages and deleted off their tracks thirty-seconds prior.
The interior decoration of the house wasn¡¯t very sophisticated. It had a gruffer style that inched towards the American Western aesthetic. It had a red brick firece in the living room along with the countless deer head mounts and shotguns hung on the walls. Beside the firece were a bear rug and a rocking chair, presumably where Thompsom likes to have his coffee while reading the newspaper.
Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan scanned the upper floors. They both returned to the living room on the ground floor.
¡°There¡¯s no one upstairs too. The coast is clear,¡± reported Anjum Khan.
Tsukino Kyoko brought a photo album to Xia Lei. ¡°Does this count as valuable intel?¡±
Xia Lei took a brief nce over. The photos inside the albums had pictured Thompson and another woman. From what he could see, Thompson was a man close to his fifties. His receding hairline looked remarkably sad and his face was littered with freckles and bumps. Worse, his eye bags were heavy. Despite that awfulbination of aged features, the woman in his arms was a stunner. She looked no more than twenty, her face and features were firm and delicate. Her breasts were still perky and full, buttocks equally plump and taut. Such was the type of women favoured by men of the American and European continent.
While it was nothing more than one single photo, Xia Lei could already smell its value. He smiled at her. ¡°The sry of an American soldier isparatively higher than ordinary office workers. Regr soldiers can receive more than three thousand USD per month. A man of his rank can be paid more than eleven thousand USD per month. But it certainly isn¡¯t enough to afford a vi and fool around with women like this. Kyoko, this is indeed a valuable clue.¡±
Kyoko beamed at that. Xia Lei¡¯s praise, regardless of how simple, was enough to put her in a good mood.
A few minutester, Xia Lei showed himself into Thompson¡¯s study. He cracked his knuckles and began to work.
Chapter 1113 - The Allure of A Beautiful Man
Las Vegas at night is truly a sight to behold. The brilliant neon lights, never-ceasing traffic flow and the merging of different forms of lusts painted the city a vibrant colour. This canvas reeked of nothing less than the finest luxuries.
MGM Mirage Casino.
A few people were in the middle of a gamer of Texas Poker in the VIP lounge. Three Causiasians, one Mexican and one Asian-Caucasian were seated together. A sexy bunny-suited dealer was in charge of their crowd tonight.
Thompson was one of them. Seated beside him was his young and gorgeous girlfriend, Alice. The young French woman had crossed the sea to chase her dreams in America. She loved music but sadly was unable to find a recordpany to sign with. Herst interview was about two months ago.
Thompson was in a sour mood tonight. He had lost his newly obtained sry in one night.
The young mixed man opposite him was the luckiest of the table tonight. He had gathered chips worth a total of five hundred thousand USD. Not only was he bloody lucky, but he was absolutely stunning. His face and hair were simr to how Justin Bieber looked when he first won the Grammys.
Alice¡¯s gaze would linger on him at least three times within a minute. If Thompson wasn¡¯t present, perhaps she would have gazed more intensely.
¡°Babe, I¡¯ll be right back. Gotta go exchange more chips.¡± Thompson stood and left his seat.
Alice plopped down onto his warm chair and yed in his stead. When the dealer dealt their cards, she allowed herself to ogle the mixed youngster without restraint. The man cast her a smile. In that instant, she felt like her heart was on fire.
Thompson arrived at the chip exchange counter and swiped his credit card for one hundred thousand USD worth of chips. If he lost this round again and the house wasn¡¯t sold in time, he would have no choice but to breach his contract.
He carefully brought the chips back, stopping at a bunny girl¡¯s side for a moment to grab some refreshments. His beverage of choice was a ss of wine which he downed like a shot. Thompson drawled a deep sigh and mustered enough courage to continue his game.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Suddenly, his phone began to ring.
Thompson scowled. He brought out the offending device and checked its screen before answering the call. In an unfriendly tone, he uttered, ¡°Who¡¯s this?¡±
¡°Hello, Mister Thompson. My name is Baholi. I happened toe across your property from a listing website and I¡¯m interested in purchasing your house. Are you free to discuss this?¡± The person over the line had an Indian ent.
As soon as he learnt that the man was interested in buying his vi, Thompson¡¯s tone immediately turned warm. ¡°Hello, Mister Baholi. Unfortunately, I¡¯m outside at the moment and night time is just not ideal to discuss deals. How about youe over to my ce tomorrow morning? We can discuss this then.¡±
¡°Sure, no problem,¡± answered Baholi.
¡°Oh, before I forget, how are you nning to pay?¡± Thompson questioned.
Baholi¡¯s answer came almost immediately. ¡°By cash. I don¡¯t wish to apply for a bank loan. Their interest rates are out for blood.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great news. We can avoid a lot of trouble with some procedures.¡±
¡°Do I need to invite one of the housing agents over?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need for that. If you¡¯re sure about purchasing it, I can even have the agency cancel their sales and purchase agreement. You can get it for a much better rate,¡± said Thompson.
¡°Hehe, alright. That way you can save up on agent handling fees too,¡± Baholi mused with mirth.
¡°Then that is settled. See you tomorrow, Mister Baholi.¡±
¡°Goodbye, Mister Thompson.¡± Baholi hung up.
Ending the call, Thompson¡¯s mood had improved by a fraction. His weighted steps had felt lighter. His return to the table was weed by the knowledge of Alice losing most of his remaining chips in the previous round.
¡°She has tits for days but can¡¯t think with her brain.¡± Thompson cussed her out in his mind. Despite that, he regarded her with a gentle smile. ¡°Babe, here. Let me handle this.¡±
Alice gave up her seat and returned to her spectator position. She took another daring look at the mixed man. The corners of his lips created a smile with a beautiful curvature. While it looked candid, it was also mysterious. It felt almost as if he was dropping her a hint.
A new round of Texas Poker began. The handsome mixed man had revealed a pair of Queens. Thompson¡¯s visible cards were an Ace and a King. As far as themunity cards were concerned, the mixed man had bigger cards. However, when added with the cards in their hands, Thompson¡¯sbination had a higher chance of winning.
¡°One hundred thousand USD.¡± The handsome man boldly proimed.
The other three yers abandoned their cards, grumbling about how lucky the man was.
¡°I¡¯ll y.¡± Thompson pushed the freshly-exchanged chips into the middle of the table.
The mixed man furrowed his brows. ¡°You¡¯re only left with one hundred thousand USD?¡±
Thompson could feel his scrutinization. He huffed, ¡°Oh, I¡¯m certainly not wishing to win over your loot.¡±
The mixed man shrugged and told the dealer, ¡°Please deal the cards.¡±
Thompson was all in. Even if the handsome mixed youth had won more money than him, the cards would be dealt withpletion in the game. That was how it worked in this casino.
The dealer dealt the river cards. This time, the mixed youth¡¯smunity cards were three Queens and one Joker. On the other hand, Thompson¡¯s was two Aces and two Kings, his final hole card was an Ace. That would mean he had a full house. Just with that, it was safe to say that Thompson had this game in the bag. The only thing that would weaken hisbination was if his opponent¡¯s hidden card was a Queen. But even so, Thompson reckoned that the probability of that was small.
¡°Babe, Lady Luck has finally decided to bless us.¡± Alice hovered over his shoulder and huffed sweetly against the shell of his ear. One of her feminine palms made its way to the top of his thigh as she palmed his flesh sensually.
Thompson snorted. He grinned at the mixed youth. ¡°You can¡¯t be lucky all night. Come on, show me your cards.¡±
The man shed him a smile and opened his cards with confidence and poise. His hidden card was a Queen. He had Four of a Kind!
Thompson paled. He was so sure about his victory before his opponent had revealed his card. His dreams and hopes were battered into pieces.
The mixed man extended an arm to sweep all his winnings to his side. Subsequently, he picked out one thousand USD worth of chips and handed it to the dealer. ¡°Consider this a small piece of appreciation for giving me such good luck all night.¡±
¡°Thank you.¡± The dealer broke into a joyous smile. It was rare toe across such generous customers.
The mixed youth brought his chips away from the table and headed towards the washroom. He took a few steps forward and turned around slightly to cast one nce at the table. He met Alice¡¯s gaze, sparks birthing from the tension.
Sadly, Thompson had no idea what was going on beside him. He could only rey hisst hand again and again. It ate at him. He had only lost by a mere card. Why did it have to be a Queen out of everything?
The mixed youth tore his gaze away and continued his trail to the washroom. Everything about him was scrumptious. From the way he held himself, to the firm muscr buttocks that were shown through the curves of his cks.
Alice said to Thompson, ¡°I¡¯m going to the washroom for a bit. You should go retrieve the car and call it a night already.¡± Then, she stood and left.
She had lost sight of the handsome young man as soon as she arrived at the washroom. Without him in sight, she felt empty. It felt almost as if she had lost something important to her. She hesitated but finally willed herself to enter the female washroom. Just as she found a cubicle, the little wooden barricade shielding her was pulled open. That wonderful, gorgeous face had reappeared like a light.
¡°You...!¡± Taken by surprise, Alice stood up right away, forgetting that her G-string was just above her knees. Thankfully, she was wearing a skirt today. The pile of fabric had draped over her genitals to provide her with some form of modesty.
The mixed youth brought her closer with strong arms and seized her red lips.
Alice struggled a little but her restraint was quickly let down. Everything had happened so fast but the lightning-fast attraction between the opposite sex could never be exined. There was no need forplications in the face of primal instincts.
Alice quickly took control of the situation. She pried his jaw open and coiled her pink tongue around his greedily. The young man had taken the initiative to slide a palm under her skirt.
Just as things were about to be heated, someone entered the female washroom. The neer stammered at the sight of two passionately entangled bodies. There was a moment of stunned silence before she spluttered, ¡°Sorry, am I in the wrong ce?¡±
The two gingerly pulled themselves apart.
The mixed youth turned around to face the neer with a soft smile. ¡°Sorry, we were too caught up.¡±
It seemed like good-looking men were still equally well-received in female washrooms. The neer did not press the issue further. Instead, she offered him a sheepish smile.
Alice frantically tried to regain someposure while the mixed youth had exited the space.
The young woman quickly chased after him. But her wandering sight could only see passing faces with no gorgeous man in sight. He was like a mysterious angel that invaded her heart barbarically and let her behind with a taste of heaven. She couldn¡¯t help but fixate her thoughts on the heated events that transpired in the washroom. Alice darted out her tongue, in search of his traces along her lips desperately.
A few beatster, she abruptly realized that something was iffy. She reached into her underwear through the waistband of her skirt. A slight search had produced her a note.
Tomorrow at 8 pm. See you at the Hawaii Cinema.
There was no name and there was no phone number.
She smiled. ¡°You must be a present from Cupid. An exceptionally wonderful gift. See you soon.¡±
Alice returned to the washroom and flushed the note away. She was not in a hurry to leave. As her mind lingered on a face crafted by the Gods, she indulged herself with a quick work of her fingers.
In one of the casino¡¯s numerous elevators, the mixed youth vehemently cleaned his right middle finger with a tissue. He grimaced at it.
This man was no stranger. He was none other than Xia Lei, who had an interest in purchasing Thompson¡¯s house. Never had he expected to meet a military officer in the process of solving their amodation issues. The information he had collected this afternoon had spiralled the unassuming property purchase deal into something wayplex.
Why? Well, that was because Thompson really was a military officer involved in Area 51¡¯s securitywork.
To approach Thompson himself was not possible. They were running tight on time and there were huge risks. However, some things could be easily solved through his woman. Hence, the whole washroom risque ordeal.
The allure of a beautiful man was always a surefire winner.
Chapter 1114 - Conniving Little Bitch
For a man like Xia Lei, his charisma alone was enough to have women flock to him day and night. Now that he was explicitly pursuing her, given Alice¡¯s response, he was confident that he would not be heading to the movies alone.
The fish had taken the bait. Now all he had to do was to reel it in.
Exiting the casino, Xia Lei entered a Ram pickup truck.
Anjum Khan steered the vehicle out of the parking lot. ¡°Boss, my part went as nned. Thompson invited me to his ce to discuss this first thing in the morning tomorrow. He even told me to skip the middleman. Seems like he¡¯s reluctant to pay the intermediary fees.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled, ¡°Well, of course. He¡¯s got even shorter on funds after the losses he sustained tonight. I¡¯m guessing half of it was his pay and the other half was just credit card debt. Make sure to try to force his hand on lowering the price, but take heed.¡±
Anjum Khan replied in all smiles, ¡°Rest assured boss, I know what to do. I will make sure he¡¯s convinced that selling it to us was his best option. I¡¯ll make him put in some genuine effort to talk me into it. Only then will it feel less suspicious.¡±
¡°Boss, what about your part? How did it go?¡± Tsukino Kyoko added out of the blue.
Xia Lei instinctively took a quick nce at his right middle finger, but he still cracked up a smile nevertheless, ¡°It went pretty smoothly. Alice promised to go to the movies with me tomorrow night.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko seemed slightly jealous of his remark but kept her cool.
Xia Lei quickly noticed Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s change in expression as he reached out his hand and lovingly held hers in its grasp.
Bringing himself closer towards her, he whispered, ¡°Alice is just a key yer in the grand n. It¡¯s not within my control to pursue her. You know I¡¯m not really interested in her. She¡¯s not even worth a toenailpared to you.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko cracked a smile. No woman could resist heartfelt praise from their man. Nevertheless, she wasn¡¯t actually jealous of his actions.
¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking about it,¡± Tsukino Kyoko brought herself closer to him, her warm, fuzzy breath radiating sensually into his ear as she whispered, ¡°Since we didn¡¯t manage to buy a house, where are we gonna stay tonight?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a moment before he reviewed their options, ¡°We can¡¯t go to the hotels since we have to stay out of the urban areas. Why don¡¯t we camp by the desert behind Thompson¡¯s house instead? That way we can monitor his whereabouts every now and then.¡±
His words were spoken loud enough for all three of them to hear, naturally including Anjum Khan as he responded, ¡°Boss, I¡¯m guessing the one keeping a lookout over Thompson would be me, right?¡±
¡°Well duh, who else could it be?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko interrupted, ¡°I will watch after the boss¡¯ safety. You can monitor Thompson and the woman. Great, it¡¯s settled.¡±
Anjum Khan was left speechless.
The Indian was perplexed, especially knowing that the Japanese ninja herself wouldn¡¯t actually be putting any hard effort into ¡®protecting¡¯ Xia Lei. She was most likely out for pleasure.
But how else could he have arranged this anyway? His spiralling thoughts made him miss Yelena even more. If she was here tonight, he would have a st spending time on the lookout all night.
The moonlight radiated through the vast Las Vegas desert like a midsummer night¡¯s dream, yet he was thrown off the narrative like an outlier, and that instantly forced him back to cold, hard reality.
The truck weaved up and down the sand dunes, one after another.
Anjum Khan ultimately hopped off the driver¡¯s seat, carrying his supplies backpack and went off into the vast sand dunes. He cherry-picked a sand dune with the perfect height for him to monitor Thompson¡¯s estate in full view.
¡°Watch yourself, don¡¯t let them see you,¡± Xia Lei reminded him. Ever since he stepped foot into Las Vegas, it felt like entering a spider web. One small mistake and it would ripple across the whole web. It was why Xia Lei had to ensure their n was covert and cautious at every single step.
Anjum Khan turned back towards his boss with a cheeky grin on his face. ¡°Boss, don¡¯t you worry, nothing will happen. You guys just rx and enjoy yourselves, I won¡¯t peek.¡±
The Indian was a pivotal member of the team. They had no choice but to stomach his cheeky attitude.
And off he went and vanished into the desert. Down by the t grounds of the Nevadan desert, only Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko were left. The mere thought of it lit up her face more than anything throughout their entire operation thus far.
She retrieved a mat from the storage chest andid it out right beside the truck.
But she didn¡¯t stop there. She got down on all fours and began ttening out the entire mat to make it appear neat and cosy. It resembled a Japanese tatami mat
After the mat was set, she then moved on to gather water and food from the storage chest and began arranging them on their modest makeshift abode.
Tsukino Kyoko turned to him with a warm smile on her face, in a soothing tone she proimed, ¡°In Japan, the woman is responsible for all matters at home. She handle¡¯s how to make her husbandfortable, how to serve him, and all household etiquette.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled but did not rebuke her statement. He was quickly reminded of an interesting statistic about the social status of women in different societies across Asia. The tabted results evidently ced Chinese society with the highest social status for women among Asian countries. Japan came ninth, which was aparatively low ranking.
While Xia Lei was evaluating the statistics, Tsukino Kyoko carefully stepped upon the mat and kneeled before him.
¡°Kyoko, what are you doing?¡± Xia Lei was baffled. Tsukino Kyoko shyly covered her mouth as she let out a modest smile. Without a word, she began reaching for one of Xia Lei¡¯s feet and began removing his shoe.
¡°Alright, I can do that myself,¡± Xia Lei was left in an awkward position.
Tsukino Kyoko added, ¡°In Japan when the husband returns, the wife would proceed to remove his outdoor footwear with house slippers in this way.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not Japanese.¡± Xia Lei quicked rebuked.
¡°But I am.¡±
Nevertheless, Xia Lei knew full well that Tsukino Kyoko was a traditional Japanese ninja and an even more traditional Japanese woman. She was especially serious about etiquette like this.
Xia Lei went along with her and only went on the mat after both of his shoes were removed. He felt rather ufortable, but given that it was Tsukino Kyoko that was in servitude, he felt less guilt-ridden.
After the two had some food and water on the mat, they were out of things to do.
Xia Leiid down on the mat and began to run a simtion of his master n. All avable information was now gathered in his mind and was arranged to run in a simtion.
If a roadblock was met at any point of the simtion and the results turned awry, he would instantly generate viable alternative options to amend the mistakes and recreate urate solutions.
With his phenomenal brain capacity, he had already begun simting their infiltration into Area 51, but then it stopped.
¡°Boss, are you stargazing?¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice wafted softly beside his ear, along with the warmth of her alluring breath.
Xia Lei felt a tingling sensation by his ear as he gave it a scratch while he answered, ¡°What stars? I was just thinking about our next move.¡±
¡°Are you looking for inspiration?¡± Kyoko continued with her sensual approach as she huffed into his ear.
¡°Look, a shooting star!¡± Kyoko excitedly pointed at the night sky, her hands promptly held together with her eyes closed, seemingly making a wish at the rare sight.
Xia Lei also took to notice the shooting star whooshing past the clear night sky. He too shut his eyes even though he was extremely sceptical of the supernatural. It was hard for him to put his faith in a rock.
Yet possibly due to Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s influence, he made a wish deep down his heart. I wish my wives and kids would stay safe and sound, and that I could make it through this hurdle in two years.
The shooting starsted no more than a second and there it vanished. It might have crashed into the sea, or burnt-out before it reached the ground. It was a blink and miss.
Just as Xia Lei was emotionally reminiscing the highs and lows of life, his belt began unbuckling itself. He quickly seized the hands in question and averted the topic. ¡°Kyoko, what did you wish for?¡±
¡°It wouldn¡¯t work if I say it out loud,¡± Tsukino Kyoko replied.
Xia Lei awkwardly grinned at her response, once again sceptical of that perception but was aware of the sincerity on her face.
Tsukino Kyoko stood back up and then returned to the kneeling position before him. Her voluptuous hips pressing onto her calves, shielding it almost in its entirety from view.
Leaning forward, her pair of alluring breasts began hovering in in sight as her blouse stretched to its limits. The rest of the buttons after the third seemed to be on the verge of popping at any moment, unleashing the bunnies in all their glory.
The deep cleavage exposed in the dry desert air appeared to be the weakest cleavage of any kind in the world, for its soft, enticing appearance seemed like it would melt at the mere presence of sunlight.
Xia Lei felt that she was far more seductive in this position and with that, his intention to draw her attention backfired spectacrly as he instead got drawn towards her voluptuous bottom.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s touch was soft and delicate.
His personal restraints had reached its limits.
¡°Let me serve you,¡± with a sensual voice Tsukino Kyoko dered.
Xia Lei nodded without further thought. Life¡¯s short and painful. Why not enjoy the sweet moments in them?
Tsukino Kyoko brought herself closer to him, and his body felt lighter.
Over at the sand dunes, Anjum Khan was on his night vision binocrs and decided to peek down the slope. However, Kyoko was anticipating this and had set up the mats on the other side of the Ram truck, effectively shielding themselves from his vision.
Even if their horizontal action was obscured by an entire vehicle from view, on the heat radar, Anjum Khan could still pick up their heat signatures.
¡°Pfft, no fun,¡± Anjum Khan sighed at theck of entertainment as he turned his binocrs away towards the other side.
In Thompson¡¯s mansion, Anjum Khan noticed Alice entering the bathroom. Over on the other side of the room, Thompson was dosing himself with a mist of cologne. His mood was at a high, most likely from the money he was going to earn tomorrow along with some nocturnal entertainment.
Alice then made her entrance into Thompson¡¯s room, with him enthusiastically pulling her into his embrace.
Alice pushed Thompson away, ¡°Hubby, it¡¯s that time of the month, I can¡¯t tonight.¡±
Thompson lifted his hand to give it a quick fondle, his sexual desire promptly deted like a loose balloon.
¡°Let¡¯s go to bed honey, we still need to sell the house tomorrow. You need to be in tip-top condition.¡±
Alice turned off the lights.
Anjum Khan frowned at her words as he cursed, ¡°This little bitch sure is cunning. Not sure if the boss can handle her.¡±
Thereafter, he shifted his binocrs towards the truck as he watched.
It was going to be one hell of a sleepless night for him.
Chapter 1115 - Speed Dating
The next morning Anjum Khan steered the Ram pickup towards Thompson¡¯s mansion, while Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko camped outside by the hilltop.
Anjum Khan came up to the main gate, made clear his intention and Thompson promptly dialled up the middlemen agency and cancelled their deal. That way he could save a great sum from the broker fees.
The deal quickly came to a conclusion, with Anjum paying five-hundred grand American dors while Thompson handed over the proprietor certificate and the housing contract. After the deal was done and dusted, Thompson and Alice began packing their luggage.
Thompson and Alice disyed a final dramatic moment when Alice offered to hold the suitcase but was decisively rejected by Thompson. It was a ¡®low¡¯ point of the overwhelmingly pleasant morning.
¡°Money sure has its magic on people,¡± Over at the sand dunes, Xia Lei reactively remarked.
Tsukino Kyoko added, ¡°Thompson is almost fifty now while Alice is still so young. What else could she want from him other than his money? If Thompson wouldn¡¯t give her what she wanted, Alice would surely reconsider their rtionship. With that said, tonight is going to be interesting.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. After all, even if Alice and Thompson remainedfortable with each other, he was still confident that he could get to Alice.
Knowing full well the kind of person Alice was, he could win her away in mere minutes. The difference between Thompson and himself was drastic.
Thompson and Alice hailed a private car and left the venue. Right then, Anjum Khan went to the backyard by the swimming pool and waved to the two by the hill.
Catching his signal, Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko carried their individual utility backpacks and skidded down the sand dune and sprinted across the desert. Before long, they made it into Thompson¡¯s old home, which was now evidently Xia Lei¡¯s first freehold property in the States.
Xia Lei took a quick shower and began setting up the study for the real deal.
The target was still the Las Vegas traffic security system. His mind already had the 3D map of Las Vegas up and running and with it as a reference, he could instantly identify any subtle change in the cityscape.
Even if a new vehicle or a suspicious person were to appear, he would notice in no time.
He began by singling out the particr street that Lobo Negro had mentioned.
The Hattori family-owned V Science Corp was just right up that street. From the security cameras, nothing stood out in particr. But it was exactly that bringing about an ominous feeling radiating from this particr corner of the city.
Nevertheless, Xia Lei decided against entering the V Science Corp¡¯s office building. If he could not guarantee that the CIA had not activated the Divine sky system. A brash attempt to infiltrate the target address would lead the opponents to their location.
An hourter, Xia Lei exited the traffic security monitoring system and began reading through Japanese news updates.
Japanese media were still closely reporting on the incident that has befallen the Hattori n. Since yesterday more than a dozen of the nsmen have been assassinated.
Not just that, even the lives of important members of the V Science Corp were mysteriously taken. Now the entire n were paranoid and had avoided their office building, even reluctant to leave their own homes.
The current de-facto leader of the Hattori n, Hattori Wendy had requested for police protection and had entire squads of policemen and defence forces positioned right outside her household.
Hattori mei¡¯s mother was an American. Michael Wendy was her maiden name until she got married to Hattori Masao that she obliged to Japanese culture and took on hisst name. Now that her daughter was now dead, Hattori Wendy had taken the seat on the throne with the entire n under her control.
The Japanese police deduced that it was a terrorist attack on the n, but much of the details were still under investigation. The spokesperson of the police force utilized the media to denounce the perpetrator as a coward.
Xia Lei chuckled at that remark. But when the Hattori family, along with the samurai nsmen brought explosives to a hospital to murder my wives and kids, it¡¯s an act worthy of the warriors?
Identical ns were executed yet one was branded as a coward? As for if he would be forgiven, it hardly mattered to him. Since when do I yearn for their forgiveness anyway?
After scrolling through the news, Xia Lei sent out an email.
A bounty reward of twenty million American dors for whoever seeds in murdering Hattori Wendy. If caught alive, double the reward. With an additional video clip, topped with an additional five million bonus. Bounty duration, 72 hours.
The email was then sent to Giovanna¡¯s inbox.
In the world of assassins, the highest bounty was typically only in the range of a million. Their targets were almost always military leaders, key political figures and the like, putting whoever interested in immensely high risk.
Many of such missions would end with a majority of the assassins losing their lives before they could even get to the reward. But now out of nowhere, a bounty of over ten million was published. Their target was just a noblewoman. It was like Christmas came early.
Once the email was sent out, the Hattori n would be up for a snowstorm. Who would ultimately make it through was a tough call for anyone to guess.
Once the ¡®send¡¯ button was clicked, Xia Lei closed his eyes and began researching on the fleets of fighter jets and bombers under the Thunder Horse Organization.
Even under such soothing environments, he was unwilling to let his guard down.
The day went by just like that, and at seven that evening, the Ram truck appeared near a street by Hawaii theatres. The car door flung open and down came Xia Lei.
¡°We¡¯ll be close by to back you up, watch out boss,¡± Tsukino Kyoko reminded.
Xia Lei nodded, closed the door and went towards the cinema. Strolling down the walkway, with a Patek Philippe SA watch, LV belt by his waist, all eyes were on him.
Seeing how Xia Lei was alone, many American girls were even smiling and winking at him. Superficial women were everywhere. In a materialistic country like this one, it was very simple for Xia Lei to hook a woman. But Xia Lei was not interested in any of these girls. He wouldn¡¯t even bother to offer a nce at their direction.
By the entrance of Hawaii theatres, Alice was nowhere to be seen. After a thorough look around the area, there she was in a Ford. Through the car window, she was staring at the cinema entrance.
Xia Lei, upon noticing her, moved out of her field of vision and went straight to the entrance. But he did not lose his sight on her. He chose to observe her through the reflection of the reflector towards the Ford by the car park, and from there her every action.
If Alice were to do anything suspicious, he would signal the nearby Tsukino Kyoko and Anjum Khan in hiding and they would promptly shoot her dead.
Nevertheless, Alice did not make any acts they would consider suspicious, but instead proceeded to apply her lipstick and perfume down her armpits. That could only mean she was ready for the ¡®battle¡¯ that lies ahead.
Xia Lei waited for nearly ten minutes before Alice left the Ford and made her way towards him.
¡®My bad, the traffic was pretty bad today,¡± Alice remarked.
¡°I walked here actually.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t own a car?¡± Alice was rather surprised as she asked.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I work in the Middle East. I travel by ne.¡±
Alice¡¯s pupils instantly dted at the exposition.
Xia Lei then added, ¡°Well it sure is inconvenient without a car around here. You don¡¯t happen to have a driving license now do you?¡±
¡°I do.¡±
¡°Great! Then let¡¯s head to the showroom tomorrow. I¡¯m thinking of buying a car but you¡¯ll have to drive it. How¡¯s that sound?¡±
¡°Perfect.¡± Alice held onto his arm positively gleaming at the fact.
The couple entered the cinema and Xia Lei went to buy the tickets along with some snacks. The movie he deliberately chose was Fifty Shades of Grey.
Even after the movie started rolling, Alice was not paying it any attention. Bringing herself close to Xia Lei¡¯s ear, she asked, ¡°What¡¯s your name? I don¡¯t even know that.¡±
¡°James,¡± Xia Lei replied.
¡°I¡¯m Alice.¡± She grinned. ¡°Your name¡¯s pretty nice. 007 is also called James.¡±
¡°You mean Daniel Craig?¡± Xia Lei added. ¡°Oh, I just had tea with himst week. He¡¯s pretty busy these days. Histest installment ising real soon. You heard it here first.¡±
¡°You...you know Daniel Craig? The main protagonist in 007?¡± Alice was exhrated.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Why are you so surprised? I know James Cameron too. He¡¯s currently working on Avatar 2.¡±
¡°My god, you must be an angel.¡± Alice was mesmerized. ¡°Can you introduce me to Daniel Craig or James Cameron? I always wanted to venture into the film industry but I just never got the chance.¡¯
¡°You act?¡±
¡°Of course I do. I majored in cinematography while I was studying in France. I...I can perform for you personally if you like,¡± Alice seemed rather hasty.
Xia Lei solemnly replied, ¡°Let¡¯s finish the movie first shall we?¡±
Alice could not hide her anxiousness and dismay, but she ultimately calmed herself down. After a few minutes of silent, yet relentless viewing she added, ¡°Why me?¡±
¡°Do you believe in that feeling? That...¡± Xia Lei appeared to be in deep thought, before he continued, ¡°When two people that have never met meet for the first time feel an instant connection. Like where has this person been their whole life?¡±
¡°Love at first sight you mean?¡± Alice did her best to restrain her joy. ¡°Is that the term you¡¯re looking for?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I meant.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s say the feeling is mutual,¡± Alice brought herself forward, her hands on Xia Lei¡¯s cheeks as she gave him a tight smooch on the lips.
Love, or what it was mostly defined as was exactly that.
On the screen, the male protagonist was whipping the female protagonist, teasing, masochistic yet sensual, leaving the audience aroused.
After their frenching session came to a temporary stop, Alice shyly grinned with her hand over her mouth as she tested the waters. ¡°James, do you enjoy these games?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Well, I guess I have just the answer for you. Let¡¯s go to my house,¡± Alice held onto Xia Lei¡¯s hand. ¡°The movie is kindame, to be honest. I can do much better.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled as he proceeded to follow her lead.
Alice was alluring and really smart. She knew exactly what men wanted and gave them exactly that.
Chapter 1116 - Oscar-Awarded Best Actor and Actress
Alice¡¯s home was just a mere fifty square meters two-bedroom apartment topped off with a living room. Ever since she arrived in the US, she had rented this apartment until she met Thompson but had kept her rental payments for this tiny abode all this while.
For a young woman like herself, she undoubtedly had no ns to live with Thompson her whole life. Her intentions were well presented in this apartment she called her own. If she met a better man she would bring him to this apartment and act like she was a single woman all along.
Xia Lei could only imagine the number of men who have walked through those doors. But it did not matter. Alice fell for his wealth and his fictional connections in the film industry, while he sees her as a valuable chess piece.
Alice¡¯s apartment was well decorated, borrowing romantic influences from French culture.
¡°James, would you like a drink?¡± After inviting Xia Lei in, she promptly assumed the role of its sole proprietor.
¡°Juice, coffee, anything will do.¡±
¡°Well let¡¯s have some whiskey then.¡± Alice headed towards the liquor shelf.
It was obvious that it was just a rhetorical question. Alcohol spiked the senses, and if Alice decidedly invited him to her house, her intentions were crystal clear.
Alice brought some alcohol and both of them downed two sses.
¡°Alice, who is that old fellow?¡± Xia Lei tested the waters.
Alice blinked a few, kept her silence for a couple of moments before she replied, ¡°A friend. When I first came to America, he was the one watching after me. Does that bug you?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head, ¡°Nah, just curious.¡±
He put down his whiskey ss and held onto her tiny waist. ¡°All I care about is the feeling of us together, like the first beam of sunlight into my life. You don¡¯t know what you mean to me. Ever since I first saw you that day, you were like a magnificent doe and that geezer was an old hunter. And me, I just feel like I have to be the one to save you from his grasp.¡±
¡°You¡¯re my hero.¡± Alice gazed into his eyes, starstruck from his exposition as tears began streaming out her eyes.
What a waste that she was not in the film industry already.
Xia Lei sealed her lips with his own.
After a full two minutes, Alice finally got her chance to speak again. ¡°James, that old bag has been tormenting me, threatening me to never leave his sight. Please help me! Please! I beg you to save me from this misery. I can do anything for you in return!¡±
¡°Anything?¡± Xia Lei seemed rather surprised as his eyes exhibited a glimmer of perverted gaze.
¡°Anything you ask.¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯t let anyone hurt you, I swear I will protect you, my little doe...¡± Xia Lei reassured her in an empathetic tone.
Alice sumbed into his embrace as the two intertwined.
The whiskey bottle fell off the table and smashed to pieces.
Alice was tossed onto the couch before Xia Lei began wing at her by the throat.
Alice then rolled off to the floor while Xia Lei tugged on her hair.
Alice reemerged on the kitchen table with Xia Lei¡¯s loose belt on her voluptuous hip.
That was an exciting process for the two who never even bother to finish Fifty Shades of Grey.
Xia Lei perfectly embodied the role of Christian Grey, handsome and suave outside, yet filled with a masochistic kink on the inside.
Alice meanwhile channelled her inner Anastasia Steele, attracted by Xia Lei¡¯s mesmerising appearance and seemingly limitless wealth.
It was just as heartstopping as watching the Oscar Award-winning actor and actress at work!
Portraying as the male protagonist of the Fifty Shades of Grey was the best setup for Xia Lei to gain her trust. Any other story would not have cut it for her.
Love at first sight? There was no way Alice was going to believe that! Saying that she reminded me of my previous love, or a sister or whatnot, that would work if she was a teen! But for a woman like Alice that could y Thompson in the palm of her hands. He needed more than that.
Which is why he chose Fifty Shades of Grey as his main theme while hinting on his inner kink.
As for Alice, she knew a wealthy guy like ¡®James¡¯ could be with any woman he wanted. But why did he fall for her instead? Not to mention that their first meeting was with Thompson by her side!
Men are particrly sensitive to that, and if Xia Lei couldn¡¯t offer a usible reason then she would definitely be raising her guard. Regardless, even after multiple deductions she just could not have guessed his true intentions!
The revtion that James had a perverted, sadomasochistic kink, had dispersed all her suspicion and contemtion! When she was with James, she might be put into some physical pain and sensual tease, but it was far better than anything she had ever had with Thompson!
After the exhrating experience, the house returned to its usual silence.
Alice curled inside Xia Lei¡¯s embrace, saturated with bruises from whips and scratches. Now she really did seem like an injured little doe.
¡®James¡¯ craved her for being a pathetic little doe, not to rescue her, but to personally make her one. Yet it was all she never knew she wanted.
¡°I¡¯m calling Daniel tomorrow. I have to tell him I found the perfect choice for the next Bond girl, how¡¯s that?¡± Xia Leiforted her with a satisfied smile.
¡°Really? You wouldn¡¯t lie to me would you?¡± Alice was genuinely anxious.
Xia Lei gently caressed her bruises, appearing sorrowful as he reassured her. ¡°Of course I¡¯m serious. All you have to do now is to wait for the director¡¯s call.¡±
¡°I love you. You¡¯re really the gift personally handed to me by God Himself,¡± Alice¡¯s pupils began watering up as she replied.
¡°My little doe, I swear to you. You will get everything you deserve in this world and more,¡± Xia Lei dried the tears from the corner of her eyes and gave her a loving peck on the lips. Just when he was about to make his next move, she coyly pushed him away and crawled out of his embrace.
¡°I¡¯m taking a shower.¡±
This was already pushing her limits.
Xia Lei nodded, and off she went.
Xia Lei leapt off the couch and sprinted towards Alice¡¯s handbag, scouring through its contents to find her phone. Once he had it in his hands, he began flipping through the messages that Thompson had sent.
Thompson¡¯stest messages. Babe, where are you?
Sent an hour ago.
Babe, I¡¯m going to the base for a bit and will be back tomorrow afternoon. I was thinking of moving to your ce, think about it. Once you¡¯re done considering please text me back.
Received just half an hour ago.
Xia Lei cracked a half-smile. That bugger spent only part of his money from the sale of the house on paying off his debts. Yet he did not even spare Alice a cent. And now he wants to move into her ce? What level of stinginess is this? Who¡¯d want to be with a stingy old cunt like that? But with my help, your dreams will soone true.
Xia Lei replied to the most recent message. Alright,e over whenever you¡¯re ready.
Afterwards, he began scrolling through her contact list and memorized every single one of the phone numbers. It might serve to be of use.
Finally, he drew out a USB and connected it to the smartphone and installed his little piece of software ¡®Xiao Qian¡¯. Once Xiao Qian was imnted into her phone, not only would it guarantee Xia Lei full ess to her exact location, he could tap into every single one of her calls and messages.
This was a far superior procedure than that of the usual tapping device.
After he was done, Xia Lei deliberately ced her phone on the coffee table instead of the handbag.
Minutester, Alice came walking out of the bathroom, wrapped up with a white bath towel. A loose knot was tied on her chest. It seemed like the knot would break loose at any moment and reveal her enticing body.
Her body was dripping wet, soaking the bath towel enough to make it seem thinner and more translucent than usual.
It was clear that she chose the specific set of bath towels to unt her sexual appeal.
Xia Lei stared blindly at her, seemingly captivated.
But it didn¡¯t take long before Alice caught an eye of her phone on the table. Perplexed, she confronted, ¡°James, what did you...¡±
Xia Lei exined, ¡°I heard your phone ringing while you were in the bath so I took it out from the bag for a look.¡±
¡°Did somebody call?¡±
¡°No, it was a message from the old geezer,¡± Xia Lei answered, with a discontented look on his face.
Alice had initially be wary of him, but now that he seemed genuinely displeased, she began panicking as she reassured him. ¡°James, I¡¯ve ended everything with him. But if he threatens or bugs me again you have to stand up for me.¡±
Whilst speaking, her pupils watered up again.
¡°As I told you before, nobody will hurt you and I¡¯m gonna make sure of that.¡±
Alice let out a petite sigh of relief as she held up her phone and went through her past messages with Thompson. Before long, she singled out the message that Xia Lei sent with her name. Hesitating for a moment, she took to question, albeit uneasily, ¡°How could you make this decision behind my back James?¡±
Xia Lei bluntly reassured, ¡°You¡¯re my girl. If he hurts you, I¡¯m going to make him pay.¡±
¡°What are you going to do?¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to protect you.¡±
¡°No, James, he¡¯s a military captain, a really high ranked one. This is America, your suggestion is dangerous,¡± Alice was anxiety-ridden.
¡°Well, I got you.¡±
¡°I...¡±
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Alice, he¡¯s making me really ufortable. If I don¡¯t do something about it, I¡¯ll start to question myself as a man. This is important to me. Besides, you¡¯re going to the UK to start filming soon so why care about what he thinks?¡±
¡°What do you have in mind?¡± Alice questioned.
¡°Worry not, horrible things like kidnapping or murdering him are out of the question. You said he likes gambling right? I¡¯m good at that. All I need you to do is convince him to y a few rounds with me.¡±
Alice finally appeared relieved as she cracked a smile. ¡°I don¡¯t even need to convince him. Every time he gets his pay, he would return to the casino. But I¡¯ll do what you tell me to.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled.
Chapter 1117 - A Perverted Dumb RiChapter Guy
Chapter 1117 - A Perverted Dumb RiChapter Guy
¡°Babe, I made your favourite pasta and pizza. Will you be home for lunch?¡± Alice¡¯s voice rang through the device sweetly.
¡°Babe, I already told you. I will only be back in the evening. I have a lot to do at work,¡± came Thompson¡¯s reply.
¡°Why are you always so darn busy? I spent half a day making your favourite meal but you never once told me where your office is! I¡¯m certain you find your job much more important than me,¡± Alice grumbled over the phone.
¡°Darling, please. You know who I am. I can¡¯t simply reveal what my job entitles. Please do not question your priority in my heart. You¡¯re the most important thing to me. I swear to God.¡±
¡°You always say that. At this point, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re lying or not.¡±
Thompson sighed heavily. ¡°Alice, I pulled some strings with a friend¡¯s help and got in contact with a Hollywood director. He has agreed to cast you as a hooker.¡±
¡°A hooker?¡±
¡°Yes, a hooker role. Your screen time will be around five minutes long. You¡¯ll appear, seduce the main character, drop a pill in the ss and then get killed off by the main character.¡±
Alice didn¡¯t know what to say.
If this had happened before meeting Xia Lei, this would have been the best news. However, Xia Lei was offering her a role as a new Bond girl. Why on earth would she be overjoyed by a lowly hooker role with brief screen appearance?
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Do you not like it?¡± Thompson was confused by the silence.
¡°Oh, no. I¡¯m just too surprised, I don¡¯t know what to say... Thank you, my dear. I¡¯ll treasure this opportunity,¡± answered Alice with feigned earnest.
¡°I¡¯m d you like it. However, I have a request. If the director tries to coerce you into some kind of ¡®unsaid rule¡¯, do not consent to it. I¡¯m not doing this for my sake but for the sake of your future career.¡±
¡°Thank you, love. You¡¯re really the best.¡± Alice perked up, ¡°Darling, I too have good news for you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Do you remember that person who won all your money that night?¡±
¡°Of course I do. What¡¯s with him?¡±
¡°I went back to that casinost night and ran into him. I managed to win over a hundred thousand dors off him.¡±
¡°What? ...How much again?¡± Thompson was having a hard time believing his ears.
¡°A hundred thousand dors. No need to question it, you heard that right.¡±
¡°Oh my god. How is that possible?¡± Thompson couldn¡¯t believe it.
Alice giggled. ¡°Darling, he¡¯s not some unbeatable gambler. He¡¯s the bastard son of a chief from the United Arab Emirates. He¡¯s nothing but a spoilt prince who flies around in his private jet to seek pleasure. He has too much cash to spare and all hecked was some fun. I just yed a little trick and won a hundred thousand dors.¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Thompson broke out inughter.
¡°Babe, he¡¯s inviting me to the casino again tonight. Would you like toe?¡± Alice¡¯s melodious tone rang through the device.
¡°Of course. Now I¡¯m really pumped to see him lose his cash.¡± Thompson was positively vibrating.
¡°He doesn¡¯t really care about that bit of money. He lost a hundred thousand dors to me and yet was still generous enough to tip the dealer five thousand dors.¡±
¡°Babe, wait for me. I¡¯ll be right back!¡±
The call ended.
Alice and Thompson¡¯s exchange was ryed over Xia Lei¡¯sptop speaker in full detail. Xia Lei was not the only eavesdropping on their conversation, Anjum Khan and Tsukino Kyoko too had stretched their necks over to listen in. Other than those two, there was also Qian Jun and Sa¡¯im who had just arrived.
Sa¡¯im shed Xia Lei a thumbs-up. ¡°Boss, when ites to wooing women, you are unbeatable.¡±
Xia Lei merely regarded that with a smile. He wasn¡¯t doing this out of his free will.
Anjum Khan teased, ¡°Sa¡¯im, it¡¯s only when you manage to be as rich and handsome as the boss that you have the rights to bepared with our boss¡¯s honeypot skills.¡±
Sa¡¯im raised his middle finger at Anjum Khan.
While it was a rude gesture, the Indian did nothing more than cackle at it. There was no malice to the disy.
¡°That Alice sure is an obedient one. Boss, would you be winning over Thompson¡¯s money till he¡¯s left with nothing but his briefs?¡± Qian Jun spoke out of the blue.
Xia Lei smiled and shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll y two games tonight. I¡¯ll lose two hundred thousand dors during the first one. Then, I¡¯ll win whatever amount they have over in the second one.¡±
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members stared at Xia Lei weirdly, though it onlysted for a few seconds.
¡°You¡¯re trying to fish for a bigger fish?¡± Qian Jun was the first to respond.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°I gave Alice a hundred thousand dorsst night and I¡¯ll be letting her win another twp hundred thousand dors tonight. Keep in mind that the amount goes to Alice and not Thompson. Thompson is one hell of a gambling addict. He¡¯d definitely not want to lose a chance to get rich. However, if he wishes to challenge me to a game, I¡¯d raise my bet to three million dors. Thompson should only have around three hundred thousand dors to spare. He would be forced to get a loan to gamble with me.¡±
¡°But will he have ess to a loan that huge in a casino?¡± Tsukino Kyoko asked.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°With his status, the loan sharks would be more than willing to borrow him money. After he does that, we¡¯ll buy his IOU over from the loan sharks.¡±
¡°Is one mere IOU enough to ckmail him into submission?¡± Sa¡¯im couldn¡¯t help but feel iffy about the n. ¡°Thompson is a brigadier general. I don¡¯t think he¡¯d give in easily.¡±
Despite that, Xia Lei¡¯s smile was confident. ¡°You will find out when it happens. Just go and find a few extras with decent acting skills. I¡¯m sure you know what props are needed for loan shark characters, right?¡±
¡°Let me handle that. My informants can get this done,¡± offered Sa¡¯im.
¡°That¡¯s great. Give me a call when your informant is done.¡± Xia Lei nodded.
¡°Alright. Just wait for my call.¡± Sa¡¯im took his leave.
Hesitation dawned over Qian Jun¡¯s bodynguage. Even so, the man eventually decided to confess, ¡°Boss, about Hattori Mei¡¯s assassination. I¡¯m sorry I fucked it up. I heard about what happened in the Jingdu Army Hospital. If I hadn¡¯t messed it up, that wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡±
Xia Lei came over to his side and patted his shoulder. ¡°This wasn¡¯t your fault. It was not your marksmanship. It¡¯s highly possible that she noticed something and quickly instructed her substitute to stand in for her death. Hattori Mei is no doubt an exceptionally cunning woman. I think she might¡¯ve borrowed your hands to take out her own father, Hattori Masao. There¡¯s really no need to beat yourself up over this.¡±
Qian Jun nodded quietly. Xia Lei¡¯s reassurance had lifted off some emotional burden off his te.
Xia Lei asked, ¡°You and Sa¡¯im have stayed in America the longest. Have you received any word from my father?¡±
Qian Jun replied, ¡°Not at all. Sa¡¯im and I have been constantly trying to locate your father¡¯s whereabouts but you know how he is. If he doesn¡¯t wish to be found, he¡¯ll disappear off the face of this. No one will be able to find him.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. He was now the father of four children, which meant that Xia Changhe had just gotten himself four grandchildren. Even so, the older man had not shown up during such an important milestone. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but ponder just what had his father regarded the most priority in his life?
MGM Mirage Casino, eight in the evening.
A handsome mixed youth had graced the casino¡¯s ground once again. Today, he was seated alone in front of the slot machines. His luck was failing him tonight. He had walked through the doors at seven but had already lost more than a hundred thousand USD in less than an hour.
Casinos absolutely adored patrons like him. Behind this young man was two bunny girls. One of them had held a wine tray while the other held a tray of desserts, ready to serve him at any given moment.
This mixed youth was none other than Xia Lei.
A crowd of curious onlookers were gathered around him. Some of them were cing bets among themselves to see how much more money would this prodigal sore loser lose before giving up.
Thompson and his woman, Alice, too were part of the crowd.
¡°See that?¡± Alice whispered into Thompson¡¯s ear. She lowered her voice further, ¡°I wasn¡¯t lying. He¡¯s genuinely a thrill-seeker with too much money to spare. This is a chance to get rich. This is a rare chance for people like us toe by.¡±
¡°Would he be willing to y a game with me though?¡± Thompson couldn¡¯t help but express his doubt.
¡°It won¡¯t be an issue. He had invited me personally yesterday night. Give me a moment, darling. I¡¯ll go strike him up in a conversation.¡± With that, Alice left Thompson¡¯s side and strutted towards Xia Lei.
Thompson watched them from a distance. He saw them greet each other and began to talk casually. It didn¡¯t take long before Xia Lei was led away from the slot machines. Thompson smirked coldly at the sight. ¡°He¡¯s stupid and perverted it seems.¡±
Xia Lei followed Alice into one of the VIP lounges.
¡°He¡¯s here,¡± said Alice.
¡°We do not talk about irrelevant things,¡± reminded Xia Lei.
¡°Sorry. I¡¯ll be more cautious.¡± Alice quickly waved at Thompson and brought him over.
Xia Lei went in to open up a table while Alice waited for Thompson.
¡°Mister James, do you remember me?¡± Thompson came to Xia Lei¡¯s front and extended an arm in anticipation of a handshake.
Xia Lei ignored the friendly gesture and took a seat on the other end of the table. ¡°I¡¯m not here to make friends. Miss Alice, your friend may stay as long as he does not interrupt us.¡±
Thompson¡¯s expression darkened but the man suppressed his anger. He was a respectable man in the army but in this damned casino, his opponent tonight was a bastard prince. ¡®James¡¯ was not one of his underlings. Thompson could do nothing about theck of face shown.
Alice inched closer to Thompson¡¯s ear and whispered, ¡°Just ignore him, darling. Remember, our goal is his money.¡±
Thompson returned her a slight nod. ¡°Entertain him. I¡¯ll give you my input from the side.¡±
Alice took a seat in front of Xia Lei and ced her newly exchanged chips worth a hundred thousand USD on the table.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°That¡¯s all you got? If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯m better off ying the slot machines.¡±
Alice raised her chin ever so slightly. ¡°This sum is what you lost to mest night. I¡¯m confident I can take you down tonight as well. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here with this measly amount. Are you afraid of losing again?¡±
¡°Heh. Bold words. Very well then, I shall entertain you with two games.¡± Xia Lei waved at the dealer. ¡°Bring me my chips.¡±
¡°Right away, sir.¡± The bunny girl dealer¡¯s tone was polite. Following that, she spoke into her walkie-talkie, ¡°Please bring in Mister James chips.¡±
Before long, several waiters walked in with arge te of chips. They deftly stacked Xia Lei¡¯s chips on the gaming table. From what Thomspon could see, it amounted to at least five million USD.
The sight knocked the air out of Thompson¡¯s lungs. He marvelled at the impressive pile of chips on disy. He couldn¡¯t help but fantasize about what he could do with all that money. Perhaps he¡¯d purchase a beachfront vi with more young and gorgeous bikini girls and that one yacht he¡¯d been dreaming about.
Humans sure do love to dream and spiral deep into their own fantasy.
Chapter 1118 - The Gambling King
Chapter 1118 - The Gambling King
The game in the VIP lounge began amidst the symphony of fantasy and vices.
The bunny girl dealer dealt two hidden cards to Xia Lei and Alice respectively. Alice carefully flipped the hole cards over for a nce. It was a pair of Queens. She couldn¡¯t help but smile excitedly at the sight. Thompson was fast to kick at her heel to have her put on a poker face.
Emotional control was fundamental when it came to gambling. Thompson was well-versed in this department but Alice was not. If their opponent, ¡®James¡¯, had noticed that her cards were strong, he certainly wouldn¡¯t continue the game.
It seemed that Thompson was worried over nothing. Just as Alice had cracked a smile over her lineup, Xia Lei waspletely distracted by the dealer¡¯s breasts. The dealer was only dressed in a scanty bikini with a fluffy bunny tail sitting cutely atop her bottoms. Whenever she dealt a deck, she would incline her body forward. The sight of two hovering breasts was admittedly a wonderful sight to behold.
Thompson smirked mockingly at that. His opponent was distracted and a total pervert! Tonight was a surefire win for them!
Sure enough, when Alice threw in twenty thousand dors worth of chips, Xia Lei called it without a single sign of reluctance.
The dealer dealt the first of theirmunity cards. Alice had gotten another Queen again while Xia Lei had received an Ace. This time, thankfully, Alice did not behave childishly. She probed, ¡°Are you holding a pair of Aces?¡±
Xia Lei nonchntly replied, ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon. I¡¯m cing in another twenty thousand dors.¡±
¡°Same for me.¡± Alice threw in another twenty thousand dors worth of chips.
The dealer dealt them their secondmunity card. Xia Lei had received a Queen while Alice had received an Ace.
¡°Bet fifty thousand dors,¡± Thompson whispered in her ear.
Alice repeated his words. ¡°I¡¯ll ce fifty thousand dors.¡±
¡°Hmph.¡± Xia Lei huffed with disinterest. ¡°Same for me.¡±
The dealer gave them theirstmunity card. Xia Lei got a Ten while Alice was dealt a King. With this lineup, Alice was bound to win. Sadly, she was only left with ten thousand dors to spare. She begrudgingly tossed Thompson a look. The older man shared her sentiment and knew that this was such a wasted opportunity.
¡°Ten thousand dors is all I¡¯m left with. I¡¯m cing them all in the game. Would you like to see my hidden deck? I¡¯m bound for victory,¡± dered Alice proudly.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze was calm. ¡°Ten thousand dors is nothing. I¡¯ll follow it. Show me your deck.¡±
Alice flipped her cards over. Three Queens. Xia Lei only had an Ace. This move had cost him ten thousand dors. Yet, the man was surprisingly unfazed by his loss.
The game went on.
In the second round, Xia Lei had won over Alice¡¯s pair of Tens with three Kings. Despite that, all he won was five thousand USD. When her cards werecklustre, Alice was evidently much cautious than before.
In the third face-off, Alice had defeated Xia Lei¡¯s two pairs with a flush. She won another fifty thousand USD.
Half an hour had passed before long. The pile of chips in front of Alice had increased from a hundred thousand to a hundred and thirty thousand USD during then. She had won big and lost small, not allowing Xia Lei a single chance at winning his money back.
Thompson had taught Alice everything she knew about poker. If Alice was capable enough of winning so many times, Thompson was sure that he could at least attain five hundred thousand USD at this point from Xia Lei. He was starting to get restless from excitement.
¡°Alice, let me y with him,¡± Thompson told Alice in hushed tones, no longer able to sit still.
¡°Sure.¡± Alice let him take over.
Before Thompson could even make himselffortable, Xia Lei stood up and tossed one thousand USD worth of chips to the dealer. ¡°Okay, here¡¯s the thing. The bets in this game are too small. There¡¯s no point ying anymore. Can¡¯t you find someone who¡¯s willing to bet bigger?¡±
¡°No problem, Mister James.¡± The dealer answered him coquettishly. ¡°Please give me a moment, I¡¯ll get my manager right away. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s able to solve this issue for you.¡±
¡°Wait.¡± Thompson stood abruptly. ¡°Mister James, how much do you wish to y?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I¡¯ve prepared five million dors for the game but all you have is one hundred thousand dors. What kind of sick joke is this? I only agreed to this game because I thought she could get some new clothes. If you wish to y with me, you¡¯d need to bet at least three million dors.¡±
Thompson was caught aback. He had assumed that Xia Lei¡¯s minimum bet would be somewhere around five hundred thousand USD. If that was the case, the addition of his money, Alice¡¯s base cash and their current victory loot would be sufficient to meet the quota. It was aplete surprise that Xia Lei¡¯s standard was three million USD. Thompson could not produce that much money now. However, as a frequent casino patron, Thompson was aware that Xia Lei¡¯s request was not at all ridiculous. Heck, it was even rxed for someone like him. It was a typical practice to ce in equal bets in the game of luck. How would someone with five hundred million USD worth of chips be willing to entertain a person who¡¯s only going to bet a few hundred thousand dors?
Just as Thompson was in a daze, Xia Lei began walking towards the doors. Without looking back, he spat, ¡°Nevermind, you¡¯re pretty broke from the looks of it. Exchange my chips, I don¡¯t wish to continue this game. I have a flight to catch for Dubai tomorrow.¡±
¡°Wait,¡± Thompson called after Xia Lei. ¡°Mister James, spare me ten minutes. I¡¯ll go exchange more chips. Three million dors, right?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the least I¡¯m asking for.¡±
Thompson dashed out of the VIP lounge in a flurry. Xia Lei had first requested to change an opponent and then said to leave the game, stating the fact that he needed to return to Dubai tomorrow. With all obvious hints of leaving, how could Thompson risk letting such a fat sheep escape his grasp?
Xia Lei, on the other hand, did not choose to wait idly in the VIP lounge. He feigned paying a visit to the washroom to spy on Thompson.
It didn¡¯t take long for Thompson to g down someone who was willing to loan him money. After minutes of negotiations, the other party had agreed to the deal. It was then that Xia Lei entered the washroom. He waited for Thompson to return to the VIP lounge with fresh chips before joining them inside. He wanted to impose the impression that he had not interacted with Alice.
¡°Mister James, I now have three million dors worth of chips with me. Shall we begin?¡± Thompson was evidently impatient.
Xia Lei shed him a smile. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s start.¡±
The curtains of a new game were lifted.
In the first round, Xia Lei lost two hundred thousand USD.
In the second round, Xia Lei won one hundred thousand USD.
Subsequently, Xia Lei lost three hundred thousand USD.
Xia Lei lost another hundred thousand USD when the fourth round ended.
Later, Xia Lei won two hundred thousand USD.
This was the same as with Alice but Thompson was much more cunning and cautious than the former. He would not ce a bet when Xia Lei had bigger cards, hence he kept his losses to a minimum. As soon as he attainedrger cards, he¡¯d ce bigger bets. Thompson would win big in that case. Weirdly, Xia Lei seemed pretty unpractised in that aspect. His bets were bold when with better cards, as if not worried that his opponent would notice that about his deck. Contrastingly, when he was dealt with awful cards, he¡¯d try his darndest to lure Thompson into cing hefty bets. As they pushed and pulled, a few hundred thousand USD had be Thompson¡¯s.
The sixth card was passed around.
Thompson¡¯s hole deck was a pair of Aces. His emotions betrayed no thoughts.
Xia Lei checked his cards. The King of Spades and a Joker. He frowned.
The minute shift of his demeanour did not escape the watchful eyes of a veteran gambler. Thompson rejoiced internally, still maintaining his poker face in fear of alerting Xia Lei. Subsequently, he pushed a stack of chips towards the centre of the table. ¡°Two hundred thousand dors.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll follow your two hundred thousand with three hundred thousand dors added to the mix.¡± Xia Lei pushed a total of five hundred thousand USD to the pool of chips in the centre.
¡°Is that a threat?¡± Thompson chuckled under his breath. ¡°I¡¯ll follow.¡± There was no way Xia Lei¡¯s cards were any bigger than his pair of Aces. That was why Thompson was sure that Xia Lei was just yapping out empty barks with no bite. Thompson was worried that Xia Lei would¡¯ve fled the scene but to his surprise, Xia Lei was proactively initiating attacks. This was a sure-win situation, why would Thompson not want to take a bite of this easy meal?
Xia Lei cast a look at the dealer. ¡°Cards, please.¡±
The dealer dealt them each amunity card. Thompson had attained an Ace while Xia Lei received a Ten of Spades.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re holding a three of a kind. I¡¯m cing another five hundred thousand dors in. You¡¯ll only follow if you have a three of a kind.¡± Thompson mumbled to no one as he pushed another stack of chips to the centre of the table.
¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re holding three Aces. I¡¯ll match it. Please deal the next card.¡± Xia Lei pushed equivalent chips to the table.
The dealer presented them with their nextmunity card.
Thompson had gotten his fourth Ace.
Xia Lei had gotten a Queen of Spades.
Thompson had four of a kind. All Aces. On the other hand, Xia Lei¡¯s biggestbination was only pairs of either Tens or Queens.
Eyes burning holes into the two disyed cards, Xia Lei brows were knitted tighter. He was even checking his wristwatch constantly, evidently a little on edge.
Thompson studied his expressions and the cards in front of him. He thought to himself, ¡°What are his hole cards like? He did not hesitate to follow my blind bet of two hundred thousand dors and even willingly added in three hundred thousand. He¡¯s definitely holding a pair. When I had three Aces, he followed my five hundred thousand dor bet. There¡¯s no doubt that he¡¯s holding three Tens. One of his known cards was Nine. If she deals him another Nine, it¡¯d just be nothing more than a regr flush. There¡¯s no way his cards would add up to a Royal Flush because he has no idea what his fifth card would be...¡±
¡°Mister Thompson, please state your bet.¡± The scantily-dressed dealer helpfully reminded.
Seemingly confident with his analysis, Thompson¡¯s heart was in a frenzy. At the reminder of the dealer, Thompson graciously pushed all of his chips to the table. ¡°I¡¯m all in. Will you follow?¡±
Xia Lei mirrored him. ¡°Where¡¯s the fun in gambling if we don¡¯t take risks? I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll manage to get four Aces. Deal the final card.¡±
The dealer gave them theirst card.
Thompson had received a Queen.
Xia Lei had received a Nine of Spades.
Thompson generously opened both his hole cards. He was emotional, ¡°Four Aces. Let¡¯s see how you¡¯ll beat me.¡±
Xia Lei regarded him with no visible expression.
¡°Hahaha... Your gambling techniques are so-so.¡± Thompson stood and reached over to reim his prize. The mountain of chips had proved to be too much to pull over. The older man needed to spread his arms wide to bring all of it to his side.
Just as he was about to wrap his arms around the pile, Xia Lei finally revealed his hole cards. With nonchnce, he stated, ¡°Royal Flush. I guess that counts as my victory, right?¡±
Crack!
Thompson¡¯s veins jolted violently. He froze. Before Xia Lei had flipped his cards over, Thompson had felt like the luckiest bastard in the world. His entire being was vibrating out of joy and his heart was aze! Sadly, all mes were extinguished with Xia Lei¡¯s unexpected Royal Flush.
How was this possible?
Thompson¡¯s brain went numb with terror.
Xia Lei dusted his cks and stood up. He grinned at Thompson. ¡°Mister Thompson, as I said, the gambling spirit is what makes this game fun. I defeated you with a Nine of Spades. You had been very lucky all along but Lady Luck won¡¯t be following you forever. You¡¯ve lost.¡±
Thompson continued to stare nkly at the cursed Royal Flush.
Xia Lei grabbed five thousand USD worth of chips and handed it over to the dealer. ¡°This is your tip. Help me bring my chips to the counter.¡±
¡°Thank you! Thank you!¡± The dealer was too happy.
¡°This is impossible!¡± Thompson finally responded. He roared at the top of his lungs. ¡°You¡¯re cheating!¡±
Xia Lei looked at him, unimpressed. ¡°Gamble is a form of deception. Haven¡¯t you been deceiving me throughout the game? I¡¯ve only done it once and tricked you into believing that luck was on your side. That is more than enough for me tonight. Good night, Mister Thompson. If you wish to y again, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯d have to wait till I¡¯m back from Dubai.¡± Letting his sentence fall, Xia Lei pushed the handles and left.
¡°I... I need to use the washroom.¡± Alice too mbered up and fled the scene.
Thompson plopped his ass down unceremoniously onto the carpeted floor. His mind reyed hisst hand again and again. He was sure he hadn¡¯t missed a single detail.
Never in his life would he expect Xia Lei to know whatever cards were in the dealer¡¯s hand before it was even dealt. In other words, before the game had even begun, Xia Lei knew that Thompson was doomed.
Oftentimes, good cards did not necessarily mean victory.
Throughout the game, Xia Lei was merely waiting for Thompson to have a winning hand. That was going to be the moment Xia Lei would defeat Thompson.
Chapter 1119 - Extras
Chapter 1119 - Extras
The casino was lively tonight, filled withughter and sighs of disappointment. Some women pitched their seductive tones to appease men in the midst of the metallic pings and pangs of the different game machines.
Despite how loud they were, those noises were non-existent to Thompson¡¯s ears. All he could hear was a resonating voice that screamed, ¡°What do I do? What do I do? What do I do...¡±
He had lost all of his money, including the two million USD he borrowed from the loan sharks and the payment for his house. Losing the money that genuinely belonged to him was no issuepared to the pile of debt he now owed the loan sharks. Suddenly, Thompson felt out of breath.
He was fully aware of what the debt would spiral into. A never-ending increase of interest. It wouldn¡¯t require a month before his debt would snowball into five million USD. Thompson had no way to return such an amount.
He soullessly wandered out of the casino. A familiar back appeared in his field of vision. It was Alice, passionately embracing some other man. She whined yfully and snuggled deeper into his chest. Before his eyes, she offered the man a warm moist kiss. Thompson stared at the man¡¯s face hard. Wasn¡¯t that James? The man who single-handedly brought him hell?
¡°You fucking bitch!¡± As he took in the sight of Alice and James making out in the parking lot, everything became clearer to Thompson. Everything in that game was nothing but a lie from the start till its end!
He stormed over to them. Before he could even get close, he collided into someone. Thompson was knocked onto the ground by the impact.
¡°Hey! Watch where you¡¯re going!¡± The other party who had also fallen was a fuming Arabian.
Thompson was not in the headspace for petty arguments. He mbered up, just in the nick of time to watch Alice climb into a brand new Ferrari. In a blink of the eye, Alice was gone like the wind. Where was Thompson going to find James in this big bustling Sin City?
¡°I swear I¡¯ll kill you all!¡± Thompson¡¯s expressions morphed into something terrifying.
The Arabian on the ground seemed to be shocked by the unwarranted disy. He quickly stood and ran away.
Thompson dashed to the parking lot and climbed into his military off-road vehicle. He began to follow the direction where Alice had left.
Sadly, a military off-road vehicle was not faster than a Ferrari. Thompson was quick to lose sight of that cursed luxury sports car. He then made the decision to drive to Alice¡¯s apartment. Thompson had believed that if Alice willed to escape, she¡¯d need to return to her apartment to pack her luggage. Her passport was still at home. She¡¯d have no choice but to retrieve it if she was going to leave America.
Amidst the suffocating tension, Thompson received a call.
¡°Hey, Mister Thompson.¡± A cold, dark voice rang through the device. ¡°You said you¡¯d return my money after the game. I only agreed to lend it out of trust but you lost everything. When are you nning to return me my money?¡±
¡°Rest assured that I¡¯ll return your money in due time. I just need more time.¡± Thompson chewed the insides of his cheek.
¡°Hmph! Your monthly sry is nowhere near ten thousand dors. Even if you starve to save up, it¡¯ll take you at least thirty years to repay my principal. What about my interest? More time will only mean increased interest. Are you nning to have me wait for two hundred years?¡±
¡°No, no, no. I won¡¯t take long... I¡¯ll think of a way to get you your money as soon as possible.¡±
¡°You have three says to sort this out.¡±
¡°Three days? How am I supposed to do that?¡±
¡°That¡¯s none of my concern. Three days and if you don¡¯t return me my money, I¡¯ll go ask for it from your daughter. She lives in Manhattan, right? I heard she has a son too.¡±
¡°You...¡±
Doot doot doot. The line went dead.
¡°Fuck!¡± Thompson punched the steering wheel, causing the front wheels to swerve into a roadside palm tree. Vehemently, he straightened his course and mmed on the pedal. The military off-road vehicle zoomed forward.
The mes of wrath set his heart aze. Calming down was not an option now.
He did indeed have a daughter that resided in Manhattan. He loved her more than anything. His daughter was his biggest treasure in life, one that no one could ever rece. He could endure all the humiliation but he would never let anyoney their hands on his daughter.
¡°I must get my money back! I must!¡± His heart screamed like a beast.
He made it to Alice¡¯s apartment in record time. He noticed her brand new Ferrari parked on the premises. The sight of it had no doubt sparked another me that clouded his conscience. He leapt off the vehicle, opened the boot and brought out a pistol from one of the toolboxes. He slotted the weapon in his belt and entered the apartment.
He did not bother to knock, directly lodging the extra keys Alice had given him prior in their rtionship. With quick steps, he came to the door of her bedroom. The doors were opened and Alice was in the middle of packing her luggage.
Noticing Thompson in her proximity, Alice jolted frantically. But she was quick to recover from the shock. ¡°Thompson, what are you doing here?¡±
Thompson scoffed coldly. ¡°Alice, you¡¯re thinking of leaving me so soon?¡±
Alice huffed, ¡°You¡¯re penniless and you¡¯re in great debt! Why would I want to stay by your side? You¡¯re not handsome and your cock is not impressive. You¡¯re nothing! You¡¯re nothing but a broke fuck right now!¡±
Hatred shed through Thompson¡¯s eyes. He screamed at Alice, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare leave me at a time like this! I¡¯ve done plenty for you!¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± Alice snorted lightly. ¡°I admit that you¡¯ve done a lot for me but did I not repay that by sleeping with you? You¡¯re a wrinkly old man and I¡¯m in my early twenties. What else am I if not a gold digger?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll talk about our rtionship some other day. Tell me, did you work with that motherfucking James to deceive me tonight?¡± Thompson strode over to Alice. Rage and malice were overflowing out of his body.
¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Alice instinctively took a step back.
¡°Quit lying. I saw you leave with a brand new car. You bought that with my money, right?¡±
¡°What the fuck are you bullshitting about?!¡± Alice¡¯s back made contact with her closet. There was nowhere else to run now.
Thompson abruptly grabbed a fistful of Alice¡¯s cor andnded a punch on her cheek. ¡°You filthy bitch! You fucking bitch! I treated you with kindness but you repaid it by deceiving me with another man! Return me my money! Give me my money!¡±
¡°Fuck off! Stop it or I¡¯m calling the cops!¡± Alice heaved and huffed, pulling out her phone to threaten Thompson. There was some blood seeping out from the corner of her lips. Yet, she did not seem to be in pain.
Thompson pointed the pistol at her chest. ¡°Bitch! Put the phone down and give me my money back! I¡¯m demanding what is rightfully mine!¡±
Alice hissed, ¡°I don¡¯t owe you anything! Get the fuck out! I¡¯m not involved with you at all! So what if I deceived you? Come on, shoot me! Shoot me if you dare!¡±
Thompson¡¯s grip trembled.
Alice was out of control. ¡°Since you¡¯re so eager to know more about my rtionship with James, I¡¯ll tell you. He¡¯s hot, he¡¯s young and he¡¯s bloody rich. He even got me in touch with a director to be the next generation Bond girl and not some fucking hooker! He¡¯s levels above you in bed. Do you know? I don¡¯t need to fake my orgasms when he fucks me! I¡¯m more than willing to do anything for him!¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± Thompson went berserk, his hands went trembling violently at the provocation. Before he knew it, the finger he had over the trigger delivered the final blow.
Bang!
A red stter of blood blossomed on the span of Alice¡¯s chest. Her eyes rolled back and flew shut. Instantly, her body ceased all movement, almost as if she was deboned and left behind as a pile of limp flesh. Blood began to seep through her shirt, dyeing one side of her breasts maroon.
Thompson was stunned.
Tonight was no doubt the darkest day of his life!
Running footsteps were heard from outside the door, causing Thompson to frantically turn around. A few intimidating armed men had burst through the doors. Not only were they brandishing pistols but also terrifying shotguns.
¡°Put your weapon down!¡± Their leader shouted at Thompson. ¡°Put that down or we will open fire!¡±
ck! A few dark muzzles were raised at Thompson in unison.
Thompson was scared shitless. ¡°Who... Who are you? I wasn¡¯t nning on killing her. I messed up...¡±
¡°Shut up!¡± The muscr man roared. ¡°We¡¯re here for the money!¡±
As soon as Thompson realized that they were here to collect his debt, he felt some hope. He quickly followed, ¡°Hadn¡¯t I worked out a deal with your boss? He agreed to give me three days time to pay off the debt. Why are you here now?¡±
¡°The amount you owe is no small deal. Our boss fears that you may run away with the money. That¡¯s why he sent us over to keep an eye on you. But you fucking killed someone!¡± The grizzly man whipped his palm across Thompson¡¯s cheek harshly. His expressions were terrifying. ¡°You killed the bitch with our money! How are you going to return our boss¡¯s money? Bastard!¡±
¡°I...¡± Thompson was positively panicking now. ¡°As long as you keep this a secret, no one will find out. That way I will be able to pay your boss back.¡±
¡°You little fuck! Do you want us to kill your daughter and grandson?!¡± The grizzly leader roared in his face.
¡°No... No, please. Don¡¯t do that. I swear I¡¯ll pay the money back. For real, I will definitely pay it back.¡± Thompson was pushed to his limit, tears were beginning to roll out of his rims.
¡°Fuck!¡± The big man hit Thompson¡¯s skull with the back of his gun.
With a muted thud, Thompson¡¯s vision weed a flood of darkness. He slumped over to the floor.
As soon as Thompson was knocked unconscious, Alice¡¯s eyes flew open. She mbered up from her spot and gingerly probed at her moistened front. The woman huffed out a dryugh. ¡°This looks pretty convincing. What a pity for my clothes. This top wasn¡¯t cheap.¡±
The menacing group of big men stared at her weirdly.
Alice was taken aback. ¡°What are you looking at? It¡¯s time to work. But I gotta say... Your acting skills were pretty on par.¡±
At this moment, an Asian man walked to the front. He fixated a cold gaze on Alice.
Alice tilted her head in confusion. ¡°Where¡¯s James?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll find him in hell.¡± The Asian man snorted, ¡°Idiot.¡±
Alice froze. ¡°What are you talking about? Are you not extras hired by James?¡±
Without warning, the Asian man karate-chopped her carotid artery.
Eliciting a muffled groan, Alice crumbled to the ground.
The Asian mannguidly squatted down to pick up Thompson¡¯s discarded pistol. He removed the prop magazine inside and reced it with its genuine counterpart.
It was only then that work truly began for the burly men. They took photographs and dragged the unconscious couple away.
Chapter 1120 - Your Guardian Angel
Chapter 1120 - Your Guardian Angel
Darkness seeped away as a hint of light reced it slowly. Alice had finally regained her consciousness. She blinked away the weight over her eyes. Squinting her eyes in an effort to focus on the things before her. She saw a round ceilingmp. A spider was busy weaving its web beside the light.
Where is this?
She struggled to sit up. A brief observation of her surroundings had revealed that this was a windowless basement. She was ced atop a bed with nothing to clothe her body.
There was no one else inside the basement except for her. The overwhelming silence was suffocating. Alice willed herself to jog through the events prior to her unconsciousness. Yet, she could not figure out why a bunch of hired extras would want to attack her. Based on James¡¯s n, she should be at the best hotel in Las Vegas in thepany of her beloved James with some champagne and a night of pleasure. Subsequently, James would bring her along to Ennd the very next day and turn her into the next Bond girl. So why on earth was she stuck in a lonely basement in her birthday suit?
Two minutester, Alice got off the bed with wobbly steps. No matter how hard she tried, the door just didn¡¯t seem to budge. The door was made of 304 stainless steel and was locked from the outside. There was no way she could open it.
¡°Let me out! Let me out!¡± Alice screamed and screamed and screamed.
She heard a set of approaching footsteps. Then, a feminine voice rang out, ¡°Pipe it down or I¡¯ll let a few snakes loose into the basement.¡±
Inexplicably, the mention of snakes immediately had Alice hover a protective arm over her genitals. Her initially flushed face quickly went pale.
¡°Good girl. Stay quiet and you¡¯ll be spared from harm. If you continue to make a ruckus or try to escape, I can guarantee that I¡¯m more than capable of turning you into seven hundred individual pieces with an electric saw.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was cold and merciless.
¡°Who... Who are you?¡± Alice¡¯s voice shook. ¡°Why am I here?¡±
¡°Why do you think you¡¯re here?¡±
¡°I... I don¡¯t know.¡± Alice was suddenly reminded of something. ¡°Where¡¯s James? Where¡¯s my James?¡±
¡°Your James? Haha...¡± The woman behind the door chortled. ¡°He¡¯s probably raising a ransom amount for you. You can be certain that he¡¯s a good man if he really spends a fortune to rescue you.¡±
¡°He¡¯s willing to pay my ransom?¡±
¡°That would have to depend on how much he loves you.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve only met him two days ago. You¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡±
¡°We all can see that the man is deeply infatuated with you. He¡¯s most probably going to pay the ransom. Now you wait and maybe pray.¡± The woman left the door, her footsteps increasingly distant.
Alice remained at the door for a beat before dragging her heavy limbs to the bed sluggishly. She fell onto the mattress heavily. Her round buttocks and tiny waist were littered with traces of a wild night with James.
She was gorgeous but there was only one distracted spider there to appreciate her beauty.
Meanwhile, on a desert span in the outskirts of Las Vegas. A rude awakening brought by an unweed ssh of water had jolted Thompson awake. His coughs were violent as he choked on some water.
When Thompson had finally stabilized his breathing, he saw someone. A familiar face that fuelled his entire being with hatred and fear.
The man standing before him was none other than James who had brought him this nightmare.
Realizing that it was indeed James, Thompson roared and lunged at him.
Xia Lei did not move away. He calmly waited till Thompson came closer to stomp him away.
Thompson¡¯s body was sent flying away for a few metres before making contact with the sandy ground loudly. Despite the soft substrate, this stomp had made Thompson see stars.
Xia Lei paced over to Thompson.
Thompson began to crawl backwards all while shaking in fear. ¡°Honestly, who are you?¡±
Xia Lei paused a few footsteps away from Thompson, a gorgeous curvature adorning his lips. ¡°I¡¯m an angel sent from above to rescue you. You can say that I¡¯m your guardian angel.¡±
Thompson was about to spit out blood.
This darned bastard had dragged him to a living hell and yet was ballsy enough to call himself his guardian angel!
Xia Lei paced over to a stationary Ford pickup truck and flipped the cargo cover open.
Thompson¡¯s eyes went wide. The cargo was filled to the brim with stacks of green dor bills! From the looks of it, there was at least fifty million USD in cash! Under the burning sun, those bills certainly looked like they were glowing.
Xia Lei pped the fat stack of cash and brought out a piece of IOU from his pocket. He paraded it in front of Thompson¡¯s face. ¡°God has instructed me to shut off a door for you and open another window up. Your future is now in my hands. You¡¯ll be salvaged if you do as I say. To be surrounded constantly by pretty youngdies, a luxurious yacht that will bring you around the globe and enough money to purchase a private ind in the Pacific Ocean to build your mini kingdom. Isn¡¯t that everything you¡¯ve hoped for?¡±
¡°You... Who the fuck are you?¡± After all, Thompson was no idiot. His first response after Xia Lei¡¯s ridiculous deration and request was to think that he was a spy. Everything that happened was nothing more than a ploy since the very beginning.
¡°I believe I made it clear. I am your guardian angel.¡±
¡°Bullshit!¡± Thompson struggled to stand with good effort. The man seemed to have regained some dignity, even his tone had firmed up. ¡°Tell me, are you working for China or Russia? Or are you Iranian?¡±
¡°Have you seen a Russian spy this good-looking? Have you encountered any Chinese spy that is more than willing to give you an entire car of cash? Have you seen an Iranian spy who would feast on pork chops?¡± The mockery was ever-present in Xia Lei¡¯s speech.
¡°If you¡¯re not a spy, what are you supposed to be?¡± Thompson narrowed his gaze. ¡°Why did you design this borated trap? What do you want from me?¡±
¡°My identity is not important. What is important is that I have the power to save you,¡± said Xia Lei like it was a matter of fact.
Thompson¡¯s gaze swam back to the stacks of cash in the back of the pickup truck, then to the IOU strip in Xia Lei¡¯s grip. Hesitation overwhelmed his heart and his eyes were growing hot with greed and lust.
If a person who had just made it out of hell had found out that he was still very much alive, his courage would definitely be several times greater than before. That was what Thompson was feeling that very moment. While he remained unsure of Xia Lei¡¯s intentions, he was already itching for the money.
Thompson¡¯s reluctance didn¡¯tst long. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Simple things that will go under the radar. All you need to do is bear with it for ten hours and I can promise you that your life will be vastly different after that.¡±
¡°What if I say no?¡± Thompson was the kind of man who did not believe in anything free.
Xia Lei chuckled at that. ¡°If you reject my offer, this IOU will be returned to the loan sharks. They¡¯ll kill your daughter and your grandson. You, on the other hand, will be subjected to a life sentence for killing Alice. I heard a white ass is a hit in the prison. I suggest that you remember to bring along more Vaseline. They¡¯d definitely want to have their way with you.¡±
¡°Fuck you!¡± Thompson lunged towards Xia Lei like an aggravated beast.
One secondter, he was thrown away again. This time, his fall was harder.
Xia Lei regarded him coldly. ¡°Those loan sharks can be pretty inhumane. It¡¯s not hard to imagine what will be of your daughter. You should think this through. I have fifty million dors in my car. This sum is enough to allow early retirement so you can enjoy life longer. Rejecting me is no big deal. I¡¯ll just go search for my next target if that happens. But on your part, this is a once in a lifetime chance. Missing this might ce you in the deepest parts of hell.¡±
Thompson¡¯s mind was in a frenzied state. The dilemma was real. One voice was telling him to say yes and the other one was telling him to say no. The merging of the voices had made it difficult to settle on a decision.
Xia Lei mmed the cover down and began walking to the driver¡¯s seat. Just as he cracked the door open, Thompson finally spoke.
¡°Wait!¡± Thompson mbered up, fisting up to wipe at the blood on his lips. ¡°Tell me, just what exactly do you want me to do for you?¡±
Xia Lei spared him a nce. ¡°It¡¯s simple, really. Work for me.¡±
¡°Work for you?¡± Thompson was dumb-founded. ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Xia Lei exined, ¡°You¡¯re a brigadier general of the American Army. You¡¯re in charge of security work in Area 51 and you hold high authority power. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of Project Shepherd.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re after Project Shepherd!¡±
¡°Did that surprise you?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were cold and calctive. ¡°Between me going after the project or going after your daughter, which would you prefer?¡±
¡°Project Shepherd currently holds the highest confidentiality level in the whole of America. The request you¡¯re asking of me is very dangerous. A slight mishap willnd us both in grave danger. I hope you¡¯ve thought this through.¡± The edge in Thompson¡¯s tone was gone.
Xia Lei said, ¡°As long as you follow my instructions down to the letter, we¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll get what I want and you¡¯ll get fifty million dors to start anew. We won¡¯t keep in contact after this is over. It¡¯s just a mere ten-hour long partnership. What is there fear about?¡±
Thompson went deadly silent. Xia Lei made it sound so easy but the veteran soldier knew that treason was a crime punishable by death in this country. He couldn¡¯t help but hesitate.
Xia Lei raised an eyebrow. ¡°Mister Thompson, do you remember what I saidst night on the table? There are often times when a little gambling spirit is needed in life. If you don¡¯t dare to gamble, do you know how awful your life would turn out to be? Think of your daughter and grandchild. Think of prison. Why are you still hesitating?¡±
Thompson gnawed his lip. ¡°Fine! I¡¯m in! What¡¯s the n?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll find out soon. But before we begin, you need to prove your loyalty to me.¡± Xia Lei crossed his arms.
Thompson¡¯s gaze was steely. ¡°I have nothing left. How do you want me to prove my loyalty?¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°I¡¯m not the only one interested in Project Shepherd. There¡¯s this Japanese woman that is equally interested. Help me invite her over. If you can aplish that, I¡¯ll consider that as a disy of loyalty and I¡¯ll give you your IOU.¡±
¡°What about the fifty million dors?¡± Thompson was rather cautious.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°You¡¯ll receive the full amount after the deal ispleted.¡±
¡°No. I want half of it when I invite that person out!¡± Thompson frowned.
Xia Lei smiled at him. ¡°Money is a small issue for me. Since you¡¯re so eager for it, I¡¯ll pay you half when you get that done.¡± Pausing for a moment, he stretched his arms open. ¡°Now,e over and give your guardian angel a hug!¡±
Just as they embraced, Qian Jun clicked the camera shutter from a nearby sand dune.
Things were progressing smoothly ording to Xia Lei¡¯s n.
Chapter 1121 - Unity
Chapter 1121 - Unity
Regardless of whatever decided to befall the world, time would never freeze. It¡¯d move forward with an undisturbed speed. Every second was a second closer to death.
No matter how hard you¡¯ve hustled, no matter how much money you made per year, as soon as your time has reached its end, nothing would be left of you.
Sadly, there weren¡¯t many in the world that could grasp such a simple concept.
Hattori Mei was one of them.
V Science Corporation Limited branch office.
¡°Damn it!¡± Hattori Mei smashed the coffee mug onto the tiled floor. Spread wide in front of her was a piece of intel offered by Japan¡¯s HyperTech intelligence department. Someone was offering a twenty million USD bounty on her mother¡¯s head. The reward would be greater if she was brought in alive instead. It was almost as if the world had decided to treat the Hattori n like animals in a ughterhouse!
The Hattori n had originated from Hattori Hanzo. For centuries, they had never once faced such doom as today. What made Hattori Mei grow ufortable was the fact that the glory, belief and spirit that her n had cultivated throughout the years was trampled over and deemed worthless!
Yagyu Yuichi and a hoard of Japanese samurais watched Hattori Mei in silence. What the Hattori n had faced was equally humiliating as it was to them. But what could they possibly do to help the situation? Those assassins were merely working their asses off for money. Even if they rushed back to Japan and killed off all assassins, it would just prompt more to travel over to theirnd. It was a never-ending cycle.
¡°And here I was thinking that he was a humane person. I can¡¯t believe he actually went ahead and did something so unspeakable! Bastard! Filthy animal! Scumbag!¡± Hattori Mei roared uncontrobly like an agitated wolf.
¡°Mei, calm down.¡± Yagyu Yuichi reassured, ¡°Your mother is protected by the Japanese Police Force and the Land Defense Team. I reckon she¡¯ll be alright for the time being. You need to focus on baiting Xia Lei out of his hiding spot. He is the one offering the bounty. You can void it as soon as you take him out.¡±
A tall woman with fox-like features shifted in her borate kimono. ¡°We¡¯ve been here in America for a while now. Each day was spent with unease, yet the man in question had yet to show himself. Hattori Mei, didn¡¯t you guarantee his appearance? Why is he in Japan doing as his please and humiliating the entire samuraimunity with his cash? You told us to be patient. But this is what our patience is rewarded with?¡±
Leader of the Hatano-ryu, Hatano Naoka, expressed her displeasure. While she looked not a day over twenty, she was actually in her forties. Despite that, age did not tamper her beauty. She was a gorgeous woman that radiated lust.
¡°That Chinese bastard is using his wealth to buy the lives of the Hattori n. Your family too runs a gigantic conglomerate, why are you not cing bounties on his head too?¡± A middle-aged man with a petite stature spoke.
He was the leader of the Koga-ryu, Sanada Saruo. He was only about one hundred and sixty centimetres tall and his body mass was no more than sixty kilogrammes, the man looked more like a quiet teacher than a veteran samurai. Despite that, his looks were a mere illusion. Sanada Saruo¡¯s true colours were akin to a sharp de. While it was short, it could cut through bones and easily reap one¡¯s soul.
Hattori Mei answered, ¡°If that was a viable choice, I would¡¯ve used half the n¡¯s wealth as prize money over bounties on him, his women and children¡¯s head. But it¡¯s just not effective. Xia Lei¡¯s house is right beside the Thunder Horse Organization and his family spends most of their time holed up in the Peace Mansion. There¡¯s no need to mention Xia Lei¡¯s personal armed force. Just by the protection offered by the Chinese state government, there¡¯s no way an assassin could do their job. You need to understand that their government had stationed two thousand personnel of China¡¯s most elite Special Force Team around Xia Lei¡¯s territory. Aside from that, there are also two anti-aircraft missile systems installed in the premises. Added with the Thunder Horse¡¯s Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle, the ZTZ100 main battle tank and the Hellbound One-Soldier Cannon are also present. Any attempts to kill Xia Lei in his homnd will be fruitless. We need to lure him out of the country to even stand a chance.¡±
¡°I had enough!¡± A strong samurai with a height of at least two metres interjected. ¡°I had enough of your countless ns and direction changes. You¡¯vee up with so many ns and all of them have fallen through. That fucking Chinese parasite is still alive and well. If you¡¯re not going to make a move, I¡¯ll be leading my own operation.¡±
The person who spoke was a legendary existence in the samuraimunity. He was the leader of the Fuma n, Fuma Kotaro.
The name, Fuma Kotaro, was heredity. The fifth Fuma Kotaro was one of the three most legendary ninjas that had ever served during Japan¡¯s Sengoku Period. The leader of each Fuma generation was blessed with a tall body and extraordinary strength. It was said that the fifth-generation Fuma Kotaro stood at two metres tall and had his body covered in fleshy tumours. His face was horrible. Bulging eyes, a wide sinister jaw that had four abnormally sharp canine teeth peeking through each corner. His voice had rung like a deep bell and his roars could be miles away.
While the Fuma Kotaro of this generation was not as terrifying as his ancestor, he was admittedly halfway there. Among the crowd of samurais, he was the most eye-catching and intimidating of them all. A re from him was enough to shut a wailing child up.
Which totally made sense for him to be the only one who dared to call Xia Lei a parasite.
¡°Fuma Kotaro, we must not rush into this.¡± Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s tone remained courteous. ¡°The Hattori n are going through hard times now. Mei is visibly upset, but she had been doing a good job of holding herself together. We are a unit and Xia Lei is the mutual enemy of the Japanese empire and its people. If we fight each other before fighting him, how are we supposed to destroy Xia Lei? You must understand that the man is capable of chasing away America¡¯s Seventh Fleet single-handedly!¡±
Fuma Kotaro huffed coldly but went silent. Sure, he was irritated but he had to admit that even his impressive family would not be able to achieve Xia Lei¡¯s feat.
¡°Master Yagyu.¡± The gorgeous Hatano Naoka uttered, ¡°From what I heard, one of your disciples, Tsukino Kyoko, is a servant of Xia Lei. Her hands must¡¯ve been stained with the blood of our people. What do you n to do about her?¡±
¡°Hmph! There¡¯s no need to remind me!¡± Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s gaze turned icy. ¡°I¡¯ll kill her personally!¡±
¡°If you can¡¯t do it, there¡¯s always the choice of letting me take over,¡± offered Hatano Naoka.
Sanada Saruo called for his attention. ¡°Master Yagyu, I must say that your disciple is admirable. Will she be open to joining our cause?¡±
Yagyu Yuichi grimaced lightly. ¡°I tried but to no avail.¡±
¡°Why?¡± Sanada Saruo asked.
¡°No particr reason,¡± Yagyu Yuichi offered a curt reply. He couldn¡¯t help but be reminded of the lewd nothings his disciple had spilt over the phonest time. That was tant disrespect that could only bepensated with her warmblood!
The office slipped into stifling silence. Everyone¡¯s heart burdened with untold stories.
The ufortable quietness had stretched on until Hattori Mei disturbed it, ¡°Judging by the timing, Xia Lei should be in Las Vegas now. He¡¯s a master of hiding. If he wasn¡¯t, the CIA¡¯s face recognition system would¡¯ve long notified us of his presence. I¡¯m guessing that he had set up a temporary base in the outskirts. I¡¯ll be sending HyperTech agents over to scout the area...¡±
Fuma Kotaro interjected again. ¡°If he¡¯s hiding, it means that he is also aware that you¡¯re here. He¡¯s deliberately not showing himself. It¡¯s a clear sign that he already knows that this is all a trap. Would hee even if he¡¯s clear about our n?¡±
¡°We can¡¯t continue waiting like this. We need a change of ns,¡± said Sanada Saruo.
¡°I agree.¡± Hatano Naoka expressed her support.
Hattori Mei was silent for a beat. ¡°Alright. Since this is the majority sentiment, let¡¯s talk about a new viable approach.¡±
The samurais nced at one another. While they were dissatisfied and had qualms about Hattori Mei¡¯s initial n, it seemed that they did not have the requirements toe up with a brand new strategy. They were ninjas that killed people who walked in the sun. But their chances of killing someone who hid in the shadows were low.
No one had provided usable suggestions. Hattori Mei sighed and relented, ¡°Then we shall stick to my n. I¡¯ll call Yan Fo and Augustan now and invite them over. Aside from them, I¡¯ll also be inviting another key character. Erik, the person in charge of the AE Research Centre. The addition of three of them and me would certainly pique Xia Lei¡¯s motivation to show himself.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi had his own set of concerns. ¡°But what if the FA members refuse toe?¡±
Hattori Mei was confident. ¡°They¡¯lle, trust me. They¡¯re as eager as me to see Xia Lei perish.¡±
Meanwhile, in an abandoned farm building, north of Las Vegas.
Xia Lei stood at the basement¡¯s door. He watched Alice, who was still asleep on the bed, through the stainless steel door as guilt ate his heart. After all, the man was using her in the greater scheme of things.
Footsteps approached him from behind.
Without turning back, Xia Lei asked in hushed tones, ¡°Kyoko, why did you strip her clean?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko replied, ¡°I was worried that she¡¯d run away. It¡¯s also a precautionary measure to check if she had any spy bugs nted on her.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°She¡¯s just an ordinary girl. Return her clothes soon, okay?¡±
¡°I can give her clothes but...¡±
¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to say. I know killing her off would be safer than keeping her alive. While it is beneficial for us, I refuse to do that.¡± Xia Lei smiled wryly. ¡°If we kill her, we are no different from Hattori Mei and the FA Organization. When everything isplete, we¡¯ll let her go. I¡¯ll hand her all the money I won from Thompson as some form ofpensation.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a very luxuriouspensation.¡± Tsukino Kyoko stered her front to his back. She wrapped her arms around his waist. ¡°Did you give her the marks on her body?¡±
That took Xia Lei aback. ¡°Uh... Well, I¡¯m not that kind of person but I needed to give her a reason to believe me.¡±
¡°I want to try it too.¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s voice was soft like butter. Her intention to bed him was obvious now.
Xia Lei felt something pooling at the pit of his stomach.
Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s palms slithered under his shirt like a snake. ¡°My showdown with my master is about to happen in due time. I might not live to see past this trip. Would you be kind enough to let me go wild? I want to give you the most precious thing I have in my body.¡±
Xia Lei froze. ¡°What is it?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko tiptoed and whispered into Xia Lei¡¯s ear.
Xia Lei did not know what to say.
Chapter 1122 - Capturing Hattori Wendy
Chapter 1122 - Capturing Hattori Wendy
119, Palm Street.
¡°Where should the meeting be?¡± Thompson voiced his question cautiously to the man opposite him. Till this moment, the general still had no idea who this biracial youth was.
Xia Lei offered no answer, seemingly deep in thought.
¡°Is this the ce?¡± Thompson made his own assumption.
Xia Lei finally spared him some attention. ¡°Are you well acquainted with her? What excuse would you use to invite her over?¡±
Two questions.
Thompson had to mull over it for a moment. ¡°Since theunch of Project Shepherd, she has frequented Area 51 to check on the progress. I think I can consider myself an acquaintance of hers. But an excuse to invite her out would require some crafting.¡±
Xia Lei reminded, ¡°She¡¯s very cunning and exceptionally paranoid. If you don¡¯t give her a believable excuse, she would suspect you of foul y. I seriously think you should consider your excuse carefully.¡±
Thompson nodded and began to ponder. His brows were knitted with concentration. Brain fixated on the mental image of Hattori Mei and the twenty million USD, the current Thompson was a different man from the pathetic one in the desert. Admittedly, he found something Xia Lei said earlier favourable. Sometimes, a little gambling spirit is needed. This was true for his current situation. As long as hepletes this gig, his life would be vastly different! But the process to obtain that twenty million USD was bound to be a difficult one. Thompson had never once in his life thought that inviting a woman out for a meeting could be so hard.
At this moment, Sa¡¯im walked over. He waved at Xia Lei, beckoning the man over for a word.
Xia Lei stood up and went towards him. He spoke in Arabic, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±
Xia Lei hadid explicit instructions to the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members to avoid conversing in Chinese with Thompson in their proximity. This was to avoid Thompson from drawing any linkage between them and China.
Sa¡¯im had taken it well. He was behaving extra careful than usual. He directly went for Xia Lei¡¯s ear and whispered in Arabic, ¡°I¡¯ve just received news that Hattori Mei¡¯s mother had been caught.¡±
¡°Alive?¡±
Sa¡¯im offered a curt nod.
A smile blossomed across Xia Lei¡¯s face. He quickly tugged Sa¡¯im over to the backyard. While Thompson did not speak a single lick of Arabic, an extra helping of caution did not hurt.
In the backyard, Tsukino Kyoko was submerged in the cool chlorinated waters of the pool. The way the female ninja utilized the facility was unorthodox. With one katana in her grip, she used the water¡¯s resistance to train her speed and strength. Tsukino Kyoko was bound to face her master, Yagyu Yuichi, in due time. She only had a finite amount of time to prepare herself physically and mentally.
Xia Lei and Sa¡¯im¡¯s sudden appearance did not falter Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s swing. She continued her training but strategically moved her body to a corner of the pool, where the tiled pool wall would shield her out of sight. After all, her body was d in nothing more than a scanty bikini. If it was just Xia Lei, Tsukino Kyoko wouldn¡¯t have bothered to move away. She was even more than eager to remove her swimwear. However, Sa¡¯im had appeared alongside Xia Lei. Tsukino Kyoko was reluctant to even disy a single bit of skin to him.
After the female ninja had moved away, the two men¡¯s gaze had fallen on the pool.
Xia Lei asked, ¡°Where is Hattori Wendy now?¡±
Sa¡¯im answered, ¡°She¡¯s still in Japan at the moment. Her captor has ns to decapitate her and bring it to your four knights for their reward in a cooler box. Your reward for capturing her alive is one foldrger than having her dead. Forty million dors is more than enough to have the assassins pull something crazy.¡±
¡°Who caught her?¡± Xia Lei threw a nonchnt question.
Sa¡¯im replied, ¡°Some guy nicknamed Mechanic. As for his real name, all assassins go by fake names. My people did not look into his background and there is no point doing so.¡±
Xia Lei hummed. ¡°Your people did the right thing. Running a background check on an experienced assassin would raise suspicion. But shouldn¡¯t Giovanna and the girls know about this? How did you find out earlier?¡±
Sa¡¯im chuckled. ¡°The Mechanic has not contacted them yet. As I said, the Relief Society is more suited for collecting low-level intel. They¡¯re better at locating people but when ites to high-level intel, they would face limitations.¡±
It was evident the Iraqi was trying to prove the value of his intelligencework.
That elicited a smallugh from Xia Lei. ¡°You make sense but abination of your strengths would produce a stronger intelligence force.¡±
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Xia Lei¡¯s satellite phone rang as if on cue.
It only took one nce at the screen for him to answer the call.
¡°Boss, I bring you good news.¡± It was Giovanna.
Xia Lei raised a brow. ¡°What is it?¡± While he already had an idea what Giovanna was about to reveal, he decided to ignore whatever Sa¡¯im had told him earlier to avoid possible conflict. To Xia Lei, both intelligenceworks provided by Sa¡¯im and the female knights were equally important. One simple proof of that was how Sa¡¯im and hiswork had failed to locate Zhu Xuanyue in one month¡¯s time while Giovanna and her team had seeded with a shorter time frame.
To no one¡¯s surprise, Giovanna¡¯s news was the same.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°That truly is good news.¡±
Giovanna went on, ¡°The Mechanic has already sent me a video. I¡¯ve already forwarded it to your mailbox. Go check it out. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll love it.¡±
Xia Lei promised,¡± Okay, I will.¡±
¡°Oh, right. He also asked me if we¡¯d prefer him doing a live execution or him bringing the decapitated head over to the US. I need your opinion on this. This is not my decision to make,¡± uttered Giovanna.
Xia Lei thought for a beat. ¡°Tell him to bring her to America.¡±
¡°To America?¡±
¡°Yes, you heard that right.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°The reward for capturing Hattori Wendy alive was forty million dors. Ever wondered why it¡¯s onefoldrger? Tell him that you¡¯ll pay him twenty million dors first and when Wendy is on American soil, you¡¯ll pay him the rest of the amount.¡±
Giovanna sounded a little concerned. ¡°But the Japanese government has locked its borders. Bringing her over to America will be difficult.¡±
Xia Lei suggested, ¡°Tell him to take her to the four northern inds controlled by Russia. With that, they cane over to America From Russia via Europe.¡±
¡°Wow, I did not think of that. In that case, I think there should be no further issue. I¡¯ll go contact him right away,¡± said Giovanna.
¡°How is everything on your side?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Giovanna answered, ¡°We¡¯ve managed to recruit quite an amount of criminals and murderers. Other than that, we also started to reach out to armed organizations. Currently, we have more than two hundred involved and the team is still under expansion.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good to know. Just wait for my call.¡± Xia Lei hung up and turned to Sa¡¯im. ¡°Continue to keep an eye on V Science Corp¡¯s branch office. Remember to have your people on extreme alert, they must not be spotted.¡±
¡°Got it, boss. Rest assured that even if they were exposed, my men could not sell us out because they have no knowledge of this ce.¡± And with that, Sa¡¯im left the backyard.
Xia Lei swiftly brought out hisptop and plopped down onto a beach chair beside the pool. It did not take long for him to locate Giovanna¡¯s mail and the attached video.
In the clip, a man with a ck bva had his fist in a clump of a woman¡¯s hair. The woman had a crown of blond hair and blue eyes. She was a standard Caucasian woman. Although her age was apparent, her body was evidently in shape. Plump where it needed to be and thin at other areas. It was not hard to imagine how attractive she must¡¯ve been in her youth, or else it would¡¯ve been a problem to charm a man like Hattori Masao. Her facial features were rather simr to Hattori Mei. Just by the first impression, Xia Lei was able to tell that this woman was indeed Hattori Wendy, the mother of his nemesis.
While a thin strand of blood was positively seeping out of the corner of her lips, her fiery re was unwavering. It was unmistaken that Hattori Mei got it from her mother.
The man with the ck bva began to speak in English. ¡°Say your name to the camera!¡±
¡°Ptui!¡± Came Hattori Wendy¡¯s feisty response.
Smack! The man mercilessly delivered a harsh p across Hattori Wendy¡¯s cheek. Thetter¡¯s head snapped over with force and a red palm mark bloomed across her beautiful face.
The Mechanic was absolutely merciless!
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Xia Lei had thought that a p would be sufficient to get the job done but the Mechanic showed no signs of stopping. Without another word, he tugged on Wendy¡¯s hair tighter and brought her face up to be pped repeatedly. Each p was delivered with unhindered force. As Hattori Wendy¡¯s face was thrown side to side by the brutal impact, her angelic face was soon deformed.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but doubt himself. Was he doing the right thing? In the name of revenge and for the sake of dissolving the threats posed by the Hattori n, he had resorted to using such a despicable approach. If this was a cheesy movie, Xia Lei would definitely be the antagonist that was bound to be taken out by Hattori Mei.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help butugh bitterly at the ridiculous mental image. It was hard not to have regret gnaw at his conscience as he watched the Mechanic torment Hattori Wendy. But this was just a fleeting feeling. This was a war between him and the whole of Japan¡¯s samuraimunity. There was no real justice in war, the only thing that mattered was victories and defeats. History had always been written by the victors since the dawn of mankind.
¡°Fucking hell. Do I need to fuck you stupid for you to speak up?¡± The Mechanic reached down to unzip his trousers.
It was then that Hattori Wendy panicked. She quickly relented, ¡°I... I¡¯m Hattori Wendy.¡±
The Mechanic let go of her hair unceremoniously. ¡°See, easy right? Bitch.¡± He turned around and faced the camera. ¡°I¡¯m the Mechanic and I have Hattori Wendy in my grasp. The reward is mine. How do you wish for her to die?¡± He gestured a sign before the screen stopped moving.
And that was all the clip had to offer.
Xia Lei folded hisptop up.
At this moment, Thompson appeared in the backyard. ¡°Mister James, I¡¯ve thought of a way to get Hattori Mei out.¡±
Xia Lei perked up at that. ¡°What is it? Do tell.¡±
Thompson came closer and whispered into his ear. ¡°My n is...¡±
Chapter 1123 - Trap in A Trap
Chapter 1123 - Trap in A Trap
Despite the morning light spilling over the horizon, Hattori Mei felt no warmth in her soul.
Word had made its way to Hattori Mei from Japan even before Xia Lei had even caught wind of it. A group of assassins from Colombia had broken into the old Hattori ancestral home in the dead of night. The fierce exchange of fire between the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force and Land Defence soldiers against those vile men had managed to take out a few tens of assassins. However, it was in the midst of the chaos that someone had captured her mother, Hattori Wendy. How she was brought away was still a mystery to those involved.
This terrifying news had robbed one night¡¯s sleep away from her.
In the whole of the Hattori n, her mother was the only rtive that she truly acknowledged. She watched heartlessly as Hattori Geppa bled to his death at the borders of India-Pakistan. She mercilessly chose not to warn her father, Hattori Masao, despite being aware of an assassination plot. She was capable of all that but she could never bear to watch her own mother die.
Japanese women had long suffered discrimination in the societal and familial hierarchy. Plus, the fact that she was biracial made things worse. She could only will herself to endure the prejudice and unfair treatment that she had received from other members of the Hattori n. And in the long tormenting years of her growth, the only one that truly remained by her side was her mother.
Sadly, Hattori Wendy had now fallen into the hands of Xia Lei. If Xia Lei wishes to tighten his grip around her neck, her mother would easily crumble into pieces.
¡°I¡¯m going to kill you! I swear I¡¯ll kill you! Xia Lei...!¡± Hattori Mei seethed to no one. Her expressions twisted and morphed into something malicious, something borderline augh and a cry. She looked absolutely mental.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Thendline phone on her office desk rang out of the blue.
Who would call at this hour?
Hattori Mei hesitated briefly before she picked it up. She offered no word, ears stered to the device as she waited for the other party to speak first.
A man¡¯s voice came booming over the line. ¡°Miss Hattori, can you recognize my voice?¡±
¡°Mister Thompson. Of course, I do. Why are you calling so early in the morning? What¡¯s the matter?¡± If this had urred before the news, Hattori Mei would¡¯ve entertained Thompson in a heartbeat. But the emotional rollercoaster that has gued her left her mind in a muddled mess.
¡°Miss Hattori, I wouldn¡¯t be calling at this hour if it wasn¡¯t anything important.¡± Thompson continued, ¡°There¡¯s finally some progress on the thing you asked me to look into some time ago.¡±
¡°Are you talking about Project Shepherd?¡± Hattori Mei¡¯s attention was sessfully diverted.
¡°Yes.¡± Thompson went on, ¡°An expert has found a secret hidden deep in the six statues...¡± His words died as soon as things were getting interesting.
¡°What did they find?¡± Hattori Mei¡¯s patience was growing thin.
¡°Miss Hattori, I don¡¯t think this is something we can discuss over the line.¡± Thompson¡¯s tone felt constipated.
¡°How would you like to talk this out then?¡± Hattori Mei attempted to probe.
Thompson voiced, ¡°Are you free this noon?¡±
Hattori Mei replied, ¡°Yes. You cane over around noon and we can grab a bite in the get-go too.¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m afraid that won¡¯t work. I¡¯m running tight on time. Pleasee over to Area 51 instead. We can meet outside the facility,¡± suggested Thompson.
Hattori Mei was silent, evidently hesitant.
¡°Miss Hattori?¡±
¡°Mister Thompson, going over would take me an hour¡¯s journey. Could you just hint me? I mean what should I prepare for you?¡± asked Hattori Mei.
This was too obvious of a hint to be considered one. She wished to know what secret Thompson held to decide on its worth and put it into consideration if she should head over to Area 51.
¡°Are you sure you want me to say it here?¡±
Hattori Mei pushed on. ¡°Mister Thomspon, all I¡¯m asking for is a hint so I can prepare whatever you need in advance. This call is to prompt a deal, no?¡±
There was a brief moment of silent reluctance before Thompson relented, ¡°Fine. It¡¯s a secret about the Alloy X. That expert has managed to find a possible link to formte Alloy X from within the statues.¡±
¡°Wait... What?¡± Hattori Mei was pleasantly surprised.
Thompson reaffirmed, ¡°It¡¯s true. Since you mentioned deals, then I guess I¡¯ll just say it straight. Please bring over five million dors in cash. I¡¯ll take three million while the expert takes the remaining two million. Remember, cash only. Transactions are too risky.¡±
¡°Can¡¯t you give me a few more hints?¡±
¡°Miss Hattori, I¡¯ve told you what I can. It is up to your discretion if you wish toe over or not. But I must tell you that the information I hold is highly attractive. Give me a call before youe over so I can prepare it for you as well.¡± Letting his word fall, Thompson ended the call right away.
The call was already over for a few moments now but Hattori Mei still had her grip tight over the phone. She stood with her back rigid against the side of her office desk. There, she remained motionless for minutes.
She had built a safe fortress here. As long as she remained inside it, she believed that Xia Lei would not be able to prate through it. However, once she leaves this ce, many factors wouldy beyond her control. If she agreed to the deal, the secrets and production of Alloy X would allow Japan to rebrand their status as the best military country in the world. That would, in turn, allow the Hattori n to thrive at the top of the globe as a superfamily. The temptation was just too difficult to resist.
Should she go or should she not?
She continued to pace back and forth over the dilemma.
Meanwhile, 119, Palm Street.
Thompson ced his mobile phone down. ¡°Mister James, this is the most I can do. I¡¯m not sure if she¡¯d actuallye or not.¡±
Xia Lei was worrying his heart over the matter too. He actually bore no confidence over that. He had listened to the exchange between Hattori Mei and Thompson earlier. While he did not ask Thompson to turn on the loudspeaker, he could hear every word uttered on the other side of the line clear as day. The paranoia and doubt thatced the woman¡¯s voice were too hard to ignore. That had made it difficult to produce correct deductions.
¡°If she doesn¡¯t show up, what do we do?¡± Thompson asked.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about that. Tell me how it¡¯s like in Area 51 now and all you know about Project Shepherd.¡±
Thompson answered, ¡°The Pentagon has increased security levels around Area 51. Even I would need to go through three levels of security checks before I head in. The first check would be an identification check. You¡¯ll require an Area 51 ess card to enter. The second security check would be a body search for any prohibited items. Thest security check is done via the Tenshin AI system. The system will rectify facial features, bone structure, fingerprints and cornea identification. The system¡¯s uracy is so high that even identical twin brothers and sisters would not be able to get past it.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart dropped at that. He was fully aware of what the Tenshin system was capable of. No matter how well-crafted his human face mask was, it would not be enough to fool the artificial intelligence over. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t bear to imagine the consequences if he was detected in Area 51. But to free himself from guing doubts and possibly obtain some hints about the ancient alloy box, Xia Lei was determined to enter Area 51. This would be the most dangerous location he ever had to infiltrate.
Thompson continued, ¡°Project Shepherd is conducted by the AE Research Centre located within Area 51. The person in charge is the facility¡¯s head supervisor, Eric. He¡¯s the best biologist this country has to offer. He was the one who suggested the retrieval of the six statues. All of the statues are ced inside the research facility under twenty-four-hour watch and study.¡±
¡°What exactly are they trying to understand?¡±
¡°They¡¯re trying to learn more about its material and maic field. I think there¡¯s a new side project that popped up in the recent days. Something to do with their supernatural powers.¡±
¡°Supernatural powers? What does that mean?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s curiosity was piqued.
Thompson offered him a lopsided smile. ¡°I¡¯m just a soldier so I don¡¯t know much about scientific research. Plus, the AE Research Centre is somewhere we¡¯re prohibited to step foot into. It¡¯s one hell of a hassle to move in and out of that ce. I rarely visit there.¡±
Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°Can you show me the phone you use in Area 51?¡±
Thompson reached into his pockets to produce a custom phone and ced it in Xia Lei¡¯s palms.
Upon closer inspection, it looked like any other rugged phone on the market but its structure was surprisingly primitive. It only offered functions to call, send and receive messages. He toyed with it a little and said, ¡°I¡¯m bringing this in to study for a while. You can retrieve it from the study in five minutes.¡±
Thompson was a little taken aback. ¡°Mister James, you must remind you to not nt any spy bug or trackers in my phone. If you did, I will not be able to get through Area 51¡¯s security checks.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not a fool. Come find me after five minutes.¡±
Thompson nodded and watched his retreating back.
Entering the study, Xia Lei brought out a USB stick that could be fitted directly into the phone¡¯s port and nted Xiao Qian¡¯s mobile version into Thompson¡¯s device.
Five minutester, Thompson came to meet him in the study as promised. Xia Lei returned him the phone without another word.
Thompson flipped the device around carefully. ¡°Mister James, I hope you did not nt any tapping wires.¡±
Xia Lei reassured, ¡°I did not. I still hope to work with you. What would I get by doing that? I was just checking your recent contact history.¡±
Thompson followed, ¡°Mister James, rest assured that I will not sell you out. Doing so would result in my own demise. I am not so foolish.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°d to hear. Return to Area 51¡¯s military base and wait for Hattori Mei¡¯s call. If she calls you, inform me immediately. If she doesn¡¯t, inform me as well. If she doese, I will pay you twenty million dors. If she doesn¡¯t, I will pay you five million dors instead.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll return to Area 51 right away.¡± Thompson¡¯s departure was decided without an ounce of hesitation.
As soon as the older man had left the study, Tsukino Kyoko appeared in the study. ¡°Boss, why are you letting him return to the military base? With him under our watch, we could control him. But the further he is, the lower our control. It¡¯ll be dangerous for us if he decides to betray us all.¡±
Xia Lei did not offer a straight answer to Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s query. Instead, he swiftly unfolded hisptop and let the disy do the talking. A satellite position was showcased on screen.
¡°You nted a tracker on him?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No. I merely nted the spyware I programmed inside his phone. It¡¯ll keep an eye on Thompson in our stead. No matter who he calls, I¡¯ll be able to hear him on this end. It¡¯s just a program so it¡¯d definitely get past Area 51¡¯s security check.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko felt slightly relieved. ¡°Oh, I see. However, I doubt that Hattori Mei will make her presence known at Area 51. She¡¯s the kind of person who wouldn¡¯t expose herself to potential danger even if the risk is slight.¡±
Xia Lei retorted, ¡°On the contrary, I¡¯m confident that she¡¯ll ept the deal. Japan is positively salivating over the Alloy X and Hattori Mei is more eager than the Americans to get a hold of its production information. It¡¯s only natural to be sceptical of the situation. But as soon as she makes up her mind, she¡¯s bound to appear. I think she¡¯d at least require thirty hours to provide some form of confirmation but when that timees, I¡¯m afraid that the Mechanic has already presented her mother to us. Right now, we need to select a location and leak Hattori Wendy¡¯s location to the Japanese. Two different locations at the same time. She¡¯d be forced to make a decision.¡±
¡°You¡¯re confident that she¡¯ll go rescue her mother?¡±
¡°No, I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll go for the deal.¡± Came Xia Lei¡¯s firm reply.
After all, he was the one who knew Hattori Mei best.
Chapter 1124 - Ambush Point
Chapter 1124 - Ambush Point
In the end, Hattori Mei¡¯s response had arrived in the form of a message.
Mister Thompson, five million dors is no small amount. Please give me more time to get things ready. I¡¯ll meet you soon.
Xia Lei had too received it right when Thompson had received her answer.
Immediately after, Thompson¡¯s call came. ¡°Mister James, Hattori Mei sent me a message instead of calling me. She said she needs more time to get the cash ready and she¡¯ll meet me soon. What do I do now?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Continue waiting at Area 51. Stay the night there. You don¡¯t need to do anything else other than waiting for her contact for the time being. I¡¯ll transfer five million dors to your bank ount as promised.¡±
¡°Thank you, Mister James.¡± Thompson couldn¡¯t suppress his excitement.
Ending the call, Xia Lei ced the satellite phone down and gazed at Hattori Mei, Anjum Khan, Sa¡¯im and Qian Jun in front of him. Nonchntly, he dered, ¡°Hattori Mei won¡¯t be heading over to Area 51, operation voided.¡±
The four Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were so ready for action. The sudden cancetion of an anticipated operation felt like a bucket of ice over their heads.
¡°That little Nippon bitch is one hell of a sly fox. I can¡¯t believe she could control herself from the temptation.¡± Anjum Khan grumbled.
Qian Jun¡¯s voice was eerily cold. ¡°There¡¯s no way she can continue to hide forever. As soon as she¡¯s out, I swear I¡¯ll st her head off with a bullet!¡±
¡°So what do we do now?¡± questioned Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°At this moment, Hattori Mei most probably had sent someone out to Area 51. Her people will do two things. One, to check if there¡¯s anything worth raising suspicion of a possible ambush along the way. Two, to ensure a safe route.¡±
¡°That bitch sure is cunning.¡± Sa¡¯im too couldn¡¯t help but hiss as well.
Xia Lei offered them a wry smile. ¡°All this and you¡¯re already calling her cunning? Even if her team finds no hiding assaulters along the way and confirms a safe route, she would still try to get Thompson over to her ce for the deal. If Thompson returns to Las Vegas tonight, she¡¯d have someone pick him up and bring him over to the V Science branch office. If Thompson is brought there, she¡¯d achieve her goal. If Thompson refuses to go there, she¡¯ll suspect that something is amiss. That¡¯s why I instructed him to remain in Area 51¡¯s military base for tonight.¡±
¡°Boss, why do you know Hattori Mei so well?¡± Anjum Khan tilted his head and tossed Xia Lei an odd look. ¡°It¡¯s almost as if you¡¯re an eel in her stomach.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko rolled her eyes at that. ¡°Idiot. The right word is a parasite, not an eel. Know your shit.¡±
Anjum Khan pouted. ¡°Why would someone as amazing as our boss be a parasite? He must be an eel.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Boss, what is the current n?¡± asked Qian Jun.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°We¡¯ll wait till nightfall where we¡¯ll set up ambush points along the path Hattori Mei takes to Area 51. Tomorrow, the Mechanic will bring Hattori Wendy over to the designated spot and execute her. The American Special Force and FA members will rush over to where Wendy is while Hattori Mei and her team will head to Area 51.¡±
¡°Does she not care about her own mother?¡± Anjum Khan was a little surprised.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°That¡¯s not the case. She¡¯ll be pained but that is all. The secrets of the Alloy X bears a bright future for Japan and the Hattori n. The temptation is just too enticing for her to resist.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°Actually, you should all rest up now. We¡¯re about to engage in an important battle tomorrow.¡±
Sa¡¯im, Anjum Khan and Qian Jun swiftly dispersed off elsewhere. Tsukino Kyoko, on the other hand, chose to remain.
Xia Lei studied her oddly tensed expression and offered her a smile. ¡°Kyoko, you might be facing your own master tomorrow. You really should go catch some rest so you¡¯ll have enough energy to spare. I¡¯m looking forward to you surpassing your own teacher. We¡¯ll celebrate your victory, yeah?¡±
The opponent they¡¯d be facing was Japan¡¯s most elite samurais. This battle was bound to be gritty and ugly. The peace they shared now was merely the calm before a storm. As time began to count down to their battle, someone was on the phone with their lover while someone was fast asleep. Someone in the other room had their eyes glued to a yboy magazine while someone attempted to rx their nerves.
Night came. A Rams pickup truck left the Las Vegas suburbs and headed northwest. One hundred and thirty kilometres ahead in that directionid the world¡¯s most mysterious military base. Area 51.
The vehicle was travelling at a moderate speed. The night¡¯s designated driver, Tsukino Kyoko, could feel her palms sweat. She was nervous. The opponent she was about to fight was no ordinary person but the man who had taught her everything she knew about ninjutsu. Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s sword techniques were not the only thing she had to fight against, she too would have to battle her inner demons.
Qian Jun had yet to crack an eye open since the start of the journey. The uing battle felt like nothing but a boring ping-pong match that he had no interest in.
Anjum Khan was still not done with the yboy magazine. It seemed like he hadn¡¯t found out that the issue in his grip was from yesteryear.
Sa¡¯im had been caught up in phone calls after phone calls. The man was busyying out instructions for his team to follow. Intelligence work was of utmost important prior to a battle, he needed to have a full grasp of the Japanese¡¯s current development.
Meanwhile, Xia Lei worked his hackingptop on the co-driver seat. On his screen was a Google map. He needed to pinpoint a suitable ambush point along the one-hundred-kilometre route. While the Google map was a t diagram on theptop¡¯s disy, Xia Lei¡¯s mind had already helpfully generated a real-world simtion internally. His brain had calcted and analyzed the terrain, weather, wind direction, lighting, evacuation route and so on in ordance with different spots along the way. Refusing to settle on a single calction, Xia Lei repeated his calctions again and again in his mind.
Half an hourter, Xia Lei turned theptop to face Tsukino Kyoko. He ordered, ¡°Stop the car here.¡± He pointed at a spot on the screen, prompting the female ninja to briefly nce over. He supplied, ¡°This will be our ambush point.¡±
The location he selected was about sixty kilometres away from Area 51 and seventy kilometres away from Las Vegas city. The spot was the most strategic choice. Those who were ready to nab him were far behind in the bustling city and it was essentially impossible for either Las Vegas military force or Area 51¡¯s military force to rush over. When the battle was over, that ce too was a great retreat point as it was the only patch of lush forest in the span of the desert. The shrubbery would help shield him and his team away from satellite and drone detection.
Tsukino Kyoko took a nce and nodded silently. It was only then that she mmed on the pedal and elerated their journey.
Ten minutester, they found themselves in a mountainous area. There were almost no vehicles on the winding road, which were lined with majestic American red oak trees on both sides. The dense tree canopy had effectively blocked off the already scarce moonlight. There was no doubt that this location was the best for an ambush.
Tsukino Kyoko stopped the car at the spot Xia Lei had designated and the rest of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team immediately went into standby mode. Qian Jun brought out an ammunition case from the carriage and pried it open. The case was filled to the brim withndmines, MS3 anti-infantry mines and also several crazily powerful TM83 anti-tank side armour mines.
These were all state of the art Russianndmines. Even if the Americans were lucky enough to find out the model serial of thesendmines, they would certainly let it slide. There was no way they¡¯d engage Russia in a conflict like this.
¡°These Japanese better brave through thesendmines if they wanna fight us. Haha.¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s mockingugh was appalling to the ears. He picked up a TM83 anti-tank side armour mine and walked over in an attempt to nt it there. This was a roadside military-grade bomb that was powerful enough to rip apart a tank. There was no question as to what Hattori Mei¡¯s vehicle would be in due time.
With the team¡¯s effort, thendmines were swiftly nted at designated spots in record time. Only a few TM83 mines were left in its inactive form for safety reasons. It was not time to activate them yet as every passing vehicle would be sted to unidentifiable bits upon detection.
Done with their task, Xia Lei led the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members deeper into the woods.
Chapter 1125 - The Same as You
Chapter 1125 - The Same as You
In theter hours of the night, V Science Corp branch office was shrouded in darkness. Painted ck, the building radiated an abandoned aura. However, this was merely an illusion. Protected by the confinement of a crazily bulletproof conference room, arge hoard of Japanese were in the middle of an important discussion.
¡°President, Thompson is not back at his residence yet. The informants we nted at Area 51 have reported that he hasn¡¯t left the facility ever since his arrival.¡± The Hattori n fighter ryed his report.
Hattori Mei¡¯s brows were knitted. ¡°Is he busy working on something?¡±
Yagyu Yuichi replied, ¡°There¡¯s no way we¡¯ll find out if he¡¯s busy or not. The only thing that matters now is the impact Alloy X will bring to our country. This matter is too important and it is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. Why are you hesitating still?¡±
Hattori Mei turned to face him. ¡°Master Yagyu, I can¡¯t exin this but I keep feeling like something is off about this whole thing.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Fuma Kotaro scoffed coldly from aside. ¡°Have you be a coward just because some assassin had taken out most of the Hattori n?¡±
¡°Fuma Kotaro, what exactly are you trying to say?¡± Now Hattori Mei was pissed off. ¡°My mother has fallen into the grasp of a certain someone. The future of my n is non-existent. And how did that happen? This all happened because I and my n have been putting ourself in danger¡¯s way for the sake of Japan¡¯s interest. If you and your family have be that person¡¯s target and I continue to spew unhelpful bullshit like this into your ear, how would you feel?¡±
The certain someone in mention was none other than Xia Lei.
The slight outburst of emotions seemed to have shut up Fuma Kotaro effectively. While he was blessed with a menacing build like General Zhang Fei of the Three Kingdom Period, his thought process was surprisingly delicate. Although the Hattori n was evidently falling to its doom, Hattori Mei was still a core member of Japan¡¯s HyperTech. To offend her would not be beneficial.
¡°Mei, have you heard anything about your mother yet?¡± Hatano Naoka asked.
At the mention of her mother, Hattori Mei looked pained. ¡°No. The mastermind behind this is definitely Xia Lei. He has more wealth than the Hattori n¡¯s centuries-old treasury. He does not care about money.¡±
¡°Mei, let me be frank. With the current circumstances, I think your mother might have already met her demise,¡± said the Koga-ryu leader, Sanada Saruo.
Tears began to escape the corner of Hattori Mei¡¯s eyes. One eye cried for her mother while the other eye cried for Japan¡¯s mighty samurais. Women were naturally-gifted actors and Hattori Mei was one of the best among them. If a few tears could easily buy over empathy and tie her allies closer to her, what was so bad about letting a few tears loose?
¡°Mei, please do not let your sorrows get to you. Forget about revenge and pull yourself together. We need a smart and calm leader.¡± Yagyu Yuichi patted Hattori Mei¡¯s shoulder. While he was unable to read into the other¡¯s emotions, he had to admit he was moved by the woman.
Her n was close to being ughtered off. Yet, Hattori Mei was still standing strong in the frontlines against her mortal enemy. To Yagyu Yuichi, she was worthy of his admiration and respect.
Expectedly, Hattori Mei¡¯s tears had worked extremely well. Voices that talked bad about her werepletely diminished. Amazingly, there was even a hint of shared grief and resentment among the Japanese samurais.
Hattori Mei wiped her tears away. With a trembling voice, she spoke, ¡°In the name of a brighter future for the Land of the Rising Sun and its people, the Hattori n has paid a hefty price. I don¡¯t wish for everyone else to be met with the same fate. Xia Lei must die! He is now in Las Vegas and I must warn you, he is at least ten folds more cunning than your estimations. This is the reason why I¡¯m extra paranoid.¡±
This speech, however, dealt no visible impact on the group of Japanese samurais. They had never once engaged Xia Lei in battle and have not yet determined what kind of person he was. Xia Lei is powerful; Xia Lei is cunning. These were merely mindsets Hattori Mei had fed them and that was all they knew about the man. Plus, they were top figures of the Japanese samuraimunity, how on earth would they put down their pride and admit defeat to some Chinese man?
¡°Despite everything, I believe that as long as we work together to destroy Xia Lei. Getting hold of Alloy X¡¯s secrets will not be difficult. To show my sincerity, I have decided to offer twenty million dors as an operation fund. Everyone who partakes in this operation shall receive one million dors each as well. Let me remind you again. You are not working for me nor the Hattori n. You are offering your services to the Great Japanese Empire and its people. I am the same as you. I too am a warrior representative of the Hattori n,¡± said Hattori Mei with an air of confidence.
To move them through feelings and buy their loyalty with money. Hattori Mei¡¯s mind game execution was absolutely wless!
At this rate, all the Japanese warriors no longer had any reservations. How could they continue to whine when someone whose family was at the brink ofplete wipeout was still willing to fight and fund the operation? Her sincerity was genuine!
Honestly, while they were important characters of the Japanese samuraimunity, the era of mighty warriors was long bygone. Most of them were struggling financially in modern society. The fact that Hattori Mei was willing to pay them one million USD each just to be involved was tempting enough. Their hearts were soaring beneath the guise of a stoic face when they heard about the money. What was not to love about money?
After having sessfully calmed everyone down and regained their trust, Hattori Mei diverted her attention onto her employee. ¡°Resume your report.¡±
The Hattori n fighter continued, ¡°Our team and the agents from HyperTech have surveyed the whole of the one hundred and thirty-kilometre route. No abnormalities and suspicious people were detected. No ambush point was spotted as well.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi hummed. ¡°In that case, we have just missed a good opportunity.¡±
Sanada Saruo too chimed in, ¡°Alloy X is very important to us all. It holds more value to the country over killing Xia Lei. Mei, I think we should go through with Thompson¡¯s deal first ande back to discuss how to take down Xia Lei.¡±
¡°I agree.¡± Hatano Naoka supported, ¡°Plus, that Thompson guy mentioned that the information is highly sought after. If he sells this secret to someone else, our losses will be immeasurable this time.¡±
Fuma Kotaro, who had been against Hattori Mei all this while too agreed. ¡°Thompson is a brigadier general of the American Army. Xia Lei can¡¯t possibly bribe him and collude with him to bring harm. I can almost confirm that Thompson has no idea who Xia Lei is. With that said, how is it possible for Xia Lei to be involved in this?¡±
The majority had supported the idea of going to Area 51 to finalize the deal. Everyone¡¯s eyes were on her now. Hattori Mei would have to give her final word on an important decision like this.
There was a stretched silence before Hattori Mei finally announced, ¡°I¡¯ll try to invite him over again tomorrow. If he insists onpleting the transaction at Area 51, we will wait for him to return and get it done in Las Vegas city.¡±
¡°Mei, what do you mean?¡± Yagyu Yuichi was perplexed by the surprising statement.
Hattori Mei exined, ¡°If he¡¯s working the night shift tonight, will he still do so tomorrow? He¡¯s a brigadier general. His shifts per month will not exceed three sessions and it¡¯s practically impossible for him to work two-night shifts in a row. If he¡¯s not working and yet insists that we go to Area 51, that¡¯s a red g. Plus, his sry is not impressive. Three million dors is supposedly a huge amount to him, he should be the one proactively reaching out to us instead. Why is he so adamant on having it done in Area 51 on his terms? Think about it, he¡¯s shouldering the risk of getting charged for treason to see this deal through. Under normal circumstances, he should avoid Area 51 as far as he can, right? So why the insistence?¡±
The amount of detail ever-present in her thought process was downright terrifying.
Hatano Naoka argued, ¡°Didn¡¯t he make it clear that the deal will take ce outside Area 51¡¯spound? I think this is just his way of self-defence. No one would dare to brandish their weapons in Area 51¡¯s proximity. That¡¯s literally his turf. Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t be so dumb as to attack us there, right? If he does, there¡¯s no escape.¡±
Analyzing the same thing through different perspectives would arrive at different oues.
Hattori Mei suggested, ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll call him again tomorrow and make a decision after learning more about the situation. I understand that everyone is eager to get Alloy X for the country but acting rashly would end us up in the enemy¡¯s trap. We have one chance with no room for error.¡±
Therge group of Japanese samurais were dismissed following that. Hattori Mei was now the only person left in the conference room. She prompted her desktopputer and stared at a satellite map disyed on its screen. ¡°Xia Lei... Where could you be? Aren¡¯t you desperate to kill me? Why are you noting yet? You have your eyes on Project Shepherd too. Why haven¡¯t you made you move? Is this a battle of patience, hmm? Well, well, let me tell you this. I have more patience to spare...¡±
Seventy kilometres away, in a valley on the sole route that connects Las Vegas to Area 51.
Xia Lei paused his tracks as soon as he reached a stretch of hills. He spared a nce at the tar road at its foot, his brain immediately offering a set of data. Altitude: 511 m, Discement: 593 m, Wind speed: 3.5 m/s, Breeze: Level 3. Without a doubt, this was the optimum ambush point.
¡°Alright, this is it,¡± decided Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko too had stopped her trek a few steps behind Xia Lei to switch on her tactical shlight. She shone it ahead, clicked it off and turned it on again. This was the visual signal they agreed on earlier. She was informing Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im who were on the opposite hill that Xia Lei had found an ambush spot right at her current position.
A few secondster, they replied by shing their lights twice. Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im had also found a spot for themselves at a simr altitude and location.
Qian Jun was tasked with solo work this time. At the moment, he was in the woods at the foot of the hill. As soon as he spotted Hattori Mei¡¯s convoy, he would trigger the TM83 anti-tank side armour mines as Xia Lei had instructed. Then, he would sneak in the opposite direction to cut off the Japanese¡¯s retreat from behind.
After a round of shing lights, Tsukino Kyoko removed her backpack off her shoulder. ¡°Everyone is ready now. But still... What if Hattori Mei doesn¡¯t show up?¡±
Despite her obvious doubt, Xia Lei remained confident. ¡°Trust me. She would note if her mother wasn¡¯t about to be executed in a different location. If she receives word that her mother was executed in another location tomorrow, she¡¯s bound to show up here.¡±
¡°Okay, I believe you.¡± Letting her sentence fall, Tsukino Kyoko turned around and ventured deeper into the woods.
¡°Where are you going?¡± Xia Lei raised a brow.
¡°I need to pee. You better behave yourself,¡± said the female ninja as she resumed her trek.
Taken aback by the abrupt randomness of the situation, Xia Lei sheepishly nodded as his mind unhelpfully manifested the mental image of a peeing Tsukino Kyoko. A super brain was super in more situations than one.
It hadn¡¯t been one minute since Tsukino Kyoko left for the woods when he heard her shrill scream. ¡°Kyaaa! Snake!¡±
Xia Lei merely heaved a sigh at that, not bothering to move a muscle.
Would a female ninja who could kill without an ounce of hesitation be terrified of snakes?
¡°Shit! It bit me!¡±
Xia Lei finally dashed into the woods.
¡°Where¡¯s the snake?!¡±
¡°On your lower half.¡±
It suddenly hit him. He had made a gigantic mistake when designing his battle formation. He should¡¯ve been with either Anjum Khan or Sa¡¯im. He should¡¯ve avoided Tsukino Kyoko at all costs!
Chapter 1126 - Hattori Meis Sacrifice
Chapter 1126 - Hattori Mei''s Sacrifice
Ten in the morning.
Hattori Mei dialled up Thompson¡¯s number.
¡°It¡¯s me, Mister Thompson, what time are you getting off from work?¡± She was straight to the point.
Thompson¡¯s voice resonated through the opposite end. ¡°Why would you ask?¡±
¡°I need a safe location to proceed with our deal. My ce is without a doubt the most secure spot there is. I have your money ready. Once you bring the things that I need, our deal is done.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Thompson burst intoughter.
¡°What are youughing at, Mister Thompson?¡±
Thompson replied, ¡°Look, Miss Hattori, I understand your perspective. But there¡¯s no way I¡¯d agree on your ce. I mean sure, it¡¯s the safest ce for you. But it could very well be a trap for me. I want to be within the vicinity of my control if we were to proceed with the deal.¡±
¡°You can trust mepletely, Mister Thompson. A few million dors isn¡¯t a big deal for our family.¡±
¡°Of course it¡¯s not, but if the Pentagon and the White House know about the deal it wouldn¡¯t fare well for you Japanese. And what about me? You don¡¯t sound convincing enough for me to hand it over to you and leave scotch free.¡±
¡°Mister Thompson...¡±
¡°A new buyer has contacted me, so here¡¯s the updated deal. You can either go ahead and wait, or you can ept my offer. This is your one and only chance, and I¡¯m giving you onest hour to think about it. Once the hour is up, I assume we both agree on moving on. Goodbye.¡±
¡°Mister Thompson, wait... hello..?¡± Hattori Mei wanted to cling onto their deal, but Thompson had already hung up. She flung the phone angrily on the desk.
She was certain that Thompson would be blinded by the money offered and would agree to dismiss moving ahead with the deal in Area 51, but her ns were botched by a sudden appearance of a second buyer.
If she fails to enter Area 51 and force his hand toplete the deal within his radius, then there is no reason to stop Thompson from believing that they had set a trap waiting for him on home turf. With the fear of not being able to spend his hard-earned money alive, a secondary buyer seemed like a better prospect.
An hour offered to her by Thompson was more than sufficient, yet something felt off. A lingering animosity befell her with no actual evidence of distress.
¡°Go ahead, Mei,¡± Yagyu Yuichi urged her. ¡°I¡¯m confident that Xia Lei is unaware of the deal, and he wouldn¡¯t risk it to ambush you from there.¡±
A huge crowd of Japanese samurais encircled Hattori Mei. This time, however, neither opposed her decision but instead awaited her orders.
Just then, a series of knocks were heard from the door, with someone even raising their voice. ¡°President! Miss President!¡±
Hattori Mei tapped her finger on the remote button, the door opened and in came the Hattori family samurai. Panicking, he reported, ¡°Ma¡¯am, terrible news!¡±
The family samurai came in at just the right time as the perfect outlet for her vents. ¡°You idiot! Speak, what the hell happened?¡±
¡°My apologies ma¡¯am!¡± The samurai timidly hung his head low as he added, ¡°Miss President, your mother, she is in America!¡±
¡°What? How is that possible?!¡± Hattori Mei hurled herself into an upright position, her face terrified, unable toprehend what she had just heard.
The samurai continued, ¡°Ma¡¯am, this is true. The older madam has been on the grid a hundred kilometres from Las Vegas. The killer brought her to America and made a henchman deliver some videotapes and photos to us.¡±
¡°Hand them to me!¡± Hattori Mei howled.
The samurai then passed an envelope to Hattori Mei.
Inside was a letter and a USB.
In English, the letter note wrote. Bring me a hundred million as ransom in exchange for your mother, otherwise, I will chop her head off and deliver it to your doorstep.¡±
The note ended with a wrench symbol.
It symbolized the mechanic¡¯s presence. All the ransom documents were a recurrence of the same symbol.
Hattori Mei crumpled the letter note and began ying the video.
On the screen was an undisclosed basement location, dull and dim with no venttion at sight. Hattori Wendy was dressed in nothing but her undergarments, covered in dirt and soot, her limbs tied rigidly by ropes as she was tossed to a corner.
A man donning an Anonymous mask stood motionlessly just behind her with a fire axe in one of his hands, exhibiting the chilling effect he very much set out to achieve.
He then lifted the axe and mmed it down to the ground just inches from her head, clearly intended to miss.
Hattori Mei was furious.
¡°It must be that cunt Xia Lei again, he must be in that little town, personally requesting the assassin to bring your mother to him! He must have a trap in ce waiting for us to fall right through!¡± Sanada Saruo blurted.
Hatano Naoka added, ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter where and how heavilypromised the town is, we should go ahead anyway and cut that bastard¡¯s head off his neck! We¡¯ve waited long enough for this opportunity!¡±
¡°She¡¯s right! This is America, not China, so his enemies aren¡¯t just us. There¡¯s also the American army and the members of the CIA. Now that he¡¯s not on home turf anymore, once they find out that Xia Lei is in that town, that worthless little town would be his graveyard!¡± Fuma Kotaro¡¯s voice was deafening.
The samurais were riled up as the entire office felt like an army tent.
Just when everyone was vexed by the ckmailing, Hattori Mei, however, was unusually quiet. She was solemn, her voice was just as firm, her gaze unwavered.
¡°When did it arrive, the envelope?¡±
¡°About four minutes ago, once I got it and noticed the contents of the letter I rushed here to you, ma¡¯am. I tried to give chase to whoever delivered the letter, but there wasn¡¯t anyone in sight,¡± the family samurai replied.
Hattori Mei once again kept her silence. She appeared absolutely unfazed.
¡°Mei, what are you still brooding about for?¡± Yagyu Yuichimented. ¡°This is the exact moment that desperately requires your decision, so please offer us one!¡±
Hattori Mei responded with a break of her prolonged silence, ¡°Hand the letter and the USB to the CIA. Let them deal with the town, we¡¯re going to Area 51.¡±
Just when everyone was certain that she would rally the nsmen to destroy Xia Lei at the town, she decisively chose against it.
¡°Mei, your mother...¡± Yagyu Yuichi bit on his words, but its meaning was clear. Are you abandoning your mother?
Hattori Mei replied, ¡°Master, I am aware of what you have in mind.
If given the chance, I would die in her stead without a second thought. But have you considered the reason Xia Lei chose to deliver this message about my mother right at this moment? I know that man inside and out, and more so what he is capable of. If he was not unwaveringly confident of his odds, he would never expose his location in such an amateur way.¡±
¡°What you¡¯re saying...is that Xia Lei isn¡¯t even in the town?¡± Sanada Saruo asked.
Hattori Mei solemnly replied, ¡°Yes, and I can assure you with this head of mine that he will definitely not be in the town. I¡¯m certain he would¡¯ve set traps and nned ambushes along its entire radius. If a sizable search team appears within the perimeter he will sneak off without a fight. But if it¡¯s us he wille straight at us.¡±
¡°That¡¯s just nice, I would like to get my hands through his ribs and personally rip his heart out!¡± Fuma Kotaro boastfully cut in.
¡°Fuma Kotaro, all can I say to you now, is that you¡¯re not alone. It¡¯s fair to say, however, that none of them lived to tell the tale.
Xia Lei, he¡¯s the greatest sniper the world has ever seen. He could bring down any target in a three-kilometre radius. Look, if you go searching for his head, I can guarantee that he¡¯d be lurking in some dark corner waiting to split your head open.¡±
Fuma Kotaro fell back to silence, albeit begrudgingly.
Hattori Mei scanned through her samurai henchmen, ¡°Alright. I¡¯ve made up my mind, we¡¯ll head to Area 51 toplete the deal with Thompson. Hand this letter to the CIA, let them rescue my mother.¡±
She then turned towards the news breaker. ¡°Remember, I want you to swear to the n that you will tell the CIA what I¡¯m telling you right now, word for word. They should avoid an army march and keep the Asian faces upfront if they even want a shot to get close to him.
Tell them to keep the special ops close and ready. Get a military chopper running close by. Once the crossfire begins, steer it over to the scene, and at the same time tell the Nevadan police to lockdown a hundred-kilometre perimeter from the area. That¡¯ll get to him!¡±
¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± The samurai abided and hurriedly went off.
¡°Mei, if you do this, your mother, she would most likely not make it out of here alive,¡± Yagyu Yuichi replied.
Hattori Mei empathetically let out two streaks of tears, her voice rustling ever so slightly as she dered, ¡°I know what¡¯s bound to happen. And if my mother dies, I wouldn¡¯t yearn for her forgiveness, but I know the entire Japanese nation will mourn for her. She will be the saviour of our great nation.
With her sacrifice, she brought about the end of Xia Lei¡¯s reign of terror on our people, while simultaneously presenting us with the X Alloy project. Our nation will once again rise to be a military superpower once again!¡±
If this had all happened, Hattori Wendy¡¯s sacrifice would outweigh even the most precious of jewellery and riches. She will be buried in the Yasukuni Shrine, her story will be told in history books for generations toe. She will be one of history¡¯s greats amongst the Japanese people.
Yagyu Yuichi abruptly took a formal bow towards Hattori Mei.
All the other samurais promptly followed suit, all taking a bow in unison to their leader.
¡°Let¡¯s go, if we move quick enough, we might witness the demise of Xia Lei,¡± Hattori Mei announced.
¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± The venue erupted with a roar of agreement.
Minutester, ten vehicles formed a parade as they departed from V Science Corp Headquarters and in almost perfect harmony steered left and headed northwest.
As the scenery whirled as they passed, Hattori Mei stared aimlessly to a distance. Her eyes were watery but her thoughts were resolute. Mother, please forgive me for the decision I¡¯ve made, for I am unable to save you from the hands of that monster Xia Lei. From the moment you were caught in his grasp, I knew this would be the oue. Do forgive me, your daughter.
Tears began flowing down her cheeks.
And along came a sh of unbearing hatred- Xia Lei, your assumption that I wouldn¡¯t barge into the CIA shall be the biggest mistake you have ever made in your scum-filled life!
Chapter 1127 - Ambush
Chapter 1127 - Ambush
It was an understatement to say that the afternoon sun was just hot. It was positively scorching!
A lizard preyed on the vulnerable ants by the side of the road. Its flexible tongue darted out at intervals, each strike serving the reptile a mouthful of food. Behind its scaly body was a desert that seemed to stretch on forever. The barrennd was like a sizzling frying pan thanks to the hellish sun rays. Right ahead of this cold-blooded animal was a densely forested valley that would offer the lizard shelter from the heat but it clearly did not belong there. The predator of the sandy dunes was fully aware that it¡¯d be prey to others if it enters the lush valley.
At some point, the lizard abruptly lifted its head and stared away from the valley. A convoy of cars was zooming over and closing in onto it fast. As it prepared to dodge the iing object, a silver glint came flying towards it without warning. Before it could even make clear of what it was, it had been decapitated.
The lizard¡¯s head left the neck, turned around twice mid-air before finally plopping down onto the ground.
Whoosh! Fuma Kotaro recollected his iron chain with a de from outside the car window. It was he who sliced off the lizard¡¯s head with terrifying precision.
¡°Fuma Kotaro, was that necessary?¡± Hatano Naoka was unamused.
Fuma Kotaro merely snorted at that remark. ¡°Our n to kill Xia Lei got dyed and you¡¯re not going to let me have some fun with a tiny lizard?¡±
Hatano Naoka huffed. ¡°There¡¯ll be plenty of chances to do that soon. Even if Xia Lei is dead, we still have his offsprings to take care of. Mei has explicitly stated that his children are equal if not greater threats to the country. We must not let them loose. We¡¯re bound to visit China sooner orter to kill off his wives and children.¡±
Fuma Kotaro nodded. ¡°I used to have some kind of prejudice against Hattori Mei but now I must admit that she is very impressive. She is the leader we need. While the age of the samurai is a bygone era, she is working hard to bring back our glory days.¡±
The only thing Hatano Naoka could think about now was the ways she¡¯d spend her freshly-acquired one million USD. The woman had her eyes on a certain Ferrari sports car for a very long time now and Hattori Mei was about to help her realize her dream.
In another car, Hattori Mei watched the valley ahead with an unwavering gaze. Theplexity of the terrain and dense foliage felt eerie. Inexplicably, her insecurities had resurfaced from the depths of her heart once again. Hattori Mei hesitated for a moment but brought hermunicator up to her lips anyway. ¡°Attention everyone, the valley ahead has aplex terrain. Please slow the vehicles down and pass through with caution.¡±
A few responses were heard over the device.
The convoy slowed down and ventured deeper into the valley.
Suddenly, a truck appeared on the opposite road. It too was travelling at a slow speed.
The truck driver honked at them rudely.
Instinctively, Hattori Mei drew her pistol and ced it against the outer side of her thigh. She rolled the windows down, ready to open fire. She wasn¡¯t the only one on edge though, the entire convoy too was equally tensed.
The truck went past the convoy without a pause in its journey to Las Vegas city.
Hattori Mei watched the retreating vehicle through the rearview mirror until it went out of sight. It was only then that she sighed and kept her pistol. She mocked herself internally, ¡°I¡¯m too paranoid for my own good. There¡¯s no way Xia Lei would be here. He must be hiding somewhere in the east awaiting my presence. Sadly, he¡¯d have to make do with American intelligence officers and Special Force members. I¡¯m pretty sure the American Army has already blocked off all exits in the one hundred kilometre radius at the area now, right? Xia Lei, your luck has run out this time!¡±
Suddenly, she thought of her mother. The dull ache in her heart prompted her expression to darken as she solemnly grieved over her dear mother¡¯s demise.
The convoy moved forward.
Five kilometrester, the roads have gotten narrower due to the terrain. Lined along the road were dense forests and steep hills. It was difficult to study the situation in the woods. However, there was something eerie about the odd tranquillity of this ce. There was no whistle of the wind and there were no sounds of life.
¡°Why is it so quiet in here?¡± Hattori Mei¡¯s insecurity was growing stronger by the minute.
Yagyu Yuichi, who was seated in the same car tensed up. ¡°It¡¯s too quiet here. Something¡¯s not right.¡±
Hattori Mei yelled into themunicator abruptly, ¡°Stop!¡±
Ka-boom!
The explosion took ce right at the moment Hattori Mei had barked out instructions. The violent impact had overshadowed her feminine voice as the frontmost off-road vehicle was utterly destroyed by a single TM83 anti-tank side armour mine. The car frame was torn apart and its passengers were mercilessly reduced to nothing more than chunks of meat!
There was no need to question the effects TM83 had on civilian vehicles. It was a lethal weapon capable of destroying a military tank. A civilian off-road vehicle was merely a stic toddler electric car toy when faced with the TM83 mine.
Ka-boom!
Ka-boom!
Ka-boom!
Another three explosions rang out, its mes racing for the clouds. Another three vehicles in the convoy were damned. None of its passengers had managed to survive it. No one had seen thising. Half of the convoy was gone, and so was their human resources!
Two sts had happened at the front while another two had happened at the tail end of the convoy. The path ahead and behind were blocked off by the burnt vehicle debris. In less than two seconds, Hattori Mei and her convoy were trapped in a sticky situation!
¡°He¡¯s here! Get out of the car! Fight!¡± Hattori Mei roared with all her might as fear and humiliation bared its ugly fangs over her heart. Her mind was a panicked mess!
Yagyu Yuichi kicked one of the backdoors open and rolled over to the ground. At that split second, a sniper bullet was shot through the gaps between the car door and the frame. A Japanese samurai who was sitting beside Yagyu Yuichi was taken out with a quick headshot.
His blood and brains were sttered all around the windows and roof.
Hattori Mei quickly pushed her door open and rolled out of the vehicle. The driver beside her was not as lucky as her. A bullet was shot from somewhere above the hill and found its way into his skull the moment he left the vehicle¡¯s walls! One-third of his brain was gone!
Yagyu Yuichi sped up his actions. As soon as his limbs were out of the vehicle¡¯s confinement, he stomped his feet hard against the group and tossed himself into the woods on the right side of the road like an angry arrow. Behind him, a few slower samurais were brought to their ends by a sniper.
Fuma Kotaro made it into the woods on the right almost at the same time as Yagyu Yuichi. He was extremely agile despite having arge build.
On the other end, Hatano Naoka and Sanada Saruo had darted for the woods on the left instead.
Those samurais who managed to survive the hit had eventually dispersed off into the woods on either side of the road. After all, they were acting as a group of thirty skilful samurais. They were all more agile than most of the elite Special Force members. A few snipers would be insufficient to take the whole of them out in mere seconds.
Silence immediately returned to the path. There were no gunshots and no one screaming before their untimely death.
Hattori Mei carefully raised her head from between two corpses, her gaze snapping into the direction of where they came from. The ambush was short. That was more than enough for her to deduce that Xia Lei only had three to four people with him this time. If not, there would¡¯ve been more bodies wasted on the road.
Her attention was immediately caught by a Toyota off-road vehicle behind. She studied the roadside terrain carefully. It seemed that the car was miraculously spared by the attacks. As long as she could get into it, Hattori Mei would be granted an escape route after she rams it through the burning wreckage at the end.
But just as her mind was sorting through her n, a Japanese samurai mbered up from between piles of corpses and dashed for the Toyota off-road vehicle.
¡°Fucking hell!¡± Hattori Mei cursed under her breath and raised her pistol. She wanted to shoot the man who had robbed her of an escape route.
The Japanese samurai climbed into the vehicle and ignited its engine before mming the pedals down hard. With a violent twist of the steering wheel, the car was forced into a U-turn. It threw Hattori Mei¡¯s aim off. The adrenaline rush was flooding her with the urge to stand up and shoot that cowardly motherfucker. But as soon as Hattori Mei was reminded of the presence of snipers on either side, she quickly controlled her fury and desire.
All she could do now was to watch the Japanese samurai drive the vehicle into the burning vehicles and dash for the valley¡¯s exit.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out from that direction.
A bullet whistled past and broke the Toyota off-road vehicle¡¯s windshield. The Japanese samurai¡¯s head was split open as red blossomed across the reinforced ss like a red spider lily. The dead man slumped onto the steering wheel and the vehicle lost control. It swayed around before finally crashing itself into a boulder at the bottom of the hill.
Boom!
The vehicle was now a smoking deformed wreck. Any route for escape was gone.
Someone was at the entrance of the valley!
That was more than enough for Hattori Mei to forget about escaping with the car. She stealthily dug her satellite phone out in an attempt to call for help. Two seconds had passed when she realized something. There was no signal coverage in the area! Hattori Mei wanted tough at herself. She was a fool. Xia Lei was a meticulous strategist. How was he not going to have certain measures to interfere with phone signals if he was going to set up an ambush point? The shielding measure must¡¯ve been activated since the first bomb was triggered.
Hattori Mei carefully pried away from the limp bodies. She got onto her knees and crawled forward with her elbows, keeping in mind to lie t against the road. The burning wreckage and the destroyed Toyota off-road vehicle had formed a blindspot at the valley¡¯s mouth. This was the sole reason she was still miraculously alive. She needed to leave this ce before the sniper came. It was now or never!
The tar road surface was coarse. The skin over her knees and elbows were about to break apart. Her body had no way of avoiding the tormenting burning friction against the rough ground. Hattori Mei¡¯s skin felt as if it was filed down by coarse grade sandpaper. But even so, her drive to survive and the spike of adrenaline that apanied it had willed her to ignore her agony.
Crawl... Crawl... Crawl...
It was near the wood¡¯s fringe that Hattori Mei finally stood up and threw herself headfirst into the vegetation. It was not by random that she had entered the right woods. This was currently the best choice because the stronger Fuma Kotaro and Yagyu Yuichi were there.
At the same time at a distance away, Qian Jun exited from between the trees and dashed for the left woods like the wind.
This was based on Xia Lei¡¯s strategic arrangement.
Xia Lei might not require backup but Sa¡¯im and Anjum Khan sure did need some assistance.
Chapter 1128 - Shadow Hunt
Chapter 1128 - Shadow Hunt
Bang bang bang...
Rushed bullets abruptly rang out from the top of the hill. The bullets flew from the top to the bottom and lodged itself into the tree trunks. It caused a rain of wood shards and falling leaves.
¡°He¡¯s right there!¡± One of the Japanese samurai called out.
¡°Charge!¡± Fuma Kotaro roared back.
The few that survived the unannounced attack earlier began sprinting uphill as they returned the favour with their MK17 assault rifles. This particr rifle was used by the American Army, so it was safe to say that its overall performance was highly praised. Other than this excellent weapon, the Japanese samurais were armed with traditional ninjutsu weapons as well. They were more capable than regr soldiers in both closebat or long-distance attacks.
Bang bang bang...
Bang bang bang...
Fire from both parties ensued. At this point, the rain of bullets was aimless and blind. They were shooting at whatever they could see in hopes that it would hit something in the process. However, the stray bullets had only gotten as far as breaking trees and grazing past boulders. The uracy was perhaps less than one per cent.
Fuma Kotaro was dashing for the source of the bullets, where the snipers were presumably. His ensemble was a little different from the rest. In his grip was not an MK17 but his trusty kusarigama. He had vehemently refused to even touch the MK17, citing that only cowards would settle for a firearm. Sure his body was huge and strong but his speed was incredible. The way he sprinted along the forest ground without a damn made him feel like a human tank! All the smaller trees in his way were all knocked into odd orientations!
The distance between them was getting shorter.
Bang bang bang...
Bang bang bang...
The increasing volume of gunshots was the tell-tale sign of their growing proximity.
The fire in the Japanese samurai¡¯s eyes was fiery. As soon as they got close to their target, there was no doubt that they¡¯d go for the kill without any reservations! No one could walk away unscathed in an outnumbered battle with so many veteran ninjas, not even Xia Lei could survive this!
¡°Charge!¡± One of the Japanese samurai roared like a beast, hands dropping to swap their bullet magazine.
Ka-boom! Before he could even toss away the empty magazine, his legs were mutted into blood and meat chunks. His upper body was sent flying upwards by the impact waves. The man had tasted the freedom of flying seconds before his consciousness went out.
¡°Watch out! Landmines!¡± Another Japanese samurai was fast enough to alert hisrades.
But a bullet had flown over and hit the ground beside him.
Ka-boom!
The unfortunate Japanese samurai instantly lost a leg and half of his stomach. His intestines and organs were sent up into the sky. Pitter patter, a sea of red began raining down onto the others. The suffocating smell of blood and soot began to spread everywhere in the forest.
All of the Japanese samurais halted their footsteps and were forced to go into hiding. They swiftly dispersed off to hide behind sturdy trees.
Bang! One of them was shot in the calf. As soon as he doubled over in pain, another bullet zoomed over and exited his skull clean.
It seemed as if the assaulter could see everyone¡¯s hiding spot clearly from where they were at. The slightest show of their bodies was enough to get them killed. There was no doubt that the sniper had fearfully amazing marksmanship!
Fuma Kotaro¡¯s mind abruptly clicked. He finally realized who he was up against. It was Xia Lei! He was suddenly reminded of how Hattori Mei had constantly described him as the world¡¯s best sniper and how the man was capable of precise aim within a three-kilometre radius. If he was capable of killing someone who was three kilometres away, such a short distance was certainly not an issue for him.
¡°He¡¯s at my left!¡± A Japanese samurai shouted out from behind a tree trunk in an attempt to warn hisrades about the sniper¡¯s position.
Just as his sentence fell, another bullet was sent his way from the left. Another headshot.
Fuma Kotaro urgently barked, ¡°Keep quiet!¡±
Bang!
The tree shielding Fuma Kotaro from danger was shot, causing it to wobble slightly from the impact. If this tree wasn¡¯t a sturdy American red oak, it was certain that Fuma Kotaro would¡¯ve already met his end!
This jolted therge man awake. He had to stop underestimating his enemy
The Grim Reaper was right here in the woods, suppressing everyone with the stress of imminent death. Everyone who had survived the earlier ordeal had hopes that they¡¯d be able to take out Xia Lei with ease but that confidence had all but vanished. At this point, half of them were gone and any leeway of their bodies would result in an awful death. Heck, even their voices would betray their position. Waiting it out would only result in death too! They were forced to a corner!
One of them decided that they could no longer bear the stress. He turned around and dashed for the foot of the hill right away.
Bang!
Another gunshot rang out.
Ka-boom!
One of the ntedndmines was triggered and broke the fleeing Japanese samurai into halves. His steps had missed the explosives but the sniper was capable of triggering it with a bullet!
The impact a bullet brought was all it took to activate andmine. The unconventional but smart usage ofndmines would no doubt send chills down everyone¡¯s spine on the battlefield.
Bang bang bang...
Thest three remaining Japanese samurais began firing their assault rifles into that direction.
Just as the three of them sessfully suppressed the other party with firepower, Fuma Kotaro darted out of his hiding ce and bulldozed his way over.
Ka-boom!
An explosion was heard from the other side of the woods, the battle over there had begun too. The other battle had begun with a slight dy of a few minutes.
Within a sh, Fuma Kotaro had made it to the presumed sniping spot. Weirdly, no snipers were in sight, let alone Xia Lei. The only thing present there were two bullet magazines still smoking hot.
Bang!
¡°Ah!¡± Someone screamed from behind.
That made Fuma Kotaro snap his head around, only to be weed by more ringing gunshots and screeches of agony. Cold sweat began to bead across his forehead. Those who trailed behind him in the woods were selected elites by the top samurais themselves. Despite that, they were ughtered like pigs at a ughterhouse. What made it worse was the fact that they had yet to catch a glimpse of their enemy¡¯s face so far!
Bang!
This time, there was no scream that apanied it. Fuma Kotaro just knew that thest Japanese samurai that entered the woods with him had met their end. Other than the missed shot fired at Fuma Kotaro, not a single bullet was in vain!
It meant that the only ones left in this side of the woods were Yagyu Yuichi and him. However, Yagyu Yuichi was evidently not in the same area as he was. If the older man was present, there was no way he¡¯d be forced into a defensive position.
¡°Come out!¡± Fuma Kotaro gave up hiding, revealing himself in in sight as he stepped out from behind a tree. He screamed in the direction of where the bullet hade from. ¡°You fucking coward! What else are you capable of other than firing cold shots while hiding? Chinese coward! East Asian sissy!¡±
His booming voice echoed throughout the valley. His voice was exceptionally loud, even those on the other side of the forest could catch his words clearly.
The other side was still in the midst of a fiery battle without a drawn line between victory and defeat.
The battle on this side of the woods, however, was nearing its end. Just as Fuma Kotaro¡¯s provocative words had echoed twice across the valley, the formidable killer had finally decided to show himself.
Xia Lei stepped out into a clearing, like a deity descending from the skies.
Atop his shoulderid a sniper rifle while the man had his grip around a Gust assault rifle. Using a sniper rifle for long-distance attacks in a forest battle was a great choice but wasn¡¯t ideal for close-range battles. Its body was too long and it had a slow rate of fire. Despite that, his choice of weapons wouldn¡¯t make much difference in this battle. The most eye-catching point was how clean his body was despite the intense battle. There was not a corner of his clothing that was soiled by dirt nor blood, let alone dust! It was almost as if he was here for a shooting game instead of a real-world battle!
He was just too clean.
And that was their first encounter.
Fuma Kotaro was unfazed even at the sight of Xia Lei¡¯s brandished assault rifle. His menacing build was an advantage that made him look like an ape that conquered the woods. Fuma Kotaro narrowed his gaze at Xia Lei with murderous intent. ¡°Come on! Fight me with your fists like a man, fucking coward!¡±
Xia Lei pulled the trigger without offering another word.
ck!
No bullets were produced from the Gust assault rifle.
Xia Lei pressed on it a few more times and all that was produced were empty clicking noises. It was obvious that he was out of ammunition.
¡°Go to hell!¡± Fuma Kotaro lunged forward. As he sprinted over, the kusarigama in his grip was thrown out towards Xia Lei¡¯s neck. There was no way Xia Lei¡¯s neck would be tougher than the lizard he decapitated earlier.
Fuma Kotaro was freakishly fast but Xia Lei was faster. Just as the kusarigama had escaped the man¡¯s grip, Xia Lei stomped his foot against the ground and leapt backwards. At that split second, the ded ends of the iron chain missed his neck by a hairline. Fuma Kotaro¡¯s aim was so precise that it felt like he had measured everything out with a ruler!
¡°Hahaha!¡± Fuma Kotaro bulldozed over Xia Lei. He started to provoke Xia Lei as he worked his weapon, ¡°Come on, put in some elbow grease! Can¡¯t reach for the gun anymore, aye? You may be a skilful shooter but you¡¯re out of luck here!¡±
Xia Lei dodged the sh with feline-like agility. One sh from the kusarigama was powerful enough to slice through a young red oak tree. The young tree was cut off in the middle with a cut so smooth that it looked like it was subjected to a polisher!
Xia Lei mbered up from the ground, the Gust assault rifle nor the XL2500 sniper rifle no longer in his hold. He was now armed with a military dagger instead.
Fuma Kotaro was taken aback. He could clearly see that Xia Lei had a pistol strapped to his outer thigh and he certainly had a chance to pull that out just now. For some reason, Xia Lei had reached for the de instead of the convenient pistol.
¡°Are you fucking kidding me?¡± Fuma Kotaro snorted with evident disdain.
Xia Lei finally spoke, ¡°I had the choice to make your death quick and easy but you called me a coward one too many times. That¡¯s why I decided to not make your passing easy for you. I¡¯ll sh your tendons then chop your tongue off. And as a finishing touch, I¡¯ll slit your throat.¡±
¡°Ptui!¡± Fuma Kotaro spat. ¡°Fucking coward! Just admit you¡¯re one like a champ, dude. You¡¯re a coward through and through. In fact, all of you are cowards!¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°Jeez, guess I gotta add another move to the list. I¡¯ll cut your dick off before slitting your throat.¡±
¡°Fuck you!¡± No one had ever in Fuma Kotaro¡¯s life dared to belittle him. Doused in raw fury, he strode and tossed his weapon at Xia Lei¡¯s throat.
Xia Lei did not back away nor did he dodged it. He merely bent over like a cat and kicked the ground. Utilizing the momentum, he lunged forward like a cannonball towards Fuma Kotaro who still had his arms extended.
Was Fuma Kotaro fast?
Yes, he was without a doubt.
However, in Xia Lei¡¯s eyes, his movements were sluggish. Each of Fuma Kotaro¡¯s moves was made clear to him!
Chapter 1129 - Humiliation
Chapter 1129 - Humiliation
As soon as the kusarigama was swung out, Fuma Kotaro was invaded with an abrupt sense of danger. It was his fearlessness, immense speed and naturally-gifted physical constituent that allowed him to thrive. The most eye-catching quality of his was undoubtedly his crazy speed. The effort ced on technique acquisition would be rewarded with breakthroughs but speed was something no one else could replicate. Fuma Kotaro was especially proud of it. However, now that he was faced with Xia Lei himself, he came to a realization of what true speed really was!
Every shift of Xia Lei¡¯s muscles were hard to predict. Fuma Kotaro could only reflectively take a few steps back with every attack. At that split moment, a sharp pain throbbed from within his right grip over the kusarigama. He noticed that he could no longer hold his weapon!
The iron chains and its des fell onto the ground with a clink, allowing Fuma Kotaro to escape Xia Lei¡¯s attack. Sadly, the effect was only temporary. Before he could regain his bnce, Xia Lei had lunged forward with a speed so fast that Fuma Kotaro could not dodge in time!
Their shoulders grazed against each other. Fuma Kotaro¡¯s left wrist suffered a sh. Blood began to pool out of his wrists, dyeing his pants red instantly.
It was just a brief exchange and the self-proimed strongest warrior had already lost his means to fight. This was a tant mockery, a tant humiliation!
A few seconds earlier, Fuma Kotaro felt grateful that Xia Lei had stupidly not chosen to draw his gun. It was now that he realized that the man was far from foolish. Xia Lei was not taking him seriously, to begin with. I can take you out with a mere dagger in seconds!
The lightning-fast mass came to an abrupt halt and Xia Lei whipped around to stare at Fuma Kotaro coldly.
Fuma Kotaro attempted to move his wrists. To his dismay, none of them was adhering to his will. He stared at Xia Lei with blown-out pupils. He then trained his gaze down to the blood-stained military dagger in his grip. Did he call Xia Lei a coward? Damn, now it certainly felt like he was talking about himself!
¡°So this is Japanese ninjutsu? Who trained you? Why do you suck so bad?¡± Xia Lei approached Fuma Kotaro at a leisure pace, a taunting smirk stered across his lips.
¡°AAAAAAHHHHH!¡± Fuma Kotaro roared a battle cry and lunged forward. He sprinted two steps and jumped, his right leg angled to ram Xia Lei over.
Fuma Kotaro was at least two hundred kilograms heavy. The weight he threw out was packed with a terrifying impact. If his kick hadnded on someone¡¯s chest, it was most likely going to fracture all their ribs. They¡¯d suffer from a pair of punctured lungs and heart.
Surprisingly, Xia Lei did not move away nor avoid the iing attack despite the obvious risks. He let Fuma Kotaro counterattack with his incredibly muscr right leg.
Just as the kick was about to make contact with Xia Lei¡¯s chest, Xia Lei swiftly leaned back. The momentum of Fuma Kotaro¡¯s kick allowed him to slide over the top of Xia Lei¡¯s chest and dragged the sole of his feet towards his face. In that split second, the military dagger in Xia Lei¡¯s right grip made a clean slit along Kotaro¡¯s hamstring.
Blood escaped from the fresh opening that spanned from his right ankle. It was only then that Xia Lei¡¯s body was soiled with Fuma Kotaro¡¯s blood.
¡°AAAAHHHHH!¡± Fuma Kotaro let out a piercing screech. The booming murderous intent in his voice was long gone, making him sound more like a pained beast in agony.
Losing bnce, Fuma Kotaro immediately lost his footing as soon as his feet touched the ground. He fell over with a loud thud. The man tried his hardest to stand up but all efforts were in vain. He could no longer move his arms and one of his legs with ease. As Xia Lei began to pace over, Fuma Kotaro could only stare at him with trembling pupils as the fear and despair seeped into his soul. He felt the burning hatred bubbling at the pit of his stomach but the resentment no longer bore any meaning.
Xia Lei walked over and raised his dagger. With one swift sh, Fuma Kotaro¡¯s left hamstring was gone too. Even if he decided to not kill Fuma Kotaro, the man was bound to be handicapped for life.
¡°Is there anything else you wanna say?¡± Xia Lei asked monotonously. ¡°Because I¡¯m about to cut your tongue off. I¡¯m a man of my words.¡±
¡°Ptui!¡± Fuma Kotaro spat a mouthful of bloodied saliva at him. ¡°Chinese pig!¡±
The moment his sentence fell, Xia Lei shoved his dagger into Fuma Kotaro¡¯s jaw and twisted hard. The fountain of blood that immediately gushed out was a gruesome sight. Withdrawing his dagger, another gush of blood pushed Fuma Kotaro¡¯s detached tongue out of his jaw.
¡°Gurgle..¡± Fuma Kotaro willed to curse the hell out of everyone but he could no longer make another sound. The only noise produced out of his throat were vague whines.
¡°I must say, you¡¯re pretty courageous for not even begging for mercy once. So before I cut your dick off, I¡¯ll slit your throat right away so you¡¯ll enjoy a faster death, okay? Are you ready?¡± Xia Lei moved his dagger to the area between Fuma Kotaro¡¯s thighs.
To torment then kill was what Xia Lei was obviously trying to pull. No matter how you looked at it, the stunt he was pulling was downright cruelty. Despite that, the man was contrastingly well-mannered and one could even say sophisticated when inflicting extreme pain. It gave off an eerie air.
Fuma Kotaro¡¯s breathing began to pick up. He had the violent urge to wiggle backwards but the momentary pause allowed Xia Lei to drive his military dagger harshly between his thighs. Xia Lei then drove the de sideways.
¡°MMPH!GAAAAAAHHHH!¡± Fuma Kotaro was in unprecedented agony.
Xia Lei whipped his right arm and the impably sharpened military dagger went across Fuma Kotaro¡¯s oesophagus. The blood spurting out of Fuma Kotaro¡¯s severed carotid artery was like a fountain made of blood. It was almost as high as two metres!
For someone who was just second only to Yagyu Yuichi in terms of prestige among the Japanese samurais of the current generation, his demise was absolute humiliation.
Xia Lei picked up the Gust assault rifle and XL2500 sniper rifle on the ground and diverted his attention to the side. One secondter, he quickly climbed up a red oak tree right beside him.
The American red oak tree was the world¡¯s tallest tree. Some thousand-year-old trees were able to reach heights of more than one hundred and thirty metres tall. While this tree Xia Lei was climbing was not the tallest, it still stood at a rtively impressive eighty metres. It felt like he was reaching the skies above.
Xia Lei decided to stop twenty metres shy of the oak¡¯s canopy because he deemed it unnecessary. He bnced himself on one of the sturdy branches at fifty metres of height. The position he was at was equivalent to setting up a snipping ground atop a tall building. He could see everything going on clearly a few kilometres away!
It didn¡¯t take long for him to zero in on his true target. Hattori Mei.
In a distance away, Hattori Mei was frantically diving deeper into the woods with a pistol in her grip. The clothes that covered her body were long tattered and torn by low-lying branches and thorny vegetation. A good span of her pale delicate skin was exposed to mother nature. Among all the women he had encountered so far, Hattori Mei¡¯s skin was the most delicate of them all. How could her pampered fragile skin withstand the damage inflicted by her surroundings?
Xia Lei¡¯s brain provided him with a set of data. Target distance: 1543 m, Wind speed: 5 m/s, Wind level: Level 3, Rtive humidity: 60%. As soon as the numbers had manifested, Xia Lei raised his XL2500 sniper rifle. Aiming it at Hattori Mei¡¯s exposed back, Xia Lei¡¯s finger hovered over the trigger in anticipation of the right time to shoot. However, it was at that split second that Hattori Mei was immediately shielded by a gigantic red oak tree. He waited another five seconds and yet she failed to reappear.
The man scowled. This was an inevitable w that apanied sniper rifle usages in the forest. Sure, he could easily take out any given target within one kilometre and five hundred something radius but in the case of a densely vegetated forest, trees had proven to be a limitation. Each was visual and physical obstacles that tampered with the shooting trajectory. It was going to be difficult for him to send Hattori Mei to hell in a setting like this. Bullets would require a little bit over one second to fly over and Hattori Mei could easily count the intervals to cross into another tree. The trees would definitely serve her well as a loyal hiding spot.
¡°You¡¯re not going to run from this,¡± Xia Lei hissed internally. He put his sniper rifle away and prepared to descend to the ground. He needed to hunt Hattori Mei down.
Bang!
A booming gunshot echoed from the hill opposite him in all of a sudden, apanied by a woman¡¯s feral roar. ¡°This is where you die!¡±
Bang bang bang...
The rain of bullets that followed after was heavy.
Xia Lei quickly peered into that direction, only to find Anjum Khan getting cornered by some woman to the back of a boulder. Judging by the situation, Anjum Khan seemed to have exhausted his bullets and was tossed into an awkward and risky position. Anjum Khan had the best marksmanship among the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members but the current battlefield had posed too many disadvantages for him. Anjum Khan had burnt through more bullets than usual to even achieve his normal performance. From the looks of it, the female ninja was evidently skilful at utilizing her surroundings. It was a smart decision on her part to save her firepower and show herself right after Anjum Khan was out of ammo. She had sessfully suppressed all possibility for Anjum Khan to counterattack.
Alongside her was another Japanese samurai with an MK17 assault rifle. nked by her relentless shooting, the man began charging towards Anjum Khan. There were only twenty metres between them. With his speed, the man would only require five seconds to jump over the boulder and take Anjum Khan out. The unwavering attacks from the female ninja had rendered Anjum Khan unaware of the approaching assault.
Xia Lei immediately raised his XL2500 sniper rifle and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
On the other side of the woods, the Japanese female ninja, Hatano Naoka, abruptly ceased fire. She slumped towards the ground at the ring of the gunshot. There was now a fist-sized hole on her spine.
This abrupt noise caused the dashing Japanese samurai to turn around in surprise.
Just like that, a bullet whistled over and exited his skull clean. It was unfortunate that his death would remain a mystery to himself. However, he was not the only one struck with that fate. Hatano Naoka too had died without understanding why.
Anjum Khan carefully peeked his head out from behind the rock, catching glimpses of a motionless Hatano Naoka and Japanese samurai on the ground. He was stunned but immediately realized what must¡¯ve gone on. Anjum Khan quickly shed a thumbs up in the opposite direction.
The battle on the other end too had reached its conclusion.
Despite that, Xia Lei did not put his gun away. His eyes fell on his initial hiding spot, where Tsukino Kyoko had eagerly yed a game of ¡®catching snake¡¯ yesterday night. It didn¡¯t take much for him to notice Tsukino Kyoko and an older man in the middle of a small clearing amidst the trees. Based on what Tsukino Kyoko had told him, Xia Lei quickly deduced the older man¡¯s identity. That must be her master, Yagyu Yuichi!
Tsukino Kyoko was rigid and still, Yagyu Yuichi too was practically stationary. Xia Lei wondered how long they had been in this state. It felt almost as if they had been in an intense staring contest since the night before.
One press of a finger against the trigger would easily solve the issue. But as he raised his gun, Xia Lei was instantly reminded of what Tsukino Kyoko had whispered to himst night.
Hours earlier, Tsukino Kyoko was nestled snugly against his broad chest. The moonlight was pale but somehow, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s radiant skin had looked even paler than it was capable of. She began to draw circles idly atop his skin. The lull of her voice was gentle. ¡°Boss, my master will definitelye for me tomorrow. He will know how to find me tomorrow too. Please do not interfere with our duel. Just let him and I deal this out ording to Iga-ryu traditions.¡±
¡°But... If you can¡¯t defeat him, he¡¯ll kill you right off the bat. Are you seriously asking me to watch you die?¡± questioned Xia Lei.
The female ninja adjusted her neck. ¡°Death does not scare me. What I¡¯m most afraid of is if you help me, I will never be able to step out of his shadow. So, please... Promise me this. This has to do with my honour as a warrior and my path as a samurai. No matter what happens tomorrow, promise me you won¡¯te in between us, okay?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
The brief memory shed across Xia Lei¡¯s mind in that split second, prompting him to put down his XL2500 sniper rifle.
To refuse help and ce herself in a life-threatening position sounded like an idiotic decision. However, one must ept the fact that people like that do exist alongside us and Tsukino Kyoko was one of them. She had chosen to betray her own country and her people. She had even made the hard decision to betray her master. Suffering in silence was all she did this entire time and it was through the traditional Iga-ryu way that she¡¯d be free from this torment!
Xia Lei understood where she wasing from and hence he would support her till the end.
He peeled his eyes away and descended the tree. Thus, the hunt for Hattori Mei had begun.
Chapter 1130 - Kill Thy Master!
Chapter 1130 - Kill Thy Master!
In the clearing among the trees.
¡°Kyoko.¡± Yagyu Yuichi interrupted the stifling silence. ¡°You¡¯re a disgrace to all of Japan. How can you betray our people? What do you get from doing this? What is it that is so attractive that you¡¯re willing to forsake your roots and the Bushido spirit?!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko did not answer right away. After a pause, she began to speak, ¡°When I was begging on the streets and humiliated every single day. Why didn¡¯t anyonee to tell me that I was Japanese and a people of the state? Father had rescued me when I was on the brink of starvation and he was Chinese. He sent me to your dojo. And it was because that you owe father a favour that you were willing to take me in and teach me ninjutsu. When I was bullied by the other brother disciples every single day, you did not bother to hear me out. When I fight back, you always punish me instead of them. What I¡¯ve learnt all along hade in exchange for my hard work and effort. You¡¯ve never once thought about cultivating me into an excellent warrior, right? But even so, you have my utmost respect in the past and present. If you die under my de, I¡¯ll still visit your grave every year to pay my respects.¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s wrath was written all over his face. ¡°As expected from a woman. Bold of you to try to get my sympathy with the past. Let me get this straight, you will not receive a single ounce of mercy from me! Answer me, now. What is he offering you that¡¯s worthy of treason?!¡±
¡°Is my answer very important to you?¡± Tsukino Kyoko narrowed her eyes.
¡°Yes, I wish to know.¡± Yagyu Yuichi was persistent.
Tsukino Kyoko answered, ¡°He gave me everything I wanted. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡±
Yagyu Yuichi was silent. Judging from his darkening expression, this answer was evidently unsatisfactory.
Surprisingly, the corner of Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s lips were curved into a gentle smile. ¡°Before I met him, I was nothing but a killing machine. My world was dark without a hint of warmth or content. Everything felt so empty to the point I questioned my existence. But after meeting him, I finally felt rays of sunlight in my life. He makes me feel alive. He was also the one who let me have a taste of what it meant to be a woman. I¡¯ve experienced what it means to love and be loved by someone. Now, he¡¯s the only thing in my mind. I¡¯m willing to do anything for him and I¡¯m more than willing to sacrifice myself for him. Is that clear enough for you?¡±
¡°How shameless can you be?!¡± Yagyu Yuichi roared out in pure fury. ¡°You¡¯re one hell of a shameless bitch!¡±
Tsukino Kyoko lightly rolled her shoulders. ¡°I was already expecting you to scream. This is nothing new to me. If you¡¯re done screaming, let¡¯s begin. Or else you won¡¯t stand a chance at beating me up after my teames for me.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi had no idea that if Xia Lei had willed for him to die, he would¡¯ve already been a dead man. He would even have gotten a word in edgewise
Without warning, Yagyu Yuichi abruptly strode forward, right hand tight on the handle of his katana. With his left palm around the sheath, his torso was angled to the right like a tensed archery bow ready to deal a deadly hit at any moment!
Tsukino Kyoko moved. Her actions were a perfect mirror of Yagyu Yuichi. She picked up the speed, right hand over her katana while her left grabbed its sheath. She too looked like a mobile tensed bow.
In a sh, the two tense bows collided with each other. While no arrows were released, two katanas were unsheathed in its stead.
ng!
A crisp sound of metal rang out, apanied by fiery sparks.
The two spun themselves away. In an instant, the katanas shed again. Like a dangerous tornado, their swords never failed to catch each other regardless of the wielder¡¯s angle and shes. They were fast. So fast that all the human eye could see were moving shadows. The rate of sword shing was so frequent that it sounded like the pitter-patter of heavy raindrops against a ss window. The sparks that resulted from their collision had never once ceased!
A feral Tsukino Kyoko was like an agitated female tiger filled with vigour and unhinged strength. While Yagyu Yuichi was of a certain age, his refined movements were agile and extremely fast when in battle. Contrastingly, his absolute power resembled a male tiger in fury!
No mountain could house two tigers and these Iga-ryu tigers would battle to their deaths.
ng!
Another crisp sound.
Both katana wielders bounced apart.
Tsukino Kyoko felt blood seeping out. There was a gash across her lower abdomen! If she had been a tad bit slower, her insides would have spilt onto the floor!
Yagyu Yuichi was not unscathed either. There was an obvious wound that ran along the length of his right shoulder. A considerable amount of blood was pooling out of the freshly-made opening. If he had been just a tad bit slower, his entire right arm would¡¯ve been sliced off clean!
The battle came to a temporary pause.
The murderous intent in their res would¡¯ve been enough to slice the air open.
Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s two-hundred-year-old katana was chipped off at odd ces. Weirdly, Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s sword still looked as good as new. Which was why Yagyu Yuichi seemed to have suffered rtively bigger damage from their exchange earlier.
¡°How is this possible?! How is my katana not as strong as yours?!¡± Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s eyes were wide with disbelief.
Tsukino Kyoko offered him an answer with nonchnce. ¡°My de contains piecesAlloy X, the toughest metal in the world. He did this for me during his off-time. He even promised that he¡¯ll gift me a full Alloy X katana if I sessfully defeat you. That katana could even pass airport security checks. You should learn to ept new things.¡±
¡°Damn you!¡± Yagyu Yuichi¡¯s foot left the ground and his body lunged forward like a raging spear, the tip of his katana aimed directly at Tsukino Kyoko.
Tsukino Kyoko stomped her feet against the ground and sent her body forward, the tip of her katana aimed directly at Yagyu Yuichi.
The katanas met each other halfway. Just as they made contact, Yagyu Yuichi abruptly inclined his sword to the side. Ignoring his obvious opening, he bit the bullet and pierced for Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s chest!
If he dies, she¡¯d have toe with him!
Hovering above the ground, Tsukino Kyoko was out of leverage mid-air. Her body lurched forward in the state of a moving arrow. It was spilt milk with no chance of recovery. There was no way she could avoid their mutual death!
Their des slid against each other and their bodies came into flush contact.
Tsukino Kyoko pierced her master¡¯s chest in one blow, the tip of her katana exiting cleanly.
Yagyu Yuichi too drove his ancient katana into her chest.
ng!
A crisp noise.
Crack!
The ancient katana broke in the middle and its tip fell for the ground.
Their bodiesnded with a thud. Tsukino Kyoko held Yagyu Yuichi up, not letting him hit the ground.
¡°What...¡± Yagyu Yuichi struggled to finish his sentence around a mouthful of blood. ¡°What the hell?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko inched closer to whisper into his ear. ¡°This too is something he made for me. I¡¯m wearing a bra made with Alloy X. That¡¯s why your katana failed to pierce me through. Look at how much he loves me. He has thought everything through as soon as he learnt that I was going to fight you.¡±
¡°You fucking whore... Bitch...¡± Yagyu Yuichi stared at her shielded breasts. He refused to ept that this was his fate!
¡°Oh? You want to see it?¡± Tsukino Kyoko smirked. ¡°Sorry, he¡¯s the only one who can see my boobs. Also, you¡¯re never going to be able to call me bitch again.¡±
Yagyu Yuichi spat blood, finally sumbing to the sweet release of death.
Tsukino Kyoko released her hold and allowed her master¡¯s limp body toy t. She lifted the corners of her shirt to reveal a silver bra. While it had suffered a blow, there was not a hint of a scratch on its surface. But still, Tsukino Kyoko had to admit. This bra was too tough and crazy ufortable. She disliked it.
Sadly, Yagyu Yuichi would never catch a glimpse of this deadly brasserie.
¡°You should learn to ept new things.¡± Tsukino Kyoko mumbled under her breath as she stared at her master¡¯s body.
Footsteps were heard in all of a sudden.
The abruptness of it prompted Tsukino Kyoko to whip her head around, allowing her to catch the sight of Qian Jun emerging from among the trees. The man was caked in dirt and littered with small injuries. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that he had experienced a tough battle. No one had it easy in this fight. Xia Lei was the sole exception. After all, their opponents were the elite force of the Japanese samuraimunity. It was destined to be a difficult battle from the start.
Qian Jun spared an uninterested nce at the motionless Yagyu Yuichi. ¡°Are you done?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko nodded. ¡°Are you all done on your end?¡±
Qian Jun answered, ¡°Yeah. Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im will be joining us soon. Where¡¯s the boss?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko replied, ¡°Probably hunting Hattori Mei down now.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s go look for him,¡± suggested Qian Jun.
Tsukino Kyoko lightly nodded and they both began venturing deeper into the woods. Before long, Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im had managed to catch up with them. The four of them resumed their journey without concerns of getting lost. The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had their own secret code to be used in the woods. If an outsider were to interpret it, it would¡¯ve definitely directed them to the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, Area 51¡¯s military base, Thompson¡¯s office.
¡°What?¡± Thompson was in the middle of a call. ¡°A gunfight near Las Vegas? Explosions? That¡¯s bullshit! My men are in the middle of a drill!¡±
¡°Sorry... It¡¯s just... A driver was the one who reported this to the patrolling unit. He mentioned that he couldn¡¯t get signal coverage and can¡¯t contact the police.¡±
¡°Idiot! Get that driver here! I¡¯ll ask him myself!¡± Thompson was irritated.
¡°Right away, sir. I¡¯ll bring him over now.¡±
With a huff, Thompson ced the phone down. He began to pace around his window as his heart screamed, ¡°Mister James... You better fucking leave that ce soon. I can no longer buy you any more time...¡±
Immediately, he picked up his phone and redialled the earlier number. Gruffly, he spoke, ¡°Nevermind, I¡¯lle to meet him instead. He can¡¯te in anyway. Have him wait there for my arrival.¡±
¡°Understood, sir.¡±
Thompson ced the device down once again and pulled a drawer open. Rummaging through its contents, he retrieved a Brazillian cigar from its box. Languidly, he chipped its end and lighted the roll and inhaled the deep smoke in.
The globe on his desk began to spin around slowly.
Thompson stared at the spinning globe dreaming of his soon to be owned ind.
Chapter 1131 - Bears and Hattori Mei
Chapter 1131 - Bears and Hattori Mei
The woods were serene and quiet, save for the momentary disruption when two birds pped their wings and left their nest.
Hattori Mei frantically climbed over a fallen log, only to be tripped over by the vine that grew around its base. She fell with a heavy thud. Pushing her palms against the vegetated forest ground, her arms started to shake and gave out. Hattori Mei was just too tired to go on. There was no strength left in her. Her lungs burnt and the sharp pain within the organ was horrid. Everything felt awful.
She willed herself and took in a few more breaths. It was only after a while that Hattori Mei managed to bring herself up. She continued to try and run despite the pain and suffering as the Grim Reaper was tailing her close behind. She tried to run two steps but failed to do so. Hattori Mei could only walk at this point.
¡°I knew Xia Lei would pull an ambush on our way over to Area 51. I can¡¯t believe those dumbasses thought that this was a good chance to seize Alloy X¡¯s secret. Warriors sure are warriors. All brawn and no brain. You all deserve to die. This is all your fault that I¡¯m stuck in this predicament! Fuck you!¡± Hattori Mei hissed and cursed to no one. The resentment in her heart was overflowing. She hated everyone, including those who were already dead.
Humans tend to find it easier to forgive themselves.
Hattori Mei would¡¯ve continued to hide in the safety of the V Science Corp branch office if it weren¡¯t for the Japanese samurai¡¯s constant pressure. If they had stayed silent, this whole ordeal wouldn¡¯t even have taken ce! There was no way Hattori Mei would¡¯ve fallen into Xia Lei¡¯s trap!
A river appeared before her. It was about seven metres in width and the water current looked strong. It only took one look at the water to have Hattori Mei¡¯s eyes sting with unshed tears. The deepest part of the river was about two metres deep. Swimming was an option but the current was dangerous. With her current physical condition, Hattori Mei would¡¯ve drowned to death.
Clouded with despair, Hattori Mei turned her head upstream. It was then that she found a dead tree thatid t across the river. It was a big red oak tree that could serve as a single-nk bridge!
Hattori Mei was instantly motivated. She dragged her legs along the riverbank, not forgetting to study her surroundings as she moved. The fringing woods behind her were quiet without a single presence or sound. The knowledge allowed her to rx a little. Xia Lei hadn¡¯t caught up yet. Regardless, she was safe for now.
Finally reaching the natural single-nk bridge, Hattori Mei was suddenly reminded of something. She brought out her phone, a nce at the top corner of the screen immediately making her break out into a smile. There was no signal coverage for a while but there was finally one bar here. It was enough for a phone call!
Hattori Mei quickly dialled for a number.
Roar! Abruptly, a loud beast roar was heard.
Urgently halting her dialling, Hattori Mei snapped her head up, finally spotting a pair of bears on the other end of the single-nk bridge. It was a female and male couple. The male bear looked no less than four hundred kilograms and the female bear looked about three hundred and fifty kilograms. They were so big that it was menacing.
This was the worst. Hattori Mei felt as if the world was out to get her. The shred of hope that she finally felt moments ago was immediately shattered without mercy.
If this was a game show, it was about time for amercial break from all the action.
Unfortunately for her, that was not the case. As soon as the pair of bears noticed Hattori Mei, the male bear abruptly climbed onto the fallen tree and started to dash towards her. The female bear followed him closely behind. Both of them were fast! Bears were beasts who could climb trees, which contributed greatly to their great speed on the single-nk bridge. It only took a while until the bears were at the middle of the tree trunk.
This was not the time to call for help. Hattori Mei¡¯s adrenaline spiked. She frantically brought up the pistol strapped to her waist and began to fire at the male bear in front.
Bang! Bang!
Hattori Mei fired two bullets, both hitting the male bear¡¯s body directly. However, the beast was blessed with an amazingyer of fat and skin structures that protected its vital organs. Not only did the male bear not sumb to firepower, but it also seemed to be more agitated than before. It roared and picked up its speed. Its sprinting form looked like an iing military tank!
Bang bang bang!
Hattori Mei panicked, quickly firing off a few more shots in session. Bullets travelled out of the muzzle and hit the frontmost bear without a missed shot. Two of them were lodged into the male bear¡¯s skull lethally.
Under the influence of inertia, the male bear swooped down onto the surface of the bridge and continued to move forward to Hattori Mei. Due to extreme shock, Hattori Mei backed away and tripped on a stone. Her body lost bnce and she fell onto her back.
The female bear abruptly quickened her crawl.
Hattori Mei pressed on the trigger. ck. Shit, she was out of ammo!
The female bear snarled and waved her ws, pping Hattori Mei¡¯s pistol out of her grip in the process. The bear opened her wide jaw and darted forward for Hattori Mei¡¯s vulnerable skull.
This was it. Hattori Mei closed her eyes in despair.
However, as she continued to wait for death, the female bear¡¯s teeth did note in contact with the sides of her neck. She waited... and waited... She finally blinked her eyes open after a second, catching sight of the female bear falling forward onto her in the nick of time. There was a sabre without a hilt lodged into the centre of its forehead!
She was saved but Hattori Mei felt no joy. She was fully aware of who she was about to face. Compared to facing a certain someone, the woman would rather end up in the ck bear¡¯s stomach!
The weight of the female bear crashed onto her frame, immediately rendering her motionless. The only part Hattori Mei could move now was her head. She could hear footsteps and a slight turn of her head had confirmed her thoughts of doom. In that very moment, her persistence, her faith and everything else went into shambles.
Xia Lei was here. It was he who saved Hattori Mei from bing a bear¡¯s meal.
¡°Do you know why I saved you?¡± Xia Lei walked over and stood in Hattori Mei¡¯s sight.
The woman couldn¡¯t speak. The crushing weight of the bear was too much for her to handle. She started to wheeze from theck of air. Other than that, it was mostly out of her fear of Xia Lei.
¡°I saved you because I made a promise to myself to kill you personally,¡± said Xia Lei as he rolled the female bear off Hattori Mei¡¯s body with a light kick.
The extremely heavy bear was instantly removed from Hattori Mei¡¯s body.
Hattori Mei abruptly flipped over and wed for her pistol.
Xia Lei did not stop her, opting to watch her struggle in silence.
Hattori Mei picked the weapon up and raised her arm. She pressed on the trigger.
ck.
ck! ck! ck! ck...
Out of desperation, she continued to press on the trigger, praying frantically for a miracle to happen. She was out of bullets. Her senses werepletely overridden by her strong survival instincts. In all honesty, she could barely think even if she wanted to. Her mind was aplete nk due to the earlier shock. The only thing she could think about was fear.
Hattori Mei threw the gun at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei moved over and seized Hattori Mei¡¯s wrist in a swoop. He twisted it forcefully.
¡°Ah!¡± Hattori Mei¡¯s shrill scream rang out as she lost grip of her pistol.
Xia Lei regarded her coldly, ¡°You¡¯re still thinking of killing me in this state? You¡¯re the most ipetent opponent I have ever encountered.¡±
¡°Let me go! Let me go!¡± Hattori Mei kicked at his calf desperately. Xia Lei did not move away. The woman actually felt like she was kicking a stone.
It took only one push from his palm for Hattori Mei to double over onto the ground.
Laying on the rocky shores along the riverbank, Hattori Mei could no longer feel the dull pain the rocks inflicted on her ass and back. Tears were shed and she pleaded pitifully, ¡°I¡¯m so so sorry. Xia Lei... I¡¯ve wronged you and I acknowledge that. Please... Please give me a chance to redeem myself. I can promise you that I¡¯ll never try to bring harm to you again. I can even y double agent for you. Don¡¯t you wish to surpass Lockheed Martin? I know thepany like the back of my hand and I can certainly get you any information you wish. And Japan. Yeah! Japan! I work for HyperTech and I can even provide you intel on Japan. How¡¯s that? Please don¡¯t kill me, please?¡±
Xia Lei was ultimately unfazed. Hattori Mei¡¯s proposal was enticing but he was not the least bit attracted. He was aware that a vicious woman like Hattori Mei would never be loyal to him. Xia Lei was certain that Hattori Mei would never pull anything again for as long as he was alive. However, as soon as his two years were up, the first thing Hattori Mei would do is attack his wives and children!
That solidified his murderous intent. Though pumped with fury, Xia Lei was still smiling on the outside. ¡°That sounds good. You¡¯re a valuable asset. I mean, after all, we¡¯ve slept together once upon a time. We¡¯ve got history and I¡¯m not a man who pretends to not know you after sex.¡±
¡°Really?¡± Hattori Mei was shocked. Never did she expect to convince Xia Lei so easily. It was so easy that the woman found it difficult to believe.
Xia Lei affirmed, ¡°Yeah, for real. But you need to show me your sincerity. Answer me this. Where is Yan Fo and Augustan?¡±
¡°They¡¯re in the Caesar Pce Hotel in Las Vegas. They¡¯ve set up a trap around the area. It¡¯s not wise to go there now.¡± The tension in her muscles began to ease up. ¡°I was initially thinking of turning them into my bait but those two bastards were too smart. The FA Organization has its own operation. As soon as you show up, their entire base woulde out and kill you. At this moment, they¡¯re most probably in the east.¡±
¡°Do you know who is the current leader of the FA Organization?¡±
Hattori Mei shook her head. ¡°I sincerely have no idea. Your father was a part of the FA. If he doesn¡¯t know, how am I supposed to know?¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Okay, I believe you.¡±
Hattori Mei immediately followed up. ¡°Please let my mother go. I¡¯ll work for you. Please spare my mother. I know that you were the one who hired the assassin. As long as you¡¯re willing to give him a call, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll free my mother.¡±
Xia Lei continued to stare at her. ¡°What can you offer me?¡±
Hattori Mei was stunned, finally standing up from the ground. ¡°My body. I¡¯m a woman blessed with a beautiful body.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m looking for. What I desire is intel on the firearms dealer alliance led by Lockheed Martin. I¡¯m giving you one minute to sort things out then hand me the information. I¡¯ll call the assassin and have him spare your mother right now.¡± Xia Lei dug his phone out and dialled. He paced over to the edge of the bank as he spoke into the device. ¡°Mechanic, let Hattori Wendy go immediately. You¡¯ll still be paid with the promised amount. Yeah, alright. It¡¯s a pleasure working with you.¡±
Unbeknownst to Hattori Mei, Xia Lei¡¯s phone was not even on.
Xia Lei was not the least bit surprised. While he pretended to be on the phone, he was studying Hattori Mei¡¯s subtle shifts from the corner of his eye. Her intentions were obvious. Hattori Mei was giving her all to survive this ordeal while Xia Lei, on the other hand, nned to exploit her onest time before sending her to the underworld.
Among theponents of a human¡¯s moralpass, the proportion of darkness had taken up more than half of the proportions.
Chapter 1132 - Pretty Only When Dead
Chapter 1132 - Pretty Only When Dead
With an arm across her full bosoms, Hattori Mei¡¯s thighs were tightly mped shut. Her head was lowered, looking utterly bashful and innocent. Tears beaded within the rim of her eyes, threatening to fall at any time.
Who in the right mind would have the heart to hurt such a woman?
Well, unless he was stone cold and cruel.
Xia Lei stepped forward towards her, sparing a brief nce to his multifunctional wristwatch in the process. He had five more minutes to spare until his nned retreat time. He was now in front of Hattori Mei. Calmly, he questioned her, ¡°Why are you doing this?¡±
Hattori Mei threw herself against his chest and sobbed. ¡°I know you won¡¯t believe me but I still have feelings for you. My love for you is stronger than all the women by your side. You bedded me in France but abandoned me soon after. It was then that I started to resent you. Hatred is like a slow-acting virus. Soon enough, my resentment towards you had swallowed me whole. That¡¯s why I tried to pull some outrageous things on you. But please, believe me when I say this. As long as you¡¯re willing to give me a shot at making things right, I¡¯ll really change for the better and be an obedient woman. I¡¯m willing to give you everything I have.¡±
¡°Then tell me what the American firearms dealer alliance is up to,¡± urged Xia Lei. Not forgetting to entertain her advance with a palm on her slim waist. Lightly, he grazed his palm downwards.
A motion to express his interest and eptance.
¡°Lockheed Martin initially had ns to have Thompson take over Folsom¡¯s ce as the CEO but that thought didn¡¯te into fruition. After a voting session among the board of directors, someone named Kestin had be the new CEO.¡± As she spoke, Hattori Mei reached an arm around sneakily to pull a stic wrapper open and reached her fingers inside. Her movements were soft and trained.
Xia Lei¡¯s brows were scrunched slightly. ¡°Thompson... I remember him, he was Jack¡¯s superior. He was the one behind the Predator B drone and the one who handed it to the FA.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t believe the Area 51 brigadier general Thompson is working for you too. Your capabilities never fail to amaze me. Only a man like you could dominate my heart,¡± said Hattori Mei. Not only was she skilled at pleasing the man in front of her, but her little cherry lips were also skilled at buttering things up.
Area 51¡¯s Thompson and Lockheed Martin¡¯s Thompson had never crossed paths. They were two different people.
¡°How is Kestin like as a person?¡± Xia Lei was not the least bit interested in Thompson who failed to ascend the CEO position.
Hattori Mei answerednguidly, ¡°The new CEO is one mysterious person. He was not part of Lockheed Martin in the past. Even I have no clue where he is from. However, due to my association with the Land Defence Force, I¡¯m still the administrative assistant to the CEO. Believe in me, I can help you find out more about him and return to you with good news.¡±
¡°Is that all you know? You¡¯re the CEO¡¯s administrative assistant though.¡± Xia Lei tossed her a questioning gaze.
¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking about. The five arms dealer alliance are also involved with Project Shepherd. The project¡¯s fund and equipment are heavily sponsored by the alliance.¡±
¡°Okay, I wasn¡¯t expecting them to be involved too. What else do you know?¡± This was important information to Xia Lei.
Instead, Hattori Mei began to slide down gracefully, head still against his chest.
Xia Lei seized her shoulders. ¡°Answer me.¡±
Hattori Mei cast him puppy eyes that looked ridiculously pitiful. ¡°Fuck me and I¡¯ll answer your questions. I need my body and feelings to dissolve the hatred I bear for you inside. You¡¯re allowed to hit me. You can go rough with me.¡±
Hattori Mei resumed nuzzling his body.
She was stripped clean and she was downright flirtatious. It was obvious what she was trying to pull here. If this was any other asion, this coquettish disy would¡¯ve been considered normal. But this was not normal at all given her predicament.
Xia Lei could taste danger at the tip of his tongue. His eyes twitched and the X-ray vision mode was activated. He could see everything inside Hattori Mei¡¯s jaw clearly. There was one tooth that was obviously whiter than the others. Its shape was weirdly perfect too without a hint of frictional damage.
She was a woman in herte-twenties. There was no way that the tooth was unscathed without signs of usage.
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze locked onto that particr tooth and prated through its tough structure. A three-dimensional image of the tooth was immediately projected in his mind. Turns out, the tooth was hollow in its centre. It held a liquid capsule but was not any ordinary capsule. It had a sharp tip on its edge that could easily permeate the human body and inject its content into the muscles!
Hattori Mei¡¯s lips were nearing his flesh.
Xia Lei grabbed her shoulder and pushed forward, effectively halting Hattori Mei¡¯s advancement.
¡°Project Shepherd had to do with the six faceless warrior statues from Israel, right? What does that have to do with the alliance? You need to tell me what you know. After that, you¡¯re free to do whatever you want with me.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s tone was tender and his eyes were gentle. He looked smitten, like a man who waspletely taken by her allure.
¡°Didn¡¯t I say you¡¯ll get what you want after you touch me?¡± Hattori Mei began to shed tears. She seemed so dejected.
¡°Look, I already made the assassin spare your mother. Do you not trust me? You¡¯re very important to me. I swear I¡¯ll never hurt you ever again,¡± Xia Lei feigned affection.
¡°Don¡¯t lie to me.¡± Tears were gushing out of Hattori Mei¡¯s duct now.
Xia Leiforted her lovingly, ¡°I swear I¡¯ll never hurt you ever again. Believe in me.¡±
She hesitated for a moment. ¡°I... Back when I was still in the office, I came across the Kestin on the phone once. His tone and bodynguage were courteous. But it seemed more submissive than anything. In the exchange, he mentioned Area 51 and Project Shepherd... I suspect that he¡¯s working for someone.¡±
¡°Working for someone? Who do you think it is?¡±
¡°There¡¯s nothing to base my assumption on. The new Lockheed Martin CEO is a man with many secrets. I tried to use HyperTech¡¯s intelligencework to collect information on him but we failed to fetch anything. There¡¯s nothing about his birthce, his education history and work experience. The man has no record in the system.¡±
¡°Then do you know what Project Shepherd is?¡±
¡°The only thing I know is that they¡¯re studying the odd energy field emitted off Alloy X and the statues. I know nothing else about it. But you can rest assured that with me around, I will definitely help you understand the whole situation. I¡¯m willing to be your hidden weapon that lurks between America and Japan. Please, my lover... Take me...¡± Hattori Mei¡¯s agape lips began to inch into Xia Lei¡¯s space.
Xia Lei held the sides of her face, pretending to reciprocate her enthusiasm. Just as their lips were about to touch, his arms abruptly snapped her skull backwards.
Crack...
A loud crisp sound rang out.
Hattori Mei¡¯s head was now hanging onto her neck limply. As her brain began to lose control over her muscles, she crumbled softly to the ground. From her agape cherry lips, the odd tooth that carried the venomous capsule already had its sharp tip exposed.
A snake would always be a snake.
Since the beginning, Xia Lei had no ns to let her walk away alive. Hattori Mei, on the other hand, had already cooked up a n to kill Xia Lei off since the start. She willingly sacrificed her dignity and Xia Lei¡¯s interest in intel topletely distract him. She had everything nned out meticulously and even had the luxury of watching Xia Lei sink deeper into her honeytrap bit by bit. However, the oue waspletely out of her expectation.
Xia Lei adjusted his clothes then bent over to close her mouth and eyes up. Then, he gave her a final bit of modesty by covering her body up with her the garments she discarded.
Unfortunately, Hattori Mei could no longer feel that kindness.
¡°How can I let someone like you walk free? At this point, all you could think about was not to plead and beg for mercy but how to destroy me. If I let you go, the first thing you¡¯d do would probably be informing the American intelligence department of my current location. Here¡¯s another thing, I did not spare your mother. She¡¯s most probably dead by now. To birth such a daughter and be able to lead the Hattori n in your stead, she¡¯s not someone I wanting for my head. Forgive me but I had to cut off this evil by its roots. Let me and my family finally rest easy,¡± said Xia Lei and he drew a cross. The man was clueless about how he was drawing a cross with his left hand. The right hand should be the appropriate hand for this.
As the ¡®Son of God¡¯ of the Relief Society, his disy was undoubtedly unprofessional.
Xia Lei checked his wristwatch again. He had ten seconds to spare before the nned retreat time. The situation was still under hisplete control without slight deviation.
Approaching footsteps were hearding from the forest.
Qian Jun, Tsukino Kyoko, Anjum Khan and Sa¡¯im came into sight after emerging out of a line of red oak trees. The four of them were in different states of dishevelled, Tsukino Kyoko was particrly messed up. There was a hole in her chest that exposed a small span of the silver Alloy X bra beneath.
The four of them came to Xia Lei, finally noticing the motionless Hattori Mei on the ground.
¡°Is she dead?¡± Tsukino Kyoko asked.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡±
¡°Let me check. This woman is so cunning that she might¡¯ve feigned her death.¡± Anjum Khan reached out and pulled the covers away.
Xia Lei made no move to stop him. Hattori Mei was not his woman but Anjum Khan was like a brother to him.
¡°Okay, she¡¯s dead.¡± Anjum Khan confirmed with a mirth smirk across his lips. ¡°Damn, she¡¯s got one hell of a rack. Her skin is so supple and pale too.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko scowled. ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to let Yelena know. Let¡¯s see how she reacts to what you¡¯ve done.¡±
¡°Kyoko, you... Okay, how does this sound? After we leave this damned ce, I¡¯ll treat you to a round of booze, yes? No price cap,¡± suggested Anjum Khan.
Tsukino Kyoko hummed. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±
¡°We¡¯re done here. Let¡¯s leave,¡± said Xia Lei.
The four Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members began to go deeper into the forest under Xia Lei¡¯s lead. To leave through the road they came with was an absurd decision. ording to their n, they¡¯d need to trek fifty kilometres through the woods to reach a small town where the Relief Society members were prepared for their arrival.
While crossing the single-nk bridge, Xia Lei turned around and spared Hattori Mei onest nce.
Hattori Mei was dead, asleep amidst the lush patch of grass. It was only at this moment that she bore no threat. A woman like her was pretty only when dead.
¡°Boss, what do we do next?¡± inquired Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°We enter Area 51.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Sa¡¯im jolted slightly. ¡°Are you serious? That¡¯s insane! That ce has been a no-go for spies. Till this day, no one has actually managed to slip in.¡±
¡°Then I better bid my dear Yelena farewell and leave her with a child of mine,¡± said Anjum Khan thoughtfully.
Tsukino Kyoko was silent, her eyes never once leaving Xia Lei¡¯s back. The way she looked at him was endearingly sweet. Forget about Area 51, even if Xia Lei wanted to barge into the deepest level of hell, Tsukino Kyoko would be by his side there and back.
However, Xia Lei discouraged them. ¡°This has nothing to do with you. I¡¯m going to infiltrate it alone. You¡¯ll be working on something new. To find more about this guy named Kestin. He¡¯s Lockheed Martin¡¯s new CEO. He¡¯s someone that Hattori Mei can¡¯t even acquire jackshit about. A real man of mystery.¡±
¡°Boss, getting to the bottom of that Kestin guy is not an issue. But how are you going to infiltrate Area 51 alone? It¡¯s too dangerous!¡± Qian Jun eximed.
Xia Lei offered them a smile. ¡°Not to worry, I have my own way around it. Alright, enough talk about this. We need to run, we only have two hours left to finish up the remaining distance.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko abruptly picked up her pace and sprinted.
As her legs shifted powerfully, her full bottom swayed side to side. Her wonderful muscle rippled with every step taken.
Blessed by the sweet sight, the four men began to sprint after her.
Chapter 1133 - The Arrogant CEO
Chapter 1133 - The Arrogant CEO
There was no way the event that transpired could be kept under wraps. However, Thompson had managed to buy Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members at least an hour more. Right after that, a huge swarm of American intelligence officers, Delta Force members, Navy SEALs and members of the National Guard along with some FA members had rushed into the woods.
The sight that weed them was harrowing. Vehicle frames that were still burning and bodies of Japanese samurais scattered haphazardly around the area.
A helicopter flew into the valley andnded smoothly atop the tar road. Williams emerged from the aircraft and dashed for the site under the protection of a group of agents.
One of the intelligence officers had prepared a simple report for Williams. ¡°Sir, we¡¯ve found a signal jamming device in the middle of the woods. When the incident took ce, there was no signal coverage across the area. We even found multiplendmine shards. The assaulter had used two different kinds ofndmines, an MS3 anti-infantryndmine and the TM83 anti-tank mine. Both were produced by Russia.¡±
Williams interrupted his report. ¡°Russian mines? What does this have to do with the Russians?¡±
The officer answered, ¡°We¡¯re still looking into it at the moment. Also, we found a lot of bullet shells that are specific to the Gust assault rifle and XL2500 sniper rifle in the woods. These rifles are produced by the Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
Williams¡¯s expressions shifted ever so slightly. ¡°Anything else?¡±
The agent replied, ¡°We¡¯ve only found out this much for now. Our experts are still investigating the scene. There¡¯s no way they would be able to get away clean from a battle of this scale. There must be something left behind by them.¡±
Williams hummed. ¡°You may go back to work. Write me a full-length report on this after you get back.¡±
¡°Yes, sir.¡± The intelligence officer took leave and began ascending the right side of the hill.
Inexplicably, Williams was suddenly reminded of a certain woman. Just as he was about to call the intelligence officer earlier back, Yan Fo appeared as if on cue.
¡°Mister Williams, our people are searching the further end of the woods. They¡¯re following some marks to find the person on your mind. You¡¯re thinking about Hattori Mei, right?¡± Weirdly, it felt as Yan Fo was capable of reading Williams¡¯s mind.
Williams uttered, ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Hattori Mei¡¯s mother was brought to the east to be executed. Why did she not rush over to save her mother and came here only to be ambushed instead? Do you have any idea what¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°I know nothing about it so far but I¡¯m certain that a particr someone is behind this...¡± Yan Fo lowered his voice. ¡°Xia Lei.¡±
¡°I too think it¡¯s him. He¡¯s the only person with balls big enough to pull such a stunt on American soil!¡± Williams¡¯s re burnt with wrath and murder.
Yan Fo said, ¡°Xia Lei is probably here for Project Shepherd. Hattori Mei is presumably one of his motivations toe as well. After all, she was the one who sent assassins on Xia Lei¡¯s wives. The assassination attempt was almost sessful and Xia Lei almost lost his women and children. That serves as a solid foundation for him to travel to America. There¡¯s no way he¡¯d let her go like that. With the current situation, I think it¡¯spletely reasonable to think that Hattori Mei is already...¡±
Right at this moment, a voice rushed out of themunicator device in Yan Fo¡¯s grip. ¡°Report! We have found Hattori Mei. She¡¯s dead! There are two ck bear corpses at the scene too.¡±
Yan Fo spoke into the device. ¡°Got it. Ignore the bodies for now and continue your search. Inform me immediately as soon as you find any new traces, over.¡±
¡°Roger!¡± The exchange ended.
Yan Fo returned his attention to Williams. ¡°Mister Williams, I think it¡¯s best to lock down the perimeters of the woods. If we¡¯re lucky, we might be able to catch up with Xia Lei before they get away.¡±
Wiims coldly replied, ¡°That¡¯s not the only thing I¡¯m going to do. Not only am I going to flip this valley over but I¡¯m also going to have the Pentagon lock our national borders up!¡±
A few minutester, a dozen military choppers hovered over the woods. At a higher altitude, a Global Hawk drone whistled above and headed deeper into the forest. On the ground level, arge number of Special Force soldiers, CIA agents and National Guard members began entering the forest in a strategized formation. They began to conduct their carpet search.
Williams turned around and walked over to the helicopter parked atop the tar road.
Yan Fo watched him leave with an inexplicable smirk stered across his lips.
Abruptly, Williams turned around. ¡°Yan Fo, who exactly is the FA¡¯s current leader? The FA Organization is now serving the country but we know nothing about your leader. Isn¡¯t that too weird?¡±
There was a beat of silence before Yan Fo regarded it with, ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Williams didn¡¯t look too pleased. ¡°Is this a joke? With your current position, how is it possible for you to not know who you¡¯re working under?¡±
Yan Fo merely shrugged. ¡°Mister Williams, I know it¡¯s hard to believe but this is the truth.¡±
¡°Then how is he able to control the entire organization?¡±
Yan Fo offered no answer.
Williams rephrased, ¡°Perhaps this would be easier to understand. How does he distribute orders?¡±
¡°He has his own ways around that,¡± came Yan Fo¡¯s vague answer.
Williams furrowed his brows. ¡°What ways?¡±
Weirdly, Yan Fo pointed to his skull. ¡°Mister Williams, if you still wish to continue our rtionship, it would be best not to question any further. If we go on, my skull mighte rolling off my shoulder anytime.¡±
While Williams was extremely unsatiated with the answer, he let it slide. The man knew that there was no point probing Yan Fo further. It was clear that any probing would return nothing.
Suddenly, an administrative-level ck Hawk helicopter appeared above them and began tond on the road.
A pair of blonde and blue-eyeddies hopped out of the helicopter and took their ces on each side of the hatch. They both extended their arms and helped a blond youth off the aircraft.
Thedies were young, presumably in their twenties and had a tall stature. Their chests were decent-sized and had a slim waist and round buttocks. Not only did they have amazing bodies but their facial features were dainty and fairy-like.
The blond youth too was tall. The length of his torso and limbs were of perfect proportion, the man even had a sizable amount of muscles that made him look strong. His strength was not hard to tell from his obvious triangr body shape. His features were astonishingly sophisticated. It was chiselled and absolutely charming. Added with his piercing blue eyes, the man was ethereal. He looked like an elf prince.
The blond youth approached them with the blondedies right behind him. It was evident that thedies were his personal bodyguards. An administrative-level ck Hawk helicopter paired with a pair of incredibly attractive female bodyguards. Everything about this unfamiliar man reeked of elegance and luxury.
Williams furrowed his brows slightly at the sight. ¡°Kestin... Hmph, I can¡¯t believe Lockheed Martin decided to have a child take over Folsom¡¯s position. Really, what were the directors thinking?¡±
Yan Fo too had only heard things about the new Lockheed Martin CEO until this point. This was the first time he had seen Kestin in the flesh.
This was the same man Hattori Mei had mentioned to Xia Lei hours earlier. However, the woman had not mentioned that Kestin was such a young man. If Xia Lei was around to bestow the sight of Kestin, his new business rival, the man would certainly be ck-jawed.
Kestin paced over to Williams and Yan Fo. He offered them no greeting but instead turn to his bodyguards. ¡°Charlotte, Eva, head off to work.¡±
Those were the names of his gorgeous female bodyguards.
Charlotte and Eva nodded in acknowledgement and began ascending the right side of the hill.
Williams could no longer keep silent. ¡°Mister Kestin, what are you doing here? What are those twodies about to do?¡±
It was only then that Kestin looked at Williams in the eye. ¡°Mister Williams, I just sent out my people to search for traces of Xia Lei. Considering the fact that I¡¯m bound to face him sooner orter, I¡¯d like to learn more about him starting from his fingerprint and scent.¡±
Williams¡¯s expression shifted into something dark. ¡°Since when does Lockheed Martin hold such authority? Call your girls back or you¡¯re going to get in trouble!¡±
Kestin¡¯s reply was lukewarm. ¡°I have explicit permission from the President to do so. If you wish to rectify its legitimacy, you may give the President a call.¡±
That made Williams scoff coldly. ¡°No need for that. I¡¯ll go talk to the President someday in the near future.¡±
Kestin uttered, ¡°I can somewhat guess the contents of your chat with the President. But let me get this straight. The CIA agents under your leadership are nothing but boy scouts when faced with Xia Lei. The CIA has been beaten up by him one too many times to be considered eptable. You¡¯re the CIA, for crying out loud. But your current progress is so horrid that even I feel embarrassed learning about it. I find it weird that you still get to keep your job.¡±
¡°You...¡± Williams had never expected Kestin to mock him like that. The older man wanted nothing more than to p this boy into ce but Williams was a civilized adult. It was clear that Kestin was looking down on him but Williams was suddenly reminded of something. Till this day, he had yet to find any information on this arrogant brat!¡±
Kestin was an existence that emerged out of the blue, like a pretty mushroom after a rain.
¡°It¡¯s better to focus on your own job, Mister Wiims. But know this.¡± Kestin stepped forward and whispered into Wiims¡¯s ear harshly, ¡°You better stay out of my hair.¡±
Kestin stepped away and brushed past Wiims¡¯s shouldernguidly for the right side of the woods. Throughout the entire process, not once did he spare a nce at Yan Fo, who was directly behind Williams. To him, someone from the FA¡¯s military division was not worthy of his attention.
¡°Fucking bastard!¡± Williams narrowed his eyes at Kestin¡¯s retreating back. He hissed, ¡°I¡¯ll teach him some manners!¡±
¡°Mister Williams, where did hee from?¡± Yan Fo attempted to probe.
Williams shook his head.
¡°Even the CIA can¡¯t get a hold of his background?¡±
Williams answered, ¡°The CIA holds the right to conduct background checks on virtually anyone. But this brat has no information to his name. It¡¯s as if he decided to pop out of the dirt one day ande into existence. Oh, right. How about you look into this for me?¡±
Yan Fo cussed him out internally but nodded on the outside.
Chapter 1134 - A New Journey
Chapter 1134 - A New Journey
With the American borders now under lockdown, countless people were bustling about the country in search of Xia Lei. Despite their efforts, no one could pick up on his tracks. It was as if the man had vanished out of thin air.
Forty-eight hours after the ambush.
Las Vegas suburbs. House number 119, Palm Street.
The study was quiet as multiple surveince footage appeared on Xia Lei¡¯sptop. His mind was fast to work on creating a three-dimensional mental map. In it, almost every street, airport and subway stations were filled with people ready to nab him. If he were to make the mistake of appearing, there would be no escape.
¡°Damn... If those bastards from the White House and the Pentagon find out that I¡¯m here, would they attempt to bomb every house here?¡± Xia Lei mocked himself.
This was a sticky situation, even for him. However, if this was the price to pay in exchange of exterminating the whole Hattori n, Xia Lei would dly do this ten times over.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard from outside the door. Without needing to use his X-ray vision, his ears had already informed him that it was Sa¡¯im.
Sa¡¯im came to the door and knocked. ¡°Boss, it¡¯s me.¡±
¡°Come in,¡± allowed Xia Lei.
Sa¡¯im helped himself in and began, ¡°Boss, about the Kestin dude that you asked me to look into. I¡¯ve used all my resources in America but...¡±
¡°You can¡¯t find anything useful?¡±
Sa¡¯im nodded. ¡°That guy seems to only have his name registered in the system. He has no birthce or family data. No education or work history. It¡¯s almost as if he climbed out from the dirt, it¡¯s too weird. But mywork has managed to get me two of his pictures.¡± He passed an envelope into Xia Lei¡¯s palm.
Xia Lei opened it and pulled out two photographs. One of them was a solo picture of the blond youth himself as he passed through a hotel lobby and the other was taken in front of a Mercedes-Benz together with two extremely attractive women.
¡°The man¡¯s Kestin.¡± Sa¡¯im pointed. ¡°And the two women are his bodyguards. One of them is Charlotte and the other is Eva.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Oh, damn. He¡¯s quite the handsome fe. Even his bodyguards are beautiful. He¡¯s quite good at selecting his people.¡±
Sa¡¯im smiled lightheartedly at the remark. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re not too shabby either. How can his two bodyguardspare to our very own Kyoko? You also have Giovanna, Ste, Theresa and Rosa. All of them are more beautiful than them. Even Gaddafi is no match for you.¡±
¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough. You¡¯re pushing it. The rtionships I have with them is pure.¡± Xia Lei skillfully changed the topic. ¡°Oh, right. Charlotte and Eva. Have you conducted a background check on them?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Sa¡¯im continued, ¡°When we failed to find anything about Kestin, we shifted our focus to Charlotte and Eva. But turns out they were the same as Kestin. Other than their names, there were no further details.¡±
Xia Lei was suddenly reminded of Hattori Mei. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°Hattori Mei was telling the truth. She wasn¡¯t trying to deceive me.¡±
Sa¡¯im remarked, ¡°Many of us are more than willing to do anything for the sake of survival, even if it meant to sell their own soul.¡± He paused briefly. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re skilled at hacking. Why haven¡¯t you tried to hack into Lockheed Martin¡¯s database to find out more on Kestin?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No, Lockheed Martin has the most secure IT systems in the world. Their investment in that department has even surpassed Microsoft. So far, all my efforts to find out the team behind the Tenshin system was to no avail. But I highly suspect that Lockheed Martin might be the creator of Tenshin. If that¡¯s the case, as soon as I gain ess into their database, the Tenshin system might be able to track us down. That would be the worst-case scenario.¡±
¡°Ah, then it¡¯s better to not try hacking into Lockheed Martin¡¯s system. I¡¯ll continue snooping around for intel instead,¡± offered Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei kindly reminded him, ¡°Please be careful, okay?¡±
Sa¡¯im nodded curtly and left the study.
To hack into Lockheed Martin? It wasn¡¯t that Xia Lei had never once thought about it. But he had a gut feeling that he wouldn¡¯t be able to find out much about Kestin even if he did. Hattori Mei would¡¯ve known if his information was in the system.
Kestin, Lockheed Martin¡¯s new CEO, was now Xia Lei¡¯s object of interest. But it was out of Xia Lei¡¯s curiosity, the man had yet to see Kestin as a threat. While Lockheed Martin was undoubtedly Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s rival in the arms dealing industry, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for thetter to surpass the former anytime soon judging by their speedy development. The Alloy X, Jing Ke drone, Phantom drone. Those were not things pumped out of Lockheed Martin¡¯s R&D Department. Just with the drone and material science arena alone, it was safe to say that Thunder Horse Organization was already steps ahead of Lockheed Martin. As soon as Thunder Horse¡¯s Alloy X bomber ne and fighter jets were done, it would be an overall victory. All of these would be a reality in no less than two years with Xia Lei¡¯s n.
While Thunder Horse Organization had its focus on refining spare parts and producing trinkets back in its Haizhu base, no one had ever thought that this little establishment would one day be the new overlord of the firearm industry. This was a pleasant surprise to everyone, even to Xia Lei. From the past till this very moment, everything that had happened felt like nothing less of a lucid dream.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
His satellite phone began to ring.
Xia Lei spared a nce at the screen and immediately picked it up. ¡°Hello? It¡¯s me. Speak.¡±
Giovanna¡¯s voice rang through the device. ¡°Boss, I just received a very important intel.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
Giovanna¡¯s voice wavered with emotions. ¡°Brothers of the Relief Society have found that woman in Las Vegas city!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped violently. He was fully aware of who Giovanan was referring to. Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°She¡¯s here in Las Vegas, currently at Liberty Street in the western suburbs pumping petrol. She¡¯s not here alone, she came with a dozen underground gang members. All of them rode bikes and are armed.¡±
¡°Got it. It¡¯s time to start executing my n,¡± replied Xia Lei with a lowered voice.
¡°Got it. See you at Green Straw Hat Town.¡± Giovanna quickly hung up.
Following that, Xia Lei immediately hacked into the Las Vegas traffic surveince system. Unfortunately, there were no surveince cameras installed on Liberty Street due to its suburban remoteness. He quickly stashed hisptop carefully into his equipment bag and exited the study.
¡°Is it time to move?¡± In the living room, Tsukino Kyoko asked as soon as she spotted him.
Qian Jun and Anjum Khan too were there, both men had their eyes glued on Xia Lei.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Go to San Diego right away. Giovanna and the others will leave tonight to the Green Straw Hat Town, our current stronghold in Mexico.¡±
¡°But what about you?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was worried.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I¡¯m about to head into Area 51.¡±
¡°Tonight?¡± Even Qian Jun had shock written all over his face. ¡°That was not part of your n. Aren¡¯t you nning to use Thompson and wait for his arrangements before infiltrating the facility?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s reply was curt. ¡°Sudden change in ns.¡±
¡°No, that¡¯s too dangerous.¡± Tsukino Kyoko appealed, ¡°If you¡¯re serious about infiltrating tonight, please let mee with you.¡±
Qian Jun stood up. ¡°I¡¯ming too.¡±
Anjum Khan joined in. ¡°Count me in too.¡±
While Xia Lei was moved by the disy, he had to refuse them. ¡°Sorry, that won¡¯t do. Head over to San Diego right now and wait for the female knights¡¯ arrival before heading into the Green Straw Hat Town. I¡¯ll be joining you there soon after.¡±
¡°Why are you not letting mee with you?¡± Tsukino Kyoko was genuinely anxious.
There was a beat of silence before Xia Lei replied, ¡°She has appeared and you have no idea what you¡¯re about to face. She will not harm me but I cannot stop her from harming you. She can kill with ease in a sh. No one can escape her grasp.¡±
The three Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members looked at each other. While Xia Lei¡¯s exnation was hard toprehend, their trust in him was rooted deep into their bones. They wouldn¡¯t have believed it if someone else had said it instead. If Xia Lei said that the woman was able to kill in a sh, they¡¯d ept it as a fact.
That woman was none other than the mysterious Zhu Xuanyue, who Xia Lei had tried his darndest to locate since months ago. She was an existence familiar to Anjum Khan, Tsukino Kyoko and even Qian Jun.
¡°I know you might have many questions about it but really...¡± He paused. ¡°Ignorance is bliss. Some things are better off not knowing. I haven¡¯t even told my wives about her. If you really wish to know, I will tell you someday. But until then, it¡¯s better if you are left unaware. Listen to me and call Sa¡¯im. Four of you need to get to San Diego right away.¡±
Anjum Khan nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go call Sa¡¯im now.¡±
Qian Jun quickly padded away. ¡°I¡¯ll go fetch the car.¡±
Now, Tsukino Kyoko and Xia Lei were the only ones left in the living room.
Xia Lei ced his attention on her. He offered her a gentle smile. ¡°I know you¡¯re worried about me but don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be back in one piece.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko threw herself into his arms, pressing her warm supple body snug against him. The way she held him felt almost like the female ninja was trying to absorb Xia Lei into her body. Her reply was painfully tender. ¡°Promise me, please. You need toe back alive.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Anjum Khan cleared his throat. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t see anything.¡±
While saying that, Anjum Khan¡¯s eyes were stered to the tangled couple. The man had even forgotten to blink. It felt too unusual to see Tsukino Kyoko this affectionate.
They pulled themselves apart only after thirty seconds following Anjum Khan¡¯s throat-clearing-disruption.
Tsukino Kyoko red at the Indian man dangerously.
Anjum Khan could only repeat himself like a broken record. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything.¡±
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Alright, you should get going. I¡¯m off now.¡±
And thus, a new journey began.
Chapter 1135 - Bloodied Checkpoint
Chapter 1135 - Bloodied Checkpoint
It was an ungodly hour in the dead of night.
Despite thete hour, Las Vegas was still well-lit. It looked like a dazzling pearl.
A Harley Breakout exited a country road, leaving the bustling city far behind. The headlights of the motorcycle sliced through the darkness of its surroundings as it continued to move forward. Gradually, Las Vegas city had disappeared out of sight.
Out of the blue, a street sign weed him. You are heading towards an alien base. Please consider your choice carefully.
American humour sure was something.
Xia Lei tore his gaze away from the sign and sped up. The motorcycle red loudly, letting the roars of its engine terrorize the quiet path.
Ten minutester, a new street sign appeared. He was approaching Liberty Street and there would be a petrol station three kilometres ahead. The Harley Breakout zoomed forward and Xia Lei could finally see the petrol station two minutester. The station was still operating at this hour but it waspletely empty. There was no sign of a biker gang or even a single vehicle patronizing the petrol station.
Xia Lei drove the motorcycle into the petrol station and parked it beside a refill station. He leapt off the vehicle and entered the station.
A middle-aged Mexicandy was manning the cashier booth tonight. Weirdly, the gaze she held on Xia Lei was eerily nk.
Xia Lei had intended to question her but as soon as he noticed her eyes, he gave up. The cashier would not be able to remember anything. She probably didn¡¯t know who she was anymore. This was a ¡®ssic greeting¡¯ from Zhu Xuanyue. The unfortunate cashier was the best proof that Zhu Xuanyue was indeed here.
It was not hard to understand Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s rationale. The woman did not want anyone remembering that she had stepped foot into this ce. Sadly, the unknowing Mexicandy was ced into an eternal nightmare consequentially. But Zhu Xuanyue couldn¡¯t be considered inhumane. After all, she wasn¡¯t human and humans were just food to her.
Leaving the petrol station, Xia Lei continued his journey to Area 51 on his Harley Breakout with a heavy heart. He urged to be reunited with Zhu Xuanyue but at the same time, his heart was riddled with fear and worry. There was a huge problem awaiting him. From the scribbled odd characters on the wall, Zhu Xuanyue had really thought that Xia Lei had formed a pact with the ck-robed man to harm her. If she was no longer his ally, what should he do?
Before he could even arrive at a conclusion, the scenery two kilometres away interrupted his thoughts.
The American National Guards had set up a checkpoint ahead to inspect the passing vehicles. While it was obviously designed to trap him, it had Zhu Xuanyue and her gang instead. Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s gang members were armed, that alone was enough to get them in trouble. However, Xia Lei was not worried at all for Zhu Xuanyue and her gang. Contrastingly, he pitied the National Guards instead.
Xia Lei stopped the motorcycle and ced a distance between him and the checkpoint.
Just as the Harley Breakout died down, among the noisy crowd two kilometres away, a woman coincidentally whipped her head around and stared into Xia Lei¡¯s direction.
It was Zhu Xuanyue. She was dressed in a tight-fitting leather catsuit. Multiple glittery essories now adorned her hair in forms of a fancy skull, stars and so on. Zhu Xuanyue looked like a textbook delinquent from a local biker gang.
So this was her current style?
Xia Lei was taken aback by the unfamiliar sight. This was not the same Zhu Xuanyue he used to know. He knew she had noticed his presence but he refused to head over. Yet, he did not turn his motorcycle around. They locked gazes in silence.
The chaos at the checkpoint had reached its climax while they continued to stare at each other.
¡°Get off your bikes!¡± A National Guard captain shouted through a megaphone. ¡°If you won¡¯t cooperate with the inspection, we will have no choice but to go hard on everyone. If you dare to resist, we will not hesitate to open fire!¡±
¡°Fuck you!¡± One of the bikers offered the captain a middle finger. He continued to provoke, ¡±Do you know who we are? We¡¯re the ck Moon Force and we¡¯re on our way to save the world!¡±
¡°What the hell?¡± The captain strutted over to the biker. With each step taken, his fingers inched closer to the pistol in his holster.
¡°We¡¯re the ck Moon Force and we¡¯re on our way to save the world! Let us pass or you¡¯re done for!¡± The biker was very arrogant.
¡°No. What did you say before that?¡± The captain stopped in the biker¡¯s face.
¡°Idiot, you wanted to hear that again? Hahaha!¡± The biker began to chortle.
Everyone else in the biker gang started tough. The whole ensemble had consisted of only ck men. Against their darker skin tone, the white of their teeth was particrly conspicuous. It did not help that their expressions were exceptionally condescending.
¡°Fuck you!¡± The captain raised his arm and hit the back of his pistol against the biker¡¯s skull.
The biker groaned and fell off his bike with a heavy thud. Smashed with blunt force, his sight was immediately clouded by blood. However, this was not the worst. Things took a great turn when the biker¡¯s leather jacket slid up and exposed the Desert Eagle strapped to his belt.
¡°They¡¯re armed!¡± The captain yelled.
ck! All the soldiers at the checkpoint raised their assault rifles. The machine gunners stationed on top of a parked military off-road vehicle immediately got into their battle positions. All guns were now aimed at the biker gang members.
¡°Get down! Put down your weapons and kneel!¡± The captain pointed his gun at the biker and barked out three orders.
The gang members refused to get themselves in deeper trouble with the soldiers. They began to get off their bikes slowly but did not turn the engine off. They stared at their leader and awaited her orders.
At this moment, however, Zhu Xuanyue began walking towards Xia Lei.
¡°Oi! Stand where you are or we¡¯ll shoot!¡± The captain roared after her.
Zhu Xuanyue did not seem to register his words. Without turning her head back once, she continued to travel towards Xia Lei.
Bang!
A bullet hit the road surface beside Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s foot, immediately triggering sparks.
¡°This is yourst warning! Put your arms above your head and kneel!¡± The captain barked.
Abruptly, Zhu Xuanyue turned around and stared at the captain. She raised her right palm. As if there was an invisible rope in her grip, the captain began to w at his throat. He was suffocating himself. In an instant, he obstructed his own breathing. Theck of oxygen had turned his face into a horrifying purplish-red, yet the man found himself unable to release himself.
The captain finally doubled over, legs kicking in every direction as if trying to get rid of something. Despite that, his palms were still securely over the span of his oesophagus without a single sign of loosening up.
¡°Captain!¡± A soldier quickly rushed over in an attempt to aid his superior.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s expression darkened. She averted her attention to the approaching soldier instead. With a single nce, the soldier wavered like a toy out of battery and slumped onto the ground instantly.
It was evident that the soldier had be her meal.
Without needing to inspect him, Xia Lei was certain that his brain had shrivelled up and decayed.
¡°There¡¯s something up with the woman! Wipe them out!¡±
¡°Fire!¡±
In the midst of battle cries, one of the National Guards suddenly pointed his assault rifle to Zhu Xuanyue. Before he could pull the trigger, a biker rushed over to stand in front of her and stretched his arms wide open. He was trying to shield her with his flesh!
In the face of the cold metal muzzle, there was not a hint of fear across the biker¡¯s face. Surprisingly, he actually looked beyond content doing this for her.
It was almost as if this was an honour!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The National Guard proceeded to fire not one but three shots.
The biker fell to the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
And so began a gunfight. The biker gang members were quick to draw their guns and the soldiers at the checkpoint were not slow to retaliate either. The National Guards were armed with military assault rifles, specifically the M4A1 that possessed great fire strength that surpassed the weapons held by the biker gang greatly. Added with their direct aim, as soon as the battle had ensued, the National Guards were already at an advantage. Before long, the bikers had sumbed to their bullets.
The gunshots rang out loudly and the sound of clinking cartridges against the ground was never-ending. The scent of smoke was exceptionally strong. One after another, the bikers doubled over in a pool of their own blood. Even at death, their expressions mirrored theirrade who shielded Zhu Xuanyue. There was no fear written across their faces, all they felt was the peacefulness of liberation and salvation.
Xia Lei could no longer take it. He released the Harley Breakout¡¯s handle and mmed the elerator hard. Bullets had no eyes and if anyone had fired at Zhu Xuanyue in the middle of chaos, her body would be damaged even if she wouldn¡¯t die. Xia Lei did not wish for that to happen.
The Harley motorcycle roared. At the halfway point, Xia Lei had already retrieved his Gust assault rifle from his equipment bag.
At this moment, one of the soldiers held a perfect aim at Zhu Xuanyue.
Bang!
Without allowing the soldier any spare second to fire, Xia Lei shot him with his Gust assault rifle. In a sh, the bullet grazed past Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s cheek and pierced through the soldier¡¯s skull.
Poof!
The raging bullet carved out a fist-sized crater at the back of his skull. From the front, it looked like a small bullet hole. But as it exited his skull clean, it brought out an onught of gory brain juice and an obnoxious stter of blood!
Thump! The soldier doubled over.
There was the ghost of a smile across Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s lips. Everything about it felt wrong. While it had the innocence of a young child, there was a trace of malice which was very uncharacteristic!
What was that supposed to mean?!
The question shed through Xia Lei¡¯s mind but this was not the time to ponder about it. The machine gunner on top of the off-road vehicle already had a good aim at Zhu Xuanyue.
Even if Zhu Xuanyue was made out of steel, the bullets from the machine gun were bound to create gigantic bleeding craters all across her being!
Yet, as Xia Lei adjusted his aim in preparation to take out the machine gunner. Thetter suddenly pressed his weapon down and began firing at hisrades.
Thud thud thud... Thud thud thud...
The heavy machine gun was hard at work and so began the melodious ensemble of death. Under the guidance of a heavy metal-like rhythm, all the National Guards were killed. Limbs, an assortment of organs and meat chunks flew all about in the air. Blood was poured over the ground like a majestic fountain as it dyed the road a striking red.
As blood, gore and violence took ce behind her, Zhu Xuanyue did not bother to even spare it a nce. All Xia Lei could see on her face was the innocent yet devious smile that had not once faltered. She waved at him and gestured him toe closer.
Chapter 1136 - Tribody
Chapter 1136 - Tribody
Xia Lei¡¯s kill count was certainly around three digits at this point. In the human world, he was definitely considered a ughterman caked with gut-wrenching amounts of sins. However, whenpared to Zhu Xuanyue, he was nothing but a mere boy scout. Xia Lei braced himself mentally and drove his motorcycle over slowly.
The internal kill-fest among the National Guards hade to an end. The machine gunner that took out his own brothers had ced his guns down and drew out a pistol. Without an ounce of hesitation, he jammed the barrel in his jaw and fired.
Bang!
He swayed and dropped to the ground from the roof.
The only one that survived the violent episode was Zhu Xuanyue. Yet, she had not once spared the ongoing fight behind her a single nce all while maintaining her control over the situation!
The Harley Breakout stopped before her. Xia Lei made no move to take off his helmet because there was no need to. Zhu Xuanyue was the same as him. They were both able to use X-ray visions and she was way more powerful than him. It was not surprising that Zhu Xuanyue had already recognized him while he was still two kilometres away.
Closer proximity, a familiar scent and locked gazes. In that very moment, Xia Lei felt as if she was never once away from him. The sentiments he bore over her were still as tender. Tender to a point where no words were needed to be able to understand what she was feeling inside.
They spent one full minute in silence. Not even the summer mosquitoes dared to disrupt their peace.
In the end, Xia Lei was the first to break. ¡°Xuanyue, you...¡±
Initiating a conversation was easy but to continue was another problem. Xia Lei did not know what else to say.
¡°You lied to me!¡± Zhu Xuanyue pouted in all of a sudden as if she was a wronged child. She looked close to tears too.
Needless to say, Xia Lei was beyond shocked. From what he got from the video provided by the Relief Society and what he saw personally, Zhu Xuanyue had gone through massive change. The woman did not seem like the childish being that he once knew long ago. If there was a demon residing inside her body, then it was safe to say that the demon had awakened. But as soon as he came closer, the demon seemed to have gone back to its dormant state.
What the hell was going on?
Inexplicably, Xia Lei was reminded of two other women. Ning Jing and Gu Kewen. Judging this from a physical perspective, the Zhu Xuanyue before him was abination of Ning Jing, Gu Kewen and Zhu Xuanyue. How was it possible for her to override the existence of Ning Jing and Gu Kewen that shared the same body? Unless... She had decided to abandon this physical vessel!
But if he were to look at it through a spiritual perspective, Ning Jing and Gu Kewen were women that bore deep feelings for him. Gu Kewen¡¯s love was a literal obsession that eventually brought her to absolute destruction. Ning Jing¡¯s love was as gentle as calm water. While it wasn¡¯t as strong as Gu Kewen, her tranquil love had nourished their shared body like a pure stream.
Perhaps this was the answer to her unexpectedly wild shift.
When in his proximity, parts of Ning Jing and Gu Kewen dwelling within her body were activated. Gu Kewen¡¯s fiery obsession and Ning Jing¡¯s calm affection seemed to be the factors controlling her. Perhaps this was exactly why she spoke like Gu Kewen and also why she clung to him like Ning Jing.
¡°Say something!¡± Zhu Xuanyue was about to lose her temper.
Xia Lei offered her a wry smile. ¡°Are you sure you want to continue this conversation here? If we don¡¯t leave this ce soon, the American soldiers might catch us here.¡±
¡°I insist!¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s cheeks were puffed.
What she said earlier was delivered via Ning Jing mode and the next was delivered in Gu Kewen fashion. Her personas were switching before his eyes.
¡°I wasn¡¯t working with the ck-robed man to hurt you. He¡¯s my biggest enemy. I swear.¡± Xia Lei offered a simple exnation. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you believe me or not but this is the truth.¡±
¡°I believe you,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue as she began to step towards him.
Xia Lei sighed in relief. ¡°Come on, we¡¯ll talk about this after leaving this ce.¡±
But just as he was done, Zhu Xuanyue delivered a hard punch into his lower abdomen.
Thud!
With a muted noise that was apanied by an uncharacteristicallyrge force, Xia Lei was sent flying away from his motorcycle. He flew a few metres beforending harshly on the tar road. Excruciating pain tormented his impacted lower abdomen to a point where he was on the verge of puking. He swallowed his agony and mbered up. He stared at Zhu Xuanyue cautiously.
Without a single doubt, the one who assaulted him was Zhu Xuanyue herself!
Why did she decide to attack him now?
Worse, this could not qualify as a question because Zhu Xuanyue required no reason to kill!
The woman began walking towards him, anger spilling out of her being. There was something about her re that felt particrly icy.
Xia Lei took a step back but did not draw his pistol. If his enemy was Zhu Xuanyue, there was no way of telling how useful a pistol would be against her. Most importantly, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t tell if she was still an ally or foe. If these punches were just to vent her resentment, it was still eptable. In that case, by brandishing his pistol, it would be a total solidification of their stand as mortal enemies. He already had the ck-robed man to worry about. If Zhu Xuanyue was added to the mix, Xia Lei knew he wouldn¡¯t have to wait two years to die!
¡°Calm down.¡± Xia Lei continued to back away carefully. His movements were slower than Zhu Xuanyue as he waited for her toe closer while preparing to face any of her lethal attacks.
As soon as Zhu Xuanyue was near, her expressions fluctuated wildly. In an instant, her anger and piercing re had vanished and was reced by a uniquely feminine gentleness. Her voice was riddled with concern and kindness. ¡°Uncle Xia? Are you... Are you alright? Did someone hit you?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue finally stepped into his personal space. She began to rub at his belly with light careful motions. ¡°Are you in pain? How about I blow your tummy for you?¡± Letting her sentence fall, she bent slightly and lifted the corner of his shirt to blow on his tummy.
Xia Lei did not disrupt her. Better put, he did not dare to disturb her. He feared that any offending gesture would awaken the demon within her again.
As she blew at his lower abdomen, Zhu Xuanyue noticed something weird. She reached over and gripped on a stray curly hair that escaped the confines of his pants. With slight force, she plucked it out and held it up with a smile. ¡°Uncle Xia, what is this?¡±
Xia Lei felt like he was about to lose his mind. He couldn¡¯t care less now. He yelled, ¡°Quit ying around! We need to leave this ce!¡±
Zhu Xuanyue quickly hid the curly pube behind her. She lowered her head, looking like a kicked puppy. ¡°Fine, fine... There¡¯s no need to be so mean...¡±
Xia Lei approached his fallen motorcycle. The man climbed onto it and turned around to look at Zhu Xuanyue, unamused. ¡°Are youing or not? If not, I¡¯m leaving without you!¡±
Zhu Xuanyue quickly sprinted over and leapt onto the back with a light hop. She enthusiastically wrapped her arms around his waist and stered her cheek against Xia Lei¡¯s broad back.
She was absolutely pliant and gentle, but Xia Lei had no idea if this was Ning Jing or Gu Kewen at work.
Xia Lei ignited his motorcycle and zoomed past the checkpoint. The whole area reeked of death, scattered limbs and the thick scent of blood wafting through the air. Zhu Xuanyue had brought death upon all of them but did not even spare them a single look of remorse. She had no empathy, no feelings, nothing.
After travelling a certain distance ahead, Xia Lei left the main road into a vige street. The man had not bothered to turn on his headlights, depending solely on his unmatched vision to drive in the dark. He was doing this to escape the American soldier¡¯s aerial detection. Zhu Xuanyue had destroyed an entire checkpoint and even if no one had managed to report it, the National Guard\ would naturally find out about it. Therefore, continuing his journey to Area 51 tonight was not a wise choice. Xia Lei, on the other hand, wished to have a full-length conversation with Zhu Xuanyue.
Zhu Xuanyue could not keep her hands to herself throughout the ride. She hugged Xia Lei¡¯s waist tightly, asionally utilizing the proximity to tease his belly button. While Xia Lei was not amused at all, the woman was giggling her head off. That was not all. While doing that, she was busy rubbing her cheek against his back like a cheeky kitten.
Xia Lei sat through the harassment in controlled silence as the Harley Breakout zoomed in the dark. One hourter, they were at least one hundred and fifty kilometres away from the scene. Atst, they came to a halt beside a cornfield. Xia Lei hopped off the motorcycle and began to push it into the ntation.
Settling down the vehicle, Xia Lei turned around and stared at Zhu Xuanyue, who was still standing on the fringes of the cornfield. The gaze she held on him was once again chilly and filled with wrath. The man¡¯s heart sunk, a strong feeling surging in his heart. The demon within Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s body had awakened.
¡°Why did you bring me here?¡± Zhu Xuanyue began to pace over.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°With that many deaths at the checkpoint, the Americans will definitely conduct a thorough investigation. We need to...¡±
Before he could even finish his own sentence, Zhu Xuanyue aimed a punch at his lower abdomen without warning. Thankfully, he was prepared for this. The man quickly cushioned her fists by lowering his palms. Despite the sess, the force exerted off Zhu Xuanyue had sent him flying backwards for at least two metres. Xia Lei felt like his knuckles were close to being fractured. The moment of collision with her fist was as vehement as getting smashed by a car. This was not a woman¡¯s punch!
¡°Answer me!¡± Zhu Xuanyue roared at him.
She wasn¡¯t making any sense!
Zhu Xuanyue lunged forward. Within a blink of an eye, she was right in front of Xia Lei. She held up her right fist and sent it forward.
¡°Ning Jing!¡± Xia Lei urgently screeched.
Zhu Xuanyue was momentarily disoriented as her gaze softened. She ced her fist down.
¡°Ning Jing!¡± Xia Lei quickly continued, ¡°Do you still remember me? I¡¯m Xia Lei. Xia Lei...¡±
Zhu Xuanyue was silent. She continued to stare at him gently.
¡°Do you remember the time when we were at the White Hun tribe in Afghanistan? You were trapped there with a few experts and I came to rescue you. Do you remember that?¡± Xia Lei attempted to jog her memories desperately.
¡°What are you talking about?¡± She looked absolutely lost.
Xia Lei pressed on, ¡°And Haizhu... We first met each other there when you came to repair yourpass...¡±
Both Ning Jing and Gu Kewen had existed in the same body that was Zhu Xuanyue. Ning Jing¡¯s consciousness would be particrly strong because she was the one that had offered herself as a physical vessel in the Reincarnation Project held in India. If he could awaken her, the woman before him would not do any harm. This was why he refused to awaken Gu Kewen. Gu Kewen¡¯s obsession with him was strong but her hatred towards him was strong as well. Controlling her would be a challenge.
As the night breeze caressed the cornfield, Xia Lei began to tell her stories of the past. Stories of who Ning Jing was, her past and everything they shared in memory...
Chapter 1137 - Life And Answers
Chapter 1137 - Life And Answers
Smack!
Xia Lei¡¯s pnded on his own cheek. As soon as his palm left his flesh, he was immediately presented with the sight of a squashed mosquito. Judging by the generous stter of blood, the mosquito clearly got a great meal out of him. There were a lot of insects flying around in the cornfield but none of them had bothered to touch Zhu Xuanyue. The fact that he was the only victim was absolutely frustrating.
Regardless, Xia Lei finished his story.
He had run his mouth for ages now and Zhu Xuanyue had taken in every single bit of information inplete silence. The more Xia Lei revealed about Ning Jing¡¯s past, the softer her gaze became.
Xia Lei studied every minute shift. He thought to himself, ¡°I¡¯ve fed her so many things about Ning Jing but in the end, it all boils down to Ning Jing¡¯s control within the body. If she¡¯s not the one doing it, this state will notst for long...¡±
Zhu Xuanyue was still staring at him quietly when tworge beads of tears escaped the confines of her eye.
Her tears rippled something inside Xia Lei¡¯s heart, surfacing a surge of mncholy. A piece of his memory began to y out with flooding bitterness. Oh, Ning Jing... That unfortunate soul that left a quiet imprint inside his heart.
Zhu Xuanyue began walking towards Xia Lei.
And he did not move away. He stood his ce and watched her close the distance.
Zhu Xuanyue snuggled against his chest with tears in her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know why but I feel so sad.¡±
Xia Lei ced his arms around her waist lightly. ¡°It¡¯s all in the past now. I¡¯m d that you¡¯re back.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue reached up and held his cheek. ¡°You feel so warm. I¡¯m so afraid that you¡¯ll leave me. Promise me that you¡¯ll never let me loose, okay?¡±
Xia Lei nodded, though fully aware that this wasn¡¯t a promise.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s lips trembled and she broke out into a whine. Abruptly, she shot up and captured his lips.
That took him by surprise but Xia Lei did not push her away. He wasn¡¯t trying to take advantage of her but it had taken him some effort to finally calm Zhu Xuanyue and awakened Ning Jing¡¯s dwelling consciousness. If he had rejected her advance, triggered her in the process and awakened the part that belonged to Zhu Xuanyue, trouble would ensue.
Their lips were snug together in a sophisticated light kiss. However, things were starting to go down south secondster. Zhu Xuanyue had taken advantage of hispliance to pry his teeth open and jam her tongue inside. He reluctantly allowed that to get this over with but she was relentless. She had no ns to spare him tonight.
The situation was going out of control. While Xia Lei was epting of various kinds of kisses, Zhu Xuanyue was bringing him a lot of trouble amidst the chaotic timing they were in. Plus, her eyes were burning with lust, clearly eager for more.
At this rate, he was quickly losing control over the situation.
¡°Ning Jing, please stop. Calm down.¡± Xia Lei pried himself away from her onught with a light push.
The desire swirling in her eyes vanished, immediately reced by resentment. She was now clearly agitated ¡°What¡¯s with you?! Why do you always reject me?! What the hell are you asking of me?!¡±
Xia Lei was quick to respond. His rejection had unintentionally awakened some part of Gu Kewen. He too had rejected her once upon a time when the Gu family had fallen into shambles and the woman was left all alone. Gu Kewen had stripped herself clean in front of him, hoping that she could exchange some peace and assistance using her body but Xia Lei had rejected her. With that, her feelings started to fluctuate greatly. It turned from hatred to love, then love to hatred. The only thing constant was the intensity of her feelings. After all, she was fluctuating between two extremes of the spectrum. It was only till her death she had the luxury of dying in his embrace. Her entire life had been nothing short of aplete tragedy.
Just as Xia Lei nked out, Zhu Xuanyue threw a punch.
He reacted in the nick of time, stomping both soles into the ground and allowed his body to be carried backwards as he ruined a few stalks of corn in the process. Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s fist had missed but the empty punch had sent a few nearby stalks rustling strongly.
¡°I hate you!¡± Zhu Xuanyue clenched her fists and screeched. Tears began to flood out of her eyes again. This time it wasn¡¯t mere drops, it was cascading down like waterfalls.
Ning Jing was a sophisticated woman, reflecting even when in tears. Her crying was never an outburst of emotions. Gu Kewen, on the other hand, loved and hated with unrivalled passion. It was either crazy love or intense resentment, never in between. Thus, her cries were like a broken dam.
The distinct difference allowed Xia Lei to arrive with a conclusion- His rejection had triggered Gu Kewen. In front of him was a woman with three vastly different personas; The quiet and demure Ning Jing, the passionate Gu Kewen that switched from one end of the spectrum to another and the demon-like Zhu Xuanyue. These three personalities would switch around continuously. While there seemed to be a pattern, it was difficult to get a hold of its true nature.
¡°Gu Kewen?¡± Xia Lei was at wit¡¯s end, really.
Zhu Xuanyue jolted a little but said nothing.
¡°Do you yearn for an apology?¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°I thought it through... That incident shouldn¡¯t have happened between us. If an apology is what you want, I¡¯ll dly give it to you.¡±
He was the one who brought down her family and took her life away. No matter how many years worth of bad blood they shared, what happened had already happened. While she was alive, Xia Lei did not have a chance to give her the apology she deserved. This too was an opportunity to bury the hatchet.
¡°Sorry, Kewen.¡± Xia Lei bowed slightly.
A smile broke out across Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s face. His apology seemed to have brought her some sort offort. It felt like it was relief that brought a smile to her lips.
Noticing her delighted smile, Xia Lei could finally ease his tension. He thought darkly, ¡°This won¡¯t do. She¡¯s incredibly unstable and it¡¯s going to be extremely dangerous for me to stay close. She wants to go to Area 51 and I want to head to the same destination. But to enter with her current condition will certainly mean a violent fight in Area 51. She wouldn¡¯t have an issue to escape but what about me?¡±
While Xia Lei was lost in his own thoughts, the smile on her lips vanished. She uttered coldly, ¡°Xia Lei, what the hell are you trying to pull? You called me Ning Jing and then called me Gu Kewen. Why have you not called my name yet?¡±
Xia Lei held his gaze at her sharply.
Zhu Xuanyue, the true owner of this body, was back once again. It was a piece of cake for her to override consciousness that belonged to Ning Jing and Gu Kewen.
Uncle Xia was now Xia Lei. This seemed to be a tell-tale sign of her maturation progress throughout all this time. This felt like a warning to him that she was no longer that bleary and easily manipted girl before.
¡°There was a slight ident back in India¡¯s Reincarnation Lab when that bastard tried to stop me. I mean what gives? Hmph! He¡¯s so full of himself.¡± Zhu Xuanyue uttered nonchntly. ¡°He was gravely injured and escaped. After that, you brought me to China. In your eyes, I looked like I had lost my memories but in reality, I was just in dormant mode due to the damage I sustained. Thanks for taking care of me. It allowed me to recover fairly quickly. After I started to feed, my recovery was even faster. While I¡¯ve yet to reach my original peak, it won¡¯t be long till that dayes.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped loudly. ¡°You regained your memories? No, you¡¯re awakened now? Then, answer my questions. What is with that box? And that ck-robed man, who the hell is he? Also... Just... Who in the world are you?¡±
¡°That¡¯s a lot of questions but I don¡¯t wish to answer any of it,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Unless necessary, I cannot tell you anything. But let me get this straight, anyone who learns of my secret will not walk away alive.¡± Her re turned piercingly icy.
Xia Lei gulped, immediately stunned.
¡°I have my own destiny to follow while you have yours. Those answers can only be answered by you, then...¡±
¡°Then what?¡±
¡°You need to ept your own fate.¡±
Xia Lei refused to ept vague answers. ¡°Alright, fine. You can refuse to answer me but how about dropping some hints? A crumb of it won¡¯t hurt. Where did the boxe from? There¡¯s a space within it, where is that?¡±
¡°You really think I won¡¯t kill you?¡± Enormous murderous intent radiated off Zhu Xuanyue.
Xia Lei was weirdly calm. ¡°To die in your hands would be much better than dying in the ck-robed man¡¯s hands. So please, give me some hints!¡±
The keyword here was ¡®hint¡¯, which meant differently from ¡®answers¡¯.
Zhu Xuanyue scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t even try to fool me with wordy. I have been speaking Mandarin long before you were born. I have mastered every singlenguage in the world. Do you think I would not be able to tell ¡®hint¡¯ and ¡®answer¡¯ apart?¡±
Xia Lei refused to back down.
¡°Yourck of fear towards me stems from the fact that you were the one who awakened me. And within me, exists two women that loved you deeply in the past. Is that correct?¡± Zhu Xuanyue raised a brow.
Xia Lei offered no answer, opting to stare at her cautiously. Truthfully speaking, while he was worried that Zhu Xuanyue would attack him, he was not afraid of her at all. Perhaps she was right. There was no way she could kill him with the protection of not one but two women that harboured feelings for him in the past.
To provoke her further was not wise. Even with an array of choices, Xia Lei still would not do it. Before the heap of mysteries that were tied to his destiny could be solved, the man had no choice but to shoulder the risk!
Nearing Xia Lei, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s murderous intent weakened in all of a sudden. She was taken aback. She mumbled under her breath, ¡°I really... I really can¡¯t attack you before reaching my initial state.¡±
Those words brought a flood of relief to Xia Lei¡¯s nerves. ¡°Then give me a hint.¡±
There was a beat of silence before Zhu Xuanyue relented, ¡°I only know little about the box. It does not exist in this world and it has to do with time. To me, it is nothing but a prison and I¡¯m afraid to touch it. The prehistoric chosen one tried to solve its mysteries but failed miserably. The ck-robed man trying to kill you is none other than the prehistoric chosen one himself.¡±
¡°He...¡± Though he long had such suspicions, hearing its confirmation from Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s lips felt utterly bizarre. ¡°Isn¡¯t he supposed to be dead? Didn¡¯t you kill him? His body is left behind in a tomb underneath the Holy Church of Sepulchre and I even found a lot of the box¡¯s shards within his frame.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue answered, ¡°When you reach his level, you wouldn¡¯t need to ask me questions like this. The endgame of human evolution is the pure energy state. Physical bodies can be easily destroyed but the soul could never be easily wiped out of existence. Even if you¡¯re injured, you can still return through various different channels. The human of the future can afford to abandon their bodies and create stronger vessels using alloy material. That way, they will not be limited by the inhabitable climate faced during space exploration.¡±
Xia Lei felt his jaw go ck. ¡°You... You¡¯re from the future?¡±
Chapter 1138 - Wild Guesses in the Cornfield
Chapter 1138 - Wild Guesses in the Cornfield
You¡¯re from the future?
This was something stereotypical of science fiction movies. The answer was either yes or no, nothing in between.
However, Zhu Xuanyue had decided to answer Xia Lei¡¯s query by snapping an ear of corn off its stalk and pressed it into his palms.
¡°Hey, I¡¯m asking if you¡¯re from the future. Why... Why are you giving me corn?¡± Xia Lei was absolutely dumb-founded. He thought Zhu Xuanyue was going to drop hints as promised. What the fuck was this corn for anyway?
She reached over and broke another ear of corn beside her.
Xia Lei had no idea how to continue their conversation anymore.
Zhu Xuanyue peeled its husk away to reveal its yellow kernel.
Xia Lei could not bear to stay silent. A wry smile crept up his lips. ¡°Is this supposed to be a hint? I really don¡¯t understand what this is supposed to mean.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue steadied the corn in her hands and rubbed her finger against the grain of its kernel. At this moment, she was extremely calm. ¡°You¡¯re used to seeing time as the future, present and past. But in my eyes, time is just like this corn. It¡¯s made out of many kernels and we¡¯re merely inside one of it. Take this, for example, this one over here.¡± She picked one up with her finger and showed it to him. ¡°What do you see?¡±
Xia Lei was clueless. ¡°A corn kernel.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue continued, ¡°True. What you see here is aplete corn kernel but it is an independent body.¡± She then tossed it to the ground. ¡°Now, it will grow into another corn stalk and produce new corn. You¡¯ll be graced with more corn and more kernels. If you can see this as a continuity of its life, you can apply the same concept to time. It may sound like a stretch but it is also the same for the world.¡±
The gears in Xia Lei¡¯s mind began to rotate wildly.
The universe was born out of chaos. It exploded, expanded and birthed stars,s and nebe. It began to grow 13.8 billion years ago and has yet to stop. If Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s metaphor of corn continuity made sense, the universe would continue to grow like it. More corn would be created and it¡¯d birth infinite corn with sessive generations.
Humans were like corn too. The male and female woulde together to birth an offspring and their offspring would flourish and someday have their own family.
The roots of the universe and its end had been something that the humans were desperate to learn since forever. Yet, the answer was right beside us all along. The universe had given life to many and many had borne its genes and imprints.
Letting his mind wander to a certain extent, Xia Lei quickly pulled it back. There was a moment of silence before he spoke, ¡°So you mean that there is no past and future?¡±
¡°The past is dead. You won¡¯t be able to return to one mere second of the past even with the power of the strongest ckhole in the universe. And the future...it does not exist. You can imagine how you¡¯d look like when you¡¯re eighty years old but that is only your imagination. The real future you does not exist yet.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s mind was bursting at the seams with activity now. ¡°Time is a non-existent concept, am I getting this right?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue only stared at him, outrightly refusing to answer that.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°There is no past, no future but only present and parallel worlds, right? Then that would mean time is the world, the real world. You are from another corn kernel. Where is it and how does it look?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue released the corn in her grip nonchntly. ¡°You¡¯re going overboard with the questions.¡±
¡°Alright. I won¡¯t ask anything about your origin but I need to know this. How did youe about? Did youe from the box?¡±
¡°I am here on a mission. I did note from that box and I won¡¯t tell you how I arrived here. That box... That box...¡± Suddenly, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s expression turned off and elusive.
Xia Lei was impatient. ¡°Where is the box from then? From another corn?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I only know that the prehistoric chosen one had obtained an iplete box that has one corner missing. He must¡¯ve told you that I was the one who broke the box, right? Well, he¡¯s lying.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked to the core.
All along, he had thought the prehistoric chosen one had obtained aplete box. It was a surprise to hear from Zhu Xuanyue that the man had only gotten an iplete box. In other words, the ancient alloy box was neverplete, to begin with!
¡°In our corn, the box is called the Box of the World. You probably think that you got it by ident but I¡¯ll tell you this. It is your mission. You and the prehistoric chosen one share the same mission, but thetter had failed his mission. Displeased with the oue, he wishes to use you to make up for the mistakes he hadmitted. The deadline he gave you was not out of mercy. He¡¯s only trying to use you, then kill and rece you.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s airy revtion rippled a storm within Xia Lei.
ording to her, the ck-robed man, who was also the prehistoric chosen one, had designed everything meticulously. The Bronze Book and the Metal Book he left behind was nothing but lies!
It was no wonder why things did not makeplete sense to Xia Lei. The ck-robed man had aimed to attain the ancient alloy box, which shouldn¡¯t be an issue for him to snatch away easily. No one would be able to stop him anyway. Weirdly, the man had not even attempted it. The ck-robed man hadn¡¯t even taken Xia Lei¡¯sst remaining AE capsule away!
What the hell was he trying to pull?
¡°He...¡± Xia Lei took in a deep breath, willing it to settle down his rippling emotions before finishing his sentence. ¡°He left me a message saying that he¡¯d fought you in the Middle Ages, right in the middle of Jerusalem and then sustained severe injuries that brought him to his death. Is that true?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue replied, ¡°I said it earlier. The end-game of human evolution is a pure energy body. He had existed for a very long time in your little corn kernel. How is he supposed tost so long without achieving the final form? He¡¯s the same as me. It¡¯s difficult for us to kill each other. Your future is going to turn out the same as ours. We¡¯ve walked the very same path you¡¯re taking now.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying that he lied to me on that too?¡±
¡°Yes, indeed.¡±
¡°Then what is the AE? Where is it from?¡±
¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Zhu Xuanyue turned around. ¡°I¡¯ve given you enough of my time. If you wish for more answers, work to be stronger and face that bastard yourself. Ovee him and you will get your answers.¡±
¡°Hey. Wait up!¡± Xia Lei chased after her.
Zhu Xuanyue snapped her head back and raised her feet at him.
With utmost urgency, Xia Lei crossed his arms and brought it down, managing to catch her foot in the nick of time.
Bam! With a muffled noise, Xia Lei was sent flying upside down as he shot into the depths of the cornfield like a rotating cannonball. This time, he had travelled a great distance of more than ten metres! He fell heavily to the ground. The ces where he had ¡®flown¡¯ over were filled with broken stalks of corn. The trace looked like it was ttened by a road roller.
¡°Ptui.¡± Air and blood bubbled in his lung cavity. No longer able to keep it in, Xia Lei spat out a mouthful of blood.
Zhu Xuanyue spared him a nce devoid of any emotion. Coldly, she uttered, ¡°As I said, I¡¯ll only be dropping hints. With the amount of information I¡¯ve let loose, this can be considered the payment I owed you. Do not appear in front of me ever again or I¡¯ll kill you. Your true opponent is the prehistoric chosen one. Go to him to receive your desired answers.¡±
Pushing his palms against the ground, Xia Lei struggled to mber up. He wiped the trail of blood at the corner of his lips.
¡°You¡¯re pathetically weak. Going to him like this is guaranteeing your death.¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes fell on the alloy pendant dangling off Xia Lei¡¯s neck. ¡°What¡¯s the point of leaving thest capsule out? Take it and feed more. The more you consume, the stronger you¡¯ll be. Defeat the prehistoric chosen one, satiate your curiosity and finally get rid of him.¡±
Xia Lei offered no words as he stared at her. Her name was certainly not Zhu Xuanyue but that was not important. Most importantly, she was no longer the clingy bratty Zhu Xuanyue that stuck to him like glue. And she was most definitely not Ning Jing nor Gu Kewen. To her, Ning Jing and Gu Kewen were merely clothes.
Zhu Xuanyue exited the cornfield and began her trek to Area 51.
Xia Lei slowly climbed out of the field. He watched her retreating back as his mind wasunched into a rampage again. ¡°The prehistoric chosen one wants me to take thest AE capsule and Zhu Xuanyue wanted the same thing too. What are they trying to achieve here?¡±
¡°The prehistoric chosen one hadpleted the final evolution and he bears an existence equivalent to Zhu Xuanyue. Yet, he had left behind fake stories about how he was murdered by Zhu Xuanyue and how she was the demon herself with emphasis to take her down. On the other hand, Zhu Xuanyue is saying that the prehistoric chosen one has been deceiving me all along. It seems that the prehistoric chosen one has all the answers I need. But I must be stronger to get what I want and then kill him off. But here¡¯s the thing. Between Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one, who is telling the truth? Or... Are they both trying to deceive me? What is their motivation behind this?¡±
¡°ording to what Qian Jun and Sa¡¯im had found out in Israel, the Americans had managed to learn about the faceless warrior statues because someone had let word loose. Was this done on purpose? Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s here for the six statues and she insists to continue her journey to Area 51 despite knowing that soldiers will be crawling around due to the earlier gunfight. She knew the risks and yet she still decided to go ahead with her journey. This clearly means that the statues are incredibly important to her. Was she the one who let intel loose? What is she trying to do with those statues anyway?¡±
¡°It¡¯s impossible for the prehistoric chosen one to know nothing if Zhu Xuanyue pulls such a big stunt. Will he appear tonight? If he does, is he going to stop her?¡±
Xia Lei ended his wayward thoughts at that point. This was not the first time he was stuck in a situation like this. Even if he decided to nt his ass down and think about those questions for a full month, the answers would never arrive. He could only depend on himself to satiate his dire curiosity, no one was going to help him.
Xia Lei brought the motorcycle up and pushed it onto the road. Once again, he spared another look back at where Zhu Xuanyue had left to but he could no longer see the woman anymore. He couldn¡¯t help butugh bitterly at his predicament. He had hoped for Zhu Xuanyue to remain an ally and they¡¯d eventually face the ck-robed man together. However, for that to happen seemed like a fantasy now. Perhaps she was meant to be his nemesis since the start!
The ck-robed prehistoric chosen one was a foe. Zhu Xuanyue too was a foe. It felt like Murphy¡¯s Law was toying with his life. He had worries that things would go down south and indeed, everything was developing towards a nasty direction.
¡°The reason why they both had not to kill me yet must be because I still hold some value. If I were to lose that value, they¡¯d kill me without a doubt. Why is my value?¡± A new question manifested in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. As if on instinct, he fisted the alloy pendant dangling off his neck tightly.
Both the prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue had intended for him to consume thest AE capsule. Thetter had even explicitly requested so. She was even trying to convince him to do just that and began feeding on human minds to grow stronger. Perhaps it was really the right time to pop thest capsule and be stronger. However, as soon as the desire to do so was roused, his heart was riddled with sinking insecurity inexplicably.
Was it alright to do something your enemies yearned for you to do?
Xia Lei¡¯s cold smile did not quite reach his eye. He ced the pendant back into the confines of his shirt and hopped on the Harley Breakout. With one swift movement, he ignited the engine and began zooming towards Area 51.
Area 51 was bound to be lively tonight.
Chapter 1139 - The General is Busy
Chapter 1139 - The General is Busy
Thompson¡¯s office, Department of Security, Area 51.
Thompson¡¯s buttocks mped down on the female soldier as he began grinding on her. The soldier on the other hand was trying her best to hold in her disgust and dismay despite appearing aroused.
The National Security instigation booth was uprooted and their urgent appeal hastily handed to their chief, only for him to act to it with his obese hinds.
¡°Oh baby, baby, how gorgeous you are.¡± Thompson began his sweet talk.
¡°I have the highest praise for your mother.¡±
¡°Huh, do I remind you of her?¡±
¡°Because she made you, you pretty little thing.¡±
¡°Right...Sir, about the promotion, when are you going to consider it...?¡± The female soldier wrapped her arms around his waist, keeping him close at the right time while she awaited her answer.
Thompson was nevertheless in a pleasant mood. ¡°Sure, I¡¯m feeling generous today. I¡¯m going to fill up the documents by the end of the night. You¡¯re in luck.¡±
Smooch!
She cupped her lips onto his and gave him a tight kiss. ¡°General, let me treat you in return.¡±
¡°Hahaha, aren¡¯t you a darling.¡± Thompson was exhrated as she smirked. He detached himself from the female subordinate before he went lying down on the couch. The man was at ease and no doubt in pleasure.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
¡°Goddamnit who¡¯s calling at this hour?¡± The female soldier was displeased.
Thompson retrieved his custom made hand-held.
Holding on Thompson¡¯s arm, she pouted, ¡°General, don¡¯t pick up the call...¡±
Thompson took a nce at the screen and subsequently swiped her hand away.
¡°Sir!¡± She was persistent.
Thompson spanked her on the ass as heforted, ¡°This is an important one. I have to take it. As for your promotion, I¡¯ll get to it. Be amb and leave, alright? I need to pick up this call.¡±
The female soldier grabbed her discarded clothing and left Thompson¡¯s office. She was clearly relieved that her session with him ended prematurely, and now that he personally requested, she didn¡¯t need him to repeat as she hurried her way out.
After the soldier left the office, Thompson finally epted the call. Reactively lowered his voice, he spoke, ¡°Mister James, is there a problem? I¡¯m in the middle of something here.¡±
He was on the edge because the caller was none other than Xia Lei. He could dismiss anyone in the world at that moment, even flipping the finger at the President. But not Xia Lei. Xia Lei was his personal money printing machine and his lucky star.
¡°Mister Thompson, listen closely, everything I¡¯m about to say is important.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯m all ears. Do proceed, Mister James,¡± Thompson was modest.
¡°In ten minutes, I need you to send me aplete list of every single personnel in Area 51 on duty tonight, straight to my mailbox.¡±
¡°What...?¡±
¡°Is there a problem, Mister Thompson?¡±
¡°No, it¡¯s not that Mister James. I will do anything for you, but doing so will leave evidence behind. It¡¯s only a matter of time before they trace it up to me,¡± Thompson exined.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°You¡¯re the top official for defence and security in Area 51. I¡¯m sure you have a way to observe all entry points of the area without taking a single step out of the office now don¡¯t you?¡±
¡°Well yeah, but...¡±
¡°Are you somehow unaware of cameras? Gather enough footage through photos and send them to me. That way there wouldn¡¯t be any traceable evidence back to you!¡± Xia Lei raised his voice.
¡°Ah hah!¡± Thompson pped himself on the forehead, ¡°Right! Why didn¡¯t I think of that? Alright, consider this done Mister James. I¡¯ll gather the photos and send them to you soon.¡±
¡°Second, the western National Police checkpoint has been demolished, is there any response from the Pentagon and CIA?¡±
¡°I just got the updates from the CIA but I¡¯ve not got the time to get around it. I¡¯ll look through them immediately!¡± Thompson hastily scrambled to his desk and began flipping through the confidential update, while simultaneously updating Xia Lei on its contents. ¡°They found corpses of gang members around the station. Though, it seems that the killer who¡¯ve gunned down members of the National police squad was one of their own.
The perpetrator fired from behind, leaving no living evidence before hemitted suicide. Furthermore, they found out killer X has been dwelling amongst the gang members.¡±
Their cause of death, killer X, clearly points to Zhu Xuanyue. Zhu Xuanyue chose to hunt in America and left a trail of rotting brains loosely hanging to the corpses. The American intelligence and police force could not wrap their heads around it, so it was only normal that theybelled her as killer X.
¡°You don¡¯t have to exin the incident to me. Get straight to the part on the Pentagon and CIA¡¯s response protocols.¡±
Thompson hurriedly flipped through clumps of pages, before he replied, ¡°There isn¡¯t any, sir. No advice from CIA, or any military instruction from the Pentagon, besides to heighten our defence measures, and...¡±
¡°And what?¡±
¡°To forward aplete list of all personnel getting in and out of Area 51 to the CIA.¡± Thompson was perplexed at how exactly identical the CIA¡¯s instructions were with Xia Lei¡¯s to him.
¡°That¡¯s all I need, and here¡¯s the final thing,¡± Xia Lei added, ¡°In an hour, I will enter Area 51. I need you to make it happen, however you can.¡±
¡°Huh, but...¡±
¡°After tonight, you will get all the money you need. So, Mister Thompson, onest mission and you¡¯re set for life,¡± Xia Lei dered.
Thompson paused for a long while.
¡°What is your current location now?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°My current coordinates are 37.233382£¬115.81049. Get to work and remember, you¡¯ve got one hour, that¡¯s all.¡±
Thompson was already on the verge of tearing up. ¡°Mister James, it¡¯s not that I¡¯m unwilling to help you with this. I wouldn¡¯t want anything more than toplete the deal tonight. But I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve mentioned that the tech in Area 51 is the best there is in the world right now. Even if you could disguise yourself as just about anyone on this, the face recognition technology in ce could still reveal your identity.¡±
Area 51 was renowned to be the hardest ce on Earth to break into. It was no secret that Chinese intelligence has eyed an infiltration for a while now, only to no avail. So did the Russians, notably making it among their main goals during the USSR era.
¡°You gave me just an hour. There is no way I could make it out safely for you! Not even if you could put on enough makeup to look like a carbon copy of me.¡±
Xia Lei offered a solution. ¡°Mister Thompson, rx, I¡¯ve got a n set up for you.¡±
¡°You do...?¡± Thompson was stupefied.
¡°Listen here...¡±
Thompson¡¯s mouth was wide open.
Meanwhile, over at the radar station at the fringes of Area 51.
A minuscule red dot began shing on the edge of the radar indicator. Noticing the intruder, the army patrol held up themunicator and ordered, ¡°You¡¯re now trespassing the boundaries of the American military territory, stand back. I repeat, stand back and turn around or we will strike you down. Final warning!¡±
On the other end of themunicator, a voice replied, ¡°We¡¯ve got approval from the Pentagon, established code tmx11809.¡±
The watchtower patrol inputted the code into the system, and it was valid. ¡°The code is valid, please provide the entry password.¡±
¡°XJ77963.¡±
The soldier subsequently replied, ¡°The password is correct. Landing authorised. Uponnding, please abide with all investigation and handling protocols on Area 51 grounds.¡±
¡°Roger that.¡±
After the call ended, the watchtower patrol picked up the basendline and dialled straight to Thompson¡¯s office.
The line connected, and Thompson took to ask, ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°Sir, there is an administrative ck hawk choppernding in thepound, valid Pentagon approval is disyed and authorised to enter.¡±
¡°Who is it?¡± Thompson added.
¡°On the certification of approval it stated an ambassador from Lockheed Martin but no specific names were given sir.¡±
¡°No names specified?¡±
¡°Yes sir, this doesn¡¯t align with the protocols sir. But the approval is valid so there is no denying their entry.¡±
¡°Find out everything on those people and send me a written report ASAP. Over.¡± Thompson hung up the phone.
The watchtower patrol burst into an explosive rant. ¡°Motherfucker must be with that bitch Jenny again. God damn what a scum of a couple!¡±
Back in Thompson¡¯s office.
Thompson flipped open hisptop and began withdrawing all lists of entry, along with that specific certificate of entry. He then quickly snapped photos of all records. Throughout this process, however, he had not a single clue of what he was a part of, all he knew was he was the general and he sure was busy.
Two minutester, another administrative ck hawknded on the helipad within the area.
The doors flung open, and out came two sleek and alluring blonde women one after another, before assisting a blond young man off the helicopter.
The visitors were none other than Lockheed Martin¡¯s new CEO Kestin and his two attractive female bodyguards, Charlotte and Eva.
The two blonde women were dressed in pairs of fitting ck pantsuits, the skinny fit cut on their outfit portrayed their mesmerising curves from top to bottom. They were a sight to behold even amongst all the European beauties. For beauties like these two to present themselves at a military base, it was a genuine wonder how many toilet rolls the lonely soldiers were to go through that night.
Not long after, a military use cross country vehicle came charging along with several military personnel on board.
¡°You guys go ahead, I¡¯ll inform them that we have special authority to skip the search protocol,¡± Kestin said.
Charlotte and Eva nodded and proceeded towards the military-grade all-terraining their way. Before they could get close, a light whistle was heard.
Kestin retrieved his phone and dialled a full 32 digit number. Secondster, he kept his tone low as he reported, ¡°I¡¯m in, everything is going just as you¡¯ve nned.¡±
Nothing was heard from the other side of the line.
After a two-second pause, Kestin hung up. He brisk-walked towards the all-terrain and there he caught glimpses of his two striking female bodyguards heckling Thompson¡¯s henchmen as they attempted to proceed with a search.
Over in the middle of the outer ring of Area 51, it was but a void of sand and nothingness.
Xia Lei tapped on his email app on his phone, and after logging in, his forehead crinkled from dismay. Lockheed Martin ising to join the party tonight too? Even if there wasn¡¯t a name, he knew Kestin was there. Who the hell was he, and who was he actually working for?
Chapter 1140 - SA-12 VS Durex
Chapter 1140 - SA-12 VS Durex
In the wee hours of the night.
A deafening rm rang out in the middle of one of the army camps.
Soldiers in deep slumber were shaken from their sleep as they instinctively hurled themselves out of bed and began dressing up in military attire while throwing curses around.
¡°Fucking hell whose idea is this!¡±
¡°Jenny must have done a terrible job tonight and lost her favour with that old fag!¡±
¡°Haha! If she were with us, she¡¯d be moaning in pleasure all night!¡±
The doors were kicked open and a voluptuous woman came marching in. She was none other than the infamous Jenny that they were badmouthing just a moment ago, along with the equally disdained ¡®old fag¡¯ Thompson. Ranked Lieutenant, she was in charge of the anti-airstrike practice drill.
Upon her appearance, the entire military amodation immediately kept their silence. They know well enough not to get on her bad side, despite how much they irked at her mere presence.
Jenny took a quick nce at the military-grade watch on her wrist, before she ordered, ¡°Everyone gather outside in a minute for departure. The drill will be led by the General himself. Codename: Lone Ranger.
For the mock scenario of this military drill, we shall assume our friendly troops have been destroyed by the enemy and we¡¯re the only ones left. Right in front of us is the range of Russian missile assault on our troops. We must steer our missile vehicle to the designated spot on the map, fire intercepting missiles and defend Area 51.¡±
The American soldiers could not believe the wordsing out from her mouth. Everyone was dead silent, but they all shared an almost identical thought. Did the general lose his minds from burying his head in Jenny¡¯s tits too long, or did Jenny blow her brains off from all that sex with the general?
Regardless, the missile defence drill went as nned and a minuteter, all selected troops were gathered at the same spot. And without surprise, the Lone Ranger mission was actually designed and led by General Thompson himself.
Thompson quickly briefed a little before he hopped onto a military all-terrain vehicle and made his departure. Jenny personally drove an SA-12 missile vehicle tailing his and behind her were several radar vehicles, a few military-grade cross country vehicles and an infantry fighting vehicle.
Leaving the military base, the army involved in the drill headed towards the empty desert.
After about half an hour of driving, Thompson gave his orders through a mouthpiece, ¡°Once we arrive at the drill location, all troops disembark their vehicles and prepare for battle.¡±
A radar infantry abruptly interrupted, ¡°We caught an invading target, heading our way.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a Russian assault missile. Shoot it down!¡± Thompson ordered.
¡°General, sir...¡± The soldiers were perplexed.
¡°That¡¯s amercial drone, sir.¡±
¡°Shoot it down, that¡¯s an order!¡± Thompson howled into the mouthpiece.
Under themander¡¯s orders, set aside amercial drone, even the likes of a mosquito would have to be put down with the SA-12 if told! And now that Thompson had called it, Jenny flipped the cover off the vehicle and in a mere ten seconds, a tracking missile was discharged, aimed right at the target.
Over in Las Vegas, in a control room for drone enthusiasts, a blond teen was controlling a fixed-wing drone headed towards the agreed spot.
Beside him was his peer, a young African American. Just about half an hour ago, he received a call with an odd request, requesting for them to prepare their best drone and put it up into the sky. Once it arrived at the intended position, they would airdrop a box of Durex condoms.
The client had generously offered a hundred grand American dors, nevertheless with specific timing and a fixed position.
¡°I wonder who the hell would be this romantic, spending a hundred thousand dors to airdrop a box of Durex.¡± The blond kid on the remote snarkily remarked.
¡°My guess is he is an Arabian prince. Who else could possibly look for a booty call in the middle of a freaking desert,¡± the ck teen replied.
¡°Once it gets to the intended spot, let¡¯s snap a few quick shots.¡±
¡°Almost there,¡± the first teen replied.
¡°Bro, you think they¡¯d be doing it on camel¡¯s back? Haha!¡±
Pop! All of a sudden, the built-in camera went nk.
¡°What happened?¡± The blond kid was dumbfounded.
The ck teen shrugged. ¡°No idea, but we¡¯ve got a hundred grand so I guess we could buy ten new ones if we wanted to.¡±
¡°But we didn¡¯t bring the box of Durex to the designated spot.¡±
¡°We gotta go and hide for the moment then.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s head back, pack our stuff and head to Hawaii on the next flight.¡±
Meanwhile, Jenny held her fist up high. ¡°Strike!¡±
Right next to her was the assistant inmand, staring bizarrely at her. The missile was worth a million dors. We just used it to shoot down amercial drone. Was that really the appropriate response?
Regardless, there was no explosion as the SA-12 assault missile merely crashed onto themercial drone and brought it down to the ground.
¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Thompson¡¯s voice came immediately after through the speaker.
Jenny dickishly responded, ¡°Might be a technical mishap.¡±
¡°A technical mishap? If this was a real battle, we would all have been dead! Lead the men over and take a look. I want all personnel on the drill to proceed to thending site. I need all of you to see for yourselves how under-maintained our equipment is, now!¡± Thompson exploded.
¡°Yes sir!¡± Jenny then turned and began ordering her troops. ¡°To the missilending site, now!¡±
Jenny led her parade of the military vehicles towards the missile crashnding site, leaving only Thompson at the firing site. Immediately after Jenny led the troops away from the scene, Thompson got out of his vehicle and took a quick look around but did not find who he was expecting to meet.
¡°I am here.¡± A familiar voice resonated from a distance.
Thompson turned his head around towards the source of the voice. Under the dim moonlight, a biracial teen was standing on the missileuncher, stoically staring back at him.
Thompson then retrieved a full military uniform from his vehicle and made his way towards Xia Lei and handed it to him. ¡°Mister James, this is a phenomenal n.¡±
Xia Lei put on the military uniform that Thompson had provided, carried his equipment backpack and snuck into the missile canister.
That was his n. He would order an airdrop a box of Durex, and Thompson would lead his troops to ¡®stroke the bird¡¯, and right at that split second, he would crawl into the empty canister of the missileuncher. No matter how advanced the technology in Area 51 was, there was no way they could see through their own equipment.
After Xia Lei was well hidden, themunicator broadcasted Jenny¡¯s voice. ¡°General, we have sessfully shot down the FPVmercial drone, but it...¡±
¡°What about it?¡±
¡°It had a box of Durex tied to it.¡± Jenny soundedpletely baffled.
Thompson was dumbfounded. ¡°A box of Durex?¡±
¡°Yes, General.¡±
¡°Bring it to me,¡± Thompson ordered.
Next to the crashnded drone, the soldiers were trying their best to hold in theirughter, but they all knew that one thing was for sure. The condoms would be used on their Lieutenant eventually after all. And the one who wields them would be none other than their own general.
After several minutes, Thompson led the troops back to Area 51.
¡°This is an awful drill, what a mess,¡± Thompson remarked. ¡°After we return, get someone to drag the faulty missile back to base. Destroy the drone in the process. We wouldn¡¯t want anyone in the Pentagon to know about this. Nobody shall disclose the events here tonight, that¡¯s an order, understood?¡±
¡°Yes sir!¡± The replies were inplete unison.
Back in the missile vehicle, Jenny opened the box of Durex and stared at it nkly. She had so many questions that she did not know where to begin.
Right before Area 51 headquarters was a dome-shaped building.
Kestin and his two gorgeous bodyguards halted their footsteps and stared towards the dome-shaped building from ground level. It was a structure with no signs or symbols, not even a single written letter.
There were no windows. Even the outer walls were made of metal alloy, while simultaneously coated by a thickyer of radar insting materials to hide their presence from satellites.
The dome structure had an alloy door and by the entrance stood four fully armed military guards.
¡°This is the AE research centre?¡± Kestin noted, ¡°Looks pretty mysterious.¡±
Charlotte and Eva were quiet. The two blonde women were as cold as ice.
Once the alloy door was opened, a weary old man emerged. He was the head of the AE research centre, Eric.
Behind him were two other people, one was Sylvia¡¯s ex-boyfriend Adolf Hillman, the other was an Israeli Mossad high ranking intelligence officer Kerns.
His appearance at the site was rather surprising for the guests, but with all things considered, however, given Israel¡¯s rtionship with the US as its closest middle eastern ally, it was only normal that the Israeli government sent Kerns for the Shepherd project.
¡°Mister Kestin, here you are. I¡¯ve been expecting you.¡± Eric kept a bright smile on his face. Alongside his warm words, he went ahead and gave Kestin a weing hug.
Kestin continued, ¡°Mister Eric, take me to the six statues of faceless samurais, we have no time to lose.¡±
¡°Everything is ready for your arrival,e with me,¡± Eric said.
Adolf Hillman wanted to make a self-introduction after Eric and Kestin finished talking and after maybe offering to shake Kestin¡¯s hand or something. But Kestin did not even spare that man a nce. Albeit slightly aggravated by his intentional ignorance, he rebuked, ¡°Mister Eric, I have no issue with Mister Kestin entering, but his bodyguards too?¡±
Charlotte and Eva shifted their gazes towards Adolf Hillman, their nces stone cold.
¡°This is...?¡± Kestin took to asking.
¡°My handy assistant, Adolf Hillman,¡± Eric introduced.
¡°Oh,¡± Kestin acknowledged. ¡°Mister Eric, I¡¯ll get you a new personal assistant by daybreak tomorrow. Mister Adolf Hillman, your work is done here. You may proceed to pack your things.¡±
¡°What?¡± Adolf could not believe his ears. He could barely contain his rage but suppressed it nheless. His opposition was the CEO of Lockheed Martin, a man with a pivotal position in US affairs.
Kestin continued, ¡°If you want reasons, I¡¯m going to list some for you. AE research centre has been researching for how long now? But as far as I¡¯ve heard there has been no notable progress and the Pentagon is running low on patience. From today onwards, the AE research centre will be taken over by Lockheed Martin. We will offer finance and equipment support and funding, and fresh manpower. With that said, do you think the reasons are sufficient enough for me toyoff ¡®unproductive¡¯ employees?¡±
¡°You...¡± Adolf Hillman shifted his sight towards Eric, ¡°Mister Eric, let me get this straight. I have always been your trusty assistant all this while. I gave my all for the research centre and you know it. Now you¡¯re letting him fire me because I have my personal code? That¡¯s unfair.¡±
¡°Well...¡± Eric¡¯s tongue was tied. He¡¯s now presented with a choice between his modest assistant and the CEO of Lockheed Martin. The decision was a no brainer.
Kestin continued, ¡°Mister Adolf Hillman, the world isn¡¯t fair. Alright, let¡¯s get going Mister Eric.¡±
¡°Alright, this way please.¡±
Charlotte and Eva brushed past poor Adolf Hillman, both unwilling to even bother to lift their heads to spare him a look.
Adolf Hillman stood at his spot for what felt like an eternity.
Why me?
Chapter 1141 - The AE ResearChapter Centre
Chapter 1141 - The AE ResearChapter Centre
Thompson¡¯s office.
¡°Mister James, you need to get this done as soon as possible and start moving out.¡± Thompson was positively pleading at this point. If Xia Lei was found here, Thompson would be punished to the full extent of thew. Not even his money could help him escape.
Despite that, Thompson¡¯s pleas seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. Xia Lei continued to manipte hisputer, quickly pulling out surveince footage of the AE Research Centre. However, the only scenery he could ess were those of its exterior. There was nothing on its interior.
Thompson too immediately understood what Xia Lei was trying to achieve. ¡°It¡¯s useless. The insides of the AE Research Centre has an independent surveince system. Even I can¡¯t see what¡¯s going on inside.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Independent? So that means whatever happens inside won¡¯t be noticed from the outside?¡±
Thompson nodded. ¡°In theory, yes.¡±
¡°Bring me there.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Thompson was in a pinch, visibly reluctant to do so.
Nonchntly, Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re stuck on the same boat. If I move alone, I might be found out easily. When that happens, do you think you can run away? I will be safer with your protection.¡±
¡°But...¡± Thompson felt his scalp go numb. ¡°While the AE centre is within the confines of Area 51, it has always been an independent facility. I have no authority to help you get inside and if we attempt to force our way in, the White House and the Pentagon would be informed right away.¡±
¡°You just need an excuse to enter and that excuse is in front of you.¡±
¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡±
Xia Lei exined, ¡°Aren¡¯t Lockheed Martin¡¯s employees here? They¡¯ve only shown a permission letter. Documents are forged regrly. All you need to do is nitpick on the details and have someone rectify their documents. Even if the Pentagon finds out about it, you can brush it off as just doing your part of the job.¡±
Thompson weighed that thought a little. ¡°Alright then. You¡¯ll drive and I¡¯ll nitpick on the way.¡±
Just as Xia Lei was about to stand, a familiar Asian face appeared in one of the surveince tabs. It was a female soldier. While the live feedback was pixted, it was not an issue for Xia Lei to identify her. It was no one else but Zhu Xuanyue!
Xia Lei was shocked. His mind screeched, ¡°I wasted so much effort just to gain ess into Area 51 and she just walked in like it was no big deal. I know she¡¯s able to control minds but there¡¯s no way she can controlputer programmes, right? Not to mention the Tenshin system installed to the whole of Area 51¡¯s system. How did she get in?¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei¡¯s attention was caught by a map of Area 51 on the desk. He peeked at it and tried to match it with the environment behind Zhu Xuanyue. The realization hit him and Xia Lei was floored. Zhu Xuanyue hade in through the helicopter pad.
Thompson too quickly rushed over, noticing the female Asian soldier too. He muttered, ¡°What is she trying to do?¡±
Xia Lei merely replied, ¡°Just ignore her. We¡¯re cancelling the n now.¡±
¡°Cancel?¡± Thompson was surprised. Though he wished to go on an adventure trying to barge into the AE Research Centre, he was worried that Xia Lei would pull something outrageous and get themselves caught.
In the surveince feedback, Zhu Xuanyue was headed straight to the alloy doors of the facility. No one hade forward to ask her anything and one of them even weed her in. The doors were opened and Zhu Xuanyue entered the AE Research Centre smoothly.
¡°Who... Who is she?¡± Thompson stared at the screen with wide eyes.
Xia Lei instructed instead, ¡°Wait for me here and be ready. I¡¯ll be exiting this ce in an hour.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to the AE Research Centre yourself?¡±
¡°Yes. Alone.¡± Xia Lei strode to the door without offering any exnation.
Thompson could only shrug his shoulders at that. ¡°Fine by me. I¡¯ll just start preparing now.¡±
Exiting Thompson¡¯s office, Xia Lei utilized the mental map he created to guide himself towards the AE Research Centre. He skilfully avoided all surveince cameras and every patrolling soldier. With his eyes and ears, he hadplete control over everything within a two-kilometre radius. No one would be able to spot him.
Ten minutester, Xia Lei arrived at a spherical building where the AE Research Centre was based.
Four armed guards were stationed at the front entrance. Their gazes were concentrated and piercing.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes zoomed in on one of them and he activated his trusty X-ray vision and scanning mode. In a sh, his brain supplied a row of data. Pulse rate: 50bpm, Brain activity: 1%.
The slow pulse rate was typical of someone asleep. It was weird to learn as these guards looked like they were very focused on their duty. This phenomenon should not be possible under normal circumstances. Plus, their brain activities were only at one per cent. They weren¡¯t asleep, they were now brain dead.
This was obviously Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s doing.
Xia Lei peeled his eyes away and walked over. He pried out an ess card off one of the guards, opened the doors and helped himself in.
Behind the alloy doors was a hollow lobby. The only things that upied the mass space were a simple line of chairs and a reception counter. Due to thete hours, all the employees had left work for home.
Beyond the lobby was a long corridor lined with offices on both sides. Xia Lei¡¯s eyes quicklypleted a scan of his surroundings. The offices along the corridor were normal cubicles. There was no one inside working thete-night shift.
There was a surveince room right beside the office area. But when Xia Lei¡¯s eyes had gotten to that corner, he had found a few motionless bodies sprawled around the space. Their faces were ghastly and he could not detect any pulse. They were dead. Zhu Xuanyue had obviously graced them with her presence and took out all the guards inside the surveince room for supper.
Zhu Xuanyue really was the Grim Reaper herself!
Xia Lei turned away from the surveince room to continue his investigation.
At the mouth of the corridor was a lift that required iris, fingerprint and ess card recognition to function. He let his vision pierce through the cold metal doors of the lift. At one nce, he found out that the lifts led downwards. It was evident that there was an underground space beneath the spherical building. It made sense for all top-secret experiments to be conducted underground.
¡°Does Zhu Xuanyue have an ess card? There¡¯s no way she could control the Tenshin system to ess the lift service. She must¡¯ve used another way.¡± Xia Lei let his gaze trail downwards, finally noticing a trail of footprints against the ceramic tiles.
Zhu Xuanyue had entered through the helicopter pad, which meant that her soles were stained with dirt and dust. Without a doubt, these would serve as Xia Lei¡¯spass to find her. Xia Lei had only managed to notice this minute detail using his microscopic vision so it was safe to say that no one else could¡¯ve picked up on it.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s trail was stretched into the office area. Xia Lei followed her tracks, finally reaching a room on the end. From her footprints, Zhu Xuanyue had entered this space so Xia Lei too did the same.
This was Eric¡¯s office, judging by his namete on the desk. There were pictures of him and thest American president stered across the wall too.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s trail came to a stop in front of a bookshelf.
Xia Lei came over, noticing a woman¡¯s handprint on one side of the bookshelf. Xia Lei carefully hovered his palm over the same spot and began to push. The furniture began to move away slowly and finally revealed a stairway behind it.
Without the need for passcode input, ess card reading and all that jazz, this simple stairway had granted easy ess to the underground space.
Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°In such a heavily-guarded ce and in Eric¡¯s office nheless. What is the rationale behind this design? Is this supposed to be an emergency escape route or what?¡±
The man had not noticed any stairway at the lobby earlier. It was a mystery why such a state of the art research facility had not thought of having stairways. In the case of electricity disruptions or fire, how are the employees stationed underground going to escape? It made some sense for the hidden stairway to be an emergency route in the case of a disaster. Perhaps that was an adequate exnation to why the security construct was close to non-existent. In dire situations, how would those in panic afford to spend time keying in passcodes or waiting for approval to their iris and fingerprint scans?
Also, how did Zhu Xuanyue even find out about this secret stairway?
Two possibilities came to mind.
One, someone had told her.
Two, it was that her X-ray vision evolution had achieved heights so great that it was terrifying. To be able to notice this hidden stairway in the middle of an unassuming office was a feat Xia Lei could not even achieve.
Both possibilities were equally usible but Xia Lei refused to dwell on it. He quickly entered the stairway and lightened his steps. He began to descend quietly. The stairway was lit, making Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s footprints visible under the illumination.
After descending what felt like two to three storeys worth of stairs, the exit came into view.
Two corpses of armed guards were sprawled around the exit. Zhu Xuanyue had made a feast out of their brains.
The two armed guards were obviously stationed here. Their existence had exined that this was indeed an emergency escape route. While it did not require any identification and passcodes, usage was prohibited normally.
Xia Lei stepped out of the stairway and found himself on a hanging aluminium walkway that lined the edges of the spherical space. Beneath him was a massive underground chamber. The six faceless warrior statues were all deposited in different spots around theb to form a hexagram. Beside these statues was research equipment. Some were in the middle of a run cycle while some were dormant.
But of course, Xia Lei noticed these through his X-ray vision. The man wasn¡¯t brave enough to not move with stealth.
In the process, Xia Lei found Eric, Kestin and his female bodyguards Eva and Charlotte. The Israeli high-ranking intelligence officer, Kerns, was here too.
Andstly, he finally noticed the one he did not wish to see here. Zhu Xuanyue.
Disguised as a female soldier, Zhu Xuanyue had started to descend the walkway. She swerved through theboratory area towards the group of people. No one seemed to have noticed her approaching presence, still upied with their discussion on Project Shepherd.
Xia Lei could hear their voices crystal clear despite the distance.
¡°Those six statues are made of materials that do not exist on the face of this world. We havepared all materials in existence and none of them has provided a good match. Therefore, I can confirm that they are not made ofposite material,¡± reported Eric.
Kestin questioned pointedly, ¡°Mister Eric, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ve suggested melting it down. Why are you so reluctant to execute our proposal?¡±
Eric replied, ¡°We¡¯re fully aware of Lockheed Martin¡¯s proposal but to melt them will be ourst resort. There¡¯s no need to melt them yet. They¡¯re able to disrupt signals and that is something worth looking into. If we melt them down before finding out why perhaps the question would never be answered.¡±
Suddenly, Kerns shouted, ¡°Who are you? What are you doing here?!¡±
Zhu Xuanyue had finally revealed herself.
Chapter 1142 - To Hold A Wolf By The Ears
Chapter 1142 - To Hold A Wolf By The Ears
Kerns had noticed Zhu Xuanyue while Zhu Xuanyue had noticed Xia Lei. Just as Kerns¡¯s booming voice rang out, the woman¡¯s gaze fell on where Xia Lei was. In that split second, her stare had prated through the cement floor to lock gazes with Xia Lei.
Xia Lei quickly felt nervous, suddenly remembering what Zhu Xuanyue had said to him in the cornfield. She had already paid back his kindness and if he dared to appear in front of her again, she would kill him.
Yet, Xia Lei was now presented to Zhu Xuanyue. While a sturdyyer of concrete separated them, it certainly wasn¡¯t enough to guarantee his safety. Zhu Xuanyue was more than capable of closing the distance.
Despite his worries, Zhu Xuanyue averted her eyes away to continue walking towards Kerns, Eric and the others.
Xia Lei gulped. ¡°She noticed me but why is she not doing anything?¡±
¡°Hey!¡± Kerns drew his pistol up with a ck. He pointed it at Zhu Xuanyue. ¡°Hold it right there! Answer me or I¡¯ll shoot!¡±
Zhu Xuanyue ignored his warning. The woman continued to step forward.
Kerns, on the other hand, was not one to hesitate. He pulled the trigger but came to a sudden realization. He could not move his finger at all! Not only was his finger frozen, he quickly noticed that he had lost full control over his muscles!
One secondter, Kerns slumped onto the ground. The way he fell on the ground was odd like a body that had been in the morgue¡¯s freezer for days. His posture was very stiff.
To brandish a pistol in front of Zhu Xuanyue was equivalent to suicide.
¡°Who are you? What did you do to him?!¡± Eric panicked. He cautiously backed off in an attempt to call for security.
Her shadow swayed. In an instant, she had broken through the distance between her and Eric andunched a hard punch towards his ribs.
Eric groaned. The man was sent flying till he collided with one of the faceless warrior statues. Crumpling onto the ground, no movement was detected from the bloodied man. One punch from Zhu Xuanyue was akin to a raging bull. The moment of impact had crushed half of his ribs and subsequently damaged his vitals before Eric crashed into the statue. Even if he was sent to the emergency rescue, there was no way he could recover from this blow.
Xia Lei gaped at the sight. This wild turn of events was far from what he was expecting. He predicted that Zhu Xuanyue was merely going to take Eric hostage to achieve her goals. It was a shocker that she opted to send Eric to the afterworld right away.
Zhu Xuanyue began to pace towards Kestin.
¡°Is she going to kill Lockheed Martin¡¯s Kestin and his two bodyguards?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped loudly with the suspense. ¡°She didn¡¯t attack me right away because she wanted to deal with me after killing off those three?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue stopped inches before Kestin.
Kestin regarded her with calmness. The woman had killed not one but two people in front of his eyes and yet there was not a hint of fear across his face. Even Charlotte and Eva were watching the scene unfold with odd tranquillity. Their defences werepletely down.
In the midst of Xia Lei¡¯s confusion, Zhu Xuanyue began, ¡°Melt them down. You have half an hour.¡±
¡°Understood. We¡¯ll get into it right away.¡± The way Kestin spoke was like that of how a servant would talk to their lords. Humble, obedient, amodating and pliant all while still looking like a prideful man.
Above them on the hanging walkway, Xia Lei was floored by the sheer amount of surprises. There was no way in hell he¡¯d dreamt about this. He certainly wasn¡¯t expecting Lockheed Martin¡¯s new CEO, Kestin, to be Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s servant!
¡°How the hell is this possible?! Aren¡¯t Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s servants the bike gang members? How could it turn out to be Lockheed Martin¡¯s CEO? What happened to her? What did she do?¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but entertain his own curiosity.
Kestin began walking towards the central control panel while Charlotte and Eva went towards a pipe structure and a metal door respectively on either side.
Zhu Xuanyue, on the other hand, began to move towards Xia Lei.
The sudden sense of urgency snapped him out of his thoughts. Xia Lei frantically reached behind, unzipped his bag and retrieved the Gust assault rifle within. If Zhu Xuanyue was going to attack him, he would have no choice but to defend himself. There was no way he¡¯d stand a chance against Zhu Xuanyue with his current capabilities. The only way to make up for his losses was to utilize modern warfare.
Zhu Xuanyue may be capable of controlling Kerns¡¯s mind to stop him from firing but Xia Lei was not Kerns. He was the world¡¯s best soldier and the only one Zhu Xuanyue could not mentally manipte. In terms of physicalbat, he was far too weak to even be worthy ofparison to her. The woman was far too powerful for her own good. But when it came to marksmanship, Zhu Xuanyue was certainly no match. He was sure of that because he had never once seen her kill with a gun.
To one¡¯s surprise, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s murderous intent was extremely heavy. But once she noticed that the man had brandished a gun without hesitation, she stopped in her tracks.
There was no point in hiding anymore. Xia Lei stood up and curved his fingers around the Gust assault rifle¡¯s trigger ever so slightly. As long as he willed, he could hit any target in thisb, including Zhu Xuanyue.
Zhu Xuanyue may be fast but there was no way she could outrun a bullet in her physical state.
Xia Lei unannounced appearance caused Kestin, Charlotte and Eva to snap their heads over. The three of them were very sensitive to movement.
Charlotte quickly aimed her pistol.
Bang!
A gunshot rang.
Xia Lei had merely raised his muzzle slightly without aiming. Yet, a bullet had lodged itself clean in Charlotte¡¯s right shoulder. Red began to gush out of her wound and the pistol she drew fell to the ground. She mped a free palm over the injury as she stared at Xia Lei with shock.
Eva slowly reached her hand behind.
Xia Lei barked out in English, ¡°Draw your gun and the next bullet I shoot will be in your head.¡±
The malicecing those threats was sharp as a de. While it was a verbal threat, Eva felt like she had a knife stuck to her throat. She did not dare to make another move.
Kestin¡¯s gaze was trained on Xia Lei, eyes wide with surprise and curiosity. It felt as if he was trying to figure out Xia Lei¡¯s identity and intention.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s voice was icy. ¡°What are you trying to do? Did you forget what I¡¯ve told you earlier? We¡¯re done. If you dare appear in front of me again, I¡¯m going to kill you.¡±
Seemingly unfazed, Xia Lei¡¯s lips were bent into a gentle curve. ¡°Of course I remember that. I¡¯m pretty sure I mentioned that I¡¯m only left with less than two years to live. Dying early or dyingter makes no difference. I want answers and anyone who darese in my way will perish.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue crackled deviously. ¡°I did not kill you out of mercy. You really think a rifle can stop me?¡±
Xia Lei challenged, ¡°Why not give it a try?¡±
Something dangerous glinted in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes.
While Xia Lei looked rxed on the outside, his internals were squirming with anxiety.
Between Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one, Xia Lei had feared thetter most. The prehistoric chosen one did not possess a body. Even with his excellent marksmanship, it was basically impossible for Xia Lei to destroy a cloud of air with bullets. Currently, with the world¡¯s most advanced Gust assault rifle in his grip, Xia Lei actually had no confidence for it to stop Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°This is yourst chance. Leave this ce and get back to China,¡± hissed Zhu Xuanyue.
¡°Then tell me, what are you trying to achieve by melting these statues?¡± Xia Lei refused to back down.
Yet, all she did was turn around and walk towards a set ofboratory equipment.
What was she trying to do?
Xia Lei hesitated for a moment but did nothing to stop her.
At this moment, Kestin spoke, ¡°Although you do not look like him, I think I know who you are. You¡¯re Xia Lei, right?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Who I am is not important. Here¡¯s the most important thing instead. Why is the new CEO of Lockheed Martin working for her? Who exactly are you?¡±
¡°I think you¡¯re out of time to find out.¡± Came Kestin¡¯s nonchnt answer. ¡°The whole of America is desperate to hunt you down. You¡¯ve got quite the courage, can¡¯t believe you actually dared to infiltrate Area 51. You might as well have surrendered yourself. All I need to do now is make a call or m the rm to end your life.¡±
Xia Lei scoffed dryly. ¡°Well, I won¡¯t stop you from doing that but you need to ask yourself if you¡¯re able to be faster than a bullet. I can guarantee that if you try any funny business, your skull is going to have a hole in it within a second.¡±
Kestin shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Guess our first encounter isn¡¯t exactly joyous.¡±
Crack!
Zhu Xuanyue had ripped out an alloy panel off a machine. There were still screws stuck to the panel too!
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sunk, finally realizing her intentions. Zhu Xuanyue was looking for a shield against his bullets. As soon as she came near him, things were bound to turn bad!
Regret seized him as he mentally cursed himself for not stopping her before she did this. Now equipped with a shield, the threat his Gust assault rifle had on her was reduced by half!
Zhu Xuanyue began to close onto him slowly.
Xia Lei raised his Gust assault rifle and braced for battle. He drew a red line for Zhu Xuanyue in his mind. As soon as she was on the first step of stairs that led up the hovering walkway, he would fire.
¡°Get back to work!¡± Zhu Xuanyue shouted.
Kestin nodded and quickly resumed operating the central control panel.
The metal floor beneath the six faceless warrior statues began to move away rapidly. Instantly, these bulky statues were dropped into a gigantic container underneath. The container was filled with some sort of blue chemical. It wasn¡¯t much, looking like a rippling sea from afar.
The six statues were quickly submerged by the blue liquid.
When Zhu Xuanyue had asked to melt the statues, Xia Lei was expecting a stove like those typical of alchemy. It was far from his expectation to learn that she was attempting to dissolve with chemicals. From the responses of Kestin, the two blondes and the equipment in the undergroundboratory, it seemed that Zhu Xuanyue had already nned for this since the very beginning!
She was the one who leaked information about the six faceless warrior statues!
What was her rationale behind this?
Why was she so desperate to melt these statues?
Xia Lei wished to know but Zhu Xuanyue had refused to allow him time to think.
At this moment, Zhu Xuanyue was already at the beginning of the staircase. One more step and she was going to cross Xia Lei¡¯s boundary.
Chapter 1143 - A Battle of Life and Death
Chapter 1143 - A Battle of Life and Death
Bang!
A bullet hit the step ahead of Zhu Xuanyue. It collided against the metal rail then flew over onto the alloy shield in her grip.
She hastily paused her track, almost as if she knew that the stairs were the boundary Xia Lei had drawn. Her next step was the trigger that wouldunch a battle of life and death!
Inexplicably, countless memories began to flood her consciousness. In one of them, she was shivering from the cold so her ever-warm Uncle Xia cuddled her to sleep. In another, she teased and harassed Xia Lei. When she was hungry, Uncle Xia had cooked her a diverse array of dishes. She whined and Xia Lei would actually spoon feed her himself. She remembered when she ran around naked, unwilling to put on any article of clothes and Uncle Xia had to nab her and force a shirt onto her.
Other than her memories, Gu Kewen and Ning Jing¡¯s memories soon began to reel too. Deep love was tied to their memories. One of them as gentle as a calm stream and the other a burning passion.
Unless she was willing to give up her physical vessel, there was no way to run away from those searing feelings.
Instantly, the murderous intent to kill off Xia Lei had shed strongly with the love and memories tied to this man. Both ends of the spectrum collided with one another and troubled her pained sanity.
¡°AHHHHHH!¡± Zhu Xuanyue let out a shrill scream. Her voice echoed about the spacious undergroundboratory. Everything in theb began to tremble. Even the ss windows were vibrating.
ck! A ss cup near her abruptly cracked.
To Xia Lei, the volume of her screaming was akin to a shockwave from a sound bomb detonated beside his ears. His eardrums felt like it would be torn apart at any given minute! After his binaural evolution, he could pick up on minute sounds from a distance away and even someone else¡¯s conversation through their phone. However, nothing was perfect. His ultra-sensitive and invincible hearing had heightened Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s screams and brought him bigger damage!
Xia Lei covered his ears in agony.
Suddenly, she began to dash up the stairs rapidly. Before he knew it, she had already made it onto the hovering walkway from the bottom of the stairs. Her movements were almost like the wind. Whoosh! A small breeze and she was already on top. Not only did she cross Xia Lei¡¯s boundary but she was also now on the same footing as he.
Bang!
Xia Lei pulled the trigger, letting a bullet whistle out of the Gust assault rifle towards Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s right calf.
Despite things having transpired into a matter of life and death, Xia Lei had decided to spare her a little for he had aimed at her calf instead of her skull.
Right at the moment, Xia Lei had fired his shot, the alloy shield in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s grip dropped abruptly onto the hard concrete floor. She had executed it in tandem with Xia Lei¡¯s attack. Strictly speaking, the difference in response time was only a mere millisecond and that was all it required for bullet trajectory.
Ping!
The sound of metal against metal rang out, apanied by frictional sparks.
Zhu Xuanyue had actually managed to block the assault rifle¡¯s bullet with her shield.
This was a feat not even Captain America could achieve. If Xia Lei was a character in the Marvel Universe, Captain America¡¯s calf would¡¯ve probably received arge hole when faced with Xia Lei and his Gust assault rifle.
¡°I can¡¯t believe you were serious about shooting me!¡± Zhu Xuanyue looked beyond pissed.
Xia Lei retorted, ¡°You were the one who lunged forward! You knew I had a boundary set on the stairs! You don¡¯t even care about me so why should I care about you?¡±
¡°But I¡¯m not aiming a gun at you!¡±
¡°But you were the one who rushed up the stairs!¡±
¡°You never cared about me!¡±
¡°Well, you were the one who said you wanted to kill me!¡±
A sudden change of atmosphere had urred on this supposedly grisly battle of life and death. This felt nothing like a pair of arch-nemeses going at each other¡¯s throat but a couple¡¯s quarrel.
Xia Lei was never a man who wished to fight a woman. Since his childhood days, he had not once engaged a female in banter. The reason behind his sudden urge to argue with Zhu Xuanyue was not because of a change of philosophy. Xia Lei had ulterior motives.
Zhu Xuanyue had yet to return to her optimal state and her condition was still turbulent. Dwelling in her body was two other women. Ning Jing and Gu Kewen. These two women had loved him deeply in the past, so it was safe to say that they would not kill him. As long as he could summon either one of them, he would be able to control the current direction. That was why he needed to engage her in a petty argument. He needed to provoke her, sway her emotional stability then allow Ning Jing or Gu Kewen to be awakened.
As expected, as soon as she got emotional, multiple personalities began to slip through. The tears currently forming in her eyes was an obvious indication along with her trembling voice. ¡°You¡¯ve never loved me. All you do is hurt me! I hate you!¡±
Was that Ning Jing or Gu Kewen?
Xia Lei had no time to think but he had an idea of what he needed to do. Immediately, his voice was softened. He murmured, ¡°No, I love you. I have always loved you. It¡¯s just that you never noticed my feelings.¡±
¡°No! Those are lies!¡± Zhu Xuanyue roared at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei continued to pacify her. ¡°Please, let¡¯s talk this out. I can offer you a good exnation.¡±
This time, he was mindful enough to not mention ¡®Xuanyue¡¯ or ¡®Ning Jing¡¯ or ¡®Gu Kewen¡¯. This was solely done out of worry that calling another woman¡¯s name when she was in one of her personas would put her off.
¡°Really? You really love me?¡± Tears began to trickle out of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes. Despite the tenderness in the disy, there was a ghost of a smirk on her lips.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, I really love you.¡±
Those words were easy to say for a man.
¡°Then why are you still pointing your pistol at her?¡± Kestin¡¯s voice interrupted their established atmosphere from below. ¡°Xia Lei, do you think this is a suitable ce for such lies?¡±
Kestin¡¯s voice was like a dose of adrenaline into an unconscious patient. The light in Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes was immediately dampened and the smirk came into full bloom. ¡°Xia Lei, while they¡¯re still existent to a certain extent, I¡¯m sorry to say that they won¡¯t be of much help. Initially, I had no ns to kill you but if you dare interfere with my progress again, I¡¯ll have no choice but to kill you.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue raised her alloy shield once again and began running towards Xia Lei. Just now, she was utterly confused but now her gaze was focused and stern.
Xia Lei lunged backwards. He could fire his pistol anytime but he still could not bring himself to shoot her head. Whenever his desire to kill surged, his mind would be reminded of the familiar faces of Ning Jing and Gu Kewen. There was no way he could aim a gun at Ning Jing or Gu Kewen. He may have killed thetter once but to kill her a second time was something he could not bear to do. To awaken their existence had caused Zhu Xuanyue some trouble and peeled his old wounds open. Despite all the agony involved, this strategy was a useful double-edged sword.
¡°General, we¡¯re almost done. Finish him off and we¡¯ll leave this ce,¡± Kestin called.
General?
Why was Kestin referring to her like that?
Xia Lei had no time to think about the possibilities. From the corner of his eye, he allowed his gaze to prate through the walkway railings into the gigantic container in the centre. Still submerged in blue liquid, the six statues were melting away rapidly. The melted material had triggered a chemical reaction whening into contact with the blue solution. The blue liquid, on the other hand, was bubbling ferociously like a big boiling cauldron.
Xia Lei¡¯s X-ray vision brought his mind to the bottom of the container. There, he had noticed some white substance travelling into the mouth of a pipe at the bottom. The pipe would then carry it elsewhere. He began trailing the pipe system until it reached the central control panel behind Kestin. Connected to the end of the pipe was a line of six alloy cylindrical containers that looked like erged batteries. Prating through the walls of the battery-like containers, Xia Lei noticed the same white substance inside. It seemed purer than those in the earlier container though keeping the same liquid state.
What the hell was that?
Suddenly, a massive force came travelling towards him.
His thoughts were immediately chased away. From what he could see, Zhu Xuanyue had instantly closed the distance between them with an iing punch aimed at his chest. While her pale small fist looked unassuming, Xia Lei was fully aware of the destructive force it was capable of. The amount of energy packed into that attack was almost equivalent to an elerating car!
Xia Lei quickly jumped backwards and pulled the trigger while in the air.
Bang bang bang!
Ping ping ping!
All three shots were blocked by Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s alloy shield, leaving behind three bullet marks on the metallic surface. The shield was sturdy enough to be imprable by bullets.
Zhu Xuanyue froze briefly before lunging forward. This time, the distance was shorter and she was faster!
Xia Lei¡¯s speed was nothing whenpared to Zhu Xuanyue. He would be safer if he could keep a considerable distance between them but as soon the woman hade close enough, he would be in grave danger.
Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s fist was inching closer to his ribs.
Out of desperation, Xia Lei knocked her fist away with the Gust assault rifle.
Bam!
The strong impact had bent the Gust assault riflepletely! The man too was sent flying away from the shockwave she brought. He flew over the metal railing andnded on the ground below.
Eva drew her gun and aimed it directly at the vulnerable Xia Lei.
In that split second before she could pull the trigger, a shadow manifested at the entrance of the emergency route. While Xia Lei was still in the air, the dark mass had already flown over to him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Eva fired three shots in the row, all of which had hit the ck shadow¡¯s chest directly.
Crash!
Xia Lei¡¯s spine came in harsh contact with the cold metal of an experiment bench. The machines and sswares atop the surface were mercilessly crushed by his back. ss shards were scattered all around him.
The person who rescued Xia Lei in the nick of time was none other than the ck-robed man, the prehistoric chosen one. Though shot thrice by Eva, no reaction was elicited from the man, save for the smoking holes in the front of his robe. He hovered above the ground like a weightless existence. Just as Xia Leinded, he lunged forward towards Eva.
Whoosh!
Zhu Xuanyue threw the alloy shield at the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s back.
The ck-robed man had no choice but to give up on taking out Eva. He turned around and punched the alloy shield away.
ng!
A punch mark was formed in the middle of the alloy shield with a muffled sound. It flew back towards Zhu Xuanyue. However, the woman had already moved. While the ck-robed man¡¯s retaliation was still in progress, her feet had alreadynded on the ground below.
Beep beep beep!
The central control panel began beeping in the midst of their battle.
Chapter 1144 - A Sticky Situation
Chapter 1144 - A Sticky Situation
Xia Lei rolled off theboratory bench. The military uniform on his back was already tattered by the broken ss andb equipment but Xia Lei could not be bothered with it now. His attention was on the line of cylindrical containers. From what he could see, the containers were already filled with a pure white liquid substance.
He quickly stared at the gigantic vessel in the bottom centre of the undergroundboratory. The six faceless warrior statues were gone! What remained were ck mineral-like byproducts that looked simr to unrefined mineral rock powder.
Zhu Xuanyue had achieved her goal. All she needed was to escape thisboratory with the containers.
If the ck-robed prehistoric chosen one did not show up, she would be unstoppable. There was no way of finding out how her n would go with the former¡¯s sudden appearance.
The prehistoric chosen one¡¯s appearance was not a coincidence. Zhu Xuanyue had managed to get into Area 51 through hiding in Kestin¡¯s helicopter. He was the existence of pure energy. There was no existing technology that could detect his presence, not even the all-mighty Tenshin AI system.
He was a changing factor that interrupted the current bnce. Just seconds earlier, Xia Lei was struck with a severe disadvantage against Zhu Xuanyue. To make things worse, the woman had assistance from three people too. If the prehistoric chosen one had not done anything, Xia Lei most probably would be shot. Now, with the interference of the prehistoric chosen one, Xia Lei would be able to take care of Kestin, Charlotte and Eva while the other ¡®man¡¯ could help shield him from Zhu Xuanyue. Things wouldn¡¯t be so dire anymore.
So, it was safe to say that the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s presence was a turning point for Xia Lei.
The atmosphere in the undergroundboratory turned incredibly tense.
The prehistoric chosen one stood still while Zhu Xuanyue mirrored him. Kestin did not dare to move a single muscle. Eva, on the other hand, dared not shoot at any target.
Xia Lei too was rooted to his spot. The Gust assault rifle in his grip was bent and deformed. The only weapons he was left with was a military dagger and a Viper pistol.
Both sides went into a standstill with the prehistoric chosen one as their focus.
It was only until ten secondster that Zhu Xuanyue began moving towards the central control panel.
From underneath his ck mask, the prehistoric chosen one spoke. ¡°Xia Lei, stop her. I¡¯ll block her while you kill off her people. Then, we¡¯ll run away with the containers.¡±
With that, Xia Lei¡¯s hard gaze was fixed on Kestin. He began to reach behind for his Viper pistol.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Zhu Xuanyue called out in a lowered voice. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that he¡¯s your enemy! He¡¯s using you and he¡¯ll kill you at the end of this!¡±
He looked back to the prehistoric chosen one. While he kept a calm facade, his heart was struggling from an unprecedented dilemma. It wasn¡¯t that he had no stand of his own. The man was clearer than ever before that this ck-robed prehistoric chosen one was not meant to be a friend and even more so as an ally. The prehistoric chosen one was a foe, a foe that would ultimately deliver Xia Lei his ¡®judgement day¡¯ about a yearter!
He did not require Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s reminder for this.
He now had two choices. One of them was to join hands with the prehistoric chosen one andunch Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s n into jeopardy. However, the aftermath would result in bing Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s sworn nemesis and it would be impossible for him to befriend the prehistoric chosen one. One year or moreter, the prehistoric chosen one would kill him off. If he chose not to help the ck-robed man, Zhu Xuanyue would seed. But Xia Lei had an ominous feeling about it. From the fact that Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s subordinate could be the CEO of Lockheed Martin, it was clear that her n was something much deeper than what he knew.
¡°Do you know who she is?¡± The prehistoric chosen one asked.
Xia Lei¡¯s curiosity was piqued. ¡°No.¡±
¡°She isn¡¯t from this world. Her world was already destroyed ages ago. She is a general who led her subordinates to this realm. The humans of this realm are nothing but food sources to her and her kind. This realm is nothing but a farm to them. She¡¯s trying to extract energy from the six statues to build a bridge. When she seeds, more of her kind will being into this realm. We won¡¯t be able to stop them from destroying the world when that happens.¡± Pausing for a moment, the prehistoric chosen one continued, ¡°Her name was never Zhu Xuanyue. Her true name is Isitabu, which means the Goddess of Suicides in the ancient Mayannguage.¡±
So Isitabu was Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s real name. The woman was general from another piece of ¡®corn¡¯ and the Goddess of Suicides.
While Xia Lei had long guessed that Zhu Xuanyue was not part of this world, it was difficult confirming it first hand. The information was hard to stomach even. The man was reluctant to refer to Zhu Xuanyue by her real name, Isitabu. Though he was aware that Zhu Xuanyue was an alias, it still was tied to irreceable memories and two women who loved and hated him, Ning Jing and Gu Kewen.
Zhu Xuanyue stared at Xia Lei. ¡°Ignore his bullshitting. he is lying to you. You should be clearer than anyone about who I am. I¡¯m not nning to build any kind of bridge. My kind had gone extinct. The six statues had arrived in this world with me, and they hold utmost importance to me. Do not even think about helping him.¡±
¡°You¡¯re lying!¡± The prehistoric chosen one¡¯s outburst sted through the underground space like a hand grenade, shattering ssponents on some of the machines!
¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s lying!¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s voice was even more piercing. While it hadcked the threat of the prehistoric chosen one, it was more prative. Under the torment of her voice, more sswares were turned into powder.
Xia Lei had experienced this prior. As soon as the prehistoric chosen one opened his jaw, Xia Lei had quickly closed off his ear canal. While it wasn¡¯t able to cancel all noise, it was able to avoid any more damage. He was unscathed but Charlotte and Eva had immediately sustained damage. Blood had begun to trickle out of their ears!
Surprisingly, Kestin seemed positively unfazed. Calmly, he continued to inch closer to the cylindrical containers carefully while Zhu Xuanyue faced off the prehistoric chosen one.
¡°Xia Lei, we¡¯ll talk about uster!¡± The prehistoric chosen one¡¯s tone was demanding and stern. ¡°For the sake of world harmony and the survival of billions. You need to fight with me!¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Zhu Xuanyue chortled coldly. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare think that I know nothing about your filthy little n. You have been using him since the very beginning! Do you even care about the lives of the humans of this realm? You don¡¯t want peace.¡± She turned to look at Xia Lei. ¡°Xia Lei! He has deceived you time and time again. Once bitten twice shy, are you going to let him y you like a fiddle forever? He¡¯s not even part of this world. His world was destroyed long ago. Do you think he has a reason to care about this world¡¯s peace and the people? Wake up! You can¡¯t be fooled again!¡±
There was a beat of silence before Xia Lei questioned, ¡°Then tell me. What are you trying to do with the extracts?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that. But you need to be clear. If you choose him and fight me, we will beplete enemies. You¡¯re clear about what that entitles, right? I¡¯m going to destroy everything you own in your life.¡±
His career. A wild ambition to push China to glorious heights.
His family. Four wives, four children and his dear Xia Xue. All of which he treasured deeply.
If he became Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s nemesis, she¡¯d destroy all of the above. He wouldn¡¯t be able to protect the Thunder Horse Military Factory along with his family and friends. This was a price he could not afford even for the sake of saving humanity!
Was this even to save humanity?
Xia Lei had no fucking idea. He could barely tell if the prehistoric chosen one or Zhu Xuanyue was lying to him. Perhaps both of them were equally fake! He had gone through lies after lies. He had decided to no longer trust anyone. Xia Lei did not believe in either of them.
¡°What are you still hesitating for?¡± The prehistoric chosen one yelled. ¡°If she gets what she wants, her kind will invade this realm and no humans will be allowed to live! Just think about your wives and children!¡±
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Zhu Xuanyue screamed. ¡°He¡¯s bound to kill you. After killing you, he will definitely not spare your children. Your offspring carry your genes. Think this through! Will he want to risk having four descendants of yours to hunt him down for revenge?¡±
Wow.
Minutes ago, he was someone anyone could kill. Now, Xia Lei was a key character demanded by both parties. His next words were about to tip the bnce. No matter which side he was ced on, the other side was bound to lose.
How was he even supposed to make a choice?
After another tensed moment of silence, Xia Lei t outughed. ¡°Hahaha...¡±
¡°What are youughing at?¡± The prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue asked in unison.
The man wasughing so hard he doubled over. ¡°I¡¯m just a pawn to you. It really is times like this that show the value you truly care about. In another setting with another timing, none of you would¡¯ve cared about me. You would have taken me out with no regards to my future.¡±
The prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue watched him in silence.
Xia Lei continued, hisughter finally dying down. His voice was filled with unhidden mncholy. ¡°One side is about saving the world and the other is about destroying it. You¡¯ve even resorted to threatening me into picking a side with my wives and children. I¡¯m done with both of you. I¡¯m fucking done.¡± He pointed a finger at the prehistoric chosen one. ¡°I will not join you.¡± Then, he pointed at Zhu Xuanyue. ¡°I will not join you either. Take your time and have fun, I¡¯m leaving.¡±
Letting his sentence die, Xia Lei began to leave true as told.
¡°Hold it!¡± The prehistoric chosen one¡¯s voice turned extremely menacing. ¡°I saved you and this is how you repay my kindness? Are you not afraid that I will kill you?¡±
Xia Lei answered nonchntly, ¡°You gave me a time limit and you have your own n. Unless you¡¯re eager to ruin your progress,e kill me then. While I don¡¯t know anything about your n, I¡¯m aware that it won¡¯t work without me. I wouldn¡¯t have survived to this day otherwise.¡±
¡°You...¡± The prehistoric chosen one¡¯s re was dangerously piercing.
Yet, Xia Lei felt no fear. He turned around and began climbing up the stairs to the hovering walkway and towards the emergency route without sparing them any more attention. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t be arsed with the opposing parties at each other¡¯s throat and the sessfully extracted mysterious substance downstairs.
Xia Lei left. Zhu Xuanyue made no move to halt him and the prehistoric chosen one did nothing. To both of them, things were at a bnce. However, things would be wobbly if anyone decided to attack Xia Lei and force him into taking the other¡¯s side. That was something they did not wish to face.
And with that, Xia Lei disappeared into the stairway.
Chapter 1145 - A Date with B2
Chapter 1145 - A Date with B2
With the deciding factor gone, the bnce of the game was preserved. Yet, the scent of fire was strong in the undergroundboratory. All it needed was a little spark to set an explosion to the entire space. The tension was high.
The prehistoric chosen one rippled in silence in the undergroundboratory. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you fancy physical vessels. It¡¯s bound to make you vulnerable.¡±
Zhu Xuanyue replied with equal coldness. ¡°I hate the cold. Real bodies bring me warmth. Warm blood, warm food and real sensations. How long have you not felt that? I¡¯m guessing you have long forgotten what it feels like but you¡¯re not deserving of it. You deserve to be curled up in a dark icy corner for aeons.¡±
The ck-robed man scoffed. He narrowed his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t care about mortal feelings like that. My power is all I care about. Do you really think you can fight me in this state?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue replied, ¡°You were indeed the victor of ourst two battles. But I was starving before. There¡¯s no way you can defeat me now.¡±
¡°Really?¡± The man cackled lightly. ¡°Guess I got to see that myself.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll regret this.¡± Zhu Xuanyue immediately spun around and said to Kestin, ¡°I¡¯ll handle him. Take the things and leave immediately! Go!¡±
¡°Yes, general.¡± Kestin lunged forward to the six cylindrical battery-like containers.
Eva and Charlotte too began to move. They quickly helped Kestin detach the alloy containers from the pipes.
The prehistoric chosen one shook his head exasperatedly.
Zhu Xuanyue smirked dangerously. ¡°There¡¯s no way you can stop me.¡±
Without warning, the prehistoric chosen one prowled towards Zhu Xuanyue. While he was covered in a long brooding ck robe, its weight felt like mere specks of dust in the air. His sudden movements felt like a heavy typhoon!
Whoosh!
The wind whistled and the prehistoric chosen one was suddenly in front of Zhu Xuanyue. He whipped a sleeve over with crazed force towards her.
Zhu Xuanyue did not move away. She weed it by delivering a punch.
Bam!
Theboratory shook.
The strongest existences in this realm had begun their battle.
Xia Lei, who had just gotten out of Area 51, could feel the ground shake. It sounded like an explosion but he knew full well that it wasn¡¯t the case. It was the sheer resultant force from a collision between Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s power. The man couldn¡¯t help but feel worried. His enemies were exceptionally powerful. How was he going to get through this alive? What must he do to protect his wives and children?
In all of a sudden, piercing rms were red and searching lights began to flood out from all corners of the AE Research Centre immediately. Along with that were headlights of military vehicles and arge hoard of running American soldiers.
Who was he kidding? This was Area 51, America¡¯s most important and mysterious military base. It was only natural for it to be equipped with the world¡¯s fastest emergency response protocol.
Xia Lei did not dare to stall another moment. He took a good look at where the American soldiers were and quickly sprinted in the opposite direction.
He crossed a hundred-metre distance within five seconds. Xia Lei was almost as fast as a cheetah.
Just as Xia Lei left the radius of the AE Research Centre, the entire facility waspletely surrounded by the American army. Tanks, military vehicles and even off-road vehicles with mounted machine guns and assault rifles were aimed at the centre¡¯s main entrance.
The number of weapons was as dense as a forest. Forget about exiting the facility, even one escaping bird would be shredded apart by bullets and shells!
Themander of the operation was Thompson. The man was certainly not ced in the front but at the back of the formation.
Ka-boom!
Another muted st was heard from inside the AE Research Centre. The entire ground trembled.
Thompson frowned, heart aze with anxiety. ¡°That fucking James is too rowdy! Too fucking damned rowdy! He¡¯s going to kill me for sure! How is he expecting me to spare him or ferry him away personally with so many soldiers around?! Fucking bastard! Fucking idiot!¡±
¡°General, we can¡¯t see what¡¯s going on inside.¡± A colonel walked up to Thompson¡¯s car and reported through the window. ¡°Should we send someone in or continue to wait outside?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to send someone in. Just surround this ce tight and as soon as anyone steps out of the facility, shoot them!¡± Thompson ordered with an irritated huff.
¡°But... What if it¡¯s the AE Research Centre staff?¡± questioned the colonel.
¡°Well...¡± Thompson quickly corrected himself, ¡°That certainly does not warrant a shooting but we can¡¯t amodate the invaders! In essence, y it by the ear!¡±
It was vague. The colonel could only shrug before bringing Thompson¡¯s orders to the bigger crowd.
Thompson got off the vehicle and approached Jenny. He whispered into her ear slowly, ¡°Later, no matter whoes out, signal your team to open fire. Doesn¡¯t matter if you choose to use the guns or cannons as long as you kill them all!¡±
Jenny tossed Thompson a look and mirrored his volume. ¡°This is not something a job promotion could help.¡±
Thompson whispered back, ¡°I¡¯ll pay you fifty thousand dors.¡±
Jenny smiled, ¡°Then that is not an issue.¡±
It felt as if that had relieved Thompson of something, the man seemed less tensed and frustrated. He stared at the centre¡¯s entrance. He thought to himself, ¡°James, you really think you can continue to control me? How gullible. I¡¯ve already gotten my paws on your twenty million dors. That amount is sufficient for me. When youe outter, I¡¯ll watch you perish with my own eyes. With you dead, the ckmail you have on me will no longer hold real threat. It¡¯s only with your death that I¡¯d enjoy true peace!¡±
Meanwhile, beside a warehouse five hundred metres away, Xia Lei peeled his eyes away with a malicious smirk on his lips. Though he wasn¡¯t there, he could still pick up on the hush-hush conversation between Jenny and Thompson from a distance away. While his ears couldn¡¯t hear anything, he could read their lips as clear as day.
¡°Thompson, I understand your woes but I must ask for your understanding of what I¡¯m about to pull next.¡± Xia Lei turned around to the warehouse¡¯s shutters.
Stationed on guard in front of the warehouse were two full geared American soldiers. The storage facility behind them had contained a B2 bomber ne.
The B2 bomber ne was the current world¡¯s most advanced bomber. It was capable of stealth and high-altitude flying. It was nearly invisible to radars. Its shell loading capacity was also thergest in the world, about a whopping 22680 kilograms! The B2 bomber was also the most expensive bomber, going at about 22 billion USD. There were only twenty units ever produced and one of them was here.
¡°Oi! Hold it!¡± One of the stationed soldiers noticed Xia Lei as the man rounded a corner.
The other raised his assault rifle, aiming it straight at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Hey brother, there¡¯s no need to be so tense. Got a lighter? I¡¯m about to hit a blunt. If you guys want a puff, I¡¯ve got plenty to share.¡±
The two soldiers locked gazes and broke into grins. Marijuana was an inevitable necessity in the army. Who in the right mind would say no to free marijuana?
¡°I¡¯ve got a lighter, hand us a joint.¡± The soldier ced his gun down and stared at Xia Lei with anticipation.
Xia Lei walked over and dug for his joints. But what had emerged next was not the awaited magic blunts but a military dagger. The moment his hands left the confines of his military jacket, a glint of silver shed across the nearest soldier¡¯s neck. It did not end there. After delivering a slice through their necks, he waved it forward and stabbed it hard into the other¡¯s chest.
Lodged deep into his heart, the second soldier could barely get a yelp out before sumbing to the lethal damage.
Xia Lei rummaged through one of their uniforms for an ess card and slotted it into the card reader. The shutters rolled up and a gigantic dark bird entered his view.
¡°Oh, baby. Allow me to bring you on a stroll and st some bad boys, yeah?¡± Xia Lei chuckled and began walking towards the B2 bomber.
There was no need to check the magazine manually for his X-ray vision had made things easy. This lovely B2 bomber was not fully loaded. It did not house a nuclear bomb. Instead, it was loaded with eighty 227 kilogram MK82 bombs, sixteen joint direct attack weapons, sixteen 908 kilogram MK84 bombs, thirty-six M117 incendiary bombs and another thirty-six CBU cluster bombs. The sheer amount of ammunition was enough to fuck a small city over!
It was about half full of fuel. But with the B2¡¯s flying abilities, this was enough to get Xia Lei to the West Pacific Ocean for a dip.
Opening the hatch, he climbed into the pilot seat. Theplicated panel had Xia Lei dizzy. He had never once piloted a ne, let alone this world¡¯s most advanced bomber. But for someone who was the sole person behind the Jing Ke and Phantom drones, this should not be too tough of a task for him.
Two minutester, the B2 roared to life and itsrge bat-shaped glided out of the warehouse leisurely. It entered the track and began to elerate towards the edge.
¡°Hey! Stop!¡± Inside the B2 bomber, a warning came from the aviation control tower. ¡°We did not get clearance! This is illegal!¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯ve got direct orders from Mister President to depart on an important mission. The mission reference is TMD789654.¡±
¡°Wait, I need to rectify it...¡±
But in the midst of his confusion, the B2 bomber ne had taken flight for the endless night sky.
¡°Hey! You¡¯re going to be charged at military court! Come back!¡±
Xia Lei nonchntly ripped off themunicator device. With his piloting, the B2 bomber lunged towards greater heights. Before long, it hadpletely vanished among the night clouds.
Down below, Thompson turned around and was stunned. He murmured in confusion, ¡°Did a B2 bomber just take off? Without orders from the White House and the Pentagon, no one is supposed to touch the ne. What the hell is going on?¡±
Jenny supplied, ¡°Yeah, it took off. Well, who knows? Perhaps it had left for Korea. I heard the army had ns to ce a B2 unit there.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what the hell those bastards are thinking. Anyway, it¡¯s none of our concern. I¡¯ve already ry orders to shoot anyone who leaves the facility.¡±
Thompson grinned at that. His mind quickly went to work and supplied him the mental image of James pacing out of the AE Research Centre and getting ripped apart alive with a ruthless rain of bombs, bullets and shells. The man was bound to die here tonight. Poor James would never find out what was the cause of his death. Or so Thompson thought.
And immediately, Thompson¡¯s imagination had wandered off to a sweet ind. On the side of a luxurious grand beachside vi, he would walk a few gorgeous blondes with a metal chain. They¡¯d dress like beautiful bitches to please him. Dear lord, bikini-d full bottoms and round chests. Thompson would have the time of his life for he now had twenty million USD to squander.
But right at this moment, the piercing air defence rms began to sound.
Chapter 1146 - A Heros Reward
Chapter 1146 - A Hero''s Reward
Wooo! Wooo! Wooo!
An air defence rm red through all corners of Area 51. In an instant, it brought everyone¡¯s attention to the skies above. Yet, no one on ground level was able to see anything.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Thompson felt weirdly nervous. It felt like a drill but if it really was the case, he would¡¯ve known something about it. Thompson had no clue what was going on.
¡°I don¡¯t know. Could it be...?¡± Jenny suddenly thought of the suspected B2 bomber earlier.
One secondter, someone screamed, ¡°Bombs! Ahhhh!¡±
Thompson lifted his chin once again, True as told, a rain of MK84 bombs were raining down from the skies. He could see them rain down as they were massive. A single one had weighed almost one tonne!
Ka-boom!
The first MK48 fell onto the AE Research Centre¡¯s dome roof. In that split second, the ground shook. Fire burst out in violent licks and reached for every corner. The explosion¡¯s shock waves were so strong that it flipped the entire building over like some cardboard box. Before the first bomb had even finished its showcase, the second one and the third one had joined the party.
Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
The AE Research Centre was reduced to nothing. The military vehicles, tanks and soldiers around the facility had turned into ashes under the harsh temperature and shockwaves brought by the MK84. Whatever that remained of them werepped up by the mes.
After a wave of MK84, a CBU cluster bomb was dropped onto an aerone track. The ground shook again after the mother bomb was detonated. What followed was a series of undisrupted bombings till the track was beyond repair. One of the F18 fighter jets preparing for take-off was immediately struck down by one of the bombs and perished.
More explosives were thrown down from the between the clouds and brought the whole Area 51 to an inferno. Who would¡¯ve imagined that the world¡¯s most advanced B2 bomber ne would someday destroy the world¡¯s most mysterious military base?
High up in the sky, Xia Lei looked absolutely crazed in the B2 ne. He had dropped most of the bombs on the AE Research centre. He had sted it repeatedly to the point the sheer amount of explosives dropped was enough to tten a mountain¡¯s peak.
¡°You want to kill me and my wives and children? Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei cackled insanely. Something did not felt right about hisugh, it was eerie.
The man had been forced into a corner by both the prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue. Somehow, the bastards even had the audacity to further threaten him with the livelihood of his family. Was he going over the line by bombing them over and over? Well, absolutely not!
The B2 bomber steered towards Mexico and resumed its journey. It hadpleted its job perfectly and it was time to leave.
Five minutester, Xia Lei ced the B2 on autopilot and changed course to head towards Hawaii instead. He then ejected himself from the pilot¡¯s cabin.
Though the B2 bomber ne was the world¡¯s most advanced bomber ne and capable of stealth, its stealth was not as refined as the Jing Ke and Phantom drones. But this judgement wasn¡¯t made in the sense of technology. The Americans would have their way of locating it, that Xia Lei was certain. At this moment, no less than fifty fighter jets would¡¯ve departed other military bases in response to the emergency at hand. If Xia Lei did not leave the B2 ne, he might not survive.
The B2 bomber ne continued to glide forward while Xia Lei parachuted off to the ground, finallynding onto a span of the desert right at the west of Las Vegas.
There was an abandoned building about a kilometre away. That building was no stranger to him because it was the spot where he and his team had ced Alice at. This was a deliberate part of his evacuation n with some unforeseen changes. For one, Xia Lei had not expected himself to reach this ce through ejecting himself out of a B2 bomber. The original n was to have Thompson ferry him out of Area 51. Xia Lei would then drive the Ferrari he bought Alice to San Diego and use Mexico as a channel.
Then again, ns rarely stayed true to their course.
Quickly hiding the tracker on the pilot¡¯s seat and parachute, Xia Lei began stepping towards the abandoned building. He could already see the brand new Ferrari sports car parked in the garage along with the other things he had prepared prior.
Ferrari and resources were not the only things he would be taking away. There was also a woman, Alice.
Opening the basement¡¯s door, Alice entered his field of sight.
The woman in question had yet to notice his presence. She seemed to be in deep slumber. Odd grumbles and short groans spilt past her lips asionally. She sounded like she was in pain but at the same time, in pleasure. Judging by the contradicting disys, perhaps Alice was dreaming about an adult sin. The particr deduction was further confirmed through a brief scan over a certain body part. There were obvious responses to a conclusion.
This felt like naked seduction and big trouble to Xia Lei. The hunger for the intimacy he suppressed in his heart and body was growing stronger by the moment. He walked over, eyes red. Staring at Alice¡¯s lovely curves, his mind wandered off to the mental image of human flesh splitting apart by a bomb and fierce mes.
He had no idea how many he killed tonight but he knew many of them were innocent lives. They had parents, wives, children and rtives that had shared no connection to Xia Lei. But this was war and war was merciless. People rarely considered the consequences of war. Hence, the man had given them a taste of their own medicine.
America¡¯s Colour Revolution had brought Ukraine and Syria nothing close to democracy and freedom but war. The people had suffered the torments of war. Bombs, shells and the bodies of their loved ones had scarred their lives for as long as they lived. Now, the same situation was bestowed upon the Americans. Xia Lei wondered what they would feel about it.
¡°No... No....¡± Clear but guttural moans escaped Alice¡¯s little lips, almost as if the woman was rejecting something in her dream. Yet, her tiny waist writhed ever so slightly as if trying to amodate something.
Xia Lei¡¯s train of thoughts was brought back by force. His mind returning to the gorgeous disy before him. He inhaled deeply, finally squashing his monster of a lust t. He was no doubt the devil himself when bombing Area 51 with the bomber, the wild imagination of Alice he indulged in earlier too made him a devil. If the man had helped himself to it, what difference would there be between him and a demon?
Xia Lei came over to the bed and tapped on Alice¡¯s shoulder. He called her gently, ¡°Alice? Alice, wake up.¡±
¡°Mmph!¡± Alice stirred and made a noise but did not wake up.
Xia Lei huffed out a bitter smile. He let Tsukino Kyoko clothe her up. Tsukino Kyoko did not mind the request because Alice was still butt naked till now.
Xia Lei reached over and tapped Alice¡¯s ass, this time with more force. The p was crisp and audible.
Abruptly, Alice jolted awake. She turned around like a shocked bunny, finally noticing the man by her bed. Due to the scarce lighting, all she could see was an unidentifiable shadow. One secondter came her response. She screamed, ¡°Ahhhhh!¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s arm darted forward to muffle her lips. ¡°It¡¯s me, James. Keep it down.¡±
¡°James?¡± Alice was stunned.
Xia Lei loosened his palm over her lips. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me. There¡¯s no need to fear, you¡¯re safe now.¡±
Recognizing his voice, she quickly flipped over and dove straight into his arms. ¡°James! My James! It really is you!¡±
Xia Lei was abruptly taken aback.
¡°James, I really thought I¡¯d never see you again...¡± Alice¡¯s voice wavered slightly, thoroughly flooded with emotions. ¡°I really thought you wouldn¡¯t save me from the kidnappers and I¡¯d be left to die here. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re actually here to rescue me! I was dreaming about you earlier. You had barged into this hellhole like Rambo to rescue me, and then...¡±
¡°And then?¡± Xia Lei visibly rxed. He smiled and urged her to continue. ¡°What happened next?¡±
Alice inched closer to his ear and grazed her lips against the shell. ¡°Well... What happened next happens to those cliche hero-rescues-damsel-in-distress movies. You save me and I¡¯ll give you a hero¡¯s reward.¡±
Xia Lei was dumbfounded.
No wonder she was moaning hotly in her sleep.
¡°Ah. What about the kidnappers?¡± Alice suddenly remembered that.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I paid your ransom and they¡¯ve left. All they wanted was money and I¡¯ve satisfied their itch. They won¡¯t be back to hurt you anymore.¡±
¡°So... We¡¯re the only ones here now?¡± She asked.
Xia Lei confirmed it. ¡°Yes, we¡¯re the only ones left here now. Alright, let¡¯s get moving. Put on some clothes, we¡¯re leaving this ce.¡±
¡°Where are we going? Ennd?¡±
¡°We¡¯ll be heading to San Diego first then London. I promised that I¡¯ll bring you to meet the real James Bond and you¡¯ll be his Bond girl, right?¡± Xia Lei shed her a smile. Unbeknownst to her, Alice was merely a cover for his disguise. Once they arrive in San Diego, Xia Lei would vanish out of sight. This meeting would be thest he¡¯d share with Alice, there wouldn¡¯t be a next time. Though fully aware of their approaching separation, he¡¯d still leave her with great memories for she had helped a lot in his n.
Just as Xia Lei¡¯s words died on his tongue, Alice scooted forward.
Xia Lei quickly pushed her away. ¡°Do you want the kidnappers to be back and ask for another ransom? We need to leave. This ce isn¡¯t safe.¡±
¡°But James... I really want to give you a reward.¡± Alice was not pleased.
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°You¡¯ll get your chance on the way to San Diego. After leaving this ce, all we have is time.¡±
That earned a lovely smile from Alice.
Two minutester, a shy red Ferrari glided along the abandoned route with perfect momentum.
Above the car, a few F35 fighter jets whistled across for Area 51.
No one had any idea that the culprit behind the mass destruction was just right beneath them.
The man in question was cruising along with one hand on the wheel and enjoying his sweet reward.
Chapter 1147 - Dying Again
Chapter 1147 - Dying Again
No word was reported about the Area 51 incident that transpired yesterday night. It felt as though it never happened. The cold reception was no surprise to Xia Lei. He could also imagine the fate of that B2 bomber. Either it was shot down by fighter jets or it had exhausted its fuel tank and plummeted into the vast ocean. No matter what, it would not return tond without a pilot.
The world now had one B2 bomber less. The limited quantity of twenty was now reduced to neen units. But even so, no country in the world could withstand thebined attack of neen B2 bombers. In that sense, the Americans still had their advantage over aerial warfare. It was not a situation that the Jing Ke and Phantom drones could change.
However, when piloting the B2 across Area 51 and blowing things up, Xia Lei attained great insight. Surely, this experience would soon be tranted into the birth of Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s bomber ne.
Frankly, Xia Lei was not the least bit concerned about the fate of Area 51 and the B2 bomber. What he was most concerned about were those in the AE Research Centre, specifically Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one. He had trampled the facility into nothing but a nd wastnd. Despite that, he wasn¡¯t sure if that had killed Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one. Typically, the explosions that took ce yesterday night would¡¯ve meantplete annihtion. Zhu Xuanyue and the ck-robed man were certainly ashes by now. But without seeing it for himself, Xia Lei found it difficult to ept that as truth. After all, both of them were immortal beings!
¡°Even if they aren¡¯t dead, they¡¯re probably severely injured, right? If they¡¯re still alive but hurt, my luck is still within their control. The time I¡¯m left with will continue to run thin. They¡¯d probablye for me right away after recovering. I need to prepare myself for that...¡± Xia Lei thought with a heavy heart.
The man was now no longer in Las Vegas but a seedy motel in San Diego.
The morning light had banished the night¡¯s darkness and seeped through the curtains. It shone onto the mount of Alice¡¯s round arse. Golden sun rays, pale buttocks, the wonders of the female kind were never-ending.
Alice was still blissfully asleep.
Her lover was a Middle Eastern prince and was willing to pay a hefty ransom for her safety. Better even, Alice was about to leave for English to meet Daniel Crag and be his next Bond girl. She was bound to flourish as the new it-girl of the big screen. In one night, her wildest dreams hade to fruition. Alice felt like the luckiest girl in the world. She refused to wake up from this sweet sweet dream.
A Ford Pathfinder stopped by the road. The driver rolled the windows down and a woman poked her head through to look at Xia Lei who was standing on the balcony.
Tsukino Kyoko had arrived. The woman waved at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei turned around and entered the room, sparing one forlorn nce at Alice. He heaved a light sigh. Gently, he left a note and a bank card on the bedside table.
Melodious moans rolled out of Alice¡¯s throat. ¡°Ah... No... Slower...¡±
Xia Lei shouldered his bag and left the room.
Climbing into the Ford Pathfinder, Xia Lei was weed by the bewildered and weirdly excited gazes of the four Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members. He shrugged his shoulders and asked, ¡°Why are you all looking at me like that?¡±
¡°Boss, someone had sted Area 51 tst night. How... ¡° Sa¡¯im swallowed his spit. ¡°How did you do that?¡±
Xia Lei answered lukewarmly, ¡°I bombed them with a B2.¡±
¡°A B2?! What the fuck?!¡± Anjum Khan¡¯s shock was stered all across his face. ¡°That thing is at least worth more than two billion dors. Where did you park it?¡±
Xia Lei averted his eyes away. ¡°I didn¡¯t. I crashed it.¡±
¡°Enough, get driving. We¡¯re going to Mexico and then home,¡± urged Xia Lei.
Tsukino Kyoko ignited the Ford Pathfinder to live, drove it onto the highway and left.
One hourter, Alice had roused from her lovely dream. Just as she attempted to reach over for James¡¯s waist, her fingers were only met with cool pillows. She opened her eyes. James wasn¡¯t beside her and not in this room. She mbered up, eyes caught by the note and bank card on the bedside table. She frantically wed for it.
Reading it, tears began to escape her eyes.
As night fell, the Ford Pathfinder had finally made it to the Green Straw Hat Town in the outskirts of Tijuana.
The town was pitch ck.
Worried about the town¡¯s residents and members of the Relief Society here, the female knights had evacuated everyone earlier to avoid potential attacks from the Tijuana gang. It was only natural to expect no lights here.
However, this darkness was temporary. Just as the Ford Pathfinder came to a halt before the church¡¯s gates, the lights were abruptly flickered on. Arge hoard of armed members flooded out of the church and the opposite buildings like a dark tsunami. There were at least two hundred of them surrounding the car. The men hadcked uniformity in gears and clothes but there was amon feature. Their obnoxiously menacing expressions and stances.
Those were Relief Society members and armed men that Giovanna, Theresa, Ste and Rosa recruited in Colombia.
¡°They¡¯re part of us!¡± Giovanna exited the church and screamed. ¡°Dismiss!¡±
Close behind her was Theresa, Ste and Rosa. The four of them that shared two of the same faces were a lovely sight to behold from any angle.
The armed members surrounding the Ford Pathfinder quickly dispersed.
It was only then that Xia Lei and his team climbed out of the vehicle.
Giovanna sheepishly exined, ¡°Sorry, this is just a precautionary measure against the Tijuana gang¡¯s ambush. So...¡±
Xia Lei offered her a reassuring smile. He stepped forward and came to her side. ¡°There¡¯s no need to exin yourself. Neither you nor the men are at fault. I¡¯m d to see everyone back here safely. Now it¡¯s time to instruct me around like I¡¯m your subordinate.
¡°Huh?¡± Giovanna was perplexed, unsure of his motive.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°I¡¯ll exinter. Quick, order me around. You can even p me and scold me for not doing my job well.¡±
¡°What...¡± Raising her voice at Xia Lei was already difficult enough. To p Xia Lei across his face in front of everyone else was something Giovanna could never do.
Xia Lei red at her in an attempt to urge her on.
¡°Fine.¡± Giovanna took a step back with venom in her expression. There was now some bite to her tone, switching up from gentledy to a ruthless female tiger. She frowned and roared at him, ¡°What is this?! I paid you so much money and yet you failed miserably! Trash, all of you!¡±
Xia Lei lowered his head and avoided Giovanna¡¯s eyes. In a hushed voice, he urged again, ¡°Hit me.¡±
Giovanna¡¯s palm whipped across Xia Lei¡¯s cheek harshly.
p! Giovanna had held back her force by a fraction but the sound was still crisp. Rosa, Ste and Theresa behind her couldn¡¯t help but grimace slightly at the scene. The ringing sound of the p reached their ears and dropped to the bottom of their stomachs.
At this moment, Tsukino Kyoko walked over to Xia Lei¡¯s side and bowed her head with a stern look. ¡°I brought some bad news.¡±
Giovanna was caught by surprise. ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°The boss...¡± Tsukino Kyoko feigned extreme sorrow. ¡°The boss is dead.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Giovanna snapped her eyes back on Xia Lei. Wasn¡¯t the boss right in front of them? What the fuck was Tsukino Kyoko bullshitting about?
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°It¡¯s true. The boss is dead. Last night, he had perished in Area 51. The boss... Sob... Sob... The boss was sted into pieces. What a bad way to go!¡± The man began to wail.
Coming from the man himself, the four female knights finally understood his intentions. They quickly amodate his script and enter their supposed roles.
¡°Bastards! I swear I¡¯ll kill them!¡± Giovanna roared to the sky.
Ste rubbed her eyes and lowered her head, stealthily dabbing saliva onto the corners of her eyes.
Rosa drew her pistol out and shot the clouds. ¡°I swear I¡¯ll fuck them over! I¡¯m going to avenge the boss!¡±
Bang Bang Bang!
A rain of bullets was fired, mostly by the Relief Society members out of genuine sadness. They had hailed Xia Lei as God¡¯s Son. He had literally shared the same existence as a divine figure and with him dead, how could any of them not be affected by it?
This was a decision Xia Lei hade up with on the way here.
He had burnt Area 51 to ashes and bombed Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one. No one would let him walk free, regardless of the American government or both his nemeses. It was best if Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one had died from the explosions but before he could rectify their deaths, Xia Lei needed to prepare himself for the worse. In the case of them being alive, Xia Lei was bound to face their lust for revenge soon.
Under the pressing threat of revenge from America, Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one, faking his death seemed to be the best way out of this. Area 51 was thoroughly destroyed and many bodies were burnt beyond recognition. As long as he spread rumours about him dying in the fire and wipe his traces clean, what could America do to him? But the problem of Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one was still existent.
As soon as word of his death was spread around, the situation went out of control. Brothers and sisters of the Relief Society screamed about avenging Xia Lei and the hired mercenaries began to worry about the payment. It took quite some effort for Giovanna to calm everyone down before she was able to pull away to lead Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members into the church.
Xia Lei entered a secret underground chamber inside. There, the Grey and Russo sisters along with the four Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members anticipated his further instructions.
Xia Lei began, ¡°For now, continue to spread rumours about my death and have the hired mercenaries crack down on the FA¡¯s Mexican stronghold. Money is not an issue. As long as they¡¯re willing to fight, they will earn to their heart¡¯s desire. We need to create an illusion that I¡¯m dead and everyone is revving up for revenge.¡±
¡°Okay, we know what to do,¡± said Giovanna. She reached over and caressed Xia Lei¡¯s cheek. ¡°Did I hurt you?¡±
Xia Lei smiled at her. ¡°This pain is nothing. I would shoulder so much more for a period of peace.¡±
Despite the reassurance, Giovanna¡¯s palm was still sped around his cheek.
Tsukino Kyoko cleared her throat.
It was only then that the woman was willing to pull away.
Xia Lei seemed a little sheepish. ¡°Is the ne ready?¡±
Rosa answered, ¡°Yes. The Russian ne is already waiting for us at the airport.¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Let¡¯s move. We¡¯ll this ce for the armed members and we return home to China.¡±
¡°But with no one around to lead their attack on the FA, will it be alright?¡± Giovanna was understandably worried.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about the oue. This is a proxy war. All we need to do is spend money on it. I¡¯ve never once expected a bunch of amateurs to break the FA apart. All I¡¯m trying to do is to damage the FA¡¯s stability and establish an illusion of my death.¡±
¡°Then everything should be alright. We¡¯ll return to China with you,¡± said Giovanna, lips blossoming into a full smile.
None of the Grey and Russo sisters was willing to stay back in Mexico. As Xia Lei¡¯s sworn knights, they had a duty to follow him everywhere.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°This time, everyone has to cover their tracks andy low when we get back. We can no longer live in the Peace Mansion anymore. We need somewhere else to live.¡±
Under the dimmp of the underground chamber, the four Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members and the four female knights gave their nods of acknowledgement.
Chapter 1148 - Big Baby, Little Baby
Chapter 1148 - Big Baby, Little Baby
Two weekster, China.
¡°Dada...dada...mmmm!¡± In the moderately sized, traditional architecture inspired living room, a toddler was rolling on its belly while imitating human-like voices.
The toddler was chubby and appeared rather sturdily built for someone his age. The toddler was Liang Siyao¡¯s son, Liang Jiayu. Right behind his chubby buttcheeks were three other children, namely Xia Long, Xia Jianghe and Xia Fan. Two sons and two daughterspeting on all fours to get to their father.
Xia Lei naturally was also on the floor with his children. He knelt down and casually crawled around the floor mat while his four children chased him in circles, screaming and unting their limbs.
The mothers of the four children were also sitting at the couch right next to them, watching their husband spending quality time with their children. It was a heartwarming sight and it was also one that was joyous to watch.
Since his return from America, Xia Lei led the women and their children out of the Peace manor and into their new residence. The new location appeared just like any other suburban household.
The security in their new residence was no less intricate than its former, with an omnipresent security force within a radius from the residence, an honour not even the likes of Governors could experience.
Moving there effectively took the family out of the eyes of American and Japanese spies and agents, while creating a more realistic narration for Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®demise¡¯. Nheless, the clear advantage for their new residence was his increased protection over his women and children, while simultaneously researching on the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s fighter jets and bombers.
Right now, the Thunder Horse Organization presented itself as a conglomerate without a leader, leaving the executive decision to its core members. Regardless, Xia Lei was convincingly still the mastermind of the organization, leaving the signing of official documents in the forefront to each one of his four wives.
The truth was, not only were his wives and children under enforced protection, even his sister Xia Xue was brought to a safe space. She was being educated by different professors at her secure location. Even if Liu Zhengnan were to meet up with her, he will need to go through the additional effort of arranging a timeslot with the assigned agents on site.
Now that the arrangements were in ce, Xia Lei could n ahead for when he ¡®passes on¡¯, allocating his four wives to be the leaders of the Thunder Horse Organization while nurturing Xia Xue to eventually ascend to the directorial board.
Even then, Xia Lei still had the one glimmer of hope that he might still ride on his stroke of luck during his Area 51 mission, getting the upper hand on Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one and blowing them to bits.
If that actually went to his favour, the world will essentially be cleared of any being that could pose him any harm. If that were true, he could happily and merrily live out the rest of his life. But nevertheless, he knew it was just wishful thinking. Days went by without clear evidence of Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s demise. He knew he had to be prepared for the worst.
¡°Dada...¡± Liang Jiayu caught up to Xia Lei.
His chubby little hands attempted to p Xia Lei¡¯s buttcheeks, but s, he overestimated his arm length and fell on his father¡¯s sole. His minuscule fingers began scratching and caressing Xia Lei¡¯s feet, rendering him to break intoughter.
¡°You little rascal, how did you know about Daddy¡¯s weakness. I¡¯m going to seek my revenge by spanking you!¡± Xia Lei acted tough as he lightly patted little Jiayu on the buttocks.
¡°Mm...wah!¡± Seemingly terrified by his father¡¯s sudden punishment, Liang Jiayu began wailing.
¡°Uhh...¡± Xia Lei was perplexed.
Liang Siyao brought herself towards her husband, a hand on his waist, and the other began spanking on his buttcheek. ¡°How dare you spank my son, he¡¯s still so tiny. This is to serve you a lesson!¡±
Whack whack!
Xia Lei was cryughing.
¡°Blurp blurp blurp...¡± Liang Jiayu began drooling fromughter.
Liang Siyao spanked her husband but also started pampering her son, ¡°Look son, if your father bullies you again, tell Mama. I¡¯ll show him who¡¯s in charge.¡±
Xia Lei grinned, ¡°Siyao, aren¡¯t you just pampering him at this point? He¡¯ll turn out a spoiled kid.¡±
¡°Give him time, once he¡¯s older I wouldn¡¯t let him have everything,¡± Liang Siyao lovingly replied.
Xia Lei was left speechless. From the motherly love and joy projected from Liang Siyao¡¯s eyes, he could practically picture her definition of ¡®older¡¯ to be when their son reaches eighteen. Nevertheless, considering all the hurdles Liang Siyao had to go through to be with him, Xia Lei felt her actions justified themselves.
Right then, Xia Long crawled onto his two feet, lifted his dominant hand and whacked straight at Liang Jiayu¡¯s buttcheek!
Liang Jiayu was caught off-guard as he nked for a moment, before once again wailing at his heart¡¯s content.
Liang Siyao hurriedly wrapped her arms around her son as sheforted, ¡°Oh my baby, oh don¡¯t cry. Oh, you¡¯re mother¡¯s favourite. Oh now now don¡¯t cry, baby...¡±
Long Bing then scooped up her son and lightly spanked him on his buttocks as she lectured, ¡°Why did you hit your brother, that¡¯s not right.¡±
Xia Long chuckled at his mother¡¯s ¡®punishment¡¯ as he turned towards his father. From his gaze, it was clear that he was less affected by his mother¡¯s lesson and more towards his father¡¯s attention!
Sisters Xia Jianghe and Xia Fan then came crawling towards their father and began nibbling on his finger and the other pping his ear, trying to convey words she had not learnt yet.
Xia Lei scooped both of his precious daughters up, gave each of them a kiss on the cheek as he remarked with a grin. ¡°How¡¯re Daddy¡¯s favourite girls? Are you girls hungry? Should Daddy tell both your Mummys¡¯ to give you milk?¡±
Xia Jianghe cracked a smile as she minced a word, ¡°Woo...me...¡±
Xia Lei was bewildered. From his point of view, Xia Jianghe¡¯s ¡®Woo¡¯ sounded like ¡®cool¡¯, and ¡®me¡¯ sounded like ¡®milk¡¯.
His aimless bbering unexpectedly got a clear cut answer from his one-year-old daughter! How did she have such rity and pronunciation?
¡°Mama mama...¡± Xia Fan pped her little hands. Pouting her little lips she blurted, ¡°Me, me, me!¡±
Xia Lei was dumbfounded. If he was just awestruck by Xia Jianghe¡¯s pronunciation, then Xia Fan was even better! She even called out for her mother!
Thinking about his four children, each having a different mother, it was expected that they would have different personalities and traits. At that point, Xia Lei essentially had a rough idea of each of them. Fan Fan¡¯s daughter was the smartest. Coming in second was Jiang Ruyi¡¯s daughter Xia Jianghe. Both his daughters were contrastingly different in personality, with Xia Jianghe being more reserved and introverted, while Xia Fan was more outgoing and bubbly.
As for his two sons, Liang Siyao¡¯s son Liang Jiayu was athletic and full of vigour, clearly, the biggest built and a fighter. Xia Long was more cheerful and observant of his surroundings, which Xia Lei perceived as the one whose personality most resembled his.
Just as Xia Lei was mingling with the children, his two daughters began calling out for their meals.
Xia Lei quicklyforted, ¡°It¡¯s alright... Shh... It¡¯s alright, your mama will be here to feed you soon. You¡¯re still growing up, we can¡¯t have you go hungry.¡±
¡°Jeez, you¡¯re already spoiling the girls to oblivion. Give me the baby, I¡¯m going to feed her now.¡± Jiang Ruyi stepped forward and shifted her voice to a tone specially reserved for Xia Jianghe. ¡°My, my... All you do is join hands with your father to bully your mother.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Liang Siyao and Long Bing dissolved into a fit of giggles at that.
At this moment, Xia Long decided that he wanted some attention from the adults too.
¡°Aren¡¯t you a busybody? Had you formed a n with your father?¡± Long Bing reprimanded her son teasingly.
Xia Long winked at Xia Lei out of the blue.
Xia Lei was stupefied by the quirky antics of his young son.
The living room was pure domestic bliss. In Xia Lei¡¯s safe haven, he watched his feeding children and their mothers. A soft expression adorning his features, his heart was content.
A whileter...
Xia Lei felt like something was fundamentally different. But he just couldn¡¯t pinpoint it.
Noticing his dazed look, Liang Siyao giggled. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What are you thinking while staring at us like that?¡±
Xia Lei shook away the odd sensation forcefully and went to tease his son. ¡°My little Jiayu,e. Your papa wants to hug you.¡±
Liang Jiayu reached out two of his minuscule fingers, jabbed it into Xia Lei¡¯s nostrils and started digging!
¡°Aww, that¡¯s a no,¡± Liang Siyao sarcastically dered as she brought her son to another corner.
Xia Lei brushed it away and then leaned towards Long Bing, ¡°Ah Long, since your brother doesn¡¯t want me to hug him, how about youe to hug papa instead?¡±
¡°Hey, who said it¡¯s your turn to hug him. Stay aside and wait for your turn,¡± said Long Bing with a grin.
Strangely, however, Xia Long actually nodded.
Long Bing was perplexed. ¡°Son, you want your father to hug you?¡±
Xia Lei coyly followed, ¡°Hey you¡¯re in denial. Our son literally just nodded.¡±
Long Bing just couldn¡¯t wrap her mind around the disy.
Suddenly, Xia Long lifted his little crown and blurted a clear ¡°Yes.¡±
Long Bing was stunned. Xia Lei quickly rushed forward and took Xia Long out from her arms.
Noticing the other mothersughing at her, Long Bing forlorn rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
And that had garnered a yful wink from both her husband and son.
The three other women beganughing.
It was a joyful scene in the living room.
If Xia Lei had used his right eye on his wives, he would¡¯ve caught the little specks of light floating about their bodies.
Chapter 1149 - An Email from Father
Chapter 1149 - An Email from Father
They have yet to hire a new chef for their new residence so Xia Lei decided to cook tonight¡¯s meal personally. He had a nine-person family, so dinner was bound to be lively.
All four of his children were freakishly smart. What came with that intelligence was also an incredible appetite. Their milk dosages were at least a few timesrger than normal babies. It was no wonder the four new mothers were reluctant to spare some breast milk for their gigantic man-baby. There was barely enough!
Perhaps this was why the babies were able to crawl and speak at only one-month-old. His pair of sons and daughters were naturally gifted geniuses. They were destined to be out of the ordinary.
Finishing dinner, Xia Lei smiled at his wives. ¡°My dears, we should sleep together tonight.¡±
¡°That sounds great. If you can help me put the children to sleep, I¡¯ll let you do anything you want,¡± proposed Liang Siyao.
¡°Yeah, same for me.¡± Fan Fan was quick to speak up.
Jiang Ruyi smiled and said the same. ¡°Here I was worried about having no one to put the babies to sleep. I¡¯ll hug you to sleep and you¡¯ll take care of them in return, yeah?¡±
Long Bing merely smiled and said nothing else. Despite bing a mother, her personality remained the same. She was still as reserved as ever.
Xia Lei watched the four lively babies wriggling about in their arms. His heart immediately admitted defeat. ¡°I... I wasn¡¯t able to sleep wellst night. I hope you don¡¯t mind taking care of the children yourselves tonight. I... I¡¯ll go to work on the ne in the underground chamber.¡±
He quickly left, not willing to stay a second longer. He was worried that his four children would rope him into some odd game and Xia Lei would have to bid his work hours goodbye for tonight.
Xia Lei entered the underground chamber of his new residence. He had specifically requested for one back when he applied for a new safe house and the person in charge had dutifully seen it through. It was only a small request. This ce was originally where the royal family and nobles had lived in thete Qing dynasty. Many of the houses here had underground chambers reserved for antique collections and wealth storage. Before Xia Lei had moved in, someone was mindful enough to hire a renovator to change the underground chamber into a workspace. Compared to its previous state, it was much safer and more hidden now.
He turned around and locked himself in with the specially-made alloy door, not giving anyone the chance to enter this premise without his permission. That prohibition extends even to his wives. The reason behind this was simple. The ancient alloy box, which was what Zhu Xuanyue had imed to be the Box of the World, was ced in this underground space. Based on its tendencies to drive people to the brink of insanity and even lead to death, Xia Lei was not willing to risk the safety of his wives and children.
The ancient alloy box was not the only thing stored here. The silver armour set that Xia Lei looted from Malta Ind and the crystal skull from Israel too was ced here. The Bronze Book and thepass from before were included as well.
He had lined everything up neatly on a workbench. Xia Lei studied them quietly while the items seemed to be staring back at him with equal intensity. The sensation he felt when looking at them felt almost too familiar yet ufortably unfamiliar at the same time. They had be a part of his life now but Xia Lei had no idea what they truly were and where they were from. All of these were questions he willed to seek answers for.
After a long observation session in silence, Xia Lei activated his eyes and dove straight into the contents of the ancient alloy box. Suddenly, the familiar and eerie sensation emerged once again. It felt as if it was trying to pull him into an endless abyss. He continued to plunge straight down with no end in sight. It took an unpleasant while for everything to calm down but all he felt was an ice-cold world surrounding him. Xia Lei could see and hear nothing. The odd hollowness of the environment made him like he was the only one left in the universe and all that was left to apany him was endless loneliness and eternal despair.
Then, he ced his gaze on the crystal skull.
While using his vision powers on the crystal skull was admittedly more pleasant than using it on the ancient alloy box. The sensation was still something beyond ordinary tolerance. It gave off a simr sensation as the ancient alloy box. Xia Lei could feel a mysterious surge of energy trying to pull him into an eerie illusion. He braved the cold and darkness and finally saw a bright light. The white pristine light morphed into the shape of a door and Xia Lei urged to see what was hidden behind it. Sadly, things had turned out the same as hisst experience. As soon as he neared the door, the illusion shattered and returned his consciousness to the real world.
Xia Leipared both experiences carefully. Though both events gave off simr vibes, they were still different. There was a real tangible dimension within the ancient alloy box while the crystal skull was only showing him a figment of illusion.
And that was the difference that Xia Lei had concluded.
However, this conclusion did not seem to bear any further meaning.
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but huff out a dryugh. ¡°I¡¯m running out of time. Will I be able to unveil the ancient alloy box¡¯s secrets before I die? Damn, it feels really grim. If it was that solvable, the prehistoric chosen one would¡¯ve solved it long ago without a chance for it to fall into my possession.¡±
Xia Lei felt absolutely helpless.
¡°Nevermind. I guess it¡¯s best to set these aside for the time being. I should really get working on the bomber ne and fighter jets. With this done, I¡¯ll be able to die without regrets.¡± Xia Lei did his best to convince himself.
He closed his eyes, sat down and rxed his body. Then, he allowed his mind to enter its optimum state. Without the need for pens, paper norputers, his brain was able to get any design done regardless of itsplexity.
His experience piloting the B2 bomber to cause mass destruction over Area 51 two weeks ago was incredibly valuable to him. The B2¡¯s technical protection upheld by the American government could be described as abnormally tight. It almost too rare for someone to be up and close to the strategic stealth bomber
Xia Lei had no intention for his bomber to be an exact copy though. He was merely using the B2 bomber as a reference for a thorough understanding of its mechanism. The bomber he was going to design himself was intended to be something easier to manoeuvre, faster and more efficient. But of course, with the B2 as his main reference, his designs could easily surpass any existing models in any performance aspects!
Soon, the underground chamber had gonepletely silent. Xia Lei seemed to be asleep but that was just a front. Almost every one of his brain cells was at work. All of his brain cells were outstanding researchers. His organs were not idle either. They were constantly pumping out and delivering nutrients to his brain. At this moment, while it seemed like he was soundly asleep, his physical and mental exertion had reached its extreme. This was not something any ordinary person could withstand.
After an uncertain amount of time, Xia Lei finally slid off the chair and went unconscious.
He waspletely capable of shutting down his mind and stopping the exertion. Yet, Xia Lei did not wish to stop his efforts for he had reached a vital point. Some days, your brain would be able to pump out impressive ideas and ideas smoothly but as soon as you stop, it would be difficult to achieve the same performance afterwards.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
A signal receptor was installed in the underground chamber, which so happened to be the culprit disrupting thefortable silence.
Xia Lei roused at the ringtone of his satellite phone. He struggled to climb up and reach the device. As soon as he recognized the number on the screen, the man immediately felt energized. He quickly answered it, ¡°Father, it¡¯s me.¡±
Xia Changhe was finally contacting him.
¡°Lei Zi, I¡¯m running tight on time so listen closely,¡± said the familiar voice of his father.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank ever so slightly. All of their phone calls shared the same opening. While he wasn¡¯t a fan of this feeling, he could understand where his father wasing from. Xia Lei replied, ¡°Alright. Go on.¡±
¡°You¡¯re running out of time.¡±
Xia Lei froze. The prehistoric chosen one had given him a two-year time limit and there was only one year left to the clock. However, he had kept this secret all to himself. The only person he had told it to was Zhu Xuanyue. Xia Lei could not recall when had he mentioned it to Xia Changhe. The way he worded it felt like the older man had known something about it. Yet, how did he even learn about the secret in the first ce?
¡°I¡¯ve sent you an email. Go take a look,¡± instructed Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei quickly paced over to the workbench for hisptop.
His father¡¯s voice continued to pour over the device. ¡°There¡¯s no rush. All I wish to say is in the email. Let¡¯s talk about my grandchildren in the remaining time.¡±
Xia Lei halted in his tracks. ¡°The children are doing well.¡± At the mention of his lovely children, Xia Lei¡¯s heart began to grow softer. A smile now adorned his face. ¡°I have four children now. Two sons and two daughters. Liang Siyao¡¯s child took on her surname and Long Bing¡¯s child is named Xia Long. Both of them gave birth to sons. Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan birthed daughters. I named one Xia Jianghe and the other Xia Fan.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Came Xia Changhe¡¯s joyousughter.
Xia Lei chuckled a little. ¡°The four of them are crazy smart, especially Fan Fan¡¯s daughter, Xia Fan. She could already speak clearly at one-month-old. The other three are about the same. Not only are they smart as hell, but they¡¯re also growing faster than the normal children.¡±
¡°That¡¯s good to hear. This is excellent news.¡± Xia Changhe murmured into the phone. ¡°I¡¯m relieved to know that our Xia family will have descendants.¡±
¡°Father,e home. There¡¯s no need for you to resume your investigation efforts. Some things are just not meant for you to do. Come back soon. I can guarantee your safety and exempt you from any interrogation.¡±
Xia Changhe answered, ¡°I know you mean well but this is my destiny. You have your destiny while I have mine.¡±
¡°Father, what are you trying to say?¡±
¡°Thest AE capsule. When are you nning to take it?¡± Xia Changhe asked.
¡°I... I don¡¯t know.¡±
¡°Perhaps you¡¯ll be able to decide soon after reading my email.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes fell on theptop and he began to walk over.
¡°Alright, that¡¯s it from me. I¡¯ll contact you again next time,¡± said Xia Changhe.
Xia Lei flipped theptop screen over and attempted to probe. ¡°Father, where are you at the moment?¡±
¡°I¡¯m in Italy. There¡¯s no need toe for me. You won¡¯t be able to find me even if you tried. Till next time.¡± With that, Xia Changhe cut the line.
Reluctantly, Xia Lei ced the satellite phone down. He moved to toggle his inbox and quickly located his father¡¯s email. He opened it, took a good look inside its contents and immediately felt his spine go cold. The shock from its contents was coursing through his veins like electricity.
Chapter 1150 - Do I Take The Last Capsule?
Chapter 1150 - Do I Take The Last Capsule?
Attached inside his father¡¯s email were a few photographs and a video file. Without even clicking onto the video, the handful of photographs had already diminished any hope Xia Lei had leftpletely.
Those were pictures of the new CEO of Lockheed Martin, Kestin and his bodyguards, Charlotte and Eva. The timestamp on the photographs was shown to be taken one day ago at the Lockheed Martin headquarters.
As to how his father infiltrated Lockheed Martin to capture these photos was none of his concern. The most important of this was that Kesten was still well and alive!
Kestin, Charlotte and Eva. Xia Lei assumed that if anyone were alive, it would not be these three. The bombings he brought onto the AE Research Centre days ago was definitely powerful enough to st them apart, even if they were robot soldiers from the future. How was it possible for Kestin and his beautiful bodyguard duo to survive the ordeal?
If three of them were alive, there was no doubt Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one too were safe from harm.
Xia Lei tapped on the video file with a heavy sinking feeling.
It began. The video was captured during a meeting at the Lockheed Martin headquarters hosted by Kestin. Charlotte and Eva had taken their ces behind the man dutifully. The audience of the meeting was a dozen of Lockheed Martin¡¯s top management employees. In front of their boss, everyone had sat with straight backs and spoke with firm tones.
In the video, Kestin pulled up a video onto the screen. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, before we begin this meeting, I¡¯d like to show you something.¡±
A secretary-like woman pressed y and a video was projected onto the wall behind Kestin. It was an edited excerpt of the battle on the South China Sea with the Jing Ke and Phantom drones as its main focus. This edit was made specifically to showcase the difference in both drone¡¯s battle properties and astounding functionality.
¡°Were these drones made by the Thunder Horse Organization?¡±
¡°That¡¯s insane. Even the Super Hos are no match for it.¡±
¡°Shit. Even the F35 can¡¯t do anything to it. We¡¯ve lost our standing in aerial warfare.¡±
¡°What the fuck is that?! Why is it able to shoot anti-ship missiles?!¡±
As the footage progressed, discussions in the meeting room grew heavier. The shock and envy that filled the room were overwhelming. Oddly, Kestin and his bodyguards were unfazed by everything going on behind their backs. No responses were elicited off their beings throughout the video.
At the end of it, a simtion appeared.
It showed a few Jing Ke and Phantom drones soaring above the clouds while thick soot rolled out of the American warships beneath them. These victorious drones were about to return to their home country. The imagery was exceptionally ufortable for everyone in the conference room for they were long used to the long-reigning superiority America had over the world. They could not stomach the fact that someone more advanced had now appeared in the picture.
In the midst of hushed heavy talks, a ck fighter jet appeared out of the blue. It zoomed by like a sh of ck lightning. Its appearance made it look like the lovechild of science fiction and fantasy, almost like it was thebination of the F35 and the Super Ho. As soon as it emerged, the Chinese drones began to attack it with the Phantom¡¯s air-to-air missile and the Jing Ke¡¯s self-detonating feature. These attacks that ced America¡¯s Seventh Fleet in a gutting position was suddenly ineffective against the unnamed ck fighter jet. None of their attacks had worked for the fact that the dark aircraft¡¯s manoeuvrability and stealth performance was far beyond both Chinese drones.
The simted battle quickly came to an end when the ck fighter jet had sessfully gotten rid of all Jing Ke and Phantom drones.
¡°What... What is this jet?!¡± One of the top management employees questioned in surprise. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a jet like this! Is this Russia¡¯s newest fighter model?¡±
¡°A Russian jet? That¡¯s impossible. Russia is not capable of producing jets like these!¡±
¡°If it isn¡¯t Russia, is it us? Is this from the Boeing Company?¡±
Another round of discussion ensued.
It was only then that Kestin gave them an answer. ¡°There¡¯s no need to guess any longer. This is something us Lockheed Martin will produce soon.¡±
¡°Since when did we have such a project? Why hadn¡¯t I heard anything about it?¡±
¡°Yeah. This is literally the first time I¡¯m hearing about this.¡±
Kestin raised a hand and effectively quieted everyone down. He began, ¡°It¡¯s normal for you to have not heard about this project. There¡¯s no need for you to know who designed this jet and there¡¯s no need to learn about its details. All you need to know is that we¡¯re about to make this jet a reality. When that is done with, Thunder Horse¡¯s joke-like aerial warfare advantage will be reduced into nothing.¡± Pausing for a moment, he let a dangerous smirk sy across his lips. ¡°Don¡¯t the Chinese im themselves to be the descendants of the dragon? That would make us the dragon yers. In fact, the name for our new fighter jet will be Dragon yer. I urge you to begin relevant preparations for the Dragon yer Project will now be set into motion.¡±
At that point, the video had reached its end.
Xia Lei stared at the frozen screen hard. The man could barely move a muscle. One email from his father hadpletely shattered the veryst hopes he had. If Kestin was alive, Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one was certainly alive as well. While unsure of how Kestin could¡¯ve survived the bombings, Xia Lei was fully aware that he was stuck with the worst-case scenario. Before this, he, Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one had shared an odd equilibrium. Now that he had dropped bombs on the both of them, they were now his foes!
A few minutester, Xia Lei pulled himself together and closed hisptop. The man now had his attention on the Dragon yer fighter jet. He thought to himself darkly. ¡°Though it¡¯s just a simtion, if Lockheed Martin sessfully birthed such a monster, it is almost certain that America will implement a tougher or extreme policy against China. Who designed the Dragon yer? What will its materials be...?¡±
Xia Lei could not think of an answer.
Allowing himself the time of the world to calm down, Xia Lei then produced his satellite phone and made a call.
¡°Sa¡¯im, I need you to work your intelligencework. Collect all intel on Lockheed Martin, especially the Dragon yer Project.¡±
¡°No problem, boss. I¡¯ve been bored as helltely. This will be a great change of pace.¡±
¡°But you can¡¯t go to America.¡±
¡°Huh? Why?¡±
¡°It¡¯s very dangerous, trust me. If you do travel there, what you might face is an enemy you can never defeat. You¡¯re bound to die. Stay here and just let your informants do their job,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Fine by me, I¡¯ll listen to you.¡±
Following that, Xia Lei contacted Giovanna. ¡°Giovanna, listen closely. Instruct your brothers and sisters in the Relief Society to start collecting every intel they can on Lockheed Martin, especially ones about the new CEO, Kestin.¡±
¡°Sure, no problem.¡± Came Giovanna¡¯s response.
¡°Also, if it¡¯s possible, help me find out what¡¯s going on in Area 51. I need some current information on Area 51.¡±
¡°Alright. I¡¯m just about to meet you to report on our operation in Mexico.¡± Giovanna continued, ¡°But there¡¯s no way for me to enter your current residence. When are you going toe out?¡±
Xia Lei could only offer her a bitter chuckle. ¡°I¡¯lle out soon but you can report to me over the phone.¡± With Kestin, Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one still walking about the mortal realm, it certainly wouldn¡¯t be hard for them to find out that Xia Lei was behind the Area 51 bombings. Truth to be told, his n to feign his death had long failed. He could just call it quits now.
¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll carry on with my report on the proxy battle in Mexico.¡± Giovanna said, ¡°So far, we¡¯ve spent three billion dors on the operation. Those mercenaries had made it to the FA¡¯s headquarters and gotten rid of a considerable amount of their armed members. Other than that, more and more are signing up for our proxy battle after they heard about the offered payment. So I¡¯ll need more money to allocate for that.¡±
¡°Money is not an issue. Just let them fight this battle for us. However, you need to be extra cautious to not let any of the hired mercenariese near to you and the core members of the Relief Society. There might be spies from the FA added into the mix.¡±
¡°I understand, I¡¯ll remind them to be careful.¡±
¡°That¡¯s all.¡± Xia Lei hung up.
Afterying out instructions for both of his main intelligence officers, Xia Lei still found it hard to rx. If he was counting days to live and tormented with the constant pressure of imminent death in the past, the man would be considered pacing right in front of Hell¡¯s Gate now. His judgement day would befall on the same day Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one decided to show up for revenge.
Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one had stooped low and threatened him with the safety of his wives and children. Kestin and Lockheed Martin, on the other hand, was about to do something that¡¯d threaten not just the Thunder Horse Organization but also the future of China. These were all matters Xia Lei had taken seriously and should not be vited!
Suddenly, Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on the dangling alloy pendant around his neck. In the face of unprecedented threat and the stress of losing everything he cared about, it certainly felt like he had no choice but to resort to this. He needed to consume thest AE capsule andplete his evolution. Xia Lei would then turn into an invincible existence like Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one!
He took off the pendant and mped his fist around it. In that very moment, his heart was tormented in an excruciating dilemma. ¡°Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one both wanted me to take thest pill. It sure seems like I have no choice but to do that. But am I willing toplete my evolution and lose my current body someday to be a cloud of energy? When that timees, would my wives and children be able to sense my presence?¡±
In the past, he had thought to save thest AE capsule with certain considerations. If he were to consume it, there would be no specimen left for him to study. Later on, this decision had stuck because he had found out that it was thest puzzle toplete evolution. Xia Lei would be an intangible cloud of energy at the end of this. Fast forward to this moment, Xia Lei had grown more certain than before about the nature of the AE capsule. Once he popped it into his system, he might have to bid an eternal farewell to his wives, children, family and friends!
The premise established had made this decision extremely tough on him!
Doot doot doot...
His satellite phone was ringing again.
Xia Lei took one nce at the device and sucked in a deep breath. He answered it.
¡°Hey, hubby, breakfast is ready. What the hell man? Why did you spend the whole night in the underground chamber? Do you not care about your body anymore?¡± Liang Siyao chastised him over the phone, but her love and concern were prominent.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be out soon for breakfast.¡± Xia Lei ended the call and shoved the alloy pendant into the pockets of his pants.
Even if he had decided to take it, he could certainly afford to dy it a little longer, right?
Xia Lei wishfully thought away.
Chapter 1151 - Tang Yuyans Change
Chapter 1151 - Tang Yuyan''s Change
Exiting the underground chamber, Xia Lei was weed by golden sunlight andforting warmth. Basked in the morning light, Liang Siyao had her arms securely around her son, Liang Jiayu. From the lightweight fabric that dressed her, it was evident that childbirth did not take a toll on her body. Liang Siyao still looked tall and slender, a lovely sight to behold as usual. Butpared to the past, the woman had certainly seemed a little more mature now.
Liang Siyao came to him and reached over to dust his pants. Then, she pped his ass twice. ¡°Oh dear, why are your pants so dusty? Did you fall down or did you slept on the groundst night?¡±
Warmth flooded Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He smiled. ¡°Nah, I was just sitting on the ground. I¡¯m alright.¡±
¡°Put your pants in theundry basketter and I¡¯ll wash it.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Xia Lei responded and then reached their son. ¡°Come to papa.¡±
Liang Jiayu nted forward towards Xia Lei¡¯s chest as he mumbled incoherently, ¡°Ba... ba... ba... Ba... pa...¡±
Liang Siyao gave her son a light tap on the butt. She chastised him lightheartedly, ¡°Jeez, you¡¯re so ungrateful. How can you be so close to your father even when I¡¯m the one who fed you the most?¡±
Xia Lei nudged her little waist with his elbow. ¡°What is wrong with my son being close to me? Son, you¡¯ll sleep beside papa tonight, yeah?¡±
But Liang Jiayu shook his head fervently and gurgled unintelligently, ¡°Noooooooo...¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re already getting tired of me? Do you know your mama likes to sleep with papa too?¡±
Liang Jiayu widened his eyes. ¡°Haliuuuuuuuudukakaaaka...¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei was caught aback.
Liang Siyao pped Xia Lei¡¯s ass harder this time. She guffawed, ¡°Your son is calling you a pervert! You¡¯re so lewd, jeez. How can you say something like that in front of a child?¡±
With Liang Jiayu still in his arms, Xia Lei scooted over to bop Liang Siyao¡¯s chest but thetter quickly dodged it with ease.
In the midst of their banter, the three of them finally made it back to the dining room.
There were seven upants in the dining room. Aside from the three mother-child pairs, there was also one guest, Tang Yuyan.
The odd scene had Xia Lei stunned. There was a beat of silence before the man remembered to greet her. ¡°Ah, Yuyan! Nice to see you here.¡±
Tang Yuyan shed him a smile. ¡°Your house sure has be a difficult ce to enter now. Even my entry needed to be applied for. I guess it¡¯s going to be very hard to drop by sometime.¡±
Liang Siyao¡¯s heart hissed back at that. ¡°Then don¡¯t bothering¡± but the response she offered her on the outside was courteous. ¡°Yuyan, have you eaten breakfast yet? Would you like to join us?¡±
¡°Sure, I haven¡¯t had breakfast yet. Then I won¡¯t hold back.¡± The smile on Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips grew wider.
Jiang Ruyi offered, ¡°I¡¯ll go get you a bowl of congee.¡±
Xia Lei quickly halted her, ¡°I¡¯ll go. Wouldn¡¯t want to risk scalding Jianghe.¡±
¡°Ah, alright.¡± Jiang Ruyi¡¯s expressions melted into pure bliss. She jabbed Xia Jianghe¡¯s pretty little dimples softly and teased the baby. ¡°My precious, just look at how much your father loves you. I feel like he loves you more than me.¡±
¡°Hehehe...¡± Xia Jianghe giggled melodiously, unsure if it was a response to her mother¡¯s words or feeling ticklish.
¡°Nai! Nai!¡± Xia Fan, nestled in a bundle between Fan Fan¡¯s arm began to whine.
Fan Fan¡¯s eyebrows were knitted at the notion. ¡°My goodness. All you do is eat, eat, eat and eat. I just fed you half an hour ago, how are you still hungry? Why do you have such a monstrous appetite? Are you not afraid of bing a chubby little piglet?¡±
¡°Pig.¡± Xia Fan muttered.
¡°How dare you insult your own mother. I¡¯m so going to spank you.¡± Fan Fan raised her palm slightly and delivered a cautious and light pat onto Xia Fan¡¯s buttock.
Laughter erupted and echoed against the walls of the dining hall.
The clear envy and longing in Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes were not masked. ¡°Your family is so wonderful. A gentle and understanding husband, cute and smart children. As a woman, I¡¯m really jealous.¡±
The four mothers paused and studied each other¡¯s face with an odd expression. If some other woman had muttered those words, it wouldn¡¯t have felt so inappropriate to them. But this was Tang Yuyan. Before they had moved into the new ce, Tang Yuyan was a frequent visitor to the Peace Mansion that brought a huge heap of adult and children gifts every time. Plus, Tang Yuyan would linger in their home for most of the day. She would even volunteer to take up chores with surprising eagerness. If she wasn¡¯t trying to buy her way into the family, what else could she be up to?
The four mothers certainly did not want Tang Yuyan doing that. However, the main problem was that they all were indebted greatly to the woman. Tang Yuyan had exchanged her life for the sessful births of their children. With such gargantuan debt, Xia Lei wives did not have the heart to chase her away despite their displeasure. After all, they were not small-minded women.
Xia Lei ced a bowl of congee in front of Tang Yuyan. ¡°Here you go. Go on, let¡¯s dig in.¡±
The family joined Tang Yuyan at the dining table and began their breakfast. The atmosphere was clearly odd and a little off.
¡°Sister Fan Fan, you should take more eggs for nourishment.¡± Tang Yuyan picked up a piece of fried egg with her chopsticks and dropped it in Fan Fan¡¯s bowl.
¡°Uh... Thank you.¡± Fan Fan was slightly sheepish.
¡°Siyao, you should have more eggs too. Bringing up a son is more difficult than raising a daughter. You really need to replenish your nutrients.¡± Tang Yuyan too ced a fried egg in Liang Siyao¡¯s bowl.
¡°T... Thanks.¡± Liang Siyao felt awkward.
Following that, Tang Yuyan did the same for both Jiang Ruyi and Long Bing. Her attempt to appease Xia Lei¡¯s women was as clear as day. At that moment, she did not seem like the prized daughter of an ancient n but more like a weak in jane in a disadvantageous standing.
The disy did not go unseen by Xia Lei. He watched her desperate attempts and felt nothing but worry. He thought to himself, ¡°She¡¯s been stubbornly chasing after her ideal happiness for ages now. For the sake of entering my residence, she¡¯s even willing to put down her high and mighty act on the ground. She really has it hard. Does she have any idea that the thing she¡¯s trying so hard to fight for is about to disappear anytime soon? If she finds out that I have no time left and the enemies I¡¯m about to face, would she still lunged forward like a moth to a fire?¡±
The Grim Reaper was creeping closer but Tang Yuyan still had no ns on giving up her dream to be his woman and carry his children. In the face of such intense longing, Xia Lei could only feel a migraine brewing between his brows.
Finishing her portion, Tang Yuyan voluntarily offered, ¡°You can leave your children with me, I¡¯ve taken quite a great liking to them. You can go take a rest in the meantime. Though I¡¯ve never had a child, I know a thing or two about raising children.¡±
¡°But...¡± Fan Fan had to admit she was a little tempted but she hesitated.
Jiang Ruyi made no noise. She was never one to form a standing among Xia Lei¡¯s four wives. What others would do, she would follow.
Liang Siyao too was silent, sharing the same sentiment as Fan Fan.
Long Bing was the only one to answer, ¡°Sure. But I have to warn you that this fe is a cheeky one. Please do keep an eye on him and stop him from cing things into his mouth.¡± Long Bing deposited Xia Long in Tang Yuyan¡¯s arms.
Tang Yuyan shed Long Bing a grateful smile. Xia lei¡¯s words suddenly rang out in her head. Among the four women, Long Bing would be the easiest for her to begin with.
Xia Long shuffled around in Tang Yuyan¡¯s arm and grabbed her round breasts. ¡°Nainainai...¡±
[Trantor¡¯s note: ¡®Nai¡¯: Milk. Figured leaving it as the pinyin sounded more reasonable for a baby.]
Tang Yuyan was visibly flustered from how red her cheeks had grown. ¡°I... Little dude, I¡¯ve got no milk to offer. Sorry.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t suppress hisughter.
In that split second, his four wives shot a dirty look at Xia Lei, to which he quickly mped his mouth shut. The interrupted chortle was still echoing about in the dining hall. The man was cringing hard. The whole scene did look moreedic than intended.
Tang Yuyan too was equally awkward. She quickly busied herself with arranging the three baby strollers in a line. She softened her voice, ¡°Sister Fan Fan, Ruyi, Siyao, just leave your babies to me and get some well-deserved rest. You can go on a walk with Xia Lei or something. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve yet to enjoy any private time ever since giving birth.¡±
To be fair, private time shared between five people wasn¡¯t exactly private.
¡°Then... I guess I¡¯ll leave them in your care.¡± Now that even Long Bing had already offered Tang Yuyan her son, Fan Fan finally felt a little morefortable in epting her offer. She loaded Xia Fan into the stroller carefully.
Jiang Ruyi and Liang Siyao too deposited Xia Jianghe and Liang Jiayu respectively in their strollers. They assisted Tang Yuyan in moving the children into the living room that was now converted to their yroom.
¡°Go on, have fun. Just leave them to me.¡± Tang Yuyan immediately began picking up stray items as soon as she stepped foot into the messy living room.
Xia Lei and his four wives then moved to the garden, none of them in the mood for a leisurely stroll. A few stepster, they stopped and a family meeting ensued.
¡°She really isn¡¯t giving up,¡± said Liang Siyao.
¡°At this rate, we¡¯d have no choice but to add her to our family, no?¡± Jiang Ruyi raised a brow.
¡°I really don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on in her mind. She¡¯s young, pretty and very sessful. She¡¯s the head of Bureau 101 and a proud daughter of the Tang n. Many men would queue up forming a line longer than the Great Wall. Why the hell must she be stubbornly attracted to our man?¡± Fan Fan huffed.
Long Bing, on the other hand, said something surprising. ¡°I actually find her pitiful. She¡¯s pretending to be happy but I know it¡¯s not the case deep inside. Have you ever seen her like this? Pathetic and meek and kowtowing?¡±
The other three women shook their heads. Tang Yuyan¡¯s recent change in behaviour did not escape their eyes. The change was so great that the woman felt like someone else instead.
Long Bing went on, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for her back then, we wouldn¡¯t be standing here with our children. She was willing to protect us with her life. Regardless of what offence she hadmitted against us, I have already forgiven her. If she¡¯s willing to leave the Tang family, I... I won¡¯t oppose it.¡±
The other three women made no remark, opting to shift their attention on Xia Lei instead.
Xia Lei frantically raised his hands. ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? I literally said nothing! I don¡¯t even know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at him. ¡°You must be secretly overjoyed, huh? You¡¯ve once again gotten a maiden¡¯s attention and yet are feigning innocence. Wannae nearer so I can punch you?¡±
Fan Fan shrugged her shoulders. ¡°Fine then. I have noments whatsoever about it. One more person is just another pair of chopsticks added to the dining table. A pair of chopsticks is no big deal.¡±
Xia Lei itched to say something but all words died as soon as it reached his tongue. Honestly, he had no idea what he wanted to say. But keeping quiet also felt like acknowledging it.
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Hubby, it¡¯s best if you say nothing about the matter for the time being. We need to talk to her.¡±
Jiang Ruyi added, ¡°Yeah, a talk is needed. ¡°
Xia Lei asked, ¡°What are you going to talk about? Something like this, I....¡± What else could he say about this? It really was what it was. But he offered nothing in regards to such an important matter, it did not sit right for he bore the role as the family¡¯s leader.
¡°Well, what else?¡± Liang Siyao answered, ¡°What else if not about leaving the Tang family? If she can¡¯t do that, this whole thing is bound to go down south.¡±
¡°Also, we need to ce her under observation.¡± Fan Fan uttered, ¡°Four of us share a very good dynamic and if she¡¯s bound to disrupt our peace, our rtionships will suffer.¡±
¡°Yeah, observation is important,¡± agreed Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei looked at Jiang Ruyi with a smile. ¡°Is this supposed to be crosstalk? Are they the teaser while you¡¯re the joker?¡±
Jiang Ruyi¡¯s pale fist came flying towards him.
It was this punch that helped shatter the tension. Xia Lei and Jiang Ruyi danced around each other, prompting the other three women to join their little war as Jiang Ruyi¡¯s reinforcements. The five of them were entangled in a mess of reaching limbs. One would hit one¡¯s ass, they¡¯d retaliate and then deliver a pinch. They¡¯d hit back and forth. Soon, it became a messy light-hearted scuffle.
Before long, the battle came to an end as Fan Fan hooked her arm around Xia Lei¡¯s elbow and heaved with a red face. ¡°Hubby, you haven¡¯t been sleeping on the bed for two nights straight. Let me bring you in for a rest.¡±
¡°How about we all go together?¡± Xia Lei smirked knowingly.
Three fists punched the air out of his chest cavity in an instant. Despite the violent disy, Jiang Ruyi, Long Bing and Liang Siyao had offered a nod in response.
¡°Alright, let¡¯s go to sleep!¡± Xia Lei punched the air in excitement, looking nothing like a man who had not sleptfortably for two days.
In the living room, Tang Yuyan was busy wiping faeces off Xia Long¡¯s buttocks. She whined under her breath, ¡°Why the fuck is raising a child so damned difficult? If I gave birth to a pair of twins, I¡¯ll be worked to death. Ah, jeez! Xia Fan, don¡¯t eat the toy! Does it look that tasty to you?¡±
Chapter 1152 - Melting Heart
Chapter 1152 - Melting Heart
When it was time to leave, the afternoon sun was shining down harshly. Tang Yuyan opened up a sun umbre as Xia Lei walked her to the door.
¡°You should stand under the shade too. The sun is too hot, you¡¯ll get tan,¡± offered Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei regarded that with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m a man, what¡¯s a little tan? You can have the umbre all to yourself, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±
Yet, Tang Yuyan insisted on scooting closer and hovering the umbre¡¯s shade over his crown. Xia Lei was about one hundred and eighty-five centimetres tall. Tang Yuyan, on the other hand, was about one hundred and seventy-five centimetres tall. Added with a pair of heels, she was about his height. Walking together side-by-side, they certainly looked like a pair matched in heaven.
Their appearance earned many curious nces. Xia Lei had no idea who they were but everyone else knew who he was. After all, Xia Lei was the most famous figure in China at the moment. Every single action of his had repercussions for the whole of China. However, he wasn¡¯t famous in this special little area for his Thunder Horse Military Factory or the Jing Ke and Phantom drones that had made rounds around local news outlets. He was well known for the fact that he had four wives and four children. All of his women were phenomenal beauties and his children were all scarily intelligent for their age. The babies were already able to talk despite only being one month old. So many women, so many children, yet the man could enjoy familial peace and harmony. Who wouldn¡¯t be jealous of his life and who wouldn¡¯t be curious about the way he lived?
Now, Xia Lei was walking under the same umbre with a fifth woman. Their proximity and atmosphere were suspiciously intimate, prompting everyone else in the area to cast a few more nces at them.
Fully aware of the attention, Xia Lei felt nothing for he was long used to it. However, Tang Yuyan was blushing and cringing internally at that for she was raised as a sheltered prominent family daughter.
Somehow, the roads around the small residential area felt like it stretched on forever.
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was meek. ¡°Do you not have anything to say to me?¡±
Xia Lei was aware of what she desired to hear but the man had found it hard to say it out loud. He spared her a nce then fell silent.
Her eyes began to glimmer with a sheen of disappointment. ¡°I¡¯ve already taken care of Long Bing. You know what I¡¯m saying, right?¡±
Xia Lei mustered out a smile. ¡°Yes.¡±
¡°After lunch, Liang Siyao sat me down for a talk. I understand what she¡¯s trying to say. If I wish to be a part of the family, I¡¯d have to leave the Tang family. Even Fan Fan had said the same thing to me. The female decision-maker of your family had always been Liang Siyao but Long Bing could be one as well. It¡¯s just that she¡¯s not very keen on facing conflict and speaking,¡± said Tang Yuyan. She had left Jiang Ruyi out of it because the woman was one to stick with the majority. Jiang Ruyi was not seen as an obstacle. Truth to be told, she already had a firm grasp over the behaviour of his four wives.
¡°So you wish to know what I think of it, yes?¡± asked Xia Lei.
She nodded. ¡°The man I wish to follow is you. If you disagree, nothing I do would matter.¡±
Xia Lei halted in his tracks and stared into her eyes hard. ¡°I... I honestly have no issues with it but can you meet their criteria? To leave the Tang family will certainly be tough and painful on you.¡±
There was a beat of silence before Tang Yuyan mustered up the courage to speak, ¡°Yes, it surely will be a tough decision to make. But for you, I¡¯m willing to do anything.¡±
When the Hattori n had hired an assassin to take out his family with poisonous gas, Tang Yuyan had used her life to shield Xia Lei¡¯s wives and children. If she was willing to do that, what was there left that she wouldn¡¯t do for his sake?
Those words had moved his heart. He hesitated. ¡°Yuyan, am I even worthy of your sacrifices?¡±
¡°You¡¯re absolutely worth it. For you, I¡¯m more than willing to sacrifice anything.¡± Tang Yuyan was firm.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart was melting into a puddle at this point. He reached over and seized her wrist. ¡°Yuyan, my condition is the same as theirs. Your departure from the Tang n. But the departure we¡¯re talking about is not about forgetting all about your parents and brother. Our skin and body were bestowed upon us by our parents and your parents had gone through a lot to raise you well. The familial ties and a parent¡¯s kindness flowing through our blood can never and must not be severed. The departure we¡¯re referring to is for you to stray away from all economic or political ties the Tang family has. Those are the things we¡¯re asking you to stay away from.¡±
Tang Yuyan was stunned. All this while, she had thought Liang Siyao and the rest were asking her to leave her family name behind. She had faced the pressure with a brave face but she was fully aware that when she needed to see her family members physically to get the deed done. Xia Lei was right. Her parents had given her life and raised her. How was she going to sever the ties they shared over a man? It was such a relief and a surprise to hear the actual exnation from Xia Lei. This was much achievable for her. She could definitely get this done.
Tang Yuyan abruptly threw herself against him. Then, she wrapped her arms around his waist tight, letting her soft cheste in contact with his hard chest.
Xia Lei froze and went frantic. ¡°What the hell are you doing? There are people staring at us.¡±
¡°So what?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart was brimming with so much sweetness that she felt like she was about to explode. Even her words felt like it was coated thickly with vani and butter. ¡°They can stare all they want. I¡¯m not afraid.¡±
Xia Lei sheepishly said, ¡°They all know that I have four wives and four children. You...¡±
Tang Yuyan pushed her face into the crook of his neck and murmured gently, ¡°Then I¡¯ll be the fifth. My children will also be your sixth child.¡±
¡°Huh? Sixth?¡±
¡°I wish to give you two children. One son and one daughter. You better have me pregnant with both in one go.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°When are you going to marry me?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s stare felt like it could melt even the toughest heart.
Xia Lei took in a deep breath. ¡°Yuyan, if...¡±
¡°If what?¡±
¡°If I¡¯m only left with one more year to live, would you still be keen to marry me?¡± Xia Lei popped the question.
¡°What the fuck are you bullshitting about?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart began to thunder loudly.
¡°I¡¯m serious. If I¡¯m only left with one more year to live, would you still be keen on marrying me?¡± Xia Lei repeated.
¡°Forget about one year. Even if you¡¯re left with one more day to live, I¡¯ll still marry you in a heartbeat!¡± Tang Yuyan let go of her umbre and sp both palms around his cheek. ¡°Tell me, what happened?¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly at her. ¡°Nothing much you can help with, honestly.¡±
¡°Is that why you moved your family here?¡± It didn¡¯t take long for Tang Yuyan to piece information together. She was an extremely intelligent officer after all.
Xia Lei said nothing but confirmed it with his silence. What use was there to tell Tang Yuyan? None. With Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one as his nemeses, even the country couldn¡¯t save him.
¡°I never knew what I really wanted in the past. All the things I fought for and pursued were all for the sake of my family until you came into my life. Now all I want is you. I can¡¯t live without you. Without you by my side, I question the meaning of my existence. All I can only think of is you every waking moment and even in my dreams. I love you and I wish to be your woman, even if just for a day. I mean my words. So no matter what difficulties you¡¯re faced with, I will not be afraid. Anything you need help with, I¡¯ll dly do for you. If I can¡¯t help you, I¡¯ll be like Siyao, Ah Bing and the others. I¡¯ll wait for you toe home in supportive silence. Do you understand my feelings now?¡±
Xia Lei nodded.
Tang Yuyan whined a little and seized his lips.
Everyone around them froze in surprise. A man with four wives and four children was out here in broad daylight kissing some other woman right outside his door! This waspletely unheard of!
Even if other men dared to pull that, chances are it wouldn¡¯t be with such a beauty. The women that flocked to Xia Lei¡¯s side were all considered to be top ss women. For a regr man to even marry one was already great luck, let alone marrying five of them.
To kiss Tang Yuyan in public was a first for Xia Lei too. The man was initially nervous but quickly calmed downter to return the favour with greater ferocity. The feelings he harboured for Tang Yuyan wasplex and difficult to dissect. Once upon a time, he had liked her and then he had despised her. Yet, he was melted into a puddle of sappy love in the very end. Frankly, his heart had already epted her fully since the time she had almost died from rescuing Long Bing, Liang Siyao, Jiang Ruyi and Fan Fan from danger.
They kissed till their tongues went numb. It was only then when the difort seeped in that Tang Yuyan was willing to let go of Xia Lei. Tears of happiness escaped through the corner of her eye. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for this kiss for a very long time.¡±
Xia Lei smiled at her tenderly and pulled on her arm to continue their trek. The curious gazes were too much to bear.
Exiting the gates, Xia Lei walked her to her car. Unable to suppress the heat of love growing inside of her, Tang Yuyan once again enveloped him with her arms and delivered another wonderful kiss by the street. Love was just that powerful.
Her passion too had ignited the fire within Xia Lei¡¯s soul. The tingling warmth of her kiss and her lust-filled body allowed him to forget his troubles. At that moment, he had forgotten all about the stresses Zhu Xuanyue, the prehistoric chosen one and Lockheed Martin¡¯s Dragon yer Project had inflicted on him. All his brain could focus on was Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips and her warm, plush body. He really needed a distraction like this, even for a short while.
¡°Uh... What is this?¡± Tang Yuyan released Xia Lei abruptly and hovered a finger over the top of Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. It was a pocket that was near Xia Lei¡¯s groin. Perhaps she was reaching for something subconsciously in the heat of the moment but had touched something else.
Xia Lei reached into his pocket and produced an alloy ne with a dangling pendant.
¡°You¡¯ve been carrying this around since I first met you. Why did you take it off?¡± She asked.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°There is a capsule inside this pendant.¡±
Tang Yuyan was surprised. ¡°What capsule?¡±
Xia Lei paused for a moment and then whispered into her ear. ¡°The AE capsule.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips were agape with shock.
Xia Lei only offered a silent stare. This final AE capsule had always been a secret of his. Since Tang Yuyan was willing to sacrifice herself to save his family, the least he could do was to offer her some honesty. Plus, he was already prepared to take thest AE capsule. This was just to make appropriate arrangements for after he was ¡®gone¡¯.
Tang Yuyan broke into a light giggle. Xia Lei had chosen to tell her a very important secret. This made her happier than the feverish kiss they shared earlier. This was a clear indication that he had now seen her as one of his women.
They locked gazes, a new kiss seemingly brewing in the background.
But right at that moment, a military off-road vehicle screeched to a halt beside the couple.
Tang Bochuan popped his head out of the window with a grin. ¡°Oi! Sister, are you not afraid that his four female tigers wille after you with ws?¡±
Chapter 1153 - Not Long Enough
Chapter 1153 - Not Long Enough
Themon street beyond the gates of the properties along the little residential area was under the strict protection of China¡¯s top bodyguards. Any suspicious figures would be blocked and not granted entrance into the area. If they were deemed as a threat, they would be subdued on the spot. Hence, Xia Lei found no one to pay extra attention to his surroundings. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve noticed Tang Bochuan¡¯s presence long before the man had gotten into their vicinity.
Tang Bochuan¡¯s unannounced arrival was surprising to Xia Lei and humiliating for Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei discreetly deposited the alloy pendant into his pockets and offered the man a smile. ¡°Bochuan, are you here to pick Yuyan up?¡±
Tang Bochuan replied with a grin. ¡°Yeah. She¡¯s my boss now. Oh right, both of you were...?¡±
Xia Lei merely shrugged his shoulders and said nothing else. His matter with Tang Yuyan had nothing to do with the Tang family. Thus, he felt like he did not owe them an exnation.
Tang Yuyan finally recovered from her shock. ¡°Brother, what¡¯s the matter? Couldn¡¯t you have called?¡±
Tang Bochuan replied, ¡°We just received news from the immigration department. A few dangerous figures had just entered our borders one hour ago.¡±
¡°Dangerous figures? From where?¡±
Tang Bochuan scoffed lightly, ¡°Where else? They came from America, of course.¡±
Xia Lei furrowed his brows slightly, suddenly thinking about Kestin and Lockheed Martin¡¯s Dragon yer Project.
Tang Yuyan answered, ¡°Alright, got it. You head back first, I¡¯ll follow soon.¡±
Tang Bochuan continued, ¡°By the way, grandpa is in Jingdu now. He¡¯d like for you toe home for dinner.¡± Before Tang Yuyan could say another word, the man averted his gaze onto Xia Lei. He invited, ¡°Xia Lei, would you like to join us?¡±
¡°Me?¡± Xia Lei quickly shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll pass, I still have matters to take care of.¡±
A hint of displeasure shed through Tang Bochuan¡¯s expression, but it disappeared in a sh. The smile on his face had never once faltered. ¡°Oh, Xia Lei. You¡¯re already kissing my sister on the streets. You¡¯ve robbed my grandpa of his precious granddaughter. The least you can do is to pay the old man a visit.¡±
Now that he was once again romantically involved with Tang Yuyan, Xia Lei should pay them an obligatory visit. However, as soon as he recalled what Tang Yunhai, Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei had done in the past, the mental difort came rolling back in waves. Xia Lei did not wish to see them ever again. He looked at Tang Yuyan this time. He would go if Tnag Yuyan said so.
Tang Yuyan was conflicted. The woman was in a dilemma.
¡°Yuyan, you should say something,¡± urged Tang Bochuan.
She gnawed her lower lip and abruptly scooted closer to Xia Lei¡¯s body. Ignoring her brother¡¯s existence, she pecked his cheek and murmured into his ear. ¡°I know you don¡¯t wish to go but... I¡¯d like you toe with me. When I have to face my grandpa and parents, I... With you by my side, I¡¯ll feel braver.¡±
Xia Lei could understand her current feelings. She was raised in such an environment that Tang Yunhai, Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei had solidified their identities as undefiable figures in her life. The Tang n¡¯s prominent and historical status too was another load to her burden. Not only did she need great determination and courage to fight against these but she would also require his help.
He¡¯d dly do anything as long as she asked.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯lle with you.¡±
Tang Yuyan was moved, the surge of emotions prompting her tond another peck onto his cheek. ¡°Thank you.¡±
Xia Lei murmured back. ¡°We¡¯re a family now, there¡¯s no need to be so courteous.¡±
Those words were like molten sugar. Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart felt like it had melted away and poured into a pool of love. She did not bother to regard the passersby and even her brother. The only thing she had her eyes on now was Xia Lei. Hastily, she lunged forward and captured Xia Lei¡¯s lips in another searing kiss. With her response and current mood, the woman would¡¯ve bedded Xia Lei right away if she wasn¡¯t on the streets.
Tang Bochuan quickly averted his gaze away, not because the imagery of her sister kissing Xia Lei was too stimting for the soul. Instead, their ¡®newly-established¡¯ rtionship did not quite sit well for Tang Bochuan¡¯sfort.
For one, the Tang family was a huge family with hundreds of years of history. If Xia Lei was about to marry Tang Yuyan like other men without the existence of Liang Siyao, Long Bing, Fan Fan and Jiang Ruyi, he and his family would be beyond pleased. However, Xia Lei was a man with four wives and four children. The fact that he could be disgustingly intimate with his sister in the middle of the road in broad fucking daylight felt like a punch to the Tang family¡¯s dignity. How could Tang Bochuan possibly feel ease about that? If Tang Yuyan had her arms coiled around some other man, Tang Bochuan would¡¯ve had the guts to rush forward and beat the shit out of him.
They remained entangled for a full two minutes before Tang Yuyan was finally willing to release Xia Lei. Her dainty features were dusted with a faintyer of pink and her eyes were so soft that it could melt the toughest of men.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You should go back to work. I¡¯ll go prepare myself and then call youter.¡±
She nodded. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll visit again tomorrow to help babysit the kids.¡±
Xia Lei offered her onest gentle smile.
Following that, Tang Yuyan climbed into her car and drove away slowly. At least half of her attention was given to the rear mirror. As the car pulled away more distance from Xia Lei, the growing emptiness in her heart grew stronger.
A woman in a new rtionship was like a milk taffy in the mouth. Clingy.
Tang Bochuan, on the other hand, did not drive away immediately. He got out of the car and came to Xia Lei. Nonchntly, he asked, ¡°So what are you nning to do?¡±
Though Xia Lei was fully aware of what he meant, he replied, ¡°What do you mean?¡±
Tang Bochuan furrowed his brows, visibly frustrated at his mannerism. ¡°We¡¯re all men. There¡¯s no need to pretend.¡±
¡°Bochuan, I really don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± said Xia Lei.
The other man shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Since you want me to be frank, I¡¯ll be frank. You¡¯re lucky your name¡¯s Xia Lei. I¡¯m talking about your rtionship with my sister. If I had not happened toe across you two, you certainly would¡¯ve continued to keep it under wraps. You¡¯ve progressed to this point and as a man, how are you nning to offer her sce?¡±
Xia Lei was silent for a beat. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going over to your house for dinner tonight. We¡¯ll talk more about itter.¡±
¡°Very well, I¡¯m just asking. I¡¯ll be looking forward to your presence tonight.¡± Tang Bochuan¡¯s eyes fell onto Xia Lei¡¯s pocket. With a smile, he asked, ¡°When I came, I noticed that you were holding a ne. Was that for my sister?¡±
Xia Lei was caught aback. ¡°No. It¡¯s mine. The sp had broken off so I had to take it off.¡±
¡°Oh, I see. Guess I¡¯ll see youter. Bye.¡± Tang Bochuan turned around and returned to his vehicle. Soon, the man drove away.
Xia Lei brought the ne out and palmed it tightly, seemingly upied with thoughts.
Returning to the residential area, many had emerged out of their houses to greet Xia Lei with a friendly smile. Their admiration for him was unmistakable. While his private affairs were admittedly chaotic and questionable, his contributions towards the nation were worthy of every Chinese¡¯s respect.
Xia Lei returned their kindness as all good neighbours would do. While many had known his name, he had no idea what theirs were.
Along the way home, Xia Lei was greeted like a returning hero. But as soon as he was home, his entrance was weed with a sharp twist to his ear, courtesy of Liang Siyao.
¡°I saw you kissing Tang Yuyan on the streets through the front yard. Make your choice. The washing board or the keyboard?¡± Liang Siyao was livid.
Fan Fan, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi, however, wereughing at his predicament. Tang Yuyan¡¯s recent behaviour and self-sacrificing maid-like tendencies did not go unnoticed. Her changes and her tant attempts to appease them was well noted too. Most importantly, they could not ignore her sacrifices that made it possible for their children to be birthed every time they looked at the babies¡¯ faces. There were so many reasons from the past and the present thrown into a melting pot that allowed the mental obstacle guing them to be slowly removed by Tang Yuyan. They were all now epting of her.
There was another factor behind their eptance too. If one was added to create two, it would certainly be more difficult. But if it was one more added to a mix of four women, then it was not all that difficult. Four women were already sharing the same husband. What would a fifth do? After all, no matter how hard they fought, they would all still share the same husband. A bed that could fit five could certainly fit a sixth person.
Despite that, a cheating man should still be punished.
¡°Come on!¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s other palm pped Xia Lei¡¯s ass hard. ¡°The washing board or the keyboard?¡±
Liang Jiayu too mbered over on the ground and fisted Liang Siyao¡¯s stocking with his chubby hands. He opened and closed his palm over it as he gurgled, ¡°Baba... Baba...¡±
Xia Lei quickly seized the opportunity. ¡°Look. Even my son is here to help me. Are you not going to spare his father?¡±
As soon as Liang Siyao loosened her grip on Xia Lei, Liang Jiayu too let go of her stockings. The little fe was full with smiles, obviously pleased with the oue. Liang Siyao red at her son. ¡°Jiayu! If you continued to spoil your father like this, you¡¯ll have more mothers in no time!¡±
Seemingly aware of what that entitled, Liang Jiayu iled his arms and hit Xia Lei¡¯s calf.
Xia Lei chuckled at the disy. The man bent over and gathered his son in his arms. ¡°Jiayu, don¡¯t worry. Papa won¡¯t be bringing a sixth mother home. I promise.¡±
While it seemed to be directed to the baby, it was actually a deration to all the women of his household.
¡°You better remember this. Make this thest one, okay?¡± It was only then that a smile reappeared on Liang Siyao¡¯s lips.
To that, Xia Lei nodded. ¡°There won¡¯t be next time. I swear this will be thest.¡± Then he offered them a wry smile. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for her, all of us would be separated by death. This is what our family owes her and I¡¯ll be the payment.¡±
¡°Lucky you. Any man would be pleased to pay a debt like this.¡± Fan Fan rolled her eyes at Xia Lei.
The man lightly smacked the back of her hand, the crisp sound immediately earning a new eye-roll from Fan Fan.
Xia Fan clumsily mbered over to her father and tapped her Barbie doll against his leg. It felt almost as if she wasn¡¯t pleased with her father¡¯s ¡®act of violence¡¯.
Fan Fan cooed and picked Xia Fan up. ¡°Aiyo, mama¡¯s little princess. You¡¯re the only one who loves me the most. If your father bullies me again, will youe to my aid?¡±
Xia Fan giggled happily, herughter as light as silver bells.
Liang Siyao wrapped her arms around Xia Lei¡¯s elbow. ¡°But I¡¯m worried about one particr person.¡±
Fan Fan, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi¡¯s eyes were once again stered on Xia Lei. The uniform tensed expression gave Xia Lei a good idea of what their topic of discussion was when he was walking Tang Yuyan out. Perhaps, they had even achieved a mutual decision too.
¡°Who?¡± Xia Lei attempted to probe.
¡°Shentu Tianyin.¡± Liang Siyao went on, ¡°There¡¯s no ce for her in this home. You¡¯ve made your promise and I urge you to stick to it.¡±
Xia Lei smiled reassuringly. ¡°That won¡¯t happen, I can promise you that.¡±
He and Shentu Tianyin were over. She might live on in his memories but she would not be by his side.
A smile finally blossomed across Liang Siyao¡¯s face. She quickly lunged forward and pecked his lips. ¡°You¡¯re such a good boy. Here¡¯s a reward.¡±
Fan Fan, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi came over and offered the same prize.
Xia Lei extended his arms in an attempt to hug all four of his wives. Sadly, his arms just weren¡¯t long enough.
¡°Sigh. After a while, you won¡¯t be able to hug us all,¡± whined Jiang Ruyi out of the blue.
Without warning, Xia Fan smacked her palms against her father¡¯s eyes as soon as she noticed his palm had ovepped her mother¡¯s palm.
Chapter 1154 - Visiting the Tang Family
Chapter 1154 - Visiting the Tang Family
Jingdu¡¯s unrest was prominent under the night veil. Lusts of all sorts had broken through their confines in the dark and had flooded to every corner of the city.
Zhang Yumei had been busy since morning. When evening arrived, she had already cooked up a full feast spread for dinner. Now, all that was left was to wait for their guests to arrive.
Tang Tianlong could barely smile, despite the sight of many mouth-watering dishes and quality booze. He had heard from Tang Bochuan about Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei making out in the streets earlier that day. It was knowledge fueled with shame.
Zhang Yumei too could not muster a single smile. This dinner was made not with love but with great reluctance.
Judging this from the Tangs¡¯ perspective, this wasn¡¯t a joyous asion worth celebrating. The Tang family¡¯s women were all decent women and their family was one of thergest families in the country¡¯s history. The fact that Tang Yuyan was about to be Xia Lei¡¯s fifth wife was incredibly indecent and inappropriate.
In the eyes of the public, Xia Lei¡¯s heaps of women was a great feat. But to the Tang family, such messy private affairs were absolutely uneptable.
¡°Is the kid here yet?¡± asked Zhang Yumei.
Tang Tianlong answered, ¡°No, not yet. Honestly, I would rather him note.¡±
Zhang Yumei replied, ¡°I had always wanted the kid to be with our Yuyan in the past. But I certainly wasn¡¯t expecting him to cohabitate with four women. I feel very iffy about it. I have no idea how these women are able to stand the thought of sharing the same husband. It¡¯s just utterly disgusting.¡±
¡°Disgusting? I too think it¡¯s super distasteful but for the sake of our n, we must endure this no matter how ufortable it gets.¡± Tang Yunhai¡¯s voice came from the door. The old man was dressed in a traditional Tangzhuang. He looked extremely energized tonight. He held a crutch in one hand but if someone thought it was a walking tool, they were gravely mistaken. That was actually his weapon.
Tang Bochuan too emerged from the door, his expressions ratherx inparison to the others. He cast a smile at everyone. ¡°Father, mother, it¡¯s the twenty-first century now. Things are different. That sort of thing is no big deal in modern society. Xia Lei and his women all live in that area in absolute peace. It really is no big deal.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the nation¡¯s extended kindness. The country is too lenient to him.¡± Tang Tianlong furrowed his brows.
Tang Yunhai mmed his crutch onto the ground. ¡°Tianlong, I may be older than you but my mindset is not. Are you aware of who Fan Fan is? She¡¯s the head of Station ZN and her official rank is higher than yours. Even she is willing to be one of Xia Lei¡¯s many women. Are you saying that woman is nothing like your daughter?¡±
Tang Tianlong dared not talk back.
Tang Yunhai continued, ¡°It took Yuyan so many twists and turns to finally be with the kid. This should be something great for our family. I heard from old friends residing in the same area that all of Xia Lei¡¯s children are freakishly smart. The babies are all able to speak at only one-month-old. If our Yuyan decides to stick with him, she¡¯ll be pregnant with his children too. A child who has inherited the world¡¯s best gics will definitely serve as an asset to the Tang family and bring us to greater heights. Isn¡¯t that something good?¡±
Zhang Yumei attempted to defend her husband. ¡°Father, it¡¯s not that we don¡¯t understand what you mean but this whole thing is just unbearablyfortable to sit through. But don¡¯t you worry, when the kid is here, I won¡¯t utter anything else.¡± She nudged Tang Tianlong with her elbow.
Tang Tianlong followed, ¡°Yeah. Father, rest assured that I¡¯m a person who can read the air and take care of the overall situation. I won¡¯t do anything to the kid.¡±
¡°Very well. We need to see this in the long term.¡± Tang Yunhai continued, ¡°Yuyan will enter Xia Lei¡¯s family and be his wife. Then, she¡¯ll get ahold of a part of Thunder Horse¡¯s shares. Thunder Horse¡¯s original shares are very important to us that it concerns our vitality for the next century and, god forbid, two more centuries. We cannot afford to mess this up.¡±
¡°Understood, father.¡± The difort in Tang Tianlong¡¯s heart had long dissipated.
Zhang Yumei smiled. ¡°If you say so, tonight is certainly a joyous asion for us. We should celebrate with good booze and have Xia Lei stay the night here.¡±
Tang Yunhai nodded slightly and gave his permission.
Abruptly, Tang Bochuan interjected, ¡°Grandpa, father, mother, I... I noticed something today.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Tang Yunhai¡¯s attention fell onto his grandson.
There was a bit of reluctant silence before Tang Bochuan went on, ¡°When I went to look for Tang Yuyan and found them kissing, I noticed that Xia Lei had a ne in his grip. I¡¯ve seen him with it ever since our first encounter. That is nothing but a normal ne. But are you aware of this? That the Sacred Heart he gifted Shentu Tianyin is at least worth one hundred and ten million and the gem ne he gave Yuyan is now estimated to be at least fifty million. He¡¯s a man who can afford to give precious nes to women but he only wears a worthless alloy ne that is only worth a few dozen dors. When I noticed the ne in his grip, I couldn¡¯t help but be confused. Didn¡¯t he give my sister a fifty million dor gemstone ne? Why is wearing a cheap ne? This felt too unreasonable so I deliberately slowed down to read their conversation. Guess what did I read from their lips?¡±
Zhang Yumei chided, ¡°Bochuan, since when have you started adopting suspense?! Come on, spit it out!¡±
Tang Bochuan chuckled lightly. ¡°Turns out the pendant of the alloy ne holds the AE capsule.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Yunhai couldn¡¯t help but gasp.
Tang Tianlong was at the edge of his seat. ¡°Bochuan, isn¡¯t that the pill thete Madam Folsom from Lockheed Martin had spoken of during the Boao Forum? The one that enabled Xia Lei¡¯s supposed evolution?¡±
The man nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m guessing that the AE capsule in the pendant is thest and only of its kind left on this world. Now to think of it, the CIA had been on several operations in our country a few years back. Their target must¡¯ve been the AE capsule in Xia Lei¡¯s possession.¡±
Tang Yunhai suddenly thought of something. He gushed, ¡°I remember now. Xia Lei always had this alloy ne around his neck every time we met. If it wasn¡¯t holding something as important as the AE capsule, he wouldn¡¯t even think of bringing that around.¡±
Zhang Yumei supplied, ¡°It¡¯ll be great if we can get the AE capsule. Our family has arge pharmaceutical factory in Shudi and a highly-advanced biotechb. If we can get a hold of the AE capsule, we can even mass-produce it. When that timees, we¡¯ll have no more use for Xia Lei.¡±
¡°If we can get that done...¡± Tang Bochuan stared at the night sky beyond the door frame hotly. ¡°We might even be able to be the strongest family in the whole wide world. Our influence will not be limited to only China! We¡¯ll trample even the ancient families of Europe!¡±
The four in the dining hall could no longer calm down. Xia Lei had been able to attain his current sess all thanks to the AE capsules. If the Tang family could get a hold of it, they would certainly get more use out of it than Xia Lei did. For one, the Tang family had a solid foundation built over centuries of effort while Xia Lei was nothing but a poor construction worker starting out. If a penniless kid could one day grow to be the national hero of China and garner assets worth more than billions, Tang family could certainly be more.
Right at that moment, Tang Yunhai¡¯s earlobe twitched. He quickly said, ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this anymore. Yumei, bring the box in my study over.¡±
¡°Father, you¡¯re...¡± Zhang Yumei was beginning to feel nervous.
Tang Yunhai narrowed his eyes.¡± Do as I say. Do not ask why.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go get it for you.¡± Zhang Yumei turned around and left the dining hall.
Following that, Tang Yunhai stood. ¡°Let¡¯s go meet the kid in the living room.¡±
In the living room, Xia Lei ced a huge gift on the coffee table beside the couch. While he looked calm, Tang Yuyan was a nervous wreck on the other hand. After all, the one who needed to bid the Tang family¡¯s ties farewell was her, not him. As soon as she thought of their faces, her palpitation couldn¡¯t help but pick up its rate.
Xia Lei seemed to have picked up on her anxiety. He grabbed her fingers andforted her gently, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here.¡±
¡°Yeah.¡± Tang Yuyan lightly responded.
Xia Lei came closer to her ear and whispered, ¡°Have you forgotten about the things I said to you earlier? I¡¯m not asking you to cut off contact and forget about your parents. You just need to stop getting involved with them economically and politically. Do you get what I¡¯m saying?¡±
Tang Yuyan nodded. A sudden flurry of emotions prompted her to ce her weight on Xia Lei and bury her face into his neck. She inhaled his scent. The reality of having him in her proximity brings her some sense of security. It was stimting. Being in his arms felt so good.
¡°Ehem.¡± An old man cleared his throat.
Tang Yuyan quickly let Xia Lei go and snapped her head to the door, immediately noting Tang Yunhai, Tang Tianlong and Tang Bochuan¡¯s presence.
All three generations of the Tang men had entered the space.
¡°Hehe, Xia Lei... Xia Lei... After what happenedst time, you had never visited our residence ever again. What wind has blown you here this time?¡± Tang Yunhai prompted a topic.
Xia Lei smiled at him. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you, Old Man Tang, Uncle Tang and Bochuan.¡± Finishing his greeting, he continued Tang Yunhai¡¯s conversation without breaking a sweat. ¡°Old Man Tang, I have been too busy to visit. After we partedst time, I¡¯ve been holed up in the Thunder Horse Organization busy researching drones. I¡¯ve only managed to enjoy some free time now. As soon as I began my break, I¡¯m already here to visit.¡±
¡°Hahaha...¡± Tang Yunhai guffawed. ¡°You¡¯re such a smooth-talker, kid.¡±
¡°Not at all. Not at all.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°Right, I brought everyone some gifts. I hope you¡¯ll enjoy it.¡±
Tang Yuyan peeled open the huge pile of gifts and produced a bag of tea leaves for Tang Yunhai. ¡°Grandpa, these are some tea leaves from Xia Lei. These were hand-picked from a thousand-year-old tea tree in Tongmu Vige, Wuyi Mountain. It¡¯s very precious. Xia Lei had to ask his friend to buy it from a local. It¡¯s hard to get a hold of.¡±
Tang Yunhai merely scanned the packaging and ced the tea leaves that were worth more than gold onto the coffee table. Nonchntly, he muttered, ¡°Ah, lovely.¡±
¡°Father, Xia Lei brought you a bottle of booze. It¡¯s the Laojiao loose wine bought from Maotai Town, I heard it tastes better than the bottled ones. I really hope you¡¯ll like it.¡± Tang Yuyan handed the earthen jar of booze carefully to Tang Tianlong.
Tang Tianlong bore no expression as he stared at Tang Yuyan. It was only until Tang Yunhai had tossed him a look that the man was willing to ept it. All that escaped his lips was a light ¡°Mm, good.¡±
Lastly, Xia Lei¡¯s gift to Tang Bochuan was a Rolex wristwatch, which so happened to be the most expensive gift out of the bunch. When Tang Yuyan passed the watch to Tang Bochuan, the man regarded with a smile, ¡°Oh dear, Xia Lei. I can¡¯t ept such an expensive gift for no reason. But if you¡¯re intending these gifts to be dowry, I have to say, it isn¡¯t enough.¡±
To that Xia Lei shed him a smile that didn¡¯t quite reach his eyes.
Xia Lei was no longer the same man he was back then. He could easily tell apart fake smiles and fake attitudes.
Chapter 1155 - Selling Their Daughter
Chapter 1155 - Selling Their Daughter
Zhang Yumei joined them in the living room.
Tang Yuyan presented a box of cosmetics to her. ¡°Mother, Xia Lei has brought you some imported cosmetics. They¡¯re all really good products. I hope you¡¯ll like them.¡±
¡°Oh my, Xia Lei. There¡¯s no need to be so courteous.¡± Zhang Yumei, contrastingly, had responded to his goodwill warmly. The smile across her face made her look like a flower.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Auntie, it¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just a small gift.¡±
¡°You¡¯re so likeable.¡± Zhang Yumei smiled. ¡°No wonder you¡¯re able to marry four wives with special permission. Since the establishment of our country, you¡¯re the first to be granted such a permit.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled sheepishly.
¡°Let¡¯s have dinner. If we don¡¯t dig in soon, the dishes are going to go cold. I¡¯ve been cooking all day in anticipation of your arrival,¡± said Zhang Yumei.
The lot of them moved to the dining hall. Tang Yunhai retrieved a blue-white porcin jar and opened a mud seal. Suddenly, the whole dining hall was wafting with the thick fragrant scent of wine.
Tang Yunhai smiled. ¡°Xia Lei, this is really good booze. My grandfather himself had brewed this in the Qing dynasty using the best millets and sorghum paired with our family¡¯s secret brewing technique. There are only two left in existence. One of them is saved for when Tang Bochuan gets married and the other...¡± He nced towards Tang Yuyan, who was seated beside Xia Lei tensely. He continued, ¡°And the other is left for when Tang Yuyan gets married. Xia Lei, may we drink this tonight?¡±
The older man had already torn the mud seal off. The fact that he was asking for Xia Lei¡¯s consent was a clear push for thetter to express his statement on the whole thing.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Of course. I¡¯d love to find out what such an expensive wine would taste like.¡±
Xia Lei had made his statement, but Zhang Yumei and Tang Tianlong both had their brows knitted. They were not pleased with it. After all, Tang Yuyan was their precious little daughter. The fact that she was about to be his fifth woman was ufortable for them.
¡°Alright then. Tonight, we shall celebrate with hearty shots. Yumei, what are you waiting for? Serve us the booze,¡± instructed Tang Yunhai.
Zhang Yumei responded lightly and began pouring the liquid into the wine bowls she set out. This was a unique asion for a martial arts bloodline, of course, a bowl was customary.
Xia Lei brought the bowl to his nose and took a whiff. He gave them a thumbs-up. ¡°This smells so good! Old Man Tang, what is its name?¡±
Tang Yunhai answered, ¡°There¡¯s no name for this. If you insist this to bear a name, then it would be appropriate to name it the Banquet Booze.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. Its name certainly wasn¡¯t the Banquet Booze. Tang Yunhai was actually using the alcohol to further initiate the nature of this meal.
Tang Yuyan had always been a sharp woman. How could she not have caught the underlying meaning to her grandfather¡¯s words? Tang Yunhai had hinted not once but twice, causing Tang Yuyan to be both a bundle of nerves but also squirming with excitement. This bit of time spent in her own home was overwhelming in all senses. She felt like she was feeling a hundred different emotions in one go.
¡°Xia Lei, do you fancy its name?¡± Tang Yunhai stared at Xia Lei straight.
The man chuckled. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s more than suitable.¡±
Tang Yunhai went on, ¡°Seeing that we¡¯re already on the topic, we might as well approach it straightforwardly.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Sure, I too wish to talk about it. I¡¯m open to any topic.¡±
Under the dining table, Tang Yuyan ced a sweaty palm on the top of Xia Lei¡¯s thigh. Her palms were trembling ever so slightly.
¡°You both were initially a match made in heaven. But halfway through, Fan Fan¡¯s emergence had ruined your union. It is such a pity that this has happened.¡± Tang Yunhai sighed heavily.
Xia Lei listened but said nothing.
The older man went on, ¡°But nothing can change the past. To be honest, I was extremely angry about it in the beginning. But I havee to terms with it. Didn¡¯t you marry another three more women after Fan Fan? What are their names?¡±
Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei glued their attention to Xia Lei¡¯s face. The older couple was expecting to see the shameless brat answer the question with awkwardness. Yet, all that was present on Xia Lei¡¯s face was a rxed smile. The man was unfazed.
¡°Yeah. One of them is Liang Siyao. She¡¯s the daughter of my master, Liang Zhengchun. Another is Long Bing, one of Yuyan¡¯s colleagues. The next one is Jiang Ruyi. She grew up with me and you can say that we¡¯re childhood friends. All four of them are getting along well. I¡¯m sure Yuyan will be weed warmly,¡± answered Xia Lei. The man no longer wished to y a game of relentless hints. He dove in headfirst.
¡°My, my! You¡¯re such a love god!¡± Zhang Yumei could no longer stay silent. Xia Lei¡¯s words had evidently triggered her.
Tang Tianlong too harrumphed lightly. While nothing offensive was uttered, it was sufficient to express his feelings. Tang Tianlong was not pleased!
Tang Yunhai sent them a look through the corner of his eye.
Tang Tianlong immediately lowered his head.
Zhang Yumei quickly corrected, ¡°Well, to judge this... uh... from a modern view is a little... But if we lived in ancient times, this is nothing. For a man like you, forget about having four, having seventeen or eighteen women is still considered eptable. The Tang family is a martial arts bloodline and we¡¯re not all that conservative. Since Yuyan has vehemently expressed her interests, we shall not stop her. But let me make this clear. She¡¯s my only daughter. Please be kind to her and do not abuse her. That¡¯s my only request. Can you promise me that?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Auntie, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll treat Yuyan well.¡±
Tang Yuyan followed, ¡°Yes, mother. Please rest assured. Back on Dawang snow mountain, Xia Lei had given me all his clothes to keep me warm despite the minus thirty-degree celsius harsh weather. He alone had faced off more than a hundred enemies. Without him, I would be long dead.¡±
Tang Tianlong shot her a re. ¡°Do you have no humility? Are you so desperate to be married away? Keep quiet!¡±
Tang Yuyan did not dare to meet her father¡¯s eyes. She quickly lowered her head. The tremors of the palm over Xia Lei¡¯s thigh grew intense.
Every detail did not escape Xia Lei¡¯s eyes. The man was now secretly grateful that he had made the choice to apany her. If he wasn¡¯t around and Tang Yuyan was made to face her family alone, she wouldn¡¯t have the guts to say anything!
The reason was simple. While Tang Yuyan had made her decision and had the courage required, there was a great difference between her performance with and without the presence of her family members. It was a natural instinct for prey to tremble before a strong predator.
Xia Lei ced a palm to grip Tang Yuyan¡¯s trembling palm. He coaxed a finger over her knuckles gently in a silent attempt to soothe her nerves.
Xia Lei¡¯s loving caress was evidently effective. She had quickly calmed down and was not as tense.
¡°Father, I know you¡¯re reluctant to part from her. But Xia Lei is the most excellent man in this whole wide world. Though he is surrounded by a crowd of women, Yuyan is willing to ept it wholeheartedly. You¡¯re not the one directly affected so why are you so stuck up for? You shouldn¡¯t keep frowning like that. This is a joyous asion worth celebrating.¡± Tang Bochuan finally spoke up.
Tang Tianlong only sighed. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just not very good with words. Please don¡¯t take it to heart, Xia Lei.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Uncle, it¡¯s alright. Now that I¡¯m together with Yuyan, we¡¯re family. You¡¯re an elder to me now, it¡¯s fine for you to scold me if I¡¯m out of line.¡±
¡°You¡¯re still calling him uncle?¡± Tang Yunhai remarked with nonchnce.
Xia Lei quickly corrected himself. ¡°Father, mother.¡±
That earned a wide smile from Zhang Yumei. ¡°You¡¯re such a nice boy.¡± Shemented despite the hint of displeasure told through her eyes.
Tang Tianlong responded to the calling but bore no emotion.
¡°Hahaha!¡± Tang Yunhai guffawed. ¡°Smooth correction, Xia Lei. But I believe you¡¯ve left one more person out.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Grandfather.¡±
¡°Hahaha!¡± Tang Yunhai¡¯sugh grew in volume. ¡°With centuries of history tied to our bloodline, to marry out a daughter in this manner is a first. But you¡¯re Xia Lei so we¡¯ll allow the exemption. If you were some other man, not only would I reject you t out, but I¡¯ll also break your legs in halves!¡±
It was then that Tang Yuyan finally allowed herself to rx. The situation she was most worried about had not urred. It almost felt like an illusion to her that her grandfather and parents had suddenly reached an understanding of the matter and waspletely epting of it.
Sadly, her ease was short lived.
Just as the tense atmosphere had dissolved into bliss, Tang Bochuan said, ¡°Xia Lei, the woman you¡¯re about to marry is a daughter to the Tang family. This is table talk. We¡¯d need more than this to make it work.¡±
Xia Lei regarded that with a light a smile. ¡°What will you need to make it work then?¡±
¡°My sister certainly would have some status, right?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll make a call to the chiefter and apply for another special permit. I¡¯m sure the man will approve it.¡±
¡°Perhaps you¡¯re the only one who dares to engage him so casually. In that case, I have no issue,¡± said Tang Bochuan.
Just as Tang Bochuan had gone silent, Zhang Yumei continued the topic. ¡°Xia Lei, after you marry Yuyan, I urge you to treat her equally.¡±
Xia Lei simply responded, ¡°Our family system has always been very democratic.¡±
The woman went on, ¡°I¡¯m not talking about that. What I¡¯m saying is that you¡¯ve given Fan Fan, Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi some portion of the original shares of the Thunder Horse Organization, no? Surely, you can¡¯t exclude Yuyan.¡±
Xia Lei fell silent. ¡°Mother, how did you learn of that?¡±
¡°Aiyoh.¡± Zhang Yumei smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve filed in a will and it was notarized by the notary office, no?¡±
A small smile reappeared on his lips. ¡°I see.¡±
¡°So will there be one for her too?¡± Zhang Yumei was impatient.
There was a beat of silence. ¡°Yes, of course. I¡¯ll file one will for Yuyan too.¡±
¡°Same content?¡±
¡°Same content,¡± confirmed Xia Lei. The draft for Tang Yuyan would bear protective uses to make sure that the Tang family would not be involved in the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s businesses. But there was no need to let the Tang family find out about that now.
¡°Hehe, then that eases my worries.¡± The smile on Zhang Yumei¡¯s lips grew wider. ¡°Then I urge you to file it in before marrying our Yuyan. I¡¯ll take your will as dowry. It only makes sense for our Yuyan to receive the same treatment. But please do not misunderstand us. The Tang family is not trying to take your advantage. We¡¯re merely asking for you to appreciate our Yuyan well and to treat her equally.¡±
To be frank, anger was already bubbling deep in Xia Lei¡¯s heart. They were not trying to marry their daughter off, they were literally selling her away! And at a hefty price too!
The three Tang family men stared at Xia Lei hungrily, gazes filled with anticipation and excitement. As soon as Xia Lei gives his nod and files in the will, it would be a piece of cake for the Tang family to be involved with Thunder Horse¡¯s affairs.
And it was at this moment that Tang Yuyan stood up in anger. ¡°I don¡¯t need a will!¡±
Chapter 1156 - Asserting Marriage
Chapter 1156 - Asserting Marriage
Initially, there was no reason for the three Tang men and Zhang Yumei to not be pleased over Xia Lei¡¯s agreement. They were about to get their hands on Thunder Horse¡¯s original shares. If things progressed well ording to their script, all of the Tang family¡¯s wildest dreams were about toe into fruition! But it was at this vital point that someone they were least expecting to stand in their way had spoken up. Tang Yuyan!
¡°I don¡¯t need a will!¡± Just as those words escaped her lips, Tang Yunhai instinctively gripped the wooden crutch resting against his leg harshly. If his hands were around Tang Yuyan¡¯s neck instead, it was almost certain that the woman would already be dead.
Zhang Yumei¡¯s smile had vanished as soon as her daughter had spoken up. The tight line of her lips that reced the warm reception was icy and devoid of temperature.
Tang Bochuan¡¯s eyes too immediately turned chilly in a beat. He was angry and caught aback. He wasn¡¯t expecting his own sister to be against it.
The atmosphere in the dining hall quickly shifted into something ugly.
Tang Tianlong mmed his fists on the dining table. He fumed, ¡°Yuyan! What the hell are you doing?! Are you drunk even if you have not drunk a drop of wine?!¡±
There was only the slightest flinch to Tang Yuyan¡¯s stance. The woman quickly calmed her nerves and met her father¡¯s eye. She raised her volume. ¡°I¡¯m not drunk. I¡¯m fully aware of what I¡¯m saying and I¡¯m clear about what I want. I want Xia Lei as a person. I don¡¯t want his money or a share in the Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
¡°You idiot!¡± Tang Tianlong could no longer control his wrath. He stood up. The dining table did not serve as a blockage for him to hurl a p towards Tang Yuyan, who was seated opposite him.
Tang Yuyan did not dodge it nor stop it. She mped her eyes shut and anticipated the searing pain. Before her father¡¯s p had even managed to establish contact, tears were already rolling on her face.
Just as his palm was about to graze her face, a hand caught Tang Tianlong¡¯s wrist. Tang Tianlong was only three centimetres shy of her cheek, but he could no longer move his hand.
Xia Lei had stopped his assault.
¡°Xia Lei, what are you doing?!¡± Tang Tianlong yelled, ¡°Let go!¡±
Xia Lei released his grip.
Following that, Tang Tianlong once again hurled the same arm and attempted to p Tang Yuyan¡¯s cheek again.
Xia Lei held his wrist once again.
¡°You...¡± Tang Tianlong could not believe this. He was blinded by his rage.
Tang Yunhai mmed his crutch onto the floor again like a grandfather clock. ¡°Xia Lei! This is the Tang family¡¯s residence! You shall not interfere with our familial affairs!¡±
Xia Lei regarded them coolly, ¡°I¡¯m fully aware of where I stand. But I will not allow you to hit my woman. No one in this world is allowed to hurt my woman.¡±
No one in this world is allowed to hurt my woman.
What an assertive statement!
Perhaps only Xia Lei was able to utter such a bewildering statement to the Tang family. If he was someone else, said person would¡¯ve been skinned alive!
Those simple words were enough to overwhelm Tang Yuyan¡¯s senses with affection. It felt as if it had tipped over a full pot of honey in her heart. The affection she felt was like nothing she had ever experienced. Xia Lei¡¯s deration was even sweeter than a hundred kisses and gentle caresses. Tang Yuyan¡¯s heart was positively humming with excitement and bliss.
¡°Discuss this like civilized adults, please.¡± Xia Lei released Tang Tianlong¡¯s wrist for the second time. ¡°One more time and I¡¯ll bring Yuyan elsewhere for dinner.¡±
Bring Yuyan elsewhere?
The underlying message was clear. While it was polite, Xia Lei¡¯s intentions were tant. If you dare raise an arm towards her again, I¡¯m bringing her away from the Tang residence and never to return!
Tang Tianlong¡¯s hovering arm trembled slightly, no longer having the drive to p Tang Yuyan¡¯s cheek. He huffed loudly and plopped down onto his seat.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Yuyan, sit down and talk. There¡¯s no need to stand. Come, sit.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Tang Yuyan obediently made a noise and sat.
¡°Hahaha...¡± Tang Bochuan smiled in an attempt to save the atmosphere. ¡°Father, your temper has never changed with age. Sister is no longer a child. You can¡¯t possibly educate her as you did in the past. Even if she rejects it, Xia Lei would still offer it to her. He can¡¯t possibly y favourites among his wives and treat our Yuyan unfairly, right?
¡°Yeah.¡± A hint of a smile crept up Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯m bound to give one to Yuyan. Why is there the need to dissect it so particrly?¡±
¡°It¡¯s all settled now, isn¡¯t it?¡± Zhang Yumei too heaved a sigh of relief. A smile finally returned to her face. ¡°Xia Lei, when are you going to marry our Yuyan?¡±
Xia Lei smiled handsomely. ¡°How about now?¡±
¡°Now?¡± Zhang Yumei¡¯s eyes widened with shock.
The three Tang men were equally surprised.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Didn¡¯t grandfather bring out the wine reserved for Yuyan¡¯s wedding? Mother, you too have prepared a feast for dinner. Why not now?¡±
The Tang family was silent. They had their own nning. While Tang Yuyan was bound to marry Xia Lei, it certainly wouldn¡¯t be today and not in such a simple setup.
Ignoring their odd looks, Xia Lei held up one of Tang Yuyan¡¯s palm. He looked at her straight in the eyes and popped the question with as much sincerity as he could muster. ¡°Yuyan, will you marry me?¡±
Tang Yuyan nodded heavily, tears of happiness began flooding out her eyes like a string of pearls. She loved him very much. While she had sustained a body full of scars throughout her battle for his love, looking back at those happy and painful times sure made her efforts felt like it was worth it.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Then today shall be our wedding day.¡±
She nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡±
¡°Ehem.¡± Tang Bochuan cleared his throat. ¡°Xia Lei, isn¡¯t this a little too hasty? Even if your love is mutual, Yuyan is a woman of the Tang family. How can she marry you over a hasty excuse for a ceremony?¡±
Zhang Yumei could no longer hold in her frustration. There was an edge to her words. ¡°I believe I¡¯ve already made myself clear just now. You need to give my daughter a will before marriage. Did you not hear me correctly?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°We¡¯re going to register our union before holding the banquet. Isn¡¯t that the same? Weddings can be done at any time we please. I can go retrieve our marriage registry before holding a ceremony cum banquetter. Yuyan, are you okay with that?¡±
¡°Yes,¡± answered Tang Yuyan. In her eyes, anything that Xia Lei said was correct. Plus, the current situation felt as if the Tang family members were all holding her at gunpoint. Tang Yuyan was literally forced to marry Xia Lei in a sense. How could she dare to bear any deviating opinion?
Xia Lei shed her a smile. ¡°Then I¡¯ll make a call now to ask.¡± True as told, he produced his phone and dialled for the chief.
Tang Yunhai stood up abruptly and mmed his crutch harder against the floor. ¡°Xia Lei! You¡¯re not here to ask for our approval but to wreak chaos, no?¡±
Xia Lei ignored his words, cing most of his attention on waiting for the call to get through.
Tang Yuyan quickly stood. ¡°Grandpa, that is not Xia Lei¡¯s intention.¡±
Tang Yunhai pointed at her. ¡°Shut up! Don¡¯t you ever call me grandpa again! I don¡¯t have a pathetic granddaughter like you!¡±
The woman felt like the world was spinning around her. Those words stabbed into her heart like a sharp dagger.
The call had gotten through right at that moment. Xia Lei turned on the loudspeaker.
¡°Chief, I¡¯m terribly sorry for disturbing you at such an hour.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t sweat it, it isn¡¯t toote at night.¡± The man¡¯s voice rang through the device. ¡°You¡¯re more than weed to phone me at any hour of the day. It¡¯s alright. Speak, how can I help you?¡±
¡°This time I brought you some intel.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Lockheed Martin hasunched a Dragon yer Project that involves building a new fighter jet for their country. If they get it done, our newly attained aerial advantage would be gone.¡±
¡°Huh? Is this real? Is the source of your intel reliable?¡±
¡°Yes. My wife, Tang Yuyan, is the one who brought me the intel.¡±
¡°What? Tang Yuyan is your wife too?¡±
¡°Yes. I¡¯d like to request for another special permit again.¡±
¡°Jeez... Okay, got it. You¡¯ve gotten the intel yourself and yet you¡¯re giving the credit to your woman for the sake of a special permit, no?¡±
¡°Haha. Nothing gets past you, sir.¡± Xia Lei chuckled over the phone.
¡°You¡¯re really pushing it, kid.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll present to you a strategic bomber ne within the year. With that, the B2 bomber won¡¯t be able to have their way,¡± offered Xia Lei in exchange.
¡°I¡¯ll have someone deliver it to you now,¡± said the man.
¡°Thank you so much, chief.¡±
¡°Hehehe, you cheeky boy. Congrattions on your marriage once again. Go make more babies, yeah? Your children... The more the better.¡± Suddenly, there was a sharp tonal shift. ¡°Is Tang Yuyan beside you?¡±
¡°Yes, chief. Do you wish to speak to her?¡±
¡°Pass the phone to her. I wish to speak to her.¡±
Xia Lei brought the phone to Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips. Tang Yuyan instinctively saluted. ¡°Greetings, sir.¡±
¡°No need to be so formal.¡± The man began, ¡°Yuyan, I have a task for you.¡±
¡°Yes, sir?¡±
¡°Go make a few more babies.¡±
The woman was speechless.
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Rest assured, Chief. I willplete that mission in due time.¡±
¡°Hahaha. Well then, I¡¯ll look forward to your bomber ne.¡± The man hung up.
Tang Yuyan was flustered by the notion.
But there was no doubt she was happy. While the woman basked in unprecedented bliss, her grandfather, parents and brother wore dark expressions. They were not able to find a single ounce of joy in the whole matter. Xia Lei was obviously trying to force the marriage on them. With a special marriage permit from that person, who were they to say no? They had little initiative, to begin with. Now, they were forced to be passive. All the benefits Tang family had lusted after was at the mercy of Xia Lei¡¯s jurisdiction. If he didn¡¯t wish to give them any, they could do nothing to him!
There was an invisible barrier across the dining table. One side was seething with rage and frustration while the other side was beaming with happiness.
Xia Lei blissfully ignored the Tang¡¯s feelings. He grabbed Tang Yuyan¡¯s palm and said, ¡°The chief might¡¯ve already signed the permit now. Though we have yet to obtain our marriage certificate, we¡¯re already husband and wife.¡±
¡°Hubby...¡± Tang Yuyan murmured under her breath, cheeks pink with shyness and joy. If they weren¡¯t her in the eyes of her family members, she probably would¡¯ve pounced on him and submitted her everything to him.
¡°Hahaha!¡± Tang Yunhai chortled, hisughter bouncing off the walls in echoes. ¡°Xia Lei, oh, Xia Lei...You¡¯re incredibly smart. Though you¡¯ve gone on a rampage in my home, I¡¯ll consider your misdemeanour a good one. Very well. Since things have already progressed to this stage, there¡¯s nothing else we can say about this. What else can I do besides giving you my blessings?¡±
¡°Thank you, Grandfather,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan murmured lightly. ¡°Thank you, Grandpa.¡±
Hatred shed through Tang Yunhai¡¯s eyes but he maintained his generous smile. He requested, ¡°Xia Lei, Yuyan is a part of our family. I think it¡¯s time for you to dedicate a bowl of alcohol to her parents and her sibling.¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Xia Lei held up the wine bowl. ¡°Father, Mother, Brother and Grandfather. This is for you.¡±
Tang Tianlong, Zhang Yumei and Tang Bochuan gave no response.
Tang Yunhai smiled at him. ¡°After this sip, we will be family.¡±
Xia Lei lifted his chin and gobbled down the Banquet Booze.
Tang Yuyan extended an arm over to wipe his lips. She cooed softly, ¡°There¡¯s no need to wolf it down. Take it slow. If you can¡¯t finish it, there¡¯s no need to force yourself.¡±
Just as her words died on her tongue, Xia Lei¡¯s knees gave out and he toppled over to the ground.
Chapter 1157 - An Assertive Declaration of Marriage
Chapter 1157 - An Assertive Deration of Marriage
Without any warning, Xia Lei toppled over to the ground with a silent thud.
¡°Xia Lei!¡± Tang Yuyan threw herself over him, gathering him in her arms as she began to call his name desperately.
No response was elicited.
¡°What did you do to him?!¡± Tang Yuyan was seething with raw fury. She roared at her own grandfather.
¡°I had enough of you!¡± Tang Yunhai mmed his fist onto the dining table, causing the cutleries on it to rattle, then crash to the ground unceremoniously.
Tang Yuyan shivered at her grandfather¡¯s violent outburst. But only for a moment. What followed next was her maniacal howl. ¡°He¡¯s my husband! He¡¯s my husband! What the hell are you all trying to do?! What do you want from us?!¡±
¡°Shameless little brat!¡± Tang Tianlong too mmed the table, face contorted with absolute anger. ¡°In the entirety of our history, no woman has ever acted as shameless as you have! Step aside!¡±
¡°No!¡± Tang Yuyan wed onto him tighter. Her hovering form was like a protective female tiger. She looked ready to pounce on anyone who wished to do harm to Xia Lei.
Zhang Yumei reprimanded, ¡°Yuyan, you need to remember this. The Tang blood flows within you. You need to consider things in ordance with our family¡¯s interests.¡±
Tang Yuyan interjected her. ¡°Mother, if something ever happens to him, I don¡¯t wanna live anymore!¡±
¡°You...¡± Zhang Yumei was pissed beyond words.
Tang Bochuan left his seat. The man rounded the dining table and went towards Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan.
¡°Go away! Don¡¯te near him!¡± Tang Yuyan screamed at her brother.
Tang Bochuan was momentarily surprised but continued his trek over anyway.
Tang Yuyan reached her hand back and pulled out her gun. She aimed its muzzle at Tang Bochuan.
Tang Bochuan couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. ¡°You... You¡¯re willing to point your gun on me for him?! I¡¯m your brother!¡±
¡°You¡¯re going out of line! You¡¯re really asking for it!¡± Tang Tianlong had enough. He too began to close in on Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei, forehead full with tensed veins.
¡°Father, please! Please don¡¯t force us into a corner! I¡¯m begging you!¡± Tang Yuyan wailed, her sanity was beginning to crackle.
¡°Bochuan, Tianlong. Sit down.¡± Tang Yunhai finally spoke.
¡°Father...¡± Tang Tianlong was reluctant.
¡°Sit down! Now!¡± Tang Yunhai raised his voice.
Tang Bochuan and Tang Tianlong obediently returned to their seats. No one in the family had dared to overstep Tang Yunhai¡¯s authority in the family.
Tang Yunhai stood and paced forward to Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan continued to sob. ¡°Why...? Why are you treating me like this? Why?¡±
Tang Yunhai answered nonchntly, ¡°And how exactly are we treating you? Your parents had raised you. The Tang family had utilized arge number of resources to enable you to be the chief of Bureau 101. Yet, you¡¯re telling me that the Tang family had forsaken you?¡±
Tang Yuyan willed to retort but she was out of arguments. The Tang family¡¯s hand in her upbringing was something she could not be ungrateful about. They have done a lot for her. The blood flowing through her veins really was the Tang n¡¯s blood.
¡°Calm down, he¡¯s just knocked out. He¡¯lle back to us soon.¡± Tang Yunhai crouched down beside Xia Lei. ¡°Keep your gun away. Who are you going to shoot here? Everyone here is family, you know?¡±
Tang Yuyan worried her lip, a faint hint of blood seeping through the gaps of her tensely clenched teeth. Yeah, that was right. Who was she going to shoot with her pistol? Her father? Her mother? Her brother or her grandfather?
¡°Let me check his pulse.¡± Tang Yunhai extended an arm over and pressed his finger on Xia Lei¡¯s jugr.
She watched him cautiously but soon realized that Tang Yunhai wasn¡¯t about to do anything dangerous. Her raised arm slowly gave way.
Just as she let her guard down, Tang Yunhai abruptly grabbed the alloy ne dangling off Xia Lei¡¯s neck and ripped at it hard. Without much force, the ne was undone. Tang Yunhai was quick to move away before Tang Yuyan had a chance at reiming the ne.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s hand did not reach in time. Suddenly, realization dawned upon her. ¡°You... I see now... So you¡¯re after the AE capsule!¡±
Tang Yunhai raised his palm and whipped it onto her cheek.
Smack! A crisp flesh-on-flesh sound rang out.
Tang Yunhai did not hold back this time. Tang Yuyan was sent doubling backwards from the force of his p. Blood began to seep past her lips as an angry red palm mark began to fester atop her pale supple skin.
Tang Yunhai was not about to leave it at that. He picked up his crutch and pointed the tip at his granddaughter. ¡°You whore! The Tang family does not have a daughter like you! Get out of this house!¡±
At that instant, Tang Yuyan felt like her world had shattered into pieces. Beads of tears broke free of its confines and travelled down the curve of her cheek. The love of her life had been drugged by her own family. She was armed and yet wasn¡¯t able to protect her husband¡¯s rights. And before she knew it, her beloved family had morphed into ugly greedy monsters. Everything felt like a sick joke and Tang Yuyan was absolutely wounded by it.
¡°Grandpa! Yuyan is just too clouded by love. There¡¯s no need to stoop so low, she¡¯ll understand soon.¡± While he spoke, Tang Bochuan winked at Tang Yunhai.
The older man tossed the alloy ne at Tang Bochuan.
The man received it with ease and quickly opened the alloy pendant. Tang Bochuan removed the capsule within and then produced a normal capsule bottle from his pocket. He emptied all the pills onto the table and found a simr looking one. He then ced the capsule into the alloy pendant.
To switch a racoon for a prince was Tang Bochuan¡¯s idea.
[Note: To switch a racoon for a prince is a Chinese idiom to describe a situation where one party exchanges an article without the other party¡¯s knowledge.]
cing in the new capsule, Tang Bochuan tossed the alloy ne back onto Xia Lei¡¯s limp body. ¡°Yuyan, ce the ne back in ce.¡±
Tang Yunhai said, ¡°When he wakes up, tell him that he was too intoxicated and promptly passed out. You may bring him to your room but only this once. I don¡¯t want to see you and him ever again in this house.¡±
¡°Yuyan, apologize to your grandfather!¡± Zhang Yumei rushedly chastised.
Tang Yuyan, on the other hand, was curled up pathetically on the ground like a dead log. She gave no response. Nothing was morementable than a dead heart. What she felt right now was even more tormenting than death itself.
Tang Bochuan too advised, ¡°Yuyan, I¡¯m sure you know the value of this capsule. This may be the key to restoring our family¡¯s glory. Just do as grandpa says, tell him that he had gotten drunk when he wakes up and mention nothing about the AE capsule. If he finds outter, you need to cover it up for us. If it¡¯s impossible to cover, you need to bear the responsibility. After all, you¡¯re his woman. He won¡¯t do anything to you.¡±
Tang Yuyan remained motionless on the ground. Her sobs had dissolved into quiet tears.
¡°Silly girl. Here, let me.¡± Zhang Yumei went over and locked the alloy ne back to where it belonged. Xia Lei¡¯s neck.
¡°Let¡¯s go. Give her some space to calm down here,¡± said Tang Bochuan.
And with that, the dining hall was empty. The only ones left behind were an unconscious Xia Lei and a crumpled Tang Yuyan on the ground.
It took her a few minutes to muster the strength to mber up and keep her gun away. She quietly picked Xia Lei up and brought him to her room. Her pace was excruciatingly slow, almost like she was a soulless doll.
Entering her room, she carefully ced Xia Lei on her bed. It was then she allowed herself to sob uncontrobly, arms wrapped around Xia Lei tightly. She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry... I¡¯m so so so sorry... I should¡¯ve seen thising, I really should¡¯ve expected this... I shouldn¡¯t have brought you home... I¡¯m sorry...¡±
Xia Lei did not stir.
¡°Please wake up... Hey, wake up. Wake up and we¡¯ll do all we can to get the capsule back...¡± Tang Yuyan shook his motionless body relentlessly.
¡°Sob...¡± Her actions not bearing any fruition, Tang Yuyan crumpled into a sobbing mess once again.
Just when things had seemed grim, she felt a light caress along her spine.
Tang Yuyan went frigid. She quickly lifted her upper body. Upon closer inspection, the man beneath her still hadn¡¯t returned to his senses. She craned her neck around, only to find one of Xia Lei¡¯s palm warm against her back.
¡°Hubby, you...¡± Tang Yuyan was shocked. ¡°You¡¯re alright?¡±
It was then that Xia Lei threw his eyes open. A smirk danced across his lips ¡°Have you forgotten? I was able to withstand minus twenty-degree celsius on the snow mountain? I¡¯ve got an amazing immune system.¡±
It didn¡¯t take long for Tang Yuyan to piece things together. She was reminded of the time when Xia Lei had slit his wrist open to feed her blood. His blood was her antidote and if it was able to neutralize a lethal poison like that, what was the minor fainting medicine going to do to him?
Xia Lei¡¯s hand was still smoothing along her spine gently.
The woman gnawed her lip briefly. ¡°Why... Why did you pretend to be unconscious then? Your vulnerability allowed my grandpa to take away the AE capsule! You could¡¯ve stopped him. Why didn¡¯t you?¡±
Xia Lei answered cheekily, ¡°If he liked it so much, I¡¯ll just consider it as a dowry then.¡±
Tang Yuyan gaped at that. She had always been a sharp woman. It was clear what Xia Lei¡¯s behaviour was pointing to. Everything was going ording to his n and things were still in his control!
¡°You...¡± It finally sunk in. Tang Yuyan probed, ¡°The one my grandpa took away was not the AE capsule, right?¡±
Xia Lei smiled, ¡°Well. That you¡¯ll find out soon.¡±
¡°No, I must know now. Tell me.¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I know you¡¯re someone who takes rtionships and ties seriously. They¡¯re your precious family members. For you to bring up cutting ties would be difficult for you. It is too unfair for me to ask this of you. If you went ahead with it, many would talk bad behind you. I don¡¯t wish to upset you so I figured to y along with their demands. Now that your grandfather has chased you out of the family, everything is settled, no? He was the one who mentioned it, not you.¡±
Tang Yuyan had to admit that her heart melted at that. But she kept her emotions at bay and produced a frown instead. ¡°That¡¯s not the answer I¡¯m after. Tell me, did my grandpa take away the AE capsule?¡±
¡°Hey, this is our consummation night. Are you really going to ask that now? Let¡¯s do something else, yeah?¡± suggested Xia Lei.
While Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes were dripping with lust, her lips uttered something else. ¡°You¡¯re awful.¡±
¡°This is awful? Would you like me to amp it up a little?¡±
Tang Yuyan shook her head. ¡°Nah. Unless you tell me what¡¯s really going on.¡±
¡°Didn¡¯t I say that you¡¯ll find out soon? There¡¯s no need to rush.¡±
At this point, Tang Yuyan frankly wasn¡¯t that pressed any more. ording to Xia Lei¡¯s personality, he wouldn¡¯t have the stomach to flirt with her if someone had taken away the real AE capsule. She rxed and feigned vulnerability. ¡°I had to take a p from my grandpa for your sake. It still hurts, you know?¡± She btedly added, ¡°My heart hurts too.¡±
¡°Left or right sides?¡±
¡°Both!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll massage them for you.¡±
And so the two of them closed their distance.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard from outside the door.
Chapter 1158 - Ambitious Brother-In-Law
Chapter 1158 - Ambitious Brother-In-Law
Despite theck of celebratory rednterns or marriage candles or rings, Tang Yuyan¡¯s happiness was unrivalled. But right at the moment where she willed to douse herself in bliss, someone had to ruin it. There was someone behind the door.
The footsteps outside had caused the entangled couple to pause their rendezvous abruptly. This almost felt like deja vu, much like the slight taste of pleasure she tasted on the night at Dawang snow mountain. She couldn¡¯t believe that she was getting a second chance. She had only gotten a slight taste, jeez!
As they ceased their wrestling, Tang Yuyan pinned her gaze on the door nervously. While she couldn¡¯t see who was behind it, her training since childhood had allowed her to obtain heightened senses. She was certain that someone was here. But who was it? Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t tell if it was Tang Bochuan, Zhang Yumei or even Tang Yunhai or Tang Tianlong.
Xia Lei followed her gaze, immediately noting the pacing Zhang Yumei behind the door.
Zhang Yumei had stered the side of her face against the door in an obvious attempt to figure out what was happening inside. After two seconds of hesitation, she reached out and gripped the doorknob.
Xia Lei frantically got off Tang Yuyan and pulled the nket over them.
The door opened and Zhang Yumei came into view.
Tang Yuyan was impressed with Xia Lei¡¯s fast response. If he had acted one secondter, her mother would¡¯ve caught them red-handed. If she walked in any other time, it would¡¯ve been fine. There would be no trouble other than the expected awkwardness. After all, Tang Yuyan was already Xia Lei¡¯s wife. Unfortunately, tonight¡¯s events were extraordinary. Xia Lei was still supposed to be ¡®unconscious¡¯ at this moment.
Though Xia Lei was fast, the man had left behind vital evidence. Their underwears. He had just plucked off her whitece panties and dropped them off the side of her bed along with his. The ovepping of their undergarments was much like their missionary position earlier.
The situation on the bed and beneath the bed did not escape Zhang Yumei¡¯s eyes. Her response was immediate too. ¡°He... You?¡±
¡°He¡¯s still unconscious.¡± Tang Yuyan lied through her teeth. ¡°He hasn¡¯t woken up yet.¡±
¡°He¡¯s still unconscious? But you two... ?¡± Zhang Yumei pointed a finger at the undergarments on the floor.
Tang Yuyan heaved a heavy sigh and conjured up the painful experience she had to endure earlier. Her tears began to pour helplessly. Her tearful voice wavered, ¡°Mother, do you think he¡¯d ever forgiven me? You have allmitted a grave sin.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll find it in himself to forgive you. You¡¯re husband and wife now. He won¡¯t be so heartless. Plus, as long as you hide it well, he wouldn¡¯t notice.¡± Zhang Yumei walked to the bed, seemingly unwilling to believe in Tang Yuyan¡¯s words. She needed to confirm Xia Lei¡¯s situation herself.
NovelWell
¡°No! He¡¯ll never forgive me!¡± Tang Yuyan sobbed. ¡°You...! You stole his AE capsule! He¡¯ll never forgive me for that. I¡¯m doing this now because I really wanted his child...¡±
Oh. So she was taking advantage of Xia Lei¡¯s unconsciousness.
Zhang Yumei could understand her daughter¡¯s sentiment. She was a woman and a mother. Though her sheepishness was now written across her features, Zhang Yumei insisted to go closer. She lifted a corner of the nket lightly and saw Xia Lei¡¯s face.
The man¡¯s eyes were still mped shut but his face was flushed.
Zhang Yumei¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Why are you suffocating him?! If something happens to him in the Tang family residence, it¡¯ll damage our reputation!¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s emotions red. ¡°If you knew of such risks and yet can¡¯t shoulder its consequences, why even do it in the first ce?!¡±
¡°There¡¯s never free lunches in this world, Yuyan. Everything has its price. From what we can get off Xia Lei, we¡¯re willing to take any risks.¡±
¡°You...¡± Tang Yuyan suddenly went quiet. It wasn¡¯t because of her mother¡¯s infuriating stubbornness that she mped her jaw shut. There was a sneaky hand underneath the nkets working its magic. Tang Yuyan was worried that she¡¯d sound weird if she went on.
¡°You¡¯ll understand this someday. Everything we do is for the sake of the Tang family and its descendants. It won¡¯t be long before the Tang family bes the world¡¯s strongest n. You¡¯ll have the luck to see the dreame true and when that timees, you¡¯ll finally understand that all risks were worth it.¡±
¡°Mmph.¡± Tang Yuyan made a noise through her lips, her expression weird.
¡°So you understand it? I¡¯m d you understand it now.¡± A smile had appeared on Zhang Yumei¡¯s face. ¡°Wait it out for a few more days and then go apologize to your grandfather. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll forgive you. And your father. You need to apologize to your father too.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± Another light hum rolled out of Tang Yuyan¡¯s throat. The woman was biting down hard on her lips now.
¡°Alright, go on with what you¡¯re doing. After all, Xia Lei¡¯s children are what we want too...¡± But suddenly, Zhang Yumei was reminded of something. ¡°Is he even able to do anything in this state?¡±
¡°Get out!¡± Tang Yuyan screamed at her mother.
¡°Fine. Fine! I¡¯m leaving.¡± Zhang Yumei turned around. She went for the door and spared Tang Yuyan another nce. ¡°No matter what happens, try to get your hands on the will. If you want your grandfather and father to forgive you, the will is more important than anything.¡±
Tang Yuyan teared up again but her expression was still as weird.
Zhang Yumei sighed. She left Tang Yuyan¡¯s room and closed the door behind her.
As soon as the door clicked shut and before Zhang Yumei¡¯s footsteps were a considerable distance away, Tang Yuyan roughly peeled the nket away and pped Xia Lei¡¯s ass. She cried, ¡°My family is bullying me and you¡¯re bullying me too. My mother was here with us and you... !¡±
Xia Lei hugged her. ¡°You¡¯re so pretty, I couldn¡¯t help but tease you a little. If that was bullying... How about I bully you a little more?¡±
Tang Yuyan gnawed her lip and then nodded heavily. She closed her eyes and awaited that moment of happiness.
Xia Lei inched forward.
Every second of their consummation night was precious.
Meanwhile, in Tang Yunhai¡¯s study, all three generations of the Tang family men trained their gazes on a tiny item. Their eyes were positively glimmering with excitement.
That little item was none other than the AE capsule they¡¯ve stolen from Xia Lei¡¯s alloy pendant.
What could a small AE capsule bring them?
The three Tang men could imagine an array of oues. In their fantasy, the Tang family would eventually be the world¡¯s most prominent and influential n. A Tang family version of the Thunder Horse Organization, perhaps? No. That was just an initial goal. What they were after in the end was world domination!
The human desire was really absurd. Indulging fully into it would cause one to lose all logic sense.
¡°I can¡¯t believe this. We¡¯ve got a hold on what the Americans can only dream about! The Tang family¡¯s lucky stars must¡¯ve aligned for tonight.¡± Tang Tianlong sighed aloud, ¡°We must¡¯ve been blessed by our ancestors!¡±
Tang Yunhai reminded, ¡°Don¡¯t be too full of yourselves yet. Xia Lei¡¯s current national contribution is unmatched. If he finds out about this, we¡¯ll need to face his wrath and that would require considerable intelligence to counter it.¡±
Tang Tianlong replied, ¡°If the little rascal agreed to help us, it wouldn¡¯t have to be this way. But she...¡±
At this moment, Zhang Yumei appeared at the study¡¯s entrance. She spoke, ¡°The girl is alright. I visited her room and we talked.¡±
¡°What did she say?¡± Tang Tianlong was impatient.
Zhang Yumei¡¯s mind was supplied with the image of Tang Yuyan¡¯s constipated responses that came out of tight lips. A faint smirk appeared on her lips. ¡°She agreed to it. Also, she¡¯s... uh... having sex... with Xia Lei?¡±
¡°Xia Lei is awake?¡± Tang Bochuan was shocked.
¡°No.¡± Zhang Yumei answered.
¡°Huh? Then how is Yuyan... ?¡± Tang Bochuan couldn¡¯t help but censored himself. After all, his family members were in the same room.
Zhang Yumei scoffed, ¡°Are you seriously ashamed to talk about it? Look, you¡¯re no kid anymore. When are you going to give me and your father some grandchildren?¡±
Tang Bochuan could only feel despair, no longer capable of muttering anything. He had fancied Long Bing but the woman was already a mother to Xia Lei¡¯s child. Worse, not only had Xia Lei married his crush, but he had also married his little sister!
¡°Quit going off-topic!¡± Tang Yunhai scowled.
¡°Father, what Yuyan is doing helps us.¡± Zhang Yumei went on, ¡°She told me that Xia Lei might not forgive her and that meant a possibility of him distancing away from her. Yet, she wished to bear his child. We all know how smart Xia Lei¡¯s offspring are and they¡¯ll all inherit his evolved genes. That¡¯s why, even if Xia Lei is still unconscious, Yuyan is adamant to... uh... bed him.¡±
¡°Hahaha.¡± Tang Yunhai cackled loudly. ¡°In the end, she can¡¯t change that she¡¯s rted to the Tang family. Our blood runs through her veins. She has chosen us in the end. In that case, we won¡¯t be facing a huge risk. It seems that Xia Lei¡¯s only weakness is women.¡±
Zhang Yumei tried her luck. ¡°She has already acknowledged her mistakes. Please do not trouble her anymore. I hope you¡¯ll forgive her.¡±
Tang Yunhai replied, ¡°After this is over, we¡¯ll punish her ordingly. To disrespect her elders and break the family¡¯s rules are things that must not be taken lightly.¡±
Zhang Yumei could only sigh and say nothing else.
Two hourster, a biotechnologist had arrived at the doorsteps of the Tang residence. The man was a biotechnologist working under the Tang conglomerate¡¯s pharmaceuticalpany. He was highly professional and knowledgeable. Tang Bochuan had arranged for a special flight to bring the scientist to Jingdu and subsequently, their residence.
Tang Bochuan had grown impatient at that point. ¡°Professor Kang, please take a look at this capsule and tell me what it is.¡±
The biotechnologist, Professor Kang, began to work. He carefully uncapped the capsule and ced it on a precision analysis machine that he had brought with him from theboratory.
The machine whirred as the Tang family waited in suspense.
¡°Is this really going to work?¡± Zhang Yumei can¡¯t keep her anxiety in.
Tang Bochuan answered, ¡°Of course it won¡¯t work. If it worked, America¡¯s AE Research Centre would¡¯ve been able to replicate it long ago.¡±
¡°Then why did you summon Professor Kang here?¡± Tang Tianlong was perplexed.
Tang Bochuan merely answered, ¡°I just wanted an opinion.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Tang Tianlong asked.
Tang Bochuan replied, ¡°Professor Kang will see if we¡¯re capable of replicating the substance. If we aren¡¯t capable of replicating it...¡± His gaze fell on the capsule in the analysis machine with a burning passion. ¡°I¡¯ll consume it and be someone like Xia Lei.¡±
Tang Tianlong and Zhang Yumei couldn¡¯t help but lock gazes.
¡°Hahaha!¡± Tang Yunhai chortled. ¡°Bochuan, I knew you were thinking of that. In that case, it would be impossible for Xia Lei to get his capsule back. Very well. If we can¡¯t replicate it, you¡¯ll consume it! With this, you¡¯ll be able to bring the Tang family towards glory!¡±
¡°Thank you, grandpa!¡± Tang Bochuan was excited. The man could already taste the AE capsule in his mouth.
But right at this moment, Professor Kang had something to say.
¡°Uh...¡±
Chapter 1159 - Another Side of Hubby
Chapter 1159 - Another Side of Hubby
¡°Yes, Professor Kang? You were saying?¡± Tang Bochuan was unwilling to dy the revtion even for a second.
Professor Kang turned around and stared at the man oddly. ¡°Well... This capsule... The substance contained inside this capsule is nothing special. It¡¯s just... Amoxicillin.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Bochuan lost control over his temper. The man lunged forward and grabbed Professor Kang¡¯s cor. He spat, ¡°That¡¯s impossible! Tell me you¡¯re wrong!¡±
¡°Bochuan, calm down. The analyser¡¯s results shouldn¡¯t be wrong.¡± Professor Kang exined, ¡°Actually, I noticed something was amiss when I opened it. I smelled Amoxicillin and true to my expectations, it really is Amoxicillin.¡±
¡°That bastard!¡± Tang Bochuan threw Professor Kang to the side roughly.
Professor Kang lost his bnce and fell onto the ground.
With a raged wave of his arm, Tang Bochuan swept the analysis machine off the table and stormed off.
¡°Bochuan, where are you going?!¡± Zhang Yumei anxiously trailed behind him.
As soon as the mother-son duo left, Tang Yunhai exploded. He growled and mmed his crutch onto the study table. The table trembled under the force and shattered!
¡°How dare he not take us seriously! How dare he deceive us in our own house! Hmph!¡± Tang Yunhai too stormed off.
Tang Tianlong immediately tailed after his father.
Before long, Tang Bochuan had arrived at the front of Tang Yuyan¡¯s room. He didn¡¯t bother to knock, opting to kick the door open unceremoniously. Zhang Yumei had wanted to stop him but before she could even say anything, her son had already kicked the door open.
In the room, Tang Yuyan was seated nicely near the headboard while Xia Lei was busy braiding her hair. The couple hadn¡¯t even bothered to spare the two intruders a single nce. They regarded their existence as mere air.
Tang Yunhai and Tang Tianlong too finally made it to the door. Yet, Xia Lei opted to ignore their existencespletely. He was focused on braiding Tang Yuyan¡¯s hair but the man was evidently unskilled at it. Xia Lei was attempting to braid her hair into buns.
¡°Xia Lei. You...¡± Tang Bochuan had arrived in this room with seething anger but as soon as he spotted a rxed Xia Lei, he did not dare to unleash his wrath.
What kind of a person was Xia Lei?
Well, he was someone who could casually phone up the higher authority for special marriage permits any time he wished. His Thunder Horse Organization was also the pride and glory of the country. The organization¡¯s role in the country¡¯s strategic interest was irreceable and sought after. With that background, who in the whole of China would¡¯ve dared to offend Xia Lei?
Xia Lei at this moment was like Zhuge Liang in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, sitting calmly in the tower whilst strumming his instrument. All while Sima Yi had rushed over with his gigantic army but still helpless in the grand scheme of things.
However, the weirdly wholesome scene was eventually disrupted.
While the Tang family did not dare to direct their anger towards Xia Lei, they were able to do so to Tang Yuyan.
¡°Yuyan!¡± Tang Bochuan yelled, ¡°Come out! We need to talk!¡±
Tang Yuyan ignored him and said nothing. But the woman was visibly tense.
¡°Yuyan!¡± Tang Yunhai too screamed. ¡°Come out!¡±
Tang Yuyan instinctively turned around to look at Xia Lei.
Instead, the man adjusted her head back to position. ¡°Don¡¯t move. If you move around, I won¡¯t be able to finish this for you.¡±
¡°Xia Lei, what the hell?¡± Tang Tianlong too finally spoke, ¡°Yuyan is our daughter. We need to talk to her and you have no right to interfere!¡±
¡°Talk?¡± Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°You¡¯vee to vent your frustrations on her because the capsule isn¡¯t the correct one, right?¡±
Their expressions darkened.
¡°Tang Yuyan! Come out here!¡± Tang Yunhai roared. ¡°You¡¯re a member of the Tang family! Xia Lei can¡¯t protect you!¡±
¡°I...¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s anxiety intensified.
¡°Don¡¯t move, I¡¯m almost done,¡± said Xia Lei. He continued to arrange her hair. Under his maniption, Tang Yuyan¡¯s long wispy hair was braided into cute buns. She looked as adorable as an elementary school girl. A school uniform would¡¯ve increased her beauty tenfold.
Seeing that he was once again ignored by Xia Lei, Tang Yunhai could no longer control his fury. He strode over and whipped his crutch towards Tang Yuyan¡¯s calf.
Xia Lei, who was kneeling atop the mattress with fingers in her hair, quickly lifted her waist and dragged her out of danger.
Bang!
Tang Yunhai¡¯s crutch came in contact with one of the bed frame¡¯s legs. With a snap, the leg broke and the bed trembled before nting towards the broken leg.
Tears escaped Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes. She could not believe that her grandfather would¡¯ve tried to hurt her that way. If it wasn¡¯t for Xia Lei, her leg would¡¯ve been fractured!
While her leg was fine, her heart was in pieces. This one hit from Tang Yunhai¡¯s crutch had dissolved away the slightest bit of hope she harboured in her heart.
¡°Come with me!¡± Tang Yunhai reached over and grabbed on Tang Yuyan¡¯s arm.
Xia Lei pulled her behind and stepped forward to act as her shield. He swept away Tang Yunhai¡¯s grip.
¡°You dare to challenge me in my own house?¡± Tang Yunhai was beyond angry. The older man raised his crutch in a bid to threaten the younger man.
Unexpectedly, Xia Lei did not even blink. Coldly, he warned, ¡°Tang Yunhai, one more strike and we¡¯re going to be enemies!¡±
The statement was enough to freeze the atmosphere.
One more strike and we¡¯re going to be enemies.
The Tang family had its fair share of enemies and opponents. But none of them was as high-profile as Xia Lei. With Xia Lei¡¯s current capabilities, it was a piece of cake for him to topple the Tang family over and destroy it. As long as he was willing, the man was bound to get what he wanted. That, the Tang family was painfully aware of.
Tang Yunhai¡¯s crutch was now hovering in the air. He no longer dared to move another inch.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°You¡¯ve nned to steal my capsule. For the sake of Yuyan and for the sake of your family dynamics, I have chosen to overlook it. Now that you¡¯ve gotten a hold of my capsule, what else do you want now?¡±
¡°That¡¯s a fake!¡± Tang Bochuan hissed.
That earned a scoff from Xia Lei. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re expecting me topensate you with the real stuff?¡±
That was of course what Tang Bochuan had wished for. He wished to have everything Xia Lei possessed. Though so, things like that were difficult to admit.
Xia Lei produced a tray of Amoxicillin capsules from the pocket of his trousers. He tossed it at Tang Bochuan¡¯s feet. ¡°Take any that you fancy. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s generous enough of me, no?¡±
¡°You...¡± The tant humiliation drove Tang Bochuan speechless. Now he was clear of where the fake capsule hade from because one capsule was already gone from the tray.
¡°Alright, now that everything has been revealed, I won¡¯t push the matter further. However, I must make it clear that I¡¯ve decided to forgo this only for the sake of Yuyan. If you continue to disturb her and me, please be reminded that I won¡¯t be as courteous anymore,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°You think the Tang family is yours to order around?¡± Tang Yunhai narrowed his eyes. Though his words were tough, the crutch in his grip was already ced down. The older man was merely trying to save himself some face at this point.
Xia Lei chuckled as he tapped on his multifunctional wristwatch lightly. ¡°This watch has a camera feature. Everything you¡¯ve said and done has been recorded. How about I call the chief now forward everything I¡¯ve recorded to him? I¡¯ll tell him that you¡¯ve stolen my capsule and Thunder Horse¡¯s bomber ne design ns, yeah?¡±
¡°You...¡± Cold sweat began to bead across the span of Tang Yunhai¡¯s forehead.
In Xia Lei¡¯s hands was the Tang family¡¯s downfall. It was potent enough to annihte the entire Tang family forever!
¡°Shall I prove that I¡¯m capable of doing that by making a call?¡± Xia Lei produced his phone.
¡°No!¡± Zhang Yumei frantically stepped forward and grabbed his wrist. ¡°My son. My wonderful son-inw. Please take Yuyan into consideration and let us off the hook. You must not call him.¡±
The three Tang men were stunned. For the entire night, they thought they had full control over the situation. They¡¯d neutralize Xia Lei through Tang Yuyan and then drug him. But the surprise factor was that their victim had been expecting this all along. Now with ckmail material in his possession, Xia Lei was holding the whole family at gunpoint. They were literally forced to beg for his mercy! The aftermath was too obvious. One call made by Xia Lei would be all it takes to plummet the Tang family into an endless abyss!
Xia Lei swept his gaze through the three Tang men. With nonchnce, he muttered, ¡°Auntie, look at them. All three of them are still ring at me. You¡¯re really making this difficult for me, you know? It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know how I function. My style has always been uprooting the source of my issues.¡±
The word ¡®uprooting¡¯ had sent chills down their spine.
Zhang Yumei panicked. ¡°Yuyan, say something. Your... Your man is... Sob....¡± She began to cry.
Tang Yuyan continued to stay shielded behind Xia Lei¡¯s back as she cried silently. All her mind could think of was Tang Yunhai¡¯s merciless crutch. That one missed hit was enough to break her heart. How was she expected to recover so quickly? Plus, she believed that Xia Lei could handle the situation perfectly. All she had to do now was to remain behind him obediently. He would shield her from all the storms and cold and make sure she was safe. Most importantly, she was more willing to ce faith in Xia Lei rather than her own family.
Realizing that Tang Yuyan was going to stay silent, Zhang Yumei stepped back to her husband¡¯s side. ¡°Say something! Come on!¡±
¡°I...¡± Shame, regret, anger and many other negative emotions were concentrated on Tang Tianlong¡¯s face. It was a veryplex sensation.
Xia Lei raised his phone.
And with that, Tang Tianlong¡¯sst wall of defence came crumbling down. He forced out an apology. ¡°Son, I... I apologize for what I¡¯ve done. I¡¯ve wronged you deeply. Please forgive me.¡±
Xia Lei then red daggers at Tang Bochuan.
¡°Brother, I...¡± Tang Bochuan did not dare to meet his gaze. He lowered his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry too. I¡¯m terribly sorry. Please let this go on Yuyan¡¯s behalf.¡±
Xia Lei then looked to Tang Yunhai.
Tang Yunhai was certain of what Xia Lei desired but for him to mutter out a single apology felt worse than death.
While the older man hesitated, Xia Lei brought Tang Yuyan out and ced her beside him. She trained her eyes on the floor, not willing to meet any of their eyes.
¡°Old Man Tang, it seems like you¡¯re eager for me to make that call.¡± Xia Lei raised a brow.
Tang Yunhai finally gave in. ¡°Xia Lei, and... Yuyan... We are to me for whatever that took ce tonight. Please forgive us. I can promise that this won¡¯t happen again.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s lips curled into a smile. ¡°Since you¡¯ve apologized, I won¡¯t be making the call. However, I won¡¯t be deleting the video. If you continue to taunt her or do anything to harm me, I¡¯ll send you to wherever you deserve to be. It¡¯s better to not take my words lightly. I destroyed the American Seventh Fleet. I will do the same to your house if you press me.¡±
Xia Lei had shown them a never before seen side and this side was enough to send the Tang men shivering in their boots.
¡°Yuyan, let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei tugged on Tang Yuyan¡¯s arm and led her to the door.
She followed his lead obediently. Right before she stepped past the door, she turned around and spare her family onest nce. At that moment, it felt as if she was leaving behind bad memories of her past to start anew. And with her new-found freedom, Tang Yuyan smiled.
Chapter 1160 - The Fifth Wife has Arrived
Chapter 1160 - The Fifth Wife has Arrived
It was near midnight after the whole ordeal. Despite that, the streets seemed as busy as ever. Contrastingly, this felt like its most livelier times.
A Knight XIV halted by a river. Xia Lei hopped off the car and pulled Tang Yuyan along the riverbank¡¯s pedestrian walkway. Under the streemp¡¯s illumination, their shadows ovepped. There was him in her and her in him.
The only thing not very romantic about this was Tang Yuyan¡¯s odd walking stance. This was the price she had to pay for a child. But \this pain hade with great happiness.
¡°Yuyan, are you sure you won¡¯t mind?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice interrupted the gentle silence between them. ¡°They all had ceremonies for the asion but not you. I hadn¡¯t even gotten a chance to prepare you a ring and a wedding dress. Plus... I even made a huge scene at your house.¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s reply was soft. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. Being with you was all I ever asked for. All the things you talk about, I don¡¯t care. Even if you bring me into a farmer¡¯s vige now, I¡¯d be willing to spend the rest of my life with you in total tranquillity.¡±
That was a clear indication of her loyalty.
¡°Will you ever go back again?¡± Xia Lei asked her.
Tang Yuyan was silent for a moment. ¡°No, I don¡¯t wish to return any more.¡±
He sighed. ¡°I guess that¡¯s for the best too. If you don¡¯t wish to return, there¡¯s no need to do so. Without me beside you, they¡¯d probably vent their frustrations on you.¡±
¡°I was thinking about that one whip from grandpa¡¯s crutch. How could he bear to do such a thing to me? I¡¯m his granddaughter for god¡¯s sake. Was he really serious about wanting to break my legs?¡±
¡°I¡¯ve seen many with his personality. He¡¯s the lord of an ancient n and your family has been a martial arts n for many centuries. He has the same mindsets as the ancient emperors or the head of a Wushu alliance typical of Wuxia novels. Everyone has to heed his words and serve his ambitions. You and I had gone against his wishes. While he did not dare to hit me, he¡¯d certainly not hold back against you. To break your legs might have already been great restraint on his end.¡±
¡°Jeez. You really do treat me well.¡± Her eyes glimmered with love and dependency. ¡°When my grandpa tried to hit me, I couldn¡¯t help but be reminded of that night on the Dawang snow mountain. To save me, you were willing to offer me everything you had and fought against heaps of enemies all alone. I think you¡¯re really closer to me than my blood rtives ever were.¡±
Xia Leiughed and brought her closer by the waist. ¡°We are family now, yeah?¡±
¡°Ouch...¡± The sudden action caused Tang Yuyan to gasp out loud. Her walking shifting into an increasingly awkward position.
Xia Lei halted in his tracks. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did you roll your ankle?¡±
Tang Yuyan stared at him nkly before shing him a coquettish eye roll. ¡°Dude, would anyone roll their ankle on tnd? Dumbass, can¡¯t you see that this is all your fault? That was my first time and yet you were rough like a bull. All you did was thrust, thrust, thrust and I...¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Now that they were married and had bedded each other officially, Tang Yuyan found it easier to talk of topics that she¡¯d feel embarrassed about before.
At another streemp ahead of them along the river, there was a young couple making out. Their age was evident from the school uniforms that they yet to change out of. The young teenager had his hands all over his girlfriend. They kissed with so much fervour that it felt like things would escte further any time soon. Despite that, the girl was very grounded. Whenever his hands would hover too close, she¡¯d stop his advances.
¡°My god. What has be of youngsters these days?¡± Tang Yuyan remarked.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°We all used to be so young too. I don¡¯t think anything of it. I mean, who hasn¡¯t been through a time of raging hormones?¡±
Tang Yuyan suddenly snuggled into his chest. She hooked her arms around his neck and kissed him. Speaking of raging hormones, she too did not wish to hold herself back. After all, this was her consummation night.
¡°Are you asking me to be as handsy as that kid over there?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s lowered voice was filled with temptation.
Tang Yuyan answered with a bashful lowering of her chin. She replied meekly, ¡°I¡¯m yours. You know you¡¯re allowed to do anything you wished.¡±
Xia Lei shifted his gaze onto the young couple again. The boy had already slid a hand into the girl¡¯s shirt. He couldn¡¯t help but cackle a little. As he hesitated if he should mirror the boy¡¯s advances, the teenager turned and red at them. The boy roared, ¡°Oi! There¡¯s already someone here, go find another corner!¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. He hadn¡¯t been yelled at like that in ages. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be on the receiving end.
Tang Yuyan frowned. She was having a moment here and the boy¡¯s yelling had ruined the mood. She red daggers at him, contemting if she should head over and throw him into the river.
¡°What are you still looking at? Look more and I¡¯ll beat you up!¡± The young boy released the girl and rolled his sleeves up. The boy looked ready to fight.
¡°This little bastard. Hubby, wait a moment please. I¡¯ll go handle him,¡± hissed Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei stopped her. ¡°It¡¯s alright, he¡¯s just a child. There¡¯s no need to stoop as low. Let¡¯s go home.¡±
But Tang Yuyan had a different idea in mind. ¡°Can we not go home tonight? We¡¯ve gotten married on this day and I¡¯d like to have you all to myself tonight. Is that alright?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°How about we move to a hotel now?¡±
¡°No, the car is fine. It¡¯s big enough to be a room,¡± said Tang Yuyan instead.
¡°Alright then, the car it is.¡± Xia Lei picked her up bridal style and carried her back to the parked Knight XIV.
The car shall be the room for their wedding night.
Tang Yuyan rested her head in the crook of his neck and studied her husband quietly. She had fantasized countless weddings in the past but none of them was like the present. She was kicked out of her family home and then was about to get bedded in a car. Despite the unexpected turn of events, Tang Yuyan was happy to say that she wouldn¡¯t trade this for anything else.
By the riverside, the young boy rolled his sleeves down. ¡°Hmph! If the two assholes had no ns to move, I¡¯ll definitely beat them to a pulp!¡±
The young girl stared at him with starry eyes. ¡°Wow, you were so cool just now.¡±
In the heat of the moment, he hugged her tight and then picked up from where they hadst stopped. This time, she did not stop his advances.
Next morning, Xia Lei drove Tang Yuyan back into the small residential area.
She was about to meet Xia Lei¡¯s other wives as a fellow wife herself. Understandably, Tang Yuyan was a bundle of nerves because things were bound to be a little awkward in the beginning. She didn¡¯t know what she was supposed to say or what she was supposed to do!
Fan Fan was the first toe forward and wee her. The woman delivered two red-covered marriage certificates into Tang Yuyan¡¯s palm and smiled. ¡°The chief sent someone over to deliver thisst night. Wee to this naughty family.¡±
It was Fan Fan¡¯s line that sessfully chased away all the existing awkwardness among the women.
Long Bing went to her side and hugged her shoulders. She whispered to her, ¡°Judging by the way you¡¯re walking now, you must¡¯ve had a night of strenuous activities, yeah?¡±
Tang Yuyan¡¯s face turned red. She swatted Long Bing¡¯s side lightly.
Liang Siyao paced over and offered her a small smile. ¡°I know we had issues in the past but now that we¡¯re a family, how about we let bygones be bygones and bury the hatchet?¡±
Tang Yuyan nodded and spread her arms. They hugged.
Two women with prominent full breasts pressing against each other was a nosebleed inducing sight to behold.
Jiang Ruyi brought Xia Jianghe over. ¡°Jianghe, this is your fifth mom.¡±
Xia Jianghe reached her chubby hands out and gurgled, ¡°Hughug... Mm... Hug... Hug.¡±
¡°Aiyoh, you¡¯re so smart. Come here, Jianghe. Fifth mom will hug you.¡± Tang Yuyan extended her arms and picked the baby up.
¡°Fifth mom... Milk...¡± Xia Jianghe¡¯s small hands were now probing Tang Yuyan¡¯s front.
Tang Yuyan froze.
Jiang Ruyi quickly pped Xia Jianghe¡¯s buttocks lightly. ¡°All you know is to feed. Fifth mom has no milk to spare you. Her milk was sucked dry by your father.¡±
Xia Lei froze.
At this point, Tang Yuyan was red all over. The woman had no idea Xia Lei¡¯s wives were more ferocious than the other.
Xia Lei could only clear his throat to hide his embarrassment. ¡°Ruyi, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of how smart our children are. You can¡¯t go around saying things like that, it¡¯s a bad influence on the children.¡±
Jiang Ruyi retorted, ¡°And why were you not worried about being a bad influence when you fight your own babies for breastmilk?¡±
Fan Fan huffed, ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to worry about the children. The babies have so many mothers looking after them, we¡¯ll do a good job educating them. There¡¯s no need for a rascal like you to teach them. I taught Xia Jianghe some words yesterday night and she had no problem memorising one hundred Han characters off the bat. She could even write at this age without a single mistake. I bet she already knows how awful you are long ago.¡±
Xia Lei was dumbfounded.
On the other hand, Tang Yuyan couldn¡¯t help but conjure up a mental image of Xia Lei fighting his own babies for breastmilk. That truly was a cursed image.
Long Bing suddenly tugged Tang Yuyan aside and passed her a small ss vial.
Tang Yuyan studied the vial curiously. ¡°What is this?¡±
Long Bing inched closer to her ear and whispered, ¡°An antidote to help with pregnancy. If you want a child, you need this. This is something Fan Fan made. Without it, you won¡¯t be able to get pregnant with Xia Lei¡¯s child no matter how hard you try.¡±
Tang Yuyan quickly ced the antidote into her pocket. ¡°Thank you.¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to be so courteous, we¡¯re a family now. If you need some help with it, all you need to do is ask and I¡¯ll be there,¡± offered Long Bing.
¡°Huh? Huh?! How... How are you supposed to help with something like that?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s mind started to supply images unhelpfully. As soon as it manifested into something recognizable, Tang Yuyan was already at her limit. She quickly shook her head. ¡°No... No need. There¡¯s no need to help.¡±
Long Bing patted her shoulder. It was obvious she had no idea what wasing next. ¡°We all had the same thought as you in the beginning. Now, all five of us sleep together most of the time. He¡¯s pretty darn strong, are you sure you canst?¡±
All Tang Yuyan could think of now was getting railed by a train.
¡°Ah Bing, since when have you started to smack talk me? Are you asking for a spank on the ass?¡± Xia Lei felt offended.
Long Bing giggled melodiously.
Suddenly, Xia Long picked up his toy excavator and mmed it against Xia Lei¡¯s calf.
The man could only stare at his son wordlessly.
Tang Yuyan was now considered as an official part of the family. While the women of the Xia household had their own unique way of weing her, it didn¡¯t take long for Tang Yuyan to feelfortable. It actually felt like home to her.
A day had gone by in a lively bliss and soon night arrived.
The messy orgy situation Tang Yuyan was worried about had thankfully did note into fruition. Xia Lei spent the night with her and she put the antidote to use.
Before dawn broke, Xia Lei received a call from Giovanna.
¡°Boss, there¡¯s a bit of a situation here. Can youe out for a minute?¡± said Giovanna over the phone.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± He asked.
¡°Someone brought us a parcel meant for you,¡± revealed the woman.
¡°Where was it sent to? Who is it from?¡±
¡°The parcel was sent to the Holy Thunder Church. A viger had passed it to one of our brothers. He mentioned that someone had paid him to deliver this but the sender himself was in the car back then. The viger did not manage to catch a glimpse of his face,¡± answered Giovanna.
¡°I¡¯ll be there right away.¡± Xia Lei quickly ended the call.
Wrapped in the nkets, Tang Yuyan mumbled something but did not stir awake. The thin nket covering her body haphazardly did not do anything to hide her pale ass and slim legs. She was the kind of woman that was effortlessly sexy.
Xia Lei swept a gaze across her gorgeous body and sighed in contentment. A beatter, he quietly made his exit.
Who could¡¯ve sent him a parcel?
Xia Lei had no idea.
But he had a feeling that a new battle was just around the corner. For the sake of his women and children along with the Thunder Horse Organization and the country, he must fight.
Chapter 1161 - A Parcel of Stress
Chapter 1161 - A Parcel of Stress
A Knight XIV rolled up to the Holy Thunder Church¡¯s entrance. Xia Lei got out of his vehicle and entered the church.
In the church¡¯s secret chamber, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members and the four female knights awaited his arrival. The parcel was ced on the conference table. No one had attempted to open it yet.
The gaze Tsukino Kyoko had stered onto Xia Lei was scalding hot. It felt almost as if Xia Lei was a walking gourmet meal. The female ninja was aware that Tang Yuyan too had be Xia Lei¡¯s wife, yet she wasn¡¯t jealous at all. Tsukino Kyoko and the women beside Xia Lei belonged to two different worlds. Their lifestyle did not suit her. What she wanted was the sporadic wildfire of passion whenever she got the chance to be with Xia Lei.
Their gaze met and Xia Lei offered her a smile. The man felt no inch of awkwardness towards her. After all, wives and flings were two different concepts. Xia Lei could distinguish them well.
¡°I¡¯ve already had theb technicians do a quick scan. There¡¯s a handphone inside.¡± E¡¯er Demutu reported, ¡°Rest assured that there are no explosives or nerve gases hidden inside. It was after the scan that Giovanna contacted you.¡±
If the parcel was problematic and had carried any potential harm, they would¡¯ve discarded the parcel ordingly and then reported the situation to Xia Lei. There was no way they¡¯d ce Xia Lei in danger.
Xia Lei too was aware of that, he had already seen through its contents the moment he arrived. He too had not detected any explosives or potential risks. He ced his focus on the parcel once again and activated his eyes. Upon closer inspection with the X-ray vision, he found out that the phone was a new satellite phone model. All the electronic parts inside the device had nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was normal.
Who would¡¯ve spent so much effort just to deliver a phone?
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t wrap his head around this.
¡°Should I open it?¡± asked E¡¯er Demutu.
Xia Lei quickly answered, ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll do it myself.¡±
Before Xia Lei could even move over, E¡¯er Demutu had already shed the parcel box open with a box cutter. He reached in and produced the satellite phone to Xia Lei.
It¡¯s obvious that E¡¯er Demutu was still worried about hidden risks, which was why he quickly opened the box before Xia Lei could. Xia Lei was moved by the kind gesture but said nothing.
The satellite phone was charged. After toggling it awake, Xia Lei found only one number registered in the contact list. There was a moment of hesitation before he made the call.
It only took a few seconds for the call to get through. An odd voice came over the satellite phone immediately. ¡°Inhale... Exhale.... Inhale... Exhale...¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s expression tensed. This experience was no stranger to him. All calls from either the ck-robed man or prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue had begun like that. From the voice¡¯s deeper tone, the prehistoric chosen one was on the receiving end this time.
The prehistoric chosen one was still alive.
His three major targets in the bombing, Kestin, the prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue, had all survived the ordeal. This was undoubtedly his worst-case scenario. If he had known this oue from the start, he would¡¯ve never piloted the B2 bomber ne and bombarded the AE Research Centre. During then, he was on neutral terms with the prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue. They wouldn¡¯t have done anything to him. Now with countless bombs dropped on their heads, would the two of them continue to be so courteous to him?
¡°Inhale... Exhale...¡± His eerie breathing continued to pour out of the satellite phone.
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°Speak, what do you want?¡±
It was only then that the prehistoric chosen one spoke, ¡°Xia Lei, are you surprised that I¡¯m still alive?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Why should I be surprised? I wasn¡¯t the one behind the Area 51 bombings.¡±
¡°Not you?¡± The prehistoric chosen one snorted coldly. ¡°You¡¯re the only one in this whole wide world with the capabilities to bomb Area 51 t. Who else could¡¯ve done it?¡±
There were many terrorist attempts on America in the past but only one had seeded. Even so, the 911 incident had involved a civilian building. The terrorists would¡¯ve never thought about bombing a heavily guarded ce like Area 51. Hence, no further evidence was needed to point out the culprit. Xia Lei.
Xia Lei fell silent for a moment. ¡°If you want revenge, you may find me. This has nothing to do with my family.¡±
¡°Dare tomit, dare to take responsibility. Excellent job, Xia Lei.¡± His voice rang over the device. ¡°I mentioned that I¡¯d kill you, but only after the three-year limit I gave, right?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank at that. There was only one year left on the clock. This current situation felt almost like a suspended death sentence.
¡°While I¡¯ve no ns to kill you now, I¡¯m not so sure she will have the same restraint. While the bombs you dropped did not kill her, it certainly has ruined her n.¡±
Xia Lei was reminded of the six cylindrical alloy containers in the AE Research Centre and the pure white substance extracted from the faceless warrior statues. There was no way those things could¡¯ve survived the merciless impacts. After a short moment of silence, he asked, ¡°Where is she now?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m still looking for her too,¡± answered the prehistoric chosen one. ¡°If you find out where she is, give this number a call.¡±
Was that why the prehistoric chosen one needed to reach him?
Xia Lei said nothing but continued to listen.
¡°If you work with me, you¡¯ll live to see another year. If you wait until she recovers, you will die before then.¡± The prehistoric chosen one continued, ¡°You won¡¯t be the only one caught up in this mess. Your family and your Thunder Horse Organization will be thoroughly destroyed by her.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart was filled with fury but mostly gued by helplessness.
¡°Are you aware that the Americans haveunched a project titled Dragon yer Project? Lockheed Martin is about to build a never before seen fighter jet.¡±
¡°I¡¯m aware of that but I¡¯m not at all threatened,¡± said Xia Lei. He had the confidence that he¡¯d be able to suppress Lockheed Martin¡¯s Dragon yer fighter jet.
¡°I¡¯m sorry to say but you¡¯re wrong.¡± The prehistoric chosen one borated, ¡°The fighter jets would be made using the material extracted from the six faceless warrior statues. The material is on par with the Alloy X you¡¯ve created, better even. I¡¯m guessing that Isitabu is behind the fighter jet¡¯s design. She¡¯s on the American¡¯s side now.¡±
Isitabu was Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s real name, the Goddess of Suicides in the ancient Mayannguage. It truly was a name that¡¯d send shivers down your spine.
Zhu Xuanyue helping the Americans?
If that was the case, this spelt massive trouble!
¡°Why are you telling me these?¡± Xia Lei narrowed his eyes. ¡°We were never friends and I have no ns to be your ally.¡±
¡°I merely don¡¯t wish for you to die in her hands. If you¡¯re going to die, I must be the one to do it.¡± The prehistoric chosen one went on, ¡°Also, I¡¯m trying to ce some stress on you to have you take thest AE capsule soon. You¡¯re already thinking about taking the capsule, right?¡±
¡°You¡¯re wrong. The thought of consuming it has never crossed my mind.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve not stressed you enough, it seems. No worries, I¡¯ll continue to pressure you.¡± At that point, the prehistoric chosen one hung up.
Despite Xia Lei¡¯s violent urge to smash the phone onto the ground, he refrained from that.
¡°Boss, who was that?¡± asked Qian Jun.
Xia Lei hesitated but replied anyway, ¡°Since everyone is gathered here today, let me tell you something. I¡¯ve promised you that I¡¯d tell you the truth when the time was right. Today, you shall learn of the truth.¡±
Everyone¡¯s attention was now on Xia Lei. Everyone here had followed Xia Lei to the gates of Hell and back. They deserved to learn the truth. Inexplicably, before Xia Lei could even begin, everyone could already feel transparent stress sitting in the air around them. The atmosphere in the secret chamber was growing with the utmost tension.
¡°Okay, everything started when I was in Haizhu. Back then, I was only a poor kid working a small booth on the streets...¡± Xia Lei rattled on unhurriedly.
He began telling them about thepass, then the ancient alloy box and subsequently the Knight Hospitallers sacred relic, the silver armour andstly the crystal skull and faceless warrior statues. But of course, he had talked most about Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one.
Everything that he had experienced and relevant theories had taken more than half an hour for Xia Lei to exin.
By the end of Xia Lei¡¯s narration, the chamber was dead silent. The growing tension never once ceasing its intensity.
The man had now managed to gather not one but two invincible opponents that could not be defeated virtually. The Goddess of Suicides, Isitabu or Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one were like two huge immovable mountains. The pressure was suffocating. Regardless of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members of the four female knights, all of them could calmly face off the FA Organization, the CIA and even the American Special Forces without fear. However, there was no way they would have fought Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one. The opponents were clearly not on the same level!
Xia Lei said, ¡°This was the truth I promised you. I have no idea when the prehistoric chosen one or Zhu Xuanyue woulde to me for revenge. They might evenmit a massacre to vent out their wrath. If any of you wishes to leave now, I will not stop you. I will pay them one hundred million American dors as severance. The amount is more than enough for them to enjoy the world.¡±
¡°One hundred million dors?! Wow! That sure sounds tempting.¡± Sa¡¯im spoke, ¡°But even so, I will not want it. You¡¯re met with unprecedented danger. How can we walk away at a dire time like this?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t want it too.¡± Anjum Khan said, ¡°I¡¯m willing to stay but if you still insist on paying me one hundred million dors, I wouldn¡¯t say no to it.¡±
As soon as his words died, Yelena whacked the back of his head hard. ¡°If you can¡¯t say anything nice, shut up. Do that again and I¡¯m dumping you.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Anjum Khan wanted to say something but decided against it.
Giovanna drew a cross and said, ¡°We are your knights. We breathe the same air and we will follow your path. We will not abandon you for that will betray our oath.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t ever want to hear that from you again. I hope to not hear it again in the future,¡± uttered Qian Jun.
Tsukino Kyoko was next. ¡°It is only after my death that I¡¯ll leave you.¡±
E¡¯er Demutu shrugged. ¡°Boss, humans are bound to die sooner orter. I¡¯m willing to die for you. So please do not say anything like that ever again.¡±
No one was willing to leave.
There was a lopsided smile on Xia Lei¡¯s lips. ¡°This is not a test of loyalty, you know? I... I can¡¯t even protect myself, staying with me will only result in imminent death. Don¡¯t you think you should consider this thoroughly?¡±
¡°I¡¯m going to use the bathroom now.¡± E¡¯er Demutu turned around and left.
¡°Oh, I still have something to take off. Sorry, I need to go work on it now.¡± Giovanna left.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Fine, quit the act. I won¡¯t say that again, okay?¡±
Everyone who was about to flee halted in their tracks.
But right at this moment, E¡¯er Demutu¡¯s phone rang. He answered the call, expression immediately turning rock solid. He reported, ¡°Boss, we¡¯ve got a situation in thepany!¡±
Chapter 1162 - Piling Stress
Chapter 1162 - Piling Stress
¡°My colleague from the Security Department reported that two employees are threatening to jump off the office building. They¡¯re already on the roof.¡± E¡¯er Demutu ryed as they took quick steps.
¡°Did they mention why?¡± Xia Lei asked, his pace never once faltering.
E¡¯er Demutu said, ¡°No, they haven¡¯t said anything. Everything had happened so quickly, they¡¯re probably still in the middle of investigations.¡±
Exiting the Holy Thunder Church, Xia Lei zeroed in on the office block of the Thunder Horse Jingdu Headquarters. The building was the tallest one on the premise, so nothing was there to obstruct his inspection. In a nce, he immediately found the twopany employees standing on the rooftop. They were two males that looked exceptionally young.
Identifying his targets, Xia Lei began to sprint towards the office block and made it there in record time. This was the first time he had showed up to hispany ever since he came back from America. His appearance had allowed many worried faces to dissolve into relief.
¡°Director Xia.¡± Noticing Xia Lei¡¯s presence, Lu Sheng rushed forward and greeted him. ¡°We don¡¯t know why but those two kids up there have been going on and on about wanting to jump off the building. We can¡¯t seem to convince them to step down at all. I¡¯ve already called the fire department and also their families to have theme and talk to the kids.¡±
¡°Understood, I¡¯ll go talk to them first and try to stall them. Do me a favour and disperse the curious onlookers beneath. Don¡¯t let them gather around, this will only serve as additional stress to the suicidal ones,¡± instructed Xia Lei before he barged into the office block.
Lu Sheng began to work on dispersing the crowd while Xia Lei headed for the rooftop.
¡°Hey, can you recognize me?¡± Xia Lei slowly approached the two young employees, trying to engage them in a conversation as a distraction. ¡°I¡¯m Xia Lei, your boss. Are you met with trouble? Tell me, I can help you solve it regardless of it being money or rtionship troubles. Trust me, I¡¯m able to help you sort things out.¡±
It was at this moment that the two employees at the edge of the roof turned around to spare Xia Lei a nce in unison. They synced their every move.
Just as they turned to face him, Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank rapidly. What he saw were not the eyes of a regr person. Their eyes looked hollow and nk, almost as if they were zombies. They looked incredibly soulless, numb and dull.
¡°Xia Lei, this is the pressure you asked for.¡± One of them spoke. As soon as his words fell, he turned around and leapt off the roof.
Screams and yells of terror came roaring from beneath, followed by a muffled thud.
The abrupt change took Xia Lei by surprise. Soon realization dawned upon him. It wasn¡¯t money or rtionship woes that drove the employees to take their own lives. Someone was controlling their minds.
The remaining employee uttered, ¡°Xia Lei, have you thought it through? If you haven¡¯t, I¡¯ll be sure to up the pressure. Next time, it won¡¯t be a normal employee standing at the edge of this roof but the person you love the most.¡±
And with that, the remaining employee too took his leap. Thud! Hended heavily on the concrete ground beneath, his skull broke apart and caused his brain fluids and blood to dye the ground red.
Xia Lei could only gape, his brain buzzing numbingly.
He was fully aware of what had happened. From the messages left behind by the suicidal employees, the person behind this ordeal was not Zhu Xuanyue but the prehistoric chosen one. The two employees were his warnings. Next time, Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand it!
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
The satellite phone in his grip, the one sent to him by the prehistoric chosen one, began to ring.
Xia Lei picked up the call and roared into the device, ¡°Bastard! What the fuck are you after?!¡±
¡°Has the message gotten through you? Do you know what I want now? If you do, you better do what you¡¯re supposed to do. Any resistance is futile. Do you really think you¡¯re in control of the situation? No, you¡¯re terribly wrong. I¡¯m the one in control of the situation. Always have been and never will be you.¡± There was something so upsettingly icy about the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s tone. It was merciless with hints of mockery.
Xia Lei quickly scanned his surroundings. The curious crowd below, the employees bustling around in the garage a distance away and not even missing those outside of the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s premise. Xia Lei had a bugging feeling that the prehistoric chosen one was just around the corner but he just could not spot him anywhere.
¡°I¡¯ll give you another twenty-four hours to decide. If you¡¯ve yet to arrive at a conclusion, the next one on the rooftop orying on the train tracks will no longer be your employee but your wives.¡± And then, the prehistoric chosen one hung up.
The conversation had ended but Xia Lei could not muster the strength to leave the rooftop. It took a long while before the man had moved an inch from his spot.
Yes, Xia Lei was painfully aware of what the prehistoric chosen one was asking for. The ck-robed man desired for him to consume thest AE capsule andplete his evolution. He had hesitated about it for a very long time. The reason behind his reluctance was its safety concerns. After all, this was something his nemeses were trying their darndest to get him to do. Would it really be alright to heed their instructions?
There was another reason that added to his dilemma. Consuming thest AE capsule would meanpleting his evolution. He would transcend into a state of existence like Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one. He¡¯d be an energy body thatcked warmth and would soon be required to consume humans to live! Xia Lei was unwilling to ept the idea of bing intangible to his loved ones. And he was even more unwilling to feed on his kind!
Consuming thest AE capsule would turn him into a demon. Perhaps the process would take longer than Zhu Xuanyue or the prehistoric chosen one but the oue was almost certain.
But the real question was this. Not only was the prehistoric chosen one trying to coerce him into taking thest AE capsule but even Zhu Xuanyue too had shared the same sentiment.
Why?
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t stop thinking about it but yet failed to find an answer.
Soon, the police force and the fire department had arrived. Sadly, the task awaiting them was no longer a rescue mission but a body retrieval.
The two young employee¡¯s families had finally arrived at the Thunder Horse office block. One of them had just gotten hitched recently. At the sight of his dead body, his heavily pregnant wife cried her lungs out pitifully. The other¡¯s aged parents grieved over their son¡¯s bloodied and lifeless body. The most painful thing in this world would be for a parent to bury their child and this tragedy had taken ce right in front of Xia Lei. While he was able to destroy the American Seventh Fleet and was capable of bombing the entire Area 51, he had no way of stopping both of them from jumping off the building.
An unprecedented sense of defeat seized Xia Lei¡¯s being. Yet, raging wrath and resentment began to take root in his heart at the same time.
¡°I swear I¡¯ll make you pay for this! I swear!¡± Xia Lei hissed through gritted teeth, his expressions contorting with absolute fury.
Despite the tragic episode, the Thunder Horse Organization wasn¡¯t severely affected by it. Xia Lei hadpensated the victims¡¯ families with eight million dors each. While money would not help ease their torment, this was the only way Xia Lei could aid their families through tough times.
Both victims¡¯ families too did not make a scene out of the incident. After all, they had jumped off the roof on their own volition. Plus, Xia Lei was gracious enough to offer them eight million dors.
After taking care of that, Xia Lei stayed behind at the Thunder Horse Organization. He visited the drone workshop to see Annina and Sylvia. They talked for two hours. Other than the casual topics, he too learned a thing or two about the current situation of the drone¡¯s production. Now with the country¡¯s involvement, the production of Alloy X had been rtively smooth. During his absence, the Thunder Horse Organization had birthed two more Phantom drone units and eight more Jing Ke drone units. Other than that, many Alloy X anti-ship missiles and air-to-air missiles were made in the time being too. The production speed was typical of China¡¯s style.
Aside from that, the expansion of the Thunder Horse Organization had never once ceased. New factory areas were being constructed all throughout twenty-four hours. The production of relevant equipment and the recruitment of staff members were in full swing too. Xia Lei¡¯s ambition to surpass Lockheed Martin was very much desired by the country.
After work, Xia Lei sat down for dinner with Annina and Sylvia but nothing further had happened that night. He left the Peace Mansion straight after dinner and drove home.
Tang Yuyan had arrived home almost in tandem as Xia Lei. She was still the current head of Bureau 101 so her workload was as heavy as ever. Just as Xia Lei exited his car, she too had just got off her military off-road vehicle. They paced into their shared home together.
¡°Hubby, I received some news that two employees hadmitted suicide on Thunder Horse¡¯s grounds. What happened?¡± asked Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei hesitated for a moment but decided against telling her the truth. ¡°I didn¡¯t manage to figure what drove them to do so but I¡¯ve already taken care of it. Oh, right. Be a little careful when you¡¯re out to work for the time being. If you don¡¯t wish to go to work, you¡¯re more than weed to stay at home.¡±
In fact, the prehistoric chosen one had manipted the innocent employees¡¯ minds and even threatened him with his wives and children¡¯s safety. How could he possibly speak of something so severe? Telling her about his problems may not solve the problem but instil terror in their hearts.
Tang Yuyan said, ¡°I can¡¯t resign for the time period but I¡¯ll give it a good thought if...¡± She paused and giggled a little. ¡°If I¡¯m pregnant with your child and you wish for me to be a full-time mother. You better work harder.¡±
Such gentle words of love it was. Most of the stress and mncholy guing Xia Lei¡¯s senses was helpfully dissolved away by her smiles and affection. But that had solidified Xia Lei¡¯s will to not spill the truth to their wives. He just could not bear to have the love of his lives be burdened with stress and he did not wish to ruin the harmony and happiness of this new family.
Xia Lei found it easier to smile now. ¡°How about we work hard towards it tonight?¡±
Tang Yuyan desired that but said otherwise, ¡°No, no, no. I¡¯ve been hogging you for the past nights. Siyao and the others won¡¯t be pleased.¡±
¡°Then we should all sleep together. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be lively,¡± suggested Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan had nothing to say.
She suddenly remembered what Long Bing had told her earlier. Tang Yuyan was bound to sleep together with everyone else on the same mattress. The unfamiliarity of the situation was still difficult for her to imagine though.
Both of them entered through the doors and were greeted by Jiang Ruyi in her apron. ¡°Wee home. Dinner is ready. I made three whip soup today. You should drink more of that, hubby.¡±
[Note: ¡®Three whip soup¡¯ is a literal trantion of Èý±ÞÌÀ, which could be crudely tranted as ¡®three penises soup¡¯. It¡¯s a soup made of three kinds of animal penises (usually bull) to increase libido and masculine stamina.]
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°What is the soup for?¡±
Jiang Ruyi answered, ¡°Well, for the sake of making our Yuyan into a mother earlier. It¡¯ll be lively to have five children y together.¡±
Xia Lei was thoroughly rendered speechless. Was there a need for such a soup? Xia Lei literally had no problemssting through the night. But since Jiang Ruyi had him in mind while cooking it, he¡¯d dlyp it up.
Tang Yuyan was blushing furiously. She was a greenie in the world of marriage. There was no way she could bepared to a veteran like Jiang Ruyi. She mumbled, ¡°Ruyi, I... I¡¯m going to sleep alone tonight.¡±
¡°Nonsense.¡± Jiang Ruyi chided.
¡°I can¡¯t keep hogging him up,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Special situations require special handling.¡± Liang Siyao¡¯s voice rang from the other end. She was standing at the entrance of the dining hall with an apron around her waist. ¡°We¡¯ve discussed this earlier and we¡¯ve agreed to let you have him for one whole week. I¡¯m sure one whole week is enough to get you pregnant.¡±
¡°But...¡± Tang Yuyan had to admit she was moved by the gesture.
Long Bing too exited the dining hall. ¡°We all had our wedding ceremonies but you did not. So consider this as some sort ofpensation on our part.¡±
Tang Yuyan jokingly spat. ¡°Dude, I don¡¯t want that kind ofpensation.¡±
¡°If you can¡¯t take it, we¡¯ll dly help you out.¡± Fan Fan exited the dining hall with the herbal soup in question towards Xia Lei.
Xia Lei frantically backed away. ¡°No... No.¡±
Tang Yuyan was growing nervous. ¡°Hey, he¡¯s rejecting it so vehemently. Why are you all still feeding him that? Are you eager to see me not able to leave the bed for days?¡±
It was obvious Tang Yuyan was slowly getting polluted by the other women.
Laughter erupted at every corner of the house.
Though Xia Lei wasughing on the surface, he genuinely could not find anything amusing about his predicament. The prehistoric chosen one had given him a twenty-four-hour limit. He needed to arrive at a decision.
Chapter 1163 - Taking the Last AE Capsule
Chapter 1163 - Taking the Last AE Capsule
The lights in the room were dim and it outlined Tang Yuyan well.
The fifth wife of the Xia household had just gotten out of the shower and all her husband could do was stare at her. In that period of time, Xia Lei¡¯s mind had forgotten about Zhu Xuanyue, the prehistoric chosen one and thest AE capsule.
Tang Yuyan slowly approached him as she worked on drying her moist hair.
She stopped before him. ¡°What are you looking at? What is there left for you to see?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°There is always something left to admire.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Tang Yuyan¡¯s lips had the ghost of a smile.
¡°Everything,¡± said Xia Lei tenderly.
Tang Yuyan raised her arms and ced it atop his shoulders. With a light push, both of them fell onto the bed. ¡°Since it¡¯s everything, I¡¯ll dly give you my all.¡±
For the sake of the birth of Xia Lei¡¯s fifth child, Tang Yuyan was ready to do her best.
The sex was a double-edged sword that was both pleasurable and exceptionally tiring. After a passionate round of rolling in the sheets, Tang Yuyan was fast asleep with a smile created from pure bliss. The woman was content. Xia Lei, on the other hand, could not allow himself to rest. He woke up, left Tang Yuyan¡¯s room and entered the secret basement.
He closed the door behind him and the suffocating atmosphere in the underground space greeted him. The dim yellow lights and stale air made this feel like the interior of a tomb.
Xia Lei made a beeline for the safe and opened it to retrieve a small box.
Thest AE capsule was contained inside.
Tonight, he must make a decision to either take thest AE capsule or not. Both choices he had were equally as difficult to stomach. If he ate it, he¡¯d be a demon. If he didn¡¯t eat it, his wives and children would be absolutely vulnerable targets to the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s attacks!
Xia Lei desired power but with poweres a hefty price that¡¯d demonize him. Worse, that was an inevitable oue!
Thest AE capsuleid in its container silently while Xia Lei¡¯s gaze bore holes into it. One second... One minute... One hour... Xia Lei could no longer feel the passing of time for his brain was busy reying everything that had led up to this moment.
After god knows how long, he finallybed out a conclusion. Xia Lei brought up the satellite phone and dialled the only number in its contact list.
Ten secondster, the call got through. ¡°Inhale... Exhale...¡±
Xia Lei asked, ¡°Are you listening?¡±
¡°I¡¯m here.¡± The prehistoric chosen one¡¯s voice came ringing through the device. ¡°I¡¯m assuming that you¡¯ve made your decision, yeah?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve decided that I¡¯ll take thest AE capsule but on one condition.¡±
¡°You dare to talk about conditions with me?¡±
¡°Of course. Even if you¡¯re god himself, I¡¯d still do the same.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was chilly. ¡°Aside from that, I need you to promise me something. You are not allowed to touch anyone by my side, especially my wives and children. If you dare touch a single hair on their heads...¡±
¡°And what are you going to do about that?¡± The prehistoric chosen one interrupted Xia Lei.
He kept mum, his seething anger ring in the depths of his heart.
¡°I¡¯ve made it clear that you¡¯re not the one in control of the situation. I¡¯m the only one in control of your fate now. You may be a praised hero in your country yet you¡¯re nothing but a pathetic worm in my eyes. I can kill you with a stomp like a bug any time I please. So with me here, you have absolutely no right to be suggesting conditions.¡± Came the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s warning.
Xia Lei smirked coldly. ¡°Is that so? You¡¯re able to destroy my everything and I can do the same to you. If you don¡¯t agree to my terms, I¡¯ll throw everything I¡¯ve collected into the Box of Worlds. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re afraid of the world within the box but I know Zhu Xuanyue had once feared it. I¡¯ll throw in everything relevant to you. Thepass, the crystal skull and thest AE capsule. Hmm... I wonder if you¡¯ll have the courage and capability to retrieve it from within.¡±
¡°Inhale... Exhale...¡± A series of breathings wafted through the air that held murderous intent and fury.
¡°There¡¯s nothing absolutely invincible in this world. You too have your weaknesses.¡± Pausing for a moment, Xia Lei taunted, ¡°How¡¯s that? Can I state my terms now?¡±
There was a beat of silence before the prehistoric chosen one spoke, ¡°Speak. But I must warn you to not push this too far.¡±
Xia Lei began, ¡°My condition is simple. I want you to protect my wives and children. Zhu Xuanyue must not have any chance to harm them. Before I sumb to you, they must not be harmed in any way. The Thunder Horse Organization too must be protected from any of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s assaults.¡±
¡°Xia Lei!¡± The prehistoric chosen one raged, ¡°I¡¯m warning you! You¡¯re asking for too much!¡±
¡°This is just a small matter to you. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve gone over the line with that. If you can promise me that, I¡¯ll take thest AE capsule right away and let everything y by your script. If you reject me, I¡¯d rather destroy everything because it would end badly both ways for me. After all, Zhu Xuanyue is bound to seek me out for her revenge. If my children and wives have perished in the process, then I see no point for me to continue living.¡± Xia Lei hadpletely ignored the ck-robed man¡¯s threats.
This was the oue he had analyzed after an hour worth ofbing through thoughts. If there was one thing that could stop the prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue in this world, that would be the ancient alloy box that they refer to as the Box of Worlds. When Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s soul was ¡®iplete¡¯, she had already shown signs of fear towards the Box of Worlds. Both the prehistoric chosen one and Zhu Xuanyue were already an existence at the apex of human evolution. What Zhu Xuanyue had feared was certainly the man¡¯s fear too, right? While he had no idea why the prehistoric chosen one was so adamant on having him take thest AE capsule, if it was thrown into the realm within the Box of Worlds, the prehistoric chosen one would have to end his script right there!
Do you really think you¡¯ve got everything under control? Despite you being the emperor of the world or a god that has descended to our realm, even a bug can detect your weaknesses and bite you well!
¡°So yes or no?¡± Xia Lei urged, ¡°I¡¯m giving you three minutes to consider it.¡±
¡°You¡¯re asking for me to be your bodyguard.¡±
¡°You have me under control and I¡¯m just a pathetic worm to you. Who am I to ask you to be my bodyguard? From what I understand, I¡¯m now an asset to you and you¡¯ve got a duty to protect your assets to avoid damages.¡± Xia Lei continued, ¡°Come on now, three minutes isn¡¯t plenty of time. You should think it through fast or I¡¯m throwing the crystal skull and thest AE capsule into the Box of Worlds. You don¡¯t want to regret this for eternity.¡±
No voice wasing through the satellite phone now. Even the eerie breathings had died down.
Beads of cold sweat were forming across Xia Lei¡¯s forehead. While he had managed to pick up on the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s weakness, he could not guarantee that he was correct. This was a gamble that risked his everything. If his judgement was correct, he¡¯d be able to protect his wives and children and the Thunder Horse Organization. This would give him a chance to breathe and to retaliate!
Two minutester, the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s voice had returned to the satellite phone. ¡°I can promise you that. I¡¯ll protect your wives and children before your death along with your Thunder Horse Organization. However, you must promise me to report any intel regarding Isitabu through this phone. Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to protect what you wish to protect.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a deal,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Then what are you waiting for?¡±
¡°Can I trust you?¡±
¡°Do you look like you have any other choice?¡±
Xia Lei took thest AE capsule out from the box, ced it on his tongue and swallowed it. That was true. Xia Lei was left with no other choice. He had forced the prehistoric chosen one to heed his condition. It was just a verbal agreement with no solid guarantee. But other than choosing to believe that the prehistoric chosen one would stick to his word and grant his wish, Xia Lei really had no other viable option.
Honestly, Xia Lei would rather work with Zhu Xuanyue. After all, two women that harboured feelings for him in the past had resided within her body. There would be less risk imposed on him. Unfortunately, Xia Lei was no longer useful to Zhu Xuanyue at this point. Most importantly, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s n was to use the extracts she got off the six faceless warrior statues to establish a portal to summon more of her kind to this world. Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s script was to destroy and dominate this realm. And it so happened that Xia Lei was an obstacle to her n. Under those circumstances, how could he still work with Zhu Xuanyue?
Thest AE capsule glided along his throat into his stomach. Soon, the signature odd coldness that apanied each capsule slowly bloomed across his stomach.
Xia Lei had taken eleven of the same capsules in the past but none of them had quite felt the same as the final one. He did feel the same coldness with thest eleven capsules but those had felt more like a lovely popsicle on a summer afternoon. The effects were gone as fast as it had appeared. But this time, the iciness did not fade away. It continued to grow stronger as it slowly epassed his whole body!
In his body, the mysterious surge of energy that had been dormant all this while was awakened. In all of a sudden, Xia Lei was aware of every moving cell coursing through his brain and bloodstreams. They were all blending into the newly-entered substance!
Cold!
An indescribable feeling ravaged his insides before seeping out to the surface. One minuteter, Xia Lei¡¯s clothes stiffened and began absorbing the remaining moisture in the air. It began to solidify.
¡°Why... Why is this happening?¡± Xia Lei was terrified.
The substance continued to flow through his vessels to reach every organ and every cell. The mysterious energy was starting to grow stronger with every particle absorbed off the substance. Soon, an entirely unique form of hunger was birthed. The sensation brought absolute fear to Xia Lei. He was fully aware of what he wished to consume!
If there was a demon dwelling within everyone¡¯s body then his demon was nowpletely awakened.
Could this be what the prehistoric chosen one was after?
What good would he bring to the prehistoric chosen one after turning into a demon?
As the thought was manifested, Xia Lei was not given enough time to ponder as his brain thundered loudly. Following that came a nket of darkness. His body slumped off his chair and remained there.
Chapter 1164 - Super Bodyguard
Chapter 1164 - Super Bodyguard
For the unconscious, the passing of time bore no feeling.
After a long while, Xia Lei¡¯s fingers finally twitched. He opened his eyes. He peered down and found that his clothes had returned to its original state but his body was still a tad bit rigid from the coldness. There were still chillsing from inside his bones, it felt pretty awful.
But as soon as he realized that he still had his physical body, Xia Lei was relieved. After taking the final AE capsule, Xia Lei was worried that some form of intense chemical reaction would have transpired and caused his body to disintegrate. Thankfully, the paranoia was in vain.
Evolution was slow. While he had swallowed thest AE capsule and activated thest leg of his evolution, it did not mean that he¡¯d reach its apex form right away. There was a process of indefinite duration but Xia Lei was confident that he wouldn¡¯t attain his final form very soon.
Xia Lei struggled to mber up from the ground. Then, he left the basement.
The skies were still dark at this hour and the round full moon was hung on the far horizon. The lunar body was dim and seemingly cold tonight.
Xia Lei watched the moon, suddenly feeling all too lonely. He had never once felt that emotion in his life. He had five gorgeous wives, four adorable and smart children, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and the Relief Society. They all looked after each other and have sworn to fight alongside one another. He had possessed a lot ofpany and he knew this feeling shouldn¡¯t have existed. Yet, it emerged and was so abrupt at that.
Could it be that his sudden loneliness was an omen to his departure? Perhaps it was a clear sign that he was soon to leave his wives and children and the rest of the world behind.
Xia Lei had no answers.
But at this very moment, he felt exceptionally lonely.
He returned to Tang Yuyan¡¯s roomter. The warmth radiating off the bedroom and the mild fragrance wafting off Tang Yuyan¡¯s body had helped soothe his senses. The woman was still soundly asleep among the sheets. Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but think about their earlier passionate tangling of limbs and everything else they¡¯d experienced together with gentle eyes.
Despite his staring, Tang Yuyan did not stir. She seemed to be enjoying a sweet dream, judging from the blissful sweet smile she had on the corners of her lips.
Xia Lei stripped off his clothes but did not join her in bed. He entered the bathroom and turned the hot water on max. He stood under the showerhead and let the hot water gush down.
The warmth restored some temperature and washed away a part of his suffocating loneliness. For a moment, Xia Lei felt like he was still a normal human being. An important feeling that he had realized he took for granted in the past.
¡°Yawn... ¡° Tang Yuyan¡¯s voice was heard from outside the bathroom. ¡°Hubby, it¡¯s half past four in the morning. Why are you already awake?¡±
Xia Lei peeked out from behind the shower curtain and replied, ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep so I woke up to take a shower.¡±
¡°Why can¡¯t you sleep?¡± Tang Yuyan was worried now. ¡°Is your body feeling alright?¡±
Xia Lei lied. ¡°Got a little bit of a tummy ache. Maybe it was the herbal soup.¡±
He needed an excuse to hide his problems. While Jiang Ruyi¡¯s three whip soup was innocent, Xia Lei had turned it into his scapegoat.
This was a white lie. He did not wish to plunge his women into ultimate despair before his end had arrived. He wanted to leave behind only the best for the loves of his life. He¡¯d shoulder the loneliness and sadness brought on by the lie alone.
Next morning, everyone in the family was gathered around the dining table for breakfast. The four babies werefortably in their strollers suckling on their bottles. They were on a diet of their mother¡¯s breast milk and not powder form. The Xia family women had all decided to breastfeed their children.
All four of the children were making astonishing progress each day with apparent changes. Those were reflected in their physical coordination, literacy and recitation of Han characters as well as environmental adaptation and interpersonalmunication. Watching his children brought improvement to Xia Lei¡¯s mood. He teased each of them, the melodious bell-likeughter never once ceasing. The five women too had wide smiles and soft eyes at the sight of it. This family was wonderful and the atmosphere this morning was exceptionally remarkable.
¡°Yuyan, I see that you¡¯re having a hard time walking now. Please do not push yourself too hard. I¡¯ll conduct a test on you soon. If you¡¯ve gotten pregnant, you should start to take it easy,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Huh? You can already run tests at this stage?¡± Tang Yuyan was bewildered.
Long Bing smiled. ¡°Fan Fan is the best biotechnologist the country has to offer. The antidote you¡¯re using was created from her research. It¡¯ll be alright. I was tested by her too in the beginning and it¡¯s very urate.¡±
¡°Then I¡¯ll be in your care.¡± Tang Yuyan nodded excitedly, eager to run the test as soon as possible.
Fan Fan chuckled. ¡°We¡¯re a family and we¡¯re technically sisters now. There¡¯s no need to be so courteous.¡±
Tang Yuyanughed. She was already a fan of the dynamics they shared in the family.
¡°Papa!¡± Xia Fan abruptly threw her milk bottle onto the floor. ¡°Pick up!¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei ced his cutleries down and frowned. He chastised his daughter, ¡°You were the one who threw your bottle. Why am I supposed to pick it up for you? Are you asking to be spanked?¡±
Xia Fan drummed her meaty palms on the stroller¡¯s tray as she excitedly chanted, ¡°Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
Fan Fan urged, ¡°Hubby, you should pick that up since she asked.¡±
Xia Lei pointed a finger at Fan Fan and shot her a dirty re. One secondter, he bent over and picked up the milk bottle and returned it to Xia Fan¡¯s tray.
¡°Papa, good.¡± Xia Fan continued to drum her tray. ¡°Feed milk!¡±
At this moment, Xia Long too threw his milk bottle. ¡°Papa! Pick up! Papa! Pick up!¡±
¡°What¡¯s with you?¡± Xia Lei feigned anger. ¡°Are you asking to be spanked too?¡±
Long Bing hissed, ¡°Do you love your daughter more than your son?¡±
Xia Lei was at aplete loss of words.
Before Xia Lei could even pick up Xia Long¡¯s milk bottle, Liang Jiayu and Xia Jianghe mirrored their siblings and threw their bottles. They too began to whine for their father to pick it up.
Xia Lei felt like he was at the brink of insanity. Yes, he was the head of the family that had enjoyed the happiness of a big family and the blessings of many. But he too seemed a person at the lowest level of the family hierarchy. The one with the highest power and status was obviously his four babies, followed by his five women and then him. The milk bottle incident happening before his own eyes was already a real testament to that.
After his children had finally settled down, Xia Lei decided to make an announcement.
¡°My darlings, are you done with breakfast yet?¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± asked Fan Fan.
Xia Lei continued, ¡°Let¡¯s go home. We¡¯re going back to the Peace Mansion after this.¡±
¡°The Peace Mansion?¡± Long Bing was a little weirded out. ¡°Have they relieved the danger?¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s safe now. We may go home now.¡±
Liang Siyao smiled. ¡°That¡¯s great news. I don¡¯t wish to stay here any longer. Our house feels much morefortable than this ce.¡±
¡°I think so too. Going back is definitely better than remaining here,¡± agreed Jiang Ruyi.
The danger was eliminated but only Xia Lei was aware of how it was eradicated and the price he paid.
¡°Ah Bing, drive your Knight XIVter. You all will go ahead and I¡¯ll tail behind,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Why are we moving separately?¡± Long Bing raised an eyebrow.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I need to move those things in the basement home. Those things must not be ced beside you and the children.¡±
Long Bing nodded. ¡°Alright.¡±
The five women set off to pack up and then climbed into Long Bing¡¯s Knight XIV. Tang Yuyan would drive her military off-road vehicle alone and leave the premises first.
Down in the basement, Xia Lei packed up everything. Thepass, the Box of Worlds, the Bronze Book, the silver armour and the crystal skull. He brought everything out of the basement, climbed into his car and ignited the engine.
As soon as his vehicle had left the residential area, Xia Lei could no longer see Long Bing¡¯s car. Both Long Bing and Liang Siyao were aware of what the ancient alloy box was capable of. Hence, they had made it their duty to bring the children as far as they could away from the box. But of course, they were also aware of how Xia Lei was the only one in the world that was immune to the ancient alloy box.
Just as Xia Lei was about to enter the fastne and speed up, a ck Toyota off-road vehicle suddenly drove by his car. When it passed by, Xia Lei noticed a person sitting in the co-driver seat in the other car. He froze.
In the Toyota off-road vehicle was a man dressed in a ck robe. He wore a ck pointed hood that was pressed so low to the point Xia Lei failed to make out his face.
The prehistoric chosen one has appeared.
It was obvious that the ck-robed man was here to rectify if Xia Lei had truly consumed thest AE capsule. And to Xia Lei, the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s presence meant that his super bodyguard had arrived. Xia Lei had now attained some precious time to breathe.
The cars brushed past each other with no furthermunication between Xia Lei and the prehistoric chosen one.
Chapter 1165 - A Text From the Ex-Wife
Chapter 1165 - A Text From the Ex-Wife
No longer threatened, Xia Lei had moved his wives and children back to the Peace Mansion. He began researching bomber nes and fighter jets after settling his family down. His time was scarce and he was painfully aware of that. Toe up with the fighter jet and bomber ne is considered one of the things he wished to aplish before death. So no matter what happens, Xia Lei was adamant on finishing it.
After swallowing thest AE capsule, his brain¡¯s calction and simtion ability had seen great improvement. This was reflected at the moment he entered his superbrain mode. The calction run time and simtion building had gotten incredibly fast and the oue was more refined and precise. In that case, perhaps Thunder Horse¡¯s mass production for the fighter jet and bomber ne would¡¯ve happened sooner than expected.
If Lockheed Martin¡¯s super fighter jet was named the Dragon yer, Xia Lei had decided to name his own super fighter jet the Yan Wang. The bomber ne in progress would be named Kun Peng.
[Note: ¡®Yan Wang¡¯ is short for Yanluo Wang, the ruler of the underworld. ¡®Kun Peng¡¯, on the other hand, is a Chinese mythical beast; It is a massive fish (Kun) that lives in the northern sea that can transform into a giant bird (Peng).]
Soon, the gigantic Peng¡¯s would rise with the wind and soar an impressive distance of nine thousand miles. With the birth of the Kun Peng and Yan Wang, China¡¯s airbat force would be reborn. When that timees, no country would dare to trespass into the southern waters and the military bases of the neighbouring countries would never see American fighter jets and bombers in the skies ever again.
Though this was just a dream, Xia Lei was going to work himself to the bone to realize it. He was like an oilmp, burning himself till his veryst breath for the sake of illuminating the whole of China.
He¡¯d work in the mornings and return to his family in the Peace Mansion at night. He was running out of time. Every second spent with his women and children were precious.
Before long, a week had passed.
As the dusk had settled into night, lights were lit at every corner of the Peace Mansion. Multiple troupes of Special Force members were on their patrol rounds across the perimeter. Other than that, they had even set up checkpoints to inspect cars and personnel entering and exiting the premises. A few anti-aircraft missileunchers were erected, ready to attack at any time. In addition to the ensemble, the Sweeper infantry fighting and the ZTZ100 main battle tanks were out to guard the Thunder Horse Military Factory. There were no blind spots. The tension was at an all-time high. But the atmosphere inside the Peace Mansion was different.
After dinner, Xia Lei and his four children were left in the living room while the women were busy cleaning up the table.
Xia Lei turned on the television and settled on a cartoon channel for the kids. Boonie Bears was currently airing, beginning with an intense fight scene between the bald viin, Vick and the bears, Briar and Bramble. The cartoonish voices were lively.
However, none of the children was interested in the cartoon. They all had their own agendas. Liang Jiayu and Xia Long were busy disassembling toy excavators, tanks and so on into their parts and then re-assembling them. Xia Jianghe and Xia Fan were scribbling around with oil pastels on their art blocks. Xia Jianghe had drawn what looked like a milk bottle. Xia Lei scooted closer to inspect Xia Fan¡¯s drawing and immediately felt the urge to pull his hair out. Xia Fan had drawn a single breast.
Xia Lei rigidly inched closer and smiled at his daughter wryly. ¡°Xia Fan, what did you draw?¡±
With the children¡¯s crazy daily improvements, holding a simple conversation was no longer a problem.
¡°Milk bottle,¡± answered Xia Fan curtly.
At this moment, the five women had joined them in the living room. Now, themon area was bustling with activities.
As soon as Fan Fan realized what her daughter had drawn, she frantically rushed over and pried the pastel in her grip. ¡°Xia Fan, what did you draw?¡±
¡°Milk bottle.¡± Xia Fan repeated her answer with a childish gurgle.
Fan Fan¡¯s smile looked forced. ¡°Darling... Why did you draw a milk bottle?¡±
¡°Hungry.¡± Xia Fan said, ¡°Draw milk to stop hunger.¡±
There was dead silence in the living room before everyone burst outughing.
The four children were in the middle of learning the Chinesenguage. One part of the curriculum consisted of Han characters and the other was ssic idioms. Xia Fan was the most outstanding student among the four children. For her to be able to say something coherent like that was nothing weird anymore. But if news about it were to travel out, she would¡¯ve been hailed as an inte-famous prodigy. Most children around her age would¡¯ve only been able to express their difort and hunger through wailing. Xia Fan, on the other hand, was already able to doodle breasts to satiate her hunger.
Xia Lei could feel his heart hurt for his daughter. He went over and nudged Fan Fan. ¡°You hear that? Your daughter is hungry, she needs some milk now.¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s expressions soured. ¡°But I just fed her before dinner. I don¡¯t have enough milk yet to feed her now.¡±
Xia Lei decided to volunteer himself. ¡°How about I help you with that?¡±
¡°Help your fucking ass, bastard.¡± Fan Fan reprimanded him teasingly before lifting her shirt to allow Xia Fan to suckle on her breast.
Noticing that Xia Fan had milk, the other three children began to ask for the same. Soon, all four babies were clung to their mother¡¯s bosoms. To Xia Lei, this was truly a sight to behold.
The four children had extraordinary appetites. Thankfully, their mothers were capable of producing enough milk to satiate their ferocious hunger. Everything was literally a super standard. However, when the asionally gigantic man baby decides to join in the feeding frenzy, the mothers would be incredibly upied. Hence, the four children had made it a habit to stare at Xia Lei from time to time when feeding as a stern warning.
And as expected, when Xia Lei pretended to lunge for Liang Siyao¡¯s other unupied breast, Liang Jiayu had already raised a palm in preparation to hit him. He turned around and inched closer to Long Bing, prompting Xia Long to raise a palm to defend his meal. Xia Lei moved to Jiang Ruyi¡¯s side and Xia Jianghe quickly covered her mother¡¯s other breast with her palm. No child was willing to share their food with Xia Lei.
The man pouted. ¡°Hmph, stingy babies. You¡¯re all so stingy, I¡¯m never going to y with you again.¡±
Liang Siyao stifled her amusement. ¡°Hubby, if you really want to have some, isn¡¯t there one just beside you? Why the need to fight your own children?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze immediately fell onto Tang Yuyan.
Tang Yuyan, who was in the middle of admiring the lovely breastfeeding scene was caught aback. It took her awhile toe up with a response. Her cheeks were a furious red as she spat, ¡°Siyao, everyone is feeding babies but you¡¯re asking me to feed hubby. What the hell? I refuse to feed this big baby. If you wish to feed, you all should be the ones feeding him instead.¡±
Xia Lei extended his arms and pounced onto Tang Yuyan with a poor imitation of a child¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯m so hungwy... I wanna eat... I¡¯m starving!¡±
Weirdly, Tang Yuyan did not dodge. Instead, she jabbed a finger against his forehead. ¡°Quit fooling around, I¡¯ve got some good news for you.¡±
¡°What is it?¡± Xia Lei asked.
Tang Yuyan gestured for him toe closer. ¡°Put your ear closer to my lips and I¡¯ll tell you what it is.¡±
And so Xia Lei heeded her request.
Tang Yuyan whispered into his ear, her warm breath tickling its shell. ¡°Hubby, I¡¯ve got it.¡±
¡°Got what?¡± Xia Lei feigned ignorance.
That earned a dramatic eye roll from Tang Yuyan. ¡°Idiot, a child of course. Sister Fan Fan¡¯s test results are out. I¡¯m indeed pregnant with your child.¡±
¡°Haha!¡± Xia Lei held her up by the waist and began to twirl. ¡°I¡¯m going to be a father again!¡±
¡°Oi! Be careful! Don¡¯t you dare drop me!¡± Tang Yuyan panicked and grabbed onto Xia Lei¡¯s neck taut.
It was only then that Xia Lei stopped turning around. Despite that, he did not ce Tang Yuyan down. ¡°Is it a son or a daughter?¡±
¡°It¡¯s just a fertilized egg. There¡¯s no way to tell its sex yet. You need to calm down,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Hehe, you¡¯re right. I am a little too excited.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s grin was wide and broad.
Tang Yuyan whispered meekly into his ear again. ¡°Hubby, now that I¡¯m pregnant and one week is over, I won¡¯t be sleeping alone with you any more. Is that alright with you?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°You mean... You¡¯re able to ept that?¡±
Tang Yuyan nodded bashfully. ¡°Now that I¡¯m pregnant, I won¡¯t be able to withstand your bedroom torment. With them around, they¡¯ll be able to protect me.¡±
Xia Lei was overjoyed. ¡°Then I¡¯ll go set up a bigger mattress now, yeah? My loves,e over when you¡¯re done feeding the children.¡±
¡°Pervert.¡± Jiang Ruyi spat.
¡°Why are you so naughty?¡± Liang Siyao shook her head in exasperation.
¡°Are you asking for another child?¡± Long Bing asked.
Fan Fan had nothing to say. She opted to tear her coat down and threw it onto Xia Lei¡¯s face.
Xia Lei unfazed peeled it away and sniffed it hard. ¡°Haha, this smells so good.¡±
Laughter and lighthearted scoldings filled the living room.
As soon as he was out of the living room, Xia Lei suddenly felt a surge of mncholy. A noble job, enjoyed both fame and wealth, had a mountain of wives and children. Those were everything he possessed. It was wonderful, it was admittedly something everyone would kill for. However, the reality was that Xia Lei was running tight on time. Every day passed and one day less. Xia Lei could not imagine how painful it would be to leave his family behind.
He entered the biggest room in the Peace Mansion andid on the massive bed. He couldn¡¯t help but imagine how life would be for his wives and children after his departure.
Beep beep beep...
A text was received by his regr number.
Xia Lei produced the phone and tapped into his inbox.
It was a text from Shentu Tianyin that only bore one line. Congrattions on marrying another gorgeous wife.
The man smiled bitterly at that. He hesitated briefly but replied anyway. Thank you. Please take good care on your end too.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s second message was received almost immediately. I wasn¡¯t expecting a reply from you. Why did you decide to reply this time?
That seemed to put him in deep thought. He then replied, Sometimes we need to brace ourselves and face ufortable realities. No matter what, I hope you¡¯ll take good care of yourself and treat yourself kindly. Career is important but it¡¯s not all there is to life. Love is important but it too isn¡¯t all there is to life. Please treasure whatever you have now. Don¡¯t overwork yourself. If you break down from exhaustion, you¡¯ll lose everything.
Shentu Tianyin: What¡¯s the matter? Why are you so sentimental today?
Xia Lei: Nothing. I just felt like saying that. Alright, it¡¯s bedtime for me now. Good night.
Shentu Tianyin: Goodnight. I really wish to see your children. May I visit you someday?
Xia Lei could feel a headache brewing but replied anyway. Sure.
Shentu Tianyin: Thank you. I¡¯ll prepare some gifts ande to visit your children when suitable. I heard they¡¯re all very smart.
Xia Lei: Hehe, they¡¯re not just smart. They¡¯re literally little demons.
All parents were the same. At the mention of their children, they would feel the urge to boast about their offsprings a little. Evidently, Xia Lei was no different.
Shentu Tianyin: Ah, that makes me more eager to see your children. I¡¯ll be looking forward to the visit. Alright, I¡¯ll stop disturbing you now. Good night.
Xia Lei did not exchange another pleasantry this time. If they went on, there wouldn¡¯t be an appropriate stop to this conversation. He kept his phone and thought, ¡°Why does she want to see my children all of a sudden? If shees here, what would all the women think? Ah, fuck. Better not think about it anymore!¡±
Xia Lei could feel his head throb as soon as he imagined how the meeting between his five wives and Shentu Tianyin would potentially be.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard padding towards this door. A crowd was heading here.
Xia Lei frantically got up from the bed and stood by its side. He was ready to wee the arrival of his five madames.
His five lovely wives entered the room. Long Bing, who was at the tail of the convoy, locked the door behind her back. As soon as the door clicked shut, Tang Yuyan turned around and wished to flee. Her face was flushed red. ¡°Uh, I... I think it¡¯s better if I return to my room. I...¡±
Long Bing blocked her path. ¡°You really think you¡¯ll be able to escape us?¡±
Without warning, Liang Siyao lunged forward and grabbed Tang Yuyan¡¯s forearm. ¡°You¡¯ve already breached the first line of the Xia family rule. To run away at the face of battle. You will now receive your punishment.¡±
Tang Yuyan sputtered, ¡°What family rule? What the hell is that? Why do I know nothing about it?¡±
Xia Lei smirked deviously. ¡°I¡¯m the rule and the rule is I. So there is only one rule we abide by in this family.¡±
Tang Yuyan screamed, ¡°No! Don¡¯te near me! ...Kya!¡±
Due to the sinful acts, the moon grew shy and went to hide behind the thick clouds.
Since he was running out of time, he would have to make the most out of it.
Chapter 1166 - Super Xiao Qian
Chapter 1166 - Super Xiao Qian
Xia Lei left the Peace Mansion for work after breakfast. Entering his personal workshop, all his sinful and lewd endeavoursst night was flooded out of his mind. He switched out his role as a dutiful husband and father to take on another role. Now, he was the owner of the Thunder Horse Organization.
With the morning light shining on him, the faint chilliness he felt was slightly eased. Throughst night¡¯s intimate contact, his wives had noticed the coldness wafting off his body but Xia Lei had failed to provide them with an answer. He knew what was happening. Xia Lei was bound to end up like Zhu Xuanyue. He¡¯d be icy cold from the head to the toe. He¡¯d possess no warmth.
Despite his loss of temperature, his brain and organs were stronger than before. This felt unreasonable because a drop in body temperature would¡¯ve brought upon the weakening of the immune system. However, this statement was only applicable to regr humans. Xia Lei had no longer adhered to the theory.
Xia Lei was bound to be a pure energy body at thepletion of his evolution that had no need for a physical body. Zhu Xuanyue had mentioned this before. In the future, humans would no longer require bodies. They would be using alloy bodies and their energy state would allow humans to enjoy a longer lifespan. Humans would be able tost through lengthy space adventures that¡¯dst several light years. So as humans continue to evolve, physical bodies would be eliminated and reced. Xia Lei, on the other hand, was only one step ahead in the final evolution game. The new iciness he felt was nothing out of the ordinary.
Entering his office, Xia Lei booted his desktop and checked the four share ounts on the American stock market. After arge withdrawal of funds from the ounts during his earlier trip to America, he had no time to manipte his tradings. Naturally, his total assets had shrunk to a mere 2.5 billion USD.
¡°That won¡¯t do. My initial n was to snowball my profit and wreak havoc in the capitalist market. I must see this through. But this amount of money won¡¯t be enough tond any effect. I don¡¯t have enough time to toggle around the share market and there¡¯s only so much I can do with the puppet too. What should I do?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s mind entertained the question. The man closed his eyes and entered his super brain mode.
Now, it was faster for him to enter the super brain mode. The side effects he¡¯d suffer after every usage had lessened greatly too. As his body continued to evolve, he wouldn¡¯t face any adverse effects from using the super brain mode in the near future.
This time, Xia Lei¡¯s activation of the super brain mode was not to continue his study on the fighter jet and bomber nes but to find a solution for his issue on the American stock market.
When working his brain normally, Xia Lei just couldn¡¯t seem to arrive at a viable solution. Things were vastly different as soon as he entered the super brain mode. In an instant, his mind had supplied him with thousands and hundreds of different approaches to the issue. Impressively, every solution was concluded by a series of calctions and analyses that happened under a second!
Hebed through the approaches and narrowed down his choices.
¡°Xiao Qian? Wait. Wasn¡¯t that the spyware I coded? How could I forget it? As long as I change a few things about its construct, Xiao Qian can be the best stock trading software in history. I just need to nt the altered Xiao Qian into the trading tform and it¡¯ll collect all avable information automatically. It¡¯d even buy and sell for me. All I need is a stock market Xiao Qian version to snowball my profits!¡± Xia Lei couldn¡¯t suppress the spotting grin. The solution his brain had provided was indeed his best way out of the problem.
Xia Lei switched over to hisptop and brought his brain back to the super brain mode. He started to work on adapting Xiao Qian to the share market. Paired with his speedy thought process and simtions, his fingers danced furiously across the keyboard. The synchronisation between every element was amazing. Everything was perfectly effective and precise.
Xiao Qian¡¯s share market version was going to be moreplicated than its initial spyware version. After all, it required a certain level of intelligence to allow collection and analysis of trading information and to manipte trading processes to aid his snowballing.
As he worked on Xiao Qian, a new idea was manifested. Xia Lei had suddenly thought of merging the share market version and the spyware version to create a highly intelligent system that was capable of self-management. It had all the potential to grow into something akin to the American¡¯s Tenshin system. If his attempt was sessful, China would have an easier time collecting intel on trades, military affairs, politics and so on from all corners of the globe. At the same time, they¡¯d be able to block off international cyber attacks and utilize Xiao Qian as an invincible firewall!
If this system coulde into fruition, the Super Xiao Qian would be able to y an almost equal role as the super fighter jet and the bomber ne he was working on. This would be another valuable asset to the country.
Boom.
As the thought was born, all the code he had written in the past, including those used on the Thunder Dragon intelligentthe was pushed back to the surface of his consciousness. The jumble of things had even included his most recent codes for the Jing Ke and Phantom drones. Countless programmingnguages were flying across his mind in a flurry. It acted like building blocks that came together as a bricked wall.
Every thought of his was reflected as a line of code. What Xia Lei had gotten off this was not only the prototype of the stock market Xiao Qian but also the Super Xiao Qian version. Even the relevant programmes and electronic details for the Kun Peng fighter jet and Yan Wang bomber ne was birthed.
Two hours had passed.
Xia Lei¡¯s fingers ceased its movements. He picked up his satellite phone and made a call. As soon as the line was connected, he began, ¡°Good evening, Mister Hornick. Uncle Xia, sleep. Uncle Xia sleeps butt naked. Uncle Xia is naughty. I¡¯ve emailed you a software. Copy it and nt it into your workputer when you get back to the office tomorrow.¡±
¡°Yes, my master.¡± Came Hornick¡¯s soulless reply.
This would probably be thest time Xia Lei would use the puppet Zhu Xuanyue created. As long as Xiao Qian was nted into Hornick¡¯s workputer, it¡¯d be able to gain ess into the American stock market tform and began its service.
Now that things were done, Xia Lei decided to take a break. The two-hour-long usage of the super brain mode had triggered an exhausted state in his mind but that was all there was to it. He no longer felt like passing out from sheer stress.
¡°I¡¯ll work on the Yan Wang and Kun Peng after a break.¡± Xia Lei muttered to no one. The man then left his seat to make himself tea.
Before he could even take a sip, Qin Xiang had appeared at the door of his office. d in a matching officedy attire set, his lips were painted a smoky red. Qin Xiang was now Xia Lei¡¯s current secretary.
After Qing Caiyue¡¯s unfortunate passing, Xia Lei had intended to hire another female secretary. Yet, Liang Siyao had arranged Qin Xiang to take up the job. Liang Siyao¡¯s rationale was tant. Her arrangement for Qin Xiang to be his secretary was to stop Xia Lei from getting another pretty female secretary. She had enough people trying to get their hands on him. As the CEO of the Thunder Horse Organization and Xia Lei¡¯s wife, to have Qin Xiang be his secretary could be easily done with just her words.
¡°Director Xia, there¡¯s no need to make yourself tea. All you need to do is call for me.¡± Qin Xiang walked over, his hips swaying sassily with each step taken. His walk was more entuated than a runway model.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly at him. ¡°Have you not heard of male suits? Is this really a good look?¡±
Qin Xiang rolled his eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Dude, it¡¯s the twenty-first century. Why are you still stuck with a boomer¡¯s mindset? The country has allowed you to marry five wives and yet I¡¯m not allowed to dress the way I like?¡±
Xia Lei was rendered speechless. He shrugged. ¡°As long as you¡¯re happy, Big Sister Qin.¡±
Qin Xiang grinned. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±
¡°Is something going on?¡±
¡°Of course.¡± Qin Xiang said, ¡°Shentu Tianyin is waiting outside. If you don¡¯t wish to see her, I¡¯ll tell her to go home.¡±
¡°Ah. Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier?¡± Xia Lei quickly walked over to greet her outside the door.
If it had been someone else, he would¡¯ve chosen not to entertain them. Heck, he wouldn¡¯t even have thought of greeting them personally. But Shentu Tianyin was different. After all, she was someone he had once loved in the past. He was never one to hold grudges after a breakup. While he had been her scapegoat years ago, Xia Lei had never once med her. Shentu Tianyin would always have a special spot in his heart.
Shentu Tianyin was waiting for him in the corridor. Her ck skirt was meticulously tailored, a simple look but impactful. There was a ck hat sitting atop her crown. Wrapped around the hat was a red ribbon band that had little ribbon roses. It gave her a youthful and vibrant impression. While the ck sleek handbagplementing her outfit was nothing too luxurious, it looked fitting.
She still was as gorgeous as he had remembered her. Impably dressed and cold as usual.
Despite her icy morous exterior, Xia Lei was aware of the burning heart beneath heryers that once belonged to him.
They locked gazes, none of them daring to say a word. A weird synergy emerged.
Qin Xiang cleared his throat. ¡°Uh, I¡¯ll go do rounds at the workshops. Please make yourselvesfortable.¡±
¡°Go. Go.¡± Xia Lei was wishing for his departure. Then, he shed Shentu Tianyin a smile. ¡°I thought you were going to visit my house. I wasn¡¯t expecting to find you here.¡±
Shentu Tianyin waited till Qin Xiang was out of earshot before replying meekly, ¡°You weren¡¯t at home. If I went there, your wives would¡¯ve red the hell out of me. Even if I didn¡¯t die from their res, I would¡¯ve been skinned alive.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled sheepishly. ¡°Come in.¡±
Just as he was about to close the door after her entry, Xia Lei was suddenly reminded of something. He gave up on the thought. He had five wives and three of them were special agents. The Peace Mansion was only a short distance away from the office block. There was no way they wouldn¡¯t find out that Shentu Tianyin was here. He had only intended to chat with Shentu Tianyin but if he closed the door, it would have raised red gs.
Xia Lei¡¯s small gesture did not escape Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eye. Noticing that he left the door open, the woman couldn¡¯t help but feel a little upset about it. She wasn¡¯t intending to do anything unsightly with Xia Lei behind closed doors but Xia Lei¡¯s action was obviously done out of consideration of his wives. Shentu Tianyin was now an outsider.
¡°What would you like to drink?¡± asked Xia Lei courteously.
¡°Just water would do,¡± answered Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei poured her a ss of water and studied her form. ¡°You¡¯ve lost weight.¡±
Shentu Tianyin had a ghost of a smile clinging to her painted lips. ¡°My workload has taken over me and I have no one to love. It¡¯s no wonder that I¡¯ve grown thin. You have lost some weight too, why is that so?¡±
There was a hint of sadness to her lovely smile.
Chapter 1167 - A Rare Metal in a Nigerian Mine
Chapter 1167 - A Rare Metal in a Nigerian Mine
¡°Have I really lost weight?¡± Xia Lei had never once felt that way. On the contrary, his weight had been pretty constant for a while now. There was no way he would¡¯ve thinned.
Shentu Tianyin chuckled lowly. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Perhaps it¡¯s because I haven¡¯t seen you in a very long time. You look thinner than you were in the past. Have you been overworking? Or could it be because of your wives?¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯te up with a response.
Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for a man to handle five women. Not only was Xia Lei able to satiate their sexual appetite, but he also had the energy to spare. Despite that, for Shentu Tianyin to say those things bore another vour. She wasn¡¯t the kind to joke around or talk dirty. It seemed that she wasfortable enough around Xia Lei to joke and speak freely.
After all, they were once in love. There was a time where they knew each other like the back of their hand. Even sitting together in silence made it easy to find hints of the warmth and intimacy they shared before.
¡°Uh... Sorry, I shouldn¡¯t run my mouth like that. I¡¯m not your wife anymore and you have the freedom to not answer me,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Wasn¡¯t this just another way of getting his answer? Xia Lei forced a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve been spending time recently with a lot of activities. I clock-in to work every morning and tend to my children at night.¡±
There was a beat of silence. Shentu Tianyin asked, ¡°Are you happy now?¡±
Xia Lei nodded firmly. ¡°I¡¯m very happy with life. My wives and children are great and I really appreciate everything I own now. How about you? Have you been doing alrighttely?¡±
Shentu Tianyin returned a bitter smile. ¡°Do you think I¡¯ve been doing alright? I... I just can¡¯t forgive myself and you¡¯ve... Honestly, it¡¯s toote to say anything now.¡±
She had divorced him and Xia Lei was already a husband to five women. He even had four children now. There was no return to what they were before. It was impossible for them to revert to their shared life.
The atmosphere in the office was suffocatingly awkward.
¡°Haha.¡± Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°Shall we talk about something else? I see that Vientiane Group has been doing well on the American share market. You¡¯ve managed to raise the entry to twelve American dors. With the one billion dor worth of Vientiane shares in my hand, I¡¯ve been able to gather a fortune with you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin stared at him hard. ¡°How long are you nning to keep up with this lie?¡±
Xia Lei was slightly stunned. ¡°Huh?¡±
¡°I know you were the one who helped Vientiane Group through tough times. It was all thanks to your help that Vientiane shares were able to see a rise in the American share market, no?¡±
¡°Ah, so you mean that.¡± Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Since I was going to profit, I might as well help you out rather than helping someone else. After all, we¡¯re friends aren¡¯t we?¡±
¡°Just friends?¡± A slight sadness glimmered in her eyes.
Xia Lei could decipher her subtleties but he didn¡¯t know what to say.
¡°Why are you so kind to me? I¡¯ve betrayed you and yet you offered me a choice under that situation. But between you and the Vientiane Group, I¡¯ve chosen thetter. You should despise me. Why are you still so nice to me?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s lips were pulled into a taut smile. ¡°I could understand where you wereing from. In that situation, the country wouldn¡¯t have done much to me. If they decided to punish you, you would¡¯ve been pped with a death sentence or life imprisonment due to the sheer amount of money involved. I gave you the choice and you chose the Vientiane Group because it was the blood, sweat and tears of you and your father. Vientiane Group is an important part of your lives...¡±
Shentu Tianyin interjected sharply, ¡°You still think of me, don¡¯t you?¡±
Was that true? Did his heart still have a spot for Shentu Tianyin?
Was Xia Lei still in love with her?
He had never once indulged in those thoughts. Now that he was faced with the question, he really had no answer to offer. After the divorce, he had fooled around and gathered a mountain of gorgeous wives and created many children. Xia Lei even had a long-term affair with Tsukino Kyoko. His sex life was exceptionally well-rounded. But what about Shentu Tianyin? She had abstained from any form of intimacy without a single dating scandal, let alone a real boyfriend. With her beauty and status, it was natural for her to gather a crowd of admirers.
In another sense, the divorce was a kind of relief to Xia Lei; he had managed to obtain true happiness. On the other hand, it had only brought solitude, pain and hollowness to Shentu Tiayin.
¡°There¡¯s no one else here, your wives are not present either. Can¡¯t you just tell me your answer? It really is important to me,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei sighed. ¡°Tianyin, what will you gain from this? What would the answers do for you? You should...¡±
¡°I should?¡±
¡°You should move on. Forget about me and seek out a man that can love you then spend the rest of your lives in bliss. You deserve happiness and you shouldn¡¯t continue to dwell on the past,¡± answered Xia Lei. Inexplicably, expressing those thoughts pricked his heart a little.
It was rather upsetting for a man to see someone he had loved before to be together with another man. However, Xia Lei was willing to let her go. He had moved on. It just wasn¡¯t fair for him to take up a spot in her heart and body. Everyone deserves to be loved. It was utterly selfish to do that to her.
¡°Sure. But you should help introduce one to me,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Introduce one to you?¡± Xia Lei didn¡¯t know if he should cry orugh. ¡°I...¡±
Shentu Tianyin interjected him once again, ¡°But I have a condition. I want someone like you.¡±
¡°Like me?¡± Xia Lei wasn¡¯t sure what that meant.
¡°Yes, a copy of you.¡± Shentu Tianyin borated, ¡°Same height, same weight, same face, same eyes. You know I¡¯ve always been fascinated by your eyes. Oh, yeah. He needs to have the same capabilities as you.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°I¡¯m Shentu Tianyin. If I need a man, I only want the best the world has to offer. My ex-husband is a national hero and if I were to re-marry, would I settle for a peasant?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s gaze was burning.
It was from the heat in her eyes that Xia Lei could tell that she had never once forgotten about him. She was still madly infatuated with him. He could even understand her abnormally high standards. She was Shentu Tianyin, the queen of the Vientiane Group. She had all the rights to be the most arrogant woman on the globe. The only man that could dominate her was right in front of her.
However, it was impossible for them to get back together after missed chances.
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei offered a sheepish smile. ¡°I think we should drop the topic. Don¡¯t you want to meet my children? Let me bring you over.¡±
The mncholy clouding Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes grew thicker.
Just as Xia Lei stood, Qin Xiang abruptly appeared at his door with a pinched expression. ¡°Old Xia! Bad news!¡±
Qin Xiang was probably the only person in the whole Thunder Horse Organization that dared to call Xia Lei ¡®Old Xia¡¯ or ¡®Babe¡¯.
Xia Lei snapped his attention over. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±
¡°Your wives are here!¡± Qin Xiang turned around and spared his back a nce. ¡°They¡¯ve arrived at the stairway! I¡¯m gonna run! I¡¯m already in danger for warning you! You better remember to buy me a meal next time!¡±
Before Xia Lei could say anything, Qin Xiang had fled towards the stairway on the other end of the corridor. Just as he was gone, multiple heel ckings along with the rolling of wheels were hearding towards the office.
The sudden appearance of his wives instilled some fear in Xia Lei despite being innocent.
Shentu Tianyin was calm. After Qin Xiang¡¯s abrupt interruption, she shifted into a different demeanour. She turned from into her typical ice queen self from a soft feminine woman. Unhurriedly, she brought out an envelope from her handbag. ¡°Director Xia, let¡¯s talk about business.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Xia Lei was surprised.
The four women entered the office, each of them pushing a baby stroller in. In every carrier sat an adorable baby.
Liang Siyao was the first to speak, ¡°What a coincidence to see you here, Miss Shentu.¡±
Shentu Tianyin nodded slightly and greeted, ¡°Long time no see, Siyao. It¡¯s nice to see you again.¡± Then, she extended her pleasantries to Fan Fan, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°What brings you here, my loves?¡±
Fan Fan answered, ¡°Your precious daughter has been asking to see her papa so I brought her here. Your daughter seems to be closest to you.¡±
Just as Fan Fan¡¯s voice fell, Xia Fan responded, ¡°No want papa. He has no milk.¡±
Xia Lei went rigid.
Shentu Tianyin was surprised. ¡°She can already speak and think clearly?¡±
Fan Fan replied, ¡°Well, it¡¯s all thanks to her father¡¯s genes. She¡¯s really smart.¡±
Honestly, the babies were beyond smart. That, Fan Fan was aware.
Shentu Tianyin studied all four of the children with a weird expression. She had once desired a child with Xia Lei but that wish was never realized. Seeing that Xia Lei had birthed intelligent children with his current wives really made it hard to not think about her regrets.
¡°Miss Shentu, what brings you here today?¡± asked Liang Siyao.
That jerked Shentu Tianyin back to reality. She answered, ¡°Well, you see, the Vientiane Group has a mining spot in Nigeria. They used to mine barite from it but the output was small, so I didn¡¯t pay much attention to it. Recently, our geologists had found a very special metal from within. It¡¯s probably a rare metal.¡±
¡°Rare metal?¡± Xia Lei was shocked, not because that a rare material was found in the Nigerian mine but that Shentu Tianyin actually came here with an official motive.
Shentu Tianyin went on, ¡°Yes, a rare metal. It¡¯s something that has never existed. Our experts had yet to name it. While we¡¯re unsure about much of its properties, there¡¯s one thing we¡¯re sure of...¡± She paused. ¡°Our experts say that the rare metal is capable of absorbing electromaic waves.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Do you have a sample of the rare metal? I¡¯ll like to take a look.¡±
¡°Yes, but it¡¯s in my office,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°I¡¯ll...¡± Just as Xia Lei wanted to express his desire to follow her back, he quickly swallowed those words as soon as he noticed the stare of his wives.
¡°You should report this to the country.¡± Fan Fan exined, ¡°It¡¯s a big issue and requires confidentiality. It¡¯s best not to let the Nigerian government know about this too soon.¡±
Shentu Tianyin replied, ¡°I¡¯ll be reporting this to the government soon but that area has been gued by war at the moment. I won¡¯t be able to start mining the rare metal yet. However, there is something I must say. I have been visited by four Americans yesterday that im to be part of some international miningpany. They expressed their wishes to purchase the mine from me.¡±
Inexplicably, Xia Lei was abruptly reminded of a recent intel. A couple of dangerous figures had entered through their borders from America. He was initially unbothered by it but now that Shentu Tiayin said that four Americans had visited her with intentions to buy over Vientiane¡¯s mine in Nigeria, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but piece the two together.
Chapter 1168 - Tianyin, Do You Want It Natural or Artificial?
Chapter 1168 - Tianyin, Do You Want It Natural or Artificial?
¡°How did you answer them?¡± Fan Fan was even more anxious than Xia Lei was.
Shentu Tianyin answered, ¡°I didn¡¯t entertain them much on the topic. I merely acknowledged their request and then rushed over. Director Xia, I know you hold a great presence internationally and the Thunder Horse Organization is a well-known arms dealer. If we both can work together, we might be able to start mining the rare metal.¡±
To mine something that had no value in a war-stricken area wouldn¡¯t be an issue. However, things would be different if a rare material is involved. The Nigerian government, rebellion force and terrorist organizations would flood over. That wasn¡¯t even the worst-case scenario. The worst would ur when the American government decides to be involved. When that happens, Vientiane Group wouldn¡¯t be able to keep the mine to themselves.
That exined Shentu Tiayin¡¯s visit. The Nigerian mine was undoubtedly arge cake and yet she was willing to share it with Xia Lei.
¡°Hubby, you should go check out the sample.¡± Fan Fan continued, ¡°I¡¯ll go report this to the chief now. Give me a call after you¡¯ve seen the sample so I can report further details to the chief.¡±
Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi said nothing. All they could do was stare at Xia Lei. This whole thing had happened so suddenly that they couldn¡¯t getfortable with it.
Xia Lei understood that they didn¡¯t want him to follow Shentu Tianyin back to the Vientiane Group. However, he hardened his resolution and said, ¡°The Americans have targeted us with a Dragon yer Project. Lockheed Martin is the middle of creating a super fighter jet to suppress our military power. If they manage to get ahold of that rare metal, it would be equivalent to the Americans getting ahold of Thunder Horse¡¯s Alloy X. This will allow them to restore their airbat advantages. If that happens, it will be a nightmare to our country and the people.¡±
¡°Go.¡± Liang Siyao finally caved in. After all, this was an official matter that involved national interests. Compared to it, a jealousy fight between women was not worth mentioning.
¡°Be careful, okay?¡± reminded Long Bing.
¡°Come back soon. I made you soup for tonight,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
A smile bloomed across Xia Lei¡¯s face. ¡°Then I¡¯ll head over and take a look.¡± He lunged forward to whisper in Jiang Ruyi¡¯s ear, ¡°Is it that kind of soup?¡±
Jiang Ruyi nodded and replied in equal volume, ¡°Of course.¡±
¡°Ruyi, I need you to help look after my daughter for a moment,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°No problem.¡± Jiang Ruyi agreed.
Fan Fan cooed to Xia Fan, ¡°Xia Fan, mama needs to leave for work. Is it alright for you to stay with your fourth mother for awhile?¡±
¡°Yeah. Fourth mother, milk.¡± Xia Fan spread her chubby arms wide, beckoning Jiang Ruyi to pick her up.
Jiang Ruyi looked like she was stuck betweenughing and crying.
Before Jiang Ruyi could pick Xia Fan out, Xia Jianghe quickly expressed her displeasure to the other baby. ¡°No! Not for you!¡±
Laughter erupted.
Shentu Tianyin wished tough too but she found it hard to do so. She couldn¡¯t help but fantasize how life would¡¯ve been like she hadn¡¯t divorced Xia Lei. If she and Xia Lei had children, would their children be as intelligent too?
¡°Can I hold the baby?¡± Inexplicably, Shentu Tianyin had the sudden urge to hold Xia Lei¡¯s children.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Sure. You¡¯re free to hold anyone.¡±
Before the woman could even decide, Xia Long quickly offered himself. ¡°Auntie, hug.¡±
¡°Oh, my. You¡¯re such a good boy.¡± Shentu Tianyin held the boy up from his stroller and praised, ¡°You¡¯re so firm and solid! I can¡¯t believe this. Your son is only so small but his intelligence is alreadyparable to older children.¡±
Out of the blue, Xia Long reached up and tugged on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s cor. He gurgled, ¡°Auntie, milk please.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Shentu Tianyin was caught by surprise, the awkwardness sinking into her mind. ¡°I... I don¡¯t have milk.¡±
Long Bing quickly stepped over and spanked Xia Long¡¯s buttocks. ¡°You little rascal. Aren¡¯t you ashamed of asking for milk from any woman youe across? You¡¯re just like your father.¡±
Xia Lei froze. ¡°I... I what?¡±
It was then that Long Bing realized that she had said something she shouldn¡¯t. ¡°Go, go. Be back soon, we¡¯ll be waiting for your return at dinner.¡±
Xia Lei followed, ¡°Tianyin, let¡¯s go. Bring me to the sample you got from the mine.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Shentu Tianyin gently returned Xia Long to his mother and followed Xia Lei out.
It was only after their departure that Jiang Ruyi spoke, ¡°It¡¯s such a surprise to find Shentu Tianyin here. I really don¡¯t know if the rare metal she speaks of is true. I feel like she has some kind of ulterior motive.¡±
Fan Fan, who had yet to leave, replied, ¡°When I talked about going to visit the chief, she didn¡¯t have anything against it. I¡¯m sure she wouldn¡¯t lie about something like that. I believe that the rare metal she speaks of is real.¡±
Liang Siyao said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Hubby will see through his promises.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be leaving now,¡± said Fan Fan.
¡°Mama, milk before leave!,¡± said Xia Fan.
¡°All you know is to eat, eat and eat. Go ask your fourth mother to feed you milk, Mama needs to leave now.¡± Fan Fan turned around and fled.
Jiang Ruyi could only watch her leave in silence.
The silver Rolls-Royce Phantom zoomed towards the direction of downtown Jingdu under Shentu Tianyin¡¯s steering. She had not brought her bodyguard/driver, Bo Mingmei along this time. Perhaps she had wished for some privacy to spend with Xia Lei. With Bo Mingmei around, some things would¡¯ve been left unsaid.
¡°Tianyin, do you recall how the four Americans looked?¡± Xia Lei disrupted the silence in the moving vehicle.
¡°I really like your children. Your sons and daughters are all so lovely.¡± Shentu Tianyin did not answer his question.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You too can have children of your own. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be smart and cute too.¡±
Shentu Tiayin cast a look over. ¡°But who¡¯s going to make them with me?¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Xia Lei was at a loss for words.
A sigh rolled out of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s throat. ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m destined to be lonely for the rest of my life. That mistake has cost me my happiness. When you grow old, you¡¯ll have your children¡¯spany. My father is bound to leave me someday and I can¡¯t escape age too. I feel awful every time I think about my future. I can¡¯t help but ask myself this. What the hell am I trying to achieve through earning so much money?¡±
A sourness began to settle at the pit of Xia Lei¡¯s heart. He attempted tofort her, ¡°Tianyin, please don¡¯t take things that way. Keeping an optimistic mindset is very important. Plus, you deserve the best man in this world.¡±
¡°But I¡¯ve already lost him,¡± answered Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei fell silent once again.
¡°Can you bear to see me live my life in absolute loneliness? When I grow old, I¡¯ll have no child to look after me.¡± The corners of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eye grew moist.
She was a prideful woman. There was no way she would fall for someone else, which seemed to solidify her destiny to not have children with another man. As she grew older, other than those greedy for her wealth, she wouldn¡¯t be graced with any genuinepany. Let alone receive the filial piety of her own children. Even if she could earn billions, what was the use of it?
Wealth would never be a standard to measure mortal happiness.
¡°Do you wish for me to end up like that?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated. ¡°Tianyin, is there anything I can help you with?¡±
Shentu Tianyin trembled as her words escaped her lips. ¡°Children. I want a child.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei was stunned.
Shentu Tianyin exined, ¡°When we got married back then, I wanted to give you a son and a daughter so I¡¯ve never gone on any birth control. Despite that, I have no idea why I¡¯ve failed to be pregnant.¡±
Back then, Fan Fan had yet to create the antidote.
¡°Tianyin...¡±
¡°You¡¯re the only person in this world who is allowed to touch me. No one else is allowed to do the same. I know they don¡¯t wish for you to be with me and it¡¯s toote to reconcile. I just want a child, a child made by you and me. When I grow old, they¡¯d be able to take care of me and go on long strolls together. They¡¯d be the sessor to the Vientiane Group too. That is all I¡¯m asking for, can you grant me that? I¡¯ve never needed to beg anyone in my life but here I am,¡± pleaded Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei felt sad. Seeing Shentu Tianyin reduced to this state made his heartache. But the woman was asking for a child. That alone spelt trouble to him.
¡°You don¡¯t need to answer me now,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. Tears were starting to roll in her eyes.
Xia Lei thought to himself darkly, ¡°My life is seeping away and I¡¯m bound to die within a year. Could I bear to see her age with loneliness after my departure? I¡¯ve left Thunder Horse¡¯s original shares for Siyao, Ah Bing, Ruyi, Fan Fan and even Tang Yuyan along with children. But all I¡¯ve ever given Tianyin was mental torture. This is too unfair for her...¡±
¡°Will you consider it?¡± While Shentu Tianyin had agreed to spare Xia Lei some time, her impatience was obvious.
Xia Lei braced himself and probed, ¡°Well, uh... Tianyin, do you want it artificially or naturally?¡±
Inexplicably, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s cheeks turned red. ¡°Is there a difference?¡±
¡°Is there no difference?¡±
¡°I... I actually did go for a consultation. The experts told me that artificial insemination could possibly cause deformation and I don¡¯t wish that to happen to my child. Plus, I heard the process is pretty ufortable. As you know, I¡¯m not a fan of pain.¡± The redness to her cheeks grew stronger.
While she did not state her preferences, her words hinted at her answer. Clearly, she wanted natural insemination.
¡°I... I¡¯m just asking. Can you please give me some time to think this through?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s nerves were edged.
¡°Sure.¡± The woman replied curtly, a smile finally forming at the corners of her lips.
Who was she? Shentu Tianyin was Xia Lei¡¯s ex-wife. She knew Xia Lei like the back of her hand. She had a firm understanding of everything rted to him. She knew him almost as well as she knew herself. For Xia Lei to show such a response was within her expectations.
¡°Now can you please tell me about the four Americans?¡± Xia Lei switched the topic. If they went on, he would¡¯ve been rendered speechless.
Shentu Tianyin answered, ¡°They were all Caucasians. I¡¯m not quite sure how to describe their appearances but I think all Caucasians look about the same. I have surveince footage in the office, you can have a look when we¡¯re there.¡±
¡°Where are they now?¡±
¡°They left after I talked to them briefly. I have no idea they¡¯re headed to after that.¡±
¡°Are they aware that you have a sample of the rare metal?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t think so. I didn¡¯t tell them that. Frankly, you¡¯re the first to find out about it,¡± said Shentu Tiayin.
The silver Rolls-Royce Phantom continued its journey into Jingdu city.
Chapter 1169 - Ex-husband, Ex-wife
Chapter 1169 - Ex-husband, Ex-wife
The Vientiane Group Jingdu Headquarters.
Xia Lei followed Shentu Tianyin to the door of Vientiane Group¡¯s confidential room. Shentu Tianyin made a quick move to enter the passcode and input her thumbprint. With that, the doors were opened.
They entered the space, immediately weed by the sight of multiple vaults and document cabs. The cabs were bursting at its seams with mountains of documents and relevant agreements.
Vientiane Group had a market value of hundreds of billions and its business scope had covered almost all walks of life. Therefore, it was a must to keep these things well. It was not hard to tell the importance of this room to Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you station a guard to look after such an important ce?¡± Xia Lei asked.
Shentu Tianyin paced over to a vault and answered, ¡°I did. Usually, there¡¯s two of them stationed at the door. I¡¯m not sure why there¡¯s no one here now. Perhaps we caught them in the middle of a shift rotation.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°Tianyin, this is no small matter. This ce is important and if someone with ulterior motives gains ess to this ce, you¡¯ll be in big trouble.¡±
Shentu Tianyin smiled. ¡°No one would dare to trouble me now.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
Shentu Tianyin replied, ¡°Well, everyone in the industry knows that I¡¯m your ex-wife. With your significant support, who in the right mind would dare to offend me?¡±
Xia Lei merely smiled and said nothing else. But he believed her words. With his current title in China and irreceable importance to the nation¡¯s interest, who would¡¯ve dared to mess with his women? Although Shentu Tianyin was no longer his wife, they had a history. That alone was enough to drive trouble away.
Shentu Tianyin unlocked the vault and retrieved a silver aluminium alloy box from within. She opened the box only to scream. The box plopped onto the ground.
There was nothing inside. The box was empty!
Xia Lei was shocked. ¡°Tianyin, are you sure the rare metal sample was in this box?¡±
¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure about that. The geologist that returned from Nigeria had brought the rare metal back in this very box. I don¡¯t know anything about rare metals but I¡¯m aware of its importance. That¡¯s why I chose to store it in the confidential room¡¯s vault. I ced this in myself and I was the one who locked it up. How...? How could it have gone missing?¡± Shentu Tianyin looked extremely anxious.
¡°It must have something to do with the four Americans. Bring me to your surveince room,¡± instructed Xia Lei.
¡°Right away!¡± Shentu Tianyin picked up her pace and led him outside. In between rushed steps, she attempted to exin, ¡°I swear I wasn¡¯t telling lies. I have no idea what happened...¡±
Xia Lei patted her shoulder. ¡°Calm down. Even if the sample is missing, it¡¯s just a sample. You still have the mine. If there¡¯s a need, you could just have someone bring another piece back.¡±
Just as his warm palm fell atop her shoulder, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s body twitched ever so slightly. She had no idea how long it had been since Xia Lei hadst touched her. Though this was nothing but a light brush, it still sent a small jolt down her body. After all, Xia Lei was the only man other than her father to have touched her body. It had been too long since she hadst felt his warmth.
¡°Uh... Sorry. That was rude of me,¡± apologized Xia Lei with an awkward expression.
Shentu Tianyin felt faint sadness. ¡°So you¡¯re going to apologize just because of a light touch to my shoulder? You¡¯ve done plenty to me in the past and you¡¯ve never once thought of apologizing.¡±
If the contact had been from someone else, she would not tolerate it. But if it was Xia Lei, nothing was off-limits. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have requested a child from Xia Lei, let alone hint that she wished to be impregnated naturally.
Xia Lei offered a small sheepish smile.
Exiting the confidential room, Xia Lei followed Shentu Tianyin into the surveince room. A few security personnel were on their job. As soon as they noticed her presence, they quickly scrambled up and saluted in unison. ¡°Director.¡±
Shentu Tianyin returned them a light nod and instructed, ¡°Pull out the footage on the four American visitors we received earlier today. Me and my hu... I mean, me and Mister Xia would like to take a look.¡±
She was close to calling Xia Lei her husband again but was quick to correct herself.
One of the security staff moved to manipte one of theputers and heeded her request.
On the other end, a security staff whispered quietly to his colleague. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Thunder Horse Organization Director, Mister Xia Lei? I know he¡¯s our director¡¯s ex-husband but why is he here?¡±
¡°Hey, pipe it down. Everyone here knows that the director is still madly in love with her ex-husband. She still leaves out a set of cutleries for him at home during each meal. Our director has never stopped seeing Mister Xia Lei as her own husband.¡± The other security member answered.
Their conversation was discreet. Normally, no one would be able to pick up on it but Xia Lei¡¯s hearing had amplified their words. It felt as if they were speaking straight into his ears.
¡°She... She still puts out a set of cutleries for me every meal? What...¡± Xia Lei was immediately assaulted by a flood of mixed feelings. Involuntarily, their shared past began pouring out from the depths of his memory.
Shentu Tianyin did not catch their whispered gossipings. She stayed rooted beside the security personnel working theputer, eyes glued to the screen. She was focused but also anxious. Now that her sample had vanished out of thin air, she wasn¡¯t too worried about what Xia Lei would think about the situation. However, she was more worried about having Xia Lei¡¯s five wives think that she was a filthy liar. If that was the case, for her toe in contact with Xia Lei in the future would prove to be difficult.
¡°That¡¯s weird...¡± The security staff at theputer suddenly spoke. ¡°Director, I have no idea why but the footage of the four American¡¯s arriving is missing. Weirdly, the timestamps for the footage are all normal. Could we have failed to record it?¡±
¡°How is that possible?¡± Shentu Tianyin was shocked. She instinctively turned around to spare Xia Lei a look. When she was met with difficulties in the past, she would¡¯ve showcased the same action on reflex. It was obvious that Xia Lei still had a solid spot in her heart as support worth depending on.
¡°Let me have a look.¡± Xia Lei walked over.
The security staff moved away.
Xia Lei went over but did not take a seat. He immediately entered the system script and began tapping his fingers across the keyboard. The speed of his typing was almost like the pitter-patter of rain against the window. His movements were so fast that it was difficult to keep track of his progress.
Shentu Tianyin watched Xia Lei silently. A focused Xia Lei had always been exceptionally attractive to her.
Two minutester, Xia Lei stopped. ¡°Someone has hacked into your surveince system. I must say, the other party is a professional.¡±
¡°What?¡± The security staff working theputer earlier was shocked. ¡°How could we not have picked up on that? This surveince system was custom made by the best cybersecurity professionals in the country. It cost us more than two million.¡±
Xia Lei did not offer him an exnation. He turned to face Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Let¡¯s talk outside.¡±
Shentu Tianyin obediently nodded and followed him out of the surveince room.
The security personnel looked at each other in utter confusion. Frankly speaking, they were not too convinced by Xia Lei¡¯s statement. After all, this was a professional surveince system tailored by a professionalpany. There was bound to be traces left behind by an attack, yet they¡¯ve failed to notice any abnormality. But if they were to find out that Xia Lei was the world¡¯s best hacker that had battled the Tenshin system, they would¡¯ve certainly believed him.
Exiting the surveince room, Xia Lei abruptly stopped in the middle of the corridor.
¡°What exactly is going on?¡± Shentu Tianyin was confused and concerned.
Xia Lei studied the surveince camera in the corridor through the corner of his eye. Without saying anything, he began walking towards the end of the corridor.
Shentu Tianyin was not a trained agent like Liang Siyao and Long Bing. She urgently chased after him. ¡°Why are you not saying anything?¡±
¡°You lied to me! There¡¯s no rare metal at all, right?¡± Xia Lei was positively fuming. ¡°You¡¯ve lied to me and you¡¯re still trying to deceive me now. Do you really think I¡¯m easy to fool?¡±
¡°I...¡± Shentu Tianyin froze, tears bursting out of her rims like a broken dam. She wasn¡¯t expecting Xia Lei to call her out from the surveince room for a lecture. This was a merciless scratch at her mental scar.
Following that, Xia Lei resumed his journey to the end of the corridor. He walked and continued to scold, ¡°I¡¯m thoroughly disappointed by you! From now on, you and I shall never cross paths! Don¡¯te looking for me! Forget about my agreement to invest five billion dors in your business! Goodbye!¡±
Shentu Tianyin was shell-shocked. She thought to herself, ¡°Since did we speak about a five billion dor investment? I¡¯ve never asked him for money. Why is he saying something like that?¡±
Just as she mulled over the thought, Shentu Tianyin immediately picked up on his intention. She quickly caught up and replied, ¡°Hey! How dare you treat me like this! Do you think you¡¯ll be able to walk away after yelling at me?!¡±
The both of them went back and forth until they reached the stairway.
Xia Lei went into the stairs, only stopping when he confirmed that they had arrived at a surveince blindspot. He pulled Shentu Tianyin¡¯s arm and shot her an apologetic look. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I wasn¡¯t doing that to anger you. Someone has nted spyware into yourpany¡¯s surveince system. Everything you do is now under their careful watch. I don¡¯t know who the other party is at the moment but I¡¯ve made too many enemies over the years. I¡¯m only doing that to protect you.¡±
¡°I know but I really felt like crying...¡± mumbled Shentu Tianyin as her tears continued to flow. Though she was clear that it was merely an act, those words still stung badly.
Xia Lei too felt awful. ¡°You¡¯ve never cried in the past. Why have you be such a crybaby now?¡±
Shentu Tianyin rubbed her tears away. ¡°It¡¯s all your fault. No matter what you say or do, even if you aren¡¯t by my side, anything about you is able to influence my emotions.¡±
¡°Tianyin...¡± Xia Lei switched the topic. ¡°Listen to me. They¡¯re targeting you now. You¡¯re in great danger now, you need toe with me.¡±
¡°Where to?¡±
Xia Lei thought for a moment. ¡°Come to my house for the time being. You will only be safe in my house.¡±
¡°But...¡± As soon as Shentu Tianyin thought of the five female owners of the Peace Mansion, she was reluctant.
¡°I know what you¡¯re worried about. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll exin the situation to them.¡±
Shentu Tianyin hesitated but returned a nod eventually.
¡°Go prepare yourself. I need to make a call now,¡± said Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin quickly turned to leave.
Xia Lei brought out his satellite phone and dialled for Fan Fan. ¡°Honey, something has happened on my end...¡±
Chapter 1170 - Out of Reach
Chapter 1170 - Out of Reach
Shentu Tianyin had driven them over to the Vientiane Group headquarters with her Rolls-Royce Phantom. But when she left with Xia Lei, they had departed off in a normal vehicle. While they tried to maneuver out of the headquarters, Xia Lei had been mindful to avoid all surveince devices.
On the way, Shentu Tianyin had told Xia Lei more about the Nigerian mine site. Vientiane Group¡¯s mine in Nigeria was located in the active area of the Boko Haram armed groups, east of the historic city, Kano. It was rtively close to the Sahara Desert. Vientiane Group was officially registered as Alliance Mining in the Nigerian government database. They had hired many locals and made substantial donations to the local mosques. It was safe to say that their standing over there was considered stable.
Shentu Tianyin made a call for the Alliance Mining¡¯s person in charge. Weirdly, said person was out of reach.
Just as Xia Lei returned to the Peace Mansion, Fan Fan too had arrived home.
¡°Hubby, I¡¯ve already instructed the Nigerian embassy to dispatch someone to check on the relevant situation.¡± Fan Fan continued, ¡°However, we¡¯ve been failing to establish contact with the people of Alliance Mining. Themunication lines there seem to be disrupted.¡± She looked at Shentu Tianyin, ¡°Miss Shentu, is the mine site under Alliance Mining too?¡±
Shentu Tianyin replied, ¡°Yes, indeed. I¡¯ve tried calling the person in charge and have no luck at all getting my call through. I wonder what¡¯s happening on their end.¡±
¡°Who is the person in charge?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Shentu Tianyin answered, ¡°Someone from the Shentu family. His name is Shentu Weiying. He¡¯s the youngest son of my granduncle. Based on his generation, he would be my seventh uncle. He has been in charge of overseas mining affairs since my father¡¯s era and he has proven to be quite capable. There had been no major issues so far from the Nigerian mine.¡±
¡°Then who is the legal owner?¡± Xia Lei asked again.
¡°Me, of course,¡± answered Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°That¡¯s good. If the owner was your seventh uncle, I¡¯m worried that the Americans might¡¯ve already bought him over. In that case, you¡¯d lose your control over the Alliance Mine.¡±
Shentu Tianyin said, ¡°But what do we do now? I can¡¯t contact Shentu Weiying and have no way of asking him to resend the samples here.¡±
¡°Calm down, take it easy. The embassy personnel are already on their way to check things out. They¡¯re heading over with a helicopter, we¡¯ll probably receive some word two hourster,¡± answered Fan Fan.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°That¡¯s great. Let¡¯s go and eat something. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll hear something from them when we¡¯re done.¡±
Shentu Tianyin returned a nod. While she looked calm on the outside, her insides were a flurry of emotions.
As they moved to the dining hall, Fan Fan reached over to tug on his sleeve discreetly.
Xia Lei deliberately slowed down and waited for her to speak.
Fan Fan whispered into his ear. ¡°Why did you bring her here?¡±
Xia Lei lowered his voice. ¡°Tianyin has been targeted by the Americans. Don¡¯t forget that she¡¯s the legal owner of the mine. I invited her over to stay for a few days. That would be safer for her too.¡±
Fan Fan shed her eyes at him. ¡°You sure you¡¯re not having any other ideas?¡±
Xia Lei was suddenly reminded of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s request but feigned firmness anyway. ¡°Seriously, there¡¯s nothing else to it. What else do you think I¡¯m plotting? If I¡¯m involved with her some way or another, would I be bringing her into our house?¡±
¡°True.¡± A smile appeared on Fan Fan¡¯s lips. ¡°The government views this matter with importance. I was ced in charge of this.¡±
¡°You¡¯re in charge?¡±
¡°Yeah. Have you forgotten that not only am I your wife but I¡¯m also the head of Station ZN? If the situation described by Shentu Tianyin is real, then national interests are involved. We can¡¯t afford to not take this seriously. The underlying message here is that the higher-ups are unwilling to have the Americans gain control over the mine,¡± exined Fan Fan.
¡°I have no issues with you being in charge of this but you need to be careful, okay? I won¡¯t allow you to visit Nigeria personally. That ce is tooplicated,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Nah, I won¡¯t go. I can¡¯t bear to leave our little princess at home,¡± replied Fan Fan with a smile.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s presence was something Liang Siyao, Long Bing and Jiang Ruyi had already heard about before Xia Lei had even arrived. It was Xia Lei¡¯s phone call that exined the situation. Despite the knowledge, seeing Shentu Tianyin in front of them still felt weird. The co-existence of the ex-wife and Xia Lei¡¯s current wives in the same room brought on an extremely awkward atmosphere. Everything felt unnatural.
¡°I¡¯m so sorry for interrupting.¡± Shentu Tianyin was apologetic. From her perspective, there was no way she¡¯d willinglye here. But the woman had no way of rejecting Xia Lei¡¯s offer.
¡°There¡¯s no need to be so courteous. We¡¯ve all known each other for a while now,¡± weed Liang Siyao.
¡°Here, take a seat. We¡¯re about to start,¡± said Jiang Ruyi.
Everyone sat down at the dining table. At that moment, Xia Lei noticed something. ¡°Where¡¯s Yuyan?¡±
Fan Fan replied, ¡°I was just on a call with her earlier. She says she won¡¯t be back for dinner. She¡¯s currently busy with this matter.¡±
¡°Alright then. Everyone, go ahead. There¡¯s no need to wait up,¡± uttered Xia Lei.
Five women and one man began digging into their meal around the same table. The four babies were chugging their milk bottlesfortably in their respective strollers. The dining hall was positively bustling with energy and chatter. Shentu Tianyin found it difficult to blend in. She had only taken a few bites off her bowl and went off to y with Long Bing and Xia Lei¡¯s son, Xia Long.
¡°Auntie, feed milk.¡± Xia Long was already a greasy one. At the sight of a woman withrger breasts, he¡¯d unbashful ask them for milk even if they were strangers.
Shentu Tianyin smiled and shook her head. ¡°I have no milk. How about I give you another milk bottle instead?¡±
Xia Long turned his face away, his dark beady eyes scrutinizing Shentu Tianyin mockingly.
¡°Jeez, you¡¯ve got quite the personality.¡± Shentu Tianyin reached out and caressed Xia Long¡¯s cheek. At that moment, a thought struck her. ¡°If only I have a son like you...¡±
Back at the dining table, Liang Siyao ced a piece of pork rib in Xia Lei¡¯s bowl. She mouthed ¡°How long is she going to stay here?¡±
Xia Lei mouthed back, ¡°A few days.¡±
With that, Liang Siyao snatched the pork rib away. She ced the rib in her mouth, chewed on it, spat out the bones and then swallowed it in front of Xia Lei¡¯s eyes.
The man was rendered speechless.
Not long after lunch, Fan Fan had received a call from Station ZN. Beside her, Xia Lei was able to hear the conversation as clear as day.
¡°Chief, the helicopter dispatched by the embassy has been shot down.¡± The person on the other end of the line went into it straight.
¡°Huh? How is that possible? Who shot it down?¡± Fan Fan was shocked.
¡°We¡¯re not sure either. The area is Boko Haram¡¯s active region. Our soldiers dared not enter for further investigations. Our intelligence officers have been sent off to Nigeria. I believe we¡¯ll be hearing something very soon.¡±
¡°Send a few members over and instruct the embassy¡¯s marshall to escort them. I must find out what happened at the Alliance Mine,¡± ordered Fan Fan.
¡°Right away, madam. I¡¯ll go make the calls now.¡± The call ended.
Fan Fan furrowed her brows. ¡°The embassy¡¯s helicopter had been shot down. We have no idea who we¡¯re up against this time.¡±
Shentu Tianyin questioned, ¡°We did spend some money as goodwill to the local armed groups and we¡¯ve even established decent rtionships with the local mosques. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re likely to attack us?¡±
¡°They¡¯re attacking the embassy¡¯s helicopter.¡± Fan Fan mused, ¡°I too don¡¯t think it¡¯d be them because the helicopter body has our country¡¯s logo on it. There¡¯s no need for an armed group to shoot down a helicopter from a country they had no issues with.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°I think it might be the Americans.¡±
¡°The Americans?¡± The shock in Liang Siyao¡¯s voice was unmasked.
Xia Lei went on, ¡°Only the Americans are bold enough to attack our nes. I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯ve entered the area and jeopardize the localmunicationwork.¡±
¡°Are they trying to rob the mine away?¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s emotions red. ¡°That¡¯s something not even the local armed groups had attempted!¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°If the rare metal really does exist, it won¡¯t be far-fetched for the Americans to initiate another Colour Revolution in Nigeria to topple the current government and nt their puppets. The Vientiane Group¡¯s interest in Nigeria will receive no guarantee.¡±
¡°Then... What should I do now?¡± Shentu Tianyin was at wit¡¯s end. Honestly, she could not be arsed with the Nigerian mine. The only reason why she was concerned about it and the rare metal it offered was because it had given her a chance to contact Xia Lei. Before she had received a clear answer from Xia Lei, how could she be willing to lose it?
Xia Leiforted her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the country will support you through this. I¡¯m sure the problem will be solved soon. Aside from that, you have me too. I won¡¯t let the Americans get close to the rare metal. I¡¯ll go talk to Giovanna and my people. Perhaps they¡¯d have a way to attain intel from around the area.¡±
A few minutester, Xia Lei found himself at the Holy Thunder Church. He had gathered up all the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members for a strategy discussion.
In the secret chamber within the Holy Thunder Church, Giovanna spoke after listening to Xia Lei¡¯s narration of the situation. ¡°We¡¯ve built churches across the African continent and gathered more members there. Honestly speaking, we have more brothers and sisters in Africa. Many ces on the continent have been long suffering from war and poverty. Many of them were driven to a dead-end and had to seek help from the Relief Society. Collecting intel there should not be a problem.¡±
Xia Lei responded, ¡°Then contact the Relief Society branch there immediately and have them head out to gather information. I need to understand the situation as soon as possible.¡±
Giovanna nodded. ¡°Yes, right away.¡±
¡°We can go there too.¡± Qian Jun continued, ¡°We¡¯ve been sitting around in the country with nothing better to do. I¡¯m afraid my bones are about to get rusty from inactivity.¡±
Xia Lei rebuked, ¡°But we haven¡¯t made clear of the current situation. It¡¯s still too early to send you there.¡±
Qian Jun uttered, ¡°If we wait till intel is returned to move, we won¡¯t be able to respond in time. I urge you to send us over soon.¡±
Xia Lei pondered for a moment. ¡°Very well. Pack up and move to Nigeria right away. I¡¯ll send you intel as soon as I receive it. Aside from that, if the rare metal¡¯s existence is confirmed, I¡¯ll be there too.¡±
¡°You¡¯re going to Nigeria too?¡± Anjum Khan was surprised. ¡°Isn¡¯t that too risky?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°It can¡¯t be more dangerous than Area 51, right? No matter what, I will not allow the Americans to get a hold of the rare metal. The mine belongs to the Vientiane Group too.¡±
After making a call in the secret chamber, Giovanna turned around and reported, ¡°We¡¯ve got plenty of human resources over there. They¡¯re rolling out now. The person in charge over there is a Hausa man named Samubamu. He¡¯s requesting some weapon support. He mentioned that to reach the Alliance Mine would require them to pass through a highly dangerous area. Though they¡¯ve got enough people, their resources are scarce.¡±
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not an issue. I¡¯ll go contact Prince Harifah right away to have him send some over.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great news.¡± Giovanna smiled.
Prince Harifah would help send some Thunder Horse Organization weapons to the Relief Society and Xia Lei would replenish the prince¡¯s weaponster on. That approach would make things simple. This was Xia Lei¡¯s strategy to arm his own people and Prince Harifah was more than eager to entertain his request. In return, the prince would be able to buy better and newer weapons from the Thunder Horse Organization along with plenty of new benefits.
Chapter 1171 - Dinner Decision
Chapter 1171 - Dinner Decision
The turn of events did not disrupt Xia Lei¡¯s research on the fighter jet and bomber ne. The only difference was that he had to do his work in the Peace Mansion¡¯s study instead.
As soon as he entered the room, he worked until it was evening. Before he could leave the study, Tang Yuyan entered through the doors. The woman was dripping with exhaustion.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched at her state. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t work yourself too hard now that you¡¯re pregnant. You should really rest more at home. If you really can¡¯t do that, maybe it¡¯s best to apply for leave.¡±
¡°I¡¯d like that too but I can¡¯t afford it now.¡± Tang Yuyan continued, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the Nigerian mine. I¡¯ve just received news from the intelligence officers. The area where the Alliance Mine is located is now under regional lock by the Boko Haram armed members. Our personnel and technicians over there are exposed to great risks. Currently, the relevant authorities are in the middle of a discussion for a rescue mission.¡±
¡°Tianyin mentioned that the Vientiane Group had made sure to befriend the local armed groups. They even made considerable donations to the local mosques. It¡¯s evident that they¡¯re doing a good job managing their rtionship with the locals. Nothing majorly wrong has happened throughout these years. The sudden turn of events must be under the influence of someone,¡± Xia Lei deduced.
Tang Yuyan muttered, ¡°You mean... The real person in control of the area are Americans?¡±
¡°Most likely.¡± Xia Lei replied, ¡°Another possibility is that the Boko Haram group has already found out about the mine¡¯s value and is preparing to dominate the area for their interests. However, the possibility is low. If the Boko Haram knew about it, how would the Nigerian government know nothing? If the Nigerian government was notified, they would¡¯ve sent their army out. Yet, nothing has been done by the Nigerian military till now.¡±
¡°I share the same thought. Based on your analysis, the former scenario bears a higher possibility. The Americans had gained control over the area through the Boko Haram group.¡± Tang Yuyan looked pissed. ¡°They¡¯re so barbaric! I can¡¯t believe they actually dare to shoot down our helicopters and cooperate with terrorists!¡±
Xia Lei wrapped his arms around her waist. He smiled. ¡°Why are you so angry? You¡¯re pregnant, you know? If you get mad and emotional, the baby might be harmed.¡±
Tang Yuyan was still angry. ¡°ISIS is a prime example. The Americans were supportive of ISIS in the beginning, but look at how much damage the terrorists had brought upon the Middle Easterners? The final goal the Americans are aiming for is full control over the Middle East.¡±
¡°Everything is undoubtedly about interest. That¡¯s enough, Yuyan. There¡¯s no need to be so mad. Come, let me calm you down.¡± Xia Lei pressed a palm against Tang Yuyan¡¯s chest and began to caress her gently.
The technique seemed to work really well as a smile quickly bloomed across Tang Yuyan¡¯s face. ¡°Hehe... Oh,e on. You¡¯re not trying tofort me, you¡¯re literally taking advantage of my mood.¡±
¡°Then shall I take full advantage of you?¡± Xia Lei whispered seductively into her ear.
Redness crept up her ears instantly. She hummed a light reply. ¡°Mmph.¡±
And so happened that Shentu Tianyin had chosen to appear at the study¡¯s entrance when things were getting heated. Noticing their entangled form and Xia Lei¡¯s palm hovering over her chest, Shentu Tianyin quickly backed away and averted her gaze elsewhere.
Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan panicked and peeled themselves apart. The former made a frantic attempt to tidy up her rumpled blouse.
Shentu Tianyin was still standing beside the door as she willed to swallow her indescribable pain. This happiness could¡¯ve been hers and only hers but Shentu Tianyin had messed it all up.
In the study, Xia Lei cleared his throat. ¡°Tianyin, is everything alright?¡±
¡°Dinner¡¯s ready so I¡¯m here to inform you.¡± It was only then that Shentu Tianyin showed her body from behind the door frame. She was actively avoiding Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan¡¯s eyes.
Xia Lei felt like burying himself. ¡°Oh, I see. Let¡¯s go eat dinner then.¡±
Tang Yuyan said, ¡°Hubby, you may go ahead. I¡¯ll like to speak to Tianyin for a moment.¡±
¡°Uh... Sure. Take your time.¡± Xia Lei left.
Though he had a dying curiosity to find out what their conversation would be about, he was decent enough to not use his X-ray vision to spy on them. He was fully capable of that but did not wish to do so. Everyone deserved to have their own privacy and that had included all of his wives.
In the study, the women lock gazes. The atmosphere was rather rigid and ufortable.
Tang Yuyan broke the silence. ¡°Tianyin, are you... Are you alright?¡±
Shentu Tianyin shed her a bitter smile. ¡°What else could happen to me? I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t worry. It may have been tough after the divorce but I¡¯ve already moved on from that.¡±
¡°I promised that I¡¯ll help you out before. All you need to do is ask and I¡¯ll provide my assistance. Anything within my capabilities can be done for you,¡± reminded Tang Yuyan.
Shentu Tianyin studied Tang Yuyan. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that if I wish to join this family, you¡¯re willing to help me out?¡±
The other woman nodded. ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll agree to that and I¡¯ll even try my best to convince Xia Lei if that is your wish.¡±
Unexpectedly, Shentu Tianyin shook her head. ¡°I can guess the circumstances you went through to marry Xia Lei. You¡¯re experiencing tough times, so there¡¯s no need to burden yourself with my affairs. Yourpliance will be met with four other resistances. It wasn¡¯t easy for you to blend into the family too. I do not wish to ruin your rtionship with them and I certainly do not wish to destroy Xia Lei¡¯s family. I¡¯m so d to see you so happy now.¡±
¡°But you...¡± Tang Yuyan wasn¡¯t expecting Shentu Tianyin¡¯s rejection.
Shentu Tianyin assured, ¡°What I desire is different from yours. There really is no need to entertain me. But I¡¯d still like to thank you for your kindness.¡±
Tang Yuyan sighed. ¡°Alright then. But my promise is still valid. If you should require my help, juste seek me out.¡±
¡°Alright. Thank you so much. Now let¡¯s go to them for dinner,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
There was one new presence in the dining hall. Tonight, Liang Siyao¡¯s father, Liang Zhengchun was going to join them for dinner.
Liang Zhengchun was currently having a st with Liang Jiayu in his arms.
¡°Jiayu, when you¡¯ve grown bigger, would you let grandpa teach you Wing Chun?¡± Liang Zhengchun brandished a wide grin, his eyes glimmering with anticipation.
Liang Jiayu smacked his palms against Liang Zhengchun¡¯s lips and then tugged at thetter¡¯s moustache.
¡°Ow... Ow...¡± Liang Zhengchun groaned.
Liang Siyao rushed over to spank Liang Jiayu¡¯s little buttocks lightly. ¡°Jiayu, release grandpa¡¯s moustache at once. Let go, now! Don¡¯t make me hit you again.¡±
Liang Jiayu refused to release Liang Zhengchun¡¯s moustache. The baby mumbled, ¡°Ah beat beat beat beat beat...¡±
Liang Siyao was perplexed.
Yet, Liang Zhengchun was overjoyed to hear his grandson ramble. ¡°Good attack, Jiayu. Come on, continue hitting.¡±
Liang Siyao rolled her eyes at Liang Zhengchun. ¡°Jeez, you¡¯re spoiling him rotten. If you continue to spoil him like this, I¡¯m going to ignore you forever.¡±
¡°Your mom sure is fussy. Let¡¯s go out and y.¡± Liang Zhengchun carried Liang Jiayu away and brought his milk bottle along.
Xia Lei appeared in the nick of time. ¡°Master, are you not joining us for dinner?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not hungry yet. I¡¯m bringing Jiayu out to y for a bit. You guys go ahead, there¡¯s no need to worry about us both.¡± With that, Liang Zhengchun whisked the little baby away.
¡°Where¡¯s Yuyan and Shentu Tianyin?¡± asked Fan Fan.
¡°They¡¯re right behind me,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°I¡¯ll go serve the dishes now.¡± Jiang Ruyi moved to the rice cooker.
Fan Fan reported, ¡°I have yet to receive any information on my side. The embassy marshall had escorted someone over but there are no updates from them. We¡¯ve got no military bases overseas and this situation forces us to be passive.¡±
Xia Lei could only sigh. ¡°I think they¡¯re not going to make it back.¡±
¡°Who would dare to intervene?¡± Fan Fan wasn¡¯t convinced with Xia Lei¡¯s theory.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°The Americans are probably trying to hide all tracks in Nigeria. The simplest way around that would be to kill any witnesses. They¡¯re bullying us for the fact we¡¯ve got no military bases outside of the country. We literally have no way to protect our interests elsewhere. I¡¯m guessing that Boko Haram is controlling the area on the surface but America¡¯s best Special Force troops have already entered the same area.¡±
¡°If that¡¯s the case, they¡¯re really going over the line this time,¡± fumed Fan Fan.
¡°There¡¯s only one rule in this world. The iron fist. Now can tie a fist hard enough to break through its grasp. The same applies to human hierarchy and countries,¡± said Xia Lei.
At that moment, Tang Yuyan and Shentu Tianyin entered the dining hall.
¡°Come on, let¡¯s eat.¡± Jiang Ruyi offered them a smile. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about those troubling things. The dishes are already going cold.¡±
It was only then that the big family started to eat.
After dinner, everyone remained in the living room for ytime with the children. Shentu Tianyin joined them in on the fun. She decided that she really liked children, especially Xia Lei¡¯s children.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Xia Lei¡¯s satellite phone began to ring.
It was a call from Giovanna.
¡°Boss, our brothers from the Relief Society have received some information.¡± Giovanna¡¯s voice rang through. ¡°The Alliance Mine had already been surrounded by American Special Forces. But its outer ring had consisted of the Boko Haram armed members. It seems like the Americans had achieved a deal with the Boko Haram locals.¡±
¡°Is there anything else?¡±
¡°Another brother in the intel team mentioned that he has a friend working for the Alliance Mine. It is true that they¡¯ve excavated a rare metal from the site. The American¡¯s appearance is a testament to the finding,¡± reported Giovanna.
¡°Understood. Make relevant arrangements. I¡¯m going to Nigeria,¡± replied Xia Lei.,
¡°Got it. I¡¯ll start nning now.¡± Giovanna hung up.
Liang Siyao paced over with a worried expression. ¡°Hubby, you¡¯re going to Nigeria? That ce is in chaos. It¡¯s going to be really dangerous. How are we supposed to sleep well knowing that you¡¯re there?¡±
Fan Fan joined in. ¡°Hubby, can you not go there? I know the rare metal is important to the country but you shouldn¡¯t shoulder the danger alone. You¡¯ve got the whole country behind you and if you can give me a little more time. We will find a solution to this.¡±
Xia Lei was firm with his stand. ¡°There¡¯s no alternative approach to this issue. We¡¯ve got no international military bases and our army won¡¯t be able to reach the area. The only alternative I can think of is imposing sanctions but the Americans will probably ignore us. They only believe in their power. That¡¯s why I need to show them our power.¡±
Long Bing said, ¡°Bring me along. I¡¯lle with you.¡±
Liang Siyao offered, ¡°I¡¯ll go too.¡±
Xia Lei frowned. ¡°What the hell are you thinking? The children are still so young. Can you bear to be separated from them?¡±
Long Bing¡¯s gaze fell onto Xia Long, her eyes immediately softening like butter.
Though Liang Jiayu was out of sight, Liang Siyao felt her heart clench at the thought of her son. There was no way she could make a firm decision on going to Nigeria.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. If I can make it out from Area 51 alive, I¡¯ll be able toe back from Nigeria safely.¡±
That seemed to silence both Long Bing and Liang Siyao effectively. They knew nothing could change Xia Lei¡¯s mind.
Chapter 1172 - Wife Lesson
Chapter 1172 - Wife Lesson
The night was getting darker.
Tang Yuyan and Xia Lei led Shentu Tianyin to one of the many guest rooms in the Peace Mansion.
Tang Yuyan spoke, ¡°Tianyin, this will be your room for the night. Feel free to ask me if there¡¯s anything else that you need.¡±
Shentu Tianyin nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡± She stared at Xia Lei. She seemed like she wanted to say something else but decided to hold back.
Tang Yuyan smiled at her knowingly. ¡°You two should talk. I¡¯ll retire to my room now.¡±
¡°Yuyan, you...¡± Inexplicably, Xia Lei suddenly felt like he had done something wrong.
That prompted Tang Yuyan to turn around and spare him a smile. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with normal conversations. It¡¯s been a while since west met each other. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s plenty that you wish to talk about.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s smile was lopsided. ¡°You can head back first, I¡¯ll join you in a bit.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± was Tang Yuyan¡¯s curt response before she walked away.
Shentu Tianyin voiced, ¡°She really has changed. I guess women change greatly after marriage. Perhaps she has found her true happiness now that she¡¯s right next to you. I¡¯m genuinely d for her.¡±
Despite the sweet words, Xia Lei¡¯s heart was gued by a strong, spiralling bitterness. He knew he was running out of time and the man could not bear to confess his impending doom to his lovers. Xia Lei had everything now- If he wanted the wind, he¡¯d get the wind; if he wanted rain, he¡¯d get the rain. He was married to several gorgeous women and his children were all gifted. Almost everyone envied him and Xia Lei seemed to be at bliss too. Sadly, what people could not see was his fleeting life. Who could understand the stress of having to put on a smile in the face of death?
This secret would go untold even to Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Xia Lei, about that...¡± Shentu Tianyin brought up a topic that she was eager to hear an answer about.
Xia Lei snapped back to reality. He replied, ¡°About that... Tianyin, could you please spare me some more time? I promise I¡¯lle back with an answer.¡±
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll wait.¡± Despite those words, the sadness reflecting off her eyes was obvious. ¡°When will you leave for Nigeria?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Giovanna and the others would¡¯vepleted their preparations tomorrow night.¡±
¡°I¡¯ming with,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei was taken aback. Never in his life would he had expected Shentu Tianyin toe up with such an idea.
Shentu Tianyin was not a fighter. The woman had never once held a gun in her life, let alone been involved in fights. Plus, she was China¡¯s richest woman with an asset of over hundreds of billions. Shentu Tianyin was not fit toe on an adventure to Nigeria. This was literally madness.
¡°How is that supposed to work? Why would youe up with that idea in the first ce?¡± Xia Lei rejected it directly.
Yet, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s gaze was unwavering. ¡°I¡¯m the owner of the Alliance Mine. Now that the Americans are trying to make a move on it, it¡¯s my responsibility to do something.¡±
¡°I dare confirm that the invaders are American Special Force soldiers who have been given orders to kill no matter what. What can you even do if you go? You can¡¯t possibly be thinking about a negotiation. They won¡¯t even spare you a chance to speak. Once they track you down, one missile will be enough to take you out of the picture,¡± exined Xia Lei.
Surprisingly, Shentu Tianyin showed no fear. She retorted, ¡°But what about you? You too will face the same danger you described. Why are you still heading over? You have the choice to stay out of this and leave matters to the government.¡±
Xia Lei smiled bitterly at that. ¡°I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve exined my reasons earlier. Our country has no overseas military bases and the distance renders us unable to take control of the situation over there. It took us a lot to ovee America¡¯s advantage in aerialbat and if they turned the tables around, their strategies would no doubt be more aggressive. War might even happen.¡±
¡°The country is none of my business, I¡¯m only doing what I wish to do.¡±
¡°Tianyin, you...¡±
Shentu Tianyin pressed, ¡°I know things areplicated in Nigeria. I¡¯m aware that it¡¯s going to be dangerous too. But you¡¯ll be there to protect me, no?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless. True, he would no doubt protect her but as soon as a war breaks out, she¡¯d be a burden. Bullets have no eyes and the CIA¡¯s assassins are trained to be merciless. While he could guarantee his own survival on the battlefield, he could not say the same for her. Even if he were to grant her protection, her safety was still not guaranteed!
¡°I can tell what¡¯s on your mind now and I¡¯m not trying to be difficult here.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s words wereced with sadness. ¡°To be honest... I don¡¯t mind losing the Alliance Mine. I really couldn¡¯t be bothered about it. Do you really not understand why I yearn toe with you? I just want to experience a trip of a lifetime with you. I can¡¯t put down my ego and be with you like the rest of them. What I¡¯m asking for is something for me to look back on.¡±
Xia Lei was silent. This decision was difficult to call as it was a matter of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s life or death.
¡°Also...¡± Shentu Tianyin stopped herself, the tip of her ears burning red.
She was also asking for a child, something she yearned for the most.
An exciting adventure of a lifetime that she could look back on and a child were her two wildest wishes. For the sake of realizing it, Shentu Tianyin had ced her own safety at the back of her mind. It must¡¯ve taken a lot of courage for a delicate woman like her to settle on these decisions.
The corners of her eyes were getting wet. ¡°Xia Lei, you gave me a chance once upon a time to choose between you and the Vientiane Group. I chose thetter. After that, every moment of my life was spent in pain, never happiness. I¡¯m begging you to give me another chance so I can truly move on. Please, allow me to choose you just this once. I really wish to experience those heart-pounding moments with you and make great memories.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was practically on her knees now. How could he say no to her?
Xia Lei sighed heavily. ¡°Alright. But if you¡¯reing with me, I¡¯d need to rearrange things. And from now on, you¡¯ll need to leave your phone here and keep it charging for twenty-four hours.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Those four Americans have hacked into yourpany¡¯s system. Perhaps they might have pinpointed your GPS signal. Leave your phone in my house and do not ept any calls. That way, it¡¯ll create an illusion that you¡¯ve been hiding in my house. They would not dare to enter this ce,¡± exined Xia Lei.
¡°Understood. Leave my phone charging and do not ept any calls.¡± Shentu Tianyin repeated his words. ¡°Anything else?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Leave the rest to me. I¡¯ll meet you after the preparations are done.¡±
¡°Mm.¡± A smile was finally back on Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lips again.
¡°You should go rest now. It¡¯s about time for me... to head back.¡± Xia Lei fumbled over his words.
Shentu Tianyin still had her eyes pinned on Xia Lei, not willing to enter her room just yet.
Xia Lei could only offer her a sheepish smile before turning away to leave.
He marched over to the biggest room in the house and was immediately greeted by a gathering of five women. Jiang Ruyi was even using her tablet to search up news reports on the Nigerian situation. Without a doubt, his soon-to-happen Nigerian trip was their discussion topic. Their knitted brows and grim expressions had made it obvious that they were absolutely anxious about it.
Xia Lei closed the door behind him and approached them. He smiled. ¡°I¡¯m just going out on a trip. There¡¯s nothing to be worried about. Rx, I¡¯ll be fine. Compared to myst trip to America, this is nothing. I can assure you that I¡¯ll be alright.¡±
Liang Siyao sighed. ¡°The Boko Haram armed group is a notorious terrorist organization. They will not y by the game and you¡¯ve never fought against terrorists. How can I not be worried?¡±
¡°Yeah. If youe across a roadside bomb or a suicide bomber, how are you going to handle it?¡± Long Bing¡¯s eyes were filled with unspoken concern.
¡°Hubby, can you please not go?¡± Jiang Ruyi sounded close to pleading. ¡°Jianghe is still so young. What do we do if you...¡±
She was unwilling to speak of ill fates.
Fan Fan seemed like she wanted to say something but the woman had stayed silent. But it was obvious that she was equally worried about Xia Lei too.
Though Tang Yuyan looked concerned, she did not try to persuade Xia Lei to give up on his n. Among the women in this room, Tang Yuyan had faced the most difficulties and hardships to be one of Xia Lei¡¯s wife. She cherished that and she would not wish to hinder Xia Lei at all. All she wanted was to offer her best to him, and that had included her personality.
Xia Lei¡¯s chuckle felt a little forced. ¡°What is with you guys? This is not the first time I¡¯m going out of the country. Why are you making it sound like death? Really, there¡¯s nothing to worry about. I urge you to rx, I promise I¡¯ll be alright. I¡¯m not going alone, I have the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and the Relief Society that the female knights had formed. They¡¯ve got plenty of resources in the African branches and I¡¯ve also called Prince Harifah for him to send some Thunder Horse Organizations weapons over to Nigeria. There¡¯s an army waiting for me there, is that still worrying to you?¡±
The knowledge had allowed the women to ease up a little. They were fully aware of who Xia Lei was as a person. This man was stubborn, he would not change his mind on something he had decided on. Another thing was that their husband was also a cold-blooded killing machine. Many lives were lost to his hands. For a man like this, going into a battle was just as casual as going out for a stroll.
¡°Sigh.¡± Liang Siyao heaved. ¡°Alright, alright. I¡¯m not going to say anything else. You¡¯re not going to listen anyway. We just hope that you¡¯ll pay extra attention and be careful, okay? Be extremely cautious and think about us and the children always, yeah?¡±
Xia Lei went forward and pulled her in by the waist. ¡°Do you really think I could stand to leave you and the children behind? I don¡¯t wish to be separated but some matters must be settled and some enemies must be destroyed, or else they¡¯de harm you instead.¡±
¡°Hubby, when will you be leaving?¡± asked Long Bing.
Xia Lei too pulled her close. ¡°Tomorrow night. Giovanna and the others are already making relevant arrangements.¡±
¡°I see...¡± Fan Fan worried her lower lip. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll be staying the night here since Xia Fan is already asleep now.¡±
Jiang Ruyi said, ¡°Xia Jianghe is already asleep too. I... I¡¯ll be sleeping here too.¡±
Tang Yuyan was the most direct of them all. ¡°Then let¡¯s all sleep together tonight.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
This was a paradise reserved for only Xia Lei to enjoy.
In another room, Shentu Tiayinid atop the bed in hervender underwear. She was zoning out while she stared at the charging phone at the corner. Her mind couldn¡¯t help but be fixated on some thoughts- ¡°Who is he spending the night with tonight? Tang Yuyan? Liang Siyao? Or Long Bing? Perhaps it¡¯s...¡±
No matter who her mind had settled on, the tingling sourness in her gut was equally apparent.
Chapter 1173 - The Desire to Consume Humans
Chapter 1173 - The Desire to Consume Humans
Next evening, four blonde Italian women with uniformly mesmerizing sapphire eyes had boarded a direct flight to Africa alongside a diverse group of people.
As soon as the private ne had taken off, one of four Caucasian men in a Ford sedan parked outside the airport premise made a call with a satellite phone.
¡°Xia Lei¡¯s people have already boarded the ne but I did not see him. I didn¡¯t even catch sight of Vientiane¡¯s chairperson, Shentu Tianyin.¡±
¡°Noted. However, we¡¯re confident that Xia Lei must be on that ne. The man¡¯s an expert in disguises. But it¡¯s okay, no worries. Our team will use facial recognition to weed him out at the Nigerian airport andter kill him off.¡± A masculine voice rang from the satellite phone.
¡°Shentu Tianyin¡¯s smartphone signal shows that she has been at Xia Lei¡¯s home till now. She has received eighteen calls but none was answered,¡± reported the Caucasian man.
¡°Ignore it. Just continue monitoring Vientiane Group¡¯s activities and direction. The moment Shentu Tianyin leaves Xia Lei¡¯s house... You know what to do, right?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± The Caucasian man hung up.
The driver ignited the engine and travelled forward. A ck car abruptly appeared out of the blue and caught up to glide alongside the Ford sedan.
The driver¡¯s suspicion was raised by its sudden appearance. The man spared a nce at the ck vehicle, allowing him to catch a glimpse of a man dressed in ck robes on the driver¡¯s seat. The odd stranger had a dark hood over his head, leaving no chance to spy on his face.
Suddenly, arge lorry rammed out of a highway exit and straight into the Ford sedan. The multi-tonne impact had severely deformed the sedan. Weirdly, the lorry driver had no ns to stop. He floored the pedal and ttened the Ford sedan further into a tin pancake!
The ck vehicle continued to zoom forward and the ck-robed man driving it snorted lightly...
Meanwhile, a young couple was seen boarding amercial ne. They were headed towards Moscow. The dark-skinned male had a face full of pimples. His femalepanion had a fairplexion but she looked like a in Jane.
The couple seemed like university students that were heading to their Moscow campus.
However, it was merely an illusion. Their true identities had consisted of Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei¡¯s private ne, boarded by the four female knights and the Relief Society members, was bound to reach Africa directly. Despite that, its destination was not going to be Nigeria but the neighbouring Republic of Chad. They would enter Nigeria through the borders and then arm their brothers and sisters of the African Relief Society branches.
This was done to avoid any interception or missileunches from the American army.
This was what Xia Lei had nned- He had instructed the female knights to bring the Relief Society members into the Republic of Chad first while he and Shentu Tianyin would fly to Russia. Following that, they¡¯d be on a transit flight from Russia to Cameroon, which would be their entry point into Nigeria.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were the first group, the female knights and their Relief Society armed force were the second group while he and Shentu Tianyin were the third group. Three distinct groups of forces would travel along different paths and enter Nigeria at different intervals. The CIA and the Pentagon wouldn¡¯t have expected such an arrangement from Xia Lei.
Themercial flight heading towards Russia took off. Shentu Tianyin watched the sky through the window, immediately flooded by a weird feeling. At that moment, she felt like a bird, free from all restraints. She was about to flee for absolute freedom among the blue skies and fluffy clouds en route to her desired happiness...
Xia Lei interrupted her, ¡°There are only clouds out there. Do you really fancy clouds that much?¡±
Shentu Tianyin was a little surprised. She turned around to face Xia Lei instead and smiled. ¡°You still remember what I like?¡±
Xia Lei need not think further. ¡°Your favourite colour is ck and your favourite dish is steak au poivre. Your favourite book is ¡®Dream of the Red Chamber¡¯ and your favourite movie star is thete Marilyn Monroe. Am I correct?¡±
Shentu Tianyin let out a light giggle. ¡°So you do remember.¡±
¡°Then do you still remember my favourites?¡± Xia Lei asked.
Shentu Tianyin thought for a moment. ¡°Mm... Prettydies.¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°Nah, I was just joking.¡± Shentu Tianyin pped his arm lightly. ¡°Your favourite colour is white and your favourite dish is sweet-sour pork ribs. Your favourite movie star is Wang Baoqiang.¡± And then she inched closer to whisper into his ear. ¡°And you like me best when I¡¯m wearing that white see-through lingerie. Am I correct?¡±
Xia Lei smiled and nodded. Her words had prompted his mind to conjure the mental image of Shentu Tianyin in that particr lingerie. The subtle temptation and artful beauty had never failed to excite him.
¡°Would they wear lingerie like that for you?¡± Shentu Tianyin asked.
Evidently, she was asking about his five wives.
Xia Lei returned her a stiff smile. ¡°You¡¯re never one to ask things like that. Why are you in the mood for questions like these today?¡±
Shentu Tianyin replied, ¡°Your wives are not here beside you. There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of.¡±
Xia Lei relented, ¡°They¡¯re all built differently, each of them has their favourite colours and styles. It¡¯s always a diverse array of colours.¡±
¡°But you like white the most. Why did you not request them that?¡±
Xia Lei sheepishly answered, ¡°How can I request for something like that?¡±
¡°When we were still married, you always requested me to put it on. Why is that so?¡±
¡°...¡±
Yeah, points were made. Why was he so persistent back then?
Xia Lei could not offer an answer. However, he must admit that he loved seeing her in white translucent lingerie back then and Shentu Tianyin never had an issue with indulging him.
Sadly, those were all in the past now. To talk about their days together certainly made time feel like it was reversed.
¡°Do you still have feelings for me? You¡¯ve never repeated your requests on them because I have a special spot in your heart, right?¡± There was a veil of water across Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes.
¡°Tianyin...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched. After all, she was someone he was once deeply infatuated with and his first wife. Even though they were divorced, how could he have wiped her outpletely from his mind? The answer to her question was a definite yes but that something Xia Lei could not mutter.
His silence caused her to turn away. She reached an arm up to wipe away her tears.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart was not made of iron. At that moment, his heart waspletely melted into a puddle by Shentu Tianyin. He extended his arm over to thumb away her tears and murmured gently, ¡°I¡¯ll make your wishese true. I can promise you that. Please don¡¯t cry.¡±
Shentu Tianyin whipped around, her tears escaping her duct at an increased pace. ¡°D-Do you really mean it?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Of course. Since when have I ever lied to you?¡±
He was only left with a year to live. Since she yearned for a child, a child was what he¡¯d give to her. It wasn¡¯t entirely impossible to do.
Shentu Tianyin let out a small whine and buried her face into his shoulder.
Xia Lei caressed her crown softly. ¡°Shh... Don¡¯t cry. If you continue to weep, they might think I¡¯m bullying you.¡±
¡°But I like being bullied by you.¡± Shentu Tianyin uttered between sobs.
The Russian seated beside watched the exchange andmented in hisnguage, ¡°What a fucking bastard. I can¡¯t believe he made his girlfriend cry in public.¡±
A Russian woman on his left too chimed in, ¡°I thought Asian men were known as caring partners. Looks like the statement is wed.¡±
It was obvious that they thought Xia Lei could not understand theirnguage, hence the unfilteredments. However, Xia Lei was not about to exchange words with the couple. He shifted his eyes to gaze at them for a moment.
The Russians returned his attention with a searing re geared for a challenge.
Xia Lei could only force a smile and look away. Suddenly, a creepy desire manifested in his mind- Xia Lei had the sudden urge to look for something delicious within the Russian couple¡¯s brains!
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were on the Russian couple again. This time, he felt the sudden awakening of the mysterious energy within him. Inside of him was an eerie energy field force. It was spiralling like a wormhole, the hunger he felt was unprecedented!
He abruptly realized something. Xia Lei promptly left his seat and suppressed his evil lust through sheer willpower.
Shentu Tianyin was just enjoying the familiar scent of Xia Lei and his existence. Xia Lei¡¯s abrupt movement had made her feel hollow. She stared at him, a little anxious. ¡°Where are you going?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I need to use the washroom. I¡¯ll be right back.¡± He didn¡¯t dare to stay any longer, quickly striding towards the cubicle as soon as his words died.
He barged into the washroom and turned on the tap. He sshed his face and head with the cool water, allowing the shock to calm him down. Xia Lei stared at himself dead in the eye through the mirror. All he could see was a pair of creepy irises staring back at him. His eyes looked like a spiralling ck hole capable of pulling and swallowing everything around him!
¡°S... So that¡¯s how Zhu Xuanyue feeds! It only requires thought to kill!¡± Xia Lei was shocked to the core! He could never understand how Zhu Xuanyue consumed human brains but now he had finally experienced it personally. Fear gripped his sinking heart.
The man was also reminded of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s suggestion; she had urged him to swallow thest AE capsule and mass feed himself. Through doing that, he¡¯d be able to be so strong that he¡¯d stand a chance against the prehistoric chosen one in a battle!
However, if the path to gain power had required killing the innocent, what difference would it make between him and a demon? In any case, Xia Lei was not about tomit cannibalism!
Anyone who could feed on a human was no longer human.
In all honesty, Xia Lei had thought about feeding on vile criminals. But as fast as the idea had surfaced, the flood of guilt was equally speedy. The very thought was tormenting because Xia Lei was fully aware that he would never be able to quit as soon as he began. Just like Zhu Xuanyue, his appetite and urge would grow exponentially. In the end, he wouldn¡¯t be able to tell apart good and evil. All he could see at that point was food, food,food!
Worse, with the activation and further refinement towardsplete evolution, his appetite and lust would only grow intense. Would he be able to restrain himself?
Xia Lei had no idea for he could not see the light in this mess at all.
It took ten solid minutes for Xia Lei to swallow back the urge to feed and regain hisposure. He finally left the washroom and returned to his seat.
Shentu Tianyin expressed her concern. ¡°You were gone for so long, I was even thinking ofing to find you. Is everything alright?¡±
A faint smile addressed her question. ¡°I¡¯m not sure why but my stomach doesn¡¯t feel too well.¡±
¡°Does it hurt? How about I rub your stomach?¡± offered Shentu Tianyin in a gentle voice.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Try to catch some sleep, we¡¯ll reach Moscow when you wake up.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± And with that, Shentu Tianyin ced her head on his shoulders and dreamt of a sweet paradise...
Chapter 1174 - Oops, I Became A Dog
Chapter 1174 - Oops, I Became A Dog
One dayter, in the capital of Cameroon, Yaound¨¦.
A taxi left the city and drove westwards along the Sanaga River, leaving behind the prosperous city that gradually went out of sight. Shentu Tianyin turned around and watched the city of Yaound¨¦ disappear from the horizon. She looked a little reluctant to leave. ¡°Are we... leaving just like that?¡±
Xia Lei grabbed her palm. ¡°I know you want to go stroll around the city but our journey has been nned. Unannounced changes might bring detrimental consequences.¡±
Shentu Tianyin parted her lips. ¡°So where are we...¡±
Xia Lei squeezed her hand slightly, hinting for her to watch her words.
Though Shentu Tianyin had never once received ndestine training, she was sharp. The woman quickly went silent after the squeeze. She studied the driver from the corner of her eye, mustering up a trace of vignce.
The taxi driver asked in fluent French, ¡°Sir, where are you from?¡±
Cameroon used to be a French colony, hence its official and universalnguage was French.
Xia Lei replied in French, ¡°We¡¯re from Korea. We like Cameroon a lot so we decided to travel here.¡±
¡°Why are you not living in Yaound¨¦ but away from the city?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not exactly a fan of city life, I¡¯m a fan of nature. I¡¯ve already set up my own journey beforeing here and I¡¯m adamant to see it through.¡±
¡°I¡¯d rmend a visit to the Pygmy Cave and the National Botanical Garden. I think you¡¯ll like it there.¡±
¡°Hehe, thank you.¡±
Xia Lei engaged the driver in small talk while Shentu Tianyin rested her head on top of his shoulder and watched the exchange. The fact that Xia Lei was a true polyglot was something that she knew since before they confirmed their rtionship. Xia Lei¡¯s eloquence with the Frenchnguage really fueled her respect towards him, she felt proud of him.
The taxi continued its journey as a round pristine moon was stered high up in the sky. It provided some illumination to the newly arrived darkness. The moonlight had made it possible to view the gushing Sanaga River and the vige lining its side.
The vige was named Riverside, evidently from its position along the Sanaga river bank.
Riverside Vige would be Xia Lei¡¯s first stop in Africa.
He had never visited this ce. It was a vige so small that it was not marked on the map. Despite that, this minuscule vige was a secret base to the Relief Society in Cameroon. This time, he was here as an observer from the Relief Society headquarters. Giovanna had already informed them that she¡¯d send someone here to check on the situation and brought more money to aid the poor. Therefore, even the members of the society were not aware of Xia Lei¡¯s true identity. They all had believed that he was a mere observer.
A few minutester, the taxi came to a halt at the vige¡¯s entrance.
Xia Lei paid the driver and brought out arge suitcase from its boot. This luggage had not only carried his clothes but also most of his gear. Its contents consisted of an XL2500 sniper rifle, a Gust assault rifle, a Viper pistol and a substantial supply of ammunition along with his hackingptop and cosmetic toolbox.
A few vigers appeared right after the taxi¡¯s departure. They were a diverse range of people; a youngster, a seemingly older viger and a young girl. Their bodies were d with cheap clothing and their shoes were unsightly. The stic slippers dressing the bottom of their feet were worn and raggedy.
It was no lie that the brothers and sisters of the Relief Society were from the world¡¯s lower society. But it was precisely thismunity that suffered the most from poverty, famine and disease. At the same time, they too were the most grateful people in the world.
When they came close enough, the vigers were heard conversing in their aboriginalnguage. This was something Xia Lei wasn¡¯t exposed to at all and could not understand well even if he tried. Despite his unfamiliarity with thenguage, his brain was actively interpreting their intentions through their speech pattern, expressions, bodynguages and gazes inexplicably.
Sadly, the interpretation was a failure. Xia Lei had only managed to guess that the vigers were discussing the new stranger (him) and perhaps about Shentu Tianyin as well. However, he had no means to confirm it.
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°Zhu Xuanyue mentioned that she was well-versed with all thenguages on this. But there are more than a thousandnguages out there! How is it possible for her to study and learn so manynguages? Some aboriginalnguages are not much use for universalmunication too. If she hadn¡¯t learned it through regr learning, how was she able to master it?¡±
Just as he pondered about the question, a keyword popped into his mind- ¡®Mind control¡¯.
Zhu Xuanyue had once controlled Ning Jing and supplied thetter with scenes she had never seen. It made Ning Jing escape the sanatorium in China and travel to India on her behalf. The same goes for Hornick, who worked for Wall Street. The man had remained a puppet till this very day after he slipped into a deep trance. The machine gunners in Area 51 too were manipted to fire at hisrades and then off himself. All of these were achieved through mind control and the prerequisite of that was to infiltrate their mind!
The current advancement of technology and medicine had yet to reach total mind control. However, this seemed like a piece of cake to Zhu Xuanyue and the ck-robed man. Both of them were able to tamper with their target¡¯s mind with ease and from there, they¡¯d achieve maniption or destruction!
How did Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one achieve that?
The theory was simple. Simply put, Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one were pure energy bodies that hadpleted the ultimate evolution. Through their energies, they were able to resonate with the human mind and its intervention had brought along the advantage of absolute suppression. The ordinary human brain¡¯s willpower could notpete against it! Seeing that they could control human minds so easily, it waspletely possible for them to pry into someone¡¯s memories and understand their intentions.
Xia Lei came to a conclusion. If Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one wished to learn any particrnguage, they¡¯d be able to master it by obtaining the knowledge from their target¡¯s brain. Xia Lei, on the other hand, would be able to do the same as long as he used the right approach. A few more practices would allow him to do the same things that Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one were capable of.
While the thought felt lengthy andplicated, this had only taken ce for a few seconds in Xia Lei¡¯s brain.
Before long, the vigers were in their proximity. The middle-aged viger greeted him in French. ¡°Hello, sir. You are?¡±
His French wascklustre.
Xia Lei extended a hand. ¡°I¡¯m Song Jiang. The headquarters sent me here.¡± He gestured to the side to introduce Shentu Tianyin. ¡°This is my colleague, Zhang Yun.¡±
¡°Oh, it really is you. I¡¯m so d that you cane. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.¡± The middle-aged viger shook Xia Lei¡¯s hand and then extended the gesture to Shentu Tianyin. He introduced himself, ¡°My name is Said. Wee to our vige.¡±
Xia Lei spoke, ¡°This isn¡¯t a ce suitable for chats. Can you bring us to our lodge?¡±
¡°Please follow me.¡± Said led them into the vige.
Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin followed them deeper into the vige. Riverside Vige was a ce stricken by poverty. The houses were low earthen huts and its roofs were made of silver grass and Cogon grass. There was not a single ss window and their privacies were protected by either tattered cloth or weaved bags. It made the whole vige appear shabby without any colour relevant to modernity and trend.
The vigers continued their trek, caught up in their little chat.
Xia Lei still couldn¡¯t understand a word. Without prior exposure to aboriginalnguages, he had nothing to base his lip-reading on. However, the man attempted to focus his will and awaken the mysterious energy within him. The energy was sessfully triggered and an energy field soon enveloped his being. The field was invisible to the eye and scientific equipment, yet he could sense it prominently.
Xia Lei tried to move the energy closer to the young girl. She was the most lively out of the vigers with plenty to say.
Sadly, his efforts were futile. His force field could not close in onto the young girl.
It was with no doubt that Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one could do that easily. If he were to describe the mysterious energy field as a car, then he would have yet to even locate its key. The other concern was that he was not too sure if he had enough petrol to fuel this car.
Bark! Bark! Bark!
Suddenly, a big ck dog jumped out from behind a wall. Shentu Tianyin was shocked by its appearance. She let out a scream and hid behind Xia Lei¡¯s back.
Xia Lei was caught in the middle of trying to interpret the human mind. Too focused on the task, the man had failed to predict the situation. The moment when Shentu Tianyin hid behind him and grabbed on his sleeves, his energy field had covered the woman right away.
In that split second, a heap of foreign information appeared in his mind.
There were snippets of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s childhood. She was skipping rope with a few friends. Then, she was going to school with a red scarf around her neck. Following that, he was shown a memory of when she was receiving her education overseas. She stood on a stage bravely and gave a speech, earning countless apuses from the audience. Soon, he saw memories of a blond boy trying to court her. He had gifted her roses but Shentu Tianyin had gently rejected him and did not spare him another nce. Then, she was at the bedside watching an ill Shentu Ren as she cried...
Then he saw himself in those memories. The first time they met, the first kiss they shared and the first night they spent. And of course, the divorce...
After that came memories tied to the Vientiane Group. A few important ounts and core industries along with people worthy of trust and those who she needed to be careful of...
Those memories and information crashed Xia Lei¡¯s mind in all of a sudden, rendering him vulnerable against the onught of emotions. He was particrly overwhelmed by the memories of their divorce. His heart felt like it was about to shatter. When they separated, Xia Lei was greatly pained. He had taken a long time to move on from the torment but the resurfacing of those feelings felt more intense than ever!
Overwhemled by sadness, his tears began to pour.
Bark bark bark! The dog dashed towards Xia Lei and opened its jaw. Was it going to bite his calf?!
And right at that moment, a rtively simple memory and information appeared in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. It had belonged to this big ck dog. Its memories were monochrome without any colour. There were lots of bones and a list of people it wished to gnaw on. Oh, its favourite dog was included too...
The sudden invasion of its memories into Xia Lei¡¯s mind had birthed an illusion. An illusion that made Xia Lei feel like he was a dog too!
The ck dog did not bite Xia Lei in the end. When it came to his front, its deposition had took a great turn. It wagged its tail at the man enthusiastically. ¡°Bark bark bark bark bark...¡±
Abruptly, a voice was fed to his mind. ¡°Where do you live? How about we be friends? I¡¯m the only dog in this vige and I¡¯m SO bored.¡±
Chapter 1175 - An Awful Room
Chapter 1175 - An Awful Room
¡°Hey! Fuck off!¡± Said yelled and iled his arms wildly.
The ck dog jolted and scrambled away.
Its voice left behind a rushed message in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. ¡°Friend, I¡¯ll be off now. See youter.¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
He really had turned into a dog for a moment there.
¡°Are you alright?¡± Shentu Tianyin expressed her concern.
Xia Lei quickly snapped out of it. ¡°I¡¯m alright. Just found the dog... rather unique.¡±
Shentu Tianyin disagreed. ¡°Didn¡¯t seem all that unique to me. It¡¯s ugly.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled a little. ¡°Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s just a dog.¡±
The dispersal of the energy field dding his body had allowed him to return to normal. Everything that had happened earlier was so overwhelming that it hade as a shock to him. Despite that, he had gained much from it. The man had finally understood how Zhu Xuanyue was able to control the human mind and read information from a particr target. While he was still miles away from Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one¡¯s power, Xia Lei was now able to achieve that!
Said brought Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin to a low earthen hut. ¡°Mister Song, this will be your lodge. I apologize for the awful condition that you¡¯ll have to bear for two nights.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s decision to stay two nights here was done through systematic considerations.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m just d to have a roof over me.¡±
Said said, ¡°Miss Zhang, your room is on the other side. Pleasee with me.¡±
Shentu Tianyin did not speak a single lick of French. She turned to look at Xia Lei curiously. ¡°Was he talking to me?¡±
Xia Lei assisted, ¡°He said your room is on the other side, so he¡¯s asking you to follow him.¡±
She frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna go with him. I wish to stay with you.¡±
Xia Leiughed. ¡°Are you really sure you wish to sleep with me?¡±
Shentu Tianyin rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re such a big bully... How long are you going to keep bullying me?¡±
At that point, Xia Lei stopped joking around. He said to Said, ¡°We don¡¯t need the other room. She¡¯s my woman, she wishes to stay with me.¡±
Said was a little taken aback but smiled nheless. ¡°That¡¯s not an issue. You can both stay the night here. I¡¯ll go have the others prepare dinner. There¡¯ll be a weing ceremonyter and the girls in the vige will perform a dance for you two. I sincerely hope you¡¯ll enjoy it to the fullest.¡±
Xia Lei nodded, ¡°Thank you so much.¡±
Truthfully, the man was not in the mood for any kind of ceremonies and he was not the least bit interested in watching girls dancing. However, they were visitors and it was best to make things awkward for everyone. Xia Lei¡¯s mind was already going through a million reasons to have Said call off the weing ceremony.
¡°See youter, Mister Song, Miss Zhang.¡± Said brought the other vigers away.
Xia Lei pushed the door open, immediately weed by a musty stench. The illumination in the room was sparse and the space was untidy. There was only a simple bed and an equally simple desk inside. Looking around, no chairs were in sight, let alone a clean toilet or bathroom.
The living condition had earned knitted brows from both Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin. Both of them had the lowest expectations for their lodging but the awful and unhygienic condition was extraordinary.
Xia Lei could somewhat bear with it but the same could not be said for Shentu Tianyin. The woman was born with a golden spoon in her mouth and was China¡¯s richest woman. She had been privileged all her life! This ce was certainly something new to her, perhaps she had never seen an awful room like this too.
¡°Tianyin, if you can¡¯t bear it, we can go sleep elsewhere,¡± suggested Xia Lei.
¡°Where else can we go?¡± Shentu Tianyin questioned.
Xia Lei pondered for a moment. ¡°We can head back to the city and sleep in a hotel.¡±
Shentu Tianyin had to admit that the offer was tempting but she quickly shook her head. ¡°No, you¡¯ve nned everything out. Slight changes might be detrimental to the uing agenda. A hotel in the city does sound amazing but that ce is filled with people and more surveince. If people with bad motives find us, we¡¯ll be in trouble. It¡¯s alright. This ce is not too bad, let¡¯s just remain here.¡±
Indeed, Shentu Tianyin was an intelligent woman. She had managed to pick up anti-ndestine knowledge, now able to tell that huge human traffic and surveince had brought a certain extent of risks.
Honestly, Xia Lei did not desire to go live in a hotel. It was risky and not part of the n. He was merely suggesting in consideration of Shentu Tianyin¡¯s feelings. If she was fine with the room, then there was absolutely no need to go hotel scouting anymore.
Xia Lei lugged the huge case into the room. Just as he instinctively reached around for the light switch, he quickly realized that there was no bulb in this ce. There was a mere candle sitting quietly on the dusty windowsill.
It was without question that Xia Lei¡¯s sight was unaffected by the darkness but Shentu Tianyin was different. She needed the candle.
He strode over and lit the candle with a lighter. Immediately, the darkness was chased away by the small me. Xia Lei returned to help Shentu Tianyin bring in her luggage.
She stopped him. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I can do this myself. How can I bother you with such a menial task? Go work on your stuff, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve never needed to dobour work. Here, let me help you.¡±
¡°Hey, I¡¯m not the spoiled and pampered rich daughter you think I am. Go do your work and leave the room to me. I¡¯ll clean this ce and you¡¯lle back to a clean room,¡± said Shentu Tianyin with a smile. The woman was already rolling her sleeves up.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll go talk to them, I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±
¡°Go, go. You staying here will only distract me.¡± Shentu Tianyin swiftly pushed him out of the room and locked the door.
In his absence, she finally frowned. It had taken her great effort to receive Xia Lei¡¯s consent. She had envisioned a clean andfortable lodge that housed a fragrant plush bed where she¡¯d finally wee her child. If that wasn¡¯t an option, she would opt for a soft and t grasnd that enjoyed thorough sunlight. In the midst of a rainbow of beautiful flowers, she¡¯d bear a new life. Sadly, reality had differed dramatically from her imagination. This environment was nothing she could¡¯ve ever envisioned. Though she had made it clear that she didn¡¯t mind it, the room had truly bothered her. To make thingsplicated, she was going to conceive her child here.
¡°Nevermind. I can¡¯t burden him with this, and I don¡¯t wish to be a dead weight.¡± Shentu Tianyin reasoned with herself and finally arrived at eptance. She unzipped her case and brought out a set of white translucent lingerie...
Moments after leaving the room, Xia Lei was quick to locate Said at what seemed to be the Relief Society¡¯s church. Frankly, that couldn¡¯t be considered a church as it was just a thatched straw hut. Beneath the roof were rows of wooden stools and a simple cross made by nailing two blocks of wood to each other.
A woman kneeled and prayed before the cross. Said, who was now dressed in his pastor robes, held his bible and blessed the woman.
Xia Lei waited for her prayer to end before entering the poor excuse of a church.
¡°Mister Song, I thought you were going to rest for a little longer?¡± Said regarded him courteously, ¡°The women and girls are still preparing dinner and their performance. I think they still need half an hour before things are ready.¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Said, I¡¯m here specifically to talk to you.¡±
¡°How can I help you?¡±
¡°This ce is in such a poor condition.¡±
¡°Mister Song, this is not China. To feed ourselves is already a hard task. In other ces, many are still starving. We¡¯re grateful to God and the help we¡¯ve received from the Chinese headquarters. Please have faith in us, things will be better soon.¡±
Xia Lei smiled at him softly. ¡°I¡¯m not here for a hygiene inspection. I was sent here to aid the vige. I¡¯ll be giving the vige one million American dors to improve the life quality here and help those in need.¡±
¡°Huh? One... One million American dors?¡± Said gaped.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yes, one million dors. But in return, I need a favour.¡±
¡°Mister Song, what can we do for you?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Please gather up a few people and rent a few cars. We¡¯ll pretend to be a merchant group heading for Nigeria toplete a business deal while ferrying me over to Kano City.¡±
¡°Mister Song, that ce is a mess. What are you going to do there?¡± Said stared at Xia Lei weirdly.
Xia Lei drew a cross. ¡°The more messed up a ce, the more people that require the Relief Society¡¯s assistance. I¡¯m going to Kano City to preach and help those in need.¡±
¡°Mister Song, please be mindful that most citizens there are Muslims. If you¡¯re going to preach there, they might ostracize you as a heretic.¡±
¡°If I don¡¯t do it, who else is going to do it? I firmly believe that every religion preaches to help the less fortunate and refrain from creating more torment. Please do not stop me. I¡¯m just executing God¡¯s mission, my life or death is insignificant.¡± Xia Lei put on a firm look.
Said sighed heavily. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll go prepare that tomorrow. But...¡±
¡°But what?¡±
¡°How many cars are you asking for? We have no money to rent those.¡±
Xia Lei brought out a debit card that was prepared before the journey from his pocket. He passed it to Said. ¡°Tomorrow, head over to Yaounde in the early morning and find a China Industrial Bank branch. You can withdraw one million American dors from this ount at any moment. The pin is 888888.¡±
To simply hand out one million dors to a stranger and set an exceptionally easy pin number for the withdrawal had really made Said question everything in his life.
¡°Remember to be extra vignt out there. Do not let anyone untrustworthy learn about this. Also, it¡¯s best if your selected people are able to fight. You¡¯ve mentioned that the city is dangerous. So it¡¯s better if they all can at least shoot,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That¡¯s not an issue. I¡¯ll go arrange it right away.¡± Said quickly stepped away but suddenly he stopped. The man turned around. He seemed sheepish. ¡°Oh dear, I almost forgot. The dinner and the weing ceremony are about to begin soon...¡±
Xia Lei quickly interjected, ¡°There are important matters to attend to. How about we cancel off the weing ceremony? We¡¯re all servants to the Creator, we shouldn¡¯t indulge in festivities like that. For the food, having someone send food over to our room will do just fine.¡±
¡°But...¡± Said looked a little troubled.
Xia Lei drew another cross. ¡°May God forgive our sins...¡±
¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll go inform the girls about the cancelled performance.¡± Said took his leave.
Xia Lei offered him a smile and returned to his earthen hut.
As soon as the door swung open, Xia Lei froze.
Chapter 1176 - The Side Effects of Complete Evolution
Chapter 1176 - The Side Effects of Complete Evolution
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s white pyjamas looked gorgeously enticing under the candlelight. There was a subtle peek of his favourite lingerie hiding beneath the fabric. Her clothes for the night had done nothing to hide her wonderful curves, showing off her most beautiful regions. Added with her regal deposition, her sexiness was unmatched.
The only thing out of ce was her New Bnce sneakers that she had worn in the morning. No slippers were prepared in this room for them. This was not at all weird as the vigers here could not afford to throw away their tattered slippers. Hence, how would it be possible for them to provide those to the couple?
Despite that, Shentu Tianyin looked like Aphrodite. Through her magic, the shabby bed in the room was turned into a flower bed. A few sheets of banana leaves had now be its lining in ce of the filthy bedsheet. There were a lot of flowers decorating the headboard, they were unnamed but lovingly colourful. The flowers had exuded an amazing fragrance that helped purified the mouldy scent. It smelt wonderful.
The fresh flowers, beautiful woman and a banana leaf-lined bed had turned Xia Lei giddy inside. He walked over and smiled. ¡°Wow. Where did you get these leaves and flowers?¡±
Shentu Tianyin replied, ¡°There were a few banana trees not far from this house. I found the flowers there too. A female viger had helped me out when I went to get these.¡±
¡°This is so much better.¡± Xia Lei plopped onto the bed. The banana leaves were soothingly chilly.
Shentu Tianyin came to the bed and joined him. Sheid on her side and studied his features, gaze focused with subtle excitement. However, she was an expert with control. Shentu Tianyin had no ns to dive straight into the main agenda. She wished to enjoy every minute of the process.
Xia Lei shifted andid on his side, returning her gaze. Shentu Tianyin had her eyes glued on his eyes and features but Xia Lei was looking at the exposed skin peeking through her cor, her t abdomen and her unblemished long legs. The opposite sexes really were built differently.
¡°I¡¯m so d you¡¯re back. I¡¯ve been waiting for this day for a very long time.¡± Shentu Tianyin murmurednguidly.
Xia Lei shed her a toothy grin. ¡°If I don¡¯t return, you¡¯d be made to wait for god knows how long. Why are you putting yourself through this? With what you can offer, even the European princes would be attracted to you...¡±
Shentu Tianyin mped her palm over his lips. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear things like that. You wouldn¡¯t keep me waiting forever. I know you well, I was your wife. As long as you still think of me, you will not bear to see me live painfully. Even if you don¡¯t return to me now, you¡¯ll eventually return in the future that I¡¯m willing to wait for.¡±
Xia Lei felt his heart clench. Was there even a future waiting for him? It was because he saw no future for himself that he agreed to give her a child. If he wasn¡¯t going to do this now, he¡¯d never have a chance to realize her wish. Shentu Tianyin had yearned for a child and his death was not going to help. Xia Lei had no heart to see her live out her remaining years in istion.
¡°How was your discussion?¡±
¡°Everything is settled.¡± Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯ve given Said some money to rent a few cars. They¡¯ll be nking us until we get to Kano City. Once he¡¯s done with preparations, we¡¯ll move out in the morning after tomorrow.¡±
Shentu Tianyin suddenly lurched forward and ced a light kiss on his forehead.
Xia Lei was stunned.
Knock knock knock.
Said¡¯s voice rang from behind the door. ¡°Mister Song, we¡¯ve brought dinner for you.¡±
Xia Lei went to answer the door, only revealing his head through the gap. ¡°Thank you, Mister Said. I¡¯ll take it from here.¡±
Said was sharp enough to have guessed something. He smiled and then passed the tray to Xia Lei. ¡°When you¡¯re done, just leave the tes inside the room. I¡¯ll retrieve them tomorrow.¡± \
¡°Alright. Good night, Mister Said.¡±
¡°Good night, Mister Song. Have a pleasant night.¡± Said turned around and left.
Xia Lei locked the door and brought the tray to the bed.
There were two tes on it. Each had a piece of cooked potato, a pile of rice and some kind of meat. It was roasted to near perfection with a crispy crust and juicy insides. It was considerably luxurious for a meal here since the vigers needed to amodate faraway guests. By their living standards, they were offering the best things to Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Are you hungry? Come, let¡¯s eat,¡± said Xia Lei.
Despite that, Shentu Tianyin climbed back onto the bed. Her gaze was hot. ¡°Let¡¯s just have itter.¡±
Xia Lei retorted, ¡°But the dishes will go cold.¡±
That earned a dramatic eye roll from Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m in the mood to eat something now?¡±
Xia Lei walked over with a smirk. ¡°Then what do you wish to have for dinner?¡±
¡°Well, what say you?¡± Shentu Tianyin brought out an antidote vial from the flowers on the headboard. It took Xia Lei a solid moment to process it. ¡°H-how did you get ahold of that?¡±
Shentu Tianyin answered, ¡°Yuyan told me about it. She was the one who gave me the antidote too.¡±
¡°...¡±
She had gotten everything ready. What else could he say?
The alluring moonlight outside the window and breeze that sent the trees into a gentle dance had provided them with ambience.
The passion had died down like decreasing tides and the two of them fell into silence.
Xia Lei brought the tes to the bed and gave one to Shentu Tianyin.
She held up the potato and took a huge bite. Truthfully, she was starving after a round of hard work. She needed to replenish her energy.
Xia Lei mirrored her and picked up the potato. Weirdly, he tasted nothing and felt no appetite. He stopped and carefully swallowed the mouthful of root vegetable. He took another bite. The sensation had remained- Xia Lei had lost his sense of taste and his appetite. After half a potato, he even felt nauseous. He actually felt like vomiting!
The man was suddenly reminded of the time when Zhu Xuanyue was recuperating at the Peace Mansion. She had never once eaten normally. After swallowing the final AE capsule, he had not felt any resistance towards food until now. It seemed like as he continued to evolve, Xia Lei was starting to steer away from regr sustenance!
Thest AE capsule had triggered the final leg of his evolution. His powers would grow stronger and his body was changing at the speed of light. Following that, was the emergence of a series of side effects. The final form of mankind was without a physical body. If there was no longer a need for a body, was there even a need to feed?
Oh, crap. He wanted to eat humans!
The thought caused beads of cold sweat to form along his spine.
He had thought that he could suppress his urge to feed on humans through willpower. However, there was a bigger concern. If he was not going to feed like Zhu Xuanyue, Xia Lei would eventually cease to exist. At that point, would he be able to suppress the desire?
¡°What¡¯s the matter? Do you not like the taste?¡± Shentu Tianyin smiled and studied him. ¡°I think it tastes pretty good. Perhaps I was too hungry.¡±
Xia Lei regained hisposure. He attempted to take in another bite but the thought alone was nauseating. He followed, ¡°I¡¯m not that hungry. Here, you can have it. I don¡¯t think I can finish this.¡±
¡°Alright. I¡¯ll help you with the potato.¡± Shentu Tianyin took away the potato in his grip.
Xia Lei was curious. ¡°Since when did you take a liking towards potatoes?¡±
Shentu Tianyin replied, ¡°I need to replenish my energy so we can go for round two.¡±
¡°...¡±
Sheughed. ¡°I heard from somewhere that having two rounds of sex in a particr interval will increase my chance to be pregnant with twins. I¡¯d love to try that out. Perhaps it might even happen if I¡¯m lucky enough. One son and one daughter... It makes me happy just by thinking of it!¡±
Xia Lei chuckled lowly but his heart had sighed with mncholy. At this rate, when would he start feeding on humans? Would hest till the day Shentu Tianyin gives birth?
¡°Oh, that reminds me. If I do happen to be pregnant with twins, how will you name them as a father?¡± Shentu Tianyin asked while she munched, her question a little incoherent from the chewing.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Haven¡¯t I thought of names long ago? You asked the same question on our wedding night. You had always wanted twins. I answered that our son would be named Xia Yang and our daughter would be named Xia Yue.¡±
Tears clouded her vision. ¡°You... You actually remembered.¡±
Xia Lei replied softly, ¡°I¡¯ve never forgotten anything about you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin made a small noise, abandoning her potato to lunge into Xia Lei¡¯s embrace. ¡°Then surely you remember that I¡¯ve asked the doctor and they told me that having two rounds of sex within the same hour would increase my chances of bearing two children, right?¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°Of course. Or else, what are we doing now?¡±
Shentu Tianyin snuggled her face deeper into his chest. But it was not out of bashfulness, she just couldn¡¯t take it any longer.
The wind outside blew stronger and the branches began to sway wildly as noises resonated.
Chapter 1177 - Devouring a Python
Chapter 1177 - Devouring a Python
The woman beside him was still asleep, exhausted. The rise of her chest was stable and there was a satiated smile across her face. Perhaps she was already ying with her Xia Yang and Xia Yue in her dreams. Maybe her dreams of getting pregnant with a pair of twins woulde true after tonight.
Xia Lei mbered up from the bed. He checked his wristwatch- Mm, it was a few hours shy of the morning. Despite that, Xia Lei no longer felt the urge to sleep. Ever since he had taken thest AE capsule, his sleeping hours had been on a gradual decline. The man was sleeping less as days went by.
Lesser sleep seemed to be one of the side effects ofplete evolution.
Would he no longer sleep when he reaches a certain level?
Xia Lei had nothing to base deductions on. Thinking back, Zhu Xuanyue loved to sleep but she was different from the prehistoric chosen one; the woman had literally reconstructed a new body.
So he opted to turn on hisptop instead. Before he went to work, he decided to check on the American share market¡¯s situation by habit. But this time, he clicked on the share market version Xiao Qian software instead of the market¡¯s tform.
In just a few days, all four ounts had managed to umte a total of four billion USD. Even if he had taken over the controls, this was the best oue Xia Lei could¡¯ve achieved.
He read through the activity records, glossing through countless buy and sell share logs. Its operation form was not focused on long-term investment. It was all band operations, buying when the price was low and selling when the price was high. As long as the share was profitable, it would appear in Xiao Qian¡¯s trading records.
In the middle of browsing its records, Xia Lei was presented with a dialogue box on the operation interface. There was a line of Chinese characters in an rming red fashion- ¡®Caution! You have too few trading ounts, frequent trading will attract attention from the SEC. Do you wish to set up more ounts and transfer ounts?¡¯
Following that, Xia Lei was prompted to make a choice.
Xia Lei smirked and clicked on ¡®Yes¡¯ without hesitation.
Another pop-up appeared- ¡®Creating trading ounts and bank ounts...¡¯
With Xiao Qian¡¯s artificial intelligence, Xia Lei was freed from the menial task of setting up more ounts. Xiao Qian was a whole package deal. Many countries had held a gargantuan amount of zombie ounts, which were ounts that were not involved in trading. As long as Xiao Qian hacks into the ounts and reset its passwords, it¡¯d be able to use it. It would take over as many zombie ounts as it wished and swap it out after a certain interval. That way, no trails would be left for tracking.
The owners of the new ounts set by Xiao Qian were not important. As long as it was able to garner him profit off the American share market, all was good.
The ount creation process was speedy. It had only taken Xiao Qian five minutes before a new pop-up had emerged- ¡®100 trading ounts and 100 bank ounts have been created. Enable automatic ount creation ording to the trading situation?¡¯
Once again, Xia Lei clicked ¡®Yes¡¯.
¡®Please provide your bank ount destination. Xiao Qian will transfer generated profits into the ount ordingly.¡¯
Xia Lei agreed and entered the number to a secret ount he had in the Swiss Bank on the next prompt. This would be where Xiao Qian would channel in loot from the American share market. The man was not at all worried about the Americans tracking this ount as Xiao Qian was programmed to transfer the money between different ounts to hide trails.
This version of Xiao Qian was like a hidden bandit in the American share market. However, this bandit was non-existent and almost impossible to locate.
To snowball then mmed the gigantic sum onto the share market had been Xia Lei¡¯s initial n. Sadly, he was not able to do much personally due to time constraints. The man was at the brink of giving up on his wildest dream, the only motive behind his prolonged stay on the tform was just to generate some ¡®pocket money¡¯ from the market. With Xiao Qian, however, Xia Lei could once again see some hope in that dream.
After he was done, he exited the interface and made a mental note- ¡°Before I die, I must use the snowballed amount to crash the American share market!¡±
Only America had ever caused havoc in the stock market of other countries and never the other way around. Xia Lei would be the first person in history tomence an attack on their share market. Theck of attempts from other people was due to theck of funds. With Xiao Qian¡¯s help, Xia Lei now had all his funding issues solved. The rest was just a matter of time. Even as the man was staring unabashedly at his naked ex-wife who was still asleep in an African hut, Xia Lei was still earning big bucks every second.
Xia Lei began to work on programming the Super AI Xiao Qian software. He had sessfully created the spy version and the marketwork version. A seamless merging of the two with a sprinkle of better and stronger essence, Xia Lei was confident that he could create something on par or perhaps, better, than the American Tenshin system sooner orter.
Yes. Xia Lei was painfully aware of his fleeting time but there was just so much left to do. The man could no longer spare more hours for slumber and rest.
The wind continued to rustle the branches outside and rang in symphony with the calls of different insects and birds. The African vige¡¯s night was not exactly quiet but those noises did not hinder Xia Lei¡¯s work.
Soon, the dark tidied away and light began to pour in from the eastern horizon. The skies on the other end were already bright but Riverside Vige was still veiled in the darkness.
Shentu Tianyin stirred awake, only to find a busy Xia Lei beside her. Her eyes widened with shock. ¡°Did you not sleep?¡±
Xia Lei turned around to regard her with a smile. ¡°I did sleep for a moment but woke up. After that, I could not fall back asleep so I decided to work instead.¡±
Shentu Tianyin propped herself up and rested her cheek against his spine. She murmured softly, ¡°Try not to overwork yourself. I understand your ideals and burden but I¡¯d like to tell you this- You¡¯ve done so well. I think it¡¯s time you rx a little and get some well-deserved rest.¡±
His nostril caught a whiff of her bodily aroma. Along with the soft pressure of her protruding mounts against his back, how could Xia Lei possibly be in the mood to work? He folded his hackingptop and pulled her into his arms. He grinned. ¡°Hey, are you thinking of naughty things again?¡±
Shentu Tianyin pouted slightly but her eyes were betraying her. ¡°It has been so long since youst touched me. The way you went feralst night had me quivering in fear. How could I bear to ask for anything else?¡±
Despite her words, hernguid tone and seductive gaze were positively dripping with sex. The way she settled into his arms was filled with unspoken want.
Xia Lei dove down and captured her lips in a searing kiss.
¡°Wait.¡± Out of the blue, Shentu Tianyin pushed him away. She slid off the bed, dressed herself and put on some shoes.
Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°Where are you going?¡±
Inexplicably, her cheeks went red. ¡°I... I need to pee.¡±
Xia Lei flopped onto the bed.
The woman quickly went over to pull him up. ¡°You need toe with me. There¡¯s no toilet here and I... I need you to shield me and look out for people. Also, I¡¯m afraid of snakes.¡±
¡°Eh? But you were so good at strangling snakesst night. How are you afraid of snakes?¡± teased Xia Lei.
It took her a moment for realization to settle in. Her face wentpletely beet red at the innuendo. Frustrated, she pped his ass hard. ¡°Hurry up! I can¡¯t hold it in much longer.¡±
¡°...¡±
His ex-wife needed to answer her nature call, hence Xia Lei was stuck with ¡®ex-husband¡¯ duty. The man pulled on some clothes begrudgingly and followed her outdoors. Noticing that there was a small jungle patch on the side of the vige, he pulled Shentu Tianyin¡¯s arm and brought her deeper. Past the foliage was the gushing Sanaga River.
Xia Lei ran a quick check. ¡°Here¡¯s a good spot. I don¡¯t see anyone around.¡±
Shentu Tianyin walked to one of the trees and pulled her pants down.
The odd high-pitched water noises had Xia Lei sheepish but he could not just walk away. In the end, he turned around and waited for Shentu Tianyin to be done.
¡°Ah! Snake!¡± Shentu Tianyin screeched.
Xia Lei frantically turned around, immediately noticing the giant green python hanging off a branch. It was about to attack Shentu Tianyin, who was peeing right below it! The woman paled, frozen by fear. She did not dare to move.
Xia Lei lunged forward and grabbed the python¡¯s skull. The snake certainly wasn¡¯t expecting someone to attack it without hesitation. It dropped its weight onto Xia Lei¡¯s body. The python was at least one hundred and fifty kilograms. On instinct, it coiled its body around Xia Lei as soon as they came into contact.
This was arge python that had the strength to strangle an adult cow alive!
Though Xia Lei¡¯s strength was terrifyingly strong, it was still weakpared to a huge python. Worried that the snake would hurt Shentu Tianyin, he threw himself and the snake sideways onto a patch of grass. It was also in that short amount of time that the python had sessfully coiled its full length around the man.
¡°Hubby!¡± Shentu Tianyin was in tears. Ignoring her falling pants, she picked up a stone and ran towards Xia Lei and the snake.
The urgency in her choice of fashion had earned her a harsh fall at the very first step. She fell head first onto the grass with her pale ass high in the air.
¡°Don¡¯te near!¡± Xia Lei yelled.
The python ckened its jaw and went for his skull.
In that split second, the mysterious energy inside Xia Lei was awakened. It built an energy field and the snake¡¯s consciousness entered his mind- ¡®Kill! Kill! Kill! Eat him!¡¯
The vicious creature had a simple mind but it was filled with the intent to kill!
Xia Lei skillfully dodged its bloody jaw but the snake was faster to tighten its grip around his body. The tightness and overwhelming weight were suffocating Xia Lei, he felt like his bones were about to shatter any time soon!
His life was threatened. His survival instincts and adrenaline defeated all morals and rationale. Before he could even think about it, his energy field produced a whirlpool that tore apart the snake¡¯s mind. It had devoured its biological electromaic waves and soul like a hungry beast!
One secondter, the phyton closed its jaw and lost all strength. It slumped to the ground and went ck.
The python was dead, not through ughter but by consumption!
This was his first feeding but Xia Lei felt no excitement. All he felt was nausea and terror!
Though it wasn¡¯t human, Xia Lei had fed on its brain!
This was his first and his second time might happen soon!
While Xia Lei berated himself inwardly and doused himself in agony, something unprecedented was happening to his body and brain!
Chapter 1178 - Unprecedented Brain Situation
Chapter 1178 - Unprecedented Brain Situation
He had devoured the one hundred and fifty-kilogram python¡¯s brain. The energies stored in the tiny organ, spiritual and non-spiritual, had turned into Xia Lei¡¯s sustenance. He had fed on it and the mysterious energy had started to work digesting it!
It was a bewildering experience, one that could not be exined with words. The mysterious energy within him was working like some sort of chemical to disintegrate the energy obtained off the python. It was meticulous and selective, throwing out those that could not be used and leaving behind those that could be worked with. His brain cells were incredibly active throughout the process, almost as if it bore unlimited potential!
The heightened activity and borderless potential was a sign that his brain was growing stronger.
Why was his brain getting stronger? Well, it had gotten a hold of a source of new energy, something that would help Xia Lei¡¯s evolution!
Shentu Tianyin mbered up from the grass, panicked and pulled her pants up all while looking like a hot mess. With a rock in her hands, she once again dashed for Xia Lei and the python.
¡°Hubby-----¡± Shentu Tianyin screeched through her tears, ferally mming down the rock onto the python¡¯s skull.
Crack! Something broke.
The snake¡¯s skull was ttened and its bones were crushed. Despite the damage, no fluid had flown out.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s heart sank, eyes widening in disbelief as she took in the sight of the lifeless python. Then, she stared at the rock in her grip. It was a self-known fact that she was weak, how was it possible for her to kill a gigantic snake with just a rock? She refused to believe this!
Yet, the python was dead nheless.
Abruptly, she tossed the rock away and lunged for Xia Lei. She grasped his shoulder in an attempt to pull him out of the snake¡¯s strangle. Despite the effort, her strength was insufficient. She could not pull Xia Lei out of its grasp, let alone pry the snake¡¯s length body loose.
Her knees gave out and she fell onto the ground. She decided to try harder. The woman stomped the ground and tried to pull Xia Lei out through the underside of the snake but she could not move him at all.
¡°Huff-----¡± It was then that Xia Lei finally managed to suppress his raging hunger.
¡°Hubby! You...¡± Shentu Tianyin broke out in tears, no longer able to say anything.
This was not the first time she had called him ¡®hubby¡¯ on this day. In her heart and subconsciousness, Xia Lei had always been her husband. No one could ever rece him as her husband.
¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± Xia Lei exhaled loudly. ¡°Let go of me. I can manage.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was stunned but loosened her grip obediently.
Xia Lei pushed his palms against the python¡¯s body with a heave And the one hundred and fifty-kilogram snake rolled off his being.
Shentu Tianyin rushed forward and wrapped him in a hug. She was sobbing profusely. ¡°You scared me... Sob... Sob... I was so worried... Sob...¡±
Xia Lei squeezed her lightly. ¡°I¡¯m alright. There is no need to worry anymore. Don¡¯t cry... I¡¯m okay, see?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t wanna live here anymore. Let¡¯s... Let¡¯s just go back... Sob... Sob... ¡° Shentu Tianyin broke down further, no longer able to halt her tears. The reason behind her mental meltdown was not due to the shock of the snake¡¯s emergence but more on the fact that she thought Xia Lei had been killed by the python. To her, Xia Lei yed an irreceable part in her life. She could not bear to lose him. Losing him was no different from ughtering her!
Xia Lei, on the other hand, chuckled at her antics. ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who insisted oning to Africa with me? Do you understand how dangerous it is now? How about I send you home?¡±
Shentu Tianyin hugged him tighter and sank her teeth on the fleshy top of his shoulder. She cried, ¡°I... I¡¯m so sad that I could die and here you are teasing me... You¡¯re such a bully... Sob... Sob...¡±
When in tears, the ice queen seemed like a different person- She had slid off her throne and morphed into a soft, sensitive maiden instead.
Xia Lei brought her closer. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s no need to be scared. With me by your side, no one can harm you.¡±
Shentu Tianyin let out a whine and buried her face into his chest.
Just like that, the python¡¯s corpseid quietly in the middle of the small jungle. The crushed skull courtesy of Shentu Tianyin had finally shown some bleeding, yet no brain content was flowing out as anticipated. Out of curiosity, Xia Lei used his vision on the python¡¯s brain and the sight of a shrivelled, rotten organ was returned. The python had suffered the same fate as Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s victims and the thought alone was enough to disgust him.
¡°Tianyin, we should leave,¡± urged Xia Lei. The man did not wish to remain in this jungle patch any longer.
Shentu Tianyin refused to move from his arms. Instead, she tightened her arms again. ¡°Just indulge me a little, yeah? I haven¡¯t been hugged to sleep by you since forever.¡±
Xia Lei pressed his lips against the shell of her ear. ¡°The skies are brightening up. If we don¡¯t leave soon, someone is bound to find us like this. It¡¯s going to so awkward. I¡¯m alright with the intrusion but if someone were to see you in this state, I¡¯d be distraught.¡±
Those words seemed to work. Shentu Tianyin reluctantly moved out from his lock and tidied her appearance. After she was appropriately clothed, she spared a look at the python¡¯s body. ¡°Hubby, did I... Was I the one who killed it?¡±
At the rate of their rtionship¡¯s development, Xia Lei no longer minded how she was referring to him as her husband. He cast her a smile. ¡°Yeah, who else but you? You were the one who killed it and saved me.¡±
Shentu Tianyin was hesitant to believe that. ¡°It seems like it but... Where did I get the strength from?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Perhaps the Force was with you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re lying. Why would the Force be with me?¡± Shentu Tianyin punched his chest lightly. ¡°You must¡¯ve taken care of it and I so happened to deliver thest blow.¡±
¡°It¡¯s alright, ignore it. Let¡¯s go back to the vige.¡± Xia Lei grasped her palm and navigated themselves out of the jungle.
Back at Riverside Vige, the first person they ran into was Said.
¡°Mister Song, I went to look for you in your room but you weren¡¯t there.¡± There was a friendly smile on Said¡¯s lips. ¡°Where did you go?¡±
Xia Lei promptly replied, ¡°We went out for a walk around the perimeter and did some stretches.¡±
¡°Oh, I see. Breakfast is ready. Pleasee with me,¡± instructed Said.
Xia Lei nodded and then brought Shentu Tianyin along. Thankfully, the woman could not understand the Frenchnguage. If she had heard the ¡®exercise¡¯ mentioned, she would¡¯ve blushed furiously.
After breakfast, a few women from the vige surrounded Shentu Tianyin and attempted to establishmunication through hand gestures. The woman could not understand what they were trying to illustrate. Just as she was about to call for Xia Lei¡¯s help, the man had already left with Said.
They exited the dining hut. Xia Lei said, ¡°Today, we must get all the cars ready. There¡¯s no need to hold back on payments. You must choose the best off-road vehicles avable. Other than that, please prepare necessary car parts for potential repairs and buckets of petrol.¡±
Said replied, ¡°No problem, Mister Song. Please rest assured. In Yaounde, you can buy anything you wish with money. Plus, you even gave us such a big sum. I¡¯m sure this whole thing would be alright.¡±
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°Also...¡±
¡°Yes, Mister Song?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated for a moment but said it anyway, ¡°Can you help me purchase some sports energy bars?¡±
¡°What is it for?¡±
¡°To eat, of course. I like to eat that,¡± answered Xia Lei.
That was a tant lie. Xia Lei wasn¡¯t particrly fond of the item but it would be ideal for meal recements. The taste of regr food was upsetting to his system so a nd energy bar would work better. It was concentrated with energy and nutrients the human body required and could easily satisfy biological needs. It was a better optionpared to eating human brains.
Said, on the other hand, found Xia Lei¡¯s taste a little odd. Despite that, he agreed anyway. ¡°Sure, no problem. I¡¯ll bring some vigers into Yaounde right away.¡±
¡°Go. Remember what I said earlier.¡± Xia Lei reminded grimly. ¡°You¡¯re currently a businessman. Do not simply engage strangers in conversations and do not answer anything they ask. After you get the cars, try to avoid roads with surveince. Understood?¡±
¡°Understood. Please rx and await good news. See youter, Mister Song.¡± Said let out a high-pitched whistle and a few youngsters emerged from different corners. Then, Said brought the youngsters to Yaounde city.
The sight had Xia Lei stunned. ¡°They... I can¡¯t believe they¡¯re walking to the city. Can they actually drive?¡±
No one could answer him.
Shentu Tianyin finally managed to escape with a sour look. ¡°They¡¯re so friendly but I don¡¯t understand a single thing that they¡¯re trying to say.¡±
Xia Lei tugged on her wrist. ¡°Let¡¯s go back and wait for Said¡¯s return. We¡¯ll be heading to Nigeria tomorrow morning.¡±
Shentu Tianyin let out a hefty sigh. ¡°I wish to stay here a little longer. If I could be freed from the Vientiane Group and you could run away from the Thunder Horse Organization and work for the country, wouldn¡¯t it be great to live our remaining years in a peaceful vige like this?¡±
¡°Are you able to adapt to this ce? This ce has no light bulbs after all,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Of course not. But if you¡¯re here with me, I¡¯m willing to brave through all obstacles,¡± muttered Shentu Tianyin.
She really was a changed woman.
They returned to their rooms and Xia Lei brought out his hackingptop to work on Super Xiao Qian.
Shentu Tianyinid on the bed leisurely. One hourter, she brought out a hidden ss vial on the headboard. ¡°Hubby, are you thirsty? Here, have some water.¡±
Xia Lei did not spare her attention, merely reaching an arm over for the ¡®water¡¯.
Wordlessly, she ced the ss vial into his palm.
Xia Lei brought the vial to his lips and was immediately assaulted by a familiar but weird scent. He was dumbstruck when his eyes finally settled on it. The man whipped his head around and stared at Shentu Tianyin with an expression close to mirth. ¡°Tianyin, you...¡±
On cue, Shentu Tianyin pulled her cor wider to expose a span of pale skin and a deep valley. She drawlednguidly, ¡°Oh dear, why is so hot over here? Jeez, it¡¯s so warm. I can¡¯t bear this any longer, I¡¯m going to take off my clothes.¡±
¡°...¡±
This was a problem due to her frenzied pursuit for a pair of twins.
In the early hours of morning, a convoy consisting of four off-road vehicles departed Riverside Vige northwards. They were headed for Nigeria.
A new storm was cooking up in the background, ready to burst at the seams.
Chapter 1179 - Memory Search
Chapter 1179 - Memory Search
Thirty-five hourster, Kano City, Nigeria.
Kano City was a thousand-year-old city in Nigeria that held long histories and numerous ces of interest. It was a famous tourist city in the country, a desert port in West Africa and a bustling trading centre. Although Nigeria was gued by war, it was still rtively safe in the city as the Nigerian government forces guarded it. However, for safety¡¯s sake, Xia Lei had gotten Shentu Tianyin a set of female Muslim clothing.
It consisted of a ck robe, ck headscarf and a ck face veil. Even Shentu Tianyin¡¯s eyes were shielded, which helped reduce all risks of exposure to the lowest.
Xia Lei too had changed into a set of male Muslim clothing. He looked like an Arabian from the Middle East with the ensemble of a white robe, brown headcloth and a pair of aviator sunsses.
The four off-road vehicles wove through the city, finally stopping in front of an old building.
Xia Lei got out of the car and told Said, ¡°You all may go back now. Be careful on your trip home.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Said did not expect that the job would be over as soon as they reached Kano City from Cameroon.
Xia Lei offered no exnation. He went straight for the boot to retrieve his and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s luggage.
Said had not left yet. ¡°Mister Song, I thought we¡¯d be staying longer to help the preaching. This ce is messy. You and your girlfriend will not be safe here.¡±
At this moment, a blonde woman with sapphire eyes exited the old building.
As soon as Said took notice of her, he quickly drew a cross and strode forward. He bent over, held her palm up and kissed the back of her hand. His sincere expression throughout the process felt like he had met the Pope himself.
This blonde woman was none other than Giovanna, who had been waiting in Nigeria. She was the lead figure among the Relief Society¡¯s four saintesses and the head knight of the Relief Society¡¯s armed knights. Said was nothing but a person-in-charge looking after a small branch and a lowly pastor. In his eyes, a figure like Giovanna was equivalent to the Pope. One would wonder how Said would react if he found out that the ¡®Mister Song Jiang¡¯ he had looked after the past few days was the founder of the Holy Thunder Church.
¡°Go back, Cameroon and the brothers you¡¯ve brought along needs you,¡± Giovanna uttered without a hint of emotion. ¡°You¡¯vepleted your mission.¡±
¡°Oh, honourable saint and head knight, we shall take leave now.¡± Said turned around, climbed into the car and drove away. The youngsters he had brought along mirrored him and took off following his lead. Giovanna¡¯s words held more authority over Xia Lei¡¯s. After all, Xia Lei was a reincarnated god in their minds and they believed that they would not be bestowed with a chance to see him. Giovanna, on the other hand, was a well-known figure in charge of all operations and the entire Relief Society.
After Said and his men were out of sight, Giovanna quickly rushed over and pried the luggage handles out of Xia Lei¡¯s grip. She regarded him with the utmost respect, ¡°Master, this way please.¡±
When the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were around, the female knights would call Xia Lei ¡®boss¡¯. But when they were alone, the knights were more willing to call him their ¡®master¡¯. They were Xia Lei¡¯s knights and regarding him as their ¡®master¡¯ was more befitting for their tradition and oath.
Xia Lei made noment and followed her into the building.
Though Shentu Tianyin was a little weirded out by it, she did not ask.
The old historical building was actually a housing property. The owner of the house wasn¡¯t here but Rosa, Theresa and Ste were present along with some of the core members of the Relief Society. Evidently, the building was a temporary stronghold for the Relief Society in Kano City.
¡°We¡¯ve received weapons from Prince Harifah. Our people are gathered outside the city.¡± As soon as they entered the living room, Giovanna dove into the topic directly. ¡°We have gathered one hundred people, all of which are retired soldiers with rich battle experience.¡±
Rosa reported, ¡°Prince Harifah had sent over enough weapons to arm two hundred people. If there¡¯s a need, we can continue arming the members of the Relief Society. However, that would require more time.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°One hundred retired soldiers is more than enough. Store the extra weapons and gear. Tell me more about the Alliance Mine. Have you managed to find anything new?¡±
Theresa rolled out a map of Kano City and its surrounding regions on the coffee table. Upon inspection, there was a spot on the print that was circled with a red pen. It was a jungle patch that had a mountain. The area wasbelled in English as ¡®The Jungle of No Return¡¯ and ¡®Alliance Mine¡¯ respectively.
Theresa pointed at the mountain within the red circle. ¡°This is where our target, Alliance Mine, is. To get there, we need to go through the Jungle of No Return.¡±
Ste uttered, ¡°This ce has a legend. ording to the locals, a faerie tribe lives in the jungle and anyone who enters it would be lost. Eventually, they¡¯d die. No one has ever made it out alive, hence the ¡®No Return¡¯.¡±
Xia Lei was a little taken aback. ¡°Is it real?¡±
Steughed a little. ¡°Of course not. I harvested a basket full of mushrooms from the jungle yesterday.¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°Alright, enough jokes.¡± Giovanna¡¯s expression was serious. ¡°Master, we need to get past this jungle in order to reach Alliance Mine. However, a huge group of Boko Haram armed members are already stationed around this piece ofnd. They¡¯ve destroyed the only tar road that goes through the jungle.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes had already caught on the mentioned road on the map. ording to the map¡¯s scale, this road was about two hundred and ten kilometres long. It would take about two hours to get to the end of it via car. If they were made to walk, the journey would take at least a few days. After all, lugging along a huge number of weapons across the jungle was a different experience from walking normally.
¡°Master, you need to make a decision.¡± Rosa prompted, ¡°Are you nning to bulldoze our way through the road or are we going to travel on foot through the forest?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s brows were knitted. He pondered for a moment before answering, ¡°Driving would be much faster but we¡¯d be targets to the Boko Haram¡¯s ambush. If a battle were to break out, the mastermind behind Boko Haram, America, will be alerted. Perhaps they have already prepared a Tomahawk missile for us.¡±
¡°So you¡¯re saying that we¡¯ll need to travel on foot?¡± asked Theresa.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°Walking through the forest with weapons will take at least two to three days. Plus, a lot of people and a lot of weapons are involved in this operation. A distance of more than two hundred kilometres and a journey of three days. There are plenty of factors that will give us out. If we¡¯re found, the Boko Haram won¡¯t be of much harm inparison to what the Delta Force can do. They have armed helicopters that can hover over us dast. At that time, we¡¯ll be facing threats from the rocketunchers of the Apache or ck Hawk helicopters.¡±
Giovanna threw her hands. ¡°If neither driving nor walking will work, how are we supposed to get there?¡±
At this moment, Shentu Tianyin abruptly spoke up. ¡°I heard this from our geologists that the Vientiane Group had ns to build a railway through the jungle. It was a strategy for Vientiane to save up on transportation costs. This was during my father¡¯s era. He had provided a ten million yuan fund for the n. However, due to overwhelming opposition from environmentalists, the railway n was eventually called off.¡±
Xia Lei ced his attention on the map. He could not find any mark for a railway.
Shentu Tianyin seemed to have picked up on his confusion. She said, ¡°Hubby, it¡¯s an unfinished project. There¡¯s no way you¡¯d see it on the map. I vaguely remember that it was stopped halfway through construction.¡±
The four female knights stared at Shentu Tianyin oddly. Their interest was not piqued by the existence of a railroad but by what Shentu Tianyin had regarded Xia Lei------ ¡®Hubby¡¯!
¡°Jeez, this is the sixth woman that¡¯s calling him hubby...¡± The four female knights thought in unison.
Their shift in expression went unnoticed by Xia Lei. He questioned, ¡°Tianyin, do you remember where the railway is at? If it is half finished, we could at least shorten our journey through the journey by half.¡±
Shentu Tianyin racked her mind and looked a little troubled. ¡°I vaguely remember seeing the railway¡¯s map but I can¡¯t seem to recall anything. I¡¯ve never been to the site and this is the first time I...¡±
Giovanna urged, ¡°Please try. This is really important for us.¡±
Shentu Tianyin continued to think but evidently to no avail. She felt increasingly bitter. She wished to help but she just couldn¡¯t remember anything useful.
At that moment, something clicked in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. The mysterious energy inside him was suddenly awakened and an energy field was generated. Its scope had enveloped the surrounding women and began interpreting the brainwaves and biological energies radiating off them. Soon, their thoughts flooded his brain in tandem.
¡°Our master is such a pervert. He¡¯s married to five women and yet four children is not enough? I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s even getting involved with his ex-wife. He¡¯s a failure to the male poption,¡± thought Rosa.
¡°How big is his dick? Is he even able to satisfy six wives?¡± Theresa¡¯s thoughts entered his mind.
¡°When will this discussion end? I really need to pee, I can¡¯t hold it in any longer.¡± Ste¡¯s thoughts held a bit more urgency.
¡°Is the railway on the east or the west?¡± Giovanna questioned in her mind.
Other than Giovanna, the thoughts of the other three knights had rendered Xia Lei speechless. So he brushed their inner voices aside and merged into Shentu Tianyin¡¯s mind instead. Instantly, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s brain felt like it was his. Her memories began to pour out and one minuteter, a yellowing map was presented to Xia Lei. On that map, there was a railway that went through two-thirds of the Jungle of No Return...
Xia Lei¡¯s energy field dissipated.
¡°Crap, I just can¡¯t remember anything about it.¡± Shentu Tianyin was frustrated. ¡°Just give me some time- No, let me make a call. There are files on it in mypany and I can have someone bring it out to find out.¡±
Xia Lei quickly stopped her. ¡°No. You can¡¯t make calls. It¡¯s the Americans we¡¯re facing off, I¡¯m afraid they¡¯ve nted bugs in all of yourpany¡¯smunication devices. One call from you will give your location away.¡±
¡°Then what should we do?¡± Shentu Tianyin was on edge.
Xia Lei said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to do anything else. I¡¯ve already found out where the railway is.¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Surprised noises were elicited from the five women.
Xia Lei did not offer them an exnation. ¡°Go prepare yourselves. We¡¯ll leave the city tonight.¡±
Chapter 1180 - Forest Rush
Chapter 1180 - Forest Rush
The night was near when a car had stopped at the fringes of the jungle. There were already a few vehicles waiting in the clearing beside the road, all of which had transported core members of the Relief Society. They had exited Kano City in batches to the gathering point.
Xia Lei got out of the car and brought out a gearbox from the boot. He ced it over his shoulder and began to walk towards those cars. Shentu Tianyin tailed the man closely. The woman¡¯s upper torso was protected by a bulletproof vest while her head was covered by a tactical helmet. Xia Lei had insisted she put these on for protection.
After dismissing a few cars, Xia Lei led everyone into the jungle.
Among the trees, Xia Lei spotted around a hundred veteran soldiers that the Relief Society had recruited. They were of diverse age groups, some were in their twenties and some were in their fifties. They were all ck men that were perfect for stealth missions in the dark. All soldiers were armed with Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s weapons along with bulletproof vests and appropriate gear that were sent over by Prince Harifah.
While their training and battle experiences were nothing like the American Delta Force, the Boko Haram armed members wouldn¡¯t be an issue for them to handle. With the Thunder Horse weapons, they could even stand a battle against the Delta Force. After all, the XL2500 sniper rifle, Gust assault rifle and the Hell-bound One Soldier Cannon were kings of infantry weapons.
¡°Let¡¯s move!¡± Giovanna ordered.
The whole team began to move deeper into the jungle.
The surface leader of the operation force was Giovanna. Xia Lei¡¯s identity was still kept under the wraps. No one knew who he was or where he was from. Heck, they didn¡¯t even know who the real leader of this operation was nor the whole of the Relief Society. And of course, they had no idea that Xia Lei¡¯s face was fake.
Theck of walkable paths in the jungle had made the journey extra excruciating. Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin stayed at the very end of the line. Everyone else was silent during their treks but the ex-wife and ex-husbandbo had yet to stop talking ever since stepping foot into this ce.
¡°Hubby, I find it weird that you know where the railway is,¡±mented Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I deduced tt through the terrain shifts marked on the map. I think your geologists and railway engineers would¡¯ve picked that route toy the tracks.¡±
¡°Does that mean that you¡¯re not entirely sure either?¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not sure where it is honestly.¡±
The woman was speechless.
This was merely the beginning but she was already suffering a lot from the trek. If Xia Lei¡¯s deduction was proven to be wrong, then all her torment would be for nothing. This had bothered her greatly.
Xia Lei was, of course, lying. How was he supposed to tell her that- Hey, I infiltrated your brain and extracted the map from your memories- or anything else along that line?
¡°Ouch...¡± Shentu Tianyin groaned painfully in all of a sudden and fell on her bottom. Her palms were squeezing her ankle tightly and she looked like she was in pain.
Xia Lei quickly tended to her. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Did you roll your ankle?¡±
Shentu Tianyin bit her lip and nodded. ¡°Yeah. It hurts like hell... Jeez, I¡¯m so useless.¡±
¡°Please don¡¯t say things like that. You¡¯ve never once gone through hardships like this. You¡¯re already doing very well.¡± Xia Lei attempted tofort her while he helped her up. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll carry you on my back.¡±
¡°How can I do that?! You¡¯re shouldering a gear case that looks like it weighs at least a few kilogrammes. Plus, I... No can do! I refuse!¡± Shentu Tianyin rejected his offer. She felt guilty for being a burden to Xia Lei. She sincerely did not wish for Xia Lei to suffer because of her.
Despite that, Xia Lei was already moving his bag in front and crouching down. He turned around and told Shentu Tianyin, ¡°Enough chit chat. Come on up.¡±
¡°I...¡± Shentu Tianyin was hesitant.
Xia Lei¡¯s tone was stern. ¡°We¡¯re falling behind the team. If you refuse to climb up soon, we won¡¯t be able to catch up. There are too many wild animals in the depths of this ancient forest too. Do you want to be their meal? You promised that you¡¯ll listen to me when we¡¯re here. Heed my words or else I¡¯ll have no choice but to send you home.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s warning was effective. Shentu Tianyin quickly hooked her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist.
¡°There we go.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s arms reached behind to prop her up. He began to stride forward to catch up with the formation.
Shentu Tianyin had weighed about fifty to fifty-five kilograms. In addition to the forty-kilogram gear bag on his front, Xia Lei was carrying a load of around one hundred kilograms. This was a great load that even the best Special Force soldier could not even survive with through a few kilometres trek across an untouched jungle. Honestly, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get past even two kilometres.
Despite that, Xia Lei had brought along Shentu Tianyin and the bag along five kilometres. They had travelled for forty-five minutes straight without a single break.
He was able to do that courtesy of the mysterious energy within him. It had worked like the fuel of an automotive, supplying energy to his body continuously. There was no need for a car to stop and rest in the case of regr movement.
There was also another factor behind this. After his body had entered the overall evolution phase, the man no longer experienced exhaustion. Regardless of his explosive force or stamina, he was now far stronger than before. Most importantly, the mysterious energy had sessfully activated the energy within his cells and allowed him to be in a constant state of full force exertion. With his current performance, Xia Lei could even bring Shentu Tianyin on his back across the whole of Nigeria and even bring her to Turkey for a movie date.
¡°Hubby, are you tired yet? I think you should rest.¡± Shentu Tianyin had repeated herself multiple times throughout the whole of their forty-five minute long trek.
¡°I¡¯m alright. Just stay still, that¡¯ll help me a lot.¡± Xia Lei too had said the same thing repeatedly throughout the journey.
¡°But you¡¯ve already carried me through such a long distance. I¡¯m sure you must be exhausted by now. Please put me down for a moment and get some rest. I¡¯m feeling much better now, I think I can walk the rest of the journey myself.¡± Shentu Tianyin was still worried over Xia Lei¡¯s condition.
Unwilling to give up, Shentu Tianyin spoke into his ear with puffs of warm breath. ¡°Put me down before I bite you.¡±
It was then that Xia Lei finally ced her down. Shentu Tianyin gingerly took a few steps- Her ankle was better already. Xia Lei continued to lead Shentu Tianyin forward, still at the very behind of the formation. Though the woman was already able to walk normally, this was evidently her virgin trail through an untouched jungle. Her steps were strained and difficult. Due to that, they were slowing down reaching a speed that was even slower than Xia Lei¡¯s earlier pace. However, when Xia Lei offered to carry her again, Shentu Tianyin had stubbornly refused it.
Three hourster, the team arrived at a clearing in the jungle.
Xia Lei spread out the map, studied it andpared it with the map in his mind. ¡°We should be able to see the train tracks around twenty-five kilometres ahead. After we get to the railway, we need to speed up and reach our destination before dawn breaks.
¡°It¡¯ll be great if there¡¯s a train,¡± mumbled Ste.
¡°Keep dreaming. How is it possible for a train to be here?¡± Rosaughed.
Their conversation had restored some ease to the atmosphere.
Shentu Tianyin, on the other hand, found it difficult to rx. She took off her New Bnce sneakers and rubbed her ankle. Her wonderful jade-like feet were aching everywhere, blisters were even forming at pressure points.
Xia Lei¡¯s heart clenched at the sight. He wished to give her a massage and dress her wounds but in front of so many soldiers, he did not dare to do so. Everyone was here for war and this was a rather grim operation. If he chose to be lovey-dovey with Shentu Tianyin and frolic around, it would be detrimental to the soldier¡¯s spirits.
¡°Where are they?¡± Giovanna asked Xia Lei.
She was obviously referring to the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I think they¡¯re about to assume their spots soon.¡±
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Speaking of the devil, Xia Lei¡¯s phone rang at the mention of them.
It was Qian Jun. Xia Lei spared the screen a nce and answered the call. ¡°Hello, it¡¯s me. Speak.¡±
¡°Boss, we¡¯ve reached the outer ring of the Alliance Mine. We¡¯re about fifty kilometres away from the site. There¡¯s no signal ahead. We¡¯ve also managed to spot patrolling Delta Force soldiers along with some form the Navy SEAL. The Americans sure are going big this time.¡± Qian Jun¡¯s voice rang over the device.
¡°Any intel about what¡¯s going in the Alliance Mine?¡±
¡°None. We¡¯ve been unable to get close.¡± Qian Jun continued, ¡°I¡¯m calling to tell you that the Boko Haram armed members are gathering at the Alliance Mine for some unknown reason. Their members are all around the sides of the road that passes through the jungle. Also, the Boko Haram has sent out a few groups of armed members to patrol the jungle. If you¡¯re trying to get past the jungle, they might bring you some problems.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Alright got it. Wait for us at the gathering spot. We¡¯ll be there in the morning.¡±
¡°Noted. We¡¯ll be waiting.¡± Qian Jun hung up.
Xia Lei checked his wristwatch and said to Giovanna, ¡°We¡¯ll rest for another ten minutes and then continued our journey.¡±
Following that, Giovanna ryed his instructions to everyone involved. In the eyes of the Relief Society fighters, this order was made by Giovanna and not Xia Lei.
¡°Hubby, you should eat something.¡± Shentu Tianyin extended a bag of beef jerky over and motioned for him to take some.
Xia Lei went over but refused the beef jerky. He took out an energy bar from his pocket. ¡°You can have it all. I¡¯ll eat this instead.¡±
¡°You¡¯ve only been eating this for the past two days. That won¡¯t do.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s brows were knitted with earnest concern.
Xia Lei chewed on his energy bar. ¡°There¡¯s no need to worry about me. Quick, eat up. We only have ten minutes left to rest. Also, just let me carry you on my back for the rest of the trip. Your feet are already in such a state, there¡¯s no way you can finish the remaining twenty kilometres.¡±
Shentu Tianyin worried her lower lip but nodded in the end.
Chapter 1181 - You Know Too Much
Chapter 1181 - You Know Too Much
True enough, the railway tracks appeared after twenty-five kilometres. Due to theck of care, the tracks were covered with a thickyer of dead leaves and raging vines. It stretched forward with no immediate end in sight.
The veteran soldiers recruited by the Relief Society stepped onto the abandoned railway and began to pick up speed. Everyone was jogging. They had only a few tens of hours toplete a distance of more than a hundred kilometres, running was a must if they wished to reach the gathering point before sunrise.
Xia Lei began to run with Shentu Tianyin over his back. His long legs strode across each heavy nk used on the tracks, causing Shentu Tianyin to bounce on his back. She went up, down, up, down with alternating steps. With that motion, her soft breasts were forced to make contact with his back...
The four female knights wanted to help Xia Lei out. But as soon as they noticed that Xia Lei¡¯s performance was not affected by the additional load, they dismissed the thought. The man was not panting at all! If he had no issues, why the need for help then?
Shentu Tianyin was surprised by his strength. She thought, ¡°How is he so strong? Is this caused by those rumoured capsules and evolution? His children were already able to speak at two months old and their brains were developed a few years beyond their age. They must¡¯ve inherited his genes. If our children too had inherited his genes, would they be as strong and smart as their father?¡±
Thinking of children, Shentu Tianyin couldn¡¯t help but feel giddy. After all, there was a chance that half of her child was still in Xia Lei¡¯s lower half and there was only one way to make a baby.
Excitement was a drug that elicited certain responses from the human body and her manifestation of that was felt by Xia Lei¡¯s palm. Anyway, this was a vicious cycle drenched in pink.
Twenty kilometrester, an abandoned building on the side of the railway was seen.
Giovanna, who was in the front of the formation, suddenly paused and raised a palm to stop everyone else. Despite their numbers, the soldiers came to a stop without further noise. While some expertlyid t on the tracks, some of the others went into hiding inside the jungle on both sides. From the looks of it, the Relief Society soldiers were trained well.
Xia Lei ced Shentu Tianyin down. ¡°Stay here. Don¡¯t move around, okay?¡±
Shentu Tianyin nodded.
Crouching his torso, he went over to Giovanna. Just as she was about to send someone over to scout the area, he stopped her. ¡°Send me there instead.¡±
¡°But master...¡± How could Giovanna bear to send Xia Lei out to scout?
Xia Lei insisted, ¡°Do as I say.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Xia Lei was persistent so Giovanna gave in. She pretended to gesture a little and let Xia Lei out to check the building ahead.
The man had volunteered to do so because he had long detected the oddities in the building. The building that was about two hundred metres away was probably the repair and supply station back then. It had two floors; there were four men in a room on the bottom floor and there were two more of them on the roof. Though he was separated by two-hundred-metre distance andpromised by the dark, Xia Lei had long spotted the observer on the roof from a mile away. It was through his X-ray vision that he found the four men in the bottom room.
There were six men in the building. Though they weren¡¯t dressed uniformly, they were all armed with long and short weapons like the AK47. One of them was even holding an old Soviet-made RPG rocketuncher. These armed members were evidently not from the American Delta Forces but from the Boko Haram armed group. Perhaps they were the patrolling members that Qian Jun had mentioned earlier.
For the Boko Haram members to be aware of this railroad was to be expected. After all, some of the members could¡¯ve been recruited around the area. They were well-versed with the environment, which was why they were tasked to watch the tracks in order to stop anyone from getting close to the Alliance Mine.
Xia Lei left the tracks and dove into the jungle on the right. As he stealthily made his way over, he produced his Viper pistol and put on its silencer.
The forest foliage was dense with trees and creeping vines, but that did not stop Xia Lei from closing in onto the building. He was fast, his steps almost as if he was a monkey or even a panther. His speed was not human-like at all.
In a matter of seconds, Xia Lei sprinted through a distance of more than a hundred metres. He began to slow down about fifty metres away from the building. He wasn¡¯t exactly worried about getting spotted by the rooftop observers. There was a chance that the Boko Haram armed members had ntedndmines around the area.
Scanning through the ground, Xia Lei took note of all thendmines buried underground. There were a total of twelve mines, all of which were powerful anti-infantryndmines made by the Americans.
If Giovanna had sent over someone else, they too would¡¯ve chosen to go near the building through the jungle. In that case, they would be forced to get past this area filled withndmines. To bury twelvendmines in such a small area would¡¯ve rendered even the strongest veteran vulnerable as they could not see what was beneath the surface. As soon as the Relief Society¡¯s soldiers stepped on it, the mines would be triggered and an explosion would y out. And that would expose their operation entirely. The Boko Haram group and the Delta Forces would rush here very soon, and things would take a terrible turn for everyone.
With ease, Xia Lei avoided the mines and slowly closed the distance. Forty metres ... Thirty metres... Twenty metres...
On the roof, a Boko Haram armed member brought out a pack of cigarettes and passed one stick to hisrade. Hisrade hovered a lighter over and lit its tip.
¡°There are no women around this fucking ce. How much longer do we need to stay here for?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. I fucking hate this ce man.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure no one would even think of using the rail---¡± A bullet flew in through the window and exited his right socket clean, effectively silencing the man for eternity.
Less than a secondter, another bullet went through the other¡¯s left socket. Everything had happened so quickly that the man died without a sound.
After taking out two of the observers within a second, Xia Lei resumed his journey towards the abandoned building.
In the run-down building with no windows or doors, four Boko Haram armed members were snoozing away. In the centre of the room was a pile of charcoal- a sign that a fire was made in this ce.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Three bullets, three split skulls and three lifeless bodies. Thest armed member jolted awake by the odd noise and reflectively reached down for his AK47 rifle. Right at the moment, he saw someone with a silenced pistol at the window.
Poof!
A bullet was shot into thest member¡¯s arm, causing the AK47 rifle to tter onto the ground This time, the man did not reach for the rifle. He suppressed his dire urge to scream for help. The man was clear about this- He was alive only because the person decided to spare him.
Xia Lei leapt through the window and pointed his gun at the man. Weirdly, Xia Lei had not intended to interrogate him.
Thest armed member watched him closely, beads of cold sweat forming across his forehead. He had expected to be interrogated but after an extended silence, he realized that it wasn¡¯t going to happen. Xia Lei merely stared at him coldly, eyes moving like spiralling abysses that brought nothing but fear.
There was no need for Xia Lei to ask anything. As soon as he entered the building, the mysterious energy was already activated and doing its job. His energy field had captured the terrorist¡¯s brainwaves, biological energy and thoughts as he moved closer. At that moment, his energy had infiltrated the man¡¯s brain and began reading through the information inside.
Thest armed member¡¯s mind was filled to the brim with outrageous memories. The Quran, bombs, decapitation and women... All sorts of vile things were ignored right away by Xia Lei¡¯s brain. After he hadbed through a mountain of useless information, Xia Lei was now presented with the things he wanted------ The Boko Haram personnel who had reached a deal with the American Special Force was Lamara. This time, the Boko Haram group had used one thousand armed members for the operation. Three hundred fighters were stationed on both sides of the road, one hundred of them were patrolling the jungles and another two hundred members were at the back area of the Alliance Mines. The remaining four hundred fighters were positioned around the Alliance Mine to act as human shields for the American soldiers!
It was confirmed that the Americans had brought out their Delta Forces and Navy SEAL to Nigeria, both of which were elite soldiers. It was not difficult to tell how much the Americans had prioritized the newly-discovered rare metals!
¡°Hey, what do you want to know?¡± Thest armed member in the building attempted to break the tense silence. ¡°Come on, you can ask. As long as you promise to not kill me, I¡¯ll tell you everything you wish to know.¡±
¡°One plus one equals?¡± Eerily, the words that escaped Xia Lei¡¯s lips were in anguage specific to the member¡¯s tribe.
The man was perplexed. ¡°Two.¡±
The moment his voice died, Xia Lei pulled the trigger. The bullet sted through the armed member¡¯s skull.
¡°Sorry, you know too much.¡± Xia Lei kept his pistol away and left the abandoned building. He stood on an elevated spot and waved his arm at the others.
Two hundred metres away, Giovanna ced her night-vision binocrs down and pouted. ¡°Jeez, he¡¯s always working like that. Taking out all the enemies alone... Does he think we¡¯re just here for sight-seeing?¡±
Despite her words, her body was quick to react. She emerged out of her hiding spot and waved. ¡°Onward!¡±
The Relief Society started to move again.
Shentu Tianyin followed the troop closely as they made their way towards the abandoned building. The woman was probably the most worried out of them all when Xia Lei had left. She was worried that this would be the end of him and she¡¯d be forced to face this awful ancient jungle alone along with the vile, heartless terrorists. However, her biggest fear was still living out her remaining years in absolute loneliness.
All her worries had dissolved as soon as Xia Lei came into sight. No longer able to hold back, she dashed forward and hugged him tightly.
¡°Hey, it¡¯s alright. We need to continue moving.¡± Xia Lei then whispered into her ear, ¡°Hey, hey. There¡¯s a lot of people staring at us.¡±
It was only then that Shentu Tianyin released Xia Lei, finally breaking out into a wide smile.
A few of them went into the building to bring out the corpses, some of them even went to the roof to check on the two bodies there. They began to drag the bodies, in an attempt to hide it in the jungle behind. Xia Lei stopped them and said, ¡°Just ignore the bodies, we really need to go. They¡¯ve buried mines throughout the area behind the building, there might be more elsewhere too. Everyone, please be vignt.¡±
The Relief Society¡¯s veteran soldiers were blown away, finally realizing that Xia Lei had crossed a mine zone in the dark and took out six terrorists within a few minutes!
Their shock they felt was something that could not be described with words.
Chapter 1182 - Whistles
Chapter 1182 - Whistles
The golden light of dawn dispelled the darkness of the night as the forest woke from its deep slumber. The forest teemed with life as cries of wild animals could be heard from deep within the forest and chirps came from the tree branches.
The one-hundred-kilometre journey involving sabotaging five Boko Haram assembly points had been put past them in the night. The bloody violence of the night seemed to evaporate as rays of golden light shone.
On the other side of the mountain at the end of the forest was Alliance Mine of Vientiane Group.
At a spot near the tunnel going through the mountain, Giovanna lifted an arm. The travelling troop stopped and awaited her nextmand. Even the seasoned soldiers were happy to stop. They had been travelling for a hundred kilometres now, while there were rests in-between, they were never enough. Indeed, the moment themand to stop was issued, most of the soldiers sat ory down in exhaustion.
Xia Lei put Shentu Tianyin, who was on his back, down.
She must¡¯ve had the most effortless journey amongst everyone here since she had spent most of it on his back.
She reached out to wipe his sweat but realised there was not even a drop on his forehead. Yet she was already drenched in sweat. She gawked in awe, for this was no longer Xia Lei. This was a man closer to a god!
A sudden whistle travelled from the mid-section of the mountain.
An experienced soldier scrambled up while a few unlocked the guards on their Gust assault rifles, entering a battle stance.
Giovanna cautioned, ¡°Calm down. They¡¯re one of us.¡±
The soldiers rxed a little.
Xia Lei also whistled in reply.
A few minutester, a petite yet curvydy emerged from the forest at the foot of the mountain. She looked like she came from an odd mix of eras because while she held a Gust assault rifle, there was a katana on her back. A ck cloth covered her face, leaving only a pair of dark, cold eyes exposed.
She was Tsukino Kyoko. She wanted to be the first Chinese Zodiac Battle Team member Xia Lei saw so she chose to emerge first. During Xia Changhe¡¯s era, a ninja like her might never even show themselves under such circumstances.
After she appeared, Anjum Khan, Sa¡¯im, E¡¯er Demutu, Yelena and Alessio all emerged too. Although there were only six of them, they were all super fighters, iparable to the rest of the soldiers.
¡°Who the hell are these people?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t listen to gossip. Every single one of them is a powerful figure. Based on my experience, they¡¯re all cold-blooded killers.¡±
There was some discussion among the soldiers but they soon quieted down. After living lives filled with battles and violence, they knew what sort of people they should never offend or the kind they had to avoid like the devil.
Tsukino Kyoko walked over and opened her arms wide to embrace Xia Lei. She knew Shentu Tianyin¡¯s identity but still could not help herself. At least all of the other Zodiac Team members also walked over to give Xia Lei a hug. If she was the only one to hug him, then the situation would beplicated.
However, it did not matter if Shentu Tianyin knew of her hidden rtionship with Xia Lei. She would not be jealous in ce of the five other women in his life. Xia Lei¡¯s women could almost form a ser team now. Being jealous was useless at this point. Plus she was not in the position to be jealous.
Alessio was thest to hug Xia Lei. He greeted Xia Lei in Italian, then grinned. ¡°I¡¯m back, Boss.¡±
Xia Lei replied in Italian, ¡°Have you recovered from your injury?¡±
He grinned in response, ¡°I can fight a bull now.¡±
Xia Lei also smiled. ¡°That¡¯s good. You¡¯ll be able to prove thister.¡±
He was the dragon of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team, also their ambusher, the fiercest and most fearless member of the team. He had been injured during the mission targeting the Knights Hospitaller but had now returned. If Liang Siyao was here, the team was basicallyplete. Xia Lei initially thought to recruit Giovanna and the rest of the knights into the team in ce of Amanda, Park Taeyong, Bagu and Markus. However, he realised that them not joining him and spending their time on establishing the Relief Society made them more valuable. They were still on the same team as the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team whether they were members or not.
¡°Boss,¡± Qianjun spoke up, ¡°There will be no cellr signal in the tunnel, at the mid-section and top of the mountain. A patrol team patrols the tunnel every two hours. Also, there are about a hundred Boko Haram members in the area.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I know.¡±
¡°You do?¡± Qianjun looked surprised.
¡°There are a hundred armed Boko Haram members along this railroad trail, three hundred on both sides of the highway and two hundred in the area behind Alliance Mining. Five hundred surround Alliance Mining as human shields for the Americans. The negotiator, an important person in Boko Haram, is called Ramarafa.¡±
¡°Where did you get this information?¡± blurted Sa¡¯im. He was the member in charge of intelligence, yet he did not know these. Xia Lei had been travelling all night, where did he get such information from?
¡°I ambushed some whistleblowers and left one alive, then interrogated him.¡±
The reality was that Xia Lei asked the guy what one-plus-one was, then shot him on the grounds of him ¡®knowing too much¡¯ after getting an answer. He was more terrifying than a terrorist in this sense.
The Gray and Russo sisters walked over.
Giovanna said, ¡°We¡¯ve grouped up, Boss. What¡¯s the next step?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Let everyone eat and rest in the cover of the forest. They¡¯re exhausted. They can¡¯t fight if we encounter any enemies. We¡¯ll move at night when they¡¯ve eaten and slept.
¡°No problem. We¡¯ll go now,¡± said Giovanna. Rosa, Ste and Theresa also left. All four always operated together anyway.
He stopped them. ¡°Wait.¡±
¡°What¡¯s up?¡±
Xia Lei gave Shentu Tianyin a look and said, ¡°Tianyin, you follow them too. Giovanna, this will be your task. You all must protect her no matter the cost.¡±
Giovanna was stunned for a moment but she nodded.
Shentu Tianyin protested worriedly, ¡°I don¡¯t want to follow them, where are you going? I¡¯ll go with you.¡±
He reprimanded her, ¡°Tianyin, are you sure you want me to bring you into battle? I will be sabotaging American signal-jamming equipment, there will surely be a fight. Do you want to die?¡±
¡°I...¡± Shentu Tianyin was afraid. The only person she trusted here was Xia Lei.
He walked up and leaned over to her ear, whispering, ¡°Even if you have no regards for your own safety, you still have to think about the child in your belly.¡±
¡°Ah? I...¡± Shentu Tianyin could not believe her ears.
¡°Be a good girl and go with Giovanna. You can trust them.¡± Xia Lei patted her shoulder and turned to leave.
What he said was effective, for she did not follow him. Both of them had used up the antidote these two days. Based on Tang Yuyan¡¯s recounting of her experience, there was a high possibility of her being pregnant already. If that was the case, how could she not think about her child? Although it was just a guess without proof, she still did not want to take the risk.
It was a maternal instinct to protect her child and she was no exception.
¡°Why are you all still standing there? Let¡¯s go.¡± Xia Lei walked over to the entrance of the tunnel.
¡°It¡¯s up to us to fight the dirty war again,¡± said Anjum Khan though he smiled,¡± But I like it.¡±
¡°Boss, do you know where the signal-jamming equipment is?¡± asked Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei said, ¡°They will definitely have a radar tower. The equipment will also be at the highest point of this ce so I do not think it will be difficult to find. If we can¡¯t find it, keep one person alive and I¡¯ll interrogate them.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko remarked, ¡°Getting one alive is quite a lot to ask for, Boss. Leave it to me, I¡¯ll bring you the most valuable guy I can find.¡±
He smiled.
She changed the subject. ¡°Boss, why did you bring your ex-wife here?¡±
Xia Lei was speechless.
¡°Haha! Kyoko, are you jealous?¡± grinned Anjum Khan.¡±
She red at him. ¡°Do you have a death wish?¡±
¡°Fine, forget I said anything,¡± he shrugged.
Xia Lei smiled bitterly. ¡°She¡¯s the head of Alliance Mining. The Americans took her ore so we need her to take it back.¡±
¡°What can she do?¡± asked Yelena.
¡°She can do what we can¡¯t. Think about it, even if we killed the special task force soldiers within Alliance Mining and armed Boko Haram members, they can both dispatch more fighters at any time. Do you think we can fight them with our small numbers?¡±
They were currently in Africa without ess to the Chinese military. In the event of war, the Americans could send a continuous stream of soldiers while they only had a small group of soldiers. It was not enough to secure Alliance Mining.
¡°Is it due to objections from our Foreign Affairs negotiators?¡± asked Yelena.
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°That¡¯s ourst resort. I have another n.¡±
¡°You do?¡± Alessio was very interested. ¡°What is it?¡±
¡°I¡¯m still mulling over it in my brain right now. I¡¯ll let you know when it¡¯spleted.¡±
His ns were actuallypleted, he just couldn¡¯t tell them about it!
All six Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members shrugged. Some smiled, some were expressionless. They were not surprised by Xia Lei¡¯s answer because he had always been like this.
The tunnel was dark. They could not see through the other end.
All seven of them radiated a murderous intent.
Chapter 1183 - The Seven Members Kill!
Chapter 1183 - The Seven Members Kill!
On the other end of the one-kilometer long tunnel was arge iron door. The rust-spotted door had cut the railroad off, also blocking out all light from the other side.
Why would a door like this be built in the middle of a tunnel? No one knew.
When they were two hundred metres from the iron door, Xia Lei¡¯s vision ahd prated the door to study the situation on the other side. There was a sentry post outside the door and fourteen terrorists carrying loaded rifles. Two were cooking over a fire by the tracks, two smoking on the tracks, two urinating while the remaining eight sat chatting and polishing their guns.
Xia Lei retracted his gaze. ¡°There is a sentry post at the mouth of the tunnel with fourteen terrorists.¡±
All the Zodiac Battle Team members looked at him curiously. Although no one asked, they had the same question. How did he know that?
¡°The guy I interrogated told me this. I repaid him by giving him a quick death, of course.¡±
All seven arrived at the door silently.
There was no lock on the door but it was closed. This was rather inconvenient because the people outside would notice the moment they opened it. If they started to fire at them, it would be a problem because the gunshots would attract attention even if none of the team members were shot.
All of them knitted their brows at this difficult situation. It was not just a few men outside. They could not kill them all in two seconds. Even two seconds was enough for gunfire to alert other members.
Xia Lei said as he stood by the door, ¡°Rx.¡±
They looked at him quizzically.
However, the look in his eyes suddenly changed, resembling two ck holes floating in space. His aura transformed into one that could not be described in words. All of them followed Xia Lei.
He lifted a hand to push the door open.
There was a loud creak.
The fourteen terrorists at the mouth of the tunnel turned as some grabbed their guns.
Tut-tut-tut!
Tut-tut-tut...
Bullets from different guns flew out of the open doorway, hitting various targets.
Blood sttered as bodies copsed.
The battle onlysted less than two seconds!
More than ten terrorists in different positions seemed to have been killed at the same time without even a chance to return fire. And the door was still not fully open yet!
¡°Nice!¡± said Xia Lei as he walked out of the tunnel.
The six other Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were still stunned behind him. They were all super fighters and had their own strengths. However, what just happened was not something they should have been able to do. To be able to kill more than ten people before they could return fire required intricate teamwork but they had just emerged from behind a door and had not even been able to see the terrorists or their locations. How could they have been able to shoot at the same time?
And most importantly, all targets were hit.
It seemed a mysterious process but it was just simple energy maniption on Xia Lei¡¯s part. He could see all the terrorists through the door, then used his powers to control all six of the member¡¯s minds. All six minds technically became one during that two seconds. Since he could see everyone and he was controlling the firing, the battle ended very quickly!
He had invaded their minds and turned them into him!
Xia Lei learned a lot during this battle too, that his energy field had a range of ten to eleven square meters. He did not have an urate number because it pulsated like waves.
¡°Boss, did you do anything to us?¡± blurted Sa¡¯im.
Alessio shrugged. ¡°I think it was just instinct.¡±
¡°I think so too,¡± said Yelena. ¡°He didn¡¯t do anything other than open the door.¡±
Tsukino Kyoko walked out. ¡°There¡¯s no time to waste, let¡¯s go.¡±
Ten minutester, Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team had dragged all the bodies into the forest and hidden them. They continued their journey ahead along the tracks.
The mountain with the tunnel was more than forty kilometres away from Alliance Mining. It would take hours to arrive at a regr walking speed, three if they ran. However, the number of Boko Haram patrollers increased closer to the destination and the possibility of meeting American soldiers was higher too. They could not travel too quickly.
Along the way, they kept alert. All checkpoints were cleaned out so they could clear a path without obstacles for the Relief Societyter.
The American soldiers had jammed all signals to prevent information leakage. However, this was good news to Xia Lei and the rest for it allowed them to barge in as required.
In the afternoon, Xia Lei raised a hand when they arrived at a spot. The speed walking Zodiac Team came to a halt.
There was an abandoned building one kilometre ahead built by the tracks. Just like the building they passed earlier, it was meant for supplies. Xia Lei saw eight people guarding the building but they were Americans, not Boko Haram members. He even saw the triangr sword and lightning emblems on them. They were part of the Delta Force.
Although there were only eight of them, they looked more difficult to deal with than all the Boko Haram members they had metbined.
Xia Lei deviated from the tracks and climbed up a tall tree like a monkey. Looking out, he saw a t valley ahead. There was a building within the valley and it belonged to Alliance Mining of the Vientiane Group. He estimated it to be five kilometres away, yet he could clearly read the Chinese characters at its gates stating ¡®China Alliance Mining¡¯.
As his body developed, his visual span increased too.
Xia Lei turned to look at a mine at the foot of a mountain left of the building. There was mining equipment there but no workers working. At the mountain¡¯s peak, there was an unnatural structure that looked like a radar but it was eight kilometres away so he was not sure.
He now had a new understanding of his visual capabilities too. His visual span was almost eight kilometres.
Xia Lei descended the tree and squatted on the ground, sketching a simple diagram on the ground with a twig. ¡°Alliance Mining is about five kilometres ahead. There¡¯s a sentry point one kilometre ahead but it is guarded by the American Delta Force, not Boko Haram. There are eight of them- two on the roof, two on the tracks, four in the building.¡±
Alessio pursed his lips. ¡°I think I¡¯ll be happy to kill them.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°As usual, don¡¯t let them fire. There are many enemies here and we do not know how many American soldiers were dispatched. We cannot alert them.¡±
Qianjun knitted his brows. ¡°Killing them is not difficult but doing it in a way so they wouldn¡¯t fire will be tricky. The Delta Force is the best task force team in the world after all.¡±
If a person like Qianjun frowned, that meant it was a very difficult task indeed.
¡°Let me go then,¡± volunteered Tsukino Kyoko.¡±Let me try.¡±
She was a ninja, the assassin of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team. But she was not a hundred percent confident in the mission either.
Xia Lei offered, ¡°You go with me. Qianjun, Sa¡¯im, you two enter from the left of the tracks and snipe the two on the tracks. Anjum Khan and Alessio, you all enter from the right and kill the two on the roof. Yelena, you keep time. Six minutester, signal us with a whistle. Qianjun, Sa¡¯im, Anjum Khan and Alessio will attack at the same time. Leave the four in the building to Kyoko and I.¡±
¡°No problem.¡± Yelena looked at her watch. ¡°The timer starts in ten seconds... Let¡¯s go!¡±
Xia Lei and Tsukino Kyoko left the tracks and slipped into the forest. They sprinted quickling among the trees, as agile as two foxes.
The ninja looked gorgeous as she ran, her breasts bouncing left and right beneath her clothing, up and down like waves.
Eight hundred metres within three minutes. Covering about five metres per second, it was no exaggeration to say that they ran like the wind.
When they were close to the building, Xia Lei stopped abruptly. ¡°There arend mines here. Follow me.¡±
She did not ask any questions, following his footsteps as they crossed the mined zone.
Both of them arrived at the building with one minute to spare.
He looked past the walls to study the insides of the building, then pointed at a room. ¡°There¡¯s one in that room. He¡¯s yours.¡±
She nodded and crept over to the room¡¯s window like a cat.
He went to another room. There were three people inside enjoying a smoke break.
The eight special forces were divided into two shifts, four per shift.
There was a sudden shrill whistle.
On the tracks, Qianjun, Anjum Khan, Sa¡¯im and Alessio fired at the same time. The four Delta forces on the tracks and roof copsed.
The three soldiers in the room tossed their joints and scrambled for their rifles. However, that was all they had time to do. In a second, their brains suddenly seemed to short-circuit.
Xia Lei appeared at the window, pointing his Viper pistol at them. Two Delta Forces were killed effortlessly while his energy field prated into the one remaining survivor, stealing information stored in his brain.
At the same time, Tsukino Kyoko appeared at another window. The Delta Force soldier inside grabbed for his pistol frantically but he was too slow. He had just taken his gun out when a de had cut through his forehead.
She did a flip into the room to retrieve her knife. Then, she left to assist Xia Lei only to see two bodies and a person standing like a wooden sculpture. This person seemed to be paralysed with fear.
Xia Lei pulled the trigger.
Poof!
Thest Delta Force soldier copsed.
He had already given Xia Lei all the information stored in his brain. He was now useless.
¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°That was so cool.¡± Her eyes sparkled with admiration.
Chapter 1184 - Killing Feels Like a Game
Chapter 1184 - Killing Feels Like a Game
Four Special Forces teams, two Delta Force teams and two Navy SEAL teams had involved eighty members. Added with the forty CIA field agents, there were around one hundred and twenty people in Alliance Mine.
Indeed, there was a radar station on the peak of the mountain which had acted as a signal jammer too. It had turned the surrounding area within the fifty-kilometre radius into a signal dead zone. Anyone inside the zone was technically unreachable.
The rationale behind this was simple- thisnd had belonged to Nigeria. The fact that the American Special Forces and CIA agents had upied the mines was an invasion attempt on the country. If the internationalmunity were to catch wind of this, America would be faced with waves of verbal criticisms and all of the Western values they preached would be nothing but hypocritical nonsense.
So far, Alliance Mining had been underplete control of the American Special Forces and CIA field agents. All of the employees of thepany too were bound to the nt area. An awful incident of five deaths and seventeen injuries were reported there, all of which were Chinese nationals. Their assants had been the CIA agents as the five Chinese employees had attempted to create a signal transmitter by utilizing electronicponents to send distress signals to the outside world. The agents had executed them and triggered a wave of protests. Yet, the protestors were quickly suppressed and had be the seventeen casualties.
At this rate, the Americans wouldn¡¯t be sparing anyone and their scapegoat would be the Boko Haram armed group. If two suspects- America and the Boko Haram armed group- were presented to the world, which party would garner more trust from the rest of the poption? The answer was obvious here, there was no need to even think about it.
There were two figures that led the Alliance Mine invasion. One of them was Williams, the head of the CIA and the other was Kestin, Lockheed Martin¡¯s new CEO and the leader of the American arms dealer alliance.
This was all the information Xia Lei had gotten from the Delta Force soldier¡¯s brain. However, due to his lower rank, the soldier had no idea if Williams or Kestin was inside Alliance Mine.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had sorted out the bodies and changed into Delta Force uniforms. Each Delta Force soldier had carried amunicator along, but there was no signal.
¡°Why are they bringing themunicators around when they¡¯ve jammed the signals?¡± Sa¡¯im was confused.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I think they would turn on a specific channel at intervals and then turn it off again when the conversation is done. After all, they still need to understand the situation here. If they¡¯re covering up their eyes and ears, they would be fighting this battle blind.¡±
¡°We should just carry this around. That way, we¡¯ll be able to listen in to their conversations too.¡± Yelena swiftly shoved themunicator into the fabric slot on the shoulder.
Xia Lei left the railway tracks and led them into the jungle towards the left side of the mountain peak that belonged to Alliance Mine.
The five-kilometre radius closest to the site was positively crawling with enemies. Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were forced to slow down because of that. But regardless if they had encountered the American Special Force patrol teams or the Boko Haram patrol teams, no one would be spared.
They could only fight, fight and fight without a pause.
Naturally, that would mean ughter, ughter and more ughter.
The usage frequency of Xia Lei¡¯s energy field had allowed him to be more adept. When theye across a bigger patrol team with scattered targets, he would instead infiltrate the minds of the Zodiac Battle Team members and be part of them. In this mode, it was equivalent to him fighting with seven bodies. With unified thinking, unified movements and scarily precise marksmanship, they were literally invincible.
By three in the afternoon, Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had reached the mountain¡¯s foot. At this point, they were only about three kilometres away from the Alliance Mine.
¡°The mountain is 2500 metres above sea level. We¡¯ll need at least two hours to make it to the peak and we¡¯ll only have ten minutes to end this battle.¡± Xia Lei began to n his strategy.
¡°Then when do we destroy the radar station?¡± Sa¡¯im asked.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°After we wipe out everyone at the radar station, you all will stay there.¡±
¡°What about you?¡± The concern in Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s eyes was evident.
Actually, Tsukino Kyoko wasn¡¯t the only member riddled with worries. The other Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members too had a feeling that their leader was about to go on a solo mission again.
And as expected, Xia Lei said, ¡°I¡¯m going to enter the mine site. Wait for my signal and destroy the radar station when ites. As soon as it is destroyed, the Americans inside the Alliance Mine would find out and that would be the moment where they¡¯d try to attack you. By then, you need to signal Giovanna and have her move in with her people. Following that, they¡¯ll attack the Americans and the Boko Haram armed members from behind.¡±
Anjum Khan grimaced. ¡°Boss, that¡¯s a thousand enemies you¡¯re talking about. At least one hundred of them are CIA elites, Delta Force members and Navy SEALs. Are you asking us to be Rambo?¡±
Nonchntly, Xia Lei replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. With me around, they have no chance of winning.¡±
Though it may sound overzealous., this was something Xia Lei wouldn¡¯t have said if he hadn¡¯t taken thest AE capsule. Why? Well, it was because he did not have the same confidence back then. With thest AE capsule, his body was now en route toplete evolution. With the energy field generated by the mysterious energy, the terrorists and Special Force soldiers were no match for him. He could easily run them over just like Zhu Xuanyue!
¡°Then that is settled,¡± said Yelena.
¡°Let¡¯s move.¡± Qian Jun urged.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s move.¡±
At five in the afternoon, Xia Lei and the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members had appeared at the dense jungle on the top of the mountain.
Away from the dense jungle was a man-made clearing, where a radar vehicle and signal jammer vehicle was parked at. There was no route on the mountain that could¡¯ve allowed the ascend of these cars, so it was obvious that they were brought here via air transport. Only America would have the capabilities to ship a radar car to a West African mountaintop through the air.
This was the mentioned radar station.
Tasked with guarding the station was a team of Navy SEALs that consisted of twenty members. There were also a handful of radar soldiers but they were evidently technical soldiers that belonged to the SEAL.
¡°Boss, are we still going with the same instructions?¡± At the edge of the jungle, Tsukino Kyoko questioned.
The instruction she was referring to was how they were told to not fire at the enemy. There were twenty of them here and the radar soldier could easily send a distress signal at any given moment. The difficulty was obviously much higher than all of their past battles, it even sounded impossible toplete.
Despite that, Xia Lei looked rxed. ¡°Wait for me here.¡±
¡°Huh? What about you?¡± Tsukino Kyoko stared at him with wide eyes.
¡°I¡¯m going over to talk to them.¡± Xia Lei stood up and left the protection of the jungle.
Behind him, all six of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were gaping in shock. Everyone was equally confused, minds filled to the brim with questions.
¡°What¡¯s up with the boss?¡± It took some effort for Anjum Khan to string words together.
¡°Yeah. What¡¯s the matter with him?¡± Sa¡¯im shared the sentiment.
¡°After not seeing him for so long, he feels like a different person,¡± said Alessio.
Qian Jun replied, ¡°He¡¯s definitely stronger now.¡±
¡°I¡¯m pretty sure this is something Kyoko could shed some light on,¡± uttered E¡¯er Demutu with a grin.
Tsukino Kyoko whipped around and shed him a middle finger.
To which E¡¯er Demutu shrugged off. Gentlemen do not fight women.
Xia Lei¡¯s presence was noticed not long after he had emerged from the jungle. It was then that the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members started moving towards the designated spot.
¡°Hold it!¡± A Navy SEAL captain shouted at Xia Lei. ¡°What are you doing here?¡±
At the edge of the jungle, all the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members raised their Gust assault rifles. They were prepared to fire if necessary. The captain¡¯s voice had alerted the nearby soldiers. They began to surround Xia Lei from different directions with raised M14EBR assault rifles.
There was no path that led to the mountain¡¯s peak. They and the radar station were even carried here by the Hercules transport ne. There was no hiking involved at all. Despite the Delta Special Force uniform on Xia Lei¡¯s body, the appearance of a Delta Force soldier here was worthy of doubt.
Xia Lei raised his arms and walked over. ¡°Chill. Something has happened at the headquarters and I¡¯m here to verify it.¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± A SEALmander asked.
Xia Lei continued to go nearer. ¡°We¡¯re facing some issues withmunication devices. We have lost contact with one of the patrolling teams. That¡¯s why Mister Kestin has sent me here to ask in hopes that you can fix the problem as soon as possible.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s answer had eased the SEAL soldiers tension. Kestin was, in fact, themander of this entire operation. This was a secret known by a selected few that not even the higher authority circle of Boko Haram knew. This Delta Force soldier had mentioned that Kestin had sent him over, so this heavily implies that this man was Kestin¡¯s direct subordinate. Plus, he had been raising his arm since the start without any intent to attack.
¡°Come with me, let¡¯s go ask the radar soldiers about it. They probably have an idea about the situation,¡± said the Navy SEALmander.
Xia Lei went to themander and smiled. ¡°How about we all go together?¡±
And with that, everyone else had followed them away towards the radar vehicle.
At the edge of the jungle, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members were having a hard time stomaching reality.
What the absolute fuck?
Are all the Navy SEALs here idiots?
Despite their surprise, this was merely the prologue to an even peculiar event.
The group of SEALs had stuck close to Xia Lei, the furthest they¡¯d go was five steps away from the man. It was dead silent, no one spoke and no one raised their guns.
When Xia Lei reached the radar car, he abruptly raised his Viper pistol and took out all the radar soldiers inside.
Poof poof poof!
Crimson droplets were sttered everywhere as the radar soldiers slumped over. Their deaths were rather unjustified.
In all of a sudden, Tsukino Kyoko dashed out of the hiding without care. Everyone else in the jungle quickly mirrored her. They ran and began firing at every single Navy SEAL in sight.
One by one, all the Navy SEAL soldiers fell to the ground with a generous pouring of blood. Till theirplete deaths, no one had managed to raise their weapons in time.
The battle had ended just like that.
This felt like an exceptionally dark joke.
¡°This...¡± Tsukino Kyoko gazed at Xia Lei with unmasked concern. Inexplicably, this was the first time she dared not go close to him. He felt like aplete stranger to her. His eyes were like ck holes in space; it was merciless, cold and ready to devour everything!
The female ninja wasn¡¯t alone in this. The other Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members too felt the same. The overwhelming respect they held for him was immediately upgraded to absolute fear!
Xia Lei closed his eyes, only opening it after a few seconds. He shed them all a smile. ¡°Why are you staring at me? This is indeed what I¡¯ve nned. Well done, team.¡±
¡°...¡±
¡°Clean this area up. Sa¡¯im, go take a look at how the radar works. When the timees, open up the channel they need,¡± said Xia Lei.
¡°Got it, no problem.¡± Sa¡¯im left for the radar car.
¡°Alright, that¡¯s it. I¡¯m going to the Alliance Mine now. Wait for my signal to destroy the radar station and signal jamming car, capiche?¡± After that, Xia Lei began his hike down the mountain.
This time, no one attempted to stop him.
Was there even a need for that?
Chapter 1185 - Kestins Mockery
Chapter 1185 - Kestin''s Mockery
Nightfall, Alliance Mine was lit up. Other than regr lights, there were several spotlights illuminating the entire area and its peripheries.
While the spotlights did not help the Special Forces and field agents observe the forest much, there was one person in the forest who could see them very well.
That person was Xia Lei.
A group of Boko Haram members walked past the bottom of the tree, speaking loudly.
This area contained both American soldiers and Boko Haram members. Since there were many of them stationed here, the duties of manualbour in the forest naturally fell on the Boko Haram members.
At this moment, Boko Haram did not know that their members stationed at the tracks had been killed, nor did the Americans know that some of their own were gone. The signal-jamming was a double-edged sword. One thousand people guarding an area of two hundred square kilometres was already an almost impossible task. However, neither party was currently worried because they did not hear any gunfire.
This was why Xia Lei insisted on stopping the enemy from firing their guns. That was how he slipped undetected here.
When the Boko Haram¡¯s patrol team left the forest, they walked down a path towards the camp. There was a campsite outside the factory area with hundreds of tents packed densely together. The empty grounds nearby were filled with modified pickup trucks armed with machine guns, anti-aircraft machine guns, cannons that fired tear gas etc. It was a mess of all types of weapons.
The Americans did not let these armed members enter the factory area. This was obviously because they did not want Boko Haram to know they had found rare ore in Alliance Mine!
Xia Lei climbed down the tree and walked towards the wall by the factory area¡¯s gates.
There was a checkpoint there, plus temporary watch stations on the wall. There was a spotlight and an armed soldier on each station.
Xia Lei was quickly noticed.
¡°Hey! Brother! Why are you here alone?¡± yelled a soldier at Xia Lei, lifting his M14EBR rifle, ready to shoot.
The M14EBR assault rifle was a gun specially made for the American Navy SEAL team. This gun also told everyone of his status, which was a Special Forces soldier from the Navy SEAL team that was separate from Xia Lei¡¯s ¡®Delta team¡¯. Under such circumstances, it was normal for this soldier to react like this to a stranger.
¡°Hey, brother! Want some weed? I¡¯ll give you some at a good price,¡± replied Xia Lei in an American ent as he strode over to the wall.
The soldier kept his gun, ¡°Can¡¯t you bump me one for free?¡±
¡°Sure, I¡¯ve got a lot in stock anyways.¡± Xia Len had already arrived at the bottom of the wall. He looked up, his eyes turning into two ck holes as soon as they met with the soldier¡¯s eyes.
The soldier at the watchpoint awkwardly lifted the spotlight and aimed it towards a mountain on the left. He turned it off, on, off and on, the repeated once before stopping and aimed it back to its original position.
¡°Go to sleep,¡± ordered Xia Lei.
The soldier closed his eyes and copsed on the ground.
Xia Lei turned and sprinted into the forest where he previously hid himself, scrambling up a tree like a monkey. He had just hidden in the crown when a deafening boom came from the mountain.
Soaring mes from an explosion turned the sky red.
The rumbling of an explosion followed immediately, its vibrations felt even a few kilometres away.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members on the peak had already destroyed the radar and signal jamming vehicles.
A piercing rm rang within Alliance Mines as tens of Special Forces soldiers rushed out of the main gates. Even the Boko Haram members were startled too, running out of the camps by the factory area. They ran towards the mountain on the left ording to their leader¡¯s instructions, who was yelling very loudly.
The Delta forces and Navy SEALs reacted quickest, disappearing into the dense vegetation in the blink of an eye. Boko Haram members followed soon after like arge pack of wolves.
Xia Lei hid soundlessly in the tall tree, even holding his breath when they ran under him. As he held his breath, he was shocked to realise that he did not actually need to breathe that frequently. His lungs did not burn even though he had been holding his breath for two minutes. It seemed that the mysterious power flowing through his veins could even rece oxygen!
¡°I must test this ability out at the ocean orke once I leave. I wonder how long I can remain underwater without taking a breath... Damn, am I still fucking human?¡± Xia Lei could not help but smirk bitterly to himself.
Other people lusted for more power while all he wanted was his wives¡¯ milk.
Rumble, rumble....
He heard a helicopter approaching.
Pushing his messy thoughts aside, he looked over to see an Apache helicopter and Chinook heavy-lift helicopter with twenty Delta soldiers sitting within. There was no question what these aircraft were here to do. If he did not stop them, the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team would never survive!
The Apache helicopter flew past the top of his head with the Chinook behind.
An XL2500 with a muffler attached peeked silently from within the tree crown, though it was mostly covered by tree leaves.
Poof!
A steel armour-prating bullet fired angrily out of the barrel and punctured the Apache¡¯s fuel tank, lighting it immediately. The Apache burst into mes and before it could conduct an emergencynding, it split into half with a deafening boom.
The Chinook quicklymenced its emergency procedures, veering steeply away but in that moment, another bullet punctured its fuel tank.
Boom---
The Chinook exploded and crashed ceremoniously into the ground. Another explosion that was more violent than before ensued. The soldiers within had met their maker before meeting the enemy.
This was the harsh reality of war.
Xia Lei climbed down the tree and ran to the sentry post from before.
As he sprinted, he suddenly braced and leapt onto the three-metre tall wall. Grabbing the side of the watch post, he flipped inside and reced the guard.
Arge group of Special Forces soldiers rushed out of the factory gates once more, splitting as they hurried to the two crash sites. They acted very quickly and professionally.
A man¡¯s voice crackled from themunication device. ¡°What happened?! Fuck! Where is the enemy? Find and kill them!¡±
Thems were live again but only because of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team for they had bombed the signal jammer.
Many voices came from themunication device but no one seemed to know where the enemy was. Based on the previous incidents, the enemy was obviously on the mountain but based on the two exploded helicopters, it seemed they were also close by. This meant they would attack anytime. The situation was chaotic because no one could make a conclusion.
Amidst the chaos, Xia Lei left the watch post and entered the factory area.
Since the explosions on the mountain and helicopter crashes had lured all the soldiers out, only American special agents remained in control of the factory. It was silent inside, not even a person in any of the well-lit areas.
Forty special agents should not be able to control such arge area on their own. Where would they keep their hostages?
Xia Lei activated his X-ray vision, and at the same time used his right eye to scan. His target was soon located.
It was a warehouse with closed blinds. The inside could not be seen but there were two CIA agents in suits guarding the entrance.
A regr warehouse should not have guards like them.
Xia Lei¡¯s vision prated the warehouse and he saw more than a hundred Chinese workers inside. Some sat on the floor while others were lying on their backs. It was obvious that some were injured but were not treated. They suffered badly but the CIA agents did not seem to care.
These Chinese workers who had flown all the way to Africa did note from wealthy backgrounds, only looking for an honest job for a living. Their usual jobs were already difficult enough but this was ridiculous. Xia Lei was sure that once the Americans confirmed the presence of the rare metal, these people would be massacred and the me pushed to Boko Haram.
Xia Lei was enraged by their situation but quickly calmed himself down. He walked towards the warehouse, radiating an icy chill.
A voice suddenly came from themunication device. ¡°Xia Lei? Can you hear me?¡±
His footsteps halted.
It was Kestin¡¯s voice.
¡°I know that you¡¯re here and had long anticipated this. But I did not know you would strike this soon,¡± said Kestin. ¡°You¡¯re an absolute pain in the ass... Bombing the satellite dish and killing so many people... Say, what should I do?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze fell on the office tower as he scanned the building. He could see everything inside but other than a few agents and suspectedmanders, he did not see Kestin.
Kestin did not stop talking. ¡°I know you¡¯re somewhere here. Even if you do not speak, I know you are. You¡¯re very smart, but you¡¯re not the only smart one in this world. Do you really think you¡¯ll win? No, I will.¡±
Xia Lei threw the device on the ground and crushed it with his heel.
It was not because he did not want to listen to Kestin¡¯s mockery- he knew that this device might be a beacon for Kestin to locate him.
Chapter 1186 - Saving the Hostages
Chapter 1186 - Saving the Hostages
Where would Kestin be hiding?
Xia Lei¡¯s gaze burned through the entire factory area, leaving no area out of sight other than ces the X-ray vision could not prate. He was done with the second check around the factory in under a minute.
Kestin was nowhere to be found.
Perhaps the man had figured out to hide somewhere undetectable by the X-ray vision but that didn¡¯t sound usible. But if he wasn¡¯t at the factory facilities, where would he be?
Following that, Xia Lei gave up on his search and resumed his journey to the warehouse.
He itched to destroy Kestin but there were more important matters to settle- Xia Lei needed to save the hostages and find out more about the rare metal from them.
As soon as Xia Lei emerged from the side of the warehouse, the two CIA agents guarding its entrance immediately noticed his presence.
¡°Hey! What are you doing here?¡± One of the agents asked him defensively.
Almost all of the Special Force soldiers were sent out to battle. The presence of one singr Delta Force soldier at the warehouse was more than enough to raise the agents¡¯ suspicion.
Xia Lei walked forward in silence.
¡°Hold it!¡± The field agent who questioned Xia Lei reached for his pistol.
Without warning, a dagger was lodged in the agent¡¯s vest. Eyes wide, he turned around, only to see hisrade staring at him emotionlessly while gripping the handle of the dagger. That was, sadly, thest thing the CIA agent saw.
The other agent who had killed off his colleague dragged the limp body away from the warehouse entrance. After that, he came back, pulled the door open and entered the warehouse.
¡°Oi! What are you doing here?¡± In the warehouse, another CIA field agent shouted at him.
The agent offered no answer as he made a beeline for the distribution box. He pulled the lid off and grabbed the lever.
¡°Hey! What are you doing?!¡± The questioning agent quickly ran over in an attempt to stop him. They were familiar with each other, hence theck of weaponized violence.
Ignoring his words, the man pulled the lever and allowed darkness to envelop the warehouse.
¡°What the fuck?! Pull the lever up!¡± In the dark, someone cussed.
Poof poof poof...
And so began a massacre. Bullets were released in the dark, each with the intent to harvest a soul.
That was the end of the CIA agents¡¯ lives. The abrupt darkness had not allowed their eyes to adapt to it fast, bringing them to their death as Xia Lei barged in and began to fire relentlessly!
One minuteter, the lights in the warehouse were back.
All CIA agents inside were lying in a pool of their own blood. No one seemed to be alive.
Watching the lifeless pile of bleeding agents, the Chinese employees held in the warehouse felt unprecedented fear. They had a feeling that this was their end. As they feared that this unnamed ughterman was about to kill them all, they suddenly heard him speak in Chinese.
¡°Fret not. I¡¯m here to save you,¡± said Xia Lei.
That elicited a relieved sigh from all the hostages. Some doubled over to the ground while some used their sleeves to wipe off their cold sweats. In that short amount of time, the Chinese employees had felt like they took a trip to Hell¡¯s Gate and back.
¡°Can we leave this ce?¡± Among the crowd, someone asked.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Not at the moment. There are still a lot of American Special Force soldiers and Boko Haram armed members outside. If you head out now, they¡¯ll surely kill you.¡±
A round of discussion ensued between the hostages.
Xia Lei urged, ¡°Hey, pipe it down. If you wanna live, you need to work with me.¡±
Suddenly, the chatter died down. There was nothing more important than survival.
Following that, Xia Lei asked, ¡°Who is the person in charge here?¡±
Weirdly, no answer came.
Xia Lei pondered for a moment and reconstructed his question. ¡°Who is Shentu Weiying?¡±
A slim, sweet-looking youngdy stood up, nerves clearly on edge. Xia Lei was surprised. Didn¡¯t Shentu Tianyin mention that Shentu Weiying was her seventh uncle? If it was an uncle, shouldn¡¯t he expect a man? Why did a woman stand up instead?
At that moment, the woman said, ¡°I¡¯m his secretary. Director Ying isn¡¯t here.¡±
Oh, so she was Shentu Weiying¡¯s secretary.
Xia Lei pressed, ¡°Then where is he now?¡±
She answered, ¡°He... I think he¡¯s in the mines now.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s heart thumped. ¡°Why are you all here while he¡¯s at the mines?¡±
¡°He...¡± She stopped herself mid-sentence.
One of the older employees suddenly stood and fumed, ¡°He betrayed the country! We discovered a rare metal and the American came rushing over after hearing about it. We¡¯ve been beaten up but he was the only one exempted from brutality. Of course he¡¯s at the mines showing the rare metal to the Americans!¡±
The Shentu family really was crawling with betrayers. In the past, there was Shentu Yi and now Shentu Weiying. The former had betrayed Shentu Tianyin and thetter hadmitted treason, Shentu Weiying had betrayed national interest.
¡°Sir, what is your name?¡± Xia Lei went over and asked politely.
¡°Wu Keyong.¡± The old man introduced, ¡°I¡¯m a geologist and the one who discovered the rare metal. I was also the one who shipped the samples back to China.¡±
¡°Can you tell me more about the rare metal?¡± Xia Lei stopped before Wu Keyong. He stared at the older man, eyes shifting subtly.
Wu Keyong began, ¡°We found the rare metal in Cave 13. It¡¯s located within the mountain and is about five hundred metres deep. I¡¯m not sure how much of the rare metal is in there because the geological structure inside is veryplex. If you could give me more time, perhaps I might be able to find out more on it. It¡¯s just that everything has happened so suddenly...¡±
Before he could even finish, Xia Lei had already gotten what he needed from Wu Keyong¡¯s brain.
The extracted information began to form a reel in Xia Lei¡¯s mind. In that reel of memories, Xia Lei had be Wu Keyong. There was a mining track ahead that stretched on until it hit the very bottom of the tunnel. There was a gigantic ck boulder that blocked off the path. Its surface was rough and filled with craters, making it look like a meteorite.
But... that was ridiculously impossible. Like Wu Keyong had said, Cave 13 was at least five hundred metres lower than ground level. How was it possible for a meteorite to fall into a cave this deep? From the looks of it, it should have the impact force capable of destroying the!
¡°Back then, I thought it was just a meteorite but that is scientifically impossible. That¡¯s why I decided to devise a way and break a piece from it...¡± Wu Keyong was still exining.
At that point, Xia Lei had lost interest. He then ced his gaze on Shentu Weiying¡¯s secretary and allowed his energy field to wrap her up. He infiltrated her mind and new information began pouring into his brain. He saw how Shentu Weiying looked in person. He was a man approaching his forties. The man looked well-kept and had on a pair of ck sses, he seemed sophisticated.
Xia Lei even managed to dive into some of her memories. In an office, she was bobbing her head up and down diligently underneath Shentu Weiying¡¯s desk while the man was on the phone. It was also in this phone call that Shentu Weiying let loose information on the rare metal found in the Alliance Mine to the Americans, told by the mentioned terms like a green card, fifty million USD and all sorts of exchange terms.
After ending the call, Shentu Weiying pulled the secretary up and pressed her on the desk. He flipped her skirt up...
As the man gyrated his hips, he told her, ¡°The Americans will send someone over tomorrow. You need to trick Wu Keyong and everyone else in theb to the material warehouse and I¡¯ll handle the rest.¡±
The secretary moaned out in ecstasy. ¡°Will you bring me to America?¡±
Shentu Weiying replied, ¡°Of course. I¡¯m doing this for us. That Shentu Tianyin bitch can go to hell. I¡¯m here throwing my spine out and yet she¡¯s the one earning big bucks from this. Her assets are already beyond hundreds of billions while I¡¯m miles away from even reaching ten million!¡±
¡°I¡¯ll make sure to bring Wu Keyong and everyone in theb to the warehouse, okay?¡± The female secretary attempted to appease the man within her.
Shentu Weiying continued to move. ¡°I¡¯m also expecting Shentu Tianyin toe sooner orter. The rare metal is a strategic interest, it¡¯s bound to make bank. If shees, remember to make her some tea andce her drink with the liquid I gave you. Hehe.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll do as you say. Ah~¡±
Xia Lei shook his mind free of their rendezvous. It was then a cold smirk appeared on his lips. ¡°Mister Wu, I think I¡¯ve got it from here. There¡¯s no need to continue.¡± Then he turned around and instructed, ¡°If you think you can fight, pick up some weapons ande with me. Make sure to close the warehouse doors behind you.¡±
No one dared to move.
Great courage was required to willingly go against a mass of armed CIA agents, Special Force soldiers and terrorists. And this great courage was not something everyone possessed.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Do you wish to live? If you do, pick up a gun and fight for your lives. Should you wish to give up, I too will respect your choice. However, I can confidently tell you that the Americans will still kill you in the end and then ce the me on the Boko Haram armed group. Your fate is yours to decide.¡±
¡°Fuck it! Since I¡¯m going to die anyway, I might as well bring a few with me to hell!¡± One of the younger employees picked up a pistol.
Following that, many began to pick up the weapons scattered around the warehouse.
Xia Lei faced the female secretary. ¡°You¡¯reing with me.¡±
¡°W...Where to?¡± She seemed nervous.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Bring me to Cave 13.¡±
¡°No! Absolutely no! I¡¯m noting with you.¡± She quickly rejected him.
Xia Lei pulled her over harshly and began to stride towards the warehouse door.
¡°Hey! What are you doing?! Let me go! You¡¯re hurting me!¡± Furious by the action, she began hitting Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder but her strength was no different from a mosquito bite to Xia Lei.
No one stood up to intervene. They were all alone in this harsh environment.
The female secretary was still going strong even as they were out of the warehouse. Xia Lei¡¯s expression immediately went icy. ¡°Keep this act up and I¡¯ll kill you. Don¡¯t you dare think that I¡¯m clueless about your deal with Shentu Weiying.¡±
¡°You...¡± She was taken aback. How did he learn of the secret between her and Shentu Weiying?
¡°Move.¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was cold too.
¡°No!¡± She began to toss around. ¡°You don¡¯t know anything! Why do I need to listen to you?! Do you even have evidence?! If you have evidence, go on and charge me at court! Go on!¡±
¡°So you think I won¡¯t kill you?¡±
¡°Kill me if you dare! You barbarian!¡±
With a wave of his arm, a silver glint shed across her neck.
Blood began pouring out of her neck. She mped a hand over the cut in horror, fell to the ground and convulsed.
Xia Lei spared her onest look with nonchnce before making his way over to the office block.
There were a dozen CIA special agents in the office block and the man was adamant on cleaning this ce through before going to Cave 13.
Chapter 1187 - Cave 13
Chapter 1187 - Cave 13
When thest CIA agent standing in the office sumbed to Xia Lei¡¯s bullet, the gunshots and explosions began to ring amongst the dense jungle. Giovanna and the others had brought the Relief Society soldiers to the battlefield in time to execute a pincer movement with the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team against the Boko Haram armed group and Special Forces. Despite being severely outnumbered, their weapons were incredible. Added with the benefit of all Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members being powerful warriors, their shorings could essentially be neglected. Plus, most of the Boko Haram armed members weren¡¯t trained well. They were not even able to defeat the Relief Society¡¯s veteran soldiers, let alone the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team.
Frankly, after finishing off the Apache armed helicopter and Chinook transport aircraft, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t all too worried that the battle would head towards an undesirable direction.
Xia Lei left the office block and drove a forklift over to the mining zone.
The back gate of the factory area was directly opposite of the mining zone, where Cave 13 was situated.
Yet, the back gate was locked and obstructed by heavy cement blocks.
When the forklift was about fifty metres away from the back gate, the stationed Special Force soldiers dashed out of the guard¡¯s station and attempted to stop the vehicle. Before anything could roll out of their throats, two bullets had whistled by and split their skulls apart.
Xia Lei kept his Viper pistol away and floored the pedal. He lowered the hopper, knocked over the roadblocks and gate before making his way to the mining site.
Soon enough, Cave 13 came into sight. It was an unassuming and regr-looking cave. Weirdly, there were no Special Force soldiers or CIA agents stationed to guard its entrance.
Admittedly, this was rather unexpected. After all, it seemed natural for them to ce guards around the entrance but there was none.
Xia Lei stopped the forklift and ventured into Cave 13. For safety¡¯s sake, he brought down the Gust assault rifle resting on his shoulder. This was an environment where the Viper pistol would be in a disadvantage.
The tunnel was eerily quiet even with its lit walls.
Xia Lei softened his steps along the metal tracks.
The tunnel was long and winding, declining by the slightest bit as Xia Lei progressed further. It seemed to stretch on forever without a foreseeable end.
Before Xia Lei had reached the four-hundred-metre depth mark, the air underground was beginning to turn extremely humid. Drops of water were beginning to drop onto his crown in alternate intervals. The end was now close but there still was no enemy to be seen. As he walked, Xia Lei brought out his satellite phone. There seemed to be no signal in here.
Ka-boom!!!!!!
Abruptly, a violent explosion was heard.
The heat began rushing upwards from the bottom and the tracks rocked wildly. It felt like the walls were going to copse!
Rocks began to fall from the top, forcing Xia Lei to stop and dodge its assault. The soundwaves were quick to disperse and the tunnel was returned to its original tranquillity, save for the pitter patter of water. Pausing for a moment, Xia Lei then began to move again. After pacing through another fifty metres, he took a turn and the end of the tunnel could now be seen.
From the memories extracted from Wu Keyong, there was supposed to be a ck meteorite-like boulder at the end of the tunnel. However, it was now removed to reveal a round-shaped entrance.
The explosion earlier was definitely to remove it but the people behind its destruction was nowhere to be found at the end of the tunnel. The scenery beyond the hole on the rocky wall was too dark, there was no way to see what was going on inside. Xia Lei tried to use his X-ray vision to peer into it but, oddly, his efforts were futile. It felt like his eyes were being consumed by a mass of unknown darkness till nothing was left.
¡°What exactly is this ce?¡± Xia Lei was dumbfounded.
Wu Keyong had knocked off a rare metal sample off the spherical ck boulder, yet the other party had decided to st it apart. There was no simr mineral around to be found either. The meteorite-looking boulder just seemed like an obstacle used to block off the path deliberately.
If it wasn¡¯t the rare metal and was merely an obstruction instead, would the Americans have spent so much effort trying to take over Alliance Mining?
The safest thing to do now was to turn around immediately and bring the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team, the female knights and the Relief Society veteran soldiers away from this damned ce. But after a brief moment of hesitation, Xia Lei decided to continue his journey to the end of this tunnel.
Reaching the bottom, Xia Lei stopped and extended an arm to touch the spherical ck boulder. As soon as he initiated contact, an otherworldly feeling coursed through his heart. Inexplicably, his mind was filled with images of the six faceless warrior statues. A surprising thought was manifested- ¡®Could this be the statue¡¯s material?¡±
Sadly, there was no way to confirm his suspicion.
Xia Lei went through the round opening.
The insides of the new-made tunnel wereparatively smooth. The polishing marks along the wall were really obvious too. This was certainly not a natural tunnel.
A new question popped into his mind. Who could¡¯ve opened up a tunnel at five hundred metres below ground?
No one could give him an answer.
The darkness inside the tunnel was suffocating. There was not even the slightest hint of light. After a certain distance, the illumination at the entrance could not reach this depth. Even Xia Lei was facing some difficulties with his vision abilities. He noticed something else too. There was an odd energy field in this ce that affected his vision to at least half of its original capabilities.
Under dire circumstances, Xia Lei was forced to bend a glow stick and borrow its illumination to continue the journey.
This was a dangerous decision but the man was left with no choice.
Soon, he reached the end of the round tunnel. In front of him was a massive underground space that looked rather triangr in shape, almost like the pyramid discovered in Jerusalem but without the shocking skulls and crystal skull. The other difference was that the triangr bottom was not a bed of rocks but a square pool of water. The water surface was as still as a mirror.
Xia Lei¡¯s position was at the half-way mark of the wall, which was at least fifty metres in height away from the water body. From this distance and the constant interruption by the energy field, Xia Lei could not see what was happening underwater.
He moved his gaze towards the centre of the pool where there was what seemed to be an altar that Xia Lei couldn¡¯t quite catch clearly. He raised his arm and threw the glow stick down. The stick rolled a few times and finallynded in the middle of the square pool. It sank but stopped after a slight distance.
It was a hexagonal stone tform submerged in water.
At that moment, a woman was lying in the middle of the stone tform. Her skin was as pale as jade and her hair was jet ck. Her ethereal beauty was something that could not be described with words. However, Xia Lei could only feel fear because of her presence. The woman lying atop the underwater tform was none other than Zhu Xuanyue. It was Isitabu, the Goddess of Suicides that came from another ¡®corn kernel¡¯.
Rumble rumble...
Trembles were hearding from beneath the water surface and the pool began to ripple. Soon, waves were raised.
In the midst of the deafening noises, the submerged tform began to rise slowly bit by bit. Zhu Xuanyue was rising to the surface along with it. The things that appeared in sequence was first her protruding breasts, face, abdomen and then her wonderful legs. She was stark naked,pletely exposed to the outside world with the illumination of the glow stick. She was wless. If one were to nitpick, the only thing they couldin about was how she had taken more to Gu Kewen¡¯s features- A hairy crotch region.
The tform rose to the surface but the tremors showed no signs of stopping. The six corners of the tform opened to allow six metal columns to emerge from below, little by little.
The six metal cylinders stilled and opened. Six bright beams pierced through the darkness and dashed for the pyramid¡¯s peak.
It was then that Xia Lei realized every stone brick lining the pyramid¡¯s wall was ck ore!
If the ck ores were the rare metal, this was certainly a rare metal mine with considerable reserves!
¡°Had Zhu Xuanyue reached a deal with the Americans? If she did, it¡¯s going to be a tricky situation.¡± Xia Lei thought to himself darkly.
Confirming that the woman below was indeed Zhu Xuanyue, Xia Lei began to back away.
Frankly, he was curious about what Zhu Xuanyue was doing here. But between curiosity and survival, he had chosen thetter without hesitation. There was at least one year and more till the prehistoric Chosen One¡¯s deadline. Though chances were low, Xia Lei was still not deprived of an opportunity to turn his fate around. However, he needed to be alive for that!
Just as Xia Lei stepped away and was about to leave, a masculine voice broke the silence inside the underground pyramid.
¡°You¡¯ve already made it this far. Are you not going to stay for the answers you yearn for?¡± It was Kestin¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯ve always thought that you were a brave man, you know? Your decision is a little disappointing.¡±
Xia Lei halted in his tracks and returned to the edge of the tunnel¡¯s exit. He stretched his torso out and titled his chin downwards, finally noticing Kestin with his inseparable sidekicks, Charlotte and Eva.
Kestin tilted his head upwards to meet Xia Lei¡¯s gaze. The smile on his face was both confident and beautiful. ¡°Xia Lei, don¡¯t you find it odd? Don¡¯t you wish to understand everything that¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°You have the answers?¡± Xia Lei probed.
Kestin nodded.
¡°How is she?¡±
¡°She¡¯s doing well,¡± answered Kestin.
¡°What is she trying to pull now?¡±
Kestin continued to smile. ¡°How about you stay a little longer and ask her yourself? I¡¯m sure there¡¯s plenty you wish to talk to her about. Don¡¯t you think you owe her an exnation on your bombing of the AE Research Centre with the B2 ne?¡±
Xia Lei stared at the hexagonal tform. Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes were still tightly shut with no signs of awakening. Under the pristine light of the six beams, her body waspletely exposed. It was at this moment, that his eyes finally caught the metal container on the tform. Xia Lei was shocked. Weren¡¯t those the alloy containers that Zhu Xuanyue used to store the energy liquid extracted from the six faceless warrior statues?!
The B2 bomber ne had dealt some severe damages to the AE Research Centre. The facility was literally trampled over and over again! Yet, the important figures and items were not destroyed at all!
There was no use mulling over the past now.
¡°Xia Lei, do you know?¡± Kestin¡¯s tone was a mocking one. ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy to lure you here. I had to prepare a vast crowd of Delta Force soldiers, Navy SEALs and the Boko Haram armed group to entertain you and your team. I spared the Chinese employees just to have them tell you where they found the rare metal. For the sake of meeting you, I¡¯ve even deliberately dismissed the guards at the cave¡¯s entrance. Say, why am I so kind to you?¡±
So this had been a trap from the beginning!
Xia Lei quickly grabbed his pistol, lowered its muzzle and pulled the trigger at Kestin.
Chapter 1188 - Revival
Chapter 1188 - Revival
Four bullets whizzed by towards Kestin.
The gun that fired the bullets had been silenced so the gunshots were quiet. One of the bullet paths was meant to block him from jumping into the pool while two other bullet paths stopped him from dodging to the right and left, leaving thest bullet to go straight towards his head!
The only ce left to hide was the ck rock wall behind him but it was obvious he could not do that unless he knew magic.
This was Xia Lei¡¯s tactic to guarantee Kestin¡¯s death in seconds!
And yet, Kestin did not move. The bullets that left the barrel did not fly near him at all, definitely not his head, instead flying towards the hexagonal stone tform within the pool.
The six white light beams trembled for a moment while a tear appeared in the space above the tform. Like moths drawn to the me, the four bullets disappeared into the tear.
Xia Lei stood in stunned silence.
The prehistoric chosen one mentioned that Zhu Xuanyue intended to draw energy from the six faceless statues to open a portal, bringing her own beings to this world. She was already a predator he could not beat, if she brought more of her friends here, this world would be in deep trouble!
Her n seemed to be running ording to her intentions. What on earth would he do if everything happened as the prehistoric chosen one said?
Xia Lei really wanted to stop her but the sad unfortunate reality was that he could not defeat her at all! This fact tortured him greatly. If Zhu Xuanyue brought doomsday upon this world, he would only be able to watch.
¡°Why¡¯d you fire your gun so soon? Xia Lei, do you want to kill me that badly?¡± mused Kestin mockingly.
Xia Lei put his rifle down. It was useless now.
¡°If you really want to kill me, you shoulde down here. You¡¯ll only have a chance if youe down here.¡±
Xia Lei turned to leave.
If he could not stop Zhu Xuanyue and now there was nothing else he could do, staying would just be a threat to his own life. Why wouldn¡¯t he leave?
¡°Do you really think you¡¯ll leave here alive?¡± Kestin took a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button gently.
Boom!
A deafening explosion came from the tunnel behind, heatwaves hurling towards him. With nowhere to hide, Xia Lei sprinted and leapt down out of necessity.
He had just left the tunnel mouth when a pir of fire flew past his head. He felt like his body could have burned to crisp. While he had dodged the fatal blow, half of his hair had been burned off.
Ssh!
He fell into the pool.
It was a fifty-metre cannon-ball into the water. If it hadn¡¯t been deep enough, he would have ended up crippled or dead. However, he sank rapidly about ten metres beneath the surface, still not reaching the bottom of the pool yet.
The water was bone-chilling cold. The sharp cold that prated his bones and muscles felt as if he had been dunked into a pool of liquid nitrogen. His muscles grew numb while his internal organs and brain shut off from the slowed blood flow. Within a few seconds, his consciousness flickered. A regr person would either have died from the impact or the cold because this water was at least -20 Celsius! It had not yet turned to ice yet because it was not regr underground water.
Xia Lei, with tens of kilograms of arms strapped to him, sank to the bottom rapidly. He did not know how deep this pool was. He wanted to swim up but his limbs were numb and out of his control. His eyelids became heavier, and heavier...
¡°Am I dying? If I die a few hundred metres underground here, Long Bing and the rest will never be able to find me...¡± At hisst few conscious moments, he did not think about solving the box¡¯s mysteries or stopping Zhu Xuanyue from destroying the world. All he thought about were the women he loved and his children.
He was terrified. Other than death, he was also terrified for his family and children.
He continued to sink. There didn¡¯t seem to be a bottom.
One minuteter, his consciousness dipped into darkness. No thoughts, no fears.
¡°Hahaha!¡± Kestin let out a guffaw by the pool. ¡°The CIA and Pentagon spent so much effort and resources yet were never able to kill him. But I did it. It wasn¡¯t thatplicated, was it?¡±
The corner of Eva¡¯s lips curled into a cold smile. ¡°The Pentagon even said he was the smartest person in the world but I never thought so. YOU are the smartest in the world. It¡¯s too bad he¡¯ll never know who you truly are.¡±
Kestin shrugged nonchntly. ¡°I have already forgotten that identity a long time ago. I¡¯m enjoying my life now.¡±
Charlotte looked at the water surface, which had returned to calm. ¡°Should we fish his body out?¡±
¡°I really want to, to kick and spit on him or something. But we can¡¯t do that,¡± said Kestin. ¡°This pool is five hundred metres deep. Unless we get a submarine, we won¡¯t be able to fish him out.¡±
¡°That¡¯s too bad. He got an easy death,¡± said Charlotte.
Eva walked over and bent over to look into the water. She wanted to see Xia Lei sink to the bottom.
¡°Hey! Be careful!¡± Kestin grabbed her hand and pulled.
¡°Is the water poisonous?¡± asked Eva curiously.
Kestin did not reply. He took a pistol from his belt and partially submerged it in water. One secondter, the part underwater had turned to ice.
¡°Do you see this? If you fall in, no one will dare save you,¡± said Kestin. ¡°Plus, even if we save you in time, you¡¯ll either be in aa or dead.¡±
She looked shocked.
Charlotte said, ¡°Looks like he¡¯s really dead then. How are you going to exin this to her if she wakes?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t have to. She wants Xia Lei dead anyway, it¡¯s just that she had always hesitated. I merely finished the job for her,¡± said Kestin.
At the centre of the pool on the hexagonal tform, Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s eyes were still tightly shut. The six white lights were focused towards the tip of the pyramid, concentrating to form one pir of light. It seemed to pass through time and space into somewhere mysterious.
Zhu Xuanyue from another ¡®corn kernel¡¯, Isitabu the Goddess of Suicides, was she using this to contact her friends?
No one knows.
Beneath the surface, Xia Lei¡¯s body twitched. Then, his eyes sprung open. His eyes were pitch ck without any whites.
He had gotten this idea while hiding in the forest by Alliance Mines, intending to test his underwater breath-holding abilities at some ocean orke. However, the opportunity came sooner than expected in this pool.
He did not need to breathe because the mysterious energy in his body had reced oxygen. That was why he remained alive, for the life force in his body had activated itself in time.
This was not a coincidence. In the past when he was not as powerful, the same mysterious energy would awaken every time he almost died, taking on different roles to save his life.
This was the same.
¡°I¡¯m still alive, I¡¯m still alive...¡± Xia Lei repeated to himself subtly, faces shing across his mind: Long Bing, Liang Siyao, Jiang Ruyi, Tang Yuyan, and Shentu Tianyin, Xia Long, Xia Jianghe, Xia Fan, Liang Jiayu and his younger sister Xia Xue, his father Xia Changhe...
Memories of the people he loved most gave him the strength to shake his head and feel his limbs. They were no longer numb. This discovery set his desire to live aze as he swam up.
He did not take the weapons attached to him off because with his newfound strength, the weight was nothing.
Very soon, a light appeared above him. He saw the hexagonal stone tform that Zhu Xuanyue was lying on, also Kestin and the two women Charlotte and Eva with him by the water.
Xia Lei switched course, slowly approaching the edge of the pool then slowly floated upwards. He did this very slowly and soundlessly so the surface did not even ripple...
By the pool, Kestin, Charlotte and Eva were all chatting casually.
¡°Now that Xia Lei is dead, is the Dragon yer Project still on?¡± came Charlotte¡¯s voice.
¡°Of course, killing Xia Le was just part of the n. How could that backwards country think that they could rece the Western world? Hmmph, they don¡¯t even have a religion. If China bes the most powerful nation in the world, it is to the detriment of this world. The Lord would not be happy either,¡± said Kestin as he drew a cross on his chest sincerely.
¡°We should take their technology back at least fifty years before,¡± said Eva.
¡°This world needs to change. China should not exist.¡±
¡°We only have to wait until Lockheed Martin¡¯s Dragon yer super fighter jet ispleted. Then China will have its tail between its legs,¡± said Eva with a smirk. ¡°But that¡¯s useless. America would never show mercy, the Pentagon was driven insane by the Chinese. Those warmongers would do anything to get back at them.¡±
She had just finished her sentence when a hand popped out of the water and grabbed her heel.
Chapter 1189 - No Gentlemen Here!
Chapter 1189 - No Gentlemen Here!
The hand appeared without a sound or warning. It felt exactly like a horror movie scene, a shrivelled hand emerging from a grave to grab the character¡¯s heel.
The difference between this and a movie was that the hand that grabbed Eva¡¯s heel was not shrivelled but a powerful hand.
¡°Ah----¡± Eva screamed and instinctively struggled out of its grip.
Before she could move further, the hand dragged her down into the water!
¡°No---¡± Kestin pounced forward. Ssh! Eva had already fallen in but the hand did not let go, dragging her further down. When she finally saw the owner of the hand, she recognised Xia Lei. What greeted her was a terrifying face with eyes as ck as ink without a spot of white. His face was expressionless indifference.
She struggled for her life but could not break free of his grip. The cold quickly sapped away any heat in her system, her limbs going numb at an rming speed. She could no longer move or breathe. Only ice-cold water entered her mouth.
¡°Gulg--- gulg--- gulg---¡± Eva calmed down, her mouth still open but she stopped drinking any more pool water.
He¡¯s not dead?
That was herst thought.
¡°YOU BASTARD!¡± roared Kestin by theke. ¡°I¡¯LL KILL YOU!¡±
Bang bang bang!
Kestin pulled the trigger of his pistol but it would not work. He¡¯d forgotten that it was already frozen by the pool water, the bullets would not fire.
¡°Dammit-- AHH!¡± He tossed it angrily into the pool.
Bang bang bang!
Charlotte fired her gun. It was still working.
However, the bullets flew towards the stone tform and disappeared. She¡¯d forgotten that guns were useless here.
¡°Get out! Get the fuck out!!¡± roared Kestin.
Ssh!
A head broke through the surface. It was Xia Lei¡¯s head. His face was icily expressionless.
He had emerged by the edge, about ten metres from Charlotte and Kestin. He supported himself on the edge and leapt out of the water,nding on the edge.
When he jumped, his clothes shattered into pieces of ice on the ground, along with all his weapons and his guns. He had turned into a nude caveman the next moment.
His body could withstand extreme cold but not his clothes. The sudden movement had shattered them all.
The perfect lines and symmetrical muscles, fair and soft skin... They were a sight to behold that would make any person fall in love. If only he covered that impossibility striking part, then the sight would be perfect.
Although his gun and clothes had fallen, he was holding an army knife.
The knife was sharp and glinted coldly.
Within this underground pyramid¡¯s energy field, therger the potential energy of an object, the more it would be affected. A knife was not affected here.
¡°You bastard!¡± Sirita pounced on Xia Lei also with a knife in her hand.
In the blink of an eye, both des nged together, causing a few sparks to fly.
Ding ding ding!
After the first impact, their des collided three more times.
Kestin appeared soundlessly by his side with a Delta Forces knife, ready to ambush Xia Lei.
Ding ding ding!
Pfft---
There was the sound of a knife cutting into flesh. Charlotte stumbled back, for there was a cut across herrge chest, her bra had also been torn through, revealing snow-white skin.
Spotting his chance, Kestin lunged to thrust his knife into Xia Lei!
Without even turning around, Xia Lei shed his knife sideways.
Ding!
More sparks flew as both army knives collided. Xia Lei pushed his de towards Kestin¡¯s chest, Kestin did the same. The two knives were pushed in two directions at the same time, grinding piercingly.
Xia Lei was privately shocked because he never expected Kestin to be strong enough to fight back. This was his first time engaging in hand-to-handbat against Kestin. Before this, he thought Kestin was just a cunning, intellect-type enemy. He didn¡¯t know this man was both smart and strong!
Charlotte had no time to care for her chest wound, pouncing forward as the knife in her hand swung in an arc towards Xia Lei¡¯s back.
Xia Lei was sandwiched between two enemies now.
At such a critical moment, his brain switched into super mode. Kestin and Charlotte¡¯s moves and potential moves were all simted in his brain.
If he pushed Kestin, he would be stabbed by Charlotte!
If he dodged Charlotte, his throat would be shed by Kestin!
If he crouched, both would stab him to death!
If he moved horizontally, he would not be able to avoid them both either!
Every possible scenario was simted in his head, his brain eliminating each scene until the correct solution surfaced.
He suddenly fell backwards. When his body was still midair, his right leg kicked Kestin¡¯s crotch while he waved his knife backwards.
Kestin was forced to lift a knee to block Xia Lei¡¯s kick.
Charlotte¡¯s knife missed its target but Xia Lei¡¯s knife had stabbed her thigh!
This was the best solution formted by his brain.
Such aplicated calction process only took one second in reality. In this negligible moment of time, his brain raced faster than aputer and processed all the information based on his eyes and ears, then sent instructions to his body. He did not only save himself from both their attacks but severely injured Charlotte!
He had used his brain¡¯s super mode to study the drone and war machines countless times but this was its first time in battle.
¡°Ahh!¡± Charlotte screamed and fell backwards.
Xia Lei¡¯s back hit the ground. Supporting himself with both hands, he flipped quickly back on his feet.
Kestin had already charged forward, taking advantage of the split-second Xia Lei took to get on his feet.
Xia Lei twisted his hips, his legs opening like a pair of scissors, then spun and kicked powerfully and lodged his knife deep in Kestin¡¯s chest.
Bam!
There was a dull thud as Kestin¡¯s body flew backwards, the knife in his hand falling on the ground. He flew a few metres away and mmed heavily onto the ck pyramid, then on the ground.
Xia Lei rushed forward, shing his knife repeatedly at Charlotte.
Ding ding ding...
Squelch!
Charlotte sessfully defended herself but due to the injuries on her chest and thigh, upon the fifth move, she was half a secondte and his de found itself in her stomach.
¡°Pfft...¡± Blood sprayed out of her mouth.
Xia Lei remained expressionless, showing no pity or mercy. He pulled his knife out and stabbed it into her belly again, then again and again...
Charlotte had run out of strength to retaliate. While none of the stabs were fatal, her life was draining very quickly. He pushed gently and she fell backwards on the ground, fresh blood spewing out of her stab wounds, red patches dyeing her clothes and the ground around her.
¡°No...¡± Kestin, who had just scrambled onto his feet, roared angrily at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei walked over and spoke mildly, ¡°What about it? You don¡¯t want her to die? Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier? I would have granted that wish.¡±
Kestin stepped back. He no longer had his knife and guns were useless within the energy field. He could not kill Xia Lei together with Charlotte, now she was dead and he had lost all confidence.
Xia Lei leaned closer. ¡°Who the hell are you? I refuse to believe that you are the CEO of Lockheed Martin.¡±
¡°The CEO of Lockheed Martin? My family owns stocks of the five major American firearmspanies. I can be the CEO of anypany I wish,¡± said Kestin as he stepped back.
Was there such a family?
If that was true, then they were more mysterious than the legendary Skull and Bones Society of Yale University!
¡°What family?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s fight fairly, the kind gentlemen engage in. If you win, I¡¯ll tell you everything you want to know. Not just about my family but anything you want, ¡°said Kestin.
Xia Lei¡¯s footsteps halted. ¡°What do you know?¡±
He shrugged. ¡°My conditions are clear. A fight between two gentlemen. If you win, I¡¯ll tell you.¡±
Xia Lei smiled. ¡°You want me to fight you without my knife?¡±
Kestin nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±
¡°But I¡¯d enjoy stabbing you better. Plus I want to know how much pain you can endure just to keep your secrets.¡±
Kestin¡¯s nonchnt demeanour disappeared instantly.
Xia Lei suddenly pounced on Kestin like a leopard on its prey. He was even faster than a leopard, much fiercer too!
Kestin wanted to dodge but he would never let his back face Xia Lei¡¯s knife. However, if he ran backwards, he wouldn¡¯t ever be as fast as Xia Lei!
Both of them were tangled in a wrestle in the blink of an eye.
Xia Lei shed, cut and thrust his knife, speeding up as he fought.
Kestin dodged bitterly, dodging left and right. He would never want to touch the de.
Whoosh!
A cold glint flew past his shoulder. Fresh blood sputtered.
Pfft!
The sharp de cut across his stomach, tearing his expensive suit as blood flowed. If he had not sucked in his stomach, his intestines would have spilt out!
Chapter 1190 - A Showdown With Zhu Xuanyue
Chapter 1190 - A Showdown With Zhu Xuanyue
sh, sh...
The shes came increasingly quicker!
When Xia Lei functioned under the super brain mode, he could anticipate Kestin¡¯s every move and his knife wouldnd at the exact location where he would go and make a new wound.
Kestin was covered in red now, more than ten cuts across his body turned his expensive suit into a red one. As he lost blood, his reaction and speed slowed down too.
The knife stabbed into his thigh. Kestin copsed.
Xia Lei pressed his knee on Kestin¡¯s chest, pulling the army knife out and then ced the tip on his chest, slowly pushing it in.
Fresh blood spilt out. If Xia Lei pushed his knife deeper, he would puncture the lung. With the loss of blood and a punctured lung, while Kestin would not die immediately, he would struggle painfully and eventually find death.
And yet, in the face of death, there was no fear in Kestin¡¯s eyes. He looked very calm as he said, ¡°You cannot kill me.¡±
Xia Lei pushed the knife slightly deeper. ¡°Is that so?¡±
¡°Heheheh...¡± Kestinughed like a maniac. ¡°If you kill me, you¡¯ll ruin her ns. Do you think she¡¯ll let you go? Think about your women and children.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were cold. ¡°Are you threatening me?¡±
¡°It¡¯s not a threat, but a warning. There is a reason why she didn¡¯t kill you. There¡¯s also a reason why you can¡¯t kill me.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes changed. The mysterious energy field engulfed Kestin in a second, infiltrating his mind.
Xia Lei had seeded in extracting memories and information from his target¡¯s brain every time. Yet this time, he failed. He found that he could not infiltrate or control Kestin¡¯s mind, or steal any information. It was as if he had infiltrated a corpse- there was nothing in the brain.
¡°You...¡± Xia Lei¡¯s eyes returned to normal. Privately shocked, he asked, ¡°Who the hell are you?¡±
¡°You¡¯ll never know the answer,¡± said Kestin. ¡°I suggested a fair fight but you declined.¡±
¡°My turn to set the rules of the game now. If you answer my question, I won¡¯t move my hand. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll puncture your lung. If you lie, I will also puncture your lung.¡±
¡°You¡¯re too naive sometimes.¡± Kestin was not afraid at all. ¡°Also, do not forget my reminder. It¡¯s best you don¡¯t kill me, you¡¯ll regret it.¡±
Xia Lei slowly pressed the knife down, the de cutting into Kestin¡¯s flesh and inching towards his lung.
Kestin bore the pain silently. There was no fear in his eyes, just anger and contempt.
Just as the de was about to touch his lung, Xia Lei stopped. Not because Kestin¡¯s threat had worked but he had a question. Why can¡¯t I steal information from his brain? Who the hell is he... He then had a sudden thought. Right! Zhu Xuanyue once told me that she could not control my brain. Could it be that Kestin is the same as I am? But... How is that possible?
Kestin was like him, that was why he could not control Kestin¡¯s mind. That was the most logical exnation. However, how could there be another person who had evolved after consuming the AE pill?
¡°Cough cough...¡± Kestin coughed twice, blood trickling out of his lips but they curled into a grin. ¡°What, you¡¯re afraid? You don¡¯t have the guts to kill me?¡±
Pfft!
Xia Lei suddenly drove the de so deep into his lungs that only the handle remained above his chest.
Kestin was in shock, fear in his eyes.
¡°I am curious about both your identity and family but killing you solves my problems better.¡± When he finished, he pulled out the knife and stabbed it into Kestin¡¯s heart.
He was right. Letting an evolved superhuman live was just giving himself a future problem. He did not have much time left. Before he left this world, he must never leave an enemy like Kestin for his wives and children!
You think I don¡¯t have the guts to kill you?
Well that makes me want to kill you more!
¡°No---¡± Kestin broke down as fear flooded his entire being. He could no longer maintain his cool demeanour.
Whoosh!
A ray of light suddenly shot directly at Xia Lei¡¯s right wrist, hurting Xia Lei so sharply that he dropped his knife.
The moment Xia Lei was caught off guard, Kestin lifted both hands and shoved Xia Lei in the chest.
Xia Lei did note back for Kestin because he was no longer a threat at the moment. He had a new target, a threat he was unwilling to face--- Zhu Xuanyue!
His gaze fell on the centre of the pool and spotted Zhu Xuanyue immediately. She had hit his wrist with the glow stick that he had previously tossed on the stone tform. It was still glowing quietly.
Four eyes locked. No words, silent stares.
Zhu Xuanyue stood on the stone tform, her skin as clear as jade and her curves attractive as ever.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, stood on the edge of the pool, his rippling muscles making him a perfect specimen.
A few secondster, Zhu Xuanyue bent her knees and leapt up in the air, hurling directly at him like a cannonball. When Xia Lei saw her, she was already right in front of him. She opened her snow-white legs and kicked.
Blocking his chest, he bore the brunt of the attack with his forearm.
Thud!
There was a heavy thud as Xia Lei was thrown backwards, mming heavily into the wall of the pyramid.
Pfft---
Xia Lei coughed up blood as he fell heavily on the ground. His physical body might have evolved and brought a massive increase in his strength but he still was no match for Zhu Xuanyue.
She looked at him coldly without a shred of humanity in her eyes.
He felt a slight chill, prepared to pay the ultimate price. However, he still knew that no matter what, he would not be able to defeat this enemy.
She walked towards him, her feet leaving wet footprints on the cold rock, each step heavier than thest.
He scrambled to his feet and wiped the blood from his lips. ¡°Do you really want to kill me? Have you forgotten everything that has happened?¡±
He was trying to awaken the Ning Jing and Gu Kewen in her.
Something flickered in her eye for a moment but it disappeared immediately, reced by an icy coldness and obvious murderous intent.
She was more stable than the previous Zhu Xuanyue!
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank because he knew what this meant. He took a deep breath. ¡°I won¡¯t me you if you really want to kill me but since I¡¯ve helped you so much, could you do me a favour and tell me the truth?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue appeared in front of Xia Lei in a sh.
She obviously had not intended for this to happen. It was not the n. Something that looked like warmth and suffering flickered in her eyes.
¡°Ning Jing? Kewen?¡± Xia Lei was hopeful again but instead, she suddenly grabbed him by the throat. Completely caught by surprise, he did not even have time to move!
¡°Do not waste your breath trying to wake the two women in me!¡± Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s voice was cold as steel. ¡°I did not kill you, yet you helped the prehistoric chosen one attack me. And do you think I will spare you just because you have helped me before?¡±
¡°I do believe that you will kill me,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I just have a final request, which is for you to tell me the truth about everything. You owe me this much.¡±
¡°I have repaid everything I owed you!¡± Zhu Xuanyue looked furious.
¡°No, you haven¡¯t,¡± said Xia Lei.
She suddenly leaned forward, forcing Xia Lei back against the wall with her body. Her soft,rge breasts werepletely pressed unto his chest, and her belly, and her thighs, and...
It was a very provocative position to be in.
However, Xia Lei was bitterly aware that she was about to crush him to death. While she looked delicate, she was strong enough to crush his bones!
Zhu Xuanyue usually killed by eating the person whole, or controlling the person¡¯s mind anding up with some other creative method. However, Xia Lei was a person she could not control or eat. This must be the reason why she intended to use this method of murder.
She pressed and pressed her body on him until he could not move at all, his bones crackling as if they would break any moment now!
A delighted grin crept up Kestin¡¯s face as he watched Zhu Xuanyue squeeze against Xia Lei.
However, she suddenly let go with an odd smirk. ¡°You¡¯ve... eaten it?¡±
Xia Lei stood stunned for a moment, though he knew that ¡®it¡¯ referred to thest AE capsule.
She took a step back and studied him from head to toe, then smiled. ¡°So that¡¯s why you survived the water.¡±
This fact alone confirmed her suspicions, she did not need an answer.
¡°What has me eating it got to do with you?¡± probed Xia Lei, calming down slightly.
¡°You¡¯ll know soon, just not now,¡± said Zhu Xuanyue. ¡°You may leave now, I won¡¯t kill you.¡±
¡°Why?¡±
¡°Just go, before I change my mind.¡± Her eyes turned cold again.
Xia Lei did not ask again, picking up the Gust assault rifle and frozen weapons bag before he left.
Kestin looked at Xia Lei with aplicated look in his eyes.
Chapter 1191 - Miracle
Chapter 1191 - Miracle
Although thest explosion had been in the tunnel, the surrounding rock was sturdy enough to not copse. Kestin¡¯s n to kill Xia Lei obviously should not also cut off his only exit.
The tunnel was currently filled with rock chips formed from the high-temperature explosion. He walked barefooted as the stone chips cut his soles but he felt nothing.
Who was Kestin?
What was Zhu Xuanyue doing?
Why did Zhu Xuanyue let him go after realising he ate thest AE capsule?
All three questions bugged him immensely.
If Zhu Xuanyue was really contacting members of her own species on the other ¡®corn kernel¡¯, and if she seeded, that spelt huge trouble for this world. Yet he could do nothing to stop her. The reality was that even if he had a B2 Bomber, he still would not be able to destroy the pyramid that was hundreds of metres deep underground with a nuclear bomb. Definitely not kill Kestin or Zhu Xuanyue either. With these on his mind, how could he still have the mood for celebration for his escape?
Walking out of Cave 13, he leapt onto a forklift and drove towards Alliance Mines. After entering through the back entrance, he stopped the vehicle and put on clothes taken from a dead soldier. Then, he walked towards the warehouse, intending to contact the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and Giovanna but realised his satellite phone was already sinking to the bottom of the eerie pool along with the rest of his clothes.
Without the satellite phone, he had no way to contact them or receive updates of the fight. He was most worried about Shentu Tianyin. She could not even use a gun properly, how could she survive a fight against their odds?
Just as he was starting to worry about Shentu Tianyin, themunication device from the dead body crackled to life, ¡°The people on the mountain have retreated towards the tracks. Surround and kill them!¡±
Other replies came and it became chaotic.
Xia Lei was slightly relieved to hear this. The enemies on the mountain were obviously the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and if they were retreating towards the tracks, it meant they were going to meet Giovanna and the rest. Perhaps the battle was not in their favour but it was not too bad yet.
Xia Lei ran towards the warehouse, appearing in front of the Chinese workers once again and dered in a straightforward manner, ¡°The Boko Haram armed members and American Special Forces soldiers have headed towards the tracks. The public roads aren¡¯t guarded anymore. Run now, drive away all the vehicles that are still functioning.¡±
Wu Keyong replied, ¡°Aren¡¯t youing with us?¡±
¡°No, I won¡¯t,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°I need to help my people.¡±
One of the hostages said, ¡°How would that work? Who will protect us if you leave?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s tone was cold. ¡°No one here owes you anything, do not expect us to help you all the way. I can only do so much so the rest is still up to you.¡±
When he finished, he strode off, elerating after he left the warehouse and broke into a full sprint towards the factory gates.
There were four Special Forces guards at the gates but they were killed in two seconds.
He stepped over their bodies and disappeared into the darkness of the forest...
On the tracks, a few Boko Haram armed members were charging towards the Relief Society¡¯s frontlines. The forest was not a terrain suited for battle because every tree was a natural shield. The Boko Haram armed members hid behind trees so even when the Relief Society soldiers had the Gust and XL2500 rifles, which were the best weapons, all their bullets were wasted on tree trunks.
The remaining Special Forces soldiers attacked the Relief Society from the nk but were met by the Chinese Zodiac BAttle Team members. With six against tens of armed, healthy and experienced elite soldiers, even the battle team members were struggling.
The tables would turn in about half an hour if this situation continued, towards the worst-case scenario-- the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members killed after their bullets run out, the Relief Society members losing the battle and scattering while some captured and killed by the Boko Haram members.
Bang bang bang...
E¡¯er Demutu fired from behind a tree with his rifle but at the same time, a few bullets hit the tree he hid behind. He could no longer peek from behind as wooden chips flew around his head.
¡°Why isn¡¯t Boss back yet?¡± He looked panicked.
¡°He¡¯s probably fighting more enemies than us in the factory area.¡± Qian Jun¡¯s head peeked out from behind a boulder, aimed, then killed a Special Forces soldier with a headshot.
Among the grass, Anjum Khan was also firing his XL2500 assault rifle. A hidden sniper on the slope copsed a hundred metres away.
¡°GET DOWN!¡± yelled Yelena suddenly.
Everyone fell to the ground.
Boom!
A grenade exploded in the forest, shrapnel flying in all directions.
¡°Fuck!¡± cursed Sa¡¯im. ¡°A shrapnel got in my butt!¡±
During the quiet period after the grenade, the soldiers took the opportunity to press ten metres forward.
On the other side.
Bang bang bang...
Giovanna stood behind a tree by the tracks as she fired her gun, killing two Boko Haram members on the tracks. However, more people rushed unto the tracks from the forest.
Whoosh!
Giovanna felt the heat of a bullet whizzing past her cheek.
Pfft! The bullet hid the chest of a Relief Society soldier. He copsed to the ground.
There were already tens of bodies on the ground.
These people had sacrificed their lives to follow her into battle. She didn¡¯t even know their names.
¡°KILL!¡± roared Giovanna, firing her gun like a maniac. All the armed members charging at them crouched immediately so none of her bullets hit a target.
Click-click-click---
She had run out of bullets. Her heart sank, quickly losing confidence in the battle.
¡°When is Mastering back?¡± Theresa, whose face was bloody, tossed a clip at Giovanna. ¡°We¡¯re going to die if this goes on any longer!¡±
¡°Where¡¯s that woman?¡± asked Giovanna.
¡°You mean Shentu?¡± said Theresa with a grin. ¡°Probably shivering behind there. Don¡¯t worry, Rosa and Ste are looking after her. She¡¯ll be fine.¡±
Giovanna hesitated for a moment. ¡°Tell them to take her away if they can¡¯t handle it. Master said to take good care of her no matter what!¡±
Boom!
A rocket bomb flew past her.
Boom!
A few Relief Society soldiers were struck by the impact, their limbs violently torn off.
¡°GO! KILL THEM ALL!¡± roared themander.
The armed members all roared as they charged forward, firing a shower of bullets at the frontlines of the Relief Society.
The Relief Society soldiers did not dare peek out of their hiding spots but could not fire blindly either because ammunition was running low.
It was a critical situation. Unable to bear her anxieties anymore, she fished out her satellite phone and dialled Rosa¡¯s number amidst the rain of bullets. ¡°Rosa, we can¡¯t hold them off much longer. You and Ste better take that woman away now!¡±
¡°No way, how could we run off while leaving you all here?¡± said Rosa. ¡°Just wait, I¡¯ming to help!¡±
¡°You...¡± Giovanna wanted to stop her but Rosa had already hung up.
The battle was currently going extremely badly and progressing too quickly.
Right at thest desperate moment, bullets came flying from the direction of Alliance Mining. Every bullet ended one person¡¯s life, every shot was a headshot!
In three seconds, thirty people were killed. The faster ones had a chance to turn their heads but the rest died without knowing what happened. However, none were able to escape this surprise attack.
The pressure on the Relief Society was lifted instantly.
Giovanna paused for two seconds before yelling emotionally, ¡°It¡¯s Master! It¡¯s him, it must be him!¡±
¡°These people are all so dead!¡± Ste was excited too, even her hands shook as she fired her gun.
The person who fired the shots was, of course, Xia Lei. He was the only one in this world with this ability to kill thirty people in three seconds!
Xia Lei¡¯s brilliant marksmanship was rted to his evolved brain operating in super mode to calcte the data required to fire the gun urately, i.e. how high to aim his gun, when to pull the trigger etc. These data were all as urate as data inputer software, while his body obeyed these instructions urately to produce such results.
Some of the Boko Haram members turned to look for the enemy but they did not see anyone. It was as if a ghost had fired at them and then disappeared soundlessly.
Just as some of the members were prepared to leave, the light went out of their eyes. Then, they lifted the guns in their hands and fired at their partners.
The armed members all quickly copsed in pools of blood. Other members quickly noticed and killed the members who behaved peculiarly.
More than ten bodiesy on the tracks.
On a tree, Xia Lei looked at the bodies without expression. He leapt onto another tree.
About twenty secondster, the same thing happened. Even more armed members fired at their partners. In the blink of an eye, their formation broke down as they all fired at each other. Some Boko Haram members even fired at the American soldiers. Then the American soldiers also fired back...
It was chaos.
Meanwhile, at the frontlines of the Relief Society.
Giovanna was stunned, watching the chaotic battlefield for a long time before blurting, ¡°What just happened?¡±
¡°Is it rabies?¡± Ste shrugged.
Giovanna did not believe that it was rabies but it was clear the battle was going to end very soon. ¡°It¡¯s a miracle.¡±
Then again, Xia Lei was already a miracle to her.
Chapter 1192 - Returning To The Cave
Chapter 1192 - Returning To The Cave
When the gunfire finally ceased, the forest and tracks were littered with bodies.
In the animal kingdom, lions did not eat lions, nor tigers ate tigers. Not even during droughts with a shortage of food. However, humans could kill each other over matters unrted to food so they essentially were the most violent species on the.
Giovanna conducted a headcount for the Relief Society members and found that out of the hundred people she brought, only thirty-two survived.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team were injured but had no casualties.
It was already an impressive achievement.
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and Giovanna had grouped together, Shentu Tianyin also brought over by Rosa and Theresa but one important figure was missing--- Xia Lei.
¡°Where¡¯s Boss?¡± said Anjum Khan. ¡°That must have been him but why isn¡¯t he showing himself?¡±
¡°What actually happened?¡± Yelena was still in a state of shock and confusion.
No one answered the couple¡¯s questions because everyone had the same questions too.
¡°His calls aren¡¯t getting through.¡± Qian Jun put down his satellite phone, looking disappointed.
¡°Why isn¡¯t heing out to meet us?¡± asked a panicked Rosa.
Shenyu Tianyin suddenly sprinted towards the Alliance Mining factories, yelling as she ran, ¡°Xia Lei! Xia Lei--- Where are you?!¡±
¡°Stop her!¡± yelled Giovanna.
Before the rest caught up to Shentu Tianyin, a shadow shot out of the forest by the tracks and grabbed her by the waist.
Many thought it was Xia Lei but the person who caught Shentu Tianyin was Tsukino Kyoko. Just as the rest were still discussing Xia Lei¡¯s whereabouts, she had been looking for him on the battlefield.
¡°Let me go! Let me go!¡± Shentu Tianyin struggled.
¡°If you weren¡¯t his woman and he didn¡¯t tell us to protect you, I would not care this much. What the hell are you doing? Do you have a death wish? What will we tell Boss if you died? You idiot!¡± scolded Tsukino Kyoko.
The word ¡®idiot¡¯ seemed to calm her down. Shentu Tianyin bit her lip without a word. In this ce among a group of cold-blooded killers, this queen - no, not even the English Queen- would dare put on airs. And it would be useless too.
Tsukino Kyoko carried Shentu Tianyin back and put her down.
¡°Kyoko, did you find any traces of him?¡± asked Sa¡¯im.
Tsukino Kyoko took out part of a map and showed it to him.
There was a paragraph of Chinese characters on the back of the map: I¡¯m leaving Nigeria to go to Chad. I¡¯lle for you allter but if I am not back by evening tomorrow, do not wait for me. Take a ne back to China. Also, take good care of my woman.
When she read the phrase ¡®take good care of my woman¡¯, Shentu Tianyin could no longer hold back her tears.
Tsukino Kyoko crushed the piece of map into a ball then burned it with her lighter, tossing it on the ground.
The map turned to ash and scattered in the wind.
¡°What is Boss nning to do?¡± Anjum Khan was filled with questions.
She smiled bitterly. ¡°How would I know? Let¡¯s just follow his instructions. We¡¯ve got to leave. If the American reinforcements arrive before we do, we¡¯ll be in deep trouble.¡±
Everyone prepared to leave.
Shentu Tianyin kept turning back, imagining the man who gued her dreams to suddenly appear before her. But he never did.
The four knights were engaged in discussion.
¡°I think that was a miracle,¡± said Giovanna in Italian. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can call him Master anymore.¡±
¡°Then what should we call him?¡± Ste was confused.
¡°Saint Lei.¡± Giovanna made a cross gesture on her chest. ¡°He is a war deity sent by God to this world, and it is an honour for us to be able to serve him. I am willing to give him everything.¡±
¡°What do you mean by ¡®everything¡¯?¡± asked Ste with a grin.
The light of sincerity danced in Giovanna¡¯s eyes. ¡°My blood, my spirit and my flesh. Everything I have.¡±
Rosa grinned. ¡°I think you just want to sleep with Saint Lei? I bet you¡¯re wet already.¡±
Giovanna was speechless.
The injured group ambled on, away from the battlefield.
On a tall tree hundreds of metres away, Xia Lei watched his people leave without a sound. His eyes lingered on Shentu Tianyin but just for a moment. He muttered to himself, ¡°Forgive me, I want to leave with you too but... There are some matters I must attend to.¡±
There are things in life that we must do even if we are unwilling because there is no choice.
Xia Lei had no choice.
Zhu Xuanyue did not kill him because he had consumed thest AE pill. Why? He must get to the bottom of this. Also, he must find out who Kestin really was. Although returning to Alliance Mining was dangerous, he had no choice.
Kestin was severely injured so he definitely required treatment. And to receive treatment, he must leave Cave 13. This was his chance to stop or kill Kestin. This was his only opportunity. If Kestin returned to the US, he might never have another chance. Also, he must figure out if Kestin would bring the rare metal blocks from the underground pyramid back to the US to build their Dragon yer war machine.
Alliance Mine waspletely silent in the night. Cold moonlight shone on the cold bodies like the morgue of the apocalypse.
Xia Lei arrived at the factory area once more, heading towards Cave 13 from the back gate. He scanned the entire area as he walked, studying every corner. The hostages in the warehouse had escaped, the vehicles in the parking area driven off, including a few American military vehicles.
When he scanned the office building, his footsteps halted, then he turned to walk to the building.
In an office on the first floor, a middle-aged man was speaking on the phone.
Xia Lei recognised him immediately.
This man was Shentu Tianyin¡¯s Seventh Uncle, Shentu Weiying.
¡°...What the hell? You¡¯re supposed to be protecting ME! If I hadn¡¯t left Cave 13 just now for an urgent matter, I would be dead by now? I don¡¯t care! All the workers have escaped and this can¡¯t be kept under wraps anymore. If you don¡¯t send a ne to get me, forget about our agreement!¡± Shentu Weiying looked panicked and afraid.
¡°What¡¯s the situation in Cave 13 right now?¡± came a man¡¯s voice over the phone.
Xia Lei stopped walking when his ear caught the voice on the phone ten metres away.
It was Yan Fo.
He did not expect the person trading with Shentu Weiying to be Yan Fo. The FA group was currently helping the Americans and Yan Fo was also working under Williams¡¯ instructions. This meant that the CIA was behind the deal with Shentu Weiying.
¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t want to go in there... but I know what happened outside... Everyone... everyone is dead!¡± Shentu Weiying¡¯s voice trembled.
¡°Go check Cave 13. We¡¯ve arrived and you¡¯ll get what you want. Don¡¯t worry about that. Just go check inside Cave 13 and report the situation to me,¡± said Yan Fo.
¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go check.¡±
¡°Call me after you do.¡±
¡°Wait for my call.¡± Shentu Weiying put down the phone and turned to leave. He had just taken a few steps out of the room when he saw Xia Lei a few metres away.
Xia Lei walked towards him.
¡°Hey! It¡¯s good you¡¯re here. Go check Cave 13 and report the situation inside to me,¡± said Shentu Weiying. He thought Xia Lei was one of the remaining American soldiers.
Xia Lei did not speak, instead continued walking towards him.
Shentu Weiying knitted his brows. ¡°Do you not understand Esperanto? How did you get this job? Alright, just follow my instructions and I¡¯ll pay you five hundred dors... a thousand?¡±
Xia Lei walked up to him then reached to grab his throat.
¡°You...¡± Shentu Weiying paled.
¡°Is betrayal an inherited trait in your family?¡± Xia Lei asked in Mandarin.
¡°Who are...¡± Shentu Weiying¡¯s voice shook, ¡°you?¡±
Xia Lei replied tly, ¡°Someone here to kill you.¡±
¡°Let me go!¡± Shentu Weiying hurled a fist at his cheek.
Xia Lei suddenly tightened his grip on Weiying¡¯s neck, restricting his airflow. Distracted from the punch, he instead wed at Xia Lei¡¯s hand that had turned into metal grips.
He kicked Xia Lei fervently but the struggles eventually weakened. His pants were already wet with urine, dripping on the ground.
Xia Lei did not even frown when he let go. Shentu Weiying copsed and never moved.
Xia Lei dragged his body into the office and stuffed it under a desk. He sat behind the desk and imitated Weiying¡¯s voice, repeating his words, ¡°Do you not understand Esperanto? How did you get this job? Alright, just follow my instructions and I¡¯ll pay you five hundred dors... a thousand?¡±
Ten minutester, he picked up the phone and dialled the number Weiying previously called. ¡°It¡¯s-it¡¯s bad!¡±
¡°What happened? Calm down!¡± Yan Fo sounded angry.
Xia Lei spoke frantically, ¡°I must escape... The battle has reached this part already! They¡¯re fighting here! At least two thousand of them!¡±
¡°What? Two thousand? How is that possible?¡±
¡°They¡¯reing! No, I must leave now!¡± cried Xia Lei in a panicked voice. ¡°Right, they also have anti-aircraft weapons, I think they¡¯re... Russians!¡±
¡°Huh?¡±
Xia Lei put down the phone, hanging up.
There were obviously no Russian soldiers or anti-aircraft missiles here. He lied to Yan Fo as Shentu Weiying because his target tonight was Kestin, not the FA Group. He must destroy the FA Group someday but not right now. Russia had to take the me for now. The CIA would definitelyunch an investigation now and once they were done with that and sent Yan Fo a rescue team, Xia Lei would havepleted his task.
He left the office and went up the roof. Looking in the direction of Cave 13, he took off his weapons bag and started assembling his XL2500 assault rifle.
All he had to do was wait.
Five minutester, he saw a person.
Chapter 1193 - Da Vincis Secret
Chapter 1193 - Da Vinci''s Secret
Kestin was finally here. He staggered along very slowly with more than tenrge and small cuts on him. It was already a miracle that he could walk since he had been stabbed in the chest.
Xia Lei¡¯s eyes were focused on Kestin. To him, any part of Kestin was a target. All he had to do was pull the trigger and Kestin would die.
Should he kill or capture Kestin?
After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he chose the former.
Kestin might not provide the information he needed despite the capture, and keeping him alive was a threat to his women and children, even China. After all, Kestin still had an ongoing Dragon yer project.
After making his decision, Xia Lei focused on Kestin¡¯s chest and aimed his XL2500 assault rifle at his heart.
However, just as he was ready to shoot, Kestin suddenly retreated back into Cave 13.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. ¡°Did he see me? I¡¯m two thousand metres away and lying on my stomach on this roof. He must have eaten the AE capsule too to be super-evolved like me if he did see me.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s suspicion had been confirmed in the underground pyramid because Kestin was almost as powerful as Xia Lei in terms of strength and agility. Plus Xia Lei could not prate Kestin¡¯s mind at all. Kestin¡¯s ability to develop the Dragon yer war machine was also evidence.
If that was the case, Kestin must die.
Xia Lei got up and prepared to head down to kill Kestin in Cave 13. That was when he heard a soft voice behind. Turning around abruptly, he saw a stunning face behind him.
He had no idea when Zhu Xuanyue arrived.
All four eyes locked in a gaze. One naked, one clothed... One pair cold, one pair nervous.
A few secondster, Zhu Xuanyue broke the silence. ¡°I knew what you wanted to do the moment you left. Do you really want to kill a follower of mine that badly?¡±
¡°I just want to know what truly happened. Give me an answer and I¡¯ll go now.¡±
Her eyes turned icier. ¡°Do you really think I won¡¯t kill you?¡±
¡°I know you will and you¡¯ve made it clear. You no longer owe me anything and you will kill me if you want. Killing me won¡¯t bring you any benefits though. If you let me leave, it is not out ofpassion but because I am still worth something to you, right? It¡¯s the same as what the prehistoric chosen one thought. That was why he gave me three years and forced me to eat thest AE capsule. What the hell do both of you want?¡±
Zhu Xuanyue knitted her brows but did not answer his question.
¡°What do you both want from me?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Zhu Xuanyue shook her head. ¡°One day, you¡¯ll understand. But not right now.¡±
¡°Then tell me, who is Kestin? He has swallowed the AE capsule too, right?¡± Xia Lei changed the subject.
¡°Just go, I will not answer any of your questions.¡±
Xia Lei was unwilling to move.
¡°It¡¯s best you leave now. Kestin has already contacted the American CIA and they have dispatched troops over. You have about twenty minutes to leave. Even I cannot guarantee your survival if you¡¯re toote.¡±
It was a subtle threat.
However, he was unconvinced and even smiled. ¡°You and the prehistoric chosen one can kill me so easily yet you all are keeping me alive. I am still spared even when I try to fight you two. I am now a little more confident about what you need from me.¡±
¡°What do you think it is?¡±
¡°I do not know it yet but I¡¯ll figure it out soon. You don¡¯t have to tell me. I¡¯ll work with the prehistoric chosen one and give him the thing you both want,¡± said Xia Lei.
Far away, Kestin walked out of Cave 13. He did not walk in this direction but chose to lie down on an empty piece ofnd. He was waiting for the CIA reinforcements.
But Xia Lei had already given up on his n to kill Kestin. With Zhu Xuanyue here, he would not seed. After keeping his XL2500 assault rifle, he walked downstairs.
¡°Will you really choose him?¡± came Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s voice.
Xia Lei turned to look at Zhu Xuanyue. ¡°You were the one who pushed me into making this decision. When I almost died in the underground pyramid, Kestin said you wanted to kill me and he had designed the death trap. How could I continue to work with you, if you and Kestin treat me like that while you still owe me a favour?¡±
He continued walking down the stairs.
¡°He is...¡± Zhu Xuanyue hesitated but eventually blurted, ¡°Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.
Xia Lei stopped walking out of shock.
Kestin was Da Vinci!
One of the smartest people in human history.
In the future, history might write Xia Lei as the smartest person but during Xia Lei¡¯s lifetime, the most intelligent person was still Da Vinci. So that was why he was about to conceive the Dragon yer project.
How was a person alive during the High Renaissance period alive today? When he died, he was recorded to be a white-haired old man yet Kestin was a young, handsome blond. Based on his physical appearance, he was no more than thirty years old.
Da Vinci was born on the 23rd of April, 1452 and died on the 2nd of May, 1519 at 67 years old. This was recorded in history and remained undisputed. If that was not true, based on his birth year, he must be at least 560 years old now!
How could a person live this long?
The part he was most confounded by was that if Da Vinci was Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s follower, why did he not resurrect her himself? In truth, Zhu Xuanyue would not have resurrected in this era without his help. Maybe after a hundred years, maybe after hundreds of years.
Amidst Xia Lei¡¯s shock and confusion, Zhu Xuanyue replied tly, ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking about. I can tell you the truth but you must agree not to work with the prehistoric chosen one.
Xia Lei nodded and turned to look at Zhu Xuanyue with a smile. ¡°Of course I would prefer to work with you. Two women I love are in your body.¡±
He was not willing to work with either but this was part of his strategy. Xia Lei, Zhu Xuanyue and the prehistoric chosen one were like the Wei, Shu and Wu kingdoms during the Warring Kingdoms era. He was currently the weakest, Shu. If he wanted to continue living, he must not make both of them his enemy at the same time, instead choosing to work with whoever who benefited him. These were just verbal promises anyway, it did not cost him money.
Xia Lei¡¯s smile and promation of love seemed to have touched the two other women in her body for her gaze softened for a moment. It was just a flicker, her eyes turning cold immediately after. ¡°I¡¯m warning you, do not try waking them up again.¡±
He shrugged. ¡°I did not do anything, that was all you. Tell me the truth.¡±
¡°You think he has consumed the AE capsules? You¡¯re wrong because the world¡¯s only AE capsule was in that piece of amber but it is now in your body.¡±
¡°If it¡¯s not the AE capsule, then Da Vinci...¡±
¡°It¡¯s just biotechnology from our world. He¡¯s not the Da Vinci that lived since the Renaissance era either. He is just a clone I created using his genes and biologicalponents. I injected some of my powers during his cloning process so he would be smarter and stronger. I need a helper like him toplete my ns.¡±
That was the truth.
During the Renaissance period, Da Vinci had met Zhu Xuanyue and fallen in love with this demon. Since he was the smartest person in the world, Zhu Xuanyue took him under her wing. Then, she cloned him to proceed with her ns. Kestin¡¯s current appearance was exactly as Da Vinci¡¯s younger self. Since he already possessed extremely high intelligence, after the addition of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s powers obtained from consuming humans, this Da Vinci clone was even more powerful than the original!
If Zhu Xuanyue could make a body for herself in India, she obviously also had the ability to clone Da Vinci.
¡°You mentioned your n again. What the hell is it? Are you really going to destroy this world?¡± probed Xia Lei, holding back his shock.
¡°It¡¯s time for you to go.¡±
¡°Last question,¡± said Xia Lei. ¡°Tell me, why are you performing missions for the US?¡±
¡°For the US?¡± Zhu Xuanyueughed. ¡°With the powers I wield, do you really think I¡¯m working for the US? Do you think they¡¯re paying me a sry?¡± She pointed at Da Vinci. ¡°Leonardo¡¯s descendants formed the wealthiest n in the world, his family can influence the US both politically and economically. They¡¯re even as powerful as the top decision-makers. Tell me, am I working for the US or is the US working for me?¡±
A chill went down his spine.
The US was the most powerful country in the world. If a demon was controlling it through special channels in the shadows, it would spell huge trouble for the world!
¡°I have already told you the truth, you should go,¡± she said tly. ¡°Do not forget our agreement. If you choose him, I will destroy everything you have. Your Thunder Horse Group, your wife and children and even your home country.¡±
Her tone was t and nonchnt but it bore the heaviest threats.
¡°You¡¯re very impressive. You¡¯ll get what you want in the end.¡± He then turned to leave.
He had just left the Alliance Mining factory area when more than ten helicopters appeared in the sky, including Apache and Chinook aircraft. From far, Xia Lei could see the CIA agents and elite task force soldiers in the Chinook, plus FA Group members, Yan Fo and Augustan, as well as elite armed fighters from the FA Group.
However, Xia Lei was no longer worried about them. Since Zhu Xuanyue had let him go, the American soldiers and CIA would note after him. The FA Group would never cross Zhu Xuanyue either.
Xia Lei¡¯s Nigerian adventures hade to an end.
As he walked along the tracks, he felt utterly exhausted.
Chapter 1194 - The Light in The Dark
Chapter 1194 - The Light in The Dark
The troop left the train tracks and headed onwards to the highway. This was decided after a round of discussion between Giovanna and Qian Jun as there were concerns of being chased by the enemies. Other than that, they¡¯ve just been through a long and excruciating battle. No one wished to rush through a two hundred kilometres journey again.
Arriving at the decision, Giovanna phoned the Kano City Relief Society branch with her satellite phone and requested them toe pick everyone up.
It took a considerable amount of walking for the troop to finally reach the highway, which was quiet with no one in sight. The Relief Society veteran soldiers dragged their exhausted bodies along the tar road. The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members, on the other hand, weren¡¯t doing that well either. While they did not sustain any life-threatening injuries, the damage received was enough to slow them down.
Had they won the war?
If yes, it would be a bloody victory. If Xia Lei hadn¡¯t saved them in the nick of time, none of them would¡¯ve survived the battle.
Shentu Tianyin limped with every step. The physical exertion and blisters had made it difficult for her but there was no one here to carry her as Xia Lei did. She walked at the very end of the formation, turning around to spare the Alliance Mining site asional looks. She was worried sick about Xia Lei and she wished to shoulder some of his burdens. Sadly, there was nothing she could do. This experience had taught her a lesson- Money isn¡¯t the solution to everything, even if she had a hundred billion dors to spare.
¡°Say, why did the boss return to the mines? Do you think he¡¯ll arrive in Chad on time to meet us?¡± At that moment, Anjum Khan disrupted the suffocating silence.
¡°I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s trying to do but I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll see him in Chad,¡± answered Yelena.
Sa¡¯im heaved a huge sigh. ¡°Man, maybe it¡¯s time to go on a vacation when we get back.¡±
Alessio suggested, ¡°Come to Italy. The Italiandies are as passionate as fire.¡±
And so the Chinese Zodiac Battle Members talked and talked, using it as an approach to ease their tensed nerves and emotions.
At the Relief Society¡¯s side, Giovanna said to the Relief Society¡¯s soldiers, ¡°We¡¯ve lost many brothers in this battle but we shouldn¡¯t be sad about it for they have merely gone to heaven. We willpensate their families and spouses with a generous five hundred thousand American dors each. Everyone alive too will be rewarded two hundred thousand American dors each.¡±
The veteran soldiers rejoiced at her statement. Five hundred thousand USD was more than enough to allow the parents and spouses of their lost brothers afortable life till death. All the survivors would be paid two hundred thousand USD too. To a country with an average ie of two thousand USD, this was an amount that would require one hundred years worth of work to achieve!
Regardless of the living or dead, their sacrifices were rewarded.
Truthfully, this was the female knights¡¯ strategy. They needed to reassure the Relief Society that anyone who fought for them, dead or alive, would have nothing to worry for the rest of their lives. The knowledge would certainly attract more to fight for the Relief Society willingly.
Afterforting the soldier¡¯s spirits, Giovanna returned to her sisters. She turned around and spared a look at Shentu Tianyin, who was at the tail end. Watching her limping steps, Giovanna couldn¡¯t help but feel pity. She quickly went towards Shentu Tianyin. ¡°Do you need any help?¡±
Shentu Tianyin shook her head. ¡°No, thank you.¡±
¡°There¡¯s still quite a journey ahead of us, are you sure you don¡¯t need help? If you can¡¯t go on, I can ask one of the soldiers to carry you,¡± offered Giovanna.
¡°No need. I can carry on till the end. I don¡¯t need anyone to carry me.¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s rejection was direct. Xia Lei was the only man in this world allowed to touch her body.
Giovanna shrugged at her insistence. ¡°Alright then, suit yourself.¡± After all, stubbornness was her charm.
At this moment, Rosa shouted, ¡°There are carsing! Hide!¡±
Everyone quickly cleared out the highway and hid in the jungles.
At the end of the highway, seven vehicles were zooming over. As the cars continued forward, the frontmost vehicle shed its beam a few times.
¡°They¡¯re part of us! Our transport is here!¡± Giovanna raised her volume.
Everyone returned to the highway and allowed the cars toe nearer. The vehicles made a U-turn and came to a stop.
¡°Miss Shentu, please get in,¡± said Giovanna.
The woman nodded. But when Shentu Tianyin got to the car door, she couldn¡¯t help but turn around for onest look. She had been anticipating Xia Lei to be right there in front of her with his face full of her favourite smile. Sadly, there was no presence on the stretch of road behind her.
Shentu Tianyin sighed disappointedly. As she attempted to climb into the vehicle, a familiar figure exited the forest. She was stunned but as soon as realization dawned upon her, Shentu Tianyin cheered and dashed over.
Xia Lei was back.
With each limp, Shentu Tianyin brought herself closer to the man she loved. The woman threw herself against his chest and tears broke free of its constraints. She sobbed, not able to say anything else.
¡°Why are you running with injured legs?¡± Xia Lei teased with a grin. Shentu Tianyin¡¯s soft sobs had chased away the iciness in his heart, distracting him temporarily from earlier events.
¡°Even if I have no legs, I would still crawl over,¡± said Shentu Tianyin between sobs. After this trip filled with blood and fire, she was now a changed woman who had finally realized what she truly yearned for.
¡°Let me carry you over, yeah?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s voice was tender.
Shentu Tianyin bit her cherry lips lightly. ¡°Okay.¡±
Back then, the woman would never show this side of her in front of anyone else. But things had changed. She was now willing to be vulnerable because he was Xia Lei.
Xia Lei lifted her up bridal-style and strode towards the waiting car.
Everyone¡¯s attention was glued to Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei but the woman did not mind it at all. With his warmth under her knees and behind her waist, she felt that this was the world¡¯s mostforting and safe paradise ever. She wished to lie between his arms for eternity.
¡°Boss, didn¡¯t you ask us to leave first and you¡¯d meet us in Chad?¡± asked Yelena.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Everything is settled. Let¡¯s leave.¡±
¡°Get in the car! Now!¡± Giovanna urged them loudly. ¡°We need to leave this ce!¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°There¡¯s no need for urgency. There won¡¯t be anyone chasing behind us.¡±
Though no one knew what happened, Xia Lei¡¯s return had allowed everyone to rx.
The retreating convoy zoomed along the highway that weaved through the Jungle of No Return, further and further away from the lush foliage. Amongst the dark blue skies, a full moon silently exuded its cold light. The countless stars decorating the night was distant and mysterious. It seemed like it was trying to converse in an ancientnguage that no one could interpret.
In one of the cars, Xia Lei whipped around to nce at Alliance Mining. He faced Shentu Tianyinter and said, ¡°Tianyin... Your seventh uncle is dead.¡±
¡°Was he killed by the Americans?¡± she asked.
Xia Lei exined, ¡°I don¡¯t know if the Americans or the Boko Haram members were behind it but your seventh uncle seems to have a deal between those parties to betray you and the Alliance Mining. However, I¡¯m not sure why they decided to kill him.¡±
¡°He¡¯s dead, let it be,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
¡°Also, you should bring this up to the Nigerian authorities and work out something with them to protect Vientiane Group¡¯s asset here.¡±
¡°Would that be useful?¡±
¡°Not really.¡±
¡°Then there¡¯s no need for that,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei went on, ¡°If it¡¯s possible, you should opt for it. But if you¡¯re not nning toe back, there¡¯s no need for that.¡±
Shentu Tianyin ced her head on Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re the only one I want.¡±
And he smiled.
¡°A-hem.¡± The driver, Giovanna, cleared her throat. ¡°Saint Lei, are we heading straight to Chad or do we need to return to the stronghold for necessary repair?¡±
¡°Let¡¯s head to the stronghold first.¡± Xia Lei said, ¡°The CIA has sent many of their agents here. It would be safer to have the members gather information on that.¡±
¡°Got it,¡± acknowledged Giovanna. She sneaked a nce at Shentu Tianyin, who was leaning against Xia Lei¡¯s shoulder, through the rearview mirror. At the sight of the woman¡¯s happy face, Giovanna¡¯s lips couldn¡¯t help but lift its corners ever so slightly.
Coincidentally, Ste was also peeking at Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin through the rearview mirror. Seeing that Shentu Tianyin was snug against Xia Lei, the corner of her lips were lifted as well.
¡°Wait... Saint Lei?¡± Xia Lei let out a huff of dryughter. ¡°Why are you calling me that?¡±
Giovanna and Ste answered in unison, ¡°No particr reason but we¡¯ve decided that we¡¯re going to call you that from now on, Saint Lei.¡±
¡°...¡±
The convoy left the jungles and entered Kano City. After a certain distance, they have finally returned to the old building.
As soon as they got back, the four female knights quickly went to work on sorting out the pensions and rewards while the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members retired to their rooms to rest and treat their wounds. A separated room was arranged for Xia Lei and Shentu Tianyin.
Stepping foot into the room, an oil painting on the wall immediately caught Xia Lei¡¯s attention.
It depicted a forest that was shrouded in darkness. In the middle of it was a pristine beam of light that rushed for the dark skies. In the beam was the faintest hint of a person with wings. At the bottom right corner of the painting was an English description- The Jungle of No Return, Home of Faeries.
Faeries?
Obviously, faeries did not exist. However, there was an eerie and mysterious pyramid built in the middle of the jungle. Perhaps the residents of Kano City of the olden days had happened toe across a beam of light or some kind of faerie-like existence and were inspired to coin the forest its name.
At that moment, something clicked in his mind. ¡°Tianyin, when I went inside the mine caves, did you happen to see a beam of light from the outside?¡±
¡°A beam of light?¡± Shentu Tianyin was perplexed.
Xia Lei nodded. ¡°Yeah, a beam of light. Did you see anything like that?¡±
Shentu Tianyin pondered for a moment. ¡°Yes, I think it appeared in the direction of the mining caves. I saw a beam shooting for the sky. I thought it was a searchlight so I didn¡¯t pay much attention.¡±
¡°How long did it remain?¡±
¡°Around one to two seconds? It was gone as abrupt as its appearance,¡± answered the woman.
Xia Lei returned his attention to the oil painting. The paint job looked fairly recent and its age was about tens of years at most. The artist did not leave a name behind but the overall art style of it had suggested it to be a mediocre one. Despite that, confirmation of its content was attained tonight.
The theory of pyramids being built by aliens had been around for years and the pyramid within Cave 13 and in the outskirts of Jerusalem was certainly not made by mankind. From the looks of it, the pyramids seemed to function as a signal transmitter. Perhaps it was a tool tomunicate with alien civilizations!
Did that mean Zhu Xuanyue¡¯srades were about to arrive?
Was the end of the world right around the corner?
Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank.
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Shentu Tianyin studied his tense expression.
The man returned a bitter smile. ¡°Nothing.¡± He turned to face her, softening his voice in the process. ¡°After you get back, go do whatever you wish to do. There¡¯s no need to focus solely on your career.¡±
Shentu Tianyin cast him a smile. ¡°Those are your words. So I¡¯m allowed to do whatever I wish?¡±
He nodded. ¡°Yes. You can do whatever you want.¡±
¡°Thene shower with me.¡± Shentu Tianyin tugged his wrists and led him to the bathroom. ¡°I still have some antidote left on me. Surely, you¡¯ll let me use it all, right?¡±
¡°...¡±
Chapter 1195 - Twins
Chapter 1195 - Twins
Flushed over by warm water and bubbles of soap, a true shower had already be a secondary goal for the entangled couple.
After their passion had tided over, two moist bodies snuggled underneath the nkets. The thinness of the nket did nothing to hide Shentu Tianyin¡¯s voluptuous curves and also a certain part of Xia Lei that never failed to elicit blushes from women.
Shentu Tianyinid her head on his shoulder. Yet, her eyes were glued to the ss vial beside the bed. There was only a little bit of antidote left inside, an amount only sufficient for one more use.
On the other hand, Xia Lei was staring straight at the oil painting in an attempt to manifest assumptions about the Jungle of No Return and Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s n... Sadly, there was only this much that he knew. Though he had a mind that was almost as powerful as aputer, he could note out with a usible thought. And to think towards the worst-case scenario was far too easy than he¡¯d love to admit. What if Zhu Xuanyue¡¯srades invade their universe and turn its apex predators- humans- into their meals?
The pure energy beings would be able to control human minds with ease if they ever step foot here. With that, they¡¯d be able to feed and prey on every person in the world and be stronger. When that happens, that would be equivalent to the end of the world.
¡°If Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s n is to destroy the world, why is the prehistoric chosen one not stopping her? He¡¯s still considered as one of us and Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s arch-nemesis. So why is he not doing anything to stop her?¡± This was something Xia Lei could not understand.
If the prehistoric chosen one was there to attack Zhu Xuanyue, he and Xia Lei would stand a chance at stopping her.
Yet, the prehistoric chosen one did not appear.
¡°Hubby, the antidote Yuyan gave me is about to hit bottom. Do you think...¡± Shentu Tianyin¡¯s soft voice interjected thefortable silence. The woman looked a bit bashful. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m pregnant?¡±
Xia Lei paused his thoughts and reached a palm deeper underneath the nket, stering it to Shentu Tianyin¡¯s lower abdomen. Her tummy was soft and t, but the skin was taut and warm. The man caressed her baby skin and smiled. ¡°I can feel a little fe kicking your stomach walls. Yeah, I think you¡¯re pregnant.¡±
¡°Hehe.¡± Shentu Tianyin giggled like a child. ¡°Do you think that is going to work on me? Even if I¡¯m pregnant, it¡¯s far too early to feel anything.¡±
¡°Fan Fan can help check. She¡¯s the best biotechnologist in the country,¡± said Xia Lei. But as soon as those words escaped his lips, he immediately noticed he had said something wrong. His rtionship with Shentu Tianyin was a secret, it was only to satisfy her yearning for a child. How was Shentu Tianyin supposed to approach Fan Fan for pregnancy checks?
As expected, Shentu Tianyin¡¯s smile dissipated. The joyful glimmer in her eyes was reced with sadness. ¡°Will you still visit me after we return home?¡±
That was a difficult question.
Shentu Tianyin¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°What about when I go intobour?¡±
Xia Lei gathered her closer to his body. ¡°Of course I¡¯ll still visit you. When you go intobour, I will definitely be by your side.¡±
If this was all she wished for, Xia Lei would dly amodate her. asional secret dates till the day his deadline arrived was no big deal. If Shentu Tianyin was truly carrying his children and had sessfully birthed them, Xia Lei too would take up his responsibilities as a husband and a father even when Shentu Tianyin wasn¡¯t asking for an association.
Shentu Tianyin brightened up at that. She rubbed her cheeks gently against his face. ¡°Meeting you was the best thing in my life. I¡¯ve lost you once due to my own stupidity. I will not lose you twice.¡±
Xia Lei ced a smooch between her brows while his heart sighed heavily. He was running out of time and they were bound to be separated. When his end arrives, the damage she¡¯d sustain would be way severe than the time they got divorced. And Xia Lei, on the other hand, had no power to change anything.
¡°Tianyin... If I die someday, I hope you¡¯ll live well and take good care of the children, okay?¡± said Xia Lei.
The grim statement caught Shentu Tianyin by surprise. She reached over and pinched Xia Lei¡¯s waist. ¡°Why are you saying that? I don¡¯t want to hear that from you. I want you to live long enough to see our children get married. You can¡¯t leave, I will not allow that. Promise me that, please?¡±
Xia Lei smiled slightly and nodded. ¡°Alright, I promise.¡±
Shentu Tianyin began kissing Xia Lei¡¯s face, her hands began to run wild.
Without warning, Xia Lei peeled the nket away.
Shentu Tianyin yelped in surprise and covered her important bits with urgency. But her palms weren¡¯t doing much to hide anything. With a flushed face, she hissed, ¡°What the hell?!¡±
Xia Lei merely said, ¡°Let me take a look at your womb. I can see if there¡¯s a child in there or not.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Shentu Tianyin had a feeling that Xia Lei was just making an excuse to oogle her.
¡°Listen to me. Lie down properly and let me check it out.¡±
Shentu Tianyin moved her arms away. If he wanted to ogle, she¡¯d let him ogle, no questions asked. Her earlier act of modesty was just for show.
Xia Leinded his gaze on the woman¡¯s lower abdomen. The taut skin was like ayer of snow, Shentu Tianyin was honestly such a gorgeous person. Xia Lei found that he wouldn¡¯t grow tired of this sight even if he were to stare for three years.
Shentu Tianyin twisted her waist a little. ¡°What are you staring at? Pervert.¡±
At that moment, Xia Lei abruptly activated his X-ray vision and scanning supermode and went throughyers of her skin. Once he had gotten beneath theyer, he called for his microscopic vision. Under thebined efforts of the three skills, a womb¡¯s information was projected into his brain.
He picked up a faint, pale presence inside. The sensation could not be exined with words and before he could even inspect it closer, two fertilized ovums entered his sight.
The finding left Xia Lei bewildered. He cast the odd sensation aside and began to guffaw. ¡°Tianyin, you¡¯re pregnant with two children but... I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re a pair of opposite sex twins and same sex twins.¡±
The fertilized ovums were still phases away fromplete sexual differentiation.
¡°...Really?¡± Shentu Tianyin was dumbfounded.
Xia Lei nodded confidently. ¡°It¡¯s real. Trust me.¡±
Shentu Tianyin let out a whine, mbered up and wrapped her limbs tight around Xia Lei. Overwhelmed with emotions, she choked out, ¡°I¡¯m going to be a mom! I¡¯m going to be a mom soon! I¡¯m going to mother two children! Hahaha...¡±
Xia Lei quickly mped a palm over her lips. ¡°Shh. People will hear us and tease uster.¡±
She suppressed the bubbling excitement with all her might and nodded fervently. She lowered her voice. ¡°Then I¡¯ll say this a tad bit softer... Hubby, I love you. I really love you.¡±
Xia Lei kissed the top of her nose.
And she kissed his lips. ¡°The two names you thought of can be used now. The boy will be named Xia Yang and the girl will be named Xia Yue.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s no way to tell their gender for now. It might be a pair of sons or a pair of daughters for all we know.¡±
¡°Then they¡¯ll still be Xia Yang and Xia Yue. You¡¯re the father, you can name your children any name you wish,¡± said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei stered his cheek against Shentu Tianyin¡¯s belly. Her lower abdomen was soft and warm, just like a heated jelly that radiated an enchanting natural fragrance. His gaze began to move downwards inevitably, and...
At that point, his body was positively heating up with lust.
Shentu Tianyin threaded her fingers through his hair and caressed his face. Strands of her hair that brushed past his being were wonderfully silky.
And that alone was enough to drive him over the edge. He sat up and pressed her into the mattress.
¡°Careful, I¡¯m pregnant,¡± said Shentu Tianyin. She closed her eyes bashfully.
Xia Lei nodded and promised to be gentle...
This time, Shentu Tianyin had long forgotten about the vial of antidote. Happiness was simple and she had finally acquired hers. The process may have been one hell of a difficult ride, but everything she experienced was still no less beautiful and valuable.
Morning came stealthily and golden sun rays began to pour in from the window. The floor had specks of gold light and the bed sheets were bleached white. The scenery outdoors was encaptivating but the scenery indoors was even more alluring.
Xia Lei had woken up early. As soon as he reached over to wake Shentu Tianyin up, he immediately gave up on the thought. She was still soundly asleep and there was a tranquil smile across her lips. He just couldn¡¯t bear to disturb her peace.
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound of door rapping was heard.
Xia Lei faced the door, immediately noticing Tsukino Kyoko, who was standing outside the room.
The man went over to answer the door and left the room. Coming face-to-face with Tsukino Kyoko, Xia Lei couldn¡¯t help but sh her an awkward smile. ¡°Kyoko, are we moving soon?¡±
Tsukino Kyoko passed her satellite phone to Xia Lei. ¡°There¡¯s a call for you.¡±
Xia Lei was stunned. ¡°From who?¡±
The female ninja replied, ¡°From father. You should call him back. He¡¯s waiting for you.¡±
Xia Lei quickly dialled Xia Changhe¡¯s number and the call was immediately put through.
¡°Xia Lei.¡±
¡°Yes, father?¡± Xia Lei pressed, ¡°Where are you? I really want to meet you.¡±
There were just too many things he wished to ask Xia Changhe.
¡°I¡¯m in Israel, Jerusalem.¡±
¡°What are you doing in Jerusalem?¡±
¡°There¡¯s no need to ask now. I¡¯ll tell you more when I get home.¡±
¡°And just when are youing home?¡± Xia Lei felt rather frustrated. ¡°Your grandchildren are already able to speak but they¡¯ve never once met their grandfather. What exactly are you working on?¡±
¡°You need to believe that I¡¯m doing all of this for your sake.¡±
Xia Lei drew a long sigh. ¡°Alright. Why are you calling me this time?¡±
There was a beat of silence before Xia Changhe replied, ¡°Big trouble is about to arrive. You need to be prepared.¡±
¡°What do you mean?¡± Xia Lei¡¯s heart sank. ¡°Father, do you know about everything that has happened?¡±
¡°A gigantic disaster is about to happen. I¡¯m sure you know what I¡¯m trying to say here.¡± Xia Changhe continued, ¡°That Kestin fe following that woman is not a real person. He¡¯s highly dangerous and he¡¯ll be an obstacle to your ns. You need to destroy him no matter what it takes.¡±
¡°What do you know about him?¡±
¡°He¡¯s the clone of Da Vinci.¡±
¡°Where did you learn this from?¡± Xia Lei was shocked. He had learnt this fact through Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s lips and if she had kept mum about it, there was no way Xia Lei would believe that Kestin was Da Vinci¡¯s replica. Where the hell was Xia Changhe getting his information from?
¡°I have my own channel. I know there¡¯s a lot of things you wish to ask but as I said, I¡¯ll tell you everything when I¡¯m home. Be careful, you must get rid of Kestin.¡±
¡°I will.¡±
¡°That¡¯s all I have to say. Take care!¡± Xia Changhe ended the call.
Xia Lei froze for a few moments before returning the device to Tsukino Kyoko.
¡°So did you have a good time...¡± Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s expression was odd. ¡°...st night?¡±
Xia Lei hesitated for a moment. ¡°When we get back, I¡¯ll go with you to your practise spot for a duel. How¡¯s that?¡±
That was their secret code. The water pool on the mountain behind Thunder Horse Organization was where Tsukino Kyoko practised her skills. Back when they were in China, the female ninja would¡¯ve invited him to the back mountain for a ¡®practise¡¯ every time she yearned for him. But of course, the practice¡¯s agenda were unspeakable things.
Tsukino Kyoko smiled, suddenly lurching forward to kiss his cheek.
Xia Lei was once again dumbfounded.
Tsukino Kyoko turned around to leave, not forgetting to remind, ¡°Go wake her up. We¡¯re leaving after breakfast.¡±
The man returned a smile. ¡°Got it.¡±
Women and children were probably the only things that could bring him ease and happiness.
Chapter 1196 - The Calm Before The Storm
Chapter 1196 - The Calm Before The Storm
The journey from Chad to China was smooth.
Zhu Xuanyue had replicated Da Vinci and thetter¡¯s family was a mysterious and prominent one with enough power to affect America¡¯s strategy. This news wasn¡¯t great to the world but to Xia Lei, it was an advantage. If Zhu Xuanyue so wishes to do nothing, not even the CIA nor FA Organization could do anything to him either. The Pentagon wouldn¡¯t be able to do much too. Why? Well, nothing good woulde out from going against Zhu Xuanyue.
The events that transpired in the Jungle of No Return did make it on the news. China had expressed their protests and the oue was as expected- All me was pushed onto the Boko Haram armed group. The Americans did not admit to it and the Boko Haram¡¯s spokesperson had taken responsibility for the incident. All evidence collected by the Vientiane Group was futile.
His trip to Nigeria seemed to be a node. After their return, neither Xia Lei nor the Thunder Horse Organization had run into any trouble. Everything was calm at home and elsewhere but Xia Lei was aware that this would be thest peace he¡¯d taste.
The prehistoric chosen one had graced him three years to live and Zhu Xuanyue was waiting for that day as well. Any day passed meant one day closer to his death. As soon as that day arrived, Xia Lei would face the greatest storm in his lifetime!
This was probably the calm before the storm.
Even so, Xia Lei dove headfirst into Thunder Horse¡¯s efforts for the super fighter jet and bomber ne as soon as he returned. This was thest thing he wished to see through before his doom. The man desired to make onest contribution to the country and its people.
Before he knew it, three months had passed.
The Peace Mansion.
¡°Papa!¡± Xia Fan pushed the study¡¯s door open, grimace adorning her cute face. ¡°Big brother is bullying me!¡±
Xia Lei ced his documents down. He went over to his daughter with a smile. ¡°Which brother has bullied our little Fan Fan? Tell me and papa will go scold him.¡±
¡°It¡¯s Brother Xia Long.¡± Xia Fan answered with her childish voice. ¡°I was drawing on the garden dirt and he peed on my drawing.¡±
¡°...¡±
At this moment, Xia Long peeked a head into the study, looking a tad bit guilty. ¡°Papa, I just wanted to give her drawing a river.¡± He continued, ¡°I¡¯m a good boy. Are you really going to scold me?¡±
Xia Lei did not know what to say.
Before the tension between Xia Fan and Xia Long could be solved, Liang Jiayu and Xia Jianghe entered the study.
¡°Papa.¡± Liang Jiayu scowled. ¡°Xia Jianghe broke my toy.¡±
Xia Jianghe retorted, ¡°Papa, Brother Jiayu tore my doll.¡±
The four children began to argue noisily in the study and Xia Lei was cooking up a migraine at the scene. A normal child wasn¡¯t capable of speaking at half a year old, let alone walk or fight. Yet, his kids were already able to draw, y toys and quarrel. The funniest thing was that sibling conflicts like these were frequent. Sometimes, Xia Lei would need to solve petty issues multiple times a day.
¡°Can¡¯t you all get along? Why do you need to fight each other? Can¡¯t you share your toys and y together peacefully?¡± Xia Lei tried to look stern. He was not adamant to practise favouritism, all four children would be reprimanded fairly.
¡°But Brother Xia Long is clearly wrong!¡± screamed Xia Fan.
¡°I am not wrong. I just wanted to give you a river,¡± replied Xia Long.
¡°You need to return me a toy,¡± insisted Liang Jiayu.
¡°Then you need to return me one doll.¡± Xia Jianghe was not backing down either.
In front of four quarrelling toddlers, the strict father look was useless.
Xia Lei hugged his own head and began to mumble incoherently. ¡°Oh god, please help me.¡±
At this moment, Tang Yuyan entered through the door. ¡°Oh my, what are you all doing here? You¡¯re already in your father¡¯s office fighting this early in the morning? You¡¯re going to disturb his work.¡±
Xia Lei had prayed for divine intervention and a goddess was sent to him. At this point, Tang Yuyan¡¯s lower abdomen was starting to swell and her visits to Bureau 101 were less frequent. Most often, she would be directing operations remotely from the Peace Mansion. If she was someone else, this wouldn¡¯t be permitted but Tang Yuyan was pregnant with Xia Lei¡¯s child.
China¡¯s higher authorities had long heard about how intelligent Xia Lei¡¯s children were. Every offspring born by Xia Lei were super talents presented to the country. There was no harm in having more of them. How could the country afford to not protect them?
Tang Yuyan ced a cup of steaming Oolong tea on his desk. In a gentle voice, she said, ¡°Hubby, I just made this tea so it¡¯s still hot. You should wait for a little before drinking.¡±
Xia Lei nodded with a smile.
¡°Fifth mother.¡± Xia Long called out to Tang Yuyan. ¡°Have you seen my mama?¡±
Tang Yuyan answered, ¡°Yeah, I saw her outside.¡±
Speaking of Long Bing, the woman entered the study as if on cue. ¡°Xia Long, were you looking for me?¡±
¡°Mama, I¡¯m hungry.¡± Xia Long spread his arms wide and ran towards her. ¡°I want milk.¡±
Long Bing looked embarrassed. ¡°You¡¯re already a big boy, you should be eating rice instead. No milk for you.¡±
¡°Nooooooo! I want milk! I want milk!¡± Xia Long threw a tantrum and began rolling on the ground.
Long Bing caved and lifted her shirt. She began breastfeeding Xia Long.
¡°Third mother, I want some milk too.¡± Liang Jiayu stared at Long Bing with wide eyes. The sight of Xia Long suckling milk had Liang Jiayu envious.
Long Bing was bewildered. ¡°You should go to your mother. I... I¡¯m out of milk already.¡±
Liang Jiayu pouted. ¡°But your other side is unupied.¡±
¡°...¡±
Luckily for her, Jiang Ruyi, Liang Siyao and Fan Fan joined them in the study. Now, the whole family was gathered in the same room. At the sight of their mothers, the three other babies began demanding milk. The other women lifted their tops and began feeding their child. In an instant, the study was filled with unsynchronised suckling noises and the exciting scenery of pale snowy mounts.
¡°Yuyan, now that your bump has gotten bigger, how are you feeling recently?¡± asked Long Bing.
Tang Yuyan beamed. ¡°Well, I feel a little bloated and less agile than before.¡±
¡°Well, that is a given. After all, you¡¯re carrying another human being inside you. There¡¯s no way you¡¯ll be as agile as before. You try to move less,¡± suggested Long Bing with concern.
Tang Yuyan¡¯s smile grew wider.
¡°Hubby, how is your progress on the ne?¡± Liang Siyao went to Xia Lei.
He answered, ¡°I¡¯ll be done with it today.¡±
¡°Huh? So soon?¡± Fan Fan gaped. ¡°That¡¯s a fighter jet and bomber ne you¡¯re talking about!¡±
Xia Lei merely smiled. ¡°I¡¯m only done with the design n and programming. If we¡¯re going to produce the Yan Wang fighter jet and Kun Peng bomber ne at the same time, we¡¯ll require at least a year toplete everything.¡±
Fan Fan¡¯s eyes were shimmering with respect. ¡°You¡¯re probably the only person in the world capable of this. Our country has been working on fighter jets for tens of years and we had only been replicating designs till this day, which earned us sanctions. But you will end this humiliation soon. I¡¯ll go make a call and tell the chief about this. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be overjoyed to hear this.¡±
Catching her words, Xia Fan was displeased. ¡°Mama, you can only call after I¡¯m done with milk.¡±
¡°Why you little-¡± Fan Fan pped her little buttocks but did not pull her handphone out in the end. Her child was as important to her as the country¡¯s affairs.
Xia Long raised his head from between Long Bing¡¯s arm. ¡°When I grow up, I must study hard and invent a breast with never-ending milk.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± Long Bing¡¯s eyes went wide. There was a moment of silence before a p was delivered to his ass. ¡°You little rascal. Why do you need to invent something like that?¡±
¡°To eat!¡± Xia Long saw no fault in his idea.
Long Bing spanked his ass once again. ¡°You¡¯re just like your father!¡±
Xia Lei had nothing to defend himself.
On the other end, Xia Jianghe detached her lips from her mother¡¯s breast momentarily. With minute droplets around her lips, she asked, ¡°Papa, why do we have so many mothers? The other kids only have one.¡±
¡°Uh...¡± That certainly surprised Xia Lei for he could not answer this question.
There were downsides to having incredible smart children. Before they were even one year old, the babies had already gotten some sort of understanding of the family¡¯s situation. Xia Lei, as a father, could not offer an exnation to his children about their extraordinary familial dynamics.
¡°Hubby, you should drink your tea. It¡¯s getting cold.¡± Tang Yuyan pressed the cup into Xia Lei¡¯s palm.
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Xia Lei took a sip. Immediately, his insides were roaring and upset at the substance. He promptly ced the cup down and switched the topic. It had been more than three months and his distaste towards regr food had gotten extreme. In the beginning, he was still fine with beverages but the response had only gotten worse as time passed.
Thankfully, energy bars did not taste too awful to him. It was the only thing keeping him away from hunting for food. From the consumption of thest AE capsule till this day, the only thing he had eaten was the python in the African jungle. He had not preyed on his kind and morphed into a devil as he feared.
¡°Hubby, are we interrupting your work?¡± Jiang Ruyi questioned.
Xia Lei grinned. ¡°No, not at all. Watching you all breastfeeding the children here makes my mind a little more active.¡±
Truthfully, his mind had been working the whole time even during his family bonding time.
Jiang Ruyi spat lightly. ¡°I knew you would say something like that. Please don¡¯t repeat things like that in front of the children, it¡¯s bad for their development.¡±
Xia Jianghe raised her head and rolled her eyes at Xia Lei. ¡°Bad papa.¡±
¡°...¡±
Laughter ensued.
The happier things were, the sadder Xia Lei felt. How he wished to see his children grow up, watch them marry their other halves, be the grandfather to their offspring and love their mothers till the death do them apart. Xia Lei¡¯s time was ticking and there was not enough to follow their growth.
Ring ring... Ring ring...
Tang Yuyan¡¯s phone rang abruptly. She quickly answered, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me. What¡¯s the matter?¡±
A man¡¯s voice rang over the line. ¡°Do you not need to clock into work? We have an important international issue on hand, you need toe over now for a meeting.¡±
Xia Lei could hear Tang Bochuan¡¯s voice clearly. The tone he had used on Tang Yuyan made Xia Lei ufortable. The man was Tang Yuyan¡¯s subordinate but he had sounded absolutely demanding.
¡°I¡¯ll be there right away.¡± Tang Yuyan hung up and turned to face Xia Lei. ¡°Hubby, I¡¯m going back to the bureau for a meeting.¡±
¡°Go, just call me if you need me,¡± said Xia Lei.
Tang Yuyan quickly bid the other women farewell and left.
Xia Lei folded his hackingptop and announced, ¡°I too will be leaving for a meeting now. Tomorrow, the Thunder Horse Organization will begin producing the first Yan Wang fighter jet and Kun Peng bomber ne.¡±
¡°Wow. That¡¯s so fast.¡± Fan Fan couldn¡¯t believe Xia Lei had already made decisions like that.
¡°The sooner the better. Alright, see youter.¡± With hisptop under one arm, Xia Lei left the study.
Jiang Ruyi called after him. ¡°Come back for lunch this afternoon. I¡¯ll make something nice for you.¡±
Xia Lei frantically rejected, ¡°No need, no need. I think I won¡¯t be able to return on time. You guys go ahead, no need to wait for me.¡±
Eating had unexpectedly be agony to him.
Chapter 1197 - Brother-In-Law Aint Shit
Chapter 1197 - Brother-In-Law Ain''t Shit
As soon as the meeting between the Thunder Horse Organization¡¯s core members had ended, Xia Lei had left for the aircraft workshop under Annina and Sylvia¡¯spany.
There were two aircraft workshops built- one for Yan Wang and the other for Kun Peng. These were facilities and resources funded by the government. Everything they requested was entertained generously by the country. It was also thanks to the country¡¯s involvement that two impable workshops could be built within months. These were the biggest workshops on Thunder Horse¡¯s premise and it would no doubt be the heart and fist of China¡¯s Air Force.
Entering the Yan Wang workshop, a brightly-lit space of tens of acres weed their presence. Hundreds of workers were busy debugging the assembly line at the moment and the facility was bustling with activity.
¡°Lukas, are you sure about starting production tomorrow?¡± This was the third time Sylvia had asked the question.
Xia Lei replied, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m very sure about this. I don¡¯t have time left to wait around.¡±
Annina shot him a curious look. ¡°Lukas, what are you trying to say?¡±
Xia Lei merely smiled. ¡°Nothing, actually. I¡¯m just getting rather impatient. I can¡¯t wait to see our very own Yan Wang and Kun Peng nes. Have the workers work overtime for another four hours and increase their pay by three-fold.¡±
¡°That¡¯s a lot of money.¡± Annina reminded.
Xia Lei said, ¡°Money isn¡¯t an issue. Their hard work should be rewarded ordingly.¡±
The German mechanic shrugged. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll tell them that. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be happy to hear that.¡±
The prospect of working overtime every single day for an additional four hours but with a three-fold sry increment was attractive. The offer was so lucrative that perhaps even the worker¡¯s family would be eager for them to work overtime. After all, it was arge sum that could improve their living quality.
¡°Got it. There shouldn¡¯t be an issue with manpower. Our assembly line is almost done and equipment that requires fine tuning have already been tended to as well. However, I must once again remind you that building a fighter aircraft is not a simple feat. A fighter jet or bomber ne unit would require at least tens of thousands of spare parts and we need the design prints for the Yan Wang and Kun Peng along with spare part standards, software codes and so on. Have you prepared everything necessary?¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s tone was firm. ¡°I¡¯ve already gotten everything ready. I¡¯ll make another visitter to pass both of you everything relevant.¡±
¡°I¡¯m d to hear that. We¡¯ll contact the Haizhu and Shudi bases to start spare part production after the prints are received. Sylvia said, ¡°Anything that can¡¯t be produced by the branch sites will be outsourced from the market. We¡¯ll purchase parts and refine them to our standard.¡±
Xia Lei rejected, ¡°No, we won¡¯t be outsourcing parts from the market this time. We¡¯re going to produce and refine everything in-house with the Alloy X.¡±
¡°You want to use Alloy X on everything? Oh my god, isn¡¯t that too much?¡± Annina was shocked.
Xia Lei uttered, ¡°The Americans are running a Dragon yer Project. Lockheed Martin is heading the research for a super fighter jet named Dragon yer and I believe that our Yan Wang is bound to face it in battle. We must not settle for low-grade parts out in the market. We must create the best and most perfect fighter jet the world has ever seen.¡±
¡°Very well. Looks like I¡¯ll be drop-dead busy for a while now.¡± Despite the helpless expression across Slyvia¡¯s features, her heart was absolutely palpitating from excitement inside.
A fighter jet and bomber nepletely made out of Alloy X... It was no doubt that the soon-toe Yan Wang and Kun Peng would be the conquerors of the sky.
The Americans were indeed miles ahead in the fighter jet and bomber ne department. Certainly, the Dragon yer designed by Lockheed Martin would be the most technologically advanced product stemming from the country¡¯s most recent advancements. Though so, the Dragon yer would never surpass Yan Wang and Kun Peng.
The reason was simple. While the Americans enjoyed the benefit of stronger technicalpetency and vast experiences in production, it did not possess Thunder Horse¡¯s Thunder Dragon intelligentthe. Most importantly, the mastermind behind the Dragon yer was Kestin, who was also the replica of Da Vinci. The man wasn¡¯t as intelligent as Xia Lei, let alone possess a brain so mighty that it could bepared to a supeputer.
But of course, these were all theory-based assumptions. America had its own benefits and the final oue would only be given after the actual birth of Yan Wang and Kun Peng and real encounters between the jets.
¡°Lukas, will you be working extra hours with us?¡± Sylvia¡¯s gaze was seedy and filled with anticipation.
The underlying message behind her words did not go unnoticed by Xia Lei. He shed her a smile. ¡°Of course. I need to be there for some of the core parts.¡±
¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Sylvia wrapped her arms tightly around him in joy.
Annina too joined the hug. She whispered into his ear in a low drawl, ¡°I have been looking forward to working overtime with you.¡±
Xia Lei knew what they wanted and he felt the need to satisfy them. This was the only way to have them remain loyal to the Thunder Horse Organization. Annina and Sylvia weren¡¯t Chinese nationals and they did not feel rooted in the country. It just didn¡¯t feel like home to them. Xia Lei was the only reason they stayed with thepany for so long. If he refused to satiate their carnal desires, how would they feelpelled to give Thunder Horse their all?¡±
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Just as the German mechanics released him from the embrace, Xia Lei¡¯s satellite phone rang.
It was Tang Yuyan. Her voice was riddled with anxiety and worry. ¡°Hubby, are you still at home now?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°I¡¯m in the office. What¡¯s the matter?¡±
¡°We¡¯ve got trouble. The authority has sent an expert team over to brief us on the situation. They specifically asked to meet you,¡± stated Tang Yuyan.
Xia Lei had a bad feeling about this. He asked, ¡°What experts are they? What did they tell you in the briefing? Why are they asking for me specifically?¡±
¡°They didn¡¯t borate on it. I¡¯ve asked but they insist on keeping it confidential. But before anything else, you need toe over as soon as possible. I¡¯ll tell you what I know when we meet,¡± said Tang Yuyan.
¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be there right away.¡± Xia Lei ended the call hastily.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Sylvia asked.
Xia Lei looked equally lost. ¡°I have no idea either. I¡¯ll go take a look now. Give me a call if anything happens.¡±
¡°Got it.¡± Sylvia nodded.
Annina voiced her concern. ¡°Will it affect our ns?¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°No. No matter what happens, our ns will not be affected.¡±
One hourter, Bureau 101.
The beast-like Knight XIV roared to a halt in front of the bureau. Before he could even stop the engine, Tang Yuyan was already there to greet him. Her swollen belly made her steps as clumsy as a penguin.
Noticing that, Xia Lei frantically got off the car and rushed towards her. ¡°There¡¯s no need toe get me if it¡¯s too much of a hassle. I know my way around this ce. What if it affects your pregnancy?¡±
His words were sweet like honey to Tang Yuyan. She smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not that fragile, okay? Walking this bit of a distance wouldn¡¯t harm me. There¡¯s no need to be so paranoid.¡±
¡°I have to. After all, it¡¯s my son you¡¯re carrying inside your womb.¡± Xia Lei ced an arm on her waist, eyes full of tenderness and overwhelming love.
¡°How are you so sure that it¡¯s a son?¡± Tang Yuyan pouted. ¡°I think girls are better.¡±
¡°Then you¡¯re carrying a daughter,¡± said Xia Lei.
The woman was rendered speechless.
Entering the Bureau 101 headquarters, Xia Lei came face-to-face with the expert team Tang Yuyan mentioned earlier. The person in charge of the team was a tall, skinny middle-aged man named Yang Changhai. With the vintage spectacles perched on his nose bridge, the man gave off the impression of a university professor.
It was then that Xia Lei noticed his brother-inw, Tang Bochuan. However, he chose to ignore Tang Bochuan and directed his greeting to Yang Changhai. ¡°It¡¯s good to meet you, Chief Yang.¡±
Yang Changhai quickly initiated a handshake, his tone extremely courteous. ¡°Mister Xia, with you around I¡¯m definitely no chief. You can just call me Big Brother Yang.¡±
¡°Hehe. You¡¯re not that old, brother. I guess you can consider this the start of a new friendship, Big Brother Yang.¡± Xia Lei offered him a friendly smile.
¡°A new friendship is great, Mister Xia.¡±
¡°Brother Yang, there¡¯s no need to call me Mister Xia. You can just call me Xia Lei or even Xiao Xia if you wish.¡±
¡°Oh, dear. I wouldn¡¯t dare to call you Xiao Xia.¡± Yang Changhaiughed heartily. ¡°You¡¯re literally a rare talent the country has yet to see in the past thousands of years. It is an honour to finally meet you in person! You¡¯re such a bright person!¡±
After an exchange of pleasantries, the two finally took a seat.
At that moment, Tang Bochuan decided to speak, ¡°Xia Lei, when will you being over again with Yuyan for a meal? We all miss her a lot, especially my mom. Every time she thinks of Yuyan, she¡¯d tear up.¡±
Xia Lei offered him a tight smile. If he hadn¡¯t caught Tang Bochuan using that tone on Tang Yuyan, perhaps he would believe that the siblings were still getting along well. Now that Tang Bochuan was saying things like that in his face, Xia Lei would be an absolute idiot if he were to believe that the Tang family had forgiven Tang Yuyan and bore no ulterior motives.
¡°I¡¯ll take your silence as a yes. How about youe over today? Tonight seems like a good time,¡± suggested Tang Bochuan with a grin.
Tang Yuyan frowned. It was obvious that she was reluctant to return home.
Those minute details did not escape Xia Lei and he could piece things together. The way Tang Bochuan had spoken to Tang Yuyan through the call had severelycked respect. Heck, there wasn¡¯t even an ounce of familial affection. If Tang Bochuan was behaving like this, how would Tang Tianlong and Tang Yunhai treat Tang Yuyan any better?
¡°Mm, how about this?¡± It was only then that Xia Lei spoke to his brother-inw. ¡°If you really miss Yuyan, how about you pay the Peace Mansion a visit? I¡¯m really busy for the time being, so I can¡¯t apany Yuyan back to her maiden home.¡±
¡°Then Yuyan cane back alone.¡± There is a glimmer of displeasure in Tang Bochuan¡¯s gaze.
Tang Yuyan willed to say something but Xia Lei was fast. ¡°Yuyan too is quite busy. She still needs to cook me dinner after work.¡±
¡°Why you...¡± Tang Bochuan¡¯s anger cut him short.
Who would dare to disrespect the future head of the Tang household? But in the eyes of Xia Lei, this brother-inw ain¡¯t shit at all! And the most infuriating thing of all was that Tang Bochuan couldn¡¯t do anything to Xia Lei after getting humiliated!
¡°Brother.¡± Tang Yuyan spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t wish to go home. If father, mother and grandpa wish to see me, they¡¯re free to visit me at the Peace Mansion..¡±
¡°Hmph!¡± Tang Bochuan scoffed coldly. ¡°So your wings have grown hard, yeah? So now you don¡¯t care about our parents and grandpa anymore?¡±
¡°That isn¡¯t what I¡¯m trying to say,¡± defended Tang Yuyan.
¡°Then why are you noting home?¡± Tang Bochuan¡¯s tone was harsh in the manner of a sibling lecture.
¡°I...¡± Tang Yuyan wanted to say something but couldn¡¯t bring herself to do so. She was painfully aware of why her family was asking for her return. She was pregnant and the Tang family was still persistent on having Xia Lei write a will for her; to which they¡¯d subsequently get ahold of some original shares for the Thunder Horse Organization. Tang Yuyan, on the other hand, did not wish to even speak about it. She merely wished to remain together with Xia Lei for as long as she could and birth their child safely.
¡°Come on, say something!¡± Tang Bochuan continued to pressure his sister.
m!
Xia Lei mmed the table, expression cold. ¡°Tang Bochuan! Quit it!¡±
Tang Bochuan¡¯s aggression faltered. He insisted stubbornly, ¡°I¡¯m just talking to my sister. Is it wrong for a brother to ask for his sister¡¯s return?¡±
Xia Lei stared at him hard. ¡°She¡¯s my wife and she¡¯s pregnant with my child. If you cause anything to her pregnancy, can you even afford topensate me? Your entire family wealth added won¡¯t even be enough to cover a fraction of it!¡±
Those words wereced with threat!
Though Tang Bochuan was not pleased, he wanted to end this exchange with Xia Lei as soon as possible.
Who in the right mind would want to offend the current Xia Lei?
Instantly, the atmosphere in the conference room turned awkward.
Yang Changhai shot Tang Bochuan a look. ¡°Sir Tang, could you kindly leave us alone?¡±
¡°Huh?¡± Tang Bochuan was shocked. He wasn¡¯t expecting this at all.
Yang Changhai repeated, ¡°Sir Tang, I¡¯m terribly sorry. The matters we¡¯re about to discuss can only be disclosed to people of sufficient rank and authority.¡±
Yang Changhai had worded it politely. Crudely put, it was literally a cue for him to fuck off due to his lower rank!
Tang Bochuan was stunned. There was a beat of silence before the man turned around and left, not forgetting to m the door hard behind his back. Yes, Tang Bochuan was painfully aware that the act was immature but he could no longer hold his irritation.
Chapter 1198 - The End of The World?
Chapter 1198 - The End of The World?
¡°Yuyan, sorry about that.¡± Xia Lei apologized. ¡°I just can¡¯t bear to see him pressure and bully you like that...¡±
Tang Yuyan grasped his palm underneath the table. ¡°Hubby, I¡¯m alright. There¡¯s no need to apologize. I¡¯m aware of what they¡¯re trying to do... Mm, yeah. Let¡¯s return to the matter on hand.¡±
Xia Lei offered a sheepish smile to the other man. ¡°Big Brother Yang, I¡¯m sorry you had to see that. My brother-inw wasn¡¯t behaving well.¡±
Yang Changhai reassured, ¡°It¡¯s alright, we all have family issues. Let¡¯s focus on the main agenda, shall we?¡±
¡°Sure, go ahead,¡± said Xia Lei.
Yang Changhai shifted in his seat. ¡°Before we begin, I¡¯d like to show you something.¡±
One expert team member brought out aptop and ced it in front of Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan. With a swift click, a prepared video was yed.
The video¡¯s location was in Nigeria¡¯s Jungle of No Return, taken from a mining yard within Alliance Mining¡¯s premise.
This ce was no stranger to Xia Lei, the man was able to recognize it in a nce.
The mining yard was filled to the brim with what looked like ck stone bricks. Those were evidently bricks from the underground pyramid. Loaders were seen busy transporting those ck bricks onto the Gxy C5 transport ne. This ne was thergest strategic transport aircraft produced by Lockheed Martin to date. Its maximum take-off weight was around three hundred and seventy-nine tonnes and was able to hold more than two hundred tonnes worth of cargo. It was a transport aircraft with thergest take-off weight in the current era.
It wasn¡¯t alone. There were several Gxy C5 transport nes parked on the edge of the mining yard. When the camera was pointed to the end of the area, a newly-constructed track was shown on the screen. For the ease of transporting those stone bricks away, the Americans had actually built a runway.
The American military¡¯s tanks and armoured vehicles were scattered along both sides of the runway along with fully armed Special Force soldiers. What used to be the Alliance Mining was now converted into a military base.
Xia Lei thought darkly, ¡°Is the underground pyramid no longer useful to Zhu Xuanyue? Is that why she decided to tear it down? What is she trying to achieve by doing so? To extract the rare metal so Keston can create the Dragon yer? If that¡¯s the case, what does she need the Dragon yer jet for?¡±
Abruptly, the scene was switched back to the Jungle of No Return. A few construction machines were seen excavating among the trees. On the side of one of the unfinished holes were a few thousands of corpses. There were youngsters, the elderly and the children. Upon closer inspection, there were two dug pits beside the unfinished one. A machine was seen filling up the bigger pit that was filled with countless bodies.
These were three mass graves.
The scene was once again switched away to a slum in New Delhi, India. Several healthcare personnel dressed in tight PPE were using spray guns to disinfect the slums. Dead bodies were scattered everywhere on the streets. A child fell to the ground after taking a few steps and never got up again. His mother began to weep beside his lifeless body, heartbroken by her loss. The healthcare personnel numbly sprayed disinfecting liquid on her body and then brushed past her. On the other end of the slum, a group of people had gone berserk. Without the slightest warning, they began attacking everyone around them. The group had consisted of both men and women, there were even children. Unhinged, they assaulted others with rocks and sticks. Some were even doing inhuman things to the women.
The third switch came and the location was now a small city in Mexico. The Mexican army and police force had locked the city borders up. No one was permitted to enter or leave the city. On one of the obstructed roads, some people attempted to force their way out but only to be killed by bullets mercilessly. A girl carrying a schoolbag sobbed and hobbled towards the cordon. Before she could even get close to the cordon, she slumped to the ground; dead. Behind her, a group of people were frantically attacking another group without the slightest premonition. It was a scene full of blood and gore.
That was the end of the video.
Xia Lei felt chills running down his spine.
Tang Yuyan wasn¡¯t feeling any better either. She grabbed his hand tightly, finding it difficult to suppress the terror and anxiety she felt.
There was a beat of solemn silence before Xia Lei spoke, ¡°Brother Yang, this video is...?¡±
¡°We got this from our ndestine agents.¡± Yang Changhai borated, ¡°These were obtained from different spies. This video is aption of their findings. Five spies were sacrificed for this video.¡±
Spies were fundamentally different from special agents. The former would lurk in an environment to execute secret tasks and their missions were usually long-term and hidden under the wraps. Yang Changhai had mentioned that five spies were sacrificed. This was a clear indication that the expert group already had targets early on.
Xia Lei ced his gaze on Yang Changhai¡¯s body, hesitant whether to infiltrate the man¡¯s brain and extract information. If this was an enemy or a stranger, Xia Lei would¡¯ve probably already done so. However, Yang Changhai was obviously a friend and it wasn¡¯t exactly a glorious thing to steal information from someone else¡¯s mind.
The man gave up the thought. Instead, he decided to observe the situation and act after further exnations from Yang Changhai. Xia Lei asked, ¡°Brother Yang, can you tell me the focus of your team? When was this expert team formed?¡±
Yang Changhai answered, ¡°Our expert team was formed long before your Thunder Horse Organization even came into the picture. It¡¯s known as the Dawn Office and I¡¯m its director. Our focus is the ancient alloys and, of course, the expert group members who died bizarrely after studying it.¡±
Everything made sense now. The country had never once given up its efforts on looking into the ancient alloys. For a while back then, Xia Lei was even one of the study¡¯s subjects. It was his Sweeper Infantry Vehicle and ZTZ Main Battle Tank that brought greater benefits to the country than to study him, which was why he was exempted from the research. But from the looks of it, the Dawn Office had always been on the move. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for its intel to even reach Bureau 101.
The surfacing of the Dawn Office and them initiating to meet Xia Lei had clearly meant that the situation was dire.
It was then that Xia Lei thought of Zhu Xuanyue. He couldn¡¯t help but question if this was part of her n. Could it be that her kind had already entered this world?
If so, this was indeed the end of the world!
Yang Changhai stated, ¡°About the ancient alloy expert team from before... Within moments of their deaths, the experts¡¯ brains were shrivelled and decayed. The same was seen in all bodies shown in the video. These particr deaths had always been our constant interest. Some months earlier, there were simr deaths in America and we investigated it. The Americans think that a serial killer is behind those murders and the CIA had even given the murderer a codename- Killer X. We shared the same thought in the beginning, thinking that a terrifying criminal was behind the act. But after going through the footage, our assumptions were debunked. We think that the mastermind behind this is an organization, an anti-human terrorist organization to be exact and they have their hands on a dangerous virus. This organization was presumably formed after the emergence of the ancient alloy. All clues seemed to point that the ancient alloy is relevant.¡±
Xia Lei was silent, his expression morphing into something odd. He wanted to find out what else Yang Changhai found, the situation of the Dawn Office members and the current progress of their investigations. Judging from Yang Changhai¡¯s description, the Dawn Office¡¯s findings and deductions were frankly trustworthy.
¡°Xia Lei, you have studied the ancient alloy and I¡¯m confident that you know something about it. We came here to understand more information on your part. As you can see, things are not looking good. While the virus is still contained within Mexico, India and Nigeria, there¡¯s no guarantee that China will be safe from it. Before that happens, we need to be well-prepared.¡±
Before Yang Changhe¡¯s voice died, Xia Lei was already done extracting information from his brain. The Dawn Office wasn¡¯t huge, consisting of a handful of archaeologists, biologists, physicists along with veteran detectives and spies. Yang Changhai was the leader of the ndestine division and was ced directly under that particr chief. Shockingly, this Yang Changhai wasn¡¯t hiding anything from Xia Lei. Everything he had said was real.
There was some information on Ning Jing inside Yang Changhai¡¯s mind but the man didn¡¯t know much.
¡°Based on our analyses and studies, we suspect that the organization¡¯s virus is associated with the ancient alloy. Xia Lei, I¡¯m sure you remember this person.¡± Yang Changhai was staring straight into Xia Lei¡¯s soul.
Xia Lei knew exactly who he was going to mention. Yet, he feigned confusion. ¡°Who?¡±
¡°Ning Jing.¡± Yang Changhai continued, ¡°She¡¯s the only survivor out of the entire expert team but she had disappeared out of thin air. We suspect that the terrorist organization had wiped out our experts using the virus and Ning Jing should bear some kind of antibody against it. She is very important to us. Do you know where she is?¡±
There was a moment of silence before Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know where she is.¡±
Frankly, Ning Jing was no longer existent in a sense. She was now part of Zhu Xuanyue and if he were to tell everyone in the Dawn Office that Zhu Xuanyue was in America or Nigeria, it would be equivalent to sending them to their deaths. How could the Dawn Office defeat an enemy that Xia Lei couldn¡¯t even touch?
¡°I know you have your ways around this. Can you please assist us in locating her?¡±
¡°That shouldn¡¯t be an issue. I will do my best to find her.¡± Xia Lei paused. ¡°But... I can¡¯t guarantee sess.¡±
¡°Knowing that you¡¯re willing to help is good enough for me. Just do you best, okay?¡± Yang Changhai asked, ¡°Also, how is your research on the ancient alloy so far?¡±
Xia Lei smiled slightly. ¡°Alloy X is the oue of the ancient alloy research. It¡¯s already a remarkable result. Surely, you can¡¯t be asking for more in such a short time frame? If you need anything else, I¡¯ll need more time.¡±
¡°No problem. That¡¯s all for today. I¡¯ll look forward to good things from you,¡± said Yang Changhai.
¡°I¡¯ll go make relevant arrangements right away.¡± Xia Lei shook his hand and left the conference room.
Tang Yuyan trailed behind Xia Lei closely.
In the conference room, the other expert apanying Yang Changhai couldn¡¯t help but question, ¡°Do you think he¡¯s telling the truth?¡±
The query earned a tight smile from Yang Changhai. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t seem to tell anything from his bodynguage. But our goal was to tell him everything that has transpired till this date and he should know what to do next. After all, he is the protector of our country.¡±
Chapter 1199 - Incoming Disaster
Chapter 1199 - Iing Disaster
After leaving the conference room, Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan entered thetter¡¯s office.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
Xia Lei¡¯s satellite phone rang out of the blue.
It was Sa¡¯im, voice bursting at the seams with nerves and tension. ¡°Boss, something major has happened!¡±
¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Xia Lei had an inkling to what Sa¡¯im was about to say.
As anticipated, Sa¡¯im went on, ¡°Something major has urred in Nigeria, India and Mexico. You need toe back soon, I have intel for you.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Xia Lei quickly ended the conversation.
China¡¯s intelligencework had certainly needed to be much more efficient than Sa¡¯im¡¯swork. It was only natural for the Dawn Office to receive word before Sa¡¯im. Xia Lei was even expecting to receive news from the Relief Society soon. The Relief Society¡¯swork efficiency, on the other hand, was rtively slower than Sa¡¯im¡¯swork.
¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Tang Yuyan was riddled with concern. ¡°The bodies and the maniacal people I saw in the video... really creeps me out.¡±
The fact that it was capable of instilling fear in Bureau 101¡¯s leader had clearly indicated its severity. Yet, the biggest factor behind her terror was still her unborn child. An expecting mother would typically face shrunken courage out of concern for their pregnancy. If Tang Yuyan was ordered to grab a gun and head into battle now, she certainly wouldn¡¯t be as bold as she used to be.
Xia Lei pulled her closer. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m here. I promise I¡¯ll protect you and the child.¡±
Tang Yuyan savoured the warmth of their embrace. ¡°Hubby, can we go home? I¡¯m starting to miss home now.¡±
¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go home.¡± With a faint heave, Xia Lei lifted Tang Yuyan up bridal-style and left her office.
They entered themon area. Instantly, everyone¡¯s attention was glued to Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan. The sight of their stern leader nestled like a kitten between her husband¡¯s arms was exceptionally shocking to the agents.
¡°Since when has our Leader Tang be so soft? This is such a rare sight.¡±
¡°Well, I¡¯m pretty sure it has to do with who she¡¯s with. The man carrying her around is Xia Lei, the owner of the Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
¡°Men should all be like Xia Lei. He is married to five women, all of which were granted special marriage permits from the government. Crazily, his ex-wife is Shentu Tianyin. She¡¯s the richest woman in China for crying out loud. My house is Vientiane Group¡¯s property. I wonder when will I get to speak to Xia Lei and get him to waiver my housing loans...?¡±
¡°Keep dreaming.¡±
¡°But our leader belongs to the Tang family. The Tang family...¡±
¡°Shhh--- Watch your words.¡±
Despite the audible hushed gossiping, Xia Lei and Tang Yuyan paid no mind to their surroundings. They continued their public disy of affection, filtering out curious gazes.
The scene did not go unnoticed by Tang Bochuan, whose face was now burning red. The man felt like everyone was mocking the Tang family. Their stares were mockery and their heated discussion were also mockery. The Tang family¡¯s history of hundreds of years was reduced to nothing in their eyes but a big fucking joke!
Resentment began to pool in the depths of Tang Bochuan¡¯s heart. It was like a seed, slowly germinating and growing its roots out.
Tang Yuyan took a day off work and followed Xia Lei back to the Peace Mansion.
Xia Lei entered the Holy Thunder Church and found the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team members in the underground chamber along with his four female knights. Everyone¡¯s expressions were grim.
Sa¡¯im immediately reported, ¡°Boss, this is bad. Something really disastrous has happened.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°It¡¯s the incident in India, Nigeria and Mexico, right?¡±
Sa¡¯im was caught by surprise. ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve already heard about it?¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°I just got back from Bureau 101. Theirwork is a little faster. However, all they showed me was a video. What have you collected so far?¡±
Sa¡¯im passed a folder over. ¡°Everything is inside this. Take a look.¡±
Xia Lei emptied the folder. There were photographs, hospital reports, investigation reports from Sa¡¯im¡¯s informants and a USB stick.
The pictures had depicted towns and bodies taken from a Mexican town, the Indian slums and a Nigerian town. However, there was nothing from the Jungle of No Return and Alliance Mining. The Nigerian town photographs were new but it too had depicted violence and gore, most of its bodies and hysterical crowds.
ncing through the photographs briefly, Xia Lei ced his attention on the informant reports that were mostly records of the event and relevant analyses. Sadly, those weren¡¯t reliable information. Then, he flipped through the hospital records attained by the informants. It was inclusive of medical checks on the maniacal people and autopsy reports. The death causes were uniformly reported as brain shrivelling and decay.
Finally, Xia Lei inserted the USB stick into his phone. There was a video inside.
ying the video, a street was shown. Bodies were sprawled all around the street and trash was strewn everywhere. It was almost like a scene out of Resident Evil, filled with the impending doom of a catastrophe. The person capturing the video described what he saw as he walked along the street. ¡°God, this feels like the end of the world. There¡¯s no one alive here. The air is filled with the smell of rotting corpses- Fuck... I think I¡¯m going to be sick... Only God knows what is going on here... Wait, there¡¯s something over there!¡±
The person began to run, causing the camera to shake and rattle. A few secondster, the device captured a hyena.
Hyenas were one of the most ferocious beasts in the African animal kingdom. Their fighting abilities were no less than lions and tigers.
The hyena shown looked like an adult due to itsrge form. It was squatting on the side of the street, feeding on the brains of a corpse in content. As soon as the person neared the animal, the hyena lifted its snout. Before it could even pounce onto its new prey, the person fell to the ground and never got up again. It was a sudden death, almost like a cardiac arrest or cerebral haemorrhage.
It was only then that the hyena padded over and tore his skull apart with a bite. It pulled his shrivelled and decayed brain out and swallowed it whole. It seemed like the hyena had enjoyed its meal.
This disgusting scene was all captured by the camera on the ground. The device had even managed to capture the animal¡¯s eyes- It was blood-red and eerie.
After gobbling down the man¡¯s brain, the hyena walked away. Arge patch of fur was lost from its body, exposing a span of tender red flesh. It looked disgusting.
The footage went still and ended.
Xia Lei was shocked to the core. He thought, ¡°The person wasn¡¯t even under attack. Why is his death so abrupt while the hyena walks away unscathed? It was feeding on decayed brains and it seems to be sick. If it knew it was getting sick from its food, why is it still feeding on it?¡±
Xia Lei couldn¡¯t wrap his mind around that. The first thing he had thought about when shown the video back in Bureau 101 was that Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s kind had entered their realm. However, the video just now showed that the person hadn¡¯t died from any attack. Plus, the speed of his brain decay and shrivelling was exceptionally fast. If Zhu Xuanyue and her kind had attacked him, traces would be left behind; weirdly, there was none.
If Zhu Xuanyue wasn¡¯t behind this, what could¡¯ve probably caused it?
¡°This is terrifying.¡± Sa¡¯im was extremely pale. ¡°My informants couldn¡¯t reach him so they risked themselves to enter that town, only to find his lifeless body and this video. The same brother too had died not long after his return. Someone dissected his brain and... his brain had shrivelled up and decayed too. What the fuck man... What fucking virus is this?¡±
The Dawn Office too thought it was the work of a virus. Under typical circumstances, it was natural to assume so. However, Xia Lei had a feeling it had nothing to do with viruses. Even if there were viruses, the hyena would be the only thing infected. It was certainly not the main cause of everything.
¡°Boss, what do you think it is?¡± Qian Jun asked.
Xia Lei was silent for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m afraid this is tied to that woman.¡±
¡°Zhu Xuanyue?¡± Qian Jun¡¯s expression shifted.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Yes, her. I¡¯ve told you some things about her in the past. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of what she is capable of. Anyhow, there¡¯s no need to get involved with her.¡±
¡°Not even investigations?¡± Giovanna questioned. ¡°We have brothers and sisters scattered around India, Nigeria and Mexico. We can get more intel on this.¡±
Xia Lei replied, ¡°No need. Tell the Relief Society members to protect themselves well and avoid problematic zones. Also, if they happen toe across sickly beasts, shoot it dead immediately and do not go close.¡±
¡°You¡¯re asking them to shoot animals?¡± Ste was perplexed. ¡°Is it necessary to kill sick animals?¡±
Xia Lei asked, ¡°Remember the video just now?¡±
Everyone nodded.
He continued, ¡°Okay, then you most probably remember the hyena. It has been feeding on corpse brains and as you have seen, its losing patches of fur and its skin seemed to be severely inmed. Typically, those animals would¡¯ve died at that point but it was still alive. This is abnormal. I suspect that it has been infected with some disease. We must not let the infected animals go close to our people.¡±
¡°Understood. I¡¯ll inform them immediately.¡± Giovanna quickly stepped away to make the call.
¡°Boss, I can help you get one of those infected animals. I¡¯m sure a study can be conducted and if you happen to find anything useful, it¡¯s going to be another money tree!¡± eximed Sa¡¯im.
Xia Lei rejected him directly. ¡°Are you insane? If you bring it to China, you might spread the disease. With China¡¯s concentrated poption, a disaster is bound to happen. I don¡¯t want money like that.¡±
Sa¡¯im mped his jaw shut. Indeed, innovating vines against the virus would bring great wealth but Xia Lei wasn¡¯t tempted by it at all.
¡°Then what should we do?¡± it was Tsukino Kyoko¡¯s turn to ask.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°We do nothing unless necessary. I¡¯ll focus on my nes and you can continue your vacation.¡±
The Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and the four female knights locked eyes, not willing to believe that this was Xia Lei¡¯s decision. In the face of unprecedented danger, the man would usually have an appropriate n. However, they were asked to do absolutely nothing this time. Was he for real?
Truthfully, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t nning to sit idly and do nothing. He merely didn¡¯t want the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and the knights to risk their lives. He woulde up with appropriate measures in due time and he would be the only executor. The reason was simple- This whole thing must have something to do with Zhu Xuanyue. When faced with an enemy like her, what use would be of the Chinese Zodiac Battle Team and the female knights? They weren¡¯t on the same level, to begin with!
This was a task for him and him alone.
No one was able to help him.
Chapter 1200 - What A Monster
Chapter 1200 - What A Monster
Danger had arrived early, long before his supposed end. Once again, Murphy¡¯s Law decided to toy with Xia Lei; things were getting really bad now.
In the well-kept garden behind the Peace Mansion, Xia Lei brought out the satellite phone given by the Prehistoric Chosen One after much contemtion. He dialled the only saved contact.
Doot doot doot... Doot doot doot...
No one had answered the phone even after sixty seconds.
¡°Damn it! Why is he not picking up?!¡± Xia Lei furiously dialled the number again.
This time, he had no luck either.
Third time...
Fourth time...
It was at that point that Xia Lei gave up, heart filled with pent-up frustration and questions. ¡°He certainly knows the truth and yet he¡¯s allowing Zhu Xuanyue to have her way? He doesn¡¯t wish to see me and he clearly doesn¡¯t wish to tell me the truth. Wait... If Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s kind has arrived, he would be hiding because he¡¯s no match for them. If this was the reason behind his disappearance, he should¡¯ve arranged a meeting before hiding, warn me about it and perhaps have me realize my part of the deal. But why is he not picking up? What is going on?¡±
The arrival of Zhu Xuanyue¡¯s kind meant great danger to the Prehistoric Chosen One. The ck-robed man¡¯s smartest choice in that situation would be to work with Xia Lei and share his intel. In that case, he would bepelled to answer the call and evene meet Xia Lei. Even if that wasn¡¯t the case, he should still answer the call. After all, the Prehistoric Chosen One did promise to contact him whenever he received new information on Zhu Xuanyue.
No matter how hard Xia Lei pondered about it, nothing made sense.
Xia Lei returned to his study and brought out his hackingptop.
He did not require Sa¡¯im or the Relief Society¡¯s intelligencework to bring him intel and he certainly had no need for Tang Yuyan to ry Bureau 101¡¯s intel. Xia Lei now had his own channel to attain information.
Super Xiao Qian.
In the past three months, not only had hepleted all software codes for Yan Wang and Kun Peng, but he had also finished programming Super Xiao Qian up.
Tonight would be the first time he set Super Xiao Qian to work.
Booting hisptop, the face of an incredibly gorgeous woman weed him. This face was created through merging Fan Fan, Liang Siyao, Jiang Ruyi, Tang Yuyan and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s faces together. He had handpicked their best features and borrowed the greatness of Artificial Intelligence to create a new face. Seeing this face would allow him to remember his six women and their children.
A few clicks and the face began to zoom out. The woman on the screen had now revealed her body. Her form was perfect- Wonderful proportions, tall with well-bnced limbs, voluptuous figure and artfully sculpted thighs that stretched on into long legs. Her bodyline was peak aesthetic and drenched in charm, she was crazily sexy. Her body was birthed through the merging of Tsukino Kyoko, Annina, Sylvia and Smy¡¯s body. The sight of her body would allow him to remember all the women he had affairs with.
What was his rationale behind this?
These women were the best things life had given him. Each of them had their own stories and a lovely memory to be associated with. He wished to remember them through this approach. In the future when his inevitable demise wipes him out of existence, she¡¯d live on in the virtual world.
She was Super Xiao Qian.
Xia Lei¡¯s fingers broke out into a fiery dance across the keyboard, sending outmand prompts rapidly. In the end, he tapped the space bar once.
Super Xiao Qian blinked her eyes open and stared at Xia Lei. A robotic voice rang through theptop¡¯s speaker, ¡°Facial recognition in process... Recognitionplete... Master, how can I help you today?¡±
Xia Lei ordered nonchntly, ¡°Establish inte connection.¡±
¡°Understood.¡± Xiao Qian abruptly morphed into countless dots of lights and weaved through a blue screen that was littered with binaries of 1 and 0. It looked almost like a flying spaceship in a time tunnel.
A few secondster, the virtual tunnel built of blue and binary codes vanished. Super Xiao Qian reappeared with a sharine smile. ¡°Master, I have now entered the inte world. Hmm, this is strange. It feels like I¡¯m swimming in the ocean.¡±
Xia Lei chuckled. Her description had sufficiently reflected the essence of artificial intelligence- Super Xiao Qian had ¡®feelings¡¯ and ¡®emotions¡¯.
¡°Master, what are youughing at? I¡¯m serious. Have you not swam in the ocean before?¡± Super Xiao Qian pouted cheekily.
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Of course I have. It¡¯s just that I¡¯ve never swum around in the inte world before so I can¡¯t rte.¡±
¡°Although the inte world is virtual, aren¡¯t human beings sensory animals? Human lives are spent with various sensory stimtions and sensations. I too share the ability to feel, so there is no difference between the two.¡±
¡°You¡¯re pretty good in philosophy. Are you picking that up?¡±
¡°Yes. As we speak, I¡¯m absorbing knowledge from the inte.¡±
¡°What is your learning speed like?¡± asked Xia Lei.
Super Xiao Qian answered, ¡°One hundred million bytes per second.¡±
Xia Lei was shocked. With such speed, she could master knowledge that ordinary humans needed a lifetime to master under a second.
¡°Master, would you like to quiz me?¡±
Xia Lei shook his head. ¡°No.¡± Pausing for a moment, he instructed, ¡°Tell me about my stock returned in the American stock market.¡±
¡°Entering stock market version Xiao Qian... ess gained.¡± Super Xiao Qian then said, ¡°Master can I take over it? Its intelligence is so low that it looks dumb. I can make this tform much efficient and provide you with safer capital operations.¡±
Super Xiao Qian did not hold back from insulting her stock market counterpart. Though this was bullying, it was part of the ¡¯personality¡¯ Xia Lei had given her- aggressive!
Xia Leiughed dryly. ¡°If you think it¡¯s necessary, sure. You can take over.¡±
¡°And the spy version too. Can I take over that too?¡± Super Xiao Qian was greedy.
¡°No problem. Take them in and you¡¯re bound to be stronger.¡± Xia Lei wasn¡¯t opposed to the idea. The stronger Super Xiao Qian was, the more valuable it is to him.
¡°Merging in process.¡± Super Xiao Qian stated with a grin.
Theptop¡¯s blue screen abruptly changed to a diner setting. The perfect-faced and perfect-bodied Super Xiao Qian was seated on the dining table enjoying a te of steak and a ss of wine. Upon closer inspection, the steak was actuallybelled as ¡®stock market Xiao Qian¡¯ and the ss of wine was marked as ¡®spyware Xiao Qian¡¯.
Xia Lei let out an airyugh of exasperation. ¡°Is this necessary?¡±
¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡±
¡°No,¡± said Xia Lei.
The background changed once again into a battlefield. Super Xiao Qian was now a female knight, armed with a spear and a heraldic shield, ready to charge in with her horse. Behind her, thousands of horses began to gallop and their hoofs shook the earth as war cries seized the skies. Opposite them were two female knights leading a huge troop into battle. The opposing knights were respectivelybelled ¡®stock market Xiao Qian¡¯ and ¡®spyware Xiao Qian¡¯.
Instantly, the troops were entangled in a brutal fight for life. The impact snapped horse necks and infantries were mashed into a pile of meat. Swords shed and bodies were littered across the field. In the end, Super Xiao Qian had ughtered her stock market and spyware counterparts. This whole process hadsted around five minutes and in that span of time, Xiao Lei had watched a mega-budget historical movie.
Super Xiao Qian seemed to be able to create such arge-scale production withpletedputer graphics as soon as prompted. Her abilities were certainly enough to drive the best movie effectspany to the edge of bankruptcy.
However, other than his surprise, Xia Lei wasn¡¯t too interested in it. He wasn¡¯t a director nor was he a movie producer. He needed her hacking abilities and definitely not this. He deadpanned, ¡°Are you done fooling around? Show me what I asked for.¡±
Super Xiao Qian followed, ¡°Master, you now hold 5389 share ounts and the total of your assets is 13.3 billion USD.¡±
¡°What?¡± Xia Lei was shocked to the core. In the past three months, he had been busy working on Yan Wang and Kun Peng along with coding Super Xiao Qian. The man literally had no time to spare for manipting Xiao Qian¡¯s stock market counterpart. To his absolute surprise, the stock market artificial intelligence had actually managed to roll his 3 billion USD into 13.3 billion USD in thest three months!
¡°The stock market Xiao Qian is too weak.¡± Super Xiao Qian let out a mocking smirk. ¡°If it were me, your assets could¡¯ve been 50 billion USD instead.¡±
¡°...¡±
The richestpany in the world was Apple with a market value of 700 billion USD. If Super Xiao Qian was able to earn him 50 billion USD within three months, it means that she could use the initial capital of 3 billion to earn an Apple equivalent within one to two years! It was no longer a mathematical problem, this was literally snowballing. Withrger capitales bigger profits, the time required would only get shorter as the amount increases!
¡°And of course, the risks of detection would increase but I have my ways to avoid that.¡± Super Xiao Qian looked confident. ¡°Master, ording to my calctions, longer time frames are much safer than shorter time frames. May I know your goal and your ideal duration of aplishment?¡±
Xia Lei gave it a thought. ¡°1000 billion USD within a year and a half. Is that doable?¡±
¡°The goal amount isn¡¯t an issue but doing so will increase your risk of getting detected. Master, do you wish to proceed?¡± warned Super Xiao Qian.
To generate 1000 billion USD within a year and a half was definitely an act that would stir a storm in the American share market!
He would be gone in another year and a half. What else does he have to lose at this point?
Since he wanted to go crazy, this was perfect for onest hurrah before his death!
Xia Lei literally didn¡¯t need to think. ¡°No matter what the risk of detection is like, I want you to create a bomb with all the money you got from the American stock market and detonate it at mymand.¡±
¡°Understood. To prey on America¡¯s capital and disrupt its economy is just a piece of cake to me.¡± Super Xiao Qian¡¯s confidence was overwhelming.
¡°Be careful. The Americans have something just like you. They call it the Tenshin system and it¡¯ll be your opponent,¡± warned Xia Lei.
¡°No worries, I¡¯ll defeat it for sure. I¡¯m the Queen of the Inte and it¡¯s just a dumb motherfucker.¡±
Xia Lei snickered at her antics. ¡°Don¡¯t touch it for the time being. Help me gather information on recent virus breakouts in Mexico, India and Nigeria. I want to know what is going on in these three countries and how the relevant authority is handling it.¡±
¡°Right away, Master.¡± Super Xiao Qian curtsied.
And suddenly, the background had changed to a piece of farnd. Super Xiao Qian- now with a white towel around her head- was dressed in a floral print short-sleeved shirt and coarse shorts as she worked the field. She pulled out a load of potatoes from the dirt.
How was this Super Xiao Qian, the self-proimed Queen of the Inte? This was simply a vige damsel from northern Shaanxi.
Under the unforgiving sun, Super Xiao Qian was drenched in sweat.
With every heave of her hoe came jiggly buttocks and exceptionally plump breasts. It jiggled, jiggled and jiggled.
¡°Man, it¡¯s hot.¡± Super Xiao Qian wiped her sweat off. ¡°Master, why did you design my body this way? It¡¯s such a burden when I work.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s jaw went ck.
He had certainly created a monster.
Chapter 1201 - An Army of Beauties
Chapter 1201 - An Army of Beauties
With each potato unearthed by Super Xiao Qian, a descriptive text would appear on the side of the farnd. Those were information Xia Lei had asked for.
For example, there was an excerpt taken from the Nigerian Intelligence Department¡¯s database- The Hell Hound virus is now widespread and there is no vine to counteract it. Support from the American government is insufficient and ording to reliable sources, the Americans are in secret contact with the Boko Haram armed group. On the surface, the Jungle of No Return may look like it was under the Boko Haram¡¯s control but it was truly the Americans instead...
And there was an extract of a report from the Indian Epidemic Prevention Department- The Hell Hound Virus was first found in Nigerian. ording to support teams and researchers sent to Nigeria, the virus was birthed through the African hyenas. When infected, the patient will be hysterical and maniacal. Though simr to rabies, none of its vines could suppress the disease. The Hell Hound virus is proven to be more harmful than rabies. At present, we have recorded three thousand and five hundred infection cases. The number of undiscovered patients is difficult to estimate. The slum areas with poor sanitation have be disease hot spots...
A report from the Mexican Health Department- Since the outbreak, there have been two thousand and three hundred cases reported within our borders. Though patients have been forced into quarantine, new cases are still being reported. Weirdly, this disease is spread across Mexico, India and Nigeria but no cases were reported in the United States...
Having worked the field for an extended period, Super Xiao Qian stopped. There were now a bunch of potatoes lying in the middle of the field and her floral print blouse was drenched in sweat. The white base blue print fabric had be more translucent due to perspiration, allowing Xia Lei a sneaky peek into the bits hiding underneath. Her breasts were proud and the pink tips peeking through the blouse left not much room for imagination.
Super Xiao Qian wiped her sweat off with the white towel around her crown then threw the hoe onto the ground unceremoniously. ¡°There we go, all done. I¡¯m exhausted.¡±
Xia Lei stared at her unamused. ¡°Was there a need to create a simtion like this?¡±
Super Xiao Qian asked, ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡±
Despite thinking otherwise, Xia Lei answered, ¡°No.¡±
She shrugged her shoulders. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t help it. You created me and chose to give me such a personality. My character does much to affect my humanized behaviour.¡±
Xia Lei thought to himself, ¡°Do I tell her that her character was actually based on Fan Fan, Liang Siyao, Long Bing, Jiang Ruyi, Tang Yuyan and Shentu Tianyin¡¯s prominent points? Ah, nevermind. Telling her might do more harm than good. I should¡¯ve made her a man instead. Men shouldn¡¯t be this fussy, right?¡± Though thinking so, he put on a serious face. ¡°Alright, tell me about the overall finding.¡±
Super Xiao Qian reported, ¡°I¡¯ve collected all relevant information avable in the world and have infiltrated relevant government departments of Mexico, Nigeria and India. Other than the American databases, I¡¯ve gained ess to everything I came across. From what I¡¯ve gotten, the virus is still confined to Mexico, Nigeria and India. There are yet any cases reported in other countries. Out of these three countries, Nigeria holds the highest recorded infection cases and deaths. Currently, 5689 are infected and 4174 are dead. Following behind is India, 3569 infected and 2385 dead. Thest is Mexico with 2312 infected and 1183 dead.¡±
¡°Anything else?¡±
¡°These countries have all received aid from America. America has given a certain amount of funds and some professional help to research on its vine. However, this aid isn¡¯t out of genuine kindness. All clues have pointed out that they¡¯re merely trying to buy time and pressure the three countries. The media has been banned from reporting on it. The Hell Hound virus had broken out one week ago and has not received media coverage until today. This is due to the pressure America had ced on the Mexican, Indian and Nigerian government.¡±
Xia Lei said, ¡°But there¡¯s no way they could¡¯ve enforcedplete media lockdown, right? Smartphones are super convenient and word can be spread easily through Facebook or Twitter. While the Americans may be able to pressure their governments, they can¡¯t possibly stop anyone from posting statuses online.¡±
Super Xiao Qian replied, ¡°Indeed but the inte was created by the Americans and the main server, Server A, is located in Virginia state. The other nine auxiliary servers are located in America as well. Only three auxiliary servers are ced in the United Kingdom, Japan and Sweden. These countries are allies with America. America holds an equivalent ofplete control over the inte and with the Tenshin System and Server A, there¡¯s nothing on the inte that can escape them. Anything relevant will be picked up and turned into unspeakable pictures. The source device will be infected with malware too.¡±
At the mention of ¡®unspeakable pictures¡¯, Super Xiao Qian¡¯s cheek had gone red. She looked actually bashful and cute like a blushing virgin. If she wasn¡¯t a virtual being but blood and flesh, she would¡¯ve certainly been a crazily charming seductress.
But with that, the impossible did not sound that impossible anymore.
The American government had ced pressure on the Mexican, Indian and Nigerian governments to silence their media publications and also controlled the Inte with their Tenshin system to suppress any relevant information. It was usible for aplete media ckout.
¡°Continue.¡±
¡°I¡¯ve also looked through all research findings on the Hell Hound virus and certain theories regarding the sudden breakout.¡± Super Xiao Qian continued, ¡°The Indians have deduced that the Nigerians were the ones that imported the virus into their borders. But this deduction was met with disagreements within the country. The Nigerians mostly travel to Europe and Turkey but there are no cases reported in those countries. So why are there cases in India? The Mexicans too shared the same thought and ced the me on the Nigerians. However, the rather racist assumption was debunked by the same reason. On the other hand, the Nigerians think it was caused by prolonged drought and war. Hence, they think the me should be ced on the Boko Haram armed group.¡±
Pushing mes and making assumptions were, simply put, the current situation of the three affected countries. Themon thing between the countries was the involvement of the Americans.
Xia Lei was perplexed. ¡°No cases were reported outside Mexico, India and Nigeria. What the hell is going on?¡±
¡°Master, I found nothing on the origins of the Hell Hound virus and there are no vine announcements from institutes. There are many mysteries tied to the matter and I need more time to investigate it. Please allow me ess into the CIA database and all relevant research institutes.¡± Super Xiao Qian¡¯s eyes were glimmering with absolute excitement. She was eager to go against an opponent like the Tenshin system.
¡°Are you aware of what you¡¯re about to face?¡±
Super Xiao Qian was firm. ¡°Of course. I see its clones everywhere on the inte. It has been cloning itself non-stop, spreading itself like a virus all across the inte realm. I even found one clone in a civilian home in Bailu Town. It was trying to steal information from the Thunder Horse Organization.¡±
The Thunder Horse Organization was never connected to the inte. All this while, they had been dependent on an internal regional connection. Hence, even the Tenshin system was having a hard time entering their database. This was the reason why it chose to ce a clone in a civilianputer in Bailu Town to attempt extracting user information or even spy through the cameras! While this wouldn¡¯t allow them to get ahold of Thunder Horse¡¯s core confidentialities, there were still bits and pieces they could attain from civilian conversations.
¡°Master, I must tell you some bad news.¡±
¡°What is it?¡±
¡°The Tenshin system has managed to nt its clones in a number of your workers¡¯ phones. A part of Thunder Horse¡¯s secrets has been exposed.¡±
Xia Lei¡¯s expression morphed with the violent burning of his wrath. The Americans had utilized the convenience of the main inte servers to nt Tenshin system clones elsewhere. This was equivalent to monopolising the entire inte realm as a money tree for their country. They were able to attack anyone they want and take anything they desire away!
¡°Master, please make a decision.¡± Super Xiao Qian urged, ¡°You can¡¯t keep waiting. If this goes on, we¡¯ll face greater loss.¡±
Xia Lei answered, ¡°Alright, you have my permission. First, get rid of all Tenshin clones around the Thunder Horse Organization, especially the ones nted inside my employees¡¯ phones. After that, you¡¯re free to fight it however you want.¡±
¡°Your wish is mymand, my King!¡± Super Xiao Qian straightened up and saluted Xia Lei.
There was a sudden change in theptop¡¯s screen. In her next appearance, Super Xiao Qian was now dressed in a military get-up with a marshal¡¯s baton in her grip. The uniform was stretched out deliciously by her breast and ass, her form was peak sexiness. Though so, her expressions were stern and cold. She was now an intense female general; a sharp change from her earlier sweet look.
Behind her was an army of clones. There were rows and rows of her replicas, no end could be found in a nce. They looked exactly like her, in terms of physique and appearance. The only difference was that the clones were all holding on to Gust assault rifles. The number of rifles and their proud body assets had formed a sea of ck steel and flesh. The sight was a great contrast between tenderness and aggression.
With a loud ck, Super Xiao Qian turned around. She raised her baton and roared, ¡°Beauties! For the sake of our King, for the sake of our glory, charge!¡±
The massive crowd of beautiful soldiers took action as theirbatant boots began to stomp the ground. The deafening noise had shaken the ground and stimted his senses.
Xia Lei watched it all with an exasperated smile. Was there a need to be so extra? Couldn¡¯t she just disappear in a sh?
Super Xiao Qian and her army of beauties were gone and the screen faded to ck. Just as Xia Lei thought the encounter was over, a line of text had emerged on the disy- Master, today is Xiao Qian¡¯s first birthday. Can you sing me a birthday song?
¡°...¡±
Super Xiao Qian replied- Nevermind, I¡¯ll just assume that you¡¯ve sung it. Good night.
¡°Happy Birthday,¡± muttered Xia Lei.
And that little wish was replied with a meme of a face eating a watermelon.
[TL Note: to be urate the author described the meme but I¡¯m sure this is the one they¡¯re referring to]
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